Predynastic period

In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times, the Egyptian climate was much less arid than it is today. Large regions of Egypt were covered in treed savanna and traversed by herds of grazing ungulates. Foliage and fauna were far more prolific in all environs and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been common for Egyptians and this is also the period during which many animals would have been first domesticated.

By about 5500 BC, small tribes living in the Nile valley had developed into a series of cultures demonstrating firm control of agriculture and animal husbandry, and identifiable by their pottery and personal items, such as combs, bracelets, and beads. The largest of these early cultures in upper Egypt, the Badari, was known for its high quality ceramics, stone tools, and its use of copper.

In Northern Egypt, the Badari was followed by Amratian and Gerzian cultures which showed a number of technological improvements. In Gerzian times, early evidence exists of contact with Canaan and the Byblos coast.

In southern Egypt, the Naqada culture, similar to the Badari, began to expand along the Nile by about 4000 BC. As early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other objects from flakes. Over a period of about 1000 years, the Naqada culture developed from a few small farming communities into a powerful civilization whose leaders were in complete control of the people and resources of the Nile valley. Establishing a power center at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile. They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the western desert to the west, and the cultures of the eastern Mediterranean to the east.

The Naqada culture manufactured a diverse array of material goods, reflective of the increasing power and wealth of the elite, which included painted pottery, high quality decorative stone vases, cosmetic palettes, and jewelry made of gold, lapis, and ivory. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols which would eventually evolve into a full system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language.

Early Dynastic Period

The third century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of pharaohs from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still in use today. He chose to begin his official history with the king named “Meni” (or Menes in Greek) who was then believed to have united the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt (around 3200 BC). The transition to a unified state actually happened more gradually than the ancient Egyptian writers would have us believe, and there is no contemporary record of Menes. Some scholars now believe, however, that the mythical Menes may have actually been the pharaoh Narmer, who is depicted wearing royal regalia on the ceremonial Narmer Palette in a symbolic act of unification.

In the Early Dynastic Period about 3150& BC, the first of the Dynastic pharaohs solidified their control over lower Egypt by establishing a capital at Memphis, from which they could control the labor force and agriculture of the fertile delta region as well as the lucrative and critical trade routes to the Levant. The increasing power and wealth of the pharaohs during the early dynastic period was reflected in their elaborate mastaba tombs and mortuary cult structures at Abydos, which were used to celebrate the deified pharaoh after his death. The strong institution of kingship developed by the pharaohs served to legitimize state control over the land, labor, and resources that were essential to the survival and growth of ancient Egyptian civilization.

Old Kingdom

Stunning advances in architecture, art, and technology were made during the Old Kingdom, fueled by the increased agricultural productivity made possible by a well developed central administration. Under the direction of the vizier, state officials collected taxes, coordinated irrigation projects to improve crop yield, drafted peasants to work on construction projects, and established a justice system to maintain peace and order. With the surplus resources made available by a productive and stable economy, the state was able to sponsor construction of colossal monuments and to commission exceptional works of art from the royal workshops. The pyramids built by Djoser, Khufu, and their descendants are the most memorable symbols of ancient Egyptian civilization, and the power of the pharaohs that controlled it.

Along with the rising importance of a central administration arose a new class of educated scribes and officials who were granted estates by the pharaoh in payment for their services. Pharaohs also made land grants to their mortuary cults and local temples to ensure that these institutions would have the necessary resources to worship the pharaoh after his death. By the end of the Old Kingdom, five centuries of these feudal practices had slowly eroded the economic power of the pharaoh, who could no longer afford to support a large centralized administration. As the power of the pharaoh diminished, regional governors called nomarchs began to challenge the supremacy of the pharaoh. This, coupled with severe droughts between 2200 and 2150& BC, ultimately caused the country to enter a 140-year period of famine and strife known as the First Intermediate Period.

First Intermediate Period

After Egypt’s central government collapsed at the end of the Old Kingdom, the administration could no longer support or stabilize the country’s economy. Regional governors could not rely on the king for help in times of crisis, and the ensuing food shortages and political disputes escalated into famines and small-scale civil wars. Yet despite difficult problems, local leaders, owing no tribute to the pharaoh, used their newfound independence to establish a thriving culture in the provinces. Once in control of their own resources, the provinces became economically richer — a fact demonstrated by larger and better burials among all social classes. In bursts of creativity, provincial artisans adopted and adapted cultural motifs formerly restricted to the royalty of the Old Kingdom, and scribes developed literary styles that expressed the optimism and originality of the period.

Free from their loyalties to the pharaoh, local rulers began competing with each other for territorial control and political power. By 2160& BC, rulers in Herakleopolis controlled Lower Egypt, while a rival clan based in Thebes, the Intef family, took control of Upper Egypt. As the Intefs grew in power and expanded their control northward, a clash between the two rival dynasties became inevitable. Around 2055& BC the Theban forces under Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II finally defeated the Herakleopolitan rulers, reuniting the Two Lands and inaugurating a period of economic and cultural renaissance known as the Middle Kingdom.

Middle Kingdom

The pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom restored the country’s prosperity and stability, thereby stimulating a resurgence of art, literature, and monumental building projects. Mentuhotep II and his 11th Dynasty successors ruled from Thebes, but the vizier Amenemhat I, upon assuming kingship at the beginning of the 12th Dynasty around 1985& BC, shifted the nation’s capital to the city of Itjtawy located in Faiyum. From Itjtawy, the pharaohs of the 12th Dynasty undertook a far-sighted land reclamation and irrigation scheme to increase agricultural output in the region. Moreover, the military reconquered territory in Nubia rich in quarries and gold mines, while laborers built a defensive structure in the Eastern Delta, called the “Walls-of-the-Ruler”, to defend against foreign attack.

