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2008-05-02T09:37:00.001-07:00

The Chalukya dynasty was an Indian royal dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three closely related, but individual dynasties. The earliest dynasty is known as the Badami Chalukyas who ruled from their capital Badami from the middle of the 6th century. The Badami Chalukyas began to assert their independence at the decline of the Kadamba kingdom of Banavasi and rapidly rose to prominence during the reign of Pulakesi II. After the death of Pulakesi II, the Eastern Chalukyas became an independent kingdom in the eastern Deccan. They ruled from the capital Vengi until about the 11th century. In the western Deccan, the rise of the Rashtrakutas in the middle of 8th century eclipsed the Chalukyas of Badami before being revived by their descendants, the Western Chalukyas in late 10th century. These Western Chalukyas ruled from Basavakalyan till the end of the 12th century.
The rise of the Chalukyas marks an important milestone in the history of South India. The political atmosphere in South India shifted from smaller kingdoms to large empires with the rise of Badami Chalukyas. For the first time in history, a Deccan kingdom took control and consolidated the entire region between the Kaveri and the Narmada rivers. The rise of this empire also saw the birth of efficient administration, rise in overseas trade and commerce and the development of new style of architecture called Vesara. Around the 9th century, it also saw the growth of Marathi and Kannada literature. Although the kings were of aryan descent they patronized the native Dravidian (Kannada and Telugu) poets and their literature.

Origin of Chalukyas
Inscriptions are the main source of information about the Badami Chalukya history. Important among them, the Badami cave inscriptions (578) of Mangalesa, Kappe Arabhatta record of 700, Peddavaduguru inscription of Pulakesi II, the Kanchi Kailasanatha inscription and Pattadakal Virupaksha Temple inscriptions of Vikramaditya II are in Kannada.

Sources of history
Hiuen-Tsiang, a Chinese traveller had visited the court of Pulakesi II. The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang calls him the lord of Maharashtra

Foreign notes
Vidyapati Bilhana, the famous poet in the court of Vikramaditya VI of the Western Chalukya dynasty of Kalyana, mentions a legend in his work, Vikramankadeva Charita:
Indra once requested Brahma to create a hero who would put an end to Godlessness in the world and punish the wicked. Agreeing to his request, Brahma looked into his Chuluka (hollow of the hands) while performing the Sandhya, and lo! From there sprang a mighty warrior. He was called "Chalukya" and he became the eponymous ancestor of the line. In it were born two great heroes, Harita and Manavya who raised the Chalukyas into distinct position. This story is repeated and elaborated in the Ramastipundi grant of Vimaladitya of the Eastern Chalukya family.
Another legend in the Handarike inscription of Vikramaditya VI claims that the Chalukyas were born in the interior of the Chuluka (hollow of the palm) of the sage Haritipanchashikhi when he was pouring out libations to the Gods. The Chalukyas claimed to have been nursed by the Sapta Matrikas (the seven divine mothers). It was a popular practice to link South Indian royal family lineage to a Northern kingdom in ancient times.

Legends
The Chalukyas ruled over the central Indian plateau of Deccan for over 600 years. During this period, they ruled as three closely related, but individual dynasties. These are the Chalukyas of Badami, who ruled between the 6th and the 8th century, and the two sibling dynasties of Chalukyas of Kalyani or the Western Chalukyas and the Chalukyas of Vengi or the Eastern Chalukyas.

Periods in Chalukya history
In the 6th century, with the decline of the Gupta dynasty and their immediate successors in northern India, major changes began to happen in the area south of the Vindyas— the Deccan and Tamizhagam. The age of small kingdoms had given way to large empires in this region. His queen was Kadamba Devi, a princess from the dynasty of Alupas. They maintained close family and marital relationship with the Alupas of South Canara and the Gangas of Talakad. Pulakesi II extended the Chalukya Empire up to the northern extents of the Pallava kingdom and halted the southward march of Harsha by defeating him on the banks of the river Narmada. He then defeated the Vishnukundins in the southeastern Deccan. Pallava Narasimhavarman however reversed this victory by attacking and occupying the Chalukya capital Vatapi (Badami) temporarily.
The Badami Chalukya dynasty went in to a brief decline following the death of Pulakesi II due to internal feuds. It recovered during the reign of Vikramaditya I, who succeeded in pushing the Pallavas out of Badami and restoring order to the empire. The empire reached a peak during the rule of the illustrious Vikramaditya II who defeated the Pallava Nandivarman II and captured Kanchipuram. The last Badami Chalukya king Kirtivarman I was overthrown by the Rashtrakuta Dantidurga in 753. At their peak they ruled a vast empire stretching from the Kaveri to the Narmada.

Chalukyas of Badami

Main article: Western Chalukyas Chalukyas of Kalyani

Main article: Eastern Chalukyas Eastern Chalukyas
The period of Badami Chalukya dynasty saw art flourish in South India. It brought about some important developments in the realm of culture, particularly in the evolution and proliferation of a new style of architecture known as Vesara, a combination of the South Indian and the North Indian building styles. Sage Bharata's dance Natyasastra was in an advanced state of development. The Kalyani Chalukyas further refined the Vesara style with an inclination towards Dravidian concepts, especially in the sculptures. They built fine monuments in the Tungabhadra - Krishna river doab in present day Karnataka.
Art and Architecture
The most enduring legacy of the Chalukya dynasty is the architecture and art that they left behind. More than one hundred and fifty monuments attributed to the Badami Chalukya, and built between 450 and 700, remain in the Malaprabha basin in Karnataka.
See also: Badami Chalukya Architecture, Pattadakal, Badami, and Aihole

Badami Chalukyas
The rule of the Chalukyas is a major event in the history of Kannada and Telugu languages. During this time, writing epic narratives and poetry in Sanskrit was very popular. However, during the 9th - 10th century, Kannada language had already seen some of its greatest writers. The three gems of Kannada literature, Adikavi Pampa, Sri Ponna and Ranna belonged to this period. In Sanskrit, a few verses of a poetess called Vijayanaka has been preserved.
Literature

Army
The empire was divided into Maharashtrakas (provinces), then into smaller Rashtrakas (Mandala), Vishaya (district), Bhoga (group of 10 villages) which is similar to the Dasagrama unit used by the Kadambas. At the lower levels of administration, the Kadamba style fully prevailed. The Sanjan plates of Vikramaditya I even mentions a land unit called Dasagrama. There were many autonomous regions ruled by feudatories like Alupas, Gangas, Banas, Sendrakas etc. Local assemblies looked after local issues. Groups of mahajanas (learned brahmins), looked after agraharas (like Ghatika or place of higher learning) like the ones at Badami (2000 mahajans) and Aihole (500 mahajanas).
Land governance
The Badami Chalukyas minted coins that were of a different standard compared to the northern kingdoms. The coins had Nagari and Kannada legends. They minted coins with symbols of temples, lion or boar facing right and the lotus. The coins weighed 4 grams and were called honnu in old Kannada and had fractions such as fana and the quarter fana, whose modern day equivalent being hana (literally means, money). A gold coin called Gadyana is mentioned in some record in Pattadakal which later came to be known a varaha which was also on their emblem.
Coinage
The rule of the Badami Chalukya was a period of religious harmony. They were themselves initially followers of Vedic Hindusim, as seen in the various temples dedicated to many popular Hindu deities with Aihole as the experimental laboratory. Pattadakal is the location of their grandest architecture. The worship of Lajja Gauri, the fertility goddess was equally popular. Later from the time of Vikramaditya I took an inclination towards Shaivism and sects like Pashupata, Kapalikas and Kalamukhas existed. However, they actively encouraged Jainsm and attested to by one of the Badami cave temples and other Jain temples in the Aihole complex. Ravikirti, the court poet of Pulakesi II was a Jain. Buddhism was on a decline having made its ingress into Southeast Asia, as confirmed by Hiuen-Tsiang. Badami, Aihole and Kurtukoti, Puligere (Laksmeshwara in Gadag district) were primary places of learning.
Religion
The Hindu caste system was present and prostitution was recognised by the government. Some kings had concubines (Ganikas) who were given much respect, Women enjoyed political power in administration. Queens Vijayanka, a noted Sanskrit poetess, Kumkumadevi, the younger sister of Vijayaditya and Lokamahadevi, queen of Vikramaditya II who fought wars stand as examples.

Society
The Chalukya era may be seen as the beginning in the fusion of cultures of northern and southern India making way for the transmission of ideas between the two regions. This is clear from an architectural point of view in that the Chalukyas spawned the Vesara style of architecture which includes elements of the northern nagara and southern dravida styles. The expanding Sanskritic culture mingled in a region where local Dravidian vernaculars were already popular. The event is a celebration of the glorious achievements of the Chalukyas in the realms of arts, crafts, music and dance. The program which starts at Pattadakal and ends in Aihole is inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Singers, dancers, poets and other artists from all over the country take part in this event. In the February 26, 2006 celebration, 400 art troupes from different parts of the country had taken part. Colorful cut outs of the Varaha the Chalukya emblem, Satyasraya Pulakesi (Pulakesi II), famous sculptural masterpieces like Durga, Mahishasura-mardhini (Durga killing demon Mahishasura) were seen everywhere. The program at Pattadakal is named Anivaritacharigund vedike after the famous architect of the Virupaksha temple, Gundan Anivaritachari. At Badami it is called Chalukya Vijayambika Vedike and at Aihole, Ravikirti Vedike after the famous poet and minister in the court of Pulakesi II. RaviKirti is the author of the Aihole inscription of 634 which is considered as a masterpiece in medieval Sanskrit poetry written in Kannada script. Souvenirs with Sri Vallabha and Satyasraya written on, were available (these were the titles taken commonly by the kings of the Badami dynasty) and CDs and DVDs detailing the history, culture etc. of the region were sold. Immadi Pulakeshi, a Kannada movie of the 1960s starring Dr. Rajkumar celebrates the life and times of the great king.

See also

2008-05-01T10:31:00.001-07:00

In baseball, an error is the act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to reach one or more additional bases, when such an advance should have been prevented given ordinary effort by the fielder. It is also an error when a fielder muffs a foul fly to prolong the time at bat of a batter, whether the batter subsequently reaches first base or is put out. Official Rules of Baseball
The term error can also refer to the play in which an error was committed.
An error does not count as a hit unless, in the scorer's judgment, the batter would have reached first base safely but one or more of the additional base(s) reached was the result of the fielder's mistake. In that case, the play will be scored both as a hit (for the number of bases the fielders should have limited the batter to) and an error. Similarly, a batter does not receive credit for a RBI when runs score on an error, unless the scorer rules that a run would have scored even if the fielder had not made a mistake. For example, if a batter hits a ball to the outfield for what should be a sacrifice fly, and the outfielder drops the ball for an error, the batter will still receive credit for the sacrifice fly and the run batted in.
If a play should have resulted in a fielder's choice with a runner being put out and the batter reaching base safely, but the runner is safe due to an error, then the play will be scored as a fielder's choice, with no hit being awarded to the batter, and an error charged against the fielder.
Passed balls and wild pitches are separate statistical categories and are not scored as errors.
Because a batted ball hit on the fly into foul territory, with the batting team having no runner(s) on base, and a fielder misplaying such ball for an error, it is possible for a team on the winning side of a perfect game to commit at least one error.
There is a curious loophole in the rules on errors for catchers. If a catcher makes a "wild throw" in an attempt to prevent a stolen base, and the runner is safe, the catcher is not charged with an error, even if it could be argued that the runner would have been put out with "ordinary effort." There is therefore sort of a "no fault" condition for the catcher attempting to prevent a steal. If the runner takes an additional base due to the wild throw, an error is charged for that advance.

Statistical significance
Traditionally, the number of errors was a statistic used to quantify the skill of a fielder. Research has shown that the error rate is higher when the quality of fielding is suspect, i.e., the performance of an expansion team in its first year, or the fielding done by replacement players during World War II, and is lower when playing conditions are better, e.g. on artificial turf and during night games.
However, fans and analysts have questioned the usefulness and significance of errors as a metric for fielding skill. Notably, mental misjudgments, such as failure to cover a base or attempting a force out when such a play is not available, are not considered errors.
A more subtle, though more significant objection to the error, as sabermetricians have noted, is more conceptual—in order for a fielder to be charged with an error, he must have done something right by being in the correct place to be able to attempt the play. A poor fielder may "avoid" many errors simply by being unable to reach batted or thrown balls that a better fielder could successfully reach. Thus, it is possible that a poor fielder will have fewer errors than an otherwise better fielder.
In recent times, official scorers have made some attempt to take a fielder's supposed "extraordinary" effort or positioning into account when judging whether the play should have been successful given ordinary effort. However, this still leaves a statistic, such as fielding percentage, that is based on errors as a dubious way to compare the defensive abilities of players.

2008-04-30T09:15:00.001-07:00

Collierville is a town in Shelby County, Tennessee, and a suburb located in the Memphis metropolitan area. As of the 2000 census, the population was 31,872. More recent estimates hint that the town's population has surpassed 40,000 people due to a residential boom over the last few years.
Collierville is a mainly upscale town of large houses and considerable retail expansion, but unlike its neighbors, still retains much of its "old town" feel from its days as a self-contained community, rather than a suburb. Smaller, older housesare still found in the heart of Collierville, mainly between Byhalia Road and Collierville-Arlington on the East and West and Shelton and Highway 72 on the North and South. Some industry, noteably Pepsi and Carrier, still dots the areas located south of Poplar Avenue.
Collierville is also home to the new Avenue at Carriage Crossing, an 800,000+ sq. ft. shopping center which opened in November 2005. Baptist Hospital, Collierville, also serves the medical needs of Collierville's residents.
Collierville is also the location for the FedEx World Technology Headquarters, located on the western edge of Collierville on the intersection of Bailey Station and Winchester.
Collierville will soon become part of the I-69 Highway plan integrating Bill Morris Parkway as part of this USDOT project linking Canada and Mexico within United States.

History
The Battle of Collierville was a battle of the American Civil War, occurring on November 3, 1863 in Shelby County, Tennessee.
Four minor battles occurred in 1863 at Collierville, Tennessee, during a three-month period. The November 3 fight was intended to be a Confederate cavalry raid to break up the Memphis and Charleston Railroad behind Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's XV Army Corps, then in the process of marching to the relief of Chattanooga. But, when Brig. Gen. James R. Chalmers, leading a cavalry division riding up from Mississippi, learned that only two Union regiments defended Collierville, he decided to attack. Union Col. Edward Hatch possessed more men than Chalmers supposed, stationed at Collierville and at Germantown, five miles to the west. Scouts warned Hatch of Chalmers's approach from the south, so he ordered Collierville's defenders to be prepared and rode from Germantown with cavalry reinforcements. Chalmers, as he had done only three weeks earlier, attacked from the south. Col. Hatch arrived with help. Surprised by the unexpected appearance of the enemy on his flanks, Chalmers concluded that he was outnumbered, called off the battle, and, to ward off Union pursuit, withdrew back to Mississippi. The Memphis & Charleston Railroad remained open to Tuscumbia, Alabama, for Union troop movements. Estimated casualties were 60 for the Union and 95 for the Confederacy for a total of 155.

Geography
Collierville has a humid subtropical climate, with four distinct seasons. The summer months (late May to late September) are persistently hot (between 68 °F [20 °C] and 95 °F [35 °C]) and humid due to moisture encroaching from the Gulf of Mexico. Afternoon thunderstorms are frequent during some summers, but usually brief, lasting no longer than an hour. Early Autumn is pleasantly drier and mild, but can remain hot until late October. Abrupt but short-lived cold snaps are common. Late Autumn is rainy and colder, December being the third rainiest month of the year. Fall foliage becomes especially vibrant after the first frost, typically November, and lasts until early December. Winters are mild, but cold snaps can occur. The official all-time record low temperature was -13.0 °F (-25.0 °C), which occurred on December 24, 1963. Mild spells are sometimes warm with temperatures as high as 75 °F (23 °C) during January and February. Snowfall is not abundant but does occur during most winters, with an annual average of 5.7 inches (14.4 cm) at the airport. Spring often begins in late February or early March, following the onset of a sharp warmup. This season is also known as "severe weather season" due to the higher frequency of tornadoes, hail, and thunderstorms producing winds greater than 58 mph (93 km/h). Average rainfall is slightly higher during the spring months (except November) than the rest of the year, but not to any noticeable extent. Historically, April is the month with the highest frequency of tornadoes, though tornadoes have occurred every month of the year. Collierville is sunny approximately 64% of the time.

Climate
As of the 2000 census, there were 31,872 people, 10,368 households, and 8,937 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,298.3 people per square mile (501.3/km²). There were 10,770 housing units at an average density of 438.7/sq mi (169.4/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 89.87% White, 7.33% African American, 0.19% Native American, 1.47% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.33% from other races, and 0.79% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.51% of the population.
There were 10,368 households, out of which 52.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 76.1% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 13.8% were non-families. 11.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.06 and the average family size was 3.34.
In the town the population was spread out with 33.4% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 32.4% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 6.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.9 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $80,575, and the median income for a family was $84,830. Males had a median income of $63,986 versus $32,619 for females. The per capita income for the town was $30,252. About 1.9% of families and 2.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.6% of those under age 18 and 4.1% of those age 65 or over.

Demographics
Job growth from 2000 to 2006 was 12.06%.

Economy
Of residents 25 years of age and older, 93.2% have a high school diploma or higher, 41.2% have a bachelor's degree or higher, and 11.4% have a graduate or professional degree. Of current students, 95.6% attend public schools, 4.4% attend private schools.
Collierville is served by the Shelby County School District, which is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Several private schools are also located in the town.

Education
Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools
Bailey Station Elementary
Collierville Elementary
Crosswind Elementary
Sycamore Elementary
Tara Oaks Elementary
Collierville Middle
Schilling Farms Middle
Collierville High
Houston High Private Schools
Collierville's traditional destination for visitors is the Historic Square, in the center of downtown. This quaint shopping destination boasts trendy shops, fun eateries, and a tree-lined park, all overlooking the old train depot from which the town grew.
Fair on the Square takes place every May on the Square.

2008-04-29T10:35:00.001-07:00

The Adventures of Asterix (French: Astérix) is a series of French comic books by René Goscinny (stories) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations). Uderzo has continued the series since the death of Goscinny in 1977. The series follows the exploits of a village of ancient Gauls as they resist Roman occupation. They do so by means of a magic potion, brewed by their druid, which gives the recipient superhuman strength. This is often used for comic effect, as in a recurring sequence where the villagers sally forth from their village to rout the attacking Romans so easily as to consider it great sport. In many cases, this resistance leads the main characters to travel to various European countries (but also Egypt, America, India and other non-European locations) in every other book, while the remaining are set in and around their village.
The 33 main books or albums (one of which is a compendium of short stories) have been translated into more than 100 languages and dialects. Besides the original French, most albums are available in English, Dutch, German, Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Portuguese (and Brazilian Portuguese), Italian, Polish, Romanian, modern Greek, Turkish, Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian and Indonesian. Beyond modern Europe, some albums have also been translated into languages as diverse as Esperanto, Mandarin, Korean, Bengali, Afrikaans, Arabic, Hindi, Hebrew, Latin and Ancient Greek. In France and especially in Germany, several volumes were translated into a variety of regional dialects, such as Alsatian, Swabian and Low German. Also, in Portugal, a special edition of the first volume, Asterix the Gaul, was translated into local language Mirandese. Hungarian-language books have been issued in Yugoslavia for the Hungarian minority living in Serbia. Although not a fully autonomic dialect, it slightly differs from the language of the books issued in Hungary. In Greece, a number of volumes have appeared in the Cretan Greek and Pontic Greek dialects.
The Asterix series is one of the most popular French comics in the world, and familiar to people of all ages in most European countries, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and parts of South America, Africa and Asia particularly, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, South Africa, Kenya, Philippines, Singapore, India and Indonesia. Asterix is less well known in the United States and Japan. In its early years the Disney Channel aired the British-produced English translations of the Asterix films, but so far it has enjoyed only a modest success in establishing foothold with American audiences.
The key to the success of the series is that it contains comic elements for all ages: young children like the fist-fights and other visual gags, while adults appreciate the cleverness of the allusions and puns that sparkle throughout the texts.
The names of the characters contain puns, and vary with translation into other languages. This article uses the names from the English-language translations by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge. For the French names see below.
Apart from the 33 main comics, other Asterix books and film books have been made. See List of Asterix volumes.
Several books have been made into films, eight animated, and three with live actors. There have also been a number of games.

