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Madonna Della Strada

Madonna Della Strada or Santa Maria Della Strada (English: Our Lady of the Wayside or Saint Mary of the Good Road) is a painting of Mary, mother of Jesus at the Church of the Gesù in Rome, mother church of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) religious order of the Catholic Church; it is a variation on the basilissa (imperial) type of icon.

The Madonna Della Strada is the patron saint of the Society of Jesus. The society's founder, Ignatius of Loyola, was said to have been protected by the intercession of Mary during battle in his service as a soldier.

History
The name goes back to a shrine established in Rome in the 5th century by the Astalli family, originally known as the Madonna degli Astalli, at a crossroads along the ceremonial route of the popes. The 13th-14th century fresco (a wall painting done on damp plaster) was originally painted on the wall of Saint Mary of the Way in Rome, the church of the  Society of Jesus (Jesuits), given to Saint Ignatius by Pope Paul III in 1540.

In 1568, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese erected the Gesù Church of Rome, the mother church of the Jesuits, in place of the former church of Santa Maria della Strada. The fresco was moved there in 1575 to a side chapel where Jesuits pronounced their vows. Sometime in the 19th century, the image was transferred to canvas and affixed to a slate panel.

Pope Urban VIII granted a decree of Canonical Coronation towards the image. The coronation took place on August 15, 1638.

The icon is located between two altars, the first dedicated to Ignatius of Loyola, the second, the main altar of the Church, dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus.

The icon was restored in 2006, revealing at least two layers of previous paint, the original art being a fresco which had been detached from a wall and affixed to canvas.

Legacy
There is a Madonna Della Strada Chapel at Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois, at the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and another at Zilber Hall, Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The Madonna della Strada Chapel is located at the campus ministry center of Le Moyne College.

title: Madonna Della Strada


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Spatial Data Transfer Standard

Spatial Data Transfer Standard, or SDTS, is a standard used to describe earth-referenced spatial data. It was designed to easily transfer and use spatial data on different computer platforms. The FGDC has proposed to withdraw the standard.

The USGS made an effort to promulgate the standard by making a large volume of data available at no cost and many companies supported the standard by writing translators to transform the data into different formats.

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

title: Spatial Data Transfer Standard


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1921 North Dakota gubernatorial recall election

The 1921 North Dakota gubernatorial recall election was a recall election of North Dakota Governor Lynn Frazier in 1921. Frazier was the first U.S. governor ever successfully recalled from office; there would not be another successful recall of a governor until California Governor Gray Davis was recalled in 2003.

Background
The recall stemmed from the conflict between the socialist-leaning Nonpartisan League, of which Governor Frazier was a member, and the Independent Voters Association, a conservative and ‘pro-free market’ faction. Frazier and his party supported state ownership of industries, while the IVA opposed it. A dispute broke out specifically over government ownership of the Bank of North Dakota and State Mill and Elevator.

By September, the campaigners had been able to gather 73,000 names on petitions asking for the recall of Frazier, Attorney General William Lemke, and Commissioner of Agriculture John Hagan. These men made up the Industrial Commission, which acts as a board of directors for the state-owned entities. The date of the recall was set for October 28, 1921.

Results
In the October 28 vote, Ragnvald A. Nestos was elected as governor by a margin of 4,093. He was sworn in on November 23.


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Lawn sign

Lawn signs (also known as yard signs, bandit signs and placards, among other names) are small advertising signs that can be placed on a street-facing lawn or elsewhere on a property to express the support for an election candidate, or political position, by the property owner (or sometimes to promote a business). They are popular in political campaigns in the United States and Canada.

Placement
Lawn signs are often also placed near polling places on election day, although in most jurisdictions, there are legal restrictions on campaigning within a certain distance from a voting facility. In most states, there are also restrictions on where these signs can be placed. There are some residential areas that have ordinances prohibiting any posting of yard signs.

The signs are typically placed close to the road for greater visibility. In most highways a sign may not be erected so that the part of the sign face nearest a highway is within five feet of the highway's right of way line.

Signs come in various shapes and sizes, but are most often rectangular and between 12 and 40 inches on each side. They are usually produced in packages that include lawn sign wires since most of these lawn signs need to be placed on a grass or dirt surface.

H-frame
A common type of yard sign frame is the "H-frame". The wire frames usually have at least two tines that can be inserted into the flutes of corrugated plastic signs. The tines on the other end of the frame can be inserted into the ground. A single or double crossbar between the two tines adds strength and makes the entire frame one single unit. It also prevents the sign face from sliding down the tines.

I-frame
The I-frame is essentially an H-frame without a crossbar linking the two legs. Each leg may have an abutment that acts as a stop to prevent the sign from sliding down.

Political importance
Political scientist Mel Kahn states that lawn signs help build name recognition for candidates. Supposedly, each sign represents 6–10 votes for the candidate. However, veteran political organizers hate the task of handing out yard signs, because they believe that time spent on procuring and distributing yard signs could be better used on other voter registration and get out the vote operations. One randomized field trial found yard signs simply reminding people to vote were able to significantly increase overall voter turnout. A 2016 study found that lawn signs raise vote shares by slightly more than 1 percentage point and are "on par with other low-tech campaign tactics such as direct mail that generate ... effects that tend to be small in magnitude".

In addition, it gives the requester a placebo effect of doing something substantive, while not actually volunteering to help their candidate. Critics charge that "lawn signs don't vote" and dismiss their importance. Theft of lawn signs is treated like any other instance of petty theft, however, signs on the rights of way in many states are considered litter and can be picked up by anyone as a public service. On several occasions, citizens who removed lawn signs on the pretext of cleaning up the clutter and eliminating driver distraction were arrested, sparking a public controversy.

In 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported on a then-new type of yard sign designed for improved effectiveness by being cut into shapes or people to deliver a political message. The article suggested that such signs could expose 25,000 drivers per day to messages at a low cost.

Governments
In the last forty years, there have been two landmark cases from the Supreme Court of the United States on the topic of sign ordinances. In City of Ladue v. Gilleo (1994), a resident of Ladue, Missouri, sued the city after being told by city officials she had to remove a sign from her upstairs window protesting the Gulf War. The city banned most signs within city limits but allowed the placement of for-sale signs on the lawn. The Court struck down the ordinance and held that municipal ordinances aimed to reduce visual clutter through the regulation of yard signs were inviolate of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution if the ordinance restricted free speech and could not pass strict scrutiny. Passing strict scrutiny, which requires that the law be narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling government interest, is an incredibly difficult standard to meet. Under the standard, ordinances are presumed to be unconstitutional.

The second landmark decision by the Supreme Court was Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015). In Reed, the Court reviewed the constitutionality of a sign ordinance in Gilbert, Arizona, which regulated the manner signs could be displayed in public areas. The ordinance banned the display of outdoor signs without a permit. However, the ordinance included over twenty categorical exemptions. For instance, "ideological" signs could be placed in the zoning district for an indeterminate amount of time and "political" signs were allowed in the district for up to 60 days before a primary election and up to 15 days following a general election. However, “temporary directional signs relating to a qualifying event", which directed "pedestrians, motorists, and other passersby" to events hosted by non-profit organizations, could only be displayed in the district twelve hours before the start of the event and had to be taken down an hour after the event. The size of the signs were also regulated depending on the category. The Court held that the signs were a content based regulation because it distinguished signs based on their topic. Under First Amendment jurisprudence, content based regulations receive strict scrutiny. The ordinance was struck down.

Despite these rulings, municipalities and state governments continue to pass unconstitutional sign ordinances which are periodically struck down by courts.

Residential associations
The yard sign protections laid out in Ladue and in Reed do not apply to many Americans because they live in a house or condominium with a restrictive covenant governed by a residential association. Such associations are legally considered private entities that are not governed by the First Amendment. Legal scholars have advocated for the associations to be considered state actors by the courts. Under the state action doctrine, if a private actor is delegated a public function by the state, the private actor is considered a state actor and therefore governed by the First Amendment. For a function to be a public function, it must be both traditionally and exclusively or near exclusively a state function. On the other hand, one scholar has argued that the associations are "of a private nature" because of the legal principles governing the whole arrangements. Such associations are created by "private initiative, private money, private property and private law concepts", thus the associations should be able to enforce any restrictive covenant banning political signs.

The states of California, Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Wisconsin all protect the right of homeowners to display lawn signs and prohibit homeowners associations and similar organizations from regulating or banning them.

Kansas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia allow homeowners associations and similar organizations to limit or ban political lawn signs only if it is already written in the bylaws.

Arizona and Texas prohibit homeowners associations and similar organizations from banning lawn signs during or around an election.

title: Lawn sign


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Moanalua High School

Moanalua High School (also known as MoHS ) is a public, co-educational college preparatory high school of the Hawaii State Department of Education, located in Honolulu CDP, City & County of Honolulu, Hawaii.