Having secured military and political security and vast agricultural and mineral wealth, the nation’s population, arts, and religion flourished. In contrast to elitist Old Kingdom attitudes towards the gods, the Middle Kingdom experienced an increase in expressions of personal piety and what could be called a democratization of the afterlife, in which all people possessed a soul and could be welcomed into the company of the gods after death. Middle Kingdom literature featured sophisticated themes and characters written in a confident, eloquent style, and the relief and portrait sculpture of the period captured

subtle, individual details that reached new heights of technical perfection.

The last great ruler of the Middle Kingdom, Amenemhat III, allowed Asiatic settlers into the delta region to provide a sufficient labor force for his especially active mining and building campaigns. These ambitious building and mining activities, however, combined with inadequate Nile floods later in his reign, strained the economy and precipitated the slow decline into the Second Intermediate Period during the later 13th and 14th dynasties. During this decline, the foreign Asiatic settlers began to seize control of the delta region, eventually coming to power in Egypt as the Hyksos.

Second Intermediate Period and the Hyksos

Around 1650& BC, as the power of the Middle Kingdom pharaohs weakened, Asiatic immigrants living in the Eastern Delta town of Avaris seized control of the region and forced the central government to retreat to Thebes, where the pharaoh was treated as a vassal and expected to pay tribute. The Hyksos (“foreign rulers”) imitated Egyptian models of government and portrayed themselves as pharaohs, thus integrating Egyptian elements into their Middle Bronze Age culture.

After their retreat, the Theban kings found themselves trapped between the Hyksos to the north and the Hyksos’ Nubian allies, the Kushites, to the south. Nearly 100& years of tenuous inaction followed, and it was not until 1555& BC that the Theban forces gathered enough strength to challenge the Hyksos in a conflict that would last more than 30& years. The pharaohs Seqenenre Tao II and Kamose were ultimately able to defeat the Nubians, but it was Kamose’s successor, Ahmose I, who successfully waged a series of campaigns that permanently eradicated the Hyksos’ presence in Egypt. In the New Kingdom that followed, the military became a central priority for the pharaohs seeking to expand Egypt’s borders and secure her complete dominance of the Near East.

New Kingdom

The New Kingdom pharaohs established a period of unprecedented prosperity by securing their borders and strengthening diplomatic ties with their neighbors. Military campaigns waged under Tuthmosis I and his grandson Tuthmosis III extended the influence of the pharaohs into Syria and Nubia, cementing loyalties and opening access to critical imports such as bronze and wood. The New Kingdom pharaohs began a large-scale building campaign to promote the god Amun, whose growing cult was based in Karnak. They also constructed monuments to glorify their own achievements, both real and imagined. The female pharaoh Hatshepsut used such propaganda to legitimize her claim to the throne. Her successful reign was marked by trading expeditions to Punt, an elegant mortuary temple, a colossal pair of obelisks and a chapel at Karnak. Despite her achievements, Hatshepsut’s nephew-stepson Tuthmosis III sought to erase her legacy near the end of his reign, possibly in retaliation for usurping his throne.

Around 1350& BC, the stability of the New Kingdom was threatened when Amenhotep IV ascended the throne and instituted a series of radical and chaotic reforms. Changing his name to Akhenaten, he touted the previously obscure sun god Aten as the supreme deity, suppressed the worship of other deities, and attacked the power of the priestly establishment. Moving the capital to the new city of Akhetaten (modern-day Amarna), Akhenaten turned a deaf ear to foreign affairs and absorbed himself in his new religion and artistic style. After his death, the cult of the Aten was quickly abandoned, and the subsequent pharaohs Tutankhamun, Ay, and Horemheb erased all mention of Akhenaten’s heresy, now known as the Amarna Period.

Around 1279& BC, Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great, ascended the throne, and went on to build more temples, erect more statues and obelisks, and sire more children than any other pharaoh in history. A bold military leader, Ramesses II led his army against the Hittites in the Battle of Kadesh and, after fighting to a stalemate, finally agreed to the first recorded peace treaty around 1258& BC. Egypt’s wealth, however, made it a tempting target for invasion, particularly by the Libyans and the Sea Peoples. Initially, the military was able to repel these invasions, but Egypt eventually lost control of Syria and Palestine. The impact of external threats was exacerbated by internal problems such as corruption, tomb robbery and civil unrest. The high priests at the temple of Amun in Thebes accumulated vast tracts of land and wealth, and their growing power splintered the country during the Third Intermediate Period.

Third Intermediate Period

Following the death of Ramesses XI in 1078 BC, Smendes assumed authority over the northern part of Egypt, ruling from the city of Tanis. The south was effectively controlled by the High Priests of Amun at Thebes, who recognized Smendes in name only. During this time, Libyans had been settling in the western delta, and chieftains of these settlers began increasing their autonomy. Libyan princes took control of the delta under Shoshenq I in 945 BC, founding the so-called Libyan or Bubastite dynasty that would rule for some 200& years. Shoshenq also gained control of southern Egypt by placing his family members in important priestly positions. Libyan control began to erode as a rival dynasty in the delta arose in Leontopolis, and Kushites threatened from the south. Around 727& BC the Kushite king Piye invaded northward, seizing control of Thebes and eventually the Delta.

Egypt’s far-reaching prestige declined considerably toward the end of the Third Intermediate Period. Its foreign allies had fallen under the Assyrian sphere of influence, and by 700& BC war between the two states became inevitable. Between 671 and 667& BC the Assyrians began their attack on Egypt. The reigns of both Kushite kings Taharqa and his successor, Tanutamun, were filled with constant conflict with the Assyrians, against whom the Nubian rulers enjoyed several victories. Ultimately, the Assyrians pushed the Kushites back into Nubia, occupied Memphis, and sacked the temples of Thebes.

