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Murder of Dru Sjodin

Dru Katrina Sjodin (September 26, 1981 – c. November 22, 2003) was an American woman who was abducted from the Columbia Mall parking lot in Grand Forks, North Dakota, by Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., on November 22, 2003. Her disappearance and murder garnered great media coverage throughout the United States and prompted the creation of the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Registry.

Murder
At 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 22, 2003, Sjodin, a 22-year-old college student at the University of North Dakota and Gamma Phi Beta sorority member, finished her shift at the Victoria's Secret store located in the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks, North Dakota. After shopping for and purchasing a new purse from Marshall Field's, Sjodin left the mall and began walking to her 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass. During this time, Sjodin was speaking with her boyfriend, Chris Lang, on her cell phone. Four minutes into their conversation, Lang reports Sjodin was saying "Okay, okay," before the call abruptly ended. Lang suspected that the call was just dropped and because Sjodin didn't give any sense of urgency, Lang thought nothing of it. About three hours later, Lang received another call from her cell phone, but heard only static and the sound of buttons being pressed. It was reported by authorities this second phone call originated somewhere near Fisher, Minnesota, but that has remained unsubstantiated. With this second call and Sjodin not showing up at her other job at the El Roco nightclub, there was concern for her whereabouts. A week later, on December 1, a suspect, 50-year-old registered level-3 sex offender Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. (born February 18, 1953), was arrested in connection with Sjodin's disappearance.

Perpetrator
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. was the son of migrant farm workers Dolores and Alfonso Rodriguez Sr., who traveled between Crystal City, Texas, and Minnesota and then decided to settle in 1963 in Crookston, Minnesota. He admitted to using many drugs during his youth and committed his first sexual assault with a knife when he was 21 by attempting to rape a woman he asked to give him a ride home.

Rodriguez had been released from prison May 1, 2003, after serving a 23-year prison term for rape, aggravated assault and kidnapping a woman. Rodriguez had also previously pleaded guilty to rape and was convicted multiple times for rape. He had a long criminal record that included repeated sexual assaults against women. He was released as a Minnesota Level 3 sex offender which meant he was highly likely to reoffend.

Police investigation
Police reports indicate that Rodriguez claimed to have been near Columbia Mall on the evening of Sjodin's disappearance, reportedly watching Once Upon a Time in Mexico at the Columbia Mall Cinema 4. This claim was disproven as the film was not screening at that cinema or any other local theater at the time. Further investigations revealed receipts from Rodriguez's purchases at various stores around the mall, including one from a nearby Menards store for a knife. Notably, Rodriguez possessed two specific tool kit knives available only at a certain home center store located approximately a mile from the mall. These knives, however, were not purchased on the day Sjodin vanished, and their exact purchase date remains unknown. In Rodriguez's car, police found one of these tool kit knives submerged in a cleaning solution in the rear wheel well. Additionally, a woman's shoe and another knife with blood matching Sjodin's DNA were discovered in the vehicle.

Sjodin's body was recovered on April 17, 2004, just west of Crookston, Minnesota, when deep snow drifts began to melt. Crookston is also where Rodriguez lived with his mother. Sjodin's body was found partially nude and face down in a ravine. Her hands were tied behind her back; she had been beaten, stabbed, and sexually assaulted, and had several lacerations including a five-and-a-half inch cut on her neck. A rope was also tied around her neck and remnants of a shopping bag were found under the rope, suggesting that a bag had been placed on her head. The medical examiner concluded that she had either died as a result of the major neck wound, from suffocation, or from exposure to the elements. Thousands of people had helped search for Sjodin, and hundreds attended her funeral.

Trial and sentencing
Because Sjodin had been taken across state lines, the crime became a federal case under the Federal Kidnapping Act. This meant that Rodriguez was eligible to receive the death penalty if convicted, a possibility not allowed under North Dakota or Minnesota law, as neither state has the death penalty. It was the first death penalty case in a century to take place in North Dakota. U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Keith Reisenauer and Norman Anderson prosecuted the case against Rodriguez. On August 30, 2006, Rodriguez was convicted in federal court of kidnapping resulting in death for the murder of Dru Sjodin, and on September 22, 2006, the jury recommended that he receive the death penalty. On February 8, 2007, Rodriguez was formally sentenced to death by U.S District Judge Ralph R. Erickson. He is imprisoned at the United States Penitentiary, Coleman in Florida. Judge Erickson arranged that Rodriguez would be executed in South Dakota.

In October 2011, defense attorneys filed a federal habeas corpus motion claiming that Rodriguez is mentally disabled. On June 28, 2013, Rodriguez admitted his guilt in a death row interview with Dr. Michael Welner.

Appeals
In 2021, the same judge who sentenced Rodriguez to death, Ralph R. Erickson, now a judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, overturned his sentence and ordered that a new sentencing phase be conducted due to "misleading testimony from a medical examiner and limitations on mental health evidence". The testimony in court of Michael McGee, the Ramsey County Medical Examiner, was “unreliable, misleading and inaccurate” and that Rodriguez's attorneys did him a disservice by opting to limit the mental health evaluation of Rodriguez which could have resulted in the possible use of the insanity defense by their client.

On March 14, 2023, prosecutors announced that they would no longer seek the death penalty for Rodriguez. Rodriguez was sentenced to life without parole on May 18, 2023.

Legacy
Legislation dubbed "Dru's Law", which set up the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Registry, was passed in 2006 and signed into law by President George W. Bush. The Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW) is an unprecedented public safety resource that provides the public with access to sex offender data nationwide. NSOPW is a partnership between the U.S. Department of Justice and state, territorial and tribal governments, working together for the safety of adults and children.

In 2004, a scholarship in Sjodin's name was set up at the University of North Dakota.

A memorial garden for Sjodin opened in her hometown of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, and another is planned for the UND campus.

title: Murder of Dru Sjodin


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Metamictisation

Metamictisation (sometimes called metamictization or metamiction) is a natural process resulting in the gradual and ultimately complete destruction of a mineral's crystal structure, leaving the mineral amorphous. The affected material is therefore described as metamict.

Certain minerals occasionally contain interstitial impurities of radioactive elements, and it is the alpha radiation emitted from those compounds that is responsible for degrading a mineral's crystal structure through internal bombardment. The effects of metamictisation are extensive: other than negating any birefringence previously present, the process also lowers a mineral's refractive index, hardness, and its specific gravity. The mineral's colour is also affected: metamict specimens are usually green, brown or blackish. Further, metamictisation diffuses the bands of a mineral's absorption spectrum. Curiously and inexplicably, the one attribute which metamictisation does not alter is dispersion. All metamict materials are themselves radioactive, some dangerously so.

An example of a metamict mineral is zircon. The presence of uranium and thorium atoms substituting for zirconium in the crystal structure is responsible for the radiation damage in this case. Unaffected specimens are termed high zircon while metamict specimens are termed low zircon. Other minerals known to undergo metamictisation include allanite, gadolinite, ekanite, thorite and titanite. Ekanite is almost invariably found completely metamict as thorium and uranium are part of its essential chemical composition.

Metamict minerals can have their crystallinity and properties restored through prolonged annealing.

A related phenomenon is the formation of pleochroic halos surrounding minute zircon inclusions within a crystal of biotite or other mineral. The spherical halos are produced by alpha particle radiation from the included uranium- or thorium-bearing species. Such halos can also be found surrounding monazite and other radioactive minerals.

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

title: Metamictisation


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List of British Columbia general elections

Elections to the unicameral legislative body of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, are held every four years. Fixed election dates for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, occurring every four years, were instituted in 2002, after the Constitution (Fixed Election Dates) Amendment Act (SBC 2001 c.36) was passed in 2001. The regular election date for the Legislative Assembly is set to occur on the third Saturday in October in the fourth calendar year after the previous election, with the next election scheduled for October 19, 2024.

The number of seats has increased over time, from 25 for the first election in 1871, to the current 87.

Every election from 1871 to 1986 elected a portion of its MLAs from multi-member constituencies, usually two-member constituencies. Voters in these districts had as many votes as there were seats (block-voting), and generally the party with the most supporters in the district filled all the seats, with no representation left for the others. This generally helped ensure the sitting government's capture of the most seats. (It also makes the "popular vote", the votes cast, not truly reflective of the sentiment of the voters, due to some voters casting two (or more votes) and others only one.)

Until the 1903 election, British Columbia politics were officially non-partisan – political parties were not part of the official process. One of the first parties to be noticed in BC politics, the Nationalist Party espoused "National Socialism", based on Edward Bellamy's writings, and favoured nationalization of industry. Its candidate Robert Macpherson was elected MLA in 1894 and 1898.

The general non-partisanship changed in the 1898 and 1900 elections with the official listing of party candidates, and federal political parties were recognized in the provincial election of 1903. The first elections held along party lines (1903–41) were primarily contested by the Conservative Party (which won five elections during this period) and the Liberal Party (which won six elections).

For three terms during and immediately after World War II, the legislature was managed by a coalition government between the Conservatives and the Liberals. The Social Credit Party dominated elections from 1952 to 1986, winning eleven of the twelve elections (the single exception a NDP victory). Provincial politics since 1986 have been dominated by the New Democratic Party (NDP) which won both elections held in the 1990s, and by the Liberal Party, which won the 2001 election and the next three elections.

Since 2017, the government has been formed by the NDP. From 2017 to 2020, the NDP formed a minority government with a confidence and supply agreement with the Green Party. Following the 2020 election, the NDP formed a majority government.

Absentee voting
Contemporary elections in British Columbia use a relatively unique system of handling absentee ballots. While all jurisdictions in Canada allow for absentee voting through advance communication with the appropriate federal or provincial election agency, British Columbia is unique in allowing same-day absentee voting at any polling station in the province; ballots so cast are not counted locally on election night, however, but are sent to the voter's home riding and counted two weeks after election day. One important effect of this is that a particularly close race, such as the nine-vote margin that initially separated the main candidates in Courtenay-Comox in the 2017 election, may not have a winner officially declared until the absentee ballots have been counted at the later date; as well, because the absentee vote tends to favour the New Democratic Party rather than the Liberal Party, a district narrowly won by the Liberals has a higher chance of being flipped by absentee voters than a narrow NDP win does.

The system exists both to serve commuters in the Greater Vancouver Area, where requiring people to vote at home frequently forced suburban districts to cope with sudden crowds of late voters at the end of the day, pushing past poll closing time and delaying the counting of the results in those areas, and because the province has a much higher than normal proportion of people who work away from home for long periods in remote natural resources sites.

Before 1903
Prior the 1903 election, political parties in British Columbia were not officially recognized in provincial elections. During this period, some candidates declared their support for the administration as "Government" candidates, while those not in support ran as "Non-Government" or Independent candidates. However, these pre-election alignments often did not persist once the House was seated as allegiances would frequently shift.

While there were no official party lines, there were unofficial yet unstable ones. Premiers Amor De Cosmos and Joseph Martin both sat, at various times, in the federal House of Commons as Liberals, while Premier Edward Gawler Prior sat in the House of Commons as a Conservative. There was also a clear grouping of members who would often sit in opposition to, or in the cabinet of, certain other premiers. De Cosmos and his unofficial Liberals mutually supported each other (i.e. were in each other's cabinets). These premiers included McCreight, Walkem, Bevean, Semlin, and Martin. Meanwhile, Premiers Prior, Dunsmuir, Turner, A.E.B. Davie, Robson, Theodore Davie, Smithe, and Elliot sat in each other's cabinets or otherwise supported one another; while premiers from one group often sat in opposition to premiers from the other.

Since 1903
"Other" encompasses Independent seats and parties that never won more than one seat in an election.


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UCLouvain

UCLouvain (Université catholique de Louvain. also known as the Catholic University of Louvain, the English translation of its French name, and the University of Louvain, its official English name) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It is located in Louvain-la-Neuve, which was expressly built to house the university, and Brussels, Charleroi, Mons, Tournai and Namur. Since September 2018, the university uses the branding UCLouvain, replacing the acronym UCL, following a merger with Saint-Louis University, Brussels.

The original University of Louvain (Universitas Lovaniensis) was founded at the centre of the historic town of Leuven (or Louvain) in 1425, making it the first university in Belgium and the Low Countries, and abolished by law in 1797. This university was the centre of Baianism, Jansenism and Febronianism in Europe. A new university, the State University of Louvain, was founded in 1817 and abolished by the law in 1835. A new catholic university was founded in Mechlin in 1834, the Catholic University of Mechlin and moved to Leuven in 1835 that is frequently, but controversially, identified as a continuation of the older institution. In 1968 the Catholic University of Leuven split into the Dutch-language Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, which stayed in Leuven, and the French-language Université catholique de Louvain, which moved to Louvain-la-Neuve in Wallonia, 30 km southeast of Brussels. Since the 15th century, Leuven/Louvain, as it is still often called, has been a major contributor to the development of Catholic theology.

History
The Catholic University of Leuven, based in Leuven ("Louvain" in French), 30 km east of Brussels, provided lectures in French from its founding in 1834, and in Dutch from 1930. In 1968, the Dutch-language section became the independent Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, which remained in Leuven, while the French-speaking university was expelled to a greenfield campus and town, Louvain-la-Neuve, 30 km south-east of Brussels, in a part of the country where French is the official language. This separation also entailed dividing existing library holdings between the two new universities.

With the democratization of university education already stretching existing structures, plans to expand the French-speaking part of the university at a campus in Brussels or Wallonia were quietly discussed from the early 1960s, but it was not anticipated that the French-speaking section would become an entirely independent university and lose all of its buildings and infrastructure in Leuven. The first stone of the new campus at Louvain-la-Neuve was laid in 1971, and the transfer of faculties to the new site was completed in 1979.According to a 2007 agreement, the University of Louvain was to absorb three smaller French-speaking catholic colleges: the Facultés universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix (FUNDP) located in Namur, the Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis (FUSL) located in Brussels (later called Saint-Louis University, Brussels) and the Catholic university of Mons (FUCaM) located in Mons and Charleroi. The negotiations for a full merger aborted by an insufficient vote by the general assembly of the FUNDP in December 2010. The result was a merger between the University of Louvain and the FUCaM in Mons, effective from 15 September 2011. The Mons campus is denoted UCLouvain FUCaM Mons. The three universities still collaborate in consortium, the Académie Louvain. Within this group, member universities have coordinated their masters programmes in the fields of economics, management, political sciences and sciences as well as the doctoral programmes in all disciplines.

In September 2018, the University of Louvain (or UCL until then) and Saint-Louis University, Brussels de facto merged, founding the UCLouvain, a denomination they currently share.

Chronology
In 1425, Dukes of Brabant created the University of Louvain (Université de Louvain), which was suppressed under Joseph II, reopened in 1790, and was finally closed under the French Republic in 1797.

In 1817, the State University of Louvain (Université de l'Etat de Louvain) was founded, which closed 15 August 1835.

In 1834, the Catholic bishops of Belgium created the Catholic University of Belgium (Université catholique de Belgique) in Mechlin, also known as the Catholic University of Malines (Université catholique de Malines).

A law passed on 27 September 1835 stated that there would be only one university funded by the State of Belgium in Louvain. The same year, shortly after the suppression of the State University, the Catholic University of Belgium moved to Louvain. It took advantage of the reputation of the city as an ancient university centre and adopted a new name: Catholic University of Louvain (Université catholique de Louvain).

In a Catholic spirit inspired by Pope Gregory XVI, the promoter and first rector of the university, Monseigneur de Ram, wanted to create a shield that would repulse religion's enemies and block every doctrine weakening the base of Catholic society.

The pharmacy school was founded in 1845 and the engineering school in 1865.

In 1884 the Catholic University of Louvain celebrated its fiftieth anniversary.

In 1968, as a result of linguistic issues, the university was divided into two different universities: one French speaking, which moved to the province of Walloon Brabant, and one Dutch speaking, which remained in the same location.

In 1970, these two universities were established by law as the Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven and Université catholique de Louvain.

In 1971, the first foundation stone was laid in Louvain-la-Neuve, a new city constructed for the French-speaking university.

Student population
Evolution of the number of students at the University of Louvain, including the FUCaM in Mons that integrated the UCL in 2011, Saint-Louis University, Brussels that formally integrated the university in 2023.

Sector of Human Sciences (SSH)

 * Faculty of Law and Criminology (DRT), Louvain-la-Neuve
 * School of Criminology
 * Saint-Louis Faculty of Law (DRTB), Saint-Louis Brussels
 * Faculty of Philosophy, Arts and Literature (FIAL), Louvain-la-Neuve
 * Higher Institute of Philosophy (ISP)
 * School of Philosophy (EFIL)
 * Department of Languages and the Arts
 * French and Romance languages and literature (ROM)
 * Modern Languages and Literatures (LMOD)
 * Ancient languages and literatures (classical and oriental) (GLOR)
 * Modern and ancient languages and literature (LAFR)
 * Linguistics (LING)
 * Louvain School of Translation and Interpreting (LSTI)
 * Department of History, Art History and Archaeology
 * History (HIST)
 * Art History, Archaeology and Musicology (ARKE)
 * Department of Information and Communication
 * Multilingual communication (MULT)
 * Performing Arts (THEA)
 * Information and Communication Sciences and Technologies (ICTS)
 * Saint-Louis Faculty of Philosophy, Arts and Human Science (PHLB), Saint-Louis Brussels
 * Marie Haps Faculty of Translation and Interpreting (TIMB), Saint-Louis Brussels
 * Faculty of Economic, Social and Political Sciences and Communication (ESPO), Louvain-la-Neuve, Mons & Charleroi
 * Commission for the Aggregation and In-service Training of Teachers (AGES)
 * School of Communication (COMU)
 * Economics School of Louvain (ESL)
 * Interfaculty School of European Studies (EURO)
 * Hoover Chair - Teaching Commission (HOOV)
 * Open Faculty of Economic and Social Policy (FOPES)
 * Louvain School of Political and Social Sciences (PSAD).
 * Undergraduate Bureau (ESSP)
 * School of Labour Sciences (TRAV)
 * Saint-Louis Faculty of Economic, Social and Political Sciences and Communication (ESPB), Saint-Louis Brussels
 * Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (PSP), Louvain-la-Neuve
 * School of Psychology (EPSY)
 * School of Speech Therapy (ELOG)
 * School of Education and Training (EDEF)
 * School of Sexology and Family Sciences (ESFA)
 * Faculty of Theology (TECO), Louvain-la-Neuve
 * Doctoral School of Theology and Biblical Studies (EDT)
 * Departement of Theology (THEO)
 * Department of Bible Studies (EBIB)
 * Department of Religious studies (SREL)
 * Louvain School of Management (LSM), Louvain-la-Neuve, Mons, Namur & Brussels
 * Saint-Louis Institute for European Studies (IEEB), Saint-Louis Brussels

The faculties of Philosophy, Arts and Human Sciences, Economic, Social, Political and Communication Sciences (ESPB), Law (DRTB), the Institute for European Studies (IEEB) and the Marie-Haps Faculty of Translating and Interpreting of autonomous UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles campus are not attached to their corresponding counterparts of UCLouvain.