Serving grades nine through twelve and established in 1972, Moanalua High School is located in suburban Salt Lake near Moanalua. Its first class graduated in 1975. The school is situated on an extinct volcano hillside overlooking downtown Honolulu at 2825 Ala Ilima Street. The campus boasts the copper sculpture Moanalua by Bumpei Akaji and the ceramic sculpture Silent Sounds by Shigeharu Yamada.

In May 2012 Tiffany Hill of Honolulu Magazine wrote that the school had "high-caliber programs" and a strong curriculum. Hill stated that some programs are "nationally recognized". In 2004 James Gonser of the Honolulu Advertiser wrote that the school had "A reputation for success".

Moanalua High School underwent reaccreditation by Western Association of Schools and Colleges and has achieved the maximum accreditation term of six years, 2012-2018 and once again in 2019-2024.

Robin Martin heads the school as principal.

Origins
An ahupuaa in ancient Hawaii was a parcel of land that stretched from the mountain to the sea. The ahupuaa of Moanalua was the property of wealthy landowner Samuel M. Damon.

Previous to Damon's ownership of the Salt Lake ahupuaa, the volcanic hillside on which Moanalua High School sits was used by native Hawaiians in the Hawaiian religion. As one of the highest points overlooking what would later become the city of Honolulu, the volcanic hillside was revered as a place where the faithful could be closer to the ancestral spirits and gods. It served as a sacred altar as late as the reign of King Kamehameha V. The volcanic hillside's religious value was neglected during the urban development after statehood in 1959.

Moanalua High School adopted the menehune as their mascot. In Hawaiian mythology, the Menehune are said to be a people, sometimes described as dwarfs in size, who live in the deep forests and hidden valleys of the Hawaiian Islands, far from the eyes of normal humans. The menehune are believed to have a special relationship with the gods and credited with building dams, temples and other structures throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

Admissions
The school has an attendance zone. Additionally as of May 2012 the school admits about 500-600 students from outside of the attendance zone. A lottery is used to determine which out of boundary students are admitted. In 2004 Gonser wrote that the lottery process was "nail-bitting" [sic].

Curriculum
In May 2012 the school had seven Advanced Placement (AP) classes.

The Career and Academic Planning (CAP) program oversees career education classes, each running for 35 minutes and with each student taking at least one each week. The school began this program in 1997.

The Comprehensive School Alienation Program (CSAP), as of May 2012, had about 180-240 students on an annual basis and is used to assist students having difficulty with coursework.

Symbols
Traditionally, the alma mater and anthem are sung during the presentation of the school's flag — a blue crest in the center of a field of blue and trimmed at the edges with white. The school's colors are royal blue and silver.

Demographics
In May 2012 the school had about 2,010 pupils. The students tend to have a higher socioeconomic profile.

The following table represents the number of enrolled students from the years 2003 to 2014.

As of the 2012 school year, the racial/ethnic composition was as follows:
 * Asian/Pacific Islander: 61.0%
 * White: 14.4%
 * Native Hawaiian: 9.4%
 * Black: 6.5%
 * Hispanic: 3.3%
 * American Indian: 0.5%

Moanalua High School serves the children of enlisted personnel and commissioned officers of the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy. Students who are not military dependents are usually children of professionals living in the Salt Lake and Moanalua subdivisions, neighborhoods that have been classified as upper middle class.

Each graduating class averages 400 students. Approximately sixty percent become enrolled at four-year colleges and universities throughout the nation while thirty percent become enrolled at two-year colleges. Eight percent go straight to the workforce while four percent join the armed forces. About five percent enroll in technical schools while three percent are usually unsure of their post-graduation plans. Moanalua High School has many valedictorians each year, in comparison to the other schools of the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education. Many students graduate with the honor in a single class, with 20 in 1998.

Academic performance
In 2004 about 80% of the students graduating from Moanalua went to universities and colleges. That year Gonser wrote that the "many success stories" originate from the "personal attention" and "choices" provided by the school's employees to the students.

Sports
With the absence of professional sports teams in Hawaii, the popularity of high school athletics is considerably high in the state. In 2004 the school had 50 sports offered. That year about 800 students participated in those sports.

In the year of Moanalua High School's founding, its athletics department joined the Hawaii High School Athletics Association. It currently also competes in the Oahu Interscholastic Association, an athletic conference of public schools on the island of Oahu. Moanalua High School competes in air riflery, baseball, basketball, bowling, canoe paddling, volleyball, cheerleading, cross country, football, golf, judo, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, wrestling and water polo.

State championships

 * Basketball, Boys' - 1996, 1997
 * Bowling, Boys' - 1985, 1990, 2004
 * Golf, Girls' - 2006
 * Golf, Boys' - 2012, 2016, 2018
 * Competitive Cheerleading - 2003, 2004, 2005, 2015, 2016, 2018
 * Track, Girls' - 1994
 * Wrestling, Boys' - 2022
 * Wrestling, Girls' - 1999, 2000, 2001, 2022
 * Judo, Boys' - 2010, 2011, 2012, 2018, 2019, 2022
 * Judo, Girls' - 2018, 2019, 2022
 * Air Riflery, Boys' - 2016, 2017, 2019

Music program
The Music Department consists of a number of various ensembles. The list includes the Marching Band, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Symphonic Band, Concert Orchestra, Concert Choir, Chorus, Jazz Ensemble, and Concert Band (usually consisting of incoming freshmen). In 2007, the Concert Strings ensemble was introduced into the Music Department.

In May 2012 Hill stated that the orchestra was well reputed.

The school also offers programs in piano and ukulele. These groups, however, do not perform.

In 2013, the school completed and dedicated the first phase of a new performing arts facility.

Marching band
The Moanalua High School Menehune Marching Band is a marching band program (students grades 9-12) with an established record as being one of the top and largest marching bands in Hawaii. The band is led by directors Elden Seta, Rhona Barbosa, Cavin Takesue and Todd Oshima.

The 240+ member program holds its own marching festival each year known as the Menehune Classic. It also competes in other annual competitions such as the Kamehameha Tournament of Bands, Mililani Trojan Band Fest, the Oahu Interscholastic Association (OIA) Festival, and the Rainbow Invitational. It usually marches in at least one parade each year, such as the Aloha Week parade, and is frequently invited to march in out-of-state parades such as the Tournament of Roses Parade.

The marching band traveled to Osaka, Japan, to march in the Osaka Midosuji Parade. In 2009, the band traveled to Arizona to participate in the Fiesta Bowl Parade.

Symphony orchestra
The Moanalua High School Symphony Orchestra consists of hand-picked students from grades 9 to 12. The Symphony Orchestra was the first student orchestra to be invited to perform at New York's Carnegie Hall in 1998. The Symphony Orchestra were invited to perform again on March 20, 2005 at the Isaac Stern Auditorium, receiving a standing ovation in which audience members reportedly yelled, "Good job, Hawaii!" Moanalua High School Symphony Orchestra performed at Carnegie Hall a 3rd time in 2013. In 2018, Moanalua High School Symphony Orchestra attended American String Teachers Association National Orchestra Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. Moanalua High School Symphony Orchestra took first in High School Full Orchestra Division and were overall Grand Champions in the High School Division.

Symphonic wind ensemble
The Moanalua High School Symphonic Wind Ensemble consists of the most competent wind and percussion musicians in the Moanalua High School band program. The Symphonic Wind Ensemble has received consistent Superior ratings at the Oahu Band Directors' Association Parade of Bands. The Symphonic Wind Ensemble plays at winter and Aloha Concerts, the OBDA Parade of Bands, and the Central District South Parade of Bands. The Ensemble has also traveled to Japan in the spring of 2004 and winter of 2006 where they represented the United States in the All-Japan Band Festival in Hamamatsu, Japan. More recently, the wind ensemble represented Hawaii in the 2015 Music for All National Festival in Indiana.

JROTC
The school has an Air Force JROTC; in 2004 it was the largest such program in Hawaii.

Notable alumni
Listed alphabetically by last name (year of graduation):
 * Angela Perez Baraquio (1994), Miss America 2001
 * Felipe Ojastro, Spectrum OC16 play-by-play announcer
 * Scott Pagano, former Clemson and current Oregon defensive lineman

title: Moanalua High School


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User talk:Nataliesiobhan

Hello, welcome to Wikipedia. You might like to start by reading the tutorial and introducing yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask at the help desk or on my talk page. Two useful tips are that you can sign your name using four tildes ( ~ ) and you can preview your changes before you save using the show preview button. You can regularly find new tips on the Community Portal. I look forward to reading your great articles and I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian. :) Angela. 21:25, May 17, 2004 (UTC)

Hey, I was just wondering if you're also Russian... - Andrei

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Minnesota Meetup
 2009 Proposed date: Saturday, October 10. Details under discussion. Please share this with anyone who may be interested.  Delivered by Jonathunder (talk) 22:15, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Unreferenced BLPs
Hello Nataliesiobhan! Thank you for your contributions. I am a bot alerting you that 1 of the articles that you created  is tagged as an Unreferenced Biography of a Living Person. The biographies of living persons policy requires that all personal or potentially controversial information be sourced. In addition, to ensure verifiability, all biographies should be based on reliable sources. If you were to bring this article up to standards, it would greatly help us with the current Category:All_unreferenced_BLPs article backlog. Once the article is adequately referenced, please remove the unreferencedBLP tag. Here is the article:

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title: User talk:Nataliesiobhan


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James A. Bayard (politician, born 1767)

James Asheton Bayard Sr. (July 28, 1767 – August 6, 1815) was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, Delaware. He was a member of the Federalist Party, who served as U.S. Representative from Delaware and U.S. Senator from Delaware.

Early life and family
Bayard was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, son of Dr. James Asheton Bayard and Ann Hodge. The Bayards descended from a sister of Dutch Director-General Petrus Stuyvesant and came to Bohemia Manor, Cecil County, Maryland in 1698. Bayard was also of French Huguenot and English ancestry as well. Upon the premature death of his parents, the younger James went to live with his uncle, Colonel John Bubenheim Bayard, in Philadelphia. He graduated from Princeton College in 1784, studied law under General Joseph Reed and Jared Ingersoll, was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1787, and began a practice in Wilmington, Delaware. Bayard married February 11, 1795, Ann or Nancy Bassett, the daughter of wealthy Delaware lawyer and U.S. Senator Richard Bassett. They had six children, Richard, Caroline, James Jr., Edward, Mary, and Henry M. and lived on the southwest corner of 3rd and French Street in Wilmington, where they owned slaves.

U.S. House of Representatives
Bayard was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1796, and served there for three terms, from March 4, 1797 until March 3, 1803. While in the U.S. House "he was distinguished as an orator and constitutional lawyer and became a leader of the party in the house." He especially distinguished himself as one of the impeachment managers appointed in 1798 in the impeachment proceedings against William Blount, a U.S. Senator from Tennessee. Blount was accused of inciting the Creeks and Cherokees to help the British take New Orleans from the Spanish. While the U.S. House impeached him, under Bayard's leadership, the United States Senate dropped the charges in 1799 on the grounds that no further action could be taken beyond his dismissal. This set an important precedent for the future with regard to the limitations on actions which could be taken by U.S. Congress against its members and former members.

Bayard also played an important part in the U.S. presidential election of 1800. With the vote tied in the Electoral College, it was a group of Federalists led by Bayard who broke the deadlock by agreeing to allow the election of Thomas Jefferson by the House of Representatives. When it seemed the Federalists were about to vote for Aaron Burr, Bayard is believed to have followed the advice of Alexander Hamilton and persuaded his Federalist colleagues to abstain from voting. It was also believed he struck a deal with the incoming Jefferson, to refrain from the wholesale removal of Federalists from appointed positions. The young Bayard enlisted Representative Samuel Smith (Maryland politician) to negotiate with Jefferson on Federalist control of the Philadelphia and Wilmington custom offices. Jefferson subsequently permitted the Federalist office holders to retain their posts.

Just before John Adams left office as U.S. President he used the provisions of the Judiciary Act of 1801 to make many "midnight" judicial appointments. Among those was Bayard's father-in-law, Richard Bassett. Resigning as Governor of Delaware, Bassett accepted an appointment as a federal judge, but soon was out of work when Jefferson had the act repealed. Bayard himself declined an appointment as Minister to France offered by President John Adams in 1801.

So effective was Bayard in opposing Jefferson's administration that an all-out effort was made by the Democratic-Republicans to defeat him in his attempt at a fourth term in 1802. Caesar Augustus Rodney, nephew of the Revolutionary President of Delaware Caesar Rodney, defeated Bayard by 15 votes. However, two years later, in 1804, the result was reversed with Bayard besting Rodney. In the best Delaware tradition, the two remained friends throughout their electoral rivalry.

U.S. Senate and Peace Commissioner
Although re-elected to the U.S. House in 1804, Bayard never returned there, because before the term began, on November 13, 1804, he was elected by the Delaware General Assembly as U.S. Senator, filling the vacancy caused by the resignation of William H. Wells. He began a term of his own the following March 1805, was reelected six years later in 1810, and served in the Senate until his resignation on March 3, 1813.

By his own admission, it mattered little who represented Delaware, given the smallness of the state; if the two senators and one representative happened to be all Federalists, all the better, since the party was in a considerable minority by the decade of the 1800s. Like most of his party, Bayard opposed "Mr. Madison's War" as the War of 1812 was sometimes scornfully called, but like the Democratic-Republicans, he was outraged at the British actions on the high seas and recognized the need for action. As the possibility of war became more likely, he urged caution, thinking of the lack of preparedness of the army and navy and especially of the vulnerability of coastal Delaware. On June 17, 1812, he was one of 13 senators to vote against declaring war on Britain. However, once the war began he and all Delaware Federalists wholeheartedly supported the war effort, avoiding the suspicion of treason earned by Federalists in New England.

Because of that support, he was the only Federalist appointed as one of the peace commissioners who eventually negotiated the Treaty of Ghent. Resigning his Senate seat, he went to Europe and played a major role in the negotiations that ended the War of 1812 when the treaty was signed in December 1814. John Quincy Adams, head of the American negotiating team, praised Bayard:"Of the five members of the American mission, the Chevalier [Bayard] has the most perfect control of his temper, the most deliberate coolness; and it is the more meritorious because it is real self-command. His feelings are as quick and his spirits as high as those of any one among us, but he certainly has them more under government."Subsequently, President James Madison offered him an appointment as Minister to Russia, but Bayard declined, believing a Federalist could hardly well-represent a Democratic-Republican administration.

Bayard was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in July 1815. His disposition on membership is unknown, as no known correspondence confirms or denies his interest, and his death was only a few weeks after his election, and a few days after his return from Europe.

Death and legacy
After spending several months in Europe, Bayard returned home in the summer of 1815. During the trip he developed an inflamed throat and became critically ill. He lived only five days after his return and died at Wilmington. He was originally buried on Bohemia Manor, in Cecil County, Maryland. In 1842 his remains were removed, along with those of his father-in-law, Richard Bassett, and reburied in the Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery in Wilmington. Bayard was the father of two U.S. Senators, Richard H. Bayard and James A. Bayard Jr., grandfather of another, Thomas F. Bayard Sr. and great grandfather of another, Thomas F. Bayard Jr.

He was sometimes known as The Chevalier, the Goliath of his Party, and High Priest of the Constitution.

Almanac
Elections were held the first Tuesday of October. U.S. Representatives took office March 4 and have a two-year term. The General Assembly chose the U.S. Senators for six years that also began March 4. In this case he was initially completing the existing term, the vacancy caused by the resignation of William H. Wells.

Places with more information

 * Delaware Historical Society; website; 505 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801; (302) 655-7161
 * University of Delaware; Library website; 181 South College Avenue, Newark, Delaware 19717; (302) 831–2965

title: James A. Bayard (politician, born 1767)


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Ganja, Azerbaijan

Ganja (Gəncə ) is Azerbaijan's third largest city, with a population of around 335,600. The city has been a historic and cultural center throughout most of its existence. It was the capital of the Ganja Khanate until 1804; after Qajar Iran ceded it to the Russian Empire following the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, it became part of the administrative divisions of the Georgia Governorate, Georgia-Imeretia Governorate, Tiflis Governorate, and Elizavetpol Governorate. Following the dissolution of the Russian Empire and the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, it became a part of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, followed by Azerbaijan SSR, and, since 1991, the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Etymology
The name Ganja derives from the Persian word ganj, meaning "treasure" or "treasury". It was called Janza in Arabic sources and Gandzak in Armenian sources. The explanation that the city was named this after its founder discovered treasure nearby (see below) is considered a folk etymology. According to one view, the city may have been named after Ganzak, the pre-Muslim capital of Adurbadagan. The city was renamed Yelizavetpol (Елизаветпо́ль) in 1813, when it was part of the Russian Empire. After its incorporation into the Soviet Union, it was initially renamed back to Ganja (Gyandzha) in 1924, but in 1935 the name was changed again to Kirovabad (Кироваба́д) in honor of the Soviet politician Sergei Kirov, a name which the city retained throughout most of the rest of the Soviet period. In 1989, during perestroika, the city regained its original name of Ganja (Gəncə), which is known as Gyandzha (Гянджа, ) in Russian, Gyanja (Գյանջա) or Gandzak (Գանձակ) in Armenian, and Ganjeh (گنجه) in Persian.

