The Quest 2 is a virtual reality (VR) headset developed by Reality Labs, a division of Meta Platforms. It was unveiled on September 16, 2020, and released on October 13 as the Oculus Quest 2. It was then rebranded as the Meta Quest 2 in 2022, as part of a company-wide phase-out of the Oculus brand after the rebranding of Facebook, Inc. as Meta.

It is an evolution of the original Oculus Quest with a similar design, but with a lighter weight, updated internal specifications, a display with a higher refresh rate and per-eye resolution, and updated Oculus Touch controllers with improved battery life. As with its predecessor, the Quest 2 can run as either a standalone headset with an internal, Android-based operating system, or with Oculus Rift-compatible VR software running on a desktop computer.

The Quest 2 received mostly positive reviews as an incremental update to the Quest, but some of its changes faced criticism, including its stock head strap, reduced interpupillary distance (IPD) options, and a new requirement for users to log in with a Facebook account to use the headset and Oculus services.

Specifications

Hardware
Its design is similar to the original Oculus Quest, but replacing the black, cloth-covered exterior with white-colored plastic and a black face
pad. It is lighter than the first-generation Quest, at 503 grams (17.7 ounces) in comparison to 571 grams (20.1 ounces). The strap was changed to a fabric-based version, rather than the elastic-based strap of the Quest.

The Quest 2 uses the Snapdragon XR2, a system on a chip by Qualcomm. It is a derivative of the Snapdragon 865 that is designed for VR and augmented reality devices. It includes 6 GB of LPDDR4X RAM — an increase of 2 GB over the first-generation model.

The dual OLED displays of the first-generation Quest were replaced by a singular, fast-switch LCD panel with a per-eye resolution of 1832×1920, and a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz (an increase from 1440×1600 per-eye at 72 Hz). The display uses striped subpixels rather than a PenTile matrix; this arrangement improves image clarity by reducing the screen-door effect. At launch, the display's refresh rate was locked at 72 Hz via software, with 90 Hz mode as an experimental option limited to the home area only. A software update in November 2020 enabled games to run in 90 Hz mode. In April 2021, an update further added experimental support for 120 Hz mode in games.

The headset supports physical interpupillary distance (IPD) adjustment at 58 mm, 63 mm and 68 mm, adjusted by physically moving the lenses into each position.

Software

The Quest 2 runs operating system software based on Android Open Source Project (AOSP) source code. To conduct first-time setup, a smartphone running the Meta Quest app must be used.

An update in February 2021 added support for up to three additional accounts to be logged into a single Quest 2 headset, with the ability for accounts to share purchased software between them. In April 2021, a software update added "Air Link" as an experimental feature, which allows games to be streamed from a PC over Wi-Fi. In July 2021, experimental APIs were added to the Passthrough feature to allow for augmented reality features.

The internal operating system was originally based on Android 10 source code. In March 2023, Meta announced that all new Quest apps would be required to target API level 32 (Android 12.1) by June 30.

Controllers

The included controllers with the Quest 2 are the third generation Oculus Touch controllers. The design of the new controllers was influenced by the original Oculus Rift controllers. Their battery life has also been increased four-fold over the controllers included with the first-generation Quest.

Games

Quest 2 supports all games and software made for the first-generation model, and existing titles can be updated to support higher graphical quality on Quest 2. It also supports Quest Link (USB) and Air Link (Wi-Fi), which allows the headset to be used with Oculus Rift-compatible software on a PC. It is not backwards compatible with Oculus Go apps and games.

Release
The Quest 2 was first released in two SKUs differentiated by storage capacity, with a 64 GB model priced at US$299, and a 256 GB model (replacing the original Quest's 128 GB model) priced at $399. Both are a US$100 decrease over their equivalent SKUs on the first-generation model. In 2021, the 64 GB model of the Quest 2 was replaced by a 128 GB model at the same price point.

In November 2021, as part of the rebranding of Facebook, Inc. as Meta, the Oculus brand began to be phased out; the Oculus Quest 2 began to be referred to "Meta Quest 2" in promotional materials, Oculus Store was rebranded as "Quest Store", and Oculus-developed community platforms (such as Facebook Horizon) took on the "Horizon" brand. As of 2022, newer production runs of the Quest 2 hardware now carry the "Meta Quest 2" branding, with the Oculus logo replaced with that of Meta. The branding took effect at the OS level in March 2022, as part of system software version 38.

Meta aired a commercial for the Quest 2 and Horizon Worlds, "Old Friends, New Fun", during Super Bowl LVI in February 2022.

In July 2022, citing increased production costs and to "enable us to continue investing in ways that will keep driving this increasingly competitive industry forward for consumers and developers alike", it was announced that the prices of all current Meta Quest 2 SKUs would be increased by US$100 beginning in August 2022. It was concurrently announced that Beat Saber would also be bundled with the headset through the end of the year as a promotional offer. The 256 GB model was later reduced in price to US$429 in March 2023.

With the announcement of the upcoming Meta Quest 3 in June 2023 (which will be released at a US$499 price point for its base 128 GB model), the 128 GB model was reduced back to US$299, and the 256 GB model was reduced to US$349. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth has stated that the company will continue to support the Quest 2 "for quite a while".

Accessories
Facebook presented an "Elite Strap" accessory, which contains a ring-like pad for the back of the head and a tightness dial, along with a variant with a battery pack built into the strap. Facebook also promoted Logitech headphones "certified" for Quest 2, including the G333 VR—the company's first in-ear headphones—which have shortened cables designed for use with VR headsets.

In addition, Facebook partnered with Logitech to support their K830 keyboard as part of the "Infinite Office" feature, allowing the keyboard to be detected and displayed within a virtual reality environment.

In October 2022, Meta unveiled new Touch Pro controllers for the Meta Quest Pro, which are also available as an optional accessory for existing Quest 2 headsets. These controllers have a more compact design, replace the infrared tracking rings with cameras for on-board inside-out tracking (thus no longer needing to be within the line of sight of the headset's cameras for best performance), and also include a pressure sensor for pinching gestures, and rechargeable batteries.

Reception
The Verge was positive in a pre-release review, noting that while it lacked standout features, it did have "worthwhile" improvements such as reduced weight, a screen with a better visual appearance and refresh rate than the original Quest, and a re-located USB port. The new strap was panned for having "less support and a slightly clumsier tightening mechanism" (partly rectified by the Elite Strap accessory sold separately), and the new IPD mechanism was considered "annoying" and not as inclusive as that of the first-generation model. In conclusion, it was argued that while it was not a "must-upgrade" for existing owners, the Quest 2 had "the best overall balance of hardware, features, and price."

Ars Technica was less positive, noting that its internal speakers were "noticeably crisper and louder", but panning the new cloth strap in comparison to the original Quest's elastic straps (and arguing that it alone was responsible for the claimed reduction in weight), the limited IPD options, worse battery life, and the controllers having less grip and reduced accuracy on more intensive games. The switch from OLED to LCD was shown to produce "crisper" images but more "washed out" color.

The Elite Strap accessory was met with criticism initially due to issues with the straps breaking randomly. In response, Facebook stated that the issue was a "processing inconsistency" affecting only a few units, and sales of the strap were paused temporarily before going on sale again. Other issues, such as loose screws in the strap were also reported.

Sales
In November 2021, Qualcomm stated that at least 10 million Quest 2 headsets had been shipped worldwide. In late-December 2021, the Oculus app (which is required to complete first-time setup) became the most popular app on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store in the United States for the first time—implying that Quest headsets had been heavily purchased as Christmas gifts during the holiday shopping season.

Facebook integration
The Quest 2 had faced criticism over the mandate that users must log in with a Facebook account in order to use the Quest 2 and any future Oculus products, including the amount of user data that could be collected by the company via virtual reality hardware and interactions, such as the user's surroundings, motions and actions, and biometrics. It was reported that some users were unable to use the headset due to their Facebook account being suspended. Some described that linking their deactivated Facebook account to the device rendered the headset a "paperweight". In September 2020, Facebook suspended the sale of all Oculus products in Germany after it faced criticism from the German Federal Cartel Office over the requirement. At the Facebook Connect event in 2021, Mark Zuckerberg stated that the company was "working on making it so you can log in into Quest with an account other than your personal Facebook account".

Meta later announced in July 2022 that it would establish a new "Meta account" system (a spiritual successor to Oculus accounts) to link Meta apps and platforms, and that users who transition to Meta account would be allowed to decouple their Facebook logins from its VR platforms. However, Ars Technica noted that the new terms of service and privacy policies associated with the new Meta account system could still allow enforcement of a real name policy (stating that users would be obligated to provide "accurate and up to date information (including registration information), which may include providing personal data", and still allowed for "rampant" use of user data by Meta.

Face pad recall
In December 2020, Facebook stated that it was investigating reports of users experiencing rashes and other skin irritation from the Quest 2's foam face pad. In April 2021, Facebook stated that it had identified and reduced the use of "a few trace substances that are normally present in the manufacturing process which could contribute to skin discomfort", but that they "did not find any contamination or unexpected substances in our manufacturing process." On July 27, 2021, Facebook announced that it had issued a recall of the face pads in Canada and the United States, would issue free silicone covers to existing users, and would temporarily suspend global sales of the Quest 2 in order to allow these covers to be included with all future shipments of the headset.

References

External links

 Meta Quest 2 on VRcompare

Meta Quest
Products introduced in 2020
Virtual reality headsets
Wearable devices
Metaverse
Ninth-generation video game consoles

Quest 2


Papiya Ghosh was a historian of South Asian history and a professor of the University of Patna, Patna, India. She was found murdered on 3 December 2006, along with her elderly housemaid, Malti Devi, apparently as a result of an attempted burglary.

Ghosh, an ethnic Bengali, was the sister of Tuktuk Kumar, an officer of Indian Administrative Service from the West Bengal cadre, and a close associate of the writer Jug Suraiya from the Times of India.

Life
Papiya Ghosh was born on 8 October 1953, in Dumka (Bihar, India). She was the third of four daughters of Ujjal Kumar Ghosh, an IAS officer of the Bihar Cadre, and his wife Purnima Ghosh. Her father was a victim of what was widely held to be a political murder in 1957. The four sisters were subsequently brought up by their mother, who took up a job as a school teacher to support her daughters after the murder of her husband.

Papiya attended St Joseph's Convent High School in Patna, where she was school topper and elected Head Girl in 1971. She earned an undergraduate degree in history from the Patna Women's College (Patna University) and was also elected Premier of the Students' Union. Papiya was an avid debater, dramatist and writer from an early age, and, together with her sister Tuktuk, became something of a household name as a regular contributor to Kookie Kol, a column in the Junior Statesman, which was a popular youth magazine of the time.

As Patna University was closed down indefinitely in 1975 during Jayaprakash Narayan's agitation, Papiya Ghosh moved to Delhi University where she completed her MPhil and PhD, studying the pre-independence civil disobedience movement in Bihar (1930–34). After her PhD, she taught history at Delhi University for two years. In 1979, she decided to move back to Patna. This was in part to support her mother, who was by then living on her own, but also because she wanted to live and work in the midst of the land, people and society which formed the main focus of her academic research.

In Patna, Papiya taught first at Patna Women's College and then at the history department at Patna University. A highly regarded teacher, she took great personal pains to ensure that the content and quality of instruction her students received was at par with the best universities in the country. This was especially challenging given the general decline of standards at Patna University, the very limited funding available, deteriorating facilities, and official indifference.

Professional recognition was hard to come by, given the situation in Patna and its remoteness from the more high-profile academic centres of India. Nevertheless, she was awarded the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship (twice), as well as fellowships from the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (Shimla) and Teen Murti Bhavan (New Delhi). She also contributed a number of scholarly articles to prestigious academic journals.

A follower of the philosopher Rumi, Papiya Ghosh was drawn towards Sufi mysticism, which she saw as a unique amalgam of influences truly representative the assimilative culture of the Indian sub-continent. She also had a keen interest in modern literature, especially writings by and about Indian and Pakistani women.

Murder
Papiya Ghosh was murdered on the night of 2/3 December 2006, along with her elderly maid, Malti Devi. The post-mortem report listed 34 stab wounds inflicted on her, including to the eyes, throat and stomach. Of the six men accused on the murder, four have been arrested, tried and convicted and two of the named accused, who were absconding, have since been arrested in August 2012 by Bihar Police. However, the trial in their case has yet to commence.

Work
After her PhD, Papiya Ghosh taught history at Daulat Ram College (Delhi University) briefly, and then at the Hindu College, University of Delhi for two years. In 1979, she moved back to Patna, where she taught at her alma mater, Patna Women's College (Patna University), until 1991. She was subsequently promoted and moved to the Department of History, Patna University.

Her research subjects related, inter-alia, to the impact of Partition in 1947, the plight of Dalit Muslims, peoples' movements, popular syncretic culture, secularism, the contribution of the underprivileged to political processes etc. She was particularly interested in questions of identity, especially how people identify themselves individually and collectively when removed from their place of origin. She spent much of her time travelling to remote areas, meeting key sources (within and outside the country), and conducting first-hand primary research using her own limited resources. She would devote hours on translation, roping in friends and well-wishers to help. She taught herself to read and write Urdu, as many of the manuscripts she studied were written in the Nastaliq script. She immersed herself in local traditions (many obscure, some dying out) and was also a keen student of diasporic sub-continental populations, both contemporary (such as the Bangladeshi population in London) and historical (such as in Mauritius and the West Indies).

She was:
 Rockefeller Fellow at the University of Chicago, 1994;
 Rockefeller Fellow at the Triangle South Asia Consortium at North Carolina State University, 1996–97;
 Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla (India), 1993–96
 Visiting Scholar at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Teen Murti Bhavan, New Delhi, 1988–91;
 Adviser to the Asian Development Research Institute, Patna; and
 Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Books

   Collected Essays

Details of other publications are available at https://web.archive.org/web/20090627075058/http://www.papiyaghosh.com/. The Nobel laureate Amartya Sen released a commemorative volume in Papiya Ghosh's memory – Resurrection of the State, A Saga of Bihar – on 4 February 2013 in Patna. The volume is edited by Sunita Lall and Shaibal Gupta.

Memorials
The following awards have been instituted in Papiya Ghosh's name by the Purnujjal Papiya Ghosh Memorial Trust:
 Patna Women's College, Patna University, for the Topper in BA History
 Department of History, Patna University, for the Topper in MA History
 Hindu College, Delhi University, for the Topper in MA History
 The Professor Papiya Ghosh National Award, instituted by the Indian History Congress
 The Papiya Ghosh Memorial Prize for the best MPhil Thesis in Development Studies, at Oxford University
 A Memorial Fund for PhD and Short Term  fellowships in Papiya Ghosh's memory has been set up at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, for young women academicians from non-metropolitan areas of the country. This has been supported by, among others, the Dorabji Tata Trust, and friends and family of Papiya Ghosh.
 The Syndicate of Patna University has approved, on 3 May 2007, the setting up of the Papiya Ghosh Centre for Gender Studies to promote research in this area.

References

External links
 Papiya Ghosh official website (memorial)
 Purnujjal Papiya Ghosh Memorial Trust website

 Shock of Papiya Ghosh's murder rocks Patna Intelligentsia
 Papiya Ghosh: From J.S. to an end
 Professor's Murder Stuns Friends, Colleagues

1953 births
2006 deaths
2006 murders in India
Indian women historians
Bengali historians
Hindu College, Delhi alumni
Delhi University alumni
Indian murder victims
People murdered in Bihar
Deaths by stabbing in India
Patna University alumni
Academic staff of Patna University
20th-century Indian historians
20th-century Indian women scientists
20th-century Indian scientists
21st-century Indian women scientists
21st-century Indian scientists
Scientists from Patna
Women scientists from Bihar
Scholars from Bihar
21st-century Indian historians
Educators from Bihar
Women educators from Bihar
21st-century Indian women writers
20th-century Indian women writers

Papiya Ghosh


VEGAS Pro is a non-linear video editing software developed by MAGIX, previously by Sony Creative Software and Sonic Foundry. The Film Paranormal Activity was edited using the software and has won many awards.

The software is only for Windows computers and PCs only and cost 600 dollars.

Features
VEGAS Pro contains a lot of video and audio effects and transitions including the Mirror Effect and Chroma Key. VEGAS Pro also has tittles and other video generators.

VEGAS Pro also allows users crop video, Flip video horizontal or upside down, change the speed of video and audio with or without the pitch changing if going faster or slower and more.

Sony Vegas 8.0
The 8.0 version was released in late 2007. It contains features including ProType Titling technology, Multicamera editing tools, 32-bit floating point video processing, Customizable window layouts, Improved HDV/SDI/XDCAM support and Mixing console window.

Sony Vegas 9.0
The 9.0 version was released in 2009. The color of the program is now black rather than white. It contains features including support for 4K resolution and native support for pro camcorder formats like Red and XDCAM EX.

The latest 9.0 version was released in May 2010 called "Vegas Pro 9.0e" which includes a new white balance video effect.

Sony Vegas 10.0
The 10.0 version was released in October 2010 and is the latest version of the software. It contains new features including Stereoscopic 3D Editing, Comprehensive Closed Captioning, GPU-Accelerated AVC Encoding (Using NVIDIA CUDA), Image Stabilization, Audio Event FX, Track Management, OpenFX plugins support.

Software

VEGAS Pro


San Francisco Glens Soccer Club, commonly known as SF Glens, is an American soccer club based in San Francisco that was founded in 1961. Their men's first team currently competes in USL League Two and their women's first team in the USL W League, both in the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid.

Before establishing a USL League Two franchise in 2018, the Glens had been a longtime member of the San Francisco Soccer Football League (SFSFL) and were once affiliated with the San Francisco Seals' PDL team, which is now defunct. The Glens continue to field three SFSFL teams, but the USL League Two franchise is now the club's official first team.

Since the hiring of Executive Director Mike McNeill, who also doubles as General Manager of the USL2 first team, the club has grown from just two local youth teams to the largest soccer club in San Francisco. The Glens' nationally renowned academy program is the only one in the city with all age groups for MLS Next that begins at Under-13 level and runs concurrently through the Under-19 level. The U19 team made history in 2022 as the first San Francisco team to advance to the MLS NEXT Cup final where they were edged by the New England Revolution 1-0.

Combined as one entity (USL League Two and USL W League first teams, SFSFL second, third, and fourth teams, and SF Glens Academy youth teams), the Glens field over 90 teams and over 1,300 active players.

The Glens also have ties abroad as the official North American partner of 2. Bundesliga club Holstein Kiel. In addition to having the MLS NEXT full pathway, they are the only youth club in San Francisco with membership in the USL Academy.

They also have an official partnership with the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer. Recent examples of that arrangement is current U.S. Youth National Team midfielder Cruz Medina, who played with the Glens Academy before joining the Earthquakes, as well as the Glens hosting MLS Next Pro games for the Quakes in San Francisco.

History

Beginnings
The Glens were founded on January 28, 1961 by Dr. Michael McFadden as one of a number of Irish American amateur sides that had emerged in the SFSFL during the 1960s. The emergence of the Glens during this period was based on the coaching of Irishman Neil Hagan coupled with a talented crop of young players like Tom and Steve Ryan, Jim Boyle, and Tom and Tim Harvey, among others.

It was also during these early years when the club struck up a friendship with Celtic F.C. that still endures today, when the European giants visited San Francisco in 1957 to play a friendly match and as legend has it, provided the Glens with their first kits when they debuted four years later.

National Amateur Success
The result of Hagan's leadership was promotion to the SFSFL's Premier division by the end of the decade. The Glens went on to national prominence by advancing all the way to the National Amateur Cup final in 1979 where they lost 1–0 to Atlanta Datagraphic. Their national success also spilled over into qualification for the prestigious U.S. Open Cup three times in a five-year stretch from 1978–1982.

SFSFL Title Teams
The untimely death of Hagan in 1981, who passed away on the field while coaching the Glens, left a void that might have been the end of other amateur clubs. However, Sean Shannon stepped into the spotlight and quietly remolded the team into a championship-winning outfit by bringing in players such as Paul Mitchell and Mal Roche. By 1984, the Glens captured their first SFSFL championship in 1984—the first by an Irish side. In 1990, they returned to the National Amateur Cup final that season. Unfortunately, they were on the wrong side of another 1–0 result, this time to the St. Petersburg Kickers. Three years later under Shannon, the Glens captured their second SFSFL title.

Return to the SFSFL
After a brief hiatus, the SF Glens returned to the SFSFL in 2015 with a Premier Division and reserve team open to all comers. Three years later behind coach Bill Chu, the SFSFL Glens earned a berth in the California Soccer Association North (CSAN) State Cup Final, falling to Club Marin in extra time, 4–2.

A New Era in USL League Two
In 2018, the Glens announced the establishment of a new franchise in the USL Premier Development League with dual intentions: to create a top of the pyramid for their SF Glens Academy youth program and SFSFL teams, and also to set a foundation to enter the professional ranks in the future. J. Ramon Estevez was hired as the PDL franchise's inaugural team president/general manager and Javier Ayala-Hil as head coach. Mike McNeill, executive director of football for the youth side, doubled as a member of the PDL front office as well.

Though the Glens missed the playoffs in their first PDL season, they closed the campaign on a four-game unbeaten streak and were one of only two teams to take points from eventual Southwest Division champion FC Golden State Force.

In September 2018, the club announced that U.S. World Cup veteran and MLS Cup champion Jimmy Conrad had agreed to become their new technical director and associate head coach. In December 2018, Mike McNeill took on the reins of the team presidency. One month later, the Glens had four players selected in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft and two (Sam Junqua and Roy Boateng) in the first round—a first for any San Francisco club and the third-most among all clubs in the PDL, now rebranded as USL League Two.

The Glens entered an official partnership with 2. Bundesliga club Holstein Kiel in 2019, as San Francisco and Kiel are sister cities. The team had a tough USL League Two season on the field, but Nabilai Kibunguchy stood out as a midfielder on the Western Conference Team of the Year.

In February 2020, the club announced that Ayala-Hil would step down as head coach and McNeill named Conrad his successor. However, the 2020 USL League Two season was canceled due to safety concerns stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March 2021, the club announced the future construction of a soccer-specific facility at Treasure Island, a first for a local club in the 120-year history of soccer in San Francisco. Meanwhile, coaches Bill Chu and Cameron Chu led a banner year for the Glens' SFSFL teams, as the Second Team qualified for the Premier Division playoffs, the Third Team finished in the top four of the Majors Division, and the Under-23 Fourth Team won the First Division.

The 2022 USL League Two season saw changes to the staff, with Conrad returning to his original role as technical director and Gabe Saucedo elevating from head associate coach to head coach, as well as Ryan Maquiñana taking on the USL General Manager role. The result was a finish in the top four of the Southwest Division and a national playoff berth for the first time in club history. In the Western Conference Quarterfinals, the Glens traveled to Seattle to upset top-seeded Capital FC (the rebranded Portland Timbers U23) 3-2, but fell by the same score in extra time in the semifinals to host Ballard FC. Max Chrétien led the team with nine goals and five assists, while Academy product Diego Grande added eight scores of his own. Kevyn Lo was named to the Western Conference Team of the Year.

The SFSFL teams enjoyed another successful season in 2022, with the Second Team qualifying for the playoffs for the second consecutive season, the Third Team winning the Majors Division, and the Under-23 Fourth Team finishing runners-up in the third tier. The SFSFL also held their 120th Anniversary Open Cup in August of that year for all divisions in the league and it resulted in an all-Glens final, with the Under-23 team defeating the Second Team 2-1 to take home the trophy.

On September 7, 2022, the Glens broke ground on their new facility at Treasure Island with Mayor London Breed one of the guest speakers. Two days later, they hosted the San Jose Earthquakes' second team at Negoesco Stadium and ran operations for their MLS Next Pro game against Real Monarchs. A sellout crowd was on hand to watch the first professional soccer game in the city since the now-defunct San Francisco Deltas won the NASL championship game at Kezar Stadium in 2017.

The 2023 campaign saw original USL League Two coach Javier Ayala-Hil return to the staff, now as Saucedo's head associate coach. The team challenged for the new NorCal Division title all season as they set club records for regular-season wins (9), points (28), and table position (second). They also swept crosstown rival SF City FC in the derby for the first time. Chrétien repeated as leading scorer with 10 goals and was named NorCal Division Player of the Year. Once again, the Glens advanced to the national playoffs, where they upset top-seeded Redlands FC on the road 2-1 to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals for the second consecutive season. However, the run concluded with a loss on the road to former divisional rival Ventura County Fusion.

Glens add Women's First Team

In December 2022, the club announced the addition of a women's first team in the new NorCal Division of the USL W League, with Mike Sharabi announced as head coach. Their first signing was Stanford National Freshman of the Year and U.S. Under-20 defender Elise Evans. The team started out strong, racing out to a 9-0-0 record and earning the No. 1 national ranking in the USL W League five weeks in a row. Ultimately the Glens won the NorCal Division Championship and Western Conference Championship, blasting Oakland Soul SC 5-1 in the semifinals and outlasting California Storm 2-1. The Girls in Green saw their magical run end in the closing seconds of regulation in the National Semifinal to eventual USL W League champions Indy Eleven, 3-2. Nádia Gomes was named National Player of the Year and NorCal Division Player of the Year after notching 16 goals and 9 assists. Defender Elle Piper joined Gomes on the National Team of the Year.

Supporters

The SF Glens supporters' group is known as the SF Glens Brigade, or Briogáid Ghleann (as it is known in Irish Gaelic as a nod to the club's Irish roots). They currently meet at Skyline College for matches and travel on the road to support the club.

Kit sponsors

The SF Glens made history when they announced that global brand Carlsberg would be the presenting sponsor for their inaugural season kit, as Liverpool F.C., Wimbledon F.C., and F.C. Copenhagen are the only other club teams in association soccer to ever don the renowned beer company's logo on the front of their jerseys. The Glens' other kit sponsors are Soccerloco, Rubica, and Thomas Quinn Law. In addition, the club entered a contract with Casa Sanchez Foods to feature the iconic Jimmy the Cornman logo on their coaches' apparel. In 2019, Powerade became the club's training kit sponsor.

Squad

Current USL League Two squad
The following 18 players were named in the squad for the USL League Two regular season game against Davis Legacy on June 16, 2023.

Recent callups for USL League Two

Current USL W League squad

The following 18 players were named in the squad for the USL W League Away Game against The Olympic Club on June 18, 2023.

Recent callups for the USL W League

Record

SFSFL (top team only)

USL League Two

USL W League

Former Glens in the pros (by club of entry)

Men
 Sam Junqua - 2018 - selected in 2019 MLS SuperDraft by Houston Dynamo (1st round, 8th overall)
 Roy Boateng - 2018 - selected in 2019 MLS SuperDraft by New York Red Bulls (1st round, 16th overall)
 Shinya Kadono - 2018 - selected in 2019 MLS SuperDraft by D.C. United (3rd round, 72nd overall)
 Sam Ebstein - 2018 - selected in 2019 MLS SuperDraft by FC Dallas (4th round, 87th overall)
 Yohannes Harish - 2018-19 - signed by Oakland Roots SC, 2019
 Luke Dennison - 2018 - signed by Longford Town FC, 2019
 Aydan Bowers - 2019 - signed by FC Helsingor, 2019
 Amir Bashti - 2019 - signed by Atlanta United 2, 2019
 Salifu Jatta - 2019 - signed by Oakland Roots SC, 2019
 Drake Callender - 2019^ - signed by Inter Miami CF, 2019
 Isaiah Dargan - 2018-19 - signed by Chattanooga Red Wolves, 2020
 Simon Lekressner - 2019^ - selected in 2020 MLS SuperDraft by New England Revolution (2nd round, 30th overall)
 Andrew Konstantino - 2018-19 - signed by Reno 1868 FC, 2020
 Jonathan Orozco - 2019 - signed by Oakland Roots SC, 2020
 Josiah Romero - 2019 - signed by Oakland Roots SC, 2020
 Arda Bulut - 2018-19 - signed by Louisville City FC, 2020
 Nabilai Kibunguchy - 2019 - selected in 2021 MLS SuperDraft by Minnesota United FC (1st round, 18th overall)
 Tyler Moss - 2019 - signed by FC Tucson, 2022
 Zach Ryan - 2019 - signed by New York Red Bulls, 2022
 Rei Dorwart - 2018-19 - signed by Bay Cities FC, 2022
 Andrew Paoli - 2018 - signed by Bay Cities FC, 2022
 Gabe Silveira - 2018 - signed by Bay Cities FC, 2022
 C.J. Grey - 2018 - signed by San Jose Earthquakes II, 2022
 Cruz Medina - 2017-19^^ - signed by San Jose Earthquakes, 2022
 Kyle Colonna - 2019 - signed by New Mexico United, 2023
 Corey Lundeen - 2022 - signed by Albion San Diego, 2023
 Roka Tsunehara - 2017-19^^ - signed by San Jose Earthquakes II, 2023

Women
 Amy Sayer - 2023 - signed by Kristianstads DFF, 2023

^signed with Glens but did not play in an official game
^^played for SF Glens Academy

Team honors

USL W League
Western Conference: 2023
NorCal Division: 2023SFSFLPremier Division:  1983–84, 1989–90
Division II: 1978–79, 2001, 2022^
Division III: 1977–78, 2021^^
Division IV: 1976–77

^won by SF Glens Third Team
^^won by SF Glens Under-23 Fourth TeamNational Amateur CupCalifornia North: 1978–79, 1979–80, 1982–83
National Finalists: 1979, 1990U.S. Open Cup California North: 1977–78, 1979–80, 1980–81California State CupChampions: 1983–84
Finalists: 2018California State Intermediate Cup (1): 1968–69Carlsberg CupS.F. Champions: 2001
National Finalists: 2001SFSFL 120th Anniversary Cup Champions: 2022^^^
 Finalists: 2022^^^

^^^SF Glens Under-23 Fourth Team defeated SF Glens Third Team 2-1 in final

 Major individual honors USL W League National Player of the Year Nádia Gomes: 2023USL W League National Team of the Year Nádia Gomes: 2023
 Elle Piper: 2023USL W League NorCal Division Player of the Year Nádia Gomes: 2023USL League Two Western Conference Team of the Year Nabilai Kibunguchy: 2019
 Kevyn Lo: 2022USL League Two NorCal Division Player of the Year Max Chrétien: 2023MLS NEXT All-Star Game Selection'''
 Kevin Rodriguez: 2022
 Antonio Medina (coach): 2022

References

External links
SF Glens Soccer Club

National Premier Soccer League teams
G
1961 establishments in California
1961 in San Francisco
Association football clubs established in 1961
USL League Two teams
Glens of the United States

San Francisco Glens


Netzwerk is the German word for "network".

It may also refer to:
 Netzwerk (film), a 1969 German film
 Netzwerk (album), an album by the electronic duo Klangkarussell
 Netzwerk (Falls Like Rain), a song by Klangkarussell released in the album Netzwerk
 Netzwerk (band), an Italian Eurodance band

See also
 Network (disambiguation)

Netzwerk


The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. The list is usually Mount Everest (Asia), Aconcagua (South America), Puncak Jaya (Oceania), Mount Elbrus (Europe), Mount Vinson (Antarctica), Kilimanjaro (Africa), and Denali (North America).

Sometimes the list is different, but most of the mountains stay the same. It depends on the definition for each continent. For example, some lists use the continent of Australia, not Oceania. The highest mountain in Australia is Mount Kosciuszko not Puncak Jaya (which is in the country of Indonesia). Other lists change the border of Europe, so the highest mountain is Mont Blanc (in France) not Mount Elbrus (in Russia).

References

Seven Summits


Trial Marriage is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film directed by Erle C. Kenton from a story by Sonya Levien. Produced by Harry Cohn for Columbia Pictures Corporation, the film was released on March 10, 1929. Charles C. Coleman was assistant director. The film was released in two versions, in silent and with sound.

Premise
Constance Bannister (Sally Eilers) enters into a trial marriage contract with Dr. Thorvald Ware (Jason Robards) and finds happiness with him. She defies his wishes by dancing at a charity ball in a revealing costume, however, and he dissolves the contract, not knowing that she is with a child.

Cast
Norman Kerry as Oliver Mowbray
Sally Eilers as Constance Bannister
Jason Robards as Dr. Thorvald Ware
Thelma Todd as Grace
Charles Clary as George Bannister
Naomi Childers as Mrs. George Bannister, 1st
Rosemary Theby as Mrs. George Bannister, 4th
Gertrude Short as Prudence

Production
The June 29, 1928 issue of The Film Daily announced that Millard Webb was originally supposed to direct, however he was ultimately not involved in the final film.

Reception
A negative review from Variety on April 17, 1929 wrote: "An uninteresting story given a trite, long-winded, complicated treatment, with no redeeming features in the picturization."

See also
 List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)

References

External links

Films directed by Erle C. Kenton
American drama films
1929 drama films
1929 films
American black-and-white films
1920s English-language films
1920s American films

Trial Marriage


Lee Academy is a private boarding and day high school in Lee, Maine, United States, founded in 1845 as a teacher training school, and now serving grades 9–12.

Overseas expansion
In 2005, Lee Academy signed an agreement with officials in the People's Republic of China to establish the first American-style high school in China. The agreement called for schools to be established in Shenzhen, Shijiazhuang and Chengdu.

In September 2009, the Shenzhen American International School, a satellite school of Lee Academy, opened in Shenzhen, China. It had a principal from Orono, Maine and five teachers.

Lee Academy operates Daegu International School, Daegu, Korea in a partnership with the City of Daegu.  Daegu International School is a K - 12 High School servicing 317 International and Korean Students.

In more recent years Lee Academy has expanded further into China opening a Fine Arts Specialty High School in Shanghai, China.  American Lee Academy International School - Shanghai is a four-year college preparatory high school providing students in Shanghai, China with a US high school education with concentrations in animation, art, music, dance and theater.  Lee Academy also has a 3 + 0 partnership with Lishui Foreign Language International School in Lishui, China.  The Lishui program has Lee Academy staff stationed at the school in China where students take Lee Academy courses.  A summer program on the Lee Academy campus in Lee, Maine is also a requirement of the program.

Faculty & staff
As of September 2015, Lee academy has 39 faculty and Staff members, 23 of which are teachers.

Student body
As of September 2016, Lee Academy has 82 international students, 135 local students, making 217 overall.  Lee Academy has a diverse student body with students from twenty-six countries and sixteen Maine communities.

Extracurricular activities
As of 2015, Lee Academy offers seasonal sports. The fall sports at Lee Academy are Soccer, Cross Country, and Volleyball. The winter sports are Basketball, Cheering and Skiing. The spring sports are Baseball, Softball, and Tennis. Lee Academy offers a fall musical. In March the French club goes to Quebec City. Lee Academy also has of variety of other activities including Math team, photography club, ethnic cooking, and Entropy, to name a few.  Most recently, the Academy has offered an Outing Club to students providing an opportunity to explore and enjoy the great Maine outdoors.

Lee Academy has an annual Lee Academy Sports Hall of Fame celebrate to recognize outstanding alumni who have distinguished themselves as significant contributors to Lee Academy athletic teams.

The Arts are a focus of the additional offerings as Lee Academy.  The Academy has been a perennial top performer in the One Act competition through the Maine Principals' Association.  Concert and Jazz Band are both important and strong components of the fine arts offerings at Lee Academy.  The Academy has Studio Arts and Digital Photography offerings as part of the arts offerings.  Each year Lee Academy sponsors a celebration of the arts through All for the Arts night.

Lee Academy has a successful Post Graduate Basketball team which fields both an A and B team which compete in the NEPSEC athletic conference.

Notable people
 Everett McLeod, State Representative and Trustee

References

Private high schools in Maine
Schools in Penobscot County, Maine

Educational institutions established in 1845
1845 establishments in Maine

Lee Academy (Maine)


Oscar Fritschi (25 February 1939 – 8 January 2016) was a Swiss politician. He was a member of the Free Democratic Party of Switzerland. He was born in Winterthur, Switzerland. From 1986 to 1992 Fritschi was president of the FDP of the Canton of Zurich. From 1991 to 1992 he was a member of the Cantonal Council of the Canton of Zurich. On November 25, 1991, he was elected in the National Assembly. He resigned in 1999 after he no longer had support.

Fritschi died at a hospital in Zurich, Switzerland from a short-illness at the age of 76.

References

1939 births
2016 deaths
Swiss politicians
People from Winterthur

Oscar Fritschi


Never Been Kissed is a 1999 American comedy movie directed by Raja Gosnell. It follows a journalist pretending to be high school student. It stars Drew Barrymore, David Arquette, Michael Vartan, Molly Shannon, Leelee Sobieski, John C. Reilly, Jessica Alba, Marley Shelton and Garry Marshall. It marked the first movie produced by Flower Films and James Franco's film debut.

Other websites

References

1990s high school movies
1999 romantic comedy movies
1990s teen comedy movies
1990s teen romance movies
American high school movies
American romantic comedy movies
American teen comedy movies
American teen romance movies
1990s English-language movies
Movies directed by Raja Gosnell
Movies set in Chicago
Movies shot in Chicago
Proms in movies

Never Been Kissed


An astroctytoma is a form of a brain tumor that comes from astrocytes (a type of brain cell).

There are many kinds of astrocytomas. They are separated into two categories; Low-grade astrocytomas and High-grade astrocytomas.

Low-grade astrocytomas
Low-grade astrocytomas usually grow slowly and stay in one place. Because of this, many of them can be treated just with surgery. Once the tumor is taken out, often no other treatment is needed. As long as they get treatment, after five years, 90% of people with these astrocytomas are still alive.

One example of a low-grade astrocytoma is pilocytic astrocytoma.

High-grade astrocytomas
High-grade astrocytomas grow much more quickly and tend to spread throughout the body. Because of this, they are harder to treat and have worse prognoses than low-grade astrocytomas.

One example of a high-grade astrocytoma is anaplastic astrocytoma. This type of tumor has to be treated with a chemotherapy called Temozolomide.

Brain tumors

Astrocytoma


Twenty-five-thousanders (, Dvadtsatipyatitysyachniki) was a collective name for the frontline workers from the major industrial cities of the Soviet Union who voluntarily left their urban homes for rural areas at the call of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) to improve the performance of kolkhozes during the agricultural collectivisation in the Soviet Union in early 1930.

In November 1929, the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party issued a decree on sending 25,000 workers with sufficient organizational and political experience to the rural areas to work in kolkhozy and in Machine and Tractor Stations (MTS). The decree found a broad response among the workers of the country, but they often had to fight resistance from their factories, which needed them to fill production quotas. In her history of the movement, Lynne Viola wrote:

The recruitment drive illustrated the sometimes contradictory nature of the first five-year plan revolution, which aimed for the maximum in economic modernization while at the same time insisting that modernization occur within the parameters of the social and political guidelines of the proletarian dictatorship. The factories were required to increase production while releasing their best workers for participation in the numerous mobilizations of skilled workers for promotion in the bureaucracy, the purge of the state administration, enrollment in higher technical education, and work in the countryside. The consequences of these contradictory demands were frequently inconsistency, disorder, and an uneasy balance between different institutional concerns, revealing a side of Soviet politics lacking unity of purpose and divided by differing interests. In the recruitment of the 25,000ers this meant that ultimately the state had to circumvent factory officialdom and, with the aid of the party organs, appeal directly to workers over the head of resistant factory officials for support in the campaign. And the result was that, in spite of the opposition of factory officials and problems in campaign implementation, the recruitment drive was an enormous success.

As a result, 27,519 people were selected from all over the Soviet Union and sent to work in the kolkhozy.

Analysis of the social structure of 23,409 twenty-five-thousanders with personal files reveals:

 Males - 92.3%, females - 7.7%
 Members of the CPSU - 69.9%
 Members of the Komsomol - 8.6%
 Members of the Metal Workers Union - approx. 16,000
 Individuals with no party affiliation - 21.5%
 Up to 5 years of work experience - 13%
 5 to 12 years of work experience - 39%
 More than 12 years of work experience - 48%

To prepare the twenty-five-thousanders for work in the rural areas, the Soviets organized special courses. Some volunteers were sent to sovkhozy for two or three months as interns. Most of the twenty-five-thousanders were sent directly to kolkhozy in the principal cereal regions of the country, such as Ukraine, North Caucasus, Lower and Middle Volga, the Black Earth Region and others.

The twenty-five-thousanders took part in establishing new kolkhozy and in strengthening the weak ones, conducting political, educational and cultural work among the inhabitants of the rural areas. They assisted kolkhozy in organizing stock, strengthening work-discipline and establishing "correct" product-distribution. Some of the twenty-five-thousanders were elected board members and chairmen of kolkhozy.

However, the twenty-five-thousanders encountered fierce resistance from the so-called kulaks, who opposed the socialist re-organization of agriculture.

Soviet literature treated the phenomenon of the twenty-five-thousanders extensively. Mikhail Sholokhov wrote one of the most famous books on this subject: Virgin Soil Upturned (, 1932 and 1960).

References

See also
 Virgin Lands Campaign

Soviet phraseology
Economic history of the Soviet Union
1930s in the Soviet Union
Agriculture in the Soviet Union
Internal migrations in the Soviet Union

Twenty-five-thousander


The  is a non-profit scientific research organization in Japan, specializing in ornithology.

History
The Yamashina Institute for Ornithology was founded by Dr. Yoshimaro Yamashina at his home in Shibuya, Tokyo as a private museum to store his collection of bird specimens and books. Marquis Yamashina was the second son of Prince Yamashina Kikumaro. He opened his museum to the public in 1942. At the Institute, Yamashina conducted research into bird taxonomy based on chromosomes, and wrote numerous technical journal articles and books on ornithology.

The Institute relocated to its present location approximately 30 kilometer east of Tokyo at Abiko, Chiba in 1984. The Institute has maintained close ties to the Imperial Family of Japan. It is chaired by Prince Akishino, younger brother to the Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan, and their younger sister Princess Sayako worked as a researcher at the Institute from 1992–2005, where she specialized in the study of kingfishers.

Organization
The Institute is organized into three research sections:

The Ornithology Research Laboratory specializes in the ecology and systematics of birds, including foraging patterns of marine birds and genetic variations of bird populations, mainly using DNA sequencing.
The Bird Migration Research Center conducts bird banding campaigns, tagging more than 200,000 birds each year. It also experiments with radio telemetry, radar and satellite tracking to investigate migratory patterns.
The Library and Collection Center maintains a collection of 69,000 different avian specimens from all over the world, especially from eastern Asia and the north-western Pacific regions and a library of 39,000 ornithological books and periodicals.

Publications and events
The Yamashina Institute publishes several journals and reports, including the Journal of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, the annual Report of the Bird Migration Research Center and a monthly newspaper for support group members.

The Institute also sponsors a biannual Yamashina Yoshimaro Memorial Ornithological Award to an individual or group who has made remarkable contributions to the development ornithology or the protection of birds.

References

External links
Journal of the Yamashina Institute
Yamashina Institute official website

Animal welfare organizations based in Japan
Ornithological organizations
Biological research institutes
Research institutes in Japan
1942 establishments in Japan
Abiko, Chiba

Yamashina Institute for Ornithology


James Alexander Harding (March 16, 1848 to May 28, 1922) was an early influential leader in the Churches of Christ.

Several schools are named after Harding: Harding University in Searcy, AR, Harding Academy (Searcy, Arkansas), Harding Academy (Memphis), and Harding School of Theology in Memphis.

Harding helped David Lipscomb, another leader in the Churches of Christ, begin Nashville Bible School which is now known as Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. Harding was the first president of the school, serving from 1891 to 1901.

External links
 James A. Harding at The Restoration Movement website

1848 births
Ministers of the Churches of Christ
Lipscomb University presidents
1922 deaths

James A. Harding


The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary.  There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district court has at least one courthouse, and many districts have more than one. District courts' decisions are appealed to the U.S. court of appeals for the circuit in which they reside, except for certain specialized cases that are appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

District courts are courts of law, equity, and admiralty, and can hear both civil and criminal cases. But unlike U.S. state courts, federal district courts are courts of limited jurisdiction, and can only hear cases that involve disputes between residents of different states, questions of federal law, or federal crimes.

Legal basis

Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, which was expressly established by Article III of the Constitution, the district courts were established by Congress pursuant to authority delegated by Article III through the enacting of a federal statute, the Judiciary Act of 1789. There is no constitutional requirement that district courts exist at all.

During the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, some opponents of a strong federal judiciary argued that the federal courts ought to be limited to the Supreme Court, which would hear appeals only from state courts.  In other words, the state courts would be treated as federal tribunals under Article I of the Constitution for the purpose of hearing disputes under federal law, but their judges would not become officers of the federal government.  Edward Carrington advocated this position in a letter to James Madison, and it was also discussed by Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 81.  However, this view did not prevail, and the first Congress created the district court system that is still in place today.

When the Act was first passed, there were thirteen districts created among the eleven states which had ratified the Constitution by that point. When North Carolina and Rhode Island voted to ratify, a district was created for each of them, bringing the number of districts to fifteen.

The territories (insular areas) of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands each have one territorial court; these courts are called "district courts" and exercise the same jurisdiction as district courts, but differ from district courts in that territorial courts are Article IV courts, with judges who serve ten-year terms rather than the lifetime tenure of judges of Article III courts, such as the district court judges.

