text:
Union of Centrists

The Union of Centrists (Ένωση Κεντρώων, ) is a centrist, liberal political party in Greece. The leader and founder of the party is the veteran anti-corruption activist Vassilis Leventis. It strongly supports Greece in remaining an integral part of the European Union.

History
The party was founded by Vassilis Leventis in 1992 under the title "Union of Centrists and Ecologists" (Ένωση Κεντρώων και Οικολόγων). The name was changed shortly after. The Union of Centrists claims to be the ideological continuation of the old party Centre Union. Previously Vassilis Leventis was a part of the PASOK party when it was launched, but Vassilis Leventis left and started the Union of Centrists because of disagreements.

The party strives to become "the political continuance of the centrist expression in Greece". Leventis aimed to become part of the Venizelist legacy of some Greek politicians of the past, such as Eleftherios Venizelos and George Papandreou (senior).

Positions
1. To reduce the salary of all elected representatives by 50%, the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, ministers, deputies, mayors, regional governors, as well as drastically reduce expenses for consultants, retired, detached and collaborators of all above.

2. For the abolition of the pension for current and past members, ministers, presidents of the Republic, Prime Ministers and those who have occupied all kinds of offices in the grades of local government. 3. For the purpose of identifying by means of a special plan, retrospectively, 10 years of all public sector debt, DEKOs and municipalities and regions, and their transfer to the private sector, in order to reduce public spending and to reward the conscientious civil servants. 4. For the introduction of income criteria for all benefits, tax exemptions and pensions for all citizens, that with the money saved by having and holding to support vulnerable groups of citizens (disabled, unemployed, single-parent families, students, large families, farmers, soldiers ). 5. To define the number of members in parliament to 200 as permitted by the Constitution and later to 150 (when the Constitution is amended). 6. For a method of recruiting staff in the public sector with absolutely invisible points other than their merit-based experience which is applicable for the position and to abolish individuals who gained positions through cronyism. The measure may also apply to the private sector in order for legal persons to enter beneficial European programs and to receive bank facilities. 7. To establish the Simple Analogue (without bonus) for both the parliamentary and local elections and the enshrinement of the measure as a constitutional article. 8. For the measure to include employees in the profits of large enterprises (over 200 employees) up to 40% of their total, particularly in automated industries. 9. For the pluralistic operation of all SMEs (televisions, radios, newspapers) and the imposition of strict sanctions in the case of organized propaganda. 10. For the approval by the Parliament of all loans, bonds, government securities issued and the referral to the Prime Minister's Justice, which exceeds the deficit rate set by the European Union in the management of finances. 11. The annulment of the Prespa agreement and holding of a referendum on it in Greece.

12. We also call for the trial of those who have defrauded the system from a state to a local level, ranging from political actions that led to crisis, to fake public sector employment, fake private contracts and the abolishment of employment through private sector contracts done through public sector workers right before elections.

Electoral support
Until 2015, the party's influence was marginal, with 1.79% of the total vote in the January 2015 Greek legislative election and no MPs being its highest achievement. In the September 2015 Greek legislative election the party cleared the 3% hurdle for representation in the Greek Parliament with nine MPs after it won 186,457 votes (3.43%). Two MPs left the parliamentary group: Georgios Dimitrios Karras in November 2016 and Theodora Megaloeconomou in July 2017, the latter becoming a Syriza MP in January 2018. The party currently has five MPs.

In the 2019 election, the party did not reach the 3% threshold and thus lost representation in the Hellenic Parliament.

title: Union of Centrists


text:
User talk:Gleet

Welcome to the Wikipedia
Here are some links I find useful

 * Policy Library
 * Cite your sources
 * Verifiability
 * Wikiquette
 * Conflict resolution
 * Brilliant prose
 * Neutral point of view
 * Pages needing attention
 * Peer review
 * Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense
 * Village pump
 * Boilerplate text

Feel free to ask me anything the links and talk pages don't answer. You can sign your name by typing 4 tildes, likes this: ~.

Cheers, Sam [Spade] 09:06, 31 May 2004 (UTC)

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

title: User talk:Gleet


text:
User:Patrick ns

Patrick ns stands for Patrick logged in as non-sysop.

I use this user name for testing.

title: User:Patrick ns


text:
Continuing education

Continuing education is an all-encompassing term within a broad list of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada.

Recognized forms of post-secondary learning activities within the domain include: degree credit courses by non-traditional students, non-degree career training, college remediation, workforce training, and formal personal enrichment courses (both on-campus and online).

General continuing education is similar to adult education, at least in being intended for adult learners, especially those beyond traditional undergraduate college or university age.

Frequently, in the United States and Canada continuing education courses are delivered through a division or school of continuing education of a college or university known sometimes as the university extension or extension school. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development argued, however, that continuing education should be "'fully integrated into institutional life rather than being often regarded as a separate and distinctive operation employing different staff' if it is to feed into mainstream programmes and be given the due recognition deserved by this type of provision".

Georgetown University, Michigan State University, and the University of Denver have benefited from non-credit programs as it relates to strengthening partnerships with corporations and government agencies, helping to inform and shape the curriculum for degree programs, and generating revenue to support the academic enterprise.

History
In the United Kingdom, Oxford University's Department for Continuing Education was founded in 1878, and the Institute of Continuing Education of Cambridge University dates to the 1873.

In the United States, the Chautauqua Institution, originally the Chautauqua Lake Sunday School Assembly, was founded in 1874 "as an educational experiment in out-of-school, vacation learning. It was successful and broadened almost immediately beyond courses for Sunday school teachers to include academic subjects, music, art and physical education."

Harvard University traces its origins in continuing education to 1835 when John Lowell Jr. established the Lowell Institute with a mission to provide free public lectures in Boston. In 1909, then-Harvard President A. Lawrence Lowell, who was also a trustee of the Lowell Institute, expanded plans to offer Lowell Institute public courses directly with Harvard. In 1910, Lowell formally established the Havard Extension School, then referred to as the Commission on Extension Courses. The Harvard Extension School now operates under the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and is one of the 13 degree-granting schools that makes up Harvard University. The School has remained in continuous operation since 1910.

Cornell University was among higher education institutions that began offering university-based continuing education, primarily to teachers, through extension courses in the 1870s. As noted in the Cornell Era of February 16, 1877, the university offered a "Tour of the Great Lakes" program for "teachers and others" under the direction of Professor Theodore B. Comstock, head of Cornell's department of geology.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison began its continuing education program in 1907. The New School for Social Research, founded in 1919, was initially devoted to adult education. In 1969, Empire State College, a unit of the State University of New York, was the first institution in the US to exclusively focus on providing higher education to adult learners. In 1976 the University of Florida created its own Division of Continuing Education and most courses were offered on evenings or weekends to accommodate the schedules of working students.

The method of delivery of continuing education can include traditional types of classroom lectures and laboratories. However, many continuing education programs make heavy use of distance education, which not only includes independent study, but can also include videotaped material, broadcast programming or online education which has more recently dominated the distance learning community.

For professionals
Within the domain of continuing education, professional continuing education is a specific learning activity generally characterized by the issuance of a certificate or continuing education units (CEU) for the purpose of documenting attendance at a designated seminar or course of instruction. Licensing bodies in a number of fields (such as teaching and healthcare) impose continuing education requirements on members who hold licenses to continue practicing a particular profession. These requirements are intended to encourage professionals to expand their foundations of knowledge and stay up-to-date on new developments.

Depending on the field, these requirements may be satisfied through college or university coursework, extension courses or conferences and seminars attendance. Although individual professions may have different standards, the most widely accepted standard, developed by the International Association for Continuing Education & Training, is that ten contact hours equals one Continuing Education Unit. Not all professionals use the CEU convention. For example, the American Psychological Association accredits sponsors of continuing education and uses simply a CE approach. In contrast to the CEU, the CE credit is typically one CE credit for each hour of contact.

