Asp (fish)

The asp (Aspius aspius) is a European freshwater fish of the Cyprinid family. It is protected by the Bern Convention of endangered species and habitats (Appendix III). Asps are also on the IUCN Red List of endangered species.

Normally, asps are between 10 and 80 cm in length, with some reaching 120 cm, and weighing up to 12 kg. They inhabit lakes and lower reaches of rivers and estuaries. In spring, in April–June, asps migrate from lakes to streams for spawning. Spawning is triggered by the rise in temperature and usually starts at 6°C. The eggs attach to rocks, gravel, and water plants. After around two weeks, they hatch and the fry drift downstream to calmer waters.

Asps can be found in Estonia, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Slovenia, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In Switzerland, asps have migrated through the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, as in Croatia, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. In the eastern regions of Europe, it is a common species in flowing waters, and popular for fly and other types of fishing.

Jasper Fish

Jasper Fish (buried 28 July 1791 at Sevenoaks, Kent) was a noted professional cricketer in the 18th century who was chiefly associated with Kent in the 1760s and 1770s.

Most of his career took place before cricket's statistical record began with regular scorecards in 1772 and he is recorded in only three major cricket matches in 1769, 1773 and 1777.

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Fish anatomy

Fish anatomy is the study of the form or morphology of fishes. It can be contrasted with fish physiology, which is the study of how the component parts of fish function together in the living fish. In practice, fish anatomy and fish physiology complement each other, the former dealing with the structure of a fish, its organs or component parts and how they are put together, such as might be observed on the dissecting table or under the microscope, and the latter dealing with how those components function together in the living fish.

The anatomy of fish is often shaped by the physical characteristics of water, the medium in which fish live. Water is much denser than air, holds a relatively small amount of dissolved oxygen, and absorbs more light than air does. The body of a fish is divided into a head, trunk and tail, although the divisions between the three are not always externally visible. The skeleton, which forms the support structure inside the fish, is either made of cartilage, in cartilaginous fish, or bone in bony fish. The main skeletal element is the vertebral column, composed of articulating vertebrae which are lightweight yet strong. The ribs attach to the spine and there are no limbs or limb girdles. The main external features of the fish, the fins, are composed of either bony or soft spines called rays, which with the exception of the caudal fins, have no direct connection with the spine. They are supported by the muscles which compose the main part of the trunk. The heart has two chambers and pumps the blood through the respiratory surfaces of the gills and on round the body in a single circulatory loop. The eyes are adapted for seeing underwater and have only local vision. There is an inner ear but no external or middle ear. Low frequency vibrations are detected by the lateral line system of sense organs that run along the length of the sides of fish, and these respond to nearby movements and to changes in water pressure.

Fish physiology

Fish physiology is the scientific study of how the component parts of fish function together in the living fish. It can be contrasted with fish anatomy, which is the study of the form or morphology of fishes. In practice, fish anatomy and physiology complement each other, the former dealing with the structure of a fish, its organs or component parts and how they are put together, such as might be observed on the dissecting table or under the microscope, and the later dealing with how those components function together in the living fish.

Respiration

Most fish exchange gases using gills on either side of the pharynx (throat). Gills are tissues which consist of threadlike structures called filaments. These filaments have many functions and "are involved in ion and water transfer as well as oxygen, carbon dioxide, acid and ammonia exchange. Each filament contains a capillary network that provides a large surface area for exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide. Fish exchange gases by pulling oxygen-rich water through their mouths and pumping it over their gills. In some fish, capillary blood flows in the opposite direction to the water, causing countercurrent exchange. The gills push the oxygen-poor water out through openings in the sides of the pharynx.

Aspö

Aspö is a small village on the Aspö Island in Väståboland, Finland. Until 2009 it belonged to the municipality of Korpo. Its Finnish-language name is Haapasaari, although this name is seldom used. The village is known for its white limestone church that has a red brick roof. The current church was built in 1955–1956; however, a church has existed in the place since the Middle Ages. The old church was destroyed in a storm in 1949.

History

The commercially seafaring Vikings landed on Aspö during the Viking period, 800 - 1050 AD. In the 13th century it also served as a harbour for traders. The trade route was laid between Tallinn, Estonia and Denmark. In the beginning of the 20th century only about 30 people lived on Aspö. Now there are only about 10 people.

During World War I until 1917, Aspö served as Russian naval military watchpost. In 1944 it served as the German navy base as the Germans were not allowed to anchor on Åland proper.

In the 1910s the Russians had a patrol station on the island. In the 1940s it was used as a harbour for submarines. On the contrary to the year of 1941, on 1944 the Finns allowed instead of Aland proper, the German navy to use only Aspö and Nötö as the naval base Rotbuche as there was a suspicion of the Tanne West operation which would have led to the German occupation of Aland Islands. The question became actual from 20 June to 27 June, when the president of the republic of Finland, mr. Risto Ryti and the foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop negotiated the terms continuing the war after the German arms export embargo in since April, 1944 due to the negotiations of peace with the Soviet union. A heavy naval detachment was sent via Utö towards Aspö.

Asp (reptile)

"Asp" is the modern Anglicisation of the word "aspis," which in antiquity referred to any one of several venomous snake species found in the Nile region. It is believed that the aspis referred to in Egyptian mythology is the modern Egyptian cobra.

Historic representation

Throughout dynastic and Roman Egypt, the asp was a symbol of royalty. Moreover, in both Egypt and Greece, its potent venom made it useful as a means of execution for criminals who were thought deserving of a more dignified death than that of typical executions. In some stories of Perseus, after killing Medusa, the hero used winged boots to transport her head to Mount Olympus. As he was flying over Egypt some of her blood fell to the ground, which transformed into asps and amphisbaenae.

According to Plutarch (quoted by Ussher), Cleopatra tested various deadly poisons on condemned persons and concluded that the bite of the asp (from aspis - Egyptian cobra, not European asp) was the least terrible way to die; the venom brought sleepiness and heaviness without spasms of pain. The asp is perhaps most famous for its alleged role in Cleopatra's suicide when Marc Anthony (husband) killed himself by falling on his sword due to false report of Cleopatra killing herself. (some believe it to have been a horned viper), though in 2010, German historian Christoph Schaefer and toxicologist Dietrich Mebs, after extensive study into the event, came to the conclusion that rather than enticing a venomous animal to bite her, Cleopatra actually used a mixture of hemlock, wolfsbane and opium to end her life.

Active Server Pages

Active Server Pages (ASP), later known as Classic ASP or ASP Classic, is Microsoft's first server-side script engine for dynamically generated web pages. ASP.NET, first released in January 2002, has superseded ASP.

History

Initially released as an add-on to Internet Information Services (IIS) via the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack (ca. 1996), it is included as a free component of Windows Server (since the initial release of Windows 2000 Server). There have been three versions of ASP, each introduced with different versions of IIS:

ASP 2.0 provides six built-in objects: Application, ASPError, Request, Response, Server, and Session. Session object, for example, represents a session that maintains the state of variables from page to page. The Active Scripting engine's support of the Component Object Model (COM) enables ASP websites to access functionality in compiled libraries such as DLLs.