title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Botvinnik's autobiography, "K Dostizheniyu Tseli", was published in Russian in 1978, and in English translation as "Achieving the Aim" () in 1981. A staunch Communist, he was noticeably shaken by the collapse of the Soviet Union and lost some of his standing in Russian chess during the Boris Yeltsin era.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: In the 1980s Botvinnik proposed a computer program to manage the Soviet economy. However, his proposals did not receive significant attention from the Soviet government.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: During the last few years of his life he personally financed his economic computer project that he hoped would be used to manage the Russian economy. He kept actively working on the program until his death and financing the work from the money he made for the lectures and seminars he attended, despite prominent health problems.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Botvinnik died of pancreatic cancer in May 1995. According to his daughter, Botvinnik remained active until the last few months of his life, and continued to go to work until March 1995 despite blindness in one of his eyes (and extremely poor vision in the other).


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: The Soviet Union regarded chess as a symbol of Communist superiority, and hence the Soviet chess world was extremely politicized. As Botvinnik was the first world-class player produced by the Soviet Union, everything he said or did (or did not say or do) had political repercussions, and there were rumors that Soviet opponents were given hints that they should not beat him.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: David Bronstein wrote that Boris Verlinsky had won the 1929 Soviet Championship and was granted the first Soviet Grandmaster title for this achievement, yet he was later stripped of it, when it was thought more politically correct to make Botvinnik the first official Soviet GM (as distinct from the then-nonexistent FIDE grandmaster title).


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Botvinnik wrote that before the last round of the 1935 Moscow tournament, Soviet Commissar of Justice Nikolai Krylenko, who was also in charge of Soviet chess, proposed that Ilya Rabinovich should deliberately lose to Botvinnik, to ensure that Botvinnik took first place. Botvinnik refused, saying "... then I will myself put a piece "en prise" and resign". The game was drawn, and Botvinnik shared first place with Salo Flohr.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Botvinnik sent an effusive telegram of thanks to Joseph Stalin after his victory at the great tournament in Nottingham in 1936.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Botvinnik played relatively poorly in the very strong 1940 Soviet Championship, finishing in a tie for fifth/sixth places, with 11½/19, two full points behind Igor Bondarevsky and Andor Lilienthal. With World War II under way by this time, and the strong possibility of little or no chess practice for some time in the future, Botvinnik seems to have prevailed upon the Soviet chess leadership to hold another tournament "in order to clarify the situation". This wound up being the 1941 Absolute Championship of the USSR, which featured the top six finishers from the 1940 event, playing each other four times. After a personal appeal to the defence minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, Botvinnik was exempted from war work for three days a week in order to concentrate on chess preparations. He won this tournament convincingly, and thus reclaimed his position as the USSR's top player.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Bronstein claimed that at the end of the 1946 Groningen tournament, a few months after the death of reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine, Botvinnik personally invited Samuel Reshevsky, Reuben Fine, Max Euwe, Vasily Smyslov, and Paul Keres to join him in a tournament to decide the new world champion, but other evidence suggests that FIDE (the "governing body" of chess), had already proposed a World Championship tournament before the Groningen tournament began, and at this stage the Soviet Union was not a member and therefore took no part in framing that proposal.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Since Keres lost his first four games against Botvinnik in the 1948 World Championship tournament, winning only in the final cycle after the outcome of the tournament had been decided, suspicions have sometimes been raised that Keres was forced to "throw" games to allow Botvinnik to win the Championship. Chess historian Taylor Kingston investigated all the available evidence and arguments, and concluded that: Soviet chess officials gave Keres strong hints that he should not hinder Botvinnik's attempt to win the World Championship; Botvinnik only discovered this about half-way through the tournament and protested so strongly that he angered Soviet officials; Keres probably did not deliberately lose games to Botvinnik or anyone else in the tournament.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Bronstein insinuated that Soviet officials pressured him to lose in the 1951 world championship match so that Botvinnik would keep the title, but comments by Botvinnik's second, Salo Flohr, and Botvinnik's own annotations to the critical 23rd game indicate that Botvinnik knew of no such plot.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: In 1956, FIDE changed the world championship rules so that a defeated champion would have the right to a return match. Yuri Averbakh alleged that this was done at the urging of the two Soviet representatives in FIDE, who were personal friends of Botvinnik. Averbakh also claims that Botvinnik's friends were behind FIDE's decision in 1956 to limit the number of players from the same country that could compete in the Candidates Tournament, and that this was to Botvinnik's advantage as it reduced the number of Soviet players he might have to meet in the title match.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Botvinnik asked to be allowed to play in the 1956 Candidates Tournament, as he wanted to use the event as part of his warm-up for the next year's title match, but his request was refused.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Mikhail Tal's chronic kidney problems contributed to his defeat in his 1961 return match with Botvinnik, and his doctors in Riga advised that he should postpone the match for health reasons. Averbakh claimed that Botvinnik would agree to a postponement only if Tal was certified unfit by "Moscow" doctors, and that Tal then decided to play. The 1961 world championship lasted 21 games and Botvinnik won ten of them, for a total score of +10−5=6, reclaiming the title he had lost a year earlier and becoming the oldest winner of a FIDE world championship match at 50.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: In 1963, Botvinnik played his last world championship match against Tigran Petrosian, in a 22-game series. Petrosian, almost 20 years younger, wore out the 52 year old Botvinnik in a series of protracted games, most of them over 40 moves, including six consecutive draws. The defending champion played poorly in games 18 and 19, and the match ended with three short draws. Petrosian thus claimed the world championship with a score of +5−2=15.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: In 1954, he wrote an article about inciting socialist revolution in western countries, aiming to spread communism without a third world war. And in 1960 Botvinnik wrote a letter to the Soviet Government proposing economic reforms that were contrary to party policy.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: In 1976, Soviet grandmasters were asked to sign a letter condemning Viktor Korchnoi as a "traitor" after Korchnoi defected. Botvinnik evaded this "request" by saying that he wanted to write his own letter denouncing Korchnoi. By this time, however, his importance had waned and officials would not give him this "privilege", so Botvinnik's name did not appear on the group letter – an outcome Botvinnik may have foreseen. Bronstein and Boris Spassky openly refused to sign the letter.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Reuben Fine, writing in 1976, observed that Botvinnik was at or near the top of the chess world for thirty years—from 1933, when he drew a match against Flohr, to 1963, when he lost the world championship for the final time, to Petrosian—"a feat equaled historically only by Emanuel Lasker and Wilhelm Steinitz". The statistical rating system used in Raymond Keene and Nathan Divinsky's book "Warriors of the Mind" concludes that Botvinnik was the fourth strongest player of all time: behind Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Bobby Fischer but ahead of José Raúl Capablanca, Lasker, Viktor Korchnoi, Boris Spassky, Vasily Smyslov and Tigran Petrosian. The Chessmetrics system is sensitive to the length of the periods being compared but places Botvinnik third in a comparison of players' best individual years (1946 for Botvinnik) and sixth in a comparison of fifteen-year periods (1935–1949 in Botvinnik's case). In 2005, Chessmetrics' creator Jeff Sonas wrote an article which examined various ways of comparing the strength of "world number one" players, some not based on Chessmetrics; and Botvinnik generally emerged as one of the top six (the greatest exceptions were in criteria related to tournament results). FIDE did not adopt the Elo rating system until 1970, by which time Botvinnik's strength had been declining for several years. According to unofficial calculations by Arpad Elo, Botvinnik was the highest-rated player from 1937 to 1954, peaking about 2730 in 1946.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: This may seem surprising in the light of Botvinnik's results in the 1950s and early 1960s, when he failed to win a world championship match outright (as reigning champion) and his tournament results were patchy. But after the FIDE world championship cycle was established in 1948, reigning champions had to play the strongest contender every three years, and successful title defenses became less common than in the pre-World War II years, when the titleholder could select his challenger. Despite this, Botvinnik held the world title for a longer period than any of his successors except Garry Kasparov. Botvinnik also became world champion at the relatively late age of 37, because World War II brought international competition to a virtual halt for six years; and he was 52 years old when he finally lost his title (only Wilhelm Steinitz and Emanuel Lasker were older when they were defeated). Botvinnik's best years were from 1935 to 1946; during that period he dominated Soviet chess; and the USSR's 15½–4½ win in the 1945 radio match against the USA proved that the USSR's top players were considerably better than the USA's (who had dominated international team competitions in the 1930s).


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Botvinnik generally sought tense positions with chances for both sides; hence his results were often better with the Black pieces as he could avoid lines that were likely to produce draws. He had a strong grasp of long-term strategy, and was often willing to accept weaknesses that his opponent could not exploit in exchange for some advantage that he could exploit. He confessed that he was relatively weak in tactical calculation, yet many of his games feature sacrifices – often long-term positional sacrifices whose purpose was not to force an immediate win, but to improve his position and undermine his opponent's. Botvinnik was also capable of all-out sacrificial attacks when he thought the position justified it. Botvinnik saw himself as a "universal player" (all-rounder), in contrast to an all-out attacker like Mikhail Tal or a defender like Tigran Petrosian. Reuben Fine considered Botvinnik's collection of best games one of the three most beautiful up to the mid-1950s (the other two were Alexander Alekhine's and Akiba Rubinstein's).


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Kasparov quotes Tigran Petrosian as saying, "There was a very unpleasant feeling of inevitability. Once in a conversation with Keres I mentioned this and even compared Botvinnik with a bulldozer, which sweeps away everything in its path. Keres smiled and said: 'But can you imagine what it was like to play him when he was young?'"


