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Friday, 13 October 2017

Tankbüchse 41: Rifle or Cannon?

Neutral Switzerland understood the fragility of its sovereignty perfectly well during WWII. However, in case of an invasion, the Alpine confederacy expected to go down fighting. In reinforcing its country's army, the Swiss arms industry created a number of interesting weapons, which include the Tankbüchse 41.

After the defeat of France by Germany, the Swiss adopted the idea of the "National Redoubt", presented by General Henri Guisan on July 25th, 1940. In the event of an invasion by the only likely enemy, Nazi Germany, the Swiss army would retreat to the south of the country, into the mountain region, and continue resistance there. The use of the main ace in Germany's sleeve, their tank forces, would be difficult. The Swiss army required a light and powerful anti-tank weapon to block the few tank-accessible passes in the mountains.

History of creation

The existing 20 mm Solothurn S18-1000 anti-tank rifle was popular on the global arms market, but was no longer satisfactory for the Swiss. They wanted something more powerful. The first realization of this desire was in the development of weapons for light LTH tanks. These Czechoslovak vehicles entered service under the index Panzerwagen 39. In picking a weapon for their tank, the Swiss required superiority over the tanks of the likely enemy, armed with 20 mm guns. Waffenfabrik Bern received an order for a tank gun with an unusual caliber: 24 mm.

Colonel Adolf Furrer, the chief engineer at the Bern factory, designed a semiautomatic gun in a very short timespan, using the Lmg 25 as a basis. The gun was fed from a detachable six round magazine. This solution allowed rapid firing of several rounds, which left no chance of survival for a light tank. To improve the layout, the magazine was inserted from the top.  The coaxial machinegun was placed to the right, and the sight was to the left. A small opening covered with a sprung hatch was added to the roof of the tank turret for reloading.

24 mm Panzerabwehr-Befestigungskanone 38 cannon for fortifications.

The Panzerwagenkanone 38 was produced in very small amounts, since Switzerland only bought two dozen LTH tanks. The version built for fortifications, Panzerabwehr-Befestigungskanone 38, was built in larger batches. Soon, infantry took an interest in the weapon. Its main antitank weapons were the aforementioned S18–1000 (20 mm Tankbüchse 40) and the 47 mm 4,7 Infanteriekanone 1935 cannon, produced under license from the Austrian Bohler company. However, these weapons were unsatisfactory, due to low penetration. The muzzle velocity of the 47 mm gun was only 540 m/s, whereas the muzzle velocity of the French 47 mm gun was 885 m/s. A decision was made to develop a new anti-tank gun. The ballistics were the same a the tank and fortification version, but it was classified as an anti-tank rifle, instead of a cannon, named 24 mm Tankbüchse 41 (or Tb 41 for short).

The biggest difference between the tank and fortification versions of the gun was the position of the magazine. Now, it was inserted from the right, instead of from the top. This allowed the reduction of the gun's height, which made it easier to hide. After the fifth shot was fired and the sixth round was chambered, the magazine ejected automatically. There was no need to rack the bolt after the next magazine was inserted.

24 mm Tankbüchse 41 in combat position.

Like its predecessors, the Tb 41 fired a powerful 24x138 mm round. Thanks to an effective muzzle brake, the recoil was minimized. The muzzle brake was assembled from eight rings of two types: "brake" (Bremsringe) or "blind" (Blindringe). The first type had channels for diverting the gases, the second did not. A combination of rings regulated the force of the recoil. The barrel had 12 right-facing grooves.

The Tankbüchse 41 had an effective muzzle brake.

Breech of the Tankbüchse 41, showing sight and magazine.

The Tb 41 used a short stroke recoil operated automatic mechanism. The gun used a hinged breech block. The charging handle was located on top, above the breech. Two adjustable handles with a trigger were located behind the breech. The mechanisms only allowed semiautomatic fire. The practical rate of fire was as high as 30 RPM.

The rifle was equipped with two sights: an open sight with a protected post and a removable 2.2x optical sight. Both sights were designed for firing at targets up to 1500 meters away.

Tankbüchse 41 on position, using a wheeled mount.

Tankbüchse 41 in transport position on a wheeled mount.

The rifle was fairly heavy. The body weighed 77 kg, and the tripod mount weighed 53 kg. During transport, the body was taken off the mount and disassembled into two pieces: the barrel (39 kg) and case (38 kg). The tripod was converted into a two-wheeled mount, which could be towed by a car, motorcycle, bicycle, or pulled by two soldiers. The anti-tank rifle could fire either from the tripod or the wheeled mount. The tripod allowed to adjust the right of the bore axis from 370 to 650 mm. It was also possible to fire without a mount at all, but laying the gun on a support. Using a special adaptor, the gun could be installed on a mount from the Mg 11 machinegun. Finally, the rifle could be installed in fortifications.

Tankbüchse 41 on a fortification mount from the 47 mm infantry gun.

The Tankbüchse 41 could be towed by a cyclist.

Two new types of ammunition were created for the new anti-tank rifle: the armour piercing 24 mm Pz-G.V. and explosive St-G. Both shells weighed 225 g (the full round weighed 460 g, and were 210 mm long). The first was painted gray, the second yellow. The explosive shell was equipped with an impact fuse. There was also a training 24 mm U-G shell, which weighed 225 g and had a delayed fuse and a smaller load of explosives. The training shell was painted black.

When firing on small shooting ranges, the Lmg 25 machinegun was attached to the rifle using a special holder. The anti-tank rifle was loaded with a special inert "manipulation round" (Manipulierpatrone) and the machinegun was loaded with tracer bullets. When the rifle's trigger was pulled, the machinegun fired off a single shot.

Tankbüchse 41 with the Lmg 25 machinegun attached to the barrel.

The high muzzle velocity (860 m/s in some sources, 900 m/s in others) allowed for effective fire up to 2000 m. The round maintained a velocity of 315 m/s at that range. However, the field manual instructed to fire at tanks from a range of 300 meters. An exception was made for light tanks, which could be fired on from 1000 meters, to destroy the tanks before they could approach the rifle position. As you can see, the document was quite optimistic.

The author has no information on the penetration qualities of the Tb 41.

Deliveries of the Tankbüchse 41 began in May of 1941. Waffenfabrik Bern produced 3581 rifles by 1945. They were mostly sent to anti-tank squads of infantry companies.

The crew of a Tb 41 consisted of seven men. The ammunition carried included 120 armour piercing and 40 explosive shells. A single-axle cart was used to carry it. According to the field manual, it transported two boxes of ammunition (one containing 30 armour piercing rounds, the other 30 explosive rounds). Ammunition was also carried in four backpacks (16 magazines in total, 2 of which contained explosive rounds). Interestingly enough, the explosive round magazine only contained 5 rounds, and was smaller than the armour piercing magazine. This was done so they would not be mixed up in combat. A six round magazine weighed 5.12 kg, and a box with thirty rounds weighed about 22 kg.

The 1943 manual defined the roles of the infantry anti-tank squad as follows:

"The biggest part of the anti-tank defense falls to infantry cannons and anti-tank rifles. They take up the following positions:
  • On approach to settlements, with the objective of defeating armoured cars and tanks that try to flank the position.
  • On outskirts of settlements and inside of them, in locations resistant to tank attacks, with the objective of destroying armoured cars and tanks that broke through, relying on passive anti-tank defenses.
  • In fortified locations in the rear. The objective is to prevent tanks from hitting the rear of the main position. If enough anti-tank rifles are available, they can be used to destroy infantry (put them in heavy weapons and machinegun positions)."
Sufficient amounts of Tankbüchse 41 were available in Swiss units only by 1943. By then, it was clear that the rifle would be useless against modern tanks. On the other hand, the German invasion, which was quite possible in 1940-41, was no longer likely. Removal of the Tb 41 from infantry units began in the end of 1944, although they continued service in fortifications until the 1960s (298 Tb 41s were recorded in Swiss fortresses in 1945). These rifles were not exported. Negotiations about export to Ethiopia in 1951 did not succeed.

Tankbüchse 41 in a P-41 motorboat.

The most interesting chapter of the history of the Tankbüchse 41 was their use in the confederation's navy. In 1940-41, the government decided to form patrol boat groups on several of its lakes. Their main objective was resistance to a possible landing of amphibious aircraft, like the kind the Germans used when they invaded the Netherlands. The groups were initially armed with civilian motorboats, 20 mm Tb 40 anti-tank rifles, and 7.5 mm AA machineguns. Later, in December of 1941, the first two P-41 motorboats entered service. Three of these boats were ready in July of 1943, and three more in April of 1944. With a displacement of 7 tons and length of 12 meters, these boats could reach a speed of 40 kph. The main weapon was the Tb 41, installed in the front. In 1962, it was replaced with a 20 mm gun, but the "Uri" (a civilian motorboat pressed into service, and the prototype for the P-41 project) kept its Tb 41 until 1971.

The Tankbüchse 41 appeared at a dangerous time for Switzerland. Even though the gun never served in combat, it played its part in the rearmament of the Swiss army, becoming its first mass anti-tank weapon. From a technical point of view, the Tankbüchse 41 was an intermediate weapon, larger than a regular anti-tank rifle, but not quite a fully fledged anti-tank cannon.

Tactical-technical characteristics of the 24 mm Tankbüchse 41 anti-tank rifle:

Caliber, mm
Mass, kg
Mass with wheeled mount, kg
Mass of a loaded magazine, kg
Mass of one shell, g:
Armour piercing
Mass of one round, g
Length of the body, mm
Length of the barrel, mm
Full length in travel position on wheeled mount, mm
Height in travel position on wheeled mount, mm
Maximum height on tripod mount, mm
Muzzle velocity, m/s
Rate of fire, RPM
Maximum effective range

  1. There are some misspellings and inaccuracies in the article which i listed below:

    • General Gisen; his Name was Henri Guisan
    • Not the Panzerwagen 39, but the Panzerwagen 36: "Diese von der Waffenfabrik Bern ursprünglich für den Panzerwagen 34 Praga entwickelte Panzerabwehrwaffe wurde in meheren Varianten gebaut und eingeführt".