Humour
Wherever they visit, Asterix and and his friend Obelix encounter people and things borrowed and caricatured from 20th century real life. In the early album Asterix and the Goths for instance, the Goths (early Germans) are represented as militaristic and regimented, reminiscent of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Germans. The helmets worn by these Goths even resemble the German Pickelhaube helmets worn up to World War I and one of their leaders bears an uncanny resemblance to Otto von Bismarck. The British are shown as polite and phlegmatic, drinking warm beer or hot water with a drop of milk (before the first tea was brought by Asterix to what would later become England); they boil all their food and serve it with mint sauce, and they drive their chariots on the wrong side of the road. Spain is the cheap country down south where people from the North go on vacation and the locals are proud and hot-blooded. Portuguese people are always depicted as short and plump - Uderzo once said that every Portuguese immigrant he knew was like that. All the tribes represented are treated humorously as prototypes for their modern counterparts, and many aspects of them are satirized. However, the French are not exempt from satire, and almost all of the peoples Asterix meets are portrayed positively, even the Romans. The only tribe depicted completely unflatteringly is the Goths, possibly a result of the Second World War. In later books, such as Asterix the Legionary and Asterix and Obelix All at Sea, the Goths were depicted much more sympathetically; possibly because the Asterix series became very popular in Germany.
Some caricatures of the traits of certain French regions are also used: people from Normandy smother their food in cream and cannot give a straight answer; people from Marseille play boules and exaggerate matters, and Corsicans don't like to do any work, are easily angered and have generations-long-standing vendettas that they settle violently, and make cheese that smells so bad that it actually becomes an explosive.
Minor characters often resemble famous people or fictional characters, usually caricatures of existing French people of the same era, particularly from television and the spectacles. In Obelix and Co., for example, the young Roman bureaucrat is a caricature of a young Jacques Chirac, and it includes two Roman legionaries drawn to the likeness of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. In Asterix and the Falling Sky, the super-clones are a caricature of both Superman and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and their leader, Toon, resembles Mickey Mouse. Likewise the planet which Toon hails from, Tadilsweny, is an anagram of Walt Disney, in homage to the late cartoonist. At the back of the issue Uderzo also writes a short testimony to Walt Disney and gives away the anagram by mentioning "..Tadsil..., I mean, Walt Disney...". Such characters usually stand out visually, by not having the bulbous noses otherwise typical of Uderzo's style.
Other side characters allude to people related to the place Asterix is visiting. Notable examples include a very Elizabeth Taylor-like Cleopatra in Asterix and Cleopatra; Britain's most famous bards in the story Asterix in Britain, who are four in number and look remarkably like the Beatles; a pair of Belgian warriors in Asterix in Belgium who resemble and also speak like Dupond and Dupont (Thomson and Thompson) of Tintin-fame (the two characters are drawn in Hergé's typical ligne claire style, which is atypical for Uderzo); and both Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are depicted in Asterix in Spain. More recently, this spoofing has occasionally extended to major characters as well: in Asterix and the Black Gold, a Roman spy is a young Sean Connery named Dubbelosix drawn in James Bond style, and in Asterix and Obelix All at Sea, the leader of the escaped slaves (named Spartakis, being Greek) is based on Kirk Douglas' portrayal of the title character of Spartacus. In Asterix and the Cauldron, the head of the theatre is Laurensolivius, based on the actor Laurence Olivier. In the same book, there is another theatre actor of the name Alecguinius, based on the actor Alec Guinness.
The stories also feature allusions to major artistic works (such as Pieter Bruegel's Peasant Wedding and Victor Hugo's story of the Battle of Waterloo from Les Châtiments, in Asterix in Belgium; and Théodore Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa), as well as historical personalities (Napoleon, Louis XIV of France), and famous places (the Moulin Rouge, Bethlehem) and the Statue of Liberty (played by Asterix).
However, in many other respects the series reflects life in 1st century BC fairly accurately for the medium. For example, the multi-storied apartments in Rome — the insulae — which have Obelix remarking that one man's roof is another man's floor, and consequently, "These Romans are crazy": his favourite line. This line itself is also an intrinsic joke on Rome and the Romans, as its Italian equivalent is "Sono pazzi questi romani", which, like the banner of the Roman Empire ("Senatus Populusque Romanus"), abbreviates as "SPQR". On the other hand, the presence of chimneys in the Gaulish huts is not accurate, as they used gabled openings in the roof to let smoke escape. Also, it is now believed menhirs were erected long before the Gauls.
It was reported in September 2007 that an archaeological dig in Corent near Lyon, France revealed the society of the Gauls to be, in reality, more advanced than the Asterix series of books had suggested.
The text also makes relatively regular use of original Latin phrases, and allusions to Julius Caesar's De Bello Gallico, a book about the conquest of Gaul, often used as an introductory text to Latin. Some jokes are made about Caesar's use of the third person to write about himself. Such allusions were likely to be well-received by the better-educated sections of the French and Belgian public in the 1960s, when the teaching of Latin was still widespread in high schools.

Stereotypes and allusions
A key feature of the Asterix books in all translations are the constant puns used as names: the names of the two protagonists come from asterisk and obelisk, Asterix being the star of the books (Latin aster — derived from the Greek word αστήρ (aster) [star] and Celtic rix [king, cognate to Latin rex, Sanskrit rājā and related to German Reich and English reign]), and Obelix being a menhir delivery-man. This is a double pun, since as well as meaning a stone monolith, the word obelisk can also refer to the typographical dagger (†) that is often used to denote the second footnote on a page after an asterisk (*) has been used to reference the first.
Each cultural group in Asterix has a characteristic ending for names (though there are occasionally notable exceptions). Nearly all the male Gaulish characters' names end in -ix (probably a reference to the real-life Gaulish chieftain such as Vercingetorix although only the names of Gaulish kings — and not even all of them — ended in -ix, and when they did, it was always -rix). Other English language examples include the chief (Vitalstatistix), the druid (Getafix), and an old man (Geriatrix) with a young wife, who is never named. Most Gaulish women's names end in "a', such as Bacteria, Impedimenta, and Influenza. Roman characters' names end with -us as in Noxious Vapus, Crismus Bonus, Sendervictorius and Appianglorius. Normans use -af (Bathyscaf, Toocleverbyhaf, Timandahaf), Vikings use "-ssen" (Herendthelessen, Haroldwilssen), Egyptians use -is (Edifis, Artifis), Greeks use -es or -os (Diabetes, Thermos), Britons use -ax (Hiphiphurrax, Dipsomaniax, Valueaddedtax, Selectiveunemploymenttax) and occasionally -os (Cassivelaunos, Mykingdomforanos), Goths use -ic (Rhetoric, Choleric, Electric, Metric) and Spaniards use Spanish-sounding names such as Huevos Y Bacon (Eggs and Bacon). Female names also have consistent endings, but these are different from male names and generally end in -a: for instance the wife of the Roman Osseus Humerus is Fibula, the wife of village fishmonger Unhygenix is Bacteria, and the wife of Chief Vitalstatistix is Impedimenta.
Many names stand as solitary puns on their characters, like Getafix (who provides medicine and potions for the village) or Geriatrix—particularly with recurring characters, while others are simply absurdist such as "Spurius Brontosaurus", and some in groups play on each other, as in the example of a Roman guard talking through a closed door to another guard: "Open up, Sendervictorius! It's me, Appianglorius!" This is a pun on lines from the UK's national anthem "God Save the Queen": "Send her victorious, happy and glorious...".
Other names are puns derived from historical or literary quotations. An example is the British chief Mykingdomforanos whose name is a reference to the line "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!" from Shakespeare's play Richard III.

Puns in names
The speech of characters is written using lettering according to the language spoken (although no difference appears between the language of the Romans and the Gauls themselves, unlike in the Italian translation, where the Romans are given 20th century roman accents). The Gauls cannot automatically understand certain languages even though the reader will understand.
The names of characters in Asterix, aside from being puns, usually have suffixes representing their nationalities.
In the original it is more consistent (-is)
In Roman times Gaul, while centred on modern France (which includes Corsica), also included modern Switzerland, most of Belgium, and parts of western Germany and northern Italy — a fact the authors acknowledge by using the same suffix for the Belgians, Swiss and Corsicans.
In the original (and most translations) -ine is most often used for female names
Cultural references indicate these (in Asterix and the Great Crossing) are Danes rather than the Norsemen of Asterix and the Normans

Iberian: Sentences start with upside-down exclamation marks ('¡') or question marks ('¿'), as in real Spanish
Goth: blackletter (language barrier with Gauls)
Viking: Ø and Å characters are used for O and A (language barrier with Gauls)
Native American: Pictograms (language barrier with Gauls)
Egyptian: hieroglyphics with footnotes (language barrier with Gauls)
Greek: as if carved, with no curves and a minimum of strokes.
Britons: -ax (m); -a (f)
Egyptians: -ep, -is, -ut, -up, -et
Gauls: -ix (m); -a (f)
Goths: -ric
Greeks: -s (m); -a (f)
Iberians: -on
Indians: -it, -at (m); -ade (f)
Normans: -af
Persians: -es
Romans: -us (m); -a (f)
Vikings: -ssen (m); -ard, -ude (f) Representing languages
A number of running gags recur in various albums. One of these is that the bard Cacofonix is inspired to sing whenever Asterix and Obelix leave or come back from a grand journey, but is usually prevented from performing by Fulliautomatix (the blacksmith). When an adventure concludes, the village holds a banquet, but the bard is nearly always seen tied up and gagged so as not to disrupt the festivities (most notable exceptions in Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield, where it is Chief Vitalstatistix who is missing from the banquet, Asterix and the Normans, where his help proved vital in stopping the Normans, Asterix at the Olympic Games, where he is merely held at bay by Fulliautomatix's hammer, Asterix and Caesar's Gift, where he is given the unique opportunity to court a pretty girl, Asterix and the Magic Carpet, where he, Asterix and Obelix were in another country at the time, and Asterix and the Falling Sky, where his hut had been destroyed and Unhygienix and Fulliautomatix were tied up instead as 'punishment').
There is also Obelix tapping his forehead and muttering "These [people] are crazy" every time he learns something new about the land he is visiting and their people. His most common targets are the Romans, which is ironic because they consider the Gauls as being the crazy ones.
Another running gag among legionaries is to express their discontent with a military life far less interesting than what was promised with (in French) "Engagez-vous, rengagez-vous, qu'ils disaient!" (tentative translation: "enlist and enlist again, as they said!"). In the official English translation, this is stated as "Join up, they said! It's a man's life, they said!".
It was revealed in the first volume, Asterix the Gaul, that Obelix fell into a cauldron of magic potion as an infant, giving him super-human strength for life. Yet no matter how often Getafix explains that due to this exceptional circumstance, he cannot have any more potion, Obelix is jealous of Asterix and the other villagers and always tries to sneak some anyway. His various schemes to trick Getafix into letting him have a dose of potion are an ongoing joke in the series. Despite feeble attempts at disguising himself or simply begging, Obelix is always stopped by Getafix before he can drink any (the disastrous effects of Obelix ingesting any potion are seen in Asterix and Obelix All at Sea, though no negative effects occur when Obelix is given a few drops in Asterix and Cleopatra).
Another running gag is a group of pirates that tend to get caught in the middle of conflict and have their ship sunk. Despite their best attempts to steer clear of "any Gaulish vessels," the hapless pirates inevitably encounter a ship with Asterix and Obelix in it and wind up getting sunk. Sometimes the pirates lose their ship without Asterix or Obelix, however. In Asterix and the Roman Agent, they attack a ship carrying a Roman agent, who points at a random crew member and states he gave him a bagful of gold if he would not attack the agent. In the ensuing battle over the nonexistent bag of gold, the pirates sink their own ship. In Asterix and the Cauldron, tired of being sunk, they give up pirating completely and open a ship-themed restaurant. Asterix and Obelix arrive in search of something and despite their initial attempts at being good hosts, they are soon persuaded to return to the oceans. As their ship slips inevitably beneath the waves after an encounter with the Gauls and they cling to floating debris, the elderly mate always makes an observation in Latin, usually a well-known aphorism or verse lifted from a famous author like Horace or Virgil. The pirates were originally conceived as a one-shot parody of the comic-book Barbe-Rouge but proved so popular that they were fully integrated into the Asterix series.
In Asterix the Legionary, after their ship was sunk, the pirates were left in a raft resembling the painting The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault. In this particular image the captain even makes the pun: "We've been framed, by Jericho!". In Asterix and Cleopatra the pirates scuttle the ship themselves rather than be attacked by the Gauls again, the captain reasoning once that it "Saves us a few knocks, and comes to the same thing in the end".
These pirates — most notably the red-bearded captain, the constantly Latin-quoting peg-legged second-in-command, and the African lookout — are caricatures of the characters of "Barbe Rouge, Le Démon des Caraïbes", a pirate series that was published at the same time in Pilote, the weekly comics magazine in which Asterix appeared, and which Goscinny also edited.

Running gags
In the albums, some historical facts are retold, and attributed to Asterix and Obelix.

In Asterix and Cleopatra, when visiting Egypt, Obelix scales the sphinx. As he is about to mount the sphinx's nose it breaks off and falls to the ground. Immediately all the nearby souvenir-shops chisel off the noses of their souvenir-sphinxes in order to maintain the resemblance to the real monument.
In the same book, at the end, Asterix asks Cleopatra to call upon his countrymen if she needs anything built, such as a canal between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea — describing the Suez Canal (which was built by a French company).
In Asterix in Spain, Asterix finds himself in a circus in front of an aurochs. He evades the bull nicely, and gets applause from the audience. A guest of the Roman general drops her red cape in the arena. When Asterix wants to hand it back, the bull reacts and is finished after some dancing moves of Asterix, who is trying to save the cape from getting dirty, giving us the first bullfight.
In the same book, Unhygenix the fishmonger agrees to take payment for his boat rental in menhirs, as he wants to develop land on Salisbury Plain — which explains the mystery of Stonehenge. (In the French original, the land in question is at Carnac in Brittany.) An alternate explanation is proffered in Asterix and Son.
In Asterix and the Banquet (Le Tour de Gaule) Obelix travels around Gaul with a yellow knapsack on his back, as if wearing the yellow jersey in the modern Tour de France, complete with a white square patch on the backside, where we can imagine the cyclist's number.
In Asterix in Switzerland, Asterix manages to carry an unconscious Obelix through the Alps, by tying ropes around himself, Obelix, and their guides, creating a famous technique in mountain-climbing. Asterix and Obelix also hide in the secure bank locker of Zurix (Zurich): an allusion to modern Swiss banks.
In the same adventure above, the precision of Swiss watches and clocks is alluded to by the fact that the innkeeper who helps the duo never forgets to remind his customers to turn their hourglasses.
In Asterix in Belgium, the chieftain of Asterix's Belgian hosts gains inspiration for frites (French fries) and mussels, Belgium's two most famous culinary ambassadors, from a vat of boiling oil prepared as a Roman weapon, and a damp wooden plank belonging to the pirates after their ship was sunk by a rock Obelix tried to throw at a Roman camp on the coast (note that potatoes were unknown in Europe at the time).
In Asterix and the Goths, Getafix makes sure that the Goths are pushed into political turmoil so that they may never again regroup as a powerful nation and attack others. This is a reference to the strategy pursued by Richelieu in the 17th century to prevent the various German principalties from uniting and posing a threat to the power of France. Particularly accurate is the use of equal support towards all contenders, reflecting the notion of balance of power that was at the core of Richelieu's strategy.
In Asterix and the Laurel Wreath, Asterix and Obelix accidentally invent the potion to get rid of alcoholic hangovers. This is still an active area of research with geneticists trying to identify the gene responsible for hangovers. In an epilogue, it is stated that the potion became so widespread and the Romans so dependent on it, that it actually caused the decline of the Roman Empire.
In Asterix and the Normans, Justforkix, nephew of Vitalstatistix, arrives in an Italian chariot built for speed (a "sports cart"), an allusion to the famous Italian speedsters such as Ferrari and Lamborghini.
In Obelix and Co., the effect of globalisation on rural (Asterix's Village) and urban (Rome's) economies is portrayed. At the end of the story, the Roman Empire is on the verge of bankruptcy due to buying menhirs which nobody wants.
In Asterix at the Olympic Games, the use of Magic Potion is banned in the games but the Roman contingent still uses it. They are caught and disqualified owing to the fact that Getafix added a blue dye to the potion which coloured the tongues of the Romans. This reflects the burning issue of the use of performance enhancing drugs and their detection in modern sports.
In Asterix and the Black Gold, Asterix, Obelix and Dubbelosix rest for some time in a stable in Bethlehem. Also the first oil slick in history occurs when the oil collected by Asterix and Obelix squirts out in a struggle. A bird drenched in oil cries out "Oi! Don't say you are starting already!"
In Asterix and the Secret Weapon, the village women 'stand up' for their rights spurred on by Bravura, a female bard from Lutetia who wears breeches (Trousers in the modern world). Also Caesar commissions a secret legion of women soldiers to exploit the famous Gaulish gallantry and thereby conquer the village.
In Asterix and Caesar's Gift, Cacofonix composes the protest anthem "We Shall Overcome", which became the US civil rights movement song.
A recurring joke is references to the assassination of Julius Caesar by Brutus. In Asterix the Gladiator, Julius Caesar orders Brutus to join in the crowd's applause for him using the famous Shakespearean phrase "Et tu Brute". In Asterix and the Soothsayer a fortune-teller vouches for Brutus's fidelity to Caesar. In Asterix and the Roman Agent, Caesar tells Brutus to stop handling his knife or he'll injure himself, and Brutus mutters threateningly under his breath, "One of these days..."; in the French version he referred to Brutus as "my son", something which some historians have suggested may have been the case.
In Asterix in Britain, Asterix's cousin speaks about building an underwater tunnel from Dover to France and says that it's a dream project which he hopes to achieve some day. This is a reference to the modern channel tunnel (which wasn't built yet at the time the album was written).
In the same book, Getafix gives Asterix some herbs to take to Britain. At the time Britons drink hot water, sometimes with a drop of milk. Asterix loses the barrel of magic potion and simply adds Getafix's herbs to their hot water instead as a morale booster. When they return to Gaul, Getafix informs Asterix that the herbs are called tea.
Also in this volume, there is a scene where Asterix and Obelix are being chased by the Romans. There is a cutaway with the caption, "Somewhere near London", and a Briton cutting individual blades of grass with a finger-sized scythe. He says to himself, "Another 2,000 years of loving care and this will make a decent bit of turf!", a reference to Wembley Stadium. In the next frame Asterix, Obelix and the Roman army all trample over it, ruining the sod completely.
In Asterix and the Great Crossing, Asterix signals to a Viking ship, on a small island off the coast of North America. He stands with a raised torch atop a pile of stones, holding a folded map under his arm. This represents the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the French to the Americans.
In Asterix and the Cauldron, Obelix predicts the popularity of Asterix and Obelix stories. Albeit, Obelix assigns himself a more prominent place in the title of the series. Influences

Detailed list of the Asterix Volumes
Recurring characters in Asterix
List of Asterix films
List of Asterix games
English translations of Asterix
Roman Gaul, after Julius Caesar's conquest of 58–51 BC that consisted of five provinces.

2008-04-26T08:20:00.001-07:00

Water supply and sanitation in Ecuador is characterized by (i) low coverage levels, particularly in rural areas; (ii) low service quality and efficiency; and (iii) limited cost recovery and a high level of dependence on financial transfers from national and sub-national governments. Furthermore, there are overlapping responsibilities both within the national government and between different levels of government.

Service quality
A study commissioned by the government under financing by the World Bank concluded that nationwide, tariffs covered only about 2/3 of system operation and maintenance costs in 2001. National and sub-national (provincial and municipal) government transfers are required to cover the operation and maintenance gap and to finance coverage expansion.

Tariffs
The Sub-Secretariat of Water Supply, Sanitation and Solid Waste (SAPSyRS) of the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (MIDUVI) is legally vested with the role to set sector policies, while the country's 219 municipalities are responsible for service provision either directly or through autonomous municipal companies. However, there is no clear definition of roles and responsibilities between various national and sub-national actors, nor is there an independent regulator of water supply and sanitation services. Stakeholders in the sector include the Fondo de Solidaridad, the Banco del Estado, the Social Fund FISE, regional development corporations, various government ministries and provincial and municipal governments, among others.
While Ecuador has a National Water and Sanitation Policy

Efficiency
Financing for urban and rural water supply investments is provided by a multitude of national and sub-national actors under different terms. However, the government has recently taken a bold step to improve Ecuador's incentive framework for water and sanitation investments by adopting an Executive Decree on national government transfers to municipalities earmarked to WSS investment under a special tax on telephone calls (Impuesto sobre Consumos Especiales, ICE). The level of the transfers is higher for poorer municipalities, and – most notably – higher for those that improve operator performance or choose to delegate service provision to autonomous operators. The system of sub-national transfers thus provides incentives to improve both performance and more sustainable institutional arrangements at the local level.

2008-04-25T10:13:00.001-07:00

The All India Forward Bloc is a leftwing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose. The party re-established as an independent political party after the independence of India. It has its main stronghold in West Bengal.

History
The Forward Bloc of the Indian National Congress was formed on 3 May 1939 by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who had resigned from the presidency of the Indian National Congress on April 29 after being outmanœuvred by Gandhi. The formation of the Forward Bloc was announced to the public at a rally in Calcutta. Initially the aim of the Forward Bloc was to rally all the leftwing sections within the Congress and develop an alternative leadership inside the Congress. Bose became the president of the Forward Bloc and S.S. Cavesheer its vice-president. A Forward Bloc Conference was held in Bombay in the end of June. At that conference the constitution and programme of the Forward Bloc were approved.

Formation of the Forward Bloc
The following year, on June 20–22 1940, the Forward Bloc held its first All India Conference in Nagpur. The conference declared the Forward Bloc to be a socialist political party, and the date of June 22 is considered as the founding date of the party by the Forward Bloc itself. The conference passed a resolution titled 'All Power to the Indian People', urging militant action for struggle against British colonial rule. Subhas Chandra Bose was elected as the president of the party and H.V. Kamath the general secretary.

Nagpur conference
Soon thereafter, on July 2, Bose was arrested and detained in Presidency Jail, Calcutta. In January 1941 he escaped from house arrest, and clandestinely went into exile. He travelled to the Soviet Union via Afghanistan, seeking Soviet support to the Indian independence struggle. Stalin declined Bose's request, and he then travelled to Germany. In Berlin he set up the Free India Centre, and rallied the Indian Legion.

Arrest and exile of Bose
At the end of the war, the Forward Bloc was reorganized. In February 1946 R.S. Ruiker organised a All India Active Workers Conference at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. The conference declared the formation of the 'FB Workers Assembly', in practice the legal cover of the still illegal Forward Bloc. Notably some leading communists from Bombay, like K.N. Joglekar and Soli Batliwalli, joined the 'FB Workers Assembly'. The Workers Assembly conference declared that the "Forward Bloc is a a Socialist Party, accepting the theory of class struggle in its fullest implications and a programme of revolutionary mass action for the attainment of Socialism leading to a Classless Society."
However, the Bloc was clearly divided along ideological lines. One section was influenced by Marxism whereas the other upheld 'Subhasism', a syncretic ideology consisting of socialism, nationalism and Indian spiritualism.

Post-war reorganization
The Bloc held its 2nd All India Conference in Arrah, Bihar on January 12–14 1947. S.S. Cavesheer (a leading member of the Subhasist sector) was elected president and Sheel Bhadra Yagee (a leading member of the Marxist sector) was elected general secretary. Subsequently, a national council was held in Bauria, West Bengal, which reaffirmed the demand of boycotting the Constituent Assembly as well as issuing a decree that Bloc members of state legislatures would resign.