American Samoa does not have a district court or a federal territorial court, and so federal matters there are sent to either the District of Columbia or Hawaii. The Philippines were previously part of the United States but were never part of the U.S. federal court system.

Geography
There are 89 districts in the 50 states, with a total of 94 districts including territories. There is at least one judicial district for each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Each state has between one and four districts.  For states with multiple districts, they are named geographically.  States with two districts all give them either Northern–Southern or Western–Eastern designations.  Most states with three districts add a Middle District, with two exceptions: Illinois has a Central District instead of a Middle District, and Oklahoma has Northern, Western, and Eastern Districts.  Of the three states with four districts, New York and Texas use all four directional designations, while California has a Central District and no Western District.

Other federal trial courts

There are other federal trial courts that have nationwide jurisdiction over certain types of cases, but the district court also has concurrent jurisdiction over many of those cases, and the district court is the only one with jurisdiction over civilian criminal cases.

The United States Court of International Trade addresses cases involving international trade and customs issues. The United States Court of Federal Claims has exclusive jurisdiction over most claims for money damages against the United States, including disputes over federal contracts, unlawful takings of private property by the federal government, and suits for injury on federal property or by a federal employee. The United States Tax Court has jurisdiction over contested pre-assessment determinations of taxes.

Judges

A judge of a United States district court is officially titled a "United States District Judge". Other federal judges, including circuit judges and Supreme Court justices, can also sit in a district court upon assignment by the chief judge of the circuit or by the Chief Justice of the United States. The number of judges in each district court (and the structure of the judicial system generally) is set by Congress in the United States Code. The president appoints the federal judges for terms of good behavior (subject to the advice and consent of the Senate), so the nominees often share at least some of his or her convictions. In states represented by a senator of the president's party, the senator (or the more senior of them if both senators are of the president's party) has substantial input into the nominating process, and through a tradition known as senatorial courtesy can exercise an unofficial veto over a nominee unacceptable to the senator.

Federal magistrate judges are appointed by each district court pursuant to statute. They are appointed for an eight-year term and may be reappointed for additional eight-year terms. A magistrate judge may be removed "for incompetency, misconduct, neglect of duty, or physical or mental disability". A magistrate judgeship may be a stepping stone to a district judgeship nomination.

District judges usually concentrate on managing their court's overall caseload, supervising trials, and writing opinions in response to important motions like the motion for summary judgment. Since the 1960s, routine tasks like resolving discovery disputes can, in the district judge's discretion, be referred to magistrate judges. Magistrate judges can also be requested to prepare reports and recommendations on contested matters for the district judge's consideration or, with the consent of all parties, to assume complete jurisdiction over a case including conducting the trial.

With the exception of the territorial courts (Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands), federal district judges are Article III judges appointed for life, and can be removed involuntarily only when they violate the standard of "good behavior". The sole method of involuntary removal of a judge is through impeachment by the United States House of Representatives followed by a trial in the United States Senate and a conviction by a two-thirds vote. Otherwise, a judge, even if convicted of a felony criminal offense by a jury, is entitled to hold office until retirement or death. In the history of the United States, only twelve judges have been impeached by the House, and only seven have been removed following conviction in the Senate. (For a table that includes the twelve impeached judges, see Impeachment in the United States.)

A judge who has reached the age of 65 (or has become disabled) may retire or elect to go on senior status and keep working. Such senior judges are not counted in the quota of active judges for the district and do only whatever work they are assigned by the chief judge of the district, but they keep their offices (called "chambers") and staff, and many of them work full-time.

As of 2010, there were 678 authorized district court judgeships.

A federal judge is addressed in writing as "The Honorable John/Jane Doe" or "Hon. John/Jane Doe" and in speech as "Judge" or "Judge Doe" or, when presiding in court, "Your Honor".

Clerks

Each district court appoints a clerk, who is responsible for overseeing filings made with the court, maintaining the court's records, processing fees, fines, and restitution, and managing the non-judicial work of the court, including information technology, budget, procurement, human resources, and financial. Clerks may appoint deputies, clerical assistants, and employees to carry out the work of the court. The clerk of each district court must reside in the district for which the clerk is appointed, except that the clerk of the District of Columbia and the clerk of the Southern District of New York may reside within twenty miles of their respective districts.

The Judiciary Act of 1789 authorized the Supreme Court and the judge of each U.S. District Court to appoint a clerk to assist with the administration of federal judicial business in those courts. The clerk for each district court was to also serve as clerk of the corresponding circuit court. The Judiciary Act required each clerk to issue the writs summoning jurors and "to record the decrees, judgments and determinations of the court of which he is clerk."

The Judicial Code (28 U.S.C. § 751) provides that the clerk is appointed, and may be removed, by the court. The clerk's duties are prescribed by the statute, by the court's customs and practices, and by policy established by the Judicial Conference of the United States. The clerk is appointed by order of the court en banc to serve the entire court. The role of the clerk and deputies or assistants should not be confused with the judges' law clerks, who assist the judges by conducting research and preparing drafts of opinions.

To be eligible to serve as a clerk, a person must have a minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible administrative experience in public service or business that provides a thorough understanding of organizational, procedural, and human aspects of managing an organization, and at least 3 of the 10 years must have been in a position of substantial management responsibility. An attorney may substitute the active practice of law on a year-for-year basis for the management or administrative experience requirement. Clerks do not have to be licensed attorneys, but some courts specify that a law degree is a preference for employment.

Jurisdiction

Unlike some state courts, the power of federal courts to hear cases and controversies is strictly limited. Federal courts may not decide every case that happens to come before them.  In order for a district court to entertain a lawsuit, Congress must first grant the court subject matter jurisdiction over the type of dispute in question.

The district courts exercise original jurisdiction over—that is, they are empowered to conduct trials in—the following types of cases:

 Civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States;
 Certain civil actions between citizens of different states or citizens of a state and a foreign state;
 Civil actions within the admiralty or maritime jurisdiction of the United States;
 Criminal prosecutions brought by the United States;
 Civil actions in which the United States is a party; and
 Many other types of cases and controversies

For most of these cases, the jurisdiction of the federal district courts is concurrent with that of the state courts. In other words, a plaintiff can choose to bring these cases in either a federal district court or a state court. Congress has established a procedure whereby a party, typically the defendant, can "remove" a case from state court to federal court, provided that the federal court also has original jurisdiction over the matter (meaning that the case could have been filed in federal court initially). If the party that initially filed the case in state court believes that removal was improper, that party can ask the district court to "remand" the case to the state court system. For certain matters, such as patent and copyright infringement disputes and prosecutions for federal crimes, the jurisdiction of the district courts is exclusive of that of the state courts, meaning that only federal courts can hear those cases.

In addition to their original jurisdiction, the district courts have appellate jurisdiction over a very limited class of judgments, orders, and decrees.

Attorneys

In order to represent a party in a case in a district court, a person must be an attorney at law and generally must be admitted to the bar of that particular court. The United States usually does not have a separate bar examination for federal practice (except with respect to patent practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office). Admission to the bar of a district court is generally available to any attorney who is admitted to practice law in the state where the district court sits.

56 districts (around 60% of all district courts) require an attorney to be admitted to practice in the state where the district court sits. The other 39 districts (around 40% of all district courts) extend admission to certain lawyers admitted in other states, although conditions vary from court to court. For example, the district courts in New York City (Southern District of New York and Eastern District of New York) extend admission to attorneys admitted to the bar in Connecticut or Vermont and to the district court in that state, but otherwise require attorneys to be admitted to the New York bar. Only 13 districts extend admission to attorneys admitted to any U.S. state bar.

The attorney generally submits an application with a fee and takes the oath of admission. Local practice varies as to whether the oath is given in writing or in open court before a judge of the district. A "sponsor" admitted to the court's bar is often required. Several district courts require attorneys seeking admission to their bars to take an additional bar examination on federal law, including the following: the Southern District of Ohio, the Northern District of Florida, and the District of Puerto Rico.

Pro hac vice admission is also available in most federal district courts on a case-by-case basis. Most district courts require pro hac vice attorneys to associate with an attorney admitted to practice before the court.

Appeals
Generally, a final ruling by a district court in either a civil or a criminal case can be appealed to the United States court of appeals in the federal judicial circuit in which the district court is located, except that some district court rulings involving patents and certain other specialized matters must be appealed instead to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and in a very few cases the appeal may be taken directly to the United States Supreme Court.

Largest and busiest district courts

The Central District of California is the largest federal district by population; it includes all five counties that make up Greater Los Angeles. By contrast, New York City and the surrounding metropolitan area are divided between the Southern District of New York (which includes Manhattan, The Bronx and Westchester County) and the Eastern District of New York (which includes Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Nassau County and Suffolk County). New York suburbs in Connecticut and New Jersey are covered by the District of Connecticut and District of New Jersey, respectively.

The Southern District of New York and the Central District of California are the largest federal districts by number of judges, with 28 judges each.

In 2007, the busiest district courts in terms of criminal federal felony filings were the District of New Mexico, Western District of Texas, Southern District of Texas, and the District of Arizona. These four districts all share the border with Mexico. A crackdown on illegal immigration resulted in 75 percent of the criminal cases filed in the 94 district courts in 2007 being filed in these four districts and the other district that borders Mexico, the Southern District of California. The busiest patent litigation court is the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, with the most patent lawsuits filed there nearly every year.

List of current district courts

Extinct district courts

Subdivided district courts

Most extinct district courts have disappeared by being divided into smaller districts.  The following courts were subdivided out of existence: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

Other abolished district courts
On rare occasions, an extinct district court was extinguished by merging it with other district courts. In every case except one, this has restored a district court that had been subdivided:

 Between 1794 and 1797, the United States District Court for the District of North Carolina was divided into the United States district courts for the districts of Edenton, New Bern, and Wilmington.
 Between 1801 and 1802, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey was divided into the United States district courts for the districts of East Jersey and West Jersey.
 When California was admitted as a state in 1850, it was initially divided into two districts, the Northern and the Southern. The Southern District of California was abolished on July 27, 1866, and the State made to constitute one district, the statute providing that the Judge of the Northern District exercise the powers of the United States District Court for the District of California, and that all records of the Southern District Court be delivered to the Clerk of the Northern District Court. Twenty years later, on August 5, 1886, Congress re-created the Southern District of California.
 Between 1911 and 1961, the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina was divided into the United States district courts for the Eastern and Western districts of South Carolina.
 The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois was eliminated and a new United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois was created in its place on October 2, 1978.

There are a few additional extinct district courts that fall into neither of the above two patterns.

 From 1801 to 1802, the District of Columbia and pieces of Maryland and Virginia formed the United States District Court for the District of Potomac, which was the first United States district court to cross state lines. During the same period, the United States District Court for the District of Norfolk was carved out of another piece of Virginia. The United States district courts for the districts of Maryland and Virginia remained during this brief period.
 From 1801 to 1802, and again from 1802 to 1872, the state of North Carolina was subdivided into the United States district courts for the districts of Albemarle, Cape Fear, and Pamptico. These courts were extinguished when the state was reorganized into the United States district courts for the Eastern and Western districts of North Carolina.
 United States District Court for the District of Orleans. This court was renamed the United States District Court for the District of Louisiana when the Territory of Orleans became the State of Louisiana.
 United States District Court for the Canal Zone. This court was abolished, effective March 31, 1982, as part of the process of returning the Canal Zone to Panama. Cases then pending in the Canal Zone court were transferred to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans.
 United States Court for China. This court functioned as a district court between 1906 and 1943. It had jurisdiction over American citizens in China.

See also
 List of courts of the United States
 Federal tribunals in the United States
 List of United States district and territorial courts
 List of current United States district judges
 United States Marshals Service

Notes

Footnotes

Citations

External links

 United States district courts by state
 Federal Court Concepts, Georgia Tech
 Links to researching court records and also National Archives: Records of District Courts of the United States (Record Group 21) 1685-1993.
 Territorial Courts at Federal Judicial Center
 United States District Courts at Federal Judicial Center
 United States District Court Civil Case Filings

United States district court


Agnese Udinotti (born 1940) is a Greek-born American poet, sculptor, writer, and painter.

Born in Athens, Udinotti earned both her bachelor's and master's degree, in 1962 and 1963 respectively, from Arizona State University. Her work has appeared in many solo and group exhibitions, both in the United States and abroad, and she has received a number of honors and awards. She was for a time poetry editor of the magazine Chimera. Museums which own examples of her art include the Phoenix Art Museum, the National Gallery of Athens, the Vorres Museum, the Glendale Community College Sculpture Garden and the National Museum of Women in the Arts; her work is also in numerous private and corporate collections, and she has produced sculpture for the General Services Administration. Udinotti is the founder of the Udinotti Museum of Figurative Art in Arizona.

Udinotti is the author of Udinotti, a collection of her writings illustrated with photographs of her sculpture.

Early life

Udinotti was born on January 9, 1940, in Greece. Her father was executed by the Communists after World War II, when Udinotti was only four years old. The Communists arrested her father, who they suspected of working against their interests, and executed him alongside 2,000 prisoners, during the Dekemvriana events, outside of Athens. This tragedy would later affect Udinotti's work, such as her commemorative series called "Monument to My Father." Barely a teenager when she left for the United States, where she enrolled at Arizona State University.

Works

Udinotti has stated that her father has been the leading inspiration for her art and in making herself successful. In 1987, she began working on the series called "Monument to My Father," which was her first three-dimensional work. This consists of oil paints and plaster with her written poetry on stelae.

Then she began "Shadow Images", which was a commemorative piece after for her mother's death. This consists of graphite with the use of negative space.

In 2000, Udinotti began founding the Udinotti Museum of Figurative Art, a personally-funded and private organization. She was dedicated to educating and sharing with the public the ancient messages of art. She then worked towards curating the artworks and planning the construction of the museum. It officially opened in November 2007.

References

1940 births
Living people
Arizona State University alumni
Greek people of Italian descent
Greek emigrants to the United States
Artists from Arizona
Sculptors from Arizona
Writers from Arizona
20th-century American poets
20th-century American painters
20th-century American sculptors
20th-century American women writers
20th-century American women artists
21st-century American poets
21st-century American painters
21st-century American sculptors
21st-century American women writers
21st-century American women artists

Agnese Udinotti


... but the clouds ... is a television play by Samuel Beckett. Beckett wrote it between October–November 1976 "to replace a film of Play which the BBC had sent [him] for approval (and which he had rejected)" due to "the poor quality of the film". Donald McWhinnie directed Billie Whitelaw and Ronald Pickup. It was first broadcast on 17 April 1977 as part of a programme of three Beckett plays entitled 'Shades' on BBC2. It was first published in Ends and Odds (Faber) 1977. An early title for the piece was Poetry only love.

Synopsis
The play opens in darkness and gradually reveals M, a "man sitting bowed over an invisible table." He is dressed in a gown and nightcap, and this is the only way he appears in the present throughout the play. The camera revisits this image fifteen times.

As the play unfolds, we hear a voice that we assume belongs to M, as it reflects his thoughts. He recalls past encounters with a woman and simultaneously visualizes his remembered or imagined self, referred to as M1, acting out the described motions within the circle of light. M contemplates what triggers the woman's appearance. At first he says, "When I thought of her..."but later realizes that she simply manifests to him, always at night. He reflects on his routine, starting with his return home after walking the roads since daybreak. He changes into night attire, enters his sanctum, attempts to summon the woman without success, and at dawn, he dresses once again and sets out on the road.

In summary, the play begins with M in darkness, seen in a recurring pose at his invisible table. We hear M's thoughts as he reminisces about encountering the woman, while M1 acts out these recollections in the circle of light. M reflects on the cause of her appearance, his routine, and his continuous cycle of summoning her at night and leaving at dawn.

The voice lists the three instances listed above where the woman has appeared to him in the past. When he reaches the third one the camera cuts to the woman's face, "reduced as far as possible to eyes and a mouth", which mouths silently along with the voice, "...clouds...but the clouds...of the sky..." The man then realises there is a fourth case, but not really a fourth  because so much of the time, and in fact, the majority of the time when nothing happens, the woman never makes an appearance at all.

Despite the impression created by the opening scene, it is not the case that he spends every night solely focused on summoning the woman to appear. There are instances when he becomes weary and engages in other activities that he finds "more ... rewarding, such as ... cube roots" or sits absorbed with nothing – which he describes as a mine – like the man in Film.

We see M1 prepare for the road again and leave. The voice says, "Right," then the woman's face appears once more and the voice repeats the final four lines of Yeats's poem. This time, however, the woman does not mouth the words. Her face dissolves, we are left with the man sitting at his invisible table where we began and all fades to black.

Title
The title comes from a phrase from the last verse of W. B. Yeats's near-solipsist poem,
The Tower:

 Now shall I make my soul,
 Compelling it to study
 In a learned school
 Till the wreck of body,
 Slow decay of blood,
 Testy delirium
 Or dull decrepitude,
 Or what worse evil come -
 The death of friends, or death
 Of every brilliant eye
 That made a catch in the breath -
 Seem but the clouds of the sky
 When the horizon fades;
 Or a bird's sleepy cry
 Among the deepening shades.

Several months after the McWhinnie production in which he was himself heavily involved, Beckett had the opportunity to act as his own director in the German version, Nur noch Gewölk, for Süddeutscher Rundfunk. In this production he made one or two minor changes but the main one was to include the whole last stanza above rather than the four lines in the original.

"The Tower is a work which discusses history and the past not only in terms of recollection but also as an entire complex of traces, remainders and legacies of which individual subjective memory is only one element."

"The painful, highly personal question raised by Yeats is: if the poet's physical powers fail, if his vision and hearing are impaired, can the memory of the sensory world serve as a basis for poetry? Is memory alone capable of stimulating the creative act? ... As he draws upon his memory, revisiting scenes both in his life and works, he comes to respond affirmatively to the pessimistic question first raised ... The poet's physical impairments, paradoxically, prove a blessing. Indeed, in the stanza from which Beckett derived his title, Yeats puts the real world in perspective, thereby reducing his own sense of loss." In a personal communication Beckett told Eoin O'Brien that this was one of Yeats's greatest lines.

But why this particular line from the poem? Is it to do with the nature of clouds? "Clouds seem permanent but are ultimately impermanent; they cannot be touched, yet can be seen; they are nothing more than condensed water, yet remain a symbol of romance, of the imagination beyond practical measurement – they are, in a phrase, at once here and elsewhere."

Structure

Characters
The director, Sidney Homan, defines the four 'characters' in this work:

 M is the poet in reflective mode
 M1 is the poet in his active mode in the world
 W is his muse or the principle of poetry as it mediates between the material and the imaginative worlds
 V is the poet's voice that comes from M or accompanies the movements of M1 and that searches for the heightened language prerequisite for poetry

Stages
Unlike Quad, which utilises a single fixed camera throughout, there are a total of sixty camera shots in this piece, "the shape of an hour or a minute", which can be organised into four groups or stages. There are only two televisual techniques used throughout the play: fade and dissolve.

Stage 1
(Directions 1-19): The first stage focuses on the past, those times when the woman did appear and M could be creative as a consequence.

Stage 2
(Directions 20-26): The second stage examines where the poet is presently. There are three areas, just offstage in the darkness.

 West is the outside world in which he spends his days wandering.
 East is his closet where he exchanges his greatcoat for his robe.
 North, to the rear of the stage, is his sanctum in which, under the right conditions, he can be creative.

Stage 3
(Directions 27-52): In the third stage the poet lists four possibilities:

 The woman can appear and then vanish immediately.
 The woman can appear and linger.
 The woman can appear and 'speak' to him, i.e. inspire him. He uses the example where she mouths the words, "but the clouds," and then vanishes.
 The woman can fail to appear at all, the most common scenario.

Stage 4
(Direction 53-60): In the final stage, the poet actually "finds success, almost as an ironic consequence of his despair. The woman appears and, this time, V is able to [recite] all four lines from Yeats's poem, rather than the truncated and hence frustrating single line of the television play's title."

Interpretation
In a number of other works Beckett has felt the need to split an individual into separate aspects of that character, e.g. Words and Music, where the writer, his words and his emotions are all represented by separate characters. "In ... but the clouds ..., however, Beckett is concerned not with fragments of the self, but the whole person. The protagonist, M, sees himself whole, (as at the end of Film) held in the light circle of the imagination ... The action of  ... but the clouds ... consists of M reliving past experience with such intensity that he can see himself performing his daily routine."

The man is a poet, "caught in the writer's trap, the expectation of inspiration." The woman seems to be his muse. It may be Beckett is personifying her as a woman only in the abstract sense but it is just as likely, considering Beckett's most famous writer-character, Krapp, that she is also a lost love, a once-literal muse. Krapp's imagination is impotent though. M has not reached that stage. He is still having occasional flashes of inspiration. And this must have been very much how the seventy-year-old Beckett felt himself; writing was becoming increasing difficult for him. Either way, "although not quite a character, she is ... both an object of desire and a force beyond desire."

Krapp sat at a real table and heard a real voice, albeit himself as a younger man. The man in ... but the clouds ... sits at an invisible table unable to write. Everything he encounters is outside a circle of dim, suffused light. This gives the play a dreamlike quality, the circle of light becomes a kind of 'no place' where this daily ritual takes place. The only voice is the one inside his head. Even the roads take on an abstract quality; they are neither to nor from anywhere unlike the travel options in Cascando, for example.

Not all of Krapp's actions take place at his table, we hear him pouring drinks and attempting to sing in the darkness surrounding his stage as a means of distracting himself from the task in hand; in Quad, the players' only reality is within the lighted square as is the case with the women of Come and Go but in ... but the clouds ... all the real action takes place in the darkness, the central circle of light is a place of transition only.

The fact that the woman may well have been real, rather than some stereotypical projection of M's ideal woman, is suggested by the line, "With those unseeing eyes I so begged when alive to look at me." The camera focuses on the woman's face while these lines are spoken. Enoch Brater argues that "what he longs for is not the beloved but the image of his beloved, the evocative metaphor he has made of her. His is an exquisite despair. In his secret ceremony Beckett's male figure all but revels in it." Because the old man realises he cannot physically recall his beloved, he makes do with simulation; he torments himself with memories of what it was like when she came before. M is not only trying to remember, he is trying "to remember the way in which he used to remember."

"For Beckett and for Yeats, there is a difference between remembering and not remembering, but both writers remind us that not remembering does not necessarily equal forgetting. That which is not consciously 'remembered' by an individual can still return to impose itself is a variety of ways, one of which both Yeats and Beckett qualify as a kind of haunting." This makes one viewer's comment as to the nature of W all the more interesting when they call her "the character who appears but isn't really there – she only gives the appearance of an appearance."

The man is a poet but he is also – and unexpectedly – a mathematician, a rational man. Numbers play a significant part in Beckett's works (particularly the number three as it was a favourite of Dante's). "M's addiction to numbers – the four cases, the reference to cube roots, the two statistical possibilities given for the fourth case – [can be] explained as a defensive posture. M must know that the woman's appearance is at random and defies logic. His careful efforts to establish mathematically the exact and proper conditions for her appearance are merely an attempt to give order to an experience he knows, deep inside, is beyond rational measurement or prediction."

He would prefer that the woman appears when he thinks of her, that there should exist a clear correlation between conscious thought and realisation but his is not the case. He is forced to modify the theory he is testing acknowledging that the woman's face merely "appeared" and those appearances were always at night. By the end of the play "he has done all he can do, he is now at the mercy of Providence. The woman will appear if, pleased with his efforts, she decides to appear." There is an element of ritual to the piece, another common element of Beckett's theatre. Perhaps it is the only way he can feel he can retain some element of control over – or at least involvement in – the process.

Enoch Brater suggests that ... but the clouds ... has more in common with Yeats than simply The Tower:

 "Like the characters imagined in the play The Words upon the Window Pane, the 'he' we meet in ... but the clouds ... sits trance-like at a séance, calling out to a face and a voice to appear: 'Look at me' and then, echoing Hamlet's  appeal to a quite different ghost, 'Speak to me.' A scene from Yeats is all but impossible to dismiss:"

 Dr Trench: I thought she was speaking.
 Mrs Mallet: I saw her lips move.

"As Katharine Worth has pointed out, in Yeatsian terminology 'shades' [the final word of Yeats's poem] necessarily conjures up thoughts of spirits or ghosts along with the onset of evening, and Beckett's play only reinforces this somewhat understated ." The prevalence of 'ghosts' in Beckett's later writings hardly needs commenting on.

John Calder in his review of the three plays shown on BBC2 had this to say about ... but the clouds ...:

 "The man would appear ... to be immersed in guilt towards a missed opportunity, a dead love, a regretted course of action, as in Eh Joe, but with a flatter style. Irony is subdued, stoicism more matter of fact, self-pity almost entirely absent, illusion excluded. The man is concerned with concentration, a Merlin conjuring up a ghost in his memory."

Clearly the process in this play is open to interpretation. Is the process wholly internal, the man remembering someone real from his past or is he trying to conjure up some external manifestation of her, her ghost? And what is his motive for trying to evoke her? Is it simply to satisfy memory, to wallow in the moment awhile as Krapp does, or is she in some way his muse, an enabling force that makes the words come? Either way it is clear that he cannot control events directly, by the power of his will, things take place at best, as a byproduct almost of his actions, but more likely they are entirely out of his control and all he can do is wait on them.

Music
A version with music by Martin Pearlman was produced at the 92nd Street Y in New York for the Beckett centennial in 2006.

References

1977 plays
Theatre of the Absurd
Plays by Samuel Beckett

... but the clouds ...


Lady Ichikawa (市川局 Ichikawa no Tsubone, d. April 5, 1585) was a Japanese female warrior (Onna-musha) from the Sengoku period who helped drive out Ouchi and the Otomo clan from Chugoku. She was the wife of Ichikawa Tsuneyoshi, a samurai warlord and retainer of Mōri Motonari. She defended Konomine castle from the attack by Ōuchi.

Siege of Konomine castle

Ōuchi Teruhiro sided with Ōtomo Sōrin, a daimyo Christian in Bungo Province, after Mori Motonari's troops assassinated Sue Harukata at the Battle of Itsukushima. In 1569, Ōuchi Teruhiro led an attack on the Konomine castle. At this time Ichikawa Tsuneyoshi was fighting against the Otomo clan, in order to capture Tachibana Castle in Kyushu. When Ōuchi Teruhiro invaded the Ichikawa clan area, Lady Ichikawa remained as leader and prepared to defend the Konomine castle. Lady Ichikawa's ladies-in-waiting pressed her to fight on the front line, the ladies left the castle wielding swords. She appeared on the castle walls and led the defense along with her ladies against Ouchi's army. Lady Ichikawa commanded the few castle soldiers and repulsed the large army. In the fierce 10-day battle the castle's defense remained strong and Teruhiro fled. Teruhiro was defeated in front of the Mori army that had left of Kyushu and killed himself. Due to this achievement, Lady Ichikawa received a letter of appreciation from Mōri Terumoto on July 6 in 1577.

See also
 Onna-musha

References

Japanese women in warfare
People of Sengoku-period Japan
Women of medieval Japan
16th-century Japanese women
Women in 16th-century warfare
Mōri retainers

Lady Ichikawa