matthewhunte

2008-05-02T10:04:00.001-07:00

In the Middle Bronze Age Assyria was a region on the Upper Tigris river, named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur (Akkadian: Aššur; Hebrew: אַשּׁוּר Aššûr, Aramaic: Aṯûr). Later, as a nation and empire that came to control all of the Fertile Crescent, Egypt and much of Anatolia, the term "Assyria proper" referred to roughly the northern half of Mesopotamia (the southern half being Babylonia), with Nineveh as its capital.
The Assyrian kings controlled a large kingdom at three different times in history. These are called the Old (20th to 15th c. BC), Middle (15th to 10th c. BC), and Neo-Assyrian (911-612 B.C.) kingdoms, or periods, of which the last is the most well known and best documented.
The Assyrian homeland was located near a mountainous region, extending along the Tigris as far as the high Gordiaean or Carduchian mountain range of Armenia, sometimes known as the "Mountains of Ashur".
Assyrians invented excavation to undermine city walls, battering rams to knock down walls and gates, concept of a corps of engineers, who bridged rivers with pontoons or provided soldiers with inflatable skins for swimming.

Old Assyrian city-states and kingdoms
The city-state of Ashur had extensive contact with cities on the Anatolian plateau. The Assyrians established "merchant colonies" in Cappadocia, e.g., at Kanesh (modern Kültepe) circa 1920 BC–1840 BC and 1798 BC–1740 BC. These colonies, called karum, the Akkadian word for 'port', were attached to Anatolian cities, but physically separate, and had special tax status. They must have arisen from a long tradition of trade between Ashur and the Anatolian cities, but no archaeological or written records show this. The trade consisted of metal (perhaps lead or tin; the terminology here is not entirely clear) and textiles from Assyria, that were traded for precious metals in Anatolia.

City state of Ashur
The city of Ashur was conquered by Shamshi-Adad I (1813 BC–1791 BC) in the expansion of Amorite tribes from the Khabur river delta. He put his son Ishme-Dagan on the throne of nearby city Ekallatum, and allowed the former Anatolian trade to continue. Shamshi-Adad I also conquered the kingdom of Mari on the Euphrates and put another of his sons, Yasmah-Adad on the throne there. Shamshi-Adad's kingdom now encompassed the whole of northern Mesopotamia. He himself resided in a new capital city founded in the Khabur valley, called Shubat-Enlil. Ishme-Dagan inherited the kingdom, but Yasmah-Adad was overthrown and Mari was lost. The new king of Mari allied himself with Hammurabi of Babylon. Assyria now faced the rising power of Babylon in the south. Ishme-Dagan responded by making an alliance with the enemies of Babylon, and the power struggle continued for decades.

Kingdom of Shamshi-Adad I
Hammurabi eventually prevailed over Ishme-Dagan, and conquered Ashur for Babylon. With Hammurabi, the various karum in Anatolia ceased trade activity — probably because the goods of Assyria were now being traded with the Babylonians' partners.
Assyria was ruled by vassal kings dependent on the Babylonians for a century. After Babylon fell to the Kassites, the Hurrians dominated the northern region, including Assur.

Assyria reduced to vassal states
(Scholars variously date the beginning of the "Middle Assyrian period" to either the fall of the Old Assyrian kingdom of Shamshi-Adad I, or to the ascension of Ashur-uballit I to the throne of Assyria.)

Middle Assyrian period
In the 15th century BC, Saushtatar, king of Hanilgalbat (Hurrians of Mitanni), sacked Ashur and made Assyria a vassal. Assyria paid tribute to Hanilgalbat until Mitanni power collapsed from Hittite pressure from the north-west and Assyrian pressure from the east, enabling Ashur-uballit I (1365 BC–1330 BC) to again make Assyria an independent and conquering power at the expense of Babylonia; and a time came when the Kassite king in Babylon was glad to marry the daughter of Ashur-uballit, whose letters to Akhenaten of Egypt form part of the Amarna letters. This marriage led to disastrous results, as the Kassite faction at court murdered the Babylonian king and placed a pretender on the throne. Assur-uballit promptly marched into Babylonia and avenged his son-in-law, making Kurigalzu of the royal line king there.

Ashur-uballit I
Hanilgalbat was finally conquered under Adad-nirari I, who described himself as a "Great-King" (Sharru rabû) in letters to the Hittite rulers. The successor of Adad-nirari I, Shalmaneser I (c. 1300 BC), threw off the pretense of Babylonian suzerainty, made Calah his capital, and continued expansion to the northwest, mainly at the expense of the Hittites, reaching Carchemish and beyond.
Shalmaneser's son and successor, Tukulti-Ninurta I, deposed Kadashman-Buriash of Babylon and ruled there himself as king for seven years, taking on the old title "King of Sumer and Akkad". Another weak period for Assyria followed when Babylon revolted against Tukulti-Ninurta, and later even made Assyria tributary during the reigns of the Babylonian kings Melishipak II and Marduk-apal-iddin I.

Assyrian expansion
As the Hittite empire collapsed from onslaught of the Phrygians (called Mushki in Assyrian annals), Babylon and Assyria began to vie for Amorite regions, formerly under firm Hittite control. The Assyrian king Ashur-resh-ishi I defeated Nebuchadnezzar I of Babylon in a battle, when their forces encountered one another in this region.
The son of Ashur-resh-ishi's, Tiglath-Pileser I, may be regarded as the founder of the first Assyrian empire. In 1120 BC, he crossed the Euphrates, capturing Carchemish, and defeated the Mushki and the remnants of the Hittites—even claiming to reach the Black Sea. He advanced to the Mediterranean, subjugating Phoenicia, where he hunted wild bulls. He also marched into Babylon twice, assuming the old title "King of Sumer and Akkad", although he was unable to depose the actual king in Babylonia, where the old Kassite dynasty had now succumbed to an Elamite one.

Tiglath-Pileser I reaches the Mediterranean Sea
Assyria had difficulties with keeping the trade routes open. Unlike the situation in the Old Assyrian period, the Anatolian metal trade was effectively dominated by the Hittites and the Hurrians. They also controlled the Mediterranean ports while the Kassites controlled the river route south to the Persian Gulf.
The Middle Assyrian kingdom was well organized and in the firm control of the king who also functioned as the High Priest of Ashur, the state god. He had certain obligations to fulfill in the cult and had to provide resources for the temples. The priesthood became a major power in Assyrian society. Conflicts with the priesthood are thought to have been behind the murder of king Tukulti-Ninurta I.
The main Assyrian cities of the middle period were Ashur, Kalhu and Nineveh, all situated in the Tigris River valley. At the end of the Bronze Age, Nineveh was considerably smaller than Babylon, but still one of the world's major cities (population ca. 33,000). By the end of the Neo-Assyrian period, it had grown to a population of some 120,000, and was possibly the largest city of that time.
All free male citizens were obliged to serve in the army for a time, a system which was called the ilku-service. The Assyrian law code, which was notable for its repressive attitude towards women in their society, was compiled during this period.

Society in the Middle Assyrian period

Main article: Neo-Assyrian Empire Neo-Assyrian Empire
The ancient people of Assyria spoke an Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language, a branch of the Semitic languages. The first inscriptions, called Old Assyrian (OA), were made in the Old Assyrian period. In the Neo-Assyrian period the Aramaic language became increasingly common, more so than Akkadian - this was thought to be largely due to the mass deportations undertaken by Assyrian kings, in which large Aramaic-speaking populations, conquered by the Assyrians, were relocated to other parts of the empire. The ancient Assyrians also used the Sumerian language in their literature and liturgy, although to a more limited extent in the Middle- and Neo-Assyrian periods, when Akkadian became the main literary language.
The utter and complete destruction of the Assyrian capitals of Nineveh and Assur by Babylonians and Medians ensured that the bilingual elite, perhaps the few remaining still competent in Akkadian, were wiped out. By the 6th century B.C., much of the Assyrian population that survived used Aramaic and not the cuneiform Akkadian. In time, Akkadian would no longer be used by the Assyrians, although many aspects of the culture associated, such as naming with Assur, continued, and do so today.

Language

Main article: Art and architecture of Babylonia and Assyria Legacy and rediscovery

2008-05-01T09:42:00.001-07:00

Investiture, from the Latin (preposition in and verb vestire, 'dress' from vestis 'robe') is a rather general term for the formal installation of an incumbent (heir, elect of nominee) in public office, especially by taking possession of its insignia. The term is normally reserved for formal offices of state, aristocracy and church.
In the feudal system investiture was the ceremonial transfer of a fief by an overlord to a vassal. The lord invested the vassal with a fiefdom, by giving a symbol of the land or office conveyed in return for an oath of fealty. From feudal times up to the present, the term has been used in ecclesiastical law to refer to a cleric receiving the symbols of spiritual office, such as the pastoral ring, mitre and staff, signifying transfer of the office.
As the insignia can include the formal dress and adornment (robes of state, headdress etcetera) the etymology refers to, but also other regalia in the widest sense, such as a throne or other seat of office, the word is a convenient generic term, also for such more specific cases as coronation (see that article and regalia for more on such ceremonies) and enthronement, though these are also used (rather imprecisely, by analogy) in such extended sense.

Secular usage
The term is used to describe the installation of individuals in institutions that usually have been extant from feudal times. For example, the installation of heads of state and various other state functions with ceremonial roles are invested with office. Usually the investiture involves ceremonial transfer of the symbols of the particular office.
Judges in many countries, including justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, are invested with their office. American justices typically take two oaths: one to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and the other to apply the principle of Equal Protection to the rich and the poor (source: [1]). Likewise, university presidents, rectors and chancellors are invested with office.
In the United Kingdom, around 2,600 people are invested personally by The Queen or a member of the Royal Family. A list of those to be honoured is published twice a year, in either the New Year's Honours List or The Queen's Birthday Honours List. Approximately 22 Investitures are held annually in Buckingham Palace, one or two at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh and one in Cardiff.

2008-04-30T08:27:00.001-07:00

Daniel Ceccaldi (July 25, 1927 - March 27, 2003) was a French actor.
He was born in Meaux, Seine-et-Marne, France. The mild-mannered Daniel Ceccaldi is famous as Claude Jade's father Lucien Darbon in François Truffaut's movies Stolen Kisses and Bed & Board.

2008-04-29T08:04:00.001-07:00

Craniofacial (cranio- combining form meaning head or skull + -facial combining form referring to the facial structures grossly) may be used to describe cratain congenital malformations, injuries, surgeons who subspecialize in this area, multi-disiplinary medical-surgical teams that treat and do research on disorders affecting this region, and organizations with interest in disorders of the craniofacial structures. Craniofacial surgeons can come from a variety of backgrounds, but most are plastic surgeons or oral and maxillofacial surgeons who have undertaken advanced training after residency.

2008-04-26T10:05:00.001-07:00

Iidabashi Station (飯田橋駅) is a major interchange station that straddles Tokyo's Chiyoda, Shinjuku and Bunkyō wards. It was originally built as Iidamachi station (albeit in a slightly different location), terminus of the then Kobu railway, precursor to today's Chūō Line.

Layout
Chiba · Nishi-Chiba · Inage · Shin-Kemigawa · Makuhari · Makuhari-Hongō · Tsudanuma · Higashi-Funabashi · Funabashi · Nishi-Funabashi · Shimousa-Nakayama · Hirai · Kameido · Kinshicho · Ryōgoku · Asakusabashi · Akihabara · Ochanomizu · Suidōbashi · Iidabashi · Ichigaya · Yotsuya · Shinanomachi · Sendagaya · Yoyogi · Shinjuku · Ōkubo · Higashi-Nakano · Nakano · Kōenji · Asagaya · Ogikubo · Nishi-Ogikubo · Kichijōji · Mitaka
(Chūō-Sōbu Line<<) Nakano - Ochiai - Takadanobaba - Waseda - Kagurazaka - Iidabashi - Kudanshita - Takebashi - Ōtemachi - Nihombashi - Kayabachō - Monzen-nakachō - Kiba - Tōyōchō - Minami-sunamachi - Nishi-kasai - Kasai - Urayasu - Minami-gyōtoku - Gyōtoku - Myōden - Baraki-nakayama - Nishi-funabashi (>>Thru Chūō-Sōbu Line, Tōyō Rapid Line)
(Tōbu Tōjō Main Line<<) Wakōshi - Chikatetsu-narimasu - Chikatetsu-akatsuka - Heiwadai - Hikawadai - Kotake-mukaihara - Senkawa - Kanamechō - Ikebukuro - Higashi-Ikebukuro - Gokokuji - Edogawabashi - Iidabashi - Ichigaya - Kōjimachi - Nagatachō - Sakuradamon - Yūrakuchō - Ginza-itchōme - Shintomichō - Tsukishima - Toyosu - Tatsumi - Shin-Kiba Yurakucho New Line : Kotake-mukaihara - Shinsen-Ikebukuro
(Tōkyū Meguro Line) << Meguro - Shirokanedai - Shirokane-takanawa - Azabu-jūban - Roppongi-itchōme - Tameike-Sannō - Nagatachō - Yotsuya - Ichigaya - Iidabashi - Kōrakuen - Tōdaimae - Hon-komagome - Komagome - Nishigahara - Ōji - Ōji-Kamiya - Shimo - Akabane-iwabuchi >> (Saitama Rapid Railway Line)
Tochōmae - Shinjuku-nishiguchi - Higashi-shinjuku - Wakamatsu-kawada - Ushigome-yanagichō - Ushigome-kagurazaka - Iidabashi - Kasuga - Hongo-sanchōme - Ueno-okachimachi - Shin-Okachimachi - Kuramae - Ryōgoku - Morishita - Kiyosumi-shirakawa - Monzen Nakachō - Tsukishima - Kachidoki - Tsukijishijō - Shiodome - Daimon - Akabanebashi - Azabu-jūban - Roppongi - Aoyama-itchōme - Kokuritsu-kyōgijō - Yoyogi - Shinjuku - Tochōmae - Nishi-shinjuku-gochōme - Nakano-sakaue - Higashi-nakano - Nakai - Ochiai-minami-nagasaki - Shin-egota - Nerima - Toshimaen - Nerima-kasugachō - Hikarigaoka

2008-04-25T10:32:00.001-07:00

For the Texas Governor, see Jim Hogg
James Hogg (1770 - November 21, 1835) was a Scottish poet and novelist who wrote in both Scots and English.

Other works

2008-04-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

The City of Halifax (1841-1996) was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia, and the largest city in Atlantic Canada. Halifax was also the shire town of Halifax County.
The Town of Halifax was founded by the British government under the direction of the Board of Trade and Plantations under the command of Governor Edward Cornwallis in 1749[1] After a protracted struggle between residents and the Governor, the City of Halifax was incorporated in 1841.
On 1 April 1996, the government of Nova Scotia dissolved the City of Halifax, and amalgamated the four municipalities within Halifax County and formed Halifax Regional Municipality, a single-tier regional government covering that whole area.
Today the area of the former City of Halifax is now referred to as an unincorporated "provincial metropolitan area" by the provincial government's place name website[2] , and the area is considered as "Halifax Nova Scotia" as a valid place name for civic addressing along with the other 208 communities that make up the Halifax Regional Municipality [3].
The area is now administered as two separate community planning areas by the regional government for development, Halifax Peninsula and Mainland Halifax. It forms a significant part of the Halifax urban area.

History
Chebucto did not have a sizable permanent Acadian settlement, the closest being the settlements of Minas (later Windsor) and Pizquid. French warships and fishing vessels, requiring shelter and a place to draw water, certainly visited the harbour. The territory, which included much of the present-day Maritimes and Gaspé Peninsula, passed from French to English and even Scottish hands several times. In the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, Acadia was relinquished to England, however the boundaries of the ceasefire were imprecise, leaving England with what is today peninsular Nova Scotia, and France with control of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The colonial capital chosen was Annapolis Royal. In 1717, France began a 20-year effort to build a large fortified seaport at Louisbourg on present-day Cape Breton Island which was intended as a naval base for protecting the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and extensive fishing grounds on the Grand Banks.
In 1745, Fortress Louisbourg fell to a New England-led force. In 1746 Admiral Jean-Batiste, De Roye de la Rochefoucauld, Duc d'Enville, was dispatched by the King of France in command of a French Armada of 65 ships. He was dispatched to undermine the English position in the new world, specifically at Louisbourg, Annapolis Royal, and most likely the eastern seaboard of the Thirteen Colonies.
The fleet was to meet in Chebucto (Halifax Harbour) on British-held peninsular Nova Scotia after crossing the Atlantic, take water and proceed to Louisbourg. Unfortunately, two major storms kept the fleet at sea for over three months. Poor water and spoiled food further weakened the exhausted fleet, resulting in the death of at least 2,500 men, including Duc d'Anville himself, by the time it arrived at Chebucto. After a series of calamities the fleet returned to France, its mission unfulfilled. 1016 men were left behind, buried along the western shore of the Bedford Basin. The ghost of Duc d'Anville is said to haunt George's Island, his original burial place, to this day.

Acadian period
Between the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 and 1749, no serious attempts were made by Great Britain to colonize Nova Scotia, aside from its presence at Annapolis Royal and infrequent sea and land patrols. The peninsula was dominated by Acadian residents and the need for a permanent settlement and British military presence on the central Atlantic coast of peninsular Nova Scotia was recognized, but it took the negotiated return of Fortress Louisbourg to France in 1748 to prod Britain into action. British General Edward Cornwallis was dispatched by the Lords of Trade and Plantations to establish a city at Chebucto, on behalf of and at the expense of the Crown. Cornwallis sailed in command of 13 transports, a sloop of war, 1,176 settlers and their families.
Halifax was founded on June 21, 1749 below a glacial drumlin that would later be named Citadel Hill. The outpost was named in honour of George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, who was the President of the British Board of Trade. Halifax was ideal for a military base, as it has what is claimed to be the second largest natural harbour in the world (this is contested by many locations - see largest harbours), and could be well protected with batteries at McNab's Island, the North West Arm, Point Pleasant, George's Island and York Redoubt. In its early years, Citadel Hill was used as a command and observation post, prior to changes in artillery which could range out into the harbour.
The town proved its worth as a military base in the Seven Years War as a counter to the French fortress Louisbourg in Cape Breton. Halifax provided the base for the capture of Louisbourg in 1758 and operated as a major naval base for the remainder of the war. The Sambro Island Lighthouse was constructed at the harbour entrance in 1758. A permanent Naval Yard was established in 1759. For much of this period in the early 1700s, Nova Scotia was considered a frontier posting for the British military, given the proximity to the border with French territory and potential for conflict; the local environment was also very inhospitable and many early settlers were ill-suited for the colony's virgin wilderness on the shores of Halifax Harbour. The original settlers, who were often discharged soldiers and sailors, left the colony for established cities such as New York and Boston or the lush plantations of the Virginias and Carolinas. However, the new city did attract New England merchants exploiting the near-by fisheries and English merchants such as Joshua Maugher who profitted greatly from both British miliary contracts and smuggling with the French at Louisbourg. The military threat to Nova Scotia was removed following British victory over France in the Seven Years War.
With the addition of remaining territories of the colony of Acadia, the enlarged British colony of Nova Scotia was mostly depopulated, following the deportation of Acadian residents. In addition, Britain was unwilling to allow its residents to emigrate, this being at the dawn of their Industrial Revolution, thus Nova Scotia was opened up settlement to "foreign Protestants". The region, including its new capital of Halifax, saw a modest immigration boom comprising Germans, Dutch, New Englanders, residents of Martinique and many other areas. In addition to the surnames of many present-day residents of Halifax who are descended from these settlers, an enduring name in the city is the "Dutch Village Road", which led from the "Dutch Village", located in Fairview.

English settlement
Halifax's fortunes waxed and waned with the military needs of the Empire. While it had quickly become the largest Royal Navy base on the Atlantic coast and had hosted large numbers of British army regulars, the complete destruction of Louisbourg in 1760 removed the threat of French attack. Crown interest in Halifax was reduced, and most importantly, New England turned its eyes west, to the French territory now available due to the defeat of Montcalm at the Plains of Abraham. By the mid 1770s the town was feeling its first of many peacetime slumps.
The American Revolutionary War was not at first uppermost in the minds of most residents of Halifax. The government did not have enough money to pay for oil for the Sambro lighthouse. The militia was unable to maintain a guard, and was disbanded. Provisions were so scarce during the winter of 1775 that Quebec had to send flour to feed the town. While Halifax was remote from the troubles in the rest of the American colonies, martial law was declared in November 1775 to combat lawlessness.
On March 30, 1776, General William Howe arrived, having been driven from Boston by rebel forces. He brought with him 200 officers, 3000 men, and over 4,000 loyalist refugees, and demanded housing and provisions for all. This was merely the beginning of Halifax's role in the war. Throughout the conflict, and for a considerable time afterwards, thousands more refugees, often 'in a destitute and helpless condition' had arrived in Halifax or other ports in Nova Scotia. This would peak with the evacuation of New York, and continue until well after the formal conclusion of war in 1783. At the instigation of the newly-arrived Loyalists who desired greater local control, Britain subdivided Nova Scotia in 1784 with the creation of the colonies of New Brunswick and Cape Breton Island; this had the effect of considerably diluting Halifax's presence over the region.
During the American Revolution, Halifax became the staging point of many attacks on rebel-controlled areas in the Thirteen Colonies, and was the city to which British forces from Boston and New York were sent after the over-running of those cities. After the War, tens of thousands of United Empire Loyalists from the American Colonies flooded Halifax, and many of their descendants still reside in the city today.
Halifax was now the bastion of British strength on the East Coast of North America. Local merchants also took advantage of the exclusion of American trade to the British colonies in the Caribbean, beginning a long trade relationship with the West Indies. However, the most significant growth began with the beginning of what would become known as the Napoleonic Wars. By 1794, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, was sent to take command of Nova Scotia. Many of the cities forts were designed by him, and he left an indelible mark on the city in the form of many public buildings of Georgian architecture, and a dignified British feel to the city itself. It was during this time that Halifax truly became a city. Many landmarks and institutions were built during his tenure, from the Town Clock on Citadel Hill to St. George's Round Church, fortifications in the Halifax Defence Complex were built up, businesses established, and the population boomed.
Though the Duke left in 1800, the city continued to experience considerable investment throughout the Napoleonic Wars and War of 1812. Although Halifax was never attacked during the war of 1812, due to the overwhelming military presence in the city, many Naval battles occurred just outside the harbour. Most dramatic was the victory of the Halifax-based British frigate HMS Shannon which captured the American frigate USS Chesapeake and brought her to Halifax as prize. As well, an invasion force which attacked Washington in 1813, and burned the Capitol and White House was sent from Halifax. Early in the War, an expedition under Lord Dalhousie left Halifax to capture the Area of Castine, Maine, which they held for the entirety of the war. The revenues which were taken from this invasion were used after the war to found Dalhousie University which is today Halifax's largest university. The city also thrived in the War of 1812 on the large numbers of captured American ships and cargoes captured by the British navy and provincial privateers.
Saint Mary's University was founded in 1802, originally as an elementary school. Saint Mary's was upgraded to a college following the establishment of Dalhousie in 1818; both were initially located in the downtown central business district before relocating to the then-outskirts of the city in the south end near the Northwest Arm. Separated by only few minutes walking distance, the two schools now enjoy a friendly rivalry.
Present day government landmarks such as Government House, built to house the governor, and Province House, built to house the House of Assembly, were both built during the city's boom during this wartime period.
In the peace after 1815, the city suffered an economic malaise for a few years, aggravated by the move of the Royal Naval yard to Bermuda in 1818. However the economy recovered in the next decade led by a very successful local merchant class. Powerful local entrepreneurs included steamship pioneer Samuel Cunard and the banker Enos Collins. During the 1800s Halifax became the birthplace of two of Canada's largest banks; local financial institutions included the Halifax Banking Company, Union Bank of Halifax, People's Bank of Halifax, Bank of Nova Scotia, and the Merchants' Bank of Halifax, making the city one of the most important financial centres in colonial British North America and later Canada until the beginning of the 20th century. This position was somewhat rivalled by neighbouring Saint John, New Brunswick where that city's Princess Street laid claim to being the "Wall Street of Canada" during the city's economic hey-day in the mid-19th century.
Having played a key role to maintain and expand British power in North America and elsewhere during the 18th century, Halifax played less dramatic roles in the consolidation of the British Empire during the 19th century. The harbour's defences were successively refortified with the latest artillery defences throughout the century to provide a secure base for British Empire forces. Nova Scotian and Maritimers were recruited through Halifax for the Crimean War. The city boomed during the American Civil War, mostly by supplying the wartime economy of the North but also by offering refuge and supplies to Confederate blockade runners. The port also saw Canada's first overseas military deployment as a nation to aid the British Empire during the Second Boer War.

The American Revolution and after
Later considered a great Nova Scotian leader, and the father of responsible government in British North America, it was the cause of self government for the city of Halifax that began the political career of Joseph Howe and would subsequently lead to this form of accountability being brought to colonial affairs for the colony of Nova Scotia. After election to the House of Assembly as leader of the Liberal party, one of his first acts was the incorporation of the City of Halifax in 1842, followed by the direct election of civic politicians by Haligonians.
Halifax became a hotbed of political activism as the winds of responsible government swept British North America during the 1840s, following the rebellions against oligarchies in the colonies of Upper and Lower Canada. The first instance of responsible government in the British Empire was achieved by the colony of Nova Scotia in January-February 1848 through the efforts of Howe. The leaders of the fight for responsible or self-government later took up the Anti-Confederation fight, the movement that from 1868 to 1875 tried to take Nova Scotia out of Confederation.
During the 1850s, Howe was a heavy promoter of railway technology, having been a key instigator in the founding of the Nova Scotia Railway, which ran from Richmond in the city's north end to the Minas Basin at Windsor and to Truro and on to Pictou on the Northumberland Strait. In the 1870s Halifax became linked by rail to Moncton and Saint John through the Intercolonial Railway and on into Quebec and New England, not to mention numerous rural areas in Nova Scotia.
The American Civil War again saw much activity and prosperity in Halifax. Merchants in the city made huge profits selling supplies and arms to both sides of the conflict (see for example Alexander Keith, Jr.), and Confederate ships often called on the port to take on supplies, and make repairs. One such ship, the Tallahassee, became a legend in Halifax as it made a daring escape from Federal frigates heading to Halifax to capture it.
After the American Civil War, the five colonies which made up British North America, Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, held meetings to consider Uniting into a single country. This was due to a threat of annexation and invasion from the United States. Canadian Confederation became a reality in 1867, but received much resistance from the merchant classes of Halifax, and from many prominent Halifax politicians due to the fact that both Halifax and Nova Scotia were at the time very wealthy, held trading ties with Boston and New York which would be damaged, and did not see the need for the Colony to give up it's comparative independence. After confederation Halifax retained its British military garrison until British troops were replaced by the Canadian army in 1906. The British Royal Navy remained until 1910 when the newly created Canadian Navy took over the Naval Dockyard.

Incorporation, responsible government, railways and Confederation
It was during World War I that Halifax would truly come into its own as a world class port and naval facility. The strategic location of the port with its protective waters of Bedford Basin sheltered convoys from German U-boat attack prior to heading into the open Atlantic Ocean. Halifax's railway connections with the Intercolonial Railway of Canada and its port facilities became vital to the British war effort during the First World War as Canada's industrial centres churned out material for the Western Front. In 1914, Halifax began playing a major role in the First World War, both as the departure point for Canadian Soldiers heading overseas, and as an assembly point for all convoys (a responsibility which would be placed on the city again during WW2).

World War I

Main article: Halifax Explosion Halifax Explosion
The city's economy slumped after the war, although reconstruction from the Halifax Explosion brought new housing and infrastructure as well as the establishment of the Halifax Shipyard. However, a tremendous drop in worldwide shipping following the war as well as the failure of regional industries in the 1920s brought hard-times to the city, further aggravated by the Great Depression in 1929. One bright spot was the completion of Ocean Terminals in the city's south end, a large modern complex to trans-ship freight and passengers from steamships to railways.

Between the Wars
Halifax played an even bigger role in the Allied naval war effort of World War II. The only theatre of War to be commanded by a Canadian was the North Western Atlantic, commanded by the Admiral in Halifax. Halifax became a lifeline for preserving Britain during the Nazi onslaught of the Battle of Britain and the Battle of the Atlantic, the supplies helping to offset a threatened amphibious invasion by Germany. Many convoys assembled in Bedford Basin to deliver supplies to troops in Europe. The city's railway links fed large numbers of troopships building up Allied armies in Europe. The harbour became an essential base for Canadian, British and other Allied warships. Very much a front-line city, civilians lived with the fears of possible German raids or another accidental ammunition explosion. Well defended, the city was never attacked although some merchant ships and two small naval vessels were sunk at the outer approaches to the harbour. However, the sounds and sometimes the flames of these distant attacks fed wartime rumours, some of which linger to the present day of imaginary tales of German U-Boats entering Halifax Harbour. The city's housing, retail and public transit infrastructure, small and neglected after 20 years of prewar economic stagnation was severely stressed. Severe housing and recreational problems simmered all through the war and culminated in a large-scale riot by military personnel on VE Day in 1945.

World War II
After World War Two, Halifax did not experience the postwar economic malaise it had so often experienced after previous wars. This was partially due to the Cold War which required continued spending on a modern Canadian Navy. However, the city also benefitted from a more diverse economy and postwar growth in government services and education. The 1960s-1990s saw less suburban sprawl than in many comparable Canadian cities in the areas surrounding Halifax. This was partly as a result of local geographies and topography (Halifax is extremely hilly with exposed granite not conducive to construction), a weaker regional and local economy, and a smaller population base than, for example, central Canada or New England. There were also deliberate local government policies to limit not only suburban growth but also put some controls on growth in the central business district to address concerns from heritage advocates.
The late 1960s was a period of significant change and expansion of the city when surrounding areas of Halifax County were amalgamated into Halifax: Rockingham, Clayton Park, Fairview, Armdale, and Spryfield were all added in 1969.
Halifax suffered the effects of short-sighted urban renewal plans in the 1960s and 70s with the loss of much of its heritage architecture and community fabric in large downtown developments such as the Scotia Square mall and office towers. However, a citizens protest movement limited further destructive plans such as a waterfront freeway which opened the way for a popular and successful revitalized waterfront. Selective height limits were also achieved to protect the views from Citadel Hill. However, municipal heritage protection has remained weak with only pockets of heritage buildings surviving in the downtown and constant pressure from developers for further demolition.
Another casulty during this period of expansion and urabn renewal was the Black community of Africville which was demolished and its residents displaced to clear land for industrial use as well as for the A. Murray MacKay Bridge. The repercussions continue to this day and a 2001 United Nations report has called for reparations be paid to the community's former residents.
Restrictions on development were relaxed somewhat during the 1990s, resulting in some suburban sprawl off the peninsula. Today the community of Halifax is more compact than most Canadian urban areas although expanses of suburban growth have occurred in neighbouring Dartmouth, Bedford and Sackville. One development in the late 1990s was the Bayers Lake Business Park, where warehouse style retailers were permitted to build in a suburban industrial park west of Rockingham. This has become an important yet controversial centre of commerce for the city and the province as it used public infrastructure to subsidize multi-national retail chains and draw business from local downtown business. Much of this short-sighted subsidy was due to competition between Halifax, Bedford and Dartmouth to host these giant retail chains and this controversy helped lead the province to force amagamation as a way to end wasteful municipal rivalries. In the past few years, urban housing sprawl has even reached these industrial/retail parks as new blasting techniques permitted construction on the granite wilderness around the city. What was once a business park surrounded by forest and a highway on one side has become a large suburb with numerous new apartment buildings and condominiums. Some of this growth has been spurred by offshore oil and natural gas economic acitivity but much has been due to a population shift from rural Nova Scotian communities to the Halifax urban area. The new amalgamated city has attempted to manage this growth with a new master development plan.

Post-war
During the 1990s, Halifax like many other Canadian cities, amalgamated with its suburbs under a single municipal government. The provincial government had sought to reduce the number of municipal governments throughout the province as a cost-saving measure and created a task force in 1992 to pursue this rationalization.
In 1995, an Act to Incorporate the Halifax Regional Municipality received Royal Assent in the provincial legislature and the Halifax Regional Municipality, or "HRM" (as it is commonly called) was created on April 1, 1996. HRM is an amalgamation of all municipal governments in Halifax County, these being the cities of Halifax and Dartmouth, town of Bedford, and Municipality of the County of Halifax). Sable Island, being part of Halifax County, is also jurisdictionally part of HRM, despite being located 180 km offshore.
Although cities in other provinces affected by amalgamation retained their original names, the new municipality is often referred by its full name or the initials "HRM" especially in the media and by residents of areas outside of the former City of Halifax. However, communities outside of the former City of Halifax still retained their original placenames to avoid confusion with duplicate street names for emergency, postal and other services.
See also: List of mayors of Halifax, Nova Scotia

Geography

Neighbourhoods at Amalgamation

Downtown Halifax
North End Halifax
West End, Halifax
Quinpool district
South End Halifax
Spring Garden Colloquial neighbourhood names

Armdale
Bayer's Lake
Beechwood Park
Boulderwood
Bridgeview
Clayton Park
Convoy Place
Cowie Hill
Fairmount
Fairview
Fernleigh
Green Acres
Hydrostone
Jollimore
Kent Park
Leiblin Park
Melville Cove
Mulgrave Park
Rockingham
Sherwood Heights
Sherwood Park
Spryfield
Thornhill
Wedgewood Official neighbourhood names

Africville
Richmond
Dutch Village Halifax "firsts" and other records

Note 1: Thomas Raddall, Warden of the North.
Note 2: Chapter 3: Dr. Thomas B. Akins, History of Halifax City, p. 85.

2008-04-23T09:02:00.001-07:00

Somewhat unusually for a landlocked country, Switzerland has a long tradition of civilian navigation, both on its lakes and rivers, and on the high seas.

Swiss inland navigation
Switzerland has a civilian high seas fleet of merchant vessels, whose home port is Basel, in Switzerland.
The first ships were purchased and operated by the government in order to ensure the supply of critical resources during World War II. After the war, a privately owned merchant fleet emerged, spurred in part by government subsidies that paid for the fleet's operation up until 1953.
As of 2006, 26 ships (mostly container carriers) totalling 479,624 tons, operated by five shipping companies, fly the Swiss flag.

Swiss high seas fleet

ABC Maritime AG
Enzian Shipping AG
Massoel Gestion SA
Reederei Zürich AG
Suisse-Atlantique Société de Navigation Maritime SA

2008-04-22T08:54:00.001-07:00

History
Many commercial manufacturers of tomato juice also add salt. Other ingredients are also often added, such as onion powder, garlic powder, and other spices.

Production
A recent small scale study has indicated that tomato juice contains a factor (dubbed P3) that inhibits platelets in blood from clumping together and forming blood clots. . The authors suggest this might be beneficial to diabetes sufferers. The actual effect of increased intake of tomato juice by diabetics has never been studied.
Tomato juice also contains the antioxidant lycopene which some people believe might protect against cancer.

Health issues
In Canada and Mexico, tomato juice is popular mixed with beer, the concoction is known in Canada as Calgary Red-Eye and in Mexico as Cerveza preparada. Tomato juice is the base for the cocktails Bloody Mary and Bloody Caesar, and the cocktail mixer Clamato.
Apart from the obvious use as a beverage, tomato juice's mild acidity means that it can be used to clean up old coins or metal saucepans in much the same way as other acidic substances such as Coca Cola are used.
Tomato juice is frequently used as a packing liquid for canned tomatoes, though it is sometimes replaced by tomato puree for international commerce due to tariff issues on vegetables vs. sauces. According to Cook's Illustrated magazine, tomatoes packed in juice as opposed to puree tend to win taste tests, being perceived as fresher tasting.
The juice is also thought to be an effective cleaning agent against skunk musk. Its effectiveness was tested on MythBusters and it was found to be "Plausible", though it may only work to mask the smell.

In popular culture

2008-04-21T08:33:00.001-07:00

The Royal Australian Chemical Institute Inc. (The RACI) is both the qualifying body in Australia for professional chemists and a learned society promoting the science and practice of chemistry in all its branches.

Analytical chemistry
Biomolecular chemistry
Cereal chemistry
Chemical education
Colloid and Surface science
Electrochemistry
Environment
Industrial chemistry
Inorganic chemistry
Materials
Organic chemistry
Physical chemistry
Polymer Awards

Australian Journal of Chemistry
Environmental Chemistry - a Journal

2008-04-20T08:17:00.001-07:00

Epicurus (Greek Έπίκουρος) (341 BC, Samos – 270 BC, Athens) was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of Epicureanism, a popular school of thought in Hellenistic Philosophy that spanned about 600 years. Of his over 300 written works only a few fragments and letters survive; much of what we know about Epicureanism comes from later followers or commentators.
For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by the absence of pain and fear, and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and bad, that death is the end of the body and the soul and should therefore not be feared, that the gods do not reward or punish humans, that the universe is infinite and eternal, and that events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.
Epicurus was often vilified as favoring the uninhibited pursuit of pleasure (hedonism); however, he invariably counseled restraint and temperance with respect to physical desires.

The School

Main article: Epicureanism Teachings
Elements of Epicurean philosophy have resonated and resurfaced in various diverse thinkers and movements throughout Western intellectual history.
His emphasis minimizing harm and maximizing happiness in his formulation of the Ethic of Reciprocity was later picked up by the democratic thinkers of the French Revolution, and others, like John Locke, who wrote that people had a right to "life, liberty, and property." To Locke, one's own body was part of their property, and thus one's right to property would theoretically guarantee safety for their persons, as well as their possessions.
This triad, as well as the egalitarianism of Epicurus, was carried forward into the American freedom movement and Declaration of Independence, by the American founding father, Thomas Jefferson, as "all men are created equal" and endowed with certain "inalienable rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Epicurus was therefore a key influence on the foundation of the American legal system.
Karl Marx's doctoral thesis was on "The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature." [1]
Epicurus was also a significant source of inspiration and interest for Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche cites his affinities to Epicurus in a number of his works, including The Gay Science, Beyond Good and Evil, and his private letters to Peter Gast. Nietzsche was attracted to, among other things, Epicurus' ability to maintain a cheerful philosophical outlook in the face of painful physical ailments. Nietzsche also suffered from a number of sicknesses during his lifetime. However, he thought that Epicurus' conception of happiness as freedom from anxiety was too passive and negative.
Sam Harris, in his bestselling work, The End of Faith: (Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason), elaborates on Epicurus' concept that the fear and worship of [the] God[s] is not a valid activity based on reason, and also creates an ethical standard by judging actions not only on the basis of the Ethic of Reciprocity, but whether these actions increase the happiness of others. He also speculates on a possible scientific basis for a state of "mental peace" found through the practice of various spiritual disciplines, and the value of the attainment of this state to mankind.

Legacy

Works

Bailey C. (1928) The Greek Atomists and Epicurus, Oxford.
Bakalis Nikolaos (2005) Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis and Fragments, Trafford Publishing, ISBN 1-4120-4843-5
Digireads.com The Works of Epicurus, January 2004.
Eugene O' Connor The Essential Epicurus, Prometheus Books, New York 1993.
Edelstein Epicureanism, Two Collections of Fragments and Studies Garland Publ. March 1987
Farrington, Benjamin. Science and Politics in the Ancient World, 2nd ed. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1965. A Marxist interpretation of Epicurus, the Epicurean movement, and its opponents.
Gottlieb, Anthony. The Dream of Reason: A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance. London: Penguin, 2001. ISBN 0-14-025274-6
Inwood, Brad, tr. The Epicurus Reader, Hackett Publishing Co, March 1994.
Oates Whitney Jenning, The Stoic and Epicurean philosophers, The Complete Extant Writings of Epicurus, Epictetus, Lucretius and Marcus Aurelius, Random House, 9th printing 1940.
Panicha, George A. Epicurus, Twayne Publishers, 1967
Prometheus Books, Epicurus Fragments, August 1992.
Russel M. Geer Letters, Principal Doctrines, Vatican Sayings, Bobbs-Merrill Co, January 1964.
Diogenes of Oinoanda. The Epicurean Inscription, edited with Introduction, Translation and Notes by Martin Ferguson Smith, Bibliopolis, Naples 1993.

2008-04-19T09:45:00.001-07:00

Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering [1], and Materials [2] at Imperial College London.

History
Designed by Sir Aston Webb, the RSM building was erected between 1909 and 1913 specifically to house the Royal School of Mines, which was previously resident in the Huxley Building on Exhibition Road, now the Henry Cole wing of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The RSM was the last of many buildings that Webb designed for the Albertopolis area (including the Cromwell Road frontage of the V&A) and, some would argue, his least resolved. Constructed in Portland stone, the entrance is formed by a three storey, semicircular niche, flanked by large memorials to Alfred Beit and Julius Wernher (P.R. Montford, 1916-1920). The western wing of the building is named after Webb, while the eastern end is named after the Goldsmiths' Company who helped to finance the building of the RSM.

The building
The distinctively Edwardian and academic styling cues used in the building's architecture have led to the RSM appearing in a number of film and television productions:

1965: The IPCRESS File Directed by Sydney J Furie and starring Michael Caine. The protagonist walks into the RSM and is magically transported to the old Science Museum Library.
1993: Agatha Christie's Poirot (ITV television). Appeared as the frontage and main entrance of "Imperial College" on "Exhibition Road" (although the RSM is on Prince Consort Road, off Exhibition Road) in the episode "The Underdog".
2004: Hustle (BBC television). Generic university frontage, briefly seen as an architecture student exits and is then approached by the main characters. The building in film
The RSM students union, or "RSM C&SC" as it is now known, has a constitution written in very formal terms that states the RSM exists for:
These are achieved through sports teams, societies and events which span the academic year from October to July. The highlight of the sporting and social calendar is the annual Bottle Match against Camborne School of Mines, the second oldest varsity match in the world.

The furthering of the interests of the members and the status of the RSM;
The promotion of sport within the RSM;
The promotion of interest in all aspects of geology and materials science;
The promotion of social intercourse among its members.

2008-04-18T09:44:00.001-07:00

Early life and work
Moving to Florence when he was around 20, he was exposed to Leonardo da Vinci, "whom he never ceased to admire as a mentor and father figure", and to Michelangelo, just eight years his senior, "with whom he later had a stormy and competitive relationship." (Leonardo died in 1519, one year before Raphael, but Michelangelo lived until 1564.) Raphael learned from both men, but while he made use of their exploration of human anatomy, he added sentiment to his paintings.

Florentine period
At the end of 1508, he moved to Rome (at the urging of Donato Bramante, the architect of St. Peter's)
According to Vasari, his premature death on Good Friday (April 6, 1520, his 37th birthday) was caused by a night of excessive sex with her, after which he fell into a fever and, not telling his doctors that this was its cause, was given the wrong cure, which killed him. Whatever the cause, in his acute illness Raphael had the wit to receive the last rites, and put his affairs in order. He took the care to dictate his will, in which he left sufficient funds for her care, entrusted to his loyal servant Bavera. Vasari underlines that Raphael was also born on a Good Friday, in 1483, on 27 or 28 March. At his request, he was buried in the Pantheon.
Roman period
Raphael made no prints himself, but entered into a collaboration with Marcantonio Raimondi to produce engravings to Raphael's designs, which created many of the most famous Italian prints of the century, and was important in the rise of the reproductive print. A total of about fifty prints were made; some were copies of Raphael's paintings, but other designs were apparently created only to be made into prints. Raphael made preparatory drawings, many of which survive, for Raimondi to translate into engraving. The two most famous original prints to result from the collaboration were Lucretia and The Massacre of the Innocents. Outside Italy, reproductive prints by Raimondi and others were the main way that Raphael's art was experienced until the twentieth century.

Printmaking
The inscription in his marble sarcophagus, a distichon written by Pietro Bembo, reads: "Ille hic est Raffael, timuit quo sospite vinci, rerum magna parens et moriente mori." Meaning: "Here lies that famous Raphael by whom Nature feared to be outdone while he lived, and when he died, feared herself to die."
Raphael was highly admired by his contemporaries. When compared to Michelangelo and Titian, he was sometimes considered inferior; at the same time, it was maintained that none of them shared all the qualities possessed by Raphael, "ease" in particular.

Legacy

Chronology of main works

Resurrection of Christ (The Kinnaird Resurrection) (1499-1502) - Oil on wood, 52 x 44 cm, São Paulo Art Museum, São Paulo, Brazil
Angel (fragment of the Baronci Altarpiece) (1500-1501) - Oil on wood, 31 x 27 cm, Pinacoteca Civica Tosio Martinengo, Brescia, Italy
Angel (fragment of the Baronci Altarpiece) (1500-1501) - Oil on wood, 57 x 36 cm, Louvre, Paris
Holy Family with Madonna of the Veil (1500-1510) - Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples
St. Sebastian (1501-1502) - Oil on wood, 43 x 34 cm, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
The Crowning of the Virgin (Oddi Altar) (c. 1501-1503) - Oil on canvas, 267 x 163 cm, Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican, Rome
The Annunciation (Oddi Altar, predella) (c. 1501-1503) - Oil on canvas, 27 x 50 cm, Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican, Rome
The Adoration of the Magi (Oddi Altar) (c. 1501-1503) - Oil on canvas, 27 x 150 cm, Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican, Rome
The Presentation in the Temple (Oddi Altar, predella) (c. 1501-1503) - Oil on canvas, 27 x 50 cm, Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican, Rome
Madonna Solly (Madonna with the Child) (1500-1504) - Oil on tablet, 53 x 38 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
Mond Crucifixion (Città di Castello Altarpiece) (1501-1503) - Oil on wood, 281 x 165 cm, National Gallery, London
Three Graces (c. 1501-1505) - Musée Condé, Chantilly, France
St. Michael (c. 1501) - Louvre, Paris
Portrait of a Man (c. 1502) - Oil on wood, 45 x 31 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome
Connestabile Madonna (1502-1503) - Tempera on wood, 17,5 x 18 cm, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Madonna and Child (1503) - Oil on wood, 55 x 40 cm, Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena
The Marriage of the Virgin (1504) - Oil on roundheaded panel, 174 x 121 cm, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
Vision of a Knight (1504) - Egg tempera on poplar, 17.1 x 17.1 cm, National Gallery, London
St. George (1504) - Oil on tablet, 31 x 27 cm, Louvre, Paris
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints (Colonna Altarpiece), (1504-1505) - Tempera and gold on wood, 172,4 x 172,4 cm (main panel), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Portrait of Perugino (c. 1504) - Tempera on wood, 57 x 42 cm, Uffizi, Florence Early works

Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga (c. 1504) - Oil on wood, 52,9 x 37,4 cm, Uffizi, Florence
Portrait of Pietro Bembo (c. 1504) - Oil on wood, 54 x 69 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
Self-portrait (1504-1506) -
Madonna of the Grand Duke (c. 1505) - Oil on wood, 84 x 55 cm, Palazzo Pitti, Florence
The Ansidei Madonna (The Madonna between St. John Baptist and St. Nicholas of Bari) (c. 1505-1506) - Oil on poplar, 274 x 152 cm, National Gallery, London
Young Man with an Apple (1505) - Oil on wood, 47 x 35 cm, Uffizi, Florence
Christ Blessing (1505) - Oil on wood, 30 x 25 cm, Pinacoteca Civica Tosio Martinengo, Brescia, Italy
Madonna Terranova (1504-1505) - Oil on wood, 87 cm, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
The Madonna of the Goldfinch (c. 1505) - Uffizi, Florence
Madonna del Prato (The Madonna of the Meadow) (c. 1505) – Oil on wood, 113 x 88 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
St. George and the Dragon (1505-1506) - Oil on wood, 28.5 x 21.5 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington
La Donna Gravida (1505-1506) - Oil on wood, 66 x 52 cm, Palazzo Pitti, Florence
Portrait of Agnolo Doni (1505-1507) - Oil on wood, 63 x 45 cm, Palazzo Pitti, Florence
Portrait of Maddalena Doni (1505-1507) - Oil on wood, 63 x 45 cm, Palazzo Pitti, Florence
Madonna of the Pinks (1506)
Young Woman with Unicorn (1506, disputed) - Oil on canvas, 65 x 51 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome
Madonna with Beardless St. Joseph (1506) - Tempera on canvas transferred from wood, 74 x 57 cm, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Saint Catherine of Alexandria (1507) - Oil on wood, 72 x 55 cm, National Gallery, London
Canigiani Holy Family (1507) - Oil on wood, 132 x98 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
La belle jardinière (1507) - Louvre, Paris
The Deposition of Christ (The Entombment) (1507-1508) - Oil on wood, 184 x 176 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome
The Three Theological Virtues (tryptic) (1507) - Oil on wood, 16 x 44 cm (each), Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican, Rome
Portrait of a Young Woman (La Muta) (1507-1508) - Oil on wood, 64 x 48 cm, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino
The Tempi Madonna (Madonna with the Child) (1508) - Alte Pinakothek, Munich
La Madonna de Bogota (Madonna with the Child) (1507) - NY Bank Volt, New York Roman period

Renaissance painting
Italian Renaissance
Western painting
History of painting

2008-04-17T08:07:00.001-07:00

WPP Group plc (LSE: WPP) (NASDAQ: WPPGY), based in London, United Kingdom, is one of the world's largest communications services groups (and one of the big six advertising holding companies, the others being Omnicom, Interpublic, Publicis, Dentsu and Havas) employing 97,000 people working in more than 2,000 offices in 106 countries. Its self-conceived characterization is a "parent company," able to bring together the right combination of capabilities to serve a client's analytic and creative brand marketing needs.

Governance

141 Worldwide
20:20 Brand Action
24/7 RealMedia
A Eicoff
Added Value
Addison Corporate Marketing
Adient
AGB Nielsen Media Research
Alliance
Always Marketing
Argonauten360
Atlas Advertising
AVHb2b
Banner Corporation
Bates Asia
Bates PanGulf
Batey
BDG McColl
BDGworkfutures
BEN Marketing Group
Beyond Interactive
BJK&E
BKSH
Blanc & Otus
Blue Interactive
BMRB
BPRI
BrandBuzz
Bridge Worldwide
Brierley & Partners
Brouillard Communications
bsb comunicacion
Buchanan Communications
Burson-Marsteller
W|R, An Ogilvy PR Worldwide Company
Cannondale Associates
Carbon
Carl Byoir & Associates
Catalyst online
CAW Marketing
CBA
Center Partners
Chime Communications Plc
Clarion Communications
Clever Media
Clockwork Capital
Cohn & Wolfe
Coley Porter Bell
CommonHealth
Compas
Conectics
Contract Advertising
D/R/Added Value
David Communications Group
Dentsu, Young & Rubicam
Diamond Ogilvy
Digit
digital@JWT
Digital PR
Direct.com
Dovetail
drs Insight Group
Dynamic Logic
e-tecture
Einson Freeman
Enterprise IG
Equus
Essence Communications
Etcom
Everystone Group
EWA Bespoke Communications
facts+fiction
Feinstein Kean Healthcare (FKH)
Ferguson
Finsbury
Fitch
Focalyst
Food Group
Forward
Fudge Group
FullSIX
Fusion5
Futurecom interactive
G WHIZ
G2 Worldwide
GCI Group
Geometry
George Patterson, Y&R
Geppetto Group
Glass
Glendinning Management Consultants
Global Sportnet
goodtechnology
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Grey Global Group
Grey Healthcare
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Grey Worldwide
Grey3
GroupM
Headcount
Henley Centre Headlight Vision
HighCo
Hill & Knowlton
HLS (Health Learning Systems)
HMA Blaze
IBI Inc
IBOPE Media Information
icon brand navigation group
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IdeaWorks
IEG
IMRB International
Information Design Unit
IPAN (India Public Affairs Network)
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JWT
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Kantar Group
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KMR Group
KnowledgeBase Marketing
KR Media
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Landor Associates
LG Ad Inc
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Mattson Jack Group
Maxus
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MBS/Vox
MDS Global Consulting
MEC Interaction
MEC:Sponsorship
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Media+
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Medical Broadcasting Company
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MindShare
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Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
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Outrider
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PACE
Penn Schoen & Berland Associates
Performance
Performance SportEnt Worldwide
PiranhaKid Communications
Plush Films
PPR
PQ Plakat Qualitact
Premiere Sponsorship Marketing
PRISM
Pro Deo
ProCom
Public Strategies Inc
Qi
Quantum Corporation
Quinn Gillespie
Red Cell
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Research International
RMG Connect
RMS Instore
Robinson Lerer & Montgomery
Roman Brand Group
RPCA
RTC Relationship Marketing
santamaria
Schematic
SCPF
SMG KRC
Soho Square
Solara
Spafax
Sprint Production
STO Response
Strategic Horizons
Studiocom
Sudler & Hennessey
Syzygy
Team UK Media
Teledirect
The Brand Shop
The Bravo Group
the campaign palace / red cell
The Channel
The Farm
The Focus Network
The Initiatives Group
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The MC Group
The Partners
These Days
The Store
The Voluntarily United Group of Creative Agencies
Timmons and Company
Uniworld Group
VBAT
VML, Inc.
WalkerGroup
Warwicks
Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates
WINGLATINO
Wire and Plastic Products
Wunderman
Xchange
XM London
XM Asia Pacific
Y&R
Ziment Group

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

For other uses, see Dysart
Dysart is a small town in Fife, Scotland found on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. Once of some importance as a trading burgh (16th century), Dysart is now counted as part of Kirkcaldy - originally a separate burgh. John McDouall Stuart (1815-66), the most famous of all Australia's inland explorers and John Pitcairn (1722-75), a British marine in the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War were born in the town. The house McDouall Stuart was born in is preserved as a museum by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS).
The name Dysart comes from Old Irish díseart 'hermitage', itself derived from Latin desertum 'desert (ie unpopulated) place'. The site of the later town is said to have been a place of retreat for the Dark Age saint Fillan (Old Irish Fáelán), who flourished in the 8th century.
The town retains a number of historic buildings from the height of its prosperity in the 16th century, along with good examples of 17th and 18th century Scottish vernacular buildings. Many of these have been restored by the National Trust for Scotland (not open to the public), though the ancient buildings tend to be surrounded by modern ones erected with little reference to the ancient street plan. Major historic buildings include the tolbooth (town house), whose tower dates from 1576, and the old parish church. At one time one of Scotland's major burgh kirks, it is now unroofed and partly demolished, though its early 16th century tower, built in the form of a small defensive tower-house, remains. The picturesque old harbour, recently much improved by tasteful restoration, is a notable feature, partly hollowed out of the sandstone cliffs.
The recently refurbished Harbour Masters House is occupied by Fife Coast & Countryside Trust's main headquarters. It has a cafe currently run by Fife Council. There is also an interactive media centre downstairs which will take you along Fife's coastal path and give you information about the surrounding areas. However, the accompanying art work for this project has come in for much criticism from the ordinary citizens of the village and the surrounding area.

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History
Further information: Adria Airways destinations

Incidents and accidents
The Adria Airways fleet includes the following aircraft (as of April 2007) :

2008-04-14T09:17:00.001-07:00

A national personification is an anthropomorphization of a nation; it can appear in both editorial cartoons and propaganda.
Some early personifications in the Western world tended to be national manifestations of the majestic wisdom and war goddess Minerva/Athena, and often took the Latin name of the ancient Roman province. Examples of this type include Britannia, Germania and Helvetia.

Personifications by country or territory

Albania: Mother Albania
Argentina: the gaucho, Martin Fierro
Greater Armenia: Mother Armenia(Mayr Hayasdan; lit. "Mother Hayastan"), Hayastan
Australia: Bronzed Aussie, Digger (soldier), Little Boy from Manly
Oesterich: Austria, Hans Meier
Brazil: Brasilia, Efígie da República
Cambodia: Preah Thaong and Neang Neak
Canada: Canada: The Great Provider, Johnny Canuck, Mountie, Big Joe Mufferaw
Czech Republic: Jára Cimrman
Chile: El Huaso, La Carmela, Doña Juanita (an average Chilean woman from the countryside)
Colombia: Juan Valdez
Denmark: Holger Danske
Finland: Finnish Maiden (Suomi-neito)
Francia proper: Marianne, Jacobin
Germany: Germania, Arminius/Hermann der Cherusker, Deutscher Michel, Otto Normalverbraucher (Average Joe)
Greece: Athena, "Greece" of Delacroix
Iceland: Woman of the mountains (Fjallkonan)
Ireland: Erin, Kathleen Ni Houlihan, Hibernia
India: Bharat Mata ("Mother India")
Indonesia: Garuda, Ibu Pertiwi
Israel: Srulik
Italy: Italia Turrita
Malaysia: Pak Belang or other name Harimau Malaya
Mexico: Miguel Hidalgo
Netherlands: Hans Brinker (outside the Netherlands), Jan Modaal or Jan met de pet (Average Joe), `de Nederlandse Maagd` ("the Dutch Virgin"), Frau Antje (used commercially in Germany as a representation of the Dutch)

Zeeland: Zeeuws Meisje
Norway: Ola Nordmann, Kari Nordmann, hist. Nór
Philippines: Juan dela Cruz, Gabriela, Inang Bayan, Maria Clara
Portugal: Zé Povinho, Eu nacional ("National Self", an expected hero who will come and save Portugal)
Russia: Mother Russia, hist. Rus
South Africa: Van Der Merwe
Sweden: Mother Svea, Svensson
Switzerland: Helvetia/Helvetica, Colin Tampon, Herr und Frau Schweizer, Hans Meier, Hans Mustermann, Max Muster
Thailand: Garuda
United Kingdom: Britannia
- England: John Bull, King Arthur
  Northern Ireland:Erin, Kathleen Ni Houlihan, Hibernia
  Scotland: Jock Tamson, Sawney
  Wales: Owain Glyndŵr
  United States: Lady Liberty, Uncle Sam, historically Brother Jonathan and Columbia
  - Obsolete examples:
    - The South: Johnny Rebel
      The North: Billy Yank
      The Frontier: Johnny Appleseed, Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, John Henry

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Yip Man (葉問 in pinyin: yè wèn; in Jyutping: jip; alternative spelling Ip Man; also known as 葉繼問; 1 October 1893-2 December 1972) was the first martial arts master (Chinese: Sifu) to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun openly. He had several students who later became martial arts teachers in their own right, including Bruce Lee.
Yip Man was the last Wing Chun student of Chan Wah-shun when he was 70 years old. He was the second son of a very wealthy family in Foshan, Guangdong, and received an exceptional traditional Chinese education.

Quote

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Marco Pantani (January 13, 1970 – February 14, 2004) was an Italian cyclist widely regarded as being one of the best climbers of all times in professional road bicycle racing. The high point of his career was to win the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia in 1998. The bandana he often wore and his attacking style of riding led to him being dubbed 'Il Pirata' (the pirate) by the adoring Italian "tifosi" - his fans. However, his career was dogged by drug allegations, following his failing a blood test in the 1999 Giro. He died of a cocaine overdose in 2004.

The first victories
Pantani returned to action in the Giro in 1997, but was felled by a black cat which ran out in front of him during one of the first stages, ending his race. Remarkably, he returned to action the same year in the Tour and mounted a strong challenge for the yellow jersey. Because of his slight build and unique ability, Pantani was virtually unmatchable in the high mountains of the Alps and Pyrénées and won two stages, establishing the record time for the climb of Alpe d'Huez, but the bulkier and more powerful Jan Ullrich showed his own determination and limited the amount of time he lost to Pantani during some titanic battles. Ullrich was then able to recover these losses and more in the individual time trials to which he was far more suited; thus, he ultimately claimed the yellow jersey, with Pantani finishing third overall, behind Richard Virenque.
The following year, 1998, was the year of glory for Pantani. For the first time he won the Giro d'Italia, beating Pavel Tonkov and Alex Zülle. And he was also triumphant in the Tour de France: here he was finally able to crack the resolute and hitherto indestructible Ullrich, who, though wearing the yellow jersey in his first year as team leader, had also shown his lack of experience by becoming isolated from his team-mates several times in the mountain stages. In the Pyrénées, Pantani pulled back early time losses to Ullrich from the first week and then delivered a sensational coup by defeating him by almost nine minutes in one epic Alpine mountain stage, from Grenoble to Les Deux Alpes, via the Col de la Croix de Fer and Col du Galibier, under horrible weather conditions. Although Ullrich showed his character by going on the offensive on the Col du Madeleine during the next stage to Albertville, Pantani followed him easily and went on to become the first Italian since Felice Gimondi (1965) to win the Tour. His achievement was all the more remarkable because for many years previously the Tour had been dominated by powerful time trial specialists, such as Miguel Indurain and Jan Ullrich, who possessed enough climbing ability to limit their losses in the mountains. Not since the days of Lucien van Impe (1976) had a 'pure' climber been victorious.
Unfortunately, because of the big doping scandal during 1998's Tour, the Tour that should have been remembered as Pantani's Tour passed partially to history as the Tour of the Festina Affair (from the name of the French Team Festina led at the time by Richard Virenque). That year, the Festina team was excluded from the Tour after Willy Voet, one of its medical staff members, was caught at the France-Belgium border with many illicit doping products hidden in his car. The scandal touched not only the Festina team, but all the cyclists: during the Tour there were investigations of numerous teams and many of them left the Tour voluntarily. There were two cyclists' strikes protesting the police atmosphere to which the Tour had fallen. Under those conditions, Pantani, who was not touched by the doping scandal, looked like a saviour for that Tour and for cycling in general.

The great years
Things turned bad for Pantani towards the end of the 1999 Giro. He was well on the way to winning, having already won four stages, with all his challengers far away in the GC, and only one mountain stage left: however, he was disqualified from the race (eventually won by Ivan Gotti) for a suspiciously high red blood cell count which suggested (although could not conclusively prove) use of the banned substance EPO. Later, it was also revealed that he had a hematocrit level of 60% after his crash in 1995, far above the later adopted 50% limit [1]. After his banishment from the Giro, his pride wounded, Pantani stayed away from the rest of the year's races.
Despite the drug allegations, Pantani remained popular with many fans as something of a throwback to the great pure climbers of the past, attacking in the mountains and making the race exciting, rather than grinding his rivals down. In 2000 he was back on the Giro, without having really prepared for it; in fact he only decided to show up the day before the race started. He subsequently lost a lot of time and could not place any attack until the last mountain stage arriving in Briançon, in which he helped his teammate Stefano Garzelli to win the Giro and placed an attack without anyone being able to follow him, but he finished only second on the stage because he could not catch a persistent attacker. Pantani also participated in the 2000 Tour de France. Although well off the pace for much of the race, he showed a glimpse of his talent and determination when he matched the seemingly invincible Lance Armstrong pedal for pedal up the harsh Mont Ventoux, leaving the rest of the field way behind. On the final metres, Armstrong appeared to allow Pantani to pull away, giving him the stage victory: Pantani, however, resented the gesture, causing bad blood between the two riders, which was to be exacerbated when Armstrong referred to his rival as Elefantino (italian for 'little elephant'), a nickname Pantani hated because it referred to his very prominent ears. In that same Tour, up to Courchevel, he won another stage, attacking and leaving everyone behind him, Armstrong included.
This was the last race won by Pantani, who left that Tour before its end. After that he raced only sporadically in 2001 and 2002, still morally defeated from doping suspicions. He seemed to be back during the Giro of 2003, where he did not win any stage but proved to still be able to compete with the best racers, finishing well-placed in the mountain stages.
Pantani admitted himself into a clinic in northern Italy in June 2003, suffering from clinical depression. At that point the chances of him once again being a contender in major races looked slim.

The late years
During the early evening of 14 February 2004 Pantani was found dead at a hotel in Rimini, Italy. An autopsy revealed he died of a cerebral edema and heart failure, and a later coroner's inquest revealed that this was brought on by acute cocaine poisoning. Reacting to his death, fellow Italian cyclist Mario Cipollini said "I am devastated. It's a tragedy of enormous proportions for everyone involved in cycling. I'm lost for words."
Twenty thousand mourners gathered at his funeral, during which his manager and close friend Manuela Ronchi read these final notes from his diary:
Pantani is buried in Cesenatico.
Miguel Indurain paid tribute by saying: "He got people hooked on the sport. There may be riders who have achieved more than him, but they never succeeded in drawing in the fans like he did."
The time trial stage of the 2004 Alpe d'Huez was dedicated to Pantani's memory.
Giro d'Italia's organizers decided to dedicate a mountain pass to Pantani's memory every year. In the 2004 edition, the first Cima Pantani was Passo del Mortirolo, a terrible mountain pass that played a key role in Pantani's history. When it was included in the Giro for the third time in 1994 Pantani attacked on the mountain, leaving everyone behind, to finally earn one of his best victories at Aprica; in 1999 the Mortirolo waited for Pantani in vain since he was excluded from that Giro before the beginning of the stage. In the 2005 edition the Cima Pantani was Colle Fauniera, where Pantani showed the last glimpse of his talent in the 2003 Giro d'Italia.

Death

Major results

1994: 3rd overall; 2nd mountains classification; 1st young rider classification (Maillot blanc)
1995: 13th overall; 1st young rider classification (Maillot blanc); Stage 10 and 14 wins
1997: 3rd overall; Stage 13 and 15 wins
1998: 1st overall (maillot jaune); 7 days in maillot jaune; 2nd mountains classification; Stage 11 and 15 wins
2000: Did not finish; Stage 12 and 15 wins

2008-04-11T08:38:00.001-07:00

General Purpose Authorities

Sir John Thwaites (December 22, 1855 - August 8, 1870) (died in office)
James Macnaghten Hogg (November 18, 1870 - March 21, 1889) Chairmen of the Metropolitan Board of Works
The post of Leader was only officially recognised in 1933. This table gives the Leaders of the majority parties on the council before this time, although in the first term this had little relevance in terms of the leadership of the Council.

Sir Thomas Farrer (March 21, 1889 - March 27, 1890)
James Stuart (March 27, 1890 - March 9, 1892)
Charles Harrison (March 9, 1892 - March 10, 1898)
Thomas McKinnon Wood (March 10, 1898 - March 8, 1907)
Richard Robinson (March 8, 1907 - March 11, 1908)
Hon. William Wellesley Peel (March 11, 1908 - March 8, 1910)
William Hayes Fisher (March 8, 1910 - December 19, 1911)
Cyril Jackson (December 19, 1911 - March 16, 1915)
Ronald Collett Norman (March 16, 1915 - March 1, 1918)
Sir George Hume (March 1, 1918 - March 11, 1925)
Sir William Ray (March 11, 1925 - March 9, 1934)
Herbert Morrison (March 9, 1934 - May 27, 1940)
Lord Latham (May 27, 1940 - July 29, 1947)
Sir Isaac Hayward (July 29, 1947 - March 31, 1965) Leaders of the London County Council

Bill Fiske (April 11, 1964 - April 14, 1967)
Desmond Plummer (April 14, 1967 - April 13, 1973)
Sir Reg Goodwin (April 13, 1973 - May 6, 1977)
Sir Horace Cutler (May 6, 1977 - May 8, 1981)
Ken Livingstone (May 8, 1981 - August 2, 1984)
John Wilson (August 2, 1984 - September 21, 1984)
Ken Livingstone (September 21, 1984 - March 31, 1986) Leaders of the Greater London Council

Ken Livingstone (May 4, 2000 - ) Special Purpose Authorities

Dr. William Brewer (June 22, 1867 - November 3, 1881) (died in office)
Sir Edwin Galsworthy (November 26, 1881 - May 18, 1901)
Sir Robert Hensley (May 18, 1901 - May 19, 1904)
Sir Augustus Scovell (May 19, 1904 - May 25, 1907)
J. T. Helby (May 25, 1907 - May 28, 1910)
Walter Dennis (May 28, 1910 - May 31, 1913)
Sir Robert Woolley Walden (May 31, 1913 - May 24, 1919)
Very Rev. Canon Norman Sprankling (May 24, 1919 - May 20, 1922)
Walter Eickhoff (May 20, 1922 - July 24, 1924) (died in office)
Sir Francis Morris (July 31, 1924 - May 19, 1928)
Viscount Doneraile (May 19, 1928 - April 1, 1930) Chairmen of the London School Board

Sir Godfrey 'Tag' Taylor (July 26, 1985 - June 30, 1996)

2008-04-10T08:42:00.001-07:00

Bessie Surtees House is two merchants' houses on Newcastle's Quayside that were built in the 16th and 17th centuries. The buildings are a fine and rare example of Jacobean domestic architecture. An exhibition detailing the history of the buildings can be found on the first floor. The site is also home to the North East regional branch of English Heritage.
The house is best known as the scene of the elopement of Bessie Surtees and John Scott, who later became Lord Chancellor.

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History of creationism Neo-creationism Day-age creationism Gap creationism Old Earth creationism Progressive creationism Theistic evolution Young Earth creationism Hindu · Islamic · Jewish Deist · Pandeist
Creation in Genesis Genesis as an allegory Framework interpretation Omphalos hypothesis Baraminology Flood geology Intelligent design Politics of creationism Public education History Teach the Controversy Associated articles Adaptation Genetic drift Gene flow Mutation Natural selection Speciation
Evidence History Modern synthesis Social effect / Objections
Cladistics Ecological genetics Evolutionary development Human evolution Molecular evolution Evolutionary history of life Phylogenetics Population genetics The creation-evolution controversy (also termed the creation vs. evolution debate or the origins debate) is a recurring political dispute about the origins of the Earth, humanity, life, and the universe,
The debate also focuses on issues such as the definition of science (and of what constitutes scientific research and evidence), science education (and whether the teaching of the scientific consensus view should be 'balanced' by also teaching fringe theories), free speech, Separation of Church and State, and theology (particularly how different Christian denominations interpret the Book of Genesis).

History of the controversy
The creation-evolution controversy originated in Europe and North America in the late eighteenth century when discoveries in geology led to various theories of an ancient earth, and fossils showing past extinctions prompted early ideas of evolutionism, notably Lamarckism. In England these ideas of continuing change were seen as a threat to the fixed social order, and were harshly repressed.

Creation-evolution controversy in the age of Darwin
See also: Creationism and Scopes trial
In the United States of America there was no official resistance to evolution by mainline denominations, However, the next year, 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Epperson v. Arkansas 393 U.S. 97 (1968) that such bans contravened the Establishment Clause because their primary purpose was religious.

Creationism

Main article: Daniel v. Waters Daniel v. Waters
See also: Creation Science
As biologists grew more and more confident in evolution as the central defining principle of biology,

Creation Science

Court cases
For more details on this topic, see Epperson v. Arkansas.
In 1928, Arkansas adopted a law which prohibited any public school or university from teaching "the theory or doctrine that mankind ascended or descended from a lower order of animals" and from using any textbook which taught the same, prohibiting the teaching of evolution in the public schools. During the forty years the Arkansas law was in effect, no one was ever prosecuted for violating it. In the mid-1960s the secretary of the Arkansas Education Association sought to challenge the law as a violation of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. In 1968 the United States Supreme Court invalidated the statute, ruling it unconstitutional because it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Mandates that creation science be taught were not ruled unconstitutional by the Court until the 1987 case Edwards v. Aguillard.

Epperson v. Arkansas
For more details on this topic, see McLean v. Arkansas.
In 1982 another case in Arkansas ruled that the Arkansas "Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act" was unconstitutional because it violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution. Much of the transcript of the case was lost, including evidence from Francisco Ayala.

McLean v. Arkansas
For more details on this topic, see Edwards v. Aguillard.
In the early 1980s, the Louisiana legislature passed a law titled the "Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science in Public School Instruction Act". The Act did not require teaching either creationism or evolution, but did require that when evolutionary science was taught, the "creation science" had to be taught as well. Creationists had lobbied aggressively for the law, arguing that the Act was about academic freedom for teachers, an argument adopted by the state in support of the Act. Lower courts ruled that the State's actual purpose was to promote the religious doctrine of "creation science," but the State appealed to the Supreme Court. The similar case in McLean v. Arkansas had also decided against creationism. Mclean v. Arkansas however was not appealed to the federal level, creationists instead thinking that they had better chances with Edwards v. Aguillard. In 1987 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Act was unconstitutional, because the law was specifically intended to advance a particular religion. At the same time, however, it held that "teaching a variety of scientific theories about the origins of humankind to school children might be validly done with the clear secular intent of enhancing the effectiveness of science instruction" leaving open the door for a handful of proponents of creation science to evolve their arguments into the iteration of creationism that came to be known as intelligent design.

Edwards v. Aguillard

Main articles: Intelligent design, Intelligent design movement, and Neo-creationism Intelligent Design
See also: Politics of creationism and Intelligent design in politics
The controversy continues to this day, with the mainstream scientific consensus on the origins and evolution of life challenged by creationist organizations and religious groups who desire to uphold some form of creationism (usually young earth creationism, creation science, old earth creationism or intelligent design) as an alternative. Most of these groups are explicitly Christian, and more than one sees the debate as part of the Christian mandate to evangelize.

Controversy in recent times
For more details on this topic, see Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.
Following the Edwards v. Aguillard trial in the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court ruled that a Louisiana law requiring that creation science be taught in public schools whenever evolution was taught was unconstitutional, because the law was specifically intended to advance a particular religion, creationists renewed their efforts to introduce creationism into public school science classes. This effort resulted in intelligent design, which sought to avoid legal prohibitions by leaving the source of creation an unnamed and undefined intelligent designer, as opposed to God. This ultimately resulted in the "Dover Trial," Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, which went to trial on September 26, 2005 and was decided on December 20, 2005 in favor of the plaintiffs, who charged that a mandate that intelligent design be taught in public school science classrooms was an unconstitutional establishment of religion. The 139 page opinion of Kitzmiller v. Dover was hailed as a landmark decision, firmly establishing that creationism and intelligent design were religious teachings and not areas of legitimate scientific research.

The Dover Trial
For more details on this topic, see Kansas evolution hearings.
In the push by intelligent design advocates to introduce intelligent design in public school science classrooms, the hub of the intelligent design movement, the Discovery Institute, arranged to conduct "hearings" to "review" the evidence for evolution in the light of its Critical Analysis of Evolution lesson plans. The Kansas Evolution Hearings were a series of hearings held in Topeka, Kansas May 5 to May 12, 2005. The Kansas State Board of Education eventually adopted the institute's Critical Analysis of Evolution lesson plans over objections of the State Board Science Hearing Committee, and electioneering on behalf of conservative Republican candidates for the Board.

Kansas "evolution hearings"

Viewpoints

Main article: Young Earth creationism Young Earth creationism

Main article: Old Earth creationism Old Earth creationism

Main article: Neo-Creationism Neo-Creationism

Main article: Theistic evolution Theistic evolution
See also: Metaphysical naturalism
Naturalistic evolution is the position of acceptance of biological evolution and of metaphysical naturalism (and thus rejection of theism and theistic evolution).

Naturalistic evolution
Critiques such as those based on the distinction between theory and fact are often leveled against unifying concepts within scientific disciplines. Principles such as uniformitarianism, Occam's Razor or parsimony, and the Copernican principle are claimed to be the result of a bias within science toward philosophical naturalism, which is equated by many creationists with atheism.

Arguments relating to the definition, limits and philosophy of science
Fact: In science, an observation that has been repeatedly confirmed and for all practical purposes is accepted as "true." Truth in science, however, is never final, and what is accepted as a fact today may be modified or even discarded tomorrow. Hypothesis: A tentative statement about the natural world leading to deductions that can be tested. If the deductions are verified, it becomes more probable that the hypothesis is correct. If the deductions are incorrect, the original hypothesis can be abandoned or modified. Hypotheses can be used to build more complex inferences and explanations. Law: A descriptive generalization about how some aspect of the natural world behaves under stated circumstances. Theory: In science, a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, laws, inferences, and tested hypotheses.

Definitions
In science, explanations are limited to those based on observations and experiments that can be substantiated by other scientists. Explanations that cannot be based on empirical evidence are not a part of science.

Limitations of the scientific endeavor
See also: Theory and Fact
See also: Evolution as theory and fact
The argument that evolution is a theory, not a fact, has often been made against the exclusive teaching of evolution.
Evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts do not go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's, but apples did not suspend themselves in mid-air, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape-like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered.

Theory vs. fact
Philosopher of science Karl R. Popper set out the concept of falsifiability as a way to distinguish science and pseudoscience: Testable theories are scientific, but those that are untestable are not.

Falsifiability
Many of the most vocal creationists blur the boundaries between criticisms of modern science, philosophy, and culture. They marshall these arguments against "modernism" as tools to promote a certain flavor of Christianity, and to engage in apologetics. For example, as a way of justifying the struggle against "evolution," prominent creationist Ken Ham has declared "the Lord has not just called us to knock down evolution, but to help in restoring the foundation of the gospel in our society. We believe that if the churches took up the tool of Creation Evangelism in society, not only would we see a stemming of the tide of humanistic philosophy, but we would also see the seeds of revival sown in a culture which is becoming increasingly more pagan each day."

Conflation of science and religion
Many creationists vehemently oppose certain scientific theories in a number of ways, including opposition to specific applications of scientific processes, accusations of bias within the scientific community, and claims that discussions within the scientific community reveal or imply a crisis. In response to perceived crises in modern science, creationists claim to have an alternative, typically based on faith, creation science, and/or intelligent design. The scientific community has responded by pointing out that their conversations are frequently misrepresented (e.g. by quote mining) in order to create the impression of a deeper controversy or crisis, and that the creationists' alternatives are generally pseudoscientific.

Disputes relating to science
Disputes relating to Evolutionary Biology are central to the controversy between Creationists and the Scientific community. The aspects of Evolutionary Biology disputed include Common Descent (and particularly Human evolution from common ancestors with other members of the Great Apes), Macroevolution, and the existence of Transitional Fossils.

Biology
See also: Common descent and Evidence of common descent
A group of organisms is said to have common descent if they have a common ancestor. A theory of universal common descent based on evolutionary principles was proposed by Charles Darwin and is now generally accepted by biologists. The last universal common ancestor, that is, the most recent common ancestor of all currently living organisms, is believed to have appeared about 3.9 billion years ago.
With a few exceptions (e.g. Michael Behe), the vast majority of Creationists reject this theory.
Evidence of common descent includes evidence from fossil records, comparative anatomy, geographical distribution of species, comparative physiology and comparative biochemistry.

Common descent
See also: Human evolution, Paleoanthropology, Speciation, and Adamism
Human evolution is the part of biological evolution concerning the emergence of humans as a distinct species.
Molecular evidence indicates that the lineage of gibbons (family Hylobatidae) became distinct between 18 and 12 Ma, and that of orangutans (subfamily Ponginae) at about 12 Ma; we have no fossils that clearly document the ancestry of gibbons, which may have originated in a so far unknown South East Asian hominid population, but fossil proto-orangutans may be represented by Ramapithecus from India and Griphopithecus from Turkey, dated to around 10 Ma. Molecular evidence further suggests that between 8 and 4 mya, first the gorillas, and then the chimpanzee (genus Pan) split off from the line leading to the humans; human DNA is 98.4 percent identical to the DNA of chimpanzees. We have no fossil record, however, of either group of African great apes, possibly because bones do not fossilize in rain forest environments.
Thereafter, paleoanthropology traces human evolution, via fossil hominid evidence through genus Homo to modern Humans.
Creationists have argued that these fossils are either of apes (e.g. that Java man was a gibbon Creation stories (such as the Book of Genesis) frequently posit a first man (Adam, in the case of Genesis) as an alternative viewpoint to the scientific account.

Human evolution
See also: Macroevolution
Creationists have long argued against the possibility of Macroevolution. Macroevolution is defined by the scientific community to be evolution that occurs at or above the level of species. Under this definition, Macroevolution can be considered to be a fact, as evidenced by observed instances of speciation. Creationists however tend to apply a more restrictive, if vaguer, definition of Macroevolution, often relating to the emergence of new body forms or organs. The scientific community considers that there is strong evidence for even such more restrictive definitions, but the evidence for this is more complex.
Recent arguments against (such restrictive definitions of) macroevolution include the Intelligent Design arguments of Irreducible complexity and Specified complexity. However, neither argument has been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and both arguments have been rejected by the scientific community as pseudoscience.

Macroevolution
See also: Transitional fossil and List of transitional fossils
It is commonly stated by critics of evolution that there are no known transitional fossils. This position is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of what represents a transitional feature. A common creationist argument is that no fossils are found with partially functional features. It is plausible, however, that a complex feature with one function can adapt a wholly different function through evolution. The precursor to, for example, a wing, might originally have only been meant for gliding, trapping flying prey, and/or mating display. Nowadays, wings can still have all of these functions, but they are also used in active flight.
Although transitional fossils elucidate the evolutionary transition of one life-form to another, they only exemplify snapshots of this process. Due to the special circumstances required for preservation of living beings, only a very small percentage of all life-forms that ever have existed can be expected to be discovered. Thus, the transition itself can only be illustrated and corroborated by transitional fossils, but it will never be known in detail. However, progressing research and discovery managed to fill in several gaps and continues to do so. Critics of evolution often cite this argument as being a convenient way to explain off the lack of 'snapshot' fossils that show crucial steps between species.
The theory of punctuated equilibrium developed by Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge is often mistakenly drawn into the discussion of transitional fossils. This theory, however, pertains only to well-documented transitions within taxa or between closely related taxa over a geologically short period of time. These transitions, usually traceable in the same geological outcrop, often show small jumps in morphology between periods of morphological stability. To explain these jumps, Gould and Eldredge envisaged comparatively long periods of genetic stability separated by periods of rapid evolution.

Transitional fossils
See also: Flood Geology, Creation geophysics, Geochronology, and Age of the Earth
Many believers in Young Earth Creationism – a position held by the majority of proponents of Flood Geology – accept biblical chronogenealogies (such as the Ussher chronology which in turn is based on the Masoretic version of the Genealogies of Genesis). Young Earth creationists reject these ages on the grounds of what they regard as being tenuous and untestable assumptions in the methodology. Apparently inconsistent radiometric dates are often quoted to cast doubt on the utility and accuracy of the method. Mainstream proponents who get involved in this debate point out that dating methods only rely on the assumptions that the physical laws governing radioactive decay have not been violated since the sample was formed (harking back to Lyell's doctrine of uniformitarianism). They also point out that the "problems" that creationists publicly mentioned can be shown to either not be problems at all, are issues with known contamination, or simply the result of incorrectly evaluating legitimate data.
Creationists do not claim to have a scientifically verifiable method for dating the Earth, and instead rely solely on Biblical chronologies.

Geology

Other sciences
See also: Age of the universe
Whilst Young Earth Creationists believe that the Universe was created approximately 6000 years ago, the current scientific consensus is that it is about 13.7 billion years old. The recent science of nucleocosmochronology is extending the approaches used for Carbon-14 dating to the dating of astronomical features. For example based upon this emerging science, the Galactic thin disk of the Milky Way galaxy is estimated to have been formed between 8.3 ± 1.8 billion years ago.
Many other creationists, including Old Earth Creationists, do not necessarily dispute these figures.

Cosmology
See also: radiometric dating
Creationists point to experiments they have performed, which they claim demonstrate that 1.5 billion years of nuclear decay took place over a short period of time, from which they infer that "billion-fold speed-ups of nuclear decay" have occurred, a massive violation of the principle that radioisotope decay rates are constant, a core principle underlying nuclear physics generally, and radiometric dating in particular.

Misrepresentations of science
See also: Quote mining
As a means to criticise mainstream science, creationists have been known to quote, at length, scientists who ostensibly support the mainstream theories, but appear to acknowledge criticisms similar to those of creationists.

Quote mining

Public policy issues
See also: Creation and evolution in public education and Teach the Controversy
Creationists promote that evolution is a theory in crisis

Science education
Creationists have claimed that preventing them from teaching Creationism violates their right of Freedom of speech. However court cases (such as Webster v. New Lenox School District and Bishop v. Aronov) have upheld school districts' and universities' right to restrict teaching to a specified curriculum.

Freedom of speech
See also: Relationship between religion and science and Evolution and the Roman Catholic Church

Issues relating to religion
See also: Allegorical interpretations of Genesis and Evolutionary argument against naturalism

Theological arguments
Creationists often argue that Christianity and literal belief in the Bible are either foundationally significant or directly responsible for scientific progress. Many historical scientists wrote books explaining how pursuit of science was seen by them as fulfillment of spiritual duty in line with their religious beliefs. Even so, such professions of faith were not insurance against dogmatic opposition by certain religious people.
Some extensions to this creationist argument have included the incorrect suggestions that Einstein's deism was a tacit endorsement of creationism or that Charles Darwin converted on his deathbed and recanted evolutionary theory.

Religion and historical scientists

Forums for the controversy
Many creationists and scientists engage in frequent public debates regarding the origin of human life, hosted by a variety of institutions. However, some scientists disagree with this tactic, arguing that by openly debating supporters of supernatural origin explanations (creationism and intelligent design), scientists are lending credibility and unwarranted publicity to creationists, which could foster an inaccurate public perception and obscure the factual merits of the debate.

Debates
See also: Politics of creationism, Kansas evolution hearings, Santorum Amendment, and List of scientific societies rejecting intelligent design
A wide range of organisations, on both sides of the controversy, are involved in lobbying in an attempt to influence political decisions relating to the teaching of evolution, at a number of levels. These include the Discovery Institute, the National Center for Science Education, the National Science Teachers Association, state Citizens Alliances for Science, and numerous national science associations and state Academies of Science.

Political lobbying
The controversy has been discussed in numerous newspaper articles, reports, op-eds and letters to the editor, as well as a number of radio and television programmes (including the PBS series, Evolution and Coral Ridge Ministries' Darwin's Deadly Legacy). This has led some commentators to express a concern at what they see as a highly inaccurate and biased understanding of evolution among the general public. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer Edward Humes states:
The talk-radio version had a packed town hall up in arms at the "Why Evolution Is Stupid" lecture. In this version of the theory, scientists supposedly believe that all life is accidental, a random crash of molecules that magically produced flowers, horses and humans -- a scenario as unlikely as a tornado in a junkyard assembling a 747. Humans come from monkeys in this theory, just popping into existence one day. The evidence against Darwin is overwhelming, the purveyors of talk-radio evolution rail, yet scientists embrace his ideas because they want to promote atheism.

The controversy in the media

Articles related to the creation-evolution controversy
Allegorical interpretations of Genesis
Anti-intellectualism
Clergy Letter Project
Creation science
Creationism
Evidence of common descent
Evidence of evolution
Evolution Sunday
Evolution
Flying Spaghetti Monster
History of the creation-evolution controversy
Intelligent design
Jainism and non-creationism
Level of support for evolution
List of participants in the creation-evolution controversy
Lysenkoism
Natural theology
Objections to evolution
Politics of creationism
Project Steve
Relationship between religion and science
Teach the Controversy See also

Citations

Burian, RM: 1994. Dobzhansky on Evolutionary Dynamics: Some Questions about His Russian Background. In The Evolution of Theodosius Dobzhansky, ed. MB Adams, Princeton University Press.
Samuel Butler, Evolution Old and New, 1879, p. 54.
Darwin, "Origin of Species," New York: Modern Library, 1998.
Dobzhansky, Th: 1937. Genetics and the Origin of Species, Columbia University Press
Henig, The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
Kutschera, Ulrich and Karl J. Niklas. 2004. "The modern theory of biological evolution: an expanded synthesis." Naturwissenschaften '91', pp. 255-276.
Mayr, E. The Growth of Biological Thought, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1982.
James B. Miller (Ed.): An Evolving Dialogue: Theological and Scientific Perspectives on Evolution, ISBN 1-56338-349-7
Morris, H.R. 1963. The Twilight of Evolution, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
Numbers, R.L. 1991. The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism, Berkely: University of California Press.
Pennock, Robert T. 2003. "Creationism and intelligent design." Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics '4', pp. 143-163.
Carl Sagan. The Demon-Haunted World. New York: Ballantine Books, 1996.
Scott, Eugenie C. 1997. "Antievolution and creationism in the United States." Annual Review of Anthropology '26': 263-289.
Maynard Smith, "The status of neo-darwinism," in "Towards a Theoretical Biology" (C.H. Waddington, ed., University Press, Edinburgh, 1969.
D.L. Hull: The Use and Abuse of Sir Karl Popper. Biology and Philosophy '14':4 (October 1999), 481–504.
Strobel, Lee. 2004. The Case for a Creator. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. Published books and other resources

Gallup public opinion poll in regards to the concepts of Evolution, Creationism, and Intelligent Design as of May 2007
Data by country regarding the percentage of the population that believes in evolution
Evolution for Creationists Informal site where some religious questions about evolution has being answered Theistic Evolution (a mixture of religious belief and science)
Young Earth Creationists
Old Earth Creationists
In the News

An Index to Creationist Claims - attempts to maintain a complete list of creationist claims leveled against evolution, with rebuttals and references from the scientific community
Answers in Genesis
Creation Ministries International A splinter group from Answers in Genesis including most of their non-US chapters.
Answers In Creation Old Earth Creationists site
Reasons to Believe - Offering a biblically based old-earth creation model
So what's with all the dinosaurs? A museum dedicated to the idea that the creation of the world, as told in Genesis, is factually correct - will soon open. The Guardian (UK) 13 November 2006: G2 section pp.12-13.

2008-04-08T10:26:00.001-07:00

Futures studies is an interdisciplinary field that studies today's changes (and continuities) and their impact on tomorrow's reality. It includes attempts to analyze the sources, patterns, and causes of change and stability in order to develop foresight and to map alternative futures. The subjects and methods of futures studies include possible, probable, and desirable variations or alternative transformations of the present, both social and "natural" (i.e. independent of human impact). A broad field of inquiry, futures studies explores and represents what the present could become from multiple interdisciplinary perspectives.
Futures studies takes as one of its important attributes (epistemological starting points) the on-going effort to analyze images of the future. This effort includes collecting quantitative and qualitative data about the possibility, probability, and desirability of change. The plurality of the term "futures" in futures studies denotes the rich variety of images of the future (alternative futures), including the subset of preferable futures (normative futures), that can be studied.
Futures studies is often summarized as being concerned with "three P's and a W," or possible, probable, and preferable futures, plus wildcards, which are low probability but high impact events, should they occur. Thus estimates of probability are involved with two of the four central concerns of foresight professionals (discerning and classifying both probable and wildcard events), while considering the range of possible futures, recognizing the plurality of existing images of the future (alternative futures), characterizing and attempting to resolve normative disagreements on the future, and envisioning and creating preferred futures are other major areas of scholarship. Most estimates of probability in futures studies are normative and qualitative, though significant progress on statistical and quantitative methods (technology and information growth curves, cliometrics, predictive psychology, prediction markets, etc.) has been made in recent decades.
Like historical studies that try to explain what happened in the past and why, the efforts of futures studies try to understand the latent potential of the present. This requires the development of theories of present conditions and how conditions might change. For this task, futures studies, as it is generally undertaken, uses a wide range of theoretical models and practical methods, many of which come from other academic disciplines (including economics, sociology, geography, history, engineering, mathematics, psychology, technology, tourism, physics, biology, astronomy, and theology).
Two factors usually distinguish futures studies from the research conducted by these other disciplines (although all disciplines overlap, to differing degrees):
The following discussion, in presenting the history of futures studies and the work of its many branches, conveys futures studies as emergent, cross-cutting and diverse.

futures studies often examines not only possible but also probable, preferable, and wildcard futures
futures studies typically attempts to gain a holistic or systemic view based on insights from a range of different disciplines. Terminology
The scholars forecasting the relative wealth of nations or blocs in a generation's time may well be classified as futurists. However, futures studies would not generally include the work of economists who forecast movements of interest rates over the next business cycle. The discipline excludes those who make future predictions through supernatural means, as well as people who attempt to forecast the short-term or readily foreseeable future.

Scope
As of 2003, over 40 tertiary education establishments around the world were delivering one or more courses in futures studies. The World Futures Studies Federation has a comprehensive survey of global futures programs and courses. The Acceleration Studies Foundation maintains an annotated list of primary and secondary graduate futures studies programs.

Education
Some intellectual foundations of futures studies appeared in the mid-19th century. In 1997, Wendell Bell suggested that Comte's discussion of the metapatterns of social change presages futures studies as a scholarly dialogue.

History

North America
A number of concepts, tools and methods for recognizing probable, possible and preferable futures and wildcards exist.

Key concepts
Some aspects of the future, such as celestial mechanics, have been discovered empirically or by scientific theory to be highly predictable in a quantitative and statistical sense (i.e., certain system behaviors deriving from laws and observed regularities of physics, chemistry, and biology, or from presently less formalized observations in sociology, psychology and technological development). At present these remain a special minority of physical events. At the same time, growth in chaos theory, nonlinear science and evolutionary theory has allowed us to describe many physical systems as essentially unpredictable in their specific future state. Nevertheless a probability distribution in outcomes may frequently be described for such systems, and particular probabilistic system descriptions may be shown to hold over a wide range of time and conditions.
Not surprisingly, the tension between predictability and unpredictability is a source of controversy and conflict among futures scholars and practitioners. Some argue that it is not the province of futures studies to engage in prediction. Others seek to describe complex systems in a language that includes formal and informal probability and prediction, in balance with possible and preferable futures.
As an example, consider the process of electing the president of the United States. At a one level we observe that any U.S. citizen over 35 may run for president, so this process may appear too unconstrained for useful prediction. Yet further investigation demonstrates that only certain public individuals (current and former presidents and vice presidents, senators, state governors, popular military commanders, mayors of very large cities, etc.) receive the appropriate "social credentials" that are historical prerequisites for election. Thus with a minimum of effort at formulating the problem for statistical prediction, a much reduced pool of candidates can be described, improving our probabilistic foresight. Applying further statistical intelligence to this problem, we can observe that in certain election prediction markets such as the Iowa Electronic Markets, reliable forecasts have been generated over long spans of time and conditions, with results superior to individual experts or polls. Such markets, which may be operated publicly or as an internal market, are just one of several promising frontiers in predictive futures research.

Probability and predictability
Futures studies uses scenarios - alternative possible futures - as an important tool. To some extent, people can determine what they consider probable or desirable using qualitative and quantitative methods. By looking at a variety of possibilities one comes closer to shaping the future, rather than merely predicting it. Shaping alternative futures starts by establishing a number of scenarios. Setting up scenarios takes place as a process with many stages. One of those stages involves the study of trends. A trend persists long-term and long-range; it affects many societal groups, grows slowly and appears to have a profound basis. In contrast, a fad operates the short term, shows the vagaries of fashion, affects particular societal groups, and spreads quickly but superficially.

Shaping alternative futures
Trends come in different sizes. A mega-trend extends over many generations, and in cases of climate, mega-trends can cover periods prior to human existence. They describe complex interactions between many factors. The increase in population from the palaeolithic period to the present provides an example of a mega-trend.

Mega-trends
Possible new trends grow from innovations, projects, beliefs or actions that have the potential to grow and eventually go mainstream in the future (for example: just a few years ago, alternative medicine remained truly "alternative". Now it has links with big business and has achieved a degree of respectability in some circles and even in the marketplace).

Potential trends
Very often, trends relate to one another the same way in which a tree-trunk relate to branches and twigs. For example, a well-documented movement toward equality between men and women might represent a branch trend. The trend toward a minimizing differences in the relationship between the salaries of men and women in the Western world could form a twig on that branch.

Branching trends
When does a potential trend gain acceptance as a bona fide trend? When it gets enough confirmation in the various media, surveys or questionnaires to show it has an increasingly accepted value, behavior or technology. Trends can also gain confirmation by the existence of other trends perceived as springing from the same branch. Some commentators claim that when 15% to 25% of a given population integrates an innovation, project, belief or action into their daily life then a trend becomes "mainstream".

Life-cycle of a trend
In futures research "weak signals" may be understood as advanced, noisy and socially situated indicators of change in trends and systems that constitute raw informational material for enabling anticipatory action. There have been, however, confusement about the definition of weak signal by various researchers and consultants. Sometimes it is referred as future oriented information, sometimes more like emerging issues. Elina Hiltunen (2007), in her new concept the future sign has tried to clarify the confusion about the weak signal definitions, by combining signal, issue and interpretation to the future sign, which more holistically describes the change (link to the article about the Future sign.
There are some tools for utilizing weak signals in organizational environment. One tool is called Strategy Signals, which aims to collect weak signals inside of organization. The tool is developed by Finnish company called Fountain Park.
Another tool for using weak signals in organizations is called the Futures Windows, in which images of weak signals are shown in organization facilities. All the employees in the organization can send their images about weak signals to this tool. The purpose of that tool is to disseminate weak signals in organizations easily and increase futures thinking and innovating in the organization. Link to the tool here
"Wild cards" refer to low-probability and high-impact events. This concept may be embedded in standard foresight projects and introduced into anticipatory decision-making activity in order to increase the ability of social groups adapt to surprises arising in turbulent business environments. Such sudden and unique incidents might constitute turning points in the evolution of a certain trend or system. Wild cards may or may not be announced by weak signals, which are incomplete and fragmented data from which relevant foresight information might be inferred. Sometimes, mistakenly, wild cards and weak signals are considered as synonyms, which they are not Article by Hiltunen describing the differences of weak signals and wild cards.

Weak signals, the future sign and wild cards

"Any useful idea about the future should appear to be ridiculous." (Jim Dator)
"Take hold of the future or the future will take hold of you." (Patrick Dixon)
"The future is clear to me. What I don't understand is the present." (Gerhard Kocher)
"There are no future facts." (Fred Polak)
"A part of our future appears to be evolutionary and unpredictable, and another part looks developmental and predictable. Our challenge is to invent the first and discover the second." (John Smart)
"The problem with the future is that it keeps becoming the present." (Calvin) Other suggestions for thinking about the future
Practitioners of the discipline previously concentrated on extrapolating present technological, economic or social trends, or on attempting to predict future trends, but more recently they have started to examine social systems and uncertainties and to build scenarios. Apart from extrapolation and scenarios, many dozens of methods and techniques have uses in futures research (see below).
Futures Studies also includes normative or preferred futures, but a major contribution involves connecting both extrapolated (exploratory) and normative research to help individuals and organisations to build better social futures amid a (presumed) landscape of shifting social changes. Practitioners use varying proportions of inspiration and research. Futures studies, although typically informed by science, does not strictly utilize the scientific method in the sense of repeatable experiments creating consensus assertions, lacking the ability to control or repeat the time variable. However, futurists do apply many scientific techniques. Some historians project patterns observed in past civilizations upon present-day society to anticipate what will happen in the future. Oswald Spengler's "Decline of the West" argued, for instance, that western society, like imperial Rome, had reached a stage of cultural maturity that inexorably led to decline.

Methodologies
Several authors have become recognized as futurists. They research trends (particularly in technology) and write accounts of their observations, conclusions, and predictions. In earlier eras, many of the futurists were attached to academic institutions. For example John McHale the futurist who wrote the book The Future of the Future, and published a Futures Directory, directed his own Centre For Integrative Studies which was a Think Tank within the university setting. Other early era futurists followed a cycle of publishing their conclusions and then beginning research on the next book. More recently they have started consulting groups or earn money as speakers. Alvin Toffler, John Naisbitt and Patrick Dixon exemplify this class.
Many business gurus present themselves as pragmatic futurists rather than as theoretical futurists. One prominent international "business futurist", Frank Feather, coined the phrase "Thinking Globally, Acting Locally" in 1979.
Some futurists share features in common with the writers of science fiction, and indeed some science-fiction writers, such as Arthur C. Clarke, have acquired a certain reputation as futurists. Some writers, though, show less interest in technological or social developments and use the future only as a backdrop to their stories. For example, in the introduction to The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin wrote of prediction as the business of prophets, clairvoyants, and futurists, not of writers: "a novelist's business is lying".

Practitioners

Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies [1]
Futures Studies Department, Corvinus University of Budapest
Department of Futures Studies, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India Research centers

Main article: Futures techniques Futures techniques
Sample predicted futures, as of 2003, range from predicted ecological catastrophes, through a utopian future where the poorest human being lives in what present-day observers would regard as wealth and comfort, through the transformation of humanity into a posthuman life-form, to the destruction of all life on Earth in, say, a nanotechnological disaster.
Futurists have a decidedly mixed reputation and a patchy track record at successful prediction. For reasons of convenience, they often extrapolate present technical and societal trends and assume they will develop at the same rate into the future; but technical progress and social upheavals, in reality, take place in fits and starts and in different areas at different rates.
Many 1950s futurists predicted commonplace space tourism by the year 2000, but ignored the possibilities of ubiquitous, cheap computers, while Marxist expectations of utopia have failed to materialise to date. On the other hand, many forecasts have portrayed the future with some degree of accuracy. Current futurists often present multiple scenarios that help their audience envision what "may" occur instead of merely "predicting the future". They claim that understanding potential scenarios helps individuals and organizations prepare with flexibility.
Many corporations use futurists as part of their risk management strategy, to help identify so-called wild cards - low probability, potentially high-impact risks. Every successful and unsuccessful business engages in futuring - for example in research and development, innovation and market research, anticipating competitor behavior and so on.

Alternative futures forecasting
A long-running tradition in various cultures, and especially in the media, involves various spokespersons making predictions for the upcoming year at the beginning of the year. These predictions sometimes base themselves on current trends in culture (music, movies, fashion, politics); sometimes they make hopeful guesses as to what major events might take place over the course of the next year.
Some of these predictions come true as the year unfolds, though many fail. When predicted events fail to take place, the authors of the predictions often state that misinterpretation of the "signs" and portents may explain the failure of the prediction.
Marketers have increasingly started to embrace future studies, in an effort to benefit from an increasingly competitive marketplace with fast production cycles, using such techniques as trendspotting as popularized by Faith Popcorn.

Near-term predictions
Education in the field of futures studies has taken place for some time. Beginning in the United States of America in the 1960s, it has since developed in many different countries. Futures education can encourage the use of concepts, tools and processes that allow students to think long-term, consequentially, and imaginatively. It generally helps students to:
Thorough documentation of the history of futures education exists, for example in the work of Richard A. Slaughter (2004).

conceptualise more just and sustainable human and planetary futures
develop knowledge and skills in exploring probable and preferred futures
understand the dynamics and influence that human, social and ecological systems have on alternative futures
conscientize responsibility and action on the part of students toward creating better futures. Futures education

Application of foresight to specific fields
Future studies within the context of fashion, design and retail with Fashion being one of the most important areas of trend forecasting. The industry typically works 18 months ahead of the current selling season. Large retailers look at the obvious impact of everything from the weather forecast to fashion runway for their fast fashion ranges. Consumer behaviour and statistics from companies such as Datamonitor [2] for a longer forecast is also very important. There is a huge industry surrounding fashion and design futures which include magazines like Viewpoint and online information portals like mpdclick.com, wgsn.com and PSFK. The Future Laboratory a UK based futures organisation is one of the most important names as is the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies in Denmark. Mpdclick is an online futures information service specifically for the fashion Industry. The fashion and Design industries most respected Futurologists include Martin Raymond of the Future Laboratory, [3] Fiona Jenvey of Mpdclick [4] and David Shah the publisher of Viewpoint magazine.
In the context commercial design trend forecasting fulfils a vital role. When the wheel was invented 5,500 years ago, its use in moving heavy objects became a 'trend.' An invention in itself is a prediction. The wheel quickly progressed to be a simple mode of human transport, which was predicted by the non-inventor of the car, Henry Ford. Ford himself is quoted (by some anonymous source) as saying "If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse," which proves the point that a prediction is a vital tool in both inventiveness and future consumption and human behaviour. To answer the existing point, the creative process cannot exist without trend forecasting, as good commercial design necessitates some form of basic anthropology in order to access user needs.
Though artists and conceptual designers may feel that consumer trends are a barrier to creativity. Many of these 'Starchitects' and 'Startists' start micro trends that develop as the concept becomes more commercialised, but do not follow trends themselves. The same is true of certain fashion designers like Missoni, who work with their own trade mark aesthetic. Damian Hirst, however, has challenged the boundaries between art and popular culture in 'For the Love of God' – the centerpiece for his Beyond Belief exhibition at new gallery White Cube 3, Hoxton Square, London. Here, Hirst has blatantly created something which is not so much art, as a piece of decadent bling designed for commercial sale to the celebrity chavtocracy (£15m for the diamonds, £50m for the object). In this respect, Hirst, unusually as an artist, has followed a trend in order to commercialise his work.
Trend intelligence for design is about well researched, documented and well thought out information based on the development of an existing idea. Think again of the wheel being a prelude to the carriage and later the car. There are many trend companies out there, particularly in fashion, peddling their own ideas rather than solid trend information. Unfortunately for the trend industry these companies give others a bad name.

Fashion and design
See also: Acceleration Studies Foundation's annotated list of 10 primary and 60+ secondary graduate futures studies programs.

Australia: Australian Catholic University
Australia: Swinburne University of Technology
Argentina: Universidad Nacional de La Plata Academic programs

Main article: Futurology Futurists and foresight thought leaders

The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
Bold New World
Brave New World
The Communist Manifesto
Future Frequencies
Future Primitive
Future Shock
Futurewise
Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead
Limits to Growth
Macroshift
Our Final Hour
Phoenix: A Tale of the Future
The Revenge of Gaia
The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology
The Skeptical Environmentalist
The Third Wave (book), Alvin Toffler
Visions of the Future in the Last Century
Analyzing and Modeling Global Development Books

Five Regions of the Future Periodicals and Monographs

Acceleration Studies Foundation
Applied Foresight Network
Association of Professional Futurists
Australian Futures Foundation
Club of Amsterdam
Club of Rome
Global Business Network
Global Scenario Group
Hudson Institute
International Institute of Forecasters
Long Now Foundation
Millennium Project
NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts
RAND Corporation
Shaping Tomorrow
School of Futures Studies and Planning
Swedish Morphological Society
Tellus Institute
The Arlington Institute
UK Futures Analysts Network
World Future Society
World Futures Studies Federation See also

2008-04-07T08:25:00.000-07:00

A chemical equation is a symbolic representation of a chemical reaction. The coefficients next to the symbols and formulae of entities are the absolute values of the stoichiometric numbers. The first-ever chemical equation was diagrammed by Jean Beguin in 1615.

