Lexington-Concord Sesquicentennial half dollar,

The coins were sold for $1, and were vended at the anniversary celebrations in Lexington and in Concord; they were sold at banks across New England. Although just over half of the authorized mintage of 300,000 was struck, almost all of the coins that were minted were sold. Depending on condition, they are catalogued in the hundreds of dollars.

The Lexington-Concord Sesquicentennial half dollar,  sometimes the Lexington-Concord half dollar or Patriot half dollar, was a commemorative coin struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1925 in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. It was designed byChester Beach.

Members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation introduced legislation in 1924 which would provide for a commemorative half dollar for the anniversary. The bill passed both houses of Congress and was signed by President Calvin Coolidge. Beach had to satisfy committees from both Lexington and Concord, and theCommission of Fine Arts passed the design only reluctantly, feeling Beach had been given poor materials to work with.

The Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Dartmouth, instructed the British commander in Boston, General Thomas Gage, to stamp out this resistance. On April 18, 1775, Gage secretly ordered Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith to go with 700 men to Concord and destroy the munitions there.^[1][2] It is uncertain how the Americans came to hear of the plan: Gage's wife Margaret was born in New Jersey and may have been a spy.^[3] Another local leader, Joseph Warren, informedPaul Revere and William Dawes, and the two men went by separate roads to Lexington to alert leaders there and to assemble the militia. Both got to Lexington, where they met with Hancock and Samuel Adams. The supplies in Concord were moved.^[1][2]

British troops began their march at 2 am on April 19, and Smith sent troops ahead under Major John Pitcairn. When Pitcairn and his men found a company of armed colonials at Lexington, he ordered them to disperse. In the confusion, a shot was fired from an unknown source, which brought several volleys from the British troops. Eight of the local men were killed and one British soldier was wounded. The British burned or otherwise destroyed what supplies they could find in Concord, and a second confrontation took place at the North Bridge.^[1][2] The bridge was held by the British, and by then about 400 minutemen had assembled. Seeing the smoke from Concord, the colonials believed the town was being burned, and attempted to cross the bridge to succor it. The British fired on them but the colonials returned fire and defeated them. The British, who had gotten reinforcements once they realized the countryside was roused against them, began their march to Boston harassed by at least 2,000 militiamen who inflicted a steady toll by gunfire until the British gained the protection of the cannon near Boston. The encounters at Lexington and Concord were the first battles of what became the Revolutionary War

Geography and ecology of the Everglades

The geography and ecology of the Everglades involve the complex elements affecting the natural environment throughout the southern region of the U.S. state of Florida. Before drainage, the Everglades were an interwoven mesh of marshes andprairies covering 4,000 square miles (10,000 km²). The Everglades is simultaneously a vast watershed that has historically extended from Lake Okeechobee 100 miles (160 km) south to Florida Bay (around one-third of the southern Florida peninsula), and many interconnected ecosystems within a geographic boundary. It is such a unique meeting of water, land, and climate that the use of either singular or plural to refer to the Everglades is appropriate.^[1]When Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote her definitive description of the region in 1947, she used the metaphor "River of Grass" to explain the blending of water and plant life.

Although sawgrass and sloughs are the enduring geographical icons of the Everglades, other ecosystems are just as vital, and the borders marking them are subtle or nonexistent. Pinelands and tropical hardwood hammocks are located throughout the sloughs; the trees, rooted in soil inches above the peat, marl, or water, support a variety of wildlife. The oldest and tallest trees arecypresses, whose roots are specially adapted to grow underwater for months at a time. The Big Cypress Swamp is well known for its 500-year-old cypresses, though cypress domes can appear throughout the Everglades. As the fresh water from Lake Okeechobee makes its way to Florida Bay, it meets salt water from the Gulf of Mexico; mangrove forests grow in this transitional zone, providing nursery and nesting conditions for many species of birds, fish, and invertebrates. The marine environment of Florida Bay is also considered part of the Everglades because its sea grasses and aquatic life are attracted to the constant discharge of fresh water.