Arrah conference
Following Independence and Partition, the party national council met in Varanasi February 1948. The national council meeting was also preceded by a decision of the Indian National Congress in the beginning of the year to expel all dissenting tendencies within the Congress, including the Forward Bloc. Thus the party decided to renounce any links with the Congress once and for all, and reconstruct itself as an independent opposition party.
The same year Yagee's party decided to join the United Socialist Organisation of India, a front led by Subhas Chandra Bose's elder brother Sarat Chandra Bose. Joglekar revolted against this decision. His followers, which were found in West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, rallied to form the Forward Communist Party.
The Yagee-led party did however survive Joglekar's departure. Yagee was able to push through a merger between the Forward Bloc and the Desh Sevak Party, led by INA officers General Mohan Singh and Colonel Guridal Singh Dhillon, in October 1949. Both had worked closely with Subhas Chandra Bose. They had both been amongst the accused in the Red Fort trials. Now, Mohan Singh was appointed chairman of the Forward Bloc and Dhillon was appointed as its general secretary. This merger gave a considerable moral boost to the party. In June 1951 the majority of the Ruiker-led Forward Bloc reunified with the party. A joint central committee meeting was held on June 23, which confirmed the merger of the two parties. Mohan Singh and Dhillon were re-elected as the party chairman and general secretary.

Split between Yagee and Ruikar
In the 1952 general election the party contested as 'Forward Bloc (Marxist)', a denomination that differentiated it from the rump 'Forward Bloc (Ruiker)'.
In Tripura a united front was formed by the Communist Party of India, Tripura Ganatantrik Sangha, Ganamukti Parishad, Ganatantrik Nari Samiti and independents for to contest the election to the Tripura electoral college (whose function was to appoint a Rajya Sabha delegate from Tripura) jointly. The Forward Bloc participated in mass rallies on October 2 and December 2, 1951. However, just before the election the Forward Bloc withdrew from the front and decided to contest three of the 30 seats on their own. None of the Forward Bloc candidates were elected.
In 1953 a group of party leaders from West Bengal, like Amar Bose, Satyapriya Banerjee and Suhurit Chaudhury, were expelled for breaking party discipline. The expellees formed the Marxist Forward Bloc.

1952 elections
In 1955 the Indian National Congress adopted socialism as its policy. Thus leaders like Yagee and Singh then proposed that as the Congress had become a socialist party, the Forward Bloc ought to merge with it. Singh and Yagee, without consulting the Central Committee nor the party membership, declared the unification of the Forward Bloc into the Congress. Many sections of the party disagreed with this move, and a Central Committee meeting was held in Nagpur May 11-15. The Central Committee decided to expel Singh and Yagee. Hemanta Kumar Bose was elected as the new chairman and R.K. Haldulkar as general secretary. This team would continue in their posts until Bose's murder in 1971. U. Muthuramalingam Thevar from Tamil Nadu was elected as deputy chairman of the party.
Following the 1955 split the party would enjoy a relatively long period without any major splits.

Expulsion of Yagee and Singh
In 1964 a unity process was initiated by the Praja Socialist Party, which eventually resulted in the formation of the Samyukta Socialist Party. The Forward Bloc was invited to join the new party, and the Delhi unit of the party did take part in a joint socialist anti-Nehru campaign conference in April 1964. However, the party did not merge into the SSP.

Socialist unity
The party stalwart in Tamil Nadu, U. Muthuramalingam Thevar, died on October 30, 1963. Following his death a power-struggle began between two of his disciples, Sasivarna Thevar and P.K. Mookiah Thevar. Mookiah Thevar emerged victorious and Sasivarna Thevar left to form his own party, the Subhasist Forward Bloc.
A bye-election for the Aruppukottai Lok Sabha constituency seat vacated by U. Muthuramalingam Thevar's death was held in 1964, in which the Forward Bloc was defeated for the first time.

Death of U.M. Thevar
In 1965 the party joined a 'Progressive Front' in Tripura. The front consisted of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, the Forward Bloc and a break-away faction of the Socialist Party. The front demanded nationwide land reforms, strengthening of the national defence, withdrawal from the Commonwealth, nationalisation of foreign capital, a rational food policy, release of all political prisoners and scrapping of the Indo-American agreement of food supply. Existence of the new front was declared at a meeting in Agartala on November 17. Mass rallies of the front were held in Belonia on November 28 and then in Birchandra Bazar (near Belonia) on December 1.

Progressive Front in Tripura
In 1968 two influential party leaders in Tamil Nadu Velayudham Nayar (then a central committee member of the party) and S. Andi Thevar broke away from AIFB and founded the Revolutionary Forward Bloc. Nayar and Thevar accused the Forward Bloc of having deviated from its socialist principles through its cooperation with the rightwing Swatantra Party.

1968 split in Tamil Nadu
In July 1969, violent clashes erupted in West Dinajpur, West Bengal, between peasants aligned with the of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and East Pakistani refugee cultivators, who supported the Forward Bloc. CPI(M) leader Hare Krishna Konar characterized the events as a degeneration of the agrarian struggles in rural West Bengal.

West Dinajpur clashes
In 1969 a major split in the Indian National Congress. Indira Gandhi had entered into open conflict with the traditional Congress leadership. Effectively two separate Congress parties appeared, the Congress(R) led by Indira and the Congress(O) led by Kamaraj. The split was in many ways a left-right one, with Indira whipping up populism against the established party elites. The Forward Bloc did in some ways welcome the new developments. It appreciated Indira's stands and reformulated its anti-Congress line to focus mainly opposition to the traditional Congress elite (i.e. the Congress(O)). In the 1969 presidential elections, AIFB supported Indira's candidate V.V. Giri. This caused an abrupt break-up of the Swatantra-AIFB alliance in Tamil Nadu, as the Swatantra Party sought to align itself with the Congress(O).

1971–72 elections
After having contested the 1972 elections on its own, the Forward Bloc decided to join a 'United Front' led by the communist parties in Tripura.

Realignment in Tripura
1977 was a crucial year in Indian political history. For the first time in independent India, the Congress Party was routed in a national election. The Forward Bloc had contested four seats in the Lok Sabha election. In West Bengal it had three candidates which were supported by the Left Front, out of whom all three were elected.

1977 elections
Ahead of the 2000 Bihar legislative election AIFB took part in building a front together with the Bharatiya Jan Congress, the Bihar Vikas Party, the Janata Dal (Secular), the Samajwadi Janata Party and the Nationalist Congress Party. The front vowed to maintain equidistance towards the two major blocs in Bihari politics, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the National Democratic Alliance, condeming them as 'casteist and communal'.
Ahead of the 2006 West Bengal legislative election, a section of the party led by Jayanta Roy, former AIFB Rajya Sabha member, and Chhaya Ghosh, former West Bengal Minister of Agriculture, broke away and formed the Indian People's Forward Bloc. This party aligned itself with the Indian National Congress.

Recent history
In the 2007 assembly election in Uttar Pradesh AIFB launched three candidate, Ram Lakhan in Bisalpur (732 votes, 0.51% of the votes in the constituency), Samar Singh in Fatehpur (870 votes, 0.69%) and Jabar Singh in Hastinapur (503 votes, 0.42%).

2007 UP election
AIFB struggles for socialism in India but they consider that their ideology differs from that of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India, as they build their socialism on foreign ideologues as Marx and Lenin, whereas the socialism of AIFB is the Indian socialism of Subhas Chandra Bose.
AIFB has branches throughout the country, but the main strength of the party is concentrated in West Bengal. It is part of the Left Front government in there, and Forward Bloc has various ministers in the state government. Notably though AIFB is cooperating with CPI(M) in West Bengal, Tripura and on the national level, AIFB is not part of the Left Democratic Front in Kerala.
AIFB, together with the Revolutionary Socialist Party, is significantly more hesitant towards supporting the Congress-led governments than the CPI and CPI(M).
In the Lok Sabha elections 2004 the party received 0,4% of votes and three seats (All from West Bengal).
The current general secretary of AIFB is Debabrata Biswas.

Forward Bloc today
In Andhra Pradesh the party had significant presence during the 1950s, but then declined sharply. In 2005 the party took an initiative to revive its Andhra Pradesh State Committee. A.K. Biswas became the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh State Committee. Other State Committee members includes G. Appa Rao, Malla Reddy, K. Narender, Konda Dayanand and D. Venkatesam. The party is opposed to the Congress-led state government.

Andhra Pradesh
AIFB has a small state unit in Haryana. The secretary of the Haryana State Committee is T.N. Gupta.

Haryana
The Forward Bloc established its presence in Tripura in 1948.

Tripura
It has also formed an India - China Friendship Association.
All India Youth League
All India Students Bloc
Trade Union Coordination Committee
All India Agragami Kisan Sabha (peasants' organization)
All India Agragami Mahila Samiti (women's organization) Mass Organizations

State Election Results

2008-04-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Origin
Most of the speculation as to a future Asian century is based on population growth and economic growth forecasts, as well as the growth that has already occurred in much of Asia. While much emphasis is focused on the growing power of China and India, the term Asian Century generally refers to all growth in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Russia may also be considered a rising economy in Asia, but it is usually not being referred to in the use of this term.

Reasons
Further information: World population
Population growth in Asia is expected to continue through at least the first half of the 21st century. Nearing 4 billion persons in the beginning of the 21st century, the Asian population is predicted to grow to more than 5 billion by 2050 [2]. While its percent of world population is not expected to greatly change, North American and European shares of the global population are expected to decline [3]. This is significant since larger populations invariably increase military, economic, and political clout in the world. [4].

Demographics
Further information: Economy of Asia
One major reason for the belief in a coming Asian Century is the remarkable economic growth in Asia, and the continuing growth rates. Since China's economic reforms in the late 1970s (in farm privatization) and early 1990s (in most cities), the Chinese economy has enjoyed two and half decades of economic growth rates between 8 and 10%. The Indian economy began a similar ascent at the end of 1980s and early 1990s, and has averaged around 4% during this period, though growing slightly over 8% in 2005, and hitting 9.2% in 2006.
Both of these developments involved policy of a degree of managed liberalisation of the economy as well as a turning outwards of the economy towards globalization (both exports and attracting inward investment). The magnitude of this liberalisation and globalisation is still subject to debate. They were part of conscious decisions by key political leaders, especially in India and the PRC.
Also, the populations of the two countries offer a potential market of over two and a quarter billion. The development of the internal consumer market in these two countries has been a major basis for economic development. This has enabled much higher national growth rates for mainland China and India in comparison to Japan, the EU and even the USA. The international cost advantage on goods and services, based on cheaper labor costs, has enabled these two countries to exert a global competitive pressure.
The trend for greater Asian economic dominance has also been based on the extrapolations of recent historic economic trends. Goldman Sachs, in its BRIC economic forecast, highlighted the trend towards mainland China becoming the largest and India the 2nd largest economies by the year 2050 in terms of GDP. The report also predicted the type of industry that each nation would dominate, leading some to deem mainland China 'the industrial workshop of the world' and India 'one of the great service societies'.

Economics
Further information: Culture of Asia
Culturally, the Asian century is symbolised by Hong Kong genre films, Bollywood, and more recently, the Korean wave. The awareness of the different Asian cultures may be a part of a much more culturally aware world, as proposed in the Clash of Civilizations thesis. Equally, the affirmation of Asian cultures has an impact on the identity politics of Asians in Asia and outside in the Asian diasporas.
Though the use of English continues to spread, Asian languages are also becoming more popular to teach and study outside of the continent. The study of Chinese has recently gained greater attention in the United States, owing to a growing belief in the economic advantages of knowing it. It is also being encouraged through PRC's support of Confucius Institutes, which have opened in numerous nations to teach the Chinese language and culture [5].

Culture
The global political position of China and India has risen in international bodies and amongst the world powers, leading the USA and EU to become more active in the process of engagement with these two countries. People's Republic of China is also a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Although India is not a permanent member, it is possible that it will become one or at the least gain a more influential position [6]. Japan is also attempting to become a permanent member [7], though the attempts of both are opposed by other Asian countries (such as Pakistan for India, and China and South Korea for Japan).
An Asian regional bloc may be further developed in 21st century around ASEAN and other bodies on the basis of free trade agreements [8]. However, there is some political concern amongst the national leaderships of different Asian countries about PRC's hegemonic ambitions in the region. Another new organization, the East Asian Summit, could also possibly create an EU like trade zone [9].
The Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov encouraged the idea of a triple alliance between Russia, the PRC and India first formulated by Indian strategist Madhav Das Nalapat in 1983 [10], and supported the idea of a multipolar world [11]. WIth the November 2006 visit of Hu Jintao to India, the idea seems to be gaining some momentum.
The political future in Asia, whether more united or more polarized, is unclear. Yet most if not all forecasts predict the PRC and India to be amongst the major powers if not super powers of the 21st century.

Politics
Despite forecasts that predict the rising economic and political strength of Asia, the idea of an Asian Century has faced criticism. This has included the possibility that the continuing high rate of growth could lead to political upheavals, economic slumps, and environmental problems, especially in mainland China [12]. Others point out that the 21st century will be multipolar, and no one country or continent will have such a concentration of influence. Even in the "American" 20th century there was still a balance of power with the British and other European colonial empires from 1900 until 1945, and with the Soviet Union from 1945 until 1991.

See also

2008-04-23T08:54:00.001-07:00

BitTornado is a BitTorrent client. It is developed by John Hoffman, who also created its predecessor, Shad0w's Experimental Client. Based on the original BitTorrent client, the interface is largely the same, with added features such as
Super seeding mode and web seeding were originally developed by the BitTornado group.
It is programmed using Python, for platform independence.
BitTornado developer John Hoffman decided to ban BitComet users from accessing his client because it exploits super-seeds.

upload/download speed limitation;
prioritised downloading when downloading batches (several files);
detailed information about connections to other peers;
UPnP Port Forwarding (Universal Plug and Play);
IPv6 support (if your OS supports it/has it installed);
PE/MSE support as of version 0.3.18.

2008-04-22T09:09:00.001-07:00

The Battle of Grand Gulf was fought on April 29, 1863, between Union and Confederate forces. The Union force, led by Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, launched a naval attack against Confederate positions at Grand Gulf. The attack was unsuccessful.

2008-04-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz (IPA: [ˈklaʊzəvɪts]) (July 1, 1780 – November 16, 1831) was a Prussian soldier, military historian and influential military theorist. He is most famous for his military treatise Vom Kriege (complete German text available here), translated into English as On War (complete text available here).

Life and times
Vom Kriege (On War) is a long and intricate investigation of Clausewitz's observations based on his own experience in the Wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars and on considerable historical research into those wars and others. It is shaped not only by purely military and political considerations but by Clausewitz's strong interests in art, science, and education.
Some of the key ideas discussed in On War include:
Clausewitz used a dialectical method to construct his argument, leading to frequent modern misinterpretation. As described by Christopher Bassford, professor of strategy at the National War College:
One of the main sources of confusion about Clausewitz's approach lies in his dialectical method of presentation. For example, Clausewitz's famous line that "War is merely a continuation of politics," ("Der Krieg ist eine bloße Fortsetzung der Politik mit anderen Mitteln") while accurate as far as it goes, was not intended as a statement of fact. It is the antithesis in a dialectical argument whose thesis is the point—made earlier in the analysis—that "war is nothing but a duel [or wrestling match, a better translation of the German Zweikampf] on a larger scale." His synthesis, which resolves the deficiencies of these two bold statements, says that war is neither "nothing but" an act of brute force nor "merely" a rational act of politics or policy. This synthesis lies in his "fascinating trinity" [wunderliche Dreifaltigkeit]: a dynamic, inherently unstable interaction of the forces of violent emotion, chance, and rational calculation.[1]
Another example of this confusion is the idea that Clausewitz was a proponent of total war as used in the Third Reich's propaganda in the 1940s. He did not coin the phrase as an ideological ideal--indeed, Clausewitz does not use the term "total war" at all. Rather, he discussed "absolute war" or "ideal war" as the purely logical result of the forces underlying a "pure," Platonic "ideal" of war. In what Clausewitz called a "logical fantasy," war cannot be waged in a limited way: the rules of competition will force participants to use all means at their disposal to achieve victory. But in the real world, such rigid logic is unrealistic and dangerous. As a practical matter, the military objectives in real war that support one's political objectives generally fall into two broad types: "war to achieve limited aims" and war to "disarm" the enemy--i.e., "to render [him] politically helpless or militarily impotent." Thus the complete defeat of one's enemies may be neither necessary, desirable, nor even possible.
In modern times the reconstruction and hermeneutics of Clausewitzian theory has been a matter of some dispute. between one of the most prominent was the analysis of Panagiotis Kondylis a Greek-German writer and philosopher who opposed the popular readings of Raymond Aron (in "Penser la Guerre, Clausewitz) and other liberal writers. In one of his most famous works which was titled Theory of War and first published in German -later translated in Greek by Kondylis himself. In this very influential book Kondylis opposes Raymond Aron's liberal perception of Clausewetzian theory. According to Raymond Aron in Penser La Guerre, Clausewitz, Clausewitz was one of the very first writers condemning the militarism of the military staff and their war-proness (based in the claim "war is a continuation of politics by other means") Kondylis claims that this a reconstruction that is not coherent with Clausewetzian thought. He claims that Clausewitz was morally indifferent to war and that his advices of political rule over war have nothing to do with pacifistic claims. For Clausewitz war is just a mean to the eternal quest for power of the reason d'etat in an anarchical and unsafe world. Other famous writers studying clausewitz's texts and have translated them in english are the war specialists Peter Parret (Princeton University) and Michael Howard and the philosopher, musician and game theorist Anatol Rapoport who has translated the Penguin edition and has comparatively studied Clausewitz and other theories of War such as Tolstoi...

the dialectical approach to military analysis
the methods of "critical analysis"
the nature of the balance-of-power mechanism
the relationship between political objectives and military objectives in war
the asymmetrical relationship between attack and defense
the nature of "military genius" (involving matters of personality and character, beyond intellect)
the "fascinating trinity" (wunderliche Dreifaltigkeit) of war
philosophical distinctions between "absolute" or "ideal war," and "real war"
in "real war," the distinctive poles of a) limited war and b) war to "render the enemy helpless"
"war" belongs fundamentally to the social realm—rather than to the realms of art or science
"strategy" belongs primarily to the realm of art
"tactics" belongs primarily to the realm of science
the importance of "moral forces" (more than simply "morale") as opposed to quantifiable physical elements
the "military virtues" of professional armies (which do not necessarily trump the rather different virtues of other kinds of fighting forces)
conversely, the very real effects of a superiority in numbers and "mass"
the essential unpredictability of war
the "fog" of war
"friction"
strategic and operational "centers of gravity"
the "culminating point of the offensive"
the "culminating point of victory" Influence
Clausewitz's Christian name is sometimes given in non-German sources as Carl Philipp Gottlieb, Carl Maria, or misspelled Karl due to reliance on mistaken source material, conflations with his wife's name, Marie, or mistaken assumptions about German orthography. Carl Philipp Gottfried appears on Clausewitz's tombstone and is thus most likely to be the correct version. The tombstone reads:
Hier ruht in Gott
Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz
koenigl. General-Major u. Inspecteur der Artillerie
geboren 1 Juni 1780
gestorben 16 Nov 1831
Which translates as:
Here rests with God
Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz
In the royal service, Major General and Inspector of the Artillery
Born 1 June 1780
Died 16 November 1831
There is no single "correct" spelling for German names before the early 19th century. Vital records were kept by pastors in their parish records. Different pastors used different spellings and commonly ignored how their predecessor may have spelled the same name. The name of the same individual can be found spelled differently in the same parish record, for example, if a pastor registered his birth and a different one his marriage and/or his death. It appears that pastors recorded names as they heard them and spelled them as they believed they should be spelled. Pastors treated persons of importance or high status such as nobility or civil or military officials more deferentially. For the names of such persons it can make sense to distinguish between such spellings as "Carl" or "Karl" even then. The situation changed radically in the Napoleonic era when French civil servants introduced greater discipline in keeping vital records in German lands. Spellings of family and given names were "frozen" in whatever state they happened to be in then. It was, however, not unusual for brothers who made their homes in different parishes to have their family names spelled differently. Such variations endure to this day and confound amateur genealogists who are not familiar with the fluidity of German spellings before the Napoleonic reforms. While spellings of names were fluid when Clausewitz was born, they had become firm by the time of his death. That is why it makes sense to accept the spelling of his name as recorded on his tombstone which, presumably, agrees with the vital records of his death.

Name
"War is politics by other means."