Overview
In a chemical reaction, the quantity of each element does not change. Thus, each side of the equation must represent the same quantity of any particular element. Also in case of net ionic reactions the same charge must be present on both sides of the hiddly unbalanced equation, one may balance it by changing the scalar number for each molecular formula.
Simple chemical equations can be balanced by inspection, that is, by trial and error. Generally, it is best to balance the most complicated molecule first. Hydrogen and oxygen are usually balanced last.
Ex #1. Na + O₂ → Na₂O
In order for this equation to be balanced, there must be an equal amount of Na on the left hand side as on the right hand side. As it stands now, there is 1 Na on the left but 2 Na's on the right. This problem is solved by putting a 2 in front of the Na on the left hand side:
2Na + O₂ → Na₂O
In this there are 2 Na atoms on the left and 2 Na atoms on the right. In the next step the oxygen atoms are balanced as well. On the left hand side there are 2 O atoms and the right hand side only has one. This is still an unbalanced equation. To fix this a 2 is added in front of the Na₂O on the right hand side. Now the equation reads:
2Na + O₂ → 2Na₂O
Notice that the 2 on the right hand side is "distributed" to both the Na₂ and the O. Currently the left hand side of the equation has 2 Na atoms and 2 O atoms. The right hand side has 4 Na's total and 2 O's. Again, this is a problem, there must be an equal amount of each chemical on both sides. To fix this 2 more Na's are added on the left side. The equation will now look like this:
4Na + O₂ → 2Na₂O
This equation is a balanced equation because there is an equal number of atoms of each element on the left and right hand sides of the equation.
Ex #2. This equation is not balanced because there is an unequal amount of O's on both sides of the equation. The left hand side has 4 P's and the right hand side has 4 P's. So the P atoms are balanced. The left hand side has 2 O's and the right hand side has 10 O's.
P₄ + O₂ → P₄O₁₀
To fix this unbalanced equation a 5 in front of the O₂ on the left hand side is added to make 10 O's on both sides resulting in
P₄ + 5O₂ → P₄O₁₀
The equation is now balanced because there is an equal amount of substances on the left and the right hand side of the equation.
Ex #3. C₂H₅OH + O₂ → CO₂ + H₂O
This equation is more complex than the previous examples and requires more steps. The most complicated molecule here is C₂H₅OH, so balancing begins by placing the coefficient 2 before the CO₂ to balance the carbon atoms.
C₂H₅OH + O₂ → 2CO₂ + H₂O
Since C₂H₅OH contains 6 hydrogen atoms, the hydrogen atoms can be balanced by placing 3 before the H₂O:
C₂H₅OH + O₂ → 2CO₂ + 3H₂O
Finally the oxygen atoms must be balanced. Since there are 7 oxygen atoms on the right and only 3 on the left, a 3 is placed before O₂, to produce the balanced equation:
C₂H₅OH + 3O₂ → 2CO₂ + 3H₂O

2008-04-06T08:16:00.001-07:00

For other people named Thomas Sopwith, see Thomas Sopwith (disambiguation).
Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS (January 18, 1888–January 27, 1989) was an English aviation pioneer as well as a celebrated yachtsman.
Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith was born in Kensington, London. He was the eighth child and only son of a civil engineer. He was educated at Cottesmore School in Hove and at Seafield Park engineering college in Lee-on-Solent.
In his youth, he was an expert ice skater and played in goal during Princes Ice Hockey Club's 1908 match with C. P. P. Paris.
He became interested in flying after seeing John Moisant flying the first cross-Channel passenger flight. His first flight was with Gustave Blondeau in a Farman at Brooklands. He soon taught himself to fly on a British Avis monoplane and took to the air on his own for the first time on October 22, 1910. Unfortunately he crashed after travelling about 300 yards (275 metres). He soon improved and on November 22 was awarded Royal Aero Club Aviation Certificate No. 31.
On December 18, 1910, Sopwith won a £4,000 prize for the longest flight from England to the Continent in a British built aeroplane. He flew 169 miles (272 km) in 3 hours 40 minutes. He used the winnings to set up the Sopwith School of Flying at Brooklands.
In June 1912 Sopwith with Fred Sigrist and others set up The Sopwith Aviation Company. The company produced key British World War I aircraft, most famously the Sopwith Camel. Sopwith was awarded the CBE in 1918.
Bankrupted after the war by the punitive anti-profiteering taxes, he re-entered the business a few years later with a new firm named after his chief engineer and test pilot, Harry Hawker. Sopwith was chairman of the new firm, Hawker Aircraft.
In 1934 and 1937, Sopwith led challenges for the America's Cup in his yachts Endeavour and Endeavour II. Both yachts featured advanced technology. In addition to owning the yachts and organising the challenges, Sopwith was also helmsman during the races.
He was knighted in 1953.
After the nationalization of what was by then Hawker Siddeley, he continued to work as a consultant as late as 1980. His 100th birthday was marked by a flypast of military aircraft over his home. He died in Hampshire on January 27, 1989, aged 101.
His authorized biography is Pure Luck by Alan Bramson, with a foreword by the Prince of Wales (ISBN 1-85260-263-5).

2008-04-05T08:53:00.001-07:00

Renaissance humanism (often designated simply as humanism) was a European intellectual movement beginning in Florence in the last decades of the 14th century. Initially a humanist was simply a student or teacher of Latin and Latin literature. By the mid-fifteenth century humanism described a curriculum - the studia humanitatis - comprised of grammar, rhetoric, moral philosophy, poetry and history as studied via classical authors. It was only later in the twentieth-century that humanism was interpreted as a new philosophical outlook which encompassed human dignity and potential and the place of mankind in nature, since these were the kinds of themes on which humanists practiced their skills. The over-riding goal of humanists, who may be said to have valued the witnesses of reason and the evidence of the senses in reaching the truth over the Christian values of humility, introspection, and passivity, or "meekness" that had dominated European thought in the previous centuries, was to become eloquent in rhetoric. Beauty, a popular topic, was held to represent a deep inner virtue and value, and an essential element in the path towards God. The humanist movement developed from the rediscovery by European scholars of many Latin and Greek texts.
The humanists were in opposition to the philosophers of the day, the "schoolmen", or scholastics, of the Italian universities and later Oxford and Paris, whose methodology was derived from Thomas Aquinas, which revived a classical debate which referred back to Plato and the Platonic dialogues.

Social or civic humanism
Renaissance humanists believed that the liberal arts (art, music, grammar, rhetoric, oratory, history, poetry, using classical texts, and the studies of all of the above) should be practiced by all levels of "richness". They also approved of self, human worth and individual dignity.
This worth is found in the humanist belief that everything in life has a determinate nature, but man's privilege is to be able to choose his own nature. Pico della Mirandola wrote the following concerning the creation of the universe and man's place in it:
Humanists believe that such possibilities lead to the diverse ways of human development. Value is given to this uniqueness and encourages individualism.

Beliefs
As Neo-Platonism replaced the Aristotelianism of Saint Thomas Aquinas, attempts were made to join the great works of Antiquity with Christian values in a syncretic Christian humanism, such as those by Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola. Ethics was taught independently of theology, and the authority of the Church was tacitly transferred to the reasoning logic of the educated individual. Thus humanists constantly skirted the dangers of being branded as heretics.
One example of such pagan philosophy and Christian doctrine melding is found in The Epicurean, by Erasmus, the "prince of humanists:"
If people who live agreeably are Epicureans, none are more truly Epicurean than the righteous and godly. And if it's names that bother us, no one better deserves the name of Epicurean than the revered founder and head of the Christian philosophy [Christ], for in Greek epikouros means "helper." He alone, when the law of Nature was all but blotted out by sins, when the law of Moses incited to lists rather than cured them, when Satan ruled in the world unchallenged, brought timely aid to perishing humanity. Completely mistaken, therefore, are those who talk in their foolish fashion about Christ's having been sad and gloomy in character and calling upon us to follow a dismal mode of life. On the contrary, he alone shows the most enjoyable life of all and the one most full of true pleasure. (Erasmus 549)
This quote exemplifies the way in which the humanists saw pagan classical works such as the philosophy of Epicurus as being fundamentally in harmony with Christianity, rather than as a nemesis to be pitted against Christianity. Although Renaissance humanists were more accepting of pagan philosophy than their Scholastic contemporaries, they did not necessarily object to the idea that Christian understanding should be dominant over other modes of thought. Some humanists were even churchmen, most notably Pope Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini Pius II.

Humanists

Category:Renaissance humanists
Renaissance
Legal humanists
Humanist Latin
Humanism in Germany
Scholasticism
Humanism

2008-04-04T09:32:00.001-07:00

Ebenezer Zane (1747-1811) was an American pioneer and land speculator. Born in what is now Moorefield, West Virginia (which was then in the state of Virginia), Zane established the settlement known as Fort Henry in Wheeling, Virginia (present day West Virginia) on the Ohio River. Zane is also famous for blazing the trail known as Zane's Trace.

At Fort Henry
Following the war in 1796, Zane obtained permission and funds from the United States Congress to build a road through the Northwest Territory. In exchange for his work, Congress granted Zane tracts of land in the areas where the road intersected the Muskingum, Hocking, and Scioto rivers.
When Zane's Trace was completed, it crossed what is now the state of Ohio from Wheeling, Virginia to Maysville, Kentucky. Although the road was a rudimentary path and was only suitable for travel by foot or horseback (and not by wagon), it was the only major road in Ohio until the War of 1812. See the entry on Zane's Trace for more information.
Zanesville, Ohio was named in his honor, and he was a maternal ancestor of author Zane Grey who was born there. Ebenezer Zane died of jaundice in 1811.

2008-04-03T08:22:00.001-07:00

Framing, in construction known as light frame construction, is a building technique based around structural members, usually called studs, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof comprising horizontal joists or sloping rafters covered by various sheathing materials. Modern light-frame structures usually gain strength from rigid panels used to form all or part of wall sections, but until recently carpenters employed various forms of diagonal bracing to stabilize walls. Diagonal bracing remains a vital interior part of many roof systems.
Light frame construction has become the dominant construction method in North America and Australia because of its economy. Use of minimal structural materials allows builders to enclose a large area with minimal cost, while achieving a wide variety of architectural styles. The ubiquitous platform framing and the older balloon framing are the two different light frame construction systems used in North America.

Walls
A multiple-stud post made up of at least three studs, or the equivalent, is generally used at exterior corners and intersections to secure a good tie between adjoining walls and to provide nailing support for the interior finish and exterior sheathing. Corners and intersections, however, must be framed with at least two studs.

Corners
Wall framing in house construction includes the vertical and horizontal members of exterior walls and interior partitions. These members, referred to as studs, wall plates and lintels, serve as a nailing base for all covering material and support the upper floors, ceiling and roof.

Exterior wall studs
Interior partitions supporting floor, ceiling or roof loads are called loadbearing walls; others are called non-loadbearing or simply partitions. Interior loadbearing walls are framed in the same way as exterior walls. Studs are usually 2 x 4 in. (38 x 89 mm) lumber spaced at 16 in. (400 mm) on centre. This spacing may be changed to 12 in. (300 mm) or 24 in. (600 mm) depending on the loads supported and the type and thickness of the wall finish used.

Interior partitions
Lintels (aka headers) are the horizontal members placed over window, door and other openings to carry loads to the adjoining studs. The depth of a lintel is determined by the width of the opening and vertical loads supported.

Wall Sections
Balloon framing is a method of wood construction used primarily in Scandinavia, Canada and the United States. In the U.S., this method was introduced by Augustine Taylor (1796-1891) in Chicago. It utilizes long continuous framing members (studs) that run from sill to eave line with intermediate floor structures nailed to them. Once popular when long lumber was plentiful, balloon framing has been largely replaced by platform framing.
The curious name of this framing technique was originally a derisive one. As Taylor was constructing his first such building, St. Mary's Church, in 1833, skilled carpenters looked on at the comparatively thin framing members, all held together with nails, and declared this method of construction to be no more substantial than a balloon. It would surely blow over in the next wind! Though the criticism proved baseless, the name stuck.
Although lumber was plentiful in 19th century America, skilled labor was not. The advent of cheap machine-made nails, along with water-powered sawmills, in the early 19th century made balloon framing highly attractive, because it did not require highly-skilled carpenters, as did the dovetail joints, mortises and tenons required by post-and-beam construction. For the first time, any farmer could build his own buildings without a time-consuming learning curve.
It has been said that balloon framing populated the western United States and the western provinces of Canada. Without it, western boomtowns certainly could not have blossomed overnight. It is also a fair certainty that, by radically reducing construction costs, balloon framing improved the shelter options of poorer North Americans.
The main difference between platform and balloon framing is at the floor lines. The balloon wall studs extend from the sill of the first story all the way to the top plate or end rafter of the second story. The platform-framed wall, on the other hand, is independent for each floor.
Balloon framing has several disadvantages as a construction method:
Balloon framing has been outlawed by building codes in many areas because of the fire danger that it poses.
Balloon framing is growing in popularity again in light gauge steel stud construction. For light gauge steel, long framing members are not as much of an issue. Balloon framing provides a more direct load path down to the foundation. Some electricians like working in balloon frame buildings, because the lack of fire blocking makes it much easier to add circuits.

The creation of a path for fire to readily travel from floor to floor. This is mitigated with the use of firestops at each floor level.
The lack of a working platform for work on upper floors. Whereas workers can readily reach the top of the walls being erected with platform framing, balloon construction requires scaffolding to reach the tops of the walls (which are often two or three stories above the working platform).
The requirement for long framing members.
In certain larger buildings, is a noticeable down-slope of floors towards central walls, caused by the differential shrinkage of the wood framing members at the perimeter versus central walls. Larger balloon-framed buildings will have central bearing walls which are actually platform framed and thus will have horizontal sill and top plates at each floor level, plus the intervening floor joists, at these central walls. Wood will shrink much more across its grain than along the grain. Therefore, the cumulative shrinkage in the center of such a building is considerably more than the shrinkage at the perimeter where there are much fewer horizontal members. Of course, this problem, unlike the first three, takes time to develop and become noticeable. Balloon framing
Platform framing is a light-frame construction system and the most common method of constructing the frame for houses and small apartment buildings as well as some small commercial buildings in Canada and the United States.
The framed structure sits atop a concrete (most common) or treated wood foundation. A Sill-Plate is anchored, usually with 'J' bolts to the foundation wall. Generally these plates must be pressure treated to keep from rotting. The bottom of the sill-plate is raised a minimum 6 inches above the finished grade by the foundation. This again is to prevent the sill-plate from rotting as well as providing a termite barrier.
The floors, walls and roof of a framed structure are created by assembling (using nails) consistently sized framing elements of dimensional lumber (2×4, 2×6, etc.) at regular spacings (12″, 16″, and 24″ on center), forming stud-bays (wall) or joist-bays (floor). The floors, walls and roof are typically made torsionally stable with the installation of a plywood or composite wood "skin" referred to as sheathing. Sheathing has very specific nailing requirements (such as size and spacing); these measures allow a known amount of shear force to be resisted by the element. Spacing the framing members properly allows them to align with the edges of standard sheathing. In the past, tongue and groove planks installed diagonally were used as sheathing. Occasionally, wooden or galvanized steel braces are used instead of sheathing. There are also engineered wood panels made for shear and bracing.
The floor, or the platform of the name, is made up of joists (usually 2x6, 2×8, 2×10 or 2×12, depending on the span) that sit on supporting walls, beams or girders. The floor joists are spaced at (12″, 16″, and 24″ on center) and covered with a plywood subfloor. In the past, 1x planks set at 45-degrees to the joists were used for the subfloor.
Where the design calls for a framed floor, the resulting platform is where the framer will construct and stand that floor's walls (interior and exterior load bearing walls and space-dividing, non-load bearing "partitions"). Additional framed floors and their walls may then be erected to a general maximum of four in wood framed construction. There will be no framed floor in the case of a single-level structure with a concrete floor known as a "slab on grade".
Stairs between floors are framed by installing stepped "stringers" and then placing the horizontal "treads" and vertical "risers".
A framed roof is an assembly of rafters and wall-ties supported by the top story's walls. Prefabricated and site-built trussed rafters are also used along with the more common stick framing method. "Trusses" are engineered to redistribute tension away from wall-tie members and the ceiling members. The roof members are covered with sheathing or strapping to form the roof deck for the finish roofing material.
Floor joists can be engineered lumber (trussed, i-beam, etc.), conserving resources with increased rigidity and value. They allow access for runs of plumbing, HVAC, etc. and some forms are pre-manufactured.

Platform framing
Light-frame materials are most often wood or rectangular steel tubes. Wood pieces are typically connected with nails or screws; steel pieces are connected by screws. Preferred species for linear structural members are softwoods such as spruce, pine and fir. Light frame material dimensions range from 38 mm by 89 mm (1.5 by 3.5 inches — i.e. a two-by-four) to 5 cm by 30 cm (two-by-twelve inches) at the cross-section, and lengths ranging from 2.5 m (8 feet) for walls to 7 m (20 feet) or more for joists and rafters. Recently, architects have begun experimenting with pre-cut modular aluminum framing to reduce on-site construction costs.
Wall panels built of studs are interrupted by sections that provide rough openings for doors and windows. Openings are typically spanned by a header or lintel that bears the weight of structure above the opening. Headers are usually built to rest on trimmers, also called jacks. Areas around windows are defined by a sill beneath the window, and cripples, which are shorter studs that span the area from the bottom plate to the sill and sometimes from the top of the window to a header, or from a header to a top plate. Diagonal bracings made of wood or steel provide shear (horizontal strength) as do panels of sheeting nailed to studs, sills and headers.
Wall sections usually include a bottom plate which is secured to the structure of a floor, and one, or more often two top plates that tie walls together and provide a bearing for structures above the wall. Wood or steel floor frames usually include a rim joist around the perimeter of a system of floor joists, and often include bridging material near the center of a span to prevent lateral buckling of the spanning members. In two-story construction, openings are left in the floor system for a stairwell, in which stair risers and treads are most often attached to squared faces cut into sloping stair stringers.
Interior wall coverings in light-frame construction typically include wallboard, lath and plaster or decorative wood paneling.
Exterior finishes for walls and ceilings often include plywood or composite sheathing, brick or stone veneers, and various stucco finishes. Cavities between studs, usually placed 40-60 cm (16-24 inches) apart, are usually filled with insulation materials, such as fiberglass batting, or cellulose filling sometimes made of recycled newsprint treated with boron additives for fire prevention and vermin control.

