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Talk:Democracy/Archive 1

This is an archive of discussion in and before 2002.

Should there be a distinction between a republic and a democracy?
The original distinguished between a republic and a democracy, but I question whether mainstream politicial science distinguishes between them. (On which I might add, I am no real expert.) This distinction seems to be mainly one made in the US, especially by certain political groups (Libertarians for instance.) To an Australian like me, and I guess to a lot of other people, the distinction makes no sense at all. In short, the definitions the original article was based on are minority definitions; I have tried to make them fit better with what the majority of people mean.

See http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=democracy which defines democracy as "Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives" (American Heritage Dictionary).

That definition is adequate. What it doesn't take into consideration is that there are forces behind the scenes (particularly in the USA and in some other nations with republican or fascist inclinations) who thwart the electoral process. The US elections are directly thwarted by Diebold, and by the Masons (who by being in influential positions, nudge and bump the direction according to their objectives.) So democracy doesn't really exist in the USA even though Americans claim it does.

-- Simon J Kissane

 * My friend!!!! DEMOCRACY IT IS NOT WHAT YOUR STUPID DICTIONARY IS SAYING!! -- 146.124.102.84, Jan 23, 2003

 * Restoring deletion. If you wish to change the article, Simon, do so acknowledging what you allege--from an admitted position of ignorance--is a minority position.  And in any case, please do not remove useful content--which you did. --LMS

 * Well, the point of view of the article doesn't fit one major dictionary's (the American Heritage Dictionary's) defintion at least:

 * democracy: "Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives."

 * republic: "A political order whose head of state is not a monarch and in modern times is usually a president."

 * Maybe I was being a bit accusatory and hasty in my original statement, and if so I do apologise. But my point remains that a lot of people (me and the American Heritage Dictionary) included do not take democracy to mean "direct democracy" and republic to mean "indirect democracy"; they take democracy to mean "democracy, either direct or indirect", and republic to mean "not a monarchy, be it democratic or un-democratic".

 * So maybe I am wrong to think it is solely some particular minorities view on the meaning of the word democracy, but I still maintain that the meaning I give it is the more common one. And I think articles should reflect words as they are most commonly used. -- Simon J Kissane

 * The American Heritage Dictionary is pure propaganda, and if it is the best reference you can find to back any assertion, the assertion is almost certainly biased beyond saving. That dictionary was authored in order to back the classical American view of politics, which is obviously not an NPOV. EofT, August 1, 2003

Democracy and Republic were synomous until James Madison made the distinction in the Federalist Papers that we know today - being that Democracy is a form of government run directly by the people and republic by elected officials. It is very important to keep this distinction, even though most republics refer to themeselves simply as democracies, because it was made to demonstrate the superior abilities of republics to protect against factious interests and tyranny of the majority..

Right to vote denied to prisoners?
I think it s not true that "The right to vote is normally denied to prisoners". It maybe true for the USA but not true in continental Europe.

 * It's not even true throughout the U.S. Many states allow their prisoners to vote.

 * Well, the UK denies the right to prisoners to vote. Maybe it should be qualified as "many countries".

 * Also someone changed citizen-initiated referenda to read referenda on popular demand. Why? -- SJK

 * In the US, conviction of a felony tolls the right to vote. F. Lee Horn

 * That's not necessarily true. Voter registration is controlled by the states, and at least in California, one is stripped of that right only while actually serving time for a felony.  A state may also choose to grant its felons the vote if it chooses.  Finally, if the felony happens to be tax evasion, the consitution prohibits a state from stripping voting rights in that particular case. --LDC

 * That's not necessarily true. Voter registration is controlled by the states, and at least in California, one is stripped of that right only while actually serving time for a felony.  A state may also choose to grant its felons the vote if it chooses.  Finally, if the felony happens to be tax evasion, the consitution prohibits a state from stripping voting rights in that particular case. --LDC

 * Ah! I stand (sit?) corrected:  "Four states (Maine, Massachusetts, Utah, Vermont) do not disenfranchise convicted felons.8 Forty-six states and the District of Columbia have disenfranchisement laws that deprive convicted offenders of the right to vote while they are in prison.9 In thirty-two states, convicted offenders may not vote while they are on parole, and twenty-nine of these states disenfranchise offenders on probation."

 * So what you are saying is, only these four states are actually democratic? Or is this relevant in some other way?  The judiciary being able to strip any age of majority citizen from the right to vote simply by convicting them... well, how do other countries like say Iran or Argentina deal with this? EofT, August 1, 2003

Denial of right to vote on basis of race or ethnicity

 * Many societies in the past have denied people the right to vote on the basis of race or ethnicity. Examples of this include the exclusion of people of African descent from voting, in the pre-Civil Rights Era American South, and in apartheid-era South Africa.

 * Most societies today no longer maintain such provisions, but a few still do. For example, Fiji reserves a certain number of seats in its Parliament for each of its main ethnic groups; these provisions were adopted in order to discriminate against Indians in favour of ethnic Fijians.

Many countries have laws that give national minorities representation in Parliament (for example national minorities parties don't need to pass 5% limit to get into Sejm). --Taw

Advocates of communism generally insist that countries like the "People's Democratic Republic" of this or that nation is really "democratic" on the grounds that the government is authorizied by or _is" the people (see dictatorship of the proletariat). I figure this quibble is better understood if it comes near the end of the article. --Ed Poor

Participatory Democracy
Where would ParticipatoryDemocracy fit in? DirectDemocracy?

 * I think that fits in with the point I was going to make: The definitions here, as probably in political science books, assume that a democracy has a government. That is not necessarily what I call a democracy; to me, at least, democracy is a system where each member has equal control. I don't think I'm by any means alone on this point; "democracy" stretches far beyond the realms of government. (Also, I consider libertarian socialism to be politically democratic and economically democratic, as opposed to "democratic" government, which has an element of political democracy, but a non-democratic economy.)

 * I'd like to make the case for Representative democracy as a better place for a lot of this. This page could be a discussion of the origin and various meanings of the term, and how they relate.

 * Also, I was surprised no one appears to have mentioned Bush's "democratic" election. -- Sam

original democratic elections
According to the original US Constitution, cognitive consent of the governed is granted through representation, not by popular vote.

Originally, the popular vote determined electors. A person known, but not an elected official, by a constituency, which was not to exceed 30000, with enough political acumen to vote responsibly for those whom entrusted him. After electing the president, the person having the greatest number of votes became the vice president.

Cognitive consent thorugh representation was limited: (1) for 30000. It was determied possible for a representative to confer with this large of a constituency. Modern technology has made this task easier, but the task has exponentially exploded. US pop. approaching 300 million. Number of representative fixed by law: 435. Is it humanly possible for (1) representative to confer with a constituency of half a million people of diverse economic backgrounds?

Cognitive consent of the governed is prerequisite to culturally identify as democratic, participatory or otherwise. Therefore, we the people must become more vigilant because, robbing, ripping off, scamming, cheating, taxing, and lying are not blessings of liberty, but cultural liability. Who of the governed consented to this dollar driven dementia?

This dementia has been harmless in a short sighted economic sense, but its continuation is self-evident as R.H. Tawney describes, "It has assured men that there are no ends other than their ends, no law other than their desires. No limit.  It has dilluted (rule of law) with irrational inequality.  It knows not trust.  A land without trust, is a land without democracy.

A land without democracy supports man's inhumanity to man. A United Nations study states in more than half the world the rights and freedoms of citizens are limited, but this means very little to people of little means because; preoccupation with economic factors is oppressively time consuming. Tyranny echoes with oh boy cheers of calamitous joy, "Freedom is what you can get away with and liberty is not for the poor; but they do pay for it with environmental degradation, material disparity, poor health, homelessness, inhibitions to movement and speech and, cultural decimation of family, community, and the republic for which their flag stands.

The principles enshrined in the US Constitution have not been tranfered from one generation to the next as a chain of trust, but confused with privately seeking public advantage, which is by defalut, a title of nobility: a cultural virus. Unreasonable advantage causes people to struggle against unreasonable demands, or escape to another land.

Forced migration has caused cultural transmigration, but the virus of privately seeking public advantage remains. It is yet to be seen how cultural ties with solidarity of purpose develop true authority supported by true law that is reasonable, right and natural for the security of liberty.

Without true law, a contentous political quagmire of corperate/ego-centric/ethnocentrism, with no contractual basis, reiterates Machiavelli, "Least happy is the (nation) whos institutions are entirely off the path that leads to a right and perfect end;" but the republic for which the US flag stands is not a done deal. It is the means to working towards a right and perfect end, to answer the prayer, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," to form a perfect union: the American experiment. education

Direct democracy
Why has Direct democracy been made a redirect to this? Anarcho-capitalism isn't a redirect to anarchism because they're not the same. A lot more could be said about direct democracy in its own article; a discussion should appear here (as it does) contrasting it with representative democracy, but that's not all there should be. -- Sam

 * Direct democracy becomes more and more difficult, and necessarily more closely approximates representative democracy, as the number of citizens grows. Historically, the most direct democracies would include the New England town meeting (within the United States), and the political system of ancient Athens. Neither system would scale well to a larger population.

This claims direct democracy doesn't scale because every citizen couldn't vote on every issue in a large state. This isn't necessarily a requirement of direct democracy. In the alternative, citizens in a large state would be presented with an overwhelmingly large number of issues which they could vote upon, but only the most politically active of citizens would vote upon. The rest would hopefully vote only on those issues which they knew about, cared about, and were informed about. Isn't this who should be voting? -- Eric Hanson

Isn't that who's voting now? The major downfall of direct democracy is, not only that it is highly impractical, but it has no minority protection.--St.PeteJim 03:14, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Clear and practical examples of participative democracy
To the poster above I would point that there are clear and practical examples of participative (aka participatory) democracy (see and ), and there are organizations in the UK that sponsor forms of more active democracy (meaning more direct, more participatory -- see.

