Union (American Civil War)

During the American Civil War, the Union was the term used to refer to the United States of America, and specifically to the national government and the 23 free states and five border slave states that supported it. The Union was opposed by 11 southern slave states that formed the Confederate States of America, or "the Confederacy".

All of the Union's states provided soldiers for the U.S. Army; the border areas also sent large numbers of soldiers to the Confederacy. The Border states played a major role as a supply base for the Union invasion of the Confederacy. The Northeast provided the industrial resources for a mechanized war producing large quantities of munitions and supplies, as well as financing for the war. The Midwest provided soldiers, food and horses, as well as financial support and training camps. Army hospitals were set up across the Union. Most states had Republican governors who energetically supported the war effort and suppressed anti-war subversion in 1863–64. The Democratic Party strongly supported the war in 1861 but was split by 1862 between the War Democrats and the anti-war element led by the "Copperheads". The Democrats made major electoral gains in 1862 in state elections, most notably in New York. They lost ground in 1863, especially in Ohio. In 1864 the Republicans campaigned under the Union Party banner, which attracted many War Democrats and soldiers and scored a landslide victory for Lincoln and his entire ticket.

North (Mary Dillon album)

North is the debut solo album by the Irish folk singer Mary Dillon.

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians

Production

Notes and references

North (Elvis Costello album)

North is a 2003 album by Elvis Costello. It reached 44 in the UK Albums Chart, 57 in the US chart and No. 1 in the US Traditional Jazz chart.

Coming after the return-to-form rock and roll of When I Was Cruel, North is an intimate album of ballads, reportedly inspired by Costello's relationship with Diana Krall. The album received mixed reviews.

A limited edition also contains a DVD with two solo piano performances by Costello ("North," "Fallen") and a promo video for "Still". There is also a code included inside the package for a free download of the outtake title track "North," which is provided in the Windows Media Audio (.wma) format.

Track listing

All songs written by Elvis Costello

List of ships in the Matrix series

This article is about the 'hovercraft' ships shown in the fictional universe of the Matrix series of science fiction films, comic books and video games. The Animatrix short film "The Second Renaissance" depicts the war between men and machines which led to the creation of a computer-generated world known as the Matrix. Humans are shown using technology enabling personal vehicles, like a flying car called Versatran, and flying warships to hover above surfaces. The "hovercraft" used by the human resistance, years after the end of the war, seem to use similar technology for propulsion.

Hovercraft are designed to patrol the sewers and tunnels left over from the megacities that existed before the Man–Machine war. Their crews attempt to enter the Matrix in order to locate and free the minds of humans who are ready to understand the truth of the artificial reality. A ship's Operator remains as guide, and prepares crews with navigation data and by hacking equipment and information in the form of programs sent directly to them.

Osiris (genus)

The cleptoparasitic bee genus Osiris is a rare group of apid bees from the Neotropics (Mexico through Argentina), that lay their eggs in the nests of bees in the related tribe Tapinotaspidini, such as Paratetrapedia. Most of the known species are pale yellowish, smooth and shining, and very wasp-like in appearance.

Females in this tribe are unusual in having the last metasomal sternite elongated to form a sheath for the sting, which is remarkably long.

References

Shanks, S. S. (1986). A revision of the neotropical bee genus Osiris (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae). Wasmann J. Biol. 44 (1-2): 1-56

HD 209458 b

HD 209458 b (sometimes unofficially called Osiris) is an exoplanet that orbits the solar analog HD 209458 in the constellation Pegasus, some 150 light-years from the Solar System. The radius of the planet's orbit is 7 million kilometres, about 0.047 astronomical units, or one eighth the radius of Mercury's orbit. This small radius results in a year that is 3.5 Earth days long and an estimated surface temperature of about 1,000 °C (about 1,800 °F). Its mass is 220 times that of Earth (0.69 Jupiter masses) and its volume is some 2.5 times greater than that of Jupiter. The high mass and great volume of HD 209458 b indicate that it is a gas giant.

HD 209458 b represents a number of milestones in extraplanetary research. It was the first of many categories: