P-Pop-High School is the fifth album released by Peelander-Z.

Track listing
"P-Pop-High School"  – 0:40
"Let's Go! Karaoke Party!"  – 2:42
"Beautiful Sundae" – 1:07
"Handsome" – 1:43
"Panda-III" – 3:01
"Pillow Pillow" – 2:41
"Learn Japanese" – 1:43
"Duct Tape" – 1:14
"Give Me Your Smile" – 6:07
"Super Health" – 2:31
"Autograph" – 3:11
"Pho!" – 2:34
"P-Zombie-Z" – 2:54
"So Many Mike" – 1:55
"Ninja-High Schooool" – 4:18
"Smile Again" – 0:51

2009 albums
Peelander-Z albums


East Ferry is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Digby County on Digby Neck.

References
East Ferry on Destination Nova Scotia

Communities in Digby County, Nova Scotia
General Service Areas in Nova Scotia


The Doha Corniche () is a waterfront promenade extending for  along Doha Bay in Qatar's capital city, Doha. Annual celebrations of national holidays such as Qatar National Day and National Sports Day are centered on the Doha Corniche. It is a popular tourist and leisure attraction within Qatar.

History

The Corniche used to be an empty stretch of walkway in which the only visible edifice was a Sheraton Hotel, but development has increased in the 21st century with dozens of skyscrapers being built towards the north of the Corniche. The area's development is part of the economic boom the country has been experiencing and part of an effort to promote tourism, which was facilitated by the 2006 Asian Games.

Many of Doha's most iconic landmarks are found along the Corniche, beginning from around the Museum of Islamic Art and ending at the Sheraton Park near the distinctive pyramid-shaped Sheraton Doha Resort & Convention Hotel.

Location
The Corniche encircles Doha Bay, running for a length of seven kilometers. There are three main areas of the Corniche: the Corniche Park and Promenade, Corniche Street, and the Government zone.

The Corniche Promenade and Park are very popular destinations for walkers, runners, skaters, joggers and others engaging in leisure and social activities.

Corniche Street is a paramount route which connects Doha's emerging West Bay business district with the south of the city and Doha International Airport. It was formed following extensive dredging work carried out during the late 1970s and early 1980s which reshaped Doha's coastline.

As for the Government zone, which commands a view of the bay, administrative buildings such as the Amiri Diwan are found here.

Nearby landmarks

 Al Bidda Park
 Commercialbank Plaza
 Doha Port
 Doha Tower
 Dubai Towers Doha
 Q-Post
 National Museum of Qatar
 Qatar National Theatre
 Richard Serra's sculpture 7
 View of West Bay skyline

Gallery

References

Doha
Geography of Qatar
Waterfronts
Venues of the 2006 Asian Games


Desmond Robert Cristofani (14 November 1920 – 21 August 2002) was an Australian cricketer who played 18 first-class matches in the 1940s. 14 of those games were for the Australian Services, three for New South Wales and one for the Dominions.

His best performances were both for the Australian Services side in the 1945 Victory Tests against England. In July at Lord's, in the first first-class match since the break forced by the Second World War, he took 5/49.
With the bat, his solitary hundred came a month later at Old Trafford, when he scored an unbeaten 110 from number eight. He also took 5/55 in the first innings of this match, but England won by six wickets.

Cristofani's century was mentioned in E. W. Swanton's article "Cricket under the Japs" in the 1946 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. At the end of his piece, Swanton wrote of his experience shortly after the end of the war and his release from his prisoner of war camp:

I had, by then, already taken my first walk for three and a half years as a free man. We found ourselves in a Thai village on the edge of the jungle. In the little café our hosts politely turned on the English programme. Yes, we were at Old Trafford, and a gentleman called Cristofani was getting a hundred....
In 1950 Cristofani was employed as a professional by Accrington Cricket Club of the Lancashire League, and turned in some fine performances, for example his return of 6/23 from 8.7 eight-ball overs as Accrington crushed near neighbours Enfield.

Death
There is a discrepancy in the major sources regarding Cristofani's date and place of death. CricketArchive, as used in the infobox in this article, shows his death as occurring in Fleet on 21 August 2002. This is backed up by UK government death records showing that a Desmond Robert Cristofani, with the correct date of birth, died in Northeast Hampshire (which contains Fleet) on that date. However, his obituary in the 2003 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack gives his death as occurring one day later, and in Canberra, Australia. Cricinfo follows Wisden in this.

See also
 List of New South Wales representative cricketers

References

External links

Australian cricketers
New South Wales cricketers
Australian Services cricketers
Australian expatriate sportspeople in England
1920 births
2002 deaths
Cricketers from Sydney
Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II
Royal Australian Air Force officers
Dominions cricketers


Maria Antonescu (born Maria Niculescu, also known as Maria General Antonescu, later Maria Mareșal Antonescu, or Rica Antonescu; 3 November 1892 – 18 October 1964) was a Romanian socialite and philanthropist and the wife of World War II authoritarian prime minister and Conducător Ion Antonescu. A long-time resident of France, she was twice married before her wedding to Antonescu, and became especially known for her leadership of charitable organization grouped in the Social Works Patronage Council organization, having Veturia Goga for her main collaborator. The Council profited significantly from antisemitic policies targeting Romanian Jews, and especially from the deportation of Bessarabian Jews into Transnistria, taking over several hundred million lei resulting from arbitrary confiscations and extortion.

Arrested soon after the August 1944 coup which overthrew her husband, Maria Antonescu was briefly a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union, and, after a period of uncertainty, tried and sentenced by the new communist regime on charges of economic crimes (embezzlement). Imprisoned for five years and afterward included in the Bărăgan deportations, she spent the final years of her life under internal exile at Bordușani.

Biography

Early life
Born in Calafat, Maria was the daughter of Romanian Army officer Teodor Niculescu, who had fought in the Romanian War of Independence, and his wife Angela (or Anghelina). Angela's sister had married Titică Orăscu, a member of the boyar aristocracy. According to researcher and journalist Lavinia Betea, Teodor Niculescu may have squandered the family fortune, which, she argues, may explain why Maria did not have a dowry. She married Gheorghe Cimbru, a Police officer, with whom she had a son, also known as Gheorghe. The child was physically disabled by poliomyelitis. Cimbru died before 1919, after which date Maria Niculescu is known to have moved to Paris. In July 1919, she married a second time, to businessman Guillaume Auguste Joseph Pierre Fueller, a French Jew.

Having divorced from Fueller in 1926 and married Antonescu, Romania's former military attaché in France, she soon after moved to Bucharest, where her new husband served as Secretary General of the Defense Ministry. The two reportedly met and fell in love before her divorce was final. Sources diverge on the marriage date, which is either indicated as 29 August 1927, or an unspecified day in 1928. Their life as a couple was reportedly marked by Antonescu's rigidity and distaste for the public life. However, as Antonescu reached prominence and earned important political assignments, Maria too became the focus of public attention. Reputedly, when she eventually did become politically important, the upper class viewed her as rather a parvenue.

In 1938, when the relationship between Ion Antonescu and King Carol II degenerated into open conflict, the monarch engineered Ion Antonescu's trial for bigamy, based on charges that she and Fueller had never actually divorced. Assisted by his lawyer Mihai Antonescu, the future Conducător disproved the claim, and the perception that he was being persecuted by an authoritarian ruler reportedly earned him the public's respect. By then, although the officer spoke out against Carol II's extramarital affair with the commoner Elena Lupescu, his own marriage to a divorcée was being treated with contempt by some commentators of the time.

Early war years
In late 1940, as a result of a major social crisis, the National Legionary State was set up in Romania, and Carol relinquished the throne in favor of the junior king Michael I. Antonescu took over with dictatorial powers, as Conducător, and struck a partnership in government with the fascist Iron Guard. At around this time, Maria became good friends with Veturia Goga, widow of antisemitic Premier Octavian Goga. Their friendship slowly turned into a political lobby, which also involved Veturia (or Sanda) Manuilă, wife of the sociologist Sabin Manuilă, Veturia Barbul, wife of diplomat Gheorghe Barbul, writer Georgeta Cancicov (wife of bureaucrat Mircea Cancicov) and, for a while, Elvira Sima, married to Iron Guard commander Horia Sima. The political wives' circle was in some ways Maria Antonescu's "court", rivaling that of Queen Mother Helen, just as Antonescu's had come to rival the kingly court; for this and other reasons, Queen Helen became especially distrustful of Maria Antonescu's political initiatives. Reportedly, the queen complained to her foreign contacts that the Antonescus were "inconsiderate".

Nevertheless, at the very start of 1941, Maria Antonescu joined the board of Regina Elisabeta Society, a welfare organization chaired by Queen Helen. She also took over a new state-run charity, Sprijinul ("The Support"), which reputedly made her a contender in the conflict opposing her husband to the Guard, before the Legionary Rebellion of early 1941 brought the Guard's downfall. According to Spanish historian Francisco Veiga, her humanitarian effort was endorsed by the more conservative pro-Antonescu factions in reaction to Guardist projects such as Ajutorul Legionar. Sprijinul ensured participation from Veturia Goga. They were also joined by the wife of World War I hero, General Constantin Prezan, and by Sanda Manuilă.

As a mark of emancipation after the 1941 Rebellion, Elvira Sima was formally purged, and accused (falsely) of having embezzled charity funds. From his exile in Nazi Germany, Horia Sima accused the "three Veturias" of having masterminded his and his wife's downfall, through their contacts with Maria Antonescu. The latter was promoted to head of the Social Works Patronage Council, merging all the recognized charities. It had been established by decree on 20 November 1940, but received its charter only on 12 June 1942. It specified that the council was "a State institution with its own juridical person and patrimony", whose members ex officio included government ministers and the Patriarch of All Romania; others were designated by Conducător decrees. As reported by Revista de Igienă Socială (the Romanian eugenicists' review), "its vast program" included "coordinating public and private benefit institutions in the realm of welfare, guiding and controlling private charities, and lastly taking the initiative in setting up new social welfare establishments." The council was especially interested in "protecting the working class", spending a reported 100 million lei on school cafeterias, and some 1 million lei on free or subsidized soup kitchens.

The council's establishment coincided with Romania's participation in Operation Barbarossa, which signified the recovery of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, and the occupation of Transnistria. Awarded its own badge (the Blue Cross), the Council then became a direct competitor to Queen Helen's earlier work in welfare and relief, as well as a would-be replacement for the Romanian Red Cross. Its activities were promptly covered and advertised by the regime's official propaganda. Beyond simply directing the work of private welfare institutions, the council was suspected of wanting to subvert them and take over their investment. It openly confiscated the patrimony of older welfare organizations, such as Umanitatea, owner of the girls' colony in Slănic.

During the early months of 1941, the Iron Guard having been successfully repressed, Maria Antonescu and Veturia Goga coaxed support for the regime from the old establishment parties (although nominally outlawed since Carol II's rule, these were cautiously tolerated by Antonescu). Official newspapers publicized their visit to Topoloveni, a former fief of the National Peasants' Party (PNȚ), where they met with PNȚ leader Ion Mihalache. The event was organized by Admiral Dan Zaharia, who was simultaneously a PNȚ cadre and a friend of her husband's. Although she refrained from overt political statements, Maria Antonescu gave praise to Mihalache as a community and civil society leader. The pro-Allied PNȚ leader, Iuliu Maniu, saw in this an attempt by Antonescu to co-opt Mihalache as a minister. His immediate response was to dissuade Mihalache from "compromising himself" with such affiliations. For her part, Maria Antonescu alternated such displays of traditionalism with the public endorsement for fascist causes. In July 1941, she was an official guest at the Anti-Masonry Exhibit in Bucharest.

Antisemitic plunder and spoils of war

With the continuation of war on the Eastern Front, the Social Works Patronage Council took it upon itself to look after the needs of first-line soldiers and their families, as well as to protect a special category of vulnerable individuals: the IOVR (invalids, orphans, widows). By December 1941, it had raised and spent some 25 million lei for the needs of men under arms and 138 million for the wounded; 9.7 million for families of active duty soldiers, and 17 million for invalids, widows or orphans.

Romania's participation in the war came with the generalization of antisemitic measures and the massive deportations of the Jews to occupied Transnistria, a process initiated by her husband, and marked by events in which she herself was implicated (see Holocaust in Romania). In October 1941, Wilhelm Filderman, head of the Jewish Communities' Federation, sent her and her husband letters of protest, stressing that the deportations were tantamount to death—messages which went unanswered. In November, after the ghetto in Chișinău was sacked and its population deported to Transnistria, the authorities set aside confiscated property for the Patronage Council, for the Red Cross, for Romanian hospitals and the Romanian Army.

Such arbitrary confiscations inaugurated a chain of supply for the Patronage Council. In August 1942, the Jewish entrepreneurs Max Auschnitt and Franz von Neumann donated 50 million Swiss francs to the same charity, a precautionary measure which may have played a part in the decision to indefinitely postpone transports from Romania to Nazi extermination camps. This event was notably recounted in a testimony by Ioan Mocsony-Stârcea, a member of King Michael's entourage. The same month, Jewish Affairs Commissioner Radu Lecca, whose office implied regular extortion of the Jewish community, collected 1.2 billion lei from the ghettos through the government-controlled Central Jewish Office, of which 400 million were redirected toward Maria Antonescu's charities. The total sum passed by the Central Jewish Office toward the patronage Council exceeded 780 million lei.

This type of abuse also touched other communities. Thus, among the special provisions ordered by Governor Gheorghe Alexianu and affecting Ukrainian peasants in Transnistria, one set produce quotas for Maria Antonescu's project, as hospital meals for wounded soldiers. Having herself reserved a special Blue Cross tax from cinema revenues nationally, Maria Antonescu also looked into financing a fleet of traveling cinemas. It was furnished with spoils of war from Odessa Film Studio.

Lecca himself later stated: "The need for extra-budgetary money was continuously rising", arguing that, in addition to pressures from the part of Mihai Antonescu and German Ambassador Manfred Freiherr von Killinger, "Mrs. Antonescu asked for money for her patronage". Occasionally, however, Maria Antonescu intervened with her husband to alleviate some antisemitic measures. She is thus believed to have persuaded the Conducător not to create a special ghetto in Iași (where the survivors of the 1941 pogrom were supposed to be confined), in exchange for which local Jews provided the Patronage Council with 5 million lei. Reputedly, she and Veturia Goga also mediated between the Conducător and Petru Groza, left-wing activist and leader of the clandestine Ploughmen's Front, whose stance against the regime later made him the Antonescu regime's political prisoner.

It was also as a result of her intercession that Romania's Chief Rabbi, Alexandru Șafran, obtained the reversal of an order to nationalize and desecrate Bucharest's Sevastopol Jewish Cemetery. However, Șafran also left an account of her unwillingness to provide water and milk for children and infants confined in Cernăuți en route to Transnistria. Maria Antonescu is believed to have eventually heeded other calls, and to have pressured Ion Antonescu into allowing Jewish deportees from Dorohoi to return home. She is also credited with having collected medicine, food, clothing and window panes to be sent into Transnistria, and to have accepted Patronage Council donations in exchange for allowing other Jews to escape.

Detention, sentencing and final years
The Antonescus' status changed dramatically after King Michael and opposition forces carried out the August 1944 Coup, arresting the Conducător and taking Romania out of its Axis alliance. Her son Gheorghe Cimbru died at Călimănești on 29 August or 10 September. Reportedly, his death was suicide, caused by the distress he felt over his adoptive father's downfall. Having fled to Băile Herculane, Maria Antonescu was arrested in Căzănești, where she had been offered refuge by a close friend of her personal secretary. According to one account, she had asked for protection from Queen Mother Helen who, as a noted adversary, refused to grant it.

In March 1945, Maria Antonescu was taken into custody by the Soviet occupation forces, and, like her husband before her, was transported into Soviet territory, where she was only interrogated once. They were not told of each other, even though their cells at Moscow's Lubyanka are said to have shared a wall. From November 1945, the leftist Union of Patriots issued calls for her and Veturia Goga to be tried in Romanian custody. Maria Antonescu returned in April 1946, at the same time as her husband. She was submitted to interrogations by Interior Ministry Secretary, Romanian Communist Party member and public investigator Avram Bunaciu, who recorded her views on Antonescu's political choices. Part of the inquiry focused on Maria Antonescu's own involvement. When asked about her support for a war of aggression, which Bunaciu defined as "a war of plunder", she replied: "When I started [work with charities] there was no war. What was I to do? Not to keep going? I originally started because of all the misery in the Romanian land." She denied accusations of having participated in extortion, but admitted to having received funds from Lecca, and replied that she had never considered providing aid to Transnistrian deportees because Jews had "enough funds", and denied knowledge that Jews had been imprisoned in concentration camps.

According to conflicting accounts, she was simply allowed to go free, or detained at Malmaison prison before her declining health made the authorities commit her to Nicolae Gh. Lupu's clinic, ultimately assigning her house arrest in a Bucharest lodging she shared with her mother. She lacked the means to support herself, and was cared for by her friends and family. After his People's Court trial and just prior to his June 1946 execution for war crimes, Ion Antonescu met his wife one final time, handing her his watch with the request that she imagine "it is my heart beating", and never let it stop.

Again arrested in 1950, she was indicted by the communist regime and found guilty of "bringing disaster to the country" and economic crimes in general, and of embezzlement in particular. From 1950 to 1955, she was imprisoned at Mislea, a former convent in Cobia. She was kept there under the rules of "in-secrecy" solitary confinement, and, according to the account of one of her fellow inmates, allowed to step out of her cell only at night, when she would collect and smoke the cigarette butts discarded by the guards.

After her release from prison, Maria Antonescu was assigned "obligatory domicile" on the Bărăgan Plain, within a wave of Bărăgan deportations. While in Bordușani, Ialomița County, she met and befriended fellow women detainees from the White Squadron. Another witness to her deportation was engineer Eugen Ionescu, who later escaped to Australia. Ionescu later retold his conversations with the Conducătors wife, specifically her complaint that Ion Antonescu had been refused trial by the International Military Tribunal.

The Ialomița area is characterized by weather extremes. Maria Antonescu complained that snowdrifts prevented her from leaving her home in winter, and spent much of her time knitting. According to one witness account, she was also held in Giurgeni, and worked for the local state farm's cafeteria. She was by then afflicted with a debilitating heart condition, and, after petitioning the authorities, was briefly allowed to return to Bucharest for treatment in 1958 or 1959. Maria Antonescu was again in Bordușani from 1959 to 1964, when a turn for the worse saw her internment to a specialist clinic, and then at the Colțea Hospital, where she was cared for by a friend doctor. She died there as the result of a third heart attack, and was buried in Bellu cemetery, in a tomb owned by distant relatives.

Legacy
The Antonescus were ktitors of three Romanian Orthodox churches in separate Bucharest areas: Mărgeanului Church in Rahova, Dămăroaia Church, and the Saints Constantine and Helena Church in Muncii, where they are depicted in a mural. Maria herself also founded Sfânta Maria Church of Ghencea and contributed significantly to constructing Delea Nouă Church. In 1941, after floods took a toll on Argeș County, the two founded Antonești, a model village in Corbeni (partly built by Ukrainian prisoners of war, and later passed into state property). Although her picture was a regular presence on the front pages of newspapers and magazines, Maria Antonescu was nevertheless perceived by some of her contemporaries as a withdrawn and secondary figure. Accounts of her life were provided by various public figures, including Princess Ileana (who met her shortly before leaving the country in 1947) and anti-communist members of the Romanian diaspora. Some mentions of her were made in Bénie sois-tu, prison ("Bless You, Prison"), a best-selling book of memoirs by Nicole Valéry Grossu, a former Mislea inmate and defector to France.

During her husband's years in power, the official press made Maria Antonescu the object of reverence, prompting speculation that she was vying for popularity with Queen Helen. She was the sole subject of two nationally released films, and an obligatory presence on weekly newsreels. Another propaganda film about Romanian charities was censored and had to be redone, because officials felt that it shed too much positive light on the Red Cross, and not enough on the Blue Cross. Her omnipresence in press reports alienated the public, and, in 1943, she acknowledged that the society, especially "the lower class", was becoming overexposed to her Blue Cross propaganda, and that "the workers are turning against the Patronage Council". According to Revista de Igienă Socială, Antonescu's Council was highly inefficient at targeting people in need, "especially so in the provinces", and its generous welfare program, that "promoted vice", ought to have been replaced with conditional cash transfers. The council's soup kitchens, Revista argued, were "a desolate spectacle".

By then, underground propaganda was depicting Antonescu as a new and less qualified version of the infamous Elena Lupescu, who had been Carol II's mistress and string-puller. According to writer Ion Caraion, the ridicule she was subjected to by adversaries of the Antonescu regime was unwittingly reflected by the press organ Timpul. Unknown hands subverted the caption of a photograph showing her, Veturia Goga and Sanda Manuilă visiting a soldier's hospital, to read as if they were having intercourse with the wounded.

Before his death, Antonescu addressed his wife a final letter, in which he restated his claim to innocence and belief that posterity would exonerate him. He expressed a wish that Maria withdraw to an Orthodox monastery, adding: "There you will find the peace necessary for the soul and the piece of bread which today you cannot afford." The Cobia nunnery imprisonment, British historian Dennis Deletant notes, was "an ironic twist" on this last wish. The original was not preserved and did not reach Maria Antonescu, but its text was copied by Titus Stoica, the Conducătors attorney, a version which he hid inside an armchair just prior to being himself arrested by communist authorities. Reportedly, Stoica forgot its location, and the document was only uncovered decades later by an upholsterer.

In 2002, some 12 years after the Romanian Revolution overthrew communism, actress Margareta Pogonat portrayed Maria Antonescu in Binecuvântată fii, închisoare, a film directed by Nicolae Mărgineanu (based on, and named after, Valéry Grossu's book, and having Maria Ploae for its main protagonist). According to Mărgineanu, Pogonat accepted "the silent, almost figurative role" having as her motivation the fact that "she herself was imprisoned at the age of 16, because her parents were landowners."

The Antonescu estate was passed into state property, in accordance with provisions for war criminals. This included the watch handed by Ion Antonescu to his wife, which was confiscated from her minutes after she had received it. In 2008, Maria Antonescu's collateral inheritors stated a claim on the couple's villa in Predeal. It was rejected by a Brașov tribunal, which cited the original confiscation law.

Honours

Foreign honours
 : Order of Social Welfare, Special Class

Notes

References
Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania, Polirom, Iași, 2004.
Dennis Deletant, Hitler's Forgotten Ally: Ion Antonescu and His Regime, Romania, 1940–1944, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2006.
Mariana Hausleitner, "Auf dem Weg zur »Ethnokratie«. Rumänien in den Jahren des Zweiten Weltkrieges", in Christoph Dieckmann, Babette Quinkert, Tatjana Tönsmeyer, Kooperation und Verbrechen: Formen der »Kollaboration« im östlichen Europa, 1939–1945. Beiträge zur Geschichtes des Nazionalsozialismus 19, Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen, 2005, pp. 77–112.
Radu Ioanid, La Roumanie et la Shoah, Maison des Sciences de l'homme, Paris, 2002.
Mihai Sorin Rădulescu, "Autour de la généalogie de Ion Antonescu", in Muzeul Național, Vol. XVIII, 2006, pp. 319–338.
R.I.S., "Activitatea Consiliului de Patronaj al Operelor Sociale", in Revista de Igienă Socială, 1-2/1944, pp. 76–77.

First ladies of Romania
20th-century philanthropists
Romanian philanthropists
Romanian women in business
20th-century Romanian women politicians
Romanian women in World War II
Romanian white-collar criminals
The Holocaust in Romania
People from Calafat
Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church
Romanian expatriates in France
World War II prisoners of war held by the Soviet Union
Burials at Bellu Cemetery
1892 births
1964 deaths


Then Sings My Soul is a 2009 inspirational double CD album recorded by country music singer Ronnie Milsap. To date, it is his first and only gospel recording ever. It features several traditional hymns along with Christian-altered hit singles, including Milsap's "What a Difference You've Made in My Life" and Ben E. King's "Stand by Me". It was being marketed by an extensive TV mail order campaign.

Track listing

Disc one
 "I'll Fly Away" (Albert E. Brumley) - 3:34
 "How Great Thou Art" (Stuart K. Hine) - 4:42
 "Soon and Very Soon" (Andraé Crouch) - 2:27
 "Farther Along" (Jesse Randall Baxter) - 3:53
 "Amazing Grace" (Traditional) - 4:56
 "Stand by Me" (Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) - 3:52
 "Up to Zion" (Noreen Crayton, Greg Tomquist) - 2:48
 "World of Wonder" (James Darrell Scott) - 3:42
 "In the Garden" (Traditional) - 4:04
 "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" (Traditional) - 3:16
 "Peace in the Valley" (Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey) - 3:31
 "Have Thine Own Way" (Traditional) - 3:14

Disc two
 "Swing Down Chariot" - 2:51
 "Precious Memories" - 3:53
 "Rock of Ages" (Traditional) - 2:55
 "People Get Ready" - 3:19
 "Softly and Tenderly" (Traditional) - 3:19
 "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" (Traditional) - 3:40
 "What a Difference You've Made in My Life" - 3:26
 "Jesus Was All I Had" (Donnie Fritts) - 3:06
 "It is No Secret" (Stuart Hamblen) - 3:42
 "The Old Rugged Cross" (Traditional) - 3:21
 "Holy, Holy, Holy" (Traditional) - 3:29
 "The Lord's Prayer" (Albert Hay Malotte) - 2:49

Personnel
 Ronnie Milsap – lead vocals, Fender Rhodes, rhythm arrangements
 Shane Keister – Fender Rhodes, organ, synthesizers
 Catherine Styron Marx – acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes, rhythm arrangements
 Jamie Brantley – acoustic guitar, electric guitars
 Mark Casstevens – acoustic guitar
 Steve Gibson – electric guitars
 Kerry Marx – acoustic guitar
 Larry Paxton – bass
 Lonnie Wilson – drums
 Rob Galbraith – rhythm arrangements
 Carol Tomquist – rhythm arrangements
 Noreen Crayton – backing vocals, vocal arrangements
 Bruce Dees – backing vocals, vocal arrangements
 Kevin Durham – backing vocals
 Jon Mark Ivey – backing vocals
 Louis Dean Nunley – backing vocals
 Lisa Silver – backing vocals
 Kira Small – backing vocals
 Russell Terrell – backing vocals
 Bergen White – backing vocals, vocal arrangements

Production
 Mandy Arola – A&R
 Jamie Neeck – A&R
 Rob Galbraith – producer
 Ronnie Milsap – producer
 Mark Capps – engineer
 Mark Lambert – engineer, overdub recording, mixing
 Robert Hadley – mastering
 Doug Sax – mastering
 The Mastering Lab (Ojai, California) – mastering location
 Andy Norris – design
 Jan Cook – art direction, photography direction
 Tim Frank – photography direction
 Scott Greenwalt – photography
 Alyson Reeves – photography
 Linda Hill – stylist
 Tania Staps – grooming

Chart performance
The album peaked at #19 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, #8 on the Billboard Top Christian Albums chart, and #127 on the Billboard 200.

Awards

In 2010, the album was nominated for a Dove Award for Country Album of the Year at the 41st GMA Dove Awards.

References

2009 albums
Ronnie Milsap albums


Lehr-Brigade (mot.) 900 (Motorized Demonstration Brigade) was formed 17 June 1941 by the German Army from school units in preparation for Operation Barbarossa. As such it was considered an elite as many of its personnel were instructors in tactics from various branch schools. It fought in most of the battles in the central sector of the Eastern Front during Barbarossa, notably the Battles of Minsk, Smolensk, Operation Typhoon and the Battle of Moscow before its remnants were withdrawn in April–May 1942.

Composition
The first battalion of Motorized Infantry Regiment (Infanterie-Regiment (mot.)) 900 was drawn from the School for Mobile Troops (Schule für Schnelle Truppen) in Wünsdorf. The battalion headquarters and the second company were mounted on Sd.Kfz. 251 half-tracks while the first company was mounted on motorcycles. The second battalion came from Infantry School (Infanterieschule) Döberitz. 13. Company (Kompanie) was equipped with two 15 cm sIG 33 and four 7.5 cm leIG 18 infantry guns. 14. Kompanie had six 3.7 cm PaK 36 and two 5 cm PaK 38 towed anti-tank guns.

Two companies of Anti-tank Battalion 900 (Panzerjäger-Abteilung) were equipped with eight PaK 36 and three Pak 38 anti-tank guns each, but the third company had nine self-propelled Panzerjäger I tank destroyers. Artillery Battalion 900 (Artillerie-Abteilung) had four batteries, three of which had four 10.5 cm leFH 18 howitzers each, but the fourth battery had seven Sturmgeschütz III assault guns. Motorized Engineer Battalion 900 (Pionier-Bataillon (mot.)) was formed from Engineer Demonstration Battalion (Pionier-Lehr-Bataillon) 2 in Dessau-Roßlau on 1 May 1941, but only the third company of the battalion was assigned to the brigade. One platoon of this company was equipped with Sd.Kfz. 251 half-tracks. Signal Battalion (Nachrichten-Abteilung) 900 was formed with two companies.

Combat history
Lehr was still moving forward towards the demarcation line between German and Soviet-owned Poland on 22 June 1941 when Operation Barbarossa began and it missed the first few days of the campaign. By the beginning of July it was under the command of the 9th Army of Army Group Center, where it participated in the later stages of the Battle of Białystok–Minsk. By 19 July it was part of the northern wing encircling the Smolensk Pocket, but it quickly moved north-east to rebuff relief efforts by the Soviet 16th and 30th Armies of the Western Front. It was pulled off the front line into tactical reserve on 7 August 1941 and remained there for ten days until renewed Soviet attacks caused it to send it back into combat. It was pulled back into reserve on 26 August and remained there until the opening stages of Operation Typhoon. It stayed in reserve until 6 October when it was released to follow 1st Panzer Division's in its drive to Kalinin. The Soviets forced the Germans to retreat from Kalinin after a month of heavy fighting and Lehr was placed in reserve on 12 November, where it remained until the Soviet Winter Counter-Offensive of 5 December forced the Germans to retreat en masse.

The brigade, and most of its subordinate units, was formally disbanded on 7 April 1942, but the 900th Infantry Regiment remained in Russia until 28 May 1942 when it too was disbanded, its personnel returning to their original units.

Subordinations

Notes

References
 Jentz, Thomas L. Mittlere Schuetzenpanzerwagen (Sd.Kfz.251): History of Variants, Production, Issue, Tactics, and Employment in Action from 1939 to 1942 (Panzer Tracts No. 15-2) Boyds, MD: Panzer Tracts, 2005
 Jentz, Thomas L. Panzerjaeger (3.7 cm Tak to Pz.Sfl.Ic): Development and Employment from 1927 to 1941 (Panzer Tracts No. 7-1) Boyds, MD: Panzer Tracts, 2004.
 Niehorster, Leo. German World War II Organizational Series; Volume 3/II: Mechanized GHQ Units and Waffen-SS Formations (22 June 1941) Hannover: Niehorster, 1990
 Ritgen, Helmut. Die Geschichte der Panzer-Lehr-Division im Westen 1944-1945 Stuttgart: Motorbuch, 1979
 Tessin, Georg. Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945; Band 13 Osnabruck: Biblio, 1976
 Thies, Klaus-Jürgen. Der Ostfeldzug: Heeresgruppe Mitte: Ein Lageatlas der Operationsabteilung des Generalstab des Heeres (Der Zweite Weltkrieg im Kartenbild, Band 5, Teil 1.1) Bissendorf: Biblio, 2001

External links
 Axis History Factbook
 a thread on Panzer-Archiv.de devoted to Lehr units (in German)

Military units and formations established in 1941
Brigades of the German Army in World War II
Military units and formations disestablished in 1942


"We Really Shouldn't Be Doing This" is a song written by Jim Lauderdale, and recorded by American country music artist George Strait.  It was released in September 1998 as the third and final single from his album One Step at a Time.  It peaked at number 4 in the United States, and number 2 in Canada.

Background and writing
Jim Lauderdale told Taste of Country that the song came to him when he was living in Nashville. He was living in Buddy and Julie Miller’s apartment above their house. They were working on an album, so in order to get some sleep, he went over to the Union Station hotel and found a good writing room."

Critical reception
Larry Flick, of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that the melody is "infectious and the production is positively inventive." He goes on to call it "fun, frisky, and totally entertaining."

Chart positions
"We Really Shouldn't Be Doing This" debuted at number 72 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart dated May 2, 1998, from unsolicited airplay.

References

1998 singles
George Strait songs
Song recordings produced by Tony Brown (record producer)
Songs written by Jim Lauderdale
MCA Nashville Records singles
1998 songs


Kelly's sign is a clinical sign in which the ureter can be distinguished during surgery due to visible vermiculation which occurs when the ureter is pressed gently.

The sign is named after Howard Atwood Kelly.

References

Medical signs


Snider may refer to:

Places
United States
Snider, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Sniderville, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community

Other uses
Snider (surname)
Snider–Enfield, a firearm

See also
Snyder (disambiguation)
Schneider (disambiguation)
Schnyder, a Swiss surname


Grand River South East (GRSE) is a historic village in the southeast of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. It was named Groote River (Great River) by the Dutch.  In the 17th century, GRSE was used for stocking and shipping ebony wood under the Dutch Occupation.  The inhabitants of Grand River South East live mostly from fishing. The village has about 1500 households.  It also has an active small planters community. The other economic operators are the Deep River Beau Champ Sugar Estates and a hotel known as Laguna Beach. Village life is structured through the Village Council and a number of local organisations exist including those focusing on: women, youth, the aging and fishermen.

At the Grand River South East mouth, where the river's current meets the ocean's tide, you can see some impressive ravines and a spectacular waterfall.  The waterfall at GRSE is one of the east coast's most popular attractions after Île aux Cerfs. Every day there are trips from the villages of Trou d’Eau Douce and GRSE to the river and the waterfall.

Transport
The north line covered 50 kilometres and started operation on 23 May 1864. It passed through the districts of Pamplemousses, Rivière Du Rempart and Flacq, to end at the station of Grand River South East.

Grand River was connected to the capital of Port Louis by two railways, one following the coast, and one going over mountains on an inland route.

See also
 Railway stations in Mauritius

References

Populated places in Mauritius


"Let It Rain" is a song by English pop boy band East 17, released on 13 March 1995 as the fourth single from their second album, Steam (1994). It reached number one in Lithuania and Israel, and the top 10 in Finland, Ireland and the UK. Additionally, it was a top 20 hit in Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Norway.

Critical reception
Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian declared the song as an "unpretentious dancefloor sparkler". In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton wrote that "Let It Rain" "turns back to the harder dance sound that typifies much of their output and sounds in places like a distant relation of their first hit "House of Love" back in September 1992." A reviewer from Music Week gave it four out of five, calling it "a more upbeat, but equally commercial, follow-up to the band's Christmas number one is in remixed form, ensuring interest from even Steam-owning fans." The reviewer added, "It will no doubt be boosted by the lads' Brits performance last week." Alan Jones deemed it "preposterous". James Hamilton from the RM Dance Update described it as a "'love rain down on me' chorused rap [track]".

Music video
A music video was produced to promote the single. It was later published on YouTube in September 2017, and had generated more than 3.2 million views as of January 2023.

Track listings
 CD and 7-inch single
 "Let It Rain" (Thunder radio edit) – 3:32
 "Let It Rain" (J-Pac Sleeting edit) – 3:33

 CD maxi
 "Let It Rain" (Thunder radio edit) – 3:32
 "Let It Rain" (Overworld Storm edit) – 3:46
 "Let It Rain" (J-Pac sleeting remix) – 5:35
 "Let It Rain" (Overworld Storm mix) – 6:40

 12-inch maxi
 "Let It Rain" (City of Love club mix) – 6:33
 "Let It Rain" (City of Love instrumental mix) – 6:33
 "Let It Rain" (City of Love radio edit) – 3:34
 "Let It Rain" (Fritz 12-inch mix) – 4:39
 "Let It Rain" (Fritz edit) – 3:51

Credits
 Written by Harding/Curnow, Kean and Mortimer
 Engineered by Dillon Gallagher and Phil Harding
 Mixed and produced by Phil Harding and Ian Curnow and Rob Kean
 Artwork by Form
 Photography by Lawrence Watson

Charts

References

1994 songs
1995 singles
East 17 songs
Songs written by Tony Mortimer
Songs written by Phil Harding (producer)
Song recordings produced by Phil Harding (producer)
Songs written by Ian Curnow
Number-one singles in Israel


Six Mile Bottom railway station is a disused railway station on the Ipswich to Cambridge line between  and . It served the village of Six Mile Bottom, until closure in January 1967. The station buildings and one platform remain as a private residence. Although the station is closed, the line remains in use by trains between Ipswich and Cambridge.

The Newmarket and Chesterford Railway opened the station in 1848 on its line which connected Newmarket and . They had also commenced work on a line that would link Six Mile Bottom to Cambridge after which the company then intended to extend further with a line to Thetford which would give a more direct route to Norwich. The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) who operated trains via Cambridge to Norwich were not happy with this and put pressure on the Newmarket Railway leading them to cease trading in June 1850.

However, under the leadership of bankruptcy commissioner Cecil Fane, the company was re-established in September of the same year and instead the line from Six Mile Bottom to Cambridge was completed using the track from the Chesterford – Six Mile Bottom section. This line then opened on 9 October 1851 and the Chesterford route was closed.

References

Disused railway stations in Cambridgeshire
Former Great Eastern Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1967


Big Buck's (foaled 16 April 2003) is a retired National Hunt racehorse trained in Britain by Paul Nicholls. He is owned by businessman Andy Stewart and specialised in racing over hurdles. At the 2012 Cheltenham Festival, Big Buck's made history by winning his fourth consecutive World Hurdles, confirming his status as one of the greatest staying hurdlers in history. He was retired on 13 March 2014.

Racing career

2006–2007 season
Big Buck's raced thirteen times in France, recording two wins including the Grade II Prix Amadou at Auteuil Hippodrome.

2007–2008 season
Big Buck's won the Mar-key Group Beginners' Chase beating the Queen's horse Barbers Shop. He then ran in the Bathwick Tyres Andover Novices' Chase and was just beaten by Moon Over Miami.

He started the year with a win in the Mc Seafoods Novices' Chase ridden by Ruby Walsh, winning by 2 lengths.
He then finished 3rd in the Kingmaker Novices' Chase and went to the Cheltenham Festival for the Jewson Novices' Handicap Chase, where he finished 7th behind Finger On The Pulse. After the Festival he went to the Aintree to win the Mildmay Novices' Chase by 2 lengths, beating Battlecry.

2008–2009 season
While Ruby Walsh was injured, Sam Thomas rode Big Buck's in the Hennessy Gold Cup, where the horse blundered and unseated his jockey.

Big Buck's returned to hurdles in 2009 at Cheltenham where he finished first, beating Don't Push It. He went on to win the Cleeve Hurdle, beating the odds-on favourite Punchestowns by four lengths. This was his prep race for the World Hurdle on 12 March 2009. Kasbah Bliss was the odds on favourite to win, and Punchestowns was the 100-30 second favourite. Big Buck's and Punchestowns jumped the last hurdle together, but Big Bucks made a mistake. However, he won by 1 lengths, with Powerstation third and Kasbah Bliss a well-beaten fourth. Big Buck's went to Aintree for the Liverpool Hurdle and beat Mighty Man by 3 lengths, who won this race in 2006 & 2007.

2009–2010 season
In the 2009/2010 season, Big Buck's was unbeaten in four races. In autumn, he won the Long Distance Hurdle and the Long Walk Hurdle, both at Newbury Racecourse. In spring, he won a second World Hurdle and again followed up in the Liverpool Hurdle.

2010–2011 season
In the 2010–2011 season, Big Buck's was again aimed at the Ladbrokes World Hurdle. In every race prior to the World Hurdle, he won, not even coming off the bridle once. When it came to the big event itself, it was billed a straight head to head between Big Buck's and the fast-progressing Grands Crus. The slow pace set by Cross Kennon never suited Big Buck's, but they both travelled well throughout the race. Ruby Walsh kicked Big Buck's into the lead two out with Grand Crus stalking and moving well. However, Big Buck's accelerated away to win a third consecutive World Hurdle by 1 lengths.

2011–2012 season

Big Buck's started the 2011/12 season by winning the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury by 5 lengths without ever coming off the bridle. In December, he ran at Ascot in the Long Walk hurdle and despite looking like he was in trouble at one stage when chasing the front-running Dynaste, he was quickly picked up by Ruby Walsh and swept past him for an 8-length win. Next up, Big Buck's ran at Cheltenham in January 2012 in the Cleeve Hurdle when his trainer Paul Nicholls and owner Andy Stewart decided it would be good to give the champion staying hurdler one final run before trying to win an unprecedented 4th win in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. Big Buck's swept past Dynaste under Ruby Walsh's urgings for a 7 lengths success. This set up Big Buck's for a clash with Nicky Henderson's star hurdler Oscar Whisky and the popular Irish grey Thousand Stars at the Cheltenham Festival. Although his main market rivals didn't fire, C A Murphy's mare Voler La Vedette seemed to have him in trouble jumping the last. Despite this, Big Buck's won and became the first horse to win four successive staying hurdle titles at Cheltenham.

2012–2013 season
Big Buck's came back from a 233-day lay-off to record a facile victory in the 2012 Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury, recording his fourth straight win in the race. He conceded 8 pounds to the runner up, Reve De Sivola, and won by 9 lengths in a canter. Shortly after Big Buck's' 18th consecutive victory, he was found to have sustained a serious injury that forced him to miss the rest of the season. Reve De Sivola won both that season's grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle and grade 2 Cleeve Hurdle before being defeated by 5 3/4 lengths into fourth in the same season's World Hurdle.

2013–2014 season
After a break of more than a year, Big Buck's returned in the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham on 25 January. Ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies, he sustained his first defeat in more than five years as he finished third behind 66/1 outsider Knockara Beau and At Fishers Cross.

Big Buck's was retired on 13 March 2014 after finishing fifth behind More Of That, Annie Power, At Fishers Cross, and Zarkandar in the World Hurdle at Cheltenham Racecourse.

See also
 Repeat winners of horse races

References

External links
Racing Post Profile
 Career 1-2-3 Colour Chart – Big Buck's

2003 racehorse births
Cheltenham Festival winners
Thoroughbred family 5-e
National Hunt racehorses
Racehorses bred in France
Racehorses trained in France
Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom


A free frank was a mark applied by means of a hand-stamp to parliamentary mail in Britain to indicate that the mailed item did not require postage. The privilege of free franking was granted to four different classes: Members of Parliament; peers sitting in the House of Lords; office-holders, largely as stipulated by Acts of Parliament; and to archbishops and bishops sitting in the House of Lords. Requirement for free franking were that the mailed cover (letter or packet) had to be signed by the official sender. As a result, free franks were avidly sought during the first three decades of the nineteenth century for autograph collections. This was accomplished by cutting out the front panels of the envelope which carried the inscriptions which were required under the use of this privilege. These panels are referred to by collectors as free fronts.

In 1840 as a result of various abuses and excesses that had plagued the British Post office for many years, Rowland Hill's reforms brought an end to the free franking privilege in 1840 when he introduced the postage stamp to Britain.

Origins and use

Under the Parliamentary Franking System, members of the British Parliament (MPs) were able to send letters free of charge, the cost being borne by the taxpayer. The origin of the system was a decree of the Council of State of 1652 confirmed by an ordinance of 2 September 1654 during the Cromwellian period. Letters that were "for the service of the Commonwealth" were free of charge. Originally all that appeared on letters was the addressee, the word Frank or Free and the signature or seal of the sender. In the eighteenth century special marks started to be used, first in Dublin in 1706, and later in London and Edinburgh. The date of posting was introduced and more elaborate marks came into use.

Abuses

The privilege was supposed to be for official business, however, the high cost of postage meant that it was widely abused. MPs sold their frank to businesses and franked the letters of constituents and relatives. Regulations about the number and weight of letters and other matters failed to stop the abuse of the system. According to Ralph Allen, in 1741 the value of franked letters, if the correct postage had been charged, was over £50,000 and by the time of Allen's death in 1764 the annual value was £170,000.

In 1840 one of the reforms introduced by Rowland Hill was the elimination of the free franking privilege granted to members of parliament and other government officials. It was common for members of parliament to give out signed blank sheets of paper to friends and business associates on which they could write letters and mail them at no cost. Parliament members were even appointed to the boards of large companies in order that their mailings could make use of the free franking privilege.

Although free franking existed from the middle of the seventeenth century, it was not until 1764, when the Post Office revenues passed from the Crown to the State, that the first handstamp was introduced in England.

In 1764 an Act of Parliament was passed to prevent abuses which included a penalty of transportation for seven years for anyone convicted of counterfeiting hand writing in order to send mail free of postage. By the 1830s around five million franks were used annually. The system eventually ended with the introduction of the Uniform Penny Post in 1840.

Collecting

Free Frank marks are often found on early pre-stamp mail and are collected by philatelists and postal historians.

International

Similar systems have been introduced in other countries. For instance, U.S. Congressmen are able to send mail free of charge by applying their signature, or frank, and the term "free frank" has been adopted for many different marks on mail indicating that no postage is to be charged.  The President does not have the privilege; however, the Vice President as President of the Senate may use his signature to frank mail.

See also
 Postage stamp

References

Further reading
Brumell, George. A Short Account of the Franking System in the Post Office, 1652–1840, The Bournemouth Guardian, 1936.
Lovegrove, J.W. Herewith My Frank, published by the author, 2nd Ed. 1989.
Scott, J.G.S. Official franking 1800–1840, The Postal History Society, London, 1983. .
Bottomley, Frank. The franking system in the Post Office 1652–1840, The Society of Postal Historians, 1988.

External links
Images of British Free Franks.
Images of signatures on British Free Franks.
 The Carlow County, Members Of Parliament, Free Franking privilege
The National Stamp Gallery

Philatelic terminology
Postal history
Philately of the United Kingdom


The 312th Infantry Battalion of the Imperial Japanese Army participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima as part of the 2nd Mixed Brigade. Its job was to defend Mount Suribachi and the approaches to Mount Suribachi. By D+4 of the battle most of the men in the unit were killed, wounded and/or captured. On the night of February 22, 1945 (D+3) some 100-120 men of the battalion attempted to escape from Mount Suribachi to join the rest of the troops in the north.

The battalion also saw action in China earlier in the war (before the battle of Iwo Jima).

References

Military units and formations of the Imperial Japanese Army


The American Planning and Civic Association (APCA) was an American organization for improving living conditions in the United States, with an emphasis on improving the physical and structural growth of communities. Its purpose was briefly stated as "the cultivation of higher ideals of civic life and beauty in America, the promotion of city, town and neighborhood improvement, the preservation and development of landscape and the advancement of outdoor art." For the first ten years of its existence, it was known simply as the American Civic Association or ACA.
The ACA was a municipal reform organization, and one of the few such organizations, national in its scope, that had no set parameters for its goals, but instead operated for the general betterment of municipal administration.

History

Founding and the City Beautiful movement
In the latter part of the 19th century, rapid industrialism and urbanization had appeared to spawn an inordinate desire for material and commercial aggrandizement.  Urban dwellers turned elsewhere to regenerate the spirit of man, and this they found in the wonders and beauties of nature which alone could "sustain life and make life worth sustaining." Many organizations arose in the larger cities to campaign for more city parks, new recreation areas,  development of outdoor art, and the elimination of advertising billboards. In 1900 these groups joined to form the American League for Civic Improvement, and four years later this group became the American Civic Association. J. Horace McFarland, a civic leader and newspaper editor in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, spearheaded the Association's activities and broadened its scope of action to campaign for state and national parks.

The general offices of the American Civic Association were established in Washington, D.C., in January 1910. Its principal founding officers were J. Horace McFarland, President; Clinton Rogers Woodruff of Philadelphia, vice-president; William B. Howland of New York, treasurer; and Richard B. Watrous of Washington, secretary. Under McFarland's hand, and with the influence of powerful industrialist and conservationist Stephen Mather who was an ACA member, the organization was one of the big supporters of the United States' national park policy. The ACA was an early supporter of the push to have the national park system organized and administered under a single dedicated government body.

Merger with the National Conference on City Planning and urban Reform
In 1921, the American Civic Association and the National Conference on City Planning merged to become the American Planning and Civic Association. After the merger, the leadership changed. Frederic A. Delano became president and Harlean James was recruited to the role of executive director. The organization was well-connected nationally at the height of its activities. In 1926, its board included J. C. Nichols, John Nolen, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., Lorado Taft, Eleanor Roosevelt, Harland Bartholomew, George Dealey, John Barton Payne, Vance C. McCormick, Albert Shaw (journalist), Henry Barnes (traffic engineer), Harold Caparn, Frank Albert Waugh, Charles H. Wacker, John Campbell Merriam, Warren H. Manning, Electus D. Litchfield, Maie Bartlett Heard, Alice Ames Winter, Caroline Bartlett Crane, and Henry Drinker.

Between 1923 and 1933, it was closely involved in the establishment of planning in Washington, D.C., and the implementation of the McMillan Plan. It ran several nationwide campaigns overseen by Harlean James. Given that the District of Columbia lacked self-government, they established "Federal City Committees" in multiple cities across the country to influence Congress. Within D.C. itself, they worked with the Washington Board of Trade to organize the Committee of 100 on the Federal City from elite Washingtonians, to exert social pressure on congressional representatives.

Their campaign was successful, leading to the creation of the National Capital Park Commission. The subsequently campaigned to expand its powers to form the National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Finally, their campaign would help pass a massive bond issuance, known as the Capper-Cramton Act, that funded park expansion across D.C.

References

Organizations established in 1910


The ICFES examination, or Saber 11, is a high school exit examination administered annually in grade 11 in Colombian high schools. The exam is standardized, similar to the SAT and ACT examinations taken by high school students in the United States. The purpose of the exam is to evaluate students' aptitude in five subjects: critical reading, mathematics, social studies, science, and English. Each exam question has four multiple-choice answers, except for the English section which provides between three and eight possible answers for each question.

Although the ICFES provides several tests for different academic purposes, the Saber 11 is nationally recognized as the most important test because it evaluates students' academic readiness for admission into institutions of higher learning.

Purpose

The exam is usually taken by high school seniors, but students who have already obtained their diplomas and want to improve their scores can also take it. The examination is intended to measure basic academic skills that are needed for college success, such as critical reading, quantitative reasoning, civic skills, scientific reasoning, and proficiency in a second language.

ICFES, which stands for the Colombian Institute for the Evaluation of Education, is the institution in charge of the nationwide administration of the exam. The institute also uses the results for research purposes and public policy design for the improvement of secondary education throughout Colombia.

Both private and public universities in Colombia use the exam score as the main criterion for admissions. More competitive programs of study, such as medicine, require a higher score.

Structure

The exam has five sections:
 Critical reading (41 questions)
 Mathematics (50 questions, equally distributed between two sessions)
 Social studies (50 questions, equally distributed between two sessions)
 Natural science (58 questions, equally distributed between two sessions)
 English (55 questions)
 Socioeconomic questionnaire (24 questions; does not generate a score)

Critical reading
The critical reading section contains passages from different academic and literary sources. Answers to all of the questions are based on content explicitly stated or implied by the passage. This section of the test also includes questions that measure the philosophical knowledge of the student.

Mathematics
A large portion of the math section is problem-solving, in which students are required to both analyze and draw conclusions from numerical data (like graphs and charts) or compute answers to a problem using previous mathematical knowledge. The other portion of the exam requires knowledge in advanced topics like calculus, algebra, trigonometry, probability, and conic sections.

Social studies
The social studies questions include a context or sources like charts, graphs, pictures, newspapers, or academic essays that the student must analyze to propose a solution to a problem. The exam tests knowledge of the Colombian Constitution, economic principles, global history, national and international politics, and geography.

Natural science
The natural science section evaluates biology, chemistry, and physics. Questions usually require the student to explain or predict a phenomenon stated on a diagram or a text using previous knowledge. A large portion of the test is experimental and requires the student to propose an experiment to evaluate different phenomena or to describe which variables are involved in the result and what would change if those variables were modified. For physics, topics evaluated include kinematics, electromagnetism, waves, and thermodynamics. For chemistry, inorganic and organic chemistry, mixtures, reactions, and stoichiometry are tested. For biology, concepts include cellular biology, DNA, genetics, ecosystems, evolution, and food webs.

English
The English section is evaluated during the second examination session. It consists of seven parts with increasing complexity and is intended to evaluate text comprehension and use of English. The first part evaluated basic English comprehension through translations and transcriptions. The last part consists of four passages of increasing difficulty. For two of the passages, the student answers a series of questions based on the content stated or implied in the passages. For the other two passages, the student selects a word that correctly fits a sentence from a selection of grammatically correct words.

Normative
The exam is intended to evaluate the student's academic skills on each subject. The internal structure of the exam is designed following evidence-centered design and states that skills (competencies) are defined by a series of affirmations. These affirmations are formulated using research-based evidence. Evidence is evaluated by tasks and items, which are composed of a context, a question, and four possible answers.

Scoring
The ICFES exam qualifies students using percentiles and a global score that ranges between 1 and 500 points, while each subject score ranges between 1 and 100 points. Scores are computed based on the three-parameter logistic model.

Logistics
The exam is divided into two sessions, each lasting four hours and 30 minutes. ICFES assigns students to different testing centers at schools throughout the Colombian territory, so most students can reach nearby schools to take the exam. ICFES manages the logistics of the exam but contracts different companies transport valuables that ensure the integrity of the test.

The exam is available twice every year, and students can choose at what time they will take it according to the month they are graduating, typically either in June or December. Usually students that are graduating in June take the exam in March, and those who are graduating in December take it in August. The day of the exam is always a Sunday, and it is divided into two four-hour sessions. During each session, students are allowed to go to the restroom one time. As soon as a student is done, that student can leave the room as long as more than two and a half hours have passed since the session started.

Until 2020, this examination was not considered for admission at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, one of Colombia's main public colleges, because the university administers its own test. However, prospective students now must take the ICFES exam to apply to the university. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the university decided to drop its own admission test and began considering the ICFES examination score as part of the entrance criteria.

Global scores and percentiles
The following chart summarizes the scores obtained by students during the second application of the exam in 2019. In this particular exam administration, a total of 546,212 students took the examination.

History
The exam was created in 1966 when the Colombian Association of Universities and the University Fund signed Agreement Number 65. They reached this agreement based on research from the Colombian government and members of Colombian universities. Initially, the exam used a scoring scale that ranged between 100 and 400 points and was heavily based on memory and concepts. Subjects evaluated included biology, chemistry, physics, social studies, proficiency in Spanish, mathematics, and an elective subject that could be a foreign language or a logical reasoning test.

In 2000, the exam was completely restructured to evaluate academic skills rather than concept memorization. The modified exam also evaluated eight required subjects: language, mathematics, social studies, philosophy, biology, chemistry, physics, and a second language (usually English, French, or German), and two elective subjects (usually the Environment or Violence & Society). Performance on each test was graded on a scale from 0 to 110-120 points, depending on nationwide results. Higher maximum scores were seen on subjects with the worst nationwide performance. Global performance indicators were delivered to each student using a metric named puesto (place), which ranged from 1 to 1,000. Each puesto contained 0.1% of the total population and was calculated through an index that was based on a normalized average of the scores for each subject and score distribution. Qualifying at Puesto 1 meant that a student was at the top 0.1% of their exam administration.

In 2014, the current exam was introduced and completely replaced the previous exam. This new version is more aligned with international exams such as the SAT and reduces the former eight compulsory subjects to five areas: critical reading, mathematics, social studies, natural science, and English.

In 2016, ICFES phased out the puesto metric and began using more traditional percentiles.

Awards
ICFES awards students who get the best results nationwide each year. In a televised ceremony called La Noche de Los Mejores ("The Evening of the Best Ones"), both the President of Colombia and the Education Minister give a medal known as "Distinción Andres Bello" to students who rank in the top 50 nationally or in the top 10 in each department of Colombia. Awards are also given to the top 0.2% of students from public schools in each city and the schools with the best aggregate results.

Disadvantaged students who score highly on the exam can be recipients of Generación E, a state scholarship that grants them access to the most prestigious colleges and universities in Colombia.

See also

 ACT (test), a college entrance exam in the US similar to the ICFES exam
 SAT, a college entrance exam in the US similar to the ICFES exam
 Abitur, German equivalent examination
 Matura, equivalent examination in many European countries
 Baccalauréat, French equivalent examination
 List of admissions tests

References

External links
 Official ICFES Web Page

Education in Colombia
Standardized tests


The Kagura are an ethnic and linguistic group based in  Tanzania.

References

Ethnic groups in Tanzania
Indigenous peoples of East Africa


John Walter Scott (November 2, 1845 – January 4, 1919) of New York City, was originally from England, but he emigrated to the United States to take part in the California Gold Rush. Unsuccessful at the prospecting trade, Scott began to sell postage stamps for collectors and in a short period of time became the nation's leading stamp dealer. During his lifetime, he was known as "The Father of American Philately" by his fellow stamp collectors.

Philatelic literature
Scott published the first significant stamp journal in America in 1868, entitled American Journal of Philately. Also, in 1868, he issued his first multi-paged postage stamp catalog, A Descriptive Catalogue of America and Foreign Postage Stamps, Issued from 1840 to Date. In a short period of time, his Scott catalog became the leading stamp catalog in the United States. In 1885, he sold the rights to his business to the Calman brothers who renamed it the Scott Stamp and Coin Company.

Scott continued his stamp business after a legal battle over the use of his name (which he won) and continued publishing philatelic literature, such as The Metropolitan Philatelist, the J. W. Scott & Co., Ltd. Weekly News Letter, and the John W. Scott's Junior Weekly Letter, later renamed the John W. Scott's Weekly Bulletin.

In 1869 he issued his first stamp album  with spaces for specially printed labels showing world leaders and himself.

Philatelic auctions
Scott was innovative in business methods, and conducted the first postage stamp auction ever held (May 28, 1870, in New York City). This was a success and he continued to organize and conduct auctions in the United States and in Europe. He also was the first, in 1882, to issue an auction catalog with full color plates of the stamps on sale. He was also the first to sell a postage stamp to collectors for over one thousand dollars.

Philatelic activity
Scott was active in organizing philatelic exhibitions and, in general, "selling" the stamp collecting hobby. He was one of the founding members of the Collectors Club of New York (1896) and active in the American Philatelic Society where he was president from 1917 to 1919.

Vegetarianism

Scott was a vegetarian. In 1910, it was noted that "for more than 30 years he has been a vegetarian and a strong advocate of the no midday-meal plan."

Scott was President of the New York Vegetarian Society.

Legacy

Scott was named to the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame in 1941.

The continued existence and growth of the Scott catalog used by American stamp collectors assures Scott's legacy.
__

Scott Articles

___

References

 John Walter Scott

1845 births
1919 deaths
19th-century American businesspeople
American auctioneers
American Philatelic Society
American philatelists
American stamp dealers
American vegetarianism activists
British emigrants to the United States
Businesspeople from New York City
Philatelic auctioneers
Philately of the United States
Stamp catalogs


The 2009 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia from 17–22 March 2009. They doubled as the national trials for the 2009 World Aquatics Championships.

Results

See also
 2009 in swimming

References

S
Australian
Australian Swimming Championships
Sports competitions in Sydney
2000s in Sydney


The Amsterdam Entrepôt is the shorthand term that English-language economic historiographers use to refer to the trade system that helped the Dutch Republic achieve primacy in world trade during the 17th century. The Dutch prefer the term , which has less currency in the English language.

The entrepôt system
In the Middle Ages, local rulers sometimes gave the right to establish staple ports to certain cities. Amsterdam had never received such formal rights (unlike e.g., Dordrecht and Veere), but in practice, the city established a staple-market economy in the 15th and 16th centuries. This economy was not limited to a single commodity, though at first Baltic grain dominated it. It came into being because the economic and technological conditions of the time required a trade-network, based on what is known in economic terms as an Entrepôt, a central point (for a given geographic area) where goods are brought together and physically traded, before they are re-exported to their final destinations. This need followed from the fact that, in those days, transportation of goods was slow, expensive, irregular, and prone to disruption, and that supply and demand for goods fluctuated wildly and unpredictably. The risks entailed by these circumstances put a premium on the creation of such a fixed base, where commodities could be stockpiled prior to marketing and final distribution. Furthermore, concentrating storage, transport, and insurance facilities in one place helped reduce transaction costs and keep long-term prices more stable than they otherwise would have been. The entrepôt functioned thus as a central reservoir of commodities, a regulating mechanism smoothing out fluctuations in supply and demand over time and minimizing the effects of interruptions and bottlenecks.

The entrepôt performed an additional function, a derivative of its primary market-function: the physical proximity of merchants promoted the exchange of information about market forces, prices, and developments in the factors underlying supply and demand. This not only lowered the cost of information-gathering but even led to decreasing marginal information costs. Other things being equal, this externality would lower the total marginal cost of goods trading through the entrepôt. It is a well-known economic fact that in circumstances of decreasing marginal costs, economies of scale occur, which can give an advantage to early entrants that permits them to outgrow their competitors, sometimes even leading to a natural monopoly. This may explain why in the field of entrepôts certain markets (Antwerp, Amsterdam) gained a dominant position for some time, while others (London, Hamburg) were left behind and only came into their own when the special circumstances favoring the others came to an end. In the case of Amsterdam those circumstances changed when the technological possibilities of direct trade improved, obviating the intermediating function of the entrepôt.

Historical evolution of the system

The mechanism underlying the entrepôt trading-system does not explain the peculiar success of the Dutch Republic and Amsterdam in particular. Other merchant cities might have gained this prize and as a matter of fact, Antwerp for a time did. But the Antwerp entrepôt was destroyed with the Fall of Antwerp (1584–1585) and the subsequent expulsion of its Calvinist inhabitants (half of the city population), followed by the centuries-long blockade of the Scheldt trade.

To explain the Dutch success we have to take account of a number of factors that in isolation still do not explain the Dutch primacy in world trade, but whose interplay may go far in doing that. The Dutch had gained an important role in the Baltic trade (grain especially) in the 15th and 16th century because of the nature of commodities exchanged (herring for grain, a low-value, high-volume bulk trade) and the dominance of the Dutch in the herring fisheries. These factors became dominant in this trade because Dutch shippers experienced a structural fall in shipping costs due to revolutionary innovations in shipbuilding (the wind-driven sawmill) — which brought down construction costs — and in ship-design (the Fluyt ship that required smaller crews) at the turn of the 17th century. This so improved their competitive position that they soon dominated the European bulk trades, not only the Baltic trade, but also the salt trade of the Iberian Peninsula.

High profitability of the bulk trade resulted in the possibility of large savings, and the reservoir of savings looking for profitable investment eventually resulted in a lowering of interest rates as a primary effect, and of the development of sophisticated financial markets as a secondary effect. Such financial markets also profited from the phenomenon of decreasing marginal information cost; this soon helped make Amsterdam an important financial center also.

The physical proximity of a strong financial sector partially explains why after 1590 Amsterdam also became a center for the low-volume, high-value "rich trades" (i.e., commodities like spices, silk, and high-quality textiles). In such trades the Dutch low shipping rates did not necessarily provide a competitive advantage. What did attract the specialists in this type of trade (apart from the favorable financing possibilities) was the influx of skilled workers and entrepreneurs from the southern Netherlands in the 1580s that helped transfer the sophisticated Flemish textile industry to the Republic. This gave her an industrial base for her export trade. The "rich trades" were also stimulated by government intervention, as they were by nature (because of the price-inelasticity of their demand) prone to large price fluctuations (as a little over-supply would bring about a large fall in prices). The readiness of the Dutch government to regulate markets and to provide legal monopolies to chartered companies like the Dutch East India Company helped to lessen the risk of investment in such enterprises.

All these factors conspired to concentrate trade at entrepôts (in view of their trade advantages as described above) and in particular at the Amsterdam entrepôt (once Antwerp had been eliminated as a competitor) because of the time-window (1590-1620) in which they came to exert their influence. The rise of the Amsterdam entrepôt was therefore to some extent also a matter of being in the right place at the right time. But once the entrepôt had been established, its growth-promoting peculiarities helped Amsterdam (and the port cities in the maritime zone of the Netherlands, interlinked to Amsterdam by the area's inland waterways) achieve its position of economic preeminence.

Eventually this preeminence would be undermined by technological and economic changes that would eliminate the advantages of the entrepôt and promote disintermediation. However, these developments were not to occur until the 18th century. During the 17th century, the need for intermediation in commodities and financial markets still reigned supreme. The Amsterdam entrepôt provided great advantages to European consumers and producers (inherent in its operation) and to the merchants that used it. But there also were losers in the process. Competitors, like the Hanseatic and English merchants, lost appreciable market share and hence income, especially after the trade embargoes imposed by Spain on Dutch commerce during the Eighty Years' War had been lifted. The resurgence of Dutch trade on Spain and Portugal and other Mediterranean countries after 1647 overwhelmed the Republic's competitors.

To remedy this situation, first England and later France took to coercion in the form of economic and military warfare. The English Navigation Acts of 1651 and 1660-1663 restricted free trade in an attempt to divert trade to a putative London entrepôt. However, as the Acts only regulated English and colonial trade (and imperfectly so) and England only managed to dominate a few commodities markets for which it formed the main customer, these attempts were never successful. England would only achieve primacy in world trade after other factors had undermined the Dutch entrepôt. French protectionism was eventually more successful, because the French and Dutch economies were complementary, rather than competitive like the Dutch and English economies. Restricting trade between France and the Republic therefore resulted in the roll-back of the specialization that Comparative advantage had engendered in both economies (though at great cost to the French consumer also) and helped throttle the once-flourishing Dutch industries.

In the 17th century, the economic elite of Amsterdam moved with William of Orange to England, where they helped to restart the English international trade, leaving behind in Amsterdam the more religious, and less competitive, burghers.

During the 18th century this combination of adverse economic and technological developments (promoting disintermediation) and foreign protectionism led to a relative decline of Dutch preeminence in world trade and of the Amsterdam entrepôt. It also led to a fundamental restructuring of the Dutch economy, with a large degree of deindustrialization and a shift to service industries, like merchant banking, and foreign direct investment in emerging economies, like the Great Britain of the Industrial Revolution. By that time there was no longer a role for entrepôts in world trade—except Rotterdam, New York, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Notes

Sources
  (1989), Dutch Primacy in World Trade 1585-1740, Clarendon Press Oxford,
  (1997), "England's Mercantilist Response to Dutch World Trade Primacy, 1647-74," in: Conflicts of Empires. Spain, the Low Countries and the struggle for world supremacy 1585-1713. Hambledon Press, , pp. 305–318
  (1995) The world economy and national finance in historical perspective. University of Michigan Press, ,
  (2006) The Rise of the Amsterdam Market and Information Exchange. Aldershot, Hants
 (1997), The First Modern Economy. Success, Failure, and Perseverance of the Dutch Economy, 1500-1815, Cambridge University Press,

Economies by former country
Economic history of the Dutch Republic


Wages and salaries are the remuneration paid or payable to employees for work performed on behalf of an employer or services provided. Normally, an employer is not permitted to withhold the wages or any part thereof, except as permitted or required by law. Employers are required by law to deduct from wages, commonly termed "withhold", income taxes, social contributions and for other purposes, which are then paid directly to tax authorities, social security authority, etc., on behalf of the employee. Garnishment is a court ordered withholding from wages to pay a debt.

Wages and salaries are typically paid directly to an employee in the form of cash or in a cash equivalent, such as by cheque or by direct deposit into the employee's bank account or an account directed by the employee. Alternatively, all or a part may be paid in various other ways, such as payment in kind in the form of goods or services provided to the employee, such as food and board.

For tax purposes, wages and salaries normally do not include other non-cash benefits received by an employee, such as flights, payment of school fees etc. These are usually referred to as fringe benefits.

In the national accounts, in accordance with the System of National Accounts, wages and salaries are the sum of remuneration paid to employees, including the values of any social contributions, income taxes, etc., payable to employees. For administrative convenience, or due to a legal requirement or some other reason all or a part of such payments may actually be withheld by the employer and paid directly to tax authorities, etc., on behalf of the employee. However, labour-related expenses of a business, such as payroll taxes, pension fund contributions, social insurance schemes, workers' compensation insurance, etc., are not counted as wages and salaries for national accounts purposes. Similar concepts apply to general accounting treatment of labour expenses.

Wages and salaries in cash consist of such amounts payable at regular intervals, such as weekly, monthly or other intervals, including payments by results and piecework payments; plus allowances, such as those for working overtime; plus amounts paid to employees away from work for short periods (e.g., on holiday, sick leave, etc.); plus ad hoc bonuses and similar payments; plus commissions, gratuities and tips received by employees.

Wages and salaries in kind consist of remuneration in the form of goods or services that are not necessary for work and can be used by employees in their own time, and at their own discretion, for the satisfaction of their own needs or wants or those of other members of their households.

See also
List of countries by average wage
Sliding wage scale

References

National accounts


Josef Horovitz (26 July 1874 – 5 February 1931) was a Jewish German orientalist. A son of Markus Horovitz (1844–1910), an Orthodox rabbi, Josef Horovitz studied with Eduard Sachau at the University of Berlin and was there since 1902 as a docent. From 1907 to 1915, he worked in India, at the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh (later Aligarh Muslim University) and taught Arabic at the request of the Indian government curator for Islamic inscriptions. In this role, he prepared the collection Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica (1909–1912). After his return to Germany he was from 1914 until his death professor of Semitic languages at the Oriental Seminar of the University of Frankfurt.

Since the foundation of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Horovitz was a member of its board of trustees. He founded there the Department of Oriental Studies, and was its director. He focused his studies initially on Arabic historical literature. Then he published a concordance of earlier Arabic poetry. The concordance consists of hundreds of thousands of cards each containing an Arabic word, its root, and its usages in different textual contexts in pre- and early Islamic Arabic poetry. In this manner, Horovitz aimed to reach a true understanding of a words meanings. In addition to the scientific significance of the concordance, Horovitz also hoped it would foster dialogue and understanding between intellectuals of Jewish and Muslim origin in Palestine.

Main work

His main work was a commentary on the Qur'an, which remained unfinished. In his Qur'anic Studies (1926), he used his method of detailed analysis of the language of Muhammad and his followers, and historical insights from his own study of early texts (Hebrew Union College Annual 2, Cincinnati 1925), and in the Qur'anic paradise (Jerusalem 1923) he examined the relationship between Islam and Judaism. His work on India under British rule appeared in 1928 (Leipzig: BG Teubner) and extends from the first dynasty of Delhi Muslims until the emergence of Gandhi.

In response to Ignác Goldziher's theory that Hadith traditions were recorded late in the 2nd and 3rd Hijri centuries, Horovitz showed that the collection and writing of Hadiths started in the first quarter of the 2nd century.

Bibliography
 J. Horovitz: “The Earliest Biographies of the Prophet and Their Authors", translated from the German by Marmaduke Pickthall, Islamic Culture, vol 1: 1927,  vol 2: 1925

Notes

 Josef Horovitz' books at the Open Library

German orientalists
Jewish orientalists
19th-century German Jews
People from Lębork
People from the Province of Pomerania
Academic staff of Goethe University Frankfurt
Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Historians of India
German Arabists
History of Quran scholars
German male non-fiction writers
1874 births
1931 deaths
Jewish scholars of Islam