Tiempos del Mundo was a Spanish-language print newspaper that started publication in Washington, D.C. in 1996 by News World Communications, an international news media corporation owned at the time by the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon.

Tiempos del mundo was published simultaneously in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The publications merged to form an online publication Tiempos del Mundo. The online website was then eventually merged with UPI.com, the website of United Press International.

References

American news websites
Online newspapers with defunct print editions
Spanish-language newspapers
Newspapers established in 1996

Tiempos del Mundo


Monolopia major is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name cupped monolopia.

Distribution
Monolopia major is endemic to Central California with known extant populations in the Inner North Coast Ranges and Inner South Coast Ranges. The species is frequently confused with Monolopia lanceolata, with the two being very similar in appearance. The two can be distinguished by M. major having fused phyllaries  - fused into a cup; most obvious at after senescence and fruits have dispersed. In comparison, M. lanceolata has free phyllaries. Due to woolly hairs on the phyllaries obscuring the free phyllary margins, they may appear fused, but gentle separation reveals that they are free. Other differences in the species are that the rays of M. major appear a pure, vibrant yellow, whereas the rays of M. lanceolata are a lighter yellow that often appears faded near the tips.

Monolopia major has very high to strict edaphic affinity for clay soils, particularly vertic clay (smectite; montmorillonite) soils. M. lanceolata typically may grow on all soil textures from sandy to clayey, but M. major only grows on clayey soils. M. major appears to only occur where average annual precipitation is greater than about 11 inches per year (chaparral, blue oak woodland), whereas M. lanceolata can occur at average annual precipitation greater than 11 inches per year, but also at precipitation levels as low as 6 inches per year (San Joaquin Valley Desert; saltbrush scrub). Most known large populations of M. major are distributed around San Benito Mountain in southern San Benito County.

Description
Monolopia major is an annual herb producing a slender, sometimes branching stem up to about 80 centimeters tall. It is usually somewhat woolly in texture.

The inflorescences at the ends of stem branches bear small hemispheric flower heads with fused phyllaries. The golden, yellow, or cream-colored ray florets are up to 2 centimeters long and have three-lobed tips. They surround a center of many disc florets.

The fruit is an achene about 2 to 4 millimeters long.

External links
Jepson Manual Treatment
USDA Plants Profile
Flora of North America
Photo gallery

Madieae
Endemic flora of California
Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
Natural history of the California Coast Ranges
Natural history of the Central Valley (California)
Natural history of the San Francisco Bay Area
Flora without expected TNC conservation status

Monolopia major


Elena Vasiliyevna Obraztsova (; 7 July 1939 – 12 January 2015) was a Russian mezzo-soprano. She said by some to be one of the greatest opera singers of all time because of her large stage presence and vocal talent. She won around fifteen award in her career.

Obraztsova was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). She also lived there during the siege in World War II from August 1941 until January 1943.

Obraztsova died on 12 January 2015 while having medical treatment in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany, aged 75.

References

Other websites

1939 births
2015 deaths
Russian opera singers
People from Saint Petersburg
Russian singers
Sopranos

Elena Obraztsova


In economics, the Laffer curve illustrates a theoretical relationship between rates of taxation and the resulting levels of the government's tax revenue. The Laffer curve assumes that no tax revenue is raised at the extreme tax rates of 0% and 100%, meaning that there is a tax rate between 0% and 100% that maximizes government tax revenue.

The shape of the curve is a function of taxable income elasticity—i.e., taxable income changes in response to changes in the rate of taxation. As popularized by supply-side economist Arthur Laffer, the curve is typically represented as a graph that starts at 0% tax with zero revenue, rises to a maximum rate of revenue at an intermediate rate of taxation, and then falls again to zero revenue at a 100% tax rate. However, the shape of the curve is uncertain and disputed among economists.

One implication of the Laffer curve is that increasing tax rates beyond a certain point is counter-productive for raising further tax revenue. Particularly in the United States, conservatives have used the Laffer curve to argue that lower taxes may increase tax revenue. However, the hypothetical maximum revenue point of the Laffer curve for any given market cannot be observed directly and can only be estimated—such estimates are often controversial. According to The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, estimates of revenue-maximizing income tax rates have varied widely, with a mid-range of around 70%.

The Laffer curve was popularized in the United States with policymakers following an afternoon meeting with Ford Administration officials Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld in 1974, in which Arthur Laffer reportedly sketched the curve on a napkin to illustrate his argument.  The term "Laffer curve" was coined by Jude Wanniski, who was also present at the meeting. The basic concept was not new; Laffer himself notes antecedents in the writings of the 14th-century social philosopher Ibn Khaldun and others.

History

Origin

Laffer states that he did not invent the concept, citing numerous antecedents, including the Muqaddimah by 14th-century Islamic scholar Ibn Khaldun, John Maynard Keynes and Adam Smith. Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury from 1921 to 1932, articulated a similar policy idea in 1924.

Laffer's name began to be associated with the idea after an article was published in National Affairs in 1978 that linked him to the idea. In the National Affairs article, Jude Wanniski recalled a 1974 dinner meeting at the Two Continents Restaurant in the Washington Hotel with Arthur Laffer, Wanniski, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and his deputy press secretary Grace-Marie Arnett. In this meeting, Laffer, arguing against President Gerald Ford's tax increase, reportedly sketched the curve on a napkin to illustrate the concept. Cheney did not accept the idea immediately, but it caught the imaginations of those present. Laffer professes no recollection of this napkin, but writes: "I used the so-called Laffer Curve all the time in my classes and with anyone else who would listen to me".

Economist John Quiggin distinguishes between the Laffer curve and Laffer's analysis of tax rates. According to Quiggin, the Laffer curve was "correct but unoriginal", but Laffer's analysis that the United States was to the right of the peak of the Laffer curve "was original but incorrect."

Precedents

There are historical precedents other than those cited by Laffer. Ferdinando Galiani wrote in Della Moneta (1751) that "It is an enormous error ... to believe that an impost always yields more revenue as it becomes heavier". He gave the example of a toll on late-night entry to a town which would be less remunerative if set unreasonably high.  David Hume expressed similar arguments in his essay Of Taxes in 1756, as did fellow Scottish economist Adam Smith twenty years later.

At the time of the Irish famine of the mid 1840s Edward Twisleton suggested that lower local taxes in Ireland would increase the amount of taxes successfully collected towards relief. An analysis of actual collection rates has indicated that areas with higher rates did collect a lesser proportion of the tax due.

The Democratic party embraced this argument in the 1880s when high revenue from import tariffs raised during the Civil War (1861–1865) led to federal budget surpluses. The Republican party, which was then based in the protectionist industrial Northeast, argued that cutting rates would lower revenues.

In 1924, Secretary of Treasury Andrew Mellon wrote: "It seems difficult for some to understand that high rates of taxation do not necessarily mean large revenue to the government, and that more revenue may often be obtained by lower rates". Exercising his understanding that "73% of nothing is nothing", he pushed for the reduction of the top income tax bracket from 73% to an eventual 24% (as well as tax breaks for lower brackets). Mellon was one of the wealthiest people in the United States, the third-highest income-tax payer in the mid-1920s, behind John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford. While he served as Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department his wealth peaked at around US$300–400 million. Personal income tax receipts rose from US$719 million in 1921 to over US$1 billion in 1929, an average increase of 4.2% per year over an 8-year period, which supporters attribute to the rate cut.

In 2012, economists surveyed by the University of Chicago rejected the viewpoint that the Laffer Curve's postulation of increased tax revenue through a rate cut applies to federal US income taxes of the time in the medium term. When asked whether a "cut in federal income tax rates in the US right now would raise taxable income enough so that the annual total tax revenue would be higher within five years than without the tax cut", none of the economists surveyed agreed and 71% disagreed. According to Harvard University economist Jeffrey Frankel, a substantial majority of economists reject the proposition that income taxes are so high in the United States that tax cuts will pay for themselves.

Empirical analysis

One of the conceptual uses of the Laffer curve is to determine the rate of taxation that will raise the maximum revenue (in other words, "optimizing" revenue collection). The revenue maximizing tax rate should not be confused with the optimal tax rate, which economists use to describe tax rates in a tax system that raises a given amount of revenue with the fewest distortions to the economy.

In 2017, Jacob Lundberg of the Uppsala University estimated Laffer curves for 27 OECD countries, with top income-tax rates maximising tax revenue ranging from 60 to 61% (Austria, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden) to 74–76% (Germany, Switzerland, UK, US).
Most countries appear to have set their highest tax rates below the peak rate, while five countries are exceeding it (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Sweden).

Writing in 2010, John Quiggin said, "To the extent that there was an economic response to the Reagan tax cuts, and to those of George W. Bush twenty years later, it seems largely to have been a Keynesian demand-side response, to be expected when governments provide households with additional net income in the context of a depressed economy." A 1999 study by University of Chicago economist Austan Goolsbee, which examined major changes in high income tax rates in the United States from the 1920s onwards found no evidence that the United States was to the right of the peak of the Laffer curve.

Income tax rate at which revenue is maximized

In the early 1980s, Edgar L. Feige and Robert T. McGee developed a macroeconomic model from which they derived a Laffer curve. According to the model, the shape and position of the Laffer Curve depend upon the strength of supply side effects, the progressivity of the tax system and the size of the unobserved economy. Economist Paul Pecorino presented a model in 1995 that predicted the peak of the Laffer curve occurred at tax rates around 65%. A draft paper by Y. Hsing looking at the United States economy between 1959 and 1991 placed the revenue-maximizing average federal tax rate between 32.67% and 35.21%. A 1981 article published in the Journal of Political Economy presented a model integrating empirical data that indicated that the point of maximum tax revenue in Sweden in the 1970s would have been 70%. A 2011 study by Trabandt and Uhlig published in the Journal of Monetary Economics estimated a 70% revenue maximizing rate, and estimated that the US and most European economies were on the left of the Laffer curve (in other words, that raising taxes would raise further revenue). A 2005 study concluded that with the exception of Sweden, no major OECD country could increase revenue by reducing the marginal tax rate.

