Sphynx cat

The Sphynx is a breed of cat developed through selective breeding starting in the 1960s, known for its lack of a coat (fur), though it is not truly hairless. The skin should have the texture of chamois, as it has fine hairs. Whiskers may be present, either whole or broken, or may be totally absent. The skin is the color their fur would be, and all the usual cat marking patterns (solid, point, van, tabby, tortie, etc.) may be found on Sphynx skin. Because they have no coat, they lose more body heat than coated cats. This makes them warm to the touch as well as heat-seeking.

Breed standards

Sphynx (band)

Sphynx is a dance music act who hit #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1995 with the song "What Hope Have I". Lead vocals on this track were sung by Sabrina Johnston, a female dance singer from New Jersey. Johnston also has US dance chart entries as a solo artist.

This act is not to be confused with disco-era studio group assembled by Egyptian producer Alec R. Costandinos, also called Sphynx, or the new British alternative rock band Sphynx.

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References

Japanese ironclad Kōtetsu

Kōtetsu (甲鉄, literally "Ironclad"), later renamed Azuma (東, "East") was the first ironclad warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Built in France in 1864 for the Confederate States Navy as CSS Stonewall, and acquired from the United States in February 1869, she was an ironclad ram warship. She had a decisive role in the Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay in May 1869, which marked the end of the Boshin War, and the complete establishment of the Meiji Restoration.

Her sister ship Cheops was sold to the Prussian Navy, becoming the Prinz Adalbert.

Origins

Kōtetsu was built by shipbuilder Lucien Arman in Bordeaux, France. Originally named Sphynx, this ship was initially built for the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War.

In June 1863 John Slidell, the Confederate commissioner to France, asked Emperor Napoleon III in a private audience if it would be possible for the Confederate government to build ironclad warships in France. Arming ships of war for a recognized belligerent like the Confederate States would have been illegal under French law, but Slidell and Confederate agent James D. Bulloch were confident that the French emperor would be able to circumvent his own laws more easily than could the British government. Napoleon III agreed to the building of ironclads in France on the condition that their destination remain a secret. The following month Bulloch entered a contract with Lucien Arman, an important French shipbuilder and a personal confidant of Napoleon III, to build a pair of ironclad rams capable of breaking the Union blockade. To avoid suspicion, the ships' guns were manufactured separately in England and they were named Cheops and Sphynx to encourage rumors that they were intended for the Egyptian navy.