Friday, November 30, 2007

Masurian Lake District
The Masurian Lake District (Polish: Pojezierze Mazurskie, German: Masurische Seenplatte) is a lake district in northeastern Poland containing more than 2,000 lakes.
It extends roughly 290 km (180 mi) eastwards from the lower Vistula River to the Poland-Lithuania border and occupies an area of roughly 52,000 km² (20,000 sq mi). Administratively, the lake district lies within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. (From the 13th century until 1945, it was part of East Prussia). Small parts of the district lie within the Masovian and Podlachian Voivodeships.
The lake district was shaped by the Pleistocene ice age. Many of its hills are parts of moraines and many of its lakes are moraine-dammed lakes.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Duchy of Cornwall dispute
The English translation of the 17 March 1337 Great Charter (or in Latin "Magna Carta"), as deployed in Rowe v Brenton (Manning edition 1830) states that the King's son is "Duke of Cornwall and heir to the Kingdom of England".
A revised Government translation states that the King's son is "Duke of Cornwall in the Kingdom of England" (Halsbury's Laws 1973).
The Charter Roll of 16 March 1337 announcing the Great Charter said that inspiration was drawn from the time when Cornwall was recognised as being a separate Kingdom, and that the intention was to "restore Cornwall's original ancient honours". preventing MPs from raising questions about, or even attempting to discuss, these matters. On 16 July 1997 the Liberal Democrat Andrew George MP attempted to raise a Duchy-related question but he was prevented by an injunction that disallows MPs raising any questions in Parliament that are in any way related to the Duchy.
In 2006 the case for Cornwall, in respect of alleged violations of the European Convention of Human Rights, Articles 6, (independent and impartial courts); 8, (respect family life); 10, (freedom of expression); 13, (violations by officials); 14 with Protocol 12, (discrimination on the grounds of association with a national minority, property, birth or other status); 17, (the official destruction of rights); Protocol 1 Article 1, (property rights) with 385 supporting documents, was submitted by members of the Cornish Stannary Parliament to the European Court of Human Rights. On 13 April 2006 the Court stated that it: "will deal with the case as soon as practicable".

Discrepancies in the Great Charter translations

Offices

See Lord Warden of the Stannaries Lord Warden of the Stannaries

1802–1806: Thomas Erskine
1806–1815: William Adam
1977–1983: The Marquess of Lothian
1990–1994: The Hon. Sir John Baring (later Lord Ashburton) Duchy of Cornwall Chancellor (Keeper of the Privy Seal)

1533–1550?: Sir Thomas Arundell
fl. 1722: Edward Eliot
bef. 1740–1748?: Richard Eliot
1751–1804: Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot
2000–present: The Hon. James Leigh-Pemberton Receiver-General

1613–?: Sir John Walter
1634–?: Sir Richard Lane
1643–1648?: Sir Robert Holborne
1783–1793: Thomas Erskine (later Lord Erskine)
1793–1800: Robert Graham Attorney-General

1747–1751: The Lord Baltimore
1751–1796?: Edward Bayntun-Rolt Surveyor-General

1843–1849: James Robert Gardiner
1993–1997: Sir John James
1997–present: Bertie Ross Keeper of the Records

?–1751: Robert Andrews
1751–bef. 1767?: William Trevannion
1957–?: Edmund Parker
1971–1993: Jeffery Bowman Solicitor-General

Cornwall (territorial duchy)
Portal:Cornwall
Duke of Cornwall
Duchess of Cornwall
Cornwall
UK topics
List of topics related to Cornwall

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

German mysticism
German mysticism (Sometimes called Dominican mysticism or Rhineland mysticism) is the name given to a Christian mystical movement in the Late Middle Ages, that was especially prominent in Germany, and in the Dominican order.
Although its origins can be traced back to Hildegard of Bingen, it is mostly represented by Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, and Henry Suso.
Other notable figures include Rulman Merswin and Margaretha Ebner, and the Friends of God.
This movement stands in stark contrast with scholasticism and German Theology.
Some of the movement's characteristics:
Some in the movement came under criticism by the Church for heterodox or heretical opinions.
It influenced the following Protestant Reformation, as well as philosophers such as Schopenhauer.

A focus on laymen as well as clerics
An emphasis on instruction and preaching
Downplaying ascetism
A focus on the New Testament rather than the Old Testament
A focus on the Christ rather than the Church
A use of the vernacular (German and Dutch) rather than Latin or Hebrew

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Declination
In astronomy, declination (abbrev. dec or δ) is one of the two coordinates of the equatorial coordinate system, the other being either right ascension or hour angle. Dec is comparable to latitude, projected onto the celestial sphere, and is measured in degrees north and south of the celestial equator. Therefore, points north of the celestial equator have positive declinations, while those to the south have negative declinations.
The sign is customarily included even if it is positive. Any unit of angle can be used for declination, but it is often expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds of arc.
A celestial object that passes over zenith, has a declination equal to the observer's latitude, with northern latitudes yielding positive declinations. A pole star therefore has the declination +90° or -90°. Conversely, at northern latitudes φ > 0, celestial objects with a declination greater than 90° - φ, are always visible. Such stars are called circumpolar stars, while the phenomenon of a sun not setting is called midnight sun.
If instead of measuring from and along the equator the angles are measured from and along the horizon, the angles are called azimuth and altitude (elevation).

An object on the celestial equator has a dec of 0°.
An object above the north pole has a dec of +90°.
An object above the south pole has a dec of −90°. Stars
The declinations of all solar system objects change much more quickly than those of stars.

Moon
Declination is used in some contexts that rule out astronomical declination, to mean the same as magnetic declination.
Declination is occasionally and erroneously used to refer to the linguistic term declension.

right ascension, celestial coordinate system
geographic coordinates, ecliptic
Setting circles

Monday, November 26, 2007

Alice Babs
Alice Babs (born Hildur Alice Nilsson in January 26, 1924) is a singer and actor from Kalmar in Sweden. While she has worked in a wide number of genres, she is best known internationally as a jazz singer. Making her breakthrough in Swing it magistern (Swing It, Teacher!) (1940), she appeared in more than a dozen Swedish language-films. Despite playing the well-behaved, good-hearted, cheerful girl, the youth culture forming with Alice Babs as its icon caused outrage among members of the older generation. A vicar called the Alice Babs cult the "foot and mouth disease to cultural life".
In 1958, she was the first artist to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, finishing in 4th place with the song Lilla stjärna (Little Star). The same year, she formed Swe-Danes with Ulrik Neumann and Svend Asmussen. The group would later tour the United States together, before dissolving in 1961. A long and productive period of collaboration with Duke Ellington started in 1963. Among other works, Alice Babs performed his second and third Sacred Concerts that were originally written for her. Her voice has an extreme range; Duke Ellington said that when she did not sing the parts that he wrote for her, he had to use three different singers.
Alice Babs currently resides in Spain.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

List of Scotland national football team results

Scotland national football team - Results 1800s
Scotland national football team - Results 1900-1939
Scotland national football team - Results 1946-1979
Scotland national football team - Results 1980-1999
Scotland national football team - Results 2000-2019

Saturday, November 24, 2007


Charyapada (Bangla: চর্যাপদ, Assamese: চৰ্যাপদ) are 8th-12th century CE Buddhist mystic poems from eastern India that provide early examples of Assamese,Oriya and Bengali languages. Charyapadas were also known as Charyageetis as these Padas (verses) were actuallly meant for singing. Poets of these Charyapadas, the Siddhas or Siddhacharyas belonged to the various regions of Assam, Bengal, Orissa and Bihar.

Manuscripts of Charyapada
The manuscript of Charyapada discovered by Haraprasad Shastri from Nepal consists 47 Padas (verses). The title-page, the colophon-page,the pages 36, 37, 38, 39 and 66 containing the Padas (verses) 24, 25 and 48 and their commentaries were missing in this manuscript. The 47 verses of this manuscript were written by 22 Siddhacharyas, whose names are mentioned at the beginning of each Pada (except the first Pada). Later, from the Tibetan translation of the text and its commentary we came to know about another 3 Padas, the complete form of Pada 23 and also about Siddhacharya poet Tantripāda. The names of the Siddhacharyas as mentioned at the beginning of the Padas in Sanskrit (or the Tibetan translation of it) and the Padas written by them are:
The name of another Siddhacharya poet Ladidombipāda has been mentioned by Munidatta in his commentary of Pada 10, but no Pada written by him has been discovered so far.
Probably, the Sanskrit names of the Siddhacharya poets were assigned to each Pada (verse) by the commentator Munidatta. The modern scholars doubted whether these assignments are proper on the basis of the internal evidences and other literarry sources. The controversies also exist amongst the modern scholars about the original names of these Siddhacharyas.

Language of Charyapada
Luipa, also known as Matsyendranath, was from Kamarupa and wrote two charyas. Sarahapa, another poet, is said to have been from Rani, a place close to present-day Guwahati. Some of the affinities with Assamese are:
Negatives -- the negative particle in Assamese comes ahead of the verb: na jãi (No. 2, 15, 20, 29); na jivami (No. 4); na chadaa, na jani, na disaa (No. 6). Charya 15 has 9 such forms. Present participles -- the suffix -ante is used as in Assamese of the Vaishnava period: jvante (while living, No. 22); sunante (while listening, No. 30) etc. Incomplete verb forms -- suffixes -i and -iya used in modern and old Assamese respectively: kari (3, 38); cumbi (4); maria (11); laia (28) etc. Present indefinite verb forms -- -ai: bhanai (1); tarai (5); pivai (6). Future -- the -iva suffix: haiba (5); kariba (7). Nominative case ending -- case ending in e: kumbhire khaa, core nila (2).Charyapada Instrumental case ending -- case ending -e and -era: uju bate gela (15); kuthare chijaa (45).
The vocabulary of the Charyapadas includes non-tatsama words which are typically Assamese, such as dala (1), thira kari (3, 38), tai (4), uju (15), caka (14) etc.

Affinities with Assamese
A number of Siddhacharyas who wrote the verses of Charyapada were from Bengal. Shabarpa, Kukkuripa and Bhusukupa were born in different parts of Bengal. Some of the affinities with Bengali can be found from the genitive in -era, -ara; the dative in –re; the locative in –ta; post-positional words like maajha, antara, saanga; past and future bases in –il-, -ib-; present participle in –anta; conjunctive indeclinable in –iaa; conjunctive conditional in –ite; passive in –ia- and substantive roots aach and thaak.

Affinities with Bengali
From the mention of the name of the Rāga (melody) for the each Pada at the beginning of it in the manuscript, it seems that these Padas were actually sung. All 50 Padas were set to the tunes of different Rāgas. The most common Rāga for Charyapada songs was Patamanjari.
While, some of these Rāgas are extinct, the names of some of these Rāgas may be actually the variants of the names of the popular Rāgas as we know them today.

Glimpses of social life

Friday, November 23, 2007


Operation Highjump (OpHjp), officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946-47, was a United States Navy operation organized by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd in Antarctica under the command of Richard Cruzen, which was launched on 26 August 1946 and lasted until 1947. The massive Antarctic task force included 4,700 men, 13 ships, and multiple aircraft.
The stated claims of the operation were as follows

to train personnel and test material in the frigid zones
to consolidate and extend American sovereignty over the largest practical area of the Antarctic continent
to determine the feasibility of establishing and maintaining bases in the Antarctic and to investigate possible base sites
to develop techniques for establishing and maintaining air bases on the ice, with particular attention to the later applicability of such techniques to operations in interior Greenland. (where, it was then believed, physical and climatic conditions resembled those in Antarctica)
to amplify existing knowledge of hydrographic, geographic, geological, meteorological and electromagnetic conditions in the area. Operation Highjump Timeline
Operation Highjump has become a topic among UFO conspiracy theorists, who claim it was a covert US military operation to conquer alleged secret underground Nazi facilities in the Antarctica and capture the German Vril flying discs, or Thule mercury-powered spaceship prototypes. This has been the central theme of Robert Doherty's "Area 51" series of novels.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Sarpedon
In Greek mythology, Sarpedon referred to at least three different people.

Sarpedon (son of Zeus and Laodamia)
A third Sarpedon was a Thracian son of Poseidon, and brother to Poltys, King of Aenus. Unlike the other two Sarpedons, this Thracian Sarpedon was not a hero, but an insolent individual who was killed by Heracles.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

George WendtGeorge Wendt
George Robert Wendt (born October 17, 1948) is an American actor perhaps best known for the role of Norm Peterson on the television show Cheers.

Early life
He is also an alumnus of The Second City which he discovered shortly after college. A viewing had inspired him to join and on his first day of employment, he showed up promptly at 11:30AM as he was instructed. The woman working there handed him a broom and said "Welcome to the theater, kid"; thus, his first job in showbiz was sweeping up cigarette butts off the floors. Second City was also where he met his future wife, Bernadette Birkett, who was to later play the voice of Norm's never-seen wife, Vera, on Cheers. In 1989, Wendt appeared as the eponymous protagonist in a BBC TV dramatization of Ivan Goncharov's novel Oblomov. He has also appeared twice (two episodes were made from one day's filming) on the original British edition of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
George Wendt first appeared on the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live in a Season 11 (1985–1986) episode where he shared hosting duties with director Francis Ford Coppola. (Coppola only appeared on the episode in sketches that pertain to a running gag throughout the episode where Coppola, Lorne Michaels, and then-writer/castmember Terry Sweeney work to "retool" SNL's sketches for better ratings, a reference to SNL's ratings being so low in the 1985-1986 season due to the young, inexperienced cast Lorne hired that Brandon Tartikoff considered cancelling the show.) In the early 1990s, Wendt made cameo appearances on several episodes of SNL as Bob Swerski, one of the Chicago Superfans (along with castmembers Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Robert Smigel, and one-time host, Joe Mantegna). Also, Wendt is the uncle of current SNL writer and cast member Jason Sudeikis.
Wendt has since appeared as himself on Seinfeld and has reprised the character Norm Peterson on the The Simpsons as well as the Frasier episode "Cheerful Goodbyes". In 2003, Wendt appeared as a celebrity fisherman in the music video for Corba Verde's "Riot Industry" along with Rudy Ray Moore (of "Dolemite" fame) and The Minutemen's Mike Watt. He appeared in several episodes of Sabrina, The Teenage Witch as the title character's boss. He also was the host of the A&E reality show, House of Dreams in 2004. In January 2006, Wendt was seen again on television screens as part of the cast of Modern Men.
In May 2006, Wendt was seen yet again on television. He made several appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien where he performed short skits to the audience's delight. His appearance on Late Night was in all likelihood due to the fact that the show was having a week long event in his hometown of Chicago where he is beloved. He starred in a 2006 episode of Masters of Horror entitled "Family", directed by John Landis. Wendt performed alongside Richard Thomas in Twelve Angry Men in October 2006 in the Eisenhower Theater in Washington, DC. After the show opened, Wendt was interviewed by local movie critic Arch Campbell for a piece on the NBC Washington affiliate WRC. Wendt was asked, "What should people do when they see you around town?" After hesitating for a moment, Wendt held his thumbs up and replied, "If their impulse is to buy me a beer, then by all means, follow that impulse." In Spring 2007, Wendt performed in Twelve Angry Men in Los Angeles.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

University of Cumbria
University of Cumbria
The University of Cumbria is a British university, established on 1 August 2007.

University of Cumbria Formation
The University is based upon the findings of a report by Sir Martin Harris. Its other campuses are at Ambleside, Lancaster, London (formerly St Martin's College) and Penrith (formerly University of Central Lancashire in Cumbria).

Monday, November 19, 2007

Highgate School
Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate (Highgate School) is a British Independent School in London, England. It is a member of both the Headmaster's Conference and the Eton Group. Highgate recently made the move towards co-education ending over 400 years of single sex education.
When founded the school was legally documented as the Free Grammar School of Sir Roger Cholmeley, Knight at Highgate in letters patent of Queen Elizabeth I in 1565. In this period up to 1871 it was known commonly as The Free Grammar School at Highgate, the Highgate Grammar School or the Cholmeley School, when not referred to legally. By the 1870s the school was by no means free anymore and provided to gentlemen esquire and the upper middle classes. For this reason the name was changed to "Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate", which it is still known by today in the charitable status list. In the later part of the 19th Century the school's current title Highgate School developed, as it competed with better-known public schools with area names like Eton College, Harrow School and Winchester College.
Three separate schools now come under the Highgate Foundation, which manages not only the Senior School but also a prep school and a pre-prep school.

History
Due to the Foundation's significant ownership of land and properties around the school, it has been able to invest greatly in the school's facilities; the relatively recent conversion from boarding to day school has increased the space available for this to continue. The Foundation's governing body consists of 12 members; 5 are nominated (one each by the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, by the Bishop of London, and by the Lord Chief Justice), and the rest are co-opted. The school is a member of the Eton Group of leading independent schools.

Administration

T. S. Eliot OM (1888–1965), American-born British poet, dramatist, and literary critic, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948
Sir Robert Stopford KCVO, CBE, Bishop of London
Rev Kenneth Hunt, footballer who was instrumental in taking Wolverhampton Wanderers to FA Cup victory
Jon Ingold, author
Sir Kyffin Williams RA - award-winning Welsh artist
Dr Andrew Zbigniew Szydlo - Dr Szydlo made a name for himself by appearing on Channel 4 TV Show That'll Teach Them
Albert Knight, England cricketer
Graham Wallas, socialist and founder of the Fabian Society Notable members of staff
The school operates a house system like many other public schools and on entering, pupils are placed in a house according to where they live (although the system does appear inaccurate, on occasions). These houses are Northgate, Southgate, Westgate, Eastgate, Queensgate, Kingsgate, Midgate, Fargate, Heathgate, The Lodge, School House and Grindal House. Each house has a Housemaster in charge of the pastoral, as well as academic well-being of house-members, and tutors for each year group. This system was established to create 'house spirit' among the students, allowing for both academic and sporting competitions among the houses. Some of these, like School House, Grindal, and The Lodge used to be boarding houses. However, other houses, such as Kingsgate, are newer, having been created by a dissaffected group of Westgateans in the 1970s.

Houses
Former pupils are known as Old Cholmeleians, after the school's founder, Sir Roger Cholmeley, and Highgate has a diverse range of well-known old boys, most notably in the arts and literature. All former pupils are inducted into the Old Cholmeleians' Society upon leaving; the society has several events at the school and elsewhere for old pupils. Members past and present include:

Alumni

Peter Beazley (politician)
David Burrowes (politician)
The Rt Hon Charles Clarke (politician - Secretary of State for Education (2002-2004) Home Secretary (2004-2006)
Sir John Cockburn (Australian politician - Premier of South Australia)
The Rt Hon Anthony Crosland (politician- Secretary of State for Education and Science (1965-1967) President of the Board of Trade (1967-1969) Foreign Secretary (1976-1977)
The Rt Hon Bernard Jenkin (politician and Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party)
Sir Geoffrey Shakespeare Bt (politician, Chief Whip of the Liberal Party, Private Secretary to David Lloyd George and Minister for Overseas Trade)
Christopher Wright (founder of Single's Club)
Sir Martin Furnival Jones KCB (Director General of MI5 1965-1972)
The Rt Hon Sir Robert Atkins MEP
Frank,Lord Bowles (MP and Deputy Chairman of the Labour Party)
Rupert Mitford, Lord Redesdale (Liberal Democrats Spokesman)
Anthony Howard (political journalist)
Sir Colin Turner MP
Sir Charles Thomas-Stanford Bt. MP (politician and author. Donated Lewes Castle to the Nation) Politics

Sir Maurice Gwyer KCB, KCSI (Chief Justice of India and Vice Chancellor of Delhi University)
Ernest Greenwood (Attorney-General of Northern Nigeria)
Michael Mansfield QC
Sir Peter Crane (High Court Judge)
Sir Anthony Lincoln (High Court Judge)
Lord Ackner (Law Lord)
Lord Neill of Bladen QC (Barrister, Vice Chancellor of Oxford University, Warden of All Souls College, Oxford)
Sir Brian Neill (Court of Appeal Judge)
Professor Sir Roy Goode QC (academic, Professor of English Law, Oxford University)
Sir Anthony Plowman (Vice-Chancellor of the Chancery Division and High Court Judge)
Thomas Sargant OBE (Law Reformer and Human Rights Campaigner)
Sir Frank Douglas MacKinnon (Court of Appeal Judge)
Sir Arcibald Bodkin (Director of Public Prosecutions)
Nicholas Strauss QC Law

Johnny Borrell of Razorlight
Zak Starkey of Oasis and The Who (son of Ringo Starr)
John Hassall of The Libertines/Yeti
Crispian Mills of Kula Shaker
Jon Moss of (Culture Club)
Orlando Weeks of The Maccabees
Christian Smith of Stony Sleep and Razorlight
DJ Yoda
George Clode of Illegitimate Sons of the King
Piers Marais of Illegitimate Sons of the King
Danny Wilder of Illegitimate Sons of the King
Theo Wieder of Illegitimate Sons of the King Popular music

John Rutter CBE (composer)
Sir John Tavener (composer)
Alan Bush (composer)
Jan Latham-Koenig (conductor)
Anthony Camden (oboest and conductor)
Howard Shelley (pianist)
Gerard Hoffnung (tubist)
Daniel Hope (violinist)
Brian Chapple (composer)
Simon Bainbridge (composer and Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music) Classical music

Richard Bebb (actor)
John Box OBE (Academy Award-winning ("Oscar") production designer and art director)
Robin Ellis (actor)
John Leyton (actor and singer)
Adrian Lyne (film director, Flashdance, 9 1/2 Weeks, Fatal Attraction, Jacobs Ladder)
Barry Norman CBE (film critic)
Lloyd Owen (actor)
Geoffrey Palmer OBE (actor)
Robin Ray (broadcaster)
Harry Thompson (television producer)
Murray Walker OBE (motorsport commentator)
Philip Harben (TV Chef)
Paul Rotha (Film Maker)
Christopher Morahan (Theatre, television and film Director, directed Clockwise (film)) Film and television

R.G. Warton (England Cricket team manager)
W.R. Seagrove (Olympic athlete)
David Hays (cricketer)
Douglas Lowe QC (Olympic athlete, President of the Bar Council)
Walter Robins (Captain of the English Cricket Team)
Phil Tufnell (England Cricket Team, TV Personality)
Colin Dryborough (Captain of Middlesex CCC)
R.D Robertson (Rugby Union, Scottish International)
Gordon Crole-Rees (Davis Cup tennis player)
Amin Zahir (fencing, Olympic team) Science

Sir Reginald Blomfield (architect; designed the school)
Matthew Garber, actor
Gerard Hoffnung, (cartoonist and musician)
Anthony Green RA, (artist)
Patrick Procktor, (artist)
Nigel Williams, (author, screenwriter and playwright)
Allan G. Wyon, (sculptor)
Marcus Clarke, (author)
Hussein Chalayan MBE, (designer)
Peter Kingsley, (writer on ancient Greek culture)
Mike Ockrent (theatre director) Arts

Nicholas Rowe (1674–1718, Poet Laureate and dramatist)
Ernest Hartley Coleridge (literary scholar, grandson of Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
Professor Vivian Hunter Galbraith (historian, Regius Professor of Modern History, Oxford University)
Gerard Manley Hopkins (poet)
Philip Stanhope Worsley (first published translations of the Odyssey and Iliad)
Edmund Yates (novelist and chose Lewis Carroll as pen name for Charles Dodgson)
Owen Barfield (influenced both C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien)
Sir John Betjeman (Poet Laureate, taught by T. S. Eliot)
Sir Martin Gilbert CBE (Historian and official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill)
Howard Hayes Scullard (historian, editor of the Oxford Classical Dictionary
Walter William Skeat (philologist)
James Augustus Cotter Morison, essayist and historian
Martin Seymour-Smith (poet and biographer)
John Bradley Dyne (President of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge) Scholars and poets

Sir Edward Beauchamp (MP and Chairman of Lloyds)
Sir Percy Mackinnon (Chairman of Lloyds)
Sir Alexander Valentine (Chairman of Transport for London)
Sir Arthur Hetherington (Chairman of British Gas)
Sir James Lindsay (Industrialist and management consultant)
Sir Malcolm Field (Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority and managing director of WH Smith)
Piers Adam (nightclub and restaurant owner, KBar, CLICK, Capisce, ROCK, Mahiki) Business and commerce

Mgr Ralph Brown (Papal Chamberlain and Canon law expert)
Stanley Booth-Clibborn (Bishop of Manchester)
Kenneth Clements (Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn)
Ernest H. Thorold (Chaplain to HM King George V, HM King Edward VII, and HM King George VI).
Norman Tubbs (Bishop of Rangoon and Dean of Chester)
Arthur Kitching (Bishop of Uganda)
William G Hardie (Archbishop of the West Indies)
Edward Waller (Bishop of Madras)
Henry Durrant (Bishop of Lahore)
Samuel Bickersteth (Chaplain to HM the King and Canon of Canterbury)
Edward Bickersteth (Bishop of South Tokyo, Japan)
Charles Turner (Bishop of Islington)
Henry Venn (Canon of Canterbury) The Armed Forces

Stephen Ward (of the Profumo affair)

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive was a successful and influential British video game publisher. It was formed as Virgin Games from the remnants of the large-scale 1980s label, Mastertronics, which was purchased by Virgin in 1987. It was part of the Virgin Group, and it was once considered the "Electronic Arts" of Europe. In 1994 it was renamed Virgin Interactive.
It published games for PC as well as other systems, including the Amiga, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, C64 and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
It helped the career of many developers, including Westwood Studios and Synergistic. Also, many workers for Shiny Entertainment, including David Perry, worked for Virgin before splitting off to create Earthworm Jim. Also among Virgin Interactive alumni are famed video game composer Tommy Tallarico, artist Doug Ten Naplel, designer David Bishop, animator Bill Kroyer, animator/artists Andy Luckey and Mike Dietz and programmer Andy Astor.
In 1994 Virgin Interactive created the "Digicel" process, originally for an unpublished game called "Dynoblaze." Key to developing the process were Dr. Stephen Clarke-Wilson, David Perry, designer David Bishop, animator Bill Kroyer animator/artists Andy Luckey<animator Mike Dietz and programmer Andy Astor. The technology was first released to the general public in the Disney's Aladdin (video_game) for the Sega Genesis and, subsequently on such projects as the Lion King Video Game.
The Company's assets were acquired in 1999 by the French publisher Titus Software -- its name was changed to Avalon Interactive on July 1, 2003.
The British studio operations were acquired in a management buyout led by fomer Managing Director Tim Chaney in 1998. The U.S. operations were sold to Electronic Arts as part of its acquisition of Westwood Studios that same year.
Some popular games published by this company:

Doriath (1985)
Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future (1986)
Realms (1991)
Corporation (1991)
M.C. Kids (1991)
Global Gladiators (1992)
The 7th Guest (1992)
Disney's Aladdin (1993)
Cannon Fodder (1993)
Cool Spot (1993)
Lands of Lore series (1993)
Goal! (1994)
The Lion King (1994)
Command & Conquer (1995)
Hyper 3D Pinball (1995)
Zone Raiders (1995)
Command & Conquer: Red Alert (1996)
Resident Evil (Europe only) (1996)
Agile Warrior F-111X (1997)
Subspace (1997)
Resident Evil 2 (Europe only) (1998)
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (Europe only) (2000)
Project Justice (Europe only) (2001)

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Factories History of the factory
Before the advent of mass transportation, factories' needs for ever-greater concentrations of workers meant that they typically grew up in an urban setting or fostered their own urbanization. Industrial slums developed, and re-enforced their own development through the interactions between factories, as when one factory's output or waste-product became the raw materials of another factory (preferably nearby). Canals and railways grew as factories spread, each clustering around sources of cheap energy, available materials and/or mass markets. The exception proved the rule: even Greenfield's factory sites such as Bournville, founded in a rural setting, developed its own housing and profited from convenient communications networks.
Regulation curbed some of the worst excesses of industrialization's factory-based society, a series of Factory Acts leading the way in Britain. Trams, automobiles and town planning encouraged the separate development ('apartheid') of industrial suburbs and residential suburbs, with workers commuting between them.
Though factories dominated the Industrial Era, the growth in the service sector eventually began to dethrone them: the locus of work in general shifted to central-city office towers or to semi-rural campus-style establishments, and many factories stood deserted in local rust belts.
The next blow to the traditional factories came from globalization. Manufacturing processes (or their logical successors, assembly plants) in the late 20th century re-focussed in many instances on Special Economic Zones in developing countries or on maquiladoras just across the national boundaries of industrialized states. Further re-location to the least industrialized nations appears possible as the benefits of out-sourcing and the lessons of flexible location apply in the future.

Siting the factory
Much of management theory developed in response to the need to control factory processes. Assumption of the hierarchies of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers and their supervisors and managers linger on.

See also

Friday, November 16, 2007

Armour & Co.
Armour & Company was an American slaughterhouse and meatpacking company founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1867 by the Armour brothers, led by Philip Danforth Armour (18321901). By 1880 the company was Chicago's most important business and helped make the city and its Union Stock Yards the center of the American meatpacking industry. In the 1980s, The Armour brand was split between shelf-stable meat products and refrigerated meat products, each today owned by different entities (see below). The Armour Star (shelf-stable) brand is currently a brand of meat-based lard and canned entrees including hash, chili, stews, and potted meats, as well as dried and powdered pig thyroids. The rights to the Armour Star food brand are owned by Pinnacle Foods (pinnacle is now owned by the Blackstone Group), while the Armour brand for refrigerated meats is now owned by Smithfield Foods of Smithfield, VA, through their affiliate, Armour Eckrich LLC. The Armour brand for use in the pharmaceutical industry is owned by Forest Laboratories, Incorporated.
In the early years, Armour sold every kind of consumer product made from animals. Not only meats but glue, oil, fertilizer, hairbrushes, buttons, oleomargarine, and drugs were made from slaughterhouse byproducts. Armour operated in an environment without labor unions, health inspections or government regulation. Accidents were commonplace. Armour was also notorious for the low pay it offered its line workers, and it actively fought unionization, banning known union activists and ruthlessly breaking strikes in 1904 and 1921 by employing African Americans and desperate immigrants as strikebreakers. It was not fully unionized until the late 1930s when interracial unions became more commonplace.
During the Spanish-American War, Armour sold 500,000 pounds of beef to the US Army. An army inspector tested the meat 2 months later and found that 751 cases contained rotten meat. This resulted in the food poisoning of thousands of soldiers.
In the early 1920s, Armour encountered financial troubles and the Armour family sold its majority interest to financier, Frederick H. Prince. The firm retained its position as one of the largest American firms through the Great Depression and the sharp increase in demand during World War II and during this period, expanded its operations across the United States, at its peak employing as many as 50,000 people.
In 1948, Armour, which made soap for years as a by-product of the meatpacking process, developed a deodorant soap by adding the germicidal agent AT-7 to soap; this limited body odor by reducing bacteria on the skin. The new soap was named "Dial" because of its 24-hour protection against the odor-causing bacteria. Armour introduced the soap with a full-page advertisement using scented ink in the Chicago Tribune.
After World War II, Armour & Company's fortunes began to decline. In 1959, it closed its Chicago slaughterhouse operations.
However, by the 1950s, Dial was the best-selling deodorant soap in the US. The company adopted the slogan "Aren't you glad you use Dial? Don't you wish everybody did?" in 1953. In the 1960s, Armour expanded the Dial line with deodorants and shaving creams.
Canadian bus company Greyhound Corporation acquired Armour & Co. and its Dial brand in 1970. Greyhound kept the company's meatpacking (Armour Foods) and consumer products operations (Armour-Dial) and sold the rest of its assets. In 1971, Greyhound moved Armour-Dial's headquarters from Chicago to Phoenix, Arizona in 1971, to a newly-built $83 million building.
Greyhound's rapid diversification and frequent unit restructurings led to erratic profitability. In 1981, John Teets was appointed chairman of Greyhound and began selling unprofitable subsidiaries. After meatpackers struck at Armour Food meat packing plants in the mid-1980s, Teets shut 29 plants and sold its meatpacking operation to ConAgra, Inc. (now ConAgra Foods, Inc.), but kept its canned meat business. ConAgra continued to manufacture the canned meat products, sold under the Armour-Star brand, for Greyhound's Armour-Dial unit.
A similar labor feud at Greyhound led to the sale of the bus operations in 1987. Armour-Dial acquired laundry soap maker Purex Industries in 1985. Two years later it introduced Liquid Dial soap. In 1990, the company acquired the Breck's hair products line.
To reflect its changing focus, the company changed its name to The Dial Corporation in 1991. When it sold Motor Coach Industries to the public in 1993, it exited the US bus industry altogether. Also that year Dial bought Renuzit air fresheners from S.C. Johnson. The company introduced the Nature's Accents line of skin care products in 1995.
The Dial Corporation was acquired by Henkel KGaA of Dusseldorf, Germany in March 2004. The food-related brands of the Dial Corporation - including the shelf-stable meat products sold under the Armour-Star brand, which encompassed such delicacies as chili, hash, potted meat, sloppy joe sauce, sliced dried beef, Treet, and Vienna sausages - were sold to Pinnacle Foods Group in March 2006, so that the company can focus on its personal care, laundry, and professional products businesses. Dial's Cream corn starch and Appian Way boxed pizza products were also part of the deal. Under Pinnacle's ownership, over 150 meat products are sold under the Armour-Star label, and are now manufactured by Smithfield Foods (having acquired ConAgra's refrigerated meat business in late 2006). Pinnacle Foods was acquired by The Blackstone Group, a New York City-based private equity firm, in April 2007.
Armour's most well-recognized product is Armour hot dogs, which were advertised on television for decades using a catchy jingle which, despite the years that have passed since it was widely heard, much of the American population can still sing from memory. Armour Hot Dogs are today owned by Smithfield Foods, through their Armour Eckrich LLC affiliate.

Thursday, November 15, 2007


A sport utility vehicle, or SUV, is a passenger vehicle which combines the towing capacity of a pickup truck with the passenger-carrying space of a minivan or station wagon together with on or off road ability. Most SUVs are designed with a roughly square cross-section, an engine compartment, a combined passenger and cargo compartment, and no dedicated trunk. Most mid-size and full-size SUVs have three rows of seats with a cargo area directly behind the last row of seats. Compact SUVs and mini SUVs, such as the Toyota RAV4, may have five or fewer seats.
It is known in some countries as an "off-road vehicle" or "four-wheel drive", often abbreviated to "4WD" or "4x4", pronounced "four-by-four". However, not all SUVs have four-wheel drive capabilities (see Mazda Tribute, for example). Conversely, not all 4WD passenger vehicles are SUVs (see, for example, Subaru Impreza (sedan), Jeep Wrangler (off-road vehicle), Daihatsu Feroza (off-road vehicle). Off-road vehicles are a very diffirent class of vehicles, being vehicles primary build for off-road use. Although some SUVs have off-road capabilities, this is often a secondary role and they often do not have the ability to switch between 2WD, 4WD high gearing and 4WD low gearing. Many SUVs are not build for off-road and in many cases are essentially a raised station wagon which perform poorly off-road.
More recently, manufacturers have responded to buyers' complaints that SUVs "drive like trucks" and demands for "carlike ride" with a new type of SUV. A new category, the crossover SUV uses car design and components for lighter weight and better fuel efficiency, but is no longer designed or recommended by the manufacturer for off-road usage or towing.

Etymology
Outside of North America and India, these vehicles are known simply as "four-wheel-drives", often abbreviated to "4WD" or "4x4".
In countries such as the UK, where the U.S. distinction between cars and "light trucks" is not used, they are classified as cars.
In Australia, parts of the automotive industry and press are promoting the term "SUV" in place of "four-wheel drive" in an attempt to disassociate this type of vehicle from its increasingly negative public image; despite this, the term "four wheel drive" is still widely used. The motor industry in that country uses the term "AWD" for vehicles that are driven by all four wheels, but not designed for harsh off-road conditions, while the motoring press prefers the term "soft roader" for this type of vehicle.
The Australian "utility" or "ute" (an abbreviation of "coupe utility", a body style created in Australia in 1934) traditionally refers to a car-based commercial vehicle with an integral, "styled", open load area at the rear. However, it now also applies to dedicated commercial vehicles with separate tray type ("table top") load areas, such as the Toyota Hilux, including 4wd versions.
For decades, SUVs were often referred to generically as "jeeps." This practice was actively discouraged by every owner of the Jeep trademark, and this terminology is now almost entirely out of use.