In the film Crimson Tide, the naval officers of the nuclear submarine have a discussion about the meaning of the quote "War is a continuation of politics by other means." The executive officer (played by Denzel Washington) contends that the captain (played by Gene Hackman) has taken a too simplistic reading of von Clausewitz.
In The Frosh Report, Anthony Frosh tells how he was concerned that his traveling companions would think negatively of him for expressing his "von Clausewitz attitude toward global conflict resolution." [2]
Sam Walker's non-fiction book Fantasyland references von Clausewitz, by name, briefly.
In Ian Fleming's "Moonraker", James Bond mentions that he has achieved Clausewitz's first principle in securing his base, though this base is a relationship for intelligence purposes and not a military installation.
In Steinbeck's East of Eden, Adam Trask's servant, Lee asks twice, "Did you ever read von Clausewitz?". Neither of the characters he asks has ever heard of Clausewitz. Lee responded the first time with, "Not very reassuring reading." This was Lee's way of expressing pessimism regarding the future outcome of the Great War.
In Lawrence of Arabia (1962), General Allenby (Jack Hawkins) contends to T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) that "I fight like Clausewitz, you fight like Saxe." (To which Lawrence replies, "We should do very well indeed, shouldn't we?")
In Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron (1977), Corporal Steiner (James Coburn)has an ironic conversation in the trenches between hostilities with the advancing Red Army with his comrade, Pvt. Schnurrbart, in which they refer to German philosophers and their views on war. Pvt. Schnurrbart: " ...and Von Clausewitz said, 'war is a continuation of politics with other means.'" "Yes," Steiner says, overlooking the trenches, " ...with other means."
He was mentioned in an episode of Popular by Nicole Julian. See also

Note regarding personal names: von is a title prefix denoting some sort of (former) nobility, translated as of. It is an inseparable part of the last name, not a first or middle name. Bibliography

Bassford, Christopher. Clausewitz in English: The Reception of Clausewitz in Britain and America, 1815-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Full text on-line here.
Clausewitz, Carl Von (1976, rev.1984). On War, edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret., Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05657-9.
Clausewitz, Carl von. Col. J. J. Graham, translator. Vom Kriege. On War — Volume 1, Project Gutenberg eBook.
Gerhard Muhm : German Tactics in the Italian Campaign , http://www.larchivio.org/xoom/gerhardmuhm2.htm
Gerhard Muhm, La tattica tedesca nella campagna d'Italia, in Linea gotica avamposto dei Balcani, a cura di Amedeo Montemaggi - Edizioni Civitas, Roma 1993
Paret, Peter. Clausewitz and the State: The Man, His Theories, and His Times. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976.
Rogers, Clifford J. "Clausewitz, Genius, and the Rules", The Journal of Military History, Vol. 66, No. 4. (2002), pp. 1167–1176.
Rothfels, Hans "Clausewitz" pages 93-113 from The Makers of Modern Strategy edited by Edward Mead Earle, Gordon A. Craig & Felix Gilbert, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1943.
Edward J. Villacres and Christopher Bassford, "Reclaiming the Clausewitzian Trinity," Parameters, Autumn 95, pp. 9-19, http://www.clausewitz.com/CWZHOME/Trinity/TRININTR.htm

2008-04-20T10:20:00.001-07:00

A separable affix is an affix that can be detached from the word it attaches to and located elsewhere in the sentence in a certain situation.
German is well known for having many separable affixes. In the sentence "Ich komme gut zu Hause an," the prefix an in the verb ankommen is detached.

2008-04-19T08:13:00.001-07:00

Bahá'í Faith
Bahá'u'lláh The Báb · `Abdu'l-Bahá
The Hidden Words Some Answered Questions
Administrative Order The Guardianship Universal House of Justice Spiritual Assemblies Bahá'í history · Timeline Bábís · Shaykh Ahmad
Shoghi Effendi Martha Root · Táhirih Badí' · Apostles Hands of the Cause
Symbols · Laws Teachings · Literature Calendar · Divisions Pilgrimage The Bahá'í Faith has had challenges to leadership at the death of every head of the religion. The vast majority of Bahá'ís have followed a line of authority from Bahá'u'lláh to `Abdu'l-Bahá to Shoghi Effendi to the Custodians to the Universal House of Justice. Sects diverging from this line of leadership have had relatively little success and have failed to attract a sizeable following.
A separate entry discusses the Bahá'í/Bábí split.

`Abdu'l-Bahá's ministry

Shoghi Effendi as Guardian
At 24, Shoghi Effendi was particularly young when he assumed leadership of the religion in 1921, as provided for by `Abdu'l-Bahá in his Will and Testament. He had received a Western education at the American University of Beirut and later at Balliol College, Oxford.
Muhammad-`Alí took the opportunity to revive his claim to leadership of the Bahá'í community. He forcibly seized the keys of the Tomb of Bahá'u'lláh at the mansion of Bahjí, expelled its keeper, and demanded that he be recognized by the authorities as the legal custodian of that property. But the Palestine authorities, after investigations, instructed the British officer in `Akká to deliver the keys into the hands of the keeper loyal to Shoghi Effendi.

Appointment

Main article: Covenant-breaking in Shoghi Effendi's immediate family Family Members Expelled
After the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá, Ruth White questioned the Will's authenticity as early as 1926,

American Disputes

The founding of the Universal House of Justice

Main article: Shoghi Effendi Passing of Shoghi Effendi

Main article: Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá Criteria for Guardianship
The Will established the institution of the Guardianship, making it an appointed hereditary executive position, in conjunction with the Universal House of Justice, mentioned by Bahá'u'lláh as an elected legislative body. Their roles are complimentary, the former providing authoritative interpretation,

Relationship between the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice

Main article: Hands of the Cause Role of the Hands of the Cause

Main article: Mason Remey Charles Mason Remey

Main article: Universal House of Justice A break in the line of Guardians
Among the Bahá'ís who accepted Mason Remey as the second Guardian, several further divisions have occurred. All those that profess belief in Mason Remey as the second Guardian do not accept the Universal House of Justice established in 1963, but amongst themselves have a variety of opinions on legitimacy and the proper succession of authority.

Further development of Remey's followers
Orthodox Bahá'ís accept Joel Marangella as the Third Guardian and successor of Charles Mason Remey.
Marangella was serving as chair of the National Spiritual Assembly of France in 1961, which was the only NSA to accept Remey as the Second Guardian. When this happened, the Custodians declared five members of the NSA of France to be covenant-breakers, and dissolved the Assembly. The Custodians were able to gain control of the National Bahá'í Center; including the funds and mailing lists, and the great majority of French Bahá'ís sided with the Custodians. Donald Harvey and Jacques Soghomonian were among the members of the NSA of France declared as covenant-breakers by the Hands of the Cause.
After Mason Remey made his proclamation he appointed a second International Bahá'í Council; with Marangella as President, and 8 vice presidents. Remey insisted that these members not meet in the same city, nor be on the same airplane, at the same time; for fear that if something happened the line of Guardians would cease. In 1962 Remey gave Marangella a sealed envelope, with instructions to open it when the time was right. In 1965 Mason Remey called for the Council to become active. Marangella then opened the sealed letter, which was a hand-written note by Mason appointing Marangella as his successor. Marangella looks upon that time as the time of his official appointment. Remey then changed his mind and deactivated the International Bahá'í Council. Remey's behavior became very disjointed after that time; with some of his followers (including Marangella) concluding that Remey was suffering from dementia.
In 1967 Remey appointed Donald Harvey as his successor without excommunicating Marangella. Marangella proclaimed himself the Third Guardian in 1969; saying that Remey was no longer mentally able to function as Guardian. He also claimed that when Remey activated the Council he ceased to be the Guardian at that moment, since, Marangella claimed, there couldn't be two Guardians alive at the same time. Remey did not relinquish his title as Guardian, but he did not "declare" Marangella a covenant-breaker either.
The Orthodox Bahá'í Community under Marangella's leadership continues. Membership data is scarce. One source estimated them at no more than 100 members in 1988.

Orthodox Bahá'í Faith

Main article: Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant
The Orthodox Bahá'í Faith Under the Regency was founded by Reginald "Rex" King, a very successful Bahá'í teacher. When Remey declared himself the Second Guardian in 1960, King accepted him, and was elected to become the first Secretary of the National Assembly set up by Remey in 1963.
After conflicts with several of Remey's followers, including Marangella, King decided that "neither Mason Remey nor Joel Marangella had in truth ever been guardians... because of the lack of lineal descendancy". King claimed that what Remey had actually been was "a regent Guardian" for the office of Guardian which was in fact in occultation. King further asserted that he himself "was in actuality the Second Regent...." King's argument was that Remey was senile in old age, and didn't know what he was doing. Following his death in 1977, King left leadership of the community to a Council of Regents, who reorganized as the Tarbiyat Bahá'í Community.
The Regency Bahá'ís do not claim the authority to declare Covenant-breakers, so they try to freely associate with other Bahá'ís. The Council of Regents, which consists mostly of King's family, tries to "maintain the integrity of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh until such time as the Second Guardian makes himself known, and claims his rightful office." They also still maintain that "the Faith will never be permanently split into factions or denominations as has happened in all previous religions"; with an emphasis on permanently. Membership figures are not published for the Tarbiyat Bahá'í Community. They appear to be restricted to a single group in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Tarbiyat Bahá'í Community
Francis Spataro of New York City, a supporter of Harvey, independently organized "The Remey Society" after losing favor with Harvey. Spataro published books about Charles Mason Remey , and at one time had a newsletter with about 400 recipients. When Spataro began to preach that Charles Mason Remey was a "Prophet" Harvey cut all ties to Spataro. He then continued to promote the life and works of Charles Mason Remey. In 1995 Francis Spataro became an Old Catholic priest and left the Bahá'í religion altogether. The Remey Society is now extinct.

The Remey Society
The House of Mankind and the Universal Palace of Order followed Jamshid Ma'ani and John Carré, but appear now to be defunct. In the early 1970s a Persian man named Jamshid Ma'ani claimed he was "The Man"; or a new Manifestation of God. He gained a few dozen Iranian Bahá'í followers. John Carré heard of Jamshid, and wrote a book about him; trying to get other Bahá'ís to accept him as a new Manifestation. Carré even invited "The Man" to live in his home in California, but soon concluded, after living with "The Man" for four months, that "The Man" was not at all godly or spiritual and certainly not a Manifestation of God. "The Man" went back to Iran, and Carré ended all association with him. Carré then continued as an "independent Bahá'í" and eventually wrote a book that proclaimed a new Bahá'í Prophet (minor prophet but not a Manifestation) would arise in the year 2001. A Bahá'í from North Carolina named Eric Stetsen wrote an online book in the same style of Bahá'u'lláh; proclaiming (in 2001) that he was that "Prophet". However, Stetson concluded about a year or so later that he was not a "Prophet" and that he had been mistaken about the Bahá'í Faith, and became a born-again Christian . A copy of Carré's book outlining his beliefs is maintained online here [15].

The Man
After Harvey's death in 1991, his followers turned to his chosen successor Jacques Soghomonian. Soghomonian has resisted efforts by his followers to organize or to actively proselytize. Soghomonian claims membership of the mainstream Bahá'í Faith will one day "see the light", and reinstate the Guardianship with himself, or (more likely) one of his successors as Guardian; and thus there is no need for two competing organizations. Soghomonian believes that organization is not important, but what is important is to assure that the Guardianship continues, and thus the living Guardian needs only one follower (to act as successor) to continue the line of Guardians who shall one day, perhaps far in the future, return to head the Bahá'í Faith worldwide.

Conclusion

2008-04-18T09:07:00.001-07:00

Scilab is a numerical computational package developed by INRIA and École nationale des ponts et chaussées (ENPC) in France. It is a high level programming language, most of its functionality based around it being easy to condense many single computations into one line of code. It does this primarily by abstracting primitive data types to be functionally equivalent to matrices.
It is similar in functionality to MATLAB and is available to download at no cost. The program enables users to compute a wide range of mathematical operations from relatively simple operations such as multiplication to high level operations such as correlation and complex arithmetic. The software is often used for signal processing, statistical analysis, image enhancement, fluid dynamics simulations etc.
The Scilab web page describes it as "open source" software. However, since its license does not permit commercial redistribution of modified versions, it does not satisfy the Open Source Definition and seems to belong to the semi-free software category.
Scilab has been widely used in several industry and research projects, and many contributions have been made by users. The syntax is similar to MATLAB but the two are not completely compatible, though there is a converter included in Scilab for MATLAB=>Scilab Conversions. Scilab has fewer help files than MATLAB.
Scilab also includes a package called Scicos for modeling and simulation of explicit and implicit dynamical systems including both continuous and discrete sub-systems and the screenshot shows the Scicos block diagram editor in the top right window.

Syntax
Scilab syntax is largely based on the MATLAB language. The simplest way to execute scilab code is to type it in at the prompt, >> , in the graphical command window. In this way, Scilab can be used as an interactive mathematical shell.

2008-04-17T09:38:00.001-07:00

In fine art, a work of art (or artwork or work) is a creation, such as a song, book, print, sculpture or a painting, that has been made in order to be a thing of beauty in itself or a symbolic statement of meaning, rather than having a practical function.
Since modernism, the field of fine art has expanded to include photography (and fine art photography in particular), film (and art film in particular), performance art, conceptual art, and video art.
What is perceived as a work of art differs between cultures and eras and by the meaning of the term '"art" itself. Up until the 1970s, for example, art critics and the general public tended to exclude applied arts from works of art.
To establish whether a work is a work of art, the concepts of artistic merit and literary merit are regularly invoked.
A work of art might be called also an objet d'art a French phrase that literally translates to "art object" and means something with perceived artistic value.
Among practitioners of contemporary art, various new media objects such as the DVD, the web page, and other interactive media have been treated as art objects; such treatment frequently involves a formalist (or "medium-specific") analysis. The formal analysis of computerized media has yielded such art movements as internet art and algorithmic art. The purpose of "new media objects" is not to replace traditional media, but to challenge old media.

Oeuvre
The oeuvre is all of an artist's works, or an individual piece.

2008-04-16T08:39:00.001-07:00

Tasmin Little (born 13 May 1965) is an English violinist.
She was born in London, where she studied under Pauline Scott at the Yehudi Menuhin School and later at the Guildhall School of Music. She came to prominence when she was a string section finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 1982. Her father is George Little, the English TV actor [1].
In 1988 she made her professional solo debut with the Halle Orchestra. In 1996 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Bradford.
She has now established an international reputation, and has recorded violin concertos by Bruch, Brahms, Sibelius and others, giving some their first recordings — or second, as with Edmund Rubbra's. She has premiered works, including Stuart MacRae's violin concerto at the 2001 BBC Proms. The University of Bradford has named its music centre after her.
On 10 March 2006, The Independent newspaper wrote "Tasmin Little was ideal to represent the Menuhin School's alumni. She is a true successor: international star, enthusiastic chamber player, and now conducting, too".
In addition to a flourishing career as violin soloist which has taken her to every continent of the world, Tasmin Little has further established her reputation as Artistic Director with her hugely successful "Delius Inspired" festival, which was broadcast for a week on BBC Radio 3 in July 2006. The festival, which comprised events ranging from orchestral concerts and chamber music to films and exhibitions, also reached 800 school children in an ambitious programme designed to widen interest in classical music for young people.
In the 2005/2006 season, Tasmin performed concertos in Sweden, Slovenia, Iceland, Denmark, Spain, Belgium as well as London (including the BBC Proms). Her recent chamber music tours have ranged from a UK tour in Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall to Brazil, Colombia and Peru.
She now plays/directs orchestras such as the Norwegian Chamber, Britten Sinfonia and Royal Philharmonic. During her recent tour with the Britten Sinfonia, her 1000th professional performance at London's South Bank Centre resulted in the following review in The Independent: "The second half evinced an extraordinary quality of sharing, as you expect to find in a trio or quartet.... with both Little and Outram at the front for Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante. Usually this work feels like a double concerto, but here the lead role passed around, with soloists determined to cooperate rather than compete. All the performers succeeded, not only in placing the work before its public but in drawing listeners into its heart".
In 2006, Tasmin made her fourteenth appearance at the BBC Proms in a performance of the rarely heard concerto by Alexander Glazunov. She continues to champion seldom-performed repertoire and during the 2006/7 season she will play Max Bruch's second violin concerto with the London Philharmonic, the Korngold concerto in Symphony Hall, Birmingham. She is one of the few violinists to have tackled Ligeti's challenging violin concerto - according to an interview on BBC Radio 4, only four violinists in the world currently have this in their repertoire. During her 2003 tour she played the work with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle at the BBC Proms, in Berlin, at the Salzburg Festival, New York's Carnegie Hall and in Philadelphia. In 2006/2007 she has returned to the work by performing it with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
In 2007, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edward Elgar, she has performed his violin concerto on a major tour to Southeast Asia and Australia.
She has made 23 recordings, with repertoire ranging from Max Bruch and Brahms to Mieczysław Karlowicz and Arvo Pärt. Orchestras she has played with throughout her career include the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Thorington Players, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic and with conductors including Kurt Masur, Simon Rattle, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Neeme Järvi, Leonard Slatkin, Rostropovich, Daniele Gatti, Rozhdestvensky, Gerard Schwarz, Tadaaki Otaka, Charles Mackerras, Yehudi Menuhin, Andrew Davis and Roger Norrington.
Tasmin plays a 1757 Guadagnini violin and has, on loan from the Royal Academy of Music, the "Regent" Stradivarius.

2008-04-15T10:16:00.001-07:00

Mark Steven Kotsay (born December 2, 1975) is an outfielder for the Oakland Athletics.
A native of Whittier, California[1], Kotsay was selected by the Florida Marlins the 9th pick of the Amateur Draft in 1996 out of Cal State Fullerton. In 1995, Kotsay won the Golden Spikes Award and was the Most Outstanding Player of the College World Series, as CS-Fullerton won its third Series championship. In addition to being an outfielder, Kotsay was a closer in college; he pitched the final five outs to clinch his team's CWS title.
Kotsay appeared in 14 games for the Marlins in 1997 before taking over as the team's center fielder in 1998. He was moved to right field after Gary Sheffield was traded, a position better suited for the strong throwing arm which Kotsay regularly showed off. As a rookie, he led all National League outfielders with 20 assists, and led them again in his second year with the same number. In 2000, he led all right fielders with 13 assists. At the plate, Kotsay was an average hitter during these years, hitting around .280 with occasional power and the occasional stolen base. Kotsay was traded in 2001, barely a week before Opening Day, to the San Diego Padres as part of a deal for Matt Clement. Moved back to center field, Kotsay improved his hitting, but he recorded only four outfield assists. This can be largely attributed to the fact that few chose to run on Kotsay. Over the next two seasons, however, Kotsay was defensively back on form, leading all National League center fielders in that category. After his batting average slipped to .266 in 2003, Kotsay was traded to the Athletics for Terrence Long and Ramon Hernandez.
With Oakland in 2004, Kotsay found his stroke and batted a career best .314, along with his customary strong arm afield; he led American League center fielders with 11 assists. Still with Oakland, he currently bats second in the team's lineup with a career .287 average.
On July 9, 2005, the Athletics announced that Kotsay and the team had come to terms on a three-year, $29 million contract extension. [2] The extension keeps Kotsay under contract with the Athletics through the 2008 season and includes a no-trade clause through the 2006 season. News of the contract extension ended speculation that Kotsay would be traded to a team in need of a starting center fielder, such as the New York Yankees.
On Mother's Day, May 14, 2006, Kotsay was one of more than 50 hitters who brandished a pink bat to benefit the Breast Cancer Foundation. He was one of a handful of players to hit a Pink Bat Homerun.
The 2006 season marked Kotsay's first-ever appearance in a postseason game, as the Oakland Athletics clinched the 2006 AL West Division title. On October 4, he hit his first postseason home run against Minnesota Twins pitcher Dennys Reyes for a two run inside the park home run which scored Jason Kendall that put the Oakland A's ahead 4 to 2, leading his team to win Game 2 of the ALDS.
Kotsay underwent back surgery during spring training 2007, and is expected to miss the first three months of the 2007 campaign. Kotsay is currently rehabbing with the A's triple-A affiliate the Sacramento River Cats.
He is happily married to his wife, Jamie, and they have two daughters, Grace and Sienna.

Florida Marlins (1997-2000)
San Diego Padres (2001-2003)

2008-04-14T08:09:00.001-07:00

The Angles is a modern English word for a Germanic-speaking people who took their name from the cultural ancestor of Angeln, a modern district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Ancient Angeln preceded all modern national distinctions and was probably not coterminous with the modern. For more information, see under Angeln.

Evolution of the name

Early history
Two important geographers, Strabo and Pliny, are silent concerning the Angles. Their reasons for this exclusion was their consideration of the south shore of the Baltic to be terra incognita, "unknown land." They both go on to describe that shore, however. As the Angles took a geographic name, they must have, then, had other names not based on geography. The two silent geographers can help us with this question.
The knowledge of neither one of them predates Tacitus by very long. Strabo's mention of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest places his securely to the final years of Augustus' reign and after; i.e., the early first century.
Strabo (7.2.1, 4 and 7.3.1) states that the Cimbri still live on the peninsula (Jutland) where they always did, even though some of them liked to wander. Beyond the Elbe the coastal people are unknown, but south of them are the Suebi from the Elbe to the Getae (Goths). Strabo was moving in his mind eastward from the Rhine.
Pliny on the other hand moved mentally from east to west (4.13.94). His description leaves the Black Sea, crosses the Ripaei mountains to the shore of the northern ocean, and follows it westward to Cadiz. In this direction in Scythia, where the Sarmati, Venedi, Sciri and Hirri are located, as far as the Vistula.
Then the Inguaeones begin. Baunonia (Bornholm) is an island opposite Scythia. We arrive at Cylipenus, probably the Bay of Kiel, and from there to another gulf, Lagnus, which is on the frontier of the Cimbri. Its location is not known, but it must have been in the Angeln region.
In Pliny, the Inguaeones consisted of the Cimbri and the Teutones (the Chauci as well, but they were not in this region). If Lagnus was situated on the Cimbrian frontier and after Kiel, then Angeln must have been in the territory of the Teutones. They were perhaps not named Angles at that time; however, the territory of the Teutones probably included the Propommern and the region south to the Elbe (mainly Holstein), accounting for the implied larger range of the people called Angles in later sources.

The Anglii of Tacitus
Ptolemy in his Geography (2.10), half a century later, presents a somewhat more complex view, as might have been expected. The Saxons are now around the lower Elbe, whereto they could have reached merely by an extension of the Saxon alliance. East of them we find not only the Teutones but a dissimilation of them, the Teutonoari, which has an -oari suffix denoting "men" (wer); i.e., "the Teuton men." These Teutons or Teuton men appear to have been in Angeln and the land around it.
The Angles, as such, are not listed at all. Instead we find some Syeboi Angeilloi , Latinized to Suevi Angili, located south of the middle Elbe. Owing to the uncertainty of this passage, there has been much speculation regarding the original home of the Angli. One theory, which, however, has little to recommend it, is that they dwelt in the basin of the Saale (in the neighbourhood of the canton Engilin), from which region the Lex Angliorum et Werinorum hoc est Thuringorum is believed by many to have come.
A second possible solution is that these Angles of Ptolemy are not those of Schleswig at all. According to Julius Pokorny the Angri- in Angrivarii, the -angr in Hardanger and the Angl- in Anglii all come from the same root meaning "bend", but in different senses; in other words, the similarity of the names is strictly coincidental and does not reflect any ethnic unity beyond Germanic. The Suevi Angeli would have been in Lower Saxony or near it and, like Ptolemy's Suevi Semnones, were among the Suebi at the time.