In the spring of 2009, Eduventures, a higher education consulting firm, released the results of a study that illustrated that the recession had made a significant impact on the views of prospective continuing education students. A survey of 1,500 adults who planned to enroll in a course or program within the next two years determined that while nearly half of respondents believed that the value of education had risen due to the recession, over two-thirds said the state of the economy had affected their plans to pursue continuing education.

The World Bank's 2019 World Development Report on the future of work explains that flexible learning opportunities at universities and adult learning programs that allow workers to retrain and retool are vital in order for labor markets to adjust to the future of work.

title: Continuing education


text:
Talk:Kvass

Non-Alcoholic?
The article begins:

"Kvass is a fermented cereal-based non-alcoholic beverage"

but goes on to say:

"Kvass is usually 0.5–1.0% alcohol by weight, but may sometimes be as high as 2.0%."

This seems a bit odd - is there a reason to describe 'lightly alcoholic' as 'non-alcoholic'? 136.226.81.34 (talk) 13:28, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

 * I agree. Have amended to "low-alcoholic". Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 13:58, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Kvass


text:
Mantes-la-Ville

Mantes-la-Ville is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris 48.6 km from the center.

Mantes-la-Ville is located at the confluence of the Seine and the Vaucouleurs. The Paris–Rouen rail line separates Mantes-la-Ville from the larger commune of Mantes-la-Jolie. The A13 autoroute to Normandy also passes through Mantes-la-Ville.

Population
Inhabitants are called Mantevillois. Approximately one-third of the town's population is Muslim.

Economy
Mantes-la-Ville is the headquarters of two world-renowned makers of wind instruments: Henri Selmer and Buffet Crampon.

Eduard Beaugnier et Cie, another saxophone manufacturer, was also based in Mantes until the company closed down in the early 1970s. Beaugnier manufactured saxophones under their own name, and also as "stencils" for other companies under names such as Noblet, Vito and Revere. Though not as well known as the instruments of Henri Selmer, Beaugnier instruments have a good reputation amongst saxophone enthusiasts. Another high-quality saxophone manufacturer based in Mantes was Dolnet, whose factory closed down in the late 1970s.

There is an industrial park on the old site of Cellophane.

Twin towns

 * 🇬🇧 Chigwell, Essex, England
 * 🇬🇧 Hillingdon, Greater London, England
 * 🇩🇪 Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany

Transport
Mantes-la-Ville is served by Mantes-Station station, an interchange station on the Transilien Paris-Saint-Lazare and Transilien Paris-Montparnasse suburban rail lines.

Culture
The Mantes-la-Ville Orchestral Ensemble is led by Jean-Luc Fillon

Education
There are 15 communal primary schools. There are also two junior high schools Les Plaisances (opened in 1968) and de la Vaucouleurs (has 615 students as of 2016), and one vocational high school, Lycée Camille Claudel (des métiers de l'accompagnement aux personnes, du commerce et de l'hôtellerie-restauration).

Universities:
 * ISTY
 * Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University

title: Mantes-la-Ville


text: Category:Image Comics titles

title: Category:Image Comics titles


text:
James Gustave Speth

James Gustave (Gus) Speth (born on March 4, 1942) is an American environmental lawyer and advocate who co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Early life and education
He was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina in 1942. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1964, attended Balliol College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and graduated from Yale Law School, where he was a member of St. Anthony Hall and the Yale Law Journal, in 1969.

Career
In 1969 and 1970, Speth served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo L. Black. He was a co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, where he served as senior attorney from 1970 to 1977.

He served from 1977 to 1981 as a member and then for two years as chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality in the Executive Office of the President. As chair, he was a principal adviser on matters affecting the environment and had overall responsibility for developing and coordinating the President's environmental program. In 1981 and 1982, he was professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, teaching environmental and constitutional law.

In 1982, he founded the World Resources Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental think tank, and served as its president until January 1993. He was a senior adviser to President-elect Bill Clinton's transition team, heading the group that examined the U.S.'s role in natural resources, energy and the environment.

In 1991, he chaired a U.S. task force on international development and environmental security which produced the report Partnership for Sustainable Development: A New U.S. Agenda.

In 1990 he led the Western Hemisphere Dialogue on Environment and Development which produced the report Compact for a New World.

From 1993 to 1999, he served as Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme; he served as special coordinator for economic and social affairs under Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, managed the United Nations Development Assistance Plan and also served as chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group.

In 1999, he became the dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. He served the school as the Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean and Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor in the Practice of Environmental Policy when he retired from Yale in 2009 to assume a professorship at Vermont Law School in South Royalton, Vermont. Speth was succeeded as Dean at Yale by Sir Peter Crane.

In 2014 he published his memoir Angels by the River. In that year, he was also board member of the New Economy Coalition.

Speth currently serves on the advisory council of Represent.Us, a nonpartisan anti-corruption organization.

Speth has been a leader or participant in many task forces and committees aimed at combating environmental degradation, including the President's Task Force on Global Resources and Environment; the Western Hemisphere Dialogue on Environment and Development; and the National Commission on the Environment.

Awards
Among his awards are the National Wildlife Federation’s Resources Defense Award, the Natural Resources Council of America's Barbara Swain Award of Honor, a 1997 Special Recognition Award from the Society for International Development, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Environmental Law Institute, and the Blue Planet Prize. He holds honorary degrees from Clark University, the College of the Atlantic, Vermont Law School, Middlebury College, and the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Books

 * Globalization and the Environment (as an editor), Island Press (2003)
 * Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment (2004)
 * Global Environmental Governance, Island Press (2006)
 * The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability, Yale University Press (2008) ISBN 978-0-300-13611-1
 * America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy, Yale University Press (2012) ISBN 978-0300180763
 * Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril (chapter), Nelson, Michael P. and Kathleen Dean Moore (eds.) Trinity University Press, (2010) ISBN 9781595340665
 * Angels by the River, a memoir, Chelsea Green Publishing (2014)
 * Imagine a Joyful Economy, with Peter Denton, Wood Lake Publishing Inc. (2020) ISBN 978-1-77343-161-1
 * They Knew: The US Federal Government's Fifty-Year Role in Causing the Climate Crisis, MIT Press (2021) ISBN 9780262542982

Articles

 * Beyond Reform Our Planet Magazine PDF
 * America the Possible: A Manifesto, From decline to rebirth link
 * America the Possible: A Manifesto, A new politics for a new dream link

title: James Gustave Speth


text: Category:Switzerland

title: Category:Switzerland


text:
Category:Hematology

Hematology is the study of blood, the blood-forming organs, and blood diseases.

title: Category:Hematology


text:
User:Yacht/monobook.css

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title: User:Yacht/monobook.css


text: Category:Fictional ghosts

title: Category:Fictional ghosts


text: Category:Television series

title: Category:Television series


text: Category:Milestone Comics

title: Category:Milestone Comics


text:
Category talk:Pokémon

Untitled
There should be a Category:Pokémon series - please someone create it - which in turn should be in Category:Pokémon and also in Category:Television series, but I don't think Pokémon itself, which is not intrinsically a TV series, should be in Category:Television series. In particular, it should not be possible to navigate from Catgegory:Television series to a list of Pokémon characters. — Timwi 09:38, 31 May 2004 (UTC)

How can the Cat:Pokemon redirect be forced to not be a subcategory? This needs fixing, maybe at a high level. 167.76.159.32 18:06, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

Self reference
I have just removed a number of Wikipedia: pages from this category, as well as removing meta-sub categories. The articles and sub categories within this should be for readers, not editors. J Milburn (talk) 20:58, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Voice Actors
I am most likly going to make a Category: Pokémon Voice Actors page. It would clean up alot. --Bws2cool (talk) 21:21, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

title: Category talk:Pokémon


text: Category:Animated television series

title: Category:Animated television series


text:
Category:Science fiction novels

This category is for articles about individual science fiction novels, i.e. full-length, narrative-style works.

For science fiction books which are not novels – for example, anthologies, reference works – see Category:Science fiction books. For articles about individual science fiction short stories, see Category:Science fiction short stories.

title: Category:Science fiction novels


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title: User:Patrick ns/monobook.css


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Category:Television

Television is a telecommunication technology for broadcasting and receiving video and audio over a distance. The term has come to refer to all the aspects of television programming and transmission as well, whether or not they are broadcast.

