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Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset

Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset (31 May 1590 – 23 August 1632), was an English noblewoman who was the central figure in a famous scandal and murder during the reign of King James I. She was found guilty but spared execution, and was eventually pardoned by the King and released from the Tower of London in early 1622.

Family
She was born Frances Howard, the daughter of Lord Thomas Howard (later 1st Earl of Suffolk), and his wife, the former Catherine Knyvet. Frances' father was the second son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, a wealthy and powerful nobleman during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and Margaret Audley, Duchess of Norfolk. Frances' maternal grandparents were Sir Henry Knyvet, of Charlton, Wiltshire, and Elizabeth Stumpe.

Failed marriage
Lady Frances Howard was married at the age of 14 to the 13-year-old Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, the grandson of Francis Walsingham. The marriage was primarily a political union and due to both their young ages, they did not live together.

Her husband was then sent on Grand Tour from 1607 to 1609, apparently without having consummated the marriage. When he returned she made every effort to avoid him. He was at the time seriously ill with smallpox. She was at court and on 5 June 1610 danced as the "Nymph of Lee" representing the Essex River Lea in the masque Tethys' Festival.

She had also fallen in love with Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset. When she finally took the step of annulment, unable to legally represent herself, her father and her uncle, Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, represented her and drew up the libel. The situation quickly attracted public attention, and was widely observed by those with "prurient minds". She claimed that she had made every attempt to be sexually compliant for her husband, and that, through no fault of her own, she was still a virgin. She was examined by ten matrons and two midwives who found her hymen intact. It was widely rumoured at the time that Sir Thomas Monson's daughter was a substitute, which is possible because she had requested to be veiled during the examination "for modesty's sake".

The matter was a subject of mockery and ribald commentary throughout the court, including:

This Dame was inspected but Fraud interjected

A maid of more perfection

Whom the midwives did handle whilest the knight held the candle

O there was a clear inspection.

In turn, Essex claimed that he was capable with other women, but was unable to consummate his marriage. According to a friend, one morning (while chatting with a group of male companions) he had stood up and lifted his nightshirt to show them his erection—proving, if nothing else, he was physically capable of arousal. When asked why only she caused his failing, he claimed that "she reviled him, and miscalled him, terming him a cow, and coward, and beast."

The idea of satanic involvement was seriously considered by the judges and at one point it was proposed that Essex should go to Poland to see if he could be "unwitched". The annulment languished and possibly would not have been granted if it were not for the king's intervention (Somerset was the favourite of King James). James VI and I granted the annulment on 25 September 1613. Frances married Somerset on 26 December 1613. The celebrations included a performance of The Masque of Flowers, produced by Francis Bacon and acted by lawyers from Gray's Inn, and depicting a scene in Virginia.

A murderous plot
Sir Thomas Overbury, a close friend and advisor of Somerset, had tried to advise Somerset not to marry Frances Howard, but the Howard family and their allies were powerful. The Howard faction persuaded the king to offer Overbury the post of Ambassador to Russia, knowing he would refuse in order to stay in England by Somerset's side. When he did so, the king viewed this as an insult and imprisoned Overbury in the Tower of London, where he died. The annulment of Frances and Essex's marriage went through eleven days after Overbury's death, in September 1613.

18 months later, in the summer of 1615, a Yorkshire apothecary's assistant confessed on his deathbed that he had been paid £20 by the Countess of Essex to supply her with poisons for murdering Overbury. James I's Secretary of State, Sir Ralph Winwood, brought the accusations to the King's attention in September, and James in turn urged his Privy Council to investigate the matter. The subsequent investigation and trial revealed that Frances had been surreptitiously poisoning Overbury for some time before his death, by smuggling jellies and tarts into his chamber tainted with white arsenic and other toxic compounds.

The Lieutenant of the Tower, Gervase Helwys, admitted that he had received a confession from Overbury's keeper, Richard Weston, that he had been bribed by the Countess of Essex to administer the poison. Helwys intercepted the tainted sweets at one point and from then on took the precaution of having Overbury's food prepared in his private kitchen, taking care to intercept any other food before it could reach Overbury.

However, for fear of the Countess of Essex's political influence, and because his own patron was Frances' great uncle Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton, he took no action against her. Frances eventually succeeded in poisoning Overbury with a smuggled enema laced with mercury chloride.

Frances and her husband were arrested for the murder in mid-October 1615. The trial revealed that Frances had supplied the poisoned enema to Richard Weston through an intermediary, Frances' waiting-woman and companion Anne Turner.

Helwys was tried as an accessory, and his patron at Court, Sir Thomas Monson, arrested and imprisoned for involvement. Between mid-October and December 1615, Helwys, Turner, Weston, and the apothecary James Franklin, were all found guilty as accessories to murder and hanged. Monson twice had his trial delayed, in November and December 1615, before prosecution was ultimately dropped.

Frances Somerset admitted her complicity in the crime; however, her husband maintained his innocence. In 1616 Frances was found guilty of murder, while her husband was found guilty of being an accessory after the deed when it was proven that he burned incriminating documents and made bribes to cover up his wife's involvement. The couple were sentenced to death initially but later confined to the Tower for life on the orders of James I. They received a pardon from the King in January 1622 and were subsequently released from prison. She died 10 years later at the age of 42.

Lord and Lady Somerset had one daughter, Anne, born while Frances was under house arrest[4] before she was taken to prison in the Tower of London. She was looked after by Frances's sister Lady Knollys. Anne married William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford. Through her Lady Somerset was the ten-times-great grandmother of the actress Celia Imrie.

Frances was buried at the family seat in Audley End, Essex.

title: Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset


text:
Monterrey Fury

The Monterrey Fury were a Mexican team playing in a United States-based soccer league. The team was awarded a Major Indoor Soccer League expansion franchise for the 2003–2004 season. The most notable thing that happened to the team during its first season was that it was forced to forfeit several games after using an illegal player.

Shortly before the start of the 2004–2005 season, the MISL terminated the Fury franchise because of "a long series of non-compliance and disregard for the obligations and responsibilities of an MISL member club." UANL Tigres, a Mexican 1st Division team, was awarded a new MISL franchise. However, because of a dispute over who owned the rights to an MISL franchise in Monterrey, the Tigres elected not to complete its purchase of the team, and the MISL voted to discontinue operations in Mexico on December 30, 2004.

Head coaches

 * Andres Carranza (2003–2004)
 * Erich Geyer (2004)

Arena

 * Arena Monterrey (2003–2004)

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

title: Monterrey Fury


text:
William Redfern

William Redfern (1775 – 17 July 1833) was the Surgeon’s First Mate aboard HMS Standard during the May 1797 Nore mutiny, and at a court martial in August 1797 he was sentenced to death for his involvement. His sentence was later commuted and in 1801 he was transported to New South Wales and assigned as an assistant to the Norfolk Island hospital. In this post he demonstrated the medical skills that enabled him to become one of the colony’s most revered physicians and a pioneer in public health. Redfern advocated major reforms to sanitary conditions aboard convict ships and this significantly reduced the morbidity rates of convicts arriving in NSW. Later in life he became a highly successful farmer, bank director and an emancipist rights activist.

Early life
William Redfern was born in Canada, the third son of Robert and Margaret Redfern from Northern Ireland. The family returned to England and settled in Trowbridge in Wiltshire. In 1790 William Redfern became a surgeon's apprentice to his older brother Thomas. On 19 January 1797, after seven years training as a surgeon and physician, the 22-year-old passed an examination set by the Company of Surgeons in London that enabled him to join the Royal Navy as a physician aboard all warships, or a surgeon on warships of third rate and above. On 23 January 1797 Redfern was assigned to the third-rate 64-gun HMS Standard as a Surgeon's First Mate.

The 1797 Mutiny at the Nore
When Redfern joined the Royal Navy, Britain had been at war with the Spanish, French and Dutch for four years. It was also a period when naval seamen were protesting about low pay, bad food, poor health care and harsh discipline. Such issues had always existed in the navy, but the inability of sailors to support their families at a time of significant social unrest in Britain fuelled their dissent. Of particular concern to the crews on warships of the North Sea Fleet, to which HMS Standard was attached, were the virulent diseases plaguing the lower decks. Petitions to the Admiralty for better medical care were ignored and in May 1797 10,000 common seaman took control of the North Sea Fleet and sailed the ships from the Yarmouth to the Nore sandbank on the Thames. Many ship surgeons who were deemed inept were put ashore and surgeon’s mates had to assume their duties. First Mate William Redfern did this aboard HMS Standard. When the Admiralty refused to meet the seamen’s demands, they blockaded the Thames to all shipping in and out of London.

The Nore mutiny eventually petered out when the Government threatened military intervention and 560 of the leading mutineers were arrested. This included William Redfern who was accused by the captain of HMS Standard of supporting the mutiny. 412 of the accused seamen were court martialled and 59 sentenced to hanging. Some sentences were later commuted to prison, flogging and transportation.

William Redfern was the highest-ranking seaman charged with mutiny. At his court martial on 22 August 1797 he strongly refuted the accusations of Thomas Parr, captain of HMS Standard, claiming that he had acted as surgeon against his wishes, and had resigned his commission twice. Although no witness testified that Redfern had collaborated with the mutineers, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. Ten days later the sentence was commuted to a year’s solitary confinement followed by transportation for life. Redfern spent three years in Coldbath Fields prison, England’s cruellest gaol. The prison was so notorious that in 1800 the government appointed Inspector General of Health, Sir Jeremiah Fitzpatrick, to investigate it. At an interview with Fitzpatrick, prisoner William Redfern requested transportation as soon as possible, and to be allowed to work on the convict ship as a surgeon.

Transportation to New South Wales
In January 1801 Redfern was moved to the prison hulk Captivity docked in Portsmouth. Two months later he was assigned to assist the surgeon on the hulk La Fortunée moored in Langstone Harbour. In May Redfern boarded the convict ship Canada and was assigned to keep the medical diaries and assist the ship’s surgeons. On 21 June 1801 the Canada, with the Minorca and the Nile, set sail for New South Wales with 541 people on board. Mid voyage Redfern was urgently transferred to the Minorca to treat two very sick patients. He was on the Minorca when the convoy reached Port Jackson on 15 December 1801.

