homeloanb1

Kikyo

2009-04-10T00:18:00.000-07:00

Kikyo is a powerful shrine maiden, or miko, who is given the task of guarding the Shikon Jewel. She falls in love with InuYasha and considers using the jewel to turn him from a half-demon into a full human; this would cause the Shikon jewel to vanish, allowing her to live as an ordinary woman by his side. However, Naraku disguises himself as InuYasha to attack her village, mortally wounding her. With her last strength, Kikyo shoots a charmed arrow into the real InuYasha to seal him to a sacred tree, then orders the Shikon Jewel to be burned with her on her funeral pyre. The jewel disappears and is apparently destroyed, but is reborn 500 years later in the body of Kagome Higurashi, her spiritual reincarnation.

After Kagome travels back through time and reappears fifty years after Kikyo's death, an ogress tries to pull her reincarnated soul into a clay body made with Kikyo's bones and ashes. Kagome appears to suffer no permanent harm, but a small part of her soul detaches and reanimates the new body with Kikyo's memories, personality, and human appearance.

Although Kikyo retains some of her old powers in this form, she remains technically "dead" and must ingest the souls of dead women in order to move. At first, she wants to vengefully drag InuYasha to hell and kill Kagome to recover the rest of her soul. However, Kikyo gradually returns to her former compassionate nature and learns the real circumstances of her death. She protects Kohaku, saving his life, and finally dies in InuYasha's arms after being attacked by Naraku.

2007-12-05T09:20:00.001-08:00

Prince Semien Fielder (born May 9, 1984 in Ontario, California) is an American Major League Baseball player who currently plays first base for the Milwaukee Brewers. He was selected by the Brewers in the first round of the 2002 amateur draft out of Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, Florida. He is the son of former Detroit Tigers First Baseman Cecil Fielder. As of 2006, he was one of six active major leaguers (along with Moises Alou, David Bell, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Daryle Ward) to hit 20 home runs in a season whose fathers had also hit 20 home runs in a MLB season.
Fielder was once the spokesperson along with his father for the McDonalds triple cheeseburger, and appeared with his father on MTV's Rock 'n Jock.
After his father gambled away some of his major league signing bonus (his father has a history of gambling and domestic problems) the two have not been on full speaking terms [1].
When his father played for Detroit, Prince would sometimes come along for batting practice. Contrary to popular belief, Fielder did not hit a home run into the upper deck of Tiger Stadium[2] at the age of 12, but he did hit a home run over the fence as a preteen. Fielder set the story straight in a 2007 interview with Fox Sports during a road trip to Detroit.
Fielder currently holds the Brewers franchise record for home runs in a season, with 46.

Milwaukee Brewers (2005-present) 2007

List of second generation MLB players

2007-12-04T08:58:00.001-08:00

The Hull Daily Mail is the local daily newspaper for Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire and is published along with the free weekly, Hull Advertiser, and sports weekly SportsMail. It has been circulated in various guises since 1885.
The paper is owned by Northcliffe Media, one of the biggest regional publishers in the UK, and a subsidiary of Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, the London Standard, and the Metro free daily paper. Together, they are owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT), one of the UK's largest media companies with interests in national and regional newspapers, television and radio.
The Hull Daily Mail is produced every day of the week except for Sunday and has a readership of around 170,000. A sister paper, the East Riding Mail, was introduced fairly recently to focus on stories from Hull's rural surroundings.
The newspaper has won the award for Yorkshire Daily Newspaper of the Year three times, in 2003, It has also won accolades for its pioneering work in video journalism, reports available via its website, thisishullandeastriding.co.uk. They also recently set up a sports news website, http://www.sporthull.co.uk
In 2005, the paper became embroiled in a dispute with Adam Pearson, chairman of Hull City A.F.C., over news reports on local radio station KCFM [1].

2007-12-03T09:57:00.001-08:00

Objective-C, often referred to as ObjC and sometimes as Objective C or Obj-C, is a reflective, object-oriented programming language which adds Smalltalk-style messaging to C.
Today it is used primarily on Mac OS X and GNUstep, two environments based on the OpenStep standard (although Mac OS X is OpenStep incompatible), and is the primary language used for the NeXTSTEP, OPENSTEP, and Cocoa application frameworks. Generic Objective-C programs that do not make use of these libraries can also be compiled for any system supported by gcc, which includes an Objective-C compiler.

History
In 1988, NeXT, the next company started by Steve Jobs after Apple, licensed Objective-C from StepStone (the owner of the Objective-C trademark) and released their own Objective-C compiler and libraries on which the NeXTstep user interface and interface builder were based. The success of the tools and quality of the resultant operating system helped NeXT become a fairly popular niche workstation provider.
After acquiring NeXT in 1996, Apple used OpenStep as the basis for its new main operating system, Mac OS X. This included Objective-C and NeXT's Objective-C based developer tool, Project Builder (later replaced by Xcode), as well as its interface design tool, Interface Builder. Most of Apple's present-day Cocoa API is based on OpenStep interface objects, and is the most significant Objective-C environment being used for active development.

Popularization through NeXT
Objective-C is a very "thin" layer on top of C. Objective-C is a strict superset of C. That is, it is possible to compile any C program with an Objective-C compiler. Objective-C derives its syntax from both C and Smalltalk. Most of the syntax (including preprocessing, expressions, function declarations, and function calls) is inherited from C, while the syntax for object-oriented features was created to enable Smalltalk-style message passing.

Syntax
The added syntax is for built-in support of object-oriented programming. The Objective-C model of object-oriented programming is based on sending messages to objects, similar to the model of Smalltalk. This is unlike the Simula programming model, which is used by C++ among other programming languages. This distinction is semantically important. The basic difference is that in Objective-C, one does not call a method; one sends a message.
An object called obj whose class has a method doSomething implemented is said to respond to the message doSomething. If we wish to send a doSomething message to obj, we write
This mechanism allows messages to be sent to an object even if the object is not able to respond to them. This differs from statically typed languages such as C++ and Java in which all method calls to objects must be predefined. (See the dynamic typing section below.)

Messages
Objective-C requires the interface and implementation of a class to be in separate specially declared code blocks. By convention, the interface is put in a header file and the implementation in a code file; the header files, suffixed .h, are similar to C header files.

Interfaces and implementations
The interface of the class is usually defined in a header file. Convention is usually to create the name of the header file based on the name of the class. So if we have the class Thing, Thing's interface goes in the file Thing.h.
The interface declaration is in this form:
Hyphens mark instance methods and plus signs mark class methods (like static member functions in C++). This is different from the meaning of a preceding – and + in UML diagrams which mean private and public method, respectively.

Interface
The interface only declares the prototypes for the methods, and not the methods themselves, which go in the implementation. The implementation is usually stored in a main file, for example, Thing.m. The implementation is written
Methods are written in a different way from C-style functions. For example, a function in both C and Objective-C follows this general form:
with int do_something(int) as the prototype.
When this is implemented as a method, this becomes:
A more canonical way of writing the above method would be like this, by naming the first argument in the selector name:
This syntax may appear to be more troublesome but it allows the naming of parameters, for example
which can be invoked thus:
Internal representations of this method vary between different implementations of Objective-C. If myColor is of the class Color, internally, instance method -changeColorWithRed:green:blue: might be labeled _i_Color_changeColorWithRed_green_blue. The i is to refer to an instance method, with the class and then method names appended, colons translated to underscores.
However, internal names of the function are rarely used directly, and generally even message-sends are converted to a call to a function defined in a run-time library rather than directly accessing the internal name. This is partially because it is rarely known at compile-time which method will actually be called, because the class of the receiver (i.e., the object being sent the message) is rarely known until runtime.

Implementation
Objective-C was extended at NeXT to introduce the concept of multiple inheritance of specification, but not implementation, through the introduction of protocols. This is a pattern achievable either as an abstract multiply inherited base class in C++, or else, more popularly, adopted (e.g., in Java or C#) as an "interface". Objective-C makes use of both ad-hoc protocols, called informal protocols, and compiler enforced protocols called formal protocols.
An informal protocol is a list of methods that a class can implement. It is specified in the documentation, since it has no presence in the language. Informal protocols often include optional methods, where implementing the method can change the behavior of a class. For example, a text field class might have a delegate that should implement an informal protocol with an optional autocomplete method. The text field discovers whether the delegate implements that method (via reflection), and, if so, calls it to support autocomplete.
A formal protocol is similar to an interface in Java or C#. It is a list of methods that any class can declare itself to implement. The compiler will emit an error if the class does not implement every method of its declared protocols. The Objective-C concept of protocols is different from the Java or C# concept of interfaces in that a class may implement a protocol without being declared to implement that protocol. The difference is not detectable from outside code. Formal protocols cannot provide any implementations, they simply assure callers that classes that conform to the protocol will provide implementations. In the NeXT/Apple library, protocols are frequently used by the Distributed Objects system to represent the capabilities of an object executing on a remote system.
The syntax
denotes that there is the abstract idea of locking that is useful and when stated in a class definition
denotes that instances of SomeClass will provide an implementation for the two instance methods using whatever means they want. This abstract specification is particularly useful to describe the desired behaviors of plug-ins for example, without constraining at all what the implementation hierarchy should be.

Protocols
Objective-C, like Smalltalk, can use dynamic typing; we can send an object a message not specified in its interface. This can allow for increased flexibility — in Objective-C an object can "capture" this message, and depending on the object, can send the message off again to a different object (who can respond to the message correctly and appropriately, or likewise send the message on again). This behavior is known as message forwarding or delegation (see below). Alternatively, an error handler can be used instead, in case the message cannot be forwarded. If the object does not forward the message, handle the error, or respond to it, a runtime error occurs.
Static typing information may also optionally be added to variables. This information is then checked at compile time. In the following statements, increasingly specific type information is provided. The statements are equivalent at runtime, but the additional information allows the compiler to warn the programmer if the passed argument does not match the type specified. In the first statement, the object must conform to the aProtocol protocol, and in the second, it must be a member of the NSNumber class.
Dynamic typing can be a powerful feature. When implementing container classes using statically-typed languages without generics like pre-1.5 Java, the programmer is forced to write a container class for a generic type of object, and then cast back and forth between the abstract generic type and the real type. Casting however breaks the discipline of static typing – if you put in an Integer and read out a String, you get an error. One way of alleviating the problem is to resort to generic programming, but then container classes must be homogeneous in type. This need not be the case with dynamic typing.

Dynamic typing
Since Objective-C permits the sending of a message to an object that might not respond to it, the object has a number of things it can do with the message. One of these things could be to forward the message on to an object that can respond to it. Forwarding can be used to implement certain design patterns, such as the Observer pattern or the Proxy pattern very simply.
The Objective-C runtime specifies a pair of methods in Object
and as such an object wishing to implement forwarding needs only to override the forwarding method to define the forwarding behaviour. The action methods performv:: need not be overridden as this method merely performs the method based on the selector and arguments.

forwarding methods:
action methods: Forwarding
Here is an example of a program that demonstrates the basics of forwarding.

Example
If we were to compile the program, the compiler would report that
The compiler is reporting the point that was made earlier, Forwarder does not respond to hello messages. In certain circumstances, such a warning can help us find errors, but in this circumstance, we can safely ignore this warning, since we have implemented forwarding. If we were to run the program

Notes
Cox's main concern was the maintainability of large code bases. Experience from the structured programming world had shown that one of the main ways to improve code was to break it down into smaller pieces. Objective-C added the concept of Categories to help with this process.
A category collects method implementations into separate files. The programmer can place groups of related methods into a category to make them more readable. For instance, one could create a "SpellChecking" category "on" the String object, collecting all of the methods related to spell checking into a single place.
Furthermore, the methods within a category are added to a class at runtime. Thus, categories permit the programmer to add methods to an existing class without the need to recompile that class or even have access to its source code. For example, if the system you are supplied with does not contain a spell checker in its String implementation, you can add it without modifying the String source code.
Methods within categories become indistinguishable from the methods in a class when the program is run. A category has full access to all of the instance variables within the class, including private variables.
Categories provide an elegant solution to the fragile base class problem for methods.
If you declare a method in a category with the same method signature as an existing method in a class, the category's method is adopted. Thus categories can not only add methods to a class, but also replace existing methods. This feature can be used to fix bugs in other classes by rewriting their methods, or to cause a global change to a class' behavior within a program. If two categories have methods with the same method signature, it is undefined which category's method is adopted.
Other languages have attempted to add this feature in a variety of ways. TOM took the Objective-C system a step further and allowed for the addition of variables as well. Other languages have instead used prototype oriented solutions, the most notable being Self.

Categories
This example builds up an Integer class, by defining first a basic class with only accessor methods implemented, and adding two categories, Arithmetic and Display that extend the basic class. Whilst categories can access the base class' private data members, it is often good practice to access these private data members through the accessor methods, which helps keep categories more independent from the base class. This is one typical usage of categories—the other is to use categories to add or replace certain methods in the base class (however it is not regarded as good practice to use categories for subclass overriding).

Example usage of categories
Compilation is performed, for example, by
One can experiment by omitting the #import "Arithmetic.h" and [num1 add:num2] lines and omit Arithmetic.m in compilation. The program will still run. This means that it is possible to "mix-and-match" added categories if necessary – if one does not need to have some capability provided in a category, one can simply not compile it in.

Notes
Objective-C permits a class to wholly replace another class within a program. The replacing class is said to "pose as" the target class. All messages sent to the target class are then instead received by the posing class. There are several restrictions on which classes can pose:
Posing, similarly to categories, allows globally augmenting existing classes. Posing permits two features absent from categories:
For example,
This intercepts every invocation of setMainMenu to NSApplication.

A class may only pose as one of its direct or indirect superclasses
The posing class must not define any new instance variables that are absent from the target class (though it may define or override methods).
No messages must have been sent to the target class prior to the posing.
A posing class can call overridden methods through super, thus incorporating the implementation of the target class.
A posing class can override methods defined in categories. Posing
In the C language, the #include pre-compile directive allows for the insertion of entire files before any compilation actually begins. Objective-C adds the #import directive, which does the same thing, except that it knows not to insert a file that has already been inserted.
For example, if file A includes files X and Y, but X and Y each include the file Q, then Q will be inserted twice into the resultant file, causing "duplicate definition" compile errors. But if file Q is included using the #import directive, only the first inclusion of Q will occur—all others will be ignored.
A few compilers, including GCC, support #import for C programs too; its use is discouraged on the basis that the user of the header file has to distinguish headers that should be included only once, from headers designed to be used multiple times. It is argued that this burden should be placed on the implementor; to this end, the implementor may place the directive #pragma once in the header file, or use the traditional include guard technique:
If a header file uses guards or #pragma once, it makes no difference whether it is #included or #imported. The same objection to #import actually applies to Objective-C as well, and many Objective-C programs will also adopt guards in their headers.

#import
Objective-C in fact included a laundry-list of features that are still being added to other languages, and some that are unique to it. These led from Cox's (and later, NeXT's) realization that there is considerably more to programming than the language. The system has to be usable and flexible as a whole in order to work in a real-world setting.

Delegating methods to other objects at run-time is trivial. Simply add a category that changes the "second chance" method to forward the invocation to the delegate.
Remote invocation is trivial. Simply add a category that changes the "second chance" method to serialize the invocation and forward it off.
Swizzling of the isa pointer allows for classes to change at runtime. Typically used for debugging where freed objects are swizzled into zombie objects, whose only purpose is to report an error when someone calls them. Swizzling was also used in EOF to create database faults. Swizzling is used today by Apple's Foundation Framework to implement Key-Value Observing.
Archiving. An object can be archived into a stream, such as a file, and can be read and restored on demand. Other features
Objective-C++ is a front-end to the GNU Compiler Collection that can compile source files that use a combination of C++ and Objective-C syntax. Objective-C++ adds to C++ the extensions Objective-C adds to C. As nothing is done to unify the semantics behind the various language features, certain restrictions apply:

A C++ class cannot derive from an Objective-C class and vice versa.
C++ namespaces cannot be declared inside an Objective-C declaration.
Objective-C classes cannot have instance variables of C++ classes that do not have a default constructor, or that have one or more virtual methods, but pointers to C++ objects can be used as instance variables without restriction (allocate them with new in the -init method).
C++ "by value" semantics cannot be applied to Objective-C objects, which are only accessible through pointers.
An Objective-C declaration cannot be within a C++ template declaration and vice versa. Objective-C types, (e.g., Classname *) can be used as C++ template parameters, however.
Objective-C and C++ exception handling is distinct; the handlers of each cannot handle exceptions of the other type.
Care must be taken since the destructor calling conventions of Objective-C and C++'s exception run-time models do not match (i.e., a C++ destructor will not be called when an Objective-C exception exits the C++ object's scope). Objective-C++
Objective-C today is often used in tandem with a fixed library of standard objects (often known as a "kit" or "framework"), such as Cocoa or GNUstep. These libraries often come with the operating system: the GNUstep libraries often come with Linux distributions and Cocoa comes with Mac OS X. The programmer is not forced to inherit functionality from the existing base class (NSObject). Objective-C allows for the declaration of new root classes that do not inherit any existing functionality. Originally, Objective-C based programming environments typically offered an Object class as the base class from which almost all other classes inherited. With the introduction of OpenStep, NeXT created a new base class named NSObject that offered additional features over Object (an emphasis on using object references and reference counting instead of raw pointers, for example). Almost all classes in Cocoa inherit from NSObject.
Not only did the renaming serve to differentiate the new default behavior of classes within the OpenStep API, but it allowed code that used Object — the original base class used on NeXTSTEP (and, more or less, other Objective-C class libraries) — to co-exist in the same runtime with code that used NSObject (with some limitations). As well, the introduction of the two letter prefix became a sort of simplistic form of namespaces, which Objective-C lacks. Using a prefix to create an informal packaging identifier became an informal coding standard in the Objective-C community, and continues to this day.

Objective-C 2.0
Objective-C 2.0 allows for garbage collection, but it is an opt-in system. One may use garbage collection in a backwards compatible way, such that code written for previous versions will continue to work.

Garbage collection
Whereas instance variables previously required the creation of methods to get and set (getters and setters) those variables, Objective-C 2.0 introduces the property syntax:
Once added to the interface, properties can be accessed using dot notation (example given an instance aPerson of the above Person class):
The compiler translates property dot notation into accessor method calls. The above statement is equivalent to:

Properties
Instead of using an Enumerator object to iterate through a collection, Objective-C 2.0 offers the foreach syntax (given an array thePeople of objects of the above defined Person):

Fast iteration
Besides the GCC/NeXT/Apple Computer implementation, which added several extensions to the original Stepstone implementation, there exists another free open-source Objective-C implementation, which implements a slightly different set of extensions: The Portable Object Compiler [5] implements, among other things, also Smalltalk-like blocks for Objective-C.

Portable Object Compiler
Objective-C implementations use a thin runtime written in C that adds little to the size of the application. In contrast, most OO systems at the time that it was created (and Java even today) used large VM runtimes that took over the entire system. Programs written in Objective-C tend to be not much larger than the size of their code and that of the libraries (which generally do not need to be included in the software distribution), in contrast to Smalltalk systems where a large amount of memory was used just to open a window.
Likewise, the language can be implemented on top of existing C compilers (in GCC, first as a preprocessor, then as a module) rather than as a new compiler. This allows Objective-C to leverage the huge existing collection of C code, libraries, tools, and mindshare. Existing C libraries — even in object code libraries — can be wrapped in Objective-C wrappers to provide an OO-style interface. All of these practical changes lowered the barrier to entry, likely the biggest problem for the widespread acceptance of Smalltalk in the 1980s.
The first versions of Objective-C did not support garbage collection. At the time this decision was a matter of some debate, and many people considered long "dead times" (when Smalltalk did collection) to render the entire system unusable. Although some 3rd party implementations have added this feature (most notably GNUstep), Apple implemented it as of Mac OS X v10.5. But it is unavailable to applications targeting older versions of the Mac OS
Another common criticism is that Objective-C does not have language support for namespaces. Instead programmers are forced to add prefixes to their class names, which can cause collisions. As of 2007, all Mac OS X classes and functions in the Cocoa programming environment are prefixed with "NS" (as in NSObject or NSButton) to clearly identify them as belonging to the Mac OS X core; the "NS" derives from the names of the classes as defined during the development of NeXTSTEP.
Since Objective-C is a strict superset of C, it does not treat C primitive types as first-class objects either.
Unlike C++, Objective-C does not support operator overloading. Also unlike C++, Objective-C allows an object only to directly inherit from one class (forbidding multiple inheritance). As Java was influenced by the design of Objective-C, the decision to use single inheritance was carried into Java. Categories and protocols may be used as alternative functionality to multiple inheritance; Java however lacks categories.

Analysis of the language
The design and implementation of C++ and Objective-C represent different approaches to extending C.
In addition to C's style of procedural programming, C++ directly supports object-oriented programming, generic programming, and metaprogramming. C++ also comes with a large standard library which includes several container classes. Objective-C, on the other hand, adds only object-oriented features to C. Objective-C in its purest fashion does not contain the same number of standard library features, but in most places where Objective-C is used, it is used with an OpenStep-like library such as OPENSTEP, Cocoa, or GNUstep which provide similar functionality to some of C++'s standard library.
One notable difference is that Objective-C provides runtime support for some reflective features, whereas C++ adds only a small amount of runtime support to C. In Objective-C, an object can be queried about its own properties, for example whether it will respond to a certain message. In C++ this is not possible without the use of external libraries; however, it is possible to query whether two objects are of the same type (including built-in types) and whether an object is an instance of a given class (or superclass).
The use of reflection is part of the wider distinction between dynamic (run-time) features versus static (compile-time) features of a language. Although Objective-C and C++ each employ a mix of both features, Objective-C is decidedly geared toward run-time decisions while C++ is geared toward compile-time decisions. The tension between dynamic and static programming involves many of the classic trade-offs in computer science.