Please use subcategories where possible.

title: Category:Television


text:
Talk:Jack Lang (Australian politician)/Archive 1

Untitled
jack lang was a good bloke who shouldnt have been dismissed -- 19:51, May 31, 2004 203.29.67.84

 * Indeed. :-) I have long been a fan of 'The Big Fella' myself - I tried very hard to write this article in a neutral point of view, e.g. pointing out how welfare cheques bounced and the chaos caused by Lang's stubbornness, and how his actions were clearly un-Constitutional. Nonetheless, I hope that my admiration for Jack Lang doesn't come across too strongly in the article. --Humehwy 23:29, 4 Jun 2004 (UTC)

what is Jack Langs significance to australian history?

 * "Governor Sir Philip Game was left with no choice but to dismiss Lang..." might be a bit POV, as is reference to "...the ultra-conservative print media..." _ Matthew238 01:10, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

 * I agree the "no choice" phrase is too strong. There is controversy about the Constitutionality of it, especially considering the undefined nature of the Governor's "reserve powers" that were used (e.g. in Frank Cain's Jack Lang and the Great Depression). I have amended it likewise.  I don't see that "ultra-conservative" is necessarily a value judgement though.--Jack Upland 05:58, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

 * I'm happy to let your edits stand, Jack. I also agree that describing the Sydney media in 1932 as "ultra-conservative" is definitely not a value judgement. Simply go down to the nearest decent library and look at the microfilm Sydney Morning Heralds and Suns from May and June 1932 and you'll see what I mean. If I recall correctly, many newspapers refused to even take paid advertising from the Labor Party. --Humehwy 06:57, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

Hello fellow Lang-ers, as I live in the Auburn area, I've added a couple of references and links which I hope gets cleaned up properly in a proper biblio/references format. In the meantime, it's nice to know that history for the common good being remembered here. (I'll sign up as a proper user on Wikipedia one day!) 11/01/2006

POV
The stuff about the Depression needs rewording, in particular whether the Commonwealth's response made things better or worse - there's a lot of disagreement as to whether controlling spending during the Depression lessened or worsened the economic effects. (A similar discussion surrounds US policy at the same time.) El T 07:33, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

 * I can't see where in the article it says whether the Commonwealth response to the Depression made things either worse or better. One thing is for certain -- Australia's recovery from the Depression was far slower and shallower than in the US, UK or New Zealand. Feel free to share your thoughts on another article I have written, Great Depression in Australia. --Humehwy 04:47, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

New Guard
Some mention should be made of the New Guard's activities against him, like kidnap attempts and planned coups.
 * Plus their distinct fascist connection.

Depression Economic Policy
It should also be noted that Lang's policy of renegotiation of interest payments on State loans from abroad (primarily from the UK) during the Depression, although contrary to the economic policy of the Australian Commonwealth Government and the other State Governments, was precisely the policy then being adopted by the British Government with respect to the UK's own loans from the USA. Australian politicians, with the exception of Lang, were acting in the interests of British investors, and not in the interests of their own constituents; their treason is deplorable.

Dismissal
Technically Governor Game did not recall Lang's commission because he attempted to hide funds from the commonwealth. What Sir Philip Game found improper was the directive Premier sent out ordering civil servants not to obey certain federal laws. As everything the state government does, it does on behalf of the crown (as it is the King's government), the governor claimed he could not countenance actions being done in the name of the King which were in effect criminal.

Edward Carson (talk) 02:30, 17 July 2008 (UTC)


text:
Gerald Cock

Gerald Cock MVO (1887 – 10 November 1973) was a British broadcasting executive, who initially worked for BBC Radio, before being made the corporation's very first Director of Television, in effect the very first Controller of the television channel initially known as the BBC Television Service but later renamed BBC1.

Early life
After being educated at Tonbridge School and Seafield Park, Cock left the UK in 1909 to travel around North America. He went to British Columbia, the United States and Mexico, working variously in such jobs as a rancher, a gold miner and even as an extra in Hollywood films, before in 1915 returning to the UK due to the First World War. Cock joined the Royal Engineers and served in France and later Belgium, being promoted to the rank of captain in 1917.

Career
Cock left the army in 1920 and worked in various jobs in London, before joining the newly formed British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation). As the BBC began to extend its radio service throughout the country and provide a greater scope and variety of programmes, Cock was appointed as its first Director of Outside Broadcasts in 1925. He organised several new and ambitious events, such as the coverage of live sporting events and the increasing competition with the newspapers for coverage of important news, as well as encouraging the development of new techniques and technologies.

In 1935, possibly because of his enthusiasm for new broadcasting techniques, Cock was asked if he would like to become the BBC's Director of Television, as the corporation was planning to introduce a new regular service using this medium the following year. Cock accepted, and this placed him charge of establishing the world's very first regular high-definition television service from scratch.

Based at the BBC's new television studios in a specially converted section of Alexandra Palace in London, Cock and his team thought that they had several months to learn about what making television would involve before the planned launch in November 1936, but soon after the initial meeting he was informed that programmes would be required for the Radiolympia exhibition in August, which was then only ten days away.

Despite the tight schedule, Cock and his team were able to prepare several sample programmes, and the Radiolympia event was a great success in advertising the potential of the new medium and encouraging the audience to purchase sets in the run-up to the launch proper. On 2 November 1936 that launch took place, the new television service broadcasting in theory only within a twenty-five-mile radius of Alexandra Palace, although in practice the transmissions could be picked up a good deal further afield than this.

Initially two competing technical systems, the Marconi 405-line and the Baird 210-line intermediate film system, were used in alternate weeks, but the Marconi system was vastly superior and Baird's was quickly abandoned. Cock oversaw an increasingly ambitions programme of scheduling including various variety shows, the popular magazine programme Picture Page, and an increasingly varied number of dramas. These achievements are all the more impressive when it is considered that, apart from a couple of demonstration films and some newsreels, everything had to be transmitted live as at the time no broadcast-quality format existed for the recording of television programmes.

Cock also made impressive forays into outside broadcasts, including coverage on 12 May 1937 of the coronation parade of King George VI, which used every single camera the television service had available and a huge length of cable to relay the pictures back to Alexandra Palace for broadcast. He also established the coverage of prominent sporting events, including the first ever televising of Wimbledon (21 June 1937), the Boat Race (2 April 1938), the FA Cup Final (30 April 1938) and test match cricket (24 June 1938). Major live news events also began to be covered – BBC television cameras were present when Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich to deliver his infamous "peace in our time" speech in October 1938.

This increasingly varied and ambitious schedule put together by Cock and his small but inventive team of producers meant that television very quickly grew in popularity, despite at the time being an expensive luxury limited to the London area. By September 1939 there were estimated to be 25,000 television sets in use – however, that month also saw the BBC Television Service unceremoniously shut down by the government for the duration of the war, following the broadcasting of a Mickey Mouse cartoon on 1 September, two days before hostilities commenced. There were two main reasons for this – the first and principal reason was the fear that German bombers could use the VHF transmission waves of television as a perfect guiding beam for homing into the centre of London. However, there was also a great need for many of the technical and engineering staff of the service to be used on war efforts such as the radar programme, and so the young BBC Television Service was blacked-out until 1946.