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Botvinnik's example and teaching established the modern approach to preparing for competitive chess: regular but moderate physical exercise; analysing very thoroughly a relatively narrow repertoire of openings; annotating one's own games, those of past great players and those of competitors; publishing one's annotations so that others can point out any errors; studying strong opponents to discover their strengths and weaknesses; ruthless objectivity about one's own strengths and weaknesses. Botvinnik also played many short training matches against strong grandmasters including Salo Flohr, Yuri Averbakh, Viacheslav Ragozin, and Semion Furman – in noisy or smoky rooms if he thought he would have to face such conditions in actual competition. Vladimir Kramnik said, "Botvinnik's chess career was the way of a genius, although he was not a genius", meaning that Botvinnik was brilliant at making the best use of his talents.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Botvinnik used almost exclusively pawn openings with the white pieces. In his eight World Championship matches, he never started a game with an e4-opening, and his usual choices as White were the English Opening or Queen's Gambit. When playing the black pieces, he preferred the French Defense or Sicilian Defense in response to 1.e4, and the Slav Defense or Nimzo-Indian Defence in response to 1.d4. While Botvinnik did not use a wide range of openings, he made major contributions to those he did use, for example: the Botvinnik Variation of the Semi-Slav Defense in the Queen's Gambit Declined, the Kasparov/Botvinnik system in the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, the Caro–Kann Defence (both the Panov–Botvinnik Attack for White and various approaches for Black), the Winawer Variation of the French Defense, the Botvinnik System in the English Opening. In his openings research Botvinnik did not aim to produce tactical tricks that would only be effective once, but rather systems in which he aimed to understand typical positions and their possibilities better than his rivals. His advice to his pupils included "My theory of the openings fitted into one notebook" and "You don’t have to know that which everyone knows, but it is important to know that which not everyone knows." In fact he used different notebooks in different periods, and copied a few analyses from one notebook to the next. The "Soviet School of Chess" that dominated competition from 1945 to about 2000 followed Botvinnik's approach to preparation and to openings research; and, although Soviet players had their own preferred styles of play, they adopted his combative approach and willingness to ignore "classical" principles if doing so offered credible prospects of a lasting advantage.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: In 1963, Botvinnik founded his own school within the Soviet coaching system, and its graduates include world champions Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik, and other top-class players such as Alexei Shirov, Vladimir Akopian and Jaan Ehlvest. Botvinnik was not an infallible spotter of chess talent: although he said of the 11-year-old Kasparov, "The future of chess lies in the hands of this young man", he said on first seeing Karpov, "The boy doesn't have a clue about chess, and there's no future at all for him in this profession." But Karpov recounts fondly his youthful memories of the Botvinnik school and credits Botvinnik's training, especially the homework he assigned, with a marked improvement in his own play. Kasparov presents Botvinnik almost as a kind of father figure, going some way towards balancing the common public perception of Botvinnik as dour and aloof; and Kasparov inherited Botvinnik's emphasis on preparation, research and innovation. Botvinnik was still playing a major teaching role in his late 70s, when Kramnik entered the school, and made a favorable impression on his pupil.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Engineering was as much of a passion for Botvinnik as chess – at Nottingham in 1936, where he had his first major tournament win outside the USSR, he said "I wish I could do what he's done in electrical engineering" (referring to Milan Vidmar, another grandmaster). He was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honour for his work on power stations in the Urals during World War II (while he was also establishing himself as the world's strongest chess player). He earned his doctorate in electrical engineering in 1951. In 1956, he joined the Research Institute for Electrical Energy as a senior research scientist.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: In the 1950s Botvinnik became interested in computers, at first mainly for playing computer chess but he later also co-authored reports on the possible use of artificial intelligence in managing the Soviet economy. Botvinnik's research on chess-playing programs concentrated on "selective searches", which used general chess principles to decide which moves were worth considering. This was the only feasible approach for the primitive computers available in the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, which were only capable of searching three or four half-moves deep (i.e. A's move, B's move, A's move, B's move) if they tried to examine every variation. Botvinnik eventually developed an algorithm that was reasonably good at finding the right move in difficult positions, but it often missed the right move in simple positions, e.g. where it was possible to checkmate in two moves. This "selective" approach turned out to be a dead end, as computers were powerful enough by the mid-1970s to perform a brute-force search (checking all possible moves) several moves deep and today's vastly more powerful computers do this well enough to beat human world champions. However, his PIONEER program contained a generalized method of decision-making that, with a few adjustments, enabled it to plan maintenance of power stations all over the USSR. On September 7, 1991 Botvinnik was awarded an honorary degree in mathematics of the University of Ferrara (Italy) for his work on computer chess.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: The following table gives Botvinnik's placings and scores in tournaments. The first "Score" column gives the number of points on the total possible. In the second "Score" column, "+" indicates the number of won games, "−" the number of losses, and "=" the number of draws.


title: Mikhail Botvinnik

text: Here are Botvinnik's results in matches. In the second "Score" column, "+" indicates the number of won games, "−" the number of losses, and "=" the number of draws.


title: Mutual combat

text: Mutual combat, per Danny Sullivan vs. the US 1988, a term commonly used in United States courts, occurs when two individuals intentionally and consensually engage in a fair fight, while not hurting bystanders or damaging property. There have been numerous cases where this concept was successfully used in defense of the accused. In some cases, mutual combat may nevertheless result in killings.


title: Mutual combat

text: In 2012, MMA fighter Phoenix Jones hit the headlines for engaging in mutual combat. A video of the fight went viral. The Seattle Police Department later defended their officers for not intervening. The Seattle Municipal Code 12A.06.025 states that "It is unlawful for any person to intentionally fight with another person in a public place and thereby create a substantial risk of: 1. Injury to a person who is not actively participating in the fight; or 2. Damage to the property of a person who is not actively participating in the fight." Thus since the fight did not injure a third party or damage property nor have a substantial risk to do so, it was allowed by this law.


title: Mutual combat

text: Also in 2012, Gabriel Aubry and Olivier Martinez engaged in mutual combat and were not charged. In 2014, after Zac Efron had engaged in a fight in Skid Row, law enforcement officials did not make any arrests because they viewed it as mutual combat. Mutual combat has been used to deny damage claims, as a legal defense, and to drop charges against fighting students.


title: Mutual combat

text: Oregon law specifically bans mutual combat, according to subsection three of ORS 161.215: "a person is not justified in using physical force upon another person if: the physical force involved is the product of a combat by agreement not specifically authorized by law."


title: Rain Dove

text: Rain Dove Dubilewski (born September 27, 1989) is an American model, actor, and activist, best known for their work in subversive fashion, as a gender-nonconforming model, posing alternately as male and female in photoshoots, productions, and runway shows. Dove was voted as SheWired's Most Eligible Bachelorette in 2014 and named one of "Elle Magazine" 12 Women Who Are Redefining Beauty in 2015.


title: Rain Dove

text: A self-described "gender capitalist", Dove has written, "I've never really cared about pronouns for my own descriptors", and that they disavow personal pronouns and ask people to choose whichever they feel apply: "Use "she", "he", "it", "one", "they" ... I honestly don't care ... All I'm listening for in that sound is positivity."


title: Rain Dove

text: Assigned female at birth, Dove spent her early years believing she was ugly: she had a larger physique than other children and youth, and was given the nickname "Tranny Danny". Initially, Dove claimed in interviews and biographies to have studied genetic engineering and civil law at University of California, Berkeley. They also claimed to have worked as a Colorado Firefighter under a male pseudonym, and to have passed as a man during this time, for a period of eleven months. However, in late 2019 Dove admitted in a video on NBC News that both of these claims (of having studied genetics and law, and of having been a firefighter) were false.


title: Rain Dove

text: Dove began a modeling career after being challenged by a friend to present themselves as a man in a Calvin Klein casting for underwear. At the casting, they were handed the outfit for the test shoot, which was just a pair of underwear. When Dove came in topless, the designer responded by giving them a men's shirt and saying "Swear to God, you will not tell anyone you're a woman!" After the show, people began seeking Dove for modeling jobs; three months later they accepted their first modeling job and have since walked at New York fashion week on both men's and women's runways.


title: Rain Dove

text: During their final year in high school, Dove intentionally became homeless as a social experiment to "document how homelessness affected my academics". After this, Dove became more involved in activism and politics, and said they became interested in working for the United Nations prior to finding a career in fashion: "I wanted to work for the U.N. (United Nations) ... I would have applied at the U.N. and would have probably been working in some third world country, or a country that has water rights issues. Gender would be the least of my worries."


title: Rain Dove

text: Dove supported the movement against North Carolina's HB2, which legislated that individuals had to use the restrooms corresponding with the sex listed on their birth certificates. In 2018, Dove said they were pepper-sprayed in a women's restroom in North Carolina by a woman who thought Dove was a man.


title: Rain Dove

text: Regarding the fashion industry and gender issues, Dove states that advertising agencies "aren't some evil illuminati trying to dupe the people into living heteronormative white lifestyles" and that they are simply "trying to make money in the safest way possible." For example, Dove says of Queer Fashion Week, "When you have an event like this, you are telling the large conglomerates like Gap, Levi's, H & M etcetera that there is money to be made and there is a desire to represent the queer community in the commercial side of the fashion world. They don't have to be afraid to align themselves with the LGBTQ community."


title: Rain Dove

text: A new clothing line by the name Phluid Project caught Dove's attention and got their support for being the first major non-binary clothing store in New York, and they participated in a panel as moderator.


title: Rain Dove

text: During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Dove led an effort to get transgender and other vulnerable people out of the country.


title: Rain Dove

text: Dove dated actor Rose McGowen in 2018, but the couple split up after Dove sold TMZ texts in which Asia Argento, a friend of McGowen's, seemingly admits to sexually assaulting Jimmy Bennett.


title: Rain Dove

text: Dove describes themself as a "gender capitalist", explaining, "Gender Capitalism is both Feminist and Masculinist. It's everythingist. It's the recognition that I, as an organism, am treated differently based on my perceived genitalia and the identity surrounding that relationship." They have also said, "You can identify with whatever you want. It's just that you recognise how society sees gender and you capitalise on it." In their work, this means using acting skills like changes in posture, gait and voice to strategically appear more femme or masculine at different times, both to "subvert expectations" of both gender expressions, and to "maximise opportunity and earnings".


title: Guanajuato City

text: Guanajuato () is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Guanajuato in central Mexico and the capital of the state of the same name. It is part of the macroregion of the Bajío. It is in a narrow valley, which makes its streets narrow and winding. Most are alleys that cars cannot pass through, and some are long sets of stairs up the mountainsides. Many of the city's thoroughfares are partially or fully underground. The historic center has numerous small plazas and colonial-era mansions, churches, and civil constructions built using pink or green sandstone. The city historic center and the adjacent mines were proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The growth of Guanajuato resulted from the abundantly available minerals in the mountains surrounding it. The mines were so rich that the city was one of the most influential during the colonial period. One of the mines, La Valenciana, accounted for two-thirds of the world's silver production at the height of its production.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The city is home to the Mummy Museum, which contains naturally mummified bodies that were found in the municipal cemetery between the mid 19th and 20th centuries. It is also home to the Festival Internacional Cervantino, which invites artists and performers from all over the world as well as Mexico. Guanajuato was the site of the first battle of the Mexican War of Independence between newly assimilated Mexican insurgent warriors and royalist troops at the Alhóndiga de Granaditas.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The first known inhabitants of the area were the Otomi, who were then displaced by the Chichimeca. There was Purépecha presence as well due mostly to ancient trading routes. The oldest known name for the area is “Mo-o-ti,” which means “place of metals.” Later, it was called "Paxtitlán" by the Aztecs, which means “place of Spanish moss.” The current name of Guanajuato comes from Purépecha (or in older orthography "quanax huato"), which means “frog hill”.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Mining had been done in this area long before the Spanish arrived. Late in the pre-Hispanic period the Aztecs had a presence here, specifically to look for metals to make ornamental objects for their political and religious elite. Some stories from this time state that the area was so rich in minerals that nuggets of gold could be picked up from the ground.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The Spanish found deposits of gold here in the 1540s and soon they sent soldiers and built forts. In 1548, the outpost was formally established with the name of Real de Minas de Guanajuato by viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoza. Despite Chichimeca attacks, the population of the area grew rapidly with the arrival of Spanish and Creole migrants and indigenous and mestizo traders and workers. It was soon declared a town with the name of Santa Fe Real de Minas de Guanajuato, with Preafán de Rivera as mayor. Its first church was consecrated in 1555, and it was named an “alcaldía mayor” in 1574.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Initially, the city was divided into four barrios or neighborhoods called Marfil/Santiago, Tepetapa, Santa Ana and Santa Fe. The last is considered the oldest and is in the current colonia of Pastita. This city was split by a small river that served as a main thoroughfare. The oldest neighborhoods are Rayas y Mellado, Cata, La Valenciana, and Pastita, named after the mines found there.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The very first mineral vein discovered, called San Bernabé, attracted attention not only in New Spain, but in Spain itself. The discovery brought thousands of migrants to the area, which led to the discovery of other deposits, such as at the Rayas mine. The San Bernabé find produced until 1928, when it tapped out. Today, the remains of this mine are found in the small village of La Luz, just outside the city proper.


title: Guanajuato City

text: In 1679, by decree of viceroy of Mexico Fray Payo Enriquez de Rivera, the name was changed to Ciudad de Santa Fe y Real de Minas de Guanajuato (Very Noble and Loyal City of Santa Fe y Real de Minas de Guanajuato). It received an escutcheon in the same year, which is still in use. The city's coat of arms has a gold background with an image of a woman in the center referring to the Holy Faith (Santa Fe). It contains other images such as a seashell supported by two laurel branches, blue ribbon and marble columns. It is topped with the royal crown of Castille and acanthus leaves.


title: Guanajuato City

text: In 1741, the city received the title of “The Most Noble and Loyal City of Santa Fe de Minas de Guanajuato” and became an “intendencia” (province) in 1790 because of the abundance of riches coming from its mines. In the 18th century, it was the world's leading silver extraction center, making it the richest city in Mexico for much of the early colonial period. The production of the La Valenciana mine alone affected the world economy, and made the counts of Valencianas one of the most powerful families in New Spain. The city was one of the richest and most opulent in New Spain in the 18th century. This wealth is manifested in its civil and religious architecture. The colonial architecture includes some of the best Baroque and Churrigueresque examples in the New World—such as the Valenciana, Cata, and La Compañía (Jesuit) Churches, and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guanajuato. Most constructions from this time are of pink or green sandstone. In the churches, the Baroque altars were gilded with gold from local mines. These structures have influenced later buildings throughout central Mexico. According to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the La Compañía and La Valenciana churches are considered among the most beautiful examples of Baroque architecture in Central and South America.


title: Guanajuato City

text: By the end of the 18th century, the lower classes were poor and oppressed despite the great wealth coming out of the mines. One event foreshadowing the Mexican War of Independence was a revolt carried out in the city attacking the heavily militarized Caja Real (building to hold the Crown's share of mining production) to protest the high taxes. One year later there were large protests against the expulsion of the Jesuits.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The War of Independence broke out in the state of Guanajuato in the town of Dolores, when Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla shouted the “Grito de Dolores” and raised an insurgent army on September 15 and 16, 1810. This army marched to San Miguel, today San Miguel de Allende, and then on to the city of Guanajuato. Just on the outskirts on September 28, 1810, Hidalgo sent a warning letter to city authorities, but it was ignored. Instead, royalist troops and many of the elite made their stand at the Alhóndiga de Granaditas granary, an imposing building with few windows and thick walls. After entering the city unopposed, Hidalgo decided to attack the granary. This was the first battle against Spanish troops in the war and is popularly called the 'Siege of the Alhondiga'. The insurgents were unable to take the heavily defended building as royalist gunfire kept them from approaching the only entrance until a miner by the name of Juan José de los Reyes Martínez, better known as El Pípila, brilliantly strapped a large flat stone onto his back for protection. Crawling, he carried a flask of tar and a torch. When he reached the wooden doors of the main entrance, he smeared it with the tar and set it on fire. This allowed the insurgents to penetrate the building, defeat the Spanish royalist army and elite, and take over the heavily fortified and defended building. This action is commemorated by a colossal statue of El Pípila on a hill overlooking the city.


title: Guanajuato City

text: After Independence, the province of Guanajuato was made a state, and the city was made its capital in 1824. However, fighting in the state and the rest of the country continued as Liberals, who wanted a Federalist government, fought with Conservatives, who wanted a centralized government under a monarch or dictator. Power in the city and state changed hands between the two factions during much of the 19th century, taking its toll on mining. The city was the provisional capital of the country in 1858 as Liberal president Benito Juárez fought Conservative rebels. In 1863, the French took the city during the French Intervention in Mexico, receiving a visit from the installed Emperor Maximiliano I and his wife, Carlota. French occupation ended in early 1867. The Mexican General Florencio Antillón captured it on January 26, 1868 from the Conservatives.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Mining reactivated around the 1870s due to foreign investments encouraged by the Porfirio Díaz government. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries this renewed economic activity spurred new era Mexican projects such as the Juárez Theater, the Esperanza Dam, the Monumento a la Paz, the Hidalgo Monument and the State Government Palace.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Flooding had been a serious problem through most of the city's history, due to the area's steep compact hillsides. In 1760 and 1780 two major floods nearly wiped it out. This spurred construction of large ditches and tunnels to contain and divert overflows during the rainy season. These eventually crisscrossed a large part of the city. Dam construction in the 1960s brought the flooding under control, and many of the ditches and tunnels were converted into underground roadways.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The first Festival Internacional Cervantino was held in 1972. The historic city center was declared a World Heritage Site in 1988.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Two climates predominate. One is fairly hot and dominates in the south and southeast portions of the municipality. The other is temperate and dominates the rest of the territory, including the city. In the warmer areas, temperatures can reach as high as in the summer and in the coldest area can get as low as in the winter. Average temperature overall is with an average annual precipitation of between . Most of the rain falls during the monsoon season between June and September.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Initially, the city was divided into four barrios or neighborhoods: Marfil/Santiago, Tepetapa, Santa Ana and Santa Fe. The last is considered the oldest and is in the current colonia of Pastita. The city was split by a small river that serves as a main thoroughfare. Because of the extremely hilly terrain, only one main road enters and another one leaves. The main street into the city, called Belaunzarán, now runs for three km underground and follows the original course of the Guanajuato River. Unlike the regular layouts of many other Spanish and Mexican cities, the streets of Guanajuato follow the extreme irregularity of the terrain, with small alleyways, plazas and in some cases steep staircases up hillsides. Most are paved with square cut stone, with only a limited number that are passable to cars. Most of the passageways are really alleys with a limited amount of open space in the way of very small plazas, which gives the city a more European flavor than other Mexican cities.


