Terrain and climate.

The foundation of the Central Plateau is a vast slab of primeval crystalline rock that frequently outcrops in the form of isolated rocks or massive peaks. The most prominent peak in the province is Mt. Môco in Londuimbali, with 2,620 metres. The peak is the highest point in Angola. The headwaters of the Kunene River rise on the Central Plateau near Huambo town. Much of the soil in Huambo Province is of poor quality, and has been impoverished in many areas by overuse and erosion. However, it is generally of better quality than in the adjoining regions to the east, north and south.  Striking differences can be observed between the vegetation of the highlands and the lower zone towards the coast. One characteristic feature of the coastal area is the baobab ("Adansonia Digitata", or imbondeiro, in Portuguese). Tropical forests can also be found in the areas that receive significant rainfall. Until recently, the highlands were covered with a variety of trees; today, however, except in isolated areas in Bailundo and other regions, grasslands have taken the place of forest and woodland. Traditional methods of agriculture, slash-and-burn techniques ("queimadas") and overpopulation by large concentrations of people displaced from their homes during the war (1975–2002) have caused significant deforestation. The use of wood fuel for the Benguela Railway until the 1980s was also responsible for deforestation. Large extensions of native forest have been cut down and replaced by rapid-growing and soil-depleting eucalyptus and pine trees.  The Central Plateau is well within the tropical zone, but altitude and the effect of the southwestern Antarctic current combine to produce a moderate climate. The annual variation of temperature is small, with maximum temperatures varying between 17 and 28 °C during much of the year. The average maximum is approximately 22 °C. During the winter months (May–July), temperatures may reach as low as 5 to 8 °C. Mean annual rainfall varies from 800 to 1600 mm, according to region. In the Central Plateau, seasonal rains begin with a few showers during September, increase during October and November, have a break of two to four weeks in December, January or February, and continue until the end of April. The heaviest rainfall is usually in November or December.

Demography.

The Province of Huambo has an area of 35,771.15 km. It is divided into 11 municipalities that are sub-divided into 37 communes. It borders the Province of Kuanza Sul to the northwest, Bie to the north and east, Benguela to the west, and Huila to the south. According to the Provincial Department of Statistics and Planning, Huambo is a relatively populated province with 1,948,000 people (approximately 15% of the estimated national of 12.6 million). More than half, 55%, of the population is urbanized, concentrated in Huambo city (822,000 people) and Caála municipality (239,000 people). Recent population movements towards the native rural areas and functional deficiencies of the Civil Administration make difficult to accurately estimate population figures. The Huambo Provincial Department of Statistics and Planning reports that 419,000, or approximately 22% of the population, are children under five years of age.  "Source : Ministry of Planning, 2003"

Government.

The province is headed by a Governor, currently Faustino Muteka, assisted by two vice-governors (Social and Economical Affairs). The central Government is represented also by 3 Delegates who report to their Ministry and to the Governor: Finance, Justice and Interior. The rest of Ministerial Delegations became Directorates after a reform introduced in June 1998: Health, Education, Energy and Water, Urbanism, Agriculture, Social Assistance, strengthening thus even more the power of the Governor to whom they report. All 11 Municipalities are headed by the civilian Administrators, under whom come 35 Communal Administrators. These have their own politically appointed "Regedores" (textually, Rulers) and the traditional leaders, the "Sobas", who have lost much of their ancestral significance in the decision – making process.

Agriculture and food security.

Huambo is the richest agricultural province in Angola. In 1999 the Province produced almost 22% of total national cereal production: 115,000 t out of a total of 530,000 t. As a result of improved security, areas used for cultivation in the Province have increased during the past years to about 500 km. This represents the largest increase in the country since the end of the war.  The principal cereal crop is maize with 1950 km under cultivation. Yields are low, only 40 t/km, compared with yields of between 50 and 120 t/km in other provinces. The second cereal crop is millet/sorghum with approximately 160 km under production. Grain production has increased significantly in recent years. Total output rose to a peak of 159,000 t in the 1997/1998 season compared to only 17,000 t in 1993/1994. Climate and pest conditions forced production back to 115,000 t in 1998/1999 and to an estimated 88,000 t in 1999/2000. Other crops produced in the province include beans (450 km) and manioc (415 km), sweet potatoes (95 km) and Irish potatoes (32 km). Coffee ("Arabica" type) used to be a significant produce of Huambo thanks to the favourable altitude and weather conditions of the Province, and is currently being reintroduced as the main crop in many farms of the region.

Health and nutrition.

Approximately 25 basic health facilities are operational within the Province, run by the Government or humanitarian agencies, covering 547,500 people in Huambo city and the municipality of Caála. According to the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health, this represents an average of one facility per 20,778 people, close to the Angolan average of one health unit per 20,000 people. In Huambo, one health unit serves 18,000 people while in Caála, one unit covers 33,000 people. The provincial hospital is based in Huambo city.  Vaccination coverage in Huambo city is higher than in other municipalities. In Huambo city, 16 vaccination posts cover 89,800 children under five years of age (one post per 5,600 children). In Caála, two posts cover 19,700 children (2002).

Education.

Approximately 40 primary and three secondary schools operate in Huambo city (2001). Five schools target displaced children. In Caála, seven schools target displaced children.

Water and sanitation.

In Huambo, the main water treatment plant has not functioned properly since 1975 and the 400 km of water pipes are in poor condition. The population is currently dependent on wells for water access. During recent years, considerable work in the sector was undertaken by the Government and humanitarian agencies, including construction of 550 family latrines and 25 wells in villages and communities.

Mines.

The number of mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the Province is unknown. An average of eight mine accidents per month are reported. Mine accident statistics are gathered by humanitarian agencies through Huambo Central Hospital where all mine-related injuries are referred. Demining activities happen throughout the Province and are currently being implemented by an International NGO. Other humanitarian institutions provide ongoing mine awareness programmes. During the year 2002, 145,000 people participated in these programmes. Mine awareness activities include theatre and puppet shows as well as exhibitions in schools and internally displaced people camps. Additionally, ten-minute radio programmes on the dangers of mines are broadcast two times per week.

Huambo is a province of Angola. With an area of 34,270 km, it is one of the geographically smaller provinces, situated in the Central Region approximately 450 km south east of the capital, Luanda.

Huambo ist eine Provinz in Angola. Mit einer Fläche von 34.270 km2 ist sie eine der kleineren Provinzen und liegt zentral in Angola etwa 450 km südöstlich von Luanda. Die Hauptstadt ist Huambo, die bis 1975 den portugiesischen Ortsnamen Nova Lisboa ("Neu Lissabon") trug. Eine wichtige Verkehrsverbindung stellt die Benguelabahn dar.


History.

Subbotniks, meaning sabbatarians for their observance of the Sabbath on Saturday, as in the Hebrew Bible, rather than on Sunday, arose as part of the Spiritual Christian movement in the 18th century. Imperial Russian officials and Orthodox clergy considered the Subbotniks to be heretical to Russian Orthodox religion, and tried to suppress their sects and other Judaizers. They also emphasized individual interpretation of the law rather than accepting the Talmud or clergy. The Subbotniks concealed their religious beliefs and rites from Orthodox Christians. The Russian government eventually deported the Subbotniks, isolating them from Orthodox Christians and Jews.  The Subbotniks observed the Sabbath on Saturday, and were also known as sabbatarians. They avoided work and tried to avoid discussing worldly affairs. Apart from practicing circumcision of boys, many began to slaughter their food animals according to the laws of shechita when they could learn the necessary rules. Some clandestinely used phylacteries, tzitzit (ritual tassels), and mezuzot (doorpost markings), and prayed in private houses of prayer. As their practice deepened, some acquired Jewish "siddur" prayer books with Russian translation for their prayers. The hazzan (cantor) read the prayers aloud, and the congregants prayed silently; during prayers a solemn silence was observed throughout the house.  According to the testimony, private and official, of all those who studied their mode of life in Czarist times, the Subbotniks were remarkably industrious; reading and writing, hospitable, not given to drunkenness, poverty, or prostitution. Up to 1820 the Subbotniks lived for the most part in the governments of Voronezh, Oryol, Moscow, Tula, and Saratov. After that year, the government deported those who openly acknowledged their membership in the sect to the foothills of the Caucasus, to Transcaucasia, and to the Siberian governments of Irkutsk, Tobolsk, and Yeniseisk. In 1912, the government's Interior Ministry recorded 8,412 Subbotniks; 12,305 Judaizing Talmudists; and 4,092 Russian Karaites.

Under Alexander I and Nicholas I.

Under Alexander I's policies of general tolerance, the Subbotniks enjoyed a great deal of freedom. But the Russian clergy opposed them and killed about 100 Subbotniks and their spiritual leaders in Mogilev, in present-day Belarus, including the former archbishop Romantzov. In addition, Romantzov's young son was tortured with red-hot irons before being burned at the stake. The Subbotniks came to an agreement with the Russian Orthodox priests and succeeded in gaining a measure of peace for a period. To compensate the Church for any loss of finances due to the Subbotniks leaving their congregations, the members of the sect undertook to pay the Church the usual fee of two Russian rubles for every birth and three rubles for every marriage. The tsar permitted the Subbotniks to profess their faith openly, but prohibited them from hiring rabbis or proselytizing among Christians.  Under Nicholas I, the Subbotniks began to feel restless. Some wanted to embrace Judaism and traveled into the Pale of Settlement in order to learn more about Judaism. Upon learning this, the Russian government sent a number of priests to the Subbotniks to try to persuade them to return to Russian Orthodoxy. When the priests did not meet with any appreciable success, the government decided to suppress the Subbotniks with force. In 1826, the government decided to deport those who lived openly as Subbotniks to internal exile in the above-mentioned regions in the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, and Siberia. At the same time, it prohibited Jews and members of the Russian Orthodox Church from settling among any Subbotniks.