During the war, with no television service to run, Cock was appointed as the North American representative of the BBC in New York City from 1940 to 1941, and then later from 1942 to 1945 was the corporation's Pacific Coast representative, working in California. While in the USA he took the opportunity of seeing the developments made in television broadcasting by the new American broadcasters, compiling a report upon his return home to the UK entitled "Report on the Conditions For a Post-War Television Service." Although this report was very important in helping to re-establish the BBC Television Service in 1946, Cock did not return to control it. Instead he had retired, as he was in poor health, although he went on to live in retirement until his death in 1973.

title: Gerald Cock


text:
Sue Wicks

Susan Joy Wicks (born November 26, 1966) is a former basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played with the New York Liberty from 1997 to 2002. Wicks was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. Sue now works in aquaculture on Long Island continuing her family 400 year legacy on working on the water

Early years
Born in Center Moriches, New York, Wicks played for Rutgers University from 1984 to 1988. While at Rutgers, she was named a Kodak All-American in 1986, 1987 and 1988, and in 1988 she won the Naismith, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, Women's Basketball News Service and Street & Smith's National Player of the Year awards. She was Player of the Year in the Atlantic 10 Conference in 1986, 1987 and 1988, winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament MVP award in 1986 and 1988, and sharing it in 1987. She also was named to All-Regional Teams in the NCAA tournament in 1986 and 1987. She holds the Rutgers records for points scored (2,655), rebounds (1,357), scoring average (21.2 ppg), rebounding average (10.9 rpg), field goals made (1,091) and attempted (2,099), free throws made (473) and attempted (641), and blocked shots (293). The scoring and rebounding totals are records for a male or female player at Rutgers.

She was a gold medalist in the 1987 Pan-American Games.

Following her college career, she played professionally in Italy, Japan, Spain and Israel before the WNBA was founded. In 1997, she was signed for the inaugural WNBA season by the New York Liberty, to fill the role of back-up center. The Liberty played at the WNBA championship game, losing to the Houston Comets, 65–51.

Rutgers statistics
Source

WNBA career
On April 28, 1997, Wicks was drafted with the 6th overall pick of the 1997 WNBA Draft to the New York Liberty. She would go on to play 6 seasons in the WNBA, all 6 of them being a member of the Liberty. Her debut game was played on June 21, 1997, in a 67–57 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks where she recorded 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal and 1 block.

Wicks mostly came off the bench for the Liberty but did start 45 of 182 regular season games, including 30 starts (out of 32 games played) in 1999. Wicks starting in 1999 was due in part to her defensive skills. She developed into a fan favorite and was voted by the fans as a starter in the 2000 WNBA all-star game. In 2000, she received the WNBA's top award for sportsmanship, the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award.

In 1997, 1999 and 2000, Wicks and the Liberty reached the WNBA Finals, only to be beaten by the Houston Comets every time. In 2002, Wicks and the Liberty returned to the Finals again, but this time, they lost to Lisa Leslie and the Los Angeles Sparks. After being defeated in the 2002 Finals, Wicks would not play in the WNBA again, as she announced her retirement on April 29,2003. Her final WNBA game was Game 2 of the 2002 Finals on August 31, 2002. The Liberty lost the championship game to the Sparks 66 - 69 with Wicks recording 2 points, 4 rebounds and 1 steal.

In 182 WNBA games played, Wicks scored 823 points, for a total of 4.5 points per game, had 182 assists for one assist per game, recovered 788 rebounds, for a total of 4.3 per game, and had 158 blocks, for a total of 0.90 blocks per game. She finished her WNBA career as the number eight leader of all times in shots blocked.

Personal life
Wicks was one of the few players willing to discuss sexual orientation in the WNBA during her career. She said, "I can't say how many players are gay ... but it would be easier to count the straight ones." She also said she found it "annoying" that the league almost exclusively promoted those who were mothers. "I like it when they give insight into athletes, and I think it's great when they say, 'Here's a player and her husband and baby.' But I'd love to see a couple of women profiled, too, especially if they had a great, solid relationship, just to show that in a positive light."

In 2002, she came out as gay, making her the first openly gay person playing in the WNBA.

Coaching career
Since retiring from professional basketball, Wicks formed an all-girls basketball camp in New York City. In 2004, she completed her bachelor's degree at Rutgers and was hired as the Coordinator of Operations for the Rutgers women's basketball team. In 2005, she was named an assistant coach of the team.

Wicks was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame on Long Island in the Basketball Category with the Class of 1991. She was inducted into the Rutgers Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994 and was inducted into the university's Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2005. She is one of only two Rutgers women's basketball players to have her jersey retired.

In July 2006, she became the Assistant Coach for the women's basketball team at Saint Francis College in Brooklyn, New York. After leaving her assistant coaching position at Saint Francis College, Wicks said that she felt that being an out lesbian was an overwhelming liability in getting a job as a women's basketball coach.

Hall of Fame
Wicks was inducted in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June 2013. She did not have a prepared speech, but spoke extemporaneously, thanking Pat Summitt for her leadership in the formation of the Hall of Fame. Her credentials included selection as a Kodak All-American three times, and the record-holder of career points and rebounds at Rutgers, records which had not been surpassed by any male or female players at Rutgers at the time of the induction. She also played professionally in the WNBA and was on the gold medal-winning USA Basketball Pan-American Games team in 1987.

title: Sue Wicks


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Abhimanyu

Abhimanyu (अभिमन्यु, ) is a warrior in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. He was the son of Arjuna and Subhadra, and was married to Uttarā. Abhimanyu is portrayed as a young, strong and talented warrior. He was also one of the few individuals, along with his father, who knew the technique to enter the Chakravyuha, a powerful military formation.

According to the Mahabharata, Abhimanyu was raised by his maternal family because the Pandavas had been exiled for thirteen years by their cousins, the Kauravas. After his father's return, his marriage was arranged with Uttarā, the princess of the Matsya Kingdom. Abhimanyu played a significant role on the Pandava side during the Kurukshetra War. The Kaurava soldiers banded together on the thirteenth day of the battle to build the Chakravyuha in an effort to defeat the Pandavas. Since Arjuna had been persuaded to move to another side of the battleground, Abhimanyū was able to burst through the formation and take on the Kaurava soldiers by himself. At that point, six powerful warriors launched simultaneous attacks on him, and he was unfairly killed at the age of sixteen. Abhimanyū's posthumous son Parikshit saved the Kuru lineage from extinction, and became a wellknown monarch celebrated both in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana.

Etymology and epithets
Abhimanyu is a Sanskrit name that translates to "one who is with self-respect". It can alternatively be rendered as "heroic" or "fiery". In the Mahabharata, a number of epithets are used to describe Abhimanyu. The following is a list of some of them.
 * Ārjuni - 'son of Arjuna'.
 * Arjunātmaja - 'son of Arjuna'.
 * Arjunāpara - 'he who is equal to Arjuna'.
 * Phālguni - 'son of Phalguna (Arjuna)'.
 * Śakrātmajatmāja - 'son of Indra's son (Arjuna)'.
 * Saubhadra - 'son of Subhadra'.
 * Janmavira - 'one who is brave from birth'.

Literary background
The Mahabharata, a Sanskrit epic from the Indian subcontinent, tells the tale of Abhimanyu. He is related to the epic's hero Arjuna, who was his father, and Krishna, his maternal uncle who is also a key figure in the Mahabharata. The text, which has undergone numerous modifications, edits, and interpolations over many years, is written in classical Sanskrit. The oldest passages in the text that has survived date back to perhaps around 400 BCE. Scholars have attempted to construct a critical edition, relying mostly on a study of the "Bombay" edition, the "Poona" edition, the "Calcutta" edition and the "south Indian" editions of the manuscripts. The most accepted version is one prepared by scholars led by Vishnu Sukthankar at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, preserved at Kyoto University, Cambridge University and various Indian universities.

The fight between the five Pandavas, and the one hundred Kauravas is at the heart of the narrative of the Mahabharata. The epic's main focus is on their great conflict, known as the Kurukshetra War. The majority of the text describes the various battles between the warriors of two sides during the war. The Mahabharata is divided into eighteen parva or 'books'. Like many other major characters, Abhimanyu is also introduced in the Adi Parva—the first of the 18 parvas. The seventh book's Abhimanyu-badha Parva focuses on Abhimanyu, who is lauded throughout, and has a thorough account of how he died.

Birth and early life
The Sambhava Parva of the Adi Parva narrates the reason behind Abhimanyu's birth and his early demise. It was once proposed at a meeting of the gods that Varchas, the son of the lunar god Soma, take on the earthly form of Abhimanyu and aid in the annihilation of evil men. Soma, who was unwilling to give up his son, accepted to their proposal only on the condition that Varchas would come back to him once he (as Abhimanyu) became sixteen.

