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April Maadhathil

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  (Redirected from April Mathathil)
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April Maadhathil
April Maadhathil.jpg
Directed by S. S. Stanley
Produced by V. Gnanavelu
V. Jayaprakash
Written by S. S. Stanley
Starring Srikanth
Gayatri Jayaraman
Venkat Prabhu
Music by Yuvan Shankar Raja
Cinematography M. V. Panneerselvam
Edited by G. R. Anil Malnad
G. J. Cinema
Release date(s) 29 November 2002
Running time 153 min
Country India
Language Tamil

April Maadhathil (Tamil: ஏப்ரல் மாதத்தில் ; English: In the month of April) is a 2002 Indian Tamil romantic drama film written and directed by newcomer S. S. Stanley. Starring Srikanth and Sneha in the lead roles with Gayatri Jayaraman, Venkat Prabhu, Devan and Karunas among others in the supporting cast. The film, which had music scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja and cinematography handled by M. V. Panneerselvam, released on 29 November 2002.[1] The film was later dubbed into Hindi as Mr. Rangeela and in Telugu as Vaallidharu and released in 2004.

A story of friendship 8 girls and boys which grows vastley. Smart man named Kathir who comes from a poor village to a College. His younger brother of Kathir stopped his education for Kathir and works. So Kathir meets a girl named Shwetha, starts a friends. Many guys are interested in her but she finds something different about Kathir. a incident happens with Shwetha's family friend named Suresh, but she considered him as a friend. Kathir and Shwetha are in a situation where they are unable to express their love for each other. The friends and then decides to go visit each friends home on their vacation. At Shwetha home Shwetha's father thought of Her marriage to occur the next year on their vacation. At graduation swap names on a tree since its their final year. Shwetha's wedding occurs but their tree is about to be chopped of because the school decides to cut them off for businessmen. In the Shwetha and Kathir a crying behind the tree they wrote their name. What happens after?

Cast and crew[edit]

  • Story, Screenplay, Dialogues, Direction: S. S. Stanley
  • Production: V. Gnanaavelu & V. Jayaprakaash
  • Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
  • Cinematography: M. V. Panneerselvam
  • Editing: G. R. Anil Malnad
  • Art direction: Naghu R. K.
  • Stunts: Peter Hein
  • Choreography: Kalyan & Dinesh
  • Lyrics: Pazhani Bharathi, Pa. Vijay, Thamarai, Na. Muthukumar & Snehan
  • Stills: V. Vijay
  • Executive producer: T. V. Sivasankaran

S. S. Stanley who had apprenticed with directors Mahendran and Sasi made his directorial debut with this film. It was Srikanth's second film after Rojakoottam.

The film was mostly shot at the YMCA College of Physical Education in Chennai, since a large part of the film plays in a campus, filming was held at locations in Chennai, Bangalore, Mysore, Ooty and Vishakapatnam.[2][3]

After the success, S. S. Stanley and Srikanth again collaborated with films like Kizhakku Kadalkarai Salai and Mercury Pookal which failed to replicate the success of their first collaboration.

Critical reception[edit]

Hindu wrote:"Stanley who heads [sic] direction, deserves special mention for a very decent handling of romance.[4]

April Maadhathil
Soundtrack album by Yuvan Shankar Raja
6 October 2002 (India)
Recorded 2002
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Length 27:40
Label Best Audio
Producer Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja chronology
Kadhal Samrajyam
April Madhathil

The soundtrack, which released on 6 October 2002, was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, who himself had sung one of the songs. Opera singer Shekhina Shawn Jazeel sang one song under the name Prasanna.[5] The soundtrack features 6 songs with lyrics written by five different lyricists, Pazhani Bharathi, Pa. Vijay, Thamarai, Na. Muthukumar and Snehan. The song "Bailomo Bailomo" originally composed for this film was used in Shaam starrer Bala.[6]

Track Song Singer(s) Duration Lyricist Notes
1 'Yeh Nenje' Harish Raghavendra, Sadhana Sargam 5:11 Thamarai
2 'Azhagaana Aangal' Prasanna 4:27 Pazhani Bharathi
3 'Kanavugal Pookkum S. P. Balasubramaniam, Pop Shalini 4:32 Na. Muthukumar
4 'Manasae Manasae' Karthik 4:58 Pa. Vijay
5 'Poi Solla Manasukku' Yuvan Shankar Raja 5:05 Snehan
6 'Sight Adippom' Silambarasan, Karthik 4:27 Pa. Vijay

  1. ^ "Srikanth". Sify. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  2. ^ "Romance on campus". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 6 September 2002. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  3. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20020911201120/http://www.chennaionline.com/location/april.asp
  4. ^ "April Madhathil". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 6 December 2002.
  5. ^ Kumar, Divya (5 April 2012). "Vocal Score". The Hindu (Chennai, India).
  6. ^ "Success guaranteed". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 19 November 2005.

External links[edit]


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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Archaeocyathid)
Jump to: navigation, search
Temporal range: Early — Late Cambrian
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Opisthokonta
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Parazoa
Phylum: Porifera? (sponges)
(unranked): Archaeocyatha
Vologdin, 1937
  • Cyathospongia Okulitch, 1935
  • Pleospongia Okulitch, 1935

Archaeocyatha or archaeocyathids ("ancient cups") /ˈɑrkisəθə/ are extinct, sessile, reef-building[1] marine organisms of warm tropical and subtropical waters that lived during the early (lower) Cambrian period. It is believed that the centre of the Archaeocyatha origin is in East Siberia, where they are first known from the beginning of the Tommotian Age of the Cambrian, 525 million years ago (mya).[2] In other regions of the world, they appeared much later, during the Atdabanian, and quickly diversified into over a hundred families. They became the planet's very first reef-building animals and are an index fossil[3] for the Lower Cambrian worldwide.

The remains of Archaeocyatha are mostly preserved as carbonate structures in a limestone matrix. This means that the fossils cannot be chemically or mechanically isolated, save for some specimens that have already eroded out of their matrices, and their morphology has to be determined from thin cuts of the stone in which they were preserved.

Geological history[edit]

Today, the archaeocyathan families are recognizable by small but consistent differences in their fossilized structures: Some archaeocyathans were built like nested bowls, while others were as long as 300mm. Some archaeocyaths were solitary organisms, while others formed colonies. In the beginning of the Toyonian Age around 516 mya, the archaeocyaths went into a sharp decline. Almost all species became extinct by the Middle Cambrian, with the final-known species, Antarcticocyathus webberi, disappearing just prior to the end of the Cambrian period.[4] Their rapid decline and disappearance coincided with a rapid diversification of the Demosponges.

The archaeocyathids were important reef-builders in the early to middle Cambrian, with reefs (and indeed any accumulation of carbonates) becoming very rare after the group's extinction until the diversification of new taxa of coral reef-builders in the Ordovician.[5]

*1 – Gap (intervallum) *2 – Central cavity *3 – Internal wall *4 – Pore (all the walls and septa have pores, not all are represented) *5 – Septum *6 – External wall *7 – Rizoid

The typical archaeocyathid resembled a hollow horn coral. Each had a conical or vase-shaped porous skeleton of calcite similar to that of a sponge. The structure appeared like a pair of perforated, nested ice cream cones. Their skeletons consisted of either a single porous wall (Monocyathida), or more commonly as two concentric porous walls, an inner and outer wall separated by a space. Inside the inner wall was a cavity (like the inside of an empty ice cream cone). At the base, these pleosponges were held to the substrate by a holdfast. The body presumably occupied the space between the inner and outer shells (the intervallum).

Flow tank experiments suggest that archaeocyathan morphology allowed them to exploit flow gradients, either by passively pumping water through the skeleton, or, as in present-day, extant sponges, by drawing water through the pores, removing nutrients, and expelling spent water and wastes through the pores into the central space.

The archaeocyathans inhabited coastal areas of shallow seas. Their widespread distribution over almost the entire Cambrian world, as well as the taxonomic diversity of the species, might be explained by surmising that that they were planktonic during their larval stage.

Archeocyathids from the Poleta formation, eastern California

Their phylogenetic affiliation has been subject to changing interpretations, yet the consensus is growing that the archaeocyath was indeed a kind of sponge,[6] thus sometimes called a pleosponge. But some invertebrate paleontologists have placed them in an extinct, separate phylum, known appropriately as the Archaeocyatha.[7] However, one cladistic analysis[8] suggests that Archaeocyatha is a clade nested within the phylum Porifera (better known as the true sponges).

The clade Archaeocyatha have traditionally been divided into Regulares and Irregulares (Rowland, 2001):

However, Okulitch (1955), who at the time regarded the archaeocyathans as outside of Porifera, divided the phylum in three classis:

  1. ^ Archaeocyathid reef structures ("bioherms"), although not as massive as later coral reefs, might have been as deep as ten meters (Emiliani 1992:451).
  2. ^ Maloof, A.C., 2010. "Constraints on early Cambrian carbon cycling from the duration of the Nemakit-Daldynian–Tommotian boundary $$\delta$$13C shift, Morocco." Geology; July 2010; v. 38; no. 7; p. 623-626; doi:10.1130/G30726.1
  3. ^
  4. ^ The last-recorded archaeocyathan is a single species from the late (upper) Cambrian of Antarctica.
  5. ^ Munnecke, A.; Calner, M.; Harper, D. A. T.; Servais, T. (2010). "Ordovician and Silurian sea-water chemistry, sea level, and climate: A synopsis". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 296 (3–4): 389–413. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.08.001.  edit
  6. ^ Scuba divers have discovered living calcareous sponges, including one species that -- like the archaeocyathans -- is without spicules, thus morphologically similar to the archaeocyaths. Rowland, S.M. (2001). "Archaeocyatha: A history of phylogenetic interpretation". Journal of Paleontology 75 (6): 1065–1078. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2001)075<1065:AAHOPI>2.0.CO;2. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
  7. ^ Debrenne, F. and J. Vacelet. 1984. "Archaeocyatha: Is the sponge model consistent with their structural organization?" in Palaeontographica Americana, 54:pp358-369.
  8. ^ J. Reitner. 1990. "Polyphyletic origin of the 'Sphinctozoans'", in Rutzler, K. (ed.), New Perspectives in Sponge Biology: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on the Biology of Sponges (Woods Hole) pp. 33-42. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

  • Emiliani, Cesare. (1992). Planet Earth : Cosmology, Geology, & the Evolution of Life & the Environment. Cambridge University Press. (Paperback Edition ISBN 0-521-40949-7), p 451
  • Okulitch, V. J., 1955: Part E – Archaeocyatha and Porifera. Archaeocyatha, E1-E20 in Moore, R. C., (ed.) 1955: Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Geological Society of America & University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas, 1955, xviii-E122.

External links[edit]

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Babylonian Map of the World

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  (Redirected from Babylonian World Map)
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Babylonian map of the world, ca 500 BC.

The Babylonian Map of the World is a diagrammatic labeled depiction of the known world from the perspective of Babylonia. The map is incised on a clay tablet, showing Babylon somewhat to the north of its center;[1] the clay tablet is damaged, and also contains a section of cuneiform text.

It is usually dated to the 5th century BC.[2] It was discovered at Sippar, southern Iraq, 60 miles (97 km) north of Babylon on the east bank of the Euphrates River, and published in 1899.[3] The clay tablet resides at the British Museum (BM 92687).[4]

It is conjectured that the island locations, though possibly referring to real areas, may also represent a mythological interpretation of the world.[5]

Description of the mapped areas[edit]

The map is circular with two outer defined circles. Cuneiform script labels all locations inside the circular map, as well as a few regions outside. The two outer circles represent water in between and is labelled as "'river' of 'bitter' water", the salt sea.[5]

Babylon is in the center of the map; parallel lines at the bottom seem to represent the southern marshes, and a curved line coming from the north, northeast appear to represent the Zagros Mountains.[5]

There are seven small interior circles at the perimeter areas within the circle, and they appear to represent seven cities.

Seven triangular sections on the external circle (water perimeter), represent named islands, but the damaged clay tablet has lost the three islands on the tablet's lower edge.

The three islands are named:

island-"place of the rising sun"
island-"the sun is hidden and nothing can be seen"
island-"beyond the flight of birds"[5]
Objects on the Babylonian map of the world [6]
1. "Mountain" (Akkadian: šá-du-ú)
2. "City" (Akkadian: uru)
3. Urartu (Akkadian: ú-ra-áš-tu)
4. Assyria (Akkadian: kuraš+šurki)
5. Der (Akkadian: dēr)
6. ?
7. Swamp (Akkadian: ap-pa-ru)
8. Elam (Akkadian: šuša)
9. Canal (Akkadian: bit-qu)
10. Bit Yakin (Akkadian: bῑt-ia-᾿-ki-nu)
11. "City" (Akkadian: uru)
12. Habban (Akkadian: ha-ab-ban)
13. Babylon (Akkadian: tin.tirki), divided by Euphrates

14 — 17. Ocean (salt water, Akkadian: idmar-ra-tum)

18 — 22. Mythological objects

See also[edit]

  1. ^ Kurt A. Raaflaub & Richard J. A. Talbert (2009), Geography and Ethnography: Perceptions of the World in Pre-Modern Societies, John Wiley & Sons, p. 147, ISBN 1-4051-9146-5
  2. ^
  3. ^ Kerrigan, The Ancients in Their Own Words, Babylonian Map of the World, p. 36-37.
  4. ^ Babylonian: "map of the world", British Museum, BM 92687
  5. ^ a b c d Kerrigan, p. 37.
  6. ^ Russian wikipedia.
  • Kerrigan, 2009. The Ancients in Their Own Words, Michael Kerrigan, Fall River Press, Amber Books Ltd, c 2009. (hardcover. ISBN 978-1-4351-0724-3)

External links[edit]


text:
Be True to Your School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"Be True to Your School"
Single by The Beach Boys
from the album Little Deuce Coupe
B-side "In My Room"
Released October 28, 1963 [1]
Format Vinyl
Recorded September 2, 1963 (album)
first week of September, 1963 (single)
Genre Surf rock
Length 2:10
Label Capitol
Writer(s) Brian Wilson and Mike Love
Producer(s) Brian Wilson
The Beach Boys singles chronology
"Surfer Girl"
"Be True to Your School"
"Little Saint Nick"
Little Deuce Coupe track listing
Endless Summer track listing

"Be True to Your School" is a song by The Beach Boys. The album version of this song was recorded on Monday, September 2, 1963. It appears on Little Deuce Coupe and Endless Summer.

The song features the University of Wisconsin's fight song "On Wisconsin." However, it is most likely a tribute to Hawthorne High School, whose school fight song uses the same melody as "On Wisconsin," as briefly explained by Al Jardine in the documentary The Beach Boys: An American Band. (1984) The Wilson brothers and Beach Boy Al Jardine attended that school.

The song was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love (as established by Love's lawsuit gaining rights to several co-written songs of the 1960s), and was first recorded on Session 1 of the recording of their 1963 album Little Deuce Coupe.

The Beach Boys recorded two studio versions of this song. The original recording, which appeared on the album, was in a higher key and at a slower tempo than the second version which was released as a single. The second version features The Honeys chanting various "cheerleader yells" before the first chorus, and after the second and third. The concept for the single version, recorded later that week, was born in the same studio session that Brian and Mike created the original idea for "Fun, Fun, Fun", backstage in Farmington, Utah.

The single version was backed with "In My Room", a collaboration between Brian and Gary Usher, released as Capitol 5069. "Be True to Your School" charted at number 6 on the Billboard charts,[2] and number 4 in the UPI chart survey for newspapers across the United States. It rated number 3 in New Zealand's Lever Hit Parade, number 6 in Sweden, and number 10 in Australia as cited by a contemporary issue of Billboard. Rising to popularity when the Beach Boys were still thought of as a Southern California phenomenon, it did best in Los Angeles: three weeks at #1 (KFWB).

Though David Marks was later to appear on the cover of the album Little Deuce Coupe, he played little part, being replaced by Al Jardine. This album was shortly shipped off to disc jockeys in the United States, coupled with a list of automobile-related terms to get them familiar with the language used on the songs, such as "Shut Down" and "Little Deuce Coupe".

Jan & Dean covered the song in 1985 on their album Silver Summer.

The song is featured in an episode of Gilmore Girls, where the town troubadour (portrayed by Grant-Lee Phillips) is playing it during a pep rally.

The song's title is parodied by heavy metal band Twisted Sister in their song "Be Crool To Your Scuel".

Mike Love performed the song on a telethon on the Full House episode "Our Very First Telethon".

  1. ^ Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys. The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band: On Stage and in the Studio Backbeat Books, San Francisco, California, 2004. p. 42
  2. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 50.

External links[edit]


text:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Calpurnia can refer to:

In ancient Rome:

In science:

  • Calpurnia (genus), a genus in the family Fabaceae composing of shrubs and other small trees, usually found in southern Africa
  • 2542 Calpurnia, an asteroid discovered by E. Bowell on 11 February 1980


text:
Confectionery store

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Candy store)
Jump to: navigation, search
Freak Lunchbox candy store in Halifax, Nova Scotia

A confectionery store (more commonly referred to as a sweet shop in the United Kingdom, a candy store in North America, or a lolly shop[1] in Australia) sells confectionery and is usually targeted to children. Most confectionery stores are filled with an assortment of sweets far larger than a grocer or convenience store could accommodate. They often offer a selection of old-fashioned treats and sweets from different countries. Very often unchanged in layout since their inception, confectioneries are known for their warming and nostalgic feel.

The village of Pateley Bridge claims to have the oldest confectionery store in England.

Haci Bekir Efendi, confectioner which was established in 1777 in Istanbul is one of the oldest trademarks in the world. [2]

The oldest sweet shop in England, in the village of Pateley Bridge

See also[edit]

  1. ^ Bruce Moore, Chief Editor, The Australian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd edition (2004). "Lolly (n)". Retrieved 2011-04-29.
  2. ^ . Haci Bekir  Missing or empty |title= (help)


text:
Chaos and Creation at Abbey Road

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Chaos and Creation at Abbey Road
Directed by Simon Hilton
Produced by James Chads
Starring Paul McCartney
Music by Paul McCartney
Release date(s) 17 December 2005
Running time 60 min.
Language English

Chaos and Creation at Abbey Road, recorded on 28 July 2005, was a live concert given by Paul McCartney at Abbey Road Studios, specifically Studio 2, where many of The Beatles' recordings were made.

Chaos and Creation at Abbey Road was meant as a promotion for McCartney's album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. As the audience was of close friends and selected fans, the concert was intimate in nature and was littered with monologues and song fragments. It was shown on BBC Two in the United Kingdom on 17 December 2005,[1] and on PBS in the United States on 27 February 2006.[2]

McCartney plays left-handed and right-handed guitars, drums, harmonium, double bass, Mellotron, and even wine glasses in a reworking of Wings song "Band on the Run". He also reworks the Beatles' track "Lady Madonna", which he calls "Old Lady in New Clothes", with a much slower tempo and swung melody line.

The bass McCartney uses on his performance of "Heartbreak Hotel" once belonged to Bill Black, Elvis Presley's bass player who died in 1965.

Track listing[edit]

All songs by Paul McCartney, except where noted.

  1. ^ "Parkinson 'Chaos and Creation at Abbey Road...'". 14 December 2005. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  2. ^ "Paul McCartney: Chaos and Creation at Abbey Road". Retrieved 5 July 2014.


text:
Coatepeque Caldera

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Coatepeque Caldera aka Coatepeque Lake (Lago De Coatepeque)
Aerial view of Lago Coatepeque
Elevation 746 m (2,448 ft)
Location El Salvador
Coordinates 13°52′N 89°33′W / 13.87°N 89.55°W / 13.87; -89.55
Type Caldera
Last eruption Unknown

Coatepeque Caldera, also known as Lago De Coatepeque (Nahuatl cōātepēc, "at the snake hill") is a volcanic caldera in El Salvador in Central America. The caldera was formed during a series of major rhyolitic explosive eruptions between about 72,000 and 57,000 years ago. Since then, basaltic cinder cones and lava flows formed near the west edge of the caldera, and six rhyodacitic lava domes have formed. The youngest dome, Cerro Pacho, formed after 8000 BC.

Lago de Coatepeque
Coatepeque Caldera.jpg
Coordinates 13°52′N 89°33′W / 13.87°N 89.55°W / 13.87; -89.55Coordinates: 13°52′N 89°33′W / 13.87°N 89.55°W / 13.87; -89.55
Type crater lake
Basin countries El Salvador
Surface area 26 km²
Islands Teopan

Lake Coatepeque[edit]

Lake Coatepeque (Lago de Coatepeque) is a large crater lake in the east part of the Coatepeque Caldera. It is in Coatepeque municipality, Santa Ana, El Salvador. There are hot springs near the lake margins. At 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi), it is one of the largest lakes in El Salvador. In the lake is the island of Teopan, which was a Mayan site of some importance.

Photo gallery of sites in San Salvador[edit]

See also[edit]

External links[edit]


text:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

In mathematics in the branch of differential geometry, the cocurvature of a connection on a manifold is the obstruction to the integrability of the vertical bundle.

If M is a manifold and P is a connection on M, that is a vector-valued 1-form on M which is a projection on TM such that PabPbc = Pac, then the cocurvature \bar{R}_P is a vector-valued 2-form on M defined by

\bar{R}_P(X,Y) = (\operatorname{Id} - P)[PX,PY]

where X and Y are vector fields on M.

See also[edit]


text:
Colorado General Assembly

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Colorado General Assembly
69th Colorado General Assembly
Houses Senate
House of Representatives
Preceded by 68th Colorado General Assembly
Seats 100
Political groups
Democratic Party
Republican Party
Last election
November 6, 2012
Meeting place
ColoradoStateCapitol01 gobeirne.jpg
Colorado State Capitol, Denver

The Colorado General Assembly is the state legislature of the State of Colorado. It is a bicameral legislature that was created by the 1876 state constitution. Its statutes are codified in the Colorado Revised Statutes.

The state legislature in Colorado is similar to that of other state legislatures, though unlike many other legislatures, does not give the lieutenant governor a tie-breaking vote or any legislative authority.

The first meeting of the Colorado General Assembly took place from November 1, 1876, through March 20, 1877.[1] Succeeding sessions met every two years until 1950, when it began to meet annually.[1]

The lieutenant governor served as Senate President until 1974 when Article V, Section 10 of the state constitution was amended, granting the Colorado Senate the right to elect one of its own members as President.[1]

Constitutional definition[edit]

The Colorado Constitution establishes a system of government based on the separation of powers doctrine with power divided among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. Article V vests the legislative power of the state in the General Assembly, while reserving to the people the power to propose, approve, and reject both laws and amendments to the state Constitution by initiatives or referendums.[2]

The General Assembly is bicameral, composed of the Colorado House of Representatives and the Colorado Senate. The House has 65 members and the Senate 35. Members of the House are elected to 2-year terms, and members of the Senate are elected to 4-year terms.

General legislative elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in each even-numbered year.[1] The entire House is elected in each general election. Senators are elected in two classes such that, as nearly as possible, one-half of the senators are elected in each general election.

House members are limited to 4 consecutive terms in office, and state senators are limited to 2 consecutive terms. However once term-limited former members of both houses can run again after a 4-year break.

House of Representatives

The vast majority of members of the General Assembly who are ultimately elected (in excess of 90% of members ultimately elected in all recent sessions) are nominated through a major political party caucus process that places candidates on a primary ballot for the position sought in their political party, which generally requires 30% support from delegates to the relevant nominating body of the political party. It is also possible for individuals who have been registered to vote and affiliated with the political party in question for at least a year to gain access to a partisan primary ballot by petition. Minor party candidates can gain access to the general election ballot through a minor party caucus process. Unaffiliated candidates can gain access to the general election ballot by petition. Rep. Kathleen Curry of House District 61 is now registered as "unaffiliated" and will be the first unaffiliated member of the Colorado General Assembly since 1891, according to the clerk of the house.

Vacancies in legislative offices are generally filled by political party vacancy committees, rather than by-elections. Vacancy appointees who fill the first half of a state senators term must stand for election at the next even year November election for the remainder of the state senate term for the seat to which the state senator was appointed.

The state auditor is appointed by the General Assembly, as are many members of independent boards and commissions.

Procedure and powers[edit]

With the notable exceptions listed below, the Colorado General Assembly operates in a manner quite similar to the United States Congress.[3]

Regular sessions are held annually and begin no later than the second Wednesday in January. Regular sessions last no more than 120 days. Special sessions may be called at any time by the Governor or upon written request of two-thirds of the members of each house, but are infrequent. Some committees of the General Assembly work between sessions and have limited power to take action without General Assembly approval between legislative sessions.

Joint procedural rules of the two chambers require most legislation to be introduced very early in the legislative session each year, and to meet strict deadlines for completion of each step of the legislative process. Joint procedural rules also limit each legislator to introducing five bills per year, subject to certain exceptions for non-binding resolutions, uniform acts, interim committee bills and appropriations bills. Most members of the General Assembly decide which bills they will introduce during the legislative session (or most of them) prior to its commencement, limiting the ability of members to introduce new bills at constituent request once the legislative session has begun.

Senate Chamber

Most bills adopted by the General Assembly include a "safety clause" (i.e. a legislative declaration that the bill concerns an urgent matter) and take effect on July 1 following the legislative session unless otherwise provided. Some bills are enacted without a "safety clause" which makes it possible to petition to subject those bills to a referendum before they take effect, and have an effective date in August following the legislative session unless otherwise provided.[3]

Colorado's legislature does not have an analog to the filibuster in the United States Senate requiring a supermajority for approval of any matter. The Lieutenant Governor does not have the power to preside or break tie votes in either house of the General Assembly.[1] All new executive branch rules are reviewed annually by the legislature and the legislature routinely invalidates some of them each year.

The General Assembly does not have a role in the appointment or retention of state judges, although it must authorize the creation of each judgeship.

Many state agencies and programs are subject to "sunset review" and are automatically abolished if the General Assembly does not reauthorize them.

The state budget process[edit]

The governor submits a proposed budget to the Joint Budget Committee each year in advance of the year's legislative session. Colorado's fiscal year is from July 1 to June 30.

All bills introduced in the General Assembly are evaluated by the non-partisan state legislative services body for their fiscal impact and must be provided for in appropriations legislation if there is a fiscal impact.

A state budget, called the "LONG Bill" (Legislation on Operations and Normal Governance) is prepared each year by the Joint Budget Committee of the General Assembly. The House and the Senate alternate the job of introducing the long bill and making a first committee review of it. Colorado's state legislature is required to obtain voter approval in order to incur significant debt, to raise taxes, or to increase state constitutional spending limitations. It is also required to comply with a state constitutional spending mandate for K-12 education. The Governor has line item veto power over appropriations.

Legislative staff[edit]

The Colorado General Assembly is staffed by approximately 230-year-round staff and 115 session-only staff. Staffing levels and expenditures have decreased since 2003.[4] Similarly to Congressional staffers, legislative staff in Colorado fall into five broad categories: member staff, administrative staff, committee staff, communications and leadership staff, and legal service staff.[5] With the exception of those working in communications and leadership, employees of the General Assembly are non-partisan staffers.

Current makeup[edit]

Based on the 2010 census, each House member represents about 77,372 constituents and each Senator 143,691. The 2012 Colorado elections resulted in a change in majority party status for the House (37 Democrats; 28 Republicans) and the Democrats retained their majority in the Senate. Their majority still stands even after the 2013 recall of Colorado Democratic State Senators John Morse and Angela Giron. (18 Democrats; 17 Republicans).

Morgan Carroll is the President of the Senate and Mark Ferrandino is the Speaker of the House.

See also[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Presidents and Speakers of the Colorado General Assembly: A Biographical Portrait from 1876,, 2013 Revised Edition. (accessed April 29, 2013)
  2. ^ Article V, Section 1 of the Colorado Constitution (accessed April 29, 2013)
  3. ^ a b How a Bill Becomes Colorado Law, Office of Legislative Legal Services, October 2001 (accessed April 29, 2013)
  4. ^ "NCSL Size of State Legislative Staff".
  5. ^ "NCSL Legislative Staff Type Database".

External links[edit]


text:
Dust storm

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Dust storms)
Jump to: navigation, search
For the fictional character, see Dust Storm (Transformers). For other uses, see Sandstorm (disambiguation).

A dust storm or sand storm is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Particles are transported by saltation and suspension, a process that moves soil from one place and deposits it in another.

The Sahara and drylands around the Arabian peninsula are the main terrestrial sources of airborne dust. Also with some contributions from Iran, Pakistan and India into the Arabian Sea, and China's significant storms deposit dust in the Pacific. It has been argued that recently, poor management of the Earth's drylands, such as neglecting the fallow system, are increasing dust storms size and frequency from desert margins and changing both the local and global climate, and also impacting local economies.[1]

The term sandstorm is used most often in the context of desert sandstorms, especially in the Sahara, or places where sand is a more prevalent soil type than dirt or rock, when, in addition to fine particles obscuring visibility, a considerable amount of larger sand particles are blown closer to the surface. The term dust storm is more likely to be used when finer particles are blown long distances, especially when the dust storm affects urban areas.

A sandstorm approaching Al Asad, Iraq, just before nightfall on April 27, 2005.

As the force of wind passing over loosely held particles increases, particles of sand first start to vibrate, then to saltate ("leap"). As they repeatedly strike the ground, they loosen and break off smaller particles of dust which then begin to travel in suspension. At wind speeds above that which causes the smallest to suspend, there will be a population of dust grains moving by a range of mechanisms: suspension, saltation and creep.[1]

A recent study finds that the initial saltation of sand particles induces a static electric field by friction. Saltating sand acquires a negative charge relative to the ground which in turn loosens more sand particles which then begin saltating. This process has been found to double the number of particles predicted by previous theories.[2]

Animation showing the global movement of dust from an Asian dust storm.

Particles become loosely held mainly due to drought or arid conditions, and varied wind causes. Gust fronts may be produced by the outflow of rain-cooled air from an intense thunderstorm. Or, the wind gusts may be produced by a dry cold front, that is, a cold front that is moving into a dry air mass and is producing no precipitation—the type of dust storm which was common during the Dust Bowl years in the U.S. Following the passage of a dry cold front, convective instability resulting from cooler air riding over heated ground can maintain the dust storm initiated at the front.

In desert areas, dust and sand storms are most commonly caused by either thunderstorm outflows, or by strong pressure gradients which cause an increase in wind velocity over a wide area. The vertical extent of the dust or sand that is raised is largely determined by the stability of the atmosphere above the ground as well as by the weight of the particulates. In some cases, dust and sand may be confined to a relatively shallow layer by a low-lying temperature inversion. In other instances, dust (but not sand) may be lifted as high as 20,000 feet (6,100 m) high.

Drought and wind contribute to the emergence of dust storms, as do poor farming and grazing practices by exposing the dust and sand to the wind.

One poor farming practice which contributes to dust storms is dryland farming. Particularly poor dryland farming techniques are intensive tillage or not having established crops or cover crops when storms strike at particularly vulnerable times prior to revegetation.[3] In a semi-arid climate, these practices increase susceptibility to dust storms. However, soil conservation practices may be implemented to control wind erosion.

Physical and environmental effects[edit]

A convoy endures a dust storm in Iraq during the invasion of 2003.

A sandstorm can transport large volumes of sand unexpectedly. Dust storms can carry large amounts of dust, with the leading edge being composed of wall of thick dust as much as 1.6 km (0.99 mi) high. Dust and sand storms which come off the Sahara Desert are locally known as a simoom or simoon (sîmūm, sîmūn). The haboob (həbūb) is a sandstorm prevalent in the region of Sudan around Khartoum, with occurrences being most common in the summer.

The Sahara desert is a key source of dust storms, particularly the Bodélé Depression[4] and an area covering the confluence of Mauritania, Mali, and Algeria.[5]

Saharan dust storms have increased approximately 10-fold during the half-century since the 1950s, causing topsoil loss in Niger, Chad, northern Nigeria, and Burkina Faso. In Mauritania there were just two dust storms a year in the early 1960s, but there are about 80 a year today, according to Andrew Goudie, a professor of geography at Oxford University.[6][7] Levels of Saharan dust coming off the east coast of Africa in June (2007) were five times those observed in June 2006, and were the highest observed since at least 1999, which may have cooled Atlantic waters enough to slightly reduce hurricane activity in late 2007.[8][9][10]

Dust storms have also been shown to increase the spread of disease across the globe. Virus spores in the ground are blown into the atmosphere by the storms with the minute particles then acting like urban smog or acid rain.[11]

A dust storm in Sydney which covered most of eastern Australia in September 2009.

Prolonged and unprotected exposure of the respiratory system in a dust storm can also cause silicosis which, if left untreated, will lead to asphyxiation; silicosis is an incurable condition that also may lead to lung cancer. There is also the danger of keratoconjunctivitis sicca ("dry eyes") which, in severe cases without immediate and proper treatment, can lead to blindness.[12]

Economic impact[edit]

Dust storms cause soil loss from the dry lands, and worse, they preferentially remove organic matter and the nutrient-rich lightest particles, thereby reducing agricultural productivity. Also the abrasive effect of the storm damages young crop plants. Dust storms also reduced visibility affecting aircraft and road transportation. In addition dust storms also create problems due to complications of breathing in dust.[13]

Dust can also have beneficial effects where it deposits: Central and South American rain forests get most of their mineral nutrients from the Sahara; iron-poor ocean regions get iron; and dust in Hawaii increases plantain growth. In northern China as well as the mid-western U.S., ancient dust storm deposits known as loess are highly fertile soils, but they are also a significant source of contemporary dust storms when soil-securing vegetation is disturbed.[14]

Extraterrestrial dust storms[edit]

2001 Hellas Basin dust storm.

Dust storms are not limited to Earth and have been known to form on other planets such as Mars.[15] These dust storms are much larger and more powerful than dust storm here on Earth with wind speeds topping 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).[16] Martian dust storms are formed when solar heating warms the Martian atmosphere and causes the air to move, lifting dust off the ground. The chance for storms is increased when there are great temperature variations like those seen at the equator during the Martian summer.[17]

See also[edit]

  1. ^ a b Victor R. Squires. "Physics, Mechanics and Processes of Dust and Sandstorms and butta". Adelaide University, Australia. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
  2. ^ Electric Sand Findings, University of Michigan Jan. 6, 2008
  3. ^ "Dust Storms Chapter". Emergency Management Plan. State of Oregon.
  4. ^ The Bodélé depression: a single spot in the Sahara that provides most of the mineral dust to the Amazon forest. Ilan Koren et al. 2006 Environ. Res. Lett. 1 014005 (5pp) doi:10.1088/1748-9326/1/1/014005
  5. ^ Saharan Dust: Sources and Trajectories N. J. Middleton, A. S. Goudie Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, Vol. 26, No. 2 (2001), pp. 165-181
  6. ^ ENVIRONMENT: Around the Globe, Farmers Losing Ground Analysis by Lester R. Brown (Jun 27, 2007)
  7. ^ http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/Seg/PB2ch05_ss3.htm LOSING SOIL Lester R. Brown
  8. ^ http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=scientists-examine-africa&chanId=sa003&modsrc=reuters Scientists examine African dust link to hurricanes ScientificAmerican.com August 10, 2007
  9. ^ Storm Report: Dry air inhibits storms Saharan winds limit formation in warm Gulf Jim Bradshaw, 5 July 2007
  10. ^ NASA: Saharan Dust Has Chilling Effect on North Atlantic
  11. ^ Vidal, John (27 September 2009). "Dust storms spread deadly diseases worldwide". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  12. ^ "textservice". Globe News. Retrieved 2013-11-20.
  13. ^ "Dust Between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Iraq". Earth Snapshot. March 3, 2012. Retrieved 2013-11-20.
  14. ^ "the Dust Bowl". Mishe Vanatta. Retrieved 2013-11-20.
  15. ^ "Discovery Monitoring and Predicting Extraterrestrial Weather". National Science foundation. Retrieved 2013-11-21.
  16. ^ "Spacecraft Monitoring Martian Dust Storm". National Air And Space Administration. Retrieved 2013-11-21.
  17. ^ "THEMIS keeps an eye on Mars for dust". THEMIS. Retrieved 2013-11-21.

External links[edit]


text:
English Democrats

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The English Democrats
Chairman Robin Tilbrook[1]
Founded 2002 (2002)[1]
Headquarters Quires Green
Ongar CM5 0QP[1]
Youth wing Young English Democrats
Ideology English nationalism,
English independence,
English devolution,
National affiliation Alliance for Democracy[1]
International affiliation None
European affiliation None
European Parliament group None
Red and white
House of Commons English Seats
0 / 533
House of Lords
0 / 724
European Parliament English Seats
0 / 60
London Assembly
0 / 25
Local government England Seats[2]
1 / 19,385
Police & Crime Commissioners
0 / 41
Politics of England
Political parties

The English Democrats is an English nationalist political party which is committed to establishing an independent England.[3] The party previously held a federalist position and proposed a devolved English Parliament. The party's motto is "Not left, not right, just English"[4][5] and it sees itself as an English equivalent to the Scottish National Party.[6] At the English local elections in June 2009, the party's candidate Peter Davies won the mayoral election for the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster.[7] However, he announced his resignation from the party on 5 February 2013.

In 1998, and in response to calls for the devolution of power to Scotland and Wales, Robin Tilbrook aimed at reforming the defunct English National Party, which had ceased operating as a party by 1981. This project included members of the Campaign for an English Parliament, a pressure group that lobbies for a devolved English Parliament. The party was relaunched as the "English Democrats" in September 2002, after merging with several other smaller political parties. In October 2004, the party merged with the Reform UK Party, which was a small splinter group from the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). The New England Party merged with the English Democrats in February 2007.[citation needed]

The English Democrats were co-founders of the English Constitutional Convention,[8] now defunct.[citation needed]

In December 2004, it was rumoured that Robert Kilroy-Silk, the former UKIP MEP had entered into negotiation to join the English Democrats.[9] However, Kilroy-Silk formed Veritas instead.

The party's most significant electoral success came when Peter Davies (a former UKIP and Reform UK member), its candidate for Mayor of Doncaster, was elected. Having received 16,961 votes in the first round, 189 votes behind the independent Michael Maye, Davies was returned in the second count on transfers of second preference votes, with 25,344 votes to 24,990.[7][10] However, Davies announced his resignation from the party on 5 February 2013 citing "a big influx of new members joining from the British National Party".[11] One of its councillors, Mick Glynn, resigned the following day after the party's chairman, Robin Tilbrook, launched a personal attack on Peter Davies reducing its number of elected representatives to two.[12]

Van owned by the party

The English Democrats have an England-wide network of area, county and some borough officers. In April 2006, it announced full national representative coverage of the nine Regions of England. In addition to the twenty-person National Council which includes nine area chairmen, there are fourteen national sub-committees to expedite progress in the party's development.[citation needed]

In 2010 the EDP was structured into ten regions in England by splitting the South-East region. As of April 2012, the party has never been able to fill all ten Regional Chairman's posts.[citation needed]

The party claimed a total membership of 1,011 at the end of 2004, and 1,202 at the end of 2005.[13] The BBC reported 1,300 members in 2007. Party membership was around 1,500 in September 2011, following the influx of a number of people joining from the BNP, UKIP and other fringe parties. In a speech by Robin Tilbrook given to students at the University of Nottingham on 9 February 2012, he stated that the party now had almost 3,000 members.[14] However, according to the English Democrats' returns to the Electoral Commission they received only £23,084 in income in 2009 which equates to just 770 members at £30 per year, assuming all income came from membership subscriptions and no donations.

Election performances[edit]

The first person to stand as a candidate for the English Democrats was Gary Cowd, who stood in Rushmoor—West Heath Ward in North Hampshire[15] in a council by-election in May 2003. Cowd was an active member of the English Democrats and a National Council member. In 2006, he left the party.

Parliamentary elections[edit]

At the 2004 Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election the English Democrat candidate received 277 votes, or 1.4% of the votes cast.[16]

The party's slogan for the 2005 general election was "The English Democrats—Putting England First!" In total, the English Democrats fielded 25 candidates for the May 2005 general election,[17] including Staffordshire South where the election was delayed until June due to the death of a candidate. The party withdrew its candidate in North Norfolk and endorsed the Conservative Party candidate, Iain Dale, as he had "taken the issues of English discrimination seriously".[18]

Garry Bushell, the former Sun journalist and current Daily Star Sunday TV critic, became the most high profile candidate for the English Democrats, standing in the Greenwich and Woolwich constituency in London.[19] Bushell's 1,216 votes (3.4%) beat the UKIP candidate, Stan Gain, who secured 709 votes (2.0%);[20] this was the party's best result for the election though still a 5th place performance.

In June 2005, Bushell also stood in Staffordshire South, where he received 643 votes (2.5%) coming fifth out of eight candidates.[21] In 2011 Bushell announced that he was, in future, supporting UKIP.

For the Haltemprice and Howden by-election in 2008, the English Democrats fielded a candidate, Joanne Robinson, in the by-election forced by the resignation of former shadow home secretary David Davis from the House of Commons. Because of the issues raised by David Davis in the by-election, parties other than the Conservatives, such as Labour, Liberal Democrats, United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and British National Party (BNP) chose not to stand. Joanne Robinson ended up coming in third, with 1,714 votes (7.2%), 44 votes fewer than the Green candidate received in second place. Of the 26 candidates she was one of only three to win back her deposit. This result is both the highest place and percentage of the votes won by any English Democrat candidate in a parliamentary election or parliamentary by-election.[22]

Campaign bus during the 2010 General Election

The English Democrats stood 107 candidates in the 2010 general election.[23] 106 is the minimum number required to qualify for a Party Election Broadcast. The English Democrats received 64,826 votes, or 0.3% of the vote in England, and 0.2% of the vote in the United Kingdom. No candidates were elected[24] but the party saved one deposit in the Doncaster North constituency, where candidate Wayne Crawshaw picked up 5.2% of the vote.[25]

In by-elections, the party contested Oldham and Saddleworth (Stephen Morris polled 144 (0.4%)),[26] Barnsley Central (Kevin Riddiough polled 544 (2.2%) votes),[27] Feltham and Heston (Roger Cooper polled 322 (1.4%)),[28] Corby (David Wickham polled 432 (1.2%) votes)[29] and Rotherham (David Wildgoose polled 703 (3.3%) votes)[30]

European Parliament elections[edit]

The English Democrats stood candidates for the 2004 European Parliament election in five of the nine regions of England. The party’s 2004 election canvassing leaflet featured the slogan, "Not left, not right, just English". Its candidates won 130,056 votes in total.

In June 2009, the English Democrats contested elections to the European Parliament. The party fielded a full slate of candidates across the nine English European parliament constituencies. On 18 May 2009, the English Democrats broadcast their first national Party Election Broadcast.[31] They came seventh in the election in England (ninth in the UK as a whole) with 279,801 votes or 1.8%, a rise from the 0.7% they received at the previous elections in 2004. The English Democrats do not stand in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, and their vote across England in 2009 was 2.1%, an increase of 1.3% yet still did not keep their deposits except Yorkshire and the Humber where they gained 2.6% of the vote. None of the English Democrats candidates were elected; the English Democrats were the highest polling party across the UK not to have an MEP elected.

The English Democrats began their 2014 EU election campaign in September 2013 with an extensive social media campaign. On 30 April 2014, they held a rally at Fobbing, Essex, site of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt, and declared "let the English revolt begin".[32] The party fielded a full slate of candidates across the nine English European parliament constituencies on 22 May 2014. On the 13 February 2014, Robin Tilbrook, chairman, appeared on the BBC Daily Politics with Nicola Sturgeon, the Deputy First Minister of the Scottish National Party.[33]

Local councils[edit]

In November 2005, the party achieved its first electoral success when Paul Adams was elected to Crowborough Town Council, polling 120 votes, or 56.8% of the poll, on a turnout of 10%.[34]

In the 2007 local elections, seventy-eight candidates stood for election in boroughs and districts across fifteen English counties, including twenty in Dartford and ten in Portsmouth. All were unsuccessful.

In 2008, the party fielded candidates in 12 district council elections. None was elected. The party's best results were when it came second to the Conservatives: in the Finningley ward of Doncaster and in three wards in Rochford.[35]

In the 2009 English local elections, the party fielded 84 county council and local authority candidates with particular focus in Bristol, Essex, Hampshire, Kent, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Wiltshire, and Lancashire.[30][citation needed] The party had an unexpected success when Peter Davies, its candidate for Mayor of Doncaster, was elected. Having received 16,961 votes in the first round, 189 votes behind the independent Michael Maye, Davies was returned in the second count on transfers of second preference votes, with 25,344 votes to 24,990.[7][10]

In 2010, the party also stood in the local elections on 6 May, but did not publish a list of candidates.[citation needed] The two sitting English Democrat councillors on Calderdale and Blackburn with Darwen councils retired, and the party did not nominate any candidates to contest the seats.[36][37]

In 2011, the EDP stood about 130 candidates in District level elections, two candidates were elected. The Boston Borough Council elections on 5 May 2011, saw the election of the first two EDP Councillors. David Owens and Elliott Fountain were elected in the Fenside Ward for a four-year term, thus becoming the only EDP members of a district council to be elected by public vote. A sitting EDP councillor on Peterborough council lost his seat.

The party fielded a candidate in the 3 March 2011 local by-election for the Walkden North ward for Salford City Council. Its candidate Laurence Depares polled 125 votes (7%)and came third, ahead of the BNP and Liberal Democrats;[38] in a by-election in the same city's Swinton South ward on 7 January 2014 the party was fifth with 54 votes (3.7%).[39]

In 2012, the party fielded 101 candidates in the local elections in England, including district council elections, mayoral contests and elections to the Greater London Assembly.[40] None were elected, and the party suffered the loss of the two seats it was defending, one that it had gained from a former BNP member who had defected to the party and another from an ex-Tory.[41] The English Democrats has come under fire from anti-fascist groups Unite Against Fascism[42] and Hope not Hate[43] and from the unions NASUWT and Unite the Union[44] over the number of former BNP members standing for election for the party. 43% of English Democrats candidates in the 2012 local elections were former BNP members.[45]

The EDP contested the mayoral elections at Liverpool and Salford. In Liverpool its candidate received 1.42% of the vote, finishing in ninth place while in Salford they received 3.6% and finished in eighth place.[46] The Chairman of the English Democrats, Robin Tilbrook, declared that he was standing for Mayor of London and even asked for donations through one of the party's websites[47] but his name didn't appear on the ballot paper.

Welsh Assembly[edit]

In 2007, in line with the English Democrats stance on the status of Monmouthshire, thirteen English Democrat candidates contested the Welsh Assembly elections in the South East Wales region, and the constituencies of Monmouth (fifth with 2.7%), Newport East (sixth 2.2%) and Newport West (fifth 2.7%).[48] The party received also 0.9% of the vote on the regional list.

In 2011, the party fielded a candidate, Kent based Steve Uncles, in the Welsh Assembly constituency of Monmouth, in line with its view that Monmouthshire should be returned to English governance. The English Democrats polled 744 (2.47%) of the votes cast. The incumbent Conservative assembly member was returned.

London Mayoral elections[edit]

In July 2007 Garry Bushell was nominated as Mayoral candidate for the English Democrats for the 2008 London mayoral and Assembly elections with the campaign slogan "Serious About London".[49] In January 2008 Bushell stepped down as the Mayoral candidate due to work commitments and Fathers 4 Justice founder Matt O'Connor was selected by the English Democrats in his place with his campaign expected to start on 14 February. His campaign web site voteenglish.org was launched on 31 January 2008.[50][51] A Party political broadcast for O'Connor's campaign was broadcast on 11 April.

One week before the Mayoral election, on 25 April, Matt O'Connor announced to Vanessa Feltz and the BBC that he was dropping out of the Mayoral race. He cited his reasons as being due to a lack of support within the English Democrats on St George's Day and lack of press coverage[52] as well as the party's cooperation with far-right group England First.[53] The English Democrats released a press statement on their website in response to his resignation voicing disappointment at his decision to quit the contest.[54] O'Connor received 10,695 first preference votes (representing 0.44% of the votes cast) in the mayoral contest, ranking ninth out of ten candidates, he received 73,538 second preference votes 3.67%, ranking eighth.[55]

Police Commissioners[edit]

English Democrats contested five of the 41 Police and Crime Commissioner elections in November 2012. Results were:

Police force Candidate 1st round votes  % Posn/no. cands
Cambridgeshire Constabulary Stephen Goldspink 7,219 8.1% 6 out of 7
Essex Police Robin Tilbrook 11,550 6.87% 6 out of 6
Kent Police Steven Uncles 10,789 5.3% 5 out of 6[56]
Merseyside Police Paul Rimmer 7,142 5.7% 6 out of 6[57]
South Yorkshire Police David Allen 22,608 15.6% 2 out of 5[58]

English Democrats holding local government seats[edit]

In November 2005, Paul Adams was the first elected English Democrats councillor at parish level for Crowborough Town Council in East Sussex; he was re-elected unopposed in 2007. In 2011, he was elected as an independent, so the English Democrats lost the seat.[59] Later that same year, Markyate Parish councillor Simon Deacon defected from the British National Party, a year prior from the National Front, to the English Democrats, having been elected unopposed. However, he resigned in October 2012.[60] The English Democrats gained another Parish council seat when Mick Glynn was elected for the Dunsville ward of Hatfield Town Council, Doncaster. Following the resignation of Peter Davies, Glynn resigned his seat and membership of the party in February 2013.

The party had two elected district councillors (the first above parish level) in the 2011 local elections and obtained a further county council seat through a BNP, later "Independent Nationalist", defection in Hertfordshire. However, the councillor did not defend their seat in the county council election in May 2013, nor did the EDP put forward another candidate, losing them the seat.[61] The EDP lost one of their district councillors, Elliott Fountain, on 25 July 2013 after failing to attend any meetings in six months.[62] Their remaining councillor in Boston represents the Fenside ward.[63]

Local authority Category Number
Boston Borough Council District of Lincolnshire 1/32

Party policies[edit]

English Parliament[edit]

The party contends that the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales provide a voice to those two constituent nations of the United Kingdom (UK) that England lacks. The party proposes to convene the first exclusively English Parliament since the initial Laws in Wales Act 1535 through one of three methods:

  1. By converting the current House of Commons of the United Kingdom into a devolved English parliament within the asymmetrical devolution framework currently existing in the United Kingdom,
  2. By creating a new legislature with equal status to the Scottish Parliament and a more powerful Welsh Parliament within a re-constituted federal or confederal United Kingdom,
  3. As an independent, sovereign legislature for the re-founded state of England, upon dissolution of the Union, most likely to be created by independence for Scotland and Wales.

The party has rejected suggestions that non-English MPs in the House of Commons should be barred from voting on England-specific matters, on the basis that this would lead to there being, in effect, two parliaments in the same building and that this would be problematic.[64]

The party is against the establishment of regional assemblies in the Regions of England.[65]

English Independence[edit]

In spring 2014, the party adopted the policy of English independence.[66]

European Union[edit]

The party favours deciding the UK's future relationship with the European Union by a nationwide, multiple choice, referendum, which would include the option to withdraw from it entirely. The English Democrats are committed to campaign on the "Withdrawal" side of any referendum. English Democrats policy is to maintain free trade arrangements by rejoining the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).[67]

Traditional counties[edit]

The party is supportive of historic counties and has called for a referendum on whether Monmouthshire should be part of England as opposed to Wales.[68][69]

The party's manifesto states that "we need to change immigration policy so that it better reflects the needs and wishes of the English people". A points system for entry to the UK, based on the Canadian and Australian models, is advocated. The party's manifesto also suggests that the country should withdraw from international conventions on asylum and immigration.[70]

Nationalist connections[edit]

On 17 November 2011, the chairman of the English Democrats, Robin Tilbrook, met with Sergey Yerzunov, a member of the executive committee of the Russian right-wing group Russky Obraz.[71] Shortly after, Obraz announced that they were now in alliance with the English Democrats.[72] Other members of this alliance include Serbian Obraz, Movement 1389, Golden Dawn, Dane's Party, Slovenska Pospolitost, Czech Labour Party and Noua Dreaptă.

Since 2010, a number of former members of the BNP have joined the project, with the party chairman quoted as saying that "they will help us become an electorally credible party."[73] In an April 2013 interview, Tilbrook said that about 200-300 out of the party's membership of 3,000 were former BNP members. He said it was "perfectly fair" that such people would "change their minds" and join a "moderate, sensible English nationalist party".[74]

In February 2013, Tilbrook and Uncles joined forces with the anti-Muslim and white-supremacist groups the South East Alliance, English National Resistance, English Volunteer Force, Casuals United, Britain First and March for England in an attempt to protest outside the home of Abu Qatada. This alliance is geared "towards militancy, campaigning and direct action".[75][unreliable source?]

See also[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "English Democrats Party".
  2. ^ Edkins, Keith. "Local Council Political Compositions". Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  3. ^ English Democrats seek independence for England
  4. ^ Millard, Robin (6 June 2009). "British PM vows to fight on". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  5. ^ "Mayoral sensation as town picks outsider", The Yorkshire Post, 6 June 2009
  6. ^ "Democrats want to be 'English SNP'". BBC News. 25 September 2009. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  7. ^ a b c Paul, Celia (5 June 2009). "English Democrat is new Mayor of Doncaster". The Independent (London). Retrieved 5 June 2009.
  8. ^ "Devolution for England – The way forward". English Constitution Convention. Archived from the original on 8 July 2007. Retrieved 8 August 2007.
  9. ^ Hyde, Marina (14 December 2004). "Diary". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 8 August 2007.
  10. ^ a b "Mayoral Election 2009 Results". Doncaster Council. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2009.
  11. ^ BBC News "Doncaster mayor quits English Democrats 'because of BNP'", 5 February 2013
  12. ^ England Watch blog"Another English Democrat Councillor Resigns.", 7 February 2013
  13. ^ "English Democrats Party Statement of Accounts" (PDF). Electoral Commission. 31 December 2005. Retrieved 8 August 2007. [dead link]
  14. ^ England Awake! (Issue 2, 2012) p.4
  15. ^ John Walton, "Independents' Rushmoor challenge", Get Hampshire, 10 April 2003
  16. ^ "Lib Dems snatch Labour seat". BBC Online. 16 July 2004. Retrieved 15 May 2008.
  17. ^ Kimber, Richard (2 February 2007). "UK General Election candidates 2005: Number of candidates by party". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 23 January 2008.
  18. ^ "English Democrat party bows out". Eastern Daily Press. 30 March 2005. Retrieved 2 May 2009.
  19. ^ Kimber, Richard (2 February 2007). "UK General Election candidates 2005 – English Democrats". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 8 August 2007.
  20. ^ "Greenwich and Woolwich". The Guardian (London). 2005. Retrieved 8 August 2007. [dead link]
  21. ^ "Result: Staffordshire South". BBC Online. 24 June 2005. Retrieved 8 August 2007.
  22. ^ "Haltemprice and Howden". Politics : Ask Aristotle (London: The Guardian). 2 May 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2008. [dead link]
  23. ^ "English Democrats Field More candidates than the SNP and Plaid Cymru". English Democrats. 22 April 2010. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  24. ^ "Results: England". Election 2010 (BBC). Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  25. ^ "UK > England > Yorkshire & the Humber > Doncaster North". Election 2010. BBC. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  26. ^ UK Polling Report: "Oldham East and Saddleworth" 14 January 2011
  27. ^ Brian Wheeler, Barnsley by-election: What now for Lib Dems?, BBC News, 4 March 2011
  28. ^ Feltham & Heston at telegraph.co.uk (accessed 12 May 2012)[dead link]
  29. ^ "By-elections: Labour takes Corby from Conservatives", BBC News, 16 November 2012
  30. ^ "By-elections: Labour retains three seats" BBC News, 30 November 2012
  31. ^ "English Democrats Party European election broadcast". BBC. 18 May 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
  32. ^ "English Democrats demand 'revolt' at elections launch". BBC News. 30 April 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  33. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giqcFeUBa7Q
  34. ^ Blanshard, Heather (25 November 2005). "St. Johns Ward – Declaration of result of poll" (PDF). Crowborough Town Council. Retrieved 8 August 2007.
  35. ^ "English Democrats Election Results". English Democrats Party. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2008.
  36. ^ "Notice of election". Calderdale Council. 29 March 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010. [dead link]
  37. ^ "Local elections candidates 2010". Blackburn with Darwen Council. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  38. ^ By-election result: 3 March 2011, Salford City Council
  39. ^ By-election result: 7 January 2014, Salford City Council
  40. ^ "English Democrats: Party 'could win' council seats". BBC News publisher=. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  41. ^ "English Council Results". Vote 2012 (BBC News). Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  42. ^ "BNP and other fascist election candidates". Unite Against Fascism. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  43. ^ "English Democrats in our sights". Vote 2012. Hope not Hate. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  44. ^ "Warning! The English Democrats has become the new home for ex-members of the BNP". Vote2012. NASUWT and Unite the Union. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  45. ^ "Another 'rival' faces post-election blues and meltdown". BNP Blog. BNP. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  46. ^ "English mayoral elections and referendums". BBC News. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  47. ^ "London Mayoral Candidate announced". Vote English. English Democrats. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  48. ^ "Welsh assembly election 2007". BBC Online. 21 March 2007. Retrieved 8 August 2007.
  49. ^ "Gary Bushell Serious about London". English Democrats. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 8 August 2007.
  50. ^ "Fathers 4 Justice founder to enter Mayoral race". London Evening Standard. 9 January 2008. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
  51. ^ "London Elects: The Candidates". londonelects.org.uk. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
  52. ^ "O'Connor quits Mayoral contest". BBC News. 25 April 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2008.
  53. ^ "O'Connor accuses English Democrats of BNP link after quitting race for Mayor". East London Advertiser. 25 April 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2009. [dead link]
  54. ^ "Matt O'Connor's shock resignation press release". English Democrats. 25 April 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2008.
  55. ^ "London mayoral election 2008". BBC News. 6 May 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2008.
  56. ^ "Kent police and crime commissioner results", BBC News England, 16 November 2012
  57. ^ "Merseyside police and crime commissioner result", BBC News Liverpool, 16 November 2012
  58. ^ "South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner results", BBC News England, 16 November 2012
  59. ^ Parish and Town Council Elections Results 2011
  60. ^ English Democrats Loose Another Councillor
  61. ^ Hertfordshire Country Council Elections 2013
  62. ^ Absent councillor in £7k allowance claim
  63. ^ Boston Borough Council, Election results to date
  64. ^ "No English parliament – Falconer". BBC Online. 10 March 2006. Retrieved 8 August 2007.
  65. ^ An English ParliamentWe reject the plans for regional assemblies because, among other things, they will promote disunity and conflict within England.
  66. ^ English Democrats seek independence for England, BBC News, 19 March 2014
  67. ^ Leaving the EU (European Union)The English Democrats believe that this country should leave the EU and will campaign forcefully to that end.
  68. ^ "Manifesto of the English Democrats" (PDF). BBC Online. Retrieved 8 March 2008.
  69. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-12726556 "English Democrats want vote on Monmouthshire Welshness"], BBC News South West Wales, 13 March 2011
  70. ^ ImmigrationWe support a points system for entry to the UK which is based on the Canadian and Australian model. Points should be awarded for, among other things: educational and professional qualification; family links with England; financial resources; the ability to speak English. In other words, entry should be determined by our needs as a society and the ability of newcomers to be absorbed into the prevailing public culture. High priority should be given to creating a peaceful society which is bound together by shared values and perceptions. The wishes, security and interests of the people of England should be the dominant factors in determining asylum and immigration policies for England.
  71. ^ "Robin Tilbrook meets Russian Nationalists". Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  72. ^ "Right World:Russian Obraz". Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  73. ^ "English Democrats".
  74. ^ "'Up to one in 10' English Democrat members were in BNP". BBC News. 23 April 2013.
  75. ^ Britain First website, "Introducing the English National Resistance". Retrieved 7 July 2014.  Archived from the original.

External links[edit]


text:
Eroica (2003 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Directed by Simon Cellan Jones
Produced by Liza Marshall
Written by Nick Dear
Starring Ian Hart,
Tim Pigott-Smith,
Anton Lesser,
Frank Finlay
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven
Release date(s) 2003
Running time 129 minutes
Language English

Eroica is a BBC television film that dramatises the first performance of Beethoven's third symphony, the Eroica. It carries the tagline ‘The day that changed music forever’.

The film was directed by Simon Cellan Jones, written by Nick Dear and starred Ian Hart, Tim Pigott-Smith, Anton Lesser and Frank Finlay. The music was played by Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. It won the Prix Italia for Performing Arts in 2004.[1]

The film is set in Vienna on June 9, 1804, the date of the private, first performance of Beethoven’s third symphony, later to be known as the ‘Eroica’. The performance, and most of the action in the film, takes place at the palace of one of Beethoven’s patrons, Prince Franz Lobkowitz. Midway during the performance, Beethoven tries to get his lover, a widow named Josephine von Deym, to marry him, but she refuses because of the unfair laws regarding child custody — she is a member of the nobility, and cannot marry a commoner without losing custody of her children. Later, composer Joseph Haydn, now old and feeble, arrives just in time to hear the last movement of the symphony.

During the last few minutes of the symphony, the film flashes forward, and we see Beethoven going to dinner with his pupil, Ferdinand Ries, where he is told that Napoleon has just declared himself Emperor of France, thereby completely betraying Beethoven's faith in him. In a rage, he crumples up the title page of his symphony, which he originally intended to call the "Bonaparte". As he leaves the performance, Haydn is asked his opinion of the symphony, which he describes as "quite new", and then utters his now-famous and prophetic comment, "From this day forward, everything [in music] is changed". The film ends on a grim note; as the performance of the Eroica ends, Beethoven looks at his audience and is momentarily unable to hear any natural sounds — an ominous sign of his approaching deafness.

The main cast:

Eroica (press release), UK: BBC, 2003-05-05 .

  1. ^ "Winners 1949–2010" (PDF), Prix Italia, IT: RAI, 2010 .

External links[edit]


text:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The Reaper under full sail.

The Fifie is a design of sailing boat developed on the east coast of Scotland. It was a traditional fishing boat used by Scottish fishermen from the 1850s until well into the 20th century. These boats were mainly used to fish for herring using drift nets, and along with other designs of boat were known as herring drifters.

While the boats varied in design, they can be categorised by their vertical stem and stern, their long straight keel and wide beam. These attributes made the Fifies very stable in the water and allowed them to carry a very large set of sails. The long keel, however, made them difficult to manoeuvre in small harbours.

A sailing Fifie, showing the main dipping lug and the mizzen standing lug.

Sailing Fifies had two masts with the standard rig consisting of a main dipping lugsail and a mizzen standing lug sail.[1] The masts were positioned far forward and aft on the boat to give the maximum clear working space amidships. A large fifie could reach just over 20 metres in length. Because of their large sail area they were very fast sailing boats.

Fifies built after 1860 were all decked and from the 1870s onwards the bigger boats were built with carvel planking, i.e. the planks were laid edge to edge instead of the overlapping clinker style of previous boats. From about 1905 onwards sailing Fifies were gradually fitted with engines and converted to motorised vessels.

There are few surviving examples of this type of fishing boat still in existence. The Scottish Fisheries Museum based in Anstruther, Fife has restored and still sails a classic example of this type of vessel named the Reaper. The Swan Trust in Lerwick, Shetland have restored and maintain another Fifie, The Swan, as a sail training vessel. She now takes over 1000 trainees each year, and has taken trainees to participate in the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Races to ports in France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland as well as around the UK.

  1. ^ "Scottish Sail powered fishing boats". Retrieved 22 March 2011.

External links[edit]


text:
Haba Haba

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Haba Haba"
Single by Stella Mwangi
from the album Kinanda
Released 28 January 2011
Recorded 2011
Genre Pop, afro-fusion
Length 3:00
Label Mwangi Records
Writer(s) Big City
Stella Mwangi
Stella Mwangi singles chronology
"Haba Haba"
"Lookie Lookie"
Norway "Haba Haba"
Stella Mwangi MGP 2011.jpg
Performance at the final of the Melodi Grand Prix
Eurovision Song Contest 2011 entry
Country Norway
Artist(s) Stella Mwangi
Languages English, Swahili
Composer(s) Beyond51, Big City
Lyricist(s) Stella Mwangi
Finals performance
Semi-final result 17th
Semi-final points 30
Appearance chronology
◄ "My Heart Is Yours" (2010)
"Stay" (2012) ►

"Haba Haba" (Swahili for Little by Little) is a song performed by Norwegian-Kenyan singer-songwriter Stella Mwangi. It was Norway's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 and is included on her second studio album Kinanda (2011). The song was chosen using a mix of televoting, jury votes and an audience vote at the Oslo Spektrum during the national Eurovision pre-selection show Melodi Grand Prix on 12 February 2011. It was made available for digital download a day before its initial performance in the third semi-final. "Haba Haba" debuted at number nine in its first week of release, before progressing to number one for four consecutive weeks in the Norwegian singles chart.[1] On 10 May 2011, it competed in the first half of semi-final 1 and performed second on the night.[2]

Production and song selection[edit]

"Haba Haba" is a pop song with afro-fusion influence, written by Stella and composed by Beyond51 and Big City. The song is bilingual, with lyrics in English and Swahili, marking the first time Swahili or any other East African language was performed at the contest.[3] The lyrics describe how "a journey of a million miles starts with one single step".[4] It is a positive, motivational song about how anyone can be whatever they want to be and tells the story of Mwangi as a young girl listening to her grandmother ("When I’s a little girl my grandma told me/ That I could be just anything that I wanted to"), who teaches her that she should appreciate the smaller things in life ("When I’s a little girl my grandma told me/ That it’s the little things in life that’s gone make me happy"). The song is based upon actual events as Stella once complained to her grandmother that things did not move fast enough, gaining the reply Haba haba, Hujaza Kibaba, which is Swahili for "little by little fills the measure", equivalent to the proverb "slow and steady wins the race".[5][6]

The song was entered by Mwangi into the 2011 Melodi Grand Prix, the annual selection process for Norway's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. 21 songs were chosen to go through to the semi-finals by the national broadcaster NRK, with "Haba Haba" performing in the third semi-final on 29 January. It came out of the semi-final in first place, advancing to the final on 12 February. "Haba Haba" progressed with three other songs to the Gold Final, following the elimination of the other finalists. Voting was conducted via a mix of the audience vote at the Oslo Spektrum (where the song beat its nearest rival by more than twice the votes), jury votes split into four different regions (where Stella came second in two regions and first in two, leading to her winning the overall jury vote) and televoting in two different regions (with "Haba Haba" winning in both). "Haba Haba" was the overall winner of the night with a total of 280,217 votes.[7]

Eurovision Song Contest 2011[edit]

In the Eurovision Song Contest semifinal in Düsseldorf on Tuesday 10 May 2011 "Haba Haba" was not among the ten songs which qualified for entrance in the final on Saturday 14 May 2011, even though it was placed as one of the favourite songs to win the festival and received a long lasting, thunderous ovation after the performance.

Track listings[edit]

Digital download[8]
No. Title Length
1. "Haba Haba"   3:00

Music video[edit]

A music video was shot by the director Frederic Esnault. The song is presented by Big City Music.

Charts and certifications[edit]

Peak positions[edit]

Chart (2011) Peak
Norway (VG-lista)[9] 1

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Norway (IFPI Norway)[10] 3× Platinum 30,000*

*sales figures based on certification alone

See also[edit]

  1. ^ "STELLA MWANGI - HABA HABA". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  2. ^ Schacht, Andreas. "Results of the Running Order Draw!". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  3. ^ (Norwegian) VG: Stella Mwangi vant Melodi Grand Prix
  4. ^ Video on YouTube
  5. ^ "Eurovision profile and lyrics". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  6. ^ "Haba Haba Lyrics". Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  7. ^ Storvik-Green, Simon. "Stella Mwangi victorious in Norway". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  8. ^ "Haba Haba - Single". iTunes.
  9. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Stella Mwangi – Haba haba". VG-lista.
  10. ^ "Trofe Oversikt - 2012" (in Norwegian). International Federation of the Phonographic Industry of Norway. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
Preceded by
"My Heart Is Yours" by Didrik Solli-Tangen
Melodi Grand Prix winners
Succeeded by
"Stay" by Tooji


text:
JGC Corporation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
JGC Corp. is headquartered in the Queen's Tower A building (left) in Queen's Square Yokohama in the Minato Mirai 21 area.

JGC Corp. (日揮株式会社 Nikki kabushiki gaisha?), formerly Japan Gasoline Co. (日本揮発油株式会社 Nihon kihatsuyu kabushiki gaisha?), is a global engineering company headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. It is listed at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The company was founded on 25 October 1928. In 1976, it changed its original name from Japan Gasoline Co. to JGC Corp. JGC Corp. participates in the design and construction of large energy projects, such as Al Zour Refinery, Nigeria LNG, Pearl GTL, Ichthys LNG, Gorgon LNG, Tangguh LNG and Dolphin Gas Project.[1][2][3]

  1. ^ Evans, Damon (2008-03-11). "Pearl GTL set for big payback". Upstream Online (NHST Media Group). (subscription required). Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  2. ^ "Dolphin Gas Project, Ras Laffan, Qatar". hydrocarbons-technology.com. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
  3. ^ "KBR booked in Nigeria graft case". Upstream Online (NHST Media Group). 2009-02-09. (subscription required). Retrieved 2009-11-08.

External links[edit]


text:
Kedah-class offshore patrol vessel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
IMDEX 2007 Malaysian ship (523652840).jpg
Class overview
Builders: Blohm + Voss/HDW, German Naval Group (GNG) and Boustead Naval Shipyard (Formerly PCS-ND)
Operators:  Royal Malaysian Navy
Completed: 6
Active: 6
General characteristics
Type: MEKO 100 RMN
Displacement: 1,850 tons full load
Length: 91.1 metres
Beam: 12.85 metres
Draught: 3.4 metres
Propulsion: Main Propulsion: 2x Caterpillar 3616 (5450kW) diesel, 16000 bhp, 2 shafts, 2 controllable pitch propellers, CAE Integrated Platform Management System
Speed: 22+ knots
Range: 6050 nm
Endurance: 21 days
Complement: 78 (accom. for 98)
Sensors and
processing systems:

Combat System: Atlas Elektronik COSYS-110 M1/ARGOS
Search radar:EADS TRS-3D/ 16ES
Fire control radars:Oerlikon Contraves TMX/EO X-band with electro-optic fire director
Thermal Imager: Rheinmetall TMEO
Sonar: L-3 ELAC Nautik NDS-3060 Obstacle Avoidance sonar

IFF System: Aeromaritime
Electronic warfare
& decoys:

ESM: Thales Sceptre-X

Decoy: Sippican ALEX/SRBOC chaff / decoy launching system

Guns :

  • 1 x 76 mm Oto Melara
  • 1 x Oto Melara / Mauser 30mm short-range gun
  • 2 x 12.7 Machine Guns
Aircraft carried: 1 x Super Lynx 300
Aviation facilities: Stern hangar
Helicopter landing platform

The Kedah class is a class of offshore patrol vessels, also referred to as New Generation Patrol Vessels, of the Royal Malaysian Navy. The class is named after the lead ship of the class, KD Kedah. The Kedah class is based on the MEKO 100 design by Blohm + Voss. A total of 27 ships were planned; however, due to programme delays and overruns, only six were ordered. Presently, the ship is the most modern surface ship in the Royal Malaysian Navy.

In the 1990s the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) identified the need to replace the 30-year-old Vosper Thornycroft-built patrol boats then in use. After receiving approval from Malaysian Government, the RMN ran a competition for the design of the new class of patrol ships in 1996. The competition field was narrowed to submissions from the German Naval Group consortium, Australian Transfield Group,[1] and British Shipyards Vosper Thornycroft and Yarrow Shipbuilders.

The German Naval Group consortium was declared the winner and a contract for six vessels was signed by the RMN and PSC-Naval Dockyard on September 5, 1998—a unit cost of 270 million dollar for one vessel.

Progress delay[edit]

The shipbuilding has been plagued by financial and technical problems and delays. The first setback occurred when the first hull completed by PSC-Naval Dockyard failed to pass pre-delivery sea trials due to technical problems and quality issues. The crisis continued until the Malaysian government replaced the management team.[2] The programme resumed, but the scandal discouraged the Malaysian Government from further investments.

In June 2006, after a total of 18 months of delays, the Royal Malaysian Navy commissioned KD Kedah, followed by a second hull, KD Pahang in August of the same year, and a third hull, KD Perak on November 12, 2007. By July 2009, six vessels had been launched.

The Kedah class is based on the MEKO 100 patrol vessels. They are designed to have low radar detectability, low noise, low heat dissipation, and have an economical cruising speed. An advanced control system is used to monitor and control the platform machinery of the ships, including propulsion, electrical, damage control, and auxiliary machinery and systems.

Due to the small ship complement, the design relies on a high degree of automation for improved operational effectiveness and survivability of the ships. The design uses intelligent electronics and sensors interconnected by data buses. This enables monitoring and control of machinery from several shipboard locations. The ship has redundant systems to improve survivability.

The modular design of the MEKO allows for the fitting of ships' systems without the actual fixture of armaments and other combat equipment. This concept is known as fitted for but not with and is akin to the concept of “Plug and Play” in modern-day computers. Systems can be added by installing the required modules as the situation warrants, and once installed, the new systems platform can be used without further work on the ships' control systems.

Ships of the class[edit]

Pennant Name Laid down Shipyard Launched Commissioned
F171 KD Kedah November 13, 2001 Blohm + Voss March 21, 2003 June 5, 2006
F172 KD Pahang December 21, 2001 HDW October 2, 2003 August 3, 2006
F173 KD Perak March 2002 Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd November 12, 2007 June 3, 2009
F174 KD Terengganu August 2004 Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd December 6, 2007 December 8, 2009
F175 KD Kelantan July 2005 Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd November 24, 2008 May 8, 2010
F176 KD Selangor July 2006 Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd July 23, 2009 December 28, 2010

All ships of the class so far named were named after states in Peninsular Malaysia (Kedah, Pahang, Perak, Terengganu, Kelantan, and Selangor). KD Pahang replaces the former KD Sri Pahang, a Vosper Thornycroft-built 30m patrol boat, which has been decommissioned.The ship will be upgrade with missile[3][4]

Similar designs[edit]

K130 corvettes (based on the Meko A-100 Design) for the German Navy began building in July 2004. Five are to be built for the German Navy: two by Blohm + Voss, two by Lürssen, and one by Nordseewerke. They were scheduled to enter service between May 2007 and November 2008.

See also[edit]

External links[edit]


text:
Kingston railway station, Jamaica

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Kingston Railway Station 2007.png
Kingston railway terminus, front elevation.
Station statistics
Coordinates 17°58′08″N 76°47′49″W / 17.968773°N 76.797009°W / 17.968773; -76.797009Coordinates: 17°58′08″N 76°47′49″W / 17.968773°N 76.797009°W / 17.968773; -76.797009
Line(s) Kingston to Montego Bay main line
Spanish Town to Ewarton branch line
Bog Walk to Port Antonio branch line
May Pen to Frankfield branch line
Platforms Single platform terminus
Tracks One
Other information
Opened 1845
Closed 1992-10[1]
Owned by Jamaica Railway Corporation
Kingston is located in Jamaica

Kingston railway terminus was built in the Jamaica Georgian architectural style using brick.[2] It was constructed on a grand scale, symbolising its importance as the main terminus of the Jamaica railways.[2] It has prominent arcades on both levels of the east entrance end.[2] Victorian cast iron brackets support the roof overhang on the trackside.[2] It has sash windows on the ground and upper floors.[2]

It was opened in 1845 and closed in 1992.[1] It provided rail services to Montego Bay, Port Antonio, Ewarton and Frankfield. In addition to the station and its single platform there were extensive sidings, engine sheds, engine repair works, a roundhouse, a turntable, a traverser and a connection to the nearby railway piers.[3]

One source claims it was "utterly destroyed" in the 1907 Kingston earthquake.[4] Be that as it may, in 2003 it was reported as being in "very good condition" and needing only "minor repairs".[5]

It is on the list of designated National Heritage Sites in Jamaica.

See also[edit]

Looking out of Kingston railway terminus along the permanent way from near the buffers.

  1. ^ a b The rise and fall of railways in Jamaica, 1845-1975 - Pg18 Journal of Transport History - March 2003
  2. ^ a b c d e Kingston Railway Station, Jamaica National Heritage Trust.
  3. ^ UK Directorate of Overseas Surveys 1:10,000 map of Kingston, Sheet 3 (19??).
  4. ^ Jamaica Earthquake 1907, Michael Rego after The Daily Telegraph, St. John, N. B., Saturday Morning, January 19, 1907.
  5. ^ Table 3.4 Location and Condition of Railway Stations, Annual Transport Statistics Report: Jamaica in Figures 2003-2004, Ministry of Transport and Works, July 2005.

External links[edit]


text:
Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Letter to The Grand Duchess Christina is an essay written in 1615 by Galileo Galilei. The intention of this letter was to accommodate Copernicanism with the doctrines of the Catholic Church. Galileo tried to use the ideas of Church Fathers and Doctors to show that the condemnation of Copernicanism would be inappropriate.

Cover of Galileo's Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina

Background Information[edit]

Christina was the daughter of Charles III of Lorraine and granddaughter of Catherine de' Medici.

Tiberio Titi - Portrait of Christine of Lorraine Medici, 1600

In 1611 Galileo was informed by a friend, Cigoli, “ill-disposed men envious of your virtue and merits met [to discuss]... any means by which they could damage you.” The number of scholars who disapproved with his Discourse on Floating Bodies, or were simply ill-spirited toward Galileo grew, but other than one letter from Niccolo Lorini there was not much discussion about the issue for the remainder of the year.

Late in 1613, Galileo's former student Benedetto Castelli, a Benedictine monk, wrote to Galileo about the events at a recent dinner with the Grand Duke Cosimo II de' Medici. In the course of conversation at the dinner Cosimo Boscaglia, a professor of philosophy, argued that the motion of the Earth could not be true, being contrary to the Bible. After dinner ended, Castelli was called back to answer scriptural arguments against the motion of the Earth from Christina. The monk took on the role of theologian in response, and convinced everyone there except the Duchess (whom he thought was arguing mainly to hear his answers) and Boscaglia (who said nothing during this dialogue).[1] Galileo decided to address Christina because of her desire to learn more about astronomy. Christina's position of power would also give the letter more exposure to other noble and Church leaders.

Justus Sustermans - Portrait of Galileo Galilei, 1636

Galileo replied with a long letter giving his position on the relation between science and Scripture. By 1615, with the controversy over the Earth's motion widespread and increasingly dangerous, Galileo revised this letter and greatly expanded it; this became the Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina. The letter circulated in manuscript but was not printed until much later, when the Inquisition had condemned Galileo. It appeared in Strasbourg in 1636 with both Italian and Latin text, as seen in the top right image. It was suppressed in Catholic jurisdictions, as were all works of Galileo at that period which dealt with that subject.[citation needed]

Contents of Letter[edit]

Galileo argued that the Copernican theory was not just a mathematical calculating tool, but a physical reality. The letter includes a direct paragraph in which Galileo wrote "I hold the sun to be situated motionless in the center of the revolution of the celestial orbs while the earth rotates on its axis and revolves about the sun. They know also that I support this position not only by refuting the arguments of Ptolemy and Aristotle ... especially some pertaining to physical effects whose causes perhaps cannot be determined in any other way, and other astronomical discoveries; these discoveries clearly confute the Ptolemaic system, and they agree admirably with this other position and confirm it." [2] This approach caused some, including Dominican friar Niccolo Lorini, to complain to the Inquisition, which tried and eventually condemned Galileo of suspicion of heresy.

Methodology of the letter[edit]

Galileo starts the letter with a little flattery of the Grand Duchess. He tries to build her up as an authority figure and then presents his own credentials to show that he has similar authority. Since The Grand Duchess was a person of high authority but did not have much knowledge in the field of astronomy he was able to write the letter in a way the common person is able to understand. He attempted to manipulate the Duchess by attempting to attain her sympathy by mentioning the unfair attacks made against his honor. He tried to portray “himself as a man of good will who seeks only to disclose the truth.” [1] He states he was motivated to write the letter to justify himself to men of religion he holds in great esteem.

Joshua X Argument[edit]

Critics of the Copernican system used the Battle of Gibeon from Joshua X as scriptural evidence against heliocentrism. In the passage, Joshua asks God to stop the sun in order to lengthen the day and allow the Israelites to win the battle. When taken literally, this story implies that the sun is mobile.[3]

Galileo adopts an Augustinian perspective, while also marginalizing it later. In the letter to the Grand Duchess he references Augustine of Hippo’s work De Genesi ad Litteram, which calls for either a compromise between literal translation of scripture and astronomy or an allegorical standpoint, which could resolve future astronomical conflicts arise that could jeopardize the validity of the Bible.[3]

Whereas his critics took the stopping of the sun to mean that sun halts its orbit around the Earth, Galileo interpreted it with a different astronomical viewpoint. He claimed that God stopped sunspots rather than the sun itself, implying that it was the relationship between sun and earth that stopped its motion. Thus, he argued that the Earth moves around the sun.[3]

Galileo wrote the letter to the Grand Duchess in an effort to convince her of the compatibility of Copernicanism and Scripture. This served as a treatise under the disguise of a letter, with the purpose of addressing the politically powerful, as well as his fellow mathematicians and philosophers. The goal of the secondary audience was targeted to whom he believed was condemning Copernicus. The failure of this stratagem was that he used Christina as his titular audience, instead of the shadow audience he truly sought to persuade. The result was that he was attempting to move an audience unfamiliar with his chosen topic, instead of those who were already disposed on the topic of the movement of the heavens. [1]

"With his deprecating tone Galileo effectively marks off a group of philosophers and theologians as adversaries whose faults he proceeds to define" [1] Within that group were progressive Aristotelians, including Bishop Dini, Cardinals Bellarmine and Barberini, as well as famous Jesuit astronomers at the Collegio Romana. These men were open to scientific demonstration to progress Copernicus' theories, however Galileo attacks them stating that they "determine in 'hypocritical zeal' to preserve at all costs what they believe, rather than admit what is obvious to their eyes."[1] This compounds his problems rather than aiding him.[3] Moreover, his letter misses out on key facts that include the Church's non-attacking stance on Copernicus when the priest proposed his heliocentric model when in fact a Dominican theologian Tolosani attacked the Copernican system as early as 1544.

Furthermore, the tone of the letter was combative and overly proud. "Many resented his arrogant tone, his presumption for speaking on theological matters, and for crossing over from the world of mathematical astronomy into the world of natural philosophy." [1] "But he has ruined himself by being so much in love with his own genius and having no respect for others. One should not wonder that everyone conspires to damn him." [1]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Moss, John Dietz (1983). "Galileo's Letter to Christina: Some Rhetorical Considerations". Renaissance Quarterly 36 (4): 547–576. doi:10.2307/2860733.
  2. ^ http://www.inters.org/galilei-madame-christina-Lorraine Galileo's Letter to the Grand Duchess in 1615
  3. ^ a b c d Reeves, Eileen (1991). "Augustine and Galileo on Reading the Heavens". Journal of the History of Ideas 52 (4): 563–579. doi:10.2307/2709966.

Further Readings[edit]

  • Stillman Drake (translator and editor) (1957). Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo. New York: Doubleday Anchor Books. ISBN 0-385-09239-3. This has the full text of the letter, with commentary, as well as other short works of Galileo.

External links[edit]

  • A link to Moss' "Galileo's Letter to Christina: Some Rhetorical Considerations":[1]
  • A link to:Galileo's Letter to the Grand Duchess in 1615
  • A link to Fordham University Modern History Sourcebook on "Galileo Galilei: Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany, 1615":[2]