The Pale Criminal is a historical detective novel and the second in the Berlin Noir trilogy of Bernhard Gunther novels written by Philip Kerr.

Plot
Set in 1938, two years after the events of March Violets, Bernhard (Bernie) Gunther has taken Bruno Stahlecker, another ex-police officer, as his partner. The two are working on a case where a Frau Lange, owner of a large publishing house, is being blackmailed for the homosexual love letters her son Reinhardt sent to his psychotherapist Dr. Kindermann. Gunther and Stahlecker discover the blackmailer to be Klaus Hering, a disgruntled employee of Kindermann. Bruno is killed during a stakeout at Hering's apartment, and shortly thereafter Hering is found hanging in the apartment. Around that time, Gunther is summoned to the Gestapo offices by Arthur Nebe and there Reinhard Heydrich forces Gunther to look for a serial sex murderer, who is killing blond and blue-eyed teenage girls in Berlin and making fools of the police. Gunther has no choice but to accept the temporary post of Kriminalkommissar in Heydrich's state Security Service, with a team of policemen working underneath him.

Gunther and his team then follow a number of dead end leads: A Jewish man held on suspicion, Joseph Kahn, is determined to be too improbable a suspect by an expert on psychotherapy, but dies in custody. Officially he committed suicide. However, Arthur Nebe suggests that he had been killed ; A violent sexual deviant, Gottfried Bautz, is captured but when an anonymous caller reveals the location of a fifth victim while he is in jail, he must also be let go.

Gunther and a colleague then make a trip to Nuremberg, where they plan to investigate publisher and government administrator Julius Streicher, whom they suspect might be connected to the murders because of the similarity between the imagery depicted in his newspaper Der Stürmer and the murders. They have the well-known depravity of Streicher confirmed to them by the local police chief, but fail to formally connect him to the murders. While they are there, they also learn of the sixth murder and promptly return to Berlin.

Gunther and his team then focus their investigation on the family of the latest victim, Emmeline Steiniger, who lived along with her stepmother Hildegard. In the meantime another girl, Lisa Ganz, disappears. About two weeks later, a second anonymous tip leads to the discovery of her body. When Gunther interrogates the Ganz parents, they act strangely and eventually reveal they had hired a private detective, Rolf Vogelmann, to help them find their daughter. Vogelmann is known by name to Gunther from his biweekly newspaper ads which, as Gunther later finds out, are bankrolled by the Lange publishing house.

Following up on his suspicion of Vogelmann, Gunther teams up with Hildegard Steiniger and, pretending to be a couple, call on Vogelmann to hire him to help them find their daughter. A few days after the meeting, Vogelmann shows up with a Dr. Otto Rahn at Steiniger's apartment when Gunther luckily happens to be there. Claiming his searches have yielded no clues, Vogelmann and Rahn encourage the Steinigers to attend a séance as another option to try to find Emmeline. They accept, after which Gunther learns that Rahn is in the SS.

Gunther and Steiniger keep up their deception and attend the séance at the house of the medium, Karl Maria Weisthor. Also in attendance are Vogelmann, Heinrich Himmler, Reinhardt Lange, and Dr. Kindermann. During the séance, Weisthor pretends to summon the spirit of Emmeline Steiniger and that it reveals its location. Afterward the "Steinigers" leave but Gunther doubles back to investigate Weisthor's house. There he espies Weisthof, Rahn, and Kindermann, and hears them comment on how they set up the bogus séance to control Himmler for political means, including to excite the population of Berlin against the Jews through propaganda to the effect that they must be responsible for the murders. He also discovers a series of letters confirming the plot mentioned by Weisthor and company as "Project Krist", and one letter convening many top-ranking SS officers to a "Court of Honour" at a castle in the village of Wewelsburg.

As expected, Emmeline Steiniger's body is "discovered" a few days later. Gunther picks up Reinhardt Lange and extracts a confession that reveals Kindermann and Rahn killed Stahlecker and confirms how he, Lange, funded Vogelmann as a device to recruit the parents of murder victims to séances and give credibility to the depraved occultist apparatus of Weisthor, Kindermann, and Rahn. He then drives with Lange to Kindermann's clinic to retrieve the case file of Wiesthor as evidence. There, he finds Kindermann's files, including one describing Weisthor as a lunatic, one referring to Lange as a "neurotic effeminate" and, he is surprised to discover, a file on Inge Lorenz, to whom Gunther was previously attached (see March Violets). When Kindermann shows up, a fight ensues in which Kindermann kills Lange, and Gunther knocks Kindermann out. Gunther then packs Kindermann in a car and heads out to Wewelsburg to attend the SS Court of Honor.

Kindermann comes to in the car and arrogantly volunteers additional background information related to Project Krist. This way, Gunther also learns that Kindermann was treating Inge Lorenz for depression using cocaine and that she became addicted and eventually overdosed in his clinic. Further on the way to Wewelsburg, Gunther stops the car, kills Kindermann in cold blood, and moves on.

At the Court of Honor, Gunther manages to explain everything to Heydrich, and eventually Weisthor and Rahn are exposed as criminals. Himmler, whose plan against the Jewish population has apparently failed, holds his peace after a brief outburst against Gunther.  The pogrom against the Jews still proceeds, however.

Major themes
Similar to March Violets, The Pale Criminal is permeated by an atmosphere of Nazi brutality, arbitrariness, and anti-Semitism. In addition, the plot also involves many more philosophical and psychological themes including homosexuality, drug addiction, mental health, psychotherapy, and spiritualism.

Historical elements
The story takes place between 26 August and 10 November 1938, a time when Hitler is setting the stage for his European war. Although they are not material to the plot, some important geopolitical events are on the narrator's mind and explicitly referred to in the novel, in particular the Munich Agreement and the Kristallnacht.

Development History

Publication history
1990, UK, Viking, , Pub date 14 May 1990, Hardback
1991, UK, Penguin, , Pub date 28 March 1991, Paperback
1993, UK, Penguin, , Pub date 29 April 1993 (as the second part of the "Berlin Noir" paperback)

Explanation of the novel's title
There is no explicit mention in the novel of who the "pale criminal" actually is. Many characters are at one point or another described as "pale", including Weisthor, one of the main architects of Project Krist ("[Weisthor] seemed listless and pale, almost as if he really had been in contact with the spirit world."). The expression pale criminal also notably refers to an enigmatic passage in Nietzsche's book Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

References

External links
 Page on The Pale Criminal on the Bernie Gunther fan site

British mystery novels
Historical mystery novels
1990 British novels
Novels set in Berlin
British detective novels
Fiction set in 1938
Viking Press books

The Pale Criminal


Richard Bruton (born 1 Mairch 1953) is a politeecian in the Republic o Ireland, an a member o the Irish pairlament in Dublin, representin the pairty Fine Gael.  He represents the North Central Dublin consteetuency in Dáil Éireann.  He is the depute chief o his pairty forbye.

1953 births
Livin fowk
Alumni o Nuffield College, Oxford
Alumni o Varsity College Dublin
Richard
Fine Gael politeecians
Local cooncillors in Coonty Meath
Members o the 15t Seanad
Members o the 23rd Dáil
Members o the 24t Dáil
Members o the 25t Dáil
Members o the 26t Dáil
Members o the 27t Dáil
Members o the 28t Dáil
Members o the 29t Dáil
Members o the 30t Dáil
Members o the 31st Dáil
Members o the 32nt Dáil
Members o the 33rd Dáil
Fowk eddicatit at Clongowes Wood College
Politeecians frae Coonty Dublin
Teachtaí Dála
Fowk eddicatit at Belvedere College
Meenisters o State o the 24t Dáil

Richard Bruton


Vasse is a suburb of the city of Busselton in the South West region of Western Australia,  west of Busselton and  southwest of Perth. Its local government area is the City of Busselton. At the 2021 census, Vasse had a population of 2,853.

The area was originally inhabited by the Wardandi people. Hurford and Penney seem to have had a bay whaling operation in Geographe Bay in 1846.

The town is named after the Vasse River and Vasse Estuary, both of which in turn are named after French seaman Thomas Vasse, who disappeared in the area in June 1801 during Nicolas Baudin's expedition. . The townsite of Vasse was gazetted in 1927; the area had previously been known as Newtown. A hall (originally known as Newtown Hall) was built in 1898, while the Old Vasse Primary School was constructed in 1901 and replaced by a newer school on the same site in 1960; the present cite was in use as a school as early as 1884 and there was a public school in the area in 1869.

The population of Vasse was around 75 according to a 2001 estimate. It was predominantly a farming area until the establishment of a housing estate in 2004. Along with the government primary school, Vasse is also serviced by a high school at Cape Naturaliste College (established in 2008). On 1 August 2023, the boundary between Vasse and Kealy was moved north to Bussell Highway for easier recognition.

References

Suburbs of Busselton
Whaling stations in Australia
City of Busselton

Vasse, Western Australia


The Ogdensburg Agreement was an agreement concluded between Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Heuvelton near Ogdensburg, New York on August 17, 1940. It outlined a permanent plan for mutual defense overseas between the United States and Canada and established the Permanent Joint Board of Defense.

History and Rationale
Although Canada and the United States had long been economic partners, Canada had always considered Great Britain as its primary military partner. While Canada had been granted independence in its foreign policy from Britain in 1931, Canada's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations, the strength of the British Empire, and the historic and cultural ties between them made a military alliance with the United States seem unnecessary. Most Canadians believed that Britain could provide for all of Canada's defence needs.

Canada had declared war on Nazi Germany shortly after the Second World War began in early September 1939 but the United States remained neutral. By mid-1940, the situation in Europe had grown dire; Germany's military successes had led to the occupation of most of Europe, and most importantly, France, which surrendered in June 1940. With Germany in control or allied with nearly all of continental Europe, it began to develop plans for an invasion of the British Isles. Germany's seemingly unstoppable military, its submarine campaign against British merchant shipping, and its neutrality pact with the Soviet Union, convinced many, including American President Franklin Roosevelt, that Britain itself would soon be invaded or forced to surrender.

By July 1940, Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, along with a growing number of Canadians, was becoming increasingly concerned that Britain would fall and that Canada, with its small population and abundant natural resources, would become Germany's next target. In addition to transferring its gold reserves to Canada at the beginning of the war, the British government had also prepared a contingency plan (which was largely kept secret to avoid hurting morale) to evacuate the Royal family, the government and as many critical military and scientific personnel to Canada as possible if the British Isles fell to Germany. These factors only increased concerns that Germany would eventually target Canada for its next conquest.

Both Canada and the United States recognized this threat. Subsequently, it was the United States that initiated preliminary military discussions that became formative in July 1940. On August 18, Roosevelt and King met inland from the border town of Ogdensburg, New York. Roosevelt outlined his plan to create a joint board to oversee the defence of both nations, not just for the duration of the current crisis, but as a permanent body. King immediately agreed, and the Permanent Joint Board on Defence was created.

Most Canadians supported this agreement, which was soon known as the Ogdensburg Agreement, as they deemed it necessary not only for security purposes but also to improve relations with the United States (it was also hoped that the agreement would help pull the United States into the war). However, some Canadians, most notably former Conservative prime minister Arthur Meighen were furious - they argued that by signing this agreement, Canada was not only abandoning Britain but was effectively placing itself under the control of the United States. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was also angry, stating that "all these transactions will be judged [at the end of the war] in a mood different to that prevailing while the issue still hangs in the balance." King's government recognized these concerns; Canadian negotiators resolutely refused to give the United States control of Canada's forces, and rejected proposals to integrate much of the country's defences into Washington's Northeast and Northwest Defence Commands. King's approach satisfied most Canadians - although co-operation with the United States was essential, it did not mean abandoning Canada's national interests.

Since World War II
The agreement inaugurated closer Canadian-United States military co-operation and established the Permanent Joint Board of Defence, which remains as the senior advisory body on continental security and which is composed of two national sections made up of diplomatic and military representatives. For seven decades its meetings have served as a window on Canada-U.S.A. Defence relations. Canadian-U.S.A. military cooperation was further enhanced by the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949 but the Board continued to serve in an important capacity for bilateral military relations and coordination.

Initially, it was argued that Ogdensburg Agreement involved Canada abandoning Britain in favour of the United States on matters of defence. However, the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949 (which linked Canada and the United States into a collective security agreement with Britain and Western Europe) helped to alleviate these concerns.

The Board has examined virtually every important joint defence measure undertaken since the end of World War II, including construction of the Distant Early Warning Line of radars and the creation of the North American Aerospace Defence Command in 1958.

See also
Military history of Canada
Military history of the United States

References

Bibliography

 Pollock, Fred E. "Roosevelt, the Ogdensburg Agreement, and the British Fleet: All Done with Mirrors." Diplomatic History 5, (Summer 1981): 203–219.

Military alliances involving Canada
Military alliances involving the United States
Canada–United States treaties
Treaties concluded in 1940
20th-century military alliances
World War II treaties
1940 in Canada
1940 in American law
1940 in Canadian law

Ogdensburg Agreement


The Daily Excelsior is an English-language newspaper published in Jammu, a city in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It was established by S. D. Rohmetra. The newspaper has been in publication since 1 January 1965. Its current editors are Kamal Rohmetra and Neeraj Rohmetra.

History
Started as a weekly English newspaper in 1965, it became a daily English newspaper in 1967.

Journalist death
On 11 May 2008 photojournalist Ashok Sodhi was killed while photographing an armed confrontation between terrorists and security forces in the Samba District of Jammu and Kashmir. He had moved closer to capture better coverage of the confrontation when a stray bullet hit him.

See also
 Communications in India
 List of newspapers in India
 Media of India

References

External links
Daily Excelsior website

English-language newspapers published in India
Newspapers established in 1965
Jammu (city)
Mass media in Jammu and Kashmir
1965 establishments in Jammu and Kashmir

Daily Excelsior


Pontia beckerii, the Becker's white, Great Basin white, or sagebrush white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in western North America from Baja California, Mexico to southern British Columbia, Canada.

It is mostly white with small black markings; females have more dark markings. The species is similar to other checkered whites such as, Pontia sisymbrii, Pontia protodice, and Pontia occidentalis.

The wingspan is 33 to 48 millimeters.

The host plants are Isomeris arborea, Stanleya pinnata, Brassica nigra, Descurainia pinnata, Sisymbrium altissimum, Lepidium perfoliatum, Brassica nigra, Schoenocrambe linifolia, Thelypodium sagittatum, and Thelypodium laciniatum.

References

External links

 Butterflies and Moths of North-America: Pontia beckerii—Becker's White

beckerii
Butterflies of North America
Fauna of the Baja California Peninsula
Fauna of California
Fauna of the California chaparral and woodlands
Fauna of the Western United States
Butterflies described in 1871

Pontia beckerii


Endere is an archaeological site in Xinjiang, China, in the southern Taklamakan Desert, a part of the southern route of the ancient Silk Road.  It has been tentatively identified with a place called Saca that is mentioned in documents written in Kharoṣṭhī script which have been found in the region.

Archaeological excavations

In 1901 the fort of Endere was excavated by Sir Mark Aurel Stein. Endere is believed to have been an important military post and a centre for Buddhist worship located about half-way between Charchan and Nina (or Niya). Coins discovered there indicate that the Chinese controlled the area as early as the Han dynasty but fell to the Tibetans during the Tang dynasty. However, the fort was abandoned in the ninth century when the Endere river changed its course.

Stein discovered a number of buildings devoted to Buddhist worship including a shrine filled with textile rags and fragments of Buddhist manuscripts written in Chinese, Tibetan and Sanskrit which suggests it had drawn worshippers from far and wide.

References

External links

Archaeological sites in China
Sites along the Silk Road
Central Asian Buddhist sites
Xinjiang

Endere


Polygenic is a common adjective in genetics. It means "many genes". It is used when a genetic character (phenotypic trait) depends on more than one gene.

It is very common and normal for a person's weight, for example, to depend on many causes, both genetic (inherited) and non-genetic (e.g. way of life). Here the use of polygenic means that various genes influence the weight of a person, as well as the non-genetic factors (life-style). The branch of genetics which studies polygenes is called quantitative genetics.

Genetics

Polygenic


Nectarios of Aegina (; 1 October 1846 – 8 November 1920), Metropolitan of Pentapolis and Wonderworker of Aegina, is one of the most renowned Greek saints, venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and officially recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1961. His feast day is celebrated every year on 9 November.

Life

Anastasios Kephalas (), later Nectarios, was born on 1 October 1846 in Selymbria, to a poor family. His parents, Dimos and Maria Kephalas, were pious Christians but not wealthy.

At the age of 14, he moved to Constantinople, modern-day Istanbul, to work and further his education. In 1866, at age 20, he moved to the island of Chios to take a teaching post. On November 7, 1876, he became a monk, at age 30, in the Monastery of Nea Moni, for he had long wished to embrace the ascetic life.

Three years after becoming a monk, he was ordained a deacon, taking the name Nectarios. He graduated from the University of Athens in 1885. During his years as a student of the University of Athens he wrote many books, pamphlets, and Bible commentaries.

Following his graduation he went to Alexandria, Egypt, where he was ordained a priest and served the Church of Saint Nicholas in Cairo. He was consecrated Metropolitan bishop of Pentapolis (an ancient Diocese in Cyrenaica, in what is now Libya) by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Sophronios in 1889.

He served as a bishop in Cairo for one year. Nectarios was very popular with the people, which gave rise to jealousy among his colleagues. They were able to persuade his superior that Nectarios had ambitions to displace the Patriarch. Nectarios was suspended from his post without explanation. He then returned to Greece in 1891, and spent several years as a preacher (1891–1894). He was then director of the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School for the education of priests in Athens for fifteen years. He developed many courses of study, and wrote numerous books, while preaching widely throughout Athens.

In 1904, at the request of several nuns, he established Holy Trinity Monastery for them on the island of Aegina.

Nectarios ordained two women as deaconesses in 1911. Up to the 1950s, a few Greek Orthodox nuns also became monastic deaconesses. In 1986, Christodoulos, the Metropolitan of Demetrias and later Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece, ordained a woman as deacon in accordance with the "ritual of Saint Nectarios" (the ancient Byzantine text Nectarios had used).

In December 1908, at the age of 62, Nectarios resigned from his post as school director and withdrew to the Holy Trinity Convent on Aegina, where he lived out the rest of his life as a monk. He wrote, published, preached, and heard confessions. He also tended the gardens, carried stones, and helped with the construction of the monastery buildings that were built with his own funds.

Nectarios died on November 8, 1920, at the age of 74, following hospitalization for prostate cancer and two months of treatment. His body was taken to the Holy Trinity Convent, where he was buried by his best friend Savvas of Kalymnos, who later painted the first icon of Nectarios. The funeral of Nectarios was attended by multitudes of people from all parts of Greece and Egypt.

Saint Nektarios is considered a patron saint for people who are suffering from diseases; such as cancer, heart trouble, joint pain, epilepsy, arthritis, etc.

Veneration
The relics of Nectarios were removed from his grave on 2 September 1953. Official recognition of Nectarios as a saint by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople took place on 20 April 1961. The feast day of Saint Nectarios is celebrated every year on 9 November.

Decision of Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria

On September 15, 1998, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa restored the ecclesiastical order of Nectarios:

 Alexandria 15th September 1998

 The Holy Spirit has enlightened the gathered members of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa, under the leadership of H.B. Petros VII, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa, more than a century since Saint Nektarios, the great Teacher and Father of the Holy Eastern Orthodox Church was expelled from the Church of Alexandria, to reach the following decision:

 Taking into account the resolution of the Church to rank Saint Nektarios amongst the saints because of his innumerable miracles and his acceptance within the religious conscience of Orthodox Christians throughout the world, we appeal to the mercy of the ever-charitable God.

 We hereby restore the ecclesiastical order of the Saint of our Century, Saint Nektarios, and grant to him all due credits and honours. We beseech Saint Nektarios to forgive both us, unworthy as we are, and our predecessors, our brothers of the Throne of Alexandria, for opposition to the Saint and for all which, due to human weakness or error, our Holy Father, Bishop of Pentapolis, Saint Nektarios, suffered.
PETROS VII, By the Grace of God
Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa.

Works
Translated into English
 Repentance and Confession, 2nd Printing - 2011,  (Translated and Published by St. Nektarios Monastery, Roscoe, NY).
 Christology, 2nd Printing - 2012,  (Translated and Published by St. Nektarios Monastery, Roscoe, NY).

In popular media
The life of Nectarios was depicted in the 2021 film Man of God, written and directed by Yelena Popovic.

See also
 "Agni Parthene" ("O Virgin Pure"), a hymn composed by Nectarios of Aegina

References

External links

Biographical accounts
 Sotos Chondropoulos. SAINT NEKTARIOS: The Saint of Our Century. Translated by Peter and Aliki Los. Publications "Καινούργια Γή", Greece.  (St. Nektarios Monastery, Roscoe, NY.)
 A Brief Account Of The Life Of St. Nectarios, Metropolitan of Aegina at www.serfes.org
 Nectarios at www.st-seraphim.com
 Saint Nektarios at www.fatheralexander.org
 Agios Nektarios Church & Monastery at www.aeginagreece.com

Selected writings
 Father Demetrios Serfes - St. Nectarios of Aegina at www.serfes.org

Some miracle accounts
 Saint Nectarios at www.sprint.net.au

St. Nectarios' miraculous relics
 Visiting Aghios Nectarios, Aegina island, Greece (departing from Athens) - With photos

Other

1846 births
1920 deaths
20th-century Christian saints
20th-century Eastern Orthodox bishops
Bishops of the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria
People from Aegina
Saints of modern Greece
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni
Miracle workers
People from Silivri
Poet priests
Greek saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church

Nectarios of Aegina


The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., it has chapters at more than 200 law schools and features student, lawyer, and faculty divisions; the lawyers division comprises more than 70,000 practicing attorneys in ninety cities. Through speaking events, lectures, and other activities, it provides a forum for legal experts of opposing views to interact with members of the legal profession, the judiciary, and the legal academy. It is one of the most influential legal organizations in the United States.

The Federalist Society was founded in 1982 by a group of students from Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, and The University of Chicago Law School with the aim of challenging liberal or left-wing ideology within elite American law schools and universities. The organization's stated objectives are "checking federal power, protecting individual liberty and interpreting the Constitution according to its original meaning", and it plays a central role in networking and mentoring young conservative lawyers. According to Amanda Hollis-Brusky, the Federalist Society "has evolved into the de facto gatekeeper for right-of-center lawyers aspiring to government jobs and federal judgeships under Republican presidents." It vetted President Donald Trump's list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees; in March 2020, 43 out of 51 of Trump's appellate court nominees were current or former members of the society.

In January 2019, The Washington Post wrote that the Federalist Society had reached an "unprecedented peak of power and influence." Of the current nine members of the Supreme Court of the United States, at least five are current or former members of the organization—Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Amy Coney Barrett. Chief Justice John Roberts previously served as a member of the steering committee of the Washington, D.C. chapter, but denies ever being a member.  Politico wrote that the Federalist Society "has become one of the most influential legal organizations in history—not only shaping law students' thinking but changing American society itself by deliberately, diligently shifting the country's judiciary to the right."

Founding
Founded in 1982 by students at Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, and the University of Chicago Law School, the Federalist Society began as a student organization which sought to challenge liberal ideology in American law schools. The group's first activity was a three-day symposium titled "A Symposium on Federalism: Legal and Political Ramifications" held at Yale in April 1982. The symposium, which was attended by 200 people, was organized by Steven G. Calabresi, Lee Liberman Otis, and David M. McIntosh; it included speakers such as Antonin Scalia, Robert Bork, and Theodore Olson.

In 2018, Politico Magazine wrote that "it is no exaggeration to suggest that it was perhaps the most effective student conference ever—a blueprint, in retrospect, for how to marry youthful enthusiasm with intellectual oomph to achieve far-reaching results." The society states that it "is founded on the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be."

Background
The society looks to Federalist Paper Number 78 for an articulation of the virtue of judicial restraint, as written by Alexander Hamilton: "It can be of no weight to say that the courts, on the pretense of a repugnancy, may substitute their own pleasure to the constitutional intentions of the legislature... The courts must declare the sense of the law; and if they should be disposed to exercise WILL instead of JUDGMENT, the consequence would equally be the substitution of their pleasure to that of the legislative body."

Its logo is a silhouette of former President and Constitution author James Madison, who co-wrote The Federalist Papers. Commissioner Paul S. Atkins of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission considered society members "the heirs of James Madison's legacy" in a speech he gave in January 2008 to its lawyers chapter in Dallas, Texas. Madison is generally credited as the father of the Constitution and became the fourth President of the United States.

The society's name is said to have been based on the eighteenth-century Federalist Party; however, James Madison associated with Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republican Party in opposition to Federalist Party policies borne from a loose interpretation of the Commerce Clause. The society's views are more closely associated with the general meaning of Federalism (particularly the New Federalism) and the content of the Federalist Papers than with the later Federalist Party.

The society's initial 1982 conference was funded, at a cost of $25,000, by the Institute for Educational Affairs. Later funding of $5.5 million came from the John M. Olin Foundation. Other early donors included the Scaife Foundation and the Koch family foundations. Donors to the Federalist Society have included Google, Chevron, Charles G. and David H. Koch; the family foundation of Richard Mellon Scaife; and the Mercer family. By 2017, the Federalist Society had $20 million in annual revenue.

The society holds a national lawyers convention each year in Washington, D.C. It is one of the highest profile conservative legal events of the year. Speakers have included former ACLU head Nadine Strossen, business executive and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, former BB&T chairman John Allison, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, U.S. Senator Mike Lee, and White House Counsel under President Barack Obama Neil Eggleston. The Federalist Society invites to its events "capable liberal advocates to try to rebut conservative perspectives."

The Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy is the Federalist Society's official journal, and a subscription is provided to members.

The Federalist Society is a client of the public relations firm Creative Response Concepts.

Methods and influence

The Federalist Society has 200 student chapters at law schools across the United States as well as lawyers chapters in 90 U.S. cities. The Federalist Society provides its 70,000 members with "intellectual sparring and professional grooming." David Montgomery, writing in The Washington Post Magazine, said that each individual member of the group is "akin to an excited synapse in a sprawling hive mind with no one actually in charge." Montgomery called the Federalist Society "a remarkably successful example of what political scientists call a 'political epistemic community'," echoing Amanda Hollis-Brusky, who described the Federalist Society as "an interconnected network of experts with policy-relevant knowledge who share certain beliefs and work to actively transmit and translate those beliefs into policy." Former Federalist Society executive vice president Leonard Leo has said "he endorses the network theory of the society," saying, "It's less about who gets what job and more about building a community that can be self-perpetuating and self-sustaining and self-driving."

Steven Teles, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University and the author of The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement: The Battle for Control of the Law, wrote that the Federalist Society's influence on the judicial selection process may not be the group's most important impact. Instead, the "supply-and-demand relationship between the judges and the network" may be paramount, with judges needing "scholarship and arguments extending Federalist principles into new areas. Where new legal theories depart from the status quo, they need them to be vetted and legitimized through public debate. They require targeted cases raising questions that provide an opening to move the law. Without professors and lawyers in the network filling that demand, you're not going to maximize what you got through the electoral process." According to professor Lawrence Baum, the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush "aimed to nominate conservative judges, and membership in the Federalist Society was a proxy for adherence to conservative ideology."

The Washington Post Magazine wrote that the Federalist Society "provides the enduring climate within which storms on the right come and go" and that "Much of the Federalist Society's influence comes not from its very public Washington victories but from its behind-the-scenes, grass-roots ability to shift the law at the idea level, even the cultural level." The Federalist Society lobbies for no particular policies, it does not sign amicus briefs, and it does not represent clients in cases. Amanda Hollis-Brusky, political science associate professor at Pomona College, and Calvin TerBeek, Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of Chicago, dispute that the Federalist Society is non-partisan, pointing to documents written by the Federalist Society to donors in 1984 where the organization states that one of its missions is pushing conservative positions. In rebuttal to Hollis-Brusky and TerBeek, former Solicitor General Ted Olson also wrote in Politico Magazine pointing out that in 37 years of its existence never "has the Federalist Society filed a lawsuit or brief in any litigation, and never once during that period has it passed any resolution advocating for or against any legal issue."

In 2018, Politico Magazine wrote that "the organization had markedly and undeniably changed the nature of the judiciary." The Federalist Society has been described as influential during the presidencies of George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Donald Trump.

The American Constitution Society, founded in 2001, was explicitly started as a liberal analogue to the Federalist Society.

In January 2020, the Committee on Codes of Conduct of the Judicial Conference of the United States circulated a proposed advisory opinion that would bar membership in the Federalist Society or the American Constitution Society for members of the judiciary. The proposed opinion would continue to allow membership in the American Bar Association (ABA). The proposed restriction is limited to membership, and judges would still be allowed to participate in events hosted by organizations such as the Federalist Society and the American Constitution Society through speaking engagements, panel discussions, and event attendance. The proposed advisory opinion had a 120-day comment stage ending on May 20, 2020.

The Federalist Society has a Regulatory Transparency Project (RTP), whose goal, according to National Review, is to "foster a nationwide conversation about areas where the costs of regulation exceed any benefits." The RTP includes twelve working groups who analyze government regulations in different policy and legal areas. The project's methods include issuing white papers and holding events.

Judicial philosophy
According to The Washington Post Magazine, "Many individual Federalists are political and ideological warriors, though never in the name of the Federalist Society. Rather, society events provide the proving ground where they hone their arguments, seize a chance to shine and come to the attention of mentors higher up in the political-legal hierarchy. In that sense, the Federalist Society is a talent network and placement agency as well."

A 2008 study found that Federalist Society members appointed by Republican administrations to the U.S. Courts of Appeals had more conservative voting records than non-members. Critics say the organization favors judicial activism, in particular on social issues. Many members of the Federalist Society favored overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that permitted abortion, prior to its overturning in 2022. The organization tends to favor judges who take conservative stances on abortion rights and other social issues. Members of the Federalist Society have presented oral arguments in every single abortion case that has been before the Supreme Court since 1992.

According to the authors of Building Coalitions, Making Policy: The Politics of the Clinton, Bush, and Obama Presidencies (2012), "Federalist Society members declaim the notion that they are united around a particular philosophy," although many members have been associated with textualist or originalist methods of constitutional interpretation. Judicial restraint tends to align with conservative views on abortion and LGBT rights, while "Critics point out that conservatives are typically not so intent on following 'original meaning' in areas such as affirmative action, executive powers, free speech and federalism." Liberals have questioned "how suspiciously convenient it is that the jurisprudence advocated by society members so often yields conservative results." Leonard Leo, former executive vice president of the Federalist Society, "disputes the notion that the Constitution contains either conservative or progressive values, and he denies that originalism is rigged to reach conservative and libertarian results." He told The Washington Post Magazine, "You're practicing originalism appropriately when you're doing so without looking behind the curtain and trying to predetermine results" and that "There are liberals who work really hard at trying to develop a neutral, originalist approach to interpretation...The fact that people may come out differently occasionally—that's okay. Half the battle is just agreeing that it is essential." Increasingly, according to the magazine, "A number of liberal scholars have applied themselves to the task of showing how, in fact, originalist approaches can yield progressive results. As this train of thought has flowed out of the academy, liberal originalist logic is, more and more, showing up in legal briefs and even in Supreme Court dissents."

Legal activities of members
Members of the Federalist Society have opposed regulation of private property and private businesses, and have argued that specific regulations must be enacted by legislatures rather than courts or executives that interpret existing statutes and powers.

Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1
Members of the Federalist Society have argued that courts should not take race into account when making decisions. For example, members of the group have argued that civil rights cases involving racially discriminatory policies should not consider race, but rather the individuals involved. Federalist Society members were extensively involved with the Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 ruling where the Supreme Court struck down voluntary desegregation plans in several jurisdictions. The authors of The Federalist Society: How Conservatives Took the Law Back from Liberals write that "Conservatives believe, however, that it is not appropriate for the government to promote racial balance. The essence of the conservative position is that there is no legal difference between considering race or gender for purposes of exclusion and considering race or gender for purposes of inclusion. They argue that both are harmful and make racial problems worse. On the other hand, many civil rights advocates believe that because our history has been one of the systematic exclusion of racial minorities and women from social, political, and economic institutions and from positions of power and influence, the conservative view leads to the continuation of exclusion and retards society's ability to move toward inclusion."

District of Columbia v. Heller
Members of the Federalist Society have forcefully argued against regulations on guns. Members hold that the Second Amendment protects the rights of individuals to guns, as opposed to being a collective right to arms. At the time of the Federalist Society's creation and since the 19th century, the Supreme Court and academics had held a more restrictive view of gun rights. The Federalist Society was influential in shifting legal views on gun rights, culminating in the Supreme Court ruling District of Columbia v. Heller which struck down gun regulations in the District of Columbia that required guns to be kept "unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock".

Citizens United v. FEC
The Federalist Society had a significant influence on the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling which weakened regulations on campaign finance by finding that the free speech clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for communications by nonprofit corporations, for-profit corporations, labor unions, and other associations.

National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius
The ideas of the Federalist Society were "at the intellectual heart" of National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, which challenged the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), with members of the group playing a "mostly behind-the-scenes part in NFIB—and in many of the most significant conservative legal victories of the last 30 years." In her book on the history of the Federalist Society, political scientist Amanda Hollis-Brusky writes that "Federalist Society members had been invested in the litigation efforts against the ACA well before the Act was signed into law—before there was even anything concrete to litigate against."

Libertarian law professor Randy Barnett attended his first Federalist Society event in 1986 and found the group "open to testing a diversity of ideas". He became a "leading voice of the growing libertarian wing of the Federalist Society, and he became one of the architects of constitutional claims at the core of lawsuits against the health-care plan." His participation in the legal challenge to the ACA was initiated at the Federalist Society's 2009 national convention, well before the ACA's passage in 2010. He co-authored a 16-page legal memorandum "that outlined a constitutional case against the health-care measure." The memorandum "became a source of talking points during congressional debate and laid the framework for subsequent court challenges; Barnett represented one of the plaintiffs." Barnett said the Federalist Society "involves people, gets them interested, and they oftentimes will do something about that."

Role in presidencies

George W. Bush administration
Legal positions in the George W. Bush administration were overwhelmingly staffed with Federalist Society members. Approximately half of Bush's nominees for appellate court judgeships were Federalist Society members. The Bush administration was harshly criticized for the decision to nominate Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, with conservative critics arguing that she lacked a consistently conservative track record, did not have Federalist Society "credentials" and for her purported ties to the ABA (which conservatives considered to be liberal). After conservative outcry, Miers withdrew the nomination. The Bush administration went on to nominate Samuel Alito, a Federalist Society member with a consistent conservative track record who was active in Federalist Society circles, to the Supreme Court.

Members of the society helped to encourage Bush's decision to terminate a nearly half-century-old practice of giving the ABA confidential early access to judicial nominees, allowing the ABA to rate nominee's qualifications for office before the nominations were announced. Since the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the ABA provided the service to presidents of both parties and the nation by vetting the qualifications of those under consideration for lifetime appointment to the federal judiciary before any other group. The society alleged that the bar association showed a liberal bias in its recommendations. Examples given included that while former Supreme Court clerks nominated to the Court of Appeals by Democrats had an average rating of slightly below "well qualified", similar Republican nominees were rated on average as only "qualified/well qualified." In addition the bar association gave Ronald Reagan's judicial nominees Richard Posner and Frank H. Easterbrook its lowest possible ratings of "qualified/not qualified", and Judges Posner and Easterbrook have gone on to become the two most highly cited judges in the federal appellate judiciary.

Donald Trump administration
According to Politico Magazine, "Trump is president for a long list of reasons, of course, but near the top of that list is the imprimatur the Federalist Society granted him. He almost certainly couldn't have gotten what he wanted without the Federalists. And they almost certainly couldn't have gotten what they wanted without him." During the 2016 presidential campaign, Texas Senator Ted Cruz "accused Trump of not being a true conservative" and warned Republicans that Trump would nominate liberal judges. While consulting with conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation to create a list of nominees, Trump stated: "I'm going to submit a list of justices, potential justices of the United States Supreme Court, that I will appoint from the list. I won't go beyond that list."

