Atlantic slave trade to Brazil

The Atlantic slave trade to Brazil refers to the period of history in which there was a forced migration of Africans to Brazil for the purpose of slavery. It lasted from the mid-sixteenth century until the mid-nineteenth century. During the trade, more than three million Africans were transported across the Atlantic and sold into slavery. It was divided into four phases: The Cycle of Guinea (16th century); the Cycle of Angola (17th century) which trafficked people from Bakongo, Mbundu, Benguela and Ovambo; Cycle of Costa da Mina, now renamed Cycle of Benin and Dahomey (18th century - 1815), which trafficked people from Yoruba, Ewe, Minas, Hausa, Nupe and Borno; and the Illegal trafficking period, which was suppressed by the United Kingdom (1815-1851). During this period, to escape the supervision of British ships enforcing an anti-slavery blockade, Brazilian slave traders began to seek alternative routes to the routes of the West African coast, turning to Mozambique.
Early History.
The slave trade had already a strong presence in Africa for thousands of years, at the time of the European Age of Discoveries. The Portuguese began contact with the African slave markets to rescue civilians and military captives since the time of the Reconquista. At this time, the Alfaqueque was the one who had the mission to negotiate captives rescue. When Catherine of Austria authorized the slave trade to Brazil, the slave trade from Africa, which was previously dominated by Africans, started also to be dominated by Europeans.
The lists of enslaved captives for ransom and freed during the reign of John V of Portugal reveal that even Brazilians were captured and sold in African markets.
The slave trade to Brazil was not exclusive to European and Brazilian white traders, but it was an activity in which pumbeiros, who were mestizos, free blacks and also former slaves, not only dedicated to the slave trade as controlled trade coastal - in the case of Angola, also part of domestic trade - also played the role of cultural mediators in the Atlantic slave trade of Africa. See Francisco Félix de Sousa, freed at age 17, the largest Brazilian slaves trader.
The motive of trafficking - the sugar economy.
From 1530, with the knowledge gained in the manufacture of sugar in the islands of Madeira and São Tomé, and then with the creation in 1549 of the General Government to Brazil, the Portuguese Crown sought to encourage the construction of sugar mills in Brazil. But the settlers found great difficulties in recruitment of manpower and lack of capital to finance the installation of sugar mills. The various epidemics that, from 1560, decimated the Indian slaves at an alarming rate, caused that the Portuguese Crown to create laws that prohibit, partially, the slavery of Indians, that is, "forbade the enslavement of converted Indians and only allowed the capture of slaves only through war against the Indians that they fight or devour the Portuguese, or Allied Indians or slaves; this war should be enacted by the sovereign or the Governor General." Other adaptations of this law came later.
The subsequent lack of a forced and free manpower for colonial exploitation meant that colonists began looking for ways to introduce labor from other sources. As for the Dutch, from 1630, they began to occupy the sugar producing regions in Brazil, and to address the lack of slave labor, in 1638 embarked on the conquest of Portuguese warehouse of São Jorge da Mina , and 1641, organized the take over of Luanda and Benguela in Angola.
It is argued that the survival of the first gadgets, the planting of sugarcane, cotton, coffee and tobacco were the decisive elements in the metropolis sent to the Brazil the first African slaves, coming from different parts of Africa, bringing their habits, customs, music, dance, cuisine, language, myths, rites and religion, which has infiltrated the people, forming, next to the Catholic religion, the two largest religions in Brazil.
The first slaves and the legalization of slavery.
The Portuguese crown authorized the slavery with papal blessing, documented in the inserts of Nicolau V Dum diversos e Divino Amorecommuniti, both of 1452, which authorized the Portuguese to reduce Africans to the condition of slaves with the intention of Christianizing. The regulation of slavery was legislated in Manueline ordinances: the adoption of slavery had been thus try to overcome the serious lack of manpower, that there was also all over Europe due to the recurrence of epidemics, many of them from Africa and the East. Until the first half of the fifteenth century, the Portuguese population was constant.
As for African governments, whether they were of religious Muslim or other native religions, as practiced slavery long before the Europeans engage in trafficking. Several African nations had their dependent economies of the slave trade and saw the slave trade with the Europeans as another business opportunity.
The earliest record of sending African slaves to Brazil dates from 1533 when Pero de Gois, Captain-Mor da Costa of Brazil, requested the King, the shipment of 17 black for his captaincy of São Tomé (Paraíba do Sul / Macaé).
Then, by Charter of March 29, 1559, Mrs. Catherine of Austria, regent of Portugal, authorized each plantation owner of Brazil, with a statement by the Governor General, to import up to 120 slaves.
How Africans became slaves.
When the Portuguese arrived in Africa, they found an African market widely implemented and quite extensive slaves.
Africans were enslaved for various reasons before being acquired:
Even when they were in Africa, it is estimated that the African death rate in the path that made from the place where they were captured by the merchants of local slaves to the coast where they were sold to Europeans was greater than that which occurred during the Atlantic crossing . During the crossing, the mortality rate, although lower than on land, until the late eighteenth century remained daunting, with greater or lesser effect depending on the epidemics of riots and suicides carried out by the enslaved, the conditions prevailing on board, as well as the mood of the captain and crew of each slave ship.
British pressure to abolish the slave trade.
As a condition of its support for the Empire of Brazil's independence from Portugal, the United Kingdom demanded that Brazil agree to abolish the importation of slaves from Africa; as a result the British-Brazilian Treaty of 1826 was agreed, by which Brazil promised to ban all Brazilian subjects from engaging in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, commencing in the year 1830. However, Brazil largely failed to enforce this treaty; in response, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the Aberdeen Act of 1845, authorising British warships to board all Brazilian flagged vessels and detain those found to be carrying slaves. This British action was highly unpopular in Brazil, and was widely viewed as a violation of Brazil's sovereignty; however, the Brazilian government concluded that they could not afford a war with Britain over the issue, hence in September 1850, new legislation outlawing the slave trade was enacted, and the Brazilian government began to enforce it.
Resistance.
Some enslaved Africans were able to escape and establish settlements, known as quilombo. One of these was the Mola quilombo which consisted of approximately 300 formerly enslaved people and had a high degree of political, social and military organization. Felipa Maria Aranha was the first leader of the community. The group was also led by Maria Luiza Piriá. It was organised as a republic, with democratic voting in place. Over the course of the Mola quilombo's life, it expanded to include four other similar settlements in the region and was known as the Confederação do Itapocu"." Historians, such as and , interpret the organisation of the group as an ideal model of resistance to slavery.


PDQ Food Stores

PDQ Food Stores was a chain of convenience stores located in the Wisconsin areas of Milwaukee and Madison, and one California store near Homewood.
The chain began as Tri Dairy Store in 1948 in Middleton, Wisconsin, opened by Sam Jacobsen. Originally the store carried only dairy products, but Jacobsen added other grocery products as time went on, and business improved. The second store didn't come along until 1962; the name PDQ, an acronym for "pretty darn quick" or "pretty damn quick", was a popular catch phrase in the post-World War II era, and the name was suggested by Jacobsen's wife Mary. The original store soon adopted the name as well.
As of January 2016, PDQ Food Stores numbered 34 locations. Most sold gasoline, as is common with modern convenience stores. On May 1, 2009, PDQ Food Stores was sold to the employees and was 100% employee owned.
On July 19, 2017, Kwik Trip Stores signed an agreement to acquire the assets of PDQ Food Stores. The acquisition was completed on October 9th, 2017, and Kwik Trip remodeled and re-imaged the existing PDQ locations over the following weeks.


Pontings

Pontings was a department store based in Kensington High Street, London and operated from 1863 to 1970.
Early history.
Pontings started out as a small drapery business by Thomas Ponting in Archer Street, just off Westbourne Grove, as Thomas H Ponting & Co. Thomas was one of four brothers and had been born in Gloucester. By 1868, the business had moved to 123 Westbourne Grove and Thomas had been joined by his brothers, William, Sydney and John.
In 1873, Ponting Brothers, a milliner's, was opened at 125 Kensington High Street. The profits made from this venture saw the business expand into 127 (1876) and 123 Kensington High Street (1890). The business had changed from just a millinery and drapery to a seller of retail fancy goods and silks. In 1893 the premises grew again with the purchase of the adjacent Scarsdale House, the former mansion of the Curzons of Kedleston.
In 1898 the company was incorporated, with William Ponting listed as the biggest shareholder, followed by his brother John. However, William Ponting died shortly after, and the business was no longer directed by the family. The new company chairman was Henry Charles Richards, an M.P. Between 1899 and 1901, Pontings replaced their old premises on Kensington High Street with a new building designed by Arthur Sykes, which was completed in two stages and cost them £14,000. The new building had a large basement and four storeys above and was attached to Scarsdale House, which had not been touched. In the gardens of Scarsdale House were built four blocks (designed by architects E N Clifton & Son) which were used as offices and depositories.
Twentieth century.
Between 1906 and 1908, Kensington Railway Station was rebuilt, and as part of the development a new arcade was built. Pontings purchased the whole of the western side of the arcade before construction had started. However, the expansion of the business and the building programme had seen the company over-extend itself, and in December 1906, Pontings went into liquidation. John Barker & Co., a fellow Kensington department store, purchased the business for £84,00 in April 1907.
Barkers did not neglect its new business, which continued to operate with its own buying team and to have its own distinctive image, labelling itself as the House of Value. The store expansion was completed on the western side of the arcade in 1908, while Scarsdale House was demolished and the Wright's Lane extension finished under the management of H L Cabuche, Barkers's own director of building during 1911–12.
After the First World War, John Barker & Co. expanded, buying the department store between the Barkers store and Pontings, Derry & Toms, in 1920, and also purchasing the freehold of the Pontings site for a total of £78,000. Barkers also added a cafe on Wright's Lane run by its catering subsidiary the Zeeta Company, and refurbished the store in 1923.
In 1957, Barkers was purchased by House of Fraser which in the 1960s decided to rationalize the businesses of Barkers. Barkers's Zeeta business and stores on the north side of Kensington High Street were closed before Pontings, the first of the department stores went, being closed down in 1970. The name however lived on, as the unsold stock from the closing down sale was transferred to Barker's own lower ground floor and was called Pontings Bargain Basement before it was renamed in 1974.
After Pontings.
The building became a market known as Kensington Super Store, before English Property Corporation redeveloped the site. The original building was pulled down and replaced by Pemberton House on Kensington High Street (1976–78) and Kensley House (1982–84) on Wright's Lane, both office blocks, while at the rear was built a block of flats called William Cobbett House.
The only remaining part of the Pontings store is the arcade section, which in 2011 hosted La Senza and Accessorize.


Hubbert linearization

The Hubbert linearization is a way to plot production data to estimate two important parameters of a Hubbert curve, the approximated production rate of a nonrenewable resource following a logistic distribution:
The linearization technique was introduced by Marion King Hubbert in his 1982 review paper. The Hubbert curve is the first derivative of a logistic function, which has been used for modeling the depletion of crude oil in particular, the depletion of finite mineral resources in general and also population growth patterns.
Principle.
The first step of the Hubbert linearization consists of plotting the yearly production data ("P" in bbl/y) as a fraction of the cumulative production ("Q" in bbl) on the vertical axis and the cumulative production on the horizontal axis. This representation exploits the linear property of the logistic differential equation:
with
We can rewrite (1) as the following:
The above relation is a line equation in the "P/Q" versus "Q" plane. Consequently, a linear regression on the data points gives us an estimate of the line slope calculated by "-k/URR" and intercept from which we can derive the Hubbert curve parameters:
Examples.
Global oil production.
The geologist Kenneth S. Deffeyes applied this technique in 2005 to make a prediction about the peak of overall oil production at the end of the same year, which has since been found to be premature. He did not make a distinction between "conventional" and "non-conventional" oil produced by fracturing, aka tight oil, which has continued further growth in oil production. However, since 2005 conventional oil production has not grown anymore.
US oil production.
The charts below gives an example of the application of the Hubbert Linearization technique in the case of the US Lower-48 oil production. The fit of a line using the data points from 1956 to 2005 (in green) gives a URR of 199 Gb and a logistic growth rate of 6%.
Norway oil production.
The Norwegian Hubbert linearization estimates an URR = 30 Gb and a logistic growth rate of k = 17%.
Alternative techniques.
Second Hubbert linearization.
The Hubbert linearization principle can be extended to the first derivatives of the production rate by computing the derivative of (2):
The left term, the rate of change of production per current production, is often called the decline rate. The decline curve is a line that starts at +k, crosses zero at URR/2 and ends at −k. Thus, we can derive the Hubbert curve parameters:
Hubbert parabola.
This representation was proposed by Roberto Canogar and applied to the oil depletion problem. It is equation (2) multiplied by Q.
The parabola starts from the origin (0,0) and passes through (URR,0). Data points until t are used by the least squares fitting method to find an estimate for URR.
Logit transform.
David Rutledge applied the logit transform for the analysis of coal production data, which often has a worse signal-to-noise ratio than the production data for hydrocarbons. The integrative nature of cumulation serves as a low pass, filtering noise effects. The production data is fitted to the logistic curve after transformation using "e"("t") as normalized exhaustion parameter going from 0 to 1.
The value of URR is varied so that the linearized logit gives a best fit with a maximal coefficient of determination formula_1.


Minyard Food Stores

RLS Supermarkets LLC, doing business as Minyard Food Stores, was a privately owned supermarket chain in Texas.
History.
Early years.
The history of Minyard Food Stores dates back to the 1930s. A.W. "Eck" Minyard, a postal employee, purchased a store at 6011 Lindsley Avenue in East Dallas for $1,200. His primary motivation for the purchase was to provide jobs for his two younger brothers, H.C. "Henry" and M.T. "Buddy" Minyard, who had just completed high school. At that time, the country was in the depths of the Great Depression and jobs were scarce. On February 12, 1932, the first Minyard Food Store opened around the corner from the Minyard family home. The clapboard store was in size. A.W. Minyard initially continued his job as a postal worker while running the store on Sundays. He would later quit the postal job to focus fully on the grocery business. His sister Fay and another brother, H.J. "Hap" Minyard had joined the others by the late 1930s. The store was successful enough to spawn the opening of another store and a convenience store by the close of the decade. When the United States entered World War II, the younger Minyard brothers joined the military. A.W. and Fay Minyard closed all of the stores with the exception of the original East Dallas location. After the war, a total of three new stores opened during the 1940s.
Growth.
The 1950s were a decade of growth for Minyard stores. Six new stores were opened, including the first outside of Dallas County in McKinney in 1957. In 1959, the business opened its largest store to date in Lancaster. At , the Lancaster Minyard featured new technology such as mercury vapor lighting, a 200-car parking lot, automatic air-opened doors, background music, and air-conditioning. By 1960, the 11 Minyard Food Stores generated sales of $15 million. Additional sites were purchased for future expansion and in 1961, a complex on Cedar Springs Street in Dallas became the site of Minyard's central office and distribution operations. By the end of the 1960s, the company had a total of 16 stores.
Rapid Expansion.
An additional 21 stores opened during the 1970s. By 1978, nine shopping centers were also owned by Minyard Properties, Inc. In 1979, a store opened in Mesquite that introduced bar codes and scanning to the chain. Plans for a new corporate headquarters were spearheaded by Bob and H.C. "Henry" Minyard. Henry, however, suffered a fatal heart attack on December 25, 1979 and didn't live to see the ground broken on the new complex. Bob Minyard was named president of the company. In August 1981, the corporate headquarters and distribution center moved to a facility in Coppell, between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. By its 50th anniversary in 1982, the company operated 53 stores. That same year, a new concept store, the Sack 'n Save Warehouse Food Store, was introduced. The store, located in Haltom City, offered products in bulk at reduced prices. This new concept was considered necessary to remain competitive in the grocery industry, which faced slow growth during the mid-1980s. In 1987, Minyard purchased 24 stores from Safeway Stores, Inc., which exited the Dallas-Fort Worth market. This boosted the company's presences in the area. A total of 12 stores were bought in Dallas County, nine in neighboring Tarrant County, and three in other counties. Minyard was able to reopen all 24 stores within a record five days. By the end of 1987, the company owned and operated 62 Minyard Food Stores and 10 Sack 'n Save stores. Less than a year after the major acquisition, Chairman and CEO M.T. "Buddy" Minyard died of a heart attack. Leadership of the company passed to his two daughters, Lisbeth "Liz" Minyard and Gretchen Minyard Williams and CEO J. L. "Sonny" Williams
Increased competition.
In 1990, the company announced that it would open a new store format dedicated to the growing, mostly under-served minority population in ethnic neighborhoods. Operating under the name Carnival Food Stores, ethnic merchandise was offered in addition to traditional grocery products depending on the neighborhood it served. Three Carnival Food Stores opened in Fort Worth in the summer of 1990. Two catered to African Americans and one focused on Hispanic shoppers. The concept proved to be successful and Minyard announced plans to open four additional Carnival Food Stores by late 1991. A total of 21 Carnival stores were operating by the end of the decade.
The 1990s were a period of increased competition in the Dallas-Fort Worth area grocery market. In addition to longtime competitors such as Kroger and Tom Thumb, new chains were also entering the market. The most notable entrant was North Carolina-based Food Lion, which planned on opening 50 stores in the area. Minyard focused on improving customer service to deal with the growing competition. Store expansion slowed, although new stores were opened in strategic locations. By the mid-1990s, the company had managed to survive the stiff challenges from other chains. Food Lion began closing stores in 1994 and exited Texas in 1997. In 1996, Minyard was the third-largest grocery chain in Dallas-Fort Worth, behind Tom Thumb and Albertsons. In January 1997, the company entered into the gasoline business by opening two gas stations adjacent to two Minyard supermarkets in Dallas. By the end of 1999, the number of Minyard-owned gas stations had risen to twelve.
Throughout Minyard's Food Store existence Minyard's would sponsor all local sports team in fact former CEO Sonny Williams and Gretchen Minyard Williams was longtime owner of the Dallas Sidekicks (1984-2004) from 1996-2004.
On October 29, 2004, after 72 years in business, the Minyard family sold Minyard Food Stores, Inc. to Acquisition Vehicle Texas II, LLC, an investment company conducting business under name Minyard Group. Q Investments, the ultimate owner of Minyard, began selling off the stores slowly. With its market share declining due to pressure from larger chains (such as Walmart putting full grocery stores in their Walmart Super Centers, and Target and Kmart doing the same), Minyard sold its 37 Carnival stores to a group including Houston-based Fiesta Mart, Inc. in 2008. Minyard also closed or sold its Sack N Save stores to independent operators: the last one (in Denton) would close and the property sold to the University of North Texas.
In May 2011, 10 Minyard locations were acquired by RLS Supermarkets of Carrollton. RLS kept the Minyard name on all of them; the locations included Dallas, Duncanville, Balch Springs, Fort Worth, Irving, Lancaster, and Mesquite. In late 2014, Minyard purchased stores from Albertson's and Tom Thumb as part of anti-trust settlements resulting from Albertson's merger with Safeway (Tom Thumb's corporate parent).
Closure of Brand.
In July 2016 Minyard announced the sale of all Minyard-label stores and two Sun Fresh Market stores to Fiesta Mart. The remaining Sun Fresh Market stores would be operated by RLS, but the sale resulted in the Minyard name disappearing from the DFW landscape with the exception of a single store which operated until August 17, 2017 which ended the 85-year old Minyard chain.
Corporate affairs.
For a period of time Minyard had its headquarters in Coppell (a replica of Minyard's original store, formerly at the headquarters location, was relocated to Coppell's Old Town area). At a later point Minyard had its headquarters in Irving.


Hilander Foods

Hilander was a small chain of supermarkets in the metro area of Rockford, Illinois in the United States. The stores were operated by Schnucks, which acquired the chain from The Kroger Co. on September 21, 2011. As of May 2013, the stores have been rebranded to Schnucks.
History.
Joseph Castrogiovanni and his wife Rose founded Sanitary Meat Market in 1919. Castrogiovanni later renamed the chain Hilander. After a couple decades, their sons Alfred, Anthony, John, and Joseph, joined the family business. The Castrogiovanni family ran the Hilander Foods chain until 1997.
Kroger and Schnucks.
In September 28, 1998, The Kroger Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, acquired the Hilander Foods chain. Kroger ran the chain under its Central division which includes Pay Less Food Markets, Owen's Market, JayC Food Stores, and Scott's Food & Pharmacy. Alfred Castrogiovanni died in 2010, at age 87. In late 2011, The Kroger Co. sold the chain to Schnuck Markets, Inc., the owner of local rival Logli. Schnucks kept running the stores under the Hilander Foods banner for a couple of years, but eventually rebranded the stores. In 2011, there were seven Hilander stores: five in Rockford, one in Cherry Valley, and one in Roscoe.


Century Plaza

Century Plaza was an enclosed shopping mall in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Opened in 1975, the mall originally included four anchor stores and more than one hundred tenants, but lost three of those anchors (JCPenney, Belk and Rich's-Macy's) in the mid-2000s. In May 2009, the mall was completely closed as Sears and the rest of the stores in the mall closed. The mall was managed by General Growth Properties of Chicago, Illinois at the time of its closure. It was demolished in 2020, to be replaced by a 200,000 square-foot Amazon logistics facility.
History.
Century Plaza opened in 1975 on the eastern side of Birmingham, Alabama, on U. S. Route 78 (Crestwood Blvd.) near Interstate 20, across from the existing Eastwood Mall. The mall's original anchor stores included Sears (which opened in 1974), Rich's, Loveman's of Alabama and JCPenney. Loveman's later was replaced by Pizitz, which in turn became McRae's in 1987.
Rich's was dual-branded as Rich's-Macy's in 2003 when Macy's acquired the Rich's chain. The Rich's-Macy's store at Century Plaza, however, closed after only one year in operation and was never rechristened as "Macy's". A Piccadilly Cafeteria in the mall also closed that same year.
When plans were announced to demolish Eastwood Mall across the street in 2004, two of the mall's tenants (Books-A-Million and Parisian) had announced preliminary plans to relocate to Century Plaza, with the latter taking over the McRae's space. McRae's was eventually converted to Belk in 2006 when the chain was acquired, but closed later that same year. JCPenney also closed in 2006, and many inline tenants began to close as well. In February 2009, it was announced that Sears, the last remaining anchor, would close its store by May 31.
Mall closing.
Century Plaza closed at the end of business on May 31, 2009. At the time of its closing, fewer than 40 stores, including Foot Locker, Champs Sports, Finish Line and RadioShack remained open in the mall. General Growth Properties announced that Sears would remain open through June 14 to complete the liquidation of the store.
In December 2017, the Howard Hughes Corporation sold the mall for $3 million to Lumpkin Development, a real estate company based in Pelham, Alabama. Lumpkin said that the Sears store would be converted into a self-storage facility, and that the rest of the mall was available for rent.
In May 2020, it was reported that the site was being considered for development as a last-mile delivery center by Amazon.
As of November 12, 2020, the mall has begun demolition for the Amazon last mile delivery center.
External links.
Century Plaza archived website from 2004.


History of Australian currency

The history of Australian currency commences with the first European settlement of Australia on 26 January 1788. At the time, New South Wales was a British colony, and the English currency was in formal circulation, though the supply was insufficient and alternative forms of exchange were resorted to. A national Australian currency was created in 1910, as the Australian pound, which in 1966 was decimalised as the Australian dollar.
Early Australian experience.
The first European settlement of Australia took place on 26 January 1788 at Port Jackson (modern Sydney, New South Wales). One very important British oversight during the colonisation was the provision of adequate coinage for the new colony. In November 1788, Governor Phillip requested a remittance of money from England and sometime in 1790 the "Kitty" arrived with almost 4500 Spanish dollars. However, the dollars slowly left the colony as they were used to pay for goods brought in by visiting ships.
The colony of New South Wales barely survived its first years and was largely neglected for much of the following quarter-century while the British government was preoccupied until 1815 with the Napoleonic Wars. Because of the shortage of any sort of money, the real means of exchange during the first 25 years of settlement was rum, the access to which was controlled by the officers of the New South Wales Corps, who benefited most from access to land and imported goods.
Of necessity, various foreign coins were in circulation in the colony, and in 1800, in an attempt to put some order into the economy, Governor Philip Gidley King issued a proclamation setting the value of the various foreign coins in the colony, though it did not solve the problem. During this period, to protect the lucrative access to the imported rum, as well as other grievances, the officers, who came to be known as the "Rum Corps", deposed the governor in a standoff in 1808, referred to as the "Rum Rebellion". The New South Wales Corps was recalled soon after. Otherwise, the shortage of coinage persisted. For example, between 1811 and 1816 Governor Lachlan Macquarie paid the contractors who built the Sydney Hospital with 45,000 (later increased to 60,000) gallons of rum.
The first coinage issued by the colony took place in 1813, when Governor Macquarie ordered the middle of the £10,000 in Spanish dollars sent by the British government be punched out. This process created two parts: a small coin, which was called the "dump", and a ring, which was called a "holey dollar". One holey dollar was worth five shillings (a quarter of one pound sterling), and one dump was worth one shilling and three pence (or one quarter of a holey dollar). The objective of this exercise was to keep the coins in New South Wales, as they would be valueless elsewhere. In 1817, the first bank, the Bank of New South Wales, was established, which issued private bank notes denominated in pounds. Acceptance of these private bank notes was not compulsory as legal tender, though they were widely used and accepted.
In 1825, an Imperial order-in-council was issued for the purpose of introducing sterling coinage to all the British colonies. This was due to the introduction of the gold standard in the UK in 1816, and a decline in the supply of Spanish dollars, due to the revolutions taking place in Spanish South American colonies. Most of the dollars used had been minted in Lima, Mexico City, and Potosí, which had become part of new Latin American republics, independent from Spain.
In 1852, the Government Assay Office in Adelaide issued gold pound coins. These weighed slightly more than sovereigns. After gold was discovered in Australia, the Royal Mint opened branches in Australia. The Sydney Mint opened in 1854 and issued half sovereigns and sovereigns, with the Melbourne Mint beginning production in 1872. Many of the sovereigns minted in Australia were for use in India as part of a plan that the gold sovereign should become the imperial coin. As it turned out, India was already too entrenched in the Rupee system, and the gold sovereigns obtained by the treasury in India never left the vaults.
State of currency at federation.
At federation in 1901 and for a period afterwards, the currency used in the Australian colonies which became states consisted of British silver and copper coins, Australian minted gold sovereigns (worth £1) and half sovereigns, locally minted copper trade tokens (suppressed in 1881, some state earlier) and private bank notes. In addition, the Queensland government issued treasury notes (1866–1869) and banknotes (1893–1910) which were legal tender in Queensland; and the New South Wales government issued a limited series of treasury notes in 1893. The Perth Mint opened in 1899, at which gold miners would deposit their raw gold for gold coins.
National currency.
In September 1910, the federal Labor Government of Prime Minister Andrew Fisher assumed power over currency matters, passing the "Australian Notes Act", which introduced a national currency, the Australian pound. Like the pound sterling, the Australian pound was divided into 20 shillings and each shilling was divided into 12 pence, making a pound worth 240 pence. The Act also prohibited the circulation of State notes and withdrew their status as legal tender. It also gave control over the issue of Australian notes to the Commonwealth Treasury.
As a transitional measure lasting three years, blank note forms of 16 banks were supplied to the government in 1911 to be overprinted as redeemable in gold and issued as the first Commonwealth notes. Some of these banknotes were overprinted by the Treasury, and circulated as Australian banknotes until new designs were ready for Australia's first federal government-issued banknotes, which commenced in 1913.
Also passed in 1910 was the "Bank Notes Tax Act" which imposed a prohibitive tax of 10% per annum on "all bank notes issued or re-issued by any bank in the Commonwealth after the commencement of this Act, and not redeemed", which effectively ended the use of private currency in Australia. The "Bank Notes Tax Act" was repealed by the "Commonwealth Bank Act 1945", which imposed a fine for private currencies.
In 1920, the Nationalist Hughes Ministry passed the "Commonwealth Bank Act 1920" that repealed the "Australian Notes Act" and transferred note issuing authority from the Treasury to the Commonwealth Bank. In 1960, responsibility for note printing passed to the Reserve Bank of Australia. The RBA has been producing Australia's polymer banknotes since 1988. Its note printing branch was corporatised in July 1998, as Note Printing Australia, which is a now a wholly owned subsidiary of the RBA.
Initially, the Australian pound was officially distinct in value from the British pound sterling, but Australia's monetary policy was for it to be fixed in value to the pound sterling at parity. As such, Australia was on the gold standard so long as Britain was. In 1914, the pound sterling was removed from the gold standard. Australia returned to the gold standard in 1925 in conjunction with the United Kingdom and South Africa. As in the case of the United Kingdom, there was no return to a gold specie standard, but rather the introduction of a gold bullion standard. This once again formally locked the Australian pound to parity with the pound sterling. The return to the gold standard in association with its parity to the pound sterling, suddenly increased the Australian pound's value (imposed by the nominal gold price) which unleashed crushing deflationary pressures. Both the initial 1914 inflation and the subsequent 1926 deflation had far-reaching economic effects throughout the British Empire, Australia and the world. In 1929, as an emergency measure during the Great Depression, Australia left the gold standard, resulting in a devaluation relative to sterling. Britain devalued the pound sterling against gold in 1931. A variety of pegs to sterling applied until December 1931, when the government set a rate of £1 Australian = 16 shillings sterling (£1·5s Australian = £1 sterling).
During World War II, Japan produced currency notes, some denominated in the Australian pound, for use in Pacific countries intended for occupation. Since Australia was never occupied, the occupation currency was not used there, but it was used in the captured parts of the then-Australian territories of Papua and New Guinea.
In 1949, when the United Kingdom devalued the pound sterling against the US dollar, Australian Prime Minister and Treasurer Ben Chifley followed suit so the Australian pound would not become over-valued in sterling zone countries with which Australia did most of its external trade at the time. As the pound sterling went from US$4.03 to US$2.80, the Australian pound went from US$3.224 to US$2.24, a devaluation of 30%.
Decimalisation.
In February 1959 the Commonwealth Government appointed a Decimal Currency Committee to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of a decimal currency, and, if a decimal currency was favoured, the unit of account and denominations of subsidiary currency most appropriate for Australia, the method of introduction and the cost involved. The Committee presented its report in August 1960 and recommended the date of introduction of the new system to be the second Monday in February, 1963. In July 1961 the government confirmed its support of a decimal currency system, but considered it undesirable to make final decisions on the detailed arrangement that would be necessary to effect the change. On 7 April 1963 the government announced that a system of decimal currency was to be introduced into Australia at the earliest practicable date, and gave February 1966, as the tentative change-over date.
On 14 February 1966, the Australian pound was replaced by the Australian dollar with the conversion rate of A£1 = A$2. The dollar comprised one hundred cents.
Under the implementation conversion rate, £1 was set as the equivalent of $2. Thus, 10s became $1 and 1s became 10c. The conversion rate was problematic for the pre-decimal penny since the shilling was divided into twelve pence. An exchange rate of $2.40 = £1 would have allowed for accurate conversion down to the penny, with one penny becoming one cent; however, the government thought it more important that the new currency unit be more valuable than the United States dollar which it would not have been under a 2.4 = 1 ratio.
Amounts less than a shilling were converted as follows:
When pounds, shillings and pence (£sd) were to be replaced by decimal currency on 14 February 1966, many names for the new currency were suggested. In 1963, the then-Prime Minister of Australia, Robert Menzies, a monarchist, wished to name the currency the "royal". Other proposed names from a public naming competition included more exotic suggestions such as the "austral", the "oz", the "boomer", the "roo", the "kanga", the "emu", the "koala", the "digger", the "zac", the "kwid", the "dinkum", and the "ming" (Menzies' nickname). Menzies' influence resulted in the selection of the "royal", and trial designs were prepared and printed by the Reserve Bank of Australia. Australian treasurer and future Prime Minister, Harold Holt, announced the decision in Parliament on 5 June 1963. The "royal" would be subdivided into 100 cents, but the existing names "shilling", "florin" and "crown" would be retained for the 10-cent, 20-cent and 50-cent coins respectively. The name "royal" for the currency proved very unpopular, with Holt and his wife even receiving death threats. On 24 July Holt told the Cabinet the decision had been a "terrible mistake" and it would need to be revisited. On 18 September Holt advised Parliament that the name was to be the "dollar", of 100 cents.
Australian dollar.
When Australia was part of the fixed-exchange sterling area, the exchange rate of the Australian dollar was fixed to the pound sterling at a rate of A$1 = 8 U.K. shillings (A$2.50 = UK£1). In 1967, Australia effectively left the sterling area, when the pound sterling was devalued against the US dollar and the Australian dollar did not follow. Instead, Australia pegged the Australian dollar to the United States dollar at a rate of A$1 = US$1.12.
Since 1969, the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra has produced all Australian coins. Until 1970, the Melbourne and Perth Mints operated under the jurisdiction of the Royal Mint, as had the Sydney Mint until it was closed in 1926.
On 12 December 1983, the newly elected Labor government, led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke and with Paul Keating as the Treasurer, moved the Australian dollar onto a floating exchange rate. Since the float, the Australian dollar has fluctuated from a low of 47.75 US cents in April 2001 to a high of US$1.10 in July 2011.
On 27 September 2012, the Reserve Bank of Australia stated that it had ordered work on a project to upgrade the current banknotes. The upgraded banknotes would incorporate a number of new future proof security features and include Braille dots for ease of use of the visually impaired. The first new banknotes (of the $5 denomination) were issued from 1 September 2016, and the other denominations were issued in the coming years.


Paul Berenberg

Paul Berenberg (born 1716, died 1768) was a Hamburg merchant and banker and a member of the Berenberg banking family. He served as a Senator of Hamburg, succeeding his father Rudolf Berenberg.
His brothers were Rudolf Berenberg (1712–1761), merchant in Hamburg, Cornelius Berenberg (1714–1773), merchant in Livorno, and Johann Berenberg (1718–1772), merchant in Hamburg.


A.C. Moore

A.C. Moore was an American arts and crafts retail chain, owned by Nicole Crafts. It had 145 retail locations in the eastern United States, with corporate headquarters in Berlin, New Jersey.
On November 25, 2019, A.C. Moore announced that it would wind down its operations, closing all stores, and selling selected leases and other assets to a competitor, Michaels.
History.
A.C. Moore was founded as a single arts and crafts store by Jack Parker and William Kaplan in 1985 in Moorestown, New Jersey ("A. C. Moore" – arts and crafts, Moorestown). Parker, with the position of president, was a merchandising veteran of Woolworth's, and Kaplan, CEO, had a career in fashion production. The company went public in October 1997. By 2006, the company had peaked with sales of $598 million, but these numbers began to decline in the years that followed.
A.C. Moore sold a variety of arts and crafts products, including scrapbooking, beading, knitting, rubber stamping, home decor items, floral items, children's crafts, paints, framing, greenery and seasonal items. They were known for a policy of discounts and beating competitors' prices.
In 2011, as A.C. Moore was experiencing a crash crunch, one of its suppliers stepped in to save the company through a merger. Sbar's, an art supplies distributor based in nearby Moorestown, in association with its affiliate Nicole Crafts, acquired A. C. Moore for $1.61 per-share (a valuation of $41 million). The buyout was executed as a merger, with A. C. Moore becoming a subsidiary of Nicole Crafts, the Sbar's in-house goods brand. Sbar's seven retail stores were absorbed into A. C. Moore.
On November 25, 2019, A.C. Moore announced that it would close all 145 of its locations (with some closing as early as December 15, 2019), and sell the leases for up to 40 locations, a distribution center, and unspecified intellectual property assets to the competing chain Michaels. , A. C. Moore was still undergoing the liquidation process. , all stores had been closed, and Michaels had taken over its distribution facility on A. C. Moore Drive in Winslow, NJ.


Nafissa Sid Cara

Nafissa Sid-Cara or Nafissa Sidkara (18 April 1910, in El Eulma, Algeria - 1 January 2002, Paris, France) was a French politician. Sid-Cara was the first female minister to serve in the French Fifth Republic as well as the first ever Algerian origin and Muslim woman to serve as a minister in a French government. She was appointed Secretary of State in charge of social affairs in Algeria under Prime Minister Michel Debré in 1959–62. This was the first time a woman was appointed into a French government since 1937.
Personal life.
Sid-Cara's family were Algerians of Turkish origin; her brother, Chérif Sid Cara was also a French politician.


California Road

According to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, there were two trails that may have been known as the California Road at the time of the California Gold Rush. A southerly route, which ran from the through present-day Oklahoma,(but then known only as Indian Territory, along the Canadian River. A northern route was usually called the California Trail.
The California Road followed the route laid out by Captain Randolph B. Marcy escorting gold seekers during the spring of 1849. Starting from Ft. Smith, Arkansas, it crossed over into Indian Territory and generally followed the Canadian River to the Texas Panhandle. The trail continued across the Panhandle along the Canadian into New Mexico where it met an existing trail south out of Santa Fe to El Paso and west into California. The peak number of emigrants from the eastern United States to California was about twenty thousand on this route in 1849.
The crossing of the east-west California Road with the north-south Texas Road formed a natural point of settlement in Tobucksy County of the Choctaw Nation, a site originally called Bucklucksy. James Jackson McAlester, an employee of licensed traders Reynolds and Hannaford convinced the firm to locate a general store at that location in late 1869. This settlement eventually became McAlester, Oklahoma.
Prominent landmarks in western Indian Territory were Rock Mary and the Antelope Hills.
The Prairie Traveler.
"Another road leaves Fort Smith and runs up the south side of the Canadian River to Santa Fé and Albuquerque in New Mexico.
This route is set down upon most of the maps of the present day as having been discovered and explored by various persons, but my own name seems to have been carefully excluded from the list. Whether this omission has been intentional or not, I leave for the authors to determine. I shall merely remark that I had the command and entire direction of an expedition which in 1849 discovered, explored, located, and marked out this identical wagon road from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Santa Fé, New Mexico, and that this road, for the greater portion of the distance, is the same that has been since recommended for a Pacific railway."


Goldbergs

A. Goldberg and Sons plc, which traded as Goldbergs, was a Scottish retail company which, prior to its demise in 1990, had grown from a single Glasgow store in 1908 to a chain of over 100 outlets.
At the Edinburgh store there was a cafe on the top floor with a roof garden.
History.
A. Goldberg & Sons was founded in 1908 by Bill Goldberg, a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe. After starting business on the South Side of Glasgow he moved to premises in Candleriggs in the 1920s.
Abraham Goldberg was chairman from 1908 to 1934, when he handed power to his two sons, Ephraim and Michael. Together they brought the company to the stock market and saw the development of the business from one department store in Glasgow to the building, by in-house contractors, of the Edinburgh department store, and the beginnings of a small chain in central Scotland. From 1970 to 1974 stores were opened in Falkirk, Ayr, Paisley, Kirkcaldy, Motherwell, Dundee, Kilmarnock, Airdrie, Dunfermline, East Kilbride and Greenock, with an average salesfloor space of . These sold a range of family fashions, household goods and electrical items.
From 1974 onwards Mark Goldberg, grandson of Abraham, took the position of chairman. At that time Goldbergs was the only Scottish public company with a woman director.
Goldbergs was a quoted company from 1938 and always had a member of the Goldberg family at its head. By the mid-1980s it was one of only three Scottish-based retailers still quoted on the Stock Exchange.
Innovations in EPoS.
In the mid-1970s the company became the first retailer in Europe to introduce a comprehensive electronic point of sale (EPoS) system (an IBM system that was in place until 1987). Until that time all sales transactions were recorded in day-books, an operation which involved having 500 bookkeepers. Not only was the process costly in terms of people employed, it also created large queues in the stores.
A visit to the US by some of the senior executives included discussions with Nat Solomon of the National Retailers Merchant Association. This visit was seen to be a critical one in that the company was seeking a survival strategy due to the increasing costs of the cash-taking system and declining profits.
Solomon's advice was to wait for IBM to develop a system. Other companies offering cash-taking equipment included Singer. However, Singer's system was an electro-mechanical one while IBM were developing a computerized one. IBM were instrumental in defining the needs of the Goldbergs business and the successful installation enabled IBM to enter the European market. At a stroke Goldbergs' labour costs went down and queues in the stores disappeared.
Expansion.
In 1979 the company launched Wrygges, a chain of young fashion stores targeted at the 15 to 24-year-old female. The late 1970s saw a one for three rights issue to fund this development, together with the expansion of the Goldberg department store chain with another three units (two in Scotland, and the first venture in England, in Blackpool).
Goldberg's also owned Schuh, and a major stake in the Ted Baker fashion business.
Stylecard.
Goldbergs had its own in-house credit arrangements for its customers, based on three months' credit, plus a 5 per cent discount if the bill was settled at the end of three months. This offering was transformed into the Style credit card which benefited from the large customer base and the new EPoS system. Style was launched at the beginning of 1982 and followed the lines of other credit cards with no interest incurred for prompt monthly payment. Otherwise, minimum monthly payments could be made over a period of time while incurring interest charges.
Apart from the development of Style, investment continued with the leasing of of warehousing outside Glasgow to become a new central distribution depot.
By 1984, the Stylecard was being used not only in Goldbergs stores, but in a range of other non-fashion outlets such as Kwik-Fit and the travel agents A T Mays.
Stylecard was eventually taken over by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Demise.
Following a failed takeover bid by Blacks Leisure in 1989, Goldbergs went into receivership and ceased trading in 1990 having suffered losses of £10 million. The flagship Glasgow store on Candleriggs was acquired by entrepreneurs Vera and Gerald Weisfeld in 1994 and reopened as discount clothes store Weisfelds, a similar concept to their previous business What Everyone Wants. However, this closed in 1999 and the site subsequently fell into dereliction. The building was partially demolished in 2002 following the collapse of an adjacent tenement due to unstable foundations. The site was acquired by Selfridges, but plans for the company to build its first Scottish store on the site were shelved in 2007.
After much pressure from Glasgow City Council, Selfridges began demolition of the former Goldbergs buildings in late 2013, with interim plans to turn the site into a landscaped area in preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, although plans for the department store remain on hold. The proposals were formally abandoned in May 2014, when Selfridges sold the site to a private developer.


Lack Brothers

Lack Brothers was a department store based in Thornton Heath in Croydon, England.
History.
Lack Brothers was started by William & George Lack in Walthamstow, England in 1898 as a drapery business, with the Lack family being involved with the linen business since the 18th Century.
The business grew with the opening of a new store in Thornton Heath High Street in 1960. Croydon was the town from where the brothers had grown up. The new store boasted a restaurant and a men's hairdressers. By 1927 the business had been incorporated and had expanded into neighbouring properties. It now occupied 115-123 High Street, Thornton Heath.
During the 1930s the business boomed, however none of William Lack's son wanted to take over the family business, and upon his retirement in 1937 the store closed.


Penrith Co-operative Society

The Penrith Co-operative Society Limited, known locally as Penrith Co-op, was a small regional consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom. The society was formed in 1890 and at the time of its merger with Scotmid it operated one department store with supermarket attached and eight small supermarkets or convenience stores in Cumbria and County Durham.
History.
When most other co-operatives in Cumbria merged into regional groups in the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Cumbrian Society and the Greater Lancastria Society (now both part of The Co-operative Group), the Penrith society remained independent and has since taken over other small societies. These included the Keswick Co-operative Society in 1969; the Lazonby & District Co-operative Society in 1990; the Naworth Collieries Co-operative Society in 1993 which had branches in the small north Pennine villages of Hallbankgate and Halton-Lea-Gate and most recently, in 2002, the Stanhope & Weardale Co-operative Society.
The Penrith Co-op was featured on a 2006 episode of the national BBC Television programme "Working Lunch" for its support of the Melmerby village store set up by residents. The Melmerby village shop has since closed down.
In June 2013 it was announced that they were proposing a merger with Scottish giant Co-operative Scotmid, subject to membership approval. The merger was completed in October 2013 with the stores to be refurbished and rebranded as the Lakes & Dales Co-operative the first store that was rebranded was the Lazonby branch.
In 2015 Scotmid closed the non-food departments of the Penrith store and refurbished and made smaller the food departments. This was ultimately unsuccessful and the entire store closed in February 2016.
Operations.
In 2008, the society began refurbishing its Penrith department store and supermarket, with a new theme of "the Number 19 Department Store", with its various departments labelled or branded as being "@19", such as the new brand for the clothing department: "Style@19".
Head Office, No. 19 department store and Penrith supermarket.
The premises at 19 Burrowgate, Penrith housed the following departments: grocery, butchery, bakery, fashion, electronics, homewares, beds, furniture, carpets and cafe.
Other Operations.
The society for many years ran mobile shops visiting various villages and hamlets in the Penrith area.
Penrith Co-op built and owned several residential properties in Penrith including Holyoake Terrace in Castletown and Walker Rise at Fair Hill.
Co-operative movement.
The society was a member of the UK-wide Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG) and sold The Co-operative brand products. It was also a corporate member of hybrid consumer and wholesale co-operative, the Co-operative Group.
In 2005, Rochdale-based United Co-operatives bought a private sector pharmacy shop in Penrith which changed its name to Co-operative Pharmacy. However, this shop had no connection with Penrith Co-op's operations and, since United merged with the Co-operative Group in 2007, it formed part of the Co-operative Group Pharmacy division which has since been sold to The Bestway Group.
In 2010 the Co-operative Group rebranded the Penrith branch of Somerfield as a Co-operative Food store. Until 2015, when the store closed, Penrith had two Co-op stores owned by two separate societies.


Portside Festival Marketplace


Charles Towne Square

Charles Towne Square was an indoor shopping mall located in North Charleston, South Carolina opened in 1976 by developer Melvin Simon & Associates. It was most noted for its large "town square" style clock and children's train ride during Christmas time. The mall's tenants included original anchors Montgomery Ward, JCPenney and Edward's, a local department store which would later be sold to Kuhn's-Big K and renamed "Big K-Edwards." Big K-Edwards closed and Wilson's Catalog Showrooms moved into the space. The Wilson's chain was later sold to Service Merchandise. In addition to the mall's anchors, the shopping complex also featured approximately 75 specialty stores and a General Cinemas. The mall opened with great fanfare in 1976 with a Charlestonian bi-centennial theme. Television celebrity Ed McMahon led the festivities, complete with American revolutionary war-era costumes. Other special guests included World War II soldier Mark Clark, football player Rosey Grier, and Claude Akins.
The mall's demise.
Changing economic conditions spurred by the closure of the nearby Charleston Naval Base prompted anchor JCPenney to relocate to the larger Northwoods Mall in the early 1990s followed by the exit of Service Merchandise. The mall never recovered from these moves and most specialty stores ultimately left the mall. Plans were announced in 1997 to raze the mall, with the exception of the still operating Montgomery Ward, and replace it with a number of big box retailers connected to the existing Montgomery Ward and surrounded by a few smaller shops. The mall was demolished and an 18-screen Regal Cinemas was added along with a Courtyard by Marriott hotel; however, plans for the big box retailers and other shops never materialized.
The subsequent bankruptcy of Montgomery Ward in 2000 also dealt the project a final blow. The store ultimately closed in 2001 and was later converted to office space, with Montgomery Ward's free-standing auto center converted to an art gallery that relocated from inside the mall and later would become a restaurant and daycare. The only remaining original tenant from its days as a mall, Piccadilly Cafeterias, which opened in 1976 with the mall and relocated to a newly constructed building on an outparcel at the mall after the mall was demolished, closed suddenly on July 22, 2012 and the building was sold to Cowboy Brazilian Steakhouse. The former mall site has been redeveloped as an office complex, with a Verizon Wireless call center operating in the former Ward's building and a new multi-story office tower near Piccadilly which houses the new City Hall for the City of North Charleston.
The main road where the mall was located is still is called Mall Drive.
The mall's large "town square" style clock was donated to the City of North Charleston upon the mall's closing and placed in storage. It was recently refurbished and added to the food court of the nearby newly opened Tanger Outlet Center.
In April of 2019, the 18-screen Regal Cinemas was proposed to be demolished for a 300 residential unit complex. As of February 2020, the demolition has wrapped up and the site of the cinema is being prepared for redevelopment.


Daniel Bonventre

Daniel Bonventre (born c. 1944) is one of five former Madoff employees charged in the Madoff investment scandal.
He had worked as one-time company director of operations and as an accountant for Madoff since the 1960s. He was arrested on February 25, 2010, and charged with having created false and fraudulent books and records, conspiracy, securities fraud, and tax-related charges. He was also sued by the SEC for falsifying records.
Prosecutors claimed that Bonventre used $154 million of clients' funds to help obtain a $145 million loan. He was also charged with concealing over $270,000 in income tax between 2003 and 2007.
Another criminal complaint alleged that he helped to arrange millions in illegal payments and loans to Madoff family members and unidentified employees, some of which were used to purchase luxury homes.
In April 2006, almost three years before other investors lost their life savings, Bonventre emptied his personal accounts at the firm.
On March 24, 2014, he was convicted. He may be sentenced to a maximum of 77 years in prison if convicted.
On February 25, 2010, he was freed on a $5 million bond.
On December 21, 2010, prosecutors sent a letter to Bonventre's defense lawyer, Andrew J. Frisch, demanding that none of the $820,000 given to him to defend the case be used. The reason for this was because the funds would be subject to forfeiture if Bonventre were convicted of criminal charges.
In January 2011, Bonventre filed a suit demanding that the indictment against him be dismissed because the prosecutor had made efforts to seize his defense funds.
On December 8, 2014, Bonventre was sentenced to 10 years in prison, after being convicted on securities fraud and tax-evasion charges for his involvement in Madoff's $17.5 billion fraud.


SEC v. Rajaratnam

SEC v. Rajaratnam, 622 F.3d 159 (2d Cir. 2010), is a United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit case in which defendants Raj Rajaratnam and Danielle Chiesi appealed a discovery order issued by a district court during a civil trial against them for insider trading filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The district court compelled the defendants to disclose to the SEC the contents of thousands of wiretapped conversations that were originally obtained by the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) and were turned over to the defendants during a separate criminal trial.
The Second Circuit court held that although it is lawful to order such a disclosure, and the SEC indeed had a right to access the conversations in preparation for the civil trial, the district court exceeded its discretion by failing to limit the disclosure to conversations relevant to the current case. Citing the significant privacy implications of such a disclosure, the Second Circuit court granted a writ to vacate the discovery order, and remanded the case back to the district court.
Background.
On October 16, 2009, the defendants (Rajaratnam and Chiesi) were arrested and indicted for insider trading and conspiracy. The charges stemmed from an investigation by the United States Attorney's Office into allegations that Rajaratnam and Chiesi conspired in insider trading of stock for several large companies. Rajaratnam was found guilty on all 14 charges and sentenced to 11 years in prison. Chiesi was sentenced to 30 months in prison with 2 years of supervised release.
During the discovery phase of the criminal trial, the USAO turned over to the defendants the contents of 18,150 wiretapped communications involving 550 different people, which were recorded over the course of sixteen months from ten telephones, including home, office and mobile lines belonging to the defendants.
Civil Case.
On the same day the USAO filed criminal charges against the defendants, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil case against them based on the same allegations, claiming that the defendants engaged in "widespread and repeated insider trading" at several hedge funds, including the now-defunct Galleon Group, during which time they received tips from insiders regarding "market moving events such as quarterly earnings announcements, takeovers, and material contracts" and allegedly used that information to earn over $25 million in illegal profits.
The SEC was not given the contents of the wiretaps, since the USAO had no legal right to share them. The SEC instead attempted to obtain the wiretap contents by ordering the defendants, who had obtained a copy during the criminal trial, to turn them over during discovery in the civil case. The defendants objected, claiming that such disclosure was prohibited by Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (), which governs the authorization of wiretaps and provides limits on how and under what conditions the contents of wiretaps can be shared and disclosed. The district court dismissed the objection, noting that the defendants had already shared the wiretap contents with other defendants as part of a joint defense agreement. The district court ordered the defendants to disclose the wiretapped conversations to the SEC, declaring that "the notion that only one party to a litigation should have access to some of the most important non-privileged evidence bearing directly on the case runs counter to basic principles of civil discovery in an adversary system". The defendants appealed this order to the Second Circuit court.
Appeal of Disclosure Order.
In their objection to the discovery order, the defendants argued that Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 forbids implicitly (i.e., because it does not explicitly permit) forced disclosure of wiretap materials during discovery phase in civil cases when the wiretap materials were obtained from separate criminal cases. They additionally claimed that the wiretaps were illegal since Title III does not specifically authorize wiretaps for investigations into insider trading or securities fraud. The defendants also argued that the SEC did not constitute an "aggrieved person" for the purposes of demonstrating "good cause" for disclosure of the fruits of wiretapping, as required by Title III. Finally, they argued that even if the SEC had good cause to obtain the wiretap contents, Title III still prohibited the disclosure, since it prohibited the USAO from providing the wiretap contents directly to the SEC (a contention that neither the USAO nor SEC disputed) and this, in turn, "implicitly" barred the SEC from obtaining the wiretap contents from the defendants. The SEC argued that they had a right to access the materials and, pursuant to "United States v. Miller", the discovery order could be remedied by the defendants on appeal.
Appeals Court Ruling.
The Second Circuit court ruled on four separate issues: whether they had appellate jurisdiction to review the district court's order, whether a writ of mandamus was appropriate to vacate the order, whether Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 prohibits discovery orders in civil trials (in general), and whether the district court exceeded its discretion in issuing the order in this particular instance.
Interlocutory Jurisdiction.
The court concluded that they lacked jurisdiction to hear an appeal of the discovery order issued by the district court. This decision was based on an interpretation of a prior ruling by the same court in "In re City of New York", during which the court ruled that they lacked interlocutory jurisdiction to review any orders "allegedly adverse to a claim of privilege or privacy" and that, despite the disagreement between the parties about how to categorize the discovery order being challenged, it did not fit in the category of claims that the Supreme Court has previously ruled are subject to interlocutory orders—prejudgement orders that are "collateral to the merits of an action" and "too important to be denied immediate review".
Writ of Mandamus.
The court noted that even though they lacked interlocutory jurisdiction to review the discovery order, a writ of mandamus was still appropriate to prevent the disclosure because of the privacy issues at stake. The court disagreed with the SEC's interpretation of the "United States v. Miller" ruling, citing the fact that in the present case, the privacy rights of hundreds of innocent individuals was at risk if the wiretaps were forced to be disclosed—in contrast to "United States v. Miller", where the tapes had already been played at trial and consequently, the only issue at stake was the protection against unlawful interception. The court noted that in the present case, "the cat is not yet out of the bag" and a writ was appropriate if the disclosure order was deemed erroneous, since no alternative remedies would be available to the defendants (in particular, an appeal of the ruling after the case would not adequately vindicate the privacy violations). The court explicitly limited the scope of their finding to the present facts, noting that the ruling "does not mean that a writ of mandamus will always be appropriate to remedy an erroneous disclosure order".
Title III Provisions.
The court rejected the defendants' claim that Title III forbids the forced disclosure of wiretapped communications, concluding that such disclosure is permitted "where the defendants have received those conversations lawfully". In response to the argument that Title III provides no explicit provision for disclosures under the present facts, the court noted that "[Title III] does not prohibit all that it does not permit". Regarding the defendants' claim that the order is indirectly prohibited, the court determined that "Title III does not prohibit the disclosure of wiretap materials in a situation such as this one: where the government has previously disclosed the contents of wiretaps to a party, and a civil enforcement agency seeks access to those contents from "that party", not from the government". The court cautioned that although it determined that such a disclosure, in general, is not unlawful based on Title III, this did not imply that the discovery order in the current case was legal.
District Court Order.
The court noted that in issuing the discovery order, the district court was obliged to determine both whether the SEC had a right to access the wiretap contents, and whether that right outweighed the privacy implications of such a disclosure. They found that while the district court was correct in determining that the SEC had a right to the materials, it was incorrect in its determination that this right outweighed the privacy implications—especially since the district court did not first ascertain the legality of the wiretaps or limit the discovery order to conversations relevant to the current case. The court cited a previous Supreme Court ruling in "Gelbard v. United States" that "although Title III authorizes invasions of individual privacy under certain circumstances, the protection of privacy [is] an overriding congressional concern".
The Second Circuit court felt that the district court had an obligation to wait until a court had ruled on the legality of the wiretaps before issuing the discovery order. They also felt that even if the wiretaps were determined to be legal, the irrelevant conversations from the wiretap did not fit within the scope of fair pre-trial discovery since they would not benefit the SEC in the civil case. Consequently, the Second Circuit court ruled that the district court "clearly exceeded its discretion" in ordering the discovery; owing to their decision that a writ of mandamus was the only effective remedy for such a circumstance, they granted a writ to vacate the discovery order and remanded the case back to the district court for further proceedings consistent with thei.


Wood Gundy

Wood Gundy Inc. was a leading Canadian stock brokerage and investment banking firm. Founded in 1905, it was acquired by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in 1988 as it attempted to build an investment banking business. The Wood Gundy name was used extensively by the bank's investment banking arm, which was known as CIBC Wood Gundy until 1997. Today, CIBC's investment banking business is known as CIBC World Markets, and the name CIBC Wood Gundy is used as the brand for the bank's retail brokerage business.
History.
Founding and early history.
Wood, Gundy & Company was established in Toronto, Ontario, in 1905 by George Herbert Wood and James Henry Gundy. The firm first specialized in the distribution and underwriting of government and municipal bonds In 1919, the firm opened an office in New York City. Founded as a partnership, the firm incorporated in 1925.
Following World War II, Wood Gundy expanded its operations, starting to underwrite and distribute securities of Canadian corporations. Continued growth was driven through Canada's increasing industrialization and growing population, leading to greater demand for capital and investment securities. This expansion transformed Wood Gundy into a full-service investment house. Wood Gundy was the first Canadian dealer to open an office in Tokyo, and the first firm to employ a female trader on the floor of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The operations of the company, then called "Wood, Gundy & Company Limited", were split into two newly incorporated companies in 1962. The first, responsible for investment dealer operations, was called "Wood Gundy Securities Limited". The second, responsible for the investment holding business, was named "Wood Gundy Holdings Limited". These two firms existed until the early 1970s, when they reunited as a single firm under the name "Wood Gundy Limited". At this time, Charles Gundy, the son of the founder, was Chairman. Wood Gundy remained the largest brokerage and securities firm in Canada until the early 1980s, when the merger of Dominion Securities and A.E. Ames created the largest firm in the country.
Acquisition by CIBC.
By the mid-1980s, Wood Gundy, which was owned by approximately 600 of its employees, was looking for a merger partner. In 1986, Wood Gundy had nearly merged with Gordon Capital Corporation, but that deal was aborted at the last minute. By 1987, there were a number of banks actively pursuing a deal with Wood Gundy, including First National Bank of Chicago, the Union Bank of Switzerland and the Royal Bank of Canada, however these deals fell apart in the middle of the year due to high price expectations. The firm was impacted by the 1987 stock market crash in October 1987 and intensified its efforts to find a buyer.
CIBC purchased a 60 percent stake in Wood Gundy in June 1988 for C$110 million (US$86 million), representing a total value of the firm of C$183 (US$143 million). At the time of its acquisition, Wood Gundy was the leading Canadian investment dealer. Following the acquisition, CIBC formed CIBC Wood Gundy, which offered primarily asset management services for corporate and institutional clients.
Two years later, in 1990, CIBC continued to expand in the Canadian securities business by acquiring much of Merrill Lynch & Company's Canadian securities business. The acquisition included 20 offices and between 700 and 800 employees as well as access for CIBC to Merrill's equity research. The transaction made Wood Gundy once again the largest brokerage firm in Canada. In 2001, CIBC would buy the remainder of Merrill's Canadian business.
In 1997, CIBC Wood Gundy acquired the U.S. brokerage house Oppenheimer & Co.. After the acquisition the U.S. division took the name CIBC Oppenheimer, eliminating the use of the Wood Gundy brand through much of the bank.
Executives.
Chair
President


Omni International Mall

Omni International Mall was a shopping mall that opened in February 1977 in the northern environs of Downtown Miami's Arts & Entertainment District (then "Omni") in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States.
The mall was built in 1977, attached to an existing Jordan Marsh store, with J.C. Penney as the other anchor. It was a mixed-use complex, combining a traditional retail mall with offices and hotel space. Burdines later took over the Jordan Marsh building, closing it in 1992. J.C. Penney closed in 1998. After several years of decreasing sales, the mall closed in 2000, but the adjacent hotel remained open. Part of the mall portion has since been converted to use for Miami International University School of Art & Design.Crystal Cruises also has taken up residence.


Playwrights Guild of Canada

Playwrights Guild of Canada (PGC) is a registered national arts service association mandated to advance the creative rights and interests of professional Canadian playwrights, promote Canadian plays nationally and internationally, and foster an active, evolving community of writers for the stage. It was founded in 1972 as the Playwrights Co-op. The main purpose was to publish and distribute scripts to encourage more productions of Canadian plays. Since then, it has grown and now provides programs and services for playwrights across the country, and now includes more than 900 playwrights. PGC provides promotional and advocacy programs and services for the creative rights of Canadian playwrights.
Through its independently run subsidiary, Playwrights Canada Press, which was established in 2002, PGC is a primary source for unpublished Canadian plays, as well as information regarding performance rights.
To help support and advance Canadian playwriting, PGC offers the following services to its members:
PGC also publishes "CanRevue", an electronic catalogue of Canadian Copyscript plays, on a monthly timetable. "CanRevue" promotes new Canadian plays and is sometimes released as a special edition pertaining to genre or geographical region. In 2011, PGC added a section within "CanRevue" entitled "Stage Ready". This is intended to narrow the gap between a written work and a production, and allows members to send PGC plays that have not yet been produced, but are ready to be promoted for the stage. "CanRevue" is sent out to over two hundred theatres (both professional and amateur) and to schools across Canada.
History.
PGC had its origins in a meeting held in 1971 by the Canada Council's theatre officer, David Gardner, with Carol Bolt, Tom Hendry, and Len Peterson to discuss issues affecting English Canadian playwrights. Those present at the meeting determined that there was a need for a publishing house for Canadian plays. Following the meeting, Bolt, Hendry and Peterson established the Toronto Playwrights Circle to obtain funding for the project. This led to the founding of the Playwrights Co-op of Canada in the following year, for the purpose of publishing and distributing plays written by Canadian playwrights. In 1979, the Playwrights Co-op changed its name to Playwrights Canada, Inc.
In 1977, the Guild of Canadian Playwrights formed to advocate on behalf of playwrights and to lobby for suitable working conditions for Canadian playwrights. In 1982, the Guild of Canadian Playwrights and Playwrights Canada, Inc. merged to form the Playwrights Union of Canada. In 2002, the organization changed its name to the Playwrights Guild of Canada. That same year, it established its publishing arm, the Playwrights Canada Press.
The Playwrights Guild of Canada is a registered charitable organization. In 1986, PGC created the Canadian Drama Foundation (formerly known as the Foundation for Recognition of Excellence in Drama) as its charitable arm. Part of its funding comes from the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Ministry of Culture, and the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council.
The Guild has a Women's Caucus, which awards the "Bra D'Or" ("Golden Bra") for supporting the work of female playwrights.
PGC celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2012 with a series of special events, such as a week-long play reading series in May that included Maja Ardal, Drew Hayden Taylor, Hannah Moscovitch, Brad Fraser, and Marcia Johnson.
In May 2017, PGC opened the Canadian Play Outlet (CPO) at 401 Richmond Street West, a physical bookstore with a selection of over 2000 published and unpublished plays by Canadian playwrights.
Awards.
PGC has an annual awards competition with several categories: Lifetime Membership, Honorary Membership, Post-Secondary Competition, the Bra D'Or Award, Carol Bolt Award for Playwrights, RBC Emerging Playwright Award, Stage West Pechet Family Comedy Award, and Stage West Pechet Family Musical Award. The awards were recently named the Tom Hendry Awards after Tom Hendry, a founding member of PGC who died in 2012. The awards carry generous cash prizes and winners are recognized in a ceremony occurring in the fall each year. Deadlines for the awards are April 30 and May 31.
As in previous years, in the future the awards ceremony will continue to forge relationships with other arts organizations and corporate sponsors, celebrating excellence in Canadian playwriting.


Baron of Berenberg-Gossler

Baron of Berenberg-Gossler () is a title in the German nobility, specifically the nobility of the Kingdom of Prussia, created in 1910 for banker Johann von Berenberg-Gossler of the Hamburg Hanseatic Berenberg-Gossler family. The title is held by one person at a time and is tied to an entailed estate ("Fideikommiss"), Gut Niendorf. For this reason, it is not always inherited by the eldest son. The title is currently (since 1997) held by humanitarian Cornelius von Berenberg-Gossler. The first three title holders were all heads of Berenberg Bank.


Yengi Emam Caravansari

Yengi Emam Caravansari is located in Alborz Province in the hills of Yengi Emam. The caravansary is considered an important site for Persian architecture that evolved in the Silk Road. The building dates to the 17th century (11th century AH).
The site is being rehabilitated by UNESCO and the European Union under "Silk Roads Heritage Corridors in Afghanistan, Central Asia and Iran – International Dimension of the European Year of Cultural Heritage" program.
Architecture.
The building has a square central courtyard. The corners of the courtyard are angled, and passageways lead to the octagonal halls.
The halls lead onto wide corridors.


Trade Act of 2002

The Trade Act of 2002 (; ; "U.S. Trade Promotion Authority Act") granted the President of the United States the authority to negotiate trade deals with other countries and gives Congress the approval to only vote up or down on the agreement, not to amend it. This authority is sometimes called fast-track authority, since it is thought to streamline approval of trade agreements. This authority makes it easier to negotiate deals, which engenders both support and opposition, opposition coming from labor and environmental groups.
The last time the President was granted fast-track authority was to negotiate the Uruguay Round Agreement of the World Trade Organization. The Uruguay Round was completed just as fast-track authority expired in 1994. The President went without the authority until it was renewed in 2002. The trade promotion authority expired in July 2007 (except for agreements already under negotiation), but was granted again by the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015.


Storehouse Furniture

Storehouse Furniture was founded in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1969, and it quickly became an early style leader in well-designed, well-priced contemporary furnishings. In fact, it was Storehouse that brought many of today's best international manufacturers to the United States for the first time. Through company-owned stores and franchises, Storehouse soon spread across the Southeast and Texas, and then into the mid-Atlantic region.
In 1999, the company was acquired by Virginia-based Rowe Companies. In 2002, it was integrated with Rowe's Home Elements brand to create a stronger retail division of over 60 stores in 15 states. Storehouse has won the "Best Furniture Store" ARTS Award twice, and also won "Retailer of the Year" from "Home Magazine" in 2003.
On September 18, 2006, Rowe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and announced plans to sell Storehouse. Less than a month later, Hudson Capital Partners, was hired to liquidate Storehouse's inventory and then closed all Storehouse stores. la final esque cuando dises le echo se cambian las. Utu
Imackis la amisdad is amor .


Potter-Blocker Trail

The Potter-Blocker Trail (sometimes called the Potter-Bacon Cutoff), and also just the potter-bacon trail was a trail blazed by Jack Potter used to move cattle to market, starting around 1883. It was a collateral branch of the Great Western Cattle Trail, but was shorter and crossed more unforgiving land. The trail went at least from Hebbronville, Texas up to Albany, TX, intersecting the Western Trail at Alice, Texas.
It was likely never a widely utilized trail, since it sprang up so late—by 1889, trail drives had fallen out of use as rail lines increasingly connected distant states with the rest of the country.
References.
"Handbook of Texas Online", retrieved May 15, 2010.


ShoppingTown Mall

ShoppingTown Mall was a regional shopping mall in Dewitt, New York. First opened as an open-air shopping center in 1954, it was enclosed from 1973 to 1975, and remained a major shopping center until undergoing rapid decline in the 2010s, before closing in March 2020.
History.
Open-Air Shopping Center.
Shoppingtown Mall began as an open-air shopping center, first announced in August 1953 and managed by Eagan Real Estate Inc. At this time, tenants including F. W. Woolworth, J. C. Penney, Walgreens, Grand Union, Acme Markets, Fanny Farmer, Endicott Johnson, and Kinney Shoes had already signed on to the project. Local Syracuse department store Addis' signed onto the project in February 1954, and later that month a four-day grand opening gala was announced, set to begin March 3. The center opened as planned on March 3 with most major tenants, with Addis opening later on October 8, 1954. Multiple new stores, including Flah & Co, W. T. Grant, and a Kallet Theater, began construction in 1955-1956.
A Dey's Store For Homes was first announced in 1960, with plans for the home store to open by 1961, with a full store projected to open at a later date. The home store opened August 25, 1962, followed by the full store which opened on October 11, 1966. The center was affected by a fire in April 1967, which most affected Flah & Co, who remained closed for over a month to completely restock and remodel the store. A branch store of Syracuse department store E.W. Edwards & Sons opened in November 1968. A new 2-screen Kallet Theater opened December 28, 1968.
Mall Conversion.
Shoppingtown began conversion into an "all-climate mall" in late 1973, with Edwards planned to be one of the anchors, though Edwards closed its doors amidst bankruptcy on November 7, 1973. The mall suffered a fire in June 1974, which fatally injured one firefighter and caused an estimated $500,000 in damages, primarily to W.T. Grant. The two-screen Kallet theater was purchased by Carrols Development Corp in 1974, and operated as a Cinema National. Woolworth also announced the closure of its Shoppingtown store on December 31, 1974. Rumored since shortly after the store's closing in 1973, J. C. Penney opened a new, larger store in the former Edwards on January 22, 1975. Both Flah & Co and Addis' opened new stores at the mall, said to be double the size of their previous locations in the center. The mall opened on August 4, 1975, with a week-long grand opening ceremony.
Enclosed Mall.
Woolworth's re-joined the mall in 1978, taking over the former W.T. Grant space in mid-August. The mall saw an expansion in 1984, adding a 57,000 sq ft Chappell's as an anchor, which opened October 3. Addis merged with Dey Brothers in May 1989, with plans to close the Addis store at the mall, and merge operations into the existing Dey Brothers store. Shortly after this, Wilmorite Properties gained control of the mall through a partnership with Eagan in Summer 1989, announcing a major remodel later that year.
The remodel was completed at a cost of $53 million in 1991, adding a new wing which included a relocated Addis & Dey store and a food court, with the original Addis & Dey store being split between TJ Maxx in 1991 and Steinbach's in 1992.. Addis & Dey announced the closure of their Shoppingtown Mall store amidst bankruptcy in 1992. Shortly thereafter in early 1993, Kaufmann's announced it would relocate from Fayetteville Mall to the former Addis & Dey space. Woolworth's closed for the second and final time in early 1993. Steinbach's closed July 1, 1994, after recording hundreds of thousands in losses at the store, and TJ Maxx relocated to the Fayetteville Mall. Sears took over both floors of the former Addis & Dey space, in addition to building a new auto center. Media Play was announced in April 1994, taking over the former Woolworth's and Kallet Theater spaces for a 48,000 sq ft location. The Bon-Ton came to the mall with their acquisition of Chappell's in late 1994.
Old Navy opened in January 2000, and Dick's Sporting Goods was announced in March that year. Shoppingtown Mall was one of several properties sold to Macerich by Wilmorite in late 2004 for $2.3 billion. Macy's joined the mall in 2005, after their conversion of many regional department store brands, including Kaufmann's. Media Play, Bon-Ton, and Old Navy all closed their stores at the mall in early 2006. In March 2007, Macerich announced plans to demolish the Sears wing to create an open-air plaza with new shops facing Erie Boulevard East, though this never materialized. CNY Gym Centre opened in October 2008, taking over the former Old Navy.
Macerich walked away from the property in 2011, allowing it to go to bankruptcy auction, where it was purchased by Moonbeam Capital Investments for $14.3 million. Macy's closed as part of a larger closing round in 2015, as well as Dick's Sporting Goods, who relocated to DeWitt Commons. J. C. Penney closed its doors in April 2016, and Sears closed on September 2, 2018, leaving the mall with no anchors. The mall closed as part of New York's COVID-19 pandemic response in March 2020, and did not reopen. Moonbeam Capital served eviction notices to all remaining tenants in September 2020. Following its closure, Moonbeam Capital sold the property to the Onondaga County, New York government, for $3.5 million, as well as $13 million in forgiven back-taxes and interest.


Red Food

Red Food Stores, Inc. (or simply Red Food) was a supermarket chain company headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It operated stores mostly in northwest Georgia, northeast Alabama, and southeast Tennessee. Around 55 stores were operated in the same three states. According to The Chattanoogan, Red Food was a longtime icon in Chattanooga history.
History.
Red Food started in 1908 by Frank McDonald. During World War II, for their first time, Red Food sold turkeys for forty-five cents per pound to customers for Thanksgiving. They also told customers to "invite a soldier and serve turkey this Thanksgiving." In 1979, Promodès, a food distribution firm based in Caen, France, made a bid to buy Red Food Stores, Inc. for $23 million. By 1980, the acquisition was completed, for a total of $36 million. The Red Food purchase gave Promodès 23 supermarkets centered primarily in southern Tennessee, plus additional stores in Georgia and Alabama as well. In order to finance Promodès' expansion, which would invest more than Ffr 2 billion between 1979 and 1984, the company went public in 1979.
On April, 1989, Red Food Store's purchase of seven supermarkets in its hometown owned by Kroger Co. was halted at virtually the 11th hour by the Federal Trade Commission, which decided the merger would substantially hamper competition in the market. The FTC action came unexpectedly. A month later, the FTC issued a complaint, challenging Red Food Stores' $6.5 million acquisition of all seven Kroger Co. grocery stores in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The commission lodged the complaint after a Federal appeals court rejected its request for an injunction blocking the transaction.
In 1994, Red Food Stores, Inc. was bought by Ahold for $129 million, while Red Food stores were changed into Ahold's BI-LO stores in 1995.
In July 2015, Southeastern Grocers, the current owner of BI-LO, announced the sale of its 21 BI-LO stores in the Chattanooga market as well as eight stores in Northern Georgia to K-VA-T Food Stores, which would rebrand the stores under its Food City banner. This sale ended BI-LO's presence in the Tennessee market.
Logos.
The first logo used by Red Food Stores, Inc. was similar to the second one (as seen in this article), but with a rooster in the middle of it. The last logo used was plain red with little or no curves around the inside and outside of the letters. It was introduced a year before Ahold bought the company.


Douk-Douk

The douk-douk is a French-made pocket knife of simple sheet-metal construction. It has been manufactured by the M. C. Cognet cutlery firm in Thiers, France, since 1929.
Design origins.
The external engraving of the "douk-douk" was created in 1929 by Gaspard Cognet of Cognet, Antoine & Gaspard for sales to France's colonies in Oceania. The handle depicts a "douk-douk", or Melanesian spirit incarnation. Cognet based the design on an engraving in an illustrated dictionary. Later other designs such as the "El Baraka" and "Tiki" were developed for other regional markets, particularly in French Algeria, and even south into Sub-Saharan Africa.
Originally intended as an inexpensive utility pocket knife for the ordinary working man, the popularity of the "douk-douk" caused it to be pressed into service as a weapon when necessary. During the 1954-1962 FLN-led revolt in Algeria, the "douk-douk" was used as weapon of assassination and terror; Algerians who ran afoul of the FLN frequently had their noses removed with a knife, many of them "douk-douks" (or more properly the "El Baraka" model which was sold in Algeria, due to Muslim ideals on what sorts of images were appropriate). It could easily be converted from a folding-blade pocket knife into a useful fixed-blade knife by the simple expedient of hammering the ends of the sheet-metal handle together behind the blade's bolster, locking the blade into the full-open position.
Description.
The douk-douk is a very simple slipjoint knife, having no locking mechanism, but only a very strong backspring to bias it towards the open, closed and 90 degree positions. This intermediate position is to help prevent the blade from snapping shut on the users fingers if the user accidentally folds the blade while cutting. The knife consists of only six parts:
The cutlery firm of M.C. Cognet has continued to produce the knife up to the present day, using the same simple methods. Today they are offered with several decorative designs, stainless or carbon steel blades, in three different sizes.
Variants.
Current variants


Jacksons (department store)

Jacksons was an English department store chain. It was founded by Edward Jackson in September 1875. Its flagship branch was located in central Reading, Berkshire, occupying a prominent site, "Jacksons Corner", on Kings Road, just south of the Market Place. It expanded and at its peak operated from seven locations. It closed its remaining original store in Reading in December 2013. Throughout its history, the company was owned by its founding family.
History.
On 17 September 1875, Edward Jackson founded the gentlemen’s outfitters shop in Kings Road, Reading. The business was incorporated as E. Jackson & Sons Ltd on 23 December 1919. The business expanded into a department store occupying the whole of the corner on the corner of Kings Road and High Street, just south of Market Place, selling womenswear, lingerie, shoes, knitting supplies, craft supplies, textiles, and it also became one of Reading’s principal suppliers of schoolwear.
The company later expanded, and opened stores in Caversham, Goring-on-Thames, Bracknell, Camberley, Henley and Oxford, but these had all closed by 1994. This left just its original store in Reading open, which was then branded Jacksons of Reading.
The founder’s great-grandson Brian Carter started working for the firm in the 1960s, rising to become managing director, a position he retained until the business closed on 24 December 2013.
Department store locations.
There were also further branches in Reading at Duke Street Corner (Jacksons hardware department, closed in 1928) No 215 London Road (closed), No 8 High Street (Boot and shoe Department, closed) and No 21-23 Oxford Street (closed). In c.1901 both Jacksons stores on Kings Road and Duke Street were known as "Jacksons Corners".
Jacksons of Reading.
Jacksons’ flagship branch was located in Reading, Berkshire.
Pneumatic tube network.
The store operated a network of pneumatic tubes made by Lamson Engineering, which transported cash and documents around the building. Installed in the 1940s, it was the last such system still functioning anywhere. A customer’s cash and a ticket stating the items purchased would be placed in a capsule by the sales assistant; the capsule would be delivered via the pneumatic network to the cash office; the receipt and change would be returned to the customer in another capsule. According to Carter, by centralising the cash collection, the system helped avoid thefts from the various small areas of the store, which would otherwise each have needed a cash register. At the closing auction, the system was purchased for £900 (+ VAT and commission) by the man who had been maintaining it for the past 20 years.
Part of the system is now in the care of Thomas Macey, archivist of the store, who now owns two of the cash stations and a part of the cash desk. This will be restored to working order.
Sign.
As well as the building itself, the sign "Jacksons Corner" also became a local landmark. When the closure was announced there was concern over whether the lettering would be preserved.
Closure.
In October 2012 staff were informed that the store would close the following year. Brian Carter cited building maintenance costs and the nearby Oracle shopping centre as primary reasons for the closure. It closed on 24 December 2013 after 138 years of business, with the loss of 60 jobs. The vast majority of the shop fittings were disposed of in a very well attended auction inside the shop itself on 4 January 2014. The auction raised £75,000.
The company archives which consists of over 200 items including old cash receipts, catalogues, photos and adverts are in the care of Thomas Macey. Many of the items date back to 1875 including Edward Jacksons cash book with the first day takings recorded and a receipt dated 1877 from the first shop at No 6, High Street, Reading.
The school uniforms department, which had become a significant part of the business, will be continued by Stevensons at 11-12 Market Place, Reading. Stevensons is an independent family-owned school uniform and sportswear business, also long established (c. 1925) and has taken over the supply of 28 school’s uniform in the surrounding towns such as Reading Girls and Reading Boys Schools, Sherfield School, Hook; Crosfields School, Reading; Maiden Erlegh, Reading, Ranelagh School, Bracknell.
The Economist newspaper marked Jacksons’ passing by suggesting "you can be too authentic".
In popular culture.
Jacksons’ archivist Thomas Macey published a book on the history of the store in 2009, "Jacksons: E. Jackson & Sons Ltd."
Shortly before the store closed a theatre play, written by Benedict Sandiford and directed by Cassie Friend, was organized by South Street arts centre celebrating the store. Performances took place in November and December 2013, mainly in the Jacksons store itself. Part of the performance has been uploaded to YouTube.
In the weeks before it closed, Lea Winchcombe filmed material for a series of short documentaries on Jacksons.
Reading Museum put on a "Jacksons Closing Down Display" from November 2013, scheduled to end April 2014.
The store’s window displays inspired a Facebook group, "The Windows of My Soul". At the dispersal auction "Cruella", the child mannequin the group had helped to make famous, sold for £966 to a round of applause.
The interior of Jacksons was used for an episode of the television series "Endeavor" called ‘Sway’, first broadcast in April 2014. The school uniform department was turned into a ladieswear department. The Lamson cash system was also used in the filming.