Late Period

With no permanent plans for conquest, the Assyrians left control of Egypt to a series of vassals who became known as the Saite kings of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty. By 653& BC, the Saite king Psamtik I was able to oust the Assyrians with the help of Greek mercenaries, who were recruited to form Egypt’s first navy. Greek influence expanded greatly as the city of Naukratis became the home of Greeks in the delta. The Saite kings based in the new capital of Sais witnessed a brief but spirited resurgence in the economy and culture, but in 525& BC, the powerful Persians, led by Cambyses II, began their conquest of Egypt, eventually capturing the pharaoh Psamtik III at the battle of Pelusium. Cambyses II then assumed the formal title of pharaoh, but ruled Egypt from his home of Susa, leaving Egypt under the control of a satrapy. A few successful revolts against the Persians marked the 5th century BC, but Egypt was never able to permanently overthrow the Persians.

Following its annexation by Persia, Egypt was joined with Cyprus and Phoenicia in the sixth satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. This first period of Persian rule over Egypt, also known as the Twenty-Seventh dynasty, ended in 402& BC, and from 380–343& BC the Thirtieth Dynasty ruled as the last native royal house of dynastic Egypt, which ended with the kingship of Nectanebo II. A brief restoration of Persian rule, sometimes known as the Thirty-First Dynasty, began in 343& BC, but shortly after, in 332& BC, the Persian ruler Mazaces handed Egypt over to Alexander the Great without a fight.

Ptolemaic Dynasty

In 332 BC, Alexander the Great conquered Egypt with little resistance from the Persians and was welcomed by the Egyptians as a deliverer. The administration established by Alexander’s successors, the Ptolemies, was based on an Egyptian model and based in the new capital city of Alexandria. The city was to showcase the power and prestige of Greek rule, and became a seat of learning and culture, centered at the famous Library of Alexandria. The Lighthouse of Alexandria lit the way for the many ships which kept trade flowing through the city, as the Ptolemies made commerce and revenue-generating enterprises, such as papyrus manufacturing, their top priority.

Greek culture did not supplant native Egyptian culture, as the Ptolemies supported time-honored traditions in an effort to secure the loyalty of the populace. They built new temples in Egyptian style, supported traditional cults, and portrayed themselves as pharaohs. Some traditions merged, as Greek and Egyptian gods were syncretized into composite deities, such as Serapis, and classical Greek forms of sculpture influenced traditional Egyptian motifs. Despite their efforts to appease the Egyptians, the Ptolemies were challenged by native rebellion, bitter family rivalries, and the powerful mob of Alexandria which had formed following the death of Ptolemy IV. In addition, as Rome relied more heavily on imports of grain from Egypt, the Romans took great interest in the political situation in the country. Continued Egyptian revolts, ambitious politicians, and powerful Syrian opponents made this situation unstable, leading Rome to send forces to secure the country as a province of its empire.

Roman domination

Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire in 30& BC, following the defeat of Marc Antony and Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII by Octavian (later Emperor Augustus) in the Battle of Actium. The Romans relied heavily on grain shipments from Egypt, and the Roman army, under the control of a prefect appointed by the Emperor, quelled rebellions, strictly enforced the collection of heavy taxes, and prevented attacks by bandits, which had become a notorious problem during the period. Alexandria became an increasingly important center on the trade route with the orient, as exotic luxuries were in high demand in Rome.

Although the Romans had a more hostile attitude than the Greeks towards the Egyptians, some traditions such as mummification and worship of the traditional gods continued. The art of mummy portraiture flourished, and some of the Roman emperors had themselves depicted as pharaohs, though not to the extent that the Ptolemies had. The former lived outside Egypt and did not perform the ceremonial functions of Egyptian kingship. Local administration became Roman in style and closed to native Egyptians.

From the mid-first century, Christianity took root in Alexandria as it was seen as another cult that could be accepted. However, it was an uncompromising religion that sought to win converts from paganism and threatened the popular religious traditions. This led to persecution of converts to Christianity, culminating in the great purges of Diocletian starting in 303, but eventually Christianity won out. In 391 the Christian Emperor Theodosius introduced legislation that banned pagan rites and closed temples. Alexandria became the scene of great anti-pagan riots with public and private religious imagery destroyed. As a consequence, Egypt’s pagan culture was continually in decline. While the native population continued to speak their language, the ability to read hieroglyphic writing slowly disappeared as the role of the Egyptian temple priests and priestesses diminished. The temples themselves were sometimes converted to churches or abandoned to the desert.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Ancient Egypt, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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*Mary Archer, Baroness Archer — scientist specialising in solar power conversion.

*Karen Armstrong, FRSL — author on comparative religion.

*Jackie Ashley — broadcaster, journalist, and contributor to ”The Guardian” and ”The New Statesman”.

*Louise Bagshawe — Conservative Party MP (2010—).

*Wendy Beckett — BBC art historian.

*Dame Gillian Beer, DBE — literary critic and former President of Clare Hall, Cambridge (1994—2001).

*Nicola Blackwood — Conservative Party MP (2010—).

*Tina Brown — columnist, talk-show host, author, and magazine editor, notably of ”Vanity Fair” (1984—1992) and ”The New Yorker” (1992—1998).

*Frances Cairncross, CBE — journalist, economist, and Rector of Exeter College, Oxford, Oxford (2004—).

*Edwina Currie — former Conservative Party MP (1983—1997).

*Ruth Deech, Baroness Deech, DBE — lawyer, bioethicist, and former Principal of St Anne’s (1991—2004).