See also

2007-12-02T09:22:00.001-08:00

This article is about the comic book and TV series. For the mobster, see Lucky Luciano.
Lucky Luke is a Franco-Belgian comics series created by Morris, and over period written by René Goscinny. Set in the American Old West, it stars the titular character, Lucky Luke, the cowboy known to shoot faster than his shadow.
Along with The Adventures of Tintin and Asterix, Lucky Luke is one of the most popular and best-selling comic-book series in continental Europe, but unlike Tintin and Astérix, despite its popularity in Canada, only a handful of the series' adventures have been translated into English.

Publication history
Luke, drawing a gun faster than his shadow, fights crime and injustice, most often in the form of the bumbling Dalton brothers, Joe, William, Jack and Averell (each one being taller and dumber than the previous one). He rides Jolly Jumper, "the smartest horse in the world". He is often seen with Rantanplan, "the stupidest dog in the universe", whose name is a reference to Rin Tin Tin. A cigarette was constantly on Lucky Luke's lips in the early stories, but in 1983, in response to the growing anti-smoking campaign, Morris replaced the cigarette with a piece of straw, which earned him recognition from the World Health Organization.
In the albums, Luke meets many factual Western figures like Calamity Jane, Billy the Kid, Judge Roy Bean and Jesse James's gang, and takes part in historical endeavors such as guarding of Wells Fargo stagecoaches, the Pony Express, the building of the first transcontinental telegraph, and the Rush into the Unassigned Lands of Oklahoma.
At the end of each story, except the earliest, Lucky Luke rides off alone into the sunset, singing (in English) "I'm a poor lonesome cowboy, and a long way from home...".

Plot summary

Bibliography

1. La Mine d'or de Dick Digger, Dupuis, 1949 (Dick Digger's Gold Mine)
2. Rodéo, Dupuis, 1949
3. Arizona, Dupuis, 1951
4. Sous le ciel de l'Ouest, Dupuis, 1952 (Under the Western Sky)
5. Lucky Luke contre Pat Poker, Dupuis, 1953 (Lucky Luke versus Pat Poker)
6. Hors-la-loi, Dupuis, 1954 (Outlaw)
7. L'Élixir du Dr Doxey, Dupuis, 1955 (Dr Doxey's Elixir)
8. Lucky Luke contre Phil Defer, Dupuis, 1956 (Lucky Luke versus Phil Defer - the name Phil Defer a French play on Fil de Fer, Iron Wire)
10. Alerte aux Pieds Bleus, Dupuis, 1958 (Beware of the Bluefoots) By Morris & Goscinny

47. Le Magot des Dalton, Dargaud, 1980, by Vicq (The Daltons' Loot)
48. Le Bandit manchot, Dargaud, 1981, by Bob de Groot (The One-Armed Bandit)
49. Sarah Bernhardt, Dargaud, 1982, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche
52. Fingers, Dargaud, 1983, by Lo Hartog Van Banda
53. Le Daily Star, Dargaud, 1983, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche (The Daily Star)
54. La Fiancée de Luky Luke, Dargaud, 1985, by Guy Vidal (Lucky Luke's Fiancee)
56. Le Ranch maudit, Dargaud, 1986, by Jean Léturgie, Xavier Fauche and Claude Guylouis (The Cursed Ranch)
57. Nitroglycérine, Dargaud, 1987, by Lo Hartog Van Banda
58. L'Alibi, Dargaud, 1987, by Claude Guylouis (The Alibi)
59. Le Pony Express, Dargaud, 1988], by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche (The Pony Express)
60. L'Amnésie des Dalton, Lucky Productions, 1991, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche (The Daltons' Amnesia)
61. Chasse aux fantômes, Lucky Productions, 1992, by Lo Hartog Van Banda (Ghosthunt)
62. Les Dalton à la noce, Lucky Productions, 1993, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche (The Daltons at a Wedding)
63. Le Pont sur le Mississippi, Lucky Productions, 1994, by Jean Léturgie and Xavier Fauche (Bridge Over The Mississippi)
64. Belle Star, Lucky Productions, 1995, by Xavier Fauche
65. Le Klondike, Lucky Productions, 1996, by Yann and Jean Léturgie (The Klondike)
66. O.K. Corral, Lucky Productions, 1997, by Eric Adam and Xavier Fauche
67. Marcel Dalton, Lucky Productions, 1998, by Bob de Groot
68. Le Prophète, Lucky Comics, 2000, by Patrick Nordmann (The Prophet)
69. L'Artiste peintre, Lucky Comics, 2001, by Bob de Groot (The Painter)
70. La Légende de l'Ouest, Lucky Comics, 2002, by Patrick Nordmann (The Legend Of The West) Various writers

71. La Belle Province, Lucky Comics, 2004 (The Beautiful Country)
72. La Corde au cou, Lucky Comics, 2006 (Rope On The Neck) By Achdé & Gerra

The Stagecoach, Knight Books (UK), 1976
Apache Canyon, Knight Books (UK), 1977
The Stage Coach, Dargaud USA, 1980s; Fantasy Flight (US) 1990s
The Greenhorn, Dargaud USA, 1980s
Dalton City, Dargaud USA, 1980s
Jesse James, Dargaud USA, 1980s; Fantasy Flight (US) 1990s
Western Circus, Dargaud USA, 1980s
Ma Dalton, Dargaud USA, 1980s
The Dalton Brothers' Analyst, also Curing the Daltons, Dargaud Canada, 1982
The Dalton Brothers Memory Game, Ravette books (UK), 1991
Calamity Jane, Glo'worm (UK), 1998
Dalton City, Glo'worm (UK), 1998
Ma Dalton, Glo'worm (UK), 1999
Jesse James, Glo'worm (UK), 1998
The Tenderfoot, Glo'worm (UK), 1999
Western Circus, Glo'worm (UK), 2000
The Dashing White Cowboy, Glo'worm (UK), 2000
1. Billy the Kid, Cinebook Ltd, 2006, ISBN 1905460112
2. Ghost Town, Cinebook Ltd, 2006, ISBN 1905460120
3. Dalton City, Cinebook Ltd, 2006, ISBN 1905460139
4. Jesse James, Cinebook Ltd, 2006, ISBN 1905460147
5. In the Shadow of the Derricks, Cinebook Ltd, 2007, ISBN 1905460171
6. Ma Dalton, Cinebook Ltd, 2007, ISBN 9781905460182
7. Barbed Wire on the Prairie, Cinebook Ltd, 2007, ISBN 9781905460243
8. Calamity Jane, Cinebook Ltd, 2007, ISBN 9781905460250
9. The Wagon Train, Cinebook Ltd, 2008, announced
10. Tortillas for the Daltons, Cinebook Ltd, 2008, announced
11. Western Circus, Cinebook Ltd, 2008, announced
12. The Rivals of Painful Gulch, Cinebook Ltd, 2008, announced English translations

Lucky Luke in other media
Three theatrical animated films were created. In 1990, Disney released one of them, The Ballad of the Daltons, on VHS. In addition to the theatrical animated movies, there was also an animated Lucky Luke television series: In 1983, Hanna-Barbera studios and Morris released 26 episodes, and in 1991, 26 more episodes were released. In 2001, Xilam produced a new series of 52 episodes known as Les Nouvelles aventures de Lucky Luke (Lucky Luke's new adventures). It is now available on 8 DVDs with French and English audio tracks. This series also featured colonel Custer who is an Indian-hater and a dwarf.

Animation
In the early 1990s, two films and a television series starring Terence Hill as Lucky Luke were produced. In 2004 a film titled Les Dalton featured Til Schweiger as Lucky Luke.
Yves Marmion and UGC, the producers of Les Dalton, are currently developing a 20M€ stand-alone Lucky Luke feature, starring Jean Dujardin as the gunslinger, according to FilmDeCulte.com.

Video games

Roy Bean
Sarah Bernhardt
Billy the Kid
Black Bart
Buffalo Bill
Ike Clanton
Old Man Clanton
Dalton Gang
Edwin Drake
James B. Eads
Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp
Horace Greeley
Hatfield & McCoy
Rutherford B. Hayes
Doc Holliday
Frank James
Jesse James
Calamity Jane
Abraham Lincoln
George Maldon
Joshua Norton
Isaac C. Parker
Frederic Remington
Mattie Silks
Soapy Smith
Belle Starr
Mark Twain
Adolphe & Arthur Caille

2007-12-01T07:19:00.001-08:00

Erhard Seminars Training, Inc., an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, presented to the general public a wildly popular and sometimes controversial weekend workshop known as 'The est Training'. (The word 'est' is an acronym for 'erhard seminars training', and is also Latin for 'what is'.) The goal of 'the Training' was to allow participants to achieve a sense of personal transformation, a concept that became important during the socially turbulent and war-weary early 1970's, the era of Watergate and Vietnam. The est Training was delivered, unchanged save for minor modifications to the program, for over 13 years, from late-1971 to late-1984.[1]
The first est Training took place at the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco, California in October 1971. From there, est grew rapidly, expanding out of California, going nationwide, then worldwide, as word of mouth about the new program spread. In December 1984 the est Training was formally retired by the company, to be replaced by a newly-developed workshop called 'The Forum', which began to be offered in January 1985. By this time, over 750,000 people around the world had done 'the Training', and many others had participated in any of the other public seminars and courses offered by est. The est Training introduced several new concepts to the American public, most notably the concept of transformation and taking responsibility for one's life.
'est, Inc.' evolved into 'est, an Educational Corporation', and eventually into 'Werner Erhard & Associates'. WE&A purchased the assets of est in 1981.
The technology of the est Training was significantly influenced by that of Unity Church through Werner Erhard's earlier association with Alexander Everett and his Mind Dynamics program. Werner Erhard had been a Mind Dynamics trainer for Alexander Everett before he founded Erhard Seminars Training. Everett credited Unity Church with having a major impact upon the formation and technology of Mind Dynamics. This connection between the est Training and Unity Church is particularly evident in the theory that one's beliefs, commitments and perceptions create one's reality (a major aspect of the est concept of "responsibility") and the use of affirmations or "declarations" (as est called that which Unity terms "affirmations"). Formulation of the est Training was significantly influenced as well by the American author, philosopher and Zen Buddhist Alan Watts.

Timeline

Valerie Harper
Yoko Ono
Diana Ross Staff, participants and other individuals
See also the list of associated organizations.

The Hunger Project 1977 - Present Related organizations

Related publications

Books

William Warren Bartley (1978). Werner Erhard The Transformation of a Man: The Founding of est. New York, New York, USA: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc.. ISBN 0-517-53502-5. Other

Mark Brewerk. "We're Gonna Tear You Down and Put You Back Together", Psychology Today, August 1975
L. L. Glass, M. A. Kirsch and F. N. Parris. "Psychiatric disturbances associated with Erhard Seminars Training", American Journal of Psychiatry. 1977; 134(3): 245-7.
Peter Marin. "The New Narcissism", Harper's, October 1975, 251:45-56.
Perry Pascarella. "Create Breakthroughs in Performance by Changing the Conversation," by Perry Pascarella. Industry Week, Vol. 233, No. 6 (June 15), 1987.
Eliezer Sobel. "This Is It: est, Twenty Years Later" (QUEST Magazine, Summer 1998)[2]

2007-11-30T10:15:00.001-08:00

Pakistan International Airlines Flight PK 705 was a Boeing 720 – 040 B that crashed while descending to land on Runway 34 at Cairo International Airport on May 20, 1965 resulting in 119 fatalities.

Details
Controlled flight into terrain - Level ground

Result
"The aircraft did not maintain the adequate height for the circuit and continued to descend until it contacted the ground. The reason for that abnormal continuation of descent is unknown."
The aircraft crashed during approach. The plane descended during the approach at triple the normal rate. The aircraft exceeded the recommended descent rate during the final stages of landing. Landing Gear was down and locked, however flaps and slats had not been deployed, and wing was in level flight/cruise configuration.

Probable cause

ICAO Circular 88-AN/74 (113-117)
Accident Description: Crashed during approach, excessive descent. Sources

Mr. Jalal Al-Karimi (Dhahran Station Manager – Pakistan International Airlines)
Mr. M Salahuddin Siddiqi (Press Officer – PIA)
Mr. Amanullah Khandwalla (Aerotravels)
Mr. Shaukat Mecklai (Universal Express)
Mr. Arif Raza (son of the owner of Hostelleirie de France)
Mr. Zahoor (Globe) Survivors
PIA personnel
Passengers
The twenty two journalists on board who were killed in the disaster included:

Captain Ali Akhtar Khan (Flight Commander)
Captain Jauhar (Co-pilot)
Khalid Zia Lodhi (Chief Navigation Officer)
Jimmy Mirza (Commercial & Marketing Director – PIA)
Momi Gul Durrani
Mr. Abdul Aziz
Mr. Abdul
Mr. Abdul Hamid
Mr. Abdul Hannan
Mr. Abdul Karim
Mr. Abdul Kashim
Mr. Abdul Qadir
Mr. Abdul Rozak
Master Abdul Sattar (Child)
Mst. Fatima Bibi (Child)
Mrs. Hawjaib Hyder
Miss Hawjaib Yasmin (Infant)
Mr. Abdul Sohid
Mr. Abdus Samad
Mr. Abdul Waris
Mr. Abdul Miah
Mr. A I Sheikh
Mr. Akhtar Javed Alavi
Mr. Ali Wasir
Mr. A S Niazi
Mr. Aziz Malik
Mr. Bashir Ahmed Lakhani
Mrs. Banoo Shaukat Mecklai
Ms. Cindy Salandha
Mr. Dennis E Lobo
Mr. Donald Love
Mr. Dost Mohammad
Miss Elizabeth Clare Howard
Mr. Lewis Page Howard
Mrs. Marian Teeters Howard
Ms. Dr. Eva Vodikova
Mr. Feroz Khan
Mrs. F Chowdhry
Mr. Golam Jilani Joarder
Mrs. Gulzar Begum
Mr. Gerry Roasrio
Wing Commander M Shamim Khan
Mr. Hafiz Mohammad
Mr. Hussain El Mani
Mr. Hussein Aly Chehata
Mrs. Hussein Aly Chehata
Miss Hutoki Panthakey
Mr. I A Butt
Mr. Intaj Ali
Mr. Irfan Ali
Mr. Ishaq Ibrahim El-Massoui
Mrs. Jana Hai
Mr. Jaston Layyoub
Mr. Kalay Mia
Mr. Karl
Mr. L A Tahir
Mr. Madjid Al-Makky
Mr. M A Rashid
Mr. Mahfoozul Haq Bhuiyan
Miss Mahmooda Naimatullah Baig
Mr. Malik Abdul Hussain
Dr. Malick Asdar Ali
Mr. Mansoor Laljee
Mr. Mohammed Afzal Johri
Mr. Mohamed El-Hasan
Mr. Mohammad Masood Khan
Mr. Mohammad Bajjawal
Mr. Mohammad
Mr. Mohammad Siddique
Mr. Mohammad Shafiq
Mrs. Danna Danha
Mr. Mumtaz Mian
Mr. G H Terry
Mr. M E Terry
Mr. M Ismail
Mr. Zulfiqar Khan
Mr. Monuhur Mia
Mr. Mostafauddin
Mr. M Yasefa
Miss Naseema Sarwar
Mr. Osman Ahmed Khalfalla
Miss Razia Bibi
Mr. Rolf Evensen
Mr. S A Tasdiq
Mr. S B Agha
Mrs. Shamima Amin
Mr. Sirajuddin
Mr. S M Laekawall
Mr. Shofiullah
Mrs. Syeda Saleema Begum
Mr. Syed Shams Yousseff
Mr. Toyeb Ali
Mr. Victor
Mr. Chang Hsuesh-Li
Mr. Li Yu-Feng
Mr. Hsu Fu-Ken
Mr. Huang Kang
Mr. Wu Fu-Peng
Mr. Yang Zong-Hai
Mr. Yu May-Hang
Major General Mian Hayauddin (Chairman – National Press Trust)
Mr. A K Qureishi (Administrator – Associated Press of Pakistan)
Mr. Fariduddin Ahmad (Pakistan Observer)
Mr. Akhtaruzzaman (Paigham)
Mr. Aleemullah (Leader)
Mr. Irfan Chughtai (Chief Reporter Nawa-i-Waqt)
Mr. T D D'sylva (Pakistan Times)
Mr. Sibte Farooq Faridi (Morning News)
Mr. S M Hannan (Morning News)
Mr. Hamid Hashmi (Daily Imroze)
Mr. Muzammil Huq (Sainik Pakistan)
Mr. Abul Saleh Islahi (Editor Daily Mashriq)
Mr. M B Khalid (Business Recorder)
Mr. Yaqub Khan (Aero News)
Mr. Nasir Mahmood (Daily Jang)
Mr. Jaffar Mansoor (Hurriyat)
Mr. S M Mobin (Unity)
Mr. Shah Mumtaz (PPA)
Mr. Ahmadur Rehman (Ittefaq)
Mr. Saghiruddin (Dawn)
Mr. Yasin Tareen (Business Post)
Mr. Mumtaz Tariq (Flyer) Victims

Type: Boeing 720 – 040 B
Operator: Pakistan International Airlines – PIA
Registration: AP – AMH
C/n / msn: 18379/321
Manufactured: 1962
Engines: 4 x Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3B
First flight: 1962
Delivery date: October 19, 1962

2007-11-29T07:52:00.001-08:00

Maximum snowfall or ice accretion The Blizzard of 2006 was a nor'easter that began on the evening of February 11, 2006. It dumped heavy snow across the Northeast United States from Virginia to Maine through the early evening of February 12 and ended in Atlantic Canada on February 13. The major northeast cities from Baltimore to Boston received at least a foot of snow, with an all-time largest amount of 26.9 inches (68.3 cm) in New York City, the most since at least 1869, the start of record keeping.

Impact
For the most part, Connecticut managed to avoid major problems, despite the enormous snowfall amounts. Hartford received a total of 21.9 inches (55 cm) of snow- the second largest snowfall since 1906. A total of 18 inches (46 cm) fell in the small Sandy Hook village. West Hartford totaled 27 inches (69 cm) and Fairfield saw 27.8 inches (70.6 cm) of snow. Despite the large amounts of snow, there were only isolated individual power outages.

Connecticut
New Castle County and Wilmington felt the brunt of this storm with 14-15 inches (35-38 cm) of snow. Kent and Sussex counties to the south mixed with rain for a while, and saw significantly less snow accumulations, mostly in the 6 inch (15 cm) range.

Delaware
The city of Washington, D.C. missed the worst of the storm. The city received about 9 inches (22 cm) of snow, far less than in the suburbs. Approximately 3,000 people lost electricity in the District of Columbia. However, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (just across the Potomac River) was closed.

District of Columbia
The heaviest snow in Maryland fell from the northern suburbs of Washington, D.C., to the Baltimore area. These areas overwhelmingly saw over a foot of snow. Snowfall rates of 2-3 inches (5-8 cm) per hour were common, and thundersnow occurred. Snowfall amounts of up to 21 inches (53 cm) were reported in Columbia, 13.1 inches (33.3 cm) in Baltimore, 17 inches (43 cm) in Catonsville, and a foot (30.5 cm) in Potomac. This was the area's heaviest snow in three years. Lesser amounts occurred in western and southern parts of the state.
Maryland was hardest hit by power outages. In the Baltimore area, more than 62,000 people lost electricity, plus another 16,000 in Montgomery County and 37,000 in Prince George's County.

Maryland
The most serious coastal problems were in Massachusetts. The heaviest snow was in the central part of the state, where snow amounts of up to 20 inches (50 cm) were reported. Coastal areas, particularly around Nantucket saw lesser amounts (approximately 12") as it was mixed with sleet at times, but winds of up to 60 mph (95 km/h) whipped up the ocean with storm surges of 2 to 3 feet (60 to 90 cm) and led to some coastal flooding, plus offshore waves of up to 25 feet (8 m). Logan International Airport in Boston and flights into and out of Barnstable municipal airport in Hyannis on Cape Cod saw over 90% of their flights cancelled at the peak of the storm.
There were no power outages despite the conditions.

Massachusetts
The impact of the blizzard in northern New Jersey was strong enough to stop the New Jersey Transit bus service between 7:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., although trains continued to run (with some delays). Many roads remained closed. Businesses were closed for most of the day. 16,000 people were without power in the state. Northeastern New Jersey saw the brunt of the storm; 21" (53.3 cm) of snow fell at Newark Airport, with higher amounts reported around North Central NJ due to heavy banding through the night.nmi

New Jersey
The Greater New York City Area received the brunt of the February Blizzard of 2006. All three of the airports in the New York City area (LaGuardia Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport) were closed during the record blizzard, for the first time since the September 11, 2001 attacks. Like the Blizzard of 1996, this winter storm does not meet the criteria to be called a blizzard, however. The winds were not strong enough, and visibility was not poor enough. Thundersnow, which is an extremely rare occurrence, especially in New York, happened for about a 4 hour period in parts of Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Rockland and Westchester during the height of the storm early Sunday morning.
Central Park received 26.9 inches (68.3 cm) of snow, the largest amount for a single storm since records began, breaking the record of 26.4 inches (67.1 cm) that fell on December 26, 1947. By comparison, the blizzards of 1996 and 2003 dropped 20.2 and 19.8 inches (51.3 and 50.3 cm) in Central Park respectively. The smallest amounts of snowfall were recorded in the beginning of Nassau County some towns are Oceanside, Lynbrook, Rockville Centre and Island Park. The snow removal cost in New York City alone is estimated at about $27 million.

New York
Cars left overnight in Manhattan street parking were generally immobile by morning.
New York City Hall as the snow began to fall on Saturday (February 11, 2006).
Prospect Heights, Brooklyn on February 12.
A loader clears snow in New York City during a lull in the snowfall on Sunday, February 12.
Near Whiteout Conditions in Yonkers, New York.
Riverside Drive, New York City.

New York photo gallery
Snowfall totals were measured at 12 inches (30 cm) at Philadelphia International Airport, but 35 miles (56 km) to the west in West Caln Township there were 21 inches (53 cm). Philadelphia International Airport remained open throughout the storm, although about 50% of flights were cancelled. There were also power outages in the Philadelphia area, with about 10,000 customers losing power. But in contrast, in Western Pennsylvania most got 1" (2.5 cm) or less of snow.

Pennsylvania
The Governor of Rhode Island, Donald Carcieri, declared a statewide state of emergency due to the blizzard conditions.

Rhode Island
According to Dominion Power, over 64,000 people in Northern Virginia lost power in the storm, primarily in the suburban areas adjacent to Washington, D.C. Many locations in the extreme Northeastern portion of the state recorded 10-15" (25-38 cm) of snow, with Falls Church and Fairfax coming in at 13.5" (34.3 cm) and 14.0" (35.6 cm) respectively. Fairfax County and eastern Loudoun County were generally the start of the 12+" (30+ cm) accumulations, which spread north towards Massachusetts.

Virginia
While the snowfall amounts diminished somewhat (to about 6 to 12 inches or 15 to 30 cm) by the time the storm tracked east into Atlantic Canada, the winds increased substantially. The worst of the storm was felt along the Atlantic coast, particularly in a swath around the Bay of Fundy, the Northumberland Strait and the south coast of Newfoundland. Hurricane-force wind gusts were reported in several communities, peaking at 156 km/h (97 mph) in Grand Etang, Nova Scotia (equal to a Category 2 hurricane) and 133 km/h (83 mph) in Cape Race on the east coast of Newfoundland. Some damage was reported as a result of the strong winds, particularly downed power lines but also some roof damage to buildings.

Atlantic Canada
Only accumulations of 8 inches (20 cm) or greater are listed. Not all observations are listed due to space limitations; only major communities and notable reports are listed.
Sources: National Weather Service local offices - Sterling, VA, Mount Holly, NJ, Upton, NY, Taunton, MA, Caribou, ME, Gray, ME

Trivia

Cyclogenesis
Extratropical cyclone

2007-11-28T09:53:00.001-08:00

The information superhighway is a now-obsolete term that was used to describe the future of what existed up until the mid-1990s as the Internet (for the early state of the Internet, see Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog).
Nam June Paik, a 20th century South Korean born American video artist, claims to have coined the term in 1974. "I used the term (information superhighway) in a study I wrote for the Rockefeller Foundation in 1974. I thought: if you create a highway, then people are going to invent cars. That's dialectics. If you create electronic highways, something has to happen." [1] The term was popularized by former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore in the early 1990s. [2], [3]

See also

Al Gore's contributions to the internet and technology
National Information Infrastructure
The Superhighway Summit

2007-11-27T11:18:00.001-08:00

Reptiles are tetrapods and amniotes, animals whose embryos are surrounded by an amniotic membrane, and members of the class Sauropsida. Today they are represented by four surviving orders:
Modern reptiles inhabit every continent except for Antarctica, although their main distribution comprises the tropics and subtropics. Though all cellular metabolism produces some heat, most modern species of reptiles do not generate enough to maintain a constant body temperature and are thus referred to as "cold-blooded" or ectothermic (the Leatherback Sea Turtle might be an exception, see also gigantothermy). Instead, they rely on gathering and losing heat from the environment to regulate their internal temperature, e.g, by moving between sun and shade, or by preferential circulation — moving warmed blood into the body core, while pushing cool blood to the periphery. In their natural habitats, most species are adept at this, and can usually maintain core body temperatures within a fairly narrow range. Reptiles are thick-skinned; unlike amphibians, they do not need to absorb water. While this lack of adequate internal heating imposes costs relative to temperature regulation through behavior, it also provides a large benefit by allowing reptiles to survive on much less food than comparably-sized mammals and birds, who burn much of their food for warmth. While warm-blooded animals move faster in general, an attacking lizard, snake or crocodile moves very quickly.
Except for a few members of the Testudines, all reptiles are covered by scales.
Most reptile species are oviparous (egg-laying). Many species of squamates, however, are capable of giving live birth. This is achieved, either through ovoviviparity (egg retention), or viviparity (offspring born without use of calcified eggs). Many of the viviparous species feed their fetuses through various forms of placenta analogous to those of mammals (Pianka & Vitt, 2003 pgs: 116-118). They often provide considerable initial care for their hatchlings.

Anapsida
Diapsida
Reptilia Laurenti, 1768
Crocodilia (crocodiles, gharials, caimans and alligators): 23 species
Sphenodontia (tuataras from New Zealand): 2 species
Squamata (lizards, snakes and amphisbaenids ("worm-lizards")): approximately 7,900 species
Testudines (turtles and tortoises): approximately 300 species Classification of reptiles
From the classical standpoint, reptiles included all the amniotes except birds and mammals. Thus reptiles were defined as the set of animals that includes crocodiles, alligators, tuatara, lizards, snakes, amphisbaenians and turtles, grouped together as the class Reptilia (Latin repere, "to creep"). This is still the usual definition of the term. However, in recent years, many taxonomists have begun to insist that taxa should be monophyletic, that is, groups should include all descendants of a particular form. The reptiles as defined above would be paraphyletic, since they exclude both birds and mammals, although these also developed from the original reptile. Colin Tudge writes:
The terms "Sauropsida" ("Lizard Faces") and "Theropsida" ("Beast Faces") were coined in 1916 by E.S. Goodrich to distinguish between lizards, birds, and their relatives on one hand (Sauropsida) and mammals and their extinct relatives (Theropsida) on the other. This division is supported by the nature of the hearts and blood vessels in each group, and other features such as the structure of the forebrain. According to Goodrich both lineages evolved from an earlier stem group, the Protosauria ("First Lizards") which included some Paleozoic amphibians as well as early reptiles.
In 1956 D.M.S. Watson observed that the first two groups diverged very early in reptilian history, and so he divided Goodrich's Protosauria among them. He also reinterpreted the Sauropsida and Theropsida to exclude birds and mammals respectively. Thus his Sauropsida included Procolophonia, Eosuchia, Millerosauria, Chelonia (turtles), Squamata (lizards and snakes), Rhynchocephalia, Crocodilia, "thecodonts" (paraphyletic basal Archosauria), non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, ichthyosaurs, and sauropyterygians.
This classification supplemented, but was never as popular as, the classification of the reptiles (according to Romer's classic Vertebrate Paleontology) into four subclasses according to the positioning of temporal fenestrae, openings in the sides of the skull behind the eyes. Those divisions were:
All of the above but Synapsida fall under Sauropsida.

Anapsida - no fenestrae
Synapsida - one low fenestra (no longer considered true reptiles)
Euryapsida - one high fenestra (now included within Diapsida)
Diapsida - two fenestrae Taxonomy

Phylogeny
Hylonomus is the oldest-known reptile, and was about 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm) long. Westlothiana has been suggested as the oldest reptile, but is for the moment considered to be more related to amphibians than amniotes. Petrolacosaurus and Mesosaurus are other examples. The earliest reptiles were found in the swamp forests of the Carboniferous, but were largely overshadowed by bigger labyrinthodont amphibians such as Proterogynrius. It was only after the small ice age at the end of the Carboniferous that the reptiles grew to big sizes, producing species such as Edaphosaurus and Dimetrodon.
The first true "reptiles" (Sauropsids) are categorized as Anapsids, having a solid skull with holes only for nose, eyes, spinal cord, etc. Turtles are believed by some to be surviving Anapsids, as they also share this skull structure; but this point has become contentious lately, with some arguing that turtles reverted to this primitive state in order to improve their armor. Both sides have strong evidence, and the conflict has yet to be resolved.
Shortly after the first reptiles, two branches split off, one leading to the Anapsids, which did not develop holes in their skulls. The other group, Diapsida, possessed a pair of holes in their skulls behind the eyes, along with a second pair located higher on the skull. The Diapsida split yet again into two lineages, the lepidosaurs (which contain modern snakes, lizards and tuataras, as well as, debatably, the extinct sea reptiles of the Mesozoic) and the archosaurs (today represented by only crocodilians and birds, but also containing pterosaurs and dinosaurs).
The earliest, solid-skulled amniotes also gave rise to a separate line, the Synapsida. Synapsids developed a pair of holes in their skulls behind the eyes (similar to the diapsids), which were used to both lighten the skull and increase the space for jaw muscles. The synapsids eventually evolved into mammals, and are often referred to as mammal-like reptiles, though they are not true members of Sauropsida. (A preferable term is "stem-mammals".)

Evolution of the reptiles

Systems
All reptiles have closed circulation via a three-chamber heart consisting of two atria and one, variably-partitioned ventricle. There is usually one pair of aortic arches. In spite of this, because of the fluid dynamics of blood flow through the heart, there is little mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood in the three-chamber heart. Furthermore, the blood flow can be altered to shunt either deoxygenated blood to the body or oxygenated blood to the lungs, which gives the animal greater control over its blood flow, allowing more effective thermoregulation and longer diving times for aquatic species. There are some interesting exceptions among reptiles. For instance, crocodilians have an anatomically four-chambered heart that is capable of becoming a functionally three-chamber heart during dives (Mazzotti, 1989 pg 47). Also, it has been discovered that some snake and lizard species (e.g., monitor lizards and pythons) have three-chamber hearts that become functional four-chamber hearts during contraction. This is made possible by a muscular ridge that subdivides the ventricle during ventricular diastole and completely divides it during ventricular systole. Because of this ridge, some of these squamates are capable of producing ventricular pressure differentials that are equivalent to those seen in mammalian and avian hearts (Wang et al, 2003).

Circulatory
All reptiles breathe using lungs. Aquatic turtles have developed more permeable skin, and even gills in their anal region, for some species (Orenstein, 2001). Even with these adaptations, breathing is never fully accomplished without lungs. Lung ventilation is accomplished differently in each main reptile group. In squamates the lungs are ventilated almost exclusively by the axial musculature. This is also the same musculature that is used during locomotion. Because of this constraint, most squamates are forced to hold their breath during intense runs. Some, however, have found a way around it. Varanids, and a few other lizard species, employ buccal pumping as a complement to their normal "axial breathing." This allows the animals to completely fill their lungs during intense locomotion, and thus remain aerobically active for a long time. Tegu lizards are known to possess a proto-diaphragm, which separates the pulmonary cavity from the visceral cavity. While not actually capable of movement, it does allow for greater lung inflation, by taking the weight of the viscera off the lungs (Klein et al, 2003). Crocodilians actually have a muscular diaphragm that is analogous to the mammalian diaphragm. The difference is that the muscles for the crocodilian diaphragm pull the pubis (part of the pelvis, which is movable in crocodilians) back, which brings the liver down, thus freeing space for the lungs to expand. This type of diaphragmatic setup has been referred to as the "hepatic piston."
How Turtles & Tortoises breathe has been the subject of much study. To date, only a few species have been studied thoroughly enough to get an idea of how turtles do it. The results indicate that turtles & tortoises have found a variety of solutions to this problem. The problem is that most turtle shells are rigid and do not allow for the type of expansion and contraction that other amniotes use to ventilate their lungs. Some turtles such as the Indian flapshell (Lissemys punctata) have a sheet of muscle that envelopes the lungs. When it contracts, the turtle can exhale. When at rest, the turtle can retract the limbs into the body cavity and force air out of the lungs. When the turtle protracts its limbs, the pressure inside the lungs is reduced, and the turtle can suck air in. Turtle lungs are attached to the inside of the top of the shell (carapace), with the bottom of the lungs attached (via connective tissue) to the rest of the viscera. By using a series of special muscles (roughly equivalent to a diaphragm), turtles are capable of pushing their viscera up and down, resulting in effective respiration, since many of these muscles have attachment points in conjunction with their forelimbs (indeed, many of the muscles expand into the limb pockets during contraction). Breathing during locomotion has been studied in three species, and they show different patterns. Adult female green sea turtles do not breathe as they crutch along their nesting beaches. They hold their breath during terrestrial locomotion and breathe in bouts as they rest. North American box turtles breathe continuously during locomotion, and the ventilation cycle is not coordinated with the limb movements (Landberg et al., 2003). They are probably using their abdominal muscles to breathe during locomotion. The last species to have been studied is red-eared sliders, which also breathe during locomotion, but they had smaller breaths during locomotion than during small pauses between locomotor bouts, indicating that there may be mechanical interference between the limb movements and the breathing apparatus. Box turtles have also been observed to breathe while completely sealed up inside their shells (ibid).
Most reptiles lack a secondary palate, meaning that they must hold their breath while swallowing. Crocodilians have evolved a bony secondary palate that allows them to continue breathing while remaining submerged (and protect their brains from getting kicked in by struggling prey). Skinks (family Scincidae) also have evolved a bony secondary palate, to varying degrees. Snakes took a different approach and extended their trachea instead. Their tracheal extension sticks out like a fleshy straw, and allows these animals to swallow large prey without suffering from asphyxiation.
Also, crocodiles are known to cry while eating. Many myths and folklore have grown around this astonishing fact, such as that the crocodile feels guilty for eating, but in truth, the crocodile cries to release fluid from its body, to make room for oxygen. This is also due to the fact that the crocodile's nasal cavity (nose) is exceptionally small.

Respiratory
Excretion is performed mainly by two small kidneys. In diapsids uric acid is the main nitrogenous waste product; turtles, like mammals, mainly excrete urea. Unlike the kidneys of mammals and birds, reptile kidneys are unable to produce liquid urine more concentrated than their body fluid. This is because they lack a specialized structure present in the nephrons of birds and mammals, called a Loop of Henle. Because of this, many reptiles use the colon and cloaca to aid in the reabsorption of water. Some are also able to take up water stored in the bladder. Excess salts are also excreted by nasal and lingual salt-glands in some reptiles.

Excretory
The reptilian nervous system contains the same basic part of the amphibian brain, but the reptile cerebrum and cerebellum are slightly larger. Most typical sense organs are well developed with certain exceptions most notably the snakes lack of external ears (middle and inner ears are present). All reptilians have advanced visual depth perception compared to other animals. There are twelve pairs of cranial nerves.[1]

Nervous
Most reptiles reproduce sexually. All male reptiles except turtles and tortoises have a twin tube-like sexual organ called the hemipenes. Turtles and tortoises have a single penis. All testudines lay eggs, none are live bearing as some lizards and snakes are. All reproductive activity occurs with the cloaca, the single exit/entrance at the base of the tail where waste and reproduction happens.
Asexual reproduction has been identified in squamates in six families of lizards and one snake. In some species of squamates, a population of females are able to produce a unisexual diploid clone of the mother. This asexual reproduction called parthenogenesis occurs in several species of gecko, and is particularly widespread in the teiids (especially Aspidocelis) and lacertids (Lacerta) In captivity Komodo dragons (varanidae) have reproduced by parthenogenesis.
Parthenogenetic species are also suspected to occur among chameleons, agamids, xantusiids, and typhlopids.
Amniotic eggs are covered with leathery or calcareous shells. An amnion, chorion and allantois are present during embryonic life. There are no larval stages of development.

Notes

Colin Tudge (2000). The Variety of Life. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198604262.
Benton, Michael J. (2004). Vertebrate Paleontology, 3rd ed., Oxford: Blackwell Science Ltd.. ISBN 0632056371.
Colbert, Edwin H. (1969). Evolution of the Vertebrates, 2nd ed., New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.. ISBN 0471164666.
Goodrich, E.S. (1916). "On the classification of the Reptilia". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 89B: 261-276.
Klein, Wilfied; Abe, Augusto; Andrade, Denis; Perry, Steven (2003). Structure of the posthepatic septum and its influence on visceral topology in the tegu lizard, Tupinambis merianae (Teidae: Reptilia). Journal of Morphology 258 (2): 151-157.
Landberg, Tobias; Mailhot, Jeffrey; Brainerd, Elizabeth (2003). Lung ventilation during treadmill locomotion in a terrestrial turtle, Terrapene carolina. Journal of Experimental Biology 206 (19): 3391-3404.
Laurin, Michel and Gauthier, Jacques A.: Diapsida. Lizards, Sphenodon, crocodylians, birds, and their extinct relatives, Version 22 June 2000; part of The Tree of Life Web Project
Mazzotti, Frank; Ross, Charles (ed) (1989). "Structure And Function" Crocodiles and Alligators. Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-2174-0.
Orenstein, Ronald (2001). Turtles, Tortoises & Terrapins: Survivors in Armor. Firefly Books. ISBN 1-55209-605-X.
Pianka, Eric; Vitt, Laurie (2003). Lizards Windows to the Evolution of Diversity. University of California Press, 116-118. ISBN 0-520-23401-4.
Pough, Harvey; Janis, Christine; Heiser, John (2005). Vertebrate Life. Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-145310-6.
Romer, A.S. (1933). Vertebrate Paleontology. University of Chicago Press. , 3rd ed., 1966.
Wang, Tobias; Altimiras, Jordi; Klein, Wilfried; Axelsson, Michael (2003). Ventricular haemodynamics in Python molurus: separation of pulmonary and systemic pressures. The Journal of Experimental Biology 206: 4242-4245.
Watson, D.M.S. (1957). "On Millerosaurus and the early history of the sauropsid reptiles". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences 240 (673): 325-400.

2007-11-26T08:02:00.001-08:00

Places

Norcross, Georgia, a suburb in metro Atlanta
Norcross, Minnesota People

Norcross High School, public school in Norcross, Georgia (named after Jonathan Norcross)

2007-11-25T08:07:00.001-08:00

St. John's Town of Dalry, usually referred to simply as Dalry, is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, formerly in Kirkcudbrightshire. It is located sixteen miles (26 km) from Castle Douglas along the A713 road, and is at the southern terminus of the A702 road (to Edinburgh). The village is about three miles (5 km) from the northern edge of Loch Ken.

Notable people from Dalry

John Johnston, a farmer born in nearby Knocknalling, is credited with introducing agricultural drainage to the United States.
Cowan Dobson, the artist and portrait painter.

2007-11-24T09:42:00.001-08:00

Economy
Despite being close to Eungella National Park, the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsunday Islands, Mackay has not capitalised greatly on its location. Only 5.3% of the region's production is generated from tourism; with 59% of tourism income coming from accommodation and 28% coming from retail sales. Mackay holds a current position as a stop-over location as evident by the many motor-inns - but bodies are working toward greater capitalisation on the tourism market . New facilities, such as Artspace Mackay, are being used not only as centres of culture for the town, but also as new ways of attracting tourists.

Tourism
The Gardens, opened in 2003, focus on rare native plants of Central Queensland. They are located in Lagoon St, West Mackay, on the way to the City Gates. Before 2003, the area was commonly called "The Lagoons." "The Lagoons" were redeveloped into the Botanic Gardens - complete with new plants, flowers, pathways, children's rides, and a restaurant.

Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens
One of the first Europeans to travel through the Mackay region was Captain James Cook, who reached the Mackay coast on June 1, 1770 and named several local landmarks, including Cape Palmerston, Slade Point and Cape Hillsborough. It was during this trip that The Endeavour's botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, briefly recorded seeing Aborigines. The City of Mackay was later founded on Yuibera traditional lands.
Although several other maritime explorers sailed through the waters off Mackay, it was not until 1860 when moves were made to claim the region's virgin pastures.
Two eager young men, John McCrossin and Scottish-born John Mackay, assembled a party of eight, including an Aborigine named Duke, and left Armidale, New South Wales in January 1860. Two men left the party in Rockhampton while the others reached the top of the range overlooking the Mackay district's Pioneer Valley in May. After descending into the valley and exploring almost to the mouth of the river, which they named the Mackay, the members of the party selected land and began the trip back to civilisation. On the return journey, they all suffered from a fever that claimed the life of Duke.
Mackay returned to the area with 1200 head of cattle in January 1862 and founded Greenmount station. Although the other members of his first expedition had marked runs, none but Mackay took up their claims. However, Mackay remained in possession of Greenmount for less than two years. Ownership transferred to James Starr in September 1864 and, despite Mackay's protests, he never succeeded in regaining control. Greenmount passed through a number of owners' hands before being bought by A.A. Cook in 1913. Before leaving the district, John Mackay chartered the vessel Preston, which landed stores from him on the riverbank about a kilometre upstream from the present Hospital Bridge. Mackay made a survey of the river and the chart was sent to Rockhampton. The Port of Mackay was then officially declared a port of entry.
In 1866, a white settler was killed by a local Aboriginal tribe which was then hunted down by the police. A mother, Kowaha, with her infant girl, was chased and pinned between the top of a cliff and her white pursuers where, according to legend, she made the decision to jump to her death rather than be caught. Her baby miraculously survived and was raised by local white settlers. The cliff is now known as The Leap: a reminder of Queensland's bloody past.
In 1918, Mackay was hit by a major Tropical Cyclone causing severe damage and loss of life with hurricane-force winds and a large storm surge. The resulting death toll was further increased by an outbreak of Bubonic plague.
The largest loss of life in an Australian aircraft accident, with 29 deaths, occurred on 10 June 1960 when a Fokker Friendship flew into the sea five nautical miles east of Mackay Airport. As a result of this crash "black boxes" became compulsory in Australian aeroplanes.

Government

4MKFM 101.9 FM (commercial)
Sea FM 98.7 FM(commercial)
Hot FM 100.3 FM(commercial)
Easy Listening 1026 AM (commercial)
ABC Classic FM 97.9 FM
Triple J 99.5 FM
ABC Local Radio Tropical North101.1 FM
ABC Radio National 102.7 FM
4CRM 107.5 FM (community)
Vision FM 88.0 FM(narrowcast)
93.9 FM (narrowcast)
Racing Radio 103.5 FM (narrowcast)

2007-11-23T08:50:00.001-08:00

An actuator is a mechanical device for moving or controlling a mechanism or system. The actuator is usually a physical mechanism but also refers to an artificial agent intelligent agent.

Examples and applications
Examples include:

Mechanics - pneumatic actuators, motors, hydraulic cylinders, etc.
Human - Arms, hands, fingers, legs
Mail transfer agent - Update software
In engineering, actuators are frequently used as mechanisms to introduce motion, or to clamp an object so as to prevent motion. In electronic engineering, actuators ACTT, are a subdivision of transducers. They are devices which transform an input signal (mainly an electrical signal) into motion. Specific examples are Electrical motors, pneumatic actuators, hydraulic pistons, relays, comb drive, piezoelectric actuators, thermal bimorphs, Digital Micromirror Devices and electroactive polymers.
Motors are mostly used when circular motions are needed, but can also be used for linear applications by transforming circular to linear motion with a bolt and screw transducer. On the other hand, some actuators are intrinsically linear, such as piezoelectric actuators.
In virtual instrumentation actuators and sensors are the hardware complements of virtual instruments. Computer programs of virtual instruments use actuators to act upon real world objects.

