2008年4月30日水曜日

Havdalah
Havdalah (הבדלה) is a Jewish religious ceremony that marks the symbolic end of Shabbat and holidays, and ushers in beginning of the new week. In Judaism, Shabbat ends -- and the new week begins -- at nightfall. Havdalah may be recited as soon as three stars are visible in the night sky. Some communities delay the Havdalah until later, in order to prolong Shabbat. If for some reason one cannot make Havdalah on Saturday night, it may be observed as late as Tuesday evening.
Havdalah is normally recited over kosher wine or kosher grape juice, although other beverages (except for water) may be used if wine or grape juice are not available. On completion of the Shabbat, a special braided Havdalah candle with more than one wick is lit, and a prayer is recited. Spices, often stored in a decorative spice container, are handed around so that everyone can smell the fragrance. In the Sephardi community, branches of aromatic plants are used for this purpose. After Yom Kippur, a candle is used but not spices.
At the conclusion of Havdalah, the leftover wine is poured into a small dish and the candle is extinguished in it, as a sign that the candle was lit solely for the mitzvah of havdalah. Based on Psalms 19:9, "the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes," some Jews dip a finger into the leftover wine and touch their eyes or pockets with it. Because it was used for a mitzvah, the wine is considered a "segulah," or good omen. (reference - http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?AID=16240)
When a major holiday follows Shabbat, the Havdalah service is recited as part of the holiday kiddush. Two holiday candles are held together for Havdalah and are not extinguished, because putting out a flame is prohibited on holidays, in the same way that it is on Shabbat.
Some Hassidic Jews, particularly (though not exclusively) women, recite the Yiddish prayer God of Abraham before Havdalah. After the Havdalah candle, it is customary to sing "Eliyahu Hanavi" and bless one another with the words "Shavu'a tov" (Hebrew) or "Gutte Voch" (Yiddish) (Have a good week). In some households, the participants break into a dance.

2008年4月28日月曜日

Differential diagnosis
In medicine, differential diagnosis (sometimes abbreviated DDx or ΔΔ) is the systematic method physicians use to identify the disease causing a patient's symptoms.
Before a medical condition can be treated, it must be identified. In the process of listening to a patient's complaints, examining the patient, and taking the patient's personal, family and social history, the physician makes a mental list of the most likely causes, or differential diagnoses. The doctor asks additional questions and performs tests to eliminate possibilities until he or she is satisfied that the single most likely cause has been identified.

In popular culture
The term and methodology have been recently popularized by the television series House, MD, where Dr. Gregory House, a certified diagnostician, uses differential diagnosis to solve medical mysteries.

2008年4月27日日曜日

General Synod Church of England
In the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, the equivalent is General Convention.

Other Churches
In the North American Lutheran tradition, General Synod refers to a church body (denomination) which existed from 1820-1918. See General Synod (Lutheran).

2008年4月26日土曜日

Media in San Francisco, California
The first newspaper published by Americans in California was the Californian, printed in Monterey in 1846 announcing the Mexican American War, written half in English and half Spanish. The press was moved to San Francisco and printing started up again on May 22, 1847 in competition with the weekly California Star, beginning that January. The first newspaper published solely in English in San Francisco was The Star published by Mormon pioneer Sam Brannan before San Francisco was renamed from Yerba Buena in 1847. Both efforts suspended publication in the face of the California Gold Rush. By August, the Californian had resumed publication, but by November 1848, both papers were bought and merged, then renamed the Alta California.
The press that once printed the Californian was moved to the Sacramento area to be used on the Placer Times. The press was again moved and began publishing the Motherlode's first paper, the Sonora Herald, then taken to Columbia to print the Columbia Star. Within a few years of the discovery of gold, mother lode towns all had multiple competing journals. Before 1860, California had 57 newspapers and periodicals serving an average readership of 290,000.
James King of William began publishing the Daily Evening Bulletin in San Francisco in October, 1855 and built it into the highest circulation paper in the city. He criticized a city supervisor named James P. Casey, who, on the afternoon of the story about him, ran in the paper, shot and mortally wounded King. Casey was lynched by the early vigilante committee. The Morning Call was established and began publishing in December 1856, and later merged with the Bulletin to become the long-running Call-Bulletin. The San Francisco Chronicle debuted in June, 1865 as the Dramatic Chronicle, founded by Charles and M.H. de Young aged 19 and 17. Colonel (later General) Harrison Gray Otis took over management of two Los Angeles papers and established the Los Angeles Times.
In 1887, young William Randolph Hearst took over his father's Daily Examiner, which became the flagship of his national chain.
Fremont Older became editor of the San Francisco Bulletin in 1895 and took up the struggle against the powerful Southern Pacific Railroad and along with fellow Californian Lincoln Steffens, became a well-known muckraker and the first objective observer to accuse District Attorney Charles Fickert of the framing of labor radical Thomas Mooney.
The oldest African-American newspaper, still active in the 1930s, was the California Eagle. It appeared first in Los Angeles in 1879. The first French journals, the Californien and the Gazette Republicane both began in 1850, and were followed by the Courrier du Pacifique in 1852. Both the first German and first Italian papers, the California Demokrat (1852) and the Voce del Popolo (1859) were founded in San Francisco and had long runs. Chinese in California have published many newspapers, the first being the Gold Hills News in 1854.
Famous journalists, writers, cartoonists and publishers have passed through San Francisco's media world, including Ambrose Bierce, James King of William, Henry George, William Randolph Hearst, Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard, Prentice Mulford, Joaquin Miller, Will Irwin, Wallace Irwin, Gelett Burgess, Gertrude Atherton, Jack London, Fremont Older, Rube Goldberg, Herbert Asbury, Winifred Bonfils, John Bruce, William Martin Camp, Art Hoppe, John Wasserman, Harry Jupiter, Charles McCabe, Harold Gilliam, Phil Elwood, Randy Shilts, Herb Caen, Warren Hinkle, Bruce Brugmann
By the early decades of the 20th century, San Francisco supported four major dailies and numerous influential weeklies. The dailies were the San Francisco Call (later Call-Bulletin), the San Francisco Examiner, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Scripps-Howard, the Daily News. The weeklies included the Wasp, the ARGONAUT, the Labor Clarion, the Coast Seamen's Journal, Emanu-el, Liberator and the News Letter.
The San Francisco Daily Journal, the Bay Area branch of the nation's oldest and largest legal daily, covers daily legal news. There are numerous community-specific papers that serve niche markets and individual neighborhoods

