Monday, December 31, 2007

List of places in Devon
Rosetta is a lightweight dynamic translator for Mac OS X distributed by Apple. It enables applications compiled for the PowerPC family of processors to run on Apple systems that use Intel processors. Rosetta is based on Transitive Corporation's QuickTransit technology.

Rosetta (software) Compatibility

Mac 68K emulator - lower level program used for a similiar purpose during 680x0 to PowerPC transition.
Universal binary - combined PPC/Intel applications that run natively on both processors.
Fat binary - combined PPC/68k application that ran on older Macintoshes.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Majority-minority state
Majority-minority state is a term used to describe a U.S. state in which a majority of the state's population differs from the national majority population of non-Hispanic whites. This data is usually derived from self-identification questions on United States Census questionnaire and extrapolated data (see race (United States Census).
Four states are majority-minority states: Hawaii (which has long been such a state, and is the only state that has never had a white majority) and more recently, New Mexico, California, and Texas
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, 2005
The term majority-minority state almost always refers to ethnic/racial minorities but may also refer to another criteria, such as religion, disability, or age. For example, the majority of Utah residents are Mormons, a religious minority throughout the rest of the United States. However, no state has a majority composed of any non-Christian group.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
This article is part of the series: United States Constitution
Articles of the Constitution IIIIIIIVVVIVII
Subsequent Amendments XI ∙ XII ∙ XIII ∙ XIV ∙ XV ∙ XVI XVII ∙ XVIII ∙ XIX ∙ XX ∙ XXI ∙ XXII XXIII ∙ XXIV ∙ XXV ∙ XXVI ∙ XXVII
Other countries ·  Law Portal  view  talk  edit 
Amendment XXIV (the Twenty-fourth Amendment) of the United States Constitution prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. The amendment was proposed by Congress to the states on August 29, 1962 and was ratified by the states on January 23, 1964.
Poll taxes had been enacted in eleven Southern states after Reconstruction as a measure to prevent poor black and white people from voting, and had been held to be unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court. At the time of this amendment's passage, only five states still retained a poll tax: Virginia, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi. However, it wasn't until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966) that the poll tax was officially declared unconstitutional because it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Text
Congress proposed the Twenty-fourth Amendment on August 27, 1962. The following states ratified the amendment:
Ratification was completed on January 23, 1964. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states:
This amendment rejected by the following state:

Illinois (November 14, 1962)
New Jersey (December 3, 1962)
Oregon (January 25, 1963)
Montana (January 28, 1963)
West Virginia (February 1, 1963)
New York (February 4, 1963)
Maryland (February 6, 1963)
California (February 7, 1963)
Alaska (February 11, 1963)
Rhode Island (February 14, 1963)
Indiana (February 19, 1963)
Utah (February 20, 1963)
Michigan (February 20, 1963)
Colorado (February 21, 1963)
Ohio (February 27, 1963)
Minnesota (February 27, 1963)
New Mexico (March 5, 1963)
Hawaii (March 6, 1963)
North Dakota (March 7, 1963)
Idaho (March 8, 1963)
Washington (March 14, 1963)
Vermont (March 15, 1963)
Nevada (March 19, 1963)
Connecticut (March 20, 1963)
Tennessee (March 21, 1963)
Pennsylvania (March 25, 1963)
Wisconsin (March 26, 1963)
Kansas (March 28, 1963)
Massachusetts (March 28, 1963)
Nebraska (April 4, 1963)
Florida (April 18, 1963)
Iowa (April 24, 1963)
Delaware (May 1, 1963)
Missouri (May 13, 1963)
New Hampshire (June 12, 1963)
Kentucky (June 27, 1963)
Maine (January 16, 1964)
South Dakota (January 23, 1964)
Virginia (February 25, 1977)
North Carolina (May 3, 1989)
Alabama (2002)
Mississippi (December 20, 1962)

Wednesday, December 26, 2007


This article refers to the natural event. For other uses, see Avalanche (disambiguation)
An avalanche is a very large slide of snow or rock down a mountainside, caused when a buildup of snow is released down a slope, and is one of the major dangers faced in the mountains. An avalanche consists of rapidly moving granular material that has exceeded the critical static friction threshold and thereby causes additional material to exceed its threshold as well, in a cascading effect.
In an avalanche, large quantities of material, or mixtures of different types of material, fall or slide rapidly under the force of gravity. Avalanches are often classified by what they are made of, for example snow, ice, rock or soil avalanches. A mixture of these would be called a debris avalanche.
A large avalanche can run for many miles, and can create massive destruction of the lower forest and anything else in its path. For example, in Montroc, France, in 1999, 300,000 cubic metres of snow slid on a 30 degree slope, achieving a speed of 100 km/h (60 mph). It killed 12 people in their chalets under 100,000 tons of snow, 5 meters (15 feet) deep. The mayor of Chamonix was convicted of second-degree murder for not evacuating the area, but received a suspended sentence However, it is very doubtful avalanches were used deliberately at the strategic level as weapons; more likely they were simply a side effect to shelling enemy troops, occasionally adding to the toll taken by the artillery. Avalanche prediction is difficult even with detailed weather reports and core samples from the snowpack. It would be almost impossible to predict avalanche conditions many miles behind enemy lines, making it impossible to intentionally target a slope at risk for avalanches. Also, high priority targets received continual shelling and would be unable to build up enough unstable snow to form devastating avalanches, effectively imitating the avalanche prevention programs at ski resorts.

Causes
All avalanches are caused by an over-burden of material, typically snowpack, that is too massive and unstable for the slope that supports it. Determining the critical load, the amount of over-burden which is likely to cause an avalanche, is a complex task involving the evaluation of a number of factors. These factors include:

Contributing factors
Slopes flatter than 25 degrees or steeper than 60 degrees typically have a low risk of avalanche. Snow does not accumulate significantly on steep slopes; also, snow does not flow easily on flat slopes. Human triggered avalanches have the greatest incidence when the snow's angle of repose is between 35 and 45 degrees; the critical angle, the angle at which the human incidence of avalanches is greatest, is 38 degrees. The rule of thumb is: A slope that is flat enough to hold snow but steep enough to ski has the potential to generate an avalanche, regardless of the angle. However, avalanche risk increases with use; that is, the more a slope is disturbed by skiers, the more likely it is that an avalanche will occur. The snowpack on slopes with southern exposures are strongly influenced by sunshine; daily cycles of surface thawing and refreezing create a crust that may tend to stabilize an otherwise unstable snowpack, but the crust, once it has been fractured, may detach itself from the underlying layers of snow, slide, and promote the generation of an avalanche. Slopes in the lee of a ridge or other wind obstacle accumulate more snow and are more likely to include pockets of abnormally deep snow, windslabs, and cornices, all of which, when disturbed, may trigger an avalanche.
Convex slopes are more dangerous than concave slopes. The primary factor contributing to the increased avalanche danger on convex slopes is a disparity between the tensile strength of snow layers and their compressive strength.
Another factor affecting the incidence of avalanches is the nature of the ground surface underneath the snow cover. Full-depth avalanches (avalanches that sweep a slope virtually clean of snow cover) are more common on slopes with smooth ground cover, such as grass or rock slabs. Vegetation plays an important role in anchoring a snowpack; however, in certain instances, boulders or vegetation may actually create weak areas deep within the snowpack.

