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Ron Kirk

Ronald Kirk (born June 27, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Trade Representative from 2009 to 2013, as the 97th Secretary of State of Texas, and as the 56th Mayor of Dallas from 1995 to 2002. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Born in Austin, Texas, Kirk is a graduate of Austin's John H. Reagan High School, Austin College, and the University of Texas School of Law. From 1994 to 1995, Kirk worked as the Secretary of State of Texas, until he was elected as the Mayor of Dallas, where he served from 1995 to 2002 and was the first African-American to hold either of those positions. He ran for the United States Senate in 2002, but was defeated by Republican opponent John Cornyn. After his defeat, Kirk worked as a partner at the Houston-based law firm Vinson & Elkins and worked as a lobbyist for Energy Future Holdings and Merrill Lynch.

Kirk was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as U.S. Trade Representative and on March 18, 2009, and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a 92–5 confirmation vote. On January 22, 2013, Kirk announced that he would be stepping down as U.S. Trade Representative

Early life and career
Born in Austin, Texas, Kirk is the youngest of four children; his father was a U.S. postal worker and the family was politically active. He grew up in a predominantly black community, and attended Austin's public schools. He was a leader in high school, and was elected student council president in his senior year at John H. Reagan High School.

Kirk attended Austin College, graduating with a degree in both political science and sociology in 1976. He then went to the University of Texas School of Law. Upon receiving his Juris Doctor in 1979, he practiced law until 1981 when he left to work in the office of then-Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen. In 1983, Kirk returned to Texas to lobby the state legislature in Austin, first as an attorney with the city of Dallas, and later with a law firm.

Kirk is the nephew of civil rights leader William Astor Kirk.

Texas political career
In 1994, Kirk worked for then-Texas Governor Ann Richards as Secretary of State of Texas. The following year, Kirk ran for mayor of Dallas. With support of Dallas' business community and influential members of the city's African American community, Kirk was successful in his bid and became the first African American mayor of Dallas, Texas, while winning 62 percent of the total vote in 1995.

During his tenure as mayor, Kirk earned the reputation of being a coalition-builder, managing to keep the always-tumultuous Dallas City Council and Dallas School Board together. Under his leadership, he proposed the "Dallas Plan", a vision for the next 25 years, which included the controversial Trinity River Project, a $246 million plan that called for constructing a network of parks and privately owned toll roads in the flood plain of the Trinity River. He also pushed the construction of the American Airlines Center, whose opening he oversaw in 2002.

In 1999, Kirk was re-elected as mayor of Dallas in a landslide with 74 percent of the vote. The only incident in the campaign was a radio campaign ad that used music from Star Trek and described Kirk as the "captain of the Dallas Enterprise", citing the city's bond program, the new sports arena and new roads. The ad was pulled after Paramount's lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter.

In 2002, Kirk resigned as mayor of Dallas in order to run for the Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Phil Gramm. Facing then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn; Kirk lost with 43 percent of the vote to Cornyn's 55 percent.

Post-mayoral career
Following his failed bid for Senate, Kirk returned to the law firm of Gardere Wynne Sewell in Dallas. He was briefly a candidate for chairman of the Democratic National Committee after the 2004 election. Later he was a partner with the Houston-based law firm Vinson and Elkins, where, according to Texans for Public Justice, he was, as of March 2007, one of the four highest paid lobbyists for Energy Future Holdings Corporation.

During the Democratic National Convention, Kirk came out in favor of establishing the U.S. Public Service Academy as a civilian counterpart to the military service academies.

U.S. Trade Representative
Although there was speculation that Kirk would be appointed Secretary of Transportation by President Barack Obama, he was given the position of Trade Representative.

Nomination
As a supporter of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), his selection drew criticism from opponents of free trade policies. His nomination ran into further controversy when it was revealed that he owed $9,975 in back taxes. As compensation for speeches he gave from 2004 to the present, he had $37,750 of payments made directly to a scholarship fund at Austin College. Kirk should have included the $37,750 payments with his gross income and then claimed a charitable deduction for the same amount. Kirk also claimed deductions for three years of season tickets to the Dallas Mavericks as qualifying entertainment expenses. In order to claim a qualifying entertainment expense, the Internal Revenue Service requires written documentation of the time, place, business purpose, name, and business relationship of the person being entertained, records that Kirk did not keep for almost half of the basketball games. Kirk's deductions for tax and accounting fees were also too large.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Kirk as United States Trade Representative on March 18, 2009, with a vote of 92 in favor and five opposed and he was sworn in the same day. Kirk was formally sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden on March 20, 2009. Kirk is the first person of African American descent to hold the position of United States Trade Representative.

Work as U.S. Trade Representative
As the U.S. Trade Representative, Kirk received the formal title of Ambassador and was a member of the President's Cabinet.

Much of his work, at least as publicly reported, focuses on issues relating to the development and enforcement of intellectual property law in the United States and abroad, especially as they relate to trade policy. This work includes the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) treaties.

China
Kirk has repeatedly raised concerns of American businesses that China is not properly enforcing intellectual property rights of American companies doing business there. It has been alleged that the Chinese government takes IT secrets of international companies operating there and passes them on to local companies to boost their competitiveness Kirk has also been critical of China's internet censorship policies, and he is reported to be considering whether to challenge such censorship regulations in the WTO as an unfair barrier to trade; it would be the first case of its kind.

ACTA in South Korea
Kirk has been cited as the U.S. agent who convinced South Korea to adopt and enforce an early draft of the secretly negotiated Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The impacts in South Korea have been dramatic; tens of thousands of citizens have had their websites taken off of the Internet because of copyright infringement.

Trans-Pacific Partnership
In May 2012, a group of 30 legal scholars, critical of the USTR's "biased and closed" Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) treaty negotiation process and proposed intellectual property-related provisions, publicly called upon Kirk to uphold democratic ideals by reversing the "dialing back" of stakeholder participation and to release negotiating texts for public scrutiny. The law professors claimed that leaked documents show that the USTR is "pushing numerous standards that [...] could require changes in current U.S. statutory law" and that the proposal is "manifestly unbalanced—it predominantly proposes increases in proprietor rights, with no effort to expand the limitations and exceptions to such rights that are needed in the U.S. and abroad to serve the public interest". The group claimed that the negotiations excluded stakeholders such as "consumers, libraries, students, health advocacy or patient groups, or others users of intellectual property" and that it only offered "minimal representation of other affected businesses, such as generic drug manufacturers or Internet service providers".

Kirk initially responded that he was "strongly offended by the assertion that our process has been non-transparent and lacked public participation" and that it was actually far more transparent than the negotiations for prior free trade agreements.

This prompted further criticism from the academic group that free-trade agreement negotiations, notorious for their secrecy, are "the wrong standard for assessing the legitimacy of the TPP intellectual property chapter negotiations. This is because the IP chapter in the TPP, like ACTA, is not a trade agreement. It does not adjust tariffs and quotas—it sets new international limits on domestic regulation, regardless of whether such regulation discriminates against, or even affects, trade". The group further reiterated its claim that the secretive process is antithetical to the ideals of democracy, and is "no way to engender trust and faith in international law making with such a broad impact". One critic pointed out that despite Kirk's claim of transparency in the process, public-interest stakeholders have been completely excluded. Another accused Kirk of sidestepping the issue of transparency, and pointed out that transparency is less about the degree of public input, and more about "the flow of information the other way—information about the workings of government being visible to the people it is supposed to represent".

In a subsequent interview with Reuters, Kirk defended the secrecy, saying he believes the USTR has conducted "the most engaged and transparent process as we possibly could", but that "some measure of discretion and confidentiality" are needed "to preserve negotiating strength and to encourage our partners to be willing to put issues on the table they may not otherwise". He dismissed the "tension" as natural and noted that when the Free Trade Area of the Americas drafts were released, negotiators were subsequently unable to reach a final agreement.

On January 22, 2013, Kirk announced that he would be stepping down as the U.S. Trade Representative.

title: Ron Kirk


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Talk:Apnea

Untitled
There is a potentially fatal "apneist" technique, believed by some of its practioners to amount to a safe hyperoxygenation of the blood. In fact what allows them to hold their breaths longer is that they have reduced their blood CO2 to abnormally low levels, delaying the time when the buildup of CO2 forces breathing, by a time roughly equal to the time in which produces the amount of the initial CO2 deficit. The danger, as i understand it, is that a sufficient CO2 deficit can hold off the impulse to breathe so long that loss of consciousness occurs first, producing a high likelihood of drowning when the technique is for underwater activities.

IMO, the discussion of ==Apneic oxygenation== is sufficiently hard for lay readers that it might be seen as an endorsement of the technique i am refering to.

And in any case, should the danger of the CO2 deficit technique i refer to perhaps be part of this article? --Jerzy 02:17, 2004 Feb 21 (UTC)

--- Earlier in the article it was mentioned that some people have learned to increase their period of voluntary apnea up to 7 minutes, and it notes that trained free divers hold their breath for a long time. This seems to have introduced the subject of prolonged apnea while diving. However, there is no discussion of how these effects are achieved. Since the article holds out the hope that an increase can be achieved, it seems relevant to point out an obvious (but wrong) path that should not be followed. I have observed a diving instructor warning students on this. If the warning is not clear enough, perhaps it can be improved.

The paragraph on the voluntary hyperventilation technique confusingly contradicts itself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Justin Stafford (talk • contribs) 18:04, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Many thanks for this -- I was one of those who'd thought taking a few extra breaths before diving was a good idea.UrsusMaximus (talk) 18:03, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

Do we really need to do wiki links for things like 'gas'? Someone reading this article is scarcely likely to wonder what 'gas' means, nor to care. If you follow it to the conclusion half the words in the article would be links, and it would be a mess.

Someone removed most of the legitimate links which are necessary. Have reverted to bring them back. If you think the greater number of them are not necessary, you shouod explain why, not just remove them almost all.Dieter Simon 23:36, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

I'm not at all a medical professional, but I do have a question someone might be able to answer: is there any risk to breathing primarily through your mouth as opposed to your nose? I've heard it said that so-called "mouth breathers" have a harder time being energetic than the people who breathe through their noses. Jaerune 19:48, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Changing the keyword to apnoea
Please do not change "apnea" to "apnoea". This article was obviously created with the American spelling, or at some time changed to the American spelling. All occasions show the American spelling, it is not on to suddenly change some words to the British spelling. We must respect this. Have changed the article to wwhat it was before. Dieter Simon 21:30, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

I agree at present but if the so called "Americans" start defining it differently, then there should be a page with the present meaning one way or the other.

What about Respiratory arrest ?
not much difference, I would say... -- Robodoc.at 22:15, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Does one lead to the other??? Alec - U.K. 20:23, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

"Especially fresh water"?
"If a person loses consciousness underwater, especially in fresh water, there is a considerable danger that they will die by drowning."

This is just a personal curiosity - but why is this the case? My only guess is that it has to do with the buoyancy of humans in salt water.

 * It has to do with osmotic effects. When permeable tissues, e.g. red cells and lungs, are exposed to a non-isotonic solution, water will flow from the region of higher water concentration (fresher solution) to the lower. Consider what happens if you place some blood in fresh water versus in salt water. In salt water the red cells in the blood will lose water and shrivel. In fresh water the red cells will swell until they burst. It is simply much easier to receive irreversible damage to your body in fresh water. --AJim (talk) 18:13, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

 * I am adding a link to the drowning article discussion of secondary drowning. They make the point that hypoxia is usually what kills you, but I thing it is clear that fresh water will do more damage, and the point is that death is more likely to ensue in a fresh water drowning. --AJim (talk) 16:52, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

 * However, a detailed drowning discussion plays down the role of osmotic effects. The author agrees that salinity can matter, but not most of the time. --AJim (talk) 17:04, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

'Citation Needed' Indeed!
Please explain why a simple factual statement along the lines of 'the damage to alveoli caused by smoking reduces gas exchange efficiency' requires a 'citation required' tag. If no one can provide a concrete reason, this bogus tag is going. I didn't write any of the original article btw, just incensed at what seems blatent pro-smoking anti-factual trolling. I also happen to be a smoker, but I'm not an idiot. Blitterbug (talk) 09:58, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Hyperventilation
This section seems to contradict itself. If the effect is false, how can the effect be attributed to anything? 207.59.211.146 (talk) 13:08, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

More or less Citation needed
Sorry, but I don't see why the statement of the fact, that an untrained person usually cannot voluntarily hold her breath for more than one or two minutes needs a 'citation needed' tag. I would consider this public knowledge.

On the other hand, IMHO the fact, that a healthy adult breathing pure oxygen stores enough of it in her body that it would be sufficient for about an hour, is very interesting and I wonder where this claim comes from. So I allowed myself to add a 'citation needed' tag at this point. (Sorry, if I did something wrong, but usually I only read wikipedia and only edit once in a leap year.)

213.183.85.194 (talk) 13:52, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

The tag in question hasn't been justified and I have therefore removed it. If you have reliably sourced evidence to verify that statement, by all means, add it in - but don't contradict common knowledge just because it isn't explicitly documented.--125.237.26.48 (talk) 02:11, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I don't think "...that a healthy adult breathing pure oxygen stores enough of it in her body that it would be sufficient for about an hour" is common knowledge at all, and therefore that phrase does deserve the 'citation needed' flag which it currently has. UnderEducatedGeezer (talk) 00:02, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Hyperventilaion again
I just read the article to try to understand what is meant medically by apnea, and so far so good. However I read the section on hyperventilation which argues that it is impossible to increase available oxygen by hyper ventilation, because blood in the body is always saturated. It immediately occurred to me that this argument is inadequate and needs further justification. I imagine (but don't know) that the largest part of oxygen contained within the body is present as gas within the lungs, and this acts as a reserve when not breathing. If hyperventilation increases the reserve of oxygen within the lungs, then it is not true that "hyperventilation of normal air cannot increase the amount of oxygen available." Normal breathing is quite shallow and does not fully empty or fill the lungs, so that inevitably they must contain stale air with lowerd oxygen content. If hyperventilation ensures that a dive starts with the maximum of fresh air in the lungs, then it will increase the oxygen available.

I would also note that hyperventilation creats a 'buzz', and people having panic attacks are advised to re-breath into a bag to help calm themselves. The article would seem to imply that these effects have nothing to do with oxygen levels, but entirely co2. Is that really the case, because if not then these examples are evidence of real effects on the body from hyperventilation, presumably due to changed O2 levels, contrary to the assertion that oxygen levels are always unchanged by hyperventilation. Sandpiper (talk) 13:20, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Apnea


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Flow rate

Flow rate may refer to:

 * Flow measurement, a quantification of bulk fluid movement
 * Mass flow rate (ṁ or μ), the mass of a substance which passes per unit of time
 * Volumetric flow rate ($Q$ or $$\dot V$$), the volume of fluid which passes per unit time
 * Discharge (hydrology) ($Q$), volume rate of water flow that is transported through a given cross-sectional area, such as a river

title: Flow rate


text:
Orthodox Presbyterian Church

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) is a confessional Presbyterian denomination located primarily in the United States, with additional congregations in Canada, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. It was founded by conservative members of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA), who objected to the rise of Liberal and Modernist theology in the 1930s. The OPC is considered to have had an influence on evangelicalism far beyond its size.

History
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church was founded in 1936, through the efforts of John Gresham Machen. Machen (formerly a PCUSA minister) had a longstanding distrust of liberalism in Christianity, as typified by the Auburn Affirmation. He and others founded Westminster Theological Seminary in 1929 in response to a liberal re-organization of Princeton Theological Seminary, and in 1933, Machen formed the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions, due to concerns around tolerance of liberal theology on the Presbyterian mission field.

Machen's efforts were met with opposition. In 1935, the PCUSA General Assembly deemed Machen's Independent Board unconstitutional, and gave the associated clergy an ultimatum to break their ties with it. When Machen and seven other clergy refused to disavow the Independent Board, they were suspended from PCUSA ministry.

In light of these events, and the continuing rise of liberalism in the PCUSA, Machen and a group of conservative ministers, elders, and laymen met in Philadelphia on June 11, 1936, to form what they then called the Presbyterian Church of America (not to be confused with the Presbyterian Church in America, or PCA, which formed in 1973), with Machen as the first moderator. Other key figures at this time include Ned B. Stonehouse, J. Oliver Buswell, and Edward Joseph Young.

Machen died shortly thereafter in January 1937. Later that year, a faction led by Carl McIntire broke away to form Bible Presbyterian Church, affirming total abstinence from alcohol and premillennialism.

In 1939, after PCUSA filed a lawsuit against the fledgling denomination for its name choice, the denomination adopted its current name, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

In 1961, the OPC published the popular Trinity Hymnal. It also publishes a journal called Ordained Servant (E-ISSN 1931-7115).

Since its founding, the OPC has produced numerous influential figures, including Scottish theologian John Murray, Dutch theologian Geerhardus Vos, American theologians Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., Edmund P. Clowney, Loraine Boettner, and Meredith Kline, historian D.G. Hart, and presuppositional theologians Cornelius Van Til and Greg Bahnsen.

Doctrine
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church traces its doctrinal beliefs to the Reformation, and particularly the theology of the French Reformer John Calvin. After his death, Calvin's doctrines were developed and set forth by a 17th-century assembly of British theologians in the Westminster Standards (which include the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms). The OPC thus holds to the Westminster Standards (with the American revisions of 1788) for doctrine and practice.

The OPC provides the following summary of its doctrine:

 * The Bible, having been inspired by God, is entirely trustworthy and without error. Therefore, we are to believe and obey its teachings. The Bible is the only source of special revelation for the church today.
 * The one true God is personal, yet beyond our comprehension. He is an invisible spirit, completely self-sufficient and unbounded by space or time, perfectly holy and just, and loving and merciful. In the unity of the Godhead there are three "persons": the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
 * God created the heavens and the earth, and all they contain. He upholds and governs them in accordance with his eternal will. God is sovereign—in complete control—yet this does not diminish human responsibility.
 * Because of the sin of the first man, Adam, all mankind is corrupt by nature, dead in sin, and subject to the wrath of God. But God determined, by a covenant of grace, that sinners may receive forgiveness and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ has always been the only way of salvation, in both Old Testament and New Testament times.
 * The Son of God took upon himself a human nature in the womb of the virgin Mary, so that in her son Jesus the divine and human natures were united in one person. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and died on a cross, bearing the sins of, and receiving God's wrath for, all those who trust in him for salvation (his chosen ones). He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, where he sits as Lord and rules over his kingdom (the church). He will return to judge the living and the dead, bringing his people (with glorious, resurrected bodies) into eternal life, and consigning the wicked to eternal punishment.
 * Those whom God has predestined unto life are effectually drawn to Christ by the inner working of the Spirit as they hear the gospel. When they believe in Christ, God declares them righteous (justifies them), pardoning their sins and accepting them as righteous, not because of any righteousness of their own, but by imputing Christ's merits to them. They are adopted as the children of God and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies them, enabling them increasingly to stop sinning and act righteously. They repent of their sins (both at their conversion and thereafter), produce good works as the fruit of their faith, and persevere to the end in communion with Christ, with assurance of their salvation.
 * Those whom God has predestined unto death are ignored by God. God does nothing to prevent them from sinning nor does he help them obtain salvation. The fate of the reprobate are to lead sinful wicked lives and suffer eternal damnation upon death.
 * Believers strive to keep God's moral law, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments, not to earn salvation, but because they love their Savior and want to obey him. Good works are a gift prepared by God for his people. God is the Lord of the conscience, so that men are not required to believe or do anything contrary to, or in addition to, the Word of God in matters of faith or worship.
 * Christ has established his church, and particular churches, to gather and perfect his people, by means of the ministry of the Word, the sacraments of baptism (which is to be administered to the children of believers, as well as believers) and the Lord's Supper (in which the body and blood of Christ are spiritually present to the faith of believers), and the disciplining of members found delinquent in doctrine or life. Christians assemble on the Lord's Day to worship God by praying, hearing the Word of God read and preached, singing psalms and hymns, and receiving the sacraments.

While there is unity on the fundamentals of the Reformed Faith, OPC pastors and presbyteries teach a range of doctrines on the biblical creation accounts, from non-evolutionary framework and analogical interpretations to young earth. There is similar variability in terms of eschatology.

Demographics
At the 2024 General Assembly, the OPC reported 599 ministers and 33,520 members.

The OPC has 17 Presbyteries across Canada and the United States: Central Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Southern New York, the Dakotas, Michigan and Ontario, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, New Jersey, New York and New England, Northern California and Nevada, Northwest, Ohio, Philadelphia, South, Southeast, Southern California, Southwest, and Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Race
In the early 1970s, the General Assembly commissioned a 'Report of the Committee on Problems of Race', which stated that the OPC was a "largely white" denomination, due to losing "the allegiance of blacks during the ecclesiastical discrimination against blacks in the post-civil war period" and ecclesiastical "neglect" of minority groups. The report recommended more outreach to minority and urban areas.

As of 2019, there is one black minister in the OPC. The OPC also has at least 6 Asian ministers, 3 Middle Eastern ministers, and 8 South American ministers.

American politics
OPC ministers have a variety of political views. Carl Trueman, an ordained minister in the OPC, has authored Republocrat: Confessions of a Liberal Conservative (pub. 2010). Greg Bahnsen was also a key figure in the Christian Reconstructionism movement, with an emphasis of applying God's law to contemporary civil and legal matters.

Abortion
The 39th General Assembly, meeting in 1972, adopted a statement on abortion that included the affirmation that "voluntary abortion, except possibly to save the physical life of the mother, is in violation of the Sixth Commandment (Exodus 20:13)."

Military
In 1993, the denomination petitioned then President Bill Clinton to continue to disallow homosexuals to serve in the military. The petition states that: "The practice of homosexuality is a reproach to any nation. It undermines the family, and poses a substantial threat to the general health, safety and welfare of our citizens. Your own Christian background ought to demonstrate to you the practical benefits of upholding the biblical stand against homosexuality, especially in light of the current epidemic of AIDS and other diseases spread through homosexual conduct."

The 68th General Assembly in 2001 declared “that the use of women in military combat is both contrary to nature and inconsistent with the Word of God,”

Immigration
In 2006-2007, a study committee formed by the General Assembly created a report that concluded that "the church should never turn its back on fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, whether they are legally or illegally in the country. We should be willing to see to the spiritual and physical needs of anyone who comes to the church." The report nonetheless recommended that illegal immigrants repent of their illegal activity.

Governance
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church has a Presbyterian polity. The offices of the church and corresponding duties can be found in the OPC Book of Church Order.

Session
A Session consists of the ministers and ruling elders of an individual congregation. The duties of the Session include overseeing public worship, the administration of Baptism and The Lord's Supper, the addition, removal, and discipline of members, and keeping records of membership

Presbytery
All of the members of local congregations and its ministers are organized by geography into a regional church, and the presbytery serves as its governing body. The presbytery is composed of all of the ministers and ruling elders of the various congregations in the regional church, and presbytery meetings are to consist of all ministers and one ruling elder from each respective session.

The duties of the presbytery include overseeing evangelism and resolving questions regarding church discipline. The presbytery also takes candidates for ministry under its care, and examines, licenses and ordains them. It also, if necessary, can remove a minister.

General Assembly
The OPC's General Assembly is the supreme judicatory, and as such, it is to resolve all doctrinal and disciplinary issues that have not been resolved by the sessions and presbyteries. The other duties of the General Assembly include organizing regional churches, calling ministers and licentiates to missionary or other ministries, and reviewing the records from the presbyteries. It also arranges internship training for prospective ministers, and oversees diaconal needs.

The General Assembly meets at least once a year, and is to have, at maximum, 155 voting commissioners, including the moderator and stated clerk of the previous General Assembly, and ministers and ruling elders representing their respective presbyteries.

Women in ministry
The OPC does not ordain women as pastors, elders, or deacons. At least one congregation allowed women to serve as unordained deaconesses, but that congregation has since closed.

Missions
There are 38 mission works and eight active foreign mission fields in the OPC today: in China, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Haiti, Quebec, Uganda, Ukraine, and Uruguay. One of the OPC's goals is that "indigenous Reformed churches be established which will provide fellowship and instruction, and make the gospel known in its own culture and in others".

The OPC's Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension also serves to help sustain and plant congregations in the United States and Canada. Their duty is to aid presbyteries in planting congregations, finding pastors, purchasing property and church buildings, and assisting home missionaries.

Ecumenical relations
In 1975, the OPC became a founding member of the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC). Through NAPARC, the OPC enjoys fraternal relations with the PCA, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, the Reformed Church in the United States, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, the United Reformed Churches in North America, the Canadian and American Reformed Churches and several other confessional Continental Reformed and Presbyterian Churches in the United States and Canada.

The OPC is also a member of the International Conference of Reformed Churches (ICRC), which includes Reformed & Presbyterian denominations from across the globe.

Outside NAPARC and ICRC, the OPC has relations with the Africa Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Church in Japan, the Presbyterian Church in Japan and the Presbyterian Church of Brazil.

title: Orthodox Presbyterian Church


text:
Mark and Lard

Mark and Lard is the stage name of Mark Radcliffe (Mark) and Marc Riley (Lard), who presented various weekday shows on BBC Radio 1 from 1991 to March 2004.

Career
Radcliffe, then a Radio 1 producer, began presenting specialist shows on the network in 1991, namely Out on Blue Six, The Guest List and Skyman. During this time, he also hosted Hit the North, a weekly BBC Radio 5 music and comedy show from Manchester with Riley as its researcher, and latterly, co-producer and presenter. Riley also presented his own series, Cult Radio, during the summer of 1993.

On 25 October 1993, the pair transferred to Radio 1 full-time and began presenting a late night show from 10pm-midnight on Mondays-Thursdays, replacing Nicky Campbell's Into the Night. The Graveyard Shift featured a mix of comedy sketches, poetry readings, live sessions and guests, including regular contributors such as Mark Kermode, Mark Lamarr, Stuart Maconie, Simon Armitage, Ian McMillan and Katie Puckrik.

They had presented the Radio 1 Breakfast show as stand-ins for Chris Evans, and after his departure from Radio 1, Mark and Lard took over the flagship show on 17 February 1997. But low ratings led to the pair being replaced; they presented their last show in that time slot on 10 October 1997. Their eight-month tenure was the shortest of any Radio 1 Breakfast Show. Mark and Lard moved to an early afternoon slot (2-4pm, later 1-3pm), where they continued until 26 March 2004.

Throughout the afternoon show's run, regular features included spoof phone-in quizzes such as It's a Sausage Roll, Circle of Chance and Fish or Fowl. Other items on the show included Downcount, Lard's Classic Cuts and Beat the Clock. The pair became well known for a stock of catchphrases such as Biggedy Biggedy Bong, Stop....carry on!, By Jovi, Cabbage Garden and Wickedy Wickedy Warp. One of the many characters on the show was 'Fat Harry White' (Radcliffe with a vocoder) – a thinly disguised parody of soul singer Barry White, this character was so successful he was given his own CD in 1998, entitled Hmmm Baby (The Seduction Selection, which was also his catchphrase) – it peaked at number 83 in the UK charts. During the afternoon show's run, Mark and Lard went on to win three Golds at the Radio Academy Awards.

Throughout their Radio 1 career, the pair produced and broadcast their shows from the BBC North West studios at New Broadcasting House, Manchester – in contrast to the network's London-based content. The studios, closed in November 2011 and later demolished, were invariably dubbed on-air and in Radio Times' schedule billings as The Palace of Glittering Delights.

Shirehorses
Mark and Lard are also the creators of the spoof rock band the Shirehorses, who released two CD albums:
 * The Worst...Album in the World...Ever...EVER! - The title is a play on The Best... Album in the World...Ever! compilation series.
 * Our Kid Eh – The title is a combination of the contemporary Radiohead album Kid A, and the northern phrase 'our Kid'.

Leaving Radio 1
In February 2004 the pair announced they were leaving Radio 1, with Radcliffe moving to BBC Radio 2 and Riley moving to BBC Radio 6 Music. Their last show was broadcast on 26 March 2004 and featured a guest appearance by Travis, messages of commiseration from Neil Hannon, Radiohead, Blur (Damon Albarn composed a special song but "broke down in tears" before finishing it) and Kelly Jones of The Stereophonics, whom they'd frequently insulted during the show's run. They also received a bouquet of flowers from Paul McCartney. At the end of their last show, Riley sat in the silent studio sighing. Radcliffe convinces him to buck up and come to the pub to buy him a drink. But they had time for a swift half a catchphrase: "Stop!" Then the door closed and the show was over. It was followed by a silence of some twenty seconds causing the network to switch to the emergency tape; this was believed to be a final opportunity to make a nuisance of themselves, but was a result of show overrunning and studio staff in London not being in place when the show finally ended.

They subsequently worked together on the Mark & Lard's Football Nightmares DVD. They had previously presented Match of the Nineties, which showed highlights of English football seasons from 1989 to 1999, during the summer of 1999.

Carry On: An Evening with Mark and Lard
On Thursday 25th January 2024, Craig Charles, on his BBC 6 Music radio show, announced that there would be a one off live show where Mark and Lard would reunite on 24th March 2024 at The Bowden Rooms, Altrincham with a live stream going out at the same time on YouTube.

title: Mark and Lard


text:
Arteriole

An arteriole is a small-diameter blood vessel in the microcirculation that extends and branches out from an artery and leads to capillaries.

Arterioles have muscular walls (usually only one to two layers of smooth muscle cells) and are the primary site of vascular resistance. The greatest change in blood pressure and velocity of blood flow occurs at the transition of arterioles to capillaries. This function is extremely important because it prevents the thin, one-layer capillaries from exploding upon pressure. The arterioles achieve this decrease in pressure, as they are the site with the highest resistance (a large contributor to total peripheral resistance) which translates to a large decrease in the pressure.

Structure
In a healthy vascular system, the endothelium lines all blood-contacting surfaces, including arteries, arterioles, veins, venules, capillaries, and heart chambers. This healthy condition is promoted by the ample production of nitric oxide by the endothelium, which requires a biochemical reaction regulated by a complex balance of polyphenols, various nitric oxide synthase enzymes and L-arginine. In addition, there is direct electrical and chemical communication via gap junctions between the endothelial cells and the vascular smooth muscle.

Blood pressure
Blood pressure in the arteries supplying the body is a result of the work needed to pump the cardiac output (the flow of blood pumped by the heart) through the vascular resistance, sometimes termed total peripheral resistance. An increase in the tunica media to luminal diameter ratio has been observed in hypertensive arterioles (arteriolosclerosis) as the vascular wall thickens and/or luminal diameter decreases.

The up and down fluctuation of the arterial blood pressure is due to the pulsatile nature of the cardiac output and determined by the interaction of the stroke volume versus the volume and elasticity of the major arteries.

The decreased velocity of flow in the capillaries increases the blood pressure, due to Bernoulli's principle. This induces gas and nutrients to move from the blood to the cells, due to the lower osmotic pressure outside the capillary. The opposite process occurs when the blood leaves the capillaries and enters the venules, where the blood pressure drops due to an increase in flow rate. Arterioles receive autonomic nervous system innervation and respond to various circulating hormones in order to regulate their diameter. Retinal vessels lack a functional sympathetic innervation.

Autoregulation
Arteriole diameter varies according to autoregulation of organs or tissues to maintain sufficient blood flow despite changes in pressure via metabolic or myogenic factors which include stretch, carbon dioxide, and oxygen among other factors. Generally, norepinephrine and epinephrine (hormones produced by sympathetic nerves and the adrenal gland medulla) are vasoconstrictive acting on alpha 1-adrenergic receptors. However, the arterioles of skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and pulmonary circulation vasodilate in response to these hormones when they act on beta-adrenergic receptors. Generally, stretch and high oxygen tension increase tone, and carbon dioxide and low pH promote vasodilation. Pulmonary arterioles are a noteworthy exception as they vasodilate in response to high oxygen. Brain arterioles are particularly sensitive to pH with reduced pH promoting vasodilation. A number of hormones influence arteriole tone such as angiotensin II (vasoconstrictive), endothelin (vasoconstrictive), bradykinin (vasodilation), atrial natriuretic peptide (vasodilation), and prostacyclin (vasodilation).

Clinical significance
Arteriole diameters decrease with age and with exposure to air pollution.

Disease
Any pathology which constricts blood flow, such as stenosis, will increase total peripheral resistance and lead to hypertension.

Arteriosclerosis
Arteriolosclerosis is the term specifically used for the hardening of arteriole walls. This can be due to decreased elastic production from fibrinogen, associated with ageing, or hypertension or pathological conditions such as atherosclerosis.

Arteritis
Arteritis of the arterioles occurs when the arteriole walls become inflamed as a result of either an immune response to infection or an autoimmune response.

Medication
The muscular contraction of arterioles is targeted by drugs that lower blood pressure (antihypertensives), for example the dihydropyridines (nifedipine and nicardipine), which block the calcium conductance in the muscular layer of the arterioles, causing relaxation.

This decreases the resistance to flow into peripheral vascular beds, lowering overall systemic pressure.

Metarterioles
A "metarteriole" is an arteriole which bypasses capillary circulation.

title: Arteriole


text:
Sadie Hawkins Day

Sadie Hawkins Day is an American folk event and pseudo-holiday originated by Al Capp's hillbilly comic strip Li'l Abner (1934–1977). The annual comic strip storyline inspired real-world Sadie Hawkins events, the premise of which is that women ask men for a date or dancing. "Sadie Hawkins Day" was introduced in the comic strip on November 15, 1937; the storyline ran until the beginning of December. The storyline was revisited the following October/November, and inspired a fad on college campuses. By 1939, Life reported that 201 colleges in 188 cities held a Sadie Hawkins Day event.

Comic strip
In Li'l Abner, Sadie Hawkins was the daughter of Mayor Hekzebiah Hawkins, one of Dogpatch's earliest settlers and the "homeliest gal in all them hills". She grew frantic waiting for suitors until she reached age 35 and was still a spinster, and her father was worried about her living at home for the rest of her life. In desperation, he called together all the unmarried men of Dogpatch and declared it "Sadie Hawkins Day". A foot race was decreed with Sadie pursuing the town's eligible bachelors. If Sadie caught one of them, he would be forced to marry her. She was specifically interested in a handsome boy named Adam who was already in a courtship with Theresa, whose father was the area's largest potato farmer. Unlike Sadie, Theresa had a number of courtship offers.

As the event became a tradition in the comic strip, Capp added more story elements. Each year, the Sadie Hawkins storyline begins with a prophecy by Old Man Mose, who gives Li'l Abner a cryptic clue about the end of the storyline, which always comes true in a roundabout, surprising way. The storyline sometimes also includes the Sadie Hawkins Eve Dance which is held on the previous evening, when the young women wear hobnailed boots and stomp on their partners' feet, to make the bachelors run slower during the event.

Impact
Inspired by Capp's satiric race in which eligible women chase down terrified bachelors for the purposes of wedlock, the event reverses the cultural norms of men as the romantic pursuers. Arthur Berger says that the day "represents a fertility rite and awakens an awareness of the relationship between the American courtship and more 'primitive' rites."

Date
The date for Sadie Hawkins Day most commonly reported is November 13, two days before the first appearance in the comics. The date has on occasion been confused for February 29 (Leap Day), the date for Bachelor's Day according to the original Irish tradition of women being allowed to propose marriage.

Al Capp finally set the date for Sadie Hawkins Day as November 26, in his last Li'l Abner daily strip on November 5, 1977.

title: Sadie Hawkins Day


text:
Talk:Patroit

Umm, was this supposed to be "patriot"? - sik0fewl 02:33, 21 Feb 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:Patroit


text:
Governor of Western Australia

The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch, King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:

 * presiding over the Executive Council;
 * proroguing and dissolving the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council;
 * issuing writs for elections; and
 * appointing Ministers, Judges, Magistrates and Justices of the Peace.

Furthermore, all bills passed by the Parliament of Western Australia require the governor's signature before they become acts and pass into law. However, since convention almost always requires the governor to act on the advice of the premier and the cabinet, such approval is almost always a formality.

Until the appointment of Sir James Mitchell in 1948, all governors of Western Australia had been British officials. After Mitchell's appointment, a further three Britons served as governor: Mitchell's two immediate successors, and then, from 1980 to 1983, Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Trowbridge who was the last British governor of any Australian state.

Styles
The governor of Western Australia is styled "His Excellency" during his term in office (or Her Excellency for a female governor). In August 2014, three of the four living past governors – John Sanderson, Ken Michael and Malcolm McCusker – were given the style "The Honourable", on the recommendation of the premier. The other living former governor, Michael Jeffery, already held the style in virtue of his later service as governor-general of Australia.

Governor's standard
The governor's standard of Western Australia is the same design as the British blue ensign with the union flag at the upper left quarter. On the right side, the state badge of Western Australia, comprising a black swan in a yellow disc, is surmounted by the St. Edward's crown. If the standard is flying at Government House, on a vehicle or at an event, this indicates that the governor is present.

List of Lieutenant-governors
The lieutenant-governor serves as deputy to the governor, fulfilling the governor's functions in the governor's absence.

Stirling was only commissioned as the governor of Western Australia on 4 March 1831, rectifying the absence of a legal instrument providing the authority detailed in Stirling's Instructions of 30 December 1828. Stirling had said of his own position: "I believe I am the first Governor who ever formed a settlement without Commission, Laws, Instructions and Salary."

title: Governor of Western Australia


text:
Baron of Dunsany

The title Baron of Dunsany or, more commonly, Lord Dunsany, is one of the oldest (1439 or 1462) dignities in the Peerage of Ireland, one of just a handful of 13th- to 15th-century titles still extant, having had 21 holders, of the Plunkett name, to date. Other surviving medieval baronies include Kerry (1223, now a subsidiary title of the Marquess of Lansdowne), Kingsale (1344, feudally 1223), Trimlestown (1469), Baron Louth (second creation, 1541), and Dunboyne (1541, feudally 1324).

