Archibald Alison (Scottish author) - (1757-1839)
Sir Archibald Alison, 1st Baronet - (1792-1867)

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Sergéy Ígorevich Yákovlev (born 25 March 1982, Novosibirsk, USSR) — russian musical artist and painter, the leader of Sacrabanda reggae-band. One of the founders of Novosibirsk reggae.

Description of the Game
In New Zealand and Australia, housie is often used a fundraiser by churches, sports teams, and other groups, and raffles are sold before the game.
Bingo, as housie is known as in the UK (not to be confused with the similar US game Bingo), is an expanding and highly profitable business, with many companies competing for the customers' money.
The two largest companies with bingo halls in Great Britain are:
In Northern Ireland, one of the largest bingo club groups is the Planet Bingo Group, with seven clubs in the following towns/cities:
There are three clubs in the city of Belfast; Galaxy Bingo at the Yorkgate Shopping Centre, which is the Head Office, Star Bingo, and Planet Belfast, a.k.a. 321 Club due to its address; 321 Newtownards Road.
Online Bingo is also becoming increasingly popular with many different companies launching sites including Ladbrokes and Ann Summers As well as offering the familiar Housie/Bingo played by marking numbered books, most large clubs have their tables modified for the playing of Cash Housie or Mechanised Cash Bingo [Parti Bingo] (using coin slots or, increasingly in the 21st century, an electronic credit system). This is highly profitable for the operator, with a typical "take" of fifty percent of the stake.
Mechanised cash bingo differs from paper bingo, because it is played on a plastic bingo board, that is 4x4 square, and split up into four columns of colours. The customer chooses when they want to play, and insert a credit into a coin slot. The company involved will then use a computer (called a stage rig controller) to automatically take a "participation fee" which is set by the operator (usually between 40% and 60%). The rest of the credit is then put into the prize pool to be played for. There are only 80 numbers in play. The numbers are called a lot faster by the caller (usually around 1.5 seconds a number) and when a customer has a winning combination they press a claim button to stop the game. This is profitable for the operator as the games are so fast, and a huge parfee can be made in a few minutes. Winning combinations are usually any line down, across, diagonal, four corners or four centre squares.
In Northern Ireland bingo clubs, where the laws governing bingo games are different than in England, Scotland and Wales, it is common, when playing "parti bingo" for the caller to announce that a position or "card" has won, and ending the game, without the participation of the person playing. This enables the customer to play more positions in hope of a better chance of winning.

Gala Bingo (Gala Group Ltd.)
Mecca Bingo Ltd. (part of The Rank Group plc)
Antrim
Carrickfergus
Belfast
Newtownards
Portadown Business Aspect
In New Zealand, calling nicknames are not used as much as in the UK, but here are some of the more common ones. When calling, the caller will usually say both digits on their own first, and then the number itself, for example, "Three and two, thirty-two". Some callers will use many of these slang terms, others just a few. However, "Kelly's Eye", "Legs Eleven" and "Top of the Shop" are often used, even if none of the others are. See section below for usage.
There is at least one nickname for each bingo number called. See sources for more.

Calling nicknames (UK Bingo)

Bingo Nicknames / Caller Slang
Bingo Calls Sources
Since the introduction of the electronic Random Number Generator (RNG) in Bingo Halls in the UK, the usage of the nicknames above in mainstream Bingo has dramatically decreased. Bingo with an electronic RNG is much less time consuming and it has been discovered that replacing the nicknames with a simple repetition (in the pattern "All the fives, fifty five" or "Two and four, twenty four"), has allowed bingo halls to focus on the more lucrative business of Mechanised Cash Bingo (MCB), known in Gala Bingo Clubs as Party Bingo, and Mecca Bingo Clubs as Cashline.
It is perhaps nostalgic to note that the usage of these nicknames tends to be greater where the focus of playing bingo is upon fun rather than big business; this includes British holiday resort chains such as Haven, British Holidays and Pontins, and also church halls, social clubs etc.

Trivia

Federation of European Bingo Associations

Extinct Extinct in the Wild Critically Endangered Endangered Vulnerable Threatened Conservation Dependent Near Threatened Least Concern Domesticated World Conservation Union IUCN Red List An endangered species is a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in number, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters. An endangered species is usually a taxonomic species, but may be another evolutionary significant unit such as a subspecies. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has calculated the percentage of endangered species as 40 percent of all organisms based on the sample of species that have been evaluated through 2006. (Note: the IUCN groups all threatened species for their summary purposes.) Many nations have laws offering protection to these species: for example, forbidding hunting, restricting land development or creating preserves. Only a few of the many species at risk of extinction actually make it to the lists and obtain legal protection. Many more species become extinct, or potentially will become extinct, without gaining public notice.

IUCN Red List Endangered species
Under the Endangered Species Act in the United States, "endangered" is the more protected of the two categories. The Salt Creek tiger beetle (Cicindela nevadica lincolniana) is an example of an endangered subspecies protected under the ESA.



United States
It has been suggested that some of the information in this article's "Criticism" or "Controversy" section(s) be merged into other sections to achieve a more neutral presentation. (see talk)
Some endangered species laws are controversial. Typical areas of controversy include: criteria for placing a species on the endangered species list, and criteria for removing a species from the list once its population has recovered; whether restrictions on land development constitute a "taking" of land by the government; the related question of whether private landowners should be compensated for the loss of use of their land; and obtaining reasonable exceptions to protection laws.
Being listed as an endangered species can have negative effect since it could make a species more desirable for collectors and poachers. and 93% of listed species have a recovering or stable population.

Controversy
The endangered Island Fox
The endangered Sea Otter
American bison skull heap. There were as few as 750 bison in 1890 from overhunting.
Immature California Condor
Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander (photo courtesy of Don Roberson)
An asian arowana

See also

History
Like many harbours in Scotland, the fishing fleet that once occupied the harbour has been largely replaced by pleasure craft. Around 200 fishing boats were once based here but much of the fleet was destroyed by a storm in 1898, with most of those left intact relocating a short way down the coast to Anstruther. The growth of Anstruther and simultaneous decline of Cellardyke have threatened to turn the latter into an outpost of the former.

Avian flu

Walter Edward "Turk" Broda (May 15, 1914 - October 17, 1972) was a former ice hockey goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
He was born in Brandon, Manitoba on May 15, 1914 to a Ukrainian-Canadian family. He joined the Maple Leafs in 1936.
In 1941 he won the Vezina Trophy and was be selected to be on the All Star Team. The next year Broda had another great season leading Toronto to a Stanley Cup and being selected on the second all- Star team.
From 1943 to 1945 Broda left hockey to serve in the military during the Second World War. When he came back he later led Toronto to three more Stanley Cups and won another Vezina Trophy and to be selected on the 1948 first All star team. In 1951 he won his last Stanley Cup with Toronto and retired in 1952.
He was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1967 and died on October 17, 1972 after having suffered a heart attack. In 1998, he was ranked number 60 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. Turk Broda's parents came from an area that had a mixed Polish and Ukrainian ethnic population and is not in the Ukraine but in the Polish province of Podkarpackie (Southeast Poland). Turk at the very least on his father's side was of Polish ancestry.

The Ryukyu Islands, in Japanese called the Nansei Islands (南西諸島, Nansei-shotō) (literally Southwest Islands) are a chain of Japanese islands in the western Pacific Ocean at the eastern limit of the East China Sea. They stretch southwest from the island of Kyūshū to the island of Taiwan. The islands are administratively divided into Satsunan Islands to the north, belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, and Ryukyu Shotō to the south, belonging to Okinawa Prefecture, Japan (Yoron Island is the southernmost island of the Satsunan Islands and Yonaguni the southermost of the Ryukyu Islands). The largest of the islands is Okinawa Island.
The islands have a subtropical climate with warm winters and hot summers. Precipitation is very high, and is affected by the rainy season and typhoons.
The archipelago is home to the Ryukyuan languages and dialects. The original dialects are native to each island and distinct of one another.

Naming
In Japanese, the definition of the Ryūkyū Shotō (琉球諸島, Ryūkyū Shotō

Japanese
In English, until well into the late 1800s (Meiji period in Japan), the word "Ryukyu" was spelled Luchu, Loo-choo, or Lewchew. These spellings were based on the Chinese pronunciation of "Ryukyu".

English

Main article: History of Ryukyu Islands People

Ecology
The Ryukyu Islands are recognized by ecologists as a distinct subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion. The flora and fauna of the islands have much in common with Taiwan, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia, and are part of the Indomalaya ecozone.

Nansei Islands subtropical evergreen forests
The coral reefs of the Ryukyus are one of the World Wildlife Fund's Global 200 ecoregions. The reefs are endangered by sedimentation and eutrophication, mostly a result of agriculture, as well as damage from fishing.

Major islands

Pechin (Ryukyuan/Okinawan Samurai)
Ryukyuans (Ryukyuan people)
History of Ryukyu Islands
Ryukyuan religion
Ryukyu independence movement
Ryukyu Independent Party

The Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), or Directorate-General for External Security is France's foreign intelligence agency. It was formed on April 2, 1982 to replace the former Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage (SDECE). Its motto is Partout où nécessité fait loi ("In every place where necessity makes law").

Organization
The DGSE was formed under the authority of the French ministry of defense, and made responsible for "searching and exploiting intelligence which is relevant to the security of France, as well as detecting and finding external espionage activities directed against French interests in order prevent their consequences".

Official status
The DGSE includes the following services:

Directorate of Administration
Directorate of Strategy
Directorate of Intelligence
Technical Division - Responsible for electronic intelligence and devices
Operations Division - Responsible for clandestine operations

• Action Division, part of the Operations Division Divisions
  The action division (Division Action) is responsible for planning and performing clandestine operations. It also fulfills other security-related operations such as testing the security of nuclear power plants (as it was revealed in Le Canard Enchaîné in 1990) and military facilities such as the submarine base of the Île Longue, Bretagne. The division's headquarters are located at the fort of Noisy-le-Sec.
  The action division's directors were:
  The current action division originated from the SDECE's action service (Service Action or SA. Service Action is still commonly used). The action division has a "tank" of paramilitary operatives coming mainly from the French Army, often at least from the paras, and some from special forces. Since the early 1980s, the service action is divided in three main parts : commandos, combat divers and air support.
  The commandos were originally chunked in the "11e Choc" (11e Bataillon Parachutiste de Choc, 11th Shock Parachutist Battalion, later 11th Shock Parachutist Demi-Brigade), created in 1946. The 11e Choc was disbanded in 1963 because its officers were suspected to be French Algeria supporters. Consequently, its missions were partly given to military special forces units, especially the 1st Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment and the 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment. After the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, the "11e Choc" was re-raised in 1985 as the 11th Shock Parachutist Regiment. The unit was disbanded in 1993 among other various changes of French armed forces following the end of the cold war. DGSE commandos are since based in three "training centers", the CPIS, the CPES and the CPEOM.
  The commando Hubert originally included servicemen from both French Navy and Army. The unit soon split in two, the army soldiers being transferred to the Centre d'Instruction des Nageurs de Combat (CINC, combat divers training center, nicknamed Ajax) assigned to "11e Choc". In the aftermath of the disastrous Rainbow Warrior affair, the CINC was officially disbanded, and the DGSE combat divers were transferred in the CPEOM.
  The air support of DGSE operations is provided by a French Air Force unit, the Groupe Aérien Mixte 00.056 (GAM 56) "Vaucluse", heir of a Free French Forces special duties flight.
  
  1971–1976 : colonel André Devigny
  1976–1980 : colonel Gaigneron de Marolles
  1980–1982 : colonel (later général) Georges Grillot
  1982 – November 1984 : colonel Jean-Pol Desgrees du Lou
  November 1984–1986 : colonel Jean-Claude Lesquier
  1986 – September 1987 : colonel (later général de brigade) Jean Heinrich
  September 1987 – December 1989 : colonel Pierre-Jacques Costedoat
  December 1989 – ? : Christian Vie Action Division
  The DGSE headquarters, codenamed CAT (Centre Administratif des Tourelles), are located at 141 Boulevard Mortier in the XXe arrondissement in Paris, approximately 1 km northeast of the Père Lachaise Cemetery. The building is often referred to as La piscine ("the swimming pool") because of the nearby Piscine des Tourelles of the French Swimming Federation.
  A project named "Fort 2000" was supposed to allow the DGSE headquarters to be moved to the fort of Noisy-le-Sec, where the Action Division was already stationed. However, the project was often disturbed and interrupted due to lacking funds, which were not granted until the 1994 and 1995 defense budgets. The allowed budget passed from 2 billion francs to one billion, and as the local workers and inhabitants started opposing the project, it was eventually canceled in 1996. The DGSE instead received additional premises located in front of the Piscine des Tourelles.
  
