A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices. In later periods the moat or water defences may be largely ornamental.

Historical use

Ancient

Some of the oldest evidence of moats has been uncovered around ancient Egyptian fortresses. One example is at Buhen, a fortress excavated in Nubia. Other evidence of ancient moats is found in the ruins of Babylon, and in reliefs from ancient Egypt, Assyria, and other cultures in the region.

Medieval

Moats were excavated around castles and fortifications as part of the defensive system as an obstacle immediately outside the walls. In suitable locations they might be filled with water. A moat made access to the walls difficult for siege weapons, such as siege towers and battering rams, which needed to be brought up against a wall to be effective. A water-filled moat made the practice of mining, digging tunnels under the fortifications in order to effect a collapse of the defences, very difficult as well.

The word was adapted in Middle English from the French ''motte'' "mound, hillock" and was first applied to the central mound on which a fortification was erected (see Motte and bailey), and then came to be applied to the excavated ring, a "dry moat". The term ''moat'' is also applied to natural formations reminiscent of the artificial structure, and to similar modern architectural features.

Africa

Ancient Nigeria - The Walls of Benin was a combination of ramparts and moats, called Iya, used as a defense of the capital Benin City in present-day Edo State of Nigeria. It was considered the largest man-made structure lengthwise, second only to the Great Wall of China and the largest earthwork in the world. With more recent work by Patrick Darling, it has been established as the largest man-made structure in the world, larger than Sungbo's Eredo. It enclosed 6,500 km² of community lands. Its length was over 16,000 km of earth boundaries. It was estimated that earliest construction began in 800 AD and continued into the mid 1400's.

The walls are built of a ditch and dike structure; the ditch dug to form an inner moat with the excavated earth used to form the exterior rampart.

The Benin Walls were ravaged by the British in 1897. Scattered pieces of the walls remain in Edo, with material being used by the locals for building purposes. The walls continue to be torn down for real estate developments.

The Walls of Benin City is the world's largest man-made structure.Fred Pearce wrote in New Scientist:

"They extend for some 16,000 kilometres in all, in a mosaic of more than 500 interconnected settlement boundaries. They cover 6,500 square kilometres and were all dug by the Edo people. In all, they are four times longer than the Great Wall of China, and consumed a hundred times more material than the Great Pyramid of Cheops. They took an estimated 150 million hours of digging to construct, and are perhaps the largest single archaeological phenomenon on the planet.

Asia

thumb|upright|Map of the Tokyo Imperial Palace and surrounding Gardens showing the elaborate moat systemJapanese castles often have very elaborate moats, sometimes with many moats laid out in concentric circles around the castle and a host of different patterns engineered around the landscape. Japanese castles will have up to three of these concentric moats. The outer moat typically protects other support buildings in addition to the castle.

As many Japanese castles have historically been a very central part of their respective city, the moats have provided a vital waterway to the city. Even in modern times, the moat system of the Tokyo Imperial Palace comprises a very active body of water, hosting everything from rental boats and fishing ponds to restaurants.

Most modern Japanese castles have moats filled with water, but castles in the feudal period more commonly had 'dry moats' (karahori, 空堀), essentially a ditch. Even today, it is common for mountain castles to have dry moats.

Moats were also used in the Forbidden City and Xi'an in China; in Vellore in India; and in Southeast Asia, such as at Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Chiang Mai in Thailand.

America

While moats are commonly associated with European castles, they were also developed by North American Indians of the Mississippian culture as the outer defence of some fortified villages. The remains of a 16th-century moat are still visible at the Parkin Archeological State Park in eastern Arkansas. Further, the term ''moat'' was used to describe dry ditches surrounding forts built by colonials or Americans to protect important landmarks, harbors, or cities (see: Fort Jay on Governors Island).

The Mayans also used moats in the city of Becan.

Photo gallery

Modern uses

While moats are no longer a significant tool of warfare, they continue to serve as a defence against certain modern threats such as car bombs and armoured fighting vehicles. They also fill a variety of creative contemporary uses.

Installation security

The Catawba Nuclear Station, for instance, has been constructing a concrete moat around some of the plant (other sides of the plant are bordering a lake). The moat is a part of industry wide added precautions after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Related individuals have made a point to claim that the moat is not connected to the new MOX fuel that the plant will be receiving.

"The concrete moat under construction at the station south of Charlotte has little to do with the utility's plans to start burning mixed-oxide fuel containing small amounts of weapons-grade plutonium next spring. Designed to prevent everything from passenger cars to military tanks from getting too close to the reactor, the moat is part of a post-Sept 11, 2001 security upgrade"

Animal containment

Moats rather than fences separate animals from spectators in many modern zoo installations. Moats were first used in this way by Carl Hagenbeck at his Tierpark. The structure, with a vertical outer retaining wall rising directly from the moat, is an extended usage of the ha-ha of English landscape gardening.

