Clement Claiborne Clay (December 13, 1816 – January 3, 1882) was a U.S. senator from the state of Alabama from 1853 to 1861, and a C.S.A. senator from the Alabama from 1861 to 1863. His portrait appears on the Confederate one-dollar note (4th issue and later).

Richard Yates (January 18, 1818 - November 27, 1873) was governor of Illinois during the American Civil War and has been considered the greatest war governor during that period. When the war began Gov. Yates sent more Illinois troops to aid the Union than any other state. He also represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives, 1851-1855 and as a U.S. Senator, 1865-1871.
Yates was born in Warsaw, Kentucky and moved with his family to Illinois in 1831. He was graduated from Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1835. He then studied law at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. He was admitted to the bar in 1837 and commenced practice in Jacksonville.
Yates served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives from 1842-1845 and 1848-1849. In 1850, he was elected as a Whig to the United States House of Representatives where he was the youngest member of the Thirty-second Congress. He was reelected to Congress in 1852. During Yates' second term in Congress, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise reopened the anti-slavery question. He opposed the repeal, and became identified with the new Republican Party. His district was pro-slavery and consequently he narrowly lost his bid for a third term.
In 1860 he was elected governor as a Republican. Governor Yates continued to be an outspoken opponent of slavery, and at the opening of the Civil War was very active in raising volunteers. He convened the legislature in extra session on 12 April 1861, the day after the attack on Fort Sumter, and took military possession of Cairo, garrisoning it with regular troops. In Governor Yates's office General Ulysses S. Grant received his first distinct recognition as a soldier in the Civil War, being appointed by Yates mustering officer for the state, and afterward colonel of the 21st Illinois regiment. In 1862, he attended the Loyal War Governors' Conference in Altoona, Pennsylvania, which ultimately gave Abraham Lincoln support for his Emancipation Proclamation.
After his service as governor ended, Yates was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1865, to March 3, 1871; he was not a candidate for reelection. While in the Senate, Yates was Chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims (Thirty-ninth and Forty-first Congresses) and Chairman of the Committee on Territories (Fortieth Congress).
After leaving the Senate, Yates was appointed by President Grant as a United States commissioner to inspect a land subsidy railroad. He died suddenly in St. Louis, Missouri on November 27, 1873. He is buried in Diamond Grove Cemetery, Jacksonville.
In 1923 a statue of Yates by Albin Polasek was erected on the Illinois State Capitol grounds.
His son, also Richard Yates, was also active in Illinois politics, including a term as governor.

The territory of Neustria or Neustrasia, meaning "new [western] land", originated in 511, made up of the regions from Aquitaine to the English Channel, approximating most of the north of present-day France, with Paris and Soissons as its main cities. Thus Neustria formed the western part of the kingdom of the Franks under the rule of the Merovingian dynasty during the sixth to eighth centuries. The distinct area originated at the time of the death of Clovis I (reigned 482–511), when his sons divided his lands between them. It later became a term for the region between the Seine and the Loire rivers known as the regnum Neustriae, a constituent subkingdom of the Carolingian Empire and then West Francia. The Carolingian kings also created a March of Neustria which was a frontier duchy against the Bretons and Vikings that lasted until the Capetian monarchy in the late tenth century.
Neustria was also employed as a term for northwestern Italy during the period of Lombard domination. It was contrasted with the northeast, which was likewise called Austrasia, the same term as given to eastern Francia.

Merovingian kingdom
In 748, the brothers Pepin the Short and Carloman gave their younger brother Grifo twelve counties in Neustria centred on that of Le Mans. This polity was termed the ducatus Cenomannicus, or Duchy of Maine, and this was an alternative name for the regnum of Neustria well into the ninth century.
The term "Neustria" took on the meaning of "land between the Seine and Loire" when it was given as a regnum (kingdom) by Charlemagne to his eldest son, Charles the Younger, in 790. At this time, the chief city of the kingdom appears to be Le Mans and it was there that the royal court of Charles was established. Under the Carolingians, the chief duty of the Neustrian king was to defend the sovereignty of the Franks over the Bretons.
In 817, Louis the Pious granted Neustria to his eldest son Lothair, but following his rebellion in 831, he gave it to Pepin, and following the latter's death in 838, to Charles the Bald. Neustria, along with Aquitaine, formed the major part of Charles West Frankish kingdom carved out of the Empire by the Treaty of Verdun (843). Charles continued the tradition of appointing an elder son to reign in Neustria with his own court at Le Mans when he made Louis the Stammerer king in 856. Louis married the daughter of the King of Brittany, Erispoe, and received the regnum from the Breton monarch with the consent of the Frankish magnates. This unique relationship for Neustria stressed how it had shrunk in size to definitely exclude the Île de France and Paris by this time, as it was distanced from the central authority of Charles the Bald and closer to that of Erispoe. Louis was the last Frankish monarch to be appointed to Neustria by his father and the practice of creating subkingdoms for sons waned among the later Carolings.

Carolingian subkingdom

Main article: March of Neustria Carolingian march

Rulers
The precise division of Francia into a Neustrian, Austrasian, and Burgundian kingdom dates only from the late sixth century, so earlier kings who ruled from Soissons or Paris are here excluded.

Chlothar II, 584–629
Dagobert I, 629–639
Clovis II, 639–657
Chlothar III, 657–673
Theuderic III, 673
Childeric II, 673–675
Theuderic III, 675–691
Clovis IV, 691–695
Childebert III, 695–711
Dagobert III, 711–715
Chilperic II, 715–721
Theuderic IV, 721–737
Childeric III, 743–751 Merovingian kings
These were the chief officers of the kings and gradually became the de facto rulers in the name of the kings.

