Robert Curthose (–1134), sometimes styled Robert II or Robert III, was the Duke of Normandy from 1087 until 1106. He was also Count of Maine. His reign as Duke is noted for the conflicts he had with his brothers in England. This led to the dukedom of Normandy being reunited with crown of England.

Early career

Robert was the eldest son of William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England, and Matilda of Flanders. Robert was born . As a child he was betrothed to Margaret, the heiress of Maine.  But she died before they could be wed. Robert didn't marry until he was in his late forties.

Robert was brought up among William's men-at-arms. As a result, he became a skilled warrior. But unlike his father he expected to live a life of pleasure and luxury. In 1063, his father made him the count of Maine when he was contracted to marry Margaret. But Robert had no authority. The county was actually run by his father until 1069 when the county revolted and reverted to Hugh V of Maine. Still, he had been made his father's heir. Twice the barons had taken an oath of fealty to him as their future leader.

In 1077 Robert got into an argument with his father. He demanded to rule Normandy which he had on at least on occasion while William was in England. William was not able to reason with his son and Robert left angry. The next day Robert and his followers attempted to seize Rouen. The siege failed. After rebelling against his father all he could do was go into exile.
Robert first went to Chateauneuf-en-Thymerais. He then fled to Flanders to the court of his uncle Robert I, Count of Flanders.

In the spring of 1080 Robert was back on good terms with his father. He again made Robert his heir for Normandy in the presences of his barons. Later that summer or early fall Robert went with his father to England. William placed Robert in charge of a large army to march north and deal with King Malcolm III of Scotland. Malcolm had been raiding the north of England while William was occupied in Normandy. When the two armies drew near each other, Malcolm did not want to fight. He again swore fealty to king William and gave hostages. Robert remained in England with his father until the end of 1081. Events in Maine caused William and Robert to return to Normandy. Fulk IV, Count of Anjou had been attacking in Maine again trying to get control away from Normandy. William and Robert led a great army into Maine to confront the Angevin count. Before the fighting could start, a cardinal and several monks stopped the battle. They called for a truce and after much negotiation one was agreed to. The count of Anjou was to let Normandy have Maine, but Robert, as count of Maine, had to recognize Fulk IV as his overlord for Maine. When Queen Matilda died in 1083 Robert seemed to abandon his father. He and his mother had been very close.

In 1087, the Conqueror died of wounds suffered from a riding accident during a siege of Mantes. At his death he reportedly wanted to disinherit his eldest son but was persuaded to divide the Norman dominions between his two eldest sons. To Robert he granted the Duchy of Normandy and to William Rufus he granted the Kingdom of England. The youngest son Henry was given money to buy land. Of the two elder sons Robert was considered to be much the weaker and was generally preferred by the nobles who held lands on both sides of the English Channel since they could more easily circumvent his authority. At the time of their father's death the two brothers made an agreement to be each other's heir. However this peace lasted less than a year when barons joined with Robert to displace Rufus in the Rebellion of 1088. It was not a success, in part because Robert never showed up to support the English rebels.

Robert took as his close adviser Ranulf Flambard, who had been previously a close adviser to his father. Flambard later became an astute but much-disliked financial adviser to William Rufus until the latter's death in 1100.

In 1096, Robert left for the Holy Land on the First Crusade. At the time of his departure he was reportedly so poor that he often had to stay in bed for lack of clothes. In order to raise money for the crusade he mortgaged his duchy to his brother William for the sum of 10,000 marks.

When William II died on 2 August 1100, Robert was on his return journey from the Crusade and was about to marry a wealthy young bride to raise funds to buy back his duchy. As a result, his brother Henry was able to seize the crown of England for himself. Upon his return, Robert – urged by Flambard and several Anglo-Norman barons – claimed the English crown on the basis of the short-lived agreement of 1087. In 1101, he led an invasion to oust his brother Henry; he landed at Portsmouth with his army but his lack of popular support among the English as well as Robert's own mishandling of the invasion tactics enabled Henry to resist the invasion. Robert was forced by diplomacy to renounce his claim to the English throne in the Treaty of Alton. It is said that Robert was a brilliant field commander but a terrible general in the First Crusade. His government (or misgovernment) of Normandy as well as his failed invasion of England suggests that his military skills were little better than his political skills.

In 1105, however, Robert's continual stirring of discord with his brother in England as well as civil disorder in Normandy itself prompted Henry to invade Normandy. Orderic reports on an incident at Easter 1105 when Robert was supposed to hear a sermon by the venerable Serlo, Bishop of Sées. Robert spent the night before sporting with harlots and jesters and while he lay in bed sleeping off his drunkenness his unworthy friends stole his clothes. He awoke to find himself naked and had to remain in bed and missed the sermon.

In 1106, Henry defeated Robert's army decisively at the Battle of Tinchebray and claimed Normandy as a possession of the English crown, a situation that endured for almost a century. Captured after the battle, Robert was imprisoned in Devizes Castle for twenty years before being moved to Cardiff.

In 1134, Robert died in Cardiff Castle in his early eighties. Robert Curthose, sometime Duke of Normandy, eldest son of the Conqueror, was buried in the abbey church of St. Peter in Gloucester. The exact place of his burial is difficult to establish – legend states that he requested to be buried before the High Altar. His effigy carved in bog oak, however, lies on a mortuary chest decorated with the attributed arms of the Nine Worthies (missing one – Joshua, and replaced with the arms of Edward the Confessor). The effigy dates from about 100 years after his death and the mortuary chest much later. The church subsequently has become Gloucester Cathedral.

Family

Robert married Sybilla of Conversano, daughter of Geoffrey of Brindisi, Count of Conversano (and a grandniece of Robert Guiscard, another Norman duke) on the way back from Crusade, one child:

 William Clito (1102—1128); he had no children.

Robert also had at least three illegitimate children:

 Richard (1079 - May 1100) who died hunting in the New Forest in May 1100.
 William. (1077 - 5 December 1110)
 An unnamed daughter who married Helias of Saint-Saens.

Notes

References

1050s births
1134 deaths
Dukes and duchesses of Normandy

Robert Curthose


The Château de Termes (Languedocien: Castèl de Tèrme) is a ruined castle near the village of Termes in the Aude département of France.  It is one of the so-called Cathar castles.

History
Built on a promontory, defended on three sides by formidable deep ravines, the crumbling ruins of the castle cover an area of 16 000m².  Held by the Cathar heretic Ramon (Raymond) de Termes, the castle only fell to Simon de Montfort after a siege lasting four months, from August to November 1210, the hardest siege of the first period of the Albigensian Crusade.  Following an exceptionally dry summer and autumn, the empty water tanks led Raymond to offer surrender.  However, as the crusaders advanced to possess the castle, they were met with a hail of arrows. A heavy storm overnight had replenished the cisterns and the defenders were able to hold out a little longer.
Later, weakened from dysentery, and exposed to the fire of numbers of siege weapons, the garrison attempted unsuccessfully to creep out at night.  The alarm was raised, the fugitives  caught and killed, and Raymond surrendered the castle.  After de Montfort's death, Raymond regained possession of the castle but was soon forced to give it up again, this time to the King of France.

Rebuilt in the 13th century as a royal garrison, the castle was one of the "sons of Carcassonne" (five castles defending the border with Aragon and later Spain). When the border moved further south in the 17th century, the castle lost its function.  It was taken over by a band of brigands who used it as a base from which to terrorise and pillage the surrounding country.  To stop this, it was demolished by royal decree - a master mason from Limoux spent 1653 and 1654 blowing up the walls with gunpowder and reducing them to piles of rubble.  The bill for this work exists today: 14,922 livres and 10 sous.

The castle today
Steps to preserve the site were taken in the 20th century. It has been classified as a monument historique since 1989.  Since 1989, it has been the property of the commune of Termes.  It is a 15 to 20 minutes walk from the village and open to visitors.

The site offers impressive views of the Terminet Gorges.

See also
Cathar castles
List of castles in France

External links
 Official site of the castle, in english
 Website on the castle in English, with pictures and bibliography

References

Castles in Aude
Ruined castles in Occitania (administrative region)
Monuments historiques of Aude
Museums in Aude
Catharism

Château de Termes


Planar transformers are devices used to exact standards with precise electrical characteristics such as capacitance, output, and aspect ratio. They are used in military and aerospace projects.

Planar transformers are high frequency transformers used in isolated switchmode power supplies operating at high frequency. As opposed to conventional "wire-wound-on-a-bobbin" transformers, planar transformers usually contain winding turns made of thin copper sheets riveted together at the ends of turns in the case of high current windings, or windings etched on a PCB in a spiral form. As the current conductors are thin sheets of copper, the operating frequency is not limited by skin effect. As such, high power converters built with planar transformers can be designed to operate at relatively high switching frequencies, often 100 kHz or above. This reduces the size of required magnetic components and capacitors, thereby increasing power density.

Advantages over conventional counterparts
 High power density
 Significantly reduced height (low profile)
 Greater surface area, resulting in improved heat dissipation capability
 Greater magnetic cross-section area, enabling fewer turns
 Smaller winding area
 Winding structure facilitates interleaving
 Lower leakage inductance resulting from fewer turns and interleaved windings
 Less AC winding resistance
 Excellent reproducibility, enabled by winding structure

References

Electric transformers

Planar transformer


Orbis International is an international non-profit non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to saving sight worldwide. Its programs focus on the prevention of blindness and the treatment of blinding eye diseases in developing countries through hands-on training, public health education, advocacy and local partnerships. Since 1982, Orbis capacity-building programs have enhanced the skills of 325,000 eye care personnel and provided medical and optical treatment to more than 23.3 million people in 92 countries.

Orbis is a registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible non-profit charity in the United States. It was rated 4 stars on Charity Navigator in 2016 and was a Guidestar Gold Participant. It is headquartered in New York, with offices in Toronto, London, Dublin, Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai, Singapore, Cape Town and Addis Ababa.

Orbis' programs emphasise skills, training and self-sufficiency. The organisation spends approximately a year planning and coordinating with partner hospitals and local organisations, making preliminary visits to observe the local medical teams. Its Flying Eye Hospital not only gives care to patients, but also provides training to local staff and delivers equipment and surgical supplies to ensure that local teams are able to continue to help people long after the plane has left the program site. Cybersight, Orbis' telemedicine program, continues the training and mentoring relationships. Orbis' intervention are tailored to local needs; Orbis trains local doctors in low-tech, low-cost yet effective methods to correct diseases of the eyes.

In addition to the Flying Eye Hospital, Orbis operates hospital-based programs in several countries and works with local medical research and health-care organizations on blindness prevention and eye disease treatment.

Orbis is a founding partner, along with the World Health Organization, of VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, "a worldwide concerted effort designed to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020."

History

Orbis was founded in 1982 with a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and a number of private donors. The first Flying Eye Hospital was a Douglas DC-8-21 (N220RB) donated by United Airlines. In its first two years of operation, the Orbis DC-8 visited countries and held programs emphasizing the hands-on transfer of surgical skills.

By the late 1980s, as replacement parts for the aging DC-8 became more difficult and expensive to obtain, it became clear that a newer, larger aircraft was needed. Funded by private donations, Orbis purchased a DC-10 in 1992. The DC-10 contained twice the interior space of the original DC-8. After two years of conversion and renovation, it was placed in service in 1994, and the DC-8 was retired and donated to Chinese Aviation Museum near Beijing, China.  That summer, the new Flying Eye Hospital took off on its inaugural mission to Beijing.

In 1998, Orbis embarked on a new path based on the strategy to strengthen the capacity of local partners in the developing world to prevent and treat blindness through full-time, ongoing in-country programs. These programs were designed to respond to the needs of individual ophthalmic communities and local eye care providers. Orbis selected the first initial five countries to work in year round based on need (magnitude of blindness), opportunity (local infrastructure and resources), and safety & stability to operate in-country.

Orbis launched its first permanent country program in Ethiopia. Country programs in Bangladesh, China, India and Vietnam soon followed. In 2010 Orbis established a country program office in South Africa. Permanent Orbis offices in these countries, run by local staff, develop and implement an array of multi-year projects to improve the quality and accessibility of eye care to residents, particularly in rural area and impoverished urban communities. In addition to permanent country offices, Orbis also engages in long-term program work in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean as well is in countries including Nepal, Zambia, and Burkina Faso.

On April 7, 2008, Orbis announced it would replace the DC-10 Flying Eye Hospital with a DC-10 Series 30 freighter. United Airlines, with the support of FedEx, is donating the airplane to Orbis.

On August 8, 2011, FedEx announced that it would donate one of its DC-10-30s, retrofitted with the MD-10-30F upgrade, to Orbis to replace its DC-10-30F. The new MD-10 will feature a modular hospital suite, the first time these units will have been used on an aircraft.

The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital

Orbis is well known for its "Flying Eye Hospital", an ophthalmic hospital and teaching facility located on board a DC-10 aircraft. The Flying Eye Hospital brings training to doctors and nurses in developing countries with little access to professional development and training. Classrooms, operating theatres and laser rooms are aboard the plane and the local medical personnel are able to watch live surgeries as well as simulations. 3D filming and broadcast facilities allow the local ophthalmic professionals to observe the live surgeries through the eyes of the surgeon. Surgeries can also be broadcast to additional classes outside of the aircraft, be it a local hospital or halfway across the world. Participants can ask questions via a two-way audio-visual system. Volunteer pilots donate their time and skills to fly the hospital to the various program sites.

In June 2016, Orbis revealed its third-generation Flying Eye Hospital. The hospital is a converted McDonnell Douglas MD-10 donated by FedEx and can fly twice as long as its predecessor. It is similar to a land-based hospital and is outfitted with safety features such as a back-up generator and early alert monitoring systems. The hospital also has its own water treatment plant and air conditioning systems. It also houses a 46-seat classroom, sterilization room and operating room and uses 3D technology and live broadcast systems which allow local participants to observe surgeries while they are taking place. A virtual tour of the plane was created as part of the launch which enables users to virtually explore all areas of the plane including the operating room and cargo hold.

Orbis's previous DC-10-10, which was the oldest flying example of its type by then, has since been donated to the Pima Air & Space Museum. It arrived at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in November 2016 and is currently under restoration.

Country programs
In addition to the Flying Eye Hospital, Orbis operates long-term country programs and collaborates with local governments and organisations and push for eye care to be integrated into national health programs. It has also worked with local universities and healthcare institutions and manage a team of more than 400 medical volunteers from 29 countries to provide expert training to their local partners.

In each country, Orbis works with its local partner institutions to increase their capacity to provide comprehensive, affordable and sustainable eye care services over the long term. The programs include developing specialized hospital facilities, eye banks, patient and health care worker training, and prevention and treatment programs.

In 2015, more than 30,000 medical professionals were trained and more than 2 million patients were examined either on board Flying Eye Hospital or at its partner institutions.

Cybersight
Cybersight is a telemedicine portal founded by Orbis that allows eye health workers in low- and middle-income countries to consult with expert mentors in their field, free of charge. Mentors give their opinion on patient cases, share learning materials, and help local eye health workers develop their skills in blindness treatment and prevention. Since its launch, more than 10,000 electronic cases have taken place. This allows for distance learning and discussion.

Cybersight also offers regular live lectures, a library of educational material, and allows users to take tests and receive certificates of achievement.

On September 10, 2018, Orbis announced a new collaboration with AI company Visulytix to apply their automated imaging technology to Cybersight. Visulytix's Pegasus AI system will be used to analyse images of the back of the eye taken with any standard retina camera or smartphone. Eye doctors in low-resource countries will be amongst the first in the world to have free access to this service on the Cybersight platform, helping them detect and diagnose sight-threatening eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma, as well as quickly request a second opinion from Orbis's network of medical experts.

References

External links

 The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital was the subject of a short Al Jazeera Documentary.  Part 1, Part 2.

Organizations established in 1982
Non-profit organizations based in New York City
Ophthalmology organizations
Medical and health organizations based in New York City
Blindness charities
Health charities in the United States
International medical and health organizations
1982 establishments in the United States
Charities based in New York City
Blindness organizations in the United States

Orbis International


The Heracleia ( Herakleia en Kynosargei) were ancient festivals honoring the divine hero Heracles.

The ancient Athenians celebrated the festival, which commemorated the death of Heracles, on the second day of the month of Metageitnion (which would fall in late July or early August), at the Cynosarges gymnasium at the demos Diomeia outside the walls of Athens, in a sanctuary dedicated to Heracles. His priests were drawn from the list of boys who were not full Athenian citizens (nothoi).
Many famous nothoi exercised there (such as Demosthenes) but it was probably not exclusively set aside for them.

The Attic cults of Herakles were often closely connected with youth: at several of his cult sites there was a gymnasium  attached, and there was a mythological tradition (perhaps originating in Boeotia) that after Heracles died he was translated to Olympus, where he married Hebe, the personification of youth. Because of this Heracles is sometimes worshipped as a god and sometimes as a dead hero.

In Thebes, the center of the cult of Heracles, the festivities lasted a number of days, and consisted of various athletic and musical contests (agones), as well as sacrifices. They were celebrated in the gymnasium of Iolaus, the nephew and eromenos of Heracles, and were known as the Iolaeia. The winners were awarded brass tripods.

"Heracleia" is also a female first name, from which the common Romanian first name Raluca  is ultimately derived, via the Greek name Ralloú.

See also
 Athenian festivals

External links
Le Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines de Daremberg et Saglio

Heracles
Festivals in ancient Athens
July observances
August observances

Heracleia (festival)


Lorenzo Mercadante or Lorenzo Mercadante de Bretaña was a Breton sculptor active in the second half of the 15th century. Between 1454 and 1467 he worked in the Cathedral of Seville, where he executed the sepulchre of Cardinal Juan de Cervantes (1458) and the decoration of the portals of Christ's Birth and Baptism (Nacimiento and Bautismo, 1464–67). By using fired clay and alabaster he achieved a great naturalness and softness in his figures. His style influenced Sevillian sculpture in the last part of the Late Gothic era, and represented the transition to the Renaissance. Other outstanding works of his, all in Spain, are a Saint Michael now in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona, another Saint Michael discovered in 1999 in Sanlúcar la Mayor, and a Virgin and Child, originally in Fregenal de la Sierra, now in the Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla.

Andalusian culture
15th-century French sculptors
French male sculptors

Lorenzo Mercadante


The Red Stick International Animation Festival is an annual event is hosted by the Lab for Creative Arts & Technologies (LCAT), a research group within the Louisiana State University's Center for Computation and Technology.  The first festival took place from April 21 until April 23, 2005, and has occurred annually since in the Downtown Arts District in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  The 2005 festival drew over 1200 attendees.  In 2006, just over 2000 people attended, and in 2007, over 4000 people attended festival events.

History

The festival was founded by Stephen David Beck and Stacey Simmons, bringing an idea from the  Animex festival in England, as a way to demonstrate the linkage between creativity and technology, their focus at LCAT, and to bring awareness to the opportunities in both creative and technical disciplines for jobs, careers and economic development that are available through entertainment technologies.  The name "Red Stick" is the literal English translation of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where the festival is held.

Planning for the first festival began in the fall of 2003, with the event taking place in April 2005.  Since then, the festival has occurred annually in the third week of April.

Speakers and workshop leaders at past festivals have included representatives from Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, Digital Domain, Sony Imageworks and other companies.  They include Ed Hooks, Stuart Sumida, Mark Walsh, Walt Hyneman, David Bolinsky, Karen deJong, Gary Schwartz, and Rachelle Lewis.

The Red Stick Festival takes place at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum, Old State Capitol, and the LSU Museum of Art and Manship Theatre, part of the Shaw Center for the Arts.

External links

Animation film festivals in the United States
Louisiana State University
Culture of Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Film festivals established in 2005
Film festivals in Louisiana
Tourist attractions in Baton Rouge, Louisiana


León Roldós Aguilera (born 21 July 1942) is an Ecuadorian politician.  He was born in Guayaquil in 1942.  His mother died during his birth. He studied law at the state University of Guayaquil.  He became secretary of the Municipality of Guayaquil under Mayor Assad Bucaram (his brother's father in law), of the populist party Concentración de Fuerzas Populares.  He also had a private practice of law and consultancy mostly to the banking sector. He later became a professor in the University of Guayaquil and a dean of the law school of the Universidad Laica Vicente Rocafuerte.

In 1979, his brother Jaime Roldós was elected president in a ticket representing the alliance between Concentración de Fuerzas Populares and the Christian Democrat Party Democracia Popular.  He was then appointed chairman of the Monetary Board (Junta Monetaria).

President Jaime Roldós died in an airplane crash while in office; the National Congress elected León Roldós to serve out the term (1981–84) as vice-president, with President Osvaldo Hurtado, of Democracia Popular.  León Roldós did not enjoy a good relationship with President Hurtado, having opposed the assumption of the private external debt by the government (known as the "sucretización"), among other economic policies.

On 31 October 1994, León Roldós was elected rector of the University of Guayaquil, and served two terms, which were acknowledged to have revitalized this institution.

León Roldos ran for president in 1992 under the banner of the Socialist Party of Ecuador and in a second attempt in 2002 as an independent; he received then 15.4% of the vote and barely missed the runoff election. He was also elected Congressman for the Province of Guayas.

In the 2006 Ecuadorian general election he ran again, this time in a ticket of the alliance of "Ethics and Democracy Network" (Red Etica y Democrática) and of the Democratic Left Party. He raked a fourth place of the vote, receiving 4.8% of the votes cast.

Note: León Roldós does not belong to the Ecuadorian Roldosist Party, which is named after his brother, former President Jaime Roldós.

References

External links
 Democratic Left Party web site

1942 births
Living people
Politicians from Guayaquil
University of Guayaquil alumni
Academic staff of the University of Guayaquil
20th-century Ecuadorian lawyers
Vice presidents of Ecuador
Members of the National Congress (Ecuador)
Socialist Party – Broad Front of Ecuador politicians
Democratic Left (Ecuador) politicians
Concentration of People's Forces politicians
Christian Democratic Union (Ecuador) politicians

León Roldós Aguilera


The Arthrodires (Arthrodira) are an order of extinct armoured, jawed fishes of the class Placodermi. They flourished in the Devonian period before their sudden extinction, surviving for about 50 million years and living in most marine ecological niches.

Greek for "jointed neck", the arthrodires had movable joints between armour plates surrounding the head and body. The mouth is interesting. As the lower jaw moved down, the head shield moved, allowing a large opening. Lacking distinct teeth, like all placoderms, they used the sharpened edges of a bony plate as a biting surface. The eye sockets are protected by a bony ring, a feature shared by birds and some ichthyosaurs.

Early arthrodires, such as the genus Arctolepis, were well-armoured fishes with flattened bodies. The largest member of this group, Dunkleosteus, was a true superpredator of the latest Devonian period, from 3 to 9 m in length. In contrast, the long-nosed Rolfosteus measured just 15 cm.

A common misconception is the arthrodires were sluggish bottom-dwellers that were outcompeted by more advanced fish. But during their reign, the arthrodires were one of the most diverse and numerically successful vertebrate orders of the Devonian. They occupied a vast spectrum of roles from apex predator to detritus-nibbling bottom dweller. The arthrodires were one of many groups eliminated by the mass extinctions of the late Devonian. This let other fish such as sharks diversify into the vacant ecological niches during the Carboniferous period.

Placoderms
Extinct fish

Arthrodire


Antonio Britto Filho (born 1 July 1952) is a Brazilian journalist and politician, who held the positions of Congressman, Social Security Minister, and Governor of the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Academic and journalistic life
The son of a journalist, he began working in a small local newspaper for his father, before completing his studies in journalism at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Professionally, he started working in 1970 at the Journal of the Week, Sunday Publishing Group Editorial Sinos, as editor of football. Later, at the suggestion of journalist Paul St. Anne, he worked as a reporter for the paper Zero Hora, group RBS, at 19 years of age.

In 1972, he moved to radio Guaíba (belonging to the Junior Caldas), at the invitation of Peter Pereira Carneiro, where he became coordinator of the area and was head of sports journalism. In 1978, he left Guaíba and returned to the RBS group and started working in the TV Gaucha. That same year he became a professor at the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (Unisinos), a position he held until 1979.

RBS, was passed in 1979 to further the editorial policy of the Rede Globo in Brasília, acting as a commentator and presenter. In early 1985, right after the election of Tancredo Neves for the presidency, he was asked to become press secretary for the new government. In this role, he served as spokesman of medical information on the health of the President, in the period just prior to his death on 21 April 1985.

Early political career
Known through the television media and author of a book on the last days of Tancredo, he was invited by Ulysses Guimarães to join the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), to which party he threw himself candidate federal deputy elections 1986, being elected with one of the largest votes in the state (and reelected in 1990).

In the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, he served in the preparation of the 1988 Constitution and was Chairman of the Committee on Science and Technology, Communication and Computing in the 1990-91 biennium. In 1988 he was appointed as the PMDB candidate for mayor of Porto Alegre, but despite the initial favoritism, faded and finished fourth in the election, which was won by Olivio Dutra (Workers Party, PT).

In 1992, he was invited by President Itamar Franco to take the folder of the Social Welfare. In the presidential decision to upgrade the salaries of retirees, he was then very beneficial, which leveraged the national popularity and put him as one of the probable successors of Itamar own elections in 1994. However, before the government preferred to seek their own state, guiding the support of the PMDB's presidential candidacy to the local Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Social Democratic Party, PSDB), in contrast to the official party candidate, Orestes Quercia.

In the first round of elections, he won 49.2% of the valid votes, against 34.7% of its main competitor, Dutra. In the second round, getting support from the Progressive Party (PPR) and part of the Democratic Labour Party (PDT) (then governor of Alceu Collares), he obtained 52.2% of the votes against 47.8% for Olivio. The polarization PMDB/PT in Rio Grande do Sul was repeated in the elections of 1998 and 2002.

In 2016, Antonio Britto didn't take part in the voting concerning the impeachment of then president Dilma Rousseff. However, deputy Antonio Luiz Paranhos Ribeiro Leite de Brito, better known as Antônio Brito (PSD/BA), namesake of the former governor, participated in the vote.

Britto Government
The management ahead of the government of Rio Grande do Sul was marked by administrative reforms and a heated controversy with the opposition (led by the PT), which held the hegemony of the unions of servers, especially the CPERS, which combines the teaching state.

This controversy was not limited to the salary issue, but included measures that Antonio Britto and his government have adopted to pursue the reorganization of state finances, which included the privatisation of the large municipalities of the state of public services, the Riograndense Telecommunications Company (telephony) and the State Company for Electric Energy, both established in the management of Brizola (1959-1962).

For the supporters of government Britto, privatization would increase the scope of services, reducing the cost of installation. To his opponents, the fees charged by the privatised companies would become more expensive over time for the population, benefiting only a few specific business groups.

Another focus of controversy was the policy of attracting major car companies to the state through tax relief, such as exemption from  tax in the early years. To his opponents, the policy of attracting investments (involving the state in the "war tax" to other states) represented a loss to the treasury, not compensating for the generation of jobs.

Another measure of the government, which Britto fought, was the creation of private road poles, which were granted to tolls, a measure that undermined its popularity in some localities. In banking, the government Britto held a merger of two state banks, incorporating Caixa Econômica Estadual do Rio Grande do Sul by Banrisul. Some measures of privatizing Antonio Britto (which earned him the charge of "liberal" by its opponents), prior to privatization own federal government, the management of Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

1998 elections
Politically, he sought to govern with a huge party base, isolating only the PT. This allowed the composition of a broad coalition of parties to the 1998 elections, when he ran for reelection by the PMDB. But in some cases favouring the PPB (who appointed his running mate, José Otávio Germano) led to splits within his own party, which in some municipalities announced support for the PT.

He even won the first round of elections by a small margin. But in the second round against his opponent again in 1994, Olivio Dutra (PT), he was defeated by a margin of 87,366 votes. In the election, there was decisive support of the PDT (the opposite of privatization) to the PT candidate.

Business practices
After the defeat in his bid for reelection, he worked in private practice as a consultant to the Telefonica of Spain, which led to suspicions of favouritism in the privatization of CRT in 1997. In 2001, still tipped as favourite for the succession of Olivio Dutra (who would not be running for reelection), Antonio Britto clashed with Sen. Peter Simon, the main regional leader of the PMDB, and ended up leaving the party.

Then he joined the Socialist People's Party (PSP) (incipient state), along with its support base, and launched into a succession of state in 2002, in alliance with the Liberal Front Party (PFL) (PDT since refused to support it within the rule of "piggybacking" of coalitions in the states). However, the strong rejection of his name made their voting intentions "migrate" en masse for the candidate of the PMDB, Germano Rigotto. He came in third, with only 12% of the vote, while Rigotto defeated Tarso Genro (PT) in the second round, again bringing the PMDB, the state government.

Since then, Britto announced his abandonment of politics, becoming director of the company Azaléia, and its president, after the death of its founder, Nestor de Paula, who approached the government for state. In 2005, he became involved in a national controversy when closing a factory unit in Rio Grande do Sul, laying off 800 employees, while opening a plant in China. Worn with the heirs of Nestor de Paula, on behalf of a conflicting relationship, in late 2006 he announced his withdrawal from Azaléia, by resignation.

At Sure for Claro, he has been working in the area of corporate affairs, with the objective of organizing the company's relations with the external public and with Congress.

References

1952 births
People from Santana do Livramento
Brazilian police officers
Living people
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul alumni
Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil) from Rio Grande do Sul
Recipients of the Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay

Antônio Britto


The Facts of Life is an American comedy-drama television series. The series ran from August 24, 1979  until May 7, 1988. It was one of the longest-running television sitcoms of the 1980s. It is set in a private boarding school in upstate New York.

Molly Ringwald played Molly Parker. Mindy Cohn played Natalie Green. Cloris Leachman played Beverly Ann Stickle. Kim Fields played Tootie. Charlotte Rae played Edna.

The show dealt with topics and subjects including cerebral palsy, eating disorders, college and loss of virginity.

The Facts of Life was released on DVD in the 2000s and 2010s.

The show was low rated at first. But in later seasons, starting from 1980, The Facts of Life had higher ratings between then and 1988.

International airings

 In Latin America, Brazil and Mexico, Warner Channel begins to airing from 1995 until 2000. Then on Nick at Nite airing from 2006 until 2007, the show may taken off. TBS began airing the reruns from 2011 until 2016.

 In Mexico, MeTV starts airing from 1995 until 2003, then again return from 2008 to currently airing.

 In Germany, the show reruns on Nickelodeon from 1995 until 1998, then Disney Channel began to reruns the series from 1999 until 2005.

 In Australia, ABC Television began airing in early Christmas in 1980 until the show may taken off the air in 1993. Nickelodeon began airing the reruns from 1997 until 2004. Then it came return the show on Disney Channel airing from 1996 until 2000.

 In Italy, La 5 starts airing for five seasons from 1983 to 1986. Then the show returns on Nickelodeon from 2004 to 2007.

 In Canada, the show reruns on YTV from 1996 until 2000.

Other websites

References

1979 American television series debuts
1988 disestablishments in the United States
1988 television series endings
1970s American sitcoms

1980s American sitcoms

American television spin-offs
American teen comedy television series
High school television series
Television series set in New York (state)
English-language television programs

The Facts of Life


The Static Jacks are an American rock band from Westfield, New Jersey, consisting of singer Ian Devaney, guitarist Henry Kaye, guitarist Michael Sue-Poi, and drummer Nick Brennan.

History

Formation (2007–2010)
Devaney, Kaye, and Brennan started playing together their first year of high school for a class project on the Harlem Renaissance. A short time later they began writing songs with some other friends. Each attended separate universities for one semester before leaving to continue playing music together, along with then-bassist Spencer Kimmins. After putting up "guitarist wanted" flyers in local music stores, they received a call from Sue-Poi, who was interested in trying out and allegedly ripped down the flyer so no one else could contact the band.

In the middle of a conversation about how the group wanted someone to produce their next recording, they received an email from Andrew Maury, who had remixed one of their songs for Remix Artist Collective, offering his services as a producer. Music blog "Pop Tarts Suck Toasted" included The Static Jacks in their "Best Newish New Jersey Bands" feature of the Top 10 Jersey Bands Ever in 2009.
Shortly afterwards, in the Spring of 2009, they recorded the Laces EP, setting up a makeshift studio in a local church. After a series of small tours around the Northeast in support of the EP in their parent's cars, the band decided it was time to get a van, and took to busking in New York City parks for money. After several months of this, they had enough money to buy a van, and did so, from an armed man in camouflage pants.

If You're Young and  Spray Tan (2011–2013)
The Static Jacks were signed by Fearless Records in 2011. They spent the next year writing and touring, until early 2012, when they began recording their debut full-length album, If You're Young, with the producer Chris Shaw. The album was recorded at Stratosphere Sound in NYC, owned by Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and James Iha of The Smashing Pumpkins, the latter of whom played tambourine on the album's closing track. After about two weeks of caressing the Grammy's that were lying around the office, the album was complete.

On July 25, 2011, TSJ premiered a double A-side single online consisting of "Into the Sun" and "Mercy, Hallelujah".
If You're Young was released August 30, 2012, and the band then began touring extensively around the United States, UK and Europe.

On November 17, 2011, The Static Jacks made their television debut on Fuel TV's The Daily Habit. On December 21, 2011, The Static Jacks appeared on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly.

Before If You're Young was released, the band had already started work on another EP, with Andrew Maury, entitled Spray Tan. It was recorded at a studio in Jersey City that was built inside an art-storage facility, and owned by high school friend Dan Zavaro. On April 16, a new song from the EP called "Young Guns" was streamed and offered for a free download. After this experience, the band needed no further convincing, and decided Maury would produce their next full length as well. He is currently doing so, with the album being recorded at Retromedia Studio in Red Bank, NJ.

In Blue (2013–2014)
On June 28, 2013, the band announced their new album, "In Blue", would be released on October 1, 2013. They also gave a free download of the song "I'll Come Back." The band have since remained fairly inactive, with their most recent live show in April 2014.

Discography

Studio albums

EPs
Spray Tan (Spring 2012)
Laces (September 15, 2009)
Bridges and Tunnels (Fall 2008)
Sonny Halliday (Fall 2007)

References

External links
 The Static Jacks official website and blog

Indie rock musical groups from New Jersey
Fearless Records artists

The Static Jacks


Table salt is a mineral composed mainly of sodium chloride (NaCl). This is a chemical compound, one of many salts. Salt in its natural form as a crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite.

When salt (sodium chloride) is mixed with water, the salt dissolves into the water, creating a saline solution. Salt is present in vast quantities in seawater, where it is the main mineral constituent. The open ocean has about  of solids per litre, a salinity of 3.5%.

Salt can be made by either evaporation or can be mined. To get sea salt, man-made holes are built then filled with sea water. The water evaporates and leaves salt behind.

Table salt is one of the few minerals that are eaten a lot by humans, but it can be used for other things besides giving food its flavor. Both sodium and chlorine are needed for all living creatures, including humans, but they are not always eaten in the form of salt, where they are found together in large amounts. Some peoples, like the Yanomami tribe in South America, eat very little salt. Salt is used to control the amount of water in the body. Salty flavor is also one of the basic tastes. Salt cravings may be caused by not having enough minerals, such as sodium chloride, in the body.

Eating too much or too little salt can make health problems more likely to happen, for example hypertension. When food is made, salt was often used as a preservative, to make the food last longer, and as a seasoning, for flavor.   Salt is less used as a preservative now as refrigeration is used instead and people are worried that too much salt will make them ill.

There are different ways to get table salt:

 From the sea, using salt evaporation ponds or desalinisation plants.
 From a mountain, or underground, using salt mines.
 From natural brine.
 From the supermarket.

Other articles
Salt

References

Salt
Sodium compounds
Chlorine compounds

Table salt


The Fortress of San Leo is a castle on the border of the Romagna and Marche; the castle is best known as the site where Count Cagliostro died. It was one of the palaces owned by Federico da Montefeltro and his wife Battista Sforza and was a fortified, palatial retreat. It is now a museum.

History

The first fortification on the top of the mountain was built by the Romans. In the Middle Ages it was bitterly fought over by the Byzantines, Goths, Franks and Lombards. Between 961 and 963 Berengar II, the last king of the Lombard Kingdom of Italy, was besieged by Otto I of Saxony. Around the middle of the eleventh century the Counts of Montecopiolo came to Montefeltro, the ancient name of San Leo, from which they took the name and title. In the second half of the 14th century the Malatesta were able to capture the fortress, but until the middle of the 15th century, the castle was often retaken by the Montefeltro. In 1441 the young Federico da Montefeltro scaled the walls of the fort. Faced with the new military dangers, he had the fortress rebuilt, entrusting the task to the Sienese engineer Francesco di Giorgio Martini.

The new structure allowed for a dynamic counter-offensive, providing for cross-fire. The fortress sides were equipped with artillery and the access points were rendered unreachable by enemy fire thanks to military outposts.

In 1502, Cesare Borgia, with the support of Pope Alexander VI, took possession of the fortress. At the death of the pope, in 1503, Guidobaldo da Montefeltro took possession of his dominions. In 1516 the Florentine troops, supported this time by Pope Leo X and guided by Antonio Ricasoli, penetrated the city and commandeered the fort.

From 1527 until the devolution to the Papal State from the Duchy of Urbino in 1631, San Leo belonged to the Della Rovere. With the new ownership, the fortress was used as a prison. Among the inmates were Felice Orsini and Freemason Alessandro Cagliostro. In 1906 the fortress ceased to be a prison and for eight years, until 1914, it hosted a "compagnia di disciplina".

In the period of Italia Unita, the municipality of San Leo belonged to the province of Marche (Province of Pesaro and Urbino), until 15 August 2009 when it was separated together with six other municipalities of the Valmarecchia, following the outcome of a referendum held on 17 and 18 December 2006.

Currently the castle houses a museum and an art gallery in arms.

Description

In the fortress there are two distinct parts: the keep, with its square turrets and the gothic entrance is the older part and residential wing; and the more recent round towers and massive corbeled wall that connects them. The two towers, the wall, and the keep surround the so-called Place d'Armes.

The area is dotted with rocky peaks that rise steeply from the sea cliffs. On each of these peaks,  the ruins of a castle or fort recall a tumultuous past. To the visitor who walks up the Romagna plain, the City-Fortress appears as a huge shield of high smooth rock. It appears like a ship with the bow to the East, the bell tower like a mast, and the handful of houses scattered around.

 It played a large part in the 1991-film Hudson Hawk as the fictional castle of Leonardo da Vinci.

References

External links

Forts in Italy
Castles in Emilia-Romagna
Museums in Emilia-Romagna
National museums of Italy
Montefeltro

Forte di San Leo


Sir Degrevant is a Middle English romance from the early fifteenth century. Generally classified as a "composite romance," that is, a romance that does not fit easily into the standard classification of romances, it is praised for its realism and plot. The poem is preserved in two manuscripts along with a variety of secular and courtly texts, one of which was compiled by the fifteenth-century scribe Robert Thornton. It is notable for its blending of literary material and social reality.

The title character, while a perfect knight in many respects, is initially reluctant to love. His life changes when he seeks redress from his neighbour for the killing of his men and damages done to his property. He falls in love with the neighbour's daughter, and after she initially denies him her love, she accepts him. They both convince the overbearing and initially violent father to grant Degrevant his daughter's hand in marriage.

Plot
The plot of Sir Degrevant revolves around the title character and his neighbour, an earl, whose daughter Myldore falls in love with Sir Degrevant. While there is a "perfunctory connection" with King Arthur and his court, the romance is devoid of the usual marvels associated with Arthurian literature.

Sir Degrevant is the "perfect romance hero": intent on hunting and adventures, he is young, handsome, and strong; most importantly to the plot, he is not interested in the love of a woman. While he is on a crusade, his neighbour, an earl, does great damage to Degrevant's property and kills the foresters who oversee his deer park. Degrevant hurries back from Granada, repairs the fences and the other damage done, then addresses a letter to the earl seeking legal redress.

When the earl refuses to make reparations, Degrevant avenges himself by attacking the earl's hunting troop and then his castle. During this latter engagement, the earl's daughter, Melydor, watches from the castle walls and Degrevant falls in love with her. Melydor initially rebuffs Degrevant's attempt to declare his love, but later grants it to him. Her father sets up a tournament to promote the chances of another suitor (the Duke of Gerle), but Degrevant defeats him thrice. The lovers meet secretly in her splendidly decorated bedroom (it contains paintings of saints and angels, and such details as glass from Westphalia and "curtain cords made of mermaids' hair won by Duke Betyse," a reference to a duke from a fourteenth-century chanson de geste Les Voeux du paon), but they remain chaste until marriage. Finally, the earl agrees to his daughter's engagement with Degrevant, convinced by his daughter and his wife's pleas and by Degrevant's obvious chivalry and strength. The couple have seven children and enjoy a happy and prosperous life together. When Melydor dies, Degrevant returns to the crusade and dies in the Holy Land.

Characters
Sir Degrevant—young, handsome, and strong, he embodies all the values of knighthood. The beginning of the narrative finds him crusading, where he is fighting for personal fame. He is also a landowner, and as such has legal and economic concerns as well. He is initially referred to as a nephew of King Arthur and Sir Gawain, opening up the possibility that he is Agravain—his name possibly being a misreading of the Old French d'Egrivaunt.
Melydor—the earl's beautiful daughter. While also a beauty in the traditional sense of romance, she is not devoid of practical sense: when Degrevant attempts to seduce her, she responds by saying "Thou touchest non swych thing / Or thou wed me with a ryng, / And maryage fulfille." Her name is possibly influenced by the name of Duke Betyse's lover Ydorus.
Earl—the unnamed earl is in many ways the opposite of Degrevant: he takes advantage of his neighbour's absence, and does not act in a chivalrous manner until the end of the story.
Degrevant's squire—a clever and educated assistant who functions as a messenger to the Earl and a go-between for Degrevant and Melydor
Melydor's maid—instrumental, with the squire, in bringing about the encounters between the lovers
Countess—the Earl's wife, who pleads with him in vain that he stop harassing his neighbor's land and settle the conflict.

Composition
The poem is dated in the early fifteenth century. Its verse is tail rhyme, in stanzas of sixteen lines with "conventional thematic and verbal formulas." There are no known sources or analogues. The poem survives in two manuscripts from the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century, the Findern Anthology and the Lincoln Thornton MS. The Findern Anthology (Cambridge University Library, MS Ff.1.6) contains a variety of texts (the manuscript itself is a composite, like the poem, according to Davenport) with secular and courtly poetry, including selections from Geoffrey Chaucer (Parlement of Foules and other texts), John Gower (some tales from the Confessio Amantis), and John Lydgate (various shorter poems and other texts). Sir Degrevant is the only full-length romance in the manuscript. The Lincoln Thornton MS (Lincoln, Dean and Chapter Library MS 91) contains seven romances copied by Roberth Thornton, the fifteenth-century landowner, scribe, and manuscript compiler.

Critical assessment
The romance is praised for its realism. George Kane writes, "The love affair, made exciting by the risk with which it is conducted, is very close to life in some of its touches. The effects of this romance, supported by skillful construction, a tone perfectly maintained, characters realistically conceived and developed, and a tolerably incisive narrative, is entirely good and persuasive." Other critics agree; Arlyn Diamond notes the "lively plot and remarkable density of description." W.A. Davenport analyzes the poet's popular verse form and contrasts it with the broad vocabulary used in the poem, and identifies literary borrowing from "alliterative poetry, love-lyric, and court allegory, as well as literary romance"; he concludes that the result of the poet's skill in "mixing" of themes and styles makes for "an unusually well-constructed and unified narrative."

Themes

Love
As W.A. Davenport noted, the composite nature of the poem also involves extensive debates on love, between Sir Degrevant and his squire, between Degrevant and Melydor, and between Melydor and her maid. Further debate on love takes place when Melydor (in the company of her maid) and Degrevant (with his squire) meet in her orchard, "an archetypal, courtly pastoral setting", into which Degrevant and his squire have entered, fully armed. According to Davenport, one of the poet's intentions was to express the "wonders and restraints of virtuous love."

The love of Degrevant and Melydor, though the wooing in presented as classical courtly love, ends in marriage and children—a deviation from the original formulation of courtly love that grew common in romances of this era.

Social issues and conflicts
Scholars have seen in the poem a reflection of fifteenth-century concerns with matchmaking between noble families. The happy ending, which unites two formerly conflicted families through marriage, allows for the peaceful resolution of competing sexual and economic interests. A.C. Gibbs notes that the romance, with all its literary elements (of duels, quests, and love) is also a reminder of the social reality of knighthood. The titular hero is also a landowner, with all the pursuant cares, and is called back from his crusade by the news that his men and his property have been attacked by his unchivalrous neighbour. Realistic elements (as opposed to literary convention) also play a part in the plot—for instance, Degrevant ambushes the earl, and uses arrows as an offensive weapon; there is never a formal duel between the two opponents.

Gender and desire
Since the romance is concerned with household and marriage, it also opens up a space for female desire and for the discussion of the difference between male and female desire. Diamond summarizes:What women want is a handsome, valiant, wealthy and noble lover, triumph over fierce paternal opposition, a splendid wardrobe, and a fabulous room of their own. What men want is a noble reputation, a huge deer park in which to spend their days hunting, extensive and prosperous estates, triumph over would-be oppressors, and a beautiful opinionated heiress. With its happy ending, the romance suggests that these different desires can be reconciled.

Louise Sylvester, in a study of heterosexuality in medieval romance, argues that the love affair between Melydor and Degrevant develops according to stereotypical masculinist heterosexual Western patterns. Love happens to people and is not an act of will; Degrevant, as a strong knight, is undone by his feelings and loses all interest in other activities, such as hunting; he vehemently denies the suggestion by his squire that he be interested in the daughter because of the earl's wealth; at least the initial encounter between the two lovers is completely dominated by his perspective and his feelings. Moreover, she notes after a linguistic analysis that even Melydor's very language (which has more slips and meaningless tags than Degrevant's), which Sylvester qualifies as "powerless speech," serves to deny her an independent and powerful status.

Publication
The romance was edited by Leslie Casson for the Early English Text Society and published in 1949; this edition is generally preferred by scholars. In 1966, A.C. Gibbs published a selection from the romance in the York Medieval Texts series. In 2005, Erik Kooper edited the text for the Middle English Text Series, available online from the University of Rochester.

References
Notes

Bibliography

15th-century books
15th-century poems
Arthurian literature in Middle English
Middle English poems
Narrative poems
Romance (genre)

Sir Degrevant


The Carus Lectures are a prestigious series of three lectures presented over three consecutive days in plenary sessions at a divisional meeting of the American Philosophical Association. The series was founded in 1925 with John Dewey as the inaugural presenter. The series was scheduled irregularly until 1995, when they were scheduled to occur every two years. The series is named in honor of Paul Carus by Mary Carus and is published by Open Court. In his introduction to the inaugural speech, Hartley Burr Alexander praised the series as an unusual opportunity of presenting ideas "with no institutional atmosphere to further the free play of the mind upon all phases of life."

Lecturers
1925 John Dewey "Experience and Nature" Inaugural lecture
1925-1939 William Montague "Great Visions of Philosophy"
1925-1939 A.O. Lovejoy "The Revolt Against Dualism"
1930 George H. Mead "The Philosophy of the Present"
1939 E.B. McGilvary "Toward a Perspective Realism"
1945 C.I. Lewis "An Analysis of Knowledge"
1945 Morris R. Cohen "The Meaning of Human History"
1949 C.J. Ducasse "Nature, Mind, and Death"
1953 J. Loewenberg "Reason and the Nature of Things"
1955 A.E. Murphy "An Inquiry Concerning Moral Understanding"
1957 George Boas "The Inquiring Mind"
1959 Brand Blanshard "Reason and Analysis"
1963 Ernest Nagel "The Dimensions of Critical Philosophy"
1964 Stephen Pepper "Concept and Quality"
1965 Richard McKeon "Facts, Categories, Experience"
1967 Roderick Chisholm "Person and Object: A Metaphysical Study"
1970 Carl G. Hempel
1972 W.V. Quine "The Roots of Reference"
1974 William Frankena "Three Questions about Morality"
1976 Gregory Vlastos
1977 Wilfrid Sellars "Foundations for a Metaphysics of Pure Process"
1980 Donald Davidson "The Grounds of Truth and Value"
1983 Paul Grice "The Conception of Value"
1985 Hilary Putnam "The Many Faces of Realism"
1988 Stanley Cavell "Emersonian Strains: 'The American Scholar and Heidegger on Thinking,' 'Experience and Wittgenstein Skepticism,' and 'Self-Reliance and American Cinema"
1990 Kurt Baier "The Rational and the Moral Order"
1995 Annette Baier "The Commons of the Mind"
1997 Alasdair MacIntyre "Dependent Rational Animals"
1999 Ruth Barcan Marcus (Withdrew/Cancelled)
2001 Arthur Danto
2003 Judith J. Thomson
2005 Tyler Burge
2007 Bas van Fraassen
2009 Ernest Sosa
2011 Sally Haslanger
2013 Kwame Anthony Appiah
2015 Claudia Card
2017 Nancy Cartwright

See also
Carus Mathematical Monographs

References

External links
Carus Lectures via American Philosophical Association
Philosophy events
Lecture series
Recurring events established in 1925
1925 establishments in the United States
American Philosophical Association

Carus Lectures


Nicholas J. Cull (born 1964) is a historian and professor in the Master's in Public Diplomacy program at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California.  He was the founding director of this program and ran it from 2005 to 2019.

Career
Cull earned both his B.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Leeds. As a graduate, he studied at Princeton University as a Harkness Fellow of the Commonwealth Fund of New York. From 1992 to 1997, he was lecturer in American history at the University of Birmingham, and from 1997 to 2005, chair in American studies and director of the Centre for American Studies at the University of Leicester.

Cull's research and teaching interests are broad and inter-disciplinary, and focus on  public diplomacy, the role of advocacy, culture, exchange, broadcasting, and public opinion research in foreign policy. Cull has also worked more broadly on the history of propaganda, film, television and radio history and the role of mass media as a source for historical study. He is best known for detailed historical studies of the institutions behind public diplomacy and for emphasizing the importance of "listening" as a pre-condition for successful public diplomacy. He coined the term reputational security for a category of enhanced security that comes to an international actor when they are well thought of by external audiences.

Cull is past president of the International Association for Media and History (2004-2019), and has worked closely with the British Council's Counterpoint Think Tank. He sits on the board of the Public Diplomacy Council and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. In April 2008, Cull's University of Southern California program was a co-winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy, awarded by the U.S. Department of State. In January 2012, he succeeded Simon Anholt as editor of the Journal of Place Branding and Public Diplomacy (published by Palgrave) and continued in this role until January 2019. He has been featured in a number of documentary films including Memory: The Origins of Alien (2019).

He has held visiting appointments at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano's Rome program and at Green Templeton College/Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford.

Publications
Both Cull's first book, Selling War (Oxford University Press, 1995), and The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945–1989 (Cambridge University Press, 2008) were recognized by Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries as outstanding academic publications of the year.

Cull is the co-editor of Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500–present (2003), which was one of Book List magazine's official reference books of the year, and Alambrista and the U.S.-Mexico Border: Film, Music, and Stories of Undocumented Immigrants (2004; with David L. Carrasco).

With James Chapman, he has co-authored Projecting Empire: Imperialism and Popular Cinema (I.B. Tauris, 2009) and Projecting Tomorrow: Science Fiction and Popular Cinema (I.B. Tauris, 2013).

His most recent single authored work is Public Diplomacy: Foundations for Global Engagement in the Digital Age (Polity, 2019).
His most recent edited works are with Nancy Snow Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy, 2nd edition (Routledge, 2020) and Michael Hawes Canada's Public Diplomacy (Palgrave, 2020).

External links
Nicholas J. Cull at the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy
Nicholas J. Cull at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism (CV)
Articles by Cull on the USC Public Diplomacy Blog

1964 births
Academic journal editors
Academics of the University of Birmingham
Academics of the University of Leicester
Alumni of the University of Leeds
British book editors
British expatriate academics in the United States
British foreign policy writers
British political scientists
Cold War historians
Cultural historians
Fellows of the Royal Historical Society
Harkness Fellows
Historians of the United States
British international relations scholars
Living people
Media historians
Leaders of organizations
Princeton University alumni
Propaganda theorists
University of Southern California faculty
Date of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)

Nicholas J. Cull


Crush is a 2001 romantic comedy film written and directed by John McKay and starring Andie MacDowell, Imelda Staunton, Anna Chancellor, Kenny Doughty, and Bill Paterson.

Plot
Forty-something schoolmistress Kate and her two best friends, police superintendent Janine and doctor Molly, live in rural Britain and share their single lives and dating exploits in weekly chats.  Kate has recovered from ovarian cyst disease and fears a relapse; she hasn't been dating much.  By chance, she meets Jed, a former student of hers, now a handsome twenty-something church organist.  To her surprise, she ends up sleeping with him and the two embark on an unlikely relationship that's looked on with suspicion by Janine and Molly.  Janine comes to believe in Kate and Jed's feelings for each other.  But Molly is still dubious, showing Jed's criminal record and medical history to Kate, bringing adult dates to their dinner parties and taking her and Janine to Paris so that she will go off Jed.  Conversely, this brings Kate and Jed closer together and they plan their wedding.

Molly eventually attempts to prove Jed's faithlessness by seducing him, which fails but angers Kate to the extreme.  After an argument about how Kate has kept their engagement quiet, Jed is thrown out of Kate's house.  He is struck and killed by a passing truck; this unexpected tragedy breaks the three women up, as Kate is inconsolable and Janine blames Molly.  Repressed at her home, due to her inhability to continue her work as a schoolmistress Kate, repressed herself out of this world; but, still, is not even capable of using the bathroom without crying and thinking about Jed. Kate reluctantly embarks on a mild romance with a local vicar who has always been in love with her, but when she finally agrees to marry him, she becomes ill at the altar.  Molly and Janine take her away, and discover that she is pregnant with Jed's child.  She decides to have the baby and raise it on her own, while the vicar meets a woman who was actually excited about him.  Also, Janine starts going out with Bill (a robbery suspect) and Molly falls for a pediatrician named Eleanor.  The three friends reconcile and continue to share their lives and experiences.

Cast
Andie MacDowell - Kate Scales
Imelda Staunton - Janine
Anna Chancellor - Molly Cartwright
Kenny Doughty - Jed Willis
Bill Paterson - Rev. Gerald Marsden
Caroline Holdaway - Pam
Joe Roberts - Brendan
Josh Cole - PC Darren Blake
Gary Powell - Sergeant
Christian Burgess - Kate's Frenchman
Morris Perry - Bishop
Richenda Carey - Lady Governor
Roger Booth - Hearty Governor
Derek Deadman - Little Crematorium Man
Andrew Bicknell - Mr. Yacht
Matilda Thorpe - Stationer

Debated title

As told by John McKay, the film combines two plot lines which eventually came together. At first he wrote a play which was named "Crush" about an older woman and a younger man.

Later, he met "a set of women doctors who were working too hard to get a date on Friday nights and so would get together instead, drink cheap liquor, eat chocolate, smoke cigarettes and have a competition to decide who was the saddest fucker of the week". This influenced the original play as it "sprouted more female characters" and became a movie script.

McKay, who both wrote the screenplay and directed the film in 1999, wanted to name the film The Sad Fuckers Club, a name which he felt fit the plot line - and which, according to him, Andie MacDowell approved of when offered the role in the film. This, however, was changed after resistance from the financiers and distributors and uneasiness on the part of test audiences, eventually reverting to the original name, "Crush".

Crush met with generally mixed reviews, and has scored an average of 5 out of 10 on review aggregate site, Rotten Tomatoes.

References

External links

2001 films
English-language German films
2000s French-language films
2001 romantic comedy-drama films
British romantic comedy-drama films
German romantic comedy-drama films
Films directed by John McKay
2001 comedy films
2001 drama films
British female buddy films
2000s female buddy films
2000s British films
2000s German films

Crush (2001 film)


Radar is a machine that uses radio waves for echolocation to find objects such as aircraft, ships, and rain.

The basic parts of a radar are:
 The transmitter creates the radio waves.
 The antenna directs the radio waves.
 The receiver measures the waves which are bounced back by the object.

