Queen's University Belfast
Queen's University Belfast (Irish: Ollscoil na Banríona, Béal Feirste) is a university in Belfast, Northern Ireland and a member of the Russell Group (a lobby group of major research universities in the United Kingdom). The university's official title, per its charter, is Queen's University of Belfast. The university offers academic degrees at various levels and across a broad subject range. It is particularly strong in the professions: pharmacy, medicine, dentistry, law, accountancy, architecture, engineering as well as pure and applied sciences, the arts and humanities and social sciences. The university's current President and Vice-Chancellor is Professor Peter Gregson, and its Chancellor is the former United States Senator, George Mitchell.

Parliamentary representation
In addition to the main campus not far from the centre of Belfast, the university has two associated university colleges, these being St Mary's and Stranmillis both also located in Belfast. Although offering a range of degree courses, these colleges primarily provide training for those wishing to enter the teaching profession. The university has formal agreements with other colleges in Northern Ireland and operates several outreach schemes to rural areas.
While the university refers to its main site as a campus, the university's buildings are in fact spread over a number of public streets in South Belfast, centring around University Road, University Square and Stranmillis Road, with other departments located further afield.

Academic
Several institutes are also associated with Queen's. Located close to the main campus is the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen's which offers training to law graduates to enable them to practise as solicitors or barristers in Northern Ireland, England & Wales and the Republic of Ireland.
The Institute of Theology consists of several colleges with a Christian emphasis, including St Mary's (Catholic), Union Theological College (Presbyterian) as well as Baptist and Methodist colleges in Belfast. In all five colleges teach any programmes with a theological emphasis on behalf of the university; the university may confer theology degrees but cannot teach the subject itself.

Institutes
Queen's University Belfast was admitted to the prestigious Russell Group of UK research-intensive universities in November 2006 [1],[2]. Independent league tables published by The Guardian newspaper in 2007 placed the university at number 28 out of 123 institutes of higher education within the United Kingdom, commenting "Queen's is one of the UK's top universities, with a good academic reputation, especially in medicine and engineering".

Reputation
Entrants to Queen's have, on average, 359 A/AS-level points and there are currently 5.3 applications per place.

Admissions and students

Student life
Queen's provides housing for both undergraduates and postgraduates, although because of the compact size of Northern Ireland many students chose to live at home and commute to the university. In 2005/06, 36 per cent of Queen's students lived in private accommodation within Belfast, 29 per cent lived with parents or guardians, 20 per cent in private accommodation outside of Belfast, and 10 per cent lived in university maintained accommodation.
The university provides accommodation on a 'student village' called Elms Village, located on the Malone Road, south of the main campus, as well as in a number of houses in the South Belfast area, including at College Gardens and on Mount Charles.

Housing
The university hosts the annual Belfast Festival at Queen's and the Belfast Film Festival, and in 2007 is holding the Irish Student Drama Association Festival. It runs Northern Ireland's only arthouse cinema, Queen's Film Theatre, and an art gallery, the Naughton Gallery at Queen's, which is a registered museum. The university's Students' Union is located opposite the main campus and has recently had a complete refurbishment. The Union calls its main hall the Mandela Hall (formerly known as the McMordie Hall), The QUB boathouse, home of Queen's University Belfast Boat Club (QUBBC) and Queen's University of Belfast Ladies Boat Club (QUBLBC), is located on the River Lagan near Stranmillis. The Dragonslayers Gaming Society hosts one of Ireland's largest games conventions, Q-Con, in June of each year.

Notable alumni

Tu'i Malila (c. 1777–May 19, 1966) was the name of a tortoise given to the royal family of Tonga by Captain James Cook. It was a radiated tortoise (Geochelone radiata) from Madagascar and is the longest-lived animal according to authenticated records. Verification of the age of another tortoise, Adwaita, is still pending; that animal was said to have been born around 1750 and died in 2006 at the possible age of 256.
The name means King Malila in the Tongan language. Tu'i Malila was born around 1777 and then given by Captain Cook to the Tongan royal family upon his visit to Tonga. Tu'i Malila remained in their care until death on 19 May, 1965 due to natural causes. The tortoise was estimated to be 188 years old at this time.[1] During Queen Elizabeth II's Royal Tour of Tonga in 1953, Tu'i Malila was one of the first animals shown to the monarch on her official visit to the island nation.
In the Tongan National Center on the island of Tongatapu, there is a preserved radiated tortoise labeled Tu'i Malila. Little other information is given in English, but the Center staff attest to the fact that this is indeed the body of the famous tortoise.

Coordinates: 53°06′N 1°34′W / 53.1, -1.56
Cromford, in Derbyshire, England, is a large village that is one of the significant sites in the development of the Industrial Revolution. It was here that Richard Arkwright built his cotton mill to make use of the Water Frame — a development of a spinning machine produced by Thomas Highs (1718-1803) that pre-dated, and was probably the prototype for, the spinning jenny pioneered by James Hargreaves.
The factory buildings and accommodation for workers to staff the factories form part of the Derwent Valley Mills, which is recognised as a World Heritage Site for its importance.
The Cromford Canal – built to service the mills – is now in disuse, but has been designated an SSSI. The Cromford and High Peak Railway, completed in 1831, ran from Cromford to the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge. Its track bed now forms the High Peak Trail, a walk and cycle route which is joined by the Tissington Trail at Parsley Hay.
Cromford railway station is located on the Matlock-Derby Derwent Valley Line, and can be seen on the cover of the 1995 Oasis single Some Might Say.
The Gell family, who were local Hopton landowners heavily involved in the nearby Wirksworth lead mining, had the Via Gellia built to connect Cromford and Grangemill in the 18th C.
Cromford also has a village lock-up that was used to detain drunks and suspected criminals.
In late 2006, Anand Tucker used certain parts of Cromford, including its historic bookshop, for his film "And When Did You Last See Your Father", based on the autobiographical memoir by poet Blake Morrison. Colin Firth plays the adult Blake, with Jim Broadbent cast as his dying father.

Editing of this article by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled. If you are prevented from editing this article, and you wish to make a change, please discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or create an account.
Haredi or Chareidi Judaism is the most theologically conservative form of Orthodox Judaism. While, as tensions mount between Haredi and other Jews, the possibility of such a schism exists, the leadership of all the factions involved have taken care to prevent a complete break, while respecting the desire of the Haredi for autonomy and separatism. And there is common ground too, especially in the field of learning. It is not uncommon for Haredi scholars to take advantage of the vast library holdings, including rare manuscripts, in the libraries of Yeshiva University (Modern Orthodox), the Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative), and Hebrew Union College (Reform).

In the UK, the largest Haredi communities are located in London (Stamford Hill, Golders Green, Hendon, Edgware), Salford/Bury (Broughton Park and Prestwich) and Gateshead. The majority of UK Haredim descend from Eastern-European immigrants. The largest UK Haredi community is in London, where it is an organized as a group known as the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations (UOHC).
The UK Haredi community is vibrant and growing, maintaining hundreds of synagogues, although many are smaller scale shtiebels. It also maintains numerous schools, yeshivas, kolels and mikvas. The community also supports dozens of kosher food shops, bakeries and to a lesser extent, restaurants.







Branches: Haredi - Hasidic - Modern - Religious Zionism ▪ People: Orthodox Jews - Rabbis - Hasidic dynasties ▪ Education: Torah study - Yeshivas and schools - Torah Umesorah ▪ Politics: Shas - UTJ - NRP ▪ Rabbinates: Rabbanut - Edah - Moetzes - RCA - United Synagogue - UOHC ▪ Organizations: OU - Aguda - Mizrachi ▪ Laws: Shulchan Aruch - Halakha - Responsa ▪ Philosophies: Torah im Derech Eretz - Torah Umadda - Da'as Torah - Hasidism ▪ more...

Agudath Israel, worldwide and local (such as Agudath Israel of America)
Hasidic Jewish groups such as: Belz, Bobov, Boston, Boyan, Breslov, Chabad Lubavitch, Ger, Karlin, Munkacz, Puppa, Satmar, and Vizhnitz.
Shas - Mizrahi Sefardi Haredi party in Israel
United Torah Judaism - Ashkenazi Haredi political grouping in Israel
Edah HaChareidis - rabbinical council of anti-Zionist Haredi groups in and around Jerusalem, including Satmar, Dushinsky, Toldos Aharon, Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok, Mishkenos Horoim, Spinka, Brisk and a section of other Litvish Haredim.
The Baal Shem Tov (18th century founder of Hasidism)
The Vilna Gaon (of Lithuania)
Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin (19th century founder of the Lithuanian yeshivoth)
Rabbi Moses Sofer (18th-19th century leader of Eastern European ultra-Orthodox)
Rabbi Yisrael Meir HaCohen Kagan, the Chafetz Chaim
Rabbi Avrohom Mordechai Alter, driving force behind Agudas Yisroel in Poland
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, one of the highest halachic authorities for much of the twentieth century
Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz (leader of Haredim in Israel)
Rabbi Aharon Kotler (founder of the Lakewood yeshivas in America)
Rabbi Ovadya Yosef (leader of Israeli Sephardi Haredim)
Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv (present-day leader of Israel's non-Hasidic Ashkenazi Haredim)
Rabbis of the Edah HaChareidis rabbinical council of Jerusalem
Rebbes of the Satmar Hasidim (originally Hungary, now New York)
Rebbes of the Gerrer Hasidim (originally Poland, now Israel)
Rebbes of Lubavitch
Agudath Israel of America
Bnei Brak
Chabad Lubavitch
Degel HaTorah
Divine Providence in Contemporary Jewish thought
Hardal
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic and Haredi Jewish population growth
Hasidim and Mitnagdim
Mashgiach Ruchani
Orthodox Judaism
Posek
Rebbe
Relationships between Jewish religious movements
Rosh yeshiva
United Torah Judaism
ZAKA
World Agudath Israel

Allen Lee Davis (July 20, 1944 - July 8, 1999) was a mass murderer executed on July 8, 1999, for the May 11, 1982 Jacksonville, Florida murder of Nancy Weiler, who was three-months pregnant at the time. According to reports, Nancy Weiler, was "beaten almost beyond recognition" by Davis with a .357, and hit over 25 times in the face and head.
He was also convicted of killing Nancy Weiler's two daughters, Kristina (10, shot twice in the face) and Katherine (5, shot as she was trying to run away). Davis was on parole for armed robbery at the time of the murders.

Controversy
Davis' execution drew nationwide media attention after he had a nose bleed in the electric chair and suffered burns to his head, leg, and groin area during the course of his electrocution. A Florida Supreme Court justice published some photos of the aftermath of the incident.
In 1999, the state of Florida heard a petition from Thomas Harrison Provenzano, another death row inmate, that argued that the electric chair was a cruel and unusual punishment. During the proceedings, many people testified about Davis's death.
During Davis's execution, the recorder collected the following data:
The state of Florida found that Davis had died a painless death and was not asphyxiated.

