2007年12月29日土曜日

Disputation
In the scholastic system of education of the Middle Ages, disputations (in Latin: disputationes, singular: disputatio) offered a formalized method of debate designed to uncover and establish "truths" in theology and in other sciences. Fixed rules governed the process: they demanded dependence on traditional written authorities and the thorough understanding of each argument on each side.

Medieval disputations
A significant category of disputations took place between Christian and Jewish theologians in order to convince Jews to convert. Often the Christian side was represented by a recent convert from Judaism. Christians believed that only the refusal of the Jews to accept Christ stood in the way of the Second Coming. The only way for the Jewish side to 'win' was to force a draw by drawing the Christian side into a position in which it was necessary to deny the Old Testament to win, committing heresy. According to Michael J. Cook, "Since 'winning' a debate could well jeopardize the security of the Jewish community at large, political considerations certainly entered into what Jewish disputants publicly said or refrained from saying. ... Official transcripts of these proceedings, moreover, may not duplicate what actually transpired; in some places what they record was not the live action, as it were, but Christian polemical revision composed after the fact."
1413 - the Disputation of Tortosa in Spain, staged by the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII. In result, the Pope gave instructions by which all books of the Talmud would be handed over to his functionaries for censorship. Disputation Inter-faith disputations
The word disputation occurs only once in the King James Version of the Bible.

"When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question." (Acts 15:2) Disputation in the Bible
Today some universities practice scientific disputations. The oral defense of a thesis is called "disputation" in some countries.

Contemporary disputations
Polemic

2007年12月28日金曜日


For other uses of this word, see tariff (disambiguation).
A tariff is a tax on foreign goods upon importation. When a ship arrives in port a customs officer inspects the contents and charges a tax according to the tariff formula. Since the goods cannot be landed until the tax is paid it is the easiest tax to collect, and the cost of collection is small. Traders seeking to evade tariffs are known as smugglers.
Tariffs may be of various kinds:
and have various intended purpose:
The distinction between protective and revenue tariffs is subtle: protective tariffs in addition to protecting local producers also raise revenue; revenue tariffs produce revenue but they also offer some protection to local heroes.
Tax, tariff and trade rules in modern times are usually set together because of their common impact on industrial policy, investment policy, and agricultural policy. A trade bloc is a group of allied countries agreeing to minimize or eliminate tariffs against trade with each other, and possibly to impose protective tariffs on imports from outside the bloc. A customs union has a common external tariff, and, according to an agreed formula, the participating countries share the revenues from tariffs on goods entering the customs union.
If a country's major industries lose to foreign competition, the loss of jobs and tax revenue can severely impair parts of that country's economy. Protective tariffs have been used as a measure against this possibility. However, protective tariffs have disadvantages as well. The most notable is that they increase the price of the good subject to the tariff, disadvantaging consumers of that good or manufacturers who use that good to produce something else: for example a tariff on food can increase poverty, while a tariff on steel can make automobile manufacture less competitive. They can also backfire if countries whose trade is disadvantaged by the tariff impose tariffs of their own, resulting in a trade war and, according to free trade theorists, disadvantaging both sides.
There are two main ways of implementing a tariff:
Adherents of supply-side economics sometimes refer to domestic taxes, such as income taxes, as being a "tariff" affecting inter-household trade.

An "ad valorem tariff" is a percentage of the value of the item, say 10 cents on the dollar
A "specific tariff" does not relate to the value of the imported goods but to its weight, volume, surface, etc. The specific duty stipulates how many units of currency are to be levied per unit of quantity (e.g. US$2 per kg).
A "revenue tariff" is a set of rates designed primarily to raise money for the government. A tariff on coffee imports, for example (imposed by countries where coffee cannot be grown) raises a steady flow of revenue.
A "protective tariff" is intended to artificially inflate prices of imports and "protect" domestic industries from foreign competition (see also effective rate of protection). For example, a 50% tax on an imported machine that raises the price from $100 to $150. Without a tariff the local manufacturers could only charge $100 for the same machine; now they can charge $149 and make the sale.
A "prohibitive tariff" is one so high that no one imports any of that item.
An ad valorem tariff is a fixed percentage of the value of the good that is being imported. Sometimes these are problematic as when the international price of a good falls, so does the tariff, and domestic industries become more vulnerable to competition. Conversely when the price of a good rises on the international market so does the tariff, but a country is often less interested in protection when the price is higher. They also face the problem of transfer pricing where a company declares a value for goods being traded which differs from the market price, aimed at reducing overall taxes due.
A specific tariff is a tariff of a specific amount of money that does not vary with the price of the good. These tariffs may be harder to decide the amount at which to set them, and they may need to be updated due to changes in the market or inflation. Economic analysis