The Suevi Angili
Bede states that the Angli, before they came to Great Britain, dwelt in a land called Angulus, and similar evidence is given by the Historia Brittonum. King Alfred the Great and the chronicler Æthelweard identified this place with the district that is now called Angeln, in the province of Schleswig (Slesvig), though it may then have been of greater extent, and this identification agrees very well with the indications given by Bede. Full confirmation is afforded by English and Danish traditions relating to two kings named Wermund and Offa, from whom the Mercian royal family were descended, and whose exploits are connected with Angeln, Schleswig and Rendsburg. Danish tradition has preserved record of two governors of Schleswig, father and son, in their service, Frowinus (Freawine) and Wigo (Wig), from whom the royal family of Wessex claimed descent. During the 5th century the Angli invaded Great Britain, after which time their name does not recure on the continent except in the title of the code mentioned above.
The province of Schleswig has proved exceptionally rich in prehistoric antiquities that date apparently from the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. Among the places where these have been found, special mention should be made of the large cremation cemetery at Borgstedterfeld, between Rendsburg and Eckernförde, which has yielded many urns and brooches closely resembling those found in heathen graves in England. Of still greater importance are the great deposits at Thorsberg moor (in Angeln) and Nydam, which contained large quantities of arms, ornaments, articles of clothing, agricultural implements, etc., and in the latter case even ships. By the help of these discoveries, we are able to reconstruct a fairly detailed picture of Angle civilization in the age preceding the invasion of Great Britain.

The Angli of Bede
According to sources such as the Bede, after the invasion of Great Britain, the Angles split up and founded the kingdoms of the Nord Angelnen (Northumbria), Ost Angelnen (East Anglia), and the Mittlere Angelnen (Mercia). Thanks to the major influence of the Saxons, the tribes were collectively called Anglo-Saxons by the Normans. The regions of East Anglia and Northumbria are still known by their original titles to this day.
The centre of the Angle homeland in the north-eastern portion of the modern German bundesland of Schleswig-Holstein, itself on the Jutland Peninsula, is where the rest of that people stayed, a small peninsular form still called Angeln today and is formed as a triangle drawn roughly from modern Flensburg on the Flensburger Fjord to the City of Schleswig and then to Maasholm, on the Schlei inlet.
In any case, this small and relatively easterly geographic localisation of the original Angeln tribal group has led to one of the Anglo-Saxon Invasion's enduring mysteries: how it is possible that the Anglo-Saxons were so frequently mentioned as colonisers of ancient Great Britain in all the ancient and medieval written sources, while evidence of the neighbouring and much more powerful Frisians' concurrent colonising activities in Great Britain has been so limited to discoveries in archeological science, and more often to logical deductions and inferences alone? Of course, ethnic Frisians are known to have inhabited the land directly in the path of any migration route from Angeln to Great Britain (except for the long and difficult route by sea around the northern tip of Denmark), and, in fact, they also inhabited lands between the ancient Saxon domain and Great Britain; yet they are rarely mentioned as having taken part in the vast migration.

St. Gregory

Germanic peoples
List of Germanic peoples
For the rulers of the Angles prior to their migration to Great Britain, see List of kings of the Angles.
Thorsberg moor

2008-04-13T08:25:00.001-07:00

Ian Anderson Paice (born June 29, 1948; Nottingham, England) made his name as drummer with seminal heavy rock band Deep Purple. As of Jon Lord's departure in 2002, he is the only founding member of the band still performing with the group.

2008-04-12T07:58:00.001-07:00

Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the German-Dutch physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), who proposed it in 1724.
In this scale, the freezing point of water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit (written "32 °F"), and the boiling point is 212 degrees, placing the boiling and freezing points of water exactly 180 degrees apart. On the Celsius scale, the freezing and boiling points of water are exactly 100 degrees apart, thus the unit of this scale, a degree Fahrenheit, is ⁄₉ of a degree Celsius.
Absolute zero is at −459.67 °F. The Rankine temperature scale was invented to use degrees the same size as Fahrenheit degrees, and so that at 0 °R would be absolute zero. Thus, 0 °R is the same as −459.67 °F.

History
The Fahrenheit scale was the primary temperature standard for climatic, industrial and medical purposes in most English-speaking countries until the 1960s. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the Celsius (formerly Centigrade) scale was phased in by governments as part of the standardizing process of metrication.
Fahrenheit supporters assert its previous popularity was due to Fahrenheit's user-friendliness. The unit of measure, being only ⁄₉ the size of the Celsius degree, permits more precise communication of measurements without resorting to fractional degrees. Also, the ambient air temperature in most inhabited regions of the world tends not to go far beyond the range of 0 °F to 100 °F: therefore, the Fahrenheit scale would reflect the perceived ambient temperatures, following 10-degree bands that emerge in the Fahrenheit system. Also, coincidentally, the smallest sensible temperature change averages one Fahrenheit degree; that is, the average person can just detect a temperature difference of a single degree.
But some Celsius supporters argue that their system can be just as natural; for example, they might say that 0–10 °C indicates cold, 10–20 °C mild, 20–30 °C warm and 30–40 °C hot.
In the United States the Fahrenheit system continues to be the accepted standard for non-scientific use. All other countries have adopted Celsius as the primary scale in use. Fahrenheit is sometimes used by older generations in English speaking countries, especially for measurement of higher temperatures.

The special Unicode °F character

Comparison of temperature scales

2008-04-11T07:58:00.001-07:00

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2008-04-10T07:58:00.001-07:00

BC Place Stadium is Canada's first domed stadium and is the largest air-supported stadium in the world. It is located on the north side of False Creek in Vancouver, British Columbia, and home to the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League and the region's largest consumer shows, trade shows and special events. It is owned and operated by PavCo (BC Pavilion Corporation), a Crown Corporation of the government in the Province of British Columbia. BC Place is to be the host of the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympic games.

History
On January 5, 2007, a tear occurred in the Teflon roof close to Gate G at the south side where the roof meets the top of the concrete bowl.

2007 deflation
The stadium has a FieldTurf surface that was purchased from Montreal's Olympic Stadium for $1 million CAD. BC Place has been the home to the CFL's B.C. Lions since 1983, and will serve as the site for both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. A monument commemorating Terry Fox is located outside the stadium, as well as a smaller monument commemorating Percy Williams. The BC Sports Hall of Fame is located inside the stadium at Gate "A"-Level 300.

Features
BC Place is busy with over 200 event days per year and contributes over 40 million dollars per year in economic benefits to the Province of British Columbia, but it operates at a loss of more than 4 million a year (10 million in earning and more than 14 in expenses), not including 2.3 for amortization. It hosts the Province's largest trade and consumer shows, community events and motorsports. In 2005, BC Place played host to Vans' Slam City Jam Skateboarding Championships. It has also hosted several MLB preseason games and a handful of Vancouver Canadians Pacific Coast League games. It was the site for a motorcycle stunt scene in the Fantastic Four movie.
PavCo is governed primarily by the British Columbia Enterprise Corporation Act, which names it an Agent of the government, binds it by the same laws as the government, and gives it the same immunities as the government.
From 1990-2004, the Molson Indy Vancouver Champ Car race was held on a temporary street course surrounding BC Place.

2008-04-09T09:06:00.001-07:00

San Juan (IPA: [saŋ hwaŋ]) (from the Spanish San Juan Bautista, "Saint John the Baptist") is the capital and largest municipality on Puerto Rico. As of the 2000 census, it has a population of 433,733, making it the 42nd-largest city under the jurisdiction of the United States. San Juan was founded by Spanish colonists in 1521, who called it Ciudad de Puerto Rico ("City of Puerto Rico"). It is the oldest city in Puerto Rico as well as in the United States; and the second oldest European-established city in the Americas, after Santo Domingo. The city has been the host of numerous important events within the sports community including the Pan American Games, Central American and Caribbean Games and the Caribbean Series.

History

Geography
San Juan is located at 18°27′0″N, 66°04′00″W, and is suitated along the north-east coast of Puerto Rico. The city lies north of Aguas Buenas and Caguas; east of Guaynabo and Bayamón; and west of Carolina and Trujillo Alto. San Juan contains two natural lagoons, the Condado and San Jose.

Topography
San Juan's climate is classified as tropical marine. San Juan enjoys an average of 82 °F (28 °C) during the year, although 90 °F or higher temperatures are often felt during the summer, especially if the winds come from the south. In the winter, lows can drop to the 60s though the average winter low is 71 °F. The coldest temperature ever recorded was 60 °F on March 3, 1957 and the hottest was 98 °F on October 9, 1981. Rainfall is well-distributed all year, but the months of February, March and April are the dryest. San Juan is a tropical city.

Climate
Old San Juan occupies the western end of a rocky islet at the mouth of San Juan Bay. During the 20th century the main population centers surged well beyond the walls of the old city and onto Puerto Rico's main island, and merged with the existing settlements east and south of Old San Juan. As a result, the city is now composed of a variety of neighborhoods.

Cityscape

Main article: Old San Juan, Puerto Rico Old San Juan

Main article: Subdivisions of San Juan, Puerto Rico Other districts
San Juan experienced significant economic growth following World War II. During this period the city underwent an industrial revolution.
See also: List of foreign consulates in San Juan

Economy
Due to technological advances after World War II in the development of the airliner coupled with the island's climate and natural setting, has transformed San Juan into the springboard for tourism around the island, and has made the rest of the Caribbean known throughout the world during the last fifty years. The local universities are promoted as historic places, most notably the campus of University of Puerto Rico located in Rio Piedras, which is the oldest university in the island being founded in 1903. The campus of the Interamerican University is also regarded as an historical location being funded in 1912.

Tourism
See also: List of mayors of San Juan, Puerto Rico
Criminal law is enforced by the Puerto Rico Police Department.

Law and government

San Juan is the largest city in Puerto Rico in population. From 1899 to 1950 the municipality of San Juan excluded the township of Río Piedras. For this reason, population data and land area for the period make reference only to the Antiguo San Juan and Santurce barrios, or subdivisions, of San Juan. The old municipality of Río Piedras constituted the third most populated city of Puerto Rico at the time of its annexation in 1951. Its strategic location south of the capital served as a junction for all the principal ways of transportation of the Island and as a geographical entry to San Juan, which are factors that prompted Río Piedras's dramatic urban development in the 20th century.

Demographics
San Juan is influential in the educative aspect of Puerto Rico, serving as location to many universities and colleges. The most prestigious universities in the area include the University of Puerto Rico's main campus in Río Piedras, the University of the Sacred Heart, the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, the Ana G. Méndez University System's Metropolitan University and the Metropolitan campus of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico. There are numerous minor colleges located in the city, including the Instituto Comercial de Puerto Rico Junior College and the International Junior College, located in Santurce.
In addition to dozens of state-run elementary, junior- and senior-high schools, the San Juan City Government now operates two bilingual schools, including one sports-magnet school, the first municipal-run schools in Puerto Rico.
Most of Puerto Rico's best private schools are located in San Juan, including Robinson and St. John's in the Condado, Perpetuo Socorro in Miramar, St. John's Episcopal and Santa Mónica in Santurce, Espíritu Santo in Hato Rey, San José, San Ignacio and San Antonio in Río Piedras and Cupeyville in Cupey.

Education
See also: List of notable residents of San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan is the birthplace of numerous artists and musicians, locally known as Sanjuaneros, who have significantly influenced the Puerto Rican culture. During the 20th century the musical aspect of the city was influenced by performers including Afro-Caribbean dancer and choreographer Sylvia del Villard and José Enrique Pedreira who became a renowned composer of Puerto Rican Danzas. International musicians such as renowned opera singer Justino Díaz and Grammy Award winners Raymond Ayala and Ricky Martin were born in the city. Other notable residents include writers Manuel A. Alonso and Tomas Blanco, award-winning actors Raúl Juliá and Joaquin Phoenix, and comedian Jose Miguel Agrelot. Rafael Cordero (1790–1868), was influential in the development of Puerto Rican education and is renowned as " The Father of Public Education in Puerto Rico." The city is also the home of numerous contemporary and classic art museums. The Puerto Rico Arts Museum owns the largest collection of contemporary art in Puerto Rico, housing over 1,100 permanent art pieces and displaying numerous temporary exhibitions containing artwork from various locations trough Latin America.

Arts and culture
San Juan's harbor is the fourth busiest in the Western Hemisphere, ranked among the top 17 of the world's in terms of container movement and the largest home-based cruise port in the world with over a dozen cruise ships plying its docks and each year new cruise ships either originate or call at the port. Two airports serve the Metropolitan Area: the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, San Juan's primary commercial airport located nine mile (14 km)s (14 km) from Old San Juan in neighboring Carolina which serves more than 30 domestic and international airlines; and Fernando Ribas Dominicci Airport, located directly across the Caño San Antonio from Old San Juan in the Isla Grande district, used mainly by general aviation aircraft and domestic commercial flights, together with the island's central location has made it the most important transportation hub of the Caribbean.
Transportation
Increased investment in public transportation has not changed the fact that San Juan is an automobile reliant city and its fast growth has sparked urban sprawl. It is currently served by five limited-access expressways and highways and numerous arterial avenues and boulevards and suffers from severe traffic congestion.

Public transport
The main hospital and medical school in the city of San Juan is "El Centro Medico de Rio Piedras" (Medical Center of Rio Piedras). It has various helicopters in service, allowing patients and people in need of medical attention to be carried to the center from many places around the island.

Health and utilities
Teams based in San Juan have been notably successful in athletic competition. The Santurce Crabbers won the National Superior Basketball League championship on 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003 during this period being recognized as a dynasty. The San Juan Senators and the Santurce Crabbers were the two major baseball teams in the city, winning the championship of the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League a total of seventeen times. The Santurce Crabbers are located third among teams with more championships in the Caribbean Series, winning championships in the 1951, 1953, 1955, 1993 and 2000 editions of the tournament. The city has also been the host of numerous events within the sports community; some examples include:
The recently-built $28-million San Juan Natatorium is beginning to attract islandwide and regional swim meets, as well winter training by top-rated mainland U.S. colleges and universities, including the United States Military Academy at West Point.
In July 2007, the San Juan Golf Academy and its golf driving range began operating atop the city's former sanitary landfill in Puerto Nuevo and will eventually include the city's first and only 9-hole golf course.

Host of the 1966 Central American and Caribbean Games. Sports

2008-04-08T08:45:00.001-07:00

Panama City (Spanish: Ciudad de Panamá) is the capital and largest city and conurbation of the Republic of Panama as well as the Panamá Province. It has a population of 708,738, with a total metro population of 1,063,000, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, at 8°58′N, 79°32′W. Panama City is the political, administrative and cultural center of the country. Juan Carlos Navarro is the current mayor of the city.
Recently, Panama City has become one of the most important financial and touristic centers in the Americas, with more than 104 banks, and has become a hub for high-rise buildings (eight of the ten tallest skyscrapers in Latin America), commerce and industrialization. The city enjoys five large multilevel malls and many five-star hotels. Panama City was chosen to be the American Capital of Culture for the year 2003 (jointly, with Curitiba, Brazil).

History
The city has numerous tourist attractions including world-class hotels and restaurants. Particularly interesting for tourists are various sites located in the old quarter (also commonly referred to as "Casco Viejo", "Casco Antiguo" or "San Felipe"), including
Further southwest one can climb Ancon Hill and get an overview of the city (see photograph at the end of the article) with the well-known Bridge of the Americas spanning over the Panama Canal. There is only one other bridge over the Panama Canal, the Centennial Bridge, which was completed in 2003 and is now becoming an attraction.
Recently relocated to the entrance of Curundu Heights in the former Panama Canal Zone is the Museo Antropológico Reina Torres de Araúz (Reina Torres de Arauz Anthropological Museum) — better known by its Spanish acronym MARTA — with precious metal artifacts from pre-Columbian Panama.
The area immediately east of the Pacific entrance of the canal--known as the Amador Causeway literally The Vaults, a waterfront promenade jutting out into the Pacific;
The National Institute of Culture Building and across from it, the French Embassy;
The Cathedral on Plaza de la Catedral;
Teatro Nacional, a recently renovated performance center, with outstanding natural acoustics; It provides an intimate performance environment and seating for about 800 guests.
Museo del Canal Interoceánico (Interoceanic Canal Museum);
Numerous restaurants located near the French embassy.
Palacio de las Garzas (Heron's Palace), the official name of the presidential palace. There are real herons in the compound. Panama City as a tourist destination
The belltower of the St. John Bosco Basilica.
View from the university grounds.
In Casco Viejo.
A Casco Viejo street paralleling the water, near to the Hospedaje Casco Viejo.
A view of the high rise of modern Panamá City, across the Bahía de Panamá, from the old harbour near the Mercado Publico in San Felipe (Casco Viejo).
Causeway connecting Naos, Perico and Flamengo Islands to the mainland. A bicycle path parallels the roadway.
Panama City at dusk as seen from the Bay of Panama.
Large Church near the central square in Casco Viejo, Panama City
The entrance to the Panama Canal from the Pacific Ocean, the Bridge of the Americas at night.
Panama City seen from Isla Flamenco, an island linked to the city by Amador Causeway, a link made with rocks excavated from the Canal. The island is used as a boasts many posh restaurants, pubs, dance clubs and a marina.
Panama City's skyline seen from Corredor Sur, a toll highway that links the city with Tocumen International Airport.
Plaza de Francia in Casco Vijeo. A monument erected in the Plaza of France in honor of the workers and French engineers that participated in the construction of the channel.

Nature
Due to many years of growth without any planning, Panama City is facing several urban problems. With the new Skyscrapers population density is growing far beyond expected, neighborhoods like El Cangrejo and El Carmen, designed for a density of 10 000/km² are now reaching a 35 000/km² density. The city's downtown streets are overcrowded with cars, creating many traffic problems for commuters. The old pipe system of Panama City isn't getting enough maintenance and is causing several water pollution-related problems. This is because Panama City is limited in the south by the Pacific Ocean, in the north by the protected lands of the Metropolitan Park and other parks of the Panama Canal Basin, and in the west by the Panama Canal itself with more protected land areas beyond it. Subsequently Panama City has expanded towards east and northeast.

Urban planning problems
Panama City's international airport, Tocumen International Airport, located on the eastern outskirts of the city, is easily accessible. There are direct flights between Tocumen and New York, Newark, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Houston, Orlando, Miami, Atlanta, Madrid and all major cities in the Caribbean area, Central America and South America. Panama City also has a regional airport Marcos A. Gelabert, located in an area once occupied by Albrook Air Force Base. Marcos A. Gelabert Airport is the main hub for regional flights within Panama and the Pearl Islands in the Pacific.
Panama City has an extensive and efficient, yet confusing to tourists, form of public transportation consisting of colorful painted buses colloquially known as diablo rojo. A diablo rojo is usually "customized" or painted with bright colors, usually depicting famous actors, politicians or singers. It is now popular all over the city (and also in neighboring towns) for bus drivers to personally customize the interior and exterior of their diablo rojo. There is also a bus terminal near the Marcos A. Gelabert airport which together with the airport serves as the main transport hub for the rest of the country.
Panama City is in the process of implementing a more modern bus system (bus rapid transit) that will roughly cost US$100 million. Construction works (additional bus lanes, bus stops) are now progressing and should be completed in the first quarter of 2009 according to "La Prensa" newspaper.

Transportation
Panama City has numerous daily newspapers, most with an online presence:
The English language newspaper The Star & Herald suspended publication in 1987. It had started publication as The Panama Herald in 1851. For news in English and commentary about politics, economics and society in Panama see the online publication The Panama News.

Mi Diario
La Prensa
El Panamá América
La Estrella de Panamá Sports

List of cities in Panama

2008-04-07T09:14:00.001-07:00

Downtown Victoria is a neighbourhood of Victoria, British Columbia that acts as the commercial and entertainment hub of the city and surrounding region. The Bay Centre shopping mall is located in the middle of downtown; it's one of the major shopping destinations of the region. Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre Arena is the largest sports-entertainment multiplex on Vancouver Island and the second largest outside of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, Lower Mainland of British Columbia.
The downtown area is an extremely popular place for tourists as that is where most of the hotels, restaurants, and shops are. Also there are many tourists attractions in and around the area.
Downtown Victoria, beside being a tourist playground, contains most of Greater Victoria's and the Capital Regional District's urban high rise office towers. They house the local head offices of multinational banks, government agencies, private agencies, and other types of organizations. In recent years, many expensive, large condominium complexes were built or are being built to attract more residents to downtown. The goal of these projects is to increase the permanent resident base, to support the downtown economy.

2008-04-06T09:21:00.001-07:00

Nike means "Victory" in Greek, and Athena was worshiped in this form, as goddess of victory, on the Acropolis, Athens. Her temple was the earliest Ionic temple on the Acropolis was compensated by its prominent position on a steep bastion at the south west corner of the Acropolis, to the right of the entrance (propylaea). There the citizens worshipped the goddess in hope of a prosperous outcome in the long war fought on land and sea against the Spartans and their allies. The Temple of Athena Nike was an expression of Athens' ambition to be the leading Greek city state in the Peloponnese.
The Temple sits within the sanctuary of Athena Nike, atop a bastion on the south flank of the great stair to the Athenian Acropolis. In contrast to the Acropolis proper, a walled sanctuary entered through the Propylaia, the Nike Sanctuary was open, entered from the Propylaia's southwest wing and from a narrow stair on the north. The sheer walls of its bastion were protected on the north, west, and south by a parapet, the famed "Nike Parapet", named for its frieze of Nikai celebrating victory and sacrificing to their patroness, Athena.

Temple architecture and sculpture

Architecture of Ancient Greece
Art of Ancient Greece
Classical architecture
Classical sculpture
Greek Temple

2008-04-05T09:45:00.001-07:00

Jonas Edward Salk (October 28, 1914 – June 23, 1995) was an American physician and researcher best known for the development of the first successful polio vaccine (the eponymous Salk vaccine).
During his life he worked in New York, Michigan, Pittsburgh and California. In his later career, Salk devoted much energy toward the development of an AIDS vaccine.
Salk did not seek wealth or fame through his innovations, famously stating, "Who owns my polio vaccine? The people! Could you patent the sun?"