Medieval era
According to the anonymous medieval Arabic history Tarikh Bab al-abwab, the city of Ganja was founded in 859–60 by Muhammad ibn Khalid ibn Yazid ibn Mazyad, the Arab governor of the region during the reign of the caliph Al-Mutawakkil, and so-called because of a treasure unearthed there. According to the legend, the Arab governor had a dream where a voice told him that there was a treasure hidden under one of the three hills around the area where he camped. The voice told him to unearth it and use the money to found a city. He did so and informed the caliph about the money and the city. The caliph made Muhammad the hereditary governor of the city on the condition that he would give the money he found to the caliph. The foundation of the city by the Arabs in the 9th century is supported by the medieval Armenian historian Movses Kaghankatvatsi, who mentions that the city of Ganja was founded in 846–47 in the canton of Arshakashen by "Mahmed son of Xałtʿ" (i.e., Muhammad ibn Khalid). The 14th-century Persian historian Hamdallah Mustawfi instead claims that the city was founded in 659–60, when the Arab armies first arrived in the South Caucasus.

However, the Persian origin of Ganja's name suggests that there was an older pre-Islamic town there. According to some sources, it changed hands between Persians, Khazars and Arabs even in the 7th century. The area in which Ganja is located was known as Arran from the 9th to 12th century; its urban population spoke mainly in the Persian language.

Historically an important city of the South Caucasus, Ganja has been part of the Sassanid Empire, Great Seljuk Empire, Kingdom of Georgia, Atabegs of Azerbaijan, Khwarezmid Empire, Il-Khans, Timurids, Qara Qoyunlu, Ak Koyunlu, the Safavid, the Afsharid, the Zand and the Qajar empires of Persia/Iran. Prior to the Iranian Zand and Qajar rule, following Nader Shah's death, it was ruled locally for a few decades by the khans of the Ganja Khanate, who themselves were subordinate to the central rule in mainland Iran and were a branch of the Iranian Qajar family. Ganja is also the birthplace of the famous Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi. The people of Ganja experienced a temporary cultural decline after an earthquake in 1139, when the city was taken by king Demetrius I of Georgia and its gates taken as trophies which is still kept in Georgia, and again after the Mongol invasion in 1231. The city was revived after the Safavids came to power in 1501 and incorporated all of Azerbaijan and beyond into their territories. The city came under brief occupation by the Ottomans between 1578–1606 and 1723–1735 during the prolonged Ottoman-Persian Wars, but nevertheless stayed under intermittent Iranian suzerainty from the earliest 16th century up to the course of the 19th century, when it was forcefully ceded to neighbouring Imperial Russia.

16th–19th centuries and Russian conquest
For a short period, Ganja was renamed Abbasabad by Shah Abbas after war against the Ottomans. He built a new city 8 km to the southwest of the old one, but the name changed back to Ganja during the time. During the Safavid rule, it was the capital of the Karabakh province. In 1747, Ganja became the center of the Ganja Khanate for a few decades following the death of Nader Shah, until the advent of the Iranian Zand and Qajar dynasties. The khans/dukes who de facto self-ruled the khanate, were subordinate to the central rule in mainland Iran and were from a branch of the Iranian Qajar family. From the late 18th century, Russia actively started to increase its encroachments into Iranian and Turkish territory to the south. Following the annexation of eastern Georgia in 1801, Russia was now keen to conquer the rest of the Iranian possessions in the Caucasus. Russian expansion into the South Caucasus met particularly strong opposition in Ganja. In 1804, the Russians, led by General Pavel Tsitsianov, invaded and sacked Ganja, sparking the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813. Some western sources assert that "the capture of the city was followed by a massacre of up to 3,000 inhabitants of Ganja by the Russians". They also claim that "500 of them were slaughtered in a mosque where they had taken refuge, after an Armenian apprised the Russians that there might have been 'Daghestani robbers' among them".

With their military superiority, the Russians were victorious in the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813. By the Treaty of Gulistan that followed, Iran was forced to cede the Ganja Khanate to Russia. The Iranians briefly managed to oust the Russians from Ganja during the 1826 offensive during the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, but the resulting Treaty of Turkmenchay made its inclusion into the Russian Empire permanent. It was renamed Yelizavetpol (Елизаветполь) after the wife of Alexander I of Russia, Elizabeth, and in 1840 became the capital of the Elizavetpol uezd and later in 1868, the Elizavetpol Governorate. The Russian name of the city was rejected by the local Azerbaijanis, who continued call it Ganja.

20th century
Ganja—known then as Yelizavetpol—was one of the main sites of the Armenian–Tatar massacres of 1905–07. In 1918, Ganja became the temporary capital of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, at which point it was renamed Ganja again, until Baku was recaptured from the British-backed Centrocaspian Dictatorship. In April 1920, the Red Army occupied Azerbaijan. In May 1920, Ganja was the scene of an abortive anti-Soviet rebellion, during which the city was heavily damaged by fighting between the insurgents and the Red Army. In 1935, Joseph Stalin renamed the city Kirovabad after Sergei Kirov. In 1991, Azerbaijan re-established its independence, and the ancient name of the city was given back. For many years the 104th Guards Airborne Division of the Soviet Airborne Troops was based in the town.

In November 1988, the Kirovabad pogrom forced the local Armenian population to leave the city.

21st century

Reconstruction in the 21st century has led to dramatic changes in the city's urban development, transforming the old Soviet city into a hub of high-rise, mixed-use buildings.

In 2008, Ganja Mausoleum Gates were built on the basis of sketches of ancient Ganja gates made by local master Ibrahim Osmanoğlu in 1063.

In 2020, during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Ganja came under bombardment by Armenian armed forces several times, killing 32 civilians and injuring dozens more. On 11 October, a residential apartment block in Azerbaijan's city of Ganja was destroyed overnight in an Armenian missile strike, killing 10 civilians and wounding 34 others. The Armenian MoD denied that this came from its territory, while Artsakh stated that Armenian forces had targeted and destroyed the Ganja military airbase on Ganja International Airport, which they alleged was used to bombard Artsakh's capital Stepanakert and also stated that the Azerbaijani population were given warning to move away from military facilities to avoid collateral damage. Subsequently, both a correspondent reporting from the scene for a Russian media outlet and the airport director denied that the airport, which had not been operational since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had been shelled. On 17 October, 21 civilians were killed and more than 50 injured when an Armenian SCUD B ballistic missile hit a residential area in Ganja.

Location
Ganja, located 400–450 meters (1312 to 1476 ft) above the sea level, lies on the Ganja-Dashkasan plain in the Kur-Araz lowland in the west of Azerbaijan, 375 km (233 mi) away from Baku. It is situated at the north-eastern foothills of the Lesser Caucasus mountain ranges on the Ganjachay river.

The city borders on the administrative rayons of Goygol to the south, west and north-west and Samukh to the north-east.

Climate
Ganja has a cool semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSk), with an average annual precipitation of 241 mm, though annual precipitation varies in different years, ranging from 160 mm in 1932 to 1133 mm in 1988. Winters are cold and may see snow, with 5 days per year in which snow cover is observed. Blizzard is seen in 0.2 days annually.

Administrative divisions
Today, Ganja is divided into 2 rayons (administrative districts). The mayor, presently Niyazi Bayramov embodies the executive power of the city. Ganja includes 6 administrative settlements, namely Hajikend, Javadkhan, Shikhzamanli, Natavan, Mahsati and Sadilli.

Kapaz rayon
Kapaz District (Kəpəz rayonu) was established on 21 November 1980 according to the decision of Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan SSR. The district consists of 2 administrative territorial units and 6 administrative settlements. It has an area of approximately 70 square kilometers (27 sq mi) with the population of 178,000.

Nizami rayon
Nizami District (Nizami rayonu) was also established on 21 November 1980 according to the decision of Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan SSR as Ganja raion of Kirovabad city. When Ganja's historic name was restored and the city was renamed as Ganja instead of Kirovabad in 1989, the district was also renamed as Nizami rayon. The district consists of 2 administrative territorial units. The area of the district is roughly 39 square kilometers (15 sq mi) and population is 148,000.

Demographics
Ganja is the third largest city of Azerbaijan after Baku and Sumqayit with about 335,600 residents. The city is also inhabited by a large number of Azerbaijani refugees from Armenia and IDPs from the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas. Their number was estimated to be more than 33,000 in 2011.

Lezgi people in Ganja number around 20,000.

Historic Armenian community
In addition to Persian and Turkic-speaking Muslims, the city had a numerically, economically and culturally significant Christian Armenian community. The city's traditional Armenian name is Gandzak (Գանձակ), which derives from gandz (գանձ), a loan word from Old Iranian, which means treasure or riches. The founder of the Hethumid dynasty, Oshin of Lampron was an Armenian nakharar (prince) and lord of a castle near Ganja who fled to Cilicia in 1075 during the Seljuk invasion of Armenia.

The city's historically important Armenian figures include:
 * Mkhitar Gosh, 12th-century philosopher, author of the Code of Laws that was used in Armenia, Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and Armenian diaspora communities in Europe
 * Kirakos Gandzaketsi, a 13th-century historian
 * Vardan Areveltsi, 13th-century polymath
 * Grigor Paron-Ter, Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1613–45
 * Karo Halabyan, Soviet architect
 * Askanaz Mravyan, secretary of the Armenian SSR Communist Party
 * Abram Alikhanov and Artem Alikhanian, physicists
 * Sergei Adian, Soviet mathematician
 * Albert Azaryan, artistic gymnast and Olympic champion

Religion
The urban landscape of Ganja is shaped by many communities. Religious diversity has however greatly decreased over the last decades, with the emigration of most Armenians, Slavs, Jews and Germans. The religion with the largest community of followers by far is Islam. The majority of the Muslims are Shia Muslims, and the Republic of Azerbaijan has the second-highest Shia population percentage in the world after Iran. The city's notable mosques include Shah Abbas Mosque, Goy Imam Mosque, Shahsevenler Mosque, Qirikhli Mosque and Qazakhlar Mosque. There are some other faiths practiced among the different ethnic groups within the country. The other faith worshipping places include Alexander Nevsky Church, German Lutheran Church, Saint John Church and Saint Sarkis Church. Before the Kirovabad pogrom in 1988 a significant community of Armenian Christians existed.

According to the State Statistics Committee, as of 2018, the population of city recorded 332,600 persons, which increased by 31,900 persons (about 10.6 percent) from 300,700 persons in 2000. 162,300 of total population are men, 170,300 are women. More than 26 percent of the population (about 86,500 persons) consists of young people and teenagers aged 14–29.

Economy
The economy of Ganja is partially agricultural, partially tourist based, with some industries in operation. Ore minerals extracted from nearby mines supply Ganja's metallurgical industries, which produces copper and alumina. There are porcelain, silk and footwear industries. Other industries process food, grapes and cotton from the surrounding farmlands.

The city has one of the largest textile conglomerates in Azerbaijan and is famous for a fabric named Ganja silk, which received the highest marks in the markets of neighboring countries and the Middle East.

People are mainly employed in manufacturing, education, transportation, service sectors and catering. Det.Al-Aluminium is the largest employer operating in Ganja, followed by Ganja Auto Plant and Ganja Winery Plant 2.

Tourism and shopping
Traditional shops, modern shops and malls create a mixture of shopping opportunities in Ganja. Javad Khan Street is the traditional shopping street that is located in the old town. Constructed between 2014 and 2017, Ganja Mall is considered the city's largest mall. Other shopping centers include Khamsa Park, Taghiyev Mall and Aura Park.

Ganja is one of the famous tourist destinations in Azerbaijan with its historic buildings such as Nizami Mausoleum, Ancient gates, Juma Mosque, Imamzadeh, Tomb of Javad Khan, Chokak Hamam, Shah Abbas Caravanserai and Ugurlu Bay Caravanserai.

Other tourist and entertainment spots include Javad khan street, Triumphal Arch near Heydar Aliyev Center, the Bottle House, Flag square, Hajikend resort zone. Goygol National Park with the sceneries of lake Goygol, lake Maralgol, Mount Kapaz and Mount Murov are located near Ganja.

In 2016, Ganja was selected as the European Youth Capital by the final decision of international jury at the General Assembly of the European Youth Forum. Ganja became the first city to win the title of European Youth Capital among the former Commonwealth Independent States (CIS) and non-EU cities. It was an event with a budget of 5.7 million euros, projected to boost tourism by about one-fifth.

Culture
Some of the city landmarks include Gates of Ganja.

, the city along with Baku and Lankaran participates in Earth Hour movement.

Museums
Ganja State History-Ethnography Museum is the oldest museum in the city, with over 30,000 artifacts. The city is also home to Nizami Ganjavi Museum, which was built in 2014. The museum contains a research section, a library, a conference room, and corners for guests and tourists' relaxation.

Other museums include Heydar Aliyev Museum, House Museum of Mir Jalal Pashayev, Memorial House-Museum of Nizami Ganjavi, Memorial-House Museum of İsrafil Mammadov, Ganja branch of Museum of Miniature Books, "Ganja Castle Gates – Archaeology and Ethnography Museum" monument complex, Cultural Center named after Mahsati Ganjavi, Museum of Modern Art and Museum of Mirza Shafi Vazeh.

Galleries
Ganja State Art Gallery was established in April 1984 according to the decision of Council of Ministers of Azerbaijan SSR. The Gallery is headed by the carpet-artist Faig Osmanov.

Architecture
Ganja is primarily known for its Azerbaijani and Islamic architecture, but its buildings reflect the various peoples and empires that have previously ruled the city. During the Ganja Khanate period, the Khans proceeded to make an indelible impression on the skyline of Ganja, building towering mosques and houses from red bricks. Among the oldest surviving examples of Islamic architecture in Ganja are the Nizami Mausoleum and Shah Abbas Caravanserai, which assisted the Shahs during their siege of the city. The area around and inside the mosques, contains many fine examples of traditional architecture like Chokak Bath.

Another interesting building is the Bottle house of Ganja.

Music and media
The Ganja State Philharmonic was established in August 1990 according to the decision of the Ministry of Culture of the Azerbaijan SSR. On 21 January 2012, president Ilham Aliyev laid the foundation of the Ganja State Philharmonic. The facility includes a 1,200 concert hall, an open-air cinema theatre, a drawing gallery, an urban center and an observation tower. The new building of the Philharmonic Hall was put into use in 2017. The Goygol State Song and Dance Ensemble, the Orchestra of Folk Instruments and the Ganja State Chamber Orchestra operate under the Ganja State Philharmonic. Two regional channels, Kapaz TV and Alternativ TV, are headquartered in Ganja. Two newspapers are published in Ganja (Gəncənin səsi and Novosti Qyandji).

Ganja State Drama Theater
The building of the Ganja State Drama Theater was built by the German entrepreneur Christofor Forer in the 1880s. Ganja Drama Theater was established in 1921 in Baku as "Tənqid-təbliğ" (literally means "Criticism-propaganda"). In 1935 the theater moved to Ganja with its staff and continues its activity here under different names until 1990. The theater has been called the Ganja State Drama Theater since 1990.

Ganja State Puppet Theater
Ganja State Puppet Theater was established according to Decree No. 299 of the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR in September 1986. Before receiving "state theater" status in 1986, it was functioning as public theater. Ganja Puppet Theater operates in the building of Lutheran church constructed in 1885 by German settlers.

Parks and gardens
Ganja has many well-maintained parks and gardens, with the Khan's garden being one of the most scenic parks, and one of the city's most known landmarks. It features interesting landscaping, and consists of a wide variety of trees and plants in an open concept. Other prominent parks and gardens include Heydar Aliyev Park Complex, "Ganja 2016 European Youth Capital Park", "Ganja river" park-boulevard complex, Istiglal Avenue, Fikrat Amirov Park, Fuzuli Park, and Narimanov Park. Heydar Aliyev Park Complex includes an Amphitheater considered for organizing large outdoor events for up to 5000 people.

Sports
The city has one professional football team, Kapaz, currently competing in the second-flight of Azerbaijani football, the Azerbaijan First Division. The club has three Azerbaijani league and four cup titles.

There are Olympic Sports Complex with 2 buildings (put into operation in 2002 and 2006 respectively), Ganja City Stadium with a capacity of 27000 put into use in 1964 and other sporting facilities in Ganja.

İn September 2017 "Ganja Marathon 2017" was organized involving 11,000 people from different regions of Azerbaijan, as well as foreigners under the slogan "Be with us in the Marathon". The race started from Triumphal Arch and finished at the Heydar Aliyev Park Complex covering a distance of 17 kilometers.

Public transport
Ganja has a large urban transport system, mostly managed by the Ministry of Transportation. In 2013, Ministry of Transportation stated that the city, along with Nakhchivan and Sumqayit will have a new subway line within the framework of the 20-year subway program. The city had a trolleybus system, functioning from 1955 to 2004.

Ganja is without a tram system since Ganja tramway network ceased in the 1980s.

Air
Ganja International Airport is the only airport in the city. The airport is connected by bus to the city center. There are domestic flights to Baku and international service to Russia and Turkey.

Rail
Ganja sits on one of the Azerbaijani primary rail lines running east–west connecting the capital, Baku, with the rest of the country. The Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway runs along the line through the city. The railway provides both human transportation and transport of goods and commodities such as oil and gravel.

Ganja's Central Railway Station is the terminus for national and international rail links to the city. The Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway, which directly connects Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, began to be constructed in 2007 and completed in 2017. The completed branch connects Ganja with Tbilisi in Georgia, and from there trains continue to Akhalkalaki, and Kars in Turkey.

Education
The first seminary in Azerbaijan aimed at professional training of school teachers was opened in Ganja in 1914 which was united with Girls Seminary in 1927 and renamed as Ganja Pedagogical Technical School (Gəncə Pedoqoji Texnikumu).

Ganja is home to four major institutes for post-secondary education. Ganja State University was founded as Ganja Teachers Institute after Hasan bey Zardabi in 1939. In 2000, the President of Azerbaijan renamed the institute to Ganja State University. The university includes 8 faculty departments and 10 offices. The city also includes Azerbaijan State Agricultural University, Azerbaijan Technological University and a local branch of the Azerbaijan Teachers' Institute.