Main article: Infant industry argument Infant industry argument
The tariff is also used as a political tool to establish an independent nation. For example, the Tariff Act of 1789, signed specifically on July 4th, was called the "Second Declaration of Independence" by newspapers because it was intended to be the economic means to achieve the political goal of a sovereign and independent United States.
In a free market economic system, the tariff establishes the borders or boundaries of the system, because as defined by free market economics, the absence of tariffs is a requirement of a free market economic system. The establishment of tariffs create a border of protection around the free market economy, and within that free market area, no tariffs can be established.
The four requirements of a free market economic system, as defined by Ludwig Von Mises, are private property, a coersive government, the absence of institutional interferences within the system, and the division of labor.

Political Purpose
Critics of free trade have argued that tariffs are especially important to developing countries as a source of revenue. Developing nations do not have the institutional capacity to effectively levy income and sales taxes. In comparison with other forms of taxation, tariffs are relatively easy to collect. The trend of lifting tariffs and promoting free trade has been argued to have had disproportionately negative effects on the governments of developing nations who have greater difficulty than developed nations in replacing tariffs as a revenue source.[1]
Protective tariff

2007年12月27日木曜日


Jeremy Beadle (born April 12, 1948) is an English television presenter, writer and producer, born in Hackney, London.

Radio and television
Beadle wanted to be the British Robert L. Ripley. A love of trivia led him to write Today's the Day, (published in UK by WH Allen in 1979 and by Signet in the USA two years later), researched in his own library of more than 25,000 volumes. This book recounts -- for any given day of the year -- notable births, deaths and other events which occurred on this date in previous years. Beadle briefly performed a similar duty on television's 'TV A.M.', informing each morning's viewers of prominent events on this date in past years.
For more than two years, he scripted a daily cartoon series of Today's the Day for the Daily Express. He worked alongside Irving Wallace and son David Wallechinsky and daughter Amy Wallace as the biggest contributor to the sex and death chapters of the sensationally successful Book of Lists and was the London editor of The People's Almanac 2. The Wallaces' book The Intimate Sex Lives of the Famous (Hutchinson, 1981) was researched in part in Beadle's library, which contains an extensive canon of erotic literature.

Jeremy Beadle Writing
Famous for his general knowledge, he was host of Win Beadle's Money (based on the US format Win Ben Stein's Money) he lost only 8 times in 52 shows. He wrote and presented a notoriously difficult quiz at London's The Atlantic Grill restaurant, usually attended by celebrities and members of the press. He also currently writes a quiz for The Independent every Saturday. He occasionally appears as a panellist on BBC Radio 4's Quote... Unquote and in dictionary corner for Channel 4's Countdown.

Knowledge (General)
In 2000, he became an MBE for his services to charity.

Charity work
Beadle has Poland syndrome and is noted for being one of the first TV presenters with a visible disability. His disability manifests as a disproportionately small right hand.

TV appearances

Today's the Day - A Chronicle of the Curious
The Book of Outlawed Inventions (with Chris Winn)
Beadle's About (with Robert Randell)
How to Make Your Own Video Blockbuster (with Mark Leigh and Mike Lepine)
Watch Out! (with Alec Lom)
The Gossip's Guide to Madam Tussaud (with Mark Leigh and Mike Lepine)

2007年12月26日水曜日

Traits
At the turn of the 21st century, a fresh cadre of expatriate writers led by such emerging authors as D.A. Blyler (Steffi's Club) and Arthur Phillips (Prague) asserted a new "Lost Generation" among readers, paying homage to their literary peers of 1920s Paris (see External links).

Legacy

The 1988 film The Moderns locates itself in 1926 Paris during the period of the Lost Generation.
the novel It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis is about the Lost Generation and discusses in length the meaning of the term. Lost Generation Notes

Social issues of the 1920s

2007年12月25日火曜日


Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO (August 16, 1888May 19, 1935), known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British soldier renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt of 1916-18, but whose vivid personality and writings, along with the extraordinary breadth and variety of his activities and associations, have made him the object of fascination throughout the world as "Lawrence of Arabia".
Lawrence's public image was due in part to U.S. traveller and journalist Lowell Thomas' sensationalised reportage of the Revolt, as well as to Lawrence's autobiographical account, Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

T.E. Lawrence Early years

Main article: Arab Revolt Arab Revolt
Immediately after the war, Lawrence worked for the Foreign Office, attending the Paris Peace Conference between January and May as a member of Faisal's delegation.
Lowell Thomas's film was seen by four million people in the post-war years, giving Lawrence great publicity.

Post-war years
A few weeks after leaving the service, aged 46, he was fatally injured in a motorcycle accident in Dorset, close to his cottage, Clouds Hill, near Wareham (now run by the National Trust and open to the public). The accident occurred because of a dip in the road that obstructed his view of two boys on their bicycles; he swerved to avoid them, lost control, and was thrown over the handlebars of his motorcycle. He died six days later.
Some sources mistakenly claim that Lawrence was buried in St Paul's Cathedral; in reality, only a bust of him was placed in the crypt. His actual final resting place is the Dorset village of Moreton. Moreton Estate, which borders Bovington Camp, was owned by family cousins, the Frampton family. Lawrence had rented and subsequently purchased Clouds Hill from the Framptons. He had been a frequent visitor to their home, Okers Wood House, and had for many years corresponded with Louisa Frampton.
On Lawrence's death, his mother wrote to the Framptons; due to time constraints, she asked whether there was space for him in their family plot at Moreton Church. At his subsequent funeral there, attendees included Winston and Clementine Churchill and Lawrence's youngest brother, Arnold (who demonstrated the Lawrencian dry humour in speaking with reporters), and T.E. Lawrence's coffin was transported on the Frampton estate bier.

Death
Throughout his life, Lawrence was a prolific writer. A large proportion of his output was epistolary; he often sent several letters a day. Several collections of his letters have been published. He corresponded with many notable figures, including George Bernard Shaw, Edward Elgar, Winston Churchill, Robert Graves and E.M. Forster. He met Joseph Conrad and commented perceptively on his works. The many letters that he sent to Shaw's wife, Charlotte, offer a revealing side of his character.
In his lifetime, Lawrence published four major texts. Two were translations: Homer's Odyssey, and The Forest Giant – the latter an otherwise forgotten work of French fiction. He received a flat fee for the second translation, and negotiated a generous fee plus royalties for the first.

Writings
Lawrence's major work is Seven Pillars of Wisdom, an account of his war experiences. In 1919 he had been elected to a seven-year research fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, providing him with support while he worked on the book. In addition to being a memoir of his experiences during the war, certain parts also serve as essays on military strategy, Arabian culture and geography, and other topics. Lawrence re-wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom three times; once "blind" after he lost the manuscript while changing trains in Reading.
The accusation that Lawrence repeatedly exaggerated his feats has been a persistent theme among commentators. This left Lawrence in substantial debt.

Seven Pillars
Revolt in the Desert was an abridged version of Seven Pillars, also published in 1926. He undertook a needed but reluctant publicity exercise, which resulted in a best seller. Again, he vowed not to take any fees from the publication, partly to appease the subscribers to Seven Pillars who had paid dearly for their editions. By the fourth reprint in 1927, the debt from Seven Pillars was paid off. As Lawrence left for military service in India at the end of 1926, he set up the "Seven Pillars Trust" with his friend DG Hogarth as a trustee, in which he made over the copyright and any surplus income of Revolt in the Desert. He later told Hogarth that he had "made the Trust final, to save myself the temptation of reviewing it, if Revolt turned out a best seller."
The resultant trust paid off the debt, and Lawrence then invoked a clause in his publishing contract to halt publication of the abridgement in the UK. However, he allowed both American editions and translations which resulted in a substantial flow of income. The trust paid income either into an educational fund for children of RAF officers who lost their lives or were invalided as a result of service, or more substantially into the RAF Benevolent Fund set up by Air-Marshal Trenchard, founder of the RAF, in 1919.

Revolt
He also authored The Mint, a memoir of his experiences as an enlisted man in the Royal Air Force. Lawrence worked from a notebook that he kept while enlisted, writing of the daily lives of enlisted men and his desire to be a part of something larger than himself: the Royal Air Force. The book is stylistically very different from Seven Pillars of Wisdom. It was published posthumously, edited by his brother, Prof. A.W. Lawrence.
After Lawrence's death, his brother inherited all Lawrence's estate and his copyrights as the sole beneficiary. To pay the inheritance tax, he sold the U.S. copyright of Seven Pillars of Wisdom (subscribers' text) outright to Doubleday Doran in 1935. Doubleday still controls publication rights of this version of the text of Seven Pillars of Wisdom in the USA. He then in 1936 split the remaining assets of the estate, giving "Clouds Hill" and many copies of less substantial or historical letters to the nation via the National Trust, and then set up two trusts to control interests in Lawrence's residual copyrights. To the original Seven Pillars Trust he assigned the copyright in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, as a result of which it was given its first general publication. To the Letters and Symposium Trust, he assigned the copyright in The Mint and all Lawrence's letters, which were subsequently edited and published in the book T. E. Lawrence by his Friends (edited by A.W. Lawrence, London, Jonathan Cape, 1937).
A substantial amount of income went directly to the RAF Benevolent Fund or for archaeological, environmental, or academic projects. The two trusts were amalgamated in 1986, and, on the death of Prof. A.W. Lawrence, also acquired all the remaining rights to Lawrence's works that it had not owned, plus rights to all of Prof. Lawrence's works.

Posthumous
As was common for his class and generation, Lawrence did not discuss his sexual orientation or sexual practices, and his actual orientation and experiences are debated. Writers working to elucidate the history of same-sex erotic relationships identify a strong homoerotic element in Lawrence's life, while scholars, including his official biographer, have been accused of "attempt[ing] to defend Lawrence against 'charges' of homosexuality." In the book T.E. Lawrence by His Friends, many of Lawrence's friends are adamant that he was not homosexual but simply had little interest in the topic of sex. Not one of them suspected him of homosexual inclinations. Like many men of the time, T.E. Lawrence had little pressure to pursue women, and most of his time was devoted to other activities. E.H.R. Altounyan, a close friend of Lawrence, wrote the following in T.E. Lawrence by His Friends:
"Women were to him persons, and as such to be appraised on their own merits. Preoccupation with sex is (except in the defective) due either to a sense of personal insufficiency and its resultant groping for fulfilment, or to a real sympathy with its biological purpose. Neither could hold much weight with him. He was justifiably self sufficient, and up to the time of his death no woman had convinced him of the necessity to secure his own succession. He was never married because he never happened to meet the right person; and nothing short of that would do: a bald statement of fact which cannot hope to convince the perverse intricacy of the public mind."

Sexuality
A map of the Middle East that belonged to Lawrence has been put on exhibit at the Imperial War Museum in London. It was drafted by him and presented to Britain's War Cabinet in November 1918.
The map provides an alternative to present-day borders in the region, based on the sensibilities of the local populations. It includes a separate state for the Armenians and groups the people of present-day Syria, Jordan and parts of Saudi Arabia in another state, based on tribal patterns and commercial routes.

Vision of Middle East
This article contains a trivia section.T.E. Lawrence The article could be improved by integrating relevant items into the main text and removing inappropriate items.

Trivia

According to Lawrence's RAF enlistment medical file of March 12, 1923, he was 5 ft 5.5 in (1.66 m) tall, weighed 130 lb (59 kg), had "scars on his buttocks", "three superficial scars on lower part of his back" and "four superficial scars left side." He was also circumcised.
One of his favourite weapons was a Colt Peacemaker revolver. As recounted in Thomas's With Lawrence In Arabia, Lawrence, while on a pre-war archaeological trip to Mesopotamia, was attacked by an Arab bandit intent on stealing his gun. However, the Arab did not understand the revolver's firing mechanism, and was forced to leave Lawrence unconscious but alive. After this incident, Lawrence's weapon of choice was the Peacemaker, and he almost always carried one for good luck. Lawrence was also known to carry a Broomhandle Mauser, and later, a Colt M1911 semi-automatic.
His SMLE Mk III rifle, given to him by Emir Feisal, is on display in the Imperial War Museum, London. Military

Portrayed twice on film, by Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia and in a made-for-TV movie, A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1990), by Ralph Fiennes, both of whom are much taller than the real Lawrence: O'Toole stands 6'3" (1.90 metres) while Fiennes stands 6'1" (1.85 m). Alec Guinness was considered for the title role in the first film, but was passed over as too old, despite the latter having been of an age with Lawrence. He did, however, play Emir Faisal in that film.
He was portrayed a third time on film in the 1992 TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, by actors Joseph Bennett and Douglas Henshall. Film

Lawrence was also the subject of Terrence Rattigan's controversial play Ross, which explored Lawrence's alleged homosexuality. Ross ran in 1960-61, starring Alec Guinness, an admirer of Lawrence's. The play had originally been written as a screenplay, but the planned film was never made.
Alan Bennett's Forty Years On (1968) includes a satire on Lawrence; known as "Tee Hee Lawrence" because of his high-pitched, girlish giggle. "Clad in the magnificent white silk robes of an Arab prince ... he hoped to pass unnoticed through London. Alas he was mistaken." The section concludes with the headmaster confusing him with D.H. Lawrence.
The character of Private Napoleon Meek in George Bernard Shaw's 1931 play Too True to Be Good was inspired by Lawrence. Meek is depicted as thoroughly conversant with the language and lifestyle of tribals. He repeatedly enlists with the army, quitting whenever offered a promotion.
T.E. Lawrence's first year back at Oxford after the Great War to write his Seven Pillars of Wisdom was portrayed by Tom Rooney in a play, The Oxford Roof Climbers Rebellion, written by Canadian playwright Stephen Massicotte (premiered Toronto 2006). The play explores Lawrence's political, physical and psychological reactions to war, and his friendship with poet Robert Graves.
Lawrence's final years are portayed in a one-man show by Raymond Sargent, "The Warrior and the Poet." Travel