Life
In 1947, Salk received a position at the University of Pittsburgh, as the head of the Virus Research lab. Though he continued his research on improving the influenza vaccine, he set his sights on the poliomyelitis virus. The poliovirus initially attacks the nervous system and within a few hours of infection, paralysis can occur. The death rate of the disease is about 5-10%. Death usually occurs when the breathing muscles become paralyzed. Polio was sometimes hard to diagnose because of its flu-like symptoms, which include stiff neck, fever, and headache.
At that time, it was believed that immunity can come only after the body has survived at least a mild infection by live virus. In contrast, Salk observed that it is possible to acquire immunity through contact with inactivated (killed) virus. Using formaldehyde, Salk killed the poliovirus, but kept it intact enough to trigger the necessary immune response. Salk's research caught the attention of Basil O'Connor, president of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now known as the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation). The organization decided to fund Salk's efforts to develop a killed virus vaccine.
The vaccine was first tested in monkeys, and then in patients at the D.T. Watson Home for Crippled Children. After successful tests, in 1952, Salk tested his vaccine on volunteering parties, including himself, the laboratory staff, his wife, and his children. In 1954, national testing began on two million children, ages six to nine, who became known as the Polio Pioneers. This was one of the first double-blind placebo-controlled tests, which has since become standard: half of the treated received the vaccine, and half received a placebo, where neither the individuals nor the researchers know who belongs to the control group and the experimental group. One-third of the children, who lived in areas where vaccine was not available, were observed in order to evaluate the background level of polio in this age group. On April 12, 1955, the results were announced: the vaccine was safe and effective. The patient would develop immunity to the live disease due to the body's earlier reaction to the killed virus.
Salk's vaccine was instrumental in beginning the eradication of polio, a once widely-feared disease. Polio's outbreak in 1916 left 6000 dead and 27,000 paralyzed. In 1952, 57,628 cases were recorded. After the vaccine became available, polio cases in the U.S. dropped by 85-90 percent in only two years.
However, the live-virus oral vaccine developed by Albert Sabin became the preferred alternative after a sometimes intense clash between the two scientists and their adherents. The Salk vaccine, which is injected, proved to be effective in sharply reducing the number of polio cases in the United States. But the Sabin vaccine had the advantage of easier delivery and became accepted in the United States after the testing abroad. It was licensed in 1961 and eventually became the vaccine of choice in most parts of the world. The last indigenous case of polio in the U.S. was reported in 1991. Partly because of that fact, only inactivated, Salk-type polio vaccines have been recommended for use in the United States since 2000[1].

Polio vaccine
Dr. Salk's last years were spent searching for a vaccine against AIDS.
Jonas Salk died on June 23, 1995 in La Jolla at the age of 80. Father Chip Homer performed the funeral service.

Later life

Man Unfolding (1972)
Survival of the Wisest (1973)
World Population and Human Values: A New Reality (1981)
Anatomy of Reality (1983) Books
There are schools in Bolingbrook, Illinois, Levittown, New York, and Old Bridge, New Jersey named for him.
He is cited in the popular American TV Series The Office, Season 3, Episode 37, "The Convict," as a white person which character Jim Halpert trusts. "Who?" replies his boss, Michael, portrayed as dim-witted by actor Steve Carrell.

See also

2008-04-04T08:54:00.001-07:00

Prince Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal and Duke of Braganza KG (pron. IPA [lu'iʃ fɨ'lip(ɨ)]; Luís Filipe Maria Carlos Amélio Francisco Vítor Manuel António Lourenço Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis Bento de Saxe-Coburgo-Gotha e Bragança; March 21, 1887 - February 1, 1908) was the elder son of King Carlos I of Portugal and the 21st Duke of Braganza.
Luís Filipe was born in Lisbon, the elder son of Carlos, Duke of Braganza (later King Carlos I of Portugal) and of his wife Princess Amélie of Orléans. Luís Filipe was granted the titles of Prince of Beira and Duke of Barcelos, traditionally held by the heir apparent of the Prince Royal (Príncipe Real) and Duke of Braganza – the heir apparent to the Portuguese throne.
Two years later, Luís Filipe's father ascended the throne, and Luís Filipe became Prince Royal and the 21st Duke of Braganza, as the heir apparent of the King. In English, he is sometimes, but inaccurately, called Crown Prince of Portugal.
In 1907 Luís Filipe acted as regent while his father was outside the country. The same year Luís Filipe made a visit to the Portuguese colonies in Africa.
On February 1, 1908 Luís Filipe and his family were returning to Lisbon from their country estate at Vila Viçosa. Alfredo Costa and Manuel Buiça, two members a revolutionary society called the Carbonária, shot at the family, hitting Luís Filipe, his father Carlos I, and his younger brother Infante Manuel, Duke of Beja. Carlos I died immediately, while Luís Filipe lived for another twenty minutes. Manuel survived the attack, having only been shot in the arm, while his mother Amelia was unharmed. Manuel would succeed Carlos as Manuel II.
Although he survived his father for twenty minutes, Luís Filipe could not be considered as having been King because the Portuguese monarchy lacked the position of Crown Prince and automatic succession. Two years later, on October 5, 1910, the monarchy was overthrown and a republic established.

2008-04-03T09:27:00.001-07:00

Vanda Miss Joaquim (Simplified Chinese: 卓锦万黛兰; Pinyin: zhuójǐn wàndàilán), a hybrid orchid cultivar, is Singapore's national flower.

History
On April 15, 1981, the Minister of Culture, S. Dhanabalan, announced that as part of an overall effort to foster national pride and identity Vanda Miss Joaquim was chosen from amongst 40 other flowers (including some 30 orchids) as Singapore's national flower. The ability of Vanda Miss Joaquim's to bloom throughout the year was considered to reflect Singapore's continuous quest for progress and excellence in all aspects of life, and its natural resilience which is reflected the determination of the Singaporean people to stand fast through difficult times.

Significance
A strong inflorescence of Vanda Miss Joaquim may carry up to 12 buds, usually with four flowers open at a time. Each flower is about 5 cm across and 6 cm tall, and as is the case with its parents, the petals are twisted around so that the back surface faces front. The two petals and the top sepal are rosy-violet, and the lateral sepals are a pale mauve. The lip is very large and broad and the middle lobe extends out loke a fan. It is coloured violet- rose, merging into a contrasting fiery orange at the centre. Over the orange patch, the lip is finely spotted with dark purple.

Features
Vanda Miss Joaquim requires full sunlight, free air movement, high humidity and heavy fertilising to achieve optimum growth and flowering. It needs support to grow straight and tall but it flowers only when the top of its stem rises above the support. It is a robust, sun loving plant with slender stems best grown in beds against post supports.

See also

Biology of Vanda Miss Joaquim by Choy Sin Hew (PhD., retired Professor of Botany, National University of Singapore), Tim Wing Yam (PhD., Singapore Botanic Gardens) and Joseph Arditti (PhD., Professor Emeritus, University of California, Irvine).

2008-04-02T08:40:00.001-07:00

Oskar Morgenstern (January 24, 1902 - July 26, 1977) was a German born Austrian economist who, working with John von Neumann, helped found the mathematical field of game theory (see Neumann-Morgenstern utility).
Morgenstern was born in Görlitz, Germany. His mother was an illegitimate daughter of Frederick III, German Emperor.
He was educated in Vienna, and was a recipient of a three year fellowship financed by the Rockefeller Foundation. When Hitler took over Vienna, Morgenstern was in the United States at the time and decided it would be a good idea to stay. He became a member of the faculty at Princeton University, but gravitated toward the Institute for Advanced Study. His first book was "Economic Prediction". In 1944, he and von Neumann co-wrote Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, recognized as the first book on game theory. Morgenstern also wrote the book "On the accuracy of economic observations". He applied game theory to business. He died in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States.

2008-04-01T09:27:00.001-07:00

Technological escalation describes the fact that whenever two parties are in competition, each side tends to employ continuing technological improvements to defeat the other. Technology is defined here as a creative invention, be it an object or a method of using an object. This is a natural result of mankind's use of our brains, and the nature of science and technology that understanding and innovations build on each other.
Escalation is usually a negative term, meaning to make bigger in a bad way. However, if two companies are in an escalating war to produce the best widget, the consumer benefits because they get a choice between better and better widgets. In this interpretation, good modern illustrations are the comics Spy vs. Spy and the vicious circle of email spam filters vs. spams by the coding geeks and the spammers.

Objects and methods
There is a philosophical difference of opinion on what constitutes the advancement of civilization, and technological progress lies at the heart of the discussion. One view holds that the most advanced civilization is the one that is the most peaceful, compassionate, tolerant (of non-evil acts), just, and worldly.
The other view holds that the most advanced civilization is the one which has the most advanced technology; that civilization 'deserves' to succeed and defeat others, perhaps subjugating them in the process.
One might fairly question if these are, in fact, really in conflict, or if this is merely a misunderstanding by one or both parties. Such questioning would ask such questions as:

Is the purpose of technology an indicator of advancement or the cause of advancement?
What ethical constructs should rule the use of technology (power) to further the desires of a social group?
How should social groups act towards each other when they come into conflict?
Is technological escalation akin to 'greed' (one of the '7 deadly sins') in that a controlled or moderate amount is a healthy thing serving to motivate one towards a better life, while an immoderate or unrestrained use leads inevitably to evil acts? Motives
Technological escalation has occurred in many wars, and been key to victory in some of their battles — the longbows at the Battle of Agincourt and the chariots of the Hyksos. Clearly other factors exist as in the Vietnam War, the United States utilized a far higher level of technology and production than the Viet Cong, and the technology specific to fighting in Southeast Asia did improve during the war progressed — but other factors overshadowed this technological superiority, and the United States ended up losing.
In the present day, the effects of technological escalation on the largest scales are not disputed: constant threat of terrorism and asymmetric warfare due to, for instance, nuclear proliferation spreading to militant groups and individuals, and a great degree of tension and confrontation between an increasing number of industrial states that have the capacity to wipe out each other's populations — thus, an increasing percentage of the skills and energy and resources of each such power is devoted to anticipating and preventing the conflict arising from the weapons that they, due to whatever motives, feel compelled to produce.
However, these effects are often taken as inevitable or manageable, and much more explicit attention is paid to the commercial effects of technological escalation, which is most usually known by the euphemism innovation.
Examples of commercial technological escalation are often indistinguishable from examples of pro-technology propaganda, of which the 1980s AI boom and much larger and global 1990s dotcom boom are the best known examples. In each case, the applicability of expert systems and e-commerce respectively had yet to be proven, but the same factors as above led to the invented "need" to have the "latest and greatest" technology to brag about in one's advertising, and to have at least some of one's portfolio in the "sexy", "high-tech", "growth" stocks — which of course turned out largely to be incapable of sustaining the required profitability.
The effects of technological escalation are also trivially visible in the computer gaming world — where access to higher Internet bandwidth and faster computers tend to determine success in the popular first person shooter and even, increasingly, the real time strategy computer games. This of course leads to a larger and larger percentage of one's income being "invested" in computer hardware for these purposes, perhaps in pursuit of some prize or recognition for success at a game.

2008-03-29T10:11:00.001-07:00

Jean-Marie-François-Ferdinand de Broglie (21 June 1921 – 24 December 1976) was a French politician.
Born in Paris, he was one of the negotiators of the Évian Accords.
Jean de Broglie was assassinated on 24 December 1976 while coming out of the house of Pierre de Varga, his financial advisor. Varga was quickly arrested; in 1981, he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for complicity in the assassination.
Jean Marie Francois Ferdinand de Broglie was the first son of Prince (Eugene Marie) Amedee de Broglie (1891-1957), himself the fourth son of Prince Francois Marie Albert de Broglie (1851-1939), himself was the fourth son of Albert, 4th duc de Broglie.
By his wife Micheline, he had three sons, including Victor-François, 8th duc de Broglie (b. 1949) who succeeded a distinguished distant cousin in 1987.

Sources

Paul Theroff (2005) An Online Gotha: Broglie Genealogy

2008-03-28T08:16:00.001-07:00

Alex Zülle (born July 5, 1968 in Wil, Switzerland) is a Swiss road bicycle racer. During the 1990s he was one of the best cyclists in the world, winning Vuelta a España two times and taking the second place in 1999 Tour de France.
During his career, Alex Zülle raced for the following teams: ONCE (1991-1997), Festina (1998), Banesto (1999-2000), Coast (2003), Phonak (2003-2004). Although Zülle has an impressive palmarès, his career unfortunately coincided with the one of Miguel Indurain, five times Tour de France winner and of Lance Armstrong, the seven times Tour de France winner, which meant that he never won the Tour de France, but finished this prestigious race twice as second best. Furthermore, Zülle met with success in the Vuelta, Giro d'Italia, Tour de Suisse, Tour de Romandie and other races. Zülle retired in 2004.
In 1998 Zülle was part of the Festina team which got banned from the 1998 Tour de France because of serious doping allegations. This known as the Festina Scandal. See Doping at the Tour de France.

2008-03-27T09:18:00.001-07:00

The USF Sun Dome is a 55,000 square-foot multi-purpose entertainment/sports facility on the campus of the University of South Florida, which is located in Tampa, Florida. It is located on the southeastern side of campus, and is home to the men's and women's basketball and volleyball teams. It was built starting in 1977, and was completed on November 29, 1980.
The Sun Dome is a multi-purpose facility, hosting approximately 300 different events each year, including sporting events, concerts, home and garden shows, trade shows, religious services and conventions, ethnic festivals, rodeos, bull riding competitions, youth sports camps, wrestling, boxing, Taekwondo tournaments, gymnastics and cheerleading competitions, commencement ceremonies, lectures and political rallies among other corporate, community and university events. Performers such as Elton John, Frank Sinatra, and Britney Spears have all held concerts from their respective world tours in the Sun Dome.
The Sun Dome was one of the few arenas in the United States to be created with an inflated roof. Airlocks kept the interior pressurized and the roof up. This system was replaced in 2000 with a 90,000 square foot Teflon coated roof supported by a futuristic steel space frame that peaks 115 feet above the arena floor. State of the art video screens were added in time for the USF Men's Basketball Team's 2005-2006 season.

2008-03-26T09:13:00.001-07:00

Olof Mårtensson (1557 - March 25, 1609) also known in the Latin form Olaus Martini, was Archbishop of Uppsala from 1601 to his death.
Born in Uppsala, Sweden, he first enrolled in the University of Uppsala, but when it was temporarily closed in 1578 he travelled abroad. In 1583 he got a Master's degree at the University of Rostock and then travelled home again.
On returning, he made himself a reputation when he criticized the liturgy of Swedish King John III who held somewhat Catholics beliefs despite that Sweden had been Lutheran since 1531.
The king's brother Duke Charles, who would later become King Charles IX, promoted Olaus to becoming Archbishop of Uppsala in 1601. Despite his support, Martini was fundamentally in opposition to the beliefs of duke Charles, a conflict which eventually led to disputes between the two. Martini was an orthodox Lutheran, while Duke Charles is believed to have been inclined towards Calvinistic tenants -- which he himself denied (see: crypto-Calvinism).
In 1606 Martini had a text published which was sharply polemicing against Catholic and Calvinistic tenets.
Although he was in opposition to the King and the Duke, he was considered a hard working and trustworthy man by the University of Uppsala and by his communion.

2008-03-25T08:41:00.001-07:00

The High Seas Fleet (German: Hochseeflotte) was the main battle fleet of the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) during World War I. The fleet was based at Wilhelmshaven in the Jade estuary, and commanded by Admirals Friedrich von Ingenohl (1913–1915), Hugo von Pohl (1915–1916), Reinhard Scheer (1916–1918), and Franz von Hipper (1918). It posed such a threat to the Royal Navy's control of the seas around Britain that the British Grand Fleet had to remain concentrated in the North Sea for the duration of the war, even as many urgent tasks in other theatres of war went undone for lack of ships.
The High Seas Fleet was outnumbered three to two by the British Grand Fleet; however, during some periods in the first year of the war an equalization of forces in the North Sea was almost achieved not by Germany's will but by the British dispersal of ships to numerous other parts of the world. In the latter part of the war the ratio tipped in the British favour. The German navy was unwilling to risk a head-to-head engagement of fleets, preferring a strategy of raids into the North Sea with the aim of drawing out a section of the British fleet that could be cut off and destroyed. However, the battles at Heligoland Bight (28 August 1914), Dogger Bank (24 January 1915) and Jutland (31 May 1916) were inconclusive and did not change the strategic position.
As the British blockade caused increasing economic hardship in Germany, the German Imperial Navy concentrated its resources on unrestricted submarine warfare in an effort to win the First Battle of the Atlantic and strangle the British war effort. Aside from two sorties in August 1916 and April 1918, the High Seas Fleet languished in dock for the remainder of the war.
In October 1918, with the army facing defeat and the civil population starving, Scheer decided to launch a do-or-die attack on the Grand Fleet. Knowing that the attack would be vetoed, he neglected to inform the government of Prince Max von Baden. But when orders were given to sail from Wilhelmshaven on 29 October 1918, many sailors either refused to obey them or deserted. The plan was abandoned, but these events led to the Kiel Mutiny, to revolution in Germany, the fall of the Imperial government on 9 November and the Armistice on 11 November 1918.
Under the terms of the Armistice, the High Seas Fleet went into internment at the Royal Navy's base at Scapa Flow in Orkney. In "Operation ZZ" on 21 November 1918, sixty Allied battleships escorted eleven battleships, five battlecruisers, eight cruisers and forty-eight destroyers of the High Seas Fleet into captivity. On 21 June 1919, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter gave the order to scuttle the ships to prevent their falling into British hands. Fifty-three ships sank. Nine German officers and sailors were killed as the British attempted to prevent the sinkings, and were the last casualties of the First World War.
Swedish historian Alf W Johansson considers the creation of a German High Sea Fleet a prime example of a strategic blunder. Translated from his book Europas krig ("Wars of Europe"):
Admiral von Tirpitz's High Seas Fleet had proven to be a gigantic miscalculation; a product of vanity, conceit, and fuzzy military thinking. It proved useless as a means of exerting political pressure; instead of forcing Britain closer to Germany it drove them closer to France. When the war came, it was unfit as a military instrument.
It can be added that the final attempt to use it as a military instrument resulted in the overthrow of the political system that built it.

2008-03-24T09:27:00.001-07:00

The Battle of Langport was a Parliamentarian victory late in the English Civil War, which destroyed the last Royalist field army, and ultimately gave Parliament control of the West of England, which had hitherto been a major source of manpower, raw materials and imports for the Royalists.

The battle
Goring's army had been the last effective field army available to the Royalists, whatever its quality. Its loss was a major blow.
Fairfax captured Bridgwater on July 23, and the city of Bristol on September 10. These actions isolated the West Country from King Charles's remaining forces in Oxford and the Midlands. After this, the Civil War became largely a matter of mopping up isolated Royalist garrisons.

2008-03-23T09:24:00.001-07:00

English grammar
English grammar is a body of rules specifying how meanings are created in English. There are many accounts of the grammar, which tend to fall into two groups: the descriptivist, which describe the patterns through which meanings are typically created in functional speech and writing; and the prescriptivist, which set out pre-existing rules as to how meanings are created (see prescription and description).
No human language's grammar has been fully mapped out. That is, no set of unambiguous rules has been formulated that will always or almost always agree with native speakers on whether any given sentence is grammatical or not. (This is evidenced by the generally poor performance of automated grammar checkers and so on.) The development of a complete grammar is an important goal of natural language processing.
The remainder of this article deals with English grammar as viewed from a linguistic perspective. Therefore, the issues addressed deal mainly with the grammars of natural dialects of everyday speech rather than those of formal writing. Issues common to all languages are not stressed here.

Disputes in English grammar
English verbs

Conjugation tables
English irregular verbs
English modal auxiliary verb
English passive voice
English declension
- English personal pronouns
  English plural
  English compound
  English honorifics
  English relative clauses
  Gender in English Word order
  In English, nouns generally describe persons, places, things, and abstract ideas, and are treated as grammatically distinct from verbs. English nouns, in general, are not marked for case or gender, but are marked for number and definiteness.
  
  Nouns
  Main article: Gender in English Gender
  The deictic element indicates whether or not a specific subset of a noun is intended; and if so, which subset. A deictic is either (i) specific or (ii) non-specific. The specific deictics are given in the following table.
  The subset in question is specified by one of two possible deictic features: either
  together with the possibility of an interrogative in both of these categories (demonstrative "which?" and possessive "whose?"). All of these have the function of identifying a particular subset of the noun that is being referred to.
  "Proximity to the speaker" refers not only to physical distance, but also to temporal; deictics orient the listener to the 'speaker-now', the temporal–modal complex that constitutes the point of reference of the speech event. So, "this tragedy" refers to one that is current or recent and/or is or was geographically close to the speaker, whereas "that tragedy" refers to one that occurred in the past and/or was less geographically close.
  There is one more item in this class, namely "the". The word "the" is a specific, determinative deictic of a peculiar kind: it means "the subset in question is identifiable; but this will not tell you how to identify it—the information is somewhere around, where you can recover it"; typically, the listener/reader can recover the information from assumed general knowledge, the specific context, or from a specific and recent point in the text. So whereas "this train" means "you know which train: the one near me", and "my train" means "you know which train: the one I own", "the train" means simply "you know which train." Hence "the" is usually accompanied by some other element that supplies the information required: for example, "the long train" means "you know which train: you can tell it by its length."
  Non-specific deictics convey the sense of all, or none, or some unspecified subset. The main categories and main items in each are as follow.
  (a) Total
  (b) Partial
  There are two systems of number for English nouns, one associated with each of the two kinds of deictics. (i) With specific deictics, the number system is non-plural versus plural; mass nouns are grouped together with singular, in a category of non-plural. So "this" and "that" go with non-plural (singular or mass), and "these" and "those" go with plural.
  For example, for non-plural nouns, singular might be "this train" (plural "these trains") and mass might be "this electricity" (no plural equivalent).
  (ii) With non-specific deictics, the system is singular versus non-singular. So "a" and "an" go with singular, and weak "some" with non-singular (mass or plural).
  For example, "a train" is singular (plural "trains" or "some trains"); non-singular mass ("electricity" or "some electricity" has no singular equivalent).
  If there is no deictic element, the noun is non-specific and, within that, non-singular. In other words, a noun may have no deictic element in its structure, but this does not mean that it has no value in the deictic "system", but simply that the value selected is realized by a form having no deictic in the expression.
  