title: Guanajuato City

text: A number of these alleys have no names and some have whimsical names such as “Sal si puedes” (Exit if you can). Another famous alley is the Callejón Tecolote, through which Ignacio Allende and Miguel Hidalgo entered with their army in 1810. One alley near the State Government Palace is called the Callejón de la Condesa (Alley of the Countess). The name comes from the lady of one of the mansions who lived there in the very late 18th and very early 19th centuries. Ashamed of her husband's bad reputation with other women, before and after the marriage, the Countess began to enter and leave her home through the back door into this alley to avoid the glances of the townspeople.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The most famous alley is the Callejón del Beso (Alley of the Kiss). Located on the slopes of the Cerro del Gallo hill in a neighborhood that dates back to the 18th century, it is only wide in places with balconies that nearly touch each other. Folklore states that couples who kiss on the third step (painted in red) are guaranteed seven years of happiness together. The name comes from a legend of two young lovers who come to a tragic end: Doña Carmen and Don Luis. Carmen's father forbade the courting of his daughter by the young Luis, threatening to send her to a convent if she left the house to see him. Carmen's balcony reached over this alley and nearly touched the balcony of the neighboring house. Luis found out who owned it and arranged access. One evening, while the two were on these balconies, Carmen's father discovered them as Luis held Carmen's hand between his own. Enraged, Carmen's father stabbed her, leaving the shocked Luis holding the hand of his beloved as it grew cold and lifeless, giving it one final kiss.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The narrow streets and alleys have given rise to a pastime called "callejoneadas". These are roving parties, traditionally held by the students of the University of Guanajuato with live musicians. Today, there are callejoneadas arranged for tourists as well.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Juárez Street is one of the few through streets on the surface. It is filled with stores and restaurants and has a constant flow of people and traffic. The other through streets of town are either partially or fully underground, following the old drainage ditches and tunnels dug during colonial times. Originally they were used for flood control, but modern dams have controlled flooding and left them dry, so they have been turned into thoroughfares in a city with little surface area. The most important of these roads is Miguel Hidalgo or Belaunzarán, which carried the runoff from the river that used to divide the city in two. Guanajuato's version of the La Llorona story has the woman wandering its tunnels, some of which had rivers or streams running through them.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The streets and alleys of the city are filled with mostly colonial era buildings, restaurants, bars, cafes with terraces and small plazas. Buildings have been constructed of sandstone in pink and green, adobe and other stone, filling the streets with shades of pink, green, ocher and red. Most of these plazas are in front of or to the side of the many churches, such as the Plaza San Fernando, Plaza San Roque, Plaza de la Valenciana, Plaza de los Ángeles, and Plaza de Mexiamora. Exceptions to these are Jardín Reforma and Jardín Unión.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The Guanajuato underground tunnels are a network of wide channels that help lead traffic away from the city center. These tunnels have different layer crossroads and underground junctions. The tunnels are used for traffic which is heading in an eastwards direction. The westward direction passes through the center of Guanajuato. All of the tunnels have footpaths and even some of the bus stops are subterranean.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The tunnel system of Guanajuato was built to prevent flooding. Túnel La Galereña is the longest tunnel of this network and was excavated in the early 19th century to lead the Guanajuato River away from the center of the city. In 1960s the old river tunnels were strengthened, as they were in a bad condition and showed signs of collapse and subsidence. After the reconstruction, they were converted into a road tunnel. The first road journey was in 1961. But the old tunnels were of a suitable size for cars, medium-sized bus and vans but prevented larger transport getting into the city. A second tunnel was dug during the late 1960s, which diverted the river much deeper. Several additional tunnels were excavated during the 1990s.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The mines that made Guanajuato rich are inside and just outside the city proper. A number of these mines gave rise to small communities with their own churches; these still exist with other institutions such as museums. The best known mines gave their names to a number of the city's oldest neighborhoods such as Cata, Rayas y Mellado, La Pastita, San Luisito and Valenciana. Some of these mines are open to the public for tours. The first significant mine was called San Bernabé, which brought thousands of adventurers to Guanajuato and led to the discovery of other mineral deposits. This mine functioned from the 16th century until 1928. The remains of this mine can still be found in the small village of La Luz just outside the city.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The most important of these mining complexes is La Valenciana mine, on the northern edge of the city. It began operation in 1774. From then until the early 19th century it was one of the most productive silver mines in the world, accounting for 2/3 of the world's production at its peak. It produced 80% of all silver mined in the state of Guanajuato and one-sixth of all Mexico. For over 250 years, it produced about 30% of the world's silver. The mine continues operation today. Production is much diminished, but one ton of rock is still extracted every six minutes. The largest shaft descends for 450 meters and about 10,000 miners have worked it over its history.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The mine made its owners, the Counts of Valenciana, extremely wealthy and powerful. The first Count of Valenciana, Antonio de Obregón y Alcocer had the San Cayetano Church (also known as La Valenciana Church) built near the entrance of this mine. Dedicated to Saint Cajetan, it was built between 1765 and 1788. The church has a Churrigueresque portal, which has been compared to the Mexico City Cathedral and La Santisima Church, both in Mexico City. The interior conserves a number of gilded altarpieces and a pulpit that is encrusted with ivory and precious hardwoods. The interior also contains agraffito work and paintings from the 19th century.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Near La Valenciana Mine is the Guadalupe Mine, established in the 16th century. This complex was built with extremely large and thick stone walls supported by buttresses, giving it the look of a medieval fortress. The mine is no longer in operation but the complex has been undergoing redevelopment as a resort.


title: Guanajuato City

text: La Cata mine is one of the early mines, and a city neighborhood is named after it. The mine is near Don Quijote Plaza. It began operations in 1558 with peak production in the first quarter of the 18th century. It was owned by the Marquis of San Clemente. The center of the neighborhood is Señor de Villaseca Church, more commonly called La Cata Church. This church was built in the 17th century in Mexican Baroque or Churrigueresque style similar to that of La Valenciana Church. The church holds a valued crucifix called the Señor del Villaseca and is registered as a Mexican Federal Historic Monument.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The Bocamina de San Ramón mine is one of the city's early mines, with the deposit found by some travelers in the early 16th century. In 1548, its mother lode was found. Today, the mine is a tourist attraction in which visitors can descend into the earth through the old shafts. The complex has a patio area, a gallery of minerals and a bar called El Petardo, which once was the gunpowder storage room.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The Rayas mine gave rise to one of the city's original neighborhoods, after having been found in 1550 by Juan Rayas. The mine's apogee occurred in the 18th century, giving its owner, José de Sardineta y Legaspi the titles of Viscount of Sardineta and Marquis of Rayas. Today it is found on a section of the Carretera Panorámica (Panoramic Highway) that circles the city. The complex walls are tall and are held up by stone buttresses. It has one of the longest mine shafts in the world, which extends into the earth for 425 meters.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The Castile of Santa Cecilia is a majestic medieval-style construction built on a former 17th century mining hacienda. The current building functions as a hotel.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The city's most famous tourist attraction is the Mummies of Guanajuato, which are in their own museum on the side of the municipal cemetery in the Tepetapa neighborhood. The Mummy Museum contains a collection of specimens that mummified naturally in the adjoining cemetery. Authorities began exhuming bodies in 1870, when a new law required residents to pay a tax for perpetual burial. If survivors didn't pay the tax, they exhumed the body. If the body was mummified, they stored it in a building above ground and people began paying to see them in the late 1800s. The burial tax was abolished in 1958. At first, the mummies were displayed in a poorly lit tunnel that visitors entered with a torch or candle. Visitors were allowed to touch the mummies with some even breaking off pieces for souvenirs or to verify the body was real. The modern museum opened in 1970 with proper lighting and ventilation, and the mummies protected behind glass.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The collection contains 111 mummies, mostly women, with some men and about 20 children, but only 59 of these are on display. It is considered the largest collection of mummies in the Western Hemisphere. Almost all of the people were commoners and came from backgrounds such as miners and farmers. The mummies were disinterred from the municipal cemetery between 1870 and 1958, and were people who died between 1850 and 1950. The first of the documented mummies, which has been on display in one form or another since the 1870s, is that of a French doctor named Remigio Leroy. He can be seen at the current museum. Of the children in the collection, one can see evidence of a practice where deceased Catholic children were dressed as angels, if girls, or as saints, if boys, to indicate their purity and assured entrance into heaven. Several are babies, including one considered the smallest mummy in the world. Two of these small bodies were partially embalmed by taking out internal organs and replacing the cavities with packing material. One was a fetus, which probably miscarried at about 24 weeks, and the other is a newborn male infant. This embalming process may have enhanced the natural mummification process but was not the cause. It is not known why these had been embalmed, nor are their years of death exactly known. There is a mummy of a woman who died in childbirth or miscarriage (a dried placenta is attached to her) but it is not known if she is the mother of either of these mummified children.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Although only one out of every 100 bodies interred in the cemetery became naturally mummified, the concentration of this phenomenon has led to theories about how they have come about. Some believe that they are the result of people who had been buried alive, after mistakenly declared dead. These people, according to belief, died of desperation and asphyxiation and as a sign of their pain, convert into mummies. More commonly, it is likely the result of Guanjuato's altitude or the abundance of minerals in the soil. However, all of the mummified remains were found in the cemetery's above ground cement crypts, not in underground graves. Researchers believe the phenomenon is due to the warm, dry climate of the area, which dried out the bodies rapidly.


title: Guanajuato City

text: One of the main reasons for the mummies’ fame in Mexico is the 1972 film "El Santo contra las momias de Guanajuato", which featured Mexico's most famous lucha libre wrestler, El Santo, as well as two others called Blue Demon and Mil Máscaras. In this movie, the mummies are reanimated by a wrestler known as “Satán” and El Santo fights to defeat them. It was filmed in the Guanajuato cemetery and has since become a cult classic.