2007-11-22T10:13:00.001-08:00

Checkpointing is a technique for inserting fault tolerance into computing systems. It basically consists on storing a snapshot of the current application state, and use it for restarting the execution in case of failure.

Checkpointing in distributed shared memory systems
A number of practical checkpointing packages have been developed for the Linux/UNIX family of operating systems. These checkpointing packages may be divided into two classes, those which operate in user space, examples of which include the checkpointing package used by Condor and the portable checkpointing library developed by The University of Tennessee. User space checkpointing pacakages are highly portable and can typically be compiled and run on any modern UNIX (e.g. Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Darwin etc). In contrast, kernel based checkpointing packages such as Chpox and Cryopid, and the checkpointing algorithms developed for the MOSIX cluster computing environment tend to be highly operating system dependent. Most kernel based checkpointing packages developed to date run under either the 2.4 or 2.6 subfamilies of the Linux kernel on i686 architectures.
Modern checkpointing packages such as Cryopid are capable of checkpointing a process pod, that is a parent process and all its associated children, and of dealing with file system abstractions such as sockets and pipes (FIFO's) in addition to regular files. In the case of Cryopid, there is also provision to roll all dynamic libraries, open files, sockets and FIFO's associated with the process into the checkpoint. This is very useful when the checkpointed process is to be restarted in a hetrogenous environment (e.g. the machine on which the checkpoint is restarted has libraries and file system which differ from the host on which the process was checkpointed).

2007-11-20T09:13:00.001-08:00

Stephen Owen Davies (c. November 9, 1886 – February 25, 1972) was a Welsh politician, and a member of the British House of Commons from 1934 to his death.
Born in Abercwmboi, he began work as a coal miner at the age of 12, combining mining work with study for a degree. Davies was educated at the University of Wales and the University of London. He was active as a trade unionist, and became vice-president of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain in 1933. He was a councillor on Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council and mayor in 1945-46.
In 1934 he was elected as a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for the Merthyr, which was renamed Merthyr Tydfil in 1950.
Davies was often out of step with the party line. Following the Aberfan disaster, he was a vocal critic of the way in which the government compensated the families of those killed.
In the run-up the 1970 general election his Constituency Labour Party felt that as he was now in his 80s he ought to stand down, and de-selected him in favour of a younger man. He fought the election as an independent Labour candidate, and won. In Parliament he maintained discreet links with the Parliamentary Labour Party and was sent a copy of the Labour whip, though he was nominally an independent. However he died in 1972 and the Labour Party won the subsequent by-election, although there was a significant swing to Plaid Cymru.

Notes

List of UK minor party and independent MPs elected

2007-11-19T07:24:00.001-08:00

Knowsley North and Sefton East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Election results
A primarily working-class industrial region, the seat is traditionally one of the strongest Labour-held seats in the country. The original Knowsley North constituency gained several wards from Crosby as a result of boundary changes in 1995.

2007-11-18T09:11:00.001-08:00

The Thames is a river flowing through southern England, and one of the major waterways in England. While perhaps best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other significant towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading and Windsor.
The river gives its name to the Thames Valley, a region of England centred around the river between Oxford and West London, and the Thames Gateway, the area centred around the tidal Thames and the Thames Estuary to the east of London.
History
Until around half a million years ago, the Thames flowed on its existing course through what is now Oxfordshire, before turning to the north east through Hertfordshire and East Anglia and reaching North Sea near Ipswich. At the end of the ice age, the ice started to melt and huge amounts of water entered this river system, causing it to cut down a new route through the chalk at the site of the Goring Gap, near the Oxfordshire village of Goring-On-Thames between Oxford and Reading. This created a new river route flowing down through Berkshire and on into London.
At the height of the last ice age around 12000 years ago, Britain was connected to mainland Europe via a large expanse of land known as Doggerland. At this time, the Thames was much larger than it is today, with its source rising much further west in present-day Wales. The river's course continued out into Doggerland, where it met the Rhine. Thus the two rivers were at one time part of the same river system.

Geological history
The Thames provided the major highway between London and Westminster in the 16th and 17th centuries. The clannish guild of watermen ferried Londoners from landing to landing and tolerated no outside interference.
The River Thames has frozen over in cold weather throughout history. One of the earliest accounts of the Thames freezing over comes from A.D. 250 when it was frozen hard for nine weeks. Hubert Lamb and other historians have found that the Thames froze in the years AD 923, AD 998, and for seven weeks in 1061. It has also completely frozen over during these severe winters of (paradoxically) the Medieval Warm Period: 1149 - 1150, 1204 - 1205, 1269 - 1270, 1281 - 1282, 1309 - 1310, 1407 - 1408, 1409 - 1410, 1434 - 1435, early 1506, 1513 - 1514, 1516 - 1517, and 1536 - 1537. (12 times in total)
Between 1400 and the nineteenth century there were a total of 23 documented winters in which the Thames froze over at London during a period that became known as the Little Ice Age. This led to the first Frost Fair in 1607, complete with a tent city set up on the river itself and offering a number of amusements, including ice bowling. After temperatures began to rise again, starting in 1814, the river has never frozen over completely. The building of a new London Bridge in 1825 may also have been a factor; the new bridge had fewer pillars than the old, so allowing the river to flow more freely, thus preventing it from flowing slowly enough to freeze in cold winters.

Human history
The river's name appears always to have been pronounced with a simple "t" at the beginning; the Middle English spelling was typically Temese and Celtic Tamesis. The "th" lends an air of Greek to the name and was added during the Renaissance, possibly to reflect or support a belief that the name was derived from River Thyamis in the Epirus region of Greece, whence early Celtic tribes are thought to have migrated. However, most scholars now believe Temese and Tamesis come from Celtic (Brythonic) Tamesa, possibly meaning 'the dark one'. The modern Welsh name for the river which may stem from this earlier tradition is Tafwys.
Indirect evidence for the antiquity of the name 'Thames' is provided by a Roman potsherd found at Oxford, bearing the inscription Tamesubugus fecit (Tamesubugus made this). It is believed that Tamesubugus's name was derived from that of the river.

Origin of the name

Geography
The Thames has a length of 346 km (215 miles). Its usually quoted source is at Thames Head (at grid reference ST980994), about a mile north of the village of Kemble and near the town of Cirencester, in the Cotswolds. However, Seven Springs near Cheltenham, where the river Churn rises, is also sometimes quoted as the Thames' source, as this location is furthest from the mouth both in distance along its course and as the crow flies. The springs at Seven Springs also flow throughout the year, while those at Thames Head are only seasonal.
The Thames flows through Ashton Keynes, Cricklade, Lechlade, Oxford, Abingdon, Wallingford, Goring-On-Thames, Reading, Henley-on-Thames, Marlow, Maidenhead, Windsor, Eton, Staines and Weybridge, before entering the Greater London area.
From the outskirts of Greater London, the river passes Hampton Court, Kingston, Teddington, Twickenham, Richmond (with the famous view of the Thames from Richmond Hill), Syon House and Kew before flowing through central London. In central London, the river forms one of the principal axes of the city, from the Palace of Westminster to the Tower of London and was the southern boundary of the mediaeval city.
Once clear of central London, the river passes between Greenwich and the Isle of Dogs, before flowing through the Thames Barrier, which protects central London from flooding in the event of storm surges. Below the barrier, the river passes Dartford, Tilbury and Gravesend before entering the Thames Estuary near Southend-on-Sea.

Course of the river
The whole of the river drains a catchment area of some 4,994 square miles (12,935 km²) or 5,924 square miles (15,343 km²) if the River Medway is included as a tributary.

Catchment area and discharge
Innumerable brooks, canals and rivers, within an area of 3,841 square miles (9,948 square km), combine to form 38 main tributaries feeding the Thames between its source and Teddington. These include the rivers Churn, Leach, Cole, Coln, Windrush, Evenlode, Cherwell, Ock, Thame, Pang, Kennet, Loddon, Colne, Wey and Mole.
Between Maidenhead and Windsor, the Thames supports an artificial secondary channel, known as the Jubilee River, for flood relief purposes.
More than half the rain that falls on this catchment is lost to evaporation and plant growth. The remainder provides the water resource that has to be shared between river flows, to support the natural environment and the community needs for water supplies to homes, industry and agriculture. During heavy rainfall events the Thames occasionally receives raw sewage discharge due to sanitary sewer overflow.

The non-tidal section
About 55 miles from the sea, at Teddington, the river begins to exhibit tidal activity from the North Sea. This tidal stretch of the river is known as "the Tideway". London was reputedly made capital of Roman Britain at the spot where the tides reached in AD 43 but this spot has moved up river, in the 2000 years since then, because of the glacial rebound effect. At London, the water is slightly brackish with sea salt. Below Teddington, the principal tributaries include the rivers Brent, Wandle, Effra, Westbourne, Fleet, Ravensbourne (the final part of which is called Deptford Creek), Lea, Roding, Darent and Ingrebourne.
The average discharge of the Thames grows up to approximately 66 m³/s at the end of its non-tidal section, at Kingston upon Thames, a figure which is exceeded by some other British rivers (e.g., the Severn and the Tay). Indeed, if the Thames were not a tidal river, its average discharge in the centre of London would be somewhere between 80 and 100 m³/s, and the Thames would look like a small river, not the large river we can see today by Westminster, the Houses of Parliament or the City.
Some low-lying areas beside the tidal section of the Thames are liable to regular flooding at spring tides. However, in recent years, the flooding has been occurring more frequently at unusual times. One such example exists at Chiswick Lane South in London's W4 postal district, where the river now bursts its banks almost daily between March and September.

The tidal section
The Thames is navigable from the estuary as far as Lechlade in Gloucestershire. Between the sea and Teddington Lock, the river forms part of the Port of London and navigation is administered by the Port of London Authority. From Teddington Lock to the head of navigation, the navigation authority is the Environment Agency.
The river is navigable to large ocean-going ships as far as the Pool of London and London Bridge. Today little commercial traffic passes above the docks at Tilbury and central London sees only the occasional visiting cruise ship or warship, moored alongside HMS Belfast and a few smaller aggregate or refuse vessels, operating from wharves in the west of London. Both the tidal river through London and the non-tidal river upstream are intensively used for leisure navigation.
There are 45 locks on the River Thames. See Locks on the River Thames for a full list of all locks.

Navigation

Main article: Crossings of the River Thames Crossings

Main article: Islands in the River Thames Islands
The river itself rises in Gloucestershire, traditionally forming the county boundary, firstly between Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, between Berkshire on the south bank and Oxfordshire on the north, between Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, between Berkshire and Surrey, between Surrey and Middlesex and between Essex and Kent.
Before the 1974 boundary changes, the current boundary between Berkshire and Surrey was between Buckinghamshire and Surrey. The boundary between Oxfordshire and Berkshire was also moved at that time.

The river as a boundary

Culture
The Thames is a motif in many books. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome describes a boat trip up the Thames; published in 1889, it has never been out of print, proof of the continuing influence of the Thames on the literary imagination. Other authors took inspiration from this best-selling comic novel (with its side-nods to social commentary). Examples include poet Kim Taplin's 1993 travelogue Three Women in a Boat and Connie Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog. Somewhere near the Oxford stretch is where the Liddells were rowing in the poem at the start of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The river is almost a character in its own right in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows and its derivatives. The utopian News from Nowhere by William Morris is mainly the account of a journey through the Thames valley in a socialist future. Another is featured in The Amulet of Samarkand from The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud, when Nathaniel plans to toss a can of tobacco into the Thames in order to imprison Bartimaeus. The Thames also features prominently in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, as a communications artery for the waterborne Gyptian people of Oxford and the Fens.
In books set in London there is Sherlock Holmes looking for a boat in The Sign of Four. Many of Charles Dickens's novels feature the Thames. Oliver Twist finishes in the slums and rookeries along its south bank. Our Mutual Friend begins with a scavenger and his daughter pulling a dead man from the river, to legally salvage what the body might have in its pockets. Dickens opens the novel with this sketch of the river, and the people who work on it:
In these times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise, a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark Bridge which is of iron, and London Bridge which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in.
In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the old sailor Marlow begins his yarn while sitting on a boat in the Thames. The serenity of the contemporary Thames is contrasted with the savagery of the Congo River, and with the wilderness of the Thames as it would have appeared to a Roman soldier posted to Britannia two thousand years before. Conrad also gives a memorable description of the approach to London from the Thames Estuary in his essays The Mirror of the Sea (1906).
In poetry, T.S. Eliot references the Thames at the beginning of The Fire Sermon, Section III of "The Waste Land". It could be said that the references make for a spiritual reverence of the river, as the river is referred to as "sweet". However he also refers to the area as "brown" and throughout this poem the semantic field evokes feelings of decay with its references to detritus. William Blake makes reference to the Thames in his famous poem London:
I wander thro' each charter'd street,/ Near where the charter'd Thames does flow
In this instance, it could be said that the Thames is a boundless and free notion; but Blake seems to be showing here a disdain for its apparent 'chartered' nature. Joseph Brodsky wrote a poem entitled "The Thames at Chelsea".

Literature
John Kaufman's sculpture The Diver:Regeneration can be found sited in the Thames near Rainham.
A boat chase on the Thames forms the long opening scene of the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough. The offices of MI6, Britain's external spy agency, are right on the river in a building known as Vauxhall Cross.

Other arts
The river is popular with tourists. There are many sightseeing tours in tourist boats, especially in the lower reaches past the more famous riverside attractions such as the Houses of Parliament and the Tower of London.

Sport
The Thames is the historic heartland of rowing in the United Kingdom. There are over 200 clubs on the river, and over 8,000 members of the Amateur Rowing Association (over 40% of its membership). Most towns and districts of any size on the river have at least one club, but key centres are Oxford, Henley-on-Thames and the stretch of river from Chiswick to Putney.
Two rowing events on the River Thames are traditionally part of the wider English sporting calendar:
The University Boat Race is rowed between Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club in late March or early April, on the Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake in the west of London.
Henley Royal Regatta takes place over five days at the start of July in the upstream town of Henley-on-Thames. Besides its sporting significance the regatta is an important date on the English social calendar alongside events like Royal Ascot and Wimbledon.
Other significant or historic rowing events on the Thames include:
Innumerable other regattas, head races and bumping races are held along the Thames.

The Head of the River Race and other head races over the Championship Course
The Wingfield Sculls for the amateur sculling championship of the Thames and Great Britain
Doggett's Coat and Badge for apprentice watermen, one of the oldest sporting events in the world
Henley Women's Regatta
The Henley Boat Races for the Women's and Lightweight crews of Oxford and Cambridge Universities
The Oxford University bumping races known as Eights Week and Torpids Rowing
Sailing is practiced on both the tidal and non-tidal reaches of the river. Clubs in and near the London section of the Thames include:
Clubs Upstream of London Include:
Clubs in the Lower Thames Include:
See also:

London Corinthian Sailing Club near Hammersmith Bridge
South Bank Sailing Club in Putney
Ranelagh Sailing Club in Putney
Docklands Sailing And Watersports Centre at Millwall Dock
Capital Sailing School at Millwall Dock
The Surrey Docks Watersports Centre at Surrey Quays.
Thurrock Yacht Club in Thurrock
Greenwich Yacht Club in Greenwich
Royal Thames Yacht Club in Knightsbridge
Thames Sailing Club in Surbiton
Hampton Sailing Club in Hampton, London
Little Ship Club near Southwark Bridge
Goring Thames Sailing Club in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire
Upper Thames Sailing Club in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire
Cookham Reach Sailing Club in Cookham, Berkshire
Medley Sailing Club in Oxford, Oxfordshire
Dorchester Sailing Club near Dorchester-on-Thames, in Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Gravesend Sailing Club in Gravesend, Kent
Erith Yacht Club near Erith, Kent
The Thames Sailing Barge Trust
Sailing on the River Thames by the The River Thames Alliance, a partnership between public and private sector organisations set up to help manage the future of the non-tidal Thames. Sailing
Skiffing remains popular, particularly in the summer months. Several clubs and regattas may be found in the outer suburbs of west London.

Skiffing
Unlike the "pleasure punting" common on the Cherwell in Oxford and the Cam in Cambridge, punting on the Thames is competitive and uses narrower craft.

Punting
Kayaking and canoeing are popular, with sea kayakers using the tidal stretch for touring. Sheltered water kayakers and canoeists use the non-tidal section for training, racing and trips. Whitewater playboaters and slalom paddlers are catered for at weirs like Hurley Weir, Sunbury Weir and Boulter's Weir.

Kayaking and Canoeing
This is a trivia section. The section could be improved by integrating relevant items into the main text and removing inappropriate items.

The Sex Pistols played a concert on the Queen Elizabeth Riverboat on June 7, 1977, the Queen's Silver Jubilee, while sailing down the river.
On January 20, 2006, a northern 16-18 ft (5 m) bottle-nosed whale was spotted in the Thames and was seen as far upstream as Chelsea. This is extremely unusual because this type of whale is generally found in deep sea waters. Crowds gathered along the riverbanks to witness the extraordinary spectacle. But it soon became clear there was cause for concern, as the animal came within yards of the banks, almost beaching, and crashed into an empty boat causing slight bleeding. Approx. 12 hours later, the whale was believed to be seen again near Greenwich, possibly heading back to sea. There was a rescue attempt lasting several hours, but it eventually died on a barge. See River Thames whale.
Unusual objects floated along the Thames by barge include a Eurostar Railway locomotive, a Concorde aircraft and a Submarine.
It is not unusual to see the French navy in the Thames; very often French naval vessels make official visits to the Royal Navy dock, HMS President, just by the Tower Bridge.
While writing in his diary in June 1667 Samuel Pepys was disturbed by the sound of gunfire, as Dutch warships on the Thames broke through the Royal Navy to invade London.
Polar explorer and endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh became the first person ever to swim the length of the Thames. His journey started on 17th July 2006 close to the source of the river in Gloucestershire and ended 147 miles later in London. Pugh undertook the challenge to raise awareness of climate change.
The traditional Swan Upping ceremony takes place annually on the River Thames during the third week of July.
Bear Grylls, host of the Discovery Channel's "Man vs Wild" series lives on a converted barge on the River Thames with his wife Shara and their young sons Jesse and Marmaduke.
In the Doctor Who episode "The Runaway Bride", the Thames was completely drained, leaving numbers of barges stranded. Religion

Marchioness disaster
The Diver
Torso in the Thames
River and Rowing Museum
Rivers of the United Kingdom
UK topics
Thames Town
Thames Television
Locks on the River Thames
Weirs on the River Thames
London Stones beside the river

2007-11-17T07:48:00.001-08:00

In historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or Second Germanic consonant shift was a phonological development (sound change) which took place in the southern parts of the West Germanic dialect continuum in several phases, probably beginning between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD, and was almost complete before the earliest written records in the High German language were made in the 9th century. The resulting language, Old High German, can neatly be contrasted with the other continental West Germanic languages, which mostly did not experience the shift, and with Old English, which was completely unaffected.

General description
The effects of the shift are most obvious for the non-specialist when we compare Modern German lexemes containing shifted consonants with their Modern English or Dutch unshifted equivalents. The following overview table is arranged according to the original Proto-Indo-European phonemes. (G=Grimm's law; V=Verner's law)
(Notes: Old English fæder, "father"; English has shifted d→th in OE words ending in -der).

Overview table

The four phases in detail
The first phase, which affected the whole of the High German area, has been dated as early as the fourth century, though this is highly debated. The first certain examples of the shift are from Edictus Rothari (a. 643, oldest extant manuscript after 650). According to most scholars, the Pre-Old High German Runic inscriptions of about a. 600 show no convincing trace of the consonant shift. It saw the voiceless stops become geminated fricatives intervocalically, or single fricatives postvocalically in final position.
p→ff or final f
t→zz (later German ss) or final z (s)
k→hh (later German ch)
Note: In these OHG words, <z> stands for a voiceless fricative that is distinct somehow from <s>. The exact nature of the distinction is unknown; possibly <s> was apical while <z> was laminal.
Examples:
Old English slǣpan : Old High German slāfan (English sleep, Dutch slapen, German schlafen)
OE strǣt : OHG strāzza (English street, Dutch straat, German Straße)
OE rīce : OHG rīhhi (English rich, Dutch rijk, German reich)
Note that the first phase did not affect geminate stops in words like *appul "apple" or *katta "cat", nor did it affect stops after other consonants, as in words like *scarp "sharp" or *hert "heart", where another consonant falls between the vowel and the stop. These remained unshifted until the second phase.

Phase 1
The second phase, which was completed by the eighth century and concentrated on the Upper German area, saw the same sounds become affricates in initial position, when geminated, and when following a liquid consonant (l or r).
p→pf (also spelled <ph> in OHG; after a liquid this later became f)
t→tz (in Modern German often spelled <z> and pronounced /ts/)
k→kch (pronounced /kx/; this step has not been completed by standard German).
The Southern Austro-Bavarian dialects of Tyrol is the only dialect where the affricate /kx/ has developed in all positions. In High Alemannic, only the geminate has developed into an affricate, whereas in the other positions, /k/ has become /x/. However, there is initial /kx/ in modern High Alemannic as well, since it is used for any k in loanwords, for instance [kxariˈb̥ikx], and since /kx/ is a possible consonant cluster, for instance in Gchnorz [kxno(ː)rts] 'laborious work', from the verb chnorze.
Examples:
OE æppel : OHG aphul (English apple, Dutch appel, German Apfel)
OE scearp : OHG scarpf (English sharp, Dutch scherp, German scharf)
OE catt : OHG kazza (English cat, Dutch kat, German Katze)
OE tam : OHG zam (English tame, Dutch tam, German zahm)
OE liccian : OHG lecchōn (English to lick, Dutch likken, German lecken, High Alemannic schlecke/schläcke /ʃlɛkxə, ʃlækxə/)
OE weorc : OHG werk or werch (English work, Dutch werk, German Werk, High Alemannic Werch/Wärch)
In the following combinations, however, the shift did not take place: sp, st, sk, ft, ht, tr.
OE spearwa : OHG sparo (English sparrow, Dutch spreeuw, German Sperling)
OE mæst : OHG mast (English mast, Dutch mast, German Mast[baum])
OE niht : OHG naht (English night, Dutch nacht, German Nacht)
OE trēowe : OHG [ge]triuwi (English true, Dutch (ge) trouw, German treu "faithful")

Phase 2
The third phase, which had the most limited geographical range, saw the voiced stops become voiceless.
b→p
d→t
g→k
Of these, only the dental shift d→t finds its way into standard German. The others are restricted to Swiss German, and to Austrian and Bavarian dialects. This shift must have begun after the first and second phases ceased to be productive, or else the resulting voiceless stops would have shifted further to fricatives and affricatives. We are therefore thinking of the 8th or 9th century.
It is interesting that in those words in which an Indo-European voiceless stop became voiced as a result of Verner's law, phase three of the High German shift returns this to its original value (t→d→t):
PIE *māh₂ter- → Germanic *mōder → German Mutter
Examples:
OE dōn : OHG tuon (English do, Dutch doen, German tun)
OE mōdor : OHG muotar (English mother, Dutch moeder, German Mutter)
OE rēad : OHG rōt (English red, Dutch rood, German rot)
OE biddan : OHG bitten or pitten (English bid, Dutch bieden, German bitten, Bavarian pitten)
It is likely that pizza is an early Italian borrowing of OHG (Bavarian dialect) pizzo, a shifted variant of bizzo (German Bissen, "bite, snack").

Phase 3
Other consonant changes on the way from West Germanic to Old High German are included under the heading "High German consonant shift" by some scholars who see the term as a description of the whole context, but are exluded by others who use it to describe the neatness of the three-fold chain shift. Although it might be possible to see ð→d, ɣ→g and v→b as a similar group of three, both the chronology and the differing phonetic conditions under which these changes occur speak against such a grouping.

þ/ð→d (Phase 4)
The West Germanic voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ shifted to /g/ in Old High German in all positions. The same change occurred in Old English, but with the important exception that next to a front vowel it instead experienced Anglo-Saxon palatisation and became /j/. Dutch has retained the original Germanic /ɣ/, though as Dutch spells this with <g>, the difference between it and the English and German consonant is invisible in the written form.
Dutch goed (ɣu:t) : German gut, English good
Dutch gistern (ɣistern) : German gestern, English yesterday
This change is believed to be an early one. As the existence of a /g/ in the language was a prerequisite for the south German shift g→k, this must at least predate phase 3 of the core group of the High German consonant shift.

ɣ→g
West Germanic [v], which was an allophone of /f/ used in medial position, shifted to Old High German /b/ between two vowels, and also after /l/.
OE lufu : OHG liob (English love, Dutch lief, German Liebe)
OE hæfen : MHG habe (English haven, Dutch haven. For German Hafen see below)
OE half : OHG halb (English half, Dutch half, German halb)
OE lifer : OHG libara (English liver, Dutch lever, German Leber)
OE self : OHG selbo (English self, Dutch zelf, German selbe)
OE sealfian : OHG salbon (English salve, Dutch zalf, German Salbe)
In strong verbs such as German heben (heave) and geben (give), the shift contributed to elimiating the /v/ forms in German, but a full account of these verbs is complicated by the effects of grammatischer Wechsel by which [v] and /b/ appear in alternation in different parts of the same verb in the early forms of the languages. In the case of weak verbs such as haben (have, Dutch hebben) and leben (live, Dutch leven), the consonant differences have an unrelated origin, being a result of the Germanic spirant law and a subsequent process of levelling.
NB: a similar v→b shift occurred in German between a vowel and /r/, but as a separate process much later, in early modern times: Middle High German varwe > German Farbe, colour, cf. Dutch verf.

v→b
High German experienced the shift /sp/, /st/, /sk/ → /ʃp/, /ʃt/, /ʃ/ in initial position:

German spinnen (/ʃp/), spin.
German Strasse (/ʃt/), street.
German Schrift, script.

s→ʃ
Other changes include a general tendency towards terminal devoicing in German and Dutch, and to a far more limited extent in English.

General
Since, apart from þ→d, the High German consonant shift took place before the beginning of writing of Old High German in the 9th century, the dating of the various phases is an uncertain business. The estimates quoted here are mostly taken from the dtv-Atlas zur deutschen Sprache (p. 63). Different estimates appear elsewhere, for example Waterman, who asserts that the first three phases occurred fairly close together and were complete in Alemannic territory by 600, taking another two or three centuries to spread north.
Sometimes historical constellations help us; for example, the fact that Attila is called Etzel in German proves that the second phase must have been productive after the Hunnish invasion of the 5th century. The fact that many Latin loan-words are shifted in German (e.g. Latin strata→German Straße), while others are not (e.g. Latin poena→German Pein) allows us to date the sound changes before or after the likely period of borrowing. However the most useful source of chronological data is German words cited in Latin texts of the late classical and early mediaeval period.
Precise dating would in any case be difficult since each shift may have begun with one word or a group of words in the speech of one locality, and gradually extended by lexical diffusion to all words with the same phonological pattern, and then over a longer period of time spread to wider geographical areas.
However, relative chronology for phases 2, 3 and 4 can easily be established by the observation that t→tz must precede d→t, which in turn must precede þ→d; otherwise words with an original þ could have undergone all three shifts and ended up as tz. The phenomenon that an early phase of a sound shift leaves a gap (in this case voiceless stops) which a later phase then fills by means of a chain shift is familiar enough; Grimm's law proceeds in a similar sequence. By contrast, as the form kepan for "give" is attested in Old Bavarian, showing both ɣ→g→k and v→b→p, it follows that ɣ→g and v→b must predate phase 3.
Alternative chronologies have been proposed. According to a not widely accepted theory by the German linguist Theo Vennemann, the consonant shift occurred much earlier and was already completed in the early 1st century BC. On this basis, he subdivides the Germanic languages into High Germanic and Low Germanic.

Chronology
Roughly, one may say that the changes resulting from phase 1 affected Upper and Central German, those from phase 2 and 3 only Upper German, and those from phase 4 the entire German and Dutch-speaking region. The generally-accepted boundary between Central and Low German, the maken-machen line, is sometimes called the Benrath line, as it passes through the Düsseldorf suburb of Benrath, while the main boundary between Central and Upper German, the Appel-Apfel line can be called the Speyer line, as it passes near the town of Speyer, some 200 kilometers further south.
However, a precise description of the geographical extent of the changes is far more complex. Not only do the individual sound shifts within a phase vary in their distribution (phase 3, for example, partly affects the whole of Upper German and partly only the southernmost dialects within Upper German), but there are even slight variations from word to word in the distribution of the same consonant shift. For example, the ik-ich line lies further north than the maken-machen line, although both demonstrate the same shift /k/→/x/. Furthermore, the exact line can move over a period of time. Since German reunification, a northward movement of the eastern end of the Benrath line has been observed.
The subdivision of West Central German into a series of dialects according to the differing extent of the phase 1 shifts is particularly pronounced. This is known in German as the Rheinischer Fächer ("Rhenish fan"), because on the map of dialect boundaries the lines form a fan shape. Here, no fewer than eight isoglosses run roughly West to East, partially merging into a simpler system of boundaries in East Central German. The table on the right lists these isoglosses (bold) and the main resulting dialects (italics), arranged from north to south.
For a map of the boundaries of a number of key sounds, see a general map and the Rheinischer Fächer.

Geographical distribution
Some of the consonant shifts resulting from the second and third phases appear also to be observable in Lombardic, the early mediaeval Germanic language of northern Italy, which is preserved in runic fragments of the late 6th and early 7th centuries. Unfortunately, the Lombardic records are not sufficient to allow a complete taxonomy of the language. It is therefore uncertain whether the language experienced the full shift or merely sporadic reflexes, but b→p is clearly attested. This may mean that the shift began in Italy, or that it spread southwards as well as northwards. Ernst Schwarz and others have suggested that the shift occurred in German as a result of contacts with Lombardic. If in fact there is a relationship here, the evidence of Lombardic would force us to conclude that the third phase must have begun by the late 6th century, rather earlier than most estimates, but this would not necessarily require that it had spread to German so early.
If, as some scholars believe, Lombardic was an East Germanic language and not part of the German language dialect continuum, it is possible that parallel shifts took place independently in German and Lombardic. However the extant words in Lombardic show clear relations to Bavarian. Therefore Werner Betz and others prefer to treat Lombardic as an Old High German dialect. There were close connections between Lombards and Proto-Bavarians: the Lombards settled until 568 in 'Tullner Feld' (about 50 km west of Vienna); some Lombard graves (excavated a few years ago when a new railway line was built) date after 568; evidently not all Lombards went to Italy in 568. The rest seem to have become part of the then newly formed Bavarian groups.
When Columban came to the Alamanni at Lake Constance shortly after 600, he made barrels burst, called cupa (English cup, German Kufe), according to Jonas of Bobbio (before 650) in Lombardy. This shows that in the time of Columban the shift from p to f had occurred neither in Alemannic nor in Lombardic. But Edictus Rothari (643; extant manuscript after 650; see above) attests the forms grapworf (throwing a corpse out of the grave, German Wurf and Grab), marhworf (a horse, OHG marh, throws the rider off), and many similar shifted examples. So it is best to see the consonant shift as a common Lombardic — Bavarian — Alemannic shift between 620 and 640, when these tribes had plenty of contact.

Sample texts
The High German consonant shift — at least as far as the core group of changes is concerned — is an example of a sound change which permits no exceptions, and was frequently cited as such by the Neogrammarians. However, modern standard German, though based on Central German, draws vocabulary from all German dialects. When a native German word (as opposed to a loan word) contains consonants unaffected by the shift, they are usually explained as being Low German forms. Either the shifted form has fallen out of use, as in:
Hafen (harbour): Middle High German had the shifted form habe(n), but the Low German form replaced it in modern times.
or the two forms remain side-by-side, as in:
Wappen (coat of arms): the shifted form also exists, but with a different meaning: Waffen (weapon)
Further examples of common German words in this category include:
Lippe (lip); Pegel (water level); Pickel (pimple)
However, the vast majority of words in Modern German which contain consonant patterns which would have been eliminated by the shift are loaned from Latin or Romance languages, English or Slavic:
Paar (few), Ratte (rat), Peitsche (whip).

2007-11-16T08:47:00.001-08:00

The Gwinnett Gladiators are a minor league ice hockey team playing at the Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia. They moved from Mobile, Alabama after the 2002-03 season. They are a member of the ECHL and an affiliate of the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers.
The Gladiators were the ECHL 2005-2006 American Conference Champions. They lost the 2006 Kelly Cup Finals to the Alaska Aces 4 games to 1.

Roster

Stars

Cam Brown (Vancouver Canucks)
Michael Garnett (Atlanta Thrashers)
Adam Munro (Chicago Blackhawks)
Simon Lajeunesse (Ottawa Senators)
Adam Berkhoel (Atlanta Thrashers)
Mike Dunham (Atlanta Thrashers, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, Nashville Predators)

2007-11-15T07:35:00.001-08:00

The Sweetwater Union High School District is a school district located in San Diego County, California that serves adults and high school-aged students in the communities of Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, National City and San Ysidro.
Overseen by a five-member Governing Board, the district operates 13 high schools (11 regular, one alternative, one charter); 11 middle schools; a regional occupational program (ROP); and special education and adult education services.
The district is also recognized as the largest secondary school district in the state of California.

High schools

Bonita Vista Middle School
Castle Park Middle
Chula Vista Middle
Eastlake Middle
Granger Junior High
Hilltop Middle
Mar Vista Middle
Montgomery Middle
National City Middle
Rancho del Rey Middle- [1]
Southwest Middle

2007-11-14T08:52:00.001-08:00

Calvin Edwin Ripken, Jr. (born August 24, 1960 in Havre de Grace, Maryland), commonly known as Cal or Cal Jr., is a Hall of Fame shortstop and third baseman in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Baltimore Orioles from 1981 to 2001. A 19-time MLB All-Star, Ripken is considered one of the best shortstops to ever play the game. At 6' 4" (1.93 m), he pioneered the way for the taller and larger shortstops.

Baltimore Orioles (1981-2001)
MLB All-Star (19) 1983-2001 (DNP 2000)
MLB All-Star Game MVP (2) 1991, 2001
American League Rookie of the Year 1982
American League MVP (2) 1983, 1991
American League Gold Glove Award (2) 1991, 1992
American League Silver Slugger Award (8) 1983-86, 1989, 1991, 1993-94
Most Consecutive Games Played: 2,632
MLB All-Century Team Career highlights
Ripken, as a member of the Rochester Red Wings (the Orioles Triple-A farm club), played in the longest professional baseball game. Ripken started at third base and played all 33 innings against the Pawtucket Red Sox in a game that took three days to complete. He made his big-league debut in a strike year (ironic because the consecutive game record he earned in 1995 helped the league recover from the 1994 strike) and ultimately wrested the shortstop job from Mark Belanger, an eight-time Gold Glover.

1981
Ripken split time between short and third base in '81 and '82, but he started to achieve prominence right away. His streak started in May of '82, and he hit 28 home runs that year en route to the American League's Rookie of the Year Award.

1982
Ripken took an even bigger step forward in 1983, when he earned the first of his 19 All-Star berths and was named the American League MVP in 1983, hitting .318 batting average with 27 home runs and 102 RBI. His fielding percentage that year was .970. He would go on to hit at least 20 home runs for an additional eight straight seasons, which was unheard of at the time for a shortstop. Although an offensive non-factor, he let his glove do the talking with his usual clutch play at shortstop, and made the final out of the series on a Garry Maddox lineout in Game 5.

1983
1987 was a family affair year for Ripken as his dad, Cal Ripken, Sr., who was a former player, coach, and scout for the Orioles became manager of the club. That year, he became the first manager to write two of his sons into the lineup card when both Ripken Jr and his brother and fellow Oriole Billy Ripken played in the same game. However, after going 67-95 in 1987 and 0-6 in 1988, Ripken Sr was fired.

1987
While he narrowly missed out on a Gold Glove in 1990 -- when he made just three errors in 162 games, he used a more crouched stance during the 1991 season and had a career year. Ripken led the American League with 111 hits and a .348 batting average at the All-Star Break. He finished the season by hitting .323/.374/.566 over 717 plate appearances, with 34 HR and 114 RBI. In addition to that, Ripken hit 46 doubles, stole a career-high 6 bases and was caught once, and also hit 5 triples, while posting his career lowest strikeout rate and lowest number of strikeouts in a season with 600 or more plate appearances. His 1991 season is the fourth-greatest in baseball history (second among non-pitchers) as measured by WARP3 at 17.0 wins, bested only by Walter Johnson's 1913(18.1 wins), Babe Ruth's 1923(18 wins), and Amos Rusie's 1894 season(17.6 wins).
Ripken won his second AL MVP award, the Gold Glove Award, 1991 All Star game MVP award (going 2 for 3 including a 3-run home run off Dennis Martínez), the Gatorade Home Run Derby contest (hitting a then record 12 home runs in 22 swings, including 7 consecutive homers to start the contest), Louisville Slugger "Silver Slugger Award", AP Player of the Year Award, and The Sporting News Player of the Year Award. The only other player in MLB history to win all those awards in the same season, excluding the Home Run Derby, was Maury Wills in 1962.
Ripken also became the first player ever to win the Home Run Derby and be named All Star Game MVP in the same year. The only other player that has accomplished this feat is Garret Anderson of the Anaheim Angels in 2003. He was the first AL MVP in MLB history to win the award while playing with a sub .500 club. The Orioles finished in 6th place that year with a 67-95 record.
At the end of the 1991 season, Memorial Stadium, the Oriole's home since 1954, saw its last MLB game against the Detroit Tigers. Ripken was the last Oriole to bat at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, hitting into a double play against Detroit's Frank Tanana on Oct. 6, 1991.

1995
On September 20, before the final home game of the season against the New York Yankees, Ripken decided to end his streak at 2,632 games. Rookie third baseman Ryan Minor started in his place. Realizing that the streak was coming to an end, the fans, his teammates, and the visiting Yankees gave Ripken an ovation after the game's first out was recorded. Ripken later stated that he decided to end the streak at the end of the season, to avoid an off-season controversy about his playing status.

1998
In 1999, Cal had his statistically best season since 1991. Although he was injured at the beginning and the end of the 1999 season, he managed to hit 18 homers in only 332 at-bats (one HR every 18.4 AB's) while hitting a career high .340. He also had the best individual game of his career, going 6 for 6 with 2 homers off of John Smoltz and tying a club record with 13 total bases against the Atlanta Braves on June 13, 1999.

1999
Ripken's 1999 season ended early due to injury when he was only 9 hits away from joining the 3000 hit club. He finally achieved the milestone early in the 2000 season when he singled off of reliever Héctor Carrasco in a game against the Minnesota Twins on April 15, 2000.

2000
In June 2001, Ripken announced his retirement. He was voted the starting third baseman in the All-Star game at Safeco Field on July 10, 2001 in Seattle. In a tribute to Cal's achievements and stature in the game, shortstop Alex Rodriguez insisted on exchanging positions with third baseman Ripken for the first inning, so that Ripken could play shortstop as he had for most of his career. In the third inning, Ripken made his first plate appearance and was greeted with a standing ovation. Ripken then homered off the first pitch from Chan Ho Park. Ripken ended up with All Star MVP honors. He is the only AL player in MLB history with multiple All Star Game MVP Awards (1991 and 2001). Ripken's #8 was retired by the Baltimore Orioles in a ceremony before the final home game of the 2001 season. Ripken's final game was originally set to be played at Yankee Stadium; however, all Major League Baseball games from September 11th to September 17th were postponed due to the terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon. The Orioles were at home during the attacks, so the games missed were added on to the end of the season's schedule, which changed the location of Ripken's final game to Oriole Park, much to the delight of Orioles fans. Cal Ripken ended his career in the on deck circle in the bottom of the ninth inning. Brady Anderson, also playing in his last game for the Orioles, swung and missed a fastball high and tight on a 3-2 count to end the game.

2001
Cal Ripken retired on October 6, 2001. He is a part owner of the New York-Penn League's Aberdeen IronBirds, the Short-season Class A affiliate Minor League Baseball team within the Orioles' system. The team plays at Ripken Stadium in Cal's hometown of Aberdeen, Maryland.
On June 28, 2005, he announced that he was also purchasing the Augusta GreenJackets of the South Atlantic League, a Class A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
Ripken has also made donations to charity causes, including many donations supporting research on Lou Gehrig's disease. He and his brother Billy also formed the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation to give underprivileged children the opportunity to attend baseball camps around the country and learn the game. The Foundation is a branch of Ripken Baseball. In addition to controlling these camps and Ripken's minor league teams, Ripken Baseball operates for-profit camps and designs ballfields for youth, college, and professional teams. He also gives speeches about his time in baseball and some of the lessons he has learned. Between 2001 and 2004, inclusive, Ripken served as commissioner of the White House Tee Ball Initiative of President George W. Bush, in which capacity he worked to promote the value of teamwork amongst players and volunteership amongst the public and helped to teach tee ball fundamentals to teams of children at the White House
Ripken is still a popular figure in Baltimore and Washington, DC area advertising, and frequently appears in regional commercials for Comcast cable and internet service. His appearance at a Washington Capitals game on February 10, 2007, prompted a standing ovation from the crowd [1].
In 2005, the Orioles honored Ripken on the 10th anniversary of his 2,131st consecutive game. After the top of the 5th inning, the numbers 2130 on the warehouse behind the stadium changed to 2131, just as they did on September 6, 1995.
In April 2007, he released two books, Get in the Game, described as a motivational guide to success, and The Longest Season, a children's book about the Orioles' 1988 season. He also publishes a weekly advice column in the Baltimore Sun and has produced a line of baseball training videos.
On April 9, 2007, Ripken announced a partnership with the recently-formed "Reviving Baseball in the Inner City" program, with the donation of US$1 million in cash and equipment from the Cal Ripken Sr Foundation. The induction ceremony was attended by a record 75,000 people.
In August 2007, Secreatry of State Condoleeza Rice annouced Ripken has become the second American public diplomacy envoy, the first envoy being figure skater Michelle Kwan.

Post-playing life
At 6 ft 4 in, 225 lb (1.93 m, 102 kg), Ripken was a departure from the prototypical shortstop of the time — small, fleet-of-foot players who played a defensively difficult position but often did not post the home run and batting average totals that an outfielder might. Power hitting shortstops such as Alex Rodriguez and Miguel Tejada are often seen to be part of Ripken's legacy.
Nonetheless, Ripken demonstrated the ability to play excellent defense at shortstop, and as a result remained a fixture there for well over a decade, leading the league in assists several times, winning the Gold Glove twice, and, in 1990, setting the MLB record for best fielding percentage in a season at his position. Though not a flashy fielder, Ripken displayed excellent fundamentals, and studied batters and even his own pitching staff so he could position himself to compensate for his lack of physical speed, even calling pitches at times. Ripken's legacy as a fielder is reflected by his place near the top of almost every defensive statistical category — he holds at least one all-time record (for either season, career, or most seasons leading the league) in assists, putouts, fielding percentage, double plays, and fewest errors.
Ripken's power, which led to records like the most home runs by shortstop and 13th for career doubles, also had some consequences. His propensity to drive the ball often led to his grounders getting to fielders quickly for tailor-made double-play balls. In 1999, Ripken passed Hank Aaron as the player who had grounded into the most double plays in his career — interestingly enough, he is also second on the fielding side for double plays by a shortstop.
Billy and Cal Ripken are one of only four two-brother combinations in major league history to play second base/shortstop on the same club, Baltimore Orioles, during the 1980s. The others are Garvin and Granny Hamner, for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1945; the twins Eddie and Johnny O'Brien, with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the mid-1950s, and Frank and Milt Bolling, for the Detroit Tigers in 1958.[2]
Finally, Ripken was known for being one of the most willing autograph signers in baseball (and is known for always asking where to sign the item) and a goodwill ambassador to the game in general (September 1995 Beckett Baseball Card Monthly)
On September 23, 2001 the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup series and MBNA re-named the fall race at Dover International Speedway in Dover, DE naming the race the MBNA Cal Ripken Jr. 400. The race paid tribute to Ripken's legacy and he was also in attendance greeting the competing drivers as they crossed the stage during driver introductions. The race also paid tribute to the men and women who died during the September 11th Terrorist Attacks which took place a mere week before. Driver Bobby Labonte had a special paint scheme on his #18 Interstate Batteries car featuring Baltimore Orioles colors along with Ripken's retirement seal. Dale Earnhardt, Jr won the race carrying the American flag with him on his victory lap. Labonte meanwhile finished 36th.