Landric, until 613
Gundoland, 613–639
Aega, 639–641
Erchinoald, 641–658
Ebroin, 658–673
Wulfoald, 673–675
Leudesius, 675
Ebroin, 675–680 (again)
Waratton, 680–682
Gistemar, 682
Waratton, 682–686 (again)
Berthar, 686–688
Pepin of Heristal, 688–695
Grimoald II, 695–714
Theudoald, 714–715
Ragenfrid, 715–718
Charles Martel, 718–741
Pepin the Short, 741–751 Mayors of the palace
Louis was chased from Le Mans in 858 following the assassination of Erispoe in November 857.

Charles the Younger, 790–811
Lothair I, 817–831
Pepin, 831–838
Charles the Bald, 838–856
Louis the Stammerer, 856–879 Historiography

Video compression refers to reducing the quantity of data used to represent video images, and this is almost always coupled with the goal of retaining as much of the original's quality as possible. Compressed video can effectively reduce the bandwidth required to transmit digital video via terrestrial broadcast, via cable, or via satellite services.
Most video compression is lossy, i.e. it operates on the premise that much of the data present before compression is not necessary for achieving good perceptual quality. For example, DVDs use a video coding standard called MPEG-2 that can compress ~2 hours of video data by 15 to 30 times while still producing a picture quality that is generally considered high quality for standard-definition video. Video compression, like data compression, is a tradeoff between disk space, video quality and the cost of hardware required to decompress the video in a reasonable time. However, if the video is overcompressed in a lossy manner, visible (and sometimes distracting) artifacts can appear.

Introduction continued
Video is basically a three-dimensional array of color pixels. Two dimensions serve as spatial (horizontal and vertical) directions of the moving pictures, and one dimension represents the time domain. A data frame is a set of all pixels that correspond to a single point in time. Basically, a frame is the same as a still picture. (These are sometimes made up of fields. See interlace)
Video data contains spatial and temporal redundancy. Similarities can thus be encoded by merely registering differences within a frame (spatial) and/or between frames (temporal). Spatial encoding is performed by taking advantage of the fact that the human eye is unable to distinguish small differences in colour as easily as it can changes in brightness and so very similar areas of colour can be "averaged out" in a similar way to jpeg images (JPEG image compression FAQ, part 1/2). With temporal compression only the changes from one frame to the next are encoded as often a large number of the pixels will be the same on a series of frames.

Theory
Some forms of data compression are lossless. This means that when the data is decompressed, the result is a bit-for-bit perfect match with the original. While lossless compression of video is possible, it is rarely used. This is because any lossless compression system will sometimes result in a file (or portions of) that is as large and/or has the same data rate as the uncompressed original. As a result, all hardware in a lossless system would have to be able to run fast enough to handle uncompressed video as well. This eliminates much of the benefit of compressing the data in the first place. For example, digital videotape can't vary its data rate easily so dealing with short bursts of maximum-data-rate video would be more complicated than something that was fixed at the maximum rate all the time.

Lossless compression
One of the most powerful techniques for compressing video is interframe compression. Interframe compression uses one or more earlier or later frames in a sequence to compress the current frame, while intraframe compression uses only the current frame, which is effectively image compression.
The most commonly used method works by comparing each frame in the video with the previous one. If the frame contains areas where nothing has moved, the system simply issues a short command that copies that part of the previous frame, bit-for-bit, into the next one. If sections of the frame move in a simple manner, the compressor emits a (slightly longer) command that tells the decompresser to shift, rotate, lighten, or darken the copy -- a longer command, but still much shorter than intraframe compression. Interframe compression works well for programs that will simply be played back by the viewer, but can cause problems if the video sequence needs to be edited.
Since interframe compression copies data from one frame to another, if the original frame is simply cut out (or lost in transmission), the following frames cannot be reconstructed properly. Some video formats, such as DV, compress each frame independently using intraframe compression. Making 'cuts' in intraframe-compressed video is almost as easy as editing uncompressed video -- one finds the beginning and ending of each frame, and simply copies bit-for-bit each frame that one wants to keep, and discards the frames one doesn't want. Another difference between intraframe and interframe compression is that with intraframe systems, each frame uses a similar amount of data. In most interframe systems, certain frames (such as "I frames" in MPEG-2) aren't allowed to copy data from other frames, and so require much more data than other frames nearby.
It is possible to build a computer-based video editor that spots problems caused when I frames are edited out while other frames need them. This has allowed newer formats like HDV to be used for editing. However, this process demands a lot more computing power than editing intraframe compressed video with the same picture quality.
See Editing HDV.

The High Performance Program is an initiative from the International Cricket Council to bridge the gap between Test and non-Test nations. The program was launched in 2001 with the aim of preparing the top Associate Member teams for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Following the tournament the program continued to run, attempting to close the gap between Associate countries and Full Members such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
In 2006/2007, the six Associate Members who had qualified for the 2007 World Cup were given priority by the program. These countries were Kenya, Canada, Bermuda, The Netherlands, Scotland and Ireland.
As of April 2007, both Denmark and Namibia are part of the program. They were joined by Argentina and Uganda in June after the teams made the final of the 2007 ICC World Cricket League Division Three.

