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United States Tax Court

The United States Tax Court (in case citations, T.C.) is a federal trial court of record established by Congress under Article I of the U.S. Constitution, section 8 of which provides (in part) that the Congress has the power to "constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court". The Tax Court specializes in adjudicating disputes over federal income tax, generally prior to the time at which formal tax assessments are made by the Internal Revenue Service.

Though taxpayers may choose to litigate tax matters in a variety of legal settings, outside of bankruptcy, the Tax Court is the only forum in which taxpayers may do so without having first paid the disputed tax in full. Parties who contest the imposition of a tax may also bring an action in any United States District Court, or in the United States Court of Federal Claims; however, these venues require that the tax first be paid and that the party then file suit to recover the contested amount paid (the "full payment rule" of Flora v. United States).

History
The first incarnation of the Tax Court was the "U.S. Board of Tax Appeals", established by Congress in the Revenue Act of 1924 (also known as the Mellon tax bill) in order to address the increasing complexity of tax-related litigation. Those serving on the Board were simply designated as "members." The members of the Board were empowered to select, on a biennial basis, one of their members as "chairman." In July 1924, President Calvin Coolidge announced the appointment of the first twelve appointees, of which seven were appointed from private life and five from the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Additional members were appointed in the fall, and the Board when fully constituted originally had 16 members, with Charles D. Hamel serving as the first Chairman. The Board was initially established as an "independent agency in the executive branch of the government." It was housed in the Internal Revenue Service Building in the Federal Triangle. The first session of the Board of Tax Appeals spanned July 16, 1924 to May 31, 1925.

In 1929, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Board of Tax Appeals was not a "court," but was instead "an executive or administrative board, upon the decision of which the parties are given an opportunity to base a petition for review to the courts after the administrative inquiry of the Board has been had and decided."

In 1942, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1942, renaming the Board as the "Tax Court of the United States". With this change, the Members became Judges and the Chairman became the Presiding Judge. By 1956, overcrowding and the desire to separate judicial and executive powers led to initial attempts to relocate the court. In 1962, Secretary of the Treasury Douglas Dillon appealed to the General Services Administration (GSA) to incorporate funds for the design of a new building in its upcoming budget. The GSA allocated $450,000, and commissioned renowned architect Victor A. Lundy, who produced a design that was approved in 1966. However, funding constraints brought on by the Vietnam War delayed the start of construction until 1972.

The Tax Court was again renamed to its current formal designation in the Tax Reform Act of 1969, changing it from an historically administrative court to a full judicial court. The completed United States Tax Court Building was dedicated on November 22, 1974, the fiftieth anniversary of the Revenue Act that created the court.

In 1991, the U.S. Supreme Court in Freytag v. Commissioner stated that the current United States Tax Court is an "Article I legislative court" that "exercises a portion of the judicial power of the United States." The Court explained the Tax Court "exercises judicial power to the exclusion of any other function" and that it "exercises its judicial power in much the same way as the federal district courts exercise theirs." This "exclusively judicial role distinguishes it from other non-Article III tribunals that perform multiple functions." Thus, Freytag concluded that the Tax Court exercises "judicial, rather than executive, legislative, or administrative, power." The Tax Court "remains independent of the Executive and Legislative Branches" in the sense that its decisions are not subject to appellate review by Congress, the President, or for that matter, Article III district courts. The President, however, may remove Tax Court judges, after notice and opportunity for public hearing, for "inefficiency," "neglect of duty," or "malfeasance in office."

Justice Scalia penned a separate concurrence for four justices in Freytag. These justices dissented as to the Court majority's rationale; they would have characterized the Tax Court's power as "executive" rather than "judicial." Scalia said that to him "it seem[ed]... entirely obvious that the Tax Court, like the Internal Revenue Service, the FCC, and the NLRB, exercises executive power." Notwithstanding Scalia's sharp dissents in landmark separation-of-powers cases such as Mistretta v. United States and Morrison v. Olson, Scalia apparently "describe[d] Freytag as the single worst opinion of his incumbency" on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Although the 2008 U.S. government directory of executive and legislative appointed officers ("the Plum Book") categorized the Tax Court as part of the legislative branch, the 2012 revised version removed the Tax Court and listed it under neither the legislative nor the executive branches.

Under an amendment to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 enacted in late 2015, the U.S. Tax Court "is not an agency of, and shall be independent of, the executive branch of the Government." However, section 7443(f) of the Code still provides that a Tax Court judge may be removed by the President "for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office".

Jurisdiction of the Tax Court
The Tax Court provides a judicial forum in which affected persons can dispute tax deficiencies determined by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue prior to payment of the disputed amounts. The jurisdiction of the Tax Court includes, but is not limited to the authority to hear:

 * 1) tax disputes concerning notices of deficiency
 * 2) notices of transferee liability
 * 3) certain types of declaratory judgment
 * 4) readjustment and adjustment of partnership items
 * 5) review of the failure to abate interest
 * 6) administrative costs
 * 7) worker classification
 * 8) relief from joint and several liability on a joint return
 * 9) review of certain collection actions

Congress amended the Internal Revenue Code, now codified in Internal Revenue Code section 7482, providing that decisions of the Tax Court may be reviewed by the applicable geographical United States Court of Appeals other than the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. (See Article I and Article III tribunals).

"Small Tax Cases" are conducted under Internal Revenue Code section 7463, and generally involve amounts in controversy of $50,000 or less for any one tax year. The "Small Tax Case" procedure is available "at the option of the taxpayer." These cases are neither appealable nor precedential.

At times there have been efforts in Congress and the Tax Bar to create a single national Court of Appeals for tax cases (or make Tax Court decisions appealable to a single existing Court of Appeals), to maintain uniformity in the application of the nation's tax laws (the very reason underlying the creation of the Tax Court and the grant of national jurisdiction to the Tax Court), but efforts to avoid "hometown results" or inconsistent results due to a lack of expertise have failed.

An important reason for the movements to create a single national Court of Appeals for tax cases is that the United States Tax Court does not have exclusive jurisdiction over tax cases. In addition to the Tax Court, federal tax matters can be heard and decided in three other courts: U.S. District Courts, the Court of Federal Claims, and the Bankruptcy Court. In the first two instances, the taxpayer bringing the claim generally must have first paid the deficiency determined by the IRS. For the Bankruptcy Court, the tax matter must arise as an issue in a bankruptcy proceeding. Bankruptcy Court appeals are initially to the U.S. District Court. Appeals beyond the U.S. District Courts and the Court of Federal Claims follow the same path as those from the U.S. Tax Court as described above.

With this number of courts involved in making legal determinations on federal tax matters, some observers express concern that the tax laws can be interpreted differently for like cases.

Representation of parties
The Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service or his delegate represents the executive branch in the Tax Court. The Tax Court permits persons who are not attorneys to be admitted to practice (to represent taxpayers) by applying for admission and passing an examination administered by the Court. Attorneys who provide evidence of membership and good standing in a state bar or the D.C. bar can be admitted to the bar of the Court without sitting for the Tax Court examination. Tax Court practice is highly specialized and most practitioners are licensed attorneys who specialize in tax controversies.

Genesis of a Tax Court dispute
Many Tax Court cases involve disputes over federal income tax and penalties, often after an examination by the Internal Revenue Service of a taxpayer's return. After issuance of a series of preliminary written notices and a lack of agreement between the taxpayer and the IRS, the IRS formally "determines" the amount of the "deficiency" and issues a formal notice called a "statutory notice of deficiency," or "ninety day letter". In this context, the term "deficiency" is a legal term of art, and is not necessarily equal to the amount of unpaid tax (although it usually is). The deficiency is generally the excess of the amount the IRS contends is the correct tax over the amount the taxpayer showed on the return—in both cases, without regard to how much has actually been paid.

Upon issuance of the statutory notice of deficiency (after IRS determination of the tax amount, but before the formal IRS assessment of the tax), the taxpayer generally has 90 days to file a Tax Court petition for "redetermination of the deficiency". If no petition is timely filed, the IRS may then statutorily "assess" the tax. To "assess" the tax in this sense means to administratively and formally record the tax on the books of the United States Department of the Treasury. This formal statutory assessment is a critical act, as the statutory tax lien that later arises is effective retroactively to the date of the assessment, and encumbers all property and rights to property of the taxpayer.

Life cycle of a Tax Court case

Because of the negative legal consequences ensuing with respect to a statutory assessment (especially the tax lien and the Flora requirement that the taxpayer otherwise pay the full disputed amount and sue for refund), a taxpayer is often well advised to file a Tax Court petition in a timely manner. The rule in the Tax Court is that the taxpayer sues the "Commissioner of Internal Revenue," with the taxpayer as "petitioner" and the Commissioner as "respondent." This rule is an example of an exception to the general rule that the proper party defendant in a tax case filed by a taxpayer against the federal government is "United States of America". In the Tax Court, the Commissioner is not named personally. The "Secretary of the Treasury", the "Department of the Treasury" and the "Internal Revenue Service" are not proper parties.

The petition must be timely filed within the allowable time. The Court cannot extend the time for filing, which is set by statute. A $60 filing fee must be paid when the petition is filed. Once the petition is filed, payment of the underlying tax ordinarily is postponed until the case has been decided. In certain tax disputes involving $50,000 or less, taxpayers may elect to have the case conducted under the Court's simplified small tax case procedure. Trials in small tax cases generally are less formal and result in a speedier disposition. However, decisions entered pursuant to small tax case procedures are not appealable and are not precedential.

Cases are calendared for trial as soon as practicable (on a first in/first out basis) after the case becomes at issue. When a case is calendared, the parties are notified by the Court of the date, time, and place of trial. Trials are conducted before one judge, without a jury, and taxpayers are permitted to represent themselves if they desire. However, the vast majority of cases are settled by mutual agreement without the necessity of a trial. However, if a trial is conducted, in due course a report is ordinarily issued by the presiding judge setting forth findings of fact and an opinion. The case is then closed in accordance with the judge's opinion by entry of a decision.

Appellate review
Either the petitioner (the taxpayer) or the respondent (the Commissioner of Internal Revenue) may take an appeal from an adverse decision of the Tax Court to the appropriate United States Court of Appeals. In the case of an appeal by the taxpayer, a bond is normally required in order to avoid enforcement action during the pendency of the appeal. Instead of taking an appeal, the Internal Revenue Service may issue an "Action on Decision" indicating the Commissioner's "non-acquiescence" in the decision, meaning that the Commissioner will not follow the decision in subsequent cases. In such cases, the Commissioner hopes for the opportunity to litigate the matter in another circuit where he will have a better chance of obtaining reversal on appeal.

Judges

The Tax Court is composed of 19 judges appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Former judges whose terms have ended may become "senior judges", able to return and assist the court by hearing cases while serving on recall. In addition, the court is assisted by a number of "special trial judges", who are employees of the court, appointed by the chief judge of the Tax Court, rather than by the President. Special trial judges serve a function similar to that served by United States magistrate judges of the district courts, and may hear cases regarding alleged deficiencies or overpayments of up to $50,000. Reappointment, when requested by a Tax Court judge (I.R.C. 7447(b)(3)) is generally pro forma regardless of the political party of the appointing President and the political party of the re-appointing (sitting) President. Each active judge appointed by the President has two law clerks (attorney-advisers) and each senior judge and special trial judge has one law clerk.

President George W. Bush was heavily criticized by the U.S. Congress, the Tax Bar, and others when he indicated that he likely would not, or might not, re-appoint Tax Court judges whose terms were expiring (even though the first judge whose re-appointment President Bush called into question, Judge John O. Colvin, was appointed by President Ronald Reagan). President Bill Clinton also was criticized for not acting timely to re-appoint Tax Court judges, having allowed one sitting Chief Judge's term to expire, thus requiring the Tax Court to elect a new Chief Judge. Additionally, several Tax Court judges had to wait more than a year (sometimes more than two years) to be reappointed during the Clinton presidency.

Trial sessions are conducted and other work of the Court is performed by its judges, by senior judges serving on recall, and by special trial judges. All of the judges have expertise in the tax laws, and are tasked to "apply that expertise in a manner to ensure that taxpayers are assessed only what they owe, and no more". Although the "principal office" of the Court is located in the District of Columbia, Tax Court judges may sit "at any place within the United States". The judges travel nationwide to conduct trials in various designated cities. The work of the Tax Court has occasionally been interrupted by events. In 2001, a trial session in New York City was canceled due to the September 11 terrorist attacks. In 2005, stops in Miami and New Orleans were canceled due to the effects of hurricanes which had struck shortly before their scheduled visit to each city.

The Tax Court's judges serve 15-year terms, subject to presidential removal during the term for "[I]nefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office." The mandatory retirement age for judges is 70. The judges' salaries are set at the same rate as "[J]udges of the district courts of the United States", currently $210,900 annually.

Current special trial judges
, the special trial judges on the court are as follows:

Former members of the Board of Tax Appeals and Tax Court
Former members were part of the Board of Tax Appeals until 1942, and part of the Tax Court since 1942.

Past special trial judges

 * James M. Gussis (1970–1994)
 * Joseph N. Ingolia (1970–1977)
 * Charles R. Johnston (1970–1980)
 * John H. Sacks (1970–1977)
 * Randolph F. Caldwell Jr. (1971–1985)
 * Lehman C. Aarons (1975–1986)
 * Murray H. Falk (1975–1981)
 * Francis J. Cantrel (1977–1994)
 * Fred S. Gilbert Jr. (1977–1984)
 * Edna G. Parker (1977–1980; elevated to a regular seat on the Tax Court)
 * John Pajak (1979–2005)
 * Marvin F. Peterson (1979–1994; Chief Special Trial Judge, 1987–1994)
 * Darrell D. Hallett (1980–1983)
 * Fred R. Tansill (1980–1986)
 * Lee M. Galloway (1981–1993)
 * Helen A. Buckley (1983–1994)
 * Joan Seitz Pate (1983–1994)
 * Hu S. Vandervort (1984–1989)
 * D. Irvin Couvillion (1985–2008)
 * Stanley Goldberg (1985–2010)
 * Carleton Powell (1985–2007)
 * Norman H. Wolfe (1985–2005)
 * Larry L. Nameroff (1986–2000)
 * Daniel J. Dinan (1991–2003)
 * Robert Armen (1993–2019)
 * John F. Dean (1994–2014)
 * Daniel A. Guy Jr. (2012–2022)

title: United States Tax Court


text:
1979 in art

Events from the year 1979 in art.

Events

 * October 25 – Frederic Edwin Church's 1861 painting The Icebergs sells for US$2.5 million at Sotheby's New York, the third-highest amount paid for any painting at auction at this date.
 * November 15 – Art historian and former Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures Anthony Blunt's role as one of the 'Cambridge Five' double agents for the Soviet NKVD during World War II is revealed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
 * The Xing xing ("The Stars Group") of 20 avant-garde Chinese artists (including Ma Desheng, Wang Keping, Huang Rui, Li Shuang, Qu Leilei, Ah Cheng and Ai Weiwei) stage an illegal exhibition outside the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.
 * The Bauhaus Archive, designed by Alexander Cvijanović with Hans Bandel after Walter Gropius, is completed in West Berlin, Germany.
 * Edward Delaney's statue of Wolfe Tone in Dublin is destroyed by terrorists.

Awards

 * Archibald Prize: Wes Walters – Portrait of Phillip Adams

Works

 * Michael Andrews – Melanie and Me Swimming
 * Judy Chicago – The Dinner Party (collaborative installation, completed)
 * Paul Delvaux – The Road to Rome (painting)
 * Jenny Holzer – Truisms
 * Lee Kelly – sculptures (Portland, Oregon)
 * Elkhorn
 * Nash
 * Jack Mackie and Charles Greening – Dancer's Series: Steps (bronze, Seattle)
 * Joan Mitchell
 * La Vie en Rose
 * Salut Tom
 * Andrzej Pitynski – The Partisans (aluminum sculpture)
 * Enzo Plazzotta – Attitude II (Margot Fonteyn)
 * John Rogers – 118 Modules (sculpture, Portland, Oregon)
 * Michael Snow – Flight Stop (sculpture, Toronto Eaton Centre)
 * Don Wilson – Holon (sculpture, Portland, Oregon)

Exhibitions

 * April 22 to June 10 – Special Projects (Scott Belville. John Boone. Andrea Callard. Katherine Carter. Ian Crofts, Lauren Ewing, Heide Fasnicht, Betty Goodwin, Norman Hasselriis, Alan Herman, Jeff (Jeff Russell), and Elaine Reichek) at PS1 in Queens, New York.

Births

 * July 25 – Ahmed Mater, Saudi artist
 * date unknown
 * Aideen Barry, Irish multimedia and performance artist
 * Éric Bourdon, French painter and writer
 * Elise Fouin, French designer

Deaths

 * January 11 – Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, German-born French Art dealer (born 1884)
 * February 3 – Aaron Douglas, American painter (born 1898)
 * February 7 – Charles Tunnicliffe, British wildlife painter (born 1901)
 * March 20 – Jean Charlot, French painter and illustrator (born 1898)
 * April 5 – Eugène Gabritschevsky, Russian biologist and artist (born 1893)
 * June 23 – Reynolds Stone, English wood engraver (born 1909)
 * June 25
 * Dave Fleischer, Austrian American animator, film director, and film producer (born 1894)
 * Philippe Halsman, Latvian American portrait photographer (born 1906)
 * July 13 – Ludwig Merwart, Austrian painter and graphic artist (born 1913)
 * August 20 – Christian Dotremont, Belgian painter and poet (born 1922)
 * August 29 – Ivon Hitchens, English painter (born 1893)
 * September 17 – Paul Maze, French-born English Post-Impressionist painter (born 1887)
 * November 8 – Edward Ardizzone, British writer and illustrator (born 1900)
 * November 20 – Tyra Lundgren, Swedish painter, ceramist, glass and textile designer and writer on art (born 1897)
 * December 5 – Sonia Delaunay, Ukrainian-French artist (born 1885)
 * December 23 – Peggy Guggenheim, American-born art collector (born 1898)
 * December 26 – Karl Hubbuch, German painter, printmaker and draughtsman (born 1891)
 * date unknown
 * Russell Brockbank, Canadian-born cartoonist (born 1913)
 * Sheila Fell, English painter (born 1931)

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

title: 1979 in art


text: Category:Canadian political strategists

title: Category:Canadian political strategists


text:
User talk:80.255.50.66

Thank you for your contributions, but please if you could create an article like Lexical relation can you add some content? - Estel (talk) 19:37, Apr 14, 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:80.255.50.66


text:
Acid salt

Acid salts are a class of salts that produce an acidic solution after being dissolved in a solvent. Its formation as a substance has a greater electrical conductivity than that of the pure solvent. An acidic solution formed by acid salt is made during partial neutralization of diprotic or polyprotic acids. A half-neutralization occurs due to the remaining of replaceable hydrogen atoms from the partial dissociation of weak acids that have not been reacted with hydroxide ions (OH(−)) to create water molecules.

Formation
Acid–base property of the resulting solution from a neutralization reaction depends on the remaining salt products. A salt containing reactive cations undergo hydrolysis by which they react with water molecules, causing deprotonation of the conjugate acids.

For example, the acid salt ammonium chloride is the main species formed upon the half neutralization of ammonia in aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride:
 * NH3(aq) + HCl(aq) → [NH4]+Cl−(aq)

Use in food
Acid salts are often used in foods as part of leavening agents. In this context, the acid salts are referred to as "leavening acids." Common leavening acids include cream of tartar and monocalcium phosphate.

An acid salt can be mixed with certain base salt (such as sodium bicarbonate or baking soda) to create baking powders which release carbon dioxide. Leavening agents can be slow-acting (e.g. sodium aluminum phosphate) which react when heated, or fast-acting (e.g., cream of tartar) which react immediately at low temperatures. Double-acting baking powders contain both slow- and fast-acting leavening agents and react at low and high temperatures to provide leavening rising throughout the baking process.

Disodium phosphate, Na2HPO4, is used in foods and monosodium phosphate, NaH2PO4, is used in animal feed, toothpaste and evaporated milk.

Intensity of acid
An acid with higher $120.054 g/mol$ value dominates the chemical reaction. It serves as a better contributor of protons (H(+)). A comparison between the $119.976 g/mol$ and $141.957 g/mol$ indicates the acid–base property of the resulting solution by which:

 * 1) The solution is acidic if $K_{a} > K_{b}$. It contains a greater concentration of H(+) ions than concentration of OH(−) ions due more extensive of cation hydrolysis compared to that of anion hydrolysis.
 * 2) The solution is alkaline if $K_{a} < K_{b}$. Anions hydrolyze more than cations, causing an exceeding concentration of OH(−) ions.
 * 3) The solution is expected to be neutral only when $K_{a} = K_{b}$.

Other possible factors that could vary pH level of a solution are the relevant equilibrium constants and the additional amounts of any base or acid.

For example, in ammonium chloride solution, NH4(+) is the main influence for acidic solution. It has greater $(anhydrous)2.742 g/cm3$ value compared to that of water molecules; $(monohydrate)1.8 g/cm3$ of NH4(+) is $0.5 g/cm3$, and $1.7 g/cm3$ of H2O is $K_{a}$. This ensures its deprotonation when reacting with water, and is responsible for the pH below 7 at room temperature. Cl(-) will have no affinity for H(+) nor tendency to hydrolyze, as its $K_{a}$ value is very low ($K_{b}$ of Cl(-) is $K_{a}$).

Hydrolysis of ammonium at room temperature produces:

title: Acid salt


text:
Pointe-au-Père Lighthouse

The 3rd Pointe-Au-Père Lighthouse was built in 1909 in the city of Pointe-au-Père, near Rimouski, Quebec, Canada. This city was well known in naval circles as the location of the pilot station for the Bas-Saint-Laurent (lower St. Lawrence) zone. Pointe-au-Père has since been amalgamated into the larger city of Rimouski (2002).

The lighthouse is 108 ft tall, which makes it the second tallest in eastern Canada. It is built in a characteristic shape, employing eight concrete buttresses to support a slender central cylinder.

It was replaced by an electronic lighthouse in 1975 and the site is now open for visitors as part of the Site historique maritime de la Pointe-au-Père. The RMS Empress of Ireland shipwrecking is documented in the Empress of Ireland museum and you can also visit the first submarine open to the public in Canada, HMCS Onondaga (S73).

The site was designated a National Historic Site in 1974, and is considered a unit of the national park system. However, visitor services are provided by the non-profit Point-au-Père Maritime Historic Site.

Keepers

 * David Lawson 1859-1876
 * John McWilliams 1876-1893
 * John McWilliams 1893-1911
 * John Cahill 1912-1920
 * Thomas Matthew Wyatt 1920-1936
 * Charles Augustus Lavoie 1936-1964
 * Roger St. Pierre Lavoie 1964-1972
 * Armand Lafrance 1972-?

title: Pointe-au-Père Lighthouse


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Netbux

 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. Mackensen (talk) 04:17, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Netbux
Wikipedia is not a place to advertise multi-level marketing schemes. MLM's are illegal in many countries. Delete.-gadfium 19:37, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep: Wikipedia should be a place to document MLM schemes (which certainly has an instructive character). We have articles on all kinds of dubious and criminal organizations and scams, and Wikipedia is often one of the better sources on them. So for me it's really a question of whether this is a notable MLM scheme. If in fact 13'000 people fell for it in roughly a week, it's going to be a notable RSN. Rl 21:26, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Change my vote to Delete. Fortunately, this particular scam doesn't look like it's ever going to become notable now. I still find it's an interesting variant because it involves ripping off third parties, but that's presumably the very reason it's not going anywhere. Rl 12:46, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Delete. Illegal.  RickK 22:18, Apr 14, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Note to RickK: Yes of course its illegal. But as RI said, whether a scheme is legal or not, wikipedia is in my opinion one of the best places to document it. 13,000 people in one week is not a small number, and the amount of places i am beginning to see referral id's is so alarming that i am sure this MLM will be a big one. Sure, wikipedia aint a place to promote MLM's, but it is a place to document them. THE KING 23:54, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * ... which we do, at pyramid scheme, Ponzi scheme, and the like. Is your vote Redirect to any of those? Uncle G 12:01, 2005 Apr 15 (UTC)
 * Delete. Advertising. Paradiso 01:31, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete as blatant advertising for a week-old scam site. Agree that they should be documented, but only those that have shown notability.  This is just wrong. - Lucky 6.9 02:46, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, blatant commercial promotion. Allowing a keep for this would set a bad legal precedent for wikipedia. Megan1967 08:03, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Concur, delete. Radiant_* 08:19, Apr 15, 2005 (UTC)

-- NOTE: I have now re-written the article. Please reconsider all the above delete votes. -- It is no longer advertising, nor is it POVy in any way. Oh and if you think it is then don't complain here - fix it. THE KING 12:16, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Your rewrite is certainly an improvement, except that you subtly readded the link to their website with a referral number in it. I've removed that, but your readding it shows a lack of good faith. In my opinion, the subject is still not worthy of being on Wikipedia.-gadfium 00:41, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Ετητης )]] 09:55, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. No sense in pumping up some minor scam's Google hits. --Calton | Talk 02:16, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Carlton, with no link to the actual website, we shouldn't be bumping up its google hits. THE KING 02:44, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * That's Calton, as the sig clearly reads. And it takes links for Google to pick up text on a page? Imagine my surprise. And do you mean links like this one on your user page, hmmm? I re-affirm my delete vote above, and only wish I could do so twice. --Calton | Talk 13:34, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Is there an independent verifiable source for that 15,000 people claim? --Irishpunktom\talk 14:52, Apr 19, 2005 (UTC)
 * On the netbux home page, it says how many members it has. I have adjusted the page to reflect this. THE KING 01:22, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep - I came to this page looking for info on this site, and I found it. Not the best info, but it could be made into something much better. Perhaps background information, how they make money, ect. I think delelting this article would just be pointless. -Mark 68.43.49.65 (talk · contributions)
 * It need hardly be mentioned that this is this anon's only edit to Wikipedia. Mel Etitis ([[User talk:Mel Etitis| Μελ
 * Sorry, is this better? I don't think I've done much editing due to everything always being fixed by the time I click edit. Pests 02:31, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Not really; this is the first and only edit from Pests (talk · contributions). Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης ) 09:31, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. And I note that it's shrinking very rapidly . Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης ) 09:55, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * To clear up the controversy about how many members netbux has, please check the homepage of netbux. The other day, it said 10,000 and i updated the page to reflect this. NOW they have 15,000+ members (plz check homepage if you dont believe me) and i am going to update the page again.
 * Keep. It is important to keep track of these schemes. As to its notability I recieved no less then 20 propositions in the past week about it so it is apparently notable enough. Falerin 18:55, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Note: user has 20 edits.
 * Keep. I wanted more info and found it. No reason not to document this. If wikipedia is concerned about commercial promotion, they should remove all pages containing references to corporate entities. I do agree that there should not be a link with a refferer ID in it coming from the wiki. 66.0.249.126 16:59, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * This bears an interesting resemblance to the comment & vote from above.  needless to say, this address has been used to make this edit only, and the earlier address hasn't been used to make any edits since its vote here.   (who is apparently desperate to earn some money, and placed the referral link on his User page) seems also to be desperate for this article to be kept. Mel Etitis  ( Μελ Ετητης ) 17:19, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. I have heard from people saying this is legit.  It's not commercial promotion if all of the other companies can have their pages.  No reason that "NetBux" shouldn't be documented.  --Randy 21:04, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * i am now updating the page, based on the stats on the front page of netbux. They now have 26,000 members - very notable! THE KING 03:29, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep in its current form, or merge with multi-level marketing or something similar. --SPUI (talk) 08:22, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Anyone can start their own mlm scheme and claim that they have 2500, 25000 or 250000 members on their website; this is still not a reason to mention it here. --Ktotam 14:41, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment: THE KING left a nice note on my talk page asking me to reconsider my vote.  While the article is better than it was, is it really an encyclopedia article?  I fear this will balloon into yet another scheme to co-opt the site for furthering an agenda.  IMO, this could be worse than all the Sollogs, GNAA's and pedophiles combined.  Sorry King, but no change of vote. - Lucky 6.9 03:38, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * He left me a note as well. But I can't really find the 'substantial rewrite' he claims has occured. As such I don't really see a reason to change my vote. However, SPUI's suggestion of merging to multi-level marketing sounds like an appropriate alternative. Radiant_* 07:23, Apr 27, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Seems like a notable enough site.  Moncrief 08:00, Apr 27, 2005 (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 the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Netbux


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Tony Eason

Charles Carroll "Tony" Eason IV (born October 8, 1959) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini. Taken 15th overall by the Patriots in the 1983 NFL Draft, he was one of the six quarterbacks selected during the first round. Eason served as New England's primary starter from 1984 to 1986, where he helped the team make their Super Bowl debut in Super Bowl XX. Competing as the starter with Steve Grogan throughout his Patriots tenure, Eason was released during the 1989 season. He spent his final two seasons as a backup with the New York Jets.

Early life
Eason grew up in Walnut Grove, California, and attended Delta High School in Clarksburg, California, a school with only 250 students at the time. His brother is former professional NFL player Bo Eason. Despite an impressive high school football career, Eason's only scholarship offer from a Division I school came from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. However, he was denied admission due to poor grades, and he opted to attend American River Junior College in Sacramento, California. Eason spent two years playing football at American River in 1978 and 1979.

College career
Eason transferred to the University of Illinois and sat out the 1980 season. He was 6 feet, 4 inches tall, and weighed 205 pounds when he took over as the starting quarterback for the Fighting Illini in 1981. His first start for Illinois matched Eason against Pitt's quarterback Dan Marino; the Illini lost, 26–6, but Eason made an impressive debut as he completed 23 of 37 passes for 207 yards (slightly better than the 204 yards passing by Marino in the game). In his first season with the Illini, Eason led the Illini to a 7-4 record, but the team was ineligible to play in a bowl game due to sanctions imposed by the Big Ten Conference. Eason completed 248 of 406 passes (61.1%) for 3,360 yards and 20 touchdowns. The Illini ranked third in the nation in passing in 1981, as Eason led the Big Ten in passing efficiency and total offense and set nine conference records, including records for total offense, completions, passing yardage, and passing touchdowns. He also edged out Art Schlichter as the quarterback on the Associated Press' All Big-Ten football team.

Eason earned the nickname "Champaign Tony" while playing at Illinois, based upon the city in which the university is located.

As a senior in 1982, Eason accumulated a school record 3,671 passing yards and led the Illini to a 7–4 regular season record and its first appearance in a bowl games since the 1964 Rose Bowl. He also broke five NCAA passing records in 1982 and tied four more. The NCAA records set by Eason in 1982 included most total yards per game in a career (299.5), most passing yards per game in a career (300.4), most completions per game in a career (23.9), and most total yards in first two seasons (6,589). Eason finished second in the voting behind Michigan's Anthony Carter for the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten.