There are also schools offering secondary specialized education like Ganja Music College, Ganja Medicine College, Ganja State Regional College (established by combining Ganja Humanitarian College and Ganja Technical College in 2010).

There are a total of 7 schools offering vocational education in Ganja, being located as 3 vocational lyceums and a vocational school in Kapaz raion, a vocational lyceum and 2 vocational schools in Nizami raion.

Notable residents
The city's notable residents include: poet Nizami Ganjavi, scientist Firuddin Babayev, Olympic champion Toghrul Asgarov, ruler of Ganja Khanate Javad Khan, poets Mirza Shafi Vazeh, Mahsati Ganjavi, Nigar Rafibeyli, writer Ibn Khosrov al-Ustad, composer Fikrat Amirov, historian Farid Alakbarli, major political figure Nasib Yusifbeyli, deputy speaker of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Hasan bey Aghayev, geologist Mirali Qashqai, prime minister of Azerbaijan Artur Rasizade, chess player Faiq Hasanov, footballer Mahmud Qurbanov and Supreme Court Justice Aziz Seyidov. There were also several notable Armenian residents of Ganja, including Mkhitar Gosh, Kirakos Gandzaketsi, Vardan Areveltsi, Grigor Paron-Ter, Karo Halabyan, Askanaz Mravyan and Albert Azaryan.

Twin towns – sister cities
Ganja is twinned with:

 * 🇷🇺 Derbent, Russia
 * 🇹🇷 Kars, Turkey (2001)
 * Kutaisi, Georgia (1996)
 * 🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia
 * 🇺🇸 Newark, United States (2004)
 * 🇨🇿 Olomouc Region, Czech Republic (2012)
 * 🇹🇷 Ordu, Turkey
 * 🇹🇷 Aksaray, Turkey
 * 🇮🇷 Tabriz, Iran (2015)

title: Ganja, Azerbaijan


text:
Gandzak

Gandzak may refer to several places:

 * Gandzak, Armenia, a village in Armenia
 * The old Armenian name for Ganja, Azerbaijan
 * An alternative spelling of Ganzak, Iran

title: Gandzak


text:
Questionable Content

Questionable Content (sometimes abbreviated as QC ) is a slice-of-life webcomic written and illustrated by Jeph Jacques. It was launched in August 2003 and reached its 5,000th comic in March 2023. The plot originally centered on Marten Reed, an indie rock fan; his anthropomorphized personal computer Pintsize; and his roommate, Faye Whitaker. However, over time Jacques has added a supporting cast of characters that includes employees of the local coffee shop, neighbors, and androids. QC storytelling style combines romantic melodrama, situational comedy, and sexual humor, while considering questions of relationships, sexuality, dealing with emotional trauma, and artificial intelligence and futurism.

Background
In 2003, Jacques worked at a local newspaper in Easthampton, Massachusetts answering telephones. According to Jacques, the large amount of free time and access to the Internet led him to read webcomics "as something to do". Jacques stated, "I've always been really interested in music, and indie rock specifically, and I never saw any other comics that dealt with that aspect of our culture. I felt like there was a niche there that would work." Jacques posted the first QC on August 1, 2003.

Jacques makes his living from QC merchandising, advertising and donations. By 2004, Jacques could support himself and his then-partner based on income from merchandise and advertising sales. Merchandise has included designing T-shirts for the characters in the comic to wear, then selling real T-shirts of the same design. The comic is also supported by donors through Patreon.

Jacques promoted the comic in a number of ways including joining Dayfree Press for some time, and starting a fake feud with Sam Logan, the creator of Sam and Fuzzy, trading insults while linking to each other's comic. QC has also featured guest comics, often in exchange for Jacques writing a guest comic for the creator or for cross-promotion.

Publication
Questionable Content was originally updated twice a week, and was later bumped to three strips a week. In September 2004, Jacques left his day job to begin updating Monday through Friday.

According to Jacques in 2008, at one point he would have sought newspaper syndication for Questionable Content, but the thought no longer appealed to him because he does not want to surrender editorial freedom. The webcomic has been published in physical books; as of 2023, six volumes have been released, covering strips 1–1799. The first print collection features some of the earliest strips redrawn in Jacques art style at the time of the book; Jacques said this was because he did not have high-resolution copies of some old strips.

Style
Both the methods of storytelling and the artistic style of the strip have changed considerably since its inception. Originally, Jacques intended the strip to be about "a depressed lonely guy and his robot", but the introduction of the female character Faye led to an increase in Jacques' ideas for the strip. Gradually, he decided he wanted to stop making indie rock jokes and focus more on the relationships between the characters, which had "always been the most fun and interesting part."

Jacques spoke on the evolution of his art in an interview at ComixTalk in March 2006: "The art is constantly changing, as anybody who reads the comic for more than two weeks could probably tell you. I'm always trying different things with the artwork — it's been a goal from day one to continually improve my drawing ability, and I think it's finally beginning to get to the point where I'm halfway decent at it. It's basically survival of the fittest — changes that I think fit in with the overall look I'm going for stick around and get refined, and changes that do not fit in get phased out, sometimes in the course of three or four strips, sometimes over a much longer span of time. I'm trying to get better at using different "camera angles" in each panel and doing more involved backgrounds, both of which are really just a matter of being patient and taking my time with the artwork. There's still tons of room for improvement, and always will be, but I think I'm at least making progress."

In strip #1040, Jacques said that he used a Wacom Cintiq graphics tablet to draw his strips. In 2021, he tweeted that his software had been mainly Clip Studio Paint "for years now," and that he only used Photoshop for final layout and some image editing In 2007, he cited Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) and the webcomic Scary Go Round as his main influences.

Setting
Questionable Content takes place in Northampton, Massachusetts. Frequent settings include an apartment shared by Marten, Faye and Pintsize; Coffee of Doom, Dora's coffee shop, where Hannelore, Penelope, Cosette, Emily, and Dale work; and Smif College's Williston Library where Marten is employed along with Tai and Claire. (The real Williston Library is at Mount Holyoke College; the public library in Easthampton, Jacques's former residence, is also called the Williston Library.) The comic is mostly realistic with occasional bouts of absurdity, and action primarily focuses on banter between the characters, with slowly progressing plot developments. Due to the emphasis on inter-character dialogue, Jacques rarely uses thought bubbles in the comic.

Early in the comic's run, the main drama arose from tension between Faye and Marten. The two were roommates and Marten was romantically interested in Faye, but barriers would keep the relationship from happening.

The comic appears to be set in a reality similar to our own, but with a futuristic twist. For instance, references to music and bands in various strips are current and relevant at the time of publication. On the other hand, the setting is filled with sentient, emotive artificial intelligences with individual personalities (referred to as "AnthroPCs" or "AIs"), which frequently interact with human characters as though they have been doing so for a significant amount of time. According to academic Rebecca Gibson, "the differences between robots and humans in QC are treated in ways that minimalize conflict, maximize attempts at understanding, and address people as people, regardless of their organo-metallic content... While some have jobs, those jobs are either voluntarily done to maintain independence, or done to earn money for their own benefit. They have choice and autonomy and sentience, and while they are not treated as complete equals—there are plotlines about body purchases and upgrades, and what is wanted versus what can be afforded, as well as comments about personalities—they are, by and large, treated well." AIs can choose companionship and even sex. AIs can be just as good or as unpleasant as humans. Almost all bots have artificial skin color, such as blue, purple, and pink. Jacques remarked of the setting as far back as 2005: "Something people do not often realize is that the world in which QC takes place is considerably stranger than our own. You'd think that with all the little talking robots running around everywhere that this would be obvious, but I am consistently surprised at how often people take it for granted."

AnthroPCs are the only consistent signs of advanced technology in the series; when other technological advances are referenced, they rarely get developed beyond one or two strips. For instance, some of the notable technological creations in QC are the Deathbot 9000; a Vespa scooter that transforms into a battle droid; humans living permanently in space, single-stage-to-orbit ramjet-powered spaceplanes, orbital defense satellites capable of conversation. The permanent human presence in space was elaborated on in a story arc set aboard the space station where Hannelore grew up.

The internal chronology of the strip is somewhat ambiguous; on January 13, 2006, Jacques stated on a LiveJournal fan community that he has "never sat down and exactly tabulated," but he suspects the total amount of elapsed QC time at that point was "no more than six months." In a Q&A Tumblr post on January 23, 2012, Jacques estimated that it had been "at least a couple years in comic-time since the strip started."