2008年4月25日金曜日

Lookout Mountain, Georgia
Lookout Mountain is a city in Walker County, Georgia, United States. The population was 1,617 at the 2000 census. The city is located on Lookout Mountain, home to such attractions as Rock City and Ruby Falls. The city is also home to Covenant College.

Geography
Lookout Mountain is located at 34°58′31″N, 85°21′17″W (34.975307, -85.354826).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.7 square miles (6.9 km²), all of it land.

2008年4月24日木曜日

James Dixon
James Dixon (August 5, 1814March 27, 1873) was a United States Representative and Senator from Connecticut. Born in Enfield, Connecticut, he pursued preparatory studies, and graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1834. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1834 and commenced practice in Enfield. He was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1837-1838 and 1844, and served as speaker in 1837; he moved to Hartford, Connecticut in 1839 and continued the practice of law. He was elected as a Whig to the House, serving during the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses (March 4, 1845-March 3, 1849), and was a member of the State house of representatives in 1854. He declined the nomination for Governor of Connecticut in 1854, and was an unsuccessful candidate for United States Senator in 1854.
Dixon was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 1856, and reelected in 1863, serving from March 4, 1857, to March 3, 1869. While in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses (Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses) and a member of the Committees on District of Columbia (Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses) and Post Office and Post Roads (Thirty-ninth Congress). He was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives in 1868. He was appointed Minister to Russia in 1869 but declined; he engaged in literary pursuits and extensive traveling until his death in Hartford on March 27, 1873. Interment was in Cedar Hill Cemetery.

2008年4月23日水曜日


A MOO , an acronym for (MUD object oriented), is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users (players) are connected at the same time,
The term MOO is used in two distinct, but related, senses. One is to refer to those programs descended from the original MOO server, and the other is to refer to any MUD that uses object oriented techniques to organize its database of objects, particularly if it does so in a similar fashion to the original MOO or its derivatives. Most of this article refers to the original MOO and its direct descendants, but see Non-Descendant MOOs for a list of MOO-like systems.
The original MOO server was authored by Stephen White, based on his experience from creating the programmable TinyMUCK system. There was additional later development and maintenance from LambdaMOO administrator, and former Xerox PARC employee, Pavel Curtis.
One of the most distinguishing features of a MOO is that its users can perform object oriented programming within the server, ultimately expanding and changing how the server behaves to everyone. Examples of such changes include authoring new rooms and objects, creating new generic objects for others to use, and changing the way the MOO interface operates. The programming language used for extension is the MOO programming language, and many MOOs feature convenient libraries of verbs that can be used by programmers in their coding known as Utilities. The MOO programming language is a domain-specific programming language.

Background
MOO, along with all of its nephews, started out with text based adventure games. With the advent of the internet, MUD was formed as a networked version of one of those games. Eventually it developed into a tree of different types of MUD, with MOO becoming one of them.
Stephen White (also known by the handles "Ghondahrl" and "ghond") wrote the first version of the MOO server, which was released on May 2, 1990, and used for the operation of a server called "AlphaMOO". Pavel Curtis, an employee of Xerox PARC and also known by his handles "Lambda", and "Haakon", took the basic design, language, and code, fixed bugs and added features to release the first version, called "LambdaMOO" on October 30th, 1990.
According to Jill Serpentelli in her paper Conversational Structure and Personality Correlates of Electronic Communication:
Curtis went on to explain how the transition occurred from AlphaMOO to LambdaMOO. After fixing bugs in the system, rewriting some of the code, adding more programming capability, and writing documentation, he had created what he termed "a truly separate entity" from the original AlphaMOO. He dubbed this new system LambdaMOO, after one of his names on the system and, according to Curtis, "because it's a key word in some of the other non-mud research that I do." The new system was announced as open for public access on UseNet (a world-wide bulletin board system) in February of 1991 (Curtis, personal communication).
MOO was originally developed as a MUD server in the same general style (sharing much of the command syntax and community conventions) as TinyMUD.
There are currently two distributions of the MOO server code. The more popular of the two, the LambdaMOO server, is named such as indication of the close historical and continuing association of the MOO server code with the first public MOO, LambdaMOO, which is still popular today.
It is this LambdaMOO version of MOO that gained popularity in the early 90s, and it remains the most widely-used distribution of MOO. Pavel Curtis continued to maintain the server for several years. Other early contributors to the LambdaMOO server included users Tim Allen ("Gemba"), "Gary_Severn", Roger Crew ("Rog"), Judy Anderson ("yduJ"), and Erik Ostrom (known as "Joe Feedback"). Later, Erik Ostrom maintained the server, and the server is now maintained by Ben Jackson and Jay Carlson and has a LambdaMOO SourceForge.net project.
Sometime around early 2005, the GammaMOO server forked from LambdaMOO with the goal of being a testing ground for new features not yet qualified for inclusion in the main MOO distribution (which has very strict standards for any changes). It can be seen as a the equivalent of a "development branch" that most other projects have.

MOO History
Some servers use MOO style object oriented characteristics without being descended from the original MOO server, in the sense that they use little or none of that server's source code and use internal languages that are more or less incompatible with the MOO programming language. None of them have attained the popularity of LambdaMOO or its relatives.
Stephen White went on to write a new and similar system called CoolMUD, although it never obtained the same wide userbase as MOO. Another, later, attempt at a programmable object-oriented MU* server was ColdMUD, written by Greg Hudson and later maintained by Brandon Gillespie under the name "Genesis".
One unusual MOO with no real relationship to the original MOO is called mooix. mooix is unique among MUDs in that it uses the underlying UNIX operating system to handle all of the multitasking and networking issues. Several unique side effects result from this, one of which is that the MOO can be programmed in any language. mooix was written after a failed attempt by Joey Hess to write a MOO entirely in Perl, called perlmoo.
There are a number of MOOs written in Python, including POO, MOOP, and playsh.

Non-Descendant MOOs
Participants (usually referred to as users) connect to a MOO using telnet or some other, more specialized, client program. Upon connection, they are usually presented with a welcome message explaining how to either create a new character or connect to an existing one.
Having connected to a character, users then give one-line commands that are parsed and interpreted by the MOO as appropriate. Such commands may cause changes in the virtual reality, such as the location of a character, or may simply report on the current state of that reality, such as the appearance of some object.
The job of interpreting those commands is shared between the two major components in the MOO system: the server and the database. The server is a program, written in a standard programming language, that manages the network connections, maintains queues of commands and other tasks to be executed, controls all access to the database, and executes other programs written in the MOO programming language. The database contains representations of all the objects in the virtual reality, including the MOO programs that the server executes to give those objects their specific behaviours.
Almost every command is parsed by the server into a call on a MOO procedure, or verb, which actually does the work. Thus, programming in the MOO programming language is a central part of making non-trivial extensions to the database and hence the virtual reality.

MOO access
All MOOs provide a flag called Wizard; when set on a player, the player gains the ability to view and modify nearly everything in the MOOs database. Such players are called Wizards, and usually form the basis for MOO administration.
Wizards are able to restrict access to the MOO, as well as make news postings and monitor logs. Wizard permissions are needed for modification and even execution of verbs and properties for which the user does not own, or is not publicly readable/writable. All verbs and properties within objects have the appropriate flags, with the user can change to determine its current state. They are also able to assign global names to any object.

Outline of well-known MOOs

LambdaMOO - The MOO.
MOO programming language
MUSH
MUD
CoolMUD
ColdMUD Essays and documentation

MOO at the Open Directory Project
Echo Duet MOO List - Active MOO directory

2008年4月22日火曜日


New York (IPA: /nuː jɔɹk/) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States of America. With 62 counties, it is the country's third most populous state. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and shares a water border with Rhode Island as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Its five largest cities are New York City (also the largest city in the United States), Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse.
New York City is known for its history as a gateway for immigration to the United States and its status as a transportation and manufacturing center.
New York was inhabited by Algonquian, Iroquois, and Lenape indigenous people at the time Dutch and French nationals moved into the region in the very early 17th century. First claimed by Henry Hudson in 1609, the region came to have Dutch forts in Fort Orange, present day Albany, NY, in 1614 and was colonized by the Dutch in 1624, at both Albany and Manhattan; it later fell to British annexation in 1664. About one third of all of the battles of the Revolutionary War took place in New York. The state ratified the United States Constitution in 1788, the 11th state to do so; its own constitution was enacted in 1777.

Geography
The climate of New York State is broadly representative of the humid continental type, which prevails in the northeastern United States, but its diversity is not usually encountered within an area of comparable size. Masses of cold, dry air frequently arrive from the northern interior of the continent. Prevailing winds from the south and southwest transport warm, humid air, which has been conditioned by the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent subtropical waters. These two air masses provide the dominant continental characteristics of the climate. A third great air mass flows inland from the North Atlantic Ocean and produces cool, cloudy, and damp weather conditions.
Nearly all storm and frontal systems moving eastward across the continent pass through or in close proximity to New York State. Storm systems often move northward along the Atlantic coast and have an important influence on the weather and climate of Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley. Frequently, areas deep in the interior of the state feel the effects of such coastal storms.
The winters are long and cold in the Plateau Divisions of the state. In the majority of winter seasons, a temperature of -25°C or lower can be expected in the northern highlands (Northern Plateau) and -15°C or colder in the southwestern and east-central highlands (Southern Plateau). The Adirondack region records from 35 to 45 days with below zero temperatures in normal to severe winters.
The summer climate is cool in the Adirondacks, Catskills, and higher elevations of the Southern Plateau. The New York City area and lower portions of the Hudson Valley have rather warm summers by comparison, with some periods of high, uncomfortable humidity. The remainder of New York State enjoys pleasantly warm summers, marred by only occasional, brief intervals of sultry conditions. Summer daytime temperatures usually range from the upper 70s to mid 80s (25 to 30 ˚C) over much of the State, producing an atmospheric environment favorable to many athletic, recreational, and other outdoor activities.
New York ranks 46th among the 50 states in the amount of greenhouse gases generated per person. This efficiency is primarily due to the state's relatively higher rate of mass transit use.