Zionism and settlement in Ottoman Palestine.

Subbotnik communities were among early supporters of Zionism. During the First Aliyah at the end of the 19th century, thousands of Subbotniks settled in Ottoman Palestine to escape religious persecution due to their differences with the Russian Orthodox Church. Their descendants include Israeli Jews such as Alexander Zaïd. Major-General Alik Ron, former head of the Israeli Police's northern district, is also descended from some Subbotnik ancestors, as is the mother of Ariel Sharon.  The Subbotniks faced hurdles when intermarrying into the wider Jewish population, as they were not considered Jews according to halakha. They were noted for often being more religiously observant than the mostly secular Jewish Zionist population in that period. They Hebraized their surnames to assimilate. Within a short period, the descendants of Subbotnik Jews who arrived in Ottoman Palestine in the late 19th century had completely blended and inter-married into the wider Jewish population of Israel.

Soviet period.

Holocaust.

Subbotniks in Nazi-occupied areas of Ukraine were killed by SS Einsatzgruppen troops and local Ukrainian collaborators due to their Jewish self-identity. They were relatively recent migrants to Ukraine from areas of Voronezh and considered outsiders by the peasants, who noted their practice of some Jewish customs. During the Holocaust, Nazis killed thousands of Subbotniks. By contrast, they did not attack Crimean Karaites, accepting the state's records that they were ethnic Tatars (or Khazars).

Post-WW2.

Following their massacre in the Holocaust, the Subbotniks came to have an increasingly nationalist self-identification as Jews. However, after the War, the Soviet government ceased to recognize the "Subbotnik" as a legal ethnic category. They counted these people as a subset of the ethnic Russian population. Between 1973–1991, the Subbotniks of Ilyinki emigrated to Israel.

Post-Soviet era.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, a few thousand Subbotniks left Russia for Israel. This coincided with the 1990s Post-Soviet aliyah to Israel of more than a million Russian Jews and members of their immediate families. Since that period, Subbotniks remaining in Russia have encountered status-related problems. In the 21st century, the Shavei Israel organization for outreach to "lost Jews" and related communities, appointed a rabbi for the Subbotniks at Vysokaye, a town in Brest Oblast, Belarus. The objective of teaching them Judaism and facilitate their formal conversion to Orthodox Judaism would make them eligible for aliyah to Israel.

State of Israel.

In the early 21st century, the issue arose of the Jewish identity of some members of Moshav Yitav, located in the Jordan Valley north of Jericho in the West Bank, who were Subbotniks, immigrants from former Soviet Georgia. In 2004, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar ruled the Subbotniks were not defined as Jewish and would have to undergo an Orthodox conversion. The Interior Ministry classified the Subbotniks as a Christian sect and ineligible for aliyah to Israel, because no one knew if their ancestors had formally converted to Judaism (and there is much historic evidence that they did not). The ruling was abolished in 2014, with an attempt by the Interior Ministry to allow remaining Subbotnik families to immigrate to Israel.

Statistics.

It has been difficult to estimate the exact number of Subbotniks in Russia at any given time. The discrepancies between government statistics and the membership have varied widely. Official data from czarist times placed the membership of the sect at several thousand. The writer E. Deinard, who was in personal contact with the Subbotniks, said in 1887 there were 2,500,000. Deinard may have included in his figures "all" of the Judaizing sects, and not just the Subbotniks, as this estimate is not supported by any other historians. Apart from their religious rites, the Subbotniks were generally indistinguishable from Russian Orthodox or secular Russians in terms of dress and lifestyle.

Subbotnik Karaites.

Distribution.

Besides Tambov, Subbotnik Karaites also lived in Saratov Oblast, Astrakhan Oblast, Volgograd Oblast, Stavropol Krai, Samara Oblast, Khakassia, Irkutsk Oblast along the Molochna River in Novorossiya, in Krasnodar Krai, Armenia and Azerbaijan and along the Russian Empire's borders with Iran. While not all statistics for all provinces are readily available, there are more than 2500 in Privolnoye, Azerbaijan alone.

Characteristics.

From 1870 they began to use the "Everyday Prayers for Karaites" by Abraham Firkovich (1870, Vilnius) for their liturgy, which in 1882 they were allowed to publish in Russian as "Порядок молитв для караимов". It was based on the "Siddur Tefillot keMinhag haKaraim" by Isaak ben Solomon Ickowicz. The Subbotnik Karaites had contacts with the Crimean Karaites, who, to a degree, exemplified for them “a Jewish model to be imitated”, "were occasional and never formally arranged since, in particular, normative Karaism denied the acceptance of proselytes and regarded the very existence of a community of Karaites of non-Jewish origin senseless."

Distribution.

Due to Czarist persecution, Subbotniks spread out creating a wide diaspora, living since the 19th century in the following countries and regions:

The Subbotniks (, "Sabbatarians") is a common name for Russian sects of Judaizers of Christian origin, who split from other Sabbatarians in the 19th century. There are three main groups of people described as Subbotniks:

Die Subbotniki (, deutsch: "Sabbatianer") ist eine ursprünglich aus Russland stammende mosaische Religionsgemeinschaft. Die Selbstbezeichnung lautet auch "Volk des Gesetzes Mose". Sie sind religionsgeschichtlich Teil der Bewegung, die sich als judaisierende Religionsgruppen ab der zweiten Hälfte des 15. Jahrhunderts von Nowgorod aus über Russland verbreiteten. Sie bildeten eine Mischung aus spätmittelalterlichem Kabbalismus und frühem neuplatonischem Humanismus.


Orbit and classification.

"Guo Shou-Jing" orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.9–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 7 months (1,298 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins 11 years prior to its official discovery observation, with a precovery taken at Palomar Observatory in August 1953.

Florian interloper.

"Guo Shou-Jing" is a dark, carbonaceous asteroid but possesses the orbital characteristics of a member of the Flora family, which is one of the largest groups of bright, stony S-type asteroids in the main-belt. It is therefore thought to be an unrelated interloper that does not origin from the Flora family's parent body.

Physical characteristics.

"Guo Shou-Jing" has been characterized as a carbonaceous C-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS photometric survey.

Fragmentary lightcurve.

In August 2010, a fragmentary rotational lightcurve of "Guo Shou-Jing" was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomer René Roy. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 12 hours with a brightness variation of 0.05 magnitude ().

Diameter and albedo.

According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite, and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, "Guo Shou-Jing" measures between 11.65 and 14.70 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a low albedo between 0.030 and 0.070.  Based on purely orbital criteria, the "Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link" (erroneously) assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of the Flora family – and subsequently calculates a smaller diameter of 5.67 kilometers.

Naming.

This minor planet was named after Chinese astronomer and engineer Guo Shoujing (1231–1316) who lived during the Yuan Dynasty. He designed and constructed several astronomical instruments for precise observations and has been called the "Tycho Brahe of China". The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 August 1978 ().

2012 Guo Shou-Jing, provisional designation, is a carbonaceous asteroid and Florian interloper from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 13 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 9 October 1964, by astronomers at the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanking, China. The asteroid was named after Chinese astronomer Guo Shoujing.

(2012) Guo Shou-Jing ist ein Asteroid des Hauptgürtels, der am 9. Oktober 1964 am Purple-Mountain-Observatorium in Nanjing entdeckt wurde. Benannt ist der Asteroid nach dem chinesischen Mathematiker und Astronomen Guo Shoujing.


History.

International drug control began with the 1912 International Opium Convention, a treaty which adopted import and export restrictions on the opium poppy's psychoactive derivatives. Over the next half-century, several additional treaties were adopted under League of Nations auspices, gradually expanding the list of controlled substances to encompass cocaine and other drugs and granting the Permanent Central Opium Board power to monitor compliance. After the United Nations was formed in 1945, those enforcement functions passed to the UN.  In 1961, a conference of plenipotentiaries in New York adopted the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which consolidated the existing drug control treaties into one document and added "Cannabis" to the list of prohibited plants. In order to appease the pharmaceutical interests, the Single Convention's scope was sharply limited to the list of drugs enumerated in the Schedules annexed to the treaty and to those drugs determined to have similar effects.  During the 1960s, drug use increased in Western developed nations. Young people began using hallucinogenic, stimulant, and other drugs on a widespread scale that has continued to the present. In many jurisdictions, police had no laws under which to prosecute users and traffickers of these new drugs; LSD, for instance, was not prohibited federally in the U.S. until 1967.  In 1968, "[d]eeply concerned at reports of serious damage to health being caused by LSD and similar hallucinogenic substances," the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) passed a resolution calling on nations to limit the use of such drugs to scientific and medical purposes and to impose import and export restrictions. Later that year, the UN General Assembly requested that ECOSOC call upon its Commission on Narcotic Drugs to "give urgent attention to the problem of the abuse of the psychotropic substances not yet under international control, including the possibility of placing such substances under international control".  Circa 1969, with use of stimulants growing, ECOSOC noted with considerable consternation that the Commission "was unable to reach agreement on the applicability of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 to these substances". The language of the Single Convention and its legislative history precluded any interpretation that would allow international regulation of these drugs under that treaty. A new convention, with a broader scope, would be required in order to bring those substances under control. Using the Single Convention as a template, the Commission prepared a draft convention which was forwarded to all UN member states. The Secretary-General of the United Nations scheduled a conference for early 1971 to finalize the treaty.  Meanwhile, countries had already begun passing legislation to implement the draft treaty. In 1969, Canada added Part IV to its Food and Drugs Act, placing a set of "restricted substances," including LSD, DMT, and MDA, under federal control. In 1970, the United States completely revamped its existing drug control laws by enacting the Controlled Substances Act (amended in 1978 by the Psychotropic Substances Act, which allows the U.S. drug control Schedules to be updated as needed to comply with the Convention). In 1971, the United Kingdom passed the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. A host of other nations followed suit. A common feature shared by most implementing legislation is the establishment of several classes or Schedules of controlled substances, similarly to the Single Convention and the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, so that compliance with international law can be assured simply by placing a drug into the appropriate Schedule.  The conference convened on 11 January 1971. Nations split into two rival factions, based on their interests. According to a Senate of Canada report, "One group included mostly developed nations with powerful pharmaceutical industries and active psychotropics markets... The other group consisted of developing states...with few psychotropic manufacturing facilities". The organic drugmaking states that had suffered economically from the Single Convention's restrictions on cannabis, coca, and opium, fought for tough regulations on synthetic drugs. The synthetic drug-producing states opposed those restrictions. Ultimately, the developing states' lobbying power was no match for the powerful pharmaceutical industry's, and the international regulations that emerged at the conference's close on 21 February were considerably weaker than those of the Single Convention.  The Convention's adoption marked a major milestone in the development of the global drug control regime. Over 59 years, the system had evolved from a set of loose controls focused on a single drug into a comprehensive regulatory framework capable of encompassing almost any mind-altering substance imaginable. According to Rufus King, "It covers such a grab-bag of natural and manufactured items that at every stage of its consideration its proponents felt obliged to stress anew that it would not affect alcohol or tobacco abuse."

Member states.

As of February 2018, there are 184 state parties to the convention. This total includes 182 member states of the United Nations, the Holy See, and the State of Palestine. The 11 UN member states that are not party to the convention are East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti, Kiribati, Liberia, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Liberia has signed the treaty but has not ratified it.

Schedules of Controlled Substances.

The Convention has four Schedules of controlled substances, ranging from Schedule I (most restrictive) to Schedule IV (least restrictive). A list of psychotropic substances, and their corresponding Schedules, was annexed to the 1971 treaty. The text of the Convention does not contain a formal description of the features of the substances fitting in each Schedule, in contrast to the US Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which gave specific criteria for each Schedule in the US system. The amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), a legal class of stimulants – not all of which are substituted amphetamines – were defined in the 1971 treaty and in subsequent revisions. A 2002 European Parliament report and a 1996 UNODC report on ATS describe the international Schedules as listed below.  A 1999 UNODC report notes that Schedule I is a completely different regime from the other three. According to that report, Schedule I mostly contains hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD that are produced by illicit laboratories, while the other three Schedules are mainly for licitly produced pharmaceuticals. The UNODC report also claims that the Convention's Schedule I controls are stricter than those provided for under the Single Convention, a contention that seems to be contradicted by the 2002 Senate of Canada and 2003 European Parliament reports.  Although estimates and other controls specified by the Single Convention are not present in the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, the International Narcotics Control Board corrected the omission by asking Parties to submit information and statistics not required by the Convention, and using the initial positive responses from various organic drug producing states to convince others to follow. In addition, the Convention does impose tighter restrictions on imports and exports of Schedule I substances. A 1970 Bulletin on Narcotics report notes:

Scheduling process.

sets out a process for adding additional drugs to the Schedules. First, the World Health Organization (WHO) must find that the drug meets the specific criteria set forth in Article 2, Section 4, and thus is eligible for control. Then, the WHO issues an assessment of the substance that includes: "If the World Health Organization finds: (a) That the substance has the capacity to produce (i) (1) A state of dependence, and (2) Central nervous system stimulation or depression, resulting in hallucinations or disturbances in motor function or thinking or behaviour or perception or mood, or (ii) Similar abuse and similar ill effects as a substance in Schedule I, II, III or IV, and (b) That there is sufficient evidence that the substance is being or is likely to be abused so as to constitute a public health and social problem warranting the placing of the substance under international control, the World Health Organization shall communicate to the Commission an assessment of the substance, including the extent or likelihood of abuse, the degree of seriousness of the public health and social problem and the degree of usefulness of the substance in medical therapy, together with recommendations on control measures, if any, that would be appropriate in the light of its assessment." The "Commentary" gives alcohol and tobacco as examples of psychoactive drugs that were deemed to not fit the above criteria by the 1971 Conference which negotiated the Convention. Alcohol can cause dependence and central nervous depression resulting in disturbances of thinking and behavior, furthermore alcohol causes similar effects as barbiturates, alcohol causes very serious "public health and social problems" in many countries, and also alcohol has minimal use in modern medicine. Nevertheless, according to the "Commentary": Similarly, tobacco can cause dependence and has little medical use, but it was not considered to be a stimulant or depressant or to be similar to other scheduled substances. Most important, according to the "Commentary":  The Commission on Narcotic Drugs makes the final decision on whether to add the drug to a Schedule, "taking into account the communication from the World Health Organization, whose assessments shall be determinative as to medical and scientific matters, and bearing in mind the economic, social, legal, administrative and other factors it may consider relevant". A similar process is followed in deleting a drug from the Schedules or transferring a drug between Schedules. For instance, at its 33rd meeting, the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence recommended transferring tetrahydrocannabinol to Schedule IV of the Convention, citing its medical uses and low abuse potential. However, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs has declined to vote on whether to follow the WHO recommendation and reschedule tetrahydrocannabinol. The UN Economic and Social Council, as a parent body of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, can alter or reverse the Commission's scheduling decisions.  In the event of a disagreement about a drug's Scheduling, Article 2, Paragraph 7 allows a Party to, within 180 days of the communication of the Commission's decision, give the UN Secretary-General "a written notice that, in view of exceptional circumstances, it is not in a position to give effect with respect to that substance to all of the provisions of the Convention applicable to substances in that Schedule." This allows the nation to comply with a less stringent set of restrictions. The U.S. Controlled Substances Act's "21 U.S.C. § 811(d)(4)" implies that placing a drug in Schedule IV or V of the Act is sufficient to "carry out the minimum United States obligations under paragraph 7 of article 2 of the Convention". This provision, which calls for temporarily placing a drug under federal drug control in the event the Convention requires it, was invoked in 1984 with Rohypnol (flunitrazepam). Long before abuse of the drug was sufficiently widespread in the United States to meet the Act's drug control criteria, rohypnol was added to the Schedules of the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the U.S. government had to place rohypnol in Schedule IV of the Controlled Substances Act in order to meet its minimum treaty obligations.  As of March 2005, 111 substances were controlled under the Convention.

World Health Organization evaluations of specific drugs.

Ephedrine.

In 1998, ephedrine was recommended for control under the Convention. The Dietary Supplement Safety and Science Coalition lobbied against control, stressing the drug's history and safety, and arguing that "ephedrine is not a controlled substance in the US today, nor should it be internationally". After a two-year debate, the Expert Committee on Drug Dependence decided against regulating ephedrine. However, the Commission on Narcotics Drugs and the International Narcotics Control Board listed the drug as a Table I precursor under the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, a move that did not require WHO approval.

Ketamine.

The Expert Committee on Drug Dependence cautiously began investigating ketamine at its thirty-third meeting, noting, "Its use in veterinary medicine must also be considered in relation to its control". Ketamine remains uncontrolled internationally, although many nations (e.g. USA and UK) have enacted restrictions on the drug.

MDMA.

The Expert Committee's evaluation of MDMA during its 22nd meeting in 1985 was marked by pleas from physicians to allow further research into the drug's therapeutic uses. Paul Grof, chairman of the Expert Committee, argued that international control was not yet warranted, and that scheduling should be delayed pending completion of more studies. The Expert Committee concluded that because there was "insufficient evidence to indicate that the substance has therapeutic usefulness," it should be placed in Schedule I. However, its report did recommend more MDMA research:  MDMA was added to the convention as a Schedule I controlled substance in February 1986.

MBDB.

MBDB (Methylbenzodioxolylbutanamine) is an entactogen with similar effects to MDMA. The thirty-second meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (September 2000) evaluated MBDB and recommended against scheduling.  From the WHO Expert Committee assessment of MBDB:

Methcathinone.

Circa 1994, the United States government notified the UN Secretary General that it supported controlling methcathinone, an addictive stimulant manufactured with common household products, as a Schedule I drug under the Convention. The FDA report warned of the drug's dangers, even noting that addicts in Russia were observed to often have "potassium permanganate burns on their fingers" and to "tend not to pay attention to their appearance, thus looking ragged with dirty hands and hair". With methcathinone having no medical use, the decision to place the drug in Schedule I was uncontested.

Nicotine.

Traditionally, the UN has been reluctant to control nicotine and other drugs traditionally legal in Europe and North America, citing tolerance of a wide range of lifestyles. This contrasts with the regulatory regime for other highly addictive drugs. Gabriel G. Nahas, in a Bulletin on Narcotics report, noted: Nonetheless, in October 1996, the Expert Committee considered controlling nicotine, especially products such as gum, patches, nasal spray, and inhalers. The UN ultimately left nicotine unregulated. Since then, nicotine products have become even more loosely controlled; Nicorette gum, for instance, is now an over-the-counter drug in the United States and in Finland, readily available in Finland from grocery stores and pharmacies. Another nicotine gum sold in Finland is called Nicotinell. All kinds of nicotine products are readily available in Finnish grocery stores and pharmacies.

Tetrahydrocannabinol.