These ecological systems are always changing due to environmental factors. Geographic features such as the Western Flatwoods, Eastern Flatwoods, and the Atlantic Coastal Ridge affect drainage patterns. Geologic elements, climate, and the frequency of storms and fire are formative processes for the Everglades. They help to sustain and transform the ecosystems in the Shark River Valley, Big Cypress Swamp, coastal areas and mangrove forests. Ecosystems have been described as both fragile and resilient. Minor fluctuations in water levels have far-reaching consequences for many plant and animal species, and the system cycles and pulses with each change.

Juan Manuel de Rosas

Juan Manuel de Rosas (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877), nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws",^[A] was a politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly theArgentine Confederation. Although born into a wealthy family, Rosas independently amassed a personal fortune, acquiring large grants of land in the process. Rosas enlisted his workers in a private militia, as was common for rural proprietors, and took part in the factious disputes that had led to numerous civil wars in his country. Victorious in warfare, personally influential, and with vast landholdings and a loyal private army, Rosas became the quintessential caudillo, as provincial warlords in the region were known. He eventually reached the rank of brigadier general, the highest in the Argentine army, and became the undisputed leader of the Federalist Party.

In December 1829, Rosas became governor of the province of Buenos Aires and established adictatorship backed by state terrorism. In 1831, he signed the Federal Pact, recognizing provincial autonomy and creating the Argentine Confederation. When his term of office ended in 1832, Rosas departed to the frontier to wage war on the indigenous peoples. After his supporters launched a coup in Buenos Aires, Rosas was asked to return and he once again took office as governor. Rosas reestablished his dictatorship and formed the repressiveMazorca, an armed parapolice that killed thousands of citizens. Elections became a farce, and the legislature and judiciary became docile instruments of his will. Rosas created a cult of personality and his regime became totalitarianin nature, with all aspects of society rigidly controlled.

Rosas faced many threats to his power during the late 1830s and early 1840s. He fought a waragainst the Peru–Bolivian Confederation, endured a blockade by France, faced a revolt in his own province and battled a major rebellionthat lasted years and spread to several Argentine provinces. Rosas persevered and extended his influence in the provinces, exercising effective control over them through direct and indirect means. By 1848, he had extended his power beyond the borders of Buenos Aires and was ruler of all of Argentina. Rosas also attempted to annex the neighboring nations of Uruguay and Paraguay. France and Great Britain jointly retaliated against Argentine expansionism, blockading Buenos Aires for most of the late 1840s, but were unable to halt Rosas, whose prestige was greatly enhanced by his string of successes.

When the Empire of Brazil began aiding Uruguay in its struggle against Argentina, Rosas declared war in August 1851, starting the Platine War. This short conflict ended with the defeat of Rosas and his flight to Britain. His last years were spent in exile living as a tenant farmer until his death in 1877. Rosas garnered an enduring public perception among Argentines as a brutal tyrant. Since the 1930s, an authoritarian, anti-Semitic, and racist political movement in Argentina called Revisionism has tried to improve Rosas's reputation and establish a new dictatorship in the model of his regime. In 1989, his remains were repatriated by the government in an attempt to promote national unity, seeking forgiveness for him and especially for the 1970s military dictatorship. Rosas remains a controversial figure in Argentina in the 21st century.

Temperatures Rising

Temperatures Rising is an American televisionsitcom that aired on the ABC network from September 12, 1972 to August 29, 1974. During its 46-episode run, it was presented in three different formats and cast line-ups. The series was developed for the network by William Asherand Harry Ackerman for Ashmont Productionsand Screen Gems. Set in a fictional Washington, D.C., hospital, the series featured James Whitmore as the no-nonsense chief-of-staff who is forced to deal with the outlandish antics of a young intern played by Cleavon Little, and three nurses (Joan Van Ark, Reva Rose, and Nancy Fox). For the first season, 26 episodes were produced and broadcast.

For the second season, Whitmore was replaced in the lead role by comedian Paul Lynde and Asher was replaced as producer by Duke Vincent and Bruce Johnson. The series was re-titled The New Temperatures Rising Show, and featured a new supporting cast consisting of: Sudie Bond, Barbara Cason, Jennifer Darling, Jeff Morrow, and John Dehner. Cleavon Little was the only returning member of the original cast. In this season, Lynde was presented as the penny-pinching chief-of-staff, with Bond as his nagging mother and owner of the hospital.

