text:
Telus Mobility

Telus Mobility (normally typeset as TELUS Mobility) is a Canadian wireless network operator and a division of Telus Communications which sells wireless services in Canada on its numerous networks. It operates 5G, LTE and HSPA+ on its mainstream networks. Telus Mobility is the second-largest wireless carrier in Canada, with 10.6 million subscribers as of Q3 2020.

Since 2008, Telus has operated a flanker brand named Koodo Mobile, which is targeted at high school, college and university students.

1980s
In 1983, AGT Mobility was formed by Alberta Government Telephones (the predecessor to Telus) to provide a 1G analogue mobile network for Alberta's natural resources industries. It was the first mobile phone network in Canada. Analogue services became available to the general public in 1986.

1990s
In 1992, AGT launched North America's first digital mobile network. Following the merger of Telus with BC Tel in 1999, Telus Mobility expanded its coverage to British Columbia. The company's website went online on October 14, 1999. The following year, Telus acquired Clearnet Communications and QuébecTel to expand its coverage to the central provinces. All these acquisitions, along with a tower-sharing agreement with then-primarily Eastern Canada based Bell Mobility, allowed Telus Mobility to offer its CDMA network in all Canadian provinces. Bell and Telus continued their partnership for future network construction.

2000s
In 2007, Telus Mobility launched mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Amp'd Mobile Canada, but replaced it in 2008 with Koodo Mobile

In February 2008, Telus Mobility discontinued its AMPS analog network, and launched its HSPA+ network in November 2009. Telus offered landlines to customers affected by the AMPS network's shutdown in rural areas, as digital signals are less reliable than analog ones in such areas. Following both events, Telus began a slow phasing out of CDMA devices, especially those that support both AMPS and CDMA technologies.

2010s
In February 2012, Telus launched its LTE network and it stopped selling CDMA devices, except those on clearance.

In 2013, Telus was approved by the Canadian government to purchase independent wireless carrier Public Mobile.

On August 8, 2014, Telus shut down Public Mobile's CDMA network after informing customers that they would need to buy phones compatible with Telus' network.

On March 31, 2015, Telus shut down its pager network.

On January 29, 2016, Telus shut down its Mike iDEN network.

On May 31, 2017, Telus shut down its CDMA network.

Networks
Telus Mobility partners with Bell Mobility to operate three different kinds of nationwide networks in Canada. These networks include a UMTS network, an LTE network and a 5G network. Telus has the fastest mobile network in Canada as of 2020 according to Speedtest.net.

UMTS
On November 5, 2009, Telus launched HSPA+ services the day after Bell launched the services on their network; much of the 3G infrastructure is shared between the two carriers. This network operates on the frequencies of 850/1900 MHz.

Telus' single-channel 21 Mbit/s HSPA+ network is available to 97% of the Canadian population. About 70% of the Canadian population are located in Telus' 42 Mbit/s dual-channel coverage areas.

Telus' HSPA+ network coverage is in portions of all Canadian provinces and territories, but it is not possible to drive in Canada between the Pacific coast and the Atlantic coast without going through areas without any cellular coverage, as there are gaps in cellular coverage in British Columbia and Ontario.

LTE
LTE service for Telus launched on February 10, 2012 through a partnership with Bell. Telus advertises this network as having download speeds of up to 110 Mbit/s and its LTE Advanced network as having download speeds up to 225 Mbit/s.

As of August 2016, LTE coverage reaches most of Canada's population, but there are gaps in coverage in smaller communities and between communities, where TELUS' HSPA+ network is available, but its LTE network is not available. Steinbach, MB (population 13,500) is the largest Canadian community without LTE coverage from TELUS. Except near Canada's largest metropolitan areas, contiguous LTE coverage does not exist between communities.

Bell Mobility, which shares towers and coverage with Telus, intends to expand LTE coverage to 98% of the Canadian population by the end of 2016. As a consequence, Telus' coverage will similarly expand. In April 2015, Telus announced that all of its wireless sites in British Columbia and Alberta will be upgraded to LTE. According to Telus, as of March 31, 2016, it had LTE coverage available 97% of the Canadian population and LTE Advance coverage available to 50% of the Canadian population.

In May 2016, Telus announced that by the end of the year, it would expand its coverage to 99% of British Columbians and expand its LTE coverage to 98% of British Columbians, expand its LTE coverage to 99% of Albertans, and expand its LTE coverage to 99% of Ontarians.

On April 18, 2016, Telus launched Voice over LTE (VoLTE). VoLTE is supported throughout Canada.

Products
Telus' product lineup mainly consists of smartphones but also includes a few feature phones. As of July 2017, smartphones are currently sold with either Android or iOS operating systems preloaded.

Telus also sells several mobile broadband modems for use with its mobile broadband service. All modems currently sold support HSPA+ and LTE, and can connect to a personal computer via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, while some also provide Internet access to multiple devices via Wi-Fi and thus do not require a wired connection.

In many areas of Alberta and British Columbia, Telus offers an LTE/HSPA+ internet service for stationary use in homes or businesses in rural areas where wired service is unavailable. This service uses an LTE router which provides WIFI and LAN connectivity. The router can be purchased outright, or it can be paid for with 24 equal payments added to the bill over two years. The payments which would be over $11.00 are rounded down to $10 per month.

Voice
Telus Mobility sells a variety of voice plans. These include a fixed number of minutes plus unlimited calling on weeknights, weekends and with up to four other Telus lines on the same account. Caller ID and a basic voicemail for up to three messages are also included as calling features, although airtime is charged for accessing the latter. All voice plans except for the least expensive one also allow the choice of one additional feature: double minutes, five favourite numbers or unlimited Canada-wide SMS/MMS messaging. For the five favourite numbers, unlimited calling is available in either local or Canada-wide options while messaging to these numbers is Canada-wide.

Partners Skype and Telehop offer long distance services for Telus Mobility customers. The first service uses Voice over IP (VoIP) and requires a mobile broadband connection, while the latter uses traditional telephony through the dialing code No. 100. The Telehop service, which deducts minutes when used during weekdays, cannot be use for calls terminating in Canada or the United States.

Mobile Internet
Telus offers several Internet-only and smartphone plans and add-ons for customers wishing to access mobile broadband. Only one plan can be added per device, and certain plans are only available for certain devices.

Mobile payment
Telus Mobility postpaid customers with a compatible smartphone can subscribe to Skype (and formerly also Rdio) and be billed for the service on their monthly bill. Use of either service on the Telus Mobility network requires a subscription to one of the provider's data plans or add-ons.

Sale of pornography
In 2007, Telus Mobility began selling in-house pay-per-download pornographic entertainment, including explicit pictures and videos, via its phones. Industry analysts described the action, the first by a North American wireless company, as a landmark move. However, the company later discontinued sales of such content in response to objections from religious groups.

Incoming text message fee
In July 2008, Telus Mobility and Bell Mobility simultaneously introduced charges of 15¢ for every incoming text message received by all customers not subscribed to a text messaging plan. Critics were quick to point out that there is no way of blocking incoming message fees and suggested Telus and Bell were price fixing as both had announced the fees simultaneously. Both companies have been sued by frustrated consumers and subscribers, as they demand change in text charges. Many customers were frustrated because this fee also applies to existing customers with ongoing contracts. As of 2014, the only plans in which Telus and Bell charge per message (either outgoing or incoming) are pay-per-use prepaid plans. All monthly rate plans include at least unlimited text messaging to numbers within Canada. Additionally in a 2014 press release, Telus stated that charges elicited from unwanted spam text messages can be waived at the customer's request.

Philanthropy
From 2008 to 2011 inclusively, Telus Mobility sold pink BlackBerry phones where a portion of each sale would support breast cancer research. This included the BlackBerry Curve and the BlackBerry Pearl consumer models. In 2012, Telus introduced a new campaign entitled "$25 for Free the Children" to replace the breast cancer campaign. For every purchase of the Samsung Galaxy S III or the Samsung Galaxy Ace Q, TELUS will donate $25 to Free the Children, up to a maximum of $650,000. Both phones include a We Day-themed gel skin to fit the respective phone purchased.

Retail presence
Telus Mobility has its own corporate retail stores and also allows third parties to become exclusive dealers. Best Buy, Walmart and selected Loblaws stores in Canada provide Telus products, prepaid and/or postpaid services.

The Loblaws PC Telecom mobile virtual network operator repackages a mix of Bell prepaid and Telus postpaid services; some stores also offer handsets and prepaid minutes under the original network banners.

title: Telus Mobility


text: User talk:205.133.240.254

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

title: User talk:205.133.240.254


text: User talk:70.18.93.41

title: User talk:70.18.93.41


text:
Cheltenham Racecourse

Cheltenham Racecourse at Prestbury Park, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, hosts National Hunt horse racing. Racing at Cheltenham took place in 1815, but comprised only minor flat races on Nottingham Hill. The first racing on Cleeve Hill was on Tuesday 25 August 1818 when the opening race was won by Miss Tidmarsh, owned by Mr E Jones. It was a year later when the results were printed in the Racing Calendar when a programme of flat racing was watched by the Duke of Gloucester who  donated 100 Guineas to the prize fund. By 1831 races were being staged at Prestbury, although not on the present day course. In 1834 the Grand Annual Steeplechase was run for the first time. In 1839 Lottery won the Grand Annual having previously won the first Aintree Grand  National. In 1840 the meeting transferred to Andoversford for a brief period, only to return to Prestbury in 1847. 1902 was a notable year in that racing moved to the present course at Prestbury Park. The new stands were completed in 1914 and the present day Festival races, as we know them, began to  take shape. The Cheltenham Gold Cup, over 3 ¼ miles, was run for the first time in 1924, with the Champion Hurdle following in 1927.

