text:
Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment

The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment or Complete Enlightenment is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra highly esteemed by both the Huayan and Zen schools. The earliest records are in Chinese, and it is believed to be of Chinese origin.

Divided into twelve chapters as a series of discussions on meditation practice, this text deals with issues such as the meaning and origin of ignorance, sudden and gradual enlightenment, original Buddhahood, etc. these themes were also elucidated in the Awakening of Faith. It was intended to resolve questions regarding doctrine and meditation for the earliest practitioners of the Chan school. The most important commentary is the 9th-century Great Exegesis on the Sutra of Complete Enlightenment (圓覺經大疏鈔 Yuanjuejing Dashuchao) by Zongmi.

Titles
Its full Chinese title: Dà fāngguăng yuánjué xiūduōluó liǎoyì jīng (大方廣圓覺修多羅了義經, lit. 'the Great Vaipulya (Corrective & Expansive) Sutra on the Perfect Enlightenment and (the Sutra) Joyful Cultivation of the Thorough Understanding' ).

Its reconstructed title in Sanskrit is Mahāvaipulya pūrṇabuddha-sūtra prasannārtha-sūtra.

History
Its translation into Chinese is traditionally attributed to Buddhatrāta, an Indian or Kashmiri monk otherwise unattested in history, who translated the work from Sanskrit in 693 in the White Horse Temple of Luoyang. Some scholars, however, believe it to be Chinese in origin and written in the late 7th or early 8th century CE. It is considered a creative reformulation that assembles the teaching from the Shurangama Sutra and Awakening of Faith, which are also texts whose origin has been scrutinized.

Summary
The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment is arranged in twelve chapters, plus a short introductory section. The introductory section describes the scene of the sermon and lists the major participants. The location is a state of deep meditative concentration (samadhi) and the participants are the Buddha and one hundred thousand great bodhisattvas, among whom twelve eminent bodhisattvas act as spokesmen. Each one of the twelve gets up one by one and asks the Buddha a set of questions about doctrine, practice and enlightenment. The structure of the sutra is such that the most "essential" and suddenistic discussions occur in the earlier chapters and the more "functional" and gradualistic dialogues occur later.

This kind of structure reflects a motif associated with the doctrine of the Huayan school, which affirms that the Buddha delivered the abstruse Avatamsaka Sutra (華嚴經 ‘Huayan Scripture’) as his first sermon, in an effort to directly awaken those whose "roots of virtue" were well-matured. The terminology that Zongmi and Gihwa use to describe these advanced practitioners is that they possess the capacity for the teaching of "sudden enlightenment"; a direct awakening to the non-duality of reality, which necessarily precludes gradualist, "goal-oriented" practice. In the first two chapters (the chapters of Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra), the Buddha holds very strictly to the sudden position, denying the possibility of enlightenment through gradual practice. In the third chapter he begins to allow for a bit of a gradual view, and the next several chapters become mixtures of the two. The final few chapters offer a fully gradualist perspective.

Gihwa's primary means of categorization of the chapters is according to the "three capacities" of practitioners: superior, middling and inferior. According to Gihwa, the first three chapters are aimed at those of superior capacity, the next seven for those of middling capacity and the final two for those of inferior capacity. However, this method of categorization does not necessarily mean that the later chapters become gradually easier to read and understand. In fact some of the most difficult discussions come in the later chapters. Most notable in this regard is the discussion of the "four traces" of Self, Person, Sentient Being and Life in Chapter Nine. Since the distinction between each of these four is extremely subtle, and the wording of the text itself is not that clear, this turns out to be one of the most difficult chapters to digest.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment


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Red Bull Flugtag

Red Bull Flugtag (, 'airshow' lit. 'flight day') is an event organized by Red Bull in which competitors attempt to fly home-made, human-powered flying machines, size-limited to around 10 m and weight-limited to approximately 150 kg. The flying machines are usually launched off a pier about 9 m high into the sea or body of water. Most competitors enter for the entertainment value, and the flying machines rarely fly at all.

Background
The format was originally invented in Selsey, a small seaside town in the south of England under the name "Birdman Rally" in 1971. The first Red Bull Flugtag competition was held in 1992 in Vienna, Austria. It was such a success that it has been held every year since and in over 35 cities all over the world.

Anyone is eligible to compete in the Flugtag event. To participate, each team must submit an application and their contraption must meet the criteria set forth by Red Bull. The criteria vary with location. In the United States each flying machine must have a maximum wingspan of 30 ft and a maximum weight (including pilot) of 450 lb. In Australian Flugtags the wingspan is limited to 8 m and the weight (not including pilot) to 180 kg. The craft must be powered by muscle, gravity, and imagination. Because the aircraft will ultimately end up in the water, it must be unsinkable and constructed entirely of environmentally friendly materials. The aircraft may not have any loose parts and advertising space is limited to 1 sqft.

Distance
The record for the longest flight is 258 feet (78.6 m), set on September 21, 2013, at the Flugtag in Long Beach, California, by "The Chicken Whisperers" team in front of a crowd of 110,000.

Attendance
The largest crowd was in Cape Town, South Africa with 220,000 attending in 2012.

Results
Teams that enter the competition are judged according to three criteria: distance, creativity, and showmanship.

United States

 * Austin, Texas, Saturday, April 26, 2003
 * First Place: Pop and Fizz - 70 ft (21.3 m)
 * Second Place: Team Acme
 * Third Place: Winged Jalapeños
 * Most Creative: El Sombrerians
 * Chicago, Illinois, Saturday, August 9, 2003
 * First Place: Sync, Swim or Fly - 51 ft (15.5 m)
 * Second Place: Jake and Elwood
 * Third Place: The Kicken' Chicken
 * Most Creative: Candy Flyer
 * Los Angeles, California, Saturday, September 20, 2003
 * First Place: When Pigs Fly - 66 ft (20.1 m)
 * Second Place: West Coast Flying Machines
 * Third Place: The Marine Team
 * Most Creative: Red Bull Slugger
 * New York, New York, Sunday, October 5, 2003
 * First Place: Pedal Power - 39 ft (11.9 m)
 * Second Place: Mighty Whirl
 * Third Place: Bammr's Ballistic Bedrock
 * Most Creative: Urban Rodeo
 * San Francisco, California, Saturday, October 25, 2003
 * First Place: El Toro Guapo - 61 ft (18.6 m)
 * Second Place: Project S.T.O.L.
 * Third Place: Running of the Red Bulls
 * Most Creative: Snoop's Dogg House
 * Miami, Florida, Saturday, April 24, 2004
 * First Place: The Resurrector - 33 ft (10.1 m)
 * Second Place: Three Finger Salute
 * Third Place: Believe It or Not (It's Just Me)
 * Most Creative: Joy of Birth
 * Portland, Oregon, Saturday, July 31, 2004
 * First Place: 2004 X-Wing Glider - 39 ft (11.9 m)
 * Second Place: Flying Wonka Bar
 * Third Place: Oregon Santa Sleigh
 * Most Creative: Hair Force One
 * Cleveland, Ohio, Saturday, July 31, 2004
 * First Place: Rover's Flying Glory - 63 ft (19.2 m)
 * Second Place: Aerobus
 * Third Place: The Stork
 * Most Creative: Flying Musical Sensation
 * Tempe, Arizona, Saturday, April 29, 2006
 * First Place: The Need for Speed - 26 ft (7.9 m)
 * Second Place: Air Farce One
 * Third Place: El Vuelo Del Lobo
 * Most Creative: Dipsomaniacal Devil
 * People's Choice: El Vuelo Del Lobo
 * Farthest Flight: El Vuelo Del Lobo
 * Baltimore, Maryland, Saturday, October 21, 2006
 * First Place: Victim's of Soi-cumstance - 81 ft (24.7 m)
 * Second Place: Jump the Shark
 * Third Place: F-10-75
 * People's Choice: 4-4-0 American Flyer
 * Nashville, Tennessee, Saturday, June 23, 2007
 * First Place: Rocky Top Rocket - 155 ft (47.2 m)
 * Second Place: No. 1 Lucky Flyer
 * Third Place: Yellow Submarine
 * People's Choice: Galapagos Flight Club
 * Farthest Flight: Rocky Top Rocket
 * Austin, Texas, Saturday, August 25, 2007
 * First Place: Skate and Destroy
 * Second Place: Superman's "Crip"tonite
 * Third Place: Billy Ocean's Flying Fish Taco
 * People's Choice: Congress Bridge Bats
 * Tampa Bay, Florida, Saturday, July 19, 2008
 * First Place: Team Tampa Baywatch - 109 ft (33.2 m)
 * Second Place: Air Gilligan - 32 ft (9.8 m)
 * Third Place: The Little Engine That Could - 21 ft (6.4 m)
 * People's Choice: Tampa Bay Derby Darlins
 * Portland, Oregon, Saturday, August 2, 2008
 * First Place: Team Yakima Big Wheel - 62 ft (18.9 m)
 * Second Place: Greased Lightning - 55 ft (16.8 m)
 * Third Place: Free Ballin'
 * People's Choice: Space Balls
 * Chicago, Illinois, Saturday, September 6, 2008
 * First Place: The Crustacean Avengers - 120 ft (36.6 m)
 * Second Place: New Style Flyers - 75 ft (22.9 m)
 * Third Place: Pie in the Sky! - 90 ft (27.4 m)
 * People's Choice: The USHE
 * Miami, Florida, Saturday, July 10, 2010
 * First Place: Team Formula Flug - 53 ft (16.2 m)
 * Second Place: Ibis Engineers
 * Third Place: One Giant Leap
 * People's Choice: Team TransPlace
 * Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saturday, July 24, 2010
 * First Place: Team Major Trouble and the Dirty Dixies from Inver Grove Heights - 207 ft (63.1 m)
 * People's Choice: Team FORE Play from West Des Moines, IA
 * Long Beach, California, Saturday, August 21, 2010
 * First Place: Team Peepin' It Real - 98 ft (29.9 m)
 * Second Place: Green Machine
 * Third Place: Airforce 1
 * People's Choice: Green Army Men
 * Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Saturday, September 4, 2010
 * Tampa, Florida, Saturday, October 8, 2011
 * First Place: Willy Wonka's Amazing Flying Flugtag Adventure
 * Second Place: Adventure Team Bigstuff
 * Third Place: U.S.A. Team
 * People's Choice: Stumble Force
 * Miami, Florida, Saturday, November 3, 2012
 * San Francisco, California, Saturday, November 10, 2012
 * Chicago, Illinois, Saturday, September 21, 2013
 * Dallas, Texas, Saturday, September 21, 2013
 * Long Beach, California, Saturday, September 21, 2013
 * First Place: The Chicken Whisperers - 258 ft (78.6 m)
 * Miami, Florida, Saturday, September 21, 2013
 * Washington, D.C., Saturday, September 21, 2013
 * Portland, Oregon, Saturday, August 1, 2015
 * Boston, Massachusetts, Saturday, August 20, 2016
 * First Place: Flite-Riot
 * Second Place: What Sphinx? (a Secret Boston team)
 * Third Place: Something Wonderful
 * People's Choice: Flite-Riot
 * Louisville, Kentucky, Saturday, August 27, 2016
 * First Place: MMMad MMMax
 * Second Place: Dukes of Hazzardous by Kre8Now Makerspace - 82 ft (25.0 m)
 * Third Place: Kentucky Power
 * People's Choice: Mercy No Mercy - Mercy Academy
 * Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Saturday, August 5, 2017
 * First Place: Flight at the Roxbury - 78 ft (23.8 m)
 * Second Place: Survivor Tractor - 121 ft (36.9 m)
 * Third Place: Left Field Loonies
 * People's Choice: The Flite Testers
 * Team Ground Control.jpgille, Tennessee, Saturday, September 23, 2017
 * First Place: Ground Control - 81 ft (24.7 m)
 * Second Place: His Majesties Royal Circus and the Flying Irish Woman
 * Third Place: YMCA
 * People's Choice: Team Smashville
 * St. Paul, Minnesota, Saturday, September 7, 2019
 * First Place: Spooners' Revenge - 54 ft (16.5 m)
 * Second Place: Ferris Bueler's Takeoff - 63 ft (19.2 m)
 * Third Place: Flying POS
 * 24 Hour Greatness Award: Spooners' Revenge
 * Milwaukee, WI, Saturday, July 16, 2022
 * First Place: Flight For Your Right to Party - 66 ft (18.9 m)
 * Second Place:
 * Third Place: Bear-Naked Chonkers
 * People's Choice: FLYING SCHMEAT
 * Cincinnati, Ohio, Saturday, August 12, 2023