Zoological research

Reseachers of jumping spider, which have excellent vision and adaptable tactics, built water-filled miniature moats, too wide for the spiders to jump all the way across. Some specimens were rewarded for jumping than then swimming, and others for swimming only. ''Portia fimbriata'' from Queensland generally succeeded, for whichever method they were rewarded. When specimens from two different populations of ''Portia labiata'' were set the same task, members of one population worked out for whichever method they were rewarded, while members of the other continued to use whichever method they tried first and did not try to adapt.

Border control

In 2004 plans were suggested for a two-mile moat across the southern border of the Gaza Strip to prevent tunnelling from Egyptian territory to the border town of Rafah.

In 2008, city officials in Yuma, Arizona planned to dig out a two-mile stretch of a 180-hectare (440-acre) wetland known as Hunters Hole, to control immigrants coming from Mexico.

Pest control in Bonsai

As a basic method of pest control in Bonsai, a moat may be used to restrict access of crawling insects to the Bonsai.

Lighting and ventilation

A dry moat at the James Farley Post Office in New York City allows light and fresh air to reach the basement workspaces.

See also

Drawbridge

Douglas Hogg

''Gracht''

Moot hill sometimes written as Moat Hill.

References

Category:Castles Category:Fortification Category:Medieval defences Category:Masonry Category:Water

be:Роў, фартыфікацыя bg:Ров ca:Fossat cs:Vodní příkop de:Burggraben es:Foso fa:خندق fr:Douve (fossé) ko:해자 io:Fosato it:Fossato (architettura) he:חפיר la:Fossa castrensis lv:Aizsarggrāvis lt:Gynybinis griovys mk:Шанец ja:堀 no:Vollgrav pl:Fosa pt:Fosso ro:Șanț (fortificație) ru:Ров simple:Moat sk:Priekopa (obrana) sr:Шанац fi:Vallihauta sv:Vallgrav ta:அகழி th:คูเมือง uk:Рів (оборонна споруда) zh:護城河

Coordinates	30°19′10″N81°39′36″N
name	Smosh
author	Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla
years	2005-present
website	smosh.com }}

Smosh is a web-based comedy duo consisting of Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla. Anthony Padilla first began posting flash movies on Newgrounds in early 2003, under the name Smosh. He was later joined by his friend Ian Hecox. Soon afterward they began to post videos on YouTube in the autumn of 2005 and became one of the most popular channels on that site, with more than 3 million subscribers as of August 2011. Until 2008, Smosh was the most-subscribed-to-YouTube account.

Four Smosh-related channels exist on YouTube. The base "Smosh" channel, where both Ian and Anthony post their skits and other videos, has new videos every Friday. From "IanH" (used at first for vlogs and other non-scripted videos), the pair upload their side series "Ian is Bored" on Mondays and "Lunchtime with Smosh" on Thursdays, while their associate performer Mari does "Smosh Pit Weekly" videos on Saturday. A third channel, called "AskCharlie", is based on the popular Smosh character Charlie the Drunk Guinea Pig. It uploads videos every Wednesday. Their final channel, "AnthonyPadilla", has been inactive since February 2011; it was formerly where Anthony made vlog-like videos on his own.

History

Formation and ''Pokémon Theme Music Video'': 2005–2009

Smosh began when Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla made several videos together, lip syncing to theme songs such as Mortal Kombat, Power Rangers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At first, these videos were not intended to be posted online, but after they sent them to their friends, they started a YouTube channel.

One of Smosh's earliest videos, "Pokémon Theme Music Video," was released in November 2005. It followed the same style as their other earlier videos, featuring the duo lip-synching the original English theme song for the Pokémon anime. However, the video instantly became much more popular than any of their other videos; over the course of its lifetime, it gained 24.7 million views, becoming the most-viewed video on all of YouTube at that time. It held that title for about six months, but was removed by YouTube after the website received a notice from Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd., claiming copyright infringement.

The success of their ''Pokémon'' video and other videos led Smosh to be featured in the "Person of the Year: You" issue of ''Time Magazine'', published December 13, 2006. It also inspired them to expand their style beyond basic lip-synching videos, and eventually to start creating videos of various genres, such as mini-skits and sketch comedies.

2010 era

In January 2010, Smosh launched the "Smosh Pit" feature, a blog that consists of various pieces of pop-culture trivia. In addition, 2010 saw the channel launch 3 different Smosh-based web series: "Ian is Bored," which is a collection of comedic videos by Ian Hecox; "Ask Charlie" (which is an interactive series where people ask Charlie, from their January 2010 "Charlie the Drunk Guinea Pig" video, random questions); and "Lunchtime with Smosh," a Comedy series featuring Smosh getting and eating food from various places.

Also in early 2010, Smosh created the "iShut Up App" for Android phones as part of a Google sponsorship; it eventually made its way to the iTunes app store.

In November 2010, Anthony and Ian guest-appeared in the 35 minute film Agents of Secret Stuff, by Nigahiga.

As of August 2011, Smosh is the third most-subscribed channel on YouTube.

Anthony and Ian made a cameo in episode 3 of the popular machinima series Red vs Blue season 9.