Ira E. Whitlock, licensed electrical engineer, said that during the execution of Allen Lee Davis, the readings produced by Old Sparky's chart recorder indicated that the circuitry operated as it was designed and intended to operate. Others corroborated this testimony.
John W. Moser, Capital Collateral Regional Counsel for the Middle Region, testified that between the time Davis was strapped into the chair and the time the electrical current was applied to Davis, he heard what he described as two screams from Davis. He also said that upon application of the current, Davis's body tensed and arched backward, and seconds later, blood appeared on Davis's chest. Moser approximated that around three minutes after Davis's body tensed, at a point when Davis was no longer tensed, he saw Davis's chest move in and out several times.
Mark Lazarus, Victim Assistance Administrator for the Florida Department of Corrections, testified that after the head piece was placed on Davis' head, he heard Davis make two one-syllable sounds that he also described as a "yell[ing] out." He corroborated Moser's observations of Davis's body clenching and blood began dripping onto Davis from behind the mask. Lazarus also saw Davis's chest move, but described it as like a muscle spasm.
Sheila McAllister, Correctional Probation Officer at Wakulla Correctional Institution, testified that, though Davis's face was red before being executed, it was redder in the photographs of Davis taken after the execution had taken place. She said, like Moser and Lazarus, that Davis stiffened as the electrical current passed through him, and added that his hands clenched. She also heard Davis make noise, which she described as moaning sounds. She corroborated that Davis had blood on his chest that appeared to be coming from behind the mask, and that Davis's chest moved like muscle spasms. She added that they occurred three or four times and that they were spaced apart with two or three seconds in between.
William R. Dotson, Inspector Supervisor for the Gainesville Field Office with the Department of Corrections' Inspector General's Office, testified that he and "Mr. Geibig" took some of the pictures of Davis's body after the execution, and that he had felt it necessary to document the event.
Michael R. Collins, a nurse for the Florida State Prison testified that he heard Davis make one "loud maybe two, three-second high-pitched murmur" before the current was applied. He corroborated the characterization of Davis's body as stiffened or rigid when the current was applied, and said that Davis's fingernails turned bright red. After the current was stopped and Davis was examined, Collins said that he saw blood on Davis's shirt, on his chest and on the upper right side by the collar, and blood dripping from the mask for a short time during the examination.
Steve Wellhausen, employee of Florida State Prison assigned to escort the official witnesses to the execution of Allen Lee Davis, corroborated reports of noise coming from Davis (which he described as a low muffled moan), Davis's stiffening body and tightening hands, and blood coming from beneath the mask and movement of Davis's chest after the current ceased, though Wellhausen stated that it did not look like breathing to him. He also said that it was not uncommon for these chest movements to occur after execution by electric chair.
Robert K. Thomas, John H. "Jack" McNeill, and William Muse established that Davis made a noise after the placing of the mouthpiece into his mouth but before the current was applied. McNeil stated that he heard two noises, once when he put the waist strap on Davis, and again when Thomas tightened the chin strap for the head piece. Thomas testified that he heard Davis moan one time while the strap for the mouthpiece was being tightened, but did not do anything about it. Thomas also stated that he saw two bubbles of blood in Davis's left nostril even before the current had been applied to Davis, but did nothing at that time either.
Thomas Varnes, Warden at Wakulla Correctional Institution, corroborrated some previous testimony, and said that he thought the nose bleed may have something to do with the high blood pressure that Davis was reported to have. Varnes, too, had high blood pressure and nose bleeds, but tesified that he does not have pain with his nose bleeds.
Aubrey D. Thornton, Assistant Warden at Florida State Prison, corroborrated some previous testimony, and added that the mouth strap, as it appeared in a photograph presented as evidence, was not in the same position that it was in when Thornton positioned it on his prior to the execution. He said that the mouth strap was higher and closer to Davis' nose. He stated that Davis appeared redder after the mouth strap was applied, but that he did not appear to have trouble breathing.
William F. Mathews, P.A., physician's assistant for Florida State Prison, corroborrated that Davis could not have had trouble breathing. Matthews took Davis's pulse for two minutes after the electrical current ceased and did not feel anything. He also checked for heart and lung sounds and did not hear any. He said that he saw Davis's chest slump but that Davis did not show any sign of life when this occurred.
Robert Kirschner, M.D., forensic pathologist from Illinois, performed an autopsy on Davis and testified that the nose bleed Davis experienced appeared to come from septal area of the left nostril. According to his observations during the autopsy, Kirschner testified that he believed that the mouthpiece partially asphyxiated Davis and that the cause of death was electrocution and association of partial asphyxiation which occurred before the electrocution, and that he believed that Davis was suffering from conscious pain during the period of asphyxiation.
Kris Sperry, M.D., Chief Medical Examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, testified that the application of ten amps of current to brain tissue causes instant loss of consciousness, including cessation of the experience of pain, and that a person can indeed bleed while dead. Sperry disagreed with Kirschner's opinion regarding the mouthpiece, but thought that the nose bleed occurred from some sort of increased pressure in Davis' upper torso or head region.
William Hamilton, M.D., Medical Examiner for the Eighth Judicial Circuit, who performed an autopsy on Davis, was deposed, stating that Davis had burns on his scalp and forehead, on his suprapubic and right upper medial thigh region, and behind the right knee. He believed the burns on the inmates executed in the previous five or six years were smaller than those on inmates executed before that time. He corroborrated earlier testimony in addition.

David Edgar (b. February 26, 1948) is a British playwright particularly active since the late 1970s. He gained widespread prominence with his two-part adaptation of Charles' Dickens "Nicholas Nickleby", which played extensively in London and the US.
His best-known original play is Pentecost, which takes place in Eastern Europe during the early 1990s and concerns the discovery of a mural in a small church. This forms the middle in three plays about Eastern Europe, all with a subtheme of negotiation - the first, "The Shape of the Table", written shortly after the collapse of Communist rule, while the third, "The Prisoner's Dilemma", premiered shortly before September 11th. In 2003 his two-play epic Continental Divide, which is about American politics, was commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon and the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California and performed at both theatres with mixed reviews. His play, "Playing with Fire", premiered at the National Theatre in London. He also wrote Albert Speer, a play based on biographies and factual evidence about Speer during his time as Adolf Hitler's Architect, Munitions Minister, and friend during Nazi rule of Germany, and his subsequent imprisonment, release, and battle with himself over the denial of The Holocaust. The play premiered at the National Theatre in London in 2000.