Legacy

Awards and records

1982: American League Rookie of the Year
1983: American League Most Valuable Player
1983: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)
1984: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)
1985: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)
1986: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)
1989: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)
1991: American League Most Valuable Player
1991: MLB All-Star Game Most Valuable Player
1991: American League Gold Glove Award (SS)
1991: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)
1992: Roberto Clemente Award
1992: Lou Gehrig Memorial Award
1992: American League Gold Glove Award (SS)
1993: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)
1994: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)
1995: Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year"
1999: Ranked Number 78 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players
1999: Elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
2001: MLB All-Star Game Most Valuable Player
2001: Ranked third greatest shortstop all-time in the The New Bill James Historical Abstract.
2001: Uniform number (8) retired by the Baltimore Orioles
2007: Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by 98.53 percent of voters. The highest percentage of votes ever for a position player.
2007: Inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 29th with the San Diego Padres' great Tony Gwynn in front of a record crowd of 75,000 people
Most consecutive games played at 2,632
Most grounded into double plays at 350
Most double plays by a shortstop, American League, at 1,682
All-time leader in MLB All-Star fan balloting (36,123,483) Baltimore Orioles

MLB consecutive games played streaks
DHL Hometown Heroes
List of MLB individual streaks
Top 500 home run hitters of all time
List of major league players with 2,000 hits
List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
3000 hit club
3000-300 club
Hitting for the cycle
List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
MLB consecutive games played streaks
Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game
List of second generation MLB players

2007-11-13T09:54:00.001-08:00

In physics, a number of noted theories of the motion of objects have developed. Among the best-known are:
Newton's laws of motion
Kepler's laws of planetary motion
General relativity

2007-11-12T08:13:00.001-08:00

Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

B

Isaac Bonewits, B.A., Archdruid Emeritus
William S. Burroughs C

Flo Conway, Ph.D. D

Richard L. Dowhower, D.D. E

Mark Ebner
Christopher Riche Evans G

Geri-Ann Galanti, Ph.D.
Martin Gardner
Carol Giambalvo
Lorna Goldberg, M.S.W., A.C.S.W.
Bill Goldberg, M.S.W., A.C.S.W. H

Steven Hassan J

Jean-Pierre Jougla
Jon Atack K

Susan J. Kelley, Ph.D., R.N.
Paul Kurtz L

Janja Lalich, Ph.D.
Michael Langone, Ph.D.
Thomas Lardeur
Bob Larson M

Arnold Markowitz, M.S.W., C.S.W.
Russell Miller
Paul R. Martin, Ph.D P

Larry Pile R

Herbert L. Rosedale S

Jim Siegelman
Margaret Singer, Ph.D. T

Madeleine Landau Tobias V

Cyril Vosper

2007-11-11T09:06:00.001-08:00

The United States Census Bureau has defined 3 Combined Statistical Areas (CSAs),

2007-11-10T10:15:00.001-08:00

The word Galliano can refer to:

Basilica of Galliano, a church in Cantù, in the province of Como, Italy
Galliano (drink), a liqueur
Chad Galliano,
John Galliano, a British fashion designer
Richard Galliano, a French-Italian accordion player
Galliano (band), a 1980s/1990s UK Acid jazz, jazz funk/dance band aka Earl Zinger
Galliano, Louisiana, a Bayou Lafourche town near the Gulf of Mexico, populated by many people of French "Cajun" ancestry

2007-11-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

This page refers to a college in Rhode Island. For the college in Manitoba, see Providence College and Theological Seminary.
Providence College
Providence College is a Catholic college in Providence, Rhode Island, the state's capital city. With a 2004-2005 enrollment of about 3,900 undergraduate students and about 900 graduate students, the college is known for its programs in the liberal arts and sciences. Founded in 1917, Providence College has been ranked by US News and World Report as one of the top two Regional Colleges in the Northeast for the past nine consecutive years. Furthermore, it is the only college or university in North America administered by the Dominican Order of Friars (Dominican College of California, Aquinas College of Michigan, and St. Thomas Aquinas College in New York all have Dominican heritage, but none is administered on a day-to-day basis by the Dominicans).
The Providence College campus is located near River Avenue, about two miles (3.3 km) northwest of downtown Providence.
Providence College offers fifty majors and twenty-four minors and is one of the few schools in the country that requires all its students to complete 20 credits in the Development of Western Civilization, which serves as a major part of the college's core curriculum. As put forth on the college website:
"Widely hailed by educators as one of the finest and most academically ambitious programs in the country, the Development of Western Civilization Program is the cornerstone of the Providence College Core Curriculum. The required two-year interdisciplinary program is taken during the freshman and sophomore years.
Civ is taught chronologically and each course covers the areas of history, philosophy, literature, theology, and the fine arts, throughout all of the most prominent Civilizations in History. It is team-taught by four faculty members from each of these disciplines sharing their thoughts and perspective on the events, art, literature, thoughts, and religious ideals of the time.
Setting high academic standards and featuring intense discussions and frequent writing assignments, the program has become an intellectual rite of passage for Providence College students."

History
The school lies on 105 acres atop Smith Hill, the highest point in the city of Providence, in the city's Elmhurst neighborhood. The school consists of forty-four buildings on campus. There are twenty-one academic and administrative buildings, nine dormitories, six suite-style apartment buildings, five Dominican residences (including the St. Thomas Aquinas Priory, a residential tower near the main gate) and three athletic buildings, as well as six outdoor athletic facilities, including a new "turf field." The buildings are as follows:

Campus
The site of the chapel is the former site of the War Memorial Grotto of Our Lady of the Rosary, a large grotto which was built in 1948 as a site for worship and a memorial to the seventy-nine alumni who died in World War II. It served for many years as the site of commencement exercises and ROTC commissionings, but was closed to make way for the chapel. There is a smaller grotto on the side of the chapel which was built with some of the materials from the original.

Harkins Hall (administration, classrooms, and the Blackfriars Theatre)
Moore Hall (the former Antoninus Hall, the home of the DWC program)
Albertus Magnus Hall, Hickey Laboratory, and Sowa Hall (the science complex)
The Feinstein Academic Center (the former Stephens Hall, home to the Feinstein Institute)
Phillips Memorial Library
Slavin Center (the school's student union, which includes the school bookstore, McPhails Bar, a large meeting hall, the studios of WDOM, 91.3FM, the school's radio station, the offices for the Board of Programmers, BMSA, Friars Club, Veritas, the Cowl, Student Congress and other various student organizations.)
Accinno Hall (computer science building, constructed on the site of a former maintenance shed)
Smith Center for the Performing Arts (the brand-new home of the music and theatre programs)
Hunt-Cavanaugh Hall (visual arts and art history)
Ceramics Building (visual arts annex)
St. Catherine Of Siena Hall (formerly used for music department classrooms and performance space, now serves as the office building for the Theology and Philosophy departments. Includes a library, chapel, and classroom space.)
Howley, Koffler, Sullivan, and the Service Building (used mostly for office space for the school, all located on the former Chapin property)
St. Dominic Chapel (the school's main chapel, dedicated in 2001, and also the home of the school's Campus Ministry and Pastoral Service Organization.
Physical plant and power plant
Student Health complex Facilities

Aquinas Hall (the oldest continuously used dorm on campus, contains the former main chapel and cafeteria of the campus)
Meagher and McDermott Halls (located perpendicular to the ends of Aquinas, which makes up the residential quad)
McVinney Hall (located to the north of Meagher Hall, a ten-story building on the summit of Smith Hill which has the highest view in the city)
St. Joseph Hall (also houses the Residence Life offices, well known as the home to the men's basketball team)
Raymond Hall (also contains the school's main cafeteria)
Guzman Hall (the second building to carry the name, also contains a small chapel)
Dore Hall and Fennell Hall (located on the Chapin property)
Cunningham, Mal Brown and DiTraglia Halls (the three original apartment towers, located near the corner of Huxley Avenue and Eaton Street)
Davis and Bedford Halls (located on the Chapin property and opened in 1994, the two largest campus apartment buildings)
Suites Hall (the newest on-campus residences) Residential halls and apartments

Alumni Hall (the original on-campus gymnasium, also contains a popular cafeteria)
Schneider Arena (the home of Friars hockey)
Peterson Recreation Center (includes an indoor track and the school's natatorium, currently being expanded)
In addition, the school has several outdoor fields and tennis courts. Athletic facilities

St Thomas Aquinas Priory (a Dominican residence)
Dominic Hall (the President's residence)
Martin Hall (the former Guzman Hall, now an executive residence)
Thomas Hall and Antoninus Hall (on-campus guest residences; Thomas Hall is traditionally where the Commencement speaker stays) Other buildings
In the spring of 2006, Providence College began construction on a 23,000-square-foot, two-level fitness center addition to the Peterson Recreation Center and Alumni Hall. The fitness center will feature a three-story glass atrium and a new, unified main entrance to the Slavin Center (student union building), Alumni Hall (athletic offices and Mullaney Gymnasium), the Peterson Recreation Center (field house), and the center itself.

DWC program
The school's men's and women's sports teams are called the Friars, after the Dominican Catholic order that runs the school. They are the only collegiate team to use the name. All teams participate in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big East Conference, except for the Men's and Women's Hockey program, which competes in Hockey East and the Men's Lacrosse program, which competes in the MAAC.
Providence College teams which participate in the Big East Conference:
PC has one national championship, the 1996 Cross Country championship. The school has won several Big East, Hockey East, ECAC and MAAC titles. Individual team honors include:
The school formerly also sponsored football and baseball, both of which played at Hendricken Field to the north of Harkins Hall. The football team was disbanded in the early 1970s due to dwindling attendance and budget. Baseball met the same fate in 1999, amid controversy, as it fell victim to the budget constraints and the limitations put in place due to Title IX. At the time, the student ratios for men's to women's athletes versus the same ratio for overall students was skewed towards the men. Rather than attempt to sponsor another women's sport, the school opted to eliminate baseball, the school's original sport (1920). They would later drop men's golf and men's tennis as well for the same reasons, and the incident indirectly lead to the resignation of former athletic director John Marinatto.
The school's current athletic director is Robert Driscoll. The team colors are black and white, the same as the Dominicans, with silver as an accent color. The school's current logos and identity marks were released in 2002, and feature the profile of a friar wearing the black cappa (hood) of the Dominicans, above the word mark. All teams use the primary logo except the hockey teams, which have used the famous "skating Friar" logo since 1973. In addition to the Friar mascot, the school's animal mascot was a dog named "Friar Boy." The school's biggest rivalries are Boston University and Boston College as major hockey rivals while UConn and URI are major rivals for the school's other sports, especially in soccer, swimming, and basketball.

Men's and Women's Basketball
Men's and Women's Cross Country
Field Hockey
Men's and Women's Soccer
Softball
Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving
Women's Tennis
Men's and Women's Track and Field
Women's Volleyball
The men's basketball team won the 1961 and 1963 NIT championship, arguably the national championship in those years, and participated in the 1973 and 1987 Final Four. Overall, the team has 15 NCAA basketball tournament berths and 16 NIT berths, as well as twenty four basketball All-Americans. Notable coaches of the team have included Joe Mullaney (the creator of the zone defense), Dave Gavitt, and Rick Pitino.
The women's basketball team won the first-ever Big East Tournament in 1983. Notable alumni include Doris Burke, current ESPN basketball commentator.
The men's hockey team has won two Hockey East (including the inaugural 1985 title) and two ECAC titles, and has been in the NCAA Division I hockey tournament ten times, most recently in 2000. Their best finish in the tournament was as national runner-up in 1985.
The women's hockey team has consistently been one of the best in the country. In 1998, seven members of the gold-medal winning U.S. Women's Ice Hockey team were alumni or current students.
The school's cross country team has been a consistently successful team. In fact, they have participated in the NCAA championships 17 straight years (as of 2005). The women's team won the 1996 Cross Country championship. Keith Kelley '00 was the first Friar to win the individual national cross country championship. Kim Smith '05 was the first Friar woman to win the individual national championship in the sport.
The men's swimming and diving team looks very strong as its class of 2010 is the one of the best in the programs history. They look to make a strong showing at the Big East Championship Meet in February. The women's swimming and diving team also looks strong led by the class of 2007. They will also look to have a strong showing at the BIg East Championship Meet. Athletics
The college's graphic identity represents the shape of a window in Harkins Hall with a flame inside, representing Veritas, or Truth, the official College Motto.
The official seal of Providence College is an ornate triangle, representing the Trinity, with the flame of learning and a scroll with the College Motto, Veritas, superimposed on it. The seal is surrounded by a ring with the words Sigillum Collegii Providentiensis ("Seal of Providence College") inside it.

Marks and seals
Business and Law
Entertainment and Communications
Athletics
Men's Basketball
Hockey
Track
Baseball

Patrick J. Kennedy, '91, member of the U.S. House of Representatives for the state of Rhode Island
Arthur F. Ryan, '63, Chairman & CEO, Prudential Insurance Company of America
Elizabeth Flynn Lott, '82, Executive Vice President, JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Raymond Flynn, '63, former PC basketball star, mayor of Boston and ambassador to the Vatican City
Hon. William J. Sullivan, '62, former Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court
Christopher Dodd, United States Senator, candidate for President (2008) (D-CT)
Charles J. Fogarty, Lieutant Governor(D-RI)
Rich Gotham, President of the Boston Celtics
John O'Hurley, '76, best known for his role on the television show "Seinfeld"
Janeane Garofalo, '86, comedienne
Doris Burke, '87, former basketball star, first female color commentator for a NBA team (the New York Knicks)
David A. Duffy, '61, president of the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority
Mike Leonard, '70, NBC news feature correspondent
Peter Farrelly, director, screenwriter, producer: There's Something About Mary, Outside Providence
Lenny Wilkens, '60, the all-time winningest coach in NBA history, Hall-of-Famer as both a player and a coach.
John Thompson, '63, longtime Georgetown coach.
Jim Larranaga, 5th leading scorer in school history and current coach at George Mason University.
Jimmy Walker, '67, considered the greatest in school history; father of Jalen Rose
Marvin Barnes, '74, 1974 ABA Rookie of the Year
Otis Thorpe, '84, longtime NBA player
Billy Donovan, '87, hero of the 1987 Final Four Run, current head coach of the Florida Gators, coached 2006 and 2007 NCAA championship team, brief stint as head coach of the Orlando Magic
Eric Murdock, '91, All-American and former all-time steals leader
Michael Smith, '94, former all-conference player
Eric Williams, '95, longtime NBA player
Austin Croshere, '97, current NBA player and hero of the 1997 Elite Eight run
God Shammgod, '97, former NBA player and teammate of Croshere. Most notably known for his unusual name.
Ryan Gomes, '05, the school's leading scorer and current NBA player on the Minnesota Timberwolves
Lou Lamoriello, '63, first director of Hockey East, current President & General Manager of the New Jersey Devils, and former team coach
Chris Terreri, '86, longtime NHL goalie
Ron Wilson, '77, current coach of the San Jose Sharks
Hal Gill, '97, current NHL defenseman with the Toronto Maple Leafs
Fernando Pisani, '00, current NHL player with the Edmonton Oilers
Cammi Granato, captain of the 1998 Gold Medal Women's Olympic team and NBC hockey commentator
Brian Burke, current NHL General Manager of the Anaheim Ducks
John Ferguson Jr., current President and General manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs
Randy Velischek, former New Jersey Devils player
Kurt Kleinendorst, formerly ranked #1 hockey player in North America
John Treacy,'78 1984 Silver Medal Winner at LA Olympic Marathon
Geoff Smith,'84 Won Boston Marathon in 1984 and 1985
Birdie Tebbetts, former All-Star with the Tigers, Indians and Red Sox.
Lou Merloni, current member of the Oakland Athletics
John McDonald, current member of the Toronto Blue Jays Trivia

Providence College alumni
Providence College Special Guest

2007-11-08T09:55:00.001-08:00

Heard Island and McDonald Islands (abbreviated as HIMI ) are uninhabited, barren islands located in the Southern Ocean, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica. They have been territories of Australia since 1947, and contain the only two active volcanoes in Australian territory, one of which, Mawson Peak, is the highest Australian mountain. The group's size is 372 km² in area.

History
Heard Island is a 368 km² bleak and mountainous island located at 53°06′00″S, 73°31′00″E. Its mountains are covered in glaciers and dominated by Mawson Peak, a 2,745 m (9,006 ft) high complex volcano which forms part of the Big Ben massif.
Mawson Peak is the highest Australian mountain (517 m higher than Mount Kosciuszko), and one of only 2 active volcanoes in Australian territory, the other being McDonald Island. A long thin spit named "Elephant Spit" extends from the east of the island.
There is a small group of islets and rocks about 10 km north of Heard Island, consisting of Shag Islet, Sail Rock, Morgan Island and Black Rock. They total approximately 1.1 km² in area.
The McDonald Islands are located 44 km to the west of Heard Island at 53°02′20″S, 72°36′04″E. The islands are small and rocky and consist of McDonald Island (230 m high), Flat Island (55 m high) and Meyer Rock (170 m high). They total approximately 2.5 km² in area and, as with Heard Island, are surface exposures of the Kerguelen Plateau.
McDonald Island after being dormant for 75,000 years, erupted in 1992 and has erupted again several times since, its most recent eruption being on the 10th August 2005.
Heard Island and the McDonald Islands have no ports or harbours.

2007-11-07T08:29:00.001-08:00

The Battle of Fort Henry was fought February 6, 1862, in western Tennessee, during the American Civil War. It was the first important victory for the Union and Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater.
On February 4 and February 5, Grant landed two divisions just north of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River. His plan was to advance upon the fort on February 6 while it was being simultaneously attacked by U.S. Navy gunboats commanded by Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote. A combination of effective naval gunfire and poor siting of the fort, almost completely inundated by rising river waters, caused its commander, Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman, to surrender to Foote before the Army arrived.
The surrender of Fort Henry opened the Tennessee River to Union traffic past the Alabama border, which was demonstrated by a "timberclad" raid of wooden ships from February 6 through February 12, which destroyed Confederate shipping and railroad bridges. Grant's army proceeded overland 12 miles to the bloody Battle of Fort Donelson.

Background
Fort Henry was a five-sided, open-bastioned earthen structure covering 10 acres on the eastern bank of the Tennessee River, near Kirkman's Old Landing and Standing Rock Creek, nearly opposite the mouth of the Sandy River.

Battle
After the battle had lasted 75 minutes, Tilghman surrendered to the fleet, which had engaged the fort and closed within 400 yards. A small boat from the fleet was able to sail directly through the sally port of the fort and pick up Tilghman for the surrender ceremony on Cincinnati, demonstrating the extent of flooding. Twelve officers and 82 men surrendered; other casualties are estimated to be 15 men killed and 20 wounded. The evacuating force left all of its artillery and equipment behind. Tilghman was imprisoned, but exchanged on August 15.

Preservation

Cooling, Benjamin Franklin, The Campaign for Fort Donelson, U.S. National Park Service and Eastern National, 1999, ISBN 1-888213-50-7.
Eicher, David J., The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War, Simon & Schuster, 2001, ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
Esposito, Vincent J., West Point Atlas of American Wars, Frederick A. Praeger, 1959.
Gott, Kendall D., Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry—Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862, Stackpole books, 2003, ISBN 0-8117-0049-6.
McPherson, James M., Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States), Oxford University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-19-503863-0.
Nevin, David, and the Editors of Time-Life Books, The Road to Shiloh: Early Battles in the West, Time-Life Books, 1983, ISBN 0-8094-4716-9.
Woodworth, Steven E., Nothing but Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861 – 1865, Alfred A. Knopf, 2005, ISBN 0-375-41218-2.
National Park Service battle description

2007-11-06T08:37:00.001-08:00

Indian Standard Time (IST) is the time observed throughout India, with a time offset of UTC+5:30. India does not observe daylight saving time, (DST) or other seasonal adjustments, although DST was used briefly during the Sino–Indian War of 1962 and the Indo–Pakistani Wars of 1965 and 1971.

Time signals

Equation of time
Hindu astrology
International Atomic Time
Terrestrial Time
Time zone (list)
zoneinfo

2007-11-05T09:37:00.000-08:00

Sara Renner (born April 10, 1976 in Golden, British Columbia) is a Canadian cross country skier who has competed since 1994. With Beckie Scott, she won the silver medal in the team sprint event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and earned her best individual finish of 8th in the 10 km classical event in those same games.

Personal life

2007-11-04T08:32:00.001-08:00

Main article: Geography and environment of New York City Crossings

Main article: List of crossings of the Harlem River

2007-11-03T11:02:00.001-07:00

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Turkey
This is a chronological list of every government formed by the Prime Ministers of the Republic of Turkey. A new number is allocated to each new Prime Minister.
Note: Turkish governments have frequently been formed out of coalitions - in such cases, the Prime Minister's party has been listed.

