Joanna of Aragon (, ; 16 June 1455 – 9 January 1517) was Queen of Naples as the second wife of King Ferdinand I. She served as regent (General Lieutenant) of Naples between the abdication and flight of King Alfonso II 22 February 1495 until the formal succession of  Ferdinand II of Naples.

Born in Barcelona, Joanna was the second child of King John II of Aragon by his second wife, Juana Enríquez de Córdoba, and his youngest legitimate child.

Queenship
King Ferdinand I of Naples, an illegitimate son of her uncle Alfonso V of Aragon, asked Joanna's hand in marriage from John II and he accepted. After the wedding on 14 September the contract was signed in Navarre, on 5 October 1476 and the agreement was ratified on 25 November. John II gave his daughter a dowry of 100,000 gold florins and Ferdinand gave his new wife many duchies and/or cities, such as Sorrento, Theano, Isernia, Teramo, Sulmona, Francavilla and Nocera.

He also gave her more than 20,000 ducats annually.  Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, eldest son of the king from his first marriage, sailed to Spain on 11 June 1477 in order to bring Joanna to Naples. She arrived on 1 September 1477. The formal wedding, with both the bride and groom present, took place on 14 September 1477 and was officiated by Rodrigo Borgia, the future Pope Alexander VI. Their first child was born in 1479 and another child arrived in 1480.

Joanna showed a tendency to resolve political affairs. In August 1485, she started to randomly journey through Italy, probably to ensure loyalty to her husband in the wake of rebellions led by Baron Antonello Sanseverino and supported by Pope Innocent VIII and Cardinal Giulio della Rovere. A few years later, after the conspiracy was suppressed, Joanna returned to Abruzzo, accompanied by her daughter Joanna. They visited most of the monasteries in L'Aquila that year.

Queen Dowager

On 25 January 1494, Ferdinand I died aged 71. He was succeeded by his eldest son Alfonso, and step-son of Joanna, who became queen dowager. From this point on, Joanna signed every letter with the phrase the sad queen (Old Italian: la triste reyna). Because of the grief, she did not even attend her step-son's coronation on 8 May 1494. In return, Alfonso gave his step-mother the position of Lieutenant General of the Kingdom of Naples.

Meanwhile, King Charles VIII of France was about to conquer Naples. Doing the last desperate thing he could, Alfonso II abdicated in favour of his son, who became Ferdinand II of Naples. However, before he left, he advised his son to take the advice of the queen dowager in consideration and never do anything to upset her. She was formally appointed to the post of regent with the title general lieuntenant.

When Charles VIII was about to enter Sicily, Ferdinand II took Joanna and her daughter Joanna (who was also to be his wife) and left. After their return on 13 October 1495, Joanna arranged a marriage between her daughter Joanna and King Ferdinand II. They were married on 28 February 1496. However Ferdinand II died of malaria in October of the same year and Joanna was left a childless widow aged seventeen. By now, the young Joanna also signed every letter with the sad queen.

Joanna tried to suggest her brother, King Ferdinand II of Aragon as the rightful King of Naples, but a younger step-son from Ferdinand I's first marriage, Prince Frederick, was chosen. Initially, the new king's relationship with Joanna was quite cold. In fact, when Frederick's reign began, Joanna resigned her position as lieutenant general and expressed her desire to move to Aversa. After a year of absence, she returned from Aversa and regained her position as lieutenant general. But, she once again found differences, this time with Isabella del Balzo, Frederick's wife. She did not attend Frederick's coronation.

After they were once again banished from the kingdom, Joanna and her daughter Joanna returned to Naples, where Joanna died following a short illness on 9 January 1517. Her daughter Joanna died the following year from the same illness.

Issue
With her husband, Joanna had two children, one of whom survived childhood:

 Joanna of Naples (20 April 147927 August 1518), who married her half-nephew, King Ferdinand II of Naples but had no children.
 Charles of Naples (, ; 148026 October 1486), died aged six of typhus.

Ancestry

References

Succession

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1455 births
1517 deaths
People from Barcelona
House of Trastámara
People from the Kingdom of Aragon
Royal consorts of Naples
Joanna of Aragon, Queen of Naples
15th-century Spanish women
15th-century Spanish people
16th-century Spanish women
16th-century Spanish people
15th-century French women
15th-century French people
16th-century French women
16th-century French people
15th-century women rulers
Daughters of kings

Joanna of Aragon, Queen of Naples


Ann Hardy (née Haley, born 20 April 1933) is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur, best known for her pioneering work on computer time-sharing systems while working at Tymshare from 1966 onwards.

Early life and education
Hardy was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her father had a small advertising agency and her mother, Ruth H. Ewing, was a high school math teacher and homemaker. Hardy was the eldest of five children in a conservative Methodist family. She grew up in Evanston, Illinois.

In 1951, Hardy graduated from Evanston Township High School. In 1955, Hardy graduated from Pomona College with a degree in physical education. She chose physical education because it was the only degree program which allowed her to take math and science courses after her desire to major in chemistry was stymied by the chemistry department head who was opposed to having women in the lab. Following her graduation, she took chemistry classes at Columbia University, but ultimately decided that a career in physical therapy had little appeal. On the advice of a friend working for IBM, she took the company's Programmer Aptitude Test when searching for a job.

Career
In 1956, Hardy entered the programming field after taking IBM's Programmer Aptitude Test. Her official title was System Service Girl, which is equivalent to the position of a current day system engineer. Hardy then switched to programming and worked in IBM Research, which was in Poughkeepsie, and then in Ossining, New York. She worked at IBM for five years.

A job on the STRETCH supercomputer project led to an offer to work at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in 1962. Hardy was one of a team of five who worked on the Livermore STRETCH's Fortran compiler from 1963 to 1966.

In February 1966, after her husband got a job at IBM in the Bay Area, Hardy got a job at Tymshare, a newly formed time-sharing company in Los Altos, California. She worked for Tymshare from 1966 to 1985.

Hardy worked on some of the first time-sharing systems and computer networks, used by a variety of corporations and government agencies. In 1968 she, with her husband Norm Hardy and LaRoy Tymes, first used minicomputers to log onto mainframe computers. She eventually rose to vice-president, the first woman in that role. Though Hardy was solely responsible for the writing the code for Tymshare's time-sharing product, many of her male colleagues assumed her husband had written the OS. It wasn't until she was in the hospital giving birth to her first child, and her coworkers encountered problems that they did not know how to fix, that they began to defer to her as the expert on the system she had written.

After Tymshare was acquired by McDonnell Douglas in 1984, she left to found KeyLogic, which sold the timesharing hardware and software developed at Tymshare, under a licensing arrangement, until changing market conditions forced its closure in the early 1990s. She subsequently co-founded Agorics, which focuses on web-based marketplace applications.

Hardy's experiences are representative of the state of gendered labor in the field of computing during the mid to late 20th century: despite having technical skills and proving their value as workers, women in computing were continually undervalued as the field rose in power and importance. While at IBM, at one point Hardy learned that she was being paid less than one-half of the salary of the lowest ranked man who reported to her. As historians like Nathan Ensmenger, Janet Abbate, and Mar Hicks have shown, women programmers were denied credit for their work and historically submerged, leading to an inaccurate view of men's and women's roles in the field.

In 2004, Hardy retired. She currently serves as co-chair of the Software Industry Special Interest Group at the Computer History Museum.

Personal life
Hardy married, and later divorced, Norman Hardy, also an alumnus of IBM and Tymshare. She has two daughters, born in 1968 and 1970; one became an environmentalist and the other a costume designer.

References

Further reading

External links
 Oral History: Ann Hardy
 Tymshare History Notes from Ann Hardy

1933 births
Pomona College alumni
American computer programmers
American women computer scientists
American computer scientists
IBM employees
People from California
People from Chicago
Living people
21st-century American women

Ann Hardy


Korkai is a small town in Thoothukudi district. In ancient times this was the capital of the Pandya dynasty. The Thamirabarani River flows through it. The town was famous for fisheries. Ptolemy refers Korkai as Kolkhai and it is an emporium. The Periplus refers the town as the place of pearl fisheries.

Thoothukudi district

Korkai


Dream of Mirror Online (DOMO) is a free-to-play MMORPG game with story lines based on ancient Chinese mythology. It is the second online game of the Xuan-Yuan Sword series. The graphics are anime-style with various Chinese themes. This game places great emphasis on teamwork and building relationships between players. The game was taken out of service in late 2012. In October 2014, SubaGames announced it was working on returning the service with crowdfunding from Kickstarter. In November 2014, DOMO was approved for re-release through Steam Greenlight. An official release date for the Closed Beta was given by Suba Games on February 2, 2015, for the date of February 13, 2015 at 5:00 PM EST.

Plot
The central story involves an artifact called the Kunlun Mirror, an ancient artifact of time capable of copying everything from the real world to keep a record of things that exist. An unknown event caused the mirror to have a flawed reflection.  As a result, "delusions" from peoples minds become monsters and ordinary creatures also transform when reflected in the mirror world. There are of the twelve Mirror Kings in DOMO, rulers of the Mirror World, and some have disappeared causing the remaining kings to summon human beings from the real world (the players) to the Mirror World to help defeat these delusions.

Gameplay
Aeria has billed DOMO as a "social MMORPG".  The gameplay encourages players to build relationships and form teams.  Players can form special friendships, student-teacher, or even love relationships within the game that grant extra benefits such as abilities, fame, titles, or items; the Asian versions even currently offer in-game character marriages that grant special abilities to the lucky couple.  Some characters also have special fated ties to other players that are based on the birthday selected for the character at creation.  These relationships are marked by an arched red line, or "love line" that will form between the two.  The love line represents not only potential romantic matches, but also possible family relationships and rivalries. Players do not have to acknowledge these love lines in any way; most players completely ignore them.  However, there is no way to turn off love lines at this time.  Same-sex marriage is now supported, meaning a female player can marry another female player, and likewise for the male players.

Races
There are 4 DOMO races: Humans, who are described as friendly and of ordinary capability; Shura, a beast-like race that can resemble both a fox (females) and dragon (males), are described as aggressive and with great physical prowess; Sylph, spirit-like creatures with great knowledge and wisdom but out of touch with their emotions; and Sprites, who are small and childlike in appearance.

The official DOMO website describes each race to be uniquely proficient in skill, but this does not significantly, if at all, affect the game of the player. A Sprite, despite their small size, can be just as competent as a Mercenary Shura of the same skill level. In the original release of the game these special race-skills made a big difference (such as Shura being better at physical attributes and Sylph at mental attributes), but this was phased out before the North American version of the game was released, making the differences today mostly cosmetic. It also affects certain dialog with NPCs and determines the village new characters start in.

Professions
The job system is similar to that of Final Fantasy XI.  Every character starts with the occupation Commoner, which grants no special skills. After reaching level 10 as a commoner, by completing specified tasks, the player can qualify for new tasks.  Levels, attributes, and skill points are recorded separately for each job.  Players may go to an NPC in any town to select a job which their level qualifies them to take. Levels, attributes, and skill points are recorded separately for each job type.

There are currently 13 professions in the North American version.  They are Blademaster, Dancer, Doctor, Fencer, Hunter, Martial Artist, Mercenary, Merchant, Musician, Shaman, Thief, Wizard, and Witch Doctor, the new profession as of early June, 2009.

Pets
Pet tokens (which can be used in-game to get a random pet egg (level 0), including the Special Edition pets) and pet chests are available for purchase in the game's cash shop.  However, existing pets can also be traded in game, making it easier for those who would rather use in-game funds to purchase one. Also a quest in game can award the participants a hibernating Metal egg.

Pets have 4 stages of growth: egg, child, youth, and adult. To enable the pet to continue leveling an evolution stone is needed to evolve the pet to the next stage. At level 61 (adulthood) players can purchase pet saddles to ride the pet. Currently a pet saddle can only be bought through in-game cash shop or trading between players. Note that players can only ride Metal, Sapphire, Ruby and Rock pets.

There are currently six types of pets, each with an associated element and their own strengths and weaknesses:
Metal - metal element, looks like a golden bear.
Jade - wood element, looks like a cactus.
Sapphire - water element, looks like a long-necked turtle.
Ruby - fire element, looks like a flying cat.
Rock - earth element, looks like a wild boar.
Love - no element, looks like a girl.

There is also a special Bird pet, which can be obtained like any other pet (at a lower chance), it also follows the same evolution pattern as the other pets, but at its first stage of evolution, it either obtains a wood, water or fire element attribute at random, and as it levels up it develops skills based on that element. A Dragon pet type has also been released since.

Each pet comes in a regular form and also five "special edition" versions that offer an alternate appearance.

Traveling
Once a character reaches level 15 in any job, they become eligible to complete a quest that grants them the ability to fly on almost any weapon (that the player can equip). The flying system is based on the sword-flying myths in Chinese legends. In addition, there have been special items only available through purchase at the cash shop that are made for flight e.g. the special flying broom released in Halloween. Each different piece of flying equipment has its own features and specific speed; however, some weapons simply cannot fly, and others will only fly after achieving a specific level. Along with moving faster than running on the ground, flying allows characters to cross geographic barriers such as mountains or oceans and perform sky stunts. Flying level is further improved by completing specific quests that improve a character's flight speed and maximum altitude. The current max flying level in the North American version is 22.

Another way to travel in Dream of Mirror Online is by riding a pet. When the Bird / Sapphire / Metal / Ruby / Rock pets reach level 61 and evolved into its adulthood stage, players can purchase a saddle from the cash shop and use it to ride their pets.

References

External links
Dream of Mirror Online New NA-EU English website
Dream of Mirror Online Release DOMO release discussion

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games
2005 video games
Active massively multiplayer online games
Fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing games
Video games developed in Taiwan
Windows games
Windows-only games
Xuanyuan Jian
Aeria Games games
Suba Games games

Dream of Mirror Online


The Girl from Rector's is a play written by Paul M. Potter. The play is a sex farce involving several couples in a tangle of adulterous affairs, and was considered indecent by many critics, as well as some government officials who censored performances. It is an adaptation of Loute, a French farce by Pierre Veber. In 1909, producer A. H. Woods staged it on Broadway, where it was a hit.

Plot
New York rake Richard O'Shaugnessy is having an illicit affair with a woman he knows by the name "Loute Sedaine". When O'Shaugnessy's cousin asks for help with charming Marcia Singleton, a high-class young woman visiting from Battle Creek, Michigan, O'Shaugnessy decides she will be a more favorable partner for himself instead of for his cousin. He informs his mentor, known to him as "Colonel Tandy", that he will marry Singleton and break off his relations with Sedaine. He also severs ties with Tandy, whose assistance he no longer needs.

When he arrives in Battle Creek, O'Shaugnessy discovers his rude dealings with Sedaine and Tandy were a mistake, because "Tandy" turns out to be a false name used in New York by his new fiancée's father. Similarly, "Sedaine" is also from Battle Creek, where she is the wife of a local judge. In a complication borrowed from the French original without regard to its implausibility in American law, O'Shaugnessy and Singleton have already wed in a civil ceremony, but need to go through a religious ceremony to complete their marriage. The joint arrival of O'Shaugnessy's lover and his mentor threatens to disrupt this plan.  The main characters all end up at a roadhouse, where they go in and out of one another's rooms, revealing their embarrassing affairs. Eventually they work out their differences; O'Shaugnessy consummates his new marriage, and his former lover reconciles with her husband.

History
Woods purchased the production rights after reading the original. He had previously produced touring melodramas that were as likely to appear in the Bowery as on Broadway. The Girl from Rector's was his first regular Broadway production.

Prior to opening on Broadway, preview performances were scheduled in Trenton, New Jersey. After the first matinee, a group of 25 local clergy complained to Trenton police the play was immoral. The police shut the play down and did not permit any further performances.

Productions

The Broadway production opened at Weber's Music Hall on February 1, 1909. It ran there until June 1909, with 184 performances.

The characters and cast from the Broadway production are given below:

Reception
The play's content was controversial among contemporary critics, many of whom condemned the play as indecent. Muckracking journalist Samuel Hopkins Adams counted it as one of many plays of "dubious character" that had invaded American theater. He decried its suggestive dialogue, as well as its portrayal of loose women and lecherous men, and described the final act as "the grossest bit of action that I have ever seen on an English-speaking stage". When the play previewed in Trenton, the Trenton Evening Times denounced it as "offensively vulgar and putrid". The New York Times review of the Broadway production said Potter "appears to have gone as far as he thought the police would allow". In The Evening World, reviewer Charles Darnton said the play "tries very hard to be bad, but it only succeeds in being stupid".

Impact on namesake
The play's title refers to a popular Manhattan restaurant of its day operated by George Rector, although the restaurant does not appear in the play and is only mentioned once. The play's notoriety proved problematic for Rector, who was in the process of building the Hotel Rector to go with his restaurant. Many believed the unsavory reputation of the play tarnished the new hotel, and held the play responsible when Rector declared his new venture bankrupt in May 1913. The new owners changed the name to escape the stigma.

References

External links

1909 plays
Broadway plays
Comedy plays
Plays based on other plays
Plays set in Michigan
Plays set in New York City
Plays by Paul M. Potter

The Girl from Rector's


The ABU International Dance Festival 2017 was the inaugural ABU International Dance Festival, which took place in Shilpakala Vedika, in Hyderabad, India on 15 January 2017.

Indian national broadcasters Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR), which are part of the public broadcasting agency Prasar Bharati (PB), will be in charge of organising the event. The festival was originally scheduled to take place in New Delhi in November 2016, but was later moved to a new host city and the festival dates subsequently changed. The competition is for amateur dancers between the ages of 18 and 25, who will perform two dance routines. As this is the inaugural festival, all participating countries will be making their debut. Seventeen acts from thirteen countries have confirmed their participation.

Location

On 8 June 2016, it was announced that the inaugural ABU International Dance Festival will take place in Hyderabad, India. The festival was originally going to be held in New Delhi, but was later changed to a new host city and the festival dates subsequently changed. India was chosen by the ABU to host the first edition, as the nation has a history of cultural dance. India has several festivals with a dance and cultural background, and so the ABU selected the country to host so that they could showcase their expertise and achieve the goals of the festival organisation.

Format
The ABU International Dance Festival will be the inaugural International Dance Festival, organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and the Indian national broadcasters Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR), which are part of the public broadcasting agency Prasar Bharati (PB). The festival is scheduled to take place on 15 January 2017. The rules of the festival state that all dance routines must last no longer than eight minutes, and may consist of 2 to 8 people in the routine. All dancers must be between the ages of 18 and 25.

Originally the festival was going to be open to all styles of dance including classical and street. However, upon the changes to the format, all participating country are now allowed to submit two dances, one traditional which will be non-competitive, and one contemporary which will be the competitive routine. Registration for countries wishing to participate in the festival began on 31 May 2016 and was scheduled to conclude on 25 June 2016. However, the deadline has been extended to 15 July 2016. On 14 January 2017 it was announced that choreographer, Adity Nagori would be the host for the first edition of the dance festival.

Participating countries
The following list of countries that have confirmed participation, will be making their debut at the inaugural festival at the moment:

Other countries

  – had appeared on the original participating list, but subsequently disappeared upon publication of the second list, with no reasons for their removal.

See also
 ABU Song Festivals
 Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union
 Eurovision Choir of the Year 2017
 Eurovision Song Contest 2017
 Eurovision Young Dancers 2017
 Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017

References

External links

Dance competitions
Dance festivals in India
Festivals in Hyderabad, India
January 2017 events in India

ABU International Dance Festival 2017


Przemyslaw Shamek Pietucha (August 24, 1976 – October 10, 2015) was a Polish-born Canadian swimmer who represented Canada in international competition at the Summer Olympics, FINA World Championships and Pan American Games.  Pietucha was a butterfly specialist who won six medals in major international championships.

He was born in Malbork, Poland, but grew up in Calgary, Alberta, where he began competitive swimming.

Pietucha accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Virginia (UVa) in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he swam for the Virginia Cavaliers swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) competition from 1996 to 1999.  During his four-year college career, he received nine All-American honours, was chosen team captain as a senior, and won the NCAA national title in the 200-yard butterfly in 1999.

While swimming collegiately for Virginia, Pietucha was also a member of the Canadian national swim team.  He won silver and bronze medals in the 100- and 200-metre butterfly events, respectively, at the 1997 World University Games.  Two years later at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, he won a gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly, a silver in the 100-metre butterfly, and a bronze as a member of Canada's third-place team in the 4x100-metre medley relay.

After graduating from UVa, he finished second in the 200-metre butterfly at the 2000 Short Course World Championships, and qualified as a member of the Canadian Olympic team in 2000.  At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Athens, he competed in the preliminary heats of the 100- and 200-metre butterfly events, but did not advance.  He also swam for the 6th place Canadian relay team in the qualifying heats of the 4x100-metre medley, but not in the final.

Up until his death in 2015, Pietucha was a practicing integrative medicine physician in Canada.

His other accomplishments included:
 2000 World Cup VI gold medallist, 200-metre butterfly, Hobart, Australia
 1999 World Cup II gold medallist, 100- and 200-metre butterfly, Edmonton, Alberta
 1998 U.S. Open champion, 100- and 200-metre butterfly, Indianapolis, Indiana
 Canadian national record-holder, 200-metre butterfly
 Six-time Canadian national champion

See also

 List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (men)
 List of University of Virginia people

References

External links
 Canadian Olympic Committee

1976 births
2015 deaths
Canadian male butterfly swimmers
Polish emigrants to Canada
Olympic swimmers for Canada
People from Malbork
Swimmers from Calgary
Sportspeople from Pomeranian Voivodeship
Swimmers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games
Swimmers at the 1999 Pan American Games
Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics
University of California, Santa Cruz alumni
Virginia Cavaliers men's swimmers
Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming
Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada
Pan American Games silver medalists for Canada
Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Canada
Pan American Games medalists in swimming
Universiade medalists in swimming
Universiade silver medalists for Canada
Universiade bronze medalists for Canada
Medalists at the 1997 Summer Universiade
Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games
Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games

Shamek Pietucha


Phone cloning is the copying of identity from one cellular device to another.

AMPS cloning

Analogue mobile telephones were notorious for their lack of security. Casual listeners easily heard conversations as plain narrowband FM; eavesdroppers with specialized equipment readily intercepted handset Electronic Serial Numbers (ESN) and Mobile Directory Numbers (MDN or CTN, the Cellular Telephone Number) over the air. The intercepted ESN/MDN pairs would be cloned onto another handset and used in other regions for making calls. Due to widespread fraud, some carriers required a PIN before making calls or used a system of radio fingerprinting to detect the clones.

CDMA cloning

Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile telephone cloning involves gaining access to the device's embedded file system /nvm/num directory via specialized software or placing a modified EEPROM into the target mobile telephone, allowing the Electronic Serial  Number (ESN) and/or Mobile Equipment Identifier (MEID) of the mobile phone to be changed. To obtain the MEID of your phone, simply open your phone's dialler and type *#06# to get its MEID number. The ESN or MEID is typically transmitted to the cellular company's Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO) in order to authenticate a device onto the mobile network. Modifying these, as well as the phone's Preferred Roaming List (PRL) and the mobile identification number, or MIN, can pave the way for fraudulent calls, as the target telephone is now a clone of the telephone from which the original ESN and MIN data were obtained.

GSM cloning

GSM cloning occurs by copying a secret key from the victim SIM card, typically not requiring any internal data from the handset (the phone itself).  GSM handsets do not have ESN or MIN, only an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number.  There are various methods used to obtain the IMEI. The most common method is to eavesdrop on a cellular network.

Older GSM SIM cards can be cloned by performing a cryptographic attack against the COMP128 authentication algorithm used by these older SIM cards. By connecting the SIM card to a computer, the authentication procedure be repeated many times in order to slowly leak information about the secret key. If this procedure is repeated enough times, it is possible to derive the Ki key. Later GSM SIMs have various mitigations built in, either by limiting the amount of authentications performed in a power on session, or by the manufacturer choosing resistant Ki keys. However if it is known that a resistant key was used, it is possible to speed up the attack by eliminating weak Ki keys from the pool of possible keys.

Effectiveness and legislation
Phone cloning is outlawed in the United States by the Wireless Telephone Protection Act of 1998, which prohibits "knowingly using, producing, trafficking in, having control or custody of, or possessing hardware or software knowing that it has been configured to insert or modify telecommunication identifying information associated with or contained in a telecommunications instrument so that such instrument may be used to obtain telecommunications service without authorization."

The effectiveness of phone cloning is limited. Every mobile phone contains a radio fingerprint in its transmission signal which remains unique to that mobile despite changes to the phone's ESN, IMEI, or MIN. Thus, cellular companies are often able to catch cloned phones when there are discrepancies between the fingerprint and the ESN, IMEI, or MIN.

See also
 Dual SIM
 International Mobile Equipment Identity
 Subscriber identity module

References

Fraud
Mobile technology

Phone cloning


Anne-Marie Rivier (19 December 1768 – 3 February 1838) was a French Catholic nun and the foundress of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary. Rivier's focus was on education and she opened a school just before the beginning of the French Revolution which saw her school confiscated. The end of the revolution allowed for her to resume her educational inclinations and she also founded her religious order to take care of the education of orphans and other children who needed education.

Her beatification process began in mid-1853 under Pope Pius IX who referred to her as "The Woman-Apostle" while naming her a Servant of God. Pope Leo XIII later named her to be Venerable in 1890 while Pope John Paul II later beatified her in 1982. She was canonized by Pope Francis on 15 May 2022 in Rome.

Life
Anne-Marie Rivier (known as Marinette to her parents) was born on 19 December 1768 in Montpezat-sous-Bauzon in Ardèche as the third of four children to Jean Rivier and his wife. Her baptism was celebrated that month before Christmas with her grandmother acting as her sponsor. Her mother died in 1793.

Sixteen months after her birth in late April 1770 she suffered an accident that resulted in a broken hip and ankle to the point that she would be unable to walk; she started to crawl in order to compensate for a total lack of movement. Until she turned five her mother took her to the local shrine - the "Chapel of the Penitents" - where she would spend hours in silent reflection before a representation of the Pietà. On 8 September 1774 she found that she was able to walk albeit with the help of crutches though would suffer from rickets and in her adulthood stood at four feet and four inches. For someone who had been unable to walk up until this stage it was in itself something of a miracle; her strength would return over time despite not being strong due to this. In 1785 she applied to join the Sisters of Notre Dame in Pradelles but was turned down due to her poor health. But she was undeterred and instead established a school in her home town in 1786.

The nation soon experienced the trauma of the French Revolution; all religious congregations were suppressed and acts of religious expression was viewed with suspicion. But she held fast to her belief in Jesus Christ and to the living-out of that faith; when there was no priest available to celebrate the Eucharist she would hold special services and she continued to teach about the Bible and other matters of faith. She had a particular devotion to Saint Francis Xavier and Saint Francis Regis.

In 1794 the authorities confiscated the building in which the school was run and Rivier and her companions moved to the town of Thueyts where Father Luigi Pontanier provided them support (he was a member of the Society of Saint-Sulpice). It was in the attic of the new school that - on 21 November 1796 - the five women dedicated themselves to God which was the formal foundation of her new religious order. The group pledged themselves to teaching and began working with orphans and visiting people in their homes. In 1797 the group had increased to twelve and the women made their religious professions on 21 November 1797. The Concordat of 1801 allowed for religion to be practiced once more in France and the fledgling congregation grew as a result of this. Due to the rapid increase in membership the motherhouse was moved to larger premises in Bourg-Saint-Andéol in 1815. In 1805 the order received a blessing and encouragement from Pope Pius VII who was crossing France to go back to Rome. She and several others were vested in the habit for the first time on 21 November 1807.

Rivier died in 1838 and she had suffered from dropsy towards the end of her life. In 2005 her order had 1352 religious in 189 houses in nations such as Ireland and the Philippines. The order received the decree of praise (before her death) on 6 May 1836 from Pope Gregory XVI while Pope Pius X issued full pontifical approval for her congregation on 23 May 1909. But it also received the approval needed from the government of King Charles X on 29 May 1830.

Veneration
The beatification process started under Pope Pius IX (who once called her "The Woman Apostle") and she became titled as a Servant of God on 12 May 1853. The confirmation of her heroic virtue led Pope Leo XIII to name Rivier as Venerable on 13 June 1890. The confirmation of a miracle attributed to her allowed for Pope John Paul II to preside over her beatification on 23 May 1982.

Rivier was canonized on 15 May 2022 by Pope Francis.

References

External links
 Hagiography Circle
 Black Cordelias

1768 births
1838 deaths
18th-century venerated Christians
18th-century French nuns
19th-century venerated Christians
19th-century French nuns
Beatifications by Pope John Paul II
Canonizations by Pope Francis
Founders of Catholic religious communities
French beatified people
Venerated Catholics
French women educators

Anne-Marie Rivier


Government House, Auckland is the secondary official residence of the governor-general of New Zealand located in Auckland, New Zealand. The property is situated in the Auckland suburb of Mount Eden on Mountain Road.

The building was erected in the 1920s as a private residence for Frank Mappin. Its construction required the demolition of another structure from the late-19th century. The Mappin family continued to own the residence until 1962, when they gave it to the Crown. The property has served as the official residence of the governor-general since 1969, following the departure of the Mappin family from property.

Government House, Auckland is the not the first property to serve as viceregal official residence in Auckland. The first Government House built in Auckland was completed in 1841, and was used as the residence for the governor of New Zealand until it burned down in 1848. Several other residences in Auckland were used to house the governor before Old Government House was completed in 1856. The present Government House replaced Old Government House as the governor-general's residence in Auckland in 1969.

History

Earlier Government Houses

The first Government House of Auckland was a prefabricated structure brought out by William Hobson in 1841. It was erected in Waterloo Quadrant and burned down in 1848 during George Grey's first period as governor. The decision to rebuild was delayed, probably due to the possibility of the capital being moved to Wellington (which is what transpired in 1864). During the interim period other houses acted as Government House; the Nathan Residence on Karangahape Road, Colonel Wynyard's house in Official Bay and Hulme Court in Parnell.

The replacement Government House by William Mason was not completed until 1856. It served as the Governor's Auckland residence until 1969, when it was superseded by Birchlands in Mount Eden. Now known as Old Government House, the 1856 Italianate Mansion is now part of the University of Auckland City Campus and has been converted into lecture theatres and a common room for faculty.  the building was in a poor state of repair.

Present Government House

Private residence
The site was probably first built upon in the 1880s or 1890s, although some of the trees may be slightly older, dating from the 1870s. Sir Frank Mappin, 6th Baronet and his wife Lady Mappin bought the Mount Eden property in 1921. They replaced the existing 19th century house completely, and spent the next 45 years developing and landscaping the grounds. They called the house Birchlands after a previous residence in Britain.

The Mappins decided to present the residence to the Crown to act as the new Government House. The recent Royal Tour in 1953 had highlighted many deficiencies in the Waterloo Quadrant building; the mid-Victorian structure was showing its age, and it felt increasingly hemmed in by the growing city and University and thus a possible security risk.

Acquisition by the Crown

The Mount Eden property was given to the Crown in 1962, although the Mappins did not depart until 1969. The deed of gift, signed by Sir Frank, and Prime Minister Keith Holyoake on 23 May that year declares that "the donor [was] moved by his duty and loyalty to Her Majesty and by a desire to benefit her present and future subjects in New Zealand by the provision of a site of dignity and beauty for the residence in Auckland for Her Majesty's Representative in New Zealand". The deed states the property is given "upon trust for Her Majesty her heirs and successors according to law as a site for Government House in Auckland for ever ..". Republican Brian Rudman suggested that the House would have to be returned to the descendants of Sir Frank should New Zealand become a republic.

See also
 Government Houses of New Zealand
 Government Houses of the British Empire and Commonwealth

References

External links

Official residences in New Zealand
Buildings and structures in Auckland
Government Houses of the British Empire and Commonwealth
1920s architecture in New Zealand
1920s establishments in New Zealand
Albert-Eden Local Board Area

Government House, Auckland


Hyacinthe Sigismond Gerdil, CRSP (23 June 1718 – 12 August 1802) was an Italian theologian, bishop and cardinal, who was a significant figure in the response of the papacy to the assault on the Catholic Church by the upheavals caused by the French Revolution.

Life

Early life
Jean-François Gerdil was born in 1718 at Samoëns in the Duchy of Savoy to Pierre Gerdil, a notary, and Françoise Perrier, a native of Taninges. When 15 years old, he joined the Barnabites at Annecy, taking the name Hyacinthe Sigismond. He was sent to Bologna to pursue his theological studies; also having an interest in the sciences, he devoted his mind to the various branches of knowledge with great success. While he improved his command of Italian, he came the attention of Propero Lambertini, Archbishop of Bologna, later Pope Benedict XIV, who used the young seminarian to translate French texts.

After Gerdil had completed his initial studies in 1738, he was assigned to teach philosophy first at the Barnabite college in Macerata, then at the school at Casale Monferrato (1739-1748). During this period, in 1741, he was ordained to the priesthood. By 1749, the range and quality of his writings led to his induction by various scientific and literary societies across Europe, ranging from the Bologna Institute of Sciences and the Royal Society of London to the Accademia degli Arcadi in Rome. That same year he was appointed as professor of philosophy at the University of Turin, transferring to the teach of moral theology in 1754.

In 1758, upon the recommendation of Pope Benedict XIV, Gerdil was chosen as the tutor of the Prince of Piedmont, afterwards King Charles Emmanuel IV. He left his teaching position at the university the following year to deal with his other responsibilities. In 1764 he was elected the Provincial Superior of the Barnabites in Savoy and the Piedmont. In 1768 he was chosen as the tutor of the sons of his previous student, now the King of Sardinia.

Cardinalate

Gerdil was designated a cardinal in petto in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV, but that pope died before his appointment could be made public. He was appointed as a consultor to the Holy Office in 1776 by Pope Pius VI, moving to Rome, where he took a residence next to the General Motherhouse of the Barnabite Order at the Church of San Carlo ai Catinari. The King of Sardinia named him the commendatory abbot of the Abbey of San Michele della Chiusa in January 1777. He carried out his supervision of the distant abbey from Rome through correspondence, devoting much of the benefice he gained to the help of the poor.

In March of that same year, Gerdil was appointed the bishop of the titular see of Dibona, and was consecrated at the Barnabite church by Cardinal Marcantonio Colonna, the Vicar General of Rome. The following June he again named a cardinal in petto by Pope Pius, receiving the red hat on 18 December 1777 and the titular church of San Giovanni a Porta Latina on 30 March 1778. The pope also appointed him to various congregations of the Roman Curia, including that of Prefect of the Propaganda Fide.

Gerdil changed his title to that of the Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. He served briefly as the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church (1786-1787).

Gerdil was member of the committee of cardinals which examined and refined the text of the response against the Puntuazione di Ems, issued by the archbishops of Germany in which they defied papal authority. From 1790 to 1794, he was member of the committee  which prepared the final draft of the papal bull, Auctorem fidei (28 August 1794), which condemned the propositions of the Synod of Pistoia, a similar stand by the bishops of Tuscany. During those four years, he was also president of the particular congregation charged with the preparation of the papal documents which condemned the French Civil Constitution of the Clergy, the Civic Oath imposed to the French clergy in 1798, and other acts imposed on the Church by Revolutionary France.

After the invasion of Rome by the French Revolutionary Army in February 1798 the pope fled to Siena, while Gerdil fled to his Abbey of San Michele. After the death of Pope Pius in 1799, he would likely have been elected pope at the conclave of Venice in 1800, had not his election been vetoed by Cardinal Franziskus Herzan von Harras, in the name of Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor.

After the conclave accompanied the new pope, Pius VII, to Rome, where he resumed his posts in the Curia, still being fit and active, despite being past the age of 80. After a brief illness he died at the Barnabite motherhouse and was buried in the Church of San Carlo ai Catinari.

Works
Gerdil's numerous works written in Latin, Italian, and French on various subjects of dogmatic and moral theology, canon law, philosophy, pedagogy, history, physical and natural sciences, etc., form twenty volumes in quarto (ed. Rome, 1806–1821). Among the most important are: "L'Immortalité de l'âme démontrée contre Locke et défense du P. Malebranche contre ce philosophe" (Turin, 1747–48), 2 vols.; "Réflexions sur la théorie et la pratique de l'éducation contre les principes de J.-J. Rousseau" (Turin, 1765), reprinted in a new edition under the title "Anti-Emile"; "Exposition des caractères de la vraie religion", written in Italian (translated into French, Paris, 1770), etc.

Gerdil's works were written especially for the defence of spiritual philosophy against materialism, of supernatural religion against Deism, of the supreme authority of the pope against Febronianism and the Synod of Pistoia.

References

For further reading
Gerdil, Giacinto Sigismondo. Opere edite e inedite.  .  Volume 1. Napoli: Tip. del Diogene, 1853.  Vol. 2 (1854). Vol. 3 (1854). Vol. 4 (1855).
Piantoni, Giovanni (1851). Vita del cardinale Giacinto Sigismondo Gerdil Barnabita e analisi di tutte le stampate sue opere. . Roma: Salviucci, 1851.
Stella, Pietro (2000). "Gerdil, Giacinto Sigismondo."  . In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Volume 53 (2000).
Yolton, John W. (1984). Thinking Matter: Materialism in Eighteenth-Century Britain. Minneapolis: U. of Minnesota Press 1984. Pp. 24-26.

1718 births
1802 deaths
18th-century people from Savoy
Members of the Barnabite Order
Academic staff of the University of Turin
18th-century Italian Roman Catholic theologians
Italian Roman Catholic titular bishops
18th-century Italian cardinals
Members of the Holy Office
Members of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith
Members of the Sacred Congregation of Rites
Camerlengos of the Holy Roman Church
Cardinals created by Pope Pius VI
19th-century Italian cardinals

Hyacinthe Sigismond Gerdil


Andrej Jelenc (born 8 July 1963 in Ljubljana) is a former whitewater canoeist from Slovenia.

During his competitive career, Jelenc won one gold, one silver, and one bronze medal at World Championships in individual events. In team events, he won one gold, two silver and three bronze medals. For these achievements, Jelenc was named the Slovenian sportsman of the year in 1989.

Following the end of his sporting career, he continued to work as a coach for junior teams and then in the senior national team. For his work, he was awarded the Bloudek award, which is the highest sporting award in Slovenia. He was also accepted to Slovenian Athletes Hall of Fame in 2013.

References

1963 births
Living people
Slovenian male canoeists
Sportspeople from Ljubljana

Andrej Jelenc


The Duisburg-Wedau–Bottrop Süd railway is a railway used only for freight in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It runs from the former Duisburg-Wedau freight yard as well as from the Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd freight yard via Oberhausen West freight yard to Bottrop Süd freight yard. The railway connects these and many other important lines in Duisburg, Oberhausen and Bottrop. In particular, it provides a connection to the Duisburg and Ruhrort river ports.

Strictly speaking, the four-track railway on the eastern outskirts of Duisburg is used by a total of three different routes from the Lotharstraße overpass in Duisburg-Neudorf to the overpass over Obermeidericher Straße in Duisburg-Obermeiderich, running largely parallel with Autobahn 3.

At Walzwerk junction (northeast of Oberhausen and Oberhausen West freight yard) the line infrastructure (VzG) numbers change. All six VzG routes are now classified as main lines, have two tracks and are electrified.

History

After the Prussian state railways had taken over all the major private railway companies in the 1880s, the various rail networks had to be integrated effectively. Although networks of the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (CME), the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (BME) and the Rhenish Railway Company (RhE) were quite connected, at times the lines were separated and elsewhere they ran parallel. After the nationalisation, many lines had repeated connections but could not be operated optimally.

The RhE's Troisdorf–Mülheim-Speldorf railway ran parallel to the Cologne–Duisburg railway built by the CME and connected with Duisburg station (now called Duisburg Hauptbahnhof) before its nationalisation. From there, the RhE's Duisburg–Quakenbrück railway ran towards Oberhausen again roughly parallel to the Duisburg–Dortmund railway (and the Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg railway) of the CME.

Since both lines of the RhE had never had great importance for passenger services, these are now used mainly for freight and the Oberhausen West passenger station (formerly Oberhausen RhE station) was closed before 1897, with passenger services being transferred to the CME lines.

A freight yard was built in place of the former Rhenish station, which had several ladder crossovers and more than seventy shunting and sorting tracks. On 1 June 1891, a new connection was created to the Oberhausen-Osterfeld Süd freight yard on the Duisburg-Ruhrort–Dortmund railway (formerly CME).

Then, on 1 October 1901, a completely new, two-track line was taken into operation on the eastern outskirts of Duisburg, running directly from Duisburg-Wedau freight yard to Düssern junction (now Sigle junction) to avoid through freight trains going through Duisburg station.

Ten years later, the bypass line was extended parallel to the existing line to Oberhausen West as a double-track line, at the same time an additional double-track line was opened from Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd freight yard to Düssern junction on 17 September 1911. Thus, the line between Lotharstraße junction and Walzwerk junction now had four tracks.

Current situation

Electrification of the lines was completed on 27 May 1962. Oberhausen West freight yard today consists of a receiving yard lying to the east, a marshalling yard, and departure yard and a connecting yard with the tracks of the private railway, Eisenbahn und Häfen GmbH (DK).

The Oro and Orm (Fdl) signal boxes control the receiving yard, Orm and Stw 2 boxes control the marshalling yard, Orm and Orw boxes control the departure yard, Orm and DK boxes control the DK area. The R1 signal box controls the hump. Signal box 1 at the west of the station controls scheduled train services towards the port of Duisburg-Ruhrort, Duisburg-Meiderich, Duisburg-Ruhrtal and Stw 2 and Orw signal boxes at Oberhausen West.

From 1998 to 2006 the "Oberhausen node" was completely transformed. The four-track entry and exit from Oberhausen West Oro signal box to Walzwerk junction was reduced to two tracks and connected to the Oberhausen–Arnhem railway (Holland line). The link to Oberhausen Hbf Obo was reduced to a single track.

The Mathilde–Oberhausen West Oro–Oberhausen Hbf curve was removed and attached by a single track to the Holland line. In the opposite direction the connection to Oberhausen West from the Holland line to Oberhausen West freight yard became a tangent at Oro junction. Trains from Ruhrtal junction from the port of Duisburg-Ruhrort and Duisburg-Beeck go towards Oberhausen Hbf Obo and then reach Oberhausen West from the east; in the opposite direction the tracks are still connected directly at Mathilde junction.

At the end of the 1990s, a link was built from Ruhrtal junction to Duisburg-Ruhrort port freight yard, the "south curve", which allows direct access to the port freight yard from the south. Trains no longer have to reverse at Oberhausen West. A new single-track bridge was built over the Rhine-Herne Canal for this connection.

The line speed is generally 80 km/h, but in places it is 70 km/h, 60 km/h or 40 km/h.

In December 2006, the Duisburg electronic signalling centre at Duisburg Wedau was put into operation. Two local dispatchers control operations on the Tiefenbroich–Duisburg-Wedau and the Duisburg-Mannesmann–Mülheim (Ruhr)-Speldorf sections.

In the summer of 2008, the Mathilde signal box took over control of the departure yard from Duirburg-Ruhrort port station. All other DB signal boxes there are now closed and replaced by electrically operated points. A signal box at Duirburg port remains in operation.

Remodeling of the tracks around Oberhausen West yard is continuing and will take years to complete.

Notes

External links

Railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia
Railway lines opened in 1901
1901 establishments in Germany
Transport in Duisburg

Duisburg-Wedau–Bottrop Süd railway


James Ernest Elder Wills (1900–1970) was a British person who had a lengthy career in the film industry.

He mainly worked as an art director, but he also worked in other roles, including director.

Films he was involved in include Tiger Bay, The Quatermass Xperiment, and The Men of Sherwood Forest.

He was a colonel during the Second World War who worked in I.S.R.B. designing, signing and building camouflaged explosive devices for agents operating against the Germans and Japanese. The story he wrote for the film Against the Wind was based upon his wartime experiences.

Selected filmography
 The First Mrs. Fraser (1932) - Art Director
 Holiday Lovers (1932) - Art Director
 Tiger Bay (1934) - Director
 Honeymoon for Three (1935) - Art Director
 Everything in Life (1936) - Director
 Sporting Love (1936) - Director
 Song of Freedom (1936) - Director
 Big Fella (1937) - Director
 Look Before You Love (1948) - Art Director
 Against the Wind (1948) - Story and Art Director
 The Men of Sherwood Forest (1954) - Art Director
 The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) - Art Director

References

External links

British film directors
1900 births
1970 deaths

J. Elder Wills


T&C Surf Designs II: Thrilla's Surfari is a sequel to Town & Country Surf Designs: Wood & Water Rage for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) video game system.

Gameplay

The game features Thrilla Gorilla, a surfing/skateboarding mascot of the company, Town & Country Surf Designs, on a quest to save his girlfriend (Barbie Bikini) who has been kidnapped by a witch doctor named Wazula, as you find out in the opening scenes. Unlike the original game, which is set in Hawaii, the sequel is set in Africa. The game features levels such as jungles, deserts, waterfalls, rivers, and submerged caverns. Thrilla rides a skateboard through the jungle and desert levels, a surfboard through the river and waterfall levels, and a shark in the submerged cavern levels.

Gameplay involves steering Thrilla around obstacles, over pits and past creatures while collecting coconuts used in the shell game to gain extra lives, bananas to gain extra life, and powerups such as the handstand powerup which grants temporary invulnerability to all manners of danger but pitfalls. Enemies include elephants, giraffes, giant spiders, carnivorous plants, spear-wielding humans, snakes, electric eels, and many others.

References

External links
 Town & Country II: Thrilla's Surfari at UV List

1992 video games
Advergames
LJN games
Multiple-sport video games
Nintendo Entertainment System games
Nintendo Entertainment System-only games
North America-exclusive video games
Side-scrolling video games
Video game sequels
Video games set in Africa
Skateboarding video games
Surfing video games
Water sports video games
Video games about primates
Video games developed in the United States

Town & Country II: Thrilla's Surfari


The Medal of Military Merit () is a military decoration of Greece. It was originally created in 1916 for wartime meritorious service, but post-World War II became a peace-time medal reserved for officers. After the abolition of the Greek monarchy in 1974, its design was slightly altered.

History

The medal was created as the Military Medal (Στρατιωτικόν Μετάλλιον) by the National Defence Government on 28 October 1916, during the National Schism, and was adopted as the Medal of Military Merit nationwide by Royal Decree on 30 June 1917. Originally the medal had four classes, with the third, second and first classes distinguished respectively by a bronze, silver and gilded laurel wreath on the ribbon, while the fourth class was plain.

Appearance

Its design, by the French sculptor André Rivaud who also designed the 1916 War Cross, was similar to the current version, a copper cross pattée concave with the arms filled, enclosed in a laurel wreath and with two crossed short swords superimposed. The cross's arms bear the legend ΑΜΥΝΕΣΘΑΙ ΠΕΡΙ ΠΑΤΡΗΣ ("Defending the fatherland", a quote of Hector from the Iliad). The 1916 version had a phoenix rising from its ashes in the center, while the post-1974 version substitutes the national emblem of Greece. The 1916 version bore the legend ΕΛΛΑΣ 1916–1917 ("Greece 1916–1917") on the reverse (although some medals omit the date or the inscription altogether), while the current version bears the legend ΓΙΑ ΣΤΡΑΤΙΩΤΙΚΗ ΑΞΙΑ ("For Military Merit"). The 1916 version was suspended by a yellow ribbon with two black stripes, while the current version's ribbon has three equal blue-white-blue stripes, edged with yellow. When worn as a ribbon bar, the circular wreaths were substituted by branches. Due to the scarcity of officially sanctioned devices in the period 1916–1922, awardees often made use of similar devices from other medals, especially the French Croix de Guerre. The 1974 version has only three classes, distinguished by a bronze, silver and gilded laurel branches. The 3rd class is reserved for lower officers, the second class for mid-level officers, and the first class for flag ranks.

References

External links
 1916/17 version at Medals of the World
 1974 version at Medals of the World
 George J. Beldecos, Hellenic Orders, Decorations and Medals, pub. Hellenic War Museum, Athens 1991,

Military awards and decorations of Greece
1916 establishments in Greece
Awards established in 1916

Medal of Military Merit (Greece)


The forests of Azerbaijan have 150 endemic species of trees and bushes out of a total of 435 species of trees and bushes.

The total forest area of Azerbaijan is 1,021,880 ha or 11.8% of the country's area. The forest biomes are made up of temperate deciduous forests, temperate mixed deciduous and coniferous forests, temperate coniferous forests and riparian forests. Specialists estimate that in the 8th-9th centuries the forest cover was around 30-35%, most of it is in mountainous areas.

While as a whole, Azerbaijan is a country with modest forest cover, the forest cover is unevenly spread across the country. In the low-lying areas, the forest cover is very sparse, also due to the fact that the precipitation is too low for trees and forests to grow in most of these areas; whereas in many mountainous areas, the forest cover is much greater especially in wetter areas.

49% of the country's forests are located in the Greater Caucasus Mountains, 34% in the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, 15% in the Talysh Mountains-Lankaran Lowland region, 2% in the Kur-Araz Lowland, and 0.5% in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

The forests are classified into two major ecoregions in Azerbaijan: the Caucasus mixed forests of the Greater Caucasus Mountains and the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, and the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests of the Talysh Mountains-Lankaran Lowland region.

Azerbaijan has many endemic tree and shrub species, relicts of the Tertiary period which were not affected by Pliocene and Pleistocene glaciations.

References

Other websites

 Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan geography-related lists

Forests of Azerbaijan


A bully is someone responsible for bullying, using aggression to intimidate or dominate others.

Bully may also refer to:

Animals
 American Bully, a breed of dog
 Bull Terrier or bully, a breed of dog
 Gobiomorphus or bully, an Australian and New Zealand genus of fish

Film and television

Film
The Bully, a 1918 film produced by Ebony Film Corporation
 Bullies (film), a 1986 Canadian film
 Bully (2001 film), an American film by Larry Clark
 Bully (2011 film), an American documentary about bullying
 Bully (2017 film), an American musical featurette

Television
 "Bully" (The Brak Show), a 2002 episode
 "Bully" (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), a 2011 episode
 "Bully" (New Girl), a 2012 episode
 "Bully", an episode of the TV series Heartstopper
 "Bullies" (The Newsroom), a 2012 episode
 "The Bully" (Kate & Allie), a 1986 episode
 "The Bully" (SpongeBob SquarePants), a 2001 episode
 Bully, the mascot of the British game show Bullseye

Music
 Bully (band), an American rock band
 Bully, an album by Sugarbomb, 2001

Songs
 "Bully" (song), by Shinedown, 2012
 "Bully", by Eminem from Straight from the Lab, 2003
 "Bully", by Gob from Foot in Mouth Disease, 2003
 "Bully", by Judie Tzuke from Secret Agent, 1998
 "Bully", by Three Days Grace from Life Starts Now, 2009
 "The Bully", by Sia from Colour the Small One, 2004

People with the nickname
 Wally Bullington (1931–2018), American college football player and coach
 Big Bully Busick (1954–2018), American police officer turned professional wrestler
 Bully Dawson (fl. 17th century), English gambler
 Bully Gilstrap (fl. mid-20th century), American college athlete and coach
 Bully Hayes (1827/9–1877), American slaver and sea captain
 Michael Herbig (born 1968), German film director, actor and author
 Gray Maynard (born 1979), American mixed martial artist
 William T. Van de Graaff (1895–1977), American college football player and coach
 Robert Waterman (sea captain) (1808–1884), American merchant sea captain

Places
 Bully, Loire, France
 Bully, Rhône, France
 Bully, Seine-Maritime, France
 Bully-les-Mines, France
 Bully Creek (Malheur River tributary), Oregon, US

Sports
 Bully (mascot), mascot of the Mississippi State University Bulldogs athletics teams
 Columbus Bullies, a professional American football team 1938–1942
 Jacksonville Bullies, a professional indoor lacrosse team 2012

Surname
 Alwin Bully (1948–2023), Dominican cultural administrator, playwright, designer of national flag

Other uses
 Bully (video game), a 2006 action-adventure game
 The Bully: A Discussion and Activity Story, a 2003 children's book by Rita Y. Toews
 The Bully, a 2002 novel in The Bluford Series
 Bully beef, a type of salt-cured beef product
 Sideroxylon, or bully trees
 Volkswagen Type 2, a panel van nicknamed "Bully"

See also
 Bulley (disambiguation)

Nicknames

Bully (disambiguation)


The Municipal Finance Corporation —Spanish: Corporación de Financiamiento Municipal (COFIM)— is a government-owned corporation of Puerto Rico that issues government bonds
and uses other financing mechanisms to pay or refinance, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, the debts of the municipalities of Puerto Rico payable or backed by the Puerto Rican municipal sales and use tax. The corporation is an affiliate of the Government Development Bank and is identical to COFINA, save that its funds come from the municipal aspect of the sales tax rather than from the state one.

References

Government-owned corporations of Puerto Rico
Public debt of Puerto Rico
Taxation in Puerto Rico

COFIM