By doing this, the radar can locate the object. Radar is used in many different ways. It can measure the speed and number of cars on a road, the amount of water in the air, and many other things.

The radar transmitter sends radio pulses. By controlling how often the rapid pulses of radar energy are sent out by a radar transmitter (called the transmitter's "pulse repetition rate"), and how long it takes for the reflected pulse energy to come back to the radar receiver, one can tell where objects are, and how far away.  Digital circuits in a radar receiver calculate the distance to an object by knowing the time interval between energy pulses. The radar receiver's digital circuits count how long it takes between pulses for an object's reflected energy to be detected by the radar receiver. Since radar pulses are sent and received at approximately the speed of light, the distance to an object can easily be calculated. This is done in digital circuits by multiplying the speed of light by the time it takes to receive the radar energy reflected back from an object.

The time between pulses influences how far away an object can be detected. That distance is called the "range" of a radar transmitter and receiver.  Radar transmitters and receivers use slow repetition frequencies to find the distance to objects that are far away.  This makes it possible to accurately determine the distance to the moon, for example.  Fast repetition is used to detect objects that are much closer, like ships at sea, high flying aircraft, or to determine the speed of fast moving automobiles on highways.

Radar was first used in 1904 by Christian Hülsmeyer. He was given a patent for radar (Reichspatent Nr. 165546). Radar was vital in the Battle of Britain and other parts of World War II. The Axis countries failed to keep up with British and American radar technology during the war.

The word RADAR was created in 1942 as an acronym for Radio Detection and Ranging. This acronym replaced the British initialism RDF (Radio Direction Finding). The word is now thought of by many people as a regular word, no longer as an acronym.

The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) use several kinds of radar:
 ARSR (Air Route Surveillance Radar)
 ASR (Airport Surveillance Radar)
 ASDE (Airport Surface Detection Equipment)
 TDWR (Terminal Doppler Weather Radar)
 PAR (Precision Approach Radar)

References

Other pages
Sonar

Other websites

 Radar Technology Website
 The first operational radar in France 1934
 Applications of radar

Electronics
Wave physics
Acronyms
Aviation safety
Navigation
Radar

Radar


A Block Matching Algorithm is a way of locating matching macroblocks in a sequence of digital video frames for the purposes of motion estimation. The underlying supposition behind motion estimation is that the patterns corresponding to objects and background in a frame of video sequence move within the frame to form corresponding objects on the subsequent frame. This can be used to discover temporal redundancy in the video sequence, increasing the effectiveness of inter-frame video compression by defining the contents of a macroblock by reference to the contents of a known macroblock which is minimally different.

A block matching algorithm involves dividing the current frame of a video into macroblocks and comparing each of the macroblocks with a corresponding block and its adjacent neighbors in a nearby frame of the video (sometimes just the previous one). A vector is created that models the movement of a macroblock from one location to another. This movement, calculated for all the macroblocks comprising a frame, constitutes the motion estimated in a frame.

The search area for a good macroblock match is decided by the 'search parameter', p, where p is the number of pixels on all four sides of the corresponding macro-block in the previous frame. The search parameter is a measure of motion. The larger the value of p, larger is the potential motion and the possibility for finding a good match. A full search of all potential blocks however is a computationally expensive task. Typical inputs are a macroblock of size 16 pixels and a search area of p = 7 pixels.

Block-matching and 3D filtering makes use of this approach to solve various image restoration inverse problems such as noise reduction and deblurring in both still images and digital video.

Motivation

Motion estimation is the process of determining motion vectors that describe the transformation from one 2D image to another; usually from adjacent frames in a video sequence. The motion vectors may relate to the whole image (global motion estimation) or specific parts, such as rectangular blocks, arbitrary shaped patches or even per pixel. The motion vectors may be represented by a translational model or many other models that can approximate the motion of a real video camera, such as rotation and translation in all three dimensions and zoom.

Applying the motion vectors to an image to predict the transformation to another image, on account of moving camera or object in the image is called motion compensation. The combination of motion estimation and motion compensation is a key part of video compression as used by MPEG 1, 2 and 4 as well as many other video codecs.

Motion estimation based video compression helps in saving bits by sending encoded difference images which have inherently less entropy as opposed to sending a fully coded frame. However, the most computationally expensive and resource extensive operation in the entire compression process is motion estimation. Hence, fast and computationally inexpensive algorithms for motion estimation is a need for video compression.

Evaluation Metrics
A metric for matching a macroblock with another block is based on a cost function. The most popular in terms of computational expense is:

Mean difference or Mean Absolute Difference (MAD) =

Mean Squared Error (MSE) =

where N is the size of the macro-block, and  and  are the pixels being compared in current macroblock and reference macroblock, respectively.

The motion compensated image that is created using the motion vectors and macroblocks from the reference frame is characterized by Peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR),

Algorithms
Block Matching algorithms have been researched since mid-1980s. Many algorithms have been developed, but only some of the most basic or commonly used have been described below.

Exhaustive Search
This algorithm calculates the cost function at each possible location in the search window. This leads to the best possible match of the macro-block in the reference frame with a block in another frame. The resulting motion compensated image has highest peak signal-to-noise ratio as compared to any other block matching algorithm.
However this is the most computationally extensive block matching algorithm among all. A larger search window requires greater number of computations.

Optimized hierarchical block matching (OHBM)

The optimized hierarchical block matching (OHBM) algorithm speeds up the exhaustive search based on the optimized image pyramids.

Three Step Search

It is one of the earliest fast block matching algorithms. It runs as follows:

 Start with search location at center
 Set step size S = 4 and search parameter p = 7
 Search 8 locations +/- S pixels around location (0,0) and the location (0,0)
 Pick among the 9 locations searched, the one with minimum cost function
 Set the new search origin to the above picked location
 Set the new step size as S = S/2
 Repeat the search procedure until S = 1

The resulting location for S=1 is the one with minimum cost function and the macro block at this location is the best match.

There is a reduction in computation by a factor of 9 in this algorithm. For p=7, while ES evaluates cost for 225 macro-blocks, TSS evaluates only for 25 macro blocks.

Two Dimensional Logarithmic Search

TDLS is closely related to TSS however it is more accurate for estimating motion vectors for a large search window size. The algorithm can be described as follows,

 Start with search location at the center
 Select an initial step size say, S = 8
 Search for 4 locations at a distance of S from center on the X and Y axes
 Find the location of point with least cost function
 If a point other than center is the best matching point,
 Select this point as the new center
 If the best matching point is at the center, set S = S/2
 Repeat steps 2 to 3
 If S = 1, all 8 locations around the center at a distance S are searched
 Set the motion vector as the point with least cost function

New Three Step Search

TSS uses a uniformly allocated checking pattern and is prone to miss small motions. NTSS  is an improvement over TSS as it provides a center biased search scheme and has provisions to stop halfway to reduce the computational cost. It was one of the first widely accepted fast algorithms and frequently used for implementing earlier standards like MPEG 1 and H.261.

The algorithm runs as follows:

 Start with search location at center
 Search 8 locations +/- S pixels with S = 4 and 8 locations +/- S pixels with S = 1 around location (0,0)
 Pick among the 16 locations searched, the one with minimum cost function
 If the minimum cost function occurs at origin, stop the search and set motion vector to (0,0)
 If the minimum cost function occurs at one of the 8 locations at S = 1, set the new search origin to this location
 Check adjacent weights for this location, depending on location it may check either 3 or 5 points
 The one that gives lowest weight is the closest match, set the motion vector to that location
 If the lowest weight after the first step was one of the 8 locations at S = 4, the normal TSS procedure follows
 Pick among the 9 locations searched, the one with minimum cost function
 Set the new search origin to the above picked location
 Set the new step size as S = S/2
 Repeat the search procedure until S = 1

Thus this algorithm checks 17 points for each macro-block and the worst-case scenario involves checking 33 locations, which is still much faster than TSS

Simple and Efficient Search

The idea behind TSS is that the error surface due to motion in every macro block is unimodal. A unimodal surface is a bowl shaped surface such that the weights generated by the cost function increase monotonically from the global minimum. However a unimodal surface cannot have two minimums in opposite directions and hence the 8 point fixed pattern search of TSS can be further modified to incorporate this and save computations. SES  is the extension of TSS that incorporates this assumption.

SES algorithm improves upon TSS algorithm as each search step in SES is divided into two phases:

• First Phase :
      • Divide the area of search in four quadrants
      • Start search with three locations, one at center (A) and others (B and C), S=4 locations away from A in orthogonal directions
      • Find points in search quadrant for second phase using the weight distribution for A, B, C:
             • If (MAD(A)>=MAD(B) and MAD(A)>=MAD(C)), select points in second phase quadrant IV
             • If (MAD(A)>=MAD(B) and MAD(A)<=MAD(C)), select points in second phase quadrant I
             • If (MAD(A)<MAD(B) and MAD(A)<MAD(C)), select points in second phase quadrant II
             • If (MAD(A)<MAD(B) and MAD(A)>=MAD(C)), select points in second phase quadrant III

• Second Phase:
      • Find the location with lowest weight
      • Set the new search origin as the point found above

• Set the new step size as S = S/2

• Repeat the SES search procedure until S=1

• Select the location with lowest weight as motion vector
SES is computationally very efficient as compared to TSS. However the peak signal-to-noise ratio achieved is poor as compared to TSS as the error surfaces are not strictly unimodal in reality.

Four Step Search
Four Step Search is an improvement over TSS in terms of lower computational cost and better peak signal-to-noise ratio. Similar to NTSS, FSS  also employs center biased searching and has a halfway stop provision.

The algorithm runs as follows:

 Start with search location at center
 Set step size S = 2, (irrespective of search parameter p)
 Search 8 locations +/- S pixels around location (0,0)
 Pick among the 9 locations searched, the one with minimum cost function
 If the minimum weight is found at center for search window:
 Set the new step size as S = S/2 (that is S = 1)
 Repeat the search procedure from steps 3 to 4
 Select location with the least weight as motion vector
 If the minimum weight is found at one of the 8 locations other than the center:
 Set the new origin to this location
 Fix the step size as S = 2
 Repeat the search procedure from steps 3 to 4. Depending on location of new origin, search through 5 locations or 3 locations
 Select the location with the least weight
 If the least weight location is at the center of new window go to step 5, else go to step 6

Diamond Search
Diamond Search (DS) algorithm uses a diamond search point pattern and the algorithm runs exactly the same as 4SS. However, there is no limit on the number of steps that the algorithm can take.

Two different types of fixed patterns are used for search,

 Large Diamond Search Pattern (LDSP)
 Small Diamond Search Pattern (SDSP)

The algorithm runs as follows:
 LDSP:
 Start with search location at center
 Set step size S = 2
 Search 8 locations pixels (X,Y) such that (|X|+|Y|=S) around location (0,0) using a diamond search point pattern
 Pick among the 9 locations searched, the one with minimum cost function
 If the minimum weight is found at center for search window, go to SDSP step
 If the minimum weight is found at one of the 8 locations other than the center, set the new origin to this location
 Repeat LDSP
 SDSP:
 Set the new search origin
 Set the new step size as S = S/2 (that is S = 1)
 Repeat the search procedure to find location with least weight
 Select location with the least weight as motion vector

This algorithm finds the global minimum very accurately as the search pattern is neither too big nor too small. Diamond Search algorithm has a peak signal-to-noise ratio close to that of Exhaustive Search with significantly less computational expense.

Adaptive Rood Pattern Search
Adaptive rood pattern search (ARPS)  algorithm makes use of the fact that the general motion in a frame is usually coherent, i.e. if the macro blocks around the current macro block moved in a particular direction then there is a high probability that the current macro block will also have a similar motion vector. This algorithm uses the motion vector of the macro block to its immediate left to predict its own motion vector.

Adaptive rood pattern search runs as follows:

 Start with search location at the center (origin)
 Find the predicted motion vector for the block
 Set step size S = max (|X|,|Y|), where (X,Y) is the coordinate of predicted motion vector
 Search for rood pattern distributed points around the origin at step size S
 Set the point with least weight as origin
 Search using small diamond search pattern (SDSP) around the new origin
 Repeat SDSP search until least weighted point is at the center of SDSP

Rood pattern search directly puts the search in an area where there is a high probability of finding a good matching block. The main advantage of ARPS over DS is if the predicted motion vector is (0, 0), it does not waste computational time in doing LDSP, but it directly starts using SDSP. Furthermore, if the predicted motion vector is far away from the center, then again ARPS saves on computations by directly jumping to that vicinity and using SDSP, whereas DS takes its time doing LDSP.

References

External links

1. http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/8761-block-matching-algorithms-for-motion-estimation

2. https://www.ece.cmu.edu/~ee899/project/deepak_mid.htm

Film and video technology
Video compression

Block-matching algorithm


A.1. Sauce (formerly A.1. Steak Sauce and sometimes stylized as A1 Sauce in certain markets) is a brand of brown sauce produced by Brand & co, a subsidiary of Premier Foods in the United Kingdom (as "Brand's A.1. Sauce") and in North America by Kraft Heinz. Sold from 1831 as a condiment for "fish, meat, fowl and game" dishes in the United Kingdom, the makers introduced the product to Canada, and later to the U.S. where it was later marketed as a steak sauce. A.1. sauce is still produced in England and exported to Asia. In May 2014, Kraft Foods in North America announced it was dropping the word "steak" from the A.1. name, reverting to A.1. Sauce, to "reflect modern dining habits". Although the sauce is widely available in the U.S. and Canada, by 2023 it is sold only by Costco and specialist importers in the UK.

History and ownership
In 1824 Henderson William Brand, a chef to King George IV of the United Kingdom, created the original sauce on which A.1. is based. A popular myth has it that the king declared it "A.1." and the name was born. The term "A.1." originated as a ship insurance term in the UK to describe a "first rate" ship by Lloyd's of London. It went into commercial production under the Brand & Co. label in 1831, marketed as a condiment for "fish, meat and fowl", and continued production under this label after bankruptcy forced ownership of Brand & Co. to be transferred to W. H. Withall in 1850. It was renamed A.1. in 1873, after a trademark dispute between creator Henderson William Brand and Dence & Mason, who had since purchased Brand & Co. from Withall. It continued to be produced by Brand & Co. until the late 1970s at the firm's factory in Vauxhall, London until it fell out of favour within the UK domestic market.

A.1. was officially registered as a trademark in the US in 1895, and imported and distributed in the United States by G. F. Heublein & Brothers in 1906. Beginning in the early 1960s, it was marketed in the US as "A.1. Steak Sauce".

R. J. Reynolds, which merged with Nabisco in 1985 to form RJR Nabisco, acquired Heublein in 1982. In 1999, Kraft Foods acquired Nabisco, including the licence for the A.1. brand in North America.

A.1. brand in the UK was owned by Ranks Hovis McDougall for a time and currently owned by Premier Foods.

In the USA during the 1980s, two new flavours of A.1. were introduced, representing the first expansion of the trademark in North America. These varieties were soon discontinued. In 2000, an A.1. line of marinades was launched.

Rock musician and singer Meat Loaf appeared in a TV commercial for the product, to promote its new slogan: "A.1.—Makes beef sing". In the commercial, the slogan is "Makes Meat Loaf sing", and he sings a very short excerpt from his hit song "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)".

Ingredients
A.1. Sauce in the US includes tomato purée, raisin paste, spirit vinegar, corn syrup, salt, crushed orange purée, dried garlic and onions, spice, celery seed, caramel color, potassium sorbate, and xanthan gum. The 'Original' A1 recipe exported to the USA dramatically differs from the versions sold in the UK and in Canada. A.1. Sauce in Canada includes tomato purée, marmalade, raisins, onions, garlic, malt vinegar, sugar, salt, tragacanth, spices and flavourings.

Legal action
A.1. in the United States was the subject of a trademark dispute between then-owners RJR Nabisco and Arnie Kaye of Westport, Connecticut, whose International Deli was producing and selling its own recipe condiment under the name "A.2. Sauce". In 1991, the United States District Court for Connecticut found in favour of Nabisco.

See also

 Brown sauce
 List of brand name condiments

References

External links

1831 introductions
Brand name condiments
British cuisine
Brown sauces
Kraft Foods brands
Steak sauces
Premier Foods brands

A.1. Sauce


Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., 348 U.S. 483 (1955), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that state laws regulating business are subject to only rational basis review and that the Court need not contemplate all possible reasons for legislation.

Background
The optician plaintiff brought suit to have a 1953 Oklahoma law declared unconstitutional and to enjoin state officials from enforcing it. The law at issue (59 Okla. Stat. Ann. §§ 941–947, Okla. Laws 1953, c. 13, §§ 2–8) contained provisions making it unlawful for any person not a licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist to fit lenses to a face or to duplicate or replace into frames lenses or other optical appliances, except upon written prescriptive authority of an Oklahoma licensed ophthalmologist or optometrist. The law required every individual seeking to have eyeglasses made, repaired, or refitted to obtain a prescription. The law had a practical negative effect on unlicensed opticians, but it exempted sellers of ready-to-wear eyeglasses. It was thus challenged on equal protection grounds as well as on due process grounds for arbitrary interference with an optician's right to do business.

The District Court ruled that portions of §§ 2, 3, and 4 of the Act violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution and that portions of § 3 of the Act violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Decision
The Court affirmed in part and reversed in part holding, among other things, that the law's provisions did not violate the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. It also held that the burdened effect on opticians while sellers of ready-to-wear eyeglasses were exempted did not violate the Equal Protection clause.

Using rational basis review, the Court found that the Oklahoma State Legislature had a legitimate interest in requiring a prescription from a licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist. Although opticians were qualified to refit lenses without prescriptions, the Court reasoned that requiring prescriptions in every case would encourage more frequent eye examinations, which may enable early detection of more serious eye conditions. Consequently, if a legitimate governmental interest lies, as reasoned by the Court, the law can survive a Due Process challenge.

The Court further held that there was no Equal Protection violation because legislatures were permitted to deal with problems "one step at a time, addressing itself to the phase of the problem which seems most acute to the legislative mind." Thus, that opticians were so impacted while sellers of ready-to-wear glasses were exempted may have been a signal that the sellers did not represent a portion of the problem that loomed large in the legislature's mind.

Justice Douglas, writing for the Court, articulated the standard for determining whether the law survives a Due Process challenge: "the law need not be in every respect logically consistent with its aims to be constitutional. It is enough that there is an evil at hand for correction, and that it might be thought that the particular legislative measure was a rational way to correct it."

According to Justice Douglas, "The day is gone when this court uses the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to strike down state laws, regulatory of business and industrial conditions, because they may be unwise, improvident, or out of harmony with a particular school of thought."

The Court summarily addresses the Equal Protection issue in this case: "The prohibition of the Equal Protection Clause goes no further than invidious discrimination. We cannot say that this point has been reached here."

See also
List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 348

External links

1955 in United States case law
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Warren Court
United States substantive due process case law
Optometry
Healthcare in Oklahoma

Williamson v. Lee Optical Co.