Kingston is a parish of Jamaica. It does not include the whole city of Kingston.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Stakeholder may refer to:
Stakeholder (corporate), a party who affects, or can be affected by, the company's actions
- Stakeholder theory, identifies and models the groups which are stakeholders of a corporation
Stakeholder (law), a third party who temporarily holds money or property while its owner is still being determined
Monday, February 25, 2008
Victor-Maurice, comte de Broglie (12 March 1647–4 August 1727), was a French soldier and general.
The son of François-Marie, comte de Broglie, he served under Condé, Turenne, and other commanders of the age of Louis XIV in the Franco-Dutch War and other conflicts.
He was named maréchal de camp in 1676, lieutenant-general in 1688, and finally marshal of France in 1724, just three years before his death.
He had three sons, one of whom predeceased him. The second son, Charles-Guillaume, marquis de Broglie, was his heir, while the third son, François-Marie, a general and a marshal of France like his father, became the first duc de Broglie.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Nigerian Pidgin is an English-based pidgin or creole language spoken as a kind of lingua franca across Nigeria that is referred to simply as "Pidgin", "Broken English" or "Brokan". It is often not considered a creole language since most speakers are not native speakers, although many children do learn it early. Nonetheless it can be spoken as a pidgin, a creole, or a decreolised acrolect by different speakers, who may switch between these forms depending on the social setting. Its superstrate is English with Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo as the main substrate languages. Ihemere (2006) reports that Nigerian Pidgin is the native language of approximately 3 to 5 million people and is a second language for at least another 75 million. Nigerian Pidgin is also spoken across West Africa, in countries such as Ghana, and Cameroon.
Each of the 250, or more, ethnic groups in Nigeria can converse in this language, though they usually have their own additional words. For example, the Yorùbás added the words 'Şe' and 'Abi' to the language. These are often used at the start or end of an intonated sentence or question. For example, "You are coming, right?" becomes "Şe you dey come?" or "You dey come abi?" Another example the Igbos added the word, "Nna" also used at the beginning of some sentences to add effect to the meaning of their sentence. For example, "that test was hard" becomes "Nna men, dat test had no be smal".
Nigerian Pidgin also varies from place to place. Dialects of Nigerian Pidgin may include the Lagos, Onitsha, Benin City, and Ibadan dialects. Sometimes the language may vary even in different parts of the same city.
Nigerian Pidgin, along with the various pidgin and creole languages of West Africa, displays a remarkable similarity to the various dialects of English found in the Caribbean. Linguists hypothesize that this stems from the fact that the majority of slaves taken to the New World were of West African origin, and many words and phrases in Nigerian Pidgin can be found in Jamaican Creole (also known as Jamaican Patois or simply Patois) and the other creole languages of the West Indies. The pronunciation and accents often differ a great deal, mainly due to the extremely heterogeneous mix of African languages present in the West Indies, but if written on paper or spoken slowly, the creole languages of West Africa are for the most part mutually intelligible with the creole languages of the Caribbean. The presence of repetitious phrases in Jamaican Creole such as "su-su" (gossip) and "pyaa-pyaa" (sickly) mirror the presence of such phrases in West African languages such as "bam-bam", which means "complete" in the Yoruba language. Repetitious phrases are also present in Nigerian Pidgin, such as, "koro-koro", meaning "clear vision", "yama-yama", meaning "disgusting", and "dorti-dorti", meaning "garbage". Furthermore, the use of the words of West African origin in Jamaican Patois, such as "boasie" (meaning proud, a word that comes from the Yoruba word "bosi" also meaning "proud") and "Unu" - Jamaican Patois or "Una" - West African Pidgin (meaning "you people", a word that comes from the Ibo word "unu" also meaning "you people") display some of the interesting similarities between the English pidgins and creoles of West Africa and the English pidgins and creoles of the West Indies, as does the presence of words and phrases that are identical in the languages on both sides of the Atlantic, such as "Me a go tell dem" (I'm going to tell them) and "make we" (let us). Use of the word "deh" or "dey" is found in both Jamaican Patois and Nigerian Pidgin English, and is used in place of the English word "is" or "are". The phrase "We dey foh London" would be understood by both a speaker of Patois and a speaker of Nigerian Pidgin to mean "We are in London". Other similarities, such as "pikin" (Nigerian Pidgin for "child") and "pikney" (or "pikiny"--Jamaican Patois for "child") further demonstrate the linguistic relationship.
The most important differences to other types of English is that there are only some consonants, vowels (6) and diphthongs (3) used. This produces a lot of homophones (words sound the same with different meanings), like thin, thing and tin which are all three pronounced like /tin/. This circumstance gives a high importance to the context, the tone, the body speech and any other ways of communication for the distinction of the homophones.
Some examples include,
Wetin dey happen means What is happening?
I no no, I no know, Me no no or Me no know means I don't know
Come chop means Come & eat
See alsoShnukal, Anna and Lynell Marchese. 1983. "Creolization of Nigerian Pidgin English: a progress report." English World-wide 4: 17-26.
Ihemere, Kelechukwu Uchechukwu. 2006. "A Basic Description and Analytic Treatment of Noun Clauses in Nigerian Pidgin." Nordic Journal of African Studies 15(3): 296–313.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Queensland Roar FC is an Australian football (soccer) club from Brisbane, Australia competing in the A-League competition, playing their home games at Suncorp Stadium.
History
The team in the 2005-06 season spent much of the season in the bottom half of the table after a poor beginning to the season. With home attendance the second highest in the opening season (average 14,860 a game), the Roar had the second highest attendance to a single game against New Zealand Knights in its first game (23,142). The team was the first to have 100,000 spectators pass through the gates and overall had the second highest attendance for the season (148,609) despite failing to qualify for the finals. The Roar ended up with seven wins, seven draws and seven losses in its first season, finishing a disappointing sixth.
2005-06 season
At the beginning of the A-League 2006-07 season the Roar enjoyed a undefeated start to their opening 5 games and took 11 points and second place on the ladder. However, in their next 7 games the Roar only managed 5 points - including just one victory. This slump had seen them fall to 4th on the ladder as of Round 12, on equal points with Perth Glory.
It was in this string of disappointing performances that saw manager, Miron Bleiberg tender his resignation after a sloppy 1-1 draw at home to the Central Coast Mariners. This was rejected by the club's board, who showed faith in Bleiberg. However, following the draw to the Mariners, the Roar suffered two straight losses which included a shocking 1-0 own goal loss to bottom-placed New Zealand and a loss at home to Adelaide. Following this game, it was announced that Bleiberg would step down as manager of the club. It was later revealed that he had tendered his resignation before the Adelaide game, indicating he would step down in the event the Roar did not return a "positive result".
The search for an appropriate successor began immediately with the club announcing they had received 25 applicants, both home and abroad, for the top job at the Roar within 24 hours of Bleiberg's resignation. Former Australian player and Socceroos coach Frank Farina was named as Bleiberg's successor at a press conference on 16 November 2006.
Despite a late season surge of positive results, including a last minute victory over premiers Melbourne Victory, the Roar found itself once again in an unenviable situation prior to their final round game against Sydney FC, needing a win to reach the finals series. The match was played in front of over 32,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium and included a goal to Sydney by former Roar player Alex Brosque. The final score was a 1-1 draw, with Sydney sealing 4th position in the semi-finals on goal difference.
2006-07 season
SupportersFriday, February 22, 2008
The Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling have engendered a number of legal disputes since their publication. Rowling, her publishers and Time Warner, the owner of the rights to the Harry Potter films, have taken numerous legal actions to protect their copyright, occasionally drawing fire from civil liberties and free speech campaigners.
Allegations of copyright and trademark infringement
In 1999, American onetime author Nancy Stouffer quietly began to allege copyright and trademark infringement by Rowling of her 1984 works The Legend of Rah and the Muggles (ISBN 1-58989-400-6) and Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lilly.
Nancy Stouffer
In 2000, in the lead-up to the release of the first Harry Potter film, Warner Bros., the film's distributor, sent a series of threatening letters to owners of Harry Potter fansites, demanding that, to protect their copyright, they hand over their domain names.
Claire Field
In 2002, an unauthorised Chinese-language sequel entitled Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-to-Dragon appeared for sale in the People's Republic of China. The work of a Chinese ghostwriter, the book contains the verbatim text of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and characters from the works of other authors, including the title character from L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz.
Various Chinese publishing houses
See also: Tanya Grotter
In 2003, courts in the Netherlands prevented the distribution of a Dutch translation of Tanya Grotter and the Magical Double Bass, the first of Dimitry Yemets' popular Russian series about a female apprentice wizard. Rowling and her publishers sued, arguing that the Grotter books violate copyright law. Yemets and his original Moscow-based publishers, Eksmo, argued that the books constitute a parody, permitted under copyright.
Dimitry YemetsIn their May, 2004 issue, the US Army publication the Preventive Maintenance Monthly, which instructs soldiers on how to maintain their equipment, featured a spoof comic based on Harry Potter, featuring a character named Topper who resided at Mogmarts School under Professor Rumbledore.
Wyrd Sisters
In 2007, Rowling launched a series of lawsuits against a number of users of the auction site eBay, alleging that they were selling illegally created e-books of her work.
eBay
In October 2007, Rowling sued the organisers of a Hindu religious festival in the Indian city of Kolkata for two million rupees ($50,000), claiming that they had erected a giant replica of Harry Potter's school, Hogwarts, without her permission. The festival organisers argued that, as the effort was not for profit, it did not violate Rowling's copyright.
Kolkata lawsuit
There have been a series of legal injunctions brought by Rowling and her publishers to ensure the books' secrecy before their launch. In their potentially sweeping powers over individual freedoms, these injunctions have drawn criticism from civil liberties campaigners.
In 2003, Rowling and her publishers sought and got a groundbreaking injunction against "the person or persons who has or have physical possession of a copy of the said book or any part thereof without the consent of the Claimants". Customers who agreed not to read the book received a special Harry Potter t-shirt and a $50 coupon for Scholastic's online store.
Legal injunctions
In June 2005, Aaron Lambert, a security guard at a book distribution centre in Corby, Northamptonshire, England, stole a number of pages from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince six weeks before its intended publication date. He was arrested a day later after negotiations to sell them to John Askill, a journalist from The Sun, went bad - Lambert reportedly fired a shot from his imitation Walther PPK pistol, though Mr. Askill was unharmed.
Libel threat
Harry Potter influences and analogues
Harry Potter parodies
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Arnold Henry Guyot (September 28, 1807 – February 8, 1884), Swiss-American geologist and geographer, was born at Boudevilliers, near Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
He studied at the college of Neuchâtel and in Berlin,Germany, where he began a lifelong friendship with Louis Agassiz. He was professor of history and physical geography at the short-lived Neuchâtel Academy from 1839 to 1848, when he removed, at Agassiz's instance, to the United States, settling in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For several years he was a lecturer for the Massachusetts State Board of Education, and he was professor of geology and physical geography at Princeton from 1854 until death. Today, the building housing the Department of Geosciences at Princeton is named Guyot Hall in his honor.
He ranked high as a geologist and meteorologist. As early as 1838, he undertook, at Agassiz's suggestion, the study of glaciers, and was the first to announce, in a paper submitted to the Geological Society of France, certain important observations relating to glacial motion and structure. Among other things he noted the more rapid flow of the center than of the sides, and the more rapid flow of the top than of the bottom of glaciers; described the laminated or ribboned structure of the glacial ice, and ascribed the movement of glaciers to a gradual molecular displacement rather than to a sliding of the ice mass as held by de Saussure. He subsequently collected important data concerning erratic boulders.
His extensive meteorological observations in America led to the establishment of the United States Weather Bureau, and his Meteorological and Physical Tables (1852, revised ed. 1884) were long standard. His graded series of text-books and wall-maps were important aids in the extension and popularization of geological study in America. In addition to text-books, his principal publications were:
He is the namesake of several geographical features, including Guyot Glacier in Alaska, Mount Guyot in Tennessee, and a different Mount Guyot in New Hampshire.
Earth and Man, Lectures on Comparative Physical Geography in its Relation to the History of Mankind (translated by Professor CC Felton, 1849)
A Memoir of Louis Agassiz (1883)
Creation, or the Biblical Cosmogony in the Light of Modern Science (1884).
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Interstate 10 (abbreviated I-10) is the southernmost east-west, coast-to-coast interstate highway in the United States. It stretches from the Pacific Ocean at State Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) in Santa Monica, California (map) to Interstate 95 in Jacksonville, Florida (map).
Route description
See also: Interstate 10 in California
Between its west terminus in Santa Monica, California and the East Los Angeles Interchange it is known as the Santa Monica Freeway. The Santa Monica Freeway is also called the "Rosa Parks Freeway" for the segment beginning at the San Diego Freeway (The 405 Freeway) and ending at the Harbor Freeway (The 110 Freeway), however either name can be used when referring to this stretch of road. The segment between the East Los Angeles Interchange and the city of San Bernardino, California (53 miles, or 92 km long) is known as the San Bernardino Freeway. Other names exist for the freeway. For example, a sign near the western terminus of the highway announces it as the "Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway". It is known to a considerably lesser degree as the "Veterans Memorial Highway" and is listed as a Blue Star Highway. Many times, Angelinos refer to it as "the 10."
A stretch in Palm Springs is signed as the "Sonny Bono Memorial Freeway" as a tribute to the late entertainer who served both as mayor and as a United States Congressman. A second stretch a short distance east in Indio is signed as the "Doctor June McCarroll Memorial Freeway". As a nurse with the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1924, Dr. McCarroll was alarmed at the number of head-on traffic collisions on a nearby stretch of then-new U.S. Route 99, today known as State Route 86. She is credited with painting a white stripe down the middle of 99 near Coachella in order to separate the two lanes of traffic. California Law Defining Highway:
The law defining the California part of Interstate 8 is California Streets & Highways Code § 310.
California
See also: Interstate 10 in Arizona
In Arizona, the highway is designated the "Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway". The portion through Phoenix is named the "Papago Freeway". This designation starts at the initial junction/southern terminus of I-17 and runs westward out to AZ Loop 101, a loop route whose current western terminus is Interstate 10. Phoenicians more often than not refer to the freeway as "the I-10"(pronounced : the eye-ten).
From the southern terminus of Interstate 17 to the junction with the AZ Loop 202 freeway, the freeway is signed as the "Maricopa Freeway". This name holds true as well for I-17 from its southern terminus to its second junction with I-10, north of McDowell Road. From Loop 202 south to Interstate 8 (eastern terminus in Casa Grande), the freeway is signed as the "Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway". ADOT also has maps that show it as the Maricopa Freeway, while AAA and other sources show it as the Pima Freeway. The latter's name is used on a stretch of Loop 101 from U.S. 60 to Interstate 17.
In Tucson, I-10 is called the Casa Grande Highway from the western edge of town to the eastern terminus of Business Loop 10, where it picks up the name, Tucson-Benson Highway from that route.
In Tucson, Arizona, between I-10 mileposts 259 and 260 are interchange ramps connecting I-10 with the northern terminus of Interstate 19 at its km post 100. I-19 leads 100 km south to its termination at the US-Mexico border at Nogales, Arizona (km post 0). Note that distance measurements on Interstate 19 are signed in metric units.
There is also a plan to widen the existing freeway in Tempe from 14 to 24 Lanes (source: [1])
Plans are under way to widen I-10 from Marana north to the I-8 interchange at Casa Grande from 4 lanes to 6 lanes starting in the later half of 2007 and continuing into 2008 and 2009.
Santa Monica, California
Los Angeles, California
San Bernardino, California
Riverside, California
Indio, California
Blythe, California
Phoenix, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Lordsburg, New Mexico
Deming, New Mexico
Las Cruces, New Mexico
El Paso, Texas
Van Horn, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
Houston, Texas
Beaumont, Texas
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lafayette, Louisiana
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
Slidell, Louisiana
Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
Gulfport, Mississippi
Biloxi, Mississippi
Pascagoula, Mississippi
Mobile, Alabama
Pensacola, Florida
Tallahassee, Florida
Lake City, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida Arizona
See also: Interstate 10 in New Mexico
Interstate 10 in New Mexico follows the former path of U.S. Route 80 across the state. Only three cities of significant size are located on the interstate: Lordsburg, Deming, and Las Cruces.
At Lordsburg is the western junction of U.S. Route 70 and a concurrency and the two highways are joined all the way to Las Cruces. Several exits between Lordsburg and Deming are either for former towns (including Separ, Quincy, and Gage) or lack any town at all.
At Deming is the western junction of U.S. Route 180, which also forms a concurrency with I-10 all the way to El Paso. One mile north of Deming on US 180 is New Mexico Route 26 which serves as a short cut to north I-25 and Albuquerque.
I-10/US 70/US 180 continue east to Las Cruces which is the southern end of Interstate 25. Also, US 70 leaves Interstate 10, heading northeast to Alamogordo. Interstate 10 then turns south to the Texas state line.
New Mexico
See also: Interstate 10 in Texas
In Texas, the speed limit along I-10 from Kerr County to El Paso County is 80 mph (130 km/h), the highest in the nation. However, the night speed limit remains 65 mph (106 km/h).
From the state line with New Mexico to Texas State Highway 20 in west El Paso, I-10 is bordered by frontage roads Desert South for lanes along I-10 East (actually headed south) and Desert North for lanes along I-10 West (headed north). The interstate then has no frontage roads for nine miles but regains them east of downtown and retains them to Clint. In this stretch, the frontage roads are Gateway East for the Eastbound lanes and Gateway West for the Westbound lanes. All four frontage roads are one way streets.
A small portion of I-10 from Loop 1604 to downtown in San Antonio, Texas is known as the Northwest Expressway or the McDermott Freeway, while another portion from downtown to Loop 1604 East is called East Expressway or Jose Lopez Freeway.
In Houston, from the western suburb of Katy to downtown, I-10 is known as the "Katy Freeway." This section is currently being widened to as much as 26 lanes (12 mainlanes, 4 lanes of access roads, and 4-6 mid-freeway HOT/HOV lanes, not counting access road turning lanes) and will be one of the widest freeways in the world. The section east of downtown Houston is officially known as the "East Freeway," although it is widely known by locals as the "Baytown East Freeway" due to a marketing push by Baytown, the easternmost principal city of the Greater Houston Area.
In Beaumont, it is designated Eastex Freeway between both splits with U.S. Highway 69. Eastex is not to be confused with the designation for U.S. Highway 59 in Houston.
Texas
See also: Interstate 10 in Louisiana
In Louisiana, an 18.2-mile (29.3 km) stretch of elevated highway between Lafayette and Baton Rouge is known as the Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway, as it goes over the Atchafalaya River and the adjacent swamps. In New Orleans, a stretch of I-10 from the I-10/I-610 split near the Orleans-Jefferson parish line to the U.S. Route 90 / U.S. Route 90 Business interchange is known as the Pontchartrain Expressway. A dip near the 10-610 interchange to go underneath a railroad track is one of the lowest points in New Orleans, and is highly susceptible to flooding. Pictures of water dozens of feet deep during Hurricane Katrina are commonplace. Near Slidell, the final stretch of I-10 through the Mississippi state line is known as the "Stephen Ambrose Memorial Highway".
Most through traffic between Baton Rouge and Slidell uses Interstate 12 to bypass Interstate 10's long southward jog through New Orleans.
Mississippi
See also: Interstate 10 in Alabama
I-10 crosses from Jackson County, Mississippi and goes through Mobile County in Southwest Alabama. In Mobile, the highway is the southern terminus for Interstate 65. In downtown Mobile, I-10 goes through one of few road tunnels in Alabama, the George C. Wallace Tunnel under the Mobile River. The eastbound approach is posted at 40 mph (60 km/h) because of the sharp curve approaching the tunnel. The highway then crosses approximately eight miles of the upper part of Mobile Bay on a bridge locals refer to as the Bayway. On the other side of Mobile Bay, the highway goes through suburban Baldwin County before crossing the Perdido River into Florida.
Alabama
See also: Interstate 10 in Florida
Most of Interstate 10 in Florida travels through some of least-populated areas in the state, much of which is forested. Consequently, I-10 west of Interstate 295 in Jacksonville has only 4 lanes.
FloridaIn September 2004, Hurricane Ivan's storm surge pushed up and washed out part of I-10 at the causeway over Escambia Bay near Pensacola, Florida. Westbound lanes had only a couple of sections missing, while eastbound lanes were almost completely gone for a quarter-mile (400m) section.
History
In Phoenix, a bill has been created that if passed states that the stretch of I-10 between Downtown and the suburb of Buckeye, Arizona will be widened to 24 lanes due to severe traffic problems that take place on the freeway during rush hours. This would make this stretch of the I-10 the widest along its entire length, as well as the widest highway in North America; currently, the 22-lane section of Highway 401 between Highways 403/410 and Highway 427 in Mississauga, Ontario, just east of Toronto is the widest.
Future
I-310 and I-510 are parts of what was slated to be I-410 and act as a southern bypass of New Orleans, Louisiana. I-610 is a shortcut from the eastern to western portion of New Orleans avoiding the I-10's detour into New Orleans' Central Business District.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the I-10 Twin Span Bridge, a portion of I-10 between New Orleans and Slidell spanning the eastern end of Lake Pontchartrain, was severely damaged, causing a break in I-10 at that point. Unlike the Escambia Bay Bridge (east of Pensacola, Florida and damaged by Hurricane Ivan) which is a major artery, Interstate 12 is available to bypass New Orleans and taking I-12 to the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway allowed entry and exit to and from the Greater New Orleans area from the East. On October 14, 2005 at 3:00 PM, the eastbound span was reopened to two way traffic. On January 6, 2006 at 6:00 AM, both lanes of the westbound span were reopened to traffic using temporary metal trusses and road panels to replace damaged sections. [2] This restored all four lanes of the I-10 twin spans for normal traffic with a 45 mph (70 km/h) speed limit for the westbound lanes and 60 mph (100 km/h) for the eastbound lanes. Oversized and overweight traffic is prohibited until a new permanent six lane span is built to replace the two temporarily repaired spans. Construction is slated to begin in mid-July 2006, with the new westbound span opening in 2008/2009 and the new eastbound span opening in 2011. See WWL-TV story
In Mississippi, the twin spans crossing the Pascagoula River were opened on October 1 and are now operational, making that state's portion fully functional.
I-610 is also the designation for the "loop" circling Houston, Texas.
I-410 is also the designation for the "loop" circling San Antonio, Texas.
Alternate routes
Interstate 405 in West Los Angeles, California
Interstate 110 southwest of Downtown Los Angeles, California
Interstate 5 at the East Los Angeles Interchange in Los Angeles, California
Interstate 710 in East Los Angeles, California
Interstate 605 in El Monte/Baldwin Park, California
Interstate 15 in Ontario, California
Interstate 215 in San Bernardino, California
Interstate 17 in Phoenix, Arizona
Interstate 8 in Casa Grande, Arizona
Interstate 19 in Tucson, Arizona
Interstate 25 in Las Cruces, New Mexico
Interstate 20 near Kent, Texas
Interstate 410 in San Antonio, Texas (twice)
Interstate 35 and Interstate 37 in San Antonio, Texas
Interstate 45 in Houston, Texas
Interstate 610 in Houston, Texas (twice)
Interstate 210 in Lake Charles, Louisiana (twice)
Interstate 49 in Lafayette, Louisiana 
Interstate 110 and Interstate 12 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Interstate 55 in La Place, Louisiana
Interstate 310 near Kenner, Louisiana 
Interstate 610 (twice) and Interstate 510 in New Orleans, Louisiana Interstate 12 and Interstate 59 in Slidell, Louisiana Interstate 110 in Biloxi, Mississippi
Interstate 65 in Mobile, Alabama Interstate 110 in Pensacola, Florida
Interstate 75 in Lake City, Florida
Interstate 295 and Interstate 95 in Jacksonville, Florida Auxiliary routesThe section could be improved by integrating relevant items into the main text and removing inappropriate items.
Just east of the I-10/I-510 interchange in New Orleans, there are three large similar interchanges that are not clover-leaf design. Of these three interchanges, the easternmost two are unsigned and appear to go nowhere. The westernmost interchange connects Michoud Blvd. (Louisiana State Highway 68) with I-10. The middle interchange is the former Discovery Boulevard interchange and is permanently closed, completely barricaded at the ramps and overrun by vegetation. The easternmost interchange provides access to the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge and access to a bike path along the Lake Pontchartrain levee. (Online maps refer to this isolated dirt road as Louisiana State Highway 55. Although State Highway 55 exists more than 70 miles away in Terrebonne Parish, it does not connect to the dirt road as a terminus.) [3]
Interstate 10 is one of only three interstate highways in America that has an alternate route that's shorter than the actual route. I-12 in Louisiana provides a shortcut for I-10 travelers. U.S. 290 from Houston through Austin and back to I-10 near the village of Segovia, TX, is actually shorter than if one actually stayed on I-10 throughout Texas. (Others include Interstate 64 between Lewisburg, West Virginia and Charleston, West Virginia, where U.S. Highway 60 provides a shorter distance route between the 2 points, and Interstate 295 in Maine, which is shorter than I-95 by 8 miles between Scarborough and West Gardiner.)
In January 1994, the I-10 overpasses over La Cienega and Venice Boulevards in Los Angeles, California collapsed during the Northridge earthquake. This section of freeway bears one of the heaviest traffic loads in California, and was reopened just 66 days later after emergency around-the-clock construction.
The interstate's route through Phoenix was hotly contested in the 1960s and 1970s. A plan proposed by the Arizona Department of Transportation involved city block-sized 270-degree "helicoils" that would connect motorists to freeway lanes 100 feet (30 m) in the air, but voters killed it in 1973 as a result of opposition from the Arizona Republic and a growing nationwide anti-freeway sentiment. Ten years later, ADOT unveiled the current below grade plans. Despite local opposition, Interstate 10 was finally completed on August 10, 1990.
I-10 is one of the very few interstates that have at-grade intersections (roads that intersect it at a 90 degree angle, as opposed to an overpass with on and off ramps). These are private access roads (mostly from large ranches) which occur over a limited stretch in western Texas.
I-10 is one of only a few interstates that have 7% downhill grades in certain areas. (7% grades violate the 6% gradient maximum that's permitted on Interstates and Freeways in America.) These 7% downhill grades, according to the signs on the freeway, all occur in Kerr County in the state of Texas. Other locations on the Interstates where 7% downhill grades occur include I-70 in Colorado, I-64 in West Virginia, I-68 in West Virginia, and I-26 south of Asheville, North Carolina.
At just under 879 miles (1,414 km), the length of Interstate 10 crossing Texas, maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation, is the longest continuous untolled freeway under a single authority in North America, a title formerly held by Ontario's Highway 401. Mile marker 880 (and the corresponding exit number) near Orange, Texas are the highest numbered mile marker and exit on the interstate highway system, or for that matter, on any freeway in North America.
Interstate 10 grants through travelers a closer view of life in another country than any interstate highway in America. The dense shantytowns in Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua in some places are only about 800 ft (240 m) from I-10 and can be viewed by I-10 travelers west of Downtown El Paso, Texas.[4][5]
Texas alone contains more than a third of the interstate's entire length. El Paso, Texas (on the Texas-New Mexico border) is 785 miles (1,263 km) from the western terminus of Interstate 10, making it closer to Los Angeles than it is to Orange, Texas, approximately 880 miles (1,416 km) away. Likewise, Orange, Texas on the Texas-Louisiana border is only 789 miles (1,270 km) from the eastern terminus of Interstate 10 in Jacksonville, Florida.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The Bundeswehr (German for "Federal Defence Force"; listen ) is the name of the unified armed forces of Germany.
General information
History
Germany had been without its own armed forces since the Wehrmacht was dissolved in the years following World War II. Some smaller forces continued to exist as Border guard or naval minesweeping units, but not as a national defence force. The responsibility for the security of Germany as a whole rested with the four Allied Powers: the U.S., the UK, France, and the Soviet Union. Germany was completely demilitarised and any plans for a German military were forbidden by Allied regulations.
There was a discussion between the United States, the United Kingdom, and France over the issue of a revived German military. In particular, France was reluctant to allow Germany to rearm in light of recent history. However, after the project for a European Defence Community failed in the French National Assembly in 1954, France agreed to West German accession to NATO and rearmament.
With growing tensions between the Soviet Union and the West especially after the Korean War, this policy was to be revised. While the German Democratic Republic was already secretly rearming, the seeds of a new West German force started in 1950, when former high ranking German officers were tasked by chancellor Konrad Adenauer to discuss the options for West German rearmament. The results of a meeting in the monastery of Himmerod formed the conceptual base to build the new armed forces in West Germany. The "Amt Blank" (Bureau Blank, named after its director Theodor Blank), the predecessor of the later Federal Ministry of Defence, was formed the same year to prepare the establishment of the future forces. Hasso von Manteuffel, a former general of the Wehrmacht and liberal politician, submitted the name Bundeswehr for the new forces. This name was later confirmed by the German Bundestag.
The Bundeswehr was officially established on the 200th birthday of Scharnhorst on 12 November 1955. After an amendment of the Basic Law in 1955, West Germany became a member of NATO. In 1956, conscription for all men between the ages of 18 and 45 was introduced, later augmented by a civil alternative with longer duration (see Conscription in Germany). In parallel, East Germany formed its own military force, the Nationale Volksarmee (NVA) which was eventually dissolved with the reunification of Germany in 1990.
During the Cold War the Bundeswehr was the backbone of NATO's conventional defense in Central Europe. It had a strength of 495,000 military and 170,000 civilian personnel. The Army consisted of three corps with 12 divisions, most of them heavily armed with tanks and APCs. The Air Force owned significant numbers of tactical combat aircraft and took part in NATOs integrated air defence (NATINAD). The Navy was tasked and equipped to defend the Baltic Approaches, to provide escort reinforcement and resupply shipping in the North Sea and to contain the Soviet Baltic Fleet.
The Cold War period 1955-1990
After reunification in 1990, the Bundeswehr was reduced to 370,000 military personnel in accordance with the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany between the two German governments and the Allies (2+4 Treaty). The former East German Nationale Volksarmee (NVA) was disbanded. A small portion of its personnel and material were absorbed into the Bundeswehr.
About 50,000 Volksarmee personnel were integrated into the Bundeswehr on 2 October 1990. This figure was rapidly reduced as conscripts and short-term volunteers completed their service. A number of senior officers (but no generals or admirals) received limited contracts for up to two years to continue daily operations. Personnel remaining in the Bundeswehr were awarded new contracts and new Bundeswehr ranks, dependent on their individual qualification and experience. Many received and accepted a lower rank than previously held in the Volksarmee. These were seen as demotions by critics.
In general, the unification process of the military - under the slogan "Armee der Einheit"/"Army of Unity" - is publicly seen as a major success and an example for other parts of the society.
With the reduction, a large amount of the military hardware of the Bundeswehr, as well as of the Volksarmee, had to be disposed of. A majority of armored vehicles and fighter jet aircraft were dismantled under international disarmament procedures. Ships were scrapped or sold, often to the Baltic states and Indonesia, the latter receiving 39 former Volksmarine vessels of various types.
The role of the Bundeswehr is described in the German Basic Law (Art. 87a) as defensive only. Its only active role before 1990 was the Katastropheneinsatz (disaster control operation), where the Bundeswehr helped against tide or other natural catastrophes. After 1990, the international situation had changed from East-West-confrontation to general uncertainty and instability. Today, after a ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court in 1994 the term defence has been defined to not only include protection of the borders of Germany, but also crisis reaction and conflict prevention - or more broadly as guarding the security of Germany anywhere in the world. According to the definition given by former Defence Minister Struck, it may be necessary to defend Germany even at the Hindu Kush. This requires the Bundeswehr to take part in operations outside of the borders of Germany, as part of NATO or the European Union and mandated by the UN.
Organization and command structure
Since the early 1990s the Bundeswehr has become more and more engaged in international operations in and around the former Yugoslavia, and also in other parts of the world like Cambodia or Somalia. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, German forces were employed in most related theaters except Iraq.
Currently (May 5, 2007) there are Bundeswehr forces in:
In support of Allied stabilization efforts in Iraq, the Bundeswehr is also training the new Iraqi forces in locations outside Iraq, such as the United Arab Emirates and Germany.
Afghanistan
- ISAF
3,198 personnel
Kosovo
- KFOR
2,808 personnel
Bosnia and Herzegovina
- EUFOR (former SFOR)
798 personnel
since 2 December 2004 under European Union Command
Georgia
- UNOMIG
11 personnel
Ethiopia and Eritrea
- UNMEE
2 personnel
Horn of Africa/Indian Ocean
- Enduring Freedom
258 personnel
- Frigate
Maritime Patrol Aircraft
Mediterranean Sea
- Active Endeavour
40 personnel
Sudan
- UNMIS
39 personnel
Coast of Lebanon
- UNIFIL II
863 personnel
- 2 Frigates
4 Fast Patrol Boats
1 Fleet Supply Ship
1 Tender Operations
Former German military organisations have been the old German state armies, the Reichswehr (1921-1935) and the Wehrmacht (1935-1945). The Bundeswehr, however, does not consider itself as their successor and does not follow the traditions of any former German military organisation. The official Bundeswehr traditions are based on three major lines: Another expression of the traditions in the German armed forces is the ceremonial vow (Gelöbnis) of recruits, during basic training. Annually on July 20, the date of the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler by Wehrmacht officers in 1944, recruits of the Wachbataillon vow at the Bendlerblock, where the officers had their headquarters. The text of the vow is almost equal to the text of the oath of German soldiers: "I vow (swear) to serve faithfully the Federal Republic of Germany and to defend bravely the right and the freedom of the German people."
the defence reformers at the beginning of the 19th century such as Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Clausewitz
the members of the military resistance against Hitler such as Claus von Stauffenberg and Henning von Tresckow
its own tradition since 1955 Transformation
- 2 Frigates
- UNIFIL II
- UNMIS
- Active Endeavour
- Frigate
- Enduring Freedom
- UNMEE
- UNOMIG
- EUFOR (former SFOR)
- KFOR
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