The Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) at the University of Pittsburgh is an interdisciplinary center focused on describing, understanding, improving, and researching various aspects of human cognition and learning in order to improve and reform instruction and training in schools, the workplace, and informal environments.

Overview
Co-founded in 1963 by Robert Glaser and J. Steele Gow, it was among the first such centers in the world focusing on field of fundamental learning studies, and was selected for a program of the Cooperative Research Branch of the United States Office of Education as the first such center to  provide a major  concentration of effort in psychologically oriented education. Early funding support in 1968–1969 came by way of a $5.6 million grant ($ million today) from the U.S. Office of Education for facilities and a $1.2 million grant ($ million today) for program expansion from the National Science Foundation.

Currently composed of 26 faculty from across the departments and schools at the university, the center focuses on interdisciplinary approaches to research. Among the faculty are education researchers, cognitive scientists, computer scientists, developmental and social psychologists, psycholinguists, evaluation and measurement specialists, organizational behavior researchers, and education policy analysts. A supporting research staff of over 150 research associates, as well as post-doctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduate students, contribute to research undertaken at the LRDC. The Director of the LRDC is Charles Perfetti who succeeded Lauren Resnick who served as LRDC director from 1977 through 2008.

Centers within LRDC
The LRDC hosts a number of research centers
 Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center (jointly with CMU)
 Institute for Learning
 University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out-of-School Environments (UPCLOSE)
 Learning Policy Center

Building
Funded in part from a $5.6 million grant awarded in 1969 from the U.S. Office of Education, the $7 million ($ million today) nine-story building was designed by Harrison & Abramovitz. Winner of several architectural awards, the unique building slopes at a 45 degree angle along an upper campus hillside.  Opened in 1974, it contains offices, experimental classrooms, teaching labs, demonstration areas, and lecture areas with advanced audiovisual and computer equipment. The building was demolished in 2022 for the construction of a new student recreation center and the LRDC moved into the Murdoch Building on Forbes Avenue.

See also

 High-definition fiber tracking

References

External links
 Learning Research and Development Center homepage
 LRDC building on Pitt's virtual Campus Tour

University of Pittsburgh buildings
Schools of education in Pennsylvania
Research institutes established in 1963
1963 establishments in Pennsylvania
Harrison & Abramovitz buildings


Airola may refer to:
 Airola, a comune (municipality) in the Province of Benevento in Italy
 Angelica Veronica Airola, Italian Baroque painter
 Jerry Airola, Founder and CEO of Silver State Helicopters

See also
Areola


Hubert James Willey, DCM & Bar (11 July 1897 – 6 September 1948) was twice awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, then the second highest British gallantry award, for his service on the Western Front, during the First World War.

Born in Dublin, the second son of James Willey and Emily Maud Bannister, he joined the Rifle Brigade soon after the outbreak of war.

Willey was first awarded the DCM for an action in 1915, just over a month after his eighteenth birthday. He was serving with 9th Battalion The Rifle Brigade (part of 14th (Light) Division) in the Ypres Salient. As part of the British offensive at Loos a number of subsidiary attacks were organised. The 14th and 3rd Divisions were ordered to attack the strong German positions at Bellewaarde Farm, near Hooge, that overlooked the British line. These positions were held by several battalions of the Königlich Wörttembergisches Reserve-Infantrie-Regiment Nr 248. The Rifle Brigade's regimental history describes the attack as a 'costly fiasco'. Some battalions were hardly able to advance at all, others including 9/RB, ended up beyond their objectives. The battalion was then in a highly exposed and unsupported position, taking very heavy casualties, eventually losing all but four officers and one hundred and forty men. In his own account of the action, the commanding officer, Lt Col Villiers-Stuart, gave the number of casualties as 1,116 of all ranks - a casualty rate of in excess of 85%.

Col Villiers-Stuart's diary relates:
A very young sergeant of D Coy, Will[e]y by name, had done specially well in the disastrous fight and was the first of the New Army to be made a CSM. I tried to get him and many others DCMs etc but the Corps Staff just crossed out all the 14th Division names as a matter of course. I may some day meet Keir and Lord Loch unless they are dead - I hope I do.

Despite this, 3 DCMs were in fact awarded to 9/RB. The recipients were Willey together with Riflemen H. Hill and C.G. Roberts.

The citation published in the London Gazette of 16 November 1915 reads:
B/2391 Serjeant H.J.Willey, 9th Battalion, Rifle Brigade.

For conspicuous gallantry and ability on the 25th September, 1915, on Bellewaarde Ridge. During the action Serjeant Willey passed continually backwards and forwards trying to establish communication with the Battalion on his right, and later, when all his Officers had been killed, he rallied and organised the men of his own and other Companies, and captured a position in the German second line trenches, which he held against all counter attacks. During the day he was under incessant machine gun and shell fire. He also took six prisoners, and made them carry back the wounded of his party. He exhibited the greatest bravery and devotion to duty.

Such actions, including Willey's, were widely reported in the British press at the time as examples of how men in junior ranks had exercised initiative and leadership after their units had suffered high casualties amongst their officers - for example an article entitled Gallant Deeds Rewarded - Leaders in the Ranks published by The Buckingham Advertiser and North Bucks Free Press in November 1915.

During the battle of Delville Wood (part of the Battle of the Somme) in the summer of 1916, Willey suffered serious gun-shot wounds and was evacuated to the Huddersfield War Hospital at Royds Hall, Huddersfield. He remained there until at least mid-March 1917, as he was decorated with his D.C.M by the Commanding Officer of the hospital, Lt Col W.L.W. Marshall, R.A.M.C. on 16 March 1917.

Later in 1917 Willey returned to 9th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, who were now again serving near Ypres. During the Third Battle of Ypres the 14th Division was ordered to attack German positions in two woods (known to the British Army as Glencorse Wood and Inverness Copse) on either side of the Ypres - Menin road, on 22 August 1917. Initially, the attack achieved most of its objectives but the attacking troops were then the subject of strong German counter-attacks. Held in reserve, 9/RB was then ordered, on 24 August, to relieve 8th Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps and reinforce 6th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry. In his subsequent report, the commanding officer of 9/RB, Lt Col F.A.U. Pickering DSO related:
About this time, under orders from the OC 6th Bn K.O.Y.L.I., my reserve platoons were sent to reinforce the 6th Bn. Somerset L.I.; one platoon on the right of the old front line and one platoon forward - well into the heart of Inverness Copse; this platoon, which went in over thirty-six strong, never left Inverness Copse though it was reduced to a serjeant and four men. This serjeant, Willey by name, collected a few stragglers of other battalions and held a post at the north end of the copse, but south of the Menin Road, until relieved.

Willey was awarded a bar to his DCM for this action, gazetted 22 October 1917

B/2391 Sjt H.J.Willey, Rif. Bde. (Stoke Newington).
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He led his platoon through a heavy barrage to reinforce another unit which was being strongly counter-attacked. He rallied men who had been driven back and led them forward. Though counter-attacked again and losing heavily, he held on to his position, which was one of the greatest importance, until relieved. He set a splendid example to all.

Willey was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade in May 1918, and posted to
the 13th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade (111th Brigade, 37th Division). In late August 1918 the battalion took part in the attack on Ablainzevelle and Favreuil, part of the Second Battle of Bapaume. Between 21 and 26 August, the brigade advanced some 8 miles, but during this time Willey was wounded  - the overall battalion casualties in this action were 50 killed and 259 wounded.

Willey was promoted to Lieutenant in 1919 and again to A/Captain in 1920, leaving the Army that year.

Later in 1920 he joined the Metropolitan Police in London. On 9 December 1922 he married Lillian May Brocklebank and together they had a daughter and a son.  During much of the 1920s and '30s, Willey served as a detective in Special Branch, earning several commendations for arrests in firearms and other cases. In 1921 Willey was serving in the short-lived Home Office Directorate of Intelligence under Sir Basil Thomson. In 1931 Willey arrested and gave evidence at the trial of William Shepherd who was subsequently convicted with George Allison of inciting mutiny in the Fleet at Portsmouth in the wake of the Invergordon Mutiny. During the Second World War Willey was awarded the King's Commendation for Brave Conduct for his actions during the London Blitz.

Willey died in 1948, while still serving with the Metropolitan Police, commanding the Wimbledon sub-division of V Division, in the rank of Sub-Divisional Inspector (a now abolished rank equivalent to the modern Superintendent). He was survived by his wife and children.

References

Notes

1897 births
1948 deaths
Military personnel from Dublin (city)
British Army personnel of World War I
Rifle Brigade soldiers
Rifle Brigade officers
Metropolitan Police officers
Recipients of the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct
Recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal
Police officers from County Dublin


Blackheath Hill was a railway station between the Greenwich and Lewisham areas in south-east London. It was opened in 1871 by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) on its Greenwich Park Branch Line. Blackheath Hill was at the end of the line until an extension to  opened in 1888.

The station closed in 1917 along with the rest of the line, owing to low usage and economy measures during World War I. The station building beside the A2 road was demolished in the mid-1980s, and the site has since been entirely built over. Whilst the building work was being undertaken the retaining wall and tunnel under the A2 were visible.

References

Disused railway stations in the Royal Borough of Greenwich
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1871
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1917
Former London, Chatham and Dover Railway stations


Live with Full Force is a DVD set by death metal band Six Feet Under. It was released in 2004 on Metal Blade Records.

Track listing

Live With Full Force DVD
"Silent Violence"
"Suffering in Ecstasy"
"The Day the Dead Walked"
"Hacked to Pieces"
"Human Target"
"Feasting on the Blood of the Insane"
"Torture Killer"
"No Warning Shot"
"TNT"
"Bringer of Blood"
"Amerika the Brutal"
"Victim of the Paranoid"

Maximum Video DVD
"Hacked to Pieces - Backstage Version"
"Feasting on the Blood of the Insane"
"Human Target"
"War is Coming"
"Nonexistence"
"No Warning Shot"
"Revenge of the Zombie"
"Bonesaw"
"Torture Killer"
"Beneath a Black Sky"
"Shortcut to Hell"
"Victim of the Paranoid"
"Hacked to Pieces"
"4:20"
"Insect"
"Lycanthropy"
"Mass Murder Rampage"
"Brainwashed"
"Victim of the Paranoid - Video"
"Victim of the Paranoid - Wacken '99"
"Still Alive"
"This Graveyard Earth"
"Bonus Footage"

Bonus Audio CD
"Silent Violence"
"Human Target"
"Feasting on the Blood of the Insane"
"TNT"
"Victim of the Paranoid"
"Dead and Buried (Living Life in the Grave)"

Personnel
 Chris Barnes - Vocals
 Steve Swanson - Guitars
 Terry Butler - Bass
 Greg Gall - Drums

See also

Six Feet Under
Chris Barnes

External links
 Six Feet Under's Home Page

Six Feet Under (band) video albums
2004 live albums
2004 video albums
Live video albums
Metal Blade Records live albums
Metal Blade Records video albums


Prom Wars is a 2008 Canadian teen comedy film directed by Phil Price and starring Raviv Ullman, Alia Shawkat, Rachelle Lefèvre, and Kevin Coughlin.