Other names
They are also called UAV, for Urban Assault Vehicle. due to their popularity among affluent people living in central London areas such as Chelsea.
In New Zealand they are occasionally called "Fendalton tractors" or "Remuera tractors" after the higher priced suburbs in Christchurch and Auckland respectively.
In Australia, Victoria, they are sometimes referred to as "Toorak Tractors," though this is rare.
In Norway, they are known as Sport staionwagon or 'bourse tractors' due to yuppie stereotypes.
In Russia the name "SUV" is not used at all: vehicles sized up to RAV4 are called "parquet off-roaders" due to their limited cross-country abilities, the others are referred as "jeeps".
In the Netherlands, they are often called "PC Hooft-tractors" after Amsterdam's most exclusive shopping street. SUVs are also criticized in the Netherlands for similar reasons, and some environmentalists are pushing local governments to deny SUV users parking spaces.
In Greece, owners of SUVs are sometimes called 'Kolonaki Farmers'(Αγρότες του Κολωνακίου), referring to Kolonaki, a posh area of Athens (in the same vein as in the term 'Chelsea Tractors').
"Stadsjeep", meaning "City Jeep" is a very common slang word in Sweden, where SUVs are associated with prosperity and high incomes. Instead, "Stadsjeep" hints at the somewhat absurd phenomena of town dwellers driving around in large jeeps on well paved city streets. Slang
Although designs vary, the SUV are stereotypically medium sized non-commercial passenger vehicles constructed using a body-on-frame chassis similar to that found on crew cab or light truck. They can be either gasoline or diesel, and often the engines especially in American SUV's are that of the same engine line or even the same engine as in the equivalent pickup truck.
A few of the most known design characteristics of SUV's are their high ground clearance and upright, boxy body. However, since this creates a lot of drag, their bodies have been more aerodynamic over the years to improve fuel economy.

Design characteristics

History
Sport utility vehicles were originally descended from commercial and military vehicles such as the Jeep and Land Rover. SUVs have been popular for many years with rural buyers due to their off-road capabilities. The Toyota Land Cruiser (the early versions were (off-road vehicles but the later versions are more SUV), , Range Rover, Jeep Wagoneer and the Ford Bronco were early SUV examples, followed by the Chevrolet Blazer and the GMC Jimmy. International Harvester also sold SUVs, notably the three-door Scout and the five-door Travelall.
In the last 25 years, and even more in the last decade, SUVs have become popular with urban buyers. Consequently, more modern SUVs often come with luxury features and some crossover SUVs, such as the Infiniti FX35, Lexus RX, Subaru Tribeca, Mitsubishi Outlander (2007 onward), and BMW X3, have adopted lower ride heights and utilize unibody construction to better accommodate on-road driving.

Popularity
SUVs are often used in places such as the Australian Outback, Africa, the Middle East, Alaska, Northern Canada, South America and most of Asia, which have limited paved roads and require the vehicle to have all-terrain handling, increased range, and storage capacity. The low availability of spare parts and the need to carry out repairs quickly allow model vehicles with the bare minimum of electric and hydraulic systems to predominate. Typical examples are the Land Rover and the Toyota Land Cruiser. SUVs intended for use in urbanised areas have traditionally been developed from their more rugged all-terrain counterparts. For example the Hummer H1 is derived from the HMMWV, originally developed for the US Armed Forces.

Use in remote areas
SUVs are also used to explore places otherwise unreachable by other vehicles. In Australia, China, Europe, South Africa, South America and the United States at least, many 4WD clubs have been formed for this purpose. Modified SUVs also take part in races, most famously in the Paris-Dakar Rally, and the Australian Outback.

Sports Utility Vehicles Use in recreation and motorsport

Main article: Luxury SUV Luxury SUV

Main article: Criticism of sport utility vehicles See also

Gladwell, M. (2004, January 12). Big and bad. The New Yorker, LXXIX, 28-30. [2]
Motor Trend. (Complete information on the Motor Trend reference is unavailable. However, the article was Motor Trend's announcement of the Lexus RX 300 as the 1999 SUV of the Year.)

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

HBO Films
HBO Films is a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. While much of HBO Films' output is created directly for the television market, such as the mini-series Band of Brothers and Angels in America, it has also branched into theatrical distribution with such critically acclaimed films as Elephant and American Splendor. These theatrical releases are usually handled by Picturehouse, a joint venture between HBO Films and New Line Cinema; both are owned by Time Warner.
HBO began producing films in 1983 with their HBO Pictures banner; their first film, The Terry Fox Story, was also the first feature film produced expressly for pay television. Another film production company, HBO Showcase (later HBO NYC) was folded into HBO Pictures to produce the current company HBO Films.
The Muppets Take Manhattan, was first aired on HBO, June 18, 1997. But this was from TriStar Pictures, but "Learning About Numbers," debuted: June 18, 1997, within Big Bird's Numbers Show.
HBO Films productions are generally regarded to be high-quality and groundbreaking productions; the films produced by the company have garnered hundreds of Emmy and Golden Globe awards; HBO Films productions have won the award for the Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Made for Television Movie" every year from 1993 to 2002, except 2000. Elephant is the first film produced by HBO Films to win the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.