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active ingredient in cannabis, was originally placed in Schedule I when the Convention was enacted in 1971. At its twenty-sixth meeting, in response to a 1987 request from the Government of the United States that THC be transferred from Schedule I to Schedule II, the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence recommended that THC be transferred to Schedule II, citing its low abuse potential and "moderate to high therapeutic usefulness" in relieving nausea in chemotherapy patients. The Commission on Narcotic Drugs rejected the proposal. However, at its twenty-seventh meeting, the WHO Expert Committee again recommended that THC be moved to Schedule II. At its 45th meeting, on 29 April 1991, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs approved the transfer of dronabinol and its stereochemical variants from Schedule I to Schedule II of the Convention, while leaving other tetrahydrocannabinols and their stereochemical variants in Schedule I.  At its thirty-third meeting (September 2002), the WHO Committee issued another evaluation of the drug and recommended that THC be moved to Schedule IV, stating: No action was taken on this recommendation. And at its thirty-fourth meeting the WHO Committee recommended that THC be moved instead to Schedule III. In 2007 the Commission on Narcotic Drugs decided not to vote on whether to reschedule THC, and they requested that the WHO make another review when more information is available.  In 2019, the WHO Expert Committee recommended that all isomers of THC be withdrawn from the Schedules of the 1971 Convention and included in the 1961 Convention alongside other Cannabis-related products and pharmaceutical preparations. This would enter into force only after a confirmation vote by the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

2C-B (4-Bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine).

2C-B is a psychedelic phenethylamine. At its thirty-second (September 2000) meeting the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence recommended that 2C-B be placed in Schedule II, rather than with other scheduled psychedelics in Schedule I.  The committee stated that "[t]he altered state of mind induced by hallucinogens such as 2C-B may result in harm to the user and to others", but did not cite any evidence.  From the WHO Expert Committee assessment of 2C-B:

Medical and scientific uses.

Like the Single Convention, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances recognizes scientific and medical use of psychoactive drugs, while banning other uses. provides that,  In this sense, the U.S. Controlled Substances Act is stricter than the Convention requires. Both have a tightly restricted category of drugs called Schedule I, but the US Act restricts medical use of Schedule I substances to research studies, while the Convention allows broader, but limited, medical use of Schedule I substances.

Psychedelic plants and fungi.

Several of the substances originally placed in Schedule I are psychedelic drugs which are contained in natural plants and fungi (such as peyote and psilocybin mushrooms) and which have long been used in religious or healing rituals. The Commentary notes the "Mexican Indian Tribes Mazatecas, Huicholes and Tarahumaras" as well as the "Kariri and Pankararu of eastern Brazil" as examples of societies that use such plants.  However, the official "Commentary on the Convention on Psychotropic Substances" makes it clear that psychedelic plants (and indeed any plants) were not included in the original Schedules and are not covered at all by the Convention. This includes "infusion of the roots" of "Mimosa tenuiflora" (M. hostilis; which contains DMT) and "beverages" made from psilocybin mushrooms. The purpose of Paragraph 4 of Article 32 was to allow States to "make a reservation assuring them the right to permit the continuation of the traditional use in question" in the case that plants were in the future added to the Schedule I. Currently, no plants or plant products are included in the Schedules of the 1971 Convention.  Furthermore, in a letter, dated 13 September 2001, to the Dutch Ministry of Health, Herbert Schaepe, Secretary of the UN International Narcotics Control Board, clarified that the UN Conventions do not cover "preparations" of psilocybin mushrooms: As you are aware, mushrooms containing the above substances are collected and abused for their hallucinogenic effects. As a matter of international law, no plants (natural material) containing psilocine and psilocybin are at present controlled under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971. Consequently, preparations made of these plants are not under international control and, therefore, not subject of the articles of the 1971 Convention. However, criminal cases are decided with reference to domestic law, which may otherwise provide for controls over mushrooms containing psilocine and psilocybin. As the Board can only speak as to the contours of the international drug conventions, I am unable to provide an opinion on the litigation in question.  Nonetheless, in 2001 the U.S. Government, in "Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal", argued that ayahuasca, an infusion of Mimosa hostilis and other psychoactive plants that is used in religious rituals, was prohibited in the US because of the 1971 Convention. That case involved a seizure by U.S. Customs and Border Protection of several drums of DMT-containing liquid. Plaintiffs sued to have the drugs returned to them, claiming that they used it as a central part of their religion.  In the discussions on, noted in the Official Record of the 1971 Conference, the representative from the United States supported the explicit exemption of sacred psychoactive substances, stating: "Substances used for religious services should be placed under national rather than international control", while the representative of the Holy See observed: "If exemptions were made in favour of certain ethnic groups, there would be nothing to prevent certain organizations of hippies from trying to make out, on religious grounds, that their consumption of psychotropic substances was permissible."

Organic plants.

The Commentary on the Convention on Psychotropic Substances notes that while many plant-derived chemicals are controlled by the treaty, the plants themselves are not:  Mexico, in particular, argued that "production" of psychotropic drugs should not apply to wild-growing plants such as peyote cacti or psilocybin mushrooms. The Bulletin on Narcotics noted that "Mexico could not undertake to eradicate or destroy these plants". Compared to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (which calls for "uprooting of all coca bushes which grow wild" and governmental licensing, purchasing, and wholesaling of licit opium, coca, and cannabis crops), the Convention on Psychotropic Substances devotes few words to the subject of psychoactive plants.  On 2 July 1987, the United States Assistant Secretary of Health recommended that the Drug Enforcement Administration initiate scheduling action under the Controlled Substances Act in order to implement restrictions required by cathinone's Schedule I status under the Convention. The 1993 DEA rule placing cathinone in the CSA's Schedule I noted that it was effectively also banning khat:

Precursors.

A 1971 Bulletin on Narcotics notes: This provision was eventually judged to be inadequate, and was strengthened by the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances's precursor control regime, which established two Tables of controlled precursors. The Commission on Narcotic Drugs and International Narcotics Control Board were put in charge of adding, removing, and transferring substances between the Tables.

Analogs.

Circa 1999, the Government of Spain proposed amending Schedules I and II to include isomers, esters, ethers, salts of isomers, esters and ethers, and any "substance resulting from modification of the chemical structure of a substance already in Schedule I or II and which produced pharmacological effects similar to those produced by the original substances". The WHO opposed this change. The Commission on Narcotic Drugs did amend the Schedules to include stereoisomerisms, however, with the understanding that "specific isomers that did not have hazardous pharmacological activity and that posed no danger to society could be excluded from control, as dextromethorphan had been in the case of Schedule I of the 1961 Convention."

Penal provisions.

provides:  Conspiracy, attempts, preparatory acts, and financial operations related to drug offenses are also called on to be criminalized. Parties are also asked to count convictions handed down by foreign governments in determining recidivism. Article 22 also notes that extradition treaties are "desirable", although a nation retains the right to refuse to grant extradition, including "where the competent authorities consider that the offence is not sufficiently serious."  As with all articles of the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, the provisions of Article 22 are only suggestions which do not override the domestic law of the member countries:

Treatment and prevention.

allows Parties, in implementing the Convention's penal provisions, to make exceptions for drug abusers by substituting "treatment, education, after-care, rehabilitation and social reintegration" for imprisonment. This reflects a shift in focus in the war on drugs from incarceration to treatment and prevention that had already begun to take hold by 1971. Indeed, in 1972, a parallel provision allowing treatment for drug abusers was added to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs by the Protocol Amending the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

Recent trends.

Rise in stimulant trafficking.

Control of stimulants has become a major challenge for the UN. In 1997, the World Drug Report warned: A 1998 UN General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem report noted: The report mentioned proposals to increase the flexibility of scheduling drugs under the Convention and to amend the drug-control treaties to make them more responsive to the current situation. Neither proposal has gained traction, however. Due to the ease of manufacturing methamphetamine, methcathinone, and certain other stimulants, control measures are focusing less on preventing drugs from crossing borders. Instead, they are centering on increasingly long prison sentences for manufacturers and traffickers as well as regulations on large purchases of precursors such as ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. The International Narcotics Control Board and Commission on Narcotic Drugs help coordinate this fight by adding additional precursors to the Tables of chemicals controlled under the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.  In 1997, ECOSOC called on nations to help enforce international law by cooperating "with relevant international organizations, such as Interpol and the World Customs Organization... in order to promote coordinated international action in the fight against illicit demand for and supply of amphetamine-type stimulants and their precursors." That resolution also called on governments overseeing precursor exports "to inquire with the authorities of importing States about the legitimacy of transactions of concern, and to inform the International Narcotics Control Board of the action taken, particularly when they do not receive any reply to their inquiries". Pockets of high-intensity clandestine production and trafficking, such as rural southwest Virginia, exist in most industrialized nations. However, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime believes that East Asia (particularly Thailand) now has the most serious amphetamine-type stimulant (ATS) problem in the world. A 2002 report by that agency noted: The Office called on nations to bring more resources to bear in the demand reduction effort, improving treatment and rehabilitation processes, increasing private sector participation in eliminating drugs from the workplace, and expanding the drug information clearing house to share information more effectively.

Canadian noncompliance.

In 2000, the International Narcotics Control Board chastised Canada for refusing to comply with the Convention's requirement that international transactions in controlled psychotropics be reported to the Board. INCB Secretary Herbert Schaepe said:

Licit drug problems.

In an unusual departure from its normally pro-industry leanings, the INCB issued a press release in 2001 warning of excessive use of licit psychotropics:  The Board also warned that the Internet provides "easy access to information on drug production and drug-taking," calling it "a growing source of on-line drug trafficking." The Board pointed out that some Internet suppliers sell controlled drugs without regard to the Convention's medical prescription requirements.

List of controlled psychotropic substances.

Source: INCB Green List (28th Edition, 2017)

Statistics.

All Schedules consist of 116 positions and common generalization clause for salts. Schedule I also contains generalization clause for stereoisomers. There are also 2 specific generalizations, both for tetrahydrocannabinol stereochemical variants. There are no exclusions.

Schedule I.