  (a) demonstratively, i.e., by reference to some kind of proximity to the speaker
  - ("this", "these" = "near me"; "that", "those" = "not near me"), or
    (b) by possession, i.e., by reference to 'person' as defined from the standpoint of the speaker
    - ("my", "your", "our", "his", "her", "its", "their"; also "Mary's", "my father's", etc.)
      positive ("each", "every", "both", "all")
      negative ("neither", "no", i.e. "not any")
      selective ("one", "either", "some", "any")
      non-selective ("a" or "an", "one") Deixis
      
      Main article: English plural Number
      A definite article such as "the" is used to refer to a specific instance of the noun, often already mentioned in the context or easy to identify. Definite articles are slightly different from demonstratives, which often indicate the location of nouns with respect to the speaker and audience.
      An indefinite article such as "a" or "an" is used to refer to a generic instance of the noun. Note that "a" is used when preceding a noun beginning with a consonant sound, whereas "an" is used when preceding a noun beginning with a vowel sound.
      
      "Let's look for a good restaurant."
      "What about the restaurant we ate at last week?"
      "That restaurant was terrible. What about this one on the corner here?"
      You should have a drink.
      That building is a university.
      They are being an annoyance.
      He is an heir to the throne. Articles
      Historically, English used to mark nouns for case, and the two remnants of this case marking are the pronominal system and the possessive clitic (which used to be called the Saxon genitive). The possessive is marked by a clitic at the end of the possessing noun phrase. This can be illustrated in the following manner:
      The king's daughter's house fell.
      The first <'s> clitic on king indicates that the daughter in question is the king's. The second <'s> clitic does not attach to daughter, as many people mistakenly believe, but in fact to the entire noun phrase The king's daughter.
      English preserves the old Germanic noun case system in its pronouns. Their forms vary with gender, number, person, and case. The full set of cases is listed below; note that modern use of the second person singular thou, originally the informal form to the formal you, is very rare, and is confined to dialects and religious and poetic functions. In modern Standard English, the second person plural you is used instead.
      See English personal pronouns, for further information.
      
      Some dialects use different forms for the second person plural pronoun: they include you-all or y'all . These forms are generally regarded as colloquial and non-standard.
      The pronoun thou was the former second person singular pronoun; it is considered an archaism in most contexts, although it is still used in some dialects in the north of England.
      Mine (and thine) were also previously used before vowel sounds to avoid a glottal stop. e.g., "Do mine eyes deceive me?", "Know thine enemy." This usage is now archaic.
      Whom is often replaced with who. Case
      Nouns can also be used as verbs, as in "verbing weirds language", or as adjectives, as in "mountain bike". See the following articles:
      
      Verbification
      Adjective: Adjectival use of nouns Nouns as other parts of speech
      
      Main articles: English verbs and Conjugation tables Verbs
      Verbs in English are marked in limited fashion for person. Unlike some other European languages, person cannot generally be inferred from the conjugation attached to the verb. As a result, subject nouns and pronouns are generally required elements in English sentences for clarity's sake. Most regular verbs in English follow the paradigm exemplified below for the simple present of the verb "to listen":
      Note: an archaic version of the second person singular is "thou listenest", and of the third person singular "he/she/it listeneth".
      
      Person
      Changes in tense in English are achieved by the changes in ending and the use of auxiliary verbs "to be" and "to have" and the use of the auxiliaries "will", "shall" and "would". (These auxiliaries cannot co-occur with other modals like can, may, and must.) The examples below use the regular verb to listen:
      Auxiliary verbs may be used to define tense, aspect, or mood of a verb phrase.
      As mentioned above "going to" is used for some future pseudo-tenses:
      Forms of "do" are used for some negatives, questions and emphasis of the simple present and simple past:
      
      Present tenses
      
      Present continuous (or "present progressive"): "I am listening." This tense expresses actions in the present taking place as the speaker is speaking.
      Simple present (or simply "present"): "I listen." This tense expresses actions in the present on a habitual or repetitive basis, but not necessarily happening at the moment the speaker is speaking.
      Present perfect : "I have listened." This tense expresses actions that began in the past but are still true in the present: "I have known her for six years" (and I still know her).
      All forms of the present tense are often used in place of their future-tense counterparts. In particular, various kinds of subordinate clauses — especially if and when clauses — cannot generally use the future tense, so the present tense is used instead.
      Past tenses
      
      Simple past: "I listened." This is used to express a completed action that took place at a specific moment in the past. (Confusingly, in US English, the simple past may sometimes be used for a non-specific moment in the past
      Present perfect or perfect "I have listened." This is used to express a completed action that took place at a non-specific moment in the past. This tense often expresses actions that happen in the past, yet cannot be considered a past tense because it always has a connection to the present.
      Past continuous (otherwise known as the imperfect or past progressive): "I was listening." This is used to express an incomplete action in the past. (Thus an "imperfect" action, as opposed to a completed and therefore "perfect" action.)
      Past perfect or pluperfect: "I had listened." This expresses an action completed prior to some other action in the past (often expressed by the simple past). The pluperfect is thus expressing an action even more in the past e.g "He realised he had lost his way", "I was going to town because he had spoken to me".
      Present perfect continuous: "I have been listening." This is used to express that an event started at some time in the past and continuing to the present.
      Past perfect continuous or simply "perfect continuous": "I had been listening." Usually used with an explicit duration, this indicates that an event was ongoing for a specific time, e.g. "When Peter entered my room, I had been listening to music for half an hour."
      Future tenses
      
      Simple future: "I shall/will listen." This is used to express that an event will occur in the future, or that the speaker intends to perform some action.
      Future continuous: "I shall/will be listening." This is used to express an ongoing event that has not yet been initiated.
      Future perfect: "I shall/will have listened." This indicates an action which will occur before some other action in the future: Normally two actions are expressed, and the future perfect indicates an action which will occur in the future but will, at the time of the main future action expressed, be in the past (e.g. "I will know the tune next week because I will have listened to it").
      Future perfect continuous or future imperfect: "I shall/will have been listening." Expresses an ongoing action that occurs in the future, before some other event expressed in the future.
      "I am going to listen" is a construction using "to go" as an auxiliary. It is referred to as going to future, futur proche or immediate future, and has the same sense as the simple future, sometimes with an implication of immediacy. It is not strictly a tense, and "to go" is not strictly a tense auxiliary verb, but this construction often presented as a tense for simplicity. By varying the tense of the auxiliary "to go", various other meanings can be achieved, i.e. I am going to be listening (future continuous), I was going to listen (Conditional perfect continuous).
      Conditional tenses
      
      Present conditional or simply conditional: "I would listen." This is used to express an event that occurred multiple times or was ongoing in the past (i.e. When I was younger, I would listen. [multiple times]), or something that would be done now or in the future when predicated upon another condition (i.e. "If I had the time, I would listen to you." [this condition could be known from context and omitted from the conditional statement.])
      Present continuous conditional: "I would be listening." This is used to express an ongoing event that had not yet been initiated.
      Conditional perfect: "I would have listened." Indicates that an action would occur after some other event.
      Conditional perfect continuous: "I would have been listening": Expresses an ongoing action that would occur in the future in the past, after some other event.
      "Do I listen?" "I do not listen." "I do listen!"
      "Did I listen?" "I did not listen." "I did listen!" Tense
      
      Main article: English passive voice Voice
      English has "moods" of verb. These always include the declarative/indicative and the subjunctive moods, and normally the imperative is included as a mood. Some people include conditional or interrogative forms as verbal moods.
      
      Mood
      Examples are most commonly used verb forms, e.g.:
      
      I think
      
      I thought
      
      He was seen
      
      I am walking home.
      
      They are singing.
      
      He isn't a dancer.
      
      We are very happy.
      
      The declarative mood or indicative mood is the simplest and most basic mood. The overwhelming majority of verb use is in the indicative, which may be considered the "normal" form of verbs, with the subjunctive as an "exceptional" form of verbs. (If any other forms are considered a mood (e.g. imperative), they may also be considered other "exceptional" verb forms.)
      I think
      I thought
      He was seen
      I am walking home.
      They are singing.
      He isn't a dancer.
      We are very happy. Indicative, or declarative, mood
      The conjugation of these moods becomes a significantly more complex matter when they are used with different tenses. However, casual spoken English rarely uses the subjunctive, and generally restricts the conditional mood to the simple present and simple past. A notable exception to this is the use of the present subjunctive in clauses of wish or command which is marked in one or two ways: (1) if third person singular, the "-s" conjugation called for by the declarative mood is absent, and (2) past tense is not used. For example, "They insisted that he go to chapel every morning" means that they were requiring or demanding him to go to chapel. However, "They insisted that he went to chapel every morning" means they are reasserting the statement that, in the past, he did attend chapel every morning. The underlying grammar of this distinction has been called the "American subjunctive". On the other hand, other constructions for expressing wishes and commands, which do not use the subjunctive, are equally common, such as "They required him to go..."
      
      The subjunctive mood is used to express counterfactual (or conditional) statements, and is often found in if-then statements, and certain formulaic expressions. It is typically marked in the present tense by the auxiliary "were" plus the present participle (<-ing>) of the verb.
      
      Were I eating, I would sit.
      If they were eating, they would sit.
      Truth be told...
      If I were you... I would do that. Subjunctive mood
      
      The imperative mood is used for commands or instructions. It is not always considered a verbal mood per se. It is formed by using the verb in its simplest, unconjugated form: "Listen! Sit! Eat!" The imperative mood in English occurs only in the second person, and the subject ("you") is generally not expressly stated, because it is implied. When the speaker gives a command regarding anyone else, it is still directed at the second person as though it were a request for permission, although it may be a rhetorical statement.
      
      Let me do the talking.
      Let us build a bridge.
      Give him an allowance.
      Let sleeping dogs lie. Imperative mood
      Conditional forms of verb are used to express if-then statements, or in response to counterfactual propositions (see subjunctive mood, above), denoting or implying an indeterminate future action.
      Conditionals may be considered tense forms but are sometimes considered a verbal mood, the conditional mood.
      Conditionals are expressed through the use of the verbal auxiliaries could, would, should, may and might in combination with the stem form of the verb.
      Note that for many speakers, "may" and "might" have merged into a single meaning (that of "might") that implies the outcome of the statement is contingent. The implication of permission in "may" seems to remain only in certain uses with the second person, e.g. "You may leave the dinner table."
      Two main conditional tenses can be identified in English:
      I would think = Present Conditional
      I would have thought = Conditional Perfect
      
      He could go to the store.
      You should be more careful.
      I may try something else.
      He might be heading north. Conditional forms
      Interrogative word order is used to pose questions, with or without an expected answer. Most of the time, it is formed by switching the order of the subject and the auxiliary (or "helping") verb in a declarative sentence, as in the following:
      However, when the information being requested would be the subject of the answer, the word order is not inverted, and the interrogative pronoun takes the place of the subject, as in the following:
      When spoken, an intonation change is often used so as to emphasize this switch, or can entirely reflect the interrogative mood in some cases (e.g. "John ran?"). The interrogative phrase can further be formed in this manner by moving the predicate of a declarative sentence in front of the helping verb and changing it to a demonstrative, relative pronoun, quantifier, etc. The interrogatives phrase is denoted by ending the sentence with a question mark <?>.
      Rhetorical questions can be formed by moving the helping verb-subject pair to the end of the question, e.g. "You wouldn't really do that, would you?"
      
      Are you going to the party?
      Is he supposed to do that?
      How much do I owe you?
      Where is the parking lot?
      Who helped you with your homework?
      What happened here? Interrogative word order
      While many verbs in English follow the relatively simple paradigm illustrated at the beginning of this section, there are some verbs that do not. There are two categories of such verbs:
      The term "transparently irregular" is sometimes used to describe Jacob Grimm's "strong" verbs that appear irregular at first, but actually follow a common paradigm. This group of verbs is a relic of the older Germanic ablaut system for conjugation. This is generally confined to atypical simple past verb forms, e.g.:
      I swim ~ I swam ~ I have swum
      I sing ~ I sang ~ I have sung
      I steal ~ I stole ~ I have stolen
      Another category of "transparently irregular" verbs dates back to Middle English. Some verbs, especially those with a stem ending in an alveolar consonant (/t/, /d/, or /s/), formed a geminate consonant or consonant cluster with the -d suffix. In Middle English, vowels before a consonant cluster often became shorter. As the Great Vowel Shift obscured the connection between long vowels and the corresponding short vowels, transparent irregularities such as the following arose:
      I meet ~ I met ~ I have met
      I lead ~ I led ~ I have led
      I read ~ I read ~ I have read
      I lose ~ I lost ~ I have lost
      I keep ~ I kept ~ I have kept
      True irregular verbs have forms that are not predictable from ablaut rules. The most common of these in English is the verb "to be." A sampling of its verbal paradigm is listed below; the majority of other forms are predictable from the knowledge of these four.
      Irregular verbs include eat, sit, lend, and keep, among many others. Some paradigms are based on obsolete root words, or roots that have changed meaning. Others are derived from old umlaut patterns that changes in phonemic structure and grammar have distorted (keep ~ kept is one such example). Some are unclear in origin, and may date back to Proto-Indo-European times.
      
      strong verbs (the "transparently irregular")
      true irregular verbs. Notes
      Adjectives are modifiers for nouns and adverbs are modifiers for verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Not all languages distinguish them, but English does in both grammar and word formation. Grammatically, adjectives precede the noun they modify, whereas adverbs might precede or follow the verb they modify, depending upon the specific adverb (although there are a small number of exceptions). English also has a means of converting adjectives into adverbs: the addition of the suffix <-ly> changes an adjective to an adverb (in addition to moving it to the appropriate place in a sentence).
      Occasionally, people use adverbs with verbs that require an adjective.
      The latter is, of course, the meaning most people try to convey. It's unclear whether this example shows the misuse of adjectives/adverbs or the fairly common use of "feel" as a copula verb (whose complement refers to its subject). That is, "feel" is often used with a meaning very close to "be." "I feel sick" is the equivalent of "I am sick" and using "I feel sickly" would be odd, for most native speakers. A better example might be something like: "I drive decent", with a meaning of "I drive decently" or "I drive well."
      As well, confusion often occurs between good, well (adj.), and well (adv.).
      There are other ways of changing words from one lexical class to another. Nouns are easily transformed into verbs by moving them to the appropriate position in a sentence, and then conjugating them according to the default paradigm. Nouns can also be changed to other kinds of nouns (<-er>, <-ist>), into adverbs of state/condition (<-ness>), and into adjectives (<-ish>, as in "bullish"). Verbs can be turned into adjectives with <-ing> ("dancing school"), into adverbs with <-ly>, and sometimes even into nouns with <-er> ("dancer", "listener").
      These processes provide the English language with greater flexibility in choosing words, expanding vocabulary, and re-shuffling words to add subtlety of meaning that might otherwise not be available in an analytic language.
      
      "I feel badly" - the speaker has an impaired sense of touch (likewise: "I hear badly")
      "I feel bad" - the speaker is ill or upset (likewise: "I feel happy")
      "I feel good" - a good mood
      "I feel well (adj.)" - good health (though this is often replaced by "I feel good" in everyday speech with little ambiguity in meaning)
      "I did well (adv.)" - success Adjectives and adverbs
      
      Slang
      
      Disputes in English grammar
      Capitalization

2008-03-22T08:23:00.001-07:00

Binley is a suburb in the east of Coventry, England. Binley evolved from a small mining village on the outskirts of Coventry, to a large residential area composing private properties, and council owned properties. The small coal pit was closed and filled in, and the Herald Way industrial estate now occupies the site. Pit cottages are still present along Willenhall Lane and St James Lane.
Binley is flanked by Willenhall to one side (separated by the Coventry to Euston railway line), Stoke Aldermoor to another side (separated by Allard Way road), Binley Woods on another side, which almost joins Binley since B and Q, the Eastern Bypass, and TGI Fridays was built. The final side is Copsewood, leading to Wyken one way, and Stoke the other.
In the 1960s a new housing estate called Ernesford Grange was built in Binley. Many of the new closes were named after miners who had lost their lives in the pit, William McKee, George Robertson, Sam Gault being examples. Binley grew further in the 1990s with a large housing estate being constructed to the east of the old schools and extending to Brinklow Road (near to Coombe Country Park).
The flight path of the Coventry Airport runs just to the east of Binley.
The buildings of the old Binley school became Lino's Restaurant, which was demolished in 2007 to make way for new housing. The three other Binley schools disappeared in the early eighties to make way for a large industrial estate / office complex.

2008-03-21T08:51:00.001-07:00

A physics institute in Munich, Germany which specialises in High Energy Physics and Astrophysics. It is part of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft and is also known as the Werner Heisenberg Institute, after its first director.
It was founded as Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics 1917 in Berlin. Albert Einstein, Fritz Haber, Walther Nernst, Max Planck and Peter Debye were directors of the institute. The Second World War made it necessary to move the institute, first to Göttingen and then, as Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics, 1958 to Munich. In 1991 the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics was split into the Max Planck Institute for Physics, the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics.

2008-03-20T10:43:00.001-07:00

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C. with an extensive collection of American art.
Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum has a broad variety of American art that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States. Among the significant artists represented in its collection are Nam June Paik, David Hockney, Georgia O'Keeffe, John Singer Sargent, Albert Bierstadt, Edmonia Lewis, Thomas Moran, Edward Hopper, and Winslow Homer.
The museum is home to two innovative public spaces, the Luce Foundation Center for American Art and the Lunder Conservation Center. The Luce Foundation Center is the first visible art storage and study center in Washington, D.C. It presents more than 3,300 objects in 64 secure glass cases which quadruples the number of artworks from the permanent collection on public view. The Luce Foundation Center features paintings densely hung on screens, sculptures, crafts and folk art objects arranged on shelves, and miniatures and medals in drawers that open. Large-scale sculptures are installed on the first floor. Interactive computer kiosks provide the public with information about every object on display, including a discussion of each artwork, artist biographies, audio interviews, video clips and still images.
The Lunder Conservation Center is the first art conservation facility that allows the public permanent behind-the-scenes views of preservation work. Conservation staff is visible to the public through floor-to-ceiling glass walls that allow visitors to see firsthand all the techniques that conservators use to examine, treat and preserve artworks. The Lunder Center has five state-of-the-art laboratories and studios equipped to treat paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures, folk art objects, contemporary crafts, decorative arts and frames. Staff from both the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery work in the Lunder Center.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum first opened to the public in its current location in 1968 when the Smithsonian renovated the Old Patent Office Building in order to display its collection of fine art. Previously the collection, which was begun in 1829, was on display in a Smithsonian building on the National Mall. The Smithsonian American Art Museum has had many names over the years - Smithsonian Art Collection, National Gallery of Art, National Collection of Fine Arts, and National Museum of American Art. The museum changed to its current name in October 2000.
The Smithsonian completed another renovation of the building in July 2006. Washington D.C.-based Hartman-Cox Architects oversaw the project which restored many of the building's exceptional architectural features, such as the porticos, a curving double staircase, colonnades, vaulted galleries, large windows, and skylights as long as a city block. On November 18, 2007 the new central courtyard opened with a canopy designed by Buro Happold and Foster and Partners.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum shares the historic building with the National Portrait Gallery, another Smithsonian museum. Although the two museums' names have not changed, they are collectively known as the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture.
The nearest Metro station is Gallery Place-Chinatown.

2008-03-19T08:32:00.001-07:00

George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Promoted at an early age to a temporary war-time rank of brigadier general, and later made a permanent Lt. Colonel, he was a flamboyant and aggressive commander during numerous Civil War battles, known for his personal bravery in leading charges against opposing cavalry. He led the Michigan Brigade whom he called the "Wolverines" during the Civil War. He was defeated and killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, against a coalition of Native American tribes comprised almost exclusively of Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe warriors, and led by the Sioux chiefs Crazy Horse and Gall and by the Hunkpapa seer and medicine man, Sitting Bull. This confrontation has come to be popularly known and enshrined in American history as Custer's Last Stand.

Birth and family
Custer spent much of his boyhood living with his half-sister and his brother-in-law in Monroe, Michigan, where he attended school and is now honored by a statue in the center of town. Ordinarily, such a showing would be a ticket to an obscure posting and career, but he had the fortune to graduate just as the war caused the army to experience a sudden need for new officers. His tenure at the academy was a rocky one and he came close to expulsion each of his four years due to excessive demerits, many from pulling pranks on fellow cadets. But he began a path to a distinguished war record, one that has been overshadowed in history by his role and fate in the Indian Wars.

Early life

Civil War
Custer was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry and immediately joined his regiment at the First Battle of Bull Run, where Army commander Winfield Scott detailed him to carry messages to Major General Irvin McDowell. After the battle he was reassigned to the 5th U.S. Cavalry, with which he served through the early days of the Peninsula Campaign in 1862. During the pursuit of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston up the Peninsula, on May 24, 1862, Custer persuaded a colonel to allow him to lead an attack with four companies of Michigan infantry across the Chickahominy River above New Bridge. The attack was successful, capturing 50 Confederates. Major General George B. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac, termed it a "very gallant affair", congratulated Custer personally, and brought him onto his staff as an aide-de-camp with the temporary rank of captain. In this role, Custer began his lifelong pursuit of publicity. On one occasion when McClellan and his staff were reconnoitering a potential crossing point on the Chickahominy River, they stopped and Custer overheard his commander mutter to himself, "I wish I knew how deep it is." Custer dashed forward on his horse out to the middle of the river and turned to the astonished officers of the staff and shouted triumphantly, "That's how deep it is, General!"
When McClellan was relieved of command in November 1862, Custer reverted to the rank of first lieutenant. Custer fell into the orbit of Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, who was commanding a cavalry division. The general was Custer's introduction to the world of extravagant uniforms and political maneuvering and the young lieutenant became his protégé, serving on Pleasonton's staff while continuing his assignment with his regiment. Custer was quoted as saying that "no father could love his son more than General Pleasonton loves me." After the Battle of Chancellorsville, Pleasonton became the commander of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac and his first assignment was to locate the army of Robert E. Lee, moving north through the Shenandoah Valley in the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign. In his first command, Custer affected a showy, personalized uniform style that alienated his men, but he won them over with his readiness to lead attacks (a contrast to the many officers who would hang back, hoping to avoid being hit); his men began to adopt elements of his uniform customization. Custer distinguished himself by fearless, aggressive actions in some of the numerous cavalry engagements that started off the campaign, including Brandy Station and Aldie.

McClellan and Pleasonton
Three days prior to the Battle of Gettysburg, General Pleasonton promoted Custer from captain to brevet brigadier general (temporary rank) of volunteers. Despite having no direct command experience, he became one of the youngest generals in the Union Army at age 23.
Two captains—Wesley Merritt and Elon J. Farnsworth—received the same promotion along with Custer, although they did have command experience. Custer lost no time in implanting his aggressive character on his brigade, part of the division of Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick. He fought against the Confederate cavalry of J.E.B. Stuart at Hanover and Hunterstown, on the way to the main event at Gettysburg.
Custer's style of battle sometimes bordered on reckless or foolhardy. He often impulsively gathered up whatever cavalrymen he could find in his vicinity and led them personally in bold assaults directly into enemy positions. One of his greatest attributes during the Civil War was luck and he needed it to survive some of these charges. At Hunterstown, in an ill-considered charge ordered by Kilpatrick (but one that Custer did not protest) against the brigade of Wade Hampton, Custer fell from his wounded horse directly before the enemy and became the target of numerous enemy rifles. He was rescued by the bugler of the 1st Michigan Cavalry, Norville Churchill, who galloped up, shot Custer's nearest assailant, and allowed Custer to mount behind him for a dash to safety.
Possibly Custer's finest hour in the Civil War was just east of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. In conjunction with Pickett's Charge to the west, Robert E. Lee dispatched Stuart's cavalry on a mission into the rear of the Union Army. Custer encountered the Union cavalry division of David McM. Gregg, directly in the path of Stuart's horsemen. He convinced Gregg to allow him to stay and fight, while his own division was stationed to the south out of the action. At East Cavalry Field, hours of charges and hand-to-hand combat ensued. Custer led a mounted charge of the 1st Michigan Cavalry, breaking the back of the Confederate assault, foiling Lee's plan. Custer's brigade lost 257 men at Gettysburg, the highest loss of any Union cavalry brigade.

Marriage
When the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac was reorganized under Philip Sheridan in 1864, Custer retained his command, and took part in the various actions of the cavalry in the Overland Campaign, including the Battle of the Wilderness (after which he ascended to division command), the Battle of Yellow Tavern, where Jeb Stuart was mortally wounded, and the Battle of Trevilian Station, where Custer was humiliated by having his division trains overrun and his personal baggage captured by the Confederates. When Confederate General Jubal A. Early moved down the Shenandoah Valley and threatened Washington, D.C., Custer's division was dispatched along with Sheridan to the Valley Campaigns of 1864. They pursued the Confederates at Winchester and effectively destroyed Early's army during Sheridan's counterattack at Cedar Creek.
Custer and Sheridan, having defeated Early, returned to the main Union Army lines at the Siege of Petersburg, where they spent the winter. In April 1865 the Confederate lines were finally broken and Robert E. Lee began his retreat to Appomattox Court House, pursued mercilessly by the Union cavalry. Custer distinguished himself by his actions at Waynesboro, Dinwiddie Court House, and Five Forks. His division blocked Lee's retreat on its final day and received the first flag of truce from the Confederate force. Custer was present at the surrender at Appomattox Court House and the table upon which the surrender was signed was presented to him as a gift for his gallantry. Before the close of the war Custer received brevet promotions to brigadier and major general in the Regular Army and major general in the volunteers. As with most wartime promotions, these senior ranks were only temporary.

The Valley and Appomattox
In 1866, Custer was mustered out of the volunteer service, reduced to the rank of captain in the regular army. At the request of Maj. Gen. Phillip H. Sheridan, a bill was introduced into congress to promote Custer to major general, but the bill failed. Custer was offered command of the 10th U.S. Cavalry (otherwise known as the Buffalo Soldiers) with the rank of full colonel, but turned the command down in favor of a lieutenant colonelcy of the 7th U.S. Cavalry and was assigned to that unit at Fort Riley, Kansas.
His career took a brief detour in 1867 when he was court-martialed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for being AWOL. Abandoning post to return to his wife, along with 10 other soldiers and suspended for one year (staying with his wife for the year at Fort Leavenworth), returning to the Army in 1868.
He then took part in General Winfield Scott Hancock's expedition against the Cheyenne. Marching from Fort Supply, Indian Territory, he successfully attacked an encampment of Cheyennes and Arapahos - the Battle of Washita River on November 27, 1868. This was regarded as the first substantial U.S. victory in the Indian Wars and a significant portion to the southern branch of the Cheyenne Nation was forced onto a U.S. appointed reservation. On the Washita three Indian women and six children were killed. Custer had his men shoot the 875 Indian ponies the troops had captured.
In 1873, he was sent to the Dakota Territory to protect a railroad survey party against the Sioux. On August 4, 1873, near the Tongue River, Custer and the 7th U.S. Cavalry clashed for the first time with the Sioux. Only one man on each side was killed. In 1874, Custer led an expedition into the Black Hills and announced the discovery of gold on French Creek near present-day Custer, South Dakota. Custer's announcement triggered the Black Hills Gold Rush and gave rise to the lawless town of Deadwood, South Dakota.
In 1875, Custer swore by White Buffalo Calf Pipe, a pipe sacred to the Lakota, that he would not fight Native Americans again. A medicine man then told Custer that if he ever broke his promise he would die on that day. Forgetting his promise, Custer attacked the encampment of Cheyenne, Arapaho and Sioux at the Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876 and he died on that day. To the Native Americans, "the inevitable outcome -- Custer's personal annihilation ... -- was proof of the working of great spiritual power."

Indian Wars

For more details on this topic, see Battle of the Little Bighorn. Battle of the Little Bighorn
After his death, Custer achieved the lasting fame that eluded him in life. The public saw him as a tragic military hero and gentleman who sacrificed his life for his country. Custer's wife, Elizabeth, who accompanied him in many of his frontier expeditions, did much to advance this view with the publication of several books about her late husband: Boots and Saddles, Life with General Custer in Dakota (1885), Tenting on the Plains (1887), and Following the Guidon (1891). General Custer himself wrote about the Indian wars in My Life on the Plains (1874) and was the posthumous co-author of The Custer Story (1950).
Custer would be called today a "media personality" who understood the value of good public relations and exploited media for his own ends; he frequently invited correspondents to accompany him on his campaigns, and their favorable reportage contributed to his high reputation that lasted well into the 20th century. It is believed that Custer was photographed more than any other Civil War officer, The controversy over who is to blame for the disaster at Little Bighorn rages to this day.

Controversial legacy

Counties are named in Custer's honor in five states: Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma and South Dakota. Custer County, Idaho, is named for the General Custer mine, which, in turn, was named after Custer. There are several townships named for Custer in Minnesota and Michigan. There are also the towns of Custer, Michigan, Custar, Ohio, and the unincorporated town of Custer, Wisconsin. A portion of Monroe County, Michigan, is informally referred to as "Custerville." [1]
Custer National Cemetery is within Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, the site of Custer's death.
There is an equestrian statue of Custer in Monroe, Michigan, his boyhood home. Originally located near city hall, in the center of town, it was moved years later to Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Park, a small park near the River Raisin and away from the main thoroughfares of the city. Due to lobbying by Libbie Custer and others, it was eventually moved to its current location, on the corner of Monroe and Elm Streets, on the edge of downtown Monroe.
Fort Custer National Military Reservation, near Augusta, Michigan, was built in 1917 on 130 parcels of land, mainly small farms leased to the government by the local chamber of commerce as part of the military mobilization for World War I. During the war, some 90,000 troops passed through Camp Custer. Following the Armistice of 1918, the camp became a demobilization base for over 100,000 men. In the years following World War I, the camp was used to train the Officer Reserve Corps and the Civilian Conservation Corps. On August 17, 1940, Camp Custer was designated Fort Custer and became a permanent military training base. During World War II, more than 300,000 troops trained there, including the famed 5th Infantry Division (also known as the "Red Diamond Division") which left for combat in Normandy, France, June 1944. Fort Custer also served as a prisoner of war camp for 5,000 German soldiers until 1945. Today Fort Custer's training facilities are used by the Michigan National Guard and other branches of the armed forces, primarily from Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. Many Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) students from colleges in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana also train at this facility, as well as do the FBI, the Michigan State Police, and various other law enforcement agencies. (https://www.mi.ngb.army.mil/ftcuster/default.asp)
The establishment of Fort Custer National Cemetery (originally Fort Custer Post Cemetery) took place on September 18, 1943, with the first interment. As early as the 1960s, local politicians and veterans organizations advocated the establishment of a national cemetery at Fort Custer. The National Cemeteries Act of 1973 directed the Veterans' Administration to develop a plan to provide burial space to all veterans who desired interment in a national cemetery. After much study, the NCS adopted what became the regional concept. Fort Custer became the Veterans' Administration's choice for its Region V national cemetery. Toward this goal, Congress created Fort Custer National Cemetery in September 1981. The cemetery received 566 acres from the Fort Custer Military Reservation and 203 acres from the VA Medical Center. The first burial took place on June 1, 1982. At the same time, approximately 2,600 gravesites were available in the post cemetery, which made it possible for veterans to be buried there while the new facility was being developed. On Memorial Day 1982, more than 33 years after the first resolution had been introduced in Congress, impressive ceremonies marked the official opening of the cemetery.(http://www.cem.va.gov/nchp/ftcuster.htm)
Custer Hill is the main troop billeting area at Fort Riley, Kansas.
The US 85th Infantry Division was nicknamed The Custer Division.
The Black Hills of South Dakota is full of evidence of Custer, with a county, town, and the Custer State Park all located in the area.
Custer Observatory is the oldest observatory on Long Island. Located in Southold, New York, it was founded in 1927 by Charles Elmer (co-founder of the Perkin-Elmer Optical Company ), along with a group of fellow amateur-astronomers. This name was chosen to honor the hospitality of Mrs. Elmer, formerly May Custer, the Grand Niece of General George Armstrong Custer. See also

Eicher, John H. and David J. Eicher (2001). Civil War High Commands. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
Gray, John S. (1993). Custer's Last Campaign: Mitch Boyer and the Little Bighorn Remembered. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-7040-2.
Longacre, Edward G. (2000) Lincoln's Cavalrymen, A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of the Potomac. Stackpole Books; ISBN 0-8117-1049-1
Michno, Gregory F. (1997) Lakota Noon: The Indian Narrative of Custer's Defeat. Mountain Press Publishing Company; ISBN-10: 0878423494; ISBN-13: 978-0878423491
Scott, Douglas D. and Richard A. Fox and Melissa A. Connor and Dick Harmon (1989). Archaeological Perspectives on the Battle of the Little Bighorn. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3292-2.
Tagg, Larry, The Generals of Gettysburg, Savas Publishing, 1998, ISBN 1-882810-30-9.
Utley, Robert M. (1964). Custer, cavalier in buckskin. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3347-3.
Warner, Ezra J. (1964). Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.
Wert, Jeffry (1964). Custer, the controversial life of George Armstrong Custer. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-83275-5.
Wittenberg, Eric J. (2001). Glory Enough for All : Sheridan's Second Raid and the Battle of Trevilian Station. Brassey's Inc. ISBN 1-57488-353-4.

2008-03-18T09:40:00.001-07:00

The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a term that comprises all living and non-living things that occur naturally on Earth or some part of it (e.g. the natural environment in a country). This term includes a few key components:
The natural environment is contrasted with the built environment, which comprises the areas and components that are heavily influenced by man. A geographical area is regarded as a natural environment (with an indefinite article), if the human impact on it is kept under a certain limited level (similar to section 1 above). This level depends on the specific context, and changes in different areas and contexts. The term wilderness, on the other hand, refers to areas without any human intervention whatsoever (or almost so).

Complete landscape units that function as natural systems without massive human intervention, including all plants, animals, rocks, etc. and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries.
Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from human activity.
Natural features which occur within areas heavily influenced by man (such as wild birds in urban gardens). Challenges
It is the common understanding of natural environment that underlies environmentalism—a broad political, social, and philosophical movement that advocates various actions and policies in the interest of protecting what nature remains in the natural environment, or restoring or expanding the role of nature in this environment. While true wilderness is increasingly rare, wild nature (e.g., unmanaged forests, uncultivated grasslands, wildlife, wildflowers) can be found in many locations previously inhabited by humans.
Goals commonly expressed by environmentalists include reduction and clean up of man-made pollution, with future goals of zero pollution; reducing societal consumption of non-renewable fuels; development of alternative, green, low-carbon or renewable energy sources; conservation and sustainable use of scarce resources such as water, land, and air; protection of representative or unique or pristine ecosystems; preservation and expansion of threatened or endangered species or ecosystems from extinction; the establishment of nature and biosphere reserves under various types of protection; and, most generally, the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems upon which all human and other life on earth depends.
More recently, there has been a strong concern about climate change such as global warming caused by anthropogenic releases of greenhouse gases, most notably carbon dioxide, and their interactions with humans and the natural environment. Efforts here have focused on the mitigation of greenhouse gases that are causing climatic changes (e.g. through the Climate Change Convention and the Kyoto Protocol), and on developing adaptative strategies to assist species, ecosystems, humans, regions and nations in adjusting to the Effects of global warming.
A more profound challenge, however, is to identify the natural environmental dynamics in contrast to environmental changes not within natural variances. A common solution is to adapt a static view neglecting natural variances to exist. Methodologically this view could be defended when looking at processes which change slowly and short time series, while the problem arrives when fast processes turns essential in the object of the study.

2008-03-17T08:33:00.001-07:00

Packers Quarterback
Immediately after his retirement as a player, he served as an assistant coach (quarterbacks) in 1972, when the Packers won the NFC Central division title at 10-4. Starr became head coach of the Packers three years later, in 1975. His regular season record was a disappointing 52-76-2 (.408), with a playoff record of 1-1. Posting a 5-3-1 record in the strike-shortened season of 1982, Starr's Packers made their first playoff appearance in ten years (and their last for another 11 years). They defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 41-16 in the expanded wildcard round of 16 teams on January 8, 1983, then lost to the Dallas Cowboys 37-26 in the divisional round the following week. After a disappointing 8-8 finish the following year, Starr was dismissed in favor of his former teammate, Forrest Gregg.

Regular season
Starr is now chairman of Healthcare Realty Services.
In 1965, he and Cherry helped co-found Rawhide Boys Ranch, New London, WI, a facility designed to help at-risk troubled boys throughout the state a reality, and is affiliated with it yet to this day.
In 1999, he was ranked number 41 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.
Starr is one of five Green Bay Packers to have his number (15) retired by the team. The others are Tony Canadeo (3), Don Hutson (14), Ray Nitschke (66), and Reggie White (92). Of the five, only Starr is still living.
Starr has an NFL award named after him. The Bart Starr Award is given, by a panel of judges, to the best Christian player in the NFL.
Starr is an avid backgammon player, often playing under the name "NorthStar12".
Starr recently spoke at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, TN along with fellow friend Bill Curry.
In 1997, an episode of the animated television series The Simpsons was titled Bart Star. In the episode, Bart Simpson is elevated to the team's starting quarterback by his father and team's new coach, Homer, replacing Nelson Muntz. Joe Namath, who won the Super Bowl MVP award in Super Bowl III after Starr won the award in the first two games, and like Starr is a University of Alabama alumnus, appeared as himself in the episode.

2008-03-16T10:01:00.001-07:00

Glasgow South West is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster). It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
The constituency was first used in the general election of 2005.

Members of Parliament

2008-03-15T08:01:00.001-07:00

The School
The school's buildings were originally a part of John Muir Junior College (not to be confused with John Muir College in San Diego, CA). The junior college merged with Pasadena City College, and the buildings were changed over to a two-year high school in 1955. (The senior students of the first graduating high-school class in 1955 were freshmen of the previous two-year junior college in the prior year.) It later increased to become a full four-year high school.
Prior to 1964, mostly Caucasian and Asian students from the communities of La Canada Flintridge, California joined the near equal mix of African-American, Hispanic and Asian students from the surrounding school area, and enrollment was nearly 3,000 students. In 1965, La Canada Flintridge, California built its own school system and removed their students. Shortly after that, the Pasadena City School District created Blair High School, siphoning off another large portion of the school's population.

Early Years
Approximately 1300 students attend each year. The student body is made up of 42% Latino/Hispanic, 47% African-American, 9% are Caucasian, and 2% are "Other" (which includes 1.1% Asian/Pacific-Islander). It maintained a school wide average class size of 27 students and a pupil-to-teacher ratio of 21:1 for the 2002-03 school year, during which a total of 49 fully credentialed teachers were on staff.
John Muir High School is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

Current
In 2000 a teacher, Cyrus Javaheri, pleaded guilty to engaging in group sex with minors. The teacher lured two students from the school in addition to another minor through the internet. Furthermore, numerous incidences of cyber sex were conducted between the teacher and various minors as young as 12.
Opinion was divisive with whites and blacks from the community on both sides. While some students and teachers defended that his assertion, that the majority of the underperforming students were black, was accurate others took offense to it. Subsequently he was placed on administrative leave but allowed to return to the school a few days later.

Scandal

The cross-town rival school is Pasadena High School.
The two schools have an annual tradition in November called the Turkey Tussle, during which the two schools' football teams play a game at the Rose Bowl. The winning school takes possession of a ceremonial bell, which is rung at various events during the year in celebration.
The ceremonial bell was stolen at the end of the 2005 school year, and was found on February 7, 2006 near a road in the Angeles National Forest.
The school is located on Lincoln Avenue, which is a street named after the famous city, Lincoln, Nebraska, rather than the equally famous 16th President of the United States. Alma Mater
Years listed above in parentheses are the year of graduation.

Rodney King (1983) His incident with police led to the Los Angeles Riots and an overhaul of the LAPD
Sultan McCullough (1998) Running back for Washington Redskins and Cleveland Browns
Fred Phelps (1951), head of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church.

2008-03-14T09:20:00.001-07:00

Coordinates: 51°30′19″N, 0°11′18″W
Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century. Today it is the official residence of The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester; the Duke and Duchess of Kent; and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.
At the moment, Kensington Palace hosts the exhibition "Diana, Princess of Wales by Mario Testino", open to the public since late November 2005.

History
The original early 17th-century building was constructed in the village of Kensington as Nottingham House for the Earl of Nottingham. It was acquired from his heir, who was Secretary of State to William III in 1689, because the King wanted a residence near London but away from the smoky air of the capital because he was asthmatic. Kensington was at that time a village location outside London, but more accessible than Hampton Court, a water journey on the Thames. A private road was laid out from the Palace to Hyde Park Corner, broad enough for several carriages to travel abreast, part of which survives today as Rotten Row. The palace was improved and extended by Sir Christopher Wren with pavilions attached to each corner of the central block, for it now needed paired Royal Apartments approached by the Great Stairs, a council chamber, and the Chapel Royal. Then, when Wren re-oriented the house to face west, he built north and south wings to flank the approach, made into a proper cour d'honneur, entered through an archway surmounted by a clock tower. Nevertheless, as a private domestic retreat, it was referred to as Kensington House, rather than 'Palace'. The walled kitchen gardens at Kensington House supplied fruits and vegetables for the Court of St. James's.
For seventy years Kensington Palace was the favored residence of British monarchs, although the official seat of the Court was and remains at St. James's which has not been the actual royal residence in London since the 17th century. Queen Mary died of smallpox in Kensington Palace in 1694. In 1702 William suffered a fall from a horse at Hampton Court and was brought to Kensington Palace, where he shortly died. After William III's death the palace became the residence of Queen Anne. Sir John Vanbrugh designed the Orangery for her in 1704 and a magnificent Baroque parterre 30 acre (121,000 m²) garden was laid out by Henry Wise, whose nursery was nearby at Brompton (illustration, left).
George I spent lavishly on new royal apartments from 1718. William Kent painted a staircase and some ceilings. In 1722 he designed the Cupola Room, the principal state room, with feigned coffering in its high coved ceiling; in 1819 the Cupola Room was the site of the christening of Princess Victoria, who had been born at Kensington, in the apartments of the Duke and Duchess of Kent (the actual room being what is now the North Drawing Room).
The last reigning monarch to use Kensington Palace was George II. For his consort, Charles Bridgeman swept away the outmoded parterres and redesigned Kensington Gardens in a form that is still recognizable today: his are The Sepentine, the Basin and the Grand Walk. After George II's death there in the palace in 1760, Kensington Palace was only used for more minor royalty, including the young daughter of the Duke of Kent who was living in the palace with her widowed mother when she was told of her accession to the throne as Queen Victoria. Queen Mary (grandmother of the present Queen) was born at Kensington Palace in 1867.
In 1981 apartments 8 and 9 were combined to create the London residence of the newly married Prince and Princess of Wales, Charles and Diana, and it remained the official residence of Diana, Princess of Wales after her marriage and until the day of her death. Her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, went to local nursery and pre-preparatory schools in Notting Hill, which is a short drive away. Currently open to the public is Apartment 1A, which belonged to the late Princess Margaret. The tour takes a step back in time and explains the history of Apartment 1A, from the time of the Duke of Sussex through to Princess Louise then to the most recent Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon. You also get to see, via guided tour only, the invention Lord Snowdon was most proud of-- his "free-standing" extractor fan-- which can be seen in the kitchen.
Nearest Tube: Queensway, Bayswater, High Street Kensington, or (slightly further) Gloucester Road.
The state rooms are managed by the Historic Royal Palaces Agency. The offices and private accommodation areas of the palace remain the responsibility of the Royal Household and are maintained by the Royal Household Property Section.