Abhimanyu was born to Arjuna—the third of the Pandava brothers—and his wife Subhadra, who belonged to the Yadava clan. Arjuna first instructed him in military education before the Pandavas were coerced into giving up their kingdom and banished for thirteen years by their cousin Duryodhana. During this time, Subhadra remained in the kingdom of Dvaraka, the home of her brother, and raised Abhimanyu there with the help of her family. Abhimanyu received military instruction from his uncles Balarama and Krishna as well as his maternal cousin Pradyumna. When the Pandavas returned from exile, Duryodhana refused to give them their kingdom back, which ultimately sparked the Kurukshetra War.

Arjuna taught Abhimanyu the strategy for breaking into chakravyuha, a formidable military structure that resembled a labyrinth of several defensive walls. Abhimanyu was one of the four warriors who knew this skill, according to Yudhishthira. A later folklore adds that Abhimanyu learned this information from Arjuna while still inside his mother's womb. However, he was unable to hear how to exit the chakravyuha, and this incomplete knowledge later contributed to his demise.

Marriage
Abhimanyu's marriage is narrated in the Virata Parva, the fourth book of the epic. The Pandavas had to live secretly and avoid being discovered during the final year of their exile. The Pandavas stayed in the kingdom of Matsya in disguise and served its ruler Virata. The king's daughter, Uttarā, was taught dancing and music by Arjuna, who pretended to be a eunuch named Brihannala. When their year of disguise came to an end and the Pandavas' true identities were revealed, Virata asked Arjuna to marry Uttarā. However, Arjuna declined because he had served as her teacher during that time. Instead, he put forward the idea of Uttara and Abhimanyu being married. The marriage ceremony was held in the city of Upaplavya. Abhimanyu had gotten his wife pregnant before his death, and she later gave birth to a son, Parikshit. Following the Pandavas' victory in the Kurukshetra War, Parikshit becomes the heir-apparent of Yudhishthira and later takes Yudhisthira's place as ruler of Hastinapura.

The Kurukshetra War
Abhimanyu sided with the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra War. Even though he was a young man, he exhibited amazing bravery in the conflict. In the fifth book of the epic, Udyoga Parva, Abhimanyu was categorised as a Atirathi ('leader of leaders of car-divisions') by Bhishma, the Kuru gransire who oversaw the Kaurava side during the first eleven days of the conflict.

The Bhishma Parva contains a thorough account of the battles fought during the first eleven days of the war, when Bhishma served as the Kaurava side's commander. Abhimanyu first engaged in combat with Brihatbala, the king of Kosala, on the first day. Later, during a terrible battle with Bhishma, Abhimanyu broke Bhishma's flagstaff. He engaged in combat alongside Lakshmana, son of Duryodhana, on the second day. He then occupied a position in the semi-circular phalanx Arjuna had built, known as the Ardha Chandra Vyuha. He also fought the Gandharas ferociously and when he invaded Shalya, the Magadha king Jayatsena and his elephant were slaughtered. After assisting Bhima in battle, Abhimanyu went on to defeat Lakshmana once more. Additionally, Vikarna, Chitrasena, and other Kaurava brothers were vanquished by Abhimanyu. Later, he assumed his place in the Shringataka Vyuha built by Dhrishtadyumna, the commander of the Pandava side. Abhimanyu also defeated Ambashtha and Alambusha. He then engaged in combat with Sudishna, Duryodhana, and Brihatbala.

Death
Abhimanyu's death is described in detail in the Abhimanyu-vadha Parva of the Drona Parva, the eighth book of the Mahabharata. After Bhishma was defeated on the eleventh day, Drona—who had formerly been both the Pandavas' and the Kauravas' teacher—was named the new leader of the Kaurava side. After a lacklustre performance on the twelfth day, Duryodhana reprimanded him and reminded him of his vow to vanquish the Pandavas. Drona made the decision to start the chakravyuha after feeling embarrassed. As Arjuna was skilled in chakravyuha defence, he requested Duryodhana to divert Arjuna. On the thirteenth day, Arjuna was detoured to the south by Samsaptakas. The army of Kauravas, led by Dronacharya, then arranged themselves in the array of Chakravyuha. The maharathis such as Drona, Karna, Shalya, Kripa, Ashvatthama, Duryodhana, Jayadratha, Duhshasana and Bhurishrava formed the wheel formation, guarded by millions of soldiers. The Pandava forces advanced to engage in combat, but all were forced back by Drona's lethal arrows. As one of the few people who was capable of entering the chakravyuha, Abhimanyu was given the task by Yudhisthira. Abhimanyu reminded Yudhishthira that he didn't know the escape from the formation, but Yudhishthira persuaded him that their warriors were following him to help in case of fatal danger.

Abhimanyu then commanded his charioteer, Sumitra, to head for Drona, while Pandavas trailed behind him. The Kaurava soldiers attacked Abhimanyu, but he cut through their formidable defence and tore it apart. Then formidable Kaurava warriors challenged him. In separate battles, Abhimanyu defeated Duryodhana, Dushashana, Drona, Ashvathama, Karna, Shakuni. He also slew numerous enemy warriors, including the son of King Asmaka, the brothers of Shalya, Rukmaratha, Lakshmana, Vrindaka, Brihatbala, Asvaketu, and the Bhoja prince Martikavata. Duryodhana, outraged at his son's murder, instructed Drona to alter the original plan to assassinate Abhimanyu. The Pandavas forces were stopped by Jayadratha, who ultimately vanquished all four of them, leaving Abhimanyu all by himself. Shakuni, Duryodhana's infamous uncle, devised a strategy to attack him simultaneously that violated the rules of war. Abhimanyu was immediately assailed by the six maharathis—Drona, Karna, Kripa, Kritavarma, Ashvatthama, and Shakuni. They demolished his chariot, murdered the horses of his chariot, broke his weapons, and shot him with numerous arrows. Abhimanyu continued to fight using a chariot wheel even though he was exhausted and hopeless at this point, killing numerous Gandhara soldiers. A blow to the head from Dushashana's son ultimately caused him to succumb to his wounds and he died a hero.

Sasirekha Parinayam
While the Mahabharata mentions Uttarā as Abhimanyu's only wife, the Telugu folktale Sasirekha Parinayam adds the story of Abhimanyu marrying Sashirekha (also known as Vatsala), the daughter of his uncle Balarama, before marrying Uttarā. According to the story, Abhimanyu fell in love with Sasirekha while staying in Dvaraka, but Revathi wanted her to marry Lakshmana, Duryodhana's son. Ghatotkacha, Bhima's son who wanted to help his cousin, disguised himself as Sashirekha and broke Lakshmana's arm. As a result of the incident, Lakshmana ended his marriage to Sashirekha. The real Sashirekha and Abhimanyu were married in the forest at the time. No such has been attested in the Mahabharata.

Wayang

In Indonesia, in Javanese wayang culture, Abhimanyu (Indonesian: Abimanyu) is an important figure. His figure in Indonesian - Javanese culture, has developed and is different from the version in India.

In the wayang, Abimanyu is told as a character who is gentle, well-behaved, honest, firm-hearted, responsible, and brave. He is also known as Angkawijaya, Jaya Murcita, Jaka Pengalasan, Partasuta, Kirityatmaja, Sumbadraatmaja, Wanudara and Wirabatana. In this version of story, he has 13 other siblings, possesses two divine revelations — Hidayat, which can make him understand everything, and Makutha Raja, gained because of his solemn asceticism. He is taught military by his father (Arjuna) directly, while he got mysticism from his grandfather, Bagawan Abiyasa. Abimanyu lived in the Palangkawati knighthood after defeating Prabu Jayamurcita. His wives are Dewi Siti Sundari, daughter of Prabu Kresna, king of the Dwarawati state with Dewi Pratiwi. The story of Abimanyu's marriage to Siti Sundari was performed in a leather puppet show with the title Alap-Alapan Siti Sundari or Jaya Murcita Ngraman. Dewi Utari, daughter of King Matsyapati and Dewi Ni Yutisnawati, from the country of Wirata, and the son of Parikesit. The story of Abimanyu's marriage to Utari was performed in a wayang kulit stage with the title Putu Rabi Nini or Kalabendana Gugur.

Abimanyu died in Baratayuda, the battle between the Kauravas against the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra field. At that time, only three knights from the Pandavas were on the battlefield and mastered the war strategy, namely Bhima, Arjuna, and Abimanyu. Ghatotkacha left because Karna stretched out Kunta Wijayadanu's weapon. Other knights lured Bima and Arjuna from the Kauravas to get out of the battlefield, so Abimanyu was the only one that the Pandavas relied on at that time.

After all his brothers died, Abimanyu forgot to set up the battle formation. He advanced alone into the middle of the Kauravas line and was trapped in the deadly formation his enemy had set up. The Kauravas rained weapons on Abimanyu's body until Abimanyu fell and fell from his horse—in the wayang, the wounds of charcoal from the basket are depicted (a lot of them). Abimanyu looks like a hedgehog because of the various weapons stuck in his body. According to the story, the incident was a risk of taking an oath when proposing to Dewi Utari. Abimanyu once swore that he was still single and stated that if he took a perjury oath, he was ready to die being beaten and impaled by various weapons of his enemies. Abimanyu took a perjury oath because, at that time, he had already married Dewi Siti Sundari.

With various weapons stuck all over his body, Abimanyu could no longer walk. However, Abimanyu did not give up. He even managed to kill the future crown prince of Astina, namely Lesmana Mandrakumara, son of Prabu Duryodana, by throwing the Pulanggeni kris after penetrating the bodies of four other soldiers. At that time, the Kauravas knew that killing Abimanyu required cutting off the langsang in his chest. In the end, Abimanyu was killed by the mace of Kyai Glinggang or Galih Asem belonging to Jayadrata, a knight from Banakeling.

In popular culture
In 1974, a base named INS Abhimanyu was established symbolizing the character of Abhimanyu. On 1 May 1980, the Premier Chariot Base in Mumbai was commissioned as the permanent base for the unit. The Indian Maritime Special Forces (IMSF) is based with INS Abhimanyu.

In media adaptations, Abhimanyu has been portrayed by actors such as Ashok Kumar in Uttara Abhimanyu (1946 film), S. M. Kumaresan in Tamil Abhimanyu (1948 film), Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Gemini Ganesan in the Telugu and Tamil film version of the film Mayabazar (1957) respectively, Nandamuri Balakrishna in the Telugu Film Daana Veera Soora Karna (1977), Mayur Verma in B. R. Chopra's Mahabharat (1988 TV series), Anuj Sharma in Krishna (TV series), Paras Arora in Star plus's Mahabharat (2013 TV series), Meghan Jadhav in SET's series Suryaputra Karna, and Nikhil Kumar in Kannada movie Kurukshetra (2019).

title: Abhimanyu


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Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall

Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall is the concert hall component of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, California. The 2,743-seat hall was completed in 1980 at a cost of US$28 million to give the San Francisco Symphony a permanent home.

Previously, the symphony shared the neighboring War Memorial Opera House with the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Ballet. The construction of Davies Hall allowed the symphony to expand to a full-time, year-round schedule.

Acoustics
Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Pietro Belluschi along with acoustical consultants Bolt, Beranek and Newman, its modern design is visually elegant both inside and out. A "cloud" of movable convex acrylic reflecting panels over the stage enables the acoustic space to be adjusted to suit the size of the orchestra and audience, while adjustable fabric banners around the auditorium can alter the reverberation time from approximately one to two-and-one-half seconds.

Architects created acoustic isolation of the performance space by constructing a building within a building. The outer building uses one inch thick structural glass as a curtain wall, with the next structural wall forming the back wall of the lobby spaces. Passing through a door leads to a hallway, bounded on one side by the lobby wall and on the other by the structural wall of the inner building. This continuous hallway acts as an acoustical isolator and is surfaced with sound absorbing material.

However, the hall's large volume and seating capacity initially resulted in less than ideal results. Kirkegaard Associates completed acoustical renovations in 1992 at a cost of $10 million which resulted in substantial improvement.

The modifications included: narrowing and shaping the walls above the stage to reduce the volume of space and increase useful reflections, replacing the cloud of reflector discs with a more effective array of curved rectangular panels covering a larger area and now computer adjustable, moving the walls of the floor-level seating inward to make the audience area narrower and more rectangular, adding aisles to replace the former continental seating, adding diffusing elements in various parts of the hall, and increasing the "rake" of the floor seating to provide better sightlines. In addition, the firm installed risers on the stage allowing musicians to both see and hear each other better. These and other improvements enhanced not only the acoustics but also the hall's beauty.

Fratelli Ruffatti concert organ
The Fratelli Ruffatti electro-pneumatic pipe organ with 147 ranks was added in 1984. It is designed to accommodate repertory from the pre-baroque to the present. The console can be electronically reprogrammed to correspond to the two major schools of organ keyboard organization, the German and the French. The console is mobile and can be placed where appropriate to the program or stored off-stage when not in use.

Amenities
In addition to the concert hall itself, an adjoining building contains the Harold L. Zellerbach Rehearsal Hall, comprising three separate rehearsal spaces. The largest of these was designed to be the same size as the stage of the Opera House across the street to accommodate Opera and Ballet rehearsals. Davies Hall also contains offices for symphony staff, a music library, dressing rooms, a recreation room and lockers for Symphony musicians, and the Wattis Room, a private dining room for major donors. A proposed recital hall was never built; that portion of the site remains empty, and is used for employee parking.

A Henry Moore bronze sculpture, Large Four Piece Reclining Figure 1972–73 (1973), is displayed outside the hall at the corner of Grove Street and Van Ness Avenue.

Davies Hall also occasionally hosts non-orchestral performances by contemporary musicians.

Reviews
In 1980, Paul Goldberger of The New York Times called the hall "a building utterly confused about style, a poor hybrid that has neither the verve of one aspect of the city's identity nor the powerful tradition of another."

title: Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall


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Shisa

Shisa (シーサー) is a traditional Ryukyuan cultural artifact and decoration derived from Chinese guardian lions, often seen in similar pairs, resembling a cross between a lion and a dog, from Okinawan mythology. Shisa are wards, believed to protect from some evils. People place pairs of shisa on their rooftops or flanking the gates to their houses, with the left shisa traditionally having a closed mouth, the right one an open mouth. The open mouth shisa traditionally wards off evil spirits, and the closed mouth shisa keeps good spirits in.

History
Like the komainu ("lion dogs"), the shisa are a variation of the guardian lions from China. From the Edo period, they started to be called "guardian dogs" in general in mainland Japan. Gender is variously assigned to the shisa. Some Okinawans believe the male has his mouth closed to keep bad out of the home, while the female has her mouth open to share goodness. Others believe the female has her mouth closed to "keep in the good", while the male has his mouth open to "scare away the bad" (Compare this to the distinction between male and female guardian lions in Chinese culture).

Legend
When a Chinese emissary returned from a voyage to the court at Shuri Castle, he brought a gift for the king, a necklace decorated with a figurine of a shisa. The king found it charming and wore it underneath his clothes. At the Naha Port bay, the village of Madanbashi was often terrorized by a sea dragon who ate the villagers and destroyed their property. One day, the king was visiting the village, and one of these attacks happened; all the people ran and hid. The local noro had been told in a dream to instruct the king when he visited to stand on the beach and lift up his figurine towards the dragon; she sent the boy, Chiga, to tell him the message. He faced the monster with the figurine held high, and immediately a giant roar sounded all through the village, a roar so deep and powerful that it even shook the dragon. A massive boulder then fell from heaven and crushed the dragon's tail, so that he couldn't move, and eventually died. This boulder and the dragon's body became covered with plants and surrounded by trees, and can still be seen today as the "Gana-mui Woods" near Naha Ohashi bridge. The townspeople then built a large stone shisa to protect it from the dragon's spirit and other threats.

Great Stone Shisa at Tomimori
At Tomimori Village near Kochinda Town in the far southern part of Okinawa, there were often many fires. The people of the area sought out Saiouzui, a Feng Shui master, to ask him why there were so many fires. He believed they were because of the power of the nearby Mt. Yaese, and suggested that the townspeople build a stone shisa to face the mountain. They did so, and thus have protected their village from fire ever since.

title: Shisa


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Quercus frainetto

Quercus frainetto (synonyms Quercus conferta, Quercus farnetto), commonly known as the Hungarian oak, is a species of oak, native to southeastern Europe (parts of Italy, the Balkans, parts of Hungary, Romania) and Turkey. It is classified in Quercus sect. Quercus.

Description
Quercus frainetto is a large deciduous tree, reaching heights of 38 m tall by 20 m broad, with a trunk girth of nearly 2 m. The bark is light gray in colour and cracks into small square cracking plates. The buds are large, long and pointed, shiny russet or light brown in colour with minute tomentum. The twigs are stout and covered with russet upward pointed hairs.

The leaves are large, 14 - 25 cm long, occasionally up to 33 cm, variable in shape, divided into 6–10 very deep parallel lobes which are usually divided into sublobes. The leaf stalks are usually short, 2–6 mm, rarely to 22 mm, long. The leaves are widest close to the apex, which is broad and short pointed. The base of the leaf usually has auricles which sometimes overlap the twig. The light yellow green expanding leaves turn rich dark green by the beginning of summer. The leaves are covered with minute russet hairs, especially the lower surface. The leaves are concentrated at the ends of twigs. The leaves turn brown, russet or yellow in fall and sometimes remain attached to the twigs until the following spring.

The light brown acorns mature in about 6 months. They are 15–35 mm long, egg shaped, usually with a blunt apex. The acorn cup is covered with long overlapping scales and russet hairs. The acorns tend to concentrate in groups of two to eight at the ends of twigs.

Distribution and habitat
The centre of the tree's native range is in the Balkans. It is adapted to the subcontinental climate of southeastern Europe, but the main factor of its occurrence at a particular site is the soil. It is specially adapted to heavy acidic soils (cambisols and vertisols), typical of Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. These soils are usually leached out, very dry in the summer and sometimes waterlogged in the spring. However, the Hungarian oak does not tolerate flooding or high water tables. It is also extremely sensitive to the presence of lime in the soil. Hence, in contradiction to its English vernacular name, which was assigned when the Kingdom of Hungary controlled large parts of the Balkans, the Hungarian oak is a very rare tree in modern Hungary, where the soils are generally very rich in lime. The Hungarian oak-Turkey oak forest (Quercetum frainetto-cerris Rud.) is the most widespread association of this oak in the Balkans, which is also the most common forest type in Serbia and Kosovo.

Cultivation
This tree is cultivated in parks and large gardens, and the cultivar 'Hungarian Crown' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

title: Quercus frainetto


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Norman language

Norman or Norman French (Normaund, Normand, Guernésiais: Normand, Jèrriais: Nouormand) is a French dialect which can be classified as a langue d'oïl. The name "Norman French" is sometimes also used to describe the administrative languages of Anglo-Norman and Law French used in England. For the most part, the written forms of Norman and modern French are mutually intelligible. The thirteenth-century philosopher Roger Bacon was the first to distinguish it along with other dialects such as Picard and Bourguignon. Today, although it does not enjoy any official status, some reports of the French Ministry of Culture have recognized it as one of the regional languages of France.

History
When Norse Vikings from modern day Scandinavia arrived in Neustria, in the western part of the then Kingdom of the Franks, and settled the land that became known as Normandy, these North-Germanic–speaking people came to live among a local Gallo-Romance–speaking population. In time, the communities converged, so that Normandy continued to form the name of the region while the original Norsemen were largely assimilated by the Gallo-Romance people, adopting their speech but still contributing some elements from Old Norse language and Norse culture. Later, when conquering England, the Norman rulers in England would eventually assimilate, thereby adopting the speech of the local English. In both cases, the elites contributed elements of their own language to the newly enriched languages that developed in the territories.

In Normandy, the Norman language inherited only some 150 words from Old Norse. The influence on phonology is disputed, although it is argued that the retention of aspirated and  in Norman is due to Norse influence.

Geographical distribution
Norman is spoken in mainland Normandy in France, where it has no official status, but is classed as a regional language. It is taught in a few colleges near Cherbourg-Octeville.

In the Channel Islands, the Norman language has developed separately, but not in isolation, to form:

 * Jèrriais (in Jersey)
 * Guernésiais or Dgèrnésiais or Guernsey French (in Guernsey)
 * Sercquiais (or Sarkese, in Sark)
 * Auregnais (in Alderney)

The British and Irish governments recognize Jèrriais and Guernésiais as regional languages within the framework of the British–Irish Council. Sercquiais is in fact a descendant of the 16th-century Jèrriais used by the original colonists from Jersey who settled the then uninhabited island.

The last first-language speakers of Auregnais, the dialect of Norman spoken on Alderney, died during the 20th century, although some rememberers are still alive. The dialect of Herm also lapsed at an unknown date; the patois spoken there was likely Guernésiais (Herm was not inhabited all year round in the Norman culture's heyday).

An isogloss termed the "Joret line" (ligne Joret) separates the northern and southern dialects of the Norman language (the line runs from Granville, Manche to the French-speaking Belgian border in the province of Hainaut and Thiérache). Dialectal differences also distinguish western and eastern dialects.

Three different standardized spellings are used: continental Norman, Jèrriais, and Dgèrnésiais. These represent the different developments and particular literary histories of the varieties of Norman. Norman may therefore be described as a pluricentric language.

The Anglo-Norman dialect of Norman served as a language of administration in England following the Norman conquest of England in 1066. This left a legacy of Law French in the language of English courts (though it was also influenced by Parisian French). In Ireland, Norman remained strongest in the area of south-east Ireland, where the Hiberno-Normans invaded in 1169. Norman remains in (limited) use for some very formal legal purposes in the UK, such as when the monarch gives royal assent to an Act of Parliament using the phrase, "Le Roy (la Reyne) le veult" ("The King (the Queen) wills it").

The Norman conquest of southern Italy in the 11th and 12th centuries brought the language to Sicily and the southern part of the Italian Peninsula, where it may have left a few words in the Sicilian language. See: Norman and French influence on Sicilian.

Literature in Norman ranges from early Anglo-Norman literature through the 19th-century Norman literary renaissance to modern writers (see list of Norman-language writers).

, the Norman language remains strongest in the less accessible areas of the former Duchy of Normandy: the Channel Islands and the Cotentin Peninsula (Cotentinais) in the west, and the Pays de Caux (Cauchois dialect) in the east. Ease of access from Paris and the popularity of the coastal resorts of central Normandy, such as Deauville, in the 19th century led to a significant loss of distinctive Norman culture in the central low-lying areas of Normandy.

Old French influences
Norman French preserves a number of Old French words which have been lost in Modern French. Examples of Norman French words of Old French origin:

Examples of Norman French words with -ei instead of -oi in Standard French words

Examples of Norman French words with c- / qu- and g- instead of ch- and j in Standard French

Norse influences
Examples of Norman words of Norse origin:

In some cases, Norse words adopted in Norman have been borrowed into French – and more recently some of the English words used in French can be traced back to Norman origins.

Influence of Norman on English language
Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the Norman and other languages and dialects spoken by the new rulers of England were used during several hundred years, developing into the unique insular dialect now known as Anglo-Norman French, and leaving traces of specifically Norman words that can be distinguished from the equivalent lexical items in French:

Other borrowings, such as canvas, captain, cattle and kennel, exemplify how Norman retained Latin /k/ that was not retained in French.

In the United Kingdom, Acts of Parliament are confirmed with the words "Le Roy le veult" ("The King wishes it") and other Norman phrases are used on formal occasions as legislation progresses.

