Family First New Zealand is a conservative Christian lobby group in New Zealand. It was founded in March 2006 by former Radio Rhema talkback radio host and South Auckland social-worker Bob McCoskrie who continues to be its National Director. Its 2006 stated objectives were to "seek to influence public policy affecting the rights and protection of families and promote a culture that values the family". In 2009 Victoria University religious studies professor Paul Morris said Family First was "successfully broadening the Christian agenda in New Zealand politics in a way never seen before". In 2020 Family First was described as "New Zealand's most formidable conservative campaigners". Family First was established by a trust deed under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 in 2006, was registered as a charity in 2007 and deregistered in 2022.

Focus
In July 2022, the organisation listed the following areas of focus:

Research and education
Family First’s purposes and aims are:
to promote and advance research and policy regarding family and marriage
to participate in social analysis and debate on issues relating to and affecting the family
to educate the public in their understanding of the institutional, legal and moral framework that makes a just and democratic society possible
to produce and publish relevant and stimulating material in newspapers, magazines, and other media relating to issues affecting families
to speak up about issues relating to families that are in the public domain

Speaking up and public debate
Family First has been a pro-family voice on a number of major public-policy debates in New Zealand. These include:
 the anti-smacking law
 the redefinition of marriage
 the liberalisation of the abortion law
 the recent cannabis and euthanasia referendums

Family matters
Family First says "New Zealand needs a voice that can research and advocate for strong families and safe communities".

History

Anti-smacking referendum
In 2007, Family First supported a petition for a citizens-initiated referendum to overturn the 2007 amendment act which replaced Section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961, which had allowed for a defence of reasonable force in child abuse cases based on corporal punishment. The petition gained 324,316 signatures although only 285,027 were required for a referendum.  When checked for invalid signatures there was a shortfall of 15,000 signatures. Sufficient signatures were then obtained to hold the 2009 New Zealand citizens-initiated referendum, asking voters "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?". In May 2009, Family First criticised the Government for spending $8 million on the referendum, rather than including it in the 2008 General Election, and suggested they simply amend the law. Although the referendum returned with 87.4% voting "No", no change was made to the Crimes Act.

Pornography
In 2010, after Labour MP Shane Jones controversially admitted to using his ministerial credit card for pornographic films. Family First wrote about what it views as the damaging effects of pornography on families and marriages, and promoted research showing negative effects of children being exposed to pornography.

In 2017, Family First presented a 22,000 written signature petition to Parliament against pornography, promoted research showing the harmful effects of porn being a public health issue, and called for an investigation into the destructive effects of pornography. The media reported that the petition even had the support of "outspoken left-wing feminist parliamentarians".

Electoral campaigning
Family First has produced "Value Your Vote", a brochure and accompanying website which were voting guides primarily concerned with each party's or candidate's record and opinions on issues which it saw affecting the family, such as civil unions, same-sex marriage,  prostitution, brothels, abortion, unborn child rights, embryonic stem cell research, anti-smacking, gender identity, abstinence-based sex education, parental notification, palliative care, public indecency, drinking age, alcohol outlets, Easter trading, loan sharks, gambling, welfare vouchers, affordable housing,  GST on rates, facilities for families, paid parental leave, assisted suicide and euthanasia, medicinal and recreational cannabis and decriminalisation of all drugs.

The guides were published for the 2008 general election, the 2010 Auckland mayoral election, the 2011 general election, the 2013 Auckland mayoral election, the 2014 general election, the 2017 general election, the 2020 general election and the 2023 general election.

Same-sex marriage
In July 2012, Family First established "Protect Marriage", a website set up to oppose the legal recognition of same-sex marriage in New Zealand after Louisa Wall's private member's bill was drawn from the ballot. In January 2013, Family First presented a petition with 72,000 signatures to Parliament opposing the redefinition of marriage. A poll just before the bill was passed showed that the country was split over the issue.

Charitable status
In May 2013, the independent Charities Registration Board determined the group did not "further religion or education, nor promote a benefit to all New Zealanders" and held that Family First did not qualify for charitable status. In its media statement and within the online copy of its decision, the Charities Registration Board held that Family First's objectives were primarily political and not the provision of social, educational or other charitable services as defined under the Charities Act 2005.

National Director Bob McCoskrie challenged the decision, saying it was a ploy to "shut them up". It also mentioned other charities that have challenged its stance on the abolition of parental corporal punishment, LGBT rights in New Zealand and other civil liberties and human rights issues, questioning their charitable entitlements. He expressed concern about the organisation's future if the deregistration decision remained in place, stating: "No longer will we be exempt from income tax and donations to Family First will no longer qualify for the donation rebate. This is despite it being a non-profit organisation funded purely by donation and gifts and relying heavily on volunteer time"  McCoskrie's concern was questioned by some critics of his organisation, given that Family First New Zealand listed the multinational religious right organisation World Congress of Families as one of the supporters for its "Forum on the Family 2012".

On 22 June 2015, Family First appealed the Charity Registration Board's decision to deregister it in 2013. The group argued that their opposition to same-sex marriage had been the reason for their loss of charity status. The Charities Registration Board argued that Family First's main purpose was to promote a particularly point of view of family life and contended that the group did not advance religion or education, nor provide a benefit to all New Zealanders as required by the law. On 30 June 2015, the High Court directed the Charities Registration Board to reconsider the case in the light of a recent Supreme Court charities decision about Greenpeace. This development was welcomed by McCoskrie as a victory for charities that advocate for difference causes in the context of an earlier landmark Supreme Court decision which recognised Greenpeace's political advocacy as a charitable act.

On 21 August 2017, the Charities Registration Board released its reconsideration and again decided that Family First did not qualify for charitable status on the grounds that the group's promotion of its views on marriage and traditional family could not be classified as being charitable for the public benefit. In response, McCroskie announced that Family First would be appealing the board's decision in court. On 30 April 2018, the High Court in Wellington heard Family First's second appeal against the Charities Registration Board's decision to remove its charitable status. On 7 September 2018, the Wellington High Court upheld the Charity Board's decision to strip Family First of its charitable status.

On 27 August 2020, the Court of Appeal overturned the Charities Registration Board's 2017 decision to revoke Family First's charitable status. McCroskie welcomed the Court of Appeal's decision as a victory for their freedom to advocate on behalf of their supporters in civil society. In mid December 2020, the Attorney General, Labour MP David Parker, appealed the Court of Appeal's ruling to the Supreme Court.

On 28 June 2022 the Supreme Court ruled that Family First did not qualify for charitable status, concluding that its research lacked the balance needed to be educational. The Supreme Court also held that Family First's conservative family advocacy was not charitable on the grounds that it lacked "fairness, balance, and respect." Family First executive McCroskie condemned the Supreme Court's ruling as an attack on free speech and denounced the revocation of Family First's charitable status as a "witch hunt." While charities researcher Dr Michael Gousmett welcomed the Supreme Court's ruling on the grounds that Family First discriminated against some people, Charities Law director Sue Barker expressed concern that the revocation of Family First's charitable status could set a precedent for targeting charities with dissenting views. Barker also called on the New Zealand Government to clearly define charitable purposes as part of their review of the Charities Act. Before forming a Government in October 2017, both New Zealand Labour and Green parties had said they would reform the Act by "updating and widening rather than narrowing the definition of charitable purposes" so that NGOs would be "encouraged rather than penalised for their advocacy". The bill to revise the act is expected to be introduced in 2022.

Into the River
On 6 September 2015, Family First successfully appealed a decision by New Zealand's classification office to lift an R14 restriction on the New Zealand author Ted Dawe's Into the River, a young adult novel about a Māori youth named Te Arepa Santos' experiences at an Auckland boarding school. Since its publication in 2012, Into the River had drawn controversy for its explicit description of sex, drugs, and coarse language. As a result of the appeal, the book was placed under an interim restriction order under New Zealand's Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act 1993, banning it completely from being sold or supplied in New Zealand. This was the first time a book had been banned in New Zealand in 22 years. News of the ban was also reported by several foreign media outlets.

Family First's actions were criticised by Ted Dawe, the book's publisher Penguin Random House, the poet C. K. Stead, and several librarians as amounting to censorship. In response to public criticism, the organisation's National Director McCroskie asserted that his organisation had not called for the book to be banned but had merely wanted censors to reinstate the book's R14 rating and require that copies of the book carry a warning sticker. In addition, McCroskie also called for a wider film-like sticker rating system for books citing parental concerns and age appropriateness. Family First also claimed that the Classification Office had received 400 letters about the book from concerned parents. In a press statement, Family First also argued that the New Zealand Bill of Rights stated that "freedom of expression" and "freedom to access information" did not trump censorship laws aimed at protecting the "public good".

On 14 October 2015, the Film and Literature Board lifted the interim ban on Into the River; ruling by a majority that while aspects of the book were offensive it did not merit an age restriction. In response, McCroskie accused the board of succumbing to book industry pressure despite what he alleged was the book's "highly offensive and gratuitous language, adult themes and graphic sexual content".

Ask Me First
In 2017, Family First launched a campaign called "AskMeFirst" to stop people born male that identify as female, or transgender women, using female-only facilities like toilets and changing rooms. Family First drew media attention when it released a video entitled "Ask Me First About School Toilet Privacy: Laura" which focused on a high school girl and her mother's opposition to a transgender student using the female toilets at her school. Tranzaction spokesperson Linda Whitehead and RainbowYouth spokesperson Toni Duder criticised Family First for promoting transphobia. Family First New Zealand states on its official website that there is a "transgender trend".

Sex or gender self-identification
In 2018, Family First objected to the New Zealand Government's proposal to ease the process for changing one's gender on their birth certificate. While applicants wanting to change the gender on their birth certificate then had to go through a lengthy process in the Family Court, the Government proposed a simple statutory declaration. Family First Director McCoskrie claimed that changing birth certificates would promote unscientific gender ideology and tell medical professionals "that they got it wrong at time of birth." In 2021, the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 2021 became law and allows people to change the sex or gender on their birth certificates without having to physically change their sex. It also allows the guardian of a child under 16 to change their child's nominated sex, and 16 or 17-year olds to change their nominated sex by statutory declaration without the consent of their legal guardian.