Contains 62 positions (including 1 position for six tetrahydrocannabinol isomers), generalization clause for stereoisomers, specific generalization for tetrahydrocannabinol stereochemical variants and common generalization clause for salts.  Phenethylamine psychedelics:  Tryptamine psychedelics:  Stimulants:  Synthetic cannabinoids:  Isomers of natural tetrahydrocannabinol:  Dissociatives:  Ergolines:  The stereoisomers of substances in Schedule I are also controlled, unless specifically excepted, whenever the existence of such stereoisomers is possible within the specific chemical designation.  Salts of all the substances covered by the four schedules, whenever the existence of such salts is possible, are also under international control.

Schedule II.

Contains 17 positions, specific generalization for tetrahydrocannabinol stereochemical variants and common generalization clause for salts.  Stimulants:  Phenethylamine psychedelics:  Natural cannabinols:  Depressants (barbiturates):  Depressants (qualones):  Dissociatives:  Other:  Salts of all the substances covered by the four schedules, whenever the existence of such salts is possible, are also under international control.

Schedule III.

Contains 9 positions and common generalization clause for salts.  Depressants (barbiturates):  Depressants (benzodiazepines):  Depressants (other):  Semisynthetic agonist–antagonist opioids:  Synthetic agonist–antagonist opioids – benzomorphans:  Stimulants:  Salts of all the substances covered by the four schedules, whenever the existence of such salts is possible, are also under international control.

Schedule IV.

Contains 62 positions and common generalization clause for salts.  Depressants (barbiturates):  Depressants (benzodiazepines):  Depressants (carbamates):  Depressants (other):  Stimulants:  Drugs with both stimulant and opioid effects:  Salts of all the substances covered by the four schedules, whenever the existence of such salts is possible, are also under international control.

Regulated elsewhere.

The following are scheduled by Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.  Cannabis:  Coca leaf, cocaine and ecgonine:  All other drugs scheduled by the narcotic convention are agonist-only opioids (and natural sources of them).

Not scheduled by UN conventions.

Plants being the source of substances scheduled by this convention are not scheduled (see Psychedelic plants and fungi and Organic plants sections).  Partial list of psychotropic substances currently or formerly used in medicine, but not scheduled:  Of course there are also many designer drugs, not used in medicine.

The Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 is a United Nations treaty designed to control psychoactive drugs such as amphetamine-type stimulants, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and psychedelics signed in Vienna, Austria on 21 February 1971. The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 did not ban the many newly discovered psychotropics, since its scope was limited to drugs with cannabis, coca, and opium-like effects.

Die Konvention über psychotrope Substanzen ist ein Abkommen der Vereinten Nationen zur Kontrolle psychotroper Substanzen wie Amphetamin, Barbiturat oder LSD.


Synopsis.

The novel begins where "" ended. After Jake, Eddie, Susannah and Roland fruitlessly riddle Blaine the Mono for several hours, Eddie defeats the mad computer by telling childish jokes. Blaine is unable to handle Eddie's "illogical" riddles and short-circuits.  The four gunslingers and Oy the billy-bumbler disembark at the Topeka railway station, which to their surprise is located in the Topeka, Kansas, of the 1980s. The city is deserted, as this version of the world has been depopulated by the influenza of King's novel "The Stand". Links between these books also include the following reference to The Walkin' Dude from "The Stand" on page 95, "Someone had spray-painted over both signs marking the ramp's ascending curve. On the one reading St. Louis 215, someone had slashed "watch out for the walking dude"", among others. The world also has some other minor differences with the one (or more) known to Eddie, Jake and Susannah; for instance, the Kansas City baseball team is the Monarchs (as opposed to the Royals), and Nozz-A-La is a popular soft drink.  The "ka-tet" leaves the city via the Kansas Turnpike, and as they camp one night next to an eerie dimensional hole which Roland calls a "thinny", the gunslinger tells his apprentices of his past, and his first encounter with a thinny.  At the beginning of the story-within-the-story, Roland (age fourteen) earns his guns—an episode retold in the inaugural issue of ""—and becomes the youngest gunslinger in memory. He did it because he discovered his father's trusted counsellor, the sorcerer Marten Broadcloak, having an affair with his mother, Gabrielle Deschain. In anger, Roland challenges his mentor, Cort, to a duel to earn his guns. Roland bests his teacher, and his father sends him east, away from Gilead, for his own protection. Roland leaves with two companions, Cuthbert Allgood and Alain Johns.  Soon after their arrival in the distant Barony of Mejis, Roland falls in love with Susan Delgado, the promised "gilly" of Thorin—the mayor. His love for Susan Delgado clouds his reasoning for a time and nearly results in a permanent split between him and his previously inseparable friend Cuthbert. He and his "ka-tet" also discover a plot between the Barony's elite and "The Good Man" John Farson, leader of a rebel faction, to fuel Farson's war machines with Mejis oil. After being seized by the authorities on trumped-up charges of murdering the Barony's Mayor and Chancellor, Roland's "ka-tet" manages to escape jail with Susan's help, destroy the oil and the detachment Farson sent to transport it, as well as the Mejis traitors. The battle ends at Eyebolt Canyon, where Farson's troops are maneuvered into charging to their deaths into a thinny.  The "ka-tet" also captures the pink-colored Wizard's Glass, a mystical, malevolent orb or crystal ball from the town witch, Rhea of the Cöos. The globe had entranced Rhea so much that she was starving herself and her pets to death because she spent every free moment watching the visions in the orb. The glass then shows Roland a vision of his future, and also of Susan's death (she is burned as a harvest sacrifice for colluding with Roland). The visions send him into a stupor, from which he eventually recovers—at which point the glass torments him with "other" visions, this time of events that he was not present for but nonetheless shaped his fate and Susan's, such is the nature of the Wizard's Glass. Thus Roland's sad tale comes to a close.  In the morning, Roland's new "ka-tet" comes to a suspiciously familiar Emerald City. The "Wizard of Oz" parallels continue inside, where the Wizard is revealed to be Marten Broadcloak, also known as Randall Flagg, who flees when Roland attempts to kill him with Jake's Ruger and narrowly misses (Flagg has bewitched Roland's own guns, saying, "Only misfires against "me", Roland, old fellow"). In his place he leaves Maerlyn's Grapefruit, which shows the "ka-tet" the day Roland accidentally killed his own mother. Roland, it has been explained time and again, tends to be very bad medicine for his friends and loved ones. Nonetheless, when given the choice, Eddie, Susannah and Jake all refuse to swear off the quest; and as the novel closes, the "ka-tet" once more sets off for The Dark Tower, following the Path of the Beam.

Illustrations.

Dave McKean created eighteen Illustrations for "The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass". The original eighteen illustrations appear only in the first edition hardback released in 1997. All subsequent trade paperback editions of the novel only feature twelve of McKean's illustrations; mass market paperback editions do not feature any.

Wizard and Glass is a fantasy novel by American writer Stephen King. It is the fourth book in "The Dark Tower" series, published in 1997. Subtitled "Regard", it placed fourth in the annual Locus Poll for best fantasy novel.

Glas (Originaltitel: "The Dark Tower IV - Wizard and Glass") ist der Titel eines im Jahre 1997 veröffentlichten Romans des Schriftstellers Stephen King und bildet den vierten Band der achtbändigen, düsteren Fantasy-Saga, die unter dem Titel der Dunklen-Turm-Zyklus bekannt ist. "Die Hintergründe dieses Romanzyklus sind im dortigen Artikel ausführlich dargestellt."


Description.

One smoot is equal to Oliver Smoot's height at the time of the prank,. The bridge's length was measured to be plus or minus one ear, with the "plus or minus" intended to express uncertainty of measurement. Over the years the "or minus" portion has gone astray in many citations, including the markings at the site itself, but is recorded on a plaque by Smoot's college class.

History.

To implement his use as a unit of measure, Oliver Smoot repeatedly lay down on the bridge, let his companions mark his new position in chalk or paint, and then got up again. Eventually, he got tired from all this exercise and was carried thereafter by the fraternity brothers to each new position.  Oliver Smoot graduated from MIT with the class of 1962, became a lawyer, and later became chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI, 2001–02) and then, president of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO, 2003–04). He is the cousin of Nobel Prize winner George Smoot. The prank's fiftieth anniversary was commemorated on October 4, 2008 as Smoot Celebration Day at MIT, which Smoot attended.  In 2011, "smoot" was one of the 10,000 new words added to the fifth edition of the "American Heritage Dictionary".  On May 7, 2016, Oliver Smoot served as Grand Marshal of the alumni parade across the bridge, celebrating the 100th anniversary of MIT's move from Boston to Cambridge.

Practical use.

The bridge is marked with painted markings indicating how many smoots there are from where the sidewalk begins on the Boston river bank. The marks are repainted each semester by the incoming associate member class (similar to pledge class) of Lambda Chi Alpha.  Markings typically appear every 10 smoots, but additional marks appear at other numbers in between. For example, the 70-smoot mark is accompanied by a mark for 69. The 182.2-smoot mark is accompanied by the words "Halfway to Hell" and an arrow pointing towards MIT. Each class also paints a special mark for their graduating year.  The markings are recognized as milestones on the bridge, to the degree that during the bridge renovations that occurred in the 1980s, the Cambridge police department requested that the markings be restored, as they were used routinely in police reports to identify locations on the bridge. The renovators at the Massachusetts Highway Department went one better, scoring the concrete surface of the sidewalk on the bridge at intervals instead of the conventional. The Lambda Zeta (MIT) chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha, which created the smoot markings, continues to repaint the markings once or twice per year.  Google Calculator also incorporates smoots, which it reckons at exactly 67 inches (170.18 cm). Google also used the smoot as an optional unit of measurement in their Google Earth software and Google Maps distance measurement tool. In 2014, Google introduced a new Maps interface with a measurement tool that gives distances only in feet/miles and meters/kilometers.  MIT's student-run college radio station, WMBR, broadcasts at a wavelength of 2 smoots (88.1 MHz).

