A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the national government or provincial government, by an executive order or an act of legislation, in order to earn profit for the government, control monopoly of the private sector entities, provide products and services to citizens at a lower price, implementation of government schemes and to deliver products and services to the remote locations of the country. The national government or provincial government has majority ownership over these state owned enterprises. These state owned enterprises are also known as public sector undertakings in some countries. Defining characteristics of SOEs are their distinct legal form and possession of financial goals and developmental objectives (e.g., a state railway company may aim to make transportation more accessible and earn profit for the government), SOEs are government entities established to pursue financial objectives and developmental goals.

Terminology

The terminology around the term state-owned enterprise is murky. All three words in the term are challenged and subject to interpretation. First, it is debatable what the term "state" implies (e.g., it is unclear whether municipally owned corporations and enterprises held by regional public bodies are considered state-owned). Next, it is contestable under what circumstances a SOE qualifies as "owned" by a state (SOEs can be fully owned or partially owned; it is difficult to determine categorically what level of state ownership would qualify an entity to be considered as state-owned since governments can also own regular stock, without implying any special interference). Finally, the term "enterprise" is challenged, as it implies statutes in private law which may not always be present, and so the term "corporations" is frequently used instead.

Thus, SOEs are known under many other terms: state-owned company, state-owned entity, state enterprise, publicly owned corporation, government business enterprise, government-owned company, government-owned corporation, government-sponsored enterprise, commercial government agency, state-privatised industry public sector undertaking, or parastatal, among others. In the Commonwealth realms, particularly in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, country-wide SOEs often use the term "Crown corporation", or "Crown entity", as cabinet ministers (Ministers of the Crown) often control the shares in them.

The term "government-linked company" (GLC) is sometimes used, for example in Malaysia, to refer to private or public (listed on a stock exchange) corporate entities in which the government acquires a stake using a holding company. The two main definitions of GLCs are dependent on the proportion of the corporate entity a government owns. One definition  purports that a company is classified as a GLC if a government owns an effective controlling interest (more than 50%), while the second definition  suggests that any corporate entity that has a government as a shareholder is a GLC.

The act of turning a part of government bureaucracy into a SOE is called corporatization.

Economic theory
In economic theory, the question of whether a firm should be owned by the state or by the private sector is studied in the theory of incomplete contracts developed by Oliver Hart and his co-authors. In a world in which complete contracts were feasible, ownership would not matter because the same incentive structure that prevails under one ownership structure could be replicated under the other ownership structure. Hart, Shleifer, and Vishny (1997) have developed the leading application of the incomplete contract theory to the issue of state-owned enterprises. These authors compare a situation in which the government is in control of a firm to a situation in which a private manager is in control. The manager can invest to come up with cost-reducing and quality-enhancing innovations. The government and the manager bargain over the implementation of the innovations. If the negotiations fail, the owner can decide about the implementation. It turns out that when cost-reducing innovations do not harm quality significantly, then private firms are to be preferred. Yet, when cost-reductions may strongly reduce quality, state-owned enterprises are superior. Hoppe and Schmitz (2010) have extended this theory in order to allow for a richer set of governance structures, including different forms of public-private partnerships.

Use

Economic reasons

Natural monopolies
SOEs are common with natural monopolies, because they allow capturing economies of scale while they can simultaneously achieve a public objective. For that reason, SOEs primarily operate in the domain of infrastructure (e.g. railway companies), strategic goods and services (e.g. postal services, arms manufacturing and procurement), natural resources and energy (e.g. nuclear facilities, alternative energy delivery), politically sensitive business, broadcasting, banking, demerit goods (e.g. alcoholic beverages), and merit goods (healthcare).

Infant industries
SOEs can also help foster industries that are "considered economically desirable and that would otherwise not be developed through private investments". When nascent or 'infant' industries have difficulty getting investments from the private sector (perhaps because the good that is being produced requires very risky investments, when patenting is difficult, or when spillover effects exist), the government can help these industries get on the market with positive economic effects. However, the government cannot necessarily predict which industries would qualify as such 'infant industries', and so the extent to which this is a viable argument for SOEs is debated.

Political reasons
SOEs are also frequently employed in areas where the government wants to levy user fees, but finds it politically difficult to introduce new taxation. Next, SOEs can be used to improve efficiency of public service delivery or as a step towards (partial) privatization or hybridization. SOEs can also be a means to alleviate fiscal stress, as SOEs may not count towards states' budgets.

Effects

Compared to government bureaucracy
Compared to government bureaucracy, state owned enterprises might be beneficial because they reduce politicians' influence over the service. Conversely, they might be detrimental because they reduce oversight and increase transaction costs (such as monitoring costs, i.e., it is more difficult and costly to govern and regulate an autonomous SOE than it is the public bureaucracy). Evidence suggests that existing SOEs are typically more efficient than government bureaucracy, but that this benefit diminishes as services get more technical and have less overt public objectives.

Compared to regular enterprises
Compared to a regular enterprise, state-owned enterprises are typically expected to be less efficient due to political interference, but unlike profit-driven enterprises they are more likely to focus on government objectives.

Around the world

SOEs in Europe
In Eastern Europe and Western Europe, there was a massive nationalization throughout the 20th century, especially after World War II. In the Eastern Bloc, countries adopted very similar policies and models to the USSR. Governments in Western Europe, both left and right of centre, saw state intervention as necessary to rebuild economies shattered by war. Government control over natural monopolies like industry was the norm. Typical sectors included telephones, electric power, fossil fuels, iron ore, railways, airlines, media, postal services, banks, and water. Many large industrial corporations were also nationalized or created as government corporations, including, among many others: British Steel Corporation, Statoil and Irish Sugar.

A state-run enterprise may operate differently from an ordinary limited liability corporation. For example, in Finland, state-run enterprises (liikelaitos) are governed by a separate laws. Even though responsible for their own finances, they cannot be declared bankrupt; the state answers for the liabilities. Stocks of the corporation are not sold and loans have to be government-approved, as they are government liabilities.

State-owned enterprises are a major component of the economy of Belarus. The Belarusian state-owned economy includes enterprises that are fully state-owned, as well as others which are joint-stock companies with partial ownership by the state. Employment in state-owned or state-controlled enterprises is approximately 70% of total employment. State-owned enterprises are thus a major factor behind Belarus's high employment rate and a source of stable employment.

SOEs among OPEC countries
In most OPEC countries, the governments own the oil companies operating on their soil. A notable example is the Saudi Arabian national oil company, Saudi Aramco, which the Saudi government bought in 1988, changing its name from Arabian American Oil Company to Saudi Arabian Oil Company. The Saudi government also owns and operates Saudi Arabian Airlines, and owns 70% of SABIC as well as many other companies.

SOEs in China

China's state-owned enterprises are owned and managed by the State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). China's state-owned enterprises generally own and operate public services, resource extraction or defense. , China has more SOEs than any other country, and the most SOEs among large national companies.

China's SOEs perform functions such as: contributing to central and local governments revenues through dividends and taxes, supporting urban employment, keeping key input prices low, channeling capital towards targeted industries and technologies, supporting sub-national redistribution to poorer interior and western provinces, and aiding the state's response to natural disasters, financial crises and social instability.

China's SOEs are at the forefront of global seaport-building, and most new ports constructed by them are done within the auspices of the Belt and Road Initiative.

SOEs in India

In India, government enterprises exist in the form of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).

Government-linked companies in Malaysia
The Malaysian government launched a GLC Transformation Programme for its linked companies and linked investment companies ("GLICs") on 29 July 2005, aiming over a ten-year period to transform these businesses "into high-performing entities". The Putrajaya Committee on GLC High Performance ("PCG"), which oversaw this programme, was chaired by the Prime Minister, and membership included the Minister of Finance II, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of the Economic Planning Unit, the Chief Secretary to the Government, Secretary General of Treasury and the heads of each of the GLICs (the Employees Provident Fund, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (the armed forces pension fund), Lembaga Tabung Haji and Permodalan Nasional Berhad. Khazanah Nasional Berhad provided the secretariat to the PCG and managed the implementation of the programme, which was completed in 2015.

See also

References

Citations

Sources
 . Alternate location:
 .

Further reading

Jewellord Nem Singh; Geoffrey C. Chen (2018), State-owned enterprises and the political economy of state–state relations in the developing world, Third World Quarterly, 39:6, 1077–1097, DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2017.1333888
 The Public Firm with Managerial Incentives by Elmer G. Wiens.

Types of business entity

State-owned enterprise


Iron sulfide is the chemical compound FeS, a black solid. It is made of iron and sulfide ions. FeS has iron in its +2 oxidation state. It reacts with acids such as hydrochloric acid to make hydrogen sulfide gas.

In plural, "iron sulfides" may refer to a range of chemical compounds composed of iron and sulfur. For example to FeS2 (iron disulfide) found in the ground as the mineral pyrite. FeS2 is shiny like a metal and has a bright golden color. That's why it is sometimes called "fool's gold".

Natural minerals
By increasing order of stability:
 Iron(II) sulfide, FeS, the less stable amorphous form;
 Greigite, a form of iron(II,III) sulfide (Fe3S4), analog to magnetite, Fe3O4;
 Pyrrhotite, Fe1−xS (where x = 0 to 0.2), or Fe7S8;
 Troilite, FeS, the endmember of pyrrhotite;
 Mackinawite, Fe1+xS (where x = 0 to 0.1);
 Marcasite, or iron(II) disulfide, FeS2 (orthorhombic);
 Pyrite, or iron(II) disulfide, FeS2 (cubic), the more stable endmember, known as fool's gold.

Iron compounds

Iron sulfide


Responsible government is a principle of some democratic governments. It is not the same as a government with responsibility.
A responsible government is one in  which there is a degree of accountability towards parliament. There is also the fundamental concept of Bicameralism. For example, in the United Kingdom the accountability tends towards the Lower House (House of Commons), as the upper House (House of Lords) is not wholly elected. Thus, there is a better representation of those who voted for the government that holds the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty.

In the government of a country that uses responsible government, the leaders of the executive branch of government (called the cabinet) are also members of the legislature. Also, the cabinet must have the support of the majority of the legislature to stay in power. If it loses the support of the legislature, there will be an election or a different political party will make a new cabinet.

Countries that use responsible government usually have parliamentary systems of government. Some examples of countries that have responsible government are the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

In countries that do not have responsible government, the cabinet and the legislature are each elected separately.  This system has more separation of powers than a system with responsible government. Some examples of countries that do not have a system of responsible government are the United States and France.

Democracy

Responsible government


Crazy Horse (born about 1838 – died September 5, 1877) was an Oglala Sioux Native American chief. There is a huge sculpture being carved of him in South Dakota, United States.

When Crazy Horse was first born he was given the name 'Curly'. When he was young, he had a vision when he was not supposed to and his family did not know where he was. His father found him and was very unhappy at what young Curly had done.
As Crazy Horse grew into a man, he was given his father's name Crazy Horse. His father then changed his own name to Worm.

Crazy Horse had good medicine, so he was never killed when he went into battle. He led his people to the Little Bighorn river in northern Montana to join forces with other Sioux bands like the Hunkpapa and Miniconjou, and with other tribes like the Cheyennes and Arapahos. There they fought General George Armstrong Custer, killing and defeating him and his many horsemen.

Eventually Crazy Horse made a tough decision to lead his people, the Oglalas, to a reservation because they were starving. Game was scarce and the bison (buffalo) were nearly gone. He had no choice but to leave the Black Hills. When he arrived at Fort Robinson, he was forced to give up his weapons and horses. This made him very unhappy. One day, even though he was granted time to go on a hunt, he was lied to and, trying to get away, he was stabbed in his liver and died later that night, thus ending the Great Sioux War.

"Once I moved about like the wind. Now I surrender to you and that is all"
Quote by Geronimo, Chief of the Apaches  .

The Sioux Royal Family, the House of Thasunke Witko, are descendants of Crazy Horse. A queen, Queen Wakiyan, was elected Queen of the Kingdom of Lakota (in Sioux, "Oglala Oyanke") and of the Oglala Sioux, and tried to improve the economy at the Pine Ridge Reservation with creativity and imagination, and to bring the Sioux forward into modern times;however, a conspiracy of jealous chieftains who were both male chauvinists opposed to having a female leader and also a corrupt group of men jealous of their own power and who prefer to preside over the poverty of the Sioux People, ruthlessly trumped up false allegations in order to depose this good queen.

According to Frederick Hoxie's 'Encyclopedia of North American Indians' Crazy Horse was the third in his male line of descent to bear the name of Crazy Horse, which in Oglala is Tasunke Witko. Tasunke Witko III was the son of Rattling Blanket Woman and Tasunke Witko II. He married three times: 1st to Black Buffalo Woman, 2nd to Black Shawl, and 3rd to Nellie Larrabee (Laravie). Only his second wife, Black Shawl, bore him any children: a daughter named They Are Afraid of Her, who died aged three.

Native American people
1838 births
1877 deaths
People from South Dakota

Crazy Horse


The Tanggu Truce, sometimes called the Tangku Truce (; ; ; ) was a ceasefire signed between China and Empire of Japan in Tanggu District, Tianjin on May 31, 1933, formally ending the Japanese invasion of Manchuria which had begun two years earlier.

Background
After the Mukden Incident of September 18, 1931, the Japanese Kwantung Army invaded Manchuria, and by February 1932 had captured the entire region. The last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Puyi, who was living in exile in Tianjin was invited by the Japanese to accept the throne of the new Empire of Manchukuo, which was controlled by the Japanese army. In January 1933, to guard Manchukuo's southern borders, a joint Japanese and Manchukuo force invaded Rehe, and after conquering that province by March, drove the remaining Chinese armies in the northeast outside the Great Wall into Hebei Province.

The Western powers blamed Japan's actions but did little else. When the League of Nations demanded that Japan stop fighting, the Japan withdrew from the League on March 27, 1933.

As the Japanese army was under clear orders from Emperor Hirohito (who wanted a quick end to the fight with China) not to go into the Great Wall, the Japanese halted their attack in May 1933.

Talks
On May 22, 1933, Chinese and Japanese representatives met to talk the end of the fight. The Japanese demands were serious: a demilitarized zone covering one hundred kilometers south of the Great Wall, from Beijing to Tianjin was to be set up, with the Great Wall itself under Japanese control. No regular Kuomintang military units were to be allowed in the zone, although the Japanese were allowed to use scout aircraft or ground patrols to check that the agreement was maintained. Public order within the zone was to be maintained by a police unit Demilitarized Zone Peace Preservation Corps. Furthermore, they forced China to recognise Manchukuo as a legitimate government.

Two secret clauses left out any of the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies from this Peace Preservation Corps and provided for any problems that could not be fixed by the Peace Preservation Corps to be arranged by agreement between the Japanese and Chinese governments. Having lost every major battles and much territory, and with the Chinese government under Chiang Kai-shek more concerned with fighting the Chinese Communist Party than the Japanese, the Chinese government agreed to all demands. Furthermore, the new demilitarized zone was mostly within the remaining territory of the Manchurian warlord Zhang Xueliang.

Result
The Tanggu Truce resulted in the de facto recognition of Manchukuo by the Kuomingtang government, and acceptance of the loss of Rehe. It brought a short end to the combat between China and Japan and for a brief period, relations between the two countries improved. On May 17, 1935, the Japanese legation in China was improved to the status of embassy, and on June 10, 1935, the He-Umezu Agreement was concluded. The Tanggu Truce gave Chiang kai Shek time to merge his forces and to focus his efforts against the Chinese Communist Party, though at the cost of northern China. However, Chinese public opinion was opposing to truce so favorable to Japan and so shameful to China. Although the Truce set up a demilitarized buffer zone, Japanese territorial desires towards China remained, and the Truce proved to be only a short break until fightings broke out again with the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.

References

1933
1930s in China
1930s in Japan
Treaties of China
May events

Tanggu Truce


Joshua Michael Aaron Ryder Wurman (born October 1, 1960) is an American atmospheric scientist and inventor noted for tornado, tropical cyclone, and weather radar research.

Life and career

Education
Joshua Wurman's father is noted architect and founder of the TED conferences, Richard Saul Wurman. He attended Radnor High School in suburban Philadelphia. He earned a S.B. in physics and interdisciplinary science in 1982, a S.M. in meteorology in 1982, and a Sc.D. in meteorology in 1991, all from MIT. His masters thesis was The Long Range Dispersion of Radioactive Particulates and his doctoral dissertation was Forcing Mechanisms of Thunderstorm Downdrafts. He moved to Boulder, Colorado to work at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and later to Norman, Oklahoma where he was a tenured faculty member at the University of Oklahoma (OU). He founded the Center for Severe Weather Research (CSWR) in 1998, which operates the Doppler On Wheels (DOW) radars. Wurman returned to Boulder in 2001.

Research
Wurman is particularly interested in researching tornadogenesis and amassing sufficient datasets of tornado structure and dynamics observations for tornado climatology study. He is also the discoverer of sub-kilometer hurricane boundary layer rolls, and wrote the pioneering papers on mapping tornado winds, multiple vortices, and other tornado-related phenomena.

Joshua Wurman participated in both the VORTEX projects, doing early deployments of the first scraped together DOW radars for VORTEX1 and served on the steering committee and was a principal investigator (PI) for VORTEX2, the field research phase of which occurred from 2009-2010.  Wurman's team observed the top two fastest wind events and two contenders for the largest tornado circulations. He leads the ROTATE (Radar Observations of Tornadoes And Thunderstorms Experiment) tornado observational project every spring and hurricane intercepts in the fall. A current major project of his is studying lake-effect snow in the OWLeS.

Dr. Wurman has authored and co-authored many scientific publications relating to hurricane and tornado dynamics and weather radar technology including two articles in Science, articles in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Monthly Weather Review, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Weather and Forecasting, and others. He was lead author of a controversial article in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society analyzing the potential impacts of a major tornado passing through urban areas.

Radar innovations

Wurman and his team developed the DOW radars, a new concept of mobile radar, used to observe tornadoes, tropical cyclones, wildfires, winter storms, and other phenomena from close range. He built the first DOW in 1995 from spare parts from NCAR and other facilities and as of March 2014 has built eight DOW units. The success of the DOWs led to a revolution of mobile radars in severe storms and other meteorological field research.

Furthermore, they developed meteorological bistatic radar multiple-Doppler networks, and the Rapid-Scan DOW, and holds about several patents related to bistatic and DOW technology. He founded BINET Inc., manufacturer of Bistatic Networks, in 1995.

National profile
He manages the DOW radar network which is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Lower Atmospheric Observing Facility. His scientific work and DOW projects have been sponsored by NSF, as well as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States Forest Service (USFS), the United States Department of Energy (DOE), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and other agencies of the U.S. government, as well as by The Discovery Channel, and the National Geographic Society, among others.

Wurman is a member of the USA Science and Engineering Festival's Nifty Fifty, a collection of the most influential scientists and engineers in the United States that are dedicated to reinvigorating the interest of young people in science and engineering.

In popular culture
Wurman has appeared in many television shows and his work, particularly with the DOWs, and is cited in numerous popular and technical books about weather. He is best known to the general public as the "scientist" in The Discovery Channel's reality series Storm Chasers, where he led a group of storm chasers conducting research during tornado season. CSWR worked with Sean Casey's Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV) combining in situ intercept data and photogrammetry work with DOW remote sensing data. His scientific research style is often shown clashing with other chasers who are not government funded.

He was also featured on National Geographic Channel's Tornado Intercept and The True Face of Hurricanes, as well as in the IMAX film Forces of Nature. He's also been seen in several other documentaries and shows including those on PBS' Nova and NewsHour, NHK, BBC, History Channel, and The Weather Channel (TWC), and on Dateline NBC, CBS' 48 Hours, Larry King Live, Nightline, and Good Morning America.

Popular articles describing his work have appeared in Discover, Scientific American, New Scientist, The Economist, Biography, Newsweek, Time, FHM, Self, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, and many other publications.