Eason's final game for Illinois was the 1982 Liberty Bowl, which also marked the last head coaching appearance of Bear Bryant for Alabama. Although Illinois lost the game, 21–15, Eason registered a record 433 passing yards in the game. Eason also threw four of the Illini's seven interceptions in the game.

In the 1983 East-West Shrine Game, Eason led the East team to 26–25 win over a West team led by John Elway. Eason completed 21 of 34 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns in the game.

Eason still holds many of the school's all-time passing records, including the following:
 * Passing yardage in a season – 3,671 (1982)
 * Passing yards per game in a season – 333.7 (1982)
 * Passing yards per game in a career – 300.4 (1981–82)
 * Pass attempts in a season – 505 (1982)
 * Pass efficiency in a season – 140.0 (1981)
 * Pass efficiency in a career – 133.8 (1981–82)
 * Most interceptions in a season – 19 (1982)
 * Consecutive pass completions – 14, at Iowa, October 30, 1982

New England Patriots
Eason was selected by the New England Patriots in the first round (15th overall pick) of the 1983 NFL Draft. He was one of six quarterbacks picked in the first round of the 1983 Draft along with John Elway (1st pick), Todd Blackledge (7th pick), Jim Kelly (14th pick), Ken O'Brien (24th pick), and Dan Marino (27th pick). The idea was for him to eventually take over for longtime starter Steve Grogan, who had gone 5–8 in his last two injury-ridden seasons.

Eason would appear in 72 games (49 as a starter) for the Patriots between 1983 and 1989. His rookie season saw him start the last four games of the year after Grogan started Week 1 through 12 and got them to a 6-6 record, with Eason doing spot appearances, such as being put in to throw the last eleven passes against Cleveland in a rout that ended with Eason throwing his first interception (and then second) in a 30-0 loss. In his first start against the New York Jets the following week, Eason went 13-of-27 with an interception in a 26-3 loss. Eason went 2-2 as a starter, throwing just one touchdown to five interceptions. In 1984, Grogan was named the starter, but Week 3 saw Eason be tapped in to replace Grogan midway against the Seattle Seahawks. He went 12-of-22 for 126 yards and two touchdowns in the 38-23 victory. From that point, Eason started the rest of the season, going 7-6 along the way while completing 259 out of 431 passes (60.1%) for 3,228 yards and a passer rating of 93.4—third best in the NFL. His best game came against the Indianapolis Colts went he threw for a career high four touchdowns in a 50-17 victory. Eason also set an undesirable record in 1984 by being sacked 59 times for a loss of 409 yards; his 59 sacks were the most in NFL history at the time and currently stands as the ninth highest single season total. Eason also led the NFL in interception percentage in the 1984 season with only 1.9% of his passes being intercepted.

Super Bowl XX season (1985)
In the 1985 season, Eason was the primary starter, doing so for the first six games, which saw New England win three of them but head coach Raymond Berry inserted Grogan during the Week 6 contest against the Buffalo Bills after Eason threw two interceptions that saw the Patriots win. Grogan would be tapped to start the following six games, where New England went on a six-game winning streak until he suffered a broken leg against the Jets in Week 12. Eason became the primary quarterback from that point on, guiding New England to wins in three of their last four games, including a 34–23 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in the season finale highlighted by a 50-yard touchdown pass to Stanley Morgan. In total, Eason threw for 2,156 yards but had 11 touchdowns to 17 interceptions. New England clinched a playoff spot as the final Wild Card team and would be on the road for any playoff game they played. It would be a historic one as they became the first team in NFL history since the 1978 wildcard playoff expansion to win three road postseason games to reach the Super Bowl. In the Wild Card Game against the Jets, he threw 12-of-16 for 179 yards with a touchdown as the Patriots beat the Jets 26-14 to win their first playoff game since 1963. He went just 7-of-14 for 117 yards with a touchdown against the Los Angeles Raiders in the Divisional Round, but the Patriots won 27-20 on the strength of forcing six turnovers (including the winning score being a fumble recovery) and offensive play from Craig James to advance to their first AFC Championship Game appearance against the Miami Dolphins, who had not lost to New England in the Miami Orange Bowl since 1966. Eason threw three touchdowns against the Miami Dolphins in the AFC Championship Game to prevail 31–14.

The Patriots made their first appearance in a Super Bowl in franchise history that year, meeting the Chicago Bears with Jim McMahon, Richard Dent, and Walter Payton. The Bears' famed 46 defense defeated Eason and the Patriots in Super Bowl XX, the Bears defense sacked Eason three times for 28 yards. He became the first and so far only starting quarterback in Super Bowl history to not have a pass completion, finishing 0-for-6 with no interceptions for a passer rating of 39.6, and was sacked three times. With the Patriots trailing the Bears 20-3 Eason was replaced with veteran Steve Grogan, but the Patriots still lost the game, by the final score of 46–10, which at the time was the largest winning margin of any Super Bowl. Famed lineman John Hannah stated his preference for Grogan over Eason due to where he focused his attention on snaps, stating, “Tony should wear a skirt instead of a uniform. When he was hurt before we played the Bears in the Super Bowl, we were hoping he’d stay hurt so Steve could play.” Eason was later stated to have a fever of 101 with what was stated to be a "viral infection." Berry stated that he took out a uncomfortable Eason for Grogan as what he thought was a good move with the score at 20-3.

In 2008, ESPN ranked Eason's performance as the worst (82nd out of 82) in the history of the Super Bowl, noting, "In addition to his awful passing stats, he lost a fumble and not surprisingly was yanked in the second quarter."

After Super Bowl XX
The following season, Eason started in fourteen games, missing two due to injury. He threw for 3,328 yards (on 61.6% passing) with 19 touchdowns to 10 interceptions as the Patriots went 11-5 to clinch their first AFC East title in eight years along with reach the postseason in consecutive years for the first time in franchise history. His passer rating of 89.2 was fourth best in the NFL. He had his best game in passing against the Seahawks that year, throwing a career best 414 yards on 26-of-45 passing in a 38-31 loss. Due to the playoff structure, they were the third seed travelling to play the AFC West champion Denver Broncos, who hosted as the 2 seed. Eason opened the scoring for New England on a touchdown pass to Stanley Morgan to make it 7-3 in the second quarter, and the teams were tied at 10 at halftime. Eason then threw another touchdown pass to Morgan to give them a 17-13 lead, but the Broncos took the lead back in the same quarter. Eason went 13-of-24 for 194 yards with two touchdowns while Elway threw for more yards on the same amount of completions with two interceptions, but Eason was sacked six times as New England could not capitalize on any of their four drives in the fourth quarter, with Rulon Jones sacking Eason in the endzone (with 1:32 remaining) to cap the scoring off in a 22-17 loss for New England. Denver won the following week to reach the Super Bowl. Eason missed the opening game of the 1987 season due to a groin injury, which opened the door for Grogan to play. Eason then started the second week against the New York Jets, a 43-24 loss. The NFLPA strike took place not long after that saw replacement players be used to make up for cancelling Week 3, where the replacements played from Week 4 to Week 6. After that, Eason started the Week 6 game, going 22-of-42 for a touchdown and an interception. He was the starter in the Week 7 game versus the Raiders, throwing just three passes before a tackle by Stacey Toran saw Eason suffer a separated shoulder that ended up knocking him out for the remainder of the season. In a season that saw New England use five quarterbacks, Eason had just two starts.

In February 1988, Berry designated Grogan as the starter with Eason as the backup. He did not express approval and threatened to sit out the year, which also saw the Patriots consider cutting his base salary ($875,000) by over 25%. Eason did not see the field for the 1988 season until Week 15. He started versus Tampa Bay and went 16-of-27 for 155 yards with two interceptions but managed to win 10-7 in overtime when a pair of his passes hit Irving Fryar to set up a game-winning field goal after Tampa elected to kick after winning the coin toss due to the wind. Eason then visited Denver for the Week 16 matchup as the starter and was 12-of-16 for 94 yards before being taken out late for Grogan in a 21-10 loss that saw New England miss out on a playoff spot. The 1989 season saw the Patriots keep four quarterbacks in their roster - Eason, Grogan, Doug Flutie, and Marc Wilson, with the latter being insurance for Grogan. Eason won on opening day with a 15-of-23 performance for 273 yards with two touchdowns and interceptions each. This was followed by losses to Miami and Seattle, with the latter seeing him go 17-of-33 for 147 yards with an interception. Eason was benched for Flutie after the game. He was later let go by the team and claimed off waivers by the New York Jets during the 1989 NFL season, after Eason refused to take a cut in pay after he was demoted to fourth-string on New England's roster with team owner Victor Kiam stating that he thought Eason would be the starter with the $2.3-million & two-year contract that he signed. Eason reluctantly joined the team in November after considering not reporting due to not wanting to be in competition with his "good friend" Ken O'Brien. He reported to the team in order to not give up the remainder of his salary. He started the last two games of the 1989 season for the Jets, which resulted in him throwing an interception in losses each time. He went 12-of-22 for 125 yards with an interception against the Bills in a 37-0 loss that ended up being his final career start. In the following season, he was relegated to the bench for all but 28 passes, going 4-for-5 for 64 yards against Tampa Bay in his final appearance in week 16. He retired after the season ended at the age of 31.

Later years
In 2002, Eason was coaching basketball in the Sacramento area.

title: Tony Eason


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DD tank

DD or duplex drive tanks, nicknamed "Donald Duck tanks", were a type of amphibious swimming tank developed by the British during the Second World War. The phrase is mostly used for the Duplex Drive variant of the M4 Sherman medium tank, that was used by the Western Allies during and after the Normandy Landings in June 1944.

DD tanks worked by erecting a canvas 'flotation screen' around the tank, which enabled it to float in water. DD tanks would use propellers to move forward through water, then lower the flotation screens once they had reached land and fight as an ordinary tank.

The DD tanks were one of the many specialized assault vehicles, collectively known as Hobart's Funnies, devised to support the planned invasion of Europe.

Early development

Amphibious tanks were devised during the First World War; a floating version of the British Mark IX tank was being tested in November 1918, just as the war ended. Development continued during the interwar period.

As tanks are heavy for their size, providing them with enough buoyancy was a difficult engineering problem. Designs that could float unaided were generally small and light with thin armour, such as the Soviet T-37. Heavier vehicles, such as the experimental, British AT1* had to be so large that the design was impractical.