    • "The high muzzle velocity (860 m/s in some sources, 900 m/s in others)" You have to differentiate the models, latest and most produced model Typ III, had a muzzle velocity of 900 m/s.

    List of models:
    • Typ I, erste Ausführung (Gesamtgewicht schussbereit 122 kg, Fernrohr mit 1,8-facher Vergrösserung und Gesichtsfeld 300 Prozent);
    • Typ II, erste Ausführung (mit offenem Verschluss und kleiner Mündungsbremse);
    • Typ II, zweite Ausführung (mit offenem Verschluss und grosser Mündungsbremse);
    • Typ III (mit geschlossenem Verschluss).

    * Some numbers in the "Tactical-technical characteristics" are wrong too.

    The monthly issued "Info Bulletin" of the Swiss Army ( has featured several articles on her anti-tank capabilities during WW2. It also provides valauble background information and technical description, production numbers and results of firing tests.

    1. Making myself a mistake too. Its the Panzerwagen 34 Praga, not 36 or 39.

  2. I've come across a little information on the performance of the 24x138mm AP-T. A Swiss Army report from 1941 credited the 24mm Pz-GV with being able to penetrate 30 mm of “armor plate of normal strength” at a range of 200 meters with an impact angle of 30-degrees. The Swiss Military Museum in Full-Reuenthal lists the Tankbuchse as being able, at 500 meters range, to penetrate 36 mm of “armor steel” with a flat 90-degree angle of impact and 17 mm at 30-degrees. The latter also listed a 2.3 second burn time for the tracer element.

    The museums all list the tank's nomenclature as Panzerwagen 39 "Praga".

    Thanks for a great article on an obscure weapon few people know about. As a WWII history buff, I've really enjoyed several of your articles since I "discovered" your blog awhile back. Keep up the nice work.


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Workout Tops: Let's Talk About Them

Oh, hey, guys! Your old friend Allison here. In the last few months, I have gotten serious about working out and eating clean, but you know what kind of the grossest thing is when you realize you have let yourself go a little and decide to get serious about your body again? Trying to find workout clothes that make you feel slender and willowy. Now, black Wunder Under Crops from Lululemon are a given. I struggle most with finding a workout top that is form-fitting while acting as workout Spanx. You know the kind I mean. I have one raspberry pink Scoop Neck tank from Lululemon which I have had for years, and fits the bill perfectly. Alas, they aren't currently selling any on their website and I've heard that they changed the material to one which I fear will do less to "mask" lumps and more "enhance" them.

Now, here's the thing about my body (it's a wonderland? duh.) - I have what Julia calls a "feminine" shape - an hourglass, if you will. Sidenote, Sunday night while we were watching Girls, Ben told me that I have "a Marnie body." It was so nice and so untrue and I am so obsessed with Marnie that it really touched my heart. Anyway. I've found that if I try to wear a baggy top, I literally look like a giant trapezoid. Some days, my small-ish ribcage is my only saving grace. I also tend to gravitate towards tops that are simple and solid colored (obviously). Keeping that in mind, check out some of the options that I think might keep me motivated to keep hitting barre classes - and let me know if you know of any I haven't listed here that would be up my alley!

Lululemon Power Y Tank
Beyond Yoga Long Racerback Cami
Lululemon Free to Be Tank
Thomas Kelly Malaga Mix Tank

Currently listening to: I'm Going Down - Vampire Weekend (Springsteen cover at the end of Girls on Sunday)

  1. Hey Allison,

    Great post! I too have been taking this kind of stuff more seriously lately after some pictures of me from Christmas vacation surfaced that I was unhappy with. (what?! that's not me!) Anyways, I was wondering if you had any good blogs or books to recommend on the subject of clean eating?

  2. I love the Clueless pic! And great recommendations on tops!! I'll definitely have to try these out!

    Haute Child in the City

  3. Check out these from LivFit - they are sooo cute!

  4. ahh clueless pic is hilarious! cute workout gear is a great way for motivation. I JUST downloaded the vampire diaries cover of springsteen too!

  5. I need to hit up Lulu Lemon. Also...that Clueless pic is amazing. So I workout at home {love my Insanity DVD's} and only wear a sports bra. There are a few reasons I do this. 1. I get way too hot and too sweaty to wear a full top and 2. Wearing only a sports bra and seeing it in the mirror motivates me to work out harder. It's kind of mean, but true! xoxo

  6. I keep hearing all the buzz about Lulu Lemon but I still haven't ordered anything...maybe I need to jump on the bandwagon!! And that clueless pic made my day!!! XoXo

  7. Allison
    I have nominated you for the liebster blog award!! Come see my post to know what to do!

  8. Love these options! I just started to get back on track with some sort of exercise routine and love the last pic super cute.
    Thanks for sharing.

  9. I love Clueless!! Such a cool post.

    Do you want to follow each other? Let me know.

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Posted by Paula Woodward in Latest Events,

We are excited to announce that we are busy preparing our hotel to welcome our guests back again this summer.

Whilst the world continues to experience the terrible effects of COVID-19 our thoughts are firmly with those who have lost loved ones during this difficult time.

After careful consideration and consultation with the local authorities, we feel the time is right for us to begin the process of re-opening the hotel.

We are making some important changes to how we operate which can be found here (click here).

Initially, we will be providing bed and breakfast with our bar and terrace reserved for guests only. We are encouraging our guests, where possible, to book online.

We want to personally assure our guests that this decision has been reached following confirmation that the measures and procedures we have put in place allow us to operate in a safe environment, ensuring guest and staff welfare at all times.

Whilst we remain committed to making sure the new ‘normal’ does not impact guest enjoyment, there are some services and facilities, including the restaurant, that will not re-open until we consider it safe to do so. However, for areas of the business that are safe to operate normally, the service, comfort and level of luxury you experienced prior to the closure will remain.

We will continue to monitor the situation in accordance with government guidelines, and are taking bookings for stays from 4th July 2020 under our ‘book with confidence’ guarantee, which offers a full refund, a voucher or a booking postponement, should the government revise guidelines which do not allow travel on the dates selected.

Bude, its beaches and the surrounding areas are all looking simply stunning.

We look forward to welcoming you back to breathe life once again into our beautiful hotel.


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The Clock Shop

The concept of The Clock Shop originated from the very first Finders Keepers that took place in the Sunday Times newspaper in the year 1990. The first million rand was hidden behind a clock in the pub of the Dullstroom Inn. In 2007 The Clock Shop was started with 30 fun clocks covering the back wall and today we can boast that we have the largest selection of clocks in one shop in the southern hemisphere (+5000 Different Designs).

The potentials regarding time are limitless, and so, we as a company started growing. We now manufacture and import our own range of clocks, supplying South African's with grandfather, wall, mantle and cuckoo clocks. The Clock shop is situated in Dullstroom, please just take note that the Clock Shop is not affiliated with any other clock shop except for the shop in Dullstroom, we are well placed to supply your needs, from clocks to clock repairs, restoration and all forms of Time.

The cases of our wooden clocks are made of fine solid wood imported from Canada, such as Linden, Chinese Catalpa and Oak, with very good finishing of walnut, natural wood, cherry and many other colors.

Clock Movements:

The 8 day chain-driven 4/4 Westminster chime movement with automatic night shut-off and moon phases is produced in Germany and assembled in China under license. We also sell the 31 day, 1/2 hour strike movement, the quartz movement and the special quartz movements for the cuckoo clocks.

A brief introduction to the factory in Dullstroom:

The factory in Dullstroom was established in June of 2012, since its first prints is has grown in sizes and capability, we are now able to take your photos and custom make clocks with your loved ones on the face of the clock, we can print your holiday photos on canvas and block frame them for you, even put a small faced clock on the canvas print, for get a quote please sent your photos to

HAVE WE GOT TIME FOR YOU. Not only are we importing directly and retailing, there is a unique opportunity for retailers throughout South Africa to sell our products in your outlets. Bulk buying discounts are available when purchasing fifty items or more. For further information regarding this offer, please contact us.


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Essay assignment The nature of social order

Please answer the following question in essay form: What do both The Comet, by W.E.B. Dubois, and Maxine Hong Kingston’s No Name Woman say about the nature of social order?Your essay should adhere to the following formatting guidelines: Font: 12 pt, New Times Roman; Margins: 1”; MLA Citation.Content: Title: Your work must have a title; Citations: A minimum of two citations from each respective text (a total of four); Length: 750-1000 wds. (3-5 pages).Both articles included in the Attachment14/05/202030english


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Last week, a dessert-loving colleague brought TRB an infamous Momofuku/Milk Bar cookie — the one with chocolate chips, marshmallows and corn flakes — as a “pick me up.” Well, not only did it brighten TRB‘s day (and lead to a slightly expanded waistline), it also inspired an attempt to recreate these delicious bites of heaven…. more »


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Chambre de Sucre Part 2: A New Line of Teas

I am so taken with Chambre de Sucre at the moment that it warrants one more post. Recently, Chambre de Sucre launched a new line of teas to go with their incredibly beautiful line of sugars, and I’ve been lucky enough to try them and report back.  Seems quite ironic that I tried all of these teas without any sugar.  To do justice to any good quality tea, however, and to discover its purist flavor, I do think that’s where one should start.

Left to Right:  Love Spell, Waiahole Valley, Kyushu
Evening Engagement, Chocolate Et Fraise, Summer Child

There are 7 new teas from Chambre de Sucre, each distinctive and full in character:

Love Spell No. 14:  This tea brews to a bright pink color, much like fruity punch.  It is bright and tangy, with strong berry notes and a zingy, puckering finish.  This tisane has an herbal hibiscus base and is caffeine-free.

