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IBM Displaywriter System

The IBM 6580 Displaywriter System is a 16-bit microcomputer that was marketed and sold by IBM's Office Products Division primarily as a word processor. Announced on June 17, 1980 and effectively withdrawn from marketing on July 2, 1986, the system was sold with a 5 MHz Intel 8086, 128 KB to 448 KB of RAM, a swivel-mounted monochrome CRT monitor, a detached keyboard, a detached 8" floppy disk drive enclosure with one or two drives, and a detached daisy wheel printer, or Selectric typewriter printer. The primary operating system for the Displaywriter is IBM's internally developed word processing software titled "Textpack", but UCSD p-System,  CP/M-86, and MS-DOS were also offered by IBM, Digital Research, and CompuSystems, respectively.

Textpack

 * Overview

Textpack is a proprietary word processing suite developed specifically for the Displaywriter, that was aimed at automating document creation and finalization. Though capable of multi-tasking, Textpack is not a general purpose operating system like DOS or CP/M. Instead, it bootstraps directly to a menu of text editing and pagination functions, with additional options to manage Textpack data disks or load one of several IBM supplemental programs, called "Feature Programs". Textpack was offered in six versions, titled: "E", "1", "2", "3", "4", & "6". These versions of Textpack were tiered in functionality, with only basic text editing being offered with the lowest Textpack versions, E and 1. More advanced features, such as customizing keyboard macros and menu shortcuts, automatically generating custom headers and footers, automatically processing math equations, or emulating a 3101 or 3270 terminal, were reserved for Textpack 4 or Textpack 6. If the Displaywriter system possesses enough RAM, and is running Textpack 4 or 6, it can also load a Feature Program concurrently with a document, and tab between editing the document and the Feature Program in real time.
 * Sales Theory

According to IBM, the approach of offering stripped down versions of the full Textpack product was an attempt to make the Displaywriter more economical for smaller businesses, who IBM envisioned would choose a cheaper software package and then upgrade as their needs required. However, in practice this was undercut by both the Displaywriter hardware being significantly more expensive than competition in the word processing and general microcomputer spaces and the fact that limitations coded into Textpack prevented a fluid upgrade path for customers in many instances. For example, if a customer were using Textpack 1 and wanted to use their Displaywriter to create graphs and charts, they would need to pay approximately $1,500 ($4,500 in 2023) for Textpack 4, the Chartpack software disk, and the RAM upgrade to support the new software.

 * Reception

During the production lifespan of the Displaywriter, Textpack was praised for its functionality and ease of use compared to other word processing options, though the high price tag was criticized, especially in comparison to the IBM 5150 PC and other compatibles. As a result of this, Displaywriter Textpack found strong adoption with clients that had deep pockets, such as in government, higher education, and legal sectors, and poor adoption with smaller businesses and at-home users. Despite selling UCSD p-System for Displaywriter directly and initially working with Digital Research to create a CP/M-86 port for Displaywriter, the Displaywriter was not ever strongly marketed as a true microcomputer, and was almost always sold with Textpack. Additionally, the Displaywriter never received any significant display updates to bring its graphical capabilities up to par with the IBM PC or compatibles. As a result, by 1983, the Displaywriter had lost any true market niche, and in 1984, IBM announced "DisplayWrite", an almost exact replica of the Displaywriter Textpack for the IBM Personal Computer line, making the Displaywriter truly obsolete. The established large contracts with government entities, including the Reagan administration and military buoyed the sales slightly until the Displaywriter was soft

Textpacks 4 and 6 also offered the ability to combine all program disks into a single DS DD floppy, which could then also be used for document storage if space remained on the disk.

According to IBM, this tiered approach of incorporating multiple levels of operating systems and associated feature programs, was an attempt to make the Displaywriter more economical for smaller businesses, who could choose a cheaper software package and then upgrade as their needs required. The Textpack version could be increased without having to repurchase feature programs, and new feature programs could usually be integrated without having to increase the Textpack version. That said, revisions of feature programs are keyed to Textpack maintenance levels. For example, a revision of Textpack 4 from 1984 could not use a revision of a feature program from 1982, it would require a newer revision of that feature program from 1984. IBM used the six character disk labels of the program disks to determine whether one disk was compatible with another. If a disk label of a noncompatible program diskette is changed to a label associated with a compatible diskette, the Displaywriter will attempt to execute the disk as if it contained the correct software, but certain features will either not function properly, or Textpack will abend.

Diskettes used within Textpack are always formatted as either 284 kB capacity if the disk is 1D, or 985 kB capacity if the disk is 2D, regardless of a disk's actual advertized capacity. This is a software limitation of Textpack, and not a hardware limitation of the Displaywriter. Because there is no user accessible setting to designate disk sector size within Textpack, the operating system arbitrarily assumes that all 1D disks are rated as SS SD with 256B sectors and that all 2D disks are rated as DS DD with 256B sectors, which results in the aforementioned capacities. The format that Textpack diskettes utilized, though similar to the IBM 3740 Data Entry System, was uniquely proprietary and not interchangeable with any other IBM system, including the Displaywriter's predecessor, the Office System 6. Text created in Textpack is stored in a file structure unique to the Displaywriter and is encoded with 8-bit EBCDIC. The Displaywriter also supports ASCII, but 8-bit EBCDIC is used in this context in order to take advantage of the 256 characters available per EBCDIC font set, compared to the maximum of 128 characters available per ASCII font set. The Displaywriter uses two of these EBCDIC 256 character font sets, which are stored in ROM on the display adapter card in either two or four PROM chips depending on the card revision, in order to achieve a total of 512 possible available characters. When instructed, the Displaywriter draws from these font sets to generate a working character table in RAM for the operating system to use. Only 256 of the available 512 characters can be used concurrently by the user, but characters from either character set can be mixed and matched to total up to 256 and characters can be hot swapped to in software. Changing characters can be done in Textpack by using the "keyboard change" button on the keyboard. The ASCII code set is accessible within Textpack while using the Asynchronous or Bisynchronous communication features, where the Displaywriter converts the stored EBCDIC characters into ASCII before transmitting and after receiving text. Additionally, if the user wishes to type in ASCII directly during a communication session, they can change the keyboard to keyboard #103 which is the standard ASCII keyboard. While in ASCII mode the Displaywriter can generate all printable ASCII characters. ASCII control characters can be accessed at any time, even in EBCDIC mode, by depressing the control key (the blank key above on the keyboard), and then pressing a corresponding key in the alphanumeric block. This is because they don't add to the 256 displayable character total.

UCSD p-System
UCSD p-System was the official "data processing" operating system for the Displaywriter, offered by IBM through contract with Softech Microsystems. Announced in September 1982 and made available in December 1982, as part of the contract, p-System was extensively supported by Softech Microsystems, and had multiple feature upgrades offered from IBM as time went on.

When purchasing UCSD p-System for Displaywriter, the purchaser could choose between p-System Runtime, or p-System "Development System", which was the same as Runtime, but was bundled with a BASIC compiler or an additional Fortran-77, 8086 Assembly code, or PASCAL compiler.

IBM also sold a software upgrade that would provide p-System with the appropriate I/O calls for the RS232 port(s) on the Displaywriter's communications card, as well as a conversion utility, titled "B&H Exchange Utility", to convert UCSD format files to "B&H" format files, which is the file structure used on the System/23 Datamaster, System/36 and System/38. p-System did not pick up much steam on the Displaywriter, but was notably used by the USDA Rural Development as the operating system for the "Farmer Program Servicing Action System", which was a custom software suite written by the Rural Development agency.

Additional programs offered by IBM for Displaywriter p-System included: "Financial Planning and Report Generating System", which was an advanced version of Reportpack that included financial modeling and easier report generation, "QUICKSTART Utility", which decreased load time of large programs, and "Money-Track" financial tracking by Pacific Data Systems.

CP/M-86
Digital Research announced CP/M-86 v1.1 with BDOS 2.2 for the Displaywriter in November 1981, with orders starting to ship in Q1 1982. The release contains custom I/O calls and printer configuration menus for the Displaywriter's proprietary hardware. It is functionally equivalent to CP/M-86 for the IBM PC, but with the caveat that the limitations of the Displaywriter disk subsystem and graphics card prevent HDD support or raster/vector graphics support from being possible. That said, most CP/M-86 software is compatible. Due to the wide variety of hardware architectures that ran CP/M, most CP/M-86 software has a keyboard and CRT control code configuration menu, where the appropriate information can be entered for the Displaywriter. CP/M-86 was originally meant to be released under contract, similar to UCSD p-System, but this ultimately fell through, and the operating system was instead offered independently by Digital Research. Reflective of the failed agreement, the independent product revisions were classified as "Maintenance Levels" which is an IBM internal term denoting software revisions, and is not a term used in other Digital Research products. While the internal data stream of the Displaywriter is EBCDIC, the Displaywriter was already fully capable of translating the data stream into displayable ASCII outputs as part of the features of the Textpack software. This functionality was used to run CP/M-86 in ASCII mode. The prerelease version of CP/M-86 had a manually mapped keyboard, but the production release utilized the keyboard IDs produced by the Displaywriter keyboard controller and was capable of switching between keyboard layouts within the setup menu. CCP/M-86 with BDOS 3.1 for Displaywriter also began development in Q4 1981 but was never offered as an official product. Only a prerelease build is available today.

MS-DOS
MS-DOS version 1.25 was offered independently by CompuSystems out of South Carolina. Due to the limitations of MS-DOS version 1.25 and the Displaywriter hardware, the scope of applications that can be run is limited. The release is otherwise similar to MS-DOS 1.25 OEMs done for other systems of the era. The "MS-DOS Loader" written by CompuSystems ignores the Displaywriter's ROM BAT results and does its own hardware assessment when loading the operating system. Limited printer support is included through but DOS assumes that the printer is a tractor-fed 5218.

Hardware & ROS Embedded Programs
The Displaywriter hardware, though in some ways comparable to the IBM 5150, did not use off the shelf components, an open architecture, or third party peripherals. The electronic components bear a physical resemblance to IBM's enterprise level hardware of the era, and in fact many components have been recycled from other systems, such as certain IBM-branded chips, the monitor (which is a recolored 3101 terminal CRT), or the disk drives.

Electronics Unit
The physical layout of the system electronics unit, which is the box that the CRT mounts to, consists of a power supply on one half, and cards containing different functions slotted into a backplane with six slots, labeled A-F, that IBM referred to as the system distribution board, on the other half. The system distribution board is passive and has no logic or components of its own. Instead, each of the cards that are inserted utilize the distribution board as an extension of the system bus. The "system card", which is inserted into slot B of the distribution board, contains most of the functions that would be expected on a PC mainboard, including: clock, central processor, ROS ("Read Only Storage", aka ROM), keyboard adapter, interrupt controller and direct memory access controller. However, RAM is not part of the system card and is instead attached as a discrete card in slot E and in some cases also slot F. The disk controller is not located within the electronics unit at all and is instead located within the unit containing the floppy disk drives. Additionally, with some communications configurations, the communications adapter is also located inside the floppy drive unit. These two things necessitated the extension of the system bus outside of the electronics unit through a cable to the drive unit. There is a blue berg connector on the reverse side of the system card that facilitates this. Slot A on the distribution card will contain the communications card when it is not located in the disk unit. Slot C will contain a feature card and slot D always contains the display adapter card.

The Displaywriter contained, at the time, extensive self test features that were stored in ROS (ROM) chips on the "system card".

While proprietary, the Displaywriter hardware was meant to be configurable to tailor suit the needs of the organization ordering the machine and offered multiple configuration options and additional feature cards. Feature cards included: a 3277 emulation card, a 3274/3276 attachment card, a printer sharing card, a single external EIA modem card, a dual external EIA modem card, an X.21 communications card, a local device communications card, an enhanced Chartpack display card and a memory expansion card. Additional configuration options included a 25- or (vertically-oriented) 66-line display, one or two disk drives, 1 sided or 2 sided disk drives, a beamspring (Type A) or Model F (Type B) keyboard, and RAM configurations between 128 and 448 KB.

"A basic system — consisting of a display with a typewriter-like keyboard and a logic unit, a printer and a device to record and read diskettes capable of storing more than 100 pages of average text — cost US$7895 and leased for US$275 a month." The basic word-processing software was Textpack E, with simple mail merge; Textpack 2 added support for double-sided disks, networking, spellchecking, and print spooling; Textpack 4 added automatic hyphenation, columns, and more sophisticated merging; and Textpack 6 added automatic footnoting and outlining. Other options included multilingual dictionaries, graphics, and reports.

Reception and Sales
Unlike some of IBM's other distributed solutions of this era, such as the System/23, 5520 and 5280, which floundered and had limited sales, the Displaywriter was initially a modest success. Tom Willmott, director of User Programs at International Data Corporation in the early 1980s, estimated that roughly 200,000 units had shipped within the first two years of the Displaywriter going on sale to the public. Initial reception of the Displaywriter was also favorable. The Textpack software, especially Textpack 4 and 6 with multitasking and macro support, had word processing features that were considered advanced at the time, and the user interface was reported as being simple to navigate. The 8" disks at the time were cheaper, less prone to data corruption, and could hold more data than the contemporaneous 320k $5 1/4$" floppies. However, the IBM Personal Computer line, which went on the market in 1981, had even better sales numbers in the same timeframe and as the PC and clone market exploded, Displaywriter sales quickly fell off to near zero in the United States by the end of 1983. According to Computerworld Magazine, one anonymous technician had installed more than 200 Displaywriter workstations between 1982 and 1983, but only a total of 11 in 1984. At that point, DisplayWrite software had been announced and introduced for the PC line, and critically, a PC cost around US$5000 at the time, whereas a fully equipped Displaywriter could cost as much as US$14000. For most businesses, an IBM PC or a PC compatible was the obvious choice.

DisplayWrite
The Displaywriter's initial success, in conjunction with IBM's 1984 push to unify its office automation products, prompted IBM to develop a parallel to the Displaywriter's Textpack software for the PC line, System/36 line and S/370 line. This software, dubbed DisplayWrite (with a capital w), had improved features over the Displaywriter's Textpacks, such as ASCII file integration, ASCII file editing, and increased printer support, but retained similar menus to the Textpack software. There were initially three tiers of DisplayWrite, which IBM stated were comparable to Textpack 4 and 6, but with the Displaywriter's withdrawal from marketing, DisplayWrite's features ultimately superseded Textpack as support for DisplayWrite continued until 2015.

There were also additional parallels of Displaywriter software released as companion software to DisplayWrite, with the "Extended Spelling Dictionary" getting a parallel release as "DisplayWrite Legal Support" and the Displaywriter Bisynchcronous Communications software getting a parallel release as "DisplayComm Binary Synchronous Communications". The DisplayComm software acted as a document unification platform between IBM PC, System/36, S/370, Displaywriter and 5520 systems and was capable of connecting a compatible system in those product lines to another compatible system in order to exchange documents either way between the two.

title: IBM Displaywriter System


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KZFN

KZFN (106.1 FM, "ZFun 106") is a radio station based in Moscow, Idaho. KZFN launched in August 1985 and serves Moscow, Pullman, Washington, and the Lewiston–Clarkston metropolitan area.

The transmitter and tower, located on Paradise Ridge (just south of Moscow), provides coverage to the north, west, and south. It has an effective radiated power of 63,000 watts and covers the Palouse listening area, centered in Moscow and nearby Pullman, Washington. To the east, the broadcast signal is limited by the Bitterroot mountain range. Until early 2008, KZFN was also carried on K237DP-FM 95.3 FM, a 34-watt broadcast translator in the "Tri-Cities" of Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick. The simulcast of the station ended due to the sale of the translator.

ZFun 106 is a Mainstream Top 40 CHR station. It plays both original programs such as the "Rude Awakening" morning show, hosted by Steve Shannon, as well as syndicated programs including the Sticky Mix with DJ Sticky Boots, American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest, Sunday Night Slow Jams with R Dub, and Matt Mony's "Kickback On-Air." The station caters mainly to persons 18–34 years of age, primarily the Washington State University and University of Idaho student populations.

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

title: KZFN


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Talk:Valkenburg resistance

I started this as a partial translation from, for which there is a more complete translation of the second half (the post-war period) at ,a link to which I've put at the bottom under 'external links'. DirkvdM 09:18, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Valkenburg resistance


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Template:Grand Prix race report

! colspan="3" style="border-top: 5px solid #FFF179;" |Grand Prix Race

 * - style="text-align:center;"
 * style="width:35%;"|Previous race:
 * style="width:30%;"|
 * style="width:35%;"|Next race:
 * - style="text-align:center"

authors: ಮಲ್ನಾಡಾಚ್ ಕೊಂಕ್ಣೊ

title: Template:Grand Prix race report


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The Belle of New York (1952 film)

The Belle of New York is a 1952 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Hollywood musical comedy film set in New York City circa 1900 and stars Fred Astaire, Vera-Ellen, Alice Pearce, Marjorie Main, Gale Robbins, and Keenan Wynn, with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The film was directed by Charles Walters.

This whimsical (even by Astaire's standards) musical failed at the box office and impressed few critics at the time, mainly due to the nature of the plot which empowers lovers to float free of the influence of gravity - a conceit reprised in the 1999 film Simply Irresistible. Astaire was reluctant to take the project - he was originally supposed to play the role in 1946 but had avoided it through retirement. Clearly stung by its failure, Astaire later claimed that the dance routines - of which there are more than usual - are of a particularly high standard - a rare verdict from such a notoriously self-critical artist. Vera-Ellen is generally viewed as one of Astaire's most technically proficient dance partners, and this was a factor in his readiness to expand the dance content of the film beyond its traditional proportions.

Plot
Set in turn-of-the-century New York, wealthy playboy Charles Hill is causing difficulties for his guardian, Aunt Lettie, and lawyer, Max. Prone to fall in love then ditching his showgirl brides-to-be at the altar, the compensation bills are mounting. After the most recent episode, he hears Angela leading a Salvation Army band in song. He falls in love at first sight and when she scoffs at him, telling him that if he were in love his feet would leave the ground, he promptly floats high into the air. He pursues her, even vowing to do an honest day's work for the first time in his life. After various attempts to convince her, Angela's feeling finally cause her feet to leave the ground. After a couple of misunderstandings are resolved, they float dancing into the air together, to a chorus of well-wishers below as the film ends.

Cast

 * Fred Astaire as Charlie Hill
 * Vera-Ellen as Angela Bonfils
 * Marjorie Main as Mrs. Phineas Hill
 * Keenan Wynn as Max Ferris
 * Alice Pearce as Elsie Wilkins
 * Clinton Sundberg as Gilford Spivak
 * Gale Robbins as Dixie 'Deadshot' McCoy

Production
The film was in development since 1943. Producer Arthur Freed had asked Rodgers and Hammerstein to write the music.

It was then slated to be filmed in 1945 with Astaire and Judy Garland. Due to Garland’s busy schedule she dropped out.

Apparently Mae West was considered for the role of Mrs. Hill. However she was considered too expensive. Beatrice Lillie was also considered.

Musical numbers
The choreography makes play with ideas of lightness, of floating on air and on ice, and the use of platforms, with Astaire consciously avoiding his usual love of noise-making in his solos. Vera-Ellen's lithe and waif-like figure (she allegedly suffered from anorexia nervosa in real life) facilitated this concept. This also marks choreographer Robert Alton's last collaboration with Astaire.

 * When I'm Out With The Belle of New York: The film's signature waltz is delivered by a male chorus outside Vera-Ellen's window.
 * Who Wants To Kiss The Bridegroom: Astaire sings and dances with seven lovely women in sequence, finishing the routine on a table.
 * Let A Little Love Come In: Sung by Alice Pearce and then by Vera-Ellen (dubbed here by Anita Ellis).
 * Seeing's Believing: Astaire fantasy song-and-dance solo performed atop a mock-up of Washington Square Arch, making considerable use of process photography. Astaire's verdict was: "After much experimentation and testing, it neither came off photographically nor story-wise."
 * Baby Doll: Partnered romantic duet, with gentle comic overtones, sung by Astaire and danced by Astaire and Vera-Ellen with much emphasis on twirling motifs and platform work.
 * Oops: Comic dance duet, sung by Astaire, takes place in and around a moving horse-drawn streetcar which introduces the platform ingredient into a linear side-by-side style of choreography incorporating gags and tap routines which echo aspects of the I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket Astaire-Rogers number from Follow the Fleet.
 * A Bride's Wedding Day Song (Currier And Ives): After some unfortunately cloying opening scenes, and an attractive swirling routine on an ice-skating rink, Astaire and Vera-Ellen launch into a duet which in terms of virtuosity is equalled only by the famous Waltz In Swing Time Astaire-Rogers dance from Swing Time, with which this routine has some elements in common, being also a syncopated waltz with tap components, this time to a speeded-up version of The Belle Of New York. The apparent ease with which Vera-Ellen copes with the myriad complexities of this routine has sealed her reputation as one of Astaire's most accomplished dance partners. Lastly, this dance is noteworthy for being Astaire's last full tap duet with a leading lady on film, as Ellen was the last of his dance partners who could tap.
 * Naughty But Nice: A solo song (dubbed by Ellis) and dance routine by Vera-Ellen.
 * I Wanna Be A Dancin' Man: Astaire's second solo routine is a song and sand-dance (only his second sand-dance on film, the other being the No Strings number in Top Hat), and one which - by running separate takes side by side in split screen - has been used in That's Entertainment, Part III to illustrate the extreme precision of Astaire's dance technique. The number - whose lyrics are a tribute to Astaire by his friend Mercer - is a humorous study in nonchalance, with Astaire's choreography deliberately offsetting Mercer's tribute.

Reception
According to MGM records the film earned $1,340,000 in the US and Canada and $642,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $1,576,000.

title: The Belle of New York (1952 film)


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Talk:Rota (schedule)

At Wikipedia, "The" in a title suggests the title of a work of art or fiction: The Tempest, etc. --Wetman 09:20, 2 October 2005 (UTC) Style clean-up project. --caroldermoid 19:08, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

04:49, 29 December 2006 (UTC) I've added links to "Timetables" and "School Timetables". I'm concerned that the title of this article is obscure: I'm a native english speaker, and I've never heard the word 'Rota' to refer to timetables or schedules.

The rota is used in hospitals, care home and various other places where people work shifts such as fire men. The links that were below were supoosed to be showing things to do with this.

Rota is a portuguese word. Didn't know it was used in english... --89.180.14.192 21:09, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Some strange typos
Rota is used very frequently in English, at least in the UK. However I've only ever heard it used for working rotas and not related to buses or trains (timetable would be the more appropriate word)

Whoever wrote this article seems to think that "staff" is a countable noun. The frequent use of "staffs" looks very bad. 213.230.129.24 (talk) 01:25, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

title: Talk:Rota (schedule)


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Bhakra Management Board Karamchari Sangh

Bhakra Management Board Karamchari Sangh (BMBKS) is a trade union in Punjab, India, affiliated to the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, organizing workers of the Bhakra Beas Management Board.

BMBKS was the recognized trade union at BMBB until 2001, when recognition was transferred to the rival Nangal Bakra Mazdoor Sangh.


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User talk:Btm

Please remember Wikipedia's talk page guidelines. Leave a comment by clicking the "+" tab at the top of the page or by adding it to the bottom of the page with an appropriate heading. Generally, I will respond to your comments here to avoid fractured discussions.

Afghanistan and oil
Although I have not previously been involved in the recent changes to this article, I reverted your changes to War on Terror. The phrase encompasses both Afghanistan and Iraq, and the criticism section discusses both of these. The criticism about oil is generally not applied to Afghanistan, as it is not strategicially important when it comes to oil. Other criticisms, however, may be (more) valid, depending on one's point of view. btm 05:55, 25 October 2005 (UTC) (Comment copied from User talk:Copperchair from which it had been removed by User:Copperchair)

 * The criticism section is for the War on Terrorism (Afghanistan). The reference to oil in the article is because of the need for the U.S. to secure the REGION for transporting it. Copperchair 10:51, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

Lax/ Willard Straight
I just noticed the Willard Straight entry. It's nicely done... good work! I also noticed you had a discussion about the 1987 Ivy Lacrosse championship -- I found this Yale Daily News |aricle that confirms that Cornell won (outright) that year. btm 06:30, 15 December 2005 (UTC) (Copied from User talk:Cornellrockey for context)

 * I'm just checking to make sure its accurate. Glad some one knew to double check the ivy data.  Thanks for the compliment on the Straight article.  I finally found out where he was buried and got the rest of his military service info and added it.  Golly, I am such a huge Cornell dork.  all the best,  Cornell Rockey 20:33, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Cornell intro
Xtreambar put up a new intro today that he said you worked on -- it's really good stuff. Good job! JDoorjam 22:04, 1 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Looks good. Thanks for letting me know.  I was going to get around to it tomorrow (finally), including some work on the references, which currently are a bit outdated and messy. btm 03:14, 2 January 2006 (UTC)
 * REALLY nice work with the Cornell intro paragraph. Well done!  Cornell Rockey 05:02, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

"MIT of..."
I've been dithering about this one. I don't want you to think me biassed toward my own alma mater and I think the "MIT of" section is unencyclopedic and just silly. But there are three differences between it and the Harvard of the Midwest article that have kept me from deleting it personally.

First, it's not a whole article, just a section of what is a fairly lighthearted article.

Second, I find Harvard of the Midwest slightly more objectionable than a comprehensive "Harvard of..." list would be, or than the "MIT of..." list is. Here's why. The implicit message of "Harvard of the Midwest" is regional boosterism ("we have lots of schools as good as Harvard"). This is unpleasant but I don't think it's sustainable. Harvard is in a different class from most of the schools mentioned. Do you think Oklahoma State, or Carleton College (a college I seriously considered myself), or even the University of Chicago, is really comparable to Harvard? I don't.

The implicit message of the "MIT of..." list is MIT boosterism: "Look, MIT is the standard of comparison." But... well... to some extent I think this is supportable. Whether or not MIT is really the mostest more betterer highly rankaged Nobel prize count yadda yadda yadda compared to CalTech... consider the following list: Who is the best composer? Beethoven. Best scientist? Einstein. Best car? Cadillac. Best college? Harvard. What's the best engineering school?

All nonsense as objective facts in themselves. Nobody really thinks Cadillac is the best car any more, or even the most expensive, but people still use the phrase "the Cadillac of..." They are not facts, but their existence as popular memes is (probably) an objective fact.

Third, and this is really what has kept me from pulling the trigger on it myself, at least the MIT list editors went to the trouble of providing actual verifiable citations, rather than just asserting "Google and ye shall find." I'm sure that in both cases the research consisted of casual Googling, but at least the MIT editors took the trouble to pick out relevant hits and copy and paste the references.

Does this mean I think it should be kept? No. I'm just explaining to you why I personally haven't done anything about it.

In my own personal view, the MIT of... list is borderline and does not desperately need deletion, while Harvard of the Midwest does.

However, if someone else were to excise the "MIT of..." list I certainly wouldn't lift a finger to defend it. Dpbsmith (talk) 22:32, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

 * On the contrary, I recognize and appreciate your vigilance with MIT. I agree with most of what you say above.  The section has a reference for every claim that it makes and, clearly, was pretty hard work for the people that worked on it.  So, for that reason (and a few others) I decided to start a discussion on the section rather than simply removing it.  Harvard of the Midwest is regional boosterism, indeed.  I can't tell which particular university is boosted by the article; it's more an assertion of "Well, look, collectively the schools of the Midwest are comparable to the schools of the East — we even like compare ourselves to the very best school of the schools of the East."

 * So, Harvard is often the standard of comparison. One so inclined might use this in at least two ways: to boost Harvard, or to boost another university.  Of course, these comparisons often look rather silly and tend to have the opposite effect.  However, and article entitled "The Harvards of the world" would be just as objectionable, if not more so, than "Harvard of the Midwest." btm 23:08, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Vandalism on my page
Yeah, at first I was amused by that post, but now it's not even funny anymore, just stupid. Thanks for reminding me that was still on my talk page. Cheers, JDoorjam 12:18, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

Penn/Princeton
I have a lead, under deep cover double secrecy not for attribution background only. I can say only that it is not Weeren. I am sworn to deepest secrecy on this. This source tells me that he believes that someone he asked kind of thought he remembered talking to someone who recollected that Penn/Princeton's positions in academic processions has changed _within the last few decades_.

He says that formally the order is determined by the institution hosting the procession; the founding date is usually printed in the programme for the event; the founding date is usually the result of the host asking the participants and accepting their self-reported founding date. He says that the result of this is that several decades ago Princeton generally preceded Penn but that starting circa 1990 Penn preceded Princeton.

This would be interesting if it could be confirmed, as it would indicate that the issue is fresher and less settled than I had thought. I had thought Penn claimed 1740 since 1899, sort of "that's our story and we're sticking to it," but if Penn itself has waffled since 1899 I'd find that intriguing. Dpbsmith (talk) 11:05, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

Agreed
The changes look good. Courier new 18:04, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

category:College and Univeristy Types
Thanks for the information about how to fix a misspelled category name. I'll know for next time. --Jdlh | Talk 01:44, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Deciding for Oneself
Can you, who I think to be very sensible, please tell me why the people who use Wikipedia should not be able to make decisions for themselves. Are we all to become Panurge's sheep? Courier new 00:41, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

 * I'm guessing that your thoughts stem from interactions you've had with other Wikipedians on college and university articles. Probably the University of Cambridge, specifically.  I agree that Wikipedia's readers are smart enough to make their own conclusions based on facts and we don't need to make vacuous statements about prestige, etc.  But I think it's important to give examples of contributions and perhaps some quotations from reputable sources about these contributions.  Like you say, we're not trying to herd the masses to take a certain viewpoint, here, we want to be informative.  I think you're doing good work in trying to make the articles neutral and fair and to improve them in general.

 * When you're editing articles, it's important to remember that people tend to edit the pages that they are knowledgable about and that they care about. So, when you want to make major changes and improvements, it's really important to be ready to discuss these and give your reasons for the change (hopefully making a logical argument for the changes); if someone else disagrees, you'll need to understand where that person is coming from and modify your position or argument accordingly (I do like what BOLD, revert, discuss cycle has to say about this).  I've found that the people editing articles generally have a good sense about how to make a balanced presentation of a subject and are striving to improve the aricle, so the best way to get an article into a shape that you like is to make suggestions (of wording, content, etc.) on areas of disagreement — it takes work to make these suggestions and to go through various iterations, but it makes our articles better.  I find these discussions, and presenting my viewpoint, to be some of the most rewarding parts of editing Wikipedia; you've been involved in these discussions very actively recently, and I hope you think the same.  Even in those cases of honest disagreement — the cases where others really have failed to be convinced — I have fun doing it and I try to understand the reasons behind the disagreement; eventually comes the time to defer to others.  Be bold, engage in hearty debate and happy editing! btm talk 06:51, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

That is very kind of you to say, but I do feel I have a tendency to be overly defensive, and harsh to criticism, when I feel I am being ganged up on. Speaking -- or, writing -- loudly always, always has the opposite of the intented effect. Courier new 16:10, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

 * It's natural to get defensive when you feel like you're getting ganged up on, especially on the Internet, where people just say what they want without thinking or worrying about the ramifications. It happens often.  The best thing to do in these situations is to keep the conversation about how articles can be improved and also to avoid being overly aggressive when engaging people that you haven't worked with before.  Depending on how your points are received, continue from there, remembering to keep it civil and to expect the same from others in return. btm talk 05:32, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Boosterism seems to have reached epidemic proportions. I have found a great deal of bias in the Vassar article, just one of many similarly biased articles: “Vassar is often praised for its beautiful campus, a 1000 acre (4 km?) lot of land marked by period and modern buildings that is also an arboretum; since that time, it has maintained its reputation as one of America's outstanding liberal arts colleges, and is especially noted for its tolerant social atmosphere; the college is a member of the "Little Ivies," an unaffiliated group of elite northeastern liberal arts colleges; Vassar is a leader in producing doctoral candidates; Vassar students are well known for their individuality, creativity, and open-mindedness; many beautiful old brick buildings are scattered throughout the bucolic campus, but there are also several modern and contemporary structures worth noting." (The sentence on the noble character of these students got me to laugh.)  Did this come directly from the College's website? Hmm. Courier new 22:29, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Curious as to what is your opinion on the discussion on the Shakespeare talk page. Courier new 01:19, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

 * I think that the lead section as it currently stands is a very good introduction to Shakespeare. I certainly think that the lead paragraph should say something about his preeminent status as a playwright.  I think that this is necessary for both a good and a complete article on Shakespeare.  I looked at the entries for Shakespeare in the online editions of Britannica and Encarta and found:

 * Shakespeare also spelled Shakspere, byname  Bard of Avon  or  Swan of Avon  English poet, dramatist, and actor, often called the English national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time.

 * and

 * William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright and poet, recognized in much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists. Hundreds of editions of his plays have been published, including translations in all major languages. Scholars have written thousands of books and articles about his plots, characters, themes, and language. He is the most widely quoted author in history, and his plays have probably been performed more times than those of any other dramatist.

 * I think that the best way to improve articles that make such claims about very widely hed opinions — ones that are pretty easily supported, basically without major disputes or points of contention — is to make sure that the reader is given further information about the basis of this claim somewhere in the article (in fact, most of the article is likely to support it if the claim is so widely held) and is given the resources to form their own opinion about how valid they think the claim is. So, one of the main driving forces behind a discussion like this should be to try to find books, articles (online library databases are a great way to quickly search for these, if you have access) and reliable webpages that can give the reader such an overview.  In this particular case, based on my reading of the first few paragraphs, Shakespeare's reputation appears to serve this purpose well, but giving several independent sources may well be better, and verifiable, published sources are always preferred. btm talk 08:13, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Join In!
Hey there - I've submitted Oregon State University as a Join in page and thought you might be interested in signing up. Thanks! VegaDark 02:07, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Oregon State University is an active collaboration
Hi, you may begin working on Oregon State University with your two fellow editors. The collaboration will continue to be listed under active collaborations, so more editors may join later. - User:Samsara (talk • contribs) 09:01, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford...
Thanks for the removing that section. I put a long note in Talk because I think perhaps it does deserve some discussion, though. And I also removed the statistics I had put in myself commenting on the many respects in which Harvard, Yale, and Princeton have relative ranks of 1, 2, and 3. Dpbsmith (talk) 00:34, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

 * Yes, I think the section is quite interesting (in fact, I was originally going to say something to that effect in my edit summary, but decided against it). However, HYP's status has to much to do with their early founding and their history, and I personally think that Stanford's status has much more to do with it's geographical isolation from the elite Eastern universities, California's rise in population and the tendency for students to attend the top colleges in their area.  However, with California's status as having the sixth largest economy in the world, I can only imagine what Stanford's status would be if the state had not invested so heavily in its UC system and letting the responsibility of higher education fall on private institutions. btm talk 01:52, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Cornell History
Excellent job a few months ago with the Cornell history page. Any chance that you will fill out the rest of the history? --Xtreambar 20:37, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

 * Thanks. I've been pretty busy recently with offline interests and I've been on a bit of a Wiki break — I haven't been contributing much to the encyclopedia because of these distractions, but I was planning on eventually expanding that page to give a more balanced view of Cornell's history.  I can't say for sure when I'll get around to doing this, but I do plan on doing it.  Of course, if you have interest in adding to the page to include more recent history (I'm pretty sure you have at least a little interest in this subject =), then edit away.  btm talk 21:08, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

Cornell needs you!
Me and a small team of editors have brought Cornell University to near-featured article status, but we still have a few things to do (see the talk page). In particular, I saw you did a lot of work on Cornell Big Red and would like you to expand the Athletics section of the main Cornell article. It doesn't describe enough significant athletic programs successes (or lack of successes) to really hit the issue with a neutral point of view. Could you help out? - mercuryboard talk ♠ 18:34, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

Turn Left page
Hi. I'm involved in an argument on the Turn Left page. As you have edited the page in the past, I'd like to seek your input on the matter, also dicussed on Talk:Turn_Left. Thank you. Xiner 02:27, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

AfD
Since you are interested in Pomona College you might want to check out this AfD of a professor's bio: Articles for deletion/Frederick Sontag. Borock (talk) 20:23, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Nonsectarian

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title: User talk:Btm


text: Category:Trade unions in Bhakra Beas Management Board


text:
Bodo (deacon)

Bodo (c. 814 – 876) was a Frankish deacon at the court of Emperor Louis the Pious, who caused a notorious case of apostasy in the Europe of his day.

Life
In early 838, Bodo declared that he was embarking to make a pilgrimage to Rome, but instead went to Muslim Spain, where he converted to Judaism. His conversion was regarded as a rejection of the Carolingian culture, as well as of the Christian faith. He took the Jewish name of Eleazar, had himself circumcised and married a Jewish woman. In 839, Bodo moved to Saragossa, where he incited the government of the Caliphate of Cordoba and the people to persecute the Spanish Christians. Léon Poliakov claims that this conversion is evidence of the high regard in which Jews were held in Carolingian France.

Correspondence with Álvaro
In 840 Bodo began a correspondence with a Christian intellectual, Pablo Álvaro of Cordova, also in Muslim Spain. Alvaro was born in a Christian family, but with Jewish roots. Because Bodo and Alvaro share interest in the Judaism, they began a dialogue to try to convince each other to change their faith. Some of their letters have been preserved.

The source of the following letter is disputed, but it is attributed to Bodo:

As for your assertion that Christ is God, joined with the Holy Spirit, and you worship him because he had no human father, then along with him you ought to worship Adam the father of the human race, who had neither father nor mother, whose flesh, blood, bones and skin were created from clay. Breath was put in him by the Holy Spirit, and he became an intelligent being. Then too, Eve was created from Adam's rib without a father or mother, and breath came into her and she became intelligent. So worship them too!

title: Bodo (deacon)


text:
Nangal Bakra Mazdoor Sangh

Nangal Bakra Mazdoor Sangh is a trade union in Punjab, India, affiliated to the Indian National Trade Union Congress, organizing workers of the Bhakra Beas Management Board.

NBMS became the recognized trade union at BMBB in 2001.

title: Nangal Bakra Mazdoor Sangh


text:
User talk:Tareqhallak

hi my name is tareq am 13 years and i am a muslim brother

title: User talk:Tareqhallak


text:
Democratic Social Christian Party

The Democratic Social Christian Party (Parti Démocrate Social Chrétien) is a political party in Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is headed by former Mobutu-era prime minister André Bo-Boliko Lokonga, and was co-founded by Lokonga and Joseph Ileo in 1990.

In the 2006 general elections, the party gained two seats in the National Assembly. In the 19 January 2007 Senate elections, the party won one of 108 seats.

It is a member of the Centrist Democrat International organization.

title: Democratic Social Christian Party


text:
Grim Tales

Grim Tales is a British children's television program based on fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, featuring Rik Mayall as a storyteller dressed in pyjamas and a dressing gown. The twenty-two episodes were broadcast on ITV (series 1) and Channel 4 (series 2) from 1989 to 1991. There was also a release on video and audio cassette, with the slightly different title Grimm Tales.

Synopsis
Mayall tells the tales in his own inimitable way from his armchair, designed by David Barrington Holt, complete with paws and ostrich legs. The set was designed by building designer Julian Cripps. The stories are usually interspersed with animation, often fairly abstract, and are directed by Bob Baldwin, with music by composed by Ged Haney and arranged by Clive Bell.

The stories were adapted by Anne Caulfield and Anthony Horowitz.

title: Grim Tales


text:
National Alliance of Democrats for Reconstruction

The National Alliance of Democrats for Reconstruction (Alliance Nationale des Démocrates pour la Reconstruction or ANADER) is a political party in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since the actual electoral strength of the political parties in Congo is not known, the size of the party cannot be determined.

It was established in 1990 by Kumbu Ki-Lutete, a former assistant ambassador to the UN. Ki-Lutete was the president of the party until his death in 2007; he was succeeded by Kumbu Kumbel. In 1997 Laurent Kabila overthrew Mobutu's government (in power since 1965) and issued an executive order placing severe restrictions on the functioning of political parties. ANADER protested and along with other opposition parties demanded that these restrictions be repealed. After prolonged negotiations between the opposing camps, a political arrangement was negotiated and a transitional government and parliament of national unity was established with ANADER as one of the prominent parties. Mr Kumbu Ki-Lutete was appointed as third vice-president of the transition parliament

The party currently has one member in parliament, and is also a member of both the Africa Liberal Network and Liberal International.


text:
Popular Movement of the Revolution

The Popular Movement of the Revolution (Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution, abbr. MPR) was the ruling political party in Zaire (known for part of its existence as the Democratic Republic of the Congo). For most of its existence, it was the only legally permitted party in the country. It was founded by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu (later Mobutu Sese Seko) on 20 May 1967.

Ideology
The official ideology of the MPR, as laid down in the Manifesto of N'sele in May 1967, incorporated "nationalism", "revolution", and "authenticity". Revolution was described as a "truly national revolution, essentially pragmatic," which called for "the repudiation of both capitalism and communism." One of the MPR's slogans was "Neither left nor right," to which would be added "nor even centre" in later years. Nevertheless, historians consider Mobutu's regime to be right-wing and there is evidence of economic liberalization during Mobutu's rule as he appointed Léon Kengo wa Dondo, a prominent advocate of free market reform, as prime minister. Some historians, such as Michel Ugarte and Max Liniger-Goumaz, argue that Mobutu's Zaire was part of a phenomenon called "tropical fascism" due to its authoritarianism, anti-communism, and Third Positionist rhetoric.

One-party period
From its formation in 1967 to 1990, the MPR was de facto the only legal party in the country. The 1967 constitution explicitly allowed the existence of two parties. However, the MPR was the only party allowed to nominate candidates in presidential and parliamentary elections held in November 1970. A month later, on 23 December, the constitution was amended to formally declare the MPR to be the only legally permitted party.

The 1974 constitution enshrined the MPR's status as the vanguard of the nation. It stated that "there exists a single institution, the MPR, incarnated by its President," that the "President of the MPR is ex officio President of the Republic, and holds the plenitude of power exercise," and that "Mobutism" was constitutional doctrine. All citizens of Zaire became members of the MPR at birth. In effect, the government was a transmission belt for the MPR.

The MPR elected its president every seven years at its national convention (five years before 1978). At that time, the MPR's president was automatically nominated as the sole candidate for a seven-year term as president of the republic; he was confirmed in office by a national referendum. Mobutu was elected unopposed as president three times under this system, with official figures showing an implausible 98 percent or more of voters approving his candidacy against at most 1.8 percent either voting "no," casting blank ballots or spoiling their ballot papers. Every five years, a single list of MPR candidates was returned to the legislature, with unanimous or near-unanimous support. All of these candidates were effectively handpicked by Mobutu.

In 1975, formal elections were dispensed with altogether. Instead, the MPR list was approved by acclamation; candidates were simply brought out at stadiums and other public places and cheered by the audiences.

For all intents and purposes, the MPR and the government were one. This effectively gave Mobutu complete political control over the country.

Multi-party period
The single-party system lasted until 24 April 1990, the date of the proclamation of the Third Republic. On that date, Mobutu said that three political parties would be allowed. The "moderate" and "hardline" factions of the MPR would form separate parties, while the third party would be the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS). Under the new multiparty system, Mobutu said that he would be above political parties, and accordingly he resigned as the president of the MPR on the same date, although he again accepted the post of party president a year later, on 21 April 1991.

The party had no real ideology other than support for Mobutu. As such, it disappeared in short order when Mobutu was overthrown by Laurent-Désiré Kabila in 1997, during the First Congo War. Nzanga Mobutu, the son of Mobutu Sese Seko, is the chairman of the Union of Mobutist Democrats (UDEMO), a Mobutist political party in parliament.

title: Popular Movement of the Revolution


text:
Forward Seamens Union of India

Forward Seamen's Union of India is a trade union, affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, organizing Indian sailors.

title: Forward Seamens Union of India


text:
Elbert Frank Cox

Elbert Frank Cox (5 December 1895 – 28 November 1969) was an American mathematician. He was the first African American to receive a PhD in mathematics, which he earned at Cornell University in 1925.

Early life
Cox was born in Evansville, Indiana to Johnson D. Cox, a Kentucky-born teacher active in the church, and Eugenia Talbot Cox. He grew up with his parents, maternal grandmother and his brother in a racially mixed neighborhood; in 1900, in his block, there were three Black and five white families.

Cox went to a segregated college with inadequate resources. Cox was offered a scholarship to study violin at the Prague Conservatory of Music, but chose to pursue his interest in mathematics instead.

Indiana University
Cox studied at Indiana University Bloomington. Besides mathematics, Cox also took courses in German, English, Latin, history, hygiene, chemistry, education, philosophy and physics. Cox's brother Avalon went to Indiana University as well. There were three other Black students in his class. He received his bachelor's degree in 1917, at a time when the transcript of every Black student had the word "" printed across it. He received A's on all his exams while at Indiana. During his time at Indiana University he became a member of the historically Black fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Between colleges
After he graduated in 1917, Cox joined the U.S. Army to fight in France during World War I from 1918 to 1919. After he was discharged from the Army, he began working as a high school math tutor.

Cox returned to pursue a career in teaching, as an instructor of mathematics at a high school in Henderson, Kentucky. In the autumn of 1919, he was appointed as a professor in physics, chemistry and biology at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina where he also became chairman of the Department of Natural Sciences. He would continue there until 1922.

Cornell University
In December 1921, he applied for a graduate scholarship at Cornell University, one of seven American universities with a doctoral program in mathematics. One of his references wrote a positive letter followed by another letter anticipating difficulties for him because he was a "colored man". Cox was approved May 5, 1922, and enrolled in the autumn of the same year.

Important to him at Cornell was a young instructor, William Lloyd Garrison Williams, a co-founder of the Canadian Mathematical Congress who became chair of Cox's "special committee" in March 1923, and was his supervisor. Cox received the Erastus Brooks fellowship in Mathematics ($400 per year) in autumn 1924 and followed Williams to McGill University in Montreal. He moved back to Cornell in the spring semester of 1925, and finished his dissertation, The polynomial solutions of the difference equation af(x+1) + bf(x) = φ(x), in the summer of the same year. On September 26, 1925, he received his Ph.D. He was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in Mathematics, and most likely the first black man in the world to do so. He did not publish a paper until 1934.

While Cox was active at Cornell, the Ku Klux Klan was active in the area.

West Virginia State College
On 16 September 1925, Cox began teaching mathematics and physics at the then all-black, poorly funded West Virginia State College. Professors with a PhD were rare there, and his international connections made him stand out as well. He received a salary of $1,800. His influence can be seen in the large number of changes in the curriculum between 1925 and 1928. In 1927, he married Beulah Kaufman, the daughter of a former slave. She was a teacher at an elementary school, and worked with Cox's brother Avalon. He and Beulah had met in 1921 and had courted for six years. Their first child, James, was born in 1928. In 1929, Cox joined the faculty of Howard University and moved to Washington, D.C.

Howard University
Cox started to teach at Howard University in September 1930. Despite his credentials, he was outranked by other professors such as William Bauduit and Charles Syphax. Both had published multiple papers; it was only now that Cox published his graduation paper. Williams, his supervisor, tried to pursue recognition for Cox from a university in another country but had difficulties in doing so. Different universities in England and Germany refused to consider his thesis, but the Tohoku Imperial University in Sendai, Japan did recognize it. It was published in the Tôhoku Mathematical Journal in 1934. He was, however, very active in teaching: the university's president, James M. Nabrit, remarked that Cox had directed more Master's Degree students than any other professor at Howard University. His students also performed better than those of other professors, and he was a popular professor. Among his students was his son Elbert Lucien Cox, and William Schieffelin Claytor, the third African-American to get a Ph.D. in mathematics. Cox was promoted to professor in 1947. In 1957, he became head of the Department of Mathematics, a position which he held until 1961. He retired in 1965 at the age of 70, three years before his death. His portrait hangs in Howard University's common room.

During World War II, Cox taught engineering science and war management from 1942 to 1944.

During his life, Cox published two articles. He expanded on the work Niels Nörlund had done on Euler polynomials as a solution to a particular difference equation. Cox used generalized Euler polynomials and the generalized Boole summation formula to expand on the Boole summation formula. He also studied a number of specialized polynomials as solutions for certain differential equations. In his other paper, published in 1947, he mathematically compared three systems of grading.

While Cox did not live to see the inauguration of Howard's mathematics PhD, he significantly contributed to its launching, as detailed in his obituary: "'[I]t is believed by many that Cox did much to make it [Howard's mathematics PhD program] possible. Cox helped to build up the department to the point that the Ph.D. program became a practical next step. He gave the department a great deal of credibility; primarily because of this personal prestige as a mathematician, as being the first black to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics, because of the nature and kinds of appointments to the faculty that were made while he chaired the Department, and because of the kinds of students that he attracted to Howard to study mathematics at both the undergraduate and master's levels.'"

Honors
The National Association of Mathematicians established the Cox–Talbot Address in his honor, which is annually delivered at the NAM's national meetings. The Elbert F. Cox Scholarship Fund, which is used to help black students pursue studies, is also named after him.

Mathematician Talitha Washington championed Cox leading to the November 2006 unveiling of a plaque in Evansville commemorating his pioneering achievement.

Family
Elbert and Beulah Cox had four children.

Sources and further reading

 * Elbert Cox at the mathematics genealogy project.
 * 4 more references for further reading
 * Elbert Cox at the mathematics genealogy project.
 * 4 more references for further reading
 * 4 more references for further reading
 * 4 more references for further reading
 * 4 more references for further reading
 * 4 more references for further reading
 * 4 more references for further reading

title: Elbert Frank Cox


text:
C. N. Annadurai

Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 1909 – 3 February 1969), popularly known as Anna, also known as Perarignar Anna (Anna, the scholar or Elder Brother), was an Indian politician who served as the fourth and last Chief Minister of Madras State from 1967 until 1969 and first Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for 20 days (after Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu) before his death. He was the first member of a Dravidian party to hold either post.

He was well known for his oratorical skills and was an acclaimed writer in the Tamil language. He scripted and acted in several plays. Some of his plays were later made into movies. He was the first politician from the Dravidian parties to use Tamil cinema extensively for political propaganda. Born in a middle-class family, he first worked as a school teacher, then moved into the political scene of the Madras Presidency as a journalist. He edited several political journals and enrolled as a member of the Dravidar Kazhagam. As an ardent follower of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, he rose in stature as a prominent member of the party.

Due to differences looming with Periyar, on issues of separate independent state of Dravida Nadu and union with India, he crossed swords with his political mentor. The friction between the two finally erupted when Periyar married Maniammai, who was much younger than him. Angered by this action of Periyar, Annadurai with his supporters parted from Dravidar Kazhagam and launched his own party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). The DMK initially followed the same ideologies as its parent, Dravidar Kazhagam. But with the evolution of national politics and the constitution of India after the Sino-Indian War in 1962, Annadurai dropped the claim for an independent Dravida Nadu. Various protests against the ruling Congress government took him to prison on several occasions; the last of which was during the Madras anti-Hindi agitation of 1965. The agitation itself helped Annadurai to gain popular support for his party. His party won a landslide victory in the 1967 state elections. His cabinet was the youngest at that time in India. He legalised Self-Respect marriages, enforced a two-language policy (in preference to the three-language formula in other southern states), implemented subsidies for rice, and renamed Madras State to Tamil Nadu.

However, he died of cancer just two years into office. His funeral had the highest attendance of any to that date. Several institutions and organisations are named after him. A splinter party launched by M. G. Ramachandran in 1972 was named after him as All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Early life
Annadurai was born in a Tamil Sengunthar family on 15 September 1909 in Conjeevaram, Madras Presidency, in a lower-middle-class family. His father Natarajan Mudaliar was a weaver and his mother was Bangaru Ammal. He was raised by her sister Rajamani Ammal. At the age of 21, he married Rani while he was still a student. The couple had no children of their own, so they later adopted and raised Rajamani's grandchildren. He attended Pachaiyappa's High School, but left school to work as a clerk in the town's Municipal office to assist with the family finances.

In 1934, he graduated with a B.A. degree from Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai. He then earned an MA degree in economics and politics from the same college. He worked as an English teacher in Pachaiyappa High School. Later he quit the teaching job and began involving himself in journalism and he served as an editor in few weekly magazine and then he indulged into politics.

Religion
Though Annadurai was an atheist in his personal life as he took oath as the Chief Minister of the state in the 'name of conscience' rather than in the 'name of god', he proclaimed as "Only one race, Only one God" (Ondre Kulam Oruvanae Devan) from tamil work Thirumanthiram penned by Thirumoolar in order to unify the people of Tamil Nadu. Though secular to the core, he later described himself as a Hindu sans the sacred ash, a Christian minus the holy cross, and a Muslim without the prayer cap.

Annadurai stated he would attack superstitions and religious exploitation but would never fight against the spiritual values of society. He once explained his stance towards God and religion as "I do not break coconuts for Pillaiyar, (a form of worship) neither do I break his idols." (Nan Thengayum udaipathillai; Pillaiyarum Udaipathillai)

Entry into politics

Annadurai's interest in politics made him join the Justice party in 1935. The Justice party was formed by non-Brahmin elites in 1917. The Justice party originated with the Madras United League which was initially started as a work group that helped non-Brahmin students in Madras with accommodation and later grew into a political party under the efforts of leaders like C. Natesa Mudaliar, P. Theagaraya Chetty and T. M. Nair. The party was named South Indian Liberal Federation (S. I. L. F.) – popularly known as Justice party. The party had been in power in Madras Presidency since self-governance was introduced in 1920, until it was defeated by the Indian National Congress in 1937. By the time Annadurai joined the Justice party, Periyar E. V. Ramasami was the party president. Annadurai served as the sub-editor of the Justice magazine. He later became the editor for Viduthalai (Freedom in English) and was also associated with the Tamil weekly paper, Kudi Arasu. He started his own journal Dravida Nadu (named after the Dravida Nadu – an independent state that the party called for). In 1944, Periyar renamed the Justice party to Dravidar Kazhagam and gave up contesting in the elections.

Differences with Periyar and birth of DMK
The Indian National Congress, which had been fighting for the independence of India from colonial British rule, was dominated by Brahmins. Periyar assumed that independent India would bring South Indians, especially Tamils, under the dominance of Brahmins and North Indians. For these reasons Periyar called for 15 August 1947, the day of Indian independence, to be a day of mourning. Annadurai opposed this move and the schism between his supporters and Periyar widened. He saw the gaining of independence as an overall achievement of India rather than solely that of Aryan North. Moreover, Periyar's decision on giving up participating in democratic elections was also opposed by Annadurai, in reaction to which he walked out of a party meeting in 1948. Periyar considered that candidates in elections must compromise their ideologies. Moreover, it was Periyar's idea that social reformation can be better achieved outside politics, through education and canvassing the masses, rather than governments. Eventually, when Periyar married Maniammai, who was 40 years younger than he, the personal differences between Annadurai and Periyar split their supporters. Annadurai launched his own party with his party fragment, along with E. V. K. Sampath (Periyar's nephew and until then considered his political heir ). The new party was named Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. DMK's presence was initially restricted to urban centres and its surrounding areas. But by appealing to the urban lower, lower middle and working classes, students, Dalits and lower castes, Annadurai was able to accelerate its growth and spread. He fought for the social justice of the lower castes and thus rapidly gained popular support.

Protests in 1953
In 1953, Annadurai directed the DMK to undertake three protests:

 * Condemning Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, for describing the damaging Hindi letters in railway station boards by DK and DMK activists as "childish nonsense"
 * Against C. Rajagopalachari (or Rajaji), the then chief minister of Madras State, for introducing a new educational system that indirectly encouraged traditional caste-based occupations called Kula Kalvi Thittam
 * Against renaming Kallakkudi, Dalmiyapuram as the name Dalmiyapuram symbolised north Indian domination. He was eventually sentenced to three months imprisonment in this protest.

Dravida Nadu

During his days in Dravida Kazhagam, Annadurai had supported Periyar's call for an independent Dravida Nadu. The claim for such an independent state stayed alive in the initial days of DMK. E. V. K. Sampath, who had earlier forfeited his inheritance from Periyar to join DMK, saw the call for Dravida Nadu as an unrealistic goal. Responding to Sampath's concern, Annadurai said We must contest more elections, win more seats and that way, win the confidence of the people; and when it is hot, we can strike and strike hard

Sampath's opposition to using film stars made him cross swords with many other members of the party. Eventually, with looming differences with Annadurai and other leaders on Dravida Nadu, Sampath left the DMK and formed his own party, the Tamil Nationalist Party, in 1961. In 1962, Annadurai said in the Rajya Sabha that Dravidians want the right of self-determination ... We want a separate country for southern India.

However, the reorganisation of states in India on linguistic basis removed Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam speaking regions from the Madras Presidency leaving behind a predominantly Tamil Madras State. Giving in to realities, Annadurai and his DMK changed the call of independent Dravida Nadu for Dravidians to independent Tamil Nadu for Tamils. Annadurai felt that remaining in the Indian Union meant accepting linguistic domination and economic backwardness. Nevertheless, the Sino-Indian war brought about changes in the Indian constitution. The Sixteenth Amendment (most popularly known as the Anti-Secessionist Amendment) banned any party with sectarian principles from participating in elections. When this amendment was presented in the Parliament of India, Annadurai was one of its members. He vehemently debated against the amendment, but eventually could not stop it from being passed. Faced with the new constitutional changes, Annadurai and his DMK left the call for an independent Tamil homeland on the back burner. From then on Annadurai and his DMK aimed at achieving better co-operation between the southern states and claimed more autonomy for Tamil Nadu. On the party's position, Annadurai said To make the Dravidian state a separate state was our ideal. A situation has arisen where we can neither talk nor write about this ideal. Of course we can destroy the party by undertaking to violate the prohibition. But once the party itself is destroyed there will not be any scope for the ideal to exist or spread. That is why we had to give up the ideal.

Anti-Hindi agitations
Hindi was first recommended to be an apt language for official purposes in India by a committee headed by Motilal Nehru in 1928. This move was opposed by people and politicians of Tamil Nadu, since they considered that it would make them second class citizens when compared to that of native Hindi speaking North Indians.

Protests of 1938
In 1938, the Congress government in Madras Presidency headed by C. Rajagopalachari (popularly known as Rajaji) proposed the use of Hindi language as a compulsory language in schools. This move was opposed by Tamil leaders. Annadurai, along with other Tamil scholars including the poet Bharathidasan, held demonstrations. Annadurai participated in the first Anti Hindi imposition conference held in Kanchipuram on 27 February 1938. Two members of the protest, Thalamuthu and Natarajan, died as a consequence of police beating the same year. With overwhelming opposition, the government of Madras Presidency finally withdrew the order in 1940. he stated that "you learn English for world communication and learn Hindi for communication in India, it seems like big door for big cat and small door for small cat, why not let the small cat also enter in big door".

Madras Anti Hindi agitation, 1965
When India became a republic with its own constitution in 1950, the constitution had given special status to the Hindi language, which was to gain official status after 15 years in 1965. This move was regarded with anxiety by students in Tamil Nadu. Speaking of making Hindi as official language of India, Annadurai said ''It is claimed that Hindi should be the common language because it is spoken by the majority. Why should we then claim the tiger as our national animal instead of the rat which is so much more numerous? Or the peacock as our national bird when the crow is ubiquitous?''. In view of continued threat to impose Hindi, the DMK held an open-air conference against Hindi imposition at Kodambakkam, Chennai in August 1960, which Annadurai presided over. He gave black flags to leading functionaries, to be shown to the President of India during his visit to the state. Sensing an uprising, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru assured in the Parliament that English would continue to be the official language of India, as long as non-Hindi speaking people desire. DMK gave up the plan of showing black flags and Annadurai appealed to the Union Government to bring about a constitutional amendment incorporating the assurance.

With no constitutional amendment done, Annadurai declared 26 January 1965, the 15th Republic Day of India and also the day the Constitution, which in essence enshrined Hindi as the official language of India, came into practice, as a day of mourning. This move was opposed by the then Chief Minister of Madras State, Bhakthavatchalam, as blasphemous. Hence Annadurai, who by then had been trying to shake off the secessionist image of his party, declared 24 January as a day of mourning. He also replaced the slogan of the protests to Down with Hindi; Long live the Republic. Nevertheless, violence broke out on 26 January, initially in Madurai which within days spread throughout the state. Robert Hardgrave Jr, professor of humanities, government and Asian studies, suggests that the elements contributing to the riots were not instigated by DMK or Leftists or even the industrialists, as the Congress government of the state suggested, but were genuine frustrations and discontentment which lay beneath the surface of the people of the state.

With violence surging, Annadurai asked the students to forfeit the protests, but some DMK leaders like Karunanidhi kept the agitations going. Nevertheless, Annadurai was arrested for instigating the agitation. Although the violence were not directly instigated by the DMK, the agitation itself aided DMK to win the 1967 elections and Annadurai became the new Chief Minister of Madras State.

Literary contributions

Annadurai was known as one of the best Tamil orators during his time. He developed a style in Tamil public speaking using metaphors and pleasing alliterations, both in spoken and written language. Anna was also best known for his extempore speaking ability being very well affluent on rhetoric skills.

He has published several novels, short stories and plays which incorporate political themes. He himself acted in some of his plays during his time in the Dravidar Kazhagam. He introduced movie media as a major organ for propaganda of Dravidian politics. In total Annadurai scripted six screen plays.

His first movie Nallathambi (Good Brother, 1948) which starred N. S. Krishnan promoted cooperative farming and abolition of zamindari system. His novels such as Velaikaari (Servant Maid, 1949) and Or Iravu, which were later made into movies, carried the hallmarks of propaganda for Dravidian politics. On Velaikari, Annadurai said that the movie made it clear that greed and avarice of the rich did not pay in the long run.[...] Some of the elementary principles of socialism and stressed that we should depend upon our own labour for our progress and well being and not some unknown factor. Velaikari made direct references against the suppressive landlords who were traditionally allied with Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhi. His movies had some elements of Dravidian political ideologies like anti-Brahminism and messages differing against Congress with detailed reasons and scenarios behind. Popular stage and cine actors who stood by Anna in early years were D. V. Narayanasamy, K. R. Ramasamy, N. S. Krishnan, S. S. Rajendran, Sivaji Ganesan and M. G. Ramachandran.

Some of his books had a social approach and its content were debatable, such as "Arya Mayai" (Aryan Illusion) in which he highlighted the view point of bringing an equal living society regardless of any caste dominance and especially drawing similarities which existed by then of the upper-caste Brahmin (Aryan) people. He was fined INR 700 for sedition and was also sent to prison.

Some of his well-known works are his books Annavin Sattasabai Sorpolivukal (Anna's speeches at the state legislative, 1960), Ilatchiya varalaru (History of Ideals, 1948), Valkkaip puyal (Storm of life, 1948) and Rankon rata (Radha from Rangon). His work Kambarasam criticises Ramayana of Kamban. His works of fiction such as Kapothipura kathal (Love in the city of Blind), Parvathy B.A., Kalinga rani (Queen of Kalinga) and Pavayin payanam (Travels of a young lady) carried elements of political propaganda.

At times when Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was extensively using movies for its propaganda, censorship crippled the process. To evade censorships, DMK movies used Annadurai's popular nickname Anna, which also means elder brother in Tamil, as a pun. When praises were bestowed on the Anna on screen, the crowd would break into applause. Kannadasan has criticised Anna's works that apart from Sivaji Kanda Hindu Rajyam and Needhi Devan Mayakkam, the rest lacked even a plot.

Posts held
The provincial conference of the DMK was held at Tiruchirappalli in May 1956. Annadurai stepped down from the General Secretaryship of the party, and Nedunchezhian was elected to that position. It was at the Tiruchirappalli conference that the party decided to contest free India's second general elections which were to be held in 1957. The DMK secured 15 Assembly seats and two parliamentary seats. Anna was elected from his home constituency, Kanchipuram for the first time to the Madras Legislative Assembly. In that election, the DMK won 15 seats and Annadurai became the leader of the opposition in the state. In 1962, the DMK emerged as the major political party in the state outside the Congress, winning 50 seats in the Assembly. Although Annadurai himself lost the elections, he was nominated as a member of parliament to the upper house (Rajya Sabha).

As chief minister
In 1967, the Congress lost nine states to opposition parties, but it was only in Madras state that a single non-Congress party majority was achieved. The electoral victory of 1967 is also reputed to an electoral fusion among the non-Congress parties to avoid a split in the Opposition votes. Rajagopalachari, a former senior leader of the Congress party, had by then left the Congress and launched the right-wing Swatantra Party. He played a vital role in bringing about the electoral fusion amongst the opposition parties to align against the Congress. At that time, his cabinet was the youngest in the country.

Annadurai legalised self-respect marriages for the first time in the country. Such marriages were void of priests to preside over the ceremony and thus did not need a Brahmin to carry out the wedding. Self-respect marriages were a brainchild of Periyar, who regarded the then conventional marriages as mere financial arrangements which often caused great debt through dowry. Self-Respect marriages, according to him, encouraged inter-caste marriages and caused arranged marriages to be replaced by love marriages. Annadurai was also the first to use subsidising of the price of rice for election victory. He promised one rupee a measure of rice, which he initially implemented once in government, but had to withdraw later. Subsidising rice costs are still used as an election promise in Tamil Nadu.

It was Annadurai's government that renamed the Madras State to its present-day form declaring officially as Tamil Nadu. The name change itself was first presented in the upper house (Rajya Sabha) of the Parliament of India by Bhupesh Gupta, a communist MP from West Bengal, but was then defeated. With Annadurai as chief minister, the state assembly succeeded in passing the bill renaming the states.

Anna was instrumental in organising the World Tamil Conference under the aegies of UNESCO in 1967. Another major achievement of Annadurai's government was to introduce a two language policy over the then popular three language formula. The three language formula, which was implemented in the neighbouring states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, entitled students to study three languages: the regional language, English and Hindi. It was during the period of his Chief Ministership that the Second World Conference was conducted on a grand scale on 3 January 1968. Nevertheless, when a commemorative stamp was released to mark the Tamil conference, Annadurai expressed his dissatisfaction that the stamp contained Hindi when it was for Tamil. Annadurai also issued an order for the removal of the pictures of gods and religious symbols from public offices and buildings. He proceeded on a world tour as an invitee of the Yale University's Chubb Fellowship Programme and was also a guest of the State Department in the US in April–May 1968. He was awarded the Chubb Fellowship at Yale University, being the first non-American to receive this honour. The same year he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Annamalai University.

Death
On 10 September 1968 Annadurai travelled to New York for medical treatment and he was operated for cancer in the gullet at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He returned to Chennai in November and continued to address several official functions against medical advice. His health deteriorated further and he died on 3 February 1969. His cancer was attributed to his habit of chewing tobacco. His funeral holds the record for highest number of attendees, as registered with The Guinness Book of Records. An estimated 15 million people attended it. His remains were buried in the northern end of Marina Beach, which is now called Anna Memorial.

Legacy
After his electoral success with his DMK in 1967, the Congress has not yet returned to power in Tamil Nadu. His government was the first in the country to be from a non-Congress party with full majority. When the DMK later split, with M. G. Ramachandran forming his own Dravidian party, the rebel fragment was named after Annadurai as Anna DMK. Anna Nagar, a residential neighbourhood in Chennai is named after him. Sri Lankan Tamil nationalist leaders and writers are considered to be influenced by Annadurai's chaste Tamil movement. Anna University, a premier institution in science and technology was named after him. DMK's current head office built in 1987 is named after him as Anna Arivalayam. One of the major roads in Chennai was named in his honour, Anna Salai—it was previously called Mount Road, and a statue of Annadurai now stands there. The central government issued a commemorative coin of ₹ 5 denomination to mark the centenary celebrations of him on 15 September 2009 in Chennai. Jawaharlal Nehru hailed him as one of the great parliamentarians for speeches in Rajya Sabha. Selig Harrison, a US-based analyst of South Asian and East Asian politics and journalism commented, There is no doubt that this powerful orator is the single-most popular mass figure in the region The magazine India Today has listed Annadurai in its "Top 100 people who shaped India by thought, action, art, culture and spirit". In 2010, Anna Centenary Library was established in Chennai in remembrance of Annadurai.

A life-size statue of Annadurai was unveiled on 1 October 2002 in the Parliament House by then President of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in his honour and the function was attended by notable politicians.

On 31 July 2020, Alandur metro station in Chennai has been renamed as Arignar Anna Alandur Metro by Government of Tamil Nadu to honour him.

Filmography
Annadurai's first movie script, of his play Velaikkari, fetched him a fee of ₹ 12,000, a considerable sum at that time (worth ₹ 1 crore in 2015 prices)

Apart from his stories, the names of some of Annadurai's works were used as film titles for Panathottam (1963), Valiba virundhu (1967), Kumarikottam (1971), Rajapart Rangadurai (1973), Needhi devan mayakkam (1982).

In popular culture
A scene from the film Thangarathinam (1960) shows real footage of Annadurai and other DMK leaders speaking at the Tirāviṭa camutāya cīrtirutta mānāṭu (Dravidian Community Reform Conference) held in Palani on 17 September 1960. A group of protagonists in the film are seen attending the conference. The group is shown as belonging to a reformist organisation named Thirukkural Munnanik Kazhagam (திருக்குறள் முன்னணிக் கழகம்). Its acronym in Tamil is an allusion to the DMK (திமுக).

In a scene from the film Iru Kodugal (1969), District Collector Janaki (Sowcar Janaki), meets the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The Chief Minister is not seen directly. Instead, Annadurai's voice (as imitated by Sivagangai Sethurajan) is heard. Also, a pair of glasses on the table and a pen in the foreground are seen.

The song sequence "Nee mannavana chinnavana" from the film Rudra Thandavam (1978) shows real footage of Annadurai's funeral.

In the film Walter Vetrivel (1993), Vijayakumar played Viswanathan (Tamil Nadu Minister for Home Affairs as per the plot). The actor's countenance in the film strongly resembles Annadurai.

In the film Iruvar (1997), Nassar played Ayya Veluthambi, a character whose role is reminiscent of Annadurai.

Annadurai is portrayed in the film Kamaraj (2004).

S. S. Stanley played Annadurai in the film Periyar (2007). Directed by Gnana Rajasekaran, the film had Sathyaraj in the lead role of Periyar, Annadurai's mentor. After Annadurai's death (not shown in the film), his real life photo is seen in the table of M. Karunanidhi, who succeeded him as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

The song sequence "Nee kondru kuvithatu" from the film Indiralohathil Na Azhagappan (2008) shows real footage of Annadurai.

Bharathi Kannan played Annadurai in the film Thalaivii (2021).

title: C. N. Annadurai


text:
Aklo

Aklo is the name of a fictional language that has been used by many authors from its first reference in 1899. The language is said to have mystical powers.

Aklo was first mentioned by Arthur Machen in his 1899 story "The White People". Aklo was mentioned but not described in detail by Machen, being noted in passing by the story's narrator as part of a secretive game or ritual.

H. P. Lovecraft admired the Machen story, and used Aklo in his Cthulhu Mythos stories  "The Dunwich Horror" and "The Haunter of the Dark". The authors who have used Aklo have played into the fiction that the language has magical powers, and so have not included much detail to prevent "some careless reader from incant[ing] a spell capable of calling forth evil".

In The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, Aklo appears as a language used in Black Masses and by the Illuminati.

Alan Moore later used Aklo in his Lovecraft tribute short story and 2003 comic The Courtyard, in his 2010 comic Neonomicon and again in Providence. In his adaptation, Aklo is not just an alien language, but a key that opens doors inside the human mind which is "connected to Moore's general view on actual magic and the role of words in modifying a human's perception of reality."

The Pathfinder RPG, published by Paizo, uses Aklo as the language of several subterranean, otherworldly, or otherwise Lovecraftian species in the game's universe, such as aboleths, gibbering mouthers, and shoggoths.

title: Aklo


text:
Union for Democracy and Social Progress (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

The Union for Democracy and Social Progress (Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social, UDPS) is a major political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Founded in 1982, amid the one-party rule of Mobutu Sese Seko and his Popular Movement of the Revolution, it is the country's oldest existing party. During the presidency of Joseph Kabila, it was the largest opposition party in the country. The party identifies as social democratic.

The party is led by Félix Tshisekedi, who has served as President of the DRC since his election in 2018. Tshisekedi's assumption of the presidency was the first peaceful transition of power in the country since it became independent from Belgium in 1960. He was reelected in 2023. His father Étienne Tshisekedi previously led the party.

Mobutu dictatorship
The party can trace its origins to a group of dissenting parliamentarians during the dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko and his Popular Movement of the Revolution. In December 1980, Mobutu received a 52-page open letter calling for the democratization of the political system in Zaire (as the DRC was then known) and the permittance of opposition parties. It was signed by 13 parliamentarians and dated 1 November 1980. Although the letter has been cited as the first non-violent challenge to Mobutu and his one-party rule, the letter attempted to justify its proposals by citing the 1967 constitution and Manifesto of N'sele, which were authored by Mobutu and his party. Mobutu quickly had the letter's authors arrested but granted them amnesty shortly afterwards in January 1981. However, the authors were stripped of their mandates and exiled to their respective home provinces. Nonetheless, despite the efforts of the Zairean interior ministry, many of the authors would return to the capital Kinshasa later that same year to speak with other opposition figures.

On 15 February 1982, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (French abbreviation: UDPS) was founded in Kinshasa with a declared commitment to the 1967 constitution. The party's founding members asserted that the 1967 constitution permitted the creation of the party; Mobutu, however, disagreed. The party's leaders were arrested the next month and collectively sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Following the 1991 Sovereign National Conference, UDPS leader Étienne Tshisekedi emerged as the main rival to Mobutu. Bowing to international pressure, Mobutu appointed Tshisekedi to the office of Prime Minister of Zaire on three separate occasions in the 1990s, but Mobutu allegedly interfered and prevented Tshisekedi from carrying out his mandate each time.

Kabila presidency
The UDPS was a major opposition party during the presidency of Joseph Kabila from 2001 to 2019. The party called for a boycott of the 2005 constitutional referendum and the 2006 general election. Prior to the latter, the Commission Electorale Indépendante (CEI) – the DRC's electoral body – had refused a request by the UDPS for seats in the CEI, seats in the High Authority for the Media (Haute Autorité des medias), and the reopening of the electoral lists so that UDPS members could register as candidates for the election.

The party won 42 seats in the 2011 parliamentary election. Tshisekedi finished runner-up in the concurrent presidential election with just under a third of the national vote. The election was marred by violence and delays; voting was extended to a second day due to the failed deliveries of ballot boxes to some parts of the country.

Etienne Tshisekedi died of pulmonary embolism on 1 February 2017. He was succeeded as president of the UDPS by his son, Félix Tshisekedi.

Five months before the 2018 general election, the UDPS and three other opposition parties made a joint statement calling for the return of key opposition figures from exile, the release of political prisoners, and the de-escalation of tensions between supporters of the government and the opposition. The opposition had been in open conflict with the Commission Electorale Nationale Indépendante (formerly the Commission Electorale Indépendante or CEI), which they charged with being pro-Kabila.

Tshisekedi presidency
Tshisekedi contested and won the 2018 presidential election. He was confirmed as the winner by the Constitutional Court of the DRC on 20 January 2019, after a failed challenge from the runner-up Martin Fayulu. Tshisekedi was sworn in as president shortly after on 24 January. It was the first peaceful transition of power in the country since it became independent from Belgium in 1960. Tshisekedi's critics at the time described him as unproven, inexperienced, and lacking the charisma of his father. For example, Valentin Mubake, the UDPS' former secretary-general, commented: "His father was a man of the country. The son is very limited." Tshisekedi had never held a high office or managerial role, in contrast to his father's long career as a prominent figure of the country's opposition.

Analysts described Tshisekedi's victory as a victory for Kabila as well, due to the UDPS' alleged coordination with pro-Kabila parties in the lead up to the election. Pro-Kabila parties won a majority of seats in the concurrent parliamentary election.

The UDPS won a plurality of seats in the 2023 parliamentary election. Parties allied with the UDPS also won a significant number of seats. However, Tshisekedi, who was reelected in the concurrent presidential election, was unable to form a government immediately due to disagreements between member parties of the ruling coalition. An attempted coup on 19 May 2024 further delayed the formation of a government. A new government was finally announced on 29 May 2024.

The 2023 election was marred by threats and attacks by UDPS supporters against opposition party leaders and journalists. Supporters of the opposition were also implicated in acts of political violence. A major incident occurred on 7 November, when UDPS supporters clashed with supporters of Moïse Katumbi's opposition party, Together for the Republic (French abbreviation: Ensemble), at a rally in Kasumbalesa, in southeastern Haut-Katanga Province. Witnesses charged Ensemble supporters with ransacking a local UDPS office and UDPS supporters with attacking and injuring six people, raping at least two women, and sexually assaulting three others. Logistical delays also arose once again, leading to accusations of fraud levied against the UDPS.

Ideology
The UDPS identifies as a social democratic party. Its slogan is le peuple d'abord, meaning "the people first".

International affiliations
The UDPS is a full member of the Progressive Alliance and the Socialist International.

Membership cards
Membership cards can be purchased by party members. They are issued by the UDPS general secretariat in Kinshasa, sent to members' respective federations (either by region or abroad), and distributed among local party sections or cells in their respective jurisdictions. Members who lose their card may be issued a proof of membership' after making inquiries with the former federation, section or cell where the applicant claims to have been a member to confirm whether or not they were a member of the UDPS."