Semitic languages

The Semitic languages, previously also named Syro-Arabian languages, are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family originating in the Middle East that are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of Western Asia, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, as well as in often large immigrant and expatriate communities in North America, Europe and Australasia. The terminology was first used in the 1780s by members of the Göttingen School of History, who derived the name from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis.

The most widely spoken Semitic languages today are (numbers given are for native speakers only) Arabic (300 million), Amharic (~65 million), Tigrinya (7 million), Hebrew (~5 million native/L1 speakers), Tigre (~1.05 million), Aramaic (575,000 to 1 million largely Assyrian fluent speakers) and Maltese (483,000 speakers).

Semitic languages occur in written form from a very early historical date, with East Semitic Akkadian and Eblaite texts (written in a script adapted from Sumerian cuneiform) appearing from the 30th century BCE and the 25th century BCE in Mesopotamia and the northern Levant respectively. The only earlier attested languages are Sumerian, Elamite (2800 BCE to 550 BCE) (both language isolates), Egyptian and unclassified Lullubi from the 30th century BCE.

Most scripts used to write Semitic languages are abjadsa type of alphabetic script that omits some or all of the vowels, which is feasible for these languages because the consonants in the Semitic languages are the primary carriers of meaning. Among them are the Ugaritic, Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and South Arabian alphabets. The Ge'ez script, used for writing the Semitic languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea, is technically an abugida a modified abjad in which vowels are notated using diacritic marks added to the consonants at all times, in contrast with other Semitic languages which indicate diacritics based on need or for introductory purposes. Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin script and the only Semitic language to be an official language of the European Union.

The Semitic languages are notable for their nonconcatenative morphology. That is, word roots are not themselves syllables or words, but instead are isolated sets of consonants (usually three, making a so-called triliteral root). Words are composed out of roots not so much by adding prefixes or suffixes, but rather by filling in the vowels between the root consonants (although prefixes and suffixes are often added as well). For example, in Arabic, the root meaning "write" has the form k-t-b. From this root, words are formed by filling in the vowels and sometimes adding additional consonants, e.g. كتاب kitāb "book", كتب kutub "books", كاتب kātib "writer", كتّاب kuttāb "writers", كتب kataba "he wrote", يكتب yaktubu "he writes", etc.

Name and identification

The similarity of the Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic languages has been accepted by all scholars since medieval times. The languages were familiar to Western European scholars due to historical contact with neighbouring Near Eastern countries and through Biblical studies, and a comparative analysis of Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic was published in Latin in 1538 by Guillaume Postel. Almost two centuries later, Hiob Ludolf described the similarities between these three languages and the Ethiopian Semitic languages. However, neither scholar named this grouping as "Semitic".

The term "Semitic" was created by members of the Göttingen School of History, and specifically by August Ludwig von Schlözer (1781). Johann Gottfried Eichhorn (1787) coined the name "Semitic" in the late 18th century to designate the languages closely related to Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew. The choice of name was derived from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah in the genealogical accounts of the biblical Book of Genesis, or more precisely from the Koine Greek rendering of the name, . Eichhorn is credited with popularising the term, particularly via a 1795 article "Semitische Sprachen" (Semitic languages) in which he justified the terminology against criticism that Hebrew and Canaanite were the same language despite Canaan being "Hamitic" in the Table of Nations.

Previously these languages had been commonly known as the "" in European literature. In the 19th century, "Semitic" became the conventional name; however, an alternative name, "", was later introduced by James Cowles Prichard and used by some writers.

History

Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples

There are several locations proposed as possible sites for prehistoric origins of Semitic-speaking peoples: Mesopotamia, the Levant, Mediterranean, the Arabian Peninsula, and North Africa, with the most recent Bayesian studies supporting the view that Semitic originated in the Levant circa 3800 BC, and was later also introduced to the Horn of Africa in approximately 800 BC.

Semitic languages were spoken across much of the Middle East and Asia Minor during the Bronze Age and Iron Age, the earliest attested being the East Semitic Akkadian of the Mesopotamian and south eastern Anatolian polities of Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia, and the also East Semitic Eblaite language of the kingdom of Ebla in the north eastern Levant. The various closely related Northwest Semitic Canaanite languages included Amorite, Edomite, Hebrew, Ammonite, Moabite, Phoenician (Punic/Carthaginian), Samaritan Hebrew, Ekronite and Sutean. They were spoken in what is today Israel, western, northwestern and southern Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, the Sinai peninsula, northern parts of the Arabian peninsula and in the case of Phoenician, coastal regions of Tunisia (Carthage), Libya and Algeria, and possibly in Malta. Ugaritic was spoken in the kingdom of Ugarit in north western Syria. Old South Arabian languages (distinct from the later attested Arabic) were spoken in the kingdoms of Dilmun, Meluhha, Sheba, Ubar and Magan, which in modern terms encompassed part of the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Yemen. These languages (in the form of Ge'ez) later spread to the Horn of Africa circa 8th century BC. Arabic and the Arabs were attested in Assyrian annals as being extant in the northern Arabian peninsula from the 9th century BC. Aramaic, a Northwest Semitic language first attested in the 12th century BC in the Levant gradually replaced the East Semitic and Canaanite languages across much of the Near East, particularly after being adopted as the lingua franca of the vast Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-605 BC) by Tiglath-Pileser III during the 8th century BC, and being retained by the succeeding Neo-Babylonian Empire and Achaemenid Empires.

Common Era (CE)

Syriac, a 5th-century BC Assyrian Mesopotamian descendant of Aramaic used in northeastern Syria, Mesopotamia and south east Anatolia, rose to importance as a literary language of early Christianity in the third to fifth centuries and continued into the early Islamic era.

With the advent of the early Muslim conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries, the hitherto largely uninfluential Arabic language slowly replaced many (but not all) of the indigenous Semitic languages and cultures of the Near East. Both the Near East and North Africa saw an influx of Muslim Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula, followed later by non-Semitic Muslim Iranian and Turkic peoples. The previously dominant Aramaic dialects gradually began to be sidelined, however descendant dialects of Eastern Aramaic (including the Akkadian influenced Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Turoyo and Mandaic) survive to this day among the Assyrians and Mandaeans of northern Iraq, northwestern Iran, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, with up to a million fluent speakers. Western Aramaic is now only spoken by a few thousand Syriac Christians in western Syria. The Arabs spread their Central Semitic language to North Africa (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and northern Sudan and Mauritania) where it gradually replaced Egyptian Coptic and many Berber languages (although Berber is still largely extant in many areas), and for a time to the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar) and Malta.

With the patronage of the caliphs and the prestige of its liturgical status, Arabic rapidly became one of the world's main literary languages. Its spread among the masses took much longer, however, as many (although not all) of the native populations outside the Arabian Peninsula only gradually abandoned their languages in favour of Arabic. As Bedouin tribes settled in conquered areas, it became the main language of not only central Arabia, but also Yemen, the Fertile Crescent, and Egypt. Most of the Maghreb followed, particularly in the wake of the Banu Hilal's incursion in the 11th century, and Arabic became the native language of many inhabitants of al-Andalus. After the collapse of the Nubian kingdom of Dongola in the 14th century, Arabic began to spread south of Egypt into modern Sudan; soon after, the Beni Ḥassān brought Arabization to Mauritania. A number of Modern South Arabian languages distinct from Arabic still survive, such as Soqotri, Mehri and Shehri which are mainly spoken in Socotra, Yemen and Oman.

Meanwhile, the Semitic languages that had arrived from southern Arabia in the 8th century BC were diversifying in Ethiopia and Eritrea, where, under heavy Cushitic influence, they split into a number of languages, including Amharic and Tigrinya. With the expansion of Ethiopia under the Solomonic dynasty, Amharic, previously a minor local language, spread throughout much of the country, replacing both Semitic (such as Gafat) and non-Semitic (such as Weyto) languages, and replacing Ge'ez as the principal literary language (though Ge'ez remains the liturgical language for Christians in the region); this spread continues to this day, with Qimant set to disappear in another generation.

Present situation

Arabic is currently the native language of majorities from Mauritania to Oman, and from Iraq to the Sudan. Classical Arabic is the language of the Quran.  It is also studied widely in the non-Arabic-speaking Muslim world. The Maltese language is genetically a descendant of the extinct Siculo-Arabic, a variety of Maghrebi Arabic formerly spoken in Sicily. The modern Maltese alphabet is based on the Latin script with the addition of some letters with diacritic marks and digraphs. Maltese is the only Semitic official language within the European Union.

Successful as second languages far beyond their numbers of contemporary first-language speakers, a few Semitic languages today are the base of the sacred literature of some of the world's major religions, including Islam (Arabic), Judaism (Hebrew and Aramaic), churches of Syriac Christianity (Syriac) and Ethiopian Christianity (Ge'ez).  Millions learn these as a second language (or an archaic version of their modern tongues): many Muslims learn to read and recite the Qur'an and Jews speak and study Biblical Hebrew, the language of the Torah, Midrash, and other Jewish scriptures. Ethnic Assyrian followers of the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Ancient Church of the East, Assyrian Pentecostal Church, Assyrian Evangelical Church and Assyrian members of the Syriac Orthodox Church both speak Mesopotamian eastern Aramaic and use it also as a liturgical tongue. The language is also used liturgically by the primarily Arabic-speaking followers of the Maronite, Syriac Catholic Church and some Melkite Christians. Arabic itself is the main liturgical language of Oriental Orthodox Christians in the Middle East, who compose the patriarchates of Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria. Mandaic is both spoken and used as a liturgical language by the Mandaeans.

Despite the ascendancy of Arabic in the Middle East, other Semitic languages still exist. Biblical Hebrew, long extinct as a colloquial language and in use only in Jewish literary, intellectual, and liturgical activity, was revived in spoken form at the end of the 19th century. Modern Hebrew is the main language of Israel, with Biblical Hebrew remaining as the language of liturgy and religious scholarship of Jews worldwide.

Several smaller ethnic groups, in particular the Assyrians, Kurdish Jews, and Gnostic Mandeans, continue to speak and write Mesopotamian Aramaic languages, particularly Neo-Aramaic languages descended from Syriac, in those areas roughly corresponding to Kurdistan (northern Iraq, northeast Syria, south eastern Turkey and northwestern Iran) and the Caucasus. Syriac language itself, a descendant of Eastern Aramaic languages (Mesopotamian Old Aramaic), is used also liturgically by the Syriac Christians throughout the area. Although the majority of Neo-Aramaic dialects spoken today are descended from Eastern varieties, Western Neo-Aramaic is still spoken in 3 villages in Syria.

In Arab-dominated Yemen and Oman, on the southern rim of the Arabian Peninsula, a few tribes continue to speak Modern South Arabian languages such as Mahri and Soqotri. These languages differ greatly from both the surrounding Arabic dialects and from the (unrelated but previously thought to be related) languages of the Old South Arabian inscriptions.

Historically linked to the peninsular homeland of Old South Arabian, of which only one language, Razihi, remains, Ethiopia and Eritrea contain a substantial number of Semitic languages; the most widely spoken are Amharic in Ethiopia, Tigre in Eritrea, and Tigrinya in both. Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia. Tigrinya is a working language in Eritrea. Tigre is spoken by over one million people in the northern and central Eritrean lowlands and parts of eastern Sudan. A number of Gurage languages are spoken by populations in the semi-mountainous region of southwest Ethiopia, while Harari is restricted to the city of Harar. Ge'ez remains the liturgical language for certain groups of Christians in Ethiopia and in Eritrea.

Phonology
The phonologies of the attested Semitic languages are presented here from a comparative point of view. See Proto-Semitic language#Phonology for details on the phonological reconstruction of Proto-Semitic used in this article. The reconstruction of Proto-Semitic (PS) was originally based primarily on Arabic, whose phonology and morphology (particularly in Classical Arabic) is very conservative, and which preserves as contrastive 28 out of the evident 29 consonantal phoneme. with *s  and *š  merging into Arabic   and *ś  becoming Arabic  .

Note: the fricatives *s, *z, *ṣ, *ś, *ṣ́, *ṱ may also be interpreted as affricates (/t͡s/, /d͡z/, /t͡sʼ/, /t͡ɬ/, /t͡ɬʼ/, /t͡θʼ/), as discussed in .

This comparative approach is natural for the consonants, as sound correspondences among the consonants of the Semitic languages are very straightforward for a family of its time depth. Sound shifts affecting the vowels are more numerous and, at times, less regular.

Consonants
Each Proto-Semitic phoneme was reconstructed to explain a certain regular sound correspondence between various Semitic languages. Note that Latin letter values (italicized) for extinct languages are a question of transcription; the exact pronunciation is not recorded.

Most of the attested languages have merged a number of the reconstructed original fricatives, though South Arabian retains all fourteen (and has added a fifteenth from *p > f).

In Aramaic and Hebrew, all non-emphatic stops occurring singly after a vowel were softened to fricatives, leading to an alternation that was often later phonemicized as a result of the loss of gemination.

In languages exhibiting pharyngealization of emphatics, the original velar emphatic has rather developed to a uvular stop .

Note: the fricatives *s, *z, *ṣ, *ś, *ṣ́, *ṱ may also be interpreted as affricates (/t͡s/, /d͡z/, /t͡sʼ/, /t͡ɬ/, /t͡ɬʼ/, /t͡θʼ/).
Notes:
 Proto-Semitic  was still pronounced as  in Biblical Hebrew, but no letter was available in the Phoenician alphabet, so the letter ש did double duty, representing both  and . Later on, however,  merged with , but the old spelling was largely retained, and the two pronunciations of ש were distinguished graphically in Tiberian Hebrew as שׁ  vs. שׂ  < .
 Biblical Hebrew as of the 3rd century BCE apparently still distinguished the phonemes   and  , based on transcriptions in the Septuagint. As in the case of , no letters were available to represent these sounds, and existing letters did double duty: ח  and ע . In both of these cases, however, the two sounds represented by the same letter eventually merged, leaving no evidence (other than early transcriptions) of the former distinctions.
 Although early Aramaic (pre-7th century BCE) had only 22 consonants in its alphabet, it apparently distinguished all of the original 29 Proto-Semitic phonemes, including , , , , ,  and  although by Middle Aramaic times, these had all merged with other sounds. This conclusion is mainly based on the shifting representation of words etymologically containing these sounds; in early Aramaic writing, the first five are merged with , , , , , respectively, but later with , , , , . (Also note that due to begadkefat spirantization, which occurred after this merger, OAm. t > ṯ and d > ḏ in some positions, so that PS *t,ṯ and *d, ḏ may be realized as either of t, ṯ and d, ḏ respectively.) The sounds  and  were always represented using the pharyngeal letters  , but they are distinguished from the pharyngeals in the Demotic-script papyrus Amherst 63, written about 200 BCE. This suggests that these sounds, too, were distinguished in Old Aramaic language, but written using the same letters as they later merged with.
 The earlier pharyngeals can be distinguished in Akkadian from the zero reflexes of *h, *ʔ by e-coloring adjacent *a, e.g. pS *ˈbaʕal-um 'owner, lord' > Akk. bēlu(m).
 Hebrew and Aramaic underwent begadkefat spirantization at a certain point, whereby the stop sounds  were softened to the corresponding fricatives  (written ḇ ḡ ḏ ḵ p̄ ṯ) when occurring after a vowel and not geminated. This change probably happened after the original Old Aramaic phonemes  disappeared in the 7th century BCE, and most likely occurred after the loss of Hebrew  c. 200 BCE. It is known to have occurred in Hebrew by the 2nd century CE. After a certain point this alternation became contrastive in word-medial and final position (though bearing low functional load), but in word-initial position they remained allophonic. In Modern Hebrew, the distinction has a higher functional load due to the loss of gemination, although only the three fricatives  are still preserved (the fricative  is pronounced  in modern Hebrew). (The others are pronounced like the corresponding stops, apparently under the influence of later non-native speakers whose native European tongues lacked the sounds  as phonemes.)
 In the Northwest Semitic languages,  became  at the beginning of a word, e.g. Hebrew yeled "boy" < *wald (cf. Arabic walad).
 There is evidence of a rule of assimilation of /j/ to the following coronal consonant in pre-tonic position, shared by Hebrew, Phoenician and Aramaic.
 In Assyrian Neo-Aramaic,  is nonexistent. In general cases, the language would lack pharyngeal fricative  (as heard in Ayin). However, /ʕ/ is retained in educational speech, especially among Assyrian priests.
The palatalization of Proto-Semitic gīm  to Arabic  jīm, is most probably connected to the pronunciation of qāf  as a  gāf, hence in most of the Arabian peninsula (which is the homeland of the Arabic language)  is jīm  and  is gāf , except in western and southern Yemen and parts of Oman where  is gīm  and  is qāf .
 Ugaritic orthography indicated the vowel after the glottal stop.
The Arabic letter  () has three main pronunciations in Modern Standard Arabic.  in north Algeria, Iraq, also in most of the Arabian peninsula and as the predominant pronunciation of Literary Arabic outside the Arab world,  occurs in most of the Levant and most North Africa; and  is used in northern Egypt and some regions in Yemen and Oman. In addition to other minor allophones.
The Arabic letter  () has three main pronunciations in spoken varieties.  in most of the Arabian Peninsula, Northern and Eastern Yemen and parts of Oman, Southern Iraq, Upper Egypt, Sudan, Libya, some parts of the Levant and to lesser extent in some parts (mostly rural) of Maghreb.  in most of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, Southern and Western Yemen and parts of Oman, Northern Iraq, parts of the Levant especially Druze dialects.  in most of the Levant and Lower Egypt, as well as some North African towns such as Tlemcen and Fez. In addition to other minor allophones.

The following table shows the development of the various fricatives in Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic through cognate words:

 possibly affricated (/dz/ /tɬʼ/ /ʦʼ/ /tθʼ/ /tɬ/)

Vowels
Proto-Semitic vowels are, in general, harder to deduce due to the nonconcatenative morphology of Semitic languages. The history of vowel changes in the languages makes drawing up a complete table of correspondences impossible, so only the most common reflexes can be given:

 in a stressed open syllable
 in a stressed closed syllable before a geminate
 in a stressed closed syllable before a consonant cluster
 when the proto-Semitic stressed vowel remained stressed
 pS *a,*ā > Akk. e,ē in the neighborhood of pS *ʕ,*ħ and before r.
 i.e. pS *g,*k,*ḳ,*χ > Ge'ez gʷ, kʷ,ḳʷ,χʷ / _u

Correspondence of sounds with other Afroasiatic languages
See table at Proto-Afroasiatic language#Consonant correspondences.

Grammar
The Semitic languages share a number of grammatical features, although variation — both between separate languages, and within the languages themselves — has naturally occurred over time.

Word order
The reconstructed default word order in Proto-Semitic is verb–subject–object (VSO), possessed–possessor (NG), and noun–adjective (NA). This was still the case in Classical Arabic and Biblical Hebrew, e.g. Classical Arabic رأى محمد فريدا ra'ā muħammadun farīdan. (literally "saw Muhammad Farid", Muhammad saw Farid). In the modern Arabic vernaculars, however, as well as sometimes in Modern Standard Arabic (the modern literary language based on Classical Arabic) and Modern Hebrew, the classical VSO order has given way to SVO. Modern Ethiopian Semitic languages follow a different word order: SOV, possessor–possessed, and adjective–noun; however, the oldest attested Ethiopian Semitic language, Ge'ez, was VSO, possessed–possessor, and noun–adjective. Akkadian was also predominantly SOV.

Cases in nouns and adjectives
The proto-Semitic three-case system (nominative, accusative and genitive) with differing vowel endings (-u, -a -i), fully preserved in Qur'anic Arabic (see ʾIʿrab), Akkadian and Ugaritic, has disappeared everywhere in the many colloquial forms of Semitic languages. Modern Standard Arabic maintains such case distinctions, although they are typically lost in free speech due to colloquial influence. An accusative ending -n is preserved in Ethiopian Semitic. In the northwest, the scarcely attested Samalian reflects a case distinction in the plural between nominative -ū and oblique -ī (compare the same distinction in Classical Arabic). Additionally, Semitic nouns and adjectives had a category of state, the indefinite state being expressed by nunation.

Number in nouns
Semitic languages originally had three grammatical numbers: singular, dual, and plural. Classical Arabic still has a mandatory dual (i.e. it must be used in all circumstances when referring to two entities), marked on nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns. Many contemporary dialects of Arabic still have a dual, as in the name for the nation of Bahrain (baħr "sea" + -ayn "two"), although it is marked only on nouns. It also occurs in Hebrew in a few nouns (šana means "one year", šnatayim means "two years", and šanim means "years"), but for those it is obligatory. The curious phenomenon of broken plurals – e.g. in Arabic, sadd "one dam" vs. sudūd "dams" found most profusely in the languages of Arabia and Ethiopia, may be partly of proto-Semitic origin, and partly elaborated from simpler origins.