In Baroque music, ritornello was the word for a recurring passage for orchestra in the first or final movement of a solo concerto or aria (also in works for chorus). In ritornello form, the tutti opens with a theme called the ritornello (refrain). This theme, always played by the tutti, returns in different keys throughout the movement. However, it usually returns in incomplete fragments. It was favoured by composers such as Bach, Vivaldi and Handel and was used frequently in concertos, chamber works and vocal and choral pieces, though most prominently in the solo concerto where it created a 'tutti-solo-tutti-solo-tutti' pattern, with the ritornello being the 'tutti' section. When the classical music era started, the ritornello form was altered to resemble sonata form, though it later transformed to become rondo form.
The final section of the fourteenth century madrigal was also called the ritornello and the ritornello technique was employed by Giovanni Gabrieli in his 16th century motets. The Ritornello form can be found in many Baroque and Classical period music such as J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. Other pieces in ritornello form include a sonata in F Major by Joseph Haydn (using the form at a late date, as a classical period composer).
Beginning with the late Classical and extending through the duration of the Romantic era, the use of the ritornello construction faded with the advent of the far more standard classical concerto; however, with the advent of the 20th century and the general feeling of malaise within the composition field regarding the limits of form, the ritornello experienced an uptake in interest.

Gaetano Martino (November 25, 1900 - July 21, 1967) was an Italian politician and university teacher.
A native of Messina, Sicily, he was a member of Italian Liberal Party. He was also President of the European Parliament from 1962 to 1964.
He died in Rome in 1967.

Gävle ['jɛvlə] is a city in east central Sweden with 68,700 inhabitants (2005). It is the seat of Gävle Municipality with a population of 92,416 (2006) and of Gävleborg County. It is one of the oldest cities in the historical Norrland (Sweden's Northern lands), as it received its charter in 1446 by Christopher of Bavaria.

History

Main article: Gävle goat Gävle goat
Gävle is situated by the Baltic Sea near the mouth of the river Dalälven. At 60 degrees north and 17 degrees east, Gävle has the same latitude as Helsinki and the same longitude as Vienna and Cape Town.
Gävle has a similar climate to the rest of central Sweden with an average temperature of -5 C in January and +17 C in July. Yearly rainfall is around 600mm.

Geography
Trade from the port of Gävle increased markedly during the 1400s when copper and iron began to be exported from the port. In order to ensure that all trade was via Stockholm, sailing to foreign ports from Gävle and a few other ports was forbidden.
During the 1500s, Gävle was one of the most important port and merchant towns with many shipping companies and shipyards.
In 1787 Gävle was awarded "free and unrestricted sailing rights" to and from foreign ports. This led to an increase in trade, which in turn lead to an increase in buildings, industrial developments, trade and shipping.
Today there are few shipping companies or shipyards left, but an important port remains. It has over 1000 ships calling per annum and is among the top ten common ports in Sweden.

Major companies
The University College of Gävle currently enrolls 12,500 students. It offers courses of study at six departments: Business Administration, Education and Psychology, Caring Sciences and Sociology, Humanities and Social Sciences, Mathematics, Natural and Computer Sciences and Technology, and Built Environment.
Some courses are given in English taught both to visiting students from foreign partner institutions and to Swedish students.

Education
Gävle is mostly known for the coffee called Gevalia, produced by Kraft General Foods Scandinavia (Gevalia is the Latin name for Gävle), its Gävle goat, the Läkerol throat lozenges and car shaped sweets Ahlgrens Bilar, and for its ice hockey team Brynäs IF.

Miscellaneous topics

Christian Edstrom (professional rally co-driver)
Anders Eklund (boxer)
Joe Hill (labour activist)
Cat Stevens (musician) - his mother Ingrid Wickman was from Gävle, and he also lived here for some time during his childhood.
Joakim Sundström (sound designer)
Nicklas Bäckström (hockey player) Notable natives
Gävle has teams competing in the highest national league in both football (Gefle IF) and ice hockey (Brynäs IF). The town is also home to a wrestling team called BK Loke.

Sports
Gävle's town twins are:

Buffalo City, South Africa Whisky

International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships (1995)
List of Gävleborg Governors

The River Tonge is a short river flowing close to Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England.
The Tonge is formed at the Meeting of the Waters, where Astley Brook, flowing from the Smithills area in the west, meets the southerly-flowing Eagley Brook. From there, the Tonge flows southwards, to the east of Bolton, past Springfield, where it is joined by Bradshaw Brook, at the end of its route from the Jumbles and Wayoh reservoirs, close to Tonge Fold. The Tonge joins the River Croal at Darcy Lever, shortly before the Croal's confluence with the larger River Irwell.
Tonge Bridge section is a part of the river north of Tonge Bridge designated as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI). It is one of only seven geological SSSIs in Greater Manchester.

Statesboro is a city in southeast Georgia, United States, and is the county seat and most populous city of Bulloch County. A college town, Statesboro is best known as the home to Georgia Southern University.
The city was chartered in 1803, starting as a small farming community providing the basic essentials for surrounding farms. In 1906 Statesboro leaders joined together to bid for and win First District A&M School, which eventually grew to become Georgia Southern University. Statesboro-Bulloch County offers a diversified array of employment opportunities in agriculture and industry.

History
Statesboro is located at 32°26′43″N, 81°46′45″W (32.445147, -81.779234).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.6 square miles (32.7 km²), of which, 12.5 square miles (32.4 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (0.9%) is water.

Demographics
Statesboro is the home of three institution of higher education. Georgia Southern University is a comprehensive research university with over 16,000 students. Ogeechee Technical College and the Statesboro campus of East Georgia College are also located in the city.
The Bulloch County Board of Education runs the public schools in Statesboro. The largest school in the city is Statesboro High School. Other public schools include William James Middle School, Langston Chapel Middle School, Julia P. Bryant Elementary School, Sallie Zetterower Elementary School, Mattie Lively Elementary School, Langston Chapel Elementary School and Mill Creek Elementary School. There are also several private schools including Bulloch Academy, Trinity Christian School, and Bible Baptist Christian School. One school not overseen by the BoE: The Charter Conservatory for Liberal Arts and Technology.