Norman immigration in Canada
Norman immigrants to North America also introduced some "Normanisms" to Quebec French and the French language in Canada generally. Joual, a working class sociolect of Quebec, in particular exhibits a Norman influence. For example the word "placoter" can mean both to splash around or to chatter comes from the Normand French word "clapoter" which means the same thing.

title: Norman language


text: Category:Artists

title: Category:Artists


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Quercus laurifolia

Quercus laurifolia (swamp laurel oak, diamond-leaf oak, water oak, obtusa oak, laurel oak) is a medium-sized semi-evergreen oak in the red oak section Quercus sect. Lobatae. It is native to the southeastern and south-central the United States.

Description
Quercus laurifolia is a tree growing to 65 – (rarely to 130 ft) tall, with a large, circular crown. The leaves are broad lanceolate, 1 - 5 in long and 1.3-4.4 cm broad, and unlobed (very rarely three-lobed) with an entire margin and a bristle tip; they typically fall just as the new leaves start to emerge in spring. The acorns, borne in a shallow cup, are hemispherical, 8.9-12.7 mm long, green, maturing blackish-brown about 18 months after pollination. Acorn production is often heavy, enhancing the species' value for wildlife. The seedlings show embryo dormancy and germinate the following spring after fall ripening; germination is hypogeal. Swamp laurel oak grows rapidly and usually matures in about 50 years.

A similar evergreen oak that also grows in sandy soils is Quercus hemisphaerica, the sand laurel oak.

Taxonomy
The botanist C.J. Burke suggested that swamp laurel oak is of hybrid origin having been derived from willow oak (Quercus phellos) and water oak (Quercus nigra); it is not found outside the ranges of the two supposed parental species. This conclusion was based on an index from leaf-shape on seedlings grown from acorns. However, this theory has not achieved wide support, with current authors accepting Quercus laurifolia as a distinct species (e.g. Flora of North America).

Distribution and habitat
Swamp laurel oak grows from coastal Virginia to central Florida and west to southeast Texas. There are reports of the species growing in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but these probably represent introductions.

The species is found mostly on alluvial flood plains, from sea level up to 150 m altitude. It will tolerate the wetter sites in association with other oak species but will not live with continuous or prolonged flooding. It is most often found growing in sandy soil near rivers and along the edges of swamps if not too frequently flooded. Swamp laurel oak grows in the hammocks of central Florida and on sand hills adjacent to swamps in west Florida. Swamp laurel oak grows best on ultisols and inceptisols.

The range has average annual temperatures from 16 to 21 C. It can withstand extreme lows ranging from −1 to −28 C. Extreme highs range from 38 to 43 C.

It needs between 1250 - 1500 mm of rainfall a year. From 500 - 1000 mm of this is received during the growing season from April to September.

The laurel oak is probably one of the most cold-hardy evergreen oaks. Trees growing in Cincinnati indicate the laurel oak may be hardy even further north than previously thought tolerating temperatures lower than −29 C and surviving into zone 5. In Cincinnati trees have been observed staying green well into December.

Ecology
Known hybrids with Quercus laurifolia as one parent are with Q. falcata (Q × beaumontiana Sarg.), Q. incana (Q. × atlantica Ashe), and Q. marilandica (Q. × diversiloba Tharp ex A. Camus).

The tree is host to the general oak-feeding insects but has no serious insect problems. Several species of Curculio weevils infest the acorns.

Despite their bitter kernel, the acorns are eaten by deer (including white-tailed deer), squirrels, birds (including ducks, bobwhite quail and wild turkeys), raccoons and small rodents.

Uses
It is grown and marketed mainly as pulpwood. It is commonly used as an ornamental tree in landscaping because of its fast growth and pleasing appearance; it is planted with little regard to soil type.

title: Quercus laurifolia


text: Category:Sculptors

title: Category:Sculptors


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title: Category:Painters


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Twilo

Twilo was an American nightclub in operation from 1995 to 2001 in New York City, and from 2006 to 2007 in Miami.

Closing
Twilo had been under pressure to close from then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani ever since the launch of his controversial quality-of-life campaign. Still, the club managed to hold onto its cabaret license until early 2001, when a spate of previous allegations re-surfaced in connection with a claim by city authorities that the club had misused private ambulances to hide victims of drug overdoses. Club management claimed that the ambulance was obtained by recommendation of the city.

The space was reused as various other nightclubs over the following years, including Spirit and B.E.D., the latter of which shuttered in 2007 shortly after an incident where manager Granville Adams pushed Orlando Valle to his death down the elevator shaft. In 2011, the space was bought by immersive theater company Emursive as the home of Sleep No More.

title: Twilo


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Galactic plane

The galactic plane is the plane on which the majority of a disk-shaped galaxy's mass lies. The directions perpendicular to the galactic plane point to the galactic poles. In actual usage, the terms galactic plane and galactic poles usually refer specifically to the plane and poles of the Milky Way, in which Planet Earth is located.

Some galaxies are irregular and do not have any well-defined disk. Even in the case of a barred spiral galaxy like the Milky Way, defining the galactic plane is slightly imprecise and arbitrary since the stars are not perfectly coplanar. In 1959, the IAU defined the position of the Milky Way's north galactic pole as exactly RA = 12:49:0, Dec = 27°24′ in the then-used B1950 epoch; in the currently-used J2000 epoch, after precession is taken into account, its position is RA 12:51:26.282, Dec 27°07′42.01″. This position is in Coma Berenices, near the bright star Arcturus; likewise, the south galactic pole lies in the constellation Sculptor.

The zero of longitude of galactic coordinates was also defined in 1959 to be at position angle 123° from the north celestial pole. Thus the zero longitude point on the galactic equator was at 17:42:26.603, −28°55′00.445″ (B1950) or 17:45:37.224, −28°56′10.23″ (J2000), and its J2000 position angle is 122.932°. The Galactic Center is located at position angle 31.72° (B1950) or 31.40° (J2000) east of north.

title: Galactic plane


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Category:British people

This category contains articles about British people.

title: Category:British people


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Maurice Gorham

Maurice Anthony Coneys Gorham (1902 – 9 August 1975) was an Irish journalist and broadcasting executive. After being educated in England at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire and later Balliol College, Oxford, he began working as a journalist on the London local newspaper Westminster Guardian and Weekly Westminster after he graduated in 1923.

Career
Gorham worked in the London newspaper industry for three years, before in 1926 joining the staff of the BBC's own listings magazine, the Radio Times. In 1928 he was promoted to become the magazine's Art Editor, and then in 1933 became its general Editor, a post he was to occupy for eight years until 1941.

In that year, he made the switch from broadcasting journalism to working in broadcasting proper when he was appointed as the Director of the BBC's North American Services. He returned to Europe in 1944 to serve as Director of the BBC Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme - a radio service specially designed for the allied troops invading Europe after D-Day. In that capacity, he worked closely with Major Glenn Miller and his Army Air Force Band.

After the end of the war in 1945, he was appointed as the Director of the new BBC Light Programme; this appointment was only a brief one, however, for in the following year he was made the first post-war Director of the re-launched BBC Television Service, responsible for getting the young service back up and running after a seven-year break. However, disagreements with his superiors meant that this was also a brief appointment, and he resigned from the staff of the BBC after twenty-one years in 1947, returning to journalism.

He went back home to Ireland, and in 1953 returned to broadcasting as the Director of Radio Éireann. In September 1959 he left this position - his reasons for resigning were not disclosed, but it is widely believed that he disagreed strongly with the Government's plans for how to introduce a television service to the country, which was due to happen the following year.

In his retirement he wrote a number of books on broadcasting, pubs and Ireland and Irish life. He died in Dublin on 9 August 1975.

Publications

 * Sound and Fury: Twenty-one Years in the B.B.C. (1948)
 * Londoners (1951)
 * Showmen and Suckers: An Excursion on the Crazy Fringe of the Entertainment World (1951)
 * Forty Years of Irish Broadcasting (1967)
 * Dublin From Old Photographs (1972)
 * The Local (with Edward Ardizzone) (1939)

title: Maurice Gorham