Materials
Roofs are usually built to provide a sloping surface intended to shed rain or snow, with slopes ranging from 1 cm of rise per 15 cm (less than an inch per linear foot) of rafter length, to steep slopes of more than 2 cm per cm (two feet per foot) of rafter length. A light-frame structure built mostly inside sloping walls comprising a roof is called an A-frame.
Roofs are most often covered with shingles made of asphalt, fiberglass and small gravel coating, but a wide range of materials are used. Molten tar is often used to waterproof flatter roofs, but newer materials include rubber or other synthetic materials. Steel panels are popular roof coverings in some areas, preferred for their durability. Slate or tile roofs offer more historic coverings for light-frame roofs.
Light-frame methods allow easy construction of unique roof designs. Hip roofs, which slope toward walls on all sides and are joined at hip rafters that span from corners to a ridge. Valleys are formed when two sloping roof sections drain toward each other. Dormers are small areas in which vertical walls interrupt a roof line, and which are topped off by slopes at usually right angles to a main roof section. Gables are formed when a length-wise section of sloping roof ends to form a triangular wall section. Clerestories are formed by an interruption along the slope of a roof where a short vertical wall connects it to another roof section. Flat roofs, which usually include at least a nominal slope to shed water, are often surrounded by parapet walls with openings (called scuppers) to allow water to drain out. Sloping crickets are built into roofs to direct water away from areas of poor drainage, such as behind a chimney at the bottom of a sloping section.

Roofs
Light-frame buildings are often erected on monolithic concrete slab foundations that serve both as a floor and as a support for the structure. Other light-frame buildings are built over a crawlspace or a basement, with wood or steel joists used to span between foundation walls, usually constructed of poured concrete or concrete blocks.
Engineered components are commonly used to form floor, ceiling and roof structures in place of solid wood. I-beam (closed web trussed) joists are often made from laminated woods, most often chipped poplar wood, in panels as thin as 1 cm (3/8ths of an inch), glued between horizontally laminated members of less than 5 cm by 5 cm (two-by-two inches), to span distances of as much as 9 m (30 feet). Open web trussed joists and rafters are often formed of 5 cm by 10 cm (two-by-four inch) wood members to provide support for floors, roofing systems and ceiling finishes.

See also

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (2005). Canadian Wood-Frame House Construction. ISBN 0-660-19535-6

2008-04-02T09:01:00.001-07:00

History
The Lampoon's commercial heyday was roughly 1973-75, with its national circulation peaking at 1,000,096 copies sold of a single October 1974 issue. The Lampoon's 1974 monthly average was 830,000. Former Lampoon editor Tony Hendra's book Going Too Far includes a series of precise circulation figures.
While the magazine was considered by many to be at its creative zenith during this time, it should also be noted that the publishing industry's newsstand sales were excellent during this period. The Lampoon's circulation height coincided with sales peaks for various other magazines such as Mad, Playboy, and TV Guide.

Circulation peak
Most fans consider the glory days to have ended in 1975, when the three founders took advantage of a $7.5 million dollar buyout in their contracts. Also, some of the magazine's contributors left to join the NBC comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) around the same time, notably O'Donoghue and Anne Beatts. Even so, the magazine still made money and continued to be produced on a monthly schedule throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, although the magazine was on an increasingly shaky financial footing from the mid-1980s on. Beginning in November 1986, the magazine was published only every other month.
In 1989, the magazine was acquired in a hostile takeover by a business partnership headed by actor Tim Matheson, who had initially gained fame by portraying 'Otter' in the 1978 film National Lampoon's Animal House. During Matheson's tenure he instituted a policy banning frontal nudity in the magazine; frequent full-frontal female nudity had previously been a staple of National Lampoon's style of humor. Facing mounting debts, Matheson sold National Lampoon magazine to J2 Communications in 1991 in order to avoid bankruptcy. J2 was previously known for marketing Tim Conway's "Dorf" videos.
Throughout the 1990s, the number of issues per year declined precipitously. After an attempt to return to monthly publication throughout most of 1991 (nine issues were produced that year), only two issues were released in 1992. This was followed by one issue in 1993, five in 1994, and three in 1995. For the last three years of its existence, the magazine was published only annually. J2 Communications was contractually obliged to publish at least one new issue per year in order to retain the rights to the Lampoon name. The magazine's final print publication was November 1998, after which the contract was renegotiated. In a sharp reversal, J2 was then prohibited from publishing issues.
Though the magazine is no longer in print, its comedic influence on a previous generation of writers and performers was seismic. As co-founder Henry Beard described the experience years later, "There was this big door that said, 'Thou shalt not.' We touched it, and it fell off its hinges."

1975 to the end of the magazine
Since the cessation of the National Lampoon magazine's publication, National Lampoon Inc. continues to, in the words of its prospectus, "develop, produce, provide creative services and distribute National Lampoon branded comedic content through a broad range of media platforms." Since 2002, the company has overhauled its corporate infrastructure several times; the "National Lampoon World Headquarters" is currently located in West Hollywood, California.
National Lampoon still releases books and material under the umbrella of National Lampoon Press. But in 2007, National Lampoon decided to halt its licensing policy in favor of becoming a self-financed comedy production company.

National Lampoon Inc. today
The Robert Altman film O.C. and Stiggs was based on two characters which made several appearances in National Lampoon, including an issue-long story from October 1982 called the "Utterly Monstrous, Mind-Roasting Summer of O. C. and Stiggs." The film was completed in 1984, but not released until 1987 in a small number of theaters, without the National Lampoon name.
Following the success of Animal House, MAD Magazine lent its name to a 1981 comedy titled Up the Academy. But unlike the earlier film, which was co-produced by the magazine's publisher Matty Simmons and co-written by the Lampoon's Doug Kenney and Chris Miller, Up The Academy was strictly a licensing maneuver with no creative input from MAD's staff or contributors. The movie's poor quality and lack of box office success led MAD to abandon its interest in any future film ventures. When the film appeared on cable, all references to Mad magazine were removed from the film, including a statue of Alfred E. Neuman as the school's founder.

Disco Beaver from Outer Space (1978) (TV)
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
National Lampoon's Class Reunion (1982)
National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
National Lampoon Goes to the Movies (1983)
National Lampoon's Joy of Sex (1984)
National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon (1993)
National Lampoon's Last Resort(1994)
National Lampoon's Deadly Sins (1995)
National Lampoon's Senior Trip (1995)
National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation (1997)
Golf Punks (1998)
Men in White (1998) (TV)
Van Wilder (2002)
Repli-Kate (2002)
Blackball (2003)
National Lampoon's Gold Diggers (2003)
Dorm Daze (2003)
National Lampoon's Barely Legal (2003)
Thanksgiving Family Reunion (2003)
Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure (2003)
Going the Distance (2004)
Adam & Eve (2005)
Strip Poker (2005)
Teed Off (2005)
Pucked (2006)
National Lampoon's Pledge This! (2006)
Last Guy On Earth (2006)
Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj (2006)
Dorm Daze 2 (2006)
TV: The Movie (2007)
Teed Off Too (2007)
National Lampoon's Bag Boy (2008)
National Lampoon's Ratko: The Dictator's Son (2008)
National Lampoon's Homo Erectus (2008)
301: The Legend of Awesomest Maximus Wallace Leonidas (2008) National Lampoon movies

Other Media
This show was performed at the Village Gate in 1986, aired on cable in the 80's, and is now available on VHS. It was a sketch-based satire of 1980's culture, told against a frame story of Galahad and Dewdrop, two hippies who took LSD in 1969 and woke up in 1986. The sketches lampooned yuppie culture, health food, the Reagan Administration, airplane hijackings, and psychotherapy.

National Lampoon's Strip Poker
A video-sharing and social networking site featuring viral video content of extreme sports bloopers, "drunken debauchery" and the self-explanatory 'show us your butts'.

2008-04-01T09:20:00.001-07:00

Economy - overview: Guinea-Bissau is among the world's least developed nations and one of the 10 poorest countries in the world, and depends mainly on agriculture and fishing. Cashew crops have increased remarkably in recent years, and the country now ranks sixth in cashew production. Guinea-Bissau exports fish and seafood along with small amounts of peanuts, palm kernels, and timber. License fees for fishing provide the government with some revenue. Rice is the major crop and staple food.

2008-03-29T09:15:00.001-07:00

Jim Schlossnagle (born August 12, 1970 in Hagerstown, Maryland) is currently the head baseball coach at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.

Head Coaching Career

2008-03-28T08:47:00.001-07:00

The following is a list of software licenses which Free Software Foundation has approved as complying with their Free Software Definition.

2008-03-27T10:10:00.001-07:00

The University of the Pacific is a private university in Stockton, California, originally affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The university, previously known as "UOP" and now as "Pacific", was originally chartered on July 10, 1851, in Santa Clara under the name "California Wesleyan College." In 1858, the college opened the first medical school on the West Coast. The medical school later became part of Stanford and is now California Pacific Medical Center.
In 1871, the campus was moved to San José, and the college opened its doors to women, becoming the first independent co-educational campus in California. In 1878, the Conservatory of Music was established at Pacific, making it the first of its kind west of the Mississippi River. In 1911, the name was changed to "College of the Pacific" (COP).
In 1925, the campus relocated from the Bay Area to the Central Valley city of Stockton; it became the "University of the Pacific" in 1961.
Pacific was one of the state's first institutions for higher learning, chartered at about the same time as the present Santa Clara University. There are three professional schools: the top-ten ranked Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco, the top-100 ranked McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, and the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences on the main campus in Stockton.
In May 2007, the university announced an estate gift of $100 million from Robert C. and Jeannette Powell. The gift was unusual in its size for an institution like Pacific that is not primarily research-focused. Only 29 other universities throughout the world had received a larger gift in the prior 40 years.
University of the Pacific is also the home of KPAC Student Radio, 89.7 (FM).

Campus
As of 2006, the Stockton campus had 4,704 students (3,535 undergraduates, 638 professional pharmacy students, and 531 graduate students, mostly in the fields of education and business). Approximately 80% are from California; the rest are from 43 other states and 42 other countries.
The Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco had 510 students, and the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento had 1037 students.
Forty-four percent of undergraduates are from ethnic and racially under-represented American minorities, and another four percent are from other countries. (Thirteen percent did not state ethnicity and are listed as "Unknown.") (Data Set for 2006)

African-American 3%
Asian/Pacific Islander 33%
Hispanic 9%
Multi-ethnic 3%
Native American 1%
White/Caucasian 39%
Unknown 13%
Male: 1988 42%
Female: 2716: 58% Demographics
For an institution its size, the school is unusual in the breadth and mix of undergraduate and professional education it offers. It currently offers more than 100 programs and grants more than 60 undergraduate degrees. Graduate degrees are offered (M.M., M.Ed., M.A., MBA and M.S.), including educational specialist in school psychology (Ed. S.), and doctoral (D.P.T., Ed. D. and Ph.D.) degrees in over 15 departments, in five schools and colleges. In total, Pacific issues the following degrees:
These degrees are offered across nine schools and a graduate office within the University. These include:
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, once an adjunct professor, continues to teach at the McGeorge School of Law. The school's programs of study can be found on the school's Academics page.

Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)
Bachelor of Science (BS)
Bachelor of Music
Master of Arts (MA)
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Master of Education
Master of Laws (LLM)
Master of Music
Master of Science (MS)
Education Specialist (EdS)
Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS)
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Juris Doctor (JD)
Master of Laws (LLM)
Doctor of Juridical Science (JSD)
Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)
Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, San Francisco
Gladys L. Benerd School of Education, Stockton
College of the Pacific: the University's school of science and liberal arts, Stockton
Conservatory of Music] the first conservatory of music on the West Coast, Stockton
Eberhardt School of Business, Stockton
Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Stockton
McGeorge School of Law , Sacramento
School of Engineering and Computer Science, Stockton
School of International Studies: one of six undergraduate schools of international studies in the United States, Stockton
The Office of Research and Graduate Studies, Stockton Athletics
The University is currently headed by President Donald DeRosa, who became the university's 23rd president in 1995. Under his leadership, the university undertook a $200 million fundraising campaign to construct, among other things, a University Center, Biological Sciences Center, multipurpose gymnasium, a library addition, and the Klein Family Field for baseball. In the summer of 2007, the University announced it had vastly exceeded that goal, having raised a total of $330 million, including the gift of $100 million from Robert C. and Jeannette Powell.
Serving under the president are various vice presidents. In 2005, former Stanford Athletic Director Ted Leland announced that he would return to his undergraduate alma mater as Pacific's Vice President of University Advancement.
The president is selected by the University's Board of Regents, consisting of 27 members, including U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Janice Brown, U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Connie M. Callahan. Former members are occasionally named Emeritus Board Members. This list includes San Diego Chargers owner Alex G. Spanos.
The provost, Philip N. Gilbertson, serves as the chief academic officer, overseeing all of the university's schools and divisions. The Council of Deans comprises all academic deans, associate and assistant provosts, the Director of Planning and Research, and the Academic Budget Officer.

Administration
Greek life plays an important role at University of the Pacific, where there are four on-campus social fraternity houses, four on-campus social sorority houses, and five multicultural fraternities that are overseen by the University's Department of Housing and Greek Life.
Fraternities
Sororities
Multicultural organizations
Professional fraternities
Service fraternities
Honors societies
Approximately 20% of Pacific students are involved in Greek life at Pacific.

Theta Chi
Delta Upsilon (Omega Phi Alpha)
Pi Kappa Alpha
Sigma Chi
Alpha Phi
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Gamma
Kappa Alpha Theta
Delta Sigma Theta
Gamma Alpha Omega
Omega Delta Phi
Xi Chi Sigma
Rho Delta Chi
Alpha Chi Sigma—Chemistry
Delta Sigma Pi—Business
Kappa Psi—Pharmacy
Mu Phi Epsilon—Music
Rho Pi Phi—Pharmacy
Phi Alpha Delta
Phi Delta Chi—Pharmacy
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia—Music
Sigma Alpha Iota—Music
Theta Alpha Phi
Lambda Kappa Sigma—Pharmacy
Alpha Phi Omega
Tau Beta Pi Notable alumni

John Dunning, won 2 NCAA women's volleyball titles and had 7 Final Four appearances as Pacific's head coach from 1985-2000; now head coach at Stanford University
Jon Gruden, former UOP Assistant Football Coach, current Head Coach of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Terry Liskevych, former 3-time Olympic women's volleyball head coach; Pacific's head coach from 1977-84
Ed Sprague, former Major League Baseball all-star; current head baseball coach, 2004-present
Amos Alonzo Stagg, "The Grand Old Man of Football", head football coach at Pacific from 1933-46
Bob Thomason, 5-time Big West Coach of the Year and school's all-time winningest men's basketball coach; Pacific's head coach from 1988-present

2008-03-26T10:03:00.001-07:00

There was also a philologist named Michael Neander. See also: Neander (disambiguation).
Michael Neander (originally Neumann, April 3, 1529 – October 23, 1581) was a German teacher, mathematician, medical academic, and astronomer.
He was born in Joachimsthal, Bohemia, and was educated at the University of Wittenberg, receiving his B.A. in 1549 and M.A. in 1550.
From 1551 until 1561 he taught mathematics and astronomy in Jena, Germany. He became a professor in 1558 when the school where he taught became a university. From 1560 until his death he was a professor of medicine at the University of Jena.
He died in Jena, Germany. Neander crater on the Moon is named for him.

2008-03-25T08:16:00.001-07:00

Laurent Brochard (born on March 26, 1968 in Le Mans, France) is a professional road racing cyclist from France. In 1997 he won a stage of the Tour de France and became World Road Racing Champion in San Sebastian, Spain.
Brochard was a competitive runner and only started cycling competitively at age 19. He started his career with team Castorama and eventually became part of the Festina team. His role within Festina was often called that of the super-domestique, supporting the better-known stars within the team such as Richard Virenque but able to ride competitively for himself when given the chance to. He was implicated in the Festina scandal in the 1998 Tour de France.
After serving his suspension, Brochard joined Ag2r Prévoyance as a team leader and has had successes in many races such as Critérium International and Etoile de Béssèges. More recently, he moved to team Bouygues Télécom.
Brochard is known for his longevity, and for his hairdo. In the past he rode Cyfac frames exclusively, since his brother works for the company. He is a big fan of French comic character Marsupilami, often seen wearing Marsupilami logo and clothing at the races.
The 16 March 2007, he declared at the free paper Sport he will vote for Jean-Marie Le Pen at the présidentials elections.

2008-03-24T09:52:00.001-07:00

A crucible is a cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment used to contain chemical compounds when heating them to very high temperatures. The receptacle is usually made of porcelain or an inert metal.

Use in chemical analysis
Ash is the completely unburnable inorganic salts in a sample. A crucible can be similarly used to determine the percentage of ash contained in an otherwise burnable sample of material such as coal, wood, or oil. A crucible and its lid are pre-weighed at constant mass as described above. The sample is added to the completely dry crucible and lid and together they are weighed to determine the mass of the sample by difference. The crucible, lid, and sample are then fired to constant mass to completely burn up the sample, leaving behind only the completely unburnable ash. After cooling in dryness, the crucible, lid, and remaining ash are weighed to find the mass of the ash from the sample by difference. The fraction of ash (by mass) in the sample is determined by the dividing the mass of the ash by the mass of the sample before burning, which is done by subtracting the weight of the crucible and lid from the figure of the container, lid, and sample.