Education
Statesboro has several community organizations, including Kiwanis Club, Lions Club, NAACP and Rotary Club.
Mill Creek Regional Park is a large outdoor recreational facility with athletic fields and a swimming area. The David H. Averitt Center for the Arts is provides a small performing arts theater along with studios, conference rooms and an exhibition area. The Statesboro Regional Art Association holds monthly meetings.
The Zach S. Henderson Library[1] at Georgia Southern University is undergoing a major renovation and expansion[2] and will be completed in the fall of 2008. Henderson Library is the only library in Georgia which operates a 24-hour schedule. The Statesboro Regional Library[3] is a member of the Georgia Library Public Information Network for Electronic Services (PINES)[4].
The local newspaper is the Statesboro Herald, a daily with a circulation of about 8,000. Other newspapers include the daily George-Anne (http://www.stp.georgiasouthern.edu/), produced by Georgia Southern University students, Connect Statesboro, a weekly entertainment publication, and the E11eventh Hour, a twice-a-month entertainment publication.
There are a few bookstores including the newly opened independent shop, The Book and Cranny[5], the Georgia Southern University bookstore, and Books By Dickens[6]. Georgia Southern University offers the Georgia Southern Physics Planetarium http://cost.georgiasouthern.edu/planetarium/), Georgia Southern Museum, the Botanical Gardens at Bland Cottage, and the Performing Arts Center adjacent to the Nessmith-Lane Continuing Education Center. Georgia Southern offers a number of shows each year from traveling groups as well as shows put on by Georgia Southern students and staff.
Because Statesboro is a college town, there are a number of restaurants, bars, and a couple of coffee houses (such as Midtown Coffeehouse). During the fall and spring semesters at the university, there are usually bands playing at most of the bars. During the summer, when many students leave, the tempo of the night life slows down. The restaurants available offer Southern, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, and Italian. Many standard American franchise restaurants are represented, with both fast food and table service. Some of the more popular restaurants in the area include El Sombrero Mexican Cuisine, Blue Moon Cafe, Hachi, Statesboro Inn, The Beaver House, Zaxby's, Papa's Pizza To-Go, The French Quarter Cafe, Nikko's, Chick-Fil-A, Forest Heights Country Club, and Snooky's. Restaurants are non-smoking by city ordinance and Georgia state law.

Culture
Interstate 16 is located 10 miles (16 km) to the south of Statesboro. Statesboro is also served by three U.S. highways: U.S. Highway 301, which runs north-south through the city, U.S. Highway 25, which runs northwest-south through the city, and U.S. Highway 80, which is the main east-west route through the city. The Veterans Memorial Parkway ( Highway 301 Bypass and Highway 25 Bypass) forms a near circle around the city. Approximately three miles outside of Statesboro is the Statesboro-Bulloch County Airport, which can accommodate private aircraft but does not have a control tower or commercial flights. Most travelers choose to fly from nearby Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport, which is located than 45 miles (72 km) to the east and is served by nine commercial airlines.

Transportation
Statesboro may be familiar to music-listeners through the blues song "Statesboro Blues," written by Blind Willie McTell in the 1920s and covered by many other musicians, including Taj Mahal and The Allman Brothers Band.
Downtown Statesboro has been featured in several motion pictures including Now and Then as well as 1969.
Statesboro is located in a semi-dry county. Because of this, hard liquor cannot be sold by the bottle, but can be sold by the drink in bars.
Statesboro is the only town in the world with that name.
Statesboro is the home of the world's largest Primitive Baptist Church.
The Zaxby's restaurant chain was begun in Statesboro in 1990.
The Krystal fast food chain celebrated their most successful Grand Opening ever for a single restaurant in Statesboro (as of 12/5/2007)

People of note

Georgia Southern Botanical Garden
Performing Arts Center
Emma Kelly Theater
Mill Creek Recreational Park
Georgia Southern University
Memorial Park Tennis Courts and Recreation
Snooky's Restaurant

Longniddry Bents is a beach just north of Longniddry in East Lothian, Scotland.
The beach is almost 2 miles in length, which includes Gosford Bay to the east side, and the rockier Seton Sands to the west. Along the beach are the remains of a wall of concrete tank traps erected during World War II as protection from any attempted German invasion. Many of these are now hidden in the surrounding sea-grass and bushes.
The area is popular, mostly in the summer months, with local families, holidaymakers, picnicers, horseriders, ramblers, metal detectors, dogwalkers and the occasional kite buggy. The shallow bay is a popular watersports location for windsurfers, kitesurfers and sea kayaks.
Many sea and wading birds frequent this area making it a regular haven for bird-watchers. A small community of rare water voles are known to reside around the several burns running out of the bents. Grey seals are often spotted to the west of the bay.
There are three car-parking areas here and the largest has good views west across the bay to Edinburgh's skyline and the Forth Bridges. Overnight parking is prohibited.
Longniddry Bents are part of the the John Muir Way coastal walk and were presented with a Seaside Award (Rural) in 2006.

Coordinates: 22°18′00″N 73°12′01″E / 22.3, 73.20028 Vadodara (Gujarati: વડોદરા (help·info), Marathi: बडोदा), also known as Baroda (Gujarati: બરોડા), is the third most-populated town in the Indian state of Gujarat after Ahmedabad and Surat. It is one of four towns in the state with a population of over 1 million (as of 2005), the beautiful Lakshmi Vilas Palace and the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (M.S.U.) which is famous for various departments, including the fine arts, performing arts, technology, management and medicine streams. It has a high literacy rate by Indian standards of 78% (2001). Major industries include petrochemicals, engineering, pharmaceuticals, and plastics.

