David Linsay Willetts, Baron Willetts,  (born 9 March 1956) is a British politician and life peer. From 1992 to 2015, he was the Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Havant in Hampshire. He served as Minister of State for Universities and Science from 2010 until July 2014 and became a member of the House of Lords in 2015. He was appointed chair of the UK Space Agency's board in April 2022. He is president of the Resolution Foundation.

Education

Willetts was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied Philosophy, politics and economics. Willetts graduated with a first-class degree.

Policy researcher
Having served as Nigel Lawson's private researcher, Willetts took charge of the Treasury monetary policy division at 26 before moving over to Margaret Thatcher's Policy Unit at 28. Aged 31, he subsequently took over the Centre for Policy Studies.

Paul Foot wrote in Private Eye that in a 1993 document called The Opportunities for Private Funding in the NHS, published by the Social Market Foundation and financed by private healthcare company BUPA, Willetts provided the "intellectual thrust" for private finance initiatives (PFIs) in the National Health Service.

First period in government

Aged 36, Willetts entered Parliament in 1992 as the MP for Havant. He quickly established himself in Parliament, becoming a Whip, a Cabinet Office Minister, and then Paymaster General in his first term (when that role was split between the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury as a policy co-ordination role). During this period Willetts gained "Two Brains" as a nickname, a monicker reportedly coined by The Guardian's former political editor Michael White. However, Willetts was forced to resign from the latter post by the Standards and Privileges Committee over an investigation into Neil Hamilton in 1996, when it found that he had "dissembled" in his evidence to the Committee over whether pressure was put onto an earlier investigation into Hamilton.

Shadow Cabinet
Despite the resignation, Willetts was able to return to the shadow front bench a few years later while William Hague was Leader of the Opposition, initially serving in the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Education Secretary before becoming Shadow Social Security (later Shadow Work and Pensions) Secretary.  He carved out a reputation as an expert on pensions and benefits. Since leaving the DWP post, he has been recruited as an external consultant by the actuaries Punter Southall.

Following the 2005 election, he served as  Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in the Shadow Cabinet under Michael Howard. In August 2005, after ruling out running for leader owing to a lack of support, commentators speculated that he was gunning for the post of Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and would cut a deal with either David Davis or David Cameron. On 15 September he confirmed his support for Davis, at that time the bookies' favourite. Willetts, a centrist moderniser, went to ground following the announcement of the Davis tax plan since it was widely speculated that he disagreed with the seemingly uncosted and widely derided tax plan and found it impossible to defend. Davis then lost the candidacy race to Cameron.

Following Cameron's win, Willetts was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills in Cameron's first Shadow Cabinet in December 2005, the role Cameron had vacated, and later becoming Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills. His title became Shadow Minister for Universities and Skills since Gordon Brown's merger of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform into the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in June 2009.

On 19 May 2007, Willetts made a controversial speech on grammar schools in which he defended the existing Conservative Party policy of not reintroducing grammar schools. The speech received a mixed reception. The analysis was applauded by The Guardian and The Times. However, the more right-wing The Daily Telegraph was strongly critical of the speech, which was unpopular with some Conservative Party activists. The speech was made more controversial when David Cameron weighed into the argument, backing Willetts' speech and describing his critics as "delusional", accusing them of "splashing around in the shallow end of the educational debate" and of "clinging on to outdated mantras that bear no relation to the reality of life".

The Department for Education and Skills was abolished by the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who established two new departments. On 2 July 2007, Cameron reshuffled Willetts down to the junior of the two departments: the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

Second period in government
Following the 2010 general election, Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Willetts as the Minister of State for Universities and Science.

Feminism claim
In June 2011, Willetts said during the launch of the Government's social mobility strategy that movement between the classes had "stagnated" over the past 40 years, and Willetts attributed this partly to the entry of women into the workplace and universities for the lack of progress for men. "Feminism trumped egalitarianism", he said, adding that women who would otherwise have been housewives had taken university places and well-paid jobs that could have gone to ambitious working-class men. He went on to say that, "One of the things that happened over that period was that the entirely admirable transformation of opportunities for women meant that with a lot of the expansion of education in the 1960s, '70s and '80s, the first beneficiaries were the daughters of middle-class families who had previously been excluded from educational opportunities [...] And if you put that with what is called 'assortative mating' – that well-educated women marry well-educated men – this transformation of opportunities for women ended up magnifying social divides. It is delicate territory because it is not a bad thing that women had these opportunities, but it widened the gap in household incomes because you suddenly had two-earner couples, both of whom were well-educated, compared with often workless households where nobody was educated".

Tuition fees and student loan debts
As the minister responsible for universities, Willetts was an advocate and spokesperson for the coalition government's policy of increasing the cap on tuition fees in England and Wales from £3,225 to £9,000 per year.

In November 2013, Willetts announced the sale of student loans to Erudio Student Loans – a debt collection consortium – removing £160m from public debt but ignoring the implications for former students.

Peerage and further ventures
In July 2014, Willetts announced that he would not contest the next general election, saying that "after more than 20 years the time has come to move onto fresh challenges." In October 2014, Willetts was appointed a visiting professor at King's College London. It was announced that he was to be a life peer in the 2015 Dissolution Honours and was created Baron Willetts, of Havant in the County of Hampshire, on 16 October 2015. In June 2015, Willetts was appointed executive chair of the think tank the Resolution Foundation. In May 2018 he was elected a Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society. In February 2022 he was appointed a director of the Synbioven investment fund, and in April 2022 he was appointed chair of the board of the UK Space Agency.

Brexit
Willetts is one of the signatories of a statement by senior Conservatives calling for a second referendum over Brexit. This states, "If we are to remain a party of government, it is absolutely critical that we increase our support among younger generations.  To do this, we must listen to and engage with their concerns on Brexit. They voted overwhelmingly to Remain in the European Union in 2016 – and since then have become even stronger in their views. Since the referendum, nearly 2 million young people are now of voting age. Of those in this group who are certain to vote, an astounding 87% support the United Kingdom staying in the European Union. If we do not hear their voices, who could blame them for feeling excluded and powerless on this most vital issue. The truth is that if Brexit fails this generation, we risk losing young people for good. Our party's electoral future will be irrevocably blighted." In early 2019, he co-founded the group Right to Vote.

Free votes record
According to the Public Whip analyses, Willetts was strongly in favour of an elected House of Lords and was strongly against the ban on fox hunting. TheyWorkForYou additionally records that, amongst other things, Willetts was strongly in favour of the Iraq War, strongly in favour of an investigation into it, moderately against equal gay rights, and very strongly for replacing Trident.

Other interests
Following his decision to stand down at the 2015 General Election, Willetts joined the Resolution Foundation in Summer 2015. He Chaired the Foundation's Intergenerational Commission between 2016 and 2018, and is now President of the Resolution Foundation, along with its Intergenerational Centre. He is currently a visiting professor at King's College London where he works with the Policy Institute at King's, a visiting professor at the Cass Business School, a board member of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. On 9 February 2018, the University of Leicester announced they had elected David Willetts as successor to Bruce Grocott to become their new chancellor.

Willetts is the author of several books on conservatism, including "Why Vote Conservative" (1996) and "Modern Conservatism" (1992), as well as numerous articles. He was a founding signatory in 2005 of the Henry Jackson Society principles, advocating a proactive approach to the spread of liberal democracy across the world, including when necessary by military intervention. He is an honorary member of Conservative Friends of Poland.

Civic conservatism
Willetts has pioneered the idea of "civic conservatism" [D. Willetts, "Civic Conservatism", SMF (1994)]. This is the idea of focusing on the institutions between the state and individuals as a policy concern (rather than merely thinking of individuals and the state as the only agencies) and is one of the principles behind the increasing support in the Conservative Party's localist agenda and its emphasis on voluntary organisations.  During an interview with The Spectator, he was referred to as 'the real father of Cameronism'.

Fourteen years after the publication of "Civic Conservatism" Willetts gave the inaugural Oakeshott Memorial Lecture to the London School of Economics in which he made an attempt to explain how game theory can be used to help think about how to improve social capital.  The lecture was described by the Times as "an audacious attempt by the Conservative Party's leading intellectual to relate a new Tory narrative".

Civic conservatism, like free market economics, proceeds from deep-seated individual self-interest towards a stable cooperation. It sets the Tories the task not of changing humanity but of designing institutions and arrangements that encourage our natural reciprocal altruism.

Personal life and member's interests
Willetts is married to the artist Sarah Butterfield. The couple have one daughter, born 1988, and one son, born 1992. His wealth in 2009 was estimated at £1.9m, and his declarations for the Register of Members' Financial Interests may be viewed here.

Honours
 He was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 2010, giving him the honorific title "The Right Honourable" and after ennoblement the post nominal letters "PC" for life.
 He was awarded a life peerage in 2015, allowing him to sit in the House of Lords. He took the title Baron Willetts, of Havant in the County of Hampshire. He sits with the Conservative Party benches.

Scholastic
 University degrees

 Chancellor, visitor, governor, and fellowships

Honorary degrees

Memberships and fellowships

Published works

References

For Willetts' roles in the 1980s–1990s as a welfare specialist:

External links
 David Willetts MP official constituency website
 Profile at the Conservative Party

 Article archive at The Guardian
 The Tories don't have to make a false choice between roots or freedom, David Willetts, The Times, 2 June 2005

 Profile: David Willetts BBC News, 22 October 2002

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

1956 births
Academics of City, University of London
Academics of Bayes Business School
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Conservative Party (UK) life peers
Life peers created by Elizabeth II
Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society
Honorary Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences
Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Living people
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham
Ministers for Universities (United Kingdom)
UK MPs 1992–1997
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
United Kingdom Paymasters General

David Willetts


Cyfac International is a manufacturer of bicycles in La Fuye, in the Loire Valley of France.  The name is an acronym that translates from French to "Handmade Bicycle Frames".  "Cy" represents cycle (bicycle), "f" for fabriqué (made), "a" for "artisanal" (artisan), and the final C stands for cadres (frame). The Cyfac Postural System is a bicycle fitting system based on research at Lyon Center of Sports Medicine.

History
Founded in 1983 by Francis Quillon,  Cyfac began in his garage with the help of his wife, Mireille.  Quillon was a successful amateur racer, a sprinter for the national team.  During his racing career he worked for one of his team's sponsors, a local bicycle manufacturer.  Quillon repaired his teammates' bikes, started making bikes from scratch, and eventually started to equip pro racers who wanted frames made and then painted in their sponsor's name.  Quillon opened the Cyfac workshop to supply frames to racing teams.

The company was sold to Jose Alvarez, a now-defunct French distributor for Specialized, Look, Easton, and BMC bicycles.

In 2008, ownership changed with the managing director, Aymeric Le Brun, and the US distributor, Eric Sakalowsky, buying the company from the original owner. Quillon is honorary president.

Manufacturing Process

Cyfac manufactures all frames in La Fuye, including cutting, welding, painting, and finishing.  Tubing is from Asia or Italy depending on the material.  By 2009 it produced 1000-1200 frames a year.

Current products

 Absolu - carbon frame designed for performance
 Gothica - carbon frame for comfort
 Cadence - carbon frame for a mix of performance and comfort
 Infini Carbone - aluminum/carbon frame for race performance
 Osmose - titanium/carbon frame designed for performance and comfort
 Nerv - aluminum frame for all-round riding
 Mega Cross - aluminum cyclocross frame
 Mega Piste - aluminum track frame

References

External links
Official Cyfac website
US Cyfac website

Cycle manufacturers of France
Companies based in Centre-Val de Loire
French brands

Cyfac


Hercules X-1 (Her X-1), also known as 4U1656+35, is a moderately strong X-ray binary source first studied by the Uhuru satellite.
It is composed of a neutron star accreting matter from a normal star (HZ Her) probably due to Roche lobe overflow.

Intermediate-mass X-ray binary (IMXB)

Her X-1 is the prototype for the massive X-ray binaries although it falls on the borderline, , between high- and low-mass X-ray binaries.

An intermediate-mass X-ray binary (IMXB) is a binary star system where one of the components is a neutron star or a black hole. The other component is an intermediate mass star.

Intensity

The source exhibits complex time variability, pulsing with a period of 1.24 s due to the rotation of the neutron star, eclipsing every 1.70 days with the period of the binary orbit, and also varying with a 35-day period believed associated with the precession of the accretion disk. From observations, a twisted accretion disk, in retrograde precession, modulates the X-rays illuminating HZ Her and Earth.

The 1.24 second pulsar period associated with Her X-1 is immediately evident from the data. The sharp cut-off at ~24 keV in the flat spectrum observed for Her X-1 in this exposure provided the first reported evidence for radiative transfer effects to be associated with a highly magnetized plasma near the surface of a neutron star.

Discovery of Her X-1

The actual announcement of the discovery of Hercules X-1 by Uhuru occurred at the 1971-72 Winter Meeting of the High-Energy Astrophysics Division AAS held in San Juan. The original discovery of this periodically pulsating binary X-ray source occurred in November 1971.

Location

The position of Her X-1 was uncertain due to the failure of the Uhuru star aspect sensors, having been reported at J1950 RA 17h05m Dec 34°52' using Uhuru and at 16h56.7m Dec 35°35' using OSO 7. However, there is only one weak X-ray source (2U 1735+43) within 10° of Her X-1. But four radio sources: (1) RA 16h56m50.75s Dec 35°14'33±3" of a double point source separated by 17±2" and a stellar image 13±3" from the centroid, (2) RA 16h57m10.65s Dec 35°21'35±3" within 6±3" of the stellar image, (3) RA 16h57m35.72s Dec 35°15'19±3" with no star visible on the Palomar Sky Survey print, and (4) RA 16h58m39.17s Dec 35°10'53±3" were found near the overlap of Uhuru and OSO 7 positions. At that time the search could not discover the radio counterpart of Her X-1 if its radio emission were analogous to its 36-day periodic X-ray behavior, although there was no compelling astrophysical reason for the two fluxes to be correlated. The four sources above were observed during several eclipse phases of the X-ray star. No radio eclipses were detected that corresponded. At that time Doxsey specified that (1) repeated radio searches, especially during the high X-ray luminosity state of Her X-1, should be made and (2) there was a clear need for a better position determination for Her X-1.

In 1973, Bahcall and Bahcall determined that HZ Herculis had a light curve that matched Hercules X-1's, fixing Hercules X-1's position.

References

Neutron stars
Astronomical X-ray sources
X-ray astronomy
Hercules (constellation)
Herculis, HZ
X-ray binaries

Hercules X-1


The Vailala Madness was a religious movement. It was active between 1919 and 1922. Many people think it was one of the first cargo cults, even though that term was first used in the 1940s. The Vailala Madness was active in the Papuan Gulf, which was a territory of Australia at the time, but now  belongs to Papua New Guinea.

The Vailala Madness got its name from the behaviour of people who took part in it. This behaviour included glossolalia (or "speaking in tongues"), shaking, and signs of mental or emotional disturbances . In the indigenous language, people who were taking part in the Vailala Madness called it iki haveve, or "belly-don't know," which was another way of saying "dizziness."

The people in the movement thought that a 'Ghost Steamer' would come. This ship would be piloted by dead people who were coming back. The dead people would bring with them cargo with tinned food and tools. In one version of the story, the dead people would bring guns to kick the white colonizers out, but not everybody agrees that this was what people in the Vailala Madness actually believed.

Related pages
Ghost Dance, a belief extended among North American Indians that, in its Sioux version, prophesied that their ancestors would come back by train.
John Frum, a later cargo cult.

Cults

Vailala Madness


Executive car is a British term for a large car which is equivalent to the European E-segment and American full-size classifications. Executive cars are larger than compact executive cars (and the non-luxury equivalent mid-size cars), and smaller than luxury saloons / full-size luxury sedans.

The term has also been adopted by Euro NCAP, a European organization founded to test for car safety.

Background
The term was coined in the 1960s to describe cars targeted at successful professionals and middle-to-senior managers. It was used by businesses as an incentive for employees in senior roles and to exploit Britain and Europe's tax schemes as a company owned vehicle. Early executive cars typically offered engines with displacements of , compared with  for an equivalent sized—but less luxurious—"large family car".

Prior to the 1990s, executive cars were typically sedans, however in recent years they have also been produced in other body styles, such as estates (station wagons), convertibles, coupés, and five-door hatch versions. They typically need to be "comfortable, refined and display some form of driving pleasure" on occasion.

Body styles
In general, executive cars are 4-door saloons, though may include estate, 5-door hatchback or 2-door coupé variants. Rover, Saab, Renault and Citroën formerly have been known to prefer variants to sedans, with Ford also offering alternatives through the 1990s. Audi, BMW and later Mercedes-AMG have recently offered such body styles as options for their executive cars since 2010s.

Production by country

China
One of the first Chinese-built executive cars was the 2006 Roewe 750, based on the Rover 75. In 2012, the Roewe 950 was introduced, which is a re-bodied version of the 2010 Buick LaCrosse. In 2020, BYD Han officially goes on sale in China.

Several overseas brands have produced long wheelbase versions of cars specifically for the Chinese market, due to the preference Chinese owners have for being driven by a chauffeur. Examples include the "XF L" version of the 2016 Jaguar XF (X260), the "Li" version of the 2017 BMW 5 Series (G30) and other models from Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo.

France

In France, executive cars are known as "", a class of comfortable long-distance cars that first emerged on the French market in the 1930s.

Peugeot began producing large cars in the early 1900s. Following the Peugeot 601 being discontinued in 1935, Peugeot ceased production of large cars until the Peugeot 604 was introduced in 1975. The 604 was replaced by the Peugeot 605 in 1989, which in turn was replaced by the Peugeot 607 in 1999. Following the end of the 607's production run in 2010, Peugeot no longer produces any executive cars.

Citroën's first large car was the 1934 Citroën Traction Avant. In 1955, the Traction Avant was replaced by the iconic Citroën DS, which was replaced in 1974 by the Citroën CX and then the 1989 Citroën XM. The XM was discontinued in 2000 and for five years Citroën did not produce an executive car. The 2005 Citroën C6 was produced until 2012, and Citroën has not produced any executive cars since.

Renault entered the executive car segment in 1975 with the Renault 20/30 models. They were replaced, in 1983, by the Renault 25 which featured a fastback rear end. In 1992, the 25 was replaced by the Renault Safrane. The Safrane was replaced by the Renault Vel Satis hatchback in 2002, which in turn was replaced by the Latitude in 2010 and later the Talisman.

Germany

The equivalent class for cars in Germany is "" (lit. upper-middle class) as defined by the German federal authorities. Luxury cars larger than this are referred to as Oberklasse ("upper class").

Mercedes-Benz has produced large luxury cars since the early 1900s. Following World War II, Mercedes Benz's first all-new models were the Mercedes-Benz W120 executive cars. This lineage continues through to the present and has been marketed as the Mercedes-Benz E-Class since 1993. The Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class four-door fastback was added to the company's model range in 2004, with a shooting brake body style also produced from 2012-2017.

BMW's first large luxury car was the 1936-1941 BMW 326. After a hiatus of 21 years, BMW's next executive car models were the 1962 New Class Sedans. In 1972, the New Class was replaced by the BMW 5 Series, which remains in production today. Over the seven generations of the 5 Series, it has been produced in sedan, wagon, and four-door hatchback body styles.

The first large luxury car produced by Audi was the Audi 100, which was released in 1968. The Audi 100 was replaced by the Audi A6 in 1994, which remains in production today. In 2010, the Audi A7 four-door fastback model range was added.

The Ford Granada is an executive car produced by Ford Europe from 1972-1994.

Italy

Fiat's first large luxury car was the Fiat 24-32 HP, which was introduced in 1903. Other large luxury Fiats produced before World War II include the Fiat 510, Fiat 520, Fiat 527, and Fiat 2800. In 1959, the Fiat 1800 and 2100 executive sedans and station wagons were introduced. These models were replaced by the Fiat 2300 in 1961. Fiat's last executive car was the Fiat 130, which was produced from 1969 until 1977.

Lancia produced several large luxury cars prior to World War II, including the Lancia Lambda, Lancia Artena, and Lancia Aprilia. The Lancia Flavia was an executive car that began production in 1961 and was replaced by the Lancia 2000 in 1971. The 2000 was replaced by the Lancia Gamma, which was released in 1976. In 1984, the Gamma was replaced by the Lancia Thema, then the Lancia Kappa in 1994. The Lancia Thesis, produced from 2001-2009 is the last executive car produced by Lancia. From 2011-2015, the Chrysler 300 was marketed in Europe as the Lancia Thema.

Maserati's first executive is the Maserati Ghibli, which has been in production since 2013.

Japan

Toyota has been producing large luxury cars since the 1955 Crown was released. The Crown remains in production today and is currently in its fifteenth generation. In 1991, the Crown-derived Aristo began production, and from 1993 until 2020 were marketed under Toyota's luxury sub-brand as the Lexus GS.

Nissan's longest-running executive car began production in 1959 as the Prince Gloria, which was later renamed the Nissan Gloria, following the merger of Nissan and Prince. The Gloria was produced for 12 generations until 2004. Another Nissan executive car was the 1960 Cedric, which was produced until 2004 (although a taxi/fleet version remained in production until 2015). The Cedric was replaced by the 2004 Fuga, also sold as the Infiniti M from 2003 until 2012, and the Q70 since 2012.

Mitsubishi began producing executive cars in 1964 with the Debonair. The Debonair was replaced in 1999 by the Proudia, which was discontinued in 2001 and then returned from 2012 until 2016 as a rebadged Fuga.

Mazda's first executive car was the 1969 Luce. In 1991, the Luce was replaced by the Sentia, which was produced until 1999. The Millenia, also sold as the Xedos 9 and the Eunos 800, was produced from 1993 until 2002.

Honda introduced their first executive car, the Legend (sold as the Acura Legend in the United States) in 1985. The Legend was produced until 2012, and then from 2014 until the present.

South Korea
A growing number of Asian manufacturers started offering executive cars, such as Kia K8, Hyundai Azera, and Genesis G80.

It is believed that the standard of Korean Executive Cars came from the 3rd generation Hyundai Grandeur model launched in 1998. Previous models, Kia Potentia and Hyundai Grandeur, belonged to the large car position and were shopper-driven, but were relegated to owner-driven from the XG model. Afterward, the launch of Kia Opirus and Daewoo Magnus formed the semi-large car market.

Currently, the semi-large business sedan models sold in the Korean market include Hyundai Grandeur and Kia K8, and the luxury brand is the Genesis G80.

Spain
SEAT's first executive car was the 1963-1973 SEAT 1500, then in 1973, it launched the 132 which was the same FIAT 131 of the era since all cars from the brand were produced under license from FIAT. It was produced until 1982 when it was replaced by the Málaga in 1984, which was the first to be produced in-house entirely, to be replaced afterward with the Toledo, in 1991.

Many years later, in 2009, SEAT launched the Exeo, which is basically a rebadged Audi A4 on the B7 platform, with some minor modifications to the front and rear fascias. Although it was not an E-segment vehicle but a segment D. It remained successful as a company car until 2013. Also, it was used as a police cruiser for the Guardia Civil highway corps. It was available in sedan and station wagon variants. It was the first vehicle from the brand equipped with diesel direct common raíl injection.

Sweden

Saab's first executive car was the 1984 Saab 9000, which was produced in sedan and liftback body styles. The 9000 was replaced by the Saab 9-5. In 2010 the second generation of the 9-5 switched to a platform shared with various General Motors models until Saab went bankrupt in 2012.

Volvo began producing executive cars in 1968 with the Volvo 164. In 1974, the 164 was replaced by the Volvo 260, which was replaced by the Volvo 760 in 1982 and then the Volvo 960 in 1994. The 960 was renamed the S90 (sedan models) and V90 (wagon models) in 1996. The Volvo S80 was released in 1998, and was replaced in 2016 by a new generation of Volvo S90/V90 sedans and wagons that presently remain in production.

United Kingdom

Daimler Company produced luxury cars in various sizes starting in the late 1890s. The lineage that led to their executive cars began with the 1923-1929 Daimler 16 and Daimler 16/55 models, which were followed in 1932 by the Daimler Fifteen. The Fifteen was replaced by the 1937 Daimler New Fifteen and then the 1939 Daimler Consort (originally called the "Daimler 2½ Litre"). The Consort was replaced by the 1953-1958 Daimler Conquest. In 1962, the Daimler 2.5 V8 (later renamed the "Daimler V8-250") was released, based on the Jaguar Mark 2. In 1966, the Daimler Sovereign was introduced, based on the Jaguar 420. The Sovereign and V8-250 were produced alongside each other until they both ended production in 1969.

Jaguar began production of executive cars in 1935 with the first of the Jaguar Mark IV models. These were replaced by the 1948-1951 Jaguar Mark V. The Mark V's successor increased in size to the full-size luxury car segment, so the next executive car was the 1955 Jaguar Mark 1. In 1959, the Mark 1 was replaced by the Jaguar Mark 2. In 1963, the Jaguar S-Type was introduced and sold alongside the Mark 2. Both models were replaced by the 1966-1968. The Jaguar XJ series began in 1968 and received updates (with a redesign in 2010) until 2019. Following a 30-year hiatus from the executive car market, Jaguar returned in 1998 with the retro-styled S-Type. The S-Type was replaced by the 2007 Jaguar XF (X250) and then the 2015 Jaguar XF (X260), which currently remains in production.

Humber's first executive car was the 1945 Humber Hawk. The Hawk was available with features such as two-tone and metallic paintwork, leather upholstery, wood trim, and a sunroof. Production of the Hawk, along with the similarly sized Humber Super Snipe and Imperial, ceased when the brand was dissolved in 1967.

Rover entered the executive car market in 1948 with the Rover P3. The P3 was replaced by the Rover P4 in 1949, which was produced until 1964. The 1963 Rover P6 was the next executive car produced by Rover, which was replaced by the Rover SD1 in 1976 (marketed as the Standard 2000 in India). The SD1 was replaced by the 1986 Rover 800 series, which was a jointly developed with the Honda Legend and had a front-wheel drive layout. In 1999, the 800 series was replaced by the Rover 75, which was produced until 2005. The 75 straddled the executive and compact executive categories due to its size, although a long wheelbase version was available.

The first executive car to be badged a Triumph was the 1946-1954 Triumph 1800/2000/Renown vrsions. Triumph's next and final entry to the executive car market was the 1963-1977 Triumph 2000, which was a sales success in Britain.

Ford Europe's first executive car was the 1950 Ford Zephyr. The Zephyr— and related Consul, Zodiac, and Executive models— were produced over four generations until 1972. The 1972 Ford Granada was initially built in the United Kingdom before switching to being imported from Germany in 1976. In 1985, the Ford Scorpio was released, being sold in the U.K. as a Ford Granada until 1994.

Vauxhall entered the executive car market with the 1978 Vauxhall Carlton and related Vauxhall Royale/Senator, which were based on the Opel Rekord E. In 1986, the Vauxhall Carlton Mark II switched to the German-built Opel Omega A, which was replaced in 1994 by the Vauxhall Omega (a rebadged version of the Opel Omega B).

United States

In the United States, executive cars are referred to as full-sized cars.

Vietnam

The first executive car produced by a Vietnamese company is the VinFast LUX A2.0, which debuted at the 2018 Paris Motor Show. Production started in 2019 and it achieved success in the Vietnamese domestic car market.

See also
 Car classification
 Full-size car
 Luxury car
 Sports sedan

References

Car classifications

Executive car


A Burqa is a piece of clothing. It is worn by some Muslim women. They can wear it as an outer garment. It only leaves a semi-transparent mesh in front of the woman's eyes, so she can see. The rest of the body is covered by it.

Other garments for Muslim women that cover less of their body are the hijab and the niqab. People often confuse the hijab and the niqab and call it burqa instead.

In Islamic texts
The Quran does not say that women need to cover their faces with a veil, or cover their bodies with the full-body burqa.

Burqas around the world

In France, Italy, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Latvia, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Tunisia, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands wearing a burqa (and the niqab) in public is illegal. And in more countries, it is illegal to enter a government building, public building, public transport, schools, or to drive a vehicle with a burqa (or a niqab).

Islamic dress

Burqa


Matthew Dodge Nokes (born October 31, 1963) is an American former professional baseball catcher and designated hitter. He played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball for the San Francisco Giants (1985), the Detroit Tigers (1986–1990), New York Yankees (1990–1994), the Baltimore Orioles, and the Colorado Rockies (1995). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He also had experience at first base, third base, and left and right fields.

Playing career
Nokes was drafted by the Giants in the 20th round of the 1981 amateur draft. He debuted in the major leagues on September 3, 1985, against the visiting Philadelphia Phillies, collecting two hits in four at bats. In 1987, his rookie year, he had his finest statistical season, batting .289, hitting 32 home runs, (at the time a record for a rookie catcher) and driving in 87 runs. In that year, he was elected to the American League All-Star Game roster, won the Silver Slugger Award, selected to the Topps Rookie All-Star team, and finished third in voting for the American League Rookie of the Year award. He was also named the Tigers Rookie of The Year by the Detroit Sports Media Association.

Following his major league career, Nokes played for the St. Paul Saints of the Northern League in 1998 and 1999, with a brief two-game stint with the Cafeteros de Córdoba of the Mexican League. He spent 2001 as a player/coach for the Schaumburg Flyers and managed the Joliet Jackhammers of the Northern League in 2002 and 2003.

After retirement from professional baseball, Nokes returned to his hometown San Diego area where he currently owns an instructional consultation practice for serious hitters and advises software and equipment companies.

While with the Yankees, Nokes caught Jim Abbott's no-hitter on September 4, 1993.

Plane incident
On February 19, 2000, Matt Nokes, who had just signed a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians, was forced to land a plane he was piloting on Interstate 15 in northern San Diego County. Nokes said that the plane lost oil pressure and that he couldn't reach an airport.

"I went south, hovered over some cars, and waited until they cleared", he said.

Nokes later sold the plane. On April 2, 2016, the man he sold it to, Dennis Hogge, crash landed it on the same highway. The plane struck a vehicle that had stopped on the side of the road, killing a passenger in that vehicle and injuring five others, including Hogge.

Career statistics

His only postseason appearance was in the 1987 American League Championship Series, batting only .143 (2-for-14) with 1 home run and 2 RBI.

References

External links

1963 births
Living people
Albany-Colonie Yankees players
American expatriate baseball players in Mexico
American League All-Stars
Baseball players from San Diego
Baltimore Orioles players
Cafeteros de Córdoba players
Clinton Giants players
Colorado Rockies players
Colorado Springs Sky Sox players
Columbus Clippers players
Detroit Tigers players
Fresno Giants players
Great Falls Giants players
Joliet JackHammers players
Major League Baseball catchers
Nashville Sounds players
New York Yankees players
Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010) managers
San Francisco Giants players
Schaumburg Flyers players
Shreveport Captains players
Silver Slugger Award winners
St. Paul Saints players

Matt Nokes


The Baharna (singular Bahrani) are the people of the archipelago of Bahrain and the oasis of Qatif on the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia. The term is sometimes also given to the Shi'a people of the al-Hasa oasis.  They are all Arabic speaking.  They claim descent from Arab tribes. Their dialect of Arabic is known as "Bahrani" or "Bahrani Arabic".  Almost all follow Shia Islam.

Bahraini people


Arunachal Congress (AC) was a regional political party in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

It was founded in 1996 as a splinter group of the Indian National Congress, when the local party leader and Chief Minister Gegong Apang revolted against the then Congress leader P.V. Narasimha Rao.

History

Apang took with him 54 members of the legislative assembly of a total of 60 of Arunachal Pradesh to his new party. In the Lok Sabha elections in 1998 AC won both seats of Arunachal Pradesh.

The party received 172 496 votes (52,47% of the votes in the state). AC allied itself with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was a founding member of the National Democratic Alliance. Omak Apang the son of Gegong Apang, who had been elected from the constituency Arunachal West was appointed a minister in the Centre government.

Split

The successes of AC didn't last long. Directly after the 1998 elections there was a revolt within the party. Wangcha Rajkumar, who had been elected to the Lok Sabha from the constituency Arunachal East in both 1996 and 1998, accused Apang of resorting to nepotism when his son was appointed minister. Five state ministers that had sided with Rajkumar were fired by Apang.

One of the ex-ministers, Mukut Mithi, split and formed the Arunachal Congress (Mithi). AC(M) was able to gather 40 members of the legislative assembly and Mithi formed a government. Initially both AC and AC(M) supported the Vajpayee government, but since Rajkumar wasn't allotted a ministerial post AC(M) merged with the Indian National Congress ahead of the 1999 elections.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections of 1999 AC ran in alliance with BJP. Omak Apang stood in Arunachal West (came second with 70 760 votes, 30,07% in that constituency). In Arunachal East Rajkumar now back in INC defeated the BJP candidate.

One reason, it claimed, that the AC-BJP combine fared so badly was that several armed factions especially the powerful National Socialist Council of Nagaland in the area worked against them.

The legislative assembly elections the same year gave even worse results. AC launched 38 candidates, but only one (Gegong Apang) was elected. In total the party got 68 645 votes (16,68% of the votes in the state).

Ahead of the 2004 Lok Sabha elections the political map of Arunachal Pradesh had been redrawn yet again. 25 July 2003 there was a new split in the INC, and a new party Congress (Dolo) was formed.

Apang formed a front called the United Democratic Front consisting of himself, Congress (D), an expelled Congress MLA and two independents. In total Apang was able to gather 41 MLAs around gum, and on 3 August Apang was again sworn in as Chief Minister of the state.

On 30 August Apang joined BJP] and took with his 41 MLAs. Thus BJP controlled a state government in the North-East for the first time.

Arunachal Congress did however continue to exist as a party even after that the founder Apang had joined BJP.

Ahead of the 2004 Lok Sabha elections AC talked about calling for a boycott, as a protest against that Chakma and Hajong refugees had been given the right to vote in the state. In the end the party did however decide to contest, this time allied with Indian National Congress. AC launched its new party president, Kamen Ringu, in Arunachal West. Ringu came second and got 76 527 votes (34,54% in that constituency). In Arunachal East INC had launched a candidate, who also came second.

In the legislative assembly elections in 2004 AC had put up 11 candidates, out of whom two were elected.

The leadership of the party is called Arunachal Congress Working Committee (ACWC).

The organization Arunachal Congress Volunteer Force is probably related to the party.

Just before the 2009 Assembly election, Arunachal Congress merged with Indian National Congress.

List of Chief Minister

 Gegong Apang: From 18 January 1980 to 19 January 1999

See also
Indian National Congress breakaway parties

References

Defunct political parties in Arunachal Pradesh
Indian National Congress breakaway groups
Political parties established in 1996
1996 establishments in Arunachal Pradesh
Political parties in Arunachal Pradesh

Arunachal Congress


Hagbard ( ), the brother of Haki and son of Hamund, was a famous Scandinavian sea-king in Norse mythology. He is mentioned in Skáldskaparmál, Ynglinga saga, Nafnaþulur, Völsunga saga and Gesta Danorum. The heroes' connections with other legendary characters place the events in the 5th century AD.

Hagbard remained well-known until recent times in the legend of Hagbard and Signy. This famous legend tells that Hagbard fell in love with Signy, the daughter of king Sigar, the nephew of king Siggeir (of the Völsunga saga), a love affair which ended in their deaths, when Sigar wanted to have Hagbard hanged. This legend is told most fully in Gesta Danorum (book 7).

However, most legends surrounding Hagbard are probably lost. In the Völsunga saga, Gudrun and Brynhild have a discussion on the "greatest of men" referring to a legend now lost, where Hagbard is mentioned together with Haki's sons, who have not yet avenged their sisters by killing the evil Sigar (the feud with Sigar is still going on and Hagbard not yet hanged):

Snorri Sturluson wrote in the Ynglinga saga that Hagbard occasionally plundered together with his brother Haki. Concerning, the adventures and death of the Swedish king Jorund (whom Snorri makes a successor of Haki), he cites the poem Háleygjatal by a Norwegian skald named Eyvindr skáldaspillir containing the Kenning Sigar's steed referring to the legend of Hagbard and Signy:

The same kenning appears with Hagbard's name in a stanza from Ynglingatal, which Snorri also quotes in the same section:

Notes

Heroes in Norse myths and legends

Hagbard


Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) is a perennial plant of the Brassicaceae family. The plant is probably native to southeastern Europe and western Asia.  It grows up to 1.5 metres (5 feet) tall, and is usually grown for its large, white, tapered root.

The unbroken horseradish root has very little smell. When cut or grated, however, enzymes from the now-broken plant cells causes changes. The enzymes break down sinigrin to produce allyl isothiocyanate (mustard oil). This irritates the mucous membranes of the sinuses and eyes. Once exposed to air (by grating) or heat, it needs to be mixed with vinegar. Otherwise it becomes unpleasantly bitter-tasting.

History
Horseradish has been cultivated since ancient times. Supposedly, the Delphic Oracle told Apollo that the horseradish was worth its weight in gold.  Horseradish was known in Egypt in 1500 BC. Both root and leaves were used as a medicine during the Middle Ages. The root was used as a condiment on meats in Germany, Scandinavia, and Britain. It was brought to North America during Colonial times.

The word horseradish is known in English from the 1590's.  The root is similar in shape and size to a horse's genitalia.  Despite the name, this plant is poisonous to horses.

Cultivation
Horseradish is a perennial plant in hardiness zones 2–9. It can be grown as an annual in other zones. After the first frost in the autumn kills the leaves, the root is dug out and divided. The main root is harvested for use in the kitchen. One or more large offshoots of the main root are replanted to produce next year's crop. Horseradish left undisturbed in the garden spreads via underground shoots. The plant can become invasive. Older roots left in the ground become woody. They are then no longer useful for cooking. Older plants can be dug out and divided to start new plants.

Pests and diseases

The larvae of Pieris rapae are a common caterpillar pest in horseradish gardens. They are called cabbageworms. The adults are white butterflies with black spots on the forewings. They are seen flying around the plants during the day. The caterpillars are green with faint yellow stripes running lengthwise down the back and sides. Full grown caterpillars are about  in length. They move slowly when poked. They overwinter in green pupal cases. Adults start appearing in gardens after the last frost and are a problem through the remainder of the growing season. There are three to five overlapping generations a year. Mature caterpillars chew large, ragged holes in the leaves leaving the large veins intact. Handpicking is effective for control.

Culinary uses

Cooks use the terms "horseradish" or "prepared horseradish" to refer to the grated root of the horseradish plant mixed with vinegar. Prepared horseradish is white to creamy-beige in colour. It will keep for months refrigerated but eventually will darken, indicating it is losing flavour and should be replaced. The leaves of the plant, while edible, are not commonly eaten, and are referred to as "horseradish greens".

Horseradish sauce
Horseradish sauce made from grated horseradish root and vinegar is a popular condiment. In the United Kingdom it is usually served with roast beef, often as part of a traditional Sunday roast. It can also be used in a number of other dishes, including sandwiches or salads. A variation of horseradish sauce, which in some cases may substitute the vinegar with other products like lemon juice or citric acid, is known in Germany as Tafelmeerrettich. Also popular in the UK is Tewkesbury mustard, a blend of mustard and grated horseradish originating in medieval times and mentioned by Shakespeare (Falstaff says: "his wit's as thick as Tewkesbury Mustard" in Henry IV Part II). A very similar mustard, called Krensenf or Meerrettichsenf, is popular in Austria and parts of Eastern Germany.

In the United States, the term "horseradish sauce" refers to grated horseradish combined with mayonnaise or salad dressing. Prepared horseradish is a common ingredient in Bloody Mary cocktails and in cocktail sauce, and is used as a sauce or sandwich spread.

The distinctive pungent taste of horseradish is from the compound allyl isothiocyanate. Upon crushing the flesh of horseradish, the enzyme myrosinase is released and acts on the glucosinolates sinigrin and gluconasturtiin, which are precursors to the allyl isothiocyanate.  The allyl isothiocyanate serves the plant as a natural defense against herbivores. Since allyl isothiocyanate is harmful to the plant itself, it is stored in the harmless form of the glucosinolate, separate from the myrosinase enzyme.  When an animal chews the plant, the allyl isothiocyanate is released, repelling the animal.  Allyl isothiocyanate is an unstable compound, degrading over the course of days at 37 °C.  Because of this instability, horseradish sauces lack the pungency of the freshly crushed roots.

Vegetable
In Central and Eastern Europe horseradish is called khreyn (in various spellings like kren) in many Slavic languages, in Austria, in parts of Germany (where the other German name Meerrettich is not used), in North-East Italy, and in Yiddish (כריין translitered as khreyn). There are two varieties of khreyn. "Red" khreyn is mixed with red beet (beetroot) and "white" khreyn contains no beet. It is popular in Ukraine (under the name of , khrin), in Poland (under the name of ), in Lithuania (krienai) in the Czech Republic (), in Russia (, khren), in Hungary (), in Romania (), in Bulgaria (, khryan), in Slovenia (, hren) and in Slovakia (under the name of ). Having this on the table is a part of Christian Easter and Jewish Passover tradition in Eastern and Central Europe. A variety with red beet is called  or simply ćwikła in Poland. In Ashkenazi European Jewish cooking beet horseradish is commonly served with gefilte fish. Red beet with horseradish is also used as a salad served with lamb dishes at Easter called sfecla cu hrean in Transylvania and other Romanian regions. Horseradish (often grated and mixed with cream, hard-boiled eggs, or apples) is also a traditional Easter dish in Slovenia and in the adjacent  Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia; it is used also in the other nearby Italian region of Veneto. In Croatia freshly grated horseradish(Croatian: Hren) is often eaten with boiled ham or beef. In Serbia ren is an essential condiment with cooked meat and freshly roasted suckling pig.

Horseradish is also used as a main ingredient for soups. In the Polish region of Silesia, horseradish soup is a common Easter Day dish.

Relation to wasabi
The Japanese condiment wasabi, although traditionally prepared from the wasabi plant, is now usually made with horseradish because the wasabi plant is rare. The Japanese plant name for horseradish is , or "Western wasabi". Both plants are in the family Brassicaceae.

Nutritional and biomedical uses
Horseradish has compounds that have health benefits. Horseradish contains volatile oils, notably mustard oil. This oil has antibacterial properties. The fresh plant also contains average 79.31 mg of vitamin C per 100 g of raw horseradish. The enzyme horseradish peroxidase (HRP), found in the plant, is used extensively in molecular biology and biochemistry.

Related pages
List of vegetables
Wasabi

References

Other websites

International Horseradish Festival
Horseradish Information Council
Herb Society of America Herb of the Year 2011

Root vegetables
Medicinal plants
Spices
Brassicaceae
Condiments

Horseradish


KQBU-FM (93.3 MHz "TUDN Radio Houston") is a commercial radio station broadcasting a Spanish language sports radio format, simulcast on KLAT in Houston.  KQBU-FM is licensed to Port Arthur, Texas, and primarily serves the Houston-Beaumont-Port Arthur area.  It is owned by the Uforia Audio Network (DBA Univison Houston Local Media) and carries programming from the co-owned TUDN Radio Network.  The station airs Spanish-language broadcasts of the Houston Astros baseball team, the Houston Rockets basketball team, and the Houston Dynamo FC MLS soccer team.

The radio studios are in the Univision Building at 5100 Southwest Freeway in Uptown Houston and the transmitter is in Devers, Texas.  KQBU-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts, currently the maximum for FM stations.

Station history

KFMP, KYKR, KLTN
KQBU-FM first began broadcasting on September 11, 1959, under the call sign KFMP-FM, and originally owned by Henry Diehl, under the licensed business name of Triangle Broadcasting Company. It was sold to Felix and James Joynt (d.b.a. KWEN Broadcasting Company) on June 18, 1969, becoming the FM sister to 1510 KCAW Port Arthur, and having its own callsign changed to KCAW-FM.

The call sign was changed to KYKR-FM on October 1, 1974, rebranding as "Kicker 93" and beginning the legacy of KYKR on the FM dial in the Triangle. Steve Hicks purchased the AM & FM facilities in 1980.

In 1989, Hicks proposed to move the FM signal off of the AM's tower in Vidor, Texas, and relocate it further west to Devers, Texas in order to rimshot Houston with its signal. A Construction Permit for the move was granted on October 10, 1989, and was licensed for operation at the new site on October 23, 1991.

On July 2, 1992, the call sign was changed to KLTN, after the move from Port Arthur to Devers, as "Estereo Latino 93.3". On June 25, 1998, the station was then changed to "K-Love 93.3 y 104.9", the first simulcast with 104.9 FM (now KAMA-FM) in Houston, and assigned the new calls of KOVE-FM.

On July 30, 2001, the call sign was changed to KQBU-FM with the moniker "La Que Buena 93.3" for the first run of the Regional Mexican format on this frequency.

Party 93.3

On December 4, 2007, KQBU Que Buena 93.3, a Regional Mexican outlet, became the new home of the "Party", which relocated from 104.9 to make room for the newly launched KAMA "Amor 104.9". After that switch was made, "Party 93.3" added the syndicated Big Boy's Neighborhood, with Big Boy, Luscious Liz, and Tattoo. The KPTY call sign was officially moved to 93.3 FM on December 11, 2007.

On July 5, 2008, the station stopped targeting the Greater Houston area. Everything that the station had that referenced Houston were immediately dropped, including its slogan, and moved its broadcasting studios from Southwest Houston to Beaumont. The move was noticed in the ratings, as KPTY, which had good numbers in the Houston Arbitrons, began to dip after the frequency switch.  In the process, it lost a fraction of listeners due to the 93.3 signal not covering all of the Houston metro.

Return to "Que Buena 93.3"
On February 27, 2009, Univision's Houston cluster announced that it was letting go most of its employees. KPTY would unfortunately be the biggest casualty of this move as the entire airstaff was pink-slipped and the station went jockless. At 10 P.M. on February 28, the station went live for a nightclub broadcast as scheduled. Many of the personalities that saw the format through its run from its early days at 100.7 and then later on 104.9, were on hand to send off "Houston's Party Station."

At the end of the live broadcast at 2 A.M., the station returned to Regional Mexican and its former Que Buena 93.3 moniker on March 1. The call sign was officially changed back to KQBU-FM on March 10, 2009.

Latino Mix 104.9 y 93.3
On December 1, 2017, KQBU-FM changed the format from Regional Mexican to a simulcast of Spanish CHR-formatted KAMA-FM 104.9 FM Deer Park. KQBU-FM's change provided a Spanish CHR format to the Golden Triangle as well as serving the northern, eastern, and southeastern areas from Houston, which the 104.9 signal cannot reach.

TUDN Radio Houston
On September 27, 2021, KQBU-FM changed the format from a simulcast of Spanish CHR-formatted KAMA-FM to a simulcast of Spanish sports-formatted KLAT 1010 AM Houston, branded as "Your Station Of Champions".

Callsign & moniker history
KYKR-FM - April 1, 1980 [Kicker 93] serving Beaumont
KLTN - July 2, 1992 [Estereo Latino 93.3]
KOVE-FM - June 25, 1998 [K-Love 93.3 y 104.9]
KQBU-FM - July 30, 2001 [La Que Buena 93.3]
KPTY FM - 2007-2009 [Party 93.3]
KQBU-FM - 2009–2017 [La Que Buena 93.3]
KQBU-FM - 2017–2021 [Latino Mix 104.9 y 93.3]
KQBU-FM - 2021–Present [TUDN Radio Houston]

Former logos

References

External links

Hispanic and Latino American culture in Houston
QBU-FM
Sports radio stations in the United States
QBU-FM
Univision Radio Network stations
Radio stations established in 1959
1959 establishments in Texas

KQBU-FM


Hanna Herzog () is a professor of sociology at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University  and a senior research fellow and the academic director of the Civil Society forums at Van Leer Jerusalem Institute in
Jerusalem.

Academic career
She is among the founders of Woman and Gender Studies in Israel which has been in existence since 2000. She specializes in political sociology, political communication, and sociology of gender. She has published many articles on politics. These consist mainly of ethnic and racial relations and women in politics, Palestinian women citizens of Israel, and gender, religion and
politics.

Political activism
She has been active in the public sphere in political lobbying, and in the struggle
against gender discrimination. She has been a member and board member of the Israel
Women's Network (INW); headed the steering committee of the Research and
Information Center of the INW; is much in demand as a lecturer and advisor for
various women's organizations; is a member of the public forum for the advancement
of the status of women in science and academe; is active in the peace movement;
served on the public council to examine the structure of the regime in Israel
established by the President of Israel; is a member of the council to define military
service for women in Israel (2007).

Hanna Herzog has concentrated on the connection between society and politics in
Israel with special emphasis on minority groups striving for equality and full
integration. She uses the research and academic tools with which she is familiar to
advance the academic and political dialog between Jewish and Palestinian-Arab
women in Israel.

Published works

Books
Herzog is the author of numerous books and articles, including:

 Political Ethnicity - The Image and the Reality, 1986 (Hebrew)
 Realistic Women - Women in Israeli Local Politics, 1994 (Hebrew)
Gendering Politics - Women in Israel, University of Michigan Press, 1999
Sex Gender Politics - Women in Israel (Written with others) 1999 (Hebrew).

Herzog headed the Sociology Department of Tel Aviv University, headed the Society and
Politics Section at the Tel Aviv-Yafo Academic College from its inception in 1994 –
2001). She served as the president of the (International) Association for Israel Studies
(1999–2001), as the editor of the academic journal Israeli Sociology (2001–2005). She
is as member of the editorial boards of the academic journals in Hebrew and
international academic journals.

Articles

See also
Women in Israel

References

Feminist studies scholars
Gender studies academics
Israeli sociologists
Israeli women sociologists
Academic staff of Tel Aviv University
Living people
Israeli feminists
Year of birth missing (living people)

Hanna Herzog


How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built is an illustrated book on the evolution of buildings and how buildings adapt to changing requirements over long periods. It was written by Stewart Brand and published by Viking Press in 1994. In 1997 it was turned into a 6-part TV series on the BBC.

Book
Brand asserts that the best buildings are made from low-cost, standard designs that people are familiar with, and easy to modify. In this way people can gradually change their buildings to meet their needs. One of his examples is Building 20 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Brand states that a supply of simple, low-cost, easily modified buildings is key to innovation and economic growth. He implies that an expanding property-value market may actually slow innovation and produce a less human-centered community. Among other things, the book details the notion of Shearing layers.

Criticism of the architect Richard Rogers was removed from the UK edition but remains in the US edition.

TV series
The book inspired a 6-part TV series by the BBC, produced by James Runcie, executive producer Roly Keating, which was screened in July 1997.

In the BBC series, Brand is highly critical of the entire modernist approach to architecture. He fully rejects the "center out" approach of design, where a single person or group designs a building for others to use, in favor of an evolutionary approach where owners can change a building over time to meet their needs. He focuses specific criticisms on modernist innovators like Buckminster Fuller for making round buildings that do not allow any kind of additions or internal divisions, Frank Gehry for making buildings that were hard to maintain, and Le Corbusier for making buildings that did not take into consideration the needs of families. Brand was also critical of French development during the 1980s which did not take local conditions into account and ended up not serving their purpose, like the central Library which had to take money away from buying new books to deal with the heat produced by so many windows.

Brand stresses the value an organic kind of building, based on four walls, which is easy to change and expand and grow as the ideal form of building. This embracing traditional box design as the optimal structure puts him in direct contrast to thinkers like Buckminster Fuller who proposed geodesic dome as a better solution for buildings.

See also
 The Timeless Way of Building

Notes

External links
 Extract from the book on Stewart Brand's website
 Detailed notes by Phil Gyford

 How Buildings Learn uploaded to YouTube by Stewart Brand

1994 non-fiction books
Architecture books
Viking Press books

How Buildings Learn


Xiaomi Corporation (;  ) is a Chinese multinational electronics company founded in April 2010 and headquartered in Beijing. Xiaomi makes and invests in smartphones, mobile apps, laptops, home appliances, bags, shoes, consumer electronics, and many other products. Xiaomi is also the fourth company in the world after Apple, Samsung and Huawei to have self-developed mobile phone chip capabilities.

Xiaomi released its first smartphone in August 2011 and rapidly gained market share in China to become the country's largest smartphone company in 2014. At the start of second quarter of 2018, Xiaomi was the world's fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer, leading in both the largest market, China, and the second-largest market, India. Xiaomi later developed a wider range of consumer electronics, including a smart home (IoT) product ecosystem, which has connected more than 100 million smart devices and appliances. Monthly active users (MAUs) of MIUI increased to 291.6 million in September 2019.

Xiaomi has 16,700 employees worldwide. It has expanded to other markets including Greater China, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Russia, South Africa and most countries and regions in Southeast Asia and Europe. According to Forbes, Lei Jun, the founder and CEO, has an estimated net worth of US$12.5 billion. Xiaomi is the world's 4th most valuable technology start-up after receiving US$1.1 billion funding from investors, making Xiaomi's valuation more than US$46 billion. Ranked 468th, Xiaomi is the youngest company on Fortune Global 500 list for 2019. In 2019, Xiaomi's mobile phone shipments reached 125 million units, ranking fourth globally since 2018. The company has been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 2018.

Etymology
Xiaomi () is the Chinese word for "millet". In 2011 its CEO Lei Jun suggested there are more meanings than just the "millet and rice. He linked the "Xiao" () part to the Buddhist concept that "a single grain of rice of a Buddhist is as great as a mountain," suggesting Xiaomi wants to work from the little things, instead of starting by striving for perfection, while "mi" () is an acronym for Mobile Internet and also Mission Impossible, referring to the obstacles encountered in starting the company. He also stated that he thinks the name is cute. In 2012 Lei Jun said that the name is about revolution and being able to bring innovation into a new area. Xiaomi's new 'Rifle' processor has given weight to several sources linking the latter meaning to the Communist Party of China's "millet and rifle" (小米加步枪) revolutionary idiom during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Business model

Lei Jun, Xiaomi's CEO, said that the company prices the phone almost at bill-of-material prices, without compromising the component quality and performance compared to other premium smartphones. It also profits by selling phone-related peripheral devices, smart home products, apps, online videos and themes. According to Xiaomi's Hugo Barra in 2014, the company sees hardware sales as a means of delivering software and services in the long term, "We are an Internet and a software company much more than a hardware company." However, financial data available at the time indicated that this is either wishful thinking or plans for the far future: 94% of the company's revenue came from mobile phone sales, an even higher proportion than Apple.

At first, to reduce overhead costs, Xiaomi did not own any physical stores, selling exclusively from its online store. In recent years, they have opened 54 brick and mortar stores to combat the strategies of other low-cost competitors in Chinese markets. It also did away with traditional advertising and relies on social networking services and word-of-mouth to publicize its products.

By keeping a tight control over its stock, Xiaomi is able to place cheaper batch orders as demand dictates. Limited availability flash sales ensure that supply never outstrips demand and helps promote its products. In contrast, traditional OEMs incur large upfront productions costs, which must be recouped by selling prices, in order to ship phones, some of which may not sell, out to retailers all around the world.

Xiaomi say that they listen closely to customer feedback, having them test out upcoming features themselves, and building an extensive online community. Lei Jun described it this way, "When I was with Kingsoft, I had the opportunity to work with Nokia and Motorola, two mobile phone giants of their time. One day, I pointed out to their R&D boss, some inadequacies. After that, they merely acknowledged my input but never acted upon what I had said. So I thought to myself, if I make a phone, you can tell me anything you wish for it or what's wrong. If it is justifiable, we will work on it immediately. I'll give you an update every week and you may even see your wishes come true within a week. In practice, Xiaomi's product managers spend a lot of time browsing through the company's user forums. Once a suggestion is picked up, it is quickly transferred to the engineers. Therefore, features can turn from a mere concept to shipping products within a week. The company then ships a new batch of phones out every week on Tuesday at noon Beijing time, containing the new software builds and possible minor hardware tweaks. Xiaomi calls this process "design as you build."

Xiaomi's mascot, Mitu, is a white rabbit wearing an Ushanka (known locally as a "Lei Feng hat" in China) with a red star and a red scarf around its neck.

Brands
POCO is a sub-brand owned by the Chinese electronics company Xiaomi Corporation. It was first announced in August 2018 as a mid-range smartphone line, and became a separate sub-brand of Xiaomi in 17 January 2020 with entry-level and mid-range devices, while Xiaomi itself produces upper-range and flagship Mi phones. POCO phones use the Xiaomi MIUI user interface on top of Android.

In Q4 of 2018, the POCO F1 reportedly become the best selling smartphone sold online in India, beating competition such as the OnePlus 6. The Pocophone was sometimes referred to as the "flagship killer killer" for offering high-end specifications at an affordable price. The first POCO phone was released in 2018 in India on Xiaomi's website. It instantly became a bestseller with 700,000 units sold until 6 December 2018, becoming the best selling smartphone sold online in India.

Products

Xiaomi produces many products. Observers suggest that part of Xiaomi's rapid success rests on its ability to differentiate itself within the Android universe.  The company has increased its range of products; its smartphones include: Mi Series, Mi Note Series (got a new update after 3 years, with the Mi Note 10 Pro), Mi Max Series, Mi Mix Series, Redmi and POCO Series. As well as mobile phones, Xiaomi has started selling wearables, mobile accessories, and appliances such as television and speakers. In 2018 it was selling tablets, laptops, and smart-home devices.

Xiaomi operates on a vertically-integrated model that enables the company to sell hardware at cost or below in order to attract users and earn money by selling content. Hugo Barra, a former Google executive who served Xiaomi's vice president from 2014 to 2017, characterized the organization as "an Internet and a software company much more than a hardware company".

Xiaomi also keeps its prices low or close to its manufacturing costs by keeping most of its products in the market longer, eighteen months rather than the six-month norm followed by many smartphone companies. Xiaomi said they sell their phones close to cost and intends to make profit on services.

The company's version of the Android operating system and MIUI skin, with its design, app marketplace, and functionalities, has established a community of users who form a crucial part of Xiaomi's customer base and contribute to the company's drive for market awareness. This ecosystem is a massive source of revenue as indicated in 2015, when sales from the platform reached $750 million.

The company focuses on India, the world's second-largest smartphone market. Xiaomi announced on 2 May 2018, the launch of Mi Music and Mi Video to offer "value-added internet services" in India. On 22 March 2017, Xiaomi announced that it planned to set up a second manufacturing unit in India in partnership with contract manufacturer Foxconn. On 7 August 2018, Xiaomi announced on its blog that Holitech Technology Co. Ltd., Xiaomi's top supplier, would invest up to $200 million over the next three years to set up a major new plant in India.

In 2019 Xiaomi started to sell simple goods such as sunglasses, caps, pillows, glass lunchboxes, cups, filters, bags, backpacks, luggage, screwdrivers, and umbrellas.

In April 2019, researchers at Check Point found a security breach in Xiaomi phone apps. The security flaw was reported to be preinstalled.

In 2019, the company announced that it would launch more than 10 5G phones in 2020, some of them being: Mi 10/10 Pro with 5G functionality included.

In March 2020, Xiaomi showcased its new 40W wireless charging solution, which was able to fully charge a smartphone with a 4,000mAh battery from flat in 40 minutes.

In December 2020, Xiaomi collaborates with award-winning photographer Steve McCurry, to promote the photographic capabilities of the Mi 10T Pro handset. The brand's 'My Unsung Hero' campaign features images captured on the Mi 10T Pro.

Controversies

GPL violation
Xiaomi was unfavorably covered for its non-compliance with the terms of the GNU GPL. The Android project's Linux kernel is licensed under the copyleft terms of the GPL, which requires Xiaomi to distribute the complete source code of the Android kernel and device trees for every Android device it distributes. By refusing to do so, or by unreasonably delaying these releases, Xiaomi is operating in violation of intellectual property law in China, as a WIPO state. Prominent Android developer Francisco Franco publicly criticized Xiaomi's behaviour after repeated delays in the release of kernel source code. Xiaomi in 2013 said that it would release the kernel code. The kernel source code is available on the GitHub website.

Comparisons with Apple Inc.
Xiaomi has been compared to the American corporation Apple Inc., as reviewers found some of Xiaomi's phones and tablets similar in appearance to Apple's. In addition, the marketing strategy of Xiaomi is at times described as riding on the back of the "cult of Apple". It is reported that, after reading a book about Steve Jobs in college, Xiaomi's chairman and CEO, Lei Jun, carefully cultivated a Steve Jobs image, including jeans, dark shirts, and Jobs's announcement style at Xiaomi's earlier product announcements. Given the above, he was categorized as a "counterfeit Jobs."

In 2012, the company was said to be counterfeiting Apple's philosophy and mindset. In 2013, critics debated how much of Xiaomi's products were innovative, and how much of their innovation was just really good public relations. Others point out that while there are similarities to Apple, the ability to customize the software based upon user preferences through the use of Google's Android operating system sets Xiaomi apart.

State administration of radio, film, and television issue
In November 2012, Xiaomi's smart set-top box stopped working one week after the launch due to the company having run afoul of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television. The regulatory issues were overcome in January 2013.

Hugo Barra
In August 2013, the company announced that it was hiring Hugo Barra from Google, where he served as vice president of product management for the Android platform. Barra has declined to comment on the timing of the Google relationships, and stated that he had been in talks with Xiaomi for over a year prior to announcing the move. He was employed as vice president of Xiaomi to expand the company outside of mainland China, making Xiaomi the first company selling smartphones to poach a senior staffer from Google's Android team. Barra's focus was to help Xiaomi grow internationally.

Barra quit his position in January 2017 to join Facebook as VP of virtual reality.

Privacy concerns and alleged data theft
Xiaomi's cloud storage service Mi Cloud stores all user data in its servers in China. As a company based in China, it is must share data with the Chinese government under the China Internet Security Law and National Intelligence Law. Xiaomi's Cloud messaging service sent some private data, including call logs and contact information, to Xiaomi servers. Xiaomi later released an MIUI update that made cloud messaging optional and that no private data was sent to Xiaomi servers if the cloud messaging service was turned off.

In October 2014, Xiaomi announced that they were setting up servers outside of China for international users, citing improved services and compliance to regulations in several nations. Around the same time, the Indian Air Force warned against Xiaomi phones, stating that they were a national threat as they sent user data to an agency of the Chinese government.

On 30 April 2020, Forbes reported that Xiaomi extensively tracks use of its browsers, including private browser activity, phone metadata, and device navigation, and more alarmingly, without secure encryption or anonymization, more invasively and to a greater extent than mainstream browsers. Xiaomi disputed the claims, while affirming that it did extensively collect browsing data, and claiming that the data was not linked to any individuals and that consumers had consented to being tracked. Xiaomi later posted a response stating that the collection of aggregated usage statistics data is used for internal analysis, and would not link any personally identifiable information to any of this data. However after a followup by the report's originator, Gabriel Cirlig, Xiaomi backed down and added an option to completely stop the information leak when using their browser in incognito mode.

Sales numbers
The Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission had investigated the flash sales and found that Xiaomi had sold fewer smartphones than advertised. In December 2014, three flash sales were investigated. In those flash sales Xiaomi claimed that the number of smartphones sold was 10,000 units each for the first two sales, and 8,000 units for the third one. However, FTC investigated the claims and found that Xiaomi sold 9,339 devices in the first flash sale, 9,492 units in the second one, and 7,389 for the third. It was found that during the first flash sale, Xiaomi had given 1,750 priority 'F-codes' to people who could place their orders without having to go through the flash sale, thus diminishing the stock that was publicly available. The FTC fined Xiaomi .

Temporary ban and criticism in India
On 9 December 2014, the High Court of Delhi granted an ex parte injunction that banned the import and sale of Xiaomi products in India. The injunction was issued in response to a complaint filed by Ericsson in connection with the infringement of its patent licensed under FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non Discriminatory Licensing). The injunction was applicable until 5 February 2015, the date on which the High Court was scheduled to summon both parties for a formal hearing of the case. On 16 December, the High Court granted permission to Xiaomi to sell its devices running on a Qualcomm-based processor until 8 January 2015. Following that, Xiaomi held various sales on Flipkart, including one on 30 December 2014. Following that sale, the company received press coverage after its flagship Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G phone sold out in six seconds. A judge extended the division bench's interim order, allowing Xiaomi to continue the sale of Qualcomm chipset-based handsets until March 2018.

On 27 June 2020, CAIT - the Confederation of All India Traders - criticized Manu Kumar Jain, Xiaomi global vice president and managing director of Xiaomi India, for disrespecting the sentiments of Indian citizens, after he claimed a "Boycott Chinese Products" campaign was the result of mob mentality.

Security and Privacy Concerns

Security Issues in Indian and certain overseas versions of MIUI
In April 2019, Indian security researcher Arif Khan discovered a security vulnerability affecting the Indian and certain global versions of MIUI's native browser application - Mi Browser and Mint Browser, which is also developed by Xiaomi, both of which were based on the same browser engine, which was bypassed more than 2 times subsequently after Xiaomi fixed it. Khan also found a URL Address Bar Spoofing vulnerability affecting only the Indian and certain overseas versions but not the Chinese version. Again in the same month, Khan reportedly found another major lock screen bypass vulnerability affecting only the Indian version of MIUI which was using Glance, which allowed exfiltration of sensitive user data despite MIUI's lock screen protection, which was eventually fixed by Xiaomi after several media reports. These events led to various speculations about the company's motives, and approach concerning the privacy and security of its users in its Indian and overseas markets.

Related pages
 MIUI
 List of Xiaomi products
 Redmi
 Xiaomi Smart Home

Other websites

2010s establishments in China
2010 establishments in Asia
Electronics companies of China
Mobile phone companies
Companies based in Beijing

Xiaomi


Historians (an whiles poleetical scientists) are surveyit an askit tae gie Preses o the Unitit States nummer ratins on their performance oweraa or on different aspects o their leadership.

Several different factors are considerit in decidin whit maks ane a preses guid or bad  Thir factors include their character, their vision for the kintra, their relations wi congress, their relations wi foreign leaders (diplomacy), hou they managit the economy, hou they managit the military, an their poleetical skill oweraa.

Tae mak siccar the rankins are fair, oany surveys equally balance the opinions o liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans.

It is whiles difficult tae accurately rank a preses acause aw o the preses facit completely different challenges an livit in different times.

Historical opinions o U.S. preses aften chynge ower time.  For ensaumple, Harry Truman haed vera laich approval ratins richt efter he left office, but mony historians nou conseeder him amang the greatest preses.

Historian Surveys
 C-SPAN
 Opinion Journal
 Times of London

General Findings

Maist surveys gree that the top five preses are:
George Washington (the first preses o the Unitit States)
Abraham Lincoln (led the Unitit States through the American Civil War and endit sclavery)
Franklin Roosevelt (electit fower times an led the kintra through the Great Depression and World War II).
John F. Kennedy (presidit ower the Cuban Missile Crisis)
Ronald Reagan (presidit ower the end o the Cold War and restorit the economy)

The follaein preses are uisually rankit highly:
Thomas Jefferson (partly acause o the Louisiana Purchase)
James K. Polk (presidit ower the Mexican American War)
Theodore Roosevelt (strengthen the Unitit States Navy and had the Panama Canal biggit)
Woodrow Wilson (presidit ower World War I and creatit the Federal Reserve)
Harry Truman (presidit ower the beginnin o the Cold War and the integration o the Armit Forces)
Dwight Eisenhower (presidit ower the Cold War and creatit NASA)

Some preses have mixit ratins.  For ensaumple, Andrew Jackson is considerit tae bi a leader wha stuid for the common man, but at the same time historians criticise him acause o the Indian Removal Act. Anither example is Lyndon B. Johnson, wha passit civil richts bills an presidit ower the Great Society, but escalatit the Vietnam War an aa.

Jimmy Carter, Chester Arthur, William Howard Taft, Benjamin Harrison, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Rutherford B. Hayes, Martin Van Buren, and Richard Nixon are considerit tae bi ablo average.

John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan are aften considerit tae bi amang the warst acause they failit tae prevent the growth o the sclavery whilk resultit in the Civil War.

Andrew Johnson is aften rankit amang the warst acause he wis again the Reconstruction.

Warren G. Harding an Ulysses Grant are aften considerit tae be amang the warst preses acause they baith made the mistak o appointin their corrupt friends intae heich poleetical offices, although recently Ulysses Grant haes muived up in the rankins acause o his efforts tae gie civil rights tae African Americans.

Both historian polls and popular opinion polls consider George W. Bush amang the worst U.S. preses, although some would argue that it is too early tae rank him acause his term endit recently in 2009.

William Henry Harrison and James Garfield are aften no rankit acause they baith deit shortly efter becomin preses. Whan they are includit, they are uisually laich in the leet.

Barack Obama is rankit in the middle.  For the same reason, George W. Bush isna rankit in some polls acause his presidency endit less nor ten years ago. Bill Clinton is includit in thir polls, but his presidency wis still no that lang syne and historians hisna yet decidit whether he wis a guid or bad preses.

History o the Unitit States

Historical rankins o Preses o the Unitit States


Bark is the covering of the stems of woody plants, like trees. Bark protects the tree. Bark of different plants and trees can look very different, it can be rough or smooth and can have different colors. It is the outer layer of tree trunks.

Most of the bark grows from the vascular cambium. Some outer parts of the bark sometimes come from a cork cambium. In the bark are lenticels which allow gases to move in and out of those inner tissues which have living cells.

Bark of one kind or another has been on trees from the Carboniferous period. It is obvious on stems and branches, and on  some kinds of storage organs.

Plant anatomy
Plant physiology

Bark


Tiruvannamalai is a place in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a place of pilgrimage for Hindus. In Tiruvannamalai, there is a famous and ancient temple of Shiva, a god of Hindus. The temple is one of the five such temples of Shiva in south India.

In this temple, people worship Shiva in the form of a linga. Many Hindus go to this place all around the year. In the months of November and December, a festival lasting for ten days takes place. During this festival, people light up an entire hill near Tiruvannamalai.

Related pages
Linga

Other websites
Tiruvannamalai

Hinduism
Hindu mythology
Tiruvannamalai district

Tiruvannamalai


Peleus (, Pēleus) was  one of the early Greek heroes. Peleus was the son of Aeacus, king of the island of Aegina, and Endeïs, the nymph of Mount Pelion. Alongside his brother Telamon, he joined the hero Jason as one of the Argonauts on the quest to find the Golden Fleece. He was the husband of the Nereid Thetis, by whom he is the father of Achilles.

People in Greek mythology

Peleus


Ray Zone (1947–2012) was an American film historian, author, artist, and pioneer in methods of converting flat images (in particular, comic books) into stereoscopic images.

Starlog called him the "King of 3-D Comics", and Artsy Planet called him the "3D King of Hollywood".

Biography
Zone attributed his interest in 3D to having read Mighty Mouse comic books in 3D at the age of 6, in 1953. He moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s and began converting flat art to 3D images. He began working in comic books in 1983, and his early collaborations with Jack C. Harris and Steve Ditko drew the attention of Archie Goodwin, who recruited him to work with John Byrne on the 1990 Batman 3-D, a full-length 3D graphic novella. Zone produced 3D adaptations of art for over 150 comic books, for clients such as Disney, Warner Bros and the Simpsons, and including stories by Alan Moore and Grant Morrison which were specifically written to accommodate stereoscopy.

An internationally recognized expert in all things 3-D, Zone had a special interest in stereoscopic cinema and Large Format 3-D (15/70) filmmaking. He created stereo conversions and stereoscopic images for a wide variety of clients in publishing, education, advertising, television and motion pictures. In 2006 Zone was the 3D Artist on the Tool album 10,000 Days, which won that year's Grammy Award for Best Recording Package. He received numerous awards for his 3-D work, among them a 1987 Inkpot Award from the San Diego Comic-Con for "Outstanding Achievement in Comic Arts", and

He was the author of "3D Filmmakers, Conversations with Creators of Stereoscopic Motion Pictures" (Scarecrow Press: 2005), "Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film, 1838 - 1952" (University Press of Kentucky: 2007), "3-DIY: Stereoscopic Moviemaking on an Indie Budget" (Focal Press: 2012), and "3-D Revolution: The History of Modern Stereoscopic Cinema" (University Press of Kentucky: 2012).

In 2008 Zone worked as 3D Supervisor on Dark Country  with director/star Thomas Jane, and in 2010 as 3D Producer on "Guardians of the Lost Code", the first animated 3D feature film made in Mexico.

Bibliography
Work includes:
Batman 3D (with John Byrne, Arthur Adams, 80 pages, Titan Books, )
3D Filmmakers, Conversations with Creators of Stereoscopic Motion Pictures, Scarecrow Press
Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film, 1838 - 1952, University Press of Kentucky
3-DIY: Stereoscopic Moviemaking on an Indie Budget, Focal Press
3-D Revolution: The History of Modern Stereoscopic Cinema, University Press of Kentucky

References

External links
Official site (via archive.is)

Checklist of comic books featuring Ray Zone work
 CES: Ray Zone 'King of 3D art' bullish on 3D TV (podcast), Cnet, January 9, 2010
The History of 3D Comics Exhibition & Opening Reception, Comixlist, July 19, 2007

1947 births
2012 deaths
American film historians
American male non-fiction writers
Inkpot Award winners
Stereoscopy

Ray Zone


A logical clock is a mechanism for capturing chronological and causal relationships in a distributed system. Often, distributed systems may have no physically synchronous global clock. In many applications (such as distributed GNU make), if two processes never interact, the lack of synchronization is unobservable and in these applications it is enough for the processes to agree on the event ordering (i.e., logical clock) rather than the wall-clock time. The first logical clock implementation, the Lamport timestamps, was proposed by Leslie Lamport in 1978 (Turing Award in 2013).

Local vs global time
In logical clock systems each process has two data structures: logical local time and logical global time. Logical local time is used by the process to mark its own events, and logical global time is the local information about global time. A special protocol is used to update logical local time after each local event, and logical global time when processes exchange data.

Applications
Logical clocks are useful in computation analysis, distributed algorithm design, individual event tracking, and exploring computational progress.

Algorithms
Some noteworthy logical clock algorithms are:

 Lamport timestamps, which are monotonically increasing software counters.
 Vector clocks, that allow for partial ordering of events in a distributed system.
 Version vectors, order replicas, according to updates, in an optimistic replicated system.
 Matrix clocks, an extension of vector clocks that also contains information about other processes' views of the system.

References

External links
 Distributed System Logical Time // Roberto Baldoni, Silvia Bonomi. MIDLAB, Sapienza University of Rome
 Chapter 3: Logical Time // Ajay Kshemkalyani and Mukesh Singhal, Distributed Computing: Principles, Algorithms, and Systems, Cambridge University Press, 2008
 Distributed Systems 06. Logical Clocks // Paul Krzyzanowski, Rutgers University, Fall 2014

Causality
Distributed algorithms

Logical clock


David Axelrod's Rock Interpretation of Handel's Messiah (commonly known as Rock Messiah) is a 1971 album by David Axelrod. It is a rock-based interpretation of George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah.

The album features arrangements by Axelrod played by a 38-piece orchestra conducted by Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. Los Angeles Times writer Martin Bernheimer described the album as "relatively straight and square, as much concerned with Handel and jazz and the gospel tradition as it is with blatant rock". Axelrod described his motivation for the album as "making Handel more accessible".

Ebony writer Phyl Garland described the album as "Jesus Christ Superstar on a bad trip", also stating "The whole thing just seems so unnecessary."

It was originally released in 1971 on U.S. RCA label issue nine-track on a standard vinyl LP (RCA LSP-4636). It was reissued on CD in 2012 on the U.S. Real Gone label (RGM-0041).

Track listing
All tracks composed and arranged by David Axelrod
"Overture"
"Comfort Ye My People...Recitative"
"And The Glory Of The Lord...Chorus"
"Behold...Recitative"
"Pastoral Symphony"
"And The Angel Said unto Them...Recitative"
"Glory To God...Chorus"
"Hallelujah...Chorus"
"Worthy Is The Lamb...Chorus"

References

1971 albums
David Axelrod (musician) albums
Albums produced by David Axelrod (musician)
RCA Records albums

Rock Messiah


The House Medici (pronounced med-ee-chee) or Medici family was a very important family in Florence, Italy from the year 1300 to about 1600. They were the richest family in Europe for many years. Many leaders of Florence during the Renaissance were Medicis. The Medicis were important because they ran many banks, including the most important bank in Europe. They were so powerful they became like a royal family.  4 popes of the Catholic Church were from the Medici. Their names were Pope Leo X (the 10th), Pope Clement VII(the 7th), Pope Pius IV (the 4th), and Pope Leo XI (the 11th)  2 Queens of France were from the medici- Catherine de' Medici and Marie de' Medici.The heir to the Tuscan throne was traditionally known as the Grand Prince.

The family ruled the state with the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Popes

 Pope Leo X (1513-1521), born Giovanni de' Medici
 Pope Clement VII (1523-1534), born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici
 Pope Pius IV (1559-1565), born Giovanni Angelo Medici
 Pope Leo XI (1605), born Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici

Florence and the Medici
Giovanni Bicep de' Medici, (1360-1429), was the first important member of the family. He invested his money very wisely and became rich. He and his son, Cosmo de' Medici, (1389-1464), began the Medici Banking Company, which did so well that they soon had branches of the bank in large cities all over Europe, including London and Paris.  Giovanni Bicep and Cosmo were the richest men in Europe, and their family was politically the most powerful in Florence.

Florence already had an industry, the cloth industry. Florentine merchants (traders) traded with Lombard traders from the north of Italy. They bought English wool and Chinese silk to be woven into the most magnificent cloth in Europe at the riverside factories of Florence. Florence was perfectly sited for making cloth. A lot of water is needed to make cloth. Other towns nearby are high on the tops of hills, but Florence is in a wide valley, with the broad Arno River flowing through it. There was a harbor on the coast near Pisa. The Pisans were not very friendly towards Florence, so Florence took them over. Then the rich traders of Florence could have their own ships and did not have to worry about the Lombard traders who brought their goods across Europe and over the mountains on the backs of donkeys.

Cosimo de' Medici was a patriot and a patron. He was a "patriot" because he acted like a father to his city. He became part of the town council. They were a group of men called the "signorina" (the seniors or elders). Cosimo made laws that adjusted the taxes. Some of the rich people did not like this at all and left the city, making Cosimo more powerful. He took good care of industry, of trade and of farming, because Florence needed all these things. He particularly needed the loyalty of all the farms and villages, because a city in a valley is easy for an army to attack. Cosimo built public buildings and when he had a palace built for himself, he had long stone seats built along the walls for the poor and the elderly to sit on.

He was a patron because he supported the church, and lots of writers, artists, architects and students. He founded a "Platonic Academy" where students could study the works of Ancient Greek writers and talk about politics, religion and new ideas. The head of the Academy was a philosopher called Marsillio Ficino. Cosimo encouraged architects to design buildings in the style of Ancient Rome. He collected a huge library of books and gave them to the monastery of San Lorenzo to be used by students. When he wanted some quiet time, he went to friary, (which is like a monastery), Sant Marco's, where he encouraged one of the "brothers", Fra Angelico, to paint beautiful sacred pictures.

After the death of Cosimo, his grandson Lorenzo de' Medici became even more famous. He was called Lorenzo il Magnifico (the Magnificent). It was during the time of Lorenzo that some of the most famous artists in world history were alive in Florence, and worked for the Medici:- Botticelli, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.

Related pages
 Florence
 Renaissance
 List of popes from the Medici family

References

Papal families
Grand Duchy of Tuscany

House of Medici


George Henry Wright (October 26, 1849 – April 15, 1912) was a significant businessman and philanthropist in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  He was born at Wright's Cove, Nova Scotia and died in the sinking of the Titanic at the age of 62. He established Write's World Business Directory in Boston and later returned to Halifax and invested in the city.  His own house at 989 Young Ave, and two of his public buildings, the Marble Wright Building (1672 Barrington St.) and The Saint Paul Building, (1684 Barrington St., formerly the home of JW Doull's bookstore) still stand in downtown Halifax. They were all built by architect James Charles Philip Dumaresq.

He was a philanthropist who developed the first housing project in the province.  He left in his will his house to the Local Council of Women of Halifax to further the cause of women's suffrage (women's right to vote was achieved six years after Wright's death).  He also was one of the large contributors to the Y.M.C.A. building fund and Dalhousie University.

An enthusiastic yachtsman, Wright owned several boats including the sloop Princess, built by H.W. Embree and Sons in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. Wright also created the George Wright Cup, a racing trophy for sail races at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron.

Although his body was never found, he has a grave marker in the Christ Church cemetery in Dartmouth.

Legacy
 namesake of Wright Avenue, Halifax
 namesake of the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron's George Wright Cup.

See also
Passengers of the RMS Titanic

References

Endnotes

Links
  A Principled Man: a look at Halifax Titanic victim, George Wright by Jon Tattrie, March 29, 2012
  Globe and Mail
  George Wright's Grave marker, Christ Church, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
George Wright's Commercial Properties, Halifax, Nova Scotia
George Wright's Will

Texts
 Titanic Remembered: The Unsinkable Ship and Halifax By Alan Ruffman, p. 55-56
 True Stories from Nova Scotia's Past By Dianne Marshall
 Halifax Street Names: An Illustrated Guide By Formac Publishing Company Limited, p. 174

Canadian activists
Businesspeople from Halifax, Nova Scotia
1849 births
1912 deaths
People from the Halifax Regional Municipality
Deaths on the RMS Titanic
20th-century Canadian businesspeople
19th-century Canadian businesspeople

George Henry Wright