Oxford legend holds that, while an undergraduate at Jesus College, Lawrence crept into the deer park of Magdalen at night and stole a deer; by the morning, he had managed to transfer the deer to the front quad of All Souls, the college which is normally off limits for undergraduates.
At the time Lawrence was going under the name Shaw, and signing himself, for example in the guest book at Philip Sassoon's Port Lympne estate, as "338171 A/C Shaw". Noel Coward in a letter to him asked "May I call you 338?" Other

Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan
Kingdom of Iraq
Assassinations in fiction Bibliography
General references:

Desmond Stewart, T. E. Lawrence, New York, Harper & Row Publishers, 1977
Flora Armitage, The Desert and the Stars: a Biography of Lawrence of Arabia, illustrated with photographs, New York, Henry Holt, 1955.
Victoria K. Carchidi, Creation Out of the Void: the Making of a Hero, an Epic, a world: T.E. Lawrence, 1987 diss., U. Pennsylvania (Ann Arbor, MI University Microfilms International).
Robert Graves, Lawrence and the Arabian Adventure, New York, Doubleday, Doran, 1928.
George Amin Hoffman, T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and the M1911.
John E. Mack, A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T. E. Lawrence, Boston, Little, Brown, 1976, ISBN 0-316-54232-6.
Victoria Ocampo, 338171 T.E. (Lawrence of Arabia), 1963.
Charles M. Stang, editor, The Waking Dream of T. E. Lawrence: Essays on His Life, Literature, and Legacy, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002
Desmond Stewart, Lawrence von Arabien: Magier und Abenteurer (Lawrence of Arabia: Magician and Adventurer), Munich, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, 1991 (ISBN 3-453-55093-5).
Jeremy Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorised Biography of T.E. Lawrence, 1989, ISBN 0-689-11934-8.

2007年12月24日月曜日

Zach BraffZach Braff
Zachary Israel Braff (born April 6, 1975) is an American television and film actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. During the 2000s, he became known for his role as J.D. on the NBC sitcom Scrubs, as well as starring in several films. Braff also wrote and directed 2004's Garden State. The soundtrack record, which he selected and produced, earned him a Grammy for Best Soundtrack Album in 2005.

Biography
Braff was born in South Orange, New Jersey, to a Jewish family. His parents, Hal Braff, a trial attorney and professor, and Anne Brodzinsky, a clinical psychologist, divorced and re-married others during Braff's childhood.
He graduated from Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, where he worked in the school's television station. Braff graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in film where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity.

Personal life

2007年12月23日日曜日

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary or ARI is a teaching hospital on the Foresterhill site in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is run by NHS Grampian and has in excess of 1000 beds. ARI is a tertiary referral hospital serving a population of over 600,000 across the North of Scotland. It offers all medical specialities with the exception of heart and liver transplants.
There are close links with the University of Aberdeen's medical school and there has been pioneering research in many fields, including the development of MRI and PET scanning.

2007年12月22日土曜日

Jonathan Melvoin
Jonathan Melvoin (December 6, 1961 - July 12, 1996) was the touring keyboardist for The Smashing Pumpkins during their worldwide tour for the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. He was the brother of Susannah and Wendy Melvoin of Prince and the Revolution. He first learned to play drums,

2007年12月21日金曜日

Agusta
See also: Augusta
Agusta (now part of AgustaWestland) is an Italian helicopter manufacturer. It is based in the Varese province of Italy, with its main manufacturing plant being at Cascina Costa. It is a subsbidiary of Finmeccanica.
The company was founded by Giovanni Agusta, who flew his first airplane in 1907.
Starting in 1923, the company first designed, produced and maintained fixed wing aircraft at its plant in Cascina Costa.
From 1952 the company got involved in helicopter manufacturing, first licence-building Bell helicopters, but later Sikorsky, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas products as well.
The company also had ambitions to design and build its own helicopters. The Agusta A101G and the Agusta A106 can be considered the best of its earlier attempts. Others included the AB102, A.103, A.104, and A.115. It also produced a small line of aero engines such as the GA.70 and GA.140.
The Agusta A109 has undoubtedly been the company's biggest success. The A109 is a commercial and military twin turbine helicopter, of which the latest variants are still in production, hundreds having already been sold.
In 1983 the Agusta A129 Mangusta anti-tank helicopter partook in its first official flight engagement. It was the first attack helicopter to be designed and produced entirely within Europe. However, this helicopter has not been a commercial success, its superior type being only in service with the Italian Army.
The 1980s saw the start of several collaborative projects for Agusta:
In the 1990s several new products based on the A109 were introduced:
Agusta became involved in a notorious Belgian bribery scandal when it was revealed that the company had paid the two Belgian socialist parties who were then (1988/1989)in the government to assist the company in getting the contract for attack helicopters for the Belgian army.
In 1998 Agusta formed a joint venture with Bell Helicopter Textron called the Bell/Agusta Aerospace Company. Its aim was to develop the Bell/Agusta AB139 helicopter and the Bell/Agusta BA609 tiltrotor aircraft. Bell later withdrew from the AB139 project, which is now known as the AgustaWestland AW139.
In July 2000 Finmeccanica and GKN plc agreed to merge their respective helicopter subsidiaries (Agusta and GKN-Westland Helicopters), forming AgustaWestland.

In 1981 Agusta and Westland of Britain started the AgustaWestland EH101 medium-lift naval helicopter project in order to satisfy the requirements of the Royal Navy and the Italian Navy.
In 1985 the company started a collaborative programme with the aeronautic industries of France, Germany and the Netherlands in order to develop and produce the NHI NH90, a 9-ton twin engine multi-role medium helicopter in order to satisfy the requirements of their respective countries' armed forces.
In 1994, the Agusta A109 Power
In 1995, the Agusta A129 International
In 1997, the Agusta A119 Koala
An addition to the Agusta A109 Power is the A109 Power Elite. An improved version of the traditional A109 Power giving more comfort to its passengers and crew.

2007年12月20日木曜日

Jason Bonham
Jason Bonham (born July 15, 1966) is an English drummer and son of legendary Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham.
Bonham was born in the town of Dudley, Worcestershire. He first began playing drums at the age of 4, and appeared with his father in the film The Song Remains the Same, drumming on a scaled-down kit.

2007年12月19日水曜日

Organization
Until the 1960s, most prisons in the United States were racially segregated. As prisons began to desegregate, inmates organized along racial lines. The first of a series of trials involving four high level members ended in convictions in July of 2006. Two of the four went through a death penalty hearing and the jury deadlocked. Before sentencing federal prosecutors filed a request that once the sentencing was over, the four would live out their sentences in solitary confinement, banned from communicating with anyone except their attorneys. The judge refused to rule on the request, telling prosecutors to file it with the US Attorney General and they immediately withdrew. One was sentenced to four life terms, two were sentenced to three life terms, all without the possibility of parole, and one has yet to be sentenced. Some members are still awaiting trial.

Aryan BrotherhoodAryan Brotherhood Relations with other gangs

Raines (2007)
Miami Vice (2006)
Prison Break (2005-present)
Hard Time (2004-06)
The Suffering (2004)
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
Lockdown (2000)
American History X (1998)
Oz (1997-2003)
Dead Man Walking (1995)
Higher Learning (1995)
Blood in Blood out (1993)
American Me (1992)
South Central (1992)
An Innocent Man (1989)

2007年12月18日火曜日


Radio broadcasting is an audio (sound) broadcasting service, traditionally broadcast through the air as radio waves (a form of electromagnetic radiation) from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast common programming, either in syndication or simulcast or both. Audio broadcasting also can be done via cable FM, local wire networks, satellite and the Internet.

History
Radio stations are of several types. The best known are the AM and FM stations; these include both commercial, public and nonprofit varieties as well as student-run campus radio stations and hospital radio stations can be found throughout the developed world.
Although now being eclipsed by internet-distributed radio, there are many stations that broadcast on shortwave bands using AM technology that can be received over thousands of miles (especially at night). For example, the BBC has a full schedule transmitted via shortwave. These broadcasts are very sensitive to atmospheric conditions and sunspots.