Politics

President (List)

Abdullah Gül
Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Council of Ministers (Cabinet)

60th, established on August 29, 2007
Parliament

Köksal Toptan (Speaker)
Political parties
Elections

Presidential: 2000, 2007
General Elections: 1973, 1977, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2002, 2007
Foreign relations

EU accession
National Security Council
Legal system

Constitution
Human rights
Secularism
Law enforcement
Administrative Divisions

Provinces (İller)

Districts (İlçeler)
See also:

Regions (Bölgeler) Republic of Turkey

2007-11-02T08:25:00.001-07:00

This series is part of the Politics series
A governor or governour (archaic) is a governing official, usually the executive (at least nominally, to different degrees also politically and administratively) of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the Head of state; furthermore the title applies to officials with a similar mandate as representatives of a chartered company which has been granted exercise of sovereignty, even with its own armed forces, in a colonial area, often both colonizing and exploiting, sometimes a major state within the state, such as the British HEIC or the Dutch VOC.
In federations, a governor can be the title of each appointed or (as in the US) elected politician who governs a constitutive state. Most countries in the world have some sort of official known or rendered as "governor," though in some countries the heads of the constitutive states, provinces, communities and regions may have a different title. This is particularly common in European nations and many of their former colonies, with titles such as President of the Regional Council in France and minister-president in Germany. Other countries using different titles for sub-national units include Spain, Italy and Switzerland.
There can also be non-political governors: high ranking officials in private or similar governance such as commercial and non-profit management, styled governor(s), who simply govern an institution, such as a corporation or a bank. For example, in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries there are prison governors ("warden" in the United States), school governors and bank governors.

Executive branch
Head of state

Dictator
Monarch
President
Government

Head of government

Chancellor
Premier
Prime minister
Cabinet
Ministry
Minister
Presidential system
Semi-presidential system
Parliamentary system

Cohabitation
Westminster System
National leaders
National governments
Governor
Mayor Pre-Roman empires

In Pharaonic times, the governors of each of dozens of provinces in the kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt (called "nomes" by the Greeks, and whose names often alluded to local patterns of religious worship) are usually known by the Greek word Nomarch.
The whole (or most) of Egypt was repeatedly reduced to the status of province of a larger empire under foreign conquerors, notably under an Achaemenid satrap (see below). Egypt
Assyria, a ruthless conqueror of a large empire, ...

shaknu
bel pihati Mesopotamia and beyond

Media and Achaemenid Persia introduced the satrapy, probably inspired by the Assyrian / Babylonian examples
Alexander the Great and equally Hellenistic diadoch kingdoms, mainly Seleucids (greater Syria) and Lagids ('Ptolemies' in Hellenistic Egypt)
in later Persia, again under Iranian dynasties:

Parthia
the Sassanid dynasty dispensed with the office after Shapur I (who had still 7 of them), replacing them with petty vassal rulers, known as shahdars Pre- & Hellenistic satraps

Roman empires and legacy

Main article: Roman Governor In ancient Rome
This system survived with few significant changes until the collapse of the empire in the West, and in the East the breakdown of order with the Persian and Arab invasions of the seventh century. At that stage a new kind governor emerged, the Strategos a role leading the themes which replaced provinces at this point, and involving a return to the amalgamation of civil and military office which had been the practice under the Republic and the early Empire.

Byzantium
While the Roman administration in the West was largely destroyed in the barbarian invasions, its model was remembered, and would again be very influential through two particular vehicles: Roman law and the Christian Church.

Legacy

Reichskommissar Holy Roman/ Habsburg Empires and successor states
In the Ottoman empire, various Pashas (generals) administered a province of the Great Sultan's vast empire, with specific titles (such as Mutessaryf; Vali = Wali was often maintained or even revived in oriental successor states; cfr. Beilerbei (rendered as Governor-general, as he is appointed above several provinces under individual governors) and Dey)

Turkish rule
In the British Empire a governor was originally an official appointed by the British monarch (or in fact the cabinet) to oversee one of his colonies and was the (sometimes notional) head of the colonial administration. A governor's power could diminish as the colony gained more responsible government vested in such institutions as an Executive Council to help with the colony's administration, and in a further stage of self-government, a Legislative Councils and/or Assemblies, in which the Governor often had a role.
Today crown colonies of the United Kingdom continue to be administered by a governor, who holds varying degrees of power. Because of the different constitutional histories of the former colonies of the United Kingdom, the term "Governor" now refers to officials with differing amounts of power.
Administrators, Commissioners and High Commissioners exercise similar powers to Governors. (Note: such High Commissioners are not to be confused with the High Commissioners who are the equivalent of Ambassadors between Commonwealth states).
Frequently the name 'Government House' is given to Governors' residences.
The term can also be used in a more generic sense, especially for compound titles which include it: Governor-General and Lieutenant-Governor.

British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations

Vice-Regal Governors
In the United Kingdom's remaining overseas territories the governor is normally a direct appointee of the British Government and plays an active role in governing and lawmaking (though usually with the advice of elected local representatives). The Governor's chief responsibility is for the Defence and External Affairs of the colony.
In some minor overseas territories, instead of a Governor, there is an Administrator or Commissioner, or the job is ex officio done by a High Commissioner.

United Kingdom overseas territories
Main article: Governors of the Australian states
In Australia, each state has a Governor as its formal representative of the Queen as head of the state government. It is not a political office but a ceremonial office. Each State Governor is appointed by the Queen of Australia on the advice of the Premier who is the political chief executive of the state government (until 1986, they were appointed by the Queen of the United Kingdom on the advice of the British Government). State Governors have emergency reserve powers but these are rarely used. The Territories of Australia other than the ACT have Administrators instead of governors, who are appointed formally by the Governor-General. The Governor-General is the representative of and appointed by the Queen of Australia at a federal level on the advice of the Prime Minister of Australia.
As with the Governor-Generals of Australia and other Commonwealth Realms, State Governors usually exercise their power only on the advice of a government minister.
When the office of the Governor-General is vacant, or the occupant is unable to discharge their duties, by convention the most senior state Governor acts as Administrator of the Commonwealth. If this is not practicable, a justice of the High Court is appointed as Administrator instead.
The difference in terminology between the Australian state Governors and the Canadian provincial Lieutenant-Governors is significant. In the Australian case, the Governor is representative of and appointed by the Queen of Australia on the advice of the Premier. In the Canadian case, the Lieutenant Governor is appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada.
See also:

Governor of New South Wales
Governor of Queensland
Governor of South Australia
Governor of Tasmania
Governor of Victoria
Governor of Western Australia
List of Governors of New South Wales
List of Governors of Queensland
List of Governors of South Australia
List of Governors of Tasmania
List of Governors of Victoria
List of Governors of Western Australia Australia
See Governor of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong
The Governor-General of New Zealand is always Governor of the Ross Dependency, an Antarctic sector which is claimed by the Realm of New Zealand.

New Zealand
There was a position of Governor of Northern Ireland from 1922 until the suspension of Stormont in 1973.

Northern Ireland

Elsewhere in the Commonwealth
In India each state has a ceremonial Governor appointed by the President of India. These Governors are different to the Governors which controlled the British-controlled portions of the Indian Empire (as opposed to the princely states) prior to 1949. See Governors of India for more information.

India
In Malaysia the four non-monarchical states -Penang, Malacca, and the two on Borneo: Sabah and Sarawak- each have a ceremonial Governor styled Yang di-Pertua Negeri, appointed by the federal King Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, with a seat but no vote in the federal majlis Raja-raja (council of rulers). These states have a separate head of government which is the Chief Minister or Ketua Menteri.
All other states have royalty as head of state, no governor: a raja in Perlis, a Yang di-pertuan besar (elected from local rulers) in Negeri Sembilan, or a Sultan in the states of Selangor, Pahang, Johore, Perak, Kelantan and Kedah.

Malaysia
In Nigeria (once a colony governed by a single British Governor before independence), the leaders of the regions, which in 1967 were divided into states, have been known as governors since 1954. Following a military coup in November 1993, President Sani Abacha suspended all the governors, and appointed administrators. When democracy was restored in 1999, the office of governor was revived and new governors were elected. The president of Nigeria can suspend state governors in a state of emergency and replace them with administrators. They are elected by popular vote.

Nigeria
In Papua New Guinea, the leaders of the provinces have been known as governors since August 1995. Previously they had been known as premiers.

Papua New Guinea
The provinces of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon, a colony governed by a single British Governor before independence) are led by governors, as representatives of the President. These Governors are different to the Governor of Ceylon who controlled the British Ceylon prior to 1948.

Sri Lanka
A special case was the Chinese Eastern Railroad Zone, which was governed as a concession granted by Imperial China to the Russian 'Chinese Eastern Railroad Society' (in Russian Obshchestvo Kitayskoy Vostochnoy Zheleznoy Dorogi; established in 17 December 1896 in St. Petersburg, later moved to Vladivostok), which built 1,481 km of tracks (Tarskaya - Hilar - Harbin - Nikolsk-Ussuriski; 3 November 1901 traffic opened) and established on 16 May 1898 the new capital city, Harbin; in August 1898, the defense for Chinese Eastern Railroad (CER) across Manchuria was assumed by Russia (first under Priamur governor).
On 1 July 1903 the Chinese Eastern Railroad opened and given under authority of itw own CER Administration (Russian: Upravleniye KVZhD), vested in the Directors of the Chinese Eastern Railroad, with the additional quality of Governors of the Chinese Eastern Railroad Zone (in Harbin; as such being 12 August 1903 - 1 July 1905 subordinated to the imperial Viceroyalty of the Far East, see Lüshunkou). The post continued to function despite various political changes until after World War II.
Currently, some of the administrative divisions of Russia are headed by governors, while others are headed by Presidents or heads of administration. From 1991 to 2005 they were elected by popular vote, but since 2005 they have been appointed by the federal president and confirmed by the province's legislature.

Russia and former Soviet Union
See:
The same goes for the Empire of Japan and the USA.

Other European naval powers than the UK with colonies in Asia, Africa and other areas, which sometimes chartered companies to rule the colonies instead, gave or still give some, but not always all, of the top representatives of (or rather in) their colonies the title of governor.
Danish colonial empire
Dutch colonial empire
French colonial empire
German colonial empire etc.
Italian empire
Portuguese empire
Spanish empire
Swedish colonial empire Other Colonial empires

Other modern Asian countries
In Japan,) refers to the highest ranking executive of a Prefectural Government. The Governor is elected by a direct vote from the people and had a fixed term of four years. He / she can be subjected by a recall referendum. In case of death, disability, resignation, a government official known as Vice Governor would replace as Governor or acting Governor.

Japan
In the People's Republic of China, the title "Governor" (省长) refers to the highest ranking executive of a Provincial Government. The Governor is usually placed second in the provincial power hierarchy, below the Secretary of the provincial Communist Party of China (CPC) committee (省委书记), who serves as the highest ranking Party official in the Province. A Governor can be also used when referring to a County Governor (县长).

People's Republic of China
In the Republic of the Philippines, the title "Governor" refers to the highest ranking executive of a Provincial Government. The Governor is elected by a direct vote from the people and had a fixed term of three years. An incumbent Governor can only serve only up to three consecutive terms. He may however be suspended by either the Ombudsman or President (through the Secretary of Interior and Local Government). He may be removed by the President if he was found guilty of an administrative case or a criminal act during his incumbency. He can be subjected by a recall vote, but unlike a referendum, people would elect the governor of their choice. If in case of death, disablility, resignation, forced removal or suspension, a government official known as Vice Governor would replace as Governor or acting Governor.
In the Autonomous Region on Muslim Mindanao, a Regional Governor and Regional Vice Governor is elected by a block vote similar to the United States President.

Philippines

Other modern countries in North America
In the United States, the title governor refers to the chief executive of each state, not directly subordinate to the federal authorities, but the political and ceremonial head of the state. The governor may also assume additional roles, such as the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard (when not federalized), and the ability to commute or pardon a criminal sentence. U.S. Governors serve four-year terms except those in New Hampshire and Vermont, who serve two-year terms.
In all states, the governor is directly elected, and in most cases has considerable practical powers (notable exceptions with very weak governorships include Texas), though this may be moderated by the state legislature and in some cases by other elected executive officials. They can veto state bills. In some cases legislatures can override a gubernatorial veto by a two-thirds vote, in others by three-fifths. In Tennessee and Kentucky, the governor's veto can be overridden by a simple majority vote, making it virtually useless, though they both have a line-item veto. The Governor of North Carolina had no veto power until a 1996 referendum. In most states, whenever there is a sudden vacancy of one of the state's U.S. Senate seats, that state's governor appoints someone to fill the vacancy until a special election is held, although the governors of Oregon, Massachusetts and Alaska no longer have this power.
A state governor may give an annual State of the State Address in order to satisfy a constitutional stipulation that a governor must report annually, or in older constitutions described as being "from time to time," on the state or condition of a U.S. state. Governors of states may also perform ceremonial roles, such as greeting dignitaries or attending the state fair. The governor may also have an official residence.
In colonial America, when the governor was the representative of the monarch who exercised executive power, many colonies originally elected their governors, but in the years leading up to the American Revolutionary War, the king began to appoint them directly. During the American Revolution, all royal governors were expelled (except one, see Jonathan Trumbull), but the name was retained to denote the new elected official.
See: List of current United States Governors which includes links to state and territory lists of past Governors.

Lieutenant Governor
Governors of American Samoa
Governors of Guam
Governors of Northern Mariana Islands
Governors of Puerto Rico
Governors of U.S. Virgin Islands United States
In the United Mexican States, governor refers to the elected chief and head of each of the the nation's thirty one Free and Sovereign States, and their official title in Spanish is Gobernador. Mexican governors are directly elected by the citizens of each state for six-year terms.
See: List of Mexican state governors

Mexico
Many of the South American republics (such as Chile and Argentina) have provinces or states run by elected governors, with offices similar in nature to U.S. state governors.

Other modern countries in South America
Until the 1930 Revolution, the heads of the Brazilian Provinces then States were styled Presidents (presidentes), later governors (governadores) and intervators (interventores, appointed by the federal government) and finally in 1945 only governors.

Brazil

Other European countries and empires

In the Netherlands, the government-appointed heads of the provinces were known as Gouverneur from 1814 until 1850, when their title was changed to King's (or Queen's) Commissioner. In the southern province of Limburg, however, the commissioner is still informally called Governor.
In the Dutch crown's Caribbean Overseas territories, the style Governor is still used (alongside the political head of government) in the Netherlands Antilles as well as since 1986 on the neighbouring island of Aruba (separated from the former)
In Belgium, each of the ten provinces has a Governor, appointed by the regional government. He represents the central and regional governments in the province. He controls the local governments and is responsible for law and order, security and emergency action. The national capital of Brussels, who is not part of a province, also has a governor with nearly the same competences. Benelux monarchies
During the Ancien Régime in France, the representative of the king in his provinces and cities was the "gouverneur". Royal officers chosen from the highest nobility, provincial and city governors (oversight of provinces and cities was frequently combined) were predominantly military positions in charge of defense and policing. Provincial governors — also called "lieutenants généraux" — also had the ability of convoking provincial parlements, provincial estates and municipal bodies. The title "gouverneur" first appeared under Charles VI. The ordinance of Blois of 1579 reduced their number to 12, but an ordinance of 1779 increased their number to 39 (18 first-class governors, 21 second-class governors). Although in principal they were the king's representatives and their charges could be revoked at the king's will, some governors had installed themselves and their heirs as a provincial dynasty. The governors were at the height of their power from the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 17th century, but their role in provincial unrest during the civil wars lead Cardinal Richelieu to create the more tractable positions of intendants of finance, policing and justice, and in the 18th century the role of provincial governers was greatly curtailed.

France

The essentially maritime empire of the Venetian republic, comprising Terra Ferma, other Adriatic (mainly Istria and Dalmatia) and further Mediterranean (mainly Greek) possessions, used different gubernatorial styles, such as (castelleno e) provveditore (generale), baile
In today's Italy, the official name of a head of a Regione (the Italian subnational entity) is Presidente della Giunta regionale (President of the regional executive council), but from 2000, when a constitutional reform decided the direct election of the president by the people, it's usual to call him governatore (governor). Italy

In the various Italian provinces (former principalities and city-states) that became amalgamated as the Papal States, the Holy See exerced temporal power via its Legates and Delegates, including some Cardinals
Also in Avignon and the surrounding southern French Comté Venaissin, the home of the Popes during their 'Babylonian exile', and retained centuries after, but never incorporated into the Papal States, Legates and Vice-legates were appointed
The sovereign modern remnant of the formerly large Papal States, the tiny Vatican City State, is now a mere enclave in Rome, the capital of Italian Republic. As it is too small to have further administrative territorial divisions, it is the equivalent of a Prime Minister, Governor and Mayor all roled in to one post, styled the Governor of Vatican City. Papal & Vatican particularity

The Danish word is Guvernør
Currently, the län (counties) of Sweden (see *Over-Governor of Stockholm, Governors-General of Sweden, List of County Governors of Sweden)
the provinces of Finland have leaders with the title of *governor. Nordic states

2007-11-01T09:44:00.001-07:00

Ashridge is an estate and house in Hertfordshire, England; part of the land stretches into Buckinghamshire and it is close to the Bedfordshire border. It is situated in the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, about two miles north of Berkhamsted and twenty miles north west of London. Surrounding villages include Aldbury, Pitstone, Ivinghoe, Little Gaddesden, Nettleden, and Potten End.
The estate comprises 20 square kilometres (5,000 acres) of woodlands (known as Ashridge Forest), commons and chalk downland which supports a rich variety of wildlife. It also offers a good choice of waymarked walks through outstanding country.
It should not be confused with Asheridge, which is a hamlet about five miles south-west, the other side of Berkhamsted.

Ashridge Priory
From 1604 to 1848 the estate was the property of the Dukes and Earls of Bridgewater (the Egerton family). The Bridgewater Monument was built in memory of the 3rd Duke, Francis Egerton, the "father of inland navigation" with a view to the Grand Union Canal. The monument contains a narrow spiral staircase of 170 steps and is open to the public.
In 1848 the estate passed to the Earls Brownlow, another strand of the Egerton family.

The Egerton Family

Main article: Ashridge Business School Use in Films
Part of the estate became Ashridge Golf Club in 1932, and had Henry Cotton as its club professional in the late 1930s, including his most successful year 1937.

Further reading

Ashridge Priory
Ashridge Business School

2007-10-30T10:41:00.001-07:00

John A. Robertson holds the Vinson and Elkins Chair at The University of Texas School of Law. He has written and lectured widely on law and bioethical issues.
Robertson is the author of two books on bioethics, The Rights of the Critically Ill and Children of Choice: Freedom and the New Reproductive Technologies, and numerous articles on reproductive rights, genetics, organ transplantation, and human experimentation.
He has served on or been a consultant to many national bioethics advisory bodies, and is currently Chair of the Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

2007-10-29T09:23:00.001-07:00

Jacob "Jake" Eddie Peavy, (born May 31, 1981, in Mobile, Alabama, USA) is a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who plays for the San Diego Padres. He bats and throws right handed.
Peavy stands 6'1" tall (1.85 m) and weighs 182 pounds (82.72 kg).

San Diego Padres (2002-present) Career in baseball

List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
List of Major League Baseball strikeout champions

2007-10-28T10:47:00.001-07:00

Main articles Home Rule Repeal Irish nationalism Parties & Organisations All-for-Ireland League Ancient Order of Hibernians Catholic Association Cumann na nGaedhael Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Home Rule League Irish Land Acts Irish National Federation Irish National Land League Irish National Volunteers Irish Parliamentary Party National Centre Party Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland) Nationalist Party (Ireland) Repeal Association Sinn Féin SDLP United Irish League
Documents & Ideas Anglo-Irish Agreement Anglo-Irish Treaty Belfast Agreement Catholic Emancipation Saorstát Constitution Constitution of 1782 Dáil Constitution Dual Monarchy External Relations Act Home Rule Act 1914 Home Rule Act 1920 Irish Convention Republic of Ireland Act ... on De-Anglicising Ireland Resurrection of Hungary Newspapers Evening Herald Evening Mail Evening Telegraph Freeman's Journal Irish Independent Irish Press Sunday Independent The Irish News The Irish Times Songs A Nation Once Again God Save Ireland The Harp that Once
Cultural Abbey Theatre Ancient Order of Hibernians Gaelic League GAA Irish Ireland Other movements & links Loyalism {{IrishL}} Monarchism {{IrishM}} Republicanism {{IrishR}} Unionism {{IrishU}} Irish nationalism refers to political and sociological movements and sentiment that embodies a love for Irish culture and language and a sense of pride in the island of Ireland. It also refers to a desire for greater autonomy or independence of Ireland from Great Britain after Britain annexed Ireland in 1801. Today in Northern Ireland, which still remains under British rule (unlike the fully independent Republic of Ireland), the nationalist position is often contrasted with that of Unionists. Irish nationalism, today in Northern Ireland, is largely associated with the Roman Catholic community in Northern Ireland. However, over recent centuries, Irish Nationalism included many prominent Irish Protestants who were just as patriotic as many Catholics.

History
Ireland has been subject to varying degrees of rule from England since the late 12th century (See Norman Ireland). The Gaelic Irish resisted this conquest through military and other means, but were organised in small independent lordships and did not have a common political goal such as an independent Irish state. Conflict over the English presence was exacerbated by the Protestant Reformation in England, which introduced a religious element to the 16th century Tudor re-conquest of Ireland, as almost all of the native Irish remained Catholic. Another central feature of future Anglo-Irish conflict was the dispossession of Irish Catholic landowners in the Plantations of Ireland and their replacement with a Protestant landowning class from England and Scotland. In fact, they were ethnically mixed, being composed of both Gaelic Irish and Old English Catholics. In any case, the Confederate cause was destroyed in the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland 1649-53 and the old Catholic landowning class was dispossessed permanently.
A similar Irish Catholic monarchist movement emerged in the 1680s and '90s, when Irish Catholic Jacobites supported James II after his deposition in the Glorious Revolution. The Jacobites demanded that Irish Catholics would be a majority in an autonomous Irish Parliament, that confiscated Catholic land would be restored and that the Lord Deputy of Ireland would in future be an Irishman. Similarly to the Confederates of the 1640s, the Jacobites were conscious of representing the "Irish nation", but were not separatists and largely represented the interests of the landed class as opposed to all the Irish people. Like the Confederates, they were also defeated in the Williamite war in Ireland 1689-91. Thereafter, Irish government and landholding were dominated by the largely English Protestant Ascendancy. Catholics were discriminated against under the Penal Laws. (See also Early Modern Ireland 1536-1691)
This coupling of religious and ethnic identity (Roman Catholic and Gaelic), as well as a consciousness of dispossession and defeat at the hands of British and Protestant forces came to be enduring features of Irish nationalism.