In SQL, the TRUNCATE statement removes all the data from a table. The TRUNCATE statement is not actually a part of the SQL standard, but many relational database management systems implement it. It is equivalent in function to a DELETE FROM my table; statement. However, on some systems, it is implemented differently.
The syntax for issuing a truncate command on a table could be implemented as: Truncate Table [schema][.] <table_name>;

Yoga (Devanagari: योग) is a group of ancient spiritual practices originating in India. As a general term in Hinduism Raja Yoga, known simply as Yoga in the context of Hindu philosophy, is one of the six orthodox (āstika) schools of thought, established by the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

Etymology

History of Yoga
Several seals discovered at Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300–1700 BC) sites depict figures in a yoga or meditation like posture. The most widely known of these was named the "Pashupati seal"

Indus Valley seals
See also: History of Yoga
The main textual sources for the evolving concept of Yoga are the middle Upanishads, (ca. 400 BCE), the Mahabharata (from ca. 400 BC) including the Bhagavad Gita (ca. 200 BCE), and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (200 BCE-300 CE).

Literary sources

Main article: Bhagavad Gita Bhagavad Gita

Main articles: Raja Yoga and Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Main article: Hatha yoga Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Yoga in other traditions

Main article: Yoga and Buddhism Yoga and Buddhism
Yogacara (Sanskrit: "Practice of Yoga [Union]"

Zen (Ch`an) Buddhism
Yoga is central to Tibetan Buddhism. In the Nyingma tradition, practitioners progress to increasingly profound levels of yoga, starting with Mahā yoga, continuing to Anu yoga and ultimately undertaking the highest practice, Ati yoga. In the Sarma traditions, the Anuttara yoga class is equivalent. Other tantra yoga practices include a system of 108 bodily postures practiced with breath and heart rhythm. Timing in movement exercises is known as Trul khor or union of moon and sun (channel) prajna energies. The body postures of Tibetan ancient yogis are depicted on the walls of the Dalai Lama's summer temple of Lukhang.

Tibetan Buddhism

Main article: Tantra Yoga and Tantra
Within the monist schools of Advaita Vedanta and Shaivism this perfection takes the form of Moksha, which is a liberation from all worldly suffering and the cycle of birth and death (Samsara) at which point there is a cessation of thought and an experience of blissful union with the Supreme Brahman. For the dualistic bhakti schools of Vaishnavism, bhakti itself is the ultimate goal of the yoga process

See also

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (commonly referred to as KKR) is a New York City-based private equity firm that focuses primarily on late-stage leveraged buyouts. It was founded in 1976 by Jerome Kohlberg, Jr., and cousins Henry Kravis and George R. Roberts, all of whom had previously worked together at Bear Stearns.

The KKR approach
After the 1987 resignation of Jerome Kohlberg at age 61 (he later founded his own private equity firm, Kohlberg & Co.), Henry Kravis succeeded him as senior partner. Under Kravis and Roberts, the firm was responsible for the 1988 leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco. At a cost of $31.4 billion including net debt of $6.3 billion, it was then the highest price ever paid for a commercial enterprise, financed with a combination of bank debt, high yield bonds, and a $3.6 billion equity investment by KKR. The deal was only rivaled in July 2006 by the $33 billion buyout of U.S. hospital operator Hospital Corporation of America, in which KKR also participated, though the RJR deal was larger, adjusted for inflation.
The publicity surrounding the RJR Nabisco buyout led to a book, Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco and subsequent film. The initial equity injection by KKR was $1.5bn, in July 1990 they were forced to put in an additional $1.7 bn.
The RJR transaction benefited many of the parties involved. Investment bankers and lawyers who advised KKR walked away with over $1 billion in fees, and Henry Kravis and George Roberts attracted unprecedented amount of publicity that turned the cousins into instant celebrities.
However, KKR's investors, mainly public and private pension funds who provided KKR with the capital for this buyout, did not do so well. After over fifteen years of efforts that included taking RJR public, as well as exchanging shares of RJR for the ownership of Borden Foods, formerly chemicals-to-pasta conglomerate, KKR finally exited the investment in 2005, selling the remnants of its stake in Borden's Chemical division to Apollo group at a significant loss.
In the recent years, KKR's track record has been mixed. Heavy losses on such investments as Regal Entertainment Group, Spalding, and Primedia were offset by successes in Willis Group, Wise Foods, Inc., Shoppers Drug Mart, Bell Canada Yellow Pages, Wincor Nixdorf, MTU Aero Engines and TXU, among others. KKR opened a successful office in London led by Johannes Huth, but it lost many of its original partners, including Saul Fox, Ted Ammon, Ned Gilhuly, Mike Tokarz and Scott Stuart who were instrumental in establishing KKR's reputation and track record in the 1980s. KKR remains tightly controlled by Kravis and Roberts. The issue of succession will likely continue to leave a large dark cloud over KKR's future.

Deals
(may 2006 : consortium to buy Nielsen (former VNU) ) (nov 2006 : buys French Yellow Pages)

On May 28, 2007, KKR announced it had withdrawn along with CVC from the consortium bidding for Australian retailer Coles Group. Recent activities
As of 1996, general partners (as opposed to associates) included Henry Kravis, George R. Roberts, Paul E. Raether, Robert I. MacDonnell, Michael W. Michelson, Saul A. Fox, James H. Greene, Jr., Michael T. Tokarz, Clifton S. Robbins, Scott M. Stuart, Perry Golkin and Edward A. Gilhuly. Gilhuly was the Managing Partner of KKR's European operations, based in London until November 2004, when he returned back to the United States. Johannes Huth, then a 44 year old (now 46) German national, was appointed head of the London office. Along with these partners and employees is one of the investors and share owner, Robert Rosner.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Bob Kurtz is a director, producer, artist, and designer who primarily works in films and TV commercials.