Terrain
The structure of the snowpack is a strong predictor of avalanche danger. For an avalanche to occur, it is necessary that a snowpack have a weak layer (or instability) below the surface and an overlying slab of snow. Unfortunately, the relationship between easily-observed properties of snow layers (strength, grain size, grain type, temperature, etc.) and avalanche danger are extraordinarily complex; consequently, this is an area that is not yet fully understood. Furthermore, snow cover and stability often vary widely within relatively small areas, and a risk assessment of a given slope is unlikely to remain valid, accurate, or useful for very long.
Various snow composition and deposition characteristics also influence the likelihood of an avalanche. Newly-fallen snow requires time to bond with the snow layers beneath it, especially if the new snow is light and powdery. Snow that lies above boulders or certain types of plants has little to help anchor it to the slope. Larger snow crystals, generally speaking, are less likely to bond together to form strong structures than smaller crystals are. Consolidated snow is less likely to sluff than light powdery layers; however, well-consolidated snow is more likely to generate unstable slabs.

Snow structure and characteristics
Weather also influences the evolution of snowpack formation. The most important factors are heating by the sun, radiational cooling, vertical temperature gradients in standing snow, snowfall amounts, and snow types.
If the temperature is high enough for gentle freeze-thaw cycles to take place, the melting and refreezing of water in the snow strengthens the snowpack during the freezing phase and weakens it during the thawing phase. A rapid rise in temperature, to a point significantly above the freezing point, may cause a slope to avalanche, especially in spring. Persistent cold temperatures prevent the snow from stabilizing; long cold spells may contribute to the formation of depth hoar, a condition where there is a pronounced temperature gradient, from top to bottom, within the snow. When the temperature gradient becomes sufficiently strong, thin layers of "faceted grains" may form above or below embedded crusts, allowing slippage to occur.
Any wind stronger than a light breeze can contribute to a rapid accumulation of snow on sheltered slopes downwind. Wind pressure at a favorable angle can stabilize other slopes. A "wind slab" is a particularly fragile and brittle structure which is heavily-loaded and poorly-bonded to its underlayment. Even on a clear day, wind can quickly shift the snow load on a slope. This can occur in two ways: by top-loading and by cross-loading. Top-loading occurs when wind deposits snow perpendicular to the fall-line on a slope; cross-loading occurs when wind deposits snow parallel to the fall-line. When a wind blows over the top of a mountain, the leeward, or downwind, side of the mountain experiences top-loading, from the top to the bottom of that lee slope. When the wind blows across a ridge that leads up the mountain, the leeward side of the ridge is subject to cross-loading. Cross-loaded wind-slabs are usually difficult to identify visually.
Snowstorms and rainstorms are important contributors to avalanche danger. Heavy snowfall may cause instability in the existing snowpack, both because of the additional weight and because the new snow has insufficient time to bond to underlying snow layers. Rain has a similar effect. In the short-term, rain causes instability because, like a heavy snowfall, it imposes an additional load on the snowpack; and, once rainwater seeps down through the snow, it acts as a lubricant, reducing the natural friction between snow layers that holds the snowpack together. Most avalanches happen during or soon after a storm.
Daytime exposure to sunlight can rapidly destabilize the upper layers of a snowpack. Sunlight reduces the sintering, or necking, between snow grains. During clear nights, the snowpack can strengthen, or tighten, through the process of long-wave radiative cooling. When the night air is significantly cooler than the snowpack, the heat stored in the snow is re-radiated into the atmosphere.

Weather
Due to the complexity of the subject, winter travelling in the backcountry (off-piste) is never 100% safe. Good avalanche safety is a continuous process, including route selection and examination of the snowpack, weather conditions, and human factors. Several well-known good habits can also minimise the risk. If local authorities issue avalanche risk reports, they should be considered and all warnings heeded. Never follow in the tracks of others without your own evaluations; snow conditions are almost certain to have changed since they were made. Observe the terrain and note obvious avalanche paths where vegetation is missing or damaged, where there are few surface anchors, and below cornices or ice formations. Avoid travelling below others who might trigger an avalanche.

Avalanche avoidance
There are several ways to prevent avalanches and lessen their power and destruction. They are employed in areas where avalanches pose a significant threat to people, such as ski resorts and mountain towns, roads and railways. Explosives are used extensively to prevent avalanches, especially at ski resorts where other methods are often impractical. Explosive charges are used to trigger small avalanches before enough snow can build up to cause a large avalanche. Snow fences and light walls can be used to direct the placement of snow. Snow builds up around the fence, especially the side that faces the prevailing winds. Downwind of the fence, snow buildup is lessened. This is caused by the loss of snow at the fence that would have been deposited and the pickup of the snow that is already there by the wind, which was depleted of snow at the fence. When there is a sufficient density of trees, they can greatly reduce the strength of avalanches. They hold snow in place and when there is an avalanche, the impact of the snow against the trees slows it down. Trees can either be planted or they can be conserved, such as in the building of a ski resort, to reduce the strength of avalanches.
Artificial barriers can be very effective in reducing avalanche damage. There are several types. One kind of barrier uses a net strung between poles that are anchored by guy wires in addition to their foundations. These barriers are similar to those used for rockslides. Another type of barrier is a rigid fence like structure and may be constructed of steel, wood or pre-stressed concrete. They usually have gaps between the beams and are built perpendicular to the slope, with reinforcing beams on the downhill side. Rigid barriers are often considered unsightly, especially when many rows must be built. They are also expensive and vulnerable to damage from falling rocks in the warmer months. Finally, there are barriers that stop or deflect avalanches with their weight and strength. These barriers are made out of concrete, rocks or earth. They are usually placed right above the structure, road or railway that they are trying to protect, although they can also be used to channel avalanches into other barriers. Occasionally, mounds of earth are placed in the avalanche's path to slow it down.

Prevention

Terrain management - Terrain management involves reducing the exposure of an individual to the risks of traveling in avalanche terrain by carefully selecting what areas of slopes to travel on. Features to be cognizant of include not under cutting slopes (removing the physical support of the snow pack), not traveling over convex rolls (areas where the snow pack is under tension), staying away from weaknesses like exposed rock, and avoiding areas of slopes that expose one to terrain traps (gulleys that can be filled in, cliffs over which one can be swept, or heavy timber into which one can be carried).
Group management - Group management is the practice of reducing the risk of having a member of a group, or a whole group involved in an avalanche. Minimize the number of people on the slope, and maintain separation. Ideally one person should pass over the slope into an area protected from the avalanche hazard before the next one leaves protective cover. Route selection should also consider what dangers lie above and below the route, and the consequences of an unexpected avalanche (i.e., unlikely to occur, but deadly if it does). Stop or camp only in safe locations. Wear warm gear to delay hypothermia if buried. Plan escape routes. Most important of all practice good communication with in a group including clearly communicating the decisions about safe locations, escape routes, and slope choices, and having a clear understanding of every members skills in snow travel, avalanche rescue, and route finding.
Group size - Group size must balance the hazard of not having enough people to effectively carry out a rescue with the risk of having too many members of the group to safely manage the risks. It is generally recommended not to travel alone. There will be no-one to witness your burial and start the rescue.
Leadership - Leadership in avalanche terrain requires well defined decision making protocols, which are being taught in a growing number of courses provided by national avalanche resource centers in Europe and North America. Fundamental to leadership in avalanche terrain is an honest attempt at assessing ones blind spots (what information am I ignoring?) There is a growing body of research into the psychological behaviors and group dynamics that lead to avalanche involvement. Safety in avalanche terrain
Even small avalanches are a serious danger to life, even with properly trained and equipped companions who avoid the avalanche. Between 55 and 65 percent of victims buried in the open are killed, and only 80 percent of the victims remaining on the surface survive. (McClung, p.177).
Research carried out in Italy (Nature vol 368 p21) based on 422 buried skiers indicates how the chances of survival drop:
(Historically, the chances of survival were estimated at 85% percent within 15 minutes, 50% within 30 minutes, 20% within one hour).
Consequently it is vital that everyone surviving an avalanche is used in an immediate search and rescue operation, rather than waiting for help to arrive. Additional help can be called once it can be determined if anyone is seriously injured or still remains unaccountable after the immediate search (i.e., after at least 30 minutes of searching). Even in a well equipped country such as France, it typically takes 45 minutes for a helicopter rescue team to arrive, by which time most of the victims are likely to have died.
In some cases avalanche victims are not located until spring thaw melts the snow, or even years later when objects emerge from a glacier.

very rapidly from 92 percent within 15 minutes to only 30 percent after 35 minutes (victims die of suffocation)
near zero after two hours (victims die of injuries or hypothermia) Human survival and avalanche rescue
Chances of a buried victim being found alive and rescued are increased when everyone in a group is carrying and using standard avalanche equipment, and have trained in how to use it. However, like a seat belt in a vehicle, using the right equipment does not justify exposing yourself to unnecessary risks with the hope that the equipment might save your life when it is needed.

Search and rescue equipment
Using an avalanche cord is the oldest form of equipment — mainly used before beacons became available. The principle is simple. An approximately 10 meter long red cord (similar to parachute cord) is attached to the person in question's belt. While skiing, snowboarding, or walking the cord is dragged along behind the person. If the person gets buried in an avalanche, the light cord stays on top of the snow. Due to the color the cord is easily visible for rescue personnel. Typically the cord has iron markings every one meter that indicate the direction and length to the victim.

Avalanche cords

Main article: Avalanche transceiver Beacons
Portable (collapsible) probes can be extended to probe into the snow to locate the exact location of a victim at several yards / metres in depth. When multiple victims are buried, probes should be used to decide the order of rescue, with the shallowest being dug out first since they have the greatest chance of survival.
Probing can be a very time-consuming process if a thorough search is undertaken for a victim without a beacon. In the U.S., 86% of the 140 victims found (since 1950) by probing were already dead. Survival/rescue more than 2 m deep is relatively rare (about 4%). Probes should be used immediately after a visual search for surface clues, in coordination with the beacon search.

Avalanche Probes
When an avalanche stops, the deceleration normally compresses the snow to a hard mass. Shovels are essential for digging through the snow to the victim, as the deposit is too dense to dig with hands or skis. A large scoop and sturdy handle are important. Not to mention a large number of diggers. Shovels are also useful for digging snow pits as part of evaluating the snow pack for hidden hazards, such as weak layers supporting large loads.

Other devices
Survival time is short, if a victim is buried. There is no time to waste before starting a search, and many people have died because the surviving witnesses failed to do even the simplest search.
Witnesses to an avalanche that engulfs people are frequently limited to those in the party involved in the avalanche. Those not caught should try to note the locations where the avalanched person or people were seen. This is such an important priority it should be discussed before initially entering an avalanche area. Once the avalanche has stopped, and there is no danger of secondary slides, these points should be marked with objects for reference. Survivors should then be counted to see who may be lost. If the area is safe to enter, a visual search of the likely burial areas should begin (along a downslope trajectory from the marked points last seen). Some victims are buried partially or shallowly and can be located quickly by making a visual scan of the avalanche debris and pulling out any clothing or equipment found. It may be attached to someone buried.
Alert others if a radio is available, especially if help is nearby, but do NOT waste valuable resources by sending a searcher for help at this point. Switch transceivers to receive mode and check them. Select likely burial areas and search them, listening for beeps (or voices), expanding to other areas of the avalanche, always looking and listening for other clues (movement, equipment, body parts). Probe randomly in probable burial areas. Mark any points where signal was received or equipment found. Only after the first 15 minutes of searching should consideration be given to sending someone for help. Continue scanning and probing near marked clues and other likely burial areas. After 30-60 minutes, consider sending a searcher to get more help, as it is more likely than not that any remaining victims have not survived.
Line probes are arranged in most likely burial areas and marked as searched. Continue searching and probing the area until it is no longer feasible or reasonable to continue. Avoid contaminating the scent of the avalanche area with urine, food, spit, blood, etc, in case search dogs arrive.
The areas where buried victims are most likely to be found are: below the marked point last seen, along the line of flow of the avalanche, around trees and rocks or other obstacles, near the bottom runout of the debris, along edges of the avalanche track, and in low spots where the snow may collect (gullies, crevasses, creeks, ditches along roads, etc). Although less likely, other areas should not be ignored if initial searches are not fruitful.
Once a buried victim is found and his or her head is freed, perform first aid (airway, breathing, circulation/pulse, arterial bleeding, spinal injuries, fractures, shock, hypothermia, internal injuries, etc), according to local law and custom.

Witnesses as rescuers
Victims caught in an avalanche are advised to try to ski or board toward the side of the avalanche until they fall, then to jettison their equipment and attempt swimming motions. As the snow comes to rest an attempt should be made to preserve an air-space in front of the mouth, and try to thrust an arm, leg or object above the surface, assuming you are still conscious. If it is possible to move once the snow stops, enlarge the air space, but minimise movement to maximise the oxygen supply. Warm breath may soon cause a mask of ice to glaze over the snow in your face, sealing it against further air.