Waiahole Valley No. 24:  Upon brewing, this tea has the smell of  the most delicious apple oatmeal.  It has a soft fruit taste, meaning that it is not at all acidic or sour.  Definite apple and banana flavors.  This tisane has a green rooibos base and is caffeine-free.

Kyushu No. 6:  A classic green tea, very vegetal in flavor.  It’s refreshing and grassy with a slightly fruity finish.

Evening Engagement No. 104:  Not only beautiful to look at but lovely on the palette with a Bai Mu Dan white tea base.  This tea has a light, herbal floral garden-like finish.  Great on its own as a spring or summer tea.

Chocolate Et Fraise No. 20:  Ok, if you want to lose weight but are craving chocolate you should have this tea.  Lisa is a genius for thinking of blending deep, dark pu-erh tea with chocolate!  The two flavors are amazing together here.  This is a very special tea– earthy, dark, and sweet.  If you haven’t ever tried pu-erh tea, or if you find other pu-erhs to be too musty for you, this is a good place to start.

Summer Child No. 3:   This is a great summer iced tea.  It’s a black tea with medium body and finishes with notes of tropical fruit and peach pit.

Steeped Mon Frere Oolong tea with large tea leaves and roasted hazelnut pieces

Mon Frere No. 22:  My absolute favorite, which in French means, “My Brother.”  Mon Frere is an oolong tea with a buttery hazelnut finish.  It’s an amazingly well-balanced tea–full-bodied, nutty, rich, and smooth.   Mon Frere has vanilla undertones that would be perfect with a sweet dessert like cake.  This tea starts with little balls of Ti Quan Yin Oolong that unravel into large leaves.  I don’t think this was the prettiest of CdS’s teas but taste-wise…amazing!


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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Guest Bath Remodel: Lighten Up

Every time I hear the word "houseguest", I immediately make a mental list of everything that needs to be cleaned in the house in addition to all the home improvement we have yet to finish before the hypothetical guest arrives. And the spaces that are usually are the back of my mind because we don't use them all that often come popping right up to the top of the "sprucing up" list.

Like the Guest Bathroom, for instance.

Roughly 3 weeks before the ETA of our guests we began plotting our attack on the bathroom. We told you about how we installed a bi-fold door in the doorway to the furnace room - which immediately improved the bathroom about 10000%.

Then it was time for the fun part: painting!

So far our guest bathroom upgrades had only cost us $37 (which was for the bi-fold door and wood), plus some white paint we had on hand. For this room the name of the game was cheap & chic!

After taping the bathroom I pulled out our extra paint cans and surveyed the colors. Around about the time we bought our house I had discovered the Oops Paint section at Lowes - and became addicted.

We had quite a few paint colors to choose from, to say the least.

I opened up 4 of them and actually did a little testing! You should seriously be proud of me - normally I just pick one (I make sure that it matches the other colors in the house, first) and pray to the paint gods that it looks amazing on the walls (which so far it has! Hallelujah!).

Then I sat back and looked at them. They looked a little different on the wall than I thought they would, and the fact that the bathroom has no natural light from a window also makes a difference.

I also held up some of our leftover vinyl peel-and-stick tiles that will be going in here later, to see which one(s) would work with it...

In the end, the light and airy Desert Fortress (that we have upstairs in our Living Room, Dining Room, Hallway and Kitchen - oh, and the Master Bedroom Closet) won! Lucky for us, we had plenty - 1.5 gallons of it leftover, which was more than enough for the bathroom. It's such a great and versatile color - it's the exact color of a canvas dropcloth, so it goes with everything!

I painted and then we ended up hanging all the decorating items we had stored (until we got around to remodeling the bathroom)...

And this is how the bathroom looked for our houseguests (decked out for Halloween, too)!

We scored the mirror on sale at Lowe's last year marked down tremendously. It was $125, but we scored it on super-clearance for a measly $25! Gotta love a good deal like that.

We did splurge on the towel ring and a new toilet paper dispenser (goodbye nasty paint-splotched blue one!), but they only ran us about $30.

We bought white frames at Walmart for about $20, and filled them with original acrylic paintings I did in college - and a fun design I whipped up to match.

Bottom line: All-in-all, we only spent $112 on the bathroom remodel thus far (and we don't anticipate on spending much more since we have leftover flooring!).

And since everyone loves a good Before & After, here's the Before from way-back-when, & then the After:

Not too shabby, huh?

Yeah, we didn't think so. Of course we still have several projects left in here - a new light fixture (although I might miss the simple and rustic feel of a single lightbulb hanging on a wire from a hole in the ceiling... hah!), new flooring and then tackling that pesky and odd shower-in-a-closet!
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  1. Nicely done! Gotta love major change for a little change (hehe).

  2. YAY! I missed you!

    And I am beyond impressed with the dollars you are stretching in here! It looks like you have spent well beyond what you have! And that mirror is AWESOME!

    Way to go! I am sure your house guests adored it!!

  3. It's looking great! I really like that wall color- it warms it up more than just white. Can't wait to see it with the new floor! Love the mirror and artwork, too.

  4. I'm having palpitations over the mirror- stunning, and what a steal! The whole project looks fantastic.

  5. Nice job!! This makes me want to work on our house!

    I found your blog at Remodelaholic! I look forward to reading your DIY projects!! I am your newest follower!

  6. Looks great Chelsea! The paint really brightens it all up and I love all the accessories,especially the swanky mirror! Great deal!!!
    Ready for more guests??? :)

  7. Thanks, everyone!

    @Heather - While we love having houseguests, we're still recovering from my parents' visit! :)

    - Chelsea

  8. Yay for makeovers! It looks great. I'm planning on painting our guest/hall bathroom soon. Maybe I need to check out the "oops" paint section at Lowe's! I've never heard of such a thing.

    Those art prints are so cute, too.

  9. It looks great! I LOVE that mirror--what a great deal!

  10. That mirror is AWESOME! I love how it all came together! I found you through HOH your guest post! I'm your newest follower! I would love it if you would stop by and check out my blog, if you like what you see I would love it if you followed back! Have a great 4th!

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vTaiwan – A Glimpse of Open Source Open Space Government (Part 1)

Here’s a fascinating introduction to one of the most remarkably co-intelligent experiments in governance happening on the planet today. More to follow….

I have not posted much in the last few months, having been very busy with
(a) the Emerging Network Governance Initiative – a project arising out of the insights and possibilities I noted in my post of July 9, 2017 “Inclusive networks are shaping our lives right now. Are they governance?”;
(b) the Bloom Incubator and Summit (whose potential is barely hinted at on its announcement page); and
(c) vTaiwan, the most remarkable innovation in governance I’ve run across in a long time – which is hard to track, partly because it is constantly evolving.

I intuit that all these – and the wise democracy pattern language and Nora Bateson’s “symmathesy” worldview centered on “mutual learning in context” – are pointing to a radically different understanding of how we could collectively order our public affairs in wise and largely self-organized ways.  I will be reflecting on all that in another post soon, but I want to share my excitement about vTaiwan first.

The following is a layered description of vTaiwan over four messages:  In this, the first post, you’ll find an introduction (a 1 minute read) followed by a 3-minute overview.  In the second post I offer you eleven brief “Notes on Aspects of the vTaiwan Phenomenon” (probably a 10-15 minute read).  In the third post, I describe two early examples of the work done by vTaiwan and its associated hacktivist community, g0v (gov-zero).  In the last post I share some of the best links I’ve worked with (including video conversations I’ve had with vTaiwan’s remarkable calm center, Audrey Tang), on which you can spend 5 minutes or 5 days or more if you wish to delve into the topic in more depth….

It has taken me almost two months to understand vTaiwan to the extent I do – which is to at least glimpse its simplicity on the far side of its complexity (instead of the oversimplifications on this side of its complexity) – and I am seriously impressed.  At the same time I realize that vTaiwan’s current form is not so much a model to be replicated as an inspiring beginning of a potentially profound evolutionary shift in all aspects of our collective governance. There is so much more to it than I have written in these four posts, but I think this material represents the core of what I want to share at this time.

Enjoy!…. and breathe! 🙂

= = = =

Intro to vTaiwan

What would it look like if democracy involved citizens, public servants, and issue stakeholders working together to develop policies, programs and regulations that featured approaches that made sense to almost all of them?  What if their ways of doing this were productive, totally transparent and constantly evolving through initiatives and dialogues among thousands of people dedicated to making it all work better? We can glimpse this possibility in the rapidly evolving political culture of Taiwan, especially in vTaiwan, a self-organizing mix of online consensus discovery and live-streamed face-to-face dialogues.

vTaiwan is neither a platform nor a process, but uses many platforms and processes in a self-organizing participatory activity that surfaces issues around which there is energy; it then calls up significant information and points of consensus about those issues that help stakeholders and public servants interactively draft and modify regulations.

There is nothing else quite like it in the world. And although it arose out of Taiwan’s unique political history and conditions, it has many features, principles, patterns and lessons that can inspire democratic evolutionaries everywhere.

The next step will be to understand those features, principles, patterns and lessons more fully so that new versions of the evolution they represent can be innovated elsewhere around the globe in ways that truly serve the life of the places in which they flourish and shift.