The alternative was to use flotation devices that the tank discarded as soon as it landed–the approach adopted by the Japanese with their Type 2 Ka-Mi and Type 3 Ka-Chi amphibious tanks. In Britain, the Hungarian-born engineer Nicholas Straussler developed collapsible floats for Vickers-Armstrong that could be mounted on either side of a light tank to make it amphibious. Trials conducted by the British War Office showed that such a tank, propelled by an outboard motor, 'swam' reasonably well.

The system was unsatisfactory in other ways, due primarily to the unwieldy bulk of the floats that were big enough to float a tank – these were each roughly the size of the tank itself. In practice, there would be severe difficulties in transporting enough floats, even collapsed ones, to move a large unit of tanks across a body of water. Also, such floats made a tank too wide to launch from an off-shore landing craft, making their use in amphibious landings impractical.

In 1940, Straussler solved the problem by devising the flotation screen – a device which folded and was made of waterproofed canvas. The screen covered the top half of the tank effectively creating a canvas hull, greatly increasing the vehicle's freeboard, and providing buoyancy in the water. When collapsed, it would not interfere with the tank's mobility or combat effectiveness.

The first tank to be experimentally fitted with a flotation screen was a redundant Tetrarch light tank provided to Straussler. Its first trial took place in June 1941 in Brent Reservoir (also known as Welsh Harp Reservoir) in north London in front of General Sir Alan Brooke (at the time General Officer-in-Command Home Forces). The reservoir had been the location where trials of the floating version of the World War I, Mark IX tank took place, 23 years earlier. Satisfactory sea trials of the Tetrarch took place in Portsmouth Harbour.

A prototype of a Duplex Drive Valentine tank began trials on 21 May 1942, although it subsequently sank (during a trial in which it was subject to machine gun fire). In June 1942, permission was given by the Ministry of Supply for the manufacture of 450 Valentine DDs.

It later became clear that the Sherman was more suitable for use with a screen than the Valentine and the DD screen was adapted for the Sherman by April 1943. One reason for this was that the Sherman could move in the water with its gun forward ready to fire as soon as land was reached. The Valentine was also an older and generally inferior design.

247 Valentine DD and 693 Sherman DD were built by the United Kingdom in 1944.

Training
Valentine DDs were used for training and the majority of the US, British, and Canadian DD crews did their preliminary training with them. Crews learned elementary phases of the DD equipment at Fritton Lake, on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. Here they learnt to waterproof and maintain their tanks, use Amphibious Tank Escape Apparatus, launch from mock up LCT ramps and navigate around the two and a half mile lake. After two weeks of training at Fritton, the crews moved to Stokes Bay, Gosport, Hampshire for three weeks of intensive training from landing craft. The DDs would be loaded on the hards at Stokes Bay, and launch into the Solent. They would form up in echelon, cross 1200 yd of water and land at Osborne Bay on the Isle of Wight. The regiments would then move to Combined Training Centres, such as at the Moray Firth in Scotland and Barafundle Bay in Wales to train with other elements and units, during which period crews incurred several losses.

On 4 April 1944, Operation Smash was held at Studland Bay in Dorset with the Valentine DDs. The trial run of the tanks ran into difficulty when a change in the weather adversely affected the sea conditions. Six tanks sank with the loss of six crew members.

The sunken wrecks of at least 10 tanks, lost during training, are known to lie off the British coast. Another sunken DD tank remains at the bottom of Fritton Lake.

Sherman DD
Modifications to the Sherman included the sealing of the lower hull, the addition of the propeller drive and the addition of Straussler's flotation screen around the hull, together with its inflation system. The base of the canvas flotation screen was attached to a horizontal mild steel boat-shaped platform welded to the tank's hull. The screen was supported by horizontal metal hoops and by 36 vertical rubber tubes. A system of compressed air bottles and pipes inflated the rubber tubes to give the curtain rigidity. The screen could be erected in 15 minutes and quickly collapsed once the tank reached the shore. In practice there was about 3 ft of freeboard. In combat, the flotation system was considered expendable and it was assumed the tank crew would remove and discard it as soon as conditions allowed. In practice, some units kept the flotation equipment and their tanks were used in several amphibious operations.

A pair of propellers at the rear provided propulsion. One problem presented by the Sherman was that the configuration of the transmission (gearbox at the front) made it impossible to take a drive-shaft directly from the gearbox to the propellers. The solution to this was to have sprocket wheels at the rear of the tank so power was delivered to the propellers by the tank's tracks. DD Tanks could swim at up to 4 knot. Both the commander and the driver could steer in the water, although with different methods. A hydraulic system under the control of the driver could swivel the propellers; the commander from a platform at the rear of the turret, where he could see over the skirt, could contribute by operating a large tiller.

The first DD Shermans produced by the British were used by both British and US units. Later production was by both the US and the UK. British Shermans were Sherman III (M4A2) and Sherman V (M4A4) conversions. The US used the M4A1 only for their conversions.

Experience from D-Day led to an improved, Mark II version of the DD Sherman. The screen was extended and strengthened by fixing to the turret, a new type of bilge pump fitted and a second set of hydraulic steering controls was fitted at the commander's station, although his tiller was retained. An air compressor replaced the air cylinders that provided the pressurized air to erect the screen. After D-Day, US Army interest decreased, looking for other options.

While the US Army in Europe used the Sherman DD design, in the Pacific LVTs were equipped with armor and guns to support landings up to the sea line; from the sea line, tanks were supposed to support infantry.

Later flotation screen use
Designs were made to give the Cromwell and Churchill the DD treatment, but these were never completed. A floating, flame-thrower equipped version of the Universal Carrier was tested, as was a flamethrower-equipped DD Sherman. This towed an armoured fuel trailer, like those used by the Churchill Crocodile. The trailer, in the water, was supported by an inflatable flotation device.

After the war, the Centurion was tested with a flotation screen and duplex drive. By the end of the 1950s, development of DD tanks had ceased, partly because main battle tanks were becoming too heavy to be practically made to swim – although experiments were carried-out in the mid-1960s with a floating Centurion that used a similar system, but with rigid panels instead of a flexible screen. The 38 tonne Vickers MBT was fitted with a flotation screen that allowed it to swim.

Medium and light vehicles continued to be made amphibious by the use of flotation screens into the 1980s, but without the DD. Instead, they used the movement of their standard running gear (e.g. tracks) for water propulsion also. These included the Swedish Stridsvagn 103 (S-Tank), the American M551 Sheridan light tank, the British FV432 Armoured personnel carrier, the Mark IV version of the Ferret armoured car and early versions of the American M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Of these, only the FV432 and the Bradley remain in service and current versions lack flotation screens.

Combat
The main use of DD tanks occurred on D-Day. They were also used in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France on 15 August 1944; Operation Plunder, the British crossing of the Rhine on 23 March 1945, and in several operations on the Italian Front in 1945. DD Tanks were sent to India; the 25th Dragoons were trained in their use, but planned operations against the Japanese in Malaya never occurred.

D-Day
The DD Sherman was used to equip eight tank battalions of American, British, and Canadian forces for the D-Day landings. They were carried in Tank Landing Craft, also known as Landing Craft, Tank (LCT). These could normally carry nine Shermans, but could fit fewer of the bulkier DDs. British and Canadian LCTs carried five tanks, the Americans carried four as their LCTs were shorter at about 120 ft.

The DDs would typically be launched around 2 mi from the shore, swim to the beaches and overpower the German defences. The tank's record was a mixture of success and failure, although they are mainly remembered for their disastrous performance on Omaha Beach.

Sword Beach
On the British Sword Beach, at the eastern end of the invasion area, the DD tanks worked well, as the sea was reasonably calm. The DD tanks from 'A' and 'B' Squadrons of 13th/18th Royal Hussars were launched 2.5 mi from shore. Five could not be launched as the leading tank on its LCT tore its screen – they were later landed directly on shore – one tank sank after being struck by an LCT.

Gold Beach
On Gold Beach, the sea was rougher. The tanks of the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (Sherwood Rangers) were launched late, about 700 yd from the shore. Eight tanks were lost on the way in and by the time the remainder landed, Sherman Crab (mine flail) tanks had already destroyed the German artillery and machine-gun positions that would have been their objective. Sea conditions meant the tanks of 'B' and 'C' Squadrons, from the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards, were landed in the shallows. They then drove onto the beach with their screens up so they would not get swamped in the breakers. German anti-tank guns caused heavy losses in some sectors of the beach but the assault was successful.

Juno Beach
On the Canadian Juno Beach, The Fort Garry Horse and the 1st Hussars were equipped with DDs, but only those of the 1st Hussars could be launched. They were assigned to the 7th Canadian Brigade, at the western end of the beach. Some of the tanks were launched at 4000 yd and some at 800 yards (700 m); twenty-one out of twenty-nine tanks reached the beach. The 8th Canadian Brigade, at the eastern end of the beach, was forced to land without DD tanks because of rougher seas. They suffered heavy initial casualties, but were still able to make good progress.

Utah Beach
On Utah Beach, the DDs were operated by the 70th Tank Battalion. Armoured support was reduced by four DDs when their LCT was lost to German artillery fire. The remaining tanks were launched 15 minutes late 1000 yd from the beach. Twenty-seven out of twenty eight reached the beach but confusion caused by the massive smoke screen meant they landed around 2000 yd from their aiming point and saw some German opposition. At around 7:45 a.m. the 3rd battalion who was attached to the 8th infantry landed at Red Beach. Soon after, the 3rd battalion moved to Exit 2, which was now designated as the route vehicles would take to move inland. Some of the 70th tank battalion with its DD Shermans tagged along with the 3rd battalion. Part way along the causeway, some congestion formed due to an 88mm anti-tank gun and a ditch blown in the road. Two Shermans were knocked out (one of them was knocked out by a mine in the road) in the skirmish, but the gun that blocked the road was cleared by a direct hit from another Sherman.

Omaha Beach
At Omaha Beach almost all of the tanks launched offshore were lost, their absence contributing to the high casualty rate and sluggish advance from that beach.

The first wave at Omaha included 112 tanks: 56 from each of the 741st and 743rd Tank Battalions. Each of these battalions had 32 DD and 24 other Shermans (including many Sherman bulldozers for clearing obstacles). Starting at about 0540, the 741st Tank Battalion put 29 DDs into the sea; 27 of these sank, with only two surviving the long swim to the beach. Some of the crews of the sinking tanks managed to radio back and warn following units not to launch so far out. The remaining vehicles of the 741st Tank Battalion, and all tanks of the 743rd Tank Battalion (except for the four aboard one LCT that was hit by artillery fire just off the beach), were landed directly on the beach, starting at about 0640.

DD Tanks were designed to operate in waves up to 1 foot (0.3 m) high; however, on D-Day, the waves were up to 6 ft high. These were much worse conditions than the tanks had been tested in and hence they were swamped. Also, the tanks of 741st Tank Battalion were launched too far out: about 3 mi offshore. These factors also exacerbated the inherent difficulty of steering a 35-ton "vessel" with a low freeboard. The crews were equipped with DSEA emergency breathing apparatus capable of lasting 5 minutes, the tanks were also equipped with inflatable rafts. Some sources claim that these life-saving measures were ineffective; this was contradicted by the testimony of survivors. Most of the crews were rescued, mainly by the landing craft carrying the 16th Regimental Combat Team, although five crewmen are known to have died during the sinkings.

Until very recently it was believed that most of the DD Shermans of the 741st Tank Battalion were sunk almost immediately. Research undertaken in 2000 by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University, in cooperation with Robert's Naval Historical Center's Underwater Archaeology Branch, found evidence that some had come close to safely landing:

"[T]he landing craft carrying them were drifting away from the target beach – forcing the tanks to set a course which put them side-on to high waves, thus increasing the amount of water splashing over and crumpling their canvas skirts. Two tanks – skippered by men with enough peacetime sailing experience to know not to turn their sides to the waves – actually made it to the beach. It had been widely believed the other tanks sunk almost immediately on leaving the landing craft, but our work showed some had struggled to within 1,000 metres of dry land."

Some stayed afloat for a matter of minutes; according to the crews one tank swam for 15 minutes, another: "We weren’t in the ocean [sic] 10 minutes when we had a problem". Tanks at the other four beaches suffered no such problems.

Operation Dragoon
The Operation Dragoon landings took place on 15 August 1944 between Toulon and Cannes in southern France.

A total of 36 DD tanks were used by three American tank battalions – the 191st, the 753rd, and the 756th. The 756th had eight tanks that were launched 2500 yd from the beaches; one was swamped by the bow-wave of a landing craft and one sank after striking an underwater obstacle. The twelve tanks of the 191st battalion were all landed on or close to the beach. Five of the C Company tanks of the 191st were immobilized by mines. The 753rd battalion had 16 tanks, of which eight were launched at sea and successfully reached the shore, eight were landed directly on the beach later in the day.

Northwest Europe
The Staffordshire Yeomanry were converted to DD tanks after D-Day and trained initially at Burton-upon-Stather, near Scunthorpe, before moving with them to Belgium. From early September, they were based at Elewyt at Lac d'Hofstade. On 26 October 1944, they undertook a 7 mi swim across the Western Scheldt to attack South Beveland, during the Battle of the Scheldt. The DD Tanks' longest operational water crossing took place without casualties, but they had great difficulty in landing – 14 became bogged down in mud and only four were available for action.

Operation Plunder, the Rhine crossing, began on the night of 23 March 1945. As well as the Staffordshire Yeomanry, DD tanks equipped the American 736th and 738th Tank Battalions and the British 44th Royal Tank Regiment. Some tanks were lost in the river, but the crossings were considered a success. The tanks were launched from points upstream from their objectives, to take account of the Rhine's strong current. Mats laid at the objective points (carried across beforehand by Buffalos) allowed the DDs to climb the steep, muddy banks of the river.

The DD's last combat swimming operation was the Staffordshire Yeomanry's crossing of the River Elbe at Artlenburg on 29 April 1945.

Italian campaign
By February 1945, the 7th Queen's Own Hussars in Italy had been trained and equipped with DD tanks, both Shermans and Valentines. DD Shermans were successfully used in the crossing of the Po River on 24 April. On 28 April, those tanks still able to swim were used in an assault across the River Adige. During this operation, Valentine DDs were used to transport fuel (their only known use on active service). The tanks continued to be used in combat in the advance towards Venice. There were no further swimming operations, but it was found that the folded flotation screen offered a large seating area, making the tanks useful troop transports.

"T-6 Device"
An alternative to the DD was the "T-6 Device", developed by the US Army. Limited numbers of the "T-6 Device" were used by the US Army and Marines during the landings on Okinawa. The "T-6 Device" kit consisted of a structure of box-like, pressed-steel floats (pontoons) mounted on the front, rear and sides of a Sherman. No propellers were fitted – propulsion was provided by the rotation of the tracks. The front and rear floats were discarded on the beach, some in the water. Explosive bolts were used. Side floats were removed from the tanks on shore when the tactical situation permitted. In an oral interview with former Pvt. Maurice Dean Derby 37699146, Browning Automatic Rifleman, Co. A, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, he related that "On the night of the landing (Okinawa, 1 April 1945) we were kept awake all night because the Tank Crews were beating on the pontoons with sledgehammers to remove them from the Tanks." The tanks were Co. B, 711 Tank Battalion.

Compared with the DD, the floats were bulky and harder to stow, limiting the number of tanks that could be carried in a landing craft. However, the system was more seaworthy and had the advantage of allowing the Sherman to fire its main gun as it approached the beach. The Sherman's gyroscopic gun stabilization allowed accurate fire even when the tank was being pitched by waves.

German equivalent
During planning for an invasion of England in 1940 (Operation Sea Lion), the Germans also worked on developing amphibious tanks capable of directly supporting infantry during a beach assault.

The Schwimmpanzer II was a modified version of the Panzer II which, at 8.9 tons, was light enough to float with the attachment of long rectangular boxes to either side of the tank's hull. The boxes were made of aluminum and filled with Kapok sacks to preserve buoyancy if water leaked into the pontoons. Motive power came from the tank's own tracks which were connected by rods to a propeller shaft running through each float. The Schwimmpanzer II could make 5.7 km/h in the water. An inflatable rubber hose around the turret ring created a waterproof seal between the hull and turret. The tank's 2 cm gun and coaxial machinegun were kept operational and could be fired while the tank was still churning its way ashore. Schwimmpanzer IIs were deployed from a specially modified landing barge (Type C) and could be launched directly into open water from a hatch cut into the stern. The Germans converted 52 of these tanks to amphibious use prior to Sea Lion's cancelation.

Instead of floating, the Tauchpanzer, a modification of the Panzer III and Panzer IV, drove on the sea-bed. A rubber hose supplied the engine and crew with air and gave the waterproofed tank a maximum diving depth of 15 m making it an extreme example of a wading tank. The Germans converted 168 Panzer IIIs and 42 Panzer IVs for use in Operation Sea Lion.

Valentine
A DD Valentine, restored to running condition, is in private ownership in England.

The sunken wrecks of others are known to exist. With at lest seven having been identified in Studland Bay in Dorset. Six other wrecks to be in the Moray Firth in Scotland Two sunken Valentine DDs rest 3.5 mi out of Swanage Bay, Dorset. These tanks are 100 m apart in 15 m of water.

Sherman

 * The Tank Museum, Bovington in England has an M4A2 DD Sherman in working order, with its canvas flotation screens still intact.
 * Three of the DD Shermans lost on D-Day were salvaged in the 1970s. Two M4A1s are displayed at the Musée des Épaves Sous-Marine du Débarquement (Museum of Underwater Wrecks of the Invasion), a privately owned museum near Port-en-Bessin, in Normandy.
 * One of these tanks, along with a variety of personal items recovered with it, has been purchased by an American company, Overlord Research, LLC, based in West Virginia. The owners intend to return the tank to the United States, preferably for public display in an American Museum, such as the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana or the National Museum of the United States Army, to be constructed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Details of the repatriation of the DD Tank and its final location in the United States are still being determined. As the tank was submerged for many years, Overlord believes preservation in its current condition, which shows its loss at sea as it approached Omaha Beach, is an aspect that is more historically important than attempting a restoration.

 * A Canadian M4A4 recovered in 1971 is displayed as a monument at Courseulles-sur-Mer. In an effort led by Canadian ex-pat Léo Gariépy, who had commanded a 1st Hussars DD tank that landed near there in the first wave, the town took the initiative to retrieve from the water a DD tank ("Bold") which had sunk in front of Courseulles on D-Day. The tank was retrieved, restored, and installed in the Place Léo Gariépy.
 * In 2000, there was an unsuccessful attempt by the United States Navy to raise a sunken M4A1 DD Sherman, located near Salerno in Italy. It was eventually recovered on 18 May 2002. It has been restored and is on display in the Piana delle Orme museum, in Italy, near Latina, south of Rome.
 * A Sherman tank that was lost off the Devon coast in the UK, was recovered in the 1980s, largely due to the efforts of a beachcomber named Ken Small. It is now on display in the village of Torcross as part of a memorial to those who died on 8 April 1944 when an invasion rehearsal, Exercise Tiger, was attacked by E-boats. This Sherman is an M4A1 DD tank, this can be seen because of the specific gears to which the propellers were connected, under the rear deck. While the metal frame on which the flotation screen was fixed disappeared due to rust, some traces of it can still be seen around the hull.
 * An M4A2E8 HVSS Duplex Drive tank (possibly) the same tank unit was later displayed at the Museum Support Center in Anniston, AL, around 2013;  A converted M4A2E8 was displayed at the World War II US Military Vehicle Museum in San Rafael, California, in 2016.
 * An M4A1 DD is part of the collection of the French tank museum, the Musée des Blindés. It carries a 76mm turret and main gun, which are not original to the tank when it was used during World War II.
 * An M4A2 DD tank is displayed in India, at the Cavalry Tank Museum, Ahmednagar, India.

title: DD tank


text:
Scott Reid (political advisor)

Scott Reid is a political analyst and commentator currently working for CTV News, Newstalk 1010AM and writing columns for a variety of news organizations including the Ottawa Citizen, CBC.ca, Macleans and others. He is a former political advisor to a number of Canadian politicians, having served as Advisor and Director of Communications in the Prime Minister's Office of Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. Along with Macleans columnist Scott Feschuk, he also owns and operates Feschuk.Reid a strategic communications and speechwriting consultancy.

Biography
Scott Reid is a communications and speechwriting professional at Feschuk. Reid has advised many of Canada's leading corporate executives and political leaders. He also works as a political analyst and commentator on television, radio and print.

Reid has a B.A. in history and politics from Queen's University. In the early 1990s he worked in the national office of the Liberal Party of Canada in support of the party's 1993 election sweep. He then went on to work for Earnscliffe Strategy Group, a political consulting firm closely tied to Paul Martin. From 1997 to 2001, he worked as Senior Advisor and Communications Director to Finance Minister Paul Martin – a position he maintained during Martin's time as Prime Minister from 2003 to 2006. Reid has been an advisor to many federal and provincial leaders and has served in senior communication capacities on national, provincial and municipal election campaigns.

Ahead of the 2006 Canadian federal election, Reid came under heavy criticism after attacking a Conservative Party of Canada policy proposal to directly give families funding for childcare, declaring that "don't give people 25 bucks a week to blow on beer and popcorn." He later apologised for the statement. The quote was cited by some commentators as one of the decisive moments of the 2006 election, contributing to a perception of the Liberal Party as out-of-touch elitists and to their eventual defeat.

In 2006, Reid teamed up with Maclean's award-winning magazine columnist Scott Feschuk to found Feschuk.Reid, a communications consultancy dedicated to strategic and corporate communications, speechwriting and executive counsel. Feschuk.Reid has served a wide number of high-profile clients including Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal, BlackRock, Caisse de dépôt, FedEx, Microsoft, TELUS, Magna, Greyhound, Maple Leaf Foods, Enbridge, Hydro One and other private, public and not-for-profit clients.

In 2011, Reid joined CTV as a co-anchor for the National Affairs business and politics program on CTV News Channel. Reid appears regularly as a commentator on CTV, CBC and TSN, in addition to writing for the Globe and Mail, Ottawa Citizen and Macleans.ca.

Reid is a Fellow at Carleton University's School of Political Management and serves as a frequent guest lecturer.

title: Scott Reid (political advisor)


text:
Čeluga

Čeluga (Çelluga) is a settlement in the municipality of Bar, Montenegro. It is located approximately four kilometers from the city of Bar.

According to the 2011 census, its population was 1,481.

Demographics
Population of Čeluga:

title: Čeluga


text:
Athir al-Din al-Abhari

Athīr al‐Dīn al‐Mufaḍḍal ibn ʿUmar ibn al‐Mufaḍḍal al‐Samarqandī al‐Abharī, also known as Athīr al‐Dīn al‐Munajjim (d. in 1265 or 1262 Shabestar, Iran) was an Iranian muslim polymath, philosopher, astronomer, astrologer and mathematician. Other than his influential writings, he had many famous disciples.

Life
His birthplace is contested among sources. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam and the Encyclopaedia Islamica, he was born in Abhar, a small town between Qazvin and Zanjan. Encyclopædia Iranica mentions that he was born in Mosul, but according to Encyclopaedia Islamica, none of his oldest biographers mentioned Mosul as his birthplace. Beside the city of Abhar, the epithet al-Abharī could suggest that he or his ancestors originally stem from the Abhar tribe. He may have died of paralysis in Adharbayjan.

He is said to have been a student or teacher in various schools in Greater Khorasan, and in Baghdad and Erbil, living for some time in Sivas. Ibn Khallikān reports that he was a student of Kamal al-Din ibn Yunus, but other sources state that he worked as an assistant to Fakhr al‐Dīn al‐Rāzī.

Works

 * Astronomy
 * Risāla fī al‐hayʾa (Treatise on astronomy).
 * Mukhtaṣar fī al‐hayʾa (Epitome on astronomy).
 * Kashf al‐ḥaqāʾiq fī taḥrīr al‐daqāʾiq, where he accepts the view that the celestial bodies do not change and maintains that stars have volition and it is the source of their motion.

 * Mathematics
 * Several works on Iṣlāḥ (Correction) of Euclid, one of which is an attempt to prove the parallel postulate, which was commented upon and criticized by Shams al-Dīn al-Samarqandī.

 * Philosophy
 *  (Guide on Philosophy): a book dealing with the complete cycle of Hikmat, i.e., logic, natural philosophy, and metaphysics.
 *  (Commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge), a treatise on logic. Latin Translation by Thomas Obicini; Īsāghūkhī, Isagoge. Id est, breve Introductorium Arabicum in Scientiam Logices: cum versione latina: ac theses Sanctae Fidei. R. P. F. Thomae Novariensis (1625).

title: Athir al-Din al-Abhari


text:
Three Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention

The Three Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention is a military doctrine that was issued in 1928 by Mao Zedong and his associates to the Chinese Red Army during the Chinese Civil War. The contents vary slightly in different versions. One of the major distinctions of the doctrine was its respect for the civilians during wartime. The following version is obtained from Stephen Uhalley in 1975.

Statement
The three rules enjoined
 * prompt obedience to orders,
 * no confiscation of people's property,
 * prompt delivery directly to authorities of all items confiscated from enemy.

The eight points were:
 * Be polite when speaking
 * Be honest when buying and selling
 * Return all borrowed articles
 * Pay compensation for everything damaged
 * Do not hit or swear at others
 * Do not damage crops
 * Do not harass females
 * Do not mistreat prisoners

Alternate
An alternative, more literal translation into English was presented by the People's Daily.

The Three Main Rules of Discipline:
 * Obey orders in all your actions.(一切行动听指挥)
 * Do not take a single needle or piece of thread from the masses.(不拿群众一针一线)
 * Turn in everything captured.(一切缴获要归公)

The Eight Points for Attention:
 * Speak politely.(说话和气)
 * Pay fairly for what you buy.(买卖公平)
 * Return everything you borrow.(借东西要还)
 * Pay for anything you damage.(损坏东西要赔)
 * Do not hit or swear at people.(不打人骂人)
 * Do not damage crops.(不损坏庄稼)
 * Do not take liberties with women.(不调戏妇女)
 * Do not ill-treat captives.(不虐待俘虏)

History
These injunctions were usually complied with and, according to historian Stephen Uhalley, came to make the Chinese Red Army a distinctive army in China and an exceptionally popular one. The attitude of the Three Rules and the Eight Points heavily contrasted with the Nationalist Kuomintang armies led by Chiang Kai-shek, who were fighting the Chinese Red Army in the Chinese Civil War. For example, Nationalist armies tended to board in civilian houses without permission, tended to be rude and disrespectful towards civilians, or sometimes even confiscated material from the peasants in order to gain supplies. The Chinese Red Army however, under the Three Points of Discipline and Eight Points of Attention requested permission to take supplies and to board at houses instead, and any confiscation of peasant property were exceptions and violators were promptly punished. For example, Red Army soldiers would be shot on the spot if they were found looting peasant homes.

Many impressed villagers gave supplies and shelter to the Red Army voluntarily, greatly helping their war efforts. Eventually, many villagers and their sons and daughters joined the Red Army, providing the Red Army with sufficient manpower to combat the Japanese and Kuomintang.

It was common after a confiscation of items from warlords that the items would be redistributed among the people, in addition to supplying the Chinese Red Army. As a result, the peasants tended to spread disinformation to the Kuomintang when they arrived to pursue the Chinese Red Army, while showing the Chinese Red Army hospitality whenever they arrived at villages. This invariably resulted in attrition of the Kuomintang forces.

This contrasting doctrine in comparison with the Kuomintang inevitably became one of the major reasons for winning most of the Chinese people's support, and thus the victory of the Chinese Red Army over the Kuomintang in 1949. The people's support for the Red Army proved to be more important than the raw manpower that Kuomintang initially enjoyed.


text: Category:Tamil language

title: Category:Tamil language


text:
Public nuisance

In English criminal law, public nuisance is a act, condition or thing that is illegal because it interferes with the rights of the general public.

In Australia
In Kent v Johnson, the Supreme Court of the ACT held that public nuisance is "an unlawful act or omission ... which endangers the lives, safety, health, property or comfort of the public or by which the public are obstructed in the exercise or enjoyment of any right common to all". And also, public nuisance is a criminal offense at some common law and by statute under some states. To establish a prima facie case of public nuisance, a private individual will have to prove: (1) title to sue, (2) that the interference is with a public right and  (3) that the defendant's interference is substantial and unreasonable.

 * 1) Title to sue: In the case Walsh v Ervin, as the general principle is usually stated, an individual cannot sue alone for relief in respect of a nuisance to a public highway unless he has sustained some particular damage, in the sense of some substantial injury, direct and not merely consequential, beyond that suffered by the public generally.
 * 2) Interference is with a public right: In the case Attorney-General v PYA Quarries Ltd, a nuisance which is so widespread in its range or so indiscriminate in its effect that it would not be reasonable to expect one person to take proceedings on his own responsibility to put a stop to it, but that it should be taken on the responsibility of the community at large
 * 3) The interference is substantial and unreasonable: The interference must be substantial and unreasonable in order to establish public nuisance. In modern world, daily inconveniences and annoyances are part of unreasonable and substantial interference.

However, there are some examples that shows even if it could cause interference to the public, there is no public nuisance. For example, in Maitland v Raisbeck, "it would seem that every driver of a vehicle on the road would be turned into an insurer in respect of latent defects in this machines", even if a danger was created because of moral use of vehicle. In the case Silservice Pty Ltd v Supreme Bready Pty Ltd, Roper Chief Judge in Equity stated that:

"it appears that in cases of this kind if the defendant has available to him reasonable means of removing or avoiding the obstruction, he is responsible for the nuisance if he does not adopt those means. The test is not whether an obstruction has been caused, but whether the obstruction could reasonably have been avoided. I think, however, that this is not the sole test of whether a person is responsible for the nuisance caused by the assembly of a crowd of people, and that a more absolute liability rests upon the person whose business involves the gathering together of a crowd, or who, apart from any consideration of the bona fide conduct of his business, deliberately continues to gather the crowd. [citations omitted]"

Discussion
The nuisance action began in twelfth century England as a criminal writ, belonging only to the Crown. It was used in cases that involved encroachments upon the King's land or the blocking of public roads or waterways. The King sought to punish these criminal infringements, commonly known as "purprestures", through criminal proceedings. Over time, activities prosecuted as public nuisances included everything from embezzling public funds to having a tiger pen next to a highway, from assisting a homicidal maniac to escape to placing a mutilated corpse on a doorstep, and from selling rotten meat to "subdividing houses to the point where they become 'overpestered' with the poor". As these examples demonstrate, early authority to commence public nuisance actions was derived from the sovereign's "police power".

Spencer (1989 at 59) describes the offence as "a rag-bag of odds and ends which we should nowadays call 'public welfare offences. But the common feature of the crime is that members of the public suffer a common injury through interference with rights which they enjoy as citizens. The modern definition is found in paras 31–40 Archbold (2005):

"A person is guilty of a public nuisance (also known as common nuisance), who (a) does an act not warranted by law, or (b) omits to discharge a legal duty, if the effect of the act or omission is to endanger the life, health, property, morals, or comfort of the public, or to obstruct the public in the exercise or enjoyment of rights common to all Her Majesty's subjects."

In Attorney General v PYA Quarries Ltd the issue was whether quarrying activities—which showered the neighbourhood with stones and splinters, and caused dust and vibrations—were a private nuisance affecting some of the residents (which would have been civil), but not a public nuisance affecting all Her Majesty's liege subjects living in the area. In his judgment Romer LJ concluded at p 184:

"I do not propose to attempt a more precise definition of a public nuisance than those which emerge from the textbooks and authorities to which I have referred. It is, however, clear, in my opinion, that any nuisance is 'public' which materially affects the reasonable comfort and convenience of life of a class of Her Majesty's subjects. The sphere of the nuisance may be described generally as 'the neighbourhood'; but the question whether the local community within that sphere comprises a sufficient number of persons to constitute a class of the public is a question of fact in every case. It is not necessary, in my judgment, to prove that every member of the class has been injuriously affected; it is sufficient to show that a representative cross-section of the class has been so affected for an injunction to issue."

Denning LJ agreed, at p. 191,

"that a public nuisance is a nuisance which is so widespread in its range or so indiscriminate in its effect that it would not be reasonable to expect one person to take proceedings on his own responsibility to put a stop to it, but that it should be taken on the responsibility of the community at large."

In R v Madden (1975) 1 WLR 1379 the defendant telephoned a bomb hoax to a steel works whose business was disrupted for about an hour. James LJ accepted that hoax telephone calls falsely asserting the presence of explosives could amount to an offence of public nuisance but the few employees whose day was disrupted were not a sufficiently wide class of the public. But in R v Norbury (1978) Crim LR 435 the defendant made 605 obscene telephone calls to 494 different women over a period of four years. This repetitive behaviour over a long period, intended to cause offence and alarm, was held the kind of behaviour which the public has an interest in condemning. This is not without its problems because each telephone call lacks the element of common injury. As a comparison, the cases of R v Ruffell (1991) 13 Cr App R (S) 204 and R v Shorrock (1994) QB 279 involved the prosecution of the organisers of "acid house" parties at night in fields adjacent to residential accommodation with liability confirmed because they knew, or ought to have known, that there was a real risk of creating the sort of nuisance that in fact occurred. At each party there was major traffic disruption and the noise of music, with clean-up operations required the following day. While R v Ong (2001) 1 Cr App R (S) 404 involved a betting scam in which the floodlights at a Premier Division football match between Charlton Athletic and Liverpool were to be sabotaged which was inherently dangerous to the thousands within the ground.

In R v Soul (1980) 70 Cr App R 295 a group who agreed to secure the unlawful release of a restricted Broadmoor patient was convicted of conspiracy to effect a public nuisance. The court seems to have assumed that the public would have been exposed to danger had the plan been put into effect. That the Crown had failed to prove any actual danger or common injury was not considered (see the critical commentary at (1980) Crim. LR 234 suggesting that the courts were improperly reintroducing "public mischief" into the law despite the ruling by the House of Lords in R v Withers (1975) AC 842). Similarly, in R v Millward (1986) 8 Cr. App R(S) 209 the defendant made hundreds of telephone calls (636 in a single day) to a young woman police officer with whom he had become infatuated, at the police station where she worked. As to the requirement of common injury, Glidewell LJ said:

"Quite apart from anything else, this disrupts the whole operation of the police station to which these calls are directed, because a member of the public may wish to report an urgent matter such as a criminal offence, and cannot do so or is delayed in doing so because of this kind of behaviour on the part of the appellant."

In R v Johnson (Anthony) (1997) 1 WLR 367, the Court of Appeal confronted the problem head-on. The defendant had made hundreds of obscene telephone calls to at least thirteen women. The defence argued each telephone call was a single isolated act to an individual. Tucker J rejected the argument at pp. 370–371:

"In our judgment it is permissible and necessary to look at the cumulative effect of these calls, made to numerous ladies on numerous occasions in the case of each lady, and to have regard to the cumulative effect of the calls in determining whether the appellant's conduct constituted a public nuisance. In our opinion it was conduct which materially affected the reasonable comfort and convenience of a class of Her Majesty's subjects: see per Romer LJ in Attorney-General v PYA Quarries Ltd. It was a nuisance which was so widespread in its range, or so indiscriminate in its effect, that it would not be reasonable to expect one person to take proceedings on her own responsibility, but that they should be taken on the responsibility of the community at large: see Denning LJ ... It was proved by the Crown that the public, meaning a considerable number of persons or a section of the public, was affected, as distinct from individual persons."

This was followed in a number of cases such as R v Holliday and Leboutillier (2004) EWCA Crim 1847 in which two animal liberation activists made a large number of telephone calls to employees and shareholders of certain companies whose activities the appellants opposed. The calls were designed to jam the company telephone switchboards, and some of them were threatening and intimidating.

The common law offence of public nuisance was abolished by section 78 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

The law reviewed
In R v Goldstein and Rimmington (2005) UKHL 63 two separate appeal cases were considered together. The Lords began their judgment with a detailed review of the law and its history. Two arguments were raised by the defence. The first was that most of the factual situations that might otherwise have been criminal public nuisances had now been covered by statutes. Thus, for example, s. 1 Protection from Harassment Act 1997 would now be used in cases involving multiple telephone calls, and s. 63 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 confers powers on the police to remove persons attending or preparing for a rave "at which amplified music is played during the night (with or without intermissions) and is such as, by reason of its loudness and duration and the time at which it is played, is likely to cause serious distress to the inhabitants of the locality". These statutes had, in effect, made the common law offence redundant and it should no longer be considered an offence in English law. The Lords agreed that, as a matter of practice, all alleged offences falling within the remit of statutes would now be charged under those statutes. It also accepted that this left only a very small scope for the application of the common law offence. But, just as the courts had no power to create new offences (R v Withers), and could not widen existing offences so as to retrospectively criminalise conduct (R v Misra and Srivastava (2004) EWCA Crim 2375), it equally had no power to abolish existing offences. However, cases such as R v Norbury and R v Johnson (Anthony) would now be charged under the relevant statutes.

The second argument raised by the defence was that the law lacked the certainty required to be valid under Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights. "No punishment without law
 * 1) No one shall be held guilty of any criminal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a criminal offence under national or international law at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the criminal offence was committed."

Of all the common law offences considered at Strasbourg, only the criterion of "contra bonos mores" had been held to lack the appropriate quality of certainty (see Hashman and Harrup v United Kingdom (1999) 30 EHRR 241). The Lords therefore held that, as defined in Archbold, the offence did have sufficient certainty so that any legal practitioner asked to advise on whether proposed conduct was likely to be criminal would be able to give an accurate answer.

Goldstein's appeal
As a cultural reference, Goldstein sent an envelope to a friend of his containing a small quantity of salt. Some of this salt escaped from the envelope at a postal sorting office, which was closed as a precaution so that tests could be carried out to determine whether the material spilt was dangerous. The Lords accepted that a significant number of people were disadvantaged by the closure of the sorting office and the loss of delivery on that day, but held that the appellant did not have the appropriate mens rea because he did not know or reasonably should have known (because the means of knowledge were available to him) that the salt would escape in the sorting office or in the course of postal delivery.

title: Public nuisance


text:
Bod (TV series)

Bod is a British children's television programme first shown on BBC1 in 1975, with thirteen episodes, based on four original Bod books by Joanne and Michael Cole. It is a cutout animated cartoon series narrated by John Le Mesurier and Maggie Henderson with music by Derek Griffiths and produced by David Yates. The four books were published in 1965 in the United Kingdom and later in the United States and France. They are: Bod's Apple, Bod's Present, Bod's Dream and Bod and the Cherry Tree. The French version of Bod's Apple is called La Pomme de Gus.

Before the animated series was commissioned, the four books had been read on another BBC children's programme: Play School. In 1974, thirteen five-minute episodes were created for transmission on the BBC as part of the Watch with Mother series, and were also sold to Australia's ABC channel. Soon thereafter, it was shown in New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Poland and Israel. In the United States, Bod aired on Nickelodeon as a segment on the Pinwheel program.

The character of Bod is a boy who lives in a town with Aunt Flo, PC Copper, Frank the Postman and Farmer Barleymow. Each of the characters has their own theme music performed by Griffiths which is heard when they appear. Regular features are animal identification and Bod Snap.

There is also another segment which appears in each episode called Alberto Frog and his Amazing Animal Band with artwork by Joanne Cole. This section, narrated by Maggie Henderson, features short extracts from famous pieces of classical music as part of the story, and usually ends with Alberto choosing a different flavour of milkshake as his reward for solving a problem.

Bod has appeared in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Kids' TV shows and 100 Greatest Cartoons.

Episode titles

 * 1) Bod's Present* (23 December 1975)
 * 2) Bod and the Dog* (30 December 1975)
 * 3) Bod and the Apple (6 January 1976)
 * 4) Bod and the Kite (13 January 1976)
 * 5) Bod and the Cherry Tree (20 January 1976)
 * 6) Bod and the Rain (27 January 1976)
 * 7) Bod's Dream* (3 February 1976)
 * 8) Bod on the Beach (10 February 1976)
 * 9) Bod and the Birds* (17 February 1976)
 * 10) Bod and the Cake (24 February 1976)
 * 11) Bod and the Grasshopper (2 March 1976)
 * 12) Bod in the Park (9 March 1976)
 * 13) Bod And Breakfast* (16 March 1976)

All thirteen Bod episodes are available on DVD.

The Alberto Frog segments were produced separately by the BBC and were originally shown alongside the Bod episodes; only five of these thirteen segments are known to survive, following a decision in the early 1990s to wipe a large amount of videotaped 1970s children's programmes.

The five surviving segments are marked above with an asterisk and are present on the Bod DVD. Another was recovered from an old VHS tape and is available on YouTube, and a further full episode - Bod and the Grasshopper - appeared in 2020.

Tie-ins and Taoism
As well as books for each of the televised episodes, there have been two other tie-in books based on Bod, by Alison and Lo Cole, the children of creators Joanne and Michael Cole. Bod's Way: The Meaning of Life was being worked on by Michael Cole before he died in 2001, and was completed by Alison.

The books reveal the Taoist beliefs of Bod's original creators.

References in other media
Bod is a fictional deity in the BBC Radio 4 science fiction comedy Nebulous, and the Bod theme music is heard in one episode.

Homestar Runner's titular character dressed up as Bod for the 2020 Halloween special.

title: Bod (TV series)