Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Plot

Sean Gullette as Maximillian Cohen, a reclusive math genius
Mark Margolis as Sol Robeson, Max's mentor, who abandoned his research into π after it nearly killed him.
Ben Shenkman as Lenny Meyer, a Hasidic Jew who introduces Max to Kabbalah.
Pamela Hart as Marcy Dawson, a representative of an investment firm that is interested in Max's research
Stephen Pearlman as Rabbi Cohen, the leader of a Jewish sect that pursues Max.
Samia Shoaib as Devi, Max's attractive and friendly neighbor.
Ajay Naidu as Farroukh, Devi's boyfriend.
Kristyn Mae-Anne Lao as Jenna, a girl who plays math games with Max. Cast
π was written and directed by Darren Aronofsky, and filmed on high-contrast black-and-white reversal film.
π had a low budget ($60,000), but proved a financial success at the box office ($3.2 million gross in the U.S.) despite only a limited release to theaters. It has also proven to be a steady seller on DVD.
According to the DVD's production notes, Aronofsky raised money for the project by selling $100 shares in the film to family and friends, and was able to pay them all back with a $50 profit per-share when the film was sold to Artisan. He paid his crew in deferred payments amounting to $200 a day, as well as 'shares' in the film. Darren Aronofsky's next film was Requiem for a Dream (which was also sold co-packaged with π).

Production
In the film, Max periodically plays Go with his mentor. This game has historically stimulated the study of mathematics and features a simple set of rules that results in a complex game strategy. The two characters each use the game as a model for their view of the universe; Sol says that the game is a microcosm of an infinitely complex and chaotic world with Max asserting that patterns can be found in the complexity of its variations. Actors Sean Gulette and Mark Margolis both learned the game for the film from the New York City American Go Association club.

Pi (film) The game of Go
The film's characters make several mathematical goofs, such as
Max pursues a legitimate scientific goal, and as such, π features several references to mathematics and mathematical theories. For instance, Max finds the golden spiral occurring everywhere, including the stock market. Max's belief that diverse systems embodying highly nonlinear dynamics share a unifying pattern that bears much similarity to results in chaos theory, which provides machinery for describing certain phenomena of nonlinear systems, which might be thought of as patterns. Unlike in the film, chaos theory does not allow one to predict the exact behavior of a chaotic system like the stock market and, in fact, provides compelling evidence that such predictions are, in principle, impossible.

The film shows a drawing of the golden rectangle (with larger side length a and shorter side length b) with frac{a}{b} = frac{a}{a+b}. This equation has no solution for non-zero a, and the golden ratio actually refers to a ratio such that frac{a}{b} = frac{a+b}{a}.
The Greek letter theta, (theta) is stated to be the symbol for the golden ratio. In fact, the letter used is generally varphi (phi).
In the same scene as the previous goof, while discussing the links between the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio, Max states, "If you divide a hundred and forty-four into two hundred and thirty-three, it approaches theta." What he means is that the ratio between terms of the Fibonacci sequence and their immediate predecessors approaches the golden ratio as one looks further along the sequence. The single division 233/144 has a fixed value, so it does not approach any other value. Mathematics and π
The 216-letter name of God sought by the characters of the film is actually widely known and called the Shemhamphorash or the Divided Name. It comes from Exodus 14:19-21. Each of these three verses is composed of seventy-two letters in the original Hebrew. If one writes the three verses one above the other, the first from right to left, the second from left to right, and the third from right to left, one gets seventy-two columns of three-letter names of God. The seventy-two names are divided into four columns of eighteen names each. Each of the four columns represents one of the four letters of the Tetragrammaton.
The actual name of God, according to Jewish traditions, is the Tetragrammaton (YHWH or YHVH). This is the name that was intoned in the temple once a year during Yom Kippur, as referenced in the film. What has been lost is not the spelling of the name, as in the film, but the true pronunciation, since words written in Hebrew in the Torah do not include vowels. Furthermore, in the case of the Tetragrammaton, when vowels were used, the actual vowels were replaced with the vowels of the word Adonai to avoid pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, which is a taboo in Judaism.
In addition, it would be highly unlikely that the Hebrew Schemhamphoras would translate into 216 digits in a decimal system for several reasons:

There is no zero in Hebrew numerals.
The Hebrew number system does not work as a normal decimal system; the characters of the Hebrew Alphabet, the Aleph-Bet, correspond to the following values: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 200, 300, and 400. So, if the letter "A" had a value of 1, and "B" 2, and so on, you would only get up until "I" (which would have a value of 9) until you would need multiple letters to reflect numbers that are not divisible by ten and that have two or more digits (i.e., if "J" was 10, and you wanted to make the number 11, it would be "JA", or 10+1). If each single-digit number corresponded to its letter only, then you would have a 216-letter word that only uses letters A through I. Pi (film) Soundtrack

Pi (the mathematical constant)

Tuesday, February 26, 2008


Northern Nigeria is a geographical region of Nigeria. It is more arid and has less population density than the south. The people are largely Muslim, and many are Hausa. Much of the north was once politically united in the Northern Region, a federal division disbanded in 1967.

History

Main article: Hausa States Hausa States
Between 500 CE and 700 CE Hausa people, who had been slowly moving west from Nubia and mixing in with the local Northern and Central Nigerian population, established a number of strong states in what is now Northern and Central Nigeria and Eastern Niger. With the decline of the Nok and Sokoto, who had previously controlled Central and Northern Nigeria between 800 BCE and 200 CE, the Hausa were able to emerge as the new power in the region. Closely linked with the Kanuri people of Kanem-Bornu (Lake Chad), the Hausa aristocracy adopted Islam in the 11th century CE. By the 12th century CE the Hausa were becoming one of Africa's major powers. The architecture of the Hausa is perhaps one of the least known but most beautiful of the medieval age. Many of their early mosques and palaces are bright and colourful and often include intricate engraving or elaborate symbols designed into the facade. By 1500 CE the Hausa utilized a modified Arabic script known as ajami to record their own language; the Hausa compiled several written histories, the most popular being the Kano Chronicle.

Arrival of the Hausa
The Hausa Kingdoms emerged in the 13th century as vibrant trading centers competing with Kanem-Bornu and Mali. The primary exports were leather, gold, cloth, salt, kola nuts, animal hides, and henna. Except for minor alliances, the Hausa city-states functioned independently. Rivalries generally inhibited the formation of one centralized authority.
There were fourteen Hausa Kingdoms: The "Hausa Seven" and the "Bastard Seven"
The Hausa Kingdoms began as seven states with a shared mythology with its founders being the sons of a Queen. They are known as the Hausa Bakwai meaning Hausa Seven. The states included:
The growth and conquest of the Hausa Bakwai resulted in the founding of additional states with rulers tracing their lineage to a concubine of the Hausa founding father, Bayajidda. Thus they are called the 'Banza Bakwai meaning Bastard Seven. The Banza Bakwai adopted many of the customs and institutions of the Hausa Bakwai but were considered unsanctioned or copy-cat kingdoms by non-Hausa people. These states include:

Daura ? - 1806
Kano 998 - 1807
Katsina c. 1400 - 1805
Zazzau (Zaria) c. 1200 - 1808
Gobir ? - 1808
Rano
Biram c. 1100 - 1805
Zamfara
Kebbi
Yauri (also called Yawuri)
Gwari (also called Gwariland)
Kororafa (a Jukun state)
Nupe (of the Nupe people)
Llorin (a Yoruba state) Northern Nigeria The Fourteen Kingdoms
Usuman dan Fodio led a jihad against the Hausa States and finally united them into the Muslim Fulani Empire. The Fulani Empire was under the overall authority of the Commander of the Faithful, all of whom after Usman dan Fodio also used the title Sultan of Sokoto. Under him the Empire was bicephalous and divided into two territories each controlled by an appointed vizier. Each of the territories was further divided into autonomous Emirates under mainly hereditary local Emirs. The Bornu Empire was initially absorbed into the Fulani Empire of Usman dan Fodio, but broke away after a few years claiming increasing corruption of the Fulani Empire.

Fulani Empire and Bornu Empire
Initially the British involvement in Northern Nigeria was predominantly trade-related, and revolved around the expansion of the Royal Niger Company, whose interior territories spread north from about where the Niger River and Benin River joined at Lokoja. The Royal Niger Company's territory did not represent a direct threat to the powerful Fulani empire.

Royal Niger Company Territory

Protectorate of Northern Nigeria
Northern Nigeria was a British colony formed in 1900. The basis of the colony was the 1885 Treaty of Berlin which broadly granted Northern Nigeria to Britain, on the basis of their protectorates in Southern Nigeria. There was, however considerable uncertainty about the borders which Britain could assert and the trade rights other Europeans might have, and as a result British involvement in Northern Nigeria was initially considered a political priority in Africa due to the threat of German and French rivals. There was particular uncertainty over the border with French colonies in the North West.
Britain's chosen Governor, Frederick Lugard, with limited resources, slowly negotiated with ,and sometimes coerced, the emirates of the north into accepting British rule, finding that the only way this could be achieved was with the consent of local rulers through a policy of indirect rule which he developed from a necessary improvisation into a sophisticated political theory. Lugard left the protectorate after some years, serving in Hong Kong, but was eventually returned to work in Nigeria where he decided on the merger of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate with Southern Nigeria in 1914. The unification was done for economic reasons rather than political — Northern Nigeria had a budget deficit. Frederick Lugard sought to use the budget surpluses in Southern Nigeria to offset this deficit [1], and also believed that administration of the whole area would be easier if united, especially since northern Nigeria had no access to the sea. At the time, neither Lugard nor other British administrators, nor Africans, considered Nigeria to constitute a potential national unit- in fact the north and south were considered culturally radically different- and the merger was an economic and administrative convenience. Under an umbrella administration for all Nigeria, the north and south continued to have their own separate administrations, and each had its own Lieutenant-Governor answering to Lugard and his successors. However, nationalism developing in Nigeria soon took the whole of Nigeria as a natural future national unit.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Western Springs Stadium
Western Springs Stadium is an entertainment venue in Auckland, New Zealand, that consists of a natural amphitheatre. During the winter it is used for club rugby union matches and over summer it is used for speedway. It is also occasionally used for large music concerts and festivals.
Western Springs Stadium has a crowd capacity of 30,000 for sports [1] and upwards of 50,000 for concerts. It is located four kilometres west of the city centre in the suburb of Western Springs.