*Anne Dreydel, OBE — co-founder of the Oxford English Centre, now St Clare’s International School.

*Rose Dugdale — former debutante, notable IRA member and art thief.

*Andrew Edmonds (current student) — contestant on the reality TV show Big Brother 11.

*UA Fanthorpe, CBE, FRSL — English poet.

*Helen Fielding — novelist known for the ”Bridget Jones” series.

*Miriam Gross — literary editor and co-founder of ”Standpoint” magazine.

*Mary Harron — Canadian screenwriter and filmmaker, known for ”American Psycho”.

*Zoë Heller — journalist and novelist, known for ”Notes on a Scandal”.

* Ben Hudson — stage name Mr Hudson, British R&B/pop artist.

*Diana Wynne Jones — fantasy novelist, known for the ”Chrestomanci” series and ”Howl’s Moving Castle”.

*Martha Kearney — broadcaster and journalist, currently of BBC Radio 4′s ”The World at One”.

*Penelope Lively, CBE, FRSL — novelist and Booker Prize winner for ”Moon Tiger”.

*Max More — philosopher and futurist, founder of the Extropy Institute.

*Justice Ruma Pal — judge of the Supreme Court of India (2000—2006).

*Melanie Phillips — journalist and author, winner of the Orwell Prize.

*Libby Purves, OBE — radio presenter and journalist, drama critic for ”The Times” (2010—).

*Sir Simon Rattle, CBE, FRSA — prominent English conductor, currently the principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic (2002—).

*Dame Cicely Saunders, OM, DBE — Anglican nurse, physician, writer, and pioneer of the hospice movement.

*Frances Stonor Saunders — journalist, historian, television, film-maker, and former associate editor of the ”New Statesman”.

*Susan Sontag — prominent American author, literary theorist, and political activist.

*Russell Taylor, MBE — writer, journalist and composer.

*Polly Toynbee — journalist, writer, and columnist for ”The Guardian” (1998—).

*Jenny Uglow, Order of the British Empire — critic and noted biographer, currently editorial director of Chatto & Windus.

*Jill Paton Walsh, CBE, FRSL — novelist and children’s writer.

*Mara Yamauchi — noted long-distance track and marathon runner.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article St Anne’s College, Oxford, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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The First Edition published material initially designed the Age of Sorrows as the pre-history of the old World of Darkness — however, this has not been dropped in the second edition. It should be noted that White Wolf has still continually inserted names and themes familiar to players of their previous World of Darkness line into the material. However, the Developer has commented that the connections are tenuous, allowing players to be free to treat it as a prehistory or as its own world as it may suit their individual game. The similarities between Exalted and the new edition of the World of Darkness are even weaker. Exalted Second Edition seems to imply that its story is the prehistory of our ”own” world.

For players that are interested in the prehistory idea, some oWoD supplements supported the prehistory. The Hunter Apocrypha gave a vision of the past that said that Hunters gained their power from the broken shards of the souls of great heroes of a lost age. which seems to suggest that hunters carry broken shards of Solar Essences. While the Kindred of the East supplement gave a structure of the Wheel of Ages (mirrored in Exalted first edition books as the Ages of Man) that seemed to accommodate the integration of Exalted, oWoD. Exalted being the first and second age, oWoD being the fifth age. Some players have incorporated the nWoD into this scheme, having it occur some where after the 6th Age.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Exalted, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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In the 853rd century, the progenitor of the Superman Dynasty, Superman Kal-El, is about to return from his solar Fortress of Solitude after several centuries. As part of the festivities, the Justice Legion Alpha went back in time to recruit the ancient Justice League of America. The current Legion had counter parts to the League except for Green Lantern (they had the future Starman instead). After arriving at the end of the 20th century, Kal Kent and the Justice Legion convinced the League to go the future and participate in trials as part of the celebration. Before they leave, Kal helps Superman stop a Belle-Reve prison riot; during this incident he references fighting the Chronovore with the ‘Superman Squad’.

Following the League’s departure, Hourman releases the “Hourman virus” which infected not only people, but technology. It is revealed that the virus is Solaris’ artificial intelligence in its infancy. The virus is spreading because Solaris is looking in all technology and organisms for its body. To cure the world and save it from Solaris, they had to create Solaris. Once in his body, Solaris became self aware, with his intelligence increasing with every passing second. Starman sacrifices himself but he is able to banish Solaris by creating a black hole. Their time machine didn’t have enough power for deep time travel, but Superman is able to punch through the time barrier to bring the Legion back to the 853rd century. They arrive in time for Superman-Prime’s arrival and the final destruction of Solaris.

All Star Superman

In 2005, DC Comics announced ”All Star Superman” would be written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Frank Quitely. The premise is a universal Superman who isn’t constrained by decades of continuity, and has the best elements of the mythos plucked from each era of Superman history. Morrison planned to use aborted plans from the “Superman 2000″ pitch and expanded on previous plot lines including ”DC One Million” and Solaris.