The course's most prestigious meeting is the Cheltenham Festival, held in March, which features several Grade I races including the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Ryanair Chase and the Stayers' Hurdle.

The racecourse has a scenic location in a natural amphitheatre, just below the escarpment of the Cotswold Hills at Cleeve Hill, with a capacity of 67,500 spectators. Cheltenham Racecourse railway station no longer connects to the national rail network, but is the southern terminus of the preserved Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.

The main racecourse has two separate courses alongside each other, the Old Course and the New Course. The New Course has a tricky downhill fence and a longer run-in for steeplechases than the Old Course. Hurdle races over two miles on the New Course also have a slight peculiarity in that most of the hurdles are jumped early on in the race with only two hurdles being jumped in the last seven furlongs. The Old Course is the racecourse used for The Showcase, The November Meeting and the first two days of the Cheltenham Festival. There is also a cross-country course which is laid out inside the main racecourse and is used for cross-country steeplechases.

The racecourse is the home of The Centaur, one of the largest auditoria in the South West of England. This multiple-use complex seats over 2,000 people for conferences and around 4,000 standing for concerts. It is also home to the Steeplechasing Hall of Fame. From 1999 to 2013, the racecourse was the venue for the annual Greenbelt festival and remains the venue for the Wychwood Music Festival. The University of Gloucestershire holds its graduation ceremony and summer ball at the racecourse.

From 2008, the racecourse and The Jockey Club were in talks with Cheltenham Town F.C. about a possible move to the racecourse. This would have meant the building of a new stadium with a double-sided stand, one side in the stadium and the other for watching the races. In 2011, Cheltenham Town F.C. decided against the move for financial reasons.

In 2015, Cheltenham Racecourse opened the £45m 6,500-capacity Princess Royal Stand, which completed the redevelopment of the course.

title: Cheltenham Racecourse


text:
Hailu Shawul

Hailu Shawul (also spelled Shawel or Shawil; ; 1936 – 6 October 2016) was an Ethiopian politician and civil engineer who was the leader of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) during the 2005 Ethiopian general election. He was also the leader of All Ethiopian Unity Party from 1996 to 2013. He died on 6 October 2016, while receiving treatment at a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.

Early life
Hailu was born in northern Shewa, Ethiopia. He attended elementary and high school in Addis Ababa at Minilik II School. At the age of 18 he moved to the United States to pursue higher education and enrolled at Wayne State University. He did both his bachelor's and master's degree in Civil Engineering and returned to Ethiopia in 1960 soon after his graduation.

He was married to Almaz Zewde whom he met at his friend's wedding. They had six children together.

Professional career
After returning to Ethiopia, Hailu started his career as a research engineer at Abay Gorge by working with the team who has been studying about the gorge in a project funded by the US government. Following that he worked for 13 years in the different managerial positions at Shell international.

In 1973–1974 at the height of the Ethiopian student movement, Hailu was appointed as head of Ethiopian Transportation Authority and served for three years. Following the Somalia invasion on Ethiopia in 1977 he was called for national service and participated in designing an aircraft for the Ethiopian air force.

After the Somali war was ended by Ethiopian victory, Hailu was appointed general manager of Ethiopian Sugar Corporation and managing director of Wonji Sugar Company and Metehara Sugar Company and then Minister for State Farms Development of Ethiopia, at the height of Qey Shibir or Red Terror. In mid-1978, Hailu absconded in exile to the United States. In 1983 Hailu formed a successful company, Shawel Consultancy inc, which is now run by his economist son Shawel Hailu. Until his return to Ethiopia to join politics He was general manager of Shawl Consultancy which conducted construction work in cooperation with international institutions such as UN, and African Development Bank.

Political career
Hailu Shawul joined politics by succeeding Professor Asrat Woldeyes as the head of the All-Amhara People's Organization (AAPO). However, some sources dispute his presidency and show that the AAPO's split into two factions - the All Ethiopian Unity Party (AEUP) and the United Ethiopian Democratic Party-Medhin - was due to Hailu Shawel not gaining the presidency and thus creating his own party. Many believe that the division was tactically mediated by the EPRDF government interference.

Late in 2004, a year before 2005 general election, a series of negotiations started among Hailu Shawul, Lidetu Ayalew, leader of Ethiopian Democratic Party, Berhanu Nega, the then leader of Rainbow Ethiopia: Movement for Democracy and Social Justice, and Chekol Getahun, the leader of Ethiopian Democratic League, which led to the formation of Coalition for Unity and Democracy. Hailu was elected leader of the CUD to challenge the ruling EPRDF party on 2005 general election.

During 2005 Ethiopian general election, the CUD under Hailu's leadership was able to win 137 out of 138 seats of the Addis Ababa city council and 109 seats in the federal parliament. The result was disputed both by the ruling EPRDF and CUD. Following the dispute and alleged voting irregularities Observers from the European Union assessed that closing and counting processes negatively in almost half of urban polling stations, counting was slow, a remarkably high number of ballots were ruled invalid, and there was a lack of transparency in the results. The situation deteriorated further as the negotiation between EPRDF and CUD fall apart and finally on late October 2005, protest erupted across the country against the ruling party.

As a result of the protests, the government placed Hailu Shawul and other high-ranking leaders under house arrest for weeks. When the CUD held an initially peaceful protest the highly armed government security forces augmented the situation by using excessive force which turned it violent, leading to the deaths of more than 200 peaceful demonstrators in the capital alone and an unknown number in the countryside in October 2005. The government claimed the death of four police officers. Hailu Shawel and 23 other CUD leaders were arrested and imprisoned on charges of treason and genocide[Wenedesen S].

While in imprisoned, in December 2005, Hailu Shawul with other CUD prisoners went on a hunger strike, which has aggravated his diabetes and threatens his vision. As a result of the hunger strike, Hailu Shawul has lost much of his sight, and gained access to medical care only after being visited by foreign diplomats.

In December 2007 the Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia pardoned all twenty-four of the CUD members after they pleaded guilty and made public apologies; his fellow CUD member, Birtukan Mideksa, who was imprisoned and pardoned with him, claims that their pleas and apologies were coerced.

Illness and death
After being freed from prison, Hailu Shawul traveled to America in January 2008 to get medical care for his diabetes. In mid-2013 he resigned from his tenure as leader of All Ethiopian Unity Party due to his deteriorating health condition.

From 2014 to 2016 he spent his time abroad receiving medical treatment. On 6 October 2016, Hailu died while receiving treatment at a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.

title: Hailu Shawul


text:
Clearnet

Clearnet may refer to:

 * Clearnet Communications, a mobile telecommunications company that merged with Telus in 2000
 * Clearnet (Telus Mobility), a MVNO launched by Telus in 2011
 * ClearNET, the UK NHS clearing system (run by McKesson's UK arm)
 * Clearnet (networking), non-darknet networks
 * Banque Centrale de Compensation, a Paris-based clearing house, operating under the commercial name Clearnet from 1999 to 2003 then as LCH.Clearnet until 2016

title: Clearnet


text:
Land Day

Land Day (يَوْم اَلْأَرْض; יוֹם הַאֲדָמָה), recurring on March 30, is a day of commemoration for Palestinians, both Arab citizens of Israel and those in the Israeli-occupied territories of the events of that date in 1976 in Israel.

In 1976, the Israeli government's announced a plan to confiscate some 20,000 dunam of land for state purposes between the Arab villages of Sakhnin and Arraba, of which 6,300 dunam was Arab-owned. It formed part of the Israeli government's strategy aimed at the Judaization of the Galilee. In response, Arab towns declared a general strike and marches were organized from the Galilee to the Negev. The Israeli military and police killed six unarmed Arab demonstrators, half of whom were women; injured one hundred more; and arrested hundreds of others.

Scholarship on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict recognizes Land Day as a pivotal event in the struggle over land and in the relationship of Arab citizens to the Israeli state and body politic. It is significant in that it was the first time since 1948 that Arabs in Israel organized a response to Israeli policies as a Palestinian national collective. An important annual day of commemoration in the Palestinian national political calendar ever since, it is marked not only by Arab citizens of Israel, but also by Palestinians all over the world.

Background

The Arabs of Mandatory Palestine were a largely agrarian people, 75% of whom made their living off the land before the establishment of the Israeli state. After the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight during the 1948 Palestine war, land continued to play an important role in the lives of the 156,000 Palestinian Arabs who remained inside what became the state of Israel, serving as the source of communal identity, honor, and purpose.

The Israeli government adopted in 1950 the Law of Return to facilitate Jewish immigration to Israel and the absorption of Jewish refugees. Israel's Absentees' Property Law of March 1950 transferred the property rights of absentee owners to a government-appointed Custodian of Absentee Property. It was also used to confiscate the lands of Arab citizens of Israel who "are present inside the state, yet classified in law as 'absent'." The number of "present-absentees" or internally displaced Palestinians from among the 1.2 million Arab citizens of Israel is estimated (in 2001) to be 200,000, or almost 17% of the total Palestinian Arab population in Israel. Salman Abu-Sitta estimates that between 1948 and 2003 more than 1000 km2 of land was expropriated from Arab citizens of Israel (present-absentees and otherwise).

According to Oren Yiftachel, public protest against state policies and practices from among the Arabs in Israel was rare prior to the mid-1970s, owing to a combination of factors including military rule over their localities, poverty, isolation, fragmentation, and their peripheral position in the new Israeli state. Those protests that did take place against land expropriations and the restrictions Arab citizens were subject to under military rule (1948–1966) are described by Shany Payes as "sporadic" and "limited", due to restrictions on rights to freedom of movement, expression and assembly characteristic of that period. While the political movement Al-Ard ("The Land") was active for about a decade, it was declared illegal in 1964, and the most notable antigovernment occasions otherwise were the May Day protests staged annually by the Communist party.

Catalyzing events
The government of Israel declared its intention to expropriate lands in the Galilee for official use, affecting some 20,000 dunams of land between the Arab villages of Sakhnin and Arraba, of which 6,300 dunams was Arab-owned. On March 11, 1976, the government published the expropriation plan.

Yiftachel writes that the land confiscations and expansion of Jewish settlements in the northern Galilee formed part of the government's continuing strategy aimed at the Judaization of the Galilee which itself constituted both a response to and catalyst for "Palestinian resistance", culminating in the events of Land Day. According to Nayef Hawatmeh, leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the land was to be used to construct "[...] eight Jewish industrial villages, in implementation of the so-called Galilee Development Plan of 1975. In hailing this plan, the Ministry of Agriculture openly declared that its primary purpose was to alter the demographic nature of Galilee in order to create a Jewish majority in the area." Orly Helpern of The Jerusalem Post writes that the lands were confiscated by the government for security purposes, and that they were subsequently used to build a military training camp, as well as new Jewish settlements.

Yifat Holzman-Gazit places the 1976 announcement within the framework of a larger plan devised in 1975. Some 1900 dunams of privately owned Arab land were to be expropriated to expand the Jewish town of Carmiel. Additionally, the plan envisaged the establishment between 1977 and 1981 of 50 new Jewish settlements known as mitzpim (singular: mitzpe) which would consist of fewer than 20 families each. The plan called for these to be located between clusters of Arab villages in the central Galilee affecting some 20,000 dunams (30% of which were to be expropriated from Arabs, 15% from Jews, with the remainder constituting state-owned land). David McDowall identifies the resumption of land seizures in the Galilee and the acceleration of land expropriations in the West Bank in the mid-1970s as the immediate catalyst for both the Land Day demonstration and similar demonstrations that were taking place contemporaneously in the West Bank. He writes: "Nothing served to bring the two Palestinian communities together politically more than the question of land."

Protest of 1976
The government decision to confiscate the land was accompanied by the declaration of a curfew to be imposed on the villages of Sakhnin, Arraba, Deir Hanna, Tur'an, Tamra, and Kabul, effective from 5 p.m. on March 29, 1976. Local Arab leaders from the Rakah party, such as Tawfiq Ziad, who also served as the mayor of Nazareth, responded by calling for a day of general strikes and protests against the confiscation of lands to be held on March 30. On March 18 the heads of the local Arab councils, members of the Labour Party, met in Shefa-'Amr and voted against supporting the day of action. When news of the decision became public a demonstration developed outside the municipal buildings and was dispersed with tear gas. The government declared all demonstrations illegal and threatened to fire 'agitators', such as schoolteachers who encouraged their students to participate, from their jobs. The threats were not effective, however, and many teachers led their students out of the classrooms to join the general strike and marches that took place throughout the Arab towns in Israel, from the Galilee in the north to the Negev in south. Solidarity strikes were also held almost simultaneously in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and in most of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

The events of the day were unprecedented. According to the International Jewish Peace Union, "To preempt incidents inside Israel on Land Day, about 4,000 policemen, including a helicopter-borne tactical unit and army units, were deployed in the Galilee [...]" During the protests, four unarmed demonstrators were shot dead by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and two more by police. Nahla Abdo and Ronit Lentin write that three of the dead were women, and that, "the army was allowed to drive armoured vehicles and tanks along the unpaved roads of various villages of the Galilee." About 100 Arabs were wounded and hundreds of others were arrested.

The New York Times reported that the killings were carried out by police during "riots in the Galilee region to protest over Israeli expropriation of Arab land." In Arutz Sheva, Ezra HaLevi writes that the riots started the night before, "with Israeli-Arabs throwing rocks and firebombs at police and soldiers. The riots continued the next day and intensified, resulting in many wounded members of Israeli security forces and the death of the six Arab rioters." Yosef Goell, writing in The Jerusalem Post, says that, "What actually set off the rioting that led to the deaths was a wild attack by hundreds of inflamed young Arabs on an unsuspecting IDF convoy driving on the road by the villages of Sakhnin, Arrabe and Deir Hanna. There was no prior provocation on the part of that IDF convoy, unless one insists on seeing a provocation in the very presence of an Israeli army unit in the heart of Israeli Galilee."

A 2003 Israeli government document notes that, "Arab public figures tried to limit the protests, but lost control over the events. The protestors burnt tires, blocked roads, and threw rocks and molotov cocktails." Placing the six fatalities within the context of "severe clashes" between protestors and security forces, it is also noted that there were many injuries on both sides. Baruch Kimmerling and Joel S. Migdal write that Land Day differed from the Kafr Qasim massacre in that the Palestinians in Israel exhibited a "[...] daring confidence and political awareness totally lacking in 1956; this time Arab citizens were not passive and submissive. Instead they initiated and coordinated political activity at the national level, responding to police brutality with their own violence."

Impact
During the Land Day events, a new sense of national pride, together with anger toward the state and police and sorrow over the dead protesters, developed among the Arab community in Israel. A split erupted between the Arab political parties of Rakah and Abnaa al-Balad. Committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Rakah held major reservations about the involvement of Palestinians from the West Bank. Conversely, Abnaa al-Balad's commitment to the establishment a single democratic Palestine saw the issues of land, equality, the refugees and the occupation as "a comprehensive, integral and indivisible whole." While Rakah remained committed to a two-state solution, it charted a delicate balance, expressing a Palestinian identity more clearly so as to be more in tune with community sentiment. For example, shortly after Land Day, Tawfiq Ziad declared that, "From now on there will be no communities and religious groups but only a single Arab minority, part of the Palestinian nation." Land Day also resulted in the Arabs gaining a presence in Israeli politics in that they could no longer be ignored. Arab civil society in Israel began coordinating with one another more and protests against government policies became more frequent with a focus on three major issues: land and planning policies, socioeconomic conditions, and Palestinian national rights.

The protest did little to stop the 1975 land expropriation plan. The number of mitzpim established reached 26 in 1981 and 52 in 1988. These mitzpim and the "development towns" of Upper Nazareth, Ma'alot, Migdal Ha'emeq and Carmiel significantly altered the demographic composition of the Galilee. While Arabs had comprised 92% of the population of the Galilee in the years following Israel's establishment, by 1994, that number was reduced to 72% out of a regional population of 680,000, with Jews making up the remaining 28%. Large-scale expropriations of land in the Galilee have generally been avoided by Israeli governments since the 1980s.

Studies of Israeli media coverage
Israeli media coverage of Land Day has been analyzed and critiqued by Israeli academics. Alina Koren's 1994 study of seven major Israeli newspapers found that coverage of the preparations and outcome of the day was extensive in March–April 1976, with reports relying almost entirely on statements from official Israeli information sources such as ministers, advisers or "experts on Arabs." Hardly any space was devoted to the voices of Arab organizers and participants. All of the newspapers examined, whatever their ideological differences, minimized the causes, emphasizing instead two main themes: portraying the demonstrations as the work of a marginal and unrepresentative minority and describing them as a potential threat to state security and law and order. Daniel Bar-Tal and Yona Teichman write: "Of special importance is the finding that all the newspapers delegitimized the participants, as communists, nationalists, extremists, agitators, inciters, enemies or violent people."

Bar-Tal and Teichman also cite a 2000 study by professors Gadi Wolfsfeld, Eli Avraham and Issam Aburaiya that analyzed coverage by Haaretz and Yediot Aharonot of the annual commemorations between 1977 and 1997 and found that reports prior to the event each year also relied heavily on news items from the police and military sources. The focus was on security preparations, with reports on Arabs limited to the agitation and incitement put forward by their leadership. Information on the reasons for the protest was provided in between 6% and 7% of the stories published. Almost all of the reporters were Jewish, and only Haaretz had a reporter specially assigned to cover the Arab population. The event was framed within the context of the Arab–Israeli conflict with Arab demonstrators defined as enemies, rather than citizens making demands of their government. A March 22, 1997 editorial in Yediot Ahronoth for example read: "The right to protest does not include the right to run riot, to close roads, to throw stones at passing vehicles. ... Again, it has to be made clear to Israeli Arabs that most of their Israeliness is based on their loyalty that they owe to their country and its laws. If they don't want these laws no one is preventing them from leaving."

Legacy
For Palestinians, Land Day has since become a day of commemoration and tribute to those who have fallen in the struggle to hold onto their land and identity. Often serving as a day for the expression of political discontent for Arab citizens of Israel, particularly surrounding issues of equal land and citizenship rights, in 1988, they declared that Land Day should serve as "a Palestinian-Israeli civil national day of commemoration and a day of identification with Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza, to be marked by yearly demonstrations and general strikes."

Not only did Land Day work to forge political solidarity among Arab citizens of Israel, but it also worked "[...] in cementing the acceptance of the "1948 Arabs" back into the larger Palestinian world and into the heart of mainstream Palestinian nationalism." The day is commemorated annually by Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and further afield in refugee camps and among the Palestinian diaspora worldwide. In 2007, the Press Center of the Palestinian National Authority described it "...as a remarkable day in the history of the Palestinian people's struggle, as the Palestinians in such a particular day embrace the land of their ancestors, their identity and their existence." However, in recent years, many observers have noted that the Arab population inside Israel seems less enthusiastic about the protests, despite the organizers' efforts to promote hype. Many see this as a sign of growing reconciliation on the grass-roots level.

Annual commemoration and protests

An Israeli judiciary study reports that the general strike and marches carried out in Israel during the annual commemoration of 2000 generally proceeded peacefully, with the exception of the protest in Sakhnin. There, hundreds of youth gathered and moved towards the Israeli military base adjacent to the village to the west. Uprooting the fences, they penetrated the base, and waved the Palestinian flag inside. Arab public figures who were there to make speeches attempted to subdue them, but were met with hostility and even beatings. Border police forces who arrived to reinforce the base were stoned by the protestors, some of whom were wearing masks and set fires in the woods. Tear gas and rubber bullets were used to push the protestors back towards the main road where clashes continued. Muhammad Zidan, Head of the Arab Higher Followup Committee, was among those wounded in the clashes, and a 72-year-old woman from Sakhnin was reported to have died in the hospital after injuries sustained from tear gas inhalation. A 2006 report in The Jerusalem Post states that in annual commemorations of the day by Arab citizens today, Israeli security forces are on alert but do not interfere in the protests.

During the Second Intifada in 2001, on the 25th anniversary of Land Day, which fell on a Friday, the weekly "Day of Rage", Palestinians were called upon to demonstrate. Tens of thousands of Arab citizens, joined by some Jews, demonstrated in peaceful marches inside Israel, carrying Palestinian flags. During demonstrations in the West Bank, four Palestinians were killed and 36 wounded in Nablus when Israeli forces used live ammunition against protesters throwing stones and molotov cocktails. In Ramallah, one Palestinian was shot dead and 11 others injured when soldiers clashed with 2,000 demonstrators who burned pictures of Ariel Sharon and waved Iraqi and Palestinian flags; Palestinian gunmen also joined the clashes after an hour, drawing heavy Israeli fire from tank-mounted machine guns. There were also demonstrations in the Gaza Strip and in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in Lebanon.

In the Land Day demonstrations of 2002, Arab citizens of Israel expressed their solidarity with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, speaking out against the "Israeli siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters." The 2005 Land Day commemorations were dedicated to the plight of the unrecognized villages in the Negev, where organizers said 80,000 Arab citizens live without access to basic amenities and 30,000 homes have received demolition orders. Marches in 2008 included one organized in Jaffa where 1,000 Arab citizens used the Land Day commemorations to bring attention to what they described as an acceleration in land confiscations in the city, with many complaining that they were facing evictions and demolition orders designed to force them out of their homes in order to settle Jews from abroad in their place.

Calls to launch non-violent resistance actions to protest against ongoing land confiscations regularly occur on Land Day. For example, the BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights issued a press release for Land Day 2006, calling for "boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel" and an end to "racial discrimination, occupation, and colonization." During the commemorations for Land Day in 2009, a group of 50 Palestinian women singing Palestinian nationalist songs by Marcel Khleifi and some internationals gathered at the Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem, to hand out posters and T-shirts calling for a boycott of Israeli products.

Also in 2009, thousands of Arab citizens, some carrying Palestinian flags, marched through the towns of Arrabe and Sakhnin, under the banner, "We are all united under Israeli fascism and racism." Arab Knesset member Talab el-Sana called upon the government, "to put a stop to the racist plans of Judaizing the Galilee and Negev and adopt development policies for all the Galilee and Negev's residents". Ynet reported that protests by Palestinians were planned in locations worldwide, including the US, Canada, Germany, Finland, France and Belgium, and that the World Social Forum (WSF) announced the launching of a campaign calling on all of its affiliates to excommunicate Israel. Land Day was also commemorated in Sabra and the Shatila refugee camp via an art exhibition and musical event, and in the Palestinian territories, where Palestinians demonstrated and threw stones near the Israeli West Bank barrier in Naalin and Jayyous.

In anticipation of Land Day protests of 2012, Israel sealed off the West Bank (but the restrictions did not apply to Israeli settlers). The protests were held in Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces fired at protestors who tried to cross the security fence, resulting in one man killed and 37 injured. At the Qalandia checkpoint, rock-throwing Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli soldiers firing rubber bullets and stun grenades, resulting in 39 Palestinians being injured. In Jordan, 15,000 people, including Palestinians joined in a peaceful sit-in. Palestinian refugees also held demonstrations near Beaufort Castle, Lebanon.

During the 2018 Land Day protests, 17 Palestinians were killed, including five Hamas members, and more than 1,400 were injured in shootings by the Israeli army during a march calling for the Palestinian right of return at the borders with Gaza.

title: Land Day


text: User:Ikcotyck

title: User:Ikcotyck


text:
Marilyn McCord Adams

Marilyn McCord Adams (October 12, 1943 – March 22, 2017) was an American philosopher and Episcopal priest. She specialized in the philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, and medieval philosophy. She was Horace Tracy Pitkin Professor of Historical Theology at Yale Divinity School from 1998 to 2003 and Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford from 2004 to 2009.

Early life and education
Adams was born on October 12, 1943, in Oak Park, Illinois, United States. She was the daughter of William Clark McCord and Wilmah Brown McCord. In 1966, she married the philosopher Robert Merrihew Adams.

Adams was educated at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (AB) degree. She continued her studies at Cornell University, completing her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1967. She undertook studies and training for ordained ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary, graduating with a Master of Theology degree in 1984. She was awarded a Doctor of Divinity (DD) by the University of Oxford in 2008, thereby becoming the first woman to become an Oxford DD.

Academic career
Adams spent the majority of her academic career at the University of California, Los Angeles: she was an associate professor (1972–1978) and then professor of philosophy from 1978 to 1993, and chair of the Department of Philosophy between 1985 and 1987. She was President of the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy from 1980 to 1982. Having moved to Yale University, she was professor of historical theology from 1993 to 2003 and the Horace Tracy Pitkin Professor of Historical Theology at Yale Divinity School from 1998 to 2003.

In 2004, Adams moved to England where she had been appointed Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford. The chair is linked to a canonry at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and so she also became a residentiary canon. She was the first woman and the first American to be appointed the Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford. In 2009, after five years abroad, she returned to the United States to join the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a distinguished research professor of philosophy. She moved to Rutgers University, where she was a visiting/distinguished research professor from 2013 to 2015.

Adams was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015.

Adams was a cofounder and president of the Society of Christian Philosophers.

Ordained ministry
Adams was ordained as a deacon and priest in the Episcopal Church (United States) in 1987. She served at parish churches in Los Angeles, New Haven, Connecticut, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Trenton, New Jersey. From 2004 to 2009, she served as a residentiary canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. During that time, she was elected as a university representative to the General Synod of the Church of England.

Work and writing
Adams' work in philosophy focused on the philosophy of religion, especially the problem of evil, philosophical theology, metaphysics, and medieval philosophy. Her work on the problem of evil largely focused on what she calls "horrendous evils". She was an avowed Christian universalist, believing that ultimately all will receive salvation and restoration in Christ:"Traditional doctrines of hell err again by supposing either that God does not get what God wants with every human being ('God wills all humans to be saved' by God's antecedent will) or that God deliberately creates some for ruin. To be sure, many human beings have conducted their ante-mortem lives in such a way as to become anti-social persons. Almost none of us dies with all the virtues needed to be fit for heaven. Traditional doctrines of hell suppose that God lacks the will or the patience or the resourcefulness to civilize each and all of us, to rear each and all of us up into the household of God. They conclude that God is left with the option of merely human penal systems – viz., liquidation or quarantine!"

