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Mesquite Independent School District

The Mesquite Independent School District is a school district in Mesquite, Texas (USA) (incorporating most of Mesquite and portions of Balch Springs, Dallas, Garland, and Seagoville, as well as formerly serving all high school students of Sunnyvale) which follows the standard definition of an independent school district.

The district contains over 38,000 students. There are five main high schools, Two of which are AAAAAA (or 6A, the highest in a system of Texas school size classification). As of March 8, 2022, the superintendent is Dr. Ángel Rivera.

All houses and residential areas in Mesquite ISD are each assigned to an elementary school (Pre-K-5 or K-5), a middle school (6-8), and a high school (9-12).

In addition, the MISD operates two high school football facilities for its high schools, Memorial Stadium near West Mesquite High School (which is the largest high-school football stadium in Texas, seating nearly 20,000 ) and E. H. Hanby Stadium, which is located adjacent to Mesquite High School.

In 2009, the school district was rated "Recognized" by the Texas Education Agency.

Demographics
In 1997, 70.6% of the students were non-Hispanic white; of the four large suburban majority-white suburban school districts in the county, MISD had the highest percentage of white students. From that year to 2016 the number had declined by 68%, making it the most severe decline of the four districts.

From 1997 to 2016 the number of students on free or reduced lunches, a way of classifying a student as low income, increased by 266%.

Standardized dress and dress codes
The district has implemented standardized dress (similar to a school uniform) for middle and high school students, which started with the 2005 to 2006 school year. The districtwide dress code also dictates hair length and acceptable hair styles of male students. It was one of the first Dallas-area school districts to implement a formal dress code, and Karel Holloway of The Dallas Morning News wrote in 2009 that "The district is well-known for its conservative standards for dress". In the 1970s the district sent a boy home from school because his hair touched his collar. This caused national attention.

Radio station KEOM 88.5
Mesquite ISD operates an FM radio station called KEOM 88.5. This is the largest student radio station in the nation

High schools
UIL 6A Schools

 * Mesquite High School
 * Dr. John D. Horn High School

UIL 5A Schools

 * North Mesquite High School
 * West Mesquite High School
 * Dr. Ralph H. Poteet High School
 * Vanguard High School

Middle schools
Grades 6-8

9 in Mesquite, 1 in Balch Springs

 * A. C. New Middle School (Balch Springs)
 * Frank B. Agnew Middle School
 * Judge Frank Berry Middle School
 * Dr. James P. Terry Middle School
 * Lanny Frasier Middle School
 * R. S. Kimbrough Middle School
 * T. H. McDonald Middle School
 * Ed F. Vanston Middle School
 * Walter L. Wilkinson Middle School
 * Dr. Don P. Woolley Middle School

Elementary schools
28 in Mesquite, 4 in Balch Springs, 1 in Garland, 1 in Dallas

Grades PreK-5
 * Don Achziger Elementary School
 * Ben & Jo Ann Cross Elementary School
 * Walter E. Floyd Elementary School (Balch Springs)
 * Bonnie Gentry Elementary School
 * W. O. Gray Elementary School (Balch Springs)
 * John L. Hanby Elementary School
 * Ed Hodges Elementary School (Balch Springs)
 * Sue Ann Mackey Elementary School (Balch Springs)
 * Ferd A. McWhorter Elementary School
 * Ben F. Tisinger Elementary School
 * Dr. Joey Pirrung Elementary School
 * J. H. Florence Elementary School
 * Bedford Galloway Elementary School
 * Zack Motley Elementary School
 * G. R. Porter Elementary School
 * Elsie Shands Elementary School
 * S. M. Seabourn Elementary School

Grades K-5

 * J. C. Austin Elementary School
 * C. W. Beasley Elementary School
 * Florence Black Elementary School
 * Dr. J. C. Cannaday Elementary School
 * Dr. Linda Henrie Elementary School (Dallas)
 * Georgia W. Kimball Elementary School
 * Joe Lawrence Elementary School
 * E.S. McKenzie Elementary School
 * Mary L. Moss Elementary School (1996-97 National Blue Ribbon School )
 * Vernon Price Elementary School (Garland)
 * I. N. Range Elementary School
 * J. C. Rugel Elementary School
 * Sam Rutherford Elementary School
 * Ruby Shaw Elementary School
 * B. J. Smith Elementary School
 * Jay Thompson Elementary School
 * Charles A. Tosch Elementary School

Other
2 in Mesquite
 * Mesquite Academy, K-12 alternative school
 * Mesquite Learning Center, K-12 Intervention Center for MIC and Challenge

title: Mesquite Independent School District


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Catchment area (disambiguation)

A catchment area may refer to:
 * Catchment area, the area and population from which a facility or region attracts visitors or customers
 * Drainage basin, an extent of land where water from precipitation drains into a body of water

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

title: Catchment area (disambiguation)


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Bia and Bria

"Bia" (was and "Bria")
"Bia" was proposed for deletion. This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was delete.

Self described as "late 2004 neologisms" - SimonP 04:05, Dec 12, 2004 (UTC)

 * Delete both. Far too early for these to have articles, there's a place for them but not here. And watch out, the VfD notice has been removed once from "Bria", and as a result it's been listed again. Andrewa 20:09, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Comment: As Bria has its own VfD subpage now, let's make this one just for "Bia". Andrewa 01:08, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete this linguistic spam as well. Wyss 12:32, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion or on the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


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Arthur Phillips

Arthur Phillips (born April 23, 1969) is an American novelist. His books include Prague (2002), The Egyptologist (2004), Angelica (2007), The Song Is You (2009), The Tragedy of Arthur (2011), and The King at the Edge of the World (2020).

Life
Arthur Peter Monroe Phillips was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is Jewish. He received a BA in history from Harvard University in 1990. After spending two years in Budapest (1990–1992), he then studied jazz saxophone for four semesters at Berklee College of Music (1992–93).

In several interviews, Phillips has stated he has been a child actor, a jazz musician, a speechwriter, an advertising copywriter for medical devices, and a "dismally failed entrepreneur."

Phillips lived in Budapest from 1990 to 1992 and in Paris from 2001 to 2003, and now lives in New York. He was featured on the July 27, 2007, episode of This American Life, reading his short story "Wenceslas Square." The story is being produced for film by Amazon Studios, with a script by Phillips, to be directed by Sophia Takal.

Phillips was a five-time champion on Jeopardy! in 1997. In 2005, he competed in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions. He won his opening-round game but lost in the second round.

Phillips is married to film producer Barbara Muschietti.

Prague (2002)
Prague, despite its title, is set almost entirely in Budapest, Hungary, primarily in 1990, with an interlude detailing several previous generations of Hungarian history, from the Austro-Hungarian monarchy through the First and Second World Wars.

The main line of the novel follows a group of young Western expatriates through their lives in Budapest. The structure of the novel allows for various tales to be interwoven, producing an ensemble portrait of them and their adopted city, just recovering from decades of Communism, fascism, and war. The novel's recurring themes include nostalgia, sincerity and authenticity, and young people's first search for meaning in life. The novel was well received commercially and critically, winning Phillips a 2003 Los Angeles Times/Art Seidenbaum Award for Best First Fiction, as well as other honors.

The Egyptologist (2004)
The Egyptologist is structured as journals, letters, telegrams, and drawings, from several different points of view. The main story is set in 1922 and follows a hopeful explorer who, working near Howard Carter (the man who discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun), risks more and more of his life and savings on an apparently quixotic effort to find the tomb of an apocryphal Egyptian king.

The book was an international bestseller and critical success in more than two dozen countries. US critics noted Phillips's versatility in producing a book so different from his first, and fans of the book included Gary Shteyngart, George Saunders, Elizabeth Peters, and Stephen King. Others, however, most notably Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times, found the book overlong and confusing.

Angelica (2007)
Angelica is superficially a Victorian ghost story, and won Phillips comparisons to Henry James, Vladimir Nabokov, and Stephen King. The Washington Post'' opined that the novel cemented Phillips' reputation as "one of the best writers in America".

In the novel, the same events are retold four times from four different perspectives, each section casting doubt on the version that came before, until the reader is left to sort truth from fantasy on his or her own. The novel has been made into a film by Mitchell Lichtenstein with a release date in late 2017.

The Song Is You (2009)
Phillips' fourth novel tells the story of a middle-aged man's pursuit of a young woman, an Irish pop singer performing in a bar. According to a review at Bookpage"'Set in New York, the story follows Julian Donahue as he navigates the shadowy, grief-filled world of a parent who has lost a child [...] He's consumed by [the singer], but rather than introducing himself as another disposable fan, he becomes a faraway mentor and muse, setting himself on a course that will lead him from New York to Europe.'"

The novel was published on April 7, 2009. Preliminary reviews included a blurb from Kurt Andersen and this notice from Kirkus Reviews: "Phillips still looks like the best American novelist to have emerged during the present decade."

title: Arthur Phillips


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Ticao Island

Ticao Island is an island with a total land area of 334 km2. It is one of the three major islands of Masbate province in the Philippines. It is separated from the Bicol Peninsula by the Ticao Pass. The other two major islands are Masbate Island (3290 km2) and Burias Island (424 km2).

The island is divided into the municipalities of Batuan, Monreal, San Fernando and its mother-town, San Jacinto.

San Miguel Island is located "just off the northern tip" of Ticao Island.

Archaeological and Ecological Landscape and Seascape of Ticao
Ticao island is known as an archaeological landscape, possessing thousands of pre-colonial artifacts such as the Baybayin-inscribed Rizal Stone, Ticao gold spike teeth, Burial jars of varying designs and sizes, jade beads, human face rock statues, and the Ticao petrographs. Much of the homes in Ticao island use these archaeological finds to design their interiors. The island is also an ecological frontier for the conservation of manta rays. The island also possesses a 'rare subspecies' of Visayan warty pig, that is almost near extinction. Penelopides panini ticaensis, or the Ticao hornbill, was a subspecies of the Visayan hornbill (Penelopides panini) known to occur only in Ticao Island. It is likely extinct in the island due to deforestation and habitat conversion.

title: Ticao Island


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Mercury(I) chloride

Mercury(I) chloride is the chemical compound with the formula Hg2Cl2. Also known as the mineral calomel (a rare mineral) or mercurous chloride, this dense white or yellowish-white, odorless solid is the principal example of a mercury(I) compound. It is a component of reference electrodes in electrochemistry.

History
The name calomel is thought to come from the Greek καλός "beautiful", and μέλας "black"; or καλός and μέλι "honey" from its sweet taste. The "black" name (somewhat surprising for a white compound) is probably due to its characteristic disproportionation reaction with ammonia, which gives a spectacular black coloration due to the finely dispersed metallic mercury formed. It is also referred to as the mineral horn quicksilver or horn mercury.

Calomel was taken internally and used as a laxative, for example to treat George III in 1801, and disinfectant, as well as in the treatment of syphilis, until the early 20th century. Until fairly recently, it was also used as a horticultural fungicide, most notably as a root dip to help prevent the occurrence of clubroot amongst crops of the family Brassicaceae.

Mercury became a popular remedy for a variety of physical and mental ailments during the age of "heroic medicine". It was prescribed by doctors in America throughout the 18th century, and during the revolution, to make patients regurgitate and release their body from "impurities". Benjamin Rush was a well-known advocate of mercury in medicine and used calomel to treat sufferers of yellow fever during its outbreak in Philadelphia in 1793. Calomel was given to patients as a purgative or cathartic until they began to salivate and was often administered to patients in such great quantities that their hair and teeth fell out.

Yellow fever was also treated with calomel.

Lewis and Clark brought calomel on their expedition. Researchers used that same mercury, found deep in latrine pits, to retrace the locations of their respective locations and campsites.

Properties
Mercury is unique among the group 12 metals for its ability to form the M–M bond so readily. Hg2Cl2 is a linear molecule. The mineral calomel crystallizes in the tetragonal system, with space group I4/m 2/m 2/m. The unit cell of the crystal structure is shown below:

The Hg–Hg bond length of 253 pm (Hg–Hg in the metal is 300 pm) and the Hg–Cl bond length in the linear Hg2Cl2 unit is 243 pm. The overall coordination of each Hg atom is octahedral as, in addition to the two nearest neighbours, there are four other Cl atoms at 321 pm. Longer mercury polycations exist.

Preparation and reactions
Mercurous chloride forms by the reaction of elemental mercury and mercuric chloride:
 * Hg + HgCl2 → Hg2Cl2

It can be prepared via metathesis reaction involving aqueous mercury(I) nitrate using various chloride sources including NaCl or HCl.
 * 2 HCl + Hg2(NO3)2 → Hg2Cl2 + 2 HNO3

Ammonia causes Hg2Cl2 to disproportionate:
 * Hg2Cl2 + 2 NH3 → Hg + Hg(NH2)Cl + NH4Cl

Calomel electrode
Mercurous chloride is employed extensively in electrochemistry, taking advantage of the ease of its oxidation and reduction reactions. The calomel electrode is a reference electrode, especially in older publications. Over the past 50 years, it has been superseded by the silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrode. Although the mercury electrodes have been widely abandoned due to the dangerous nature of mercury, many chemists believe they are still more accurate and are not dangerous as long as they are handled properly. The differences in experimental potentials vary little from literature values. Other electrodes can vary by 70 to 100 millivolts.

Photochemistry
Mercurous chloride decomposes into mercury(II) chloride and elemental mercury upon exposure to UV light.
 * Hg2Cl2 → HgCl2 + Hg

The formation of Hg can be used to calculate the number of photons in the light beam, by the technique of actinometry.

By utilizing a light reaction in the presence of mercury(II) chloride and ammonium oxalate, mercury(I) chloride, ammonium chloride and carbon dioxide are produced.
 * 2 HgCl2 + (NH4)2C2O4 $Light →$ Hg2Cl2(s) + 2 [][Cl−] + 2 CO2

This particular reaction was discovered by J. M. Eder (hence the name Eder reaction) in 1880 and reinvestigated by W. E. Rosevaere in 1929.

Related mercury(I) compounds
Mercury(I) bromide, Hg2Br2, is light yellow, whereas mercury(I) iodide, Hg2I2, is greenish in colour. Both are poorly soluble. Mercury(I) fluoride is unstable in the absence of a strong acid.

Safety considerations
Mercurous chloride is toxic, although due to its low solubility in water it is generally less dangerous than its mercuric chloride counterpart. It was used in medicine as a diuretic and purgative (laxative) in the United States from the late 1700s through the 1860s. Calomel was also a common ingredient in teething powders in Britain up until 1954, causing widespread mercury poisoning in the form of pink disease, which at the time had a mortality rate of 1 in 10. These medicinal uses were later discontinued when the compound's toxicity was discovered.

It has also found uses in cosmetics as soaps and skin lightening creams, but these preparations are now illegal to manufacture or import in many countries including the US, Canada, Japan and the European Union. A study of workers involved in the production of these preparations showed that the sodium salt of 2,3-dimercapto-1-propanesulfonic acid (DMPS) was effective in lowering the body burden of mercury and in decreasing the urinary mercury concentration to normal levels.

title: Mercury(I) chloride


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Masbate Island

Masbate Island is the largest of three major islands of Masbate Province in the Philippines. The other two major islands are Ticao Island and Burias Island. It is the 11th-largest island in both area and population in the Philippines and the world's 155th largest island by area and the world's 70th most populous island. The island is divided into 14 municipalities and 1 city, and has a total population of 731,269 people as of 2020 census. Masbate City is the island largest settlement with a total population of 104,522 as of 2020.

Masbate Island was severely affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013, which caused the evacuation of about 15,700 people.

title: Masbate Island


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Burias (island)

Burias Island is one of the three major islands of Masbate province in the Philippines. It is separated from the Bicol Peninsula by the Burias Pass. The other two major islands are Ticao Island and Masbate Island. The Island has two municipalities, Claveria and San Pascual.

title: Burias (island)


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L'Auberge espagnole

L'Auberge espagnole (, lit. 'The Spanish Inn'), also known as Pot Luck (United Kingdom) and The Spanish Apartment (Australia), is a 2002 romantic comedy-drama film directed and written by Cédric Klapisch. It is a co-production between France and Spain.

In the film, an economics graduate student from France, Xavier, spends a year in Barcelona to study. His fellow Erasmus students are from all over Western Europe and have a flatshare. They each speak different languages and have different cultural standards.

The film is told in the first person by Xavier. The dialogue is mostly in French, with some English and much Spanish, a little Catalan, Danish, German and Italian.

It is the first instalment in the "Spanish Apartment" trilogy, which continues in the sequels Russian Dolls (2005) and Chinese Puzzle (2013).

Plot
Xavier, a 24-year-old economics graduate student from Paris, attends the Erasmus Programme in Barcelona to further his career, against the wishes of his girlfriend Martine. On the flight, Xavier meets a married couple from France, a doctor named Jean-Michel and his wife Anne-Sophie. They invite him to stay in their home while he looks for somewhere to live. Xavier eventually finds a flatshare with students from England, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany and Denmark. The roommates develop a companionship as they struggle with their different languages and cultures.

Martine visits Xavier and returns disappointed when she realizes things are not the same. Xavier begins an affair with Anne-Sophie, using seduction tips learned from Isabelle, his lesbian roommate from Belgium. William arrives from England to visit his sister Wendy and creates tension with his abrasive manner and culturally insensitive comments.

Xavier becomes depressed and hallucinates after Martine breaks up with him. He seeks Jean-Michel's advice, but he tells Xavier that his wife has confessed everything, and tells him to stop seeing her.

Discord divides the roommates, but they come together to aid Wendy, who was nearly caught by her boyfriend Alistair in a sexual encounter with an American man.

After saying goodbye to his new close friends, Xavier returns to Paris and gets his desired job at the ministry, but realizes that his experiences in Spain have changed him. He subsequently runs away on his first day on the job and pursues his dream to become a writer, recounting the story of his experiences in the Auberge Espagnole. Towards the end, Xavier can be seen getting together with his now ex-girlfriend Martine as well.

Title
The phrase auberge espagnole is a French idiom, literally translated as "Spanish inn" or "Spanish hotel". It describes a place where customers can eat what they bring – by extension, that one must be independent.

Another French interpretation is what in English is known as "Going Dutch" or "potluck", hence its English title.

A third meaning of auberge espagnole is a common resting area for travellers from a variety of different cultures and regions.

Soundtrack

 * Radiohead – "No Surprises"
 * Daft Punk – "Aerodynamic"
 * Sonia & Selena – "Que Viva La Noche"
 * Marc-Antoine Charpentier – "Te Deum"
 * Ali Farka Touré – "Ai Du"
 * Frédéric Chopin – "Opus 64 No 2 Waltz in C sharp minor"
 * Africando All Stars – "Betece"
 * Mala Rodriguez – "La Cocinera"

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 76% based on 93 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "This multicultural comedy captures the chaos and excitement of being young." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

title: L'Auberge espagnole


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Gilgul

Gilgul (also Gilgul neshamot or Gilgulei HaNeshamot; Heb., Plural: Gilgulim) is a concept of reincarnation or "transmigration of souls" in Kabbalistic esoteric mysticism. In Hebrew, the word gilgul means "cycle" or "wheel" and neshamot is the plural for "souls." Souls are seen to cycle through lives or incarnations, being attached to different human bodies over time. Which body they associate with depends on their particular task in the physical world, spiritual levels of the bodies of predecessors and so on. The concept relates to the wider processes of history in Kabbalah, involving cosmic Tikkun (Messianic rectification), and the historical dynamic of ascending Lights and descending Vessels from generation to generation.

The esoteric explanations of gilgul were articulated in Jewish mysticism by Isaac Luria in the 16th century, as part of the metaphysical purpose of Creation.

History in Jewish thought
Reincarnation is an esoteric belief within many streams of modern Judaism, but is not an essential tenet of traditional Judaism. It is not mentioned in traditional classical sources such as the Hebrew Bible, the classical rabbinic works (Mishnah and Talmud), or Maimonides' 13 principles of faith. Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), however, teaches a belief in gilgul, transmigration of souls, and hence the belief is universal in Hasidic Judaism, which regards the Kabbalah as sacred and authoritative.

Among well-known rabbis who rejected the idea of reincarnation are Saadia Gaon, David Kimhi, Hasdai Crescas, Jedaiah ben Abraham Bedersi (early 14th century), Joseph Albo, Abraham ibn Daud and Leon of Modena. Among the Geonim, Hai Gaon argued with Saadia Gaon in favour of gilgulim.

Rabbis who believed in the idea of reincarnation include, from Medieval times: the mystical leaders Nahmanides and Bahya ben Asher; from the 16th-century: Levi ibn Habib, and from the mystical school of Safed, Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz, Isaac Luria, and his exponent Hayyim ben Joseph Vital; and from the 18th-century: the founder of Hasidic Judaism, the Baal Shem Tov, later Hasidic Masters, and the Lithuanian Jewish Orthodox leader and Kabbalist the Vilna Gaon; and - amongst others - from the 19th/20th-century: Yosef Hayyim author of Ben Ish Hai.

With the 16th-century rational systemisation of Cordoveran Kabbalah by Alkabetz, and the subsequent new paradigm of Lurianic Kabbalah by Luria, Kabbalah replaced rationalism as the mainstream traditional Jewish theology, both in scholarly circles and in the popular imagination. Isaac Luria taught new explanations of the process of gilgul and identification of the reincarnations of historic Jewish figures, which were compiled by Hayyim ben Joseph Vital in his Shaar HaGilgulim.

Shaar haGilgulim lists possible reincarnations: "One who has sexual relations with an animal is reincarnated as a bat, one who has relations with a menstruent as a non-Jewish woman, one who commits adultery is reincarnated as a donkey, with his mother as a she-ass, with a man as a rabbit or hare". Tzaddikim can reincarnate as a fish, because "fish do not have to be ritually slaughtered before being rectified via eating". David Roskies in The Shtetl Book mentions the following beliefs: "The soul of a tsadek becomes the soul of a fish. The soul of a butcher who eats treyf meat becomes the soul of a black crow. The soul of a dishonest khazn [cantor] becomes the soul of a dog. Because his prayer was as pleasing to the Lord as a dog’s bark. The soul of an informer becomes that of parrot. Because he acted like a parrot: spoke the wrong things at the wrong time to the wrong people." According to Shaar haGilgulim, a soul can even reincarnate in an inanimate object like a stone.

Historian Nathaniel Deutsch mentiones a widely reported anecdote as a modern example of the gilgul belief. In 2003, at the New Square Fish Market in Rockland County, New York, two fish cutters claimed to have encountered a talking carp. The incident occurred in a Hasidic community of about 7,000 members.

The story goes that a 20-pound carp about to be slaughtered and made into gefilte fish for Sabbath dinner began speaking in Hebrew, shouting apocalyptic warnings and claiming to be the troubled soul of a revered community elder who recently died.

title: Gilgul


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Two by Twos

Two by Twos (also known as The Truth and The Way) is an international, home-based Christian new religious movement that has its origins in Ireland at the end of the 19th century. The church has no official name; among members, the church is more usually referred to as "The Truth", "Meetings", or "the workers and friends". Those outside the church refer to it as "Two by Twos", "The Black Stockings", "No-name Church", "Cooneyites", "Workers and Friends", or "Christians Anonymous". The church's registered names include "Christian Conventions" in the United States, "Assemblies of Christians" and "The Alberta Society of Christian Assemblies" in Canada (dissolved only after it was exposed), "The Testimony of Jesus" in the United Kingdom, "Kristna i Sverige" in Sweden, and "United Christian Conventions" in Australia. These organization names are used only for registration purposes and are not used by members.

The church was founded in 1897 in Ireland by William Irvine, an evangelist with the interdenominational Faith Mission. Irvine began independently preaching a return to the method of itinerant ministry he claimed was set forth in Matthew 10. Church growth was rapid, spreading outside Ireland. Irvine eventually began preaching a new order in which the hierarchy that had developed within the church would have no placement. This teaching became controversial within the church and led to his expulsion by church overseers around 1914. One of the church's most prominent evangelists, Edward Cooney, was expelled a decade after Irvine. The church then became much less visible to outsiders for the next half-century. Publication of several articles and books, increased news coverage, and the appearance of the Internet have since opened the church to wider scrutiny.

Some in the church claim it is a direct continuation of the 1st-century Christian church. Others in the church believe that a restoration of some sort may have occurred in the late 19th century. Church ministers are itinerant and work in groups of two, hence the name "Two by Twos". Members hold regular weekly worship gatherings in local homes on Sunday and midweek. The church also holds annual regional conventions and public Gospel meetings. Baptism by immersion as performed by one of the church's workers is required for full participation. The orthodox Christian Trinitarian doctrine is rejected, and members deny having a church name. Doctrine of the church teaches that salvation is reached by attending the group's home meetings, accepting the preaching of its itinerant, unsalaried ministry workers, and "professing". (See Terminology). Whereas some other Christian sects believe in salvation by faith alone, the Two by Twos teach that salvation is not achieved through faith alone, but achieved only through a combination of faith and "works". Works are considered acts of self-denial such as wearing modest skirts and long hair in a bun, or attending all meetings regardless of how far away they are. The church does not do any outreach programs or encourage its members to participate in charities.

The church claims no official headquarters or official publications. The church does not explicitly publish any doctrinal statements, claiming these must be orally imparted by its ministers, referred to as "workers". Its hymnbook and various other materials for internal use are produced by outside publishers and printing firms. Printed invitations and advertisements for its open gospel meetings are the only written materials which those outside the church are likely to encounter.

Founding
In 1896, William Irvine was sent from Scotland to southern Ireland as a missionary by John George Govan's Faith Mission, an interdenominational organization with roots in the Holiness movement. Because his mission was successful, he was promoted to superintendent of Faith Mission in southern Ireland.

Within a few months of his arrival in Ireland, Irvine was already disillusioned with the Faith Mission. There was friction over its Holiness teachings, and Irvine saw its organization as a violation of his concept of a faith-based ministry. Above all, Irvine was increasingly intolerant of the Faith Mission's cooperation with the other churches and clergy in the various communities of southern Ireland, regarding converts who joined churches as "lost among the clergy." In 1897, he began preaching independently, proclaiming that true ministers must have no home and take no salary. He became convinced that he had received this as a special revelation he referred to as his "Alpha message". Opposed to all other established churches, he held that the manner in which the disciples had been sent out in chapter 10 of the Gospel of Matthew was a permanent commandment which must still be observed. The passage reads in part:

These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.

In October 1897, Irvine was invited by Nenagh businessman John "Jack" Carroll to preach in the Carrolls' hometown of Rathmolyon. There he held a series of mission meetings in which all established churches were rejected, and Irvine's new doctrine and method of ministry were set forth. It was in Rathmolyon that he recruited the first adherents to his new message. Aside from condemning all other churches, Irvine's doctrine included the rejection of church buildings, damnation of all followers of churches outside the new fellowship, rejection of paid ministry, rejection of collections during services and collection boxes, and the requirement that those seeking to join the ministry "sell all".

Irvine's preaching during this latest mission influenced others who began to leave their respective churches and join Irvine to form an initial core of followers. Some of these early adherents would become important members of the new church, including John Long, the Carroll family, John Kelly, Edward Cooney—an influential evangelist from the Church of Ireland—and George Walker (an employee of the Cooney family's fabric business), all of whom eventually "sold all" and joined the new movement as itinerant preachers. Although other movements, such as the Plymouth Brethren and Elim have had strong Irish connections, the church founded by Irvine is the only religion known to have had its origin and early development in Ireland.

Early growth

Unlike later secretiveness, initially, the church was in the public eye, with questions about it being raised in the British Parliament beginning in 1900. Inspired by speakers such as Irvine and Cooney, membership growth was rapid. Rather than adding members to established denominations, as was the practice of the Faith Mission outreach, churches began noticing their congregations thinning after exposure to the Two by Two missions. Clerics soon began regarding the Two by Two preachers as "inimical to the membership of the church". After receiving reports from Ireland, the Faith Mission in 1900 formally disassociated itself from Irvine and any of its workers found to be participating in the new Two by Two movement.

The attention of Belfast newspapers was initially drawn to the Two by Twos church because of its open-air baptismal rites. At that time, the baptisms took place in public settings such as streams, lakes, or the sea, even in cold weather. Regarded as a novelty, the outdoor "dippings" and accompanying sermons attracted large crowds. Further attention was given during the staging of large marches through boroughs and public preaching in town squares and on street corners.

Workers, including Edward Cooney and George Walker, publicly preached that all members of other churches were damned. They singled out prominent individuals, and even entire communities, for condemnation. At times, missions were sited close to the meeting places of other denominations, which were denounced using "extreme language". Consequences of these inflammatory remarks ranged from heckling and street violence to the break-up of families, all of which brought further attention to the church. Newspapers in Ireland, Britain, and North America followed the disturbances that arose over the church's activities and message. Some hosted debates in their editorial columns. One member of Parliament offered to join the Two by Twos if they would cease criticizing other religious bodies.

As the ranks of its ministry increased, the church's outreach expanded. Large gatherings were held in Dublin, Glasgow and Belfast during 1899. Annual conventions, modeled after the evangelical Keswick Conventions in England, began to be held regularly in Ireland starting in 1903. Later that year, William Irvine, accompanied by Irvine Weir and George Walker, took his message to North America. Missions to continental Europe, Australia, and Asia followed.

By 1904, the requirement to "sell all" was no longer mentioned in sermons. A two-tiered system was instituted that made a distinction between homeless itinerant missionaries (called "workers") and those who were now allowed to retain homes and jobs (called "friends" or "saints"). Weekly home meetings began to be held and presided over by "elders", who were typically the householder. During the next few years, this change became universal. The church continued to grow rapidly and held regular annual conventions lasting several weeks at a time. Irvine traveled widely during this period, attending conventions and preaching worldwide, and began sending workers from the British Isles to follow up and expand interest in various areas.

Beginning in 1906, unwelcome attention came in the form of leaflets and billboard notices. W. D. Wilson, an English farmer whose unmarried children had left home and joined the Two by Twos, began publishing articles stating girls were being recruited by the church for immoral purposes. In response, Edward Cooney brought a widely publicized suit for libel that was resolved by a settlement between the parties by the end of 1913.

A hierarchy was instituted by Irvine, and his most trusted associates in various regions were designated as "overseers" or "head workers". Each worker was assigned a particular geographical sphere and then coordinated the efforts of the ministry within his area. Among the overseers were William and Jack Carroll, George Walker, and Willie Gill. Irvine continued to have the ultimate say over worker conduct and finances, and his activities within their fields became regarded as "interference." Except for such annual conventions as he was able to attend across the globe, communications and instructions from Irvine passed through the overseers.

Schism
William Irvine's progressive revelation continued to evolve over this time, and eschatological themes began to appear in sermons. By 1914, he had begun to preach that the Age of Grace, during which his "Alpha Gospel" had been proclaimed, was coming to a close. As his message turned towards indicating a new era, which held no place for the ministry and hierarchy that had rapidly grown up around the "Alpha Gospel," resentment arose on the part of overseers who saw him as a threat to their positions.

Australian overseer John Hardie was the first to break with Irvine and excluded him from speaking at the South Australia convention in late 1913. As 1914 progressed, he was excluded from speaking in a growing number of regions, as more overseers broke away from him. Rumors circulated about Irvine's comfortable lifestyle and supposed weakness for women, though nothing concrete was ever exposed. It was put about that Irvine "had lost the Lord's anointing" in an effort to explain his ouster. He was shunned and his name was no longer mentioned, making him a nonperson in the church he founded. There were many excommunications of Irvine loyalists in various fields during the following years, and by 1919, the split was final, with Irvine moving to Jerusalem and transmitting his "Omega Message" to his core followers from there. Lacking any organizational means of making his case before the membership, Irvine's ouster occurred quietly. Most members continued following the overseers, and few outside the leadership knew the details behind Irvine's disappearance from the scene, as no public mention of the split seems to have been made. Mention of Irvine's name was forbidden, and a new explanation of the group's history was introduced from which Irvine's role was erased.

Although the threat posed by Irvine to the church's organization had been dealt with, the prominent worker Edward Cooney refused to place his evangelistic efforts under the control of the overseers. Cooney himself adhered to the earlier, unfettered style of itinerant ministry, moving about wherever he felt he was needed. He rejected the appointment of head workers to geographic regions and criticized their lifestyles. He also preached against the "Living Witness" doctrine (i.e., that salvation entails hearing the gospel preached directly by a worker and seeing the gospel made alive in the sacrificial lives of the ministry), the bank accounts controlled by the overseers, use of halls for meetings, conventions, the hierarchy that had developed, and the ministry and the registrations under official names. For a time, his message urging a return to the original principles of Matthew 10 gained a following, even among some Australian overseers.

A second division occurred in 1928 when Edward Cooney was expelled for criticizing the hierarchy and other elements that had arisen within the church, which he saw as serious deviations from the church's original message. The overseers seized upon a failed attempt at performing a faith healing as a pretext to excommunicate him. Cooney's loyal supporters joined him, including some of the early workers, and they stayed faithful to what they perceived to be the original tenets. The term "Cooneyite" today chiefly refers to the group which separated (or were excommunicated) along with Cooney and who continue as an independent group. Prior to the schism, onlookers had labeled the entire movement as "Cooneyites" due to Edward Cooney's prominence in the early growth of the church. There are areas where this older usage continues.

Consolidation
These schisms were not widely publicized, and few were aware that they had occurred. Most supporters of Irvine, and later Cooney, were either coaxed into abandoning those loyalties or put out of the fellowship. Among these were the early workers May Carroll, Irvine Weir (one of the first workers in North America, who was excommunicated for continued contact with Cooney and for his objection to registration of the church under names), and Tom Elliot (who had conducted baptisms of the first workers and was nicknamed "Tom the Baptist").

The emergence of the Two by Twos caused severe splits within local Protestant churches in Ireland at a time of increasing demands for Irish independence, largely driven by the Catholic majority community. Because of animosity, the Two by Twos did not form a united front with other Protestant communities. Although the church was noted for extreme anti-Catholic views, it played a very minor role during the struggle for Irish independence. One exception was the involvement of the Pearson family in the still-controversial killings at Coolacrease.

In the mid-1920s, a magazine article entitled "The Cooneyites or Go-Preachers" disturbed the leadership, who made efforts to have it withdrawn, particularly when material from the article was added to the widely distributed reference Heresies Exposed. During this period, the church modified its evangelical outreach. The public preaching of its early days was replaced with low-key "gospel meetings", which were attended only by members and invitees. The church began to assert that it had a 1st-century origin. It asserted that it had no organization or name and disclaimed any unique doctrines. The church shunned publicity, making the church very difficult for outsiders to follow.

The North American church saw a struggle for influence between overseers George Walker in the east and Jack Carroll. In 1928, an agreement was forged between the senior overseers that limited workers operating outside of their appointed geographical spheres, known as "fields": workers traveling into an area controlled by another overseer had to first submit their revelation to, and obtain permission from, the local overseer. The exact boundaries between fields was worked out over time, and there were areas where workers under the control of more than one overseer operated, causing conflict.

During the First World War, the church obtained exemption from military service in Britain under the name "The Testimony of Jesus." However, there were problems with recognition of this name outside the British Isles, and exemption was refused in many other areas. In New Zealand during World War I, members of the church could not prove their conscientious objector status, and formed the largest segment of those imprisoned for refusal to serve. Members and ministers also had difficulty establishing their conscientious objector status in the United States during the First World War. With the start of the Second World War, formal names were adopted and used in registering the church with various national governments. These names continued to be used for official business, and stationery bearing those names was printed for the use of overseers. Most members were not aware of these names. Some who dissented after learning of the practice were expelled by the workers.

After the death of Australian overseer William Carroll in 1953, an attempt was made to reintegrate the repudiated adherents of William Irvine and Edward Cooney. Rather than producing further unity, the attempt produced conflicts over the church's history which was exposed, the existence of legal names, disagreements over the hierarchy which had developed, and other controversies. Many excommunications took place in the subsequent effort to enforce harmony.

The earliest workers and overseers were succeeded by a new generation of leaders. In Europe, William Irvine died in 1947, Edward Cooney died in 1960, and John Long (expelled in 1907) died in 1962. British overseer Willie Gill died in 1951. In the South Pacific, New Zealand overseer Wilson McClung died in 1944, and Australian overseer John Hardie died in 1961. In North America, both Jack Carroll, the Western overseer, and Irvine Weir died in 1957 while Eastern overseer George Walker died in 1981.

Its policy of not revealing its name, finances, doctrine, or history, and avoidance of publicity largely kept the church from public notice. A few authors of popular literature have noted the church, even using it as background for various works.

Into the 21st century; abuse cases
Divisions, both doctrinal and organizational, within the group have formed throughout its history and continue as ongoing challenges.

Until the mid 1980s, notes regarding the Two by Twos had appeared infrequently in religious journals and sociological works, with some writers assuming that the church had greatly declined, with nothing published regarding it. In 1982, the publication of The Secret Sect was followed by press reports and public statements by former members. Other books and news coverage dealing with the sect appeared in the following decades and increased awareness of the church and its practices. With the exposure of regional differences and the appearance of dissent, a loosening of a few strict standards demanded of members has been observed in some areas. A marked decline in membership has occurred over recent decades, coinciding with availability of information on the Internet and elsewhere.

In April 2019, the Australian current affairs television show 60 Minutes interviewed child sex abuse victims of Australian ministers. On March 20, 2023, a letter was released from overseer Doyle S. Smith, (the "Dean Letter") informing members of the discovery of predatory and sexually abusive behavior by recently deceased worker and overseer Dean Bruer. Since the release of the Dean Letter, other allegations of sexual abuse and child sexual abused have been reported within the church from all over the world, and former minister Robert Corfield admitted that he had sexually abused a boy in Saskatchewan, Canada, over several years in the 1980s. In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened an investigation in 2024.

In 2023, the Two by Twos' Australasian overseers had issued two letters to members acknowledging incidents of abuse overseas, condemning child abuse and encouraging victims to report abuse to the police. The Australasian overseers also announced they would establish an anonymous advisory group to develop child-safe policies and manage the group's response to historical child sexual abuse. Later, in May 2024, Radio New Zealand reported that New Zealand Police were assisting the FBI investigation by investigating at least one former minister for historical abuse. That same week, the group's Australasian leaders launched a website with information about their response to historical child sexual abuse and a written apology to victims. Former abuse victims and victim advocate Jillian Hishon criticized the group's response for lacking impartiality and accountability. In June 2024, the American Broadcasting Company television news program Nightline aired a segment on child sexual abuse cases across the United States. An expanded report aired concurrently on season 2 of the Hulu docuseries Impact X Nightline.

Doctrine
Apart from their hymnals, officially published documentation or statements from the church are scarce, which makes it difficult to speak in depth about its beliefs. Some former members and critics of the church have made statements about its beliefs, although these points have rarely been publicly responded to by any authorities within the church.

All the church's teachings are expressed orally, and the church does not publish doctrine or statements of faith. Workers hold that all church teachings are based solely on the Bible. A catchphrase frequently used to describe the church is: "The church in the home, and the ministry without a home." Church members and "workers" will publicly declare that the church does not own any buildings. This is not strictly true: in fact, church members own rural or semi-rural properties dedicated to worship, housing workers, and church gatherings, including conventions and "special meetings". The concept of church buildings is still seen as inconsistent with biblical Christianity and was strongly denounced by early workers. Its ministers do not own homes or draw a salary. The church has upheld these practices since its inception. Notwithstanding this tradition, buildings specially constructed or repurposed for the use of the church do exist, including convention buildings, meeting halls, tents, caravans, and portable halls. Rural properties are largely held and maintained on behalf of the church by certain members, however in recent years, a Northern Irish investment vehicle has been used to purchase English convention property. A dedicated church building was constructed in Canada early on, but eventually was rejected by Irvine.

The King James Bible is the only book used in English language services. The Bible itself is held as insufficient for salvation unless its words be made "alive" through preaching of its ministers. The extemporaneous preaching of the ministry is considered to be guided by God and must be heard directly. Great weight is given to the thoughts of workers, especially more senior workers. Salvation is achieved through willingness to uphold the church's standards, by faithfully following in "the way", and by personal worthiness. Doctrines such as predestination, original sin, justification by faith alone, and redemption as the sole basis of salvation are rejected. The church is exclusive — all other churches, religions and ministries are held to be false and salvation is only obtainable through the Two by Two ministry and meetings.

Salvation is deemed to require self-sacrifice in following the example and commandments of Jesus and suffering is revered. Members are encouraged to attend meetings and to publicly pray and testify at them. Although the church has roots in the Holiness movement and has inherited some of its features, charismatic elements are suppressed. Other standards include modest dress, not wearing jewelry, long hair for women and short hair for men, not getting piercings, not dying hair, not getting a tattoo, and avoiding activities deemed to be worldly or frivolous (such as smoking, drinking alcohol, watching television, and viewing motion pictures). Standards and practices vary geographically: for example, in some areas fermented wine is used in Sunday meetings, in other areas grape juice is used; in some areas people who have divorced and remarried are not allowed to participate in meetings, in others they may. The use of television, social media sites and other mass media is discouraged in some areas, based on the stance of the local workers and overseers. Some external standards in dress and conduct have been loosened in recent years in response to criticisms.

Christology
The church has rejected the doctrine of the Trinity since its inception. Though members believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they hold a unitarian view of Christ. The Holy Spirit is held as an attitude or force from God. Jesus is God's son, a fully human figure who came to earth to establish a way of ministry and salvation, but not God himself. Great stress is laid upon the "example life" of Jesus, as a pattern for the ministry.

Baptism
Baptism by one of the church's ministers is considered a necessary step for salvation and full participation, including re-baptism of persons baptized by other churches. Candidates approved by the local workers are baptized by immersion. Baptisms are often scheduled for one morning during a Convention, and are typically performed in small ponds on the property. Families and onlookers gather, pray, and sing hymns during the ceremony, as led by a worker.

Church name

The church represents itself as nondenominational and without a name. Those outside the church often use descriptive terms such as "Two by Twos" (from their method of sending out ministers in pairs), "No-name Church", "Cooneyites", "Workers and Friends", "disciples of Jesus", "Friends", "Go-preachers", and "Tramp Preachers," among other titles. The new movement was originally called "Tramp Preachers" or "Tramp Pilgrims" by observers. During the early years, they called themselves by the name "Go-Preachers". By 1904, the terms "Cooneyism" and "Cooneyite" had been coined in those areas in which Edward Cooney established churches and where he was a vocal promoter. The term "Two by Twos" was in use in Canada by the early 1920s and in the United States by the 1930s. In Germany, bynames for the church have included "Die Namenlosen" (the Nameless), "Wahre Christen" (True Christians), "Jünger Jesu" (Disciples of Jesus), and "Freunde" (Friends). In France, they have been known as "Les Anonymes" (the Anonymous, or No-names).

Though overseers and head workers use registered names when necessary to conduct official business, most members do not associate a formal name with the church. Instead, they refer to the church as "The Truth", "The Way", "The Jesus Way", "The Lowly Way", Few members are aware that the church has taken official names used for church business, including seeking military exemptions. Registered names vary from nation to nation. In the United States, the name used is "Christian Conventions", in Canada "Assemblies of Christians" is used, in Britain it is "the Testimony of Jesus", in Sweden the registered name is "Kristna I Sverige", and "United Christian Conventions" has been used in Australia and other nations (Australian members previously adopted the name "Testimony of Jesus" during World War I, and registered as "Christian Assemblies" during World War II). The sect was also incorporated in Victoria, Australia as a charity from 1929 until 2019 and held property in trust. In 1995, controversy arose in Alberta, Canada, when part of the church incorporated as the "Alberta Society of Christian Assemblies". That entity was dissolved in 1996 after its existence became generally known.

Restorationism
Many church members hold to a long-standing view that the church has no earthly founder, and that only they represent the "true Christian Church" originating directly with Christ during the 1st century AD. Some members have more recently made statements which diverge from that view and hint either at a beginning during the closing years of the 19th century or at a notable resurgence or restoration around that time.

Terminology
The following are terms used by the church with the definitions giving the sense commonly intended and understood by members.

 * Church
 * Generally, a small, local congregation that meets in a home; can refer to a larger group of believers or to the church as a whole. This term is never used to refer to a building, except when referring to church buildings of other denominations, or occasionally when speaking metaphorically. Used colloquially when talking to strangers to refer to Sunday/Wednesday activity, e.g., "I'll be at church until midday".

 * Meeting
 * Formal religious gatherings

 * Field
 * A geographical region to which workers have been assigned (similar to parishes)

 * Mission
 * A series of larger meetings known as gospel meetings the function of which is proselytizing. Generally a sequence of such gospel meetings will conclude with a day during which—as a hymn is sung—those interested may rise to their feet and thereby profess their willingness to follow the teachings of the church (or "the way").

 * Friend, saint
 * Adherent or member, the laity. Collectively "the friends", or "the saints".

 * Profess
 * To make a public declaration of one's willingness to become a member, which is generally a sign that a person may then participate in the prayer and testimony sections of Wednesday night and Sunday morning meetings or at designated testimony times in larger gatherings. Professing constitutes an intermediate stage. Following baptism, the partaking of bread and grape juice (or wine) is also permitted, which in some fields occurs between the elder's testimony and the final hymn.

 * Bishop, elder, deacon
 * A chairman of a local meeting. Normally the male head of the house in which meetings are held. The bishop/elder is usually the person in charge of calling the start of the meeting. When a worker is present, he or she will generally initiate and direct the gathering instead. The deacon is considered to be an alternate to the elder in some areas.

 * Worker, servant, apostle
 * Terms used to denote the church's semi-itinerant, homeless ministers. These are unmarried (several exceptions were made during the first half of the 20th century to allow married couples to enter the ministry), and do not have any formal training. Workers go out in same-sex pairs (hence the term "Two by Two"), consisting of a more experienced worker with a junior companion.

 * Head worker, overseer
 * The senior worker in charge of a geographic area, roughly corresponding to the position of a bishop in Catholicism. There is no hierarchical position higher than overseer—such as a pope—which might guarantee doctrinal and practical unanimity.

 * Outsider, unprofessing person
 * Any person who has not 'professed' in accordance with the church's processes and is therefore deemed to be 'outside' of God's fold

 * The world, worldly person
 * A broad term used to describe all people not involved in the church including those in other religions

Ministry
The church holds that faith and salvation may only be obtained by hearing the preaching of its ministers (typically called workers), and by observing their sacrificial lives. During the early years, this requirement was referred to as the "Living Witness Doctrine", though that term is no longer used. The minister must be heard and observed in person, rather than by broadcasts, recordings, books or tracts, or other indirect communication. The church's ministerial structure is based on Jesus' instructions to his apostles found in Matthew chapter 10, verses 8–16 (with similar passages in Mark and in Luke). The church's view is that, following these Biblical examples, its ministers have no permanent dwelling places, minister in pairs, sell all and go out with only minimal worldly possessions, and rely only upon hospitality and generosity. Most ministers receive their support and income directly from lay members, and have no fixed address except for mail collection.

The option of entering the ministry is theoretically open to every baptized member, although it has been many decades since married people were accepted into the ministry. Female workers operate in the same manner as male workers. However, they cannot rise to the position of overseer, do not lead meetings when a male worker is present, and occupy a lower rank than male workers.

Workers do not engage in any formal religious training. Overseers pair new workers with senior companions until they are deemed ready to move beyond a junior position. The workers are assigned new companions annually. Workers organize and assign members to the home meetings, appoint elders, and decide controversies among members. Workers are not registered marriage celebrants, so members are married by secular functionaries (such as a justice of the peace). However, workers will give sermons and prayers at members' weddings if requested, and they officiate at the funerals of members.

Gatherings
The church holds several types of gatherings throughout the year in various locations.

 * Gospel meeting
 * A Gospel meeting is the gathering that is most likely to be open to those considered to be "outsiders". At one time, Gospel meetings were typically held in tents, set up by workers as they traveled; they are now most commonly held in a rented space. Gospel meetings are held to attract new members, though professing members typically make up the majority of attendees. The Gospel meeting consists of a period of quiet, followed by congregational singing (often accompanied by piano) of selected hymns, and then sermons delivered by the church's workers. Gospel meetings are regularly scheduled for portions of the year in areas where the group is well-established. They may also be held when a worker believes there may be people in the region who would be receptive to the church's message.

 * Sunday morning meeting
 * Participation in this closed meeting is generally restricted to members. It is usually held in the home of an elder, and consists of a cappella singing from the regular hymnal, partaking of communion emblems (a piece of leavened bread and a cup of wine or grape juice), prayer and sharing of testimonies by members in good standing.
 * Bible study
 * Participation in this closed meeting is generally restricted to members, and is usually held in the home of an elder each Wednesday evening. Members are assigned a list of Bible verses or a topic of study for consideration during the week, for discussion at the next meeting. As the meeting progresses, each member shares thoughts regarding the scripture or topic. Thoughts are shared by individual members in turn, and members do not engage in discussions during the meeting. The Bible study meeting includes hymns and prayers.

 * Union meeting
 * This is a monthly gathering of several congregations, and follows the format of the Sunday morning meetings. Union meetings are not open to the public.

 * Special meeting(s)
 * Special meetings are annual gatherings of members from a large area. Each is held as a private gathering, often in a rented hall. Special meetings last a single day, and include sermons by local and visiting workers. The sermons are interspersed with prayers, hymns, and testimonies.

 * Convention
 * These annual events are attended by members from within a larger geographical area than for the special meetings. These services generally follow the format used for special meetings. Conventions are held over several days, usually in rural areas on properties with facilities to handle housing, feeding, and other necessities for those who attend. There are typically crude male and female dormitories, a dormitory for the Workers, and male and female communal bathrooms with simple showers. Conventions are not open to the public, although outsiders often attend by invitation. Although not now usual, members were at one time segregated by sex during services.

 * Workers' meeting
 * These gatherings are not open to either the public or general membership. Attendance and participation are restricted to workers and certain invited members. The meeting may be a regular Bible study, or it may be used to disseminate any instructions from senior workers or to issue decisions about controversial matters. They are held during conventions, or as necessary. These meetings include prayer, a period for testimonies from any workers wishing to share, and may include statements by senior workers in attendance.

Organization
Members claim the church does not have a formal organization. Members do not participate in, and many are unaware of, the church's governance. Although in the early years of the church a headquarters was maintained in Belfast, no official headquarters currently exist and the church remains largely unincorporated. Both expenditures and funds collected remain secret from the membership and no accounting is made public. Funds are handled through stewardships, trusts, and cash transactions.

No materials are published by the church for outside circulation other than invitations to open Gospel meetings. Printed materials are published for circulation among the members and include sermon notes, convention notes, Bible study lists, convention lists, and worker lists. In recent years, contact details of members, including phone numbers and home addresses, have been compiled into booklets. These booklets are treated as highly confidential and available for workers' use only. Some members of the group refuse to provide their details for these booklets, in the name of privacy. Some members of the group see the internal dissemination of worker letters as continuing the practice of the early Church and the epistolary work of the original apostles.

Hierarchy
The church is controlled by a small group of senior male overseers with each having oversight of a specific geographic region. Under each senior overseer are male head workers who have oversight of a single state, province or similar area, depending on the country. These head workers handle the two-by-two pairing and field assignments of workers for that area. Each pair of workers has charge over several local meetings with the senior worker of the two having authority over his junior. Local meetings are hosted in the homes of elders who report to the workers. Correspondence such as reporting, finances, and instructions are often communicated according to the set hierarchy. The administration of the church and its annual process of assigning of workers to fields are rarely discussed among the membership.

Hymnals
The church's first hymnal, The Go-Preacher's Hymn Book, was compiled by 1909 and contained 125 hymns. The English-language hymn book currently used is Hymns Old and New and was first published in 1913 with several subsequent editions and translations. It contains 412 hymns, many of which were written or adapted by workers and other members of the church, and is organized into "gospel" and "fellowship" hymns. A smaller, second hymnal, also titled Hymns Old and New, consists of the first 170 songs found in the full hymnal. Another version of the hymnal contains words without musical notation and is used primarily by children and those who cannot read music. Hymnals in other languages, such as "Himnos" in Spanish, contain many hymns translated from the English and sung to the same tunes, as well as original non-English compositions.

title: Two by Twos


text:
UOB

UOB or UoB is the acronymic abbreviation for:
 * United Overseas Bank, a Singaporean multinational investment bank and financial services company
 * University of Baghdad
 * University of Bahrain
 * University of Balamand
 * University of Bath
 * University of Balochistan
 * University of Bedfordshire
 * University of Birmingham
 * University of Bolton
 * University of Bradford
 * University of Brighton
 * University of Bristol
 * Urwego Opportunity Bank, a microfinance bank in Rwanda

title: UOB


text:
Martha Hyer

Martha Hyer (August 10, 1924 – May 31, 2014) was an American actress who played Gwen French in Some Came Running (1958), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her autobiography, Finding My Way: A Hollywood Memoir, was published in 1990.

Early and personal life
Martha Hyer was born in Fort Worth, Texas, into a wealthy family, the daughter of Julien Capers Hyer, an attorney and judge, and Agnes Rebecca (née Barnhart). She was the middle of three sisters, with Agnes Ann and Jeanne. The Hyers were active in the Methodist church, where her father was a highly respected Sunday school teacher. Hyer graduated from Arlington Heights High School and then from Northwestern University with a degree in drama. She was in the sorority Pi Beta Phi with actress Patricia Neal. She then moved to California to study at the Pasadena Playhouse, and soon after was signed to a film contract with RKO. She was married twice, first to producer C. Ray Stahl and later to producer Hal B. Wallis. She converted to Judaism, Wallis' religion, after their marriage. Wallis and Hyer remained together until his death in 1986. Hyer and Wallis contributed funds towards the construction of The Hal and Martha Hyer Wallis Theatre, a black box theater, at Northwestern University. She did not have any children.

Film and television
Hyer's first film appearance was an uncredited speaking part in The Locket (1946). She appeared in uncredited and bit roles in B-movies for the next few years, occasionally working on television, as well. Eventually, she moved up the ranks, and starting in 1954, began receiving better roles, becoming a popular actress in Hollywood for the next decade.

Hyer had a supporting role in the drama So Big (1953), which stars Jane Wyman, and was directed by Robert Wise. She appeared as Janie in Abbott and Costello Go To Mars (also 1953). Hyer followed this with Westerns, Wyoming Renegades (1954) and The Battle of Rogue River (1954), and a musical comedy, Lucky Me (1954), which stars Doris Day. She then played Elizabeth Tyson, a socialite who almost loses her fiancé (William Holden) to Audrey Hepburn, in the Oscar-winning film Sabrina (1954). She next starred opposite Donald O'Connor in the comedy Francis in the Navy (1955) and in a 1956 televised version of Jezebel for Lux Video Theatre in which she played the lead role of Julie. She had supporting roles in the war story Battle Hymn (1957) with Rock Hudson and in the drama Mister Cory (1957) with Tony Curtis, directed by Blake Edwards. She was featured in Kelly and Me, a comedy with Van Johnson, and as Cornelia Bullock in the 1957 remake of My Man Godfrey with David Niven. In 1958, Hyer appeared in a Playhouse 90 televised version of Reunion by Merle Miller, along with Frances Farmer. She next appeared in Paris Holiday (1958) with Bob Hope and Houseboat (1958) with Cary Grant. Hyer was the foil for soon-to-be TV icons Dan Rowan and Dick Martin of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In fame in their Once Upon a Horse... (1958) Western film by Hal Kanter. For the 1958 drama Some Came Running, directed by Vincente Minnelli, Hyer was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Soon after, she had supporting roles in The Big Fisherman (1959) and The Best of Everything (1959) with Joan Crawford. Also in 1959 Martha played the role of Hannah Haley in Rawhide (TV series) S1 Ep 8 Incident West Of Lano.

Hyer started the 1960s with a supporting role in Ice Palace (1960), a drama with Richard Burton, and The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961), a comedy with Robert Mitchum. Next she was in A Girl Named Tamiko (1962), Wives and Lovers, and The Carpetbaggers (1964).

By 1964, Hyer had turned 40 and after a decade of success, began having trouble finding good roles, and worked mainly in television and in European and American B-films. She did appear in two episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, ('"A Piece Of Action" in 1962 and "Crimson Witness" in 1965). Also in 1965, she was in The Sons of Katie Elder, a Western with John Wayne and Dean Martin. She guest-starred on the television series Bewitched as Margaret Marshall, a wealthy, seductive woman.

In 1966, she was in The Chase, directed by Arthur Penn and starring Marlon Brando and Robert Redford. On television, she guest-starred on The Beverly Hillbillies in the episode "The Richest Woman", in which she plays Tracy Richards, the world's richest woman. In the late 1960s, she starred in the film drama Some May Live, the crime comedy The Happening, and the suspense film Crossplot. In 1967, she guest-starred on Family Affair in the episode "Star Dust", in which she plays Carol Haven, a movie star.

Her final film role was in The Day of the Wolves (1971) and her final television role was in a 1974 episode of McCloud. At age 50, she retired from acting, although she later wrote the screenplay to the 1975 Western Rooster Cogburn, starring John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn.

Retirement and death
Hyer enjoyed a quiet retirement through the 1980s and 1990s. She died on May 31, 2014, at the age of 89 from natural causes in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she had lived for many years.

title: Martha Hyer


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Peculiarities of Ohio place names

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was Delete.

Comment: I do not know who actually made the decision to delete the page. The discussion thread was not formally closed until just now. Rossami (talk) 03:17, 7 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Peculiarities of Ohio place names
Delete. It's really too bad that so much time has been spent on this, but it seems far too idiosyncratic and useless. It's nothing more than a list of place names that defy supposed assumptions you'd make based on the name. Some example listings: "Brownsville is in Ross County, not in Brown County." "Adams Mills is in Muskingum County, not in Adams County." Why would someone think a town called "Adams Mills" has to be in Adams County? Is this supposed to be contrary to other states? Can anyone else tell me why any of the entries in this list article are "peculiar"? Postdlf 04:19, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Notwithstanding the amount of work apparently put into this, delete. I don't see why this is encyclopedic. Also, parts don't make any sense. For instance, it says that "Monroe is in Butler County, not in Monroe County"--but also "Monroe is in Greene County, not in Monroe County"--and again "Monroe is in Jackson County, not in Monroe County".  There are other similar examples. What, does Ohio allow cities to be in multiple counties. User:Jacob1207
 * Yes. And that, too, is not uncommon among other states. Postdlf 06:12, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Unencyclopedic and pointless. None of these facts are particularly notable. [[User:Livajo|Ливай | ☺]] 06:31, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete this seems like the sort of thing you see in the paper on a slow news day. [[User:Rhymeless|Rhymeless | (Methyl Remiss)]] 08:33, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. The author's time could be much better spent. [[User:GeorgeStepanek|GeorgeStepanek\talk ]] 21:23, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. —tregoweth 21:29, Dec 12, 2004 (UTC)
 * Abstain for now. We don't need an article like this but before deleting this, take a look through to see if there can be any tidbits worth incorporating with other articles. 129.177.61.120 09:15, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC) Switching my vote now to Keep, I think there are many articles far worse than this one. 129.177.61.123 13:28, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Signature missing, cookie expired or anon? - Skysmith 09:34, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Merge any appropriate snippets elsewhere where they belong and delete. Besides, Ohio is hardly the only place in the world with "peculiar" place names - Skysmith 09:34, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I'd argue "delete as a useless list" except that we keep lots of useless lists. It's no more "unencyclopedic" than any of them.  I'd argue "delete because it's not unique to Ohio" but that would but usually be an argument for trimming/merging/consolidating into a more general article.  I don't understand the author's choice to create this particular article but it's no worse than many others that we keep.  I vote to give this author the benefit of the doubt for now.  Keep.  Rossami (talk) 01:26, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete because, 1, "peculiar" is partially POV, and PTMPA. 2, the assertion isn't even valid. Tons of cities/towns in most states that share a name with that of a county in the same state are not in counties named after them. For example, Garfield, Washington is in Whitman County, Washington, not Garfield County, Washington. Likewise Clarkston, Washington is not in Clark County, Washington, or is Centralia, Washington in Central Washington. Etc. This "peculiarity" is not all abnormal (admittedly, Asotin, Washington is in Asotin County, Washington), it's at best half-and-half. Some kiddie thinks Ohio is special. In the end, it is only that kiddie who is "special". - [[User:KeithTyler|Keith D. Tyler  [ flame ] ]] 19:23, Dec 16, 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete and maybe move pronunciation elsewhere. --SPUI 23:09, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. It is useful information and people are confused.  I live in Warren County, Ohio and a year or two there was a legal ad in The Western Star from a lawyer in Florida about something that happened in Warren, Ohio.  He had published the ad on the wrong side of the state, mistakenly assuming that the city was in the county of the same name.  (The city is in Trumbull County, Ohio.  And so what if this isn't confined to Ohio?  Let's create pages for other states.  Certainly this information is worth keeping--if nothing else, let's have it as a section on the Ohio page.  PedanticallySpeaking 15:22, Dec 18, 2004 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion or on the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


text:
Zirconic

Zirconic is a program for the development of reconnaissance satellites which have features intended to make them more difficult to detect and track, by both radar and visual observation. The program, which is operated by the US National Reconnaissance Office, includes the Misty and Prowler spacecraft.

title: Zirconic


text:
1999 Honolulu shootings

The 1999 Honolulu shootings or the Xerox murders were an incident of mass murder that occurred on November 2, 1999, in a Xerox Corporation building in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Service technician Byran Koji Uyesugi shot at eight people, wounding seven fatally (six co-workers and his supervisor). This was the worst mass shooting in the history of Hawaii.

