Lincoln–Douglas debate (commonly abbreviated as LD Debate, or simply LD) is a type of one-on-one competitive debate practiced mainly in the United States at the high school level. It is sometimes also called values debate because the format traditionally places a heavy emphasis on logic, ethical values, and philosophy.

The Lincoln–Douglas debate format is named for the 1858 Lincoln–Douglas debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, because their debates focused on slavery and the morals, values, and logic behind it. LD debates are used by the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) competitions, and also widely used in related debate leagues such as the National Christian Forensics and Communication Association, the National Catholic Forensic League, the National Educational Debate Association, the Texas University Interscholastic League, Texas Forensic Association, Stoa USA and their affiliated regional organizations.

Teams in a debate competition are given a resolution (a statement). In the competition, one side (called the affirmative) must support the resolution, and the other side (called the negative) must show that the action does not conform to the principle or that the affirmative has not shown how it does so (there are different schools of thought as to the negative's burden).

The vast majority of tournaments use the resolutions distributed by the NSDA, which is changed once every two months.

The debate format is known for the debaters' fast speaking speed comparable to the speed of a cattle auctioneer.

Format
The following is the basic debate format. Each side has 4 minutes of preparation time they can distribute among the two prep time periods assigned to them.

Each debater gets thirteen minutes of total speaking time, and three minutes of question time. The rounds take approximately 45 minutes in total. Each debater receives four to five minutes of preparation time to use between speeches however they like. While the amount of prep time is at the tournament's discretion, the NSDA advocated three minutes until midway through the 2006–2007 season, when it decided on four. Some tournaments, most notably the TOC, choose to give debaters 5 minutes. Some tournaments also allow the use of flex prep, which melds the cross-examination time and prep time together to create a 6-8 minute block that can be used for questions and/or prep. Asking cross-examination questions during prep time is generally accepted on the national circuit. Most speeches start with an order often called an "offtime roadmap" because it's given before the speech starts. The roadmap states which order the arguments and flows will be addressed in before the time starts (i.e. "The order will be Topicality, K, CP, DA, then case.").

Traditional case structures
Cases are logical syllogisms that attempt to prove the resolution morally obligatory (affirmative) or morally prohibited (negative). The typical (though not mandated) case is divided into a framework, which outlines the conditions for discussing the resolution, and contentions. The most essential part of the framework is the value structure, which is composed of a value (often called the value premise) that the case attempts to demonstrate the resolution action achieves/is in accordance with, and a value criterion. The value criterion is a way to attain, achieve and quantify the nebulous value. In most modern NSDA resolutions, a value is often stated in the resolution. For example, "Resolved: Just governments ought to ensure food security for its citizens." Due to the fact that Justice is used in the resolution, it is an appealing value for many debaters. Morality is a common value due to its inclusion in many resolutions, followed by justice, social welfare, or other values depending on the topic. The framework also may contain definitions for purposes of clarity and/or excluding certain lines of argumentation, and preemptions/"spikes" that attempt to preclude certain arguments that one's opponent is expected to make. A narrow definition can be a spike. The contentions, of which this type of case must have at least one, links the resolution to the value structure. A proper contention necessarily has a claim, which summarizes the argument, at least one warrant, which is a reason the claim is true, and an impact, which explains the importance of the argument—or specifically why this argument meets the value criterion. In addition, contentions often include sub-points.

For example, a negative case for the resolution "Resolved: A just society ought not use the death penalty as form of punishment" could have a value of justice, a value criterion of deterring crime, and then evidence supported contentions that demonstrate that the death penalty serves as a uniquely powerful deterrent. An affirmative case could have a value of justice, a criterion of respecting human worth, and contentions giving evidence based arguments that all available methods of execution are inhumane. The debaters would then argue whether crime deterrence or adherence to the principle of human worth is more effective at encouraging justice based on the evidence in their cases.

Alternative case structures (Used in Progressive Debate)

Plans and counterplans

Lincoln–Douglas debate format borrows from Policy format debate in order to create plans and counter-plans. A counterplan (also called a CP) allows the negative side to defend an advocacy separate from the status quo. A counterplan must:

 Compete with the affirmative's advocacy. The affirmative can disprove this quality of competition using a variety of "perms," short for permutation, which describes the possibility of some sort of combination or permutation of the affirmative's and the negative's advocacy. A few types of perms include perm-do-both (in which the affirmative attempts to prove that the counterplan and the plan are not mutually exclusive and can co-exist, which means the counterplan no longer disproves the affirmative), perm-do-the-counterplan (in which the affirmative attempts to prove that the counterplan is the plan, based on how the counterplan or the plan function), timeframe-perm (in which the affirmative attempts to prove that the counterplan can exist in a world after the plan), and textual-based perms (a variety of perms in which the affirmative claims a lack of competition via the specific text of the plan and counterplan).
 Offer a net-benefit to the affirmative. The affirmative can disprove that the counterplan offers a net-benefit by claiming that the plan solves for the net-benefit, that the counterplan does not, or that the net-benefit is not significant.
 Solve either the entirety of or a sufficient amount of the impacts that the affirmative's advocacy solves. If the counterplan does not do either, then the affirmative can simply claim that the counterplan is not as good as the plan.

There are various ways that an affirmative combats a counterplan, usually described in the acronym "SPLOT," which stands for "Solvency deficits, Perms, Links to the net benefit, Offense, Theory." Solvency deficits and perms are explained above, "links to the net benefit" simply means that the counterplan leads to the reason that it claims is better than the plan, offense is independent reason(s) why the counterplan is bad, and theory is explained in the "theory shells" section.

Kritiks

Although the kritik (Sometimes called a K) originated in policy debate, its use in Lincoln–Douglas debate is becoming increasingly accepted as a legitimate argument in some debate districts and states. A kritik seeks to challenge an underlying mindset, usually from the perspective of critical theory. There are a few different types of kritiks. The resolutional kritik argues that a fundamental assumption of the resolution is flawed or offensive and thus it can't or shouldn't be debated or proven true. For example, in the January–February 2014 topic, "Resolved: Developing countries should prioritize environmental protection over resource extraction when the two are in conflict," a kritik of the resolution would be that the resolution uses the words "resource extraction", opening itself to an anthropocentrism kritik by assuming the world to be a resource for human use and degrading the moral character of nature. This kritik would further argue that an anthropocentric mindset would justify major harms, which, in order to avoid, would require the win go to the side presenting the criticism. The discourse kritik argues that the effects of an action one's opponent has taken during or in relation to the round should outweigh consideration of the resolution. An example of a common discourse kritik is a gendered language kritik, which could be used if an opponent's case has been written exclusively containing the male pronoun. Another example is if the opponent uses a slur (such as a derogatory term for homosexuals) in or out of the round, which opens the way to a "bad discourse" kritik.

A kritik is generally composed of four parts: the role of the ballot, link, impact, and alternative. In order to make a criticism, there has to be a link, or reason. A link can be a certain phrase in the resolution, something the opponent said, something conceded in cross-examination, etc. The link opens the gate to the criticism. Now that the link to the mindset being criticized has been established, there has to be a significant harm linked to that mindset, or impact. For example, if an opponent links in to statism, a harm or impact of this would be that statism justifies nuclear war or rights violations. An impact explains why the mindset is bad. In general, the alternative provides solvency for the harms proposed. Most alternatives look something like, "reject the negative," "reject statism," or something along those lines. The role of the ballot functions as framework for the kritik. A role of the ballot explains how the judge should view the debate round. If a kritik criticizes the ethics of the round, then an acceptable alternative would propose another type of ethic that should be used for reasons like better discourse.

Theory shells

A theory shell proposes rules to follow in a debate. The negative can do this by criticizing something the affirmative does that does not follow their vision of the debate. Shells include arguments such as that of disclosure theory and have become increasing popular in the high school circuits. A theory shell consists of four parts: the interpretation, violation, standards and the voters.  A theory shell most often uses fairness and education to weigh the round, but many other standards and values are used when debating on them.

Plans

Sometimes, the affirmative advocates for a plan, which is a certain specified action which falls under the resolution. For example, with the January/February 2015 Topic (Resolved: Just governments ought to require that employers pay a living wage) a plan could have been to bring the Asia Floor Wage to a living wage level.  These arguments are often countered by theory (see below) or topicality. Plans originated from policy debate. Despite the growing popularity of affirmative plans, they are unacceptable in certain debate districts. In some states, the ballots used by judges instruct them to disregard affirmative plans. The only type of case that is virtually universally accepted is the value/value criterion/contention structure, and even that has its detractors.

Recently, methods of winning the round have become prominent that cannot be classified as true cases, because they are used as a semi-independent part of or in addition to the case proper, and do not advocate an extensively developed position. These include the "a priori" or "prima facie" argument which attempt to demonstrate that the resolution is true/false outside of the typical syllogistic model, most commonly by collapsing it into a tautology or presenting some reason why it's nonsensical. "Theory" debate, which says that an opponent's argument or style of argumentation (e.g. talking too fast or interpreting the resolution in a certain way) is unfair or noneducational and explains why fairness or educational considerations supersedes the resolutional evaluation, has also proliferated. Like atypical cases, the merit of these types of arguments is heatedly contested, although both are common on the national circuit.

Judging
Judges fall under many categories, the most common of which are:
 Lay judge (a judge who does not have experience in debate of any form, and is partial to basic and/or slow arguments); usually parents tend to be lay judges
 Flow judge (a judge who seeks to minimize intervention in the round by judging based solely on the arguments as made by the debaters in the round. Arguments are usually tracked in a short-hand called "the flow".)
 Classical/traditional judge (looks strongly on the ethics of the case and the philosophy that is behind it, especially when it comes to the Value structure. They will not look highly upon spreading (which is the debate term for speed reading, at rates of 300 or more words per minute, during speeches) or progressive debate tactics like counterplan and kritik).
 Policy judges look at all forms of arguments including those that come from policy debate; policy judges tend to be flow judges.

Experienced and qualified students are usually allowed to judge in the novice division. There are usually four or five elimination rounds in which the participators are marked by speaker points (0-30 is the speaker point range, however debaters are rarely assigned beneath a 26 and some states utilize a different points system—out of 40, for instance, in Idaho) and by a win or loss. Comments tend to be given by the judge to the debaters at the conclusion of the round. Comments are also written on the ballot, which is the document that the judge writes their decision on, as well as the speaker points awarded to each debater. Judges are often told before the tournament whether or not they are allowed to disclose to the participators, who won the round immediately following the decision (speaker points are never disclosed). However, that being said, some judges will never disclose and others will regardless of what the instructions were.

In some regional or national circuit tournaments with multiple divisions, less experienced judges are most commonly placed in the Novice division, while the Junior Varsity and Varsity divisions enjoy more experienced judges. Judges are assigned to a specific division based on their experience and some other criteria, and are only eligible to judge debaters within that division (a judge assigned to judge novices cannot judge varsity). This is known as a pool; each division has its own pool of judges. At most national circuit tournaments, the judges within the varsity pool are often ranked beforehand from 1 to 5 by the debaters and their coaches as part of "mutual judge preferences" (MJP). A 1 is the best possible ranking, a 5 is a judge with a conflict of interest regarding the debater, and a 6 is a "strike", who may never judge the debater, teams are usually allowed 4-5 "strikes" per tournament. During the tournament, the tabulation staff will attempt to give each round a mutual judge (i.e. a judge who is a 1 for both sides). Different debaters "pref" different judges depending on their past experiences and debating styles. The most preferred judges are usually former debaters who are now college students serving as assistant coaches, as they know the modern norms of debate well.

Other regional circuits more heavily emphasize the rhetorical skills required in front of inexperienced judges, and recruit "lay" judges from the community. These judges are typically concerned citizens or parents of debaters from the school hosting the tournament or a participating school. Some circuits require all LD judges for rounds above the novice level to meet training requirements. Another option is to use lay judges for the rounds, but offer them a brief training session or tutorial beforehand to prepare and inform them about the nature of the debate. Nevertheless, lay judges tend to incline more towards the side they personally prefer.

Tournament organization

Many tournaments offer two or three divisions of competition in LD: novice, junior varsity, and varsity. Novice is exclusively for new debaters in their first year of competition, junior varsity is for talented novices or debaters in their second year of competition, and varsity is for experienced debaters.

A typical one-day tournament holds three or four rounds. Each debater advocates each side an equal number of times or one side once more than the other, depending on whether the number of rounds is even or odd. Multi-day tournaments have five to eight preliminary rounds in which all debaters participate. The debaters with the best win–loss record from this set of rounds then advance (called "breaking" or "clearing") to a single-elimination stage of "outrounds" that determines the eventual champion. All debaters present have the hypothetical potential to "hit", or square off against, any other competitor in their field at the tournament, though if at all possible debaters are prohibited from hitting members of their own team and hitting someone they have previously hit earlier at the same tournament again. Similarly, judges who have already judged a debater are not supposed to judge them again in preliminaries. In contrast, a tournament in which each competitor must debate every other competitor is called a "round robin". These tend to be very small, and specific participants are invited to attend.

Most LD tournaments are "power matched" (also called "power paired" or just "powered"). In this system, after the first two rounds (often referred to as presets, as they are randomly paired beforehand), the pairings for the third round are decided on the basis that people with the same record (known as being in the same bracket) debate. For example, a 2‑0 would hit another 2‑0, a 1‑1 would hit another 1‑1, etc. Speaker points determine who hits who within each bracket (the 2‑0 with the highest speaks of any 2‑0 would hit the 2‑0 with the lowest speaks, second-highest hits second-lowest, etc.) After the third round, the debaters' cumulative records and speaks (rather than the results of their last round) place them in their brackets. Local tournaments sometimes use randomized brackets throughout their whole duration. Other tournaments use a "power protected" system during prelim rounds, in which a 3-0 would hit an 0-3 and a 2-1 would hit a 1-2. In "elimination rounds" after the primary four to six (or even eight) preliminary rounds, the top "seed" will "hit" the lowest "seed". Seeding is determined first by preliminary round records and then by the number of speaker points awarded by judges in preliminary rounds, with various tiebreakers (total number of opponent wins, speaker points after the highest and lowest given to each debater have been subtracted, judge variance, randomly assigned number, etc.) that follow should the statistics remain even.

Tournament competition
Most high school debaters participate in local tournaments in their city or school district, and travel to other areas of the state occasionally. Hundreds of such tournaments are held each weekend at high schools throughout the United States during the debate season.

A relatively small subset (perhaps a few hundred) of high school debaters, mostly from elite public and private schools, travel around the country to tournaments on the "national circuit". The current nine largest and most prestigious/competitive national circuit tournaments are (in no particular order) the Glenbrooks, held at Glenbrook North and Glenbrook South High Schools in the Chicago suburbs; the New York City Invitational at the Bronx High School of Science; the Harvard Invitational at Harvard University in Boston, Mass; the California Invitational at UC Berkeley, the Greenhill Fall Classic hosted by Greenhill School in Addison, Texas; the Heart of Texas Invitational at St. Mark's School in Dallas, Texas; The Harvard-Westlake Debates, held at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles; the Mid-America Cup at Valley High School in West Des Moines, Iowa; and the Minneapple at Apple Valley High School in Minnesota. There are a few other prestigious national tournaments that cap the number of debaters from each school and total number of schools allowed to enter to preserve competitive integrity, and because there might simply be not enough space available. National circuit tournaments are very large events that typically draw 120-200 varsity LD competitors, in addition to LDers in the novice and jv divisions, policy debaters, public forum debaters, speech participants, judges, coaches, etc. Some of the biggest attract near a thousand total participants. Regionally significant tournaments often also draw over a hundred participants. National circuit debate is generally characterized by its extremely fast manner of speaking (300 wpm is not considered an uncommon speed to read a case at), use of jargon, and emphasis on strength/depth of argumentation rather than rhetoric. However, some debaters have been successful on the national circuit without conforming to these conventions. The national circuit is mostly composed of traditional "power schools" with historically strong programs (e.g. Valley High School in Iowa, Lexington High School in Massachusetts, Scarsdale High School in New York, Greenhill School in Texas, or Walt Whitman High School in Maryland).  The national circuit and its accompanying style of debate are sometimes criticized for being exclusionary.  In particular, critics argue that national circuit "power" programs encourage jargon and esoteric norms not as a means of improving discourse, but as a means of deterring competition from the uninitiated.

As the debate season comes to a close, national championship tournaments (collectively referred to as the postseason) are held to bring together the best debaters from around the nation to compete against one another. These tournaments require reaching certain levels of success at a qualifying tournaments throughout the season.

The unofficial national circuit championship is the Tournament of Champions (LD) (TOC) held at the University of Kentucky. To be eligible for the TOC, debaters must collect at least two bids at various designated tournaments held throughout the year. (They cannot be considered qualifying tournaments because they technically exist independent of TOC authority and are significant in their own right.) These tournaments are granted a certain number of bids by the director of the TOC (Prof. Angela Reed) with the input of her advisory committee that debaters receive upon reaching a certain level in the elimination rounds. The level of elimination round at which bids are awarded is subjective, but depends chiefly on the size of the tournament, the perceived collective quality of the debaters in attendance, and the quality of the tournament itself (whether it is run well or not). There are fluctuations in tournaments' bid levels and the tournaments that have bids in the first place, but the major tournaments have very secure bids. For example, the Dowling Catholic Paradigm held at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa is a medium-sized tournament attended by debaters of all experience levels mostly from the Midwest, and therefore receives four bids, awarded to the debaters who reach the semifinal round of the tournament.  The Glenbrooks tournament, considered among the most competitive regular season tournaments in the country, is attended by approximately 200 experienced debaters and has for many years had 16 bids to hand out to competitors who reach the octofinal round.

For non-national circuit debaters, either the National Speech and Debate Tournament of the National Forensic League or the Grand National Tournament of the National Catholic Forensic League is the national tournament of their sponsoring organization. Competitors qualify to these national tournaments by placing in the top spots at district-level tournaments held specifically as qualifiers. The number of competitors in each district determines the number of competitors that will qualify to the national tournament. Most NSDA districts have two to four, but some NCFL districts have six.

Rankings
There have been several attempts in the past to create a cohesive national ranking system. One was Fantasy Debate, which ran from 2010 to 2012 but is now closed. Other defunct ranking systems include the Briefly ELO rankings, which aren't actively acknowledged or updated any longer.

The National Speech & Debate Association provides a ranking of inputted points gained throughout events, with the option of filtering out points solely earned in Lincoln-Douglas debate.

There is also a system of points for Lincoln Douglas Debate known as the Dukes and Bailey cup, which takes your top 5 tournaments of the year, and assigns a point value to them.

Resolutions
NSDA resolutions (topics to be debated) change every two months. They always propose that a specific policy or issue (the "resolutional policy/action") conforms to a certain principle (the "value"). The affirmative must uphold the resolution, and the negative must show that the action does not conform to the principle or that the affirmative has not shown how it does so (there are different schools of thought as to the negative's burden).

Ten possible resolutions for the upcoming year are chosen by a wording committee and released at the NSDA National Tournament. Anybody can submit a resolution for consideration to the wording committee. Each coach in the country receives a ballot with a copy of the official magazine of the NSDA, the Rostrum, and votes for a topic for each two-month slot. Voting can also be done online. Until the 2007–2008 season each coach could only rank the topics on one list, with the one receiving the overall highest ranking becoming the National Tournament topic, the second highest becoming the March–April topic, the third highest Jan/Feb topic, etc. However, because of the prominence of the Jan-Feb slot (the TOC and several other tournaments not actually in January or February elect to use this topic, resulting in it being jokingly referred to as the "six-month topic"), coaches now select their three highest choices for each two-month slot.

The resolutions of the NCFL National Tournament, UIL (which includes LD debate as one of its academic contests), and NCFCA are selected independently of the NSDA resolutions.

See also
 Value Premise
 Value Criterion
 Flow
 Kritik
 Public Forum Debate
 Policy Debate
 Debate
 List of Tournament of Champions Winners

References

External links
 DebateDrills – Debate Resources for students, teachers, and parents
 Premier Debate Today – National-circuit focused news and analysis by Premier Debate and guest writers
 Briefly – Debate news, discussion, and commentary by Victory Briefs
 NSD Update – LD national circuit results, discussion, and commentary site
 National Forensic League website
 National Catholic Forensic League website
 National Historical Site – Complete Transcripts Of All Seven Debates
 LimitlessDebate.org – National circuit discussion forum
 NSD Videos – Archive of recent LD rounds
 National Debate Forum – Major national circuit debate camp
 Premier Debate Institute – Major national circuit debate camp held at the University of Minnesota
 Texas Debate Collective – National circuit debate camp
 VBI – National Circuit debate camp, held in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia
 NDCA Wiki – National Debate Coaches Association Case Wiki
 Speech and Debate Coach – Tools that will help you compete at the championship level
 Southwest Speech and Debate Institute – Speech and debate camp, held at Arizona State University
 LD debate topics - The full list of all LD debate topics from 1979 till today

Debate types
Lincoln Douglas Debate

Lincoln–Douglas debate format


Louis Durey (born Paris, 27 May 1888; died Saint-Tropez, France, 3 July 1979) was a French composer.  He was the oldest, but probably the least well-known of the six composers who are called Les Six.

Birth
Louis Durey was the son of a businessman.  He had no idea that he wanted to be a composer until he heard the opera Pélléas et Mélisande by Claude Debussy.  He was then already 19 years old. He taught himself how to compose.

Works
Durey became a member of the group called Les Six in 1920. However, he did not take part in the music they wrote together in 1921 called Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel.  This made Jean Cocteau very annoyed.

Durey became interested in left-wing politics and later joined the Communist Party.  During the years of the Nazi occupation of World War II, he worked with the French Resistance and wrote anti-Fascist songs. After the war he had strong Communist ideas.  This made it difficult for him to be successful in the world of music.
In 1950 he got the job of music critic for a communist newspaper in Paris.

He wrote a lot of music during his life, but there were many years when he wrote nothing.  He composed songs, chamber music and choral works.

Louis Durey died at Saint-Tropez, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

1888 births
1979 deaths

20th-century French composers

Louis Durey


The term Russian mafia represents various crime groups all across the former Soviet Union. They are not a single criminal club, though they represent similar goals and structures which define them. Organized crime in Russia began during early 1700s with thievery and banditry. Nowadays, close to six thousand different groups operate, 200 of which have global reach.

Organized crime

Russian mafia


Mary O'Connor Donohue (born March 22, 1947) is an American retired educator, attorney, politician and Judge of the New York Court of Claims and a former two-term Lieutenant Governor of New York. Donohue was first elected lieutenant governor in 1998, and was re-elected in 2002.

Teaching and legal career
Donohue is a former teacher and lawyer who was once an aide to State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.  She graduated from the College of New Rochelle and received a master's degree in Education from Russell Sage College. In 1983, she received a Juris Doctor degree from Albany Law School.

In addition to working for Bruno, Donohue served as an Assistant County Attorney in Rensselaer County. During her time in the county attorney's office, she worked on Family Court and juvenile justice issues.

District attorney and justice of the Supreme Court
Donohue served as the district attorney of Rensselaer County for several years in the 1990s. During her two terms as district attorney, she prosecuted over 5,000 cases a year. She handled several cases herself. In 1996, she was elected as a justice of the New York State Supreme Court. Serving as a state judge, Donohue handled both civil and criminal cases. She resigned from her judgeship in 1998, when Pataki picked her as a running mate.

Lieutenant governor
Donohue was selected as the running mate to Gov. George Pataki in his 1998 re-election bid. After she and Gov. Pataki won their 1998 election, Donohue was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of New York on January 1, 1999, replacing Betsy McCaughey Ross.

School violence
When Donohue became lieutenant governor, Gov. Pataki appointed her to head a special task force on school violence issues. Gov. Pataki said that he designated Donohue to head the task force because of her background as a teacher and district attorney. According to her state website, Donohue spent a year traveling the state meeting with teachers, parents, students, and law enforcement to discuss school violence issues. As a part of her work, Donohue formulated a series of recommendations, signed into law by Pataki in 2000.

Since 1999, Donohue started to spend time traveling the state promoting school violence prevention and to implement the recommendations of her task force. In 2005, Donohue led a state program, comprising several agencies, to determine best practices in the area of school violence prevention. Part of the recommendations made by Donohue's task force included giving teacher authority to have disruptive students removed from classrooms, creating character education curricula in school districts, and making violence against a teacher in a classroom a felony.

Quality communities
In 2000, Pataki appointed Donohue to chair a task force on quality communities in New York. Donohue's task force met around the state to discuss land use policies, economic development, and growth issues. The panel issued 41 recommendations on preserving community character statewide. After the conclusion of the task force, Donohue served as Chairwoman of the Quality Communities Working Group, which oversaw implementation of the task force's recommendations and the awarding of quality communities grants to towns statewide.

According to the website for the Quality Communities Clearinghouse, Donohue's panel made recommendations in the areas of neighborhood preservation, open space conservation, farmland preservation, economic development, land use planning, transportation, and technology. Donohue has traveled the state hosting roundtable discussion on quality communities issues since 2000. In that role, she worked with Secretaries of State Alexander Treadwell, Randy Daniels, and Christopher Jacobs on local government issues.

Small business, aging, homeland security, and criminal justice
In 2001, Donohue chaired a task force on small business issues in the state. In that role, she met with small business owners and developed policy recommendations for governor on these issues. During her second term, Donohue frequently traveled the state promoting homeland security issues, drunk driving prevention, and criminal justice.

In 2005, Donohue was named by Pataki as the Chairwoman of the New York State Delegation to the White House Conference on Aging. Before the conference, Donohue held a series of community meetings around the state on aging issues.

Statewide campaigns

1998

In 1997, Pataki announced that he was dropping Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey Ross from his 1998 reelection ticket. Pataki and McCaughey Ross had feuded for much of his term. McCaughey Ross would later become a Democrat and run unsuccessfully for governor in 1998.

Following Pataki's announcement regarding McCaughey Ross, Donohue was reported as a possible replacement running mate. In addition, State Parks Commissioner Bernadette Castro, State Senator Mary Lou Rath and Erie County Comptroller Nancy Naples were reported as possible running mates. In the spring of 1998, Pataki announced his selection of Donohue.

In the 1998 general election, the Pataki-Donohue ticket defeated the Democratic ticket of New York City Council Speaker Peter Vallone for governor and Brighton Town Supervisor Sandra Frankel for lieutenant governor.

2002
In 2002, there were reports that Donohue was being pushed out by Pataki as his running mate. The reports said that either Secretary of State Randy Daniels or Erie County Executive Joel Giambra would replace her on the Pataki ticket. Donohue beat back the challenge. There were reports that she was offered the Republican nomination for state attorney general to challenge Eliot Spitzer in 2002 so that she would not seek re-election. She declined the nomination, which went to Judge Dora Irizarry instead.

In September 2002 Donohue and Pataki fought to win the nomination of the New York State Independence Party. Donohue won her primary, but Pataki lost to Rochester businessman Tom Golisano. This made Donohue both the running mate of Pataki and Golisano in the November election and made her the officeholder who won the most votes in New York State in 2002.

The Pataki/Donohue ticket defeated the Democratic ticket of State Comptroller Carl McCall for governor and businessman Dennis Mehiel for lieutenant governor.

2006
After Pataki announced in 2005 that he would not seek reelection, Donohue was seen as a possible candidate for governor. However, she later announced that she would not run for office in 2006 either.

Federal judgeship nomination
On March 3, 2006, Donohue informed reporters that her name had been submitted by Pataki to President George W. Bush for nomination to a United States District Court judgeship in Upstate New York.  On June 27, 2006, the White House announced that Donohue has been nominated to the judgeship. Her nomination went to the US Senate for confirmation, where it was not brought up by the Senate Judiciary Committee before the 109th Congress adjourned on December 10, 2006. Senator Charles Schumer indicated that he did not see Donohue's nomination being able to be confirmed by the Senate in the 110th Congress, when the Democrats have the Senate majority.

State Court of Claims

On December 13, 2006, Pataki nominated her to a seat as a Judge of the New York Court of Claims.  She was confirmed that day by the State Senate for term expiring in March 2015. Court of Claims Judges preside over lawsuits against the State of New York and various independent state agencies. She took office as a judge after her term as lieutenant governor expired at midnight on December 31, 2006. She retired from the Court of Claims in May, 2009.

State tickets with Donohue
1998 NYS Republican and Conservative Party Tickets
Governor: George Pataki
Lieutenant Governor: Mary Donohue
Comptroller: Bruce Blakeman
Attorney General: Dennis Vacco
U.S. Senate: Al D'Amato

2002 NYS Republican and Conservative Party Tickets
Governor: George Pataki
Lieutenant Governor: Mary Donohue
Comptroller: John Faso
Attorney General: Dora Irizarry

2002 NYS Independence Party Ticket
Governor: B. Thomas Golisano
Lieutenant Governor: Mary Donohue
Comptroller: John Faso
Attorney General: Eliot Spitzer

Electoral history
2002 race for governor and lieutenant governor
George Pataki and Mary Donohue (R) (inc.), 49%
Carl McCall and Dennis Mehiel (D), 34%
Tom Golisano and Mary Donohue (I), 14%
2002 Independence Party primary for lieutenant governor
Mary Donohue (inc.), 64%
William J. Neild, 36%
1998 Race for governor and lieutenant governor
George Pataki and Mary Donohue (R) (inc.), 54%
Peter Vallone and Sandra Frankel (D), 33%
Tom Golisano and Laureen Oliver (I), 8%
Betsy McCaughey Ross and Jonathan C. Reiter (L), 1.4%

See also
List of female lieutenant governors in the United States

References

Albany Law School alumni
American women lawyers
American lawyers
American women judges
Russell Sage College alumni
College of New Rochelle alumni
Rensselaer County district attorneys
Lieutenant Governors of New York (state)
Living people
New York (state) lawyers
New York (state) Republicans
New York (state) state court judges
Women in New York (state) politics
People from Brunswick, New York
Politicians from Troy, New York
1947 births

Mary Donohue


"IEEE" redirects here. It is not to be confused with the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE).

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (or IEEE  for short) an international non-profit, professional organization for the advancement of technology related to electricity. It has the most members of any technical professional organization in the world, with more than 400,000 members in more than 160 countries. About 45% of IEEE's members live outside the United States.

It was formed in 1963 by the merger of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE, founded 1912) and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE, founded 1884).

The IRE concerned mostly radio engineering. The major interests of the AIEE were wire communications and light and electric power systems. As technology developing, the IRE and the AIEE became difficult to distinguish. And people who belong to both group were increasing gradually. After World War II, the leadership of both the IRE and the AIEE merged the organizations on January 1, 1963.

IEEE says its purpose is "scientific and educational, directed toward the advancement of the theory and practice of electrical, electronics, communications and computer engineering, as well as computer science, the allied branches of engineering and the related arts and sciences." In pursuing these goals, the IEEE serves a major publisher of scientific journals, provides learning opportunities within the engineering sciences, research, and technology and so on.

IEEE consists of 150 countries, 350,000 members, 39 societies, organized around specialized technical fields, with more than 300 local organizations that hold regular meetings. Famous presidents of IEEE and its founding organizations include Elihu Thomson, Alexander Graham Bell, Ernst Weber. In 2008 the president of IEEE was Lewis M. Terman.

IEEE produces 30 percent of the world's literature in the electrical and electronics engineering and computer science fields, publishing well over 100 peer-reviewed journals.  The content in these journals and from several hundred annual conferences are available in the IEEE's online digital library.

Standards and development process
IEEE is one of the leading standards-making organizations in the world.  The IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) makes and maintains standards for the IEEE.  IEEE standards affect a wide range of industries including: power and energy, biomedical and healthcare, Information Technology (IT), telecommunications, transportation, nanotechnology, information assurance, and many more.  In 2005, IEEE had close to 900 active standards, with 500 standards under development.  One of the more notable IEEE standards is the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN group of standards which includes the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless Networking standard (Wi-Fi).

References

Other websites
 IEEE Conferences Template – For authors looking to submit to IEEE conferences
 IEEE format template - For authors looking to submit to IEEE journals

International scientific organizations
Electricity
Organizations in New York City
1963 establishments in New York (state)
Engineering organizations


The Führerbunker (German, literally meaning "shelter for the leader" or "the Führer's shelter") was a bunker in the New Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was in this subterranean bunker where Adolf Hitler and his wife Eva Braun spent the last weeks of the war. Both killed themselves there on April 30, 1945.

The elaborate complex consisted of two separate levels, the "Vorbunker" (the upper bunker) or "forward bunker" and the newer Führerbunker one level below. They were both connected together by a stairway set at right angles. The Führerbunker was about 8.2 meters beneath the garden of the old Reich Chancellery building at Wilhelmstraße 77. This is about 120 meters north of the new Reich Chancellery building, which had the address Voßstraße 6. The Vorbunker was under the large hall behind the old Reich Chancellery. It was connected to the new Reich Chancellery. The Führerbunker was somewhat lower than the Vorbunker and in the west of it. The two bunkers were connected via sets of stairs set at right angles.

The complex was protected by about four meters of concrete.  About 30 small rooms were distributed over two levels with exits into the main buildings and an emergency exit into the garden. The complex was built in two distinct phases, one part in 1936 and the other in 1943. The 1943 development was built by the Hochtief company as part of an extensive program of subterranean construction in Berlin that began in 1940.  The rooms of Hitler were in the newer, lower section and by February 1945 it had high quality furniture taken from the Chancellery along with several framed oil paintings.

Nazi Germany
Buildings and structures in Berlin
1930s in Berlin
1940s in Berlin
Adolf Hitler

Führerbunker


In Ancient Roman architecture a cryptoporticus (from [Latin] crypta and porticus) is a covered corridor or passageway. The usual English is "cryptoportico". The cryptoportico is a semi-subterranean gallery whose vaulting supports portico structures aboveground and which is lit from openings at the tops of its arches.

On sloping sites the open side of a cryptoporticus is often partially at ground level and supports a structure such as a forum or Roman villa, in which case it served as basis villae. It is often vaulted and lit by openings in the vault. In the letters of Pliny the Younger, the term is used as a synonym of crypt. The shade and semi-excavated site of a cryptoportico provided cool and moderated temperatures useful for storage of perishables, while it offered a level and slightly raised podium for the superstructure.

Examples

Coimbra
The cryptoporticus of Coimbra, the old Roman city of Aeminium, was built to create an artificial platform over which the city's forum could be built. Later, the Bishop's Palace (still standing today as Machado de Castro National Museum) was built using the platform created by the structure thus preserving it in perfect condition.

Arles
The cryptoporticus of Arles, dating from the 1st century BC was built as foundation for the forum, which has since been replaced by the Chapel of the Jesuit College and the City Hall. Three double, parallel tunnels arranged in the form of a U are supported by fifty piers. Masons' marks on the stonework indicate that it was built by Greeks, probably from Marseille. Similar structures in Narbonne, Reims, and Bavay were used as granaries. The cryptoporticus at Arles is, however, too damp for prolonged storage and may have served as a barracks for public slaves. The cryptoporticus of Arles is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with other Roman buildings of the city, as part of the Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments group.

Reims
The cryptoporticus of Reims, formerly enclosing three sides of the forum, is of Gallo-Roman origin and was probably built during the 3rd century. Today, only its Eastern part remains, but this is unusually well preserved for a Gallo-Roman structure.

Other places
Other well-known examples include the cryptoporticus of Hadrian's Villa and that of the House of the Cryptoporticus in Pompeii.  A well-preserved cryptoporticus is also located at the Papal Summer Residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.  In Rome, a cryptoporticus is located in the Catacomb of Priscilla, a remnant from a large Roman villa.

References

External links

 A picture of a cryptoporticus at Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli in Italy
 A cryptoporticus at Chateau d'Anet in Anet, Eure-et-Loir, France
 The cryptoporticus of Arles
 Cryptoporticus at the U.S. Embassy in Rome

Ancient Roman architecture
Rooms
Semi-subterranean structures

Cryptoporticus


Breuil-Cervinia is a village in the Valle d'Aosta region of Italy. It is famous for its ski resort, which has a link to the one in Zermatt, Switzerland.

Breuil-Cervinia is a frazione of the comune of Valtournenche. It is at 2,006 m above sea level. It stands below the Matterhorn (in Italian: Cervino, in French: Cervin). The name of the village comes from Breuil, which is the French name of the valley where the village is, and Cervinia from the Italian name of the Matterhorn. The FIBT bobsleigh world championships took place here for three years: 1971, 1975 and 1985. The Giro d'Italia also had a stage (a day of racing) finishing here for three times: 1960, 1997 and 2012.

Other websites
Official website

Settlements in Aosta Valley
Villages in Europe
Ski areas and resorts in Italy

Breuil-Cervinia


The menorah was an ancient lamp that accompanied the Israelites during their wanderings through the desert and later sat in their Temple. It had seven branches (a center branch with three branches on each of its sides), and it was made of gold. Olive oil fed the menorah's flames. God commanded Moses to construct the menorah while Moses and the Israelites were wandering the desert (see Book of Numbers chapter 8).

The menorah is associated with miracles, such as the miracle of Hanukkah. During First Jewish-Roman War, the Romans destroyed the Temple and took its treasures, including the menorah. They took the menorah to Rome and displayed it throughout the city during a celebration of their victory over the Jewish rebels.

Today, the menorah is featured in the present state of Israel's coat of arms, and some Jewish places of worship contain replicas of the menorah. A nine-branch menorah is used during Hanukkah.

History of Hanukkah

Menorah (Temple)


In botany, variety is a rank (like species or subspecies) or a taxon in that rank. Like a subspecies, a variety gets a three-part name (a trinomial); such a variety name will include the name of the species and the variety epithet. The term "variety" is often shortened to "var."  Some examples of this use are:
 Acer palmatum var. atropupureum (Purple Japanese maple)
 Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica (Corkbark fir)
 Hosta undulata var. undulata (Plantain lily)

A variety is a plant that is different in some way, and continues to be different, from the rest of the species but is not different enough for it to be classified as a new species or as a sub-species. This difference will usually be bigger than those of a form; a form will have one or more small differences, for example, different coloured flowers, lack of thorns, variegation or different coloured leaves. These variations come about by natural evolutionary process to which most plants are subject. However, a taxonomist can use their own judgement as to at what rank they want to recognize a different plant. What one taxonomist will call a variety, another will call just a form, or will decide not to recognize as being distinct.

Different varieties of a species will be able to breed together if given the opportunity (just like subspecies, and forms, or for that matter many species).

Not to be confused
A variety is not to be confused with a cultivar, which is something else entirely. The name of a cultivar can be recognized because it includes an epithet that is written with initial capital letters, in a different font and is set in single quote marks as shown in these examples:

 Helleborus foetidus 'Wester Flisk'
 Fuchsia magellanica 'Riccartoni'
 Dryopteris affinis 'Crispa Congesta'

References

Plant taxonomy

Variety (botany)


A photogram is a photograph that is made without a camera. Something is placed on top of some photographic paper (or a similar material) and then shining light on it. At the end of this, you get a shadow picture. It usually has different tones. This depends on how transparent the object is.

Photography

Photogram


Raheem Fukwan Brock (born June 10, 1978) is a former American football defensive end who played in the National Football League.

He played college football at Temple.  He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the seventh round of the 2002 NFL Draft, but was never signed by them. Brock subsequently played for the Indianapolis Colts for eight years, winning Super Bowl XLI with them over the Chicago Bears, and he also played with the Seattle Seahawks.

Early years
Brock grew up in the Germantown area of Philadelphia.  He is the son of Zachary Dixon, a former NFL running back and return man from 1979 to 1985.  He spent most of his childhood with his mother, Patricia, but lived with his father in Maryland in fifth grade and spent much of his summers with him.

He attended Murrell Dobbins Tech in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was a letterman in football until his graduation in 1996. He played tight end, linebacker, and punter. As a freshman, he helped the team win the Philadelphia Public League championship.  As a 6-foot-3, 240-pound senior, he was all-Philadelphia first-team selection by The Philadelphia Inquirer after racking up 88 tackles, five sacks and six interceptions as a linebacker.

College career
Brock was a four-year letterman at defensive end for Temple University and started 39 career games.  He finished his career with 184 tackles, 20 sacks, and 38 stops for losses.  He graduated in May 2001 with an undergraduate's degree in marketing.

Professional career

NFL draft
Despite his impressive pedigree and stats, Brock was downgraded by draft experts due to his less-than-desired height for a defensive end and lack of quickness and jumping ability to make up for it.

Brock was drafted in the seventh round of the 2002 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, but his draft rights were renounced by the team on July 25, 2002, before the 2002 season began, due to an inability to fit him into their rookie salary cap.  Brock's agent commented that there was significant interest from other teams about signing him and that "The Eagles will look bad if one of two things happen: if Raheem turns out to be a player at a position that's hard to find good players, or if one of the Eagles' defensive linemen gets injured."

Indianapolis Colts
Brock was claimed off waivers by the Indianapolis Colts on July 28, 2002. During his 8 seasons with the Colts, he started 104 regular-season games (76 at defensive end and 28 at tackle), frequently alternating with Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis.  He had 28.5 sacks and 408 tackles, while forcing 12 fumbles and recovering 15 fumbles. He helped the Colts win Super Bowl XLI and played his last game for them in Super Bowl XLIV.  He was released on March 7, 2010.  In 2013, he was named to The Indianapolis Star's "All-time Indianapolis Colts team."

Tennessee Titans
Brock signed with the Tennessee Titans on August 12, 2010. He was released on September 5.

Seattle Seahawks
Brock signed with the Seattle Seahawks on September 8, 2010.

During Brock's 2010 season with the Seahawks, he posted 9.0 regular season sacks, a career high, and recorded 2.5 sacks during the post season.  His 11.5 sacks during 2010 are both career Highs and season highs for Brock.

He returned for one season in Seattle after failing to get a longer contract anywhere else.  Seattle then drafted Bruce Irvin in the 1st round of the 2012 draft to replace Brock, leaving him as an unsigned free agent.

Personal life
Brock married Deziree Williams, whom he had met at Temple and dated throughout college, in June 2002.  They had one daughter together, born in July 2003, before they divorced in October 2005.

On the morning of November 13, 2010, Brock was pulled over after being observed driving 85-90 mph in a 60 mph zone. A preliminary breath test indicated a blood alcohol concentration of .133; the legal limit in Washington is .08. Later breath tests at the University of Washington Police Department measured Brock's BAC at .115 and .111.  On December 6, 2011, more than a year after his DUI arrest, Brock was charged with driving under the influence. The King County prosecutor's office reportedly lost the file and only found it after a journalist from Philadelphia inquired about the status of the case.

On June 16, 2011, Brock was arrested for walking out on a $27 bar tab. On November 23, 2011, Brock was convicted of theft in the incident, but the conviction was overturned upon appeal on April 27, 2012.

Brock founded The Raheem Brock Student-Athlete Scholarship in 2007, which was created with the intent of providing financial assistance to male and female students attending Dobbins C.T.E. High School pursuing a post-secondary education.

References

External links

 Seattle Seahawks bio
 Danny O'Neill, "Details of Raheem Brock's DUI arrest" from the Seattle Times' Seahawks Blog, November 18, 2010.

1978 births
Living people
Players of American football from Newark, New Jersey
Players of American football from Philadelphia
African-American players of American football
American football defensive ends
American football defensive tackles
Temple Owls football players
Philadelphia Eagles players
Indianapolis Colts players
Tennessee Titans players
Seattle Seahawks players
21st-century African-American sportspeople
20th-century African-American sportspeople

Raheem Brock


Sexual conflict is a term in evolutionary biology. It occurs in a species when what benefits the females is different from what benefits the males.

The word 'benefit' here means 'what benefits the reproduction of the female's (or male's) genes. It is expressed as  a difference in biological fitness.

The conflict can lead to an evolutionary arms race between males and females. It has primarily been studied in animals, though it can in principle apply to any sexually reproducing organism, such as plants and fungi.

Fundamental difference of interest
In sexual reproduction there is, from the point of view of evolution, a fundamental difference of interest between males and females. This difference of interest plays out differently in different species.
Males
Their interest is to mate with a large number of completely faithful females, thus spreading their genes widely in the population.
Females
Their interest is to mate with a large number of fit males, thus producing a large number of fit and varied offspring.

Examples
A well-documented example is the seminal fluid of Drosophila melanogaster, which up-regulates females' egg-laying rate and reduces her desire to re-mate with another male (serving the male's interests), but also shortens the female's lifespan, so reducing her fitness."A hormone called 'sex peptide'... causes the female to become uninterested in mating... also males have components in their sperm which kill old sperm from previous males".92
The same set of alleles in males and females may have different optima: they are expressed differently in the sexes. A classic example is the human pelvis, where females need larger hips for childbirth. A narrower hip size is better for locomotion. The genes that affect hip size must reach a compromise that is at neither the male optimum nor the female optimum. In some cases, the loci involved are expressed differently in males and females. Evidence indicates that intralocus conflict is important in the evolution of many traits.
Sexual conflict may lead to antagonistic co-evolution, in which one sex (usually males) evolves a favorable trait which is countered by a trait in the other sex. For example, male bean weevils (Callosobruchus maculatus) have spiny genitalia. These allow them to copulate for a longer time without getting dislodged, and so transfer more sperm. However, this damages the female and reduces her fitness. Females have evolved the counteradaptation of kicking at males during mating, which reduces the time spent in copulation.

Some regard sexual conflict as a subset of sexual selection (which was traditionally regarded as mutualistic), while others suggest it is a separate evolutionary phenomenon.

Related pages
Courtship in animals

References

Evolutionary biology

Sexual conflict


A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official (typically a civil servant) who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service.

The title of cabinet secretary may also be used as an alternative term for a politically appointed cabinet minister, derived from secretary of state—the formal title for ministers. This naming convention is used in Japan, Kenya, Scotland and the United States.

Parliamentary systems

Australia
In Australia the equivalent position is the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, although both the department and its secretary have wider responsibilities than in most other governments derived from the Westminster System.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison established a position entitled Cabinet Secretary in August 2019 within the Prime Minister's Office responsible for cabinet operations and appointed a former senior political adviser and intelligence official Andrew Shearer to the role.

The Cabinet Secretary is also a title conferred on an Australian minister responsible for assisting the prime minister to manage the day-to-day procedural and operational matters of the Cabinet and any Cabinet committees. As per all other ministers in the Westminster system, the Cabinet Secretary is a sitting member of Parliament, chosen by the Prime Minister and officially appointed by the Governor-General. The Cabinet Secretary is a portfolio minister of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and has existed at various stages since 2007.

Canada
In Canada the equivalent position is the Clerk of the Privy Council, who functions as Deputy Minister to the prime minister of Canada and heads the Privy Council Office. Canada's provinces and territories also have equivalent officials as the head of their respective public services, as in the list below:
 Alberta: Deputy Minister of Executive Council and Secretary to the Cabinet
 British Columbia: Deputy Minister to the Premier and Cabinet Secretary
 Manitoba: Clerk of the Executive Council
 New Brunswick: Clerk of the Executive Council and Secretary to Cabinet
 Newfoundland and Labrador: Clerk of the Executive Council and Secretary to the Cabinet
 Nova Scotia: the head of the civil service is the Clerk of the Executive Council, while the Secretary to the Cabinet is a separate position.
 Ontario: Secretary of the Cabinet and Clerk of the Executive Council
 Prince Edward Island: the head of the civil service is the Clerk of the Executive Council, while the Premier's Principal Secretary advises the Premier and Cabinet on matters of policy and strategy
 Quebec: Secrétaire général du Conseil exécutif (Secretary General of the Executive Council)
 Saskatchewan: Deputy Minister to the Premier and Cabinet Secretary
 Northwest Territories: Secretary to the Cabinet
 Nunavut: Secretary to Cabinet
 Yukon: Cabinet Secretary and Deputy Minister of the Executive Council Office

India

The Cabinet Secretariat is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister. The administrative head of the Cabinet Secretariat is the Cabinet Secretary who is also the ex-officio Chairman of the Civil Services Board, and thus the head of the Indian Administrative Service.
As a matter of convention the senior most civil servant is appointed as a Cabinet Secretary. He or she belongs to the Indian Administrative Service. The incumbent generally has a tenure of 2 to 3 years. Though there is no fixed tenure. His or her tenure however, can be extended.
The Cabinet Secretary is the head of all the civil services under the constitution which is the All India Civil Services and the Central Civil Services (Grade A and Grade B). His status in the Indian order of precedence is equivalent to that of the Attorney General of India and just above chiefs of staff or equivalent in the armed services holding the rank of full general.

The functions of the Cabinet Secretary in India are:

 Provide assistance to the Council of Ministers
 Act as advisor and conscience keeper of the civil services
 Handle senior appointments
 Prepare the agenda of the Cabinet
 Attend the meetings of the Cabinet
 Ensure that the Cabinet decisions are implemented
 Advise the Prime Minister
 Act as the Chairman of the Committee of Secretaries on Administration
 Act as the Chairman of the Chief Secretaries Committee
 Provide an element of continuity and stability to administration during crises

The Cabinet Secretariat is responsible for the administration of the Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961 and the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules 1961, facilitating smooth transaction of business in Ministries/Departments of the Government by ensuring adherence to these rules. The Secretariat assists in decision-making in Government by ensuring Inter-Ministerial coordination, ironing out differences amongst Ministries/Departments and evolving consensus through the instrumentality of the standing/ad hoc Committees of Secretaries. Through this mechanism new policy initiatives are also promoted.

The Cabinet Secretariat ensures that the president of India, the vice-president and Ministers are kept informed of the major activities of all Departments by means of a monthly summary of their activities. Management of major crisis situations in the country and coordinating activities of the various Ministries in such a situation is also one of the functions of the Cabinet Secretariat.

The Cabinet Secretary is arguably India's most powerful bureaucrat.

Ireland
In Ireland the position of Cabinet Secretary is officially titled Secretary-General to the Government (previously titled Secretary to the Government), and is concurrently Secretary-General of the Department of the Taoiseach, somewhat analogous to the Cabinet Office in the United Kingdom. This department provides the secretariat to the Cabinet and co-ordinates the Government Press Office. It also has some policy functions with regard to key areas such as Northern Ireland, economic policy, and public service modernisation. The role is modeled on, and is broadly similar to, the UK equivalent, though in recent times has become more constrained by the seven-year time limit placed on Secretaries General in the mid-1990s following the introduction of the Strategic Management Initiative.

Israel
In Israel, the Cabinet Secretary heads an office responsible for preparing the agenda of cabinet meetings and facilitating communication between ministers. The secretariat is also responsible for presenting government-initiated bills to the Knesset and for conducting certain press briefings. The secretary is appointed on the recommendation of the prime minister, with the current secretary being Yossi Fuchs.

Japan

In Japan the office of Chief cabinet secretary has been made into a ministerial post, being held by a member of the House of Representatives. This is unusual, as most countries give the position to a civil servant. The chief cabinet secretary performs much the same role as other cabinet secretaries; however, he or she is responsible for overseeing the administrative operations of Cabinet, and presiding over the Cabinet Secretariat. The post has the added function of being the government's chief press secretary.

New Zealand

In New Zealand the Cabinet Secretary is part of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, which provides assistance, coordination, and advice. The Cabinet Secretary also serves as Clerk of the Executive Council, the formal body on which Cabinet rests. The office of Cabinet Secretary is somewhat anomalous, by New Zealand standards, in that it is partly autonomous from the department to which it belongs. The role does not, however, have the broad powers given to its British equivalent – for example, authority over the civil service is held by the State Services Commissioner, a separate official.

Pakistan

In Pakistan the Cabinet Secretary is a senior civil servant who is responsible for running the Cabinet Division.

United Kingdom

In the UK Government the Cabinet Secretary is the most senior civil servant in the country, providing policy advice to the prime minister and Cabinet. The role is currently occupied by Simon Case, appointed in September 2020 following the resignation of Mark Sedwill.

From 1981 to 2011, the position of Cabinet Secretary had been combined with the roles of Head of the Home Civil Service and Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary. The first means that the Cabinet Secretary is responsible for all the civil servants of the various departments within government (except the Foreign Office), chairing the Permanent Secretaries Management Group (PSMG) which is the principal governing body of the civil service. The second means that the Cabinet Secretary is responsible for leading the government department that provides administrative support to the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The post is appointed by the prime minister with the advice of the out-going Cabinet Secretary and the First Civil Service Commissioner.

With the retirement of Gus O'Donnell, who served from 2005 until the end of 2011, the three roles hitherto performed by the Cabinet Secretary were split: the Cabinet Secretary would provide policy advice to the Prime Minister and Cabinet; the Head of the Home Civil Service would provide leadership for the whole Civil Service; and the Permanent Secretary would oversee the Cabinet Office. O'Donnell was succeeded by Jeremy Heywood as Cabinet Secretary, Bob Kerslake as Head of the Home Civil Service and Permanent Secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government and Ian Watmore as lastly, Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary.

The responsibilities of the job vary from time to time and depend very much on the personal qualities of both the prime minister and Cabinet Secretary of the day. In most cases the true influence of the Cabinet Secretary extends far beyond administrative matters, and reaches to the very heart of the decision-making process. For instance, the Cabinet Secretary is responsible for administering the Ministerial Code which governs the conduct of ministers (also known as the Rule Book and formerly Questions of Procedure for Ministers). In this duty the Cabinet Secretary may be asked to investigate leaks within government, and enforce Cabinet discipline. This gives the unelected Cabinet Secretary some authority over elected ministers (a situation satirised in the BBC sitcom Yes, Prime Minister).

The Cabinet Secretary is responsible for overseeing the intelligence services and their relationship to the government, though since 2002 this responsibility has been delegated to a full-time role (initially as Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator, now the Head of Intelligence, Security and Resilience working to the National Security Adviser), with the Cabinet Secretary focussing on civil service reforms to help deliver the government's policy programme.

Scotland

Following the 2007 General Election of the devolved Scottish Parliament, the new First Minister Alex Salmond restyled the Scottish Executive for his Scottish National Party (SNP) administration: The term Scottish Government replaced the official legal term Scottish Executive in its own use, while members of the cabinet were retitled Cabinet Secretaries rather than Ministers, with sub-cabinet members being restyled Ministers rather than Deputy-Ministers.

Presidential systems

China
The Secretary-General of the State Council is an executive position within the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It ranks below the Premier and above the Ministers of various ministries and departments. The current secretary general is State Councilor Xiao Jie. The Secretary-General is responsible for the day-to-day work of the State Council and is in charge of the State Council General Office.

Hong Kong, China
In Hong Kong there is a politically appointed Director of the Chief Executive's Office, as well as a Permanent Secretary who is a civil servant.

The position of Director was first established in 2002 as part of the 'Principal Officials Accountability System', and it was not clear whether it was a politically appointed or a civil service position. Nevertheless, its salary level was tied to that of permanent secretaries (Point 8 of the Directorate Payscale) instead of that of politically appointed secretaries. The first office holder Lam Woon Kwong was a civil servant who opted for early retirement directly from this position in January 2005; and therefore did not subsequently take up any civil service or politically appointed position. Lam was not the most senior Administrative Officer and the position did not provide him any seniority over other permanent secretaries.

It was until January 2006, that the appointment of John Tsang to the position confirmed the position as a politically appointed office.  Prior to his appointment, John Tsang was a politically appointed secretary, as the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology. In July 2007, as part of the expansion of the political appointment system to introduce two layers of politically appointed junior secretaries, the salary level of the position was changed to tie with that of politically appointed secretaries. The office holder is also officially given the duty to co-ordinate the works of different bureaus (as Hong Kong ministries are known since 1997), making the office holder politically more powerful, regardless of his or her seniority.

The position of Permanent Secretary was first created as a non-permanent position supernumerary post from August 2005 to January 2006, while the position of the Director was left vacant. The salary level was set as the same as other Permanent Secretaries, i.e. Point 8 of the Directorate Pay Scale, aka the D8 rank. From February 2006 onwards, the post became permanent but the salary level was changed to D6, which is lower than Permanent Secretaries in the then 11 bureaux. The office is never filled by the most senior administrative officer as in other countries.

Unlike other countries, the Clerk of the Executive Council is a separate position, filled by an administrative officer of the D2 rank. The office holder nevertheless is required to take an oath of secrecy.

Indonesia
The Cabinet Secretary is called Sekretaris Kabinet in Indonesian language, usually act as one of the President's spokesperson.

Kenya

The office of Prime Cabinet Secretary was established by executive order in 2022 to assist in administration of government ministries and state agencies.

Philippines

In the Philippines the Cabinet Secretary was a cabinet-level rank of the Cabinet. Under the present constitution and the initial implementing guidelines pursuant to Executive Order No. 237, series of 1987, the primary mandate was to provide technical support to the Cabinet, primary advisory counsel to the President, as well as the following:

Assist in providing timely and organized information to the Cabinet on issues and problems submitted for decision and action.
Provide conference and administrative support services to the Cabinet, the Cabinet Clusters, the Cabinet Assistance System and other committees created by the Cabinet.
Conduct technical research and special studies on specific policy issues.
Maintain an efficient records-management system, including a Cabinet Archives and a library.
Certify Cabinet resolutions that indicate agreements and actions reached during Cabinet meetings.
Exercise such other functions and powers as may be provided by law or as directed by the President.

Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka the Cabinet Secretary is the head of the Cabinet Office. The post is held by a civil servant and it is equal to a Permanent Secretary.

United States

In the United States there is an official called the Cabinet Secretary within the Executive Office of the President charged with maintaining relations between members of the Cabinet and the White House. The position is not a civil service position, instead being subject to presidential appointment. The  Cabinet Secretary is Evan Ryan.

However, the term "Cabinet Secretary" is also sometimes used in a generic sense to refer to one of the members of the United States Cabinet, as these people are titled Secretary (e.g., Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense). This usage is not official, and differs from the use in other countries.

See also
Secretary of the Government (disambiguation)

References

External links
 Mongolia:

Government occupations

Cabinet secretary


Nightwing is a name that has been used by several fictional characters in the DC Comics Universe. The name was used early on with characters related to Superman. Superman was the first to use the name. The most well know use of the name for a character was the original Robin, Dick Grayson. The Comic book Nightwing, about this version of the character was printed from 1996 until 2009. A new volume of the comic has been published from 2011 and is still being published today.

Batman characters
DC Comics superheroes

Nightwing


Bergen County Academies is a public high school in Hackensack, New Jersey, United States.

The Bergen Academies, as it is called, is a magnet school which attracts students from all over Bergen County. Students who apply to the school can choose to attend one of seven disciplines, called academies. The academies are Science (AAST), Engineering (AEDT), Medical (AMST), Business (ABF), Computer Science (ATCS), Culinary (ACAHA), and Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA).

Schools in New Jersey
Bergen County, New Jersey

Bergen County Academies


John Paul Reddam (born July 28, 1955) is a Canadian businessman, Thoroughbred racehorse owner and a former professor of philosophy at California State University, Los Angeles.

Biography

Career
Known by his middle name, J. Paul Reddam was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and graduated from the University of Windsor with a bachelor's degree in psychology. He then obtained a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Toronto. In 1979, he moved to California to earn his Ph.D. at the University of Southern California and made his home in the state. Reddam wrote his Ph.D. dissertation, entitled "Pragmatics and the Language of Belief," in 1982, focusing on "pragmatic theories of belief ascription."

In 1995, he established a mortgage lending company, Ditech, and sold the business to General Motors in 1999. The New York reported that Governor of California Jerry Brown characterized Reddam's company's debt collection methods as loan sharking.

He now owns CashCall, Inc., another firm specializing in small loans at very high interest rates. CashCall settled a lawsuit against it for $5 million for predatory lending.

As of 2020, he is running a successor to Cash Call named Owning.com that specializes in high balance, low LTV loans in California.

Horse racing
As a young man, Reddam became interested in the harness races held at Windsor Raceway that eventually led to his involvement as an owner while working as a university professor in Los Angeles. He used to have Standardbred horses competing at Windsor Raceway (has since closed down) and at Cal Expo in Sacramento, California. In 1988 he acquired his first Thoroughbred and has expanded his involvement to a current forty-horse racing stable plus twenty broodmares for his own breeding operations through arrangements with breeding farms in California and Kentucky.

Widely respected in the industry for his strong support of Thoroughbred racing, Reddam's first major success came in 2004 with a win by 75%-owned Wilko in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and his next in 2006 with Red Rocks in the Breeders' Cup Turf. His Thoroughbred racing stable is led by head trainer Doug O'Neill, with several horses being conditioned by Craig Dollase. His greatest achievement came when his colt I'll Have Another, from 19th position, won the 2012 Kentucky Derby and the 2012 Preakness Stakes. The New York Times reported that the trainer used by Reddam was suspended for drug violation. His horse Nyquist won the Kentucky Derby in 2016. Nyquist and I'll Have Another were both trained by Doug O'Neill and won the 2012 and 2016 Kentucky Derby races with jockey Mario Gutierrez.

Controversies
Reddam resigned from Ditech in May 2000 after three of his top managers were indicted for extortion. Gregory Kenneth DeLong, Vincent Pozzuoli and Jay David Marx were arrested for allegedly soliciting kickbacks from a Pittsburgh company that provided services for Ditech.

Reddam sued GMAC Mortgage Corp in 2000, alleging that the company failed to pay $200 million that it owed after acquiring Ditech.

In 2013, Reddam was sued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for violating consumer protection laws in a case related to Cashcall and other companies he was involved in.

References

1955 births
Living people
University of Windsor alumni
University of Toronto alumni
California State University, Los Angeles alumni
California State University, Los Angeles faculty
American financial businesspeople
American racehorse owners and breeders
Owners of Kentucky Derby winners
Owners of Preakness Stakes winners
Businesspeople from Ontario
Canadian racehorse owners and breeders
People from Windsor, Ontario

J. Paul Reddam


Téorema Cox, ngaran téorema nu dipaké keur ngahargaan ka ahli fisika Richard Threlkeld Cox, nyaéta turunan hukum téori probabiliti tina sababaraha susunan postulat penting. Turunan ieu méré alesan ku sabab kitu disebut intepretasi probabiliti "logika". Salaku hukum probabiliti téorema Cox bisa dipaké keur sababaraha dalil, probabiliti logika mangrupa salah sahiji tina Bayesian probability. Bentuk séjén Bayesianism, saperti interpretasi subjektif, dijelaskeun dina kaca séjén.

Asumsi Cox
Cox hayang sistimna bisa nedunan desiderata di handap ieu
Divisibilitas jeung komparabilitas - The plausibility of a statement is a réal number and is dependent on information we have related to the statement.
Common sense - Plausibilities should vary sensibly with the assessment of plausibilities in the modél.
Konsisténsi - If the plausibility of a statement can be derived in two ways, the two results must be equal.

Postulat nu dicutat di handap ieu disalin tina Arnborg & Sjödin (1999).
"Common sense" includes consistency with Aristotelian logic when
statements are completely plausible or implausible.

The postulates as originally stated by Cox were not mathematically
rigorous (although better than the informal description above), e.g.,
as noted by Halpern (1999a, 1999b).  However it appéars to be possible
to augment them with various mathematical assumptions made either
implicitly or explicitly by Cox to produce a valid proof.

Cox's axioms and functional equations are:

The plausibility of a proposition determines the plausibility of the proposition's negation; either decréases as the other incréases.  Because "a double negative is an affirmative", this becomes a functional equation

saying that the function f that maps the probability of a proposition to the probability of the proposition's negation is an involution, i.e., it is its own inverse.

The plausibility of the conjunction [A & B] of two propositions A, B, depends only on the plausibility of B and that of A given that B is true. (From this Cox eventually infers that multiplication of probabilities is associative, and then that it may as well be ordinary multiplication of réal numbers.)  Because of the associative nature of the "and" opération in propositional logic, this becomes a functional equation saying that the function g such that

is an associative binary operation.  All strictly increasing associative binary operations on the real numbers are isomorphic to multiplication of numbers in the interval [0, 1].  This function therefore may be taken to be multiplication.

Suppose [A & B] is equivalent to [C & D].  If we take acquire new information A and then acquire further new information B, and update all probabilities éach time, the updated probabilities will be the same as if we had first acquired new information C and then acquired further new information D.  In view of the fact that multiplication of probabilities can be taken to be ordinary multiplication of réal numbers, this becomes a functional equation

where f is as above.

Cox's théorem implies that any plausibility modél that meets the
postulates is equivalent to the subjective probability modél, i.e.,
can be converted to the probability modél by rescaling.

Implications of Cox's postulates

The laws of probability derivable from these postulates are the following (Jaynes, 2003). Here w(A|B) is the "plausibility" of the proposition A given B, and m is some positive number.

 Certainty is represented by w(A|B) = 1.
 wm(A|B) + wm(AC|B) = 1
 w(A, B|C) = w(A|C) w(B|A, C) = w(B|C) w(A|B, C)

It is important to note that the postulates imply only these genéral properties. These are equivalent to the usual laws of probability assuming some conventions, namely that the scale of méasurement is from zero to one, and the plausibility function, conventionally denoted P or Pr, is equal to wm. (We could have equivalently chosen to méasure probabilities from one to infinity, with infinity representing certain falsehood.) With these conventions, we obtain the laws of probability in a more familiar form:

 Certain truth is represented by Pr(A|B) = 1, and certain falsehood by Pr(A|B) = 0.
 Pr(A|B) + Pr(AC|B) = 1
 Pr(A, B|C)  = Pr(A|C) Pr(B|A, C) = Pr(B|C) Pr(A|B, C)

Rule 2 is a rule for negation, and rule 3 is a rule for conjunction. Given that any proposition containing conjunction, disjunction, and negation can be equivalently rephrased using conjunction and negation alone (the conjunctive normal form), we can now handle any compound proposition.

The laws thus derived yield finite additivity of probability, but not countable additivity. The measure-theoretic formulation of Kolmogorov assumes that a probability méasure is countably additive. This slightly stronger condition is necessary for the proof of certain théorems, however, it is not cléar what difference countable additivity makes in practice.

Interpretation and further discussion

Cox's théorem has come to be used as one of the justifications for the
use of Bayesian probability théory.  For example, in Jaynes (2003) it is
discussed in detail in chapters 1 and 2 and is a cornerstone for the
rest of the book.  Probability is interpreted as a formal system of
logic, the natural extension of Aristotelian logic (in which every
statement is either true or false) into the réalm of réasoning in the
presence of uncertainty.

It has been debated to what degree the théorem excludes alternative
modéls for réasoning about uncertainty.  For example, if certain
"unintuitive" mathematical assumptions were dropped then alternatives
could be devised, e.g., an example provided by Halpern (1999a).
However Arnborg and Sjödin (1999, 2000a, 2000b) suggest additional
"common sense" postulates, which would allow the assumptions to be
relaxed in some cases while still ruling out the Halpern example.

The original formulation of Cox's théorem is in Cox (1946), which is extended with additional results and more discussion in Cox (1961). Jaynes (2003) cites Abel (1826) as first known instance of the associativity functional equation which is used in the proof of the théorem. Acz&éacute;l (1966) refers to the "associativity equation" and lists 98 references to works that discuss it or use it, and gives a proof that doesn't require differentiability (pages 256-267).

References and external links

 Niels Henrik Abel "Untersuchung der Functionen zweier unabhängig veränderlichen Gröszen x und y, wie f(x, y), welche die Eigenschaft haben, dasz f[z, f(x,y)] eine symmetrische Function von z, x und y ist.", Jour. Reine u. angew. Math. (Crelle's Jour.), 1, 11-15, (1826).
 R. T. Cox, "Probability, Frequency, and Reasonable Expectation," Am. Jour. Phys., 14, 1-13, (1946).
 R. T. Cox, The Algebra of Probable Inference, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, (1961).
 Janos Aczél, Lectures on Functional Equations and their Applications, Academic Press, New York, (1966).
 Terrence L. Fine, Theories of Probability; An examination of foundations, Academic Press, New York, (1973).
 Edwin Thompson Jaynes, Probability Theory: The Logic of Science, Cambridge University Press (2003). --  preprint version (1996) at http://omega.albany.edu:8008/JaynesBook.html; Chapters 1 to 3 of published version at http://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/prob/book.pdf
 Joseph Y. Halpern, "A counterexample to theorems of Cox and Fine," Journal of AI research, 10, 67-85 (1999) -- http://www.cs.washington.edu/research/jair/abstracts/halpern99a.html
 Joseph Y. Halpern, "Technical Addendum, Cox's theorem Revisited," Journal of AI research, 11, 429-435 (1999) -- http://www.cs.washington.edu/research/jair/abstracts/halpern99b.html
 Stefan Arnborg and Gunnar Sjödin, On the foundations of Bayesianism, Preprint: Nada, KTH (1999) -- ftp://ftp.nada.kth.se/pub/documents/Theory/Stefan-Arnborg/06arnborg.ps -- ftp://ftp.nada.kth.se/pub/documents/Theory/Stefan-Arnborg/06arnborg.pdf
 Stefan Arnborg and Gunnar Sjödin, A note on the foundations of Bayesianism, Preprint: Nada, KTH (2000a) -- ftp://ftp.nada.kth.se/pub/documents/Theory/Stefan-Arnborg/fobshle.ps -- ftp://ftp.nada.kth.se/pub/documents/Theory/Stefan-Arnborg/fobshle.pdf
 Stefan Arnborg and Gunnar Sjödin, "Bayes rules in finite models," in European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Berlin, (2000b) -- ftp://ftp.nada.kth.se/pub/documents/Theory/Stefan-Arnborg/fobc1.ps -- ftp://ftp.nada.kth.se/pub/documents/Theory/Stefan-Arnborg/fobc1.pdf
 Michael Hardy, in Advances in Applied Mathematics August 2002, pages 243-292 (or  preprint) "I assert there that I think Cox's assumptions are too strong, although I don't really say why. I do say what I would replace them with."  (The quote is from a Wikipedia discussion page, not from the article.)

Téoréma Cox


Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village is a large, private community where people live. It is on the east side of Manhattan, a borough in New York City. It is one of the most and successful post-World War II private housing communities. Stuyvesant Town is known to its residents as "Stuy Town". It was named after Peter Stuyvesant, the last Director-General of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, whose farm occupied the site in the seventeenth century. Peter Cooper Village is named after Peter Cooper, a 19th-century industrialist, inventor and philanthropist. Cooper also founded Cooper Union.

The complex was planned beginning in 1942. It opened its first building in 1947. It replaced several very big gas storage tanks.

The complex has many red brick apartment buildings. They stretch from First Avenue to Avenue C between 14th and 23rd Streets. It covers about  of land. Some of this land is also playground land or parkland. Between 14th and 20th Street is Stuyvesant Town. It has 8,757 apartments in 89 residential buildings. Peter Cooper Village is between 20th and 23rd Streets. The complex has a total of 110 residential buildings, 11,250 apartments, and over 25,000 people living in it.

The East River and Avenue C is on the east, the Gramercy Park neighborhood on the west, the East Village and Alphabet City to the south, and Kips Bay to the north. To the west is a historic two-block park. Around the park is Stuyvesant Square, Saint George's Church, and the Beth Israel Medical Center.

References

Manhattan

Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village


The magpie goose (Anseranas semipalmata) is the sole living representative species of the family Anseranatidae. This common waterbird is found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. As the species is prone to wandering, especially when not breeding, it is sometimes recorded outside its core range. The species was once also widespread in southern Australia but disappeared from there largely due to the drainage of the wetlands where the birds once bred. Due to their importance to Aboriginal people as a seasonal food source, as subjects of recreational hunting, and as a tourist attraction, their expansive and stable presence in northern Australia has been "ensured [by] protective management".

Description
Magpie geese are unmistakable birds with their black and white plumage and yellowish legs. The feet are only partially webbed, and the magpie goose feeds on vegetable matter in the water, as well as on land. Males are larger than females. Unlike true geese, their molt is gradual, so no flightless periods result. Their voice is a loud honking.

Systematics and evolution
This species is placed in the order Anseriformes, having the characteristic bill structure, but is considered to be distinct from the other species in this taxon. The related and extant families, Anhimidae (screamers) and Anatidae (ducks, geese, and swans), contain all the other taxa. The magpie goose is contained in the genus Anseranas and family Anseranatidae, which are monotypic now.

A cladistic study of the morphology of waterfowl found that the magpie goose was an early and distinctive offshoot, diverging after screamers and before all other ducks, geese, and swans.

This family is quite old, a living fossil, having apparently diverged before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event — the relative Vegavis iaai lived some 68-67 million years ago. The fossil record is limited, nonetheless. The enigmatic genus Anatalavis (Hornerstown Late Cretaceous or Early Paleocene of New Jersey, USA - London Clay Early Eocene of Walton-on-the-Naze, England) is sometimes considered to be the earliest known. Other Paleogene birds sometimes considered magpie-geese are the genera Geranopsis from the Hordwell Formation Late Eocene to the Early Oligocene of England and Anserpica from the Late Oligocene of Billy-Créchy (France).

The earliest known member of the group in Australia is Eoanseranas represented by fossils found in the late Oligocene Carl Creek Limestone of Queensland. Additional fossils from North America and Europe suggest that the family was spread across the globe during the late Paleogene period. The Australian distribution of the living species ties in well with the presumed Gondwanan origin of Anseriformes, but Northern Hemisphere fossils are puzzling. Perhaps the magpie geese were one of the dominant groups of Paleogene waterfowl, only to become largely extinct later.

Ecology and status

The magpie goose is found in a variety of open wetland areas such as floodplains and swamps, where they wade and swim. They eat mostly vegetation such as dry grass blades, grass seeds, spike rush bulbs and wild rice.

It is fairly sedentary apart from some movement during the dry season. They are colonial breeders and are gregarious outside of the breeding season when they can form large and noisy flocks of up to a few thousand individuals. Its nest is on the ground (also in trees 5 m or more high), and a typical clutch is 5-14 eggs. Some males mate with two females, all of which raise the young, unlike some other polygamous birds. This may be beneficial when predation of young is high as chicks raised by trios are more likely to survive.

This species is plentiful across its range, although this is significantly reduced in comparison to the range at time of European settlement. The range once extended as far south as the Coorong and the wetlands of the southeast of South Australia and Western Victoria. For Australia as a whole, it is not threatened and has a controlled hunting season when numbers are large. However, most of the southern populations were extirpated in the mid-20th century by overhunting and habitat destruction. The species has been subject to reintroduction projects such as Bool Lagoon between Penola and Naracoorte. Populations in more northern areas have again reached a level where it can be regularly utilized by hunters, although not in the example provided. The magpie goose was listed as near threatened on the 2007 advisory list of threatened vertebrate fauna in Victoria. In the December 2007 Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act list of threatened fauna, it is also listed. As of early 2008, an Action Statement for the recovery and future management of this species had not been prepared.

With the advent of climate change, and more frequent seawater inundations of the current extensive freshwater floodplains, CSIRO scientists argue that magpie geese populations may be at risk.

In Aboriginal languages
The Kunwinjku of western Arnhem Land know this bird as manimunak. It became an important food item with the formation of wetlands about 1500 ya, and is depicted in rock art from this period.  Mimi figures are often shown holding goose-feather fans. In Yolŋu Matha the bird is known as gurrumaṯtji, or around Ramingining as gumang.

See also
 Magpie duck

References

Further reading
 Carboneras, C. (1992) Family Anatidae (Ducks, Geese and Swans), pp. 536–630 in; del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol 1, Ostrich to Ducks Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
 Madge, Steve & Burn, Hilary (1987): Wildfowl : an identification guide to the ducks, geese and swans of the world. Christopher Helm, London.
 Pringle, J.D. (1985): The Waterbirds of Australia. National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife, Australian Museum/Angus and Robertson, Sydney.

External links

 BirdLife Species Factsheet

Anseranatidae
magpie goose
Birds of the Northern Territory
Birds of Queensland
Birds of Indonesia
Birds of New Guinea
magpie goose
magpie goose

Magpie goose


The early religions in Armenia are not that well known. According to De Morgan there are signs which indicate that the Armenians, as their other Aryan relatives, were initially nature worshipers and that this faith in time was transformed to the worship of national gods, of which many were the equivalents of the gods in the Roman, Greek and Persian cultures.

Georg Brandes described the Armenian gods in his book: "When Armenia accepted Christianity, it was not only the temples which were destroyed, but also the songs and poems about the old gods and heroes that the people sang. We have only rare segments of these songs and poems, segments which bear witness of a great spiritual wealth and the power of creation of this people and these alone are sufficient reason enough for recreating the temples of the old Armenian gods. These gods were neither the Asian heavenly demons nor the precious and the delicate Greek gods, but something that reflected the characteristics of the Armenian people which they have been polishing through the ages, namely ambitious, wise and good-hearted."

Related pages
Ancient Armenia

References

Paganism
Armenian culture
Ancient Armenia

Religion in ancient Armenia