Roots
The Protestant dominated Irish Parliament of the eighteenth century repeatedly called for more autonomy from the British Parliament — particularly the repeal of Poynings Law, which allowed the latter to legislate for Ireland. Parliamentarians who wanted more self government were known as "patriots", for example Henry Grattan, who achieved substantial legislative independence in 1782-83. Grattan and radical elements of the 'Irish Whig' party campaigned in the 1790s for Catholic political equality and a reform of electoral rights. It enjoyed the support of the Catholic clergy, who had denounced the United Irishmen and reinforced the association between Irish identity and Catholicism. The Young Irelanders when members of the Repeal Association, used traditional Irish imagery such as the Harp and located his mass meetings in sites such as Tara and Clontarf which had a special resonance in Irish history.

Early nationalism — Grattan to O'Connell
In the late 19th century, Irish nationalism became the dominant ideology in Ireland, having a major Parliamentary party in the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster that launched a concerted campaign for Repeal of the Act of Union or self-government. This period also saw the emergence of militant republican movement called the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) or Fenians, with an off-shoot named Clan na Gael in the United States, founded by exiled members of the Young Irelanders.
The Great Famine of 1845-49 caused great bitterness among Irish people against the British government, which was perceived as having failed to avert the deaths of up to a million people.

Repeal Association / Young Ireland
Mass nationalist mobilisation began when Isaac Butt's Home Rule League (which had been founded in 1873 but had little following) adopted social issues in the late 1870s – especially the question of land redistribution. Republicans from Clan na Gael (who were loath to recognise the British parliament) saw this an opportunity to recruit the masses to agitate for Irish self government. This agitation, which became known as the "Land War", became very violent when Land Leaguers resisted evictions of tenant farmers by force and the British Army and Royal Irish Constabulary was used against them. This upheaval eventually resulted in the British government subsidising the sale of landlords' estates to their tenants in the Irish Land Acts architected by William O'Brien. It also provided a mass base for constitutional Irish nationalists who had founded the Home Rule League in 1873. Charles Stewart Parnell (somewhat paradoxically, a Protestant landowner) took over the Land League and used its popularity to launch the Irish National League in 1882 to campaign for Home Rule.

Land League
An important feature of Irish nationalism from the late 19th century onwards has been a commitment to Gaelic Irish culture. A broad intellectual movement, calling itself the Celtic Revival grew up in the late 19th century largely initiated by artists and writers of Protestant or Anglo-Irish background who were concerned with furthering Ireland's individual native and cultural identity. Other organisations for promotion of the Irish language or the Gaelic Revival were the Gaelic League and later Conradh na Gaeilge. The Gaelic Athletic Association was also formed in this era to promote Gaelic football, hurling and Gaelic handball at the expense of "English" sports such as association football, rugby and cricket.
Curiously, most of the Cultural nationalists were actually English speakers and their organisations had little impact in the Irish speaking areas or Gaeltachtaí, where the language continued to decline. However, these organisations attracted large memberships and were the starting point for many radical Irish nationalists of the early twentieth century.

Cultural nationalism
Although Parnell and some other Home Rulers, such as Isaac Butt, were Protestants, Parnell's party was overwhelmingly Catholic. At local branch level, Catholic priests were an important part of it organisation. Home Rule was opposed by Unionists (those who supported the Union with Britain), mostly Protestant and from Ulster under the slogan, "Home Rule is Rome Rule".
At the time, some politicians and members of the British public would have seen this movement as radical and militant. Detractors quoted Charles Stewart Parnell's Cincinnati speech in which he claimed to be collecting money for "bread and lead". He was sworn into the secret Irish Republican Brotherhood in May 1882. However, the fact that he chose to stay in Westminster following the expulsion of 29 Irish MPs (when those in the Clan expected an exodus of nationalist MPs from Westminster to set up a provisional government in Dublin) and his failure to support the 1887 plan of campaign (a militant agrarian programme once launched by Michael Davitt who later renounced any form of militant violence), mark him off as an essentially constitutional politician, though not averse to using militant movements as a means of putting pressure on parliament.

Home Rule beginnings
The first decade of the twentieth century saw considerable advancement in rural economic and social development in Ireland where 60% of the population lived. changing the face of rural Ireland. The combination of land reform and devolved local government gave Irish nationalists an economic political base on which to base their demands for self-government.
A new source of radical Irish nationalism developed in the cities in the same period. In 1896, James Connolly, founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party in Dublin. Connolly's party was small and unsuccessful in elections, but his fusion of socialism and Irish republicanism was to have a sustained impact on republican thought. In 1913, during the general strike known as the Dublin Lockout, Connolly and James Larkin formed a workers militia, the Irish Citizen Army, to defend strikers from the police. While initially a purely defensive body, under Connolly's leadership, the ICA became a revolutionary body, dedicated to an independent Workers Republic in Ireland. After the outbreak of the First World War, Connolly became determined to launch an insurrection to this end.

Transformation of rural Ireland
Home Rule was eventually won by John Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party and granted under the Third Home Rule Act 1914. However, Irish self-government was limited by the prospect of partition of Ireland between north and south. This idea had first been mooted under the Second Home Rule Bill in 1894. In 1912, following the entry of the Third Home Rule Bill through the House of Commons, unionists organised mass resistance to its implementation, organising around the "Ulster Covenant". In 1913 they formed the Ulster Volunteers, an armed wing of Ulster Unionism and the sectarian Orange Order who stated that they would resist Home Rule by force. British Conservatives supported this stance and Randolph Churchill coined the slogan, "Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right". In addition, British officers based the Curragh indicated that they would be unwilling to act against the UVF should they be ordered to.
In response, Nationalists formed their own paramilitary group, the Irish Volunteers, to ensure the implementation of Home Rule. It looked for several months in 1914 as if civil war was imminent between the two armed factions. Only the All-for-Ireland League party advocated granting every conceivable concession to Ulster to stave off a partition amendment. Redmond rejected their proposals. The amended Home Rule Act was passed and placed with Royal Assent on the statute books, but was suspended after the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, until the end of the war. This led radical republican groups to argue that Irish independence could never be won peacefully and gave the northern question little thought at all.

The Home Rule crisis 1912-14
The Irish Volunteer movement was split over the attitude of their leadership to the First World War. The majority followed John Redmond in supporting the British and Allied war effort, seeing it as the only option to ensure the enactment of Home Rule after the war, Redmond saying "you will return as an armed army capable of confronting Ulster's opposition to Home Rule". They split off and formed the Irish National Volunteers, and were among the 180,000 Irishmen who served in the two Irish 10th and 16th divisions of the New British Army formed for the War.
A minority, mostly led by members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), refused to support the War and kept their arms to guarantee the passage of Home Rule. Within this grouping, another faction planned an insurrection against British rule in Ireland, while the War was going on. The Armistice ended the war in November followed by elections.

The First World War and the Easter Rising
In the General election of 1918, Sinn Féin won 73 seats, 25 of these unopposed, or statistically nearly 70% of Irish representation on a "first past the post" voting system, achieving 47,5% of votes cast, but a minority representation in Ulster. They polled a total of 485,105 votes, compared to 236,393 votes polled by the IPP,

Militant separatism and Irish independence
Meanwhile the British tried to solve the conflict on the basis of Home Rule with the introduction of a Fourth Home Rule Act. This was largely dictated by Unionist leader Sir Edward Carson and simplified by Sinn Féin's abstentionism from Westminster. Carson secured Home Rule for six Ulster counties as Northern Ireland, and Lloyd George also granted Home Rule for 26 of Ireland's 32 counties as Southern Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act, 1920. However this settlement of limited self government was no longer acceptable to Irish nationalists, who believed themselves to be the legitimately elected government of an independent all-Ireland Irish Republic. Following the elections of May 1921 the parliament of Northern Ireland first sat on 7 June.
The 1920 Act allowed for a Council of Ireland that would enable cross-border links to be established, with a target of island-unity after 50 years (1971).
The fighting in the South was ended on 11 July 1921 with a truce between the IRA and British forces. A political settlement between the Dáil and the British was reached in the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed in December 1921 after months of negotiations, but violence in the North continued. The Treaty offered "Southern Ireland" considerably more independence than was on offer in Home Rule, for instance, control over its own armed forces and police, control over taxation and fiscal policy, a flag and the evacuation of British troops out its territory. It would remain linked as a dominion under the British Crown within the British Commonwealth. The formula used for this was the 'Crown-in-Ireland, acknowledging the democratic will but retaining a powerless sovereign in London. The Sinn Féin signatories of the treaty conceded the abolition of the Irish Republic declared in 1919 and confirmed the partition of the island into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland.
The Second Dáil ratified the treaty on 7 January 1922 and the subsequent general election on 16 June endorsed their majority decision, the results of the elections: pro-Treaty Sinn Féin 58 seats, anti-Treaty Sinn Féin 36, Labour 17, Farmer's Party 7 and Independents 10, or 239,195 votes for pro-Treaty candidates, anti-Treaty 132,161 votes and others 247,082. But this was not acceptable to many republicans. They argued that the electorate only accepted the Treaty as a result of the British threat of an escalating war if they did not. At the time of the Treaty, the main issue dividing Irish nationalists was whether the new Irish Free State would be fully sovereign. Anti-Treaty partisans argued that it could never be but Michael Collins, who had led the team that signed the Treaty, argued that the it gave Ireland the opportunity to create a fully independent state. Significantly, while the majority of the Dáil cabinet were in favour of the Treaty, its president Eamon de Valera and two ministers, Cathal Brugha and Austin Stack were opposed and resigned in protest.
The Partition of Ireland was not the major dividing issue arising out of the Treaty, for three reasons. Firstly, the Treaty created a Boundary Commission that would determine the border with Northern Ireland by 1925. It was widely believed among nationalists that this would cede large parts of Northern Ireland to the Free State. Secondly, the IRA, both pro- and anti-treaty factions, organised by Michael Collins, was already organising clandestine military operations against the Northern state by early 1922. Thirdly, the Northern Irish government and parliament had been functioning already for six months.
Collins tried to negotiate a compromise between the pro- and anti-treaty factions, for example proposing a constitution with no mention of the British King, but any changes to the Treaty were vetoed by the British as it had just been negotiated in good faith. The IRA Executive disavowed the authority of the Dáil in April 1922, claiming it had broken its oath to defend the Irish Republic. In July 1922, under pressure from the British to deal with armed anti-treaty IRA units who had occupied public buildings in Dublin, Collins attacked the dissident IRA units. The Irish Civil War then broke out between the newly recruited Free State Force (composed of a of pro-treaty Irish Republican Army members and many new recruits, including thousands of Irish veterans of the First World War), and those IRA members (a substantial majority of that organisation) led by Liam Lynch who did not accept the Treaty. The Anti-Treaty side were supported by Eamon de Valera, former president of the Republic. The Free State government ended the anti-treaty republican resistance by May 1923, when the Anti-Treaty side called a ceasefire. The civil war cost more lives than the war against the British and the atrocities committed by both sides created a deep well of bitterness within Irish nationalist politics. Another effect of the Civil War was to confirm the partition of Ireland, as the divided and distracted IRA had to cease its operation against Northern Ireland along the border. In addition, after Michael Collins' death in August 1922, at the hands of Anti-Treaty fighters, the Free State quietly dropped his aggressive policies towards the Northern state.

Dividing Ireland
The Civil War caused a permanent split in Irish nationalism. In many ways, this represented the continuation of the division that had always existed between conservative Catholic nationalists and radical Republicans. The Free State position was represented by Cumann na nGaedheal (later re-named Fine Gael). The Free State, in its early years was intensely conservative in social and economic spheres and fearful of republican subversion. Government deicsions were heavily influenced by the Catholic clergy. Up until very recent times, the Roman Catholic Church was very influential in government circles and in Irish society at large. (See also History of the Republic of Ireland)
In 1925, the Boundary Commission, set up to review the border between Northern Ireland and the Free State, compiled its report. The report was leaked to the press and its findings were shocking to nationalist Ireland. Instead of cedeing large areas of the North to the Free State, the Southern state would receive only a small part of South Armagh and Fermanagh and would lose part of eastern Donegal. To prevent this report being published, the Free State gvoernment of WT Cosgrave instead signed a treaty with the British government, recognising the border of 1921 and in return cancelling their obligation to pay part of the British national debt. In effect, this marked the effective recognition of Northern Ireland on the part of the Free State.
As a result in March 1926 Sinn Fćin voted to continue abstentionism from the Däil , Eamon de Valera resigning as its leader, in May setting up a new party called Fianna Fáil out of the defeated anti-Treaty IRA and in 1927 entered parliamentary politics. Up until the late 1930s, street violence between pro and anti treaty groups was still common, especially between the pro Free State Blueshirts and the IRA. The remnants of the IRA considered themselves to be the only rightful inheritors of the Irish Republic of 1919 - still in their eyes existing in opposition to the British imposed Free State. After the creation of a mainstream republican party in Fianna Fáil, they had little support. They launched a bombing campaign in England in the 1940s and a guerrilla campaign against Northern Ireland in the 1950s. Both were failures.
The Free State was, on all sides, intensely nationalistic. One manifestation of this was the introduction of compulsory Irish language in education and for all civil and public servants. It was the goal of all nationalists to re-introduce Irish as the spoken language of the country. However, this never achieved success and many Irish language activists argue that the language has become merely a token of Irish identity for Irish governments. In theory, after De Valera passed a new constitution in 1937, the Irish state was also committed to a United Ireland - i.e. the annexation of Northern Ireland. Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland stated that the territory of the Irish state included the entire island of Ireland. However, like the restoration of the Irish language, commitment to a United Ireland remained largely confined to rhetoric. Indeed, de Valera's government interned and executed IRA members for armed attacks on the Northern state. In 1940 de Valera was promised a unified island if he would join in the Second World War against the Axis powers, but he declined.
The Irish Free State left the British Commonwealth in 1949 and declared itself to be the Republic of Ireland.

The Free State
In Northern Ireland itself, the Catholic or nationalist community was a minority in Protestant and Unionist state. However, most northern nationalists did not support militant republicanism before The Troubles of the 1970s. In 1918, they had largely voted for the moderate Nationalist Party rather than Sinn Féin and continued to vote for moderate or constitutional nationalist party (which was, however, very different from the "Home Rule" Nationalist Party that existed until 1918) until the political turmoil of the late 1960s. The Nationalist Party began to be seen as an irrelevance after the launching of a Civil Rights campaign to end discrimination against Catholics in the late 1960s (see Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association). However, the Civil Rights agitation ran into Unionist and Ulster Volunteer Force resistance as some Unionists claimed NICRA was merely another face of the IRA and violence broke out, leading to a thirty year conflict known as the Troubles.
The IRA, which had become increasingly reformist and Marxist oriented in the late 1960s, split into the Official IRA and Provisional IRA. The "Officials" ceased armed activity in 1972. The Provisionals or "Provos" launched a guerrilla or terrorist campaign against the state of Northern Ireland, with the aim of creating a new Irish Republic that would include all 32 counties of Ireland. Their armed campaign lasted into the late 1990s. (see History of Northern Ireland).
Thereafter, northern nationalists voted mainly for the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP)- a moderate nationalist and social democratic party. The SDLP, led by John Hume advocated power-sharing with Unionists within Northern Ireland. While many northern nationalists came to support the Provisional Irish Republican Army, whom they perceived as their defenders, especially in the early years of the Troubles, Sinn Féin, their political wing, did not do well in election until the 1980s. In fact, many Provisionals despised "politics" and saw their "armed struggle" as being above electoral politics. The 'struggle' also stopped new investment and tourism across the whole island, at a time of high unemployment, inflation and recession.
Sinn Féin candidates began to displace the SDLP from some nationalist constituencies after the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike. During the Hunger Strikes, the imprisoned IRA man Bobby Sands was elected to the British Parliament in the Fermanagh / South Tyrone by-election on an "Anti H-Block" platform. The turnout for the contest was 86.9 per cent and Sands obtained 30,492 votes and Harry West, the Unionist candidate, obtained 29,046 votes. A by-election was held in Fermanagh/South Tyrone to elect a Member of Parliament (MP) to Westminster to the seat that became vacant on the death of Bobby Sands. Owen Carron, who had been Sands' campaign manager, was proposed by Sinn Féin. Carron won the by-election with an increased number of votes over the total achieved by Sands. . This awakened the Sinn Féin leadership under Gerry Adams to the possible gains they could make in future elections and by an unarmed political strategy. However, it was not until 1994 that the Provisionals called off their campaign. Since the IRA ceasefire of 1994, Sinn Féin have become the largest nationalist party in the Northern Ireland. They have also won an improved share of votes in the Republic of Ireland.
In 1998, both Sinn Féin and the SDLP signed the Belfast Agreement, which instituted power sharing within a devolved government in Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin says that its long term goal is still a United Ireland. The Belfast Agreement has yet to be fully implemented.

Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland today, nationalist is used to refer either to the Catholic population in general or the supporters of the moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party led by Mark Durkan, to distinguish them from Sinn Féin voters, known as Irish republicans. Often the term republican is applied to those who advocate the complete independence of Ireland from Great Britain and are prepared to use force to achieve it. The term nationalist is often used to refer to a more moderate political tradition, which favours an independent, united Ireland but which uses parliamentary methods and is prepared to see Northern Ireland remain part of the United Kingdom. However, from a broad point of view, these are all elements of Irish nationalism.
The parties widely recognized as representing the moderate nationalist tradition include Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the SDLP. The main party currently representing Irish republicanism is Sinn Féin.

Present
Irish nationalism has historically been pre-occupied with Ireland's relationship with Britain. It has also been concerned with the historical oppression of Catholics, who are identified as the native Irish people, by Protestants, who are identified with the British presence in Ireland. However, the ideology of Irish nationalism and particularly Irish republicanism has always expressed the view that it is not hostile to Protestantism or Protestants in Ireland as such and that it recognises them as fellow Irishmen. Some former nationalist ideologues such as D. P. Moran or Daniel Corkery held ambivalent and exclusive views.
Today, the relevance of traditional Irish nationalist ideology mainly concerns the status of Northern Ireland, which is still part of the United Kingdom, but which has a substantial nationalist minority who would prefer to be part of united Ireland. For historical reasons outlined above, almost all nationalists in Northern Ireland are Catholics. The traditional nationalist view of Northern Ireland was that it was created artificially out of the only part of Ireland that had a Protestant and Unionist majority. According to this view, the last time that an all Ireland election happened was in 1918, when a majority of votes in Ireland went to Sinn Féin and for Irish independence. This view has been outmoded somewhat by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which was supported by the Irish government and both Sinn Féin and the SDLP. Moreover, it was passed by popular votes in referendums North and South. This agreement stipulates that the status of Northern Ireland cannot be changed without the expressed consent of a majority within Northern Ireland. In theory, northern nationalists are now committed to "power sharing" in Northern Ireland with unionists, with a long term goal of a united Ireland achieved with unionist consent. Some nationalists have voiced the hope that Catholics will outnumber Protestants in the coming decades, with the result that a majority inside Northern Ireland will favour a United Ireland.
In the Republic of Ireland, the idea of Irish nationalism has changed dramatically since the Free State era, particularly since the 1960s with growing prosperity signalling new economic and social priorities, as well as a changing relationship with the North. Up to 1985, extreme republicans did not recognise the legitimacy of the Irish state (an attitude that dates from the Irish Civil War) and refused to take their seats in the Dáil (Irish Parliament). However, Sinn Féin has now rejected this attitude and it is held only by the small Republican Sinn Féin party. Irish Governments have stated since the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 that they will respect the will of the people of Northern Ireland to decide its future. However, this agreement also stated that the Irish government had a legitimate role in Northern Irish poitics as "advisor". In 1998, as part of the Good Friday Agreement, articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution, which laid a territorial claim to Northern Ireland, were removed after a referendum.
Some of the divisions of the Irish Civil War are still apparent in southern Irish nationalist politics. Fine Gael, whose predecessors founded the Free State, largely view Irish independence as having been achieved, whereas Fianna Fáil the descendants of the Anti-Treaty Republicans of the Civil War, interpret the state's history somewhat differently. However, both parties aspire towards a United Ireland
Irish nationalists, on the whole, have not viewed integration into the European Union (EU) as a threat to Irish sovereignty. Several reasons can be advanced to explain this. Firstly, Ireland has been a net beneficiary of EU funds. Secondly integration into the European project has meant that Ireland is less dependent on Britain, economically and politically. A feature of nationalism in many modern European countries is a hostility to foreign immigration - for example Front National of Jean Marie Le Pen in France. At present, this is not true of Irish nationalism, despite large and rapid immigration into Ireland in recent years. Currently, no major Irish nationalist party campaigns explicitly against immigration.
This does not however mean that there is no anti-immigrant sentiment in Ireland. In 2004, Ireland revoked, in a referendum, a clause in the constitution added in 1998 that said that anyone born in Ireland was automatically an Irish citizen. The concern of the Irish government was that this was subverting the control of immigration by entitling any couple who had a child to stay in the country, regardless of their legal status. This referendum has drawn criticism from some human rights bodies, including Amnesty International as it has led to a situation where Irish citizens are being deported, with their parents, to countries where they may have no right of citizenship.

Notes
19th Century
20th century

Society of the United Irishmen
Catholic Association
Repeal Association
Young Ireland
Irish Confederation
Irish Republican Brotherhood-Fenian Brotherhood
Clan na Gael
Irish National Invincibles
Home Rule League
National League (Ireland, 1882)
Irish Parliamentary Party
Irish Land League
Sinn Féin
Irish Volunteers
National Volunteers
Irish Socialist Republican Party
Irish Citizen Army
Irish Republican Army
Cumann na nGaedhael -Fine Gael
Nationalist Party (Ireland)
Clann na Poblachta
Saor Eire
Republican Congress
People's Democracy
Provisional Irish Republican Army
Official Irish Republican Army
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Workers Party (Ireland)
Irish Republican Socialist Party
Irish National Liberation Army
Continuity Irish Republican Army
Real Irish Republican Army
32 County Sovereignty Movement