Victims
An experienced skier participating in a guided trip experienced the effects of an avalanche first-hand. As they set out in the morning, the party experienced "the most stable conditions they could remember." However, during the next 48 hours, the temperature increased, and the wind rose, creating unstable conditions on the mountain. On the tour, the group found themselves a short distance off-course and traversed below a sub-peak. The unstable snowpack underfoot fractured, triggering an avalanche. The mass of snow impacted the man from behind, thrusting him down the hill head-first with his skis trailing behind. Traveling at the speed of the slide, his knees were wrenched continuously. Eventually, he was dragged under the flowing snow and cemented into place. With his nose and mouth filled with snow, his screams could only be heard within a few feet of his position. After a short time, the skier was breathing his own exhaled carbon dioxide, and his body sensations began to dwindle. After roughly ten minutes in that state, he was located using a probe line. Once he was uncovered, CPR and rescue-breathing was administered. The skier was saved and lives to tell about it.

Case Example
In Europe, the avalanche risk is widely rated on the following scale, which was adopted in April 1993 to replace the earlier non-standard national schemes. Descriptions were last updated in May 2003 to enhance uniformity. .
[1] Stability:
[2] additional load:
Gradient:

Generally described in more detail in the avalanche bulletin (regarding the altitude, aspect, type of terrain etc.)
heavy: two or more skiers or boarders without spacing between them, a single hiker or climber, a grooming machine, avalanche blasting.
light: a single skier or snowboarder smoothly linking turns and without falling, a group of skiers or snowboarders with a minimum 10 m gap between each person, a single person on snowshoes.
gentle slopes: with an incline below about 30°.
steep slopes: with an incline over 30°.
very steep slopes: with an incline over 35°.
extremely steep slopes: extreme in terms of the incline (over 40°), the terrain profile, proximity of the ridge, smoothness of underlying ground. European avalanche risk table
Avalanche size:

Avalanche North American Avalanche Danger Scale

Cornice
Debris avalanche
Green Alder
Landslide
Notable avalanches
Pyroclastic flow

Tuesday, December 25, 2007


Quebec English is the common term for the set of various linguistic and social phenomena affecting the use of English in the predominantly French-speaking Canadian Province of Quebec and more specifically in the Greater Montreal Area.
There is reputedly no linguistic evidence for the existence of any distinct regional dialects or varieties of Quebec English, the more so in that there are no distinctive phonological features and very few restricted lexical features common among all first-language speakers of English from or raised in Quebec. Nonetheless, it has been clearly demonstrated that most second-language speakers of English or persons acculturated in an environment in which such speakers dominate, be they francophones or allophones, do use an interlanguage of French and English or a distinct pronunciation arising from social concentration ethnic enclaves. What some perceive as "Quebec English" is thus more likely to consist of the practices by speakers of English who hail from such communities, especially so since alone or together they may outnumber first-language English-speakers, and certainly outnumber those acculturated only among English-speakers and in the English language.
This characteristics are not necessarily unique. Even accounting for Montreal's relatively recent adoption of French as the dominant public language, little apart from small vocabulary differences appears to separate Quebec first-language speakers of English from the greater pan-Canadian and English North American Sprachraum. While first-language speakers of English are a minority only in Quebec (under 10%), they form part of an overwhelming majority both in Canada (67%) and in North America north of the Rio Grande (over 98%), such that there is more American television and music available in Quebec than UK or English-Canadian cultural products combined. This may be one of the reasons why Quebec English has no unifying and unique characteristic that would render it a distinct dialect.
Other reasons include concentration and permeability. With regard to concentration, the vast majority of Quebec-born-and-raised first-language English-speakers (roughly 90%) now live in the Greater Montreal area, a phenomenon that is historically recent. With regard to permeability, a strong influx of Anglophones move to or visit Quebec on an ongoing basis — particularly Montreal, with two major English-language universities and a number of American and Canadian employers (notwithstanding employment laws which require that employers over a certain size must hold company meetings and conduct internal company business in French). In the summer months, similarly roughly half of all tourists are said to be anglophones from the U.S. or from Canadian provinces other than Quebec.
The symbol N@ denotes a language practice which is neither used nor deemed acceptable in English-language writing and broadcasting in Quebec. The same lack of acceptability holds true by any outside-Quebec anglophone's notion of English.

Quebec English French-language Phenomena in English (not restricted to Quebec only)

English-speaking Quebecer
Quebec French
Canadian English
Franglais

Monday, December 24, 2007

General
Manual strangulation (called throttling in the UK) refers to strangling with the hands, fingers, or other extremities (sometimes also with blunt objects such as batons). In violence, this type of strangling is mostly done by men against women rather than against another man, because it generally requires a large disparity in physical strength between the assailant and the victim and also because men can be over twice as big as a woman in general. More technical variants of manual strangulation are referred to as chokeholds, and are extensively practised and used in various martial arts, combat sports, self-defense systems, and in military hand-to-hand combat application.
It is a mistake to refer to strangulation as "choke" or "choking". Choke means having the windpipe blocked entirely or partly by some foreign object like food.

Manual strangulation
Ligature strangulation refers to strangling with some form of cord or cloth such as rope, wire, or shoe laces, either partially or fully circumferencing the neck.

Strangling Strangulation in popular culture

Choking game
Asphyxia
Chokehold
Hanging
Thuggee

Sunday, December 23, 2007


Bahrain Belgium Bhutan Brunei Cambodia Denmark Japan Jordan Kuwait Lesotho Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malaysia Monaco Morocco Nepal Netherlands Norway OmanList of Succession to the Belgian Throne Qatar Saudi ArabiaList of Succession to the Belgian Throne Spain Swaziland Sweden Thailand Tonga United Kingdom Belgium uses full (lineal) equal primogeniture; since 1991 males and females have equal rights of succession but this only counts for the offspring of King Albert II, effectively barring the female descended offspring of Leopold II, Albert I and Leopold III from the throne. Prior to 1991 Belgium used Salic law.

List of succession
Current king: Albert II, b. 1934
Some scholars maintain that Prince Alexander, b. 1942, (eldest son of King Leopold III's second marriage and half-brother to King Albert II) is legally in line to the throne (currently 15th) but the public generally believes that the descendants of this second marriage have no right to the throne. Given the fact that Prince Alexander is childless and his remote position in the line of succession, after the Prince's death this issue will have no future consequences with regard to the line of succession.

HRH Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, b. 1960 (eldest son of King Albert II)
HRH Princess Elisabeth, b. 2001 (daughter of the Duke of Brabant)
HRH Prince Gabriel, b. 2003 (eldest son of the Duke of Brabant)
HRH Prince Emmanuel, b. 2005 (youngest son of the Duke of Brabant)
HI&RH Princess Astrid, b. 1962 (daughter of King Albert II)
HI&RH Prince Amedeo, b. 1986 (Archduke of Austria-Este, Prince Imperial of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Hereditary Duke of Modena; future head of the House of Austria-Este) (eldest son of Princess Astrid)
HI&RH Princess Maria Laura, b. 1988 (Archduchess of Austria-Este, Princess Imperial of Austria, Princess Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Princess of Modena) (eldest daughter of Princess Astrid)
HI&RH Prince Joachim, b. 1991 (Archduke of Austria-Este, Prince Imperial of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Prince of Modena) (youngest son of Princess Astrid)
HI&RH Princess Luisa Maria, b. 1995 (Archduchess of Austria-Este, Princess Imperial of Austria, Princess Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Princess of Modena) (second daughter of Princess Astrid)
HI&RH Princess Laetitia Maria, b. 2003 (Archduchess of Austria-Este, Prince Imperial of Austria, Princess Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Princess of Modena) (youngest daughter of Princess Astrid)
HRH Prince Laurent, b. 1963 (youngest son of King Albert II)
HRH Princess Louise, b. 2004 (daughter of Prince Laurent)
HRH Prince Nicolas, b. 2005 (son of Prince Laurent)
HRH Prince Aymeric, b. 2005 (son of Prince Laurent)

Friday, December 21, 2007


Tennessee whiskey is a type of American whiskey. This whiskey is generally similar to bourbon, in that it is composed of a mash of at least 51% corn (maize) and is aged in new, charred oak barrels, typically for four or more years.
But unlike Bourbon, Tennessee whiskey undergoes a filtering stage called the Lincoln County Process, in which the whiskey is filtered through a thick layer of maple charcoal before it is put into casks for aging. This step gives the whiskey a distinctive flavor. The process itself is named for Lincoln County, Tennessee, which is where the Jack Daniel's distillery was originally located. In 1871, the Jack Daniel's distillery, and the surrounding area became part of the newly created Moore County.
Presently, there are only two brands of Tennessee whiskey on the market: Jack Daniel's and George Dickel.
Tennessee Whiskey is also a song by country singer George Jones. The song says the woman who saved him from his addiction to the bottle is, "As smooth as Tennessee Whiskey"

Tennessee whiskey See also

Bourbon whiskey
Corn whiskey
Moonshine
distillation
American Whiskey Trail

Thursday, December 20, 2007


The Princeton Triangle Club is a theatre troupe at Princeton University. Founded in 1891, it is the oldest touring collegiate musical-comedy troupe in the United States, and the only college group that takes an original student-written musical on a national tour every year. The club is known for its tradition of featuring an all-male kick line in drag.
The troupe presents several shows throughout the year. In September at the end of Freshman Week it presents a revue of the Club's best material from previous years. In autumn it puts on an original student-written show in McCarter Theatre, then brings this show on tour over the Winter holiday season. In spring it puts on another original show in a smaller venue. During reunions after the end of the spring semester, it relaunches the previous autumn's show at McCarter.
Among the club's notable alumni are F. Scott Fitzgerald, Booth Tarkington, Joshua Logan, Brooks Bowman, Jimmy Stewart, José Ferrer, Wayne Rogers, Clark Gesner, Jeff Moss, David E. Kelley, Nicholas Hammond, Brooke Shields, and Dave Holtz,

History
The Triangle Club archives begin in 1883 with a production of the Princeton College Dramatic Association; during the next five years the Association presented a number of plays. In keeping with the practice of British and American all-male institutions at the time, women's roles were played by men. Entr'acte music, provided by the Instrumental or Banjo Clubs, consisted of popular dance tunes or operatic excerpts. Student theatricals were performed for the benefit of financially-ailing athletic associations, and the sporadic activity of the Dramatic Association can be explained by the fluctuating fortunes of the sports teams.
In 1891 the Dramatic Association joined forces with the University Glee Club to present Po-ca-hon-tas, the first show in the Triangle tradition of musicals written and produced by students. According to a New York review, the reworked John Brougham play featured "new topical songs and local hits" and was well received, both on campus and in a Trenton performance. But the faculty vetoed a proposed New York performance, and over the years, students and administrators would often be at odds over theatrical activities. Nevertheless, the Association visited Trenton once again the following year with Katharine, a Shakespearean spoof marking the first appearance of Booth Tarkington 1893 in the Triangle records.
The 1893 production, The Honorable Julius Caesar, was again a reworking of Shakespeare. Tarkington, a senior and president of the Dramatic Association, was prominent as both co-author of the book and as actor in the role of Cassius. The show was so successful that it was repeated the following year, with several significant changes. Most importantly, the Princeton University Dramatic Association had been renamed the Triangle Club of Princeton. According to a preview in The New York Times, "several specialties will be introduced, such as tumbling, acrobatic feats, and dancing" and "James E. Wilson of Frohman's company… will coach the club regularly four times a week." If Wilson did indeed coach, the club had its first professional director in its very first show under the name "Triangle."

Beginnings
Financial problems caused Club members to curtail expenses in 1895. Neither the February production, Who's Who, nor the May offering, Snowball, were written by students, and both had relatively small casts. The following year the Club turned to a recent graduate, Post Wheeler '91, in hopes that his magic touch as co-author of The Honorable Julius Caesar could be repeated, and they were pleased with the result. The Mummy (1895-96) was also notable as the first production in Triangle's new home, the Casino, located on the lower campus near the present-day McCarter Theatre site. Yet another innovation was attempted in 1897. A Tiger Lily, the first Triangle show to be based on Princeton student life, was part of a double bill with Lend Me Five Shillings, a British farce. Since neither show was a great success, the Club returned to the tried and true in 1898 with a revival of Po-ca-hon-tas. The Privateer, presented in 1899, was originally entitled The Captain's Kidd Sister, but the name was changed because the University of Pennsylvania's Mask and Wig Club had already produced a show about Captain Kidd. The "Privateer March" was the first commercially published Triangle song.

Early growth
In 1901, with The King of Pomeru, Triangle ventured for the first time to New York, and the next year the club ventured as far as Pittsburgh. After the 1901 New York performance, Franklin B. Morse 1895 proposed a meeting to organize Triangle alumni, whom he believed could help promote the Club, build its reputation, arrange the annual tour, collect materials and memorabilia, and generally socialize among themselves. In June of that year, thirty-seven alumni met in Princeton, and the Triangle Board of Trustees was established.
During the first decade of the twentieth century, the organization of Triangle became increasingly structured. Printed copies of the script, "for the exclusive use of candidates," first appear in the archives with The Man From Where (1903-04).
Although A Woodland Wedding (1899-1900) included a specialty skirt dance, and "The Pony Ballet" was a part of Tabasco Land (1905-06), The Mummy Monarch's kickline in 1907 was the first of that tradition to be documented photographically in the Triangle Archives.

Budding fame and higher standards
During the early 1920s, New York performances began to be booked at the Metropolitan Opera House, although initially there was some concern whether the Club would be able to fill such a large theatre and whether the men's voices would be strong enough to be heard properly. Late in 1923, there were negotiations concerning a possible radio broadcast, and in the same year Triangle's music publisher, J. Church Co., corresponded with the Victor Talking Machine Co. about a trial recording. But the major event during this decade was the planning and construction of McCarter Theatre for Triangle Club. The completed theatre opened on February 21, 1930, with the Triangle Club's The Golden Dog. McCarter replaced the long-controversial Casino, which burned on January 8, 1924.
Here began the Golden Period for which the Triangle Club became famous, in terms of its eventual contribution of outstanding talent to the Broadway theatre and Hollywood. Within a few years the Club would send forth into these professional realms Erik Barnouw '29; C. Norris Houghton, Joshua Logan, and Myron McCormick, all Class of 1931; James Stewart '32; Jose Ferrer '33; and Nick Foran '34.
The 1935 show, Stags at Bay, featured "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)," written by Brooks Bowman, which would become the most popular and longest-lasting national hit to ever come out of the Triangle Club. Recorded by Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong, among many others, "East of the Sun" still provides the club with royalties. Other songs from the same show, by Bowman, included "Love and Dime" and "Will Love find a Way?."

Professionalization and emerging stars
With The Tiger Smiles (1930-31), Triangle writers returned to a Princeton town and gown setting for the first time since When Congress Came to Princeton (1908-09). The production was well received, but the Club was already beginning to feel the effects of the Great Depression. In October 1930, the Program Manager reported, "Due to the financial depression, the business of getting ads is a rather difficult one just now." By the following year economic conditions had begun to affect the tour. South Orange reported poor ticket sales, and the local alumni chairman was concerned with keeping down the cost of stagehands; in Pittsburgh, a poor house and lack of entertainment were attributed to the weak stock market. When It's the Valet (1932-33) was ready to tour, local alumni groups were either unwilling to sponsor a show or unable to guarantee an adequate sum to cover expenses, let alone show a profit. The Club's Graduate Board sought aid from alumni in underwriting the show, but individual contributions were equally difficult to come by.
Throughout the mid-thirties, Triangle continued to tour in spite of the Depression, but there were rumblings of discontent from both the Graduate Board of the Club and the University administration. In a 1934 meeting with President Dodds, the Board indicated concern about the financial condition of McCarter Theatre; Triangle profits were insufficient to keep McCarter operating in the black, a situation that would become increasingly serious as the decade wore on. President Dodds had also heard alumni criticism about poor acting and an apparent lack of coaching in connection with the latest show. Yet he remained confident that Triangle could play an important role on campus. Later that year, Club Manager Stryker Warren '35 received a stern letter from Dean of the College Christian Gauss. Gauss had considered canceling the Christmas tour, first because of financial considerations, and then because of alumni criticism, which "in nearly every case… came as the result of the excessive drinking on the part of a few of your men." Nevertheless, the Dean concluded by wishing "you and all the officers and members of the Club a highly successful trip, a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year."
At a 1937 Board meeting there was discussion about the lack of good voices in Triangle. Alumni as well as Board members had noted this situation, and it was suggested that "there must be someone in the Glee Club who could at least be drafted to sing, so that a song could be heard beyond the footlights." Another complaint came from a Louisville alumnus early in 1938, who wrote, "I am not crazy about the Triangle Club bringing in certain dirty lines about 'buying a drink' and 'the Knights of the Garter,' etc…. Personally I would prefer to see the young men get properly soused and have to be poured on the train than to use [these] lines."
Another change in tradition came during the 1941-42 academic year, when Triangle produced Ask Me Another, its first show in revue format. Then, at a Board meeting in September 1943, Graduate Treasurer B. Franklin Bunn '07 announced that there would be no Triangle Club activities for the duration of the war. The University assumed control of McCarter Theatre during this period, and the building was leased by the military for trainees' use on campus.

Difficulties in the Depression years
In November 1945, the University Committee on Undergraduate Activities issued a report describing Triangle as "perhaps the most controversial of all undergraduate extracurricular activities. Despite obvious shortcomings, the Club affords many valuable opportunities to the undergraduate body and plays a very real part in alumni relations. According, it should be reestablished at the first possible moment." The first post-war show, Clear the Track, opened in December 1946 and even managed a seven-city tour. But Triangle was beset with problems the following year for All Rights Reserved (1947-48). The Daily Princetonian reported, "All Rights pretty nearly weren't reserved. A play by the same name had fizzled on Broadway for a bare month, in 1934, and the petulant playwright threatened to sue. Hasty consultation with a Broadway lawyer revealed that the author could not possibly win the suit and that matter was closed." The club resolved tricky labor questions by employing union stagehands and music-hirelings, putting the later to work first in Philadelphia, where they were made to earn their fee by playing with the regular orchestra, and then in Washington, where they provided the intermission music.
Despite ongoing debate in the 1950s about the club's obligations to theatrical professionalism, as well as its questionable impact on the University's reputation, Triangle continued to reach a wider audience through greater media exposure. In 1948, All in Favor was broadcast on WNBC-TV, becoming the first college show to appear on the new medium of television. The entire score of Too Hot for Toddy (1950-51) was recorded, and members of the cast appeared on The Kate Smith Show and Ed Sullivan's The Toast of the Town. Club productions appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show from 1950 to 1957; its host wrote to Triangle President Charles Robinson, "The Princeton Triangle Club has an annual appointment on our stage, so long as I'm on TV."
Finally, in 1953, a memorandum of agreement was drawn up between Princeton University and the Trustees of the Triangle Club abrogating the McCarter agreement of the 1920s. The Club had simply been unable to cover the operating expenses and pay the taxes of the Theatre. A full-time general manager was hired for McCarter, and the University, which had been underwriting Triangle's losses, agreed to cancel the Club's debts.

Post-war comeback
Spree de Corps (1955-56) marked the debut of Milton Lyon as Triangle director. From 1955 until his death forty years later, Lyon would direct all but a handful of Triangle's original productions.
Student apathy toward extra-curricular activities began to have an impact on Triangle toward the end of the 1950s. At a meeting in October 1958, the Board noted a very small turnout for the previous month's auditions. It was decided that more on-campus publicity would help, and as part of this effort Triangle Junior was formed, a group of seven club members who performed favorite Triangle songs at various receptions and functions. Over the following years, this small group would under go periodic name changes, being known as Triangle Ding! and Triangle Bit Parts before returning to Ding!, as it is called today.
With the gradual elimination of passenger trains in the late 1950s, the club began touring by bus. Early in 1960 there was a proposal to produce a motion picture on the Triangle Club, but a Hollywood writers' strike and possible heavy expenses brought an end to this publicity idea. However, Triangle did embark on its first European tour that summer; the Club performed Breakfast in Bedlam (1959-60) at French and German bases of the American army. Tour de Farce (1961-62) became perhaps the most widely toured show: performances in Pasadena and San Francisco marked the first time the show had been seen live on both coasts, and then troupe members again went to Europe that summer to perform at US Army bases.
Funny Side Up (1963-64) was billed as the 75th anniversary show in spite of the fact that number seventy was Tour de Farce, produced only two years earlier. Funny Side Up did not have a smooth start: the writers were slow to produce material, and the trustees even considered the possibility that there would be no show. Fortunately, because of the diamond jubilee, twenty-one songs from earlier shows were made a part of the program. The tour of Funny Side Up included several southern stops, and the Birmingham visit became problematic when Triangle was booked into a segregated theatre. After some strongly worded letters from Board members, it was determined that the performance would either be cancelled or moved to a non-segregated house.

The Lyon era
A Different Kick (1968-69) was a Triangle milestone, featuring the first female undergraduate to be cast in a Club show—Sue Jean Lee '70, a junior in the Critical Languages Program. The University's shift to coeducation the next fall would have a profound effect on Triangle. Call a Spade a Shovel (1969-1970) featured six women in a seventeen-member cast. The social and political commentary of the show, most especially its anti-Vietnam War tones, unleashed an unprecedented storm of alumni protest and caused a mass audience walk-out at the Grosse Pointe tour performance.
This incident, along with growing budgetary and logistical concerns, caused the Board of Trustees to revise its production schedule. As per the May 1970 Report of the Board's New Directions Committee, there was to be neither a December show nor a Christmas tour; instead, a spring show was promised, to be followed by a short tour. Cracked Ice opened in April 1971, was repeated for alumni in June, but did finally tour the following December. To cut expenses, the cast and crew stayed in private homes rather than hotels, and non-union halls were booked.
The Princeton Triangle Workshop made its debut in November 1972 with a presentation of The Fantasticks at the Princeton Inn Theater; the following March the Workshop produced Transitions, described as "five original plays and a multimedia extravaganza," in Wilcox Hall. This began a twenty-five year tradition of smaller fall productions to compliment the full-scale, original spring shows. The fall productions of 1978, Happily Ever After, and 1979, String of Pearls, were both written by undergraduates. For the 1981 spring show, Triangle writers returned to the very roots of the club and based their book musical, Bold Type, on Booth Tarkington's novel, A Gentleman from Indiana.
The 1981 tour again returned to California, but with a revue of Triangle favorites, Fool's Gold, rather than the spring show. The following year Triangle hired Miriam Fond, the first female director in the Club's history. Triangle finally found a permanent home for its fall productions when The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas opened at the Triangle Broadmead Theatre in November 1984. In the 1980s, the Club began to present produce revues of the best of Triangle early in the fall to introduce the freshman class to the organization.

Coeducation and other changes
The Club's centennial was celebrated in 1991 with a series of campus events throughout the year, including the spring show entitled The Older, the Better, a large Firestone Library exhibition of more than 850 items from the Triangle Archives, and a fall reunion weekend of parties and performances. But how could the centennial celebration be held in 1991 when the fiftieth anniversary show was Once Over Lightly, produced in 1938-39? After much debate, it had been decided that the first show in the true Triangle tradition of original work was Po-ca-hon-tas in 1891; hence the choice of 1991 for the one-hundredth anniversary.

Centennial
In the late 1990s, the production schedule reverted to its original format, in which the McCarter show was presented in the fall of each academic year, followed a month later by that show's tour. This change meant the Club needed to generate two-full length musicals in fifteen months, almost twice the writing load of previous years. In September 1997, Triangle began a writing workshop to coordinate the efforts of the writers; this program was enormously successful, producing In Lava and War in April 1998 and 101 Damnations in November 1998. By the spring of 1999, the corps of 21 writers had been so prolific that Triangle presented an extra, original spring show at Theatre Intime, entitled The Rude Olympics. The 1999-2000 season saw the hundredth anniversary of the kickline in The Blair Arch Project (November 1999), as well as Triangle's return to Theatre Intime in May with The Rude Olympics II: American Booty. Puns of Steel (2000-2001) became the first Club show to record its score on a CD.

Notable cast members and contributors
Academic Year / Show (if more than one show listed, the first is the Mainstage Show) 1890-1891 Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage 1891-1892 Katharine 1892-1893 The Honorable Julius Caesar 1893-1894 The Honorable Julius Caesar 1894-1895 Snowball; Who's Who 1895-1896 The Mummy 1896-1897 Lend Me Five Shillings; A Tiger Lily 1897-1898 Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage 1898-1899 The Privateer, or The Pirates of Pennsnec 1899-1900 A Woodland Wedding 1900-1901 The King of Pomeru 1901-1902 The King of Pomeru 1902-1903 The Mullah of Miasma 1903-1904 The Man From Where 1904-1905 The Pretenders 1905-1906 Tabasco Land 1906-1907 The Mummy Monarch 1907-1908 When Congress Went to Princeton 1908-1909 The Duchess of Bluffshire 1909-1910 His Honor the Sultan 1910-1911 Simply Cynthia 1911-1912 Main Street 1912-1913 Once in a Hundred Years 1913-1914 The Pursuit of Priscilla 1914-1915 Fie! Fie! Fi-Fi! 1915-1916 The Evil Eye 1916-1917 Safety First 1917-1918 (a four-man troupe entertained troops in Europe) 1918-1919 The Honorable Julius Caesar 1919-1920 The Isle of Surprise 1920-1921 They Never Come Back 1921-1922 Espanola; The Devil's Disciple 1922-1923 The Man From Earth 1923-1924 Drake's Drum 1924-1925 The Scarlet Coat 1925-1926 Fortuno 1926-1927 Samarkand; Captain Applejack 1927-1928 Napoleon Passes 1928-1929 Zuider Zee 1929-1930 The Golden Dog; The Second Man 1930-1931 The Tiger Smiles 1931-1932 Spanish Blades 1932-1933 It's the Valet; Private Lives 1933-1934 Fiesta; Goodbye Again 1934-1935 Stags at Bay (incl. East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)); Holiday 1935-1936 What a Relief! 1936-1937 Take It Away 1937-1938 Fol-de-Rol 1938-1939 Once Over Lightly; Spring Shambles 1939-1940 Any Moment Now 1940-1941 Many A Slip 1941-1942 Ask Me Another 1942-1943 Time and Again 1943-1944 (no show, due to WWII) 1944-1945 (no show, due to WWII) 1945-1946 (no show, due to WWII) 1946-1947 Clear the Track 1947-1948 All Rights Reserved 1948-1949 All in Favor 1949-1950 Come Across 1950-1951 Too Hot for Toddy 1951-1952 Never Say Horses 1952-1953 Ham 'n Legs 1953-1954 Malice in Wonderland 1954-1955 Tunis, Anyone? 1955-1956 Spree de Corps 1956-1957 Take a GanderPrinceton Triangle Club 1957-1958 After a Fashion 1958-1959 For Heaven's Sake 1959-1960 Breakfast in Bedlam 1960-1961 Midsummer Night Scream; Guys and Dolls 1961-1962 Tour de Farce 1962-1963 Ahead of the Game 1963-1964 Funny Side Up 1964-1965 Grape Expectations 1965-1966 High Sobriety 1966-1967 Sham on Wry 1967-1968 Enter Venus 1968-1969 A Different Kick 1969-1970 Call a Spade a Shovel; '70 Minutes 1970-1971 Cracked Ice 1971-1972 Blue Genes; One More Hour for Uncle Ben 1972-1973 Future Schlock 1973-1974 A Titter Ran Through the Audience 1974-1975 American Zucchini; Blithe Spirit 1975-1976 Mugs Money 1976-1977 Kafka, Tea or Me 1977-1978 Chile Today, Guacamole 1978-1979 Academia Nuts; Happily Ever After 1979-1980 From Here to Hilarity; String of Pearls 1980-1981 Bold Type and Company 1981-1982 Stocks and Bondage and Cabaret; Fool's Gold: 85 Minutes of the Best of Triangle 1982-1983 Under the Influence; Merrily We Roll Along 1983-1984 Revel Without a Pause; Three Penny Opera 1984-1985 No. 96-Untitled; The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas 1985-1986 Star Spangled Banter; The Boy Friend 1986-1987 Business Unusual; Applause; 90 Minutes of the Best of Triangle 1987-1988 Ain't Mythbehavin'; No Strings; 91 Minutes of the Best of Triangle 1988-1989 Satanic Nurses; Little Shop of Horrors 1989-1990 Easy Street 1990-1991 The Older, the Better; Into the Woods; 94 Minutes of the Best of TrianglePrinceton Triangle Club 1991-1992 Do-Re-Media;The Centennial Revue: "100 Years and Still Kicking";95 Minutes of the Best of Triangle 1992-1993 Shelf Indulgence; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; 96 Minutes of the Best of Triangle 1993-1994 Bermuda Love Triangle; 97 Minutes of the Best of Triangle 1994-1995 Rhyme and Punishment; 98 Minutes of the Best of Triangle 1995-1996 Pulpit Fiction 1996-1997 The Tiger Roars; It's a Wonderful Laugh 1997-1998 In Lava and War 1998-1999 101 Damnations; The Rude Olympics; Palindromes are Fun! 1999-2000 The Blair Arch Project; The Rude Olympics II: American Booty; Menage '03 2000-2001 Puns of Steel; 2004Play; The Rude Olympics III 2001-2002 Absurd to the Wise; sLAUGHTERhouse '05; The Rude Olympics IV 2002-2003 This Side of Parody; '06 Degrees of Separation; The Rude Olympics V: Schlock & Awe 2003-2004 For Love or Funny; '07 Deadly Sins; The Rude Olympics VI: Weapons of Mass Distraction 2004-2005 Orange and Black to the Future; Magic '08 Balls; The Rude Olympics VII 2005-2006 Excess Hollywood; Love Potion '09; Rude Olympics VIII: An Eye for an iPod 2006-2007 Heist Almighty; Crude In'10tions; Rude Olympics IX: The Devil Wears Nada 2007-2008 A Turnpike Runs Through It; Knockin' on '11's Door; Rude Olympics X: ???

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Varian Fry
Varian Mackey Fry (October 15, 1907September 13, 1967) was a Hotchkiss School and Harvard University educated American journalist who ran a rescue network in Vichy France that helped approximately 2,000 to 4,000 anti-Nazi and Jewish refugees to escape Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.
Varian Fry founded Hound & Horn, an influential literary quarterly, in 1927 with Lincoln Kirstein while an undergraduate at Harvard. He married Kirstein's sister, Eileen.
While working as a foreign correspondent for the American journal The Living Age, Varian Fry visited Berlin in 1935 and personally witnessed Nazi savagery against Jews on more than one occasion.
Greatly disturbed by what he saw, he helped raise money to support European anti-Nazi movements. Following the occupation of France, he went to Marseille as an agent of the newly formed ([1]) Emergency Rescue Committee in an effort to help persons wishing to flee the Nazis.
Beginning in 1940, in Marseille, despite the watchful eye of the collaborationist Vichy regime, he and a small group of volunteers hid people at the Villa Air-Bel until they could be smuggled out. More than 2,200 people were taken across the border to the safety of neutral Portugal from which they made their way to the United States.
Others he helped escape on ships leaving Marseille for the French colony of Martinique, from which they too could go to the United States. Among Fry's closest associates were Americans Miriam Davenport, a former art student at the Sorbonne, and the beautiful heiress Mary Jayne Gold, a lover of the arts and the "good life" who had come to Paris in the early 1930s.
When the Nazis seized France in 1940, Gold went to Marseille, where she worked with Fry and helped finance his operation. Also working with Fry was a young academic named Albert O. Hirschman, who eventually went on to a distinguished career in America.
Especially instrumental in getting Fry the visas he needed for the artists, intellectuals and political dissidents on his list was Hiram Bingham IV, an American Vice Consul in Marseille who fought against State Department anti-Semitism and was personally responsible for issuing thousands of visas, both legal and illegal.
Among those Fry aided were the following:
Back home in the United States, Fry published in 1945 his book about his time in France under the title, Surrender on Demand. In 1968, the US publisher Scholastic (which, as implied by its name, markets mainly to children and adolescents) published a paperback edition under the title Assignment: Rescue, and subsequent reprints have appeared under both of the above titles.
He wrote and spoke critically against U.S. immigration policies particularly relating to the issue of the fate of Jews in Europe. In a December 1942 issue of The New Republic, he wrote a scathing article titled: "The Massacre of Jews in Europe".

Hannah Arendt
André Breton
Marc Chagall
Max Ernst
Lion Feuchtwanger
Heinz Jolles
Wilfredo Lam
Wanda Landowska
Jacques Lipchitz
Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel
Andre Masson
Otto Meyerhoff
Marcel Duchamp
Franz Werfel
Heinrich Mann
Ylla
LeftHit.com