Kal Kent isn’t actually named until Superman mentions him by name in ”All Star Superman” #2. He is shown in a holographic communication unit, as Superman is trying to communicate with the future. Due to technological limitations, only fragments come through, Kal is shown talking about the Superman Dynasty’s feud with Solaris. He makes his first appearance leading a group of time-traveling Superman Squad members against the time-eating Chronovore in Smallville the day Jonathan Kent dies of a heart attack.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Superman (Kal Kent), under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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The Bhaumakaras declined by the middle of the 10th Century A.D. when the eastern part of Orissa including the Dhenkanal region passed to the hands of the Somavamsis of South Kosala. The Somavamsis in their turn, were ousted by the Gangas and Orissa was occupied by Chodagangadedva some time before 1112 A.D. The Ganga rule lasted as long as till 1435 A.D. when a new Solar dynasty founded by Kapilendradeva came to power. About the year 1533-34, Govinda Vidyadhar put an end to the Suryavamsi rule and started the rule of Bhoi dynasty, which lasted up to 1559 when Mukundadeva, belonging to the Chalukya family, forcibly occupied the throne. In 1568, the Afghans of Bengal invaded Orissa, and defeated and killed Mukundadeva after which Orissa came under their occupation. During all this period of dynastic changes, Angul played no remarkable role in history and this territory simply passed from one political authority to the other. During the rule of Suryavamsis and the Bhois & subsequently some new feudal states developed as self-contained political units. These are Angul, Talcher, Pallahara and Athamallik. Somanath Singh was the last king of Angul and he ruled for a long period of 33 years from 1814 to 1847 when he was deposed by Government. He was a spirited and a head-strong ruler and although ruled his territory with considerable efficiency, he incurred displeasure nor only among the neighbouring Feudatory Chiefs of Dhenkanal, Hindol, Daspalla, Baudh, and Athmallik but also among the British Officers by his head-strong dealings and outspoken nature. His State was confiscated by the Government in their Resolution, dated 16 September 1948. Angul thus passed under the direct rule of the British and was administered by the Superintendent of the Tributary Mahals, through the agency of an officer known as Tehsildar, who collected revenue and administered justice, until in 1891 when Angul was constituted a separate district.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Angul district, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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* 1982, ”Swarm” (set in 2248 AD) — Shaper lieutenant Simon Afriel joins a fellow researcher in an interstellar embassy: an asteroid belt inhabited by colonies of insect-like aliens. Afriel also briefly appears in “Twenty Evocations” and ”Schismatrix”. This was also Sterling’s first “officially” published short story.

* 1982, ”Spider Rose” (2283) — An ancient Mechanist from the fringes of the solar system buys something new from the Investors: a pet. Spider Rose herself appears very briefly during happier times in ”Schismatrix”.

* 1982, ”Cicada Queen” (2354) — A Shaper named Landau comes of age politically inside Czarina-Kluster, a habitat independent of faction where backroom deals and social cliques dominate, and whose stability is becoming increasingly fragile. Wellspring, a visionary rogue Mechanist and leading proponent of the post-humanist philosophy, is Landau’s mentor. ”Schismatrix” later expands on the background of both Wellspring and C-K, which he helped found.

* 1984, ”Sunken Gardens” (2554) — Individuals from various factions compete in a test of terraforming skills in a crater on the Martian surface. This story expands on the influence and power of Terraform Kluster and its leader, the enigmatic Lobster King (who first appears in “Cicada Queen”).

* 1984, ”Twenty Evocations” (originally published as “Life in the Shaper/Mechanist Era: Twenty Evocations”; approx. 2220-2400) — An experimental story; fragments from the life of a Shaper named Nikolai Leng.

* 1985, ”Schismatrix” (2215-2386) (Novel) — Chronicles the life of a renegade, Shaper-trained diplomat named Abelard Lindsay, as he struggles politically with his former ally Philip Constantine, and with the slow evolution of philosophies and ideologies that occurs in his long lifetime. This work also follows the development of Sterling’s future history, making the setting itself nearly a character in the work.

The first five Shaper/Mechanist short stories are collected in the 1989 short story collection ”Crystal Express”, and republished with ”Schismatrix” as ”Schismatrix Plus” (1995) with a new introduction “The Circumsolar Frolics”.

Category:Fictional locations by series

Category:Science fiction book series
Adapted from the Wikipedia article Shaper/Mechanist universe, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Fuglesang’s first spaceflight mission was as a Mission Specialist on STS-116, an assembly and crew-rotation mission to the International Space Station. This flight was called the Celsius Mission by ESA in recognition of Anders Celsius, the Swedish 18th century astronomer who invented the Celsius temperature scale.

Spacewalks during STS-116 Mission

* First spacewalk with the primary task of Installation of the P5 truss segment performed together with Astronaut Robert Curbeam as EV1.

* EV2 during second spacewalk which included first part of rewiring the power system of the ISS specifically channel 2 and 3. Also performed together with Astronaut Robert Curbeam as EV1.

* An extra spacewalk (EVA4) attempting, successfully, to fix a problem when retracting a solar panel. Also performed together with Astronaut Robert Curbeam as EV1. EVA duration: 6h 38min.

Total EVA time during STS-116: 18 hours and 15 minutes.

‘Maximum Time Aloft’

Fuglesang, once a Swedish national Frisbee champion, held the national title in “maximum time aloft” in 1978, and subsequently competed in the 1981 World Frisbee Championship. Fuglesang took one of his personal frisbees to the International Space Station. On Dec 15 he set a new “world record” for Time Aloft by freefloating a spinning frisbee for 20 seconds in the microgravity environment of the ISS. It was done during a live broadcast interview with a space exhibition in Stockholm Sweden. The record attempt was recognised by the sports governing body, the World Flying Disc Federation, and that the record was accepted. But since it was set “outside the earth’s atmosphere” it was recorded as ‘Galactic Record’.

STS-128

On July 15, 2008 Fuglesang was selected as a mission specialist of the STS-128 that launched August 28-29, 2009. STS-128 (ISS assembly mission “17A”) will deliver equipment allowing the ISS crew to be expanded from three to six astronauts.

During STS-128 Fuglesang also became the first spacewalker outside Russia and USA to do more than three spacewalks. With the completion of two more EVAs, he has performed five spacewalks.