Abortion law reform
In 2019, Family First opposed the Labour-led coalition government's new legislation to remove abortion from the Crimes Act 1961, to allow unrestricted access to abortion for the first 20 weeks of pregnancy and restricted access after 20 weeks. The group described the government's proposed legislation as "deeply anti-human rights." In March 2020 the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 decriminalised abortion and allows women to choose a termination up to 20 weeks into a pregnancy, and terminate after 20 weeks with approval of a qualified health professional. In 2022, after the US Supreme Court repealed long-standing Supreme Court decision Roe vs Wade that guaranteed nationwide access to abortion, Family First said the pro-life movement would continue to push future governments to restrict abortion in New Zealand and that the US decision was a "huge encouragement" for anti-abortion activists.

Euthanasia and cannabis referendums
During the New Zealand general election 2020, separate referendums were held to decide whether or not to legalise euthanasia in New Zealand and recreational cannabis in New Zealand. The results were mixed. While Family First and other opponents were defeated when 65.1 percent of voters ratified the passage of the End of Life Choice Act 2019, Family First and other opponents won when 50.71 percent of voters rejected the legalisation of recreational cannabis. Family First director McCoskrie of the "Say Nope to Dope" campaign said that he was "pretty stoked" with the cannabis referendum results and that New Zealanders "understood the perceived benefits of legalisation were not greater than the harms that were going to come on society". Aaron Ironside, spokesperson for the SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana) NZ Coalition, that included Family First and other Christian, Muslim and secular groups, said that he was happy that New Zealand younger people would not be enlisted in a "social experiment."

After the referendums, Family First research showing the media bias in favour of the legalisation of recreational cannabis, was reported by NewstalkZB radio broadcaster Mike Hosking saying "36 percent of all headlines promoted yes, 18 percent were for no. In other words, twice as much of what you saw was for one camp." Similarly figures on the number of reported quotes from advocates showed "the yes position was quoted twice as often as no". Hosking said "worst offenders were The Spinoff, Stuff, Newshub, the Herald, TVNZ, and Radio New Zealand" and that he thought TVNZ & RNZ had "a statutory obligation to be fair and balanced".

What is a woman?
Prior to the 2023 New Zealand general election, Family First launched a campaign and website centred around the question "What is a woman?" with an online petition asking "that 'woman' is to be defined as 'an adult human female' in all our laws, public policies and regulations". Three separate news companies, including Stuff were criticised for approving, then cancelling, a full-page newspaper ad from the campaign. Political party New Zealand First said the news outlets were "curtailing genuine political debate, freedom of speech, and the rights of others expressing their opinions". The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that a complaint against a billboard from the campaign was "upheld in part" and "not upheld in part". They said the identity of the advertiser was not easily recognised, and that while some consumers would be offended by the ad it was not likely to cause harm or serious offence. Earlier in the year, Labour Prime Minister Chris Hipkins struggled to answer The Platform journalist Sean Plunkett when asked to "define a woman" and the video went viral.

References

External links
Family First New Zealand

Organizations established in 2006
2006 establishments in New Zealand
Religious organisations based in New Zealand
Christian political organizations
Conservatism in New Zealand
Anti-abortion organisations in New Zealand
Lobbying organisations in New Zealand
Opposition to cannabis legalization
Opposition to same-sex marriage
Political advocacy groups in New Zealand


Alfred Julius Emmanuel Sorensen (October 27, 1890 – August 13, 1984), also known as Sunyata, Shunya, or Sunyabhai, was a Danish mystic, horticulturist and writer who lived in Europe, India and the US.

Early life and background
Alfred Sorensen was the son of peasant farmer near Aarhus in central Denmark. His formal education ended after the family sold their farm when Sorensen was 14 years old. Sorensen then worked as a gardener on estates in France, Italy and finally England.

In the 1929, while working at Dartington Hall, near Totnes, Devon Sorensen met Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian Nobel Laureate poet. The two shared conversation and Sorensen introduced Tagore to gramophone recordings of Beethoven's Late Quartets, the poet then invited him to his newly created university, Shantiniketan in Bengal to 'teach silence'.

India
For three years in 1930–33, Sorensen visited India and came to see the country as his home. After initially staying at Shantiniketan, he travelled around India visiting places of interest. In 1933, he returned to the west to tie up loose ends there, before heading back to India where he would stay until the mid-1970s. When Sorensen returned to India he started wearing Indian clothing, a style of dress he would continue for the rest of his life.

Tagore had introduced Sorensen to Nehru, and in 1934 he visited the home of Nehru's sister and brother-in-law at their house Khali, Binsar where he stayed and used his horticultural skills in the garden, while still travelling during the summer. It was while staying with the Nehru family that one of their friends offered Sorensen a piece of land where he could live: Crank's Ridge, near Almora.

India's rich spiritual heritage provided a perfect environment for Sorensen's natural mystical attitude. During his first stay in the country Sorensen had been initiated into Dhyāna Buddhism, but it was Ramana Maharshi who was to provide the biggest influence on his spiritual life. He had read Paul Brunton’s classic A Search in Secret India (1934), and soon after he met Brunton who arranged for Sorensen's first visit to Sri Ramana.

Sorensen made four trips to Tiruvannamalai ashram between 1936 and 1946, staying for a few weeks each time. It was during his visit to Sri Ramana that Paul Brunton told him that Ramana had referred to him as a ‘janam-siddha’ or rare born mystic.

A profound experience occurred to Sorensen while he was on his third visit to Sri Ramana in 1940: "Suddenly, out of the pure akasha and living Silence, there sounded upon Emmanuel [his preferred name for himself] these five words ‘We are always aware, Sunyata!’" Sorensen took these five words to be mantra, initiation and name. He would use the name Sunyata, or subtle variations on it for the rest of his life.

Although Sorensen, or Sunyata, as he came to be known for the last forty four years of his life, kept his Almora hut as his base he would continue to travel around India visiting friends and ashrams, especially during the cold, Himalayan winter months. Sunyata met many prominent spiritual teachers in addition to Ramana Maharshi, including Anandamayee Ma, Yashoda Ma (Mirtola), Swami Ramdas, Baba Hari Dass, and Neem Karoli Baba.

Sunyata lived in India as a sadhu or ascetic, subsisting on donations. Although in 1950 he accepted half of a grant of 100 Rs a month offered to him by the Birla Foundation, a charitable body. He subsisted on this goodwill and the vegetables he grew in his garden until he moved to California a quarter of a century later.

From at least the 1930s Sunyata wrote diaries and reflections. His writing used a highly idiosyncratic, playful language to express the spiritual concepts that he focussed on. He often combined English and Sanskrit, used obscure literary terms or invented his own words. In 1945 he wrote Memory, an autobiography, which is the core of Sunyata – The life and sayings of a rare-born mystic. Sunyata continued to write throughout his life and another collection of his writings is collected in Dancing with the Void. He acquired Indian citizenship in 1953.

United States
In 1973, members of the Alan Watts Society travelled to India after Watts' death. They dropped in on Sunyata and were impressed by his spiritual understanding. One of the group told him "You'll be in California next year." To which Sunyata replied "But I have nothing to teach and nothing to sell." To which he was told "That's why we want you." Sunyata flew to the US for a four-month trip from late 1974 to early 1975.

In 1978, the Alan Watts Society arranged for a final permanent move to California where he lived until his death in 1984. While in America Sunyata held weekly meetings at Alan Watts' houseboat SS Vallejo, where he would answer questions from visitors.

Death
On August 5, 1984, Sunyata was hit by a car when crossing the road in Fairfax, California and died eight days later.

Teachings

Although Sunyata denied that he had a 'teaching', he expounded an Advaitic world view and maintained that he had always known "the source and I are one". Like Ramana Maharshi, Sunyata regarded silence both as the highest teaching and "the esoteric heart of all religions". Silence for Sunyata was the stilling of desires, effort, willfulness and memories.

Sunyata coined words himself to convey some of his more unusual perceptions. Innerstand meant an intuitive comprehension that did not involve the intellect or effort, while headucation was mental conditioning. Those of us who falsely identified with our individuality he referred to as egojies (-ji is an honorific suffix used in India) and he was fond of the Japanese Zen term Ji Ji Muge, meaning the interdependence of all things.

Sunyata's understanding of his essential nature was condensed in the word Mu, a Chinese term similar to the Sanskrit term Sunyata, which he used both in reference to himself and as an exclamation.

References

Writings

 Sunyata, the life and sayings of a rare-born mystic. Ed. Betty Camhi and Elliott Isenberg. North Atlantic Books .
 Dancing with the Void. Ed Betty Camhi and Gurubaksh Rai. Blue Dove Press

Works involving Sorensen

 Eating The "I": An Account of the Fourth Way: The Way of Transformation in Ordinary Life  by William Patrick Patterson, Ed. Barbara C Allen
Teachers of No-Thing & Nothing – Eating The "I" Parts II & III  by William Patrick Patterson,
 The Book of Enlightened Masters: Western Teachers in eastern traditions, by Andrew Rawlinson. Open Court, 1997.

External links
Meditation.dk/sunyata Page on Sunyata, including a link to scanned pages of his writings

1890 births
1984 deaths
Advaitin philosophers
20th-century mystics
20th-century Danish non-fiction writers
Danish emigrants to India
Danish writers
Naturalised citizens of India
Indian horticulturists
Indian spiritual teachers
Indian writers
People who lost Danish citizenship
20th-century non-fiction writers


Hardinxveld-Giessendam is a railway station for Hardinxveld-Giessendam in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. It is located on the MerwedeLingelijn, between Dordrecht and Geldermalsen. Train services are operated by Qbuzz.

History
The station was opened as the Giessendam-Oudekerk railway station on 16 July 1885. To the east, outside the two villages, was the Hardinxveld-Giessendam railway station. When the latter was closed down on 15 May 1927, the Giessendam-Oudekerk station was renamed "Giessendam-Neder Hardinxveld". The station building was severely damaged during World War II, and was demolished in 1945. On 2 June 1957, the name of the station was changed to its current name, and a year later a new station building was constructed. The building is now used as a restaurant.

Train services

Bus services

External links
Stationsweb.nl
Arriva website
Dutch Public Transport journey planner

Railway stations in South Holland
Railway stations opened in 1885
Railway stations on the Merwede-Lingelijn
Hardinxveld-Giessendam
Railway stations in the Netherlands opened in the 1880s


September is the first compilation album by Swedish singer September. The album is a compilation of tracks from her second and third European studio albums, titled In Orbit and Dancing Shoes, respectively, but not from her original, 2004 album, September. The album was the first album by September to be released in the United States, Canada and Australasia.

Release
September initially released the album under the American dance label Robbins Entertainment on 26 February 2008. The album was digitally released in Canada in the summer of 2008. This edition's track list is the same as that of the US edition, with the exception of "Cry for You", for which the UK radio version was used. The physical edition later followed on 23 September 2008. September announced that the album was scheduled to be released in Australia that year. It was released on 14 November 2008. The track listing differed from the US edition's and a DVD containing music videos was included.

Critical reception
Ross Hoffman from AllMusic gave the album a mixed review, awarding it two and a half stars. He noted that the first three songs, which are "Cry for You", "Satellites" and "Can't Get Over", were the best from the album. However, he did say that the album's "material is slightly cringe-inducing". He also said that "The main problem with September's music is that, unlike her Scandinavian counterparts such as Robyn and Annie, she doesn't project much personality – her voice is decent, and even warm at times, but the lyrics are empty and she comes off as a complete cipher." Kurt Kirton from About.com was more favorable, awarding it three and a half stars out of five and stating: "I recommend this album for anyone who enjoys good dance-pop." He said the album's best tracks were "Cry for You", "Satellites" and "Until I Die".

Chart performance
On March 15, the album entered the Billboard Top Electronic Albums chart at number 22, but has since gone off the chart. All three singles from the album charted on the Billboard Hot Dance Airplay chart, with "Cry for You" reaching No. 1, "Satellites" No. 8 for two weeks and "Can't Get Over" No. 12. "Cry for You" also peaked at number 74 on the singles popularity chart, the Billboard Hot 100.

Track listing
All songs written by Jonas von der Burg, Anoo Bhagavan and Niklas von der Burg, except "Looking for Love", which was written by Steven Elson and Dave Stephenson, and "Midnight Heartache", which was written by Jonas von der Burg, Anoo Bhagavan, Niklas von der Burg, Donna Weiss and Jackie de Shanon.

"Cry for You" (Radio Edit)  – 3:32
"Satellites" (US Mix)  – 3:09
"Can't Get Over"  – 3:02
"Flowers on the Grave"  – 4:18
"My Neighbourhood"  – 3:04
"Sad Song"  – 2:57
"Until I Die"  – 3:43
"Because I Love You"  – 3:14
"Candy Love"  – 2:47
"Taboo"  – 3:44
"Looking for Love"  – 3:24
"Midnight Heartache"  – 3:47
"Freaking Out"  – 3:26
"R.I.P."  – 3:49

Australian version

CD
"Satellites"  – 3:16
"Cry for You"  – 3:32
"Can't Get Over"  – 3:02
"Because I Love You"  – 3:14
"Sad Song"  – 2:57
"Looking for Love"  – 3:24
"Flowers on the Grave"  – 4:18
"Until I Die"  – 3:43
"Freaking Out"  – 3:26
"Taboo"  – 3:44
"Candy Love"  – 2:47
"Midnight Heartache"  – 3:47
"Sound Memory" – 3:26
"Follow Me" – 3:35
"R.I.P."  – 3:49
"Cry For You" (Candelight Edit)  – 3:02

DVD
"Cry for You (UK Music Video)
"Until I Die (Music Video)
"Can't Get Over" (Music Video)
"Satellites" (Music Video)
"Looking For Love" (Music Video)
"Cry for You" (Original Music Video)

Charts

Release history

References

Petra Marklund albums
2008 compilation albums
2008 video albums
Music video compilation albums


Xipamide is a sulfonamide diuretic drug marketed by Eli Lilly under the trade names Aquaphor (in Germany) and Aquaphoril (in Austria). It is used for the treatment of oedema and hypertension.

Mechanism of action
Like the structurally related thiazide diuretics, xipamide acts on the kidneys to reduce sodium reabsorption in the distal convoluted tubule. This increases the osmolarity in the lumen, causing less water to be reabsorbed by the collecting ducts. This leads to increased urinary output. Unlike the thiazides, xipamide reaches its target from the peritubular side (blood side).

Additionally, it increases the secretion of potassium in the distal tubule and collecting ducts. In high doses it also inhibits the enzyme carbonic anhydrase which leads to increased secretion of bicarbonate and alkalizes the urine.

Unlike with thiazides, only terminal kidney failure renders xipamide ineffective.

Uses
Xipamide is used for
cardiac oedema caused by decompensation of heart failure
renal oedema, chronic renal disease (but not with anuria)
hepatic oedema caused by cirrhosis
ascites
lymphoedema
hypertension in combination with chronic renal disease

Pharmacokinetics
After oral administration, 20 mg of xipamide are resorbed quickly and reach the peak plasma concentration of 3 mg/L within an hour. The diuretic effect starts about an hour after administration, reaches its peak between the third and sixth hour, and lasts for nearly 24 hours.

One third of the dose is glucuronidized, the rest is excreted directly through the kidney (1/3) and the faeces (2/3). The total plasma clearance is 30-40 mL/min. Xipamide can be filtrated by haemodialysis but not by peritoneal dialysis.

Dosage
Initially 40 mg, it can be reduced to 10–20 mg to prevent a relapse.

The lowest effective dose is 5 mg. More than 60 mg have no additional effects.

Adverse effects
more than 1/10 of all patients
hypokalaemia, which can lead to nausea, muscular weakness or cramps, and ECG abnormities
1/100 to 1/10
hyponatraemia, which can lead to headache, nausea, drowsiness or confusion
orthostatic hypotension
initially increase of urea, uric acid and creatinine, which can lead to a gout attack in predisposed patients
1/1000 to 1/10,000
allergic reactions of the skin
hyperlipidaemia
less than 1/10,000
haemorrhagic pancreatitis
 acute interstitial nephritis
thrombocytopenia, leucopenia

Contraindications
anuria
praecoma and coma hepaticum
hypovolemia, hyponatremia, hypokalemia
hypercalcemia
gout
sulfonamide hypersensitivity
pregnancy, lactation period

Interactions

Not recommended combinations
Xipamide lowers the renal clearance of lithium which can lead to lithium intoxication. (This interaction is classified as medium.)

Combinations requiring special precautions
The product information requests special precautions for these combinations:
The antihypertensive effect can be increased by ACE inhibitors, barbiturates, phenothiazines, tricyclic antidepressants, alcohol, etc. (Classified as minor.)
NSAIDs can reduce the antihypertensive and diuretic effects. Xipamide increases the neurotoxicity of high doses of salicylates. (Classified as minor.)
Toxicity of cardiac glycosides is increased due to hypokalemia and hypomagnesemia.(Classified as minor.)
Antiarrhythmic agents (classes Ia and III), phenothiazines and other antipsychotics increase the risk of torsades de pointes due to hypokalemia.

Interactions not included in the product information
Xipamide can reduce the effect of antidiabetics. (Classified as minor.)

Banned use in sport
On 17 July 2012, cyclist Fränk Schleck was removed from the Tour de France by his team RadioShack-Nissan after his A-sample returned traces of xipamide.

References

Diuretics
Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors
Eli Lilly and Company brands
Chloroarenes
Salicylanilides
Sulfonamides


Wang Yu (; born 19 November 1982 in Tianjin) is a Chinese chess player who holds the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM).

Chess career
In 1996, Wang won the World Under-14 Girls Championship and in 1998, won the World U16 Girls Championship. In 1999, she won the Asian Junior Girls' Championship in Vũng Tàu. Wang finished runner-up at the World Under-18 Girls Championship of 2000.

Wang Yu won the Asian Women's Chess Championship of 2004 in Beirut. In 2005, she won the Chinese Women's Chess Championship.

National team
Wang played for the B team in 1999 and for the first team in 2003 at the Women's Asian Team Chess Championship (overall record is 11 games: +6, =2, -3). She also played for the Chinese women's team at the World Team Chess Championship in Beersheba (overall record was 6 games:+0, =2, -4). In 2006 Wang Yu was a member of the Chinese team which won the bronze medal at the Women's 37th Chess Olympiad (played 4 games in total: +1, =1, -2).

Wang was part of the women's team in the 2007 China-Russia Summit Match.

IM title
In 2007, she gained the International Master (IM) title. She achieved her IM norms at:
 Tan Chin Nam Cup International GM Open in Qingdao, China (July 4–8, 2002); score 4.0/9
 Aeroflot Open 2004 B Group in Moscow, Russia (February 16–26, 2004); score 5.5/9
 Dubai Open 2005 in Dubai, UAE (April 4–12, 2005); score 5.0/9

WGM title
In 2003, she gained the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title. She achieved her WGM norms at:

 China Women's Ch.  in Suzhou, China (March–April 2001); score 6.0/9
 9th Asian Women's Ch.  in Chennai, India (Sept 2001); score 7.0/9
 Tan Chin Nam Cup GM in Qingdao (July 2002); score 4.0/9

China Chess League
Wang Yu plays for Beijing chess club in the China Chess League (CCL).

See also
Chess in China

References

External links

Wang Yu A. at NICBase (archived)
"Wang Yu keeps China's reputation intact". SPORTSTAR, VOL.26 :: NO.25 :: June 21–27, 2003. (archived)

1982 births
Living people
Chess International Masters
Chess woman grandmasters
Chinese female chess players
Chinese chess players
World Youth Chess Champions
Asian Games medalists in chess
Chess players at the 2010 Asian Games
Chess players from Tianjin
Asian Games gold medalists for China
Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games


Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 7 in C major, K. 309 (284b) (1777) is a piano sonata in three movements:

A typical performance takes about 16 minutes.

The work was composed during a journey to Mannheim and Paris in 1777-78. In a letter to his father dated October 24 1777, Mozart describes a concert where he played "a magnificent sonata in C major with a closing rondo, my own invention", suggesting that the sonata was completed by October 1777. The andante movement is a "portrait" of his pupil Rose Cannabich, the 13-year-old daughter of the Mannheim Kapellmeister Christian Cannabich. Upon reviewing a copy of the manuscript, Mozart's father Leopold wrote that it was "a strange composition. It has something in it of the 'rather artificial' Mannheim style, but so very little that your own good style is not spoilt".

References

Mozart Sonata in C for piano K.309/284b

External links

  (Alte Mozart-Ausgabe version)
Performance of Piano Sonata No. 7 by Paavali Jumppanen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format

Piano Sonata 07
Compositions in C major
1777 compositions
Music dedicated to students or teachers


Allen S. Lee is a scholar of Information Systems research best known for his work on integrating positivist and interpretative research methods.  Additionally, Allen S. Lee served on the MIS Quarterly editorial board for 15 years, holding the positions of associate editor, senior editor, and editor-in-chief.  As an advocate for integrated research approaches, Allen S. Lee has championed equality for interpretative, qualitative and case-study methods in Information Systems research.  Recently, Allen S. Lee has also championed design science research as a means of addressing and possibly resolving the rigor vs. relevance conundrum in Information Systems research.  As of 2008, Allen S. Lee continues a research agenda which relates and combines qualitative, positivist and interpretive research methods.

Selected works
 2006: “Does the Use of Computer-Based BPC Tools Contribute to Redesign Effectiveness? Insights From a Hermeneutic Study,” IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Volume 53, Number 1, pp. 130–145. Co-author: Suprateek Sarker.
 2004: “Dialogical Action Research at Omega Corporation,” MIS Quarterly, Volume 28, Number 3, pp. 507–536.  Co-author: Pär Mårtensson.
 2003: “Generalizing Generalizability in Information Systems Research,” Information Systems Research, Volume 14, Number 3, pp. 221–243.  Co-author: Richard L. Baskerville.
 1991: “Integrating Positivist and Interpretive Approaches to Organizational Research,” Organization Science, Volume 2, Number 4, pp. 342–365.
 1989: “A Scientific Methodology for MIS Case Studies,” MIS Quarterly, Volume 13, Number 1, pp. 33–50.

References

External links
 Allen S. Lee website at Virginia Commonwealth University
 MIS Quarterly journal website

Information systems researchers
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Management Information Systems Quarterly editors


Sykehuset Levanger Station (), previously Innherred Sykehus Station (), was a railway station located in the town of Levanger in the municipality of Levanger in Trøndelag county, Norway. It was located on the Nordland Line. The station was located adjacent to Levanger Hospital (). The station was served hourly by the Trøndelag Commuter Rail service operated by the Norwegian State Railways between Steinkjer and Trondheim using Class 92 trains. Until it closed on 11 December 2010, it was among the most used stations of the commuter rail.

Facilities
The station was located on the Nordland Line in the southern part of the town of Levanger, adjacent to Levanger Hospital. The hospital is among the largest workplaces in the county, which also has a high degree of commuters from other towns and villages along the line. The station also generates riderships from patients and is located closer to one of the campuses of Levanger Upper Secondary School. The station had an annual ridership of between 80,000 and 90,000. The station had a single platform, a small shed, and bicycle parking. The station was unstaffed and lacked ticket machines.

Service

The station was served once per hour by the Trøndelag Commuter Rail, which is operated by the Norwegian State Railways using Class 92 diesel multiple units. There was reduced service on weekends and late evenings, and additional services during rush hour. Travel time from Sykehuset Levanger was 38 minutes to Steinkjer Station, 1 hour and 27 minutes to Trondheim Central Station and 1 hour and 40 minutes to Lerkendal Station. The trains also stopped at Marienborg Station in Trondheim which serves St. Olavs University Hospital.

Closing
The station was located only  from Levanger Station and within the same main signal. Combined with the station being on a curve, the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate in 2009 required that the station be closed. The Norwegian National Rail Administration closed the station on 11 December 2010.  As compensation, a new pedestrian and bicycle path was constructed from Levanger Station to the hospital. Nord-Trøndelag County Municipality is considering re-routing one of the city buses to run from the station to the hospital, and perhaps having a free transfer service. Both NSB, National Rail Rail Administration, and Nord-Trøndelag Hospital Trust, which runs the hospital, have stated that they are not willing to finance the shuttle bus service and as it is a county affair.

References

Railway stations in Levanger
Railway stations on the Nordland Line
Railway stations opened in 1995
Railway stations closed in 2011
1995 establishments in Norway
Railway stations in Norway opened in the 1990s


Stars & Stripes is an EP that was recorded by the American reggae band SOJA and released in January 2008. It contains new songs, as well as reworked versions of three older songs.

Track listing
 "Stars & Stripes"
 "To Whom It May Concern"
 "Bleed Through"
 "You Don't Know Me" (new version)
 "Revolution" (new version)
 "Be Aware" (R. Berty remix)

References

External links
SOJAmusic.com

SOJA albums
Reggae EPs
2008 EPs


Broadwell is a village about  east of Coleford, Gloucestershire, England. It is at the western edge of the Forest of Dean, in the civil parish of Coleford, which is also its post town. The village of Mile End is to the north and Coalway is to the south.

History
Broadwell has had a long history of coal mining. In the late 16th century a miner acquired a lease of land bordering the royal Forest at Broadwell. A tramroad opened in 1812 to link mines in the Forest with Redbrook and Monmouth entered Coleford north of Broadwell. A mine, known in 1735 as Gentlemen Colliers, included a working pit at Littledean Lane End near Broadwell in 1835. Broadwell was also one of the scattered farmsteads on the east side of Coleford. Broadwell Farm, on the Forest boundary at the place once known as King's Broadwell, was recorded in 1789. There were three beerhouses at Broadwell in 1841. The British Land Society laid out new roads north of Broadwell Farm in 1859 and several houses had been built on them by the late 1870s. In 1886 a fife and drum band was based at Broadwell. Broadwell's memorial hall, built in 1921, housed a library in 1955. A social club next to the hall was enlarged after 1959. Broadwell also had a football ground by 1959.

Many of Broadwell's 20th-century houses were provided by West Dean Rural District Council, which between 1923 and 1934 built 44 east of the Five Acres road, and in 1948 filled the area to the south with prefabricated bungalows, most of which were replaced later in the century. Additional housing estates were added in the 1950s and 60s.

Parish church
The Church of England parish church of the Good Shepherd is part of the Diocese of Gloucester.

References

External links

Coleford, Gloucestershire
Forest of Dean
Villages in Gloucestershire


The Sims is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and it is one of the best-selling video game series of all time.

The games in the Sims series are largely sandbox games, in that they lack any defined goals (except for some later expansion packs and console versions which introduced this gameplay style). The player creates virtual people called "Sims", places them in houses, and helps direct their moods and satisfy their desires. Players can either place their Sims in pre-constructed homes or build them themselves. Each successive expansion pack and game in the series augmented what the player could do with their Sims.

The Sims series is part of the larger Sim series, started by SimCity in 1989.

Development

Game designer Will Wright was inspired to create a "virtual doll house" after losing his home during the Oakland firestorm of 1991 and subsequently rebuilding his life. Replacing his home and his other possessions made him think about adapting that life experience into a game. When Wright initially took his ideas to the Maxis board of directors, they were skeptical and gave little support or financing for the game. The directors at Electronic Arts, which bought Maxis in 1997, were more receptive—SimCity had been a great success for them, and they foresaw the possibility of building a strong Sim franchise.

Wright has stated that The Sims was meant as a satire of U.S. consumer culture. Wright took ideas from the 1977 architecture and urban design book A Pattern Language, American psychologist Abraham Maslow's 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation and his hierarchy of needs, and Charles Hampden-Turner's Maps of the Mind to develop a model for the game's artificial intelligence.

Games

Main series

The Sims (2000)

The Sims was the first game in the series. Developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts, it was released for Microsoft Windows on February 4, 2000. The game used dimetric projection and featured open-ended simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual people ("Sims") in a suburban area near SimCity. Seven expansion packs and two deluxe editions with exclusive content were released. It was repackaged in several different formats, and different versions of it were released on several different platforms. By March 22, 2002, The Sims had sold more than 6.3 million copies worldwide, surpassing Myst  as the best-selling PC game in history at the time. The original game, all seven expansion packs, and the two deluxe edition content packs constitute the first generation of the PC release. Maxis developed all PC releases. By February 2005, the game had shipped 16 million copies worldwide.

The Sims received seven expansion packs:

The Sims 2 (2004)

Electronic Arts released The Sims 2 on September 14, 2004. The sequel, developed by Maxis, takes place in a full 3D environment as opposed to the dimetric projection of the original game. Sims age through seven life stages, from infancy to old age and subsequent death. Another major feature is the aspiration system. Each Sim exhibits wants and fears according to their aspiration and personality. Consequently, the level of the aspiration meter determines the effectiveness of a Sim at completing tasks. The fulfillment of wants provides aspiration points, which can be used to purchase aspiration rewards. The game also features clear days of the week, with weekends when children can stay home from school and vacation days when adults can take time off work.

The Sims 2 is set some 25 years after the original game. For instance, the Goth family has aged significantly with Bella Goth mysteriously vanishing ("dying") at some point in the 25 years. Because the entire game has progressed from 2D sprites to 3D models, all content in The Sims 2 had to be created from the ground up. Due to this, The Sims 2 was not made backward-compatible with any content from the first generation of the main series. However, some objects and features from the original series were remade for the sequel.

Eight expansion packs and nine "stuff packs" were released for The Sims 2. Over 400 items were also released for the game via The Sims 2 Store.

The Sims 2 received eight expansion packs:

The Sims 3 (2009)

Electronic Arts released The Sims 3 on June 2, 2009. The sequel was announced by EA in November 2006. The game is set 25 years before the original game and features an open, seamless neighborhood, improved Sim creation tools, enhanced build and buy mode functions, and the introduction of wishes and goals. The game introduced a new form of directed gameplay through small, step-wise goals presented as opportunities for the player to pursue or refuse. The Sims 3 sold 1.4 million copies in the first week, making it the largest release in PC gaming history at the time.

The Sims 3 is set 25 years before The Sims. For example, the Goth family is much younger, and Bella Goth, an adult in the first game, is a child and is named Bella Bachelor.

Eleven expansion packs and nine "stuff packs" were released for The Sims 3. In addition, many items are available online for additional fees at The Sims 3 Store.

The Sims 3 received eleven expansion packs:

The Sims 4 (2014)

Electronic Arts announced The Sims 4 on May 6, 2013. The announcement stated that the game was in development by Maxis. The Sims 4 takes place in an alternative setting/timeline from the game's previous installments. Later in 2014, further details on features and gameplay were announced. The release date of September 2, 2014, was announced at E3 2014.

As of September 2023, fourteen "expansion packs", twelve "game packs", nineteen "stuff packs", and twenty-five "kits" have been released, and updates have added content that was previously absent, such as basements, ghosts, pools, modular stairs, toddlers, new careers, terrain tools, additional skin tones, bunk beds and infants. The Sims 4 was made free-to-play on October 18, 2022.

The Sims 4 has received fourteen "expansion packs" so far:

The Sims 4 has also received twelve "game packs" so far:

Project Rene (TBA)
On October 18, 2022, Maxis announced that they are working on the next instalment of The Sims, which is code-named: 'Project Rene'. The game allows solo or collaborative play and cross-play. Room customization works differently compared to The Sims 4, with more customization options being presented for furniture. In this project, the buy-and-build mode is multiplayer and players can customize the buildings at the same time. 'Project Rene' as of October 2023 is continuing development, with potential plans for "closed invites to small public playtests or early access options" for interested players. Additionally in 2023, Maxis stated that 'Project Rene' would co-exist alongside The Sims 4, with both continuing development in the future. This is a deviation from past instalments in The Sims franchising, where one instalment typically replaces the previous. In addition, it was stated that 'Project Rene' will be free-to-play and not require "a subscription, core game purchase or energy mechanics." Continuing it's deviance from past instalments in The Sims, 'Project Rene' will have additional in-game purchases, however "[there is a] plan to change this up a bit. For example, basic weather may be added to the core game for free, for everybody... It’s important that with 'Project Rene' we lower barriers to play and give all players the broadest shared systems because that feels like the strongest foundation for us to grow from." This diversion from the typical purchase-structure followsThe Sims 4, which was made free-to-play in Oct. 2022.

Spin-offs
On January 6, 2017, a fan-made relaunch of The Sims Online was created by Rhys Simpson, FreeSO and was released in an "open beta" phase. As of May 1, 2017, the majority of the original The Sims Online functions were re-implemented to include 3D functions. Some of the existing changes have included category functions.

The Sims Stories

The Sims Stories is a series of video games from The Sims series released in 2007–2008 based on a modified version of The Sims 2 game engine. The modified engine is optimized for play on systems with weaker specifications, such as laptops.

In addition to a Free Play mode with classic, open-ended gameplay, the games contain a structured, linear story mode where players are required to complete a series of goals to progress in the storyline. Three games have been released to date.

The Sims Medieval

The Sims Medieval is an action role-playing spin-off game released in 2011. It is set in medieval times, and although it is based on The Sims 3 engine, it plays very differently. The Sims Medieval has one expansion pack, Pirates and Nobles.

Shut down

The Sims Online

In December 2002, Electronic Arts released the Maxis-developed The Sims Online, later named EA Land. It recreates The Sims as a massively multiplayer online game, where human players can interact with each other. The spin-off did not achieve the same level of success as the original. Reviews for The Sims Online were lackluster; many likening its experience to an enormous chat room. On August 1, 2008, EA Land was shut down.

The Sims Carnival

The Sims Carnival was a casual game brand of The Sims. It had two separate product lines; the first was an online community of crowd-sourced web games and the second was a line of packaged game titles sold via retail stores and digital downloads.

The Sims Social

Launched in August 2011, The Sims Social was a Flash-based game developed by Playfish for Facebook. EA announced the game was upgraded from Beta to Live status in a press release issued on August 23, 2011. Due to players' negative responses, the game has been shut down and was removed from Facebook on June 14, 2013.

Console and handheld versions

The Sims era

The Sims was the game's first console release and shares the same name as the PC game. It was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube. The gameplay is similar to the PC version but follows a mission-based storyline in addition to the sandbox mode found in the original game. Objectives are added which allow the player to unlock new furniture and locations.

The Sims Bustin' Out is the second title in The Sims console series. Bustin' Out was released in the fourth quarter of 2003 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube. Much like its predecessor, the game features two modes: Bust Out Mode, which is mission-based gameplay, and Freeplay Mode which is similar to the original The Sims PC game. The PlayStation 2 version featured the option to play online, though EA no longer supports it. Separate handheld versions were developed for the Game Boy Advance and N-Gage, which allow the player to directly control the Sim character for the first time.

The Urbz: Sims in the City is a game focused on Sims living in an urban setting within Sim City. The player must earn a reputation and complete tasks for characters. It was released for Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Nintendo GameCube. It features Black Eyed Peas as NPCs. Like The Sims Bustin' Out, separate handheld versions were developed for the Nintendo DS and the Game Boy Advance, which serve as a sequel to their predecessors.

The Sims 2

The Sims 2, The Sims 2: Pets, and The Sims 2: Castaway have been released for various platforms including the Wii, PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, and Nintendo DS systems. The Sims 2: Apartment Pets, considered a sequel to The Sims 2: Pets by Electronic Arts, was only released for the Nintendo DS.

In addition, EA has released several The Sims titles for the iPod Nano (3rd and 4th generation), the iPod Classic, and the iPod (5th generation). Some of these titles include: The Sims Bowling, The Sims DJ, and The Sims Pool.

MySims

MySims is a series of console games created by EA for the Wii and Nintendo DS (with SkyHeroes being the exception). They feature Chibi-like characters (a tiny bit smaller and similar to the Wii's Mii avatars). The first game in the series was released in September 2007. MySims SkyHeroes, the newest addition to the MySims line of games, was released in September 2010.

The Sims 3

The Sims 3, The Sims 3: World Adventures, and The Sims 3: Ambitions were released for iOS. In addition, The Sims 3 was also released for Android, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Wii and Nintendo 3DS. The 3DS version of the game was a launch title for the console. The Sims 3: Pets was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo 3DS.

The Sims 4

Versions for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles were released on November 17, 2017. Unlike previous console ports, the console version of The Sims 4 has feature parity with the PC/Mac version, and also shares the same "expansion packs", "game packs", "stuff packs" and "kits".

The Sims FreePlay

The Sims FreePlay is the first free-to-play version of The Sims for iOS and Android, was released worldwide on December 15, 2011, for iOS devices, and on February 15, 2012, for Android. The game made it to Kindle Fire in October 2012, to BlackBerry 10 on July 31, 2013, and Windows Phone 8 in September 2013. Unlike other Sims games, The Sims FreePlay runs in real-time and takes real-time to complete actions. Players can progress through 55 levels and unlock new content, create up to 34 Sims, build town map buildings, and complete goals to earn Lifestyle Points, Simoleons, Social Points, and XP (Experience Points). All of these (except for Social Points) can be obtained by baking, planting, going to school (only for preteens and teens), or working. To get Social Points, you will have to go to neighboring houses or add your Facebook friends.

The Sims Mobile

The Sims Mobile is the second free-to-play version of The Sims for Android and iOS, The Sims Mobile was announced on May 9, 2017, in a launch trailer with a soft launch for Brazil, and was released worldwide on March 6, 2018. It features multiplayer and story-mode elements in an attempt to offer a playing experience akin to the main Sims installments.

Legacy
The success of The Sims has resulted in Guinness World Records awarding the series numerous world records, including, as of 2017, "Most Expansion Packs for a Videogame Series" and "Best Selling PC Game Series", with sales estimates ranging from 36 to 50 million units. The series ranks 10th among the best-selling video game franchises of all times, with a sales figure of over 200 million combining all the entries in the series.  all The Sims games combined generated lifetime sales of more than US$5 billion.

Cancelled film
A live-action drama film based upon the franchise was announced in 2007. The Sims film rights had been purchased by 20th Century Fox in the same year. It was to be written by Brian Lynch and produced by John Davis. However, the film remained in development hell for a number of years. In 2019, following Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox's assets, the film along with numerous video game-based movies in development at Fox were canceled.

Reality television show

EA, in partnership with Turner Sports and BuzzFeed, created The Sims Spark'd, a four-episode reality competition television show that premiered on the TBS network on July 17, 2020. The series, filmed from December 9 to 14, 2019, features 12 contestants, selected from those known to feature The Sims in their online gaming channels, tasked with challenges within The Sims 4 to create characters and stories following the challenge's themes and limitations. Each competitors creation is judged by a panel consisting of YouTube personality Kelsey Impicciche, singer and songwriter Tayla Parx, and EA Maxis developer Dave Miotke, with the finalist winning a  prize. The show is hosted by American Idol season 14 finalist Rayvon Owen.

See also

 List of The Sims video games
 List of Sim video games

References

External links

Electronic Arts franchises
God games
LGBT-related video games
Life simulation games
Satirical video games
Video game franchises introduced in 2000
Casual games
Maxis
Metafictional video games
Sandbox games


Julia Chinn ( – July 1833) was an American plantation manager and enslaved woman of "mixed-race" (an "octoroon" of seven-eighths European and one-eighth African ancestry), who was the common-law wife of the ninth vice president of the United States, Richard Mentor Johnson.

Early life
Chinn was born in Scott County, Kentucky to a woman enslaved by the Johnson family. Her exact date of birth is unknown, according to historian Amrita Myers, yet Johnson family lore places it in the year 1790. However, Myers also records that "ex-slaves of the Johnsons say that Julia was only fifteen or sixteen when her first daughter was born". This would make her birth year 1796 or 1797. It is recognized that she was raised and educated at the home of her enslaver, Richard Mentor Johnson, by his mother, Jemima Suggett Johnson. According to historian Christina Snyder, local oral tradition maintained that her mother's name was Henrietta, who was held in slavery by the Johnson family.

Little is known about Chinn's life in the household, but by 1811, she and Johnson were in a sexual relationship. Chinn's personal views about the relationship have not survived in the historical record. It was not uncommon at the time for enslavers to coerce enslaved women into sexual relationships. In 2021, The Washington Post stated that, "as an enslaved woman, Chinn could not consent to a relationship". Their first daughter, Adaline Chinn Johnson, was born in 1812, and a few years later, their second daughter, Imogene Chinn Johnson, was born. Under law at the time, interracial marriage was banned and Johnson was under no obligation to acknowledge responsibility for his and Chinn's children. Nevertheless, he insisted that his daughters take his surname. He also insisted that they be educated at the Choctaw Academy that he established. In 1815, Johnson's father died and he legally inherited Chinn, whom he outwardly treated as his wife, something atypical for the period.

Blue Spring Farm
Johnson represented Kentucky in the House of Representatives, which meant many absences from his home and the businesses on his property. While he was away Chinn was in charge, not just of the household, but of the entire plantation. She managed all the business affairs and the workers on the property were to obey hera highly unusual act since she was an enslaved womanon Johnson's orders. Letters from Johnson show that he instructed his white employees to obey Chinn in writing.

It is clear that while Johnson was the owner of Blue Springs plantation, it was Chinn who was in charge of its administration. This included overseeing the enslaved laborers, supervising the house and garden, the tavern on their farm, the mills, as well as planning entertainment and hospitality, which was part of her husband's political life. She also was responsible for ensuring the education of their children. She reportedly played the piano very well.

Chinn was responsible for the budgets and credit lines of the estate and essentially worked as Johnson's estate manager, as well as his wife. She was recognized as an authorized user of his accounts, establishing lines of credit to pay for goods in his name. She was responsible for the cash that Johnson withdrew before leaving for Washington for his political career each year. This money was used to pay the white salaried workers in the estate, including teachers at the Chocktaw Academy. As an enslaved woman, this cash relationship in particular, connected her to the world of commerce in ways that were unusual for someone of her gender and background at the time. In her role as plantation manager, Chinn was able to improve the lives of her extended family as well: her brother Daniel and his sons worked in the house. Nevertheless, their safety could not be guaranteed and, in 1821, Johnson mortgaged Daniel and his wife, to raise money to pay debts.

Not everyone on the plantation welcomed Chinn's supervision: one historian reports that when she was in charge many of the male enslaved field hands skipped work or refused their tasks and that when she asked male neighbors to punish the rebellious men, none would agree to.

Choctaw Academy
In 1825, Johnson opened a school for Native American boys, on his Blue Springs plantation. Chinn handled the management of the school and payment of its teachers whilst Johnson was away. She also acted as its nurse. The Native American students paid for their tuition. Apparently, they resented that Chinn would report on any misbehavior by them to Johnson and the schoolteachers.

Later life
In 1833, there was a cholera outbreak at the Choctaw Academy, part of a regional cholera epidemic. Chinn nursed many of the boys and eventually contracted the disease that would be the cause of her death. She died in July 1833. The location of her grave is unknown.

At the time of Chinn's death, their daughtersas the children of an enslaved womanwere technically her husband's slaves. Although he never liberated Chinn, he did free their surviving daughter.

Legacy

Throughout her lifetime, Chinn fulfilled the traditional role for the wife of a politician. When the Marquis de Lafayette visited the plantation, Chinn helped organize entertainment in his honor, both at the plantation and throughout the county. This entailed a high degree of organization, both of the property she was responsible for, as well as the management of relations with the white political society in the community.

Johnson's Senate career ended in 1828 when he was not re-elected to his Kentucky seat. He was eliminated from consideration as a candidate for vice president during the Andrew Jackson campaign for president, with whom Johnson had hoped to run. Apparently, his relationship with Chinn contributed to this because fears existed about its potential to be damaging by association to the reputation of the president hopeful. While interracial sex was common, interracial relationships were expected to be hiddensomething Johnson did not do.

After Chinn's death, Johnson ran for the vice-presidency alongside the eighth president, Martin Van Buren, and was elected. However, during the campaign numerous cartoons and broadsides were published that disparaged Johnson because of his relationships with Chinn and their two daughters. In one cartoon, dated to 1836, Johnson is featured with both daughters one of whom holds a picture of Chinn and one of the captions reads: "When I read the scurrilous attacks in the Newspapers on the Mother of my Children, pardon me, my friends if I give way to feelings!!! My dear Girls, bring me your Mother's picture, that I may show it to my friends here." In the cartoon, the color of the skin of Chinn and her daughters was darkened deliberately. Chinn reportedly had only one black relative, a great-grandparent, and it is likely her skin was much paler than depicted in the cartoon. Likewise, 'otherness' was suggested in the cartoon by depicting her as wearing a turban.

Historiography
No records remain that were written by Chinn or her two daughters. Historian Amrita Myers believes that Johnson's brothers destroyed much of his archive after his death for two reasons: first, so that they might disinherit his daughters, whom he had named as beneficiaries in his will; second, because they were ashamed of his relationship with Chinn.

In 2020, discussion was raised in Johnson County, Iowa, as to whether the county should be renamed, removing its association with Richard Mentor Johnson. Reasons given for removal included Johnson's killing of numerous Native Americans during battles, including Tecumseh, and his enslavement of many people, including Chinn.

Literature
Chinn and her husband, Richard Mentor Johnson, are the subject of the novel, Great Crossing, by Judalon de Bornay.

The University of North Carolina Press has scheduled for publication in October 2023 a biography, The Vice President’s Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn, by historian Dr. Amrita Chakrabarti Myers.

References

External links
 PBS Media: Julia Chinn

19th-century American slaves
People from Scott County, Kentucky
Year of birth unknown
1833 deaths
First ladies and gentlemen of Kentucky
Deaths from cholera
1790s births


Lesley Nicol may refer to:

Lesley Rumball (born 1973), former New Zealand netball player; born Lesley Marie Nicol
Lesley Nicol (actress), English actress


Aberffrwd is a village in Monmouthshire, Wales. It lies above the River Usk just off the A40 between Llanvihangel Gobion and Clytha. The population of the village at the 2011 census was 620.

References

Villages in Monmouthshire


Katia Buffetrille is a French ethnologist and tibetologist. She works at the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE 5th section). Her doctoral thesis is entitled Montagnes sacrées, lacs et grottes : lieux de pèlerinage dans le monde tibétain. Traditions écrites. Réalités vivantes (thesis national number: 1996PA100065). She has done fieldwork in Tibet and Nepal, researching pilgrimage, non-Buddhist beliefs, and sacred geography.

She is in charge of a seminar on rituals at the CRCAO (Centre de recherches sur les civilisations de l'Asie orientale; UMR 8155) and is editor of the journal Études mongoles, sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines (EMSCAT).

Works

 1998: Tibétains, 1959-1999, quarante ans de colonisation, with Charles Ramble; Volume 108 of Autrement: Collection Monde,
 2000: Pèlerins, lamas et visionnaires. Sources orales et écrites sur les pèlerinages tibétains coll. Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universität Wien.
 2002: Le Tibet est-il chinois ? with Anne-Marie Blondeau and Wei Jing,  Paris: Albin Michel,  Sciences des religions.
 2002: Tibet, jours de fêtes, with Eric Lobo, Published by Romain Pagès.
 2008: Authenticating Tibet: Answers to China's One-Hundred Questions with Anne-Marie Blondeau (as editors), University of California Press, Berkeley. (Adapted and updated translation of Le Tibet est-il chinois ?
 2012: Revisiting rituals in a changing Tibetan context (ed.). Leiden: Brill, 2012.

External links
Katia Buffetrille (EPHE)

Tibetologists
French ethnologists
Academic staff of the University of Paris
Academic staff of the École pratique des hautes études
1948 births
Living people


Arrowhead Mills is a brand of organic baking mixes, grains, and, cereals.

The brand has been owned by Hain Celestial Group since 1999. Since 2019, the brand has been owned by Hometown Food Co.  Its consumer affairs department is located in Boulder, Colorado.

History
Arrowhead Mills was founded in 1960 by nutritionist Frank Ford in Hereford, the seat of Deaf Smith County in the southern Texas Panhandle west of Amarillo, Texas. Ford sought to sell corn and wheat free of pesticides. The grains were initially stone-ground and sold to local markets. Later, Ford built its current facility in Hereford and added other products such as beans, seeds, cereals, and baking mixes.

Products
Products include:

Breakfast Foods, including cold and hot cereals, granola, and pancake/waffle mixes;
Flours, including white, rye, spelt, oat, and millet flours among other grains;
Baking Ingredients, such as wheat germ and wheat gluten;
Baking mixes, such as bread mixes, pie crusts, and dessert mixes;
Beans, such as Anasazi beans, green lentils, and soybeans;
Grains, including ancient grains such as amaranth and quinoa;
Seeds, including flax seeds and popcorn;
Rice of several varieties; and
Cooking Mixes, such as stuffing mix.

Origin of ingredients
Many Arrowhead Mills products are certified at least 70% organic by the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) or Pro-Cert Organic Systems. Among the non-organic products are some hot and cold cereals, most nut butters, and some baking mixes.

The company has released more specific information on the origins of the following ingredients:

Spelt, Sesame, Tahini, Flaxseed, Oat, and all Cereals are grown and processed in the United States.
Almonds are from California.
Peanuts are from the United States.
Corn, Cornmeal, and Brown Rice are from Texas.
Rice is from California, Texas, or Louisiana.
Barley is from the North and Central United States.
Quinoa is specified only as 'not from China.'  (Quinoa is often grown in South America)
Amaranth is from Nebraska.
Lentils are from North Dakota or California.
Beans and Rye are from North Dakota.

Companies cannot release exact origins of ingredients for proprietary reasons. However, many of the growing conditions in the above locations can be researched in greater detail.

See also

List of food companies

References

Baking mixes
Companies based in Texas
Food and drink companies of the United States


Anisodus tanguticus (ཐང་ཕྲོམ་ནག་པོ། in Tibetan)  is a species of flowering plant belonging to tribe Hyoscyameae of subfamily Solanoideae of the nightshade family Solanaceae. It is thus closely related to Henbane and Deadly Nightshade. Solanaceae is a plant family which includes many important agricultural plants such as the potato and the tomato. It is mostly found growing in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. A. tanguticus is collected and used mostly for its medicinal effects caused by the plant's biologically active nicotine and tropane alkaloids. It has a significant impact in China as one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Scientific name
The generic name Anisodus is a compound of the Greek words  (, 'unequal') and  (, 'tooth'), hence signifying 'having teeth of different lengths' – so called from the observation that certain species have calyces featuring lobes or teeth of unequal length.
The specific name tanguticus is a geographical epithet, signifying 'belonging to the Tangut region' i.e. 'growing in the land of the Tangut people' – which includes the region of Amdo, one of the three traditional regions of Tibet (taking in the modern Chinese province of Qinghai and part of the south of the modern Chinese province of Gansu). Historically, the Tangut, or Western Xia empire included, at its greatest extent, also parts of what are now the Chinese provinces of Ningxia, northern Shaanxi, northeastern Xinjiang, southwestern Inner Mongolia and southernmost Outer Mongolia – all of which in fact lie outside the range of Anisodus tanguticus.

Alternative names
Anisodus tanguticus is more commonly known in China as 山莨菪 (shān làngdàng = 'mountain henbane') or Zang Qie (transliterated also Tsang-ch'ieh).

Description

Anisodus tanguticus is a perennial plant. It has flowers that are mostly solitary and borne in leaf axils. The flowers are mostly cup-shaped and radial. Most of them are nodding but they can sometimes become erect.

The pedicels are of variable length, averaging around  and may be either glabrous or pubescent.

The calyx is usually broadly infundibuliform (funnel-shaped) and around  in length.

Most of the calyx lobes of A. tanguticus appear broadly dentate. Closer examination of these lobes generally reveals one or two lobes to be broader and longer than the others. The apices of these lobes may be either acute or obtuse and the lobes themselves are slightly unequal and glabrous.

The infundibuliform corolla ranges in colour through varying shades and zonations of purple through to occasional wholly pale yellow to green forms, the individual petals making up the corolla reaching between  in length.

The stamens are inserted at the base of the corolla tube and are half the length of the corolla. The filaments are about  long and are hairless.

The anthers are oblong in shape and around  in length, dehiscing longitudinally at maturity.

The ovary is conical, bearing styles that are approximately  long. The stigma is discoidal and somewhat dehiscent at maturity.

Insect pollinators of the plant include flies, honeybees, and ants.

Distribution
Anisodus tanguticus is found growing (on grassy sunny slopes) principally on the Tibetan Plateau, its range extending from the Hengduan Mountains of Sichuan and Yunnan in the east, through Qinghai and Gansu to the northwest, Tibet in the west, and Nepal in the south. It is present from altitudes of . Populations of A. tanguticus in this region have decreased significantly due to extensive harvesting of the species for medicinal purposes, resulting (since the roots are the part harvested) in the removal of plants in their entirety.

Due to its distribution on the Tibetan Plateau, which includes many mountains and valleys, A. tanguticus can be found in very isolated areas relative to another patch of the same plant. This has led to a high level of genetic differentiation of A. tanguticus.

It is frequently found growing in the vicinity of settlements and monasteries, thriving as it does in soils nutrient-rich through the regular depositing of horse and cattle dung.

Traditional medicine
Anisodus tanguticus () is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine.

It contains high levels of the tropane alkaloids  hyoscyamine and scopolamine, which affect primarily the parasympathetic nervous system and can act as anticholinergic agents.

Pharmaceutical use

Anisodus tanguticus is grown and harvested in order to extract two alkaloids, anisodamine and anisodine, which can be obtained from the roots of the plant.  These alkaloids are used as anticholinergic drugs in China for acute circulatory shock.  Anisodamine in particular was introduced into clinical use in China in 1965 through the manufacture of a synthetic drug that concentrated the alkaloids from the plant. It was first used to treat epidemic meningitis, but was later used to treat other ailments, including glomerulonephritis, rheumatoid arthritis, hemorrhagic necrotic enteritis, eclampsia, pulmonary edema, and circulatory shock.
Anisodamine has also been found to be highly beneficial in cases of noise-induced hearing loss, dilating the capillaries and improving microcirculation in the bony labyrinth; while Anisodine has been used clinically for migraine and diseases of the fundus occuli due to vasospasm.

Attempts to increase population
The population of A. tanguticus is starting to dwindle in its main habitat of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China. This can be attributed not only to the effects of over-collection, as a medicinal species, but also to a low rate of seed germination in A. tanguticus – even under most natural conditions. This is probably due to the relative impermeability of the testa of its seeds which tends to prevent water absorption and acts also to inhibit gaseous exchange. The seeds of A. tanguticus are therefore classified as having coat-imposed dormancy.

A study was conducted in an effort to find the most effective method of breaking seed dormancy in the species in order to increase rates of germination. Several combinations of treatments (which included chilling, gibberellic acid, and mechanical scarification) were employed.

The mechanical scarification method (which involves the breaking, scratching, or softening of the seed coat) was found to be the only way to increase germination. The rate improved to about 70% and the germination time was improved to 4.1 days.

The study was undertaken in an effort to find ways of increasing the population of the plant.

References

External links

Anisodus page
Anisodus tanguticus (Dr. Duke's Databases)

Hyoscyameae
Flora of Tibet
Flora of China
Dietary supplements
Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine
Deliriants


The Health Insurance Act of 1973 (Cth) was an Act of the Parliament of Australia, passed by the Labor Whitlam government, which introduced the Commonwealth of Australia's first universal healthcare scheme: Medibank. It was later amended under the Fraser government, whereinMedibank Private was established and the public healthcare scheme was progressively wound back. The Hawke government re-established the scheme under the name Medicare.

External links
 Health Insurance Act 1973 in the Federal Register of Legislation

1973 in Australian law
Acts of the Parliament of Australia
Health insurance in Australia


The Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI) is an umbrella organization that unites and motivates media companies around the world to use their influence, resources, and creative talent to address AIDS. The GMAI creates a framework for sharing television and radio programming among media companies in order to increase public health messaging. The organization also educates journalists, editors and producers on how to cover the issue. HIV is preventable, and GMAI members aim to improve public awareness and knowledge to help stem the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Within the GMAI, there are five national and regional coalitions of media companies. As of July 2009, the media initiatives in Africa, Asia, Russia, Latin America and the Caribbean included over 300 member broadcasters total. The GMAI was conceived and organized by the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS with financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Mission

The mission of the GMAI is to leverage the power of media to help prevent the spread of HIV and reduce the stigma facing those already living with the disease.

History

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan convened a meeting in New York in January 2004 to launch the GMAI. At the meeting, the Secretary-General asked the executives of 20 media corporations from 13 countries to pledge their companies’ commitment and resources to raising the level of public awareness and
understanding about AIDS.

By the Spring of 2005, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan decide to hand over the leadership of the GMAI to media leaders, as envisaged by its founders. The transfer of leadership was made official during a second GMAI Summit at the annual MIP TV festival in Cannes, France. Bill Roedy, Vice Chair of MTV Networks and President of MTV Networks International, took over as Chairman. Bill Roedy formed the Leadership Committee of media executives to oversee the GMAI. Over the next 18 months, he challenged media companies on five fronts, including a commitment to airtime of HIV prevention messages, production of content offered right-free and cost-free, appropriate messaging tailored for local audiences, a workplace policy and an active partnership.

In December 2006, Bill Roedy handed over the chair of the GMAI Leadership Committee to Dali Mpofu, former CEO of the  South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Today, implementing partners from each of the GMAI's five regional partnerships coordinate and oversee the GMAI.

Regional broadcast initiatives

Since its first inauguration, regional coalitions have been forming within the GMAI. The regional coalitions produce and share culturally relevant public service announcements, news, and entertainment programming on HIV/AIDS. Campaigns include not only radio and television pieces, but a range of platforms like consumer product labeling, billboard advertising, and mobile phone messaging. Many coalitions also provide training for media representatives in their region. Below are the official links to these campaigns.
 Global Media Aids Initiative
 Africa Broadcast Media Partnership Against HIV/AIDS
 Asia-Pacific Media AIDS Initiative
 Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS
 Latin American Media AIDS Initiative
 Russian Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS

Supporting partners
 The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
 UNAIDS
 Ford Foundation
 The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
 The Elton John AIDS Foundation

Relevant research

The British Medical Journal published an article on determining the most cost and health effective way of treating HIV patients and preventing further spread of HIV (Hogan, D.R., et al., 2005). The article concluded that the most cost-effective way of reducing HIV transmission could be using mass media campaigns - reaching the greatest number of people using the lowest budget (Hogan, D.R., et al., 2005). Using the power of the media, the GMAI can be a significant contributor to preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

References
 The Global Media AIDS Initiative

HIV/AIDS activism
 Hogan, D. R., Baltussen, R., Hayashi, C., Lauer, J. A., & Salomon, J. A. (2005). Achieving the millennium development goals for health - Cost-effectiveness analysis of strategies to combat HIV/AIDS in developing countries. British Medical Journal, 331, 1431–1435.


Immersive design (Experimental Design) describes design work which ranges in levels of interaction and leads users to be fully absorbed in an experience. This form of design involves the use of VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented reality), and MR (Mixed Reality) that creates the illusion that the user is physically interacting with a realistic digital atmosphere.

Overview
Alex McDowell coined the phrase 'immersive design' in 2007 in order to frame a discussion around a design discipline that addresses story-based media within the context of digital and virtual technologies. Together McDowell and museum director Chris Scoates co-directed  5D | The Future of Immersive Design conference in Long Beach 2008, laying some groundwork for immersive design to be a distinct design philosophy. 5D has become a forum and community representing a broad range of cross-media designers with its intent based in education, cross-pollination and the development of an expanding knowledge base.

In recent years, immersive design has been promoted as a design philosophy where it has been appropriated for the purposes of describing design for narrative media and the process of Worldbuilding.

With immersive design being applied to a variety of topics and discussions, there is great benefit to how immersive design can benefit the future of technology. Topics and discussions include, mental health and personal medicine, gaming, journalism, and education. Although immersive design is still maturing, it has served a great benefit to these fields, providing a unique learning experience for those involved.

Characteristics

In order for an experience to be considered 'immersive', it needs to incorporate multiple characteristics that help generate the altered illusionary experience.

 Audio
 Sight
 Touch
 Multimedia
 Multi-format

See also
 Narrative
 Human-centered computing
 Immersion (virtual reality)
 Gesamtkunstwerk

References

Design
Human–computer interaction


James Richard Young (17 February 1853 – 25 April 1937) was an American politician and insurance salesman who served as the first North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance.

Early life
Born in 1853 in what was then Granville County, North Carolina, Young was educated at Hampden-Sydney College and established an insurance agency in Henderson. He also became the first clerk of court for the new county of Vance and served from 1881-1890. Before 1880 he married Annie Eliza Southerland (1857–1894), with whom he had at least four children.

Political career
On March 6, 1899 the North Carolina General Assembly created the Department of Insurance to regulate its namesake industry in the state. The agency was to be led by a commissioner of insurance, who was to be appointed by the governor to two-year terms, though the legislature selected the first commissioner; the day the insurance department was created, the legislature elected Young to the commissionership. He was sworn-in to office on March 9. He was gubernatorially appointed reappointed to the post in 1901 and 1905. Following the amendment of the state constitution providing for the popular election of the insurance commissioner, Young was elected to the office in 1908. He left office in January 1921.

Later life
Young returned to the private insurance business after leaving office. He retired in 1935 due to poor health and died on April 25, 1937 at his home in Raleigh and was buried at the Elmwood Cemetery in Henderson.

References

Works cited

External links
NC Manual of 1913, page 90
NC Manual of 1913, page 245

North Carolina Commissioners of Insurance
1853 births
1937 deaths
American Presbyterians
Hampden–Sydney College alumni
People from Henderson, North Carolina


The 2008 submarine cable disruption refers to three separate incidents of major damage to submarine optical communication cables around the world. The first incident caused damage involving up to five high-speed Internet submarine communications cables in the Mediterranean Sea and Middle East from 23 January to 4 February 2008, causing internet disruptions and slowdowns for users in the Middle East and India. The incident called into doubt the safety of the undersea portion of the Internet cable system.

In late February there was another outage, this time affecting a fiber optic connection between Singapore and Jakarta.

On 19 December, FLAG FEA, GO-1, SEA-ME-WE 3, and SEA-ME-WE 4 were all cut.

Cables damaged

23 January
Although it was not reported at the time, there was a cut off of FALCON on 23 January. The FALCON cable system connects several countries in the Persian Gulf and India.

30 January
On 30 January 2008, news agencies reported Internet services were widely disrupted in the Middle East and in the Indian subcontinent following damage to the SEA-ME-WE 4 and FLAG Telecom cables in the Mediterranean Sea.  The damage to the two systems occurred separately several kilometers apart near Alexandria.

While the respective contributions of the two cable systems to this blackout is unclear, network outage graphs show anomalies at 0430 UTC and again at 0800 UTC. The cause of the damage to SEA-ME-WE 4 or FLAG has not been declared by either cable operator. A number of sources speculated these were caused by a dragging ship anchor near Alexandria. The Egyptian Maritime Transport Ministry reviewed one day of complete video footage beginning 12 hours before and through 12 hours after the service disruption, concluding the cause of damage was not surface craft as no ships were traced sailing through the area of the alleged wire damage. The Kuwaitis also do not directly charge seafaring vessels, instead referring to "weather conditions and maritime traffic."
The Economist reported that an earthquake may have caused the cable to fault.

Effects
Disruptions of 70 percent in Egypt and 60 percent in India were reported, along with problems in Afghanistan-AWCC, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Maldives, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

1.7 million Internet users in the UAE were affected by the Internet disruption. Mahesh Jaishanker, an executive director for Du, said, “The submarine cable cuts in FLAG Europe-Asia cable 8.3 km away from Alexandria, Egypt and SEA-ME-WE 4 affected at least 60 million users in India, 12 million in Pakistan, six million in Egypt and 4.7 million in Saudi Arabia.” A router for a university in Tehran was not responding, causing some reports of a total loss of connectivity for Iran. However, the Iranian embassy in Abu Dhabi reported that "everything was fine." Additional reports and analysis showed that while Iran was affected, it "fared much better" than many other countries in the same geographic area.

On 1 February 2008, VSNL, a leading communications solutions provider in India, confirmed that the company restored a majority of its IP connectivity into the MENA region within 24 hours of the Egypt cable breakdown. Services were largely restored within 24 hours of the cable cut by diverting traffic through the TIC and SEA-ME-WE 3 cables.

1 February
Two days after the initial break, it was reported that the FALCON cable was cut between Muscat, Oman and Dubai, UAE. This cut was between different landing points than the 23 January cut, FLAG Telecom issued a press release later, stating the "FALCON cable is reported cut at 0559 hrs GMT on 1 February 2008. Location of cut is at 56 km from Dubai, UAE on segment between UAE and Oman". This cut was caused by an abandoned anchor weighing 5-6 tonnes.

3 February
On 3 February 2008, Qtel reported that a cable called DOHA-HALOUL connecting Qatar to the United Arab Emirates had been damaged, causing disruptions in already damaged Middle Eastern communication networks. It became the fourth cable to be damaged in 5 days. The location of the break was between the Qatari island of Haloul and the UAE island of Das. The problem was said to be related to the power system.

4 February
On 4 February 2008 the Khaleej Times reported that SEA-ME-WE 4 had also been damaged at another location, near Penang, Malaysia. The date of this damage was not given.

19 December
On 19 December 2008 France Telecom issued a press release stating that the FLAG Telecom, SEA-ME-WE 4, and SEA-ME-WE 3 cables, linking Alexandria, Egypt, Sicily, and Malta, had been cut by either bad weather conditions or a ship's anchor, resulting in substantial slowdowns in communication traffic, with Egypt experiencing an overall 80% reduction in Internet capacity. France Telecom expects SEA-ME-WE 4 will be repaired first, then SEA-ME-WE 3, then FLAG, and that repairs should be concluded by 31 December. The break disrupted 75% of communication between the Middle East and Asia and the rest of the world. The breaks caused companies including Vodafone, Verizon Communications, Portugal Telecom, GO and France Telecom to experience disruption in their systems and forced them to reroute communications through different means. Others, such as AT&T, also received reports of service disruption. The rerouting of these communications caused large slowdowns in some areas. Interoute director Jonathan Wright stated that "You can reroute the data through other cables, but that increases traffic and can potentially create bottlenecks, so Internet connections may slow down and some phone calls could get disrupted." The GO-1 cable connecting Malta and Sicily was also cut.

Cause of cable breaks

Anchors
These disruptions are attributed by some officials to accidents involving ships' anchors, but reviews of surveillance footage of the area by Egyptian authorities revealed no ships in the area. However, FLAG Telecom indicated that the cut to the Falcon cable between the United Arab Emirates and Oman was caused by an abandoned anchor weighing five to six tons.

In mid April two ships were impounded in connection with the FLAG Telecom outages near Dubai.  They were charged with improperly dropping anchor in the area of the cuts.

The 19 December breaks were reported to be caused either by bad weather or a ship's anchor, though the bad weather was just a possibility and the anchor a much more likely occurrence.

Common occurrence
According to Stephen Beckert, a senior analyst at TeleGeography, the events are far less exceptional than they seem because cable cuts happen all the time. Beckert argues that "only the first two cuts had any serious impact on the Internet," and this drew public attention to other cable cuts that would not normally have been newsworthy. According to Beckert, cable cuts happen "on average once every three days." He further noted that there are 25 large ships that do nothing but fix cable cuts and bends, and that such cuts are usually the result of cables rubbing against rocks on the sea floor.

According to Global Marine Systems, "Undersea cable damage is hardly rare—indeed, more than 50 repair operations were mounted in the Atlantic alone last year". While a cut in a cable crossing the Atlantic has "no significant effect" due to the many alternate cables, only a handful of Internet cables serve the Middle East. These disruptions are only noticeable because of the small number of cables.

Conspiracy theories
Since Israel and Iraq were not affected by the communications blackout, conspiracy theories have begun to spread throughout the Internet.

On 6 February, theories that the disruption in these cables was related to an economic confrontation between the United States and Iran appeared in an opinion piece on Dow Jones Marketwatch.  This article points out that the disruption or damage to these cables preceded the intended launch of the Iranian oil bourse on Kish Island between 1 and 11 February.  The launch of this bourse, which was intended to broker sales of oil denominated in euros (sometimes called "petroeuros") had been interpreted by some as an attempt by Iran to inflict additional damage to the value of the dollar by reducing the volume of oil which is traded in "petrodollars".  Given the potential economic damage of euro-denominated oil sales in the context of on-going dollar inflation, as well as the large number of cables which appear to have been disrupted or damaged, Marketwatch's John Dvorak has written that the U.S. can expect to be blamed for the disruptions.

According to this sabotage theory, the damaged cables and the resulting Internet disruptions would destroy confidence in the ability of the Iranian Oil Bourse to execute trades, thereby thwarting the establishment of an alternative to dollar-denominated oil sales. In fact, Iran suffered very little from the outages, which primarily affected America's allies in the region (see 'Effects' above). Bloggers have also suggested that the cable disruptions were a cover for NSA installing taps on the lines for eavesdropping.

On Monday, 18 February, the International Telecommunication Union said that the damage could have been an act of sabotage. The UN agency's head of development, Sami al-Murshed was quoted, "We do not want to preempt the results of ongoing investigations, but we do not rule out that a deliberate act of sabotage caused the damage to the undersea cables over two weeks ago."
This was subsequently shown false, as on April 18, two ships parked in a restricted area during a storm, cutting the cables with their anchors. One sailor from each vessel was detained, as were both vessels. The vessels were subsequently released after restitution for the damaged cables was secured.

See also
 2011 submarine cable disruption

Notes

External links
Map by The Guardian of the submarine cables in the world, highlighting the first two cables cut

2008 in Egypt
2008 in Iran
2008 in Malaysia
2008 in science
2008 in the United Arab Emirates
2008 industrial disasters
Conspiracy theories in Asia
February 2008 events
January 2008 events
2008 disruption
Technological failures
2000s internet outages


Robin L. Webb (born September 6, 1960) is the member of the Kentucky Senate for the 18th District serving since 2009. She formerly served as a member of the Kentucky State Representative for the 96th District from 1999 to 2009, resigning to run for Kentucky Senate. She also has a law office based in Grayson, Kentucky where she lives. She attended Morehead State University and obtained her AAS and BS. She furthered her education at Northern Kentucky University's Chase College of Law, obtaining her J.D. Robin worked as a coal miner until the age of 25. Her father, Dr. Robert Webb, served the people of the Commonwealth for more than three decades as a member of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources Commission.

References

Kentucky lawyers
Democratic Party Kentucky state senators
Democratic Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives
Morehead State University alumni
Northern Kentucky University alumni
Women state legislators in Kentucky
Living people
1960 births
People from Grayson, Kentucky
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians