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Auburn High School (Alabama)

Auburn High School is a public high school in Auburn, Alabama, United States. It is the only high school in the Auburn City School District. Auburn High offers technical, academic, and International Baccalaureate programs, as well as joint enrollment with Southern Union State Community College and Auburn University. Auburn High School is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Founded in 1837 as Auburn Academy, Auburn High School is the oldest public secondary school in Alabama, and is the fifth-oldest extant public high school in the American South. From 1852 through 1885, the school was known as the Auburn (Masonic) Female College, offering secondary and, prior to 1870, collegiate degrees. From 1892 through 1908, the school was named the Auburn Female Institute, providing collegiate programs equivalent to an associates degree. Auburn High became Lee County's flagship high school in 1914 as Lee County High School, and gained its present name, Auburn High School, in 1956. The school moved to its current campus in 2017.

Auburn High was ranked the 28th best non-magnet public high school and 77th best public high school in the United States by Newsweek in May 2006, and the second best educational value in the Southeastern United States by SchoolMatch, as reported in The Wall Street Journal. Auburn High School averages seven National Merit Finalists a year, and has scored among the top five percent of Alabama high schools on statewide standardized tests each year since testing began in 1995. Auburn High's varsity sporting teams have won 40 team state championships, and the Auburn High School Band has been rated one of the top high school concert band programs in the United States, winning the John Philip Sousa Foundation's Sudler Flag of Honor in 1987. Auburn High School has been competing in Science Olympiad since 2000, and has represented the state of Alabama at the national level every year since 2014.

Profile
Auburn High School, the fourteenth–largest high school in Alabama (fourth-largest by grades 10–12 enrollment), enrolled 1,748 students in the 2015–2016 school year. Twenty-six percent of Auburn High's enrollment is African American, ten percent is of Asian descent whose majority is Korean, fifty-nine percent is of European descent. Three percent of students are classified as Hispanic. Over forty languages are spoken in the homes of Auburn High School students, and twenty percent of enrolled students are eligible for federal free or reduced lunch programs. Auburn High School has a 14.8:1 student-teacher ratio and a drop-out rate of 1.09%.

Auburn High was ranked the 77th best public high school overall and 28th best non-magnet public high school in the United States by Newsweek in May 2006 and one of the top 100 public high schools in the United States by the Associated Press based on Advanced Placement test scores. The school was rated the 125th best public high school in the United States by U.S. News & World Report and the second best educational value in the Southeast by SchoolMatch, as reported in The Wall Street Journal.

All teachers are certified in the area in which they teach. Of the 90 faculty, 4 have Doctorates and 57 have a Masters or AA degree. The student-teacher ratio is 1:25. In addition, Auburn High School has 4 Professional School Counselors, a College and Career Readiness Coordinator, an International Baccalaureate Coordinator, a Registrar, and a Counseling Department Secretary.

On average, seven Auburn High students earn National Merit Finalist status each year, and, in 2006, 92 students were named AP Scholars by the College Board. Three Auburn High alumni have been named Fulbright Scholars, two Truman Scholars, one alumnus a Marshall Scholar and one a Rotary Scholar. In 2007, ninety-five seniors received 190 scholarships worth US$5.54 million to 69 different colleges in 24 states. ($6 million, $7.5 million, $14.18 million in scholarship moneys in 2011, 2010, and 2012, respectively.) Graduates of the class of 2007 attend the University of Chicago, Columbia, Duke, Harvard, and Princeton.

In 2012, there are 68 AP Scholars, 1 National AP Scholar, 9 AP Scholar with Honor, 6 AP Scholar with Distinction, 8 National Merit Commended Students, 2 National Merit Semi-Finalists, 5 National Merit Finalists, 2 National Merit Special Scholarship Competition Award Recipients, and 1 National Merit Hispanic Recognition Program Award Recipient. Also in 2012, US$14.18 million in scholarships have raised by seniors whose population is just about 450. Some of these seniors would attend U-Penn, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Chicago, Vanderbilt, Emory, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Cooper Union, McGill, and Berklee College of Music. As many students won scholarships that averaged about US$31,000 per students from these colleges and local colleges.

Curriculum
The Auburn High School curriculum includes traditional high school academic subjects, advanced academic classes, music and art, and programs in business and marketing, agriscience, industrial systems technology, and engineering. Auburn High School awards three diploma endorsements indicating advanced study in a particular field, as well as the International Baccalaureate Diploma. Auburn High offers 35 college-level Advanced Placement, Technical Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate courses for college credit. Students are also provided access to college courses at nearby Auburn University and Southern Union State Community College. There is an option for 11th and 12th grade students, who have completed all of their high school requirements, to jointly enroll at Auburn University or Southern Union State Community College.

Auburn High School has nine departments; the Foreign Language Department (1838), the Language Arts Department (1838), the Department of Mathematics (1838), the Science Department (1838), the Department of the Social Studies (1838), the Music Department (1841), the Art Department (1846), the Athletic Department (1911), and the Department of Career and Technical Education (1915).

Beginnings
Auburn High School was founded as the private Auburn Academy in 1837, less than three years after the Auburn area had been opened to settlement, funded by the sale of the lots which now make up downtown Auburn. On February 19, 1838, the Academy opened its first session, under the instruction of Simeon W. Yancey. A two-story frame school building was constructed later that year, and in 1840 the school divided into male and female divisions as the Auburn Male and Female Academy. By 1846, the schools were known as the Auburn High Schools, and in 1847 the male division split off the school, with the remaining female division taking the name Auburn Female Seminary. The school received a legislative charter as a Mason school in 1852, becoming the Auburn Masonic Female College.

The school attracted hundreds of boarding students to Auburn in the 1840s and 1850s, offering a complete secondary education to women—including ancient and modern languages, literature, mathematics, and musical arts—at the same academic level of that given to men. By the 1850s, the school physical plant had been expanded to three buildings: a main building, a music building, and a chapel which included the largest auditorium in eastern Alabama and a fully equipped chemistry laboratory. By 1855, the school enrolled 110 students. Faculty members included John M. Darby, a scientist who wrote his own textbooks for his students, including a Textbook of Chemistry and Botany of the Southern States, which was the earliest compilation of flora in the Southern United States, and William P. Harrison, a Methodist theologian who was eventually appointed Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives. A significant part of the curriculum included foreign languages; courses in Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, German, and Italian were offered in 1861. The Auburn Masonic Female College hosted speakers and debates among some of the region's most recognizable luminaries, most notably an 1860 debate about secession, which included William Lowndes Yancey, Alexander Stephens, Benjamin Harvey Hill, and Robert Toombs.

The Masons relinquished control of the school to a shared board of trustees with the East Alabama Male College in the late 1850s, and in the early 1860s, the school began admitting boys to the secondary division. When the American Civil War began in 1861, virtually the entire male junior and senior classes of the school, as well as much of the faculty, joined Confederate States of America military units, particularly the 37th Alabama Regiment. As the "principal teacher", W.F. Slaton, was a major in the regiment, classes in Auburn stopped for the remainder of the war. The regiment was captured at Corinth, Mississippi, and exiled to the Johnson's Island prisoner of war camp on Lake Erie. While imprisoned there, Slaton held the school's classes in the camp. Notably, the African American Union guards, who were prohibited by law from attending school in their native Wisconsin, were invited to join the classes, making Auburn High one of the first Southern schools to integrate, some 90 years before Brown v. Board.

While the school continued operation through and after the war, economic hardships in the Reconstruction era caused the school to temporarily close in the late 1860s.

From private college to public high school
Around 1870, the school reopened in the building formerly occupied by the male academy, on the site of the current Auburn City Hall. The school took the name Auburn Female College, despite admitting both boys and girls.

Through the 1870s the town's economic condition was poor, and the school, still run by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, closed at least once more before reopening permanently in 1877. In 1885, a separate town-funded public school system for Auburn was created, and the previously private Auburn Female College became the public "Auburn High School", although tuition was still charged. While this new public funding allowed the school to remain open much longer than before—200 days in 1886—enrollment was significantly lower than it was prior to the Civil War, with an 1889 report listing Auburn High School as enrolling fewer than 20 students.

In 1892, Auburn University (then the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College) decided to admit women. Since the college only admitted women with junior standing, Auburn High added three more years of classes beyond the secondary level—equivalent to freshman and sophomore college classes—for women. With this addition, the name of the school was changed to the "Auburn Female Institute".

In 1899, a two-story building was built for Auburn High. In 1908, the school dropped the post-secondary program and became "Auburn High School" once more. Around 1910, Auburn High fielded its first basketball team, and in 1911, its first football squad.

Modern era
In 1914, Auburn High became the flagship high school for the county and was officially renamed Lee County High School, though "Auburn High School" remained the common name of the school. That same year, the school relocated from the 1899 building to a new structure on Opelika Road.

In the period between 1910 and 1920, Auburn High changed from an academy of the classic 19th-century model, focusing on the traditional Latin course, to a high school offering vocational and technical courses in addition to the academic offerings. Auburn High added vocational courses to the curriculum in 1918, the eighth high school in the state to implement such a program. Over the next two decades, Auburn High developed its modern extracurricular face, forming band, choir, drama, and other programs, as well as diversifying occupational classes. In 1925, Auburn High became one of the first high schools in the state to be accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. A new school building was constructed at 332 E Samford Ave in 1931, and in 1956, the school was officially renamed Auburn High School.

In 1961, the City of Auburn again created its own school system, with Auburn High as the new district's high school. In 1966, the school moved to the 405 S. Dean Rd campus, organized as a "Freedom of Choice" school designed to promote desegregation. In 1971, Auburn High merged with nearby Drake High to complete its integration.

Six major additions were made to the 405 S Dean Rd campus since the original construction in 1966, and it is currently the site of Auburn Junior High School. In 1997, Auburn High added an International Baccalaureate program, with the first IB diplomas awarded in 1999.

The current campus at 1701 E Samford Ave was completed in 2017, at a cost of $72 million. The former campus at 405 S Dean Rd now serves as Auburn Junior High School.

Extracurricular organizations
Auburn High School offers the following academic clubs, athletic teams, and service organizations (founding year at Auburn High in parentheses).

 * A Club (1923)
 * Advocacy Club (2005)
 * Anchor Club (1973)
 * Anime Society (2000)
 * BEST Robotics (2001)
 * Color Guard/Honor Guard (1975)
 * Confidential (2016)
 * Debate Team (2016)
 * DECA (Organization) (1979)
 * Diamond Dolls (ca. 2000)
 * Drill Team (1976)
 * English Honor Society (1996)
 * Environmental Club (1990)
 * Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (1922)
 * Fellowship of Christian Athletes (1970)
 * Film Appreciation Society (1996)
 * French Club (1977)
 * French Honor Society (1985)
 * Future Business Leaders of America (1964)
 * Future Farmers of America (1932)
 * Future Teachers of America (1949)
 * German Club (1973)
 * German National Honor Society (1985)
 * Government Club (1976)
 * Hal Moore Leadership Academy (2009)
 * HOSA (1979)
 * Judicial Club (1988)
 * Junior Civitan (1955)
 * Key Club (1956)
 * Korean Kultural Club (2012)
 * Math Team (ca. 2000)
 * Mu Alpha Theta (1970)
 * Multicultural Club (2002)
 * National Art Honor Society (1978)
 * National Honor Society (1940)
 * Pep Club (1955)
 * Raider Team (1976)
 * Rifle Team (1976)
 * Scholars' Bowl (1982)
 * Science Club (1957)
 * Science Olympiad (1985)
 * Skills USA (2000)
 * Spanish Club (1967)
 * Spanish National Honor Society (1985)
 * Student Council (1943)
 * Student Outreach for Christ (1978)
 * The Sheet (1968)
 * Theatre Center Stage (1968)
 * Tiger Ambassadors (2005)
 * Tiger TV (2003)

Athletics
Auburn High School offers 11 men's and 10 women's varsity sports, all in the large school (7a) classification of the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA). Men's sports offered are basketball, baseball, cross country, indoor track, outdoor track, American football, wrestling, tennis, golf, swimming, and soccer. Women's sports offered are basketball, softball, cross country, indoor track, outdoor track, volleyball, tennis, golf, swimming, and soccer. Auburn High has placed in the top ten of the 6A all-sports rankings every year since 1995, ranking in the top four for each of the last five years. Auburn High has won a total of 51 team state championships.

Auburn High's football team competes in Region 3 of class 7A along with Central High of Phenix City, Dothan, Enterprise, Northview High of Dothan, Opelika, and Smiths Station. Since 2004, Auburn High has produced more Pro Bowl National Football League players than any other high school. AHS alumni in the NFL include Marcus Washington of the Washington Commanders, Osi Umenyiora of the New York Giants, and DeMarcus Ware of the Dallas Cowboys. Auburn High's football team was organized in 1911, and has an all-time record of 545–355–33. AHS has traditional rivalries with Opelika, Central, Lanett, and Valley High Schools. The Auburn High football squad has finished the regular season unbeaten on eight occasions (1915, 1918, 1919, 1921, 1923, 1934, 1952, 2008, and 2009), the second-most of any Alabama high school in class 6A. Auburn High has twice been ranked first in the state (October 1967 and October–November 2009), and proceeded deepest into the playoffs in 2001 and 2009, when the team reached the semifinal round. AHS has won the region, area or conference championship on nineteen occasions since 1921: in 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1934, 1937, 1940, 1948, 1952, 1967, 1972, 1973, 1987, 1990, 2004, 2008, 2009, and 2010. The football team's home field is 8,310-seat Duck Samford Stadium. Football games are broadcast on the radio station WTGZ 93.9 FM, WAUD AM 1230 and sportscallauburn.com.

Auburn High's men's basketball team won the 6A state championship in 2005, and was state runner-up in 1924, 1987, 1991, and 1996. Since 1980, the team has won the region championship eleven times and has reached the playoffs twenty times. The team is coached by 27-year veteran Frank Tolbert, who holds a 633–303 record. The Auburn High women's basketball team won the state championship in 1919. The basketball team plays at the 1,600 seat Auburn Fieldhouse on the Auburn High campus. Basketball games are broadcast on WAUD AM 1230 and sportscallauburn.com.

Auburn High's six track family sports—men's and women's outdoor track, men's and women's indoor track, and men's and women's cross country—have won twenty state championships. AHS men's outdoor track squad has won eight AHSAA titles and has placed in the top 13 at the state track meet seven of the last eight years. AHS men's track team most recently won the 6A State Title in 2013. AHS women's outdoor team won a state title in 1986, and has placed in the top 12 at the state meet each of the last eight years. Men's indoor track has won four state titles, and men's cross country has won the state crown six times. An Auburn High student won the state Decathlon in 1970. Prior to the creation of the AHSAA state meet, Auburn High School won the Alabama Interscholastic Track and Field Meet in 1921 and 1923.

The Auburn High baseball Tigers trace their lineage to teams which played as early as 1912. The baseball Tigers have won three state titles, in 1986, 2009, and 2010, and were state runners-up in 1973. Matt Cimo is the head coach of the AHS baseball team. Auburn High has reached the state playoffs eleven of the past thirteen years, reaching the semifinals in 1998 and 2001 in addition to the state championships of 2009 and 2010. The most notable player produced by the Auburn High School baseball program is pitcher Joe Beckwith, who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1979–1983, 1986) and Kansas City Royals (1984–1985). Baseball games are broadcast on WAUD AM 1230 and sportscallauburn.com

Auburn High's men's soccer program, coached by Bo Morrissey, has reached the 6A state playoffs each year of the program's existence, including final four appearances in 2005, 2010, and 2012, winning the 6A state championship in 2012. The women's soccer program, coached by Mac Matthews, has reached the final four of the state playoffs six of the last seven years (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). Soccer matches are broadcast on AM 1230 WAUD and sportscallauburn.com. Auburn High's men's golf program has won the last four 6A state championships. AHS women's golf won the state title in 2010, and was runner up in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Auburn High's official home golf course is Indian Pines Golf Course, though the Auburn University Club and Robert Trent Jones' Grand National are often used as home courses. Divers on Auburn High School's swimming team have won ten state championships since 1988, and both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams were state runners-up in 2008 and 2009. The women's swimming and diving team was also third in the state in 2006 with a state champion relay performance. Auburn shares the James E. Martin Aquatics Center with the Auburn University swimming and diving program.

Music
The Auburn High School Band was awarded the Sudler Flag of Honor by the John Philip Sousa Foundation as the top high school concert ensemble in the United States, Canada, and Japan in 1988. The Auburn High Band has also been placed on the "Historic Roll of Honor of Distinguished High School Concert Bands in America" as a band which as attained "unusual levels of achievement nationally and which [is] considered to be of historical importance and influence to the nation's high school concert band programs." The top concert band, the Auburn High School Honors Band, has an all-time ratings record of 351–4–0–0–0, has received less than a perfect rating only three times since 1946, and has received perfect ratings from all judges since 1974. The Band has twice performed for the Music Educators National Conference, and in 1996 became the first high school band ever invited to perform for a College Band Directors National Association Conference.

Auburn High School's jazz ensemble, the Lab Band, was named one of the top ten high school jazz bands in the United States in 1974, and in 1978 performed on the National Association of Jazz Educators "Project II" album as one of "The Nation's Most Outstanding Jazz Bands". The Lab Band has an all-judges record of 126–2–0–0–0, and has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

Auburn High School has three competitive show choirs, the mixed-gender "Varsity Singers" and the all-female "Èlan" and the all-male "Men at Work". The program also hosts an annual competition.

Science Olympiad
The Auburn High School Science Olympiad team has placed either first or second in the state, and thus has represented Alabama at the national competition, 10 out the past 12 years.

Campus
From 1965 to 2017, Auburn High was situated on 36 acre in the east-central part of Auburn. The school was designed in a modernist style on an open campus-style setting, with three detached buildings separated by outdoor walkways and courtyards spread out over 70% of the campus area. The campus is located between Samford Avenue and University Drive, in a residential area. Adjacent to the campus is the Church of the Highlands. Auburn University is located approximately three miles (1.6 km) west of the school.

The former Auburn High School campus was constructed in 1965, and originally consisted of four buildings; the 100, 200, 300, and 400 buildings. The 100 building contains the auditorium, cafeteria, and music and vocational classrooms, the 200 and 300 buildings contain academic classrooms including the aquatic biology laboratory (300) and the counselors' offices (200), and the 400 building contains a gymnasium and athletic facilities. Additions were constructed in 1974 with the 500 building, containing academic classrooms, and in 1979 with the 600 building, containing business and JROTC classrooms. An administration building was erected in the 1980s, and the largest academic classroom building, the 800 building, containing classrooms, a library, and a multi-media room, was built in 1995. The Auburn Fieldhouse, a competition gymnasium, was built in 2005, a new academic building containing science classrooms was constructed in 2008, and the Julie and Hal Moore Center for Excellence, a performing arts facility, was completed in 2010. Outdoor areas include "The Hill", a slope directly south of the 100 building and traditional site of senior pranks, and "The Courtyard", between the 200, 300, 400, and 500 buildings.

The campus contains 94 academic classrooms, a 1,250-seat auditorium, a 1,600-seat competition gym (the Auburn Fieldhouse), six tennis courts, a baseball field (Sam Welborn Field), a track, cafeteria, library, multi-media room, practice gym, and physical education fields. Off-campus athletic facilities include 8,310-seat Duck Samford Stadium, the Auburn Softball Complex, and the James E. Martin Aquatic Center. The school maintains a 1.16:1 student–to–computer ratio, with all classrooms having wired (100 Mbit/s) Internet connections and LCD projectors, while the campus as a whole is covered by a wireless network.

Mascot
Auburn High's mascot is the tiger. The tiger was chosen because of its association with Auburn in Oliver Goldsmith's 1770 poem The Deserted Village. The first line of the poem is "Sweet Auburn! Loveliest village of the plain", while a later line describes Auburn as, "where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey."

Auburn High's costumed mascot is Samford, an anthropomorphic tiger. Samford was created in 1995 and named for three symbols of the school: Samford Avenue, which runs by the school; Duck Samford Stadium, Auburn High's football stadium; and Samford Hall, the most prominent building in Auburn. Kari Pierce and Brian Puckett were the first Samford in 1995.

School songs
The Auburn High School "Alma Mater" is Auburn High's school song its most famous version is a cover by Radio Decay, previous Auburn High students. For athletic events, Auburn High uses two fight songs, "Hooray for Auburn!"—the primary fight song—and "Glory, Glory to Ole Auburn".

Alma Mater
The Auburn High School "Alma Mater" was written in 1955 by band and choral director George Corradino and members of the Auburn High School Glee Club. It replaced a previous alma mater of unknown origins. The "Alma Mater" is used at academic ceremonies and at some athletic events. A common epithet for the school used by students and alumni, "dear old Auburn High", is taken from the last line of the song.

Fight songs
Auburn High School's primary fight song is "Hooray for Auburn!". The lyrics to "Hooray for Auburn!" come from a cheer that was commonly used in the mid-20th century. In 1961, Auburn High School band director Tommy Goff wrote music to fit those lyrics to create the current fight song. In subsequent years, the fight song was adopted by other schools, including Prattville High School, Sheffield High School and Opelika High School. At football games, "Hooray for Auburn!" is played after a touchdown. "Glory, Glory to Ole Auburn"—often simply "Glory"—was Auburn High's fight song before "Hooray for Auburn!" was written in 1961 and is currently a secondary fight song of Auburn High. "Glory, Glory to Ole Auburn" has the tune of the chorus of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", while the lyrics are identical to those of the University of Georgia's "Glory, Glory" but substitute the word "Auburn" for "Georgia". At football games, "Glory, Glory to Ole Auburn" is played after a successful PAT conversion. For the 1955 football season, Auburn High used the Alabama Polytechnic Institute fight song "War Eagle". An earlier school song, "We're Loyal to You, Auburn High", was used from the 1920s through the 1940s. "We're Loyal to You, Auburn High" has the melody of "Illinois Loyalty".

Student publications
The Auburn High School yearbook is The Tiger. The Tiger has been published each year since 1945, and is produced by students on the yearbook staff. In addition, Auburn High has a literary magazine, The Sheet.

The journalism classes at Auburn High print a monthly newspaper, the AHS Free Press. The Free Press and its three predecessor student newspapers, the AHS Chronicle, the Tiger Tales, and the Tiger News have been published since the early 1950s. An earlier paper, the Young Ladies' Mirror, was published by students in the 1850s.

Starting in 2007, Auburn High students run a campus television station, known as Tiger TV.

Notable people

The following are notable people associated with Auburn High School. If the person was an Auburn High School student, the number in parentheses indicates the year of graduation; if the person was a faculty or staff member, that person's title and years of association are included.

 * John M. Darby (President, 1855–1858; Professor of Natural Science, 1855–1862)—botanist
 * William P. Harrison (President, 1861–1862)—theologian and author, Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives
 * James R. Dowdell (1863–64)—Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Alabama
 * William J. Samford (1864)—Governor of Alabama
 * Leonidas Warren Payne Jr. (1888)—academic, editor of the first anthology of Texas literature
 * William Spratling (1917)—Silversmith and artist
 * Tom Sellers (1941)—Journalist, winner 1955 Pulitzer Prize
 * John E. Pitts Jr. (1942)—US Army brigadier general, director International Staff, Inter-American Defense Board
 * Mary Lou Foy (1962)—Photojournalist, Picture Editor The Washington Post
 * Joe Beckwith (1973)—Major League Baseball pitcher
 * Allen Hinds  (1974)— Guitarist and jazz musician
 * Joe Turnham (1977)—Chairman, Alabama Democratic Party
 * Vanessa Echols (1979)—News anchor, WRDQ and WFTV, Orlando, Florida
 * Ted Vives (1982)—Composer
 * Man or Astro-man? (1980s)—Surf punk band
 * Kate Higgins (1987)—Voice actress, Naruto; singer
 * William Chen (1988)—Mathematician, winner in two 2006 World Series of Poker events
 * Ace Atkins (1989)—Author, Pulitzer Prize—nominated journalist
 * Robert Gibbs (1989)—28th White House Press Secretary
 * Tracy Rocker (Defensive coordinator, 1992–1993)—NFL football player, winner of college football's Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award
 * Mark Spencer (1995)—Founder/CTO Digium, creator of Asterisk PBX
 * Marcus Washington (1996)—NFL football player
 * Osi Umenyiora (1999)—NFL football player
 * DeMarcus Ware (2001)—NFL football player
 * Cody Core (2010)—NFL football player
 * Reuben Foster (2012)—NFL football player
 * Rashaan Evans  (2013)—NFL football player
 * Ryan Watson (2016)-pitcher in the Baltimore Orioles organization
 * Garrison Brooks (2017)-NBA G League basketball player

title: Auburn High School (Alabama)


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Scorpions (South Africa)

The Directorate of Special Operations (DSO), commonly known as the Scorpions, was a specialised unit of the National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa formed by President Thabo Mbeki, tasked with investigating and prosecuting high-level and priority crimes including organised crime and corruption. An independent and multidisciplinary unit with a unique methodology which combined investigation, forensic intelligence, and prosecution, the Scorpions were known as an elite unit, and were involved in several extremely high-profile investigations, especially into the Arms Deal and into high-ranking African National Congress (ANC) politicians including Jackie Selebi, Jacob Zuma, and Tony Yengeni.

President Thabo Mbeki announced the establishment of the Scorpions in June 1999, promising "a special and adequately staffed and equipped investigative unit... to deal with all national priority crime, including police corruption." Though formally launched in Gugulethu on 1 September 1999 as the Directorate of Special Investigations, the unit did not legally or operationally come into existence until January 2001, by which time it had been renamed DSO. It was formally disbanded in January 2009 and replaced by the Hawks, a move pushed through Parliament by the ANC and often alleged to have been politically motivated.

Mandate and organisational structure
The Scorpions were led by a Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, a position first held by Frank Dutton (1999–2001) and later by Percy Sonn (2001–2003) and Leonard McCarthy (2003–2008). Their founding complement was 200 staff and, though this was supposed to expand to about 2,000 staff within two years, they employed only 536 staff at the time of their disbanding. They were divided into two main directorates: Operations, and Strategic and Investigative Support. Though independent, as a unit of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) the Scorpions drew their budget through the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development and were ultimately subject to the Minister's oversight.

The unit was governed by the 1998 NPA Act, Section 7 of which gave it extremely broad powers to investigate and prosecute any organised crime or any other crimes determined by presidential proclamation. Its operational mandate, however, was slightly narrower than its legislative mandate – it was envisaged that the Scorpions would discuss the cases it took on with the Minister and with the police.  It came to focus on such crimes as drug trafficking; white-collar crime in government and the private sector, especially organised corruption and serious and complex financial crime; and money laundering and racketeering, especially under the 1998 Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

The Scorpions pursued a "prosecution-led" approach or "troika model", meaning that investigators, forensic analysts, and prosecutors worked together on each case – investigators collected evidence for study by analysts, and both were directed by the needs of prosecutors in building a legally strong case. This model has been criticised for undermining "the separation of powers" between investigators and prosecutors. However, it was evidently successful, with the Scorpions achieving a conviction rate of over 90% during its tenure. By February 2004, they had completed 653 cases, comprising 273 investigations and 380 prosecutions. 349 prosecutions resulted in convictions, representing an average conviction rate of 93.1%. Between 2005 and 2007, they initiated 368 investigations, completed 264, and prosecuted 214, with a conviction rate of 85%; during that period they also seized R1 billion in assets and contraband worth R1 billion.

High-profile cases
The Scorpions gained a reputation for investigating and prosecuting high-profile cases, sometimes involving high-ranking politicians of the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC). The Scorpions led the multi-year investigation into the Arms Deal, which began in 2001 or earlier and which led to the conviction on fraud and corruption charges of ANC politician Tony Yengeni and businessman Schabir Shaik, a close associate of Deputy President Jacob Zuma, who was himself ultimately charged with corruption. The investigation involved well-publicised raids at the houses of Shaik, Zuma, and former Transport Minister Mac Maharaj. The Congress of South African Trade Unions, the ANC's partner in the Tripartite Alliance, complained publicly about an 18 August 2005 raid at Zuma's home, alleging that the raids showed that the NPA "could be manipulated and influenced to take biased political decisions and act accordingly." Zuma later unsuccessfully challenged the legality of a raid on his former attorney's offices. At the time of the Scorpions' disbanding, they had reinstated corruption charges against Zuma. The last raid the Scorpions ever undertook was reportedly a major raid on BAE Systems premises in Pretoria and Cape Town in November 2008, linked to the Arms Deal probe.

In 2003, the Scorpions prosecuted Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and her broker on fraud charges. In 2004, they arrested Mark Thatcher, son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, at his house in Cape Town, in relation to his suspected involvement in a coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea earlier that year. He pled guilty in the Cape Town High Court to contravening the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act of 1998. In 2005, the Scorpions charged forty or more Members of Parliament (MPs), primarily ANC members, with fraud, in so-called "Travelgate." More than thirty MPs, including Bathabile Dlamini, were ultimately convicted on fraud or related charges. And, from 2006 or earlier, the Scorpions investigated National Police Commissioner and close Mbeki ally Jackie Selebi, also for corruption. Selebi was ultimately convicted, following a highly politicised trial – in the run-up to which the chief prosecutor, Gerrie Nel of the Scorpions, was himself arrested, and the head of the NPA, Vusi Pikoli, suspended. The Scorpions also investigated and charged mafia don Vito Palazzolo, mining magnate Billy Rautenbach, and – both on drug smuggling charges and on charges related to the death of ANC donor Brett Kebble – Glen Agliotti.

Controversies and demise
The Scorpions, though popular with most of the public, were controversial among politicians and government officials. Common complaints were that the details of the Scorpions' investigations were frequently leaked to the public before prosecution had commenced; that the Scorpions abused their power in exercising search and seizure warrants (including in the Zuma investigation, in which the ANC said that they had displayed "Hollywood tactics"); that they pursued selective and politically motivated prosecutions; and that they did not work well with the South African Police Service (SAPS).

Khampepe Commission
On 1 April 2005, amid such complaints against the Scorpions, President Mbeki appointed Judge Sisi Khampepe to head a commission of inquiry (known as the Khampepe Commission) to review the mandate and location of the Scorpions. In June 2006, Mbeki decided, in consultation with Cabinet and the National Security Council, to "accept in principle the recommendations of the Commission." These recommendations included that:

 * The Scorpions should continue to reside within the NPA;
 * The Scorpions' prosecutors should continue to be subject to the authority of the National Director of Public Prosecutions and to the oversight of the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development;
 * The Scorpions should additionally be subject to the oversight of the Minister of Safety and Security on its law enforcement (as opposed to prosecutorial) responsibilities;
 * The Scorpions should continue to deal with high-level priority crimes and cases referred to it by the SAPS; and
 * The capacity of the police should be enhanced, for example by awarding it the same legal powers as the Scorpions and by co-locating prosecutors within its structures.

The Commission also expressed concern about "the manner in which the DSO publicised the subject matter [of] some of its investigations," which it felt could violate the rights of those being investigated, and about the poor relationship between the Scorpions and the police.

Controversially, Mbeki did not release the Khampepe report itself, only a statement summarising its contents. In early 2008, opposition party the Democratic Alliance requested the release of the report in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, though the Presidency claimed that complying with the request would undermine national security. The report was released on 5 May 2008.

Disbanding
In 2007, in the run-up to the ANC's 52nd National Conference, Zuma ran for the ANC presidency, challenging the incumbent, national President Mbeki. A key part of his campaign platform was the disbanding of the Scorpions. Zuma won the election comfortably, and the conference resolved that the Scorpions should be disbanded "as a matter of urgency" in order to facilitate the constitutional imperative of a "single police service." When Parliament reconvened in early 2008, the disbanding of the Scorpions was announced as a legislative priority. Minister of Safety and Security, Charles Nqakula (who was at that time responsible for the SAPS), said in February that the Scorpions would be dissolved and amalgamated with a new organised crime unit of the SAPS. This was pursued through amendments to the NPA and SAPS Acts, and the ANC National Executive Committee set a deadline of June 2008 for the passage of the amendments, with a parliamentary committee, chaired by Maggie Sotyu, set up to oversee progress.

The decision was controversial, and it was opposed by a majority of South Africans and various interest groups. The Inkatha Freedom Party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), the African Christian Democratic Party, the Independent Democrats, the United Democratic Movement, and the Congress of the People all expressed extreme dismay over the decision, and the DA was prominent in accusing the ANC of making the move in order to subvert investigations into corrupt ANC officials. However, because the ANC had a supermajority in Parliament, opposition parties had little legislative recourse to oppose the amendments. Mbeki, still the national President though no longer the ANC President, also reportedly fought to keep the Scorpions intact.

On 23 October 2008, the National Assembly passed both amendments by a vote of 252 in favour and 63 opposed. President Kgalema Motlanthe (appointed after Mbeki resigned) signed the legislation into law in January 2009. Prosecutors at the Scorpions were absorbed into other branches of the NPA, while investigators were moved to the new Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, colloquially known as the Hawks, which the new legislation established under the SAPS.  Controversially, the Hawks subsequently shut down the Scorpions' investigation into Arms Deal corruption, which on some accounts had been at the centre of political opposition to the Scorpions.

Court challenge
In May 2008, while the relevant legislation was before Parliament, the Pretoria High Court heard an application to interdict, on constitutional grounds, the disbanding of the Scorpions. A private citizen, businessman Hugh Glenister, filed the application. The DA, the African Christian Democratic Party, the Independent Democrats, and the United Democratic Movement all participated in the hearing as friends of the court, and in a joint submission alleged that the decision to disband the Scorpions had been made not by an organ of state but by the ANC, "in an effort to protect its members from investigation and prosecution for alleged transgressions." The High Court found that it did not have jurisdiction to adjudicate a separation of powers matter, and the case went to the Constitutional Court, where it was heard and dismissed as Glenister v President.

Once the legislation had been passed into law, Glenister challenged it anew in Glenister v President II. On 17 March 2011, the Constitutional Court ruled – in a narrow five-to-four judgement – that sections of the relevant acts were inconsistent with the Constitution, and that the disbanding of the Scorpions had therefore been constitutionally invalid. The substance of the dispute was over the autonomy of the Hawks: international norms and the Constitution provide that the state must establish some independent body to investigate corruption, so the legal question was whether the Hawks fulfilled this role. Dissenting judges said that the Hawks did have structural and operational autonomy, while the majority judgement, prepared by Dikgang Moseneke and Edwin Cameron, found otherwise. Whereas the Scorpions, as a unit of the NPA, had been nominally independent of the executive branch, the activities of the Hawks were effectively directly controlled by the Minister of Safety and Security, who had executive authority over the police, and it was therefore "insufficiently insulated from political interference."

The Constitutional Court judgement did not disband the Hawks and reinstate the Scorpions – instead, Parliament was given 18 months to make the legislation compliant with the Constitution. Parliament attempted to address the judgement by amending the SAPS Act again, and in 2014 Glenister – who had already paid R3.8 million in legal fees in the preceding court challenge – again challenged the law in court, arguing that the amendments provided insufficient remedy. The Helen Suzman Foundation also launched its own application.   The case ultimately went to the Constitutional Court, which agreed that certain provisions of the Act remained unconstitutional, and struck those provisions aside.

In 2019, Minister of Police Bheki Cele, announced that the SAPS Act would be reviewed and the independence of the Hawks re-examined. Further amendments to the SAPS Act are currently proposed in the SAPS Amendment Bill of 2020, which SAPS has said responds to the 2014 Constitutional Court judgement and which would put crime intelligence units under the control of the SAPS National Commissioner, rather than the Minister.

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

title: Scorpions (South Africa)


text:
Operation Trident (1971)

Operation Trident was an offensive operation launched by the Indian Navy on Pakistan's port city of Karachi during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Operation Trident saw the first use of anti-ship missiles in combat in the region. The operation was conducted on the night of 4–5 December and inflicted heavy damage on Pakistani vessels and facilities. While India suffered no losses, Pakistan lost a minesweeper, a destroyer, a cargo vessel carrying ammunition, and fuel storage tanks in Karachi. Another destroyer was also badly damaged and eventually scrapped. India celebrates its Navy Day annually on 4 December to mark this operation. Trident was followed up by Operation Python three days later.

Background
In 1971, the Port of Karachi housed the headquarters of the Pakistan Navy, and almost its entire fleet was based in Karachi Harbour. Since Karachi was also the hub of Pakistan's maritime trade, a blockade would be disastrous for Pakistan's economy. The security of Karachi Harbour was predominant to the Pakistani High Command, and it was heavily defended against any air or naval strikes. The strike aircraft based at airfields in the area secured the port's airspace.

Towards the end of 1971, there were rising tensions between India and Pakistan, and after Pakistan declared a national emergency on 23 November, the Indian Navy deployed three Vidyut-class missile boats in the vicinity of Okha, near Karachi, to carry out patrols. As the Pakistani fleet would also operate in the same waters, the Indian Navy set a demarcation line that ships in their fleet would not cross. Later, this deployment proved useful for gaining experience in the region's waters. On 3 December, after Pakistan attacked Indian airfields along the border, the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 officially began.

Prelude
The Indian Naval Headquarters (NHQ) in Delhi, along with the Western Naval Command, planned to attack the Port of Karachi. A strike group under Western Naval Command was formed for this mission. This strike group was to be based around the three Vidyut-class missile boats already deployed off the coast of Okha. However, these boats had limited operational and radar range, and to overcome this difficulty, it was decided to assign support vessels to the group.

On 4 December, what was now designated as the Karachi Strike Group was formed and consisted of the three Vidyut-class missile boats: INS Nipat (K86), INS Nirghat (K89) and INS Veer (K82), each armed with four Soviet-made SS-N-2B Styx surface-to-surface missiles with a range of 40 nmi, two Arnala-class corvette anti-submarine corvettes: INS Kiltan (P79) and INS Katchall (P81), and a fleet tanker, INS Poshak. The group was under the command of Commander Babru Bhan Yadav, the commanding officer of the 25th Missile Boat Squadron.

Attack
As planned, on 4 December, the strike group reached 250 nmi (nmi) south off the coast of Karachi and maintained its position during the day, outside the surveillance range of the Pakistan Air Force. As Pakistani aircraft did not possess night-bombing capabilities, it was planned that the attack would take place between dusk and dawn. At 10.30 pm Pakistan Standard Time (PKT), the Indian task group moved 180 nmi from its position towards the south of Karachi. Soon, Pakistani targets, identified as warships, were detected 70 nmi to the northwest and northeast of the Indian warships.

INS Nirghat sailed forward in a northwesterly direction and fired its first Styx missile at PNS Khaibar, a Pakistani Battle-class destroyer. Khaibar, assuming it was a missile from Indian aircraft, engaged its anti-aircraft systems. The missile hit the right side of the ship, exploding below the galley in the electrician's mess deck at 10.45 pm (PKT). This led to an explosion in the first boiler room. Subsequently, the ship lost propulsion and was flooded with smoke. An emergency signal that read: "Enemy aircraft attacked in position 020 FF 20. No. 1 boiler hit. Ship stopped", was sent to Pakistan Naval Headquarters (PNHQ). Due to the chaos created by the explosion, the signal contained the wrong coordinates of the ship's position. This delayed rescue teams from reaching its location. Observing that the ship was still afloat, Nirghat fired its second missile, hitting Khaibar in the second boiler room on the ship's starboard side, eventually sinking the ship and killing 222 sailors. After verifying two targets in the area northwest of Karachi, at 11.00 pm (PKT), INS Nipat fired two Styx missiles – one each at cargo vessel MV Venus Challenger and its escort PNS Shah Jahan, a C-class destroyer (1943) destroyer. Venus Challenger, carrying ammunition for the Pakistani forces, exploded immediately after the missile hit and eventually sank 23 nmi south of Karachi. The other missile targeted Shah Jahan and damaged the ship very badly. At 11.20 pm (PKT), PNS Muhafiz, an Adjutant-class minesweeper, was targeted by INS Veer. A missile was fired, and Muhafiz was struck on the left side, behind the bridge. It sank immediately before it could send a signal to the PNHQ, killing 33 sailors.

Meanwhile, INS Nipat continued towards Karachi and targeted the Kemari oil storage tanks, placing itself 14 nmi south of the Karachi Harbour. Two missiles were launched; one misfired, but the other hit the oil tanks, which burned and were destroyed completely, causing a Pakistani fuel shortage. The task force returned to the nearest Indian ports.

Soon, the PNHQ deployed rescue teams on patrol vessels to recover the survivors of Khaibar. As Muhafiz sank before it could transmit a distress call, the Pakistanis only learned of its fate from its few survivors who were recovered when a patrol vessel steered towards the ship's burning flotsam.

Aftermath
The Pakistan Air Force retaliated for these attacks by bombing Okha Port, scoring direct hits on fuelling facilities for missile boats, an ammunition dump, and the missile boats' jetty. The Indian Navy anticipated this attack and had already moved the missile boats to other locations to prevent any losses. However, the destruction of a special fuel tank prevented further incursions until Operation Python, executed three days later.

As a result of the operation, the Pakistan Armed Forces were put on high alert. The deployments raised several false alarms in the ensuing days about the presence of Indian Navy vessels off Karachi. One such false alarm was raised by a Pakistan Navy Fokker Friendship reconnaissance aircraft on 6 December 1971, which incorrectly reported a frigate of the Pakistan Navy as an Indian Navy missile boat. The PNHQ requested a Pakistan Air Force air strike on the supposed Indian ship. At 06.45 am (PKT), fighter jets were scrambled and strafed the vessel before it was identified as the frigate PNS Zulfiqar. This friendly fire incident resulted in casualties and damage to the vessel.

With no casualties on the Indian side, this operation was a great success. To mark its victory, the Indian Navy annually celebrates Navy Day on 4 December.

Awards
Several Indian Navy personnel were honoured with gallantry awards for the operation. Then Fleet Operations Officer, Captain (later Vice Admiral) Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani, was awarded the Nau Sena Medal for the detailed operational planning; the Maha Vir Chakra was awarded to the strike group commander, Cdr Babru Bhan Yadav, for planning and leading the task force; and Vir Chakras were awarded to Lieutenant Commanders Bahadur Nariman Kavina, Inderjit Sharma, M O Thomachan and Om Prakash Mehta, the commanding officers of INS Nipat, INS Nirghat, and INS Veer respectively. Master Chief M. N. Sangal of INS Nirghat was also awarded the Vir Chakra. Lieutenant Phool Kumar Puri, Engineering Officer INS Veer, was awarded the Nau Sena Medal for his efforts in the 1971 war.

title: Operation Trident (1971)


text: User talk:193.62.43.210

title: User talk:193.62.43.210


text:
Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Wikipedians for encyclopedic merit/Quick poll on project recommendations

Moved from Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Wikipedians for encyclopedic merit. brenneman (t) (c) 09:24, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

Quick poll on project recommendations
Should this WikiProject recommend the following editorial policies for Wikipedia. If recommended here, it may be appropriate to try to reach Wikipedia consensus on incorporating these guidelines in Wikipedia's general style guidelines:

If an article is about an overt sex act, no image should be used.
Agree Disagree
 * Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters 04:54, 2005 August 25 (UTC)
 * Carnildo 05:42, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Disagree. If an article is about a sexual position, for instance, then a picture serves far better than a textual description. I suppose a drawing would be better than a photograph. Radiant_ >|< 08:38, August 25, 2005 (UTC)
 * Lomedae 18:10, August 25, 2005 (UTC) I am fully in agreement with Radiant's statement above.
 * Hipocrite 20:19, 25 August 2005 (UTC) I am not in agreement with Radiant's statement above. Drawings are not nearly as useful as photographs.

Depends
 * Noitall 06:57, August 25, 2005 (UTC) - simply putting up porn, even for an article on sex, is not encyclopedic and only appeals to the purient interests, but if an appropriate picture is found that illuminates the subject, then it could be used. Some pictures may use shadows or drawings to be encyclopedic.

If an article is about nudity, an image should be used only if necessary details cannot be provided in written form.
Agree Disagree
 * Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters 04:55, 2005 August 25 (UTC)
 * Carnildo 05:42, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Several articles about art are about the depiction of nude models. Such imagery can also be found in museums, so it's certainly appropriate for an encyclopedia. Radiant_ >|< 08:38, August 25, 2005 (UTC)
 * Hipocrite 20:19, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

Depends
 * Noitall 06:57, August 25, 2005 (UTC) - simply putting up porn, even for an article on nudity, is not encyclopedic and only appeals to the purient interests, but if an appropriate picture is found that illuminates the subject, then it could be used. Some pictures may use shadows or drawings to be encyclopedic.

If an article is about nudity, and an image is required, an "attractive" subject should be chosen over an "unattractive" one?
Agree
 * Carnildo 05:42, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Noitall 06:57, August 25, 2005 (UTC) - the standard is generally to put up the more attractive picture, all things being equal. Purposely putting up and unattractive picture goes against all standards and doing so is inserting some POV.
 * Keeping it tasteful sounds like a good suggestion. But that's common sense - the article on New York doesn't have a picture of the slums or the smog either. Radiant_ >|< 08:38, August 25, 2005 (UTC)

Disagree
 * Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters 04:57, 2005 August 25 (UTC) - IMO, WP should not promote beauty stereotypes, unless that is directly topical to an article. An image itself (how well is it composed, etc) should still be judged partially on aesthetic criteria.  MONGO gave a rhetorical example of "Miss January" vs. "An overweight woman"—in that case, we should not as a principle prefer the former over the latter (again, unless topical).
 * Photographs should be appropriate to their subjects. Hipocrite 20:19, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

If an article is about a sexual subject, a drawing should normatively be used in preference to a photograph, if a drawing is available?
Agree Disagree
 * Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters 04:59, 2005 August 25 (UTC)
 * No. Hipocrite 20:19, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

Depends
 * Noitall 06:57, August 25, 2005 (UTC) - simply putting up porn, even for an article on sex, is not encyclopedic and only appeals to the purient interests, but if an appropriate picture is found that illuminates the subject, then it could be used. Some pictures may use shadows or drawings to be encyclopedic.
 * Depends widely on the situation, but I can see where people would find a drawing more appropriate than a photograph. Radiant_ >|< 08:38, August 25, 2005 (UTC)


text:
Ayi Kwei Armah

Ayi Kwei Armah (born 28 October 1939) is a Ghanaian writer best known for his novels including The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968), Two Thousand Seasons (1973) and The Healers (1978). He is also an essayist, as well as having written poetry, short stories, and books for children.

Early life and education
Ayi Kwei Armah was born in the port city of Sekondi-Takoradi in Ghana to Fante-speaking parents, descending on his father's side from a royal family in the Ga nation. From 1953 to 1958, Armah attended Prince of Wales College (now known as Achimota School), and won a scholarship to study in the United States, where he was between 1959 and 1963. He attended Groton School in Groton, MA, and then Harvard University, where he received a degree in sociology. He then moved to Algeria and worked as a translator for the magazine Révolution Africaine. In 1964, he returned to Ghana, where he was a scriptwriter for Ghana Television and later taught English at the Navrongo Secondary School.

Between 1967 and 1968, he was editor of Jeune Afrique magazine in Paris. From 1968 to 1970, Armah studied at Columbia University, obtaining his MFA in creative writing. His work in New York "on his second" novel and other writings was supported by "a grant" the Farfield Foundation, a CIA front that supported many African artists and writers. In the 1970s, he worked as a teacher in East Africa, at the College of National Education, Chang'ombe, Tanzania, and at the National University of Lesotho. He subsequently taught at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Cornell University, and at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has lived in Dakar, Senegal, since the 1980s.

In the village of Popenguine, about 70 km from Dakar, he established his own publishing house, Per Ankh: the African Publication Collective, through which his own books are now available.

Publications
Beginning his career as a writer in the 1960s, Armah published poems and short stories in the Ghanaian magazine Okyeame, and in Harper's Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and New African. His first novel, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, was published in 1968, and tells the story of a nameless man who struggles to reconcile himself with the reality of post-independence Ghana.

In Fragments (1970), the protagonist, Baako, is a "been-to" – a man who has been to the United States and received his education there. Back in Ghana he is regarded with superstitious awe as a link to the Western lifestyle. Baako's grandmother Naana, a blind-seer, stands in living contact with the ancestors. Under the strain of the unfulfilled expectations Baako finally breaks. As in his first novel, Armah contrasts the two worlds of materialism and moral values, corruption and dreams, two worlds of integrity and social pressure.

Why Are We So Blest? (1972) was set largely in an American university, and focused on a student, Modin Dofu, who has dropped out of Harvard. Disillusioned Modin is torn between independence and Western values. He meets a Portuguese black African named Solo, who has already suffered a mental breakdown, and a white American girl, Aimée Reitsch. Solo, the rejected writer, keeps a diary, which is the substance of the novel. Aimée's frigidity and devotion to the revolution leads finally to destruction, when Modin is killed in the desert by OAS revolutionaries.

The trans-Atlantic and African slave trades are the subject of Armah's Two Thousand Seasons (1973), in which a pluralized communal voice speaks through the history of Africa, its wet and dry seasons, from a period of one thousand years. Arab and European oppressors are portrayed as "predators", "destroyers", and "zombies". The novel is written in allegorical tone, and shifts from autobiographical and realistic details to philosophical pondering, prophesying a new age.

The Healers (1978) mixed fact and fiction about the fall of the Ashanti Empire. The healers in question are traditional medicine practitioners who see fragmentation as the lethal disease of Africa.

Armah remained silent as a novelist for a long period until 1995, when he published Osiris Rising, depicting a radical educational reform group that reinstates ancient Egypt at the centre of its curriculum.

Belonging to the generation of African writers after Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka, Armah has been said to "epitomize an era of intense despair." Armah's later work in particular has evoked strong reaction from many critics. While Two Thousand Seasons has been called dull and verbose, or the product of a "philosophy of paranoia, an anti-racist racism – in short, Negritude reborn" Soyinka has written that Armah's vision "frees itself of borrowed philosophies in its search for unifying, harmonizing ideal for a distinctive humanity."

As an essayist, Armah has dealt with the identity and predicament of Africa. His main concern is for the creation of a pan-African agency that will embrace all the diverse cultures and languages of the continent. Armah has called for the adoption of Kiswahili as the continental language.

Selected bibliography
Novels For children Non-fiction
 * The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1968; London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1969, ISBN 978-0435906252; HEB paperback reprint, 1989, ISBN 978-0435905408)
 * Fragments (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1970; London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1974; HEB paperback reprint, 1975, ISBN 978-0435901547)
 * Why Are We So Blest? (New York: Doubleday, 1972; London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1974; HEB paperback reprint, 1985, ISBN 978-0435901554)
 * Two Thousand Seasons (Nairobi: East African Publishing House, 1973; London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1979; Chicago: Third World Press, 1979)
 * The Healers (Nairobi: East African Publishing House, 1978; London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1979, ISBN 978-0435906450; Popenguine, Senegal: Per Ankh, 2000)
 * Osiris Rising (Popenguine, Senegal: Per Ankh, 1995)
 * KMT: The House of Life (2002)
 * The Resolutionaries (Per Ankh, 2013)
 * Hieroglyphics for Babies, Per Ankh, 2002 (with Aboubacry Mousa Lam)
 * The Eloquence of the Scribes: A Memoir on the Sources and Resources of African Literature, Popenguine, Senegal: Per Ankh, 2006
 * Remembering the Dismembered Continent (essays), Per Ankh, 2010.

title: Ayi Kwei Armah


text:
Patrick McShane

Patrick George McShane (18 April 1858 – 11 December 1903) was an Australian cricketer who played in three Test matches between 1885 and 1888.

Life and career
McShane is rare in that he was a Test match umpire before he played in a Test match. He was selected to be twelfth man for Australia in the Test against England in Sydney in March 1885, but after several nominated umpires declined or were rejected by the teams, he was asked to umpire. Australia won the match by eight wickets after George Bonnor scored a century in 100 minutes, the fastest in Test matches to that time. McShane's colleague was Ted Elliott.

McShane was then selected for the Test in Melbourne the following week, making 9 and 12 not out. He played in two more Tests against England in the 1887–88 season, failing with the bat – his last three innings were ducks – and taking only one wicket.

He was a left-handed batsman who played in 36 first-class matches, most of them for Victoria, between 1880/81 and 1892/93. He scored 1117 runs at an average of 18.31 with a highest score of 88. As a left-arm medium-pace bowler he took 72 wickets at an average of 25.36 with best figures of 9/45 in an innings. He also took 24 catches.

McShane also captained the Fitzroy Football Club in the VFA. After his sporting career ended, McShane was employed as curator at St Kilda Cricket Club's ground, but became mentally ill and was admitted to Kew Asylum. After two years there he died in December 1903, leaving a widow and a large family.

title: Patrick McShane


text:
Carole Skinner

Carole Skinner (born 8 May 1944) is an Australian retired actress, particularly known for her performances in theatre and television, although she has had small parts in films. She is perhaps best known internationally for her soap opera role's as Nola McKenzie in the soap opera, Prisoner, and Sons and Daughters, as Doris Hudson, as well as miniseries, The Harp in the South, and its sequel, Poor Man's Orange, as Delie Stock.

Early career
Skinner began her acting career in 1966, and first rose to prominence as an established theatre performer. Her performance as Olive in a production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll for the Melbourne Theatre Company in 1977 was met with high regard.

She became well known for her screen roles, particularly in television, making her debut in 1971, when she made a guest appearance in the Australian series, Dynasty, (not relatedto the American series of the same title) before going on to play a regular in Lane End (a spin-off series to the serial, Bellbird), and further guest roles in Certain Women, The Evil Touch, Ryan, Behind the Legend, and The Young Doctors.

Prisoner, Sons and Daughters and Neighbours
Skinner became best known locally and internationally for her six-month stint as Nola McKenzie in the Network 10 soap opera, Prisoner (known outside of Australia as Prisoner: Cell Block H), during its fifth season in 1983. She later admitted that it was her choice to leave the series after producers offered to extend her contract to continue playing Nola. The character was killed-off in one of the series most iconic scenes, when she was shot in the forehead with a zip gun. This was followed by guest roles in soap operas and drama series', including Sons and Daughters, as Doris Hudson, a house-keeper obsessed with her boss, in which she attempted to smother toddler Robert Palmer in the series' 1985 season cliffhanger episode, as Laura Dennison in Neighbours in 1986, and briefly appearances in The Flying Doctors and A Country Practice.

Miniseries and later roles
She is also known for her role as Delie Stock in the miniseries, The Harp in the South, based on the novel by Ruth Park, and the sequel miniseries, Poor Man's Orange, also based on Park's second novel of the same name.

She continued to appear in high-profile drama series', including, two different roles in the Seven Network soap opera, Home and Away, as Mary O'Brien during the show's eighth season in 1995, and as Annie Matthews in the twelfth season in 1999, E Street, Minder (when episodes were filmed in Australia), Murder Call, All Saints, and McLeod's Daughters.

Film appearances
Skinner is also a credited film actress, having appeared in several minor roles, including, her feature debut in the sex comedy, Alvin Purple, which spawned two sequels, and a short-lived television series. She continued with roles during the 1970s, in Eliza Frazer, co-starring with Susannah York and John Waters, and the critically acclaimed, My Brilliant Career, with Judy Davis and Sam Neill, before going on to appear in films, such as, Heatwave, Monkey Grip, Goodbye Paradise, The Umbrella Woman, Howling III, the second sequel to the classic 1981 film, and the 2001 blockbuster, Moulin Rouge! starring Nicole Kidman.

title: Carole Skinner


text: User:Mr Swine.

title: User:Mr Swine.


text:
Skellefte River

The Skellefte River (Skellefteälven or Skellefte älv; Seldutiedno; Syöldateiednuo) is a river in northern Sweden; one of the major Norrland rivers.

Geographically, it starts in the Norrbotten County, also known as the Swedish Lappland province where it drains the lakes Hornavan, Uddjaur and Storavan near Arjeplog; then goes south-east into Västerbotten County, passing through the town Skellefteå (which has given it its name), and finally discharging in the Gulf of Bothnia, in the Västerbotten province.

It is one of the major northern Swedish rivers, with a length of 410 kilometers. Like many large northern rivers, it has been cultivated for water power.

There are several tributaries to the river, with the largest ones named: Malån, Petikån, Finnforsån, Bjurån and Klintforsån.

Salmons and trouts are being put out to compensate for the water power plants, and the river and its tributary are all popular destinations for fishers. Especially popular is the town Skellefteå, known as "Fishing in City".

title: Skellefte River


text:
Frank Walters

Francis Henry Walters (9 February 1860 – 1 June 1922) was an Australian cricketer. He played in one Test match in March 1885, and played first-class cricket from 1881 to 1896.

Life and career
Beginning with Victoria in 1880–81, Walters had played six first-class matches, with a top score of 32, when he was selected for his only Test, the Fifth Test against England in 1884–85. Batting in the middle order, he scored 7 and 5, and England won by an innings and thus won the series 3–2. He reached 50 for the first time, and went on to score 122, for The Rest against the Australian XI in 1888–89, and it was probably this innings that led to his selection in the Australian team to tour England in 1890.

Walters was not successful in England, scoring 351 runs at an average of only 10.02. He displayed his best form in the seasons after the tour, when other players were preferred for the Australian team. Opening the innings for Victoria against New South Wales in 1890–91, he scored 106 in a team total of 181.

He moved to Sydney in 1895 after purchasing the Criterion Hotel there, and played a few matches in 1895–96 for New South Wales. All four of his first-class centuries were scored at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Writing after Walters' death, the Test player and journalist Jack Worrall said, "He was class enough for any company in the land as a batsman, though he was particularly slow in the field."