New York State Climate
See also: List of New York state parks
New York has many state parks and two major forest preserves. Adirondack Park, roughly the size of the state of Vermont and the largest state park in the United States, was established in 1892 and given state constitutional protection in 1894. The thinking that lead to the creation of the Park first appeared in George Perkins Marsh's Man and Nature, published in 1864. Marsh argued that deforestation could lead to desertification; referring to the clearing of once-lush lands surrounding the Mediterranean, he asserted "the operation of causes set in action by man has brought the face of the earth to a desolation almost as complete as that of the moon."
The Catskill Park was protected in legislation passed in 1885, which declared that its land was to be conserved and never put up for sale or lease. Consisting of 700,000 acres (2,800 km²) of land, the park is a habitat for bobcats, minks and fishers. There are some 400 black bears living in the region. The state operates numerous campgrounds and there are over 300 miles (480 km) of multi-use trails in the Park.
The Montauk State Park boasts the Famous Montauk Lighthouse commissioned by our First President ; George Washington ; is a major tourist atrraction and is located in the township of East Hampton ; Suffolk County ; Hither Hills park offers camping and is a popular destination with surfcasting sportfisherman.

State parks

Main article: History of New York History

Main article: Demographics of New York Demographics
As of 2006, New York was the third largest state in population after California and Texas, with an estimated population of 19,306,183.

Racial and ancestral makeup
Catholics comprise more than 40% of the population in New York. Protestants are 30% of the population, Jews 5%, Muslims 3.5%, Buddhists 1%, and 13% claim no religious affiliation.

Religion

Main article: Economy of New York Economy

Main article: Transportation in New York Transportation

Main article: Government of New York Politics and government

Main article: Politics of New York Politics
For lists of cities, towns, and counties in New York, see List of cities in New York, List of towns in New York, List of villages in New York, List of counties in New York, List of census-designated places in New York and Administrative divisions of New York.
Albany
Buffalo
Schenectady
New York City
Binghamton
Elmira
Poughkeepsie
Rochester
Syracuse
Yonkers
The largest city in the state and the most populous city in the United States is New York City, which is comprised of five counties, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. New York City is home to more than two-fifths of the state's population. Buffalo is the second largest city in the state. The smallest city is Sherrill, New York, located just west of the Town of Vernon in Oneida County. Albany is the state capital, and the Town of Hempstead is the civil township with the largest population.
The southern tip of New York State—New York City, its suburbs including Long Island, the southern portion of the Hudson Valley, and most of northern New Jersey—can be considered to form the central core of a "megalopolis", a super-city stretching from the northern suburbs of Boston to the southern suburbs of Washington D.C. in Virginia and therefore occasionally called "BosWash". First described by Jean Gottmann in 1961 as a new phenomenon in the history of world urbanization, the megalopolis is characterized by a coalescence of previous already-large cities of the Eastern Seaboard: a heavy specialization on tertiary activity related to government, trade, law, education, finance, publishing and control of economic activity; plus a growth pattern not so much of more population and more area as more intensive use of already existing urbanized area and ever more sophisticated links from one specialty to another. Several other groups of megalopolis-type super-cities exist in the world, but that centered around New York City was the first described and still is the best example.

Cities and towns

Main article: Education in New York Education

Main article: Sports in New York Navy vessel namesakes

New York census statistical areas

2008年4月21日月曜日


International relations

International relations theory
Political scientists
Comparative politics
Bureaucracy

Street-level bureaucracy
Executive
Judiciary
Legislature
Electoral systems
Voting
Separation of powers, a term coined by French political Enlightenment thinker Baron de Montesquieu have pointed out that, regardless of whether it accomplishes this end, it also slows down the process of governing, promotes executive dictatorship and unaccountability, and tends to marginalize the legislature.
No democratic system exists with an absolute separation of powers or an absolute lack of separation of powers. Nonetheless, some systems are clearly founded on the principle of separation of powers, while others are clearly based on a mingling of powers.

Consent of the governed
Politics by country
Political economy
Political history
Political philosophy
Political science
Public administration
Separation of powers
Sovereignty
Theories of political behavior
Elections
Federalism
Forms of government
Ideology
Political campaign
Political parties Montesquieu's tripartite system
In democratic systems of governance, a continuum exists between "Presidential government" and "Parliamentary government". "Separation of powers" is a feature more inherent to presidential systems, whereas "fusion of powers" is characteristic of parliamentary ones. "Mixed systems" fall somewhere in between, usually near the midpoint; the most notable example of a mixed system is France's (current) Fifth Republic.
In fusion of powers, one branch (invariably the elected legislature) is supreme, and the other branches are subservient to it. In separation of powers, each branch is largely (although not necessarily entirely) independent of the other branches. Independent in this context means either that selection of each branch happens independently of the other branches or at least that each branch is not beholden to any of the others for its continued existence.
Accordingly, in a fusion of powers system such as that of the United Kingdom, first described as such by Walter Bagehot, the people elect the legislature, which in turn "creates" the executive. As Professor Cheryl Saunders writes, "...the intermixture of institutions [in the UK] is such that it is almost impossible to describe it as a separation of powers." of the executive; instead, the executive is chosen by other means (direct popular election, electoral college selection, etc.) In a parliamentary system, when the term of the legislature ends, so too may the tenure of the executive selected by that legislature. Although in a presidential system the executive's term may or may not coincide with the legislature's, her selection is technically independent of the legislature. However, when the executive's party controls the legislature, the executive often reaps the benefits of what is, in effect, a "fusion of powers". Such situations may thwart the constitutional goal or normal popular perception that the legislature is the more democratic branch or the one "closer to the people," reducing it to a virtual "consultative assembly," politically or procedurally unable—or unwilling—to hold the executive accountable in the event of blatant, even boldly admitted, "high crimes and misdemeanors."

Separation of powers vs. fusion of powers

Other branches
With the title Comptroller General, Auditor General or Comptroller and Auditor General, the European Union's Court of Auditors and Taiwan's Control Yuan are individual or bodies of independent ombudsmen. They are often independent of the other branches of government.
Their purpose is to audit government expenditure and general activity.

Auditory
Sun Yat Sen proposed a branch of government based on the Imperial examination system used in China. The "Examination Yuan" (Traditional Chinese: 考試院; pinyin: Kǎoshì Yuàn), as it is called in Taiwan, is in charge of validating the qualification of civil servants. This structure has been implemented in the Republic of China.

Civil examination
Costa Rica's Supreme Elections Tribunal is a branch of government that manages elections. Similar independent institutions exist in many other democratic countries, however they are not seen as a branch of government. In many countries, these are known as Electoral Commissions.

Electoral
Many philosophers and political scientists believe that democratic governments are created and constitutions exist to serve the people. The people have their own system of checks and balances by electing the legislative and executive branches. The government also draws its power directly from the people. Without the people, there is no government, just as without the legislative branch, there can be no judicial branch.
In the Constitution of Venezuela, the "citizen's power" is a formal branch of government, though it acts like auditors' branches in other jurisdictions.
See also:

Direct Democracy
Initiative
Referendum
Recall election The people
The federal executive of the United States is a very large bureaucracy, and due to civil service rules, most middle- and low-level government workers do not change when a new President is elected. (New high-level officials are usually appointed and must be confirmed by the Senate.) Moreover, semi-independent agencies (such as the Federal Reserve or the Federal Communications Commission) may be created within the executive by the legislature. These agencies exercise legally defined regulatory powers. High-level regulators are appointed by the President and confirmed by the legislature; they must follow the law and certain lawful executive orders. But they often sit for long, fixed terms and enjoy reasonable independence from other policy makers. Because of its importance to modern governance, the regulatory bureaucracy of the executive is sometimes referred to as a "fourth" branch of government.
This separation is even more pronounced in the United Kingdom. The separation was a prominent element of the Yes Minister comedy television series.

Independent executive agencies

U.S. contractors becoming a fourth branch of government by Scott Shane and Ron Nixon
The Fifth Branch of Government by Joe Wortham The press

Main articles: Freedom of the press and public broadcasting The press around the world
Constitutions with a high degree of separation of powers are found worldwide. The UK system is distinguished by a particular entwining of powers. India's democratic system also offers a clear separation of power under Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament), Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament), and the President of India, who overlooks independent governing branches such as the Election commission and the Judiciary. Under the Indian constitution, just as in the British system, the Prime Minister is a head of the governing party and functions through a selected group of ministers. In Italy the powers are completely separated, even if Council of Ministers need the vote of confidence from both chambers of Parliament, that's however formed by a wide number of members (almost 1,000).
Countries with little separation of power include New Zealand and Canada. Canada makes limited use of separation of powers in practice, although in theory it distinguishes between branches of government.
Complete separation-of-powers systems are almost always presidential, although theoretically this need not be the case. There are a few historical exceptions, such as the Directoire system of revolutionary France. Switzerland offers an example of non-Presidential separation of powers today: It is run by a seven-man executive branch, the Federal Council. However, some might argue that Switzerland does not have a strong separation of powers system, as the Federal Council is appointed by parliament (but not dependent on parliament), and the judiciary has no power of review.

Various models around the world

Main article: Separation of powers in Australia Australia: three branches

Main article: Government of the People's Republic of China People's Republic of China
After eight years of social conflict, the question of who would lead Costa Rica and which transformationist model the State would use was decided by who killed the president. A constituent assembly followed and drew up a new constitution, approved in 1949. This document was an edit of the constitution of 1871, as the constituent assembly rejected more radical corporativist ideas proposed by the ruling junta. Nonetheless, the new constitution increased centralization of power at the expense of municipalities and eliminated provincial government altogether.
It established the three supreme powers as the legislature, executive, and judicial branches, but also created two other autonomous state organs that have equivalent power but not equivalent rank. The first is the Supreme Elections Tribunal (electoral branch) which controls elections and makes unique, unappealable decisions on their outcomes.
The second is the office of the Comptroller General (auditory branch), an autonomous and independent organ nominally subordinate to the unicameral legislative assembly. All budgets of ministries and municipalities must pass through this agency, including the execution of budget items such as contracting for routine operations. The Comptroller also provides financial vigilance over government offices and office holders, and routinely brings actions to remove mayors for malfeasance, firmly establishing this organization as the fifth branch of the Republic.

Costa Rica: five branches
The five institutions (in four branches) of the European Union are:

European Commission - executive
European Parliament & Council of the European Union - legislative
European Court of Justice - judicial
European Court of Auditors - auditory European Union: four branches

Main article: Government of France France
The six main bodies enshrined in the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany are:
There is also a judicial branch made up of five supreme courts, state (lander) based courts beneath them, and a rarely used senate of the supreme courts.

Federal President (Bundespräsident)
Federal Cabinet (Bundesregierung) - executive
Federal Diet (Bundestag) & Federal Council (Bundesrat) - legislative
Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung) - presidential electoral college
Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) Checks and balances Germany: six branches

Main article: Government of Japan Japan
Some countries take the doctrine further than the three-branch system. The politics of Taiwan, for example, has five branches: the Executive Yuan, Legislative Yuan, Judicial Yuan, Control Yuan (auditory branch), and Examination Yuan.
Due in part to the Republic's youth, the relationship between its executive and legislative branches are poorly defined. An example of the problems this causes is the near complete political paralysis that results when the president, who has neither the power to veto nor the ability to dissolve the legislature and call new elections, cannot negotiate with the legislature when his party is in the minority. [2]

Taiwan: five branches
In parliamentary systems, a separation of powers is either unclear or even nearly non-existent . For example, in the United Kingdom, the executive forms a subset of the legislature, as does—to a lesser extent—the judiciary. The Prime Minister, the chief executive, must by convention be a Member of the House of Commons and can effectively be removed from office by a simple majority vote. Furthermore, while the courts in Britain are undoubtedly amongst the most independent in the world, the Law Lords, who are the final arbiters of judicial disputes in the UK, sit simultaneously in the House of Lords, the upper house of the legislature, although this arrangement will cease in 2009 when the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom comes into existence. Furthermore, because of the existence of Parliamentary sovereignty, while the theory of separation of powers may be studied in Britain, a system such as that of the UK is more accurately described as a "fusion of powers."
The development of the British constitution, which is not written down in one document, is based on this fusion in the person of the Monarch, who has a formal role to play in the legislature (Parliament, which is where legal and political sovereignty lies, is the Crown-in-Parliament, and is summoned and dissolved by the Queen who must give her Royal Assent to all Bills so that they become Acts), the executive (the Queen appoints all ministers of Her Majesty's Government, who govern in the name of the Crown) and the judiciary (the Queen, as the fount of justice, appoints all senior judges, and all public prosecutions are brought in her name).
The British legal code is based on common law traditions which requires:

Police or regulators cannot initiate complaints under criminal law but can only investigate, which prevents selective enforcement, e.g. the 'fishing expedition' which is often specifically forbidden
Prosecutors cannot withhold evidence from attorneys for the defendant, to do so results in mistrial or dismissal, accordingly their relation to police is no advantage
Defendants convicted can appeal, but no new evidence can usually be introduced, restricting the power of the court of appeal to the process of law applied United Kingdom
The United Nations has five principle organs [3]. These are:
The members of the councils are either or both elected by the General Assembly and determined by the UN Charter.

General Assembly - legislative
Security Council
Economic and Social Council
International Court of Justice - judicial
Secretariat - executive United Nations: five branches

Main article: Separation of powers under the United States Constitution United States: three branches
To prevent one branch from becoming supreme, and to induce the branches to cooperate, governance systems employing a separation of powers typically are created with a system of "checks and balances", a term which, like separation of powers itself, is generally credited to Montesquieu. Checks and balances refers to the various procedural rules that allow one branch to limit another, such as the authority of the president to veto legislation passed by Congress, or the power of Congress to alter the composition and jurisdiction of the federal courts.

Writes and enacts laws
Enacts taxes, authorizes borrowing, and sets the budget
Usually has sole power to declare war
May start investigations, especially against the executive branch
Often appoints the heads of the executive branch
Sometimes appoints judges
Ratifies treaties
Sometimes may veto laws
May refuse to enforce certain laws (risking impeachment by the legislature)
May refuse to spend money allocated for certain purposes
Wages war (has operational command of the military)
Makes decrees or declarations (for example, declaring a state of emergency) and promulgates lawful regulations and executive orders
Often appoints judges
Has power to grant pardons to convicted criminals
Determines which laws apply to any given case
Determines whether a law is unconstitutional
Has sole power to interpret the law and to apply it to particular disputes
May nullify laws that conflict with a more important law or constitution
Determines the disposition of prisoners
Has power to compel testimony and the production of evidence
Enforces uniform policies in a top-down fashion via the appeals process, but gives discretion in individual cases to low-level judges. (The amount of discretion depends upon the standard of review, determined by the type of case in question.)
May rule only in cases of an actual dispute brought between actual petitioners
Polices its own members
Is frequently immune to arbitrary dismissal by other branches Checks and balances Checks and balances
The theoretical independence of the executive and legislative branches is partly maintained by the fact that they are separately elected and are held directly accountable to the public. There are also judicial prohibitions against certain types of interference in each others' affairs. (See "separation of powers" cases in the List of United States Supreme Court cases.) Judicial independence is maintained by life appointments of judges, with voluntary retirement, and a high threshold for removal by the legislature. In recent years, there have been accusations that the power to interpret the law is being misused (judicial activism) by some judges in the US. In the checks and balances system, the judicial branch has the right to say that something is unconstitutional, like a law or a bill.
The legal mechanisms constraining the powers of the three branches depend a great deal on the sentiment of the people. A common perception is that popular support establishes legitimacy and makes possible the actual implementation of legal authority. National crises (such as the Civil War, the Great Depression, pre-Pearl Harbor World War II, the Vietnam War) have been the times at which the principle of separation of powers has been most endangered, either through official "misbehavior" or through the willingness of the public to sacrifice such principles if more pressing problems are solved. The system of checks and balances is also self-reinforcing. Potential abuse of power may be deterred, and the legitimacy and sustainability of any power grab is hindered by the ability of the other two branches to take corrective action; though they still must actually do so, therefore accountability is not automatic. This is intended to reduce opportunities for tyranny sometimes.
However, as James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 51 regarding the ability of each branch to defend itself from actions by the others, "But it is not possible =] to give to each department an equal power of self-defense. In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates." Bicameralism was, in part, intended to reduce the relative power of the legislature by turning it against itself, by having "different modes of election a different principles of action." (This is one of the arguments against the popular election of Senators, which was instituted by the Seventeenth Amendment.) But when the legislature is unified, it can obtain dominance over the other branches.

Maintaining balance
The American states mirror the executive/legislative/judicial division of the federal government. Major cities tend to do so as well, but the arrangements of local and regional governments vary widely. Because the judicial branch is often a part of a state or county government, the geographic jurisdiction of local judges is often not coterminous with municipal boundaries.
In many American states and local governments, executive authority and law enforcement authority are separated by allowing citizens to directly elect public prosecutors (district attorneys and state attorneys-general). In some states, judges are also directly elected.
Many localities also separate special powers from their executive and legislative branches through the direct election of sheriffs, school boards, transit agency boards, park commissioners, etc.
Juries (groups of randomly selected citizens) also have an important role in the checks-and-balances system. They have the sole authority to not only determine the facts in most criminal and civil cases, but to judge the law, acting as a powerful buffer against arbitrary enforcement by the executive and judicial branches. In many jurisdictions they are also used to determine whether or not a trial is warranted, and in some places Grand Juries have independent investigative powers with regard to government operations.

State and local governments

Main article: Constitution of Venezuela Criticisms

Federalism, also known as vertical separation of powers - Prevents abuse by dividing governing powers, usually by separating municipal, provincial, and national governments. See also subsidiarity.
Rule of law - Prevents arbitrary exercise of the executive power, preserves general and minority rights, and promotes stability and predictability.
Democracy and civil society - Attempts to constrain elected branches of government to act in the public interest, not in self-interest.
Separation of church and state or Laïcité - Ensures freedom of religion by preventing government interference in its practice. Also constrains the power of government by maintaining freedom of conscience and belief.
Civilian control of the military - Helps prevent dictatorship that otherwise might occur through military rule.
In some systems, an independent central bank.
Separation of duties in organizations.
Independent Civil Service.
Negarchy. Notes

Absolute power
Balance of power
Corruption Perceptions Index - Parliamentary systems are, in general, perceived as less corrupt than other systems
Judicial activism
List of democracy and elections-related topics
Signing statement
Unitary executive theory
Fifth power

2008年4月20日日曜日

Weigh lock
A weigh lock is a specialized canal lock designed to determine the weight of barges in order to asses toll payments based upon the weight and value of the cargo carried. This requires that the unladen weight of the barge be known.
A barge to be weighed was brought into a supporting cradle connected by levers to a weighing mechanism. The water was then drained downstream and the scale balance adjusted to determine the barge gross weight. Subtracting the tare weight (the weight of the barge when empty) would give the cargo weight.
An example of a weigh lock (now dry), once part of the Erie Canal, may be found in downtown Syracuse, New York, along with a canal barge and interpretive displays at the Erie Canal Museum.

2008年4月19日土曜日

Pan Am Flight 708
Pan Am Flight 708 was a cargo flight that crashed less than 10 miles west-southwest of Tegel Airport in Berlin, Germany, in the early morning hours of November 15, 1966. The flight was a Boeing 727 (N317PA) routed from Frankfurt to Berlin-Tegel and was on initial approach. All three crew members perished. The cause was undetermined because U.S. investigators were not allowed to survey the accident site or the aircraft remains. The accident site was in the Soviet occupation zone.

2008年4月18日金曜日

Bishop of St Andrews
The Bishop of St. Andrews (Scottish Gaelic: Easbaig Chill Rìmhinn) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese and then, as Archbishop of St Andrews (Scottish Gaelic: Àrd-easbaig Chill Rìmhinn), the Archdiocese of St. Andrews.
The name St Andrews is not the town or church's original name. Originally it was Cellrígmonaid ("church of the king's mounth" hence Cill Rìmhinn) located at Cennrígmonaid ("head of the king's mounth"); hence the town became Kilrymont (i.e. Cellrígmonaid) in the non-Gaelic orthography of the High Middle Ages). Today St Andrews has replaced both Kilrymont (and variants) as well as the older English term Anderston as the name of the town and bishopric.
The bishopric itself originates in the period 700-900, and is the best attested bishopric in Scottish history. By the 11th century, it is clear that it is the most important bishopric in Scotland.

List of known abbots
It may be misleading to see "St Andrews" as the see of the earliest known later as bishops of St Andrews. Rather, it is likely that the "bishop of the Scots" may have been the only bishop in Scotland with no fixed seat, though many abbots there certainly were all over Scotland.

2008年4月17日木曜日


A leasehold estate is an ownership interest in land in which a lessee or a tenant holds real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord.

History
A fixed-term tenancy or tenancy for years lasts for some fixed period of time. Despite the name tenancy for years, such a tenancy can last for any period of time — even a tenancy for one week would be called a tenancy for years. The duration need not be certain, but may be conditioned upon the happening of some event, (e.g. "until the crops are ready for harvest", "until the war is over"). In either case, the lease expires automatically upon the running of the specified time, or the occurrence of the specified event. If the lease is more than a year, the agreement to create it must generally be executed in writing, to satisfy the Statute of Frauds. If a lease is purported to be a tenancy for years of more than one year, and it is not put in writing, then it automatically becomes a periodic tenancy, with a rental period equal to the period between lease payments, but of no more than a year.

Fixed-term tenancy or tenancy for years
The landlord and tenant can agree to terminate the lease at any time, which is called a surrender of the lease. Like the lease itself, if the term remaining on the lease at the time of the surrender exceeds one year, then the surrender must be executed in writing. A tenancy for years can also be terminated by the tenant's breach of any leasehold covenants, including the failure to pay promised rent, or allowing the land to waste.

Tenant Termination of a fixed-term tenancy
A periodic tenancy, also known as a tenancy from year to year, month to month, or week to week, is an estate that exists for some period of time determined by the term of the payment of rent. An oral lease for a tenancy of years that violates the Statute of Frauds (by committing to a lease of more than a year without a writing) actually creates a periodic tenancy, the term being the term paid for in the first payment from tenant to landlord.

Periodic tenancy
The landlord may terminate the lease at any time by giving the tenant notice as required by statute. Typically, the landlord must give six months' notice to terminate a tenancy from year to year. Tenants of lesser durations must typically receive notice equal to the period of the tenancy - for example, the landlord must give a months' notice to terminate a tenancy from month to month. However, many jurisdictions have varied these required notice periods, and some have reduced them drastically.
The notice must also state the effective date of termination, which must be on the last day of the payment period. In other words, if a month-to-month tenancy began on the 15th of the month, the termination can not be on the 20th of the following month, even though this would give the tenant more than the required one month's notice.

Termination of a periodic tenancy
A tenancy at will is a leasehold such that either the landlord or the tenant may terminate the tenancy at any time by giving reasonable notice. It usually occurs in the absence of a lease, or where the tenancy is not for consideration. Under the modern common law, tenancy at will is very rare, partly because it can only come about if the parties expressly agree that the tenancy is at will and not for rent. However, tenancy at will is common where a family member is allowed to live in the home (a nominal consideration may be required) without any formal arrangements. In most residential tenancies for consideration, the tenant may not be removed except for cause, even if there is no written lease.
If a lease exists at the sole discretion of the landlord, it grants the tenant by operation of law a reciprocal right to terminate the lease at will. However, a lease that explicitly exists at the will of the tenant (e.g. "for as long as the tenant desires to live on this land") does not imply that the landlord may terminate the lease, even for cause; rather, such language may be interpreted as granting the tenant a life estate or even a fee simple.
A tenancy at will is broken, again by operation of law, if the:

Tenant commits waste against the property;
Tenant attempts to assign his tenancy;
Landlord transfers his interest in the property;
Landlord leases the property to another person;
Tenant or landlord dies. Tenancy at will
A tenancy at sufferance (sometimes called a holdover tenancy) exists when a tenant remains in possession of property after the expiration of his lease, and until the landlord acts to eject the tenant from the property. Although the tenant is technically a trespasser at this point, and possession of this type is not a true estate in land, authorities recognize the condition in order to hold the tenant liable for rent. The landlord may evict such a tenant at any time, and without notice.
The landlord may also impose a new lease on the holdover tenant. For a residential tenancy, this new tenancy is month to month. For a commercial tenancy of more than a year, the new tenancy is year to year; otherwise it is the same period as the period before the original lease expired. In either case, the landlord can raise the rent, so long as the landlord has told the tenant of the higher rent before the expiration of the original lease.

Tenancy at sufferance
A type of protected tenancy that was created before 6 July 1957. From November 28, 1980 all controlled tenancies were changed to regulated tenancies

Tenant Controlled Tenancy UK

Duties of the landlord and the tenant
The landlord has two common-law duties. The first is to put the tenant in possession of the land at the outset of the lease (the 'English' rule); the second is to provide the premises in a habitable condition — there is an implied warranty of habitability. If landlord violates either, the tenant can terminate the lease and move out, or stay on the premises, while continuing to pay rent, and sue the landlord for damages (or withhold rent and use breach of implied warranty of habitability as a defense when the landlord attempts to collect rent).
The lease also includes an implied covenant of quiet enjoyment — landlord will not interfere with tenant's quiet enjoyment. This can be breached in three ways.

Total eviction of the tenant through direct physical invasion by landlord.
Partial eviction — when the landlord keeps the tenant off part of the leased property (even locking a single room). Tenant can stay on the remaining property without paying any rent.
Partial eviction by someone other than landlord — where this occurs, rent is apportioned. If landlord claims to lease tenant an area of 1000 square metres but 400 square metres of the area belongs to another person, tenant only has to pay 60% of the rent. Landlord's tort liability
Under the common law, the tenant has two duties to the landlord. These are to pay rent when it is due, and to avoid waste of the property.
A tenant is liable to third party invitees for negligent failure to correct a dangerous condition on the premise — even if the landlord was contractually liable.

Duties of the tenant
If land under lease to a tenant is condemned under the government's power of eminent domain, the tenant may be able to earn either a reduction in rent or a portion of the condemnation award (the price paid by the government) to the owner, depending on the amount of land taken, and the value of the leasehold property.
A partial taking of the land by the government does not release the tenant from paying full rent, but the tenant may collect a portion of condemnation award equal to the apportioned rent for property taken. For example, suppose a tenant leases land for 6 months for $1,000 per month, and that two months into the lease, and the government condemns 25% of the land. The tenant will then be entitled to take a portion of the condemnation award equal to 25% of the rent due for the remaining four months of the lease — $1,000, derived from $250 per month for four months.
A full taking, however, extinguishes the lease, and excuses all rent from that point. However, the tenant will not be entitled to any portion of the condemnation award, unless the value of the lease was greater than the rent paid, in which case the tenant can recover the difference. Suppose in the above example that the market value of the land being leased was actually $1,200 a month, but the $1,000 per month rate represented a break given to the tenant by the landlord. Because the tenant is losing the ability to continue renting the land at this bargain rate (and probably must move to more expensive land), the tenant will be entitled to the difference between the lease rate and the market value — $200 per month for a total of $800.

Effects of tenancy
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Tenant farmer.