History
Two thousand years back, there was a small town known as "Ankottak " (present day Akota) on the western bank of river Vishvamitri. The earliest mention of Vadodara is in a granth or charter of 812 that identifies it as Vadapadraka, a village attached to the nearby town of Ankottaka. In 600 AD severe floods in Vishvamitri forced the inhabitants to move to the eastern side of the river to a village known as "Vatpatrak" (Leaf of Banayan tree) which developed into Vadodara. In the 10th century Vadapadraka replaced Ankottaka as the main town.
The city was once called Chandanavati after its ruler Raja Chandan of Dor tribe of Rajputs, who wrested it from the Jains. The capital had also another name "Virakshetra" or "Virawati" (A Land of Warriors). Later on it was known as Vadpatraka or Wadodará, which according to tradition is a corrupt form of the Sanskrit word Vatodar means 'In the heart of the Banyan tree'. It is now almost impossible to ascertain when the various changes in the name were made; but early English travellers and merchants mention the town as Brodera in Michigan, United States was named after Baroda.

Origin of name
The early man lived on the banks of the river Mahi. This river must have formed the flood plain during that age. The movements of this "food gathering" parasites on nature, living on the banks of the river, grumbling the roots and killing animals with crude stone tools made out of the cobbles and pebbles available on the river bank, were necessarily controlled by the availability of convenient raw materials for their tools. There are evidences of the existence of early man in the Mahi river valley at a number of sites within 10 to 20 km to the north-east ot Vadodara. No evidences however of the existence of this man are found in and around present Vadodara. This may be because of the absence of gravels and cobbles on the banks of the Vishwamitri rivulet.
The next phase of the pre-historic Vadodara witnessed the first human settlement on the right bank of the river vishwamitri on a group of dunes resting on the alluvium of the river. It also means that men knew about where to set up settlements, as they had selected an elevated land. The Vishwamitri must have been prone to seasonal floods even then. These people still belonged to the stone age, crafting their tools with finely grained stones. From their material culture and physical environment, they seem to have belonged to the same culture as those whose implements were found in the Mahi river valley. This human settlement has been dated 1000 b.c.
Around the beginning of the Christian Era, a small township developed at the same spot as the above mentioned settlement on the right bank of the river. It came to be know as Ankotakka (present day Akota), the mound on which this settlement was established came to be known as Dhantekri. The entire settlement was developed by clearing grazing land and forest of Ankhol and covered an area of ½ to ¾ sq. km. This is indicative of the presence of thick forests during those times. Due to its location on the ancient trade route between Gujarat and Malva, this small township flourished in to a commercial entre. There was a supposed commercial relation between this township and Rome.
The township of Ankotakka developed during the rules of the Guptas and the Vallabhis. It was subjected to periodical heavy floods. But a severe flood which inundated the renovated public hall, forced the inhabitants to abandon this township and move away from the banks of the Vishwamitri.
The event occurred in 600 A.D. The inhabitants moved to the east of Ankotakka to another elevated portion located on the present kothi area. This formed the nucleus of a new township.

Old Ankotakka
The City of Vadodara apty described by a medieval Jain writer as a "Tilak on the Brove of Lata." was a nodal center of the costal plain of Gujarat. It is strategically situated at a junction of the main highways linking Gujarat with Rajputana and the Punjab in the north, the Malva and the Gangetic valley in the north east, Konkan in the south and Khandesh in the south-east. Significantly Vadodara today is a junction on the western railway of the lines leading to Ahmedabad, Delhi & Mumbai. This confirms the historic role of Vadodara in the communication pattern for movements of people and culture. The history of Vadodara city amply bears out its cultural and commercial activities during the last two thousand years. Apart form the traditional stories, our knowledge of the history of Vadodara is based mainly on Jain literature and a few old inscriptions pertaining to Vadodara.
Baroda State was a former Indian State in Western India. Vadodara's more recent history began when the Maratha leader Pilaji Gaekwad (or Gaikwar) conquered Sonagad from the Mughal Empire in 1726. It was an era of great progress and constructive achievements in all fields. Maharaja Sayajirao III, who ruled from 1875 to 1939, did much to modernize Vadodara, establishing compulsory primary education, a library system, a university, and model textile and tile factories, which helped to create Baroda's modern textile industry. Modern Vadodara is a great and fitting memorial to Maharaja Sayajirao. It was the dream of this able administrator to make Baroda an educational, industrial and commercial centre and he ensured that his dream would come true. For this reason, the city is also referred to as Sayaji Nagari (the town of Sayaji).
With India's independence in 1947, the last ruling Maharaja of Baroda State acceded to India. Baroda State was merged into to Bombay State shortly after independence, which was divided into the states of Gujarat and Maharastra in 1960, with Vadodara part of Gujarat.
In recent times, Vadodara was affected by the devastating January 26, 2001 earthquake that struck Gujarat. The city was spared the devastation suffered by some of the other major cities in Gujarat. However there were some casualties as poorly constructed buildings collapsed in the wake of the earthquake and the after shocks.