Sector of Health Sciences (SSS)

 * Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry (MEDE), Brussels
 * Louvain Medical School (MED)
 * School of Dentistry and Stomatology (MDEN)
 * Faculty of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (FASB), Brussels
 * School of Pharmacy (FARM)
 * School of Biomedical Sciences (SBIM)[[File:Auditoires des Sciences and Place des Sciences photographed on a drizzly evening in December (Ecole Polytechnique de Louvain, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium).jpg|thumb|Auditoires des Sciences and Place des Sciences]]
 * Faculty of Public Health (FSP), Brussels
 * Faculty of Motor Sciences (FSM), Louvain-la-Neuve

Sector of Science and Technology

 * Louvain School of Engineering (EPL), École polytechnique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve
 * School of Urban and Spatial Planning (URBA)
 * Faculty of Architecture, Architectural Engineering and Urban Planning (LOCI), Brussels, Tournai & Louvain-la-Neuve
 * Faculty of Bioengineering (AGRO), Louvain-la-Neuve
 * Department of Applied Biology and Agricultural Production (BAPA)
 * Department of Chemistry and Bioindustries (CABI)
 * Cluster in Environmental Sciences
 * Faculty of Science (SC), Louvain-la-Neuve
 * School of Biology (BIOL)
 * School of Chemistry (CHIM)
 * School of Geography (GEOG)
 * School of Physics (PHYS)
 * School of Mathematics (MATH)
 * School of Veterinary Medicine (VETE)
 * School of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Sciences (LSBA)

Campuses
While the main campus of the University of Louvain is based in Louvain-la-Neuve, it also comprises a campus in Brussels, UCLouvain Brussels Woluwe, in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, which until recently was called "Louvain-en-Woluwe" hosting the university's sector of medical science and primary academic hospital (8000 students), a campus in Mons called UCLouvain FUCaM Mons (2300 students), a minor installation in Charleroi with 133 students (as of 2011) at UCLouvain Charleroi, an architectural school in Tournai, UCLouvain Tournai, with 540 students (as of 2011), and an architectural school in Brussels, UCLouvain Bruxelles Saint-Gilles, with 570 students (as of 2011). With the merger with Saint-Louis University, it also comprises an independent campus specialized in education and research of social and human sciences in the center of the City of Brussels, UCLouvain Saint-Louis - Bruxelles and the Marie-Haps Faculty of Translating and Interpreting in Ixelles' European quarter, next to the European Parliament (4150 students).

Hospitals
UCLouvain's main medical implementation is in UCLouvain Brussels Woluwe, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Brussels, where the faculty of medicine is installed.

 * Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels
 * CHU UCLouvain Namur, Namur
 * CHU UCLouvain Dinant-Godinne, Dinant and Yvoir.
 * Centre Hospitalier Neurologique William Lennox, Louvain-la-Neuve

Museums and collections
The UCLouvain hosts Belgium's largest university museum in Louvain-la-Neuve; the Musée L. It exhibits part of the university's 32,000 piece wide collection of art and scientific objects including works of Dürer, Van Dyck, Goya, Rodin, Picasso, Magritte or Alechinski, sculptures, archaeological and ethnographic objects or specimens of natural history.

The UCLouvain FUCaM Mons campus also owns the extended collection of the Convent of the Black Sisters in the city-center of Mons, where the university has placed its Ateliers des FUCaM campus.

UCLouvain Saint-Louis Brussels also owns a classical and modern art collection, primarily paintings recovered from its original campus in Mechelen.

Rankings
The University of Louvain educates around 27,261 students from 127 nationalities in all areas of studies at its different campuses. It has educated a large part of Belgium's elite and is still considered, with its Dutch-speaking sister, as a centre of excellence in many fields. In 2006, it was ranked 76th in the world universities ranking established by the Times Higher Education supplement (24th in Europe).

In the 2011 QS World University Rankings the University of Louvain was ranked 125th overall in the world, moving up one place from its position of joint 126th in the 2009 THE–QS World University Rankings (in 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings parted ways to produce separate rankings). An overview of the THE-QS Rankings:

QS World University Rankings

Cercles
Cercles are Student Societies or Fraternities based around each faculty. The Cercles, along with the Régionales (which are based around their respective regions of origin) coordinate and manage most of the students' animation and nightlife. Most Cercles run small bars to fund their activities, and also jointly operate a larger nightclub, "La Casa".

Cercles and Régionales are run exclusively by member students known as the committee. These members are elected every year, usually by voting from all members (active or otherwise) wishing to participate, although some Cercles restrict the number of possible voters in some cases.

Aside from promoting student folklore and coordinating student animation, Cercles also offer academic aid to students in their respective faculties and organize more cultural activities, such as visits to museums and/or other cities, conferences, and low-cost trips for students (for example skiing in the Alps during the Winter Break).

Every Cercle and Régionale has its own customs and traditions, but some are practiced by all:

The Baptême (baptism) is a hazing ceremony used by most to induct new members, who then participate in a number of trials and activities involving eggs and other foodstuff, paint, demeaning chants etc. Baptized members (les Baptisés) are among the most common type of members, and some Cercles and Régionales try to only accept new members this way, although it is in no way an obligation to be baptized in order to be a part of a Cercle or to frequent them.

The calotte is a Belgian student cap worn by students attending Catholic universities. They are emblems of student folklore dating back to the late 19th century. Nowadays, most calottes are passed by way of a ceremony known as the coronae. How they are passed and what must be known or done to deserve it depends on the Cercle or Régionale. One thing that is universally known, is that there is a lot of singing involved.

Cercles are notorious for their generally high output of alcohol (especially beer) and low level of cleanliness. Students tend to wear old clothes that they don't mind damaging or dirtying as a consequence, and the overall ambiance is more akin to a rave or a frat-party than a nightclub or sports bar.

Kots
Student accommodation in Belgium comes in the form of a "kot", a term having Belgian Dutch origin. A "kot" can be translated as den or hut. The French way to form the plural of "kot" is "kots" (in Dutch, the plural of "kot" is "koten"). In the bilingual region of Brussels, where there are both Dutch- and French-speaking universities and their students, it is common that "for rent" signs are in French only, with the French plural of "kot".

Kot-à-projet
Unique to UCLouvain a Kot-à-projet (kap) is a kot whose inhabitants have similar interests and who organise activities for the general student population, they are similar to Fraternity and sorority houses, but smaller in size with only the committee living in the kot. Being small several Kots can be situated in the same, university owned, apartment building. One of them is "le kap contes", a kot promoting the art of storytelling. Another is called "Kap Délices" which suggests varied activities such as theme buffets, cooking lessons, and material renting.

Student Union
The AGL (General Assembly of Louvain students) is the UCLouvain's Students' union. The body comprises an executive Committee, and a legislative Council. The Committee consists of ex-officio members: President, Vice-Presidents for Education & Welfare, VP for the Medicine faculty (situated in UCLouvain Brussels Woluwe), General Secretary, Activities Officer, Communications Officer, Operations Officer, Foreign student's Officer, Cultural Officer, Editor-in-Chief & Deputy Editor-in-Chief as well as the president of the council.

Publications
Quinzaine a university produced newsletter, La Savate produced by the AGL and the monthly l'étincelle by the Kot-à-projet KAP Etincelle. Cercles also produce publications.

24h Vélo

The 24 Hour Cycle (24h Vélo) is, nominally, a bicycle endurance road race held in October, organised by CSE Animations (Centre Sportif Etudiant). While there is an elite race with teams of two, Student groups enter novelty themed multi-bike vehicles, in the shape of a Van or Whale for example, for prizes. The quality of these designs range in terms of artistic merit, and ability to stay intact over the duration of the race. A 240-minute race also takes place for teenagers. The event is probably best known for what happens off the track. Concurrent with the race is Belgium's largest student event, with concerts and stands lasting the full 24hrs.

Faculty

 * Paul Pascon, sociologist

Alumni

 * (b. 1966), economist
 * Nimer Assy, (b. 1961) hepatologist
 * Irene Bertschek, economist, Professor at University of Giessen, head of ZEW (Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research)
 * Vitold Belevitch (1921–1999), mathematician
 * Thierry Braspenning Balzacq, professor of political sciences and international relations
 * Gerbrand Ceder, Daniel M. Tellep Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at University of California, Berkeley.
 * Rafael Correa (b. 1963), Ex-President of Ecuador
 * Xavier De Cuyper, agricultural engineer
 * Maryellen Fullerton, lawyer and professor and interim dean at Brooklyn Law School
 * Archduchess Maria-Anna, Princess Galitzine, (b. 1954), Catholic activist
 * Véronique Gouverneur, (b. 1964), professor of chemistry
 * Dyab Abou Jahjah, (b. 1971), Lebanese-Belgian political activist
 * Oly Ilunga Kalenga, (b. 1960), Minister of Health for the Democratic Republic of the Congo
 * Carlos Larraín, President of National Renewal (Chile)
 * Queen Mathilde of Belgium (b. 1973)
 * Joëlle Milquet (b. 1961), law, politician
 * António Mascarenhas Monteiro (1944–2016), judge (law) and first democratically elected president of Cape Verde
 * Pierre De Muelenaere (b. 1958), entrepreneur
 * Philippe Van Parijs (b. 1951), philosopher and economist
 * David Payne (b. 1944), politician
 * Gustavo Petro, (b. 1960), President of Colombia 2022 - 2026
 * Grégoire Polet (b. 1978), French-speaking Belgian writer, laureate of several literary prizes
 * Arnoud de Pret de Calesberg, commercial sciences, InBev
 * Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I. (b. 1947), President of the Oblate School of Theology, San Antonio, Texas
 * Páll Skúlason (b. 1945), philosopher and former Rector of the University of Iceland
 * Vera Songwe, economist
 * Walter Swennen, artist
 * Sophie Warny (b. 1969), Belgian Antarctic researcher
 * Nor Mohamed Yakcop, (b. 1947) Malaysian politician, Malaysian Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, in charge of Economic Planning Unit.
 * Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, (b. 1957) climatology

title: UCLouvain


text:
Doom engine

id Tech 1, also known as the Doom engine, is the game engine used in the id Software video games Doom and Doom II: Hell on Earth. It is also used in Heretic, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, Strife: Quest for the Sigil, Hacx: Twitch 'n Kill, Freedoom, and other games produced by licensees. It was created by John Carmack, with auxiliary functions written by Mike Abrash, John Romero, Dave Taylor, and Paul Radek. Originally developed on NeXT computers, it was ported to MS-DOS and compatible operating systems for Doom ' s initial release and was later ported to several game consoles and operating systems.

The source code to the Linux version of Doom was released to the public under a license that granted rights to non-commercial use on December 23, 1997, followed by the Linux version of Doom II about a week later on December 29, 1997. The source code was later re-released under the GNU General Public License v2.0 or later on October 3, 1999. The dozens of unofficial Doom source ports that have been created since then allow Doom to run on previously unsupported operating systems and sometimes radically expand the engine's functionality with new features.

Although the engine renders a 3D space, that space is projected from a two-dimensional floor plan. The line of sight is always parallel to the floor, walls must be perpendicular to the floors, and it is not possible to create multi-level structures or sloped areas (floors and ceilings with different angles). Despite these limitations, the engine represented a technological leap from id's previous Wolfenstein 3D engine. The Doom engine was later renamed to "id Tech 1" in order to categorize it in a list of id Software's long line of game engines.

Game world
The Doom engine separates rendering from the rest of the game. The graphics engine runs as fast as possible, but the game world runs at 35 frames per second regardless of the hardware, so multiple players can play against each other using computers of varying performance.

Level structure
 A simple setup demonstrating how Doom represents levels internally

Viewed from the top down, all Doom levels are actually two-dimensional, demonstrating one of the key limitations of the Doom engine: room-over-room is not possible. This limitation, however, has a silver lining: a "map mode" can be easily displayed, which represents the walls and the player's position, much like the first image to the right.

Basic objects
The base unit is the vertex, which represents a single 2D point. Vertices (or "vertexes" as they are referred to internally) are then joined to form lines, known as "linedefs". Each linedef can have either one or two sides, which are known as "sidedefs". Sidedefs are then grouped together to form polygons; these are called "sectors". Sectors represent particular areas of the level.

Sectors
Each sector contains a number of properties: a floor height, ceiling height, light level, a floor texture and a ceiling texture. To have a different light level in a particular area, for example, a new sector must be created for that area with a different light level. One-sided linedefs therefore represent solid walls, while two-sided linedefs represent bridge lines between sectors.

Sidedefs
Sidedefs are used to store wall textures; these are completely separate from the floor and ceiling textures. Each sidedef can have three textures; these are called the middle, upper and lower textures. In one-sided linedefs, only the middle texture is used for the texture on the wall. In two-sided linedefs, the situation is more complex. The lower and upper textures are used to fill the gaps where adjacent sectors have different floor and ceiling heights: lower textures are used for steps, for example. The sidedefs can have a middle texture as well, although most do not; this is used to make textures hang in mid air. For example, when a transparent bar texture is seen forming a cage, this is an example of a middle texture on a two-sided linedef.

Binary space partitioning
Doom makes use of a system known as binary space partitioning (BSP). A tool is used to generate the BSP data for a level beforehand. This process can take quite some time for a large level. It is because of this that it is not possible to move the walls in Doom; while doors and lifts move up and down, none of them ever move sideways.

The level is divided up into a binary tree: each location in the tree is a "node" which represents a particular area of the level (with the root node representing the entire level). At each branch of the tree there is a dividing line which divides the area of the node into two subnodes. At the same time, the dividing line divides linedefs into line segments called "segs".

At the leaves of the tree are convex polygons, where further division of the level is not needed. These convex polygons are referred to as subsectors (or "SSECTORS"), and are bound to a particular sector. Each subsector has a list of segs associated with it.

The BSP system sorts the subsectors into the right order for rendering. The algorithm is fairly simple:

 * 1) Start at the root node.
 * 2) Draw the child nodes of this node recursively. The child node closest to the camera is drawn first using a Scanline algorithm. This can be found from looking at which side of the node's dividing line the camera is on.
 * 3) When a subsector is reached, draw it.

The process is complete when the whole column of pixels is filled (i.e., there are no more gaps left). This ordering ensures that no time is used drawing objects that are not visible and as a result maps can become very large without any speed penalty.

Drawing the walls
All of the walls in Doom are drawn vertically; it is because of this that it is not possible to properly look up and down. It is possible to perform a form of look up/down via "y-shearing", and many modern Doom source ports do this, as well as later games that use the engine, such as Heretic. Essentially this works by moving the horizon line up and down within the screen, in effect providing a "window" on a taller viewable area. By moving the window up and down, it is possible to give the illusion of looking up and down. However, this will distort the view the further up and down the player looks.

The Doom engine renders the walls as it traverses the BSP tree, drawing subsectors by order of distance from the camera so that the closest segs are drawn first. As the segs are drawn, they are stored in a linked list. This is used to clip other segs rendered later on, reducing overdraw. This is also used later to clip the edges of sprites.

Once the engine reaches a solid (1-sided) wall at a particular x coordinate, no more lines need to be drawn at that area. For clipping the engine stores a "map" of areas of the screen where solid walls have been reached. This allows far away parts of the level which are invisible to the player to be clipped completely.

The Doom graphic format stores the wall textures as sets of vertical columns; this is useful to the renderer, which essentially renders the walls by drawing many vertical columns of textures.

Floor and ceiling
The system for drawing floors and ceilings ("flats") is less elegant than that used for the walls. Flats are drawn with a flood fill-like algorithm. Because of this, if a bad BSP builder is used, it is sometimes possible to get "holes" where the floor or ceiling bleeds down to the edges of the screen, a visual error commonly referred to as a "slime trail". This is also the reason why if the player travels outside of the level using the noclip cheat the floors and ceilings will appear to stretch out from the level over the empty space.

The floor and ceiling are drawn as "visplanes". These represent horizontal runs of texture, from a floor or ceiling at a particular height, light level and texture (if two adjacent sectors have exactly the same floor, these can get merged into one visplane). Each x position in the visplane has a particular vertical line of texture which is to be drawn.

Because of this limit of drawing one vertical line at each x position, it is sometimes necessary to split visplanes into multiple visplanes. For example, consider viewing a floor with two concentric squares. The inner square will vertically divide the surrounding floor. In that horizontal range where the inner square is drawn, two visplanes are needed for the surrounding floor.

This leads to one of Doom ' s classic limitations which frustrated many mappers for a long time. Doom contained a static limit on the number of visplanes; if exceeded, a "visplane overflow" would occur, causing the game to exit to DOS with one of two messages, "No more visplanes!" or "visplane overflow (128 or higher)". The easiest way to invoke the visplane limit is a large checkerboard floor pattern; this creates a large number of visplanes.

As the segs are rendered, visplanes are also added, extending from the edges of the segs towards the vertical edges of the screen. These extend until they reach existing visplanes. Because of the way this works, the system is dependent on the fact that segs are rendered in order by the overall engine; it is necessary to draw nearer visplanes first, so that they can "cut off" by others further away. If unstopped, the floor or ceiling will "bleed out" to the edges of the screen, as previously described. Eventually, the visplanes form a "map" of particular areas of the screen in which to draw particular textures.

While visplanes are constructed essentially from vertical "strips", the actual low level rendering is performed in the form of horizontal "spans" of texture. After all the visplanes have been constructed, they are converted into spans which are then rendered to the screen. This appears to be a trade off: it is easier to construct visplanes as vertical strips, but because of the nature of how the floor and ceiling textures appear it is easier to draw them as horizontal strips.

Things (sprites)
Each sector within the level has a linked list of things stored in that sector. As each sector is drawn the sprites are placed into a list of sprites to be drawn. If not within the field of view these are ignored.

The edges of sprites are clipped by checking the list of segs previously drawn. Sprites in Doom are stored in the same column based format as the walls are, which again is useful for the renderer. The same functions which are used to draw walls are used to draw sprites as well.

While subsectors are guaranteed to be in order, the sprites within them are not. Doom stores a list of sprites to be drawn ("vissprites") and sorts the list before rendering. Far away sprites are drawn before close ones. This causes some overdraw but usually this is negligible.

There is a final issue of middle textures on 2-sided lines, used in transparent bars for example. These are mixed in and drawn with the sprites at the end of the rendering process, rather than with the other walls.

Games using the Doom engine
The Doom engine achieved most of its fame as a result of powering the classic first person shooter Doom, and it was used in several other games. It is usually considered that the "Big Four" Doom engine games are Doom, Heretic, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, and Strife: Quest for the Sigil.