title: Guanajuato City

text: A mayor of the city, Dr. Eduardo Hicks, initiated the Guanajuato Mummy Research Project in 2007 to increase knowledge and awareness of the specimens. They have since been extensively studied in Mexico and the United States. The study has found evidence of medical conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, extreme anemia lung damage from smoke inhalation and tuberculosis. Some of the research looked into the folklore surrounding a number of the mummies such as the man with a misshapen face thought to have been caused by a mortal blow, a woman who was supposedly hanged by her husband and a woman who is thought to have been buried alive. No scientific evidence has been found to support the last two stories. Without records, it is not possible to know exactly when some mummies died. Carbon 14 cannot help because it has a margin of error of 50 years and it is already known that the mummies died between 1850 and 1950. In 2009, 36 of the mummies were displayed for the first time outside of Mexico, at the Detroit Science Center in the United States as part of a tour to last until 2012. They have been the focus of a National Geographic documentary series called "The Mummy Road Show," which covered 18 of the mummies.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The world-famous Festival Internacional Cervantino is an annual cultural event, held in the city of Guanajuato, which sponsors a large number of artistic and cultural events with artists invited from Mexico and all over the world. The event is named in honor of Miguel de Cervantes, author of "Don Quixote". The festival began in 1972, as short plays performed by University of Guanajuato students based on the works of Cervantes. In 2010, special guests included the state of Querétaro and the country of Colombia. The 2010 edition of the festival included performers such as Tangokineses from Argentina and Cumbia Cienaguera from Colombia. In total there were 424 events over 26 days.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The festival hosts events such as opera, theater productions, film showings, art exhibitions, academic conferences and talks, concerts and dance recitals. The performances occur in 70 venues over most of the month of October. Events are held throughout the city, with some in other locations such as Mexico City, Guadalajara and San Miguel de Allende. The most important venue in Guanajuato for the festival is Juárez Theater, which is located close to Jardín de la Unión (Union Garden). Other important venues in the city are Teatro Principal, Cervantes Theater and facilities of the University of Guanajuato. Events are also held in area churches, plazas and even on the streets. Festival International Cervantino Callejero is a parallel event sponsored by "Centro Libre de Experimentación Teatral y Artística (CLETA)". In 2010, this event featured 300 performances with social themes. This annual event was begun in 1975, inspired in part by The Beatles’ "Abbey Road" album cover.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The center of the modern city is Plaza de la Paz (Plaza of Peace), also known as Plaza Mayor (Main Plaza). Since the colonial period, the richest of the city's families built their main homes here, along with government buildings and the parish church, now a basilica. This plaza is a garden with a sculpture of a woman representing peace; its placement here in the late 19th century caused the official name to change to Plaza de la Paz. Today, the plaza is surrounded by the basilica, other churches, and governmental and commercial buildings, many of which were once mansions. Still remaining around the plaza are mansions that belonged to local nobility such as the Counts of Rul, Count of Gálvez, and the Count De los Chico. The Rul house was constructed at the end of the 18th century by architect Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras. It is noted for its inner courtyard, with architectural features from ancient Greece. Alexander von Humboldt stayed here in 1803. Later, the house became known as Palacio de Otero. The Casa Real de Ensaye is a Baroque mansion that, on its façade, bears the first noble coat of arms granted in Guanajuato.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The main church of the city is Basílica Colegiata de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato built between 1671 and 1696. Overall, the church is a sober Mexican Baroque in style but there are popular elements from donations made by the area's miners, and other elements that demonstrate the influence of several of the city's rich mining nobility. The Marquis of San Clemente and Pedro Lascuráin de Retana were the current building's first patrons. Later, the Counts of Valenciana left their influence as well with the donation of a clock for one of the towers and the acquisition of relics related to a saint and martyr named Faustina obtained from the Pope. These relics are in the main altar. The main portal is made of pink sandstone with “estipite” or inverted truncated pyramidal columns. The focus of the main altar is the image of Our Lady of Guanajuato (Nuestra Señora de Guanjuato), who is the patroness of the city. She was donated to the city by Carlos I and his son Felipe II in 1557. In 1696, the church gained minor basilica status and full basilica status in 1957.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The Legislative Palace or state government building was the site of the Aduana or Casas Consistoriales (customs house) in the colonial period. The current building was constructed by Cecilio Luis Long in a European style popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and inaugurated in 1903.The façade has a Neoclassical portal in sandstone of colors typical of the Guanajuato area. It contains the legislative chamber called the Sala de Sessiones, decorated with 19th- and 20th-century paintings and somber furniture.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Alhóndiga de Granaditas is a very large building covering an entire block. It was originally built to store enough grain to feed the city for a year to protect the population against famines such as those that occurred in 1783, due to crop failure. This gave the building its name, which roughly translates to “house of grain.” The building is two floors, nearly windowless with a very large courtyard in its interior. Construction began in 1798 under an architect named Durán y Villaseñor and terminated under José del Mazo.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The Alhóndiga only served its original function for eight months after it was built. The main reason for its importance today is that it was the site of the first battle of the Mexican War of Independence between insurgents and royalist troops on September 28, 1810. When Miguel Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende and the insurgent army approached the city, royalist troops under Lieutenant Riaño and the city's elite took refuge in the building, along with millions of pesos of silver and other loot. The insurgents quickly surrounded the building, but the building proved difficult to penetrate due to the lack of openings and royalist gunfire.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The battle remained a stalemate until a miner from San Miguel de Allende devised a way to approach the building's main entrance. This miner, whose name was Juan José de los Reyes Martínez, is better known as El Pípila, who had joined the insurgent army as it passed through his hometown. El Pípila strapped a large flat stone over his back and, carrying a flask of tar and a torch, crawled towards the main entrance. The stone protected him from the bullets fired at him. When he reached the heavy wooden door of the entrance, he smeared it with tar and lit it. This allowed insurgents to then take the building.


title: Guanajuato City

text: After the battle it was used as barracks, a tenement and tobacco warehouse. From 1864 to 1949, it was used as the state penitentiary. In 1949 the building was converted into the Museo Regional de Guanajuato, documenting the history of the area and its role in Mexican national history from the pre-Hispanic period to the present divided among fourteen halls on the upper floor. On the ground floor there are large mascarons of José Mariano Jiménez, Vicente Guerrero, Ignacio Allende and Ignacio Aldama. The main hall has mascarons of Miguel Hidalgo and José María Morelos y Pavón who “guard” the national coat of arms. In front of this is an eternal flame that is renewed each September 28. The walls of the main stairwell contain mural work by José Chávez Morado that alludes to Independence. It houses a large collection of ceramics from western parts of Mesoamerica, especially from Chupícuaro. It contains works by Guanajuato artist Hermeneguildo Bustos and photographer Romualdo García. There are displays related to the building itself, to its construction, its original function as a granary and its role in one of the first battles of the War of Independence. The large courtyard within the Alhóndiga is a traditional place to celebrate Mexico's Independence Day with the reenactment of Miguel Hidalgo's “El Grito de Dolores.” It is one of the sites for a number of the events of the Festival Cervantino. The museum was restored in 2010 for the Bicentennial by the INAH at a cost of 5.7 million pesos as part of similar museums in Dolores Hidalgo and San Miguel de Allende to form the Ruta de Independencia (Independence Route). The work was the first renovation of the building in 20 years.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The University of Guanajuato began as a Jesuit school for children in the first half of the 18th century. The establishment of this school was sponsored by Josefa Teresa de Busto y Moya, sister of the Marquis of San Clemente, who obtained permission for the school from the Spanish Crown in 1732 and established the institution in her home. She donated a fifth of her fortune toward it and worked to obtain donations from other wealthy families in the city. However, credit for the establishment of the school is most often given to Jesuits. Over time, the school grew and began to offer high school and professional level studies. It held several names over its history, from Real Colegio de la Purísima Concepción (1767), Colegio del Estado (1828), Colegio Nacional de Guanajuato (1867), with its current name adopted in 1945. The Colegio del Estado name was prompted by the fact that the institution became the property of the state in 1828. In 1945, it gained university status.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Today the institution serves approximately 30,000 students at the high school, bachelor's and graduate levels. In addition to the main campus in the city, there are nine others in other parts of Guanajuato state. The university hosts a number of the events of the Festival Cervantino, with its famous stairway acting as seating. The best known facility of the institution is the main building in Guanajuato city, which was built in Neoclassical style in green stone. It houses the dean's office, administrative offices and a number of the institution's departments. The main building is recognized by its long staircase with 113 steps, which empties onto the Callejón del Estudiante. Under the main roof is a 16th-century chapel that was sponsored by Vasco de Quiroga for indigenous mine workers. It's called the "Templo de los Hospitales" (Temple of the Hospitals). It received the image of the Virgin of the Rosary, now called the Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The Museo de Historia Natural Alfredo Dugès is on the ground floor of the University of Guanajuato's main building. It contains a national-level collection of fossils, plants and animals. The importance of this collection comes from its state of conservation and its age. The collection was gathered by Alfredo Dugés and donated to the university.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The city is dotted with a large number of small plazas or squares that were built along with the churches that usually gave them their names. One of the best known plazas or open spaces is "Jardín de la Unión", on the south side of San Diego Church. The garden is filled with carefully pruned Indian laurels and, in addition to the church, is surrounded by small cafes, restaurants, and Juárez Theater. It occupies a triangular space that originally was the church atrium. In 1883, wrought iron benches and a kiosk were installed. Today, concerts are held in this kiosk on occasion. It is popular with wandering student musicians performing callejoneadas and functions as the atrium of San Diego Church. This church has a Churrigueresque façade. The interior has paintings from the 18th century, Neoclassical altarpieces and a crucifix called Cristo de Burgos, which was donated to the church by the Count of Valenciana. The current church was built between 1780 and 1784 by the Count of Valenciana after the original was destroyed by a flood. In the 19th century, its original gilded altarpieces were replaced with the current Neoclassical ones. The monastery, which was also destroyed, was never rebuilt, but the site is now home to San Diego Museum. It was created to rescue and display the cultural inheritance of the city, describing its development and changes from its beginnings to the present day. It also contains a computer simulation of what the original monastery looked like.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Located next to the University, the Temple of the Company of Jesus, or Oratorio de San Felipe (commonly known as "La Compañía") was built in 1746 by José Joaquín Sardaneta y Legazpi. It was completed in 1767, the same year that the Jesuits were expelled from New Spain. The new church remained abandoned until 1804, when the order was allowed to return and reclaim it. The order then worked to renovate the church, replacing Baroque elements with Neoclassical ones, which were then in fashion. It has a façade with narrow estipite columns in Churrigueresque style, but its more famous aspect is a colossal cupola with three levels, which was added in the 19th century by architect Vicente Heredia. Inside, a collection of 180 paintings were recently studied and restored. Some of these paintings are displayed in the church complex, while the rest are kept in a pinacotheca created for the purpose. The main altar and the paintings are by Miguel Cabrera.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Dating from 1726, the oldest plaza still in existence is Plaza de Baratillo. The name comes from a weekly market, once held on Sundays. This market specialized in low prices (baratillo means “very cheap”). In the center is a fountain brought from Florence, Italy. This fountain once provided area residents with potable water from the Olla Dam. Today, it is purely ornamental.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Another important area of the historic center is the San Roque plaza and church. There is a stone cross, which indicates the ground was once used as a cemetery. Starting in the 1950s, this plaza was used for short one-act plays called "Entremeses Cervantinos", which later developed into the Festival Cervantino. The plaza is still used for these plays as well as events associated with the annual event. San Roque Church dates from 1726. It has a sober Baroque façade and contains an important collection of colonial era paintings.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Other important churches include the Temple of Guadalupe from the 18th century in sober Baroque, and El Pardo Church from the 18th century with a façade covered with sculpted plants. San Francisco Church on Sopeña Street faces a plaza with the same name. It has a Baroque façade of pink stone with a green tint, a staircase with wrought iron railings and a small fountain. Belén Church was built in the 18th century by the Count of Valenciana with a modest façade. It is across from Hidalgo Market and on the street leading to Alhóndiga de Granaditas. El Mellado Church was part of La Merced Monastery. The cloister area is now in ruins but the church remains and is dedicated to the veneration of Our Lady of Mercy. The original Baroque altarpieces were replaced with Neoclassical ones in the 19th century.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Jardín Reforma or Reforma Square was originally a market, built in 1861. When Hidalgo Market opened, most vendors moved out. In 1923, the site was renovated into a garden with a central fountain and Indian laurel, eucalyptus and cypress trees. Jardín Reforma has an arched entryway with a series of thin columns.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Plaza del Quijote is at the old San Antonio bridge and to the side of San Diego Church. The plaza was created to honor the 400th anniversary of the first edition of "Don Quixote of La Mancha" in 1605.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The Juárez Theater (Teatro Juárez) is located across from the San Diego Church in the city's downtown. It is one of the main venues of the Cervantino Festival. It is considered one of the most beautiful theaters in the country, according to Mexico Desconocido. It was built from 1872 to 1903 and is in Neoclassical style with a façade containing nine sculptures depicting the Muses of Greek mythology.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The south façade has a lintel with the word “Tragedia” on it and on the north façade, the matching lintel reads “Comedia.” The interior has an eclectic design richly decorated. The vestibule or foyer (also called the Smoking Room) has columns and garlands. The auditorium is Mauresque with Arabesque detail throughout. The curtain contains an image of Constantinople. The theater was built from 1872 to 1903 by Antonio Rivas Mercado, who designed the Angel of Independence monument in Mexico City, and was inaugurated with the opera Aida by Giuseppe Verdi with President Porfirio Díaz in attendance. It is the only theater in the country that has conserved its original furnishings.