Overview of vTaiwan

vTaiwan is a unique adventure in open source, open space participatory democracy, profoundly self-organizing, seriously intelligent and intentional, and deeply motivated by having fun, building trust, and finding creative solutions at all levels of Taiwanese society.  It uses a rich and sensibly integrated palette of shared tools for collaborative thinking and transparency – online, face-to-face, and in virtual reality – woven together into a coherent whole.

vTaiwan runs parallel to and partners with traditional institutions of representative government.  It frames itself as a consultation activity, although I see it as a whole-system collaboration rather than merely advice-giving.  vTaiwan processes attempt to engage a full spectrum of players working together to improve policy outcomes. This approach explicitly supports public servants, creating safe spaces for them to do the right thing.  Yet in the realm of political theory, it seems to turn democracy inside out and upside down. Despite its (r)evolutionary nature, it is thoroughly grounded in the core principle of rule by the people and, in particular, by those who are most affected by specific government decisions.  To accomplish this it upgrades the opportunity for meaningful citizen and stakeholder participation and citizen-government engagement and trust by several orders of magnitude. There is little voting in the usual sense, but countless opportunities for personal expressions of perspectives, preferences and possibilities that have real impact on policy outcomes, especially thanks to the institutionalized participation of government officials.

This engagement ecosystem inspires a weave of diverse dynamics.  In activities like the national e-petition process, facilitators utilize the legitimacy of numbers: 5000 signatories are required to guarantee a government response.  In other aspects — like the crowdsourced consensus-mining platform Pol.is — it taps dynamic relationships between public agreements and disagreements to identify common ground and deeper insight.  In still others — such as its weekly hackathons — it cultivates the creative initiative of individuals and the self-organizing dynamics of their interactions. Most importantly it constantly convenes and harvests generative conversations between interested citizens, public servants, and issue stakeholders, all of whose views tend to shift in the process.

The result is a complex nonlinear mix of people’s engagement with each other and with evolving fields of information and proposals all unfolding in and around a core pattern.  This core dynamic first evokes and clarifies useful information and common ground from the many divergent perspectives that make up any given public issue. It then feeds the resulting insights into public reflections by panels of stakeholders and officials.  The outcomes of those conversations translate into official deliberations that generate laws, regulations, budgets, and other products of government.

All this is tracked, catalyzed and facilitated by hundreds of contributors — including the uncannily perceptive and accessible Digital Minister without Portfolio, Audrey Tang — who move through it all having fun and enabling everyone else to have as much fun as possible while nurturing trust among all sectors.  The entire phenomenon is historically rooted in the inclusively co-creative experience of the Sunflower Movement of 2014 — a plurality of spontaneous, self-organized communities of thousands of students and activists who occupied parliament for 22 days while engaging each other and the country in innovative deliberations that impacted public policy.  vTaiwan is a major evolving legacy project of that watershed event.

[For more on vTaiwan’s current practices and some examples from its recent past, see Parts 2 and 3 of this series, as well as the many links in Part 4.]

Tom Atlee, The Co-Intelligence Institute, POB 493, Eugene, OR 97440

Evoking and engaging the wisdom and resourcefulness of the whole on behalf of the whole

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Exploring Tourism operate Motor Gliding / Ultra flight in Nepal, since it has been operated .Since its inception in 1996, it has been offering sightseeing . .
Nepal Travel Activities

Think of Nepal and the image that immediately comes to your mind is that of breathtakingly beautiful beaches, lush green jungles with exotic wildlife, majestic temples, a vibrant nightlife, delicious cuisine, pulsating cities and a rich traditions and rituals serving as a reminder of its glorious past. Nepal is all that, and a lot more. There are so many fun Nepal Travel Activities to do when you visit the country. At Exploring Tourism, we plan your trip to Nepal and help you enjoy all the adventurous and thrilling travel activities to make your trip all the more memorable. Call for more info.

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Gills Cliff House Accommodation

Gills Cliff House provides spacious high quality accommodation for seven people in four bedrooms. The rooms are generously sized and most have sea views. Rooms are decorated and furnished to a high standard. The main rooms have painted wood flooring. Wireless high speed Internet is available throughout the house (WPA encrypted – password supplied), although no PC is provided. The house is fully centrally heated by a gas boiler. We regret that pets cannot be accommodated. Gills Cliff House is a no smoking house. A high chair and travel cot are available for young children.

Ground floor

Entrance Hall: The large entrance hall has a handy chest of drawers and all of the downstairs rooms go off it. There is a small storeroom which has iron and ironing board in it.

Living room
Dining room

Living room: a lovely room dominated by an imposing working fireplace (logs provided in appropriate seasons) and chandelier with double french window opening out to the decked area. It is furnished with two 3-seater sofas and one 2-seater sofa and small tables. The television is a large Toshiba HD flat-screen with a Freesat HD box and blu-ray player.

Dining Room: another lovely room with a chandelier. There is a large dining table seating 8, a dresser and a sideboard. There a docking station for an iPod and a selection of games. This room also has a double french windows opening out on the decking.

Kitchen: The kitchen has modern units with crockery, cutlery and cooking pots/pans/utensils for 10 people. The hob is electric, as is the oven which has a grill in it. The fridge/freezer and dishwasher are built in. There’s also a microwave, toaster and electric kettle.

Downstairs toilet: A handy room with a toilet and wash basin as well as the washing machine.

Living room

First floor

Bedroom 2: a lovely room with windows in two walls – one of which is a large floor to ceiling window looking over Ventnor park to the sea. There’s a king size bed, large wardrobe, drawers, a dresser, chairs, chandelier and a full length mirror.

Bedroom 2
Bedroom 3

Bedroom 3: Like bedroom 2 this has a large floor to ceiling window with sea view and a window in the side wall. As well as a double bed there’s a large wardrobe, dressing table, easy chairs, chandelier and a telescope for watching passing ships.

Bedroom 4: This is a smaller room with a side view window. It has a 4 foot bed, so generous for one person.

Bathroom: This is a well laid out room which has a toilet, wash basin, centre fill bath, heated towel rail, cabinet and a power shower in a separate enclosure.

Top floor

Bedroom 1: The whole of this floor is a master bedroom suite built in the eaves. The floor to ceiling window gives panoramic views across Ventnor Park to the English Channel, and there’s a bench and telescope in the window to take full advantage. The bed is a double and there’s mirrored-door wardrobes/shelving, drawers, a clock radio alarm and chairs. The en-suite shower room has a toilet, wash basin cabinet and power shower.

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 1

There a large decked area accessed from the living and dining rooms which has a large outside dining table with benches and chairs, a garden bench and two sun loungers. Steps lead down from the decking to the fully enclosed garden.


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History of the Fan

antique fan

From the sixteenth century up to the late 1800s throughout the whole of Europe, the dress of no fashionable lady en grande tenue appears to have been complete without the addition of a fan.  So prominent a part has this little “modish machine" played in intrigue, love, and scandal that it has been aptly termed "the woman's scepter." Invitations were given by it, assignations were made; a gracious furl encouraged the lover; a disdainful furl plunged him into despair. To read aright this language became a necessity in the education of all fine gallants, who must know how to understand each movement and interpret each flutter.

As a vintage and antique fan collector, one of the big challenges can be managing your collection in an efficient and accurate way. There are multiple versions of collecting software ranging from simple inventory systems for amateur collectors to full-fledged real time collectibles inventory software

The praises of the fan have been sung by poets in various ages and in various climes. In England the great essayist Addison thought it not unworthy of a place in the Spectator, and in an amusing skit called "The Fan Academy" he describes "the angry flutter, the modish flutter, the timorous flutter, the confused flutter, the merry flutter, the amorous flutter. Not to be tedious," he says, “if I only see the fan of a disciplined lady, I know very well whether she laughs, frowns, or blushes. I have seen a fan so very angry that it would have been dangerous for the absent lover who provoked it to come within the wind of it; and at other times so very languishing that I have been glad for the lady's sake the lover was at a sufficient distance from it." Thus from its introduction the literature of the fan has been rich in satire, verse, and epigram.

In the preface to the Catalogue of the Fan-makers' Exhibition at Drapers' Hall in 1878, Mr. George Augustus Sala says, "If a thorn was the first needle, no doubt a palm leaf was the first fan." Ancient monuments show that such natural objects as the palm leaf and the bird's wing were originally adapted to this use. At shops dealing in Eastern produce palm-leaf fans were purchased exactly similar to those which are figured on monuments dating from long before the Christian era. Frescoes on the temple of Medinet-Hahan at Thebes represent Rameses III. (whose reign began 1235 B.C.) accompanied by princes bearing screen-shaped fans. These fans were semicircular in shape, painted in brilliant colors, with long handles twisted or party-colored. They served as standards, and were borne only by royal princes, or men of high rank and approved bravery. Hand-screen fans made of leaves and of ostrich feathers were also in general use. In the British Museum may be seen specimens with half-yard-long wooden handles.

In India the earliest fans were of palm leaves. In Persia and among the Arabs ostrich feather fans were in use early in the Christian era. Screen fans are mentioned as being in use in China about the same date that Rameses III was reigning in Egypt, and, as in Egypt, they were carried as standards in war. The earliest kinds, made of feathers, were royal or imperial gifts. Later on white and embroidered silk was apparently used, for we find  its application to this purpose forbidden in 405 A.D.  Ivory had been employed at an anterior date, and in the early part of the Christian era a Chinese workman whose name is handed down as Chi-ki-long, was renowned  for screen-shaped   hand  fans, which   he   made by beating out a sheet of gold to excessive thinness. "He then painted them with gods, with extraordinary birds, and with rare animals; varnished them and covered them with transparent sheets of mica." The fan is mentioned by Euripides, Virgil, Ovid, etc., and it is frequently to be found figured on Etruscan vases. Boettiger states that the earliest Greek screen fans were shaped like the plane-tree leaf. But in the fifth century B.C. the fashion of peacock-feather fans was introduced from Asia Minor, and was readily adopted by the Greek women. A fresco at Herculaneum depicts an ostrich-feather fan. The "tabellæ" mentioned by Ovid and Propertius were hand screens of thin wood; at times these were trimmed with feathers.