The smoot is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity prank. It is named after Oliver R. Smoot, a fraternity pledge to Lambda Chi Alpha, who in October 1958 lay down repeatedly on the Harvard Bridge (between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts) so that his fraternity brothers could use his height to measure the length of the bridge.

Smoot ist eine nichtstandardgemäße Maßeinheit, die aus einem Spaß einer Studentenverbindung entstanden ist. Benannt ist die Einheit nach Oliver R. Smoot, der im Oktober 1958 anlässlich eines Verbindungsgelöbnisses für Lambda Chi Alpha am MIT mit seinem Körper als Maßstab für die Harvard Bridge diente. Ein Smoot ist demnach gleich seiner Größe und misst 67 Zoll (1,7018 m). Die Länge der Brücke wurde auf „364,4 Smoots plus/minus ein Ohr“ bestimmt. Noch heute können auf der Brücke Spuren des Messvorgangs gesehen werden. So befinden sich auf dem Boden typischerweise alle 10 Smoots Markierungen, die jedes Jahr erneuert werden. Dazwischen gibt es noch einige weitere Sondermarkierungen, wie zum Beispiel die 69-Smoot-Marke (anstelle der 70-Smoot-Marke) oder die 182,2-Smoot-Marke, die mit den Worten „Halfway to Hell“ und einem auf das MIT zeigenden Pfeil verziert ist. Außerdem ergänzt jede Abschlussklasse eine eigene Smoot-Marke.


History.

Panamanian efforts to renegotiate the original Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty had been ongoing almost since it was first signed in November 1903, a few weeks after Panama obtained its independence from Colombia. However, activity to renegotiate or abrogate the treaty increased considerably after the Suez Crisis, and events in 1964 precipitated a complete breakdown in relations between the U.S. and Panama. On January 9 of that year, Panamanian students entered the canal zone to fly the Panamanian flag next to the American flag, per a 1963 agreement to defuse tension between the two countries. Panamanians watching the event began rioting after the students raising the Panamanian flag were jeered and harassed by American school officials, students, and their parents. During the scuffle, somehow the Panamanian flag was torn. Widespread rioting ensued, during which over 20 Panamanians were killed and about 500 were injured. Most of the casualties were caused by fire from U.S. troops, who had been called in to protect Canal Zone property, including private residences of Canal Zone employees. January 9 is a National Holiday in Panama, known as Martyrs' Day.  The next day, January 10, Panama broke off diplomatic relations with the United States and on January 19, President of Panama Roberto Chiari declared that Panama would not re-establish diplomatic ties with the United States until the U.S. agreed to begin negotiations on a new treaty. The first steps in that direction were taken shortly thereafter on April 3, 1964 when both countries agreed to an immediate resumption of diplomatic relations and the United States agreed to adopt procedures for the "elimination of the causes of conflict between the two countries". A few weeks later, Robert B. Anderson, President Lyndon Johnson's special representative, flew to Panama to pave the way for future talks. Negotiations over the next years resulted in a treaty in 1967, but it failed to be ratified in Panama. After the failure of those treaties, Panama experienced a change in government following a 1968 military coup. The new government was consolidated under Omar Torrijos, who decided to definitively reject the 1967 treaty. In response to a lack of progress of negotiations with the Nixon administration, the Torrijos government succeeded in holding a March 1973 United Nations Security Council session in Panama City, where it attracted considerable international support for its cause. The diplomatic debacle also attracted Henry Kissinger's attention and helped produce momentum for the 1974 Tack-Kissinger agreement, which would provide the crucial framework for negotiations moving forward. "It was this work, beginning in late 1972, that made Panama the visible issue that Carter boldly hoped to solve as a watershed for a new style of foreign policy and an era of improved relations with Latin America."  The Carter administration made the canal a high priority, starting during the transition. The issue had been highlighted by the a blue-ribbon commission headed by Ambassador Sol Linowitz. Several individuals associated with that commission would play major roles in the Carter administration's Latin America policy, including Linowitz himself and NSC Senior Director Robert A. Pastor. Negotiations were resumed on February 15, 1977 and were completed by August 10 of that year. On the American side the negotiators were Ellsworth Bunker and Sol Linowitz; the Panamanian side of the negotiations was headed by Rómulo Escobar Bethancourt. Senator Dennis DeConcini sponsored a critical amendment to the Panama Canal Treaty that allowed the Senate to come to a consensus on giving control of the Canal to Panama. A few days before final agreement on the treaties was reached, President Jimmy Carter had sent a telegram to all members of Congress informing them of the status of the negotiations and asking them to withhold judgment on the treaty until they had an opportunity to carefully study it. Senator Strom Thurmond responded to Carter's appeal by stating in a speech later that day, "The canal is ours, we bought and we paid for it and we should keep it."

Ratification.

Both treaties were subsequently ratified in Panama by a two-thirds vote in a referendum held on October 23, 1977. To allow for popular discussion of the treaties and in response to claims made by opponents of the treaty in the U.S. that Panama was incapable of democratically ratifying them, restrictions on the press and on political parties were lifted several weeks prior to the vote. On the day of the vote, 96% of Panama's eligible voters went to the polls, the highest voter turnout in Panama up to that time. The neutrality treaty was of major concern among voters, particularly on the political left, and was one reason why the treaties failed to obtain even greater popular support.  The United States Senate advised and consented to ratification of the first treaty on March 16, 1978 and to the second treaty on April 18 by identical 68 to 32 margins. On both votes, 52 Democrats and 16 Republicans voted in favor of advising and consenting to ratification, while 10 Democrats and 22 Republicans voted against.

Criticism.

The treaties were the source of vehement controversy in the United States, particularly among conservatives led by Ronald Reagan, Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms, who regarded them as the surrender of a strategic American asset to what they characterized as a hostile government. The attack was mobilized by numerous groups, especially the American Conservative Union, the Conservative Caucus, the Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress, Citizens for the Republic, the American Security Council, the Young Republicans, the National Conservative Political Action Committee, the Council for National Defense, Young Americans for Freedom, the Council for Inter-American Security, and the Campus Republican Action Organization.  In the year preceding the final transfer of canal assets there was an effort in the United States Congress, notably House Joint Resolution 77 (HJR 77) introduced by Helen Chenoweth-Hage, to declare the Carter–Torrijos treaties null and void. Despite the fact that the pullout of the United States is now complete, there are still organizations (primarily conservative ones such as the John Birch Society) that urge the United States to declare the treaty null and void, saying that the Spanish text is different from the English text. Support of HJR 77 was part of the 2000 platform of the Texas Republican Party but no longer appeared in the 2004 platform. Further criticism arose when journalists revealed that the Canal was allegedly surrendered to Panama in order to allow Torrijos to service the debt on his American bank loans. In 1968, before the general seized political control, Panama's foreign debt was less than $200 million. By 1977, its debt to American banks alone stood at $1.8 billion. The United States's surrender of the Canal would allow American banks to receive payments from its debtor.

Implementation.

The treaty laid out a timetable for the transfer of the canal, leading to a complete handover of all lands and buildings in the canal area to Panama. The most immediate consequence of this treaty was that the Canal Zone, as an entity, ceased to exist on October 1, 1979. The final phase of the treaty was completed on December 31, 1999. On this date, the United States relinquished control of the Panama Canal and all areas in what had been the Panama Canal Zone.  As a result of the treaties, by the year 2000 nearly, including some 7,000 buildings, such as military facilities, warehouses, schools, and private residences, were transferred to Panama. In 1993, the Panamanian government created a temporary agency ("Autoridad de la Región Interoceánica" or "Interoceanic Region Authority", commonly referred to as ARI) to administer and maintain the reverted properties.  On the day the treaty took effect, most of the land within the former Canal Zone transferred to Panama. However, the treaty set aside many Canal Zone areas and facilities for transfer during the following 20 years. The treaty specifically categorized areas and facilities by name as "Military Areas of Coordination", "Defense Sites" and "Areas Subject to Separate Bilateral Agreement". These were to be transferred by the U.S. to Panama during certain time windows or simply by the end of the 243-month treaty period.  On October 1, 1979, among the many such parcels so designated in the treaty, 34 emerged as true enclaves (surrounded entirely by land solely under Panamanian jurisdiction). In later years as other areas were turned over to Panama, eight more true enclaves emerged. Of these 42 true enclaves, 14 were related to military logistics, 7 were military communications sites, 5 Federal Aviation Administration facilities, 5 military housing enclaves, 3 military base areas, 2 military research facilities, 4 secondary school parcels, 1 elementary school, and 1 hospital. At least 13 other parcels each were encircled not only by land under the absolute jurisdiction of Panama, but also by an "Area of Civil Coordination" (housing) that was subject to elements of both U.S. and Panamanian public law under the treaty.  In addition, the treaty designated numerous areas and individual facilities as "Canal Operating Areas" for joint U.S.–Panama ongoing operations by a commission. On the effective date of the treaty, many of these, including Madden Dam, became newly surrounded by the territory of Panama. Just after noon local time on 31 December 1999, all former Canal Zone parcels of all types had come under the exclusive jurisdiction of Panama.

The Torrijos–Carter Treaties () are two treaties signed by the United States and Panama in Washington, D.C., on September 7, 1977, which superseded the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903. The treaties guaranteed that Panama would gain control of the Panama Canal after 1999, ending the control of the canal that the U.S. had exercised since 1903. The treaties are named after the two signatories, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and the Commander of Panama's National Guard, General Omar Torrijos.

Die Torrijos-Carter-Verträge sind zwei Verträge zwischen den Vereinigten Staaten und Panama, die am 7. September 1977 in Washington, D.C. von Panamas De-facto-Regierungschef, General Omar Torrijos, und US-Präsident Jimmy Carter unterzeichnet wurden.


Early life.

King was born in Sampson County, North Carolina, to William King and Margaret deVane. His family was large, wealthy and well-connected. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1803, where he was also a member of the Philanthropic Society. Admitted to the bar in 1806 after reading the law with Judge William Duffy of Fayetteville, North Carolina, he began practice in Clinton. King was an ardent Freemason, and was a member of Fayetteville's Phoenix Lodge No. 8.

Political career.

King entered politics and was elected as a member of the North Carolina House of Commons, where he served from 1807 to 1809, and he became city solicitor of Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1810. He was elected to the Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1811, until November 4, 1816, when he resigned to become Secretary of the Legation for William Pinkney during Pinkney's appointment as Minister to Russia and special diplomatic mission in Naples. He was only 25 years old when he became a congressman for the first time.  When he returned to the United States in 1818, King joined the westward migration of the cotton culture to the Deep South, purchasing property at what would later be known as "King's Bend" between present-day Selma and Cahaba on the Alabama River in Dallas County of the new Alabama Territory, which had been recently separated from Mississippi. He developed a large cotton plantation based on slave labor, calling the property "Chestnut Hill". King and his relatives formed one of the largest slaveholding families in the state, collectively owning as many as 500 persons.  William Rufus King was a delegate to the convention which organized the Alabama state government. Upon the admission of Alabama as the twenty-second state in 1819 he was elected by the State Legislature as a Democratic-Republican to the United States Senate.  King was a follower of Andrew Jackson, and was reelected to the Senate as a Jacksonian in 1822, 1828, 1834, and 1841, serving from December 14, 1819, until his resignation on April 15, 1844. During this time, in March–April 1824, William R. King was honored with a single vote at the Democratic-Republican Party Caucus to be the party's candidate for the Office of U.S. Vice President for the upcoming 1824 presidential election. Later he served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate during the 24th through 27th Congresses. King was Chairman of the Senate's Committee on Public Lands and the Committee on Commerce.  He was appointed as Minister to France, and served from 1844 to 1846. After his return, King resumed serving in the Senate, appointed and subsequently elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Arthur P. Bagby. He held his seat from July 1, 1848, until resigning because of ill health on December 20, 1852, after having been elected vice president.  During the conflicts leading up to the Compromise of 1850, King supported the Senate's gag rule against debate on antislavery petitions and opposed proposals to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, which was administered by Congress. King supported a conservative, pro-slavery position, arguing that the Constitution protected the institution of slavery in both the Southern states and the federal territories. He opposed both the abolitionists' efforts to abolish slavery in the territories as well as the "Fire-Eaters" calls for Southern secession.  On July 11, 1850, two days after the death of President Zachary Taylor, King was appointed Senate President pro tempore. Because Millard Fillmore ascended to the presidency, the vice presidency was vacant, making King first in the line of succession under the law then in effect. He also served as Chairman of the Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Pensions.

Relationship with James Buchanan.

The argument for King's homosexuality has been put forward by biographer Jean Baker, supported by Shelley Ross, James W. Loewen, and Robert P. Watson, and focuses essentially on his close and intimate relationship with President James Buchanan. The two men lived together for 13 years from 1840 until King's death in 1853. Buchanan referred to the relationship as a "communion", and the two often attended official functions together. Contemporaries also noted and commented upon the unusual closeness. Andrew Jackson mockingly called them "Miss Nancy" and "Aunt Fancy" (the former being a 19th-century euphemism for an effeminate man), while Aaron V. Brown referred to King as Buchanan's "better half". However, Lewis Saum, has argued that "...Customs and expressions were different in the mid-1800s than they are today... "Miss Nancy" was "a fairly common designation for people who wore clean clothes and had good manners"; and noted that Aaron Brown was a political enemy of King.  Loewen has described Buchanan and King as "siamese twins". A biographer of James Knox Polk, Barzman wrote that "King's "fastidious habits and conspicuous intimacy with the bachelor Buchanan gave rise to some cruel jibes." Buchanan adopted King's mannerisms and romanticised view of southern culture. Both had strong political ambitions and in 1844 they planned to run as president and vice president. Both men were soft, effeminate and eccentric. They spent some time apart while King was on overseas missions in France, and their letters remain cryptic, avoiding revealing any personal feelings at all. In May 1844, Buchanan wrote to Cornelia Roosevelt, "I am now'solitary and alone,' having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone, and [I] should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection." After King died in 1853 Buchanan described him as "among the best, the purest and most consistent public men I have known." Baker concluded that while some of their correspondence were destroyed by family members, the length and intimacy of surviving letters illustrate "the affection of a special friendship" between King and Buchanan, with no way to know for certain whether it was a romantic relationship.

Vice presidency and death.

The 1852 Democratic National Convention was held at the 1851 Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts Hall in Baltimore. Franklin Pierce was nominated for president, and King was nominated for vice president. Pierce and King defeated the Whig candidates, Winfield Scott and William Alexander Graham. (While attending college, King and Graham had been members of rival campus organizations in Chapel Hill; King belonging to the Philanthropic Society and Graham to the Dialectic Society.) Because King was ill with tuberculosis and had traveled to Cuba in an effort to regain his health, he was not able to be in Washington to take his oath of office on March 4, 1853. By a Special Act of Congress, he was allowed to take the oath outside the United States, and was sworn in on March 24, 1853, near Matanzas, Cuba.  Shortly afterward, King made the journey to return to Chestnut Hill, where he died within two days of his arrival. He was interred in a vault on the plantation and later reburied in Selma's Old Live Oak Cemetery. King never carried out any duties of the office. The U.S. Senate displays a bust of King in its collection, even though he never presided over a legislative session as vice president.  Following King's death, the office of vice president was vacant until John C. Breckinridge was inaugurated with President James Buchanan in March 1857.

William Rufus DeVane King (April 7, 1786 – April 18, 1853) was an American politician and diplomat. He was the 13th vice president of the United States for six weeks in 1853 before his death. Earlier he had been elected as a U.S. representative from North Carolina and a senator from Alabama. He also served as minister to France during the reign of King Louis Philippe I.

William Rufus DeVane King (* 7. April 1786 im Sampson County, North Carolina; † 18. April 1853 im Dallas County, Alabama) war ein US-amerikanischer Politiker und im Jahr 1853 für 45 Tage bis zu seinem Tod der 13. Vizepräsident der Vereinigten Staaten unter Präsident Franklin Pierce. Außerdem war er Mitglied beider Kammern des US-Kongresses.


Early life.

Vitéz was born in Sredna near Križevci in a Croat-Hungarian family which was already influential at the Hungarian court. Vitéz's mother was originated from the Garázda genus (originally from Bosnia, genus is named after Goražde). On his father's side he derived from Pilis county (his father's surname was originally "Csévi"). His father was the secretary of the regent John Hunyadi, from 1446 to 1452. Vitéz became a prothonotary in his government.  Vitéz studied in Vienna, where he graduated in law and became knowledgeable in physics, astronomy and alchemy due to frequent contacts with other humanists. In the chancery of King Sigismund, he probably met the excellent Italian humanist Pier Paolo Vergerio. For a while (around 1437) he was the canon in Zagreb. In that period, he helped strengthen the relations between the Croatian capital and the thriving Italian cultural and scientific centers. Then he left for Hungary, where he was to play a major role in the development of cultural and scientific institutions.

Career.

Vitéz was one of the educators of Hunyadi's son Matthias Corvinus, who became King of Hungary. Vitéz became the bishop of Oradea in 1445 and turned it into a humanist centre, where he invited a number of Polish and German humanists, such as Gregory of Sanok. He was a book collector and built a library there. Both his court and the library moved from Oradea to Esztergom in 1465, when he became the primate of Hungary, or the archbishop of Esztergom – one of the two bishoprics in Hungary.  In the government of Matthias Corvinus, he fulfilled many positions. First of all, due to his earlier practice, he was an excellent diplomat to the king. In 1458 he was sent to Prague to George of Poděbrady to redeem the king and then he (according to Bonfini) welcomed the king when he entered the kingdom. He served the king in a few diplomatic missions, especially to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. After 1464 he became active in the highest and secret chancellor (together with Stephen Várdai), but did not take many actions in the position. During the late 1460s he became estranged to the king and in 1471 he led a plot against the ruler.  Vitéz, who spoke and wrote in excellent Latin, had a major role in the international circle of humanists at Corvin's court, some of whom were prominent scientists, such as Regiomontanus, Bylica, Peuerbach, Hans Dorn. He was especially interested in natural sciences and promoted their study. He founded the academy and library in Oradea (moved to Esztergom) and the Universitas Istropolitana in Pozsony (currently Bratislava). He promoted astrologic and astronomic research, had astronomic instruments of his own, and founded the observatory in Esztergom. He is sometimes referred to as the Father of Hungarian Humanism.  As the initiator of a rebellion against the king (1471–1472), he lost his privileges and estates. Soon after, he fell ill and died in Esztergom.  His nephew was the great Latin humanist Janus Pannonius.

References.

In Croatian:

John Vitéz de Zredna (; ; 1408 – 8 August 1472) was a Hungarian and Croat humanist, diplomat, Latinist, mathematician, astrologist and astronomer. He served as Archbishop of Esztergom from 1465 until his death.

Johann Vitez (* 1408 in Sredna bei Križevci, Kroatien; † 9. August 1472 in Esztergom, Ungarn; kroatisch "Ivan Vitez od Sredne", ungarisch "János Vitéz de Zredna") war ein kroatischer Humanist, ab 1445 Bischof von Großwardein (heute: Oradea, Rumänien) und ab 1465 Erzbischof von Gran (heute: Esztergom, Ungarn). Sein Vater war Dénes von der Zredna (kroatisch "Dionizije od Sredne") im slawonischen Komitat Bjelovar-Križevci. Sein Neffe war Janus Pannonius.


Early life.

Williams was born in Bridgend, the son of former Welsh international rugby union player J.J. Williams. Rhys studied at Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari from September 1995 until June 2002. He was a member of the Bridgend and District D.C. Thomas winning rugby side at the age of 11 and was also the Welsh U15 backstroke swimming champion. He is currently studying for a master's degree at the University of Glamorgan.

Athletics career.

Williams won the 400 m hurdles at the 2005 European U23 Championships, was European Junior Champion in 2003, and won the European Youth Olympics in 2001.  On 10 August 2006, Williams won the bronze medal at the European Championships in Athletics in Gothenburg in a time of 49.12 seconds, thus just slightly missing his personal best (49.09, set at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, where he finished fourth). He also ran 48.3 over the 400 m (2002).  On 13 August 2006 at that same event, he won a silver medal in the 4x400 m relay as the second sprinter, along with Robert Tobin, Graham Hedman and Timothy Benjamin, in a time of 3:01.63. On 31 July 2010, he achieved the Silver Medal in the 400 m hurdles at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona, with fellow Welshman Dai Greene winning Gold.

Injuries.

On 17 June 2008 it was announced that he would miss the 2008 Olympics due to a stress fracture to his right foot. He suffered the injury while taking part in the Welsh Championships two days earlier, which was the first time he had competed since suffering a similar injury a year earlier.

Doping violation.

On 25 July 2014, on the second day of the 2014 Commonwealth Games where he was co-captain of the Welsh team, it was announced that he was suspended from all competition because of a doping violation at the Glasgow Grand Prix on 11 July. In January 2015 UK Anti-Doping gave Williams a four-month suspension, whilst accepting that Williams' positive test was due to taking a contaminated supplement and that he had not knowingly cheated. As Williams had already been suspended for more than six months the decision meant that he was free to compete again.

Rhys Williams (born 27 February 1984), is a Welsh professional track and field athlete, specializing in the 400 m hurdles. He is a previous European champion in the event.

Rhys Williams (* 27. Februar 1984 in Cardiff) ist ein walisischer Leichtathlet. Rhys Williams war im 400-Meter-Hürdenlauf Jugendeuropameister 2001, Junioreneuropameister 2003 und U23-Europameister 2005. Bei den Commonwealth Games 2006 belegte er Rang vier in 49,09 s, 2010 gewann er in 49,19 s die Bronzemedaille.


Early research.

Villard was born in Saint-Germain-au-Mont-d'Or, Rhône. He graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in 1881 and taught in several Lycées, ending with a Lycée in Montpellier. He would maintain a laboratory position at the Ecole Normale Supérieure until his retirement. At the time when he discovered what we now call gamma rays, Villard was working in the chemistry department of the École Normale Supérieure rue d'Ulm, Paris.  Villard is also credited with the discovery of argon hydrate. He spent the early part of his career (1888–1896) focusing on similar compounds at high pressure.

Discovery of gamma rays.

Villard investigated the radiation from radium salts that escaped from a narrow aperture in a shielded container onto a photographic plate, through a thin layer of lead that was known to stop alpha rays. He was able to show that the remaining radiation consisted of a second and third type of rays. One of those was deflected by a magnetic field (as were the familiar "canal rays") and could be identified with Rutherford's beta rays. The last type was a very penetrating kind of radiation which had not been identified before...  Villard was a modest man and he did not suggest a specific name for the type of radiation he had discovered. In 1903, it was Ernest Rutherford who proposed to call Villard's rays "gamma rays" because they were far more penetrating than the alpha rays and beta rays which he himself had already differentiated and named (in 1899) on the basis of their respective penetrating powers. The name stuck.

Later work.

Villard spent much time perfecting safer and more accurate methods of radiation dosimetry, which had been done very crudely up until then (typically by evaluating the quality of the image of the experimenter's hand produced on a photographic plate). In 1908, Villard pioneered the use of an ionization chamber for the dosimetry of ionizing radiation. He defined a unit of kerma which was later renamed the roentgen.

Retirement and death.

When Villard retired, he left Paris. He died in Bayonne, France, on January 13th, 1934.

Paul Ulrich Villard (28 September 1860 – 13 January 1934) was a French chemist and physicist. He discovered gamma rays in 1900 while studying the radiation emanating from radium.

Paul Ulrich Villard (* 28. September 1860 in Lyon; † 13. Januar 1934 in Bayonne) war ein französischer Physiker und Chemiker. Er entdeckte 1900 bei Arbeiten an Radium die γ-Strahlung als dritten Vertreter der ionisierenden Strahlung.


Education and career.

Born in Washington, D.C., Taylor received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Barnard College in 1954. She received a Bachelor of Laws from Yale Law School in 1957. She was an attorney in the Office of Solicitor of the United States Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. from 1957 to 1960. She was an assistant prosecutor in Wayne County, Michigan from 1961 to 1962. She was an Assistant United States Attorney of the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit, Michigan in 1966. She was a legislative assistant and Detroit office manager for United States Representative Charles Diggs from 1967 to 1970. She was in private practice of law in Detroit from 1970 to 1975. She was an adjunct professor at the Wayne State University School of Labor and Industrial Relations from 1972 to 1975. She was the supervising assistant corporation counsel for the City of Detroit Law Department from 1975 to 1979. She was an adjunct professor at Wayne State University Law School from 1976 to 1977.

Federal judicial service.

Taylor was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on May 17, 1979, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, to a new seat created by 92 Stat. 1629. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 31, 1979, and received her commission on November 2, 1979. She served as Chief Judge from 1996 to 1998. She assumed senior status on December 31, 1998, serving in that status until her death on November 4, 2017, in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, after battling an illness.

Personal.

In 1960, Taylor married United States Representative Charles Diggs; they divorced in 1971. In 1976, she married S. Martin Taylor, a regent of the University of Michigan.

"ACLU v. NSA".

In 2006, Taylor was the first federal judge to rule on the legal and constitutional issues of the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy. Her ruling in "ACLU v. NSA" held that the domestic wiretapping conducted by the National Security Agency without court approval violates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and is unconstitutional. She granted a permanent injunction to halt it. The ruling, whose effect was stayed pending appellate proceedings, sparked a vigorous political and legal controversy. She declined to rule on the legality of the alleged NSA call database, on state-secrets grounds. The quality and comprehensiveness of her opinion have been criticized by some legal experts.  The conservative watchdog organization Judicial Watch has alleged that Taylor may have had a conflict of interest in the case, because, according to Judicial Watch she is or was secretary and trustee for the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan (CFSEM), a group that made a $45,000 grant over two years to the ACLU of Michigan, the plaintiff in "ACLU v. NSA" in whose favor Taylor ruled.  Taylor's ruling was subsequently overturned by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. By a 2-1 vote, the appellate court held that the plaintiffs lacked standing, and vacated the portion of Taylor's ruling concerning warrantless wiretaps.

Anna Katherine Johnston Diggs Taylor (born Anna Katherine Johnston) (December 9, 1932 – November 4, 2017) was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Anna Diggs Taylor (* 9. Dezember 1932 als "Anna Katherine Johnston" in Washington, D.C.; † 4. November 2017 in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan) war eine US-amerikanische Juristin. Ab 1979 war sie – als erste afroamerikanische Frau in Michigan – Richterin am Bundesbezirksgericht für den östlichen Distrikt von Michigan. 1997 wurde sie zur leitenden Richterin des Gerichts ernannt, ein Jahr später trat sie jedoch zurück, um ihre Arbeitsbelastung zu reduzieren, und bekleidete das Amt als "Senior Judge".


Plot.

In the present day, a widow mourns the death of her husband. She covers up the TV set and all the mirrors in the house.  Her grown children are baffled by this behavior, asking why their mother has suddenly become Orthodox Jewish. The mother will not discuss her past, but her daughter wants to know what happened. Learning of a woman (Lena) who "saved" her mother during the war, she goes to Germany to learn the whole story. She finds Lena, who willingly reminisces about World War II, about her situation and the mother's childhood as a Jew growing up in Germany during the war. Lena herself is a German woman whose Jewish husband was persecuted by the Nazis while the little girl (the widow mother) loses her own mother to the Nazi concentration camps. The principal focus of the film addresses what happened to those who were in a mixed marriage ("Aryan"/Jewish). Amid constant flashbacks, the film pieces together the story of the Rosenstrasse protest, where the women waited for seven days and nights outside of a Nazi jail for their Jewish husbands. The protests took place in Berlin during the winter of 1943.

Production.

"Rosenstraße" was Margarethe von Trotta's first film since 1995. Due to funding problems, she had to choose between retreating to academia (as some of her colleagues did) or doing more TV production work.

Accolades.

The film won a David at the David di Donatello Awards. Franz Rath won for Best Cinematography at the Bavarian Film Awards and the UNICEF Award at the Venice Film Festival.

Reception.

Rosenstraße received notable criticism from film critics and historians alike. In particular, the film's explicit claim to give an accurate account of the Rosenstraße protest has caused historians to point out not only a number of minor flaws in the logic of the film, but also some major points where "Rosenstraße" did not stick to the facts. Among others, historian Beate Meyer compared fact and fiction in a detailed treatment, and came to the conclusion that "Rosenstraße" was a projection of contemporary hopes and myths on history, resulting in a utopia. The audience would inevitably come to wonder how the holocaust could occur "if only seven days of steadfastness would have sufficed to prevent it from happening."

Rosenstraße is a 2003 film directed by Margarethe von Trotta, starring Maria Schrader and Katja Riemann. It deals with the Rosenstrasse protest of 1943.

Rosenstraße ist ein Film der deutschen Regisseurin Margarethe von Trotta. Das Drama basiert auf dem so genannten Rosenstraße-Protest, der sich im Jahr 1943 in Berlin zutrug, und wurde von der Studio Hamburg Letterbox Filmproduktion und der Tele-München (TMG) produziert.