Radio station Types
AM stations were the earliest broadcasting stations to be developed. AM refers to amplitude modulation, a mode of broadcasting radio waves by varying the amplitude of the carrier signal in response to the amplitude of the signal to be transmitted.
One of the advantages of AM is that its unsophisticated signal can be detected (turned into sound) with simple equipment. If a signal is strong enough, not even a power source is needed; building an unpowered crystal radio receiver was a common childhood project in the early years of radio.
AM broadcasts occur on North American airwaves in the mediumwave frequency range of 530 to 1700 kHz (known as the "standard broadcast band"). The band was expanded in the 1990s by adding nine channels from 1620 to 1700 kHz. Channels are spaced every 10 kHz in the Americas, and generally every 9 kHz everywhere else.
Many countries outside of the U.S. use a similar frequency band for AM transmissions. Europe also uses the longwave band. In response to the growing popularity of FM radio stations in the late 1980s and early 1990s, some North American stations began broadcasting in AM stereo, though this never really gained acceptance.
AM radio has some serious shortcomings.
AM signals exhibit diurnal variation, travelling much longer distances at night. In a crowded channel environment this means that the power of regional channels which share a frequency must be reduced at night or directionally beamed in order to avoid interference, which reduces the potential nighttime audience. Some stations have frequencies unshared with other stations in the U.S.; these are called clear channel stations. Many of them can be heard across much of the country at night. (This is not to be confused with Clear Channel Communications, which currently owns many U.S. radio stations.)

The signal is subject to interference from electrical storms (lightning) and other EMI.
Fading of the signal can be severe at night.
AM radio transmitters can transmit audio frequencies up to 20 kHz (now limited to 10 kHz in the US due to FCC rules designed to reduce interference), but most receivers are only capable of reproducing frequencies up to 5 kHz or less. At the time that AM broadcasting began in the 1920s, this provided adequate fidelity for existing microphones, 78 rpm recordings, and loudspeakers. The fidelity of sound equipment subsequently improved considerably but the receivers did not. Reducing the bandwidth of the receivers reduces the cost of manufacturing and makes them less prone to interference. In the United States, AM stations are never assigned adjacent channels in the same service area. This prevents the sideband energy generated by two stations from interfering with each other. Bob Carver created an AM stereo tuner employing notch filtering that demonstrated an AM broadcast can meet or exceed the 15 kHz bandwidth of FM stations without objectionable interference. After a few years the tuner was discontinued; Bob Carver had left the company and Carver Corporation later cut the number of models produced before discontinuing production completely. AM stereo broadcasts declined with the advent of HD Radio. FM
Digital radio broadcasting has emerged, first in Europe (the UK in 1995 and Germany in 1999), and later in the United States. The European system is named DAB, for Digital Audio Broadcasting, and uses the public domain EUREKA 147 system. In the United States, the IBOC system is named HD Radio and owned by a consortium of private companies called iBiquity. An international non-profit consortium Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), has introduced the public domain DRM system.
It is expected that for the next 10 to 20 years, all these systems will co-exist, while by 2015 to 2020 digital radio may predominate, at least in the developed countries.

Digital
Satellite radiobroadcasters are slowly emerging, but the enormous entry costs of space-based satellite transmitters, and restrictions on available radio spectrum licenses has restricted growth of this market. In the USA and Canada, just two services, XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio exist.

Satellite
Many other non-broadcast types of radio stations exist. These include:

base stations for police, fire and ambulance networks
military base stations
dispatch base stations for taxis, trucks, and couriers
emergency broadcast systems
amateur radio stations Other

Main article: Radio format See also

2007年12月17日月曜日

Ted Morgan








For the New Zealand boxer, see Ted Morgan (boxer)
Ted Morgan is a French-American writer, biographer, journalist, and historian. He was born Comte St. Charles Armand Gabriel de Gramont on March 30, 1932, in Geneva. He was the son of Gabriel Antoine Armand, Comte de Gramont (1908-1943), a hero of the French Resistance who became a French diplomat. Gramont is an old French noble family, whose name is connected to the city Gramont, Agramont in Spanish, in the south French province of Labourd.
After his father's death in a training flight, Morgan began to lead two parallel lives. He attended Yale University and worked as a reporter. But he was still a member (albeit a reluctant one) of the French nobility. He served in the French Army as a second lieutenant and propaganda officer in the Algerian War of Independence.
Morgan returned to the United States and won the Pulitzer Prize for journalism in 1961 for what was described as "his moving account of the death of Leonard Warren on the Metropolitan Opera stage." At the time, Morgan was still a French citizen writing under the name of Sanche De Gramont.
In the 1970's, Morgan stopped using the byline Sanche de Gramont. He became an American citizen in 1977, renouncing his titles of nobility. Ted Morgan is an anagram of "De Gramont". The new name was a conscious attempt to discard his aristocratic French past. He had had settled on a "name that conformed with the language and cultural norms of American society, a name that telephone operators and desk clerks could hear without flinching" (On Becoming American, 1978). Morgan was featured in the CBS news program 60 Minutes in 1978. The segment explored Morgan's reasons for embracing American culture and showed him eating dinner with his family in a fast food restaurant.
Ted Morgan has written much admired biographies of Winston Churchill, William S. Burroughs, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was named a 1982 National Book Award Finalist for his biography Maugham. He has also written for newspapers and magazines.