The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics reports that a comparison of academic studies yields a range of revenue maximizing rates that centers around 70%.

Taxation of goods and services

The Laffer curve has also been extended to taxation of goods and services. In their 2018 Econometrica paper, Miravete, Seim, and Thurk, show that in non-competitive markets, the strategic pricing response of firms is important to consider when estimating the Laffer curve. The authors show that firms increase their prices in response to a decrease in the ad valorem tax, leading to less of a quantity increase than would otherwise be expected. The net effect is to flatten the Laffer curve and move the revenue maximum point to the right.

Congressional Budget Office analysis
In 2005, the United States Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a paper called "Analyzing the Economic and Budgetary Effects of a 10 Percent Cut in Income Tax Rates." This paper considered the impact of a stylized reduction of 10% in the then existing marginal rate of federal income tax in the US (for example, if those facing a 25% marginal federal income tax rate had it lowered to 22.5%). Unlike earlier research, the CBO paper estimates the budgetary impact of possible macroeconomic effects of tax policies, that is, it attempts to account for how reductions in individual income tax rates might affect the overall future growth of the economy, and therefore influence future government tax revenues; and ultimately, impact deficits or surpluses. In the paper's most generous estimated growth scenario, only 28% of the projected lost revenue from the lower tax rate would be recouped over a 10-year period after a 10% across-the-board reduction in all individual income tax rates. In other words, deficits would increase by nearly the same amount as the tax cut in the first five years, with limited feedback revenue thereafter. Through increased budget deficits, the tax cuts primarily benefiting the wealthy will be paid for—plus interest—by taxes borne relatively evenly by all taxpayers. The paper points out that these projected shortfalls in revenue would have to be made up by federal borrowing: the paper estimates that the federal government would pay an extra US$200 billion in interest over the decade covered by the paper's analysis. In 2019, economists at the Joint Committee on Taxation revisited the macroeconomic and budgetary response to the stylized 10% reduction in statutory ordinary income tax rates, but from the levels set by P.L. 115-97. While incorporating additional tax detail within the modeling framework relative to previous analyses, the paper similarly estimates that this policy change would result in increased budget deficits - both in the short- and long-run - after accounting for revenue feedback from macroeconomic changes.

United Kingdom
Following the reduction of the top rate of income tax in the UK from 50% to 45% in 2013, HMRC estimated the cost of the tax reduction to be about £100 million (out of an income for this group of around £90 billion), but with large uncertainty on both sides. Robert Chote, the chairman of the UK Office for Budget Responsibility commented that Britain was "strolling across the summit of the Laffer curve", implying that UK tax rates had been close to the optimum rate.

Other
Laffer has presented the examples of Russia and the Baltic states, which instituted a flat tax with rates lower than 35% around the same time that their economies started growing. He has similarly referred to the economic outcome of the Kemp-Roth tax cuts, the Kennedy tax cuts, the 1920s tax cuts, and the changes in US capital gains tax structure in 1997. Some have also cited Hauser's Law, which postulates that US federal revenues, as a percentage of GDP, have remained stable at approximately 19.5% over the period 1950 to 2007 despite changes in marginal tax rates over the same period. Others however, have called Hauser's Law "misleading" and contend that tax changes have had large effects on tax revenues.

More recently, based on Laffer curve arguments, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback greatly reduced state tax rates in 2012 in what has been called the Kansas experiment. Laffer was paid $75,000 to advise in the creation of Brownback's tax cut plan, and gave Brownback his full endorsement, stating that what Brownback was doing was "truly revolutionary." The state, which had previously had a budget surplus, experienced a budget deficit of about $200 million in 2012. Drastic cuts to state funding for education and infrastructure followed before the tax cut was repealed in 2017 by a bipartisan super majority in the Kansas legislature.

In US political discourse
Supply-side economics rose in popularity among Republican Party politicians from 1977 onwards. Prior to 1977, Republicans were more split on tax reduction, with some worrying that tax cuts would fuel inflation and exacerbate deficits.

Use in supply-side economics

Supply-side economics is a school of macroeconomic thought that argues that overall economic well-being is maximized by lowering the barriers to producing goods and services (the "Supply Side" of the economy). By lowering such barriers, consumers are thought to benefit from a greater supply of goods and services at lower prices. Typical supply-side policy would advocate generally lower income tax and capital gains tax rates (to increase the supply of labor and capital), smaller government and a lower regulatory burden on enterprises (to lower costs). Although tax policy is often mentioned in relation to supply-side economics, supply-side economists are concerned with all impediments to the supply of goods and services and not just taxation.

In their economics textbook Principles of Economics (7th edition), economists Karl E. Case of Wellesley College and Ray Fair of Yale University state "The Laffer curve shows the relationship between tax rates and tax revenues. Supply-side economists use it to argue that it is possible to generate higher revenues by cutting tax rates, but evidence does not appear to support this."

Reaganomics

The Laffer curve and supply-side economics inspired Reaganomics and the Kemp-Roth Tax Cut of 1981. Supply-side advocates of tax cuts claimed that lower tax rates would generate more tax revenue because the United States government's marginal income tax rates prior to the legislation were on the right-hand side of the curve. This assertion was derided by George H. W. Bush as "voodoo economics" while running against Reagan for the Presidential nomination in 1980. During the Reagan presidency, the top marginal rate of tax in the United States fell from 70% to 28%.

David Stockman, Ronald Reagan's budget director during his first administration and one of the early proponents of supply-side economics, was concerned that the administration did not pay enough attention to cutting government spending. He maintained that the Laffer curve was not to be taken literally—at least not in the economic environment of the 1980s United States. In The Triumph of Politics, he writes: "[T]he whole California gang had taken [the Laffer curve] literally (and primitively). The way they talked, they seemed to expect that once the supply-side tax cut was in effect, additional revenue would start to fall, manna-like, from the heavens. Since January, I had been explaining that there is no literal Laffer curve." Stockman also said that "Laffer wasn't wrong, he just didn't go far enough" (in paying attention to government spending).

Some have criticized elements of Reaganomics on the basis of equity. For example, economist John Kenneth Galbraith believed that the Reagan administration actively used the Laffer curve "to lower taxes on the affluent". Some critics point out that tax revenues almost always rise every year, and during Reagan's two terms increases in tax revenue were more shallow than increases during presidencies where top marginal tax rates were higher. Critics also point out that since the Reagan tax cuts, income has not significantly increased for the rest of the population.  This assertion is supported by studies that show the income of the top 1% nearly doubling during the Reagan years, while income for other income levels increased only marginally; income actually decreased for the bottom quintile. However, a 2018 study by the Congressional Budget Office showed average household income rising 68.8% for the bottom quintile after government transfers (in the form of various income support and in-kind programmes, subsidies, and taxes) from 1979 to 2014. This same study showed the middle quintile's income rising 41.5% after government transfers and taxes.

Bush tax cuts

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that extending the Bush tax cuts of 2001–2003 beyond their 2010 expiration would increase deficits by $1.8 trillion over the following decade. Economist Paul Krugman contended that supply-side adherents did not fully believe that the United States income tax rate was on the "backwards-sloping" side of the curve and yet they still advocated lowering taxes to encourage investment of personal savings.

Theoretical issues

Justifications
Supply-side economics indicates that the simple descriptions of the Laffer curve are usually intended for pedagogical purposes only and do not represent the complex economic responses to tax policy which may be observed from such viewpoints as provided by supply-side economics. Although the simplified Laffer curve is usually illustrated as a straightforward symmetrical and continuous bell-shaped curve, in reality the bell-shaped curve may be skewed or lop-sided to either side of the 'maximum'. Within the reality of complex and sudden changes to tax policy over time, the response of tax revenue to tax rates may vary dramatically and is not necessarily even continuous over time, when for example new legislation is enacted which abruptly changes tax revenue expectations.

The simplified static Laffer curve

Laffer explains the model in terms of two interacting effects of taxation: an "arithmetic effect" and an "economic effect". The "arithmetic effect" assumes that tax revenue raised is the tax rate multiplied by the revenue available for taxation (or tax base). Thus revenue  is equal to  where  is the tax rate and  is the taxable base  At a 0% tax rate, the model states that no tax revenue is raised. The "economic effect" assumes that the tax rate will affect the tax base itself. At the extreme of a 100% tax rate, the government collects zero revenue because taxpayers change their behavior in response to the tax rate: either they lose their incentive to work, or they find a way to avoid paying taxes. Thus, the "economic effect" of a 100% tax rate is to decrease the tax base to zero. If this is the case, then somewhere between 0% and 100% lies a tax rate that will maximize revenue.

Graphical representations of the curve sometimes appear to put the rate at around 50%, if the tax base reacts to the tax rate linearly, but the revenue-maximizing rate could theoretically be any percentage greater than 0% and less than 100%. Similarly, the curve is often presented as a parabolic shape, but there is no reason that this is necessarily the case. The effect of changes in tax can be cased in terms of elasticities, where the revenue-maximizing elasticity of the tax base with respect to the tax is equal to 1. This is done by differentiating  with respect to  and grouping terms to reveal that the rate of change of  with respect to  is equal to the sum of elasticity of the tax base plus one all multiplied by the tax base. Thus as elasticity surpasses one absolute value, revenues begin to fall. The problem is similar to that of the monopolist who must never increase prices beyond the point at which the elasticity of demand exceeds one in absolute value.

Wanniski noted that all economic activity would be unlikely to cease at 100% taxation, but it would switch from the exchange of money to barter. He also noted that there can be special circumstances in which economic activity can continue for a period at a near 100% taxation rate (for example, in war economy).

Various efforts have been made to quantify the relationship between tax revenue and tax rates (for example, in the United States by the Congressional Budget Office). While the interaction between tax rates and tax revenue is generally accepted, the precise nature of this interaction is debated. In practice, the shape of a hypothetical Laffer curve for a given economy can only be estimated. The relationship between tax rate and tax revenue is likely to vary from one economy to another and depends on the elasticity of supply for labor, as well as various other factors. Even in the same economy, the characteristics of the curve could vary over time. Complexities such as progressive taxes and possible differences in the incentive to work for different income groups complicate the task of estimation. The structure of the curve may also be changed by policy decisions. For example, if tax loopholes and tax shelters are made more readily available by legislation, the point at which revenue begins to decrease with increased taxation is likely to become lower.

Laffer presented the curve as a pedagogical device to show that in some circumstances, a reduction in tax rates will actually increase government revenue and not need to be offset by decreased government spending or increased borrowing. For a reduction in tax rates to increase revenue, the current tax rate would need to be higher than the revenue maximizing rate. In 2007, Laffer said that the curve should not be the sole basis for raising or lowering taxes.

The supply-side dynamic Laffer curve
Supply-siders argue that in a high tax rate environment, lowering tax rates would result in either increased revenues or smaller revenue losses than one would expect relying on only static estimates of the previous tax base.

This led supply-siders to advocate large reductions in marginal income and capital gains tax rates to encourage greater investment, which would produce more supply. Jude Wanniski and many others advocate a zero capital gains rate. The increased aggregate supply would result in increased aggregate demand, hence the term "supply-side economics".

Criticisms

Laffer assumes that the government's revenue is a continuous function of the tax rate. However, in some theoretical models, the Laffer curve can be discontinuous, leading to an inability to devise a revenue-maximizing tax rate solution. Additionally, the Laffer curve depends on the assumption that tax revenue is used to provide a public good that is separable in utility and separate from labor supply, which may not be true in practice.

The Laffer curve as presented is simplistic in that it assumes a single tax rate and a single labor supply. Actual systems of public finance are more complex, and there is serious doubt about the relevance of considering a single marginal tax rate. In addition, revenue may well be a multivalued function of tax rate; for instance, an increase in tax rate to a certain percentage may not result in the same revenue as a decrease in tax rate to the same percentage (a kind of hysteresis). Furthermore, the Laffer curve does not take explicitly into account the nature of the tax avoidance taking place. It is possible that if all producers are endowed with two survival factors in the market (ability to produce efficiently and ability to avoid tax), then the revenues raised under tax avoidance can be greater than without avoidance, and thus the Laffer curve maximum is found to be farther right than thought. The reason for this result is that if producers with low productive abilities (high production costs)  tend to have strong avoidance abilities as well, a uniform tax on producers actually becomes a tax that discriminates on the ability to pay. However, if avoidance abilities and productive abilities are unrelated, then this result disappears.

See also
 Deadweight loss
 Dynamic scoring
 Fiscal conservatism
 List of economics topics
 Rahn curve
 Reaganomics
 Supply-side economics

Notes

References

External links

 Jude Wanniski, "Taxes, Revenues, and the 'Laffer Curve, The Public Interest, Number 50, Winter 1978
 Arthur Laffer describing the Laffer Curve
 On The PBS NewsHour Solman explores the relationship between economic activity and tax rates.

1974 in economics
Economics curves
Fiscal policy
Taxable income
Tax policy
Tax terms

Laffer curve


Mark Hale is an American linguistics professor now teaching at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He studies the methodology of historical linguistics as well as theoretical linguistics, Indo-European and Austronesian linguistics.

He is a prominent figure in these fields. He has published numerous scholarly articles  and books  on his research. Along with colleague Charles Reiss, he is a proponent of substance-free phonology, the idea that phonetic substance is inaccessible to phonological computation.

Selected publications
Hale, M. (2007), Historical linguistics: Theory and method, Oxford, Blackwell

Hale, M., & Reiss, C. (2008),The Phonological Enterprise, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Hale, M., Kissock, M., & Reiss, C. (2014) An I-Language Approach to Phonologization and Lexification. Chapter  20.
The Oxford Handbook of Historical Phonology.
Edited by Patrick Honeybone and Joseph Salmons

Hale, M. (1998). Diachronic syntax. Syntax, 1(1), 1-18.

Hale, M.,(2004) Neogrammarian Sound Change, Chapter 7 in The Handbook of Historical Linguistics, Edited by: Brian D. Joseph and Richard D. Janda, Blackwell

Mark Hale & Charles Reiss (2000) Substance abuse and dysfunctionalism: Current trends in phonology. Linguistic Inquiry 31: 157–169.

References

Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Linguists from the United States
Linguists from Canada
Academic staff of Concordia University
People educated at Croesyceiliog School

Mark Hale


Oladele Adebayo Ajose (20 September 1907 – 2 July 1978) was a Lagos prince who was the vice-chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University. He was an early advocate of primary health care in Nigeria and the first tenured African professor at the University of Ibadan and in Nigeria. He was one of the earliest Africans to hold a professorial chair.

Education and career
He attended Methodist Boys High School and King's College, Lagos for secondary education. He later moved abroad and went to study at the University of Glasgow from 1927 to 1932, graduating MB ChB in 1932, taking the Diploma in Public Health in 1935 and proceeding to a MD in 1939.  His thesis title was Comparative study of Variola & Varicella in Nigeria.  It was while in Glasgow that he met his wife: Beatrice Roberts. The couple returned to Nigeria in 1936, and later raised three daughters and a son.

He started his career as an assistant medical officer for health in Lagos. He was later promoted to the position of medical officer for health. As a health official, he started and promoted the British Red Cross Society of Nigeria, which later became known as the Nigerian Red Cross Society.  He also established the Infectious Disease Hospital in Lagos. In 1948, with the creation of the University College, Ibadan, he left his administrative attire for university drapery and was appointed lecturer, and later professor of preventive medicine.

Early promoter of primary care
He was one of the earliest proponents of primary health care. He believed that public health issues should not only be limited to the rooms of academia but be brought to communities. He based his community health care effort at Ilora, a town in the then Oyo State. There, he made sure the community was involved in every step of decision making and choice of health care service. As part of the project, the community established fish ponds mostly stocked of tilapia fish; the ponds were built to provide ample protein for the citizens. The establishment of fish ponds around swamps later led to the creation of means of eradicating schistosomiasis in Ilora and also introduced a framework for nutrition provision in Nigeria and Africa.

In 1964, he contested the throne of Oba of Lagos with the eventual winner, Oba Oyekan.

His daughter is Ambassador Audrey Ajose.

References

External links
 http://www.awori-kitigbe.org/ALSI.htm

1907 births
Physicians from Lagos
Vice-Chancellors of Obafemi Awolowo University
Academic staff of the University of Ibadan
Alumni of the University of Glasgow
Academic staff of Obafemi Awolowo University
King's College, Lagos alumni
Yoruba princes
1978 deaths
20th-century Nigerian medical doctors
Nigerian public health doctors
Methodist Boys' High School alumni
People from colonial Nigeria
Nigerian princes

Oladele Ajose


Indrani (Sanskrit: इन्द्राणी, IAST: Indrāṇī), also known as Shachi (Sanskrit: शची, IAST: Śacī), is the queen of the devas in Hinduism. Described as tantalisingly beautiful, proud and kind, she is the daughter of the asura Puloman and the consort of the king of the devas, Indra.

According to legend, due to her heavenly beauty and sensuality, Indrani was desired by many men, many of whom tried to marry her. When Indra was away performing his penance for the slaying of Vritasura, Nahusha, a mortal king of the Lunar dynasty, was chosen as the ruler of heaven. The latter tried to seduce Shachi and make her his queen, though she cleverly executed a scheme to dethrone him and later reunite with her husband.

Indrani (or Aindri) is also one of the Sapta Matrika—the seven divine mothers. She is an important goddess in Shaktism, a major sect of Hinduism. Indrani is rarely worshipped as an independent deity and is most often worshipped with Indra throughout India. She is also a goddess in Jainism and Buddhism, mentioned in their texts.

Etymology and epithets
Like many Vedic goddess-consorts whose names are derived from their husband's name by adding a feminine termination, the word Indrani (Indrāṇī) is derived from Indra and means 'wife of Indra'. Importantly, however, Indra is known by his wife's name as well; he is often referred to as Shachipati (husband of Shachi), Shachindra (Shachi's Indra), or Shachivat (possessor of Shachi).

Shachi (Śacī) is a prominent other name of Indrani. According to Sir Monier Monier-Williams, it means 'speech', 'power of speech', or 'eloquence'. It is derived from the Sanskrit word shach, which means 'speak', 'say' or 'tell'. Shachi is also associated with the word shak, meaning 'power', 'strength', 'action' or 'exploit'. David Kinsley, a professor known for his research on Hindu goddesses, believed that the word Shachi is suggestive of the later concept of Shakti, the personification of power. Other scholars use 'divine grace' as the translation of Shachi.
Other names include:
 Aindri (Aindrī) – 'wife of Indra'
 Poulomi (Poulomī) – 'daughter of Puloman'
 Poulomuja (Poulomujā) – 'daughter of Puloman'
 Devarani (Devarāṇī) – 'queen of devas'
 Charudhara (Cārudhārā) – 'beautiful'
 Shakrani (Śakrāṇī) – 'wife of Shakra (Indra)'
 Mahendrani (Mahendrāṇī) – 'wife of Mahendra (Indra)'

In Hindu literature

Vedic

Indrani first appears in the Rigveda, which was composed in the early second millennium BCE. According to Subodh Kapoor, unlike many Vedic deities who personify natural phenomena, Indrani does not have a myth of nature that explains her existence and may have originated as Indra's wife. Indologist John Muir states that in the Rigveda, she is invoked multiple times and is mentioned with other goddesses in the first three of these passages. Another hymn considers her to be the most fortunate female, as her husband Indra cannot die from old age. David Kinsley states that many of the goddesses in the early texts are named after their husbands and have no independent character of their own. While Indrani is mentioned more often than any other Vedic goddess-consorts, she remains overshadowed by her husband.

Hymn 10.68 of the Rigveda praises her as being very beautiful and mentions her jealousy of rivals. Another hymn (10.159) describes Indrani as being boastful and claiming that she has conquered her husband; he is submissive to her will. Despite this, in the same hymn, Indrani asks the gods to rid her of rivals in Indra's favour. A hymn in Rigveda is dedicated to a quarrel between Indrani and Indra, where she becomes annoyed with the pranks of Vrishakapi—Indra's pet ape—and complains about it.

The Shatapatha Brahmana refers to Indrani as Indra's beloved. The Taittiriya Brahmana suggests that Indra chose Indrani over other goddesses because of her beauty and sensuality. Scholars note that the Aitareya Brahmana mentions Prasaha and Sena as the wives of Indra, but both of them are identified with Indrani.

Epic and Puranic

In the later Hindu texts, including the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, as well as the Puranas, Indrani is more commonly referred to as Shachi, and is the daughter of Puloman, an asura (demonic figure) son of the sage Kashyapa and his wife Danu. She married Indra and became the queen of the devas (gods). The Bhagavata Purana mentions that Indra and Shachi had three sons named Jayanta, Rishabha, and Midhusha; some other texts include Nilambara and Ribhus. Indra and Shachi had a daughter named Jayanti, who married Indra's rival Shukra. In some scriptures, Indra and Shachi bestowed their daughter Devasena to Kartikeya.

Author James G. Lochtefeld comments that Shachi is not a major figure, and this may reflect Indra's diminished status in later Hindu mythology. He claims that Shachi's only important role is in the story of Nahusha. In the story, according to the Mahabharata, Indra once committed Brahmahatya (Brahminicide) by killing Vritra, after which he set out incognito to perform a penance. During this period, the devas appointed Nahusha, a powerful mortal ruler of the Lunar dynasty, to be the king of heaven. He soon became proud of his power and desired Shachi, but she refused his amorous advances and sought protection under Brihaspati, Indra's teacher. Angered by Nahusha's illicit behaviour, the devas advised her to bring back Indra, and after crafting a plan, Shachi went to Nahusha. She told Nahusha that before accepting him, he would have to wait until Indra was found; Nahusha showed his consent. Though Indra was found and redeemed from his sin, he refused to return as Nahusha was the king, and went back into hiding. Aided by the goddess Upashruti, Shachi located Indra in the lake Manasarovar. Indra suggested that Shachi scheme to remove Nahusha from his position. She returned to Nahusha and asked him to come to her in a palanquin driven by sages. Due to his impatience and arrogance, Nahusha kicked the sage Agastya while riding in the palanquin. Agastya cursed Nahusha to fall from heaven and transformed him into a snake. Indra was hence restored as the King of Heaven and reunited with Shachi.

According to another story in the Ramayana, Anuhlada, the son of the Daitya Hiranyakashipu, wanted to marry Shachi, but she refused. As a result, he took permission from Puloman to forcefully abduct and marry her. During the abduction, Indra spotted Anuhlada and Shachi and saved his wife by killing both Anuhlada and Puloman. The Southern Indian text Kanda Purana narrates that when the asura Surapadman desired Shachi, Indra appointed the god Shasta as her guard. During his absence, Surapadman's sister came to Shachi and unsuccessfully tried to convince her to marry the asura. In the epics, Shachi's beauty and devotion are compared to other women, such as Rohini, Arundhati, Sita, and Draupadi. The Mahabharata also mentions that the heroine Draupadi was Shachi's incarnation, though Draupadi is praised as an incarnation of Sri in other earlier chapters of the text.

The Puranas attest that Shachi owned the Parijata tree (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis), which was one of the jewels emerging from the Samudra Manthan (the churning of the ocean). In the Vishnu Purana and Bhagavata Purana, the god Krishna and his wife Satyabhama visited Amaravati to return the earrings of Indra's mother Aditi, which were stolen by the demon Narakasura. Shachi considered Satyabhama to be inferior because of her mortal background and while introducing the latter to Aditi, she didn't treat her properly. Later, while travelling through Indra's garden, Satyabhama saw the Parijata tree and decided to transplant it to Dvaraka. When Shachi's guards warned Satyabhama, she challenged Shachi to ask Indra to protect the tree if he was truly submissive to her will. After hearing about Satyabhama's words from a guard, Shachi insisted that her husband take back her possession. A battle between Indra and Krishna occurred, in which the latter was victorious and took the tree with him.

Association with the Matrikas

In Shaktism, the goddess-oriented sect of Hinduism, Indrani (or Aindri) is the name of one of the Sapta Matrika—the seven divine mothers. Sometimes, Indra's wife and the Matrika are equated into one goddess.

The legends of the Matrikas are narrated in various texts. In the Devi Mahatmyam, when the gods could not defeat the powerful demons Shumbha and Nishumbha, their Shaktis (power) personified themselves to defeat the demon. Indrani is described to be emerging from Indra and has similar characteristics to him. According to later chapters in the Devi Mahatmyam, the Matrikas appeared again to defeat Raktabija, a demon with the power to multiply himself whenever a drop of his blood reached the ground. In this battle, the Matrikas emerged from different parts of the supreme goddess.

The Varaha Purana associates each of the Matrikas with an emotion; Indrani is associated with jealousy.

Iconography and worship

Sculptures of Indrani and Indra are common in Hindu temples. They are typically depicted sitting on the white elephant Airavata. While explaining the iconography as described in the Vishnudharmottara, archeologist T.A. Gopinatha Roa writes that Indrani should be depicted with two arms, seated on the lap of her husband. She is of golden complexion and is dressed in blue garment. One of her hand embraces Indra, while the other one carries a santana-manjari.

Roa describes the Matrika Indrani as being red, with three eyes and four hands. Two of her hands should be in Varada and Abhaya mudra, while the other two hands hold a vajra (thunderbolt) and a spear. She wears a kirita on her head and is decorated with various ornaments. Her vahana (vehicle), as well as her emblem banner, is an elephant. According to the Vishnudharmottara, like Indra, Indrani is yellow and has one thousand eyes. She has six arms, four of which carry a sutra, vajra, pot, and vessel. The remaining two are in Abhaya and Varada mudra. The Devi Bhagavata Purana states that Shachi has two arms and carries an ankusha (goad) and vajra, while the Purva Karangama depicts her as having two eyes and carrying a lotus in one hand. Indrani is associated with the kalpaka tree; sometimes, a lion is mentioned as her vahana.

Indrani is usually venerated with Indra and is rarely worshipped as an independent deity. Author Roshen Dalal states that Indra and Indrani are the kul devata (family deity) of the royal family of Vidarbha. In the Bhagavata Purana, Rukmini, the chief wife of Krishna, visited a temple dedicated to Indra and Shachi. In Hindu astrology, Indrani is the ruler of Shukra (Venus) and symbolises the quality of rajas.  The 7th-century Harshacharita mentions Charanas assembling in the temple of goddess Indrani. In modern times, Indrani is sometimes equated with the Matrika of the same name and is worshipped along with the other Matrikas. A puja (worship) dedicated to Indrani is performed during the Ashada Navratri.

In other religions

Indrani exists in other religions, though she plays a minor role.
In Jain tradition, she is a mirror image of Indra, and they represent an ideal couple. According to myth, when a Tirthankara is born, Indra descends with his consort Indrani, riding the great elephant Airavata, to celebrate the event.

In the Buddhist Pāli Canon, Indrani is referred to as Sujā, the wife of Śakra. Born to asura Vemacitrin, Sujā went through a long process and was reborn over many lifetimes to purify herself and become Śakra's wife. As Vemacitrin was his nemesis, Śakra, disguised as an old asura, came to Sujā and took her with him. After defeating Vemacitrin, Sujā and Śakra got married and she became his chief consort.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Beauty goddesses
Hindu goddesses
Indra

Indrani


Aphonopelma johnnycashi is a species of tarantula (family Theraphosidae). It was found in 2015 near Folsom Prison in California and named after Johnny Cash, whose song "Folsom Prison Blues" made the prison famous. Mature males are generally black, and the country music singer was also known as "The Man in Black".

Natural history
This spider can be up to  long, the male of the species is black and the female is a dark brown. Like most North American tarantulas, they are relatively harmless to humans, unlikely to bite and with venom only mildly irritating.

The new categorization of this spider is part of an effort to more carefully catalog American tarantula species. For decades there has been a suspicion that there are more species than identified, but that they are similar enough to be overlooked. The new effort has broken them down according to behavior and observable traits, though there has not been genetic testing done to truly ascertain where the species lines are drawn.

References

johnnycashi
Endemic fauna of California
Endemic spiders of the United States
Spiders described in 2016
Fauna without expected TNC conservation status

Aphonopelma johnnycashi


Police units in the United States tend to use a tactical designator (or tactical callsign) consisting of a letter of the police radio alphabet followed by one or two numbers.  For example, "Mary One" might identify the head of a city's homicide division.  Police and fire department radio systems are assigned official callsigns, however.  Examples are KQY672 and KYX556.  The official headquarters callsigns are usually announced at least hourly, and more frequently by Morse code.

The United States Army uses tactical designators that change daily.  They normally consist of letter-number-letter prefixes identifying a unit, followed by a number-number suffix identifying the role of the person using the callsign.

Military communications
Law enforcement in the United States

Tactical designator


The Rajan case refers to the death of P. Rajan, a student of the Regional Engineering College, Calicut, as a result of torture in local police custody in Kerala during the nationwide Emergency in India in 1976, and the legal battle that followed, which revealed facts of the incident to the public. His remains are yet to be recovered.

Background
During the nationwide Emergency in India between 1975 and 1977, Fundamental Rights of the citizen were suspended by the government, creating a period of police activism. In Kerala, the Naxal movement was at its peak during this period. Major operations of Naxals in Kerala were attacks on police stations in rural areas. The police acted with vengeance upon the Naxalites and used the word Naxal to address those upon whom they had vengeance.

Incident
Rajan, a student of the Calicut Regional Engineering College (presently the National Institute of Technology Calicut), was arrested by the Kerala Police on 1 March 1976, during the nationwide Emergency in India along with his fellow student, Joseph Chaaly. As was later revealed by a petition in the High Court of Kerala, he was held in police custody and tortured as part of the interrogation. He died from torture of extreme kind, especially due to something called uruttal (a practice of "rolling" a heavy wooden log over the body of the victim). His body was then disposed of by the police, and was never recovered.

Rajan's father, T. V. Eachara Warrier, complained to the authorities about his missing son. The police finally confirmed that he died in custody upon a habeas corpus suit, the first such suit in the history of Kerala, filed by his father in the High Court of Kerala.

Inquiries by family

Rajan's mother had become mentally unstable from the developments and was hospitalised. His father, T. V. Eachara Warrier, lost all of his money but he did not know why his son was arrested, that he made enquiries to police officers, who, he felt, would be able to give him the details about his son's arrest and also about his whereabouts. He made representations to the authorities, which produced no result. Somehow, he discovered that Rajan had been arrested under directions of the DIG of Police, Crime Branch, Trivandrum. He met the then Home Minister of the State K. Karunakaran. He sent petitions to the Home Secretary to the government of Kerala thrice. There was not even a single reply or acknowledgment.

Mr. Warrier continued his efforts at getting some information about his son by similar representations made to the President of India and Home Minister to the government of India with copies to all the Members of Parliament from Kerala. He made similar representations to the Prime Minister of India and others, all to no effect. He met several police officers and learned that some arrested students similarly were detainees in the Central Jail. He was vigorously searching in vain for his son in the three Central Jails and also in the various other police camps and other places. He met the Chief Minister several times because the Chief Minister had personal knowledge of the arrest of his son and also of his detention. On the last occasion he met Sri. Achutha Menon, who expressed his helplessness in the matter and said that the matter was being dealt with by K. Karunakaran, Minister for Home Affairs.

He appealed to the general public in Kerala by expressing his grievance in a pamphlet distributed to the public. The Home Minister who was a candidate in the recent elections addressed several public meetings in Mala, Kalpetta and other constituencies of the State and in some of the meetings he made mention of the fact that Rajan was involved as an accused in a murder case and that was why he was detained. Rajan was never produced before a Magistrate.

Findings
Rajan's father fought a long battle against the establishment to bring to light the facts behind the disappearance and expose atrocities committed by the state. The petition and subsequent investigations found that Rajan had indeed been taken into custody, and perhaps died when in police custody. His body was not found, and many charges against the accused in this case had to be dropped. The accused included the chief of the Crime Branch wing of Kerala Police, DIG Jayaram Padikkal, who was convicted but the conviction was overturned on appeal. Karunakaran was the Home Minister during the emergency. He resigned from the post of the Chief Minister of Kerala in 1978 from adverse judgement in the case. Warrier wrote the book, Memories of a Father, narrating his fights.

In popular culture

The 2018 Malayalam movie Kaattu Vithachavar directed by Satheesh Paul presents investigation by a police team to disappearance of Rajan. The movie acted by Prakash Bare, Tini Tom Jayaprakash Kuloor provides a factual review of events, though the names of characters have been slightly changed.

The 1988 Malayalam film Piravi directed by Shaji N. Karun has its plotline adopted from this incident. The 2013 Malayalam film Idukki Gold references the case. Raman, one of the protagonists, throws ink at the Kerala Home Minister in protest against the Rajan case not being resolved. Malayalam movie Sahapaadi (1975), also touches the issue.

In 1977, the All Kerala Rajan Memorial Music Competition was started at the National Institute of Technology Calicut (then known as REC Calicut) to commemorate Rajan's life. Every year since 1987, the Institute conducts their annual cultural festival Ragam in memory of Rajan. In 2006, Ragam festival started with an audio message delivered by Rajan's father Eachara Warrier.

C. R. Omanakuttan has written a book named Shavamtheenikal which is an expose of the brutality involved in the incident. In 2006, Ormakal Zindabad (Memories live long), directed by G. Ajayan, was staged in certain places in Kerala, based on the custodial death of Rajan. Leading characters Jayaram Padikkal and Rajan were portrayed by Salih Rawther and Shabu Madhavan respectively.

The 2021 Tamil movie Jai Bhim, directly references the Rajan case as an example of a habeas corpus wherein the rare occurrence of a cross examination in a high court as grounds for not producing a detainee by the state police is permitted.

See also
 Naxal Varghese

References

External links
Articles T. P. Gopinath Pinarayi ambushed by Rajan case – Karunakaran is also victim!
Ebook on Rajan by his father
Revised link of the "Ebook on Rajan by his father"
PDF-Ebook(English)

1970s missing person cases
1976 murders in India
1976 in Indian law
Crime in Kerala
Deaths in police custody in India
Enforced disappearances in India
History of Kerala (1947–present)
Male murder victims
Missing person cases in India
People murdered in Kerala
Political history of Kerala
Indians imprisoned during the Emergency (India)

Rajan case


Milada Horáková  (née Králová, 25 December 1901 – 27 June 1950) was a Czech politician and a victim of a judicial murder. She was executed by Communists on charges of treason. Moreover she was the only woman who was executed within these proceedings. She was born and died in Prague.

Youth and studies
She was born as Milada Králová in Prague. She had three siblings. In 1918 she was excluded from grammar school, because she participated at antiwar demonstrations, which was banned. Nevertheless in 1921 she graduated at another grammar school. She was awarded one's degree in 1926 at Law School at the Charles University. When she met with the senator Františka Plamínková, the founder of Women's National Council, she joined.

The First Republic
Shortly after her studies she got married with Bohuslav Horák, an agricultural economist. In 1933 she gave birth to a girl called Jana.

She is considered as an important czech feminist. Moreover she participated in creating new Civil Code.

In her life she travelled a lot, for example to England, France and the USSR. She could even speak english, french and german.

World War II
After year 1939 she used to ensure flats and gain secret information. Unfourtunately on august 2 1940, her husband and her were arrested by gestapo. Two years she was kept at Charles Square, after Heydrich's assassination was sent to Terezín. In june 1944 she was sent to Liepzig and Dresden. Prosecutor proposed her death penalty, however it was changed to 8 years of penitentiary. She was discharged by american army in Aichachu close to Munich in 1945.

Postwar Period
After her exemption she returned to Prague, where she again met her husband, who survived the death march.

February 25 1948 – september 27 1949 at this time she was little by little excluded from all of her public positions. Horáková got into a view-finder as a suitable candidate for an action of STB called "the middle". It was planned to execute her on september 27 1949. The attempt of arresting her was not successful because she was not at home.

Investigation and the trial
Maltreating Horáková is proved by her fellow inmates Zdena Mašínová. The proces with Milada Horáková lasted since may 31 till june 8, 1950, and was contrived as a public political process. There was onwards learned screenplay, according to which the defendants were forced to behave.

Judicial Murder
Milada Horáková refused the petition for mercy. Moreover president Gottwald, formally on recommendation of  Minister of Justice, signed the death penalty. Her last letter she wrote the day she was executed at 2:30 at night. Her execution was effectuated by hanging her at Pankrác prison yard on june 27, 1950 at 5:35 am.

Inspiration
During her life she was strongly influenced by thoughts of T. G. Masaryk and later even Edvard Beneš.

1901 births
1950 deaths

Milada Horáková


The 1987 State of the Union Address was given by the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, on January 27, 1987, at 9:00 p.m. EST, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives to the 100th United States Congress. It was Reagan's sixth State of the Union Address and his seventh speech to a joint session of the United States Congress. Presiding over this joint session was the House speaker, Jim Wright, accompanied by George H. W. Bush, the vice president.

Progressing to the Afghanistan situation, he says: "The Soviet Union says it wants a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan, yet it continues a brutal war and props up a regime whose days are clearly numbered. We are ready to support a political solution that guarantees the rapid withdrawal of all Soviet troops and genuine self-determination for the Afghan people." He ended with, "But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting Sun." Well, you can bet it's rising because, my fellow citizens, America isn't finished. Her best days have just begun."
The speech lasted 34 minutes and 39 seconds and contained 3847 words. The address was broadcast live on radio and television.
The Democratic Party response was delivered by Senator Robert Byrd (WV), and House Speaker Jim Wright (TX)

Richard Lyng, the Secretary of Agriculture, served as the designated survivor.

See also
Speeches and debates of Ronald Reagan

References

External links

 (full transcript), The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara.
 1987 State of the Union Address (video) at C-SPAN
 Full video and audio, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia.

State of the Union addresses
State union 1987
100th United States Congress
State of the Union Address
State of the Union Address
State of the Union Address
State of the Union Address
January 1987 events in the United States
Articles containing video clips

1987 State of the Union Address


Georgios Epitidios (; born 2 March 1953) is a Greek far right politician, representing the far right Golden Dawn party. He has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Greece between 2014 and 2019.

Georgios Epitideios is a Retired Army Lieutenant General. He comes from the town Psachna of Euboea and was born in 1953. He graduated the Hellenic Army Military Academy in 1975 and appointed as Artillery Second Lieutenant. He is a graduate of the Hellenic Artillery Officers Basic Course, the Hellenic and the USA Air Defence Artillery Officers Basic Course for Guided Missiles HAWK, the Hellenic and the USA Field Artillery Officers Advanced Course, the Hellenic War College and the Hellenic Higher National Defence School.

Also he is a graduate of the Political Science and Public Administration Department of Athens University. He speaks English and French. He is married and has two children.

He spent 18 years of active service in Combat Units as Battery Commander in Towed, Self Propelled and Air Defence Artillery Battalions, Tactical Control Officer in a HAWK Battery, Deputy Commander in an Air Defence Artillery Battalion, Commander of a Towed Artillery Battalion, Deputy Commander of a Mechanized Infantry Division and Commander of the Hellenic Artillery School.

He also spent 14 years of his Military career as Staff Officer in National and Allied Headquarters namely the Hellenic Army General Staff (HAGS), the Hellenic National Defence General Staff (HNDGS), the Supreme Headquarters of Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE), the International Military Staff of NATO (IMS), and the European Military Staff (EUMS) as Chief of the Current Operations and Crisis Management Branch. Furthermore he was Director of the Joint Doctrine Directorate and Head of the Operational Logistics Division in the Hellenic National Defence General Staff (HNDGS). Additionally he was the Higher National Representative in all conferences for the planning of NATO Exercises, Doctrines and Operational Logistics.

He has been awarded with all medals and decorations provided for his rank. In 2008 he received an honorary retirement.

Since his retirement he has been an active member of the Hellenic Institute for Strategic Studies (HEL.I.S.S). From 2008 since 2011 he has been elected as a Member of the Management Board of the Retired Army Officers Association.

References

1953 births
Living people
MEPs for Greece 2014–2019
Golden Dawn (political party) politicians
People from Euboea (regional unit)

Georgios Epitidios


James Capehart (March 7, 1847 – April 28, 1921) was a businessman and political figure in the Democratic Party from West Virginia. He served as a  United States Representative from West Virginia in the 52nd and 53rd Congresses.

Biography
Capehart was born in Point Pleasant in Mason County, Virginia (now West Virginia). He attended the public schools and went to Marietta College, Ohio. He also studied at Duff's Commercial College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He worked for his father as a  clerk and bookkeeper. From 1867 to 1903 he pursued an interest in agriculture and breeding  livestock. He served as  president of the Mason County Court in 1871, 1872, and again from 1880 to 1885.

In 1888 Capehart was chosen as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. He was elected to his first term in Congress in 1890, and was re-elected in 1892, serving from 1891 to 1895 (March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1895; the 52nd and 53rd United States Congresses)

Capehart chose not to run for re-election in the 1894 contest. After returning to West Virginia, he worked as president of the Point Pleasant National Bank, beginning in 1901.

Around 1903 Capehart renewed his interest in agriculture, growing fruit in Brevard County, Florida. He lived in Cocoa, Florida until his death in 1921. He was buried in Lone Oak Cemetery, Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

See also
United States congressional delegations from West Virginia

Sources

1847 births
1921 deaths
American bank presidents
Marietta College alumni
People from Cocoa, Florida
People from Point Pleasant, West Virginia
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from West Virginia

James Capehart


Pleix is a virtual community of digital artists based in Paris.
Composed of seven individuals, Pleix works on a shared philosophy, using moving art and music to showcase their view of the world. So far this has manifested itself in several videos, adverts and installations that are all based on staples of contemporary culture.
They work has been presented in places like Centre Pompidou, Guggenheim Bilbao, la Gaîté lyrique, I.C.A London, and the Tokyo Museum of Photography.

External links
Pleix.net Official website
 NY Arts Magazine

French artist groups and collectives

Pleix


The Namesake is a 2006 English language drama film directed by Mira Nair and written by Sooni Taraporevala based on the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. It stars Tabu, Irrfan Khan, Kal Penn and Sahira Nair. The film was produced by Indian, American and Japanese studios. The film was released in the United States on 9 March 2007, following screenings at film festivals in Toronto and New York City. The Namesake received positive reviews from American critics.

Plot
The Namesake depicts the struggles of Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli (Irrfan Khan and Tabu), first-generation immigrants from the East Indian state of West Bengal to the United States, and their American-born children Gogol (Kal Penn) and Sonia (Sahira Nair). The film takes place primarily in Kolkata, New York City, and suburbs of New York City.

The story begins as Ashoke and Ashima leave Calcutta and settle in New York City. Through a series of miscues, their son's nickname, Gogol (named after Russian author Nikolai Gogol), becomes his official birth name, an event which will shape many aspects of his life. The story chronicles Gogol's cross-cultural experiences  and his exploration of his Indian heritage, as the story shifts between the United States and India.

Gogol becomes a lazy, pot-smoking teenager indifferent to his cultural background. He resents many of the customs and traditions his family upholds and doesn't understand his parents. After a summer trip to India before starting college at Yale, Gogol starts opening up to his culture and becomes more accepting of it.

After college, Gogol uses his "good name" Nikhil (later shortened to Nick). He works as an architect and dates Maxine (Jacinda Barrett), a white woman from a wealthy background, who is clueless about their cultural differences. Gogol falls in love with Maxine and introduces her to his parents, who struggle to understand his modern, American perspectives on dating, marriage and love. They are hesitant and guarded when meeting her. Gogol gets along with Maxine's family and feels closer to them than he does his own family.

Before he goes to Ohio for a teaching apprenticeship, Ashoke tells Gogol the story of how he came up with his name. Shortly after, while Gogol is on vacation with Maxine's family, Ashoke dies. Grieving, Gogol tries to be more like what he thinks his parents want him to be and begins following cultural customs more closely. He grows distant from Maxine and eventually breaks up with her.

Gogol rekindles a friendship with Moushumi (Zuleikha Robinson), the daughter of family friends. They begin dating and soon after get married. However, the marriage is short-lived as Moushumi, bored with being a wife, starts having an affair with an old boyfriend from Paris. Gogol divorces her, while Ashima blames herself for pressuring Gogol to marry a fellow Bengali. Gogol returns home to help Ashima pack the house when he finds the book Ashoke gave him as a graduation present. Searching for comfort, and accepting his new life alone, Gogol finally reads the stories written by his namesake on the train home.

As well as depicting Gogol/Nikhil's experiences, the film describes the courtship and marriage of Ashima and Ashoke, and the effect on the family from Ashoke's early death from a massive heart attack. Through experiencing his father's funeral rites on the banks of the Ganges, Gogol begins to appreciate Indian culture. Ashima's decision to move on with her life, selling the suburban family home and returning to Calcutta, unifies and ends the story.

Cast
Kal Penn as Nikhil "Gogol" Ganguli
Soham Chatterjee as child Gogol aged 4 years
Tabu as Ashima Ganguli
Irrfan Khan as Ashoke Ganguli
Sahira Nair as Sonia Ganguli
Jacinda Barrett as Maxine Ratcliffe
Sebastian Roché as Chris
Linus Roache as Mr Lawson (Gogol's teacher)
Glenne Headly as Lydia
Zuleikha Robinson as Moushumi Majumdar
Ruma Guha Thakurta as Ashoke's mother
Sabyasachi Chakrabarty as Ashima's father
Supriya Devi as Ashima's grandmother
Jagannath Guha as Ghosh
Sukanya as Rini
Tanushree Shankar as Ashima's mother
Tamal Roy Choudhury as Ashoke's father
Jhumpa Lahiri as Jhumpa Mashi

The film has cameo appearances by actor Samrat Chakrabarti, academic Partha Chatterjee (scholar) and visual artist Naeem Mohaiemen.

Development
Initially Rani Mukerji was considered for the principal lead, but due to scheduling conflicts, one role went to Tabu. Kal Penn was recommended to the novel by John Cho and strongly requested by Nair's son, who was a fan of Penn in Harold and Kumar.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack has varied music: Indian, Anglo-Indian (by Nitin Sawhney, influenced by Ravi Shankar's music for Pather Panchali), and a French piece. One British Indian electronica piece is State of Bengal's "IC408." The ringtone from Moushumi's mobile phone is the song "Riviera Rendezvous" by Ursula 1000 from the album Kinda' Kinky; this is the same song that is played when Gogol and Moushumi first sleep together. The Indian classical pieces (performed on screen by Tabu) were sung by Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik, a New Jersey-based musician.

Critical reception
The film received favorable reviews from critics. As of 23 February 2009, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 86% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 126 reviews. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 82 out of 100, based on 33 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Top ten lists
The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.

6th - Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor
8th - Carrie Rickey, The Philadelphia Inquirer
8th - Claudia Puig, USA Today
9th - James Berardinelli, ReelViews

Awards and nominations
Won - Love is Folly International Film Festival (Bulgaria) - "Golden Aphrodite" - Mira Nair
Nominated - Casting Society of America - "Best Feature Film Casting" - Cindy Tolan
Nominated - Gotham Awards 2007 - "Best Film" - Mira Nair & Lydia Dean Pilcher
Nominated - Independent Spirit Award - "Best Supporting Male" - Irrfan Khan

See also
Nikolai Gogol's  "The Overcoat"

References

External links

Official trailer

2006 films
2006 drama films
Adultery in films
American films
ඉන්දියානු චිත්‍රපට
American drama films
Indian drama films
Indian-American films
English-language films
English-language Indian films
Japanese drama films
Japanese films
Films about immigration to the United States
Films based on American novels
Films based on Indian novels
Films directed by Mira Nair
Films set in Kolkata
Films set in New York City
Films shot in India
Films shot in New York City
Films shot in Kolkata
Fox Searchlight Pictures films
UTV Motion Pictures films
Foreign films shot in India
Asian-American drama films
Mirabai Films films

ද නේම්සේක් (චිත්‍රපටය)


The Belcea Quartet is a string quartet which was formed in 1994.  The leader (first violinist) of the quartet is Corina Belcea.

The four musicians got together when they were studying at the Royal College of Music in London. They had lessons from the members of the Chilingirian Quartet. Then they studied with the Alban Berg Quartet.  They won many awards, including the YCAT award.

They soon became famous, performing in the Carnegie Hall in 2000 and at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2001.  They played regularly in the Wigmore Hall in London from 2001 to 2006 (they were called "quartet in residence"). The quartet has also performed at the Vienna Musikverein and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.  They have made many recordings.

The players names are: Corina Belcea-Fisher and Laura Samuel (violins), Krzysztof Chorzelski (viola) and Antoine Lederlin, (cello).  Originally the cellist was Alasdair Tait.

Other websites
 Official website

String quartets

Belcea Quartet


Harry Theyard (né Harry L. Theard, Jr, on 28 September 1929, in New Orleans) is an American operatic tenor.

Theyard is a 1957 graduate of Loyola University of the South, where he studied under Dorothy Hulse, who was also the teacher of Audrey Schuh and Charles Anthony.  He began his career with the New Orleans Opera Association in secondary parts, including appearances in Salome (1949), Le nozze di Figaro (1956), Il trovatore (opposite Herva Nelli, 1958) and The Beggar's Opera (directed by Lillian Gish, 1958).  Later, in New York, he studied under Armen Boyajian, also the pedagogue of Marisa Galvany, Paul Plishka, and Samuel Ramey.

New York City Opera
The spinto tenor debuted with the New York City Opera in 1959, in The Devil and Daniel Webster, directed by John Houseman.  He went on to sing in the world premieres of Ward's The Crucible (starring Chester Ludgin), Floyd's The Passion of Jonathan Wade (with Phyllis Curtin), and Menotti's The Most Important Man (conducted by Christopher Keene).  By 1970, Theyard was one of the City Opera's leading tenors, appearing in Madama Butterfly, Mefistofele (opposite Norman Treigle), Louise, The Makropoulos Case, Carmen, Susannah, Tosca (with Galvany), Cavalleria rusticana, Les contes d'Hoffmann, Turandot and La fanciulla del West.

Metropolitan Opera
In 1966, he first appeared with the Metropolitan Opera National Company, in La traviata and La bohème. In 1970 he portrayed Curly in the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men at the Seattle Opera. In 1973, Theyard sang in Manon Lescaut at the Spoleto Festival, with Nancy Shade directed by Luchino Visconti and conducted by Thomas Schippers.  In 1974, he debuted with the Metropolitan Opera for an impressive string of operas:  Les contes d'Hoffmann (with Dame Joan Sutherland), Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, Cavalleria rusticana, Grigori in Boris Godunov, La forza del destino (directed by John Dexter), L'assedio di Corinto (Beverly Sills's house debut) and Il tabarro (with Renata Scotto).  From 1976, he returned to his native city for starring roles in Manon Lescaut, Lucia di Lammermoor, Andrea Chénier, La bohème and Carmen (opposite Shirley Verrett).

Broadway
Mr Theyard also appeared on Broadway, in the original productions of Man of La Mancha (as Anselmo the muleteer, 1965) and A Time for Singing (as Owen Morgan, 1966). The latter was a musical version of How Green Was My Valley, and was not a success; Man of La Mancha, on the other hand, was an enormous hit and has become a musical-comedy classic. In it, Mr Theyard introduced the song "Little Bird, Little Bird."

In 1975, he appeared on television in the CBS Christmas special, "A Handful of Souls."

Operatic discography

 Rossini: L'assedio di Corinto (Sills, Verrett, Díaz; Schippers, 1974) EMI
 Refice: Cecilia: abridged (Scotto; Campori, 1976) [live] VAI

Musical-theatre discography
 Leigh, Darion: Man of La Mancha (Kiley, Diener, original cast, 1966) MCA

References
 The New York City Opera: An American Adventure, by Martin L. Sokol (Annals by George Louis Mayer), Macmillan Publishing Co, Inc, 1981.
 "From Loyola to the Metropolitan and City Operas," programme note by Brian Morgan, for "Loyola to the Met," October 1, 1999.

External links
  (with Armen Boyajian at the piano, 1977).

American operatic tenors
20th-century American male opera singers
Living people
1929 births
Musicians from New Orleans
Loyola University New Orleans alumni
Singers from Louisiana

Harry Theyard


Kubrat (; ) is a town in Razgrad Province, Northeastern Bulgaria, part of the Ludogorie region. Named after the Bulgar ruler Kubrat, it is the administrative centre of the homonymous Kubrat Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 8,118 inhabitants.

A notable native is famous singer Lili Ivanova. The population is ethnically diverse, with a  mixture of ethnic Bulgarians and Bulgarian Turks constituting the majority of the local population

History
The first documented mention of the city is from 1624, while the legend says it was founded in the 15th century. During the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria, it was known as Balbunar ("Honey well") in Turkish, as the town was centred on the Copper Well that is now the town square. A primary school was founded in 1890 and the Cyril and Methodius community centre (chitalishte) followed on 4 May 1891. The then village acquired its present name in 1934 and was proclaimed a town in 1949.

An influx of investment has come from Bulgarians and other nationals since EU accession in 2007 leading to a boost to the local economy. The town is now serviced by over five builders merchants which is an indication of the expansion and renovation that is currently going on in the area.

References

External links
 Razgrad Province
 Kubrat municipality website

Towns in Bulgaria
Populated places in Razgrad Province

Kubrat (town)


Jubilee City (2007) is the autobiography of the artist Joe Andoe. In it, Andoe relates his journey from his drug filled youth in Tulsa, Oklahoma to his success as a painter in New York City.

Plot
The book begins in Andoe's place of birth Tulsa, Oklahoma, the location of a popular department store in the 1960s, Jubilee City, from which the book takes its name. The first third of the memoir describe his childhood and teen years. Andoe attended college majoring in art. It is during this time that he becomes involved in a turbulent relationship, which after marriage becomes rockier still. Soon thereafter the couple moves to New York, where Andoe and his wife have a child. The wife is the primary provider for the family and Andoe assumes the role of a stay-at-home dad, though he does continue to paint. Acclaim for his artwork begins to accumulate, and with success a more stable lifestyle ensues. Soon his wife and him separate, and once again drugs and alcohol become a major part of his life. The book ends on a slightly upward note, as Andoe learns how to better balance his life and ceases to drink.

References

2007 non-fiction books
American autobiographies

Jubilee City


The Doge of Venice ( ) was the highest role of authority within the Republic of Venice (697 CE to 1797 CE). The word "Doge" originates from the Latin word "Dux," which translates to "leader" or "Duke."

The Doge of Venice acted as both the head of state and head of the Venetian oligarchy. Doges were elected for life through a complex voting process.

History

Byzantine Era
The first Doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was elected in 697 CE and served until 717 CE. Anafesto was not a typical Venetian Doge, as he was subject of Byzantium. While he is considered to be the first Doge of Venice, Venetians were not truly free from the Byzantine Empire until 742 CE.

While it is not known for certain, historians widely accept that Anafesto was born in Oderzo, a city in modern-day Veneto. Historians are unsure of how and where Anafesto died. According to some, he was the victim of a conspiracy hatched by the nobles of Malamocco in 717 CE. Others suggest that he passed away peacefully in the ducal residence of Eraclea. Another theory suggests he died in battle in 728 CE, after being promoted exarch of Ravenna.

Not much is known about the second Doge of Venice, Marcello Tegalliano, who ruled from 717 CE - 726 CE. At the time of his appointment, the Duchy was in turmoil as a result of growing tensions between pro-Lombard bishop of Aquileia and the pro-Byzantine leaders of Grado.

In the latter half of the eighth century, Mauritius Galba was elected duke and took the title , 'master of the soldiers, consul and imperial duke of the province of the Venetias'. Doge Justinian Partecipacius (d. 829) used the title , 'imperial hypatos and humble duke of Venice'.

These early titles combined Byzantine honorifics and explicit reference to Venice's subordinate status. Titles like , , ,  and  were granted by the emperor to the recipient for life but were not inherent in the office (, ), but the title  belonged to the office (, ). Thus, into the eleventh century the Venetian doges held titles typical of Byzantine rulers in outlying regions, such as Sardinia. As late as 1202, the Doge Enrico Dandolo was styled , a title granted to him by Alexios III Angelos.

As Byzantine power declined in the region in the late ninth century, reference to Venice as a province disappeared in the titulature of the doges. The simple titles  (duke of the Venetians) and  (duke of the Venetias) predominate in the tenth century. The plural reflects the doge's rule of several federated townships and clans.

Dukes of Dalmatia and Croatia
After defeating Croatia and conquering some Dalmatian territory in 1000, Doge Pietro II Orseolo adopted the title , 'Duke of Dalmatia', or in its fuller form, , 'Duke of the Venetians and Dalmatians'.

This title was recognised by the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II in 1002. After a Venetian request, it was confirmed by the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos in 1082. In a chrysobull dated that year, Alexios granted the Venetian doge the imperial title of , and recognised him as imperial  over the Dalmatian theme.

The expression  ('by the grace of God') was adopted consistently by the Venetian chancery only in the course of the eleventh century. An early example, however, can be found in 827–29, during the joint reign of Justinian and his brother John I: , 'by divine grace dukes of the Venetian provinces'.

Between 1091 and 1102, the King of Hungary acquired the Croatian kingdom in a personal union. In these circumstances, the Venetians appealed to the Byzantine emperor for recognition of their title to Croatia (like Dalmatia, a former Byzantine subject). Perhaps as early as the reign of Vital Falier (d. 1095), and certainly by that of Vital Michiel (d. 1102), the title  had been added, giving the full dogal title four parts: , 'Duke of Venice, Dalmatia and Croatia and Imperial Protosebastos'''. In the fourteenth century, the doges periodically objected to the use of Dalmatia and Croatia in the Hungarian king's titulature, regardless of their own territorial rights or claims. Later medieval chronicles mistakenly attributed the acquisition of the Croatian title to Doge Ordelaf Falier (d. 1117).

According to the Venetiarum Historia, written around 1350, Doge Domenico Morosini added  ('and lord of Istria') to his title after forcing Pula on Istria to submit in 1150. Only one charter, however, actually uses a title similar to this:  (1153).

Post-1204
The next major change in the dogal title came with the Fourth Crusade, which conquered the Byzantine Empire (1204). The Byzantine honorific  had by this time been dropped and was replaced by a reference to Venice's allotment in the partitioning of the Byzantine Empire. The new full title was 'By the grace of God duke of the Venices, Dalmatia and Croatia and lord of a fourth part and a half [three eighths] of the whole Empire of Romania' ( [or ]  [or ] ).

Although traditionally ascribed by later medieval chroniclers to Doge Enrico Dandolo, who led the Venetians during the Fourth Crusade, and hence known as the arma Dandola, in reality the title of 'lord of a fourth part and a half of the Empire of Romania' was first claimed by the ambitious Venetian podestà of Constantinople, Marino Zeno, in his capacity as the Doge's representative in the 'Empire of Romania', and it was only subsequently adopted as part of the dogal title by Doge Pietro Ziani.

The Greek chronicler George Akropolites used the term  to translate , 'lord', which has led to some confusion with the Byzantine court title of despot. The latter title was never claimed by the doges, but was sometimes used by the Venetian podestàs of Constantinople in their capacity as the doge's representatives.

The title of 'lord of a fourth part and a half of the whole Empire of Romania' was used in official titulature thereafter, with the exception, after the re-establishment in 1261 of the Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty, of Venice's relations with the Byzantine emperors, when that part of the dogal titulature was substituted by 'and lord of the lands and islands subject to his dogate' () or similar formulations.

In a similar manner, the disputes between Venice and Hungary over Dalmatia and Croatia led to the Kings of Hungary addressing the Doges of Venice without that part of their title, while in turn the Venetians tried to force the Hungarian kings to drop any title laying claim to the two provinces.

This dispute ended in the Treaty of Zadar of 1358, where Venice renounced its claims to Dalmatia; a special article in the treaty removed Dalmatia and Croatia from the doge's title. The resulting title was , 'Duke of the Venices and the rest'. Even though Dalmatia would be regained by Venice in the early 15th century, the title was never modified, and remained in use until the end of the Republic. Even when the body of such documents was written in Italian, the title and dating clause were in Latin.

Selection of the Doge

The doge's prerogatives were not defined with precision. While the position was entrusted to members of the inner circle of powerful Venetian families, after several doges had associated a son with themselves in the ducal office, this tendency toward a hereditary monarchy was checked by a law that decreed that no doge had the right to associate any member of his family with himself in his office, nor to name his successor.

After 1172 the election of the doge was entrusted to a committee of forty, who were chosen by four men selected from the Great Council of Venice, which was itself nominated annually by twelve persons. After a deadlocked tie at the election of 1229, the number of electors was increased from forty to forty-one.

New regulations for the elections of the doge introduced in 1268 remained in force until the end of the republic in 1797. Their intention was to minimize the influence of individual great families, and this was effected by a complex electoral machinery. Thirty members of the Great Council, chosen by lot, were reduced by lot to nine; the nine chose forty and the forty were reduced by lot to twelve, who chose twenty-five. The twenty-five were reduced by lot to nine, and the nine elected forty-five. These forty-five were once more reduced by lot to eleven, and the eleven finally chose the forty-one who elected the doge.

Election required at least twenty-five votes out of forty-one, nine votes out of eleven or twelve, or seven votes out of nine electors.

Before taking the oath of investiture, the doge-elect was presented to the concio with the words: "This is your doge, if it please you." This ceremonial gesture signified the assent of the Venetian people. This practice came to an end with the abolition of the concio in 1423; after the election of Francesco Foscari, he was presented with the unconditional pronouncement – "Your doge".

Regulations

While doges had great temporal power at first, after 1268, the doge was constantly under strict surveillance: he had to wait for other officials to be present before opening dispatches from foreign powers; he was not allowed to possess any property in a foreign land.

The doges normally ruled for life (although a few were forcibly removed from office). After a doge's death, a commission of inquisitori passed judgment upon his acts, and his estate was liable to be fined for any discovered malfeasance. The official income of the doge was never large, and from early times holders of the office remained engaged in trading ventures. These ventures kept them in touch with the requirements of the grandi.

From 7 July 1268, during a vacancy in the office of doge, the state was headed ex officio, with the style vicedoge, by the senior consigliere ducale (ducal counsellor).

Ritual role

One of the ceremonial duties of the doge was to celebrate the symbolic marriage of Venice with the sea. This was done by casting a ring from the state barge, the Bucentaur, into the Adriatic. In its earlier form this ceremony was instituted to commemorate the conquest of Dalmatia by Doge Pietro II Orseolo in 1000, and was celebrated on Ascension Day. It took its later and more magnificent form after the visit to Venice in 1177 of Pope Alexander III and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I. On state occasions the Doge was surrounded by an increasing amount of ceremony, and in international relations he had the status of a sovereign prince.

The doge took part in ducal processions, which started in the Piazza San Marco. The doge would appear in the center of the procession, preceded by civil servants ranked in ascending order of prestige and followed by noble magistrates ranked in descending order of status. Francesco Sansovino described such a procession in minute detail in 1581. His description is confirmed and complemented by Cesare Vecellio's 1586 painting of a ducal procession in the Piazza San Marco.

Regalia
From the 14th century onward, the ceremonial crown and well-known symbol of the doge of Venice was called corno ducale, a unique ducal hat. It was a stiff horn-like bonnet, which was made of gemmed brocade or cloth-of-gold and worn over the camauro. This was a fine linen cap with a structured peak reminiscent of the Phrygian cap, a classical symbol of liberty. This ceremonial cap may have been ultimately based on the white crown of Upper Egypt. Every Easter Monday the doge headed a procession from San Marco to the convent of San Zaccaria, where the abbess presented him a new camauro crafted by the nuns.

The Doge's official costume also included golden robes, slippers and a sceptre for ceremonial duties.

Death and burial

Until the 15th century, the funeral service for a deceased doge would normally be held at St Mark's Basilica, where some early holders of this office are also buried. After the 15th century, however, the funerals of all later doges were held at the Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo. Twenty-five doges are buried there.

Decline of the office
As the oligarchical element in the constitution developed, the more important functions of the ducal office were assigned to other officials, or to administrative boards. The doge's role became a mostly representative position. The last doge was Ludovico Manin, who abdicated in 1797, when Venice passed under the power of Napoleon's France following his conquest of the city.

While Venice would shortly declare itself again as a republic, attempting to resist annexation by Austria, it would never revive the title of doge. It used various titles, including dictator, and collective heads of state to govern the jurisdiction, including a triumvirate.

See also

Doge of Genoa
Senarica
Signoria of Venice
Sortition

Notes

References

Bibliography
Apostolo Zeno, Compendio della storia Veneta'', self-published, Venezia, 1847.
Italian States to 1860 P - V

 A dramatic account of the ceremonies and procedures that accompanied the election of a doge is to be found in the Estoires de Venise of Martino da Canal (an English translation was published by Laura K. Morreale, Padua, UniPress 2009).

External links

 Coins of the Duchy to Venice
 All 120 doges and their coats of arms, including historical context (English and Italian)

Government of the Republic of Venice

Doge of Venice


The Nissan R381 was a racing car developed by Nissan Motors in 1968 for use in the Japanese Grand Prix.  It was the successor to the Nissan R380-II, which had been originally developed by the Prince Motor Company

Development
Following the defeat of the Nissan R380-II at the 1967 running of the Japanese Grand Prix, Nissan set about developing an improved car for the 1968 event.  Aware of the new CanAm series in North America that ran under the new Group 7 classification, the new R381 became a much more powerful and faster car in comparison to the previous model.

Knowing that the original Prince GR8 Straight-6 would not be powerful enough, Nissan planned to use a new Prince-built V12.  However the engines were not completed in time (partially due to this being the first time Nissan or Prince had constructed a V12), so the company turned to a Chevrolet 5.5L V8 which produced nearly 450 hp, twice the amount of the Prince GR8.  Also borrowing from CanAm, most notably Chaparral, large rear wings were placed on the new design.  These dual wings placed side by side could be driven by hydraulics that moved either the left or right wing up or down in order to increase cornering ability.

For bodywork, the R381 was initially an evolution of the R380's coupe design.  The rear tail was lengthened and the engine cover made flat in order to increase rear downforce in conjunction with the rear wing.  The back of the car was also made flat, with a Kamm tail effect.  However, upon becoming aware of the new Toyota 7 car which also ran in Group 7 rules, Nissan chose to cut the roof of the R381 off.  A thin windshield was all that remained, while a tiny rollbar was placed on the engine cover.

Racing history
Debuting at the fourth Japanese Grand Prix, three R381s fought alongside three older R380-IIs as well as three of the new Toyota 7s.  Several Porsches also made up the field.  The entire Nissan contingent performed well, taking five of the top six spots, with a Porsche 910 taking second.  The R381 of Moto Kitano took the race win.

Following the Japanese Grand Prix, the R381 was replaced by the newer R382, which featured an entirely Nissan-built engine.  In 2005, Nismo restored an R381 and now currently runs it in exhibition events along with the rest of the R380 series.

External links

Nissan racing cars
Sports racing cars
Sports prototypes

Nissan R381