title: Guanajuato City

text: On the side of Juárez Theater, there is Rincón del Arte. Next to this is a cable car that rises up to the Pípila Monument on San Miguel Hill. The monument honors the insurgent who managed to torch the main entrance of Alhóndiga de Granaditas. The monument consists of a giant statue of El Pípila raising a torch over his head. Around the monument, there is an esplanade and overlook which permits a panoramic view of nearly the entire city.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Teatro Principal (Main Theater) was built at the city's height when the wealth of the mines attracted entertainers. It was the first theater in the city, built in Neoclassical style and one of the few places where people of different social strata could enter. The theater closed periodically during its early history due to sociopolitical upheavals. After the Mexican Revolution, it was converted into a movie theater. Shortly after this, it suffered a fire and closed for 30 years. Today, it is reconstructed and run by the University of Guanajuato as one of the main venues of the Cervantino Festival.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Unlike other theaters in the city, which were stage theaters converted into movie houses at one point or another, Cervantes Theater was a movie house that was converted into a stage theater. It is used for puppet shows, dance recitals, experimental theater and conferences.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Hidalgo Market was built by Ernesto Brunel in 1910 over what was the site of the old Gavira bullring. It was inaugurated by President Porfirio Díaz to celebrate Mexico's Centennial of Independence. The roof has a cupola with a clock tower. The clock has four faces. The interior of the market is a giant metallic nave. The market sells typical candies of the region such as “charamuscas,” which are often shaped as a charro or mummy and wrapped in wax paper. The upper floor of the market contains a large number of crafts and souvenir shops containing products such as baskets, knit items, ceramics, leathercrafts and more. The ground floor has many everyday items such as fresh and packaged food, household goods, wickerwork and hardware.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Museo del Pueblo de Guanajuato was created to exhibit the best of the artwork of the city. It contains an important collection of religious art from the 17th to 19th centuries. It contains collections of works by Olga Costa and José Chávez Morado. This includes three murals by Chávez Morado set up as altars. These murals depict the end of the colonial period and the War of Independence.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Diego Rivera Museum was the house where the painter was born and spent his early childhood. The first floor is dedicated to furniture and other items from the late 19th century. The floors above contain a large collection of paintings, about 100 of which are Rivera's early and little known works. It has workshops for arts, literary events, film showings and other cultural activities.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Very near Jardín Unión, on Luis González Obregón Street is Casa de Gobierno, where Benito Juárez made the city the temporary capital of Mexico. Next to Casa de Gobierno is Real Caja de Guanajuato, which dates from 1665. It was the scene of the naming of the first authorities of a Mexico declared liberated from Spanish rule. Later it was used as a women's prison and teachers’ college.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Museo Iconográfico del Quijote is on Manuel Doblado Street. It was created in 1987 to honor Don Quixote. The museum contains visual representations of the character, including some created by notable artists such as Pedro Coronel, José Guadalupe Posada and Salvador Dalí.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Museo de Arte Olga Costa y José Chávez Morado is in Pastita neighborhood, installed in a building in the former Guadalupe Hacienda. This was the home of the two artists, who donated the structure and their personal art collection to the city after their deaths. The collection contains their own works as well as works by a number of other artists.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Casa Museo Gene Byron, in the suburb of Marfil, was the former Santa Ana Hacienda and belonged to Canadian artist Gene Byron. Byron began studying Mexican muralists in 1941, but her work was also influenced by contemporary Spanish artists. She and her husband settled in Guanajuato in 1958, and took over this ex-hacienda in 1962. Today the grounds are a cultural center that hosts art exhibitions, theatrical productions, concerts, and book presentations.


title: Guanajuato City

text: As the seat of a municipality, the city of Guanajuato is the local government for over 373 communities, which cover an area of . The total population of the municipality is 194,500. This municipality is in Region I in the northeast of the state. It borders the municipalities of San Felipe, Dolores Hidalgo, Salamanca, Irapuato, Silao and León.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Most of the territory is covered by Sierra of Guanajuato also called Sierra of San Gregorio. Principal elevations include Santa Rosa, Chichíndaro, Sirena, Bufa Picacho and Bufa Peñón all near the city. Others include La Giganta, El Gigante, Los Llanitos and Vaquería in the east and north. These peaks average above sea level. The territory is filled with small streams, arroyos, and rivers, which wind around the steep mountains. These include El Cedeño, La Goya, La Hernia, El Salto and La Cebada.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Ecosystems vary from low rainforest that loses leaves in the dry season, to areas with trees never exceeding 15 meters, grassland and temperate forest, some dominated by trees of the Prosopis family. In most areas, small mammals such as skunks, tlacuache, rabbits, and badgers dominate—with coyotes and deer found in isolated areas. Reptiles such as rattlesnakes, frogs, and lizards can be found, as well as some bird and insect species.


title: Guanajuato City

text: According to INEGI, the only indigenous language spoken in the municipality is Nahuatl and only by 330 people. Almost all of the municipality's residents profess the Catholic faith, with most of those who do not following a Protestant or Evangelical Christian creed.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Under 50% of the municipality's population is economically active, but of these very few are unemployed. Commerce and services employ the largest number of people followed by construction and mining. Agriculture is extremely limited due to the very rugged terrain. However, some crops of sorghum, alfalfa, peanuts and fruits are produced. Livestock is produced on a very small scale and includes cattle, goats and sheep. Mining is the economic activity that spurred the founding of the city. However, extraction of minerals today is minimal, with gold and silver ores almost exhausted. Kaolin and lead are still mined. Principal mining companies include Las Torres, Santa Fe de Guanajuato and El Cubo. The most important segments of the economy now are tourism and commerce. The city's rich cultural and artistic heritage, along with its colonial area constructions, are what attract visitors. For the rural areas around the city, it is the place to shop for supplies not available at home. This includes foods, auto parts and service, banking services and more.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Cerro de la Bufa is very close to the city of Guanajuato and has a number of stories associated with it. At sunset, there is a formation that looks like the profile of the face of a bearded man. According to tradition, this is the face of Christ. There are two caves consecrated to Ignatius of Loyola. They are on opposite sides of the summit and called the “old” and “new” cave. Each July 31, there is a pilgrimage to the “new” cave in honor of the saint. Sometime during the colonial period, an image of Ignatius was painted on a wall. According to legend, a group of male witches used to use the cave for their rites on the eve before the Catholic ritual, “forcing” the image on the wall to observe. Cerro de la Bufa is home to another legend about an enchanted princess. It states that on feast days, a woman would appear to a man on a road in the mountain and ask him to carry her to the Basilica in the city center in his arms. If he did so, the city of Guanajuato would return to the height of its wealth. If he chose to do so, noises and threats from behind would haunt him. If he lost his resolve, the woman would turn into a serpent and kill him. No woman has ever been carried from this mountain to the Basilica.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Presa de la Olla is a dam that was constructed in the mid 18th century to supply the city with potable water. The area became a popular gathering place for young aristocrats, and later the lower classes as well. The area hosts the Feast of San Juan every June 24. The origin of this event dates from the colonial period when a poor miner came here to give thanks for the recent arrival of rains. The current event culminates with the “opening of the dam,” which attracts hundreds to watch the water flow. Today, the event stretches over the second and third week in June and has taken on new elements such as a beauty contest and dances with techno, reggaetón, Duranguese and Grupero music. The dam is used for water sports, and there is a park named Florencio Antillon Garden next to it.