  Installations
  
  As of 2007 the DGSE employed a total of 4620 agents. In 1999, the DGSE was known for employing a total of 2700 civilians and 1300 Officers or Under Officers in its service.
  It also benefits from an unknown number of voluntary correspondents both in France and abroad. These do not appear on the government's list of civil servants and are referred to with the title of "honorable correspondant" (honourable correspondent).
  The DGSE is directly supervised by the Ministry of Defense. Size and importance
  The DGSE's budget is entirely official (it is voted upon and accepted by the French parliament). It generally consists of about €270M, in addition to which are added special funds from the Prime Minister (often used in order to finance certain operations of the Action Division). How these special funds are spent has always been kept secret.
  Some known yearly budgets include:
  According to Claude Silberzahn, one of its former directors, the agency's budget is divided in the following manner:
  
  1991: FRF0.9bn
  1992: F1bn
  1997: F1.36bn
  1998: F1.29bn
  2007: €450M, plus €36M in special funds [1]
  25% for military intelligence
  25% for economic intelligence
  50% for diplomatic intelligence Budget
  
  Pierre Marion, June 17, 1981 - November 10, 1982
  Adm. Pierre Lacoste, November 10, 1982 - September 19, 1985
  Gen. René Imbot, September 20, 1985 - December 1, 1987
  Gen. François Mermet, December 2, 1987 - March 23, 1989
  Claude Silberzahn, March 23, 1989 - June 7, 1993
  Jacques Dewatre, June 7, 1993 - December 19, 1999
  Jean-Claude Cousseran, December 19, 1999 - July 24, 2002
  Pierre Brochand, July 24, 2002 - Directors
  
  Activities
  Various tasks and roles are generally appointed to the DGSE:
  Counter-intelligence on French soil is not conducted by the DGSE but by the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST).
  
  Intelligence gathering:
  
  
  
  • HUMINT, through formal agents and voluntary correspondents
    SIGINT, through networks such as Frenchelon
    Space imagery analysis
    Support for HUMINT.
    Special operations, with the help of the 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment. Known agents
    
    Bob Denard, a French mercenary
    Direction de la surveillance du territoire
    Direction centrale des renseignements généraux
    Alliance Base

Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek
Dutch online biography of van Leeuwenhoek
Vermeer connection website
University of California, Berkeley article on van Leeuwenhoek
Works by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek at Project Gutenberg
Retrospective paper on the Leeuwenhoek research by Brian J. Ford.

James Murdoch is the name of multiple people:
James Murdoch (media executive) (born 1972), CEO of British Sky Broadcasting and son of Rupert Murdoch
James Murdoch (Scottish journalist) (1856-1921), Scots journalist, and teacher in Japan, Australia and South America,
Captain James Murdoch (1814-1900), Scottish sailor
James Y. Murdoch (1890 - 1962), Canadian lawyer who masterminded the growth and development of Noranda Mines

Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)
Wayne Foster (born 11 September 1963 in Tyldesley, England) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker in England and Scotland during the 1980s and 1990s.

Scottish Cup 4th Round, 20 February 1994
Following a short loan spell with Harlepool United, Foster moved to Partick Thistle midway through the 1994-95 season as part of a swap deal that saw defender Willie Jamieson move to Hearts. He scored two goals for th Jags in their famous 3-1 victory over Celtic, during Celtic's temporary relocation to Hampden Park while Parkhead was being redeveloped. Foster left Firlhill on a free transfer during the 1995-96 season. He had short spells with Falkirk, St Mirren and Livingston before retiring.

"Lady Justice" or "Lord Justice" is also the title of judges on the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.
Lady Justice (Iustitia, the Roman Goddess of Justice and sometimes, simply "Justice") is an allegorical personification of the moral force that underlies the legal system. Since the Renaissance, Justitia has frequently been depicted as a bare-breasted woman carrying a sword and scales, and sometimes wearing a blindfold. Her modern iconography, which frequently adorns courthouses and courtrooms, conflates the attributes of several goddesses who embodied Right Rule for Greeks and Romans, blending Roman blindfolded Fortuna with Hellenistic Greek Tyche.
Justitia's attributes parallel those of the Hellenic deity Themis, the embodiment of divine order, law and custom, in her aspect as the personification of the divine rightness of law. However, the mythological connection is not a direct one. Themis' daughter Dike was imagined carrying scales: "If some god had been holding level the balance of Dike" is an image in a surviving fragment of Bacchylides's poetry.
Justitia is most often depicted with a set of weighing scales typically suspended from her left hand, upon which she measures the strengths of a case's support and opposition. She is also often seen carrying a double-edged sword in her right hand, symbolizing the power of Reason and Justice, which may be wielded either for or against any party.
As stated above, Lady Justice is often depicted wearing a blindfold. This is done in order to indicate that justice is (or should be) meted out objectively, without fear or favor, regardless of the identity, power, or weakness: blind justice & blind equality. However Justitia has only been represented as "blind" since about the end of the fifteenth century, when a blindfold began being placed on the goddess' eye. The earliest Roman coins depicted Justitia with the sword on one hand and the scale on the other, but with her eyes uncovered. See "The Scales of Justice as Represented in Engravings, Emblems, Reliefs and Sculptures of Early Modern Europe" in G. Lamoine, ed., Images et representations de la justice du XVie au XIXe siecle (Toulouse: University of Toulose-Le Mirail, 1983)" at page 8.

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Northern Ireland
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Direct rule was the term given, during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, to the administration of Northern Ireland directly from Westminster, seat of United Kingdom government. The most recent bout of direct rule came to an end on 8 May 2007 when power was restored to the Northern Ireland Assembly following April elections and a power-sharing agreement among major parties.
Although day-to-day matters under direct rule were handled by government departments within Northern Ireland itself, major policy was determined by the British Government's Northern Ireland Office, under the direction of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland; and legislation was introduced, amended, or repealed by means of order in council (effectively, rule by decree). Direct Rule did not mean that the people of Northern Ireland had no democratic say in how they were governed; like other parts of the United Kingdom they elected (and still elect) members of parliament to the Parliament of the United Kingdom to which the Northern Ireland Office is responsible. But it did result in the existence of an administration specific to Northern Ireland which did not have a specifically Northern Irish mandate.
The most recent system of Direct rule was originally introduced on March 28, 1972 under the terms of the UK's Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972, which also suspended the Parliament of Northern Ireland ("Stormont").
The British Government sought to establish a Northern Ireland Assembly in 1973 (under the Sunningdale Agreement; this was brought down by Unionist action), in 1982 (this time boycotted by Nationalists), and more recently under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Each time, the intention in principle was that the Assembly would take over the political governance of Northern Ireland, and that direct rule would thus come to an end. The results of the Good Friday Agreement were the most successful at achieving this; however, the Assembly was nevertheless suspended (and direct rule re-imposed) for over three months in 2000, twice briefly in 2001, and again from 2002 until the spring of 2007.
Both unionists and nationalists frequently objected to direct rule, since the system gives the people of Northern Ireland relatively little democratic say over their own governance. However, some unionists accepted and were content to go along with the system since it seemed to show the province as an integral part of the UK; while some nationalists accepted direct rule if only because they believed that politicians in London are less hostile to Northern Ireland's Catholic community than a government elected by the local Protestant majority.

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Christianity Portal
The term Early Christianity here refers to Christianity of the period after the Death of Jesus in the early 30s and before the First Council of Nicaea in 325. The term is sometimes used in a narrower sense of just the very first followers (disciples) of Jesus of Nazareth and the faith as preached and practiced by the Twelve Apostles, their contemporaries, and their immediate successors, also called the Apostolic Age.
Early Christians split off definitively from Rabbinic Judaism, wrote the books that would become the New Testament, developed the first Christian Biblical canons, defended Christian beliefs against criticism by other Roman religions, survived various persecutions, denounced Christian heresies, and developed church hierarchy. What started as a religious movement within Second Temple Judaism became, by the end of this period, the favored religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine the Great (leading later to the rise of a Christendom), as well as a significant new religion outside of the empire. The First Council of Nicaea marks the end of this era and the beginning of the period of the first Seven Ecumenical Councils (325 - 787).

Origin of Christianity as a distinct religion
Early Christian beliefs were based on the apostolic preaching (kerygma), considered to be preserved in tradition and, according as was produced, in New Testament scripture.

Beliefs

Christology

Main article: Logos Divinity of Christ

Main article: Trinitarianism Trinity

Eschatology
Early Christians looked forward to the return of Jesus as judge of the world, to the resurrection of the dead, and to eternal life in a perfected world. The general term for this set of beliefs is parousia (or Second Coming). Apologists defended the resurrection of the dead against pagan philosophers, who considered the soul worthy of perfection but not the body. Origen, however, promoted a Platonic viewpoint and denied the physical resurrection. Early Christians believed that the saved received various divine rewards corresponding to their holiness. While all the saved would gain eternal life in Christ, not all of them would live in heaven.

Kingdom of God
Early Christians understood "Heaven" to be literally the divine world above the sky. They sometimes described the souls of the dead waiting underground for the general resurrection. They described gehenna (roughly, hell) as a subterranean fire. The belief that souls of the dead occupied some physical place below heaven was nearly universal in the Roman Empire.

Cosmology
That early Christians prayed for the dead, believing that the dead were thereby benefitted, is attested from at least the second century, and celebration of the Eucharist for the dead is attested since at least the third century.

Prayer for the dead
The Greek word "Hades", which, like the Hebrew word "sheol", is generally used of the abode where the dead are reckoned to be, appears several times in the New Testament.

Hades
Early Christians understood angels to be active in supporting the church and Satan to be actively opposed to it. Hippolytus, for example, recounts angels physically scourging the first antipope to force him to repent.

Angels and Satan
Traditionally, orthodoxy and heresy have been viewed in relation to the "orthodoxy" as an authentic lineage of tradition. Other forms of Christianity were viewed as deviant streams of thought and therefore "heterodox", or heretical. This view was dominant until the publication of Walter Bauer's Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum in 1934. Bauer endeavored to rethink early Christianity historically, independent from the views of the church. He stated that the early church was very diverse and included many "heretical" groups that had an equal claim to apostolic tradition. Bauer interpreted the struggle between the orthodox and heterodox to be the "mainstream" Roman church struggling to attain dominance. He presented Edessa and Egypt as places where the "orthodoxy" of Rome had little influence during the second century. As he saw it, the theological thought of the Orient at the time would later be labeled "heresy". The response by modern scholars has been mixed. Some scholars clearly support Bauer's conclusions and others express concerns about his possible bias. More moderate responses have become prominent and Bauer's theory is generally accepted. However, modern scholars have critiqued and updated Bauer's model.

Orthodoxy and heterodoxy
Perhaps one of the most important discussions among scholars of early Christianity in the past century is to what extant it is appropriate to speak of "orthodoxy" and "heresy". Higher criticism drastically altered the previous perception that heresy was a very rare exception to the orthodoxy. Bauer was particularly influential in the reconsideration of the historical model. During the 1970s, increasing focus on the effect of social, political and economic circumstances on the formation of early Christianity occurred as Bauer's work found a wider audience. Some scholars argue against the increasing focus on heresies. A movement away from presuming the correctness or dominance of the orthodoxy is seen as understandable, in light of modern approaches. However, they feel that instead of an even and neutral approach to historical analysis that the heterodox sects are given an assumption of superiority over the orthodox movement. The current debate is vigorous and broad. While it is difficult to summarize all current views, general statements may be made, remembering that such broad strokes will have exceptions in specific cases.

Heresies

Main article: Adoptionism Arianism

Main articles: Gnosticism and Valentinius Gnosticism

Main articles: Marcion and Marcionism Marcionism

Main article: Montanism Montanism
See also: List of early Christian writers and List of early Christian texts of disputed authorship
Christian testimony was entirely oral for roughly twenty years after Jesus' death. Eyewitnesses established oral traditions in various places, such as Jerusalem, Antioch, Caesara, and Ephesus, each gradually developing distinct characteristics. When eyewitnesses began to die off, Christians recorded the sayings in writing. The hypothetical Q document is perhaps the first such record, written circa 50. Paul of Tarsus also began writing (or dictating

Religious writing
From the writings of early Christians, historians have tried to piece together an understanding of various early Christian practices including worship services, customs and observances. Early Christian writers such as Justin Martyr described these practices.

Practices
In his First Apology, a letter of defense written to Roman emperor, Antonius Pius, 161-180, Justin described simple Christian worship services and practices, explaining:
..after we have thus washed him who has been convinced (converted to Christianity) and has assented to our teaching, we bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized person, ...so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation. Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. ... And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion....And this food is called among us Eucharistia or [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. ... we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, "This do ye in remembrance of Me, this is My body;" and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, "This is My blood;" and gave it to them alone.
Despite Ignatius' rejection of Judaizing, see above, Christianity continued many of the patterns of Judaism, adapting to Christian use synagogue liturgical worship, prayer, use of Sacred Scripture, a priesthood, a religious calendar commemorating on certain days each year certain events and/or beliefs, use of music in worship, giving material support to the religious leadership, and practices such as fasting and almsgiving and baptism.
Christians adopted as their Bible the Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures known as the Septuagint and later also canonized the books of the New Testament. There are however many phrases which appear to be quotations and other statements of fact, in the early church fathers, which cannot be found in the Bible as we know it. For example in Clement's First Letter he states that Paul "reached the limits of the West", and also appears to quote a variant form of Ezek 33.

Worship
Christians proclaimed a God of love who enjoined them to share a higher love with one another. Some interpreted the Old Testament as revealing primarily a God of justice, whereas the New Testament, particularly the letters of Paul and the Gospel of John, revealed a more loving God. Parallels are found in Pharisaic and Rabbinic Judaism. Paul of Tarsus is represented in Acts 17:22-33 as equating the Unknown God of the Greeks as revealed in the Christian God. Early Christian communities welcomed everyone, including slaves and women, who were generally shunned in Greco-Roman culture, but there were other exceptions, such as Epicurianism.