Games based on the Doom or Doom II code
In the 1990s a handful of developers acquired licenses to distribute total conversions of Doom, and following the 1997 source code release, a number of standalone titles have been produced in the engine, including freeware, fangames and commercial titles.

title: Doom engine


text:
Talk:Charles Olson

Untitled
This article is part of WikiProject Poetry. Please see that page for details.

I would like to discuss the start of a page for The Maximus Poems, in particular, with links to Wikipedia articles on referenced subjects by page number. For an example of what I mean, see the list of references section of the page for Foucault's Pendulum. Any other Olson fans want to do this with me? Snakespeare 23:38, 10 October 2006 (UTC) see a similar treatment of Foucault's Pendulum

JOINED THE ACLU?
You mean, he became a member of the ACLU? Why does this merit a mention? Is this a joke?

Adam Holland 21:23, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

attacking the trivia section
The trivia section was flagged a few years ago as being un-wikipedian, and while I don't want to endorse an overly narrow notion of what belongs here, there are some details that don't seem to fit in this article. Someone has taken the trouble to type up this long anecdote, but it seems to have more to do with Olson's students than him... can anyone find a better place for this material?

 * There is a great story about Olson, his green-and-white 1956 Chevrolet station wagon, and two of his students, Jack Clarke and Robert Hogg (Hogg was from Alberta and a poet himself; he later taught modern and postmodern poetry at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.) Olson moved to Gloucester, Mass., but left his Chevy wagon in Buffalo where he taught. The car was filled with many of Olson’s personal articles. Clarke regarded it nearly a sacred duty to get this vehicle and its contents intact to the great poet. The car wasn't working well, but Hogg agreed to drive it if Clarke would accompany him.  The automatic transmission was slipping badly, in fact needed replacing, but the two students hoped that once they reached the interstate the wagon would carry on to Gloucester. However, when they reached New Canaan on the Massachusetts-New York border, they discovered that a front wheel bearing was heating up excessively. They limped into a repair shop on a Saturday afternoon only to discover that the owner did not have the proper bearing and couldn't get one until the following week. The students did not want to remain in New Canaan several days awaiting the repair. It turned out that the shop owner had for sale a green-and-white 1956 Chevy wagon exactly like Olson's, but with a standard transmission. He was willing to sell this car for $300, just about what it would have cost to repair the wheel bearing and transmission of Olson’s car.  Clarke blanched at the idea of replacing the car without permission, and was concerned that Olson probably could not drive a standard-shift (Olson was a notoriously bad driver). Hogg agreed to take full responsibility for making the exchange in the name of expediency; the replacement vehicle was in better shape all round than Olson's, so this helped in making the decision. The two students paid cash for the car, took off Olson’s plates, put them on the new vehicle, and headed on to Gloucester with the surrogate station wagon now stuffed with Olson’s personal belongings. When they arrived in Gloucester, Olson, accustomed to a sort of strict obeisance from his students, was astonished at Hogg's  brazenness—and that they had found an exact replica of his car except for the transmission. Hogg explained that the switch had been done in the spirit of getting Olson's typewriter and other effects to Gloucester on time, and that the deal had saved money in the end. Olson ceded to the wisdom of the switch knowing he was getting a better car. He eventually learned to drive the stick shift.

-- Doom (talk) 00:33, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

and other modernists
This is a great list of modernists, but seemed excessively long for the purpose at hand. Maybe this could be mined for raw material for Modernism? "Pound, Williams, D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, Stravinsky, Glenn Gould, Georgia O'Keefe, Frida Kahlo, Cartier-Bresson, Andre Kertez, Kandinsky, Picasso, Marsden Hartley, Brancusi, Boccioni, Marinetti, Chaplin, Keaton, D. W. Griffith, G.W. Pabst, Fritz Lang, Orson Welles, John Grierson, Frank Lloyd Wright, etc., etc." -- Doom (talk) 00:41, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

Maximus finished?
The article states at least twice (with 1 verifying source) that The Maximus Poems was completed shortly before C.O.'s death; but the current final sentence of the  The Maximus Poems  section refers to "The final, unfinished volume..." I trust that someone who knows something about the topic can clarify this discrepancy. Phil wink (talk) 21:13, 15 April 2012 (UTC)
 * That's well spotted. A Guide to The Maximus Poems of Charles Olson By George F. Butterick gives a lot of background to the creation of the final volume, to the effect that Olson was immersed in compiling it when he died. When Olson found out he had cancer, he instructed his literary executor Charles Boer to go ahead and publish the volume, though Olson had not specified exactly which poems were to be included.
 * "All the evidence indicates the volume was a developing organism until its final publication. It was not to reach its ultimate form until the summer of 1968, when Olson corrected and returned the proofs to Barry Hall in London. Knowing this, knowing there had been this path or process gave confidence to the editors asked to form the final volume out of the materials left behind at the poet's death."

 * Other sources such as the University of Illinois poetry project, The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Poetry in English (1994), the Academy of American Poets and New Directions publishers support the position that the volume was unfinished. I suspect the confusion comes because both view points are true. The poems may have been finished, the material was ready, but the whole process was not concluded.

 * The source given in the current WP article that states he finished it, is a strong one, published by the Olson archive at University of Connecticut. I think it's best to give the detail, explaining the nuanced state of affairs. I hope that answers your questions. Thanks for flagging it up. Best wishes Span (talk) 22:36, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

 * Span, you asked me to comment on the revision. Most importantly, I truly don't know anything about this, other than what's in the article, and what you've provided above. Having said that, your edits strike me as having solved the problem both diplomatically and accurately.
 * Not to keep your nose to the grindstone, but... the article says (of The Maximus Poems) "In 1950, inspired by the example of Pound's Cantos (though Olson denied any direct relation..." Given that TMP appears to be a sprawling but piecemeal lyrical epic that juxtaposes deep history against the modern day using an Eastern US town as a metaphor for history and humanity, how is it possible that WCW's Patterson (parts of which, at least, were published by 1950) is not considered a primary inspiration? Phil wink (talk) 02:54, 22 April 2012 (UTC)

Letters for Origin
I have the London (Cape Goliard) paperback edition of Letters for Origin, which on the front cover has the subtitle "1950-1955" although on the title page "1950-1956". There are 141 numbered pages and the final item (on page 141) is dated "Nov 8 56". There is no date of publication; the copyright date is 1969. Errantios (talk) 06:47, 23 August 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Charles Olson


text:
List of Alberta general elections

The Canadian province of Alberta holds elections to its unicameral legislative body, the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The maximum period between general elections of the assembly is five years, but the Lieutenant Governor is able to call one at any time. However, the premier has typically asked the lieutenant governor to call the election in the fourth or fifth year after the preceding election. The number of seats has increased over time, from 25 for the first election in 1905, to the current 87.