Personal life
In 1966, Marilyn McCord married Robert Merrihew Adams.

Adams died on March 22, 2017, in Princeton, New Jersey, aged 73; she had cancer.

Works

 * Adams, Marilyn McCord. "Is the Existence of God a 'Hard' Fact?". The Philosophical Review Vol. LXXVI, No. 4 (October 1967) 492-503.
 * Adams, Marilyn McCord, trans. Paul of Venice, On the Truth and Falsity of Propositions and On the Significatum of a Proposition, ed. Francesco del Punta. London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1977.
 * Adams, Marilyn McCord and Norman Kretzman, eds. and trans. William Ockham's Predestination, God's Foreknowledge, and Future Contingents. 2nd ed. Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett, 1983.
 * Adams, Marilyn McCord. William of Ockham (2 vols.) Notre Dame, Indiana: Notre Dame University Press, 1987. ISBN 0-268-01945-2
 * Adams, Marilyn McCord, and Robert Merrihew Adams, eds. The Problem of Evil. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.
 * Adams, Marilyn McCord. Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8014-8686-6.
 * Adams, Marilyn McCord. "What Sort of Human Nature? Medieval Philosophy and the Systematics of Christology" (Aquinas Lecture 1999). Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1999.
 * Adams, Marilyn McCord. Christ and Horrors: The Coherence of Christology. Based on the Gifford Lectures for 1998–1999. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-521-68600-8
 * Adams, Marilyn McCord. Some Later Medieval Theories of the Eucharist: Thomas Aquinas, Giles of Rome, Duns Scotus, and William Ockham.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
 * Adams, Marilyn McCord. "Mark 1:9–15: Theological Perspective" in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year B, Volume 2; David l. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, General Editors; Copyright 2008 Westminster John Knox Press. See https://www.wjkbooks.com/Products/0664239641/feasting-on-the-word-year-b-volume-2.asp

title: Marilyn McCord Adams


text:
User talk:Rpsingh

Raj Pratap Singh
or

RP Singh
,

Born 9th July 1958 at Patna
Completed High School from Sir GDPP High School,Patna, Bihar, India in 1973 Completed Intermediate Science from Science College, Patna University, Patna in 1975 Completed Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from College of Technology, Pant Nagar, Nainital in 1981. Completed Master of Technology in Integrated Electronics and Circuits from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi in 1983. Joined India Administrative Service in 1983 and allocated to State of Uttar Pradesh Cadre.

Posting:- Sub Divisional Magistrate - Rae Bareilly ( 1985-87) Chief Development Officer - Lucknow ( 1987-88) Jt. Managing Director, UP State Sugar Corporation- Lucknow (1988-89) Jt. Secretary, Electronics, Govt. of UP- Lucknow and Jt. Managing Director, UPTRON  (1989-92) District Magistrate, Pilibhit (1992-94) Special Secretary, Public Works Department, Govt. of UP, Lucknow- (1994-96) Special Secretary to Governor, UP, Lucknow- (1996-97) District Magistrate, Lucknow- (1997-98) Secretary, UP Electricity Regulatory Commission, Lucknow (1998-99) Director, Prime Minister's Office, New Delhi (1999-2001) Private Secretary to Prime Minister, New Delhi (2001-2004) Sr. Advisor, World Bank,Washington DC - 2004---

Your submission at Articles for creation: sandbox (June 22)
 Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reason left by Anarchyte was:

Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.

 * If you would like to continue working on the submission, go to User:Rpsingh/sandbox/ and click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window.
 * If you need any assistance, you can ask for help at the [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Articles_for_creation/Help_desk&action=edit&section=new&nosummary=1&preload=Template:Afc_decline/HD_preload&preloadparams%5B%5D=User:Rpsingh/sandbox/ Articles for creation help desk] or on the [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Anarchyte&action=edit&section=new&nosummary=1&preload=Template:Afc_decline/HD_preload&preloadparams%5B%5D=User:Rpsingh/sandbox/ reviewer's talk page].
 * You can also use Wikipedia's real-time chat help from experienced editors.

 Anarchyte  ( work  |  talk )   10:40, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

Your username
Welcome to Wikipedia. I saw that you edited or created User:Rpsingh/sandbox/, and I noticed that your username, "Rpsingh", may not comply with our username policy. Please note that you may not use a username that represents the name of a company, group, organization, product, or website. Examples of usernames that are not allowed include "XYZ Company", "MyWidgetsUSA.com", and "Foobar Museum of Art". However, you are invited to use a username that contains such a name if it identifies you personally, such as "Jack Smith at XYZ Company", "Mark at WidgetsUSA", or "FoobarFan87".

Please also note that Wikipedia does not allow accounts to be shared by multiple people, and that you may not advocate for or promote any company, group, organization, product, or website, regardless of your username. Moreover, I recommend that you read our conflict of interest guideline. If you are a single individual and are willing to contribute to Wikipedia in an unbiased manner, please create a new account or request a change of username, by completing this form, that complies with our username policy. If you believe that your username does not violate our policy, please leave a note here explaining why. Thank you.  Anarchyte  ( work  |  talk )   10:41, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

Your draft article, User:Rpsingh/sandbox/

Hello, Rpsingh. It has been over six months since you last edited your Articles for Creation draft article submission, "sandbox/".

In accordance with our policy that Articles for Creation is not for the indefinite hosting of material deemed unsuitable for the encyclopedia mainspace, the draft has been nominated for deletion. If you plan on working on it further, or editing it to address the issues raised if it was declined, simply and remove the  or  code.

If your submission has already been deleted by the time you get there, and you wish to retrieve it, you can request its undeletion by following the instructions at this link. An administrator will, in most cases, restore the submission so you can continue to work on it.

Thanks for your submission to Wikipedia, and happy editing. 1989 (talk) 00:13, 16 January 2017 (UTC)

title: User talk:Rpsingh


text:
Talk:Phoebe Tyler Wallingford

Untitled
I really think this page should be renamed "Phoebe Tyler Wallingford" since that was the name that the character went by for 20+ years on the show and will always be referenced by in the future

Image copyright problem with Image:Olderruthwarrickscreencap.JPG
The image Image:Olderruthwarrickscreencap.JPG is used in this article under a claim of fair use, but it does not have an adequate explanation for why it meets the requirements for such images when used here. In particular, for each page the image is used on, it must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Please check

 * That there is a non-free use rationale on the image's description page for the use in this article.
 * That this article is linked to from the image description page.

This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. --23:27, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

Indirectly related sources here
I have cut-and-pasted sources from main page:
 * Terrace, Vincent. Encyclopedia of Television Series, Pilots and Specials: 1974-1984, VNR AG, page 11, 1985. ISBN 978-0918432612
 * Soares, Manuela. The Soap Opera Book, Pub: Harmony Books, page 34, 1978. ISBN 978-0517533314
 * Museum of Television and Radio (New York, N.Y.), Worlds Without End: The Art and History of the Soap Opera, Pub: Harry N. Abrams, 1997. ISBN 978-0810939974
 * Schemering, Christopher. The Soap Opera Encyclopedia, Ballantine Books, page 12, 1988.

These above are books about a general topic, soap opera. Whether they significantly or trivially cover this character... well, that's for you to decide. Nevertheless, I may consider them indirectly related. --George Ho (talk) 17:27, 16 June 2012 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: moot. Phoebe Tyler Wallingford is a redirect to List of All My Children characters. Jenks24 (talk) 12:02, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

Phoebe Tyler Wallingford → ? – Phoebe Tyler or Phoebe Wallingford are possible names. She was Tyler at the start, but then she left out Tyler and then sticked with Wallingford for the remainder of the show until death. I'm not sure if Phoebe English qualifies, as her niece is Brooke English. --George Ho (talk) 23:41, 2 July 2012 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

title: Talk:Phoebe Tyler Wallingford


text:
Bishamon

Bishamon or Bishamonten may refer to:

 * Vaiśravaṇa, known in Japan as Bishamonten, a Buddhist deity

Fiction

 * Bishamon (Darkstalkers), a living suit of samurai armor in Darkstalkers fighting video games
 * Bishamon, an ultimate weapon used by Uesugi Kenshin in the Samurai Warriors Xtreme Legends PlayStation 2 video game
 * Bishamonten, a character in the Noragami anime and manga

Other

 * Bishamon Station, a railway station in Aomori, Japan
 * Bishamon, a tag team wrestling affiliate in the Chaos wrestling stable
 * Lake Bishamon, one of the Goshiki-numa

title: Bishamon


text:
Jan Gies

Jan Augustus Gies (18 August 1905 – 26 January 1993) was a member of the Dutch Resistance who, with his wife, Miep, helped hide Anne Frank, her sister Margot, their parents Otto and Edith, the van Pels family, and Fritz Pfeffer from Nazi persecution during the occupation of the Netherlands by aiding them as they resided in the Secret Annex.

Life
Gies (also known as Henk van Santen in "Het Achterhuis", known in English as The Diary of Anne Frank) was born and raised in Amsterdam's south side. He met his future wife, Miep Gies, in 1933 when he was a bookkeeper and she an office worker at a local textile company. It was not until after they'd gone their separate ways - Jan into the Dutch Social Services and Miep to Otto Frank's company, Opekta - that they met each other again socially in 1936. They married in Amsterdam on 16 July 1941, when Miep was threatened with deportation back to Vienna after she refused to join a Nazi women's group. Their wedding was attended by Otto and Anne Frank, Hermann van Pels and his wife Auguste van Pels, and Miep's colleagues Victor Kugler, Bep Voskuijl, and Johannes Kleiman. Later that year, Gies was appointed the nominal director of Otto Frank's company after Frank was forced to resign from the board under the newly introduced Nazi laws which forbade Jews to hold directorships, and from then on, the company traded under the name Gies & Co.

As the persecution of Amsterdam's Jewish population intensified, he dedicated himself to assisting Jews and others escape by obtaining illegal ration cards for food, finding them hiding places, and securing British newspapers free from Nazi propaganda. Gies aided the Frank family's escape to their hiding place at the Gies & Co premises at 263 Prinsengracht. He visited frequently during their two-year confinement and with his wife, spent a night in the secret annex to experience the terror there for themselves.

In addition to their concealment of the Frank and van Pels families and of Fritz Pfeffer at the Prinsengracht, Miep and Jan also took in a student, who had refused to sign a Nazi oath. Following the arrest and deportation of the hidden families in August 1944, Miep, just like the younger secretary Bep Voskuijl, rescued parts of the diaries and other manuscripts of Anne Frank from the hiding place before it was ransacked by the Dutch secret police. Of the eight people Miep and Jan had assisted to hide, Otto Frank was the sole survivor. Upon Frank's return to Amsterdam in June 1945, he moved in with them and stayed with them for seven years before he emigrated to Switzerland to be close to his mother.

After the publication of Anne Frank's diary, under the title Het Achterhuis (The Backhouse; often translated as The Secret Annex) in 1947, Jan and Miep found themselves the subjects of media attention, particularly after the diary was translated into English as The Diary of a Young Girl and adapted for the stage and screen. They attended memorial ceremonies and gave lectures about Anne Frank and the importance of resisting fascism.

Death
In 1993, Jan Gies died at home from kidney failure, aged 87. He was survived by his wife, Hermine "Miep" Gies, who died at the age of 100 in 2010 and his son, Paul Gies, who was born in 1950, daughter-in-law Lucie, and three grandchildren, Erwin, Jeanine, and David.

title: Jan Gies


text: Category:Prehistoric amphibians

title: Category:Prehistoric amphibians


text:
Samba school

A samba school (Escola de samba) is a dancing, marching, and drumming (Samba Enredo) club. They practice and often perform in a huge square-compounds ("quadras de samba") and are devoted to practicing and exhibiting samba, an Afro-Brazilian dance and drumming style. Although the word "school" is in the name, samba schools do not offer instruction in a formal setting. Samba schools have a strong community basis and are traditionally associated with a particular neighborhood. They are often seen to affirm the cultural validity of the Afro-Brazilian heritage in contrast to the mainstream education system, and have evolved often in contrast to authoritarian development. The phrase "escola de samba" is popularly held to derive from the schoolyard location of the first group's early rehearsals. In Rio de Janeiro especially, they are mostly associated with poor neighborhoods ("favelas"). Samba and the samba school can be deeply interwoven with the daily lives of the shanty-town dwellers. Throughout the year the samba schools have various happenings and events, most important of which are rehearsals for the main event which is the yearly carnival parade. Each of the main schools spend many months each year designing the theme, holding a competition for their song, building the floats and rehearsing. It is overseen by a carnavalesco or carnival director. From 2005, some fourteen of the top samba schools in Rio have used a specially designed warehouse complex, the size of ten football pitches, called Samba City (Cidade do Samba) to build and house the elaborate floats. Each school's parade may consist of about 3,000 performers or more, and the preparations, especially producing the many different costumes, provide work for thousands of the poorest in Brazilian society. The resulting competition is a major economic and media event, with tens of thousands in the live audience and screened live to millions across South America.

Carnival parade

The formal parades ("desfiles") during carnival, are a showcase of each main schools, enhanced by the participation of celebrities, fans and guests who often pay large sums of money for their elaborate costumes. In Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Porto Alegre, the formal parades are held in specially constructed arenas called Sambadromes (Sambódromo da Marquês de Sapucaí in Rio, the Anhembi Sambadrome in São Paulo) designed by influential architect, Oscar Niemeyer, the Sambadromo Complexo Cultural Porto Seco in Porto Alegre and the Sambadromo de Uruguaiana in Uruguaiana where "escolas de samba" from Brazil and their counterparts in Uruguay and Argentina (known as escuelas de samba) participate. Sambadromes are designed to accommodate all social classes, with VIP lounges, tourist sections, and various types of seating right down to cheapest seats for poorest sections of the community. Those who choose to only watch the parade may also be charged for the best seats.

Each school displays glamour with colorful costumes and floats with special effects and is organized into different segments or "alas" (sections). The "alas" represent different components of the school's theme, or "enredo", as they act out an homage to a myth, historic event or figure, or express their view on a social, environmental, or international issue. The "alas" display distinct costumes ("fantasias") and also reflect traditional samba school roles developed years ago. Thus, each samba school parade has the "comissão de frente" (first artistic ensemble), individuals who open the parade by walking in social attires, saluting the crowds; the "ala das Baianas", or the traditional segment of Bahian African-Brazilian ladies with impressive round dresses spinning through the avenue; the "interpretes" (formerly "puxadores") (lead singers) singing the "samba-enredo" or theme-song while they play the "cavaquinho" or other string instruments; the "velha guarda", veterans of the school; the "bateria", or samba band with drums, "cuicas" and other instruments, preceded by the "madrinha da bateria", band godmother who is often a sexy female celebrity. The "porta-bandeira" (female flag bearer), and the "mestre-sala" (male dancing partner) display and honor the school's flag, as they dance and strive to show harmony and samba expertise, while their performance is carefully observed and scored by the judges.

Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo
"Cariocas", the Rio natives, and "Paulistanos", São Paulo natives, are overtaken with emotion while performing or watching their favorite school, much more so in Rio, where a carnival samba school culture has been developed since the 1930s and samba rehearsals, costume making, and planning is a year-round event. It is often said that a samba school slum dweller may not have a job or food on the table the whole year, but they will make sure they have the money for their costume to show their "samba no pé" or dancing skills expertise.

As samba schools originated in Rio de Janeiro, they are today the most famous ones and, arguably, produce the most spectacular parades or (as it is often said) the "greatest show on Earth". The city of São Paulo also has a number of samba schools with some tradition that is linked to an interesting mixture of African-Brazilian display of pride, immigrant or working class activism, and soccer team fondness, as schools such as "Gaviões da Fiel", "Mancha Verde" began as a singing/dancing group that cheered and rooted during matches in São Paulo stadiums. Nearly all Brazilian states have samba schools, but states such as Bahia and Pernambuco tend to have floats that lead a crowd composed of general people, without the need for membership, rehearsals, or even a special attire. Some groups do charge a certain amount of money for the "abadás", or colorful T-shirts that display affiliation to a specific group, or "bloco".

Organization of samba schools
A significant majority of the samba schools, mainly in Rio de Janeiro, have in their name the words Grêmio Recreativo Escola de Samba (Recreative Guild Samba School), represented by the acronym GRES, before the name itself. In São Paulo there is a common variation Grêmio Recreativo Cultural e Escola de Samba (Recreative Cultural Guild and Samba School). There are exceptions, such as the Sociedade Rosas de Ouro (Golden Rose Society) and the traditional Agremiação Recreativa Cultural e Escola de Samba Vizinha Faladeira (grêmio and agremiação in Portuguese are synonyms). The standardization of the classifications of entities emerged in 1935 when the Rio carnival associations were required to take a charter to the Delegacia de Costumes e Diversões (Delegation of Customs and Entertainment) to be able to parade. In an effort to show a modicum of decency and organization, the delegate owner, Dulcídio Gonçalves, refused to grant the permit to associations with "inappropriate" names, which is why the GRES Portela had to change to the current name, instead of the previous Vai Como Pode (Come as You Will).

The samba school system seems to be unique to Brazil. Unlike parades such as the Rose Parade in California, for instance, the samba schools' organizations consist almost entirely of community volunteer work. More than just musical groups, the schools are the neighborhood associations that cover a variety of community needs, such as educational resources and medical care. There are often political and commercial interests involved as well, even from abroad, especially when the samba school honors the literature, music and dance, or a myth, historic figure or event from another country. Drug lords who control trafficking in the Rio favelas as well as illicit gambling (Jogo do Bicho) are also said to contribute financially to schools, as many of them are guardians and controllers of shanty town life.

History
The origins of samba schools are linked to the history of carnival in Rio itself, as well as the creation of the modern samba. The first parades, or "cortumes", as Luso-Brazilians called them, were more exclusive events and used to have white revelers, rather than mostly African-Brazilians like nowadays. The rhythms were often the "marchinhas", with a more Portuguese or European flair. Samba players from a group called Estácio were the pioneers of present-day samba schools, with the founding of "Deixa Falar", or Let Me Speak in 1928. Ismael Silva seems to have been the first to have come up with idea of creating "blocos de Carnaval" in which groups could dance and move to the samba rhythms and sounds.

The first samba school contests began in 1928 and were held at the home of Zé Espinguela, where his Conjunto Oswaldo Cruz won and Mangueira and Deixa Falar also competed for the title. Some consider this as the starting point leading to the development of present-day samba schools.

However, between 1930 and 1932, these were only considered a variation of the blocos, local street parade celebration, and in 1932 the owner of Mundo Sportivo, Mário Filho, decided to sponsor the first Parade of Samba Schools in Praça Onze. Composers such as Antônio Nassar, Armando Reis and Orestes Barbosa) had the idea of organizing a Carnival parade which was supported by local newspapers. Newspaper owners and journalists such as Mário Filho and his brother Nélson Rodrigues, who did not have much to write about after the end of the soccer season, joined journalist Carlos Pimentel, who was connected to samba personalities in holding a parade at Praca XI square.

At the invitation of "Sports World", 19 schools attended. The newspaper established the criteria for judging the participating schools and nowadays news networks still have some say on the parades as they strive for fairness and high quality, especially because so much money is invested on TV networks that have broadcasting rights for the parades. Newspapers and magazines also make huge profits. The traditional "ala das Baianas" was a prerequisite to compete, and the schools, all with more than one hundred members, should present sambas unpublished and not use pipe instruments, among other requirements.

The winning school was Mangueira, while the second group had the Conjunto Osvaldo Cruz, or Portela. The officials assured the success of the contest remained up in Praca XI Square in 1941. Over time, the samba schools took many elements brought by ranches, such as the plot, the pair of mestre-sala cortsy and flag holder and the opening committee, elements with which Ismael Silva disagreed.

With the rise of populist dictator Getúlio Vargas and the foundation of the General Union of Samba Schools in 1934, the marginalization of samba persisted for some time. Then, it regained power and began to expand and gain importance in the Rio carnival, supplanting the ranches carnival. It did not take long for the samba schools to expand to other states, with the foundation in 1935 of the "Primeira São Paulo" (First of São Paulo), the first school of samba de São Paulo. The official competitions of the samba schools in São Paulo only started in 1950 with the victory of Lavapés, but before that there were other minor tournaments at the municipal and state levels. In the early 1960s some organized soccer support fan groups, like the Vai-Vai (Go-Go) and the Camisa Verde e Branco (Green and White Jersey) became samba schools.

Due to the large number of schools, in 1952, the access league "Grupo de Acesso" was created in order to allow new schools in and promote them to the "premier league" only if they abided by certain rules of excellence. That year, the parade of the access league (Group 2, current Group RJ-1) went seamlessly, but the parade of the main group (Group 1, currently the Special Group) was carried out under heavy rain. The judging results were canceled and all schools belonging to the access league were promoted to the "premier league".

In 1953 UGESB and FBES in AESCRJ, merged as LIESA, an association of samba schools from the premier league which became known in Portuguese as Grupo Especial. In 2008, LESGA was created, representing schools from the access league. LIESA inspired the creation of similar bodies in other cities, such as LIGA-SP.

In 1984, Rio de Janeiro governor Leonel Brizola dedicated the Sambadrome, a special space for the parading of samba schools. Years later, in São Paulo, Mayor Luiza Erundina did the same, creating the Anhembi Sambadrome.

Today, many other cities throughout the country also have their Sambadromes, including Manaus and in 1993 its parade was broadcast for the first time.

Characterization
Natural associations are almost always local, largely from poor communities or the suburbs, forming samba schools that usually represent in a district, sub-district or set of districts. A parade which usually has local character, whereas the main schools of the city gather to compete among themselves for the best of the year. In this show, conducted over two nights, they are evaluated by a committee of judges chosen in advance by their leaders or by the representative.

The judges consider each of the judging categories, giving points to each. On the day that the results are announced, the final assessment of the panel can be affected by certain penalties for breaking certain rules, such as the requirement to parade within specific time limits, parading with the minimum components, and avoiding total nudity.

Parade
In major cities, the parade of each samba school currently takes about an hour, with some variations according to the rules imposed by the organization of the carnival in the city. For each of the Special Group in the city of Rio de Janeiro, the parade has a maximum time of one hour and twenty minutes, while in São Paulo is the maximum of 1 hour and five minutes. Along the parade ground, stop watches mark the period of time.

Concentration area
This is the time and place occupied by the schools while waiting their turn to enter the parade in the Sambadrome.

After the end of a parade, the narrator announces the school next to perform, and the sounds from the microphone, restricted to only a part of sambadrome, are released so that people can hear in the bleachers. Then the opening cries are heard, after which the parade itself begins, and the timer starts to run.

Requisites
Several elements are part of the characterization of the parade of the samba school, and some areas to which the jury should assign scores. Others, like the wing of Bahia, however, are not considered as items, but can cause loss of points for the body anyway, if not shown.

Front Commission
This is the first group of parade participants to perform, and consists of about ten to fifteen people who execute the choreography to introduce the theme. Apart from the Front Commission, there is no other rule regarding the order of the elements during the parade of samba schools.

Functioning as a sort of master of ceremonies of the show by welcoming the public and presenting the school, the front commission of the samba schools has undergone many changes over time. In its early years, it was formed by a group of men, the general directors of the college, who came in front of the school wearing their best clothes and welcomed the public. Sometimes they carried sticks in their hands, whose prime objective was "to defend the group against rivals".

The Portela samba school developed a more refined front commission, where its performers paraded with elegant clothes, even occasionally with tails and top hat, a model which soon came to be copied by other schools. That was the policy of its most illustrious member, Paulo da Portela, which meant that Sambistas should always go well dressed, in order to dispel the negative image of them held by the upper class. In the less formal blocos, predecessors of the schools, they had a reputation of being supporters of street fights and street riot.

Allegorical floats and props

One of the judging categories is the allegorical floats, filled with sculptures of wood, plastic, Styrofoam and other materials, decorated to represent the elements of the plot. In the Special Group performance of Rio de Janeiro, floats currently may not exceed eight meters and fifty centimeters wide and nine meters and eighty centimeters tall.

The first float of the parade often includes a stylised depiction of the school. Some schools, such as Portela for example, always bring their winged eagle symbol, regardless of plot. The greatest floats can reach up to 13 meters high and 60 meters in length, which sometimes affects their entry into the parade ground. These floats are propelled by hand with people who are below or behind the float. No float can be moved by an engine (during the 1990s, it was to prevent the risk of fire.

Progression and harmony
The progression or evolution of the school's parade as it develops its story is of great importance to the judges. Anyone watching should have the impression that the school is a single body, a continuous row. There is no requirement that the components perform samba, but they must move with a degree of unison and good timing. Schools that suffer dramatic changes in its parade speed, parading sometimes very quickly, sometimes slowly, are usually penalized.

Schools where the participants do not sing the samba, or sing badly, may receive less points.

Plot-theme ("enredo")
As a feature of the parades, the plot, usually chosen some time after the previous carnival, will occupy the school for the following year. Meanwhile, from the main theme, a synopsis is drawn, which will guide the design and manufacture of costumes, floats and samba-song. Judges will decide whether the school explained the theme during the parade,.

Samba-song
Judges assess whether the samba has a good melody and lyrics with interesting features, musically rich, reflecting the theme, and without bias or errors of language. The samba of each school is chosen after an internal competition at the school, where Sambistas or groups create their sambas, based on the previously agreed theme. The competition takes place over several weekends, some entries are eliminated, until only there is a winning song which the school then adopts. In Rio de Janeiro, the competition usually takes place in August. In October, a CD of the Special Group is recorded with chosen sambas from each school

Until 2007, the Special Group schools of São Paulo, the samba song would be considered twice, once for lyrics and once for melody of music, with equal points for each.

Mestre-sala and Porta-Bandeira

The mestre-sala (literally, "The Master of the Room") and porta-bandeira ("she who carries the flag") display the flag of the school to the audience. The porta-bandeira carries the flag, and the mestre-sala pays tribute and draws attention to both the flag and the porta-bandeira. Her dance is not a samba, but she spins and swirls her way ahead. The mestre-sala dances around her. All their moves are regulated in a set of rules, and at one point during the parade they are evaluated by the judges. The slightest mistake may result in their scores being lowered. For example: it is forbidden that the two turn their backs to each other at the same time, and errors such as the drop of a hat or other slips will result in lower scores. Their costumes are similar to the gala costumes typical of the eighteenth century, but "carnavalized", i.e. with an exaggerated amount of colors and decorations.

Currently, at least since the 1990s, the schools of the Special Group of Rio and São Paulo parade usually with three or four pairs of mestre-salas and porta-bandeira, but only the first is evaluated, the other being merely decorative, and optional. Normally, they are there to represent the school in some events when the main couple is unable to.