Recent history
Vadodara is located at 22.30° N 73.19° E in western India at an elevation of 39 metres (123 feet). It is the 18th largest city of the India with an area of 148.95 km² and a population of 1.6 Millions according to 2001 Census. The city sits on the banks of the River Vishwamitri, in central Gujarat. The Vishwamitri frequently dries up in the summer, leaving only a small stream of water. The city is located between the furtile platue between Mahi & Narmada River. According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, the town falls under seismic zone-III, in a scale of I to V (in order of increasing proneness to earthquakes)
Vadodara is divided by the Vishwamitri into two physically distinct eastern and western regions. The eastern bank of the river houses the old city, which includes the old fortified city of Vadodara. This part of Vadodara is characterised by packed bazaars, the clustered and barricaded pol system of shanty buildings, and numerous places of worship. It houses the General Post Office and landmark buildings like Laxmi Vilas Palace, Mandvi and Nyay Mandier. The colonial period saw the expansion of the city to the western side of Vishwamitri. This part of the city houses educational institutions like Maharaja Sayajirao University, Railway Station, modern buildings, well-planned residential areas, shopping malls, multiplexes and new business districts centred around R. C. Dutt Road, Alkapuri and more recently, the Old Padra Road and Gotri.

Winter Temperature: Max 29 °C, Min 9 °C
Summer Temperature: Max 46 °C, Min 24 °C
Rainfall (mid-June to mid-September): 931.9 mm
Lowest Recorded Temperature: -1 °C
Highest Recorded Temperature: 46 °C
Pollution: In recent years, Vadodara has suffered from increasing air, water and soil pollution from neighbouring industrial areas. This has also amounted into a constant and uncomfortable increase in average temperatures across all three seasons. Uncontrolled chemical dump from nearby industries has arguably turned the local river Vishwamitri into one big sewage. Geography and Climate
Vadodara enjoys a special place in the state of Gujarat. Until the early 1960s Vadodara was considered to be a cultural and educational centre. The first modern factory (Alembic Pharmaceuticals) was established in Vadodara in 1907 and subsequently companies such as Sarabhai Chemicals, and Jyoti came up in the 1940s. By 1962 there were 288 factories employing 27,510 workers. At that time, the dominant industrial groups were chemicals and pharmaceuticals, cotton textiles and machine tools. The establishment of Bank of Baroda by Sayajirao III in 1908 also help industrial growth.
In 1962, Vadodara witnessed a sudden spurt in industrial activity with the establishment of Gujarat Refinery, Indian Oil Corporation. Several factors like raw material availability, product demand, skillful mobilisation of human, financial and material resources by the government and private entrepreneurs have contributed to Baroda becoming one of India's foremost industrial centres.
The discovery of oil and gas in Ankleshwar led to the industrial development of Gujarat in a big way. The Vadodara region is the largest beneficiary in the process of this industrialisation. Gujarat Refinery went into the first phase of production in 1965. The refinery being a basic industry made vital contributions on several fronts at the regional and national levels.
In Vadodara various large-scale industries such as Gujarat State Fertilisers & Chemicals (GSFC), Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (IPCL, Reliance) and Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (GACL) have come up in the vicinity of Gujarat Refinery and all of them are dependent on it for their fuel and feedstock. Other large-scale public sector units are Heavy Water Project, Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited, ONGC & GAIL. In addition to these public sector enterprises, a number of other large-scale enterprises have come up in the private sector.
The establishment of large industrial units in a region automatically brings into existence a number of smaller enterprises. Vadodara is no exception and the city and the surrounding areas are today humming with industrial activity. The industrialisation of Vadodara has attracted entrepreneurs not only from Vadodara but also from all over Gujarat and India.
In line with the 'Knowledge City'. vision of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Vadodara is gradually becoming a hub in Gujarat for IT and development projects.

Industry & Commerce
Vadodara is administered by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) . Some of the regions surrounding the city are administered by the Vadodara Urban Development Authority (VUDA). The VMC was established in July 1950 under the Bombay Provincial Corporation Act, 1949. For administrative purposes, the city is divided into four zones and 26 wards.
The two main institutions involved in planning and development in Vadodara are the Vadodara Municipal Corporation and the Vadodara Urban Development Authority. The jurisdiction of both these agencies is demarcated clearly not only physically but also functionally. The governing acts for both the institutions differ. The principal responsibility of VUDA is to ensure a holistic development of the Vadodara agglomeration covering an area of 714.56 km².
Population per ward: 31,122
Seats reserved for women: 26
Total voters (as on 17-1-97): 809,185 Civic Administration

Administrative Legends
The city is on the major rail and road arteries joining Mumbai with Delhi and Mumbai with Ahmedabad. Due to this Vadodara is known as a 'Gateway to the Golden Corridor'.
Air: Vadodara Airport (IATA: BDQ) is well connected with the cities of Mumbai and Delhi, with multiple daily flights to these locations.
Rail: Vadodara was part of historic BBCI Railway. Railway was arrived in Vadodara in early 1860s. On 5 November 1951 the BBCI Railway was merged with the Saurashtra, Rajputana and Jaipur railways to give rise to the Western Railway. Now, the Vadodara Railway Station belongs to the Western Railway division of Indian Railways and is a major station on the Mumbai-Delhi and Mumbai-Ahmedabad routes. All trains, including superfast and express, stop here.
Vadodara Railway Stations: Vadodara Junction, Makarpura & Vishwamitri Stations
Road: National Highway No. 8 passes through the city. Vadodara is also connected with Ahmedabad through Indian National Expressway 1, a stretch of 97 km Super Highway with only 2 exits.
Public transport vehicles within the city include buses, autorickshaws and taxis. There are a few private bus and taxi services as well. A significant proportion of the population uses their own vehicles – cars, scooters, motorcycles and bicycles.

