title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: The Vorarlberg Greens were the first to ever win mandates in an Austrian state assembly election. Already in 1984 they were able to win 13% of the votes in the Vorarlberg state assembly elections, which for that time was an absolute sensation. The charismatic alpine farmer Kaspanaze Simma from Bregenzerwald was the leading candidate, it was mainly due to his efforts why the party was so instantly successful. Because of their strength, the Greens were allowed to form their own parliamentary fraction ("Klub"), which caused some logistical problems as the newly constructed "Landtag" building in 1981 only provided space for the traditional three parties (ÖVP, SPÖ, FPÖ), not four. Since the traditional organic farming sector is important in the western Austrian regions, the Greens were able to gain support.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: In the following years the Greens were able to consolidate their position by gaining seats on the communal and municipal level. Occasionally they lost their official club status in the state assembly, when they fared poorly from 1999 to 2004. In 2006 the speaker of the Vorarlberg Greens was Johannes Rauch.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: The Viennese Greens started nominating candidates in the Vienna "Gemeinderat" (municipal council or state assembly) in 1983 and were able to enter in 1991. Over the years they have been able to continually gather support. A lot of support has been coming from former Liberal Forum voters, after the liberals failed to enter any legislature. The traditional strongholds in Vienna for the Greens are the districts of Neubau (2005: 43.26%), Josefstadt (32.26%), Alsergrund (29.43%), Mariahilf (28.97%) and Wieden (25.14%).


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: In the 2001 "Gemeinderat" elections, the Greens were able to win the majority of a district for the first time. In the district of Neubau they won 32.55% and were able to nominate the "Bezirksvorsteher" (mayor of the district). The results of 2001 also allowed the Viennese Greens to nominate Stefan Schennach as federal councilor to the Upper House of Parliament ("Bundesrat"). But despite the strong gains, the Greens were not able to enter into a coalition government with the SPÖ, since the social-democrats were able to win an absolute majority.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: The 2004 European Parliament election were the best for the Viennese Greens so far. From the total tally, they received 22%, which put them ahead of the Christian-democratic ÖVP and placed them on second position behind the SPÖ (37.7%). In Neubau the Greens received 41%. They were also able to win first place in the districts of Wieden, Mariahilf, Josefstadt and Alsergrund.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: In the 2005 "Gemeinderat" elections, the Greens were able to win votes, but missed their target of becoming the second most powerful party and ended up on fourth place, right behind the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ). Because of the different weighing by districts, the Greens received 14 mandates, one more than the FPÖ. They were also able to place another city-councillor. In the districts, the party was able to consolidate their holding on Neubau, as well as win the majority of votes in Josefstadt. With that, the Greens were able to nominate a second Green district-mayor. The second place was won in the districts of Leopoldstadt, Margareten, Mariahilf, Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus and Alsergrund.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: The Green delegates to the Viennese "Gemeinderat" or "Landtag" as of 2006 were: Maria Vassilakou (club-chairlady ["Klubobfrau"]), Waltraut Antonov, Heidi Cammerlander, Christoph Chorherr, Sabine Gretner, Susanne Jerusalem, Alev Korun, Rüdiger Maresch, Martin Margulies, Sigrid Pilz, Ingrid Puller, Marie Ringler, Marco Schreuder, Claudia Sommer-Smolik. The two city-councillors are David Ellensohn and Monika Vana.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: The 2010 results meant that the SPÖ was unable to hold the majority of seats in the Vienna city council and therefore had to rule together with the Greens performing for the first time as coalition partner. The current vice-governor/vice-mayor of Vienna as of 26 June 2019 is .


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: In 2004 the Greens had about 3,000 members nationwide, although at present there are no uniform regulations for membership. Apart from the members, the Greens rely on a large number of volunteers. The party used to function on the principles of grassroots democracy ("Basisdemokratie") and rotation principle ("Rotationsprinzip"), but this was stopped in the course of the time. The last basic-democratic element is the "Urabstimmung", which is a vote on any issue that can be initiated with the petition of at least 100 members. As of 2003 however, no such vote has taken place.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: The highest body is the "Federal Congress" (Bundeskongress), which convenes at least once a year. All federal state organisations send delegates, also the immigrants-organisation is allowed to send delegates as "the tenth Austrian state". The Federal Congress decides the electoral lists for the National Council elections and elections to the European parliament. The congress also elects the federal spokesperson ("BundesprecherIn"). The congress also decides the party program and sets the party guidelines.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: In the last few years, the "federal executive" (Bundesvorstand) has developed into the actual decision-making centre. It meets at least once a week, mostly on Tuesdays, and determines the guidelines of daily politics. The federal executive also decides on party finances.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: The "extended federal executive" (Erweiterter Bundesvorstand) consists of a smaller number of delegates from each state and meets at least once a month. It takes care of the implementation of the party-guidelines, which were set by the party congress. It also chooses the representatives of the party spokesperson.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: The highest office in the party is that of the "federal spokesperson" (Bundessprecher). The party's federal spokesman is Werner Kogler.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: The federal state organisations ("Landesorganisationen") are organised similarly: There are federal state meetings, which sometimes convene as a members meeting or a delegates meeting. Similar to the federal executive, there are federal state executives ("Landesvorstände"). The party charter also allows for each federal state group to hold a vote on basic issues as well that affect the whole party.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: Independently in the National Council there also exists a Green National Council Club (faction), which can independently specify its guidelines. In recent years however an increasing fusion of the work between party and its club was noticeable. Michaela Sburny, successor of Franz Raft since June 2004 as the Greens' federal chairperson, was allowed to keep her National Council mandate. This means she is allowed to hold two offices at the same time, something that was frowned upon by the Greens previously.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: There are different Green or Greenish organisations within the party and associated with it. These include:


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: The education and training of new Green politicians is done by the "Grüne Bildungswerkstatt", which is an independent voluntary association. The "Grüne Bildungswerkstatt" is financed by the republic, as regulated by Austrian law for the equal treatment of all parliamentary parties.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: In the 2016 Austrian presidential election, Alexander Van der Bellen won the election with 50.35% of the votes and defeated Norbert Hofer the Freedom Party of Austria politician who received 49.65% of the vote. Van der Bellen became the first president from the Greens. On 1 July, the Constitutional Court overturned the result of the election and ordered a re-run because of irregularities during the counting process. On 4 December 2016 Van der Bellen won the re-run of the second round with 53.79% of the votes to Hofer's 46.21%.


title: The Greens – The Green Alternative

text: Among the most notable founding members and mentors are or were Professor Alexander Tollmann, the painter Friedensreich Hundertwasser, actor Herbert Fux, the mayor of Steyregg Josef Buchner (the first Green mayor in Austria – in 1987 excluded from the Green parliamentary club), Freda Meissner-Blau and Günther Nenning, with Nobel prize laureate Konrad Lorenz supporting the 1984 protests at Hainburg.


title: François Olivennes

text: François Olivennes (born 4 January 1959) is a French obstetrician and gynaecologist specialising in in vitro fertilization (IVF) and reproductive medicine.


title: François Olivennes

text: François Olivennes grew up in Paris. He is the son of psychiatrist and child psychoanalyst Maria Landau, and psychiatrist turned poet . He is the eldest of three. Both of his younger brothers, and Frédéric Olivennes work in the French media industry.


title: François Olivennes

text: François Olivennes graduated from French Medical school in 1985. In 1992, he became medical director in the public hospital IVF units of the Béclère Hospital in Clamart until 2002 when he left for the Cochin hospital in Paris. He has a PhD in Biology of Reproduction and was appointed as Professor in Biology of Reproduction in 2000. He has been an invited speaker in more than 150 international meetings.


title: François Olivennes

text: In 2006, he left the public hospital system and opened a private practice in Paris' 17th arrondissement. He is also the general team co-ordinator at the IVF centre Eylau la Muette.


title: François Olivennes

text: Olivennes is the author or co-author of more than 150 scientific papers published in peer-reviewed journals. He was a member of the executive committee of ESHRE and has been on the editorial board of "Fertility and Sterility" and "RBM" online.


title: François Olivennes

text: Olivennes married English actress Kristin Scott Thomas in 1987 and had three children, Hannah (born 1988), Joseph (born 1991), and George (born 2000). The couple divorced in 2005. He currently lives in Paris.


title: François Olivennes

text: In 2011, French President Nicolas Sarkozy personally awarded him the Légion d'Honneur for his work in the medical field.


title: Sukkah

text: A or succah (; ; plural, "" or "sukkos" or "sukkoth", often translated as "booth") is a temporary hut constructed for use during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. It is topped with branches and often well decorated with autumnal, harvest or Judaic themes. The book of Vayikra (Leviticus) describes it as a symbolic wilderness shelter, commemorating the time God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness they inhabited after they were freed from slavery in Egypt. It is common for Jews to eat, sleep and otherwise spend time in the "sukkah". In Judaism, Sukkot is considered a joyous occasion and is referred to in Hebrew as "Z'man Simchateinu" (the time of our rejoicing), and the sukkah itself symbolizes the fragility and transience of life and one's dependence on God.


title: Sukkah

text: The halakha requires eating and traditionally sleeping in the sukkah. However, Jews are not expected to remain in the sukkah if they would be very uncomfortable there. For this reason, Jews living at northern latitudes will generally not sleep in the sukkah due to the low temperatures of autumn nights. Some Jews in these locales will spend some time in the sukkah eating and relaxing but go indoors to sleep.


title: Sukkah

text: When rain falls on the sukkah, one is not required to stay inside. The Mishna in Sukkah 28b compares rain falling on a sukkah to a master who receives a drink from his servant and then throws it back in the servant's face. The analogy is that through the rainfall, God is showing displeasure with the performance of the mitzvah by not allowing the Jews to fulfill their obligation of sitting in the sukkah.


title: Sukkah

text: In Israel and other temperate climates (such as Florida, Australia, Texas, and Southern California), observant Jews will often conduct all their eating, studying, and sleeping activities in the sukkah. Many Jews will not eat or drink anything outside the sukkah. Others will drink or eat fruit outside the sukkah.


title: Sukkah

text: In Israel, it is common practice for hotels, restaurants, snack shops, and outdoor tourist attractions (such as zoos) to provide a Kosher sukkah for customers to dine in.


title: Sukkah

text: All Lubavitcher Hasidim and some Belzer Hasidim (especially outside Israel) do not sleep in the sukkah due to its intrinsic holiness. Though the halakha doesn't obligate one to eat or sleep in the "sukkah" if it is raining, Lubavitcher Hasidim will still eat there.


title: Sukkah

text: A popular social activity which involves people visiting each other's Sukkot has become known as "Sukkah hopping". Food is laid out so that participants will be able to recite the various required blessings.


title: Sukkah

text: According to "halakha", a sukkah is a structure consisting of a roof made of organic material which has been disconnected from the ground for the purpose of the commandment (the s'chach). A sukkah must have three walls. It should be at least three feet tall, and be positioned so that all or part of its roof is open to the sky. (Only the part which is under the sky is kosher.) Most authorities require its floor area to be at least 16 square cubits.


title: Sukkah

text: In practice, the walls of a sukkah can be constructed from any material that will withstand a normally anticipated terrestrial wind. If the material is not rigid and therefore will sway in the wind, the sukkah is not kosher (Talmud, Sukkah 24b). Accordingly, there is a discussion among contemporary halakhic authorities whether canvas may be used for walls: Some, such as R. Ovadiah Yosef (Shu"t Yechaveh Da'at 3:46) hold that even the slightest degree of swaying in the wind will disqualify the sukkah walls, and thus canvas cannot realistically be employed. Others, such as the Chazon Ish, permit motion to and fro of less than three handbreadths, thereby facilitating the usage of canvas walls which are anchored at all sides. The specific details of what constitutes a wall, the minimum and maximum wall heights, whether there can be spaces between the walls and the roof, and the exact material required for the "s'chach" (roofing) can be found in various exegetical texts.


title: Sukkah

text: A sukkah can be built on the ground or on an open porch or balcony. Indeed, many observant Jews who design their home's porch or deck will do so in a fashion that aligns with their sukkah-building needs. Portable sukkot made of a collapsible metal frame and cloth walls have recently become available for those who have little space, or for those who are traveling (in order to have a place to eat one's meals).


title: Sukkah

text: The roof covering, known as "s'chach" (סכך in Hebrew), must consist of something that grew from the earth but is currently disconnected from it. Palm leaves, bamboo sticks, pine branches, wood and the like can all be used for "s'chach", unless they were processed previously for a different use.


title: Sukkah

text: There must be enough "s'chach" that inside the sukkah there should be more shade than sun. However, there should ideally be sufficient gaps between the pieces of "s'chach" so that one can see the sun or stars.


title: Sukkah

text: Many people hang decorations such as streamers, shiny ornaments, and pictures from the interior walls and ceiling beams of a sukkah. Fresh, dried or plastic fruit—including etrogs and the seven species for which Israel is praised (wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates; see Deuteronomy 8:8)—are popular decorations.


title: Sukkah

text: Some families also line the interior walls with white sheeting, in order to recall the "Clouds of Glory" that surrounded the Jewish nation during their wanderings in the desert. The Chabad custom is not to decorate the sukkah, as the sukkah itself is considered to be an object of beauty.


title: Sukkah

text: According to Jewish law, one must recite the following blessing when using the sukkah. The blessing is normally recited after the blessing made on food, such as on bread or cake:


title: Sukkah

text: During the holiday, some Jews recite the "ushpizin" prayer which symbolizes the welcoming of seven "exalted guests" into the sukkah. These "ushpizin", or guests, represent the seven shepherds of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David. According to tradition, each night a different guest enters the sukkah followed by the other six. Each of the "ushpizin" parallels the spiritual focus of the day on which they visit.


title: Sukkah

text: In Chabad tradition, an additional set of corresponding "chasidic" ushpizin enter the sukkah, beginning with the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid of Mezeritch and continuing with the consecutive rebbes of the Chabad Hasidic dynasty.


title: Sukkah

text: In 2010, Bet Shira Congregation in Miami, Florida, erected a tent as a drive-through Sukkah, dubbed "McBet Shira Sukkah", in the parking lot of the synagogue.


title: Sukkah

text: Sukkah City was a public art and architecture competition planned for New York City's Union Square Park. The winning design was chosen as the City Sukkah, to stand, starting on September 22, 2010, for the requisite seven days of the harvest holiday. A committee of art critics and celebrated architects selected the 12 finalists from a field of entries.


title: Sukkah

text: Pedi-Sukkahs see the normally stationary build of a Sukkah placed on the back of a mobile vehicle, usually a 3-wheeled bicycle. The pedi-Sukkah was introduced by Levi Duchman in 2009 and has since spread to at least 15 states and 5 countries.


title: Sukkah

text: In Samaritanism, sukkahs are built indoors using fruit instead of wood. According to Samaritan historian Benyamim Tsedaka, Samaritans initially constructed sukkahs outside of their homes, as Jews do. However, during the Byzantine period, the Samaritans faced persecutions and began to construct them inside instead. This custom has remained ever since.


title: IEC 60309

text: IEC 60309 (formerly IEC 309 and CEE 17, also published by CENELEC as EN 60309) is a series of international standards from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) for "plugs, socket-outlets and couplers for industrial purposes". They are also used in the entertainment industry where they are commonly referred to as "CeeForm" connectors. The maximum voltage allowed by the standard is DC or AC; the maximum current, ; and the maximum frequency, . The ambient temperature range is to .


title: IEC 60309

text: There is a range of plugs and sockets of different sizes with differing numbers of pins, depending on the current supplied and number of phases accommodated. Connectors generally are specified by the voltage and current ratings, general configuration (number of pins), and rotational alignment ("keying"). The fittings are popular in open-air conditions, as the connectors have a minimum IP44 weather-proofing rating. They are also sometimes used in situations where their special capabilities (such as high current rating or three-phase facilities) are not needed, to discourage potential users from connecting domestic appliances to the sockets, as 'normal' domestic plugs will not fit.


title: IEC 60309

text: The cable connectors and sockets are keyed and colour-coded, according to the voltage range and frequency used; common colours for 50–60 Hz AC power are yellow for 100–130 volts, blue for 200–250 volts, and red for 380–480 volts. The blue fittings are often used for providing weather-proofed exterior sockets for outdoor apparatus. In camping situations, the large 32 A blue fittings provide power to static caravans, whilst the smaller blue 16 A version powers touring caravans and tents. The yellow fittings are used to provide transformer isolated 110 V supplies for UK construction sites to reduce the risk of electric shock, and this use spills over into uses of power tools outside of the construction site environment. The red three-phase versions are used for three-phase portable equipment.


title: IEC 60309

text: The standardization was originally done by the CEE (), which became IECEE in 1985 (International Commission on the Rules for the Approval of Electrical Equipment) and is now part of the IEC. (This is the same body that produced the "CEE 7" series of domestic AC plugs.) The industrial sockets were standardized in the 1960s in the CEE 17 series that was adopted in the UK as BS 4343, and which are now the IEC 60309 standard.


title: IEC 60309

text: The standard includes preferred current ratings and wire gauges for both International (deemed Series I) and North American (deemed Series II) applications.


title: IEC 60309

text: Series I preferred current ratings (in amps) are: 16, 32, 63, 125, 250, 400, 630 and 800, with wire gauges specified as mm.


title: IEC 60309

text: Series II preferred current ratings (in amps) are: 20, 30, 60, 100, 200, 300, 350, 500 and 600, with wire gauges specified as AWG and circular mil.


title: IEC 60309

text: IEC 60309-2 connectors come in IP44 (splash-proof), IP67 (waterproof) and IP66/IP67 (jet-proof/waterproof) variants. In all cases, the rating applies when detached or mated, but not during the mating process.


title: IEC 60309

text: The more common IP44 variant features a spring-loaded hinged cap over the socket. When a plug is inserted, the cap hooks over a lug on the plug and retains it in place. Fixed connectors are usually installed angled downward to prevent water entering.


title: IEC 60309

text: The IP67 and IP66/IP67 variants include a gasket and a twist-lock ring which seals the two connectors together.


title: IEC 60309

text: Plugs have cylindrical connector pins arranged in a circle, with the earth pin larger in diameter than the other pins (used for line/neutral). This is surrounded by a circular shroud on the male connector, which fits into a matching recess on the female connector.


title: IEC 60309

text: The standard defines connectors with 3, 4 and 5 pins, but a non-standard variant with 7 pins (6 in a circle plus one in the centre) is commercially available; this can be used for star-delta starting of three-phase motors.


title: IEC 60309

text: Connectors rated at 63 A and 125 A may optionally be equipped with a 6 mm pilot contact. This smaller pin in the centre of the connector is shorter than the others, designed to 'make' after all the other pins when connecting a plug and socket, and to 'break' first when disconnecting. It is used to switch off the load. This is useful as disconnecting under load will cause arcing which may cause damage to both the plug and socket, and risk injury to the user.


title: IEC 60309

text: The pilot pin is located in the centre of main contact circle on 4- and 5-pin connectors. On 3-pin (2P+E) connectors, it is located on the contact circle opposite the ground pin. The other connectors are located 105° on either side of the earth pin, rather than 120° as in the smaller variants, to make room for the pilot pin.


title: IEC 60309

text: The standard specifies an additional, different design for extra-low voltages up to 50 VAC and currents of 16 or 32 A. This resembles, but is larger than, the DC connector.


title: IEC 60309

text: On the male plug, three 6 mm pins each 20.5 mm long are equally spaced around a 15.4 mm diameter circle, starting at the 12-o'clock position. They are surrounded by a 23 mm long shroud with an inner diameter of 36 mm and an outer diameter of 42 mm. The pin opposite the major key is optional and may be omitted to make a 2-pin variant. The inner surface of the male plug shroud is flattened at the 6-o'clock position. One or two grooves are cut in the male plug shroud to mate with corresponding keys in the female socket. There is a required major groove at the 6-o'clock position and an optional minor groove at the 12-o'clock position.


title: IEC 60309

text: On the female socket, the major key is 4 mm deep at the 6-o'clock position. The width of the major key defines the current rating: 32 A plugs have a narrower 5 mm wide groove, while 16 A plugs have a wider 8 mm groove, and therefore 32 A plugs can be used with 16 A sockets but 16 A plugs cannot be used with 32 A sockets. The optional minor keyway is the same dimension for both current ratings: 4 mm wide at the 12-o'clock position, which mates with an additional 5 mm wide groove cut through the shroud.


title: IEC 60309

text: The colour of the housing indicates the type of power available. The primary distinction is by rated operating voltage, as follows:


title: IEC 60309

text: In addition to the colour code, connectors are keyed in one of 12 positions to ensure that incompatible utilization voltages cannot be connected. Different voltage and frequency combinations are distinguished by the location of the earth pin (or a plastic projection called the "minor keyway", for connectors with no earth pin), as shown in the following table. The earth pin can be in one of twelve locations, described by clock positions 1h through 12h, spaced at 30° intervals around the circle on which all the pins lie. The various positions are referenced from the view of the open side of a socket; the 6 o'clock (6h, 180°) position is at the same angle as the "major keyway", and is oriented downwards. The major keyway is a projection on the plug shroud which aligns with a notch on the socket. The earth pin has a larger diameter than the other pins, preventing the wrong type of plug being inserted in a socket.


title: IEC 60309

text: The extra-low voltage connector also supports keying, although in this case the angle is the position of the minor key, assuming the major key is at the 6h position (180°). Minor key positions 5h, 6h and 7h are unavailable, as they would overlap with the major key, but an unkeyed variant exists.


title: IEC 60309

text: The red 3P+N+E, 6h (180°) plug allows connecting to the widespread 400 V three phase power network. The most common ratings are 16 A, 32 A and 63 A, with 125 A less common. Construction sites in central Europe have most of their higher power cabling setup with this "three phase socket" type as the single phase to neutral voltage of 230 V is available for other devices. So called power splitters with this connector as a 3 phase inlet and 3 groups of single phase outputs with individual circuit breakers are generally used to achieve this, and allow load balancing across the phases, important on generator supplies. Similar configurations are used for outdoor exhibitions, festivals and large events.


title: IEC 60309

text: When looking at the mating face of the socket, the phase sequence should be L1, L2, L3, and then the neutral pin, proceeding clockwise from the earth pin. (Counter-clockwise on the corresponding plug.) Since some wiring may be reversed, which would make motors turn backward, many machines on construction sites feature a phase swap plug that allows the L2 and L3 phase pins to be swapped, thereby reversing the phase sequence.


title: IEC 60309

text: Three-phase electric motors do not need the neutral wire to function, so that there is also a red four pin variant (3 phases and earth) of the IEC 60309 plugs for three phase power. The two styles are not intermatable, to prevent a potential floating neutral.


title: IEC 60309

text: The blue P+N+E, 6h (180°) plug is a single phase connector. In particular the smallest (16 A) weather-resistant variant has become especially common in camping vehicles and sockets found in caravan parks and marinas throughout Europe. The so-called 'Caravan Mains Socket' has almost universally replaced a wide variety of other national 230 V domestic plugs, since it is pan-European and inherently safe to standard IP44. On larger temporary buildings, particularly with electric heating, the larger 32 A is more common.


title: IEC 60309

text: The pins are specified to be in the order earth, phase, and neutral, clockwise when looking at the socket. Not all installations distinguish the line (phase) and neutral conductors, and reverse wired sockets are not uncommon, so double pole breaking RCDs and main switches are recommended. When sockets are mounted looking downwards then the connector system is rated for outdoor use in all weather. This is also the standard connector for lighting equipment (up to 16 A) used in the British film and television industry (often as outlets from a power splitter with a higher rated 3 phase input).


title: IEC 60309

text: The yellow P+N+E, 4h (120°) plug is a single phase connector that is in widespread use on the British Isles for 110 V building site and fairground applications. A popular model of this socket type is marketed under the brand name MK Commando which leads some users to refer to all IEC 60309 sockets by the generic trademark "Commando sockets".


title: IEC 60309

text: The blue 3P+N+E, 9h (270°) plug is a three phase connector available in areas with both 115 V and 230 V supply systems (mains). It is prevalent in the outdoor event lighting and audio power industry as an outdoor-safe replacement for NEMA connectors. In the United States it is not usually used for three phase power but for the high leg delta wiring of split-phase electric power (unknown in Europe). This allows one to choose single-phase AC power at either 110–120 volts between phase and neutral or 220–240 volts between phase and phase. Since these two modes do not need three phases there is also a dark yellow-orange four-pin connector available designed for a single-phase 110–120 or 220–240 volt load.


title: IEC 60309

text: It is best to connect the high leg adjacent to the earth pin, so that it will not be misplaced by phase-swap plugs.


title: IEC 60309

text: Switched-socket outlets with interlocks are described in IEC 60309-4 standard and are commonly used to enhance electrical safety in industrial plants. The interlock cuts power to the socket when nothing's plugged in and locks any plug in the socket until the power is turned off.


title: Collin Chou

text: Collin Chou (born 11 August 1967), sometimes credited as Ngai Sing, is a Taiwanese actor and martial artist.


title: Collin Chou

text: Chou attended Pierce Community College in Los Angeles, United States. In addition to his native Mandarin, he also speaks English and Cantonese.


title: Collin Chou

text: Chou is best known in the United States for his portrayal of Seraph in the films "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions", and in the video game "Enter the Matrix". In Asian cinema, Chou has co-starred with Jet Li, Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung in martial arts films such as "Fearless" (2006), and "Flash Point" (2007). He is also known for playing the antagonist Shang Wei in "Hail the Judge" (1994), which starred Stephen Chow and "Jade Warlord" in "The Forbidden Kingdom" (2008), which starred Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Collin Chou starred in Alice Wu's "The Half of It" as Leah Lewis's father.


title: Dragutin Dimitrijević

text: Dragutin Dimitrijević (; 17 August 1876 – 24 June 1917), better known by his nickname Apis, was a Serbian army officer and chief of the military intelligence section of the general staff in 1913. He is best known as the most prominent member of the Black Hand, a secret military society that organised the 1903 overthrow of the Serbian government and the assassination of King Alexander I of Serbia and Queen Draga.


title: Dragutin Dimitrijević

text: Some scholars believe that he also initiated the plot to kill the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, which led to the July Crisis and the outbreak of World War I.


title: Dragutin Dimitrijević

text: In 1916, the government in exile of Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić, who considered Dimitrijević a threat, filed charges of high treason against the leadership of Unification or Death. Dimitrijević was tried at Salonika before a court martial arraigned by his opponents within the Serbian government. He was found guilty of conspiring to assassinate Prince Regent Alexander Karadjordjević and executed by firing squad, along with two other members, on 26 June 1917.


title: Dragutin Dimitrijević

text: Dragutin Dimitrijević was born in Belgrade, Principality of Serbia, on 19 August 1876 to an Aromanian family. His father and two brothers were often away working as tinsmiths and he grew up with his two older sisters in Niš. At the age of nine, his father died. After Dimitrijević's oldest sister married, the family moved back to Belgrade where, at the age of 16, Dimitrijević attended the Lyceum of the Principality of Serbia followed the Belgrade Military Academy as a cadet in 1892. Because of his strong physique and energy, his fellow cadets called him "Apis", a reference to the Egyptian bull-god by that name. Dimitrijević finished the academy's lower school as sixth in his class in 1896. Two years later, he enrolled in the higher school. A brilliant student, upon graduation, he was assigned to the General staff of the Serbian Army, an indication that his superiors held him in high regard.


title: Dragutin Dimitrijević

text: In 1901, Dimitrijević participated in the organisation of the first failed attempt to murder the unpopular and pro-Austrian King Alexander. On 11 June 1903 the plotters succeeded when Dimitrijević and a group of junior officers stormed the royal palace and killed King Alexander, his wife, Queen Draga and three others. During the attack, Dimitrijević was shot three times, and the bullets were never removed from his body.


title: Dragutin Dimitrijević

text: Following the popular regicide, the Serbian Parliament described Dimitrijević as "the saviour of the fatherland". After various commands and staff positions he taught tactics at the Belgrade Military Academy. Around 1906 Dimitrijević visited Russia and Germany, where he learned the language and studied the latest military programs. In 1911 he helped founding (Unification or Death), commonly known as the Black Hand, a conspiratorial network supporting the formation of a Greater Serbian state. Dimitrijević, who used the code name "Apis", became the leader of the Black Hand.


title: Dragutin Dimitrijević

text: Dimitrijević's main objective was the liberation and unification of all Serb populated regions under Ottoman or Austro-Hungarian rule, this became more urgent after the monarchy annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908 provoking the Bosnian Crisis. Austrian officials regarded the aspirations of Pan-Serbs as a significant threat to the Hapsburg Empire. During the Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913, Dimitrijević took no part in the fighting. Dimitrijević had his men disguise as Albanians and commit political murders. In 1913 Dimitrijević was appointed chief of general staff intelligence in the Serbian army.


title: Dragutin Dimitrijević

text: In 1911, Dimitrijević had organised an attempt to assassinate the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef. In early 1914 after finding out that three young Bosnian Serb students, led by nineteen year old Gavrilo Princip, were plotting to assassinate the heir to the Franz Ferdinand during his upcoming visit to Sarajevo, the Black Hand provided the conspirators with weapons and training in Belgrade. The support came from railways employee Milan Ciganović, a member of the Black Hand, with the presumed approval of Dimitrijević.


title: Dragutin Dimitrijević

text: According to historian Christopher Clark, it is possible that Ciganović had been informing Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić about the plot, but this speculation rests on indirect evidence. It is however believed that, after being warned of the presence of Bosnian terrorists, Pašić gave instructions for the arrest of young Bosnians who attempted to cross back into Bosnia. However, his orders were not implemented, and the three men arrived in what was then known as the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they joined forces with fellow conspirators recruited by Princip's former roommate Danilo Ilić, Veljko and Vaso Čubrilović, Muhamed Mehmedbašić, Cvjetko Popović and Miško Jovanović. On 28 June 1914 Princip mortally wounded Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg.


title: Dragutin Dimitrijević

text: On 23 July 1914, the Austro-Hungarian government sent its July Ultimatum to the Serbian government with a list of ten demands. In his response on 25 July 1914, Pašić accepted all the points of the ultimatum except the sixth, which demanded that Serbia allow an Austrian delegation to participate in a criminal investigation against those participants in the conspiracy that were in Serbia. Three days later, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. In 1916, Dimitrijević was promoted to colonel shortly before his arrest on charge of high treason.


title: Dragutin Dimitrijević

text: Pašić decided to get rid of the most prominent members of the Black Hand, which had officially disbanded. Dimitrijević and several of his military colleagues were arrested in December 1916 and tried on charges blaming them with attempted assassination of Regent Alexander I of Yugoslavia in September 1916. On 23 May 1917, following the "Salonika Trial", Dimitrijević was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. A month later, on 24 June 1917, he was executed by firing squad.


title: Dragutin Dimitrijević

text: In 1953, Dimitrijević and his codefendants were all posthumously retried by the Supreme Court of Serbia and found not guilty because there was no proof of their alleged participation in the assassination plot.


title: Rupert Davies

text: Rupert Davies FRSA (22 May 191622 November 1976) was a British actor. He is best remembered for playing the title role in the BBC's 1960s television adaptation of "Maigret", based on Georges Simenon's novels.


title: Rupert Davies

text: Davies was born in Liverpool. After service in the British Merchant Navy he was a Sub-Lieutenant Observer with the Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War. In 1940, the Swordfish aircraft in which he was flying ditched in the sea off the Dutch coast, following which he was captured and interned in the Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp. He made three attempts to escape, all of which failed. During his captivity he began to take part in theatre performances, entertaining his fellow prisoners.


title: Rupert Davies

text: On his release Davies resumed his career in acting almost immediately, starring in an ex-prisoner of war show, "Back Home", which was hosted at the Stoll Theatre, London. In 1959, he played the role of the Colonel in Alun Owen's "The Rough and Ready Lot" when it received its stage debut on 1 June 1959 in a production by the 59 Theatre Company at the Lyric Opera House, Hammersmith, as well as in the television adaptation which was broadcast that September.


title: Rupert Davies

text: He became a staple of British television, appearing in numerous plays and series, including "Quatermass II", "Ivanhoe", "Emergency – Ward 10", "Danger Man", "Man in a Suitcase", "The Champions", "Doctor at Large" (1971), "Arthur of the Britons" and "War and Peace" (1972). He also provided the voice of Professor Ian "Mac" McClaine in the Gerry Anderson series "Joe 90". A pipe smoker, like Jules Maigret, in 1964, having released a 45rpm single "Smoking My Pipe" late the previous year that capitalised on the "Maigret" opening sequence, he became the first person to win the Pipe Smoker of the Year award.


title: Rupert Davies

text: He was the subject of "This Is Your Life" in October 1962 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in central London.


title: Rupert Davies

text: Davies also played supporting roles in many films, appearing briefly as George Smiley in "The Spy Who Came In from the Cold" (1965). He also appeared in several horror films in the late 1960s, including "Witchfinder General" (1968) and "Dracula Has Risen from the Grave" (1968), as well as such international films as "Waterloo" (1970) and "Zeppelin" (1971).


title: Rupert Davies

text: He died of cancer in London in 1976, leaving a wife, Jessica, and two sons, Timothy and Hoagan. Davies is buried at Pistyll Cemetery, near Nefyn, Gwynedd, Wales.


title: Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia

text: Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia (9 May 1909 – 8 September 1967) was the second daughter of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia and Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She married Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, grandson of the last German Emperor Wilhelm II.


title: Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia

text: Grand Duchess Kira Kirilovna of Russia was born on 9 May 1909, at her parents' house on Avenue d' Henri Martin in Paris. Named after her father, she was the second child of Kirill Vladimirovich, Grand Duke of Russia, and his wife, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her parents were then living in exile because their marriage had not been approved by Tsar Nicholas II due to the fact that they were first cousins. The Russian Orthodox religion forbids the marriage of two first cousins, so they had been forced to live abroad. In addition, her mother had divorced her former husband, Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse, the brother of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.


title: Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia

text: Shortly after Kira's birth, her parents were restored to favor by Tsar Nicholas II and, in May 1910, the family returned to Russia. They settled at the Cavalier's house in Tsarskoye Selo as her father, a Captain in the Russian Navy, was attached to a nearby naval academy. Kira and her elder sister, Maria, had a privileged childhood. They had an English nanny and learned the languages spoken by the Romanovs: Russian, English, French, and German.


title: Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia

text: Kira's early years were spent in luxury at her father's palace at 13 Glinka Street in Saint Petersburg, where her parents entertained their guests lavishly. There were family outings with her grandmother at the opulent Vladimir Palace and in the summer at the Vladimir villa in Tsarskoye Selo.


title: Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia

text: The family was spending the summer of 1914 on their yacht in the Gulf of Finland and were in Riga when the war broke out. During World War I, Kira's father served as the commander of a unit of the Naval Guards, while her mother oversaw a motorized ambulance. At the outbreak of the Russian revolution, Kira's father marched to the Tauride Palace at the head of the Naval Guards before the establishment of the Russian Provisional Government.


title: Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia

text: Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, the family initially remained living at their palace amid the upheavals. In June, Kira's father obtained permission from the provisional government to move to Finland. Kira, eight at the time, recalled that they rode on a public train. "For the first time there were no royal trappings ... i.e. red carpets, special comforts, etc.," she recalled. In Finland, the family lived at Haiko Manor, Borga. A month later, her 40-year-old mother gave birth to a son, Vladimir. The family waited in Finland, hoping that the White Russians would defeat the Bolsheviks and they could return to Russia. The family lived under harsh conditions, with food, fuel and money in short supply. Kira, then age nine, amused herself by taking long walks hunting for mushrooms, and as a treat went to the cinema every Friday. She later recalled feeling homesick and bored. Grand Duke Kirill's family stayed in Finland until May 1920.


title: Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia

text: The family eventually left Finland and headed first to Coburg and then to Saint-Briac, France. Kira was born Princess Kira Kirillovna of Russia, but her father later gave her the title "Grand Duchess" when he declared himself Guardian of the Throne in 1924. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed Kira, high-spirited and straightforward, also had an even temper. She was intelligent, curious, and interested in the arts like her mother, with whom she worked in the art studio at Saint-Briac. Kira also frequently visited her cousins at various royal courts or attended house parties in the United Kingdom.


title: Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia

text: Grand Duchess Kira had some difficulty finding a suitable husband. She was interested in the hemophiliac Alfonso of Spain, Prince of Asturias, son of Alfonso XIII of Spain, but was disappointed when the prince showed more interest in one of the daughters of Prince Nicholas of Greece. Later, she was fond of Prince Constantine "Teddy" Soutzo, a Romanian aristocrat. Her cousin Carol II of Romania refused to permit the match for political reasons. Finally, Kira married Louis Ferdinand of Prussia in 1938. They raised a family of four sons and three daughters in a village near Bremen, Germany.


title: Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia

text: Kira was called upon to testify in the case of Anna Anderson, the woman who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia. Kira had met Anderson briefly in 1952 at the urging of her mother-in-law, Crown Princess Cecilie of Prussia, who believed Anderson's claim. Kira was not convinced. She found the woman "repellent" and "not a lady" and incapable of speaking the cultured English used by her family. Kira had last seen Anastasia when she was a child of seven. Kira's uncle, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia had been convinced Anderson was Anastasia, but her father and mother were unconvinced by Anderson's claim.


title: Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia

text: In later years, Kira was disappointed when her eldest son, Friedrich Wilhelm, renounced his rights to the title and married a commoner. She also paid little heed to her health, putting on weight and suffering from high blood pressure in her fifties. She was in good spirits on a visit to her brother Grand Duke Vladimir of Russia at Saint-Briac in September 1967, where she ate well and dumped several spoonfuls of sugar into her coffee, commenting, "God forbid I should eat anything healthy!" That night, she suffered a heart attack and soon died.


title: Mikhail Gurevich (aircraft designer)

text: Mikhail Iosifovich Gurevich () ( – 12 November 1976) was a Soviet aircraft designer who co-founded the Mikoyan-Gurevich military aviation bureau along with Artem Mikoyan. The bureau is famous for its fighter aircraft, rapid interceptors and multi-role combat aircraft which were staples of the Soviet Air Forces throughout the Cold War. The bureau designed 170 projects of which 94 were made in series. In total, 45,000 MiG aircraft have been manufactured domestically, of which 11,000 aircraft were exported. The last plane which Gurevich personally worked on before his retirement was the MiG-25.


title: Mikhail Gurevich (aircraft designer)

text: Born to a Jewish family his father was a winery mechanic in the small township of Rubanshchina (Kursk region in Russia). In 1910 he graduated from gymnasium in Okhtyrka (Kharkiv region) with the silver medal and entered the Mathematics department at Kharkiv University. After a year, for participation in revolutionary activities, he was expelled from the university and from the region and continued his education in Montpellier University. He was at SUPAERO in Toulouse in the 1913 class with Marcel Bloch, who later took the name Marcel Dassault.


title: Mikhail Gurevich (aircraft designer)

text: In the summer 1914 Gurevich was visiting his home when World War I broke out. This and later the Russian Civil War interrupted his education. In 1925 he graduated from the Aviation faculty of Kharkiv Technological Institute and worked as an engineer of the state company "Heat and Power".


title: Mikhail Gurevich (aircraft designer)

text: In 1929 Gurevich moved to Moscow to pursue the career of aviation designer. Soviet design was a state-run affair, organised in so-called OKBs or design bureaus. In 1937 Gurevich headed a designer team in the Polikarpov Design Bureau, where he met his future team partner, Artem Mikoyan. In late 1939 they created the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau, with Gurevich in the position of Vice Chief Designer, and after 1957 as its Chief Designer, a post he kept until his retirement in 1964. This is remarkable, considering that he never joined the Communist Party.


title: Mikhail Gurevich (aircraft designer)

text: In 1940 Mikoyan and Gurevich designed and built the high-altitude MiG-1 fighter plane, starting from a project partially developed by Polikarpov's team. The improved MiG-3 fighter aircraft was widely used during World War II. In the years after the war, the two designed the first Soviet jet fighters, including the first supersonic models. The last model Gurevich worked on was the MiG-25 interceptor, which is among the fastest military aircraft ever to enter service.


The Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Forces (, "Niroo-ye Zamini-ye Artesh-e Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Iran"), acronymed NEZAJA (, NEZEJA) are the ground forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Forces

text: In Iran, it is also called "Artesh," () which is Persian for "army." In 2007, the regular Iranian Army was estimated to have 357,000 personnel (167,000 conscripts and 190,000 professionals) plus around 350,000 reservists for a total of 700,000 soldiers according to the CSIS. It is the 9th largest ground force in the world, the 9th largest armoured force globally and possesses the biggest Army Aviation fleet in the Middle East. Conscripts serve for 21 months and have professional military training.


text: Iran has two parallel land forces with some integration at the command level: the regular Artesh (Army), and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also known as the Sepâh (IRGC).


text: A national army of sorts has existed in Iran since the establishment of the Persian Empire. National armies usually appeared throughout the country's points of strength, while in times of weakness mercenaries and conscript armies were recruited temporarily from fiefdoms. The original core of full-time troops and imperial body guards were called the Immortals, these were established in 580 BC by Cyrus the Great. These were replaced by the Junishapur Shâhanshâh (King of Kings) in the Sassanid Dynasty after a period of disunity and chaos in the country. Following the Islamic invasion of Iran and eventual resurgence of Iranian dynasties a new full-time army was formed by the name of Qezelbash in the Safavid dynasty. The Qajar period saw several attempts to re-model the traditional Iranian military based on western models. These were met with limited success at the time.


text: "In 1918 the Qajar armed forces consisted of four, separate, foreign-commanded military units. Several provincial and tribal forces could also be called on during an emergency, but their reliability was highly questionable. More often than not, provincial and tribal forces opposed the government's centralisation efforts, particularly because Tehran was perceived to be under the dictate of foreign powers. Having foreign officers in commanding positions over Iranian troops added to these tribal and religious concerns."


text: "Loyal, disciplined, and well trained, the most effective government unit was the 8,000-man Persian Cossack Brigade. It was created in 1879 and commanded by Russian Imperial Army officers until the 1917 Russian Revolution. After that date its command passed into Iranian hands, and the brigade represented the core of the new, Iranian armed forces. Swedish officers commanded the 8,400-man Gendarmerie, organised in 1911 as the first, internal security force. The 6,000-man South Persia Rifles was financed by Britain and commanded by British officers from its inception in 1916. Its primary task was to combat tribal forces allegedly stirred up by German agents during the First World War. The Qajar palace guard, the Nizam, commanded by a Swedish officer, was a force originally consisting of 2,000 men, although it deteriorated rapidly in numbers because of rivalries. Thus, during the First World War, the 24,400 troops in these four, separate, military units made up one of the weakest forces in Iranian history."


text: After the First World War, the army had shrunk, but not much on paper, ostentiably numbering 25,000 in total. By 1920 it consisted of the Persian Cossacks; the Gendarmerie, expanded from two regiments that had stayed loyal; and the South Persia Rifles and the regular army, reduced to the Central Brigade in Tehran, with a theoretical strength of 2,200.


text: Following the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1925, the new, Imperial Iranian Army became a priority. By 1941, it stood at 125,000 troops—five times its original size—and was considered well trained and well equipped. However, the army was focused on internal security operations, rather than, Farrokh says 'fighting well-led and equipped Soviet and Western armies.' Ward writes that the 'army's sixteen divisions were spread across the country in their home garrisons, and only some of the western divisions had received any significant reinforcements of infantry and artillery. Maj. Gen. Hassan Mogaddam, the 5th Division commander, was put in charge of all western forces." The defence of the Khorramshahr-Ahvaz area was put under the navy's Rear Admiral Gholamali Bayandor, with his sailors plus a brigade of the army's 6th Division.


text: In August 1941 the Soviets and British launched the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran, which began on 25 August and lasted until 17 September. London and Moscow had insisted that the Shah expel Iran's large German population and allow shipments of war supplies to cross the country en route to the Soviet Union. Both of these proved unacceptable to Reza Shah; he was sympathetic to Germany, and Iran had declared its neutrality in the Second World War. Iran's location was so strategically important to the Allied war effort, however, that London and Moscow chose to violate Tehran's neutrality. From the south came the British Paiforce, under the command of Lieutenant-General Edward Quinan. Paiforce was made up of the 8th and 10th Indian Infantry Divisions, plus three other brigades. Meanwhile, the Soviets invaded from the north. Three armies, the 44th, 47th and 53rd Armies of the Transcaucasian Front under General Dmitry Timofeyevich Kozlov, occupied Iran's northern provinces.


text: Against the Allied forces, the army was overwhelmed in three days, while the fledgling Imperial Iranian Air Force and Imperial Iranian Navy suffered heavy damage. Conscripts deserted by the thousands. His institutional power base ruined, Reza Shah abdicated in favour of his young son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. In the absence of a broad political power base and with a shattered army, Mohammad Reza Shah faced an almost impossible task of rebuilding. There was no popular sympathy for the army in view of the widespread and largely accurate perception that it was a brutal tool used to uphold a dictatorial regime. The young shah, distancing Tehran from the European military, in 1942, invited the United States to send a military mission to advise in the reorganisation effort. With American advice, emphasis was placed on quality rather than quantity.


text: The small but more confident army that resulted from American training was capable enough to participate in the 1946 campaign in Azarbaijan to put down a Soviet-inspired, separatist rebellion. During the three years of occupation, Stalin had expanded Soviet political influence in Azerbaijan and the Kurdish area in northwestern Iran. On 12 December 1945, after weeks of violent clashes, a Soviet-backed separatist People's Republic of Azerbaijan was founded. The Kurdish People's Republic was also established in late 1945. Iranian troops sent to re-establish control were blocked by Soviet Red Army units. When the deadline for withdrawal arrived on 2 March 1946, six months after the end of hostilities, the British began to withdraw, but Moscow refused, "citing threats to Soviet security," sparking the Iran crisis of 1946. Soviet troops did not withdraw from Iran proper until May 1946, following Iran's official complaint to the newly formed United Nations Security Council and intense pressure from the United States.


text: Unlike its 1925 counterpart, the 1946 Majlis was suspicious of the shah's plans for a strong army. Many members of the parliament feared that the army would once again be used as a source of political power. To curtail the shah's potential domination of the country, they limited his military budgets.


text: From the 1966-67 edition to the 1969-70 edition, the IISS Military Balance listed the Iranian Army with one armoured division, seven infantry divisions, and one independent armoured brigade. By the 1971-72 edition, two armoured divisions, five infantry divisions, the independent armoured brigade, and other independent brigades were listed. Within two years after that, the listing quickly changed to three armoured divisions and three infantry divisions.


text: Dramatic reforms brought in a host of western advisors and over the course of more than three decades the army was to become the world's fifth strongest by 1979. Throughout the 1970s the Imperial Iranian Ground Forces, as they were then known, underwent a rapid transformation and increase in strength. During this period, Iran established the "Imperial Iranian Army Aviation" (IIAA). It was mainly equipped with American aircraft types.


text: In the early 1970s the Sultan of Oman was fighting the Dhofar Rebellion with British support. As a result of Sultan Qaboos's diplomatic initiatives, the Shah sent a brigade of troops numbering 1,200 and with its own helicopters to assist the Sultan's Armed Forces in 1973. The Iranian brigade first secured the Salalah-Thumrait road. In 1974, the Iranian contribution was expanded into the Imperial Iranian Task Force, numbering 4,000. They attempted to establish another interdiction line, codenamed the "Damavand Line", running from "Manston", a few miles east of Sarfait, to the coast near the border with South Yemen (the PDRY). Heavy rebel opposition, which included artillery fire from within South Yemen, thwarted this aim for several months. Eventually, the town of Rahkyut, which the PFLO had long maintained as the capital of their liberated territory, fell to the Iranian task force. The IITF remained in Oman in December 1975, then at a strength of 3,000.


text: "During the 1970s ..the Imperial Iranian Ground Forces was undergoing a rapid increase in strength; that year [sic] it was a largely mechanized and armoured force of about 220,000. In late 1977 its former organization into three army corps, with headquarters in Kermanshah, Tehran, and Shiraz, was dropped; divisional commanders subsequently reported directly to the army commander. The army contained three armoured divisions, each with six tank battalions and five mechanised infantry battalions; four infantry divisions; four independent brigades (two infantry, one airborne and 1 special force); and the Army Aviation Command (one infantry division and one independent infantry brigade formed the Imperial Guard). These combat units.. were said to be 85 per cent operational, though some outside observers doubted this claim.


text: During the mid-1970s, fully 80 per cent of Iran's ground forces were deployed along the Iraqi border, though official sources maintained that a large portion could be sent anywhere in the country.. by means of air force transports. Troop deployment was expected to shift south in the late 1970s with the opening of the Chah Bahar facility."


text: "The rapidly growing Army Aviation Command, whose major operational facilities were located at Isfahan, was largely equipped with American aircraft, though some helicopters were of Italian manufacture. In 1977 army aviation operated some sixty light fixed-wing aircraft, though its strength lay in its fleet of some 700 combat helicopters."


text: Two years later, Gabriel listed the major formations of the Imperial Iranian Ground Forces in the final year of the Shah, 1979, as including the 16th (Hamadan), 81st, 88th (Zahedan/Chah Bahar), and 92nd Armored Divisions. Other data suggests one division was being organised in Sistan Baluchestan, presumably the 88th Armoured Division. He also listed three infantry divisions, the 2nd in Tehran, the 28th Infantry Division at Sanandaj, and the 77th Infantry Division at Mashad; two infantry brigades (the 64th at Mahabad and the 84th at Khorramabad), the 55th Airborne Brigade at Shiraz and the Special Forces Brigade HQ in Tehran.


text: Immediately after the 1979 revolution a series of purges gutted the core of the army's Western trained senior commanders. These included numerous executions ordered by Sadegh Khalkhali, the new Revolutionary Court judge. Between February and September 1979, Iran's government executed 85 senior generals and forced all major-generals and most brigadier-generals into early retirement. By September 1980, the government had purged 12,000 army officers. These purges resulted in a drastic decline in the Iranian military's operational capacities. Their regular army (which, in 1978, was considered the world's fifth most powerful) had been badly weakened. A shortage of spare parts for Iran's U.S.-made and British-made equipment began to cripple Iran's military forces. The desertion rate reached 60%, and the officer corps was devastated. The most highly skilled soldiers and aviators were exiled, imprisoned, or executed.


text: The last general to head the Imperial Iranian Army was General Gholam Ali Oveissi, who was assassinated in Paris along with his brother in 1984. He was replaced by General Abbas Gharebaghi, as armed forces chief of staff, who allied with the Islamic Republic and dismantled the Imperial Iranian Army, which was renamed the Islamic Republic of Iran Army.


text: The purges left the Army poorly prepared when Iraq invaded Iran at the beginning of the Iran–Iraq War. A Central Intelligence Agency assessment of 7 November 1979 said that Iranian military capabilities '..had not recovered significantly since the collapse of the armed forces in the February revolution. Ground forces capabilities remain limited despite some improvement in discipline and operational readiness in recent months.'


text: Iraq invaded Iran, beginning the Iran–Iraq War, on 22 September 1980. Throughout the war, Iran never managed to fully recover from the post-revolutionary flight of military personnel. Continuous sanctions prevented Iran from acquiring many heavy weapons, such as tanks and aircraft. When the invasion occurred, many pilots and officers were released from prison, or had their executions commuted to combat the Iraqis. In addition, many junior officers were promoted to generals, resulting in the army being more integrated as a part of the regime by the war's end, as it is today. Iran still had at least 1,000 operational tanks, and could cannibalize equipment to procure spare parts.


text: From July 1985, the IISS started attributing an estimated three army headquarters to the Iranian Army where previously no headquarters above division level has been identified. These were identified by other sources later as the 1st Army (HQ Kermanshah), 2nd Army (HQ Tehran) and 3rd Army (HQ Shiraz).


text: A new cadre of commanders, shaped by their experiences in the war, drastically reduced reliance on foreign supplied equipment and training. Following the war the military pursued a dramatic restructuring, much of it under total secrecy. While still only a mere shadow of its pre-revolutionary self, the Artesh rapidly re-asserted its abilities and started to grow again.


text: The IISS determined that at some point between 1992 and 1995 an additional army headquarters was raised (making a total of four). Later, some time between mid-1997 and mid-1999, the listing changed to that of four corps. The Jaffee Center's Middle East Military Balance 99-00 also lists the four corps the IISS had attributed.


text: Jane's reported in 2006 that the Army was commanded via three army level headquarters with 15 divisions. The IISS reported in the Military Balance 2008 that there 12 Corps level regional headquarters, five armoured divisions with some independent brigades, seven infantry divisions with some independent brigades, one special forces brigade, two commando divisions with some independent brigades, plus an airborne brigade. There were also six artillery groups, and aviation forces. The number of divisions reported has not changed for some years. Often reported formations include the 23rd Special Forces Division, established in 1993–94, and the 55th Paratroop Division. "Jane's Sentinel Security Assessments" reports that the 23rd Special Forces Division is amongst the most professional formations in the Iranian Army, with at least 6,000 personnel, all of whom are believed to be regulars.


text: The regular armoured divisions, including the 92nd Armored Division, are sub-divided into three brigades.


text: Many of these assessments appear to be copyright violations from research conducted by the Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC, for example, an updated military balance report dated 2012.(see also CSIS Iran and Gulf Military Balance, 11 July 2012, p51


text: Most soldiers of the Iranian Army are well trained and determined, but their equipment is outdated or obsolete. They primarily use outdated Western-style equipment or newer, locally produced equipment, which is lower quality. Commanders generally appoint men to high level positions based on loyalty, rather than military skills.


text: Since 2010 Iranian Army has undergone a reorganization process called Thamen alaeme general structure plan (طرح جامع ساختاری ثامن الائمه), this plan includes transformation from a division-centered model towards a brigade-centered model, a re-positioning of Army bases, the adding of new units and an increase in mobility of existing army units. To that effect, it has sheered off some brigades from existing divisions as well as establishing new brigades alongside of them. By March 2012 31 new independent brigades have been established throughout the army.


text: Iran's main battle tanks include an estimated ~1500 or possibly more, indigenous Zulfiqar MBTs, 480 T-72S, 150 M-60A1s, 75 T-62s, 100 Chieftain Mk 3/Mk 5 MBTs, 540 T-54/T-55/Type 59s, and 150 M-47/M-48s.


text: The Zulfiqar is the defence industry of Iran's most recent main battle tank, named after the twin-pointed legendary sword of Ali. Born as the brainchild of Brigadier General Mir-Younes Masoumzadeh, deputy ground force commander for research and self-sufficiency of the armed forces, the vehicle has been developed from major components of the American M-60 tank. One of the features which has drawn the attention of the Defense Ministry is that indigenously-made parts have been used in it. The prototypes of the tank were tested in 1993. Six semi-industrial prototypes were produced and tested in 1997. The IISS estimates that around 150 Zulfiqar 1's are now in service.


text: The main attack helicopter of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army is the AH-1J Sea Cobra. The number of AH-1Js in service was estimated by the IISS in 2009 as 50, though 202 were delivered before the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Iran also operates an unknown number of the Panha 2091, which is an unlicensed, locally-made upgrade of the AH-1J.


text: The main transport helicopter of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army is the CH-47C Chinook. The number of CH-47Cs in service was estimated as 20 though 57 were delivered before the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Islamic Republic of Iran Army lost one of them in 2011.


title: Bank rate

text: Bank rate, also known as discount rate in American English, is the rate of interest which a central bank charges on its loans and advances to a commercial bank. The bank rate is known by a number of different terms depending on the country, and has changed over time in some countries as the mechanisms used to manage the rate have changed.


title: Bank rate

text: Whenever a bank has a shortage of funds, they can typically borrow from the central bank based on the monetary policy of the country. The borrowing is commonly done via repos: the repo rate is the rate at which the central bank lends short-term money to the banks against securities. It is more applicable when there is a liquidity crunch in the market. In contrast, the reverse repo rate is the rate at which banks can park surplus funds with the reserve bank, which is mostly done when there is surplus liquidity.


title: Bank rate

text: The interest rate that is charged by a country's central or federal bank on loans and advances controls the money supply in the economy and the banking sector. This is typically done on a quarterly basis to control inflation and to stabilize the country's exchange rates. A change in bank rates may trigger a ripple effect, as it impacts every sphere of a country's economy. For instance, stock markets prices tend to react to unexpected interest rate changes. A change in bank rates affects customers as it influences prime interest rates for personal loans.


title: Bank rate

text: In Australia, the Reserve Bank of Australia sets the bank rate, known as the official cash rate, which is reviewed by the Reserve Bank Board each month.


title: Bank rate

text: In Brazil, the discount rate is called SELIC (Special System of Liquidation and Custody, translated). It is the "mean term" of the "overnight rate", fixed by the "Committee of Monetary Policy", a branch of the Central Bank of Brazil. There are some assets of the public debt whose interest rate is linked to the SELIC: an increase in this rate provides more profit for its owner.


title: Bank rate

text: In Canada, the bank rate is defined as the upper limit of the overnight rate band, announced, reviewed, and modified if necessary eight times each year (a schedule implemented in November 2000) by the Bank of Canada, (making it the target overnight rate + 0.25%).


title: Bank rate

text: Since September 2010, the Bank of Canada's key interest rate (overnight rate) was 0.5%. In mid 2017, inflation remained below the Bank's 2% target, mostly because of reductions in the cost of energy and automobiles; also, the economy was in a continuing growth spurt with a predicted GDP growth of 2.8% by year end. On 12 July 2017, the bank increased the key rate to 0.75%. In a statement, it confirmed that the rate would continue to be evaluated on the basis of inflation. "Future adjustments to the target for the overnight rate will be guided by incoming data as they inform the bank's inflation outlook, keeping in mind continued uncertainty and financial system vulnerabilities."


title: Bank rate

text: In the eurozone the bank rate managed by the European Central Bank is called Standing Facilities, which are used to manage overnight liquidity. Qualifying counterparties can use the Standing Facilities to increase the amount of cash they have available for overnight settlements using the "Marginal Lending Facility". Conversely, excess funds can be deposited within the European Central Bank System and earn interest using the "Deposit facility".


title: Bank rate

text: In India, the Reserve Bank of India determines the bank rate, which is the standard rate at which it is prepared to buy or re-discount bills of exchange or other commercial bills eligible for purchase under the RBI Act 1934 (sec.49). The Reserve Bank of India also provides short term loans to its clients (keeping collateral) at what is called the repo rate. This rate is revised periodically. However, there is no predetermined schedule. The repo rates are changed reactively depending on the economy. As in other countries, repo rates affect the money flow into the nation's economy and affect the inflation and commercial banks' lending or interest rate. As of May 2020, the Bank Rate is 4.65%.


title: Bank rate

text: In New Zealand, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand sets the New Zealand bank rate known as the official cash rate, which is reviewed by the Reserve Bank Board approximately every six weeks.


title: Bank rate

text: In Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore strategically reviews its Monetary Policy to promote price stability as a sound basis for sustainable economic growth.


title: Bank rate

text: In South Africa the South African Reserve Bank determines the repurchase rate (repo rate) for short-term loans it grants private banks through its Monetary Policy Committee.


title: Bank rate

text: In the United Kingdom, bank rates are set by the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee. The key interest rate is called the Bank Rate, and is the lowest rate at which the Bank acts as lender of last resort to the money markets.


title: Bank rate

text: In the United States, the discount rate is a bank rate set by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for loans lent to commercial banks and other depository institutions through the Fed's discount window. This is not to be confused with the Fed Funds Rate.


title: Bank rate

text: The Fed issues three discount rates based on credit type: primary, secondary, and seasonal. Primary credit is the Fed's main discount program, and is available to institutions in sound condition for up to 90 days with no restrictions on its use. Secondary credit is available to institutions that do not qualify for primary credit, but it is limited to short loan periods (usually overnight), has some restrictions on its use, and is issued at a higher interest rate. Seasonal credit is available to institutions with deposits of less than $5,000,000 that demonstrate a need for inter-yearly fluctuations in liquidity - often caused by construction, college, farming, resort, municipal financing and other seasonal types of business. Current discount rates are published on the Fed's Discount Window webpage.


title: The Real O'Neals

text: The Real O'Neals is an American single-camera sitcom that aired on ABC from March 2, 2016, to March 14, 2017. The series, based on an idea by Dan Savage (who also served as executive producer), was picked up to series on May 7, 2015. The series was renewed for a second season on May 12, 2016, which premiered on October 11, 2016.


title: The Real O'Neals

text: The series chronicles the lives of a close-knit, Irish-American Chicago Catholic family whose matriarch takes their reputation in the community very seriously. In the pilot episode, their perfect image is shattered when each family member has a secret revealed to the community: middle child Kenny is gay, oldest child Jimmy is anorexic, youngest child Shannon is running a money scam and might be atheist, and parents Eileen and Pat are no longer in love and wish to divorce. Subsequent episodes explore the new family dynamic as Pat and Eileen separate and everyone reconciles Kenny's sexuality with their faith.


title: The Real O'Neals

text: The series received a generally favorable response from critics. On review aggregator site Metacritic, "The Real O'Neals" has a metascore of 62 out of 100 based on 22 critics signifying "generally favorable reviews". On another review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the show has a 67% approval rating, based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's critical consensus: "Funny writing and a solid cast save "The Real O'Neals" from traditional sitcom perils."


title: The Real O'Neals

text: The news of the series' pick-up attracted attention and controversy before its debut. On May 12, 2015, the day it was announced that the series had been added to the ABC network schedule, Christian right groups such as the American Family Association and the Family Research Council called for a boycott and petitioned to prevent the series from airing. They also cited Savage's views on religion, sexuality, and same-sex marriage, which they believed had been infused into the series due to it being based on his life, but Savage claimed that the concept went in a different direction since he was not involved in the writing.


title: The Real O'Neals

text: The second-season episode "The Real Acceptance" featured a joke regarding bisexuals, in which Kenny, who is openly gay, compared being bisexual to having "webbed toes" or "money problems". Bisexual actor Sara Ramirez, who played the bisexual character Callie Torres on "Grey's Anatomy", criticized ABC and the series, finding the joke offensive.


title: Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt

text: Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt (January 18, 1839 – May 4, 1885) was an American socialite and philanthropist. During the American Civil War, she was a strong supporter of the Confederate States of America. After the war, she lived in New York City and married multi-millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt, who donated $1 million to establish Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.


title: Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt

text: Frank Armstrong Crawford was born on January 18, 1839 in Mobile, Alabama to Robert Leighton Crawford and Martha Eliza Everett. Her parents named her after their best friend, Frank Armstrong, before she was born, not knowing she would be female. Growing up in Mobile, she attended St. Francis Street Methodist Church.


title: Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt

text: During the American Civil War of 1861—1865, she was "an unrepentant Confederate." After the war, she moved to New York City with her mother. Augusta Jane Evans described her as a "zealous Methodist."


title: Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt

text: Crawford persuaded her husband, Cornelius Vanderbilt, to give $1 million to Bishop Holland Nimmons McTyeire, the husband of her cousin, Amelia Townsend, to found Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Cornelius saw this gift as an olive branch to the South, after he had helped defeat the Confederate States Army with his USS "Vanderbilt" during the Civil War. However, he never visited the university.


title: Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt

text: Crawford was briefly married to John Elliott, but quickly divorced. In 1869, she married Cornelius Vanderbilt after the death of his first wife, Sophia Johnson (a mutual cousin). He died in 1877, and was her mother's cousin. She signed a pre-nuptial agreement, agreeing to receive $500,000 in bonds after his death, a great sum at the time but a fraction of Vanderbilt's fortune. Confederate General Braxton Bragg and his brother, Confederate Attorney General Thomas Bragg, both attended the wedding.


title: Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt

text: She died on May 4, 1885 in Staten Island. Her funeral was conducted by the Rev. Charles Deems in the Church of the Strangers, a church for Southerners in New York that she attended regularly.


title: Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt

text: Her portrait, painted by William J. Whittemore in 1906, was donated by her brother Robert Leighton Crawford Jr. to Vanderbilt University; it is in Kirkland Hall.


title: Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt

text: Crawford Hall, one of the ten houses on the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons at Vanderbilt University, was named in her honor. An article in the "Vanderbilt Political Review" about the university's links to slavery notes, "During our research, for example, it was shockingly difficult to find information on Frank Armstrong Crawford’s stance on the Civil War on the Vanderbilt website or in Vanderbilt archives, yet other sources plainly cited her dedication to the Confederate cause."


title: Deutschland 86

text: Deutschland 86 () is a 2018 German television series starring Jonas Nay as an agent of East Germany in 1986, in relation to the Angolan Civil War.


title: Deutschland 86

text: There are 10 episodes. In addition, a documentary entitled "Comrades and Cash" was produced to accompany the series. Narrated by Nay, it describes various business activities undertaken by the East German state to earn hard currency, including: the sale of arms by the East German state to the apartheid government of South Africa, their notional enemies; smuggling arms to both sides in the Iran-Iraq war; forced labor in prisons; appropriating antiques and safe-deposit-box contents from its citizens and selling them abroad; selling blood abroad without testing it for HIV.


title: Deutschland 86

text: "Deutschland 86" first aired in Germany on Amazon Prime on 19 October 2018. The series premiered in Australia on Stan on 22 October 2018, and in the United States on 25 October 2018 on SundanceTV. It aired in the UK on More4 starting on 8 March 2019 and the boxset was released on Walter Presents on All 4 directly after its transmission.


title: Deutschland 86

text: In August 2017, filming began in Cape Town, South Africa, with the majority of the returning cast from "Deutschland 83" and five new cast members being confirmed, and concluded there in October before returning to Berlin. On 18 December 2017, both star Jonas Nay and co-creator Anna Winger confirmed on Twitter that it was the final day of filming on the series with filming wrapping four days later. New cast member Chris Veres was promoted to series regular in November 2017. On 26 July 2018, Nay revealed the German premiere date on Instagram. Two days later, the US premiere date was revealed on the show's official Facebook and Instagram accounts.


title: Technics (brand)

text: From 2002 onwards products were rebranded as Panasonic except in Japan and CIS countries (such as Russia), where the brand remained in high regard. Panasonic discontinued the brand for most products in October 2010, but it was revived in 2015 with new high-end turntables. The brand is best known for the SL-1200 DJ turntable, an industry standard for decades.


title: Technics (brand)

text: Technics was introduced as a brand name for premium loudspeakers marketed domestically by Matsushita in 1965. The name came to wider prominence with the international sales of direct-drive turntables. The first direct-drive turntable was invented by Shuichi Obata, an engineer at Matsushita (now Panasonic), based in Osaka. It eliminated belts, and instead employed a motor to directly drive a platter on which a vinyl record rests. It is a significant advancement over older belt-drive turntables, which are unsuitable for turntablism, since they have a slow start-up time, and are prone to wear-and-tear and breakage, as the belt would break from backspinning or scratching. In 1969, Matsushita launched Obata's invention as the SP-10, the first direct-drive turntable on the professional market.


title: Technics (brand)

text: In 1971, Matsushita released the Technics SL-1100 for the consumer market. Due to its strong motor, durability, and fidelity, it was adopted by early hip hop artists. The SL-1100 was used by the influential DJ Kool Herc for the first sound system he set up after emigrating from Jamaica to the US.


title: Technics (brand)

text: It was followed by the SL-1200, the most influential turntable. It was developed in 1971 by a team led by Shuichi Obata at Matsushita, which then released it onto the market in 1972. It was adopted by New York City hip hop DJs such as Grand Wizard Theodore and Afrika Bambaataa in the 1970s. As they experimented with the SL-1200 decks, they developed scratching techniques when they found that the motor would continue to spin at the correct RPM even if the DJ wiggled the record back and forth on the platter.


title: Technics (brand)

text: As the upgraded SL-1200 MK2, it became a widely used turntable by DJs. A robust machine, the SL-1200 MK2 incorporated a pitch control mechanism (or vari-speed), and maintained a relatively constant speed with low variability, which proved popular with DJs. The SL-1200 series remained the most widely used turntable in DJ culture through to the 2000s. The SL-1200 model, often considered the industry standard turntable, continued to evolve with the M3D series, followed by the MK5 series in 2003.


title: Technics (brand)

text: Despite being originally created to market their high-end equipment, by the early 1980s Technics was offering an entire range of equipment from entry-level to high-end.


title: Technics (brand)

text: In 1972, Technics introduced the first autoreverse system in a cassette deck in its Technics RS-277US and in 1973 it introduced the first three-head recording technique in a cassette deck (Technics RS-279US).


title: Technics (brand)

text: In 1976, Technics introduced two belt-driven turntables for the mass market, the SL-20 and SL-23. The principal difference between the two models was the additional feature of semi-automatic operation in the SL-23, along with an adjustable speed control with built-in strobe light. They offered technical specifications and features rivaling much more expensive turntables, including well-engineered s-shaped tonearms with tracking weight and anti-skate adjustments. At the time they were introduced, the SL-20 and SL-23, which sold for $US100 and $US140 respectively, set a new performance standard for inexpensive turntables.


title: Technics (brand)

text: The Technics brand was discontinued in 2010, but reappeared at the 2014 consumer electronics trade fair IFA. In January 2016 on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary the Technics SL-1200 returned with the Technics SL-1200 G.


title: Technics (brand)

text: During the 90's, Technics launched a successful series of mini hi-fi systems (SC-EH series, SC-CA SC-CH series and SC-DV series with cd player and surround sound) and in the late 90's, the very successful series of micro hi-fi systems, SC-HD series (SC-HDV and SC-HDA, for series with dvd player and surround sound). These were manufactured until 2004, and after that, until 2005, were named Panasonic for the short time they were still kept in production after Technics brand was phased out. Technics had also created a 60+1 disc changer in 1998 under the model line SL-MC (excluding the last model, the SL-MC7, that being a 110+1 changer) that ran until 2002 across a total of 8 models before being shut down, the last 60+1 mechanisms being featured in Panasonic Mini-HiFi systems. The Technics badge was then relegated to turntables in 2005, including the low cost SL-BD20/22 manufactured well into the 2000's, and some higher quality headphones and speakers, although the same model names appeared under both Technics and Panasonic names in some countries, for a while. From 2002 onwards, receivers which once were known as Technics, were rebranded as Panasonic. Technics stopped manufacturing separates (cd players, cassette deck, tuners, amplifiers) in late 2001, but remained for a while in the home cinema market, with both dvd players and receivers and speakers until late 2002, when these were renamed Panasonic. From 2004 on, except turntables, a series of headphones, and some dj equipment, all audio products were by now bearing the Panasonic name, rather than Technics. Also, by 2004, both SL-BD20/22 turntables were phased out.


title: Technics (brand)

text: The two subwoofers listed below (SST-25/35HZ) along with the SST-1 Loudspeakers, weren't intended for home use.


title: Technics (brand)

text: Panasonic Corporation relaunched the Technics brand in late 2014, mainly because of increased market interest in high end hi-fi, and also due to renewed interest in vinyl. The brand was relaunched with a series of amplifiers, speakers and micro hi-fi systems, but no turntables were yet available. The turntables were relaunched in 2016.


title: Technics (brand)

text: As written above, in 2016, on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the SL-1200, Technics came back with the SL-1200 G. About 2017 a remarkable digital amplifier, the SU-G700, was announced.


title: Technics (brand)

text: Among their most successful products are the newly launched SL1500-C turntable series, and the Ottava micro hi-fi series, and also their active speakers series. The SL1200 is also successful.


title: Technics (brand)

text: Technics SL1500-C was launched as an alternative to the SL1200 series, being aimed at home use rather than DJ use. It has a quartz speed stabilizer, also it has no variable pitch and has no stroboscope for speed adjustment. Like 1200, it is manual; it only has an arm lift feature at the end of the record, which can be deactivated. It is available in silver and black versions. It has a built-in preamplifier, which can be completely deactivated if not needed. It also has a heavy damped platter. In the tradition of Technics, SL1500-C is a Direct Drive turntable. It is different, however, from the SL1500 models from the 1970s and it is not manufactured in Japan like its bigger brothers, the SL1200 and the SP10, but in Malaysia. In 2021 the production of all Technics turntables was moved to Malaysia. Although Technics previously manufactured a series of belt drive turntables (mainly cheaper versions), no new belt drive turntables from Technics are available now, and it seems that Technics will not launch a new belt drive series.


title: Jordan Barrett

text: Jordan Kale Barrett (born 2 December 1996) is an Australian fashion model. In December 2016, Models.com selected him as the "Model of the Year." Vogue has called Barrett the "Model It Boy of the new Era." Barrett also received the "Man Of Style" award at The GQ Awards.


title: Jordan Barrett

text: Barrett was scouted when he was 14 by a model scout from IMG Australia. In September 2015, Barrett starred in an issue of VMAN magazine and Arena Homme+ SS Magazine, shot by Stephen Klein.


title: Jordan Barrett

text: Barrett has featured in campaigns for Tom Ford, Balmain, Versace, Moschino as well as Coach. Barrett has graced the covers of "Vogue Netherlands Man", "CR Book" by Carine Roitfeld, The London Times, "Wonderland" Magazine, 10 Magazine, "Numéro" Homme, and "Hercules". Collier Schorr in Collaboration with Barrett created "I BLAME JORDAN Book" for Moma PS1 New York. Jordan is the model of the new 1 Million fragrance spot.


title: Jordan Barrett

text: In August 2021 Barrett married fellow model Fernando Augusto Casablancas, son of the late eponymous modelling agency mogul John Casablancas, in Ibiza, Spain. In 2022, it was confirmed by Casablancas that the two had split.


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: Aoife O'Donovan ( , ; born November 18, 1982) is an American singer and Grammy award-winning songwriter. She is best known as the lead singer for the string band Crooked Still and she also co-founded the Grammy Award-winning female folk trio I'm with Her. She has released three critically acclaimed studio albums: "Fossils" (2013), "In the Magic Hour" (2016), and "Age of Apathy ("2022, nominated for the Best Folk Album Grammy Award), as well as multiple noteworthy live recordings and EPs, including "Blue Light" (2010), "Peachstone" (2012), "Man in a Neon Coat: Live From Cambridge (2016), In the Magic Hour: Solo Sessions" (2019), and "Bull Frog's Croon (and Other Songs)" (2020). She also spent a decade contributing to the radio variety shows "Live from Here" and "A Prairie Home Companion". Her first professional engagement was singing lead for the folk group The Wayfaring Strangers.


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: O'Donovan has performed with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra, and the Utah Symphony Orchestra. In 2012, she sang on most of the tracks on the album "Be Still" by the jazz group the Dave Douglas Quintet, featuring trumpeter Dave Douglas. During the summer of 2013, she toured with Garrison Keillor and his "A Prairie Home Companion" Radio Romance Tour. She also performed at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark 2014. In summer 2017, she joined Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home "Love and Comedy" Tour.


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: She has performed, recorded and collaborated with a large variety of acclaimed musicians including Ollabelle, Karan Casey and Seamus Egan, Jerry Douglas, Jim Lauderdale, Darol Anger, Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins, Christina Courtin, Chris Thile (Nickel Creek, Punch Brothers), Noam Pikelny (Punch Brothers), Edgar Meyer, Stuart Duncan, Greensky Bluegrass, Kronos Quartet and Yo-Yo Ma. Her songwriting has also led her to be featured in films and television and came to the attention of Alison Krauss, who recorded Aoife's song "Lay My Burden Down" on her album "Paper Airplane" (2011 Rounder Records) and is used in the film "Get Low" (2010 Sony Pictures). She has had songs placed on "True Blood" (HBO) and "Private Practice" (ABC).


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: O'Donovan grew up in Newton, Massachusetts. She spent her summers in Ireland singing songs with her extended family. She became interested in American folk music through artists such as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. Aoife went on to study contemporary improvisation at the New England Conservatory of Music, where she graduated in 2003. In 2016, she wed Eric Jacobsen; subsequently they had a daughter Ivy Jo, born in 2017.


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: O'Donovan and Corey DiMario met at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, in the spring of 2001. Former cellist Rushad Eggleston, who was studying at Berklee College of Music, and Gregory Liszt, a graduate student at MIT, were playing music together around the same time, and when the four met that summer, they formed the band Crooked Still. The group grew in popularity by playing Boston area venues. The group was invited to perform at the Newport Folk Festival and Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, the same year they released their debut album, "Hop High". Crooked Still has toured in 23 states and several countries. In August 2006, the group released their second album, "Shaken by a Low Sound". In November 2007, cellist Rushad Eggleston parted ways with the band to pursue his own music. In January 2008 two new members joined the band: cellist Tristan Clarridge and fiddler Brittany Haas. The band released its first album with the new lineup "Still Crooked" in 2008, a live album in 2009, a studio full-length "Some Strange Country" in 2010 and an EP "Friends of Fall" in October 2011.


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: Contemporary/neo-traditional folk noir trio Sometymes Why was formed in 2005 by O'Donovan, Kristin Andreassen and Ruth Ungar Merenda. They came together from other bands, including Uncle Earl the Jolly Bankers (Andreassen), Crooked Still, the Wild Band of Snee, the Wayfaring Strangers (O'Donovan), The Mammals and Jay Ungar & Molly Mason's Family Band (Merenda). Sometymes Why released their debut cd in 2005 titled "Sometimes Why", followed by "Your Heart Is A Glorious Machine" in 2009.


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: In June 2010, O'Donovan released her first solo recording, "Blue Light", in the form of a limited edition 7" vinyl.


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: O'Donovan is the guest vocalist on the 2013 Grammy winning "The Goat Rodeo Sessions" (2011 Sony Masterworks), an album recorded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, bassist Edgar Meyer, mandolinist Chris Thile and fiddler Stuart Duncan. The album includes two vocal tracks featuring O'Donovan and Chris Thile. O'Donovan co-wrote one of those tracks, "Here And Heaven", with Meyer, Thile and Duncan.


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: In November 2012, Aoife signed a deal with Yep Roc Records. A single, "Red & White & Blue & Gold" was released April 2, 2013, and her full-length debut album, "Fossils", produced by Tucker Martine, was released on June 11, 2013.


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: Aoife has toured with the Punch Brothers, Transatlantic Sessions, the Milk Carton Kids, Elephant Revival, The Goat Rodeo Sessions and The Lone Bellow, makes frequent appearances on Chris Thile's "Live From Here" as well as headlining performances both in the US and abroad.


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: In 2015, Aoife toured extensively with Sara Watkins (a founding member of Nickel Creek) and Sarah Jarosz under the combined tour banner of "I'm With Her". This combo came about after an impromptu performance at the 2014 Telluride Bluegrass Festival. The trio released their debut album "See You Around" on Rounder Records in 2018.


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: In 2016, Aoife released her sophomore solo studio album on Yep Roc Records, titled "In The Magic Hour". On September 9, she also released the live album "Man In A Neon Coat: Live From Cambridge", also on Yep Roc Records.


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: In 2018, Aoife wrote and recorded an original song titled "Are You There" for Elizabeth Chomko's short-film "What They Had" starring Hilary Swank.


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: In 2019, Aoife and her band I'm with Her won a Grammy Award for Best American Roots Song for their song "Call My Name".


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: In 2020, Aoife released her string quartet EP, "Bullfrog's Croon (and Other Songs)." As a solo artist she was inter alia part of the Newport Folk Festival in July 2021.


title: Aoife O'Donovan

text: In 2022, O'Donovan released "Age of Apathy", a solo record produced by Joe Henry with guest performances by Allison Russell and Madison Cunningham. In November 2022, it received a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album.


title: Jeffery Dench

text: Jeffery Danny Dench (29 April 1928 – 27 March 2014) was an English actor, best known for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was the older brother of actress Judi Dench.


title: Jeffery Dench

text: Jeffery Dench was born in Tyldesley, Lancashire to Eleanora Olive (née Jones), a native of Dublin, and Reginald Arthur Dench, a physician who met his future wife while studying medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. Jeff lived in Tyldesley with his brother Peter; later the family moved to York where his sister, Judith, was born.


title: Jeffery Dench

text: Dench attended St Peter's, York, where he began acting with the role of Cleopatra in George Bernard Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra".


title: Jeffery Dench

text: He spent his national service at an army theatre in Catterick before attending the Central School of Speech and Drama. It was here that he met Betty, his first wife, who was working as a speech therapist. He moved to Clifford Chambers and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963, where he worked for many years.


title: Jeffery Dench

text: With his wife Betty, Dench had three daughters: Sarah, a teacher who lives in Brailes; Clare, who lives in Shiplake; and Emma, a Roman historian previously at Birkbeck, University of London, and currently at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.