A  vote of no confidence, also variously called a motion of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or management is still deemed fit to hold that position, such as because they are inadequate in some aspect, fail to carry out their obligations, or make decisions that other members feel to be detrimental. The parliamentary motion demonstrates to the head of government that the elected parliament either has or no longer has confidence in one or more members of the appointed government. In some countries, a no-confidence motion being passed against an individual minister requires the minister to resign. In most cases, if the minister in question is the premier, all other ministers must also resign.

A censure motion is different from a no-confidence motion. Depending on the constitution of the body concerned, "no confidence" may lead to the dismissal of the council of ministers or other position-holders and often the dissolution of most of the leadership of the executive branch. On the other hand, "censure" is meant to show disapproval and does not result in the resignation of ministers. The motion of censure may be against an individual minister or a group of ministers. However, depending on a country's constitution, a no-confidence motion may be more directed against the entire cabinet. Again, depending on the applicable rules, censure motions may need to state the reasons for the motion, but specific reasons may not be required for no-confidence motions.

Parliamentary systems
There are a number of variations in this procedure between parliaments. In some countries, a motion of no confidence can be directed at the government collectively or at any individual member, including the prime minister. Sometimes, motions of no confidence are proposed even though they have no likelihood of passage simply to pressure a government or to embarrass its own critics, who may for political reasons decide not to vote against it.

In many parliamentary democracies, there are strict time limits for no-confidence motions such as being allowed only once every three, four, or six months. Thus, the timing of a motion of no confidence is a matter of political judgment. A motion of no confidence on a relatively trivial matter may then prove counterproductive if a more important issue suddenly arises that actually warrants a motion of no confidence. Sometimes, the government chooses to declare that one of its bills is a "motion of confidence" to prevent dissident members of its own party from voting against it.

Australia
In the Australian Parliament, a motion of no confidence requires a majority of the members present in the House of Representatives to agree to it. The House of Representatives has 151 members and so requires 76 votes in favour of the motion when all members of the House are present. A straight vote of no confidence in the Australian government and a motion or amendment censuring a government have never been successful in the House of Representatives. However, governments have on eight occasions resigned or advised a dissolution after their defeat on other questions before the House. The last time that a government resigned after being defeated in the House came in October 1941, when the House rejected the budget of Arthur Fadden's minority government.

Specific motions of no confidence or censure against the prime minister, ministers, the leader of the opposition, senators and leaders of political parties have been successful on some occasions. Motions of no confidence against the government may be passed in the Senate but have little or no impact in the House. However, the Senate's right to refuse supply helped spark the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. The convention remains a grey area, as Westminster governments are not normally expected to maintain the confidence of the upper house.

Bangladesh
In the Parliament of Bangladesh, there is no provision to hold motions of no confidence, as a result of Article 70 of the Constitution of Bangladesh, which prohibits members of Parliament from voting against their party and made the removal of a sitting government unattainable.

Canada
In Canada, a vote of confidence is a motion that the House of Commons (federal) or legislative assembly (provincial) approves the government of the prime minister or provincial premier. A no-confidence motion may be directed against only the incumbent government in the House of Commons or legislative assembly, with votes of no-confidence against the  Official Opposition being inadmissible. Originating as a constitutional convention, it remains an uncodified practice which is not outlined in any standing orders for the House of Commons.

At the federal level, a vote of no confidence in a motion presented by a member of the House of Commons explicitly states the House has no confidence in the incumbent government. The government may also declare any bill or motion to be a question of confidence. Several motions and bills are also considered implicit motions on confidence, and a vote of no confidence may be asserted automatically if such a bill fails to pass. Bills and motions that are considered implicit motions of confidence include appropriations or supply bills, motions concerning budgetary policy, and the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne. The failure to pass those bills may be used as an automatic assertion of a vote of no confidence, but the opposition is not obligated to assert the failure as a non-confidence motion against the government.

If a vote of no confidence passes, the prime minister is required to either resign or request the governor-general to dissolve parliament and call a general election. The governor-general may refuse a request for dissolution if an election has recently been held or there is another leader who can likely gain the confidence of the House. If a dissolution request is refused, the prime minister must resign, and the governor-general invites the leader of another coalition/party to form a new government. Six motions of no confidence have been passed in the House of Commons: in 1926, 1963, 1974, 1979, 2005, and 2011. All successful votes of no confidence in the 20th century were the result of a loss of supply; votes of no confidence in 2005 and 2011 were the result of explicit confidence motions presented by the opposition.

The confidence convention is also present in the provincial legislatures of Canada, operating much like their federal counterpart. However, the decision to dissolve the legislature and call an election or to see if another coalition/party can form a government is left to the provincial lieutenant-governor.

Two Canadian territories, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, operate as a consensus government system in which the premier is chosen by the members of the nonpartisan legislature. If a vote of no confidence against the incumbent government passes, the premier and the cabinet are removed from office, and the legislature elects a new premier. In a consensus government, confidence motions may be directed against any individual ministers holding office as they are also nominated by members of the legislature.

Denmark
Paragraph 15 of the Danish Constitution states that "A Minister shall not remain in office after the Folketing has passed a vote of no confidence in him" and that "When the Folketing passes a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister, he shall ask for the dismissal of the Ministry unless writs are to be issued for a general election." The vote requires a simple majority.

Votes of no confidence against the government are rare in Denmark, only occurring in 1909, 1947 and 1975. Generally the government will resign or call for an election before a vote of no confidence.

European Union
The European Parliament can dismiss the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, through a successful motion of no confidence, which requires a two-thirds vote. A successful vote on the motion leads to the resignation of the entire Commission.

Germany

In Germany, a vote of no confidence in the federal chancellor requires the opposition, on the same ballot, to propose a candidate of its own whom it wants the federal president to appoint as its successor. Thus, a motion of no confidence may be brought forward only if there is a positive majority for the new candidate. The idea was to prevent the state crises that occurred near the end of the German Weimar Republic. Frequently, chancellors were then turned out of the office without their successors having enough parliamentary support to govern. Unlike the British system, chancellors do not have to resign in response to the failure of a vote of confidence if it has been initiated by them, rather than by the parliamentary opposition, but they may ask the president to call general elections, a request that the president decides on whether to fulfill.

Greece
The Parliament may, by its decision, withdraw its confidence from the Government or from a member of it. A motion of no confidence can only be submitted six months after the Parliament has rejected a previous one. The motion must be signed by at least one-sixth of the members and must clearly state the issues to be debated. A motion of no confidence is accepted only if it is approved by the absolute majority of the total number of members.

India
In India, a motion of no confidence can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Parliament of India) and after at least 50 Lok Sabha members support it, the Speaker may grant a leave and after considering the state of business in the House, allot a day or days or part of a day for the discussion of the motion (under sub-rule (2) and (3) of rule 198 of Lok Sabha Rules, 16th edition). If the motion carries, the House debates and votes on the motion. If a majority of the members vote in favour of the motion, it is passed, and all the ministers are expected to resign on their moral grounds.

J. B. Kripalani
moved the first-ever no-confidence motion on the floor of the Lok Sabha in August 1963, immediately after the disastrous
Sino-Indian War. As of July 2019, 29 no-confidence motions have been moved. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi faced the most no-confidence motions (15), followed by Lal Bahadur Shastri and P. V. Narasimha Rao (three each), Morarji Desai and Narendra Modi (two each), and Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi, V. P. Singh, H. D. Deve Gowda, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.Vajpayee lost the no-confidence motion by a margin of one vote (269–270) in April 1999. Prime Minister Desai resigned on 12 July 1979, V. P. Singh and H. D. Deve Gowda were also removed in no-confidence motion. The two most recent no-confidence motion were against the Narendra Modi government, in 2018 and in 2023.

Even after the Anti-Defection Law, when the majority party has an absolute majority and it can whip party members to vote in favour of the government; still it is possible to remove the government by a no-confidence motion if the ruling party breaks by more than one third.

Ireland

In Ireland, if a motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach or the government of Ireland is passed by Dáil Éireann, then the Taoiseach may request that the President dissolve the Dáil and call a general election. Whether or not to grant this request is at the discretion of the President, though no President has ever refused a request for dissolution. Should the President refuse to dissolve the Dáil, the Taoiseach and government must resign.

Israel
The motion of no confidence is outlined in Israeli Basic Law Article 28 and Article 44 of the Knesset's Rule of Procedure.

Italy

In Italy, the government requires the support of both houses of Parliament. Within ten days of the government's formation, a confidence motion must be passed. Five governments were forced to resign when a motion of confidence in them failed to pass in one of the houses of Parliament: the eighth De Gasperi cabinet in 1953, the first Fanfani cabinet in 1954, the first Andreotti cabinet in 1972, the fifth Andreotti cabinet in 1979 and the seventh Fanfani cabinet in 1987.

Parliament can withdraw its support to the government through a vote of no confidence. A vote of no confidence may be proposed if a tenth of the members of either house sign the proposition and within three days before the appointed date, the vote can be brought into the discussion.

Since the drafting of the Constitution of Italy, Parliament has not passed any no confidence motion against the whole cabinet, as government crises often ended with prime ministers resigning after becoming aware the majority of parliament didn't support them anymore, before a no confidence motion could be put to vote or even before such a motion was presented. The only time this instrument was used was in October 1995, when the minister of justice Filippo Mancuso was forced to resign after a vote of no confidence against him passed in the Senate. The subsequent Constitutional Court sentence in 1996 declared it was indeed possible to propose an individual vote of no confidence against a single minister, instead of the whole government, and that as such, the motion Mancuso was legitimate.

|-
!colspan = "2" style = "text align:left;" | Parties
!Votes
!%
|-
|style = "background-color:#00ff00;"|
|style = "text align:left;"| Ayes
|173
|94.02
|-
|style = "background-color:#ff0000;"|
|style = "text align:left;"|Nays
|3
|1.63
|-
|style="background-color:#eeeeee;"|
|style = "text align:left;"|Abstentions
|8
|4.34
|-
|}

The government can also make any vote a matter of confidence. In the entire history of the Republic of Italy, only two governments were forced to resign when a vote they had made a matter of confidence failed: the first Prodi cabinet in 1996, and the second Prodi cabinet in 2006. In both cases, the vote made a matter of confidence was a vote on a resolution approving the prime minister's address to one of the houses of Parliament.