The New Temperatures Rising Show ran for 13 episodes before being placed on hiatus in January 1974 due to poor ratings. It returned in July in yet another incarnation. Asher returned as producer and restored the series to its original format—albeit with Paul Lynde continuing in the lead. Reverting to the original title of Temperatures Rising, Little remained in the show's cast and a new line-up of supporting players consisting of Alice Ghostley, Barbara Rucker and, returning from the first season's cast, Nancy Fox. Offered as a summer replacement on Thursday nights, the third version of the sitcom ran for seven episodes after which it was cancelled permanently.

Revised cast

The cast of the second season. Front row:Jennifer Darling, Sudie Bond, Barbara Cason; back row: Cleavon Little, Paul Lynde, Jeff Morrow.

For this new season, Johnson and Vincent dropped Joan Van Ark, Reva Rose, and Nancy Fox from the series, leaving Cleavon Little as the only returning cast member. His character, Dr. Jerry Noland, was now being presented as the hospital's only sane figure.^[49] Paul Lynde played Dr. Paul Mercy, the sneering, unscrupulous, hospital administrator^[50] while Sudie Bond was cast as Martha Mercy, his obnoxious, overbearing mother and the owner, and permanent resident, of the hospital. She constantly calls him with her pager to complain about everything.^[49][51] Also in the new cast were Barbara Cason as Miss Tillis, the head of administrative and accounting: "... who would let you bleed to death filling out forms",^[50] Jennifer Darling as the romantically inclined nurse "Windy" Winchester, Jeff Morrow as Dr. Lloyd Axton, a fraudulent surgeon who has published two books, Profit in Healing and Malpractice and Its Defense, and John Dehner as "society" Dr. Charles Claver.^[

Banksia caleyi, commonly known as the red lantern banksia or Caley's banksia, is a species of woodyshrub of the family Proteaceae native to Western Australia. It generally grows as a dense shrub up to 2 m (7 ft) tall, has serrated leaves and unusual red,pendent (hanging) inflorescences which are generally hidden in the foliage. First described by Scottish naturalist Robert Brown in 1830, Banksia caleyi was named in honour of the English botanist George Caley. No subspecies are recognised. It is one of three or four related species with hanging inflorescences, which is an unusual feature within the genus.

Found south and east of the Stirling Ranges through to the vicinity of Jerramungup, Banksia caleyi grows in a habitat burnt by periodic bushfires. Plants are killed by fire and regenerate by seed afterwards. The species is classified as Not Threatened under theWildlife Conservation Act of Western Australia. In contrast to other Western Australian banksias, it appears to have some resistance to dieback from the soil-borne water mould Phytophthora cinnamomi, and is comparatively easy to grow in cultivation. 

Banksia caleyi grows as a many-branched bushyshrub to 2 m (7 ft) in height, with crumbly grey bark.^[1]Rarely, plants of up to 4 m (13 ft) have been found.^[2]The new growth is hairy,^[1] and generally occurs in summer.^[2] The branchlets become smooth after around two years. The stiff leaves are narrowly wedge-shaped (cuneate) and measure 5–14 cm (2–5 ¹⁄₂ in) in length by 1.3–2.4 cm (¹⁄₂–1 in) wide. The leaf margins are serrated, with many teeth measuring 0.4–0.6 cm (¹⁄₈–¹⁄₄ in) each.^[1]

Flowering takes place between September and January.^[2] The inflorescences hang down from the ends of three- to five-year-old branchlets deep within the shrub and measure 5–9 cm (2–3 ¹⁄₂ in) in length and roughly 7 cm (2 ³⁄₄ in) in diameter. The flowers are cream at the base and deep pink to red in the upper half, and are brightest before anthesis and then gradually fade with age.^[1] The inflorescences eventually turn grey, the old flowers remaining as up to 25 large woody follicles develop. Oval in shape and covered with fine hair, the follicles can reach 4 cm (1 ⁵⁄₈ in) long, 2.5 cm (1 in) high, and 2.5 cm (1 in) wide.^[3]

The obovate seed is 4.3–4.7 cm (1 ³⁄₄–1 ⁷⁄₈ in) long and fairly flattened, and is composed of the wedge-shaped seed body proper, measuring 1.4–1.5 cm (¹⁄₂–⁵⁄₈ in) long and 1.6–1.7 cm (⁵⁄₈ in) wide, and a papery wing. One side, termed the outer surface, is dark brown and wrinkled, while the other is black and smooth. Both surfaces sparkle slightly. The seeds are separated by a sturdy dark brown seed separator that is roughly the same shape as the seeds with a depression where the seed body sits adjacent to it in the follicle. Seedlings have cuneate cotyledons which measure 1.1–1.3 cm (³⁄₈–¹⁄₂ in) long and 1.3–1.4 cm (¹⁄₂ in) wide. These are dull green with three veins, and the margin of the wedge may be red andcrenulated (lined with small teeth). The hypocotyl is red and measures 1.5–2 cm (⁵⁄₈–³⁄₄ in) high. Seedlings have hairy stems and leaves that are oppositely arranged (arising from the stem in pairs) that are obovate with triangular-lobed serrate margins.

Allah jang Palsoe

.
Allah jang Palsoe ([aˈlah ˈjaŋ palˈsu];Perfected Spelling: Allah yang Palsu; Indonesian for The False God) is a 1919 stage drama in six acts written by the ethnic-Chineseauthor Kwee Tek Hoay. Based on E. Phillips Oppenheim's short story "The False Gods", the Malay-language play follows two brothers, one a devout son who holds firmly to his morals and personal honour, the other who worships money and prioritises personal gain. Over more than a decade, the two learn that money (the titular false god) is not the path to happiness.

Kwee Tek Hoay's first stage play, Allah jang Palsoe was written as a realist response to whimsical contemporary theatres. Though the published stageplay sold poorly and the play was deemed difficult to perform, Allah jang Palsoe found success on the stage. By 1930 it had been performed by various ethnic Chinese troupes to popular acclaim and pioneered a body of work by authors such as Lauw Giok Lan, Tio Ie Soei, and Tjoa Tjien Mo. In 2006 the script for the play, which continues to be performed, was republished with updated spelling by the Lontar Foundation

Brothers Tan Kioe Lie and Tan Kioe Gie are preparing to leave their Cicuruk home to find work: Kioe Lie will go to Bandung, while Kioe Gie will go to Batavia (now Jakarta) and become a letter-setter. As they are packing, Kioe Lie's fiancée Gouw Hap Nio visits. She leaves some snacks with their father, the poor farmer Tan Lauw Pe, before going home, promising to take care of Pe while his sons are away. The brothers finish packing, say goodbye to their father, and head for the train station.

Three years later, Kioe Lie visits his brother in the latter's Batavia home. Kioe Gie has become an editor of the newspaper Kamadjoean and is known as a generous philanthropist. Kioe Lie, meanwhile, has become the manager of a tapioca factory, but is planning to leave for competing business run by Tjio Tam Bing, who has offered him twice the salary. Kioe Gie asks him to reconsider, or at least not take any customers, but Kioe Lie is set on his goals. Before Kioe Lie leaves, the brothers discuss marriage: since Lie has no intent to marry Hap Nio soon, Kioe Gie asks permission to marry first. Though Kioe Lie disapproves of Kioe Gie's sweetheart, a poor orphan girl named Oeij Ijan Nio, he agrees.

Another four years pass, and Kioe Gie has become editor-in-chief of Kemadjoean and married Ijan Nio. He is concerned, however, over the newspaper's new political orientation: the owner, Oeij Tjoan Siat, is aiming to make the paper pro-Dutch East Indies, a stance that Kioe Gie considers a betrayal to the ethnic Chinese. When Tjoan Siat comes to Kioe Gie's home to ask him to follow the former's new political leanings, heavily influenced by a monthly payment of 2,000 gulden offered by an unnamed political party, Kioe Gie refuses and resigns.