Church Community
Christian groups were first organized loosely. A Church hierarchy seems to have been in development at latest by the time of the writing of the Pastoral Epistles in the latter half of the first century, and these structures were certainly formalized well before the end of the Early Christian period, which concluded with the legalization of Christianity in 313 and the holding of the First Council of Nicea in 325.
The Didache, which has been variously dated from 50 to 120, speaks of "appointing for yourself bishops and deacons" and also speaks about teachers and prophets and false prophets.
By the end of the early Christian period, the church of the Roman Empire had hundreds of bishops, some of them (those of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and, it seems, the chief bishops of other provinces) holding some form of jurisdiction over others. Later, when the city of Constantinople was founded, this too became an important Christian centre within the empire, since the emperor resided there.

Organization
Christian monasticism started in Egypt. The first monks were hermits (eremetic monks). By the end of the early Christian era, Saint Pachomius was organizing his followers into a community and founding the tradition of monasticism in community (cenobitic monks).

Monasticism

Main article: Pagan influences on Christianity Interaction with Greco-Roman and Jewish cultures
See also: Persecution of early Christians by the Jews and Persecution of early Christians by the Romans
Christians were persecuted on an irregular basis in Rome. The earliest possible record of the central Roman authorities taking note of the new religion was in the reign of Claudius, when there was a disturbance "stirred up by Chrestus", and the "Jews" were expelled from Rome. The persecutions peaked with the Diocletian Persecution of 303-312.

Persecution
In the fourth century, Constantine converted to Christianity and legalized it, showing it personal favour (see Constantine I and Christianity for details). He convened the first of the ecumenical councils at Nicea, where the church dogmatically defined the Trinity. Of the next six ecumenical councils, the First Council of Constantinople further defined the Trinity and the Council of Ephesus affirmed Mary as the Mother of God. They anathematized various heresies, and declared heretical some early Christian writings, as when the Second Council of Constantinople condemned certain tenets of Origen.
In modern times, several Christian denominations intentionally follow what they believe to be early Christian practices, such as believer's baptism, Sabbath in Christianity, and Passover (Christian holiday) (see also Christian Torah-submission), in place of established Christian traditions. These Restorationist sects consider themselves to be restoring the authentic practices of the early Christian era, before what they call the "Great Apostasy."
Since the 19th century, historians have learned much more about the early Christian community. Major texts, such as the Didache (in second-millennium copies) and the Gospel of Thomas (in two manuscripts dated as early as about 200 and 340), have been rediscovered in the last 200 years.

Footnotes

Constantine I and Christianity
Constantinian shift
History of Christian Torah-submission
Council of Jerusalem
Proselyte

2008年1月15日 星期二

Taliep Petersen (1950 - 16 December 2006) was a South African singer, composer and director of a number of popular musicals. He worked most notably with David Kramer, with whom he won an Olivier Award.

Career
Petersen, a practising muslim, was twice married and fathered six children. He was shot dead at his home on 16 December 2006.

2008年1月14日 星期一

Benjamín Urrutia or Benjamin Urrutia (born January 24, 1950), author and scholar, was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador. According to the Mormon Literature Database[1], Urrutia is "the only LDS Basque Israeli American anthropologist, linguist, and science fiction writer in the universe." Urrutia co-edited, with Guy Davenport, The Logia of Yeshua, which collected what they consider to be Jesus' authentic sayings from a variety of canonical and non-canonical sources. Urrutia interprets Jesus' mission as a leadership role in the "Israelite nonviolent resistance to Roman oppression".
Urrutia contends that Rabbi Yeshua Bar Abba was the historical Jesus of Nazareth and was the leader of the successful nonviolent Jewish resistance to Pilate's attempt to place Roman eagles — symbols of the worship of Jupiter — on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Josephus, who relates this episode, does not say who the leader of this resistance was, but shortly afterwards states that Pontius Pilate had Jesus crucified. (Some scholars believe this passage of Josephus may have been slightly but significantly altered by later editors. The Arabic version of Josephus is free from the apparent Christian interpolations, but still makes it clear that Pilate ordered the crucifixion of Jesus.) For further discussion of this theory see the articles on the Historical Jesus and on Barabbas.
Benjamin Urrutia lived in Ecuador until 1968, and has lived since in the United States of America, save for the years 1974-1977, when he resided in Israel, studying the cultural and historical background of the life of Jesus. During this period he also participated in an archaeological excavation near Beersheba, contributed to the writings of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and was interviewed by The Jerusalem Post.
At Brigham Young University, he studied under Dr. Hugh Nibley. Learning from Nibley that the Book of Mormon names Shiblon and Shiblom may be derived from the Arabic root shibl, "lion cub," Urrutia connected this idiom to the "Jaguar Cub" imagery of the Olmec people. This theory has been widely accepted among LDS scholars.
Over the years, Urrutia has written and published a number of articles, letters, poems and reviews on matters related to the work of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.
Benjamin Urrutia has been a book reviewer since 1970 and a film critic since 1981. As of 2007, he is a book reviewer and the principal film critic for The Peaceable Table ([2]).

See also

Book reviews

Article by Urrutia: "Interview with Master Yoda"
Article by Gracia Fay Ellwood and Benjamin Urrutia: "Pioneers: James (Jacob) the Brother of Jesus: Pioneer Vegetarian?" Poems

Story by Urrutia: "Of a Boy and a Bunny"

2008年1月13日 星期日

Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or psychological factors.
Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define "blindness." In North America and most of Europe, legal blindness is defined as visual acuity (vision) of 20/200 (6/60) or less in the better eye with best correction possible. This means that a legally blind individual would have to stand 20 feet (6 m) from an object to see it with the same degree of clarity as a normally sighted person could from 200 feet (60 m). In many areas, people with average acuity who nonetheless have a visual field of less than 20 degrees (the norm being 180 degrees) are also classified as being legally blind. Approximately ten percent of those deemed legally blind, by any measure, have no vision. The rest have some vision, from light perception alone to relatively good acuity. Low vision is sometimes used to describe visual acuities from 20/70 to 20/200. [1]
By the 10th Revision of the WHO International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of Death, low vision is defined as visual acuity of less than 6/18, but equal to or better than 3/60, or corresponding visual field loss to less than 20 degrees, in the better eye with best possible correction. Blindness is defined as visual acuity of less than 3/60, or corresponding visual field loss to less than 10 degrees, in the better eye with best possible correction.[2][3]

Legal blindness
In 1987, it was estimated that 598,000 people in the United States met the legal definition of blindness

Epidemiology
Serious visual impairment has a variety of causes:

Causes of blindness
Most visual impairment is caused by disease and malnutrition. According to WHO estimates in 2002, the most common causes of blindness around the world are:
People in developing countries are significantly more likely to experience visual impairment as a consequence of treatable or preventable conditions than are their counterparts in the developed world. While vision impairment is most common in people over age 60 across all regions, children in poorer communities are more likely to be affected by blinding diseases than are their more affluent peers.
The link between poverty and treatable visual impairment is most obvious when conducting regional comparisons of cause. Most adult visual impairment in North America and Western Europe is related to age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. While both of these conditions are subject to treatment, neither can be cured. Another common cause is retinopathy of prematurity.
In developing countries, wherein people have shorter life expectancies, cataracts and water-borne parasites—both of which can be treated effectively—are most often the culprits (see River blindness, for example). Of the estimated 40 million blind people located around the world, 70–80% can have some or all of their sight restored through treatment.
In developed countries where parasitic diseases are less common and cataract surgery is more available, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy are usually the leading causes of blindness.

cataracts (47.8%),
glaucoma (12.3%),
uveitis (10.2%),
age-related macular degeneration (AMD) (8.7%),
trachoma (3.6%),
corneal opacity (5.1%), and
diabetic retinopathy (4.8%), among other causes. Diseases
Eye injuries, most often occurring in people under 30, are the leading cause of monocular blindness (vision loss in one eye) throughout the United States. Injuries and cataracts affect the eye itself, while abnormalities such as optic nerve hypoplasia affect the nerve bundle that sends signals from the eye to the back of the brain, which can lead to decreased visual acuity.
People with injuries to the occipital lobe of the brain can, despite having undamaged eyes and optic nerves, still be legally or totally blind.

Genetic defects
A small portion of all cases of blindness are caused by the intake of certain chemicals. A well-known example is methanol , found in methylated spirits, which are sometimes used by alcoholics as a cheap substitute for regular alcoholic beverages.

Poisoning
Blinding has been used as an act of vengeance and torture in some instances, to deprive a person of a major sense by which they can navigate or interact within the world, act fully independently, and be aware of events surrounding them.

Willful actions
There exist a number of organizations, such as International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, ORBIS International, and Seva Foundation, who have developed programs aimed at preventing blindness.

Blindness prevention
Visually impaired and blind people have devised a number of techniques that allow them to complete daily activities using their remaining senses. These might include the following:
Most people, once they have been visually impaired for long enough, devise their own adaptive strategies in all areas of personal and professional management.
For corrective surgery of blindness, see acquired vision.

Adaptive computer software that allows people with visual impairments to interact with their computer via audio or screen magnifiers.
Adaptive mobile phones that allows people with visual impairments to interact with their phones via audio or screen magnifiers. These mobile phones uses software called Mobile Speak a screen reader from Code Factory http://www.codefactory.es. It provides audio feedback to every functionality on the phone.
Adaptations of banknotes so that the value can be determined by touch. For example:

• In some currencies, such as the euro, pound sterling and Australian dollar, the size of a note increases with its value.
  Many banknotes from around the world have a tactile feature to indicate denomination in the upper right corner. This tactile feature is a series of raised dots, but it is not standard Braille [5].
  It is also possible to fold notes in different ways to assist recognition.
  Labeling and tagging clothing and other personal items
  Placing different types of food at different positions on a dinner plate
  Marking controls of household appliances Adaptive techniques
  Designers, both visually impaired and sighted, have developed a number of tools for use by blind people.
  
  Tools
  Many people with serious visual impairments can travel independently assisted by tactile paving and/or using a white cane with a red tip - the international symbol of blindness.
  A long cane is used to extend the user's range of touch sensation, swung in a low sweeping motion across the intended path of travel to detect obstacles. However, some visually impaired persons do not carry these kinds of canes, opting instead for the shorter, lighter identification (ID) cane. Still others require a support cane. The choice depends on the individual's vision, motivation, and other factors.
  Each of these is painted white for maximum visibility, and to denote visual impairment on the part of the user. In addition to making rules about who can and cannot use a cane, some governments mandate the right-of-way be given to users of white canes or guide dogs.
  A small number of people employ guide dogs. Although the dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are not capable of interpreting street signs. The human half of the guide dog team does the directing, based upon skills acquired through previous mobility training. The handler might be likened to an aircraft's navigator, who must know how to get from one place to another, and the dog is the pilot, who gets them there safely.
  Many blind people will accept help, however, make sure that they are aware that you are going to help them, and offer your arm, not your whole body.
  Orientation and Mobility Specialist are professionals who are specifically trained to teach people with visual impairments how to travel safely, confidently, and independently in the home and the community.
  
  Mobility
  Most blind and visually impaired people read print, either of a regular size or enlarged through the use of magnification devices. A variety of magnifying glasses, some of which are handheld, and some of which rest on desktops, can make reading easier for those with decreased visual acuity.
  The rest read Braille (or the infrequently used Moon type), or rely on talking books and readers or reading machines. They use computers with special hardware such as scanners and refreshable Braille displays as well as software written specifically for the blind, like optical character recognition applications and screen reading software.
  Some people access these materials through agencies for the blind, such as the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in the United States, the National Library for the Blind or the RNIB in the United Kingdom.
  Closed-circuit televisions, equipment that enlarges and contrasts textual items, are a more high-tech alternative to traditional magnification devices. So too are modern web browsers, which can increase the size of text on some web pages through browser controls or through user-controlled style sheets.
  
  Reading and magnification
  Access technology such as Freedom Scientific's JAWS for Windows screen reading software enable the blind to use mainstream computer applications. Most legally blind people (70% of them across all ages, according to the Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind) do not use computers. Only a small fraction of this population, when compared to the sighted community, have Internet access. This bleak outlook is changing, however, as availability of assistive technology increases, accompanied by concerted efforts to ensure the accessibility of information technology to all potential users, including the blind. Linux distributions (as Live CDs) for the blind include Oralux and Adriane Knoppix, the latter developed in part by Adriane Knopper who has a visual impairment. The Macintosh OS also comes with a built-in screen reader, called VoiceOver. Later versions of Microsoft Windows include an Accessibility Wizard & Magnifier for those with partial vision.
  The movement towards greater web accessibility is opening a far wider number of websites to adaptive technology, making the web a more inviting place for visually impaired surfers.
  Experimental approaches in sensory substitution are beginning to provide access to arbitrary live views from a camera.
  
  Computers
  People may use talking thermometers, enlarged or marked oven dials, talking watches, talking clocks, talking scales, talking calculators, talking compasses and other talking equipment.
  
  Other aids
  The story of the Blind Men and an Elephant uses blindness as a symbol of limited perception and perspective. Stories such as The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens provided yet another view of blindness, wherein those affected by it were ignorant of their surroundings and easily deceived.
  The authors of modern educational materials (see: blindness and education for further reading on that subject), as well as those treating blindness in literature, have worked to paint a different picture of blind people as three-dimensional individuals with a range of abilities, talents, and even character flaws.
  
  Young mammals
  
  

2008年1月12日 星期六

In Celtic mythology, Camulus or Camulos was the god of war of the Remi, a Celtic tribe, who lived in the area of today's Belgium. Traces of his cult are also found in Britain. The town Camulodunum (now Colchester) in Essex, was named after him and was the basis for the legendary city Camelot. The Romans identified Camulus with Mars, their god of war.
Cunobelinus (Shakespeare's Cymbeline), chief of the Catuvellauni and called "Britannorum rex" by Roman historian Suetonius, made Camulodunum his capital after defeating the local Trinobantes. He established a mint there and coins bearing his head are still found occasionally in the area. After his death about 42 AD, his sons fell out with Rome and gave the emperor Claudius the excuse to try to place Britain under Roman rule.

2008年1月11日 星期五

The Hawaiian language is an Austronesian language that takes its name from that of the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the State of Hawaii, one of the United States. King Kamehameha III established the first Hawaiian-language constitutions in 1839 and 1840.
For various reasons, the number of native speakers of Hawaiian gradually dropped during the period from the 1830s to the 1950s. Hawaiian was essentially displaced by English on six of the seven inhabited islands. As of 2000, native speakers of Hawaiian amount to under 0.1% of the statewide population. Nevertheless, the language is not endangered because it can continue indefinitely on Niʻihau (the smallest inhabited island, privately owned for over 100 years, is the residence of about 160 native speakers).
From about 1949 to the present, there has been a gradual increase in attention to, and promotion of, the language. Public Hawaiian-language immersion pre-schools called Pūnana Leo were started in 1984; other immersion schools followed soon after.
A type of "local English" spoken in Hawaii is technically called "Hawaiian Creole English", abbreviated "HCE". It developed from pidgin English and is often called simply "pidgin" (or Hawaiian Pidgin). It should not be mistaken for the Hawaiian language.
The ISO language code for Hawaiian is haw.

Name
Hawaiian is a Polynesian member of the Austronesian language family (Lyovin 1997:257–258). It is closely related to other Polynesian languages (e.g., Marquesan, Tahitian, Maori, Rapa Nui (the language of Easter Island), Samoan), and distantly related to Fijian and more distantly to Malay, Indonesian, Malagasy, and the indigenous languages of the Philippines (e.g., Pangasinan, Tagalog, Ilokano, Visayan) and Taiwan (e.g., Paiwan, Rukai, Thao, Babuza, Saaroa, Yami).
The Marquesans colonized the archipelago in roughly AD 300 (Schütz 1994:334–336; 338 20n) followed by another wave of Tahitian immigrants around AD 1000. Their languages, over time, became the Hawaiian language (Elbert Pukui).
Continuing back in time, and back up the Austronesian family tree, the language was various stages of Proto Polynesian (Schütz 1994:334). Going much further back in history, the language is that of the Philippine Islands. The linguistic evidence, with the methodologies of lexicostatistics and comparative reconstruction applied, takes the language back to Proto Austronesian, spoken in Taiwan (Schütz 1994:325; Pukui & Elbert 1986:ix; Dyen 1965). (See below, Methods of proving Hawaiian's family relationships.) In recognizing the "Austric dispersal", Li (2001:271–272) stated that Reid "firmly established" a genetic relationship between the Austronesian family and the Austroasiatic family, and that Blust proposed that the Austronesian people migrated from mainland China to Taiwan around 6000 B.P. (i.e., 4000 BC). Thus, the ancient ancestors of the Hawaiian language, culture, and people, are traced back to the mainland of Asia, at least 5000 miles and 6000 years away from today's Hawaiian in Hawaii.

Family and origin
The genetic history of the Hawaiian language is demonstrated primarily through the application of (1) lexicostatistics, and (2) the comparative method (Lyovin 1997:1–12; Schütz 1994:322–338).
Lexicostatistics is a way of quantifying an approximate evaluation of the degree to which any given languages are genetically related to one another (Lyovin 1997:8; Schütz 1994:331). It is mainly based on determining the number of cognates (genetically shared words) that the languages have in a fixed set of vocabulary items which are nearly universal among all languages (Lyovin 1997:8). The so-called "basic vocabulary" (or "Swadesh list") amounts to about 200 words (Schütz 1994:332–333), having meanings such as "eye", "hair", "blood", "water", and "and" (Lyovin 1997:3). The measurement of genetic relationship is expressed as a percentage (Lyovin 1997:8; Schütz 1994:331–333). For example, Hawaiian and English have 0 cognates in the 200–word list, so they are 0% genetically related. By contrast, Hawaiian and Tahitian have about 152 cognates in the list, so they are estimated as being 76% genetically related (Schütz 1994:333 citing Elbert), according to the lexicostatistical method (152 ÷ 200 = .76).
The comparative method is a technique developed by linguists to determine whether or not two or more languages are genetically related, and if they are, the historical nature of the relationships (Lyovin 1997:1–12; Schütz 1994:332–335). For a given meaning, the words of the languages are compared (Lyovin 1997:2–3). Linguists observe: (1) identical sounds, (2) similar sounds, and (3) dissimilar sounds, in corresponding positions in the words (Lyovin 1997:3, 11–12). In this method, the definition of "identical" is clear, but those of "similar" and "dissimilar" are based on phonological criteria which require professional training to be fully understood, and which can vary in the contexts of different languages. Basically, a sound's phonetic manner and place of articulation, and its phonological features, are the main factors considered in investigating its status as "similar" or "dissimilar" to other sounds in a particular context. When linguists find in compared languages that compared words of the same or similar meaning contain sounds which correspond to one another, and find that these same sound correspondences recur regularly in most, or in many, of the comparable words of the languages, then the usual conclusion is that the languages are genetically related (Lyovin 1997:2; Schütz 1994:324–325).
In both methods, it is very important to exclude loan words from the analysis (Lyovin 1997:3–5, 8, 10).
The following table, Decimal Numbers, provides a limited data set for ten meanings. The Proto Austronesian (PAN) forms are from Li (2004:4). The asterisk (*) is used to show that these are hypothetical, reconstructed forms (Elbert & Pukui 1979:xvii). The Tagalog forms are from Ramos (1971), the Tongan from Churchward (1959), and the Hawaiian from Pukui & Elbert (1986). In the table, the year date of the modern forms is rounded off to AD 2000 to emphasize the 6000–year time lapse since the PAN era.
Note 1. For the number "10", the Tongan form in the table is part of the word /hoŋo-fulu/ "ten". The Hawaiian form is part of the word /ana-hulu/ "ten days", however the more common form used in counting and quantifying is /ʔumi/, a different root.
Application of the lexicostatistical method to the data in the table will show the four languages to be related to one another, with Tagalog having 100% cognacy with PAN, while Hawaiian and Tongan have 100% cognacy with each other, but 90% with Tagalog and PAN. This is because the forms for each number are cognates, except the Hawaiian and Tongan words for the number "1", which are cognate with each other, but not with Tagalog and PAN. When the full set of 200 meanings is used, the percentages will be much lower. For example, Elbert found Hawaiian and Tongan to have 49% (98 ÷ 200) shared cognacy (Schütz 1994:333). This points out the importance of data-set size for this method — less data, cruder result; more data, better result.
Application of the comparative method will show partly different genetic relationships. It will point out sound changes (Lyovin 1997:8–12), such as: (1) the loss of all PAN word-final consonants in Tongan and Hawaiian; (2) lowering of PAN *u to Tagalog [o] in word-final syllables; (3) retention of PAN *t in word-initial and word-medial position in Tagalog and Tongan, but shift to /k/ in Hawaiian; (4) retention of PAN *p in Tagalog, but shift to /f/ in Tongan and /h/ in Hawaiian. This method will recognize sound change #1 as a shared innovation of Hawaiian and Tongan. It will also take the Hawaiian and Tongan cognates for "1" as another shared innovation. Due to these exclusively shared features, Hawaiian and Tongan are found to be more closely related to one another than either is to Tagalog or PAN.
The forms in the table show that the Austronesian vowels tend to be relatively stable, while the consonants are relatively volatile. It is also notable that the Hawaiian words for "5" and "8" have remained essentially unchanged for 6000 years.

Methods of proving Hawaiian's family relationships

History of use

Before 1820
For roughly eight centuries (AD 1000 to 1778), Hawaiian was the only language ever used in the Hawaiian archipelago, and it was used nowhere else. In 1778, British English arrived via explorer James Cook and crew. During the next forty years, the sounds of Spanish (1789), Russian (1804), French (1816), and German (1816) arrived in Hawaii via other explorers and businessmen (Schütz 1994:31–40).
Hawaiian originated as the Marquesan or Tahitian of the era AD 1000, when the Polynesian speakers of that language made the first Polynesian discovery of Hawaii and colonized the archipelago, establishing permanent settlements. Upon the permanent separation of those Polynesian colonists from their foreign homelands, their language began to gradually change, thereby developing into one that is distinct from the centuries old Marquesan or Tahitian.
Before AD 1000, the language was various stages of Proto Polynesian. Going back farther in time and space, the language is that of the Philippine Islands, and it is ultimately descended from an ancient Austronesian language spoken in Taiwan about 6000 years ago. The geographically most distant relative of Hawaiian is Malagasy, spoken on the big island (Madagascar) off the east coast of Africa, nearly at the opposite point on the globe from Hawaii.
The old Marquesan or Tahitian developed into Hawaiian in isolation from the rest of the world, for approximately 700 to 800 years. In AD 1778, British explorer James Cook made the first European discovery of Hawaii, and that marked a new phase in the development and use of Hawaiian. During that period, up to 1820, Hawaiian began to take form as a written language, but largely restricted to isolated names and words, and word lists collected by explorers and travellers.

In Hawaii
The people responsible for "importing" those languages were also responsible for "exporting" the Hawaiian language into new territory, because there were some adventurous native speakers of Hawaiian who opted to do some exploring of their own by leaving Hawaii and sailing off to "see the world" aboard the wooden ships of the Caucasian explorers (Schütz 1994:43–44). Although there were not enough of these Hawaiian-speaking explorers (and apparently no females) to establish any viable speech communities abroad, nevertheless, there were a few here and there, in various parts of the world, who may be said to have spread the use of the language, at least a little bit. One of them, a male teenager known as Obookiah (`Ōpūkaha`ia), had a major impact on the future of the language. He sailed to New England, and eventually became a student at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut. He inspired New Englanders to support a Christian mission to Hawaii, and provided information on the Hawaiian language to the American missionaries there prior to their departure for Hawaii in 1819 (Schütz 1994:85–97). Some adventurous native speakers of Hawaiian worked aboard American and/or European ships of that period, thereby expanding, albeit slightly, the geographical area in which Hawaiian could be spoken. However, no viable Hawaiian speech communities were ever established abroad.

Abroad

1820 to 1887
The arrival of American Protestant missionaries (from New England) in 1820 marked another new phase in the development of the Hawaiian language. Their evangelical mission had been inspired by the presence of several young Hawaiian males, especially Obookiah (ʻŌpūkahaʻia), at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut. The missionaries wanted to convert all Hawaiians to Christianity. In order to achieve that goal, they needed to learn the Hawaiian language so that they could publish a Hawaiian Bible, preach in Hawaiian, etc. To that end, they developed a successful alphabet for Hawaiian by 1826, taught Hawaiians to read and write the language, published various educational materials in Hawaiian, and eventually finished translating the Bible. Missionaries also influenced King Kamehameha III to establish the first Hawaiian-language constitutions in 1839 and 1840.

In Hawaii
Adelbert von Chamisso might have consulted with a native speaker of Hawaiian in Berlin, Germany, before publishing his grammar of Hawaiian ("Über die Hawaiische Sprache") in 1837 (Elbert & Pukui 1979:2). When Hawaiian King David Kalākaua took a trip around the world, he brought his native language with him. When his wife, Queen Kapiolani, and his sister, Princess (later Queen) Liliuokalani, took a trip across North America and on to the British Islands, in 1887, Liliuokalani's composition Aloha Oe was already a famous song in the U.S. (Carter 1996:7, 169 example 138 quoting McGuire).

Abroad

1834 to 1948
This is the 115–year period during which Hawaiian-language newspapers were published. Missionaries introduced newspaper publishing in Hawaiian and in English, and played a significant role in publishing a grammar (1854) and dictionary (1865) of Hawaiian. Literacy in Hawaiian was widespread among the local population, especially ethnic Hawaiians. Use of the language among the general population might have peaked around 1881. Even so, some people worried, as early as 1854, that the language was "soon destined to extinction" (quoted in Schütz 1994:269–270). In spite of a huge decline in the use of Hawaiian, compared to the era of its peak, those fears have never been realized.
The increase in human travel to and from Hawaiʻi during the 19th century was the means by which a number of diseases arrived, and potentially fatal ones, such as smallpox, influenza, and leprosy, killed large numbers of native speakers of Hawaiian. Meanwhile, native speakers of other languages, especially English, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Ilokano, continued to immigrate to Hawaii. As a result, the actual number, as well as the percentage, of native speakers of Hawaiian in the local population decreased sharply, and continued to fall.
As the status of Hawaiian dropped, the status of English in Hawaiʻi rose. In 1885, the Prospectus of the Kamehameha Schools announced that "instruction will be given only in English language" (see published opinion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Doe v. Kamehameha Schools, case no. 04–15044, page 8928, filed August 2nd 2005).
For a variety of reasons starting around 1900, the number of native speakers of Hawaiian diminished from 37,000 to 1,000; half of these remaining are now in their seventies or eighties (see Ethnologue report below for citations). There has been some controversy over the reasons for this decline.
One school of thought claims that the most important cause for the decline of the Hawaiian language was its voluntary abandonment by the majority of its native speakers. They wanted their own children to speak English, as a way to promote their success in a rapidly changing modern environment, so they refrained from using Hawaiian with their own children. The Hawai'ian language schools disappeared as their enrollments dropped: parents preferred English language schools.
Another school of thought insists either that the government made the language illegal, or that schools punished the use of Hawaiian, or that general prejudice against Hawaiians (kanakas) discouraged the use of the language. (See below, "Banning" of Hawaiian)
A new dictionary was published in 1957, a new grammar in 1979, and new second-language textbooks in 1951, 1965, 1977, and 1989. Master's theses and doctoral dissertations on specific facets of Hawaiian appeared in 1951, 1975, 1976, and 1996.

In Hawaii
The law cited as banning the Hawaiian language is identified as Act 57, sec. 30 of the 1896 Laws of the Republic of Hawaiʻi:
The English Language shall be the medium and basis of instruction in all public and private schools, provided that where it is desired that another language shall be taught in addition to the English language, such instruction may be authorized by the Department, either by its rules, the curriculum of the school, or by direct order in any particular instance. Any schools that shall not conform to the provisions of this section shall not be recognized by the Department. [signed] June 8, 1896 Sanford B. Dole, President of the Republic of Hawaiʻi
This law established English as the main medium of instruction for the government-recognized schools, but it did not ban nor make illegal the Hawaiian language in other contexts. The law specifically provided for teaching languages "in addition to the English language".
Hawaiian-language newspapers were published for over a hundred years, right through the period of the supposed ban. Pukui & Elbert (1986:572) list fourteen Hawaiian newspapers. According to them, the newspapers entitled Ka Lama Hawaii and Ke Kumu Hawaii began publishing in 1834, and the one called Ka Hoku o Hawaii ceased publication in 1948. The longest run was that of Ka Nupepa Kuokoa: about 66 years, from 1861 to 1927.

"Banning" of Hawaiian
In 1949, the legislature of the Territory of Hawaiʻi commissioned Mary Pukui and Samuel Elbert to write a new dictionary of Hawaiian, either revising the Andrews-Parker work, or starting from scratch (Schütz 1994:230). Pukui and Elbert took a middle course, using what they could from the Andrews dictionary, but making certain improvements and additions that were more significant than a minor revision. The dictionary they produced, in 1957, introduced an era of gradual increase in attention to the language (and culture).
Efforts to promote the language have increased in recent decades. Hawaiian-language "immersion" schools are now open to children whose families want to introduce Hawaiian language for future generations Warner (1996). The local NPR station features a short segment titled "Hawaiian word of the day" and a Hawaiian language news broadcast. Additionally, the Sunday editions of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, one of Honolulu's two major newspapers, feature a brief article called Kauakukalahale written entirely in Hawaiian by teachers, students, and community members.
Today, on six of the seven inhabited islands, Hawaiian is largely displaced by English, and the number of native speakers of Hawaiian is under 0.1% of the state-wide population. Native speakers of Hawaiian who live on the island named Niʻihau have remained fairly isolated and have continued to use Hawaiian almost exclusively (Lyovin 1997:258).

Niihau (Niʻihau)
The Hawaiian alphabet, ka pīʻāpā Hawaiʻi, is a variety of the Latin alphabet. Hawaiian words end ONLY in vowels. The Hawaiian alphabetical order has all of the vowels before the consonants (Schütz 1994:217, 223), as in the following chart.

Orthography (writing system)
This writing system was developed by American Protestant missionaries during 1820–1826 (Schütz 1994:98–133). It was the first thing they ever printed in Hawaii, on January 7, 1822, and it originally included the consonants B, D, R, T, and V, in addition to the current ones (H, K, L, M, N, P, W), and it had F, G, S, Y and Z for "spelling foreign words". The initial printing also showed the five vowel letters (A, E, I, O, U) and seven of the short diphthongs (AE, AI, AO, AU, EI, EU, OU) (Schütz 1994:110 Plate 7.1).
In 1826, the developers voted to eliminate some of the letters which represented functionally redundant allophones (called "interchangeable letters"), thereby enabling the Hawaiian alphabet to approach the ideal state of one-symbol-one-sound, and thereby optimizing the ease with which people could teach and learn the reading and writing of Hawaiian (Schütz 1994:122–126; 173–174). For example, instead of spelling one and the same word as pule, bule, pure, and bure (because of interchangeable p/b and l/r), the word is spelled only as pule.
However, hundreds of words were very rapidly borrowed into Hawaiian from English, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Syrian, and Chaldean (Lyovin 1997:259; Schütz 1994:223; Elbert & Pukui 1979:27, 31–32). Although these loan words were necessarily Hawaiianized, they often retained some of their "non-Hawaiian letters" in their published forms. For example, Brazil fully Hawaiianized is Palakila, but retaining "foreign letters" it is Barazila (Pukui & Elbert 1986:406). Another example is Gibraltar, written as Kipalaleka or Gibaraleta (Pukui & Elbert 1986:450). While [z] and [g] are not regarded as Hawaiian sounds, [b], [ɹ], and [t] were represented in the original alphabet, so the letters (b, r, and t) for the latter are not truly "non-Hawaiian" or "foreign", even though their post–1826 use in published matter generally marked words of foreign origin.

Interchangeable B/P. B was dropped, P was kept.
Interchangeable L/R. L was kept, R was dropped.
Interchangeable K/T. K was kept, T was dropped.
Interchangeable V/W. V was dropped, W was kept. Origin
Main article: ʻokina
A modern Hawaiian name for the symbol (a letter) which represents the glottal stop is ʻokina (ʻoki "cut" plus -na "-ing") (Pukui & Elbert 1986:257, 281, 451). It was formerly known as ʻuʻina ("snap"; Schütz 1994:146; Elbert & Pukui 1979:11). It can be written as ʻ, with the Unicode hex value 02BB (decimal 699), which does not always have the correct appearance because it is not supported in some fonts/browsers. It is alternatively written as an opening single quote ' with the Unicode hex value 2018 (decimal 8216), which appears either as a left-leaning quote or a quote with greater thickness at the bottom than at the top. It can look like a very small "6" with the circle filled in black.
For examples of the okina, consider the Hawaiian words Hawaiʻi and Oʻahu (simply Hawaii and Oahu in English orthography). In Hawaiian, these words can be pronounced [hʌ.ˈwʌi.ʔi] and [o.ˈʔʌ.hu], and can be written with an okina where the glottal stop is pronounced (Pukui & Elbert 1986:62, 275). (In English, the glottal stop is omitted, or is replaced by a non-phonemic glide, resulting in [hʌ.ˈwai.i] or [hʌ.ˈwai.ji], and [o.ˈa.hu] or [o.ˈwa.hu]. Note that the latter two are essentially identical in sound.)
As early as 1823, the missionaries made some limited use of the apostrophe to represent the glottal stop (Schütz 1994:143), but they did not make it a letter of the alphabet. In publishing the Hawaiian Bible, they used it to distinguish koʻu "my" from kou "your" (Elbert & Pukui 1979:11). In 1864, W.D. Alexander published a grammar of Hawaiian in which he made it clear that the glottal stop (calling it "guttural break") is definitely a true consonant of the Hawaiian language (Schütz 1994:144–145). He wrote it using an apostrophe. In 1922, the Andrews-Parker dictionary of Hawaiian made limited use of the opening single quote symbol, called "reversed apostrophe" or "inverse comma", to represent the glottal stop (Schütz 1994:139–141). Subsequent dictionaries have preferred to use that symbol. Today, many native speakers of Hawaiian do not bother, in general, to write any symbol for the glottal stop. Its use is advocated mainly among students and teachers of Hawaiian as a second language, and among linguists (Schütz 1994:146–148).

Glottal stop
A modern Hawaiian name for the symbol (not a letter) which is the macron is kahakō (kaha "mark" plus kō "long") (Pukui & Elbert 1986:109, 110, 156, 478). It was formerly known as mekona (Hawaiianization of macron). It can be written as a diacritical mark which looks like a hyphen or dash written above a vowel, i.e., ā ē ī ō ū, and Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū. It is used to show that the marked vowel is a "double", or "geminate", or "long" vowel, in phonemic terms (Elbert & Pukui 1979:14–15).
As early as 1821, at least one of the missionaries, Hiram Bingham, was using macrons (and breves) in making handwritten transcriptions of Hawaiian vowels (Schütz 1994:139, 399). The missionaries specifically requested their sponsor in Boston to send them some type (fonts) with accented vowel characters, including vowels with macrons, but the sponsor made only one response and sent the wrong font size (pica instead of small pica) (Schütz 1994:139–141). Thus, they could not print ā, ē, ī, ō, nor ū (at the right size), even though they wanted to.

Macron
In general, each Hawaiian letter represents the sound value of the same letter in the IPA alphabet. Due to extensive allophony, however, if one were to converse in Hawaiian with only 13 phones, the result would sound definitely foreign to the ear of a native speaker. See Phonology, below, for details on the ranges of actual allophones used.
The letter ʻ, the ʻokina, is not an IPA symbol. The IPA symbol for glottal stop is ʔ (Elbert & Pukui 1979:11). Since the Hawaiian letter ʻ stands for the IPA symbol ʔ, in effect, the phonetic value of ʻ is [ʔ] (Lyovin 1997:259).
The macron, or kahakō, is not a letter, and its use to indicate allophony is not an IPA convention (the IPA symbol for gemination is ː). The kahakō has no sound of its own, and is not used alone. Although it marks phonemic vowel length in Hawaiian, long vowels are not always pronounced long by native speakers of Hawaiian in actual Hawaiian communication (Elbert & Pukui 1979:14–15). The macron does not represent stress, although under the rules for assigning stress in Hawaiian, a long vowel will always receive stress (Pukui & Elbert 1986:xvii–xviii; Elbert & Pukui 1979:14, 20–21).

Pronunciation

Main article: Hawaiian phonology Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Monophthongs

Grammar

The list of Hawaiian words and list of words of Hawaiian origin at Wiktionary, the free dictionary and Wikipedia's sibling project
Languages in the United States
Punana leo
Hawaiian name

2008年1月10日 星期四

The Epistle to the Hebrews (abbr. Heb for citations) is one of the books in the New Testament. Though traditionally credited to the Apostle Paul, the letter is anonymous and most modern scholars, both conservative and critical, believe its author was not Paul himself but some other member of his Pauline community.
The letter has carried its traditional title since Tertullian described it as Barnabae titulus ad Hebraeos in De Pudicitia chapter 20 ("Barnabas's Letter to the Hebrews".)

Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation Authorship
Hebrews was written to a specific audience facing very specific circumstances. We can discern various facts about the recipients of Hebrews through a careful mirror reading of the letter:
Traditional scholars have argued the letter's audience was Jewish Christians, as early as the end of the second century (hence its title, "The Epistle to the Hebrews"). However, Hebrews is part of an internal New Testament debate between the extreme Judaizers (who argued that non-Jews must convert to Judaism before they can receive the Holy Spirit of Jesus's Jewish covenant) versus the extreme lawless ones (who argued that Jews must reject God's commandments and that God's eternal Torah was no longer in effect). Peter and Paul represent the moderates of each faction, respectively. The Epistle emphasizes non-Jewish followers of Jesus do not need to convert to Judaism to share in all of God's promises to Jews. Liberal American theologian Edgar Goodspeed notes, "But the writer's Judaism is not actual and objective, but literary and academic, manifestly gained from the reading of the Septuagint Greek version of the Jewish scriptures, and his polished Greek style would be a strange vehicle for a message to Aramaic-speaking Jews or Christians of Jewish blood."
Hebrews is often erroneously named as one of the general (or catholic) epistles. But since it was written to a specific group of Jewish-Christians, it is not technically a general epistle.

The original readers of the letter were conversant in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, as the author's usage shows.
The contrast in 13:14 and the types of sins listed in chapter 13 suggest they lived in a city.
They had once faced persecution (10:32–34), but not to the point of shedding blood (12:4). It is possible that 12:1–3 and 13:12–13 imply that they would soon face renewed opposition.
Some had stopped assembling together because of persecution (10:25).
As the author saw it, at least some among them were being tempted to avoid severe persecution by "shrinking back" [10:32-39] from the eschatalogical fulfilment of the true hope and faith of the Old Testament proclaimed by the apostolic witness to Jesus Christ. It is debated whether the anticipated persecution was from secular (i.e., Roman) authorities or Jewish authorities. Perhaps there were elements of both, or as we see elsewhere in the New Testament, the Jewish authorities may have stirred up the secular authorities to suppress the Christians. The author exhorted them to encourage "love and good works" (10:24) and warned them that if they "sin willfully" by denying Jesus' sacrifice it will become ineffective for them(26). But for non-Jews, these loving actions are sufficient for "great recompence of reward" (35) as long as they "hold fast the profession of our faith [in Jesus] without wavering" (23), and thus do not need to convert to Judaism.
In 13:24 the author says that those from Italy greet the readers. This could mean that the author is writing from Italy or that the author is writing to recipients in Italy, and that Italians present with the author are greeting those back home. Audience
Although the author is unknown, Hebrews has been dated to shortly after the Pauline epistles were collected and began to circulate, c. 95. This date is dependent on a traditional date for I Clement of 96. Harold W. Attridge claims only a general dating is possible and places the letter as being written between 60 and 100.
Some, such as John A.T. Robinson, place the entire New Testament at a much earlier date. Robinson argues, for example, that there is no textual evidence that the New Testament authors had knowledge of the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70. The use of tabernacle terminology in Hebrews has been used to date the epistle before the destruction of the temple, the idea being that knowing about the destruction of both Jerusalem and the temple would have influenced the development of his overall argument to include such evidence.

Date
Most scholars today believe the document was written to prevent apostasy. (Apostasy is the abandonment of a political or religious belief.) Some have interpreted apostasy to mean a number of different things, such as a group of Christians in one sect leaving for another more conservative sect, one in which the author disapproves. Some have seen apostasy as a move from the Christian assembly to pagan ritual. In light of a possibly Jewish-Christian audience, the apostasy in this sense may be in regard to Jewish-Christians leaving the Christian assembly to return to the synagogue. In light of Pauline doctrine, the epistle dissuades non-Jewish Christians from feeling a need to convert to Judaism. Therefore the author writes, "Let us hold fast to our confession" (Heb 4:14).
The Bible's Epistle to the Hebrews affirms special creation. It affirms that God by His Son, Jesus Christ, made the worlds. " God...hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son...by whom also he made the worlds" (Hebrews 1:1-2). The epistle also states that the worlds themselves do not provide the evidence of how God formed them. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Hebrews 11:3).
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia: Epistle to the Hebrews:
"... the Epistle opens with the solemn announcement of the superiority of the New Testament Revelation by the Son over Old Testament Revelation by the prophets (Hebrews 1:1-4). It then proves and explains from the Scriptures the superiority of this New Covenant over the Old by the comparison of the Son with the angels as mediators of the Old Covenant (1:5-2:18), with Moses and Josue as the founders of the Old Covenant (3:1-4:16), and, finally, by opposing the high-priesthood of Christ after the order of Melchisedech to the Levitical priesthood after the order of Aaron (5:1-10:18)."

See also

2008年1月9日 星期三

Coyoacán is one of the 16 delegaciones (boroughs) into which Mexico's Federal District is divided. Coyoacán also is commonly used to refer to the neighborhood at the heart of the borough. The name Coyoacán comes from Nahuatl Coyohuacan (IPA: [kojoˈwaʔkaːn]), meaning "place where they have coyotes".
Although geographically located in the center of the Distrito Federal, Coyoacán has long been considered to be at the southern end of Mexico City. As the southernmost boroughs of the city, especially Xochimilco and Tlalpan, have begun to grow, the view of Coyoacán as the south end of the city may begin to change.
In pre-Columbian times, Coyoacán was a town of its own and a major center of trade on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco. After the Spanish conquest, Hernán Cortés made his residence there.
It remained a separate town until 1950, when it was swallowed up by the burgeoning conurbation of Mexico City. Centered on two busy squares, Plaza Hidalgo (the district's main square) and Jardín Centenario, today's Coyoacán is known as an upper-middle-class suburb, with a lively bohemian and artistic culture.
An important street in Coyoacán is Francisco Sosa, beginning at Avenida Universidad and ending in Coyoacán's main square. This street features large houses with beautiful colonial architecture, and is also lined with bookstores, cafés, and clubs. The Italian Institute of Culture "Istituto Italiano di Cultura" is located on this street at number 77.
It was home to Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and also to Leon Trotsky, and the houses they lived in are now both museums. It is served by Metro lines 2 and 3.
Coyoacán is a Sister City of Arlington County, Virginia, USA.

Notable places

National Autonomous University of Mexico UNAM "Ciudad Universitaria"
Churubusco
La Casa Azul (The Blue House), former home of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera; now the Museo Frida Kahlo
House and grave of Leon Trotsky
Estadio Azteca
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Xochimilco

2008年1月8日 星期二

World War I - Medal and Medal Card Abbreviations
From a service number you can sometimes find out in which part of the army they served. Although this is not always the case. If you have a Silver War Badge (SWB) then this does not apply to it, that has its own code.

Service Number
Here is a list of all the Prefix Letter & Numbers, remember it may not be 100% correct.
Thanks to http://www.britishmedalforum.com for this Information

/X - Royal Navy & Royal Marines After divisional letters indicates new pay code enlistment
1/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force Samoan Advance Force
10/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force Wellington Rifles
11/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force Wellington Mounted Rifles
12/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force Auckland Rifles
13/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force Auckland Mounted Rifles
14/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force Army Service Corps Divisional Train
15/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force New Zealand Expeditionary Force Headquarters Staff
15/ - West Yorkshire Regiment 15th (Leeds Pals) Battalion
16/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force Maori Battalion
17/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force New Zealand Veterinary Corps
18/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force New Zealand Chaplains Department
19/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force Samoan Relief Force, Infantry
2/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force Royal New Zealand Artillery
20/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force Samoan Relief Force, Mounted Rifles
21/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force New Zealand Army Pay Corps
22/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force New Zealand Nursing Service
23/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force 1st Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade
24/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force 2nd Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade
25/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force 3rd Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade
26/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force 4th Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade
3/ - Seaforth Highlanders 3rd (Reserve) Battalion
3/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force New Zealand Medical Corps
3/ - Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry 3rd (Reserve) Battalion
3/ - Royal Berkshire Regiment 3rd (Reserve) Battalion
3/ - Gordon Highlanders 3rd (Reserve) Battalion
3/ - Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 3rd (Reserve) Battalion
3/ - Royal Highlanders 3rd (Reserve) Battalion
3/ - Cameron Highlanders 3rd (Reserve) Battalion
4/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force New Zealand Engineers
4/ - Royal Irish Rifles 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion
5/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force New Zealand Army Service Corps
5/ - Connaught Rangers 5th (Service) Battalion
6/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force Canterbury Infantry
7/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force Canterbury Mounted Rifles
8/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force Otago Rifles
9/ - New Zealand Expeditionary Force Otago Mounted Rifles
A - Army Service Corps Old Army Special Reserve
A - King's Royal Rifle Corps Early wartime recruits
A - Royal Scots Fusiliers 3rd (Reserve) Battalion
A - King's Own Scottish Borderers 3rd (Reserve) Battalion
A - Highland Light Infantry 3rd (Reserve) Battalion
A - Scottish Rifles 3rd (Reserve) Battalion
A - Army Ordnance Corps
A - Royal Fleet Reserve First period of enlistment
A - Royal Navy Alexandria (World War II Only)
A - Australia Silver War Badge Prefix
A (HT) - Army Service Corps Horse Transport Special Reserve
AA - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Anti-Aircraft
ARMR - Army Ordnance Corps Armourer
ASE - Army Service Corps
ASR - Army Service Corps
B - Royal Fusiliers 26th (Banker's) Battalion
B - Royal Fleet Reserve Second Period of Enlistment
B - King's Royal Rifle Corps
B - Highland Light Infantry Service No. 21000 onwards all ex-RA / Cavalry
B - Highland Light Infantry 4th (Special Reserve) Battalion
B - Scottish Rifles 4th (Special Reserve) Battalion
B - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Bristol Division
B - Unknown Silver War Badge Prefix
B - Army Service Corps Special Reserve
B (HT) - Army Service Corps Horse Transport Special Reserve TF
BZ - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Bristol Division wartime enlistment
C - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Clyde Division
C - King's Royal Rifle Corps 16th Battalion onwards enlistment
C - Royal Fleet Reserve 3rd Period of Enlistment
C - Royal Munster Fusiliers 1st Garrison Battalion
C - Middlesex Regiment
C - Rifle Brigade
C - Royal Fleet Reserve Chatham
C - Royal Navy Chatham
C (MT) - Army Service Corps Mechanical Transport Special Reserve
CAT - Army Service Corps Caterpillar Mechanical Transport
CH - Royal Marines Chatham Division Royal Marine Light Infantry
CH - Royal Fleet Reserve Chatham
CH/RMP - Royal Marine Police Chatham
CHT - Army Service Corps Corps of Horse Transport
CMT - Army Service Corps Corps of Motor Transport
CZ - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Clyde Division wartime enlsitment
D - Dragoons
D - Royal Fleet Reserve Devonport
D - Royal Navy Devonport
DEAL - Royal Marines Deal Depot
DEPOT / D - Royal Marine Light Infantry Deal Depot Permanent Staff
DEV - Royal Fleet Reserve Devonport
DM2 - Army Service Corps Mechanical Transport Learners, discontinued 11/16
E - Royal Fusiliers 17th (Empire) Battalion
E - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Birmingham Electrical Volunteers
E - Army Service Corps Forage (ordinary rates of army pay)
EX - Royal Marines Exton Division (World War II Only)
F - Middlesex Regiment 17th & 23rd (Football) Battalions
F - Royal Naval Air Service
F - Army Service Corps Forage (not paid from Army Funds)
F - Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm
FAA - Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (World War II Only)
G - Royal Irish Fusiliers 1st, 2nd 3rd (Garrison) Battalion
G - Home Counties Regiments New Army men and later
GOA - Royal Navy Goa
GS - British Army General Service Enlistment
GSR - Royal Sussex Regiment Special Reserve, enlisted under hostilities only terms
GSSR - Royal Sussex Regiment Special Reserve, enlisted under hostilities only terms
H - Hussars
H - Hussars
H - North Irish Horse Given to all on strength in mid-1917
I - India Silver War Badge Prefix
J - Royal Navy Seaman branch Prefix
J - Royal Fusiliers 38th, 39th 40th, 42nd (Judean) Battalions
J - Royal Navy Seamen and Communications
K - "Kitchener battalion"???
K - Royal Navy Stokers
K - Royal Fusiliers 22nd (Kensington) Battalion
K - Royal Navy Stokers and Mechanicians
KP - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Crystal Palace Enlistment from Kitchener's New Armies
KW - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Crystal Palace Enlistment from Kitchener's New Armies
KX - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Crystal Palace Enlistment from Kitchener's New Armies
L - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve London Division
L - Lancers
L - Home Counties Regiments Regulars
L - Royal Artillery Wartime enlistment
L - South Wales Borderers 3rd (Reserve) Battalion
L - Lancers
L - Royal Navy Officers' Stewards, some Officers' Cooks
L - Royal Navy Lee-on-Solent (FAA)
LSR - Royal Sussex Regiment Special Reserve, enlisted under regular terms
LT - Royal Navy Lowestoft (World War II Only)
LT - Royal Navy Lowestoft (World War II Only)
LZ - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve London Division wartime enlistment
M - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Mersey Division
M - Army Service Corps Mechanical Transport
M - Royal Navy Miscellaneous enlistments (e.g. writers etc.)
M - Royal Navy Others -Artificers, Electrical, Supply etc
M1 & 2/(SR) - Army Service Corps Enlisted Special Reserve for New Armies
M1, 2 - Army Service Corps Mechanical Transport
MALTA - Royal Navy Malta
MB - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Motor Boat Reserve
MC - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Mine Clearance Service
MN - Merchant Navy Silver War Badge Prefix
MS - Army Service Corps Mechanical Specials
MZ - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Mersey Division wartime enlistment
N - Royal Army Medical Corps
N - Royal Navy NAAFI staff (World War II Only)
NZ - New Zealand Silver War Badge Prefix
O - Rifle Brigade
O - Unknown Silver War Badge Prefix
P - Military Foot Police Police
P - Royal Fleet Reserve Portsmouth
P - Royal Navy Portsmouth
P - Dragoon Guards
PET - Army Service Corps Petroleum Dept
PLY - Royal Marines Plymouth Division RMLI
PLY/RMP - Royal Marine Police Plymouth
PO - Royal Marines Portsmouth Division RMLI
PO - Royal Fleet Reserve Portsmouth
PO/RMP - Royal Marine Police Portsmouth
Prefix Unit Designation
PS - Royal Fusiliers 18th, 19th, 20th & 21st (Public Schools) Battalions
PS - Middlesex Regiment 16th (Public Schools) Battalion
PW - Middlesex Regiment 18th, 19th & 26th (Public Works) Battalions
PZ - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Crystal Palace Enlistment from civilian life
R Royal Navy Rosyth (World War II Only)
R - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal Naval Division
R - Army Service Corps Remounts
R - King's Royal Rifle Corps Later recruits up to 16th Battalion
R - Army Service Corps Army Remount Section
R4, RX4 - Army Service Corps 1st/2nd/3rd/4th New Armies Remounts
RAF - Royal Air Force Silver War Badge Prefix
RM - Royal Marines Silver War Badge Prefix
RMA - Royal Marines Royal Marine Artillery
RMB - Royal Marines Royal Marine Band
RME - Royal Marines Royal Marine Engineers
RN - Royal Navy Silver War Badge Prefix
RS & R/TS - Army Service Corps Remount Specials
RX - Army Service Corps Army Remount Section
S - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Sussex Division
S - Army Service Corps Supply Branch
S - Scottish Regiments Wartime Enlistment
S - Army Service Corps Supply Branch
S - Royal Army Medical Corps
S - Royal Artillery
S - Highland Regiments Wartime Enlistment
S - Home Counties Regiments 3rd Battalion
S - Rifle Brigade
S - Royal Munster Fusiliers
S - Army Ordnance Corps
S - Dorset Regiment
S1, 2, 3, 4 - Army Service Corps 1st/2nd/3rd/4th New Armies Supply (S4 Labour)
SA - South Africa Silver War Badge Prefix
SD - Sussex Regiment 11th, 12th & 13th (South Downs) Battalions
SE - Army Veterinary Corps 9th Section
SF - Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (Short Service)
SK - Royal Navy Stokers (Short Service)
SM - Royal Navy Miscellaneous (Short Service)
SPTS Royal Fusiliers 23rd & 24th (Sportman) Battalions
SR - British Army Special Reserve ?
SRMT - Army Service Corps Special Reserve Motor Transport
SS - Army Service Corps Supply Specials
SS - Royal Navy Seamen and Communications (Short Service)
STK - Royal Fusiliers 10th (Stockbroker's) Battalion
SWS - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Shore Wireless Service
SZ - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Sussex Division wartime enlistment
T - Army Service Corps Horse Transport
T - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Tyne Division
T - Army Ordnance Corps
T - Territorial Force
T1 & 2/(SR) - Army Service Corps Enlisted Special Reserve for New Armies
T1, 2, 3, 4 - Army Service Corps 1st/2nd/3rd/4th New Armies Horse Transport
TF - Territorial Force
TS - Army Service Corps Transport Specials
TT - Army Veterinary Corps Territorial Force ?
TZ - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Tyne Division wartime enlistment
W - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Wales Division
W - Cheshire Regiment 13th (Wirral) Battalion
W - Royal Artillery 38th (Welsh) Division
WR - Royal Engineers Waterways and Railways
WT4 - Army Service Corps Welsh ?????
WZ - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Wales Division wartim enlistment
Y - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Deferred enlistment (replaced by divisional prefix on actual enlistment)
Y - King's Royal Rifle Corps Early wartime enlistment
Z - Rifle Brigade Prefix Letters & Numbers
There are many abbreviations for the rank and unit of a man, whom you might be tracing. The National archive gives full listings of both Ranks and Units in which he might of served. Some abbreviations are easier to decipher than others so below are two links that could help you research your man.

Abbreviations for Ranks can be found on this link to the National Archives.
Abbreviations for Units, can be found on this link to the National Archives. Theatres Of War

World War I
Silver War Badge (SWB)
Australian campaign medals
New Zealand campaign medals

2008年1月4日 星期五

John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel, also called John de Arundel (November 30, 1364 – August 14, 1390), of Buckland, Surrey, was the son of John FitzAlan, 1st Baron Arundel and Eleanor Maltravers.
John was with the army in Scotland in 1383 and with the English Fleet in the western coast of France.
He married Elizabeth le Despenser, daughter of Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer (Despenser), by Elizabeth Burghersh, daughter and heiress of Bartholomew de Burghersh, 2nd Baron Burghersh. They had three sons:
Sir John de Arundel, 2nd Lord Arundel, died testate 14 August 1390, and was buried at Missenden Abbey, Buckinghamshire.

John de Arundel, Lord Maltravers and Arundel, sometime Earl of Arundel
Thomas Fitzalan
Edward Arundel.

2008年1月2日 星期三

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), is an independent German company and manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles. BMW is the parent company of the MINI and Rolls-Royce car brands. It is also one of the leading German car manufacturers.

History

Main article: BMW motorcycles Motorcycles
Fanfare of the BMW motorcycle has invoked the interest in clubs, or groups of people who share the same passion for their Bavarian bikes. The two largest BMW motorcycle clubs in the world are headquartered in the United States. They are the BMW Riders Association (BMW RA) and the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America (BMW MOA).

Motorcycle Clubs

Automobiles
The current BMW model lineup is split into what is referred to as "Series 2", traditionally identified by a single digit - e.g. the 3 Series.
In 2004 BMW announced plans to make odd-numbered series saloon/sedan and estate/wagon models (BMW calls its estates/wagons Touring models), while even-numbered series will be two-door coupés and cabriolets. This convention started informally in 1976 with the introduction of the 6 Series and later continued in 1989 with the 8 Series, but died off when the latter was discontinued in 1999. This practice was revived as the Z4 replaced the aging Z3 roadster in 2003 and continues as the new 6 Series augments the existing BMW 5 Series.

Current

Main article: BMW 1 Series 1 Series

Main article: BMW 3 Series 3 Series

Main article: BMW 5 Series 5 Series

Main article: BMW 6 Series 7 Series

Main article: BMW X3 X3

Main article: BMW X5 X5

Main article: BMW Z4 Z4

Main article: BMW M BMW M

Main article: BMW M3 M3

Main article: BMW M5 M5

Main article: BMW M6 M6

Main article: BMW M Coupe Z4 M

Z10: A supercar to succeed the Z8, to be produced in 2008 (Update: The new BMW supercar may in fact be called the Z9, and not the Z10.)
BMW V/F3 : An MPV (Sports Tourer) based on the BMW 3-Series/X3 to compete with Mercedes-Benz B-Class. This vehicle could also possibly be the rumoured X1, or called the F3.
BMW V/F5 : A MPV (Grand Sports Tourer) based on the BMW 5-Series/X5 to compete with Mercedes-Benz R-Class. This vehicle could also possibly be called the F5.
BMW Z2 : A Roadster and Coupe positioned under the Z4 as an entry level sports car, more than likely powered by a 4 cylinder engine. This model may come out in 2009, however it is still an unconfirmed rumour.
BMW F01/F02 7-Series : The F01 and F02 will be the replacement for the 7-Series for either 2008 or 2009. The F02 is the longer wheelbase version. In addition there will be a "Baby Roller" or mini Rolls Royce that will be under 200,000 that will compete with the Bentley Contental line up.
BMW X6: A coupe-based SUV. The X6 has been spotted testing.
BMW 8-Series: Unrelated to the original; a four-door grand tourer car to be based on the BMW CS Concept, competing against Mercedes-Benz CLS Class. Future

1990 BMW M8 Prototype A prototype designed as a "Ferrari killer". It was never put into production because of the lack of a market for such a car.
1999 Z9: a concept car designed by Adrian van Hooydonk marked a departure from BMW's traditional conservative style, and has caused some controversy among BMW enthusiasts.
BMW 750hL showcased at Expo 2000 at the BMW World exhibit. As one of the world's first autos to use an engine propelled by liquid hydrogen, the 750hL produces 2 by products: electricity and water. There are as of March 2007, 100 750hL vehicles in the USA for testing purposes.See the BMW website.
2001 xCoupe
2007 BMW CS Concept[1] - BMW has expressed interest in producing the vehicle under the 8 Series name. Prototypes

M1: a 1970s mid-engine sports car, designed in conjunction with Lamborghini. As Lamborghini went into bankruptcy the production was shifted to the German Karmanwerke.
Z3: a 2-seater roadster.

• M coupé and roadster: high-performance hard-top and soft-top versions of the Z3, very popular among enthusiasts. The Z3 was first shown on the big screen in the James Bond film GoldenEye, marking the first time Pierce Brosnan played Bond and the first time the MI6 agent's gadget-laden car wasn't British.
  8 Series: a fast, high-technology coupé of the 1990s. Unconfirmed rumors suggest that this may be revived , see BMW CS Concept, to compete against the globally acclaimed Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class.
  Z1: a late 1980s two-seater with innovative modular construction; only 8,000 were made. Best known for the feature of the vertically sliding doors.
  Z8: a roadster with design based on the classic 507 roadster from the 1950s. Debuted in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, marking the last time Bond would drive a BMW. Only 5000 were built, the last 500 being a special edition built by Alpina but sold directly from BMW. This exciting halo car was built on an aluminium space frame design. Out of production
  BMW made many cars over the years which have had great impact on the world of motoring.
  
  3.0 CSL
  M1
  M3
  M5 (first sedan to be considered a sports car) and the predecessor to BMW's core product, the 3 Series Classics
  Internally, BMW associates an "e-code" for each generation of a series ("E" stands for Entwicklung, German for development or evolution). These "chassis codes" only change to signify a major redesign of a series, or the introduction of a new series. BMW AG reported in September 2006 that BMW would switch to the letter "F" for their future models, beginning with the F01 7 Series replacement.
  2.5, 2.8, 3.0, 3.3 "New Six" sedans
  
  BMW E3 — (1968–1977)
  BMW E9 — (1969–1975) 2800CS, 3.0CS, 3.0CSL "New Six" coupés
  BMW E12 — (1974–1981) 5 Series
  BMW E21 — (1976–1983) 3 Series
  BMW E23 — (1977–1986) 7 Series
  BMW E24 — (1976–1989) 6 Series
  BMW E26 — (1978–1981) M1
  BMW E28 — (1981–1987) 5 Series
  BMW E30 — (1984–1991) 3 Series (1982-1983 E30 sold in Europe)
  BMW E31 — (1989–1997) 8 Series
  BMW E32 — (1986–1994) 7 Series
  BMW E34 — (1988–1995) 5 Series
  BMW E36 — (1992–1999) 3 Series
  BMW E36/5 — (1995–1998) 3 Series Compact (US market known as "318ti")
  BMW E36/7 — (1996-2002) Z3 Series Roadster
  BMW E36/8 — (1998-2002) Z3 Series Coupé
  BMW E38 — (1994–2001) 7 Series
  BMW E39 — (1995–2003) 5 Series
  BMW E46/5 — (2000–2004) 3 Series Compact
  BMW E46/4 — (1998–2005) 3 Series Sedan
  BMW E46/3 — (1999–2005) 3 Series Touring/Sports Wagon
  BMW E46/2 — (1999–2006) 3 Series Coupé
  BMW E46/C — (1999–2006) 3 Series Convertible
  BMW E52 — (2000–2003) Z8
  BMW E53 — (2000–2006) X5
  BMW E60 — (2004–present) 5 Series
  BMW E61 — (2004–2007) 5 Series Touring/Sports Wagon
  BMW E63 — (2004–present) 6 Series coupé
  BMW E64 — (2004–present) 6 Series convertible
  BMW E65 — (2002–2007) 7 Series short wheelbase
  BMW E66 — (2002–2007) 7 Series long wheelbase
  BMW E67 — (2002–2007) 7 Series Protection
  BMW E70 — (2007-present) X5
  BMW E81 — (2007-present) 1 Series (3-door)
  BMW E83 — (2004–present) X3
  BMW E85 — (2003–present) Z4
  BMW E86 — (2006–present) Z4 Coupé
  BMW E87 — (2004–present) 1 Series (5-door)
  BMW E88 — (2008) 1 Series Convertible
  BMW E89 — (2009) Z4 roadster
  BMW E90 — (2005–present) 3 Series
  BMW E91 — (2005–present) 3 Series Touring/Sports Wagon
  BMW E92 — (2006–present) 3 Series Coupé
  BMW E93 — (2007–present) 3 Series Convertible
  BMW F01 — (2008) 7 Series
  BMW F02 — (2009) 7 Series long wheelbase
  BMW F03 — (2008) 7 Series Protection
  BMW F04 — (2009) 8 Series Light Base
  BMW F10 — (2010) 5 Series
  BMW F11 — (2012) 5 Series Touring/Sports Wagon
  BMW F12 — (2011) 6 Series Coupé
  BMW F13 — (2011) 6 Series Convertible
  BMW F25 — (2011) X3 Series Generations
  
  Automobilwerk Eisenach
  Isetta
  Glas
  Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited
  Rover: briefly owned by BMW, which retained the Mini after selling off the rest of the company (see MG Rover Group).
  Land Rover: sold to Ford; the current Range Rover was developed mostly by BMW during their ownership of the company and until recently was powered by their 4.4 L V8 petrol (gasoline) engine and continues to use the BMW 3.0 L I6 diesel engine
  MINI: a small hatchback; inspired by the original Mini, which was the British competitor to the Volkswagen Beetle.
  Wiesmann: A company making sporty 2-seater roadsters and coupés for which BMW supplies the engine and transmission components.
  DesignworksUSA: Design studio founded in 1972 by Charles W. Pelly, and owned by BMW AG since May 1995. DesignworksUSA has worked on various designs for BMW and other companies, not just automobile. One of the latest designs is computer keyboard and mouse, which were sold by BenQ as x700 Pro keyboard, x730 Pro wireless keyborard and mouse combo, M306 wireless mouse.
  Bavaria Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH: BMW Group subsidiary that offers insurance services.
  Softlab GmbH: IT consulting and systems integration.
  Alpina: A Motor Manufacturer in its own right, who creates vehicles based on BMW cars.
  Breyton: A tuning manufacturer specialising in BMW cars.
  Hartge: A tuning company specialising in BMW, MINI and Range Rover cars.
  Hamann Motorsport: A Motor Styling and Tuning Specialist who creates vehicles based on BMW cars.
  MK-Motorsport: A tuning company specialising in BMW cars. Related companies
  
  
  Main article: BMW Motorsport Motorsport
  
  Formula BMW - A Junior racing Formula category.
  Kumho BMW Championship - A BMW-exclusive championship run in the United Kingdom. Sponsoring
  
  Formula One - BMW won the 19 grand prixs as an engine builder and did not win as a team/constructor until 2006
  

  
  
  • BMW Sauber F1 Team - current BMW works Formula One team
    WilliamsF1 - former Formula One partner, and designer of BMW's Le Mans winning sports car
    Brabham - Former Formula One partner, winning the Drivers Championship in 1983
    Arrows, used BMW engines from 1984 to 1986 Formula car
    
    Le Mans 24 Hours - BMW won Le Mans in 1999 with the BMW V12 LMR designed by Williams Grand Prix Engineering. Also the Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing team won the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans in a McLaren F1 GTR race car.
    Nürburgring - BMW won the 24 Hours Nürburgring 18 times and the 1000km Nürburgring 2 times (1976 and 1981).
    24 Hours of Daytona - BMW won 1 time (1976)
    Spa 24 Hours - BMW won 21 times
    McLaren F1 - Successful mid-1990s GT racing car with a BMW designed engine. It won BPR Global GT Series in 1995 and 1996 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995. Sports car
    BMW has a long and very successful history in this category, touring car racing.
    