Serious injuries

 * Bucharest, September 19, 2010: broken back, skull fracture
 * Pittsburgh, August 4, 2017: ruptured spleen, traumatic brain injury
 * Nashville, September 23, 2017: Lumbar vertebrae (L1)

Cancellation/termination by authorities

 * The Portland, Oregon, competition, held on August 1, 2015, at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, wherein craft were launched into the Willamette River, was ended early by the United States Coast Guard after an excessive number of spectator boats (over 500) filled the river, making it impassable to commercial traffic. One collision was reported between a spectator boat and a commercial vessel, though damage was minimal and no injuries occurred.

In video games
The Red Bull Flugtag is featured as a playable mini-game in a special "Red Bull space", called the Red Bull Beach, in PlayStation Home released on November 26, 2009.

title: Red Bull Flugtag


text:
Divemaster

A divemaster (DM) is a role that includes organising and leading recreational dives, particularly in a professional capacity, and is a qualification used in many parts of the world in recreational scuba diving for a diver who has supervisory responsibility for a group of divers and as a dive guide. As well as being a generic term, 'Divemaster' is the title of the first professional rating of many training agencies, such as PADI, SSI, SDI, NASE, except NAUI, which rates a NAUI Divemaster under a NAUI Instructor but above a NAUI Assistant Instructor. The divemaster certification is generally equivalent to the requirements of ISO 24801-3 Dive Leader.

The BSAC recognizes several agencies' divemaster certificates as equivalent to BSAC Dive Leader, but not to BSAC Advanced Diver. The converse may not be true.

The certification is a prerequisite for training as an instructor in recreational diving with the professional agencies except NAUI, where it is an optional step, because of the different position of the NAUI Divemaster in the NAUI hierarchy.

Role
The role of a divemaster may vary, but will generally include the following roles:
 * Organizing, conducting and supervising recreational diving activities (but not training), both shore and boat based.
 * Assisting instructors in conducting training programs and activities for certified divers.
 * Generally supervising non-training related diving activities by planning, organizing and directing dives.
 * assessing the hazards of a dive site and informing the divers of the hazards,
 * briefing divers on the layout and points of interest of a dive site,
 * suggesting routes for a dive at a specific site for autonomous divers,
 * checking divers into and out of the water from a boat or shore entry point,
 * leading a group of divers in the water as a tour guide.
 * Within the limits of some agencies, divemasters may:
 * act as instructional assistants to instructors.
 * supervise participants in experience programs for uncertified divers.
 * teach and certify skin divers and snorkellers.
 * conduct scuba review programs for certified divers.

Responsibility and legal position
The legal duty of care of a divemaster to a client varies according to the legislation of the country, where it is often poorly defined. The use of waivers and/or assumption of risk forms that are intended to minimize legal accountability of divemasters is a common practice, but the validity of such waivers will vary with the legislation. If a divemaster provides safety information to a group of divers or professionally advises them regarding a dive site they may incur a duty of care to those divers.

Equivalence of certification
The following certifications are recognised as meeting or exceeding the requirements of EN/ISO 24801-3:2014:
 * ACUC Divemaster
 * ANDI Divemaster
 * BSAC Dive Leader
 * CMAS 3-star Diver
 * DMT NASE Divemaster
 * IANTD Divemaster
 * NASDS Dive Supervisor
 * NAUI Divemaster
 * PADI Divemaster
 * ProTec Dive Master
 * PSAI Divemaster
 * SAA Dive Leader(?), Dive Supervisor
 * SDI Divemaster
 * SNSI Divemaster
 * SSI Dive Guide

Technical diving
In technical diving, divers are assumed to be competent and responsible for their own safety or the safety of the team of which they are members to the extent that is agreed by that team. It is not unusual for a technical team or expedition group to appoint one of their number as a team leader or surface dive marshall, but the surface marshall is often more of an administrative position, who will check divers into and out of the water, and the dive team leader is more the navigator, or the person in front of the group than someone making safety decisions for other divers. Most technical divers follow the principle that any diver may call an end to a dive at any time for any reason, and that the team will comply, following the previously agreed termination procedure.

NAUI has a Technical Support Leader course that is designed to train NAUI Divemasters and Assistant Instructors who are also technical divers in this role.

Professional diving
Professional divers generally work in teams which have one or more divers in the water and a supervisor on the surface, with one or more assistants for handling lifelines, umbilicals, communications, gas panels and other support equipment, and a who is responsible for assisting or rescuing the in-water divers in an emergency. In these circumstances the supervisor has a high and legally defined level of responsibility for the safety of the dive team and anyone else on site.

Employment opportunities and conditions
Divemasters have the ability to work in holiday destinations in many parts of the world. They may work in diving resorts, private yachts, cruise ships and dive centres – anywhere where there is a demand for organised recreational diving.

Many divemasters also work in retail dive facilities and assist the instructor with training and supervision.

Training
During Divemaster training, candidates learn dive leadership skills through classroom, independent study and practical training exercises. Some Divemaster programs require an internship program too. They complete water skills and stamina exercises, training exercises that improve their ability to organize and solve problems and help others to improve their abilities.

Candidates put this knowledge into action through a structured internship or a series of practical training exercises, including the candidate assisting in actual diving programs with real diving students.

Divers can develop to divemaster level through two different methods. Either through progressing along the recreational levels of diving, or through divemaster internships that fast-track the candidate to divemaster level by having them become involved in the training facility where they are training. Divemaster internships are offered by many different dive shops under their respective organizations( PADI, NAUI, SSI, etc.)The internship program allows the divemaster candidate to not only complete the minimum learning requirements, but to also "intern" and practice what has been learned.