Alberta's politics has historically been one of long-lasting governments with government changes being few and far between. The province from 1905 to 2015 was ruled by four "dynasties": the Liberal Party (1905–1921); the United Farmers of Alberta (1921–1935), the Social Credit Party (1935–1971), and the Progressive Conservative (PC) Association (1971–2015), the longest political dynasty in Canada. No minority government has ever been elected. Thus, Alberta can be said to have continuously had a dominant-party system for its entire political history, though the dominant party has changed over time.

In 2015, the NDP were elected to government for the first time in Alberta's history. The NDP had Alberta's only one term government thus far.

In 2019 the newly formed United Conservative Party formed the government.

From 1905 to 1956, Alberta elections used a combination of single-member and multi-member districts. From 1905 to 1924, each voter cast as many votes as seats to be filled in the district. From 1924 to the present, each voter has been able to cast just one vote.

From 1905 to 1924, plurality was enough to be elected.

From 1924 to 1956, each voter cast a ranked ballot, creating a hybrid of Single Transferable Voting in multi-member districts and Instant-runoff voting in single-member districts, producing proportional representation in the cities and majoritarian results elsewhere. Only Alberta and Manitoba have used a proportional representation system for any length of time in the history of Canada, although in both provinces it was applied only partially.

Since 1956, Alberta's elections have used single-member plurality, also known as First-past-the-post voting.

Summary
The table below shows the total number of seats won by each political party in each election. Full details on any election are linked via the year of the election at the start of the row, and details for the legislature that followed the election are available at the legislature number. Note that election results show differences at 1926 and 1959, when different electoral systems were adopted, as described in the "Electoral system" section.

Electoral system
Alberta has used a variety of electoral systems in its history, notably a combination of single transferable vote (STV) and instant-runoff voting (IRV) for nearly four decades.

Electoral systems of Alberta
Alberta's first election was fought in 25 single-member first past the post districts. The Liberal government, like other Canadian jurisdictions at the time, introduced two-member constituencies in Edmonton and Calgary in 1909 to accommodate their population. Voting in these multi-member districts was by Block Voting.

Each was broken up into three single-member districts by 1917, as the overall number of districts increased rapidly. As well 1917 saw two other innovations - election of two MLAs by soldiers and nurses overseas; and automatic re-election of 11 MLAs who were serving in the armed forces.

The Liberal government introduced five-member Block Voting constituencies in Edmonton and Calgary in 1921, and made the Medicine Hat into a two-member district. Each voter in the cities was given five votes, in Medicine Hat two votes. The Liberal party led the vote in Edmonton (although not taking a majority of the city vote) and its candidates received multiple votes from the same voters, together taking more votes than the number of Edmontonians who voted. It won all five of Edmonton's seats. Because each voter cast multiple votes in the cities where UFA ran only one candidate, the Liberal party vote tally is inflated (with many of its supporters casting multiple votes for party candidates) while each UFA vote truly represents an individual voter. Although it did not win any seats in the cities, the United Farmers won most of the rural seats. Overall it won a majority of the seats in the Legislature and formed government.

The UFA government, which had campaigned on a promise of electoral reform, retained the existing multi-seat districts and adopted Single Transferable Voting in Edmonton, Calgary and Medicine Hat. Instant-runoff voting (IRV) (AKA Alternative Voting) was put into use elsewhere. STV in Edmonton and Calgary produced mixed roughly proportional results in the election of city MLAs.

IRV elsewhere had little impact as the UFA candidates were extremely popular, usually taking a majority of the vote on the First Count. This would be the pattern for the next two decades with the governing party (UFA then Social Credit) taking a majority of the rural seats, and STV in the cities giving each party its proportion of the city seats. These parallel systems, STV in the cities and IRV in the rest of the province, were used for eight elections over three decades.

During these eight elections the only modifications made were that Albertans serving in armed forces in 1944 elected three armed force representatives, one for each branch - army, navy and air force; Medicine Hat was changed to a single-member district prior to the 1930 election; and the number of MLAs sitting for Edmonton and Calgary changed over time.

Until recently, the pattern has been for one party to take a majority of the seats outside the cities, usually by a majority of the vote outright. Due to the relative small number of seats in the cities, that ensured the party's ascendancy to power. The UFA did not, but the SC and Conservative governments usually took several city seats as well as most of the rural seats.

This pattern was modulated in the 1950s. Due to change to First past the post in the cities, the one-party ascendency was raised to higher level.

In 1955, the SC government was re-elected with a great majority of the seats but for the first time IRV changed the outcome in four districts. In these districts a SC candidate led in the first count but did not take a majority of the vote and each lost out when votes were transferred as per IRV.

Following this turn of events, Ernest Manning's Social Credit government abolished the mixed STV/IRV system, without public consultations or a referendum. The city-wide districts in Edmonton and Calgary were broken up and single-member districts were created, and the use of transferable votes was ended. The government reintroduced first past the post across the province, not seen across the board since 1905. The SC government reaped a windfall of seats in the 1959 election under the new voting system, winning every seat in Edmonton and all but one in Calgary. This result was far in excess of its share of the city vote.

First past the post remains the system used in Alberta and throughout Canada for provincial and federal elections.

title: List of Alberta general elections


text:
Jolt

Jolt may refer to:

 * Jolt Award, an award in the software industry
 * Jolt Cola, a soft drink
 * Jolt gum, a caffeinated chewing gum from the makers of Jolt Cola
 * Jolt Online Gaming, a game server host, game network and broadband internet service provider
 * Jolt (physics), jerk, or surge, in physics, the third derivative of position with regard to time
 * Jolt (comics), a teen heroine from Marvel Comics
 * Jolt (Transformers), several fictional robot supervillain and robot superhero characters from the Transformers robot superhero franchise
 * Jolt, a DC Comics character, and member of The Blasters
 * The Jolt, Scottish band
 * Jolt (film), American action comedy film starring Kate Beckinsale
 * Jolt, a canine actor, playing Lucky the Pizza Dog in Hawkeye

 * As an acronym
 * Harvard Journal of Law & Technology
 * North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology
 * Journal of Open Law, Technology and Society
 * Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, a component of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics

title: Jolt