One should not limit oneself to the existing models. The current republican model (I use the term to mean non-monarchic) of democracy or, indeed, even the monarchic model have reached stability 50 years ago with the end of WW II. Since then democracy has outlasted the Socialist Utopian regimes, but has not outlasted other systems of governance (tribal, tyrannic, etc.). Far from arguing in favor of those systems, I intend to demonstrate that the existing western-democratic system has not proven sufficiently appealing to some of nations representing the most people in the world (Pakistan, China (capitalist socialist state -- is the term correct?), Saudi Arabia, Irak, etc.). Especially at a moment when we are faced with the huge influence that Business has on power through free elections, by sponsoring 95% of the winning candidates (or maybe more?) in the USA in the 1998 election (effectively transforming USA into an aristocracy or oligarchy, depending from the point of view, of course); we should ask ourselves: is this the end of the evolution for "democracy", or can we find more just forms of "democracy"? Zingarello

 * Could you review and add references to participatory democracy then? That article is thin right now. EofT, August 1, 2003

- Goes back to Athens? Weren't the Akkadians using an indirect democracy? Lir 09:56 Oct 23, 2002 (UTC)

 * Lir, Athens isn't generaly considered a representative democracy. It's normaly considered a direct democracy with limited sufferage and the only elected official was the strategos. If you have information that disagrees with this can you please supply it.

 * If articles on political systems are this controversial it may be a good idea to start attributing various opinions on just what they are to different people. -- V 03:05 Nov 19, 2002 (UTC)

title: Talk:Democracy/Archive 1


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Szekszárd

Szekszárd (, formerly also Szegzárd; Seksar; Sechshard or Sechsard; Сексард) is a small city in southern Hungary and the capital of Tolna County. By population, Szekszárd is the smallest county capital in Hungary; by area, it is the second-smallest (after Tatabánya).

Location
Szekszárd lies at the meeting point of the Transdanubian Hills and the Great Hungarian Plain, at the mouth of Sió into the flood plain of Danube.

Etymology
The Etymological Dictionary of Geographical Names, somewhat differently from the above, derives the name of the locality from the old Hungarian colour name szegszár (sötétsárga, brownish yellow), which could have become a personal name with the diminutive -d and thus could have been a predecessor of the town name.

History
Szekszárd was first mentioned in 1015. The Benedictine monastery of the town was founded by King Béla I in 1061.

During the reign of King Matthias, Szekszárd was the estate of Bishop John, who was involved in a conspiracy against the king. Because of this, King Matthias ordered the castle of Szekszárd to be demolished.

In 1485, Szekszárd was already a significant town, holding five market days a year, but during the Turkish ascendancy of Hungary, the town became deserted and the monastery was destroyed.

By the 18th century, Szekszárd was again a significant town, it became a county seat (of Tolna), and got a coat of arms. The town was destroyed by a fire in 1794, but it could not stop the town's development. Most of the important buildings—including the town hall, the County Hall and several churches—were built during the 19th century. By this time, Szekszárd already had 14,000 residents.

Mihály Babits, an important Hungarian poet was born in Szekszárd in 1883.

During World War II, Szekszárd was captured by Soviet troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front on 30 November 1944 as part of the Budapest Offensive.

In 1994, Szekszárd was granted the rank of city with county rights, in accordance with a new law stating that all county seats are cities with county rights. (Previously only cities with a population over 50,000 were granted county rights, and Szekszárd was one of only two county seats that had a smaller population than 50,000; the other was Salgótarján).

Transportation
Szekszárd lies on a railway line Rétszilas - Bátaszék and on a junction of main roads No. 6, 56, 63 and 65. Motorways M6 and M9 cross each other near the city. There also are local bus lines for city transportation operated by DDKK.

Main sights

 * Old county hall (neo-Classical style)
 * Augusz manor (Franz Liszt was a guest here)
 * Deutsche Bühne Ungarn
 * Birthplace of Mihály Babits, Museums
 * Birthplace of Valéria Dienes
 * Ruins of Benedictine monastery
 * János Garay Square and statue

Twin towns – sister cities
Szekszárd is twinned with:

 * 🇷🇸 Bečej, Serbia (1975)
 * 🇫🇷 Bezons, France (1967)
 * 🇩🇪 Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany (1989)
 * 🇷🇴 Făget, Romania (1998)
 * 🇧🇦 Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2016)
 * 🇷🇴 Lugoj, Romania (1993)
 * 🇮🇹 Province of Ravenna, Italy (1996)
 * 🇫🇮 Tornio, Finland (1986)
 * 🇧🇪 Waregem, Belgium (1993)

Notable people

 * Károly Escher, photographer
 * Mihály Babits, poet
 * János Garay, poet
 * Attila Fiola, footballer
 * János Hahn, footballer
 * Ferenc Ficza, racing driver

Sport
The women's basketball team Atomerőmű Szekszárd play in the Nemzeti Bajnokság is the premier tier of Hungarian basketball. Szekszárdi UFC play in the Nemzeti Bajnokság III, the third tier of Hungarian football.

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

title: Szekszárd


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Tikokino

Tikokino is a town in the Central Hawke's Bay District on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 20 km northwest of Waipawa and 55 km southwest of Hastings. The township is located on State Highway 50.

The township was founded by the Government in 1860. Hampden, as it was originally called, began as sawmilling centre for local forests, becoming a service town for the farms which took their place. By the early 2000s, most residents were working at a nearby meat processing plant, dairy farming, or for local growers.

Tikokino has eight buildings registered by Heritage New Zealand, including the Gwavas Station Homestead and Garden as Category I.

Demographics
Statistics New Zealand describes Tikokino as a rural settlement, which covers 0.78 km2 and had an estimated population of as of  with a population density of  people per km2. It is part of the larger Mangaonuku statistical area.

Tikokino had a population of 192 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 27 people (16.4%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 45 people (30.6%) since the 2006 census. There were 75 households, comprising 93 males and 93 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.0 males per female. The median age was 45.3 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 36 people (18.8%) aged under 15 years, 18 (9.4%) aged 15 to 29, 105 (54.7%) aged 30 to 64, and 27 (14.1%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 93.8% European/Pākehā, 10.9% Māori, and 3.1% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 57.8% had no religion, 31.2% were Christian, 1.6% had Māori religious beliefs and 3.1% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 30 (19.2%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 33 (21.2%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $27,800, compared with $31,800 nationally. 21 people (13.5%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 81 (51.9%) people were employed full-time, 21 (13.5%) were part-time, and 3 (1.9%) were unemployed.

Mangaonuku statistical area
Mangaonuku statistical area covers 536.56 km2 and had an estimated population of as of  with a population density of  people per km2.

Mangaonuku had a population of 948 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 114 people (13.7%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 84 people (9.7%) since the 2006 census. There were 336 households, comprising 516 males and 432 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.19 males per female. The median age was 40.4 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 198 people (20.9%) aged under 15 years, 138 (14.6%) aged 15 to 29, 501 (52.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 108 (11.4%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 87.3% European/Pākehā, 17.4% Māori, 3.2% Pacific peoples, 0.9% Asian, and 1.6% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.

The percentage of people born overseas was 13.0, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 52.5% had no religion, 35.4% were Christian, 2.2% had Māori religious beliefs and 1.6% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 117 (15.6%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 135 (18.0%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $32,500, compared with $31,800 nationally. 90 people (12.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 441 (58.8%) people were employed full-time, 120 (16.0%) were part-time, and 15 (2.0%) were unemployed.

Marae
The local Rakautātahi Marae is a tribal meeting ground for local Māori, with a meeting house called Te Poho o Te Whatuiapiti. The marae is affiliated with the Ngāti Kahungunu hapū of Ngāi Toroiwaho, Ngāi Te Kikiri o Te Rangi, Ngāi Toroiwaho, Rangi Te Kahutia and Rangitotohu, and with the Rangitāne hapū of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Rangitotohu.

In October 2020, the Government committed $887,291 from the Provincial Growth Fund to upgrade the marae and 4 others, creating 12 jobs.

Education
Tikokino School is a Year 1–8 co-educational state primary school. It is a decile 7 school with a roll of as of  The school opened in 1866.

Notable people

 * Bill Collins (1911-93), Poverty Bay and Hawkes Bay rugby union representative and All Black (1935-36)
 * Alice May Parkinson (1889–1949), New Zealand murderer

title: Tikokino


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Liberal Party (Uruguay)

The Liberal Party (Partido Liberal) was a Uruguayan political party founded in 2002, espousing free market liberalism. The party thinks that the economic heyday of the Uruguay at the end of the 19th century was a consequence of the application of political initiatives founded in the liberal ideas, and that the abandonment of the same ones on the part of the successive governments from the Batlle period has determined the process of social and economic deterioration that the country suffers from 1955.

History
On August 22, 2002, nine Uruguayan citizens founded the Liberal Party. They agreed on a Program of Principles, gave the Liberal Party an Organic Letter, named the first director and Julio Vera as its first president; one week later they presented to the Electoral Court the Request of Motto (see Ley de lemas).

After waiting more than a year, the Liberal Party obtained the necessary authorization from the Electoral Court, for official resolution of the above-mentioned corporation of January 21, 2004, communicated to the interested ones on January 30, 2004. From this moment, the Liberal Party is enabled to use the Partido Liberal (Liberal Party) motto in the electoral process that would celebrate the same year in the Eastern Republic of Uruguay.