But none of these screen fans, large or small, whether made of feathers, of leaves, of ivory, or of gold, whether semicircular or tail-shaped, could be folded. They were either attached to long handles, like the Chinese and Egyptian war fans, or to small handles for the convenience of personal use.

With the last of the Cæsars the screen fan disappears from Europe, not to reappear until the time of the Crusades, when the flag-shaped fan, probably of Saracenic origin, was introduced, and continued in use in Venice, Naples, and Padua.

In the mean time Christianity had transmuted the fan into an instrument of devotion. St. Jerome had named it as the emblem of chastity, and henceforth it took its place in the sanctuary, where at the altar it served to keep flies from the chalice and the sun's rays from the celebrant. The "flabellum" thus used has come down to us in actual specimens— such as the flabellum of the Abbey of Tournus, figured in M. du Sommerard's work. The flabellum is also mentioned in many inventories, notably one of silk at Salisbury, 1214 A.D.; one in peacocks' feathers at St. Paul's Cathedral, 1295. They continued in general use until the end of the thirteenth century, and still form one of the most marked features in all grand papal ceremonies.

Closely related in shape to the flabellum were the earliest fans of peacocks' feathers worn by ladies. Such a fan is held by Maria Luisa de Tassis in her portrait by Van Dyck.

These fans are known to have been of considerable value. The handles were of ivory or of gold, worked and jewelled. The feathers were ostrich, peacock, or some other bright plumage, and the fan hung by a slender chain from the heavier girdle then worn round the waist. This mode of hanging the fan continued fashionable to the seventeenth century.

In illuminated manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries may be seen flag fans similar in form to that in use in Tunis, and in an inventory of Charles the Fifth, of France, dated 1380, we read for the first time of "un esmouchoir rond qui se playe, en Quoire, aux armes de France et de Navarre, à manche d'ybenus." Folding screens of this shape were used until the reign of Francis the First, when they gave way to folding fans more or less of the shape we now use.

The earliest representation of the folding fan—the fan proper—is found in the hands of the Japanese god of happiness. Between 900 and 960 it was adopted in China, and brought from that country to Portugal during the fifteenth century. During the sixteenth century it appears to have been in general use in Portugal, Spain, and Italy, from which it found its way to France with the Italian perfumers, who went there in the train of Catherine de Medicis. In England fans were an adornment of female dress in Henry VIII's reign. Queen Elizabeth wore a fan, and there is a portrait of her holding a small folding fan in her hand. It is recorded that she received a present of a fan on her birthday, and after her death twenty-seven fans were enumerated in the inventory of her wardrobe. During the first half of the sixteenth century the number of the blades in the fan varied in France from four to eighteen. The mount of vellum or skin was sometimes painted, sometimes cut to a lace-like pattern. The fan when open was a quarter circle. By the last third of the century the blades had increased to twenty-four or twenty-six. Silk came into use for the mounts, and the fan as then worn, is seen in a sketch in Fabri, 1593, of a French lady wearing the quarter-circle fan thus described.

Before entering on the several changes which at different periods were made in the fan it will be well to give a word in explanation of the technical terms used when speaking of its various parts. A fan is made up of two parts, the stick (la monture) and the mount (la feuille). The stick is composed of a varying number of blades (brins), which fold in between two guards (panaches), and in counting the blades it is not usual to include these panaches. The shoulder (gorge) is the height of the fan from the lower edge of the mount to the end of the handle (la tête), through which passes the pin (rivure). In proportion to the depth of the mount this height at different times has varied, notably about 1720 and 1841.

In the seventeenth century the use of the fan spread generally over Europe, Coryate, the traveler, writing in 1608, found men and women carrying fans in Italy. In Spain the use of the fan had become universal. In England the fashion spread more rapidly on account of the number of French fan-makers who took refuge there after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. In France for many years the trade developed so slowly that Spanish fans were largely used, and it is not until we reach the reign of the Grand Monarque that, after much petitioning and agitating, the corporation or guild of master fan-makers was established (in 1676), and the period began to which the finest specimens belong.

During the Louis XIV epoch the blades vary in number from eighteen to twenty-one; when open they form a continuous surface of ivory or mother-of-pearl, richly decorated in gold or silver. The shoulder is low, leaving a large proportion of the height of the fan for the mount. The painting is bold, the treatment broad, the coloring vivid. The fan opens out to a full half-circle. The mount is of leather, chicken-skin, silk, or paper.  A fan much in fashion belonging to this same period is the éventail brisé, so named because these fans have no mounts, but are entirely made up of the stick, which is painted, carved, or decorated with spangles. The most interesting specimen of this kind is the fan which Madame de Sévigné sent to her daughter Madame de Grignan, and which was exhibited at South Kensington in 1870, from the collection of Madame Duchâtel. Madame de Sévigné, in her 149th letter, describes the fan as we now see it, and it is figured in the "Blaise" edition of her letters. It is of the style known as Vernis Martin. The subjects are the "Toilette of Venus" and a "Promenade," and an additional interest is given by the fact that Venus is a portrait of Madame de Montespan.

Martin was a coach painter, or varnisher, who lived in the reign of the Grand Monarque. Mr. Redgrave, in his introduction to the Catalogue of the Exhibition of Fans held at South Kensington in 1870, thinks it probable from the evidence of style afforded by an examination of the fans known, as Vernis Martin that Martin not only varnished but also painted them, but no certainty can be felt on the subject. Indeed, what evidence there is beyond that of style (and whether Martin had a style is the point at issue) rather leads to a different conclusion, for a newspaper of the Revolution reports that a lady had erased from her carriage (as all were then compelled to have erased) emblems "painted by Huet, varnished by Martin."

Whether he painted or not, Martin discovered a remarkable varnish— hard, translucent, brilliant, and lasting. This he applied over paintings on various objects, such as carriages, sedan-chairs, snuff-boxes, étuis, and ivory fans. The secret died with him, and all reproductions by his imitators are very inferior. A most splendid example of a Vernis Martin fan was in the possession of Queen Victoria; it had formerly belonged to Marie Antoinette. Another éventail brisé, although not a Vernis Martin, belonging to Marie Antoinette, was exhibited by Monsieur de Thiac at South Kensington in 1870. This fan was ivory, carved by the great ivory worker Le Flamand, spoken of by Bernardin de St.-Pierre, when he visited Dieppe in 1775. The blades, twenty in number, are run on a slender blue ribbon. The carving represents the interview of Alexander and Porus. It was presented by the town of Dieppe to the Queen on the birth of the Dauphin (Louis XVII.), in 1785. When the Queen was forced to quit Versailles in 1789 she gave this fan to Madame du Cray, who was at that time keeper of her Majesty's laces. From Madame du Cray it passed into the hands of her daughter Madame la Bruyère, who at her death bequeathed it to Monsieur de Thiac.

Toward the close of Louis XIV's reign the éventail brisé was much in fashion, as were also fans richly decorated with gold flowers on mounts of silver paper. A very marked improvement took place at this period in the carving of sticks, due no doubt to the importation of Chinese fans, which now began to reach France, and which were used as models, or as sticks for favorite mounts.

During the reign of Louis XV the blades, eighteen to twenty-two in number, were narrowed and put further apart. Toward 1720 the shoulder was raised, leaving in the length of the fan less space to the mount. The fan also no longer opened to the full half-circle.

The width to which a fan opens cannot alone suffice to settle the period or the country to which it belongs. Many Dutch and English fans open but to two-thirds of the half-circle, and a fan of this fashion may even be French, and yet not be a Louis XV fan. As frequently happens, a part of the fan may be missing, and so it may no longer extend to its original half-circle; less frequently some of the blades of the stick are absent. But a careful examination will usually show whether this is the case, or whether, as is often done, the absent part has been more or less skillfully replaced.

The mounts of the Louis XV period are much less boldly treated—the figures are smaller, the paintings, frequently in medallions, are surrounded or joined by festoons of flowers. To this period belong the fans called "Cabriolet." In these the mount is in two parts, the lower and narrower mount being half-way up the stick, the second mount in the usual place at the top of the stick.

In the reign of Louis XVI the fan again opened to the full half-circle. The blades were made narrower, they were wider apart, and varied in number from twelve to fourteen, sixteen, or more. The depth of the mount remained as in the previous reign. An exquisite example with the subject, Jupiter and Callisto, is attributed to the pencil of Greuze, with two other charming cartouches attributed to Boucher.

The greatest difficulty exists to determine to whose hand is due the painting on many a fan which the owner unhesitatingly asserts to be by Watteau or by Boucher. Monsieur Roudot has found but one fan which had any claims to having been painted by Watteau, it had never been folded; the subject was a harlequinade. Examples by Boucher are almost as scarce. In the Galerie des Dessins at the Louvre are designs for fans by Raymond de Lafage. The fact is that few painters of eminence have ever touched these delicate toys.

Diderot, in his "Salon" of 1767, said of an artist whose style combined hardness with undue finish, "Toutes vos petites compositions ne sont que de riches écrans, de précieux éventails." And yet the cost of some fans is so great as to encourage the belief that their production is due to a master-hand. Mr. Sala speaks of one once possessed by Madame de Pompadour, the mount of which alone remains, that cost nine years of labor and £6000 in money. It is of paper most elaborately cut to imitate lace, and is exquisitely painted with five large and several small miniatures, the centre compartment commemorating "La puce de Mlle. Desroches."

It was in 1579 that Étienne Pasquier, in a gathering of wits at Poitiers, perceived a flea on the neck of Mlle. Desroches, and exclaimed that "la petite bestiole" deserved to be immortalized. The idea was received with acclamation, and the result was a collection of poems in Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian, which was published in Paris in 1582 under the title La Pulce de Mademoiselle Desroches. According to La Monnaye, the best lines were from the pen of the lady herself.