During the following week Kioe Gie and his wife sell their belongings and prepare to move back to Cicuruk. This departure is delayed by a visit from Kioe Lie, who reveals that he will be marrying Tam Bing's widow Tan Houw Nio – Tam Bing having died the year before. Kioe Gie is horrified, both because the widow has the same surname^[a] and because Kioe Lie had promised their father on his deathbed to marry Hap Nio. After an extensive argument, Kioe Lie disowns his brother and leaves.

Five years later, Kioe Lie and Houw Nio's marriage is failing. Owing to poor investments (some made with embezzled money), Houw Nio's gambling, and Kioe Lie's keeping of a mistress, they have lost their fortune. Kioe Lie tries to convince his wife to sell her jewellery, thus allowing him to return the stolen money. Houw Nio, however, refuses, tells him to sell the house and his mistress' jewellery, and then leaves. Soon afterwards, Kioe Lie's friend Tan Tiang An warns him that he will be arrested by the police unless he flees the colony. Together they rent a car and Kioe Lie heads for the port at Batavia.

Passing through Cicuruk, the car breaks down and, while the chauffeur attempts to fix it, Kioe Lie takes shelter in a nearby home. He learns that it belongs to Kioe Gie and Hap Nio, who have built up a vast farm, garden, and orchard that provides them with ample income. The two philanthropists are friends with the area's elite, and Hap Nio is happily married to a rich plantation administrator. When Kioe Gie and his companions return from playing tennis, they discover Kioe Lie hiding shamefully under a piano. Kioe Lie admits that he was wrong to be greedy. When a police officer arrives, Kioe Lie confesses to poisoning Tam Bing, then runs outside and shoots himself.

Handel's lost Hamburg operas

No music that can be definitively traced to Nero has been identified, although Handel scholars have speculated that some of it may have been used in later works, particularlyAgrippina which has a related storyline and some of the same characters. Fragments of music from Florindo and Daphne have been preserved, although without the vocal parts, and some of these elements have been incorporated into an orchestral suite first recorded in 2012. 

In 1703 the eighteen-year-old composerGeorge Frideric Handel took up residence inHamburg, Germany, where he remained until 1706. During this period he composed four operas, only the first of which, Almira, has survived more or less intact. Of the other three, the music for Nero is lost, while only short orchestral excerpts from Florindo and Daphnesurvive.

Handel was born and grew up in the town ofHalle, where he received his early musical education and became an accomplished organist. In Hamburg he obtained employment as a violinist at the Oper am Gänsemarkt, the city's famous opera house. Here, he learned the rudiments of opera composition, mainly under the influences of Reinhard Keiser, the theatre's music director, and Johann Mattheson, its leading vocalist. The Gänsemarkt was largely dedicated to Keiser's compositions; his temporary absence in 1704 gave Handel his chance, and in quick succession he wroteAlmira and Nero. The former was successful, the latter less so and was never performed after its initial run of three performances. Handel's final Hamburg operas, Florindo andDaphne, originally conceived as a giant entity, were not produced at the Gänsemarkt before Handel left Hamburg for Italy in 1706.

Hamburg

The Oper am Gänsemarkt

Early 18th-century engraving of the Hamburg Oper am Gänsemarkt

The Hamburg Opera, otherwise known as the Oper am Gänsemarkt, was the first public opera house to be established outside Italy. The brainchild of the exiled Duke of Schleswig-Gottorf and hisKapellmeister, Johann Theile,^[14] it was designed byGirolamo Sartorio,^[15] and modelled on the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice.^[14] Its construction was opposed by the clergy and cathedral hierarchy, but enthusiastically supported by the city's municipal authorities.^[11] Built in 1677 on a lavish scale, with a reported capacity of 2,000,^[15] it boasted an exceptionally deep stage and was, according to Handel scholars Winton Dean and John Merrill Knapp, one of the best-equipped theatres of its time.^[14]

Dean and Knapp write that the theatre's history was "enlivened and envenomed by a maelstrom of controversy, pursued in pamphlets, broadsheets, sermons and prefaces to librettos ... and by financial crises which persisted on and off throughout the sixty years of its existence".^[14] A preponderance of biblically inspired works in the earliest years was soon replaced by a range of more secular subjects, often drawn from Roman history and myth, or from recent events such as the 1683 siege of Vienna.^[16] Performances tended to be of considerable length, often extending to six hours.^[14] The 18-year-old Handel entered this hectic environment in the summer of 1703, to take up a place in the theatre's orchestra as aripenio (ensemble) second violin.