In accordance with the current Constitution in 2004, the first instance of the electoral process is the internal elections, where every party chooses those who will integrate his Convention, and the candidate who will participate in the presidential election. In the above-mentioned instance, the Liberal Party obtained slightly more than 1.500 votes and Julio Vera was elected as candidate.

The first convention of the Liberal Party was held on August 22, 2004 at Montevideo. In accordance with the established for the constitution and the laws of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, the convention realized the election of authorities for the period 2004–2009 and the election of the "formula companion" (that is, the one who accompanies the candidate to President and who is "elected" as Vice-president in case the party prevails in the election). In this occasion, the election of authorities determined the continuity of Julio Vera as President of the Liberal Party, and Jorge Borlandelli as "formula companion" or Vice-president candidate.

In the national elections of 2004, the Liberal Party obtained 1.548 votes.

title: Liberal Party (Uruguay)


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Union Township, Warren County, Ohio

Union Township is one of the eleven townships of Warren County, Ohio, United States, located in the central part of the county. It was established January 3, 1815 and named Union as it was formed from parts of Deerfield and Turtlecreek Townships. The population was 6,251 as of the 2020 census.

Geography

Located in the central part of the county, it borders the following townships:
 * Turtlecreek Township - north
 * Salem Township - east
 * Hamilton Township - south, across the Little Miami River
 * Deerfield Township - southwest

The smallest township in the county, it originally had fifteen full and six fractional sections of land totaling 11,970 acres (48 km$2$). However, a large portion of the township has been annexed into South Lebanon, Lebanon, and Mason. The village of South Lebanon remains within the township, but Mason and Lebanon are not and that land has been lost. The township is prone to flooding from the Little Miami and Turtle Creek.

The entire township is in the Symmes Purchase and was surveyed in accordance with the unusual plan Symmes chose.

Union is the third most popular township name statewide; only Washington (43 townships) and Jackson (37 townships) are more common.

History
Union Township was organized in 1815.

Government
The township is governed by a three-member board of trustees, who are elected in November of odd-numbered years to a four-year term beginning on the following January 1. Two are elected in the year after the presidential election and one is elected in the year before it. There is also an elected township fiscal officer, who serves a four-year term beginning on April 1 of the year after the election, which is held in November of the year before the presidential election. Vacancies in the fiscal officership or on the board of trustees are filled by the remaining trustees.

Public services
Telephone service is provided through South Lebanon, Lebanon, Mason, and Morrow exchanges, while the South Lebanon, Lebanon, Kings Mills, and Morrow post offices serve the township.

Interstate 71 crosses the township from southwest to northeast and State Route 48 from south to north. U.S. Route 42 clips the northwest corner of the township. Formerly, the Middletown and Cincinnati Railroad crossed the township, but all track southeast of US 42 has been abandoned and lifted. The city of Lebanon's sewage treatment plant is in Union Township, along the Little Miami River.

Education
Most of the township is in the Kings Local School District, which was formerly known as the Deerfield-Union Local School District, while parts are in the Lebanon City School District, the Mason City School District, and the Little Miami Local School District.

title: Union Township, Warren County, Ohio


text:
Working-class culture

Working-class culture or proletarian culture is a range of cultures created by or popular among working-class people. The cultures can be contrasted with high culture and folk culture, and are often equated with popular culture and low culture (the counterpart of high culture). Working-class culture developed during the Industrial Revolution. Because most of the newly created working class were former peasants, the cultures took on much of the localised folk culture. This was soon altered by the changed conditions of social relationships and the increased mobility of the workforce and later by the marketing of mass-produced cultural artefacts such as prints and ornaments and commercial entertainment such as music hall and cinema.

In academia, working-class socio-economic circumstances are conventionally associated with alcoholism, domestic abuse, obesity and delinquency.

Politics of working-class culture
Many socialists with a class struggle viewpoint see working-class culture as a vital element of the proletariat which they champion. One of the first organisations for proletarian culture was Proletkult, founded in Russia shortly after the February Revolution, supported by Alexander Bogdanov, who had been co-leader of the Bolsheviks with Vladimir Lenin. The group included both Bolsheviks and their critics, and Bogdanov struggled to retain its independence following the Bolshevik Revolution in October 1917. His erstwhile ally Anatoly Lunacharsky had rejoined the Bolsheviks and was appointed Commissar for Education.

In Literature and Revolution, Trotsky examined aesthetic issues in relation to class and the Russian revolution. Soviet scholar Robert Bird considered his work as the "first systematic treatment of art by a Communist leader" and a catalyst for later, Marxist cultural and critical theories. Trotsky presented a critique of contemporary literary movements such as Futurism and emphasised a need of cultural autonomy for the development of a socialist culture. According to literary critic Terry Eagleton, Trotsky recognised “like Lenin on the need for a socialist culture to absorb the finest products of bourgeois art”. Trotsky himself viewed the proletarian culture as “temporary and transitional” which would provide the foundations for a culture above classes. He also argued that the pre-conditions for artistic creativity were economic well-being and emancipation from material constraints. Political scientist Baruch Knei-Paz characterised his view on the role of the party as transmitters of culture to the masses and raising the standards of education, as well as entry into the cultural sphere, but that the process of artistic creation in terms of language and presentation should be the domain of the practitioner. Knei-Paz also noted key distinctions between Trotsky’s approach on cultural matters and Stalin's policy in the 1930s.

Marxist–Leninist states have declared an official working-class culture, most notably socialist realism, whose constant aim is to glorify the worker, in contrast to typical independent working-class cultures. However, Lenin believed that there could be no authentic proletarian culture free from capitalism and that high culture should be brought to the workers.

The millenarian nature of socialist working-class art is evident in the goals espoused by the leaders of revolutionary movements. The art forms for the masses were meant to shape a new consciousness and form the basis of a new culture and new man.

Many Americans strongly believe the U.S. is a "Land of Opportunity" that offers every child an equal chance at social and economic mobility. The idea of Americans rising from humble origins to riches has been called a "civil religion", "the bedrock upon which the American story has been anchored", and part of the American identity (the American Dream ) This theme is celebrated in the lives of famous Americans such as Benjamin Franklin and Henry Ford, and in popular culture (from the books of Horatio Alger and Norman Vincent Peale to the song "Movin' on Up" ).

The American Dream Report, a study of the Economic Mobility Project, found that Americans surveyed were more likely than citizens of other countries to agree with statements like:

 * "People get rewarded for intelligence and skill",
 * "People get rewarded for their efforts";

and less likely to agree with statements like:

 * "Coming from a wealthy family is 'essential' or 'very important' to getting ahead,"
 * "Income differences in my country are too large" or
 * "It is the responsibility of government to reduce differences in income."

In the US only 32% of respondents agreed with the statement that forces beyond their personal control determine their success. In contrast, a majority of European respondents agreed with this view in every country but three (Britain, the Czech Republic and Slovakia). The Brookings Institution found Americans surveyed had the highest belief in meritocracy—69% agreed with the statement "people are rewarded for intelligence and skill"—among 27 nations surveyed.

Another report found such beliefs to have gotten stronger over the last few decades.

Portrayals in popular culture
Working-class cultures are extremely geographically diverse, leading some to question whether they have anything in common. In the United States, working-class culture has been portrayed on TV shows such as Roseanne, Good Times, Married...With Children, All in the Family, Family Guy, The Simpsons, and South Park, in which American families struggle with day-to-day working life. A variant of US working-class culture is Southern culture, as depicted in TV shows such as The Dukes of Hazzard, King of the Hill or The Beverly Hillbillies. While American soap operas deal with the lifestyles of the middle and upper classes, in the United Kingdom they are the opposite: shows such as Coronation Street, Brookside and EastEnders deal with the struggles of working-class life in their respective settings: Weatherfield (a thinly veiled Salford), Liverpool and Walford (commonly associated with Bromley-by-Bow). Another example is Shameless, which highlights working-class life in Stretford, a Manchester suburb, as does its American adaptation set in Chicago. TV shows such as Regular Show and Beavis and Butthead portray working-class friends. SpongeBob SquarePants, Bob the Builder, and Handy Manny are very well-known TV shows featuring working-class titular characters. Happy Tree Friends has a working-class beaver character named Handy. One of Australian pub rock singer Jimmy Barnes' more popular songs, "Working Class Man" references working-class culture and hardships.

Along with lad culture in the United Kingdom, some youth subcultures such as skinheads, mods, punks, rockers and metalheads have been associated with working-class culture. In the United States, some White Americans have reclaimed the usually derogatory term redneck as an identifier with working-class White Americans. Many may deliberately embrace redneck stereotypes but choose to avoid usage of the word due to its frequent association with negative attitudes such as racism. Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour are among the most popularized examples of redneck culture being embraced with humor. Many Irish, French, Mediterranean, Italian, Latin American and Eastern European communities within the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand are also identifiers of working-class culture. Similarly to rednecks, they also often embrace themselves. Some sports such as rugby league football, darts and association football, which is sometimes referred to as the working man's game, are associated with the working class in the United Kingdom. In the United States, ten-pin bowling, American football, basketball and baseball are associated with the working class.

title: Working-class culture


text: Category:Rough translations

title: Category:Rough translations


text:
NAFA

NAFA may refer to:

Organizations

 * Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore
 * National Association of Fleet Administrators, Canada and U.S.
 * Nauru Australian Football Association
 * New Alliance of Faso, a political party in Burkina Faso
 * Nigerian American Football Association, Nigeria
 * North American Falconers Association
 * North American Fur Auctions, Canada
 * North American Flyball Association

Other

 * Nuevo Acceso Ferroviario a Andalucía (New Rail Link to Andalusia), a high-speed rail link in Spain

title: NAFA


text:
The Nutty Squirrels

The Nutty Squirrels were a jazz virtual band formed in imitation of Alvin and the Chipmunks. The Nutty Squirrels' music was characterized by their use of scat singing. They received a Top 40 hit in late-1959 as the song "Uh! Oh!". They also preceded The Alvin Show in which they appeared on television in 1960 as The Nutty Squirrels Present, but the show's success was rather decreased.

The group's first two albums, The Nutty Squirrels and Bird Watching, were released in 1959. The Nutty Squirrels' final album, The Nutty Squirrels Sing A Hard Day's Night and Other Smashes, marked a stylistic change from their first two albums, featuring covers of the Beatles songs.

Biography
After The Chipmunks' initial success in 1958, plans were almost immediately made to make them into an animated cartoon series. Unfortunately, there were some initial art direction snags (specifically with the character designs) and the show was delayed. This gap resulted in a race between the Chipmunks and an imitative group created by jazz musicians Don Elliott and Granville Burland, which they called the Nutty Squirrels.

Both musical groups featured the defining sped-up voices, but Ross Bagdasarian Sr.'s Chipmunks favored popular music while the Squirrels favored jazz, particularly of the bebop variety. Ultimately, the Squirrels made it to television first, in the animated series The Nutty Squirrels Present (appearing in September 1960), but its popularity was decreased as of the originals.

"Uh! Oh! (Part 1)" peaked at #45 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart, while "Uh! Oh! (Part 2)" peaked at #14.

In the 2007 live-action/animated movie Alvin and the Chipmunks, during the credits, Ian Hawke (David Cross) is trying to get three squirrels to sing.

Personnel

 * Don Elliott: vocals, trumpet, vibraphone, possible other instruments
 * Granville Alexander "Sascha" Burland: vocals

Among the New York-based session musicians playing on these albums were Cannonball Adderley, (alto sax), Bobby Jaspar (flute), and Sam Most (clarinet)

Reception
In his 2019 autobiography, Mr. Know-It-All, John Waters wrote, "I should have told my mother about the Nutty Squirrels. They did jazz and they weren't junkies. This sped-up vocal group who imitated the Chipmunks actually beat them to television with an animated show called The Nutty Squirrels Present, and they looked down on the pop sound of Alvin and his gang. The Nutty Squirrels actually had a big jazz hit with "Uh Oh, Part One and Two," but if you go back and listen to the rest of their discography, you'll be blown away by some of their other riffs. These cats were smoking! If my mom had heard jazz like this at the wrong speed, she might have loved it."

title: The Nutty Squirrels


text:
Union Township, Ohio

Union Township, Ohio may refer to:

 * Union Township, Auglaize County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Belmont County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Brown County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Carroll County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Champaign County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Clermont County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Clinton County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Fayette County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Hancock County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Highland County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Knox County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Lawrence County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Licking County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Logan County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Madison County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Mercer County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Miami County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Morgan County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Muskingum County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Pike County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Putnam County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Ross County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Scioto County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Union County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Van Wert County, Ohio
 * Union Township, Warren County, Ohio
 * West Chester Township, Butler County, Ohio, which was named Union Township until 2000

title: Union Township, Ohio


text:
6 mm caliber

This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets of a caliber between 6 mm and 6.99 mm.

 * Length refers to the cartridge case length
 * OAL refers to the overall length of the cartridge

Measurements are in millimeters then inches, i.e. mm (in).

title: 6 mm caliber


text:
Template talk:Books of the New Testament

Compliment; Revelations → Revelation
Very nice box. Thanks, Itai! – Quadell (talk) (help)  18:11, Oct 11, 2004 (UTC)

 * I changed "Revelations" to "Revelation", since the title in every Bible I've seen is "Book of Revelation", and the Revelation is singular in the original Greek as well. But it looks nice, and was a needed addition. Thanks. Mpolo 18:36, Oct 11, 2004 (UTC)

Addition of Tewahedo Canon
Can I get an explanation of the addition of several books that the Ethiopian Tewahedo Church has in its canon to this template? It seems that this is a little out of place, considering none of those books are mentioned in the New Testament article and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church article does not mention these books or even use the template at all. Just curious, is all. Thanks! -ContemplativeInAction 04:10, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Order of the Books in the Template
Why are they arranged the way they are? That's not the order they're arranged into in the Bible, neither is it the order they were written in. And obviously it's not alphabetical, so what is it? User: Emperor Azure —Preceding unsigned comment added by Emperor Azure (talk • contribs) 20:32, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

 * If a reason for the current arrangment is not provided soon, I would suggest it be changed to the traditional Biblical order.
 * Neelix 13:28, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

 * The "traditional Biblical order"? Whose order?  There are different traditional Biblical orders for the Slavonic, Syriac, Ethiopian and Lutheran traditions.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.206.229.202 (talk) 01:20, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

 * In that case I'd go for alphabetical then. Drum guy (talk) 23:38, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

 * The order is from Bible Drum guy (talk) 18:46, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Search link
I'll add a search link to the box soon - so that each page the template is on has a direct link for people wanting to read the Book each article is about. I'll do it very soon if no one disagrees. The final version is currently (though it won't be for long) at User:Drum guy/sandbox4. Many thanks, Drum guy (talk) 23:38, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

Edit request from Gulliusa, 8 January 2011
http://www.thedisciplewhomjesusloved.com/beloved-disciple-fourth-gospel-author/

Gulliusa (talk) 23:31, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: You haven't stated what you want changed, but please note this is a navigational template for the purpose of helping readers move between articles on books of the New Testament, nothing more. Adrian J. Hunter(talk•contribs) 03:31, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Edit request
To replace template (but not noinclude section) with code for the sidebar opposite. As well as reducing the tallish height of the template, it indicates the parts of the New Testament (Gospels, Acts, Letters, Apocalypse)

213.246.93.224 (talk) 13:36, 16 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done — Bility (talk) 18:21, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 1 October 2015
I would like to change the arrangement of the New Testament Epistles into their correct arrangement, PATY.

-CTG777

Ctg777 (talk) 15:48, 1 October 2015 (UTC)
 * What's the correct arrangement? StAnselm (talk) 15:59, 1 October 2015 (UTC)

❌ as there is no "correct arrangement" as explained at Bible - "The New Testament books are ordered differently in the Catholic/Orthodox/Protestant tradition, the Slavonic tradition, the Syriac tradition and the Ethiopian tradition." - Arjayay (talk) 16:22, 1 October 2015 (UTC)


text:
Kubota Garden

Kubota Garden is a 20 acre Japanese garden in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. A public park since 1987, it was started in 1927 by Fujitaro Kubota, a Japanese emigrant. Today, it is maintained as a public park by the Seattle Parks and Recreation and the Kubota Garden Foundation.

History
Fujitaro Kubota emigrated from Shikoku, Japan in 1907 and established the Kubota Gardening Company in 1923. Projects of his included the garden at Seattle University and the Japanese garden at Bloedel Reserve in Bainbridge Island. In 1927, he bought 5 acre of swampland in Rainier Beach with the help of a friend, as he was not able to make the purchase because of his Japanese descent. In 1930, he went on to increase the size of the garden to 30 acre. Kubota Garden served as cultural center for the Japanese community in Seattle, as well as a home, office and nursery for his business. During World War II, Kubota Garden was abandoned for four years as Kubota and his family were interned at Camp Minidoka in Idaho. During his internment, Kubota supervised the building of a community park, which included a Japanese rock garden. After the war, he and his sons Tak and Tom Kubota rebuilt the business.

The Japanese government awarded Kubota the Fifth Class Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1972 "for his achievements in his adopted country, for introducing and building respect for Japanese Gardening in this area." Kubota maintained the garden until his death in 1973.

In 1981, the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board declared the core 4.5 acre of the park to be a historical landmark of the City of Seattle. In 1987, the City of Seattle bought the garden from the Kubota family, and it is now maintained by the Department of Parks and Recreation as well as volunteers from the Kubota Garden Foundation.

In addition, 17 acre surrounding the park has been purchased by the Open Space Program in the City of Seattle in order to protect Mapes Creek, which runs through the park. The Tom Kubota Stroll Garden broke ground in 1999 and was opened in 2000. The garden received a new entrance gate designed by Gerard Tsutakawa in 2004.

A community newspaper noted in 1995 that the garden was being abused after staff left for the day, including graffiti and beer bottles being left behind.

In 2020, the book "Spirited Stone: Lesson's From Kubota's Garden" was released, entailing the importance of Kubota's legacy through the stories of novelists, poets, and garden enthusiasts.

Kubota Garden Foundation
The Kubota Garden Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1989 to "support, enhance, and perpetuate the Kubota Garden within the spirit and vision of Fujitaro Kubota." Kubota's vision included opening the garden to the public and increasing American understanding and appreciation of Japanese Gardens. The foundation provides additional fundraising, volunteer work, and publications to support the garden.

Features and programs
The garden is open to the public every day during daylight hours all year round. School children, senior groups, tourists, and garden clubs make up a large portion of their audience. The fourth Saturday between April and October, the Kubota Garden holds a public tour.

Major features of the Kubota Garden include the Kubota Terrace, the Bamboo Grove, the Necklace of Ponds, the Mountainside, and the Tom Kubota Stroll Garden.

Flora
Kubota Garden contains a variety of trees and plants including Kuretake (Phyllostachys nigra or Black Bamboo), Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum), Blue Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlanticus Glauca), and Norway Spruce (Picea abies).

Kuretake: Native to the Hunan Province of China, this plant (also known as Black Bamboo) grows in an upright position to about 20 to 35 feet. The dark green, yellow, and black colors are the main source of attraction, as they are popularly used for decorative wood working.

Japanese Maple: Growing anywhere between 8 and 30 feet tall, the Japanese Maple is known for its radiantly beautiful color changes throughout the seasons—ranging from earthier tones of green and brown to warmer colors of red and orange.

Blue Atlas Cedar: The Blue Atlas Cedar gets its name from the blue pigmentation of its leaves; a needled evergreen tree that grows anywhere between 40 and 60 feet and can withstand extreme weather conditions such as droughts and treacherous winters.

Norway Spruce: The Norway Spruce (the fastest growing plant in the spruce family) grows to be about 40 to 60 feet high. The major attraction towards this tree is the homing of a variety of wildlife—anywhere from deer to a differentiation of bird species.

Amenities and events

 * The Tom Kubota Stroll Garden allows wheel chair accessibility to the Terrace Overlook. However, main pathways are not as accessible, as they are made with hard-packed gravel.
 * Dogs allowed at the garden
 * There are picnic tables and benches placed throughout the garden
 * There are portable toilets near the entrance of the garden

Individuals can reserve the Terrace Overlook feature for events. Events may include: Wedding ceremonies, musical performances, family reunions, photoshoots, etc. During this time, the garden is still open to the public, but the specific area is closed off for the event. There is a group limitation of 150 guests and alcohol, and amplified sounds are prohibited.

title: Kubota Garden


text:
Safe seat

A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing hands because of the political leanings of the electorate in the constituency concerned or the popularity of the incumbent member. This contrasts with a marginal seat in which a defeat for the seat holder is considered possible. In systems where candidates must first win the party's primary election, the phrase "tantamount to election" is often used to describe winning the dominant party's nomination for a safe seat.

Definition
There is a spectrum between safe and marginal seats. Supposedly safe seats can still change hands in a landslide election, such as Enfield Southgate being lost by the Conservatives (and then-potential future party leader Michael Portillo) to Labour at the 1997 UK general election, whilst other seats may remain marginal despite large national swings, such as Gedling, which Labour narrowly won in every election for twenty years until the 2019 general election, despite having both major victories and defeats during this time. Gedling would still be seen as a marginal seat, even though it had been held by Labour for a long time. Safe seats are usually seats that have been held by one party for a long time, but the two concepts are not interchangeable.

In countries with parliamentary government, parties often try to ensure that their most talented or influential politicians are selected to contest these seats – in part to ensure that these politicians can stay in parliament, regardless of the specific election result, and that they can concentrate on ministerial roles without needing to spend too much effort on managing electorate-specific issues.

Candidate selection for a party's safe seats is usually keenly contested, although many parties restrict or forbid challenges to the nomination of sitting members. The selection process can see the incumbent party, untroubled by the need to have a representative that must appeal to a broader electorate, take the opportunity to choose a candidate from the more ideological reaches of the membership. Opposing parties will often be compelled to nominate much less well-known individuals (such as backroom workers or youth activists in the party), who will sometimes do little more than serve as paper candidates who do little or no campaigning, or will use the contest to gain experience so that they become more likely to be selected for a more winnable seat. In some cases (especially in the United States), these seats may go uncontested by other major parties.

Safe seats can become marginal seats (and vice versa) gradually as voter allegiances shift over time. This shift can happen more rapidly for a variety of reasons. The retirement or death of a popular sitting member may make a seat more competitive, as the accrued personal vote of a long-serving parliamentarian will sometimes have resisted countervailing demographic trends. An independent or third-party candidate with an ideology close to that of the incumbent party may also be able to make a more credible challenge than more established parties, but these factors can combine: a retiring third-party member may turn a safe seat for that party into a marginal seat. For instance, in Berwick-upon-Tweed, with the retirement of the popular incumbent Alan Beith, the seat was no longer safe for the Liberal Democrats.

Traditionally safe seats can also be more vulnerable in by-elections, especially for governing parties. Safe seats may also become marginal if the sitting member is involved in scandal: in 1997, Tatton was gained from the Conservatives by an anti-sleaze independent candidate, despite the majority previously being that of a very safe seat for the Conservatives. The incumbent, Neil Hamilton, had been mired in controversy, and was defeated by the veteran BBC journalist Martin Bell, who was aided by the decision of the main opposition parties (Labour and the Liberal Democrats) not to field candidates. Without such pacts, a split vote is more likely under a first past the post electoral system, as in the UK.

Opposition supporters in safe seats have restricted means to affect election outcomes, and thus the incumbent parties can, in theory, decide to ignore those supporters' concerns, as they have no direct effect on the election result. Even those voters who are moderate supporters of the incumbent party may be disenfranchised by having a representative whose views may be more extreme than their own. Political objectors in such areas may experience marginalisation from wider democratic processes and political apathy. This is often regarded as undemocratic, and is a major argument in favour of various multi-member proportional representation election methods. Safe seats may receive far less political funding than marginal seats, as the parties will attempt to "buy" marginal seats with funding (a process known in North America and Australia as "pork barrelling"), while ignoring safe seats which will reliably fall to the same party every time; this is especially true in cases where the safe seat is held by the minority party.

In countries that do not apply the first past the post system, many of which equally operate a geographic division-based system, selected or party sub-nominated candidates can be allocated a safer or more tenuous list position. If a party is strong enough nationwide to gather representations in all subdivisions, the top candidate(s) on each list tend to be very safely elected to parliament. This is seen in the extremely proportional election systems of the Nordic countries, for example. Safe seats and candidates can be avoided altogether by a purposefully marginal-preference allocation of all divisions, ensuring all divisions are near-identically demographically diverse which may be achieved by pairing non-adjoining areas.

Australia
The Australian Electoral Commission defines seat margins as follows:

In his election analysis, psephologist Antony Green puts the cutoff between "safe" and "very safe" at 12%.

In Australia's federal system, most rural seats are safe seats for either the National Party or Liberal Party. Conversely, inner-city and poorer suburban seats are typically safe Australian Labor Party seats, and a few of the most affluent inner-middle urban seats are held by the Liberal Party. Marginals are generally concentrated in the middle-class outer-suburban areas of Australia's larger state capitals, which therefore decide most Australian federal elections.

At the 2007 federal election, the governing Australian Labor Party's safest seat was the seat of Division of Batman in Melbourne's inner-northern suburbs, with a two-party-preferred margin of 26.0%. The safest seat for the opposition Liberal Party was the rural Victorian electorate of Murray, with a margin of 18.3%. The Liberal Party's junior coalition partner, the National Party's safest seat was the division of Mallee, also located in rural Victoria, with a margin of 21.3%.

Canada
Examples include:

 * Beauséjour, a riding in southeastern New Brunswick, which is considered a safe seat for the Liberal Party. In 1990, when Jean Chrétien needed an open seat to become Leader of the Opposition, he chose Beauséjour in a by-election and won.
 * Bow River, located in southern Alberta, is considered a safe seat for the Conservatives. In the 2015 federal election, the Conservative candidate won by 77% of the vote.
 * Central Nova, located in east-central Nova Scotia, which has previously been called a safe seat for the Conservative Party and its predecessor, the Progressive Conservative Party, having been held by either Elmer MacKay or his son Peter for all but five of forty years until 2015. The only time the riding was not in Conservative control was from 1993 to 1997, when the Progressive Conservatives were reduced to just two seats nationwide and a socially conservative candidate ran for the Liberals. In 1983, when Brian Mulroney became Progressive Conservative leader and needed a seat in the House of Commons, he chose to run in Central Nova. Liberal MP Sean Fraser won the seat in 2015, and was re-elected in 2019 and 2021.
 * Crowfoot, a Conservative stronghold located in southern Alberta, which has been called the safest seat in the entire country. In the 2008 election, Conservative candidate Kevin Sorenson won 82.04% of the vote, and in a ranking measuring the electoral competitiveness of ridings by National Post reporter Dan Arnold, the district came in last in all of Canada, having an average margin of victory of 74%.
 * Battle River—Crowfoot, the successor to Crowfoot, is a solid Conservative stronghold and is considered one of the most solid seats in Canada. In the 2015 federal election, the Conservative candidate won by 80.91% of the vote.
 * Mount Royal, a Liberal stronghold in Montreal, Quebec, held by a succession of Liberal MPs since 1940. Liberal Irwin Cotler won over 75% of the vote in the 2004 federal election.
 * Ottawa—Vanier, a Liberal stronghold in the eastern part of Ottawa. It has elected a Liberal Member of Parliament each federal election since its creation in 1935, often in landslide victories. In fact, the previous electoral district which comprises most of the constituency, Russell, had been solidly Liberal since 1887.
 * Portage—Lisgar, one of many rural, southern safe seats in the Prairies for the Conservative Party of Canada.
 * Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, yet another Liberal safe seat in Montreal. It has been held by the Liberals since its creation. In the 2004 federal election, incumbent Stéphane Dion won with over 65% of the vote, and over 21,000 votes more than his closest rival.
 * Wild Rose, a Conservative stronghold, also in southern Alberta. The incumbent, Blake Richards, won 72.9% of the vote in the 2008 election in what ranked as the largest majority win in its history. His predecessor, Myron Thompson, won 72% compared to 10% for his closest rival in the 2006 federal election.
 * York Centre, a safe seat for the Liberals in Toronto. Since the district's re-establishment in 1952, it has been out of Liberal hands only twice.
 * The City of Toronto, which holds 25 ridings is often considered a Liberal stronghold, having shut out the Conservative Party from the city in the six elections between 1993 and 2008, and having lost at most two ridings in the 2004, 2006 and 2008 elections to the New Democratic Party. The 2011 Canadian Federal Election ended the Liberal fortress of Toronto when both Conservatives and New Democrats elected many new MPs in Toronto. The former Liberal strength was restored in 2015 as they won all 25 Toronto ridings. The city is not as safe at the provincial level; for instance, the Liberal Party of Ontario won only 3 of Toronto's 41 ridings in the 2018 provincial election.
 * Fundy Royal, a riding in Southern New Brunswick, is usually a safe seat for Conservatives. It has only been held by two Liberal MPs since its founding in 1914, its first having held one term from 1993 to 1997 and the latest having been elected in 2015.
 * Southern Calgary, particularly Calgary Shepard, Calgary Heritage and Calgary Midnapore, is considered to be a solid Conservative stronghold. In the 3 April 2017 by-elections, the Conservative candidate for Midnapore won by 77% of the vote and the Conservative candidate for Heritage won by 71% of the vote. In the 2015 federal election, the Conservative candidate for Shepard won by 65% of the vote.
 * Sturgeon River—Parkland, located in Alberta near Edmonton, is considered a Conservative stronghold. In the 23 October 2017 by-election, the Conservative candidate won by 77% of the vote.
 * Battlefords—Lloydminster, located in Eastern Saskatchewan, is considered a Conservative stronghold, despite its low population. In the 11 December 2017 by-election, the Conservative candidate won by 69% of the vote.

Fiji
In Fiji, prior to the December 2006 military coup, elections were held under the 1997 Constitution, which allotted 46 of the House of Representatives' 71 seats on an ethnic basis. 23 were reserved for the indigenous majority, 19 for Indo-Fijians, 1 for Rotumans, and 3 for members of all other ethnic minorities. There was a strong tendency toward voting on ethnic lines. Thus, in the 1999 general election, although the indigenous seats were split between several parties, all 19 Indo-Fijian seats were won by the Fiji Labour Party – which won none of the indigenous seats. In the 2001 general election, the conservative indigenous nationalist Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua party won 18 of the indigenous seats, with the other 5 going to the ultra-nationalist Conservative Alliance – which later merged into the SDL. All 19 "Indian" seats were retained by the Labour Party. In the 2006 general election, all Indo-Fijian seats remained safely Labour, while the SDL won all 23 indigenous seats. Among other minorities, only the communal seat of West Central was a safe seat for the ethnic United Peoples Party.

The new Constitution adopted in 2013 abolished constituency representation altogether, in favour of party list seat allocation based on nationwide results. The 2014 general election was held on that basis, thus putting an end to all safe seats. The Labour Party suffered a near wipe-out.

Hong Kong
There is no formal definition in Hong Kong, yet there are some functional constituency seats which are regarded as fully secured by a political party or a political camp.

Fully secured by the pan-democracy camp:
 * Education, formerly called Teaching in the colonial period, has been a safe seat of HKPTU since 1985 until now. Except the incumbent Ip Kin-yuen, the LEGCO member elected in this constituency are members of the Democratic Party Hong Kong.
 * Legal has been a safe seat of Pro-democracy camp since 1985, and a safe seat for Civic Party since 2008. Ip Sik On, who was elected by this constituency in 1991, is the only one who is not from the pro-democracy camp.

Fully secured by the pro-Beijing camp:
 * Agriculture and Fisheries, which has been held by the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong since its creation in 1998, with the DAB candidate being unopposed from 2000 to 2008.

Malaysia
In Malaysia, the percentage of votes secured by a winning candidate defines the seat margin. In this case:

 * A seat with winning percentage under 55.9% by a candidate identified as 'Margin' seat.
 * A seat with winning percentage between 56% and 59.9% by a candidate identified as 'Fairly safe' seat.
 * A seat with winning percentage more than 60% by a candidate identified as 'Safe' seat.

The northern, east coast, and rural constituencies have been safe seats for the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) and Perikatan Nasional (PN). Especially in Kelantan, PAS has been in government since 1990 (7 consecutive terms).

Pakatan Harapan, the senior coalition in the current government has been a dominant coalition in highly industrialized states, namely Penang, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. Even prior to the 2008 elections which ended Barisan Nasional dominant over the country, PH and its predecessors performed well in these states despite never having a chance to rule over the states before. For Barisan Nasional, another major partner in the government, the southern states and Sabah are the safe seats for the coalition. During its dominant period, it also controlled Sarawak and west coast states.

Sabah and Sarawak are safe states for their local parties, with Gabungan Rakyat Sabah and Gabungan Parti Sarawak governing the states with supermajority. For Sabah, despite being described as a swing state in the past, it has been consistently ruled by parties that once a part in BN. Prior to the 2018 elections, these states were described as 'fixed deposits' for BN as they won almost all seats there with a landslide.

New Zealand
In New Zealand, many rural electorates, and those based in wealthy suburban areas, notably the North Shore and eastern suburbs of Auckland, are considered safe seats for the National Party. An example of a safe National seat is East Coast Bays, currently held by Erica Stanford, who gained 71.52% of votes in the 2023 election, with only 19% of votes going to her Labour rival. By contrast, inner-city and poorer suburban electorates such as those in South Auckland are typically safe Labour seats. For example, in 2023, the seat of Māngere was held by Labour list MP Lemauga Lydia Sosene with just under 60% of the vote, while her National rival won just under 20% of the vote even despite the nationwide Labour losses of that year.

Historically, some seats thought to be safe have witnessed surprise upsets. Perhaps the most dramatic recent case was the 1996 election, in which the Maori seats, safe Labour seats for the previous 60 years, were all won by New Zealand First. Meanwhile, in the 2023 election, Labour lost many seats that they had held for decades prior such as Mount Roskill, Rongotai and Wellington Central.

The adoption of proportional representation by New Zealand, beginning in 1996, has decreased the importance of winning votes in geographical electorates. It remains to be seen what long-term effect proportional representation will have on the safety of individual electorate seats.

Philippines
While party-switching in the Philippines is rampant, certain congressional districts have been held by political families for generations. These are:

 * Camarines Sur–4th: A Fuentebella has served in Congress since 1925. The Fuentebellas have held this district since its creation in 2010, held the 3rd district from 1992 to 2010, and the 2nd district from 1925 to 1972, except from 1931 to 1935, and from 1946 to 1953. A Fuentebella represented Bicol from 1978 to 1984.
 * Cebu–5th: A Durano had held this seat until 2019 when they were defeated. Prior to redistricting, the Duranos held Cebu–1st since 1949. The Duranos have also held the mayorship of Danao, the largest city in the district, for generations.
 * Isabela–1st: An Albano has held this seat since 1987. Prior to redistricting, an Albano has represented Isabela's at-large district or the Cagayan Valley from 1957 to 1986, except from 1965 to 1969.
 * La Union–1st: An Ortega has held this seat since 1945 except for two instances, and continually since 1969.
 * Tarlac–1st: A Cojuangco has held this seat from 1907 to 1909, from 1934 to 1946, and continually since 1961.

Under the usual definition, Capiz–1st has been held by the Liberal Party since 1946, except from 1953 to 1957. Bohol's 3rd district has been held by the Nacionalista Party from 1946 to 1972.

South Korea
From the 1960s, parliamentary constituencies in Gyeongsang region, especially Northern Gyeongbuk and Western Gyeongnam, are considered as safe seats for People Power Party.

City centres in Southeastern Gyeongnam, Southern Gyeogbuk and parliamentary constituencies in rural Gangwon, Chungbuk, Chungnam and Gyeonggi and affluent villages in such as Gangnam-gu, Seocho-gu, Songpa-gu and Yongsan-gu of Seoul, Haeundae-gu, Nam-gu, Dongnae-gu and Suyeong-gu of Busan are also considered as safe seats for People Power Party.

Parliamentary constituencies in industrial areas and built-up residential areas in Gyeonggi, Southeastern Gyeongnam, Cheongju – Daejeon – Sejong City and Jeolla regions such as Jeonbuk and Jeonnam are considered as safe seats for the Democratic Party.

United Kingdom
On 6 April 2010, the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) estimated that going into the 2010 general election, of the 650 constituencies, 382 (59%) were safe seats. Some of these seats have since been lost by the parties that held them at the time, notably most of the Liberal Democrat seats and some Labour seats, meaning they can no longer be considered "safe".

Examples of safe seats for the Labour Party are in major urban areas and the industrial centres, such as the North West (Liverpool, Manchester); the North East (Newcastle, Sunderland); South and West Yorkshire, the Valleys of South Wales; the West Midlands county and parts of Inner London (e.g. Hackney and Newham).

Many areas of the Central Belt of Scotland, such as Glasgow and Edinburgh, were seen as safe Labour seats until the 2015 election, when the Scottish National Party took all but one Labour seat in Scotland (Edinburgh South).

Safe seats for the Conservative Party tend to be in rural areas: the Home Counties (e.g. Surrey, Buckinghamshire), the shires (e.g. North Yorkshire and Cheshire) and affluent areas of London (e.g. Chelsea and Fulham).

The safest seat in the 2017 general election was Liverpool Walton, where Labour received 86% of the vote, giving them a 77% majority over the second-placed Conservatives (at 9%). Christchurch is a safe Conservative seat; in 2017 the party gathered 69.6% of the vote there, giving it a near-50% majority over Labour.

At the 2015 general election, seven out of eight of the Liberal Democrats' remaining seats were marginal, with their soon-to-be leader Tim Farron's seat of Westmorland and Lonsdale being the only one considered safe. Orkney and Shetland has been held by the Liberal Democrats and their predecessor party, the Liberal Party, continuously since the 1950 general election, but was almost lost to the Scottish National Party in the latter's national landslide. The seat of Sheffield Hallam was notable in the run up to the 2015 general election, when opinion polls were forecasting a Labour gain despite the incumbent MP, Nick Clegg, being the party leader and Deputy Prime Minister. Clegg held the seat, albeit with a much reduced majority of just 2,353 (4.2%). In 2017, several Lib Dem MPs either regained their seat, such as Vince Cable and Ed Davey, or won new ones. Despite the net gain in seats, several were still lost, such as Clegg's, whilst Farron's majority was reduced to less than 1,000.