Selected filmography

Drawing on My Mind

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau (July 14, 1816 — October 13, 1882) was a French aristocrat, novelist and man of letters who became famous for developing the racialist theory of the Aryan master race in his book An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (1853-1855).

Miscellaneous

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Professional fraternities, in the North American fraternity system, are organizations whose membership is restricted to students and faculty members in a particular field of professional education. Within that field, their membership is exclusive; however, they may initiate members who belong to other types of fraternities.
Professional fraternities are often confused with honor societies because of their focus on a specific disciple. Professional fraternities are actually significantly different from honor societies in that honor societies are associations designed to provide recognition of the past achievement of those who are invited to membership. Honor society membership, in most cases, requires no period of pledging, and new members can be immediately inducted into membership after meeting predetermined academic criteria and paying a one time membership fee. Because of their purpose of recognition, most honor societies will have much higher academic achievement requirements for membership. Professional fraternities, on the other hand, work to build brotherhood among members and cultivate the strengths of members in order to serve the community and provide assistance to one another in their mutual areas of professional study. Membership in a professional fraternity is generally the result of lengthy pledge process, much like any other social fraternity; and members are expected to remain loyal and active in the organization for life. A few groups, such as Phi Sigma Pi, are considered to be both a fraternity and an honors organization. These organizations require higher GPAs, like an honor society, but operate as a brotherhood like a traditional professional fraternity.

History
While nearly all professional fraternities are now required by federal law (commonly referred to as "Title IX," enacted in 1972) to be co-ed, several still restrict membership to only men or only women. Because the primary goal of professional fraternities is to prepare students to be leaders in specific professions, and to advance the interests of those professions, under Title IX, it would be considered discrimination to limit such opportunities to one sex, and federal funding could be withheld from any institution that discriminates on the basis of sex. The few professional fraternities that have remained single sex have been allowed to do so because they have defined themselves primarily as general social fraternities, while still retaining their focus on a specific professional discipline. Department of Education regulations adopted pursuant to Title IX allow such an exception for "the membership practices of social fraternities and sororities." (34 C.F.R. Sec. 106.14(a)). Examples of professional groups that have been granted exception to remain single sex because of their social focus include Alpha Gamma Rho, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and Sigma Alpha Iota.

Title IX Applied to Professional Fraternities
Most major professional fraternities are members of the Professional Fraternity Association. This group resulted in 1978 from a merger of the Professional Interfraternity Conference (PIC) (for men's groups) and the Professional Panhellenic Association (PPA) (for women's groups).

Umbrella Organizations

List of professional fraternities

ΑΖ - Alpha Zeta - Agriculture
ΑΓΡ - Alpha Gamma Rho - Agriculture, exclusively male
ΣΑ - Sigma Alpha - Agriculture, exclusively female Agriculture

ΑΡΧ - Alpha Rho Chi - Architecture
Scarab - Architecture Architecture

ΑΚΨ - Alpha Kappa Psi - Business
ΓΙΣ - Gamma Iota Sigma - Insurance, Risk Management, Actuary Science
ΔΣΠ - Delta Sigma Pi - Business
ΠΣΕ - Pi Sigma Epsilon - Sales and Marketing
ΡΕ - Rho Epsilon - Real Estate
ΣΙΕ - Sigma Iota Epsilon- National Honorary and Professional Management Fraternity
ΦΓΝ - Phi Gamma Nu - Business
ΦΧΘ - Phi Chi Theta - Business Engineering

ΔΘΦ - Delta Theta Phi - Law
ΦΑΔ - Phi Alpha Delta — Law
ΦΔΦ - Phi Delta Phi - Law Law

AΓK - Alpha Gamma Kappa - Podiatry
ΑΤΔ - Alpha Tau Delta - Nursing
ΑΩ - Alpha Omega - Dentistry
BΣ - Beta Sigma - Medicine
ΔΕΜ - Delta Epsilon Mu - Health
ΔΣΔ - Delta Sigma Delta - Dentistry
ΚΓΔ - Kappa Gamma Delta - Medicine
ΚΕ - Kappa Epsilon - Pharmacy
KTE - Kappa Tau Epsilon - Podiatry
ΚΨ - Kappa Psi - Pharmacy
ΜΣΦ - Mu Sigma Phi - University of the Philippines Medicine
ΣΜΔ - Sigma Mu Delta - Medicine
ΣфХ -Sigma Phi Chi- Chiropractic womens professional sorority
ΦΑΣ - Phi Alpha Sigma - Medicine
ΦΔΕ - Phi Delta Epsilon - Medicine
ΦΔΧ - Phi Delta Chi - Pharmacy
ΦKM - Phi Kappa Mu - Medicine - University of the Philippines
ΦΡΣ - Phi Rho Sigma - Medicine
ΦΧ - Phi Chi - Medicine
ΩΤΣ - Omega Tau Sigma - Veterinary Medicine Medicine

ΔΟΣ - Delta Omicron Sigma - Military veterans
ΔΦΕ - Delta Phi Epsilon - Foreign Service
Scabbard and Blade - Military Military, Government, & Foreign Service

ΔΟ - Delta Omicron - Music
ΚΚΨ - Kappa Kappa Psi - Band
ΜΦΕ - Mu Phi Epsilon - Music
ΣΑΙ - Sigma Alpha Iota - Music, exclusively female
ΤΒΣ - Tau Beta Sigma - Band Service