During the Louis XVI period many fans were executed in imitation of the Chinese. Gold and colored spangles became fashionable as enrichments to needlework embroidery. The guards were often mounted with figures set in motion by a pin underneath.

We now reach a long period of decadence. The éventail brisé again became fashionable, and the fan carried by a "Merveilleuse" or an "Incroyable" was almost imperceptible.

It is asserted that Charlotte Corday killed Marat without letting go her fan, which she continued to hold in one hand, while with the other she plunged the dagger into the breast of the monster. During the Revolutionary and Consulate period sandal and cedar wood fans cut in fret-work were greatly in fashion. They were usually mounted with medallions engraved by Bartolozzi and others, with portraits of Louis XVI, Lafayette, or scenes such as the taking of the Bastile printed in colors.

During the whole of these several periods the many beautiful examples of fans produced in Holland, Italy, and Spain may be easily recognized by the impress they bear of the art and style of those countries. All the finest skins, known as "chicken-skin," although the skin was kid's skin subject to peculiar treatment (art lost since the time of Louis XVI, when silk mounts came into fashion), were brought from Italy. Painted sticks also were in much favor for Italian fans.

Spanish fans had usually richly colored mounts, with paintings representing some incidents of love or gallantry; the sticks, sometimes of mother-of-pearl, sometimes of horn, were elaborately carved, and usually ornamented with gold.

The Dutch treatment, again, is so characteristic as to be hardly mistaken. The fan belonged to a daughter of Bishop Unmet, who in 1688 accompanied "William III from Holland in his expedition to England. It is preserved in its original case of black shagreen.

The immigration of foreign workmen, the trade with China, the communication with Holland, combined to give to the fan in England a very mixed character, so that it is almost impossible to fix with certainty the date of a specimen, unless— as is likely to be the case—it is painted or decorated so as to connect it with some contemporary event.

In the reign of Queen Anne the London manufacturers obtained a charter of incorporation, and from that time the trade of fans within the city was limited to members of the corporation. There is a fan case with a label on which announces that "Robt. Clarke, Fan-Maker to their Royal Highnesses the Duchess and Princess of Gloucester, at his Warehouse No. 26 Strand, near Charing Cross, is sole proprietor of the Fanology, or Conversation Fan; with these Fans Ladies may Converse at a distance on any subject without Speaking."

There were fortune-telling fans; fans with the witty Lady Townshend's riddles and charades, with rules for various games, the pack of cards forming the upper border; programme fans, made of asses' skin, fashionable to carry to routs and balls. Indeed, by the early part of the eighteenth century it is evident that the use of the fan was general, even in the streets of London, and from this period fans may be said to represent and commemorate, more than any other article, the follies and fashions of the day—we might almost say of the hour.

To Gravelot is attributed a fan which is painted in body color on vellum, with the drawing of the lottery at the Guildhall. The design is similar to the engraving by Parr, and is given in Chambers's Book of Days. Hogarth's Progresses and his "Mariage à la Mode" were often pirated for fan mounts. A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for May, 1753, speaks of fans representing "the humors of Change Alley" and Vauxhall Gardens, with the company. Another fan has a fan mount with George the Third and his family at a private view of the Royal Academy.

The illustration above shows a fan with a paper mount of Bartholomew Fair in 1721. The figure on the right with a star is supposed to be Sir Robert Walpole, then prime minister. Fawkes, the famous conjurer, is a conspicuous character. On the platform of Lee and Harper's show is the earliest representation of an English harlequin, dressed in the same fashion as we see him now. The boy picking the gentleman's pocket shows that the artist had not forgotten to represent that the picking of pockets succeeded the cutting of purses. "Indeed," says Hone, in his Every-day Book, "this fan print is exceedingly curious, and indispensable to every 'Illustrator of Pennant' and collector of manners."

After a long interval, a long period of neglect, the year 1829 saw a revival in the taste for fans. It chanced that a grand ball was preparing at the Tuileries, at which several "costume quadrilles" were to be danced. Madame la Duchesse de Berri had undertaken to get up a Louis XV quadrille, and was seeking everywhere for fans of that period. Suddenly some one remembered having seen some old fans in the shop window of a perfumer named Vanier, who lived in the Rue Caumartin. Vanier had collected old fans for some time as an amateur. His fans were taken to the palace; in the quadrille they created a furor, and were all purchased. The Duchesse de Bern's ball began the renaissance of the fan.

Another inspiration was seen in the revival of autograph fans. M. Achille Poussiégle relates in Voyage en Chine de M. and Md. Bourboulon: "There are fans of two kinds, open and folding. The former are made of a sheet of ivory or paper, and are used as autograph albums; and it is on one of these white fans that a Chinaman begs his friend to leave a sentence, a drawing, or some characters which shall recall the absent to his memory. These album fans, to which great or noted men affix their seals, become of great value."

Such were some of the fans in the Negroni collection, sold in London about 1866, after the Chinese war. They were richly decorated, covered with inscriptions, and were said to have belonged to emperors and empresses of China. Emblems, mottoes, monograms, initial letters, a dozen devices, readily suggested themselves to those who desired to carry in their hands a memento of friends, poets, painters, authors. What a shame that the thought did not come when Reynolds, Romney, or Gainsborough might each have left some impress on these ''women's sceptres." Then we might have gazed on a Siddons, a Farren, an Abingdon, with the same interest and pleasure.

The reverse blades are reserved for the autographs of musicians, in several instances accompanied by a few written bars of melodies which have enraptured the world. Clara Schumann, Rubinstein, Joachim, Henschel, Sarasata, Josef Hofmann, Christine Nilsson—what ravishing echoes the bare mention of each name seems to bring to our ears!

In the example shown above by Mrs. Alma Tadema these sign-manuals of talent have not been so separated. The autographs of painters, actors, musicians, men of letters, are side by side, or in some instances together on one blade.

Among the various picturesque objects that decorated certain studios, one is certain to note the prevalence of the fan. Sometimes a grizzly humorist, a stranded bachelor, in order to give color to "what might have been," would hang up a few time-worn feminine trophies—a fan, a limp bow of faded ribbon, a crumbling bunch of flowers dry as stubble, a dainty high-heeled shoe, and over them, in mocking agony, he writes: "Alas! Alas!"

The common Japanese fan, elementary in form,  was a moving influence in the awakening breeze of modern ''renaissance," that under the various guises of æstheticism first developed the "art craze" during the 1860s. By what happy circumstance the lovely fans of Japan were first whirled into the artistic move we do not pretend to say, "but it is certain that their advent was welcomed with as wild a show of enthusiasm as the intense disciples of the new culte ever permitted themselves to indulge in. At first they began modestly to adorn and brighten a few super-select but hitherto dingy studios. Not as fans proper, or even as fire-screens— as by many they were inaptly termed— but as notes of color, harmonizing elements of tone, and points of "sweetness and light."

Liberally scattered about, nowhere did they seem out of place except when used as fans generally are. Leaning lovingly from stray bits of old blue, they were likened by a new-born aesthete to Rossetti's blessed damozel, who "leaned out from the gold bar of heaven." They were to be seen tacked to the walls in timid groups, or sent careering in meteor flights from the floors to the very centers of the ceilings, and it needed but a few shillings to flood the humblest painting-room with color and make it glow with light.

The first importation of these delightful bagatelles was by far the best that ever came. Exquisite in quaint design, full of subtle fancy, simple and direct in such drawing as they saw sufficient, they were lessons in delicacy of tone, tint, and freshness of composition to many a school-trained artist who before had flattered himself that he knew most things worth knowing. By this happy introduction the key-note was struck by which certain "coming men" startled the contented doze of the Philistines of England and France into wideawake wonder as to the source of inspiration whence came those vagaries of mysterious design and subtle simplicity of touch and color. Those who already knew and loved the tottering lily and the radiant sunflower smiled as they recognized the spring; but all the same they gave welcome to the little art breeze fresh wafted from almond-blossom land.

But to return to the fan proper. As already said, in its first progress through Europe, France seemed by election to be chosen as the home of the fan. In no other country were dress fans so costly. Artists of great note condescended to embellish these charming playthings. Both Gérôme and Hamon painted fans for the Empress of the French and the Princess Mathilde. Gustave Doré also executed several fan mounts. The Parisian fan-maker was, so to speak, the inventor or designer. He decided on the nature of the mount, whether to be painted or of silk or lace, the style of the stick, its decoration, and its carving. And the several parts having been produced under his guidance, he combined the whole with a directing taste which stamped his individuality on a work of art. [Author: Louisa Parr]


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Suggestions, Complaints or Praise

Woman smilingWe would be grateful for your comments with regards to any area of our practice. Feel free to write to us or email us. Any feedback involving a complaint should be addressed to the practice manager who will deal with it courteously and promptly so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible. We invite valuable feedback to enable us to improve our services or to congratulate ourselves on a job well done!


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Souvenirs against the Corona-Blues – The happy holidays you can stay in order to travel to the Amalfi coast, the island of Sylt, or in Brittany for weeks is unthinkable. Comfort Craftsmanship of the favorite destination offers.Brigitte Jurczyk0 KommentareDie German North sea island of Sylt, and your beach chairs are currently very, very far.Photo: Ferdinand Graf von Luckner

The borders to the neighboring countries for the majority of people densely. Thank God for the international goods traffic to work. As a reminder, or an optimistic taste of what you can get from the fabrication operation in the vicinity of the sea typical Souvenirs deliver. Three hand-crafted recommendations from Germany, Italy and France.

