The approximate counting algorithm allows the counting of a large number of events using a small amount of memory.  Invented in 1977 by Robert Morris of Bell Labs, it uses probabilistic techniques to increment the counter.  It was fully analyzed in the early 1980s by Philippe Flajolet of INRIA Rocquencourt, who coined the name approximate counting, and strongly contributed to its recognition among the research community. When focused on high quality of approximation and low probability of failure, Nelson and Yu showed that a very slight modification to the Morris Counter is asymptotically optimal amongst all algorithms for the problem. The algorithm is considered one of the precursors of streaming algorithms, and the more general problem of determining the frequency moments of a data stream has been central to the field.

Theory of operation
Using Morris' algorithm, the counter represents an "order of magnitude estimate" of the actual count.  The approximation is mathematically unbiased.

To increment the counter, a pseudo-random event is used, such that the incrementing is a probabilistic event.  To save space, only the exponent is kept.  For example, in base 2, the counter can estimate the count to be 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and all of the powers of two.  The memory requirement is simply to hold the exponent.

As an example, to increment from 4 to 8, a pseudo-random number would be generated such that the probability the counter is increased is 0.25.  Otherwise, the counter remains at 4.

The table below illustrates some of the potential values of the counter:

If the counter holds the value of 101, which equates to an exponent of 5 (the decimal equivalent of 101), then the estimated count is , or 32.  There is a fairly low probability that the actual count of increment events was 5 ().  The actual count of increment events is likely to be "around 32", but it could be arbitrarily high (with decreasing probabilities for actual counts above 39).

Selecting counter values
While using powers of 2 as counter values is memory efficient, arbitrary values tend to create a dynamic error range, and the smaller values will have a greater error ratio than bigger values. Other methods of selecting counter values consider parameters such as memory availability, desired error ratio, or counting range to provide an optimal set of values.

However, when several counters share the same values, values are optimized according to the counter with the largest counting range, and produce sub-optimal accuracy for smaller counters. Mitigation is achieved by maintaining Independent Counter Estimation buckets, which restrict the effect of a larger counter to the other counters in the bucket.

Algorithm
The algorithm can be implemented by hand. When incrementing the counter, flip a coin a number of times of the corresponding to the counter's current value.  If it comes up heads each time, then increment the counter.  Otherwise, do not increment it.

This can be easily achieved on a computer. Let  be the current value of the counter. Generating  pseudo-random bits and using the logical AND of all those bits and add the result to the counter. As the result was zero if any of those pseudo-random bits are zero, achieving an increment probability of .  This procedure is executed each time the request is made to increment the counter.

Applications
The algorithm is useful in examining large data streams for patterns.  This is particularly useful in applications of data compression, sight and sound recognition, and other artificial intelligence applications.

See also
 HyperLogLog

References

Sources
 Morris, R. Counting large numbers of events in small registers. Communications of the ACM 21, 10 (1978), 840–842
 Flajolet, P. Approximate Counting: A Detailed Analysis.  BIT 25, (1985), 113–134
 Fouchs, M., Lee, C-K., Prodinger, H., Approximate Counting via the Poisson-Laplace-Mellin Method

Randomized algorithms


This article lists international opinion polls taken in various countries around the world during 2008 relating to the 2008 United States presidential election.  Most polls measured foreign preference for Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Republican candidate John McCain.  For international reaction to the election, see International reaction to the United States presidential election, 2008.

Summary
Most polls during the 2008 election year showed greater global support for Senator Barack Obama over Senator John McCain.  A poll for the BBC World Service conducted in 22 countries found Obama favored in each one by varying margins, with an overall average of 49% preference for Obama, 12% for McCain, and 40% with no preference. Similarly, a 73 country Gallup poll found that 24% of those polled favored Obama compared with 7% who favored McCain; 69% of those surveyed had no opinion. An international Reader's Digest survey also reported more support for Obama than McCain in all 16 foreign countries polled, though not in the U.S. itself. However, certain countries did prefer McCain to Obama in some polls, including Israel, Georgia, Laos by a small margin, and the Philippines (which is in contrast to the capital Manila).

A poll done by the Pew Global Attitudes Project investigated whether other countries believed American foreign policy "will change for the better" with a new president.  Although majorities held this belief in several major European and African countries, 67% of Japanese respondents said it would not change very much and more Jordanians and Egyptians believed American foreign policy would get worse than better.  In terms of confidence in the candidates, the Pew poll found most but not all countries had more confidence in Obama to do the right thing in global affairs.  In several countries a majority of those polled said they were following the campaign closely, including Australia, Germany, Jordan, and the United Kingdom.

A global non-scientific Internet vote conducted by The Economist, with 52,000 respondents, indicated that Obama was favored over McCain by a vast majority of poll respondents, with over 44,000 votes for Obama, or roughly 85% (there were no third party or abstain options).

Multi-country polls

Individual country polls

Argentina
A poll taken on August 26 by Ibarómetro reported that 53.2% of those polled preferred Obama against 8.8% for McCain; 38% were unsure.

Canada
Polls taken in Canada showed widespread and overwhelming support for Obama, even in traditionally conservative parts of the country.

France
A poll conducted on September 2–3 by TNS Sofres/Logica for the French-American Foundation and Fondation Robert Schuman found that 80% of the French polled hoped for an Obama victory, 8% for a McCain victory, 7% for neither, and 5% without an opinion. A later poll done on October 10–11 by BVA for La Tribune found an even higher 86% who preferred to see Obama elected, with 6% hoping the same for McCain and 8% not expressing an opinion.

The day after the election, a poll conducted by CSA for Le Parisien found that 84% of those polled were satisfied with the election of Obama, while 6% were dissatisfied and 10% expressed no opinion.

Germany
During the Democratic primary campaign, 43% of Germans supported Obama and 39% supported challenger Senator Hillary Clinton according to a poll by Forsa for Stern. In terms of the general election, a Forsa poll carried out on August 20–21 found 74% of respondents would vote for Obama, 11% for McCain, and 15% other or not sure.

Israel
The Rabin Center for Israel Studies commissioned a poll by TNS Teleseker in the months before the election, which found that 46.4% of those polled supported McCain, 34% supported Obama, and 18.6% were undecided.

Palestinian territories
A poll by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion taken September 1–10 reported 33.5% of respondents favoring McCain, 27.7% Obama, 30.4% neither, and 8.3% unsure.

See also
International opinion polling for the United States presidential election, 2016

References

Opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election


The 1991 Italian Open (known as the Peugeot Italian Open for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 48th edition of the Italian Open, and was part of the ATP Super 9 of the 1991 ATP Tour, and of the Tier I Series of the 1991 WTA Tour. Both the men's and the women's events were held at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy. The women's tournament was played from 6 May until 12 May 1991, and the men's tournament was played from 13 May until 20 May 1991. Emilio Sánchez and Gabriela Sabatini won the singles titles.

Finals

Men's singles

 Emilio Sánchez defeated  Alberto Mancini 6–3, 6–1, 3–0 (retired)
It was Emilio Sánchez 2nd title of the year and his 13th overall. It was his 1st career Masters title.

Women's singles

 Gabriela Sabatini defeated  Monica Seles 6–3, 6–2
It was Sabatini's 5th title of the year and her 20th overall. It was her 3rd Tier I title of the year and her 4th overall. It was her 3rd title at the event, also winning in 1988 and 1989.

Men's doubles

 Omar Camporese /  Goran Ivanišević defeated  Luke Jensen /  Laurie Warder 6–2, 6–3

Women's doubles

 Jennifer Capriati /  Monica Seles defeated  Nicole Bradtke /  Elna Reinach 7–5, 6–2

References

External links
Official website
Women's Singles, Doubles and Qualifying Singles Draws

Italian Open (tennis)
Italian Open
May 1991 sports events in Europe


99p Stores Ltd. was a family-run business founded in January 2001 by entrepreneur Nadir Lalani, who opened the first store in the chain in Holloway, London, with a further three stores opening later that year. In 2002, Lalani decided to expand the business throughout the UK and had rapidly developed 99p Stores, operating a total of 129 stores as of March 2010 and serving around 1.5 million customers each week, undercutting their main rival Poundland by a penny. As of mid-2009 the company offered more than 3,500 different product lines throughout its stores.

Most of their stores were based in the south of the UK, although there were stores as far north as Liverpool and Hartlepool. The chain saw accelerated store expansion upon the collapse of Woolworths Group, where they took the opportunity to acquire 15 of these former stores, increasing their estate to 79 at that time. Landlords were regarding 99p Stores as an anchor tenant due to the significant number of customers one of their stores could bring to a location.

Although the retailer made a pre-tax loss of £1.14 million in the year to 31 January 2007, they claimed that, since then, consumers had become more cautious with their money and where they spend it, in response to the economic conditions. The retailer had noticed an increase of customers from the wealthier AB social grade (a system of demographic classification used in the United Kingdom) during the recession. Customers had tended to speak positively about 99p Stores, with most reviewers noting customer and product overcrowding as their biggest criticisms, yet still rated the chain 4.5/5 on average.

In February 2015, Poundland agreed to buy 99p Stores for £55 million, with regulatory approval received in September 2015. The 99p Stores fascia began being phased out in favour of Poundland branding from late 2015.

History

Foundation

Nadir Lalani came to the UK in 1973 from Tanzania, having owned a cash and carry store in Mwanza. Since moving to the UK he built up and sold two convenience store chains (including buying Whistlestop Discount Stores, a 27-strong chain which he sold in 2005) before moving into discount retailing, with intentions of handing the business over to his two sons, who also worked for the company, in due course. Lalani was inspired to start 99p Stores after stumbling upon a bustling Poundland shop whilst wandering around a shopping centre. His first store opened on 18 January 2001, with over 3,500 customers visiting the store in the first day of trading. As of mid-2009, the company offered more than 3,500 different product lines throughout its stores.

Growth
The company relocated their headquarters to a new,  base in Daventry in 2007, giving them capacity to go to 120 stores with existing infrastructure. Discount shops, including 99p Stores, had seen store numbers increase by 60% during the economic downturn, with two discount stores opening for every one store that has closed. The retailer took advantage of the tough economic climate of the late 2000s, having doubled the number of their stores during the period August 2008 - August 2009, and had further plans to double existing store numbers and current market share within the 18 months following October 2009.

In August 2009, Retail Week reported that the retailer was to review its ownership structure, potentially resulting in a sale as early as summer 2010 or a flotation within the next three years. The retailer had said they would want 150 shops before considering any offers to buy a stake in the business, mentioning the advantages of a flotation to include further investment, as well as the Lalani family being able to retain a stake and an element of control in the business.

Management
In October 2009, the retailer appointed Gordon Brown as their new chairman, who took up the position on 1 October 2009, taking over from Peter Gent. Brown, having previously served as managing director at Wilkinson between 1991 and 2007, joined the company at a time when it was embarking on aggressive expansion and assessing its long-term options.

Business practice

Sales strategy
When inflation pushes up prices beyond what the company is willing to pay, this is often easily worked around by reducing the quantity supplied in each item, for example by reducing the amount of tape on reels of selotape, or selling eggs by the dozen instead of 18s. Nadir's son and buying director, Faisal, who took care of the day-to-day running, noted that the lowest margin he could work with was 20 percent. In response to the planned VAT rise to 20% in January 2011, the budget chain said it would not change its prices but would stop selling goods that did not make a profit.

Towards the end of 2009, 99p Stores replaced their Torex electronic point of sale system with one provided by Futura to operate their touchscreen Intelligent Registers (IRs). As well as allowing the retailer to understand which products customers are buying, through up-to-date tracking of the most popular products, it allowed stock to be moved around the business quickly. Other functionality included its allocation and replenishment capabilities, helping to ensure constant stock via automated ordering. Following a successful pilot (in which the company tested the new system in a select number of stores before committing to it), Futura scheduled an ambitious roll-out programme at the end of 2009 to change both software and platform, reducing the normal roll-out period from six months to two months. The Futura team installed the system with Digipos touch-screen tills each evening after trading, enabling the store to start trading the very next day. Simultaneously, new chip-and-pin capability was being introduced, to ensure the company was PCI compliant, with contactless payments to follow.

Products offered

The retailer offered a large range of products in its 3,500 lines, from "do it yourself" (DIY) and electrical to toys and stationery products, with around 60% of their products consisting of well-known brands such as Colgate, Pepsi and Pringles. Plans had been announced to extend its grocery offerings, which made up 35% of its 3,500 lines. Food products had been a strong performer for the retailer, accounting for 40% of total sales in April 2008, which itself was an increase of 5% from the start of 2008. The retailer provided its own line of grocery products, branded 'Deli Fresh', which were launched at the start of 2007. As of 2006, the retailer was making a profit margin of 40% on the produce it sold, which included its most popular food lines at that time such as potatoes, onions and eggs. Some products had sold for less than 99p, such as branded cakes for 69p and  bottles of soft drinks for 89p. The best seller was the  Galaxy chocolate bar.

The business sourced a third of its products from the Far East, allowing for gross margins of up to 50%.

Store expansion

In April 2006, the retailer secured an £8 million cash injection from its venture capital backers Barclays Ventures and Lloyds TSB to open up to 45 new stores by early 2008. More than two years later, in September 2008, its 59th store was opened in Bracknell, Berkshire and by the end of 2008 there were 65 stores open, with plans for 20 stores each year over the next three years.

As can be seen in the graph to the right, the retailer had seen rapid growth since the end of 2008, doubling the number of their stores from 61 in November 2008 to 123 in December 2009. Company owner Lalani said that finding sites was getting easier because of the new empty rate tax on commercial property. Whereas, previously, landlords would decline to have a discount shop filling their empty stores, they were less reluctant to fill them with discount stores, as they were being charged for stores which lie empty. Stuart Donnelly, head of property at 99p Stores, noted that landlords were being much more proactive, inviting potential retailers to come and have a look at their locations with the hope of them taking up a lease, as the property market has been badly affected by the recession, allowing the company to drive competitive deals to further expand their portfolio of stores with less expenditure, something that wouldn't have been possible just a few years previously. Landlords were regarding 99p Stores as an anchor tenant due to the significant number of customers one of their stores can bring to a location.

Upon the collapse of the former Woolworths Group, 99p Stores took the opportunity to acquire 15 of the vacant stores, increasing their estate to 79. They reached 100 stores in August 2009 and, as of December 2009, the retail chain had acquired and reopened 52 former Woolworths stores. New store openings had proved so popular that bosses had been requesting friendly police presence for crowd control purposes for desperate shoppers who queued from 5am to be the first to get hold of first-customer bargains.

Family Bargains
In 2010, the owners of 99p Stores launched a subsidiary chain, Family Bargains. The first store opened in Carmarthen, Wales. The new chain was intended to operate from larger store sites, such as retail parks, and aimed to sell a wider range of products, with the benefit of not being tied to a single price-point as in the 99p Stores.
The Carmarthen, Wales, Family Bargains store reverted to the 99p Stores branding in February 2012

Customer base
A 2009 survey by the store revealed some of its 600,000 weekly customers were stockbrokers, solicitors, accountants and doctors, as opposed to an overwhelming majority of hard-up and poorly paid people. The retailer had noticed a lot more consumers from the AB social grade in their stores, and were expecting this trend to continue even after the economy recovered.

Some stores, such as one located in the seaside town of Clacton, were well positioned to attract a lot of passing tourists. In August 2009, the Clacton store was reporting more than 5,000 customers per day, with sometimes as many as 400 customers passing through their doors every hour, and often clearing out most of the store's stock daily.

Competition

Competitive strategy
Value and discount retailers had seen a boom in sales since the recession at the start of 2009. Although there were several retailers with the same strategy as 99p Stores, such as independent businesses and smaller price-point retail chains such as Poundworld, 99p Stores' closest and largest rival in the sector was Poundland. The retailer had cited one of their main aims was to catch up with Poundland and their 223 stores as of August 2009. The retailer made it a point of honour to undercut rival Poundland, whose £1 pack of 100 white plastic cups contained 20 fewer (and cost a penny more) than the pack of 120 available at 99p Stores as of late 2007.

Direct competition
In June 2009, a traditional sweet shop in Petersfield came under serious threat of closure following the opening of a 99p Store, with takings going down by as much as 60 percent a day. They were struggling to attract customers as the 99p Store is able to sell a similar range of sweets from its confectionery counter at a fraction of the price, as being a multimillion-pound concern it was able to increase its lines and buy larger quantities at cheaper prices. The commercial manager of 99p Stores, Gerry Loughran, noted that "she was obviously trading when Woolworths was open, and they had the biggest pick and mix operation in the UK at the time, so she has faced competition before and she was able to manage then."

In December 2009, Eastleigh news reported that a new discount shop had established itself next door to a 99p Stores outlet, but instead selling all its products for 89p, undercutting the retailer by 10p. This was a new experience for the 99p Stores outlet in Eastleigh, as, when they first opened, they succeeded in undercutting the two existing discount stores, "The Stockmarket" and "T.M Stores", to the extent that both shops closed down within months. The manager of the new 89p shop disagreed that this a business model which can only succeed in a recession, stating "this is a business for any time, people love value for money". The 89p shop was the 2nd branch to be opened, the first being in Poole, Dorset.

Financial performance
The retailer had boasted rapid growth since interception which it attributed to their strong sales growth. As a result of their growth, they were rated in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 in December 2006 as the 19th fastest growing company in the country. The Grocer also ranked them 11th in their Top 50 list of independent grocery retailers.

Litigation

Health and safety
In June 2005, the retailer received fines and costs totalling almost £4,400 after pleading guilty at Barnsley Magistrates' Court of supplying dangerous frying pans. A unit purchased by trading standards and informally tested was found to fail on the handle strength and it became too hot to touch. The company immediately displayed recall notices upon learning of the dangerous product.

The company again were fined on 17 October 2005, after pleading guilty at Kingston Magistrates' Court to selling hair removal cream, which had no instructions in English and caused burning to the consumers' skin when applied. The company were fined £2,500 and had to pay Kingston Council's costs of £500. They were criticised for not having procedures in place to ensure the safety of items, however agreed to introduce procedures to ensure that such instances could not occur again.

Product sale to underaged customer
The company were also fined £3,000 in February 2006, after staff in their Acton and West Ealing stores were caught selling adult-rated DVD films to a 15-year-old boy during a council sting operation. Ealing Trading Standards Officers sent in the boy to establish whether the retailer would sell to youths trying to purchase age-restricted goods. Mr Rosewarne, the health and safety officer for the company, gave evidence on how seriously the company had taken the matter and gave details on new procedures for staff training and in store publicity to avoid any reoccurrences.

Harassment on the grounds of race, discrimination on the grounds of gender
In July 2015 a Polish woman in the Dublin branch was awarded €55,000 after a judgement by the Equality Tribunal. She had been expected to work 70 hours a week while heavily pregnant, and had been promoted to a 'trainee manager' position, meaning she was not paid overtime. The tribunal found that she was the de facto manager of the store.

Customer perception
Generally, customers spoke positively about 99p Stores, with most reviewers only criticising customer and product overcrowding, as well as a lack of cleanliness in many of their stores. Some reviewers noted that they had seen several items cheaper from other retailers; however mostly the products on offer at 99p Stores were of good value. Reviews on dooyoo.co.uk (a shopping advice and review site) showed an average rating of 4/5. Upon opening one of their stores at Muswell Hill, customers were commenting how they had wanted a shop like 99p Stores for some time, with very strong sales reported for their first day of trading.

Awards and nominations
In January 2013, 99p Stores was nominated for the Business of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards.

See also
Variety store
Pound Shop Wars
Poundland
Poundworld

References

External links

 99p Stores' official website
 99p Stores history and development

British companies established in 2001
British companies disestablished in 2016
Arts and crafts retailers
Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom
Variety stores
Retail companies established in 2001
Retail companies disestablished in 2016
Discount shops of the United Kingdom


The 1990 Italian Open (known as the Peugeot Italian Open for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 47th edition of the Italian Open, and was part of the ATP Super 9 of the 1990 ATP Tour, and of the Tier I Series of the 1990 WTA Tour. Both the men's and the women's events were held at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy. The women's tournament was played from May 7 through May 13, 1990, and the men's tournament was played from May 13 through May 21, 1990.

Finals

Men's singles

 Thomas Muster defeated  Andrei Chesnokov 6–1, 6–3, 6–1
It was Thomas Muster's 3rd title of the year and his 8th overall. It was his 1st career Masters title.

Women's singles

 Monica Seles defeated  Martina Navratilova 6–1, 6–1
It was Monica Seles' 4th title of the year and her 5th overall. It was her 1st Tier I title.

Men's doubles

 Sergio Casal /  Emilio Sánchez defeated  Jim Courier /  Martin Davis 7–6, 7–5

Women's doubles

 Helen Kelesi /  Monica Seles defeated  Laura Garrone /  Laura Golarsa 6–3, 6–4

References

Peugeot Italian Open
Italian Open (tennis)
Italian Open
May 1990 sports events in Europe


LYME and LYCE are software stacks composed entirely of free and open-source software to build high-availability heavy duty dynamic web pages. The stacks are composed of:
 Linux, the operating system;
 Yaws, the web server;
 Mnesia or CouchDB, the database;
 Erlang, the functional programming language.

The LYME and LYCE bundles can be and are combined with many other free and open-source software packages such as e.g. netsniff-ng for security testing and hardening, Snort, an intrusion detection (IDS) and intrusion prevention system (IPS), RRDtool for diagrams, or Nagios, Collectd, or Cacti, for monitoring.

Details
Both databases Mnesia and CouchDB as well as Yaws (and also Mochiweb, Misultin, and Cowboy) are written in Erlang, so web applications developed for LYME/LYCE may be run entirely in one Erlang virtual machine. This is in contrast to LAMP where the web server (Apache) and the application (written in PHP, Perl or Python) might be in the same process, but the database is always a separate process. As a result of using Erlang, LYME and LYCE applications perform well under high load and if distribution and fault tolerance is needed.

The query and data manipulation language of Mnesia is also Erlang (rather than SQL), therefore a web-application for LYME is developed using only a single programming language.

Interest in LYME as a stack had begun by August 2005, as was soon cited as a high-performance web application platform that used a single development language throughout. Favorable comparisons to other popular stacks such as Ruby on Rails were soon forthcoming. Comparisons to LAMP have also been favourable, although some  have highlighted the difficulties of porting "SQL thinking" to the very different context of Mnesia.

Adoption
A successful user of LYME is the Swedish internet payment-processing company Klarna, who have built their whole architecture on LYME. This is seen as a successful project that demonstrates virtues of both LYME and functional programming in general.
LYME was also covered in the Erlang session at the Software Practice Advancement (SPA) 2008.

Besides Yaws, there are several other web servers written in Erlang, e.g. Mochiweb, Misultin, and Cowboy.

Besides Mnesia and CouchDB, there are a couple of other databases written in Erlang, e.g., Cloudant, Couchbase Server (born as Membase), database management system optimized for storing data behind interactive web applications, Riak, and SimpleDB (part of Amazon Web Services).

See also
 LAMP (software bundle)
 MEAN (software bundle) a JavaScript software stack for building dynamic web sites and web applications

References

Erlang (programming language)
Free web software
Web frameworks
Web development software
Internet software for Linux


The Photographer's Mail was the only commercial photography industry publication in New Zealand. It was a monthly broadsheet newspaper published eleven times a year, that was distributed free to the professional photography community.

History and profile
The Photographer's Mail was launched in 1991 as a free magazine. The magazine was purchased by Parkside Media in 2007 to complement D-Photo magazine which focuses more on consumer and enthusiast photography.

In January 2010, it was announced that Parkside Media was to suspend publication of The Photographer's Mail for the time being, in a statement from the editor, published in the forums of the sister title D-Photo. The Photographer's Mail was restarted as a bi-monthly magazine and is currently in print by Parkside Media.

Magazine contents
As of the November 2008 issue, the typical contents included:
Editor column
Readers' letters
Exhibition listings
USA report
New Zealand photography news, including new product releases
Competition
Interview with a professional photographer
PSNZ, AIPA and NZIPP news
Trade noticeboard
Image editing tutorial
How-to feature

Website
The Photographer's Mail shared its website with D-Photo. Daily news articles were available weekdays which were additional to magazine content. Full magazine articles were available from previous issues, often including additional photos and information (including videos) that could not be fitted into the magazine. No physical back issues are stored of the magazine.

References

External links

1991 establishments in New Zealand
Bi-monthly magazines
Magazines established in 1991
Magazines published in New Zealand
Mass media in Auckland
Monthly magazines published in New Zealand
Photography in New Zealand
Photography magazines


Ivica "Ivo" Cipci (born 25 April 1933) is a retired Croatian water polo player. He was part of the Yugoslav teams that won silver medals at the 1956 Olympics and 1958 European Championships. At the 1956 Olympics he played all seven matches and was the tournament's top scorer.

Cipci took up swimming in 1946, but soon changed to water polo, and won the national title with VK Jadran in 1954, 1957 and 1961. In 1970 he became a board member of Jadran, and from 1974 to 1994 acted as president of the club or/and of its water polo section.  He is married to the Slovenian swimmer Majda Majcen.

See also
 List of Olympic medalists in water polo (men)

References

External links

1933 births
Living people
Water polo players from Split, Croatia
Croatian male water polo players
Yugoslav male water polo players
Olympic water polo players for Yugoslavia
Water polo players at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Water polo players at the 1960 Summer Olympics
Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia
Franjo Bučar Award winners
Olympic medalists in water polo
Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics


In probability and statistics, the Gompertz distribution is a continuous probability distribution, named after Benjamin Gompertz. The Gompertz distribution is often applied to describe the distribution of adult lifespans by demographers and actuaries. Related fields of science such as biology and gerontology also considered the Gompertz distribution for the analysis of survival. More recently, computer scientists have also started to model the failure rates of computer code by the Gompertz distribution. In Marketing Science, it has been used as an individual-level simulation for customer lifetime value modeling. In network theory, particularly the Erdős–Rényi model, the walk length of a random self-avoiding walk (SAW) is distributed according to the Gompertz distribution.

Specification

Probability density function

The probability density function of the Gompertz distribution is:

where  is the scale parameter and  is the shape parameter of the Gompertz distribution. In the actuarial and biological sciences and in demography, the Gompertz distribution is parametrized slightly differently (Gompertz–Makeham law of mortality).

Cumulative distribution function

The cumulative distribution function of the Gompertz distribution is:

where  and

Moment generating function
The moment generating function is:

where

Properties
The Gompertz distribution is a flexible distribution that can be skewed to the right and to the left. Its hazard function  is a convex function of . The model can be fitted into the innovation-imitation paradigm with
 as the coefficient of innovation and  as the coefficient of imitation. When  becomes large,  approaches . The model can also belong to the propensity-to-adopt paradigm with
 as the propensity to adopt and  as the overall appeal of the new offering.

Shapes
The Gompertz density function can take on different shapes depending on the values of the shape parameter :
 When  the probability density function has its mode at 0.
 When  the probability density function has its mode at

Kullback-Leibler divergence
If  and  are the probability density functions of two Gompertz distributions, then their Kullback-Leibler divergence is given by

where  denotes the exponential integral and  is the upper incomplete gamma function.

Related distributions
If X is defined to be the result of sampling from a Gumbel distribution until a negative value Y is produced, and setting X=−Y, then X has a Gompertz distribution.
The gamma distribution is a natural conjugate prior to a Gompertz likelihood with known scale parameter
 When  varies according to a gamma distribution with shape parameter  and scale parameter  (mean = ), the distribution of  is Gamma/Gompertz.

 If , then , and hence .

Applications
 In hydrology the Gompertz distribution is applied to extreme events such as annual maximum one-day rainfalls and river discharges. The blue picture illustrates an example of fitting the Gompertz distribution to ranked annually maximum one-day rainfalls showing also the 90% confidence belt based on the binomial distribution. The rainfall data are represented by plotting positions as part of the cumulative frequency analysis.

See also
Gompertz-Makeham law of mortality
Gompertz function
Customer lifetime value
Gamma Gompertz distribution

Notes

References

Continuous distributions
Survival analysis
Actuarial science


Stéphane Leduc (1 November 1853 – 8 March 1939) was a French biologist who sought to contribute to understanding of the chemical and physical mechanisms of life. He was a scientist in the fledgling field of synthetic biology, particularly in relation to diffusion and osmosis. He was a professor at the École de Médecine de Nantes and worked on osmotic crystallisation and the physiological effects of electric current. He was an Officier de la Légion d'honneur.

Views
Leduc believed that it is necessary to appreciate biological processes from a physical perspective and constructed models from physics and chemistry to try to explain development and growth; these would typically involve ingenious combinations of chemicals to produce systems which mimicked the appearance of living processes such as karyokinesis and "remarkable fungus-like forms". He "[repudiated] extra-physical forces in the phenomena of life". According to Keller, these models were largely unsuccessful, "not just because of the conspicuous artificiality of his osmotic growths". Leduc sought to synthesise life "by directing the physical forces which are its cause" (in his own words).

See also
 Chemical garden

Publications

Further reading

References

External links

19th-century French biologists
19th-century French chemists
1939 deaths
1853 births
Place of birth missing
Researchers of artificial life
20th-century French chemists
20th-century French biologists


Tomislav Franjković (May 19, 1931 – October 11, 2010) was a Croat water polo player who competed for Yugoslavia in the 1956 Summer Olympics.

He was part of the Yugoslav team which won the silver medal in the 1956 tournament. He played six matches.

See also
 List of Olympic medalists in water polo (men)

References
Tomislav Franjković's obituary

External links

1931 births
2010 deaths
Croatian male water polo players
Yugoslav male water polo players
Olympic water polo players for Yugoslavia
Water polo players at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia
Olympic medalists in water polo
Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics


Mel Brown (born Mel Broughton; 5 July 1960) is a British landscape gardener and animal rights activist who rose to public prominence due to a planned bombing campaign aimed at preventing the construction of a new research laboratory at Oxford University. He was the co-founder in 2004, with Robert Cogswell, of SPEAK, The Voice for the Animals, a campaign to stop animal testing in Britain, which is focused on opposition to a new animal laboratory at Oxford University.

Broughton was sentenced to four years in 1998 after police found a firebomb in his car. He was arrested again and remanded in custody in December 2007 after the Animal Liberation Front planted incendiary devices in Oxford University colleges. A jury cleared him of possessing explosive substances, but failed to reach a verdict on other charges. Following his retrial in 2009 he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit arson. However, in March 2010 Mel Broughton had his conviction overturned, arguing that the DNA evidence in the case had been unreliable. He was later granted bail with "stringent conditions" and was re-tried in June/July 2010.
On 13 July 2010 Broughton was once again found guilty and returned to prison to complete the balance of his sentence.

Early life
Broughton's father is a former painter and decorator and his mother, Pauline, a care assistant in an old people's home. Both are committed animal rights advocates who work alongside Broughton on the SPEAK campaign. His mother, 70 years old at the time, was injured in September 2004 when a construction worker at Oxford University threw a white burning substance at her during an animal rights demonstration.

Activism
Broughton has been involved in animal rights for over 30 years. He worked on Operation Osprey in Scotland when he was 15, living in a tent to guard osprey nests. He later worked in animal sanctuaries, and campaigned against zoos, circuses, factory farming, and live animal exports.

He lives in Northampton with Bella, a rescue dog, devoting most of his time to SPEAK. He told The Independent on Sunday:

This was always my life, but now it takes up so much of my life that it's very difficult. In fact survival is very, very hard. My flat's nothing special – two rooms – and I live as frugally as I possibly can to make sure I can campaign. I'm not trying to make myself out to be a martyr because this is my choice.

Rocky the dolphin

Broughton was first arrested in 1988, when he and three other activists, including Barry Horne – who died in 2001 during an animal-rights hunger strike – tried to remove Rocky, a bottlenose dolphin, from a small concrete pool inside Marineland, in Morecambe, Lancashire. Rocky had been in the pool, mostly alone, for 17 years, after being captured off the coast of Florida in 1971.

Broughton and the others intended to move the dolphin, who weighed 650 lbs, 200 yards from the pool to the sea, using a ladder, a net, a home-made dolphin stretcher, and a hired Mini Metro. On the night of the action, they realised the logistics of the operation were beyond them, and decided to abandon their plans, but were arrested when the police found them with the dolphin stretcher in the back of the car. Broughton, Horne, Jim O'Donnell, and Jim Buckner were fined £500, while Broughton and Horne were also given six-month suspended sentences.

The management of Marineland eventually agreed to give Rocky to campaigners in response to Broughton and others picketing the facility. In 1991, Rocky was transferred to a lagoon reserve in the Turks and Caicos Islands, then released. Peter Hughes of the University of Sunderland cites the campaign as an example of how promoting an animal rights perspective created a paradigm shift toward seeing dolphins as individuals, as a result of which, he wrote, there are now no captive dolphins in the UK.

1999 possession and conspiracy charges
Broughton was first jailed in 1999 after police found a bomb in the boot of his car. He was convicted of conspiracy to cause an explosion likely to endanger life. He was sentenced to four years, and released in June 2002 after serving two years and eight months.

Broughton told The Independent on Sunday that he took the chance to educate himself while in prison, studying philosophy and social sciences with the Open University. "I found a lot of sympathy inside," he told the newspaper, "but a lot of the general prisoners found it very difficult to understand that I was inside for something I'd done for no personal gain."

SPEAC and SPEAK campaigns

In July 2003, Broughton and Robert Cogswell set up a campaign to halt construction of a new non-human primate research facility at Cambridge University, the plans for which suggested it would be Europe's largest primate vivisection centre. The Stop Primate Experiments at Cambridge (SPEAC) campaign succeeded in persuading the university to abandon its plans in January 2004.

Shortly thereafter, SPEAC learned that Oxford University planned to build a new animal research laboratory, including a non-human primate lab, in the university's science area. The activists said that talks between Oxford and Cambridge had resulted in Oxford agreeing to conduct the brain experiments that were lost with the abandonment of Cambridge's plans. SPEAC became SPEAK, The Voice for the Animals, relaunching itself as a campaign to halt all animal testing in the UK, with its second target the new Oxford lab, which opened in November 2008.

2009 conviction for conspiracy to commit arson
In connection with his role in the SPEAK campaign, Broughton was charged in December 2007 with conspiracy to blackmail and possession of incendiary devices after fire broke out inside a sports pavilion belonging to Queen's College, Oxford in November 2006, and two petrol bombs were found inside the university's Templeton College in February 2007. The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Police arrested Broughton after finding a university employee's security pass and a notebook containing a list of targets for "direct action" under a carpet, and sparklers and a battery connector in an unused water tank at his house. The prosecution alleged that Broughton's DNA matched a sample found on the fuse on one of the petrol bombs.

Transcripts were submitted to the court during Broughton's trial of a recording in which Oxford police discussed a "dirty war" against Broughton, and how they were going to "get him." Broughton told the court that he was under constant police surveillance.

The jury was discharged in November 2008 after clearing Broughton of keeping an explosive substance with intent, but failing to reach verdicts on the other charges. Broughton was remanded in custody until his retrial in February 2009, whereupon he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit arson and sentenced to ten years by Oxford Crown Court. Judge Patrick Eccles QC accused Broughton of being part of a "ruthless conspiracy" against the Oxford Biomedical Facility.

In March 2010, Mel Broughton had his conviction overturned due to the 'unsafe' way in which the trial judge summed up the conviction, with Broughton arguing the DNA evidence in the case had been unreliable. He was later granted bail on "stringent conditions" that he does not engage in animal rights activities and enter Oxfordshire. He was re-tried in June 2010. On 13 July 2010 he was found guilty at the retrial, and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

See also
 List of animal rights advocates

Notes

External links

1960 births
Living people
Animal Liberation Front
British animal rights activists
British gardeners
English criminals
Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales


Shades of the Swarm is a 12 x 12" vinyl box set released by Isis to commemorate their 10th anniversary, and was strictly limited to 600 copies. The box set was jointly released by Robotic Empire and Conspiracy Records who each produced 300 copies. The box set comprises the entire discography of the band, with the exception of live albums and split releases, in newly redesigned sleeves based on artwork from the original sources and on heavyweight 180gm black vinyl. The cloth-bound box is embossed with a gold illustration by Aaron Horkey, and the oversize 12" x 36" poster insert contains the lyrics for the entire discography.

From earliest to latest the records included are: Mosquito Control EP, The Red Sea EP, Sawblade EP, Celestial (2xLP), Sgnl>05 (EP), Oceanic (2xLP), Panopticon (2xLP) and In the Absence of Truth (2xLP).

References

Isis (band) albums
Albums with cover art by Aaron Turner
2008 compilation albums


A blessing is a religious pronouncement.

Bless may also refer to:
 81355, an American hip-hop group pronounced "Bless"
 Bless (game), a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Neowiz Games
 "Bless" (song), a 2010 single by L'Arc-en-Ciel
 Bubbles, a Swedish band also known as "Bless"
 Bless (album), a 2003 album by Bubbles
 Bless Online, Korean MMORPG
BLESS, a method in molecular biology for screening of DNA double-stranded breaks in the genome

See also
 Blesse (disambiguation)
 Blessed (disambiguation)
 Blessing (disambiguation)


Arthur L. Johnson (died 1955) was an educator in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the namesake of Arthur L. Johnson High School in Clark.

Johnson served as the superintendent of schools for Union County, founding Union County College and helping organize the Union County Band and Orchestra Summer School and the Eastern Conservatory of Music and Arts.

He also helped establish the county's regional high school system, which lasted until July 1997.

Johnson died in 1955, shortly before the new high school in Clark was set to open. The district opted to name the school, which was a part of county district and now operates as part of the Clark Public Schools System, in his honor.

References

Year of birth missing
1955 deaths
Educators from New Jersey


Giovanni Cobolli Gigli (born 4 January 1945) is an Italian lawyer and former chairman of Juventus F.C. After obtaining a business degree from Bocconi University and starting out working in marketing for a multinational pharmaceutical company, he joined Turin company IFI S.p.A., which is now Exor, in 1973. He has been CEO of the Fabbri–Bompiani––Etas Publishing Group since 1984, then holding the same position in Arnoldo Mondadori Editore since 1993, and in the Rinascente Group since 1994. In 2006, he became chairman of the Exor-owned Juventus association football club.

Early life
The son of Antongiulio Cobolli Gigli, he was born in Albese con Cassano, province of Como, in the Lombardy region, in 1945. He was the nephew of Giuseppe Cobolli Gigli, who was minister of public works for four years in the Mussolini government. He was a pupil of the  in Milan; in the same city, Cobolli Gigli graduated in economics and commerce at the Bocconi University.

Business career
In September 1980, Cobolli Gigli became the executive assistant to the CEO of the Fabbri Editorial Group. He became the general manager of that company in 1984; as RCS Group became stockholder of the Fabbri Editorial Group, in 1991, he was named CEO of Rizzoli's book sector in 1991. In November 1993, he joined the Mondadori publishing group and became CEO of parent company Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., as well as the director of many other companies within the group. In November 1994, he left to become CEO and general manager of the Rinascente Group. He stayed there until July 2005.

In 2003, Cobolli Gigli became the chairman of , and he has also been the deputy chairman and director of  , a position he left at the end of 2005; he remains involved within FAID, the association that brings together large-scale retail companies. He has also been member of the board of directors of  (until April 2007) and Auchan (until October 2007) and member of the directorate and deputy chairman of the  (AIE). He sat on the board of directors of the Italian Trade Agency and of Federdistribuzione, of which he was confirmed as chairman in 2011, 2014, 2018, and 2020. Apart from AIE, he has also held the positions of deputy chairman of the .

Juventus F.C.
In the wake of the controversial Calciopoli scandal, Cobolli Gigli became the chairman of the board of Juventus; being both the most supported and hated club in the country, one of the goals upon taking over Juventus was to be nice and more likeable. He completed the new triade along with Jean-Claude Blanc (managing director) and Alessio Secco (director of sport), which led Juventus back to the UEFA Champions League but they were not able to return the club to win Serie A or any other trophies, and left the position to Blanc in 2009. In 2010, Blanc was succeeded by Andrea Agnelli, who, along with Giuseppe Marotta as new director of sport, returned Juventus to dominance; in the aftermath of Calciopoli bis and the Calciopoli trials that acquitted the club, Agnelli also took a more radical and anti-system position compared to Cobolli Gigli, who was a moderate, and Gianni Agnelli's designed heir John Elkann, who is a reformist.

Cobolli Gigli's role in the aftermath of Calciopoli has been questioned and criticized. Several observers allege that Calciopoli and its aftermath were a dispute within Juventus and between the club's owners, who put Cobolli Gigli in charge, favoured Elkann over Agnelli as chairman, and wanted to get rid of Luciano Moggi, Antonio Giraudo, and Roberto Bettega, whose shares in the club increased, Whatever their intentions, it is argued they condemned Juventus, firstly when Carlo Zaccone, the club's lawyer, agreed for relegation to Serie B and point-deduction, and secondly when Luca Cordero di Montezemolo controversially retired the club's appeal to the  (TAR) of Lazio, for which then FIFA president Sepp Blatter thanked Montezemolo, and that could have cleared the club's name and avoid relegation, after FIFA and UEFA threatened to suspend the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) from international play. In September 2006, Cobolli Gigli took a U-turn from his previous statements, and led the moderate line to have the club controversially renounce the TAR's appeal; then CONI president Gianni Petrucci thanked Elkann and Montezemolo.

The lack of TAR appeal, which is one of the reasons for which the club's appeals to return the 2005 and 2006 scudetti and FIGC damage claims all failed, amounted to a sort of public plea bargain and guilty admission; however, the club was later acquitted in the first ordinary justice proceedings, and Juventus were not liable by other clubs, as the 2004–06 leagues were regular. The initial view was that Juventus were the main culprit, and referees, Inter Milan, and other clubs the victims. As early as 2010, when many other clubs were implicated and Inter Milan, Livorno, and Milan were liable of direct Article 6 violations (the one about illicits warranting relegation; Juventus were never charged of Article 6 violations) in the 2011 Palazzi Report but were time-barred by the statute of limitations and could not be put on trial, Juventus considered challenging the non-assignment of the 2005 title and the 2006 title assignment of third-placed Inter Milan, dependent on the results of Calciopoli trials connected to the scandal. In July 2011, the FIGC declared itself not competent to rule on the decision and the title remained to Inter Milan, as Juventus claimed €443 million in damage claims.

Cobolli Gigli came to agree on the criticism. In May 2018, he said that Inter Milan "deserved to be punished" for Calciopoli, and expressed regrets for the sporting trials, about which he said: "We were demoted to play the 2006–07 season in Serie B and accepted the ruling. The regret remains for a sporting trial that was, in my view, not conducted in the best way. Certain pieces of evidence were ignored, actually it's more accurate to say hidden, and the existence of other telephone wiretaps regarding different clubs wasn't made known at the time. Inter [Milan] too deserved to be punished for what emerged in the various conversations. The FIGC Prosecutor Palazzi said so. It all emerged when the matter missed the statute of limitations and it ended like that."

Cobolli Gigli remains a commentator for Juventus affairs. About the capital gains scandal of the 2020s, which led to Agnelli's resignation, about which Cobolli Gigli said was forced, he cited the Calciopoli unequal treatment and criticized the fact that only Juventus were punished. Videos emerged of Ciro Santoriello, the capital gains case's prosecutor, mocking Juve; he declared himself a tifoso of Napoli and an anti-Juventus prosecutor. In response, Cobolli Gigli said: "Benigni reminded us that Article 21, on freedom of thought, is the most important. However, the manifestation of one's ideas must always be limited to one's duties. Therefore, I believe that if these gentlemen want to express their thoughts, they must do so without playing the roles they currently do. Santoriello should have kept his feelings to himself as a judge, Juve's acquittal on that occasion counts for little."

See also
 List of Juventus F.C. chairmen

Explanatory notes

References

External links
 8ª Conferenza Nazionale del Franchising 2013 – Giovanni Cobolli Gigli at YouTube (in Italian)
 Giovanni Cobolli Gigli at Distribuzione Moderna (in Italian)
 Giovanni Cobolli Gigli at Eurosport (in Italian)
 Giovanni Cobolli Gigli at Juworld.net (in Italian)
 Giovanni Cobolli Gigli at MarketScreener (in Italian)
 Giovanni Cobolli Gigli at Radio Radicale (in Italian)
 Giovanni Cobolli Giglia at La Repubblica (in Italian)
 Marca 2012 – intervista a Giovanni Cobolli Gigli at YouTube (in Italian)
 World Finance Forum 2015: Intervista a Giovanni Cobolli Gigli at YouTube (in Italian)

1945 births
Bocconi University alumni
Italian football chairmen and investors
Juventus FC chairmen and investors
Juventus FC directors
Living people


Para Siempre (English: Forever) is the 79th studio album released by Mexican singer Vicente Fernández on September 18, 2007 by Sony BMG Norte. Written and produced by Joan Sebastian, and co-produced by Jesús Rincón, the album is a successful mariachi record. It has sold two million copies worldwide, and is one of the biggest-selling albums by Fernández. It spawned five singles: "Estos Celos", "La Derrota", "Un Millón de Primaveras", and the title track, the latter of which was used as the main theme to the Mexican telenovela Fuego En La Sangre, which brought the album wider exposure and helped it to stay in the charts for over two years. It was named the best-selling Regional Mexican Album of the decade by Billboard magazine.

Originally conceived as a banda music project, the album earned Fernández a Latin Grammy Award for Best Ranchero Album, four Premios Oye! and a Grammy nomination. Para Siempre is considered responsible for bringing Mexican traditional music to a younger audience that had never listened to the singer before. Fernández released music videos for the twelve tracks and recorded a TV special on his ranch in Guadalajara, Jalisco. A sold-out promotional tour led to the recording of the live album Primera Fila, Fernández' follow up album.

Background
Two recognized artists worked together for the first time on Para Siempre: Vicente Fernández, the "king" of Mexico's traditional ranchera music and one of that country's most recognizable and influential cultural icons, and singer-songwriter Joan Sebastian. Since Fernández's emergence in the mid-1960s, his popularity among Mexicans and Mexican-Americans has been likened to that of Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley in the United States. His concerts both in Mexico and the United States routinely sell out and his 100-plus albums (including compilations) have reportedly sold 50 million copies. Sebastian has been celebrated by critics for his contribution to Mexican culture, thanks to his successful singer career and his work producing artists such as Antonio Aguilar, Pepe Aguilar, Lucero and Rocío Dúrcal; he is also a three time Grammy winner. Para Siempre, the 79th studio album by Fernández, was released in September 2007 in several countries. It was recorded to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his singing career, and is, according to Fernández's record label, one of his most important albums. Nevertheless, Sebastian said that the label did not have high expectations for the album.

Recording
Fernández has stated that the album was conceived as a banda album with original music by Sebastian, a first for the singer; before this, in 1993, he included a cover of a song written by Sebastian titled "Verdad Que Duele" ("It Hurts") on his album Lástima Que Seas Ajena (A Shame You Belong to Another). Fernández' fans kept asking to record banda songs and written by Sebastian, prompting him to record the album. Fernández was not pleased with the idea of trading his classic mariachi style for banda, but agreed to record with Sebastian as a "thank you" to his fans. In the album liner notes the singer dedicated the album to his wife and included a message for this fans: "As long as you keep applauding, I will be singing 'forever'."

In late 2006, on Fernández' ranch in Guadalajara, Jalisco, he asked Sebastian for songs to record on his next album and they agreed that his next project would be to work with Fernández on the album. Sebastian began preparing the demos along with Beto Jiménez, and in early 2007 he told Fernández that the songs were ready. The singer flew to the producer's studio and recorded them. Fernández has said of working with Sebastian: "He is more than a friend, he is my brother, he writes excellent songs and has a great sensibility."

The album was recorded in Cuernavaca, Morelos at the JS Studios. "I went to one of his houses for a day and in less than seven hours my part of the album was ready, he put everything on the table, it's very good and romantic." Fernández kept his mariachi style on the album and the producer only added more tamboras; the singer was confident that this album was going to be a success, since his audience was demanding his union with Sebastian.

Composition
From the 12 tracks included, only the title track presents a successful love relationship; while Sebastian's lyrics contain popular slang. Guitars, trumpets, violins and an accordion create the mariachi sound. The last track, "El Chofer" ("The Driver"), is a resembles José Alfredo Jiménez lyrical style, since  Fernández travels "through Laredo to Michoacán." Some inspiration for the tracks came from the writer's crush on the Mexican actress Salma Hayek.

Presentation
The album debuted on September 15, 2007, in a live concert at the Arena VFG in Guadalajara, Jalisco. Due to his dislike of massive tours, Fernández did not hold a large promotional campaign. Despite this, he performed live in the Mexican cities of Ciudad Juárez, Reynosa, Ciudad del Carmen, Lagos de Moreno, Sahuayo, Jiménez, Tijuana, Ensenada, San Luis Potosí, México City, Guadalajara, Pachuca, and the American cities  Phoenix, Denver, Atlanta, New York City, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Nevada and San Jose. This short tour garnered a nomination for Latin Tour of the Year at the Billboard Latin Music Awards. Vicente Fernández recorded a TV special on his ranch in Guadalajara, Jalisco, which was broadcast in late September 2007 and December 25, 2007, by Televisa.

Reception

On his review for Billboard En Español, Joel Brito declared that the tracks, "Un Millón de Primaveras" ("A Million Springs") and "El Último Beso" ("The Last Kiss"), are tender and desperate, with Vicente's voice powerful, sweet and cheerful; while "Estos Celos", was one of his best performances, along with "Niña Hechicera" ("Wicked Girl"). Jason Birchmeier of AllMusic gave the album four stars; he described it as "near-perfect" and "stellar". He praised the singing, the songwriting, and the instrumentation. Tijana Ilich of About.com gave the album a four and a half stars calling "Para Siempre for a melody as lovely as the story". According  to the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, Para Siempre was one of the most memorable albums of 2008, since Fernández dominates the "formula for success". For the Grammy Awards of 2008 the album received a nomination for Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album which it lost to 100% Mexicano by Pepe Aguilar. For the Latin Grammy Awards of 2008 Para Siempre won for Best Ranchero Album, and the first single "Estos Celos" won a Latin Grammy as Best Regional Mexican Song. The album was also nominated for Album of the Year, which was awarded to La Vida... Es un Ratico, by Colombian singer-songwriter Juanes. In México, the album won four Premios Oye! in the following categories: Album of the Year, Song of the Year ("Estos Celos"), Best Ranchero Solo Artist and Best Telenovela, Movie or Series Song ("Para Siempre"). Joan Sebastian also received two awards by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for the title track: Song of the Year and Best Regional Music Song.

Vicente Fernández received five nominations for the 11th Billboard Latin Music Awards for his work on this album: Hot Latin Songs Artist, Hot Latin Song, Male ("Para Siempre"), Top Latin Albums Artist and Regional Mexican Airplay Song, Male ("Para Siempre" and "La Derrota"); Joan Sebastian was nominated for both Songwriter and Producer of the Year. On April 23, 2009, Fernández won the awards for Top Latin Albums Artist and Regional Mexican Airplay Song for the title track.

Commercial release

Formats
The standard CD track listing was released on September 18, 2007 in México, September 25, 2007 in United States and on February 26, 2008 in Spain with an album cover featuring the performer on a red background. On April 15, 2008, a CD/DVD format, with a black background on the cover was released, which included music videos for the 12 tracks recorded on Para Siempre, directed by Benjamin Hidalgo. A karaoke version of the album, with a yellow background, was released in April 2008.

Album
The recording debuted at number 51 on the Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas Mexican Album Chart in October 2007 and climbed to the top position 21 weeks later; it spent a total of 14 weeks (non-consecutive) at the top of the chart. Para Siempre was certified diamond in Mexico for sales of 600,000 units. The sales were, according to Sony BMG Marketing Vice-President and A&R Nir Seroussi, a "phenomenon" because "the music market in Mexico is completely pirated" and Fernández's albums usually sell only 50,000 units per album.

In October 2007, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard Top Latin Albums and spent almost its entire chart run in the Top Ten; it topped the chart for five non-consecutive weeks, three weeks in 2008 and two in 2009, when it replaced Primera Fila, Fernández' follow-up live album, at the top of the chart, being the first time that a male performer replaces himself at number-one, and the first time since Selena did it in 1995. According to Sony BMG Norte, with over one million copies sold worldwide, Para Siempre is the most successful release by Vicente Fernández since 2000. Only seven other recordings by Fernández sold more units in the United States. It was the best-selling Regional Mexican album of 2008 and at the Billboard Top Latin Albums Year-end chart the album ranked at number two, behind Los Extraterrestres by Wisin & Yandel. Para Siempre was purchased on 50,000 mobile phones in Mexico, a "novelty" for a regional Mexican album. The album's success is attributed to a change in the sound; instead of employing multiple composers and producers as in previous albums, Para Siempre was written and produced entirely by Joan Sebastian. Miguel Trujillo, Sony BMG México CEO, commented about the album, "This album connected to a new generation that probably never listened to Vicente before." Para Siempre was named the best-selling Regional Mexican album of the decade in the United States. The album was the best selling latin album of 2008 with 316,000.

Singles

On August 10, 2007, "Estos Celos" ("This Jealousy") was released in México and United States as the lead single from the album. It peaked at number three in the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks, spent 40 weeks on the chart,. "Estos Celos" ranked 28th in 2007 and 5th in 2008 in the Billboard Hot Regional Mexican Songs Year-end charts and its ringtone has been one on the top two sellers for Sony BMG Norte since the album release.  In Colombia, broadcast of a cover version of this single performed by 'El Cape' Medina and Sneider Geles—recorded in vallenato style and included on the album Por Siempre y Para Siempre—was not allowed by the Colombian Music Association. The song was recorded without a planned commercial release, and the album recorded by Medina and Geles was only given to their friends, but the song unexpectedly achieved success on the Internet and some radio stations in Colombia. 'Cape' Medina said that the song may have been restricted out of the original Mexican publisher's jealousy. This version can still be found on file sharing websites and in the video sharing website YouTube. The second single released, "La Derrota" ("The Defeat"), peaked at number seven in the Hot Latin Tracks chart and number one in México and Colombia. The third single, "Para Siempre", was featured as the main theme for the Mexican telenovela Fuego En La Sangre and hit the number two spot in the Latin charts in United States and number one in México and Colombia. The fourth single yielded from the album was "Un Millón de Primaveras" which did not chart in United States, but peaked at number one in México and Colombia. On the Billboard Year-end charts of 2008, Vicente Fernández appeared three times within the Top 25 with three singles from this release: the title track ranked at number six, "Estos Celos" at number 10 and "La Derrota" ended at number 25. The ringtones for "Estos Celos" and "Para Siempre" received a platinum certification for sales over 25,000 units.

Track listing

Personnel
The following information is from AllMusic and from Para Siempre liner notes.

Joan Sebastían – guitar, arranger, producer
Miguel Trujillo – executive producer
Dennis F. Parker – engineer/mixer, mastering engineer
Rigoberto Alfaro – arranger
Manuel Cázarez – arranger
Mara Esquivel – A&R
Javier Alfaro – violin
Dave Rivera – violin
Javier Carrillo – violin
Hugo Colula — violin
Francisco Cedillo – viola

Monica Del Aguila – cello
Cesar Martínez – cello
Ildefonso Cedillo – cello
Iván Namash – cello
Bernardino De Santiago – guitarrón
Moisés Garcia – trumpet
Javier Serrano – trumpet
Erick Romeo Mora Mota – guitar
Santiago Turianzo – photography
Ivonne Castañeda – graphic design

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Album certifications

See also

Music of Mexico
List of number-one albums of 2008 (México)
number-one album

References

2007 albums
Albums produced by Joan Sebastian
Latin Grammy Award for Best Ranchero/Mariachi Album
Sony BMG Norte albums
Spanish-language albums
Vicente Fernández albums


"Last Resort" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of House and the ninety-fifth episode overall. It aired on November 25, 2008.  This episode is an "extended episode" as it runs for an extra seven minutes (excluding ads), taking the total episode's length without ads to 50 minutes.

Plot
A gun-wielding man named Jason takes House, Thirteen, a nurse, and several patients hostage in Cuddy's office. The man claims to be sick with a long undiagnosed illness and demands medical attention from the best doctor in the hospital. With a room full of already sick patients, House must use them as guinea pigs to assure the hostage-taker that the medications he is administering to him are legitimate.

As Cuddy and the rest of House's team communicate with House over the phone to run tests and offer possible diagnoses, they ponder the possibility that everyone in Cuddy's office could wind up dead. With one hostage already shot, Thirteen wagers her own already diminished health as she simultaneously receives the experimental treatments the hostage-taker patient is receiving as he wants to make sure they are not sedatives.

At one point, House gets the gun in order to do a CT scan, but gives it back afterwards in order to continue the standoff and the search. After receiving medicine for Cushing's syndrome, Thirteen develops kidney failure. This gives House a clue as Jason's kidneys are not failing and the team realizes that some of the drugs he had previously been given must be protecting his kidneys.

Next the team believes that it is melioidosis, but Jason's medical history says he has not been to tropical climates. When pressed, he says he's never traveled farther south than Florida. House calls him an idiot, as Florida's climate does in fact qualify as a tropical one, and sends for a drug to treat the disease. Jason sends House out in exchange for the drug and demands that Thirteen take the injection first. Thirteen's suicidally reckless behavior comes to a head as she is faced with taking a drug that certainly will kill her due to her kidney failure. She breaks down, pleading that she doesn't want to die, and at the last second, Jason grabs the syringe and injects himself as the SWAT team blows the wall down and storms the room.

Outside, as Jason is arrested, House signals him to take a deep breath and let it out, and as he is able to do it, the diagnosis of melioidosis is confirmed. After nearly dying, Thirteen asks Foreman to admit her into a clinical trial for a potential Huntington's treatment, after having turned down his offer to get her in at the beginning of the episode.

At the end of the episode, Cuddy is looking around at her destroyed office when House enters. They argue over who is to blame, him for being so obsessed with solving the case that he gave the man back the gun, or her for doing everything he told her.

Music
This episode featured the song "Between The Lines" (feat. Bajka) by British musician, producer and DJ, Bonobo, "Herzog" by Chris Clark, as well as "Glue of the World" by Four Tet, "It's Not The Same" by Yppah and "A Chronicle of Early Failures Pt. One" by The Dead Texan.

See also
 Chvostek sign

External links

House (season 5) episodes
2008 American television episodes
Hostage taking in fiction

fr:Un diagnostic ou je tire


Ánh Quang "Joseph" Cao ( ; ; born March 13, 1967) is a Vietnamese–American politician who was the U.S. representative for  from 2009 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he is the first Vietnamese American and first native of Vietnam to serve in Congress.

Cao was the only Republican congressman to vote for the draft Obamacare, known as Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, in November 2009.

In April 2011, Cao announced his candidacy for the office of Attorney General of Louisiana, but in September 2011 he pulled out of the race. In December 2015, he announced that he would run for the open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring fellow Republican David Vitter in 2016. As Cao finished eleventh in the primary, he did not place high enough to advance to the general election.

Early life and education
Ánh Quang Cao was born in South Vietnam in 1967. His father, My Quang Cao (1930–2010), was a lieutenant in the South Vietnamese Army. He was captured by the North Vietnamese Army in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War. His mother, Khang Thi Tran (born 1935), did not immediately flee South Vietnam, but sent Anh Cao and two siblings to escape with their uncle. She stayed in the country with five of Cao's siblings. She was allowed to visit her husband only five times during the seven years he was imprisoned in a Communist "re-education camp".

In 1975 Anh Cao was eight years old when he, his siblings and his uncle arrived as refugees in the United States, where they were resettled in Houston, Texas. After being released in 1982 from prison camp, Cao's father joined his family in Houston. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and diabetes.

Cao and his family were raised as Roman Catholics. He studied for several years after college to become a priest. He attended public schools and graduated from Jersey Village High School in Houston. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He studied as a Jesuit seminarian for six years, but withdrew when he concluded that the ministry was not his calling. He earned a Master of Arts in philosophy from Fordham University in New York City, and in 2000 his J.D. from Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans. While in law school, Cao also taught undergraduate courses in philosophy at Loyola.

Law practice
Cao used his legal training and experience in immigration issues. For a period he taught at a parochial school in Virginia. He volunteered at Boat People SOS (BPSOS) to assist Vietnamese refugees and immigrants and help organize Vietnamese-American communities in the state toward self-sufficiency. He served as a board member of BPSOS from September 1996 to March 2002. After working with Waltzer & Associates, Cao opened his own law practice in New Orleans specializing in immigration law.

Dismayed by the government response to the disaster following Hurricane Katrina, Cao became more involved in politics. He soon became involved in leading New Orleans East residents to oppose a landfill in their area.

U.S. House of Representatives

Cao is the first Vietnamese American, as well as the first native of Vietnam, to serve in US Congress. He is the first Republican to serve in his district since 1890. He defeated a congressman who had been indicted. His district has historically voted overwhelmingly Democratic, based on two different ethnic majorities during this period.

Cao was the least affluent member of Louisiana's delegation in Congress: as of 2009 his assets were no greater than $195,000 and his potential liabilities amounted to $215,000, including student loans for himself and his wife.

Cao was sworn into office on January 6, 2009, with his family and a group of Vietnamese-Americans in attendance. After the swearing-in by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Jefferson Parish Judge Robert Murphy re-administered the oath in Cao's new office.

Despite the tardiness of the election date, Cao rapidly set up his office and staff and gained committee assignments for the 111th Congress. On March 24, 2009, 11 weeks to the day after he was sworn in as a new member, Cao delivered his first speech on the House floor: his statement supported a bill by California Democrat Linda Sánchez to express congressional support of Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day. In the speech, which was broadcast on C-SPAN, Cao said, of Vietnam War veterans, "I am pleased that I, a direct beneficiary of their service, can take part ... in this historic event." The bill passed. Cao's speech had been written by his Legislative Director, A. Brooke Bennett.

With the support of congressional Republicans who collectively had an entitlement to 40 percent of earmarks for federal projects, Cao worked to "bring home the bacon" for his district. His requested projects totaled $1.2 billion, approximately three times the average for the other six members of Louisiana's U.S. House delegation. With the support of Louisiana's Democratic United States Senator Mary Landrieu and lobbyist and former United States Representative Bob Livingston, several of these projects were approved by Congress. Livingston represented the adjoining 1st Congressional District from 1977 to 1998.

Cao expressed interest in environmental issues, saying in a meeting at Loyola University New Orleans on April 16, 2009: "I recognize there is an issue of global warming that we have to address."

Cao was invited to a White House reception on April 23, 2009. He presented President Obama with a letter requesting $490 million for post-Katrina restoration of New Orleans' Charity Hospital. (FEMA had offered $150 million). Cao also spoke with Vice President Joe Biden regarding the recovery of New Orleans.

In June 2010, Cao was one of only two Republicans to vote in favor of the DISCLOSE Act, intended to limit spending on political campaigns by corporations in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The bill requires added disclosure for political spending by corporations and prohibits some corporate political spending.

In December 2010, Cao was one of fifteen Republican House members to vote in favor of repealing the United States military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on openly gay service members.

According to a 2011 survey by the National Journal, Cao was the most liberal Republican in the House. In 2009, he was one of seven Republicans who voted to publicly rebuke Representative Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, for his outburst of "You lie!" against President Obama during an address before a joint session of Congress.

Office
Cao hired former state representative Rosalind Peychaud, a Democrat, as his deputy chief of staff.

The late date of Cao's election meant that he inherited former Congressman William J. Jefferson's office, 2113, in the Rayburn House Office Building, although he had no seniority in the House. Writing in the Times-Picayune, Jonathan Tilove observed the notability of 2113 in the Rayburn Building due to its being, as Jefferson's former location, the only congressional office ever raided by the FBI. By the middle of February 2009, Cao had hired most of his staff.

In April 2009, Cao's district staff moved into what was described as the first office in Kenner for a sitting congressman. The office was formerly a storeroom in Kenner's Community Services Department at 624 Williams Boulevard (LA 49).

Committee assignments
After confirmation by the House Republican Conference, Cao was assigned to the Homeland Security Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
 Committee on Homeland Security
 Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response
 Subcommittee on Management, Investigations, and Oversight
 Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
 Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management
 Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials
 Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
 Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Post Office, and the District of Columbia

Caucuses
 Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
 American Engagement Caucus

Interest in Congressional Black Caucus
From the outset of Cao's congressional service, his relationship to the Congressional Black Caucus remained uncertain. George Mason University political scientist Michael K. Fauntroy described Cao's expressed interest in joining as "a very smart move".

However, Cao was "rebuffed" by the Congressional Black Caucus in his attempt to join it despite representing a heavily black district.

Cao told the Times-Picayune that President Obama should receive a letter grade of "A" for his first 100 days in office. Cao cited as his reason for such a high mark Obama's "working with us in this whole recovery process" (in reference to Hurricane Katrina).

Recall drive
Among the bills which came to the floor during Cao's first days in Congress, Cao voted against the Obama Administration's stimulus package. Cao justified his votes on expressed dissatisfaction that his 2nd congressional district of Louisiana ranked dead last among the 435 congressional districts in outlays provided by the legislation even though the district was one of the most seriously damaged by hurricanes. Cao's vote provoked a petition to recall him, which formally began on February 16, 2009. Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne and other Louisiana officials, as well as congressional analysts, perceived it as having little or no prospect of succeeding. Although the petition collected more than 13,000 signatures on the first day, it needed more than 100,000 within 180 days to fulfill Louisiana requirements. Congress has never removed, and has no constitutional provision to do, a member based on constituents' recall. Several leaders of the recall campaign, specifically the Reverends Samuel Butler and Toris Young, claimed to have been supporters of Cao, though Cao and his campaign manager Bryan Wagner, a former member of the New Orleans City Council, said they had never met them. After Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell issued an opinion that the state cannot recall federal officials, Butler and Young announced that they would pursue the matter in the federal courts. Young's ability to criticize Cao was mocked by Times-Picayune columnist James Gill because of Young's 11 convictions for fraud and identity theft.

On March 1, 2009, the Times-Picayune reported that Obama had tried to reach Cao on his cellphone prior to the vote on the stimulus package but was unsuccessful; Cao acknowledged that Obama "might have been persuasive" with a "concrete commitment" to help the 2nd district and New Orleans. Cao stated that the Obama administration's $410 billion omnibus spending bill for the final 7 months of Fiscal Year 2009 (ending September 30, 2009) "would provide important benefits for his 2nd Congressional District" and became one of 16 Republicans voting in favor of that bill.

Before the recall petition, a separate petition had been started to recall New Orleans City Councilwoman Stacy Head, who is white but represents a predominantly black constituency after defeating Jefferson protégé Renée Gill Pratt in 2006. Head, a Democrat, supported Cao in the election on December 6, 2008. James Gill defended Head's support for Cao (who is not white but Asian) and asserted it was based not on race but that "Jefferson ... is morally unfit for any public office." The petition to recall Head failed to meet its statutory deadline.

FEMA critic
On February 25, 2009, Cao grabbed headlines by announcing that his staff members were investigating the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) office in New Orleans. Cao, whose aversive relationship with the agency had started during his time as a community activist for victims of Hurricane Katrina, accused FEMA of a host of malfeasance charges, including "widespread complaints of discrimination, sexual harassment, ethics violations, nepotism and cronyism." Cao conveyed his concerns to the Obama administration's Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who promised that "we will obviously follow up." The next day Cao's call for the resignation of Doug Whitmer, head of FEMA's New Orleans office, was bolstered by United States Senator Mary Landrieu, whereupon the story spread on CBS News. Popular reaction quickly pervaded New Orleans blogsites, one of them calling its discussion FEMA having a Cao. On February 27, 2009, acting FEMA Director Nancy L. Ward replaced Whitmer with Tony Russell, previously an administrator in FEMA's Denver office. Ward stripped Jim Stark of his immediate responsibilities for Louisiana's FEMA district, leaving him as FEMA assistant administrator for Gulf Coast recovery. Cao had also been critical of John Connolly, FEMA chief for Gulf Coast public assistance, whom Stark cited as his source of information on "how much public-assistance money FEMA should approve for local projects" (in a congressional hearing with Cao on February 25, 2009). Connolly was previously with FEMA's Philadelphia office, and Cao asked rhetorically, "How many times has Philadelphia been hit by a hurricane?" On March 5, 2009, Cao joined Napolitano, Jindal, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu, U.S. Representative Charlie Melancon, and other federal, state, and local officials on a tour of damaged areas in New Orleans, including the campus of Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO), where the group was led by SUNO President Victor Ukpolo. Eleven days later, on March 16, Cao again visited the SUNO campus, pledging full support of Ukpolo's mission to rebuild the campus. The seguing event on Cao's agenda during the same day was a fund-raising cocktail party at the home of bankers Stephen and Dana Hansel at which the admission contribution was $1000 a person and an unexpected guest was former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich who was en route to lead a discussion in James Carville's political science class at Tulane University. The Times-Picayune, in an editorial on March 19, 2009, praised Ukpolo and Cao in their efforts to secure funding for restoration of SUNO's campus.

Formation of American Engagement Caucus
In January 2010, Cao partnered with Democratic Congressman Russ Carnahan of Missouri to create the American Engagement Caucus, its stated purpose being the promotion of a multilateral foreign policy in which the United States works closely with other countries to address global problems. As a joint editorial between the two congressmen stated, "We live in an age of interdependence. America's security, economic, environmental, and moral interests are inextricably linked with those of the international community. Simply put, it is in our vital national interest to support international engagement."

Health care
Cao was the only Republican to vote for the draft Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) on November 7, 2009. Yet Cao, because of concerns of alleged public funding for elective abortion provisions, joined the rest of his party in opposing the final version, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Political campaigns

2006
Cao ran unsuccessfully as an independent for District 103 of the Louisiana House of Representatives. He was a delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention during Hurricane Gustav, during which time his home was flooded. At the time of his election to Congress, Cao was a member of the Orleans Parish Board of Election Supervisors, appointed to the Board by Governor Bobby Jindal.

2008

The situation, endorsements, campaign dynamics, and results gave the election significance far beyond the boundaries of the district.

Incumbent U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson won the Democratic primaries in 2008. Jefferson had weathered a major challenge in the Louisiana 2nd congressional district election, 2006, overcoming allegations that he had inappropriately used members of a Louisiana Army National Guard unit to reach his home during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In 2008 Jefferson also faced federal charges of bribery involving Nigerian business interests and was perceived as vulnerable, with only 25 percent of Democrats voting for him in the Democratic primary. Jefferson faced six African-American challengers, along with newscaster Helena Moreno. In a runoff primary, Jefferson defeated Moreno by 57 percent to 43 percent in a vote largely along racial lines. Unopposed for the Republican nomination, Cao ran against Jefferson, as did Green Party candidate Malik Rahim and Libertarian Party candidate Gregory Kahn. An earlier candidate, independent Jerry Jacobs, had withdrawn.

Endorsements
On November 30, the New Orleans Times-Picayune endorsed Cao in an editorial, while on its op-ed page columnist James Gill stated that Jefferson's reelection "is not going to happen". The prospect of a serious general election in the heavily African-American and Democratic 2nd district was startling, as the last Republican to represent the district was Hamilton D. Coleman, who left office in 1891.

Cao's candidacy received the endorsements of the Alliance for Good Government, the Family Research Council's Action PAC, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal,
Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson, Stacy Head, and singer/entertainer Pat Boone. In the final days of the campaign, Democrats Helena Moreno, who was defeated by Jefferson in the Democratic primary runoff election, and former District Attorney Harry Connick Sr. endorsed Cao and recorded telephone messages to be played to voters. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced his support for Jefferson during the Democratic primary elections. The New Orleans Gambit Weekly, citing its opposition to Jefferson's alleged corruption and to Cao's noncommittal statements on embryonic stem-cell research, made no endorsement.

Campaign
At first, Jefferson, as indicated by The New York Times on the day after his winning the Democratic nomination, was "heavily favored" to win against any Republican challenger.

The campaign was characterized by what Jefferson's campaign called "overly negative" tactics on behalf of Cao's campaign by outside organizations, such as the National Republican Congressional Committee. References were made to Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's removal of Jefferson from the House Ways and Means Committee and entailed what USA Today termed a "barrage" of automated telephone calls, including from a woman who identified herself as "Katy" and who cited Jefferson's federal indictment on 16 counts of corruption. In a meeting of African-American ministers, Reverend Samuel Butler claimed the reason was to "disenfranchise" African-American voters, which motivated Cao advisor and political mentor, former New Orleans City Council member Bryan Wagner to reply: "with Rev. Butler's imagination, he may want to go to work for Walt Disney."

On December 6, the Times-Picayune reiterated its endorsement of Cao, pointing to President-elect Barack Obama's efforts on behalf of Democrat Paul Carmouche in the simultaneous election in Louisiana's 4th congressional district and Obama's non-involvement in efforts to support Jefferson.

Results
Unofficial results on the Louisiana Secretary of State's web site showed Cao with 33,122 (49.55%), Jefferson 31,296 (46.82%), Kahn 548 (0.82%), and Rahim 1,880 (2.81%). Jefferson won by 23,197 to 20,246 in Orleans Parish, where 21 of the 392 precincts showed zero votes for Cao. Cao, however, more than made up the difference with a margin of 12,696 to the incumbent's 8,099 in Jefferson Parish. A post-election map analysis by the Times-Picayune showed the election result as having depended on higher turnout in the precincts favorable to Cao.

After speaking by telephone four days after the election, on December 31, 2008, Wednesday, Jefferson and Cao met cordially at the home of New Orleans' Liberty Bank CEO Alden McDonald to discuss the transition.

Significance
Politico.com declared Cao's victory one of America's
"Top 10 Political Upsets" of 2008.

Cao became the first Vietnamese-American elected to Congress. Cao's win made the 2nd District by far the most Democratic district in the nation to be represented by a Republican; the district has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+28. Obama carried the district with 74 percent of the vote, his 35th-best performance in the country and his fifth best in a Southern district.

Cao's victory over a tainted incumbent became a cause for celebration among many in Louisiana. Wrote Jeff Crouere in his column Ringside Politics, "The victory strikes a major blow against the reputation of Louisiana as a corrupt state".

House GOP members were particularly vocal in their glee over Cao's defeat of the Democratic incumbent. Among many other statements, House minority leader John Boehner asserted Cao's win was "a symbol of our future" in a memorandum with "The Future Is Cao" as its subject line.

2010

Cao was thought to face nearly impossible odds for reelection due to the district's overwhelmingly Democratic nature. Indeed, many pundits likened him to Michael Patrick Flanagan, a former Republican congressman from Illinois. Flanagan ousted scandal-plagued House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dan Rostenkowski in 1994, only to be roundly defeated for reelection after one term in his heavily Democratic Chicago-based district by future Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

As expected, Cao lost his reelection bid in a landslide to Democratic State Representative Cedric Richmond, an African American. Other candidates included Independents Ron Austin, Anthony K. Marquize, and Jack Radosta. Cao had the support of several of New Orleans' prominent Democrats, including Councilwoman Stacy Head, Assessor Erroll Williams, and State Representative Juan LaFonta (who had lost the Democratic Party's nomination to Richmond), but the vote fell on racial lines. He was one of only two Republican House incumbents to lose reelection in 2010. The other was Charles Djou of Hawaii, who also represented a strongly Democratic-leaning district.

Proving just how Democratic the 2nd district still is, the Republicans only fielded nominal candidates in the district in 2012 and 2020, and no Republican candidate even filed in 2014, 2016 or 2018.

2016
In December 2015, Cao announced that he would run for the open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring fellow Republican David Vitter in 2016. Cao finished eleventh in the primary, meaning he did not place high enough to advance to the general election.

Political positions
Cao is considered a moderate Republican. He has been described as "progressive" on issues such as immigration reform, gay rights, and government services for the poor, while being very anti-abortion and conservative on fiscal issues. He has described himself as a "moderate, fiscally conservative Republican." The non-partisan National Journal gave him a composite score of 57% conservative and 43% liberal in 2010. The American Conservative Union, a political action committee or PAC, gave Cao a lifetime score of 42% conservative. Americans for Democratic Action, a progressive PAC, gave him a 45% liberal quotient.

He voted against President Obama's proposed stimulus package in 2009, as well as the Democratic-backed Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

He broke with his party by voting with Democrats in favor of the Affordable Health Care for America Act which included a public option for health care. However, Cao voted against the Affordable Care Act, colloquially called Obamacare, because of concerns about abortion. He had also been one of 29 Republicans who voted with Democrats in favor of the re-authorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Cao was one of five House Republicans who voted with Democrats to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell in May 2010. He was one of 15 Republicans who joined Democrats and voted in favor of the final repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell in December 2010. In the same month, Cao was one of eight Republicans to vote for the DREAM Act, which passed the House but later failed in the Senate.

Electoral history
Louisiana State Representative, 103rd Representative District, 2007

Threshold > 50%

U. S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District, 2008

U. S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District, 2010

Documentary
On January 3, 2013, the Public Broadcasting Service aired the documentary Mr. Cao Goes to Washington, directed by S. Leo Chiang. The film tracks Cao's brief tenure in Washington, D.C., as the first Vietnamese American elected to Congress.

Personal life
Cao is married to Hieu Phuong "Kate" Hoang. The couple has two daughters and resides in New Orleans' Venetian Isles neighborhood. Kate and Joseph met in 1998 at the Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church in New Orleans East and the family has attended there since. After the 2008 election, Kate, an alumna of the Xavier University of Louisiana College of Pharmacy and a registered pharmacist, resigned from her position at a New Orleans Walgreens pharmacy.

A devout Roman Catholic, Cao served as a board member for Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church's Community Development Corporation which assists Vietnamese-Americans with hurricane relief. Cao is a member of the National Advisory Council of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Cao is also a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.

See also

 Vietnamese in New Orleans
 List of Asian Americans and Pacific Islands Americans in the United States Congress

References

External links

 Joseph Cao for Congress official campaign website

1967 births
21st-century American politicians
American community activists
American political activists
American politicians of Vietnamese descent
Asian-American people in Louisiana politics
Baylor University alumni
Catholics from Louisiana
Fordham University alumni
Jersey Village High School alumni
Lawyers from New Orleans
Living people
Loyola University New Orleans alumni
Asian-American members of the United States House of Representatives
People from Ho Chi Minh City
People with acquired American citizenship
Politicians from New Orleans
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana
Roman Catholic activists
Vietnamese community activists
Vietnamese emigrants to the United States
Vietnamese refugees
Vietnamese Roman Catholics
Candidates in the 2016 United States Senate elections
Asian conservatism in the United States


Marijan Žužej (8 February 1934 – 18 December 2011) was a Croatian water polo player of Slovenian origin. He was part of the Yugoslavia teams that won a silver medal at the 1956 Olympics and placed fourth in 1960.

Žužej was born in Maribor to Slovenian parents and lost his father at early age. His mother and stepfather were doctors and fought with Yugoslav partisans during World War II. Žužej took up swimming and water polo in 1946, and in 1954 was included to the Yugoslav national team that won a bronze medal at European championships. In late 1957 he had a serious car accident. He recovered by the 1960 Olympics, but retired from competitions after that to become a water polo coach and administrator at his club HAVK Mladost. Besides water polo he worked as an architect in Slovenia and Austria.

See also
 List of Olympic medalists in water polo (men)

References

External links

1934 births
2011 deaths
Croatian male water polo players
Yugoslav male water polo players
Olympic water polo players for Yugoslavia
Water polo players at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Water polo players at the 1960 Summer Olympics
Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia
Olympic medalists in water polo
Sportspeople from Maribor
Croatian people of Slovenian descent
Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics
20th-century Croatian architects