ΑEΖ - Alpha Epsilon Zeta - South Asian Professional
ΑΕΡ - Alpha Epsilon Rho - Broadcasting
ΑΗΡ - Alpha Eta Rho - Aviation
ΑΧΣ - Alpha Chi Sigma - Chemistry
ΓΕΤ - Gamma Epsilon Tau - Printing and Digital Media
ΖΦΗ - Zeta Phi Eta - Communication arts & sciences
ΛΑ - Lambda Alpha - Anthropology
ΛΚΣ - Lambda Kappa Sigma - Pharmacology for women
ΡΠΦ - Rho Pi Phi - Pharmacology
ΦΑΤ - Phi Alpha Tau - Communicative Arts
ΦΒ - Phi Beta - Creative and Performing Arts
ΦΣΠ - Phi Sigma Pi - National Honor Fraternity

Friday, October 19, 2007

Winfield Scott "Scotty" Moore III (born December 27, 1931 near Gadsden, Tennessee) is a legendary American guitarist and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is best known for his backing of Elvis Presley in the first part of his career, between 1954 and the beginning of Elvis' Hollywood years.
Scotty Moore learned to play the guitar from family and friends at eight years of age. Although underaged when he enlisted, Moore served in the United States Navy between 1948 and 1952.
Moore's early background was in jazz and country music. A fan of guitarist Chet Atkins, Moore led a group called the "Starlite Wranglers" before Sam Phillips at Sun Records put him together with then teenage Elvis Presley. Phillips believed that Moore's lead guitar and double bassist Bill Black was all that was needed to augment Presley's rhythm guitar and lead vocals on their recordings. In 1954 Moore and Black accompanied Elvis on what was going to be the first legendary Presley hit, the Sun Studios session cut of "That's All Right (Mama)", a recording regarded as a seminal event in rock and roll history. Elvis, Black and Scotty Moore then formed the "Blue Moon Boys". They were later joined by drummer D.J. Fontana. Beginning in July of 1954, the "Blue Moon Boys" toured and recorded throughout the American South and as Presley's popularity rose, they toured the United States and made appearances in various Presley television shows and motion pictures.
Moore played on many of Presley's most famous recordings including "Good Rockin' Tonight", "Baby Let's Play House", "Heartbreak Hotel", "Mystery Train", "Hound Dog", "Too Much" and "Jailhouse Rock", with the backing group The Jordanaires.
Scotty Moore is given credit as the pioneer of the rock 'n' roll lead guitarist. Most popular guitarists cite Moore as the performer that brought the lead guitarist to a dominant role in a rock 'n' roll band. Although some lead guitarists/vocalists had gained popularity such as Chuck Berry and blues legend BB King, Presley rarely played his own lead while performing, usually providing rhythm and leaving the lead duties to Moore. Moore was a noticeable presence in the Presley performances, strictly as a guitarist. As a result, he became an inspiration to many subsequent popular guitarists, one of the more vocal of these being Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. Moore, being quite introverted on stage, accomplished this almost exclusively through his performance and interpretation of the music.
In the 1960s, Moore released a solo album called The Guitar That Changed the World. He performed on the NBC television special known as the '68 Comeback Special.
While with Presley, Moore initially played a Gibson ES-295.
For his pioneering contribution, Moore has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In 2000, he was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Infant mortality is defined as the number of infants who are born alive, but die before one year of age. The most common cause of infant mortality worldwide has traditionally been dehydration from diarrhea. Because of the success of spreading information about Oral Rehydration Solution (a mixture of salts, sugar, and water) to mothers around the world, the rate of children dying from dehydration has been decreasing and has become the second most common cause in the late 1990s. Currently the most common cause is pneumonia. Major causes of infant mortality in more developed countries include congenital malformation, infection and SIDS.
Infanticide, abuse, abandonment, and neglect may also contribute to infant mortality.
Related statistical categories:
Infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of newborns dying under a year of age divided by the number of live births during the year. The infant mortality rate is also called the infant death rate. In past times, infant mortality claimed a considerable percentage of children born, but the rates have significantly declined in the West in modern times, mainly due to improvements in basic health care, though high technology medical advances have also helped. Infant mortality rate is commonly included as a part of standard of living evaluations in economics.
The infant mortality rate is reported as number of live newborns dying under a year of age per 1,000 live births, so that IMRs from different countries can be compared. A good source for the most recent IMRs as well as under 5 mortality rates (U5MR) is the UNICEF publication 'The State of the World's Children' available at http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_18108.html. For example, the worst U5MR is 284 in Sierra Leone. (That is, 28% of all children born die before they turn 5 years old.) The 29 countries with the highest U5MRs are in Africa. The U5MR of the United States is 8, and there are 31 countries with lower U5MRs, although many of those use a less stringent definition of mortality than the US. Sweden's is among the lowest at 3.

Perinatal mortality only includes deaths between the foetal viability (28 weeks gestation) and the end of the 7th day after delivery.
Neonatal mortality only includes deaths in the first 28 days of life.
Post-neonatal death only includes deaths after 28 days of life but before one year.
Child mortality includes deaths within the first five years after birth. Infant mortality rate in countries

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

National Football League (1937–present)
In Cleveland
In Los Angeles
In St. Louis
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The team has won two NFL Championships and one Super Bowl.
The Rams began playing in 1937 in Cleveland, Ohio as a second incarnation of the previous Cleveland Rams team that was a charter member of the 1936-37 American Football League. Although the NFL granted membership to the same owner, this new NFL franchise technically became a separate entity since only four of the players (William "Bud" Cooper, Harry "The Horse" Mattos, Stan Pincura, Mike Sebastian) and none of the team's personnel joined the new NFL team.

Western Division (1937-1949)
National Conference (1950-1952)
Western Conference (1953-1969)

• Coastal Division (1967-1969)
  National Football Conference (1970-present)
  
  
  
  • NFC West (1970-present)
    Cleveland Rams (1936-1945)
    Los Angeles Rams (1946-1994)
    St Louis Rams (1995–present)
    NFL Championships (2) 1945, 1951
    Super Bowl Championships (1) 1999 (XXXIV)
    NFL National: 1950, 1951
    NFL Western: 1955
    NFC: 1979, 1999, 2001
    NFL West: 1945, 1949
    NFL Coastal: 1967, 1969
    NFC West: 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1985, 1999, 2001, 2003
    Cleveland Municipal Stadium (1937, 1939-1941, 1945)
    League Park (1937, 1942, 1944-1945)
    Shaw Stadium (1938)
    Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1946-1979)
    Anaheim Stadium (1980-1994)
    Busch Memorial Stadium (First half of 1995 season)
    Edward Jones Dome (Second half of the 1995 season-present)
    
    
    
    • a.k.a. Trans World Dome (1995-2000)
      a.k.a. Dome at America's Center (2001) Franchise history
      The Cleveland Rams were founded by attorney Homer Marshman in 1936. Their name, the Rams, comes from the nickname of Fordham University. Rams was selected to honor the hard work of the players that came out of that university. They were part of the newly formed American Football League. The following year they joined the National Football League and were assigned the Western division to replace the St. Louis Gunners, who disbanded after the 1934 season.
      
      Cleveland Rams (1936-1945)
      In 1946, Rams' owner Dan Reeves, fed up with poor attendance at Cleveland Stadium and competing against the Cleveland Browns (then members of the All-America Football Conference), the Rams became the first NFL team based on the West Coast. (There had been a team called the Los Angeles Buccaneers in 1926, but they played their schedule on the road only.) Reeves inked a deal with the city to lease the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and the team played there from 1946 to 1979.
      Reeves died in 1971, and through a complicated arrangement with the Baltimore Colts that brought Bob Irsay in as Colts' owner, Carroll Rosenbloom, who had been the Colts' owner, took over the Rams.
      Rosenbloom had long been bothered by the Coliseum Commission's apparent foot dragging on building luxury boxes at the Coliseum, which he saw as essential to future success. He broke off negotiations with the Commission and started to negotiate to play at Dodger Stadium, but Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley did not want a football team playing at Chavez Ravine. Rosenbloom was petitioned by Orange County Supervisor Ralph Clark, the founder of the Los Angeles Rams Booster Club, to move the team to Anaheim Stadium, the home of the California Angels. Clark convinced Angels owner Gene Autry to okay the remodeling of Anaheim Stadium to accommodate the Rams, expanding capacity to 68,000 and putting in seating appropriate to football. In 1980, the Rams moved to Anaheim from Los Angeles.
      
      Los Angeles Rams (1946-1994)
      Under the terms of the Rams' deal with Anaheim, they were to receive the rights to develop plots of land near the Stadium. When nothing came of these plans, and with attendance falling, Rams' owner Georgia Frontiere (Rosenbloom's widow, as he died before the move to Anaheim was completed) got permission to relocate the team. After an aborted move to Baltimore, the Rams moved from Los Angeles to St. Louis in 1995, initially playing at Busch Stadium until the TransWorld Dome (now the Edward Jones Dome) was completed. Interestingly, the NFL owners originally rejected the move -- until Frontiere agreed to share some of the permanent seat license revenue she was to receive from St. Louis. This same year the then-Los Angeles Raiders were threatening to relocate as well -- and did, back to Oakland.
      The 1995 and 1996 seasons the Rams were under the direction of head coach Rich Brooks. Then in 1997 Dick Vermeil was hired as the head coach. He remained head coach until retiring after the Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV against the Tennessee Titans in early 2000. After that Mike Martz took over until his firing in 2005. Scott Linehan is the current head coach after replacing Martz in January of 2006. During this time some of the most important players have been Marshall Faulk, Torry Holt, and Issac Bruce. They were part of an offense dubbed "one of the fastest ever" and "The Greatest Show on Turf". This offense has been under the direction of Kurt Warner (1999-2001) and Marc Bulger (2002-present).
      
      St Louis Rams (1995-present)
      
      
      Main article: St. Louis Rams seasons Seasons-by-season records
      The Rams became the first professional American football team to have a logo on their helmets. Ever since halfback Fred Gehrke painted ram horns on the team's helmets in 1948, the logo has been the club's trademark.
      When the team debuted in 1937, the Rams' colors were red and black, featuring red helmets and black uniforms with red shoulders and sleeves. One year later they would switch their team colors to yellow and blue, with yellow helmets, white pants and blue uniforms. The Rams switched to yellow uniforms in the mid 1940s. When Gehrke introduced the horns, they were painted yellow gold on blue helmets. During the late 1950s, the team wore blue jerseys again.
      In 1964, the colors were changed to blue and white. The helmets became blue with white rams' horns, the uniform design was changed to white pants and either blue or white jerseys. The Rams wore their white jerseys at home from the 1964 season up through the 1971 season; a tradition that continued under Tommy Prothro. Prothro switched the Rams to the blue jerseys at home in 1972, the final season of the blue and white combination.
      The colors returned to yellow gold and blue in 1973. The new uniform design consisted of yellow gold pants and curling rams horns on the sleeves – yellow gold horns on the blue jerseys and blue horns on the white jerseys. The white jerseys had yellow gold sleeves.
      The team's colors were changed from yellow gold and blue to New Century Gold (metallic gold) and Millennium (navy) blue in 2000 following the Super Bowl win. A new logo of a ram's head was added to the sleeves and gold stripes were added to the sides of the jerseys. The new gold pants no longer featured any stripes. The helmet design essentially remains the same as it was in 1948, except for updates to the coloring, navy blue field with gold horns. Both home and away jerseys had a gold stripe that ran down each side, but that only lasted for the 2000 and 2001 seasons.
      In 2003, the Rams wore blue pants with their white jerseys for a pair of early-season games, but after losses to the New York Giants and Seattle Seahawks, the Rams reverted to gold pants with their white jerseys. In 2005, the Rams wore an all-blue combination for games against the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys. In November 2006, the Rams introduced white pants with a gold stripe in a game at the Carolina Panthers to feature an all-white combination. It is rumored that the Rams will wear more of this all white combination during the 2007 season.
      Los Angeles Rams helmet logo used from 1964-1972; note the white and blue
      Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams helmet logo used from 1973-1999, it was also used as the team's primary logo from 1981-1994; note the yellow and blue
      St. Louis Rams helmet logo used from 2000-present; note the gold and navy blue
      Cleveland Rams primary logo from 1940-1945.
      Los Angeles Rams primary logo used from 1950-1972.
      Los Angeles Rams primary logo used from 1973-1980.
      Saint Louis Rams primary logo used from 2000-present.
      Los Angeles Rams script logo used from 1984-1994.
      St. Louis Rams script and primary logo used from 1995-1999; note the representation of St. Louis' Gateway Arch.
      
