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Inscription on Tannehill's gravestone
Inscription on Tannehill's gravestone

Adamson Tannehill (1750–1820) was an American military officer, politician, civic leader, and farmer. Born in Maryland, Tannehill was among the first to join the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, becoming commander of the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment. He then settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was active in the state militia, rising to the rank of major general in 1811. He also served as a brigadier general of United States Volunteers in the War of 1812. Tannehill held several local, state, and national offices, including one term as a Democratic-Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1813 to 1815. He was president of the Pittsburgh branch of the Bank of the United States from 1817 until his death. He also served on the founding boards of several civic and state organizations. Tannehill died in 1820 and was buried at his Grove Hill home outside Pittsburgh. He was later reinterred in Allegheny Cemetery (gravestone pictured). (Full article...)

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Cartoon of Brownell as a "Pretty Moth"
Cartoon of Brownell as a "Pretty Moth"

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Lightning

Lightning is a natural phenomenon formed by electrostatic discharges through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions, either both in the atmosphere or one in the atmosphere and one on the ground, temporarily neutralizing these in a near-instantaneous release of an average of between 200 megajoules and 7 gigajoules of energy, depending on the type. The three main types of lightning are distinguished by where they occur: either inside a single thundercloud (intra-cloud), between two clouds (cloud-to-cloud), or between a cloud and the ground (cloud-to-ground), in which case it is referred to as a lightning strike. Lightning causes thunder, a sound from the shock wave which develops as gases in the vicinity of the discharge heat suddenly to very high temperatures. It is often heard a few seconds after the lightning itself. Thunder is heard as a rolling, gradually dissipating rumble because the sound from different portions of a long stroke arrives at slightly different times. This photograph shows strokes of cloud-to-ground lightning hitting the Mediterranean Sea close to Port-la-Nouvelle in southern France.

Photograph credit: Maxime Raynal

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