See also
 Howard Bluestein
 Paul Markowski
 Erik N. Rasmussen
 Roger Wakimoto

References
Notes

Sources

 USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database
 The Hunt for the Supertwister
 Tracking Tornadoes, Nature's Most Powerful Winds
 Guinness Book of World Records (2007)
 http://eol.ucar.edu/basics/wx_2_c.html
 Design of a Bistatic Dual-Doppler Radar for Retrieving Vector Winds Using one Transmitter and a Remote Low-gain Passive Receiver
 Joshua Wurman CV (2007)

External links
 Joshua Wurman's homepage at the Center for Severe Weather Research (CSWR)
 WeatherBrains interview, 10 March 2014

1960 births
Living people
American meteorologists
American science writers
Jewish American scientists
Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni
Storm chasers
University of Oklahoma faculty
21st-century American inventors
21st-century American Jews

Joshua Wurman


The crossbills are a genus, Loxia, of birds in the finch family (Fringillidae). There are three to five (or possibly many more) species.

These birds have mandibles with crossed tips, which gives the group its English name. Adult males tend to be red or orange in colour, and females green or yellow, but there is much variation.

Crossbills are specialist feeders on conifer cones. The unusual bill shape is an adaptation to get seeds from cones. These birds are typically found in higher northern hemisphere latitudes, where their food sources grow. They move ("erupt") out of the breeding range if the cone crop fails. Crossbills breed very early in the year, often in winter months. This is the time to get the most cones.

They put their beak slightly open between the scales of conifer cones. Then they close their beaks and the tips push the scales apart. This lets them get at the seed (usually two seeds per scale). The point is that, as cones mature, they tend to open when dry and close when wet.
Eventually they fall, and lie on the ground. As they dry the scales naturally open, and any animal can get at the seeds. With their beaks, crossbills can get at the seeds much earlier than any other animal.

Food preferences
Each species' bill shape is optimised for opening seeds from different species of conifer. Their preferred food sources are:

 Parrot crossbill, Loxia pytyopsittacus
Scots pine Pinus sylvestris
 Scottish crossbill, Loxia scotica (formerly treated as a race of parrot crossbill)
Scots pine Pinus sylvestris and Larch Larix species (particularly plantations of L. decidua)
 Red crossbill or common crossbill, Loxia curvirostra
Spruce Picea species; some populations (distinct species?) on various pine Pinus species and (in western North America) Douglas-fir
 Two-barred crossbill or white-winged crossbill, Loxia leucoptera
Larch Larix species, particularly L. sibirica, L. gmelinii, L. laricina and (in North America) also hemlock Tsuga
 Hispaniolan crossbill, Loxia megaplaga (previously treated as a race of two-barred crossbill)
Hispaniolan pine Pinus occidentalis

The relationships between crossbill species has been much studied.

References

Finches

Crossbill


Creative destruction (German: schöpferische Zerstörung) is a term that came from Marxism. It talks about how wealth is gathered and lost under capitalism. The term was first used in Werner Sombart's  Krieg und Kapitalismus ("War and Capitalism", 1913) These ideas were first discussed in books The Communist Manifesto (1848), in Grundrisse (1857) "Volume IV" of Das Kapital (1863).

Origin and meaning

Creative destruction is supposed to describe a theory of how the destruction of economic order leads to capitalistic economic ideals. A German Marxist sociologist (Sombart) is credited for using it first in his 1913 book Krieg und Kapitalismus, which means "War and Capitalism" in English. The works and publications of Marxists such as Karl Marx himself, and Friedrich Engels, a socialist scientist, discuss the ideas of creative destruction.

In and after the 1950s, the term became associated with Austrian-American economist Joseph Schumpeter. Schumpeter is credited for making the theory popular. However, his idea of creative destruction was quite different from Marx's original theory. The term gained popularity within neoliberal or free-market economics where it is used to described processes such as downsizing. The original Marxist usage has, however, been maintained in the work of influential social scientists such as David Harvey, Marshall Berman, and Manuel Castells.

Marxism
Capitalism
Economics

Creative destruction


Sønderborg Castle () is located in the town of Sønderborg, Denmark on the island of Als in South Jutland.  It houses a museum focusing on the history and culture of the area. The castle is located in the middle of the town, in a park setting overlooking Als Fjord.  The museum is open year-round.

History
Sønderborg Castle began probably as a fortified tower constructed by Valdemar the Great in 1158, built on an islet in Als Strait (Als Sund) that later was connected to the island of Als. As it lies to the south of the isle of Als, it was named Sønderborg, literally "southern fortress" (compare English "Sudbury"). The castle was built to provide protection against attacks by the Wends and was part of a larger system of fortifications.  Over the centuries, the castle has gradually been enlarged and rebuilt.

In the years following construction of Valdemar's fortified tower, an important struggle developed between the Danish king and the duke of Schleswig over ownership of the island of Als and the town of Sønderborg.  Ownership of the castle changed hands many times.
A peak in the history of the castle was the wedding of Valdemar IV of Denmark (Valdemar Atterdag) (ca. 1320-1375) to Helvig of Schleswig, the sister of Valdemar V, Duke of Schleswig.

Around 1350, the castle was expanded significantly by the addition of both the Blue Tower (Blåtårn) and huge outer walls.  In 1490, the fortress became the property of the Danish crown.  Both King Hans and his son Christian II extended Sønderborg Castle and made it into one of the country's strongest fortresses.

In 1532, Christian II was lured into an ambush and taken to Sønderborg Castle, where he was held as a prisoner of state for seventeen years (1532-1549). Legend tells that the dethroned king was confined to the Blue Tower, but in reality he lived in comparatively lavish circumstances and probably was allowed freedom of movement within the outer walls, if sometimes under closely guarded conditions.  The former king sometimes even joined the noble hunts at Als.

Christian III in the mid-sixteenth century had the fortress modified and converted into a four-wing castle by architect Hercules von Oberberg (1517–1602) between 1549-57.  King Hans'west wing was preserved and a further three wings were added in the new Renaissance style. After Christian III's death in 1559, Hercules von Oberberg built the unique castle chapel in 1568-1570 for Queen Mother Dorothea.
k
After Dorothea's death in 1571, the castle passed into the ownership of Hans II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (also known as Hans the Younger).  Under his rule, the castle became the center of a tiny duchy, Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg.  This, however, was divided after his death in 1622.

The castle remained in the hands of the dukes of Southern Jutland until 1667, when the ruined duchy of Sønderborg was attached to the Danish throne and the castle became a Danish estate.  The duchy's representative, the Prefect (Amtmanden), took up residence at the castle.  It was otherwise more or less unused in the years 1667-1718.

In 1718-1726, Frederik IV had the castle rebuilt in Baroque style by contractor general Wilhelm von Platen. The Blue Tower was demolished in 1755, and in 1764 the castle passed into the hands of the Duke of Augustenborg; but, contrary to expectations, the castle did not become the duke's residence.  Instead, it was rented out as a warehouse.

During both the first and the second Slesvig wars (1848-1850, 1864), Sønderborg Castle was used as a camp hospital and for quartering Danish troops. After the war of 1864, the province and the castle became Prussian property and served as barracks from 1867 until the area was reunified with Denmark in 1920.  The last duke of Augustenborg, Ernst Günther, allowed Sønderborg County Museum to move into a part of the castle in 1920.  The next year, the Danish state bought the castle from the Duke, taking over the castle in 1921 and allowing several institutions to use it as long as they paid heed to the expanding museum.

In 1945 and 1946, the castle was used as an internment camp for persons charged with offenses to the state.

The Royal Inspectors of Listed State Buildings, Peter Koch and Jørgen Stærmose, conducted a thorough restoration of the castle from 1964 to 1973, returning it to the Baroque form it had been given by Frederik IV in the 1720s.  The windows from the barracks era were even replaced with "masks", windows with broad wooden frames made of planks like the ones in Platen's castle.

The museum and grounds
Since 1921 Sønderborg Castle has been the home for The Sønderborg Castle Museum (Museet på Sønderborg Slot), which is the main museum for the former Duchy of Slesvig.  The museum houses local and regional history collections from the Middle Ages to the present day, but with especial focus on the Schleswig wars of 1848-50 and 1864, World War II, and the Reunification of 1920.
The museum also hosts exhibitions on navigation, textiles and handicrafts, and has a small art collection with works by prominent Southern Jutland painters over the years. The museum is a part of Museum Sønderjylland, a constellation of museums in Southern Jutland.

The original ramparts around the castle became a visible part of the gardens in the 1970s.

The Chapel of Sønderborg Castle
The unique chapel of Sønderborg Castle, also known as Queen Dorothea's Chapel  (Dronning Dorotheas Kapel) was built 1568-70 by Hercules von Oberberg for Queen Mother Dorothea reflects the changing times in Denmark after the Reformation.  It is almost untouched, and is considered to be one of Europe's oldest and best-preserved Lutheran royal chapels.

Many of the items in the chapel were created in Antwerp workshop of painter Frans Floris (1517–1570).

One of the royal couple's sons, John II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1545–1622) had a burial room built in the chapel  with an imposing portal of marble and alabaster.

The chapel's organ is attributed to organ builder Hermann Raphaëlist (ca. 1515-1583) and it is estimated to have been built ca. 1570. The paintwork on the organ case dates mainly from 1626.  Hermann Raphaëlis was of Dutch descent and was the son of organ builder Gabriel Raphael Rottensteen. Raphaëlis was summoned to Denmark ca. 1550, supposedly to build an organ for Roskilde Cathedral. Apart from the instrument at Roskilde Cathedral, built in 1555, he also built an organ for the Chapel of Copenhagen Castle in 1557. Raphaëlis later settled in Saxony, where he among other things built organs in the chapels of castles belonging to Elector August of Saxony, the Queen Dorothea's son-in-law.

Under the west gallery of the chapel there is a choir loft over which there was originally a royal chair; this disappeared when the organ was built in its present position in 1626. The chairs were made by local wood carver, Niels Tagsen, who also fashioned the pulpit and the 3 figures which were placed on the organ in 1626.  The organ case and doors were partly repainted by Wulf Petersen of Sønderborg on the same occasion.