title: Guanajuato City

text: The Christ the King Monument was constructed on the top of Cubilete Mountain in 1923 by architect Nicolás Mariscal Piña and sculptor Fidias Elizondo. The sculpture stands tall and shows Christ with his arms extended flanked by two angels who hold a crown of thorns and a royal crown. The sculpture weighs . From the plaza, one can see the entire Bajio Valley.


title: Guanajuato City

text: Guanajuato City has reached twin town and sister city agreements with a substantial number of cities for a relatively small city in a Mexican context (123rd largest city in 2015). The most iconic and visible relationship is that with Ashland. The rest of the sister city relationships are comparatively quite inactive. Sister city agreements include:


title: Double harmonic scale

text: In music, the double harmonic major scale is a scale whose gaps may sound unfamiliar to Western listeners. This is also known as Mayamalavagowla, Bhairav Raga, Byzantine scale, Arabic (Hijaz Kar), and Gypsy major. It can be likened to a gypsy scale because of the diminished step between the 1st and 2nd degrees. "Arabic scale" may also refer to any Arabic mode, the simplest of which, however, to Westerners, resembles the double harmonic major scale.


title: Double harmonic scale

text: However, this scale is commonly represented with the first and last half step each being represented with quarter tones:


title: Double harmonic scale

text: The non-quarter tone form is identical, in terms of notes, to the North Indian Thaat named Bhairav and the South Indian (Carnatic) Melakarta named Mayamalavagowla.


title: Double harmonic scale

text: It is referred to as the "double harmonic" scale because it contains two harmonic tetrads featuring augmented seconds. By contrast, both the harmonic major and harmonic minor scales contain only one augmented second, located between their sixth and seventh degrees.


title: Double harmonic scale

text: The scale contains a built-in tritone substitution, a dominant seventh chord a half step above the root, with strong harmonic movement towards the tonic chord.


title: Double harmonic scale

text: The double harmonic scale is not commonly used in classical music from Western culture, as it does not closely follow any of the basic musical modes, nor is it easily derived from them. It also does not easily fit into common Western chord progressions such as the authentic cadence. This is because it is mostly used as a modal scale, not intended for much movement through chord progressions.


title: Double harmonic scale

text: The Arabic scale (in the key of E) was used in Nikolas Roubanis's "Misirlou", and in the Bacchanale from the opera "Samson and Delilah" by Saint-Saëns. Claude Debussy used the scale in "Soirée dans Grenade", "La Puerta del Vino", and "Sérénade interrompue" to evoke Spanish flamenco music or Moorish heritage. In popular music, Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple and Rainbow used the scale in pieces such as "Gates of Babylon" and "Stargazer". The Miles Davis jazz standard "Nardis" also makes use of the double harmonic.. Opeth used this scale in their song "Bleak" from the album "Blackwater Park". Megadeth use the scale in a guitar solo from their song "The Threat Is Real" from their 2015 album "Dystopia". It is also used by Hans Zimmer in his score for "Dune".


title: Double harmonic scale

text: The double harmonic scale features radial symmetry, or symmetry around its root, or center note. Breaking up the three note chromaticism and removing this symmetry by sharpening the 2nd or flattening the 7th note respectively by one semitone yields the harmonic major and Phrygian Dominant mode of the harmonic minor scales respectively, each of which, unlike the double harmonic minor scale, has a full diminished chord backbone.


title: Double harmonic scale

text: This scale (and its modes like the Hungarian minor scale) is the only seven-note scale (in 12-tone equal temperament) that is "perfectly balanced"; this means that when its pitches are represented as points on a circle (whose full circumference represents an octave), their average position (or "centre of mass") is the centre of the circle.


title: Double harmonic scale

text: Like all heptatonic (seven-pitch) scales, the double harmonic scale has a mode for each of its individual scale degrees. The most commonly known of these modes is the 4th mode, the Hungarian minor scale, most similar to the harmonic minor scale with a raised 4th degree. The modes are as follows:


title: Double harmonic scale

text: Some of the closest existing scales to the double harmonic major scale are the Phrygian dominant scale, the fifth mode of the harmonic minor scale, as they are alike save for the Phrygian dominant's flattened seventh degree. As well as the harmonic major scale (also known as major flat 6 and Ionian flat 6) this scale is identical to the standard major scale aside from the sixth scale degree being flattened by a semitone.


title: What a piece of work is a man

text: "What a piece of work is a man!" is a phrase within a monologue by Prince Hamlet in William Shakespeare's play "Hamlet". Hamlet is reflecting, at first admiringly, and then despairingly, on the human condition.


title: What a piece of work is a man

text: The monologue, spoken in the play by Prince Hamlet to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Act II, Scene 2, follows in its entirety. Rather than appearing in blank verse, the typical mode of composition of Shakespeare's plays, the speech appears in straight prose:


title: What a piece of work is a man

text: This version has been argued to have been a bad quarto, a tourbook copy, or an initial draft. By the 1604 Second Quarto, the speech is essentially present but punctuated differently:


title: What a piece of work is a man

text: J. Dover Wilson, in his notes in the "New Shakespeare" edition, observed that the Folio text "involves two grave difficulties", namely that according to Elizabethan thought angels could apprehend but not act, making "in action how like an angel" nonsensical, and that "express" (which as an adjective means "direct and purposive") makes sense applied to "action", but goes very awkwardly with "form and moving".


title: What a piece of work is a man

text: A source well known to Shakespeare is Psalm 8, especially verse 5: "You have made [humans] a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned them with glory and honor."


title: What a piece of work is a man

text: However, rather than being a direct influence on Shakespeare, Montaigne may have merely been reacting to the same general atmosphere of the time, making the source of these lines one of context rather than direct influence.


title: European Shorthair

text: The European Shorthair, called the European in FIFe and WCF, is a cat breed originating in Sweden. The term has also been used as an elaborate way of referring to common domestic cats of Europe, causing some confusion as the pedigree cats of this breed also should resemble the typical domestic cats of Europe. In WCF a similar breed is known as Celtic Shorthair and was at a time considered the same breed, but this breed has some difference from the Europeans, and the WCF now register true Europeans under this breed name instead of under Celtic Shorthair.


title: European Shorthair

text: The role as the cat breed resembling the original domestic cats of Europe was held until the beginning of the 20th century by the British Shorthair, even though stockier than the majority of common European cats, until 1949 when the European Shorthair was recognized by the Fédération internationale féline (FIFe). The oldest known European Shorthair registered in FIFe was born in 1940, as the origin of the European Shorthair predates the formation of FIFe in 1949.


title: European Shorthair

text: The European can be compared to the kind of domestic cat, which has developed naturally, i.e., without having been subject to special rules for breeding.


title: European Shorthair

text: European Shorthair has its counterparts in Great Britain (British Shorthair) and the U.S. (American Shorthair), though these breeds have been bred for longer.


title: European Shorthair

text: The British Shorthair, however, was crossed with the Persian and selectively bred to become a cobbier cat with a slightly shortened muzzle and thicker coat.


title: European Shorthair

text: It was confusing for Scandinavian breeders that the British Shorthair was also called European Shorthair at that time, even though it looked different. Felinological associations recognized both types of cat as a single breed, meaning they were judged by the same standards during cat shows, until 1982 when FIFE registered the Scandinavian type of European Shorthair as a separate breed with its own standard.


title: European Shorthair

text: Life expectancy depends on whether the cat is outdoors or not. An indoor cat has a life expectancy of 14 years on average.


title: European Shorthair

text: The breed has developed from the natural mouse hunters of Europe with the wish to strengthen the most desirable personality traits of the domestic cats. Most European Shorthairs are strong and active, and as a rule they are friendly towards people of all ages. They get on well with other cats and tolerate dogs well. European Shorthairs are intelligent and playful, and most of them are expert at keeping houses and gardens free of all types of rodents. They tend to handle changes and an active home very well, making them suitable for families with children.


title: European Shorthair

text: In terms of appearance the European Shorthair is a very harmonious and supple cat, which should give the overall appearance of medium with no single feature being enlarged or reduced when compared to the original domestic shorthaired cats of Europe. The European Shorthair is a muscular, medium-sized to large cat, with a broad, well-muscled chest. The strong legs are average length and the paws are round. The tail is fairly thick at the base, tapering to a rounded tip.


title: European Shorthair

text: The head is rounded and should be longer than it is wide, making it not as round as the head of the British Shorthair. The ears are medium-sized; the width of the ear corresponds to the height of the ears, which has a slightly rounded tip. They are quite wide-set and upright. The eyes are rounded and may be of any colour.


title: European Shorthair

text: The European Shorthair's dense coat is short, glossy and springy; meaning it should lie down again after having been ruffled by a hand going against the hairs. The European Shorthair should only be shorthaired.


title: European Shorthair

text: All natural colours are permitted, such as black, red, blue and cream, with or without tabby, silver or white markings, though the combination of tabby with white and smoke with white is not allowed in FIFe. Pure white is also permitted. The eye colour corresponds to the coat colour and may be yellow, green or orange. Blue or odd-eyed individuals are permitted if the coat colour is white.


title: European Shorthair

text: The breed is mostly popular in Scandinavia, as there are still huge populations of similar-looking cats in Europe, and the European Shorthairs are for those appreciating a supple breed which has had a selection for a good temper. The European Shorthair is on the list of endangered breeds in Sweden and is the national cat of Finland.


title: Meru Peak

text: Meru Peak is a mountain located in the Garhwal Himalayas, in the state of Uttarakhand in India. The peak lies between Thalay Sagar and Shivling, and has some highly challenging routes. The name Meru likely originated from the Sanskrit word for "peak".


title: Meru Peak

text: The mountain was formerly the site of the world's highest BASE jump from a location on the surface of the Earth by Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan, from a height of , in June 2006, a record which has since been surpassed by Valery Rozov's 2013 jump from the North Face of Mount Everest.


title: Meru Peak

text: The mountain has three distinct peaks: southern (), central (), and northern (). The two higher peaks were climbed earlier than the harder central peak, which was first climbed in a 2001 solo ascent by Valery Babanov, twice by other teams in 2006, and for the first time along the "Shark's Fin" route in 2011.


title: Meru Peak

text: This 1400m route to Meru Central follows North East Pillar, over the "Shark's Fin", a massive granite feature on the northeast face variously described as a "prow", "blade" or "nose". Its exceptional difficulty is exacerbated by the fact that its most technical rock climbing is near the top, meaning that heavy gear needs to be carried almost all the way. It had been described as "one of the most attempted and most coveted lines in the entire Himalaya" and "one of the last remaining challenges of big wall mountaineering."


title: Meru Peak

text: The route begins after a two-day approach, a 700m snow slope and a rock ramp. Next, is a steep, overhanging wall nicknamed the "Indian Ocean Wall" climbed with aid techniques up to A4 difficulty. This is followed by the "Crystal Pitch", an overhanging and exposed section of aid climbing. The last section combines mixed and aid climbing.


title: Meru Peak

text: American Mugs Stump attempted the route in 1986, thwarted by an avalanche on the lower slopes. In 1988 he tried and failed again, defeated by a lengthy snow storm.


title: Meru Peak

text: A serious attempt was made by the primarily British team of Paul Pritchard, Johnny Dawes, Noel Craine, Dave Kendall and Philip Lloyd in 1993. This failure included Dawes losing a boot, and later having a major fall.


title: Meru Peak

text: Further unsuccessful attempts followed in the 1990s included Scott Backes. In 1997, Nick Bullock, Jules Cartwright and Jamie Fisher achieved a height of 6,100m.


title: Meru Peak

text: In 2001, Russian Valery Babanov climbed the bottom part of the route to 5,800m before descending. He summited via a different route, which became known as "Shangri-La", later the same year. This was the first time Meru Central had been summited, by any route.


title: Meru Peak

text: In 2003, Americans Conrad Anker, Doug Chabot and Bruce Miller completed the bottom part of the wall, before veering off onto ice flutings, then eventually turning back.


title: Meru Peak

text: In 2004, a Japanese expedition failed after an accident injured one of the team members. The same team attempted again in 2006, but departed the Shark's Fin to reach the summit.


title: Meru Peak

text: In October 2006, Czech climbers Marek Holecek and Jan Kreisinger attempted the route, but departed the ridge halfway up to successfully pursue an easier route to the summit.


title: Meru Peak

text: In 2008, the team of Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk climbed to within two pitches (150m) of the summit before turning back. They had experienced severe storms, forcing them to spend four days in the portaledge, depleting their food supplies.


title: Meru Peak

text: In 2009, Slovenians Silvo Karo, Marko Lukic and Andrej Grmovsek unsuccessfully attempted the route, turning around at the base of the headwall, due to insufficient gear, poor acclimatisation and an Alpine-style approach.


title: Meru Peak

text: The first successful climb of the route was made in October 2011 by Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk, the same team that had narrowly failed in 2008. The attempt was made only 5 months after Ozturk suffered serious spinal and skull injuries while skiing. They overcame a broken portaledge, and a "mini-stroke" suffered by Ozturk, but cited excellent weather as a major factor in their success, which was recognized also by Guinness World Records as the first ascent of this peak. They reached the summit on their eighth day, then it took them three days to descend.


title: Meru Peak

text: In 2015, the feature film "Meru" was released, documenting Anker's team's two attempts on the route. It included footage taken by Chin and Ozturk on both attempts, originally intended just for posterity.


title: Window tax

text: Window tax was a property tax based on the number of windows in a house. It was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, France, and Ireland during the 18th and 19th centuries. To avoid the tax, some houses from the period can be seen to have bricked-up window-spaces (ready to be glazed or reglazed at a later date). In England and Wales it was introduced in 1696 and was repealed 155 years later, in 1851. In France it was established in 1798 and was repealed in 1926. Scotland had window tax from 1748 until 1798.


title: Window tax

text: The tax was introduced in England and Wales in 1696 under King William III and was designed to impose tax relative to the prosperity of the taxpayer, but without the controversy that then surrounded the idea of income tax.


title: Window tax

text: At that time, many people in Britain opposed income tax, on principle, because the disclosure of personal income represented an unacceptable governmental intrusion into private matters, and a potential threat to personal liberty. The first permanent British income tax was not introduced until 1842, and the tax remained controversial into the 20th century.


title: Window tax

text: When the window tax was introduced, it consisted of two parts: a flat-rate house tax of two shillings per house (equivalent to £ in ), and a variable tax for the number of windows above ten in the house. Properties with between ten and twenty windows paid an extra four shillings (equivalent to £ in ), and those above twenty windows paid an extra eight shillings (equivalent to £ in ).


title: Window tax

text: In 1709 with the union of England and Scotland, taxes were harmonised and a new top rate of 20s total was introduced for houses with 30 or more windows. In 1747 the 2s flat rate was detached from the window tax as a tax in its own right and the way the window tax was calculated was altered. 6d was charged for each window in a house with 10–14, 9d for each window in a house with 15–19, 1s for every window in a house with 20 or more. In 1758 the flat rate charge was increased to 3s. The number of windows that incurred tax was changed to seven in 1766 and eight in 1825.


title: Window tax

text: The flat-rate tax was changed to a variable rate, dependent on the property value, in 1778. People who were exempt from paying church or poor rates, for reasons of poverty, were exempt from the window tax. Window tax was relatively unintrusive and easy to assess. Manchester Royal Infirmary had to pay a tax of 1/9d per window on the windows of the rooms occupied by staff of the infirmary in 1841—a total of £1 9/9d. Certain rooms, particularly dairies, cheese rooms and milkhouses, were exempt providing they were clearly labelled, and it is not uncommon to find the name of such rooms carved on the lintel. The bigger the house, the more windows it was likely to have, and the more tax the occupants would pay. Nevertheless, the tax was unpopular, because it was seen by some as a tax on "light and air".


title: Window tax

text: In "The Wealth of Nations", Adam Smith briefly discussed the window tax as one case among various forms of taxation. Smith observed that the tax was relatively inoffensive because its assessment did not require the assessor to enter the residence—a building's windows could be counted from the outside. On the other hand, Smith reported that others objected to the tax on the grounds of its inequality, since it was thought to have a disproportionate impact on the poor. Smith himself observed that the tax's effect was to lower rent.


title: Window tax

text: In Scotland, a window tax was imposed after 1748. A house had to have at least seven windows or a rent of at least £5 to be taxed. Windows that have been filled with masonry may have no connection to taxation, but reflect the location of staircases, fireplaces or for purposes of maintaining the symmetry of a building facade. A similar tax also existed in France from 1798 to 1926.


title: Window tax

text: There was a strong agitation in England in favour of the abolition of the tax during the winter of 1850–51, and it was accordingly repealed on 24 July 1851, and a tax on inhabited houses substituted. The Scottish window tax was also abolished at the same time.


title: Window tax

text: The saying "daylight robbery" is popularly believed to originate with the window tax, but there appears to be no scholarly support for this. Another myth is that the tax inspired Europeans to begin using bricked-up windows, although this is also untrue, as blind windows were used for aesthetic purposes since at least the medieval period, such as on the Church of Saint John the Baptist, Kerch, Crimea, built in 757 CE. Windows "were" also bricked up in Europe from the 1600s to avoid taxes.


title: Unix philosophy

text: The Unix philosophy, originated by Ken Thompson, is a set of cultural norms and philosophical approaches to minimalist, modular software development. It is based on the experience of leading developers of the Unix operating system. Early Unix developers were important in bringing the concepts of modularity and reusability into software engineering practice, spawning a "software tools" movement. Over time, the leading developers of Unix (and programs that ran on it) established a set of cultural norms for developing software; these norms became as important and influential as the technology of Unix itself, and have been termed the "Unix philosophy."


title: Unix philosophy

text: The Unix philosophy emphasizes building simple, compact, clear, modular, and extensible code that can be easily maintained and repurposed by developers other than its creators. The Unix philosophy favors composability as opposed to monolithic design.


title: Unix philosophy

text: In their award-winning Unix paper of 1974, Ritchie and Thompson quote the following design considerations:


title: Unix philosophy

text: In their preface to the 1984 book, "The UNIX Programming Environment", Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike, both from Bell Labs, give a brief description of the Unix design and the Unix philosophy:


title: Unix philosophy

text: The authors further write that their goal for this book is "to communicate the UNIX programming philosophy."


title: Unix philosophy

text: In October 1984, Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike published a paper called "Program Design in the UNIX Environment". In this paper, they criticize the accretion of program options and features found in some newer Unix systems such as 4.2BSD and System V, and explain the Unix philosophy of software tools, each performing one general function: