Barbara (Yakovleva)

Varvara Alexeyevna Yakovleva (Russian: Варвара Алексеевна Яковлева; died July 18, 1918), called Nun Barbara, was a Russian Orthodox nun in the convent of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna. She was killed by the Bolsheviks along with the grand duchess and Prince Ioann Konstantinovich of Russia, Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia, Prince Igor Konstantinovich of Russia, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich of Russia, Fyodor Remez, Grand Duke Sergei's secretary, and Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley at Alapaevsk.

She was later canonized as a martyr by both the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church within Russia.

Life

Varvara Alexeyevna Yakovleva, small in stature and deeply pious, served as Grand Duchess Elizabeth's maid before taking the veil. Her nickname was Varya. On April 15, 1910, she took vows as a Russian Orthodox nun. The Grand Duchess and other women also took vows on that date. As sisters of Grand Duchess Elizabeth's convent, the women were well known throughout Moscow for performing acts of charity. They took food to the homes of the poor, set up a home for women suffering from tuberculosis, established a hospital to care for the sick, established homes for the physically disabled, pregnant women and the elderly. They also established an orphanage. Their charitable efforts later spread to other cities in Russia.

Barbara (singer)

Monique Andrée Serf (June 9, 1930 – November 24, 1997), whose stage name was Barbara, was a French singer. She took her stage name from her Russian grandmother, Varvara Brodsky. Her song "L'Aigle noir" sold twenty four thousand in twelve hours.

Childhood

Born in Paris to a Jewish family, Barbara was ten years old when she had to go into hiding during the German occupation of France in World War II. After the war ended, a neighborhood professor of music heard her sing and took an interest in helping her develop her talents. She was given vocal lessons and taught to play the piano, and eventually she enrolled at the Ecole Supérieure de Musique. Money was a problem and she gave up her musical studies to sing at "La Fontaine des Quatre Saisons," a popular cabaret in Paris.

She was deeply scarred by the war and her family's plight. The feelings of emptiness experienced during childhood showed in her songs, particularly "Mon Enfance". She said in her uncompleted autobiography, Il était un piano noir (assembled from notes found after her death), that her father sexually abused her when she was ten and she hated him for that. He later abandoned the family.

John Boy and Billy

John Isley (born August 15, 1956) and Billy James (born August 31, 1957), known as John Boy & Billy are American radio hosts based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their comedic morning program The John Boy & Billy Big Show broadcasts from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time in several Southern and Midwestern states via syndication through Premiere Networks, primarily airing on classic rock, active rock, and country stations.

The show is syndicated to both classic rock and country music radio stations. The format consists of talk segments intermixed with music, contests, and skit-based humor. Current events, politics, sports (mainly NASCAR), and male-oriented problems are common topics of talk. Broadcast states include North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The duo frequently interviews musicians, comedians, NASCAR drivers, professional wrestlers, and other public figures. Robert Earl Keen, Killer Beaz, Manny Pacquiao, Rodney Carrington, and James Gregory are occasional guests. The show also markets a line of Bar-B-Que sauces (named John Boy & Billy Grillin' Sauce).

Rum

Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane byproducts, such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels.

The majority of the world's rum production occurs in the Caribbean and Latin America. Rum is also produced in Austria, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, the Philippines, India, Reunion Island, Mauritius, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, the United States and Canada.

Rums are produced in various grades. Light rums are commonly used in cocktails, whereas "golden" and "dark" rums were typically consumed straight or neat, on the rocks, or used for cooking, but are now commonly consumed with mixers. Premium rums are also available, made to be consumed either straight or iced.

Rum plays a part in the culture of most islands of the West Indies as well as in The Maritimes and Newfoundland. This beverage has famous associations with the Royal Navy (where it was mixed with water or beer to make grog) and piracy (where it was consumed as bumbo). Rum has also served as a popular medium of economic exchange, used to help fund enterprises such as slavery (see Triangular trade), organized crime, and military insurgencies (e.g., the American Revolution and Australia's Rum Rebellion).

Årum

Årum is a village in the north-eastern part of Fredrikstad municipality, Norway.

Coordinates: 59°16′N 11°07′E / 59.267°N 11.117°E / 59.267; 11.117

Rùm

Rùm (Scottish Gaelic pronunciation: [rˠuːm]), a Scottish Gaelic name often anglicised to Rum, is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, in the district of Lochaber, Scotland. For much of the 20th century the name became Rhum, a spelling invented by the former owner, Sir George Bullough, because he did not relish the idea of having the title "Laird of Rum".

It is the largest of the Small Isles, and the 15th largest Scottish island, but is inhabited by only about thirty or so people, all of whom live in the village of Kinloch on the east coast. The island has been inhabited since the 8th millennium BC and provides some of the earliest known evidence of human occupation in Scotland. The early Celtic and Norse settlers left only a few written accounts and artefacts. From the 12th to 13th centuries on, the island was held by various clans including the MacLeans of Coll. The population grew to over 400 by the late 18th century but was cleared of its indigenous population between 1826 and 1828. The island then became a sporting estate, the exotic Kinloch Castle being constructed by the Bulloughs in 1900. Rùm was purchased by the Nature Conservancy Council in 1957.