Characters
Questionable Content features a diverse group of characters, with an academic noting that "the cast of characters contains many people of color, the various companion and working bots, a trans woman, a man with a bionic hand, [a] spider bot, a dominatrix, an autistic woman, a woman with obsessive compulsive disorder, and a station-controlling AI presence. In other words, Jacques has created a world that not only reflects the diversity of our own in terms of gender, sexuality, disability, mental health, and ethnicity, but has added and addressed issues of AI and robotics."
 * Marten Reed was QC original main character and the first character introduced to the comic. An indie rock fan, he is a former self-described "office bitch" who now works as a library assistant. He is generally optimistic, laid-back, and altruistic when it comes to relationships. He has no pets, but owns an AnthroPC named Pintsize. Marten and Faye were roommates for almost all of the comic, but as of strip 5002, Marten has moved to Cubetown. As of strip 2807, he is dating library intern Claire.
 * Pintsize is Marten's companion bot and was the second character introduced in the comic's inaugural strip. He is impish, mischievous, impulsive, and filthy-minded, alienating those he comes into contact with, has a massive database of porn, touches people’s butts without consent, and is in general unpleasant. He later buys a human-standard chassis, and realizes that his previous pranks and hijinks won't be accepted by his friends while he is in this new body. However, his obsession with butts continues: in a later strip, #4750 titled "Getting Her Up To Speed," Pintsize protests "Hey, don't lump me into the anti-analingus group!" He especially enjoys harassing or pranking Faye, although his hijinks are usually brought to end by some form of punishment, such as dismemberment, replacement of body parts with other objects, or being stuffed with bird seed. He is often used for comic relief, throw-away gags, or punchlines. Even so, he continues to be a companion to Marten, originally serving as a sounding board during Marten's more introspective moments.
 * Faye Whitaker is Marten's best friend. Having met him in strip 3, she moved in with him after she accidentally burned down her apartment. Prior to moving to Northampton, she witnessed her father's suicide; in the first serious moment of the comic, Jacques devoted six strips to covering the subject, accompanied by a direct note to his audience. Faye is known for her quick wit, sharp tongue, and usually playful, but sometimes violent, physicality. For the majority of the comic, Faye worked alongside Dora at the Coffee of Doom, but was fired after Dora caught her being drunk at work. Faye then began working in an underground robot fighting ring where she developed a friendship and then a romantic relationship with one of the robots there, Bubbles, with whom she now runs Union Robotics, a robot repair shop.
 * Dora Bianchi, Tai's fiancée, is a bisexual former goth who owns and operates the coffee shop Coffee of Doom. Her first appearance was in strip 75. She and Marten used to date. In the past, she has struggled with a habit of hiding her personal problems, such as her self-claimed social anxiety or trust issues caused by previous relationships. In fact, it was the latter issue which led to her and Marten's breakup. Tai and Dora declared their engagement in strip 3989.
 * Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham (nicknamed Hanners) is Marten's and Faye's eccentric upstairs neighbor. She has a rather severe case of obsessive–compulsive disorder and is an insomniac. She now works for Coffee of Doom. Despite her pathological fastidiousness, Hannelore has five piercings in each ear. Her parents are both billionaires, but her mother paid little attention to her; she was raised by her father in a space station. She has an AnthroPC named Winslow whose appearance initially resembled an iPod Classic but has since upgraded to a more humanoid body type. Hannelore first appeared in comic 515.
 * Tai Hubbert studied English at Smif College and is now Marten's boss at the library. She is a lesbian with a very active and complicated love life and sports numerous tattoos on her arms. As her preferred genre of music is minimal techno, she also works as a DJ under the name Tai Fighter (an allusion to TIE fighter). Tai first appeared in comic 691 and is engaged to Dora.
 * Marigold Farmer is an avid gamer. She is very introverted, despite having acknowledged her desire to be "less of a shut-in", and at low points, she has shown a tendency to ignore personal hygiene. She is also obsessed with anime and manga and has a Japanese-style AnthroPC named Momo. She is in a relationship with Dale, who she initially interacted with as an antagonist on World of Warcraft. Her name is a pun on the practice of gold farming. She first appeared in strip number 1413.
 * Dale (surname unknown) is a video game enthusiast, playing a large amount of World of Warcraft. To support his mother and pay for his otherwise sedentary lifestyle, he worked "a bunch of jobs" including delivering pizzas, though he is now working at Coffee of Doom. He is often seen wearing an augmented reality device in the form of glasses, which for a brief period enabled him to see and converse with May, an imprisoned AI, who has since been released. He and Marigold are in a relationship.
 * Claire Augustus is an intern at the Smif College library and an aspiring librarian, first appearing in comic 2203. Her younger brother is Clinton; the siblings resemble each other closely enough to sometimes be mistaken for twins. Claire is a trans woman, a fact that makes her self-conscious and causes her and Clinton to worry about her personal safety. Claire and Marten have been dating since strip 2807.
 * Bubbles is a burgundy-colored former combat-bot. Her large size makes her seem intimidating, though she is naturally shy. Bubbles owns and runs a robot repair shop with her partner Faye.

Recognition
Questionable Content was used along with Penny Arcade, Fetus-X and American Elf as an example of comics using the web to create "an explosion of diverse genres and styles" in Scott McCloud's 2006 book Making Comics. The comic has been used in the Create a Comic Project, a New Haven, Connecticut youth literacy program sponsored in part by Yale University.

Questionable Content was recognized several times by the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards. It received at least one nomination every year from 2004 to 2008 (the last year the WCCA gave out awards), and won six awards including winning Outstanding Romantic Comic three years in a row.

Graduate student Dennis Kogel used Questionable Content as a case study as part of their 2013 MA thesis at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. Kogel wrote that the comic has often changed styles, characters and themes over the years, and has done so without marking the beginning of episodes. Kogel wrote that QC had evolved over time into a very different work, "staying the same in name only", arguing that it was difficult to see the "crudely drawn" and loose cartoon style of QC of 2005, the "more manga styled" QC of 2008 and the more experimental QC of 2012 as the same world and characters.

QC's depiction of artificial intelligence is discussed in Rebecca Gibson's 2020 book Desire in the Age of Robots and AI, specifically in chapters relating to robot sex and sexuality.

title: Questionable Content


text:
Angela Perez Baraquio

Angela Perez Baraquio Grey (born June 1, 1976), known professionally by her birth name of Angela Perez Baraquio, is an American educator. She was crowned Miss America 2001 on October 14, 2000, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, becoming the first Asian American, first Filipino American, and first teacher ever to win the pageant.

A politically conservative, anti-abortion Catholic, Baraquio has been publicly active in supporting various Republican politicians and in speaking out against abortion. She is also an educator whose platform as Miss America was character education. Since 2004, Baraquio has co-hosted the Hawaiian television show Living Local with the Baraquios.

Early life and education
She is the eighth of ten children (sixth of seven girls) born to an immigrant couple from Pangasinan, Philippines. One of her sisters is Hawaiian media personality Bernadette Baraquio Hamada whose husband is Hawaiian conservative talk radio show host and columnist, Rick Hamada.

Baraquio graduated from Moanalua High School in June 1994 magna cum laude. After graduation, she attended the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa where she graduated in May 1999 with a bachelor's degree in elementary education with an emphasis on speech.

Baraquio earned her master's degree in educational administration from the University of Hawaii in December 2004. During her year as Miss America in 2001, Baraquio's platform was character education.

Pageant participation
Baraquio was Miss Hawaii 2000. Subsequently, she was crowned Miss America 2001 on October 14, 2000, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, becoming the first Asian American, first Filipino American, and first teacher ever to win the pageant.

She helped host the Miss America 2002 pageant.

She has appeared as a panelist on MTV's Pageant School: Becoming Miss America and on the conservative talk show, Hannity, of the Fox News Channel.

Career
From August 1999 to June 2000, Baraquio was a faculty member at Holy Family Catholic Academy in the Salt Lake subdivision of Honolulu. She taught physical education, was athletic director and coached basketball, volleyball and track. Baraquio was also choir director of the historic St. Augustine Church in Waikiki.

In 2015 Baraquio was appointed principal of St. Anthony of Padua School in Gardena, California.

Baraquio has worked as a celebrity spokesperson for First Hawaiian Bank, First Hawaiian Center, and the Four Seasons hotel in Hawaii. Baraquio and her family live in Anaheim, California.

Political views and activity
In 2001, Baraquio participated as Miss America in the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., and was acknowledged by President George W. Bush in his remarks. Bush said, "Angela, it's wonderful to see you again. Thank you for your testimony and your beauty and your grace." In June 2006, President Bush appointed Baraquio to the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation, where she served until November 2008.

In 2003, Baraquio hosted a series of television shows for Governor Linda Lingle (R-Hawaii), called Talk Story with Your Administration, showcasing activities and individuals of the Lingle Administration.

She was one of Senator Sam Brownback's (R-Kansas) earliest and most prominent supporters in the 2008 Republican presidential primary season. She formally joined the Brownback campaign December 14, 2006, and served on his presidential exploratory committee, where her main task was promoting the conservative Kansas senator in her native Hawaii. She said she was drawn to the senator's strong opposition to abortion. Baraquio said, "As a Catholic, I am proud to support this wonderful man who believes in the sanctity of every human life." On January 20, 2007, Baraquio introduced Brownback at his presidential campaign kick-off event in Kansas. In her remarks, Baraquio said Brownback "is a man we can trust to take our values to the White House." Brownback withdrew from the presidential race on October 19, 2007, before any primary contests.

