text:
The Bear and the Dragon

The Bear and the Dragon is a techno-thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and released on August 21, 2000. A direct sequel to Executive Orders (1996), President Jack Ryan deals with a war between Russia and China, referred respectively in the title as the Russian Bear and the Chinese Dragon. At over 1,028 pages, it is Clancy's longest novel. The book debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Plot summary
In Moscow, SVR director Sergey Golovko survives an attack on his way to work, when a car identical to the armored white Mercedes that he was in was shot with an RPG-7, killing the occupants (one of them a former KGB agent turned pimp) inside. Investigation of the incident by Russian police and later intelligence officers points out to involvement from Chinese intelligence, and that Golovko was the real target. After the failed attempt on the SVR director's life, the Chinese later plot to assassinate the Russian president, but their agent, also a former KGB officer, was arrested by the FSB.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Jack Ryan gives Taiwan diplomatic status, which is implied as retaliation to China for secretly assisting in previous plots by Japan (Debt of Honor) and Iran (Executive Orders) against the U.S. Months later, during trade negotiations between the U.S. and China in Beijing, a CNN crew witnesses the murders of the Papal Nuncio to the country and a Chinese Baptist minister, when the two attempt to stop Chinese authorities from performing a forced abortion on one of the latter's followers. Two days later, police officers brutally break up a prayer service led by the Baptist minister's widow in their home, who had been outraged that her husband's body was cremated and dumped into a river without her permission. International outrage over the incidents leads to a boycott on Chinese-made products. With its economy already struggling due to recent military expansions, the country hastens its planned invasion of Siberia to access newly discovered oil and gold fields.

Ryan persuades NATO to admit Russia, and promises assistance against China to the Russian president. When the Chinese enter Siberia, the Russians repel their invasion force with help from the United States, causing heavy casualties on the Chinese side. The U.S. Navy attacks the Chinese mainland's coastal defenses and destroys much of the Chinese navy's aging fleet while it lies in port. F-117 Nighthawks destroy railroad bridges in Harbin and Bei'an with GBU-27 Paveway IIIs, seriously damaging Chinese lines of communication for their army in Russia. Ryan later decides to broadcast CNN's coverage of the war, plus direct feeds from U.S. reconnaissance drones, over a CIA website to counter the Chinese government's propaganda about the war's status and purpose.

Beijing's increasingly desperate leaders decide to ready their ICBMs for a potential launch. A joint NATO-Russian special operations team led by Rainbow operative John Clark is dispatched to destroy them. The team destroys all but two of the Chinese missiles. Of the two that launch, one is shot down by an AH-64 Apache while the second heads toward Washington, D.C. Ryan's family is evacuated, but Ryan himself decides at the last minute to stay behind on board a docked naval ship, the USS Gettysburg, which is equipped with the experimental Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. Ryan watches as the ship destroys the ICBM at the last possible moment. News footage of the ICBM's interception was later streamed through the CIA website.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, a group of Chinese students, spurred on by what they have witnessed through the CIA website, march through Tiananmen Square and invade a Politburo meeting, setting the stage for an overthrow of the government. A reformist Politburo member, Fang Gan, takes over and arrests the rest of the Communist leadership, ordering an immediate withdrawal of Chinese forces from Siberia. Fang then holds an open discussion with student leaders that starts China's transition to democracy. The country then orders a unilateral ceasefire from the war with Russia.

The United States government

 * Jack Ryan: President of the United States
 * Robby Jackson: Vice President of the United States
 * Scott Adler: Secretary of State
 * Tony Bretano: Secretary of Defense
 * Arnie van Damm: President Ryan's Chief of Staff
 * George Winston: Secretary of the Treasury
 * Ben Goodley: National Security Advisor to President Ryan
 * Cliff Rutledge II: Assistant Secretary of State for Folicy

The Central Intelligence Agency

 * Ed Foley: Director of Central Intelligence
 * Mary Pat Foley: Deputy Director (Operations)
 * Chester "Chet" Nomuri: CIA field officer working in China, covered as an electronics salesman

The United States military

 * Admiral Bart Mancuso: Commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC)
 * Major General Marion Diggs: Commander of the 1st Armored Division
 * Dick Boyle: Commander of the Aviation Brigade attached to 1st Armored Division
 * Bronco Winters: United States Air Force captain and F-15C pilot
 * General Mickey Moore: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Rainbow

 * John Clark: Commander of Rainbow
 * Domingo "Ding" Chavez: Squad leader of Team 2
 * Ettore "Hector" Falcone: Team 2 member, former Italian Carabinieri officer

Russia

 * Sergey Golovko: Chairman of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)
 * Gennady Bondarenko: Commander in chief of armed forces in the Far East
 * Eduard Grushavoy: President of Russia
 * Yuri Kirillin: Chief of Russian special forces, or Spetsnaz
 * Oleg Provalov: Police officer based in Moscow
 * Klementi Ivanovich Suvorov (Ivan Yurievich Koniev): Former Committee for State Security (KGB) lieutenant colonel hired by the Chinese to assassinate Golovko and later Grushavoy
 * Gregoriy Avseyenko (Rasputin): Former KGB agent turned pimp who was killed by an RPG attack meant for Golovko
 * Pavel Petrovich Gogol: Former sniper in the Red Army during World War II

China

 * Fang Gan: Minister without portfolio
 * Zhang Han San: Minister without portfolio
 * Xu Kun Piao: General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party
 * Luo Cong: Defense minister and head of the People's Liberation Army
 * Peng Xi-Wang: Commander of the Red Banner 34th Shock Army
 * Yu Fa An: Baptist minister of Chinese descent
 * Lian Ming: Secretary to Fang Gan and Nomuri's lover and asset (codename SONGBIRD) after unknowingly installing a program on her computer that downloads her superior's diary entries to the CIA
 * Yang Lien-Hua: Yu Fa An's parishioner who had an unauthorized pregnancy

Other characters

 * Cathy Ryan: First Lady of the United States
 * Mark Gant: Secretary Winston's aide
 * Alan Gregory: Junior vice president of TRW, later recruited by Secretary Bretano to investigate the feasibility of upgrading the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System to deal with Chinese intercontinental missiles (ICBMs)
 * Mike Reilly: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent assigned to Moscow, specializing in organized crime
 * Renato Cardinal DiMilo: Papal Nuncio to China
 * Reverend Gerry Patterson: Baptist pastor based in Jackson, Mississippi, Yu Fa An's friend
 * Reverend Doctor Hosiah Jackson: Baptist minister and Vice President Jackson's father
 * Barry Wise: CNN correspondent

Reception
The book received mixed reviews. While comparing it to Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace (1869), Entertainment Weekly praised the novel for its "excitingly cinematic climax", as well as for an abundance of African-American characters. Publishers Weekly noted "a handbook's worth of intoxicating, expertly researched, seemingly inside information". On the other hand, the book was criticized for its length, racist depiction of Chinese characters, and overreliance on right-wing politics. In a negative review, The Guardian bemoaned the length as "on full autopilot, and readers who haven't already quit from exhaustion might get the sneaking suspicion that the author too has long jumped ship", continuing: "Given [Clancy's] top-selling status, he has clearly progressed beyond any kind of editing."

title: The Bear and the Dragon


text:
User:Prisonblues/Colleges/Hughes Hall, Cambridge

Hughes Hall, Cambridge

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


text:
National Council of the Union of Burma

The National Council of the Union of Burma (ပြည်ထောင်စုမြန်မာနိုင်ငံအမျိုးသားကောင်စီ; ) was an opposition organisation in Myanmar (Burma), composed of representatives of armed groups and exiled political organisations. The organisation was formed on 22 September 1992 and aimed to achieve a democratic federal system in Burma.

title: National Council of the Union of Burma


text:
Soyuz 7K-ST No.16L

Soyuz 7K-ST No.16L, sometimes known as Soyuz T-10a or Soyuz T-10-1, was an unsuccessful Soyuz mission intended to visit the Salyut 7 space station, which was occupied by the Soyuz T-9 crew. However, it never finished its launch countdown; the launch vehicle was destroyed on the launch pad by fire on 26 September 1983. The launch escape system of the Soyuz spacecraft fired six seconds before the launch vehicle exploded, saving the crew. As of 2022, it remains the only time a launch escape system has been fired before launch with a crew aboard.

Mission highlights

The crew was sitting on the pad awaiting fueling of the Soyuz-U booster to complete prior to liftoff. Approximately 90 seconds before the intended launch, a bad valve caused nitrogen pressurisation gas to enter the RP-1 turbopump of the Blok B strap-on. The pump began spinning up, but with no propellant in it, the speed of rotation quickly exceeded its design limits which caused it to rupture and allow RP-1 to leak out and start a fire which quickly engulfed the base of the launch vehicle. Titov and Strekalov could not see what was happening outside, but they felt unusual vibrations and realized that something was amiss. The launch control team activated the escape system but the control cables had already burned through, and the Soyuz crew could not activate or control the escape system themselves. The backup radio command to fire the LES required 2 independent operators to receive separate commands to do so and each act within 5 seconds, which took several seconds to occur. Then explosive bolts fired to separate the descent module from the service module and the upper launch payload shroud from the lower, the escape system motor fired, dragging the orbital module and descent module, encased within the upper shroud, free of the booster with an acceleration of 14 to 17g (137 to 167 m/s²) for five seconds. According to Titov, "We could feel the booster swaying from side to side. Then there was a sudden vibration and a jerking sensation as the LES activated".

Just after the escape tower pulled the descent module away, the booster exploded. Its remains burned on the pad for nearly 20 hours. Four grid fins on the outside of the shroud opened and the descent module separated from the orbital module at an altitude of 650 m, dropping free of the shroud. The descent module discarded its heat shield, exposing the solid-fuel landing rockets, and deployed a fast-opening emergency parachute. Touchdown occurred about 4 km from the launch pad. The two crew members were bruised badly after the high acceleration, but were otherwise in good health and did not require any medical attention. Upon being greeted by recovery crews, they immediately asked for cigarettes to steady their nerves. The cosmonauts were then given tumbler of vodka to help them relax.

The KH-11 reconnaissance satellites returned photos of the damaged Site 1 in several runs during late 1983 and early 1984. The descent module was refurbished and later used for Soyuz T-15.

The failure's immediate result was the inability to replace the ageing Soyuz T-9 return capsule attached to the Salyut 7 space station. This resulted in dire reports in the western media about the cosmonauts remaining aboard Salyut 7 (which had arrived several months before in the Soyuz T-9) being 'stranded' in space, with no ability to return. Official reports by the Soviet news agency TASS gave few details, merely saying that there had been a pad accident and the cosmonauts were rescued by the LES. It was not until several years later during glasnost that the full story of the accident was revealed to the outside world. Years later, in an interview with the United States History Channel regarding the flight, Titov claimed that the crew's first action after the escape rocket fired was to deactivate the spacecraft's cockpit voice recorder because, as he put it, "We were swearing".

title: Soyuz 7K-ST No.16L


text:
Ontario Highway 4

King's Highway 4, also known as Highway 4, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Originally much longer than its present 100.8 km length, more than half of Highway 4 was transferred to the responsibility of local governments in 1998. It travels between Highway 3 in Talbotville Royal, north-west of St. Thomas, and Highway 8 in Clinton, passing through the city of London inbetween.

Highway 4 was first designated in 1920, when a 51 km route between Talbotville Royal and Elginfield was assumed by the Department of Highways. It was extended in the early 1930s both south to Port Stanley as well as north to Flesherton.

Route description

Highway4 starts at an intersection with Highway3 in Talbotville Royal and continues north as a two-lane undivided highway. For most of its length, the highway bisects agricultural land. It travels along a short 2.7 km concurrency with Highway 401 from the community of Tempo to Wonderland Road. It encounters an interchange with Highway 402 before entering London city limits. As Highway4 enters London, it becomes a Connecting Link, known locally as Wonderland Road. Wonderland Road is a 4-lane arterial thoroughfare serving western London, with several big-box stores, a mall, and residential areas. The route turns east onto Sunningdale Road West, which it for a short distance before turning north along Richmond Street.

Highway4 continues north, passing through Arva, when the surrounding terrain returns to farmland. Highway4 passes through Birr before intersecting with the western terminus of Highway 7 at Elginfield, which is also 1 km east of the Highway 23 junction with Highway7. The highway then curves slightly west, passing through Lucan before continuing north at Clandeboye. From here to its terminus in Clinton, Highway4 is essentially straight for 45 km. Continuing to be flanked by farmland, it then passes through the communities of Huron Park and Exeter. At Exeter, it crosses the former route of Highway 83. From there, it continues north, passing through the communities of Hensall, Ontario and Vanastra, Ontario before terminating at Highway8 in the community of Clinton.

History

Highway4 was originally designated in 1920 when the provincial government assumed the road running from Talbotville Royal (St. Thomas) to the Northern Highway (later Highway7) at Elginfield, via London. The portions within Elgin County were assumed on August4, while the portions south of London were assumed on June24. The portions north of and through London were assumed on August6. The 51.2 km route featured a concurrency with the Provincial Highway (later Highway2) between Lambeth and downtown London.

Until the summer of 1925, Ontario highways were named rather than numbered. When route numbering was introduced, the route between St. Thomas and Elginfield became Provincial Highway4. 1927 saw several new sections of road assumed that would become portion of Highway4. On September14, the route was extended to Highway 8 at Clinton. Further north, a new highway was created on June22, 1927, between Highway 9 at Walkerton and Highway 6 at Durham. This latter section was designated as Highway4A.

On March12, 1930, Highway4 was extended to Durham, fully absorbing the route of Highway4A in the process. Two months later, on May11, it was extended south to Bedford Street (now Edith Cavell Boulevard) in Port Stanley. On April11, 1934, the highway was extended east to the intersection of Highway 10 in Flesherton. Highway4 reached its maximum length of 275.6 km when it was extended from Flesherton to Highway 24 in Singhampton in the mid-1970s.

Downloads

As part of a series of budget cuts initiated by premier Mike Harris under his Common Sense Revolution platform in 1995, numerous highways deemed to no longer be of significance to the provincial network were decommissioned and responsibility for the routes transferred to a lower level of government, a process referred to as downloading. Portions of Highway4 were transferred to the counties of Elgin, Huron, Bruce and Grey on January1, 1998.

The former portion of Highway 4 south of St. Thomas is now signed as Elgin County Road 4. The former northern portion is broken into several different roads:
 * Huron County Road 4 from Clinton to near Wingham
 * Bruce County Road 4 (London Road) from near Wingham to Riversdale
 * A former concurrency with Highway9 between Riversdale and Walkerton
 * Grey County Road 4 from Walkerton to Simcoe County Road 124 just south of Singhampton

In 2017, the City of London announced that Highway 4 through London would be re-signed and re-routed via Richmond Street, Sunningdale Road, and Wonderland Road, resulting in a short concurrency with Highway 401 between the Colonel Talbot Road and Wonderland Road interchanges.

title: Ontario Highway 4


text:
Candlelight Party

The Candlelight Party (គណបក្សភ្លើងទៀន, UNGEGN: Kônâbâks Phleung Tiĕn, ALA-LC: Gaṇapaks Bhloeng Dian ) is a liberal party in Cambodia. The party was a member of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, Liberal International, and the Alliance of Democrats. It is the largest opposition party in Cambodia, and the main challenger to the ruling Cambodian People's Party. The party, which would have been the only competitive opposition party to the CPP, was disqualified from running in the 2023 election by the National Election Committee despite previously being permitted to participate in the 2022 local elections. The party resumed political activity in October 2021 after having been inactive since 2012.

The party, founded in 1995 as the Khmer Nation Party,  renamed the Sam Rainsy Party in 1998, and it was renamed the Candlelight Party in 2018. This party is currently the official opposition to the ruling Cambodian People's Party. Since the decline of the junior coalition partner, FUNCINPEC, in the 2008 National Assembly elections, the Candlelight Party is now considered the second largest party and the largest opposition party in Cambodia. The party won 15 of the 123 seats in the National Assembly in the 1998 elections, 24 seats in the 2003 elections, and 26 seats in the 2008 elections. The CP won two seats in the 2006 Senate elections. In 2009, it formally allied with the Human Rights Party in the Democratic Movement of Change.

In 2008, party activist Tuot Saron was arrested on a charge of "being an accomplice to unlawful confinement". International human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International described the charges as a politically motivated attempt to intimidate other SRP activists. Tuot Saron was released on 26 November 2010, following a Royal Pardon decree.

title: Candlelight Party


text:
David Sutch

David Sutch may refer to:

 * Screaming Lord Sutch (David Edward Sutch, 1940–1999), English musician and politician
 * David Sutch (priest) (born 1947), Archdeacon of Gibraltar

title: David Sutch


text:
Tamatoa VI

Prince Ariimate Teururai, later known as King Tamatoa VI (7 June 1853 – 15 September 1905), was a member of a Tahitian royal family, the House of Teururai which reigned on the Tahitian island of Huahiné and Maia'o during the 19th century.

He was installed as king of Ra'iatea and Taha'a in 1884, but was deposed in 1888.

Biography
Tamatoa VI was born as Ioata Ariimate Teururai a Teururai and died as Teururai Teuhe a Teururai. He was the last King of Ra'iatea and Taha'a. He was the second son of King Teururai, Ariimate of Huahine. His mother, Princess Tehaapapa Maerehia of Raiatea, was the only living child of King Tamatoa IV of Raiatea. She became Queen regnant of Huahine under the regnal name of Tehaapapa II in july 8th 1868 after her husband was deposed by the chiefs in the night of july 7th 1868.

Heir to the Raiatea and Tahaa kingdom
He was installed as king of Raiatea and Tahaa in 1884. His coronation took place on January 22, 1885. He took the regnal name Tamatoa VI.

His reign ended when the French annexed the two islands of Ra'iatea and Taha'a on March 16, 1888.

After his abdication, he returned to his natal island where he was later proclaimed chief of the ditrict of Tefarerii in the name of Ioata, the same year that his niece Queen Tehaapapa III abdicated.

Marriage and children
He married Tetuanuimarama a Atitioroi (daughter of Atitioroi a Ori, of the Tati family of Papara) and had three sons and three daughters:

 * Crown Prince Tamatoa Teururai of Raiatea and Taha'a.
 * Prince Opuhara Pehupehu Teururai.
 * Princess Tevahinehaamoetua Teururai.
 * Princess Teriivanaaiterai Teururai.
 * Prince Mahinetaaroaarii Tevaearai Teururai.
 * Prince Tefauvero Teururai.

Their children remain the pretenders to the royal family of Raiatea and Taha'a since the end of the monarchy on this island.

He died at Huahine in 1905.

title: Tamatoa VI


text:
Sacha Distel

Alexandre "Sacha" Distel (29 January 1933 – 22 July 2004) was a French singer, guitarist, songwriter and actor who had hits with a cover version of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" in 1970, which reached No 10 in the UK Charts, "Scoubidou", and "The Good Life". He was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur in 1997. He had also scored a hit as a songwriter when Tony Bennett recorded Sacha's song for The Good Life in 1963. It peaked at #18 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and Top 10 on the Easy Listening chart.

Career
Distel was the son of Russian-French émigré Léonide Distel who was born in Odessa (Russian Empire) and French-Jewish pianist Andrée Ventura (1902–1965), born in Constantinople. His uncle was bandleader Ray Ventura. After Ventura settled in Paris with his orchestra Les Collégiens, Distel gave up piano and switched to guitar.

During his career, Distel worked with Kenny Clarke, Jimmy Gourley, Lionel Hampton, Slide Hampton, Bobby Jaspar, Barney Kessel, John Lewis, Pierre Michelot, Bernard Peiffer, Henri Renaud, Fats Sadi, Art Simmons, Martial Solal, René Urtreger, and Barney Wilen.

Personal life
Distel was involved with actress Brigitte Bardot in 1958, having invited her to his birthday party in Saint-Tropez. The relationship ended in 1959. He married champion Olympic skier Francine Bréaud in 1963. Distel publicly stated that he remained faithful to his wife: "Anything I want in a woman I can get at home."

Distel died of cancer at the age of 71 on 22 July 2004 at his mother-in-law's home in Rayol-Canadel, near Saint-Tropez, France. In an interview a month after Distel's death, his widow Francine said she knew he had been unfaithful: "I knew it was going to happen and I knew it was going to pass."

Discography

 * Afternoon in Paris with John Lewis (Atlantic, 1957)
 * Everybody Loves the Lover (Philips, 1961)
 * From Paris with Love (RCA Victor, 1962)
 * Les Filles Moi J'Aime Ca! (RCA, 1963)
 * The Good Life (Kapp, 1969)
 * Back to Jazz with Slide Hampton (La Voix de Son Maitre, 1969)
 * Sacha Distel (Warner Bros., 1970)
 * Close to You (Warner Bros., 1970)
 * More and More (Warner Bros., 1971)
 * Love Music (Polydor, 1973)
 * Swing with Sacha Distel (Contour, 1973)
 * Love Is All (Pye, 1976)
 * Forever and Ever (Carrere, 1978)
 * From Sacha with Love (Mercury, 1979)
 * Amour Tout Court (DRG, 1982)
 * My Guitar and All That Jazz (Pablo, 1983)
 * Move Closer (Towerbell, 1985)
 * Ecoute Mes Yeux (Arcade Music, 1998)
 * But Beautiful (Mercury, 2003)

title: Sacha Distel


text:
Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom)

The Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, or His Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition Shadow Cabinet, but usually simply the Shadow Cabinet, is the committee of senior members of the Official Opposition who scrutinise the work of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. Each Shadow Cabinet member is typically given a position which corresponds to that of a government minister in Cabinet. Shadow Cabinet members, commonly known as shadow ministers, are usually appointed by the leader of the Opposition (currently Rishi Sunak). The roles of shadow ministers are to develop alternative policies, hold the government to account for its actions and responses, and act as spokespeople for the opposition party in their own specific policy areas. By convention, shadow ministers are drawn either from serving members of the House of Commons or the House of Lords, with most chosen from the former. Since July 2024, the Conservative Party has been the Official Opposition, and its leadership therefore forms the current Shadow Cabinet.

Not all opposition frontbenchers are members of the Shadow Cabinet, which is composed of the most senior opposition members (usually they number around twenty).

The leader of the Opposition, the Opposition chief whip and Opposition deputy chief whip are the only members of the Official Opposition in the House of Commons to be paid for their opposition roles in addition to their salaries as members of Parliament. The leader of the Opposition and the Opposition chief whip in the House of Lords also receive a salary.

Other parties may also form frontbench teams of spokespeople which may be referred to as shadow cabinets by the party (e.g. the Liberal Democrats in 2019), but these are not part of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet.


text:
Yuri Rubinsky Memorial Award

The "Yuri Rubinsky Memorial Award" was a prize that was awarded annually at the International World Wide Web Conference. Yuri Rubinsky, in cooperation with the International WWW Conference Committee (iW3C2), presented the SoftQuad Award for Excellence to Doug Engelbart at the Fourth International WWW Conference in Boston in December, 1995. Following his death in January 1996, the Yuri Rubinsky Insight Foundation took up the award. According to the foundation, it is given "to an individual who has contributed, through a lifetime of effort, to the care and feeding of the global information infrastructure." The award is accompanied by a cash payout of $10,000.

Ted Nelson, upon receiving the award in 1998, informed the audience that it was the first award that he had ever received in recognition of his work.

The iW3C2 withdrew its cooperation in 2000 after Richard Stallman was chosen in 1999 by a panel of previous recipients of the award.

Recipients

 * 1995 Douglas Engelbart
 * 1996 Vint Cerf
 * 1997 Gregg Vanderheiden
 * 1998 Ted Nelson
 * 1999 Richard Stallman

title: Yuri Rubinsky Memorial Award


text:
Soyuz T-10

Soyuz T-10 was the fifth expedition to the Salyut 7 space station. It entered a darkened and empty station because of the loss of Soyuz T-10a. It was visited by the sixth and seventh expeditions. During the course of the cosmonauts stay, three extravehicular activities took place to repair a fuel line.

During their multiple spacewalks to perform maintenance on the station, the crew set a record for spacewalk hours.

Mission parameters

 * Mass: 6850 kg
 * Perigee: 199.0 km
 * Apogee: 219.0 km
 * Inclination: 51.6°
 * Period: 88.7 minutes

Mission highlights
Fifth expedition to Salyut 7. Visited by 6th and 7th expeditions. The three-person Mayak crew entered the darkened Salyut 7 station carrying flashlights. The cosmonauts commented on the burnt-metal odor of the drogue docking unit. By 17 February 1984, Salyut 7 was fully reactivated, and the cosmonauts had settled into a routine. Physician Oleg Atkov did household chores and monitored his own health and that of his colleagues, who conducted experiments. During the previous year a fuel line on the station had ruptured. Kizim and Solovyov carried out three EVAs to try to fix the problem during the mission.

title: Soyuz T-10


text:
User:Prisonblues/Colleges/King's College, Cambridge

King's College, Cambridge


text:
1997 Paisley South by-election

The previous Member of Parliament for Paisley South, Gordon McMaster, of the Labour Party; died on 28 July 1997.

A by-election was held on 6 November. It was a safe Labour seat, and despite a swing of 11% to the Scottish National Party; they did not win the constituency.

title: 1997 Paisley South by-election


text:
Yamid Haad

Yamid Salcedo Haad (born September 2, 1977) is a Colombian former professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants.

Career
In a brief stint with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1999, Haad went 0-for-1 in one game played. In 2005, he served as the Giant's backup catcher behind Mike Matheny since previous backup Yorvit Torrealba was traded to the Seattle Mariners. Haad's playing time with the Giants was limited to only 10 starts, with Matheny starting the large majority of games, until a steroids suspension ended his season. For the year, he had only two hits in 28 at-bats, for a batting average of .071.

On December 1, 2006, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays signed him to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training for the 2007 season. On April 9, 2007, Haad signed a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians.

On June 12, 2008, Haad was called up by the Indians, but on June 19, Haad was designated for assignment in favor of veteran catcher Sal Fasano without appearing in a game.

In February 2009, Haad signed a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners.

Haad played for the Tecolotes de Nuevo Laredo of the Mexican League in 2010.

Steroids
On May 31, 2006, Haad received a 50-game suspension for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

title: Yamid Haad


text:
Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan

The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan is a system of central government schools in India that are instituted under the aegis of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. , it has a total of 1,253 schools in India, and three abroad in Kathmandu, Moscow and Tehran. It is one of the world's largest chains of schools and also the largest chain of schools in India. It is controlled by 25 Regional Offices and 05 ZIETs (Zonal Institute of Education and Training) under KVS (HQ).

In April 2022, the Centre decided to remove an MP quota for KV students, invalidating parliamentarians' recommendations for admission to the schools.

History
It is a system of central government schools in India and other countries that have been instituted under the aegis of the Ministry of Education and came into being in 1963 under the name Central Schools. Later, the name was changed to Kendriya Vidyalaya. It is a non-profit organisation. Its schools are all affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). Its objective is to educate children of the Indian Defence Services personnel who are often posted to remote locations. With the army starting its own Army Public Schools, the service was extended but not restricted to all central government employees.

A uniform curriculum is followed by schools all over India. By providing a common syllabus and system of education, the Kendriya Vidyalayas are intended to ensure that the children of government employees do not face educational disadvantages when their parents are transferred from one location to another. The schools have been operational for more than 60 years.

Management
The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan or 'Central School Organisation'(as previously known), oversees the functioning of the schools with its headquarters in New Delhi. The administration of this body is based on three levels. The chairman of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan is always the Minister in Charge of the Ministry of Education of the Government of India; the deputy chairman is the Minister of State of the Ministry of Education. The real working power lies with the Commissioner of KVS. There are Additional Commissioners and Joint commissioners to accompany the Commissioner in the administration of KVS in different fields. The head of the KVs in a region is a Deputy Commissioner accompanied by two to three Assistant Commissioners. At present, there are 25 regional offices in KVS. There are individual principals of every KV, administering the schools along with a Vice-Principal (wherever there is a vacancy for the post) and Head Master/ Mistress.

The Vidyalaya also has several committees for the holistic development of the students and well maintenance of the school compound and system. The most important one is the VMC (Vidyalaya Management Committee), which is the head of all committees.

Schools

, there were 1,252 schools named Kendriya Vidyalayas, having started with only 20 schools in the year 1963. It is one of the largest school chains in world with 1,249 schools in India and three operated abroad. A total of 14,30,442 students and 43,888 employees were on the rolls. KVS has been recognized as an independent State by Bharat Scouts & Guides Movement as around 2,49,198 students enrolled as the Scouts, Guides, Cubs and Bulbuls. Kendriya Vidyalayas are spread among 25 regions, each headed by a deputy commissioner. The three Kendriya Vidyalayas outside India is in Kathmandu, Moscow, and Tehran situated inside Indian Embassies of these countries and their expenditures are borne by the Ministry of External Affairs. They are intended for children of Indian embassy staff and other expatriate employees of the Government of India.

One school in Tsimalakha, Bhutan, was transferred to the Bhutanese Government, thus ceasing to be a Kendriya Vidyalaya (then known as Indo-Bhutan Central School (IBCS)) in 1989, after one of the major Indo-Bhutan projects (the Chukhha Hydal power project) was near completion. Indian Government employees were gradually transferred back to their own country.

All the schools share a common syllabus and offer bilingual instruction, in English and Hindi. They are co-educational. Sanskrit is taught as a compulsory subject from classes VI to VIII and as an optional subject until class XII. Students in classes VI to VIII could study the German language until November 2014, when the scheme was discontinued. But was again recontinued and is available in some schools until class 10. In Moscow, students are given an opportunity to choose French or Russian as their third or second language.

Tuition fees are charged for Kendriya Vidyalaya students have to pay the school development fund (Vidyalaya Vikas Nidhi), with the proceeds spent on the development of that particular school. Students from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and children of KVS employees are exempt from tuition fees. Girls who are their parents' only child from class VI onward are exempt from tuition and school development fund.

A significant aspect of Kendriya Vidyalaya culture is the daily recitation of a common prayer during morning assemblies. This prayer, often delivered in Sanskrit or Hindi, includes the verse: "Daya kar daan vidya ka humein paramatma dena". Translation: "O God, be merciful and grant us the gift of knowledge." This ritual not only instills a sense of discipline but also reflects the educational ethos of seeking divine guidance in the pursuit of knowledge.

KVS also had the MP Quota which involved some special provision under which admissions are given. Members of Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha could recommend a few number of students for the admission. These Special Provisions only worked in KVs located in the constituency of the MP concerned. All members of parliament could recommend up to six students from their constituency for admission to a Kendriya Vidyalaya. From the academic session 2016–17, the quota had been increased to 10 students. However, it is since the academic session 2022-23 all admission under special provisions like MP quota, quota of sponsoring agency (chairman quota) have been made dysfunctional.

The Quality Council of India (QCI) has accredited three of KV schools: KV RK Puram, KV IIT Powai and KV Bhinga. The Kendriya Vidyalaya Gole Market school in Central Delhi has earned notice for upgrading to "E-Classroom" and e-Learning teaching processes with the implementation of Smart Boards in the classroom. This school produces an annual school magazine called Vidyalaya Patrika.

The organisation is one of the few schools that offers all varieties in sports, games, activities and the largest scope of subjects offered by CBSE to its students and is known for its holistic focus.

It has been felicitated with many awards by Government of India including the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar in 2017 and Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar on the occasion of Hindi Diwas in 2018–19.

title: Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan


text:
Cape vulture

The Cape vulture (Gyps coprotheres), also known as Cape griffon and Kolbe's vulture, is an Old World vulture in the family Accipitridae. It is endemic to southern Africa, and lives mainly in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, and in some parts of northern Namibia. It nests on cliffs and lays one egg per year. In 2015, it had been classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, but was down-listed to Vulnerable in 2021 as some populations increased and have been stable since about 2016.

Description
This large vulture is of a creamy-buff colour, with contrasting dark flight and tail feathers. The adult is paler than the juvenile, and its underwing coverts can appear almost white at a distance. The head and neck are near-naked. The eyes are yellowish, and the bill is black. Juveniles and immatures are generally darker and more streaked, with brown to orange eyes and red necks. It closely resembles the white-backed vulture, however it is larger and has yellow irises.

The average length of adult vultures is about 96 - 115 cm with a wingspan of 2.26 - 2.6 m and a body weight of 7 - 11 kg. The two prominent bare skin patches at the base of the neck, also found in the white-backed vulture, are thought to be temperature sensors and used for detecting the presence of thermals. The species is among the largest raptors in Africa, next to the lappet-faced vulture. With a mean body mass of roughly 8.9 to 9.22 kg, it appears to be significantly heavier than wild lappet-faced vultures, despite the latter's extremely large appearance, and rivals only a few other species, namely the great white pelican and kori bustard, as the largest flying bird native to Africa. After the Himalayan griffon vulture and the cinereous vulture, the Cape vulture is the third largest Old World vulture on average.

Distribution and habitat
The Cape vulture is resident and breeding in Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique and South Africa, but is vagrant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. It also occurs in Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Eswatini but does not breed there. They are obligate scavengers, they feed on carrion, eating soft muscles and organ tissues and some bone fragments. They search for food in groups, they can spot the carcasses from a long distance meaning that they have good eyesight. They are able to locate the carcass quicker than other ground-dwelling scavengers.

Breeding
It usually breeds and roosts on cliff faces in or near mountains, and has been recorded up to an elevation of 3100 m. In South Africa's Eastern Cape, Cape vultures were more likely to use nest sites on ledges with a smaller depth and at a higher elevation, surrounded by conspecifics. Tracked individuals in Namibia had home ranges of 11800 - 22500 km2. They also roost on trees and pylons. Additionally, juveniles and adults both prefer to roost on cliffs located closer to colonies. It is also believed that they tend to remain or return to the area of birth for breeding.

In Colleywobbles Vulture Colony in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, the fledglings had a mean post-fledging dependency period of 101 days, and the distance from the nest increased after this period, as the fledglings gained independence from their parents. Though they continue to breed, some populations have been recorded to have declined. Roberts’ Farm in Magaliesberg, was abandoned as a breeding site in 2013.

Conservation and threats
The Cape vulture has been declining steadily since at least the 1980s, when it was first categorized as Threatened. Between 1992 and 2007 the species declined by 60-70% in South Africa alone. By 2021, the total population size was estimated about 9,600 to 12,800 mature individuals, and it was assessed as Vulnerable.

The Cape vulture is considered to be impacted by a number of threats. A decrease in the amount of large carrion particularly during nesting, targeted or inadvertent poisoning, loss of foraging habitat, and unsustainable harvesting for traditional uses are thought to be the most important factors. A source of poisoning specific to many vultures, including the Cape vulture, is the drug Diclofenac and related compounds, which is used to treat arthritis in cattle, and which lead to kidney failure in vultures who consume carcasses of treated cattle. Electrocution resulting from collision with cables on electricity pylons is the most common cause of death in ringed birds.

On the 20th of June 2019, the carcasses of 468 white-backed vultures, 17 white-headed vultures, 28 hooded vultures, 14 lappet-faced vultures and 10 cape vultures, altogether 537 vultures, besides 2 tawny eagles, were found in northern Botswana. It is suspected that they died after eating the carcasses of 3 elephants that were poisoned by poachers, possibly to avoid detection by the birds, which help rangers to track poaching activity by circling above where there are dead animals. Climate change has contributed as a threat for the endemic species, populations have decreased due to the high temperatures and global warming. There is still need to alter laws to achieve great conservation, as most laws in South Africa are implemented at a provincial scale. All vulture species can be elevated to 'Specially Protected' status to help increase their populations.

Human Wildlife Conflict
There is still a need to deal with human-wildlife conflicts, farmers still need to be made aware of the effects of poisoning. In Namibia, 1.7% of communal farmers admitted to using poison in the year 2015. In Kenya, over 20% of farmers used poisons to eliminate predators and they were not aware of the Kenya Wildlife Act. It was then suggested that awareness campaigns should be implemented to reduce poisoning. In addition, a combination of top-down, e.g. legislation, and bottom-up such as corrals or compensation is expected to help reduce the problem.

title: Cape vulture


text:
Soyuz T-11

Soyuz T-11 was the sixth expedition to the Soviet Salyut 7 space station, which in 1984 carried the first Indian cosmonaut along with Soviet crew members.

Salyut 7 was uncrewed after the undocking of Soyuz T-11 in October 1984 until Soyuz T-13 docked with the station in June 1985. Salyut 7 developed problems during the time it was uncrewed, which meant that the crew of Soyuz T-13 had to perform a manual docking and do repairs to the station.

Mission parameters

 * Mass: 6850 kg
 * Perigee: 195 km
 * Apogee: 224 km
 * Inclination: 51.6°
 * Period: 88.7 minutes

Mission highlights
Rakesh Sharma, aboard Salyut 7 for 7 days, 21 hours, and 40 minutes, conducted an Earth observation program concentrating on India. He also did life sciences and materials processing experiments, including silicium fusing tests. He is also reported to have experimented with practicing yoga to deal with the effects of prolonged orbital spaceflight.

The Soyuz T-11 launch crew Malyshev, Strekalov, and Sharma returned from space in the Soyuz T-10 spacecraft on 11 April 1984.

title: Soyuz T-11


text:
Indian Institute of Planning and Management

The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) was an unaccredited institute headquartered in New Delhi, which previously had 18 branches across India. IIPM was shut down after multiple allegations and lawsuits concerning the institute's use of false advertisements and fraudulent practices. After several controversies, the school's Honorary Dean Arindam Chaudhuri decided to shut down all campuses across India, except the one in Delhi. Founded in 1973, the institute used to offer undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes in national economic planning and entrepreneurship, and international and fellowship programmes. Its executive education programmes include non-credit courses and visits to foreign business schools. IIPM is not accredited by UGC or All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and is not affiliated with the public Indian Institutes of Management.

IIPM has been involved in controversies about its advertising. The University Grants Commission (UGC) –a government organisation responsible for the standards of university education in India – and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) have repeatedly issued public notices stating that they do not recognise IIPM, and that they deem its technical programmes invalid. IIPM has responded by stating that it does not issue degrees and that it is not a university. In September 2014 Delhi High Court censured IIPM for misleading students and restrained it from using words like MBA, BBA, management course, and b-school to describe the programs it offers.

In July 2015, IIPM announced that it would stop offering education programmes directly, and shut down all its campuses outside Delhi. As of 2024, IIPM operates only as a research and training institute in Delhi.

History
IIPM was founded in 1973 in New Delhi. According to the institute its first residential, full-time, post-graduate diploma programme began in 1974. IIPM had 18 branches across India; in New Delhi, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Noida, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow, Indore, Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal, Jaipur, Dehradun, and Cochin.

IIPM was barred by the UGC from offering among other degrees, MBA or BBA programs after irregularities surfaced on its claims and functioning. IIPM then closed all its branches save for a research and training institute in Delhi. A UGC notice marks IIPM Delhi as unrecognized. The founding director of IIPM is Dr. M. K. Chaudhuri, and the honorary dean is Arindam Chaudhuri.

Facilities and faculty
IIPM has a three-acre campus in New Delhi. The facilities at the branches vary but are usually less extensive compared to the main campus. The teaching faculty of the institute mostly comprises its own alumni and visiting professors. About 20% of the faculty have doctoral degrees. According to the Financial Times, IIPM has recruited many international professors to teach in India. The institute has built up its teaching faculty by recruiting its own alumni. Under the Global Outreach Programme, IIPM invites faculty members from business schools to its campuses to teach its students.

Offered programmes
IIPM is an academic partner of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, which issues degrees to IIPM students. According to the institute, it offers international programmes and programmes under its School of Business and Economy. These include undergraduate programs in planning and entrepreneurship lasting three years and postgraduate programs in the same subject lasting two years. A one-year postgraduate course is available for working executives with at least two years of past work experience. The institute also offers PhD and Fellowship programmes for postgraduates. The institute does not award BBA or MBA degrees; it awards certificates for its students who can then apply for degrees from allied institutions. Since 2010, IIPM students can get MBA and BBA degrees from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University.

Courses
Under its programmes in planning and entrepreneurship, the institute offers certificate courses aimed at making students eligible for degree courses. The IIPM course lasts 22 months and includes 1,944 hours of teaching. The postgraduate programme has 1,920 contact hours. The institute tries to give its students a "hands on" approach to learning, assigning them to work on consulting projects in major firms. In the first year, core subjects include marketing, accounting, finance, economics and organizational behaviour. In the second year, marketing and IT courses are compulsory and students choose a major in human resource or finance. The institute also offers courses that take unconventional approaches to business management. There is a focus on developing executive communication.

All students of the institute attend a 21-day compulsory trip to Europe as part of its Global Opportunities and Threat Analysis (GOTA) programme. The programme arranges visits to multinational firms and political organisations. Since 2008, students have visited Africa and Australia under the GOTA programme.

Relationships with other educational institutions
In 2006, IIPM collaborated with Stanford University's Center for Professional Development to organise a strategy workshop in New Delhi. In 2008, professors from the National University of Singapore (NUS) conducted a seven-week course on investment banking at the institute for its top 100 students, leading to a joint certification in investment banking. In the same year, IIPM launched a global executive management programme with Chicago GSB and the Haas School of Business associated with it. , NUS was conducting workshops on business-related topics in Singapore for IIPM students. Between 2009 and 2012, Singapore's Nanyang Technological University sent students to the institute for a four-week course about Indian culture and economy.

, IIPM claimed that its global partners were: NYU Stern (for International Residency), Imperial College (participating B-school), Haas School of Business (Strategic Marketing Programme), McCombs School of Business (Affiliate B-school), Cornell University ILR School (Participating school for GOTA), National University of Singapore (Wealth management programme) and Nanyang Technological University. IIPM lists Judge School of Business (Cambridge University), Darden School of Business (University of Virginia) and SDA Bocconi School of Management as past partner institutions. The Mercator School of Management of Duisburg-Essen University has a formal partnership with IIPM for exchanging students and faculty, and jointly conducting research.

Relationship with accreditation organisations
The certifications offered directly by IIPM are not accredited by AICTE –a regulating body for technical education in India whose accreditation is a voluntary process. According to IIPM, its courses do not come under the purview of AIU, AICTE, UGC and similar government-established regulatory bodies. The Supreme Court of India agreed in 2019 that AICTE has no jurisdiction over MBA education.

History
In 2005, the acting chairman of UGC, Prof V N Rajshekharan Pillai, said that IIPM's advertisements could be misleading. In June 2008, the Delhi High Court advised the UGC and IIPM to settle the matter amicably through an out-of-court settlement. According to the institute, it had not sought de jure recognition from any statutory body or accrediting authority. UGC and AICTE listed IIPM as a "fake university" and said it was not permitted to confer MBA and BBA degrees or authorised to operate as a university in India. IIPM filed a lawsuit in response. In June 2008, UGC and IIPM reached an agreement in the Delhi High Court. UGC agreed to remove IIPM's name from its list of fake universities and IIPM agreed to clarify that it offers only "certificate courses".

The institute says it is an academically independent and autonomous body without affiliation to any university and its programs do not fall under the purview of AIU, AICTE, UGC, or similar government-established regulatory bodies. The Uttarakhand University Registrar in February 2010 said that IIPM was running MBA and BBA degree programs without UGC and AICTE affiliations and that IIPM's continuing operation would be detrimental to institutions that operate with affiliations.

In July 2010, UGC issued a notice to IIPM after the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education questioned IIPM on the authenticity of its courses at its Hyderabad campus. UGC Chairman Ved Prakash said that IIPM was advertising its programs using the names of UGC, HRD Ministry and AICTE, and that "it is indulging in cheating." IIPM Group President for Corporate Affairs Amit Saxena said the institute was not a university, was not empowered to award degrees on its own and was doing neither, and that IIPM was "on-site academic partner of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University which grants its degrees to IIPM students." Saxena also said that IIPM had made representations to UGC and Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education to clarify its position and that the subject was sub judice at the Delhi High Court. The registrar of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University confirmed that IIPM was authorized to offer Manonmaniam Sundaranar University's MBA/BBA programs in all of IIPM's 18 branches. Students of IIPM's Indian School of Business and Economics (ISBE) were informed by Manonmaniam Sundaranar University that theirs is a distance-learning degree arrangement.

In July 2019, the Supreme Court of India decided that AICTE has no jurisdiction over MBA education and that IIPM can conduct MBA education without AICTE's permission.

Controversies
IIPM has been involved in controversies related to its claims about infrastructure, job placements and affiliation with international institutes. Journalists and independent bloggers have investigated IIPM's claims in its newspaper advertising. IIPM denies these charges and has filed legal cases against some journalists. In February 2013, a district court in Gwalior passed an order asking India's Department of Telecommunications to block access to 78 URLs critical of IIPM, which led to online protests. The Hindu's editor wrote that an IIPM advertisement which stated that The Hindu had called the institute "the B-School with a Human Face" was "illegal and unethical", and said that the quotation was the headline of a paid advertisement and The Hindu has not endorsed IIPM in any way. In December 2013, the Delhi High Court barred IIPM from publishing any TV, print or online advertisements without first obtaining the court's approval, given that past IIPM advertisements had potentially misled the public.

Conflicts with journalists
In 2005, Outlook –whose 2003 rankings IIPM had used in its advertisements –issued a statement withdrawing all rankings awarded to the institute, saying IIPM misguides students through unethical advertising practices and does not fully and truthfully disclose facts. According to Arindam Chaudhuri, this was done after he said that Outlook used the perception of qualitative rankings to influence business school rankings. IIPM responded with legal action against Outlook.

In June 2005, an Indian online magazine called Just Another Magazine (JAM) published an article accusing IIPM of misleading students and the public with its advertisements by using institutional rankings published in 2003 which were no longer valid. The article said that the IIPM is not accredited by UGC or AICTE. After a court ruling, the article was removed from the internet. JAM editor Rashmi Bansal later published similar content in her blog. In response, IIPM called JAM's statements an attempt to spread baseless rumours and filed a lawsuit against Bansal. In a court ruling in June 2010, Bansal was ordered to take down her blog article. Gaurav Sabnis, an IBM employee at that time, was forced to resign from his post after IIPM threatened to burn IBM laptops in front of IBM's Delhi office.

Later, the magazine Careers 360 –published by Maheshwar Peri –investigated the case. IIPM again went to court against Peri and his publications Outlook and Careers 360 on defamation charges. In 2010, Uttarakhand High Court quashed the case. Another magazine, The Caravan, published an article critical of IIPM in 2011 and is facing a legal challenge. In 2016, IIPM withdrew all remaining cases against Peri.

In 2009, Mahesh Sarma wrote in Careers 360 that for the class of 2008, three companies mentioned in IIPM advertisements as participants in campus placement said that although some freshers of the institute may have been working for them, the companies had never participated in the institute's campus recruitment process. Sarma profiled a sample of jobs that IIPM said its students obtained abroad in the Persian Gulf countries. As of June 2010, according to The Pioneer, Standard Chartered and Barclays were offering jobs to IIPM students.

In 2009, according to Sarma's article, Judge Business School (University of Cambridge), Darden Graduate School of Business Administration (University of Virginia) and Haas School of Business hosted IIPM's non-credit Executive Education program participants and conducted sessions for them. Sarma wrote that McCombs School of Business was not aware of a relationship with IIPM, and that IIPM may have a relationship with another University of Texas-Austin college. Judge Business School told Sarma that they were delivering a "five-day non-degree executive education program" to IIPM students at the University of Cambridge, and that "there are no university qualifications awarded from Cambridge University or Judge Business School. The only certificate is a certificate of attendance which is what we provide to participants on all our programs." Darden Business School told Sarma that "along with Cambridge (Judge) and UC Berkeley (Haas)", University of Virginia's Darden School of Business was providing a series of week-long Executive Education non-credit programs for IIPM. Darden also said it had no partnership agreement with IIPM. Haas Business School confirmed the existence of a contract with IIPM and said that IIPM "may represent itself as a business school participating with the Haas School of Business", and that Haas faculty will teach courses in the IIPM program.

Sarma also reported that the University of Buckingham had told him that although they were in talks with IIPM, there was no formal agreement yet and that until IIPM's programs are formally accredited by the QAA, IIPM does not have consent to mention the University of Buckingham in its advertisements. According to Sarma, after Careers360 published its article, IIPM removed the name of University of Buckingham from its advertisements.

Sarma said NVAO –the accreditation organization for Netherlands and Flanders –said that IMI "is not a recognized higher education institution in the Dutch or French speaking part of Belgium" and cannot award recognized degrees. According to Careers 360, the Uttarakhand government appointed the registrar of Uttarakhand Technical University to conduct an inquiry; the registrar recommended banning IIPM.

Wikipedia conflicts
The IIPM reportedly used paid editors to doctor its article and those of its critics on the English Wikipedia, for promotional purposes. A Wikipedia user identified by the username was highly involved in such activity, monitoring the IIPM article to remove content that was critical of the institute. After gaining the trust of users, Wifione was also promoted to the position of administrator, and used this new influence to continue these activities. It was also found that Wifione had used at least 60 "sockpuppet" accounts on the website to influence discussions in favor of modifications to the page that reflected the opinion of the IIPM. The effects of these strategies were magnified by the introduction of the Wikipedia Zero program, which offers free access to Wikipedia content on mobile phones in developing countries—including India. This program thus allowed users to discover the institute's biased article. In February 2015, Wifione was banned from Wikipedia by its Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) for these actions.

2009
IIPM filed a criminal defamation charge against Careers 360. However, all proceedings in the criminal complaint filed by IIPM against Careers360 was quashed by the Uttarakhand High Court by its judgement dated 8 October 2010. The Court noted that "the sole purpose of the article was to caution gullible students. This court does not find anything defamatory in the article", and that IIPM could show "no proof of their claim that they grant degree from Buckingham University!"

2013
In December 2013, Livemint.com reported that public-interest litigation filed in 2010 by Mahesh Sarma, the editor of Careers 360, led to the Delhi High Court barring IIPM from publishing any TV, print or online advertisements without first obtaining the court's approval, given that past IIPM advertisements had potentially misled the public. According to Livemint.com, the interim court order was based on an affidavit by the University Grants Commission (UGC), which stated that IIPM advertisements had the potential to "mislead innocent students and public at large"; a UGC committee investigating the issue had found that the "practice of issuing such dubious advertisements by IIPM to attract students deceptively should be stopped forthwith". Portions of the UGC document were quoted in the interim court order.

2014
In September 2014, the Delhi High Court censured IIPM and its founder Arindam Chaudhuri for misleading students. A division bench restrained IIPM and its management with immediate effect from using the words "MBA, BBA, management course, management school, business school or b-school" in relation to the courses offered by it as well as in representations made to the public. The court noted that IIPM was promoting an impression that it had recognition from a foreign management institute, International Management Institute (IMI), Belgium. The court found that IMI had in fact been set up by Arindam Chaudhuri and his father Malay Chaudhuri, and was not even recognized by the laws of Belgium. The institute was also "directed to prominently display on the website of IIPM that they are not recognized by any statutory body/authority" and clarify the status of the foreign institutions from which students enrolling in IIPM would be getting a degree or certification

2016
In January 2016, IIPM withdrew all cases against Peri, chairman and chief executive of Careers360 when Peri sought to get all cases transferred to Supreme Court. In another setback to IIPM, University Grants Commission issued a notice on their website informing general public that IIPM is not a university and is not entitled to confer various educational degrees.

2019
In September 2019, Kolkata High Court was hearing of a petition of two students who claimed to have been impressed by the IIPM ads featuring actor Shahrukh Khan giving them an impression of IIPM as a trustworthy institution. Following this the court has asked the actor for an explanation on his relationship and business dealings with IIPM. In response the actor's lawyer denied claims in the petition and mentioned the actor had simply appeared in some ads for the institute. Meanwhile, the High court also questioned state government on why should the case have a CBI probe.

Trade practices
In May 2007, The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) –an anti-monopoly watchdog – initiated a probe into IIPM's advertisements. They suspected that IIPM recovers the cost of GOTA tours and laptops, both advertised as free, from students later on. In October 2007, MRTPC announced that it would not be processing inquiries against business schools because of staff shortages.

Tax issues
In May 2007, S.S. Palanimanickam, Minister of State for Finance, answered a question in the Rajya Sabha raised by Dharam Pal Sabharwal, another Rajya Sabha member. Palanimanickam said, "IIPM has not paid income tax during the assessment years 2005–06 and 2006–07, claiming exemption under section 10(23C) (vi) of the Income-tax Act, 1961." The ministry also said that IIPM had paid no service tax in the preceding two years. Under a query raised through the Right to Information Act on the institute, the Central Board of Direct Taxes said that the ministry received a "tax evasion complaint in respect of wrong claims of exemption under Section 10(23C) of the Income Tax Act, 1961." In April 2009, the Indian government stated that there were "no pending tax claims against IIPM" and the case had been closed after due enquiry.


text:
A1 (shipping)

In shipping, the designation A1 is a symbol used to denote quality of construction and material. In the various shipping registers ships are classed and given a rating after an official examination, and assigned a classification mark, which appears in addition to other particulars in those shipping registers after the name of the ship.

title: A1 (shipping)


text:
Monty Bodkin

Montague "Monty" Bodkin (also referred to as Montrose) is a recurring fictional character in three novels of English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a wealthy young member of the Drones Club, well-dressed, well-spoken, impeccably polite, and generally in some kind of romantic trouble.

Stories
Monty is featured in: Monty is mentioned in:
 * Heavy Weather (1933) – a Blandings Castle novel
 * The Luck of the Bodkins (1935)
 * Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin (1972) – quoted as "Montrose" instead of "Montague"
 * Uncle Fred in the Springtime (1939) – Blandings
 * Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (1963) – Jeeves

Life and character
Monty Bodkin is the second-richest member of the Drones Club (the richest being Oofy Prosser). He is tall and slender, and has butter-coloured hair. The son of a solicitor with a small country-town practice, Monty inherited his money from an aunt who married an American millionaire from Pittsburgh when she was in the chorus of a musical at the Adelphi Theatre.

When we first meet Monty Bodkin at the start of Heavy Weather, he is employed by Lord Tilbury as assistant editor of Tiny Tots, one of the many imprints of the mighty Mammoth Publishing Company, his uncle Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe having prevailed upon Tilbury to give him the job at a public dinner. Monty does not work, however, because of any need for income; as he himself explains, there are "wheels within wheels". He is in love with Gertrude Butterwick but her father, named J. G. Butterwick in this novel (it'll evolve), feeling that his daughter should not marry some kind of a waster, requires Monty to hold down a job for a full year, and Gertrude, being an old-fashioned sort of girl of solid middle-class stock, refuses to elope with Monty.

His time at Tiny Tots is brief, however, as he finds himself left in charge one day when the regular editor, the Reverend Aubrey Sellick, is away on vacation. His efforts at writing a piece for the "Uncle Woggly to His Chicks" column results in a swift and acrimonious parting between Bodkin and Tilbury's employ, and the hunt is on for new work. On the advice of his friend and fellow-Drone Hugo Carmody, he once again uses his uncle, this time to wangle the post of secretary to Lord Emsworth, recently vacated by Carmody. He spends a few happy days at Blandings, in company of his former fiancee Sue Brown, before events conspiring against him, particularly Lord Emsworth's suspicions of anyone connected to the Parsloe-Parsloe camp, lead to his expulsion from the post. He tries to get back in with Lord Tilbury by stealing Galahad Threepwood's reminiscences, but is scuppered by Percy Pilbeam; he later takes revenge on Pilbeam, but repents and ends up paying him handsomely for the chance to work for his Detective Agency, the Argus, for a year.

In "The Plot That Thickened" Monty manages to hold down a job in the entertainment industry, only to be informed by J.G. Butterwick that it does not count. Surprising his fiancee's father, he immediately secures a job with his former employer in England, thanks to the efforts of his secretary. Over the course of the book, he falls in love with said secretary, and marries her after Gertrude breaks the engagement to marry a police officer.

Adaptations
Royce Mills portrayed Monty Bodkin in the 1988 radio dramatisation of Heavy Weather, part of the Blandings radio series. In the 1995 TV adaptation of Heavy Weather made by the BBC and partners, also broadcast in the United States by PBS, and titled Heavy Weather, Monty Bodkin was played by Samuel West. Monty was portrayed by Nicholas Boulton in the 2000 BBC radio adaptation of The Luck of the Bodkins.

title: Monty Bodkin


text:
United States Senate Republican Policy Committee

The Senate Republican Policy Committee is the policy research arm of the Republican Conference. Its predecessor, the Senate Republican Steering Committee was formed in March 1944 after Leader Charles L. McNary's death. It became formally funded and renamed the Policy Committee in 1947 along with its Democratic counterpart, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, after the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946. Funding for staff of both party policy committees comes directly from the legislative branch.

According to Congressional Quarterly, "the Policy Committee is in effect a legislative think tank. The committee organizes the prominent Tuesday lunches with summaries of major bills, analysis of roll call votes and distribution of issue papers."


text:
Reason maintenance

Reason maintenance is a knowledge representation approach to efficient handling of inferred information that is explicitly stored. Reason maintenance distinguishes between base facts, which can be defeated, and derived facts. As such it differs from belief revision which, in its basic form, assumes that all facts are equally important. Reason maintenance was originally developed as a technique for implementing problem solvers. It encompasses a variety of techniques that share a common architecture: two components—a reasoner and a reason maintenance system—communicate with each other via an interface. The reasoner uses the reason maintenance system to record its inferences and justifications of ("reasons" for) the inferences. The reasoner also informs the reason maintenance system which are the currently valid base facts (assumptions). The reason maintenance system uses the information to compute the truth value of the stored derived facts and to restore consistency if an inconsistency is derived.

A truth maintenance system, or TMS, is a knowledge representation method for representing both beliefs and their dependencies and an algorithm called the "truth maintenance algorithm" that manipulates and maintains the dependencies. The name truth maintenance is due to the ability of these systems to restore consistency.

A truth maintenance system maintains consistency between old believed knowledge and current believed knowledge in the knowledge base (KB) through revision. If the current believed statements contradict the knowledge in the KB, then the KB is updated with the new knowledge. It may happen that the same data will again be believed, and the previous knowledge will be required in the KB. If the previous data are not present, but may be required for new inference. But if the previous knowledge was in the KB, then no retracing of the same knowledge is needed. The use of TMS avoids such retracing; it keeps track of the contradictory data with the help of a dependency record. This record reflects the retractions and additions which makes the inference engine (IE) aware of its current belief set.

Each statement having at least one valid justification is made a part of the current belief set. When a contradiction is found, the statement(s) responsible for the contradiction are identified and the records are appropriately updated. This process is called dependency-directed backtracking.

The TMS algorithm maintains the records in the form of a dependency network. Each node in the network is an entry in the KB (a premise, antecedent, or inference rule etc.) Each arc of the network represent the inference steps through which the node was derived.

A premise is a fundamental belief which is assumed to be true. They do not need justifications. The set of premises are the basis from which justifications for all other nodes will be derived.

There are two types of justification for a node. They are:

 * 1) Support list [SL]
 * 2) Conditional proof (CP)

Many kinds of truth maintenance systems exist. Two major types are single-context and multi-context truth maintenance. In single context systems, consistency is maintained among all facts in memory (KB) and relates to the notion of consistency found in classical logic. Multi-context systems support paraconsistency by allowing consistency to be relevant to a subset of facts in memory, a context, according to the history of logical inference. This is achieved by tagging each fact or deduction with its logical history. Multi-agent truth maintenance systems perform truth maintenance across multiple memories, often located on different machines. de Kleer's assumption-based truth maintenance system (ATMS, 1986) was utilized in systems based upon KEE on the Lisp Machine. The first multi-agent TMS was created by Mason and Johnson. It was a multi-context system. Bridgeland and Huhns created the first single-context multi-agent system.

Other references

 * Bridgeland, D. M. & Huhns, M. N., Distributed Truth Maintenance. Proceedings of. AAAI–90: Eighth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 1990.
 * J. de Kleer (1986). An assumption-based TMS. Artificial Intelligence, 28:127–162.
 * J. Doyle. A Truth Maintenance System. AI. Vol. 12. No 3, pp. 251–272. 1979.
 * U. Junker and K. Konolige (1990). Computing the extensions of autoepistemic and default logics with a truth maintenance system. In Proceedings of the Eighth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI'90), pages 278–283. MIT Press.
 * Mason, C. and Johnson, R. DATMS: A Framework for Assumption Based Reasoning, in Distributed Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 2, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., 1989.
 * D. A. McAllester. A three valued maintenance system. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. AI Memo 473. 1978.
 * G. M. Provan (1988). A complexity analysis of assumption-based truth maintenance systems. In B. Smith and G. Kelleher, editors, Reason Maintenance Systems and their Applications, pages 98–113. Ellis Horwood, New York.
 * G. M. Provan (1990). The computational complexity of multiple-context truth maintenance systems. In Proceedings of the Ninth European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI'90), pages 522–527.
 * R. Reiter and J. de Kleer (1987). Foundations of assumption-based truth maintenance systems: Preliminary report. In Proceedings of the Sixth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI'87), pages 183–188. PDF

title: Reason maintenance


text:
Soyuz T-12

Soyuz T-12 (also known as Salyut 7 EP-4) was the seventh crewed spaceflight to the Soviet space station Salyut 7. The name "Soyuz T-12" is also the name of the spacecraft used to launch and land the mission's three-person crew. The mission occurred in July 1984, during the long-duration expedition Salyut 7 EO-3. During the mission, crew member Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to ever perform a spacewalk, and the potential Buran space shuttle pilot, Igor Volk, was given spaceflight experience. Unlike many Soyuz visiting missions, the Soyuz lifeboats were not swapped, and the crew returned to Earth in the same spacecraft in which they launched.

Background
Igor Volk was a test pilot, and was planned to be the commander of the first Buran spaceflight. The rule introduced following the Soyuz 25 failure, insisted that all Soviet spaceflight must have at least one crew member who has been to space before. As a result, it was decided that Volk should have spaceflight experience, and he was originally scheduled to visit Salyut 7 in 1983. But following the failure of Soyuz T-8 to dock to Salyut 7, in April 1983, the Soyuz launch schedule was disrupted, and Volk's original crew members, Kizim and Solovyov, were rescheduled elsewhere. They later became long-duration crew members of Salyut 7 EO-3, and Volk was scheduled fly in the passenger seat of a visiting mission Soyuz T-12 to the EO-3 crew, but the other members of the T-12 mission were not yet decided upon.

In November 1983, NASA announced that during STS-41-G, Kathryn D. Sullivan would become the first woman to perform a spacewalk. The NPO Energia chief decided that the Soviets would get there first, and assembled the Soyuz T-12 crew within a month of NASA's announcement, which included Volk as previously planned.

The back-up crew lists became available to Western space analysts in 1988, and they noted that the back-up crew contained a woman, but did not contain another LII test pilot. Judging from this, it appeared that, as reasons to have the Soyuz T-12 mission, achieving the first female spacewalk was more important than gaining experience for a potential Buran crew member.

At the time of the mission the Buran program was still a state secret. The appearance of Volk as a crew member caused some, including the British Interplanetary Society magazine Spaceflight, to ask why a test pilot was occupying a Soyuz seat usually reserved for researchers or foreign cosmonauts.

Mission parameters

 * Mass: 7020 kg
 * Perigee: 192 km
 * Apogee: 218 km
 * Inclination: 51.6°
 * Period: 88.6 minutes

Mission highlights
Soyuz T-12 was the 7th expedition to Salyut 7.

Volk was a glimpse of things which might have been: he was a Buran programme program pilot being flown in space to prove he would be able to pilot Buran back to Earth after an extended stay in space.

The crew of Soyuz T-12 (callsign Pamir), the second Visiting Expedition to visit the Mayaks, included veteran cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Buran shuttle program cosmonaut Igor Volk, and Svetlana Savitskaya. On July 25 Dzhanibekov and Savitskaya performed a 3 hr, 30 min EVA (Savitskaya became the first woman ever to perform EVA), during which they tested the URI multipurpose tool. They cut, welded, soldered, and coated metal samples. During the Pamirs’ stay, the six cosmonauts aboard Salyut 7 also conducted Rezonans tests and collected station air samples.

title: Soyuz T-12


text:
User:Prisonblues/Colleges/Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge

Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge


text: Category:Cavalry divisions

title: Category:Cavalry divisions


text:
Talk:Rice pudding

Merger proposal
I propose merging Shir Berenj into Rice pudding. Shir Berenj is local name of Rice pudding in Iran (Persian Language). Kidsonthemoon (talk) 13:44, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Oppose, given that the this is a notable type of rice puddling, reasonably distinguished from others, such as the Iranian sholezard. Klbrain (talk) 08:45, 17 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Closing, given the uncontested objection and no support, having left a year for discussion. Klbrain (talk) 13:35, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

Sliced and eaten like cake?
The 'alternative version' apparently commonly eaten in the north of England and is cut into slices and 'eaten like cake' - this is something I have never heard of, and I have lived in the north of England all my life. In England, rice pudding is commonly made with short grain rice, milk, sugar and butter and baked in the oven for about 1½ hours. There is (apparently) something called 'rice pudding cake' but this isn't common, nor is it exactly a type of rice pudding. I strongly suspect the information about rice pudding being sliced and eaten like cake is false. Matt (talk) 11:13, 3 January 2022 (UTC)

Why were the edits reverted?
I have a scholarship background... And kept neutrality and quoted sources. Tentmaker Prashanth (talk) 16:57, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

 * The references weren't reliable sources. Blogs and recipe sites aren't strong enough references. Sub sections should ask questions like "where did rice pudding come from?". ThaddeusSholto (talk) 17:00, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Rice pudding


text:
Shadow ministry of Tony Abbott

The Shadow Ministry of Tony Abbott was the opposition Coalition shadow ministry of Australia from December 2009 to September 2013, opposing the Australian Labor Party governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.

The shadow ministry is a group of senior Opposition spokespeople who form an alternative Cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual Minister or portfolio of the Government.

Since the 2007 federal election, the Liberal–National Coalition had been the Official Opposition, initially led by Brendan Nelson and later Malcolm Turnbull. In 2009, Tony Abbott defeated Turnbull in a leadership spill 42 votes to 41 in the second round and took on the role of Opposition Leader.

The Abbott shadow ministry was the first in which shadow ministers received additional pay for their roles, taking effect from 2012 after a decision of the Gillard government.

Structure
The "opposition front bench" comprises the full shadow ministry including the shadow cabinet, other shadow ministers and shadow parliamentary secretaries. As an institution, the shadow cabinet is much less defined—or studied—than the Cabinet with its well established formal procedures. Shadow Cabinet operates more as a committee of an opposition political party than an institution of Government or Parliament. The Cabinet Handbook was first published in 1926 and the updated version is available on-line but no such equivalent exists for Shadow Cabinet.

First arrangement (2009–2010)
The Shadow Cabinet of Tony Abbott was created following the accession of Tony Abbott to the leadership in December 2009. It remained largely unchanged until the 2010 election, excluding one minor reshuffle in March 2010. After this reshuffle, Barnaby Joyce gained the Regional Development portfolio from Warren Truss and the Infrastructure and Water Portfolio from Ian Macfarlane. Andrew Robb took on Joyce's previous portfolio of Finance and Deregulation and Macfarlane gained the Energy and Resources portfolio from the retiring Nick Minchin.

Second arrangement (2010–2013)
Tony Abbott reshuffled the Shadow Cabinet following the 2010 election and this arrangement remained largely unchanged until the election of the Abbott government in 2013. Two alterations were made during this period. In March 2011, Michael Ronaldson was appointed Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader of the Opposition on the Centenary of ANZAC. A wider redistribution took place in September 2012 following the resignation of Cory Bernardi. Arthur Sinodinos took on the role of Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition and Jamie Briggs took on the role of Shadow Parliamentary Secretary of Supporting Families. Michaelia Cash was also appointed Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate.

title: Shadow ministry of Tony Abbott


text:
United States Senate Democratic Policy Committee

The United States Senate Democratic Policy Committee is responsible for the creation of new United States Democratic Party policy proposals, supporting Democratic senators with legislative research, developing reports on legislation and policy, conducting oversight hearings, monitoring roll call votes, differentiating between Democratic and Republican positions, and building party unity.

The committee was established in 1947, by an act signed by President Harry S. Truman, alongside its Republican counterpart. From 1947 to 2000, the Democratic leader was also the policy committee chairman. From 1989 to 1999, there was a co-chairman. Starting in 1999, the co-chairman was dropped and the position of policy committee chairman became a separate position elected by the Senate Democratic Caucus. The floor leader served as committee chair until 1989, when one of the co-chairs remained leader (Mitchell through 1995 and then Daschle until 1999). The committee chairman is a member of the Democratic party leadership of the United States Senate.


text: User talk:24.116.216.18

title: User talk:24.116.216.18


text:
Sinclair Radionics

Sinclair Radionics Ltd was a company founded by Sir Clive Sinclair in Cambridge, England which developed hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments.

History
After raising funds to start the business by writing articles for Practical Wireless magazine, and borrowing £50, Clive Sinclair founded Sinclair Radionics Ltd. on 25 July 1961. Sinclair initially worked alone in the evenings in a room in London (he was still a technical journalist during the day), selling radio kits by mail order.

Radios and Hi-Fi

Radionics initially developed hi-fi equipment; it released its first product, the Sinclair Micro-amplifier, in December 1962. The assembly and distribution of this product were contracted out to Cambridge Consultants. In 1963 Sinclair Radionics introduced their first radio with the "Sinclair Slimline" in kit form at forty-nine shillings and sixpence (£2.47½).

A year later, in 1964, Sinclair released the "X-10" amplifier, one of the first commercial Class-D amplifiers. In the same year, Sinclair released the "Micro-6", matchbox-size radio, which the company claimed was the "world's smallest radio"—it could also be worn on your wrist with the "Transrista".

In 1965 the "Micro-FM" debuted as "the world's first pocket-size FM tuner-receiver", but was unsuccessful due to technical difficulties. Despite problems, illegal clones were produced in the far east. Sinclair's final 1960s radio kit was the 1967 "Micromatic", billed as "the world's smallest radio" like Sinclair's earlier radios. The "Micromatic" was a reasonable success and was sold until 1971. In May 1971 Sinclair Radionics made £85,000 profit on £563,000 turnover; the following year profit increased to £97,000 on turnover of £761,000.