References

External links

Category:Living people Category:American comedians Category:Comedy duos

es:Smosh (dúo) fr:Smosh it:Smosh ja:スモッシュ no:Smosh pl:Smosh fi:Smosh sv:Smosh tr:Smosh zh:Smosh

Coordinates	30°19′10″N81°39′36″N
name	Rajiv Dixit(राजीव दीक्षित )
birth date	November 30, 1967
birth place	Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
death date	November 30, 2010
death place	Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, India
nationality	Indian
spouse	Bachelor
office	Azadi Bachao Andolan and Rashtriya Sachiv of Bharat Swabhiman Andolan
education	Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical, Masters and Doctorate
profession	Social Activist
religion	Hindu
website	http://www.rajivdixit.com/ }}

Rajiv Dixit Hindi:राजीव दीक्षित was an Indian orator. He started social movements in order to spread awareness on topics of Indian national interest through the Swadeshi Movement, Azadi Bachao Andolan, and various other works. He served as the National Secretary of Bharat Swabhiman Andolan he is the founder of bharat swabhimaan andolan ] He was a strong believer and preacher of Bharatiyata. He had also worked for spreading awareness about Indian history, issues in the Indian constitution and Indian economic policies.

Life

Rajiv Dixit was born on 30 November 1967 in Naah village, Atrauli tehsil of Aligarh district, Uttar Pradesh . Under the tutelage of his father RadheShyam Dixit he was educated till the 12th grade in the village schooling system in Firozabad district. In 1994, he moved to Allahabad (Prayaag) for higher studies. He pursued his M.Tech degree in Satellite Telecommunications from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and pursued his doctorate in telecommunications in France. Subsequently, he worked at CSIR as a scientist. But his passion for his motherland made him give up a paid-position for the sake of Indian culture and Swadeshi movement, serving the cause of "Rashtra Dharma". His audio cassettes on Indian Nationalism and greatness of India's past did well in 1999. He had been recording them over months traveling across India spreading his message of great optimism about India and its enormous contributions to the human civilization. He was a ''Brahmachari'' and never married. He was influenced by the ideologies of Indian revolutionaries like Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh. Later in life, he began to appreciate the early works of Mahatma Gandhi. His life was dedicated to not just ideas with high ideals, but also causes like stopping alcohol and "gutka" production, cow-butchering and social injustices. On the 9th of January 2009, he became one of the founders of "Bharat Swabhiman" movement. On 30 November 2010, while in Bhilai in Chattisgarh he died of a heart attack. In his memory, the under-construction Bharat Swabhiman building in Haridwar has been named "Rajiv Bhawan". He refused to take any modern medicine on his death bed, insisting instead on Ayurvedic medicine.

Work

Rajiv Dixit suggested that the Indian supreme court should declare money held by Indians in Swiss banks as national property so that foreign banks would have to legally hand over this money to India.

Initiated and supported movements

Dixit supported the movement of opening a chain of Swadeshi General Stores, where only Indian-made goods are sold.

He believed in swadeshi. He initiated movements like the Swadeshi Movement and Azadi Bachao Andolan and became their spokeperson. He addressed a rally of over 50,000 people under the leadership of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch in New Delhi. He also took leadership of the programme held at Calcutta which was supported and promoted by various organizations and prominent personalities and was celebrated all over India on the eve of the 150th Anniversary of the 1857 war of Indian independence.

He demanded decentralization of taxation system, saying that the current system is the core reason for the corruption in bureaucracy. He claimed that 80% of taxes is being used to pay the politicians and bureaucrats and just 20% for development purposes for the people. He compared the current budget system of the Indian government to the earlier British budget system in India, presenting statistics to show that they are the same. Recently he was working with swami Ramdev in Bharat Swabhiman Trust as national secretary.

He also doubted the terrorist attack on the United States Twin Towers, claiming that it was stage managed by U.S. Government itself, and supported the claims of the Lone Lantern Society of the U.S.

He also claimed that "liberalization, privatization and globalization, the three evil faces staring at us today, have pushed us towards a suicidal state."

He argued that modern thinkers have neglected agricultural sectors and farmers have been left to feed themselves and commit suicide. Expressing his views on the Indian judiciary and legal system, he said that India is still following the laws and acts enacted during the British era and had not taken the burden of changing them as per the requirement of Indian people.

Sudden death

Rajiv was in Bhilai to deliver lecture as a part of his Bharat Swabhiman Yatra, where he died on 30th November 2010. His death was unexpected. The cause of death is still unknown, though it was initially believed that he died of a cardiac arrest.

Silence of media

The mainstream & regional media did report his death but in a casual manner.

References

i think government has murdered rajiv dixit because he was a true indian.

External links

Media silent on the death of Rajiv Dixit

Rajiv Dixit and his Articles (New Website)

Rajiv Dixit and his Articles

mp3-of-rajiv-dixit-lectures

Complete Mp3 Lectures on History of Ancient & Modern India

Swabhiman Yatra Videos

Category:2010 deaths Category:Indian people Category:1967 births

hi: राजीव दीक्षित