Prerequisites for training
PADI and SDI Divemaster candidates must have reached the following minimum requirements prior to their divemaster training: NASE requires divemaster candidates to also have demonstrated competency in physics, physiology, skills and environment, dive planning and equipment prior to entering a program.
 * Advanced Open Water Diver certification (or qualifying certification from another training organization)
 * Rescue Diver certification (or qualifying certification from another training organization)
 * First Aid & CPR training (preferably with automated external defibrillator (AED) training)
 * 40 logged dives
 * Submit a medical statement signed by a physician within the last 12 months.

PADI Divemaster candidates must have completed 60 logged dives prior to certification.

NAUI
Divemaster is a NAUI leadership-level certification between Assistant Instructor and Instructor, in contrast to agencies such as PADI that rate divemaster as the lowest level of leadership qualification. A NAUI Divemaster may organize and conduct dives for certified divers and is qualified to assist active-status NAUI Instructors on diver training courses.

NAUI provides a core of leadership-level skills and knowledge in the NAUI Master Scuba Diver and NAUI Scuba Rescue Diver courses, which are necessary prerequisites for all NAUI leadership programs. Divemaster candidates who offer equivalent certification must still pass the NAUI Master Scuba Diver written examination. Divemaster candidates must either hold a NAUI Assistant Instructor qualification, or have a minimum of 60 logged open water dives demonstrating varied environment, depth and activities, as well as waterskills equal to those expected of an Assistant Instructor.

Holding a NAUI Divemaster certificate is one of three ways in which the diver certification requirements for a NAUI Instructor Training Course may be met.

title: Divemaster


text:
Asian cuisine

Asian food encompasses several significant regional cooking styles: Central Asian, East Asian, North Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and West Asian. Cuisine is a distinctive way of cooking practices and customs, usually associated with a specific culture. Asia, as the largest and most populous continent, is home to many cultures, each with its own characteristic cuisine. Asian cuisine is considered the “culture of food within a society ” due to the beliefs, cooking methods, and the specific ingredients used throughout the entire process. Asian cuisines are also renowned for their spices. A key taste factor in Asian cuisine is “umami” flavor, a strong savoriness prominent  in Asian cooking, which can be achieved through fermented food or meat extract.

Ingredients common to many cultures in the East and Southeast regions of the continent include rice, ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, chilis, dried onions, soy, and tofu. Stir frying, steaming, and deep frying are common cooking methods.

While rice is common to most Asian cuisines, different varieties are popular in the various regions. Grilling, baking, boiling, and deep frying are all important Turkish cooking techniques. Basmati rice is popular in the Indian subcontinent and jasmine rice in Southeast Asia, while long-grain rice is popular in China and short-grain in Japan and Korea.

Curry is a common dish in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Curry dishes have their origins in the Indian subcontinent. Countries in Indochina typically use a coconut milk base in their curries; countries in Southwest Asia typically use a yogurt base.

Historical timeline
A heavily influential aspect of Asian culture is the food, especially the various traditional ways of Asian cuisine and cooking. Although many Asian cultures often share the traditions of bringing the family or group together to socialize or have celebrations over a meal, the various cultures of Asia each developed their own individual ethnic cultural takes on food through the interaction of history, culture, and environment. Asian cuisine is often associated with multiculturalism with specific foods linked to many different cultures.

Central Asian cuisine
Most Central Asian nations have similar cuisines to each other as well as their neighbors, taking many features of the neighboring cuisines of West and East Asia, particularly Iran and Mongolia. A dish known as "plov", or "osh", for example, is a widespread variation of pilaf. However, many of the same countries use horse meat and mutton as the most common meats, similar to beef. This is owing to Mongolian cuisine. In Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the cuisine has evolved to meet the needs of a nomad lifestyle.

Kumis is a widespread drink among Turkic peoples, especially in Central Asia.

Central Asia is also noted for being the birthplace of yogurt. Like kumis, it is widespread among Turkic peoples.

East Asian cuisine
East Asian cuisine includes Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Taiwanese, and Tibetan food. Considering this is the most populated region of the world, it has many regional cuisines (especially in China). Examples of staple foods include rice, noodles, mung beans, soybeans, seafood (Japan has the highest per capita consumption of seafood), mutton (Mongolia), bok choy (Chinese cabbage), and tea.

North Asian cuisine
North Asian cuisine is often synonymous with Russian cuisine, due to all of North Asia being a part of the Russian Federation. However, some cultures or areas of Siberia have in-depth cuisine, such as the Yakuts (or Sakha) and Yamal cuisine. Buryats also have their own cuisine, although it is very similar to that of the related Mongolians.

Pelmeni, originally a Permic or Ugric dish, has entered into mainstream Russian cuisine as a well-known dish, but it can still be considered part of the Yamal cuisine for its area of origin. Some speculate them to be a simplified version of the Chinese wonton. In Siberia, pelmeni is frozen outdoors to preserve the meat inside throughout the long winter. In Yamal, other types of drying and preservation are common. Key ingredients in most northern Siberian cuisine include fish and cowberries, sometimes known as lingonberries in Europe and North America. Yakuts, like many other Turkic-speaking peoples, traditionally enjoy kumis as a common drink.

South Asian cuisine
South Asian cuisine includes cuisines from the Indian subcontinent. Food items in this region are generally rich in spices, however it also caters a blend of multi-cuisine culture from all across the world. Food is flavored with various types of chili, black pepper, cloves, condiments and other herbs and spices. Use of flavored butter and ghee is prominent in many places. Turmeric, coriander, and cumin are often used to make curries.

The multitude is inclined more towards the usage of mustard, groundnut, sunflower and soybean oil for cooking. Usage of refined oil to make pooris is quite famous. Poori Bhaji, Idli, Dosa, Dal Baati, Litti Chokha are among the most popular and representative dishes of Indian cuisines.

Vegetables are generally eaten with a type of bread called Chapati which is the staple food of the region. Rice is generally taken with dal to moisten it in the northern parts and with curd as you move towards the southern region.

Tea and coffee are prominent all across with the former available at every street corner. Egg dishes are also available in similar fashion.

Common meats include lamb, goat, fish, and chicken. Beef is less common than in Western cuisines because cattle have a special place in Hinduism. Prohibitions against beef extend to the meat of cows, and yaks to some extent. Pork is considered a taboo food item by all Muslims and is avoided by some Hindus. Other minorities also prohibit the use of meat to abjure violence. Fish is commonly used in South India, Sri Lanka and the Bengal region i.e. (Bangladesh and West Bengal state of India). The Northern region diet mostly include wheat, and other major crops.

Southeast Asian cuisine
Southeast Asian cuisine includes a strong emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with a strong aromatic component that features such flavors as citrus and herbs such as lime, coriander/cilantro and basil. Ingredients in the region contrast with the ones in the East Asian cuisines, substituting fish sauces for sauce and the inclusion of ingredients such as galangal, tamarind and lemongrass. Cooking methods include a balance of stir-frying, boiling and steaming.

West Asian cuisine
West Asian cuisine significantly overlaps with the Middle Eastern cuisine and the inclusion of the South Caucasus.

West Asian cuisine is the cuisine of the various countries and peoples of West Asia. The cuisine of the region is diverse while having a degree of homogeneity. Some commonly used ingredients include olives and olive oil, pitas, honey, sesame seeds, dates, sumac, chickpeas, mint and parsley. Some popular dishes include kibbeh and shawarma.

Cereals constitute the basis of West Asian diet, both historically and today. Wheat and rice are the major and preferred sources of staple foods. Barley is also widely used in the region and maize has become common in some areas as well. Bread is a universal staple, eaten in one form or another by all classes and groups practically at every meal.

Butter and clarified butter (also known as Semna) are, traditionally, the preferred medium of cooking. Olive oil is prevalent in the Mediterranean coastal areas. Christians use it during Lent, when meat and dairy products are excluded, and Jews use it in place of animal fats such as butter to avoid mixing meat and dairy products.

Lamb and mutton have always been the favored meats of West Asia. Pork is prohibited in both Islam and Judaism, and as such is rarely eaten in the region. Prominent among the meat preparations are grilled meats, or kebabs. Meat and vegetable stews, served with rice, bulgur, or bread, are another form of meat preparation in the region.

Vegetables and pulses are the predominant staples of the great majority of the people in the West Asia. They are boiled, stewed, grilled, stuffed, and cooked with meat and rice. Among the green leafy vegetables, many varieties of cabbage, spinach, and chard are widely used. Root and bulb vegetables, such as onions and garlic, as well as carrots, turnips, and beets are equally common.