      Logo and uniforms
      See also: List of St. Louis Rams players
      
      Players of note
      Running Backs
      Wide Receivers
      Tight Ends
      Defensive Linemen
      Defensive Backs
      Injured Reserve
      Practice Squad
      Rookies in italics
      Roster Depth Chart Transactions
      Updated 2007-08-15
      → More rosters
      
       3 Brock Berlin
      10 Marc Bulger
      11 Ryan Fitzpatrick
      12 Gus Frerotte
      32 Rich Alexis
      33 Kay-Jay Harris
      44 Madison Hedgecock FB
      30 Robert Hubbard
      39 Steven Jackson
      48 Brad Lau FB
      23 Brian Leonard RB/FB
      22 Travis Minor
      36 John David Washington
      83 Drew Bennett
      80 Isaac Bruce
       9 Fred Gibson
      15 Marques Hagans
      81 Torry Holt
      89 Dane Looker
      82 Dante Hall
      -- Rasheed Marshall
      18 Nate Morton
      13 Shaine Smith
      19 Derek Stanley
      17 Dominique Thompson
       8 Markee White
      49 Mark Anelli
      47 Steve Buches
      86 Dominique Byrd
      88 Joe Klopfenstein
      84 Randy McMichael
      87 Aaron Walker
      70 Alex Barron T
      72 Milford Brown G
      62 Dustin Fry C
      73 Adam Goldberg G
      68 Richie Incognito G
      67 Andy McCollum C
      76 Orlando Pace T
      74 Jeremy Parquet T
      64 Dave Pearson C
      65 Brett Romberg C
      66 Mark Setterstrom G
      69 Kendrick Shackleford T
      79 Todd Steussie G
      77 Drew Strojny T
      75 Claude Terrell G
      94 Victor Adeyanju DE
      90 Adam Carriker DE/DT
      97 La'Roi Glover DT
      96 James Hall DE
      98 Keith Jackson, Jr. DT
      95 Trevor Johnson DE
      91 Leonard Little DE
      92 Eric Moore DE
      64 Alton Pettway DE
      93 Clifton Ryan DT
      71 Tim Sandidge DT
      99 Claude Wroten DT
      57 Jon Alston OLB
      55 Jamal Brooks OLB
      54 Brandon Chillar OLB
      53 Quinton Culberson OLB
      52 Chris Draft OLB
      58 Larry Edwards OLB
      59 Tim McGarigle ILB
      56 Raonall Smith OLB
      50 Pisa Tinoisamoa OLB
      51 Will Witherspoon ILB
      21 Oshiomogho Atogwe FS
      24 Ron Bartell FS
      34 Fakhir Brown CB
      42 Jerome Carter SS
      25 Corey Chavous SS
      38 Jeffery Dukes FS
      30 Harrison Smith CB
      35 Todd Johnson SS
      43 Andre Kirkland SS
      20 Josh Lay CB
      41 Darius Vinnett CB
      37 Jonathan Wade CB
      27 Lenny Walls CB
       4 Fred Capshaw P
       5 Donnie Jones P
       2 Kevin Lovell K
      45 Chris Massey LS/FB
      14 Jeff Wilkins K
      Currently vacant
      Currently vacant Current roster
      These Rams, and St. Louis Cardinals Hall-of-Famers Dan Dierdorf, Jackie Smith and Larry Wilson, are honored in the Ring of Honor at the Edward Jones Dome. Only Slater, however, played for the Rams in St. Louis, and then only for the inaugural 1995 season. The team plans to honor recent Cardinals Hall-of-Fame inductee Roger Wehrli at a game in 2007.
      Ollie Matson (33), Andy Robustelli (81), Dick "Night Train" Lane (also 81), coach Earl "Dutch" Clark, general manager Tex Schramm, GM and later NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, and coach Sid Gillman are also members of the Hall of Fame, but were elected on the basis of their performances with other teams or (in the case of Rozelle) NFL administration. Dick Vermeil has become the first and still only St. Louis Rams figure inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Cardinals inducted into it include Dierdorf, Smith, Wilson, Conrad Dobler, Jim Hart and coach Jim Hanifan.
      
      Pro Football Hall of Famers
      
      7 Bob Waterfield
      29 Eric Dickerson
      74 Merlin Olsen
      78 Jackie Slater
      85 Jack Youngblood Retired numbers
      
      Coaches of note
      
      Radio and television
      
      

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)