The Federalist Society was influential in the Trump administration, hand-selecting Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and recruiting a slate of conservative judges to fill vacancies throughout the federal judiciary. The society helped to assemble the list of 21 people from which Trump said he would choose a nominee to replace Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court. Nine of the 21 individuals spoke at the society's annual convention in late November 2016, while nearly all of the others were in attendance. Federalist Society members generally chose not to criticize Trump, and Politico described the Federalist Society membership as "elite, conservative lawyers who have generally chosen to give Trump a pass on his breaches of long-cherished legal norms and traditions in exchange for the gift of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch." Former Federalist Society executive vice president Leonard Leo said: "What President Trump has done with judicial selection and appointments is probably at the very center of his legacy, and may well be his greatest accomplishments thus far."

In May 2018, the Federalist Society hosted a phone call entitled "examining the legality of the Mueller Investigation", where one of the featured speakers argued that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election was unconstitutional.

In January 2021, some members of the Federalist Society, such as Jeremy Rosen, an appellate lawyer in Los Angeles, argued that members who assisted Trump in the spreading of false claims of election fraud during the 2020 U.S. presidential election should be "distanced from the conservative group." Specific members mentioned for possible removal included John C. Eastman, chair of the Federalist Society's federalism and separation of powers practice group, who made claims about election fraud at a Trump rally on January 6, 2021—the day of the Capitol attack. Others mentioned included Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, who voted against the certification of election results.

Notable members

Current officeholders
 Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts (disputed)
 Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito
 Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
 Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch
 Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh
 Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett
 FBI Director Christopher A. Wray
 United States Court of Appeals Judge (D.C. Cir.) Neomi Rao
 United States Court of Appeals Judge (9th Cir.) Lawrence VanDyke
 United States Court of Appeals Senior Judge (5th Cir.) Edith Brown Clement
 United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas Judge Ada E. Brown
 United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon
 Senator Ted Cruz, Republican Senator of Texas
 Senator Josh Hawley, Republican Senator of Missouri
 Senator Todd Young, Republican Senator of Indiana
 Florida Supreme Court Justice Meredith Sasso

Former officeholders
 Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (who served as the original faculty advisor to the organization)
 United States Attorney General Edwin Meese
 U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft
 United States Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler, a co-founder of the Federalist Society
 United States Solicitor General Theodore Olson
 United States Solicitor General Paul Clement
 President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate Orrin Hatch
 Professor Michael W. McConnell at Stanford Law School and former United States Court of Appeals Judge (10th Cir.)
 U.S. Senator and Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham
 United States Ambassador to the European Union C. Boyden Gray
 United States Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton
 United States Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff
 General counsel of the Office of Management and Budget and of the Department of Homeland Security Philip Perry
 Texas State Representative and Dallas lawyer Bill Keffer
 United States Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia
 Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division and former acting head of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice Jeffrey Clark
 United States Court of Appeals Chief Judge (9th Cir.) Alex Kozinski
 United States Court of Appeals Judge (D.C. Cir.) Robert Bork
 United States Court of Appeals Judge (D.C. Cir.) Thomas Griffith

Academia
 Former President of Baylor University and former independent counsel Kenneth Starr
 Former Columbia Law School Dean David Schizer
 Professor Gary S. Lawson of Boston University School of Law
 Professor Richard Epstein of the New York University School of Law
 Professor William Baude of the University of Chicago Law School
 Professor Randy Barnett of Georgetown University Law Center
 Roger Pilon, Director of Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute
 Former Dean of Chapman University School of Law John C. Eastman

See also

 American Constitution Society
 Alliance for Justice
 Pacific Legal Foundation
 Brennan Center for Justice
 National Lawyers Guild

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

 Regulatory Transparency Project
 Organizational Profile – National Center for Charitable Statistics (Urban Institute)

Legal organizations based in the United States
Political organizations based in the United States
Federalism in the United States
Student political organizations in the United States
Conservative organizations in the United States
Libertarian organizations based in the United States
Organizations established in 1982
John M. Olin Foundation

Federalist Society


The internal anal sphincter, IAS, (or sphincter ani internus) is a ring of smooth muscle that surrounds about 2.5–4.0 cm of the anal canal. It is about 5 mm thick, and is formed by an aggregation of the smooth (involuntary) circular muscle fibers of the rectum. it terminates distally about 6 mm from the anal orifice.

The internal anal sphincter aids the sphincter ani externus to occlude the anal aperture and aids in the expulsion of the feces. Its action is entirely involuntary. It is normally in a state of continuous maximal contraction to prevent leakage of faeces or gases. Sympathetic stimulation stimulates and maintains the sphincter's contraction, and parasympathetic stimulation inhibits it. It becomes relaxed in response to distention of the rectal ampulla, requiring voluntary contraction of the puborectalis and external anal sphincter to maintain continence.

Anatomy
The internal anal sphincter is the specialised thickened terminal portion of the inner circular layer of smooth muscle of the large intestine. It extends from the pectinate line (anorectal junction) proximally to just proximal to the anal orifice distally (the distal termination is palpable). Its muscle fibres are arranged in a spiral (rather than a circular) manner.

At its distal extremity, it is in contact with but separate from the external anal sphincter.

Innervation
The sphincter receives extrinsic autonomic innervation via the inferior hypogastric plexus, with sympathetic innervation derived from spinal levels L1-L2, and parasympathetic innervation derived from S2-S4.

The internal anal sphincter is not innervated by the pudendal nerve (which provides motor and sensory innervation to the external anal sphincter).

Function
The sphincter is contracted in its resting state, but reflexively relaxes in certain contexts (most notably during defecation).

Transient relaxation of its proximal portion occurs with rectal distension and post-prandial rectal contraction (the recto-anal inhibitory reflex and sampling reflex, respectively) while the distal portion of the sphincter remains contracted and the external anal sphincter becomes contracted to maintain continence; this transient relaxation allows passage of stool into the proximal anal canal - this filling is sensed.

Continence
The IAS contributes 55% of the resting pressure of the anal canal. It is very important for bowel continence, especially for liquid and gas. When the rectum fills beyond a certain capacity, the rectal walls are distended, triggering the defecation cycle. This begins with the rectoanal inhibitory reflex (RAIR), where the IAS relaxes. This is thought to allow a small amount of rectal contents to descend into the anal canal where specialized mucosa samples whether it is gas, liquid or solid. Problems with the IAS often present as degrees of fecal incontinence (especially partial incontinence to liquid) or mucous rectal discharge.

Physiology

Neurophysiology
Sympathetic stimulation is mediated by alpha-2 adrenergic receptors and results in contraction of the sphincter.

Parasympathetic stimulation is mediated by muscarinic acetylcholine receptors and results in relaxation of the sphincter.

Nitrergic stimulation also produces relaxation which has pharmacological significance.

Clinical significance

Clinical pharmacology
Nitrergic pharmaceutical agents produce relaxation of the muscular tone of the sphincter and are applicable in pathological contexts where this tone is abnormally increased.

Regenerative medicine
In 2011 it was announced by the Wake Forest School of Medicine that the first bioengineered, functional anal sphincters had been constructed in a laboratory made from muscle and nerve cells, providing a solution for anal incontinence.

Additional images

See also
External anal sphincter
Levator ani

References

External links
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Perineum
Anus

Internal anal sphincter


William Kenny VC (24 August 1880 – 10 January 1936) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Victoria Cross
Kenny was 34 years old, and a Drummer in the 2nd Battalion, The Gordon Highlanders, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 23 October 1914 near Ypres, Belgium, Drummer Kenny rescued wounded men on five occasions under very heavy fire. Twice previously he had saved machine-guns by carrying them out of action, and on numerous occasions he conveyed urgent messages under very dangerous circumstances over fire-swept ground.

Other honours

In addition to the Victoria Cross, Kenny earned the rank of Drum-Major and was also awarded the following medals: Queen's South Africa Medal with bars, King's South Africa Medal with bars, 1914 Star with bar, British War Medal, Victory Medal with oak-leaf, Delhi Durbar Medal, and the Cross of St George (Russia).

On 20 March 1999 the grave of William Kenny received a new headstone in the Corps of Commissionaires plot at Brookwood Cemetery, arranged by The Gordon Highlanders London Association (Lt Col. M.H. Burge). Kenny was buried in 1936 but unfortunately the original marker was lost and until this stone was placed, Kenny was not otherwise commemorated.

His Victoria Cross and other medals are on displayed at the Gordon Highlanders Museum, Aberdeen, Scotland.

References

Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000)
Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
VCs of the First World War: 1914 (Gerald Gliddon, 1994)

External links
Location of grave and VC medal (Brookwood Cemetery)
The Brookwood Cemetery Society (Known Holders of the Victoria Cross Commemorated in Brookwood Cemetery)

1880 births
1936 deaths
Irish soldiers in the British Army
British military musicians
Gordon Highlanders soldiers
British Army personnel of the Second Boer War
British Army personnel of World War I
Irish World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross
Burials at Brookwood Cemetery
Recipients of the Cross of St. George
People from Drogheda
British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross
Irish recipients of the Victoria Cross
Military personnel from County Louth

William Kenny (VC)


A slotted spoon is a spoon implement used in food preparation. The term can be used to describe any spoon with slots, holes or other openings in the bowl of the spoon which let liquid pass through while preserving the larger solids on top. It is similar in function to a sieve; however, a ladle-sized slotted spoon is most typically used to retrieve items from a cooking liquid while preserving the liquid in the pot, while table-sized slotted spoons are often used to serve foods prepared or packaged in juices, such as canned fruit and vegetables.

One peculiar example of a slotted spoon is used in the traditional absinthe preparation ritual. A special absinthe spoon with a disproportionately weighted, often ornately decorated, and the mostly flat bowl is balanced upon the rim of a glass, on which is placed a sugar cube and through which ice water is poured or dripped into the drink. The slots in the spoon ensure that only fully dissolved sugar reaches the beverage, and the slow trickle of water accentuates the appearance of the louche.

See also

 Skimmer (utensil)
 Runcible spoon

External links
History Magazine article about slotted spoons and absinthe
Wikimedia Cookbook entry

Spoons
Serving utensils

Slotted spoon


The Tasmanian Wilderness is a term that is used for a range of areas in Tasmania, Australia.

The World Heritage Areas in South West Tasmania, Western Tasmania and Central Highlands are the most well known.

However, there are also other wilderness areas in Tasmania, Tarkine and the Cradle mountain wilderness. There is also an organisation known as the Tasmanian Wilderness Society.

The World Heritage Area is one of the largest conservation areas in Australia, covering 13,800 km², or almost 20% of Tasmania. The area constitutes one of the last expanses of temperate wilderness in the world, including the renowned South West Wilderness. The area became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, and it was extended in 1989. It is important for both its natural value but also its cultural values as well.

Remains found in limestone caves show that humans have lived in the area for well over 20,000 years.

The Tasmanian Tiger was the largest Dasyuromorphia and the last living specimen of the family Thylacinidae. The last known specimen died in captivity in 1936.p77 The world's largest surviving carnivorous marsupial is the Tasmanian Devil; it is the size of a small dog and can hunt, although it is mainly a scavenger.p46 It became extinct on the mainland some 600 years ago, and is now found only in Tasmania.p69

World Heritage area
The following National Parks and reserves make up the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area:
 Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park
 Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park
 Hartz Mountains National Park
 Mole Creek Karst National Park
 Southwest National Park
 Walls of Jerusalem National Park
 Central Plateau Conservation Area
 Devils Gullet State Reserve
 South East Mutton Bird Islet

Related pages
 List of World Heritage Sites in Australia

References

Other websites

 World heritage listing for Tasmanian Wilderness
 Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife Service site
 Position of World Heritage Area
 UNESCO site

Tasmanian Wilderness


Interpolation is a process which constructs a continuous function from a set of points. In nearest-neighbor interpolation, the idea is to use the value of the data point or measurement which is closest to the current point. The method is also known as proximal interpolation or, point sampling.

Mathematical approximation

Nearest-neighbor interpolation