Central Asian cuisine

 * Bukharan Jewish cuisine
 * Kazakh cuisine
 * Koryo-saram cuisine
 * Kyrgyz cuisine
 * Tajik cuisine
 * Turkmen cuisine
 * Uzbek cuisine

East Asian cuisine

 * Ainu cuisine
 * Chinese cuisine
 * Hong Kong cuisine
 * Japanese cuisine
 * Korean cuisine
 * Macanese cuisine
 * Mongolian cuisine
 * North Korean cuisine
 * South Korean cuisine
 * Taiwanese cuisine

North Asian cuisine

 * Buryat cuisine
 * Chukchi cuisine
 * Russian cuisine
 * Sakha cuisine
 * Sakhalin Korean cuisine
 * Yamal cuisine
 * Yup'ik cuisine

South Asian cuisine

 * Afghan cuisine
 * Balochi cuisine
 * Bangladeshi cuisine
 * Bhutanese cuisine
 * Hazara cuisine
 * Indian cuisine
 * Maldivian cuisine
 * Nepali cuisine
 * Pakistani cuisine
 * Pashtun cuisine
 * Sri Lankan cuisine

Southeast Asian cuisine

 * Bruneian cuisine
 * Burmese cuisine
 * Cambodian cuisine
 * Christmas Island cuisine
 * East Timorese cuisine
 * Filipino cuisine
 * Indonesian cuisine
 * Lao cuisine
 * Malaysian cuisine
 * Singaporean cuisine
 * Thai cuisine
 * Vietnamese cuisine

West Asian cuisine

 * Arab cuisine
 * Armenian cuisine
 * Assyrian cuisine
 * Azerbaijani cuisine
 * Bahraini cuisine
 * Cypriot cuisine
 * Eastern Arabian cuisine
 * Egyptian cuisine
 * Emirati cuisine
 * Georgian cuisine
 * Jewish cuisine
 * Jordanian cuisine
 * Kurdish cuisine
 * Kuwaiti cuisine
 * Lebanese cuisine
 * Levantine cuisine
 * Iranian cuisine
 * Iraqi cuisine
 * Israeli cuisine
 * Omani cuisine
 * Ossetian cuisine
 * Palestinian cuisine
 * Qatari cuisine
 * Saudi Arabian cuisine
 * Syrian cuisine
 * Turkish cuisine
 * Yemeni cuisine

title: Asian cuisine


text:
User:Erwin (SUL)

Not much to say.

title: User:Erwin (SUL)


text:
Action Pact (album)

Action Pact is the seventh album by Canadian rock band Sloan. The album was named after "Youth Action Pact," a song by the 1980s Halifax band Jellyfishbabies. Action Pact was released on August 19, 2003 by ViK Recordings. The album debuted at #11 on the Canadian Albums Chart. The album does not include any songs written by Andrew Scott, and is therefore the only Sloan album that does not include at least one track written by each band member.

Track listing
All songs credited to Sloan.
 * 1) "Gimme That" (Chris Murphy) – 2:39
 * 2) "Live On" (Patrick Pentland) – 3:11
 * 3) "Backstabbin'" (Patrick Pentland) – 2:51
 * 4) "The Rest of My Life" (Chris Murphy) – 2:45
 * 5) "False Alarm" (Jay Ferguson) – 3:47
 * 6) "Nothing Lasts Forever Anymore" (Chris Murphy) – 3:18
 * 7) "Hollow Head" (Patrick Pentland) – 3:37
 * 8) "Ready for You" (Chris Murphy) – 2:07
 * 9) "I Was Wrong" (Patrick Pentland) – 2:52
 * 10) "Who Loves Life More?" (Chris Murphy) – 3:26
 * 11) "Reach Out" (Patrick Pentland) – 3:28
 * 12) "Fade Away" (Jay Ferguson) – 4:46

B-sides
 * "Will You Ever Love Me Again?" (Chris Murphy) (US import)
 * "Step on It, Jean" (Jay Ferguson) (US import, 7" single)
 * "Dirty Nails" (written by Temple Bates/Amy Bowles, and originally performed by Pony Da Look) ("Step on It, Jean" 7" single)

Singles

 * "The Rest of My Life" (2003)
 * "Live On" (2003)
 * "Nothing Lasts Forever Anymore" (2004)

title: Action Pact (album)


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POUM

The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista, POUM; Partit Obrer d'Unificació Marxista, POUM) was a Spanish communist party formed during the Second Republic and mainly active around the Spanish Civil War. It was formed by the fusion of the Trotskyist Communist Left of Spain (Izquierda Comunista de España, ICE) and the Workers and Peasants' Bloc (BOC, affiliated with the Right Opposition) against the will of Leon Trotsky, with whom the former broke.

Formation
In 1935, POUM was formed as a communist opposition to the Stalinist form of Communism promoted by the Soviet Union, by the revolutionaries Andreu Nin and Joaquín Maurín. Nin was heavily influenced by the thinking of Leon Trotsky, particularly his permanent revolution thesis. It resulted from the merging of the Communist Party's Left Opposition (the Trotskyist Communist Left of Spain) and the Right Opposition (the Workers and Peasants' Bloc). This alliance was against the wishes of Trotsky, with whom the Communist Left of Spain broke.

Position
The party grew larger than the official Communist Party of Spain (PCE) both nationally and in the communist hotbeds of Catalonia and the Valencian Country, where the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) represented the PCE. The POUM was highly critical of the popular front strategy advocated by Joseph Stalin and the Comintern; nevertheless, it participated in the Spanish Popular Front initiated by Manuel Azaña, leader of Acción Republicana. The POUM attempted to implement some of its radical policies as part of the Popular Front government, but they were resisted by the more centrist factions.

George Orwell, who fought alongside the POUM in the civil war, reports that its membership was roughly 10,000 in July 1936, 70,000 in December 1936, and 40,000 in June 1937, although he notes that the numbers are from POUM sources and are probably exaggerated.

Conflict with the PCE and PSUC
The POUM's independent communist position, including opposition to Stalin, caused huge ruptures with the PCE, which remained fiercely loyal to the Comintern. Moreover, these divisions, which included accusations of Trotskyism (and even fascism) by the Communists, resulted in actual fighting between their supporters; most notably, in 1937, a primarily Communist coalition of government forces attacked the POUM during the Barcelona May Days. While the larger Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (National Confederation of Labour, CNT) supported the POUM at first, the moderate leadership of the CNT dropped its support after it joined the government. Radical elements within the anarchist movement however fought side by side in the streets of Barcelona during the May Days and were isolated as well, like the Friends of Durruti. The POUM, along with the purely Trotskyist Seccion Bolshevik-Leninista, became isolated, and both organizations were driven underground. Nin was detained and presumably tortured to death by NKVD agents in Alcalá de Henares, Nin and his party were consistently labeled as provocateurs in Stalinist propaganda.

International links
The POUM was a member of the London Bureau of socialist and centrist Marxist parties that rejected both the reformism of the Second International and the pro-Moscow orientation of the Third International. Other members included the Independent Labour Party in Britain, the Workers and Peasants' Socialist Party (PSOP) in France, and Poale Zion. Its youth wing was affiliated to the International Bureau of Revolutionary Youth Organizations, through which it recruited the ILP Contingent in the Civil War. Foreign supporters of POUM during the Civil War included Lois Orr.

Transition era
During the Spanish transition to democracy, the POUM was legalized in 1977. This led to a split in the party, with one faction opposing formal legalization, calling for a boycott of the 1977 general election and demanding the immediate restoration of the republic. The legalized party participated in the election as part of the Front for Workers' Unity (FUT), a coalition of parties and organisations to the left of the PCE which won 0.22% of the nationwide vote. The election result led to a crisis for the POUM as well as for most parties to the left of the PCE, from which it was not able to recover.

The POUM continued to exist as a small party with an office in Barcelona and a monthly newspaper, La Batalla, calling for cooperation among the various far-left parties, but an attempted merger with Communist Action and the Collective for Marxist Unification failed during a "Unification Congress" in 1978. After this setback, the POUM decided not to participate in the 1979 elections. POUM branches in several cities became part of local coalitions and unification attempts with various far-left groups. In 1980, the POUM made its last electoral efforts, supporting Herri Batasuna in the Basque country and participating in the Left Bloc for National Liberation (BEAN - Unitat Popular) coalition in the Catalan parliamentary election, but the party was disintegrating. La Batalla ceased publication in May 1980, marking the end of the POUM as an organized party, though it was never officially dissolved. As a last remnant, the Valencia branch remained active until 1981. Former members of the POUM formed the Fundación Andreu Nin (Andreu Nin Foundation) to preserve the heritage of their party and ideological current.

Cultural references
British author George Orwell fought alongside members of the Independent Labour Party as part of POUM militias; he recounted the experience in his book Homage to Catalonia. Likewise, the film Land and Freedom, directed by Ken Loach, tells of a group of POUM soldiers fighting in the war from the perspective of a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain who initially fought for the POUM before he later joined his CPGB comrades in the International Brigades. In particular, the film goes on to deal with his disillusionment with the Soviet Union's policies in the war while he was fighting with the International Brigades, after which he decided to return to his POUM comrades shortly before the POUM's June 1937 suppression.

The POUM is briefly mentioned in Joe Haldeman's science fiction novel The Forever War as a militia where "(y)ou obeyed an order only after it had been explained in detail; you could refuse if it didn't make sense."

Victor Serge dedicates Midnight in the Century to Andreu Nin and other slain leaders of the POUM.

Discussion of POUM in Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls (Collier edition, p. 247).

In William Herrick's novel "Hermanos!", the American Communist protagonist comes to Spain in order to fight Fascism, but gets diverted into hunting down members of POUM. The POUM activists which the protagonist tortures and executes are depicted very sympathetically, shown bravely defiant and sticking to their positions to the bitter end - eventually causing the protagonist to undergo a crisis of conscience, break with the Party and become a dissident himself.

