Wonder Boys (film)

Wonder Boys is a 2000 comedy-drama film directed by Curtis Hanson and written by Steve Kloves. An international co-production between the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan, it is based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Michael Chabon. Michael Douglas stars as professor Grady Tripp, a novelist who teaches creative writing at a university but has been unable to finish his second novel.
The film was shot in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, including locations at Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham University, University of Pittsburgh, and Shady Side Academy. Other Pennsylvania locations included Beaver, Rochester and Rostraver Township. After the film failed at the box office, there was a second attempt to find an audience with a new marketing campaign and a November 8, 2000, re-release, which was also a financial disappointment.
Plot.
Professor Grady Tripp is a novelist who teaches creative writing at an unnamed Pennsylvania university. He is having an affair with the university chancellor, Sara Gaskell, whose husband, Walter, is the chairman of the English department in which Grady is a professor. Grady's third wife, Emily, has just left him, and he has failed to repeat the grand success of his first novel, published years earlier. He continues to labor on a second novel, but the more he tries to finish it the less able he finds himself to invent a satisfactory ending. The book runs to over 2500 pages and is still far from finished. He spends his free time smoking marijuana.
Grady's students include James Leer and Hannah Green. Hannah and James are friends and both very good writers. Hannah, who rents a room in Grady's large house, is attracted to Grady, but he does not reciprocate. James is enigmatic, quiet, dark and enjoys writing fiction more than he first lets on.
During a party at the Gaskells' house, Sara reveals to Grady that she is pregnant with his child. Grady finds James standing outside holding what he claims to be a replica gun, won by his mother at a fairground during her schooldays. However, the gun turns out to be very real, as James shoots the Gaskells' dog when he finds it attacking Grady. James also steals a very valuable piece of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia from the house. Grady is unable to tell Sara of this incident as she is pressuring him to choose between her and Emily. As a result, Grady is forced to keep the dead dog in the trunk of his car for most of the weekend. He also allows James to follow him around, fearing that he may be depressed or even suicidal. Gradually, he realizes that much of what James tells him about himself and his life is untrue, seemingly designed to elicit Grady's sympathy.
Meanwhile, Grady's editor, Terry Crabtree, has flown into town on the pretense of attending the university's annual WordFest, a literary event for aspiring authors. In reality, Terry is there to see if Grady has written anything worth publishing, as both men's careers depend on Grady's upcoming book. Terry arrives with a date whom he met on the flight, called Antonia Sloviak. The pair become intimate in a bedroom at the Gaskells' party, but immediately afterward, Terry meets James and becomes infatuated with him, and Terry is unceremoniously sent home. After a night on the town, Terry and James semi-consciously flirt throughout the night, which eventually leads up to the two spending an intimate night together in one of Grady's spare rooms.
Tired and confused, Grady phones Walter and reveals to him that he is in love with Sara. Meanwhile, Walter has also made the connection between the disappearance of the Marilyn Monroe memorabilia and James. The following morning the police arrive with Sara to escort James to the Chancellor's office to discuss the ramifications of his actions. The memorabilia is still in Grady's car, which has conspicuously gone missing. The car had been given to him by a friend as payment for a loan, and, over the weekend, Grady has come to suspect that the car was stolen. Throughout his travel around town, a man claiming to be the car's real owner repeatedly accosted Grady. He eventually tracks the car down, but in a dispute over its ownership, the majority of his manuscript blows out of the car and is lost. The car's owner gives him a ride to the university with his wife Oola in the passenger seat, along with the stolen memorabilia.
Grady finally sees that making things right involves having to make difficult choices. Grady tells the story behind the memorabilia and allows Oola to leave with it. Worried that Grady's choice comes at the expense of damaging James's future, Terry convinces Walter not to press charges by agreeing to publish his book about Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe.
Grady recounts the fate of the main characters: Hannah graduates and becomes a junior editor; James drops out and moves to New York to rework his novel for publication, and Terry "goes right on being Crabtree". Grady finishes typing his new book - now on a computer - which is an account of the recent events, then watches as Sara and their child arrive home.
Production.
Development.
After "L.A. Confidential", Curtis Hanson was working on a screenplay of his own and reading other scripts with a keen interest for his next film. Actress Elizabeth McGovern advised Hanson to work with screenwriter Steve Kloves. When he was given the writer's script for "Wonder Boys" and was told that Michael Douglas was interested in starring, he "fell in love with these characters – and they made me laugh." Hanson also identified with Grady Tripp and the "thing building up inside him: frustration, hunger, yearning, et cetera."
Screenplay.
Kloves, best known for writing and directing "The Fabulous Baker Boys", returned to the film business after a self-imposed seven-year retirement to adapt Michael Chabon's novel for the money and also because he identified with Grady. He was originally going to direct the film as well but bowed out and Hanson came on board. Kloves had never adapted a novel before but was encouraged by Chabon to make the material his own. Additional changes were made once Hanson came on board. For example, he felt that James Leer would be a fan of Douglas Sirk's films as opposed to Frank Capra as he is in the novel.
Casting.
Paramount was not interested in making a quirky, character-driven comedy-drama until Douglas agreed to work well below his usual large fee. The actor gained 25 pounds for the film by eating pizza, subs and drinking a lot of beer. One of the challenges for Hanson was to take a plot that, as he put it, "is meandering and, apparently, sort of aimless," and a character that "does things that even he doesn't really know why he's doing them," and try to create a "feeling of focus" to keep the audience interested. Another challenge the director faced was working in actual locations in very cold weather that was constantly changing.
Robert Downey Jr. was on probation during the winter of 1999 when Hanson considered him for a role in "Wonder Boys". Hanson was cautious because of the actor's drug history and concerned because it would be a tough film shot in sequence in Pittsburgh in the winter. Downey flew to Pittsburgh and had a long dinner conversation with Hanson where they addressed his problems. The actor demonstrated a commitment to the project and Hanson hired him. Reportedly, Downey acted professionally for the entire four-and-a-half month shoot, but after it ended, he returned to Los Angeles and violated his parole.
In an interview with Marc Maron, actor Rob McElhenney stated that he was initially cast in a minor role as Holmes' love interest, but was informed by Hanson that he would be cut out of the film during post-production.
Filming.
Paramount suggested shooting "Wonder Boys" in Toronto or New York City but after reading the book, Hanson realized how important Pittsburgh was to the story, that it was a "wonder boy," much like the film's main protagonist Grady Tripp, "it's a city that had this glorious past of wealth and success that ended. And then it had to deal with figuring out what's next. What happens after triumph?" "Wonder Boys" was filmed in Pittsburgh, including locations at Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham College, and Shady Side Academy. Other Pennsylvania locations included Beaver, Rochester, and Rostraver Township. Hanson felt that Pittsburgh was "right, emotionally and thematically" for the film. The city was experiencing a mild winter during the film's shoot and they had to use a lot of artificial snow.
Hanson contacted Dante Spinotti about working on the film in November 1998. They had worked previously together on "L.A. Confidential." Spinotti had six weeks of pre-production, which he used to perform a variety of tests and shoot a number of important background plates for several scenes that take place at night, in cars. He knew that these scenes included some very critical acting and suggested using the green screen process for greater control. During pre-production, Hanson and Spinotti used the Kodak Pre View System to storyboard complicated sequences by altering digital still images in a way that simulated the imaging characteristics of camera films. Hanson suggested Spinotti see "The Celebration" for its technique of keeping the camera extremely close to the actors and carrying deep focus from one actor to the other. Spinotti suggested using a hand-held camera so that the film would not look static. On the first day of shooting, they incorporated some hand-held shots. Hanson liked the results and they used the technique extensively for the rest of the shoot.
Soundtrack.
Hanson had been a fan of Bob Dylan's music since childhood and a great admirer of his soundtrack for "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid". Dylan admired Hanson's previous film, "L.A. Confidential" and after much convincing, screened 90 minutes of rough footage from "Wonder Boys". Hanson picked Dylan because, as he said, "Who knows more about being a Wonder Boy and the trap it can be, about the expectations and the fear of repeating yourself?"
In addition to Dylan, Hanson built the score around nine singer-songwriters including Leonard Cohen and Neil Young. The entire soundtrack is integrated into the film with Hanson playing some of the songs for the actors on the Pittsburgh set to convey a scene's "aural texture," as he put it. The soundtrack features several songs by Bob Dylan, including one new composition, "Things Have Changed," which would win the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Hanson also created a music video for the song, filming new footage of Bob Dylan on the film's various locations and editing it with footage used in "Wonder Boys" as if Dylan were actually in the film. According to Hanson, "Every song reflects the movie's themes of searching for past promise, future success and a sense of purpose."
Reception.
Box office.
In its opening weekend, "Wonder Boys" opened at No. 7 in the US and Canadian box office and grossed a total of US$5.8 million in 1,253 theaters. It went on to gross $19,393,557 there and $14,033,031 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $33,426,588. Based on a $55 million budget, the film was a box office bomb.
Critical response.
The film received largely positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports an 82% "Fresh" rating, based on 125 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's consensus states: "Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire do wonders in this clever dark comedy." On Metacritic, the film has a 73 out of 100 score, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert, film critic of the "Chicago Sun-Times," praised "Wonder Boys" as "the most accurate movie about campus life that I can remember. It is accurate, not because it captures intellectual debate or campus politics, but because it knows two things: (1) Students come and go, but the faculty actually lives there, and (2) many faculty members stay stuck in graduate-student mode for decades". Emanuel Levy of "Variety" wrote, "The movie's frivolous touches and eccentric details emphasize its dry, measured wit and the power of comedy to underscore serious ideas. Massively inventive, "Wonder Boys" is spiked with fresh, perverse humor that flows naturally from the straight-faced playing". A.O. Scott from "The New York Times" wrote, "The problem is that everyone involved seems to have agreed that it was a great idea for a movie and pretty much left it at that".
In his review for "Time", Richard Corliss wrote, ""Wonder Boys" reminds us of a distant age (the '70s) when bad movies were better: not stupid teen romps but sad, off-kilter studies of adults adrift. It is a rare current example of that endangered species, the honorable failure". "Entertainment Weekly" gave the film a "C+" rating and Owen Gleiberman wrote, "Curtis Hanson may have wanted to make a movie that gleamed with humanity as much as "L.A. Confidential" burned with malevolence, but he's so intent on getting us to like his characters that he didn't give them enough juice." Looking back in his "Salon.com" review, critic Andrew O'Hehir felt that Hanson, "and cinematographer Dante Spinotti capture both Pittsburgh (one of the most serendipitously beautiful American cities) and the netherworld of boho academia with brilliant precision. If you went to a liberal-arts college anywhere in the United States, then the way Grady's ramshackle house looks in the wake of Crabs' enormous all-night party should conjure up vivid sense-memories".
Re-release.
Many critics blamed Paramount's initial ad campaign for the film not finding a mainstream audience. The "Wall Street Journal"'s Joe Morgenstern praised Douglas' work in the film, but criticized the poster, which featured a headshot of Douglas: "a raffishly eccentric role, and he's never been so appealing. (Don't be put off by the movie's cryptic poster, which makes him look like Michael J. Pollard.)" The "Los Angeles Times"' Kenneth Turan also slammed the poster: "The film's ad poster brings Elmer Fudd to mind." Hanson said that the poster made Douglas look "like he was trying to be Robin Williams". In an interview with Amy Taubin, Hanson said, "The very things that made Michael and I want to do the movie so badly were the reasons it was so tricky to market. Since films go out on so many screens at once, there's a need for instant appeal. But "Wonder Boys" isn't easily reducible to a single image or a catchy ad line".
Hanson felt that the studio played it safe with the original ad campaign. They also released it a week after the Academy Award nominations were announced and the studio spent more money promoting the films of theirs that were nominated and not enough on "Wonder Boys." The studio pulled the film out of theaters and quickly canceled the video release. Hanson and the film's producer Scott Rudin lobbied to have it re-released. They designed a new campaign including posters and a trailer for the re-release that emphasized the ensemble cast.