Baraquio remains active in speaking out against abortion. CMG Booking an agency which specializes in booking prominent conservative Catholics for public speaking engagements, books Baraquio for events. On her page on CMG's website, Baraquio lists "Pro-life issues" among her speaking topics.

Media appearances

 * Appeared as a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman
 * Appeared as a panelist on ESPN's 2 Minute Drill
 * Appeared on Behind Closed Doors with Joan Lunden on A&E
 * Game show participant on
 * Wheel of Fortune
 * Hollywood Squares
 * Pyramid

title: Angela Perez Baraquio


text:
Four Ways to Forgiveness

Four Ways to Forgiveness is a collection of four short stories and novellas by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. All four stories are set in the future and deal with the planets Yeowe and Werel, both members of the Ekumen, a collective of planets used by Le Guin as part of the background for many novels and short stories in her Hainish Cycle. In 2017 it was reissued in the second volume of Hainish Novels & Stories and as an e-book, augmented with a fifth related story by Le Guin, as Five Ways to Forgiveness.

Setting
The stories in the book are set on two planets in a distant solar system, Werel and Yeowe, inhabited by humans placed there by the ancient Hainish. (This 'Werel' is not the same as the world called Werel in Le Guin's Planet of Exile and City of Illusions.) Werel has a long history of institutional enslavement of its lighter-skinned ethnic groups by its darker-skinned ethnic groups (the latter's derogatory term for the former is "dusties"). When the Ekumen recontacted the Werelians, the shock spurred one of the Werelian nations, Voe Deo, to develop a space program and settle the other inhabitable planet in the system, Yeowe, transporting a primarily slave population to do so. Eventually the slaves on Yeowe conducted a successful revolt and gained their independence, an event that occurred in the fairly recent past of the four stories. The nations of Werel are nervous that the "assets" on that planet might attempt the same thing for themselves.

Contents

 * 1) "Betrayals" - The story of Yoss, an elderly, retired science teacher who lived through Yeowe's War of Liberation, and her neighbour Chief Abberkam, a disgraced leader from that war and an opponent of contact with the Ekumen, both living in a desolate area of the planet. Abberkam rescues Yoss's pet cat from an accidental fire which destroys her hut; Yoss then moves into Abberkam's house.
 * 2) "Forgiveness Day" - Solly, a woman of half-Terran ancestry and space-travelling parents, faces problems as Envoy to the small sexually repressive kingdom of Gatay on Werel.
 * 3) "A Man of the People" - Havzhiva is a man who grows up on Hain, is educated there and then works for the Hainish embassy on Yeowe. It contains the most extensive description of Hain's environment and culture in Le Guin's work.
 * 4) "A Woman's Liberation" - Rakam, a woman born as a slave on Werel, tells of her life and her growing self-awareness. Also published in the anthology  A Woman's Liberation: A Choice of Futures By and About Women (2001).
 * 5) "Old Music and the Slave Women"* focuses on Esdardon Aya, also known as 'Old Music'. It is set somewhat later in time than the other four stories. Le Guin writes, "the character called Old Music began to tell me a fifth tale about the latter days of the civil war . . . I’m glad to see it joined to the others at last." * Only in Five Ways to Forgiveness, not Four Ways...; published earlier in the collection The Birthday of the World.

The second, third, fourth, and fifth stories have some characters in common. Havzhiva from story #3 works for Solly from #2. He is also the lover of Rakam in #4, who is mentioned but not named in #3. Both of them know Dr Yeron, and also Esdardon Aya, 'Old Music'. 'Old Music' is a minor character in #2, and the protagonist in #5.

The book ends with "Notes on Werel and Yeowe", giving details of the two planets and their solar system.

Themes
The common themes of the stories revolve around the concepts of freedom and slavery. For thousands of years, the dark-skinned owners of Werel held the light-skinned assets in slavery. However, in recent years, following the colonization of the second planet, Yeowe, things have begun to change on Werel. The Yeowans have gained freedom and are struggling to establish their own government and identity, and gain admittance into the Ekumen of worlds.

Gender relations are another area examined by the stories. In its initial years of settlement, only male slaves were transported to Yeowe, leading to a hypermasculine culture and formalized homosexual relationships among them, both of which had a strong impact on later gender relations on Yeowe. In the second story of the book, Solly associates with a Werelian member of a class of traditional transvestite entertainers, and the fourth story features Rakam reflecting on how her new experience of freedom from formal slavery is conditioned by her position as a woman in a still-sexist society.

Publication history
The collection was first published by Harper Paperbacks (a division of HarperCollins Publishers) in 1995. Betrayals first appeared in 1994 in Blue Motel. The others appeared in the science fiction magazine Asimov's in 1994 and 1995.

Four Ways to Forgiveness was published in 1995 in a leather-bound, signed edition by Easton Press, who describe themselves as releasing 'works of lasting meaning, beauty and importance.'

Five Ways to Forgiveness was published in 2017 by Library of America eBook Classics, in e-book format only. The Library of America included Five Ways to Forgiveness in the collection Hainish Novels & Stories, Volume Two as well.

Reception and critical analysis
Four Ways to Forgiveness has been referred to as a story-suite by critics, based on Le Guin's own use of the term to describe her deliberate inclusion of linked short stories in book form. Le Guin has remarked that the collections of stories could have been a novel had she focused on a few characters; instead she decided to focus on a work with many voices.

title: Four Ways to Forgiveness


text:
J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator

J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator is a collection of paintings (mostly watercolour) and drawings by J. R. R. Tolkien for his stories, published posthumously in 1995. The book was edited by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull. It won the 1996 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies. The nature and importance of Tolkien's artwork is discussed.

Context
J. R. R. Tolkien was an artist in pictures as well as in words. Though he often remarked that he had no talent for drawing, his art has charmed readers and has been exhibited to large and appreciative audiences. In fact, his talent was far more than he admitted, and his sense of design was natural and keen. Portraits are conspicuously absent from his work.

Synopsis
The book explores Tolkien's art at length, from his childhood paintings and drawings to his final sketches. It reproduces 200 examples of his artwork. At its heart are his illustrations for his books, especially The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Also examined are the pictures Tolkien made for his children (notably in his The Father Christmas Letters and Mr. Bliss), his expressive calligraphy, his love of decoration, and his contributions to the typography and design of his books. There is an appendix on Tolkien's calligraphy.

Reception
The book won the 1996 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies.

It was well received by scholars and critics. The Tolkien Library called the book a significant contribution to understanding Tolkien's life and art, "a full book's worth even without the artwork".

Raymond Lister, reviewing the book for the literary journal VII, writes that it is uncommon for writers also to be illustrators, with instances like William Blake and Beatrix Potter. He states that Tolkien rightly considered himself an amateur, though his work gained professional polish over the years. In Lister's view, Tolkien was at his best when illustrating his own "romances", with fictional landscapes populated by dragons; and when working for children. In his view, Hammond and Scull have researched widely, as shown by the notes, and written "a good book ... extensively and beautifully illustrated ... its text ... an excellent example of how scholarship and clear prose—so often mutually exclusive—should be combined".


text:
Talk:James A. Bayard (politician, born 1767)

About the Page name
As far as I can find, he never called himself ", Sr." This was a differentator applied on the congressional biography web pages, and has propagated to other internet sites. I do think we should keep his son at ", Jr.". as a way to keep them apart. I plan to clean up redirects when get around to his biography. Thanks, Lou I 21:32, 17 May 2004 (UTC)

This note seems quite correct, as James A. (1767-1815) was, in fact, the son of a James A. (1738-1770), and known as the younger when his father was remembered. Later in his career one of his sons, also James A. (1799-1888), was known as the younger. I have seen biographers sometimes use James A. Jr. for James (1799-1888), sometimes James A. II for James (1767-1815) and James A. III for James (1799-1888), but never James A. Sr. for James (1767-1815). In my opinion the only way to confidently keep them all straight is to use the dates. stilltim 12:21, 6 January 2006 (UTC)


text:
Def

Def or DEF may refer to:

Music

 * Def (instrument), a Middle Eastern musical instrument
 * DEF II, a British youth TV programme
 * Def American, a rock and rap record label
 * Def Jam Recordings, a rap record label
 * Def Jux, a rap record label
 * Def Leppard, a British hard rock band
 * So So Def Recordings, a rap record label

Other uses

 * , a keyword in Python and PostScript
 * Danish EL-Federation, Danish trade union for electricians
 * Design Exchange Format, or DEF
 * Deutsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik, or DEF, Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory in Kraków, Poland
 * Diesel exhaust fluid, or DEF, also known as AdBlue or AUS 32
 * Disarmed Enemy Forces, or DEF
 * Diethylformamide, an organic solvent

People with the name

 * Mos Def, a rap artist
 * Def Jef, a rap artist

title: Def