Paved Roads: 1680 km
Unpaved Roads: 400 km
Total Roads: 2080 km Demographics
Vadodara is also known as 'Sanskari Nagari', means a Cultured City. Vadodara is one of India's most cosmopolitan cities. Thanks to the vision and broadmindedness of the Gaekwads, the subsequent industrialisation, the proliferation of academic activities and a strategically important geographical location, Baroda has welcomed a wide variety of people from all over India and also from all over the world. In all of this, the sprawling and cosmopolitan MS University campus and the large number of local, national and foreign industries act as a catalysing and unifying force.
The great museums on the palace grounds such as the Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum and art gallery are unique and carry artifacts from around the nation and the world. There are Gujarati film studios in the city as well as a large number of large old-style movie theatres in addition to the newer multiplexes that have sprung up in the past few years.
Diwali, Uttarayan, Holi, Ganesh Chaturthi, Eid (festival), Christmas and New Year are celebrated with great fervour. Classical music and dance have their patrons, and so does the modern stage and pop culture. The culture and the traditions are both alive and being forever experimented with.
Navarātrī or Garba is the city's largest festival, with song, dance and lights during every October. Many of the residents spend their evenings at their local Garba grounds where local musicians play traditional music while people dance the Rass and Garba dances. This is also a time when the youth are more visible outdoors and until later than other times of the year. The people of Vadodara have preserved the original and the traditional part of the Navarātrī. Garba in Vadodara attracts a fairly large number of international tourists.

Culture
The patronage of education started with Maharaja Sayajirao and the city has built further on the academic infrastructure established by him.
The present educational foundation rests on over 20 public schools and over 100 private schools. Towering benevolently over all is the MS University, the jewel in the Baroda crown, so to speak. MSU is the only university in Gujarat with English as the only medium of instruction. It has 13 faculties and 17 residential hostels, 4 of them for women students. The university caters to over 100,000 students. There are various courses that are being offered in here ranging from Medical to Commerce. The university has been divided into several departments and there are number of courses offered in each of the department. The fine Arts faculty is famous worldwide for its contribution in arts. The faculty of performing arts is also a very reputed institution teaching music, drama, dancing etc. There are other premier institutes also located in city including Sigma Institute of Management Studies, Technology & Engineering & Parul Institute of Engineering and Technology. Baroda has many public and private schools, imparting quality education.
The recent decision of CII to develop Vadodara as 'Knowledge CITY'. has been well received by the Barodians all over the world

Education
Cricket is by far the most popular sport in the city, as it is in the rest of the country. However, the interest in football (soccer), field hockey, volleyball, table tennis and tennis is much greater than the average Indian city.
Not only Vadodara has its own first-class cricket team that competes at the national level, but it also boasts of the oldest cricket ground in Asia, called Moti Baug (The same ground on which Mohammad Azharuddin had scored a record fastest century of 62 balls, now broken). Apart, from that there is also a private cricket ground owned by IPCL, which also hosts ODI. Prominent cricket players from Vadodara include Atul Bedade, Vijay Hazare, Chandu Borde, Kiran More, Nayan Mongia, Anshuman Gaekwad (former coach of the Indian cricket team) and more recently Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Jacob Martin and Connor Williams. The Baroda cricket team has been a consistently good performer at the national domestic Ranji Trophy championship and has won it 6 times.
At schools a huge range of sports tend to be played. Vadodara has a rich tradition in which various schools compete against each other in various inter-school sporting competitions.

Sports
Vadodara has a number of newspaper publications. English-language dailies published and sold in the city are the Times of India, Indian Express,and Economic Times. There are three Gujarati dailies in the city — Sandesh, Gujarat Samachar and Divya Bhaskar. A large number of magazines, periodicals and journals are regularly published and circulated across the city. The Gujarat film and television industry has a small but significant presence in the city. The city has four local FM stations: Radio Mirchi (98.3 MHz), Big FM (92.7 MHz), Radio City (91.1 MHz) and All India Radio (93.9 MHz). All India Radio is broadcast on the AM band. Households receive television through two main cable networks, InCablenet and Siti Cable, while DTH has little popularity in Vadodara. A network of optical fibre cables connects almost the entire city. The city's telephone services are provided by landline and mobile operators like BSNL, Reliance Infocomm, Airtel, Hutch, idea and Tata Indicom. Broadband Internet services are provided in most parts of the city by the telecom companies.

Media

Palaces: Laxmi Vilas Palace, Nazar Baug Palace, Makarpura Palace, Pratap Vilas Palace
Buildings & Monuments: Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Kirti Mandir, Kirti Stambh, Nyay Mandir, Mandvi & Walled City, Khanderao Market, Aurobindo Ashram, EME Temple (Dakshinamurty Temple), Hazira Maqbara, Tambekarwada
Museums & Gardens: Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum, Baroda Museum & Picture Gallery, Sayaji Baug, Jubilee Baug, Lal Baug, Sardar Baug, Reliance Garden, Navjot Garden
Other Interesting Places: Malls and Multiplexes (Vadodara Central, PVR Deep, Chandan, Inox, Westside), Gandhi Nagar Gruh (Town Hall), Vadodara Central Library, ABB Tower Art Gallery
Excursions: Ajwa & Nimeta, Dabhoi, Pavagadh, Champaner, Sindhrot Nature Park, Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kayavarohan, Chandod, Galteshwar, Dakor, Nareshwar, Sankheda
Fast Food: Havmour,Kalyan Cafe,Melange,Machhu Pichhu,Hotdog/Fridgetemp,Dairyden,snackers stop,fun n food,jumbo king,gandhi bakery,goodies,lilleria,McDonalds,New Yorkers,Peekos,RC Dutt Road, Hariji, Vishal Vada-pau, Mahakali -Sau-Usal
Restaurants: Havmour, Jashn, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Pizza Meow, Smokin Joes', Rangoli, Green Chillies, Chung Fa, Food Court, Picasso, Zaika, Woodlands, Copper Chimney, Flavours, Status, Kala patthar, Rajputana.
Hotels: Taj Residency, Welcome, Express, Revival, Sayaji, Surya Palace, PM Regency. Sister Cities

Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American comedienne and actress, best known for her five years as part of the original cast of the NBC comedy series Saturday Night Live. Radner, who died at 42 of ovarian cancer, became an icon for public awareness of both detection and treatment of the disease.