Verb aspect and tense

All Semitic languages show two quite distinct styles of morphology used for conjugating verbs. Suffix conjugations take suffixes indicating the person, number and gender of the subject, which bear some resemblance to the pronominal suffixes used to indicate direct objects on verbs ("I saw him") and possession on nouns ("his dog"). So-called prefix conjugations actually takes both prefixes and suffixes, with the prefixes primarily indicating person (and sometimes number or gender), while the suffixes (which are completely different from those used in the suffix conjugation) indicate number and gender whenever the prefix does not mark this. The prefix conjugation is noted for a particular pattern of  prefixes where (1) a t- prefix is used in the singular to mark the second person and third-person feminine, while a y- prefix marks the third-person masculine; and (2) identical words are used for second-person masculine and third-person feminine singular. The prefix conjugation is extremely old, with clear analogues in nearly all the families of Afroasiatic languages (i.e. at least 10,000 years old). The table on the right shows examples of the prefix and suffix conjugations in Classical Arabic, which has forms that are close to Proto-Semitic.

In Proto-Semitic, as still largely reflected in East Semitic, prefix conjugations are used both for the past and the non-past, with different vocalizations. Cf. Akkadian niprus "we decided" (preterite), niptaras "we have decided" (perfect), niparras "we decide" (non-past or imperfect), vs. suffix-conjugated parsānu "we are/were/will be deciding" (stative). Some of these features, e.g. gemination indicating the non-past/imperfect, are generally attributed to Afroasiatic. According to Hetzron, Proto-Semitic had an additional form, the jussive, which was distinguished from the preterite only by the position of stress: the jussive had final stress while the preterite had non-final (retracted) stress.

The West Semitic languages significantly reshaped the system. The most substantial changes occurred in the Central Semitic languages (the ancestors of modern Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic). Essentially, the old prefix-conjugated jussive or preterite became a new non-past (or imperfect), while the stative became a new past (or perfect), and the old prefix-conjugated non-past (or imperfect) with gemination was discarded. New suffixes were used to mark different moods in the non-past, e.g. Classical Arabic -u (indicative), -a (subjunctive), vs no suffix (jussive). (It is not generally agreed whether the systems of the various Semitic languages are better interpreted in terms of tense, i.e. past vs. non-past, or aspect, i.e. perfect vs. imperfect.) A special feature in classical Hebrew is the waw-consecutive, prefixing a verb form with the letter waw in order to change its tense or aspect. The South Semitic languages show a system somewhere between the East and Central Semitic languages.

Later languages show further developments. In the modern varieties of Arabic, for example, the old mood suffixes were dropped, and new mood prefixes developed (e.g. bi- for indicative vs. no prefix for subjunctive in many varieties). In the extreme case of Neo-Aramaic, the verb conjugations have been entirely reworked under Iranian influence.

Morphology: triliteral roots

All Semitic languages exhibit a unique pattern of stems called Semitic roots consisting typically of triliteral, or three-consonant consonantal roots (two- and four-consonant roots also exist), from which nouns, adjectives, and verbs are formed in various ways (e.g., by inserting vowels, doubling consonants, lengthening vowels or by adding prefixes, suffixes, or infixes).

For instance, the root k-t-b, (dealing with "writing" generally) yields in Arabic:

kataba كَتَبَ or كتب "he wrote" (masculine)
katabat كَتَبَت or كتبت "she wrote" (feminine)
katabtu كَتَبْتُ or كتبت "I wrote" (f and m)
kutiba كُتِبَ or كتب "it was written" (masculine)
kutibat كُتِبَت or كتبت "it was written" (feminine)
katabū كَتَبُوا or كتبوا "they wrote" (masculine)
katabna كَتَبْنَ or كتبن "they wrote" (feminine)
katabnā كَتَبْنَا or كتبنا "we wrote" (f and m)
yaktub(u) يَكْتُب or يكتب "he writes" (masculine)
taktub(u) تَكْتُب or تكتب "she writes" (feminine)
naktub(u) نَكْتُب or نكتب "we write" (f and m)
aktub(u) أَكْتُب or أكتب "I write" (f and m)
yuktab(u) يُكْتَب or يكتب "being written" (masculine)
tuktab(u) تُكتَب or تكتب "being written" (feminine)
yaktubūn(a) يَكْتُبُونَ or يكتبون "they write" (masculine)
yaktubna يَكْتُبْنَ or يكتبن "they write" (feminine)
taktubna تَكْتُبْنَ or تكتبن "you write" (feminine)
yaktubān(i) يَكْتُبَانِ or يكتبان "they both write" (masculine) (for 2 males)
taktubān(i) تَكْتُبَانِ or تكتبان "they both write" (feminine) (for 2 females)
kātaba كاتَبَ or كاتب "he exchanged letters (with sb.)"
yukātib(u) يُكَاتِب or يكاتب "he exchanges (with sb.)"
yatakātabūn(a) يَتَكَاتَبُونَ or يتكاتبون "they write to each other" (masculine)
iktataba اِكْتَتَبَ or اكتتب "he is registered" (intransitive) or "he contributed (a money quantity to sth.)" (ditransitive) (the first t is part of a particular verbal transfix, not part of the root)
istaktaba اِسْتَكْتَبَ or استكتب "to cause to write (sth.)"
kitāb كِتَاب or كتاب "book" (the hyphen shows end of stem before various case endings)
kutub كُتُب or كتب "books" (plural)
kutayyib كُتَيِّب or كتيب "booklet" (diminutive)
kitābat كِتَابَة or كتابة "writing"
kātib كاتِب or كاتب "writer" (masculine)
kātibat كاتِبة or كاتبة "writer" (feminine)
kātibūn(a) كاتِبونَ or كاتبون "writers" (masculine)
kātibāt كاتِبات or كاتبات "writers" (feminine)
kuttāb كُتاب or كتاب "writers" (broken plural)
katabat كَتَبَة or كتبة "clerks" (broken plural)
maktab مَكتَب or مكتب "desk" or "office"
makātib مَكاتِب or مكاتب "desks" or "offices"
maktabat مَكتَبة or مكتبة "library" or "bookshop"
maktūb مَكتوب or مكتوب "written" (participle) or "postal letter" (noun)
katībat كَتيبة or كتيبة "squadron" or "document"
katā'ib كَتائِب or كتائب "squadrons" or "documents"
iktitāb اِكتِتاب or اكتتاب "registration" or "contribution of funds"
muktatib مُكتَتِب or مكتتب "subscription"
istiktāb اِستِكتاب or استكتاب "causing to write"

and the same root in Hebrew:
(A line under k and b mean a fricitive, x for k and v for b.)

kāṯaḇti כתבתי "I wrote"
kāṯaḇtā כתבת "you (m) wrote"
kāṯaḇt כתבת "you (f) wrote"
kāṯaḇnu כתבנו "we wrote"
kāṯḇu כתבו "they wrote"kāṯaḇ כתב "he wrote"
kāṯḇa כתב "she wrote"kattāḇ כתב "reporter" (m)katteḇeṯ כתבת "reporter" (f)kattāḇā כתבה "article" (plural kattāḇōṯ כתבות)miḵtāḇ מכתב "postal letter" (plural miḵtāḇīm מכתבים)
miḵtāḇā מכתבה "writing desk" (plural miḵtāḇōṯ מכתבות)kəṯōḇeṯ כתובת "address" (plural kəṯōḇōṯ כתובות)kəṯāḇ כתב "handwriting"kāṯūḇ כתוב "written" (f kəṯūḇā כתובה)hiḵtīḇ הכתיב "he dictated" (f hiḵtīḇā הכתיבה)
hiṯkattēḇ התכתב "he corresponded (f hiṯkattəḇā התכתבה)
niḵtaḇ נכתב "it was written" (m)
niḵtəḇā נכתבה "it was written" (f)kəṯīḇ כתיב "spelling" (m)
taḵtīḇ תכתיב "prescript" (m)
mə'ḵuttāḇ מכותב "addressee" (meḵutteḇeṯ מכותבת f)kəṯubbā כתובה "ketubah (a Jewish marriage contract)" (f)

In Tigrinya and Amharic, this root survives only in the noun kitab, meaning "amulet", and the verb "to vaccinate". Ethiopic-derived languages use different roots for things that have to do with writing (and in some cases counting) primitive root: ṣ-f and trilateral root stems: m-ṣ-f, ṣ-h-f, and ṣ-f-r are used.  This roots also exists in other Semitic languages like (Hebrew: sep̄er "book", sōp̄er "scribe", mispār "number" and sippūr "story"). (this root also exists in Arabic and is used to form words with a close meaning to "writing", such as ṣaḥāfa "journalism", and ṣaḥīfa "newspaper" or "parchment").
Verbs in other non-Semitic Afroasiatic languages show similar radical patterns, but more usually with biconsonantal roots; e.g. Kabyle afeg means "fly!", while affug means "flight", and yufeg means "he flew" (compare with Hebrew, where hap̄lēḡ means "set sail!", hap̄lāḡā means "a sailing trip", and hip̄līḡ means "he sailed", while the unrelated ʕūp̄, təʕūp̄ā and ʕāp̄ pertain to flight).

Independent personal pronouns

Cardinal numerals

These are the basic numeral stems without feminine suffixes. Note that in most older Semitic languages, the forms of the numerals from 3 to 10 exhibit gender polarity (also called "chiastic concord" or reverse agreement), i.e. if the counted noun is masculine, the numeral would be feminine and vice versa.

Typology
Some early Semitic languages are speculated to have had weak ergative features.

Common vocabulary
Due to the Semitic languages' common origin, they share some words and roots. Others differ. For example:

Terms given in brackets are not derived from the respective Proto-Semitic roots, though they may also derive from Proto-Semitic (as does e.g. Arabic dār, cf. Biblical Hebrew dōr "dwelling").

Sometimes, certain roots differ in meaning from one Semitic language to another. For example, the root b-y-ḍ in Arabic has the meaning of "white" as well as "egg", whereas in Hebrew it only means "egg". The root l-b-n means "milk" in Arabic, but the color "white" in Hebrew. The root l-ḥ-m means "meat" in Arabic, but "bread" in Hebrew and "cow" in Ethiopian Semitic; the original meaning was most probably "food". The word medina (root: m-d-n) has the meaning of "metropolis" in Amharic, "city" in Arabic and Ancient Hebrew, and "State" in Modern Hebrew.

Of course, there is sometimes no relation between the roots. For example, "knowledge" is represented in Hebrew by the root y-d-ʿ, but in Arabic by the roots ʿ-r-f and ʿ-l-m and in Ethiosemitic by the roots ʿ-w-q and f-l-ṭ.

For more comparative vocabulary lists, see Wiktionary appendices:

 List of Proto-Semitic stems
 Swadesh lists for Afro-Asiatic languages

Classification
There are six fairly uncontroversial nodes within the Semitic languages: East Semitic, Northwest Semitic, North Arabian, Old South Arabian (also known as Sayhadic), Modern South Arabian, and Ethiopian Semitic. These are generally grouped further, but there is ongoing debate as to which belong together. The classification based on shared innovations given below, established by Robert Hetzron in 1976 and with later emendations by John Huehnergard and Rodgers as summarized in Hetzron 1997, is the most widely accepted today. In particular, several Semiticists still argue for the traditional (partially nonlinguistic) view of Arabic as part of South Semitic, and a few (e.g. Alexander Militarev or the German-Egyptian professor Arafa Hussein Mustafa) see the South Arabian languages as a third branch of Semitic alongside East and West Semitic, rather than as a subgroup of South Semitic. However, a new classification groups Old South Arabian as Central Semitic instead.

Roger Blench notes that the Gurage languages are highly divergent and wonders whether they might not be a primary branch, reflecting an origin of Afroasiatic in or near Ethiopia. At a lower level, there is still no general agreement on where to draw the line between "languages" and "dialects" an issue particularly relevant in Arabic, Aramaic, and Gurage and the strong mutual influences between Arabic dialects render a genetic subclassification of them particularly difficult.

A computational phylogenetic analysis by Kitchen, et al. (2009) considers the Semitic languages to have originated in the Levant about 5,750 years ago during the Early Bronze Age, with early Ethiosemitic originating from southern Arabia approximately 2,800 years ago.

The Himyaritic and Sutean languages appear to have been Semitic, but are unclassified due to insufficient data.

 East Semitic
 West Semitic
 Central Semitic
 Northwest Semitic
 Arabic
 South Semitic
 Western: Ethiopian Semitic and Old South Arabian
 Eastern: Modern South Arabian

Semitic-speaking peoples
The following is a list of some modern and ancient Semitic-speaking peoples and nations:

Central Semitic
 Ammonite speakers of Ammon
 Amorites 20th century BC
 Arabs
 Ancient North Arabian-speaking bedouins
 Arameans 16th to 8th centuries BC / Akhlames (Ahlamu) 14th century BC.
 Canaanite-speaking nations of the early Iron Age:
 Chaldea  appeared in southern Mesopotamia c. 1000 BC and eventually disappeared into the general Babylonian population.
 Edomites
 Hebrews/Israelites founded the nation of Israel which later split into the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The remnants of these people became the Jews and the Samaritans.
 Maltese
 Mandaeans
 Moab
 Nabataeans
 Phoenicia founded Mediterranean colonies including Tyre, Sidon and ancient Carthage. The remnants of these people became the modern inhabitants of Lebanon.
 Ugarit, 14th to 12th centuries BC
 Nasrani (Syrian Christian)

East Semitic
 Akkadian Empire ancient Semitic speakers moved into Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium BC and settled among the local peoples of Sumer. The remnants of these people became the modern Assyrian people (also known as Chaldo-Assyrians) of Iraq, Iran, south eastern Turkey and northeast Syria.
Babylonian Empire
Assyrian Empire
Ebla 23rd century BC

South Semitic
 Kingdom of Aksum 4th century BC to 7th century AD
 Amhara people
 Argobba people
 Dahalik people
 Gurage people
 Harari people
 Mehri people
 Old South Arabian-speaking peoples
 Sabaeans of Yemen 9th to 1st centuries BC
 Silt'e people
 Tigrayan people
 Tigre people
 Zay people

Unknown
 Suteans 14th century BC
 Thamud 2nd to 5th centuries AD

See also
 Proto-Semitic language
 Middle Bronze Age alphabets

Notes

References

Additional reference literature

 Bennett, Patrick R. 1998. Comparative Semitic Linguistics: A Manual. Eisenbrauns. .

 Bergsträsser, Gotthelf. 1995. Introduction to the Semitic Languages: Text Specimens and Grammatical Sketches. Translated by Peter T. Daniels. Winona Lake, Ind. : Eisenbrauns. .
 Garbini, Giovanni. 1984. Le lingue semitiche: studi di storia linguistica. Naples: Istituto Orientale.
 Garbini, Giovanni; Durand, Olivier. 1995. Introduzione alle lingue semitiche. Paideia: Brescia 1995.
 Goldenberg, Gideon. 2013. Semitic Languages: Features, Structures, Relations, Processes. Oxford University Press. .
 Hetzron, Robert (ed.). 1997. The Semitic Languages. London: Routledge. . (For family tree, see p. 7).
 Lipinski, Edward. 2001. Semitic Languages: Outlines of a Comparative Grammar. 2nd ed. Leuven: Orientalia Lovanensia Analecta.
 Mustafa, Arafa Hussein. 1974. Analytical study of phrases and sentences in epic texts of Ugarit. (German title: Untersuchungen zu Satztypen in den epischen Texten von Ugarit). Dissertation. Halle-Wittenberg: Martin-Luther-University.
 Moscati, Sabatino. 1969. An introduction to the comparative grammar of the Semitic languages: phonology and morphology. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
 Ullendorff, Edward. 1955. The Semitic languages of Ethiopia: a comparative phonology. London: Taylor's (Foreign) Press.

 Wright, William; Smith, William Robertson. 1890. Lectures on the comparative grammar of the Semitic languages''. Cambridge University Press 1890. [2002 edition: ]

External links

 Semitic genealogical tree (as well as the Afroasiatic one), presented by Alexander Militarev at his talk "Genealogical classification of Afro-Asiatic languages according to the latest data" (at the conference on the 70th anniversary of Vladislav Illich-Svitych, Moscow, 2004; short annotations of the talks given there
 Pattern-and-root inflectional morphology: the Arabic broken plural
 Ancient snake spell in Egyptian pyramid may be oldest Semitic inscription
  Alexis Neme and Sébastien Paumier (2019), Restoring Arabic vowels through omission-tolerant dictionary lookup, Lang Resources & Evaluation, Vol 53, 1-65 pages
 Swadesh vocabulary lists of Semitic languages (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)

Category:Afroasiatic languages


McCook Public-Carnegie Library

The McCook Public-Carnegie Library is a historic building in McCook, Nebraska. It was built as a Carnegie library in 1905, and designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style by architect Willis Marean. It housed the McCook public library until 1969. Since then, it has housed the Museum of the High Plains. The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since September 12, 1985.

References

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Red Willow County, Nebraska
Category:Mission Revival architecture in Nebraska
Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1905
Category:Carnegie libraries in Nebraska
Category:Museums in Red Willow County, Nebraska


Generational accounting

Generational accounting is a method of measuring the fiscal burdens facing today's and tomorrow's children. Laurence Kotlikoff's individual and co-authored work on the relativity of fiscal language demonstrates that conventional fiscal measures, including the government's deficit, are not well defined from the perspective of economic theory. Instead, their measurement reflects economically arbitrary fiscal labeling conventions. "Economics labeling problem," as Kotlikoff calls it, has led to gross misreadings of the fiscal positions of different countries, starting with the United States, which has a relatively small debt-to-GDP ratio, but is, arguably, in worse fiscal shape than any developed country. Kotlikoff's identification of economics labeling problem, beginning with his 1984 Deficit Delusion article in The Public Interest led him to push for generational accounting, a term he coined and that provides the title for his 1993 book, Generational Accounting.

History
In 1991, Kotlikoff, together with Alan Auerbach and Jagadeesh Gokhale, produced the first set of generational accounts for the United States. Their study demonstrated a major fiscal gap separating future government spending commitments and its means of paying for those commitments, portending dramatic increases in the lifetime net tax burdens facing young and future generations. The generational accounting and fiscal gap accounting developed by Auerbach, Gokhale, and Kotlikoff has become an increasingly standard means of assessing the sustainability of fiscal policy and how different countries intend to treat their next generations. Recent generational accounting by the IMF and fiscal gap accounting by Kotlikoff confirm the truly severe long-run fiscal problems facing the U.S.

Generational accounting considers how much each adult generation, on a per person basis, is likely to pay in future taxes net of transfer payments, over the rest of their lives. Aggregating these remaining lifetime net tax payments of adults and subtracting them from the fiscal gap reveals how much today's and tomorrow's children must pay to resolve the country's fiscal gap if current adults don't pay more, on net.  This residual burden facing today's and tomorrow's children is allocated to them in proportion to their projected levels of lifetime labor income.   I.e., if each successive generation of children is expected to experience, on average, a 1 percent higher level of lifetime earners, generational accounting allocates to successive generations net lifetime tax payments that are 1 percent higher.

Neither fiscal gap accounting nor generational accounting are perfect measures of fiscal sustainability.  Neither suffers from economics severe labeling problem.  But both raise the thorny issue of how to discount future taxes and transfers when they are uncertain.  The Social Security Trustees Report, in Table IVB6, provides an infinite horizon fiscal gap analysis each year for the Social Security System by itself in which the actuaries use a 3 percent real discount rate.  The size of the fiscal gap can be sensitive to the choice of the discount rate.  But so is the size of the present value of future GDP against which it is compared.  Hence, the ratio of the fiscal gap to the present value of GDP is much less sensitive to the choice of discount rate.   It is this ratio that determines what adjustment is needed to eliminate the fiscal gap.  In the U.S. case, the fiscal gap is now 12 percent of the present value of GDP, suggesting that an immediate and permanent fiscal adjustment equal to 12 percent of GDP would be required to eliminate the fiscal gap.

Criticism
Fiscal gap and generational accounting have their critics.  Some commentators believe the government faces no intertemporal budget, which is the foundation of the fiscal gap and generational accounting frameworks.  They believe the government can meet its obligations by either cutting taxes and raising spending to stimulate the economy by enough such that the endogeneous increase in taxes will more than pay for the initial loss in net revenues. Other critics believe generational accounting is based on specious arguments and a fundamental misunderstanding of government debt.  Once such critique of generational accounting was published in 2009.

See also

 Dependency ratio
 Distribution (economics)
 Demographic economics
 Pensions crisis
 Social welfare provision
 Wealth (economics)

Notes

References

 Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1987. "Social security," The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, v. 4, pp. 418–20.
 _____, 1992. Generational Accounting: Knowing Who Pays, and When, for What We Spend, The Free Press. Description and review  extract .
 Alan J. Auerbach, Jagadeesh Gokhale and Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1994. "Generational Accounting: A Meaningful Way to Evaluate Fiscal Policy ," Journal of Economic Perspectives, 8(1), pp. 73–94.
 Robert Haveman, 1994. "Should Generational Accounts Replace Public Budgets and Deficits?" Journal of Economic Perspectives, 8(1), pp. 95–111.
 John Sturrock, 1995. Who Pays and When? An Assessment of Generational Accounting.  U.S. Congressional Budget Office.  Preface, contents, & links by chapter.
 Peter Diamond,  1996. "Generational Accounting and Generational Balance: An Assessment," National Tax Journal, 49(4), pp. 597–607.
 Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1997. "Reply to Diamond's and Cutler's Reviews of Generational Accounting,  National Tax Journal, 52(2).  pp. 303–14.
 Willem H. Buiter, 1997. "Generational Accounts, Aggregate Saving and Intergenerational Distribution," Economica, N.S., 64(256), pp. 605–26.
 Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Bernd Raffelhüschen, 1999. "Generational Accounting around the Globe," American Economic Review, 89(2), pp. 161–66.
 Alan J. Auerbach, Laurence J. Kotlikoff, and Willi Leibfritz, 1999. Generational Accounting Around the World. 534 pp. Preview.
 Rowena A. Pecchenino1 & Kelvin R. Utendorf, 1999. "Social Security, Social Welfare and the Aging Population," Journal of Population Economics, 12(4), pp. 607–23.  Abstract.
 Holger Bonin, 2001.  Generational Accounting: Theory and Application.  Springer. Preview.
 World Bank, 2001. "Generational Accounting." as lecture outline. Simple as ABC.
 Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Scott Burns, 2005. The Coming Generational Storm: What You Need to Know about America's Economic Future. MIT Press. Description and chapter-preview links, p. vii.
 Jagadeesh Gokhale & Kent A. Smetters, 2006. "Fiscal and Generational Imbalances: An Update" in James M. Poterba, ed., Tax Policy and the Economy, v. 20, ch. 6, pp. 193–223. MIT Press.
 Rudy Penner, 2007. "Taxes and the Budget: What is Generational Accounting?" in The Tax Policy Briefing Book: A Citizens' Guide for the 2008 Election and Beyond. Tax Policy Center.
 U.S. Government Accountability Office.  2008 Financial Report of the United States Government, p. 40, Note 23, with estimated present value of future expenditures in excess of future revenue. Chapter links.
 John B. Shoven, ed., 2011. Demography and the Economy'', University of Chicago Press. Scroll-down description and preview, ch. 4–6 & 8.

Category:Demographic economics
Category:Fiscal policy
Category:National accounts
Category:Public economics
Category:Retirement
Category:Social security in the United States


Beacon Hill, East Sussex

Beacon Hill is an   Local Nature Reserve in Rottingdean, on the eastern outskirts of Brighton in East Sussex. It is owned and managed by Brighton and Hove Council.

This chalk grassland site has extensive views out to sea and inland. Flora include round-headed rampion and several species of orchid, while there are birds such as skylarks. Rottingdean Windmill is a grade II listed building towards the south of the site.

References

Category:Local Nature Reserves in East Sussex


Iván Ochoa

Iván G. Ochoa (born December 16, 1982) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball shortstop. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants in 2008. Ochoa is from Guacara, Venezuela.

Professional career

Cleveland Indians
Ochoa was signed as a free agent by the Cleveland Indians on May 3, . He struggled offensively during his six years in the Indians organization, but did receive a promotion to Triple-A Buffalo in .

San Francisco Giants
After the 2006 season, Ochoa signed with the San Francisco Giants and was invited to spring training. Ochoa spent all of  with Triple-A Fresno, batting .296 in 47 games. Ochoa started  in Triple-A again, but was called up to the major league team after batting .318 and stealing 20 bases in 84 games. He made his major league debut on July 12,  against the Chicago Cubs. His first hit was a double to left field in the ninth inning off of Carlos Mármol. He appeared in 47 games for the Giants, batting .200.

Boston Red Sox
Ochoa was released after the 2008 season by the Giants and signed with the Boston Red Sox on January 27, . He appeared in 45 games for the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox before he was released on August 19, 2009.

Golden Baseball League
He played with the Tijuana Cimarrones of the Golden Baseball League in 2010, appearing in 19 games.

Los Angeles Dodgers
Ochoa was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers on February 10, 2011 and assigned to the AA Chattanooga Lookouts, where he appeared in 84 games and hit .233. He was promoted to the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes at the end of the season and appeared in 18 games for them, hitting .257.

See also
 List of Major League Baseball players from Venezuela

External links
, or Retrosheet, or Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Winter League)

Category:1982 births
Category:Living people
Category:Akron Aeros players
Category:Albuquerque Isotopes players
Category:Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players
Category:Burlington Indians players
Category:Caribes de Anzoátegui players
Category:Caribes de Oriente players
Category:Chattanooga Lookouts players
Category:Columbus RedStixx players
Category:Fresno Grizzlies players
Category:Gulf Coast Red Sox players
Category:Kinston Indians players
Category:Leones del Caracas players
Category:Major League Baseball players from Venezuela
Category:Major League Baseball shortstops
Category:Pawtucket Red Sox players
Category:People from Carabobo
Category:San Francisco Giants players
Category:Tijuana Cimarrones players
Category:Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States


When War Is Over

When War Is Over is a two disc compilation of Alan Hull's 1970's recordings for the BBC.

Track listing
"Drug Song"
"Numbers (Travelling Band)"
"United States of Mind"
"When War is Over"
"Down on the Underground"
"Gin and Tonics All Round"
"One More Bottle of Wine"
"Dan the Plan"
"Dealer's Choice"
"Winter Song"
"One More Bottle of Wine"

Tracks 1–6 for Bob Harris, Recorded: 18 July 1973; Tx: 6 August 1973. Recorded at Maida Vale.
Tracks 6–10 for Bob Harris, Recorded: 28 November 1973; Tx: 14 January 1974. Recorded at Maida Vale.
Track 11 for John Peel, Recorded: 22 May 1975; Tx: 29 May 1975. Recorded at Maida Vale.

"Peter Brophy Don't Care"
"The Squire"
"City Song"
"Dan the Plan"
"Money Game"
"Gin and Tonics All Round"
"One More Bottle of Wine"
"Golden Oldies"
"Alright on the Night"

Tracks 1–9 in Concert 21 May 1975.

Category:Alan Hull albums
Category:Peel Sessions recordings
Category:1998 live albums
Category:1998 compilation albums


Verdict of the Sea

Verdict of the Sea is a 1932 British adventure film directed by Frank Miller and Sidney Northcote and starring John Stuart, Moira Lynd and Cyril McLaglen. It was made at Elstree Studios and on location by British International Pictures, the largest British film company at the time. It was based on a novel by Alan Sullivan. The film's sets were designed by David Rawnsley.

Plot
Fenn, the domineering second officer of a merchant ship, is attempting to recruit an extra hand in the London docks for a voyage to Singapore but due to his harsh reputation he can find no volunteers. Eventually he manages to persuade a drunken, middle-class man who has apparently fallen down on his luck to sign on to the ship. Aboard ship the well-spoken "Gentleman" Burton attracts the interest of the captain's daughter Paddy who is curious at his mysterious past. This enrages Fenn who is desperate to marry her, despite her dislike of his rough manners, and he tries to bribe Burton to desert at their first port of call to remove a rival for her love. When Burton refuses to do so, Fenn arranges for local criminals to kidnap him, but is compelled by Paddy to rescue him which he successfully does.

When the ship arrives at an island to take on supplies, the ship becomes embroiled in a plan by a group of British criminals living on the island to steal some diamonds from a local shopkeeper. The captain agrees to carry the diamonds to safety in Singapore, but the criminals board and take over the ship to get their hands on the diamonds, threatening to kill the surviving crew. Fenn and Burton join forces to repulse the boarders and the ship gets safely to Singapore where Burton and Paddy agree to marry, after he reveals that he quit his previous life as a respectable doctor due to a woman. Meanwhile Fenn leaves to look for command of a ship of his own.

Cast
 John Stuart as Gentleman Burton
 Moira Lynd as Paddy
 Cyril McLaglen as Fenn
 David Miller as Captain
 Hal Walters as Shorty
 Harold Saxon-Snell as Myers
 Bill Shine (actor) as Slim
 Fred Rains as Martin

References

Bibliography
 Low, Rachael. Filmmaking in 1930s Britain. George Allen & Unwin, 1985.
 Wood, Linda. British Films, 1927-1939. British Film Institute, 1986.

External links

Category:1932 films
Category:British films
Category:British adventure films
Category:1930s adventure films
Category:English-language films
Category:Films shot at Elstree Studios
Category:Seafaring films
Category:Films set in London
Category:Films set in Singapore
Category:British black-and-white films


United States Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo

This is a list of Ambassadors of the United States to the Republic of the Congo.

From 1885 until 1960, the republic had been under the control of France as a protectorate. In 1908, France organized French Equatorial Africa (AEF), comprising its colonies of Middle Congo (modern Congo), Gabon, Chad, and Oubangui-Chari (now Central African Republic). Brazzaville was selected as the federal capital.

In 1958 Middle Congo became an autonomous colony and was renamed Republic of the Congo. The republic was granted full independence on August 15, 1960. As the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) also chose the name Republic of Congo upon receiving its independence, the two countries were more commonly known as Congo-Leopoldville and Congo-Brazzaville, after their capital cities.

The United States immediately recognized the new Republic of the Congo and moved to establish diplomatic relations. The embassy in Brazzaville was established August 15, 1960, with Alan W. Lukens as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim. The first ambassador, W. Wendell Blancke was appointed on November 9, 1960.

Ambassadors

W. Wendell Blancke – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: November 9, 1960
Presented credentials: December 23, 1960
Terminated mission: Left post, December 14, 1963
Henry L. T. Koren – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: April 8, 1964
Presented credentials: May 13, 1964
Terminated mission: Left post, August 4, 1965
Note: Due to civil strife and insecure conditions, the U.S. Embassy in Brazzaville was closed and all diplomatic personnel were withdrawn from the country on August 15, 1965. The embassy was reestablished on October 30, 1977, with Jay Katzen as chargé d'affaires ad interim. A new ambassador was appointed on April 26, 1979.
William L. Swing – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: April 26, 1979
Presented credentials: May 11, 1979
Terminated mission: Left post, May 30, 1981
Kenneth Lee Brown – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: December 11, 1981
Presented credentials: February 13, 1982
Terminated mission: Left post, June 10, 1984
Alan Wood Lukens – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 13, 1984
Presented credentials: September 22, 1984
Terminated mission: Left post, May 6, 1987
Leonard Grant Shurtleff – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 10, 1987
Presented credentials: September 26, 1987
Terminated mission: Left post, July 5, 1990
James Daniel Phillips – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: June 27, 1990
Presented credentials: August 23, 1990
Terminated mission: Left post, September 10, 1993
William Christie Ramsay – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: July 16, 1993
Presented credentials: September 23, 1993
Terminated mission: Left post, April 13, 1996
Aubrey Hooks – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: June 6, 1996
Presented credentials: July 11, 1996
Terminated mission: Left post January 9, 1999
David H. Kaeuper – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: November 16, 1999
Presented credentials: December 27, 1999
Terminated mission: Left post September 5, 2002
Robin Renee Sanders – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: November 15, 2002
Presented credentials: February 13, 2003
Terminated mission: July 16, 2005
Robert Weisberg – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: March 21, 2006
Presented credentials: Unknown
Terminated mission: March 2, 2008
Alan W. Eastham – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 22, 2008
Presented credentials: Unknown
Terminated mission: Prior to September 2010
Christopher W. Murray – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 23, 2010
Presented credentials: September 16, 2010
Terminated mission: August 14, 2013
Stephanie S. Sullivan – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 12, 2013
Presented credentials: November 26, 2013
Terminated mission: January 20, 2017
Todd Philip Haskell – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: May 18, 2017
Presented credentials: June 26, 2017
Terminated mission: Incumbent

Notes

See also
Republic of the Congo – United States relations
Foreign relations of the Republic of the Congo
Ambassadors of the United States

References
United States Department of State: Background notes on the Republic of Congo

External links
 United States Department of State: Chiefs of Mission for the Republic of Congo
 United States Department of State: Republic of the Congo
 United States Embassy in Brazzaville

Congo, Republic of the
*Main
Category:Republic of the Congo-related lists
Category:Republic of the Congo–United States relations


Armless snake eel

The armless snake eel (Dalophis imberbis) is an eel in the family Ophichthidae (worm/snake eels). It was described by François Étienne Delaroche in 1809. It is a subtropical, marine eel which is known from the eastern Atlantic Ocean, including Spain, Mauritania, and the Mediterranean. It dwells at a depth range of 20–80 metres, and forms burrows in mud or sand. Males can reach a maximum total length of 150 centimetres.

The Armless snake eel's diet consists primarily of finfish and benthic invertebrates.

References

Category:Ophichthidae
Category:Fish described in 1809


Sakichi Sato

is a Japanese actor, director, and screenwriter. He has written several screenplay adaptations of manga series including Tokyo Zombie, Ichi The Killer, and Gozu.  He also directed Miss Boys about cross-dressing schoolboys. In the West, he played Charlie Brown in Quentin Tarantino's 2003 film Kill Bill: Volume 1.

Filmography
 Ichi The Killer (2001) - writer, actor
 Gozu (2003) - writer, actor
 Last Life in the Universe (2003) - actor
 Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) - actor
 Tokyo Zombie (2005) - director, writer
 Insect Detective Yoshimi Yoshida (2010) - director
 Miss Boys (2011) - director
 Tokyo Playboy Club (2011) - actor
 Tokyo Slaves (2014) - director, writer

References

External links

Category:1964 births
Category:Living people
Category:Japanese male film actors
Category:Japanese film directors
Category:Japanese screenwriters


Cnidoscolus aconitifolius

Cnidoscolus aconitifolius, commonly known as chaya or tree spinach, is a large, fast-growing leafy perennial shrub that is believed to have originated in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.
The specific epithet, aconitifolius, means "Aconitum-like leaves".
It has succulent stems which exude a milky sap when cut. It can grow to be 6 meters tall, but is usually pruned to about 2 m for easier leaf harvest. It is a popular leaf vegetable in Mexican and Central American cuisines, similar to spinach. The leaves should be cooked before being eaten, as the raw leaves contain a high content of toxic hydrocyanic acid. Up to 5 raw leaves can be eaten a day. To be safely eaten, the required cooking time is 5–15 minutes.

Taxonomy
Cnidoscolus aconitifolius subsp. aconitifolius is found from northern Mexico to Guatemala and cultivated as far south as Peru, while Cnidoscolus aconitifolius subsp. polyanthus (Pax and K.Hoffm.) Breckon is restricted a small area in western Mexico.

Plants in the Chayamansa Group (syn. Cnidoscolus chayamansa) are the most widely cultivated, because they lack stinging hairs on the leaves. It is divided into four cultivars based on leaf morphology: 'Chayamansa' (most common), 'Estrella', 'Picuda', and 'Redonda'.

Cultivation
Chaya is easy to grow, a tender perennial in the US, and suffers little insect damage. It is tolerant of heavy rain and has some drought tolerance. Propagation is normally by woody stem cuttings about 6-12 inches long, as seeds are produced only rarely. Early growth is slow as roots are slow to develop on the cuttings, so leaves are not harvested until the second year. Chaya leaves can be harvested continuously as long as no more than 50% of the leaves are removed from the plant, which guarantees healthy new plant growth.

A USDA study in Puerto Rico reported that higher yields of greens could be obtained with chaya than any other vegetable they had studied. In another study chaya leaves were found to contain substantially greater amounts of nutrients than spinach leaves.

Consumption
Some varieties have stinging hairs and require gloves for harvesting. Cooking destroys the stinging hairs. Chaya is one of the most productive green vegetables.

Chaya is a good source of protein, vitamins, calcium, and iron; and is also a rich source of antioxidants. However, raw chaya leaves are toxic as they contain a glucoside that can release toxic cyanide. Cooking is essential prior to consumption to inactivate the toxic components; in this chaya is similar to cassava, which also contains toxic hydrocyanic glycosides and must be cooked before being eaten.

Young chaya leaves and the thick, tender stem tips are cut and boiled as a spinach. It is a tasty vegetable, and is exceptionally high in protein, calcium, iron, and vitamin A. In fact, levels of chaya leaf nutrients are two- to threefold greater than any other land-based leafy green vegetable. Chaya leaves have a possible antidiabetic effect.

Traditionally leaves are immersed and simmered for 20 minutes and then served with oil or butter. Cooking for 20 minutes or more will render the leaves safe to eat.  The stock or liquid the leaves are cooked in can also safely be consumed as the cyanide is volatilized as hydrogen cyanide (HCN) during cooking.  Cooking in aluminum cookware can result in a toxic broth, causing diarrhea.

References

External links
 Chaya - NUS Community, Bioversity International

Category:Trees of Guatemala
aconitifolius
Category:Plants described in 1923
Category:Flora of the Yucatán Peninsula
Category:Tropical agriculture
Category:Leaf vegetables
Category:Mexican cuisine


Four Piano Blues

Four Piano Blues is a collection of pieces for piano by American composer Aaron Copland. The collection was composed between 1926 and 1948.

Composition

The set of short blues for piano is the assembling of two pieces from the '20s and two more from the '40s. The first two pieces were written in 1926, as separate movements of an incomplete suite for piano, entitled Five Sentimental Melodies. This work was largely drawn from other melodies extracted from Copland's Piano Concerto. One of the pieces was initially intended to become a part of another set of two blues. However, Copland published the first blues (entitled Blues No. 1) and left Blues No. 2 unpublished. The other piece was originally entitled Hommage à Milhaud, which he revised again in 1934, and was the basis for the Dove Dance in Copland's Hear Ye! Hear Ye!.

The other two pieces were composed in 1947 and 1948, and were, in turn, the basis for some melodies of Copland's Clarinet Concerto, which was completed in 1948. Upon finishing the concerto, Copland decided to revise all four previously unpublished sketches and published them as Four Piano Blues. The order of the movements was as follows: the 1947 piece, the Hommage à Milhaud, the 1948 piece and, finally, the Blues No. 2. The set as a whole was published by Boosey & Hawkes in 1949. Even though all blues have a title (drawn from their tempo markings) and a subtitle (drawn from their dedicatees), the set was never premiered, as some pieces may have served as encores and short intermezzos.

Structure

The four-movement set takes around 8 to 9 minutes to perform and is scored for solo piano. The movement titles are extracted from their tempo markings. The complete list of pieces is as follows:

Freely Poetic
Soft and Languid
Muted and Sensuous
With Bounce

Each different piece has its own dedicatee. The first piece is dedicated to Leo Smit, who was a renowned pianist and photographer specially known for championing Copland's music; the second one, to Andor Foldes, a pianist who was very close to Béla Bartók's music; the third one, to William Kapell, a pianist who was killed in a plane accident a few years after the publication of the set; and, finally, the fourth one, to John Kirkpatrick..

See also
 List of compositions by Aaron Copland

References

External links
 Full handwritten sketches by Copland hosted at the Library of Congress

Category:Compositions by Aaron Copland
Category:1948 compositions
Category:Compositions for solo piano
Category:Contemporary classical compositions


Dinapate wrightii

Dinapate wrightii, also known as the giant palm borer, is the largest species in the beetle family Bostrichidae, and sometimes a pest of palm trees, especially Washingtonia filifera and Washingtonia robusta. It is native to extreme southern California and possibly Baja California, and only commonly recorded from the Coachella Valley.

Life History
Female beetles locate fan palms and tunnel into the crowns, and are followed into the tunnels by males. Mating occurs in the tunnels, which can be up to ten inches deep. Mated females deposit eggs in the tunnels, and they hatch within several days. The grubs feed for one to several years, tunneling as they feed, before maturing and metamorphosing into adult beetles.  Individual adults live about two weeks, and do not feed as adults; though they are quite large (approx. 5 cm, or 2 in.), all the nutrition needed is acquired by the larvae.

Category:Bostrichidae
Category:Beetles described in 1886
Category:Taxa named by George Henry Horn


Gun laws in West Virginia

Gun laws in West Virginia regulate the sale, possession, and use of firearms and ammunition in the U.S. state of West Virginia.

Summary table

The Constitution of West Virginia protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. West Virginia preempts local regulation of several aspects of firearms, though local regulations which were in effect prior to 1999 were grandfathered. Further, State agencies and institutions are not precluded from enacting laws which regulate firearms. Charleston, Dunbar, and South Charleston are known to have grandfathered local ordinances which prohibit weapons on city property and in city buildings. The City of Martinsburg is known to have a local ordinance that was passed after 1999, which prohibits weapons in city buildings, that is not grandfathered.

There are no firearms known to be prohibited by State law. Prohibited places include correctional facilities, primary and secondary school property (excluding firearms within a vehicle); buses; and events, courthouses, the State Capitol Complex and grounds, private property where posted, certain areas in Charleston, Dunbar, and South Charleston. There are age restrictions on the possession of firearms and some people are prohibited from possessing firearms due to certain criminal convictions or naturalization status. Private sales of firearms, including handguns, are legal and do not require the seller to perform a background check; however, it is unlawful to sell a firearm to a prohibited person.

Open carry of a handgun without a permit is legal in West Virginia at age 18, withstanding other applicable laws.  No permit is necessary for concealed carry of a handgun for any individual over the age of 21 who is legally allowed to own a handgun.  A permit is required for individuals 18-20 to carry a concealed handgun assuming they are otherwise legally allowed to own the firearm.

West Virginia enacted the castle doctrine on April 10, 2008.

References

Category:West Virginia law
West Virginia


Fredrick Monroe Taylor

Fredrick Monroe Taylor (February 25, 1901 – February 16, 1988) was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Idaho.

Education and career
Born in Nampa, Idaho, Taylor graduated from Nampa High School and attended the University of Idaho in Moscow. He was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity and received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Idaho College of Law in 1926. Taylor was in private practice in Valley County, Idaho from 1927 to 1938, and a prosecuting attorney of Valley County from 1927 to 1933, and from 1935 to 1938, returning to private practice in Boise, Idaho from 1938 to 1954. He was a member of the Idaho Senate from 1943 to 1951, and was city attorney of Boise from 1944 to 1946. Taylor was the campaign manager for Herman Welker in 1950, who was elected to the United States Senate.

Federal judicial service
Taylor was nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 9, 1954, to the United States District Court for the District of Idaho, to a new seat authorized by 68 Stat. 8. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 20, 1954, and received his commission the same day. He served as Chief Judge from 1964 to 1971. He was a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1969 to 1972. He assumed senior status on December 15, 1971. His service terminated on February 16, 1988, due to his death.

Notable case
During his tenure, Taylor was in the majority for the 1975 case Warren Jones Co. v. Commissioner.

References

External links

Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Idaho
Category:United States district court judges appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower
Category:20th-century American judges
Category:Idaho state senators
Category:University of Idaho alumni
Category:Idaho lawyers
Category:Idaho Republicans
Category:American prosecutors
Category:20th-century American lawyers
Category:People from Nampa, Idaho
Category:1901 births
Category:1988 deaths
Category:People from Valley County, Idaho
Category:University of Idaho College of Law alumni
Category:20th-century American politicians


Larry King (musician)

Larry King is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, and band leader based in Chicago, Illinois. In the late 1980s King was the founder and lead singer of the Los Angeles glam rock band Human Factor, and after moving back to Chicago, founded the Larry King Orchestra in 1997. He founded MFO Entertainment Group a year later, and remains as president of the company. In 1999 King and John Blasucci founded Soleil Moon, an adult contemporary band that has since had two studio releases, and involved session musicians such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Kenny Aronoff, Todd Sucherman of Styx, Michael Thompson, Leland Sklar, Vinnie Colaiuta In 2012 Larry collaborated with Michael Thompson and became the new lead singer for the Michael Thompson Band under the Frontiers Records Label based in Italy. Frontiers also picked up the 'Soleil Moon – On The Way To Everything' record for international release in 2013.

Early life and education
Larry King was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He was involved in the entertainment industry from a young age, and began working as a child actor in television and radio commercials by age seven. Before the age of 13 he had been featured in 52 commercials, and began singing and writing music at age 12. As a teen he would sing jingles for television and radio by day and at night he'd work with local bands alongside his brother, who was a drummer. He was also active in musical theater, including a stint as Bobby Kennedy in One Shining Moment at Chicago's Drury Lane Theater.

After high school King attended the University of Miami and later the University of Wisconsin–Madison. While attending school he began focusing more on music, and wrote over 100 jingles for local and national advertising campaigns.

Music career
Upon graduating in the late 1980s King moved to Los Angeles, where he formed the band "Human Factor". The group was signed to Caliber Records, an independent record label associated with Warner Brothers Distribution. King wrote music, played keys and performed vocals for the band, which he has described as having a glam rock style with epic pop ballads.

In the early 1990s the Human Factor disbanded and King moved back to Chicago and secured a role as a staff writer and musician for River North Records. He became a session singer and wrote the rock opera Sins of the Father, staged by the Winston-Salem Repertory Company in North Carolina.

Larry King Orchestra
In 1997 King conceptualized and formed The Larry King Orchestra, a society band in Chicago. The original incarnation featured King on vocals and eleven musicians. The band, now a 22-piece, has developed a reputation as a high-end private event entertainment power house. LKO has been featured in CS Brides multiple times and many other trade publications. On New Years 2010 the band performed at the wedding of NASCAR driver Kyle Busch and Samantha Sarcinella in Chicago and was featured in People Magazine and on the Style Network.

MFO Entertainment Group
In 1998, Larry created MFO Entertainment Group, under which Soleil Moon achieved great success competing with artists such as Celine Dion, Michael Bolton and Toni Braxton on the Adult Contemporary radio charts. The band featured prominently in the Top 40 with their last 3 releases and two of their songs, Willingly and Never Say Goodbye, were featured on the Adult Contemporary Top 2000 Tracks.

MFO Entertainment Group provides the world with a multitude of top notch entertainment options. From Weddings, Corporate Parties, Classical String Ensembles, Electronic Dance Parties, Jazz Ensembles and Opera with the Larry King Orchestra, Ron Bedal Orchestra, and Chris Forte Band. MFO also books headliners as well as manages and provides backline for private functions around the world.

Soleil Moon
In 1994 King met and befriended jazz musician John Blasucci. They quickly began making music together, eventually forming the band Soleil Moon. On March 2, 1999 they released their first single "World's Apart" under MFO Entertainment, with King providing vocals. They supported the release with a ten-city promotional tour, and "World's Apart" became a Top 40 Adult Contemporary hit.

Worlds Apart (2000)
After the single's success King and Blasucci began writing a full-length album. Among the studio musicians enlisted to participate in the project were the London Symphony Orchestra, session guitarist Michael Thompson, Paul Jackson, Jr., saxophonist Warren Hill, percussionist Lenny Castro, drummer Kenny Aronoff of John Cougar Mellencamp, and Todd Sucherman of Styx. Many others were also participants in the Larry King Orchestra. Worlds Apart was released on March 7, 2000 under King's label MFO Records. Various tracks from the album including "Willingly" and "Never Say Goodbye" charted on the Adult Contemporary Top 100, peaking at #17 and #22 respectively.

On The Way to Everything (2011–2012)
On February 1, 2011, Soleil Moon released the studio album On The Way To Everything through MFO Entertainment Group. The songs were recorded periodically since 2001, whenever King and other members found time between other projects. A review stated the album blended "bittersweet, melodic ballads, burning hard-rock riffs, percolating R&B grooves, and anything else that happens to suit their fancy, Soleil Moon has made an album about life's journey, and the conceptual arc is so striking that there's already been an offer to turn it into a musical." In 2012 "On The Way To Everything" was re-released through Frontiers Records, an Italian record label founded in 1996 by Serafino Perugino and is based in Naples, Italy. The Frontiers' release of "On The Way To Everything" has all of the original songs plus a few favorites from the "World's Apart" record.

Michael Thompson Band – Future Past
Released 2012: Frontiers Records
Michael Thompson – Guitars & Keys
Larry King – Vocals
Khari Parker – Drums
Alan Berliant – Bass

Guest Performers
John Blasucci – Keys Official Website
Dave Hiltebrand – Bass – When You Love Someone, Beautiful Mystery", Future Past, Here I Am & Break Me DownMatt Walker – Drums – High TimesSahara Thompson – Background Vocals – Can't MissJ.P. Delaire – Keys, Background Vocals, Sax – Can't MissProduced By  Larry King & Michael Thompson

Discography

Albums
1997: The Chalice2000: Worlds Apart2008: Verbal Crush – Antoinette AllMusic.com
2010: A Circle of Firsts – E. Faye Butler
2011: Never Forget – Emily
2011: On The Way to Everything2012: On The Way to Everything (Frontiers Records Release)
2012: Future Past – Michael Thompson Band
2014: Bring Me Home – Kanisha K
2014: The Closer I Get To You (Classic Love Songs) – Mark Smith & Opal Staples

ProductionSoleil MoonMichael Thompson BandAntoinetteE. Faye ButlerKanisha KEmilyEmma RoseMolly HuntEmily TumenJennifer JasonsMark Smith & Opal StaplesAleem KhalidRock operas
1995: Sins of the Fathers''

References

External links
MFO Entertainment Group
Sound Bank Recording Studio
Larry King Orchestra
Soleil Moon Band

Category:Miami University alumni
Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
Category:American singer-songwriters
Category:American record producers
Category:Living people
Category:1966 births


Remains of the 13 Levels

The Remains of the 13 Levels () is a former smelter plant in Lianxin Village, Ruifang District, New Taipei, Taiwan. It is also called the Potala Palace of Mountain Mines.

History
The building used to be a copper and gold smelter plant called the Shuinandong Smelter that used to process refined ore from Jinguashi and Jiufen. After the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the Republic of China in 1945, the refinery was taken over by the state-run company. In 1973, the copper and gold minerals from the area had been exhausted and subsequently the activity and company were shut down.

Architecture
The building has three long exhausts pipes running up the hillside to release toxic exhaust gasses. At a length of 2 km and a diameter of 2 meters, it is the world's longest piper.

Popular culture
The building has been featured in several music videos.

See also
 Mining in Taiwan

References

Category:Buildings and structures in New Taipei
Category:Mining in Taiwan
Category:Tourist attractions in New Taipei


Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board

The Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (STSB, ; ; ) is a government agency of Switzerland.
It investigates civil aviation accidents and incidents and cableway, roadway, waterway, and railway accidents. The head office is in Bern.
The aviation division is based at Payerne Airport in Payerne and the rail/navigation division is based in Bern.

History

The Swiss Accident Investigation Board (; ; ) was established on 1 November 2011 when the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau and the Investigation Bureau for Railway, Funicular and Boat Accidents merged. On 1 February 2015 the name was changed to its current name.

Notes and references

External links
 Official website

Category:2011 establishments in Switzerland
Category:Government of Switzerland
Category:Organizations established in 2011
Category:Rail accident investigators


List of sting jet cyclones

This is a list of documented and proposed Sting jet occurrences.

List of sting jet cyclones

List of proposed sting jets

References

Category:Types of cyclone


Sirba Abbay

Sirba Abbay is one of the 20 woredas in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Kamashi Zone, Sirba Abbay is bordered by the Oromia Region on the southwest, by Asosa Zone and Sudan on the west, by the Abay River on the north and east which separates it from the Metekel Zone, and by Agalo Mite on the southeast.

The book Mystery of the Nile narrates how one of the authors, Pasquale Scaturro, had been detained at the administrative center of Sirba Abay by the woreda administrator, Faisa Ayana, while travelling down the Abay in 2004. Near the administrative center there was a missionary station run by a Norwegian church.

This woreda is located on the southern slopes of the Abay River, with elevations ranging from approximately 2500 meters above sea level in the south to just under 1000 meters at the bottom of the Abay valley.

Demographics
The 2007 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 17,996, of whom 9,192 were men and 8,804 were women; 2,725 or 15.14% of its population were urban dwellers. The majority of the inhabitants said they were Protestant, with 48.62% of the population reporting they observed this belief, while 29.7% of the population were Moslem, 14.51% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, 5.54% practiced traditional beliefs, and 1.27% were Catholic.

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 12,230, of whom 6,341 are men and 5,889 are women. With an estimated area of 1,308.44 square kilometers, Sirba Abbay has a population density of 9.3 people per square kilometer which is greater than the Zone average of 7.61. Information is lacking on the towns of this woreda.

The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 9,221 in 1,818 households, of whom 4,802 were men and 4,419 were women; no urban inhabitants were reported for this woreda. The two largest ethnic groups reported in Sirba Abbay were the Gumuz (75.6%), and the Oromo (22.7%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.3% of the population. Gumuz is spoken as a first language by 68%, and Oromiffa by 29.6%; the remaining 0.2% spoke all other primary languages reported. Most of the inhabitants were Protestant, with 43.6% of the population reporting they professed that religion, while 31.7% were Muslim, and 25.4% observed Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity. Concerning education, 8.49% of the population were considered literate, which is less than the Zone average of 11.36%; 7.52% of children aged 7-12 were in primary school, a negligible number of the children aged 13-14 were in junior secondary school, and none of the inhabitants aged 15-18 in senior secondary school. Concerning sanitary conditions, 0.6% of all houses had access to safe drinking water, and 0.8% had toilet facilities at the time of the census.

Notes

Category:Benishangul-Gumuz Region
Category:Districts of Ethiopia


Robert Gray Elementary School

Robert Gray Elementary School can refer to:
 Robert R. Gray Elementary School - Prince George's County, Maryland - Prince George's County Public Schools
 Robert Gray Elementary School - Aberdeen, Washington - Aberdeen School District
 Robert Gray Elementary School - Longview, Washington - Longview Public Schools


Trần Triệt

Trần Triệt (Ancient Vietnamese : 陳婆列 / Trần B'liệt, Modern Vietnamese : 陳徹 / Trần Triệt ; 1232 – ?), hereditary title Hoài Đức vương (懷德王), was the prince of Trần dynasty.

Biography
Trần Triệt was born in 1232 at Triệt village, Tây Chân district, Thiên Trường local government (now Nam Chân rural commune, Nam Trực district, Nam Định province). He is illegitimate child of retired emperor Trần Thái Tổ and wench Tần.

When Triệt grew up, he became a wrestler. By a wrestle, the retired emperor has seen his cloth on Triệt's head which Trần Thái Tổ gifted lady Tần ago. Suddenly he embraced Triệt and cried. Then the retired emperor recognized Triệt as his prince.

However, Triệt refused living in the capital Thăng Long to return his countryside. He wanted to serve his old mother. So retired emperor Trần Thái Tổ consecrated him in formal title Hoài Đức vương and distributed him many cultivated lands like another princes.

Trần Triệt has a son who was marquis Trần Quốc Toản.

See also
 Trần Thái Tổ
 Trần Quốc Toản

References

Category:1232 births
Category:People from Nam Định Province
Category:Trần dynasty princes
Category:Year of death unknown


Thirty Million Letters

Thirty Million Letters is a 1963 short documentary film directed by James Ritchie and made by British Transport Films. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

References

External links

Category:1963 films
Category:1960s documentary films
Category:1960s short films
Category:British films
Category:English-language films
Category:British documentary films
Category:British short films
Category:British Transport Films


Carmel College (St Helens)

Carmel College is a Roman Catholic mixed sixth form college located in St Helens, Merseyside, England and welcomes students of all faiths.

History
The college opened in 1987 to just over four hundred students and currently has approximately 2,200 students, the majority of whom study AS and A2 courses with the remainder following Level 1 and 2 courses or post-18 courses such as the foundation art diploma or university degrees.

In 1999, Carmel College became the first Associate College of the University of Liverpool offering a range of 4 year Science and Engineering degree courses with the first year of study at Carmel College. In 2006, the college started a new programme offering students a Foundation Year Zero that leads directly on to Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Sciences at the University of Liverpool. This route is open to mature students who for a variety of reasons are missing the required A-Levels generally needed for the aforementioned degrees. This route has proven to be highly successful and has exceeded all expectations. In 1999, Carmel also became one of the first of four sixth form colleges in England to be designated a Beacon College.  Over the past 3 years, the quality of teaching at Carmel has been consistently in the top 10% of 2, 580 schools and colleges nationally (ALPS: A Level Performance System) The college has 100% Pass Rate in 42 courses, with 55% of grades at A*-B  and 80% of grades at A*-C and also has 100% BTEC Pass Rate and 91% of BTEC grades at Distinction*/Distinction. Opportunities for student development include High Achievers and Enrichment Programmes such as Duke of Edinburgh, MedSoc, work experience, learning languages such as Mandarin and other notable societies. In its latest Ofsted inspection, Carmel was judged to be "outstanding in all aspects of its provision." Also noted as being the 9th best in the UK.

During 30 April–3 May 2019, Ofsted inspected Carmel College and it achieved an overall rating of Outstanding, a rating it has held since 2002.

Previous head teacher, Rob Peacock retired in 2016 after 29 years association with the college.  He started out as a science teacher at Mount Carmel High School, an all-girls school which existed on the site before the sixth-form. The current Principal of Carmel College is Mike Hill.

Alumni

Johnny Vegas, comedian and actor
Paul Wellens, Great Britain and England international rugby league footballer playing for St Helens RLFC
Jacqui Abbott, female vocalist from The Beautiful South
Chad Rigby

References

External links
Carmel College Official Website
Carmel College Connect Student Intranet

Category:Sixth form colleges in Merseyside
Category:Educational institutions established in 1987
Category:Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Liverpool
E
Category:Education in St Helens, Merseyside
Category:1987 establishments in England


Chabname Zariab

Chabname Zariab (born 1982, in Kabul), is an Afghan writer, screenwriter and director based in Paris, France.

Biography
Chabname was born in Kabul in 1982 and moved to Paris, France with her parents in 1991. She studied law and cinema and also learnt Persian. She was specialized in burglary damage for an Insurance Company.

Professional career

Publication

The Afghan Pianist
Chabname's first novel, "The Afghan Pianist" was originally a script written for the cinema. In this novel, Chabname tells about the childhood of a little girl, who moved from Kabul to France and grows up to return to Afghanistan to look for the boy she loved. The novel was published by Editions de l'Aube and Chabname is currently writing the continuation of the novel, which is supposed to take place between London and Paris. The novel was released on 6 January 2011. Chabname Zairab was voted by 1,241 high school students as the winner of the 2012 Mediterranean High School Award, which was organised by the Languedoc-Roussillon Region, in partnership with the Mediterranean Center for Literature and Languedoc-Roussillon Books and Reading, the Rectorate and the Regional Center for Pedagogical Documentation of the Montpellier Academy.

Filmography

To the Sound of Bells (Au bruit des bells) (2015)
This was a short film by Chabname, set in Tunisia and was produced in 2015 by The Ball Films, and was produced abroad by Godolphin Films SA and had the support of CNC and ARTE. It tells the story of Saman, a young Afghan prostitute (Bacha bazi), forced to dress up as a girl and dance publicly in front of men. He is forced to teach his successor Bijane (another boy), despite being envious of the boy, who could rob Saman of the feelings and the protection of his master. The Royal Society of Arts projected this film on 29 March 2010 and then on French channel Arte. This film won the Best Fiction Prize at the 2016 edition of the International Short Film Festival of Clermont-Ferrand.

The Camel Boy (2018)
This short film by Chabname, produced by Bien ou Bien Productions, tells the story of a little boy in a desert, who forcefully gets drawn into the business of camel racing; whose hope to unite with his mother again gives him the strength to find a place in the hostile environment.

References

External links

Category:Afghan women writers
Category:Afghan women film directors
Category:1982 births
Category:Living people


Chris Patrick-Simpson

Chris Patrick-Simpson (born 18 January 1979) is a Northern Irish actor. Patrick-Simpson is best known for his role as Brendan in the film The Magdalene Sisters. He has also appeared in the film The Boxer, the TV Drama The Clinic and Fifty Dead Men Walking. He is married and currently in Canada.

Career
In 2018, he guest-starred in an episode of The CW series Supernatural.

Filmography

External links

References

Category:1979 births
Category:Living people
Category:Male actors from Edmonton
Category:Male film actors from Northern Ireland
Category:Male television actors from Northern Ireland


Outbound (film)

Outbound () is a 2010 Romanian action film directed by Bogdan George Apetri.

Plot
A drama about a woman who seems able to overcome everything for freedom, except for her past mistakes.

Cast
 Ana Ularu - Matilda
 Andi Vasluianu - Andrei
 Ingrid Bisu - Selena
 Ioana Flora - Lavinia
 Mimi Brănescu - Paul
 Timotei Duma - Toma
  - Virgil

References

External links

Category:2010s action films
Category:Romanian films