Jiban Bima Corporation

Jiban Bima Corporation (JBC) is the state-run life insurance provider in Bangladesh under the provisions of the Insurance Act 1938, Insurance Rules 1958, and related other laws enforceable in Bangladesh in Bangladesh Corporation Act 1973. The JBC started on 14 May 1973 with assets and liabilities worth TK. 157 million of defunct 37 life Insurance companies.
History.
Pakistan period (1947–1971).
After partition of India three insurance companies were under Muslim ownership: The Eastern Federal Union Insurance Company Limited, Muslim Insurance Company Limited and Habib Insurance Company Limited. These three companies moved to Pakistan and registered to transact business there. The total number of insurers (life plus life and general) registered in Pakistan in 1951, 1961 and 1971 were 13, 17 and 75 respectively. In 1971, out of 75, ten of the 40 Pakistani companies were exclusively engaged in life insurance business, 21 in life and other business, and 9 in other business only. There were only four foreign insurance companies marketed their products in Pakistan in 1971: Norwich Union Life Assurance Society, Pearl Assurance Company Limited, Prudential Assurance Company Limited and American Life Insurance Company Limited.
Bangladesh period (1971–1973).
The number of insurance companies that had business in East Pakistan was 75, of which 10 were locally incorporated ones. Following the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, both life and general insurance business in the country was nationalised under the Bangladesh Insurance (Nationalisation) Order 1972 except foreign insurance companies. Five corporations were established to absorb, own and control the businesses of the 75 existing insurance companies and these new corporations were Bangladesh Jatiya Bima Corporation, Karnafuli Bima Corporation, Tista Bima Corporation, Surma Jiban Bima Corporation and Rupsa Jiban Bima Corporation. These four corporations were in business from 1 January 1973 to 14 May 1973.
Management and creation of the JBC.
Bangladesh government selected Hafizur Rahman and Mujibur Rahman as the chairman and the managing director of the Jatiya Bima Corporation respectively. A.K.M. Fazlul Haque (Mowla), Khuda Buksh and Ali Ahmed were selected as the directors of the Jatiya Bima Corporation. Four separate chairpersons were appointed by the Jatiya Bima Corporation to administer the four corporations. Mustafizur Rahman Khan, Golam Mowla, M.A. Rahim and M.A. Samad became the chairmen of Karnafuli, Teesta, Rupsa and Surma Corporation respectively. In addition, four directors were appointed under each corporation to handle administration, development, underwriting and claims and finance and accounts. In March 1973, A.H.M. Qamruzzaman became the minister of commerce and reorganised the insurance companies within two months. On 14 May 1973, the Bangladesh government dissolved the Jatiya Bima Corporation and integrated the general and life insurance companies into two corporations, and accordingly all the undertakings of Karnafuli and Teesta were vested in the Sadharan (General) Bima Corporation with Golam Mowla as the first managing director. Surma and Rupsa Jiban Bima Corporations were vested in the Bangladesh Jiban Bima Corporation(Bangladesh Life Insurance Corporation) (BJBC) with Khuda Buksh as the first managing director.
Emergence of private companies.
Until 1985, the JBC was the only institution to handle life insurance business in Bangladesh. Through the Insurance (Amendment) Ordinance 1984 and Insurance Corporations (Amendment) Ordinance 1984, the government allowed the private sector to establish insurance companies. Up to December 2000, at least 17 private sector insurance companies came into being and made the life insurance business competitive. In 2015 the number of private life insurance companies in Bangladesh has reached at 30.
Insurance schemes.
schemes
The JBC offers 15 different types of life insurance schemes. These are whole life assurance, endowment assurance, child protection policy, children endowment, anticipated endowment assurance, pension scheme policy, single payment policy, mortgage protection policy, group term insurance policy, group endowment policy, group variable endowment policy, group pension policy, grameen bima policy, joint life endowment policy, and progressive premium policy.
Business performance.
1973–1974.
In 1973 and 1974, the JBC sold 41,812 and 36,000 life insurance policies with a total assured sum of Tk 397.7 and Tk. 400 million respectively. In 1973 and 1974 the JBC earned gross premiums of Tk. 58 million and Tk. 67.6 million which comprised first year premiums (including group) Tk. 22.7 million and Tk. 29.6 million, renewal premiums Tk. 35.3 million and Tk. 37 million respectively. The JBC inherited an outstanding claim of Tk.50 million at the time of its inception. It has settled all the claims by 31 October 1974.
1998–2011.
In 1998, the JBC earned gross premiums of Tk. 1,402.8 million, which comprised first-year premiums (Tk. 401.2 million), renewal premiums (Tk. 913.0 million), and group insurance premiums (Tk. 88.6 million). It paid Tk. 493.7 million to settle life insurance claims under various schemes. Premium income of the corporation was Tk. 2,447 million in 2007 marking an increase 63% over premium income in 2001. Subsequently, the life fund of the JBC has increased to Tk. 13.15 billion, up to the year 2011, which was only Tk. 218.3 million in 1973. The JBC has paid Tk. 15.81 billion against various claims, the highest such payments in the country's life Insurance business. The JBC's investment has reached Tk. 11.99 billion from only Tk. 197 million in 1973. The JBC has the largest network all over the country with 7 regional, 9 zonal, 68 sales and 343 branch offices.
2011–2013.
The life fund of Jiban Bima Corporation has increased to TK. 14988.3 million (14.99 billion) in the year 2013. In the year 2012 the figure was near about 14 billion despite political unrest throughout the year.


Privatization of the Central Electricity Generating Board


United Nations Security Council Resolution 624

United Nations Security Council resolution 624, adopted unanimously on 30 November 1988, after considering a report by the Secretary-General regarding the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, the Council noted its efforts to establish a durable and just peace in the Middle East but also expressed its concern over the prevailing state of tension in the area.
The resolution decided to call upon the parties concerned to immediately implement Resolution 338 (1973), it renewed the mandate of the Observer Force for another six months until 31 May 1989 and requested that the Secretary-General submit a report on the situation at the end of that period.


Ashbel P. Fitch

Ashbel Parmelee Fitch (October 8, 1848 – May 4, 1904) was an American lawyer, financier, and politician. He was a four-term Congressman and a one-term city comptroller.
From March 4, 1887 until January 30, 1894 he served as U.S. Representative from New York. In congress, he worked to have New York City selected for the 1892 World Exposition. He also defended immigrant rights and supported tariff reform, urging the passage of the Mills Tariff Reform Bill. He served as chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims and the Committee on Election of President, Vice President, and Representatives.
Founding president of the Trust Company of America in 1899, he remained president upon his death in May 1904. He was also a director of companies such as the American Light and Traction Company and the Lion Brewery.
Early life and education.
Ashbel Parmelee Fitch was born on October 8, 1848 in Mooers, New York. On both his father's and mother's side, he was descended from Revolutionary ancestors and was also a descendant of William Bradford. He moved to New York City with his parents while young. He attended the public schools of New York, including Grammar School No. 35, a public school in Lower Manhattan. He prepared for college at Williston Seminary in Easthampton, Massachusetts, before spending several years at the Universities of Jena and Berlin in Germany. At the University of Jena, he joined the prestigious student society Corps Franconia Jena. Afterwards he took a course at Columbia Law School in New York City.
Career.
1869-1880s: Early litigation.
At the age of 21, he was admitted to the bar in November 1869, initially practicing law in New York City.
1884-1893: Public life and Congress.
He entered public life in 1884, when the Republicans offered him the nomination for Congress for his home district. However, he declined, as he was not in agreement with the high-tariff doctrines of his party. After accepting the Republican nomination in 1887, Fitch was elected as a Republican to the Fiftieth Congress and served from March 4, 1887. In congress, he supported New York City and tariff reform, and worked to have New York City selected for the 1892 World Exposition. He also defended immigrant rights. On May 1888, he gave a speech "which attracted national attention" when he urged for the passage of the Mills Tariff Reform Bill. He afterwards received the joint nomination of Tamany Hall and the County Democracy.
He was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-first, Fifty-second, and Fifty-third Congresses. He served as chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims (Fifty-second Congress) and the Committee on Election of President, Vice President, and Representatives (Fifty-third Congress). After four terms in Congress, he resigned on December 26, 1893.
1893-1897: Comptroller of New York.
Fitch resigned from Congress to accept Tammany Hall's nomination for Comptroller of New York City in 1893. He was elected on the Tammany Ticket and served in that office from 1893 until 1897. Writes historian David Remington, as comptroller Fitch "oversaw the city's finances during a time of terrible economic distress, withstanding threats from Tammany Hall on one side and from Mayor William L. Strong's misguided reform administration on the other."
In 1897, Tammany refused to renominate him. Chauncey Depew placed his name in nomination at the Republican convention to become the first Comptroller of the Consolidated New York. He was defeated. Wrote "The New York Times", "at the first election for Greater New York the Republicans placed him in nomination [for Controller of the city] and he was swept out of power by the Tammany tidal wave."
Business career and memberships.
He served as the founding president of the Trust Company of America in 1899. He remained president upon his death in May 1904. He was also a director of the American Light and Traction Company, the Bowling Green Trust Company, the Germania Bank, the Lion Brewery, and the Title Insurance Company of America.
He was a member of various social clubs, including the Metropolitan Club of Manhattan, the Lawyers' Club, the New York Yacht Club, the St. Nicholas Club, the Ardsley Country Club, the Germania Club, the Press Club, the Liederkranz Club, the Arion Society, and the Metropolitan Club of Washington. He was also president of the Franklin County Society. Further memberships included the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sons of the Revolution, Military Order of Foreign Wars, New England Society, Municipal Art Society, New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, the Dunlap Society, and the New York Chamber of Commerce.
Personal life.
Fitch married Elizabeth Cross Fitch of Morrisville, New York in 1874. The couple had six children - three sons and three daughters. Ashbel Fitch died in New York City on May 4, 1904 in his home at 16 East 80th Street in Manhattan. The papers reported that he died by a stroke of apoplexy, and that he had been in poor health for some time. The service was held on May 6 at his home, and he was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery. His widow died suddenly in May 1913 at her home at 759 West End Avenue.
His son Ashbel P. Fitch also became a lawyer, at Fitch & Grant in New York at 67 Wall Street. A prominent member of the Manhattan Club, he was involved in several major cases, including a 1923 judgement to Richard Croker concerning loans to his father. He died on May 21, 1926 at the age of 49.


Herbert Tennekoon

Herbert Ernest Tennekoon, CCS (30 September 1911 - 22 January 1979) was a Sri Lankan civil servant. He was the Governor of the Central Bank of Ceylon.
Born in the Central Province of British Ceylon, he had four brothers; Victor Tennekoon, former Chief Justice of Sri Lanka; Reginald Tennekoon, member of parliament for Minipe; George Tennekoon, Professor of Pathology, University of Peradeniya and Kenneth Tennekoon, an engineer who emigrated to the UK in 1956 and one sister Dulcie Wijenaike.
Educated at St. Anthony's College, Kandy; he gained a honours degree in history at the Ceylon University College. He joined the Ceylon Civil Service and served in the General Treasury and functioned as Secretary to the Treasury and Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence. In 1964, he was appointed special advisor on trade and development for the executive secretary of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in Geneva. He thereafter served as Ceylon's Ambassador to Japan. He returned to Ceylon in July 1971 on appointment as Governor of the Central Bank of Ceylon by Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike succeeding W. Tennekoon. He died suddenly while in office on 22 January 1979 in Singapore attending a SEACEN Governors’ Conference.


Sunnyside Yard

Sunnyside Yard is a large coach yard, a railroad yard for passenger cars, in Sunnyside, Queens in New York City.
Description.
The yard is owned by Amtrak and is also used by New Jersey Transit. The shared tracks of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) Main Line and Amtrak's Northeast Corridor pass along the southern edge of the yard. Northeast of the yard a balloon track (or reverse loop) is used for "U-turning" Amtrak and NJ Transit trains which terminate at Penn Station. Leading eastward near the south side of the yard, this balloon track switches off and turns left under the LIRR/Amtrak tracks, turns left once again, and merges with the Sunnyside yard track to turn the train west toward Penn Station.
History.
The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) completed construction of the yard in 1910. At that time Sunnyside was the largest coach yard in the world, occupying 192 acres (0.78 km2) and containing 25.7 mi (41.4 km) of track. The yard served as the main train storage and service point for PRR trains serving New York City. It is connected to Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan by the East River Tunnels. The Sunnyside North Yard initially had 45 tracks with a capacity of 526 cars. The South Yard had 45 tracks with a 552 car capacity.
Plans.
East Side Access project.
Plans for the East Side Access project to Grand Central Terminal call for some LIRR trains to diverge from the main line and travel through a tunnel under the yard. The project would also create a new station at Queens Boulevard, named Sunnyside.
Harold Interlocking.
In May 2011, a $294.7 million federal grant was awarded to address congestion at Harold Interlocking, the United States' busiest rail junction, which is part of the yard. The work will allow for dedicated tracks to the Hell Gate Line right of way for Amtrak trains arriving from or bound for New England, thus avoiding NJT and LIRR traffic.
Housing development.
In 2017 it was announced that the city would begin a feasibility study into the construction of 21,000 to 31,000 units of housing on top of the rail yard. The project, which would be similar to the Hudson Yards development over West Side Yard, has stoked public controversy over the affordability of units, pedestrian and road connections, open space, and a nearby Superfund site. In early 2020, Amtrak and the city government published a master plan. The plan called for building a deck over Sunnyside Yard and constructing 12,000 housing units, all of which would be affordable housing, as well as of parks and public plazas.


Cloaca (Capri)

The Cloaca is an archaeological site on the island of Capri, Italy. It was part of a sewage system built in Roman times. The end of the sewer is visible west of the Marina Grande. It seems to have drained a considerable part of the northern side of the island, as evidenced by many smaller drains which are believed to have led into it. The fall of the sewer has been greatly changed. Instead of having a gentle gradient from south to north, it dips steeply in the reverse direction, north to south, at an angle of 25°. This reversal of incline has occasionally been cited as evidence for the alteration of the land-level of Capri since the Roman period.


Pechiney

Pechiney SA was a major aluminium conglomerate based in France. The company was acquired in 2003 by the Alcan Corporation, headquartered in Canada. In 2007, Alcan itself was taken over by mining giant Rio Tinto Alcan.
Prior to its acquisition, Pechiney grew to be the world's 4th largest producer and developer of aluminium products, employing 34,000 people and operating 320 manufacturing and sales facilities in 50 countries at the time it was purchased by Alcan. The group operated in all facets of the aluminium industry from bauxite mining to the development of sophisticated applications of metal products in addition to international commodities trading and brokerage of the metal on the London Metal Exchange (LME).
Pechiney gained worldwide recognition for its use of electrolysis technology, and was a leader in specialty packaging and aerospace applications.
History.
The company was founded in 1855 by Henri Merle as a producer of caustic soda at a manufacturing facility in Salindres. Founded as Compagnie des Produits Chimiques Henri Merle the company was renamed in 1897 the Société des Produits Chimiques d'Alais et de la Camargue.
The company first began producing aluminium metal in 1860 using a chemically-based process developed by Henri Sainte-Claire Deville in 1854 and was granted a 30-year monopoly by the French government.
During World War I (1914–18) Tréfileries et Laminoirs du Havre (TLH) acquired a large stake in the Société d'Alais et de la Camargue.
This company in turn took control of the Société électrométallurgique de Froges in 1919 to become the Compagnie des produits chimiques et électrométallurgiques d'Alais, Froges et Camargue.
Hippolyte Bouchayer represented TLH in Pechiney.
Pechiney had developed a significant presence in Europe in the 1930s and first prospected the American market in 1911 before acquiring a strong foothold there in the 1960s. In the 1954, Pechiney expanded into Africa and subsequently it developed a presence in Australia, Latin America, Greece and Asia.
The corporate name was changed to Pechiney in 1948, after a former influential managing director referred to by the same name, A. R. Pechiney.
In 1962 TLH merged with the Compagnie française des métaux and became Tréfimétaux.
In 1967 Tréfimétaux was acquired by Pechiney and became the copper division of that group, contributing 8% of the group's total.
Brandeis Brokers.
Brandeis (Brokers) Ltd was a broker and ring dealing member on the London Metal Exchange that operated as a subsidiary of Pechiney from 1981 through 2000, when it was banned from trading by the FSA. Brandeis was one of the founding members of the London Metal Exchange in 1877. In 2000, the company's customer accounts and trading positions were purchased by Standard Bank London.


Gabriel Makhlouf

Gabriel Makhlouf is a British economist who has served as the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland since September 2019. He was previously Secretary to the New Zealand Treasury and Private Secretary to then British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.
He was appointed to the Central Bank after an open international competition led to him being the only name put forward to the Government of Ireland for appointment. However, his appointment has not been uncontroversial due to a controversy in New Zealand when he claimed the disclosure of sensitive information was the result of a deliberate hack when the information had actually been disclosed accidentally. In July 2019, The Irish Times reported that the European Central Bank had raised concerns with the Irish government about Makhlouf. These reportedly included that he was not an economist and that he is a British citizen.
Gabriel Makhlouf was born in Egypt to a Cypriot-British father and Greek-Armenian mother.


Ivan Iskrov

Ivan Iskrov () (born 26 March 1967 in Pirdop) was the governor of the Bulgarian National Bank from October 2003 to July 2015.
Biography.
Ivan Iskrov was born on 26 March 1967 in Pirdop. He graduated from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia and obtained an MSc in economics (finance and credit) in 1992. From 1992 to 1993 he taught Banking Management at the University of National and World Economy. In 1994 he specialised Business Communications, educational program organised in Sofia by the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Ivan Iskrov took postgraduate studies on Mortgage Securities and Markets in USA (1999).
He was an MP at the Bulgarian National Assembly from 2001 to 2003, Chairman of the Budget and Finance Commission, Member of the European Integration Commission, and Member of the Bulgaria-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission. In October 2003 Ivan Iskrov was appointed to the position Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank.
The longest serving Governor in the BNB history. His two terms as Governor mark one of the most important stages in the development of the BNB. During the same time the BNB weathers some of the most serious challenges (of global and domestic origin) in the latest history of the central bank.
During that period the BNB is prepared for membership (and since 2007 becomes a full-fledged member) in the European System of Central Banks. Ivan Iskrov is a member of the General Council of the European Central Bank between 1 January 2007 and 15 July 2015, a member of the General Board of the European Systemic Risk Board between January 2011 and 15 July 2015, and Governor for Bulgaria in the International Monetary Fund in the period October 2003 - July 2015.
After the onset of the global crisis the currency board managed by the BNB continues to operate smoothly and plays a key role in maintaining the financial stability in the country. The gross international reserves increase. Bulgaria’s payments system is prepared for joining the euro area. One of the biggest banknote producers in the world is attracted in Bulgaria with the setting up of the joint venture between the BNB Printing Works and the French François-Charles Oberthür Group. The BNB banking supervision is among the first in the European Union to develop and apply a set of macroprudential supervisory measures in the banking sector. Thus the sector faces the global crisis with high capital and liquidity and for that reason no bank in Bulgaria fails as a direct result of the crisis. A problem with lending in Swiss francs is averted in the Bulgarian banking system. Contagion from the crisis in Greece to the Greek-owned banks in Bulgaria is prevented. Furthermore, in 2014 the effects from the revocation of the license of Corporate Commercial Bank (because of insolvency due mostly to internal fraud) remained isolated and confidence in the banking system was preserved, despite the acute political crisis then.
His work was recognized with Commander of the Order of Leopold by the Belgian government. On 15 July 2010 he was made a Commander of the Belgian Order of Leopold.
Family.
Ivan Iskrov is married to Ginka Iskrova, Tax Director at PwC (Bulgaria). They have a child.


Formulary apportionment

Formulary apportionment, also known as unitary taxation, is a method of allocating profit earned (or loss incurred) by a corporation or corporate group to a particular tax jurisdiction in which the corporation or group has a taxable presence. It is an alternative to separate entity accounting, under which a branch or subsidiary within the jurisdiction is accounted for as a separate entity, requiring prices for transactions with other parts of the corporation or group to be assigned according to the arm's length standard commonly used in transfer pricing. In contrast, formulary apportionment attributes the corporation's total worldwide profit (or loss) to each jurisdiction, based on factors such as the proportion of sales, assets or payroll in that jurisdiction.
When applied to a corporate group, formulary apportionment requires combined reporting of the group's results. The parent and all of its subsidiaries are viewed as though they were a single entity ("unitary combination"), and the method is then also known as "worldwide unitary taxation". In the US, most states have adopted water's edge combined reporting which restricts the taxable group to just US domestic corporations and excludes "overseas business organization", i.e., unitary foreign affiliates and foreign parents.
In US taxation.
Formulary methods are used in both the United States and Canada to apportion income of corporations between the sub-national jurisdictions in which they operate. In many U.S. states formulary apportionment is also used to apportion the combined income of a related group of companies. Tax in each US state is thus assessed based on the unitary combination of all related entities. The related entities included in the unitary combination may be worldwide entities or only entities within the United States, depending on the state. The latter is known as water's edge combined reporting.
Worldwide unitary combined reporting was first approved by the US Supreme Court in 1983 in Container Corp. v. Franchise Tax Board (CA) by a vote of 5-3 (Justice Stevens did not participate). The court re-visited worldwide combined reporting in 1994 in Barclays Bank v. Franchise Tax Board (CA) and Colgate-Palmolive v. Franchise Tax Board (CA) and again approved its use by California but this time by larger majorities. The votes were 7-2 and 9-0, respectively. However, as a result of foreign retaliatory legislation and pressure from the federal government, all states have now abandoned mandatory worldwide combined reporting.
The use of formulary apportionment in the United States dates back to the late 19th century. At that time, there was no state or federal corporate income tax, but the states did assess property and capital stock taxes. With the growth of the transcontinental railroads, state taxation authorities faced companies which had not just immovable property (tracks) but also non-trivial movable property (rolling stock) operating across state lines. The property value of a company assessable to state tax was thus assessed by examining the proportion of value of railway lines within the state, and then taking that proportion of the company's total value (including the movable property) as the portion of value located within a certain state. When Wisconsin adopted a state income tax in 1911, it also used formulary apportionment (based on property, cost of manufacture, and sales), pointing to the impracticality of otherwise calculating separate accounts for companies operating in multiple states.
By the mid-20th century, the "Massachusetts Formula" had become a commonly used standard of formulary apportionment. The formula placed an equal weight on three factors: group sales, payroll, and property within each jurisdiction. Out of the forty-four states (plus one more jurisdiction, the District of Columbia) which imposed a corporate income tax in 1978, all but Iowa used the Massachusetts Formula. Iowa's formula ignored payroll and property, looking solely at sales; the constitutionality of this formula was challenged in the "Moorman" case in Iowa, and it was held invalid by a trial court under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as well as the Commerce Clause of Article One; however, the Iowa Supreme Court reversed the trial court in 1978. This marked the beginning of a trend towards increasing weight on sales at the expense of the other two factors; by 2004, there were only twelve states still using an equally weighted formula.
In international taxation.
Formulary apportionment is not used as a method of attributing profit between (rather than within) national tax jurisdictions. The adoption of formulary apportionment has been advocated at various times since the 1970s. The matter has been hotly debated by OECD member states beginning in the 1970s. In 2000 Joann Weiner and Charles E. McLure Jr. proposed the use of formulary apportionment within the European Union. In 2001, the EU issued a communication advocating the use of formulary apportionment. In 2007 Kimberley A. Clausing and Reuven Avi-Yonah suggested that the US Internal Revenue Service use formulary apportionment in the assessment of federal corporate income tax, believing it would lead to increased tax revenue in the face of a trend for multinational corporations to use transfer pricing to shift profits out of the US into low-tax countries. None of these suggestions has been adopted.
Several US states allow, but do not mandate, that a corporate group include foreign entities for the purpose of assessing factors used in formulary apportionment ("worldwide unitary combination"). California, for example, began to accept worldwide unitary combination in the 1940s. However, its attempt to "require" such combination led to strong protests from US trading partners. The UK-US double taxation treaty signed in 1975 included a provision to prohibit US states from "tak[ing] into account the income, deductions, receipts, or out-goings of a related enterprise" in the United Kingdom or any other country for the purpose of determining tax liability. However, the US Senate, whose consent was required to ratify the treaty, rejected this provision, and the treaty was amended by a protocol in 1979. The Supreme Court explicitly held worldwide unitary combination as constitutional in separate cases in 1983 and 1994 (Barclays Bank PLC v. Franchise Tax Board). In 1985 the United Kingdom passed retaliatory legislation which would have overridden the UK-US tax treaty and denied significant UK tax benefits to corporations headquartered in US states which applied worldwide unitary taxation. This and further pressure from foreign governments, the executive branch and multinational corporations led US states to adopt a "water's edge" limitation on unitary combination, allowing taxpayers to decide for themselves whether or not to include foreign entities in their combined reporting.
Criticism.
Advocates claim that transfer pricing issues increase compliance costs, formulary apportionment reduces those costs and treating associated enterprises in a unitary fashion more closely reflects the underlying operating realities of multinational enterprises.
Critics argue:


Johannes Albrecht Bernhard Dorn

Johannes Albrecht Bernhard Dorn (29 April 1805 in Scheierfeld, Saxe-Coburg, Germany – 19 May 1881 in St. Petersburg, Russia), or Boris Andreevich Dorn, was a German orientalist. He specialized in the history and the languages of Iran, Russia and Afghanistan.
Biography.
He studied theology and philology at the universities of Halle and Leipzig, obtaining his habilitation in 1825. At Leipzig University Dorn worked for a while as a lecturer. Later on, he served as a professor of oriental languages at Kharkov University (1829–35), then in 1835 relocated to St. Petersburg as a professor of history and geography in the Asiatic department of the Russian Ministry of foreign affairs. He taught Sanskrit and Pashtu at St. Petersburg University.
In 1839 he became an adjunct at the Russian Academy of Sciences, where he eventually attained the level of academician in 1852. He was appointed director of the Asiatic Museum in 1842, and director of the Ethnographic Museum in 1855.
Dorn wrote a book "Über die Verwandtschaft des persischen, germanischen und griechisch-lateinischen Sprachstammes" (1827), in which he argued in detail that the Persian language was related to Germanic, Greek, and Latin. This thesis would later be confirmed by the findings of Indo-European studies, although many of Dorn’s supposed cognate pairs are mistaken.


Chief of Staff to the United States Secretary of State

The Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State is the coordinator of the supporting staff and primary aide to the United States Secretary of State. Suzy George has served as chief of staff since the start of the Biden administration.


The Statement (film)

The Statement is a 2003 drama film directed by Norman Jewison and starring Michael Caine. It is based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Brian Moore, and the screenplay was written by Ronald Harwood. The plot was inspired by the true story of Paul Touvier, a Vichy French police official, who was indicted after World War II for war crimes. In 1944, Touvier ordered the execution of seven Jews in retaliation for the Resistance's assassination of Vichy France minister Philippe Henriot. For decades after the war he escaped trial thanks to an intricate web of protection, which allegedly included senior members of the Roman Catholic priesthood. He was arrested in 1989 inside a Traditionalist Catholic priory in Nice and was convicted in 1994. He died in prison in 1996. "The Statement" is the most recent film directed by Jewison.
The film was Alan Bates final theatrical role following death on the year of the film’s released date.
Plot.
Pierre Brossard (Caine), a French Nazi collaborator, orders seven Jews executed during World War II. Some 40 years later, he is pursued by "David Manenbaum" (Matt Craven), a hitman who is under orders to kill Brossard and leave a printed 'Statement' on his body proclaiming the assassination was vengeance for the Jews executed in 1944. Brossard kills "Manenbaum," hiding the dead body after finding the printed "Statement" and discovering that his pursuer was travelling on a Canadian passport. Brossard for years has taken refuge in sanctuaries in southern France within the Traditionalist Catholic community, appealing to long-time allies who have operated in great secrecy to shield him and provide him with funds. But now they bring increased scrutiny to themselves for continuing to do so.
The murder of "Manenbaum" attracts the interest of local police and eventually the persistent Investigating Judge Annemarie Livi (Tilda Swinton). She becomes absorbed by the case, not discouraged by the lack of assistance she encounters from official sectors. Livi forms an alliance with the similarly dedicated Colonel Roux (Jeremy Northam), a senior French Gendarmerie investigator, and the pair initially suspect that "Manenbaum" was part of a Jewish assassination plot. They discover that Brossard has been the subject of several previous investigations, dating back more than 40 years, which have all failed. Livi and Roux discover hidden resources, tightening the noose around Brossard, who finds his allies increasingly reluctant to help him. Doubts arise over the theory of a Jewish hit squad, but it is clear that "someone" wants Brossard dead.
Brossard in desperation pays a surprise visit to his estranged wife Nicole (Charlotte Rampling), a maid who is living in lower-middle-class circumstances in Marseille and is very apprehensive about seeing him again. Brossard's allies, including certain priests and a wartime colleague who has risen into a position of great power within the French government, are feeling the heat from the relentless questioning of Livi and Roux. Now desperate and unsure whom to trust, Brossard seeks new identity papers and money so he can escape France forever. On the night he is to escape, however, his handler Pochon (Ciaran Hinds) shoots him dead on orders from his former protectors within the government, who fear he will cause trouble for them if captured.
Following Broussard's death, Livi and Roux trace the conspiracy to protect him to a high-ranking government official (John Neville), and arrest him for treason.
Historical basis.
"The Statement" is based on the best-selling 1995 novel of the same name by Brian Moore. In the novel and film, the fictional Brossard is based on Paul Touvier, a member of the Milice, a paramilitary police force of the Vichy French regime during World War II who ordered the execution of seven Jews in 1944. After the war, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to death in absentia, but with the aid of right-wing Roman Catholic clergymen, who provided him refuge in safe houses and monasteries, Touvier avoided capture. He received a controversial pardon from the President of France, Georges Pompidou, in 1971, but remained on the run. Unlike Brossard, Touvier finally was arrested in 1989 on a new charge of crimes against humanity; tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison, he died in jail in 1996.
Reception.
The film holds an approval rating of 24% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 106 reviews; the average rating is 4.7/10. The site's consensus reads: "The movie bores despite a splendid performance by Michael Caine." The overall audience rating of this film is 6.2 on IMDb. The film grossed a little over $765,000 domestically and $1.55 million worldwide in its limited release against a budget of $27 million.


Thomas Plunket

Thomas Plunket (1785–1839) was an Irish soldier in the British Army's 95th Rifles regiment. He served throughout the Peninsular War and later in the Waterloo Campaign of 1815. He is remembered for killing a French general during the Peninsular War with an extremely long range rifle shot, then killing the general's aide-de-camp, who had gone to his side to render aid, with another.
Early life and Army Career.
Thomas Plunket was born in 1785 in Newtown, Wexford, Ireland. He joined the 95th Rifles in May 1805. In 1807, he took part in the British invasions of the River Plate (1806-1807). During the 2nd Battle of Buenos Aires, the 95th Rifles were heavily engaged in street-fighting during which Plunket killed around 20 Spanish troops while sniping from a rooftop with others from his unit. They retreated when Spanish artillery bombarded their position with grapeshot. Plunket also shot a Spanish officer, who was waving a white handkerchief with the possible intention of inviting a truce. This resulted in further Spanish artillery bombardment which brought about the British surrender.
Plunket is mainly remembered for a feat at the Battle of Cacabelos during Moore's retreat to Corunna in 1809. Plunket ran forward about , lay down in a supine position in the snow, and shot the French Général de Brigade Auguste-Marie-François Colbert with his Baker rifle. Before returning to his own lines he reloaded and shot down Colbert's aide-de-camp, Latour-Maubourg, who had rushed to the aid of the fallen general, which showed that the first shot had not been a fluke. Plunket only just made it back to his own lines before being charged down by a dozen cavalry troopers, but the deaths of the two officers were sufficient to throw the pending French attack into disarray. The shots were "from a range that seemed extraordinary to the" men of the 95th Rifles, who were trained to shoot targets with a Baker Rifle at and whose marksmanship was far better than the ordinary British soldiers who were armed with a Brown Bess musket and only trained to shoot into a body of men at with volley fire.
Later life.
In 1817, Plunket was discharged from the 95th after recovering from the head wound he received at the Battle of Waterloo. Awarded a pension of 6d a day, he soon enlisted back into the army in a line regiment, 41st Foot. The regiment was being inspected by his former commanding officer, General Sir Thomas Sydney Beckwith when the general recognised Plunket and inquired into what had happened to him. He was invited to the officers mess that night and the next day was promoted to corporal, and soon also had his pension raised to one shilling a day with Beckwith's influence. He later renounced his pension in exchange for four years' pay and land in Canada, but he returned to England after a year, considering the land unsuitable.
Plunket and his wife returned to the United Kingdom and, nearly destitute, made a small living as itinerant traders. Plunket died suddenly at Colchester in 1839. Several retired officers in the town heard about the death and recognized his name; as a result, they took up a collection for his widow and paid for his funeral and gravestone.


Elizabeth F. Schwartz

Elizabeth Frances Schwartz (born November 20, 1971) is an American attorney, author and advocate for the legal rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
Life and career.
Schwartz served as co-counsel on the case challenging Florida's same-sex marriage ban brought by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) on behalf of six same-sex couples seeking the right to marry (Pareto v. Ruvin). This lawsuit resulted in Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel's finding that Florida's same-sex marriage ban deprived same-sex couples due process and equal protection under the law, and in the ordering of Miami-Dade County to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Schwartz has also filed suit in Florida for fair issuance of birth certificates to same-sex married couples and handled the first case for same-sex couple divorce.
In addition to her legal work Elizabeth F. Schwartz has supported the LGBT community through local and national lectures on the importance of LGBT couples protecting their families through second parent adoption and estate planning. She writes about issues concerning the LGBT community for the Huffington Post.
Schwartz is featured in The Day It Snowed In Miami (2014) a 2014 Emmy-nominated documentary that traces the political activism behind an equal-rights statute in Miami.
Elizabeth received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Miami in 1997. She started practicing law in 1997.
Elizabeth Schwartz was born in Miami Beach and currently lives with her wife, writer Lydia Martin, in Miami, FL.


Michael Patra

Michael Patra is an Indian economist and central banker. A career Reserve Bank of India officer, he is currently serving as one its fourdeputy governors.
Education.
Born in Cuttack, Odisha, into an Odia Christian family, Patra did his graduation from the Ravenshaw College and graduation from Utkal University. Patra has a PhD in economics from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in Mumbai, with his thesis being titled "The Role of Invisibles in India's Balance of Payments: A Structural Approach". Patra proceeded to do post-doctoral research on financial stability at Harvard University as a fellow.
Patra received professional training at IMF Institute on Financial Programming and Policy and at the Bank of England's Centre for Central Banking Studies.
Career.
Patra is a career central bank officer who joined the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 1985. Before his appointment as deputy governor, Patra served as the executive director of the monetary policy department of RBI—where he moved to in 2006—and as such, was an internal member of the powerful Monetary Policy Committee. Earlier, Patra served as an adviser in charge of international finance, money, and banking in RBI's department of economic analysis.
From and , Patra served on deputation to the International Monetary Fund as senior adviser to India's executive director at the fund.
Deputy Governor.
In , Patra was appointed a Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet—on the recommendation of the Cabinet Secretary-headed Financial Sector Regulatory Appointment Search Committee—for a period of threeyears, succeeding Viral Acharya, who had resigned in . With his appointment as deputy governor, Patra became the first RBI career economist to be elevated to the position.
Patra took charge as deputy governor on , and was assigned to look after RBI's monetary policy department, financial markets operations department, financial markets regulation department, international department, department of economic and policy research, department of statistics and information management, corporate strategy and budget department and financial stability unit. As the deputy governor in charge of the monetary policy department, Patra became an "ex-officio" member of the Monetary Policy Committee.


Jack Hinson

John W. "Jack" Hinson, "Old Jack" (c. 1807 – 28 April 1874) was a farmer in Stewart County, Tennessee, who operated as a Confederate partisan sniper in the Between-the-Rivers region of Tennessee and Kentucky during the American Civil War.
Biography.
A prosperous land and slave-owner of Scotch-Irish descent, Hinson voted for secession from the Union in both the February and June 1861 elections. He had welcomed Union General Ulysses S. Grant to his home when Grant was in the area during the Union attack on Forts Henry and Donelson in February 1862. However, Hinson took up arms after his family was ill-treated and turned out of their home by Federal troops without any compensation later in 1862. The house was later burned. On December 31, 1862, Hinson killed his neutral neighbor, Swiss immigrant Albert Rougemont, with whom he had had a long-running argument for years before the war, and whom he blamed for his house having been burned. The murder was investigated by the Union Provost Marshal, with many of Hinson's neighbors attesting to his decades of violence before the war and his well-known "Secesh" position at the outset of the war. The verdict of the Provost Marshal was not recorded.
A persistent but never documented aspect of the Hinson legend is that his career as a sniper was due to young sons being murdered. However, no documentation has ever been cited for this claim, and the only 3 contemporary accounts known of him give a different reason for his vengeance (his family being ill-treated and turned out of their home.)
For the remainder of the war, Hinson used a 50 caliber Kentucky long rifle to conduct a personal war against the Union Army. He targeted Union soldiers at distances as great as a half mile on land and on military transports and gunboats on the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River. Hinson has been credited with as many as one hundred kills, although his rifle had only 36 notches on it. (It has been suggested that the notches were for officers only.)
Hinson served as a guide for Nathan Bedford Forrest during his successful cavalry raid on the Union supply base at Johnsonville, Tennessee in November 1864. Hinson's son Robert led a guerrilla band in the area until he was killed in action on September 18, 1863. Hinson himself evaded capture, despite elements of four Union regiments being assigned at different times to pursue him.
After the war, he lived the rest of his life peacefully, mostly in Stewart County, settling the estate of his son George, voting, paying his taxes, etc., but also getting into some legal trouble as he had often done before the war. In 1867, he sold 7 acres of timber off of his "Bubbling Springs" farm to the first Superintendent of the new National Cemetery.
Hinson died on April 28, 1874, at his residence in the White Oak/Magnolia area of Houston County, Tennessee. On the morning of his death, he complained of a severe pain between the shoulders. Remedies were applied, but no relief came and he died six hours after being taken. The attack was supposed to be meningitis. He is buried in the family plot in the Cane Creek Cemetery, off White Oak Road, near McKinnon, Tennessee. A monument to him is also located in the Boyd Cemetery in the Land-Between-the Lakes area. His 1874 obituary stated that he was interred at the Boyd Cemetery. Area newspapers in 1873 had been full of stories about the pursuit and capture of "Captain Jack", but those references are to Modoc chief Kintpuash, not to Hinson.
Hinson is commemorated in a roadside marker just across the state border in Kentucky, and his story has been told in two books by Tom McKenney:


Murchad mac Diarmata

Murchad mac Diarmata (English: Murrough MacDermot) (died 1070) was a late eleventh-century ruler of the kingdoms of Leinster, Dublin, and the Isles. He was a member of the Uí Chennselaig, and a son of Diarmait mac Máel na mBó, King of Leinster (died 1072). Murchad had three sons: Domnall (died 1075), Donnchad (died 1115), and Énna. He is the eponymous founder of the Meic Murchada, a branch of the Uí Chennselaig who adopted the surname "Mac Murchada" (MacMurrough, MacMorrow, Morrow).
Murchad led an army into the Kingdom of Meath in July 1069 "where he burned territories and churches", he was however badly wounded by Feichin, a defender. It was probably these injuries, or complications, that led to Murchad's death in 1070. He was then buried in Áth Cliath, near what is now Dublin.
Murchad's death in the "Annals of the Four Masters".
"Murchadh, son of Diarmaid, son of Mael-na-mbo, lord of the foreigners and of Leinster, under his father, died at Ath-cliath, precisely on Sunday, the festival of Mary, in winter. It was in lamentation of him the poet composed these quatrains:"


Edward M. Grout

Edward Marshall Grout (October 27, 1861 – November 9, 1931) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.
Life.
Grout was born on October 27, 1861 in New York City, the son of Edward Grout and Fanny Marshall. His paternal grandfather was assemblyman Paul Grout, and he was a descendant of Jonathan Grout.
Grout studied at Colgate University, graduating from there in 1884. After he graduated, he studied law in the office of Stewart L. Woodford. He was admitted to the bar in 1885 and stayed in Woodford's firm for the next seven years. He then formed a partnership with future New York City mayor William Jay Gaynor under the name Gaynor, Grout & De Fere. When Gaynor became a judge a year later, the firm became Grout, De Fere & Mayer. Almet Francis Jenks later joined the firm.
Grout served as a private in the 23rd Regiment of the New York National Guard from 1887 to 1892. In 1894, he was appointed judge advocate, with the rank of major, of the Second Brigade.
In 1895, Grout was the Democratic candidate for Mayor of Brooklyn, but he lost to Charles A. Schieren. A prominent advocate for the City of Greater New York, he was elected the first Borough President of Brooklyn, serving from 1897 to 1901. He was elected New York City Comptroller in 1901, serving until 1905. He was a delegate to the 1904 Democratic National Convention.
Grout was president of the Brooklyn bank. When the bank closed in 1911, he was indicted on the charge he swore to a false report on the bank's financial condition. Three and a half years later, he was found guilty after a nine-week trial and sentenced to a year in prison. He was released on bail and the Appellate Division ordered a new trial. The indictment was then dismissed by the District Attorney. He then returned to law, practicing law with his brother Paul on 115 Broadway. In 1924, he moved to Greens Farms, Connecticut and was admitted to the Connecticut state bar.
In 1899, Grout married Ida L. Loeschigk. They had two children, Jonathan (judge of the Fairfield town court) and Catherine. He was a member of the Montauk Club and the New York County Lawyers Association. He was a trustee of Colgate University since 1895.
Grout died at his home in Greens Farms on November 9, 1931. He was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.


Experimental Cinema of the Philippines

The Experimental Cinema of the Philippines (ECP) was a government-owned corporation of the Republic of the Philippines created to promote the growth and development of the local film industry. Created in 1982 after the first Manila International Film Festival through Executive Order 770, the ECP was primarily known as a production company. However, it was created among other things; to hold the Manila International Film Festival, to manage the Manila Film Center, administer a film rating and classification system and to establish and operate the National Film Archive. It was also mandated to provide financial assistance to select motion pictures through a film fund.
For purposes of policy coordination, it was placed under the Ministry of Tourism. While its initial films were critically acclaimed, the ECP was accused of producing sex-oriented or "Bomba" films later in its history until it was dissolved in 1986.
From the official documents, the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines formally ceased its operations through the Executive Order No. 1051.


George F. Comstock

George Franklin Comstock (1811–1892) was an American lawyer and politician. He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1860 to 1861.
Personal life.
Comstock was born on August 24, 1811 in Williamstown, then Oneida, now Oswego County, New York. He graduated from Union College in 1834. Then he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1837. He was married to Cornelia, daughter of his friend and law partner, B. Davis Noxon, and had a son and daughter. Comstock died in Syracuse on September 27, 1892 and was buried at the Oakwood Cemetery.
Career.
Comstock was Solicitor of the United States Treasury from 1852 to 1853, during the administration of President Millard Fillmore.
He was a judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1856 to 1861, elected on the American Party ticket to fill the remainder of the unexpired term of Charles H. Ruggles who had resigned in October 1855. In 1856, Union College conferred the honorary degree of LL.D. on him. He was Chief Judge from 1860 to 1861. He published the first four volumes of the law reports of the Court of Appeals. In 1861, he ran for re-election on the Democratic ticket, but was defeated by the Union candidate William B. Wright.
Syracuse University.
Comstock was an influential figure in the founding of Syracuse University and a member of the new university's board of trustees. In 1870, he donated fifty acres of farmland on a hillside to the southeast of the city center, then valued at $60,000, to establish the university. He also donated additional $35,000. Comstock intended Syracuse University and the hill to develop as an integrated whole; a contemporary account described the latter as "a beautiful town ... springing up on the hillside and a community of refined and cultivated membership ... established near the spot which will soon be the center of a great and beneficent educational institution."
Comstock tract of buildings.
The Comstock Tract Buildings, a historic district of older buildings on the Syracuse University campus, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Three buildings on campus—the Crouse Memorial College and the Hall of Languages, and the Pi Chapter House of Psi Upsilon Fraternity—are individually listed on the National Register.


NineStar Connect

NineStar Connect is an American smart utility cooperative. It is headquartered in Greenfield, Indiana, with assets in Central Indiana. The company offers communication, electricity, water and sewer utility services.
History.
NineStar Connect actually traces in origins back to the McCordsville Telephone Company which was founded in 1895 by Loren Helms. Helms, a telephone factory worker, strung a wire across a back fence from his mother's house to the home of his sister, Mrs. Charles Peal, and installed the first telephone in the community. Soon three neighbors joined the line Hiram Dunham, James Thomas, and Robert Wilson – and the company was in business. It became a cooperative in 1950 once merged with Maxwell, Mohawk, New Eden and Willow Branch Telephone companies. Central Indiana Power was incorporated in 1936 as Hancock County Rural Electric Membership Cooperative to offer electricity to what used to be rural portions of the county. These two local cooperatives officially merged on January 1, 2011.
The name NineStar Connect is the result of the newly merged cooperative that was previously known as separate entities, Hancock Telecom and Central Indiana Power. On February 9, 2011, then NineStar President and CEO Tim Hills stated, "A lot of time, research and discussion went into the selection of the new name. We wanted an innovative name yet we wanted to keep some of the heritage of the two great cooperatives." More than 800 customers and employees gave their input, with majority supporting the new name. The significance of the word "Nine" is that nine separate companies have been consolidated since 1950 to form what is now the new merge. "Star" references light. Which is key in fiber-optics and digital technologies. Along with a subtle reminder that electricity provides light. "Connect" describes how the cooperative brings together electricity and communications in a single service package.
In 2016, NineStar grew their utility service offerings by expanding into Water and Sewer. The utility received approval from Hancock County officials and were granted nearly 45,000 acres of rural area as a new water territory. In addition, within that territory NineStar acquired assets to the Sugar Creek Utilities and Philadelphia Water Works. In January 2019, the company added to their water division by acquiring the Gem Water Utility from the Town of Cumberland. The transaction was for $4 million and included over 500 customers.
Assets and Revenues.
NineStar Connect's Annual Report for 2018 states the Total Current Assets and Total Operating Revenues. Respectively they are $28,686,167 and $65,045,297.


Klein Vrystaat

 (Afrikaans for "Little Free State") was a short-lived Boer republic in what is now South Africa (around the town of Piet Retief).
History.
From around 1876, a group of Boers lived on land bought from the Swazi king Mbandzeni. In 1886, a formal government was formed, following the adoption of a constitution.
King Mbandzeni sold the land but kept his kingdom. He was another son of Mswati II, ruling from 1875 to 1889.
This state existed until 1891 when it was incorporated into the South African Republic (Transvaal). The flag of the Klein Vrystaat is identical to the Transvaal , which has four colours: a horizontal red-white-blue with a vertical green stripe near the hoist. The width of the green stripe was equal to the height of the horizontal stripes in the Klein Vrystaat flag and 1.25 times this height in the flag.
Little Free State was mainly a European (largely Afrikaner) community located on Swazi-owned land along the kingdom's southwestern border with the Transvaal, which was granted in 1877 by iNgwenyama Mbandzeni Dlamini to two hunters: Joachim Johannes Ferreira and Frans Ignatius Maritz. The land consisted of northeast of the present town of Piet Retief. What Mbandzeni thought he had granted was in the nature of a permanent grazing concession, but Ferreira and Maritz opened up the territory to Afrikaner settlement and subdivided into small farms. Mbandzeni finally gave them the permission to form their own "labndla" (council), which led to their establishment of a local government, consisting of a president and council, with its own constitution and laws.
In 1886, the settlers declared their independence as the Little Free State and were able to rebuff Mbandzeni's halfhearted attempts to evict them on the grounds that they had exceeded his mandate. In 1888, Ferreira and Maritz requested that the South African Republic (ZAR) incorporate them into the Transvaal, claiming that Mbandzeni had renounced his authority over them. At that point, Mbandzeni reasserted his sovereignty over the territory and demanded an annual rental payment of £21, but, by then, it was too late. By the terms of the first Swaziland Convention (1890), the Little Free State was incorporated into the ZAR, with the accord of the British, as part of the Piet Retief, Mpumalanga district.
However, the creation of the Nieuwe Republiek Zuid Afrika in 1884, and the Klein Vrystaat in Swaziland 1886 as a miniature republic. In each case, use was made of tribal warfare among the African population to introduce a small army of Europeans, who, having defeated one of the contenders in the tribal war, exacted their price, in land, from the victor.
In addition, the Europeans arrived in greater numbers throughout the 1880s, after the discovery of gold in neighboring Transvaal and at Piggs Peak and Forbes Reef in Swaziland. Mswati's son, Mbandzeni, granted large chunks of his territory in concessions to the new arrivals, emboldening Britain to ignore his claims to most of the rest, and, by the time Swaziland became a protectorate of the South African Republic in 1894, there was precious little land left. After their victory in the Second Anglo-Boer War, Britain assumed control of the territory and retained it until 1968.
The Swazi saw the Zulus' refusal to allow white farmers, traders and missionaries to penetrate their land, leading to Britain's destruction of the Zulu monarchy in 1879. In the 1880s, King Mbandzeni granted numerous concessions to Boer graziers, and British traders and miners. This amounted to a "paper conquest" of Swaziland.
After the Zulu War, the Swazis aided the British in dismantling the Pedi Kingdom. In gratitude, Britain promised the Swazis they would retain their independence. This was despite the "scramble for Africa" in the 1880s.
In 1886 the discovery of gold made the Transvaal the prime force in southern Africa. The Boers demanded British agreement to their expansion either north across the Limpopo (Rhodesia-Zimbabwe) or east through Swaziland (the road to the sea). Britain reversed its position on Swazi independence and by 1894 had allowed the Transvaal to establish control over Swaziland.


Mike Rowland (wheelwright)

Mike Rowland is a wheelwright and coachbuilder located in Colyton, Devon.
Biography.
The business was established in 1964. Rowland and his son Greg run their own family-owned business together. They were awarded the Royal Warrant of Appointment in January 2005 by Queen Elizabeth II as her wheelwrights and coachbuilders. All work is still done by hand in the traditional way that is the same since hundreds of years. For the 2011 Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, Rowlands was responsible for the maintenance of the wheels of the royal and state chariots and carriages.
Rowlands also build wheels for canons and take other orders in for the construction or maintenance of carriages and coaches. Carriages are built by eye. They also supplied wheels for the Hollywood blockbuster "Gladiator".


Wanhua Chemical Group

Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd. known as Wanhua Chemical and formerly Yantai Wanhua Polyurethane or Yantai Wanhua Polyurethanes or Yantai Wanhua, is a Chinese listed company in chemical industry.
History.
The listed company was incorporated in 1998 as Yantai Wanhua Polyurethane Co., Ltd. (). Co-founder of the company, Wanhua Group Corporation ( or ), initially owned 93.25% shares. The company started its initial public offering in December 2000. The shares started to trade in the Shanghai Stock Exchange in January 2001.
Initially, the listed company only owned the methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) production line of the former Yantai synthetic leather factory. It was a common practice at that time to list part of the assets instead of the whole conglomerate. The size of the listed company expanded beyond that assets, however.
That MDI production line was replaced by a new one in 2014, also located in Yantai. The company also imported technology from Honeywell for its Yantai plant in 2018.
In 2017, the shares of the listed company became a constituent of the blue-chip index SSE 50.
In February 2019, the listed company acquired Hungarian company BorsodChem and other assets, via a reverse merger with the largest shareholder of the listed company in an all-share deal that worth RMB52 billion.
In July 2019, the listed company acquired Swedish company Chematur Technologies for a reported US$134 million from Jilin-based Kangnaier Investment Group (; also transliterated as Connell Chemical Industry LLC) and another investor. In the same month, the listed company formed a shipping joint venture with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).
Businesses.
Wanhua Chemical Group is one of the largest chemical producers of the world. According to "Chemical & Engineering News" ("C&EN"), the listed company is ranked the 37th in 2018 edition of the ranking, up from the 41st in 2017 edition. As of 2019, it is the world's largest producer of the polyurethane raw material methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI). According to another source, the listed company is the second largest producer of the world for aliphatic diisocyanate (ADI) as well as the largest producer of China for toluene diisocyanate (TDI).
The company is ranked the 820th in 2019 edition of "Forbes Global 2000".
On top of the production facility in Yantai, the company also has factories in Ningbo, Zhuhai and Meishan. Since 2019, the company expanded into Hungary. The company also announced a plan to build a factory in Convent, Louisiana, the US in November 2018. However, "C&EN" and "SCMP" reported that the plan may be revised in 2019. The proposal plant also faced opposition from the local residents of Convent as well as change in costs due to multiple factors, such as tariff of raw material due to the China–United States trade war.
BorsodChem.
In February 2011, the parent company of the listed company, Wanhua Industrial Group Co., Ltd. (), acquired Hungarian chemical maker BorsodChem for a reported US$1.66 billion (€1.2 billion). The parent company also hired the listed subsidiary to manage BorsodChem from 2011 to 2019.
In February 2019, Wanhua Chemical Group made a reverse merger with its direct parent company at that time, . That company also owned the shares of BorsodChem.
Shareholders.
The parent company and largest shareholder of the listed company was Yantai-city government owned Wanhua Group Corporation in 1998. From 2003, Wanhua Group Corporation's non wholly owned subsidiary Wanhua Industrial Group became the direct parent company, which was the largest shareholder until January 2018.
In January 2018, the parent company was split into two companies: Wanhua Industrial Group and (). The latter became the new largest shareholder of the listed company instead. At that time, that company owned 47.92% shares of Wanhua Chemical Group.
However, in February 2019, the listed company merged with its largest shareholder, with the listed company is the surviving entity.
Another company, Yantai Guofeng (), became the new largest shareholder of the listed company for 21.56% stake since February 2019 and increased to 21.59% as of 31 December 2019. Yantai Guofeng is owned by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the Yantai Municipal People's Government. Yantai's SASAC also indirectly owned the former parent company of the listed company, Wanhua Industrial Group, at the same time. Yantai Guofeng owned 39.497% stake of Wanhua Industrial Group since 2017. Yantai Guofeng also formed a shareholders' agreement with the third and fourth largest shareholder of the listed company, which they were owned by the managers and employees of the listed company directly and indirectly. As of 31 December 2019, the third () and fourth largest shareholder () owned 10.52% and 9.61% shares respectively.
Prime Partner International Limited, a consortium founded in 2007 by Pemex, Deutsche Bank and one other investor, was the second largest shareholder of the listed company, as of 2019, for 10.70% shares. However, the direct parent company of that consortium, had changed to Dao Sheng (Hong Kong) Limited in 2017. Prime Partner International was the shareholder of Wanhua Industrial Group in 2007, thus the consortium was an indirect owner of the listed company from that date.


The Nest (2020 film)

The Nest is a 2020 psychological thriller film written, directed, and produced by Sean Durkin. It stars Jude Law, Carrie Coon, Charlie Shotwell, Oona Roche, and Adeel Akhtar. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2020, and was released in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2020, by IFC Films and Elevation Pictures respectively.
Plot.
In the 1980s, Englishman Rory O'Hara and his American wife, Allison, live a middle-class life in New York City with their children Ben and Sam. Allison teaches horseback riding, while Rory is a trader. Believing his opportunities in the U.S. are limited, Rory convinces Allison to relocate with him to England, where he plans to return to the firm of his former employer Arthur Davis. Despite Allison's initial misgivings, the family moves into a huge old mansion in Surrey. Rory convinces Allison she can start her own horse farm on the property, buying a horse named Richmond for her. Construction begins on a stable while Sam and Ben are enrolled in expensive private schools. Rory takes Allison to high-class dinner parties with Arthur and his colleagues. However, the family has some difficulty adjusting, as their secluded location and respective commutes make it difficult for the children to get to school on time.
Several weeks later, construction abruptly stops on the stable. Learning that Rory never paid the builders, Allison discovers that his bank account is nearly empty. Rory promises he will have money soon, but Allison is forced to provide for the family by cutting into her hidden cash fund. Allison bristles at Rory's efforts to appear high-class while they remain nearly broke. At the office, Rory proposes that Arthur sell his company to a larger American firm looking for a London office. After brief consideration, Arthur refuses. At the house, Richmond collapses in pain and Allison is forced to go to a neighboring farmer, who puts the horse down. Rather than go home following Arthur's rejection, Rory travels elsewhere in England to visit his mother, telling her about his family. She shows no interest in them and accuses Rory of abandoning her. Rory returns home late and gets into an explosive argument with Allison over their financial woes and Rory's reckless, delusional behavior.
In order to provide income to the household, Allison begins working as a farmhand for the farmer. Sam makes some disreputable friends from the area, while Ben gets into a fight with some bullies. Rory and his colleague Steve arrange a potentially lucrative deal with a Norwegian fish-farming corporation. Rory and Allison attend a dinner with Steve and their prospective clients, while Sam and her friends throw a party back at the house. As the party gets out of control, Ben flees outside and witnesses Richmond's carcass being pushed to the surface of the grave due to improper burial. At the dinner, Allison openly mocks Rory before leaving the restaurant, taking the car and getting drunk at a nightclub. Rory attempts to downplay Allison's behavior to the clients, but they opt to go into business with Steve while cutting Rory out. Rory tries to take a taxi back to Surrey and confesses his many indiscretions to the taxi driver, claiming his job is "pretending to be rich". With Rory's confessions making it clear that he is both broke and a liar, the driver anticipates that he will be unable to pay for the long fare and leaves him in the middle of nowhere.
The next morning, Allison wakes up hungover in her parked car and drives home, finding the house trashed after the party. Ben shows her Richmond's grave, where the carcass has risen almost completely to the surface. As Allison breaks down over the grave, Sam and Ben agree to make breakfast. Rory finishes the long walk home and finds his family seated at the table. He starts proposing another relocation, but Allison simply tells him to stop. Sam hugs a crying Rory, then prepares a seat for him.
Production.
The project was announced in April 2018, with Jude Law and Carrie Coon set to star for writer and director Sean Durkin. Filming began in September 2018 in Canada for one week before moving to England.
Release.
It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2020. Shortly after, IFC Films acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released on September 18, 2020.
Reception.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 131 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "An effective pairing of period setting and timeless themes, "The Nest" wrings additional tension out of its unsettling story with an outstanding pair of lead performances." On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
"The Nest" was screened at the 2020 Deauville American Film Festival where it won the Grand Special Prize, the International Critics' prize and the Revelation Prize.
The film was named to the Toronto International Film Festival's year-end Canada's Top Ten list for feature films.