Western Springs Stadium Speedway
Between late March and early October the stadium is used by the Ponsonby Rugby Club for training and games. Western Springs Stadium has also hosted NRL games when Mt Smart stadium has been unavailable.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Tourism in NigeriaTourism in Nigeria
Tourism in Nigeria centers largely on cultural events, due to the country's ample amount of ethnic groups, but also includes rain forests, savannah, waterfalls, and other natural attractions.

Revenue

Tourism in Cameroon
List of national parks in Nigeria

Saturday, February 23, 2008


Andrus Veerpalu (born February 8, 1971 in Pärnu) is an Estonian cross country skier. On February 17, 2006 he won his second Winter Olympics gold medal (in 15 km cross country skiing; his previous gold medal is from the Salt Lake City games), becoming the fourth Estonian to have won two Olympic gold medals (Kristjan Palusalu, Erika Salumäe and Kristina Šmigun are the first three). He is the most successful Olympic athlete from Estonia with three medals.
Veerpalu has also found success at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, winning a gold at 30 km in 2001 and a silver at 50 km in 1999. He has also won the 50 km event at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 2003 and 2005.
Veerpalu earned the Holmenkollen medal in 2005, the first Estonian to do.

Andrus Veerpalu Individual races
6 wins (6 Individual, 0 Sprint)

Friday, February 22, 2008

Jack Kemp
Jack French Kemp Jr. (born July 13, 1935), is an American politician and former professional American football player. He was the Republican candidate for the vice presidency in the 1996 presidential election.
Kemp was born, raised and educated in Los Angeles, California. He is a graduate of Occidental College, where he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

Pro Football Reference
DatabaseFootball Football career
Kemp represented the Buffalo, New York region in the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1989. Kemp, along with Republican congressman David Stockman of Michigan, wrote a memorandum to president-elect Ronald Reagan in 1980 that outlined an economic plan that would become the foundation for Reaganomics. In 1988 he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Presidential nomination, and subsequently served as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1989 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush.
As secretary of HUD, Kemp spearheaded the Homeownership and Opportunity for People Everywhere (HOPE) program, an effort to reform socialized housing, by allowing residents of government housing projects to buy their own unit. Likewise, with his Urban Enterprise Zone program, he promoted market-based urban business district reforms by offering tax breaks and reducing the regulatory burdens for businesses in poor neighborhoods. These ideas were fought by welfare proponents, but their immense success compared to public housing and other attempts to control communities through heavy government, they have become the dominant stances of housing and urban development today, giving rise to modern Urban Renewal systems.
Kemp was the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee in 1996, running alongside Senator Bob Dole. Kemp was seen as a means to attract conservative and libertarian-minded voters like those of tough nomination-challengers Steve Forbes and Pat Buchanan. As is usually the case with vice presidential nominees, this did not have as much impact as hoped.

Views on soccer

List of American Football League players

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Jersey Joe Walcott
Arnold Raymond Cream (January 31, 1914 - February 25, 1994), better known as Jersey Joe Walcott, was a world heavyweight boxing champion. He broke the world's record for the oldest man to win the world's Heavyweight title when he earned it at the age of 37.

Boxing Career
He did not go away from the celebrity scene after boxing. In 1956, he co-starred with Humphrey Bogart and Max Baer in the boxing drama The Harder They Fall. In 1963, he tried wrestling, losing to Lou Thesz. In 1965, he refereed the controversial world heavyweight championship bout between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston. Walcott lost the count as Ali circled around a floored Liston and Walcott tried to get him back to a neutral corner. Then Walcott looked outside the ring (presumably to the ringside count keeper) as Ali and Liston went at each other before Walcott instructed them to keep on fighting, then Walcott approached the fighters and abruptly stopped the fight. Walcott would never be appointed as a referee after this bout. It should be said, however, that most of the controversy surrounding this fight had nothing to do with Walcott, as this was the famous fight with the "phantom punch".
Walcott became Sheriff of Camden County in 1972 and then chairman of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission in 1975 until 1984, when he stepped down at the mandatory retiremenet age of 70. Walcott was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota.
His record as the oldest man ever to win the world Heavyweight title was broken in 1994 by then 45 year old George Foreman.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Scottish and Southern Energy plc
Scottish and Southern Energy plc (SSE) is an energy company formed in 1998 following a merger of equals between Scottish Hydro-Electric plc and Southern Electric plc. Its headquarters are located in Perth, Scotland.

Description

Fuel mix
According to their 2006 Corporate Report, SSE is the largest generator of electricity from renewable sources in the UK. In 2004/2005, 7.5% of the electricity it supplied was from renewables compared with the UK average of 3.8%.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008


An independent school in the United Kingdom is a school relying, for all of its funding, upon private sources, so almost invariably charging school fees. In England and Wales the term public school is often used for independent secondary schools, and the term private school for independent preparatory schools.
Some independent schools, particularly the more traditional institutions, also have charitable status, which has the effect of giving them a subsidy.
There are more than 2,500 independent schools in the UK, educating some 615,000 children.
Most of the elite independent schools are either full or partial boarding schools, thus, to a substantial degree, a 'public school' education and the associated ethos, rather than mere financial status, remain defining characteristics of the upper- and professional middle classes.