Shooting
At 8:00 in the morning, Byran Koji Uyesugi, a service technician working at Xerox, opened fire inside the building with a semi-automatic pistol, killing his supervisor and six co-workers, and fired in the direction of another co-worker who fled the building. The eighth person escaped without injury.

After the shooting, Uyesugi fled in a company van, and by mid-morning, he was found sitting in the van near the Hawaii Nature Center in Makiki, above downtown Honolulu. He held a standoff with police that lasted for five hours, during which he brandished a pistol, read magazines and smoked cigarettes. Adding to the tension of the standoff, the Hawaii Nature Center was hosting thirty-five local school children, who were trapped inside without food or water. Uyesugi surrendered to police at approximately 3:00 p.m. HST.

Victims

 * Jason Balatico, 33
 * Ford Kanehira, 41
 * Ronald Kataoka, 50
 * Ronald Kawamae, 54
 * Melvin Lee, 58
 * Peter Mark, 46
 * John Sakamoto, 36

Perpetrator
Born in Honolulu in 1959, Byran Koji Uyesugi grew up in the Nuuanu neighborhood. While attending Roosevelt High School, Uyesugi was a member of the school's Army JROTC chapter and the school's rifle team. Classmates remembered him as a quiet student who never got into trouble. According to his brother Dennis, Uyesugi crashed their father's car and hit his head on the windshield shortly after graduating high school in 1977; he was never the same afterwards.

Uyesugi had been employed by Xerox as a technician since 1984. Among his hobbies was raising and breeding goldfish and koi, which he would sell to local pet stores. He had an extensive collection of firearms. At the time of the murders he had as many as 25 guns registered in his name, dating to 1982. Police also took eleven handguns, five rifles and two shotguns from Uyesugi's father.

According to testimony from Uyesugi's father, Hiroyuki, Uyesugi was normal until he started working for Xerox in 1984. In 1988, Byran started to complain that he had a poking sensation in his head.

After being transferred to another workgroup, Uyesugi began making unfounded accusations of harassment and product tampering against fellow repairmen. They had difficulty dealing with him. Former co-workers who knew him reported the other members of his team allegedly ostracized him, making him feel isolated and withdrawn. Uyesugi reportedly made threats against other co-workers' lives. In 1993, he was ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation and anger management courses after he kicked in and damaged an elevator door. Uyesugi was arrested for third-degree criminal property damage. Co-workers told Dr. Michael Welner, chairman of the Forensic Panel and the forensic psychiatrist who interviewed Uyesugi prior to trial, that as early as 1995, Uyesugi was openly talking of carrying out a mass shooting at the workplace were he to be fired. He complained that his co-workers were engaged in patterns of harassment, backstabbing behavior, and spreading of rumors.

In the period leading up to the shootings, Xerox management had become increasingly committed to phasing out the type of photocopier that Uyesugi serviced. He resisted learning the replacement machine, fearing that he could not keep up with its technical demands. After working around his refusal to train on the new machine, Uyesugi's manager insisted on November 1, 1999, that he would begin training the next day. In his interview with Dr. Michael Welner, who examined Uyesugi when the defendant brought an insanity defense, Uyesugi said he had believed that if he refused to take the training, management would fire him. He told Dr. Welner, "I decided to give them a reason to fire me."

Trial
Forty-year-old Byran Uyesugi's month-long trial began on May 15, 2000. He was charged with one count of murder in the first degree (count 1), seven counts of murder in the second degree (counts 2–8), and one count of attempted murder in the second degree (count 9). Prior to the close of the trial, counts 2-8 were merged into count 1.

The Prosecuting Attorney of Honolulu Peter Carlisle and Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys Christopher Van Marter and Kevin Takata represented the State of Hawaii. Criminal Defense Attorneys Jerel Fonseca and Rodney Ching of the law firm Fonseca & Ching represented Uyesugi.

Uyesugi pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and claimed that he felt like an outcast at work and that he feared his colleagues were conspiring to have him fired. Dr. Park Dietz and Dr. Daryl Matthews testified for the defense that he was insane, citing the delusions about how others were tampering with his fish. Lead prosecution expert witness Dr. Harold Hall testified that the Defendant fulfilled the criteria for a diagnosis of schizophrenia, but he did not meet the criteria for either insanity or extreme emotion or mental disturbance (EMED). Dr. Michael Welner testified for the prosecution that although Uyesugi was, in his opinion, legitimately suffering the effects of schizophrenia, he carried out the shooting because he was angry that he would be fired for insubordination and his own account of concealment before the crime demonstrated that his actions were premeditated.

On June 13, 2000, the jury rejected the insanity defense, finding Uyesugi guilty on count 1 for the seven murders and count 9 for the attempted murder. On August 8, 2000, Judge Marie N. Milks sentenced Uyesugi to life without the possibility of parole for count 1 and life with the possibility of parole on count 9, with the sentences to run consecutively. The court also ordered Uyesugi to pay $500 in restitution and $70,000 to the crime victim compensation fund. Hawaii does not have the death penalty. The parole board later ordered Uyesugi to serve a minimum term of 235 years in prison, the longest ever ordered for a Hawaii inmate. Uyesugi appealed his convictions. In 2002, the State of Hawaii Supreme Court upheld Uyesugi's conviction. In 2004, Uyesugi was considering fighting his conviction based on Rule 40, inadequate representation by his lawyers in his first trial.

In 2005, Xerox and the hospital that examined Uyesugi settled a civil lawsuit brought by the families of the shooting victims. They believed that both parties had failed to take preventive action based on what they said were clear signs of Uyesugi's mental instability.

Uyesugi was incarcerated at the Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona.

Aftermath
Xerox vacated the premises at 1200 N. Nimitz Highway after the shooting. This facility was vacant until 2004, when the producers of the TV show Lost built a sound stage there to film indoor scenes. Dal-Tile currently leases the property from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation for its tile and natural stone showroom.

The state legislature passed a law that requires doctors to reveal information about the mental state of persons applying to buy guns.

title: 1999 Honolulu shootings


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of Federalist Papers

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was - kept

List of Federalist Papers
Was listed for VfD six months ago -- see Talk:List of Federalist Papers. It survived because the only vote (mine) was to wait-and-see. The only two edits in six months were to add categories. This Table of Contents is less useful to our readers than the first external link at Federalist Papers. We already link to a more informative (external) page and it looks like no one is going to add anything to this page. Not a list, but a table of contents. SWAdair | Talk 04:24, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. Valid and useful information.  We should never delete an article because its contents can be found on another website.  This table is also too long to merge into Federalist Papers.  I've intended for awhile to write some articles on at least the most notable individual Federalist Papers, and there is quite a bit that can be said on all of them.  Sooner or later, someone is going to take up the task, and this list is certainly not harming anything in its current state.  Postdlf 04:30, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep This is exactly the kind of hard information one would like in an encyclopedia. It would be better as a list of article links, of course... - Amgine 05:58, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep: It's kind of attendant on the Federalist Papers and might well be merged and redirected there, depending on the size of the Federalist Papers article. I worry that we lose the information as a separate article. Geogre 14:43, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Changing vote to delete: There is already a TOC on -source, and it's better.  This is therefore stranded and inferior. Geogre 05:04, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * See The Federalist Papers. The list is all there already, but with the actual sources as well.  So, this list is useful only to the extent that someone writes articles about the individual papers.  But, since Postdlf intends to do so, I suppose we should keep this. Michael Ward 16:06, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Another strong keep . This is good stuff. --[[User:Tony Sidaway|Tony Sidaway|Talk]] 01:45, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Take your strong keep and raise you an extreme keep. —[[en:RaD Man|RaD Man (talk)]] 05:13, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Based on the current content, redirect to The Federalist Papers which already has the more complete list. If/when Postdlf writes the articles about each Federalist Paper, the redirect can be easily reversed.  Rossami (talk) 01:32, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Redirect to wikisource as per Rossami et al. - [[User:KeithTyler|Keith D. Tyler  [ flame ] ]] 19:24, Dec 16, 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete, redir to wikisource, or merge into Federalist Papers, which isn't very big. Niteowlneils 03:43, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. I strongly oppose deletion. This sort of information is very useful in an Encyclopedia. It *could* be merged into Federalist Papers, but in any event, each one of them should be a link to the appropriate WikiSource article. --Dante Alighieri | Talk 19:04, Dec 17, 2004 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.