Ian Fleming's From Russia with Love (Signet edition, p. 50) states that Rosa Klebb infiltrated the POUM and may have murdered Andrés Nin Pérez.

In Margaret Atwood's prize-winning novel, The Blind Assassin, a fictional newspaper account details the actual battles between the POUM and the Stalin-backed Communists in Barcelona; the title of the newspaper article is Red Vendetta in Barcelona and mentions the purges against the POUM by Stalinist Communists "well armed by Russia".

title: POUM


text:
Marmalade (disambiguation)

Marmalade is a sweet conserve made with fruit.

Marmalade may also refer to:

Music

 * Marmalade (band), a Scottish pop music group
 * "Marmalade" (song), a 2017 song by Macklemore featuring Lil Yachty
 * "Marmalade", a 1998 song by System of a Down from their album System of a Down
 * Marmalade Records

Other

 * Marmelade, a town in Haiti
 * Marmalade (film), a 2024 romantic heist film
 * Marmalade (insurance), a UK insurance company
 * Marmalade (magazine), a British art and culture quarterly
 * Marmalade (software), a cross-platform game framework for mobile devices, formerly called Airplay SDK
 * Marmalade Atkins, a children's fictional character
 * Marmalade District (Salt Lake City), Utah, US
 * Trevor Marmalade (born 1962), Australian comedian

title: Marmalade (disambiguation)


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Langdon Cheves

Langdon Cheves ( September 17, 1776 – June 26, 1857) was an American politician, lawyer and businessman from South Carolina. He represented the city of Charleston in the United States House of Representatives from 1810 to 1815, where he played a key role on the home front of the War of 1812. Cheves was a leader among the War Hawk faction of the House. He served as chairman of the Committees on Naval Affairs and Ways and Means under Speaker of the House Henry Clay, then succeeded Clay as Speaker in the war's final stages. After leaving the House, he served as President of the Second Bank of the United States from 1819 to 1823.

After leaving public office, Cheves was an active advocate for unified Southern resistance to protective tariffs and any attempt to abolish slavery, though an opponent of unilateral action by South Carolina or any one state. Originally, Cheves advocated for a convention of Southern states to pressure Congress into adopting these positions, but eventually became one of the earliest advocates for outright regional secession from the United States.

Early life
Langdon Cheves was born on September 17, 1776, at Bulltown Fort, on the Rocky River in South Carolina. His father, Alexander, was a native of Buchan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. His mother, Mary Langdon, was from Virginia and had migrated to the South Carolina backcountry with her father, a farmer and doctor. Their neighbors included Andrew Pickens and the Calhoun family.

Cheves was born in Bulltown Fort amidst an ongoing war between the Scots-Irish settlers and the Cherokee, which settlers attributed to British instigation at the onset of the American Revolution. Cheves's pregnant mother was sheltered at the fort for her protection. Shortly after his birth, his maternal aunt left the fort for supplies and was killed and scalped by enemy forces.

His mother died on November 20, 1779. Cheves later described standing at his mother's grave as his earliest childhood memory. He was shortly thereafter placed in the care of his paternal aunt and uncle, Thomas and Margaret (née Agnew) Cheves. Cheves's father Alexander enlisted in the Loyalist cause under Major John Hamilton, but his brother Thomas was a Patriot who fought under Andrew Pickens at the Battle of Kettle Creek. After the Loyalist cause became dire in 1782, Alexander Cheves transferred his property to Langdon, likely in fear of confiscation. He entered exile, first in Nova Scotia and then in London. He was not received favorably by British courts and was not remunerated for his service and decided to return to America.

Langdon was raised by his aunt and uncle on their family farm with four younger cousins. When they reached an appropriate age, the children began studies under Andrew Weed, a community leader and ruling elder in the local Presbyterian Church. The studies centered on the Westminster Catechism.

In 1785, Alexander Cheves returned from exile with his second wife, Susannah Craig, established a business in Charleston, and retrieved his son Langdon from his brother. Langdon continued his formal education from 1786 to 1788 with a Scottish schoolmaster who eliminated his backcountry drawl through corporal punishment. Around 1790, his father purchased a house slave named Phoebe.

Business career
At age 12, Langdon's father withdrew him from school and apprenticed him to James Jaffray, a merchant, Glasgow native, and fellow member of the city's St. Andrew's Society. Langdon started by performing menial tasks at the Charleston shop before being promoted to supercargo to accompany shipments to and from Edisto Island. By 1792, at age 16, he had been promoted to chief clerk. In this role, he met and impressed many of the city's key merchants, including John Potter, from whom Cheves personally secured a loan for the business and who later, as a director of the Bank of the United States, secured Cheves's election as its president.

Legal career
In spite of the advice of his friends, who thought him "born to be a merchant," Cheves began studying law at age 18. His early education was largely self-taught from a personal library, but he hired a personal tutor for French and Latin. After the death of his employer James Jaffray on October 15, 1795, Cheves met William Marshall, an attorney assigned to Jaffray's estate and future judge of the South Carolina Court of Equity. Cheves applied to read law in Marshall's office, and his apprenticeship began in early 1796. Although South Carolina law required four years of reading for non-college graduates, Cheves appeared for examination before the bar on October 13, 1797, and passed.

He opened an office in Charleston which he rented from Elihu H. Bay and shared with Robert James Turnbull. To improve his public speaking, Cheves joined a Philomathean Debating Society, which doubled as a social club. There, he met William Lowndes.

By May 1800, Cheves's practice and social standing had grown. He had purchased a slave to serve as a personal servant, improved his dress, and applied to practice before the United States Court for District of South Carolina. In 1801, he accepted a partnership with Joseph Peace, a Quaker and native to the West Indies. The partnership was a financial success; each man made over $10,000 annually, and in its final two years from 1807 to 1809, each made $20,000 (approximately $ in ).

When he became Attorney General of the state of South Carolina in 1808, the firm's work and prestige expanded dramatically. Among Cheves's young private clerks during these two years were John M. Felder, John Laurens North, Thomas Smith Grimké, and future U.S. Senator Robert Young Hayne. Cheves would later bestow his legal practice on Hayne.

In the summer of 1807, Peace announced his plans to leave Charleston for Philadelphia, and Cheves, who believed Peace had not fulfilled his share of the partnership, eagerly arranged the firm's dissolution. He planned to retire from law, but first accepted a one-year partnership with Amos B. Northrup.

State politics
In summer 1798, stemming from outrage over French mistreatment of American ambassador and Charleston native Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Cheves joined and became a treasurer of the Charleston Federalist Company, an informal social-military group formed to defend the harbor in the event of an ostensible French invasion.

On March 9, 1802, Cheves was elected to the Charleston City Council to succeed William Lee.

South Carolina House of Representatives
In October 1802, he was elected to represent the city (as the Parish of St. Philip and St. Michael) in the South Carolina House of Representatives. By this time, the Federalist Party was in rapid decline in the state, even its previous stronghold of Charleston. Cheves was identified with the younger Republican faction. He was not actively involved in the business of the House, focusing instead on his legal practice and declining to run for re-election in 1804.

Cheves returned to politics in 1806, running for the House again at the head of the Republican ticket. He received more votes than any other candidate. Upon the start of the new term, Cheves was appointed chair of the Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Privileges and Elections.

In a special legislative session, Cheves took an active part in the reapportionment of the state to address the disproportionate representation of Lowcountry whites. The resultant constitutional amendment, known as the "Compromise of 1808," was guided by William Lowndes and resulted in permanent control by the combined planter aristocracy.

1808 presidential election
In the wake of the Chesapeake–Leopard affair, Cheves served with Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Thomas Pinckney, and William Washington on a non-partisan committee enforcing Charleston resolutions requiring ten days' mourning and barring assistance to British ships. Cheves also anonymously (as "Aristides") wrote editorials in support of President Thomas Jefferson and the Embargo of 1807.

He endorsed James Madison over Charles Pinckney, urged the election of pro-Madison Representatives, and stood for re-election as one such Representative. He was elected by the legislature to head the electoral ticket and cast his vote for Madison.

South Carolina Attorney General
On December 7, 1808, Cheves was elected South Carolina Attorney General. In this role, he advised Governor John Drayton on legal matters, personally represented the state in the eastern circuit courts, and expanded his private practice.

1810
As the embargo on European goods dragged on, the South Carolina economy suffered. Rice prices were halved and cotton collapsed. By 1810, Charlestonians and South Carolinians at large were deeply discontent with the 11th Congress and President Madison. With the Federalist Party now a non-factor, the election was contested between competing Republican factions.

Alongside E.S. Thomas of the City Gazette, friends of Thomas Jefferson including Charles Pinckney supported William Loughton Smith, a former Federalist Congressman who had served as John Adams's minister to Portugal. However, a much larger portion of the party in Charleston favored Cheves, and the Smith supporters eventually got in line. The election was held October 10–11, but was overshadowed by a fire in the city that destroyed 194 houses. Cheves was elected without opposition. The other new members of the delegation were William Lowndes, representing Columbia and John C. Calhoun of the Upstate.

Shortly after his election to the House, incumbent Robert Marion resigned early, triggering a special election to complete his term. Cheves won unopposed and took his seat early in the 11th Congress.