Japan
Article 69 of the 1947 Constitution of Japan provides that "if the House of Representatives passes a non-confidence resolution, or rejects a confidence resolution, the Cabinet shall resign en masse, unless the House of Representatives is dissolved within ten (10) days."

Malaysia
In Malaysia's federal political system, votes of confidence in state legislative assemblies of Malaysia have removed its heads of state governments four times, most recently Faizal Azumu's Perak ministry in 2020. During the 2020–2022 Malaysian political crisis, opposition members of Parliament demanded a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, but he resigned before this could take place.

Pakistan
The Constitution of Pakistan has provision for a no-confidence motion in all constituents of the Electoral College of the state. The motions can target speakers and deputy speakers of provincial and national assemblies, the prime minister, chief ministers of provinces, as well as the chairman and deputy chairman of Senate. Before it can be put for a vote on the pertinent house's floor, it must have the backing of at least 20% of the elected members in all cases except those moved against speakers or deputy speakers in which case there is no minimum. After being put to vote, the motion is deemed to be successful only if passed by a majority.

The no-confidence procedure has historically been mostly used to remove speakers and deputy speakers. Of the 11 times that the motion has been invoked, nine cases targeted those posts, with four being effective. Votes of no confidence in prime ministers are extremely rare. In November 1989, Benazir Bhutto faced an ultimately unsuccessful motion of no confidence by Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi. Same is the case for provincial chief ministers, as the only instance of its use is the one moved in January 2018 against Sanaullah Zehri, the chief minister of Balochistan, who resigned before the vote could take place.

Since gaining independence in 1947, only Imran Khan was successfully removed as prime minister through a motion of no confidence in 2022. An earlier attempt led by the opposition was dismissed by the deputy speaker Qasim Suri using Article 5 of the constitution. Later on, President Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly immediately after receiving advice from Prime Minister Khan to do so, causing a constitutional crisis. On 7 April 2022, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled that the dismissal of the no-confidence motion, the prorogation of the National Assembly, advice of Khan to president Arif Alvi to dissolve the National Assembly and subsequent dissolution of the National Assembly were unconstitutional, and overturned these actions. On 10 April 2022, the reconvened National Assembly passed the motion of no confidence against Khan by a majority vote of 172, being the first successful ousting through no–confidence motion.

Peru
In Peru, both the legislative and the executive branches have the power to bring a motion of no confidence against acting legal members of the other branch. The president of the Cabinet may propose a motion of no confidence against any minister to Congress, which then needs more than half the Congress to approve it. The president of the republic may dissolve Congress if it has censured or denied its confidence to two Cabinets. The relevant Articles 132–134 are in the 1993 version of the Constitution of Peru.

During the 2019 Peruvian constitutional crisis, President Martín Vizcarra enacted a constitutional process on 29 May 2019 to create a motion of no confidence towards Congress if it refused to co-operate with his proposed actions against corruption. Pedro Castillo also motioned to use this mechanism against Congress in 2022 when he attempted to dissolve the legislative body. The Congressionally-appointed Constitutional Court of Peru, during the presidency of Castillo, would rule that only Congress could interpret whether or not a motion of confidence has been made.

South Africa
Any member of Parliament in the National Assembly may request a motion of no confidence in either the Cabinet, excluding the president, or the president. The Speaker, within the rules of Parliament, must add such a motion to the order paper and give it a priority. If a motion of no confidence cannot be scheduled by the last sitting day of the annual sitting, it must be the first item on the order paper of the next sitting. In the event of a successful motion, the Speaker automatically assumes the position of acting president.

On 7 August 2017, Speaker Baleka Mbete announced that she would permit a motion of no confidence in Jacob Zuma's government to proceed in the National Assembly via secret ballot. It was the eighth motion to be brought against Zuma in his presidency and the first to be held via secret ballot. After the vote was held the next day, the motion was defeated 198–177, with 25 abstentions. Around 20 governing ANC members of Parliament voted in favour of the measure.

Spain

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 provides for motions of no confidence to be proposed by one-tenth of the Congress of Deputies. Following the German model, votes of no confidence in Spain are constructive and so the motion must also include an alternative candidate for prime minister. For a motion of no confidence to be successful, it has to be carried by an absolute majority in the Congress of Deputies. At least five days must pass after the motion is registered before it can come up for a vote. Other parties may submit alternative motions within two days of the registration.

Also, the prime minister is barred from dissolving the Cortes Generales and calling a general election while a motion of no confidence is pending. If the motion is successful, the incumbent prime minister must resign. According to the Constitution, the replacement candidate named in the motion is automatically deemed to have the confidence of the Congress of Deputies and is immediately appointed as prime minister by the monarch. If the motion is unsuccessful, its signatories may not submit another motion during the same session.

The current prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, was sworn in on 2 June 2018 after a motion of no confidence against Mariano Rajoy had been approved on 1 June 2018.

Singapore
Under Article 25(1) of the Constitution of Singapore, the prime minister of Singapore must command the confidence of Parliament less NCMPs and NMPs. Since Singapore's independence on 9 August 1965, no Singaporean government has ever faced a motion of no confidence. However, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew faced three no-confidence motions in 1961, 1962 and 1963, all prior to independence.

The 1960s saw the ruling PAP split between the right wing led by Lee Kuan Yew and the left wing led by Lim Chin Siong. This caused PAP's massive majority to diminish. Lee Kuan Yew faced his first confidence vote on 20 July 1961 following the PAP's defeat in the Hong Lim and Anson by-elections. This motion was rather a motion of confidence tabled by the Prime Minister himself. All 51 assemblymen were present and voting. The Prime Minister won the vote by a margin of 27–8 votes. The results were as follows:

|-
!colspan = "2" style = "text align:left;" | Parties
!Votes
!%
|-
|style = "background-color:#00ff00;"|
|style = "text align:left;"| Ayes
|27
|52.94
|-
|style = "background-color:#ff0000;"|
|style = "text align:left;"|Nays
|8
|15.69
|-
|style="background-color:#eeeeee;"|
|style = "text align:left;"|Abstentions
|16
|31.37
|-
|}

However, among the 16 abstentions were 13 left wing PAP members, who were expelled from the PAP after the vote, and the 13 went on to form the Barisan Sosialis. On 13 July 1962, Barisan MP Lee Siew Choh tabled a motion of no confidence against Lee Kuan Yew. Three assemblymen were absent bringing the total membership of the Legislative Assembly to 48 present and voting. The Prime Minister won the vote by 24–16. Therefore, Lee Kuan Yew remained in office. The results for this motion of no confidence are as follows:

|-
!colspan = "2" style = "text align:left;" | Parties
!Votes
!%
|-
|style = "background-color:#00ff00;"|
|style = "text align:left;"| Ayes
|16
|33.33
|-
|style = "background-color:#ff0000;"|
|style = "text align:left;"|Nays
|24
|50.00
|-
|style="background-color:#eeeeee;"|
|style = "text align:left;"|Abstentions
|8
|16.67
|-
|}

Lee Siew Choh tabled another motion of no confidence against Lee Kuan Yew's government on 15 June 1963 over issues regarding the proposed merger of Singapore into the Federation of Malaysia. Five members were absent from the Assembly and 1 seat was vacant bringing the total membership down to 45 present and voting. This time, Lee Kuan Yew's Government won the vote by a margin of 23–16. The results are as follows:

|-
!colspan = "2" style = "text align:left;" | Parties
!Votes
!%
|-
|style = "background-color:#00ff00;"|
|style = "text align:left;"| Ayes
|16
|35.56
|-
|style = "background-color:#ff0000;"|
|style = "text align:left;"|Nays
|23
|51.11
|-
|style="background-color:#eeeeee;"|
|style = "text align:left;"|Abstentions
|6
|13.33
|-
|}

In September 1963, the Legislative Assembly was dissolved and fresh elections were called. The rump PAP won the election with a two-thirds majority therefore staving off any further attempts by the Barisan Sosialis to move further motions of no confidence. Following merger and separation (1963–1965), and with Barisan's boycott of Parliament, the PAP was the dominant party in Parliament and motions of no confidence became "rare", in fact "non-existent". Further, Lee Kuan Yew's 1961 motion of confidence remains the only time that a Singaporean prime minister has ever tabled a motion of confidence in his own government.

Sweden
A motion of no confidence may be levelled against either the prime minister on behalf of the entire Swedish government or against an individual lower-level minister.  At least 35 members of parliament (MPs) must support a proposal to initiate such a vote. A majority of MPs (175 members) must vote for a motion of no confidence for it to be successful. An individual minister who loses a confidence vote must resign. If a prime minister loses a no-confidence vote, the entire government must resign. The speaker may allow the ousted prime minister to head a transitional or caretaker government until Parliament elects a new prime minister.

Under the principle of negative parliamentarism, a prime ministerial candidate nominated by the Speaker does not need the confidence of a majority of MPs to be elected. However, a majority of MPs must not vote against the candidate, which renders prime ministerial votes similar to no-confidence votes. That means that a prime ministerial candidate, to be successful in the parliamentary vote,  must have at least a total of 175 votes in favour or abstention. If a Speaker fails four times to have a nominee elected, an election must be held within three months of the final vote.

United Kingdom

Traditionally, in the Westminster system, the defeat of a supply bill, which concerns the spending of money, is seen to require automatically for the government to resign or ask for a new election, much like a no-confidence vote. A government in a Westminster system that cannot spend money is hamstrung, which is also called a loss of supply.

In the British Parliament, a no-confidence motion generally first appeared as an early day motion although the vote on the Speech from the Throne was also a confidence motion. However, from 2011 to 2022, under the then-Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, only a motion explicitly resolving that "this House has no confidence in His Majesty's Government" was treated as a motion of no confidence.

Semi-presidential systems
In semi-presidential systems, the legislature may occasionally pass motions of no confidence, which removes only the cabinet and the prime minister. The legislature may also have the power to impeach an executive or judicial officer, with another institution or the legislature removing the officer from their office.

France

In France, the conditions under which the National Assembly, the lower house of the French Parliament, can bring down the government through a motion of no-confidence are outlined in the paragraphs 2 and 3 article 49 of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic:
 a spontaneous motion of no-confidence (article 49.2)
 requires the sponsoring of 58 MPs (a tenth of the total number of lawmakers) to be tabled;
 is debated and voted upon at least 48 hours after it has been tabled;
 needs the backing of an absolute majority of the National Assembly members (normally 289 out of 577) to be passed;
 an MP cannot sponsor more than three different spontaneous motions of no-confidence per regular parliamentary session and no more than one per extraordinary parliamentary session.
 a motion of no-confidence in response to the Council of Ministers' decision to push a bill through without a vote (article 49.3)
 same conditions to be tabled and passed than those outlined in article 49.2;
 no numerical limits set on the MPs' ability to sponsor such a motion.

In both cases, if the motion succeeds, the Prime minister is required to tender their government's resignation to the President.

In the particular case of a motion of no-confidence tabled in response to the government's pushing a bill through without a vote under the provisions of article 49.3, if the motion succeeds, the bill on which the cabinet has committed its responsibility is defeated and the government falls.

Only one motion of no-confidence has been passed since the start of the Fifth Republic in 1958: it was a spontaneous motion of no-confidence (article 49.2) tabled against the Pompidou government over a  constitutional reform dispute and it was passed on 5 October 1962, by 280 votes (the absolute majority required was 241 at that time).
It led to President de Gaulle's refusal to accept PM Pompidou's resignation, instead dissolving the National Assembly and calling for a snap election that resulted in an increased majority for his government.

During the Third Republic, members of both the Senate and Chamber of Deputies could, with a simple interpellation and a vote, force the government into resigning, creating instability. The Fourth Republic introduced the censure motion with the majority of the membership needed to pass to replace interpellation, and removed the option of initiative by the Senate. Nevertheless, instability continued. According to historian René Rémond, President of the Council Paul Ramadier set up a precedent by submitting the composition of his government to a confidence vote after an interpellation by a deputy, despite the constitution not mentioning this process, thus recreating the problem of the preceding republic. The Fifth Republic restricted again the conditions of the motion by counting only the votes in favor of the deposition of the government, one tenth of the Assembly's membership (58 deputies) being now needed to issue such motion according to Article 49 of the constitution. Article 27 allows lawmakers to delegate their votes for the no-confidence motion if they are not available the day of the open ballot.

Russia
In Russia, the lower house of the Federal Assembly (the State Duma) may by a simple majority (at least 226 votes out of 450) pass a motion of no confidence against the government of Russia as a whole. In that case, the matter goes for consideration of the Russian president, who may choose to dismiss the cabinet, which he can do anyway anytime at his own discretion, or just ignore the Duma's decision. If the Duma passes a second motion of no confidence against the same composition of the cabinet within three months, the president is forced to make a concrete decision on whether to dismiss the government or to dissolve the Duma itself and call for new general elections. The State Duma may not be dissolved on those grounds if it was elected less than a year earlier, if it has already initiated impeachment proceedings against the president himself by bringing respective accusations, if less than six months remain left until presidential elections, or if there is a state of emergency or martial law throughout the whole territory of Russia. In the above-mentioned cases, the president is then effectively forced to dismiss the government.

Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, the Parliament of Sri Lanka may pass a motion of no confidence against the Sri Lankan government. In that case, the government is removed from power and the president of Sri Lanka has to appoint a new prime minister, who has to form a new government.

Presidential systems
Presidential systems with a robust separation of powers and/or fixed election dates generally do not use motions of no confidence and instead use impeachment as a similar mechanism.

United States
A motion to vacate in the United States House of Representatives can be used to remove the Speaker of the House.  The first successful such motion at the federal level (the ouster of Kevin McCarthy in 2023) was referred to informally as a "no confidence vote" in media reports covering the event.

The consequences of the Speaker being removed are generally not comparable to the effect of a motion of non-confidence in Westminster parliamentary systems.  The President, as the head of government, is not affected;  there are no changes to the Cabinet or individual executive positions; there is no change to the party alignments in the House of Representatives;  and the House of Representatives as a body is unaffected, so there are no new elections immediately after a successful motion to vacate. Thus, the most meaningful consequence of a Speaker's removal that could be compared to a Westminster no confidence vote is the possibility of a change in legislative priorities, these being largely set by the Speaker in the U.S. House, as opposed to by a Prime Minister in the Westminster system.

While the President and Cabinet members can be removed and disqualified from office through impeachment by the House and conviction in the Senate, this is not considered a no confidence vote. Unlike a motion of no confidence, an article of impeachment constitutionally requires a finding by Congress that the impeached official has broken the law.

History

The first motion of no confidence against an entire government occurred in March 1782 when, following news of the British defeat at Yorktown in the American Revolutionary War the previous October, the Parliament of Great Britain voted that it "can no longer repose confidence in the present ministers". British Prime Minister Lord North responded by asking King George III to accept his resignation. That did not immediately create a constitutional convention. Although it is considered the first formal motion of no confidence, Sir Robert Walpole's resignation after a defeat on a vote in the House of Commons in 1742 is considered to be the first de facto motion of no confidence.

During the early 19th century, attempts by prime ministers, such as Robert Peel, to govern in the absence of a parliamentary majority proved unsuccessful, and by the mid-19th century, the power of a motion of no confidence to break a government was firmly established in the UK.

In the United Kingdom, 11 prime ministers have been defeated through a no-confidence motion, but there has been only one such motion since 1925, in 1979 (against James Callaghan).

In modern times, the passage of a motion of no confidence is a relatively rare event in two-party democracies. In almost all cases, party discipline is sufficient to allow a majority party to defeat a motion of no confidence, and if faced with possible defections in the government party, the government is likely to change its policies, rather than lose a vote of no confidence. The cases in which a motion of no confidence has passed are generally those in which the government party's slim majority has been eliminated by either by-elections or defections, such as the 1979 vote of no confidence in the Callaghan ministry in the UK which was carried by one vote and forced a general election, which was won by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party.

Motions of no confidence are far more common in multi-party systems in which a minority party must form a coalition government. That can mean that there have been many short-lived governments because the party structure allows small parties to defeat a government which does not have the majority needed to create a government. This has widely been regarded as the cause of instability for the French Fourth Republic and the German Weimar Republic. More recent examples have been in Italy between the 1950s and 1990s, Israel, and Japan.

To deal with that situation, the French placed a greater degree of executive power in the office of the French president, along with a two-round plurality voting system, which makes it easier to form a stable majority government. Furthermore, since 2014, the French president can be impeached only if three conditions are fulfilled: one of the Houses of the French parliament must adopt a sitting in High Court proposal with a two-third majority, then the other house has to follow suit in a 15-days period, then two third of the members of the High Court have to vote in favor of the president's impeachment during a one-month period where the Court must decide. The president can still pursue the exercise of his functions during the process.

In 2008, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, of the re-elected minority government of Canada, successfully requested Canadian Governor-general Michaëlle Jean to prorogue Parliament. That allowed Harper to delay a potential vote on the no-confidence motion presented by the opposition. (See 2008–2009 Canadian parliamentary dispute.) Three years later, in 2011, Harper's minority government was defeated by a motion of no confidence, which declared the government to be in contempt of Parliament and led to an election that year.

In 2013, during the Euromaidan pro-European riots, the opposition in Ukraine called for a motion of no confidence against the Cabinet of Ministers, led by the pro-Russian and eurosceptic Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. At least 226 votes were needed to gain a majority in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada. However, it fell 40 votes short, and Azarov's government prevailed.

On 1 June 2018, in Spain, the government of Mariano Rajoy was ousted after a motion of no confidence passed 180–169 after the sentence of the Gürtel corruption scandal, which involved the ruling party. Pedro Sánchez was sworn in as the new Spanish prime minister. That was the first time in the history of Spain that a vote of no confidence resulted in a change of government.

On 25 September 2018, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven was ousted after he lost a vote of no confidence in the Riksdag after an election was held on 9 September. The center-left bloc led by Löfven's Social Democratic Party won only 144 seats in parliament, 31 seats short of an absolute majority, and just one seat more than the opposition Alliance for Sweden bloc. The Sweden Democrats, having just won 62 seats, also voted with the main opposition bloc's motion of no confidence.

On 8 March 2022, opposition parties filed the motion against then prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan. Out of 346, 172 votes have required to gain the majority in national assembly of Pakistan. On 10 April 2022, motion of no confidence was passed by 174 votes out of 346. This was the first time in the history of Pakistan that vote of no confidence resulted in a change of government.

See also
Impeachment
Constructive vote of no confidence
Interpellation
Motions of no confidence in the United Kingdom

References

Voting

Motion of no confidence


An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators, and may be covered by a roof. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the lowest point, allowing maximum visibility. Arenas are usually designed to accommodate a multitude of spectators.

Background

The word derives from Latin , a particularly fine-grained sand that covered the floor of ancient arenas such as the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, to absorb blood.

The term arena is sometimes used as a synonym for a very large venue such as Pasadena's Rose Bowl, but such a facility is typically called a stadium. The use of one term over the other has mostly to do with the type of event. Football (be it association, rugby, gridiron, Australian rules, or Gaelic) is typically played in a stadium, while basketball, volleyball, handball, and ice hockey are typically played in an arena, although many of the larger arenas hold more spectators than do the stadiums of smaller colleges or high schools. There are exceptions. The home of the Duke University men's and women's basketball teams would qualify as an arena, but the facility is called Cameron Indoor Stadium. Domed stadiums, which, like arenas, are enclosed but have the larger playing surfaces and seating capacities found in stadiums, are generally not referred to as arenas in North America. There is also the sport of indoor American football (one variant of which is explicitly known as arena football), a variant of the outdoor game that is designed for the usual smaller playing surface of most arenas; variants of other traditionally outdoor sports, including box lacrosse as well as futsal and indoor soccer, also exist.

The term "arena" is also used loosely to refer to any event or type of event which either literally or metaphorically takes place in such a location, often with the specific intent of comparing an idea to a sporting event. Such examples of these would be terms such as "the arena of war", "the arena of love" or "the political arena".

Gallery

See also
 Amphitheatre
 Architectural structure
 Field house
 Ice hockey arena
 List of nonbuilding structure types
 List of indoor arenas by capacity
 List of stadiums by capacity

References

External links

Music venues
Sports venues by type
Buildings and structures by type

Arena


Everhope, known throughout most of its history as the Captain Nathan Carpenter House and more recently as Twin Oaks Plantation, is a historic plantation house near Eutaw, Alabama.  Completed in 1853 for Nathan Mullin Carpenter, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage due to its architectural and historical significance.

History
Nathan Mullin Carpenter's family migrated from Franklin County, North Carolina, to Greene County, Alabama, in the early 1820s.  He was born on December 22, 1826.  He served with the Eutaw Rangers during the Mexican–American War.  Carpenter married twice, first to Catherine Cockrell on September 7, 1848, who died from yellow fever soon after in 1849.  He married a second time on January 8, 1851, to Marjorie Pippen.

Nathan and Marjorie Carpenter purchased  of land for $10,012 (~$ in ) on September 28, 1852, from John and Anna Rice. The plantation's main house was built from 1852 to 1853 by a local builder, David Rinehart Anthony.  Anthony's own house, built later in nearby Eutaw, bears a strong resemblance to the Carpenter house. The Carpenter house itself was an almost perfect replication of Pippen Place, built several years earlier by Marjorie's family.  Nathan and Marjorie would raise eight children in the house, five before the American Civil War and three after it.

Carpenter organized a company of men called the Confederate Rangers on the lawn in front of the house in 1862.

The house was inherited by the Carpenters' unmarried daughter, Fannie.  A nephew of Fannie, Clifford S. Boyce, inherited the house following her death in 1944.  Boyce and his wife, Leah Graves, lived in the house until his death in 1974.  The house sat empty until purchased by the Dr. George E. Rudd family in 1977.  The house was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on December 21, 1977, following its purchase by the Rudds.  A holdover from earlier times, the house still did not have running water or bathrooms, with the Rudd family only using it as a weekend and holiday retreat.  Their absentee ownership continued into the early 1990s, with the house suffering periodic vandalism.

The Carpenter house was purchased by Charles and Jan Bullock in 1994, along with the surrounding property. Renaming the place Twin Oaks Plantation, the Bullocks began a long program of restoration and adding modern conveniences to the house.  The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 23, 1999, during the Bullocks' ownership.  It was subsequently purchased by David and Pam Harmon in 2005.  The "twin oaks", for which the previous owners had named the plantation, died soon after the Harmons bought the property.  This led them to rename the plantation Everhope.  They continued the restoration and preservation of the historic house.

Architecture
The Greek Revival style house is a two-story wood-frame structure with a side-gabled roof covering the portico and main block of the structure.  The foundations and chimneys are built in brick.  The front elevation features a two-story portico supported by four monumentally-scaled octagonal columns.  The portico spans the entire front of the house, covering all five bays of the facade.  Double doors with sidelights occupy the central bay of each floor, with a cantilevered governor's balcony projecting from the second level.

References

External links
Official website of Everhope
Photos of Everhope Plantation (Then known as Twin Oaks)

National Register of Historic Places in Greene County, Alabama
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama
Greek Revival houses in Alabama
Houses completed in 1853
Plantation houses in Alabama
Properties on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage
Houses in Greene County, Alabama
1853 establishments in Alabama

Captain Nathan Carpenter House


The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is where seafloor spreading takes place in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of a world-wide system of mid-ocean ridges. These ridges make up the longest mountain ranges in the world, all underwater except for short stretches like Iceland. On Iceland, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge reaches the surface.

The ridge separates oceanic tectonic plates, and moves the plates apart at about 2.5 cm per year.

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge includes a deep rift valley which runs along the middle of the ridge along almost its entire length. At the rift, the boundary between tectonic plates, magma from the mantle reaches the seafloor. New magma emerges onto the ocean floor near the ridge axis. The crystallized magma forms new crust of basalt and gabbro.

History
The ridge was discovered during the expedition of HMS Challenger in 1872. A team of scientists on board discovered a large rise in the middle of the Atlantic. They were planning the future location for a transatlantic telegraph cable. The existence of such a ridge was confirmed by sonar in 1925

In the 1950s, mapping of the Earth's ocean floors showed the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to have valleys and ridges. Its central valley is seismologically active and the epicentre of many earthquakes. Ewing and Heezen discovered the ridge to be part of a 40,000-km-long essentially continuous system of mid-ocean ridges on the floors of all the Earth's oceans. The discovery of this worldwide ridge system led to the theory of seafloor spreading and general acceptance of Wegener's theory of continental drift and expansion as plate tectonics.

Geology
The ridge started forming in at the end of the Triassic period, and was responsible for the separation of the Americas from Africa and Europe with the breakup of Pangaea.

The ridge sits atop a geologic feature known as the Mid-Atlantic Rise which is a progressive bulge that runs the length of the Atlantic Ocean, with the ridge resting on the highest point of this linear bulge. This bulge is thought to be caused by upward convective forces in the asthenosphere pushing up the oceanic crust and lithosphere.

References

Atlantic Ocean
Plate tectonics
Geography of Iceland

Mid-Atlantic Ridge


Sky Odyssey (or The Sky Odyssey in Japan) is an action/adventure flight simulator (or flight videogame) for the SonyPlayStation 2.  It was made by Cross, published by Activision and was sold in store's in the year 2000.

The games story is a Indiana Jones-like adventure in which the person playing the game flies an airplane in a fictional (or not real) world collecting very old objects as well as pieces of a map.

The game's music was made by Kō Ōtani, who also made the music for Shadow of the Colossus, different types of Gamera films, and many other anime.

It is one of the few videogames that you can fly the Japanese Shinden and Shinden Kai, the Shinden is the airplane shown on the game's box.

Other websites
Official website

Simulator video games
2000 video games
Activision video games
PlayStation 2 games
PlayStation 2-only games
Video games developed in Japan

Sky Odyssey


No is an English word which has a negative meaning. It is the antonym (opposite) of the word Yes, which is a positive term.

No is used when someone is denying or turning away something. It can also be used in different figures of speech.

In both sentences and talking, the words "No" and the word "Not" can both be used, though the word "No" is mainly used when speaking to other people. In some cases, however, "Not" is not acceptable, and vice versa. These words are not to be confused with the similar sounding words know and knot.

Examples of proper usage of "No" and "Not":
Is this green? No, it is not.
There is no way round the back.
 This is not the way (but there is another way).
 I will not come.
 Oh, no!
 No, thank you.
 Not on my watch!

Examples of improper usage of "No" and "Not":
 That is no the way you do it.
 Oh not!
 I know how to tie a knot. (Disambiguation)
 I didn't no that!
 I can no go.

Basic English 850 words

No


The Murerplan is a map of Zürich, printed in 1576 by Jos Murer (1530-1580).
It was combined from six pearwood plates measuring 45 cm squared each. A smaller extra plate was made for the Grossmünster, which would otherwise have been divided between four plates.
The original plates have not been preserved. The plates of a second edition of 1610 survive.

Description
The map is entitled
Der uralten wytbekannten Statt Zurych gestalt und gelaegenhait / wie sy zuo diser zyt in waesen / ufgerissen und in grund gelegt / durch Josen Murer / und durch Christoffel Froschaower / zuo Eeren dem Vatterland getruckt / Im M.D.LXXVI. Jar.
"The aspect and situation of the ancient and famous town of Zürich / as it has been at this time / drawn and etched / by Jos Murer / and by Christoph Froschauer / printed for the glory of the nation / AD 1576"

The plan is extremely detailed, showing the aspect of every house, and is a unique historical source for the condition of the city in the 16th century. Zürich had essentially preserved its medieval (13th-century) aspect until that time (except for the frequent replacement of earlier wooden buildings by stone houses), and major expansions and city planning began only in the 17th century, with the addition of ramparts during the Thirty Years' War.

The plan looks east over the city (north to the left), with the moat at the bottom of the plan corresponding to the present Bahnhofstrasse, with the Rennweg gate, the main entry to the city. The bottom left corner shows the confluence of the Sihl and Limmat rivers, the location of the present Zürich Hauptbahnhof.

Gallery

See also
 plaene/a33_legende_murerplan.pdf

External links

16th-century maps and globes
History of Zürich
1576 works

Murerplan


William (c. 1270 – 30 September 1292, in Brunswick), Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, briefly ruled part of the duchy.

William was the third son of Albert I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. On Albert's death on 1279, the three eldest brothers succeeded him, but were put under guardianship of Conrad, Prince-Bishop of Verden. After they reached majority, they divided the territory among each other in 1291: William received the northern part of their father's state, including Brunswick, Schöningen, the Harzburg, Seesen, and Königslutter. The brothers disagreed over control of the City of Brunswick.

Only a year later, William died, and his brothers divided his territory among each other. He had married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry I, Landgrave of Hesse, but the marriage apparently remained childless.

References

 Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon, Appelhans 2006,

1292 deaths
Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Year of birth uncertain
Old House of Brunswick
Burials at Brunswick Cathedral

William I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg


Ilka Tanya Payán (January 7, 1943 – April 6, 1996) was a Dominican-born actress and attorney who later became a prominent HIV/AIDS activist in the United States.

Early life
Payán was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and immigrated to the United States at the age of thirteen, settling permanently in New York City.

Acting career
She became widely recognized for her role in the Spanish-language telenovela Angelica, Mi Vida ("Angelica, My Life"). It was from her role on this serial that provided Payán with the experience to move on to bigger roles in Hollywood with a small role in the film Scarface, and a guest role on the television series Hill Street Blues. Prior to these roles, she had worked in local theatrical and television projects in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Spain.

She also worked hard to encourage New York's Latino theater community. She was a founder of the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA), and was heavily involved with International Arts Relations (INTAR).

AIDS activism
Payán studied law at Peoples College of Law in Los Angeles, California, and became an attorney in 1981, practicing immigration law. It was around this time she contracted HIV from a former lover, for which she did not test positive until 1986. Caught completely off guard by the discovery, she revealed her status to her husband, her then 22-year-old daughter, her niece, and several friends. She and her second husband separated several years later, and ultimately divorced. He never contracted HIV.

Payán did not publicly disclose her status until 1993. Payán's announcement shocked many in the Hispanic community because she was one of the first Latino celebrities to do so. While it was widely believed that the death of singer Héctor Lavoe in June 1993 influenced her, Payán in an interview with the New York Times said that it was an encounter with a man who she liked that helped her make the decision to announce her status. She confirmed to having HIV upon being asked by the interviewer.

The announcement did not go well with some of her ten sisters and six brothers; many who lived in the Dominican Republic were disturbed over the fact that her revelation was received negatively there, as the general consensus in Latin American countries during the second half of the 1980s and early 1990s was that AIDS only affected homosexuals and  prostitutes. Payán spent the final three years of her life educating the public about the realities of AIDS. On December 10, 1993 she was given the honor of being chosen as the featured speaker at the United Nations panel for World AIDS Day. Speaking to this world body of diplomats allowed her to discuss the importance of educating citizens of developing nations on how to protect themselves and prevent the spread of the disease. In addition to her work, Payán was honored by her native country when Dominican president Joaquín Balaguer awarded her the Medal of Honor in recognition of her activism.  She appeared on the cover of POZ magazine in August 2005, where she was featured in article detailing her life and activism.
Payán died from AIDS-related complications at her Hell's Kitchen home on April 6, 1996. In the years preceding her death, Payán worked in the legal department for the Gay Men's Health Crisis, a non-profit, volunteer-supported and community-based HIV/AIDS organization that has led the fight in educating the public on HIV/AIDS prevention.

Tributes
Since 1999, the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) has given out the HOLA Ilka Award for Humanitarianism in her honor.

On March 1, 2002, New York City renamed a park in the predominantly-Dominican Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights in her honor. The "Ilka Tanya Payán Park" is located on the Greenstreet bounded between 156th and 157th Streets, and Broadway and Morgan Place.

On September 27, 2005, the "Ilka Tanya Payán Theatre" located at the Times Square Arts Center was dedicated. It is meant to serve as an experimental theater for Latino actors and productions.

There are two panels in the AIDS Quilt commemorating her.

Filmography

References
Notes

External links

1943 births
1996 deaths
HIV/AIDS activists
Dominican Republic emigrants to the United States
American activists
AIDS-related deaths in New York (state)
People's College of Law alumni
American film actresses
20th-century American actresses
American television actresses
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American women lawyers

Ilka Tanya Payán


Luis Alberto Riart Vera (21 June 1880 – 1 October 1953) was a Paraguayan politician and President of Paraguay from 17 March 1924 until 15 August 1924.

His Government

When Eligio Ayala renounced the presidency on March 17, 1924, Riart took charge of the government until August 15, and afterwards presented himself as candidate in the next elections.

His ministers were: Belisario Rivarola, in the Department of the Interior, Rogelio Ibarra in Foreign Relations, Lisandro Díaz de León in the Justice and Culture Department, Eliseo Da Rosa in the Treasury Department and Colonel Manlio Schenoni Lugo in War and Navy.

In education, he filled the empty seats in educational institutions with the help of Clementina Irrazábal and the Lieutenant Juan Manuel Garay.

In May 1924 the government recognized many teachers from the Escuela Normal of Barrero Grande and the distinguished teacher Pedro Aguilera was promoted to professor.  The careers of Public Translator and Consular were incorporated to the study program of the Escuela de Comercio (Business School).

Between 1906 and 1916 he was President of the Instituto Paraguayo (Paraguayan Instituto). In 1913 participated in the foundation of the Patriotic Union, from which he was in charge along with Emilio Aceval. He was in charge of the Instituto de Alta Cultura Paraguayo-Argentino (Institute of Paraguayan-Argentine Culture).

He was Minister of Finance of Paraguay 1916–1917, Minister of the Department of the Interior twice, Minister of War and Navy and Chancellor.

He was Provisional President of the country since March 17 until August 15, 1924. Being Chancellor, in 1935 he signed the agreement of Peace called Riart-Elio, that finished the border problem with Bolivia.

In 1913 he was member of the Comisión de Códigos (Code Commission); in 1916 he was Minister of the Department of Interior during the government of Manuel Franco.

Because he had some disagreements with Montero, he quit on August 25, 1919. On April 12, 1923 he was appointed Minister of Finance of Paraguay in the provisional cabinet of Eligio Ayala. In 1924 he was substitute in the War and Navy Department. In 1931 he was Minister of Finance of Paraguay. In 1931 he occupied that position briefly during the government of González Navero, until 1932. José Patricio Guggiari appointed him as Economy Director.

Between 1935 and 1936 he was State Secretary during the government of Eusebio Ayala.

On 21 July 1938 he subscribed with the Paraguayan delegation, the Agreement of Peace, Friendship and Limits with Bolivia. In 1939 he became Vice President of Paraguay in the cabinet of Marshal José Félix Estigarribia. Riart retired after the overthrow of the government on 18 February 1940.

Beginnings

In politics, Riart started more for duty than for personal satisfaction.

On August 8, 1904 he joined those who sought refuge in Argentina after revealing in the capital the beginnings of a movement that would end in armed confrontations. He participated of the union pact among the civics and radicals, being part first of the central commission of this group.

In 1928 he presented his candidature in the convention of his party, but lost by few votes.

References

External links
  List of Presidents of Paraguay, worldstatesmen.org

1880 births
1953 deaths
People from Corrientes Province
Paraguayan people of Catalan descent
Liberal Party (Paraguay) politicians
Presidents of Paraguay
Vice presidents of Paraguay
Finance Ministers of Paraguay
Foreign Ministers of Paraguay
Presidents of the Senate of Paraguay
20th-century Paraguayan lawyers

Luis Alberto Riart


Stone's Fall is a 2009 historical-mystery novel by Iain Pears.

Synopsis
An ageing BBC reporter approaching retirement in 1953, Matthew Braddock is on a farewell tour, visiting the old Paris bureau. Chancing upon a familiar name in the obituary notices, he decides to attend the funeral of an acquaintance he has not seen for many years. After the service, he is approached by a stranger who introduces himself as the deceased woman's solicitor. He surprises Braddock with the information that the firm has been holding a package for many years, addressed to him, with instructions to deliver it only after this woman's death. Later, on his trip back to London, Braddock reminisces about those days of his youth in 1909, when he met the beautiful and mysterious Elizabeth. Equally mysterious was the death (and life) of her husband, Baron Ravenscliff, born John William Stone. Later, Braddock opens the long-delayed package to find a pair of extraordinary manuscripts. These two documents, written accounts of events occurring in 1890 and 1867 respectively, follow Braddock's recollections to form the three-part structure of the historical-mystery novel Stone's Fall.

Critical reception
The novel received mixed reviews,

The Washington Post wrote " A marvel of skillful agglomeration, the novel propels us backward in time to illuminate one man's rise and fall. " and "Pears is an exuberant writer who cannot resist a digression whether describing an incidental character or the invention of the torpedo. But his narrative chatter -- charming or trying, depending on your mood -- somewhat diminishes the major characters, whose individual voices are often lost in the general din."

Entertainment Weekly wrote "This is a massive and well-made book, one ultimately better at characterizing money matters than human affairs"

NPR said "Stone's Fall is one of those gloriously long books that is never long enough."

Kirkus Reviews said "A learned, witty and splendidly entertaining descent into the demimondes of international espionage, arms dealing, financial hanky-panky and other favorite pastimes of those without conscience." and "Classy crime fiction, delightfully written, with few straight lines in sight."

The LA Times wrote said the novel was "daunting only in its length; though bogged down in parts, it is wonderfully accessible and entertaining" that "The ending is well worth the long wait." and that the book "is an entertainment in the best sense: thrilling, compelling, ambitious and smart. It demands slow reading (and even rereading) as the many pieces of this intricate puzzle masterfully come together."

The Guardian criticized the reverse chronology saying "The structure is an audacious one and not without its pitfalls. Stone's Fall is constructed as an intricate and, at almost 600 pages, hefty, puzzle, but because the end of the story is known from the outset, its revelations must be cleverly managed if the plot is to retain sufficient tension. [...] Though [] ignorance might be necessary to ensure that secrets are not uncovered with too great a haste, there is nothing more irksome than a detective stupider than the reader" and also criticized the twist ending "It is regrettable, then, that the urge to contrive a final twist to the tale proves too great for Pears to resist. This sprawling, unconventional, occasionally dazzling novel ends with an unconvincing and unnecessary denouement which serves only to undermine the foundations of the elaborate edifice he has worked so painstakingly to create."

The New York Times wrote "Alas, the plot is now a monster and cannot be resolved without the supernatural, sexual deviancy, the precision engineering of high explosives, narcotics and incest. I have nothing against those amenities in literature, but if you use them you have to use them with conviction, not as the bent nails, stripped screws and dried-up wood glue in the bottom layer of the literary toolbox."

The Telegraph said "Fans of Pears's humdinger of a historical thriller An Instance of the Fingerpost (1997) will not be surprised to learn this is also a juicy mystery with lashings of period detail and recondite information: by the end of the book most readers will know enough about the construction of torpedoes, for example, to have a go at making their own." and "Sadly, the final section, set in Venice in 1867 and narrated by Stone, doesn't quite fulfil expectations. Pears, having virtually mythologised Stone, does not manage to create a narrative voice for him that suggests an individual of particular ability or insight. Still, there are plenty of other fine characterisations. Pears has the good journalist's knack of making high finance enthralling – he can take Robert Peston's job any day – but it is his interest in the peculiar effects that money has on human beings that makes him a good novelist."

Awards and nominations
 Shortlisted for the 2010 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction.

References

External links

 Stone's Fall website
 A set of 85 Google Earth placemarks you can download to view the historic places mentioned in Stone's Fall

2009 British novels
British historical novels
Fiction set in 1909
Fiction set in 1890
Fiction set in 1867
Novels set in London
Novels set in Paris
Novels set in Venice
Spiegel & Grau books

Stone's Fall


Mongrassano () is a town and comune of the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy, located 42 kilometers northwest of Cosenza.

The town is part of the Comunità Montana Media Valle Crate.

History

Mongrassano already existed in the 12th century, known as Mons Crasanus, Moncressano, Mocrasani, Montegrassano or Magrosani. It was originally divided in two hamlets: Serra di Leo and Mongrassano. Like many other Albanian-origin settlements the urban structure was based on the gijtonia, in other words, circular streets.  Either in 1459 or early in the 16th century, another group of Albanian political refugees came and settled in Mongrassano.

On 20 July 1459 the Prince of Bisignano gave the civil jurisdiction of the city to the Bishop of San Marco. In 1642 the Gaetani acquired the territory; in 1688 they sold the property to the Marquesses of Fuscaldo, who held it until the end of the feudal system in 1806. In 1807 Mongrassano became state owned and in 1811 it joined with Serra di Leo. In 1816 it was elevated to the level of a comune, with Serra di Leo as its frazione.

Language and dialect

Officially the inhabitants speak Italian. Traditionally, the dialect is of Albanian origin (Arbëresh), but is spoken by an increasingly restricted number of inhabitants.

Festivals
The patron saint of Mongrassano is Saint Catherine of Siena, but the most important festival in the town is Saint Lucy that occurs during the month of August.

References

External links
 http://www.arbitalia.it/index.htm
 http://www.comuni-italiani.it/078/080/
 http://calabria.indettaglio.it/eng/comuni/cs/mongrassano/mongrassano.html

Arbëresh settlements
Cities and towns in Calabria

Mongrassano


Mark Weston (born July 26, 1953) is an American journalist, writer, and speaker, as well as the author of five books, including "The Runner-Up Presidency: The Elections that Defied America's Popular Will," (Lyons Press, 2016), Giants of Japan: The Lives of Japan's Greatest Men and Women (Kodansha 1999), a work the Los Angeles Times called a "superb new book," and Prophets and Princes: Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the Present (Wiley 2008), which Britain's New Statesman praised as "always intelligent."

Biography
Weston grew up in Armonk, New York and graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in History. He spent a year at the London School of Economics, then earned a J.D. degree from the University of Texas. He has been a lawyer for ABC Television and a journalist for ABC News, and has written articles for the New York Times, The Washington Post,  the Los Angeles Times and the New York Daily News. His one-character play, Meet George Orwell has been performed at Trinity College, Oxford and the John Kennedy Presidential Library Theatre in Boston, among other venues.

In 1991, Weston won enough money on TV's Jeopardy! to start a company that makes geographical jigsaw puzzles for children. He sold his firm three years later to a larger puzzle company, F.X. Schmid, then lived with a Japanese family near Tokyo while researching Giants of Japan. Former Vice President Walter Mondale wrote the book's foreword, and Foreign Affairs called it "vivid, an excellent introduction to Japanese history." Giants of Japan went into paperback in 2002, and again in 2008. Weston has also written a children's book, Honda: The Boy Who Dreamed of Cars, that Lee & Low Books published in 2008.

In 2004, Weston was a visiting scholar at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He completed his next book, Prophets and Princes: Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the Present, four years later. Wyche Fowler, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, wrote the foreword, and Saudi Aramco World said Weston "writes sensitively about the post-9/11 era."  Weston's interest in the Muslim world began when he lived in Lahore while writing his first book, The Land and People of Pakistan (HarperCollins 1992).

Weston's interest in the Middle East and Far East began with a 9th grade class in non-Western studies that Herb Klinger taught at Byram Hills High School, Armonk.

Weston is the son of writers. His father, William Weston, wrote and produced television documentaries, including The Soviet Woman for ABC News in 1963, and The Last Word, a Peabody award-winning talk show, for CBS in the mid-1950s. His mother, Marybeth Little Weston, was a poet, and the garden editor of House & Garden magazine during the 1970s. His sister, Carol Weston, is also a writer, the author of a dozen books of fiction and advice.

References

External links

 Post on Facebook

1953 births
Living people
People from Armonk, New York
American male journalists
Writers from New York (state)
Brown University alumni
University of Texas alumni

Mark Weston (journalist)


Antiochus I Soter (, Antíochos Sōtér; "Antiochus the Savior"; 2 June 261 BC) was a Greek king of the Seleucid Empire. Antiochus succeeded his father Seleucus I Nicator in 281 BC and reigned during a period of instability which he mostly overcame until his death on 2 June 261 BC. He is the last known ruler to be attributed the ancient Mesopotamian title King of the Universe.

Biography
Antiochus's father was Seleucus I Nicator and his mother was Apama, daughter of Spitamenes, being one of the princesses whom Alexander the Great had given as wives to his generals in 324 BC. The Seleucids fictitiously claimed that Apama was the daughter of Darius III, in order to legitimise themselves as the inheritors of both the Achaemenids and Alexander, and therefore the rightful lords of western and central Asia.

In 294 BC, prior to the death of his father Seleucus I, Antiochus married his stepmother, Stratonice, daughter of Demetrius Poliorcetes. The ancient sources report that his elderly father reportedly instigated the marriage after discovering that his son was in danger of dying of lovesickness. Stratonice bore five children to Antiochus: Seleucus (later executed for rebellion), Laodice, Apama II, Stratonice II and Antiochus II Theos, who succeeded his father as king.

The Ruin of Esagila Chronicle, dated between 302 and 281 BC, mentions that a crown prince, most likely Antiochus, decided to rebuild the ruined Babylonian temple Esagila, and made a sacrifice in preparation. However, while there, he stumbled on the rubble and fell. He then ordered his troops to destroy the last of the remains.

On the assassination of his father in 281 BC, the task of holding together the empire was a formidable one. A revolt in Syria broke out almost immediately. Antiochus was soon compelled to make peace with his father's murderer, Ptolemy Keraunos, apparently abandoning Macedonia and Thrace. In Anatolia he was unable to reduce Bithynia or the Persian dynasties that ruled in Cappadocia.

In 278 BC the Gauls broke into Anatolia, and a victory that Antiochus won over these Gauls by using Indian war elephants (275 BC) is said to have been the origin of his title of Soter (Greek for "saviour").

At the end of 275 BC the question of Coele-Syria, which had been open between the houses of Seleucus and Ptolemy since the partition of 301 BC, led to hostilities (the First Syrian War). It had been continuously in Ptolemaic occupation, but the house of Seleucus maintained its claim. War did not materially change the outlines of the two kingdoms, though frontier cities like Damascus and the coast districts of Asia Minor might change hands.

In 268 BC Antiochus I laid the foundation for the Ezida Temple in Borsippa. His eldest son Seleucus had ruled in the east as viceroy from c. 275 BC until 268/267 BC; Antiochus put his son to death in the latter year on the charge of rebellion. Around 262 BC Antiochus tried to break the growing power of Pergamum by force of arms, but suffered defeat near Sardis and died soon afterwards. He was succeeded in 261 BC by his second son Antiochus II Theos.

Ai-Khanoum

Recent analysis strongly suggests that the city of Ai-Khanoum, located in Takhar Province, northern Afghanistan, at the confluence of the Panj River and the Kokcha River and at the doorstep of the Indian subcontinent, was founded c. 280 BC by Antiochus I.

Relations with India
Antiochus I maintained friendly diplomatic relations with Bindusara, ruler of the Maurya Empire of India. Deimachos of Plateia was the ambassador of Antiochus at the court of Bindusara. The 3rd century Greek writer Athenaeus, in his Deipnosophistae, mentions an incident that he learned from Hegesander's writings: Bindusara requested Antiochus to send him sweet wine, dried figs and a sophist. Antiochus replied that he would send the wine and the figs, but the Greek laws forbade him to sell a sophist.

Antiochus is probably the Greek king mentioned in the Edicts of Ashoka, as one of the recipients of the Indian Emperor Ashoka's Buddhist proselytism:

Ashoka also claims that he encouraged the development of herbal medicine, for men and animals, in the territories of the Hellenic kings:

Alternatively, the Greek king mentioned in the Edict of Ashoka could also be Antiochus's son and successor, Antiochus II Theos, although the proximity of Antiochus I with the East may makes him a better candidate.

Neoclassical art

The love between Antiochus and his stepmother Stratonice was often depicted in Neoclassical art, as in a painting by Jacques-Louis David.

References

Bibliography

External links

 Appianus' Syriaka
 Antiochus I Soter : fact sheet at Livius.org
 Babylonian Chronicles of the Hellenic Period
 Antiochus I Soter entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith
 Hellenization of the Babylonian Culture?
 Coins of Antiochus I

320s BC births
261 BC deaths
Year of birth uncertain
3rd-century BC Seleucid monarchs
Kings of the Universe
Kings of the Lands

Antiochus I Soter


Arthur Evans Moule  (1836–1918) was an English missionary to China. He was the son of Henry Moule, vicar at Fordington, Dorset and his wife Mary.  He was educated at the Malta Protestant College and the Church Missionary Society College, Islington. He married Eliza Agnes Bernau on 21 March 1861 in Erith, Kent.

Missionary in China
Shortly after his marriage in 1861 he went out to China together with his wife, arriving in time to witness some of the stirring scenes of the Taiping Rebellion. He worked in the vicinity of Ningpo in 1861–1869 and in 1871–1876; at Hangchow(Hangzhou) (where his brother George Evans Moule had founded, in 1869, the first inland mission residence) from 1876 to 1879; in Shanghai in 1882–1894; and, after eight years at home, in Chekiang and Kiangsu from 1902 to his retirement in 1910, having been Archdeacon in the diocese of Mid-China for 30 years.

In 1890 he was a founding member of the Permanent Committee for the Promotion of Anti-Opium Societies. Fellow committee members were prominent missionaries John Glasgow Kerr MD, American Presbyterian Mission in Canton; BC Atterbury MD, American Presbyterian Mission in Peking, Henry Whitney MD, American Board of Commissioners for foreign Missions in Foochow, the Rev Samuel Clarke, China Inland Mission in Kweiyang; the Rev Arthur Gostick Shorrock, English Baptist Mission in Taiyuan and the Rev Griffith John, London Mission Society in Hankow. They resolved to continue their opposition to the opium traffic, urging Christians in China to arouse public opinion against it. The desire of the missionaries that their ideas be carried out caused them to form "continuation committees" that were assigned tasks to assure that action would be taken on whatever matters had been approved by the conferences.

In Chinese he published tracts, sermons, a commentary on the Thirty-nine Articles, "A Letter to the Scholars of China," etc., and in English:
Chinese Stories (1880)
 (1891; third edition, 1902)
 (1911)
The Chinese People: A Handbook on China (1914)

His brother Handley Moule was the bishop of Durham from 1901 to 1920.

He and Eliza had seven children together while in China: Arthur, Walter, Agnes, Charlotte, Horace, George and Ernest.  Arthur Moule and his younger brother Walter both attended Monkton Combe School.

Selected works
Moule, Arthur Evans (1891). The Story of the Chek-Kiang Mission of the Church Missionary Society. London: Church Missionary Society. [digitized by University of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives, "China Through Western Eyes." ]
Moule, Arthur Evans [1911]. Half a century in China: recollections and observations. London: Hodder and Stoughton. [digitized by University of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives, "China Through Western Eyes." ]

Notes

References

English Protestant missionaries
Protestant missionaries in China
British expatriates in China
English non-fiction writers
1836 births
1918 deaths
Alumni of the Church Missionary Society College, Islington
English male non-fiction writers

Arthur Moule


The Fender Princeton was a guitar amplifier made by Fender. It was introduced in 1946 and discontinued in 1979. After Fender introduced the Champ Amp in 1948, the Princeton occupied the next to the bottom spot in the Fender line.  Fender Princetons (as well as their sister amp the Princeton Reverb) from the early models into the 1970s models are highly valued particularly as recording amplifiers.

The first Princeton, the "Woody" (so called for its uncovered wooden cabinet), was the smallest of the original Fender line of three amplifiers, an incredibly basic 3-watt practice amp with no controls at all, not even a power switch. The first widely produced Princeton, the 1948 tweed-covered "TV front," used one 6SL7 or 6SC7 dual-triode tube to provide two stages of RC-coupled voltage amplification in the preamplifier section; the power amplifier section used a single cathode-biased 6V6 beam power tetrode necessarily in Class A operation. The amplifier had a single volume control and a simple low-pass tone control to control treble response. The Princeton circuits up through 5C2 differed from the Fender Champ in having two versus one preamp stage (6SC7 dual-triode vs 6SJ7 pentode) and added the tone control that was absent in the Champs; the 12AX7-based Princeton models 5D2 through 5F2-A were essentially the Champ circuits 5D1 through 5F1 with a tone control and a somewhat larger output transformer. In 1956 the Princeton received a new cabinet roughly half again as tall and wide as the previous Champ-sized "small box."

In 1961, a new Princeton (6G2) of fundamentally different design was introduced, which instead of being essentially an upgraded Champ was more like a junior Deluxe. This "brownface" version used a single 7025 dual triode in the preamplifier; a 12AX7 dual triode, one half of which operated a tremolo oscillator and the other half of which served as a split-load phase inverter; and two 6V6GT tubes, which were fixed-biased in Class AB push-pull configuration in the power section. In 1964, the single tone control was replaced with individual bass and treble control knobs, and the base Princeton was joined by the Princeton Reverb. A pull-out "boost" switch was added to the volume pot in 1978.

The Princeton is particularly famous as the basis for Mesa Boogie's Mark I, which is a heavily hot-rodded Princeton equipped with modified preamp and a Bassman transformer, allowing it a higher gain output of 60 watts.

Fender produced a solid state Princeton from 1988 to 2001, the Princeton Chorus. Models from 1988-1991 ("red knob") were made in USA, models from 1991-1997 ("black knob") were also made in USA, and models from 1998-2001 ("black knob") were made in Mexico. This model was notable for its two independent 25.5-watt amplifiers running in stereo mode. The USA models used Accusonics Spring Reverb while the Mexican models used DSP Reverb.  Recently, the American models made at Fender's Lake Oswego factory (branded 'LO') are becoming more sought after for their high quality and rich built-in chorus modulation.

In 2006, Fender revived the Princeton name, under "Princeton Recording-Amp" (Pro-tube series) and "Princeton 650" (under Dyna-touch III series). The Princeton recording amplifier is basically a blackface Princeton with built-in overdrive, compressor and power attenuator. Fender also reissued the Princeton Reverb in 2008.

See also
Fender Princeton Reverb
White Amp

References

Instrument amplifiers
P

Fender Princeton


My Tutor is a 1983 American sex comedy film directed by George Bowers. The film focuses on high school graduates (including Matt Lattanzi and Crispin Glover) as they attempt to lose their virginity during the summer vacation before college, and one's eventual relationship with his French tutor (Caren Kaye).

Plot
The movie opens with scenes of an aerobics class juxtaposed with a classroom of students taking an examination. The movie's two protagonists are featured in these scenes, with Terry Green (Kaye) participating in the aerobics and Bobby Chrystal (Lattanzi) taking, not very well it turns out, his last high school final, in French.

At first, Bobby's main goal for the summer before college appears to be losing his virginity, if not with his unrequited high school crush, Bonnie (Amber Denyse Austin), who dates a college student, then with any takers. Soon, though, the poor results of the French final are in, and Bobby must take a make-up examination and score at least 85% to retain his acceptance at his wealthy lawyer father's alma mater, Yale University. Mr. Chrystal (Kevin McCarthy) hires Terry, a skilled French tutor, to live in the Chrystal home during the summer and work with Bobby on passing his exam. In addition to her normal compensation, Mr. Chrystal offers to give Terry a bonus payment of $10,000 should Bobby pass.

Terry and Bobby begin working together, but Bobby's lack of interest in both French and Yale soon becomes apparent. His real goal is to attend UCLA and study astronomy. Terry is sympathetic, but reminds Bobby that wherever he ends up going to college, he will need to pass his French final. With Terry's help, Bobby begins to make some progress.

At night, after she thinks everyone in the Chrystal home is asleep, Terry uses the family's pool to skinny dip. However, Bobby sees her one night and begins watching her regularly (especially as his group of friends fail several attempts to lose their virginity). After one such evening, Bobby follows Terry back to her room, only to have her sneak up behind him and surprise him. Terry gently admonishes Bobby for spying on her, but clearly they have a mutual attraction. After yet another evening out with his friends, Bobby returns home to find an upset Terry, who had earlier discovered her on-and-off-again boyfriend cheating on her. Terry later heads to the pool for her regular swim. She finds Bobby waiting for her and she pulls him into the pool with her and the two begin a love affair.

The summer's end approaches and Bobby has to take his French examination. Despite Terry's attempts to keep their relationship casual, Bobby has developed serious feelings for Terry and resists her insistence that the affair end once he takes his exam. Matters worsen when Mr. Chrystal, who himself lusts for Terry, sees his son and Terry kissing one night. After Bobby successfully passes the test with a score of 91%, Mr. Chrystal reveals to Bobby his promise to pay Terry the $10,000 bonus, implying that Terry's affection for Bobby was driven by greed. Bobby reacts by angrily confronting his father in regards to his overbearing ways and tells him that he will be attending UCLA to study astronomy, and now that he is an adult, he will no longer allow him to dominate every aspect of his life. He proceeds to storm out to find Terry. He confronts her with the information, calling her a hooker and flees after Terry angrily denies the accusation.

Later, Bobby seeks out Bonnie, his old crush, and, using his newfound confidence with women, is able to persuade her to begin dating him. Terry prepares to leave the Chrystal home and Bobby approaches her to say good-bye. He begins by apologizing to her for his rash accusations and then telling her that he will never forget her. Terry tells him matter-of-factly that she will never forget him. The two share one last kiss, and Terry drives off. Bobby leaps into the air, looking forward to the future.

Cast
Caren Kaye as Terry Green
Matt Lattanzi as Bobby Chrystal
Kevin McCarthy as Mr. Chrystal
Clark Brandon as Billy
Bruce Bauer as Don Sylvester
Arlene Golonka as Mrs. Chrystal
Crispin Glover as Jack
Amber Denyse Austin as Bonnie
John Vargas as Manuel
Maria Melendez as Maria
Graem McGavin as Sylvia
Jewel Shepard as Girl in Phone Booth
Shelley Taylor Morgan as Louisa
Kitten Natividad

Production
The pool and house used are on the grounds of Owlwood in Holmby Hills.

Caren Kaye admitted she had trepidations doing her first nude scene. "I had psyched myself up that this was just one other part of the movie, that's all. We were very close with the camera man, camera operator and the director the three men who were in the room. I would have preferred that they were all women, but I had no choice. It went smoothly, but it's wasn't easy."