Norfolk Island
Shortly after arriving in Sydney, Redfern was shipped to Norfolk Island. He arrived on 8 January 1802 and was made a convict assistant to the hospital surgeon James Mileham. However, Mileham left the island three months later and his replacement Thomas Roberts drowned in a boating accident in June. This was a critical loss and Lieutenant Governor Joseph Foveaux temporarily put Redfern in charge of the hospital until a free surgeon could be brought to the island. Given this opportunity Redfern excelled in the role and when another free surgeon could not be found by November Foveaux granted Redfern a conditional pardon, and in April 1803 recommended Governor King award him an absolute pardon. In 1804 assistant surgeon D’Arcy Wentworth arrived on Norfolk Island to take charge of the hospital and Redfern remained as his assistant. By this time Redfern was also active on the island as a farmer and trader in agricultural produce, and remained so until his return to Sydney in June 1808.

Medical Career
Following the overthrow of the NSW Governor William Bligh in January 1808, the rebel administration made Joseph Foveaux the NSW Lieutenant Governor. In August 1808 Foveaux appointed Redfern as a government surgeon at the Sydney general hospital on George Street. The appointment was conditional on proof of his medical qualifications. Redfern’s medical records had been lost in the mutiny, so he agreed to be examined by a colonial medical board composed of Principal Surgeon Thomas Jamison, NSW Corps Surgeon John Harris and Corps Assistant Surgeon William Bohan. Redfern passed the examination and was awarded the first medical diploma issued in Australia. Foveaux then wrote to the British Colonial Secretary Lord Castlereagh seeking confirmation of the appointment. King George III confirmed Redfern as a government surgeon in February 1812.

Among his other official duties, Government Surgeon Redfern treated the imprisoned Governor Bligh and his daughter Mary. Bligh was a captain of a warship that mutinied at the Nore but had insisted his crew be pardoned. It is likely the two men had much to reminisce about. In September 1809 Redfern vaccinated children across the colony against smallpox, after ensuring that the community was well informed of the advantages of the inoculation. Redfern treated mostly convicts and the disadvantaged at the general hospital, but he also ran a busy private medical practise. His reputation as a physician, surgeon and obstetrician made his low-cost private services for the highly sought after.

The appointment of Lachlan Macquarie as Governor of NSW in January 1810 was a major turning point in Redfern’s life. Macquarie considered hardworking well-behaved emancipists to be among the most useful members of the colony, and he prioritised rehabilitation over punishment, seeing personal repatriation into the society of freemen as an ultimate goal for convicts. To emphasise this commitment, Macquarie invited prominent emancipists to dine at Government House and these occasions often included William Redfern. Within months of his arrival Macquarie had approved the construction of a new general hospital on Macquarie Street and appointed Redfern as the health inspector of incoming convict ships. He later became the governor’s personal physician, travel companion and close confidant. In March 1811 William married Sarah Wills and they had two sons; William Lachlan Macquarie was born in 1819 and Robert Joseph Foveaux in 1823.

In 1812 Redfern accepted James Sheers as a surgeon apprentice at the hospital. This made Sheers Australia’s first medical student and Redfern it’s first medical teacher. Improving sanitary conditions aboard convict ships is considered one of Redfern’s greatest achievements. In 1814 the three convict ships, General Hewitt, Three Bees and Surry, arrived in Sydney with major outbreaks of scurvy, typhus and dysentery. It was greatly feared that the typhus rampant on the Surry would affect the colony and Australia’s first quarantine camp was created on the north shore of the harbour opposite Dawes Point (today in the vicinity of Jeffreys Street, Kirribilli). In this camp D’Arcy Wentworth and William Redfern treated infected seamen from the Surry. Later Redfern was appointed to lead an inquiry into the infections and high death rate on the three ships and he recommended major reforms to sanitation, diet, air circulation and medical assistance on convict transports. In 1815 the British Government adopted most of these reforms and they improved conditions aboard all subsequent transport ships, significantly reducing convict morbidity and mortality.

A new Sydney General Hospital was officially opened on Macquarie Street in April 1816. The central block of the three-winged building contained the hospital wards. The north wing was assigned as the residence of Principal Surgeon Wentworth and the south wing as the residence of the Assistant Surgeon Redfern and his wife Sarah. Today, these two outer buildings remain – the southern wing is now The Mint and the northern wing is the Parliament House of New South Wales.

Bank Director
Early in his tenure Governor Macquarie recommended the establishment of a bank in the colony, but the British Government had rejected the proposition. However, in November 1816 Macquarie was strongly urged by commercial interests in Sydney to establish The Bank of New South Wales with 104 bank shares offered for purchase. On 7 February 1817, a meeting of interested residents elected seven founding directors of Australia’s first bank: William Redfern, D'Arcy Wentworth, John Harris, Robert Jenkins, Thomas Wylde, Alexander Riley and John Campbell. The bank opened its doors to the public on 8 April 1817. Redfern remained a director until 1820 and was again elected in 1827.

Commission of Inquiry
Macquarie’s egalitarian policies, and his efforts to convert the penal colony into a free and prosperous settlement, were strongly resisted in Britain by the Tory conservative government. A majority in the British Parliament asserted that the colony should remain a harsh penal settlement to be feared by potential criminals. They claimed that not only was improving the lives of convicts and emancipists eroding transportation as a deterrent to crime, the residents of the colony were now on the whole better fed, dressed and more securely employed than most of the poor in Britain.

On 5 January 1819 Lord Bathurst appointed John Thomas Bigge as the Commissioner of Inquiry to examine the functioning of the New South Wales colony. Bigge was advised to challenge Macquarie’s policy of rehabilitating convicts and favouring emancipists. Macquarie had recently recommended William Redfern to be the next Principal Surgeon when D’Arcy Wentworth retired, but Bathurst opposed emancipists in major government posts and had selected naval surgeon James Bowman instead. Both Bigge and Bowman arrived in the colony on the John Barry on 26 September 1819. Redfern was devastated by his rejection and promptly resigned as the senior hospital surgeon, closed his private practice and moved immediately with his family to their Campbellfield farm in Minto.

Macquarie was distressed that Bathurst had ignored his advice, and to compensate he appointed Redfern to be a magistrate in the District of Airds. Commissioner Bigge opposed ex-convicts becoming magistrates and requested the appointment be reversed. Macquarie stood firm and they clashed bitterly over all subsequent egalitarian issues. In conducting his inquiry into the colonial governance, Bigge mostly interviewed ‘exclusive free’ residents who opposed Macquarie’s social reforms. The Commissioner interrogated Redfern several times, seemingly to unearth irregularities in the doctor’s medical administration of the hospital and his close relationship with Macquarie. These fiery meetings led Redfern to accuse Bigge of behaving like ‘a Spanish Inquisitor’. Bigge would later claim that Redfern was the only person in the colony who resisted the Commission’s authority.

Emancipist Rights Activist
In 1819 a London court judgement reversed the established legal rights of emancipists in the colony. It ruled that persons granted a government pardon in the colony had no legal rights unless such pardons were ratified under the Great Seal of Britain. This ruling implied that emancipists had no right to own or sell property. In 1820, the Sydney Judge Barron Field reaffirmed this ruling, thus invalidating all assets and transactions of pardoned convicts in the colony. The entire community was in an uproar because almost all assets were affected; most land in the colony was held by emancipists. A major assembly was held in Sydney in January 1821 and William Redfern and Edward Eagar were elected to petition the British Parliament on restoring the legal and civil rights of emancipists. The two men arrived in London in June 1822 and successfully lobbied the British Parliament. The civil rights to emancipists were restored in the Act of 1823 and the Transportation Act of 1824.

Commissioner Bigge published his first report on his NSW inquiry shortly after Redfern and Eagar reached Britain. Redfern expected personal condemnation in the report but was incensed at the explicitness of the publication. Lachlan Macquarie, who had returned to London in July 1822, was also upset by the severity of the inquiry report, and so was William Wentworth, D’Arcy Wentworth’s eldest son, who was a barrister in London. William Redfern, Edward Eagar, William Wentworth and Joseph Foveaux met with Lachlan Macquarie to discuss a response to accusations made by Bigge. In December 1822 Redfern engaged Wentworth to sue Bigge for damage to his character and reputation. The case was abandoned when Bigge agreed to withdraw earlier accusations, and not slander Redfern in two future inquiry reports. Redfern returned to Sydney in July 1824.

Farming
After 1820 William Redfern no longer routinely practiced medicine and concentrated on cultivating his 22,500 acres of land at Campbellfield and elsewhere. Even John Bigge admitted that Redfern’s properties were among the colony’s eight farms ‘in the best state of cultivation and exhibit the greatest improvement’. The Campbellfield estate of 6,000 acres grew cereal crops and grazed large herds of cattle and sheep. The estate had 60 horses, a horse stud and a racecourse with a grandstand. On his return trip from England in 1824, Redfern had brought vine cuttings and a Portuguese winemaker from Madeira to start a vineyard at Campbellfield. William Redfern is reputed to be first to cultivate the grape variety Verdelho commercially in Australia.

Final Years
In 1828 Redfern sailed to England with his eldest son William Jr. to oversee his education. From 1829 to 1831, while his son attended school in Edinburgh Redfern enrolled to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh. His wife Sarah and younger son Robert had been expected to follow them, but a serious accident had initially prevented Sarah from travelling and then the sudden death of 7-year-old Robert in 1830, further delayed the long journey. On 17 July 1833 William Redfern died after a short illness and is buried in Edinburgh. Sarah had already sailed to see her husband and son, and arrived in Edinburgh via London only days after his death.

Legacy
Redfern’s commitment to improving the health of transported convicts is now seen as pioneering preventive medicine in Australia. Redfern is recognised as the first public health physician in Australia and has been honoured since 1994 by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians with the annual William Redfern Oration. He is widely regarded as a ‘Father of Australian medicine’.

William Redfern is widely honoured across New South Wales. The 100 acres of the ‘Dr. Redfern’s Estate’ on Botany Road were sold in 1843 and today encompass one third of the Sydney suburb of Redfern. The Campbelltown suburb of Minto in outer Sydney occupies much of what was Redfern’s 6,000 acres of Campbellfield estate. Redfern has been named on street signs and parks in cities and towns across Australia.

In 1961 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) televised The Outcasts, a historical drama in twelve episodes, in which William Redfern was the central figure. The main theme of The Outcasts was Redfern’s role in the building of a new general hospital on Macquarie Street, Sydney.

title: William Redfern


text:
Shōtoku (era)

Shōtoku (正徳) was a Japanese era name after Hōei and before Kyōhō. This period spanned the years from April 1711 through June 1716. The reigning emperor was Nakamikado (中御門天皇).

Change of Era

 * 1711 Shōtoku gannen (正徳元年): The era name of Shōtoku (meaning "Righteous Virtue") was created to mark the enthronement of Emperor Nakamikado. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in Hōei 8, on the 25th day of the 4th month.

Events of the Shōtoku Era

 * 1711 (Shōtoku 1): An ambassador from Korea arrived at the court.
 * November 12, 1712 (Shōtoku 2, 14th day of the 10th month): Shōgun Tokugawa Ienobu died.
 * 1713 (Shōtoku 3): Minamoto no Ietsugu became the 7th shōgun of the Edo bakufu.
 * 1714 (Shōtoku 4): The shogunate introduces new gold and silver coins into circulation.
 * April 20, 1715 (Shōtoku 5, 17th day of the 3rd month): The 100th anniversary of the death of Tokugawa Ieyasu (posthumously known as Gongen-sama), which was celebrated throughout the empire.

title: Shōtoku (era)


text:
Talk:Mass decontamination

POV check

Untitled
If there is a feeling that the article is biased, it would be good to identify where the bias may be, or to provide some other constructive criticism that would help in re-wording or re-writing of the article. Glogger 01:24, 20 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * Agreed -- Removing tag based on no description and lack of followup for over a year. -- ShinmaWa(talk) 21:19, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

This article is missing citations. MrM 08:58, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

Either the writer of the article wants people to fear the government or has been watching too many movies. There were no Decon units at the WTC, not even the clean up wore protective clothing beyond boots and masks. Also, it would have to be a military controlled attack or war zone, otherwise Hazmat has no right to force people to be decontaminated, yet seize there personal items. It's a direct violation of the 5th amendment. I've taken a first responder coarse. The most they can do is spray people down with fire hoses. (D365) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Donald365 (talk • contribs) 18:39, 11 September 2010 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Mass decontamination


text:
User:Silverback/conscription

Bush v. Kerry on the Draft
John Kerry is a nationalist with the hubris to believe he knows what is best for others. Look at his "100 Day Plan to Change America", he proposes mandatory public service to graduate from high school. He thinks everyone has a duty to serve their nation and to encourage this he proposes a system where college tuition is paid for in exchange for service. His key supporter, Ted Kennedy proposed mandatory public service back in the late 70s, perhaps they were inspired by JFK, "Ask not what your country can do for you...". Look at the history of the volunteer army and the draft. Senator's Barry Goldwater and Mark Hatfield co-sponsored the bill to end the draft in 1968. Conservatives have been behind the professional army movement and critical of the quality of a conscript army, especially in this technological age. While more of a moderate than a conservative, Bush subscribes to conservative principles in this area.

Don't be duped by scare mongering. I can't support Bush for other reasons, but with a son that would become draft age during a 2nd Kerry term, there is no way I could support him. Bush is more predictable than Kerry, and he will avoid a draft on principle, and I also believe for personal reasons. Note that Bush chose to avoid the combat that Kerry thought was his "duty". Now perhaps you think that Kerry's service was admirable, but the problem with these "duty" types, is that not only do they think it was their duty, they think it is you and your son's duty also.

 * It appears the Bush Administration's fear mongering that Cleveland would be attacked by al-Qaeda if Kerry was president worked more than Kerry's fear mongering that we would have a draft if Bush was re-elected. Interesting generalizations about "duty types", I was previously under the impression that most were Republicans simply because AF volunteers generally vote that way. Of course there are even easier ways to end the debate about conscription, like quit thinking everything is a matter of our national security. - Dejitarob 21:45, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Each side had their share of the terrorism scare mongering. Kerry was harping on the tax cuts while airline luggage, bridges, tunnels, buildings etc. were neglected.  It would be a waste of money to harden every soft target in the United States, there are too many, just consider the number of elementary schools, etc.  The dollars are more efficiently spent on intelligence, investigations and surveilance overseas.  Al Qaeda appears to already be mostly depleted of recruits westernized enough to penetrate the US.  If the US can keep resources like oil revenue out of their hands, it will have won most of the battle.--Silverback 22:01, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * The dollars are more efficiently spent on intelligence, investigations and surveilance overseas. I totally agree but both candidates were equally as bad and many hacks even to this day continue to unrealistically inflate the importance of domestic security like borders and ports. The 9/11 report showed just how lucky the hijackers were that our intelligence was asphyxiatingly beaurucratic. But I wouldn't be too sure that al-Qaeda cannot "blend in", as they previously did and their recruitment is very high. Worried about oil revenues being funneled for terrorism? Yet another reason to stop cuddling the Sauds, Sabahs, Sa'ids, Nahyans and Thanis. Of course we will need to invest more than the current measly $1 billion/year in alternative energy, mandate greater efficiency, tackle the pathetic system called public transportation and stop designing energy plans around energy corporations. As more crude exporters transform to net importers, we can do it now or tomorrow. History reveals that the battle will continue as long as there is widespread support and sympathies. Anyways, I enjoy discussions with someone who is educated and informed but I wish I knew of a less cumbersome and more populated medium than the backend of a user's page on an encylopedia. Do you know of any forums/irc channels/etc? - Dejitarob 06:23, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Yes, recruitment is high now, but the 9/11 attackers were western educated, middle and upper class fundamentalists. These are a rare resource and the madrossa and al Jazeera culture is not providing this kind of education.  I agree about the need for an energy policy, and the high oil prices have got the ball rolling on exploration, conservation and alternative energy.  It is difficult to find good forums.  Wikipedia, as clumsy as this is, at least provides some permanence.  I can't see putting the effort into transitory chat rooms or blogs.  Here at least, even if things can be reverted or overwritten, they are recoverable, and there is a culture of presenting more than one side.--Silverback 08:30, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Americans... *shudders* Al Quaida running out of recruits? I'm curious as to which world you live in. The attack on Afghanistan, albeit backed by the international community out of 9\11 sympathy, increased their recruitment more than enough. Think about it, you are attacked in the heart of your homeland, the western world rallies to your aid. Al Quaida is attacked at their heart, and any passive sympathizers they might have had, rallied to theirs. The war on Iraq, not even backed internationally, made even more sympathizers join their ranks, in addition to a great number of other, new terrorist organizations popping up all over the world. Several studies have shown that the danger of terrorist attacks, as well as the danger to westerners visiting arab countries, has radically increased after you began your crusafe.
 * "Lack of westernised recruits"? You have no idea, do you? How many westerners did you lot, illegaly even, incarcerate on your Guantanamo base? More than enough to hijack another twenty planes. Thinking that only arabs can be terrorists, and that everyone in the western world actually supports the actions of the USA, is naïve. Hundreds of thousands of people in my little country are already enraged. If only 0,1% of those are crazy enough to turn to terrorism, it'd be several hundred people from one of the wealthiest countries in the world turning on you. We've got less than half the population of NYC in the entire country together. Europe has twice as many inhabitants as the US of A. A very, very large percentage of that population is more than fed up with seeing a country they regard as little more than an overgrown bully boy telling them what to do, who to shoot, and where to stick it when they're done.
 * It's no secret that the US is the new world. You say "ancient architecture", and you think 300 year old timber lodge. We say "ancient architecture" and we think 3000 year old temples. You say "the poets of old" and think of Poe. We say "the poets of old" and think Homer. No offense to timber lodges or Poe, but it doesen't quite fit our perception of "antique". My point is that the US, although it frankly hates being reminded, is young. It has no cultural heritage worth notice. Thus, Europe laughs a little when the US beats its chest, and shouts about greatness. We wonder when it presumes to be our superior. We shudder when it orders us about, screams at us for cowardice and inferiority. We turn to rage when it runs us over, laughing at our "ridiculous" notion that peace is good, and war is bad. You want to fight, it's no wonder. It's what every hyperactive child with inferiority complexes wants. It's just to show the possession of some potency. But we've tried it. We were bathing in one anothers blood before the first inuits crossed the straits to Alaska. It was lust war plunder and new land that drove the first Europeans - my ancestors, the vikings - to North America. We know what it is, and we don't like it.
 * Still, that's just what the US is doing. Calling us cowards and weasels, pretending to know better, acting all high and mighty - we are fed up. It's not that we don't like Americans. We do. Even if you ridicule us, scoff at us, treat us with great disrespect. It's okay, we understand. It's just that it's getting tiresome. We've gone with it for the past 50-60 years, and that's okay. We got in a fight, a real big one, and we bombed one another back to the bleedin' stone age. You came over, helped us out - well, those of us who didn't turn to scary scary communism - and suddenly put yourselves in charge. Well, sure. Why not? So we bought your coke, your movies, your fashions and your cars. We treat you as an equal, as a brother, millions of us adore you, want to be you. But still, you do not grow up. Rather, you turn to infantile, childish screaming and shouting. Gah. So we stop buying your coke, your movies, your fashions, your cars. You just scream louder. Did you know 1 out of 7 Americans cannot place the US on an unmarked map of the world? No. You propably don't even believe me. That's okay. We understand. We wouldn't want to believe it either.
 * Really, it's okay. We just need to blow off some steam now and then, you know? When a kid raves around all the time, just like the babysitter in Calvin & Hobbes we go a bit mad now and then. It's okay. We understand. You can continue now. --TVPR 08:41, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

"While more of a moderate than a conservative, Bush subscribes to..." made me laugh.