Premise
The graduating class at Miss Aversham and Miss Cronstall's School for Girls find that they have – in defiance of the natural laws of probability – all blossomed simultaneously. Capitalizing on their unique status, and intent on teaching high school boys to never take girls for granted, they issue a challenge to the boys of Easthill's rival private schools, Selby and Lancaster. The winner in a series of designated competitions will be awarded exclusive rights to the girls as prom dates. Like the capricious and meddlesome gods of Greek mythology, the ACS girls pit the boys' schools against each other in a (secret) Prom War.

Cast
 Raviv Ullman as Percy Collins
 Alia Shawkat as Diana Riggs
 Rachelle Lefèvre as Sabina
 Nicolas Wright as Joseph
 Kevin Coughlin as Geoffrey
 Chad Connell as Rupert
 Jesse Rath as Francis
 Yann Bernaquez as Hamish
 Cory Hogan as Jasper
 Noah Bernett as Kyle
 Alexandra Cohen as Maggie
 Meaghan Rath as Jen L.
 Mélanie St-Pierre as Jen Bergman
 Daniel Rindress-Kay as Northrop
 Keenan MacWilliam as Meg

References

External links

2008 films
2008 comedy films
2000s teen comedy films
Canadian teen comedy films
English-language Canadian films
Films about proms
Films shot in Montreal
2000s English-language films
2000s Canadian films


Orkoraptor is a genus of medium-sized megaraptoran theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of Argentina. It is known from incomplete fossil remains including parts of the skull, teeth, tail vertebrae, and a partial tibia. The specialized teeth resemble those of some maniraptoriform theropods, namely the deinonychosaurs and compsognathids. This and other anatomical features led the authors who described it (Novas, Ezcurra, and Lecuona) to suggest that it was a maniraptoran coelurosaur. However, subsequent studies found it to be a megaraptoran. Found in the Cerro Fortaleza Formation of Southern Patagonia, it is one of the southernmost carnivorous dinosaurs known from South America.

Etymology

The name Orkoraptor means "Toothed River thief", and was derived from the Aoniken "Orr-Korr", the local name for the La Leona River, located near the original fossil site. The species name honors Coleman Burke, an amateur paleontologist who supported the expedition that collected the original fossils.

Description
Orkoraptor was a medium-sized theropod, measuring  long and weighing . The holotype, MPM-Pv 3457 was excavated in 2001 and consists of a right postorbital, a right quadratojugal, a probable right coronoid, eight isolated teeth, the intercentrum of the atlas and its right neurapophysis, two proximal caudal vertebrae, the proximal half of the right tibia, eight fragmentary ribs, and three incomplete chevrons. It was initially believed to be a coelurosaur due to the upturned anterior process of the postorbital as well as specialized teeth which are unserrated on the mesial (front) side and have an 8-shaped cross section, similar to those of dromaeosaurids and compsognathids. However, many other features contradict those of these families and other coelurosaurs, so its original describers were unable to conclusively assign it to any specific family. They did note its similarity to a then-undescribed Patagonian theropod now known as Murusraptor. More recent analyses have explained that these coelurosaur-like traits are also present in some megaraptorans. For example, Orkoraptor's postorbital is almost identical to that of Aerosteon and the juvenile Megaraptor described in 2014 has teeth similar to those of Orkoraptor.

Classification
Orkoraptor was originally classified as Maniraptora incertae sedis. While the majority of phylogenetic trees recovered in its describers' analysis recovered it as a compsognathid, the describers considered this unlikely based on its much larger size and presence in much younger strata. Orkoraptor was subsequently recovered in Megaraptora, a clade including several other enigmatic medium to large theropods, which has variously been considered to be a member of Allosauroidea and Tyrannosauroidea. The phylogenetic trees in the publication of Gualicho shinyae have found megaraptorans to be either allosauroids or basal coelurosaurs.

Provenance
All known specimens of Orkoraptor were collected from the Pari Aike Formation, which is now considered by different authors to be either the middle section of the Mata Amarilla Formation, or merely an alternative name for the Cerro Fortaleza Formation. It was originally identified as coming from the Maastrichtian, and thus the youngest known megaraptoran, but more recently is considered to be from the Cenomanian to Santonian. The middle section of the Mata Amarilla Formation, whence Orkoraptor was collected, contains a tuff layer that has been dated to 96.2 ± 0.7 Ma, during the Cenomanian. However, the site where Orkoraptor is known from, Cerro Hornos, was recently reinterpreted as coming from the Campanian.

References

Megaraptorans
Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of South America
Cretaceous Argentina
Fossils of Argentina
Cenomanian genus first appearances
Santonian genus extinctions
Fossil taxa described in 2008
Taxa named by Fernando Novas


AM Driver, known in Japan as , is an anime series produced by Studio Deen, TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems. It is directed by Yūji Yamaguchi, with Satoshi Namiki handling series composition, Eiji Suganuma designing the characters and Kazunori Maruyama composing the music. The series aired on TV Tokyo and its affiliate stations from April 5, 2004 to March 28, 2005. A manga adaptation by Noriyuki Konishi was serialized in CoroCoro Comic from the June 2004 issue to the February 2005 issue. Two Game Boy Advance games and one PlayStation 2 game published by Konami have also been released.

The series was the first completely original work produced by Nihon Ad Systems, who have previously only produced works based on manga and video games. As a result of various planning discussions, it was decided to develop a life-size hero with the concept of a person "putting on" a mecha by having a person in a power suit board the mecha and transforming and combining with the mecha, rather than a robot.

Plot
The story takes place in the future world of Earth, which has been under attack by mechanical life forms known as "bugchines" for several years. The masses were living in fear, as no weaponry could stand up to the bugchines. To turn back this menace, warriors called AM Drivers are trained and armed with special weapons. The AM Drivers constantly fight to protect the general public. The most popular AM Drivers get larger budgets with which they may purchase more powerful weapons and defenses.

Characters

List of episodes

References

External links

2004 anime television series debuts
2004 manga
Mecha anime and manga
Studio Deen
TV Tokyo original programming
Anime with original screenplays


Bryan Hunt is an American sculptor who was born in Terre Haute, Indiana on June 7, 1947. His family moved to Tampa, Florida in 1955. He worked at the Kennedy Space Center as an engineer's aide and draftsman, 1967–1968, during the NASA Apollo Program. In 1968, he moved to Los Angeles to enroll in the Otis Art Institute, where he received a BFA in 1971.

Career overview
Hunt traveled to New York City and attended the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program in 1972. Hunt returned to Venice, California until 1976 when he moved to New York. In California, he had his first solo exhibition at Jack Glenn Gallery in Newport Beach in 1975, and soon after at the Clocktower in New York City.  Hunt's first solo show in Europe, organized by artist James Lee Byars, was Empire State, Phobos, Universal Joint at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels. In 1978 Hunt was included in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's "Young American Artists." Hunt's work Big Twist was installed in the Museum of Modern Art's Sculpture Garden in 1978; it was later loaned to the White House for a temporary installation in the Rose Garden, at the request of First Lady Hillary Clinton. Hunt's first commissioned sculpture was in 1979 when Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. asked him to create a sculpture for Frank Lloyd Wright's famous Fallingwater House, or the Kaufmann House, in Western Pennsylvania. He was in the Whitney Museum Biennials in 1979, 1981, and 1985, and was featured at the 1980 Venice Biennale.  Hunt was represented by Blum-Helman Gallery in New York from 1978 to 1991.

The City of Barcelona, Spain commissioned the sculpture Rites of Spring in 1985. It is installed in the public park of the El Clot neighborhood. He lived part-time in Spain from 1985–1991 in his home in Mojacar, near Almeria. In 1992 FallLakeFalls, a public artwork, was installed at the Mori building, Shiroyama Trust Tower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Los Angeles philanthropist Eli Broad donated Hunt's Empire State Building to the Whitney Museum of Art, and it was included in the museum's Centennial exhibition (1900–2000) with about 70 other significant artworks.

In 2006, the New York City Parks Department commissioned an artwork, Coenties Ship, for Lower Manhattan at the historic Coenties Slip. The 20-foot-high stainless steel and glass sculpture was awarded the New York City Design Excellence Award (2006). Hunt created and installed ten Waterfall sculptures on Park Avenue in New York City between 52nd and 57th Streets, in 2011, part of a changing public art outdoor exhibition. In 2014 Hunt was commissioned to create a sculpture, Axis Mundi, for the new One World Trade Center, New York.

Hunt's work is included in many distinguished private collections around the world.

He lives and works in Wainscott, New York, and also maintains a studio in New York City.

Early work
One of Hunt's first "translations of modern spatial concepts into sculptural form was Empire State Building with Hindenburg (1974), in which a facsimile of the ill-fated zeppelin is tethered to an eight-foot-high replica of the Empire State Building."

Recent work
Hunt's recent work includes Axis Mundi, 2014, installed in the 64th floor Sky Lobby, in the new One World Trade Center building in New York City.

ARTnews reports that "Bryan Hunt has since 1974 returned repeatedly to the 'airship' motif." The article continues, "This enterprising exhibition presented an opportunity to compare his variations on that motif and see where they fit in his highly prolific, wide-ranging career." The airships were constructed of silk paper over light spruce or balsa wood frames, then lacquered in various colors or covered in metal leaf. "Hunt has used the airship to explore a broad spectrum of references and meanings."

"A trio of tall, narrow sculptures study the way water flows, and eddies, and thickens around an obstacle or a curve. The large-scale pieces are called "Flumes", and, like Hunt's "Airships" series, they toy with volume and weight, the way basic elements—water, air—take up space and can be contained (or not),"  reported The New Yorker in a review of his solo exhibition at Danese Gallery in 2006.

Selected exhibitions
Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO, Bryan Hunt-Sculpture and Photographs, 2013 (+2007, 2000, 1996)
Danese Gallery, New York, Bryan Hunt: Recalculating, 2012 (+2010)
Imago Gallery, Palm Desert, CA, Bryan Hunt, 2011
The Drawing Room, East Hampton, NY, Bryan Hunt: Clay, 2011 (+2009)
Crown Point Press, San Francisco, Bryan Hunt: A Survey, 1999
Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, Sculpture and Drawings, 1998
Mary Boone Gallery, New York, Bryan Hunt: Sculptures, 1997
Gagosian Gallery, New York, Crossing, Plunge, and Hoodoo, 1995
Blum Helman Gallery, New York, Sculpture: Bryan Hunt, 1992

Selected public collections

The Anderson Collection at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
American Embassy, Moscow, Russia
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
The Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
The High Museum, Atlanta, Georgia
Hirschhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
Lannan Foundation, New York
Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humiebaek, Denmark
Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Mori Building, Tokyo, Japan
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum of Twentieth Century Art, Vienna, Austria
The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
Olympic Park, Seoul, Korea
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
The Peggy Guggenehim Collection, Venice, Italy
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

Books
Hunt, Bryan, Conversations with Nature, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1982
Hunt, Bryan and Constance Lewallen, Monuments and Wonders 1974-79, Locks Art Publications, Philadelphia, PA, 2007

Awards

Grand Prize, International Arts Festival, Seoul, Korea, 1991.
Art Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2007.

Publications
 Elderfield, John, Against the grain, contemporary art from the Edward R. Broida collection, New York, Museum of Modern Art, 2006.
 Glenn, Constance W. and Jane K. Bledsoe, Bryan Hunt, a decade of drawings, Long Beach, CA, University Art Museum, California State University, 1983.
 Hunt, Bryan, Bryan Hunt, Falls and Figures, Ithaca, N.Y., Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, 1988.
 Hunt, Bryan, Bryan Hunt, Sculptures and Paintings, Philadelphia, PA, Locks Gallery, 1998.
 Scott, Sue A., Bryan Hunt, early work: sculpture and drawing, 1974-1980,  Orlando, Fla., Orlando Museum of Art, 1991.
 Tuchman, Phyllis, Bryan Hunt, Twenty Years, Philadelphia, PA, Locks Gallery, 1995.
 Tuchman, Phyllis and Vincent Carnevale, Six in Bronze: Anthony Caro, Sandro Chia, Nancy Graves, Bryan Hunt, George Segal, Isaac Witkin, Williamstown, Mass., Williams College Museum of Art, 1983.

See also
 Arch Falls (1981), Houston, Texas

References

Living people
1947 births
20th-century American sculptors
Modern sculptors
Otis College of Art and Design alumni
People from Terre Haute, Indiana
21st-century American sculptors
Sculptors from Indiana


Joseph Bilodeau (August 9, 1900 – October 25, 1976) was a Canadian politician and a one-term Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec.

Background

He was born on August 9, 1900, in Saint-Pamphile, Chaudière-Appalaches and had a career as an attorney.

Political career

Bilodeau ran as a Union Nationale candidate in the 1936 election in the provincial district of L'Islet and defeated Liberal incumbent and Premier Adélard Godbout.  He was appointed to Premier Maurice Duplessis's Cabinet in 1936.  He served as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Minister of Industry and Trade.  He was defeated in the 1939 and 1944 elections.

Death

Bilodeau died on October 25, 1976.

References

1900 births
1976 deaths
Union Nationale (Quebec) MNAs
19th-century Canadian politicians


Erysimum cheiri, syn. Cheiranthus cheiri, the wallflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (Cruciferae), native to Greece, but widespread as an introduced species elsewhere. It is also treated as a hybrid under the name Erysimum × cheiri. It is widely cultivated as a garden plant.

Name
The common name "wallflower" attaches to all cultivars of this plant, as well as other species within the genus Erysimum and the former genus Cheiranthus.

Description

This is a herbaceous perennial, often grown as a biennial, with one or more highly branching stems reaching heights of . The leaves are generally narrow and pointed and may be up to  long. The upright to ascending shoot axes can lignify in the lower area. The lower leaves are in a rosette and have a short stalk. The leaf blade is up to 10 centimeters long, lanceolate and has double-stranded hair. The leaves along the stem axis are crowded, much smaller and almost sessile.

Inflorescence
The top of the stem is occupied by a club-shaped inflorescence of 10 to 30 strongly scented, nectar-bearing flowers, the crown of which is yellow to brown or reddish in color due to the interaction of the red anthocyanin cyanidin with various carotenoids, and golden yellow in the wild form. Each flower has purplish-green sepals and rounded petals which are two to three centimeters long and in shades of bright yellows to reds and purples. The flowers are quite large with a diameter of 20, rarely up to 25 millimeters. The scar is deeply bilobed, the lobes are later curved back. Pollination is carried out by bees and bumblebees.

The flowers fall away to leave long fruits which are narrow, hairy siliques several centimeters in length. The upright pod is hairy,  long, up to 3.5 millimeters wide and compressed from the back. The pods are wind spreaders.

Distribution

The wallflower is a garden refugee and originally native to south-east Europe, especially in the Mediterranean basin, where it grows in the wild in rock corridors. In Central Europe, it is now a wild and naturalized archaeophyte, which occurs mainly in warmer areas, but is only scattered for the time being.

Cultivation
This is a popular ornamental plant, widely cultivated for its abundant, fragrant flowers in spring. Many cultivars have been developed, in shades of yellow, orange, red, maroon, purple, brown, white and cream. It associates well in bedding schemes with other spring flowers such as tulips and forget-me-nots. It is usually grown as a biennial, sown one year to flower the next, and then discarded. This is partly because of its tendency to grow spindly and leggy during its second year, but more importantly its susceptibility to infections such as clubroot.

Cultivars
A miniature yellow double leafed wallflower was rediscovered by Rev. Henry Harpur-Crewe (before 1883) and is now named ‘Harpur Crewe’. Other bred varieties may vary in appearance from the wild plant. The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit:-
’Sunset Apricot’ (Sunset Series)
’Sunset Primrose’ (Sunset Series)

Other varieties such as 'Blood Red Covent Garden' are easy to grow and often benefit from being sown and left to their own devices, growing on patches of empty land with little effort required to maintain them, providing aesthetically sound blooms which produce strong scents.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment
USDA Plants Profile
Photo gallery

cheiri
Flora of Europe
Garden plants of Europe
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus


The Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Tunisiens (English: Tunisian National Railway Company), abbreviated SNCFT, is the national railway of Tunisia and under the direction of the Ministry of Transport. SNCFT was founded on December 27, 1956 It Replaced the Tunisian Railway Farms Company (Company Fermiere et Chemin de fer Tunisien) (CFT). Headquartered in Tunis the company employs about 6000 people. SNCFT provides both passenger and freight services at a national level.

Tunisia inherited much of its rail transport system from the French and the Tunisian Government has developed the infrastructure further. Due to historical reasons, the country has two different track gauge systems. Thus SNCFT manages 471 km of  network in the northern and a 1,674 km of  network in the central and southern part of the country (65 km electrified); only 8 km are dual gauge track (2006). Tunisia has a rail link with neighbouring Algeria via the border at Ghardimaou, but passenger services are limited to a single round-trip per day (as at summer 2008).

Rolling stock

SNCFT owns about 180 diesel engines, 15 diesel railcars, 6 electric rail cars, over 200 passenger cars, and more than 5200 freight cars. On order are diesel engines that will attain a speed of 130 km/h; China South has supplied locomotives, two of which are used on the Tunis – Beja – Jendouba line.

Passenger service

In 2003 SNCFT served about 35.7 million passengers a year. It offers "grand confort", first class, and second class services. Fast air-conditioned trains ("Direct Climatisé") are air-conditioned in all three classes, and faster "Express" trains are also air-conditioned but have only first class and grand-confort class. Commuter trains (omnibus for local and banlieu for suburban service) usually contain only first and second class. In 2008 SNCFT took delivery of some new diesel multiple unit trains which are marketed as "Autorail Express". These are used on the routes from Tunis to Sousse and Sfax, with one round trip per day from Tunis to Dahmani.

Tunis area
Local rail-based transportation providers are managed by the Société des transports de Tunis  and consist of the Metro leger, a light rail network, and the 19 km Tunis-Goulette–La Marsa  light rail link (TGM).

SNCFT provides local services in the Eastern suburbs of Tunis:
 Tunis - Radès - Hammam Lif - Borj Cédria - Erriadh; electrification is now completed.

Overland routes
Tunis is the hub of the SNCFT network. The major routes are as follows:

Standard gauge
 Ligne TA: Tunis - Beja - Ghardimaou, border to Souk Ahras, Algeria
 Ligne 1: Jedaida - Mateur - Bizerte
 Ligne 2: Mateur - Tamra - Tabarka
 Ligne 3: Tinja - Menzel Bourguiba
 Ligne 4: Mateur - Beja
 Ligne 19: Sidi Smail - Nebeur Ligne Abandonné

Metre gauge
Ligne 5: Tunis - Sfax - Gabes
Ligne 6: Tunis - Kalaa Khasba - Kasserine
Ligne 7 Bir Kasaa - La Goulette
Ligne 8 Les Salines- Le Kef
Ligne 9
Ligne 10: Bir Bou Regba - Nabeul Voyageurs
Les Lignes du Grand Sud: Sfax - Metlaoui - Tozeur and Sfax - Gabès, and branches Metlaoui - Redeyef and Moulares.
 The Sahel Metro: Sousse - Monastir - Mahdia; this route is electrified.

The Lézard rouge (Red Lizard) is a diesel hauled tourist train on metre gauge and goes from Metlaoui to Seldja. The service uses a former royal train of the Bey of Tunis with attendants in period uniform. The train makes photostops in the Seldja Gorge.

Freight service
SNCFT transported about 11.6 million tons of freight in 2003. In the south of Tunisia the Sfax-Gafsa Railway delivers phosphate and iron ore to the harbour at Sfax. Also the Metlaoui - Redeyef  and  Moularès - Kasserine lines are for the transport of phosphate.

History
In 1870, the Italian company Mancardi was granted a concession for a railway between Tunis and the Sahel region but due to lack of capital was unable to build it. Instead, the first railway line in Tunisia linked Tunis with La Marsa - today's TGM line - and was inaugurated on August 2, 1872 by Sadok Bey.

Construction of the northern network

In 1872 the British Pickering company was allowed to build a standard gauge railway between Tunis and Jendouba with a concession for 50 years. However, as the plan was not implemented, in 1876, the French Corporation des Batignolles and its subsidiary, the Compagnie des chemins de fer Bône-Guelma, took over. Work started on April 30, 1877. The opening of the first link from Tunis to Tebourba took place on June 24, 1878. The line reached Medjez El Bab on September 30, Oued Zarga on December 30, Béja on September 1, 1879, Jendouba on September 30 and Ghardimaou on March 30, 1880. The link with Algeria was completed  by September 29, 1884. In 1894, the route was linked to Bizerte. Later links were extended to Béja Mateur (1912) and Tabarka (1922). The French company was granted operational rights until 1922, after which it would be sold to the Tunisian state.

Construction of the southern network
In 1885 considerable deposits of phosphates were discovered in the region of Seldja. In 1897 a concession was granted to the Compagnie des phosphates et des chemins de fer de Sfax-Gafsa (CPCFSG) to mine the mineral and to build rail transport to the port of Sfax. The metre-gauge railway between Sfax  and Métlaoui via Gafsa was completed by 1899. It was extended in 1913 to Tozeur and 1916 to Gabès. At the end of the concession, the line was to be returned to the Tunisian State.

In addition, the company was granted a concession to construct a railway between Tunis and Sousse that was built between 1895 and 1899 with branches to the Pont du Fahs, the Cape Bon, Nabeul, Kairouan and Moknine. This portion of the metre-gauge network was complemented by linking up to Fahs Ksar Ghilane (1906) where large holdings of phosphates and iron were found. The link between Sousse and Sfax was closed by 1911. The link to Cap Bon was extended in 1940 to the lignite deposits of El Oudiane. Finally, the connection between Ksar Rhilane in Algeria and the network was completed in 1930 and the strategic link between Haïdra and Kasserine was closed by 1940.

Post World War II
By 1952 the rail network comprised 2044 km including 456 km of standard gauge and 1110 km of metre gauge operated by the Compagnie fermière des chemins de fer tunisiens. Their funding was provided by the state budget with the exception of the line Tunis - Ghardimaou which was acquired in 1922 by the Compagnie des chemins de fer Bône-Guelma. In addition there was the 440 km of metre gauge track operated by the Compagnie des phosphates et des chemins de fer de Sfax-Gafsa and 33 km standard track of the TGM.

After independence in 1956, the Tunisian rail system was reorganised under the newly formed SNCFT, with the exception of TGM. The concession of the CPCFSG expired at the end of 1966 and its rail operation became part of Tunisian Railways on January 1, 1967.

Modern developments
Not shown on the map is the 120 km direct line between Gafsa and Gabès.

In 2004, a new section of line opened from Kalaa Seghira to M'Saaken, enabling through Tunis - Sfax services to avoid Sousse town centre. Until that year, all services passing through Sousse had to pass through the streets and along the seafront at low speed. Most of the Tunis - Sfax route was double-tracked at this time, enabling faster and more-punctual services to operate.

Discussions are underway between Libya and Tunisia about a 150 km standard gauge link from Ras Ajdir on the Libyan border to Gabès. Libya is building a coastal network planned to extend eventually to Egypt that currently terminates at Ras Ajdir. Containers could be transferred to the metre gauge at Gabès at an exchange yard. Standard gauge access to the current Gabès terminus station could be had at the coastal curve 2 km east of the terminus.

Timeline

 2008 - Agreement with Libya for link line;
 2012 - Electrification of the Tunis - Borj Cedria railway line and the launch of several Hyundai Rotem modern electrical trains.

Proposed lines

 Gabès
 Medenine
 Ras Ajdir border station with Libya and the Libyan Coast Line (construction launched in 2008, suspended since the Arab Spring)

See also
 Rail transport in Tunisia
 Société des transports de Tunis
 Transport in Tunisia
Reseau Ferroviaire Rapide

References

 Historical information is based on the French Wikipedia article, accessed 2/7/2008: Transport ferroviaire en Tunisie

External links

 Home page (fr/ar)
 Railfaneurope's picture gallery
 List and pictures of engines

Railway companies of Tunisia
Railway companies established in 1956
1956 establishments in Tunisia
Metre gauge railways in Tunisia
Government-owned railway companies
Government-owned companies of Tunisia


The 1994 Romanian Open was an ATP men's tennis tournament held in Bucharest, Romania. It was the second edition of the tournament and was held from 12 September through 19 September 1994.

Unseeded Franco Davín won his first title of the year, and third of his career.

Finals

Singles

 Franco Davín defeated  Goran Ivanišević 6–2, 6–4
 It was Davín's 1st singles title of the year and the 3rd and last of his career.

Doubles

 Wayne Arthurs /  Simon Youl defeated  Jordi Arrese /  José Antonio Conde 6–4, 6–4

References

External links
 ITF tournament edition details
 ATP tournament profile

Romanian Open
Romanian Open
R
September 1994 sports events in Europe


Christine Rowland Beatty (born May 1970) served as the Chief of Staff from 2002 to 2008 to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

In January 2008, Beatty resigned amid an emerging political sex scandal and criminal charges of perjury related to a whistleblower trial for lying under oath about her extramarital affair with Kilpatrick. Beatty and Kilpatrick sought to mislead jurors when they testified that they did not fire Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown. Kilpatrick pleaded guilty September 4, 2008, to two felony obstruction of justice charges, and was sentenced to four months in jail on October 28, 2008.  Beatty was offered several plea bargains from Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy—one for as little as 150 days of prison time—but she refused.  Beatty was a respondent in a $25,000 settled slander lawsuit initiated by two police officers.

On December 1, 2008, Beatty agreed to plead guilty to two felony counts, serve 120 days in jail, pay $100,000 in restitution, and be on probation for five years. She was sentenced and began her jail term on January 6, 2009.

Personal life
Beatty, who was born Christine L. Rowland, graduated from Cass Tech High School and was voted its "most-popular student" in 1988 and was a Majorette.  She graduated with a bachelor's degree from Howard University and a master's degree from Wayne State University.

She married Lou Beatty and they have two children. The marriage ended in divorce in 2006. Beatty  suspended her status as a student of Wayne State University Law School as a condition of her probation.  She declared bankruptcy in 2013, though this did not discharge the restitution she owed the city of Detroit.

Legal troubles

Slander suit
Beatty was named in a slander lawsuit, along with Kwame Kilpatrick and police chief Ella Bully-Cummings, brought about by two police officers that claimed to have been slandered in the media by the trio.

The lawsuit stemmed from a 2004 incident in which the two police officers pulled Beatty over for speeding.  The officers claimed that Beatty was irate at being stopped and bluntly asked the officers, "Do you know who the fuck I am?" when the officers came to the vehicle.  The officers alleged that, while stopped, Beatty called Bully-Cummings to have the officers called off, which they were ordered to do.  When reports of the incident started to surface in the media,  Bully-Cummings said the officers harassed Beatty, and Kilpatrick said the stop "looked like a setup".

The parties in the lawsuit entered into mediation which recommended a settlement of $25,000 which was rejected twice by the Detroit City Council.

The attorney for the officers said "The mayor has been exposed and I may want more money for my clients now," after it was revealed through text messages that Kilpatrick and Beatty were involved in a sexual relationship that both denied under oath.

The lawsuit was settled for $25,000 and the attorney for the officers said of the officers,"They don't want to be embroiled in this whole [text messaging] scandal."

Text-messaging scandal

In January 2008, The Detroit Free Press examined more than 14,000 text messages exchanged between Beatty and Kilpatrick on their city issued SkyTel pagers between September–October 2002 and April–May 2003.  The dates are of importance because they encompass the time periods of the alleged Manoogian Mansion party and the ouster of Gary Brown respectively.

Beatty and Kilpatrick, both married to other people at the time, did discuss city business. However, many of the series of messages described not a professional relationship but an extramarital sexual relationship between the two, often in graphic detail.  The text messages further described their use of city funds to arrange romantic getaways, their fears of being caught by the mayor's police protection unit, and evidence the pair conspired to fire Detroit Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown.

In an August 2007 trial, Kilpatrick and Beatty both denied that they had a sexual relationship or that they fired Brown while under oath.

Beatty resigned as mayoral chief of staff stating "I believe that it is clear I can no longer effectively carry out the duties of chief of staff."  She did not indicate if she would resign from her position on the Detroit Medical Center board of directors.

Criminal investigation and charges

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy began an investigation of perjury charges after the Detroit Free Press revealed the existence of text messages which supported allegations that Kilpatrick and Beatty lied under oath about an extramarital affair during a lawsuit brought by Detroit police officers.

The investigation ended with Beatty being charged with seven felonies consisting of perjury, conspiracy to obstruct justice, misconduct in office and obstruction of justice.  The charges carry a maximum sentence of five to fifteen years in prison.

Conviction, sentencing, and jail time
On December 1, 2008, Beatty admitted lying under oath and was sentenced to 120 days in jail. She was also to be on probation for five years and, during that time, had to reimburse the city of Detroit $100,000, if she was capable of doing so.  On January 6, 2009, she began her sentence at the Wayne County Jail.

On March 16, 2009, Beatty was released from Wayne County Jail having served 69 days of her sentence.

References

1970 births
Cass Technical High School alumni
Living people
Howard University alumni
Politicians from Detroit
Wayne State University alumni
People convicted of obstruction of justice


Joseph Lee Sutton (March 22, 1924 – April 29, 1972) was an American academic who served as the thirteenth president of Indiana University.

Early life and education
Sutton was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Erville C. Sutton and Carolyn E. (Hatch) Sutton. After graduating from high school, he attended Oklahoma State University for one year before enlisting in the army in 1943. He was discovered to have an aptitude for languages, which led the army to enroll him in Japanese language courses at the University of Michigan. Upon completion of the program, he was commissioned a Lieutenant and sent to Tokyo to serve as a Japanese language officer in General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters.

Sutton continued his education at the University of Michigan after being discharged from the army. He received an A.B. in Oriental Languages in 1948, an A.M. in Oriental Civilization in 1949, and a Ph.D. in Political Science in 1954.

Professional background
 U.S. Army intelligence officer (1944-1946)
 Social Science Research Council Fellow (1951-1952)
 Lecturer at Case Western Reserve University (1952-1953)
 Professor of Government at Indiana University (1953-1972)
 Dean of IU’s College of Arts and Sciences (1965-1966)
 Vice President and Dean of the Faculties at IU (1966-1968)
 President of IU (1968-1971)

Tenure at Indiana University
Joseph Lee Sutton was an academic presence on the Indiana University Bloomington campus for 13 years before taking over as President from Interim President and Chancellor Herman B Wells in 1968. During his years as professor was considered to be an excellent educator and in 1955 he received Sigma Delta Chi's "Brown Derby" award, which was granted to the most popular professor. As President, he was respected by administrators and faculty at IU.

Sutton's brief tenure as President saw many challenges, including widespread protests on campus about U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He oversaw the dedication of a new IU library in 1969, the same year that an act of arson was committed at the old library that cost an estimated $650,000 in damages. A culprit was never found. Sutton resigned his position as President in the fall of 1970 and was replaced by then-Vice President John W. Ryan. He continued to work as a professor of political science at IU until his death.

Personal life
Sutton married Jean Harkness on August 19, 1945, and together they had four children: James Warner, Geoffrey Joseph, David Harkness, and Abigail Jean.  Jean's death in 1970 prompted Sutton to resign as President of IU in order to spend more time with his children. He married Elizabeth Josephson in March 1971. Just prior to the couple's departure to Japan, where Sutton was slated to become an exchange Professor at Tenri University, they were involved in a car accident. He died on April 29, 1972, at the age of 48, as a result of injuries sustained from the accident.

References

1924 births
University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni
Indiana University faculty
1972 deaths
Presidents of Indiana University
20th-century American academics


Criticism of the 9/11 Commission includes a variety of criticisms of the 9/11 Commission, the United States commission set up to investigate by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by then U.S. President George W. Bush to investigate the September 11, 2001 attacks, the deadliest terrorist attack in world history.

The 9/11 Commission was chaired by former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean. Because the investigation was politically sensitive, many participants have been criticized during the process. Leading critics include members of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee and the Jersey Girls, who according to the documentary 9/11: Press for Truth, were instrumental in overcoming government resistance to establishing the 9/11 Commission.

The 9/11 Commission members were appointed by President George W. Bush and the  United States Congress, which led to the criticism that the Commission was not independent. The Commission stated in 9/11 Commission Report that their "aim has not been to assign individual blame", a judgment which some critics believed would obscure the facts of the matter in a nod to consensus politics. In addition, some members of victims' families have claimed that the Commission had a conflict of interest.

Conflicts of interest
Members of the 9/11 Commission, including its executive director Philip Zelikow, had conflicts of interest, critics allege. Philip Shenon, a reporter for The New York Times, in a book released in February 2008, entitled The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation claims that Zelikow had closer ties with the White House than he publicly disclosed and that he tried to influence the final report in ways that the staff often perceived as limiting the Bush administration’s responsibility and furthering its anti-Iraq agenda.

According to the book, Zelikow had at least four private conversations with former White House political director Karl Rove, and appears to have had many frequent telephone conversations with people in the White House. The Commission staff kept a record only of calls Zelikow received, but Government Accountability Office records show his frequent calls to the 456 telephone exchange in the 202 area code used exclusively by the White House. Also, the book states that Zelikow ordered his assistant to stop keeping a log of his calls, although the Commission's general counsel overruled him. Zelikow had pledged to have no contact with Rove and Condoleezza Rice during his work for the 9/11 Commission.

The book also reports that some panel staffers believed Zelikow stopped them from submitting a report depicting Condoleezza Rice's and Bush's performance as "amounting to incompetence or something not far from it". Zelikow has denied discussing the commission's work with Rove and further added "I was not a very popular person in the Bush White House when this was going on" and remarked the staffers were disgruntled.

According to Shenon, Rove always feared that a commission report that laid the blame for the September 11 attacks at the president's doorstep was the one development that could most jeopardize Bush's 2004 re-election. As a result, White House lawyers attempted to stonewall the creation of the commission and to hamstring its work from the outset. As Shenon reports, when Bush terrorism "czar" Richard Clarke could no longer be prevented from testifying about his urgent warnings over the summer of 2001 to Rice about the imminent threat of terrorist attack on US soil, White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and his aides feverishly drafted tough questions and phoned them in to Republican commissioners to undermine Clarke's credibility." According to Shenon, it was this defensive strategy that Zelikow may have been coordinating with the White House.

According to Shenon's book, Zelikow attempted to bolster the Bush administration's false claim of a link between al-Qaeda and Iraq by trying to change a 9/11 Commission staff report to state that the terrorist network repeatedly tried to communicate with the government of Saddam Hussein, a claim of cooperation the administration had cited to justify the war in Iraq. Zelikow backed down when the 9/11 Commission staff refused to go along with his attempted change.

In addition, other members had ties which could be viewed as conflicts of interest. Jamie Gorelick, while serving in the Department of Justice in the Clinton administration, developed the policy, known as the "wall memo", that prevented communication between various government law enforcement and intelligence agencies, including between the FBI and CIA.  She also is on the board of United Technologies. Gorelick's firm has agreed to represent Prince Mohammed al Faisal in the suit by the 9/11 families. The families contend that al Faisal has legal responsibility for the September 11 attacks.

Henry Kissinger

The White House insisted that it was to appoint the commission's chair, leading some to question the commission's "independence". The initial person appointed to head the commission, Henry Kissinger, has been accused by many of having been involved in past government cover ups in South America, including the overthrow of the Salvador Allende government in Chile on September 11, 1973, and of having ongoing business relationships with members of the Bin Laden family in Saudi Arabia.

Even after Kissinger resigned, the White House was often cited as having attempted to block the release of information to the 9/11 Commission and for refusing to give interviews without tight conditions attached leading to threats to subpoena. The Bush Administration has further been accused of attempting to derail the commission by giving it one of the smallest independent commission funding levels in recent history ($3 million), and by giving the commission a very short deadline. The White House insists that they have given the commission "unprecedented cooperation".

While President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney ultimately agreed to testify, they did so only under several conditions:
 They would be allowed to testify jointly;
 They would not be required to take an oath before testifying;
 The testimony would not be recorded electronically or transcribed, and that the only record would be notes taken by one of the commission staffers;
 These notes would not be made public.

The commission agreed to these conditions, and the president and vice president gave their testimony on April 29.

Resistance to investigation
Commission chairman Thomas Kean and co-chairman Lee H. Hamilton accused the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of making a conscious decision to impede the commission’s inquiry after the agency received a memorandum prepared by Philip D. Zelikow, the panel's former executive director. Zelikow prepared this memorandum after former commission members reviewed thousands of classified documents following the disclosure that the CIA in November 2005 destroyed videotapes documenting the interrogations of two al-Qaeda operatives. The review concluded that the commission made repeated and detailed requests to the agency in 2003 and 2004 for documents and other information about the interrogation of operatives of al-Qaeda and that the commission was told by a top CIA official that the agency had "produced or made available for review" everything that had been requested. The memorandum concluded that "further investigation is needed" to determine whether the CIA's withholding of the tapes from the commission violated federal law.

John E. McLaughlin, the former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, said that the CIA insisted that agency officials had always been candid with the commission and that information from the CIA proved central to their work. "We weren't playing games with them, and we weren't holding anything back" he added. A CIA spokesman also said that the agency had been prepared to give the commission the interrogation videotapes but that commission staff members never specifically asked for interrogation videos.

Unreliable evidence

Interrogation under torture
In January 2008, NBC News released an investigative report on the 9/11 Commission's use of information acquired by torture of detainees.  Current and former senior U.S. intelligence officials said that the operatives cited by the Commission were subjected to the harshest of the CIA’s methods, the "enhanced interrogation techniques", subsequently determined to be torture by U.S., United Nations, and European Union authorities. According to the NBC analysis, more than one quarter of all footnotes in the 9/11 Commission Report refer to CIA interrogations of al-Qaeda operatives who were subjected to the harsh interrogation techniques.

9/11 Commission staffers say they "guessed" but did not know for certain that harsh techniques had been used, and they were concerned that the techniques had affected the operatives’ credibility. At least four of the operatives whose interrogation was included in the 9/11 Commission Report claimed that they told interrogators critical information as a way to stop being "tortured."

Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, says he was "shocked" that the Commission never asked about extreme interrogation measures.  "Most people look at the 9/11 Commission Report as a trusted historical document. If their conclusions were supported by information gained from torture, therefore their conclusions are suspect."

NBC News quoted Philip Zelikow, the 9/11 Commission's executive director, as saying that the Commission relied heavily on the information derived from the interrogations, but remained skeptical of it. Zelikow admits that "quite a bit, if not most" of its information on the official 9/11 story "did come from the interrogations."

FAA and NORAD
For more than two years after the attacks, officials with North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provided inaccurate information about the response to the hijackings in testimony and media appearances. Authorities suggested that US air defenses had reacted quickly, that jets had been scrambled in response to the last two hijackings and that fighters were prepared to shoot down United Airlines Flight 93 if it threatened Washington, D.C.

The 9/11 Commission reported a year later that audiotapes from NORAD's Northeast headquarters and other evidence showed clearly that the military never had any of the hijacked airliners in its sights and at one point chased a phantom aircraft, American Airlines Flight 11, long after it had crashed into the World Trade Center.  Maj. Gen. Larry Arnold and Col. Alan Scott, for instance, told the commission that NORAD had begun tracking United Flight 93 at 9:16 a.m., but the Commission determined that the airliner was not even hijacked until 12 minutes later. According to later testimony, the military was not aware of the flight until after it had crashed in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania.

The Commission was forced to use subpoenas to obtain the cooperation of the FAA and NORAD to release evidence such as audiotapes. The agencies' reluctance to release the tapes, along with emails, erroneous public statements, and other evidence, led some of the panel's staff members and commissioners to believe that authorities sought to mislead the Commission and the public about the September 11 attacks. "I was shocked at how different the truth was from the way it was described," said John Farmer, a former New Jersey attorney general who led the staff inquiry into events on September 11, in an August 2006 interview.

Limited scope
In April 2002, Bush said that the investigation into the September 11 attacks should be confined to Congress because it deals with sensitive information that could reveal sources and methods of intelligence.  But by September, the White House came under intense fire concerning the 9/11 Commission from many victims' families, and thus President Bush finally agreed to the creation of an "independent" 9/11 Commission. But many September 11 victims' families believed that the scope of the investigation by the Commission did not go far enough in investigating the US government's failures because the Commission was not to investigate intelligence failures.

The National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, consisting of former FBI, NSA, and other federal intelligence experts, claim the 9/11 Commission Report was fundamentally flawed because the Commission refused to hear, ignored, or censored testimony about the many pre–September 11 warnings given to the FBI and US intelligence agencies. These federal whistleblowers claim that in an effort to avoid having to hold any individual accountable, the 9/11 Commission turned a blind eye on FBI agent-provided evidence before September 11 regarding the 9/11 plot.

Able Danger

In August 2005, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer claimed he had informed 9/11 Commission executive director Philip D. Zelikow about a highly classified data-mining project called Able Danger that had identified two of the three terrorist cells responsible for the September 11 attacks.  Shaffer said Zelikow was initially very interested and gave Shaffer his card to contact him again.  However, Shaffer claims when he contacted Zelikow, he was no longer interested in information about Able Danger. The Commission later issued a response saying they found Shaffer "not sufficiently reliable" and the information was "lacking historical significance" and did not warrant further investigation. Subsequently, four additional "credible witnesses" have come forward to support Shaffer's account of Able Danger.

U.S. Representative Curt Weldon (R-PA) claimed Commission staff had received two briefings on Able Danger, one in October 2003 and another in July 2004. Former Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA), a member of the Commission, said: "Bluntly, it just didn't happen and that's the conclusion of all 10 of us."  A search for documents on Able Danger has not been very productive, leading Curt Weldon to express extreme disappointment and to speculate that a coverup may have occurred.

The Pentagon investigated the matter and has not been able to find any documentary evidence confirming the allegations. Pentagon spokesman Army Maj. Paul Swiergosz said: "We've interviewed 80 people involved with Able Danger, combed through hundreds of thousands of documents and millions of e-mails and have still found no documentation of Mohamed Atta."  Weldon claims that the Pentagon ordered the destruction of a large volume of documents related to Able Danger. The Pentagon stated that due to regulations regarding the collection of data on foreign visitors in the United States that the records had been destroyed.

FBI director's critique
Former FBI director Louis Freeh criticized the 9/11 Commission for ignoring key evidence from Able Danger, which he alleged resulted in false statements being made in the final 9/11 Commission Report. For example, the 9/11 Commission concluded that, "American intelligence agencies were unaware of Mr. Atta until the day of the attacks," which Mr. Freeh stated appears to be false. He stated that Able Danger had identified Mohamed Atta, the alleged ringleader of the 19 hijackers, as an al-Qaeda man active in the United States and was tracking him for many months.

Freeh criticized the Commission for allowing the Pentagon to withhold key evidence about the facts found by Able Danger and concluded that these inadequacies raised serious questions about the credibility of the 9/11 Commission.

"Set up" to fail
The two co-chairs of the 9/11 Commission, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, believe that the government established the 9/11 Commission in a way that ensured that it would fail. In their book, Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission, Kean and Hamilton describe their experience co-chairing the Commission. Hamilton listed a number of reasons for reaching this conclusion, including the late establishment of the Commission and the very short deadline imposed on its work; the insufficient funds ($3 million initially allocated for conducting an extensive investigation; though the Commission requested additional funds, it received only a fraction of the funds requested and the chairs still felt hamstrung; the many politicians who opposed the establishment of the Commission; the continuing resistance and opposition to the work of the Commission by many politicians, particularly those who did not wish to accept blame for any of what happened; the deception of the Commission by various key government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense, NORAD, and the Federal Aviation Administration; and the denial of access by various agencies to documents and witnesses that the Commission sought. "So there were all kinds of reasons we thought we were set up to fail", Hamilton argues.

Denying support from Saudi Arabia

The 9/11 Commission Report concluded that while 15 of the 19 hijackers who carried out the September 11 attacks were from Saudi Arabia, there was no evidence the government of Saudi Arabia funded the attacks. However, it does identify private individuals and organizations in Saudi Arabia as the primary funding source for al-Qaeda overall.

Former Senator Bob Graham, the co-chair of an earlier congressional report into the 9/11 attacks, has called for re-opening an investigation into Saudi funding of the attack and the declassification of documents discussing the subject, including 28 pages from that report. Those 28 pages were subsequently declassified July 15, 2016.

References

External links
  9/11 Commission Report - An exercise in escapism
 Running From the Truth
 9/11 Commission Disputes Criticism
 Republicans amplify criticism of 9/11 commission

9/11 Commission
George W. Bush administration controversies


The Case Against the Fed is a 1994 book by Murray N. Rothbard criticising the United States Federal Reserve, fractional reserve banking, and central banks in general. It details a history of fractional reserve banking and the influence that bankers have had on monetary policy over the last few centuries.

Rothbard argues that the claim that the Federal Reserve is designed to fight inflation is sophistry, that price inflation is caused only by an increase in the money supply, and that since only banks increase the money supply, then banks, including the Federal Reserve, are the only source of inflation. He writes: "Unlike the days of the gold standard, it is impossible for the Federal Reserve to go bankrupt; it holds the legal monopoly of counterfeiting (of creating money out of thin air) in the entire country.
. . . Neat trick if you can get away with it!"

Publishing History

In English

 The Case Against the Fed. Alabama: Mises Institute, 1994;

In Portuguese

 Pelo fim do Banco Central. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Konkin, 2022;

See also
 Austrian Business Cycle Theory

References

External links
The Case Against the Fed – full text web page (2009 edition)

1994 non-fiction books
Finance books
Books by Murray Rothbard
Federal Reserve System


Tafataona P. Mahoso, dubbed 'the Media Hangman' by local and international media, was the controversial and vitriolic chairman of the Media and Information Commission (MIC), an organ that was created by Jonathan Moyo to control the media in Zimbabwe, pursuant to Zimbabwe's Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). He was replaced by Chinondidyachii Mararike in early 2008 when a judge determined that he was unfit to perform his duties as the chairman of MIC because he was 'politically biased.'.

He was controversially reappointed to a Zimbabwe media board in October 2009 even though a parliamentary committee gave him low marks during an interview.

Education

He holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Literature and History from Roberts Wesleyan College, Chili, New York. He was award a Masters of Arts (MA) degree in Literature from Ohio University. In 1971, he got a PhD in African Studies and History from Temple University.

War with the Media

AIPPA gave him unlimited and boundless and complete powers to oversee the media in Zimbabwe, especially the print media.

The Tribune

He closed down The Tribune and its sister newspaper The Weekend Tribune, on the ground that they did not inform him of a change of ownership.

ANZ

He has fought to deny a license to ANZ, publishers of the Daily News. Over the years, he has been dragged to court where he has defended provisions of AIPPA that gives the power to shut down newspapers.

Columnist

He writes a weekly column in the Sunday Mail, which he regularly uses to support government policies on one hand and to attack perceived enemies of the state on the other. He has attacked Gideon Gono on the cash shortages in Zimbabwe in the same column.

Personal life
Little is known about Mahoso's personal life. The scanty reports available indicate that during his time in America, attending school and teaching, he cohabited with a woman called Ruth Laughlin

See also

 Jonathan Moyo
 Tobaiwa Mudede

References

Zimbabwean political people
Living people
1957 births


Barrytown is a hamlet (and census-designated place) within the town of Red Hook in Dutchess County, New York, United States.  It is within the Hudson River Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and contains four notable Hudson River Valley estates: Edgewater, Massena, Rokeby, and Sylvania.

History

In 1791, Peter and Eleanor Contine kept store at what would later be called Barrytown Landing.

Barrytown was named in honor of President Andrew Jackson's Postmaster General, William Taylor Barry, who served in that capacity from 1829 to 1835.  Barrytown is about  from New York City.

The majority of the houses in Barrytown were built in the mid to late nineteenth century, often to house workers at the local estates and accompanying farms.

Estates
 "Massena" was first part of Livingston Manor and after the Lower Manor was split off, part of Clermont. Upon the death of his mother, Margaret Beekman Livingston, widow of Judge Robert Livingston of the Livingston family, John R. Livingston inherited land, much of which would later become Barrytown. (His sister Alida Livingston Armstrong inherited a section to the south, which would become "Rokeby"). John Livingston built a mansion in the style of a French chateau and called the estate "Massena", after André Massena, one of Napoleon's military commanders. In 1860, New York City merchant, John Aspinwall, purchased "Massena" as a summer home. Aspinwall was a supporter of John Bard and a significant benefactor to St. Stephen's College. In 1874, Jane Aspinwall established the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Barrytown in her husband's memory. Livingston's original mansion burned down in 1885, and Mrs. Aspinwall replaced it with a Victorian Gothic house designed by William Appleton Potter. When the Brothers of the Christian Schools' property in Amawalk was condemned to make way for the New Croton Reservoir, they relocated their novitiate to Pocantico. Around 1929, the Rockefeller family purchased the property. With the proceeds from the sale, the brothers of the New York District purchased the Massena estate at the northern section of the hamlet. They moved the novitiate there and established St. Joseph's Normal Institute as a teacher training facility. The Institute closed in 1969. In 1975 the property was bought by the Unification Church, where its Unification Theological Seminary is located. As of August 2018, the property was again for sale.
 In 1824, John R. Livingston gave the 250-acre "Edgewater" property to his daughter Margaretta and her husband, Rawlins Lowndes Brown. Brown died in 1852 and the following year, his widow sold the estate to New York financier Robert Donaldson Jr., who commissioned architect Alexander Jackson Davis to add an octagonal library wing. It is now owned by a preservation trust.
 Elizabeth Chanler Chapman was the daughter of John Winthrop Chanler and Margaret Astor Ward, and great-granddaughter of William Backhouse Astor, Sr. She grew up at "Rokeby". In 1902, she purchased "Edgewater", just to the north,  from the Donaldson estate. In 1905, she and her husband, John Jay Chapman moved into a new house designed by the architect Charles A. Platt, built on the hill above Edgewater and known as Sylvania. Around 1933, the Chapman's moved into a cottage built on the grounds of Sylvania they named "Good Hap".
 "La Bergerie" (later called "Rokeby") was established about 1811 by General John Armstrong Jr., who purchased the land from his father-in-law, Judge Robert Livingston of Clermont. The Armstrongs raised sheep on the estate. Their daughter Margaret married William Backhouse Astor Sr. In 1835, the Astors purchased Rokeby and used it as a summer home.
 In September 1844, Laura Eugenia Astor, married merchant/financier Franklin Hughes Delano. As a wedding present, William Astor gave the couple the southernmost 100 acres of "Rokeby". The estate became known as "Steen Valetje" (which means "little stone valley" in Dutch).In 1849, the Astors and the Delanos commissioned German born landscape gardener Hans Jacob Ehlers to improve the grounds at "Rokeby" and "Steen Valetje", in the course of which he converted an old farm track into a woodland path called the "Poet's Walk" in honor of Washington Irving and Fitz-Greene Halleck who are said to have strolled there. It is now Poets' Walk Park, managed by Scenic Hudson.

David Johnson, of the Hudson River School, painted his View of the Hudson from Barrytown, New York in 1872.

Churches
The Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist was founded in 1874 by Jane Moore Breck Aspinwall in memory of her husband, John. The church was designed by William Appleton Potter.

The Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church was established to serve the Irish Catholic population employed on the railroads and large estates. Prior to the building, they attended services across the river in Rondout and Saugerties, walking across the frozen river in winter or crossing by boat, weather permitting. On one occasion, a boat and its occupants narrowly missed a very tragic incident. Apparently, some members of the Donaldson family of Edgewater were on that boat. The Donaldson family donated the land for the church and cemetery at Barrytown. The cornerstone of the church was laid by Rev. Thomas S. Preston on October 17, 1875. Barrytown was a mission attended from St. Joseph's in Rhinecliff, by pastor James Fitzsimmons, until 1886 when Archbishop Corrigan appointed Rev. William J. McClure resident rector. The first burial in the Cemetery was November 23, 1886. The rectory was built in 1887.

In 1886, St. Sylvia's in Tivoli became a mission of Barrytown. As travelling to Barrytown proved hazardous in winter, in 1910, St. Christopher's in Red Hook was founded as a mission of Sacred Heart Parish. Sacred Heart once stood amid the bustle of rivercommerce, but over time, the population center shifted to Red Hook. Sacred Heart remained in use until 1969; it was suppressed as a parish in 1975. The building is now a private home.

Notable people associated with Barrytown
The American architect Alexander Jackson Davis designed several structures in Barrytown, including the octagonal addition to the Edgewater main house and the estate's two octagonal gatehouses (1853), located across from each other on what is now Station Hill Road. The South gatehouse is currently home to Baroque cellist Christine Gummere.
The American essayist and critic John Jay Chapman, a descendant of Chief Justice John Jay and grandson of the abolitionist Maria Weston Chapman, lived in Barrytown. His second wife, Elizabeth Chapman, owned the Edgewater estate from 1902 until 1917, and may have lived there briefly before the couple built the Sylvania estate on adjacent land.
During the 1950s, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Saul Bellow, while teaching at Bard College, rented lodgings at Sylvania, the estate belonging to Chanler Chapman, the son of John Jay Chapman; Chanler Chapman was the inspiration for the character "Henderson" in Bellow's 1959 novel Henderson the Rain King.
The author, playwright, screenwriter and journalist Gore Vidal lived at the Edgewater estate from 1950 to 1969, when he sold it to financier and preservationist Richard Jenrette. Vidal ran unsuccessfully for Congress from New York's 29th District (Dutchess County), using Edgewater as his base of operations; Eleanor Roosevelt campaigned for him.
During the 1950s, the reclusive film star Greta Garbo was a regular visitor to Barrytown, where she would stay with her friend Alan Porter.
The father of journalist Joan Walsh attended St. Joseph's Normal Institute in the late 1940s.
The financier and preservationist Richard Jenrette lived at the Edgewater estate from 1969 until his death in 2018.
 The artist Gary Hill lived on Station Hill Road from 1977 to 1984, initially as a tenant of artist/poet George Quasha and artist Susan Quasha, in whose Stained Glass Studio Hill's works were filmed, including Why Do Things Get in a Muddle? (Come On Petunia) (1984) He later returned to Barrytown to collaborate with poets George Quasha and Charles Stein.
The classics scholar and public intellectual James Romm lives in Barrytown and teaches at Bard College.
The author, translator, critic and New York Review of Books editor Daniel Mendelsohn lives in Barrytown.
 "Barrytown" is the name of a song recorded by Steely Dan on the 1974 album Pretzel Logic; Donald Fagen and the late Walter Becker, Steely Dan's leaders and songwriters, are alumni of nearby Bard College.

References

External links

 House Tour: Barrytown, N.Y. in The New York Times

Hamlets in New York (state)
Red Hook, New York
Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area
Hamlets in Dutchess County, New York
New York (state) populated places on the Hudson River


Cần Đước is a township () and capital of Cần Đước District, Long An Province, Vietnam.

References

Populated places in Long An province
District capitals in Vietnam
Townships in Vietnam


Gurdon Wallace Wattles (May 12, 1855 - January 31, 1932) was an early businessman, banker, and civic leader in Omaha, Nebraska, who became responsible for bankrolling much of early Hollywood. Wattles was said to possess "all the right credentials to direct Omaha's fortunes for the twentieth century in the post-pioneer era: humble beginnings, outstanding ability, a fine intellect, impeccable manners, driving ambition, and a ruthless streak."

Personal life
Gurdon Wallace Wattles was the third son of James Wattles and Elizabeth Whitton. He was born on May 12, 1855, in the town of Richford, New York, and died on January 31, 1932, in Hollywood, California. He was the grandson of Dr. Tower Whitton, a 1796 graduate of Dartmouth College.

His first name, Gurdon, was derived from his ancestor Brampton Gurdon, who was a member of Parliament for Sudbury (1621) and high sheriff of Suffolk. His daughter, Muriel Gurdon, married Richard Saltonstall Jr., the son of Sir Richard Saltonstall Sr., who led a group of English settlers up the Charles River to settle in what is now Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1630.

He was a descendant of Mayflower passengers Elder William Brewster and John Howland. He was also a descendant of John Lothropp, an English Anglican clergyman who became a Congregationalist minister and emigrant to New England. He was the founder of Barnstable, Massachusetts, and John Mason, an English army major, a deputy governor of Connecticut, and the principle founder of Norwich, Connecticut. One of his distant relatives from his father's side is Edward Everett, an American politician and president of Harvard University.

Gurdon's father served as a lieutenant in the 109th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the War of the Rebellion, and after the war, he decided to move the family. They traveled in a covered wagon settling in Glidden, Iowa, in 1868. Gurdon graduated from high school there, and soon after become a teacher. He attended Iowa State University graduating in 1876, joining the Delta Tau Delta fraternity and the debate team.

He married Abigail Jane Leete on October 20, 1882, in Jennie's hometown of Clarksville, Iowa. They met while attending at Iowa Agricultural College. She was the daughter of Allen N. Leete and Abigail Button, and a direct descendant of Governor William Leete, who was governor of the Colony of New Haven from 1661 to 1665 and governor of Connecticut from 1676 to 1683. She was born about 1858 in Clarksville, Iowa, and died on May 25, 1916, at Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. They were the parents of three children: Frederick Leete Wattles, Margaret Elizabeth Wattles, and Mary Louise Wattles.

He remarried at Estes Park, Colorado, on June 26, 1918 to Julia Vance. She was born at Milford, Nebraska, on August 23, 1883, the daughter of Alexander Hamilton Vance. She died in November 1977 in Los Angeles. She studied for three years at Doane College, and was a graduate of both Oberlin College and Columbia College. She was the director of the home economics department at the University of Nebraska when she met Gurdon Wattles. She gave birth to a son, Gurdon Wallace Wattles Jr., on May 5, 1920, at their home in Hollywood.

Career
After graduating from college and joining the bar, Wattles joined a firm in Carroll, Iowa. Soon after, he convinced his parents to move there, and at their behest, he donated a lot to the Trinity Episcopal Church congregation to build an edifice. Wattles first venture into banking happened in 1882 when he worked with silent partners to found the Farmer's Bank in Carroll. By focusing directly on assisting the many German immigrants who wanted to farm in eastern Nebraska during this time the Farmer's Bank "prospered beyond our greatest hopes." After arriving in Omaha in 1892 Wattles became the vice-president of the city's Union National Bank.

By 1901, Wattles consolidated all the independent streetcar lines in Omaha into one company called the Omaha and Council Bluffs Streetcar Company, which later became the Omaha Traction Company. In 1903, he helped organize the Omaha Grain Exchange and the Omaha Business Men's Association, a group vowed to keep labor unions out of Omaha and maintain open shops. In 1905, Wattles became the president, and then the chairman of the board of the United States National Bank of Omaha, serving until 1920. Also in 1905, Wattles was the lead of Nebraska's exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri. It was there that he pioneered the usage of filmed footage for advertising. Wattles was a director of the Chicago Great Western Railroad, and was responsible for the construction of the Omaha landmark Hotel Fontenelle in 1914.

Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition

In 1897, Wattles became the organizer and chairman of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition and Indian Congress. His leadership is attributed with bringing over 2.6 million people to Omaha to view the 4,062 exhibits during the four months of the exposition. When President William McKinley visited, Wattles introduced him to the crowd of nearly 100,000 assembled on the plaza. Wattles' expo stretched over a  tract in North Omaha and featured a -long lagoon encircled by 21 classical buildings that featured fine and modern products from around the world. During the grand parade for the expo, Wattles rode alongside William Jennings Bryan, a three-time candidate for president of the United States, who was also a close friend. This event is attributed with launching Wattles' influence across Nebraska and throughout the Midwestern United States.

Politics
Wattles was elected delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1904. There he voted for Theodore Roosevelt for president, and when he became a member of the notification committee from Nebraska, he visited Roosevelt at his home in Oyster Bay, New York. Their friendship lasted until Roosevelt died in 1919. Wattles was appointed the Federal Food Administrator for Nebraska by Herbert Hoover during World War I.

Honors
In an elaborate ceremony, Wattles was crowned King of the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben in 1905. The Iowa State College awarded him an honorary degree in the 1910s.

Wattles House

Noted Omaha architect Thomas R. Kimball designed the Wattles House in the popular historical revival Chateauesque style. It was built in 1895. Today, the majority of the house retains its historical significance. It has been listed as an Omaha Landmark and is a contributing building in the Gold Coast Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Wattles lived in the residence from 1896 to 1921, when he moved permanently to Hollywood, California.

Wattles Mansion

The Wattles Mansion and Gardens in Los Angeles, California, was built by Gurdon Wattles as a summer home around the start of the 20th century. Today, Jualita, as he called the 49-acre estate, is the last remaining intact mansion from that time period. The mansion was sold to the City of Los Angeles in 1965.

See also
History of Omaha

References

External links
 Wattles, G.W. (1922) Autobiography of Gurdon Wallace Wattles.
 Historic postcard of the Wattles Mansion in Hollywood.

1855 births
1932 deaths
Businesspeople from Omaha, Nebraska
American bankers
People from Hollywood, Los Angeles
Nebraska Republicans
People from Richford, New York


The Thurston Teal is a family of two- and four-seat all-aluminium amphibious aircraft designed by David Thurston in the United States and first flown in 1968.

A total of 38 Teals were manufactured.

Development
David B. Thurston established Thurston Aircraft Corporation at Sanford, Maine, in 1966 to produce a lightweight amphibian of his own design, which had the designation Thurston TSC-1A Teal.

First flown in 1968, production began after certification was gained in August 1969; the 16th and subsequent aircraft, which introduced some refinements, were designated TSC-1A1 Teal. In 1972 David Thurston joined the Schweizer Aircraft Corporation, which continued to build the Teal in the form of the TSC-1A2 Teal II before selling the production rights to the Teal Aircraft Corporation of Markham, Ontario, in early 1979.

Thurston Aircraft produced  a total of 19, Schweizer built 12 and Teal Aircraft constructed seven.

Design

The Teal design features a high wing with tip floats for lateral stability. The horizontally opposed engine is mounted tractor fashion in a strut-supported pylon above the wing root. The T-tail includes a water rudder and tailwheel that swings up against the bottom of the rudder. Conventional undercarriage includes flat, spring-steel main undercarriage legs that rotate aft for water landings.

Pilot and passenger sit side by side under a clear perspex canopy. Side windows slide up into opening overhead windows.

One unusual characteristic of the Teal design is that it cruises slightly faster with the landing gear in the down position than with it up. The Teal's wheels do not retract, but instead swing to the rear until the gear is horizontal and clear of the water. The drag produced having the landing gear stowed in the up position is higher than in the extended position, and this reduces cruise speed.

Variants

TSC-1 T-boat
The TSC-1 T-Boat was a proposed flying boat. The aircraft was to have no landing gear to save weight and folding wings were to be incorporated to aid storage. The model development was discontinued to concentrate on the amphibious TSC-1A instead.

TSC-1A
The TSC-1A was the first to the series to actually be completed and featured retractable conventional landing gear and non-folding wings. The prototype TSC-1A was registered as N1968T, given serial number 1 and was first flown in June 1968.  The TSC-1A certified under FAA Type Certificate A15AE on 28 August 1969 at a gross weight of , land and water. An increase in gross weight to  was approved on 9 December 1969. Fifteen Model TSC-1A Teals were built by the Thurston Aircraft.

TSC-1A1
The TSC-1A1 Teal Amphibian was an improved model with extra range and payload. The aircraft incorporated 23 US gallon fuel tanks in the wing leading edges, which replaced the single 24.5 US gal fuselage tank of the earlier TSC-1A. The gross weight was increased to  (land) and  (water). The prototype TSC-1A, N1968T was upgraded and used as the prototype for the TSC-1A1.  The TSC-1A1 was certified on 23 September 1971 and Thurston Aircraft built the first three. Three more were built by Schweizer Aircraft. Six additional existing TSC-1As were upgraded to TCS-1A1 status.

TSC-1A1/EW
The TSC-1A1/EW introduced wing and tailplane extensions. Wing span was increased four feet to , producing a wing area of . The horizontal tail span was increased by  to a total of . The empty weight rose to , with a gross weight of  for both land and water.

TSC-1A1/EW/EP
The TSC-1A1/EW/EP was a project to convert existing TSC-1A1s to TSC-1A1/EW status by incorporating the EW's wing and tail extensions and upgrading the engine to a  Lycoming O-320-B3B. Gross weight would have been  (land) and  (water).

TSC-1A2 Teal II and Marlin 150

The TSC-1A2 Teal II was  a development of the TSC-1A1, It incorporated slotted flaps, a change in horizontal stabilizer incidence and larger elevator trim tab travel. The fitted engine was a  Lycoming O-320-A3B. The new flaps reduced stalling speed and thus permitted an increase in gross weight to  for land and water operations, as well as shorter take off and landing distances. The TSC-1A2 was certified on 28 June 1973, including IFR in non-icing conditions. Schweizer built nine Teal IIs and seven were built by Teal Aircraft as the "Marlin 150".

TSC-1A2/EP
The TSC-1A2/EP was a proposed upgrade of the TSC-1A2 a  Lycoming O-320-B3B engine. Empty weight was  and the gross weight was to be  (land) and   (water).

TSC-1A3 Teal III and Marlin 180

The TSC-1A3 was a proposed  up-engined version of the TSC-1A2. It was developed by Teal Aircraft and was to be sold by the name "Marlin 180" during 1977–78. The Teal III incorporated aerodynamic and structural upgrades to the engine mounting pylon and the engine cowling. The projected empty weight was to be , with a gross weight of  (land & water). No  TSC-1A3s were manufactured, but TSC-1A2 #34 was converted to .

TSC-1A3/EW
The TSC-1A3/EW was a proposed  engine aircraft with the wings and tailplane extensions of the TSC-1A1/EW. The aircraft was proposed without flaps, but with a gross weight of  (land & water).

TSC-1A3/EWF
The TSC-1A3/EWF was a proposed aircraft that would have been identical to the TSC-1A3/EW, except with flaps.

TSC-1A2T Teal II & TSC-1A3T Teal III

In 1983 there was a proposal to form a new company, to be called Advanced Aircraft, which would develop a tricycle version of the Teal, to be designated the TSC-1A2T. This was to be a conversion of existing TSC-1A2 aircraft. The conversion would have included:

 relocating the main landing gear
 removing the tail wheel
 installing a nose wheel
 changing the hull to accommodate the new landing gear
 changing the rudder
 simplifying the flap controls
 installing of new style cabin doors

An up-engined version, designated TSC-1A3T, would have been powered by either 160 Lycoming O-320 or Lycoming O-360  conversion. In the end the company was not formed and the prototype never completed.

TSC-1A4 Teal IV
The TSC-1A4 was a 1977 Teal Aircraft proposal for a four-seat stretched Teal III, which would have had a gross weight of . The plan was for a  turbocharged Lycoming powerplant, a  extension for the fuselage, the wingspan increased by  and the tailplane by . None were ever built.

Specifications (TSC-1A1 Teal)

References

External links

Thurston Teal information
Thurston Teal information and photos

1960s United States civil utility aircraft
Amphibious aircraft
High-wing aircraft
Schweizer aircraft
Teal
T-tail aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1968
Flying boats


The Mittelrheinliga (), sometimes also referred to as Oberliga Mittelrhein after its elevation to Oberliga status in 2012, is a German amateur football division administered by the Football association of the Middle Rhine, one of the 21 German state football associations. Being the top flight of the Middle Rhine state association, the league is currently a level 5 division of the German football league system.

Overview
Until 1956, a total of ten Landesliga divisions, among them two divisions of Landesliga Mittelrhein were the highest amateur level in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. After the regular season, the ten Landesliga champions had to play-off for two promotion spots to 2. Oberliga West. Upon decision of the superior Western German football association, in 1956 four divisions of Verbandsliga were introduced, one of them being the Verbandsliga Mittelrhein. These four divisions of Verbandsliga still exist today, with the Verbandsliga Mittelrhein in 2008 renamed to Mittelrheinliga and later in 2012 renamed to Mittelrheinliga.

The Verbandsliga Mittelrhein was upon its inception the third tier of the German football league system. The league champion had to play-off the winners of the Verbandsliga Niederrhein and the two divisions of Verbandsliga Westfalen for two promotion spots to the 2. Oberliga West. Upon introduction of the Bundesliga in 1963, the league was set below the new Regionalliga West but remained as the third tier. With the exception of 1963 and 1974, when the league systems were changed, the champion continued to have the opportunity to win promotion. The clubs from the Verbandsliga Mittelrhein remained mostly unsuccessful as that, only achieving promotion in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1973, 1975, 1976 and 1978.

The league operated with 16 clubs throughout most of its existence, only occasionally altering the numbers to balance out promotion and relegation.

With the replacement of the Regionalliga by the 2nd Bundesliga Nord in 1974, the league champion had to gain promotion through a play-off system with the winners of the other tier-three leagues in northern Germany.

In 1978, the Amateur-Oberliga Nordrhein was formed as the third tier of football in the region compromising the area of the Verbandsliga Mittelrhein and Verbandsliga Niederrhein. One of the main reasons for this move was to provide direct promotion for the tier-three champions again. This season's league winner, Viktoria Köln, was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga; the clubs placed two to ten in the league were admitted to the new Oberliga, these being:

SV Baesweiler 09
Bonner SC
1. FC Köln II
SC Jülich 1910
TuS Langerwehe
SV Siegburg 04
FC Niederembt
FV Bad Honnef
Borussia Brand

Verbandsliga Mittelrhein, together with Niederrhein, remained as a feeder league for the new Oberliga, but now as a tier-four competition. Its champion, and some years the runners-up, were directly promoted to the Oberliga Nordrhein.

With the re-introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994, the league slipped to tier five but remained unchanged otherwise.

From 2008, with the introduction of the 3rd Liga, the Verbandsliga Mittelrhein was downgraded to the sixth tier. The league above it was then the new NRW-Liga, a merger of the Oberligas Nordrhein and Westfalen. The champion of the Verbandsliga continued to be directly promoted but since there was now four Verbandsligen below the Oberliga, the runners-up did not have the option of promotion unless the league winner declined.

The NRW-Liga existed for only four seasons before it was disbanded again in 2012 in the wake of the Regionalliga West becoming a league for clubs from North Rhine-Westphalia only. While the Oberliga Westfalen was established again in one half of the state the regions of Lower Rhine and Middle Rhine opted to elevate the Niederrheinliga and Mittelrheinliga to Oberliga status instead of reforming the Oberliga Nordrhein.

League champions
The league champions since 1956:

Source:

In 1966, second-placed Bonner SC wer promoted instead of SG Düren 99.
In 1967, second-placed Fortuna Köln were promoted because 1. FC Köln II was ineligible.
In 1973, second-placed Viktoria Köln were promoted instead of SV Frechen 20.
In 2008, second-placed Fortuna Köln were promoted because VfL Leverkusen was refused a Regionalliga licence.
FC Hennef 05 declined promotion in 2012 and 2013 but accepted it in 2014.
In 2021, the season was curtailed because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, with no champion or promotion.
 In 2023, second-placed FC Wegberg-Beeck were promoted instead of FC Hennef 05.

Clubs in the Mittelrheinliga since 2012
The final league placings of all clubs in the league since receiving Oberliga status in 2012:

Key

Founding members of the league

From the 2. Oberliga West:
Rhenania Würselen

From the Landesliga Gruppe 1:
SSV Troisdorf 05
Rapid Köln
VfL Köln 99
SV Habbelrath-Grefrath
SG Eschweiler
SV Stolberg
Tura Hennef

From the Landesliga Gruppe 2:
SSG Bergisch Gladbach
SC Fortuna Köln
FV Godesberg 08
SV Merkstein
Viktoria Alsdorf
BC Kohlscheid
Tura Bonn

References

Sources
 Deutschlands Fußball in Zahlen,  An annual publication with tables and results from the Bundesliga to Verbandsliga/Landesliga. DSFS.
 Kicker Almanach,  The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937. Kicker Sports Magazine.
 Die Deutsche Liga-Chronik 1945–2005  History of German football from 1945 to 2005 in tables. DSFS. 2006.

External links
 League table
 Verbandsliga Mittelrhein at fussballdaten.de
 Mittelrhein Football Association (FVM)

Mitt
Football competitions in North Rhine-Westphalia
1956 establishments in Germany