Sylter Beach chair for the home Of the workshop Trautmann on the island of Sylt can have the beach basket-Fans of the North sea feel to your home.Photo: Ferdinand Graf von Luckner

When the sky is blue Opel Blitz, built in 1950, is buzzing on the streets of Sylt, know Insiders: The trust’s supply beach chairs. Of course, you don’t ride the hand-woven sun seats only to the beaches and terraces of the North sea island, the good pieces go by ship and truck to customers all over the world. Right now, as the northernmost German island for tourists remains locked, to convey the original from the Trautmann-workshop Sylt Fans memory of the North sea-blown holiday happiness. “We are, in fact, already a number of callers have reported, the travel, otherwise, regularly to the island of Sylt,” says Benjamin Trautmann, head in addition to father and sister, the family of Sylt-beach chairs operating in Rantum. “Some treat the two-seater as a replacement for the holidays.”

500 Meter plastic bands are intertwined, for each of the Wind – and sun protection. The PVC Material has replaced the rattan cane, from the early the beach chairs were made. Including the carpentry work, the preparation of the German coasts, so typical of the sun seat will take about eight to ten hours. “Sometimes we fulfill the wishes of customers, extra”, betrayed the trust’s and tell of the warmth of the heaters in the seat or built-in speakers, filled with Seagulls and the North sea-noise – for-the-true holiday feeling, you can get to his home.

ceramics with the colors of the Amalfi coast holiday Souvenirs of the Italian Amalfi coast, to Order: plate of the ceramics factory, Ceramica Artistica.Photo: Brigitte Jurczyk

Giovanna Solimene says sadly: “The production is only set once. We have sent to the ceramist as a precaution, to get home.” A big blow for the spoiled by success and manufactory Ceramica Artistica Solimene, on the Italian Amalfi coast, one of the most beautiful regions of the world. If it were not for the Virus, would be the stretch of coast South of the Gulf of Naples, is now an absolute holiday hotspot.
Many tourists would go to the town of Vietri sul Mare. The old ceramic tradition is the reason – and to design an architecture icon: Vincenzo Solimene, Giovannas father, commissioned in 1951 by the Italian architect Paolo Soleri, a house for his workshop. The ceramic-clad building draws until today, Fans of, particularly in America, well-known architects. Vases and plates, cups and bowls, jugs, and figures, which are molded into the Cathedral-like Interior and painted by Hand, enjoy a similar cult status. You are a catch in cheerful colours and Patterns, a cheerful attitude to life that was in Front of Corona-times on the Amalfi coast home.

Ceramica Artistica Solimene is today still a family business: The four sons of the house, take care of the tile manufacture. Together with her three sisters, Giovanna Solimene takes care of the table is ceramic. The stacks on the stock on shelves in the workshop, and is
– break-proof Packed and with a greeting of the Amalfi coast, sent produced.

In the stripe T-Shirt from Brittany’s dream three-quarter sleeves, an anchor, and quite a lot of strip: T-Shirt, the Breton company Armor Lux.Photo: PD

Hardly anything is as much for Brittany as the Ringel-T-Shirt. It is currently en vogue again. Style icon Coco Chanel made it acceptable, and a Swiss made it world famous: Walter Hubacher founded in 1938 in Quimper, the company Armor Lux, a manufactory for underwear in which specialized on the production of “La Marinière”. The Shirt with the characteristic 21 blue stripes, three-quarter sleeves and boat neckline were wearing earlier, only the Sailors of the Navy and the fishermen on the coast. You went overboard, you should be able to see better in the water and save.

The strip-T-Shirts from Armor Lux, are still made in the pretty town of Quimper, are Breton through and through. “Even the fabric is knitted, the models are Hand-cut and sewn,” says sales chief Marco Petrucci.

Today, the T-Shirt for a relaxed beach holiday, the appear to be currently inaccessible is. You can, of course, old films with Brigitte Bardot or Audrey Hepburn sick and tired of wearing the sailor shirt provocatively sexy , or you can leave it in the domestic wardrobe supply.

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Words Containing COCKSHUTS

With this 9 letter combination COCKSHUTS it is possible to make 190 words containing exactly the same letters. Also look at our partial matches for cockshuts! We searched a database of 165 000 anagrams for results. All word answers are from the official Scrabble dictionary and they can be used in the game.

Words That Contain COCKSHUTS Letters Exclusively

9 Letter Words Containing Cockshuts

Words Containing COCKSHUTS Partial Matches

Most of the characters in the partial matches list are matching with the searched for combination, but some might be different. Seeing terms where only one element of the puzzle is missing helps you plan ahead and get more points in the future. The best part is that reading new phrases will broaden your vocabulary and make you better at spelling. Including our similar results into your overall strategy is an amazing way to get new ideas for anagrams.

5 Letter Words Containing Cockshuts

6 Letter Words Containing Cockshuts

7 Letter Words Containing Cockshuts

8 Letter Words Containing Cockshuts

Words made from letters including C O C K S H U T S

Unscramble more new word ideas that are made from similar character sequences as yours. This example list is a good way to find additional data. Use the anagram solver by changing some vowels or consonants. The order is not important. You may not get a word that contains your characters right away, however it is a good learning experience. Reading more builds your knowledge and will eventually help you plan ahead.
How does our phrases finder work? It filters through the whole official dictionary database and includes answers that are a match or give a benefit. If you are looking to improve your overall strategy then read some of the basic rules for winning. Knowing how to spell smaller words(especially the ones that have rare characters) will automatically improve you chances of victory. Rearrange your rack often and look for common prefixes and suffixes which can be added somewhere on the board. Also go for bingos and bonus squares.

Search For Words With

Use our search tool to find more results. Not all character combinations can be used to spell a phrase. To get the best answers try to change one or more letters of C O C K S H U T S. Spell your combination with different vowels or consonants. The word scrambler will do the rest.

Highest values of letters with C O C K S H U T S in them

Having a large vocabulary is a big part of Scrabble, however that is only one aspect. Understanding how many points something is worth and playing strategically is just as important! You will win by having the highest score. One way to be the best is to use tiles that have a high value. We will now evaluate the quality score of our 9 characters that contain:

C = 3 point(s)
O = 1 point(s)
K = 5 point(s)
S = 1 point(s)
H = 4 point(s)
U = 1 point(s)
T = 1 point(s)

These results are straight out of the Scrabble rules book. Only 7 unique individual letters from 'COKSHUT' are displayed on the list. Based on your own strategy you have to determine what tiles to use in order to arrive at the best outcome.

Word Games Helpers

Once you have unscrambled your word it is a good idea to check it over with our score calculator. Let us call it a quality control. Also remember to test for similar terms that might give bigger numbers.


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Heard on the Hill: What’s the KU Ombuds Office? We’ll tell you; sculptor to demonstrate how to bend wood; N.J. KU fan featured on ‘GMA’

Your daily dose of news, notes and links from around Kansas University.

• Today, an office at KU will celebrate its 35th anniversary. It’s an office that I’ll bet many Heard on the Hill readers are not aware of: the University Ombuds Office.

I don’t say that to be mean-spirited. The university ombuds herself, Kellie Harmon, told me her office is rarely in the limelight.

“Even though we’ve been here 35 years, it’s just one of those kind of weird, hidden offices that people don’t know about,” Harmon said.

But even if it’s received little public attention, the office performs an important service, she says: It’s a place for students, faculty or staff to go for informal, off-the-record discussion of conflicts, grievances or other problems on campus.

If, say, a student has a conflict with a professor (or the other way around), that student could come to the Ombuds Office to talk it over and receive some coaching on how to handle the situation, without needing to go through any sort of formal process.

The first university ombudsman — as it was then called — took office in 1977, after University Governance groups created the position, Harmon told me. Harmon is the fourth ombuds in KU history, but she’s the first person to hold the position full-time; until 2007, the role was filled by a faculty member.

Harmon said she started working in the office part-time 20 years ago when she was a graduate student, and she liked it so much that she stayed there to work full-time after she finished school. Two faculty members assist her in the office now.

In its 35 years, the office has addressed more than 10,000 concerns from folks on campus, Harmon said.

It’s going to celebrate its 35th anniversary from 3 to 5 p.m. today in the Malott Room at the Kansas Union, where refreshments will be served. In attendance will be former ombuds, other people who’ve worked in the office and various folks from around campus, Harmon said. Anyone who’s been helped by the office before is welcome to attend, she said.

• To me, someone not terribly adept at working with his hands, “wood bending” sounds like some sort of witchcraft.

But Matthew Burke, an associate professor of sculpture at KU, assures me that it’s something humans can actually do. He’s planning to prove it Saturday morning, when he’ll offer a free wood-bending demonstration for anyone interested in bending wood for sculpture or other projects, or anyone interested in just seeing it done.

The demonstration will be from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the KU Art and Design Building.

Burke says that not only is wood bending real, but there are three ways to do it: with chemicals, cold lamination or steam. He’ll demonstrate all three Saturday.

It’s the second of three “hand skill Saturdays” the sculpture program is offering this semester.

• A hat tip goes to the @KUNews Twitter feed for this one: A brief clip on “Good Morning America” on Thursday showed an 11-year-old girl in Hoboken, N.J., who set up an “Internet café” out in front of her family’s home where people who’ve lost power because of Superstorm Sandy can come charge their electronics.

The “café” appears to consist of a whole bunch of power strips, making use of what appears to be a portable generator, into which folks have plugged in phones, tablets, computers, a coffee maker and all manner of things, which makes for some neat visuals.

But the reason we’re mentioning it here, and why @KUNews tweeted it, is that for part of the segment the girl, Lucy Walkowiak, is wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt adorned with what is clearly a KU Jayhawk.

The “GMA” talkers don’t acknowledge this, so we don’t know exactly what her KU connection might be, but the 90-second clip is still worth a watch.

• We’ve got a long way to go if we want the number of Heard on the Hill tips received to match the number of cases dealt with by the KU Ombuds Office over the years. In fact, I haven’t been counting, so we’ve pretty much gotta start now. So get those tips in, quick, to merickson@ljworld.com.


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Lawrence Arts Center stages ‘Sweeney Todd’

Sweeney Todd, played by Mark Rector, right, prepares to give a

Pirelli, played by Amelia Rollings, performs a tooth extraction on Tobias, played by Jacob Leet, before a crowd of spectators in a contest with Sweeney Todd, during a dress rehearsal for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 at the Lawrence Arts Center. Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo

Ric Averill has been thinking a lot about heritage recently. The longtime performing arts artistic director at the Lawrence Arts Center draws back the curtain on his latest project Friday, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

“There was a very specific reason to do this the year after (we did) ‘The Threepenny Opera’,” he says, referencing last season’s production of the Bertolt Brecht classic. “It’s very Brechtian. The chorus tells what they’re going to tell us, they comment on the action, and then, at the end, they tell us what they’ve told us.”

Acknowledging Brecht as one of the influences for the 1979 Stephen Sondheim musical, Averill dug into the heritage of “Sweeney Todd” itself. The principal character is fictional, but it’s based on a 19th urban legend — that of a revenge-obsessed barber who slits his customers’ throats when he shaves them. That led him to an exploration of Grand-Guignol theater.

“Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol was a unique venue founded in Paris in 1894 in a vacant chapel,” Averill says. “It specialized in horror shows, and it was known for its special effects.”

The bloodier and more horrific, the better was the way of thinking. Sondheim became fascinated with the Grand-Guignol style and infused it into his telling of the story, which was based on a script by Christopher Bond. In keeping with that idea of heritage, Averill is incorporating the macabre, visceral style into his production.

“There’s going to be blood,” he says. “Lots of blood.”

But if he intends for the presentation of the show to capture the horrific nature of Grand-Guignol style, Averill isn’t interested in gratuitous violence for the sake of titillation.

“If I were ever to direct a film, I wouldn’t want to do a horror movie, especially a slasher film,” he says. “I really don’t like that sort of thing.”

But he thinks, done right, horror has the potential to teach us important things.

“Even though we all don’t murder people, we do in our minds,” he says. “We need to think about that.”

Of course, this isn’t just a horror show. It’s a complex musical crafted by one of the most influential composers on Broadway. How does one balance the viscera with the beauty and the difficulty of the music?

“First you get really talented musicians,” music director Patricia Ahearn says. “Our actors, there’s not a weak link in the bunch.”

Sweeney Todd, played by Mark Rector, is reacquainted with his straight razors as saved for him by Mrs. Lovett, played by Jill Anderson, during a dress rehearsal for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 at the Lawrence Arts Center. Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo

Indeed, virtually every one of the performers in the cast is a classically trained singer.

“We brought in three incredible Equity actors,” Averill says.

Mark Rector is playing the titular Sweeney Todd. He earned his degree at KU and as a student played Sweeney years ago under the direction of Theatre Professor Emeritus Jack Wright.

The cast also features Omaha native Jill Anderson as Sweeney’s accomplice, Mrs. Lovett, and Washburn University opera professor Sylvia Stoner as the Beggar Woman. The rest of the cast is composed of a mix of local performers and KU students.

“Some of them have just graduated, and this is their first professional production,” Averill says.

“Ric and I had really high expectations,” Ahearn adds. “It was a condensed rehearsal schedule, and they had to basically come in off-book. I didn’t have time to plunk notes.”

Both agree that “Sweeney Todd” is Sondheim’s most operatic musical.

“Kurt Weil, Bertolt Brecht, and Leonard Bernstein are the classical composers (Sondheim) cut his teeth on,” Averill says.

And there’s that sense of heritage again. Sondheim was influenced by classical composers and by Grand-Guignol theater style. Averill is trying to celebrate that — by producing the show a year after doing Brecht’s most famous musical, by infusing it with Grand-Guignol sensibilities, and by casting a leading man who can reprise the role he played here in college — in grand fashion.

“After really reading it and studying it and thinking about the heritage of it, I really wanted to show the horror of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” he says.

“Sweeney Todd” opens Friday at the Lawrence Arts Center and runs Saturday, Sunday, Halloween night, and Nov. 1 and 2. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. with two exceptions. The Sunday performance is at 3 p.m., and the Oct. 31 one begins at 9.


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Basic Information

Changing weather patterns represent the most obvious impact of climate change and could pose serious challenges to societies confronting a shifting climate. Weather affects all aspects of natural and anthropogenic systems, from old-growth forests to agriculture, transportation, industry, and human health. As weather patterns change in response to a warming climate, humans may be forced to alter the lifeways that have sustained them for centuries. Growing seasons and animal migration patterns may change. Water quality and availability could be adversely impacted in some communities, especially those with few sources of potable water.

Weather and climate are closely interconnected, but there are important differences. Weather is the condition of the atmosphere during a given, short-term interval, like days, weeks, or even months at a specific location. It measures such things as temperature, humidity, wind, and precipitation. Climate describes the average weather over space and time. As anyone who has witnessed a warm, sunny day turn cold and overcast recognizes, weather can change over the course of several hours, or even minutes. Climate describes the statistical change in this natural variability. Earth will probably always experience periods of hot and cold, although their frequency and intensity will change as the climate shifts. As the scientists working as part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change note, "when weather is averaged over space and time, that fact that the globe is warming emerges clearly from the data." i

At least initially, Earth will experience only small, incremental changes in weather variables such as temperature and precipitation. Yet small changes input into the larger atmospheric system will result in larger changes in their extremes. Over time, conditions that are considered "extremes," ii like heat waves, droughts, and intense storms, will become more frequent.

In North America, six of the last ten years have fallen in the hottest 10% of all years on record for the US, with 2005 being the hottest year ever recorded. At the same time, the country has experienced fewer cold periods and the number of frost days is expected to decrease. According to a report released by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, the West has warmed 70% more than the rest of the continuous United States;iii it is only surpassed by temperature increases in Alaska.

The impacts of rising temperatures are diverse and will affect every part of the country. Higher temperatures mean that Arctic sea ice will continue to thaw and oceans will rise. Continuing temperature elevation will cause coral bleaching and death, a keystone species in tropical ecosystems. Snowpack is melting earlier and glaciers are disappearing. Pest infestations are expanding their ranges and causing massive tree-die. Most pests, like the bark beetle and gypsy moth, have historically been kept in check by winter cold snaps. As winters become milder, insects are able to live through the season and cause serious forest impacts.

Changes in weather, and in effect climate, are not limited to rising temperatures. Intense periods of rain and snow have occurred more often in recent decades, especially in eastern North America. The frequency of tropical storms, hurricanes, and other storms seems to have increased, although the data necessitate further analysis. Scientists project that precipitation is likely to become less frequent, but more intense-and more dangerous-than in the past.

While the exact impacts of climate change are difficult to quantify, one thing is for certain: the world is warming, and that warming stems from humans. Alaskan coastal villages-most inhabited by Native Alaskans who have contributed little to the crisis-are already feeling the heat. The United Kingdom's Guardian Newspaper tells this story, of global climage change's first refugees.iv The Yup'ik Eskimos have inhabited a tiny village called Newtok on Alaska's southwestern tip for the last 2,000 years. They livelihoods changed little over the years, subsisting primarily by hunting and foraging wild berries on the sparse tundra that surrounds them. Yet their small village is little literally disappearing. According to NASA, Arctic temperatures have risen 4 degree Fahrenheit on average over the last 50 years, and up to 10 degrees higher in winter-more than double the warming rate in the rest of the world. Higher temperatures have caused the permafrost to melt, which has saturated the ground with water. Buildings are sinking into the soggy Earth. Without the ice to hold back the sea, the land is crumbling into the ocean at rates up to 90 feet per year. The erosion is particularly bad during the summer storms-- which too have become harsher. Villagers are scrambling to construct their new home on a small island far above sea level before their home vanishes completely.

In the lower 48 states, global warming may hit the American West the hardest. Communities, already challenged by water availability, will most likely be forced to deal with lengthening periods of hot, intense drought. The Southwest has been in a persistent drought since 1996; the event has been the most extreme in the Colorado River Basin.v Pinyon-juniper woodlands, stressed by drought conditions and bark beetle infestations, are undergoing an unprecedented die-off event. Drier conditions also lead to wildfires; the area burned has increased 6.7 times in recent years. In Montana, rising temperatures and changes in stream runoff have caused a fishing shutdown in eight out of the last ten

Scientists have well-established that weather patterns are changing and the world will experience extreme weather events with greater frequency and intensity. The social and economic impacts of these changes will depend on how individuals and, more importantly, governments, respond today.

For more information about climate and weather, visit the following web resources:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2007. Historical Overview of Climate Change Science in Working Group I Report, The Physical Science Basis.

US Climate Change Science Program. 2008. Why Weather and Climate Extremes Matter in Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate. Regions of Focus: North America, Hawaii, Caribbean, and U.S. Pacific Islands.

  1. IPCC. 2007. "Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change." Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.). Cambridge, UK and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

  2. Peterson, T.C. et al. 2008: Why Weather and Climate Extremes Matter in Weather and Climate Extremes in Changing Climate. Regions of Focus: North America, Hawaii, Caribbean, and U.S. Pacific Islands. T.R. Karl, G.A. Meehl, C.D. Miller, S.J. Hassol, A.M. Waple, and W.L. Murray (eds.). A Report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research: Washington, DC.

  3. Saunders, S., C. Montgomery, T. Easley, T. Spencer. 2008. "Hotter and Drier: The West's Changing Climate." A Report by The Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and Natural Resources Defense Council. Available online at [accessed 4 September 2008].

  4. Pilkington, Ed. 2008 September 28. "The village at the tip of an iceberg." Guardian News and Media. Available online at [accessed 14 November 2008].

  5. Grand Canyon Trust. 2008. "West warming faster than rest of U.S." Available online at [accessed 4 September 2008].

  6. Ibid.