The County of Sponheim (, former spelling: Spanheim, Spanheym) was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire that lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century. The name comes from the municipality of Sponheim, where the counts had their original residence.

Geography
The territory was located roughly between the rivers Rhine, Moselle, and Nahe, in the present state of Rhineland-Palatinate, around the Hunsrück region. It bordered the Electorate of Trier to the north and west, the Raugraviate, the Electorate of Mainz and the Electorate of the Palatinate to the east and the County of Veldenz to the south and west, among other states.

History

Beginnings

The family of Sponheim, or Spanheim (German: Spanheimer), has been documented since the 11th century. There are two main branches which are certainly related, but whose exact relationship is still debated. The branch of the Dukes of Carinthia descends from Siegfried I, Count of Sponheim. The Rhenish branch, which retained the County of Sponheim, descends from Stephan I, Count of Sponheim.

The county originated from various inheritances which were united in the family's hands, including possessions from the Counties of Nellenburg and Stromberg and jurisdiction of the Gaugrafen of Trechirgau (Berthold-Bezelin dynasty). The Sponheim comital office is supposedly derived from the comital office of Trechirgau. The family of the Counts of Sponheim founded the monastery of Sponheim in the 12th century, where in the 11th century a church had already been built. An abbot from Sponheim, Johannes Trithemius, chronicled the counts of Sponheim and accumulated a large collection of documents on the history of the area.

First divisions, Upper and Lower Counties, 13th to 15th centuries

Around 1225, the county was divided in two, with each portion ruled by a different branch of the House of Sponheim. The Sponheim-Starkenburg line ruled over the Upper, Hither, or Farther County of Sponheim (Hintere Grafschaft Sponheim), based on Starkenburg, and the Sponheim-Kreuznach line over the Lower, Anterior, or Fore County of Sponheim (Vordere Grafschaft Sponheim), based on Kreuznach.

This partition took place among the sons of Count Gottfried III of Sponheim, who died abroad while participating in the Fifth Crusade. Gottfried had married Adelheid of Sayn, sister of the last Count of Sayn, Henry III. His estate was divided between their three sons John I, Henry, and Simon I. Simon, the youngest brother, received the Lower County of Sponheim and took up his residence in the castle of Kauzenburg near Kreuznach. Henry married the heiress of Heinsberg, received a portion of the Sayn inheritance, and founded the Sponheim line of the lords of Heinsberg. John became heir to Sayn and to the Upper County of Sponheim, residing first in Starkenburg Castle, and from 1350 at Grevenburg castle at Trarbach.

John I's sons divided their father's estate in 1265. Gottfried received the County of Sayn, whose direct heirs are today the counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein. Henry I, Count of Sponheim-Starkenburg became heir to the Upper County of Sponheim.

Both territories were extensively fortified throughout the centuries, as evidenced by the existence of around 21 castles or castle ruins, many of which can still be visited today. Feuds with the neighbouring Electorates of Mainz and Trier were common, giving birth to southwestern German legends such as the tale of Michel Mort. The Upper and Lower Counties were also not always on good terms with each other regarding political affiliation. During the dispute between the German kings Frederick the Fair and Louis the Bavarian, the Upper County supported Louis, while Lower Sponheim advocated for Frederick. Louis's victory resulted in political strengthening of Upper Sponheim. Around that time, the Lower County had itself been administratively divided between the brothers John II of Sponheim-Kreuznach and Simon II of Sponheim-Kreuznach, with Soonwald forest defining the boundary. Count Walram of Sponheim-Kreuznach reunited the Lower County. Walram became known as an active military leader involved in many actions, including inter-Sponheim ones.

Second divisions and joint regency

In 1417, the Sponheim-Kreuznach line became extinct and the Sponheim-Starkenburg line ruled alone for about 20 years over most of the whole county. Count Walram's granddaughter married Ruprecht Pipan, heir to the Electorate of the Palatinate, who died of disease after returning from the Battle of Nicopolis at the age of 21. The marriage was childless, but nevertheless a small portion of the Lower County (less than 1/5) was granted as dowry to the Electors Palatine. In 1437 the Sponheim-Starkenburg family became extinct in the male line, and the counties were jointly ruled as a condominium by female-line heirs from then until the early 19th century. These rightful successors, who took the title of Count at Sponheim (Graf zu Sponheim), were the Margraves of Baden, who descended from Mechtild of Sponheim, and the Counts of Veldenz, who descended from Loretta of Sponheim; both Mechtild and Loretta were daughters of Count John III of Sponheim-Starkenburg. The County of Veldenz was soon inherited by a collateral line of the Counts Palatine of the Rhine through the union of the heiress Anna of Veldenz with Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken. The rule of the Upper County of Sponheim was thus shared between Baden and Palatinate-Simmern-Zweibrücken or Palatinate-Birkenfeld; the rule of the Lower County of Sponheim roughly between Baden and the Electorate of the Palatinate.

Reformation
The Reformation was instituted in the County of Sponheim in the year 1557, led by Friedrich II, Count Palatine of Simmern. The county became an important outpost of Protestant territory, with exclaves on the Moselle such as Enkirch, Trarbach, or Winningen, bordering as it did the Catholic Electorate of Trier. Warfare with neighbouring Catholic states would take place intermittently through the centuries, notably including the Thirty Years' War.

End of the county

After the Napoleonic Wars, most of the county became a part of Prussia, and the region around Birkenfeld became part of Oldenburg. The ruling dynasties of Baden and Wittelsbach received extensive territories in exchange for the loss of Sponheim (compare also literature on the so-called "Sponheim Controversy" between Baden and Bavaria).

See also
 List of Counts at Sponheim
 Margraviate of Baden
 Friedrich Karl von Tettenborn

References

Notes

Further reading
 Jackman, Donald C.: Sponheim. Medieval German Counties. Medieval Prosopography.

German language literature
 Bergholz, Thomas: Die Grafschaften Sponheim. In: Emil Sehling (Begr.): Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des 16. Jahrhunderts. Band 18: Rheinland-Pfalz I. Tübingen 2006, S. 619–684.
 Dotzauer, Winfried: Die Vordere Grafschaft Sponheim als pfälzisch-badisches Kondominium 1437–1707/8. Diss. phil. Universität Mainz 1963; Bad Kreuznach 1963
 Dotzauer, Winfried: Geschichte des Nahe-Hunsrück-Raumes von den Anfängen bis zur Französischen Revolution. Franz Steiner Verlag 2001,
 Fey, Carola: Die Begräbnisse der Grafen von Sponheim. Untersuchungen zur Sepulkralkultur des mittelalterlichen Adels. Phil. Diss. Gießen, Mainz, 2003,
 Hofmann, Johann: Trorbachische Ehren-Säul: Oder Geschichtliche Beschreibung förderst der Fürstl. Spanheymischen Ober-Amts-Statt Trorbach an der Mosel, Theils auch anderer Ohrt in derselben Gegend, sonderlich des dahin verbürgerten Haupt-fleckens Traben, Rößlin, Stuttgart 1669 (digitalized)
 Lehmann, Johann Georg: Die Grafschaft und die Grafen von Spanheim (Sponheim) der beiden Linien Kreuznach und Starkenburg. R. Voigtländer, Kreuznach 1869. Sändig Reprint, 1985,  (digitalized at , , ed. 1869)
 Mötsch, Johannes: Die Grafschaften Sponheim. (Geschichtlicher Atlas der Rheinlande, Beiheft V/4), Köln: Rheinland-Verlag, 1992,
 Mötsch, Johannes: Genealogie der Grafen von Sponheim. In: Jahrbuch für westdeutsche Landesgeschichte. Band 13, 1987, S. 63–179,
 Mötsch, Johannes: Regesten des Archivs der Grafen von Sponheim 1065–1437. 5 Bände, Koblenz 1987–1991
 Mötsch, Johannes: Trier und Sponheim. In: Johannes Mötsch und Franz-Josef Heyen (Hrsg.): Balduin von Luxemburg. Erzbischof von Trier — Kurfürst des Reiches. Festschrift aus Anlaß des 700. Geburtsjahres. Mainz 1985, S. 357–389
 Stramberg, Johann Christian von; Weidenbach, Anton Joseph: Das Nahethal. Historisch und topographisch. 5 volumes. (Denkwürdiger und nützlicher rheinischer Antiquarius: Welcher die wichtisten und angenehmsten geographischen, historischen und politischen Merkwürdigkeiten des ganzen Rheinstroms, von seinem Ausflusse in das Meer bis zu seinem Ursprunge darstellt. Abt. II Bd. 16–20) Koblenz, Rud. Friedr. Hergt 1869–1871 (digitalized)
 Weydmann, Ernst: Geschichte der ehemaligen gräflich-sponheimischen Gebiete. Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Territorialgeschichte. Dissertation. Konstanz, Ackermann 1899
 Wild, Klaus Eberhard: Die Hintere Grafschaft Sponheim als pfälzisch-badische Gemeinsherrschaft (1437–1776). In: Mitteilungen des Heimatvereins Birkenfeld. 1972, Jg. 35, 3–32
 Wild, Klaus Eberhard: Zur Geschichte der Grafschaften Veldenz und Sponheim und der Birkenfelder Linien der pfälzischen Wittelsbacher. Birkenfeld 1982

External links

  Mötsch, Johannes: Ein Kondominatsbesitz – Die Vordere und die Hintere Grafschaft Spohnheim (website by Wolfgang Morscheck) with good maps. (Archived by WebCite at https://web.archive.org/web/20070927030235/http://www.fiskalvorpost.de/moreu6i5.html
 Höckmann, Thomas: Historical map of Rhineland-Palatinate 1789. Historical Atlas – Germany.(Archived by WebCite at  and https://web.archive.org/web/20120319194429/http://www.hoeckmann.de/germany/sample09.htm

11th-century establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
1804 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire
Upper Rhenish Circle

Former states and territories of Rhineland-Palatinate
Counties of the Holy Roman Empire

County of Sponheim


A side-scrolling video game or 2D game is a video game where the player goes toward one side of the screen, either to the left or the right, although this is different for each video game. A famous side-scroller is Super Mario Bros. The character usually moves from left to right but sometimes it is the other way around. In the golden age of video games, Side scrollers were a big thing and they still are to this day.

Types of video games
Video game gameplay

Side-scrolling video game


An electric locomotive runs on electricity as the name suggests. Electric locomotives cost the least to buy and operate. However, the railway electrification system is very expensive, so only tracks used by many trains per day are usually electrified. Thus, electrics are only the second next used type, behind diesel locomotives.

Electric locomotives get their power from three main sources: overhead lines, an on-board battery, or a third rail.

There are many different types of electric locomotives. Battery-electric locomotives are powered by on-board batteries. They are used in situations where other types of engines could be dangerous.

Locomotives

Electric locomotive


Henry Hopkins Sibley (May 25, 1816 – August 23, 1886) was a career officer in the United States Army, who commanded a Confederate cavalry brigade in the Civil War.

In 1862, he attempted to forge a supply route from California, in defiance of the Union blockade of the Atlantic and Gulf ports, while also aiming to appropriate the Colorado gold mines to replenish the Confederate treasury. After capturing Albuquerque and Santa Fe, he was forced to retreat after losing the Battle of Glorieta Pass (in today's New Mexico). He was then given minor commands in the southern Louisiana operations, but was accused of serious blunders, apparently caused by drunkenness.

Sibley designed a new easy-to-pack 12-man bell tent and stove that were used for many years by the American and British armies.

Family and early life
Henry Hopkins Sibley's grandfather, Dr. John Sibley, served as a medic in Massachusetts in the American Revolutionary War. His wife was Elizabeth Hopkins, whose family name was given as a middle name to their son Samuel and grandson Henry. After her death in 1803, Dr. Sibley was part of an expedition to the Red River country of western Louisiana for the US government after the Louisiana Purchase and chose to settle in Natchitoches. In 1811, his son Samuel Hopkins Sibley and his wife followed to Natchitoches. Samuel Sibley served as a parish clerk from 1815 until his death in 1823.

Henry Hopkins Sibley was born in Natchitoches in 1816. After his father's death when Henry was seven years old, the boy was sent to Missouri to live with his paternal uncle George Champlin Sibley and his wife Mary Easton, the founders of Lindenwood College in St. Charles, Missouri.

Union general and first Governor of Minnesota Henry Hastings Sibley (1811–1891) was a distant cousin. His family had migrated west in the Northern Tier, which historians have called Greater New England.

U.S. Army service
At the age of 17, Henry was admitted to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He graduated in 1838 and was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Dragoons.

He fought Seminole Indians in Florida, 1840–1841; participated in the Military Occupation of Texas, 1845–1846; and fought in the Mexican–American War, 1847–1848. Sibley was on frontier duty in Texas from 1850 to 1855. Sibley was a creative military man. In the 1850s, he invented the "Sibley tent", which was widely used by the Union Army during the American Civil War and for a short while afterward. The United Kingdom also adopted the design of the Sibley tent. He also invented the Sibley stove (also known as the Sibley tent stove), to heat the tent. The Army used tent stoves of this design into the early years of World War II.

From 1855 to 1857, Sibley was part of the forces trying to control conflict in Bleeding Kansas, where hundreds of new settlers arrived to vote on the question of slavery, provoked by the 1854 Kansas–Nebraska Act. He took part in the Utah War, 1857–1860, and was in active service in New Mexico 1860–1861. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Sibley resigned on May 13, 1861, the day of his promotion to major in the 1st Dragoons. Native to Louisiana, he had southern sympathies and joined the Confederate States Army (CSA).

Civil War
Sibley resigned from the US Army as he sided with the Confederacy. Placed in command of a brigade of volunteer cavalry in West Texas, Sibley dubbed his small force the Army of New Mexico and began planning a New Mexico Campaign to capture the cities of Albuquerque and Santa Fe and Fort Union on the Santa Fe Trail to establish a forward base of supply. He then intended to continue north to Colorado to capture the numerous gold and silver mines in the area as a means of replenishing the badly depleted Confederate treasury. From there, Sibley planned to join forces with Confederate Lieut. John R. Baylor, already in control of much of southern New Mexico and Arizona territories  and headquartered in Tucson, AZ.  Their ultimate strategy was to gain access to the warm-water ports of California and establish a badly needed supply line to the South, as the Union Navy had implemented a naval blockade from Virginia to Texas. Throughout the 1862 New Mexico campaign, his opponent was Colonel Edward Canby, formerly a comrade in arms in the U.S. Army. Some historians have said he was Sibley's brother in law, but this relation has been disputed.

Sibley was initially successful at the Battle of Valverde on 20–21 February, and pressed on to capture Albuquerque and Santa Fe in the first weeks of March. Although the subsequent Battle of Glorieta Pass on March 28 ended in an apparent Confederate victory on the field, Sibley had to retreat because his supply train was destroyed and most of the horses and mules killed or driven off during the fight. At the same time, Union forces were approaching New Mexico from the west, the California Column. Glorieta Pass has been called the "Gettysburg of the West" by some authors; Sibley's retreat to the campaign's starting point at Fort Bliss in April ended the hopes of the Confederacy to stretch to the Pacific Ocean and use the mineral wealth of California and possibly Colorado.

After the failure of the New Mexico campaign, Sibley was given minor commands under General Richard Taylor about Bayou Teche in south Louisiana, commanding the "Arizona Brigade" at the battles of Irish Bend and Fort Bisland. The historian John D. Winters reports that he blundered on several occasions, not striking when instructed.   Struggling with alcoholism, he was court martialed in Louisiana in 1863. Although not convicted of cowardice, he was censured.

Postbellum career and death
After the war, Thaddeus P. Mott recruited former Union and CSA soldiers for service in the Egyptian Army. Sibley was one of the first people to arrive in Egypt and served from 1870 to 1873 as a military adviser (with the rank of brigadier general of artillery) to Isma'il Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, overseeing the construction of coastal fortifications. However, he fell back into problems with alcohol, and he was dismissed due to illness and disability.

Back in the U.S., Sibley lived from 1874 with his daughter in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He wrote articles and worked on military inventions. He fought a legal battle with the U.S. government for outstanding payments on his patents.

He died in poverty. He is buried in the Fredericksburg Confederate Cemetery.

In popular media
 Sibley is referred to several times in the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) directed by Sergio Leone. He can be seen riding in the passenger seat on a carriage as the soldiers make their procession through a town.
 Sibley is mentioned once in the film Reason to Live Reason to Die by actor Telly Savalas who played a Confederate Major.
 General Sibley appears as a minor character in Nando Cicero's Red Blood, Yellow Gold (1967), played by an uncredited Carlo Gentili.
 He is mentioned in the documentary The Man Who Lost The Civil War (2003), a special feature as part of MGM's release of a Leone DVD anthology in 2003.

See also

 List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)

References

Further reading
 Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. .
 Kerby, Robert L., The Confederate Invasion of New Mexico and Arizona, 1861–1862, Westernlore Press, 1958, 1995, .
 Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. .
 Taylor, John, Bloody Valverde: A Civil War Battle on the Rio Grande, February 21, 1862, University of New Mexico Press, 1995, .
 Thompson, Jerry D., Civil War in the Southwest: Recollections of the Sibley Brigade, TAMU Press, 2001, .
 Thompson, Jerry D., Henry Hopkins Sibley: Confederate General of the West, Northwestern State University Press, 1987, .
 Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. .
 Whitlock, Flint, Distant Bugles, Distant Drums: The Union Response to the Confederate Invasion of New Mexico, University Press of Colorado, 2006, .

External links
 Military biography of Henry Hopkins Sibley

1816 births
1886 deaths
People from Natchitoches, Louisiana
Confederate States Army brigadier generals
American military personnel of the Mexican–American War
Members of the Aztec Club of 1847
United States Military Academy alumni
Lindenwood University people
Military personnel from Fredericksburg, Virginia
People of Louisiana in the American Civil War
People of New Mexico in the American Civil War
American people in the khedivial Egyptian Army
United States Army officers

Henry Hopkins Sibley


Pandeism is the belief that a higher being like a God made the Universe, but made it by becoming it. People who follow Pandeism are called Pandeists. After making the Universe, God and the Universe are equivalent (the same thing.) Because God is now the Universe, it can not do things in the Universe. Pandeists believe that people who want to know about God should rely on logic and reason and not traditions of their religion. Pandeists believe that everything that exists is a part of God or that God is a part of everything that exists. The name Pandeism comes from the words Deism (a kind of belief in God) and pan (all).

Pandeists believe that a higher power became the world. They do not believe that the creation of the Universe happened because of a spontaneous event. They reject supernatural events like miracles and believe that God has become the natural laws as well, and does not need to interfere with them. Pandeists also see holy books, such as the Bible and Qur'an, as writings made by people rather than the writings of God. Pandeists believe that people are part of God too, and so some people think they see or hear God, when they are really only seeing or hearing the part of God that is in them.

Theology

Pandeism


The Flora family of asteroids is a big group of S-type asteroids in the closer part of the main belt, whose origin and properties are not well understood right now. About 4-5% of all main belt asteroids belong to this family.

Because of its poorly defined edges, and the location of Flora itself near the edge, this asteroid group has also sometimes been called the Ariadne family, when Flora did not make it into the group during an analysis (e.g. the WAM analysis by Zappala 1995).

Characteristics
The biggest member is 8 Flora, which mesures 140 km in diameter, and takes up about 80% of the total family mass. Nevertheless, the parent body was almost for sure destroyed by the impact/s that made the family, and Flora is probably a gravitational aggregate of most of the pieces. 43 Ariadne makes up much of the remaining mass (about a further 9%, with the remaining family members being fairly small, below 30 km in diameter.

Unrelated asteroids
Because of the high background density of asteroids in this part of space, one might expect that a great number of asteroids unrelated to the collision that made the family would be present. However, few have been found. This is because unrelated asteroids are hard to distinguish from family members because the family is of the same spectral type (S) that dominates the closer main belt overall. The few unrelated asteroids that have been found are all small (Florczak et al. 1998, and also by inspection of the PDS asteroid taxonomy data set  for non S-type members.) They include 298 Baptistina, 422 Berolina, 2093 Genichesk, 2259 Sofievka (the biggest, with a 21 km diameter), 2952 Liliputia, 3533 Toyota, 3850 Peltier, 3875 Staehle, 4278 Harvey, 4396 Gressmann, and 4750 Mukai.

References
 V. Zappalà, Ph. Bendjoya, A. Cellino, P. Farinella and C. Froeschlé, Asteroid Families: Search of a 12,487-Asteroid Sample Using Two Different Clustering Techniques , Icarus, Volume 116, Issue 2 (August 1995), pages 291-314
 M. Florczak et al. A Visible Spectroscopic Survey of the Flora Clan, Icarus Vol. 133, p. 233 (1998).
 PDS asteroid taxonomy data set
 S.J. Bus and R.P. Binzel, Phase II of the Small Main-Belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey, Icarus Vol. 158, p. 106 (2002). Data set online here .
 D. Nesvorný et al. The Flora Family: A Case of the Dynamically Dispersed Collisional Swarm?, Icarus, Vol. 157, p. 155 (2002).
 AstDys site. Proper elements for 96944 numbered minor planets.
 P. Tanga et al. On the Size Distribution of Asteroid Families: The Role of Geometry, Icarus, Vol. 141, p. 65 (1999).
 J. Veverka et al. Galileo's Encounter with 951 Gaspra: Overview, Icarus, Vol. 107, p. 2 (1994).

Asteroids

Flora family


The Siege of Orleans (1428 – 1429) was an important event in the Hundred Years' War between France and England. This was Joan of Arc's first success and the first big success for the French since the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

The city of Orleans was at an important place on the river Loire. The English controlled large parts of France when they started the siege, and Orleans was the last thing stopping them from attacking the rest of France. There was not much south of the river to defend the people who served Charles VII of France, so the English came close to joining their northern lands in France with the land they controlled at Aquitaine.

The siege started on October 12, 1428 and its only major action until Joan of Arc arrived was the Battle of the Herrings. She initiated several attacks that ended the siege on May 8, 1429 - nine days after her arrival.

Orleans
Orléans
1428
1429
1420s in Europe
15th century in England
15th century in France
Orleans

Siege of Orleans


A rhytidectomy (commonly called a facelift) is a type of cosmetic surgery procedure used to make a person's face look younger. Rhytidectomy usually involves the removal of excess facial skin, which cause wrinkles, and the redraping of the skin on the patient's face and neck. The tightening of underlying tissues of the face is optional. Nearly 112,955 face lift procedures were performed in the United States in the year 2010 alone according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

References

Other websites
 Medical publication on rhytidectomy

Surgery

Rhytidectomy


The National Action Party (, PAN), founded in 1939. It is one of the three big political parties in Mexico. It has been an important political party winning local, state, and national elections. It is the most conservative party.

In 2000, PAN candidate Vicente Fox was elected president for a six-year term; in 2006, PAN candidate Felipe Calderón replaced Fox in presidency. During the period 2000-2012, both houses of the legislature had PAN pluralities, but the party did not have a majority in either house of the Congress.

In the 2006 legislative elections the party won 207 out of 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 52 out of 128 Senators. In the 2012 Legislative Elections, the PAN won 38 seats in the Senate, and 114 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.

References

1930s establishments in Mexico
1939 establishments
Political parties in Mexico

National Action Party (Mexico)


Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864) also known as WS Landor, was an English poet and essayist.

Early life
He was the son of a doctor. He was sent to the famous Rugby School in 1784, but was removed in 1791, to avoid expulsion. He then went up to study at Trinity College, Oxford University but was also rusticated from there in 1794. After this, he developed some problems with his father, who was very angry at him, so Landor left his home.

Poetry and writings
In 1794-95, he prepared his first book of poems, published in 1795 as The Poems of Walter Savage Landor. This was followed by Gebir (1798), Poetry (1802), Imaginary Conversations (series, 1824-1829) and other works.

Later life and death
He was also for some time married to Julia Thuillier and settled in France for a short time, then moved to Italy. After fighting with his wife, he left her and returned to England in 1835. In 1853 he published his last book, Last Fruit off an Old Tree and then, in 1858, left England again and went and settled in Europe. He died in 1864.

1775 births
1864 deaths
English writers
English poets

Walter Savage Landor


José María Hipólito Figueres Ferrer (September 25, 1906 – June 8, 1990) was president of Costa Rica three times. He was also the rebel leader during the Costa Rican civil war.

Early years
Also known as Don Pepe, José Figueres Ferrer was born in San Ramón, Alajuela, Costa Rica. His parents were from Cataluña, Spain: Mariano Rodríguez Borges and Francisca Ferrer Mendiola. Figueres entered the Primary Boys School in San Ramón of Alajuela in 1913. He got in Costa Rica's Lyceum finishing his Secondary studies in 1920. He went to Boston, United States to travel and study. He returned to Costa Rica in 1928 and bought a coffee farm.

Civil war
In 1942, Figueres made a speech on Latin America Radio. In this speech, he objected to the situation in Costa Rica under president Rafael Ángel Calderón. Because of this speech, he was arrested and forced to leave the country. Figueres return to Costa Rica in 1944. He started a political party, the Democratic Party. A main goal of the party was to go against Calderon's party, the National Republican Party. In 1948, supporters of Calderón caused problems with an election for president in which Calderón lost to Otilio Ulate. Because of this, the results of the election were not used. This led to the start of the civil war in 1948. In March 11, 1948, Don Pepe began a war to support the peoples decision at the previous election. Figueres and his troops won.

President of Costa Rica
In the same year, José Figueres Ferrer became president of the Second Republic Founder Assembly. He became president of Costa Rica for the first time and eliminated the Costa Rica army. He became President of Costa Rica for the second time in 1953 winning the election with 65% of the votes. In 1970, he became Costa Rica's President for the third time. Figueres died June 8, 1990. Five months later he was declared Benemérito de la Patria.

Achievements
In the 1953-1958 administration, very important institutions are created. These included:
 Living and Urbanism National Institute (INVU).
 Costarrican Turism Institute (ICT).
 He promulgated the Production National Council Organism Law (CNP).

During his last administration (1970-1974) a lot of institutes were created such as:
 Municipal Foment and Consultancy Institute (IFAM).
 Costa Rica's Technological Institute (ITCR).
 Costa Rica's National College.
 Culture, Youth and Sports Ministry.

1906 births
1990 deaths

Presidents of Costa Rica

José Figueres Ferrer


Indirect democracy, or representative democracy, is when citizens elect representatives to make laws for them. This is what most modern countries have today.

In a democracy the ultimate power to decide significant electoral system reforms lies with the people. The key question that democrats will tend to ask of any proposed change in electoral law or the voting mechanism is: "Will it actually increase the capacity of the electorate to get rid of unsatisfactory rulers and replace them with others?" Democrats regard that basic capacity as the best protection against bad government and the abuse of power.

Systems of government which do not permit electors to change the government are not democratic, and usually are dictatorships or one-party states.

The people have the ultimate power in a democracy to decide on substantial voting system improvements. The primary question that democrats will ask of every proposed change in election legislation or voting mechanism is, "Will it genuinely strengthen the electorate's power to replace unhappy rulers with others?" Democrats believe that fundamental capability is the strongest safeguard against bad governance and abuse of power.

Government systems that do not allow electors to alter the government are not democratic and are generally dictatorships or one-party nations.

References

Other websites
 Electoral Reform Society

Democracy

Indirect democracy


The New Zealand Parliament is the legislature of New Zealand. Currently, it has only one chamber, the House of Representatives, which has 120 members.

The parliament was created by the British parliament with the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852. It used to have an upper chamber, the New Zealand Legislative Council, but it was abolished in 1962. There have been several proposals to create a new upper chamber but none have passed into law.

Government of New Zealand

Organizations based in New Zealand
Unicameral legislatures

New Zealand Parliament


Ballingham is a small village of about 140 people, increasing to 181 at the 2011 Census in Herefordshire, England, situated in a loop of the River Wye, between Hereford and Ross-on-Wye.

It has a parish church dedicated to St. Dubricius which dates from the Anglo-Saxon times. The Parish Church in Whitchurch, also in Herefordshire, between Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth also carries his name. The church was refurbished in the late Victorian era, but the 14th century roof was kept. The tower dates from this period also although the nave is 13th century.
The old primary school is now the village hall and was extensively refurbished in time for the Millennium in 2000.
From 1908 to 1964 the village was served by Ballingham railway station on the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway.

References

External links

Villages in Herefordshire

Ballingham


David Stewart Freeman (February 21, 1961 – August 17, 2008) was an American advertising executive. Freeman was best known for co-authoring the 1999 book 100 Things to Do Before You Die with his friend Neil Teplica. It was based on the Web site whatsgoingon.com, which the pair ran together from 1996 to 2001. The book's recommendations ranged from attending the Academy Awards and running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, to the more obscure, like taking a voodoo pilgrimage in Haiti and "land diving" in Vanuatu, which Freeman once called "the original bungee jumping". The success of 100 Things spawned numerous similar compendia of essential places and things such as 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, leaving a legacy of "... Before You Die" and "Before You Turn 40" books still in the bestseller charts today.

Biography
Freeman was born in Whittier, California.  He graduated from the University of Southern California in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in urban planning.  He worked in advertising for his whole professional career, including jobs at agencies Grey Advertising and TBWA\Chiat\Day. On September 11, 2001, Freeman watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center from his apartment just blocks away. He moved back to Southern California to be closer to his family.

Freeman died in his Venice, California, home on August 17, 2008, after falling and hitting his head.  He was 47.  At the time of his death, the Los Angeles Times noted that Freeman had seen "about half the sites" in his book.

References

1961 births
2008 deaths
Jewish American writers
Writers from Whittier, California
USC Sol Price School of Public Policy alumni
Accidental deaths in California
Accidental deaths from falls
Burials at Pacific View Memorial Park
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American Jews

Dave Freeman (American author)