The organ was reconstructed in 1996 by Danish organ builder and historian, Mads Kim Kjersgaard, in accordance with 16th century traditions with regard to tone and craftsmanship.  The museum has a permanent exhibition of preserved parts from the Renaissance organ, including a rat's nest taken from one of the organ's bellows.

The Great Hall
The Great Hall (Riddersal) is 34 meters long and was the reception room for ducal guests, and the scene of parties and dances.  The room is still used for special events, such as in connection with the marriage of Queen Margrethe II's niece, Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg to Count Jefferson-Friedrich von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth in 1998.

Management
Sønderborg Castle is owned by the Danish state, run by the Palaces and Properties Agency (Slots- og Ejendomsstyrelsen) and used by Sønderborg Castle Museum, which is jointly owned by the municipality of Sønderborg and by South Jutland County.

References

Other sources
 Otto Norn, Jørgen Paulsen and Jørgen Slettebo, Sønderborg Slot. Historie og bygning, G.E.C. Gad forlag, 1963.

External links
 Palaces and Properties Agency site on Sønderborg Castle
 Sønderborg Castle Museum (in Danish only)
 The Association of Castles and Museums around the Baltic Sea

Buildings and structures completed in 1158
Buildings and structures completed in 1350
Castles in Denmark
Listed buildings and structures in Sønderborg Municipality
Museums in the Region of Southern Denmark
Castles in the Region of Southern Denmark
History museums in Denmark
Museum Sønderjylland
Sønderborg
Royal residences in Denmark

Sønderborg Castle


Jason McHugh (born October 10, 1968) is an American television producer and actor, best known for his work with Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He produced both Cannibal! The Musical and Orgazmo and played Frank Miller in Cannibal! and part of the porno crew in Orgazmo.

He also has done incidental voices on Parker and Stone's hit animated show South Park. McHugh wrote and directed Mindfield which was a text messaging prankster game created by Perry Farrell for Lollapalooza.

He produced and acted in Les Claypool's mockumentary Electric Apricot, working alongside Matt Stone, Cannibal star Dian Bachar, and South Park writer Kyle McCulloch.

In 2008, he made his UK stage debut playing Mr. Mills in the stage production of Cannibal! The Musical at The George Square Theatre, Edinburgh. He played the part for 3 performances

In 2011, he released a book titled Shpadoinkle: The Making of Cannibal! The Musical, which chronicles all aspects of the making of Cannibal!

References

External links

1968 births
Living people
University of Colorado Boulder alumni

Jason McHugh


Machalilla National Park is an Ecuadorian  park. It is located in  the Pacific West coast of Ecuador in South America. It is in the province of Manabí. Machalilla National Park was declared by Minister of Environment  of Ecuador  as a  park  and natural preserve area on July 26, 1979. It was officially registered on November 20 of the same year. In 1990 the Ramsar Convention on Westlands named as a Ramsar site, which is a place where animals come to breed. The land part  is 56.184 hectares and the water part is 14.430 nautical miles.

Geography
Machalilla National Park is located at  the Pacific West coast of Ecuador in South America. It is in the province of Manabí at the river banks of the Ayampe River. Nearest towns are Puerto Lopez and Pajan.

Machalilla National Park  has three areas: the north sector, the south area and Isla de la Plata. The north sector covers  Puerto Cayo area, 3 km parallel to the coast. The south sector covers Puerto Lopez and Island Salango, and the third  area is The Isla de la Plata. It  is 40 km offshore from Ecuador continental.

Rivers
There are 7 rivers that cross the Machalilla National Park  territory the Jipijapa, Salitre, Seco, Punteros, Buena Vista, Piñas, and Ayampe.

Weather
The weather is tropical to subtropical. It has a very dry climate and there is rarely any rainfall.  It rains an average of 161 mm to 1,120 mm per year. The temperature varies from 23 °C to 25 °C and remains the same year round.

Plants
The plans that grow in this area are; dry coast shrubland, some ferns, cactus (opuntia) ,palo santo trees , kapok trees and algarrobo trees.

Fauna
The diversity within Machalilla National Park includes; sea turtles, fishes, part of the coral reefs ecosystem, dolphins, stingrays and sea lions at "Isla de la Plata".  Humpback whales visit the coast of Manabi to breed; from June to September.  There are quite rare animals on the Ecuadorian coast as the panthera onca,  monkeys: alouatta palliata,  capuchins,  leopardus spp. There are also variety of birds: little wood star, colibri, albatrosses, frigates, blue-footed boobies.

Isla de la Plata " Silver Island"
The Silver Island is 40 km offshore, It is part of Machalilla National Park and part of the Manabi Province. This natural reserve is home of many animals some of which migrate from Galapagos Islands, it includes blue-footed boodies, albatrasses, frigate birds, seals, iguanas, dolphins, stingrays and reef fishes. This small island  is uninhabited, the control and conservation for the Island  is promoted by Ecuador's Minister of Environment and OGN Fundacion Natura.

Agua Blanca
This is a forest preserved area in Machalilla National Park,  There are an interesting  bird wildlife, a sulfur water  lagoon and a museum.   It is 22 kilometers from Puerto Lopez, a small fishing town. Local people help inside the area.

Tourism
The Machalilla National Park provides the visitors a good selection of services that include tourist information, hotel guide, maps and attraction. The major attraction at the  park is to visit Isla de la Plata due to many migrant animals from Galapagos Islands. There are albatrosses, frigatebirds and blue-footed boodies some seals. This is the only place where people can appreciate those charming birds.

The activities in the Machalilla National Park year along the: scuba diving, snorkeling, scenic views, eco walking trails, whale watching. The best Place in the Ecuadorian coast for diving is the Silver Island due to the coral reef that surrounds  it. "From June to September,"  Manabi is visited for  arctic  humpback whales, every year they come to breed. In Agua Blanca community there are a sulfur lagoon where visitors like to cover themselves in sulfurous mud from the bottom of the lagoon. Visit the Agua Clara museum and Salango museum.

Beaches
Machalilla National Park has many  beautiful beaches to enjoy that are calm and a little deep.  Los Frailes is the most visited beach, and  Salango beach is an   island is surrounded by coral reef. Respect the facilities of the beaches; Playa Negra beach and Tortuguita bay are pure nature. you can visit them respecting the rules of conservation.

References

National parks in South America
Manabí Province

Machalilla National Park


Thupten Jinpa Langri  (born 1958) is a Tibetan Buddhist scholar, former monk and an academic of religious studies and both Eastern and Western philosophy. He has been the principal English translator to the Dalai Lama since 1985. He has translated and edited more than ten books by the Dalai Lama including The World of Tibetan Buddhism (Wisdom Publications, 1993), A Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus (Wisdom Publications, 1996), and the New York Times bestseller Ethics for the New Millennium (Riverhead, 1999).

Thupten Jinpa Langri was born in Tibet in 1958. He received his early education and training as a monk at Zongkar Choede Monastery in Hunsur near Mysore, Karnataka, South India, and later joined the Shartse College of Ganden monastic university, in Mundgod, Karnataka, South India, where he received the Geshe Lharam degree. He taught Buddhist epistemology, metaphysics, Middle Way philosophy and Buddhist psychology at Ganden for five years. Jinpa also holds a B.A. Honors degree in Western Philosophy and a Ph.D. degree in Religious Studies, both from Cambridge University, UK.

From 1996 to 1999, he was the Margaret Smith Research Fellow in Eastern Religion at Girton College, Cambridge, and he has now established the Institute of Tibetan Classics, where he is both president and editor-in-chief of the institute's translation series Classics in Tibet. He is also a member of the advisory board of the Mind and Life Institute, dedicated to fostering creative dialogue between the Buddhist tradition and Western science.

He is a visiting research scholar at the Stanford Institute for Neuro-Innovation and Translational Neurosciences at Stanford University.

Geshe Thupten Jinpa has written many books and articles.  His latest works are Tibetan Songs of Spiritual Experience (co-edited with Jas Elsner) and Self, Reality and Reason in Tibetan Thought: Tsongkhapa's Quest for the Middle View.

References

External links
 Radio interview In the Room with the Thupten Jinpa with Krista Tippet on her NPR radio show On Being

Living people
Scholars of Buddhism from Tibet
Buddhist translators
Fellows of Girton College, Cambridge
Geshes
Tibetan Buddhism writers
Tibetan Buddhists from Tibet
Contemporary Tibetan philosophers
1958 births
Tibetan–English translators

Thupten Jinpa


In chemistry, a conjugated system is a system of continuous and parallel p-orbitals with delocalized electrons. Conjugated systems are created by several multiple bonds, each separated by single bonds. In general, conjugated systems may lower the overall energy of the molecule and increase how steady it is. They can contain lone pairs, radicals or carbonium ions. The compound may be cyclic, acyclic, linear or mixed. In most cases, the atoms in a molecule are held together by single bonds (where orbitals from adjacent atoms overlap).  Molecules which have a conjugated system have unique properties different from normal compounds created by the sharing of the delocalized electrons among many atoms.

Conjugation is the overlap of one p-orbital with another across a sigma bond (or single bond) that is in between. (The d-orbitals of larger atoms can also contribute to a conjugated system).

A conjugated system has a region of overlapping p-orbitals, bridging the single bonds that are between. They allow a delocalization of pi electrons across all the adjacent aligned p-orbitals.
The pi electrons do not belong to a single bond or atom, but rather to a group of atoms.

The largest conjugated systems (with the greatest number of shared electrons) are in graphite, conductive polymers, and carbon nanotubes.

Mechanism

Different types of molecular structures can result in conjugation. For conjugation, all the neighboring atoms in a chain must have an available p-orbital. In many cases, conjugated systems are a series of a single bonds each followed by a double bond. Other systems exist. For example, furan (see picture) is a five-membered ring with two alternating double bonds and an oxygen in position 1. The Oxygen in furan has two lone pairs, one of which fills a p-orbital on that position. The lone pair electron makes conjugation possible on a five-membered ring. The presence of a nitrogen in the ring can be a source of pi orbitals needed for conjugation. Also, pi orbitals needed for conjugation can come from substituent groups α to the ring like: a carbonyl group (C=O), an imine group (C=N), a vinyl group (C=C), or an anion.

Chromophores
Conjugated systems are the main things that make up chromophores. Chromophores are light-absorbing parts of a molecule that can cause a compound to have a visible color. Chromophores are often present in various organic compounds and sometimes present in polymers that are colored or glow in the dark. Chromophores often consist of a series of conjugated bonds and/or ring systems, which can include C-C, C=C, C=O, or N=N bonds. Many times, chromophores have aromatic rings.

Common examples
Diene
Vitamin D
Vitamin A
Benzene
Conjugated linoleic acid

Related pages
Resonance (chemistry)
Hyperconjugation
Cross-conjugation
Polyene

References

Organic chemistry

Conjugated system


German reunification (German: Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) is a term of history. Unification means making two or more parts as one. The German reunification is the unification of the two parts of Germany.

After the Second World War, Germany had been divided into two countries. One was the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), also called "West Germany". The other part was the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which was also called "East Germany". The German reunification was on 3 October 1990, when the East German states became a part of the Federal Republic of Germany.

During the Cold war (1945 – 1989)
After World War II, The winners made four Allied Occupation Zones in Germany.  In 1949 the French, British and American zones were joined into the Federal Republic of Germany, also known as "West Germany", while the Soviet zone was made into a separate state known as the German Democratic Republic, or "East Germany".

During the Cold War, West Germany was a democratic country (Politicians were elected in free elections), was allied with the United States of America and had a capitalist economic system (Businesses were owned by citizens).  East Germany was a communist country, a one-party state.  The communist party ruled all the time, elections were only for show, and all businesses were owned by the state.  Like other states in the Soviet bloc, it was controlled by the Soviet Union.

After West Germany's economy began to grow faster and faster in the 1950s, while East Germany's economy was not doing so well, many people moved from East to West Germany. To stop this emigration, the border between East and West Germany was closed in 1961 by East German forces. This border was part of the Iron Curtain. Between 1961 and 1989, leaving East Germany was very hard and extremely dangerous.  Officially leaving East Germany took years to be approved, and people who applied were often spied on by East German police.  Many people who tried to flee over the border were shot and killed there.

The Fall of the Wall (1989)

In 1989, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev started to open the Soviet Union to the west. Many of the communist countries followed his example. East Germany tried to ignore this trend, but during 1989, public protest grew inside the country. After some efforts to keep the country stable, the border was finally opened on 9 November 1989. Conversion of East Germany into a democratic country started almost immediately.  During the following 11 months, the terms of unification were negotiated between East and West Germany, France, Great Britain, The United States of America and The Soviet Union, and the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany also called the Two Plus Four Treaty, signed by the two German states and the four wartime allies, opened the way towards reunification.

The reunification
Two options for reunification were written in the West German constitution (the Grundgesetz):
 Making a new country with a new Constitution.
 Letting the new federal states join the existing Federal Republic of Germany.

The second option was chosen, and on 3 October 1990, at 00:01 the five new federal states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and reunified Berlin officially joined the Federal Republic of Germany. The German Democratic Republic ceased to exist at this moment.

Related pages
German Unity Day

1990 in Europe
1990s in Germany
Democracy movements
Nationalism

German reunification


May 1 is known in many countries as May Day or International Labor Day for human rights of workers and labour movement. This day is a holiday in most countries, including UK,China, Cuba, Czech republic, France, Russia, Brazil, Austria, Germany, Serbia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kenya, Slovenia, Slovakia, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal, Bulgaria, Vietnam and Argentina.

May Day commemorates worker demonstrations for eight-hour workweeks in Chicago, May, 1886. More specifically, it commemorates the Haymarket Affair and the execution of multiple anarchist and marxist leaders.

Holidays
May events
Labor

May Day


Adolf Lasson (12 March 1832, Alt-Strelitz, today Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Strelitz – 20 December 1917, Berlin) was a German Jewish philosophical writer, strident Prussianist, and the father of Georg Lasson.

Biography
Born into a Jewish family, converted to Christianity, changing name from 'Lazarussohn.'He was educated at the Gymnasium Carolinum, Neu-Strelitz, and the University of Berlin (1848–52; philosophy with Friedrich Eduard Beneke, classical philology with A. Boeckh, Lachmann and Trendelenburg, theology and law). In 1858 he became teacher at the Friedrichsgymnasium, and from 1859 to 1897 he occupied the same position at the Louisenstädtisches Real-Gymnasium. In 1861 he took the Ph.D. degree at Leipzig University, and in 1877 became privatdozent in philosophy at Berlin University. Since 1874 he lectured on the history of German literature at the Viktoria Lyceum. He embraced Christianity in 1853, and as of 1906 held the position of honorary professor at the University of Berlin. By the time he converted to Christianity he changed his family name from the original Lazarussohn to Lasson.

Ideas
Adolf Lasson was influenced by German Idealism and by the writings of the Hegelian theologian David Friedrich Strauss. He saw the liberty of mind as the first and most certain fact and as a moral duty. The ideas of Meister Eckhart were for him principles for both Christianity and German Idealism.

Literary works
 "Johann Gottlieb Fichte im Verhältnis zu Kirche und Staat", 1863;
 "Meister Eckhart" and "Das Kulturideal und der Krieg", 1868;
 "Prinzip und Zukunft des Völkerrechts", 1871;
 "System der Rechtsphilosophie", 1881;
 "Die Entwickelung des religiösen Bewusstseins der Menschheit nach E. v. Hartmann", 1883;
 "Zeitliches und Zeitloses", 8 lectures, 1890;
 "Das unendlich Kleine im wirthschaftlichen Leben", 1891
 "Lotterie und Volkswirtschaft", 1894;
 "Das Gedächtnis", 1894;
 "Handelsinteressen und Grundbesitzinteressen", 1896;
 "Der Leib", 1898

He also edited a translation into German of Giordano Bruno's "De Causa" (3d ed. 1902), and a small volume of religious poetry entitled "Herzensstille", 1868.

Notes

References

German philosophers

Converts to Christianity from Judaism
1832 births
1917 deaths
19th-century German Jews
German male writers

Adolf Lasson


Third-person shooter is a genre of video games in which the players character is seen from a distance. A first-person shooter is where the player plays as if they are the character. In a third person shooter the player controls the character. Some examples of a third-person shooter are the Grand Theft Auto series and Mafia.
For PSP can also have Socom Fireteam Bravo Also with the Syphon Filter series with first person scope aim.

Types of video games
Video game genres

Third-person shooter


The Lady of the Lake (welsh name: Arglwyddes y Llyn) is a character of Arthurian legend. Different writers give her different names. Her roles include giving King Arthur his sword, Excalibur, taking Arthur to Camelot after the Battle of Camlann, raising Lancelot after the death of his father, and of enchanting Merlin. She is called Nimue, Viviane, Elaine, Niniane, Nyneve or Nimueh, amongst others.

Arthurian legend

Lady of the Lake


Operation Entebbe, also known as Operation Jonathan, was an Israeli hostage rescue mission. It took place in July 1976 in Entebbe, Uganda. An Air France airplane was hijacked on 27 June 1976 by German and Palestinian terrorists wanted the release of prisoners held in Israel and four other countries. Many of the hostages were later released but 106 Israelis and Jews were still held. Israeli special forces planned and executed a daring long-range rescue of the remaining 106 passengers on 4 July 1976. 102 of the passengers were rescued. Lt Col Yonatan Netanyahu, who led the mission, was the only rescuer to be killed in action.

Hijacking

On 27 June 1976 Air France flight AF-139 was hijacked by German and Palestinian terrorists. One third of the passengers on the airplane were Jewish. Two of the hijackers were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The other two were members of the Baader-Meinhof gang from Germany. The hijackers forced the plane to go to Entebbe.

The plane landed at Entebbe at 3 AM on June 28th. Three more people joined the hijackers. At noon, the passengers were moved to an old terminal building. Idi Amin, dictator and President of Uganda went to the airport to meet with the hostages. He told them he was working to get them free. He said the military of Uganda was there to help keep them safe. The next day, the hijackers said that if 53 other terrorists were not released from prisons, they would start killing the hostages. Of these 53 people, 13 were in prisons in France, West Germany, Kenya, and Switzerland. The other 40 were in Israel. The hijackers said the prisoners had to be released by 2 PM on July 1.

On June 29th, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) held a meeting to discussed a raid to free the hostages. There were 3 major problems with this. The first problem was that Uganda was  away from Israel. The fact that the plane was owned by a French company was also an issue. The third main issue was the fact that only one third of the passengers were Jewish. And of these, not all of them were from Israel.

It was learned the next day that Idi Amin was, in fact, not working to free the hostages. He was working to support the PFLP. This caused other problems for the rescue mission. They now had to worry about the Uganda military at the airport. A large number of the hostages were released on July 1st. The hijackers still held 106 passengers who were all Israeli or Jews. The hostages who were freed were flown to Paris and London. The government of Israel said that they would free the prisoners held in Israel. Because of this, the hijackers agreed to not start killing the hostages until July 4th. Lt Col Yonatan Netanyahu was put in charge of the Israeli mission to free the remaining hostage. Training began the next day for the mission. It was done using information they had gotten from the released passengers. An old home movie taken in Entebbe was used to show them more about the layout of the airport.

The raid
Soon after noon on July 3rd, four C-130's took off from Israel with the troops for the rescue mission. Their path to Entebbe was carefully selected to avoid being seen by Soviet ships or Egyptian radar. At 11 PM the plane reached Entebbe. A black Mercedes limousine  and 2 Land Rover were used to lead troops to the airport. The vehicles were the same as those Amin was known to use. The Mercedes had Ugandan flags and all 35 commandos wore Ugandan uniforms. As they got near the building where the hostages were kept, two sentries went to stop them. Netanyahu told his vehicles to slow down. When the two sentries were in range, he had his troops shoot them with silenced weapons. One of the sentries was hit and killed. The other was not killed. When he tried to use his weapon, Israeli troops quickly killed him with AK-47s. This caused much noise and the hijackers knew something was now happening. The element of surprise was believed to be lost. The troops moved quickly to the building. The terrorist outside the building ran inside  yelling "The Ugandans have gone nuts - they're shooting at us!" The element of surprise was still there. The terrorists did not realize it was Israeli troops attacking them.

Outcome
It took the Israelis about 10 minutes to clear the building. The entire raid lasted just 99 minutes. The Ugandan soldiers and all seven terrorists were killed. Of the 106 passengers, three were killed. 102 were rescued. One of the hostages was not found. Netanyahu had been shot in the chest and 10 other of the Israeli military were injured. Netanyahu was the only one to die. The Israelis also destroyed at least 8 Russian-built MIG fighters. This was  a quarter of Uganda's air force.

The hostages were then flown to Nairobi, Kenya. While there, some of the injured were treated by Israeli doctors. At least two people were moved to a hospital there. The rescued hostages were then taken back to Israel. It was later learned that one Israeli woman, Dora Bloch, the missing hostage, had been removed from the airport for medical reasons. She was later killed by the Ugandans on Idi Amin's order. Her body was  discovered under a field and was returned to Israel for burial in 1979, after Idi Amin's dictatorship ended that year.

While officially known as Operation Entebbe, it is more often referred to as Operation Jonathan, named after Yonatan Netanyahu.

References

1976
Terrorist attacks
History of Uganda
1970s in Israel
Mossad

Operation Entebbe


A petition is a request to change some thing. They are often made to a government official or public entity.  Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer.

Legal
Petition can also be the title of a legal pleading that initiates a legal case.  The initial pleading in a civil lawsuit that seeks only money (damages) might be called (in most U.S. courts) a complaint. An initial pleading in a lawsuit that seeks non-monetary or "equitable" relief, such as a request for a writ of mandamus or habeas corpus, custody of a child, or probate of a will, is instead called a petition. A petitioner is a person who pleads with governmental institution for a legal remedy or a redress of grievances, through use of a petition.

Law

Petition


Respect for persons is the concept that all people deserve the right to fully exercise their autonomy. Showing respect for persons is a system for interaction in which one entity ensures that another has agency to be able to make a choice.

This concept is usually discussed in the context of research ethics. It is one of the three basic principles of research ethics stated in the Belmont Report issued by the Office of Human Subject Research; it comprises two essential moral requirements: to recognize the right for autonomy and to protect individuals who are disadvantaged to the extent that they cannot practice this right.

An autonomous person is defined as an individual who is capable of self-legislation and is able to make judgments and actions based on their particular set of values, preferences, and beliefs. Respecting a person's autonomy thus involves considering their choices and decisions without deliberate obstruction. It also requires that subjects be treated in a non-degrading manner out of respect for their dignity. In practice, respect for persons is operationalized by obtaining Informed Consent from all individuals who are going to be research subjects.

Vulnerable populations
The standard case for applying respect for persons is when the person receiving the health intervention is of sound mind, fit to make personal decisions, and empowered to choose from various options. Other cases involve showing respect to people who for whatever reason are not free to choose among the typical range of options when making a decision.

In medical research ethics, the term Vulnerable Populations generally refers to individuals whose situations do not allow them to protect their own interests. The categories of individuals that constitute Vulnerable Populations are outlined under The Common Rule (45 CFR 46, Subparts A-D). These include individuals who are minors, prisoners, pregnant, physically disabled, mentally disabled, old, economically disadvantaged, educationally disadvantaged, or subordinates in hierarchical groups (e.g. a soldier).

These individuals are entitled to protection, and additional ethical justification is needed to involve such populations in human subject studies. In such cases, a balance should be established between protecting subjects from exploitation and depriving these subjects of access to the potential benefits of research.

Reasons justifying the participation of these subjects would include that some studies could not be carried out without a vulnerable population. Another justification would be that the aim of the study is to gain knowledge to improve diagnosis, prevention or treatment of diseases associated specifically with that population.

See also
 Menlo Report
Beneficence
 Justice

References

Human subject research
Medical ethics
Ethical principles
Autonomy
Personhood

Respect for persons


Sigiswald Kuijken (; born 16 February 1944) is a Belgian violinist, violist, and conductor known for playing on period and original instruments.

Biography

Kuijken was born in Dilbeek, near Brussels. He was a member of the Alarius Ensemble of Brussels between 1964 and 1972 and formed La Petite Bande in 1972. Since 1971 he has taught Baroque violin at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. He is noted for using the older technique of resting the violin on the shoulder without a shoulder rest, rather than held under the chin. He is a member of the Kuijken String Quartet, which he formed in 1986. In recent years, he has also performed as conductor of symphonies of the Romantic era.

His brothers are also known for historically informed performance: Barthold Kuijken is a flutist and recorder player and Wieland Kuijken, also a member of the Kuijken Quartet, is a cellist and gambist. They all have worked extensively with harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt.

On 2 February 2007 he was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Catholic University of Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium).

Cantatas of J. S. Bach
Based on the results of research by Joshua Rifkin and Andrew Parrott on the authentic performance of Bach's masses, cantatas and passions, Sigiswald Kuijken limits the vocal part to a solo vocal quartet (which Bach himself sometimes extended to eight singers) instead of a choir. He also reduced the number of instrumentalists performing each cantata. Sigiswald Kuijken adopted this approach in his recording for Accent Records of a 19-part CD series entitled Cantatas of JS Bach (recorded 2004–2012).

External links

 Official site of La Petite Bande
  Sigiswald Kuijken turns sixty
 Sigiswald Kuijken's Bach Project
 Sigiswald Kuijken & La Petite Bande Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

1944 births
Living people
Baroque-violin players
Belgian classical violinists
Male classical violinists
Belgian classical violists
Belgian conductors (music)
Belgian male musicians
Male conductors (music)
Flemish classical musicians
People from Dilbeek
Belgian performers of early music
Academic staff of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels
Academic staff of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague
Bach conductors
Bach musicians
21st-century conductors (music)
21st-century classical violinists

Sigiswald Kuijken


For Jewish people, YHWH is the most holy name of God, as written in the ancient Hebrew language. The written language showed no vowels, so the pronunciation is not agreed on. However, most academics agree that "Yahweh" is the most accepted way to say it.

It has also been pronounced as "Yehova" in Hebrew as a substitute word for the tetragrammaton. This is because Hebrew pointing, or vowel symbols, are often put under the YHWH, making . The vowels used come from the Hebrew word for Lord, "Adonai", which after the last captivity, was substituted and the vowels of "Adonai" forced into the tetragrammaton, incorrectly spelling God's Hebrew name as "YaHoVaH".
It was never meant to be anything more than a substitute to avoid pronouncing the tetragrammaton.

Traditionally, religious Jews today do not often say this name aloud. This is because it is believed to be too holy to be spoken. However, they often use substitutes when referring to the name of their God. For example, they use HaShem ("The Name") or Shem HaMeforash ("the indescribable Name").

Today, the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam)  say that there is only one God, defined in the Judeo/Christian
Scriptures as Yahweh almost 7,000 times, with the general name "Elohim" a distant second at 2,500 times. Yahweh was spoken often by Jews. In
the New Testament, Yahweh is also present with the expanded name of Yeshua (Jesus), meaning "Yahweh is Salvation".

Sometimes the four letters are called the Tetragrammaton, which is Greek for four letters

The Hebrew languages has no vowels as was used in Latin or eventually, English. Therefore, the Tetragrammaton, translated from Hebrew to Latin was JHWH. Eventually, it was JHVH in English. Since it does not contain vowels, as does English, vowels were inserted to make the name pronouncable. Therefore JHVH became JEHOVAH.

These four letters are usually JHWH in German, French and Dutch, and either YHWH, YHVH, JHWH or JHVH in English. In some English language Bibles, it is written in all capital letters as "LORD," as in Jewish tradition. Others, such as the Jerusalem Bible use "Yahweh". The Holman Christian Study Bible uses
"Yahweh" when there is a reference to his name; God's Word Translation uses all of the Hebrew transliterations for the name of God.

The name Jehovah is used by the religious organisation of Jehovah's Witnesses based on early English Bible translations repeated by the KJV. They are not the only religious group to pronounce the holy name as Jehovah. When settlers of different religions arrived to settle lands in North America, the name Jehovah was widely used. It is still used by several regions besides Jehovah's Witnesses.

In 2008, the Holy See reiterated a directive that the full name YAHWEH should not be used in Catholic liturgy out of respect for the Jews who never pronounce the full word and YHWH was to be used instead.

Related pages
 God in Christianity
 Jehovah

References

Judaism
Hebrew language

YHWH


A video game publisher is a company that publish games that they have made or that they have bought to be made by a video game developer. The publisher pays for the development of the game. Because of that, they can tell the developers exactly what kind of game they want. The publisher is responsible for the making and marketing of the game. Big publishers also distribute the games that they publish. Smaller ones pay for other companies to distribute the game for them. Publishers also usually design and make the copies of the games and write the manual.

Video game publisher


Taymyr () is a shallow-draft nuclear-powered icebreaker, and the first of two similar vessels.  She was built in 1989 for the Soviet Union in Finland, at the Helsinki Shipyard by Wärtsilä Marine, by order of the Murmansk Shipping Company. Her sister ship is Vaygach.

Design

General characteristics

While Taymyr is slightly smaller than the Arktika-class nuclear icebreakers, with an overall length of nearly  and beam of  she is still among the largest polar icebreakers ever built. At the maximum draught of , Taymyr has a displacement of 21,000 tons. However, she can also operate at a reduced draught of only .

Taymyr has a traditional icebreaker hull with highly raked stem and sloping sides to reduce the ice loads in compressive ice fields and improve maneuverability. The special cold-resistant steel used in the hull was delivered by the Soviet Union. Although designed for a crew of slightly over 100, the large superstructure of Taymyr contains accommodation and facilities for 138 personnel. In addition to messes and other social premises, there is a large auditorium that doubles as a recreational room and a winter garden that can be used to provide fresh vegetables for the crew during the polar night. In the aft, there is a helideck and a hangar for single Kamov Ka-32 helicopter. Being an escort icebreaker, Taymyr is equipped with a standard towing winch and a stern notch for close towing in difficult conditions.

Taymyr is classified by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping with the Russian ice class LL2, which means that she is intended for icebreaking operations on Arctic coastal routes in level ice up to  thick during winter and spring. The shallow draught of the icebreaker allows it to operate in rivers, estuaries and other locations where the water is not deep enough for bigger Arktika-class icebreakers and the ice conditions are so severe that refueling of diesel-powered icebreakers would be difficult, even impossible.

When the Taymyr-class icebreakers were designed, considerable effort was put into improving the safety of these nuclear-powered ships. The vessels were designed to operate in areas where there might be only  of water beneath the keel, less than the thickness of the ice floes the icebreaking bow is pushing under the ship. The scenarios used for structural dimensioning of the reactor compartment and shielding included a 25,000-ton SA-15 type arctic freighter striking the icebreaker amidships at . Furthermore, all critical systems are duplicated to improve reliability and allow the ship to maintain most of its operational capability after a collision.

Power and propulsion
Taymyr is powered by a single KLT-40M nuclear fission reactor located amidships with a thermal output of 171 MW. The nuclear power plant on board the icebreaker produces superheated steam, which is used to generate electricity for the propulsion motors and other shipboard consumers as well as heat to maintain operational capability at . Taymyr has two main turbogenerators aft of the reactor compartment consisting of Soviet-made steam turbines coupled to Siemens generators, each producing 18,400 kW of electricity at 3,000 rpm for the propulsion motors. In addition the ship has two auxiliary turbogenerators, manufactured in the Soviet Union, which produce 2,000 kW of electrical power for shipboard consumers.

Taymyr has a nuclear-turbo-electric powertrain, in which steam produced by the nuclear reactor is converted first into electricity, which in turn rotates the propulsion motors coupled to the propellers. The ship has three shafts with  Strömberg AC motors controlled by cycloconverters. The propulsion motors are coupled directly to four-bladed fixed pitch propellers rotating at 180 rpm. The ship can maintain a speed of  in open water and  in  level ice.

If the nuclear power can not be utilized, electricity can also be produced by three 16-cylinder Wärtsilä 16V22 medium-speed diesel engines coupled to 3,200 kVA Strömberg alternators. Two of the three generating sets, located ahead of the reactor compartment under the superstructure, can be used to provide approximately 4 MW of power for the propulsion motors while the third takes care of the auxiliary load. In case of emergency Vaygach also has two 200 kW emergency diesel generators of Soviet origin.

Taymyr and her sister ship are one of the last icebreakers equipped with Wärtsilä Air Bubbling System (WABS).  When pressurized air released from nozzles located below the waterline, it lubricates the hull and, by reducing friction between steel and ice, improves the ship's ability to operate in difficult ice conditions such as pressure ridges and reduces the risk of becoming stuck in ice.

Radioactivity release
In the spring of 2011 a minor release of radioactivity was detected in the ship's reactor ventilation system – the second such leak on board the vessel in as many years. Taymyr returned to Murmansk under diesel power for repair.  By then 6,000 litres of coolant had leaked from its nuclear reactor.

See also
Arktika-class icebreaker

References

External links

 Soviet Arctic Marine Transportation (1988).

Icebreakers of the Soviet Union
Nuclear-powered icebreakers
Icebreakers of Russia
1987 ships
Finland–Soviet Union relations
Ships built in Helsinki

Taymyr (1987 icebreaker)


Sirius Black is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, played by Gary Oldman.  Black, also known as Padfoot or Snuffles (in his Animagus form) was a pure-blood wizard. He was born on 3rd November, 1959 and is the eldest son of Orion and Walburga Black. He is heir of the Ancient and Noble house of Black and brother to Regulus. His cousin's are Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black), Andromeda Tonks (née Black) and Narcissa Malfoy (née Black). He was Harry Potter's godfather. He was best friends with James Potter, along with Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. These four were known as the Marauders in their school days, and created the Marauder's Map.

He, along with his three friends, belonged to Gryffindor house when at Hogwarts, unlike the rest of his family, who had belonged to the house of Slytherin. He did not like his family, and ran away from home to James Potter's house when he was 16. The Potters took Sirius in as their own son. His prized possession during childhood was his flying motorbike.

Sirius was an animagus and was able to transform into a big black dog, (a Grim) which is an omen of death, at will. He, along with James Potter and Peter Pettigrew became Animagus to help Remus Lupin with his transformations. He was the first wizard to escape Azkaban prison, after being kept there twelve years for a crime that he did not commit. The betrayal of James and Lily Potter, the murder of Peter Pettigrew and 12 muggles with an unknown curse. Harry found out, after a year of believing otherwise, that Sirius was an innocent man, and helped him evade capture from the Ministry of Magic. Sirius went on the run before returning to his (empty) childhood home, 12 Grimmauld Place, and offered it up as headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix upon Voldemort's return. He was killed in a battle at the Ministry of Magic by his cousin, a Death Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry's (his Godson's)5th year at Hogwarts. He returned during Harry's 7th year along with James, Lily and Remus, after being resurrected with the help of the Resurrection stone in a hazy form.

He was the only remaining "true" heir of the House of Black. 12 Grimmauld Place was gifted to Harry Potter, Sirius' godson. In which case, Harry or Draco Malfoy (related to the House of Black through his mother Narcissa) would've likely inherited the title of Head of House. Possibly even Andromeda Tonks or her grandson, Edward "Teddy" Remus Lupin.

As he has said before, "almost all pure-bloods are somehow related, and he's no exception". He's related to the Weasleys by way of Cedrella Weasley (née Black), whom married Septimus Weasley. Together they're the paternal grandparents of the Weasley children. He's related to the Malfoys through Narcissa Malfoy (née Black) who married into the Malfoy family, and is Sirius' cousin. He's even related to his godson, Harry Potter, through Dorea Potter (née Black) who is a distant relative to Harry and James Potter.
He is named after the dog star, Sirius,and his brother Regulus after a star in the constellation Leo. This may be connected to Griffindor, or to Draco Malfoy naming his son Scorpius. Maybe pure bloods are often named after stars?

Fictional characters introduced in 1999
Harry Potter characters

Sirius Black


A French press (also called press pot, coffee press, coffee plunger or cafetière) is a special machine used to make coffee. It is easy to operate. The coffee it can make is stronger than that produced by other means.

A French press has a round jug. This jug can be glass or clear plastic. The jug has a lid and a "plunger". The plunger fits in the jug very well. It usually has some kind of steel or plastic wire, that acts as a filter. Coffee is brewed by placing the coffee and water together, leaving to brew for a few minutes, then pushing the plunger down. This puts the coffee at the bottom of the jug.

The French press has different names around the world.  In Australia, South Africa and Ireland it is known as a coffee plunger and coffee brewed in it is known as plunger coffee.  Its French name is cafetière à piston. Sometimes it is also called a melior (from an old brand of makers of coffee pots of this type) or a Bodum (another brand).  In the UK the device is known as a cafetière (the French word for "coffee pot").

Because the coffee grounds are in direct contact with the brewing water, coffee brewed with the French press gets more of the coffee's flavour and essential oils. These usually are trapped in a traditional drip brew machine's paper filters.  French pressed coffee is often stronger and thicker than drip-brewed one. It also has more sediment.  Because the grounds remain in the drink after brewing, French pressed coffee should be served quickly. Over time, the drink will develop a bitter taste. This is because the grounds still act on the water.

Coffee for use in a French press should be ground coarsely.  The use of a burr mill grinder gives a better grind than the whirling blade variety.  The ground coffee should be more coarse than that used for a drip brew coffee filter, and far coarser than that used for espresso. Anything other than a coarse grind will go through the press filter and into the coffee.  A French press can also be used instead of a tea infuser to brew loose tea.

The French press is also more portable than other coffee makers.  Special versions for travellers also exist. They are made of tough plastic instead of glass. They also have a sealed lid with a closable drinking hole.  Some versions are marketed to hikers and backpackers. These people often do not want to carry a heavy metal percolator or a filter using drip brew.

Despite the name, the French press is not noticeably more popular in France than in other countries. In most French households, coffee is  prepared by drip brewing, with an electric coffeemaker and paper filters. In bars and restaurants, an espresso machine is used.

Some studies have found that drinking large amounts of coffee made by the French press method increases LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels, while drinking filtered or drip coffee does not.  The French press method allows certain Diterpenes, such as Cafestol and Kahweol, to remain in the coffee while other brewing methods either remove or limit these chemicals.

References

Other websites
French Press Coffee How To Guide  A step by step guide about how to make French Press Coffee
History of the French press
CoffeeGeek: How to use a Press Pot

Kitchenware

French press


Luke the Evangelist is said to be the man who wrote the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Irenaeus, Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome say that he was a friend of Saint Paul and a doctor, and that he accompanied Paul on some of his travels. These people also say that he was of Greek origin, from Antioch in Syria.

Modern-day scholars think that the person that wrote the two books was not the same that accompanied Paul. Paul had a theology that was special, and slightly different from that of other writers of the New Testament. The two books written by Luke never refer to this theology. Also, the name of Paul's companion is never linked to writing the two books. The Acts of the Apostles often tell things about Paul which Paul does not tell himself in his letters.

Luke wrote about the Three Wise Men who visited Jesus in the Bible.  Luke never said there were 3 wise men, only wise men from the east.

New Testament people

Luke the Evangelist


Roller derby is a sport played on roller skates. It used to be played by both men and women, but it was restarted by women. There are now a growing number of men's and mixed (or co-ed) teams around the world who are playing roller derby.

For a long time, many people did not believe roller derby was a real sport. They thought it was like professional wrestling, because it had fake fighting and other things for TV. But in 2002, a group of women in Austin, Texas started playing it as a real game, with nothing fake. A TV show called Rollergirls was made about some of these women. By 2006, women in every big city in the USA and Canada were starting their own roller derby clubs. There were even clubs starting up in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

How roller derby is played

Two teams of roller derby players skate around an oval track. The track can be flat or banked (raised around the outer edges).

There are 5 players on each team:
 1 jammer, who races around the track faster than the rest of the team
 1 pivot, who usually stays in front of the blockers and make them go faster or slower
 3 blockers, who try to keep the other team's jammer from passing them

The jammer is the only player that can score points. The jammer's team gets a point every time the jammer passes one of the other team's players. To score a point, the jammer has to play fair and stay on the track when they pass someone.

Jammers get a 2-minute time period, called a jam, when they can score points.

Before a jam starts the blockers of both teams line up side-by-side, with both jammers farther back behind their own starting line. The jam starts when a whistle blows. Then, everyone, including the jammers get to leave their designated areas. The jammers and blockers alike are fighting to get their guy/girl through the pack.

The first jammer to get through the pack without leaving the track gets to be the "lead jammer". The lead jammer can put her hands on her hips when she wants to stop the jam early. Stopping the jam early keeps the other team from having time to score points.

Blockers and pivots try to help their own team's jammer get through the pack, and they try to slow down the other team's jammer. When the jammers are near the pack, everyone is allowed to bump into each other. If someone is trying to push someone from the other team out of the way, then they have to be careful how they do it. They can only push from the side, and they have to use their shoulders, the top part of their arms, their hips, or the top part of their legs—so tripping, shoving, punching, or pushing the other team's players from behind is not allowed. Or you will get a penalty

Players who break the rules are sent to the penalty box for thirty seconds, leaving their team stranded on the track without them.

Even with these rules and safety equipment, roller derby players can get knocked down and get badly hurt, so usually only adults play "full contact" roller derby. There are junior clubs for younger players. SOME play without trying to knock anyone down. Others, like the Quad City Orphan Brigade (located in the Quad Cities (Iowa, Illinois)) play FULL contact and TRY to knock others down.

A roller derby game is called a bout. There are two halves played, which last 30 minutes each. The teams skate as many jams(runs a maximum of 2 minutes per jam) as they can until time runs out. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Skating

Roller derby


Mirpur District () is a district in Pakistan's Azad Kashmir Liberated Territory. The district is named after the main city - Mirpur. The District of Mirpur comprises mostly plain and some hilly areas. Its hot and dry climate and other geographical conditions closely resemble those of Jhelum and Gujrat, the adjoining Districts of Pakistan.

Administration

Mirpur District is now located in the south west of the Kashmir region. Azad Jammu & Kashmir is administered by Pakistan from Islamabad. Azad Kashmir has been considered politically, constitutionally and geographically as part of a separate state, i.e. Jammu and Kashmir. This state is a disputed territory and has been controlled by both Pakistan and India, since their independence, 14 / 15th August 1947, respectively. Azad Kashmir is under the indirect control of Pakistan, however its defence, foreign policy and currency are under the direct control of Pakistan.

Consequently, fiscal issues, i.e. budget and tax affairs have been dealt with by the 'Azad Jammu & Kashmir Council', instead of the Central Board of Revenue. Azad Jammu & Kashmir Council is a supreme body, consisting of 11 members - 6 of these members are from the Government of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, and 5 members are from the Government of Pakistan.

Also its chairman / chief executive is always the President of Pakistan. Hence, the rest of members are Azad Kashmir's own Prime Minister and President and some ministers, (also note that Azad Kashmir has its own president, prime minister and legislative assembly also supreme-court and high-court & other departments). The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) is responsible for tax affairs of rest of all Pakistani territory, i.e. all four provinces and the capital, Islamabad.

Emigration
People from this former Punjab region now known as Azad Kashmir are ethnic Pahari who have historically looked abroad for employment. Many a ship employed Mirpuri boiler men in the age of steam. During the two world wars many Mirpuris enlisted in the merchant navy and armed services. During the last four decades a large number of people from this district have gone abroad, especially to United Kingdom for earning their livelihood. The Mangla Dam project in the early sixties resulted in the displacement of a large number of people, who under an agreement between the Pakistan government and the British government, were allowed to settle in the UK, where they are usually known as Mirpuri and play a role in the British society, economy, and politics.

As such, they are today the major foreign exchange earning resource for Pakistan. Around 50,000 people were moved from this district in the mid-sixties to make way for the construction of Mangla Dam, but corrupt handling of funds meant long drawn out delays in completing the project. Most of these people settled in new Mirpur whilst some moved elsewhere in Pakistan or to the UK.

Tehsils of Mirpur
Mirpur is divided into the following tehsils

 Dudial Tehsil
 Chakswari Tehsil
 Mirpur (central-city) tehsil

Notable places
Notable places within the district are

Baghsar - a famous lake.
Bandala valley
Khari Sharif - located 8 km from Mirpur, it is famous for its Sufi shrine.
Mangla is a town 16 km from Mirpur, it is situated at the mouth of the Mangla Dam for which it is famous.
Rajoa
The Samahni valley.
Harchial is a small village in Mirpur Tehsil. In 1998 there were 533 people living in the village.

Castes in Mirpur
Mirpur became part of Kashmir in 1846 as part of the treaty of Amritsar between the British and the Maharaja Gulab Singh.Before the treaty Mirpur was part of the Punjab. Although they are citizens of Kashmir the peoples of Mirpur are ethnic Pahari's in much the same way as Attock has a large Pashtun population even though it only became part of the Punjab in 1970 when Ayub Khan removed it from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The caste system in Mipur is very strong despite the most of people living in UK. The famous castes in Mirpur are:

Jatt- Jatts are playing acitive role in Politics of Mirpur.
Rajputs- They are the largest caste and play active role in politics and bureaucracy. They mostly live in Main City and Khari Sharif region. The famous sub-clans of rajputs are Chibs, Punwar Sohlan, Minhas, etc.
Gujjars- Last of the three main castes, Though Gujjars in Mirpur are in Minority compared to Jatt and Rajputs they are very much united and active economically and politically. Make up the bulk of the Mirpuri's who live in the UK.
Sadat- They are very active people. Though they are not big in numbers but occupy important positions in all sectors.
Mughals- Mughals are not involved in active politics but they are very active in education sector.
Arain- They are less in numbers but they mostly rich people and have tendency towards business.

References

Mirpur District

Mirpur District


The Vaganova method is a ballet technique and training system devised by the Russian dancer and pedagogue Agrippina Vaganova (1879–1951). It was derived from the teachings of the Premier Maître de Ballet Marius Petipa, throughout the late 19th century. It was Agrippa Vaganova who perfected and cultivated this form of teaching classical ballet and turned it into a viable syllabus. The method fuses elements of traditional French style from the romantic era with the athleticism and virtuosity of Italian Cecchetti technique. The training system is designed to involve the whole body in every movement, with equal attention paid to the upper body, legs and feet. Vaganova believed that this approach increases consciousness of the body, thus creating a harmony of movement and greater expressive range.

History
Upon graduating from the Imperial Ballet School in Saint Petersburg in 1897, Agrippina Vaganova began dancing with the school's associated professional company, the Imperial Russian Ballet. She retired from dancing in 1916 to pursue a teaching career and in 1921 returned as a teacher at the school, which had been renamed the Leningrad Choreographic School.

During the 30 years she spent teaching at the Leningrad Choreographic School, Vaganova developed a ballet technique that combined elements of French, Italian, and earlier Russian technique, and a training method to teach the technique. Tenets of the training method included development of lower back strength and arm plasticity, and the strength, flexibility and endurance required for ballet, and it incorporated a detailed instruction process that specified when to teach each topic and how long to teach it. In 1934, Vaganova wrote Fundamentals of the Classical Dance, which remains a standard textbook for the instruction of ballet technique. In 1948, Vaganova authored a book titled The Foundation For Dance (more commonly known as Basic Principles of Russian Classical Dance) that outlined her training method and ballet technique. Following Vaganova's death in 1951, her teaching method was preserved by instructors such as Vera Kostrovitskaya and Vera Volkova.

Today the Vaganova method is the most widely used ballet teaching method in Russia, and it is also used in Europe and North America.

Characteristics
The Vaganova training method relies on the following principle: That all training can be encompassed and displayed in the course of one grand pas de deux. Students are trained to prove this principle upon graduation, thus the reason for graduation performances in which the most talented students are given a grand pas de deux to perform.

The steps in Vaganova's syllabus builds on a carefully developed progression in which the "basic" or "preparatory" forms are mastered before the dancer moves on to more difficult forms. This can be understood as a codified technical approach when taught by qualified teachers following the syllabus closely. The syllabus is founded upon the idea that when a dancer is introduced to a step, he or she will have developed the correct strength in foundation in order for their steps and movements to be successful. It is understood that this strength-building requires time and consistent hard work.

Students at Vaganova-based schools are expected to take daily courses in ballet as well as character dance, modern dance, calisthenics/strengthening, and study dance history, music, and language. Ballet demands versatility and ballet students cannot rely solely on the study of classical ballet.

Terminology used in the Vaganova method often differs from other methods, and may also vary by locale. For example, the Vaganova "grand pas de chat" is commonly called "saut de chat" in the United States, and Vaganova's "battement jeté" is often called "dégagé" in other methods.

Students at Vaganova-based pre-professional schools are expected to also take courses in choreography and pedagogy. These two subjects allow students of all abilities to go on to become both choreographers and well trained teachers. Frequently, students who do not pass exams for their grade in ballet are redirected into training as choreographers and teachers. This is unique to Vaganova training, as other schools focus solely on a future in dancing.

References

External links

 About the Vaganova Syllabus

Ballet training methods

Vaganova method


LaSalle Street is a major north-south street in Chicago named after Sieur de La Salle, an early explorer from Illinois. The section that runs through the Chicago Loop is thought to be Chicago's financial district. The Chicago Board of Trade Building is in the north part of the street. The street is a good spot for movies because of the location of the Trade Building. The street also has many tall buildings.

References

Roads in Chicago

LaSalle Street