Killer Instinct Gold

Killer Instinct Gold is a 1996 fighting video game based on the arcade game Killer Instinct 2. Thegame was developed by Rare and released by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 video game console. As in other series entries, players control characters who fight on a 2D plane set against a 3D background. Players press buttons to punch and kick their opponent in chains of successive hits, known as combos. Large combo successions lead to stronger attacks and brutal, stylistic finisher moves underscored by an announcer. Characters—including a gargoyle, a ninja, and a femme fatale—fight in settings such as a jungle and a spaceship. Killer Instinct Goldincludes the arcade release's characters, combos, and 3D, pre-rendered environments, but excludes its full-motion video sequences and some voiceovers due to restrictions of thecartridge media format. The Gold release adds a training mode, new camera views, and improved audiovisuals.

Reviewers preferred the Nintendo 64 port over the arcade release, and appreciated its audiovisual enhancements, but felt that its graphical upgrades and memorization-based combo gameplay were insufficient when compared to fighting games like Tekken 2 andVirtua Fighter 2. Critics recommended Gold primarily for fans of the series and genre, butIGN reported that even fans were upset by changes in the combo system and the absence of several well-liked characters. Gold ultimately did not replicate the success of its Super Nintendo predecessor, and the series remained dormant through its 2002 acquisition byMicrosoft until its 2013 reboot.Rare was a prominent second-party developerfor Nintendo in the 1990s, and their Killer Instinctseries was produced as an exclusive partnership in response to the popularity of Mortal Kombat. Following the success of the 1995 Killer Instinct port for the Super Nintendo home console, Rare began a sequel for the same platform but transitioned development to its successor, the Nintendo 64, upon its unveiling.Gold was scheduled as a launch title for the new console but was delayed until its North American release in November 1996. It was released in other regions in May 1997. Gold was later included in Rare's 2015 Xbox One retrospective compilation, Rare Replay.

Killer Instinct Gold is a port of the arcade fighting video game Killer Instinct 2. Like other entries in theKiller Instinct series, two characters controlled by humans or artificial intelligence fight in one-on-onematches to deplete their opponent's health meter.^[1]While the characters move and attack on a 2D plane, the background is depicted in pre-rendered 3D and gives the appearance of depth.^[2] Players fight with a six-button setup: three punch buttons and three kick buttons, similar to the controls in Street Fighter II.^[3]Players can chain together a series of hits into "combos" for increased damage, with some combos requiring a specific, memorized sequences of button presses. Multiple hit combos lead to stronger attacks and brutal, stylistic finisher moves, or "fatalities". Characters on the receiving end of a combo can interrupt the sequence with a "combo breaker" move.^[2] An announcer narrates major game moments with phrases like, "Awesome combo!"^[4]

Gold features arcade, team, and tournament gameplay modes.^[5][3] The game's new "practice mode" lets players rehearse their skills and follow tutorials.^[3] In the new knockout tournament mode, players cycle through a preselected team of characters when their current character is eliminated.^[6] Gold features the same characters, combos, and environments available in the arcade Killer Instinct 2.^[3] Players can unlock new character appearances, gameplay difficulty levels,^[3] and additional playable character.^[5] Gold and Killer Instinct 2'sshared roster contains ten characters in total: three new additions and seven returning fromthe previous title.^[7][a] Characters include a gargoyle, a ninja, and a femme fatale.^[4] Fights are set in spaceship, jungle, and castle settings, among others,^[5] and some backgrounds are interactive.^[2] Gold features new camera functions that automatically zoom to better frame the fight.^[3] The release also includes enhancements to the 3D backgrounds and an upgraded soundtrack,^[8] but excludes the full-motion video sequences^[3] and some voiceovers from the arcade release^[2] due to the Nintendo 64's cartridge media data storage restrictions. WhileGold's backgrounds are fluidly animated in 60 frames per second, its character animations have fewer frames than its arcade equivalent.^[3]