In 1966, Sinclair Radionics re-entered the hi-fi market with the "Stereo 25", a low-cost pre-amp control system. Production was halted in 1968 due to low supply of transistors which had been purchased in 1964 as rejects from other manufacturers. In 1969 it was replaced by the "Stereo Sixty". This soon became Sinclair's most successful audio product, being the second product of the "Project 60" range. The "Project 60" products sold well and were supplemented by the "Project 605" kit in 1972. It was eventually superseded by the more advanced "Project 80" kit in 1974. In May 1973 Sinclair Radionics generated £1.8 million turnover. The last Sinclair Radionics hi-fi product was the System 4000, in 1974.

Another Sinclair Radionics product that was introduced in 1964 and failed was the first class D amplifier kit rated at 10 watt RMS: a class D switching amplifier that was good in theory but sadly ahead of its time and available technology. The amplifier used low-frequency germanium transistors as pulse width modulators and switches and wrongly relied on the loudspeaker's inductance to filter the class D signal into audio. Most often this would short out the output transistors. When it did work the power level was far below 10 watts and Sinclair's main advertising channel, Wireless World magazine, was so deluged with complaints that it supposedly refused to take further advertisements from Sinclair.

Sinclair Radionics launched the System 2000 amplifier, FM tuner and loudspeaker in 1968. followed by the System 3000 in 1972.

Calculators and test equipment

In 1972, Radionics launched its first electronic calculator, the Executive, which was considerably smaller than its competitors' by the use of hearing-aid-sized batteries. What had made this possible was it had been discovered that there was considerable latency in the display and memory and that, with the addition of a timer, power could be withheld from these battery-draining components for much of the time, thus greatly extending battery life.

During the majority of the 1970s, Sinclair focused on building the most affordable pocket calculators with the best design. In 1972 Sinclair released the world's first slim-line pocket calculator, the Sinclair Executive, for £79.95. The calculator only included basic maths functions, and the LED display required much power. It is often credited as being the world's first attractively styled calculator that did not require mains power to be used like prior calculators. The Executive was a phenomenal success, earning Sinclair £1.8m in profit. In 1973 the slightly larger Sinclair Cambridge was introduced at a far cheaper price of £29.95 + VAT. A cheaper Executive was also launched shortly after. In addition to expanding the Cambridge range, the Sinclair Scientific was launched in 1975. It was a scientific pocket calculator for the very competitive price of £49.95. In 1977 a revised model, the "Scientific Programmable", was released at £29.95. The Scientific Programmable Mark 2 was later released, reducing the price to £17.22.

In 1975, Sinclair Radionics launched the Oxford range of briefcase calculators. Sinclair also attempted to capture the top-end calculator market with the Sinclair Sovereign, available in plated gold or silver. The calculator was critically acclaimed for its excellent engineering and design and enjoyed short success. Final attempts at the mass-market for calculators, the Sinclair Enterprise and the President, did not sell well.

In 1974, Radionics launched the DM1 digital multimeter. Such scientific instruments were to form a quiet backbone of Radionics business for the rest of its existence. In marked contrast to the rest of the Sinclair range, the instruments gained a reputation for reliable conventionality rather than often unreliable idiosyncrasy.

Black Watch

In August 1975, Sinclair introduced the Black Watch digital watch at £17.95 in kit form and £24.95 ready-built, although this wasn't available to buy until January 1976. Including a five-digit LED display, it suffered from technical flaws related to the design of the case, the chip, the battery and accuracy. Not only was the watch unreliable, Radionics was not able to fulfil the orders it had taken. As a result, Radionics made its first loss in the financial year April 1974 – April 1975. The Black Watch fiasco had a devastating effect on Sinclair's finances, and the company would have gone bankrupt had not the Government, through the National Enterprise Board, stepped in to support it.

Portable televisions
In 1966, Sinclair Radionics developed the world's first portable television, the "Microvision", but never attempted to sell it because development costs would have been too high based on the complicated design the Microvision used.

In April 1976, the National Enterprise Board bought a 43% stake in Sinclair Radionics for £650,000, and in October the National Research and Development Council agreed to provide £1 million for a revived portable TV project, which was finally launched in January 1977 as the Microvision TV1A and MON1A at £99.95. Supply exceeded demand, and 12,000 units were left unsold until they were sold off cheaply. This resulted in a £480,000 loss for Sinclair. Sir Clive Sinclair was certain that the TV1B model released in 1978 would be more successful, but sales were disappointing.

Demise
In July 1977, the NEB increased its stake in Radionics to 73%. By June 1978 Sinclair Radionics was working on the NewBrain microcomputer project, which was later taken over by Newbury Laboratories.

In May 1979, the NEB announced that it intended to sell Radionics' calculator and TV interests; they were bought by the ESL Bristol group (as Radionic Products Ltd.) and Binatone respectively. In July Clive Sinclair resigned with a £10,000 golden handshake. In September the NEB renamed what was left of Radionics (i.e. the scientific instrument business) as Sinclair Electronics Ltd.; in January 1980 this was changed to Thandar Electronics Ltd. In 1989, Thandar Electronics Ltd merged with Thurlby Electronics Ltd, forming Thurlby Thandar Instruments Ltd. This company now does business under the name Aim and Thurlby Thandar Instruments (Aim-TTi).

Sinclair Instrument and Science of Cambridge
When it became clear that Radionics was failing, Clive Sinclair took steps to ensure that he would be able to continue to pursue his commercial goals: in February 1975, he changed the name of Ablesdeal Ltd. (an off-the-shelf company he bought in September 1973, for just such an eventuality) to Westminster Mail Order Ltd.; this was changed to Sinclair Instrument Ltd. in August 1975.

Finding it inconvenient to share control after the NEB became involved in Radionics, Sinclair encouraged Chris Curry, who had been working for Radionics since 1966, to leave and get Sinclair Instrument up and running.

Sinclair Instrument developed the "Wrist Calculator" to generate cash, which soon became a commercial success selling in surprising figures. In July 1977 Sinclair Instrument Ltd was renamed to Science of Cambridge Ltd. Around about the same time Ian Williamson showed Chris Curry a prototype microcomputer based around a National Semiconductor SC/MP microprocessor and some parts taken from an earlier Sinclair calculator. This was sold as the MK14 microcomputer kit. Science of Cambridge ultimately became Sinclair Research Ltd.

title: Sinclair Radionics


text:
Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Operation Downfall

Operation Downfall
Self nom. It's a little something I wrote. I think it's pretty accurate and complete. Also, regarding the image - I spent 6 months trying to get permissions to use it, but it's basically proven hopeless. There's a GFDL version under construction right now. →Raul654 19:15, Jul 15, 2004 (UTC)
 * Support. Short but sweet, a good read. [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 19:33, 15 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Support. Marlowe 19:39, 15 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Support. Good stuff.  81.168.80.170 20:35, 15 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Support - David Gerard 20:59, 15 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Object - excellent article with hopefully easily fixed objections
 * The Estimated Casualties section is a little hard to follow. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th "paragraphs" seem to contradict the 1 million casualty estimate, and a single "however" in the next paragraph suddenly switches gears.
 * The paragraph you refer to was added by someone else later and I've never really liked it. I have removed most of it and refactored the rest. →Raul654 22:23, Jul 15, 2004 (UTC)
 * Hmm, I actually thought some of that removed material was making a good point. It was just unclearly written.  If the proportion of allied casualties to Japanese casualties was actually increasing towards the end of the war, and the attack points were obvious to the Japanese and they had been heavily fortifying them, and over a million troops were on the home island, then the point that a million casualties was possible is supported.  If those facts arent correct, then so be it, but if they are, they need to be left in the article, just more clearly written. - Taxman 14:41, Jul 17, 2004 (UTC)
 * (Warning: I am uncompromisingly POV about certain points in this article, as a reading of Talk:Operation Olympic will show.) The figure of one million casualties was what the troops expected in this invasion, & a study at http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/arens/ will show that while this high figure might be inflated, the cost in American casualties would have been equal to one-fourth of what had been suffered prior to that point -- & Japanese casualties, both military & civilian (if one can make a distinction in this possible case), many times higher. One might ask which was the more humane act: Truman's order to drop the bomb, or Emperor Hirohito's agreement to an unconditional surrender? -- llywrch 22:26, 17 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * The first sentence in the 5th paragraph starting "however" is unclear - "...higher American casualties to Japanese casualties compared to those before." - before what? Before in the Pacific, or as compared to the D-day numbers just referenced?  What two campaigns are being referred to and what really is a campaign?  Sorry, I'm just not well versed in military terminology.
 * (See above →Raul654)
 * Maybe it is just my leariness that the categorization scheme will ever be robust enough, but just putting it in a category with no See also links seems to make it harder to access more background articles for the topic. - Taxman 22:14, Jul 15, 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm not quite sure what you are objecting to - can you clarify? →Raul654 22:23, Jul 15, 2004 (UTC)
 * Simply that the article needs a see also section. See also's are standard in encyclopedia's and help the interested reader find related material better or in at least a complimentary way to the categorization scheme.  See also could include links to Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for example, which currently takes reading of the Hiroshima or Nagasaki articles to get to and certainly provides a contrast to the material in this article.  There are others that would be valuable that someone that is familiar with the Pacific theater in WWII could add.  For example even a link to an overview of the Pacific theater would be helpful. I think See also's should be standard requirement for featured articles in fact. - Taxman 14:41, Jul 17, 2004 (UTC)
 * "See also" is depricated - anything that should go in a see-also should be discussed in the text itself. →Raul654 15:17, Jul 17, 2004 (UTC)
 * Seems like that would make the text excessively long. Do you have any other basis for calling "see also" depricated, or is it merely your opinion? anthony (see warning)
 * I remember seeing it in some policy somewhere, although such policies are numerous and often obscure. I could, of course, be wrong. →Raul654 02:09, Jul 19, 2004 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Uses non-free image that may even be a copyvio. Once the GFDL version is constructed, looks good. anthony (see warning)
 * I found two very nice PD maps to use instead and have replaced the old picture. →Raul654 02:48, Jul 19, 2004 (UTC)
 * Looks good. anthony (see warning) 14:47, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Support. — Matt 00:23, 21 Jul 2004 (UTC)