Characters Stan Smith (voiced by
Seth MacFarlane): Has worked for the CIA since the
1980s as a "weapons expert" always on the alert for terrorist activity. As of the first episode of Season 2, his official job title is apparently "Deputy Deputy Director", although the official announcement of his promotion was not shown to viewers. Since then his work has included the interrogation of possible terrorists. He can be quite paranoid and protective: he has a terror-alert color code on his
refrigerator, and is so high-strung as to shoot the
toaster when the toast pops up. Stan is in mostly top physical shape, though he has a bit of a gut (which strangely enough is only portrayed on him when he has no shirt, when he has a shirt he appears quite in shape), and has no qualms about kidnapping, drugging, or
tasering anybody, even family members, if he sees it as a means to an end. In one episode, he kidnaps American actress and singer
Hilary Duff to date his nerdy son Steve. He worships
Ronald Reagan, quoting his speeches and even going as far as choosing a dog because it was alive during Reagan's administration. He is startlingly out of touch with international events, has a very itchy trigger finger, and loves
Mr. Pibb. He also drives a black
Ford Explorer. It has been noted by Seth MacFarlane on the DVD commentary for the
American Dad pilot, that he is based on the announcers of 1950s American anti-
communist propaganda films. He also has a great obsession with cleaning and collecting guns, and constantly carries (and often uses at inappropriate times) two
Glock 17s. He also owns an
AR-15,
MAC-10, a "pen gun", a
MP5, and what he calls a "sword gun" (a mix of a
Glock 17 and a kitchen knife), all of which are stored in his wife's spice pantry, who does not seem to notice them. Viewers who look closely can see a large amount of ammunition and even
grenades stored there. He stores weapons in random places around the house. During a mock robbery, Stan screams, "Hayley! Get the gun from the China cabinet!" He once opined, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people. Guns defend people from people with smaller guns."
Francine Smith (voiced by
Wendy Schaal): The sweet, stereotypical trophy housewife of Stan Smith. She keeps her own opinions and party-hearty personality mostly to herself, for the sake of her husband's ultra-conservative views. She rarely has any friends because she has no career outside of the house, and Stan always scares the neighbors. But in the 1980s, she slept with
Adam Ant,
Billy Gibbons of
ZZ Top, and
Dexy's Midnight Runners. She is more sympathetic to Hayley's ideologies and Steve's
geekiness than Stan. Her housework is her life, although she has occasionally longed for grander things. Francine is not a natural blonde but a brunette. She once owned a muffin-selling
kiosk at the mall, but it was destroyed in an explosion caused by extremist hippies. She also has a deep resentment of actor
George Clooney whom she believes cost her an acting career. Francine's brain has been repeatedly damaged or tampered with by her husband in acts of foolishness ("Francine's Flashback", "Roger 'n Me"). In
American Dad Vs. Family Guy Kung Fu, she looks and acts like the
Statue of Liberty.
Hayley Smith (voiced by
Rachael MacFarlane): The
ultra-liberal daughter of Stan and Francine. Because of her views, Stan distrusts her more than her brother. She is eighteen and goes to
community college. She enjoys recreational
marijuana, usually with her on-again, off again boyfriend
Jeff Fischer, and goes hiking with him. They are both
vegetarians, although Hayley appears to be forcing her beliefs onto Jeff. In the episode "
Bullocks To Stan", she broke up with Jeff to sleep with her father's boss,
CIA Deputy Director Bullock, because she was looking for a guy who "can stand up to her." After Stan's intervention, she dumped Bullock and went back to her hippie boyfriend Jeff. In
Saudi Arabia she slept with a
Shawarma King employee because she was impressed by his (false) claim about being a tormented, conflicted member of
Al Qaeda. She later broke up with Jeff.
Steve Smith (voiced by
Scott Grimes): The highly-impressionable fourteen-year-old son of Stan and Francine. Roger seems to be his best friend. Steve goes to extreme measures to raise his
social status and get dates, yet he actually knows very little about sex. Although he was stereotypically whiny in the pilot episode, in the regular series he is confident and smart, but still socially inept. He plays
Dungeons & Dragons with his three best human friends. He reads
Elvish, and had a brief fling with a senior citizen (when criticized for having a relationship with someone with wrinkles, he responds, "So do raisins! But they taste pretty sweet!") Steve has come into conflict with Stan, who wants Steve to follow in his footsteps, often criticising his (nerdy) friends and habits. A most prominent example of this is in the
Star Trek episode, in which Steve gets legally divorced from his family. His design changed dramatically from the character shown in a
Family Guy DVD clip. Steve once had a vision of
God while lost in the Arabian desert, but God took the form of
Angelina Jolie.
Klaus (voiced by
Dee Bradley Baker): The result of the CIA swapping a libidinous
East German Olympic ski-jumper's mind with those of a
goldfish in order to prevent him from winning the
gold medal. Klaus manifests some sadistic tendencies, usually offering the explanation, "I'm
German!", and lusts after Francine. In the "
Finances With Wolves" episode, Klaus switched his goldfish body for that of a black man's, and almost ran off with Francine, but the body was destroyed in the aftermath of an explosion at the mall, which also destroyed Francine's short lived muffin-selling
kiosk, and his brain was placed in another goldfish's body. He is extremely tolerant of various environments other than his fish bowl: while the average goldfish will die even in tapwater, Klaus has swum in a washing machine, a
Thermos of
coffee, and frequently perches himself out of the water. Klaus's brain swap was said to be during the "1986
Winter Olympics" (when in real-life, the Winter Olympics were held in
1984 and
1988). His voice is modeled after
Peter Lorre's. In the German dubbed version of
American Dad!, Klaus speaks in a
Saxon dialect, which is offensive to many East Germans but considered funny among German native speakers outside of Saxony. His behaviour in the German version is reminiscent of an ex-
Stasi agent and he has dropped a few hints of once being attached to the Stasi agency. In the season 2 episode "Of Ice And Men", Klaus is shown in the future as an old man with a grandson, evidently having regained a human body, and hints that he may have been a monkey at some point too.
Roger (voiced by
Seth MacFarlane): The sarcastic, alcoholic, surly, lonely, aloof, and flamboyantly effeminate space alien who saved Stan's life in
Area 51. He spends his time smoking, drinking and eating (mainly unhealthy foods). Roger is an avid film, television and celebrity buff. He is not allowed to leave the house and the family conceals his existence, although he has left on a few occasions in various disguises including a frilly dress, gloves and hat which caused him to be mistaken for a senior citizen. His life as a "shut-in" has led him to develop a love of fantasy and dressing-up, and he has a particular love for wigs. His sexual and gender identity seems to be very fluid, as he thinks nothing of wearing dresses, acting like a stereotypical drama queen and romancing men. His voice is modeled after
Paul Lynde's. Roger is in many ways a
Family Guy-esque version of
ALF. He has the power to defecate gold with jewels on it after eatng burritos, which became a recurring theme in the series in which people who have found it become greedy and often meet a horrible end. His age is currently unknown, but he is at least 60 due to the episode where he mentions being the Roswell alien.
Smith Family Jack Smith: Stan's father. For most of his life, Stan believed his father to be a top secret agent in "The Scarlet Alliance". In reality, he was a jewel thief. After the man Stan paid to pretend to be his father died, the real Jack dropped in on the family. Roger developed a
"boy crush" on Jack but the other family members were wary of him. Jack has grey hair and is missing an eye, based on the traditional look of
Marvel Comics' super-spy
Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D., but resembles Stan Smith. Voiced by
Daran Norris.
Smith relatives In addition to the Smith family, there are numerous minor characters which have appeared, or are planned to appear, in multiple episodes.
Additional characters, voiced by
Martin Mull and
Beau Bridges, will be appearing in future episodes.
Avery Bullock: Deputy Director of the CIA, and Stan's 58-year-old-boss. He is as highly-strung as Stan, but considerably less paranoid and usually more competent. He once had an intimate relationship with Hayley. He is married, but his wife is handcuffed to a radiator in
Fallujah, as he "does not negotiate with terrorists." He is voiced by (and resembles)
Patrick Stewart, and many jokes are built around giving this respected Shakespearean actor the most unlikely scenes and lines, including an energetic two-hour
banjo session. He is the same animation as used in Family Guy in Peter's got Woods as a Star Trek character.
Greg Corbin: Local News Anchor,at W-ANG-TV, Terry's co-anchor and domestic partner. Also Stan's neighbor. He and Terry have a penchant for minor bickering, however, they are a complete antithesis of Tom Tucker and Diane Simmons of
Family Guy. Greg is a member of the
Log Cabin Republicans, and has brown hair.
Terry Bates: Local News Anchor, Greg's co-anchor and domestic partner. Also Stan's neighbor. Stan was completely unaware of the fact that his neighbors are a
homosexual couple up until recently, and, while initially being prejudiced against them for their practice of liberal journalism, eventually merely considered them nice young men that just happen to live together. Terry is a Democrat with blond hair. Terry's father is apparently either unaware or unhappy about his son's sexuality, much to Greg's annoyance. ("I've told you, as soon as my father dies I will wear the ring!") He owns a
French bulldog named
Heath Ledger. It's hinted that Terry is a number of years younger than Greg.
Jeff Fischer: Hayley's
stoner boyfriend. He has a poor relationship with his father, who is a marijuana grower and dealer, and his mother abandoned him before his birth (how is unknown). He does have an uncle who Jeff considered a father figure. Hayley repeatedly dumps him for being needy, clingy and overly agreeable, but he and Hayley eventually get back together. Loves events like
Burning Man. In one episode, he was bleeding and twitching on the floor of a diner after being thrown head-first into a wall by Bullock. Jeff appears to have made a full recovery since then. Jeff is based on Seth MacFarlane's friend, also named Jeff Fischer, who voices the character.
Snot: Steve's acne covered friend (voiced by
Curtis Armstrong). He speaks Klingon, and seems to read
Elvish. Like Steve, he has a fetish for (
octogenarian) women. Believed to be Jewish, as he said his parents couldn't afford a
Bar Mitzvah. Snot seems to be an homage to Curtis Armstrong's character
Booger from the
Revenge of the Nerds movies.
Barry: Steve's obese friend. Stan hates him, but doesn't know why. He also speaks
Klingon, and seems to read Elvish. He apparently has a
fetish for
Miss Piggy. It is later revealed that his normally quiet and innocent personality is the result of powerful antipsychotic "vitamins." After temporarily stopping his medication regimen, Barry turns into a dangerously deranged mastermind, brilliantly framing Steve for the destruction of Stan's beloved commemorative plates, in an attempt to replace Steve. His madness gets worse over time, culminating with Barry trying to eliminate everyone that might get between himself and Stan. Finally Steve saves the day by tricking Barry into taking his medication, reverting him back to his usual self. He also dresses in a similar way to
Peter Griffin from Family Guy. Voiced by
Eddie Kaye Thomas.
Toshi: Steve's
Japanese friend. Though he can understand English perfectly, he always speaks Japanese with subtitles (it has never been revealed wheather or not he can actually speak English), which his friends don't seem able to understand. He can also speak Russian ("
Of Ice and Men") and Spanish ("
Irregarding Steve"). He may be able to read Elvish (which incidentally appeared as nonsensical Japanese text in that particular episode). Toshi has expressed the desire to kill Steve as his greatest wish ("
Finances with Wolves"). Voiced by
Daisuke Suzuki.
Linda Memari: Is the wife of Bob Memari and close friend to Francine. Linda saves Francine from the Lady Bugs, a social group for women who cheat on their husbands, by kissing her. It has been suggested that Linda may not be attracted to her husband. In an attempt to hit on Francine, she rearranged her clothes to make her bust more prominent and knocked on the Smith Family door (prompting a drunk Stan to comment "When did you get those?"). After thinking that Stan was beating Francine, she makes an awkward excuse to leave. Francine then says, "She's a weird chick." Linda's husband is apparently resigned to her preferences, and asks, in a defeated tone, if he can "at least watch this time", when he sees Linda eyeing Francine. Voiced by
Megyn Price.
Bob Memari: Born in
Cleveland, Ohio, Bob is the
Iranian husband to Linda Memari and neighbor of Stan. Stan initially discriminates against Bob because of his ethnic background, as seen in the episode "
Homeland Insecurity". Ironically, Bob seems to dislike
African Americans. Voiced by
Ron Livingston.
Jackson: One of Stan's co-workers at the CIA. He was once a real estate agent, and is a
"former homosexual". Apparently, when he stopped selling houses, his "
sodomy cleared right up." His conversion has been suggested to be unsuccessful. He also expresses a wish to have a
vagina, indicating he is
transgender as well. Moreover, when asked if he ever "
did it with a dead mermaid", he replied "Mermaid, no." Previously had a body double who was accidentally killed by Stan. He is almost always seen with something in his hands such as a coffee cup. Voiced by
Mike Henry.
Dick: Dick is another of Stan's co-workers at the CIA. His wife eventually got a job in which she earned more money than him. He did not initially mind, but she kept earning more, and eventually his
genitals disappeared. He also has a son, who has a freakishly large hand with which he beats his father. Voiced by
Stephen Root.
Chuck White: Stan's gloating arch-enemy, who often outdoes Stan. Chuck is over-protective of his daughter, forcing her to do gymnastics and keeping her away from boys because he believes they will get her pregnant. He ends each sentence with a mocking laugh, e.g. "Looks like you're parking in the sun again, ha-ha!"
Principal Lewis: Principal of
Pearl Bailey High School, which Steve attends. When Steve was Student Body President, he commandeered Principal Lewis' office, as the SB president was entitled to secure any school grounds he needed. Lewis did not mind, though, since in doing this Steve proved that he could read, and that the system worked. He later allowed Stan to teach a "morally upright"
sexual education class, but only Steve was signed up for it. He is also a member of the Illuminutty. He also seems to have had some involvement in the armed forces/law enforcement. When presented with a tip that Steve was in possession of narcotics, he displayed detailed knowledge of the source and method of cutting said drugs, and concluded that a specific drug-lord was back in business and told Steve to tell him that 'El Lobo Negro' said hello. Voiced by
Kevin Michael Richardson, who strikingly also looks like Lewis.
Lt. Nathan Goldberg: Police officer whose father was killed during the
Holocaust. His last wish was to have his son go to the United States, become a prominent police officer, and avenge wrongs done to the Jewish people.
Duper: CIA Agent and rival of Stan Smith who apparently beat Stan's time on a "Regime Change" testing simulation (he had a better snappy line than Stan's as well). When Stan placed a bomb in Bullock's office to make himself look good by saving the day, Duper disabled it when Stan could not see the manual (after dropping and breaking his reading glasses). In a later episode, his essay on President Bush beat Stan's, but he was disqualified after learning most of his essay was plagiarised from
Willy Wonka.
Debbie: An overweight goth girl that Steve asks out in "
The American Dad After School Special." When she and Steve began dating, it caused Stan to become anorexic. Steve broke up with her after he realized she was causing it, but they got back together when he realized it did not help Stan overcome his problem at the end of the episode. She later appears in "
Iced, Iced Babies", though she breaks up with Steve by the end.
Donny Patterson: A bully who picks on Steve. It was revealed that Donny is a bully because he is constantly
abused by his father.
Other characters Similar to other animated shows' opening sequences,
American Dad! features a recurring gag that is changed for every episode. As Stan is singing "Good Morning, U.S.A." he heads out his front door and picks up the newspaper waiting on his front porch. The front page headline is different for each episode, à la
Simpsons (e.g. couch gags or
Bart's chalkboard gags). It's usually a typical joke such as "Child obesity up, pedophilia down" or "Iran changes flag to middle finger". These headlines are
satirical in nature, usually directed at the
United States Government, the
media, or current affairs.
Opening sequence Some
American Dad! characters have had some appearance or cameo outside the show. These include:
In
The Simpsons episode
The Italian Bob in a book of criminal suspects owned by Italian guards,
Peter Griffin is described as "Plagiarismo" and
Stan Smith "Plagiarismo di Plagiarismo".
Roger makes a last-minute cameo in the
Family Guy episode
Meet the Quagmires, asking the Griffins, "Who ate all the Pecan Sandies?" His line is a reference to a line he said early in the
American Dad! pilot episode, asking Francine if she bought Pecan Sandies while she was out shopping.
Appearance outside American Dad Seth MacFarlane as Stan, Roger
Wendy Schaal as Francine
Rachael MacFarlane as Hayley
Scott Grimes as Steve
Dee Bradley Baker as Klaus
Cast (voices) Seth MacFarlane, Creator/
Writer/
Executive Producer Mike Barker, Creator/Writer/Executive Producer
Matt Weitzman, Creator/Writer/Executive Producer
David Zuckerman, Writer/Co-Executive Producer
Rick Wiener, Writer/Co-Executive Producer
Kenny Schwartz, Writer/Co-Executive Producer
Crystal Khan, Writer/Producer
Mike Shipley, Writer/Co-Executive Producer
Jim Bernstein, Writer/Co-Executive Producer
Steve Hely, Writer/Story Editor
Brian Boyle, Writer/Producer
Chris McKenna, Writer/Story Editor
Matt McKenna, Writer/Story Editor
Dan Vebber, Writer/Supervising Producer
Jon Fener, Writer/Supervising Producer
Josh Bycel, Writer/Supervising Producer
Dave Locke, Writer/Supervising Producer
John Fitch, Production Editer
Crew Duration: Approximately 21-minute
episodes Premiered on
FOX :
February 6,
2005 after
Super Bowl XXXIX DVD releases Main article: List of American Dad! episodes
Jeulmun Period Mumun Period Gojoseon,
Jin Proto-Three Kingdoms:
Buyeo,
Okjeo,
Dongye Samhan Ma, Byeon, Jin Three Kingdoms:
Goguryeo Sui wars Baekje Silla,
Gaya North-South States:
Unified Silla Balhae Later Three Kingdoms Goryeo Khitan wars Mongol invasions Joseon Japanese invasions Manchu invasions Korean Empire Japanese occupation Provisional Gov't Division of Korea Korean War North,
South Korea Silla (57
BC –
AD 935), occasionally spelled
Shilla, was one of the
Three Kingdoms of Korea. It began as a
chiefdom in the
Samhan confederacies. Allied with
China, Silla eventually conquered the other two kingdoms,
Baekje "Paekje" in 660 and
Goguryeo "Koguryo" (present day
North Korea) in 668. Thereafter, it is sometimes called
Unified Silla or
Later Silla, occupying most of the
Korean Peninsula, while the northern part re-emerged as
Balhae, which was a successor-state of
Goguryeo. After nearly a millennium, Silla fragmented into the brief
Later Three Kingdoms, and submitted to its successor dynasty
Goryeo in 935.
List of monarchs Military history Naval history Timeline Hyeokgeose 57 BCE-4 CE
Namhae 4-24
Yuri 24-57
Talhae 57-80
Pasa 80-112
Jima 112-134
Ilseong 134-154
Adalla 154-184
Beolhyu 184-196
Naehae 196-230
Jobun 230-247
Cheomhae 247-261
Michu 262-284
Yurye 284-298
Girim 298-310
Heulhae 310-356
Naemul 356-402
Silseong 402-417
Nulji 417-458
Jabi 458-479
Soji 479-500
Jijeung 500-514
Beopheung 514-540
Jinheung 540-576
Jinji 576-579
Jinpyeong 579-632
Seondeok 632-647
Jindeok 647-654
Muyeol 654-661
Munmu 661-681
Sinmun 681-691
Hyoso 692-702
Seongdeok 702-737
Hyoseong 737-742
Gyeongdeok 742-765
Hyegong 765-780
Seondeok 780-785
Wonseong 785-798
Soseong 798-800
Aejang 800-809
Heondeok 809-826
Heungdeok 826-836
Huigang 836-838
Minae 838-839
Sinmu 839
Munseong 839-857
Heonan 857-861
Gyeongmun 861-875
Heongang 875-886
Jeonggang 886-887
Jinseong 887-897
Hyogong 897-912
Name Scholars have traditionally divided Silla history into three distinct periods: Early (trad. 57 BCE–654), Middle (654–780), and Late (780–935).
History Silla was ruled by three clans, which were the
Bak,
Seok, and the
Kim. Historical records do not mention any bloodshed in these shiftings of power, but historians have come to the conclusion that bloodless power shifts could not have happened. The
Bak clan held power for three generations before being faced with a coup by the Seok clan. During the reign of the first Seok ruler,
Talhae of Silla, the Kim clan's presence in
Silla is mentioned in the form of
Kim Alji being born from an egg. The Bak and Seok clans constantly fight each other for power and both are eventually overthrown by the Kim clan. The
Kim clan solely rules over Silla for many generations with the Bak and Seok clans as nobility, and the
Bak eventually come back to power and ruled for four generations. However, the final ruler of
Later Silla, King
Gyeongsun, was a member of the Kim Clan.
Shifting of Power During the
Proto-Three Kingdoms period, the city-states of central and southern Korea were grouped into three confederacies called
Samhan. Silla began as Saro-guk, a statelet within the 12-member confederacy called
Jinhan. Saro-guk consisted of six villages and six clans.
According to Korean records, Silla was founded by King
Bak Hyeokgeose in 57 BC, around present-day
Gyeongju. Hyeokgeose is said to have been hatched from an egg laid from a white horse, and when he turned 13, six clans submitted to him as king and established Saro (or Seona). He is also the progenitor of the Park (박) clan, now one of the most common family names in Korea.
The earliest recording of this date is found in the
Samguk Sagi, a 12th century Korean history. Current archeological evidence indicates that while a polity may have been established even earlier than this in the Gyeongju region, it is too early to call it a kingdom. The author of the Samguk Sagi,
Kim Bu-sik, probably attempted to legitimize Silla rule by giving it historical seniority over its rival kingdoms
Baekje and
Goguryeo.
Founding In the early years, leadership rotated among the three strongest clans,
Bak,
Seok, and
Kim.
By the 2nd century, Silla existed as a distinct state in the southeastern area of the
Korean peninsula. It expanded its influence over neighboring Jinhan chiefdoms, but through the 3rd century, it was probably no more than the strongest city-state in a loose federation.
To the west,
Baekje had centralized into a kingdom by about 250, by overtaking the
Mahan confederacy. To the southwest,
Byeonhan was being replaced by the
Gaya confederacy. In northern Korea,
Goguryeo, a kingdom by about 50 CE, destroyed the last Chinese commandery in 313, and had grown into a threatening regional power.
Early period King Naemul (356–402) of the Kim clan established a hereditary monarchy, eliminating the rotating power-sharing scheme, and the leader's now truly royal title became
Maripgan (from the native Korean root
Han or
Gan, "leader" or "great", which was previously used for ruling princes in southern Korea, and which may have some relationship with the Mongol/Turkic title
Khan). In 377, it sent emissaries to China and established relations with
Goguryeo.
Facing pressure from
Baekje in the west and the Japanese state of
Wa in the south
[1], in the later part of the 4th century, Silla allied with
Goguryeo. However, when Goguryeo began to expand its territory southward, moving its capital to
Pyongyang in 427,
Nulji was forced to ally with Baekje.
By the time of
King Beopheung (514–540), Silla was a full-fledged kingdom, with Buddhism as state religion, and its own
era name systems. Silla absorbed the Gaya confederacy during the
Gaya–Silla Wars, annexing
Geumgwan Gaya in 532 and conquering
Daegaya in 562, thereby expanding its borders to the
Nakdong River basin.
King Jinheung (540–576) established a strong military force. Silla helped Baekje drive Goguryeo out of the Han River (
Seoul) territory, and then wrested control of the entire strategic region from Baekje in 553, breaching the 120-year Baekje-Silla alliance. also King Jinheung was establishment
Hwarang.
The early period ended with the demise of the "hallowed bone" (
seonggol) rank with the death of
Queen Jindeok.
Growth into a kingdom Main article: Unified Silla
Later Silla The final century and a half of the Silla state was one of nearly constant upheaval and civil war as the king was reduced to little more than figurehead and powerful aristocratic families rose to dominance in the countryside.
The tail end of this period, called the
Later Three Kingdoms, saw the emergence of the kingdoms of
Later Baekje and
Later Goguryeo and Silla's submission to the
Goryeo dynasty.
Decline and fall From at least the
6th century, when Silla acquired a detailed system of law and governance, social status and official advancement were dictated by the
bone rank system. This rigid lineage-based system also dictated clothing, house size and the permitted range of marriage.
Since its emergence as a centralized polity Silla society had been characterized by its strict aristocratic makeup. Silla had two royal classes: "sacred bone" (
seonggol 성골 聖骨) and "true bone" (
jingol 진골 眞骨). Up until the reign of King Muyeol this aristocracy had been divided into "sacred bone" and "true bone" aristocrats, with the former differentiated by their eligibility to attain the kingship. This duality had ended when Queen Jindeok, the last ruler from the "sacred bone" class, died in 654. The numbers of "sacred bone" aristocrats had been decreasing, as the title was only conferred to those whose parents were both "sacred bones", whereas children of a "sacred" and a "true bone" parent were considered as "true bones".
Following unification Silla began to rely more upon Chinese models of bureaucracy to administer its greatly expanded territory. This was a marked change from pre-unification days when the Silla monarchy stressed Buddhism, and the Silla monarch's role as a "Buddha-king". Another salient factor in post-unification politics were the increasing tensions between the Korean monarchy and aristocracy.
Silla Society and Politics The capital of the Silla kingdom was
Gyeongju. A great number of Silla tombs can still be found in the centre of Gyeongju. Silla tombs took the form of a stone chamber which was surrounded by a soil mound. A great number of remains from the Silla period can be found all over Gyeongju. The historic area around Gyeongju was added to the
UNESCO World Heritage list in 2000. Much of it is also protected as part of
Gyeongju National Park.
The Bronze Bell of
King Seongdeok the Great attracts a large number of tourists. The bell produces a distinctive sound, about which there is a legend.
Cheomseongdae near Gyeongju is the oldest extant
astronomical observatory in East Asia, while some disagree on its exact functions. It was built during the reign of Queen
Seondeok (623-647).
Muslim traders brought the name "Silla" to the world outside the traditional East Asian sphere through the
Silk Road. Geographers of the Arab and Persian world, including
ibn Khurdadhbih,
al-Masudi,
Dimashiki,
al-Nuwairi, and
al-Maqrizi, left records about Silla.
Buddhism A
Crown of Silla, 5-6th century
A Silla dagger, 5th century
The Bronze Bell of King Seongdeok the Great
Stone pagoda on
Mt. Namsan near Gyeongju
Buddha relief carved into stone on Mt. Namsan near Gyeongju
Buddhist temple showing ancient jumonji at Gyeongju
gold ornament from early Silla
reliquary from 7th century
A monkey warrior statue of Silla at the
National Museum of Korea.
Dragon figure tile in Unified Silla period.
Notes List of Korea-related topics History of Korea Three Kingdoms of Korea Rulers of Korea Hwarang Crown of Silla List of monarchies
Michael Steinhardt (born
December 7,
1940 (1940-12-07) (age 66)) is an American businessman and was a one of the first prominent
hedge fund managers. He founded Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz & Co., a hedge fund, in
1967. Steinhardt averaged an annualized return for his clients of 24.5%, after a 1% management fee and a "performance fee" of 15% of all annual gains, realized and unrealized, nearly triple the annualized performance of the S & P 500 index over the same timeframe.
Prior to he and his partners starting their eponymous hedge fund during the summer of 1967, Steinhardt was an analyst at Loeb, Rhodes & Co. (now part of American Express, following a chain of mergers), where he followed the conglomerate industry, which included companies such as "Automatic" Sprinkler (now defunct), City Investing (likewise), and Gulf & Western (stronger than ever, as part of Viacom and Viacom's spinoff CBS). Again, according to his autobiography, he met his future wife in a car pool he organized (in early 1967!). During the course of the drive to downtown NYC he mentioned the name of a company, Colorado Milling, a leading operator of grain elevators. Colorado Milling was acquired in 1968 by Great Western Sugar, a beet sugar refiner turned conglomerate which had previously acquired Shakey's, a major pizza chain (the merged company was renamed Great Western United). The future Mrs. Steinhardt, who didn't know Steinhardt at the time, mentioned Colorado Milling to her father, who invested in the company, making a substantial profit, part of which were used to buy his daughter her first fur coat.
After decades of successfully managing the fund, Steinhardt and his firm were investigated for allegedly trying to manipulate the short-term Treasury note market in the early 1990s. He personally paid 75% of $70 million in fines as part of settling the case with the
Securities and Exchange Commission and
Department of Justice. His firm made $600 million on the Treasury positions.
[1]. Following a down 1994, Steinhardt Partners enjoyed an excellent 1995, with performance in line with its historical record. Going out on a high note, the hedge fund closed shop at the end of 1995.
Steinhardt has since been an active
philanthropist, donating over $125 million to Jewish causes. He has also written an autobiography: "
No Bull: My Life in and out of Markets". In 2001, Steinhardt, along with several other investors including Conrad Black, founded the New York Sun, a niche New York City broadsheet best known for its unflinching pro-Israel support and generally (but not invariably) neo-conservative outlook.
In 2004, Steinhardt came out of retirement to work for Index Development Partners, Inc.
[2], now known as WisdomTree Investments. He is chairman of WisdomTree, which offers dividend and earnings-based index funds rather than traditional index funds based on market capitalization. As of August, 2007, WisdomTree had $5 billion under management, and is growing by 10% a month.
[3] He is also chairman of the board at the
Jewish Life Network and
Taglit-Birthright Israel.
Steinhardt is an art collector, especially of antiquities. A special exhibition, "Ancient Art of the Cyclades," held at the Katonah Museum of Art included some pieces owned by him.
In the 1990s, Steinhardt gave
Steeple Jason Island and
Grand Jason Island in the
Falkland archipelago to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), along with US$425,000, and a guarantee to name the conservation statement after himself and his wife.
[4] The
Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development at
New York University bears his name in recognition of two $10 million dollar donations.
Sid and Marty Krofft are a sibling team of prolific television producers who were influential in
children's television and
variety show programs, particularly throughout the
1970s and early
1980s. They are largely known for a unique brand of ambitious fantasy programs, often featuring large-headed puppets, high-concept plots, and extensive use of low-budget
special effects. The team also dominated the arena of celebrity music/variety programs during the period.
Early years The Kroffts' producing career began in
1969 with the landmark children's television series
H.R. Pufnstuf. The series introduced the team's trademark style of large scale, colorful design, puppetry, and special effects. Featuring a boy who has been lured into an alternate fantasy world and can never escape, the team also established a storytelling formula they would often return to.
Some people suggested that the Krofft brothers were influenced by
marijuana and
LSD, although they have always denied these claims. In a 2005 interview with
USA Today Marty Krofft said;
No drugs involved. You can't do drugs when you're making shows. Maybe after, but not during. We're bizarre, that's all. The Kroffts also favored quirky
superhero stories, often with children involved as the heroes or part of a hero team. Particularly visionary and popular Krofft productions have included
Land of the Lost (
1974),
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (
1976),
Wonderbug (
1976),
The Bugaloos (
1970),
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (
1973), and
Lidsville (
1971).
The Kroffts' achievements Family Affair (
2002)
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (
2001; unsuccessful pilot)
Land of the Lost (
1991)
ABC Presents Krofft Late Night (1991; TV special)
D.C. Follies (
1987)
The Patti LaBelle Show (
1985)
Pryor's Place (
1984)
Harry Tracy, Desperado (
1982)
Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters (
1980)
Middle Age Crazy (1980)
The Bay City Rollers Show (
1978; aka
The Krofft Superstar Hour Starring the Bay City Rollers)
The Krofft Supershow (1978)
Bigfoot and Wildboy (
1977)
The Brady Bunch Hour (1977)
Wonderbug (
1976)
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (1976)
Dr. Shrinker (1976)
Donny & Marie (1976; aka
The Osmond Family Show)
The Lost Saucer (
1975)
Far Out Space Nuts (1975)
Land of the Lost (
1974)
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (
1973)
Lidsville (
1971)
The Bugaloos (
1970)
Pufnstuf (1970)
H.R. Pufnstuf (
1969)
The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (
1968)
Heinkel Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after
Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing
bomber aircraft for the
Luftwaffe in
World War II and for important contributions to high speed flight.
History 
Scooters Maico 'Maicoletta' scooter
Zundapp 'Bella' scooter
Raul Sagarbarria Roco (
October 26,
1941 –
August 5,
2005) was a political figure in the
Philippines. He was the standard-bearer of
Aksyon Demokratiko, which he founded in
1997 as a vehicle for his presidential bids in
1998 and
2004. He was a former
senator and the Secretary of the Department of Education under the presidency of
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He had a strong following among young voters in the Philippines, due to his efforts to promote honesty and good governance.
Roco was married to
Sonia Cubillo Malasarte, who is from
Bohol. They have six children (Robbie Pierre, Raul Jr., Sophia, Sareena, Rex and Synara) and five grandchildren (Nica, Reece, Samantha, Shania and Beanie).
Early life & education After he passed the bar in
1965, Roco lobbied for the holding of a
Constitutional Convention that aimed to amend the 1935 Philippine Constitution. He campaigned for a seat to represent his district in
Camarines Sur. He won and thus became convention's youngest
Bicolano delegate.
From
1983 to
1985, he served as president of the
Integrated Bar of the Philippines. While there, he was on the legal staff of the late Philippine Senator
Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, and he drafted the Study Now, Pay Later law.
Alongside his work in law, he has also served as a
film producer. In
1974, he was the executive producer of the late film director Lino Brocka's movie
Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang; this film won six
FAMAS awards that year, including best film.
Among all legislators of the Eighth Congress of the Philippines (which lasted from
1987-
1992), he was adjudged by the Ford Foundation and the University of the Philippines Institute of Strategic and Development Studies as first in over-all performance.
As senator Roco took over as education secretary of the Philippines in 2001, at a time when the Philippines had not only one of the ten most corrupt governments in the world (according to
Transparency International), but its Department of Education was also the fourth-most corrupt of its agencies (as named by the Asia Foundation - Social Weather Stations Survey of Enterprises on Public Sector Corruption). To combat this corruption, Roco imposed a department-wide transparency policy which also held employees accountable for the purchase of textbooks, which had been a major source of the department's corruption. This allowed the department to purchase textbooks for a much lower price, and after just eight months under Roco's leadership, the Department of Education gained a 73% public approval rating and became the most trusted government agency in the Philippines.
During his tenure in that position, Roco allowed free public education (through high school) as required by the Philippine Constitution. He also enacted a reform of basic education curriculum in order that children would focus their studies on reading, writing, arithmetic, science, and Makabayan. In addition, he made sure that teachers were paid promptly and ended the 3% "service fee" that the department had long been deducting from teachers' pay.
As Secretary of Education Candidacy for President Roco ran for president in the
1998 Philippine election. He lost to Vice-President
Joseph Estrada but had a remarkable showing in a field of eleven candidates despite being an independent candidate. His strong showing was attributed to the widespread support he received from young Filipinos who eventually formed his party, Aksyon Demokratiko, and its youth arm, Aksyon Kabataan. Party leaders then included Jaime Galvez Tan, Lorna Pantajo-Kapunan and Darwin Mariano.
1998 Roco rode his success in the Department of Education into a run for the Philippine presidency. His candidacy was based on his ability to fight corruption and to display fair play, decency, and honor. His Aksyon Demokratiko party formed a coalition with Promdi and Reporma, the parties of 1998 presidential candidates
Lito Osmeña and
Renato de Villa, to form the
Alyansa ng Pag-asa (Alliance of Hope).
Despite having the support of Osmeña, who is one of the most influential and most powerful people among Cebuanos, Roco failed to get a huge chunk of votes in the island of
Cebu. A public relations blunder hit his campaign when he and his group toured the slums in
Cebu City (planned as an up-close-and-personal strategy to get closer to the voters) expecting thousands of people to come out and greet him. Despite the preparation, only a little over 130 people met him and the very next day, one of the local newspapers published a panoramic shot of Roco in the slums smiling to the camera and the people shown were very few and unenthusiastic. This image created an impression that Cebuanos were not willing to vote Roco for president and in the end, over 80% of Cebu's voters supported President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Roco was a front-runner in pre-election surveys and was considered a strong contender. However, during the campaign, he battled with
bone cancer, which developed after his bout with
prostate cancer in
1996. His illness forced him to leave the campaign trail for medical attention in the
United States. Doctors told him that his condition was not life-threatening and that he could continue his run for the presidency. He returned to the campaign trail, but concerns about his illness greatly diminished his support.
He
lost the election to the
incumbent,
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and finished fourth in a field of 5 candidates.
He was the President of Akyson Demokratiko until his death.
Death Philippine general election, 2004 Philippine general election, 1998
Warren Gamaliel Harding (
November 2,
1865 –
August 2,
1923) was an
American politician and the twenty-ninth
President of the United States, from
1921 to
1923, when he became the fifth president to die in office. A
Republican from
Ohio, Harding was an influential
newspaper publisher with a commanding presence and a flair for public speaking. He served in the
Ohio Senate (1899–1903) and later as
lieutenant governor of Ohio (1903–1905) and as a U.S. Senator (1915–1921). His political leanings were
conservative, which enabled him to become the compromise choice at the
1920 Republican National Convention. In the
1920 election, he coined the phrase "return to normalcy" and defeated his
Democratic opponent,
James M. Cox, in a landslide, 60.36 % to 34.19%. As president, he appointed a strong cabinet, led by
Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes,
Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon and
Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover. However some other appointments proved to be
corrupt. In foreign affairs, Harding signed peace treaties which formally ended
World War I, and led the way to world
naval disarmament at the
Washington Naval Conference of 1921–22. Harding died in
San Francisco, California, 29 months into his term, at age 57 from a
heart attack.
Harding is often ranked as one of the least successful presidents of the United States, despite his immense popularity while in office. Indeed, Harding himself is quoted as saying "I am not fit for this office and never should have been here."
[1] Early life As an influential newspaper publisher with a flair for
public speaking, Harding was elected to the
Ohio State Senate in
1899. He served four years before being elected
Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, a post he occupied from 1903 to 1905. His leanings were conservative, and his record in both offices was relatively undistinguished. He received the
Republican nomination for
Governor of Ohio in 1910, but lost to incumbent
Judson Harmon.
Political career In 1912, Harding gave the nominating speech for incumbent
President William Howard Taft at the
Republican National Convention [2] and in 1914 he was
elected to the
United States Senate. He served in the Senate from 1915 until his inauguration as president on
March 4,
1921, becoming the first sitting
Senator to be elected
President of the United States.
In his book,
Blink,
Malcolm Gladwell has suggested that Harding's political success was based on his appearance, essentially that he "looked like a president". Gladwell argues that the first impression of Harding outweighed his intellectual and other deficiencies, and refers to the combination as the 'Warren Harding Error' in how people make decisions.
U.S. Senator Main article: United States presidential election, 1920 Presidency 1921–1923 Peace treaties signed with Germany, Austria and
Hungary, formally ending
World War I for the United States
Established the
Bureau of Veteran Affairs Treaty to indemnify
Colombia for its loss of
Panama Washington Naval Conference 1921–1922
Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 Revenue Act of 1921 Fordney-McCumber Tariff 1922
Teapot Dome scandal Created the Naval Petroleum Reserve Number 4, 1923 (now the
National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska)
Resignation of Harding's
Attorney General for accepting
bribes Pardon of war protester
Eugene Debs and other
political prisoners Major events during presidency Administration and cabinet Harding appointed the following justices to the
Supreme Court of the United States:
William Howard Taft – Chief Justice – 1921
- Harding was the only President to have appointed a previous President to the Supreme Court.
George Sutherland – 1922
Pierce Butler – 1923
Edward Terry Sanford – 1923 Supreme Court appointments
Upon winning the election, Harding appointed many of his old allies to prominent political positions. Known as the "Ohio Gang" (a term used by Charles Mee, Jr., in his book of the same name), some of the appointees used their new powers to rob the government. It is unclear how much, if anything, Harding himself knew about his friends' illicit activities.
The most infamous scandal of the time was the Teapot Dome affair, which shook the nation for years after Harding's death. The scandal involved Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, who was convicted of accepting bribes and illegal no-interest personal loans in exchange for the leasing of public oil fields to business associates. (Absent the bribes and personal loans, the leases themselves were quite legal.) In 1931, Fall became the first member of a presidential Cabinet to be sent to prison.
Thomas Miller, head of the Office of Alien Property, was convicted of accepting bribes. Jess Smith, personal aide to the Attorney General, destroyed papers and then committed suicide. Charles Forbes, director of the Veterans Bureau, skimmed profits, earned large amounts of kickbacks, and directed underground alcohol and drug distribution. He was convicted of fraud and bribery and drew a two-year sentence. Charles Cramer, an aide to Charles Forbes, also committed suicide.
No evidence to date suggests that Harding personally profited from these crimes, but he was apparently unable to stop them. "My God, this is a hell of a job!" Harding said. "I have no trouble with my enemies, but my damn friends, my God-damned friends... they're the ones that keep me walking the floor nights!"
Administrative scandals
In June 1923, Harding set out on a cross-country "Voyage of Understanding," planning to meet ordinary people and explain his policies. During this trip, he became the first president to visit Alaska.
Harding was entombed in the receiving vault of the Marion Cemetery, Marion, Ohio, in August 1923. Following Mrs. Harding's death on November 21, 1924, she too was temporarily buried next to her husband. Both bodies were moved in December 1927 to the newly completed Harding Memorial in Marion, which was dedicated by President Herbert Hoover in 1931. The lapse between the final interment and the dedication was partly because of the aftermath of the Teapot Dome scandal.
At the time of his death, Harding was also survived by his father. Harding and John F. Kennedy are the only two presidents to have predeceased their father.
Death
Personal scandals and allegations
The extent to which Harding engaged in extra-marital affairs is somewhat controversial. It has been recorded in primary documents that during his lifetime, Harding had an affair with Carrie Fulton Phillips; Nan Britton wrote The President's Daughter in 1927, documenting her affair and child (Elizabeth Ann) with Harding.
Rumors of the Harding love letters circulated through Marion, Ohio, for many years. However, their existence was not confirmed until 1968, when author Francis Russell gained access to them during his research for his book, The Shadow of Blooming Grove. The letters were in the possession of Phillips. Phillips kept the letters in a box in a closet and was reluctant to share them. Russell persuaded her to relent, and the letters showed conclusively that Harding had a 15-year relationship with Mrs. Phillips, who was then the wife of his friend James Phillips, owner of the local department store, the Uhler-Phillips Company. Mrs. Phillips was ten years younger than Harding. By 1915, she began pressing Harding to leave his wife. When he refused, she left her husband and moved to Berlin with her daughter Isabel. However, as the United States became increasingly likely to be drawn into World War I, Mrs. Phillips moved back to the U.S. and the affair reignited. Harding was now a U.S. Senator, and a vote was coming up on a declaration of war against Germany. Harding and Britton, according to unsubstantiated reports, continued their affair while he was President, using a closet adjacent to the Oval Office for privacy. Following Harding's death, Britton unsuccessfully sued the estate of Warren G. Harding on behalf of Elizabeth Ann. Under cross-examination by Harding heirs' attorney, Grant Mouser (a former member of Congress himself), Britton's testimony was riddled with inconsistencies, and she lost her case. Britton married a Mr. Christian, who adopted Elizabeth Ann. In adulthood, Elizabeth Ann married Henry Blaesing and raised a family. During most of her life she shied from press coverage about her alleged birthright, and refused requests for interviews in her later years. She died on November 17, 2005, in Oregon.
Extramarital affairs
Although a commanding and powerful speaker, Harding was notorious for his verbal gaffes, such as his comment "I would like the government to do all it can to mitigate, then, in understanding, in mutuality of interest, in concern for the common good, our tasks will be solved."
Speaking style
Warren G. Harding High School, Warren, Ohio
Warren G. Harding Middle School, Steubenville, Ohio
Warren G.Harding High School; Bridgeport, Connecticut
Warren G. Harding Middle School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Harding Memorial, Marion, Ohio.
Marion Harding High School, Marion, Ohio
Harding County, New Mexico is named in his honor.
Ohio Northern University's College of Law was once named after him but was later renamed.
Harding Park Golf Club in San Francisco is named after him.
Peace Treaty Marker. Somerville,New Jersey. In 1921, at the estate of New Jersey Governor Joseph S. Frelinghuysen, Warren Harding signed the peace treaty which ended America's involvement in World War I. Today, the estate is long gone and suburban sprawl has replaced it with mini-malls. The marker remains in a patch of grass near a Burger King parking lot along Route 28, just North of the Somerville traffic circle.
Harding Charter Preparatory High School, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Bibliography
Warren Harding video montage (file info) — Watch in browser
- Collection of video clips of the president. (3.6 MB, ogg/Theora format).
Problems seeing the videos? See media help.
An
operational definition is a showing of something—such as a
variable,
term, or
object—in terms of the specific
process or set of
validation tests used to determine its presence and quantity. Properties described in this manner must be publicly accessible so that persons other than the definer can independently measure or test for them at will. An operational definition is generally designed to model a
conceptual definition.
For example, the weight of an object may be operationally defined in terms of the specific steps of putting an object on a
weighing scale. The weight is whatever results from following the measurement procedure, which can in principle be repeated by anyone. It is intentionally not defined in terms of some intrinsic or private
essence. The operational definition of weight is just the result of what happens when the defined procedure is followed. In other words, what's being defined is how to measure weight for any arbitrary object, and only incidentally the weight of a given object.
Operational definitions are also used to define system states in terms of a specific, publicly accessible process of preparation or validation testing, which is repeatable at will. For example, 100 degrees Celsius may be crudely defined by describing the process of heating water until it is observed to boil. An item like a brick, or even a photograph of a brick, may be defined in terms of how it can be made. Likewise, iron may be defined in terms of the results of testing or measuring it in particular ways.
One simple, every day illustration of an operational definition is defining a cake in terms of how it is prepared and baked (i.e., its recipe is an operational definition). Similarly, the saying,
if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be some kind of duck, may be regarded as involving a sort of measurement process or set of tests (see
Duck test).
Limitations Despite the controversial
philosophical origins of the concept, particularly its close association with
logical positivism, operational definitions have undisputed practical applications. This is especially so in the social and medical sciences, where operational definitions of key terms are used to preserve the unambiguous empirical testability of hypothesis and theory. Operational definitions are also important in the
physical sciences.
Usefulness The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy says the following about Operationalism stored at
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-realism/ and written by
Richard Boyd:
The idea originally arises in the operationalist
philosophy of
P. W. Bridgman and others. By
1914, Bridgman was dismayed by the abstraction and lack of clarity with which, he argued, many scientific concepts were expressed. Inspired by
logical positivism and the
phenomenalism of
Ernst Mach, in
1914 he declared that the meaning of a theoretical term (or unobversable entity), such as
electron density, lay in the operations, physical and mental, performed in its measurement. The goal was to eliminate all reference to theoretical entities by "rationally reconstructing" them in terms of the particular operations of laboratory procedures and experimentation.
Hence, the term
electron density could be analyzed into a statement of the following form:
(*)
The electron density of an object, O, is given by the value, x, if and only if P applied to O yields the value x, where P stands for an instrument that scientists take as a procedure for measuring electron density.
Operationalism, defined in this way, was rejected even by the logical positivists, due to inherent problems: defining terms operationally necessarily implied the analytic necessity of the definition. The analyticity of operational definitions like (*) is essential to the project of
rational reconstruction. Operationalism
is not, for example, the idea that electron density is defined as whatever magnitude instruments of the sort P reliably measure. On that conception (*) would represent an empirical discovery about how to measure electron density, but -- since electrons are
unobservables -- that's a
realist conception not an
empiricist one. What the project of rational reconstruction requires is that (*) be true
purely as a matter of linguistic stipulation about how the term "electron density" is to be used.
Since (*) is supposed to be analytic, it's supposed to be unrevisable. There is supposed to be no such thing as discovering, about P, that some other instrument provides a more accurate value for electron density, or provides values for electron density under conditions where P doesn't function. Here again, thinking that there could be such an improvement in P with respect to electron density requires thinking of electron density as a
real feature of the world which P (perhaps only approximately) measures.
But that's the realist conception that operationalism is designed rationally to do away with! In actual, and apparently reliable, scientific practice, changes in the instrumentation associated with theoretical terms are routine, and apparently crucial to the progress of science. According to a 'pure' operationalist conception, these sorts of modifications would not be methodologically acceptable, since
each definition must be considered to identify a
unique 'object' (or class of objects). In practice, however, an 'operationally defined' object is often taken to be that object which is determined by a
constellation of different unique 'operational procedures.'
Most logical empiricists were not willing to accept the conclusion that operational definitions must be unique (in contradiction to 'established' scientific practice). So they felt compelled to reject operationalism. [[In the end, it reduces to a reductio ad absurdem, since each
measuring instrument must itself be operationally defined, in infinite regress... But this was also a failure of the logical positivist approach generally.]]
However, this rejection of operationalism as a
general project destined ultimately to define
all experiential phenomena uniquely did not mean that
operational definitions ceased to have any practical use or that they could not be applied in
particular cases.
Relevance to philosophy Operational definitions are at their most controversial in the field of
psychology, where intuitive concepts, such as
intelligence need to be operationally defined before they become amenable to scientific investigation, for example, through processes such as
IQ tests. Such definitions are used as a follow up to a
conceptual definition, in which the specific concept is defined as a measurable occurrence.
John Stuart Mill pointed out the dangers of believing that anything that could be given a name must refer to a thing and
Stephen Jay Gould and others have criticized
psychologists for doing just that. A committed operationalist would respond that speculation about the thing in itself, or
noumenon, should be resisted as
meaningless, and would comment only on
phenomena using operationally defined terms and tables of operationally defined measurements.
A
behaviorist psychologist might (operationally) define intelligence as that score obtained on a specific IQ test (e.g., the
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale test) by a human subject. The theoretical underpinnings of the WAIS would be completely ignored. This WAIS measurement would only be useful to the extent it could be shown to be related to other operationally defined measurements, e.g., to the measured probability of graduation from university.
[1] Relevance to science On
October 15,
1970, the
West Gate Bridge in
Melbourne,
Australia collapsed, killing 35 construction workers. The subsequent enquiry found that the failure arose because engineers had specified the supply of a quantity of
flat steel plate. The word
flat in this context lacked an operational definition, so there was no test for accepting or rejecting a particular shipment or for controlling quality.
In his managerial and statistical writings,
W. Edwards Deming placed great importance on the value of using operational definitions in all agreements in business. As he said:
- "An operational definition is a procedure agreed upon for translation of a concept into measurement of some kind." - W. Edwards Deming
- "There is no true value of any characteristic, state, or condition that is defined in terms of measurement or observation. Change of procedure for measurement (change of operational definition) or observation produces a new number." - W. Edwards Deming
Relevance to business
Operational, in a process context, also can denote a working method or a philosophy that focuses principally on cause and effect relationships (or stimulus/response, behavior, ...) of specific interest to a particular domain at a particular point in time. As a working method, it does not consider issues related to a domain that are more general, such as the ontological, etc.
The term can be used strictly within the realm of the interactions of humans with advanced computational systems. In this sense, an AI system cannot be entirely operational (this issue can be used to discuss strong versus weak AI) if learning is involved.
Given that one motive for the operational approach is stability, systems that relax the operational factor can be problematic, for several reasons, as the operational is a means to manage complexity. There will be differences in the nature of the operational as it pertains to degrees along the end-user computing axis.
For instance, a Knowledge Based Engineering system can enhance its operational aspect and thereby its stability through more involvement by the SME, of course, thereby opening up issues of limits that are related to being human, in the sense that, many times, computational results have to be taken at face value due to several factors (hence the Duck test's necessity arises) that even an expert cannot overcome. The end proof may be the final results (reasonable facsimile by simulation or artifact, working design, etc.) that are not guaranteed to be repeatable, may have been costly to attain (time and money), and so forth.
Many domains, with a numerics focus, use limits logic to overcome the Duck test necessity with varying degrees of success. Complex situations may require logic to be more non-monotonic than not raising concerns related to the qualification, frame, and ramification problems.
Relevance to process
Examples
The thermodynamic definition of temperature, due to Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, refers to heat "flowing" between "infinite reservoirs". This is all highly abstract and unsuited for the day-to-day world of science and trade. In order to make the idea concrete, temperature is defined in terms of operations with the gas thermometer. However, these are sophisticated and delicate instruments, only adapted to the national standardization laboratory.
For day-to-day use, the International Practical Temperature Scale (IPTS) is used, defining temperature in terms of the electrical resistance of a thermistor, with specified construction, calibrated against operationally defined fixed points.
Electric current
Unlike temperature and electric current, there is no abstract physical concept of the hardness of a material. It is a slightly vague, subjective idea, somewhat like the idea of intelligence. In fact, it leads to three more specific ideas:
Of these, indentation hardness itself leads to many operational definitions, the most important of which are:
In all these, a process is defined for loading the indenter, measuring the resulting indentation and calculating a hardness number. Each of these three sequences of measurement operations produces numbers that are consistent with our subjective idea of hardness. The harder the material to our informal perception, the greater the number it will achieve on our respective hardness scales. Furthermore, experimental results obtained using these measurement methods has shown that the hardness number can be used to predict the stress required to permanently deform steel, a characteristic that fits in well with our idea of resistance to permanent deformation. However, there is not always a simple relationship between the various hardness scales. Vickers and Rockwell hardness numbers exhibit qualitatively different behaviour when used to describe some materials and phenomena.
Scratch hardness measured on Mohs' scale;
Indentation hardness; and
Rebound, or dynamic, hardness measured with a Shore scleroscope.
Brinell hardness test—using a 10 mm steel ball;
Vickers hardness test—using a pyramidal diamond indenter; and
Rockwell hardness test—using a diamond cone indenter. Mechanical hardness
The constellation Virgo is a specific constellation of stars in the sky, hence the process of forming Virgo cannot be an operational definition, since it is historical and not repeatable. Nevertheless, the process whereby we locate Virgo in the sky is repeatable, so in this way, Virgo is operatonally defined. In fact, Virgo can have any number of definitions (although we can never prove that we are talking about the same Virgo), and any number may be operational.
Duck typing
Rhineland Bastard was a derogatory term used in
Nazi Germany to describe children of mixed
German and
African parentage. Under
Nazism's racial theories, these children were considered inferior to "pure
Aryans" and consigned to
sterilization.
History The term "Rhineland Bastard" can be traced back to
World War I, when
Entente troops, most of them French, occupied the
Rhineland. A handful of German women married soldiers from the occupying forces, while others had children by them out of
wedlock (hence the disparaging name "bastards"). Some of these troops were from
France's colonies in
Africa and were known locally as
Neger (German: "negroes") or the "Black Disgrace" due to the fact that the Germans, who had been accustomed to having colonies in Africa before 1914 now felt they were being colonised themselves by "Negroes". The occupation itself had been regarded as a national disgrace. The fact that it was carried out by what were viewed as "B-grade" troops increased the feelings of humiliation. Whether these sentiments were racist (in the modern sense of the word) or merely "ordinary" European nationalism might be disputed. Nazis exploited these sentiments and gave them a racist direction and interpretation. In
Mein Kampf,
Hitler described children resulting from marriages to African occupation soldiers as a contamination of the white race "by Negro blood on the Rhine in the heart of Europe." He disliked the German women who gave birth to these children, and referred to them as
whores and prostitutes. He also implied that this was a plot on the part of the French, since the population of France was being increasingly "negrified".
France
Spanish Empire Dutch Republic Oneida Tuscarora Polish volunteers
Quebec volunteers
Prussian volunteers
Iroquois Confederacy Hessian mercenaries Loyalists Nathanael Greene Gilbert de La Fayette Comte de Rochambeau Bernardo de Gálvez Tadeusz Kościuszko Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben Sir William Howe Sir Henry Clinton Lord Cornwallis was a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the thirteen "United Colonies". The war was the culmination of the political American Revolution, whereby the colonists overthrew British rule. In 1775, Revolutionaries seized control of each of the thirteen colonial governments, set up the Second Continental Congress, and formed a Continental Army. The following year, they formally declared their independence as a new nation, the United States of America. From 1778 onward, other European powers would fight on the American side in the war. Meanwhile, Native Americans and African Americans served on both sides.
Throughout the war, the British were able to use their naval superiority to capture and occupy coastal cities, but control of the countryside (where 90% of the population lived) largely eluded them. In early 1778, shortly after an American victory at Saratoga, France entered the war against Britain; Spain and the Netherlands joined as allies of France over the next two years. French involvement proved decisive, with a French naval victory in the Chesapeake leading to the surrender of a British army at Yorktown in 1781. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 ended the war and recognized the sovereignty of the United States over the territory bounded by what is now Canada to the North, Florida to the South, and the Mississippi River to the west.
Combatants before 1778
Revolutionaries (known as "Americans", "Whigs," "Congress-Men" or "Patriots") had the active support of the population. About 15 to 20 percent of the population supported the British Crown after 1775 and were known as Loyalists (or Tories). Loyalists fielded perhaps 50,000 men during the war years in support of the King.
When the war began, the Americans did not have a professional army or navy. Each colony provided for its own defenses through the use of local militia. Militiamen were lightly armed, slightly trained, and usually did not have uniforms. Their units served for only a few weeks or months at a time, were reluctant to go very far from home, and were thus generally unavailable for extended operations. Militia lacked the training and discipline of regular soldiers but were more numerous and could overwhelm regular troops as at the battles of Concord, Bennington and Saratoga, and the siege of Boston. Both sides used partisan warfare but the Americans were particularly effective at suppressing Loyalist activity when British regulars were not in the area.
Armies, militias, and mercenaries
African-Americans—slave and free —served on both sides during the war. The British actively recruited slaves belonging to Patriot masters and, consequently, more blacks. Because of manpower shortages, George Washington lifted the ban on black enlistment in the Continental Army in January 1776. Small all-black units were formed in Rhode Island and Massachusetts; many were slaves promised freedom for serving. Another all-black unit came from Haiti with French forces. At least 5,000 black soldiers fought for the Revolutionary cause.
African-Americans and Native Americans
War in the north, 1775–1780
Main article: Boston campaign Massachusetts Colonel
James Livingston led the
1st Canadian Regiment at the
Battle of Quebec (1775) and
Moses Hazen led the
2nd Canadian Regiment to support the American cause at the
Battle of Saint-Pierre. Both regiments continued to fight for the Americans until the end of the war.
Two Quebec Regiments join the Americans Main article: Invasion of Canada (1775) Canada Main article: New York and New Jersey campaign New York and New Jersey When the British began to plan operations for 1777, they had two main armies in North America: Carleton's army in Canada, and Howe's army in New York. In London,
Lord George Germain approved campaigns for these armies which, because of miscommunication, poor planning, and rivalries between commanders, did not work in conjunction. Although Howe successfully captured Philadelphia, the northern army was lost in a disastrous surrender at Saratoga. Both Carleton and Howe resigned after the 1777 campaign.
Saratoga and Philadelphia Main article: Saratoga campaign Saratoga campaign Main article: Philadelphia campaign Philadelphia campaign In 1778, the rebellion in North America became an international war. After learning of the American victory at Saratoga, France signed the
Treaty of Alliance with the United States on February 6, 1778. Spain entered the war as an ally of France in June 1779, a renewal of the
Bourbon Family Compact. Unlike France, however, Spain initially refused to recognize the independence of the United States—Spain was not keen on encouraging similar anti-colonial rebellions in the
Spanish Empire. The Netherlands also became a combatant in 1780. All three countries had quietly provided financial assistance to the Americans since the beginning of the war, hoping to dilute British power.
In London King George III gave up hope of subduing America by more armies. "It was a joke," he said, "to think of keeping Pennsylvania." There was no hope of ever recovering New England. But the King was determined "never to acknowledge the independence of the Americans, and to punish their contumacy by the indefinite prolongation of a war which promised to be eternal." The plan meant destruction for the Loyalists and loyal Native Americans, and indefinite prolongation of a costly war, as well as the risk of disaster as the French and Spanish were assembling an armada to invade the British isles and seize London.
An international war, 1778–1783 Further information: Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War, France in the American Revolutionary War, Spain in the American Revolutionary War When the war began, the British had overwhelming naval superiority over the American colonists. The
Royal Navy had over 100
ships of the line, although this fleet was old and in poor condition, a situation which would be blamed on
Lord Sandwich, the
First Lord of the Admiralty. During the first three years of the war, the Royal Navy was primarily used to transport troops for land operations and to protect commercial shipping. The American colonists had no
ships of the line, and relied extensively on
privateering to harass British shipping. The
Continental Congress authorized the creation of a small
Continental Navy in October, 1775, which was primarily used for
commerce raiding.
John Paul Jones became the first great American naval hero, capturing
HMS Drake on
April 24,
1778, the first victory for any American military vessel in British waters.
French entry into the war meant that British naval superiority was now contested. The Franco-American alliance began poorly, however, with failed operations at
Rhode Island in 1778 and
Savannah, Georgia, in 1779. Part of the problem was that France and the United States had different military priorities: France hoped to capture British possessions in the
West Indies before helping to secure American independence. While French financial assistance to the American war effort was already of critical importance, French military aid to the Americans would not show positive results until the arrival in July 1780 of a large force of soldiers led by the
Comte de Rochambeau.
Spain entered the war with the goal of recapturing
Gibraltar and
Minorca, which had been lost to the British in 1704.
Gibraltar was besieged for more than three years, but the British garrison there was resupplied after Admiral Sir
George Rodney's victory in the
"Moonlight Battle" in January, 1780. Further Franco-Spanish efforts to capture Gibraltar were unsuccessful. On February 5, 1782, Spanish and French forces captured
Minorca, which Spain retained after the war.
Widening of the naval war There was much action in the West Indies, with several islands changing hands, especially in the
Lesser Antilles. Ultimately, at the
Battle of the Saintes in April 1782, a victory by Rodney's fleet over the French
Admiral de Grasse dashed the hopes of France and Spain to take
Jamaica and other colonies from the British. On
May 8,
1782, Count
Bernardo de Gálvez, the Spanish governor of
Louisiana, captured the British naval base at
New Providence in
the Bahamas. Nevertheless, except for the French retention of the small island of
Tobago, sovereignty in the West Indies was returned to the
status quo ante bellum in the 1783 peace treaty.
On the
Gulf Coast, Gálvez seized three British
Mississippi River outposts in 1779:
Manchac,
Baton Rouge, and
Natchez. Gálvez then captured
Mobile in 1780 and
forced the surrender of the British outpost at
Pensacola in 1781. His actions led to Spain acquiring
East and
West Florida in the peace settlement.
India and the Netherlands Main article: Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War Southern theater Further information: Western theater of the American Revolutionary War West of the
Appalachian Mountains and along the Canadian border, the American Revolutionary War was an "
Indian War." Most
Native Americans supported the British. Like the
Iroquois Confederacy, tribes such as the
Cherokees and the
Shawnees split into factions.
The British supplied their native allies with muskets and gunpowder and advised raids against civilian settlements, especially in New York, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. Joint Iroquois-Loyalist attacks in the
Wyoming Valley and at
Cherry Valley in 1778 provoked Washington to send the
Sullivan Expedition into western New York during the summer of 1779. There was little fighting as Sullivan systematically destroyed the Native American winter food supplies, forcing them to flee permanently to British bases in Canada and the Niagara Falls area.
In the
Ohio Country and the
Illinois Country, the Virginia frontiersman
George Rogers Clark attempted to neutralize British influence among the Ohio tribes by capturing the outposts of
Kaskaskia and
Vincennes in the summer of 1778. When General
Henry Hamilton, the British commander at
Detroit, retook Vincennes, Clark returned in a surprise march in February 1779 and captured Hamilton himself.
In 1782 came the
Gnadenhütten massacre, when Pennsylvania militiamen killed about a hundred neutral Native Americans. In August 1782, in one of the last major encounters of the war, a force of 200 Kentucky militia was defeated at the
Battle of Blue Licks.
Northern and western Frontier The northern, southern, and naval theaters of the war converged in 1781 at
Yorktown, Virginia. In early September, French naval forces defeated a British fleet [the first time they had been defeated] at the
Battle of the Chesapeake, cutting off Cornwallis' escape. Washington hurriedly moved American and French troops from New York, and a combined Franco-American force of 17,000 men commenced the
siege of Yorktown in early October. Cornwallis' position quickly became untenable, and he surrendered his army on
October 19,
1781.
With the surrender at Yorktown, King George lost control of Parliament to the peace party, and there were no further major military activities on land. The British had 30,000 garrison troops occupying New York City, Charleston, and Savannah. The war continued at sea between the British and the French fleets in the West Indies.
In London as political support for the war plummeted after Yorktown,
Prime Minister Lord North resigned in March 1782. In April 1782, the Commons voted to end the war in America. Preliminary peace articles were signed in Paris at the end of November 30, 1782; the formal end of the war did not occur until the
Treaty of Paris was signed on
September 3,
1783, and the United States Congress ratified the treaty on
January 14,
1784. The last British troops
left New York City on
November 25,
1783.
Britain negotiated the Paris peace treaty without consulting her Native American allies and ceded all Native American territory between the
Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River to the United States. Full of resentment, Native Americans reluctantly confirmed these land cessions with the United States in a series of treaties, but the fighting would be renewed in conflicts along the frontier in the coming years, the largest being the
Northwest Indian War.
Yorktown and the War's end Costs of the War The total loss of life resulting from the American Revolutionary War is unknown. As was typical in the wars of the era, disease claimed more lives than battle. Historian
Joseph Ellis suggests that Washington's decision to have his troops inoculated against the smallpox epidemic was one of his most important decisions.
Approximately 1,200 Germans were killed in action and 6,354 died from illness or accident. About 16,000 of the remaining German troops returned home, but roughly 5,500 remained in the United States after the war for various reasons, many eventually becoming American citizens. No reliable statistics exist for the number of casualties among other groups, including Loyalists, British regulars, Native Americans, French and Spanish troops, and civilians.
Casualties The British spent about £80 million and ended with a national debt of £250 million, which it easily financed at about £9.5 million a year in interest. The French spent 1.3 billion livres (about £56 million). Their total national debt was £187 million, which they could not easily finance; over half the French national revenue went to debt service in the 1780s. The debt crisis became a major enabling factor of the
French Revolution as the government was unable to raise taxes without public approval.
Financial costs The war of American independence could be summed up as a civil war fought on foreign soil, as opposing forces were comprised of both nations' residents. That said, it is a war that America could not have survived without French assistance
Historical assessment Battles of the American Revolutionary War Intelligence in the American Revolutionary War Prisoners in the American Revolutionary War List of British Forces in the American Revolutionary War List of Continental Forces in the American Revolutionary War List of revolutions and rebellions War of 1812 Notes Black, Jeremy.
War for America: The Fight for Independence, 1775–1783. (2001). Analysis from a noted British military historian.
Boatner, Mark Mayo, III.
Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. 1966; revised 1974.
ISBN 0-8117-0578-1. Military topics, references many
secondary sources Chambers, John Whiteclay II, ed. in chief.
The Oxford Companion to American Military History. Oxford University Press, 1999.
ISBN 0-19-507198-0.
Duffy, Christopher.
The Military Experience in the Age of Reason, 1715–1789. (1987).
ISBN 0-689-11993-3.
Ellis, Joseph J.
His Excellency: George Washington. (2004).
ISBN 1-4000-4031-0.
Fenn, Elizabeth Anne.
Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775–82. New York: Hill and Wang, 2001.
ISBN 0-8090-7820-1.
Greene, Jack P. and J.R. Pole, eds.
The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1991; reprint 1999.
ISBN 1-55786-547-7. Collection of essays focused on political and social history.
Higginbotham, Don.
The War of American Independence: Military Attitudes, Policies, and Practice, 1763–1789. Northeastern University Press, 1983.
ISBN 0-930350-44-8. Overview of military topics; online in ACLS History E-book Project.
Kaplan, Sidney and Emma Nogrady Kaplan.
The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst, Massachusetts: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1989.
ISBN 0-87023-663-6.
Mackesy, Piers.
The War for America: 1775–1783. London, 1964. Reprinted University of Nebraska Press, 1993,
ISBN 0-8032-8192-7. Highly regarded examination of British strategy and leadership.
online edition Shy, John.
A People Numerous and Armed: Reflections on the Military Struggle for American Independence. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976 (
ISBN 0-19-502013-8); revised University of Michigan Press, 1990 (
ISBN 0-472-06431-2). Collection of essays.
J. Steven Watson;
The Reign of George III, 1760-1815. 1960. standard history of British politics.
online edition [1]
http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=36577&query=Moses%20AND%20Hazen
Early political career Since coming into power as prime minister, Abdullah has promised to clamp down on
corruption, giving more power to anti-corruption agencies and making it easier for the public to reveal corrupt practices to the authorities. He has also arrested several public figures from the Mahathir era on charges of corruption, a move which was widely applauded by the public. He has advocated an interpretation of Islam known as
Islam Hadhari, which maintains that Islam and economic and technological development are not incompatible. Apart from that, his administration has been emphasizing a revival of the Malaysian agricultural sector.
In the eleventh
2004 general election, Abdullah's first election as the incumbent prime minister, he delivered a stunning victory for his party's coalition
Barisan Nasional (of which UMNO is the dominant party) by winning 198 out of 220 seats in parliament, and wrested control of the
Terengganu state government back from the Islamist opposition
Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS), as well as coming close to capturing the traditional PAS stronghold of
Kelantan. The victory was widely regarded as an approval of his vision of moderate Islam over religious fundamentalism, and support for his anti-corruption policies.
In September 2004, upon his release from prison,
Anwar Ibrahim, the former deputy prime minister jailed since 1999 by former Prime Minister
Mahathir bin Mohamad, publicly credited Abdullah for not interfering with the judiciary's overturning of his sodomy conviction.
On
September 10,
2004, Abdullah, as finance minister, tabled his maiden budget, which is seen by the public as being more consolidation and maintenance-oriented as opposed to the growth policies emphasised by Mahathir.
Abdullah is also known for stressing on Malaysia's internal security, after witnessing an increase in corruptive practices, such as bribery in the police force.
Abdullah is unofficially known in Malay circles in Malaysia as
Pak Lah (Malay diminutive for "Uncle Abdullah"). The Malaysian government has issued a statement that the prime minister should not be referred to by this nickname in official articles and in newsprint; however, the nickname is still used informally. In fact, Abdullah himself often uses the nickname to refer to himself in public gatherings.
Abdullah continues to be heavily involved in foreign policy. He is the chairman of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference, since he became prime minister in 2003. As of 2005, he is also the chairman of
ASEAN. He also served as chairman of the
Non-Aligned Movement from October 2003 until September 2006.
Concerning the giving up of
North Korea´s nuclear weapon and missile tests he is sceptical because they are something precious to the country. It will be very difficult to stop these actions.
Premiership On
October 20,
2005, Abdullah's wife, Endon Mahmood, died from breast cancer. Endon discovered she had breast cancer in 2003 while her twin sister Noraini who had earlier been diagnosed with the disease died in January 2003. She received treatment in the
United States and returned to
Malaysia 18 days before her death. She is buried at the Muslim cemetery, at
Taman Selatan, Precinct 20,
Putrajaya.
On
June 6,
2007, the Prime Minister's office announced his marriage to
Jeanne Abdullah. On June 9, a private ceremony was conducted at the prime minister's residence,
Seri Perdana, attended by close relatives. Jeanne was formerly married to the younger brother of Abdullah's late wife. She was also a manager at the Seri Perdana residential complex and has two children from her previous marriage. Earlier in March that year, the premier dismissed rumours about his plans to remarry.
Economic policies After moves to charge prominent figures such as
Eric Chia and
Isa Abdul Samad with corruption, Abdullah's administration's efforts to combat corruption became significantly less public. It is disputed as to whether Abdullah is continuing to fight corruption quietly, or has intentionally slowed progress in reducing corruption.
It is also widely circulated that Abdullah's own son-in-law,
Khairy Jamaluddin is behind most of his decision making. It has been alleged that Khairy had strategically planted his aide from his university days to major positions within Abdullah's office. However Abdullah has defended himself and particularly Khairy, against these allegations.
Thomas Samuel Kuhn (
pronounced [kuːn])(
July 18,
1922 –
June 17,
1996) was an American intellectual who wrote extensively on the
history of science and developed several important notions in the
philosophy of science.
Life Kuhn was named a
Guggenheim Fellow in 1954, and in 1982 was awarded the
George Sarton Medal by the
History of Science Society. He was also awarded numerous honorary doctorates.
Honors In
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (SSR) (1962) Kuhn argued that science does not progress via a linear accumulation of new knowledge, but undergoes periodic revolutions that he called "
paradigm shifts", in which the nature of scientific inquiry within a particular field is abruptly transformed. In general, science is broken up into three distinct stages. Prescience, which lacks a central paradigm, comes first. This is followed by "
normal science", when scientists attempt to enlarge the central paradigm by "puzzle-solving". Thus, the failure of a result to conform to the paradigm is seen not as refuting the paradigm, but as the mistake of the researcher, contra
Popper's refutability criterion. As anomalous results build up, science reaches a
crisis, at which point a new paradigm, which subsumes the old results along with the anomalous results into one framework, is accepted. This is termed
revolutionary science. In
SSR, Kuhn also argues that rival paradigms are
incommensurable—that is, it is not possible to understand one paradigm through the conceptual framework and terminology of another rival paradigm. For many critics, this thesis seemed to entail that theory choice is fundamentally
irrational: if rival theories cannot be directly compared, then one cannot make a rational choice as to which one is better. Whether or not Kuhn's views had such
relativistic consequences is the subject of much debate; Kuhn himself denied the accusation of relativism in the 3rd edition of
SSR, and sought to clarify his views to avoid further misinterpretation.
Freeman Dyson has quoted Kuhn as saying "I am not a Kuhnian!", referring to the
relativism that some philosophers have developed based on his work.
The book was originally printed as an article in the
International Encyclopedia of Unified Science, published by the
logical positivists of the
Vienna Circle.
The enormous impact of Kuhn's work can be measured in the changes it brought about in the vocabulary of the philosophy of science: besides "paradigm shift", Kuhn raised the word "
paradigm" itself from a term used in certain forms of
linguistics to its current broader meaning, coined the term "
normal science" to refer to the relatively routine, day-to-day work of scientists working within a paradigm, and was largely responsible for the use of the term "
scientific revolutions" in the plural, taking place at widely different periods of time and in different disciplines, as opposed to a single "Scientific Revolution" in the late
Renaissance.
Kuhn's work has been extensively used in social science; for instance, in the
post-positivist/
positivist debate within
International Relations. Kuhn is credited as a foundational force behind the post-
Mertonian Sociology of Scientific Knowledge.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) Kuhn interviewed and taped Danish physicist
Niels Bohr the day before Bohr's death. The recording contains the last words of Niels Bohr caught on tape.
Terrain, or
relief, is the third or vertical dimension of
land surface. When relief is described
underwater, the term
bathymetry is used.
Topography has recently become an additional synonym, though in many parts of the world it retains its original more general meaning of description of place.
Terrain is used as a general term in
physical geography, referring to the lie of the
land. This is usually expressed in terms of the
elevation,
slope, and orientation of terrain features. Terrain affects surface water flow and distribution. Over a large area, it can affect
weather and
climate patterns.
Characteristics of terrain Geomorphology is in large part the study of the formation of terrain or topography. Terrain is formed by intersecting processes:
Tectonic processes such as
orogenies cause land to be elevated, and erosional (and
weathering) processes cause land to be worn away to lower elevations.
Land surface parameters are quantitative measures of various
morphometric properties of a surface. The most common examples are used to derive
slope or
aspect of a terrain or curvatures at each location. These measures can also be used to derive
hydrological parameters that reflect flow/erosion processes.
Climatic parameters are based on the modelling of
solar radiation or air flow.
Land surface objects or
landforms are definite physical objects (lines, points, areas) that differ from the surrounding objects. The most typical examples are lines of
watersheds,
stream patterns,
ridges,
break-lines,
pools, borders of specific landforms etc.
Geological processes: migration of
tectonic plates,
faulting and
folding,
volcanic eruptions
Erosional processes: water and wind
erosion, landslides
Extra-terrestrial:
meteorite impacts
Maurice Sinet, known as
Siné (born
December 31,
1928 in
Paris) is a
French cartoonist.
As a young man he studied
drawing and
graphic arts, earning his life as a
cabaret singer.
After his military service he starts publishing his drawings and also works as a photo-retoucher for
porn magazines.. His first published drawing appeared in
France-Dimanche in 1952. Siné received the
Grand Prix de l'Humour Noir in 1955 for his collection
Complainte sans Paroles.
His series of drawings on
cats was his breakthrough. He then started working for
L'Express as a political cartoonist.
Siné's anti-colonialism caused controversy during the
Algerian war. He was sued a number of times, being defended by
Jacques Vergès, then a lawyer for the
Algerian Liberation Front.
In 1962 Siné left
L'Express and launched his own publication,
Siné Massacre, noted for its
anti-colonialism,
anti-capitalism,
anti-clericalism and
anarchism. On reviewing the book
Private Eye described Siné's cartoons as
"grotesque" (9 December 1966), criticising publisher
Penguin Books, who subsequently removed all unsold stock and listed the title 'out of print'.
In
May 1968, together with
Jean-Jacques Pauvert, he launched
L'Enragé.
Siné is a great lover of
jazz, and has illustrated several books on jazz as well as record covers.
He's a dignitary of the French
Collège de 'Pataphysique.
Robert L. (Bob) Park is a
professor of
physics at the
University of Maryland, College Park and was associated with the
American Physical Society. Park is most noted for his commentaries on
pseudoscience such as
telepathy and
homeopathy in his popular book
Voodoo Science. He is also seen in the media as an outspoken critic of manned
spaceflight, efforts to
colonize space, and the prototype U.S.
National Missile Defense. He criticized
Dennis Lee's claims that he had invented a device from which he could extract "
free-energy", which would violate the
conservation of energy.
Park writes a weekly column,
What's New, which features discussions on topics such as science news, space exploration, energy, the government in science, pseudoscience, the
creation-evolution controversy, and nuclear weapons.
Books Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud,
Oxford University Press, 2001.
ISBN 0-19-514710-3.
Also see USS Edson (DD-946) USS Edison (DD-439), a
Gleaves-class destroyer, was the first ship of the
United States Navy to be named for
Thomas Alva Edison, an
inventor and
businessman who developed many important devices.
Edison (DD-439) was launched
23 November 1940 by Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.,
Kearny, New Jersey sponsored by Mrs.
Thomas Alva Edison, widow of the inventor; and commissioned
31 January 1941,
Lieutenant Commander A. C. Murdaugh in command.
In the months following commissioning
Edison operated on the east coast, training and exercising with the fleet, with passenger and mail runs to
NS Argentia,
Newfoundland. In November she escorted a convoy to
Iceland, her first of many voyages which kept the lifelines open to northern bases and
Britain.
On
24 October 1942 Edison set sail from Norfolk with a task group bound for the invasion at Fedhala, French Morocco,
8 November. She engaged shore batteries at Cape Fedhala and protected shipping lying off the beachheads. Returning to Norfolk
1 December,
Edison made a voyage to Gulf ports escorting tankers, then resumed safeguarding convoys from New York and Norfolk to Casablanca and Oran.
From July
1943 to February
1944 Edison served in the
Mediterranean Sea. On
10 July she provided fire support for the troops landing on Sicily to which she escorted support convoys from Algiers and Bizerte until September. She screened the assault transports in the invasion at Salerno
9 September, and remained off the beaches to guard minesweepers and provide fire support for the advancing troops. Continuing Mediterranean escort duty, on
16 December Edison screened while
Woolsey (DD-437) forced U-73 to the surface with depth charges and sank it with gunfire.
Edison picked up 11 survivors. On
21 January 1944 Edison arrived off Anzio to patrol during the invasion landings. She provided fire support to the beleaguered troops and escorted transports and cargo ships to the beachhead until February, then sailed home for overhaul.
Edison returned to the Mediterranean
1 May 1944 for escort and patrol off Italy. On
15 August she was in the thick of the invasion of southern France. Until the end of the year, she continued to pound shore batteries, railroads, and troop concentrations as well as patrol. At New York
17 January 1945,
Edison underwent overhaul then escorted a convoy to Havre during April and May.
Edison sailed inter coastal from New York
8 June 1945, and was training at Pearl Harbor when the war ended. She reached Japan in September for the occupation. She left Nagoya
3 November to be a weather station in the Aleutians. The destroyer returned to San Francisco
30 December, then continued to the east coast where she was placed out of commission in reserve at Charleston
18 May 1946, later in Philadelphia, where she lay at end of 1962.
Edison received six
battle stars for World War II service.
A
Guru (
Sanskrit:
गुरू), is a
teacher in
Hinduism,
Buddhism, and
Sikhism, as well as in many
new religious movements. The guru is seen in these religions as a sacred conduit for wisdom and a way to
self-realization, and the importance of finding a true guru is emphasised.
"Guru" also refers in Sanskrit to
Brihaspati, a Hindu figure analogous to the Roman planet/god
Jupiter. In
Vedic astrology, Guru or Brihaspati is believed to exert teaching influences. Indeed, in many
Indian languages such as
Hindi, the occidental Thursday is called either
Brihaspativaar or
Guruvaar (
vaar meaning day of the week).
In contemporary
India, the word "guru" is widely used with the general meaning of "teacher". In Western usage, the original meaning of guru has been extended to cover anyone who acquires followers, though not necessarily in an established school of philosophy or religion. In a further Western metaphorical extension, guru is used to refer to a person who has authority because of his or her perceived secular knowledge or skills.
Etymologies The importance of finding a guru who can impart transcendental knowledge (
vidyā) is emphasised in Hinduism. One of the main Hindu texts, the
Bhagavad Gita, is a dialogue between God in the form of
Krishna and his friend
Arjuna, a
Kshatriya prince who accepts Krishna as his guru on the battlefield, prior to a large battle. Not only does this dialogue outline many of the ideals of Hinduism, but their relationship is considered an ideal one of Guru-Shishya. In the Gita, Krishna speaks to Arjuna of the importance of finding a guru:
Acquire the transcendental knowledge from a Self-realized master by humble reverence, by sincere inquiry, and by service. The wise ones who have realized the Truth will impart the Knowledge to you. In the sense mentioned above,
guru is used more or less interchangeably with "
satguru" (literally:
true teacher) and
satpurusha. Compare also
Swami. The disciple of a guru is called a
śiṣya or
chela. Often a guru lives in an
ashram or in a
gurukula (the guru's household), together with his disciples. The lineage of a guru, spread by disciples who carry on the guru's message, is known as the guru
parampara, or disciplic succession.
Some Hindu denominations like
BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha hold that a personal relationship with a living guru, revered as the embodiment of God, is essential in seeking
moksha. The guru is the one who guides his or her disciple to become
jivanmukta, the liberated soul able to achieve salvation in his or her lifetime.
The role of the guru continues in the original sense of the word in such Hindu traditions as the
Vedānta,
yoga,
tantra and
bhakti schools. Indeed, it is now a standard part of Hinduism that a guru is one's spiritual guide on earth. In some more mystical traditions it is believed that the guru could awaken dormant spiritual knowledge within the pupil. The act of doing this is known as
shaktipat.
In Hinduism, the guru is considered a respected person with saintly qualities who enlightens the mind of his or her disciple, an educator from whom one receives the initiatory mantra, and one who instructs in rituals and religious ceremonies. The
Vishnu Smriti and
Manu Smriti regard the teacher and the mother and father as the most venerable influences on an individual.
Some influential gurus in the Hindu tradition were
Adi Shankaracharya,
Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and
Shri Ramakrishna. Other gurus who continued the
yogic tradition into the
20th century include
Shri Ram Chandra,
Shri Aurobindo Ghosh,
Shri Ramana Maharshi,
Sri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati (The Sage of Kanchi),
Swami Sivananda,
Swami Chinmayananda and
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. See also the
list of Hindu gurus.
In Indian culture, a person without a guru or a teacher (
acharya) was once looked down on as an orphan or unfortunate one. The word
anatha in Sanskrit means "the one without a teacher." An acharya is the giver of
gyan (knowledge) in the form of
shiksha (instruction). A guru also gives
diksha initiation which is the spiritual awakening of the disciple by the grace of the guru. Diksha is also considered to be the procedure of bestowing the divine powers of a guru upon the disciple, through which the disciple progresses continuously along the path to divinity.
The concept of the "guru" can be traced as far back as the early
Upanishads, where the idea of the Divine Teacher on earth first manifested from its early
Brahmin associations.
The Guru in Hinduism There is an understanding in some sects that if the devotee were presented with the guru and God, first he would pay respect to the guru, since the guru had been instrumental in leading him to God. Some traditions claim "Guru, God and Self (Self meaning soul, not personality) are one and the same. In this context, saints and poets in India, have expressed their views about the relationship between Guru and God:
Kabir Guru and God both appear before me. To whom should I prostrate? I bow before Guru who introduced God to me.
Brahmanand It's my great fortune that I found Satguru, all my doubts are removed. I bow before Guru. Guru's glory is greater than God's.
Brahmanda Purana Guru is Shiva
sans his three eyes, Vishnu
sans his four arms Brahma
sans his four heads. He is parama Shiva himself in human form
Adi Shankara, widely considered one of the most important figures of Indian intellectual history, begins his
Gurustotram or
Verses to the Guru with the following
Sanskrit Sloka, that has become a widely sung
Bhajan:
Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwara. Guru Sakshath Parambrahma, Tasmai Shri Gurave Namaha.
(tr:
Guru is the creator Brahma, Guru is the preserver Vishnu, Guru is the destroyer Siva. Guru is directly the supreme spirit — I offer my salutations to this Guru.)
Guru and God Main article: Guru-shishya tradition The guru-shishya tradition According to the
Deval Smriti there can be eleven kinds of gurus and according to
Nama Chintamani there are ten types. According to his function gurus are categorized as
Vaishnava traditions usually categorize gurus as:
In his book about neo-Hindu movements in the Netherlands, Kranenborg distinguishes four types of gurus in India:
rishi acharyam upadhya kulapati mantravetta vartma-pradarshaka guru (any person who first shows one the path)
shiksha guru
diksha guru
sannyasa guru (who initiates one into sannyasa order)
caittya guru (God in the heart as
Paramatman)
the
spiritual advisor for higher
caste Hindus who also performs traditional rituals and who is not connected to a temple (thus not a priest);
the
enlightened master who derives his authority from his experience, such as achieving
enlightenment. This type appears in
bhakti movements and in
tantra and asks for unquestioning obedience, and can have Western followers. Westerners can even become one, as have, for example
Andrew Cohen, and
Isaac Shapiro.
the
avatar, a guru who considers himself to be an incarnation of God, God-like, or an instrument of God, or who is considered as such by others.
A "guru" in the form of a book i.e. the
Guru Granth Sahib in the
Sikh religion;
Classification of gurus Gurus of several Hindu denominations, including the
Surat Shabda Yoga are often referred to as
Satgurus.
In the Upanishads, five signs of satguru (true guru) are mentioned.
In the presence of the satguru; Knowledge flourishes (
Gyana raksha); Sorrow diminishes (
Dukha kshaya); Joy wells up without any reason (
Sukha aavirbhava); Abundance dawns (
Samriddhi); All talents manifest (
Sarva samvardhan).
According to the Indologist
Georg Feuerstein, the preceptors were traditionally treated with great reverence, granted excessive authority, and identified with the
transcendental Reality. He writes that partly to counterbalance this deification, some Hindu schools began to emphasize that the real teacher is the transcendental
Self.
The
Mundak Upanishad says that in order to realize the supreme godhead, one should surrender one's self before the guru who knows the secrets of the
Vedas.
On the role of the guru,
Swami Sivananda asks: "Do you realize now the sacred significance and the supreme importance of the Guru's role in the evolution of man? It was not without reason that the India of the past carefully tended and kept alive the lamp of Guru-Tattva. It is therefore not without reason that India, year after year, age after age, commemorates anew this ancient concept of the Guru, adores it and pays homage to it again and again, and thereby re-affirms its belief and allegiance to it. For, the true Indian knows that the Guru is the only guarantee for the individual to transcend the bondage of sorrow and death, and experience the Consciousness of the Reality."
Attributes of guru Some scriptures and gurus have warned against false teachers, and have recommended that the spiritual seeker test the guru before accepting him. Some have given criteria on how to distinguish false from genuine ones:
The
Maitrayaniya Upanishad warns against false teachers who may deceive the naive.
Testing the guru Guru Purnima is the day when the disciple wakes up and expresses gratitude. The purpose of the Guru Purnima (or Poornima) celebration is to review the preceding year to see how much one has progressed in life, to renew one's determination, and to focus on one's progress on the spiritual path.
Guru Puja (literally "worship of the guru") the practice of worshiping the guru through the making of offerings and requesting inspiration from the guru. Vows and commitments made by the disciple or
chela, which might have lost their strength, are renewed.
Guru Bhakti (literally "devotion to the guru") is considered important in many schools and
sects.
Rituals Main article: Contemporary Hindu movements In modern Hinduism Part of a series on Buddhism 
History of Buddhism Foundations
Key Concepts Major Figures Practices Regions Branches Texts Portal 
In the
Theravada Buddhist tradition, the teacher is a valued and honoured mentor worthy of great respect, and is a source of inspiration on the path to
Enlightenment.
Blessed by the guru, whom the disciple regards as a
Bodhisattva, or the embodiment of
Buddha, the disciple can continue on the way to experiencing the true nature of reality. The disciple shows great appreciation and devotion for the guru, whose blessing is the last of the four foundations of
Vajrayana Buddhism.
In the
Tibetan tradition, the guru is seen as the
Buddha, the very root of spiritual realization and the basis of the path. Without the teacher, it is asserted, there can be no experience or insight. In Tibetan texts, great emphasis is placed upon praising the virtues of the guru.
The
Dalai Lama, speaking of the importance of the guru, said:
"Rely on the teachings to evaluate a guru: Do not have blind faith, but also no blind criticism." He also observed that the term 'living Buddha' is a translation of the Chinese words
huo fuo. In Tibetan, he said, the operative word is
lama which means 'guru'. A guru is someone who is not necessarily a Buddha, but is heavy with knowledge. The term
vajra is also used, meaning 'master'.
Tantric teachings include visualizing the guru and making offerings praising the guru. The guru is known as the
vajra (literally "diamond") guru. Initiations or ritual empowerments are necessary before the student is permitted to practise a particular tantra. The guru does not perform initiation as an individual, but as the person's own Buddha-nature reflected in the personality of the guru. The disciple is asked to make vows and commitments which preserve the spiritual link to the guru, and is told that to break this link is a serious downfall.
See also: Tibetan Buddhism Guru in Buddhism The title Guru (
Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ) is fundamental to the
Sikh religion. Indeed, the Sikhs have carried the word to an even greater abstraction, while retaining the original usage, and use it to relate to an understanding or knowledge imparted through any medium.
Sikhism is derived from the Sanskrit word
shishya, or disciple. The core beliefs of Sikhism are of belief in one God and in the teachings of the
Ten Gurus, enshrined in
Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book.
Guru Nanak, the first guru of Sikhism, was opposed to the caste system prevalent in India in his time, and he accepted Hindus, Muslims and people from other religions as disciples. His followers referred to him as the Guru (teacher). Before his death he designated a new Guru to be his successor and to lead the Sikh community. This procedure was continued, and the tenth and last Guru,
Guru Gobind (AD 1666–1708) initiated the Sikh ceremony in AD 1699.
For Sikhs, the Gurus were not in the Christian sense "Sons of God". Sikhism says we are all the children of God and by deduction, God is our mother/father.
On the importance of
guru, Nanak says:
Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore. In addition to
the Ten Gurus of Sikhism, the
Guru Granth Sahib was made the eleventh perpetual guru of the
Sikhs. Together they make up the Eleven Gurus of Sikhism.
See also: Sikhism Guru in Sikhism Main article: Parampara Succession and lineage (parampara) As an alternative to established religions, some people in Europe and the USA who were not of
East Indian extraction have looked up to spiritual guides and gurus from India, seeking them to provide them answers to the meaning of life, and to achieve a more direct experience free from intellectualism and philosophy. Gurus from many denominations traveled to Western Europe and the USA and established followings. One of the first to do so was
Swami Vivekananda who addressed the
World Parliament of Religions assembled in
Chicago, Illinois in
1893.
In particular during the
1960s and
1970s many gurus acquired groups of young followers in Western Europe and the USA. According to the American sociologist
David G. Bromley this was partially due to the repeal of the
Chinese Exclusion Act (United States) in
1965 which permitted Asian gurus entrance to the USA.
See also
conversion to NRMs and cults,
conversion to Indic religions,
theories about joining cults Views on gurus from a Western cultural perspective Gurus who established a discipleship or who are/were spiritual leaders of notable organizations in Western countries include:
According to Kranenborg (1984),
Jesus fits the Hindu definition and characteristics of a guru.
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche a
lama (Tibetan Buddhist religious teacher)
Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama Jiddu Krishnamurti groomed to be a world spiritual teacher by the
Theosophical Society Adyar but publicly renounced this role in
1929 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi now lives in the Netherlands
Meher Baba who travelled to the west numerous times in the 1930s and 1950's and had many western followers
Muktananda Paramahansa Yogananda settled in the USA and wrote the book
Autobiography of a Yogi A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada who founded the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (the '
Hare Krishnas') in
New York in
1965, an organization following the
Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of
Hinduism.
Tirtha Maharaj, the president of World Vaishnava Association.
Srila
Bhaktivedanta Narayana Goswami Maharaja, Acarya of Pure Bhakti, an organization based on the
Gaudiya Vaishnavism sect of Hinduism
Bhakti Vaibhav Puri Goswami Maharaj; physician of
ayurveda and
Indian freedom fighter who became a devoted disciple of
Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur and founder-
acharya of
Sri Krishna Caitanya Mission.
Prem Rawat was known as Guru Maharaj Ji until he dropped the title "guru" from his name in 1980.
Bhagwan/Osho/Rajneesh settled temporarily in the USA
Sathya Sai Baba never went to Europe or the USA but acquired a substantial number of followers there
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev founder of Isha Foundation and the Isha Yoga Centre has a strong volunteer force in India, US and Lebanon
Sant Sri Asaramji Bapu founder of Sri Yog Vedanta Sewa Samithi.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar founder of the
Art of Living Foundation.
Sri Aurobindo Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda has a temporary
ashram in
Los Angeles, California and many followers outside of India as well.
Ruchira
Adi Da Samraj Born in the US founded the new Tradition of
Adidam, based on Guru Devotee Relationship
Muhammad Raheem
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen was a revered Sufi saint from the island of Sri Lanka who shared his knowledge and experience with people of every race and religion and from all parts of the world.
Shree Maa founder of Devi Mandir in USA with followers in US, Europe and India.
Shri
Mataji Nirmala devi founder of
Sahaja Yoga meditation.
Rudrabhayananda founder of Soul Searchers and the Atma Sadhana Kendra
Mahamandaleshwar Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda founder of the system
Yoga in Daily Life Reginald Ray,
vajracarya of Dharmaocean, senior student of
Chögyam Trungpa Criticism Some notable scandals and controversies regarding gurus or the groups that they founded are:
The lifestyle of
Osho/Bhagwan/Rajneesh with his 93
Rolls Royces at his disposal (though as a gift from his followers), a
bioterrorist attack at
The Dalles,
Oregon by some of his followers, the group's successful effort to take control of the city of
Antelope, Oregon, his unusual teachings that contradicted both traditional morality and Hindu norms, the group therapy sessions with little restraints, and the liberal sexual freedom that he promoted. (see
Karmapa controversy).
Notable scandals and controversies Charismatic authority Darshan Guru Gita List of Hindu gurus List of people considered to be avatars Hindu reform movements Further reading Understanding Hindu Traditions Educational Video Network, Inc. (2004)
Origins of India- Hindu Civilization Educational Video Network, Inc. (2004)
Meditation & the Thinking Machine Krishnamurti (2004)
Short Cut To Nirvana (2004) directed by Maurizio Benazzo. Featuring encounters with some of India's most respected holy men and exclusive footage of the Dalai Lama.
Dalai Lama on Life and Enlightenment (2004)]
Guru Busters documentary directed and produced by Robert Eagle (1995)
Mysterious Miracles, Aliens from Spaceship Earth, A Spiritual Odyssey, directed by Don Como (1977)
Scott Carl Rechsteiner (born
July 29,
1962), better known by his
ring name,
Scott Steiner, is an
American professional wrestler. Steiner is perhaps best known for his appearances with
World Championship Wrestling alongside his older brother
Rick as the
Steiner Brothers tag team, and for his involvement with the
New World Order faction. He is also known for his appearances with the
World Wrestling Federation and
World Wrestling Entertainment. He is currently wrestling for
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
Career Scott Steiner made his debut at
Starrcade '88: True Grit, cheering on his brother Rick as Rick defeated
Mike Rotunda for the
NWA World Television Championship. After Rick lost the belt back to Rotundo at
Chi-Town Rumble, Scott and Rick began teaming together in tag team matches.
On
November 1,
1989 in
Atlanta, Georgia, the Steiner Brothers defeated the
Fabulous Freebirds (
Michael "P.S." Hayes and
Jimmy Garvin) for the
NWA World Tag Team Championship. They held the titles until
May 19,
1990, when they were defeated by
Doom (
Butch Reed and
Ron Simmons) in
Washington, D.C. at
Capital Combat.
World Championship Wrestling (1989-1992) The
Steiner Brothers left
WCW in November 1992, with Scott vacating the
WCW World Television Championship. They quickly signed contracts with the
World Wrestling Federation, making their televised debut in an interview on the
December 21,
1992 edition of
WWF Prime Time Wrestling as
babyfaces. They also appeared on the debut episode of
Monday Night RAW on
January 11,
1993. They made their WWF
pay-per-view debut on
January 24,
1993 at the
1993 Royal Rumble, defeating the
Beverly Brothers (
Blake and
Beau). At
WrestleMania IX on
April 4,
1993, the Steiner Brothers defeated
The Headshrinkers (
Samu and
Fatu).
World Wrestling Federation (1992-1994) The
Steiner Brothers debuted in
Extreme Championship Wrestling on
July 28,
1995 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in
Middletown, New York, defeating
Dudley Dudley and
Vampire Warrior. They next appeared with ECW in The Flagstaff on
August 4,
1995 in
Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, defeating Dudley Dudley and
2 Cold Scorpio. The Steiner Brothers made their debut in the
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
ECW Arena on
August 5,
1995 at
Wrestlepalooza 1995, teaming with
Eddie Guerrero in a loss to Scorpio,
Dean Malenko, and
Cactus Jack. On
August 25,
1995 in Jim Thorpe they defeated Scorpio and Malenko, and they went on to defeat Scorpio and
Chris Benoit the following evening. On
August 28,
1995, they defeated Dudley Dudley and
Dances With Dudley in the Big Apple Dinner Theater in
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
At
Gangstas' Paradise on
September 16,
1995, the Steiner Brothers joined forces with
Taz in a loss to
The Eliminators (
John Kronus and
Perry Saturn) and
Jason. On
September 23,
1995 in Middletown, they defeated
Raven and
Stevie Richards. Scott Steiner made his final ECW appearance on
October 28,
1995, teaming with Taz and losing to The Eliminators in a tag team match.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1995) The
Steiner Brothers re-signed with WCW in 1996. They won the
WCW World Tag Team Championship from
Harlem Heat on
July 24,
1996, but lost the titles to Harlem Heat just three days later. Following the formation of the
New World Order (nWo), the Steiner Brothers began feuding with
The Outsiders, who had won the
WCW World Tag Team Championship from
Harlem Heat.
World Championship Wrestling (1996-2001) After his contract with AOL-Time Warner expired in
November 2001, Steiner joined the
World Wrestling All-Stars, where he was reunited with Midajah. He appeared at WWA
house shows in
Europe and
Australia throughout 2001 and 2002. At the third WWA
pay-per-view,
The Eruption, on
April 12,
2002 in the
Rod Laver Arena in
Melbourne,
Australia, Steiner challenged
Nathan Jones for the
WWA World Heavyweight Championship. Despite the presence of
WWA Commissioner Sid at ringside, Steiner was able to cheat his way to a victory, striking Jones with the title belt and then pinning him. Steiner held the belt for several months, although never defending it, before vacating the title in
November 2002 and leaving WWA for
World Wrestling Entertainment.
In one of his last appearances before re-joining WWE, Steiner teamed with his brother Rick to defeat
Hiroshi Tanahashi and
Kensuke Sasaki on
May 2,
2002 in
Japan at the
New Japan Pro Wrestling thirtieth Anniversary show in a match refereed by
Joanie Laurer.
World Wrestling All-Stars (2001-2002) Steiner signed a three year contract with
World Wrestling Entertainment in
October 2002, and returned to WWE television as a
face, at the
2002 Survivor Series in
Madison Square Garden on
November 17. On that night, he
squashed Matt Hardy and
Christopher Nowinski in an unofficial match. Over the following weeks,
General Managers Eric Bischoff and
Stephanie McMahon both courted Steiner, with each trying to sign Steiner to their respective brand,
RAW or
SmackDown!. Bischoff was ultimately successful after McMahon rejected Steiner's advances.
World Wrestling Entertainment (2002-2004) Sporting a new chest
tattoo, Steiner debuted in
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on
March 12,
2006 at
Destination X 2006. His debut fulfilled
Jeff Jarrett's claim that he would bring a new wrestler to TNA in order to counter the presence of
Steve "Sting" Borden. At Destination X, Steiner broke Sting's
Scorpion Deathlock on Jarrett and then applied his own
Steiner Recliner to Sting, enabling Jarrett to recover and then
break a guitar over Sting's head.
Steiner made his
TNA iMPACT! debut on
March 18,
2006, identifying himself as Jarrett's
bodyguard. In subsequent weeks, Steiner (who had ostensibly not been signed to a contract) began attacking members of the TNA roster, demanding to be hired. At
Lockdown 2006 on
April 23,
2006, Steiner, Jarrett, and
America's Most Wanted lost to Sting,
A.J. Styles,
Ron Killings, and
Rhino in a
Lethal Lockdown match.
Following the defeat, Steiner and Jarrett challenged
Sting and any partner of his choosing to face them at
TNA Sacrifice 2006 on
May 14,
2006. Sting teased three potential partners (
Buff Bagwell,
Lex Luger and Steiner's brother
Rick Steiner) before revealing his chosen partner to be
Samoa Joe. Sting and Joe went on to defeat Steiner and Jarrett at Sacrifice. After failing to defeat Sting to qualify for the third
King of the Mountain match, Steiner faced, and lost to, Samoa Joe in a singles bout at
Slammiversary 2006. At
Victory Road 2006, Steiner faced
Samoa Joe,
Sting, and
Christian Cage in a four way bout for the number one contendership to Jarrett's
NWA World Heavyweight Championship; the match was won by Sting, who pinned Steiner, and Steiner resumed his role as Jarrett's bodyguard. Steiner then faced
Christian Cage on the
August 10 edition of Impact and was in Jeff Jarrett's corner at
Hard Justice.
After
Hard Justice, Steiner's short term contract expired and an agreement could not be reached on an extension. After briefly parting ways with TNA and working the independent circuit, Steiner re-signed with the company in
January 2007.
On
February 8,
2007, Steiner returned to TNA and revealed himself to be the "special consultant" to
NWA Champion Christian Cage in Cage's match with
Kurt Angle at
Against All Odds and joining
Christian's Coalition. He appeared at TNA Against All Odds where he played a major role in the match by introducing a lead pipe. After the match Scott Steiner suffered from a head injury requiring stitches. He suffered the injury via the chair shot he received from Samoa Joe.
Steiner then started a feud with
Kurt Angle after costing him the NWA World title at
Against All Odds. Steiner eliminated Angle in a Gauntlet Match where the winner would face then champion Christian Cage at
Destination X. Steiner would then lose to Angle at
Destination X.
At
Lockdown, Scott Steiner was part of Team Cage as they faced Team Angle in a
Lethal Lockdown match. Steiner was hailed for the return of the Frankensteiner, a move he became famous for in the 1990s.
At
Sacrifice, Steiner was reunited with the returning Rick Steiner. The Steiner Brothers were scheduled to wrestle
Team 3D in a "dream match" at
Slammiversary, but Scott Steiner suffered a throat injury while wrestling
Apolo at a TNA
house show in
San Juan, Puerto Rico on
June 3,
2007. Steiner was hospitalized for several weeks, with
Road Warrior Animal replacing him in the scheduled tag team bout at Slammiversary.
At
Hard Justice, the Steiner Brothers defeated Team 3D.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2006-)
- Tylene Buck
- Ted DiBiase
- Eddie Gilbert
- Stacy Keibler
- Midajah
- Missy Hyatt
- Shakira
- Tojo Yamamoto
- April Hunter
Finishing and signature moves
- Frankensteiner (Headscissors takedown / Top rope headscissors takedown)
S.S.D. – Steiner Screw Driver / Steiner Square Driver (Vertical suplex piledriver) - 1990s
Steiner Flatliner (Reverse STO)
Steiner Recliner (Standing camel clutch)
Double underhook powerbomb
Steiner-Line (Clothesline)
Elbow drop (followed by press ups)
Exploder suplex
Fallaway slam
Full nelson suplex
Gutwrench suplex
Northern Lights suplex
Overhead belly to belly suplex
Pumphandle drop
Spinning side belly to belly suplex
Reverse DDT
Tiger driver - 1990s
Top rope belly to belly suplex
Signature illegal weapon: Lead pipe
Managers
Tylene Buck
Ted DiBiase
Eddie Gilbert
Stacy Keibler
Midajah
Missy Hyatt
Shakira
Tojo Yamamoto
April Hunter
Nicknames
- The Big Bad Booty Daddy
Big Poppa Pump
Freakzilla
The Genetic Freak
The Man with the Largest Arms in the World
The Man with the Largest Arms and Shortest Fuse in Professional Wrestling
The Physical Phenomenon
Superstar
White Thunder Wrestling facts
Championships and accomplishments
- 1983 Division I Big 10 - fifth place
- 1984 Division I Big 10 - runner up
- 1985 Division I Big 10 - runner up
- 1986 Division I Big 10 - runner up
- 1986 Division I All American - sixth place
National Collegiate Athletic Association
1983 Division I Big 10 - fifth place
1984 Division I Big 10 - runner up
1985 Division I Big 10 - runner up
1986 Division I Big 10 - runner up
1986 Division I All American - sixth place Amateur wrestling
- CWA Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Billy Travis (2), and Jed Grundy (1)
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) - with Rick Steiner
- IWGP World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Rick Steiner
- PWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Rick Steiner
- PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year award in 1989
- PWI Tag Team of the Year award in 1990 – with Rick Steiner
- PWI Match of the Year award in 1991 – with Rick Steiner vs. Sting and Lex Luger (SuperBrawl, May 19, 1991)
- PWI ranked him # 6 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 1991
- PWI Tag Team of the Year award in 1993 – with Rick Steiner
- PWI ranked him # 77 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
- PWI ranked him # 2 of the 100 best tag teams of the PWI Years in 2003 – with Rick Steiner
- SSCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- UWF Rock 'n' Roll Express Championship (1 time, current) - with Rick Steiner
- NWA Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament winner in 1990 – with Rick Steiner
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) (1 time) - with Rick Steiner
WCW United States Heayweight Championship (2 times)
WCW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
WCW World Tag Team Championship (6 times) – with Rick Steiner
WCW World Television Championship (2 times)
World Wrestling All-Stars
WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
World Wrestling Association
WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Jerry Graham, Jr
World Wrestling Federation
WWF World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Rick Steiner
Worldwide Wrestling Alliance
WWWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Tag Team of the Year award in 1990 – with Rick Steiner
Match of the Year award in 1991 – with Rick Steiner vs. Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki Professional wrestling
Steiner is married with children.
Personal life
Steiner's weight gain in the late 1990s led to accusations of anabolic steroid abuse, which he denied. Steiner claims that, upon returning to World Wrestling Entertainment in late 2002 he was asked to undergo a steroid test. According to Steiner, the request was dropped after Steiner insisted that the muscular Triple H, then the World Heavyweight Champion, also undergo a test.
History Byzantine Empire Crusades Ecumenical council Baptism of Kiev Great Schism By region Eastern Orthodox history Ukraine Christian history Asia Eastern Christian history Traditions Oriental Orthodoxy Coptic Orthodox Church Armenian Apostolic Church Syriac Christianity
Assyrian Church of the East Eastern Orthodox Church Eastern Catholic Churches Liturgy and Worship Sign of the cross Divine Liturgy Iconography Asceticism Omophorion Theology Hesychasm -
Icon Apophaticism -
Filioque clause Miaphysitism -
Monophysitism Nestorianism -
Theosis -
Theoria Phronema -
Philokalia Praxis -
Theotokos Hypostasis -
Ousia Essence-Energies distinction A
chorbishop is a rank of
Christian clergy below
bishop. The name
chorepiscope or
chorepiscopus (pl
chorepiscopi) is taken from the
Greek Χωρεπίσκοπος and means country bishop.
Present practice Synods of Antioch Synod of Ancyra
Perso-Arabic script Hindustani (/
hindustɑːniː /;
Hindustānī;
हिन्दुस्तानी,
ہندوستانی), also known as "
Hindi-Urdu," is a term used by linguists to describe several closely related idioms in the northern, central and northwestern part of the
Indian subcontinent and the vernacular blend between its two
standardized registers in the form of the official languages of
Hindi and
Urdu, as well as several
nonstandard dialects. These two standardized languages of Hindustani are nearly identical in grammar and share a basic common vocabulary. In fact, before the
Partition of British India, the terms Hindustani and Urdu were synonymous.
History of the name Main article: Urdu Urdu Main article: Hindi Hindi In a specific sense, "Hindustani" may be used to refer to the dialects and varieties used in common speech, in contrast with the standardized Hindi and Urdu. This meaning is reflected in the use of the term "
bazaar Hindustani," in other words, the "language of the street or the marketplace", as opposed to the perceived refinement of formal Hindi, Urdu, or even
Sanskrit. Thus, the Webster's New World Dictionary defines the term Hindustani as
the principal dialect of Hindi/Urdu, used as a trade language throughout north India and Pakistan. Bazaar Hindustani Hindustani has four commonly named varieties:
Hindi (High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, Literary Hindi, Standard Hindi);
Urdu (Standard Urdu);
Dakhani (literally, "southern"), a less Persianized dialect of Urdu spoken in the region of
Hyderabad (India);
Rekhta, the highly Persianized variety of Urdu spoken in the Mughul court, and used for poetry.
Variants of Hindustani While, at the spoken level,
Urdu and
Hindi are considered
dialects of a single language (or
diasystem), they differ vastly in literary and formal
vocabulary; where literary Urdu draws heavily on
Persian and
Arabic, literary Hindi draws heavily on
Sanskrit,
Persian and to a lesser extent
Prakrit. The grammar and base vocabulary (most pronouns, verbs, adpositions, etc.) of both Urdu and Hindi, however, are the same and derive from a Prakritic base.
The associated dialects of Urdu and Hindi are known as "Hindustani". It is perhaps the
lingua franca of the west and north of the
Indian subcontinent, though it is understood fairly well in other regions also, especially in the urban areas. A common vernacular sharing characteristics with Urdu, Sanskritized Hindi, and regional Hindi, Hindustani is more commonly used as a vernacular than highly Arabicized/Persianized Urdu or highly Sanskritized Hindi.
This can be seen in the popular culture of
Bollywood or, more generally, the vernacular of Pakistanis and Indians which generally employs a lexicon common to both "Urdu" and "Hindi" speakers. Minor subtleties in region will also affect the 'brand' of Hindustani, sometimes pushing the Hindustani closer to Urdu or to Hindi. One might reasonably assume that the language spoken in
Lucknow,
Uttar Pradesh (known for its beautiful usage of Urdu) and
Varanasi (a holy city for
Hindus and thus using highly Sanskritized
Hindi) is somewhat different.
Hindustani, if both Hindi and Urdu are counted, is the third or second most widely spoken language in the world after
Mandarin and possibly
English.
See also: Persian and Urdu Hindi and Urdu: sister tongues Hindi, one
standardized register of Hindustani, is declared by the
Constitution of India as the "official language (rājabhāshā) of the Union" (Art. 343(1)). At the state level, Hindi is the official language in the
Indian states of
Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar,
Jharkhand,
Uttarakhand,
Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan,
Chhattisgarh,
Himachal Pradesh,
Haryana, and
Delhi. Some of these states have designated a "co-official language" (usually
Urdu). Similarly, Hindi is accorded the status of co-official language in several Indian states and union territories:
Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
Daman and Diu,
Gujarat,
Maharastra, and
Punjab.
Urdu, the other
standardized register of Hindustani, is the national language of
Pakistan. It shares
official language status with English. Although English is used in most elite circles, and
Punjabi has a plurality of native speakers,
Urdu is the
lingua franca and is expected to prevail.
Urdu is also one of the official languages of
India, and in the Indian states of
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Jammu and Kashmir, and
Uttar Pradesh,
Urdu has official language status. While the government school system in most other states emphasises Standard
Hindi language, at universities in cities such as
Lucknow,
Aligarh and
Hyderabad,
Urdu is spoken and learned and is regarded as a language of prestige.
Official status Besides being the
lingua franca of
South Asia, Hindustani is spoken among people of the
South Asian diaspora and their descendants.
In Fiji,
Hindustani has official status under
Fiji's Constitution, along with
Bau Fijian and
English; citizens of Fiji have the constitutional right to communicate with any government agency in any of the official languages, with an interpreter to be supplied on request.
Fijian Hindustani descends from one of the eastern forms of Hindustani, called
Awadhi, as well as the
Bhojpuri dialect. It has developed some unique features that differentiate it from the
Avadhī spoken on the Indian subcontinent, although not to the extent of hindering mutual understanding. It is spoken by nearly the entire
Indo-Fijian community, 38.1% of Fiji's entire population, regardless of ancestry.
Hindustani speakers have a significant number of speakers in Caribbean countries such as
Suriname,
Guyana, and
Trinidad & Tobago. The formal name of the language spoken in this region is generally called
Caribbean Hindustani, although the Caribbean countries may add an adjective in front of the language name (i.e.
Sarnami Hindustani) even though most individuals commonly refer to it as just
Hindustani. One major country in which Hindustani is spoken is
Suriname.
Sarnami Hindustani is the second most spoken language in Suriname after
Dutch. This is due to the emigration of East Indians (known locally as Hindustanis in Suriname) from the Indian states of
Bihār and
Uttar Pradesh located in
North India. The emigration was mainly of
Bhojpuri speaking people which has led to the local Hindustani language having various
Bhojpuri words and phrases from other
Bihari languages. Ethnic Indians form 37% of the population in Suriname, the largest ethnic group there. Hence, Hindustani is spoken frequently in Suriname and Indian culture plays a major role there in general. Hindustani is also spoken among ethnic Indians of Guyana and is popular there as South Asians make up around 45% of Guyana's total population.
Tadj-Uzbeki, a term coined by
Tiwari, refers to the Hindustani dialect spoken by Indian immigrants from the 13th century onwards in the border region of
Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan, specifically in the towns of
Hisar,
Shehr-e-nau,
Regar,
Surchi, etc. It is based on the
Braj,
Hariyani and
Rajasthani dialects, and is highly influenced by
Uzbek,
Tajik and
Russian languages.
Hindustani also has a significant number of speakers in
North America,
Europe,
Africa, and the
Middle East due to immigration by the people of
India and
Pakistan to these continents and regions. In South Africa, Kenya and other parts of Africa, older descendents of 18th century sugar cane workers also speak a variety of Bhojpuri as their second language.
Also see:
Fiji Hindi Hindustani outside South Asia Main article: Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) word etymology Standard or
shuddha ("pure") Hindi derives much of its formal and technical vocabulary from
Sanskrit while standard Urdu derives much of its formal and technical vocabulary from
Persian. Standard Hindi and Urdu are used only in public addresses and radio or TV news, while the everyday spoken language in most areas is one of several varieties of Hindustani, whose vocabulary contains words drawn from
Persian and Arabic. In addition, spoken Hindustani includes words from
English and other languages as well.
Vernacular
Urdu and Hindi are practically indistinguishable. However, the literary registers differ substantially; in highly formal situations, the languages are barely intelligible to speakers of the other. It bears mention that in centuries past both Sanskrit and Persian have been regarded as the languages of the elite, even by those of differing ethnic and religious backgrounds.
There are four principal categories of words in Hindustani:
Excessive use of
tatsam words sometimes creates problems for most native speakers. The educated middle class population of India may be familiar with these words due to education, but less-educated persons or people of rural backgrounds lack familiarity with more formal registers. The issue also exists with high-register vocabulary borrowed from Persian and Arabic.
tatsam (तत्सम्/تتسم
same as that) words: These are the words which have been directly lifted from Sanskrit to enrich the formal and technical vocabulary of Hindi. Such words (almost exclusively nouns) have been taken without any phonetic or spelling change. Among nouns, the
tatsam word could be the Sanskrit uninflected word-stem, or it could be the nominative singular form in the Sanskrit nominal declension.
tadbhav (तद्भव/تدبھو
born of that) words: These are the words that
might have been derived from Sanskrit or the Prakrits, but have undergone minor or major phonetic and spelling changes as they appear in modern Hindi. They also include words borrowed from the other languages.
deshaja (देशज/دیشج
local): words that are unrelated to any Sanskrit words, and of local origin.
Loan words from non-Indian languages that include
Arabic,
Persian,
Turkic,
Portuguese or
English.
Vocabulary Main article: Hindustani orthography Writing system Main article: Hindustani grammar (Hindi-Urdu) Grammar Despite Hindustani and English both being Indo-European languages, Hindustani grammar can be very complex and is different in many ways from what English speakers are used to. Most notably, Hindustani is a subject-object-verb language, meaning that verbs usually fall at the end of the sentence rather than before the object (as in English). Hindustani also shows mixed ergativity so that, in some cases, verbs agree with the object of a sentence rather than the subject. Unlike English, Hindustani has
no definite article (
the). The numeral
ek (एक, ایک) might be used as the indefinite singular article (
a/an) if this needs to be stressed.
In addition, Hindustani uses
postpositions (so called because they are placed after nouns) where English uses prepositions. Other differences include gender, honorifics, interrogatives, use of cases, and different tenses. While being complicated, Hindustani grammar is fairly regular, with irregularities being relatively limited. Despite differences in vocabulary and writing, Hindi grammar is nearly identical with
Urdu. As a result, a Hindustani grammar article is appropriate for both Hindi and Urdu. The concept of punctuation having been entirely unknown before the advent of the Europeans, Hindustani punctuation uses Western conventions for commas, exclamation points, and question marks. Periods are sometimes used to end a sentence, though the traditional "full stop" (a vertical line in
Devanagari script (।), short horizontal line in the
Perso-Arabic script (-) is more generally used.
Grammar In Hindustani, there are only two genders for nouns. All male human beings and male animals (or those animals and plants which are perceived to be "masculine") are
masculine. All female human beings and female animals (or those animals and plants which are perceived to be "feminine") are
feminine. Things, inanimate articles and abstract nouns are also either masculine or feminine according to convention, which must be memorised by non-Hindustani speakers if they wish to learn correct Hindustani. While this is similar to
Sanskrit and most other Indo-European languages such as
French, it is a very challenging learning requirement for many people in
South India who are native speakers of languages which do not feature such inflection, but are expected by the Government to learn standard Hindi or standard Urdu. It is also a challenge for those who are used to only the
English language, which although an Indo-European language, has dropped nearly all of its
gender inflection.
The ending of a word, if a vowel, usually helps in this gender classification. Among
tatsam words, the masculine words of Sanskrit remain masculine in Hindustani, and same is the case for the feminine. Sanskrit neuter nouns usually become masculine in Hindustani. Among the
tadbʰav words, if a word ends in long
/αː/, it is normally masculine. If a word ends in
/iː/ or
/in/, it is normally feminine. The gender of words borrowed from Arabic and Persian is determined either by phonology (usually the last vowel in the word) or by the gender of the nearest Hindustani equivalent. The gender assignment of Hindustani words directly borrowed from English (which are numerous) is also usually determined by the gender of the nearest Hindustani "synonym" or by the ending. Most adjectives ending in a vowel are inflected to agree with the gender of the noun:
/meriː beʈiː/ (मेरी बेटी, میری بیٹی) 'my daughter' vs.
/merαː beʈαː/ (मेरा बेटा, میرا بیٹا) 'my son'.
Genders Besides the standard interrogative terms of who (कौन کؤن
kaun), what (क्या کیا
kyā), why (कयों کیوں
kyoⁿ), when (कब کب
kab), where (कहाँ کہاں
kahāⁿ), how and what type (कैसा کیسا
kaisā), how many (कितना کِتنا
kitnā), etc., the Hindustani word
kyā (क्या کیا) can be used as a generic interrogative often placed at the beginning of a sentence to turn a statement into a Yes/No question. This makes it clear when a question is being asked. Questions can also be formed simply by modifying intonation, exactly as some questions are in English.
Interrogatives Hindustani has pronouns in the first, second and third person for one gender only. Thus, unlike English, there is no difference between
he or
she. More strictly speaking, the third person of the pronoun is actually the same as the demonstrative pronoun (this / that). The verb, upon conjugation, usually indicates the difference in the gender. The pronouns have additional cases of
accusative and
genitive. There may also be multiple ways of inflecting the pronoun, which are given in parentheses. Note that for the second person of the pronoun (
you), Hindustani has three levels of honorifics:
Imperatives (requests and commands) correspond in form to the level of honorific being used, and the verb inflects to show the level of respect and politeness desired. Because imperatives can already include politeness, the word "kripayā" (कृपया کرپیا) or "meharbānī" (महरबानी, مہربانی) which can be translated as "please", is much less common than in spoken English; it is generally only used in writing or announcements, and its use in common speech is usually intended as mockery.
आप آپ (
/αːp/): Formal and respectable form for
you. Has no difference between the singular and the plural. Used in all formal settings and speaking to persons who are senior in job or age. Plural could be stressed by saying आप लोग آپ لوگ (
/αːp log/ you people) or आप सब آپ سب (
/αːp səb/)
you all).
तुम تُم (
/tum/): Informal form of
you. Has no difference between the singular and the plural. Used in all informal settings and speaking to persons who are junior in job or age. Plural could be stressed by saying तुम लोग تُم لوگ (
/tum log/ you people) or तुम सब تُم سب (
/tum səb/)
you all).
तु تُو (
/tuː/): Extremely informal form of
you, as
thou. Strictly singular, its plural form being
/tum/. Except for very close friends or poetic language involving God, it could be perceived as offensive in
India and
Pakistan.
Pronouns The standard word order in Hindustani is, in general,
Subject Object Verb, but where different emphasis or more complex structure is needed, this rule is very easily set aside (provided that the nouns/pronouns are always followed by their postpositions or case markers). More specifically, the standard order is 1. Subject 2. Adverbs (in their standard order) 3. Indirect object and any of its adjectives 4. Direct object and any of its adjectives 5. Negation term or interrogative, if any, and finally the 6. Verb and any auxiliary verbs. (Snell, p 93) The standard order can be modified in various ways to impart emphasis on particular parts of the sentence. Negation is formed by adding the word नहीं نہیں (nahīⁿ, "no"), in the appropriate place in the sentence, or by utilizing न ن (na) or मत مت (mat) in some cases. Note that in Hindustani, the adjectives precede the nouns they qualify. The auxiliaries always follow the main verb. Also, Hindustani speakers or writers enjoy considerable freedom in placing words to achieve stylistic and other socio-psychological effects, though not as much freedom as in heavily inflected languages.
Word order Hindustani verbal structure is focused on
aspect with distinctions based on
tense usually shown through use of the verb honā (होना/ہونا) (to be) as an auxiliary. There are three aspects: habitual (imperfect), progressive (also known as continuous) and perfective. Verbs in each aspect are marked for tense in almost all cases with the proper inflected form of honā. Hindustani has four simple tenses, present, past, future (presumptive), and
subjunctive (referred to as a mood by many linguists). Verbs are conjugated not only to show the number and person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) of their subject, but also its gender. Additionally, Hindustani has
imperative and
conditional moods. The verbs must agree with the person, number and gender of the subject if and only if the subject is not followed by any postposition. If this condition is not met, the verb must agree with the number and gender of the object (provided the object does not have any postposition). If this condition is also not met, the verb agrees with neither. It is this kind of phenomenon that is called
mixed ergativity.
Tense and aspect of Hindustani verbs Hindustani is a weakly
inflected language for case; the relationship of a noun in a sentence is usually shown by
postpositions (i.e., prepositions that
follow the noun). Hindustani has three cases for nouns. The
Direct case is used for nouns not followed by any postpositions, typically for the subject case. The
Oblique case is used for any nouns that is followed by a postposition. Adjectives modifying nouns in the oblique case will inflect that same way. Some nouns have a separate
Vocative case. Hindustani has two numbers: singular and plural — but they may not be shown distinctly in all declinations.
Case the
phonetic mechanism of some sounds peculiar to Hindustani (eg. ṛ (retroflex "r"), ḍ (retroflex "d") etc.) The distinction between aspirated and unaspirated consonants will be difficult for English speakers. In addition, the distinction between dental and alveoloar (or retroflex) consonants will also pose problems. English speakers will find that they need to carefully distinguish between four different d-sounds and four different t-sounds.
pronunciation of vowels: In English, unstressed vowels tend to have a "
schwa" quality. The pronunciation of such vowels in English is changed to an "uh" sound; this is called reducing a vowel sound. The second syllable of "unify" is pronounced
/ə/, not
/i/ The same for the unstressed second syllable of "person" which is also pronounced
/ə/ rather than "oh." In Hindustani, English-speakers must constantly be careful not to reduce these vowels.
- In this respect, probably the most important mistake would be for English speakers to reduce final "ah" sounds to "uh." This can be especially important because an English pronunciation will lead to misunderstandings about grammar and gender. In Hindustani, "vo boltā hai" (वह बोलता है/وہ بولتا ہے) is "he talks" whereas "vo boltī hai" (वह बोलती ह/وہ بولتی ہے) is "she talks." A typical English pronunciation in the first sentence would be "vo boltuh hai," which will be understood as "she talks" by most Hindustani-native speakers.
The 'a' ending of many Sanskrit and Sanskrit borrowed gender-masculine words, due to Romanization, is highly confused by non-native speakers, because the short 'a' is dropped in Hindustani. There are exceptions, of course, if the Devanagari (used to write Sanskrit and Hindi among other languages) itself dictates the additional diacritical mark for the vowel "ā" at the end of certain masculine words, like honā.
the Verbal concordance; Hindustani exhibits split ergativity; see Ergative-absolutive language for an example.
Relative-correlative constructions. In English, interrogative and relative pronouns are the same word. In "Who are you?" the word who is an interrogative, or question, pronoun. In "My friend who lives in Sydney can speak Hindustani," the same word, who, is a relative, or linking, pronoun. In Hindustani, there are different words for each. The interrogative pronoun tends to start with the "k" sound: "kab" = when?, "kahā" = where, "jitnā" = how much.
Mastering gender for nouns due to lack of neutral gender. Therefore 'zameen' (Earth) is feminine, but 'chand' (Moon) is masculine; 'sarrak' (street) is feminine, but 'raasta' (way) is masculine, and 'qaum' (nation) is feminine, but 'mulk' (country) is masculine. Given almost arbitrary nature of these noun genders, its very hard for a non-native to master them. Common difficulties faced in learning Hindustani
No mention of Hindustani may be deemed complete without mentioning the Bollywood films. The mighty Indian film industry Bollywood is located at Mumbai (Bombay), in the Marathi-speaking state Maharashtra in India. The dialogues and the songs use the dialects of Khariboli of Hindi-Urdu, Awadhi, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, Punjabi and quite often Bambaiya Hindi (along with many English words). These movies are full of songs and dances—songs which are almost always upon the lips of many bollywood film viewers whether a native Hindi-Urdu speaker or not. Some of the songs are in Urdu Shayari style. See List of popular Bollywood films.
Footnotes
Asher, R. E. (1994). Hindi. In Asher (Ed.) (pp. 1547-1549).
Asher, R. E. (Ed.). (1994). The Encyclopedia of language and linguistics. Oxford: Pergamon Press. ISBN 0-08-035943-4.
Bailey, Thomas G. (1950). Teach yourself Hindustani. London: English Universities Press.
Chatterji, Suniti K. (1960). Indo-Aryan and Hindi (rev. 2nd ed.). Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay.
Dua, Hans R. (1992). Hindi-Urdu as a pluricentric language. In M. G. Clyne (Ed.), Pluricentric languages: Differing norms in different nations. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-012855-1.
Dua, Hans R. (1994a). Hindustani. In Asher (Ed.) (pp. 1554).
Dua, Hans R. (1994b). Urdu. In Asher (Ed.) (pp. 4863-4864).
Rai, Amrit. (1984). A house divided: The origin and development of Hindi-Hindustani. Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-561643-X.
Orange County is a
county located in the
U.S. state of
Florida and is part of the
Orlando-Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). As of 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population is 1,043,500.
[1] The
county seat is
Orlando.
Orange County is led by the six-seat
Board of County Commissioners, headed by the
Mayor of Orange County. Before the approval by voters of a
2004 charter amendment, the position of Mayor was called "Orange County Chairman", which became an elected position in
1990. The current Mayor of Orange County is
Richard Crotty.
Although the seat of government is located in a building in Downtown Orlando, the government declared a region of the county as "Downtown Orange County" in
2005. The region of largely unincorporated land (portions of the northern fringe are annexed by Orlando) encompasses the southern portions of the
International Drive and
Universal Boulevard corridors. The County Government keeps an office in the area at the North/South Building of the
Orange County Convention Center.
[2] The primary law enforcement body of Orange County is the
Orange County Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff of Orange County, also an elected position, is
Kevin Beary. Public education is provided by
Orange County Public Schools.
History The first paved roads in Orange County, outside the cities, were built in
1915 and
1916 under a $600,000
bond issue, approved by voters on
November 11,
1913. These five roads were paved 9 feet (3 meters) wide with brick:
In the next ten years, the following roads also received a hard surface:
Another
bond issue, this time for $7,000,000, was approved by voters on
March 23,
1926. These asphalt roads covered almost all parts of the county; most of them are still main roads. There are too many to list here but a map is available.
See also: Apopka-Vineland Road Orlando south to
Osceola County via
Edgewood,
Pine Castle and
Taft (later
SR 2, part of the
Dixie Highway)
Orlando east and south to
Conway (later
SR 29)
Orlando north to
Seminole County via
Winter Park and
Lake Maitland (later
SR 3, part of the
Dixie Highway)
Orlando west to
Oakland via
Ocoee and
Winter Garden (later
SR 22)
Orlando northwest to
Apopka and beyond, probably to
Plymouth (later
SR 2, part of the
Dixie Highway)
Conway south and west to
Pine Castle (asphalt) (later
SR 29 and
SR 285)
Orlando east to
Brevard via
Bithlo (brick east to
Lake Barton and then asphalt) (later
SR 22)
west of
Bithlo north to
Seminole County (brick) (later
SR 203)
Orlando east and north to
Winter Park, passing east of
Lake Sue (asphalt)
Winter Park northeast to
Seminole County via
Goldenrod (asphalt) (later
SR 202)
Plymouth northwest to
Lake County via
Zellwood (asphalt) (later
SR 2)
Ocoee north to
Apopka (asphalt) (later
SR 24 and
SR 443)
Oakland west to
Lake County (brick) (later
SR 22)
south two miles from
Tildenville (asphalt) (later
SR 208)
south 1.5 miles from
Winter Garden (asphalt) (later
SR 24)
north of
Gotha south to
Windermere via
Gotha (asphalt) (later
SR 437)
Paved roads Freeways and Expressways Because of the massive
urban sprawl in the area and outdated and unplanned transit infrastructure, traffic congestion is a growing concern. Fundamentally, the lack of east-west mobility in the area creates severe traffic issues every weekday.
US 441 (
Orange Blossom Trail)
/
US 17/
US 92 (Mills Avenue/Orange Blossom Trail)
SR 15 (Conway/Narcoossee Road)
SR 50 (Colonial Drive)
SR 423 (
John Young Parkway|Lee Road)
SR 426 (Fairbanks/Aloma Avenue)
SR 434 (Alafaya Trail)
SR 435 (Kirkman Road)
SR 436 (Semoran Boulevard)
SR 551 (Goldenrod Road)
SR 520 Apopka-Vineland Road Surface Roads According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,601
km² (1,004
mi²). 2,350 km² (907 mi²) of it is land and 251 km² (97 mi²) of it (9.63%) is water.
Geography Volusia - northeast
Brevard - east
Osceola - south
Polk - southwest
Seminole - north
Lake - west
Adjacent Counties As of the
census² of
2000, there were 896,344 people, 336,286 households, and 220,267 families residing in the county. The
population density was 381/km² (988/mi²). There were 361,349 housing units at an average density of 154/km² (398/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 68.59%
White, 18.17%
Black or
African American, 0.34%
Native American, 3.35%
Asian, 0.09%
Pacific Islander, 6.01% from
other races, and 3.43% from two or more races. 28.78% of the population were
Hispanic or
Latino of any race. 74.7% spoke
English, 17.3%
Spanish and 1.7%
French Creole as their first language.
There were 336,286 households out of which 32.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.00% were
married couples living together, 13.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.50% were non-families. 24.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.14.
In the county the population was spread out with 25.30% under the age of 18, 10.90% from 18 to 24, 33.80% from 25 to 44, 20.00% from 45 to 64, and 10.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 98.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.70 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $41,311, and the median income for a family was $47,159. Males had a median income of $32,053 versus $25,402 for females. The
per capita income for the county was $20,916. About 8.80% of families and 12.10% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 16.30% of those under age 18 and 9.30% of those age 65 or over.
Demographics Orange County is experiencing major sprawl, land is being developed at an average of 7,800 acres of farmland per year. The sprawl has helped the county's large population growth and if current trends continue, the county could have a population of 2,500,000 by the year 2050. That is from 896,000 in the year 2000.Because of such rapid growth, roads have become outdated and are not able to hold so many cars. Growth started around the 1950s and the 1960s. The sprawl has started around 1990s. There are plans for new interstate roads along and crossing I-4. There are new highways being built now, but has been worked on for about 20-25 years, plans have been constantly revised because of such rapid growth.
Urban Sprawl Municipalities Plymouth (part of Apopka)
City of
Apopka
- Plymouth (part of Apopka)
City of
Belle Isle Town of
Eatonville City of
Edgewood City of
Maitland Town of
Oakland City of
Ocoee City of
Orlando Town of
Windermere City of
Winter Garden City of
Winter Park City of
Bay Lake (part of
Walt Disney World)
City of
Lake Buena Vista (part of
Walt Disney World)
Incorporated Azalea Park Bay Hill Bithlo Christmas Conway Doctor Phillips Fairview Shores Goldenrod Gotha Holden Heights Hunters Creek Lake Butler Lake Hart Lockhart Meadow Woods Oak Ridge Orlo Vista Paradise Heights Pine Castle Pine Hills Reedy Creek Improvement District (special taxing district)
Sky Lake South Apopka Southchase Taft Tangelo Park Tangerine Tildenville Union Park University Park Vineland Wedgefield Williamsburg Zellwood Unincorporated List of amusement parks in Orlando Innovation Way See also Government links/Constitutional offices Orange County Public Schools South Florida Water Management District St. Johns River Water Management District Judicial branch Orlando/Orange County Conventiona and Visitors' Bureau
The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) The
School of Oriental and African Studies (commonly abbreviated to
SOAS, pronounced ['səuæs] or ['səuæz]) is a constituent college of the
University of London.
Background The school also houses two galleries: the
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, one of the foremost collections of Chinese ceramics in Europe, and the Brunei Gallery, completed in 1995, which stages temporary exhibitions of both historical and contemporary materials which reflect subjects and regions studied at SOAS.
The main campus was moved to a new, purpose-built home, just off
Russell Square in
Bloomsbury in 1938, and has much expanded since then. The present library building (by
Sir Denys Lasdun) was added in 1973, the Brunei Gallery in 1995, and an extension to the library building opened in 2004 (the second phase of this expansion is due to be completed in 2006).
A new campus at Vernon Square in Islington was opened in 2001.
Campuses In 2003,
The Daily Telegraph produced a "table of tables" showing the average position attained by universities in the different newspaper and employer rankings. SOAS was placed at the top of the "1st League". His successor,
Paul Webley, was Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor and Professor of
Economic Psychology in the
University of Exeter.
Reputation The SOAS Department of Linguistics was the first ever linguistics department in United Kingdom, founded in 1932 as a centre for research and study in Oriental and African languages.
J. R. Firth, known internationally for his original work in phonology and semantics, was Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor of General Linguistics at the school between 1938 and 1956.
Faculties at SOAS The Faculty of Law and Social Sciences consists of five academic departments
Department of Economics
Department of Development Studies
Department for Financial & Management Studies (Called
CeFiMS also offers distance learning courses)
Department of Politics and International Studies
The School of Law
Faculty of Law and Social Sciences The Faculty of Arts and Humanities contains five Departments
The Faculty also administers the Centre for Media and Film Studies and MA in Gender Studies
Anthropology and Sociology
Art and Archaeology
History
Music
Study of Religions
The Faculty of Arts and Humanities The Faculty of Languages and Cultures consists of seven academic departments:
Note: At present, where The Language Centre employs its own staff and administers language only courses, the respective departments manage language acquisition in their courses. In the near future (the date is TBC), all language acquisition will be brought under the remit of the new School of Languages.
Department of Linguistics
Department of the Languages and Cultures of Africa
Department of the Languages and Cultures of China and Inner Asia
Department of the Languages and Cultures of Japan and Korea
Department of the Languages and Cultures of the Near and Middle East
Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia
Department of the Languages and Cultures of South East Asia and the Islands
The Language Centre
Faculty of Languages and Cultures IFCELS (International Foundation Courses and English Language Studies), lies outside the university's faculty structure and runs a number of foundation courses for students wishing to enter higher education in the UK.(the building is falling apart (literally) it needs serious maintenance)
Located in the Faber building, this department is one of the largest departments in the school with currently over 250 students.
IFCELS Many SOAS students are accommodated in the college's own
halls of residence: Dinwiddy House (located on
Pentonville Road in
Kings Cross and
Paul Robeson House, a block away from Dinwiddy House, on Penton Rise; SOAS students are also eligible to apply for places in the
University of London intercollegiate halls of residence, such as
Connaught Hall.
Most students in college or university accommodation are first-year
undergraduates. The majority of second and third-year students and
postgraduates find their own accommodation in the private sector.
Students' accommodation Main article: SOAS Students' Union Students' Union SOAS runs its own radio station, OpenAir Radio, based on the 5th floor of the Russell Square Building. The initial
Restricted Service Licence ran from November until
16 December 2005, and broadcast on 101.4FM over a three mile radius in the Camden/Central London area. The remit of the station is world music, culture and current affairs, with programmes focusing on Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. OpenAir programmes include everything from local news to international media analysis, and cookery programmes to DJ sets.
OpenAir Radio is currently webcasting service and is applying for a Restricted Service Licence to broadcast on FM in the near future.
[1] Notable students and alumni See also: Category:Academics of the School of Oriental and African Studies Shirin Akiner Michael Bacon
TH Barrett Arthur Llewellyn Basham Mary Boyce Colin Bundy Patricia Crone Wendy Doniger Ben Fine J. R. Firth A.C. Graham Gerald Hawting W. B. Henning George Hewitt Michel Hockx Alfred Guillaume Reginald Johnston Nasser David Khalili Ann Lambton David Marshall Lang Bernard Lewis, one of the world's leading scholars on the Middle East
Vladimir Minorsky Roland Oliver Xiao Qian Alexander Piatigorsky William Radice Ralph Russell Lao She Nicholas Sims-Williams Philip Stott Paul Thompson, sinologist.
Jan Toporowski Charles R. H. Tripp A. S. Tritton Edward Ullendorff Arthur Waley John Wansbrough Richard O. Winstedt
Edict of Worms