The mestre-sala seems to reflect the carnival dances of the nineteenth century, in which there was a professional organization responsible for the hall that was called "master of room" or "master-room." With respect to the porta-bandeira, the name was a natural adaptation of the old flag-bearer character, usually male, who carried the heavy banners of Brazilian carnival groups The visual aspect of the mestre-sala has also been compared to the Zé Pilintra of ethnic Afro-Brazilian traditions.

Drumming Section

The drumming wing, or "bateria", is a kind of orchestra of percussion instruments. They accompany the singer and lead the pace of the parade. The faster and stronger the pace of the bateria, the faster members usually parade. Each school has, currently, an average 250 to 300 musicians. Every bateria is evaluated on "the regular maintenance and support of the cadence ... in accordance with the Samba Theme: the perfect combination of sounds emitted by various tools, and the creativity and versatility of the bateria."

The following instruments usually form part of a bateria of the samba school: Surdo de primera, surdo de segunda, surdo de terceira, surdo mor, snare drums (caixa de guerra), repinique, chocalho, tambourim, cuíca, agogô, reco-reco, and frigedeira. There are variations in composition, for example, the samba-school Mangueira, does not use the surdo de segunda, only surdo de primeira and another drum known as a surdo mor, while the samba-school Empire Serrano emphasizes the agogô.

In the 1960s came the "Paradinha" ("little stop") of Mestre André, a famous director of the Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel. André was the creator of the musical effect in which the bateria suddenly stop playing during a parade, leaving only the cavaquinho (a small string instrument) and voice components for a moment. When the music returns, the effect is of surprise and excitement. The expected effect, considered beautiful by the critics, is also risky because it increases the chances that the samba song can mistakenly be taken up again at the wrong moment.

Director of the Drums Section
As a whole orchestra, the percussionists of the samba school also has a conductor, also called master of bateria.

Queen of drums section and related

The queen of the drums section and related roles: godmother, muse, and princess are positions of honor occupied by distinguished members of the community and sometimes by celebrities. The queen of the drums section dances ahead of the drummers group and sometimes interacts with them.

The figure of the queen of the drums section appeared in the 1970s when the famous mulatto Adele Fatima led the Youth Independent Drums Section, an unprecedent fact, and gained popularity in the following decade. Today it is one of the most celebrated roles in samba schools. Monique Evans, in Mocidade, Luma de Oliveira, in Tradição and Soninha Capeta, in Beija-Flor, were some notable queens of drum sections. Some schools also introduced the figure of a King of the drums section.

The godmother of the drumming section is similar to the queen, and the two often get confused. Many schools use the two roles to pay tribute to more women. In the 1980s, many schools began to choose famous TV actresses instead of girls from the community, raising controversy in the media. In theory, the position of godmother should be offered to women of importance in the history of the school or in daily life, on a lifelong basis, which does not change every year, as the position of queen, but this is often not the case and the godmother only a queen with another name.

Ala das Baianas
The "ala das baianas" is considered one of the most important wings of a samba school parade, and preferably composed of ladies dressed in clothes that refer to old aunts of the first groups of Bahia samba of the early twentieth century. It is mandatory for all competition parades of samba schools, although not official. In the years 1940 to 1950, it was common for men to parade dressed in this way.

The traditional clothing of Bahia consists of torso, coat, cloth and skirt round the coast. However, often we can see Bahian dress with the most unusual costumes, such as brides, statues of liberty, space beings, globe (pictured) or oil wells. These dress can be differred owing to the theme for the year of the school.

Old-guard
The old guard (in Portuguese "Velha Guarda") is a group of samba dancers older, often already quite old, often the founders of schools that no longer hold positions within the hierarchy of the party, but as a separate department, and occupy the Carnival parade in positions of honor, dressed in carnival costumes typical of samba, such zoot suits in school colors and Panama-style hats.

Singer
The singer, also known as the performer or puller is responsible for the professional performance of the samba-plot during the parade, and usually aided by a group of supporting singers. Using a microphone, and usually more powerful than the supporting singers, his voice stands out over the other members of the school, taking the lead on how fast the song is sung by the school's parade.

The samba during the parade should not be interpreted by one or just a few people, but sung by the entire school: the music should only be "pulled" (initiated) by the minority group. Moreover, many believe that the handle would be a special category of performer, able not only to interpret a samba, but also encourage and arouse the audience. From the 1990s, Jamelão, the long time singer from the Mangueira school, criticized the traditional term, seeking to replace it with a new terminology: Interpreter/Singer of the Samba-Enredo. In the words of Jamelão, one who would handle "smoke pull, pull cart, pull-bag" (in original "puxa fuma fumo, puxa carro, puxa saco"; in Rio de Janeiro's giria, "smoke marijuana, steals vehicle, yes-man") which in his opinion, a derogatory term. From this, many commentators and TV stations began to replace the first by the second term, which however, still remains.

Another controversy that is still common for interpreters is the question whether or not it is unethical for the official interpreter at a school to participate in the internal dispute of their own college. Some schools prohibit this, but release their professionals to participate in tryouts for other schools.

Carnavalesco (Carnival Producer or production staff)
This is the professional responsible for design and development of the plot to be submitted by a school of samba as well as the design, development and construction of floats and costumes related to the proposed plot. In some cases, the carnavalesco develops the plot from a topic proposed by the direction of the samba school. In others, he suggests the theme of an idea from its original. The carnavalesco is usually a single person, but the Beija-Flor school of Rio de Janeiro now use a team of carnavalescos. The carnavalescos may or may not be university-trained for the profession, and may even have a team of researchers working with them to develop the school's theme. Many have a strong carnaval connection or background in the visual arts, performing arts, theater or dance.

Dirigentes/Directorial staff
This is the name by which may be called the president, the president of honor and patron of the school. One can also use this to include carnival directors, producers and other crew members. A carnival director is the director of the samba school who is in charge of the guidelines and philosophy of their carnival college, taking part in the selection of members of various sectors, even sometimes the plot, also coordinating the shed or warehouse where the floats are made, the purchase of equipment, payments and the development of the entire project of the school. It is not uncommon for Carnival directors to be paid professionals. Many also include the executive directors of the samba school, such as Laíla, of Beija-Flor.

Carnival parade results
The results of the carnival competition are announced on the afternoon of Ash Wednesday in Rio, and on the afternoon of Shrove Tuesday in São Paulo. In both cities, there is a results presentation event where long lines are set up in the Sambódromo site. Tents are set up where the representatives of each samba school will annotate the scores as they are being released to the public, making the calculations. The chairman of the league speaks his final remarks about the carnival that year, reads the possible loss of points given to each samba school, and then reads the scores per school block.

The bleachers are open to the public, and the charge for entry is typically one kilogram of non-perishable food. Both in Rio and in São Paulo the event is transmitted live on television; television cameras in real time are used to broadcast the movement of blocks within the main school, the title favorite, where members and fans that cannot be there at the Sambódromo gather at the school campus to watch the proceedings via wide screens.

The scores typically range between 7 and 10 in Rio and São Paulo, and the points are further subdivided into decimal fractions in Rio and 25 hundredths in São Paulo. In Rio, all the marks given by all the jurors are valid, while in São Paulo the lowest score for each category is eliminated.

The scoring system has changed several times in both cities. In Rio and São Paulo, until the early 2000s, the division was more than half a point, and there have been years when there was also the elimination of major score given to each school, the very removal of the lower scores have also and has ceased to be part of the rule several times. In Rio de Janeiro, the lowest score in the same period was 5, and note the 0 (zero) allowed only in case of failure of the plot.

Often the scores given by the jurors are questioned, both by fans, as by members of schools who are harmed, causing many complaints after the show. Some results that have been controversial end up in court. In the case of the school of samba Acadêmicos de Santa Cruz that the dark parade carnival in 1991 because of a blackout and was not evaluated. However, in recent years in São Paulo there has been a climate of acceptance of the outcome, when in 2007 the president of Tobias Go-Go Live congratulated the Youth Alegre, being greeted by members of the Lemon school the following year.

Champions Parade
Starting in the 1980s, the Parade of Champions is an event during which the top 5 schools of the Special Group and the winner of Group A repeat their parades in the Sambadrome. It takes place on the Saturday following Ash Wednesday. This parade has no competitive character; it is a celebratory festival to crown the year's best schools that gives the parade revellers (AKA foliões) a chance to be more carefree and enjoy themselves.

In São Paulo, the parade of champions is the night between Friday night and after the carnival on Saturday. The parade in Rio begins Saturday night and continues into the early hours of Sunday. In Rio de Janeiro, until the 1990s, participating in the parade of champions also promoted the schools of the Group to access, something that remains in São Paulo. Tradition was considered also in the participation of society Rio carnival hundred Italian Carnevale D'Italia. In 1985, an event that is considered integral to the history of Nene de Vila Matilde, was when the school was invited to join the parade of champions Rio, in an era where the Carnival Paulistano was much less popular and did not have a proper space.

The parade of champions is not always purely celebratory: many schools have taken the day to protest against the outcome of the championship. Placing fifth in 2005, the Vai-Vai had no parade that year. The Viradouro already in the champions parade on Saturday with members using the clown nose and banners of protest.

title: Samba school