The ERS identifies what it calls "super safe seats", which have been held continuously by one party since the 19th century. In so doing, it equates seats with their rough equivalents under previous boundaries. For example, following the 2010 general election, it identifies the national representative of the area forming Haltemprice and Howden (drawn as a constituency in 1997) as having been a Conservative since the 1837 general election. Similarly, it considers that Wokingham (and a few others) have been held by the Conservative Party since 1885, Devon East, Fylde and Arundel and South Downs since 1868, Hampshire North East since 1857, and Rutland and Melton, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, and East Worthing and Shoreham all since 1841. (For historical reasons, the Conservative Party being older than the other current main parties, it holds all the oldest safe seats.)

Even the safest of seats can be – and sometimes are – upset. Whilst it is rare for the opposition to take such seats, outside candidates may be able to. Examples include the election of Peter Law and George Galloway in very safe Labour seats in 2005, Jim Murphy in the Eastwood constituency in Scotland in 1997, Martin Bell in the safe Conservative seat of Tatton in 1997, and most recently, Helen Morgan in the Conservatives' historically safest seat, North Shropshire, in a by-election in 2021.

The loss of safe seats can become historic moments: the defeat of Michael Portillo in his "safe" Conservative seat in 1997 created the "Portillo moment". That expression has since been used to describe huge voting swings that generally usher in a new government, as occurred in 1997. Similarly, in 2015, the Labour Party lost many formerly safe seats in Scotland, including Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, which had previously been held by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and Paisley and Renfrewshire South, the seat of shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander. In both cases, swings of over 25% to the SNP were recorded. In the 2019 general election, Labour lost many formerly safe seats that were part of its 'Red Wall' in northern England. These defeats represented about 20% of the party's overall 2017 vote in such seats.

United States
The Cook Partisan Voting Index rates congressional districts on how strongly they lean toward either major party. As of the 2022 redistricting, California's 12th district is the most Democratic at D+40, while Alabama's 4th district is the most Republican at R+33.

Other examples of a safe seat for the Democrats is California's 11th congressional district, which currently covers most of the city of San Francisco. This district and its predecessors have been in Democratic hands without interruption since 1949. Its current representative, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was most recently reelected with 77.6 percent of the vote.

Safe Republican seats include Tennessee's 1st congressional district and Tennessee's 2nd congressional district, which are located in the eastern part of the state. Both districts have been held by Republicans or their predecessors (except for two terms in the 1st) since 1859. These districts elected some of the few truly senior Southern Republican Congressmen before the 1950s.

title: Safe seat


text:
Don Gorske

Don Gorske (born 1954 (age 64)) is an American world record holder known as the "ultimate Big Mac fan," having eaten over 34,128 such hamburgers from the U.S. fast food chain McDonald's in his lifetime (as of March 2024), earning him a place in the Guinness Book of Records. A resident of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Gorske claims the Big Mac constitutes 90–95% of his total solid food intake. He is featured in the documentaries Super Size Me (2004) and Don Gorske: Mac Daddy (2005), and is the author of 22,477 Big Macs (2008).

Diet
Gorske claims that after getting his first car, the first place he went to was the McDonald's on Military Road in his hometown of Fond du Lac on May 17, 1972. He purchased and ate three Big Macs at lunchtime. He returned two more times to consume nine Big Macs the same day he discovered the burger. He further claims to have eaten 265 Big Macs the following month, an average of 8.5 Big Macs daily. If true, this would equal over 4,600 calories and 247 grams of fat daily, for 143,100 calories and 16.9 lb of fat in one month. He also claims to drink almost nothing but Coca-Cola and, according to Super Size Me, he rarely eats the fries. At first, Don kept all the boxes of Big Macs he ate in the back of his car. In addition, he has a statue of Ronald McDonald in his yard. Gorske had a single Burger King Whopper sandwich in 1984 and never ate one again. Gorske tried the Whopper after his friend bet him $5 to do so, later spending the winnings on Big Macs.

In 2003, Gorske ate 741 Big Macs, an average of 2.03 Big Macs daily. Gorske is 6ft 2in, 185 lb, and claims a cholesterol level of 140. Daily consumption of two Big Macs amounts to 1,080 calories, according to McDonald's published nutritional information, compared to the USDA recommendation of 2,200 calories per day. Gorske consumes mainly calorie-rich food, but he maintains a stable weight by consuming fewer calories daily than the average American. He says his taste buds have always fluctuated in sensitivity, so he often eats a Big Mac without being able to taste it.

Gorske commented in 2008 that his obsessive–compulsive disorder is what fuels his love of Big Macs, noting he also records when and where he eats his Big Macs in a notebook he always carries and that he has kept every burger receipt in a box full.

On May 17, 2011, Gorske ate his 25,000th Big Mac at his favorite McDonald's restaurant in Fond du Lac. On his birthdays, he puts candles in a Big Mac like a cake, and when Christmas time comes around, he treats himself to more Big Macs while his family has more traditional Christmas food. He claims that since he ate his first Big Mac, there have only been eight days on which he did not eat a single Big Mac. One of these days was when his mother died, and he did not eat a Big Mac to respect her request. Other days included a "snow day" when McDonald's was unable to open due to snow, a Thanksgiving, days he was traveling and could not find a McDonald's, and various days Gorske had to stay at work past midnight. Gorske has since started keeping an "emergency stash" of Big Macs in his freezer for emergencies and snow days.

Gorske ate his 30,000th Big Mac on May 4, 2018. On May 17, 2022, Gorske celebrated 50 years of eating Big Macs nearly every day since May 1972.

By March 2024, Gorske had surpassed eating 34,000 Big Macs.

Gorske claims to skip breakfast, and the only other food he eats is a small evening snack such as ice cream, a fruit bar, or potato chips. Gorske also does not order any side dishes with his Big Macs and takes half dozen mile walks daily. His favorite food other than Big Macs used to be lobster, but in 2024, Gorske, said the last time he ate it was "over 28 years ago."

Personal life and health
Gorske was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Gorske met his wife, Mary, in September 1973, and he proposed to her in the parking lot of a McDonald's three years later. Gorske ate a Big Mac before the start of their wedding ceremony. The couple had a son, Gideon.

He was a correctional officer at Waupun Correctional Institution for 25 years, retiring in May 2011. Just before retirement, at his first doctor visit since 1985, his cholesterol level was 156 mg/dl, below the average of 208 mg/dl.

Appearances
He appeared in the documentary Super Size Me. In the DVD extras for the film, it is revealed he works as a correctional officer. He also makes a cameo appearance in cartoon form in the film.

In 2006, Gorske appeared as a contestant on the game show I've Got a Secret. Celebrity panelist Billy Bean guessed the Big Mac as Gorske's food of choice.

On May 25, 2009, Gorske was featured on The Rachael Ray Show.

To celebrate eating his 25,000th Big Mac, he appeared on The Kyle & Jackie O Show on May 20, 2011, and Lopez Tonight on May 23, 2011.

The Netflix series History 101 featured Gorske to start its 2020 episode examining fast food.

title: Don Gorske


text:
How Could Hell Be Any Worse?

How Could Hell Be Any Worse? is the debut studio album by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released on January 19, 1982 by Epitaph Records. Released almost a year after their self-titled EP, it was financed from the sales of the self titled EP and partly by a $1,000 loan by guitarist Brett Gurewitz's father. Its success surprised the band when it sold 10,000 copies in under a year.

How Could Hell Be Any Worse? was recorded over two time periods at Track Record Studios in North Hollywood, California, during October–November 1980 and again in January 1981. After the original recording sessions, drummer Jay Ziskrout left Bad Religion and was replaced by his friend and the band's roadie Pete Finestone, who was brought in to complete the rest of the album. Though not yet credited as a member of the band, future guitarist Greg Hetson, who was in Circle Jerks during this time, provided a guitar solo on "Part III". How Could Hell Be Any Worse? was also Bad Religion's last album featuring Jay Bentley on bass for six years, until 1988's Suffer.

The front cover photograph was taken by Edward Colver near the Hollywood Bowl, while the back cover featured one of Gustave Dore's illustrations of Dante's Divine Comedy.

Background and production
Bad Religion formed in 1980; their initial line-up consisted of high school students Greg Graffin on vocals, guitarist Brett Gurewitz of Quarks and drummer Jay Ziskrout. They wrote three songs, before Jay Bentley was drafted in on bass. The quartet recorded a demo tape that ended up getting played on local radio station KROQ-FM. A few weeks later, the band made their live debut while supporting Social Distortion. Bad Religion recorded a self-titled EP in late 1981, which was released through their own label Epitaph Records. They pressed 2,000 copies of it, recouping enough to fund the sessions for their debut studio album.

The band recorded most of the album at Track Record Studios in North Hollywood, California over two nights, from October 31 to November 1, 1980; seven songs were recorded on the first night and mixed on the following day. Throughout November of that year, Bad Religion continued to write new material, and Ziskrout soon left the band, replaced by his friend and roadie Pete Finestone. Graffin said regarding Ziskrout's departure: "It was for some really stupid reason. Like 'you guys don't listen to me enough, fuck you, I quit.' He walked out of the rehearsal studio, and left his drums and everything. We're halfway finished with How Could Hell Be Any Worse, and Bad Religion was without a drummer". After "some quick practices" at Graffin's mother's garage, also referred to as The Hellhole, Bad Religion returned to recording How Could Hell Be Any Worse? again in January 1981 and finished the album over the weekend. Author Dave Thompson, in his book Alternative Rock (2000), described the album's sound as "clashing standard punky stop/start songs with a barely disguised debt to '70s hard rock."

Reception
Critical reception to How Could Hell Be Any Worse? has been positive. Johnny Loftus of AllMusic awarded the album 3 out of 5 stars and stated that How Could Hell Be Any Worse? is "like cupping your ear against the garage door of their practice space. Greg Graffin's vocal style isn't fully formed here, nor is his lyrical agenda, but the building blocks are significant and affecting, bigger than piles of collapsed cathedrals". Thompson found the album to be partially more melodic than their local hardcore punk contemporaries "but just as fast and furious".

Rage Against the Machine's Zack de la Rocha spoke about Bad Religion to the OC Register during the band's 30-year anniversary in 2010. Speaking about How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, he said: "I remember hearing BR's How Could Hell Be Any Worse? for the first time in 1985, I was fifteen. The first thing I remember is pulling the insert from the sleeve of the record and seeing those drawings from Dante's Inferno, and that red wash over the blurry shot of Los Angeles, and I admit I was scared. A little terrified even. I had no idea what to expect. When the needle hit the record I have to say it was a defining moment for me. The music was darker than most punk records I had heard. It was almost gothic, and there was a genuine sadness to the melodies. Listening to the words I remember being overwhelmed. It wasn't some revelation that god didn't exist ... it was more like an injection of the sad truth. That our condition is the product of the mess of our own making ... and at fifteen that was as scary as the inferno drawings. I wasn't reading Sartre or Nietzsche, and I'm convinced now that if I was it wouldn't have had the same effect. Throughout the record there was very little relief from the sad truths except one: 'there are two things you can do ... one is to turn and fight ... the other's to go headlong into the night.' Truly one of the greatest L.A. bands". De la Rocha also said that the song "Fuck Armageddon...This Is Hell" changed his life.

Reissues
How Could Hell Be Any Worse? has been reissued many times. It was first reissued in 1988 with a different catalogue number and Epitaph's then-current address. It was released on CD as part of the 1991 compilation 80–85, containing all of the band's material from 1981 to 1985 (except Into the Unknown) in its entirety.

A CD remaster for How Could Hell Be Any Worse? was released in 2004, along with Suffer, No Control, Against the Grain, Generator and a DVD reissue of their long-out of print 1992 live video Along the Way. The remastered version of How Could Hell Be Any Worse? contained the same track listing as 80–85.

Personnel
Adapted from the album liner notes.

 * Bad Religion
 * Greg Graffin – vocals, piano
 * Brett Gurewitz – guitars, backing vocals
 * Jay Bentley – bass
 * Pete Finestone – drums on tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 13; timpani
 * Additional musicians
 * Jay Ziskrout – drums on tracks 2, 5, 8-12 and 14
 * Greg Hetson – guitar solo on "Part III"
 * Technical
 * Bad Religion – producer
 * Jim Mankey – engineer
 * Ed Colver – photography
 * Fer Youz – photography

title: How Could Hell Be Any Worse?


text:
Charles S. Roberts

Charles Swann Roberts (February 3, 1930 – August 20, 2010, Baltimore, Maryland ) was a wargame designer, railroad historian, and businessman. He is renowned as "The Father of Board Wargaming", having created the first commercially successful modern wargame in 1952 (Tactics), the first wargaming company in 1954 (Avalon Hill), and designed the first board wargame based upon an actual historical battle (Gettysburg). He is also the author of a series of books on railroad history, published by the small publishing firm, Barnard, Roberts, and Company, Inc.

As a wargame designer
In 1952, Charles S. Roberts began working on the first mass market board wargame, Tactics, from his house in the Avalon neighborhood of Catonsville, Maryland. It was a revolutionary design in many ways that Roberts recalled confounded new players more accustomed to rules like chess and checkers. In 1954, he began selling it via mail-order as The Avalon Game Company; and Roberts formed gaming company Avalon Hill in 1958 to publish the next incarnation, Tactics II (1958). Tactics II improved on the basic game design of his earlier effort, and formed the genesis for the concept of the combat results table. In 1958 he published Gettysburg, considered to be the first board wargame based upon an actual historical battle, with subsequent versions in 1961 and 1964.

Hard hit by a recession, Roberts turned over Avalon Hill to one of his creditors, Eric Dott of Monarch Services, in December 1963. Tom Shaw, a longtime friend of Roberts and the last holdover from the original company, ran the company during Avalon Hill's successful 1963-1982 period. After six years in Roberts home, the company moved to a dedicated building in the Parkville neighborhood of Baltimore.

Starting in 1988, Roberts's name was given to the Charles S. Roberts Awards, given for excellence in the historical wargaming hobby. He was a charter member of the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame.

In 1999 Pyramid magazine named Charles S. Roberts as one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons "at least in the realm of adventure gaming."

As a railroad historian
Following the sale of his wargame company, Avalon Hill, Charles Roberts held various positions in the publishing industry. In 1973, he founded a small press, Barnard, Roberts, and Company, which he has described as "publishing to the Catholic market", even though Roberts himself was not a Catholic. Over time, the company's emphasis shifted away from religious publications and toward railroad history.

Roberts took pride in coming from a long line of railroaders. One of his great great uncles was Thomas Swann, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from 1848 to 1853. Roberts's father and grandfather (also named Charles Swann Roberts) had long careers with the Baltimore and Ohio. In one of his books, Roberts reminisced about childhood trips with his father to observe the operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad, of which Roberts had always been an enthusiast.

The firm of Barnard, Roberts, and Company published numerous books about railroad history, many written by Charles Roberts himself. Earlier volumes focused on the Baltimore and Ohio, and later books documented the Pennsylvania Railroad. The first in this series was Triumph I: Altoona to Pitcairn: 1846-1996, and the last was Triumph IX: Salt Sea to Bays, Valleys, Dells, and Firestorms: 1927-2007. In Triumph IX, Roberts includes reminiscences about his life and movingly pays tribute to his late first wife, Patricia.

title: Charles S. Roberts


text:
Old Zurich War

The Old Zurich War (Alter Zürichkrieg; 1440–1446) was a conflict between the canton of Zurich and the other seven cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy over the succession to the Count of Toggenburg.

In 1436, Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg died, leaving neither heir nor will. The canton of Zurich, led by burgomaster Rudolf Stüssi, claimed the Toggenburg lands; the cantons of Schwyz and Glarus made counter-claims, backed by the other cantons. In 1438, Zurich occupied the disputed area and cut off grain supplies to Schwyz and Glarus. In 1440, the other cantons expelled Zurich from the confederation and declared war. Zurich retaliated by making an alliance with Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor of the house of Habsburg.

The forces of Zurich were defeated in the Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl on 22 July 1443 and Zurich was besieged. Frederick appealed to Charles VII of France to attack the confederates and the latter sent a force of about 30,000 Armagnac mercenaries under the command of the Dauphin via Basel to relieve the city. In the Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs near Basel on 26 August 1444, a blocking force of roughly 1,600 Swiss confederates was defeated, but inflicted such heavy losses on the French (2,000 killed) that the Dauphin decided to retreat. The confederacy and the Dauphin concluded a peace in October 1444, and his mercenary army withdrew from the war altogether.

In May 1444, the confederacy laid siege to Greifensee, and captured the town after four weeks, on May 27, beheading all but two of the 64 defenders the next day, including their leader, Wildhans von Breitenlandenberg, the so-called Murder of Greifensee. Even in this time of war, such a mass execution was widely considered a cruel and unjust deed.

By 1446, both sides were exhausted, and a preliminary peace was concluded. The confederation had not managed to conquer any of the cities of Zurich except Greifensee; Rapperswil and Zurich itself withstood the attacks. In 1450, the parties made a definitive peace and Zurich was admitted into the confederation again, but had to dissolve its alliance with the Habsburgs.

The significance of the war is that it showed that the confederation had grown into a political alliance so close that it no longer tolerated separatist tendencies of a single member.

title: Old Zurich War


text:
Mapes Creek

Mapes Creek is a stream in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It runs through Kubota Garden and Beer Sheva Park on its way to Lake Washington.

title: Mapes Creek


text:
Salem Township, Warren County, Ohio

Salem Township is one of the eleven townships of Warren County, Ohio, United States, located in the central part of the county. The population was 5,215 at the 2020 census. It is the second smallest township in the county with 13,459 acres (54 km$2$). It is one of fourteen Salem Townships statewide.

Geography

Located in the southern part of the county, it borders the following townships:
 * Washington Township - northeast
 * Harlan Township - southeast
 * Hamilton Township - southwest
 * Union Township - west
 * Turtlecreek Township - northwest

It is bisected by the Little Miami River.

The village of Morrow lies entirely within the township.

History
Salem Township was established June 8, 1818 from Hamilton Township and originally consisted of the part of Salem south of the Little Miami and what is now Harlan Township. By a special act of the Ohio General Assembly of March 16, 1860, Harlan Township was separated from it and Salem was renamed Corwin Township. Later that year the Warren County Commissioners renamed the township Salem and took a portion of Union across the Little Miami and attached it to Salem. Salem Township is in both the Symmes Purchase and the Virginia Military District.

Government
The township is governed by a three-member board of trustees, who are elected in November of odd-numbered years to a four-year term beginning on the following January 1. Two are elected in the year after the presidential election and one is elected in the year before it. There is also an elected township fiscal officer, who serves a four-year term beginning on April 1 of the year after the election, which is held in November of the year before the presidential election. Vacancies in the fiscal officership or on the board of trustees are filled by the remaining trustees.

Public services
Most of the township is the Little Miami Local School District, but a part north of the Little Miami River is in the Lebanon City School District. Salem Township is within the Morrow, Lebanon, and Clarksville telephone exchanges and the Morrow post office's territory.

title: Salem Township, Warren County, Ohio