Billhook

The billhook is a traditional cutting tool used widely in agriculture and forestry for cutting smaller woody material such as shrubs and branches. It is very common in the wine-growing countries of Europe. In other parts of the world where it is used, it was either developed locally—e.g. in China, India, and Japan—or introduced by European settlers—e.g. in North and South America, South Africa, and Australasia. It is also known as the bill hook (although this more usually (US only) refers to either a metal or plastic hook used to hold bills, common in the US, or a part of the knotting mechanism on a reaper binder).

Design

The blade is usually made from a medium-carbon steel in varying weights and lengths, but typically 20 to 25 centimetres (7.9 to 9.8 in) long. Blades are straight near the handle but have an increasingly strong curve towards the end. The blade is generally sharpened only on the inside of the curve, but double-edged billhooks, or "broom hooks", also have a straight secondary edge on the back.

Bill Hook

Bill (or William) Hook (May 28, 1925 – May 10, 2010), born in New Rochelle, New York, was a Chess master and the Captain of the British Virgin Islands chess team.

Starting in 1968, Hook led the Virgin Islands team, and later the British Virgin Islands team, at numerous Chess Olympiads, mostly playing top board. At the Malta Olympiad of 1980, Hook won the gold medal on board 1 for best percentage result of any national team member. He defeated a grandmaster and several national champions along the way. To commemorate this achievement the British Virgin Islands issued a stamp in his honor.

During the preliminary rounds of the 1970 Siegen Olympiad, the Virgin Islands were paired with the USA team and Hook famously faced the legendary Bobby Fischer. Playing the black pieces, Hook ventured a pet line of the French Defence whereupon an exciting encounter developed, culminating in a stylish rook sacrifice by Fischer.

Hook authored a book as well as various magazine and newspaper articles about chess. In the art world, he is known for his one man shows in painting and photography. He lived in Washington DC, with his wife Mimi, until his death on May 10, 2010.

Bill English

Simon William "Bill" English (born 30 December 1961) is the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of New Zealand, in office since 2008.

English entered parliament in 1990 as a National Party MP representing the Wallace electorate. In 1999 English served as Minister of Finance for a brief period until National, under the leadership of Jenny Shipley at the time, lost the election later that year. In October 2001 he replaced Shipley as the leader of the National Party, but after a disastrous result in the 2002 election he was replaced as the leader by Don Brash in October 2003. After Don Brash's resignation in November 2006 he became deputy leader of the party under John Key, becoming the Deputy Prime Minister after a November 2008 election victory. English retired as an electorate MP at the 2014 general election and became a list-only MP.

Early life

English was born in the small Southland town of Lumsden. He attended St. Patrick's College, Silverstream in Wellington as a boarder and became Head Boy. He later gained degrees in commerce (at the University of Otago, where he was a resident at Selwyn College) and in English literature (at Victoria University of Wellington). After completing his university studies, he went to Dipton to work as a farmer. In 1987 he returned to Wellington to work as a policy analyst in the New Zealand Treasury, returning to Dipton two years later.

English Bill

The English Bill was an offer made by the United States Congress to Kansas Territory. Kansas was offered some millions of acres of public lands in exchange for accepting the Lecompton Constitution.

The English Bill was introduced by William Hayden English (1822–1896), a Democratic representative in Congress from 1853 to 1861. The bill itself was not a bribe to the degree that it is usually considered to be, as it reduced the grant of land demanded by the Lecompton Ordinance from 23,500,000 to 3,500,000 acres (951,000,000 to 142,000,000 km²), and offered only the normal cession to new states. This grant, however, was conditioned on the acceptance of the Lecompton Constitution, and Congress made no promise of any grant if that Constitution were not adopted.

On the August 21, 1858, by a vote of 11,812 to 1,926, Kansans rejected the offer.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Martial arts

Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practices, which are practiced for a variety of reasons: as self-defense, military and law enforcement applications; as competition, physical fitness, mental and spiritual development; as well as entertainment and the preservation of a nation's Intangible cultural heritage.

Although the term martial art has become associated with the fighting arts of eastern Asia, it originally referred to the combat systems of Europe as early as the 1550s. The term is derived from Latin, and means "arts of Mars", the Roman god of war. Some authors have argued that fighting arts or fighting systems would be more appropriate on the basis that many martial arts were never "martial" in the sense of being used or created by professional warriors.

Variation and scope

Martial arts may be categorized along a variety of criteria, including:

Martial arts film

Martial arts film is a film genre. A subgenre of the action film, martial arts films contain numerous martial arts fights between characters, usually as the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often as a method of storytelling and character expression and development. Martial arts are frequently featured in training scenes and other sequences in addition to fights. Martial arts films commonly include other types of action, such as stuntwork, chases, and/or gunfights.

History

As with other action films, martial arts films are dominated by action to varying degrees; many martial arts films have only a minimal plot and amount of character development and focus almost exclusively on the action, while other martial arts films have more creative and complex plots and characters along with action scenes. Films of the latter type are generally considered to be artistically superior films, but many films of the former type are commercially successful and well received by fans of the genre. One of the earliest Hollywood movies to deploy the use of martial arts was Bad Day at Black Rock.

Martial

Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial /ˈmɑːrʃəl/) (March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD), was a Roman poet from Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) best known for his twelve books of Epigrams, published in Rome between AD 86 and 103, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Nerva and Trajan. In these short, witty poems he cheerfully satirises city life and the scandalous activities of his acquaintances, and romanticises his provincial upbringing. He wrote a total of 1,561, of which 1,235 are in elegiac couplets. He is considered to be the creator of the modern epigram.

Early life

Knowledge of his origins and early life are derived almost entirely from his works, which can be more or less dated according to the well-known events to which they refer. In Book X of his Epigrams, composed between 95 and 98, he mentions celebrating his fifty-seventh birthday; hence he was born during March 38, 39, 40 or 41 AD (x. 24, 1), under Caligula or Claudius. His place of birth was Augusta Bilbilis (now Calatayud) in Hispania Tarraconensis. His parents, Fronto and Flaccilla, appear to have died in his youth.