Biography
She was born to well-to-do Jewish-American parents, Herman Radner and Henrietta Dworkin, in Detroit, Michigan. Her mother named her Gilda after the title character played by Rita Hayworth in Gilda. She grew up in Detroit with a nanny, Elizabeth Clementine Gillies, whom she affectionately called "Dibby" (and on whom she based her famous character Emily Litella) and an older brother named Michael. When Gilda and Michael were very young, they spent their winters in Palm Beach, Florida. She was very close to her father, who operated the Seville Hotel in Detroit where many nightclub performers and actors stayed while they performed in the city, including Frank Sinatra. to follow her then-boyfriend, a Canadian sculptor named Jeff Rubinoff, to Toronto, Canada. In Toronto, she made her professional acting debut in the 1972 production of Godspell with future stars Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber, and Martin Short, and afterward joined the Toronto Second City comedy troupe.

1970s
In her final season of Saturday Night Live, Radner appeared on Broadway in a successful one-woman show that featured racier material, such as the song "Let's Talk Dirty to the Animals". This show was captured on film in 1981 as Gilda Live! and co-starred Paul Shaffer and Don Novello. The play was also released as an album recording -- the play was a qualified success, the film and album were failures. During the production, she met her first husband, G. E. Smith, a musician who also worked on the show whom she married in a civil ceremony in 1980.
Radner met her second husband, Gene Wilder, on the set of the Sidney Poitier film Hanky Panky between 1981 and 1982. She described their first meeting as "love at first sight." She soon divorced Smith in 1982 and went on to make a second movie, The Woman in Red, in 1984 with Wilder. The two were married on September 18, 1984 in the south of France and made a third movie together, Haunted Honeymoon, in 1986.

1980s and marriage to Gene Wilder
After being severely fatigued and suffering from pain in her upper legs on the set of Haunted Honeymoon, Radner sought medical treatment. After several false diagnoses, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in October 1986.
Gene Wilder had this to say about her death:
She went in for the scan – but the people there could not keep her on the gurney. She was raving like a crazed woman – she knew they would give her morphine and was afraid she'd never regain consciousness. She kept getting off the cart as they were wheeling her out. Finally three people were holding her gently and saying, "Come on Gilda. We're just going to go down and come back up." She kept saying, "Get me out, get me out!" She'd look at me and beg me, "Help me out of here. I've got to get out of here." And I'd tell her, "You're okay honey. I know. I know." They sedated her, and when she came back, she remained unconscious for three days. I stayed at her side late into the night, sometimes sleeping over. Finally a doctor told me to go home and get some sleep. At 4 am on Saturday, I heard a pounding on my door. It was an old friend, a surgeon, who told me, "Come on. It's time to go." When I got there, a night nurse, whom I still want to thank, had washed Gilda and taken out all the tubes. She put a pretty yellow barrette in her hair. She looked like an angel. So peaceful. She was still alive, and as she lay there, I kissed her. But then her breathing became irregular, and there were long gaps and little gasps. Two hours after I arrived, Gilda was gone. While she was conscious, I never said goodbye.
Her funeral was held in Connecticut on May 24, 1989. In lieu of flowers, her family requested that donations be sent to The Wellness Community. By a coincidence, the news of her death had broken in the early afternoon (Eastern Standard Time) of the Saturday that Steve Martin was rehearsing his hosting duties for that night's season finale of Saturday Night Live. Lorne Michaels and the writers, including Mike Myers and Phil Hartman, had not known she was so close to death. They scrapped one of their planned skits and had Martin introduce a video clip of a 1978 skit in which he and Gilda made fun of an old Hollywood romantic couple's dance. He cried during his introduction.

Illness and death
Wilder has since established the Gilda Radner Ovarian Detection Center at Cedars-Sinai to screen high-risk candidates (such as women of Ashkenazi Jewish descent) and run basic diagnostic tests. He testified before a Congressional committee that her condition was misdiagnosed and that if doctors had inquired more deeply into her family background they would have found that her grandmother, aunt and cousin all died of ovarian cancer and might have attacked the disease earlier. Through these efforts and the efforts of others, ovarian cancer awareness has spread, and there is more widespread awareness of the symptoms of ovarian cancer.
Wilder continued his involvement in both detection and treatment of ovarian cancer. In tribute to Radner, Gilda's Club, a comfortable center where cancer patients and their families can go to be around other people in the same situation to share support, coping and wellness strategies, was founded in 1994. (The center was named for a famous quip from Radner, in which she said "Having cancer gave me membership in an elite club I'd rather not belong to.") Many Gilda's Clubs have opened nationwide and in Canada and continue to do so.
In 2002 the ABC television network aired a TV-movie about her life, Gilda Radner: It's Always Something, starring Jami Gertz as Radner.

Legacy
Won an Emmy for "Outstanding Continuing or Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in Variety or Music" for her performance on Saturday Night Live in 1977.
She posthumously won a Grammy for "Best Spoken Word Or Non-Musical Recording" in 1990.
In 1992, Radner was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame for her achievements in arts and entertainment.
Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on June 27, 2003 at 6801 Hollywood Blvd.

Television work

The Last Detail (1973)
Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979)
Gilda Live (1980)
First Family (1980)
Hanky Panky (1982)
It Came from Hollywood (1982) (documentary)
The Woman in Red (1984)
Movers & Shakers (1985)
Haunted Honeymoon (1986)