 * Unsigned one, I had fun writing it too. But with a little historical perspective, it is a quite defensible position. Hopefully, you are no swayed by the extremes of election rhetoric.--Silverback 07:54, 7 Jan 2005 (UTC)-

 * I've no need to be swayed - it wasn't my election. But as far as electioneering goes, it seems that American poltics is most entertaining (albeit not something I should wish to experience).--Cyberjunkie 15:10, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Favorite Links

 * "It is debasing human dignity to force men to give up their life, or to inflict death against their will, or without conviction as to the justice of their action." -- Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi in the MANIFESTO AGAINST CONSCRIPTION AND THE MILITARY SYSTEM
 * "As part of his 100 day plan to change America, John Kerry will propose a comprehensive service plan that includes requiring mandatory service for high school students and four years of college tuition in exchange for two years of national service."
 * anticonscription web ring

Response to TPVR
I think what Europeans and progressives (sorry about the generalization) lack is perspective, Americans do to some extent too. Yes, Europeans have a long history, but the object lessons don't seem to have taken. They've tried appeasement and got WWII, they failed to work to end conscription in the late twenties when Einstein and Gandhi tried to get a movement going and still practice this most destructive weapon of mass destruction today. Now, their unification culture just seems to move from one form of collectivist thinking to another, from nationalism to internationalism and moral and cultural relativism. But you don't have any answers that you know will work, you just criticise from the sidelines.

 * Aye, we do criticise from the sidelines, and we don't have answers we know will work. But as I said, we do know that bombing for peace is like fornicating for chastity, to use a suitable cliché. Oh, but first, allow me to apologize for my assaulting style earlier - at times, I tend to abandon tact as means of discussion, seeing as though most people appearing to be radical right-wing fundamentalist, or just have fallen victim to rampant patriotism, do not seem to understand descent arguments. And, to be blunt, you do, at times, appear to be one such.
 * As for the draft in Europe - it isn't a problem. European teenagers are drafted in small numbers, usually no more than 50% of the yearly number of 18-year olds are called in. They go through a 10-12 month training program. They go home. The reason we do not see the draft as a problem is that we do not go to war. Nobody is going to war with us. We prefer negotiating, for as I said before, we know war deen't slve ny problems. To add, Europe does not have one single huge arms industry whih would profit immensely from us going to war, which may be half the reason nobody is lobbying for it either. It's merely a preparation - if someone (say, the US) should attack us, no man would be completely blank as to how to operate a firearm. Where all Americans have the right to keep and bear arms in the case of invasion (but in reality just killtheir neighbours with them instead), we keep the guns out of the people until war is upon us. Another thing is that the draft is not a forced draft. If you do not want to do military service, for whatever reason, you do public service instead - and don't tell me it's so horrible to do paid service for your community, as a pre-school teacher or whatnot.
 * Moving on, the EU is an oddity. On the one hand, I support it, as a unipolar world like this one, with the US as the only effective superpower, there can be no balance - and the EU has potential for becoming the counterweight the world needs. At the moment, it's too much like it's been all along; just a ragtag assembly of independent nations. However, it's slowly changing, and it's turning into a supernational governing body with actual power. It recently got its own constitution, and is assembling a small army that is to stand seperately from the participating countries. Anyway, on the other hand, the EU central body is too much like the US government in Washington - corrupt like nothing else, lobbyists having all the power, effectively meaning an EU-led world would only have been a US-led world just with European corporations in power rather than American ones. Also, hating to admit this, I must say I'm somewhat fond of the idea of separate nation-states. But at the same time, I'm not. It's an incredibly complex dilemma, as you apparently well know.

al Qaeda and the Arabs were manufacturing enough hate in their madrossas and Wahabi mosques to plan 9/11 and be "educating" thousands of others. In the year 2001, when over 3000 people were killed in the al Qaeda attacks, over 1.4 million Americans died of all causes. The violence you are making so much of from terrorism that seems rampant in Iraq and less frequently elsewhere, adds up to a few dozen people a day at most. Elections have been held in Palestine, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, who is to say that living examples of democracy and individual freedom won't be more educational and attractive than madrossas of hate, and won't win out in the end. In the mean time collective societies through their governments kill thousands of times more people by delaying access to life saving drugs. The US Food and Drug Administration is estimated to have killed over 1 million people by delaying access to just two classes of drugs, clot busters and beta blockers. So, yes the killing of innocent people should stop, but governments and voters justify it everyday. So why the outrage over a little extra killing in the hopes of a better life for all in the long run? American didn't attack Iraq, it attacked the Saddam regime, it is racist or nationalist to argue that he had more right to be there than us. Our intentions for the Iraqi people were certainly more noble, or at least less coercive.

 * Now, this is where I get pissed. And got pissed the last time as well. You're absolutely right that there are other things that kills much more than the occupation of Iraq. Sure thing. But the thing you're not right about is that you have any more right to be in power in Iraq than Saddam Hussein. The sufferings of the Iraqi people has not decreased after the American invasion - rather the contrary. People could not always speak their mind before, sure, but at least they could get married without needing to fear bomb raids. They could go to resturants without needing to worry about missiles gone astray. Over there, are you even told what's happening? Were you told, during the war, that you'd fired cruise missiles at Kuwait by accident? Did you register how many of your own and allied planes you shot down? The main cause of "coalition" KIA's were American missiles, grenades, shells and bombs gone astray. One of, if not the main cause of death amongst US soldiers today is suicide. They're being told they'll be greeted as heroes, and once they get there, being snuffed at, shot at, and generally despised, what happens? Of course they kill themselves. Their country has tricked them to sign up for a war that was everything but noble.
 * But my main problem with you, your argumentation, your general type of people, and basically most Americans: You think democracy solves every problem. Here's a tip; check out your own country. See what good democracy has done you. Check out your inner cities, your public schools, your so-called welfare system. Take a glance at the difference in pay for a worker in a company and his boss at the very top. Here, your average corporation manager makes what, 30-40 times more than a worker - that's Europe as a whole. At your place, it's tenfold that number. People starve in the land of the free, mate. That's what democracy is doing.
 * Note; I'm not saying democracy is really horrible. I'm just saying that it, like every other governing form man has ever devised, has its flaws. In communism, the flaw is man's in-baked egoism. In democracy, it's rampant corruption and cronyism.

The Europeans have a pretty good strategy that allows them to avoid all the risks and the costs of the coming Pax Americana, just sit on the sidelines as freeriders and criticise America to keep the terrorist focus away from yourselves. Could America have adopted it? Could she have suddenly become pacifist, and hope the peoples with built up hate against her would forgive and forget? There certainly would have been nothing wrong with abandoning the oppressive state of Israel, I wouldn't support my own government if it conscripted, so I can't justify supporting a foreign government that similiarly oppresses its "own" people. Look at me, talking as if governments "owned" or had "rights" to people. Part of the solution is we have to stop thinking that way, sovereignty of nation states is unworthy of respect, if helping to free people from oppression means violating "internationally recognized" sovereignty, so what? Such international law is beneath respect as is any law which protects the violator rather than the violated. So, the US could have abandoned Israel, and tolerated a humanitarian disaster in the middle east and diverted the wahabi fundamentalists for awhile. But what would have sprung up? What would be the trajectory of civilization on this planet? What would these moral primitives do once they coralled all the that oil wealth and knew that Europe had no choice but to submit?

 * Do you know something funny? Terrorists are terrorists because they are mad at someone. They are mad at you. They are mad at you for, and get this, a reason. American corporations may have come in and exploited all natural rescources, then left. They might have come in, bought up all the fresh water and power supplies from the public, and went on to charge heavily for it. Maybe the US Army has bombed them for some political reason. Maybe they're just hungry and poor and yearning to breathe free, but can't, so they take it out on you. Now, if you take the military budget of the entire world, minus the US, and spend it on humanitarian efforts, there would be food, water, health care, medicines and more than enough leftover money for entertainment as well - for the entire developing world. We wouldn't need sacrifice our chips, our TV sets, or our 6.6 litre engine convertibles. We'd just need to stop buying bombs, guns and tanks. Now, that's the entire world minus the US. If the US dropped their military as well, the entire feed\water\nurse\entertain-the-world scheme could have been repeated another full time. At least. And here comes the funny part - people with food, water, hospitals and entertainment don't, as a rule, become terrorists. They become trade partners. And badabing, up goes the economy. But we wouldn't want that, now would we - a peaceful demilitarized world where nobody could be bothered with hijacking planes on an empty stomach, because some white-skinned dickhead just blew his family to bits during the wedding ceremony.

Frankly sometimes one's past condemns one to a situation where there are not any painless morally clean ways out. Bush chose action and trying to divert the trajectory in the middle east. I can't say his strategy was right, or will work, but it certainly is interesting and does immediate near term massive good at little cost in lives, just ask the Kurds and the Shiites. How many times does America have to be proven right in the end before Europe learns? Perhaps America doesn't know anymore than Europe, but just has a little more tendency to follow its moral compass or intuition, than overthink itself into inaction. America has been wrong before, of course, such as getting involved in wwI at all, and then once involved not insisting on a just peace. And she is wrong now about the drug war, which is costing far more lives than Iraq, yet is not getting the headlines.

 * To summarize my reply to your reply, I must admire your faith in your government. I do think it's admirable that you seem to believe they went to a bloody full-scale war with the best intentions. The kurds are, for your information, enraged. The Turks, who've been opressing and persecuted them even worse than Saddam's regime - yes, that's right, Turkey, your allies and friends - still won't cut them any slack, and when they turn to their "benefactors" - the Americans in the region, pleading them to invade Turkey, they get a cold shoulder. We're talking about a people who've been warring against everyone and everything, just like the Palestinians, for longer than I care to recall. As for the Shiites, sure, they're much happier - it looks like they'll get a chance to opress the Sunnis in Iraq, in the most lovely payback-ish way. Revenge sure is sweet. The Sunni, the other hand, are being shot at, and shoot back, and will propably get the same treatment Serbs in Kosovo got after the latest NATO-intervention as soon as the US flee. I say flee, not withdraw, as that's what's happening.
 * Which makes Condoleezza Rice's statement about Iran, that "they should fullfill their international obligations, or we'll just have to take the next step. And I think we all know what that means", more than a little amusing. First, she represents a country that, on every turn, has neglected their own intntl. obligations 100%, and second, the US has just about no more military power left. 130,000 men are standing in Iraq, and cannot be pulled out in quite a long time. Reserves are being called in - 50-year old women who quit the army ages ago, even - and those who've returned from Iraq are being called down once again. What's next step going to be? Invading Iran, which actually has an army, with coke cans?

So, what about perspective?--Silverback 12:06, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * A broad perspective is important. One has to be able to realize ones wrongs as well as take pride in ones rights. I know Europe has done much wrong. Incredible amounts of wrong. But attacking Iraq, on false grounds, against international law, with false motives - that was not, in any concievable meaning of the word, right. Only rightist. --TVPR 19:14, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

title: User:Silverback/conscription


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Talk:Kanpo

Why doesn't the category tag show up on this article? -- Antaeus Feldspar 01:25, 20 Oct 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:Kanpo


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Hōei

Hōei (宝永) was a Japanese era name (年号) after Genroku and before Shōtoku. This period spanned the years from March 1704 through April 1711. The reigning emperors were Higashiyama (東山天皇) and Nakamikado (中御門天皇).

Etymology
Hōei comes from the Old Book of Tang (寶祚惟永、暉光日新).

Change of era

 * 1704 Hōei gannen (宝永元年): In reaction to the Great Genroku earthquake in Genroku 16, the era name was changed to Hōei (meaning "Prosperous Eternity"). The previous era ended and the new one commenced in Genroku 17, on the 13th day of the 3rd month.

Events of the Hōei era

 * October 28, 1707 (Hōei 4, 4th day of the 10th month): Great Hōei earthquake. The city of Osaka suffers tremendously because of a very violent earthquake.
 * December 16, 1707 (Hōei 4, 23rd day of the 11th month): An eruption of Mount Fuji; the cinders and ash fell like rain in Izu, Kai, Sagami, and Musashi.
 * April 28, 1708 (Hōei 5, 8th day of the 3rd month): There was a great fire in Heian-kyō.
 * May 20, 1708 (Hōei 5, 1st day of the 4th month): The shogunate introduces new copper coins into circulation; and each coin is marked with the Hōei nengō name (Hōei Tsubo).
 * October 12, 1708 (Hōei 5, 29th day of the 8th month): Italian missionary Giovanni Sidotti landed in Yakushima, where he was promptly arrested.
 * February 19, 1709 (Hōei 6, 10th day of the 1st month): The wife of shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi killed him with a knife, and then she stabbed herself in the heart. Tsunayoshi's plan to adopt daimyō of Kai as his successor were known by a few inside Edo Castle. The shōgun's wife, who was also a daughter of the emperor, foresaw that this choice of a successor would be very poorly received by many; and she feared that it might result in a disastrous civil war. The shōgun's wife did everything she could to dissuade Tsunayoshi from continuing with such potentially divisive and dangerous plans; and when it became clear that her arguments were in vain, she resolutely sacrificed herself for the good of the country—she killed her husband and then killed herself. She may also have done this as she hated the boy.
 * 1709 (Hōei 6, 4th month): Minamoto no Ienobu, Tsunayoshi's nephew, becomes the 6th shōgun of the Edo bakufu.
 * August 7, 1709 (Hōei 6, 2nd day of the 7th month): The Emperor abdicates.
 * January 16, 1710 (Hōei 6, 17th day of the 12th month): Higashiyama dies.
 * July 7, 1710 – March 22, 1711 (Hōei 7, 11th day of the 6th month – Shōtoku 1, 4th day of the 2nd month): Ryukyuan mission to Edo, the largest delegation—168 people—in the Edo Period.

title: Hōei


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Soap bar

Soap bar or Soapbar may refer to:

 * A bar of soap, surfactant used in conjunction with water for washing and cleaning
 * A slang name for a form of low quality and adulterated hashish
 * "Soap Bar", a song by Goldie Lookin Chain from their album Greatest Hits
 * "Bar Soap", a song by K.Flay from her album Mono
 * P-90 single coil electric guitar pickup

title: Soap bar


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JDW

JDW may refer to:
 * Jane's Defence Weekly, a British magazine
 * James D. Watson (born 1928), American molecular biologist
 * John David Washington (born 1984), American actor and former football running back
 * Wetherspoons, a pub chain

title: JDW


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Decontamination foam

Decontamination foam (known commonly as decon foam) is a spray-on cleaning solution used on surfaces that have been contaminated with biological or chemical agents (e.g., chemical warfare agents, anthrax spores or toxic industrial materials). Decon foam has been found to make numerous chemical and biological agents harmless. It is also intended for use in areas where large numbers of people have possibly been contaminated (e.g. at conventions, airports, concerts).

Composition
The composition of decontamination foams is essentially water and a surfactant, creating an aqueous film forming foam that various reactive chemicals are then added, diminishing the amount of contaminants adhering to a surface and forming less hazardous products. Common reactants are hydrogen peroxide and quaternary ammonium complexes. Decon foam often comes in multiple bottles, that, when mixed, combine to form the decontamination solution. The bottles should be kept separate until needed as the foam may begin to lose effectiveness after mixing. After these bottles are mixed together, the foam can be applied by spraying it on a contaminated area or by manual application.

Solvent-based decontaminants work well on permeable polymers and are made to avoid corrosion, but can possibly alter polymer or plastic surfaces permanently. On the other hand, aqueous-based decontaminants are better with polar surfaces like concrete, but have the potential to corrode surfaces. For decontamination foam to be successful, it is important to stabilize the foam as this will increase its efficiency. Modifying the surface of silica nanoparticles to a certain level has been found to increase stability of the foam.

Effectiveness
Decontamination foams can have varying levels of effectiveness depending on the decon foam, the type of contaminating agent, and the surface that is being decontaminated. Many decontaminants show effectiveness against chemical agents on nonporous and non-permeable surfaces, such as glass and stainless steel, since the contaminant remains on the exterior of the surface and is easily accessible to the decontaminant. However, more porous and permeable surfaces can absorb the contaminant, making it more difficult to decontaminate, and decontaminating agents can leave residual chemical contaminants on these surfaces.

Examples of use

 * Decontamination of mailrooms during the 2001 anthrax attacks. The surfaces in the mailrooms were coated with two to three inches of foam and left for an hour before being vacuumed up. The foam was able to kill much of the anthrax without destroying the office equipment or furniture
 * As an area denial weapons medium for crowd control, e.g. to make the ground slippery, as well as to reduce visibility (as a fog)
 * The LAX airport soap cannon can spray large quantities of decon foam on crowds of potentially exposed persons, e.g. to decon an entire planeload of people who might be victims of a nuclear, chemical, or biological agent release
 * Decontamination of methamphetamine labs
 * Mold remediation
 * Disinfection of hospitals and schools
 * Pesticide removal
 * Military applications
 * Preventative measure at presidential debates

Benefits of decontamination foam over other decontaminants
The two main benefits of decontamination foam over liquid decontaminants (chlorine, decontamination solutions, etc.) are its effectiveness on non horizontal surfaces and its high air to liquid ratio. Other decontaminants are difficult to apply to walls and ceilings due to poor adhesion, however decon foam is much better at adhering to surfaces, which increases the amount of time for the decontamination reaction to take place. Additionally, the high air to liquid ratio allows the foam to be used without over-applying the decontaminant. This high ratio also allows a small amount of liquid to cover a relatively large area in the event of a major contamination.

Formulas

 * SNL100 (Sandia National Laboratories)
 * MDF200 (Modec Decon Foam)

title: Decontamination foam


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WHSG-TV

WHSG-TV (channel 63) is a religious television station licensed to Monroe, Georgia, United States, serving the Atlanta area as an owned-and-operated station of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The station's transmitter is located in Atlanta's Cabbagetown section.

Because it airs no local content (except for local insertion of the required station identification), it is not carried as a local channel on DirecTV; the network's national feed is already available, but TBN's subchannel sister networks are not available.

It had one broadcast translator, W55BM, licensed to Marietta with transmitter atop Sweat Mountain, northwest of Atlanta. That station was later W49DE and WXID-LP, an affiliate of JCTV.

History
The construction permit for a new television station on channel 63 at Monroe was originally issued to a local permittee, Monroe Television, Inc., around 1987. In December 1989, TBN purchased the permit and completed the station's construction; WHSG commenced operations on March 15, 1991, as a TBN owned-and-operated outlet.

During the late 1990s through the early 2010s, WHSG played an important role within TBN, as it originated a weekly edition of the network's flagship program Praise the Lord and a portion of the ministry's semi-annual Praise-a-Thon fundraisers. This ended in 2017 when TBN revamped its local and network programming operations following Matt Crouch's ascension to leadership of the ministry, after the death of his mother and TBN co-founder Jan Crouch. The station's studio on Agape Way in Decatur was officially closed by TBN in 2019 following the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s repeal of the Main Studio Rule, and later sold.

Analog-to-digital transition
WHSG-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 63, on April 16, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 44, using PSIP to display WHSG-TV's virtual channel as 63 on digital television receivers, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

The station's analog transmitter was located in northern Rockdale County, halfway between Monroe and Atlanta. The station's digital facility is immediately south of Atlanta's Inman Park neighborhood, along the north side of Interstate 20. This is the same tower used by WUPA (channel 69), built by that station when its original location (atop the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel) could not hold a second large TV antenna for digital, although WUPA has since moved to the North Druid Hills site, sharing an antenna through a diplexer. It also has WIRE-CD (channel 40), an expired construction permit for W06CM-D (channel 6), and a license for WYGA-CD on channel 16 (as well as a permit for 18 and a later app for 16 again). No serious damage occurred to the tower when the 2008 Atlanta tornado passed by the site, even though the then-analog WYGA-CA 45 (operating from the site under STA at very low power until WGCL-TV (channel 46) went digital) was knocked off-air. WHSG had an application to increase from 700 kW to its maximum 1,000 kW effective radiated power with the same antenna height, which is now licensed at the new site.

title: WHSG-TV


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Richard Benjamin

Richard Samuel Benjamin (born May 22, 1938) is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of well-known films, including Goodbye, Columbus (1969), Catch-22 (1970), Portnoy's Complaint (1972), Westworld (1973), The Last of Sheila (1973), and The Sunshine Boys (1975), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. Benjamin was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his performances in He & She (1968), opposite his wife Paula Prentiss.

After directing for television, his first film as a director was the 1982 comedy My Favorite Year, starring Peter O’Toole, who was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor. His other films as a director include City Heat (1984), The Money Pit (1986), My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988), Mermaids (1990), Made in America (1993), Milk Money (1994), Mrs. Winterbourne (1996), and Marci X (2003).

Early life
Benjamin was born in New York City, the son of Samuel Roger Benjamin (1910–1997), a garment industry worker. Benjamin's uncle was vaudeville comedian Joe Browning. His family was Jewish. He attended the High School of Performing Arts and graduated from Northwestern University, where he was involved in many plays and studied in the Northwestern theater school. While there, he met future wife Paula Prentiss.

Theatre
Benjamin appeared on stage in The Taming of the Shrew and guest-starred on shows such as The New Breed and Dr. Kildare. Benjamin's early break came when cast in the touring company of Barefoot in the Park in 1964. He later toured in The Odd Couple with Dan Dailey. In 1966, he directed Barefoot in the Park on stage in London. Simon was pleased with Benjamin's work and cast him in his new play The Star-Spangled Girl (1966–67) directed by George Axelrod. Benjamin appeared alongside Anthony Perkins and Connie Stevens, and the show ran for 261 performances. The success of the show led to Benjamin appearing in a television series with his wife Paula, He & She (1967–68). It ran for 26 episodes.

Stardom
Benjamin's first lead role in a film came with an adaptation of the Philip Roth novella, Goodbye, Columbus (1969) with Ali MacGraw. It was a critical and commercial hit. He followed it with a key support role in the film of Catch-22 (1970). He was top billed in Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) from the team of Eleanor and Frank Perry, appearing alongside Carrie Snodgress and Frank Langella. He directed his wife off-Broadway in Arf/The Great Airplane Snatch (1969), which ran for five performances.

Benjamin played the lead in The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker (1971), directed by the producer and the original author of The Graduate, though it was not as successful. He acted in a comedy, The Steagle (1971), the directorial debut of designer Paul Sylbert, which was little seen. Another box-office flop was the film of Roth's Portnoy's Complaint (1972), the sole directorial effort of Ernest Lehman.

In 1972 Benjamin returned to Broadway with The Little Black Book, which only ran for nine performances. He then acted in two more successful films, as part of an all-star cast in The Last of Sheila (1973), from a script by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim, and in Westworld (1973), directed by Michael Crichton and co-starring Yul Brynner. The Los Angeles Times stated that by this stage, his image was of "a whining, petulant bore by doing too good a job of acting in a series of sleazy roles." He decided to steer away from such roles by turning down a part in The Towering Inferno (which Richard Chamberlain ended up playing).

Supporting actor
Benjamin supported Walter Matthau and George Burns in the film adaptation of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys (1975), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture. He starred with Prentiss in The Norman Conquests (1975–76) on Broadway, which went for 76 performances. The couple went to Australia to make No Room to Run (1978). In Hollywood, Benjamin supported Matthau and Glenda Jackson in House Calls (1978).

In 1978, he starred in the ambitious but short-lived television series Quark. The same year he appeared in a TV film Fame, written by Arthur Miller. Benjamin played a frustrated fiancé of a woman who falls for the vampire Count Dracula in the surprise box-office smash Love at First Bite (1979) starring George Hamilton and Susan Saint James.

Benjamin has hosted Saturday Night Live twice, once by himself on April 7, 1979 and the other nearly a year later on April 5, 1980 with his wife Paula Prentiss. He was top billed in Scavenger Hunt (1979), an ensemble film.

Benjamin had directed in theatre and was keen to do it in film. In 1979, Benjamin directed for the first time, creating a pilot for a sitcom spin-off of the film Where's Poppa? by Carl Reiner. "The pilot turned out really well," said Benjamin. "But I don't think ABC ever quite 'got' it. They never did put the show on the air... At least I could prove that I wasn't nuts, that I really had actually directed something." He directed one episode of the 1980 TV series Semi-Tough.

Benjamin had supporting roles in The Last Married Couple in America (1980), How to Beat the High Co$t of Living (1980), Witches' Brew (1980), and First Family (1980). He and Prentiss played the leads in Saturday the 14th (1981). They also began hosting corporate videos.

Feature film director
Benjamin's work on the Where's Poppa? pilot saw him offered the job as director on My Favorite Year (1982) starring Peter O'Toole. The film was warmly received, earning O'Toole an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and launched Benjamin as a director.

Benjamin and Prentiss returned to acting with the TV movie Packin' It In (1983). He said, "If I get a wonderful script to act in and a mediocre script to direct, I'll act. And the same principle applies the other way around. It's the material that counts." He focused on directing, though, for the next decade. Benjamin's second feature as director was Racing with the Moon (1984) from a script by Steve Kloves starring Sean Penn and Nicolas Cage. He was then called in at short notice to replace Blake Edwards on City Heat (1984) with Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds, which was a critical and commercial disappointment.

Benjamin directed a comedy for Steven Spielberg's company, The Money Pit (1986) with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long. He then directed a thriller Little Nikita (1988) with Sidney Poitier and River Phoenix, and a comedy with Dan Aykroyd, My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988). Benjamin did another comedy, Downtown (1990), with Anthony Edwards and Forest Whitaker. He had a moderate hit with Mermaids (1990) starring Cher and Winona Ryder.

Made in America (1993) with Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson was also successful. Milk Money (1994) with Melanie Griffith and Ed Harris was less so. He also directed Mrs. Winterbourne (1996).

In the 1990s, Benjamin returned to acting with appearances on shows including The Ray Bradbury Theater, Love & War, Ink, Mad About You, and Titus, as well as the films Deconstructing Harry (1997), Keeping Up with the Steins (2006), and Henry Poole Is Here (2008).

TV directing
In 1998, Benjamin and Prentiss performed Power Plays on stage. Benjamin did some directing for TV – The Pentagon Wars (1998), Tourist Trap (1999), The Sports Pages (2001), and Laughter on the 23rd Floor (2001) from the play by Neil Simon. Benjamin returned to features with The Shrink Is In (2001) and Marci X (2003), in which he also had a small role.

He produced and directed a TV adaptation of Simon's The Goodbye Girl (2004) with Jeff Daniels and Patricia Heaton. In 2006, Benjamin directed the award-winning cable television drama A Little Thing Called Murder, starring Australian Judy Davis. It was based on the true story of Sante and Kenny Kimes, mother and son grifters and killers. His later acting appearances on television include Ray Donovan and Childrens Hospital. He most recently played Dr. Green in the Netflix comedy film You People (2023) opposite Jonah Hill and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Personal life
Benjamin met Paula Prentiss at Northwestern University. She had transferred from Randolph-Macon Woman's College and was a year ahead of Benjamin at the university. They married on October 26, 1961 and have two children, son Ross (b. 1974) and daughter Prentiss (b. 1978), both graduates of Beverly Hills High School.

title: Richard Benjamin


text:
Certified General Accountant

Certified General Accountant (CGA) is a professional designation granted to Canadian accountants. A person who meets the education, experience and examination requirements of the Certified General Accountants of Canada (CGA-Canada) is entitled to use the professional designation and add the letters "CGA" to their title. A CGA is jointly a member of CGA-Canada and a provincial or territorial CGA association, or a CGA association overseas.

CGAs work throughout the world in industry, commerce, finance, government, public practice and the not-for-profit sector. CGA-Canada is working with the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) to integrate operations under the CPA banner in 2014. Those with a CGA designation will be automatically granted the Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designation and are required to use both concurrently until 2024, (noted as CPA, CGA) and then adjust to the CPA designation alone just for it.

History
The national association, first known as the Canadian Accountants' Association, was founded in 1908 by a trio of Canadian Pacific Railway accountants in Montreal, Quebec. Five years later, in 1913, the General Accountants' Association, as it was then known, was granted a charter from the government of Canada. By the mid-1940s, association chapters were established from coast-to-coast. Provincial, territorial and regional (offshore) chapters were later established under their own charters.

Auditing rights are regulated by provincial governments. In Prince Edward Island, only qualified CAs and CGAs can perform public accounting and auditing in accordance with the Public Accounting and Auditing Act. In all other provinces, except Quebec and Ontario (detailed below), only qualified CAs, CGAs, and CMAs (Certified Management Accountants) may audit public companies.

Historically, Quebec and Ontario only allowed CAs to audit public companies. In 2004, the Ontario government passed legislation that would enable CAs, CGAs and CMAs to practice public accounting under a reconstituted Public Accountants Council, and as of June 2010 Ontario CGAs were allowed to issue audit opinions.

In August 2005, a panel was constituted under the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) to rule on a challenge filed by CGA New Brunswick and CGA-Canada. It found Quebec's measures denying CGAs the right to practice public accounting in Quebec to impair trade and recommended legislative changes. The Quebec government committed to address the problem. By November 2009, the 'Regulation respecting the public accountancy permit of the Ordre des comptables généraux accrédités du Québec' enabled qualified CGAs to offer the full range of public accounting services to for-profit and publicly listed companies.

On November 6, 2009, Ontario issued a Notice of Measure claiming that material differences exist in respect of the practice of public accounting in Canada and to protect consumers out of province public accountants would be assessed against Ontario's requirements. Manitoba supported by Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan objected on the grounds that the Ontario regime causes injury to CGAs and impairs internal trade. A Panel convened under the Agreement on Internal Trade reviewed submissions and held a public hearing in Toronto on November 29, 2011. The Panel found that Ontario's notice of measure has impaired or would impair internal trade and has caused or would cause injury. The Panel recommended that Ontario comply with its AIT obligations by April 15, 2012. The outcome is important for CGAs because it removes the last barrier to mobility allowing CGAs to practice public accounting anywhere in Canada.

In October 2013, a Special General Meeting of members was held to ratify an Integration Agreement between CGA-Canada and CPA Canada, which was previously approved by the CGA-Canada Board of Directors. The Integration Agreement has now been approved for adoption, it is now CGA-Canada's intent to sign the Agreement with CPA Canada and continue to work towards unification of the entire profession in Canada.

Education
CGA-Canada's professional education program is competency-based. Competency-based education requires candidates to perform tasks and roles to standards expected in the workplace.

The knowledge, skills and professional values required of a CGA are reflected in a list of competencies. These competencies extend over three areas: professionalism, leadership and professional knowledge. They are validated periodically through extensive survey analysis. The CGA Competency Framework details the 130 competencies required of a newly certified CGA.

The complete academic program consists of 19 courses, two business cases, and professional qualification exams, spread over several levels: Levels 1 to 3 (Foundation Studies), Level 4 (Advanced Studies), and final level, the PACE qualification or certification level.

A CGA must have an undergraduate degree. Students normally require 36 months of supervised work experience, but in all cases, they require a minimum of 24 months. They may meet the experience requirements in any business sector and in a variety of fields.

Before issuing audit opinions a CGA must first be licensed as a public accountant. The requirements for licensing include at least 500 public accounting hours per year.

CGA association websites

 * CGA Alberta
 * CGA-Bermuda
 * CGA British Columbia
 * CGA-Canada
 * CGA Caribbean
 * CGA-China
 * CGA-Hong Kong
 * CGA Manitoba
 * CGA New Brunswick
 * CGA Newfoundland & Labrador
 * CGA NWT/Nunavut
 * CGA Nova Scotia
 * CGA Ontario
 * CGA-PEI
 * CGA Quebec
 * CGA Saskatchewan
 * CGA Online
 * CGA Canada

title: Certified General Accountant


text:
Eaton's Ninth Floor Restaurant

The Eaton's Ninth Floor Restaurant (known as "The Ninth Floor" or "Le 9e") is an Art deco landmark in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was operated by the Eaton's department store for 68 years, up until its bankruptcy and closure in 1999. After being closed to the public for a quarter of a century, it was renovated and reopened as a special events venue with the Ile de France Restaurant in 2024. The space is a registered historical site.

History
Lady Eaton, the wife of the multi-millionaire owner of the Eaton's department stores, gave her interpretation of "class and style" to the major Eaton's stores. In 1925 Eaton's purchased the three storey Goodwin building located at 677 Saint Catherine Street West and commissioned architects Ross & MacDonald to build it up to six storeys in 1927. The top three floors were added in 1930–31. On January 26, 1931, Lady Eaton opened a large art deco restaurant on the 9th floor of the building. The restaurant was designed by architect Jacques Carlu and the floor to ceiling mural at the back of the restaurant was created by his wife Natacha Carlu. It was patterned on dining hall of the transatlantic liner Ile de France. The 9th floor corridor between the elevators and restaurant is also in the art deco style.

The waitresses and loyal customers of the restaurant were the subject of a 1998 National Film Board of Canada documentary, Les Dames du 9e (The Ladies of the 9th).

Closure
Shortly following Eaton's bankruptcy, the restaurant closed on October 14, 1999. A bagpiper played "Amazing Grace" to mark its end. After remaining vacant, the 9th floor restaurant was given heritage status by the Québec government. Plans for bringing the restaurant up to modern safety standards were drawn up by Fournier, Gersovitz, Moss et associés but never implemented.

Dormancy period
For nearly a quarter of a century, the former restaurant had sat behind locked doors and was slowly deteriorating. The dining room, lobby and bathroom area remained, but the kitchen had been demolished for office space. The current owners, Ivanhoé Cambridge, the real estate subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, had refused in the past to allow media or preservation groups to inspect the site. Urban explorers who trespassed the site in 2004, took photographs documenting its then poor condition. On February 12, 2014, Heritage Montreal announced the restaurant was "under observation" due to the building's uncertain future. Adding to the uncertainty at the time, the former occupants of the site, Les Ailes de la Mode, went bankrupt and closed in 2014 (while later transformed into an extension of the Montreal Eaton Centre, there had been no plans for the ninth floor). Ivanhoé Cambridge last opened the floor to CTV News in 2015, though the future of the floor space remained uncertain. Throughout this time, the space was considered an endangered Art deco landmark. In September 2019 preservation advocate Gérald McNichols Tétreault launched a petition to measure public interest in reviving the space. The building's owner reported that an estimated CA$15 million would be required to bring the space up to standards suitable for public use.

2024 reopening
In March 2023, Ivanhoe Cambridge, the owner of the Eaton Centre, announced the reopening of the iconic ninth Floor restaurant by the end of the year. The heritage conservation firm, EVOQ Architecture, carried out the work to ensure the preservation of its heritage, while bringing it up to current day standards. It was announced the re-imagined space would offer a restaurant, as well as a venue for shows and private events that can accommodate up to 500 people.

In August 2023, it was announced the multi-purpose space (containing six different areas, including a small restaurant) would be officially known as "Le 9e", however the reopening was delayed until the spring of 2024.

On April 11 2024, a soft reopening was held in the space by invitation only, with an expected opening date for the public by mid-May.

On May 17 2024, the space officially opened to the public, featuring the upscale Ile de France Restaurant. The original Eaton's restaurant space was repurposed as a general purpose venue hall, with tables and chairs for the new smaller restaurant situated in the outside windowed corridors.

Other sources

 * Anderson, Carol and Mallinson, Katharine. Lunch with Lady Eaton: Inside the Dining Rooms of a Nation, Toronto: ECW Press, 2004. ISBN 978-1550226508
 * Cohen-Rose, Sandra. Northern Deco: Art Deco Architecture in Montreal. Montreal: Corona Publishers,1996 Sandra Cohen-Rose. ISBN 0-919631-06-1
 * Martin, Catherine. The Ladies of the 9th Floor. 60 minute film. Winner of the 1998 Telefilm Canada prize for short and medium length films.

title: Eaton's Ninth Floor Restaurant


text:
Samurai (board game)

Samurai is a German-style board game invented by Reiner Knizia, distributed by Hans im Glück in Germany and Fantasy Flight in the United States. It won the Deutscher Spiele Preis 4th place award in 1999. A shareware computer version was published by Klear Games in 2003, and an iOS version was published by Conlan Rios Games in 2010.

Game play
The game board is split into the four major Japanese islands of Hokkaidō, Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, and on every island are a number of cities and villages. Each player has 20 tokens that represent various levels of influence against a certain force—rice fields, Buddhas, and high helmets. Each of the forces are represented on the board with an acrylic glass figurine.

At the beginning of the game, players place the figurines one-by-one onto a city or village, with the capital city of Edo containing one of each figurine. Cities may contain two figures, but only if they are different. Villages may contain only one figurine. After all of the figurines are placed each player takes five tokens from their supply.

Players then take turns in placing their force tokens on the spaces surrounding a city or village. A player must play at least one token on their turn. These tokens may be played only once per turn: Any number of the following tokens may be played on each turn. These tokens also have a small character printed on the bottom of the token. At the end of a turn the player takes random tokens from their supply to replenish their hand back to five.
 * Figure-specific tokens – Printed with a specific force figurine and a number and only influence that particular force.
 * Samurai tokens – A samurai can influence any of the three forces.
 * Swap tokens – Swap this token with an existing token on the board, then move the old token to a new location.
 * Ship tokens – Printed with an influence number and a ship icon, but may only be used in water.
 * Exchange tokens – Discard this token and swap the positions of any two different figurines.
 * Ronin token – A ronin can influence any of the three forces.

Once a figurine is completely surrounded by tokens the player with the highest total of surrounding influence immediately takes the figurine. The figure is placed to the side in the event of a tie.

The game is over when all figurines of one type have been claimed by players or any four figurines have been set aside due to a tie. The winner is determined as follows:

(E.g. p1 has 5 helmets, 3 buddhas, and 1 rice field. P2 has 2 helmets, 3 buddhas, and 2 rice fields.  p1 has the majority in helmets (his 5 vs p2's 2).  Both players are tied in buddhas (3 vs 3) while p2 has the majority in rice (his 2 vs p1's 1).  P1's other figures would be 4 (3 buddhas + 1 rice field) while p2's other figures would be 5 (2 helmets + 3 buddhas).  P2 wins even though p1 has more total figures.
 * The player with the most of at least any two particular figurines is considered the winner. Note that if 2 or more players were to tie with the most of a particular figurine, none of those players would receive the majority for that figurine.
 * If no player has a majority in at least two figurine types, any player that has the most of one figurine is still eligible to win, while those that do not have a majority of any type are eliminated. Of the remaining players, the winner is the player with the highest number of figurines excluding the type in which the player has a majority, or their 'other' figurines.  If there is a tie between the other figurines, then the winner is the player with the most total figurines.  If there is still a tie after that, then those players who are tied with the highest total figurines share the victory.
 * If none of the players from above had a majority of any particular figurine (again, ties do NOT constitute a majority) the winner is decided by total number of figurines.

Video games
Samurai has been ported over to multiple electronic platforms including PC and iOS.

title: Samurai (board game)


text:
Independiente de Bigand

Independiente Football Club Mutual Social y Biblioteca is a small football club in Bigand, Santa Fe Province, Argentina.

The club was founded in 1919 by Italian immigrant Guglielmo Broglia as a dissident part of the already existing Sporting Club. It then quickly entered in the competitions of the local league called Liga Deportiva del Sur, and won the championships of 1932, 1933, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1950, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1977 and 1999. In sports terms, the most important achievement was the Provincial first place, in 1968, defeating Newell's Old Boys in the finals. The coach at that time was Angel Tulio Zof, later Argentine champion with Rosario Central.

During the 1950s the club obtained victories against important clubs like Rosario Central, Central Córdoba, Unión de Santa Fe and Newell's Old Boys. Nowadays, a lot of young players take their first steps into the sports with Independiente de Bigand, to later move ahead to important clubs of Rosario, such as Fabián Fabiani.

Other sports practiced in the club are basketball (with player Miguel Basso), artistic ice-skating (Anibal Frare obtained the world second place) and swimming, with an Olympic pool copied from Independiente de Avellaneda.

During the 1978 FIFA World Cup that took place in Argentina, the club installations served as hotel and training camp for the Italy national football team.

title: Independiente de Bigand


text:
J. D. Drew

David Jonathan "J. D." Drew (born November 20, 1975) is an American former Major League Baseball right fielder. He began his major league career in 1998 with the St. Louis Cardinals, and also played for the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Boston Red Sox. He is the brother of two other major league players, Stephen and Tim.

College
Drew graduated from Lowndes County High School in Valdosta, Georgia in 1994. He was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 20th round of the 1994 draft but did not sign. He then attended Florida State University, where he played under head coach Mike Martin. At Florida State, he was the winner of the 1997 Dick Howser Trophy and the 1997 Golden Spikes Award, was named the 1997 Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year, the 1997 Sporting News Player of the Year, and was a consensus All-American (1997). He also was named the 1997 ACC Player of the Year. He was a 1996 member of Team USA. Drew was First Team in 1996, Freshman All-American in 1995 and was named to the College World Series All Tournament Team in 1995. He was the first player in college baseball history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season. He set a Florida State record by batting .455 in 1997 while becoming one of only three players in college baseball history to have 100 hits, 100 runs and 100 RBIs. During his college career, Drew broke 17 school and conference records.

1997: Drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies made Drew the second overall pick, after pitcher Matt Anderson, in the 1997 MLB draft. Drew and his agent Scott Boras chose not to sign with the Phillies, insisting Drew would not sign for less than $10 million. The Phillies had no plan to pay an unproven player this amount of money, and despite Boras' warnings, drafted Drew nonetheless. They offered him $2.6 million. Consequently, Drew ended up playing for the St. Paul Saints of the independent Northern League. Boras had Drew sign with an independent baseball league because of a loophole in the rules of the MLB draft.

1998–2003: St. Louis Cardinals
After playing for St. Paul in the 1997 season, Drew was selected in the first round of the 1998 MLB draft, fifth overall, by the St. Louis Cardinals. In June he signed a $7 million contract, then hit .316 through 26 games with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds. He was recalled by the Cardinals and made his debut on September 8, 1998—the game in which teammate Mark McGwire broke the single-season home run record previously held by Roger Maris. Drew's first at bat, in the sixth inning, resulted in a strikeout, and he finished the night 0-for-2. He ended up going 15-for-36 (.417) during 1998, with five home runs.

On August 9, on what would have been Drew's first game in Philadelphia, he sat out, citing a bruised right hand. In an attempt to confuse the Philadelphia fans, he did not wear his own jersey that night, which instead was worn by bullpen catcher, Jeff Murphy. The attempt failed, however, and he was booed and heckled throughout batting practice. The only time he received cheers was when he booted three consecutive grounders in the outfield while his teammates were taking batting practice. On August 10, 1999, in Drew's first game at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, he was booed loudly, and even had batteries thrown at him by two fans. The Phillie Phanatic got into the act, dropping two large trash bags marked with dollar signs in the outfield between innings. Drew struggled to stay healthy, landing on the disabled list every season he played in St. Louis.

In his book Three Nights in August, Buzz Bissinger mentions former manager Tony La Russa's frustration with Drew's lack of passion. La Russa tells Bissinger that it seems Drew had decided to "settle for 75%" of his talent, in large part because of his enormous contract.

2004: Atlanta Braves
On December 13, 2003, Drew was traded to the Atlanta Braves along with catcher Eli Marrero for starting pitcher Jason Marquis, relief pitcher Ray King, and rookie prospect Adam Wainwright. There, he had the best season of his career while finally managing to stay healthy. In 2004, he displayed excellent power, patience, and defense, hitting .305 with 31 home runs, 118 walks, and 93 RBI, finishing sixth in the MVP voting.

2005–2006: Los Angeles Dodgers
In December 2004, Drew signed a five-year, $55 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which included an escape clause after the second year. Roughly halfway through the 2005 season, Drew's season was again cut short after being hit on the wrist by a pitch from Arizona Diamondbacks' pitcher Brad Halsey.

On September 18, 2006, Drew was part of only the (then) fourth-ever set of back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs with fellow Dodgers Jeff Kent, Russell Martin, and Marlon Anderson.

In 2006, Drew exercised his contract opt-out clause, forgoing $33 million over the next three years to become a free agent. Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said in a teleconference that he was "surprised how it came down. Everything we had heard, everything that had been written led us to believe the player loved being here." This was especially a surprise because a few days before, Drew had told an LA Times columnist on how happy he was in LA and that he was looking forward to the upcoming 2007 season. Drew had a very good season, batting .284 with 20 home runs and 100 RBI.

2007–2011: Boston Red Sox
On January 26, 2007, Drew officially signed a five-year contract with the Red Sox worth $70 million. Drew's revised contract had a clause that allowed the Red Sox to opt out of Drew's five-year contract after three or four years if Drew has extensive injuries due to a previously existing problem in his right shoulder.

Drew was again part of a set of four consecutive home runs on April 22, 2007, in a game against the New York Yankees, this time joining with Manny Ramírez, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek. He is the only player to participate twice in a string of four straight home runs, and he was the second player to go deep in each instance. Drew finished the 2007 season with a .270 batting average, 11 home runs, and 64 RBI.

On October 20, 2007, Drew hit a grand slam in Game 6 of the 2007 ALCS with the Red Sox facing elimination. The home run, along with brother Stephen Drew's for the Arizona Diamondbacks, marks the third time that two brothers have both hit home runs in the same postseason.

In 2008, Drew hit one of the longest home runs in Fenway Park history. According to the ESPN Home Run Tracker, it was measured at 460 feet. He finished with a .280 average, with an OBP of .408 and a slugging percentage of .519. At the end of June, Drew was named the AL Player of the Month after hitting .337 and hitting 12 home runs while taking over for David Ortiz's three-spot in the lineup while he was on the disabled list. Drew was officially announced as an AL All-Star reserve on July 6. This was Drew's first All-Star game appearance. He hit a two-run homer in his first at-bat as an All-Star en route to winning the game's MVP award. In what was to become the longest All-Star Game time-wise in MLB history, the American League (and Drew's Red Sox) manager Terry Francona, having almost run out of pitchers, contemplated putting Drew, a former high school hurler, on the mound to close the game. "I'd have been ready," Drew said. "I've had an opportunity to throw a lot in the outfield. I don't know if I would have gotten anyone out, but I'd have thrown something up there." Drew later visited the 15-day disabled list, spending from August 27 to September 8 on the DL with a strained lower back.

On October 3, in Game 2 of the 2008 American League Division Series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Drew hit a go-ahead two-run home run. On October 16, in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Drew helped to bring the Red Sox back from a late-inning seven-run deficit with a two-run home run in the eighth inning and then delivered the walk-off hit in the ninth. The Game 5 comeback, sparked by Drew, is the second-biggest in postseason history and is the largest for a team on the brink of elimination. However, the Red Sox lost to the Rays in the seventh game.

After the 2009 season, Drew's statistics began to decline. That year, he hit .279 with an .392 OBP while hitting 24 home runs and 68 RBI. The following year, he hit .255 with 22 home runs with 68 RBI. However, he played in 139 games, his highest total since 2007 when he joined Boston. In 2011, Drew hit .222 with four home runs and 22 RBI. He played in 81 games and had a .315 OBP. Drew retired from professional baseball at the end of the 2011 season.

Personal life
Drew's younger brother Tim was also drafted in the first round in 1997, making them the first brothers drafted in the first round of the MLB draft in the same year. They were teammates while on the Atlanta Braves in 2004. J.D., Tim, and their brother Stephen all played in Major League Baseball. J.D. and Stephen each won a World Series with the Boston Red Sox; J.D. in 2007 and Stephen in 2013.

Drew married his girlfriend Sheigh, on November 10, 2001, in Hahira, Georgia. Drew is a Christian.

Career statistics
In 55 postseason games, Drew hit .261 (48-for-184) with 19 runs, six doubles, seven home runs, 25 RBI and 18 walks.

title: J. D. Drew


text:
Marsiling

Marsiling is a suburb of Woodlands, Singapore, extends from the north of Woodlands Square to the Woodlands Checkpoint, bordering Malaysia. It presents the older living patterns of Singapore; it is a quieter and much denser estate, often offering a reasonable and larger alternative to other housing options, and houses a large number of elderly and heavy-duty industries.

History
In the late 1990s, a plan was introduced by the Government of Singapore to upgrade existing Housing and Development Board apartment blocks by providing refurbished elevators serving every storey of each block, an additional room at the rear of each flat, and other modernising features. This led to a surge in housing prices. The community of foreigners living in Marsiling has also been increasing.

Politics
By 2015, Marsiling was merged with Yew Tee in an ongoing review of electoral boundaries that also saw Marsiling-Yew Tee Town Council being formed.

In 2017, Halimah Yacob resigned from the Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC (Marsiling division) to contest for the Presidency. Halimah Yacob was sworn in as the 8th President of Singapore from 13 September 2017. Since the 2020 Singaporean general election, former Chua Chu Kang GRC MP and Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad represented Marsiling, having earlier temporarily filling the vacated seat from 2017 to 2020.

title: Marsiling


text: File:The Distillers - The Distillers.jpg


text: User talk:67.51.147.10

title: User talk:67.51.147.10


text: User talk:209.143.18.64

title: User talk:209.143.18.64


text:
Category:New Orleans

New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. By law and government, the city of New Orleans and the parish of Orleans Parish are one and the same.

title: Category:New Orleans