EVA

Total EVA time from five spacewalks adds up to 31 hours 54 minutes giving Christer a 29th place in history as of 14 September 2009.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Christer Fuglesang, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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After two consecutive decades of sustained growth, the late 1980s and the 1990s were much more difficult for Hydro-Québec, especially on the environmental front. A new hydroelectric development and the construction of a direct current high voltage line built to export power to New England faced strong opposition from the Crees as well as environmental groups from the US and Canada.

In order to export power from the James Bay Project to New England, Hydro-Québec planned the construction of a long direct current power line, with a capacity of 2,000 megawatts, the so-called “Réseau multiterminal à courant continu” (English: ”Direct Current Multiterminal Network”). Construction work on the line went without a problem except at the location where the power line had to cross the Saint Lawrence River, between Grondines and Lotbinière.

Facing strong opposition from local residents to other options, Hydro-Québec built a tunnel under the river, at a cost of C$144 millions, which delayed the project completion by two and a half years. The line was finally commissioned on November 1, 1992.

Great Whale Project

Hydro-Québec and the Bourassa government had a much harder time circumventing the next hurdle in northern Quebec. Robert Bourassa was reelected in late 1985 after a 9-year hiatus. Shortly after taking office he announced yet another hydro development in the James Bay area. The C$12.6 billion ”Great Whale Project” involved the construction of three new generating stations with a combined capacity of 3,160 megawatts. It was to produce 16.3 terawatt-hours of energy each year by the time it was completed in 1998–1999.

The plan immediately proved controversial. As they had in 1973, the Cree people opposed the project and filed lawsuits against Hydro-Québec in Quebec and Canada to prevent its construction, and also took action in many US states to prevent sales of the electricity there.

The Crees succeeded in getting the Canadian federal government to establish a parallel environmental assessment process in order to delay construction. Cree leaders also got support from US-based environmental groups and launched a public relation campaign in the US and in Europe, attacking the Great Whale Project, Hydro-Québec and Quebec in general. Launched in the months following the failure of the Meech Lake Accord and the Oka Crisis, the campaign prompted a coalition of Quebec-based environmental groups to dissociate themselves from the Cree campaign.

However, the Cree campaign was successful in New York State, where the New York Power Authority canceled a US$5 billion power contract signed with Hydro-Québec in 1990. Two months after the 1994 general election, the new Premier, Jacques Parizeau, announced the suspension of the Great Whale Project, declaring it unnecessary in order to meet Quebec’s energy needs.

The moratorium on new hydro projects in northern Quebec after the Great Whale cancellation forced the company’s management to develop new sources of electricity to meet increasing demand. In September 2001, Hydro-Québec announced its intention to build a new combined cycle gas turbine plant—the ”Centrale du Suroît” plant—in Beauharnois, southwest of Montreal, stressing the pressing need to secure additional electricity supply to mitigate against any shortfall in the water cycle of its reservoirs. Hydro’s rationale also stressed the cost-effectiveness of the plant and the fact that it could be built within a two year period.

The announcement came at a bad time since attention was drawn to the ratification by Canada of the Kyoto Protocol. With estimated emissions levels of 2.25 Mt of carbon dioxide per year, the ”Suroît” plant would have increased the provincial CO2 emissions by nearly 3%. Faced with a public uproar—a poll conducted in January 2004 found that two of every three Quebecers were opposed to it—the Jean Charest government abandoned the project in November 2004.

Battling the elements

During the same period, Hydro-Québec had to deal with three major disruptions to its electric transmission system that were primarily caused by natural disasters. The incidents highlighted a major weakness of Hydro’s system: the great distances between the generation facilities and the main markets of southern Quebec.

Two blackouts in a year

On April 18, 1988 at 2:05 am, all of Quebec and parts of New England and New Brunswick lost power because of an equipment failure at a critical substation on the North Shore, between Churchill Falls and the Manicouagan area. The blackout, which lasted for up to 8 hours in some areas, was caused by ice deposits on transformation equipment at the Arnaud substation.

Less than a year later, on March 13, 1989 at 2:44 am, a large geomagnetic storm caused variations in the earth’s magnetic field, tripping circuit breakers on the transmission network. The James Bay network went off line in less than 90 seconds, giving Quebec its second blackout in 11 months. The power failure lasted 9 hours, and forced Hydro-Québec to implement a program to reduce the risks associated with geomagnetically induced currents.

Ice storm of 1998

In January 1998, five consecutive days of heavy freezing rain caused the largest power failure in Hydro-Québec’s history. The weight of the ice collapsed of high voltage power lines and over of medium and low voltage distribution lines in southern Quebec. Up to 1.4 million Hydro-Québec customers were forced to live without power for up to five weeks.

Part of the Montérégie region, south of Montreal, was the worst hit area and became known as the ”Triangle of Darkness” (French: ”Triangle noir”) by the media and the population. Ice accumulation exceeded in some locations. Customers on the Island of Montreal and in the Outaouais region were also hit by the power outage, causing significant concerns since many Quebec households use electricity for heating.

Hydro-Québec immediately mobilized all crews, including retirees, and asked for the assistance of utility crews from Eastern Canada and the northeastern US. The Canadian Army was also involved in the restoration of power. More than 10,000 workers had to rebuild a significant portion of the network one pylon at a time. At the height of the crisis, on January 9, 1998, the island of Montreal was fed by a single power line. The situation was so dire the Quebec government temporarily resorted to rolling blackouts in downtown Montreal in order to maintain the city’s drinking water supply.

Electric service was fully restored on February 7, 1998, 34 days later. The storm cost Hydro-Québec C$725 million in 1998 and over C$1 billion was invested in the following decade to strengthen the power grid against similar events. However, part of the operation needed to close the 735 kV loop around Montreal was approved at the height of the crisis without prior environmental impact assessmentand quickly ran into opposition from residents of the Val Saint-François area in the Eastern Townships. The opponents went to court to quash the order-in-council authorizing the power line.

Construction work resumed after the National Assembly passed a law retroactively approving the work done in the immediate aftermath of the ice storm, but it also required public hearings on the remaining projects. Construction of the Hertel-Des Cantons high voltage line was properly approved in July 2002 and commissioned a year later.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article History of Hydro-Québec, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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*January 21: Brian Peckford announces his resignation from politics, giving the party 2 months to find a replacement as party leader and premier.

*March 1: The Canadian Space Agency is created.

*March 10: An Air Ontario flight crashes near Dryden, Ontario killing 24

*March 13: 2:44 AM ET: A solar coronal mass ejection causes a blackout across all of Quebec, as it hits the Hydro Quebec power grid, affecting 6 million people for more than 9 hours.

*March 20: Alberta election: Don Getty’s PCs win a sixth consecutive majority.

*March 22: Thomas Rideout becomes premier of Newfoundland, replacing Brian Peckford.

*May 5: Clyde Wells becomes premier of Newfoundland, defeating Thomas Rideout in a general election

*June 5: The federal government announces sweeping cuts to VIA Rail

*July 31: Cable television network CBC Newsworld is launched.

*September 1: French cable sports network, RDS, signs on.

*October 8: The Cormier Village hayride accident kills 13 people and injures 45.

*December 2: Audrey McLaughlin is elected head of the NDP replacing Ed Broadbent becoming the first female major party leader in Canadian history

*December 6: École Polytechnique Massacre: Marc Lépine murders fourteen women at the École Polytechnique of the Université de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec. The event proves a spur to both the Canadian feminist and gun control movements.

*December 21: Quebec uses the notwithstanding clause for the first time.

*December 31: All rail service is terminated in Prince Edward Island after CN Rail abandons its historic rail lines in the province.

Full date unknown

*Deborah Grey wins a by-election to become the first Reform Party Member of Parliament.

*Corel releases CorelDraw

*Heather Erxleben becomes Canada’s first official female combat soldier

*Sidney Altman shares in the Nobel Prize for Chemistry

Adapted from the Wikipedia article 1989 in Canada, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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*160 meters – 1.8-2 MHz(1800–2000 kHz) – Often taken up as a technical challenge; as long distance (DX) propagation tends to be more difficult due to higher F-layer ionospheric absorption. Long distance propagation tends to occur only at night, and the band can be notoriously noisy particularly in the summer months. 160 meters is also known as the “top band”. Allocations in this band vary widely from country to country. This band lies just above the commercial AM broadcast band.

High frequency

*80 meters – 3.5-4 MHz (3500–4000 kHz) – Best at night, with significant daytime signal absorption. Works best in winter due to atmospheric noise in summer. Only countries in the Americas and few others have access to all of this band, in other parts of the world amateurs are limited to the bottom 300 kHz or less. In the US and Canada the upper end of the sub-band from 3600–4000 kHz, permits use of single-sideband voice; often referred to as 75 meters.

*60 meters – 5 MHz region – A relatively new allocation and only available in a small number of countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. In most countries, the allocation is channelized and may require special application, and in the USA it is mandatory to operate in upper sideband mode.

*40 meters – 7.0–7.3 MHz – Considered the most reliable all-season DX band. Popular for DX at night, 40 meters is also reliable for medium distance (1500KM) contacts during the day. Much of this band is shared with broadcasters, and in most countries only the bottom 100 kHz or 200 kHz are available to amateurs. However, due to the high cost of running high power commercial broadcasting facilities; decreased listener-ship and increasing competition from net based international broadcast services, many ‘short wave’ services are being shut down leaving the 40 meter band free of interference for amateur radio use.

*30 meters – 10.1–10.15 MHz – a very narrow band, which is shared with non-amateur services. It is recommended that only Morse Code and data transmissions be used here, and in some countries amateur voice transmission is actually prohibited. Not released for amateur use in a small number of countries. Due to its location in the centre of the shortwave spectrum, this band provides significant opportunities for long-distance communication at all points of the solar cycle. 30 meters is a WARC band. “WARC” bands are so called due to the special World Administrative Radio Conference allocation of these newer bands to amateur radio use. Most radio amateur contests are not run on the WARC bands.

*20 meters – 14.0–14.35 MHz – Considered the most popular DX band; usually most popular during daytime. QRP operators recognize 14.060 MHz as their primary calling frequency in that band. Users of the PSK31 data mode tend to congregate around 14.071 MHz. Analog SSTV activity is centered around 14.230 MHz.

*17 meters – 18.068–18.168 MHz – Similar to 20m, but more sensitive to solar propagation minima and maxima. 17 meters is a WARC band.

*15 meters – 21–21.45 MHz – Most useful during solar maximum, and generally a daytime band. Daytime sporadic-E propagation (1500km) occasionally occurs on this band.

*12 meters – 24.89–24.99 MHz – Mostly useful during daytime, but opens up for DX activity at night during solar maximum. 12 meters is one of the new WARC bands.

*10 meters – 28–29.7 MHz – Best long distance (e.g., across oceans) activity is during solar maximum; during periods of moderate solar activity the best activity is found at low latitudes. The band offers useful short to medium range groundwave propagation, day or night. During the late spring and most of the summer, regardless of sunspot numbers, afternoon short band openings into small geographic areas of up to 1500km occur due to Sporadic-E propagation. “Sporadic-E” is caused by areas of intense ionization in the E layer of the ionosphere. The causes of Sporadic-E are not fully understood, but these “clouds” of ionization can provide short term propagation from 17 meters all the way up to occasional 2 meter openings.

Propagation Characteristics above HF

While “line of sight” propagation is a primary factor for range calculation, much of the interest in the bands above HF comes from use of other propagation modes. A VHF signal transmitted from a hand-held portable will typically travel about 5-10 km depending on terrain. With a low power home station and a simple antenna, range would be around 50 km. With a large antenna system like a long yagi, and higher power (typically 100 or more watts) contacts of around 1000 km using the CW (Morse code) and SSB (Single Side Band) modes are common. Ham operators seek to exploit the limits of the frequencies usual characteristics looking to learn, understand and experiment with the limits of these enhanced propagation modes. They also seek to take advantage of “band openings” where due to natural occurrences in the atmosphere and ionosphere radio transmission distances can extend well over their normal range. Many hams listen for hours hoping to take advantage of these occasional extended propagation ‘openings’.

Some openings are caused by islands of intense ionization of the upper atmosphere known as the E Layer ionosphere. These islands of intense ionization are called ‘Sporadic E’ and result in erratic but often strong propagation characteristics on the ‘low band’ VHF radio frequencies. The 6 meter amateur band falls into this category, often called ‘The Magic Band’, 6 meters will often ‘open up’ from one small area into another small geographic area 1000-1700km away during the spring and early summer months. This phenomena occurs during the fall months, although not as often.

Band openings are sometimes caused by a weather phenomenon known as a tropospheric ‘inversion’, where a stagnant high pressure area causes alternating stratified layers of warm and cold air generally trapping the colder air beneath. This may make for smoggy/foggy days but it also causes VHF/UHF radio transmissions to travel or duct along the boundaries of these warm/cold atmospheric layers. Radio signals have been known to travel hundreds, even thousands of kilometers due to these unique weather conditions. For example: The longest distance reported contact due to tropospheric refraction on 2 meters is 4754& km between Hawaii and a ship south of Mexico. There were reports of the reception of one way signals from Réunion to Western Australia, a distance of more than 6000& km.

F2 and TE band openings from other ionospheric reflection/refraction modes, or sky-wave propagation as it is known can also occasionally occur on the low band VHF frequencies of 6, 4 and very rarely on 2 meters (high band VHF) during extreme peaks in the 11 year sunspot cycle. The longest terrestrial contact ever reported on 2 meters (146mhz) was between a station in Italy and a station in South Africa, a distance of 7784& km, using anomalous enhancement (TE) of the ionosphere over the geomagnetic equator. This enhancement is known as TE, or trans-equatorial propagation and (usually) occurs at latitudes 2500-3000km within either side of the equator.

Other less frequently used modes are tropospheric scatter, moon bounce and Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and satellite.

Using relatively high power, usually over 1000 watts and a high gain antenna, ‘Tropo-scatter’ (water droplets and dust particles can refract a VHF/UHF signal over the horizon) propagation will give marginal enhanced over-the-horizon VHF and UHF communications of up to 300 miles (450km). During the 1970′s commercial ‘scatter site’ operators using huge parabolic antennas and high power used this mode successfully for telephone communications services into remote Alaska and Canadian northern communities. Satellite, buried fiber optic and terrestrial microwave access have relegated Tropo-scatter to the history books. Because of high cost and complexity this mode is usually out of reach for the average amateur radio operator.

Moon Bounce: Using moderately high power (>500 watts) and a fairly large antenna amateurs do successfully communicate by bouncing their signals off the surface of the moon. Signals are usually weak and distorted (because the moons surface is very rocky and irregular) relegating the communications mode to CW (Morse code) only.

Aurora: An intense solar storm causing aurora borealis (Northern Lights) will also provide occasional HF-low band 6 meter VHF propagation enhancement. Aurora only occasionally affects 2 meters. Signals are often distorted and on the lower frequencies give a curious ‘watery sound’ to normally propagated HF signals. Peak signals usually come from the north, even though the station you are talking to is east or west of you. Most noticeable in the northern latitudes above 45 degrees.

Satellite: Not really a propagation mode, but an active repeater system. Satellites have been highly successful in providing VHF/UHF/SHF users ‘propagation’ beyond the horizon. The ISS which has amateur radio repeaters and radio locations services on board is a good example. Amateurs have also sponsored the launch of dozens of communications satellites since the 1970′s. These satellites are usually known as OSCARs (Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio).

Amateur television

Amateur television (ATV) is the hobby of transporting broadcast- compatible video and audio by amateur radio. It also includes the study and building of such transmitters and receivers and the propagation between these two.

In NTSC countries, ATV operation requires the ability to use a 6 MHz wide channel. All bands at VHF or lower are less than 6 MHz wide, so ATV operation is confined to UHF and up. Bandwidth requirements will vary from this for PAL and SECAM transmissions.

ATV operation in the 70& cm band is particularly popular, because the signals can be received on any cable-ready television. Operation in the 33& cm and 23& cm bands is easily augmented by the availability of various varieties of consumer-grade wireless video devices that exist and operate in unlicensed frequencies coincident to these bands.

Repeater ATV operation requires specially-equipped repeaters.

See also slow-scan television.

500 kHz and 136 kHz

Since the 500& kHz band is no longer used for marine communications, some countries permit experimental amateur radio radiotelegraph operations in that band. The 136& kHz band is available for use in some countries and there is a proposal at the WRC-07 World Radiocommunication Conference to make it a world wide amateur allocation. Before the introduction of the 136& kHz band in the UK in 1998, operation on the even lower frequency of 73& kHz had been allowed between 1996 and 2003.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Amateur radio frequency allocations, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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