Independent schools in England
Independent schools in Scotland educate about 31,000 children. Although many of the Scottish independent schools are members of the ISC they are also represented by the Scottish Independent Schools Council, which is the body recognised by the Scottish Parliament as the body representing independent schools in Scotland. Unlike England all Scottish independent schools are subject to the same regime of inspections by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education as local authority schools and they have to register with the Scottish Executive Education Department.
Most of Scotland's independent schools are in Edinburgh or Glasgow. However, notable schools in the country include Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen, Dollar Academy in Clackmannanshire, Glenalmond College in Perth and Kinross and Gordonstoun in Elgin.

Independent schools in Scotland
Independent schools are entirely free to select their own pupils (subject to the general legislation against various forms of discrimination). Nowadays most schools pay little regard to family connections, apart from siblings currently at the school. Although some credit may be given for musical or sporting promise, the principal forms of selection are academic and financial (parents' ability to pay the high fees and costs, up to £27,500 per annum for boarding pupils). Some parents make immense sacrifices to be able to send their children to these schools, because the education is seen by them to be academically beneficial (in terms of examination league tables), and to offer cultural, social and professional advantages, as well as a wide range of sporting, musical and artistic facilities.
Many (but by no means all) independent schools are highly selective on academic grounds, using the competitive Common Entrance examinations at ages 11-13. Scholarships are offered to attract bright pupils, sometimes approaching GCSE standard. Means-tested bursaries (scholarships) to assist the education of the less well-off, a mission which may form the historic basis of the school, are usually awarded on a competitive basis but perhaps taking more factors into account. Subsequently, there will usually be fully streamed teaching for all pupils, and regular internal examinations. Facilities for dyslexia or for gifted children are common, but other special needs may only be accommodated at the school's discretion.
Independent schools, as compared with state schools, are generally characterised by lower pupil-teacher ratios and more individual teaching; longer teaching hours (sometimes including Saturday morning teaching), though shorter terms; more time for organised sports; a broader view of education than that prescribed by the national curriculum, to which state school education is in practice limited; more emphasis on individual achievement, whether academic, sporting, musical, dramatic or artistic, or otherwise; more availability of traditional academic subjects such as classics; old, sometimes unsuitable but historical buildings and traditions; an emphasis on mixing with the right people, acquiring a good accent and good connections, and inadvertently developing the 'public school ethos' - these are all things sought after by not only the top independents. The old popular image of bullying, beating and buggery, which lasted from before "Tom Brown's Schooldays" through a large part of the 20th century, is hard to eradicate. However, following the arrival of mobile telephones, by which the most protective or credulous parent can feel reassured, there has been less of it in reality.
School rules can be more easily enforced when a boarding pupil is subject to school discipline 24 hours a day, and indeed a gating (confinement to school boundaries) may be a punishment in itself; minor misdemeanours may attract detention in a particular place; work in the house or grounds; early rising, pre-breakfast exercise and reporting; or lines (writing out a text, a particularly gruelling task if the text is incomprehensible Greek with accents and breathings). Unlike the state sector, a child may be expelled under the school's statutes, at the discretion of the Head, primarily with a view to the wider interests of the school: the most usual causes being drug-taking, whether at school or away, or any notorious rejection of the school's values, such as academic dishonesty or violence. Pupils not expected to qualify for university might be asked to leave before the sixth form.
In England and Wales there are no requirements for teaching staff to have Qualified Teacher Status or to be registered with the General Teaching Council. In Scotland a teaching qualification and registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) is mandatory for all teaching positions.

Selection and conditions
See also preparatory school (England)
In England and Wales a preparatory school, or prep school in current usage, is an independent school designed to prepare a pupil for fee-paying, secondary independent school. The age range is normally eight to eleven or thirteen, although it may include younger pupils as well. An independent school which only caters for under eights is a "pre-prep" and the junior departments of prep schools which cover the first years of schooling are also called "pre-preps". :

Wholly independent prep schools, both charitable and proprietary.
Junior schools linked to senior schools.
Choir schools, which educate child choristers of cathedrals and some other large religious institutions; they all accept non-chorister pupils with the exception of Westminster Abbey Choir School. These schools are usually affiliated to Anglican churches, but may occasionally be associated with Catholic ones such as Westminster Cathedral.
Schools offering special educational provision or facilities.
Schools with particular religious affiliations. Terminology
The head teachers of major British independent boys' and mixed schools belong to the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), and a common definition of a public school is any school whose head teacher is a member of the HMC. It is debatable as to whether any girls' school can be considered to be a public school. Public schools are often divided into "major" and "minor" public schools, but these are not official definitions and the inclusion of a school in one or the other group is purely subjective (although a select few would be included in any list of "major" schools). Thus, in E W Hornung's book Raffles Further Adventures (1901), the following exchange takes place: "'Varsity man?" "No." "Public school?" "Yes." "Which one?" I told him, and he sighed relief. "At last! You're the very first I've not had to argue with as to what is and what is not a public school." A similar exchange takes place in "Murder must Advertise" by Dorothy L. Sayers:'"What' would you call a public school, then?" "Eton...and Harrow" "Rugby?" "No no, that's a railway junction!"'
Prior to the Clarendon Commission, a Royal Commission that investigated the public school system in England between 1861 and 1864, there was no clear definition of a public school. The commission investigated nine of the more established schools: two day schools (Merchant Taylors', London and St Paul's) and seven boarding schools (Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Shrewsbury, Westminster and Winchester). A report published by the commission formed the basis of the Public Schools Act 1868.
Another way of determining the major public schools is to distinguish them by the players allowed to play in the Butterfly Cricket Club which was founded by an old rugbiean. Only players who came from what were and are considered the major public schools were allowed to play. The schools included Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Marlborough, Oakham, Rugby, Westminster and Winchester.
However, the common perception of public schools is that they pre-date the 20th century and were established as boys-only schools even if they are now coeducational, with distinctive traditions and high academic performance.
Some suggest that only particularly old independent schools should be afforded the dignity of "public school". (see Lists of independent schools in the UK below)

Differing definitions
The Public Schools Yearbook published in 1889 named the following 25 boarding schools, all in England:
However, it notably omitted the Merchant Taylors' and St Paul's day schools that had been listed in the Act. It also omitted others, including Epsom College and the City of London School, a day school (which derived from a mediæval foundation of 1442) was reconstituted by a private Act of Parliament in 1835 and was held to be a public school by the Divisional Court in the case of Blake v City of London in 1886.
A handful of day schools (non boarding) founded in the 19th century were widely considered to be "major Public schools" by the 20th century due to their reputation and alumni.
These included University College School (which for much of the previous century had gained infamy in educational circles as the 'Godless school of Gower Street'), however, by 1907, it was important enough for the King, accompanied by the Archbishop of Canterbury, to open the school's new site in Hampstead.
Similarly, King's College School, Wimbledon, founded by King's College London, quickly became recognised as an important school.
Both schools are now members of the exclusive Eton Group of Independent schools.
Perhaps the best way to tell if a school is a "Grand Public School" in modern times is to check an edition of Who's Who. The headmasters of the most prestigious schools have an entry there by virtue of their position.

Bedford School
Bradfield College
Brighton College
Charterhouse School
Cheltenham College
Clifton College
Dover College
Dulwich College
Eton College
Haileybury College
Harrow School
Lancing College
Malvern College
Marlborough College
Radley College
Repton School
Rossall School
Rugby School
Sherborne School
Shrewsbury School
Tonbridge School
Uppingham School
Wellington College
Westminster School
Winchester College Independent school (United Kingdom) Public Schools Yearbook
Some public schools are particularly old, such as The King's School, Canterbury (founded c.600), Sherborne School (founded c.710, refounded 1550 by Edward VI), Warwick (founded c.914),The King's School, Ely (founded c.970), Bedford School (granted Letters Patent by Edward VI in 1552, though the original school is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1085) Westminster (founded 1179 if not before), High School of Dundee (founded 1239), Stamford School (re-endowed in 1532, but in existence as far back as 1309), Eton (1440), and Winchester (1382), this last of which has maintained the longest unbroken history of any school in England. These were often established for male scholars from poor or disadvantaged backgrounds; however, English law has always regarded education as a charitable end in itself, irrespective of poverty. For instance, the Queen's Scholarships founded at Westminster in 1560, are for "the sons of decay'd gentlemen".
The transformation of free charitable foundations into expensive institutions came about readily: the foundation would only afford minimal facilities, so that further fees might be charged to lodge, clothe and otherwise maintain the scholars, to the private profit of the trustees or headmaster; and also facilities already provided by the charitable foundation for a few scholars could profitably be extended to further paying pupils. (Some schools still keep their foundation scholars in a separate house from other pupils). After a time, such fees would eclipse the original charitable income, and the endowment would naturally become a minor part of the capital benefactions enjoyed by the school. Nowadays there is remarkably little difference between the fees of an ancient public school with magnificent facilities, grounds and endowments, and those of many minor public schools with little capital: effectively the capital and income from former benefactors finance superior facilities, which attract better staff and wealthy parents who may be generous in their turn.
However, some do demand significantly higher fees than others, the most expensive being (in order) Winchester, Charterhouse, Cranleigh, Eton, Harrow, Gordonstoun, Cheltenham Ladies College, Cheltenham College, Dean Close, Bedales, Rugby and St John's School, Leatherhead
One school which continues its charitable foundation ethos is Christ's Hospital, a boarding school in Horsham; fees are charged according to the family income (in 2005, about one third of the pupils paid less than £250 per year). Well-off families are discouraged - the number of pupils that pay the full fee (~£15,000) is limited to 6% of the School population. Millfield is a modern foundation with a significant proportion of its pupils on scholarships for those with limited means.
The educational reforms of the nineteenth century were particularly important under first Arnold at Rugby, and Butler and later Kennedy at Shrewsbury, the former emphasising team spirit and muscular Christianity and the latter the importance of scholarship and competitive examinations. Most public schools developed significantly during the 18th and 19th centuries, and came to play an important role in the development of the Victorian social elite. Under a number of forward-looking headmasters leading public schools created a curriculum based heavily on classics and physical activity for boys and young men of the upper and upper middle classes.
They were schools for the gentlemanly elite of Victorian politics, armed forces and colonial government. Often successful businessmen would send their sons to a public school as a mark of participation in the elite. Much of the discipline was in the hands of senior pupils (usually known as prefects), which was not just a means to reduce staffing costs, but was also seen as vital preparation for those pupils' later rôles in public or military service. More recently heads of public schools have been emphasising that senior pupils now play a much reduced role in disciplining.
To an extent, the public school system influenced the school systems of the British empire, and recognisably 'public' schools can be found in many Commonwealth countries.

Origins of independent schools
The role of public schools in preparing pupils for the gentlemanly elite meant that such education, particularly in its classical focus and social mannerism, became a mark of the ruling class. For three hundred years, the officers and senior administrators of the "empire upon which the sun never set" invariably sent their sons back home to boarding schools for education as English gentlemen, often for uninterrupted periods of a year or more at a time.
The 19th century public school ethos promoted ideas of service to Crown and Empire, understood by the broader public in familiar sentiments such as "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" and "the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton". Ex-pupils often had a nostalgic affection for their old schools and a public school tie could be useful in a career, so an "old boy network" of former pupils became important.
The English public school model influenced the nineteenth century development of Scottish private schools, but a tradition of the gentry sharing primary education with their tenants kept Scotland comparatively egalitarian.
Acceptance of social elitism was set back by the two World Wars, but despite portrayals of the products of public schools as "silly asses" and "toffs" the old "system" at its most pervasive continued well into the 1960s, reflected in contemporary popular fiction such as Len Deighton's The IPCRESS File, with its sub-text of tension between the grammar school educated protagonist and the public school background of his superiors and posh but inept colleague. Postwar social change has however gradually been reflected across Britain's educational system, while at the same time fears of problems with state education have pushed many middle-class parents towards public schools, which now prefer to be known as Independent schools.
Many politicians of all parties, including Labour leaders Clement Attlee, Hugh Gaitskell and Tony Blair, have been products of independent schools.
In 2003 84.5% of senior Judges in England and Wales were educated at independent schools, as surveyed in .

Associations with the ruling class
For a fuller listing of public and other independent schools in Britain, see the List of independent schools in the United Kingdom.
See also the List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom.
Amongst the oldest independent schools in the UK are (chronologically):

The King's School, Canterbury (597)
The King's School, Rochester (604)
St Peter's School, York (627)
Sherborne School (early 8th C)
Wells Cathedral School (909)
Warwick School (914?)
St Albans School (948)
The King's School, Ely (970)
Norwich School, Norwich (1096)
High School of Glasgow (1124)
Bristol Cathedral School (1140)
Westminster School (1179)
High School of Dundee (1239)
Abingdon School (1256) (possibly as old as (1100))
Royal Grammar School Worcester (1291)
Bablake School (1344)
Wisbech Grammar School (1379)
Winchester College (1382)
Hereford Cathedral School (1384)
Oswestry School (1407)
Durham School (1414)
Sevenoaks School (1432)
Eton College (1440)
City of London School (1442)
St Dunstan's College (earlier than (1446))
Magdalen College School, Oxford (1480)
Stockport Grammar School (1487)
Loughborough Grammar School (1496)
Giggleswick School (1507)
St Paul's School (1509)
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn (1509)
Royal Grammar School, Guildford (1509)
Wolverhampton Grammar School (1512)
Nottingham High School (1513)
Pocklington School (1514)
Manchester Grammar School (1515)
Bolton School (1516)
King's School, Bruton (1519)
Royal Grammar School, Newcastle (1525)
Sedbergh School (1525)
Ipswich School (1528)
The College of Richard Collyer (1532)
Bristol Grammar School (1532)
Stamford School (1532)
Berkhamsted Collegiate School (1541)
The King's School, Gloucester (1541) (dates back to the (11th century))
The King's School, Worcester (1541)
The King's School, Chester (1541)
Dauntsey's School (1542)
King Henry VIII School (1545)
Bradford Grammar School (1548)
Bedford School (1552)
King Edward's School, Birmingham (1552)
King Edward's School, Bath (1552)
Shrewsbury School (1552)
Leeds Grammar School (1552)
Bromsgrove School (1553)
Christ's Hospital (1553)
King Edward's School, Witley (1553)
Tonbridge School (1553)
King Edward VI School, Southampton (1553)
Gresham's School (1555)
Oundle School (1556)
Hampton School (1556)
Brentwood School (1557)
Repton School (1557)
Solihull School (1560)
Kingston Grammar School (1561)
Merchant Taylors' School (1561)
Elizabeth College, Guernsey (1563)
Felsted School (1564)
Highgate School (1565)
Rugby School (1567)
Colfe's School (1568) (refounded (1652))
St Edmund's College (1568)
Bury Grammar School (1570)
Harrow (1572)
Sutton Valence School (1576)
Woodbridge School (1577)
St Bees (1583)
Oakham School (1584)
Uppingham School (1584)
Queen Elizabeth's Hospital (1590)
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Wakefield (1591)
Stonyhurst College (1593)
Emanuel School (1594)
Wellingborough School (1595)
Whitgift School (1596)
Aldenham School (1597)
Kimbolton School (1600)
Blundell's School (1604)
Downside School (1607)
Charterhouse School (1611)
Batley Grammar School (1612)
Monmouth School (1614)
Haberdashers' Aske's School (1614)
Perse School (1615)
Dulwich College (1619) (founded as: The College of "God's Gift")
Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby (1620)
Latymer Upper School (1624)
Chigwell School (1629)
Exeter School (1633)
Red Maids' School (1634)
Hutchesons' Grammar School (1641)
The Maynard School (1658) (all girls)
George Heriot's School (1659) Oldest independent schools in the UK
It is not a requirement in the independent sector, as opposed to the state sector, to be a qualified teacher to teach in schools.
The former classics-based curriculum was also criticised for not providing skills in sciences or engineering. It was Martin Wiener's opposition to this tendency which inspired his 1981 polemic "English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit: 1850-1980". It became a huge influence on the Thatcher government's opposition to old-school gentlemanly Toryism.
Some parents complain that their rights and their children's are compromised by vague and one-sided contracts which allow Heads to use discretionary powers unfairly, such as in expulsion on non-disciplinary matters. They believe independent schools have not embraced the principles of natural justice as adopted by the state sector, and private law as applied to Higher Education.
The exclusivity of independent schools has attracted political antagonism ever since the First World War. Many of the best-known independent schools are prohibitively expensive for ordinary parents, although some are based on charitable foundations originally established up to a thousand years ago to provide free education for the talented poor, but now only offer a few competitive scholarships and bursaries. The Thatcher government introduced the Assisted Places Scheme in England and Wales in 1980, whereby the state paid the school fees of those students capable of gaining a place but unable to afford the fees. This was essentially a response to the decision of the previous Labour government in the mid-1970s to remove government funding of direct-grant grammar schools, most of which then became private schools; some Assisted Places students went to the former direct-grant schools such as Manchester Grammar School. The scheme was terminated by the Labour government in 1997, since then the private sector has moved to increase its own means-tested bursaries. Generally political attacks have been resisted by concern that there should be no totalitarian state control of education, and undoubtedly by influential 'Old Boys' (former pupils) who tend to be fiercely protective of their Old Schools. Pending the enactment of the Charities Bill, which fell at the 2004 general election but has again been passed by the House of Lords in 2005, many independent schools now make a point of sharing their sporting, musical or other facilities with the public or with local state schools, and supplementing their charitable endowments with an increased number of subsidised scholarships and bursaries.
In 2005, students at fee-paying schools made up 43.9% of those selected for places at Oxford University and 38% of those granted places at Cambridge University, although such students made up only 7% of the school population (source: The Times 2 March 2006). The public schools may give a better education to their more motivated students; their antagonists argue that other children's unfulfilled potential deserves Tertiary Education. The Labour Government has brought financial pressure to bear on the universities to admit a higher proportion of state school applicants than would be obtained simply by their A-level grades and interview performance, on the basis that applicants are academically crammed by an independent school education, and receive an undue advantage from the interview system.

See also

Rebecca Smithers A-level student sues for £100,000 over 'grade fixing', The Guardian 7 October, 2002.
Jenny Booth Red tape drove me out, says Downside's head, The Daily Telegraph 13 October, 2002.
David Millward University eases entry rules to lure state pupils, The Daily Telegraph 19 February, 2003.
Glen Owen Public schools switch scholarship funds from the rich to the poor, in The Times 29 April, 2003.
Staff, Head attacks elite public schools, BBC 2 July, 2004.
Tony Halpin Public schools plead to be let off fines over fee-fixing, The Times 1 October, 2005 "The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference of leading public schools is due to hold its annual conference next week. "

Monday, February 18, 2008


Crash Site Of United 93.
United Airlines Flight 93 was a regular flight from Newark International Airport (now known as Newark Liberty International Airport) in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport, then continuing on to Narita International Airport in Tokyo, Japan, on a different aircraft. On September 11, 2001, the United Airlines Boeing 757-222, registered N591UA, was one of four planes hijacked as part of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It did not reach its intended target, instead crashing in an empty field just outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, about 150 miles (240 km) northwest of Washington, D.C. The 9/11 Commission (through testimony, tapes of passengers' phone calls, and the flight data recorders recovered from the crash) determined that crew and passengers, alerted through phone calls to loved ones, had attempted to overpower the hijackers. The Commission concluded that the hijackers crashed the plane to keep the crew and passengers from gaining control.

Hijackers
The plane was a Boeing 757-222 on a morning route from Newark International Airport (now known as Newark Liberty International Airport) in Newark, New Jersey, near New York City, to San Francisco International Airport near San Francisco, California (EWR-SFO). It had 182 seats but was carrying only 37 passengers (including the four hijackers) and seven crew members: two pilots, the captain Jason M. Dahl and his first officer, LeRoy Homer Jr.; and five flight attendants. Because one passenger had booked two seats, some early accounts said there were 38 passengers on board. The four hijackers were seated in first class.
The aircraft was scheduled to depart at 8:00 a.m. but did not lift off until 8:42 due to routine heavy morning traffic. At 9:32 a man with an Arabic accent, probably Ziad Jarrah, transmitted to air traffic control the following: "Ladies and gentlemen: Here the captain, please sit down keep remaining seating. We have a bomb on board. So sit.." (It is likely that Jarrah was attempting to broadcast this over the plane's intercom, but did not understand that the message was transmitted to air traffic control instead.) The flight then reversed direction and began flying eastward at a low altitude. At 9:39 air traffic controllers overheard Jarrah saying, "Hi. Here's the captain. I would like to tell you all to remain seated. We have a bomb aboard, and are going back to the airport, and to have our demands. So, please remain quiet." There were no further transmissions.

The flight
Much of what happened on the plane has been reconstructed from the many phone calls made by passengers and crew, mainly through onboard GTE airfones. Beginning at approximately 9:32 a.m., 50 minutes after the flight took off, passengers and crew began making phone calls.

United Airlines Flight 93 Phone calls
The plane crashed into a reclaimed coal strip mine in Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, near Shanksville. Initial media reports and eyewitness accounts cited the time of the crash at 10:06 a.m.

Crash
The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were recovered on the afternoon of September 13, buried 25 feet (8 m) deep at the impact site, but only transcripts have been released to the public. In April 2002, the FBI allowed the relatives of the Flight 93 victims to listen to the tapes from the cockpit voice recorder. Further details were released by the 9/11 Commission in July 2004.
The transcripts of the cockpit voice recorder [6] were made public as part of the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, but the actual recording has not been released. At the start of the transcript, a woman is heard pleading for her life. This is thought to be the voice of a flight attendant.
The tape is reported to contain voices saying "Allahu Akbar," shouts in English that included "Let's get them!" and "We have to (muffled but probably "get") in the cockpit. If we don't, we'll die." Then, screaming and other sounds are heard, followed by silence. Sounds of crockery smashing have led to the conclusion that a service trolley was used as a battering ram to force open the cockpit door.
Some of the hijackers retreated into the cockpit prior to the charge; those that didn't were likely killed in the counterattack by the passengers. Those in the cockpit can be heard praying, reassuring one another, and discussing on separate occasions, in Arabic, whether to use a fire axe in the cockpit on those outside, or to cut off the oxygen to quell the charge. Jarrah said, "Is that it? Shall we finish it off?" Another hijacker replied, "No. Not yet. When they all come, we finish it off." Jarrah later said, "Is that it? I mean, shall we put it down?" to which another hijacker replied, "Yes, put it in it, and pull it down," then later "Pull it down! Pull it down!" Jarrah forced the plane downward. The plane rolled upside-down and the hijackers said their final words. "Allah is the greatest! Allah is the greatest!". The recording stopped at 10:03:10 a.m.
The 9/11 Commission found from the recordings that, contrary to what many had believed, the passengers did not succeed in entering the cockpit.

United Airlines Flight 93 "Black Box" recorders
The hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 had turned the plane around and were heading towards Washington, D.C.. The United States Capitol Building and the White House are widely believed to have been possible intended targets. The 9/11 Commission Report cited the actions of the crew and passengers that prevented the destruction of the White House or the U.S. Capitol Building. According to an interview with captured Al-Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, as published in The New York Times on September 9, 2002, the target of Flight 93 was indeed the U.S. Capitol.

Intended target
The 9/11 Commission reported that "authorities suggested that U.S. air defenses had reacted quickly, that jets had been scrambled in response to the last two hijackings and that fighters were prepared to shoot down United Airlines Flight 93 if it threatened Washington. In fact, the commission reported a year later, audiotapes from NORAD's Northeast headquarters and other evidence showed clearly that the military never had any of the hijacked airliners in its sights and at one point chased a phantom aircraft — American Airlines Flight 11 — long after it had crashed into the World Trade Center," according to CNN.com. Furthermore, the closest fighters were about 100 miles away and were unarmed. Fighters also went after a Delta Air Lines Flight 1989 which was suspected to be hijacked though it was later determined untrue and the plane was safe.

Aftermath

Main article: Flight 93 National Memorial Flight 93 National Memorial
The section could be improved by integrating relevant items into the main text and removing inappropriate items.

Although there were a total of 44 people on board, passenger Lauren Grandcolas was three months pregnant at the time of her death, leading some to count 45 fatalities.
The L.A. Guns song "OK, Let's Roll" from the album Waking the Dead is about the passengers on this plane. [8]
Rock musician Neil Young wrote a song dedicated to the passenger revolt on Flight 93 called "Let's Roll".
U.S. Route 219 was dedicated the "Flight 93 Memorial Highway" from Maryland to Cambria County, Pennsylvania on August 09, 2007 by State Department of Transportation Secretary Allen D. Biehler. Miscellaneous

United Airlines Flight 93 for the tribute wiki pages for this flight
USS Somerset
See Casualties of the September 11, 2001 attacks: plane passengers for the flight manifest
The Flight that Fought Back
Flight 93 (TV film)
United 93 (film)
I Missed Flight 93
Flight of Valor
Flight 93 Memorial Highway, new designation of U.S. Route 219 in Pennsylvania Further reading

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