Walters married Clara Louisa Barber in Melbourne in January 1884. He became a prosperous real estate investor in Sydney. He died at sea off Bombay while he and his wife were returning to Australia after an extended holiday in England.

title: Frank Walters


text:
Groezrock

Groezrock was an annual music festival that took place in Meerhout, Belgium. It started as a small rock and pop festival with one stage and a few hundred people attending, but evolved into a large punk rock/hardcore punk festival, with attendances exceeding 30,000.

The festival had one stage until 2003, when it added a second stage called Back-to-Basics, which was reserved for more hardcore-oriented bands. Since 2006 the festival has taken place over multiple days, and grew to three stages in 2009 and four stages in 2012.

It was announced in October 2017 that the 2018 edition of Groezrock would not be taking place in the Spring, and would instead be an indoor festival in the autumn. The festival have stated that they will be "back in full force" with the usual format in 2019.

1992
1992: Grandma's Toy, Buckle Juice, Dinky Toys, Pitti Polak

1993
1993: Give Buzze, The Establishment, Ashbury Faith, The Scabs

1994
1994: One Hes, Inna Nip, Rusk, Groggy's Crawl, Thermos, Burma Shave, Metal Molly, Jack of Hearts, Soapstone, B.J. Scott

1995
1995: Oxid, Cesspool, Quip, Dildo Warheads, Mutilated, Deeper, Brotherhood Foundation, L.A. Doors

1996
1996: Small Yellow Fish, Protest, Underdog!?, Cooper, Def Real, The Romans, Brotherhood Foundation, Deviate

1997
1997 (26 April): Ryker's, Heideroosjes, Brotherhood Foundation, Gwyllions, Instructions For Use, Igor's Record Shop, Cornflames, Flee Bag

1998
1998 (25 April): Millencolin, Good Riddance, |Intensity, AFI, Hard Resistance, Undeclinable Ambuscade, Pancake, Instructions For Use, Sixpack Joe, Cooperate, Plan 9

1999
1999 (24 April): No Fun at All, Ten Foot Pole, 59 Times The Pain, Good Riddance, 88 Fingers Louie, Buck Wild, Bombshell Rocks, Void Section, Janez Detd., 2 Late, Access Denied, Nevergreen, PN

2000
2000 (29 April): No Fun at All, Heideroosjes, Down By Law, Liberator, Bouncing Souls, Within Reach, Facedown, Vision, 5 Days Off, I Against I, Skin Of Tears, Apeshit, Delate, Figure It Out

2001
2001 (28 April): Square One, Buckle Up, Powerhouse, Deviates, Venerea, Burning Heads, Adhesive, Stoned, Randy, Undeclinable, 59 Times the Pain, Snuff, SNFU, Ignite, Voodoo Glow Skulls

2002
2002 (27 April): Bad Religion, Sick of It All, Guttermouth, Down By Law, Satanic Surfers, Rise Against, Undeclinable Ambuscade (surprise act), Circle, .Calibre, Kill Your Idols, Horace Pinker, Flatcat

2003
2003 (26 April):

Main: Dropkick Murphys, Biohazard, Glassjaw, Ten Foot Pole, Hot Water Music, dredg, Flogging Molly, Gameface, Randy, The Shandon, Face Tomorrow, Skool's Out

B2B: Severance, Between The Lines, Support, Terror, Caliban, Give Up the Ghost, Stairland, Poison the Well

2004
2004 (24 April):

Main: Millencolin, Sick of It All, Heideroosjes, Mad Caddies, Madball, Pulley, Strung Out, Ten Foot Pole, Midtown, The Almighty Trigger Happy, Travoltas, Belvedere, Beatsteaks

B2B: E.Town Concrete, Stretch Arm Strong, Liar, The Bronx, The Promise, Cornflames, Rise and Fall, Champion

2005
2005 (Saturday 30 April)

2006
2006 ( 28 and 29 April)

2007
( 27 and 28 April)

2008
( 9 and 10 May)

2009
( 17 and 18 April)

2010
( 23 and 24 April):

2011
22 and 23 April

2012
28 and 29 April

2013
27 and 28 April

2014
2 and 3 May

2015
1 and 2 May

2016
29 and 30 April

2017
29 and 30 April

title: Groezrock


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Chifley Research Centre

The Chifley Research Centre is the Australian Labor Party’s official think tank.

Progressive Australia Conference
Progressive Australia is a bi-annual conference and series of events that the Centre has run since 2011, which aim to "renew Australia’s progressive values and to rebuild the progressive movement."

Labor History
Labor History is a project that the Centre runs, which "seeks to educate and engage the Australian people in the history and stories of the Australia Labor Party."This project is attempting to bring together the largest single resource on the ALP to help users gain an understanding of the ALP as a whole. It traces the history of the Australian Labor Party from its inception in the 1890s to the Hawke period of the 1990s. Users can also share their own stories and experiences to add to the collection and to stand as a testament to those who have contributed to the development of Australia.

Funding
The Chifley Research Centre is supported by the Commonwealth Government through a grant in aid administered by the Department of Finance and Deregulation. It has Deductible Gift Recipient status under the Income Tax Act 1997.

title: Chifley Research Centre


text: Template:Lang-kk

title: Template:Lang-kk


text:
Berhanu Nega

Berhanu Nega (ብርሃኑ ነጋ; born 6 December 1958) is an Ethiopian politician who is serving as the current Minister of Education of Ethiopia. He previously was the mayor elect of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in the 2005 Ethiopian general elections. He is a founding chairman of the Rainbow Ethiopia: Movement for Democracy and Social Justice and a Deputy Chairman of Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), for whom he served as chief election campaign strategist. He is also the co-founder and leader of Ginbot 7, an anti-government rebel group. Until mid-2018, he was labelled a terrorist by the Ethiopian government.

Early life
Berhanu was born on 6 December 1958 in Debrezeit, the son of Ato Nega Bonger (d. 2021), a prominent businessman, and Woizero Abebech Woldegiorgis, the second-eldest of 12 children. He attended Addis Ababa University where he participated in the student movement against the ruling Derg government in his freshman year. When the government acted against political dissidents in 1977, Berhanu with other radical student activists fled to Mount Asimba in northern Ethiopia. After a division within the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP), he was detained for openly criticizing killings within the EPRP. After a few months, he was released by his captors and crossed into the Sudan where he lived for two years until he was granted political asylum in the United States.

He did his undergraduate degree in economics at the State University of New York at New Paltz and got his PhD in economics from the New School for Social Research, in New York City. During that time, he became one of the organizers of an annual conference on the "Horn of Africa" that debated and analyzed the political, social and economic conditions in the sub-region. For over five years, it served as a forum for intellectual dialogue among political leaders, policy analysts and researchers interested in developments in that part of Africa.

Having completed his PhD studies, he joined the faculty of economics at Bucknell University, where he became a lecturer in economics for three years. Later he founded Imbilta, a bi-monthly magazine focusing on economic, political, social and current affairs in Ethiopia and he was the founding chairman of Ethiopian Economic Association.

Return to Ethiopia
Berhanu, with his wife and his two children, Noah and Iyassu, returned to Ethiopia in 1994. Berhanu became an entrepreneur and founded the Ethiopian Agro-Maize, a fertilizer-producing company, and Addis Village Family Home Builders. Berhanu has also served as a lecturer at the Addis Ababa University, Department of Economics. From 1996 to 2000, he served as the president of the Ethiopian Economic Association. He has also served as the head of the Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Institute, a non-profit organization that he helped to establish. He also did consulting work for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

On 8 April 2001 Berhanu and Professor Mesfin Woldemariam held a day-long panel discussion at the hall of the National Lottery on academic freedom, which was followed by student protest on the main campus of Addis Ababa University. They were arrested on the allegations that this panel incited a student protest at Addis Ababa University the next day, but were released on bail on 5 June, and neither were ever tried.

The 2005 general election
During the 2005 elections, Berhanu debated Meles Zenawi. Despite the post-election political impasse, CUD members, who had won 137 of the 138 seats on the city council, met on 20 August and elected Berhanu mayor of Addis Ababa. Dr. Admasu Gebeyehu and Assefa Habtewold were elected Deputy Mayor and Speaker of the city assembly respectively at the same meeting.

However, the October protests led to Berhanu's imprisonment, along with CUD chairman Hailu Shawul, Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, and Former Senior UN Prosecutor Dr. Yacob Haile-Mariam and other leaders of the CUD, as well as a number of civil rights activists and independent journalists. They were charged with genocide and treason. Amnesty International and the European Union recognized the prisoners as political prisoners and requested immediate and unconditional release.

While in Kaliti Prison, Berhanu wrote and published a book Yenetsanet Goh Siked ("The Dawn of Freedom"), which was published, according to the print on the book, in Kampala, Uganda by MM Publisher May 2006. However the real publishers were a group of young intellectuals in cooperation with Alafa printers that is located in Addis Ababa. The book, over 600 pages long, was highly popular and was sold out in its first weekend, selling out over 10,000 copies and garnering a black market with price 5 times its retail - so much so that the government started harassing people found with the book, stopping traffic and searching cars, while the public was selling copies of the book in black market. More copies were brought in from outside as local publishers were afraid of publishing the book.

After imprisonment
In the 2005 Addis Ababa city countil election, Berhanu's CUD party won 137 seats of the 138 seats. The elected council members of the party held an election for mayor and elected Berhanu to be the mayor. Then, the ruling party refused to hand in the city and eventually imprisoned all the leaders of the party including Berhanu. After 21 months in prison along with all opposition leader, Berhanu left the country in 2007 and returned to teach at the economics department of Bucknell at Bucknell University. While in the U.S, Berhanu announced the founding of a new political group, Ginbot 7, as the old one was dismantled by the government. Ginbot 7, established to pursue civil resistance through an all-inclusive means, attracted thousands of people in Ethiopia and abroad. Ginbot 7 now is one of the prominent opposition organizations fighting for liberty and democracy in Ethiopia.

The ruling government claimed on 24 April 2009 that it had foiled a coup attempt led by members of Ginbot 7 to overthrow the government, arresting 35 people they claimed were part of the plot. Those arrested included General Tefera Mamo, Berhanu's cousin Getu Worku, and Tsige Habte-Mariam, the 80-year-old father of another well-known opposition figure at the time in exile, Andargachew Tsige. Ginbot 7 has claimed this allegation is part of the government's overall suppression of dissent by accusing its opponents of illegal activities and sentencing them in a kangaroo court.

In late 2009 an Ethiopian court sentenced Berhanu to death, in absentia, along with four others (who were also sentenced in absentia), while 33 were sentenced to life in prison. Berhanu became a full professor at Bucknell University on spring of 2015.

In July 2015, Berhanu went to Eritrea, to permanently join the "freedom fighters" that have been receiving help from the government of Isayas Afewerki, a long time leader of the Red Sea state. In January 2016, he returned to the United States to "update" his supporters and raise funds for his organization.

2018 reform and return to Ethiopia
Following the ascent of Abiy Ahmed to the premiership and the resultant opening of the political scene (including the high-profile release of Ginbot 7's secretary-general, Andargachew Tsige), charges were dropped against Berhanu, as part of a wide-scale, unilateral amnesty and he returned to Ethiopia to reassume the role of peaceful political opposition. In May 2019, Berhanu's Ginbot 7 merged with six other conservative-nationalist opposition parties, including the Unity for Democracy and Justice and Blue Party to form the Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice (EZEMA) party, of which Berhanu was elected leader.

Ministry of Education
After the 2021 Ethiopian general election, the Prosperity Party led by PM Abiy Ahmed won a landslide victory. As a result, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed formed a new government. Berhanu Nega's party EZEMA won 4 seats. As promised during his election campaign, PM Abiy invited opposition party leaders who participated in the election to join for a cabinet position. On 6 October 2021, Berhanu Nega was appointed Minister of Education by PM Abiy Ahmed. Later that day the House of Peoples' Representatives approved his appointment along with other Ministers. The working handover of power from the preceding Minister of Education, Getahun Mekuria, to Berhanu took place on 13 October 2021.

Personal life
Berhanu married Dr. Nardos Minasse, an Ethiopian-born American optometrist, in 1989. They have two children together—Noah, an engineering graduate from Carnegie Mellon University, and Iyassu, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Business School working in finance. His family continues to live in Pennsylvania where his wife, Dr. Nardos, practices optometry. Berhanu is a fan of Arsenal F.C, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Philadelphia Eagles.

title: Berhanu Nega


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John McIlwraith (cricketer)

John McIlwraith (7 September 1857 – 5 July 1938) was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test match in 1886.

Early life and business career
Jack McIlwraith was the son of John McIlwraith, the co-founder of the McIlwraith McEacharn shipping company and Mayor of Melbourne in 1873–74, and the nephew of Thomas McIlwraith, who was several times Premier of Queensland. Jack was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne. He worked with McIlwraith McEacharn, managing the Melbourne office while still in his twenties, and later became a director. He was also involved with the company's lead-manufacturing concern.

Cricket career
McIlwraith played for Melbourne Cricket Club, scoring more than 1500 runs in the 1883–84 season. He was selected to play for Victoria in 1884–85. He was the outstanding batsman in the short Australian first-class season in 1885–86, scoring 315 runs at an average of 78.75, with two centuries; only one other batsman scored a century, and the next most successful batsman made 201 runs. He made his highest first-class score of 133 in the first match of the season, an innings victory for Victoria over New South Wales.

He toured England in 1886 with the Australian team, but was only moderately successful in a team that lost all three Tests. He was handicapped on English pitches by the lack of a sound defence, and made only 520 runs at an average of 16.25. He improved towards the end of the tour and played in the Third Test, but scored only 2 and 7 in an innings defeat. He continued playing for Victoria until 1889, when he retired to concentrate on the family business.

McIlwraith was also a leading Australian rules footballer for Melbourne in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) during the 1880s.

Personal life
McIlwraith married Florence Edith Osborn in June 1885. When he died on 5 July 1938 he left no family, his wife and only daughter having pre-deceased him.

title: John McIlwraith (cricketer)


text:
Saint John the Baptist (Leonardo)

Saint John the Baptist is a High Renaissance oil painting on walnut wood by Leonardo da Vinci. Likely to have been completed between 1513 and 1516, it is believed to be his final painting. Its original size was 69 ×.

The painting is in the collection of the Louvre. In November 2022, it was loaned to Louvre Abu Dhabi for two years as part of the museum's fifth anniversary.

Subject matter
The work depicts the figure of John the Baptist in isolation through the use of chiaroscuro, with the figure appearing to emerge from the shadowy background. The saint is dressed in furs, has long curly hair and is smiling in an enigmatic manner reminiscent of Leonardo's famous Mona Lisa. He holds a reed cross in his left hand, while his right hand points up toward heaven, similar to the figure of Saint Anne in Leonardo's Burlington House Cartoon. According to Frank Zöllner, Leonardo's use of sfumato "conveys the religious content of the picture", with the "gentle shadows [imbuing] the subject's skin tones with a very soft, delicate appearance, almost androgynous in its effect".

Kenneth Clark claimed that for Leonardo, Saint John represented "the eternal question mark, the enigma of creation", and noted the sense of "uneasiness" that the painting imbues. Barolsky adds that: "Describing Saint John emerging from the darkness in almost shockingly immediate relation to the beholder, Leonardo magnifies the very ambiguity between spirit and flesh. The grace of Leonardo's figure, which has a disturbingly erotic charge, nonetheless conveys a spiritual meaning to which Saint John refers when he speaks of the fullness of grace from God."

The model for the John the Baptist / Bacchus / Angelo incarnato series was Salaì.

Dating
The dating of Saint John the Baptist is disputed. It was seen by Antonio de Beatis in Leonardo's workshop at Clos Lucé; his diary entry giving a terminus ante quem of 17 October 1517.

Traditionally, the painting has been considered the artist's last, and has been dated to 1513–1516; Leonardo's sfumato technique here being considered to have reached its apogee. Some experts, however, have compared the hand of Saint John to a similar work by a pupil in the Codex Atlanticus, dating the commencement of the picture to around 1509. The pose is also similar to that of a sculpture of the same subject completed after 1510 for the Florence Baptistery by Giovanni Francesco Rustici. Leonardo is thought to have given Rustici technical advice for his commission; it is possible that one artist could have influenced the other with the idea for the pose.

Provenance
Saint John the Baptist was apparently part of the French king Francis I's collection at Fontainebleau in 1542. In 1625, King Charles I of England received the painting from Louis XIII of France in return for a Titian – the Holy Family – and Hans Holbein's Portrait of Erasmus. In 1649, Charles's collection was sold, whereupon the painting entered into the hands of the banker Eberhard Jabach. After a spell in the possession of Cardinal Mazarin, in 1661 the work once again returned to the King of France – Louis XIV. Following the French Revolution, the painting entered the collection at the Louvre, where it remains to this day.

Influence
Prior to this work, Saint John had traditionally been portrayed as a gaunt ascetic. Leonardo's innovative depiction proved influential upon Raphael's workshop; several portraits of Saint John painted around 1517–1518 attributed to Raphael and Giulio Romano show a similarly youthful saint in isolation, with a strong contrast between the dark background and the illumination of the figure.

Also numerous copies and variations of Saint John the Baptist made by Leonardeschi exist.

title: Saint John the Baptist (Leonardo)


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Polybasite

Polybasite is a sulfosalt mineral of silver, copper, antimony and arsenic. Its chemical formula is [(Ag,Cu)6(Sb,As)2S7][Ag9CuS4].

It forms black monoclinic crystals (thin, tabular, with six corners) which can show dark red internal reflections. It has a Mohs hardness of 2.5 to 3. It is found worldwide and is an ore of silver. The name comes from the number of base metals in the mineral.

title: Polybasite


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Harry Moses

Henry Moses (13 February 1858 – 7 December 1938) was an Australian cricketer who played in six Tests, all in Australia against England, between 1887 and 1895. He was later a prominent bowler and businessman in Sydney.

Life and career
Born in Windsor, New South Wales, Moses was one of ten children of Henry Moses, who served in the New South Wales parliament for more than 50 years. He was educated at Calder House School in Redfern, Sydney. He married Alice Friend in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield in February 1882.

In his first two Tests, against England in 1886–87, Moses scored 31, 24, 28 and 33 in low-scoring matches. He played for New South Wales from 1881–82 to 1894–95. In the 1887–88 season he scored 297 not out when New South Wales defeated Victoria by an innings. In December 1892 he captained New South Wales in the first Sheffield Shield match, scoring 99 in the first innings, narrowly missing becoming the first Shield century-maker.

The Referee described his batting thus: "His defence was not to be surpassed; he had unruffled patience, a beautiful off-drive, a clean cover drive and a characteristic fine leg glide." The pressure of his business as a wine merchant prevented him from touring England.

After his cricket career, Moses was a champion bowler, representing New South Wales for 16 years, and captaining the state 60 times.

Moses had wide business interests, and was a director of Tooth and Co. brewers, Goldsbrough Mort & Co., Alliance Assurance Company and other companies. He was a member of the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust from 1907, serving as chairman from 1928 until his death. He died in a Sydney hospital after a long illness in December 1938, aged 80, leaving a widow, two sons and a daughter.

title: Harry Moses


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Bagh Sanja

Bagh Sanja, also known as Bagh Sanjari or Goth Bara Bagh, is a village in Lasbela District, Balochistan, Pakistan.

title: Bagh Sanja