History
The first Baron of Dunsany was Sir Christopher Plunkett, second son of Christopher Plunkett, 1st Baron Killeen. The elder Christopher married Joan Cusack, heiress of Killeen and Dunsany, and passed Killeen to his eldest son and Dunsany to the second. The date at which Christopher Plunkett became a peer, and a hereditary member of the Irish Parliament, is uncertain; according to Cokayne's Complete Peerage, there is no record of a Dunsany as a peer before 1489, and the creation may well have been as late as 1462, the year Sir Christopher died. On the other hand, Debrett's listed the date of creation of the peerage as 1439, confirmed by Letters Patent in 1461.

The third Baron was a founder member of the military order known as the Brotherhood of Saint George and supported the claims of the pretender Lambert Simnel to the English Crown. The fourth Baron was a soldier of some repute who was killed trying to put down a rising in 1521. His son, the fifth Baron, was a soldier and statesman who was accused of complicity in the rebellion of Silken Thomas.

The eleventh Baron was a follower of King James II, who was outlawed after the Glorious Revolution. He was restored to his estates after the Treaty of Limerick, but neglected the necessary measures needed to have himself recognised as the holder of the peerage, and, as such, was not summoned to further Parliaments. The twelfth Baron conformed to the Church of Ireland to preserve the lands of both Dunsany and Killeen, but did not take the necessary steps to confirm his right to the title and to the seat in the Irish House of Lords it would bestow.

The thirteenth Baron, son of the twelfth, did go through the necessary procedures to have his title and claim to a seat in the former Irish upper house properly admitted, and thus sat in the House of Lords as a peer of proven right. He was succeeded by his son, the fourteenth Baron, who served as Lord Lieutenant of County Meath, and also sat in the House of Lords as an Irish representative peer from 1836 to 1848.

The fifteenth Baron represented Drogheda in the House of Commons and was an Irish Representative Peer from 1850 to 1852. He was succeeded by his younger brother, the sixteenth Baron. The latter was an admiral in the Royal Navy, and also served as an Irish Representative Peer between 1864 and 1889. The seventeenth Baron, son of the sixteenth, sat as a Conservative Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire South and was an Irish Representative Peer from 1893 to 1899. His brother, Horace Plunkett was a key figure in the development of Irish agriculture and the Irish cooperative movement.

The seventeenth Baron was succeeded by his son, the eighteenth Baron. He was a well-known poet, playwright and author of short stories and novels, best known now for his short stories in the field of fantasy, the Jorkens stories, and his novel The King of Elfland's Daughter. The descendants of his younger brother, Reginald Drax, bear not only the Dunsany's surname Plunkett, but also other surnames inherited from their mother, Ernle Elizabeth Louisa Maria Grosvenor Ernle-Erle-Drax, née Ernle Elizabeth Louisa Maria Grosvenor Burton (1855–1916), giving them a rare quadruple-barrelled surname of Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax.

The nineteenth Baron was a career soldier, primarily in the British Indian Army, while the twentieth, the painter and sculptor Edward Plunkett, 20th Baron of Dunsany, was the first Roman Catholic holder of the title since the 12th Baron. , the title is held by the eighteenth Baron's great-grandson, Randal Plunkett, 21st Baron of Dunsany, who in 2011, succeeded his father; as of 2022, he has one daughter.

Seat
The ancestral seat of this branch of the Plunkett family is Dunsany Castle in County Meath in Ireland.

Style
The title is listed in Burke's Peerage and Baronetage and Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage as Baron of Dunsany, but in The Complete Peerage as Baron Dunsany without the of. In either case, the holder of the title is called Lord Dunsany in all but the most formal contexts.

Barons of Dunsany (1439)
As the title descends in the male line only, as noted by the current holder, the heir presumptive is the holder's brother, the Hon. Oliver Plunkett (born 1985).
 * Christopher Plunkett, 1st Baron of Dunsany (1410–1463)
 * Richard Plunkett, 2nd Baron of Dunsany (died c. 1480)
 * John Plunkett, 3rd Baron of Dunsany (died 1500)
 * Edward Plunkett, 4th Baron of Dunsany (died 1521)
 * Robert Plunkett, 5th Baron of Dunsany (died 1559)
 * Christopher Plunkett, 6th Baron of Dunsany (died 1564)
 * Patrick Plunkett, 7th Baron of Dunsany (died 1601)
 * Christopher Plunkett, 8th Baron of Dunsany (died 1603)
 * Patrick Plunkett, 9th Baron of Dunsany (1595–1668)
 * Christopher Plunkett, 10th Baron of Dunsany (died 1690)
 * Randall Plunkett, 11th Baron of Dunsany (died 1735)
 * Edward Plunkett, 12th Baron of Dunsany (1713–1781)
 * Randall Plunkett, 13th Baron of Dunsany (1739–1821)
 * Edward Wadding Plunkett, 14th Baron of Dunsany (1773–1848)
 * Randall Edward Plunkett, 15th Baron of Dunsany (1804–1852)
 * Edward Plunkett, 16th Baron of Dunsany (1808–1889)
 * John William Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany (1853–1899)
 * Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (1878–1957)
 * Randal Arthur Henry Plunkett, 19th Baron of Dunsany (1906–1999)
 * Edward John Carlos Plunkett, 20th Baron of Dunsany (1939–2011)
 * Randal Plunkett, 21st Baron of Dunsany (born 1983)

title: Baron of Dunsany