    European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) - Since 1968, BMW won 24 drivers' championships along with several manufacturers' and teams' titles.
    World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) - BMW won all drivers' championship at present and two manufacturers' titles (1987, 2005 and 2006).
    DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft) won the drivers' championshiops:
    
    
    
    • 1988: Roberto Ravaglia, BMW M3
      1987: Winfried Vogt, BMW M3
      1983: Dieter Quester, BMW 635 CSI
      1982: Umberto Grano, Helmut Kelleners, BMW 528i
      1981: Umberto Grano, Helmut Kelleners, BMW 635 CSI
      1980: Siegfried Müller Jr., Helmut Kelleners, BMW 320i
      1979: Carlo Facetti, Martino Finotto, BMW 3.0 CSL
      1978: Umberto Grano, BMW 3.0 CSL
      1977: Dieter Quester, BMW 3.0 CSL
      1976: Pierre Dieudonné, Jean Xhenceval, BMW 3.0 CSL
      1975: Siegfried Müller, Alain Peltier, BMW 3.0 CSL
      British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) - BMW won the drivers' championship in 1988, 1991, 1992 and 1993 and manufacturers' championship in 1991 and 1993.
      Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC) - BMW (Schnitzer) flied from Europe to Japan, competed in the years and won the championship in 1995
      Mille Miglia - BMW won Mille Miglia in 1940 in with a 328 Touring Coupé. Previously in 1938 the 328 sport car also obtained a class victory. Touring car
      
      RAC Rally - The 328 sport car won this event in 1939.
      Paris Dakar Rally - BMW motorcycles have won this event 6 times. Rally
      The term "beemer" started as an acronym for the abbreviation "BMW," adapted from the early-20th century British pronunciation of BSA (as "beeser" or "beezer"), whose motorcycles were often racing BMWs. Over time, the term became closely associated with BMW motorcycles.
      In the United States, the term "bimmer" was later coined to refer (exclusively) to BMW automobiles. As such, use of the word "beemer" to refer to a BMW automobile is frowned upon by some BMW enthusiasts, because it is the term used for motorcycles. Although the distinction is completely arbitrary, to this day, the media, movies, and most people still use the term "beemer" to refer to the automobiles.
      The initials BMW are pronounced "beh emm veh" in German. The model series are referred to as "Dreier" ("Three-er" for 3 series), "Fünfer" ("Five-er" for the 5 series), "Sechser" ("Six-er" for the 6 series), "Siebener" ("Seven-er" for the 7 series).
      
      Culture
      BMWs follow a certain nomenclature in the naming many of their vehicles; a 3 digit number is followed by 1 or 2 letters.
      The first number is the series number. The next two numbers is traditionally the engine displacement in liters multiplied by 10
      The system of letters is as follows:
      For example, a BMW 760Li is a fuel-injected 7 Series with a long wheel base and 6.0 litres of displacement.
      However, there are exceptions. The current BMW 328i has a 3.0 liter engine, as does the 335i except its 3.0 liter engine is turbocharged.
      Also, the 'M' - for Motorsport - Series has a very simple nomenclature: M3, M5, M6, etc. It identifies the high-performance 'M' version of a particular series. For example, the M6 is the highest performing vehicle in the 6 Series lineup. Although 'M' cars should be separated into their respective series platforms, it is very common to see 'M' cars grouped together as its own series.
      Also, the 'Z' for two seaters. For example the Z1, Z3 and Z4. M varients of Z models have the M as a suffix. E.g. 'Z4 M'.
      Also, the 'X' for SUVs. For example the X3 and X4.
      Stationwagons/Estates are traditionally given the "Sports Wagon" or "Touring" suffix, depending on country of sale.
      
      d = diesel
      i = fuel-injected
      x = all wheel drive
      L = long wheel base
      C = coupe and/or convertible
      t = turbocharged or Touring (wagon)
      g = biogas
      s = sport package Community
      
      BMW Steptronic
      List of automobile manufacturers
      List of Formula One constructors
      BMW films
      List of BMW engines
      BMW Headquarters
      BMW CleanEnergy
      BMW iDrive
      Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (BMW a founding partner)

Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford (born October 21, 1926) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher.
A native of Queens, New York City, Ford was signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1947, and played his entire career in a Yankees uniform. He was given the nickname "Whitey" while in the minor leagues for his exceptionally blond hair.
Ford began his Major League Baseball career on July 1, 1950, with the Yankees. In 1951 and 1952 he served in the Army during the Korean War. He rejoined the Yankees for the 1953 season, and the Yankee "Big Three" pitching staff became a "Big Four," as Ford joined Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi and Eddie Lopat.
Eventually Ford went from the No. 4 pitcher on a great staff to the universally acclaimed No. 1 pitcher of the Yankees, becoming known as the "Chairman of the Board" for his ability to remain calm and in command during high-pressure situations. He was also known as "Slick" for his craftiness on the mound, necessary because he did not have an overwhelming fastball, but being able to throw several other pitches very well gave him pinpoint control. Nonetheless, Ford was an effective strikeout pitcher for his time, tying the then-AL record for six consecutive strikeouts in 1956, and again in 1958. Ford pitched 2 consecutive one-hit games in 1955 (he never pitched a no-hitter) to tie a record held by several pitchers.
Ford made a spectacular debut midway through the 1950 season, winning his first nine decisions before losing a game in relief. Ford even got a handful of lower-ballot MVP votes, despite throwing just 112 innings. He was voted Sporting News AL Rookie of the Year (Walt Dropo was BBWAA Rookie of Year choice).
In 1955, he led the American League in complete games and games won; in 1956 in earned run average and winning percentage; in 1958, in earned run average; and in both 1961 and 1963, in games won and winning percentage. In 1961 he broke Babe Ruth's World Series record of 29 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings (the record would eventually reach 33 2/3, and stood for four decades until Mariano Rivera broke it in 2000). Ford won the 1961 World Series MVP as well as the Cy Young Award.
Ford won 236 games for New York (career 236-106), still a franchise record. Red Ruffing, the previous Yankee record-holder, still leads all Yankee right-handed pitchers, with 231 of his 273 career wins coming with the Yankees. Other Yankee pitchers have had more career wins (for example, Roger Clemens notched his 300th career victory as a Yankee), but amassed them for multiple franchises. David Wells tied Whitey Ford for 13th place in victories by a lefhander on August 26, 2007.
Among pitchers with at least 300 career decisions, Ford ranks first with a winning percentage of .690. Among those with at least 200 decisions, only Pedro Martinez ranked ahead of him; at the end of the 2006 season, Martinez stood at .691. His won-loss percentage of .690 is not just due to being on a fine team. The Yankees were 1,486-1,027 during his 16 years. Without his 236-106, they had 1,250 wins and 921 losses, for a won-loss of .576. Ford was thus .114 higher than his team's record net of his record. When Ford got his 100th win in 1958, his career record stood at 100-36, the best ever.
Some of Ford's numbers were also depressed by Casey Stengel, the Yankees manager. Stengel viewed Ford as his top pitching asset, and often "saved" his ace lefthander for more formidable opponents such as the Tigers, Indians and White Sox. When he became manager in 1961, Ralph Houk promised Ford he would pitch every fourth day, regardless of opponent. Ford, who had only exceeded 30 starts once in his nine seasons under Stengel, had 39 in 1961. A career-best 25-4 record ensued, along with the Cy Young Award, but Ford's season was overshadowed by the scintillating home-run battle between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle. Ford set a record in 1961 by pitching 243 innings without allowing a stolen base.
Ford likely would have won the 1963 AL Cy Young, but this was before the institution of a separate award for each league, and Ford could not match Sandy Koufax's numbers for the Los Angeles Dodgers of the National League. He would also have been a candidate in 1955, but this was before the Cy Young Award was created.
Ford's status on the Yankees was underscored by the World Series. Ford was New York's Game One pitcher in 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963, and 1964. In 1960, Stengel altered the strategy by holding Ford back until Game Three, a decision that angered Ford. The Yankees' ace won both his starts in Games Three and Six with complete-game shutouts, but was then unavailable to relieve in the last game of a surprising Yankees loss. Ford always felt that had he been able to appear in three of the games instead of just two, the Yankees would have won. Upper management may have agreed; Stengel was fired following the Series.
For his career, Ford had 10 World Series victories, more than any other pitcher. Ford also leads all starters in World Series losses (8) and starts (22), as well as innings, hits, walks, and strikeouts.
Ford appeared on eight AL All-Star teams between 1954 and 1964. One NL batter who was always happy to see him was Willie Mays, who at one point had seven consecutive hits off Ford.
Ford's 2.75 earned run average is the lowest among starting pitchers whose careers began after the advent of the Live Ball Era in 1920. Ford's worst-ever ERA was 3.24. (Hoyt Wilhelm, primarily a reliever during his career, leads all post-1920 pitchers in ERA at 2.52.) Ford had 45 shutout victories in his career, including eight 1-0 wins. Ford never threw a no-hitter, but had back-to-back one-hitters in 1955.
Ford ended his career in declining health. In August 1966, Ford underwent surgery to correct a circulatory problem in his throwing shoulder. He lasted just one inning in what would be his final start in May 1967, and announced his retirement at the end of the month.
Ford wore number 19 in his rookie season. Following his return from the army in 1953, he wore number 16 for the remainder of his career. He was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1974 with his longtime pal and Yankee teammate Mickey Mantle. At that time, the Yankees retired his number 16. On August 2, 1987, the Yankees dedicated plaques for Monument Park at Yankee Stadium for Ford and another left-handed pitcher who reached the Hall of Fame, Lefty Gomez. Ford's plaque calls him "One of the greatest pitchers ever to step on a mound."
After his career ended, Ford admitted to occasionally cheating by doctoring baseballs in various ways. Of particular note among his methods was the "mudball". The "mudball" could only be used at home in Yankee Stadium; Yankee groundskeepers would wet down an area near the catcher's box where Yankee catcher Elston Howard was positioned. Pretending to lose balance on a pitch while in his crouch and landing on his right hand (with the ball in it), Howard would coat one side of the ball with mud. Ford would sometimes use the diamond in his wedding ring to gouge the ball, but he was eventually caught by an umpire and warned to stop. Howard then sharpened a buckle on his shinguard and used it to scuff the ball.
In 1999, Ford ranked number 52 on The Sporting News list of Baseball's Greatest Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

New York Yankees (1950-1967)
Cy Young Award: 1961
World Series MVP: 1961
All Star: 1954-56, 1958-61, 1964
Led league in ERA: 1956 (2.47) & 1958 (2.01)
Led league in Wins: 1955 (18), 1961 (25), & 1963 (24)
Led league in WHIP: 1958 (1.076)
Led league in Innings: 1961 (283) and 1963 (269 ⅓)
Led league in Games Started: 1961 (39) and 1963 (37)
Led league in Complete Games: 1955 (18)
Led league in Shutouts: 1958 (7) and 1960 (4)
Led league in Batters Faced: 1961 (1,159)
New York Yankees Career Leader in Wins (236), Innings (3,170 ⅓), Strikeouts (1,956), Games Started (438) and Shutouts (45) Trivia
Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items into other sections and removing inappropriate items. (July 2007)
In 1994, a road in Mississauga, Ontario (Canada) was named Ford Road in Ford's honour. This was in the north-central area of Mississauga known informally as "the baseball zone", as several streets in the area are named for hall-of-fame baseball players. [1]
In a 1997 episode of The Simpsons, "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson", an animated Ford was knocked unconscious by a barrage of pretzels at a baseball game after a controversial prize giveaway angered fans. Homer later suggested that Marge call her pretzels "Whitey Whackers."
In 1998 rapper turned rocker, Everlast scored great success with his CD entitled "Whitey Ford Sings the Blues". Since then he is being nicknamed "Whitey Ford"/"White E. Ford" or just "Whitey" as well.
In 2001, Ford was portrayed by Anthony Michael Hall in the HBO movie, 61*, a Billy Crystal film centered around Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle's 1961 quest to break Babe Ruth's single-season home-run record.
In 2003, Ford was inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame. Biographical and genealogical researchers have detrmined beyond doubt that For wasborn in 1926, not 1928 as is usually show. Retrosheet, SABR Encyclopedia, BaseballLibrary.com, and most biographical encycledias support the date change. All documents (such as passports, drivers licenses, 1930 census, etc.) support the 1926 date - as do people search records. His birth certificate is said to show 1926 as well. See ussearch.com or intellius.com or peoples records on his wife to confirm date).

2008年1月1日 星期二

SEGRO REIT (formerly known as Slough Estates) is a property investment and development company. It develops and invests in property located in the UK, Continental Europe and the USA focusing on edge of town flexible business space. Formerly a plc, it switched to Real Estate Investment Trust status when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007. SEGRO is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
SEGRO owns commercial and industrial properties in the UK, France, Germany, Belgium and the USA. Their original investment, Slough Trading Estate (operated by Slough Trading Estate Ltd, a subsidiary of SEGRO) is the largest trading estate in Europe under single ownership. Among sites recently acquired in the UK are ones in Bristol, Cambridge and Southampton. They have also begun one of the biggest developments in their history at the former Royal Aircraft Establishment 'factory' site at Farnborough, Hampshire.
Unlike many other property companies, which have chosen to contract out the management of their assets, SEGRO have always managed their properties directly. Until recent years, SEGRO owned a mixture of retail and industrial sites, but the company website suggests a recent tightening of focus to concentrate on industrial (and particularly distribution) sites .

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