1812
In 1812, Cheves was re-elected to the 13th Congress. His opponent was the leader of the South Carolina Federalists, John Rutledge Jr. Cheves was attacked for his support of the War, especially in light of his 1808 letters which vigorously opposed "war for commerce." Federalists also accused Cheves of private discrimination against immigrants. He remained personally aloof from the campaign, only writing to assure his constituents that he acknowledged their confidence and valued it "more highly than money." He won re-election comfortably, 1,581–839.

Committee assignments
During his brief first term in office, during the 11th Congress, Cheves served on two minor select committees: one dealing with bank incorporations and the other on the completion of the 1810 Census.

In his second term, Cheves served on the Committee on Ways and Means and chaired of the Select Committee on Naval Affairs. He became acting chair of Ways and Means on April 27, 1812.

War of 1812
Immediately upon his arrival in Washington, Cheves was faced with the brewing international crisis that eventually resulted in the War of 1812. British impressment of Americans had become less frequent, but both Britain and France maintained obstacles to American trade with the other. The House had recently passed Macon's Bill Number 2 in retaliation, and Napoleon had relaxed the French restrictions. In a debate over repealing Macon's Bill, Cheves delivered a careful maiden speech critical of the bill as feeble and calling for a "more direct and proper course." He was immediately identified as a "War Hawk".

War Mess
In the 12th Congress, to which Cheves had originally been elected, his housemates included Lowndes, Calhoun, fellow Hawk Henry Clay, Clay's rival Felix Grundy, and Senator George M. Bibb. The building came to be called the "War Mess" and served as a meeting place for pro-War leaders of Congress and Secretary of State James Monroe, who acted as liaison to the President. As a consequence, the residents of the house were among the best informed Representatives in the 12th Congress.

At the opening of the Congress in a special session on November 4, 1811, Clay was overwhelmingly elected Speaker of the House. He proceeded to appoint War Mess men to key committee posts. Calhoun and Grundy were appointed on the Foreign Relations Committee, Lowndes on Commerce and Manufactures, and Cheves was given the chairmanship of the Select Committee on Naval Affairs. He was made second man on the powerful Committee on Ways and Means.

In March 1812, the War Mess privately pressed Madison, through Monroe, to request an embargo of British trade, followed by formal declaration of war from Congress. Madison eventually agreed, and the United States formally declared war against Great Britain on June 18. Cheves later remembered that the War Mess were "like school boys, [they] sprang up, and in the excess of their joy danced... a reel."

Naval Affairs
As chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, Cheves had a key role in preparedness and appropriations for the potential war ahead. He began by submitting detailed requests to Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton and Secretary of War William Eustis. By December, he had catalogued the nation's limited naval strength and begun to plan, with Hamilton's and Eustis's advice, appropriations for additional ships and fortifications.

On December 17, 1811, he submitted two reports on naval affairs. The first recommended $1,000,000 (approximately in ) "for the defense of our maritime frontier" by refortifying existing defenses. The second authorized the purchase of ship timber, repair of all vessels not in use, the establishment of a national repair dock, and the construction of ten additional frigates, "averaging thirty-eight guns."

Cheves delivered a speech on behalf of the committee on January 17, 1812, defending a reinvigorated Navy as the only effective protection for American "commerce and our neutral rights on the ocean." The bill was opposed by orthodox Jeffersonians like David R. Williams, who had long opposed the existence of any Navy whatsoever. The sections providing for the construction of new ships and a new dockyard were struck down, but the timber purchase and repair provisions passed on January 29. The maritime fortifications bill passed overwhelmingly, 88–25, on February 4. Cheves's forceful advocacy for the Navy led former Federalist Samuel Taggart to remark, "whatever [Cheves] may be nominally he is in reality as high a toned Federalist as ever was Alexander Hamilton."

Ways and Means
As the second ranking member on the Ways and Means Committee, Cheves also had a key role in securing the appropriations to fund the War. Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin estimated the war would require about $21,000,000 in new revenues, with about half in debt and half raised in new taxes.

After a new embargo went into effect on April 1, 1812, the House declined to recess. Ways and Means chair Ezekiel Bacon, took a leave of absence on April 27, making Cheves the acting chairman of the powerful committee as the war began.

One of Cheves's primary goals on Ways and Means was to persuade those who feared higher internal taxes or the restraining commercial effect on tariffs to join the war effort. To lighten the tax burden, Cheves attempted to repeal the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809 in order to use the duties assessed on imports to lower internal taxes. Cheves introduced the repeal bill on June 19, the day after war was declared; repeal was defeated on June 25, with Speaker Clay casting the deciding vote in opposition.

Break with Clay
In November 1812, following the July recess and his re-election to a second term, Cheves returned to the House to secure funding for the war. The ensuing debate divided the War Mess between the South Carolinians, who favored free trade and internal taxes, and the Speaker Clay, Felix Grundy and other Republicans. The primary issue was the seizure of merchants' bonds: bonds purchased by American merchants who imported British goods during a gap in the embargo.

They purchased these bonds against their goods, which were then sold at an extremely high profit due to wartime inflation. Cheves, along with Calhoun and Lowndes, opposed efforts to allow the Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, to seize the bonds. Cheves was outvoted in committee but refused to defend the proposal in front of the House, deferring to Richard Mentor Johnson to advocate in his place.

In response to Johnson's advocacy, Cheves attacked the measure as an impermissible delegation of Congress's legislative authority. He extended his criticism to Clay's general program of restrictive economics, arguing that it devastated the American coastal economy in striking at the British. When Clay attempted to introduce a measure to preserve the protective system but exempt the bonds at issue, Cheves, Calhoun, and Lowndes maintained their opposition. Ultimately, the Ways and Means report was defeated in the House on December 11 by a vote of 49–52; the South Carolinians won, but at the expense of unity within the War faction. After Cheves was unable to push through any internal tax increase by the end of the term in March, the House approved a $5,000,000 issue of Treasury notes and a $16,000,000 loan at Secretary Gallatin's request.

Cheves's declaration against Clay's protective system caused issues at home as well as in Washington. Governor of South Carolina Joseph Alston called Cheves a "political Jesuit" and declared his seat (as well as those of the other South Carolina representatives) vacant for the next term on the technicality that Cheves had not notified the governor of his acceptance. Charlestonians denounced Alston until he bowed to pressure and delivered the commissions.

13th Congress
Upon his arrival in Washington for the 13th Congress in March 1813, Cheves learned that Clay had stripped him of all committee assignments.

As a result, he had little involvement in the debates over national policy and focused his efforts on securing Charleston against the threat of a British invasion. In June, Cheves personally lobbied Secretary of War John Armstrong Jr. to allow Thomas Pinckney, in command of the Southern Department of the War, to disperse his troops along the coast. He voted against President Madison's proposed embargo, which passed regardless and further alienated New England Federalists.

Speaker of the House
On January 14, 1814, President Madison nominated a commission to negotiate peace with Britain, including Albert Gallatin, John Quincy Adams, and Speaker Henry Clay. With Clay out of the country, he was forced to resign his office, triggering an election to succeed him on January 19. The Federalists threw their support to Cheves, who won a slight majority over Felix Grundy, who had the support of the majority of the Republican caucus, and former Speaker Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina. Clay urged the Republicans to unite behind Cheves.

As Speaker, Cheves was a strict parliamentarian. He demanded members confine their remarks to the motion pending and did not tolerate personal attacks, as had been frequent under Clay. He made only one speech, lamenting losses in the war but urging the government to continue to prosecute it vigorously. By April, with Napoleon on the verge of apparent defeat and Britain threatening total domination over maritime commerce, Cheves successfully saw repeal of Clay's restrictive system. He soon thereafter returned to Charleston and informed party leaders that he would not be a candidate for re-election to a third term.

In September, Congress returned urgently to Washington for a special session. On August 24, with Washington evacuated, the British had burned the capital. The night after, a tornado destroyed much of what remained. The House relocated to a small room in the General Post and Patent Office Building, itself a former hotel.

Defeating the Second National Bank
In addition to the physical destruction the capital, Congress faced a budget crisis; $74,000,000 was necessary to keep the government solvent. Treasury Secretary George W. Campbell resigned rather than offer a solution, and banks throughout the country had begun to suspend cash payments. Cheves himself declined President Madison's offer to serve as Campbell's successor; instead, Madison appointed Alexander J. Dallas.

To persuade banks to subscribe to government loans, Dallas suggested the imposition of new taxes and the revival of the national bank. Republicans defeated efforts to recharter the First National Bank in 1811, but were willing to contemplate a new charter given the present crisis. Dallas presented a plan recommending $50,000,000 in bank capital, $6,000,000 in specie and the remainder in government bonds. The government would subscribe $20,000,000. John C. Calhoun, with Cheves's backing, counter-proposed a bank to serve the financial community that would bar investors from buying stock using Treasury notes issued during the war.

On January 2, the Dallas plan came before the House. Cheves cast the deciding vote against the bill. He argued instead for an independent bank, as the Calhoun plan provided. The bill failed 80–81, but was passed on reconsideration on January 7; Madison vetoed the bill.

Other acts
In September, Cheves cast the tie-breaking vote in the House to relocate the capital from Washington, but the House reversed itself a week later with no alternate location selected.

When Vice President Elbridge Gerry died on November 23, 1814, the office of President pro tempore of the Senate was vacant, and so Cheves briefly became next in line for the presidency. This status lasted for two days until Senator John Gaillard was chosen president pro tempore.

After his term expired, he devoted himself exclusively to his law practice in Charleston bar. In 1815, he was made a judge of the superior court of South Carolina.

Cheves was appointed chief commissioner of claims under the Treaty of Ghent.

Background
Shortly after Cheves left office in March 1815, President Madison successfully lobbied the new 14th Congress to re-charter the National Bank, headquartered in Philadelphia and governed along much the same lines as its 1791 predecessor. Madison and Secretary Dallas successfully installed William Jones as its first President.

Under Jones's leadership, the Bank was soon overextended through branch loans and the decision to accept promissory notes, often backed in its own stock, from subscribers in lieu of specie. Nevertheless, the Bank initially flourished in the booming post-war economy.

Jones's tenure came to an end in January 1819. At that time, the country was experiencing a financial panic, the Panic of 1819, which left the Bank on the brink of collapse. Cheves himself later referred to the Bank during this period as "a ship without a rudder or sails, on short allowance of provisions and water, on a stormy sea and far from land." It paused operations on July 20, 1818, and demanded payment of specie from state banks, bankrupting many and leading to a wave of resentment.

Election
In December 1818, Charleston stockholders in the Second Bank asked Cheves for his permission to propose his name for the Bank presidency at the upcoming board meeting, and he consented. Cheves was himself a founding but inactive member of the board of the Charleston branch, who later described himself as "ignorant and unapprehensive of the situation of the bank."

His Charleston supporters enlisted the powerful support of Stephen Girard of Philadelphia and Alexander Brown of Baltimore. They elected Cheves to the board of the directors on January 5, 1819, but with no desire for a divisive leadership fight, failed to unseat Jones as president. Cheves accepted his seat with hopes that he would be elevated in 1820 when Jones, then ill, retired. Instead, Jones and the board were indicted by a House select committee chaired by John Canfield Spencer for violations of the Bank charter, poor management, and speculation. Jones resigned in disgrace on January 21. Cheves was his natural successor; he briefly considered, but declined, the chance to succeed William Johnson on the U.S. Supreme Court and accepted the presidency on February 15 and was sworn in on March 6.

Tenure
The day after Cheves took office, the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court John Marshall delivered his opinion in the case McCulloch v. Maryland, upholding the Bank's exemption from state taxation, harboring the Bank against its political opponents at the state level.

Shortly after he entered office, Cheves also presided over the establishment of a new bank building at Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. The building was completed in 1821.

Monetary policies
Cheves's early tenure focused on rectifying the failed promises of Jones's administration, enforcing monetary contractions at the branch level by ordering branches in the South and West to stop issuing notes and eastern branches to stop receiving them. He also reduced salaries and opened a correspondence with Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford. On April 9, he called a meeting of the board of directors to outline his six proposals, which the board approved overwhelmingly:
 * that the curtailment of loans begun by Jones be continued;
 * that southern and western offices be forbidden to issue notes whenever such notes would drain the eastern offices of specie;
 * that state banks be required to begin immediate specie payments for debts to the Bank;
 * that the Treasury give the Bank advance notice when it proposed to withdraw funds from a branch where no government deposits had been made;
 * that debentures be paid in the same currency for which they were originally issued; and
 * that additional specie be purchased from abroad to secure the Bank's obligations.

Crawford voiced his displeasure at the requirement of Treasury notice. Cheves himself acknowledged that the curtailment of loans was only a temporary measure adopted at the insistence of Bank officers; he determined to lift the restriction as soon as possible. To Crawford, he wrote that the cause of the reforms was "the restraint put upon the offices, with which exchanges were adverse, in the issue of their notes." Circulation dropped about 25 percent. Though his policies likely ensured the Bank's institutional stability, hard money advocate William M. Gouge blamed his restrictions for the continued depression: "The Bank was saved and the people were ruined."

Within Cheves's first six months as president, a movement was instigated to remove him and return to Jones's policy, but it fizzled and he was re-elected unanimously in 1820.

In 1820, drawing on the works of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus, and J.B. Say, Cheves anonymously defended his policies (under the pen name "Say") an essay titled Inquiry into the Causes of Public Prosperity and Distress. He argued that war-time prosperity had ended because of the failure of the foreign export market, the "diminution and depreciation of our currency," the "failure of manufacturing establishments," and the resulting "diminished demand for labor and capital." Amid this depression, a "pernicious system of banking" had cheapened the currency and produced "a kind of general paralysis," which his policies had reversed. In time, he predicted, agriculture would be restored, though manufacturing would only grow at the same pace as population in the cities and towns.

In January 1821, in an effort to placate the South and West, Cheves proposed a more lenient loan policy provided it was compatible with maintenance of a sound currency. He was opposed only by Nicholas Biddle. He also established a dividend in July 1821 of 1.5%, which increased to 2.5% by January 1822.

Structural reforms
Also in 1819, Cheves deputized director Nicholas Biddle to investigate James A. Buchanan, George Williams, and James W. McCulloch for illegally purchasing bank stock worth nearly $3,500,000 and accumulating large and unauthorized personal indebtedness against the Bank. Biddle's investigation revealed fraudulent inflation in the price of the Bank's stock and personal enrichment by all three men. McCulloch was removed as cashier and Buchanan resigned as president.

In 1820, subordinate officers in Richmond and Philadelphia were forced to resigned for misconduct and unreported deficiencies. Cheves called for investigations into the business policies of western branches and legal protections for the Bank by Congress amending the charter:
 * the term of Bank directors to be extended to more than three years;
 * legal protection for the Bank against frauds committed by its own officers;
 * officials other than the President and cashier deputized to sign bank notes; and
 * branches required by charter to accept only their own notes or those of the parent bank in Philadelphia.

These calls were unsuccessful; no Congressional majority could be gained to side with Cheves during his presidency.

Resignation and succession
As early as 1821, Cheves had resolved to retire from his post by January 1823. He made his decision known to Secretary Crawford in May 1822 and announced it at the stockholders meeting on October 1, after which a struggle to succeed him ensued. Cheves first fended off a challenge by Jones supporters who sought to reverse his policies; the board he nominated was elected unanimously.

Among the Cheves supporters, Secretary Crawford solicited Albert Gallatin, but received little approval from the directors. Roswell L. Colt lobbied for his nephew, Nicholas Biddle. Biddle was also a friend of President Monroe. Robert Gilmor Jr. advised Cheves that Biddle was "unsuitable." Cheves adamantly preferred a Philadelphian, but disliked Biddle as pretentious for his opposition to his liberalization policies. Baltimore directors lobbied heavily for a resident of that city, but were split between Thomas Ellicott and John White, who had succeeded McCulloch as branch cashier, and were unable to overcome Cheves's preference for a Philadelphian. Cheves ultimately settled William M. Meredith but, fearing Meredith was unqualified, asked White to accept the role of cashier to act as de facto President. White rejected this plan.

Meanwhile, Biddle began to actively campaign for the position. Emphasizing support from Crawford and Monroe, he openly expressed his willingness to serve. He gained support from John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun, Stephen Girard, and powerful Philadelphia stockholders. In November, Cheves publicly supported Biddle as his successor and he was voted in 14–1.

Retirement
After leaving the Bank, Cheves remained in Philadelphia until 1826, when he moved his family to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He returned his family to South Carolina in 1830 to become rice planters and continued to engage in public debate, writing occasional essays and reviews. He was a leading advocate for the idea of a unified Southern resistance to national government, particularly in opposition to tariffs and the abolition of slavery.

In 1823, he was appointed to adjust American claims under the St. Petersburg Convention. Most of the disputed claims concerned slaves seized by the British navy from southern plantations, and Cheves was chosen by Southern Congressmen as a sympathetic pro-slavery voice. After a series of delays and disagreements, the British agreed to pay a lump sum for the seized slaves, which would be distributed to American slaveowners by a commission consisting of Cheves, Henry Seawell, and James Pleasants. During their adjudication, Cheves argued against admitting the testimony of the slaves themselves, but Congress intervened against him to side with Seawall and Pleasants. He resigned the commission early after approving two claims.

In 1823–1824, Cheves was asked to re-enter the political arena as a Democratic-Republican Party candidate for the office of U.S. President in time for the 1824 election; he turned this offer down. In 1828, he endorsed Andrew Jackson over his friend Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams. Jackson considered Cheves for Secretary of the Treasury, but he was passed over in favor of Samuel Ingham.

Nullification and secession
During the nullification crisis of 1828–33, Cheves urged tariff reduction, as did most members of the South Carolina planter class. In contrast to many of his allies, however, Cheves spoke highly of regional union in opposition to "the metaphysics of nullification" as a distinctly South Carolinian issue. He framed the issue as "a great Southern question, in which South Carolina is not more interested than the rest of the Southern States" and therefore urged the formation of a convention of States to present a unified front of resistance and pressure Congress into tariff reduction. He also recalled the failure of Georgia in resistance to the Supreme Court decision Worcester v. Georgia. His compromise position was not popular with either the outright Nullifier or Unionist factions. Cheves decried both factions as divisive and the popular rancor over the issue a betrayal of representative constitutional democracy.

Cheves stayed aloof from the intrastate conflict over the crisis until 1832, when he joined the Unionists after they adopted his call for a convention of Southern states and were successful in reducing the tariff, over the Nullifiers' objections. Cheves directly countered Calhoun, now Vice President of the United States, arguing that "[t]here is not a shadow of support for the doctrine of Constitutional Nullification... in the Constitution of the United States." He did nonetheless decline to directly join the Unionist campaign and refused election as a delegate from Sumter County to the Unionist state convention.

In 1837, he opposed a recharter of the National Bank, arguing that excessive centralization threatened to snap the taut binds between the States:

"'Those who wish the Union to last, should not desire to make the Government stronger. The cord is one which will not bear stretching; you may multiply its strands but you will destroy the material. Touch it with power and it will snap like a thread.'"

In 1844, amid renewed calls for nullification over the Tariff of 1842, Cheves emphatically revived his prior position, calling for no action by South Carolina without the backing of the entire South. This time, he added that such action was also necessary to defend slavery, without which the South would become "blackened ruins, with a remanent of the African race wandering amidst them in all the mistery of desolation and hopelessness." Throughout the following decade, Cheves's idea of unified Southern action became increasingly popular, leading to a series of informal commercial and political conventions throughout the region.

In the summer and autumn of 1850, Cheves served as a delegate to the Nashville Convention, which adopted resolutions denouncing the Compromise of 1850. In the convention's second, more radical session, Cheves took a leading role by personally offering and advocating for a resolution that "secession by the joint action of the slave-holding States is the only efficient remedy for the aggravated wrongs which they now endure and the enormous evils which threaten them in future, from the usurped and unrestrained power of the federal government."

At the state convention of 1852, Cheves worked to prevent South Carolina from seceding unilaterally, maintaining his belief in Southern unity.

Planting and real estate
Cheves's plantation, called Delta, made heavy use of slave labor; when his daughter was married in late 1830, Cheves gifted her forty-one slaves and three house servants. The total number of slaves held on the plantation throughout his management varied around 200. Cheves frequently replaced his plantation's overseers through his eleven years as its manager, finding that they were inadequate "manager[s] of Negroes." He employed lashings but refused to employ methods of punishment that he believed would "extend so far as to endanger life and health." In 1835, he inherited a second plantation focused on cotton production, which he named Lang Syne, and an additional 94 slaves. A third plantation, Southfield, was established for his youngest son Hayne in 1845.

Family
Cheves met his wife, Mary Elizabeth Dulles, on a return trip from Montréal. She was a young Charleston resident at boarding school in Philadelphia, rooming with Cheves's law partner's sister-in-law. Cheves's party agreed to escort the two girls home to Charleston. They were engaged to be married by December 1805.

They were married on May 6, 1806, at the Dulles home in Charleston. The couple had fourteen children including proslavery essayist Louisa McCord. Their eldest son, Joseph, attended Yale before transferring to Harvard, where he was a member of the Porcellian Club. Joseph graduated in 1826 and read law in New York City. Alexander Cheves attended the United States Military Academy at West Point before studying and practicing law in Baltimore. He later succumbed to alcoholism and became estranged from his father.

Mary died on April 5, 1836, at the age of forty-six.

Religion
Cheves was a lifelong Presbyterian.

Civic organizations
In 1814, he was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society. In 1821, Cheves was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society and Mercantile Library Association in Philadelphia.

Views on evolution
Like many wealthy men of his day, Cheves was interested in science. The physician and geologist Joseph Le Conte was an acquaintance. In his autobiography, Le Conte wrote that Cheves had articulated to him a theory of evolution almost identical to Charles Darwin's, long before Darwin published his Origin of Species. However, Cheves never published his ideas on the subject.

Death and burial
After the death of his son-in-law David McCord and son Charles in 1855, Cheves suffered a stroke which left him partially paralyzed. He moved to Columbia, South Carolina with his daughter Louisa, and lived there until his death on June 26, 1857.

He was laid in state in Charleston City Hall and was buried at the Scots Presbyterian Church.

title: Langdon Cheves


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Russell Smith (writer)

Russell Claude Smith (born August 2, 1963 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a Canadian writer and newspaper columnist. Smith's novels and short stories are mostly set in Toronto, where he lives.

Biography
Smith grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He attended the Halifax Grammar School and Queen Elizabeth High School, and studied French literature at Queen's University, the University of Poitiers, and the University of Paris III. He has an MA in French from Queen's.

As a freelance reporter and cultural commentator, he has published in the New York Review of Books, Details, The Walrus,Toronto Life, Flare, Now, EnRoute and other journals. He won the William Allen White award for magazine writing in 1995.

From 1999 to 2020, Smith wrote a weekly column on the arts for The Globe and Mail. On resigning from the column, Smith published an article in The Walrus blaming his departure on a lack of editorial support.

He was the host of the CBC radio program on language, And Sometimes Y, for two seasons.

Smith taught the Fiction Workshop in the University of Guelph's Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing programme from 2009 to 2017.

In 2019 he became an acquiring editor for Dundurn Press.

Smith was born with complete complex syndactyly, having inherited the deformity from his father and grandfather; Smith's own son, Hugo, was born with the condition.

Fiction
His early novels, How Insensitive (1994) and Noise (1998), are satirical and comic portrayals of big-city life and the sexual mores of young people. How Insensitive was nominated for the Governor General's Award, at that time the most prestigious Canadian literary prize. Noise was published in German as Glamour by List Verlag. His book of short stories, Young Men, followed in 1999. The opening story in that collection, "Party Going", won the Canadian National Magazine Award for fiction in 1997.

He then published an illustrated fantasy novella, The Princess and the Whiskheads, an allegory about the role of art in a metropolis. The illustrations were by Wesley Bates.

His pornographic novel, Diana: A Diary in the Second Person (2003), was published by Gutter Press under the pseudonym Diane Savage. The novel was republished, under his own name, with a new introduction, by Biblioasis in 2008.

Muriella Pent (2004) is a longer and more ambitious novel, concerning the arrival of a Caribbean writer of mixed race in the stodgy environment of official Canadian culture. It was shortlisted for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, and named as Best Fiction of 2004 by Amazon.ca.

His novel Girl Crazy was published by HarperCollins Canada in 2010.

His short story collection, Confidence, was published in 2015, and was longlisted for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize. One of the stories in that collection, "Raccoons", won the Canadian National Magazine Award for fiction in that year.

Other works
In 2005 Thomas Dunne Books published Smith's non-fiction book, Men's Style: The Thinking Man's Guide To Dress, which is based on his regular column on men's fashion in the Canadian national newspaper, The Globe and Mail. The book was illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham.

Smith's memoir Blindsided: How Twenty Years of Writing About Booze, Drugs and Sex Ended in the Blink of an Eye is available as an e-book.

In 2018, Smith compiled and edited the anthology Best Canadian Stories 2018 (Biblioasis).

In 2020, Smith translated Quebec novelist Nadine Bismuth's novel Un Lien Familial, as A Family Affair (Anansi).

title: Russell Smith (writer)


text:
Talk:Amiga keyboard

Is there really any point in devoting a whole page to the layout of the Amiga keyboard? Lumpbucket 14:05, 12 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * Not really. I wouldn't protest if it was merged with the Amiga article. --cprompt
 * Done. Lumpbucket 09:41, 19 Aug 2003 (UTC)

title: Talk:Amiga keyboard


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Diego Martínez Barrio

Diego Martínez Barrio (25 November 1883, in Seville – 1 January 1962) was a Spanish politician during the Second Spanish Republic, Prime Minister of Spain between 9 October 1933 and 26 December 1933 and was briefly appointed again by Manuel Azaña on 19 July 1936 - two days after the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. From 16 March 1936 to 30 March 1939 Martínez was President of the Cortes. In 1936, he was briefly the interim President of the Second Spanish Republic, from 7 April to 10 May.

Biography
Barrio was born in Seville. A member of the Radical Republican Party, he was the Minister in the Alejandro Lerroux government but later he left the party for dissatisfaction with the politics of Lerroux.

Martínez consequently founded and led the Republican Union and participated in the Spanish Popular Front, being elected to government in 1936. He led the integration of the Republican Union into the Popular Front, being elected the speaker of the Cortes (Spanish Parliament). In February 1939, he rejected to replace Manuel Azaña as president of the Republic. Following the resignation of Santiago Casares Quiroga two days after the outbreak of the civil war, he was appointed prime minister on 19 July 1936. As part of his intention to avert war, his cabinet ignored the left wing of the Popular Front, but he would last just a few hours, and he resigned later the same morning, after an unsuccessful appeal to Nationalist General Emilio Mola to avoid war, and was succeeded by José Giral. He fled the country after Francisco Franco came to power in 1939.

He was the Grand Master of the Grande Oriente Español from 1929 to 1934.

After the fall of the Republic, he went into exile, first to France and then to Mexico, where, in 1945, he was designated president of the Republic in exile until 1962. Martínez finally returned to Paris, where he died.

In 2000, his remains were moved to Seville.

title: Diego Martínez Barrio