2007年12月16日日曜日

Manchester Gorton (UK Parliament constituency)
Manchester Gorton is a parliamentary constituency in the city of Manchester, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

Manchester Gorton (UK Parliament constituency) Members of Parliament

2007年12月15日土曜日

List of library associations

International

Health Information and Libraries in Africa Website
Library and Information Society of South Africa Website
Namibian Information Workers Association Website
Tanzania Library Association Website
Uganda Library Association Website Africa

Pakistan Library Association Website
Pakistan Library Automation Group Website
Bangladesh Association of Librarians, Information Scientists and Documentalists website
East-Kazakhstan Librarians' Association Website
Hong Kong Library Association Website
Indian Association of Special Libraries and Information Centres Website
Israeli Association of Librarians and Information Professionals Website
Japan Association of Private University Libraries Website
Japan Library Association Website
Japan Medical Library Association Website
Japan School Library Association Website
Japan Special Libraries Association Website
Korean Library Association Website
Librarians Association of Malaysia Website
Library Association of Bangladesh Website
Library Association of Singapore Website
Library Association of the Republic of China Website
Macau Library and Information Management Association Website
Sri Lanka Library Association Website
Thai Library Association Website
Uzbekistan Library Association Website
Website by naveed satti
Turkish Librarians Association - Turkey Website
University and Research Librarians Association - Turkey Website Europe
List of Library Associations specific to American states List of Library Associations specific to Canadian territories

American Association of Law Libraries
American Indian Library Association Website
American Library Association (ALA)
American Theological Library Association (ATLA)
Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Website
Association of Architecture School Librarians Website
Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Libraries Website
Association of Jewish Libraries Website
Canadian Association for School Libraries Website
Canadian Association of Law Libraries Website
Canadian Association of Special Libraries and Information Services Website
Canadian Library Association Website
Catholic Library Association Website
Chinese American Librarians Association Website
Church and Synagogue Library Association Website
Evangelical Church Library Association Website
Libraries Society of North America Art Website
Library and Information Association of Jamaica Website
Library and Information Technology Association Website
Library Association of Trinidad and Tobago Website
Lubbock Area Library Association Website
Massachusetts Library Association Website
Medical Library Association Website
Michigan Library Association Website
Mountain Plains Library Association Website
Music Library Association Website
New England Library Association Website
New York Library Association Website
North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG)Website
Pacific Northwest Library Association Website
Patent and Trademark Depository Library Association Website
Public Library Association Website
Southeastern Library Association Website
Theatre Library Association Website
Urban Libraries Council Website
USA Toy Library Association Website Oceania

Argentinian Library Association Website
Brazilian Federation of Librarians Associations, Information Scientists and Institutions Website
Librarian Association of El Salvador Website
Mexican Library Association Website

2007年12月14日金曜日

Dust
Dust is a general name for minute solid particles with diameters less than 500 micrometers. On Earth, dust occurs in the atmosphere from various sources; soil dust lifted up by wind, volcanic eruptions, and pollution are some examples. Airborne dust is considered an aerosol and can have a strong local radiative forcing on the atmosphere and significant effects on climate. In addition, if enough of the minute particles are dispersed within the air in a given area (such as flour or coal dust), under certain circumstances this can be an explosion hazard.
Coal dust is responsible for the lung disease known as Pneumoconiosis, including black lung disease, which occurs among coal miners. This danger has resulted in a number of laws regulating environmental standards for working conditions.

Domestic Dust
Cosmic dust is widely present in space, where gas and dust clouds are primary precursors for planetary systems. The zodiacal light, seen in the sky on a dark night, is produced by sunlight reflected from particles of dust in orbit around the Sun. The tails of comets are produced by emissions of dust and ionized gas from the body of the comet. Dust also covers solid planetary bodies, and vast dust storms can occur on Mars that can cover almost the entire planet. Interstellar dust is found between the stars, and high concentrations can produce diffuse nebulae and reflection nebulae.
Dust samples returned from outer space could provide information about conditions in the early solar system. Several spacecraft have been launched in an attempt to gather samples of dust and other materials. Among these was Stardust, which flew past Comet Wild 2 in 2004 and returned a capsule of the comet's remains to Earth in January 2006. The Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft is currently on a mission to collect samples of dust from the surface of an asteroid. Giant Razengan