References

External links

1983 films
1980s sex comedy films
American sex comedy films
American coming-of-age films
American independent films
American teen comedy films
Crown International Pictures films
1980s English-language films
Films about teacher–student relationships
Films about virginity
1983 comedy films
Films directed by George Bowers
1980s American films

My Tutor


A slow dance is a type of partner dance in which a couple dance slowly, swaying to the music. This is usually done to very slow-beat songs, namely sentimental ballads.

Slow dancing can refer to any slow couple dance (such as certain ballroom dances), but is often associated with a particular, simple style of dance performed by middle school, high school, and college students.

Technique
When two partners dance together, the male partner typically holds his hands against the sides of the female partner's hips, buttocks, or waist while the female drapes her hands on the male's shoulders. The couple then sways back and forth with the music. Foot movement is minimal, but the pair may use their feet to slowly turn on the spot. Because the dance requires little physical concentration, participants often talk to each other while dancing. Some couples who have a close relationship may dance very closely together, in a "hug-and-sway" fashion.

References

Partner dance
Dance culture

Slow dance


Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet (18 April 1752 – 17 May 1794) of Killerton in Devon and Holnicote in Somerset, was a prominent landowner and member of the West Country gentry. He was especially noted for his passion for staghunting, in which respect he took after his father. Like his father he was known locally in Devon and Somerset as "Sir Thomas his Honour".

Origins
He was the second son of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 7th Baronet (1722–1785) of Killerton in Devon and Petherton Park in Somerset, by his wife Elizabeth Dyke (died 1753), daughter and heiress of Thomas Dyke of Tetton, Holnicote and Pixton in Somerset. The ancient Acland family, believed to be of Flemish origin, originated at the estate of Acland in the parish of Landkey in North Devon, where it is first recorded in 1155.

Succession
He succeeded his seven-year-old nephew Sir John Dyke Acland, 8th Baronet (1778–1785) as 9th Baronet on the latter's death in April 1785. According to tradition he had become estranged from his father and had quarrelled with his elder brother Col. John Dyke Acland (1747–1778) and had consequently moved away from the family estates. It was during a chance visit to his old home that he learned of his succession to the baronetcy and the vast family estates.

Education
He attended Eton College and University College, Oxford.

Career

He had a propensity to get into debt, and thus his father had avoided bequeathing him a large sum of capital he might squander. His elder brother had predeceased their father, and had left an infant son as heir to the baronetcy. His life was largely dedicated to staghunting and he followed his father into the Mastership of the North Devon Staghounds. He virtually abandoned the family's main seat of Killerton in mid-Devon, and lived chiefly at Holnicote and Highercombe, near Dulverton, situated at the north and south edges respectively of the ancient royal forest of Exmoor, renowned for its herds of Red Deer. His hospitality to his fellow staghunters was legendary, as had been that of his father. During the period 1785 to his death in 1794 he killed 101 stags, the heads and antlers of many of which are still displayed in the stables at Holnicote. He was a stern employer of his hunt-staff, and on one occasion when his hounds had killed several sheep, possibly belonging to his farming tenants, he ordered his huntsman "to hang himself and the whole pack".

On 4 August 1787, he was commissioned a captain in the North Devon Militia. He was promoted to major on 14 August 1790, and to lieutenant-colonel on 9 December 1793.

Marriage and children
On 4 July 1785 at Barnes in Surrey, he married Henrietta Anne Hoare, a daughter of Sir Richard Hoare, 1st Baronet of Barn Elms, a partner in the City of London banking firm C. Hoare & Co, and Frances Anne Acland. She survived him and in 1795 remarried to Captain the Hon. Matthew Fortescue (1754–1842), Royal Navy, younger brother of Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Fortescue of Castle Hill, Filleigh, Devon. By his wife he had children including Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet (1787–1871), eldest son and heir, and Hugh Dyke Acland (1791–1834).

Death and succession
He died on 17 May 1794, having fallen ill during a journey to London. He was buried in the family vault in Broadclyst Church, the parish church of Killerton House. His Latin epitaph was written in the burial register of Selworthy Church, the parish church of Holnicote, as follows:
Hic finis fatorum Priami hic exitus illum
Sorte tulit! – Vale. Vale. Vale.
Nec Meridies nec Aurora unquam vident ejus ora.
Reliquit nobis cornu, canes, tandem quiescant ejus manes.
("This was the fated end of Priam's empire and of his own life! Farewell. Farewell. Farewell. Neither Noon nor Dawn shall ever see his face again. He left us his horn and his hounds; may his spirit finally rest in peace".)
He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet (1787–1871), whose interests lay not in hunting but rather in politics and philanthropy, which set the trend for several generations of his descendants.

References

thePeerage.com

1752 births
1794 deaths
Thomas Dyke 1752
Baronets in the Baronetage of England
People educated at Eton College
Alumni of University College, Oxford
British Militia officers
Devon Militia officers
English hunters

Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet


Ochtrup () is a town in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 km west of Rheine and 20 km east of Enschede.

History
An early mention of the town was "Ohtepe" (the eastern Epe or Ostepe) in the year 1143. A Christian church was established there in 1203.

Between November 25 and November 30, 2005, the town was often off the German power grid, and was the topic of national news. The cause was a heavy snow storm with very wet snow. The power poles and cables between Gronau and Ochtrup were encrusted with a thick layer of ice. Due to the increased weight and the heavy storm most power poles toppled. Emergency generators from all regions of Germany were installed and operated in the following days and weeks. Dairy farmers were economically impacted as were other companies in the area. The collapse of the power poles, even today, is not completely understood. Some were 65 years old and rusted, but some were newer and constructed with special steel. Politicians in North Rhine-Westphalia blamed the power company, RWE for failure to replace older poles.

Sights
The pottery museum of Ochtrup is in the house of an old pottery family whose name was Eiling. The authentic furniture shows the visitor how people lived in the 19th and the 20th century. The oldest objects dating from the 14th /15th century are restored Blackwood ware. The "Ochtruper Nachtigall" and the "Siebenhenkeltopf" are the most interesting objects. In the past, the "Siebenhenkeltopf" was a chamber pot with seven identical handles.
St. Lamberti Church is a Catholic church in a neogothic style which was inaugurated in 1873.
Stüwwenkopp dating from 1593 is an old weir in the town center which was a part of the medieval defensive wall of Ochtrup. Originally, Ochtrup was a village which developed around Saint Lamberti Church. In the Middle Ages, however, Ochtrup was transformed into a fortification surrounded by a moat and a wall. The dimension of the fort can still be seen on the present town maps as its borders were formed by the streets Nordwall, Ostwall, Südwall and Westwall which still surround the town center. The German word Wall means moat. Ochtrup as a fortification was meant to defend the trade road between Rheine and Münster, and as such the town was attacked and conquered various times, e.g. in the Thirty Years' War.
The Jewish Cemetery of Ochtrup is in the Eastern part of the town. The oldest tomb dates from 1824.

Twin Towns
Ochtrup is twinned with:
  Valverde del Camino (Huelva, Spain) -- since 1991

References

External links

Steinfurt (district)

Ochtrup


Charlotte-Catherine Patin (2 January 1666 in Paris – 1744) was a 17th- and 18th-century French writer and art critic.

Granddaughter of medical doctor and letter writer Guy Patin, and daughter of medical doctor and numismatist Charles Patin and moralist writer Madeleine Patin, as well as sister of numismatist Gabrielle-Charlotte Patin, Charlotte-Catherine Patin published the following known works, in Latin and French:

 Oratio de liberata civitate Vienna (Padoue, 1683)
 Tabellæ selectæ ac explicatæ (Ibid. , 1691, in fol.), a collection of reviews of famous paintings, which included 42 engravings, including one of her family.
 Relatio de litteris apologeticis, published in the contemporary German scientific review Acta Eruditorum (1691), where she responded to a critic of a work of her father on the Marcellin tomb that they had critiqued.
 Mitra, ou la Démone mariée, ou le malheur des hommes qui épousent de mauvaises femmes, (Démonopolis, 1745)

Charlotte-Catherine Patin was made, as well as her sister and parents, a member of the Galileiana Academy of Arts and Science, under the name "Rare".

References

1666 births
1744 births
17th-century French writers
17th-century French women writers
18th-century French writers
18th-century French women writers
French art critics
French women art critics

Charlotte-Catherine Patin


In footwear and fashion, flip-flops are a kind of flat, backless sandal. They have a flat sole held on the foot by a u-shaped strap that passes between the first (big) and second toes and around either side of the foot, attached to the sole at three points, commonly known as the thong strap. They may have been developed out of traditional Japanese woven or wooden-soled sandals (i.e., zori and setta) in Australia.

Footwear

Flip-flops


A spin valve is a device that consists of two metallic magnetic layers separated by a non-magnetic spacer whose electric resistance can change depending on the relative alignment of magnetization in the two magnetic layers, electrons moving through a non-magnetic material normally have random spins, so the net effect is cancelled out. When the magnetization of both the magnetic material are in the same direction or parallel, the resistance in the sandwiched layer becomes low so that the electrons in that layer have spins all aligned in one direction - either all up or all down, allowing a new way to store binary data in the form of one's (all spins up) and zeroes (all spins down).

Quantum mechanics
Electronics

Spin valve


An entrepôt is a trading post where merchandise can be imported and exported without paying a tariff. This is often at a profit. Sometimes it is more convenient to sell to an entrepôt than to travel long distances along a trade route. The entrepôt sells the goods at a higher price to others travelling the rest of the route. In modern times customs areas have largely made such entrepôts obsolete.

This type of port should not be confused with the modern French use of the word entrepôt meaning warehouse.

History

Entrepôts date back to the middle ages. The Vikings established trade routes with entrepôts at Dublin, Wexford and Waterford. An example of a Colonial American entrepôt was in Rhode Island between 1690 and 1765.

References

Trade

Entrepôt