Mar 31

Broad Left Front

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Broad Left Front (in Spanish: Frente Amplio de Izquierda), often just referred to as Frente Amplio, is a coalition of leftist parties and movements in Peru. Initially the organization was known as National Coordination of Leftwing and Progressive Parties (Coordinadora Nacional de Izquierda y Partidos Progresistas). It took its current name in November 2005. Constituents of FAI includes:

  • New Left Movement (Movimiento Nueva Izquierda)
  • Popular Front (Frente Popular)
  • Peruvian Communist Party (Partido Comunista Peruano)
  • Communist Party of Peru (Red Fatherland) (Partido Comunista del Perú - Patria Roja)
  • Worker Peasant Student and Popular Front (Frente Obrero Campesino Estudiantil Popular)
  • Revolutionary Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Revolucionario)
  • Malpica Committee (Comité Malpica)
  • United People Movement (Movimiento Pueblo Unido)
  • Nationalist Party of the Andina Communities (Partido Nacionalista de las Comunidades Andinas)
  • Popular Democratic Front (Frente Democrático Popular)

FAI has nominated Alberto Moreno as its presidential candidate in the 2006 elections.


External links

  • Broad Left Front Official Site

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Mar 31

Silence procedure

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A silence procedure (French: procédure d’approbation tacite; Latin: qui tacet consentit, “who keeps silent consents”, “silence implies/means consent”) is a way of formally adopting texts, often, but not exclusively in international political context. A draft version of the text is circulated among participants who have a last opportunity to propose changes or amendments to the text. If no amendments are proposed (if no one ‘breaks the silence’) before the deadline of the procedure, the text is considered adopted by all participants. Often this procedure is the last step in adopting the text, after the basic premises of the text have been agreed upon in previous negotiations. ‘Breaking the silence’ is only a last resort in case a participant still has fundamental problems with parts of the text and is therefore the exception rather than the rule.

In the context of international organisations, the subject of the procedure is often a joint statement or a procedural document, a formal vote on which with the members meeting in person is deemed unnecessary. Indeed, it is often impractical to try and stage a meeting between representatives of all member states either due to the limited importance of the text to be agreed upon or due to time constraints in the case of a joint declaration prompted by recent events.

Organisations making extensive use of the procedure are, among others, the European Union, NATO and the OSCE. An expression of the silence procedure is contained in Annexe 1(A) “Application of a silence procedure in the Permanent Council and the Forum for Security Co-operation” of the Rules of Procedure of the OSCE (2006) [1]:

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Mar 30

Stinginess

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Wikipedia does not currently have an encyclopedia article for ‘. See Miser

You may like to search Wiktionary for “[[Wiktionary:Special:Search/|]]” instead.

To begin an article here, feel free to [ edit this page], but please do not create a mere dictionary definition.
Mar 30

Knights of Pendragon

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The Knights of Pendragon was the name of a superhero team published by the Marvel Comics imprint Marvel UK in a self-titled comic from 1990 to 1993, and in the anthology title Overkill. It was written by Dan Abnett and John Tomlinson with art by Gary Erskine.


Context

The comic was created during a period of attempted expansion by Marvel UK, trying to build on the critical success of Captain Britain. Knights of Pendragon was initially a highly political and environmental comic, its themes borrowing heavily from British folklore and the growing New Age and neopagan subcultures. Later issues regressed into a standard superhero title.

The comic was printed in Scangloss - an environmentally friendly paper using half the trees and minimum whitening bleach.


Synopsis

The team is formed to be agents of the Green Knight (from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight), who is portrayed as an aspect of the Green Man; a mystical entity representing the natural cycle and spiritual growth. The Knight is in ageless conflict with the Bane, an unnatural destructive force of warfare and winter, apparently led by the Red Knight, the Green Knight’s adversary. The Green Knight invests power, in the form of a possessing spirit bestowing powers, to various groups throughout British history, in order to protect nature; one such group were the original Knights of the Round Table; the Knights of Pendragon are a modern-day incarnation.


First volume

Dai Thomas, a supporting character from the Captain Britain strip and burnt-out Scotland Yard Inspector, is assigned to solve a series of gruesome murders of ecologically-based criminals (corrupt farmers, ivory hunters, exotic bird smugglers, and so on). Accompanied by satellite reporter Kate McClellan, Thomas becomes obsessed with fighting the criminals themselves, and after a series of visions, becomes superhumanly strong and battle-savvy.

Captain Britain is sent by the British Government to retrieve the apparently insane Thomas from a cut-down section of the Amazon Rainforest, they instead fight, and Britain kills Thomas. It becomes apparent that Thomas and the Captain are possessed by the spirit of Gawain and Lancelot respectively from the time of King Arthur. The Captain was destined to kill Thomas in an aftershadowing of Arthurian lore, who is then resurrected.

The three of them travel to the Green Knight’s citadel, whilst Thomas/Gawain recounts the Green Knight’s poem. The comic’s interpretation of the beheading-themed poem is as an ecological metaphor, a pact between man and nature:

‘A bargain between man and the great wild force that should stand forever, that neither should take more than he can give back…destroy more than he can replace…strike deep, and refuse to accept a blow in return.”

Man had forgotten that pact, and so the Knight was lashing out in pain. Gawain sacrifices his Pendragon power in order to partially heal the Knight, and also to spark the creation of another Pendragon group.


Second Volume


Characters

The team, a mix of everyday people and superheroes, consisted mostly of new characters, with the exception of Union Jack. Each member was the modern day version of an Arthurian knight, and was possessed by the same ancient spirit that had possessed that knight. The Green Knight gave each of them powers, including heightened senses and fighting skill, the ability to speak with animals, and the ability to shoot blasts of “Pendragon fire”.

The full roster was:

  • Albion (Peter Hunter): A history teacher who has had the power of Albion since World War I. He has battled the Bane throughout the years. He currently equates to Merlin, although the spirit that originally possessed him was that of Herne the Hunter. The leader of the group, he represents the Green Knight’s aspects of intellect and wisdom.
  • Kate McClellan: A reporter who was investigating a series of “eco-terrorist” attacks which turned out to be the work of the Green Man, she became the equivalent of Guinevere. Her son, Cam, was also a Pendragon, briefly possessing the spirit of Merlin, before Hunter reclaimed it.
  • Union Jack (Joey Chapman): The third hero to call himself Union Jack (the first was a World War I period character created by Roy Thomas, the second was his son), he equated to Lancelot.
  • Ben Gallagher: A writer with an obsession concerning the Holy Grail, Gallagher equated to Percival. He embodies the Green Knight’s spiritual and sensitive aspects.
  • Adam Crown: A young man whose Pendragon power was awoken by the team breaking up, he reunited the team and led it in battle against the Bane’s forces. He possessed the spirit of King Arthur.
  • Francesca Grace: An agent of the Bane reformed by Adam, she became a Pendragon, possessed by the spirit of Morgause.
  • Breeze James: A reporter hired by the malevolent technomagical company Mys-Tech to learn about the Pendragons, she became the new Guenevere after Kate McClellan left the team.
  • Sir Gawain: A robot from an Arthurian theme park, possessed by the spirit of Gawain, which had left its intended host (see below).

Not all Pendragons were members of the team. Captain Britain was briefly Lancelot, and his police contact Inspector Dai Thomas was possessed by the spirit of Gawain before the robot. It was also suggested that Iron Man and Black Panther were unawakened Pendragons, having the spirits of Bedevere and Robin Hood respectively. It is not known if the Black Knight’s current title of Pendragon is connected to the team.


External links

  • Review at Camelot in 4 Colors
  • Entry at the Marvel Unofficial Appendix

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Mar 30

RISC Single Chip

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RISC Single Chip (RSC) is a single chip microprocessor, based on POWER1, used in IBM RS/6000 models 220 and 230.


See also

  • PowerPC 601 which essentially was a cheaper and less powerful version of RSC with some PowerPC instructions added.
  • RAD6000 which is a radiation hardened version of RSC.


References

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Mar 30

Digital ICE

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Digital Image Correction and Enhancement is a set of technologies related to producing an altered image in a variety of frequency spectra. The objective of these technologies is to render an image more usable by Fourier or other filtering techniques. These technologies were most actively advanced in the 1960s and early 1970s in the fields of strategic reconnaissance and medical electronics.

The term “Digital ICE” initially applied specifically to a proprietary technology developed by Kodak’s Austin Development Center (formerly Applied Science Fiction) that automatically removes surface defects, such as dust and scratches, from scanned images. The ICE technology works from within the scanner, so unlike the software-only solutions it does not alter any underlying details of the image. Subsequent to the original “Digital Ice” technology which used infrared cleaning, additional image enhancement technologies were marketed by Applied Science Fiction and Kodak under similar and related names, often as part of a suite of compatible technologies.

Digital Ice is used to detect scratches and dust during film scan and not applicable for document scanning. The technology uses a scanner with a pair of light sources, a normal RGB lamp and an IR lamp, and scans twice, once with each lamp. The IR lamp detects the dust locations with its unique detection method and then software corrections are applied based on this data afterwards. The general concept is to subtract the position of scratches and dust from the RGB image.


External links

  • Eastman Kodak Company - Austin Development Center

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Mar 30

Crested mangabey

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The crested mangabeys are West-African Old World monkeys, belonging to the genus Lophocebus. They tend to have dark skin, eyelids that match their facial skin, and crests of hair on their heads. Another genus of mangabeys, Cercocebus, was once thought to be very closely related, so much so that all the species were in one genus. However, it is now understood that Lophocebus species are more closely related to the baboons in genus Papio, while the Cercocebus species are more closely related to the Mandrill. In 2006, the Highland Mangabey was moved from Lophocebus to a new genus, Rungwecebus, the first new primate genus in 83 years.


Species

  • Genus Lophocebus

    • Grey-cheeked Mangabey, Lophocebus albigena
    • Black Crested Mangabey, Lophocebus aterrimus
    • Opdenbosch’s Mangabey, Lophocebus opdenboschi
    • Lophocebus ugandae


References


External links

  • Primate Info Net Lophocebus Factsheets

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Mar 29

Solvychegodsk

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Solvychegodsk (, lit. ”salt on the Vychegda River”) is a town in the southern part of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located on the right-hand bank of the Vychegda River some 25 km northeast of Kotlas. Geographic coordinates: . Population: 2,843 (2002 Census).

Solvychegodsk was founded in the 14th century on the shores of the Lake Solyanoye. The town was called Usolsk in the 15th century. It had been the home of the Stroganov family since the early 16th century, who used to own local saltworks. In the 16th–17th centuries, Solvychegodsk was a big commercial, handicraft, and cultural hub of Northern Russia. It was especially famous its enamel industry. In 1796, the town became a part of Vologda guberniya. It was also known as a place of political exile. In 1937, Solvychegodsk was transferred to the jurisdiction of Arkhangelsk Oblast.

The town is home to a number of balneological resorts, where they use mineral springs and silt mud from the Lake Solyanoye.

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Mar 29

Hao Lulu

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Hao Lulu (, born 9 January 1979) is a young Manchu Chinese woman who has become famous in China for having undergone extensive cosmetic surgery in 2003 to alter her appearance, tagged “The Artificial Beauty” (人造美女).

Born in Beijing, Hao entered the China University of Geosciences in 1999. After graduation in 2001, she studied for a master’s degree in gemology in the United Kingdom until 2003. She became a freelance fashion writer briefly until July 19 2003 to August 14, when she started a series of operations to modify her eyes, nose, chin, breasts, abdomen, buttocks, legs, and skin.

In before-and-after photographs widely circulated in the media, her appearance was indeed radically altered, in particular her eyes, which were given double eyelids to give her a more occidental appearance (see Asian blepharoplasty). The color of her skin was also lightened.

The transformation of Lulu, the “Beauty Dreamwork Project” (治造美人), was organized by EverCare (伊美尔), a Beijing cosmetic surgery clinic, to promote its business, which had been languishing in the aftermath of the SARS epidemic. Evercare organized a press conference around Lulu to promote the company’s cosmetic surgery services.

The company’s actions have been criticized in China by doctors, who deplored it as a publicity stunt. However, it led to a great upsurge in interest in cosmetic surgery among China’s nouveau riche.

Hao’s diary, published on the clinic’s website, states the pain and numbness she felt after certain procedures. She also constantly expressed her wish to go home tomorrow, where “freedom” is. In the second last entry, she concluded, however, that all pains are gone and that it was such a relief: “How wonderful all these things are; I have no regret for my very first choice!” (这一切是多么的美好，我无悔我最初的选择！)


External links

  • “Chinese woman seeks perfect beauty” (BBC news)
  • Before-after photos
  • EverCare (in Simplified Chinese)
    • Her diary (in Simplified Chinese): 2-page

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Mar 29

Kanaka Dharane

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Kanaka Dharane is a Hindu marriage ritual.

The blessings of the Swamigalu are received and the bride and bridegroom each ties a sanctified thread around the wrist of the other. The ceremony is known as Kanaka Dharane and signifies that they have vowed to perform the rituals in the manner prescribed by the Shastras.

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Mar 28

Vaginectomy

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Vaginectomy is a medical procedure to remove all or part of the vagina. It is usually used as a treatment for vaginal cancer. Vaginectomy is also used as part of some types of female-to-male sex reassignment surgery.


Cancer

Vaginectomy can be divided into two kinds of operations.

An operation under which the whole vagina is removed is called a radical vaginectomy. If only the upper part of the vagina is removed then the operation is called a partial vaginectomy. The doctor will decide depending the severity of the case and the affected areas.

Usually after a radical vaginoplasty a plastic surgeon will perform a vaginal reconstruction, using skin and muscle from other body parts, for aesthetic reasons.


External Links

Vaginoplasty Images


Sources

Cancer Help

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Mar 28

Abrasion (dental)

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Abrasion is the loss of tooth structure by mechanical forces from a foreign element. If this force begins at the cementoenamel junction, then progression of tooth loss can be rapid since enamel is very thin in this region of the tooth. Once past the enamel, abrasion quickly destroys the softer dentin and cementum structures.

Possible sources of this wearing of tooth are toothbrushes, toothpicks, floss, and any dental appliance frequently set in and removed from the mouth. The appearance is commonly described as V-shaped when caused by excessive pressure during tooth brushing.

The teeth most commonly affected are premolars and canines.


See also

  • Attrition
  • Erosion
  • Abfraction
  • Bruxism


References

  • The Journal of Contemporary Dental Practice
  • Summit, James B., J. William Robbins, and Richard S. Schwartz. “Fundamentals of Operative Dentistry: A Contemporary Approach.” 2nd edition. Carol Stream, Illinois, Quintessence Publishing Co, Inc, 2001. ISBN 0-86715-382-2.

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Mar 28

Compositing (democracy)

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In deliberative procedure, compositing is the process of combining several motions into one composite motion.

The process of compositing motions may be desirable for two reasons. First, it can save the time of an assembly by avoiding presenting two or more similar motions. Second, it can increase the amount of support for the main provisions of two or more motions by producing a composite motion for which the supporters of each motion are likely to vote.

The major disadvantages of compositing are also twofold. The motions composited may, in some respects, be dissimilar: some of their supporters will not wish to vote for some provisions of the combined motion. Some provisions may have to be omitted from the composite motions - to reduce its length or because the supporters of the original motions will not agree to them.

The procedure of submitting motions to some conferences includes one or more rounds of compulsory compositing; in other cases, the compositing may be informal.

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Mar 28

Round-trip engineering

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Round-trip engineering is a functionality of software development tools that provides generation of models from source code and generation of source code from models; this way, existing source code can be converted into a model, be subjected to software engineering methods and then be converted back.


See also

  • Reverse engineering

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Mar 28

Greatest common denominator

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The greatest common denominator is a meaningless term, sometimes mistakingly used when one actually wishes to refer to either

  • the lowest common denominator, which is the least common multiple of the denominators of a set of vulgar fractions.
  • the greatest common divisor, which is the largest integer that divides all the numbers in a set of integers.
Mar 28

Phonetic form

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In the field of linguistics, specifically in syntax, phonetic form (abbreviated ‘PF’), refers to a certain level of mental representation of a linguistic expression, derived from surface structure, and sister to logical form. Phonetic form is the level of representation wherein expressions, or sentences, are assigned a phonetic representation, which is then pronounced by the speaker. Phonetic form takes surface structure as its input, and outputs an audible, pronounced sentence. Ouhalla, J: “Introducing Transformational Grammar.” 2nd Ed., page 68. Arnold Publishers, 1999


Notes

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Mar 28

Audit (telecommunication)

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In telecommunication, the term audit has the following meanings:

  • To conduct an independent review and examination of system records and activities in order to test the adequacy and effectiveness of data security and data integrity procedures, to ensure compliance with established policy and operational procedures, and to recommend any necessary changes.
  • Independent review and examination of records and activities to assess the adequacy of system controls, to ensure compliance with established policies and operational procedures, and to recommend necessary changes in controls, policies, or procedures.
  • Analysis of invoices, lines, rates, tariffs, taxes, plans, usage, call volume, systems, and contracts resulting in cost reduction, proper invoicing and optimization of telecommunication systems often conducted by an independent telecommunications consultant or firm.

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Mar 27

Dentist on the Job

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Dentist on the Job was a 1961 British comedy film, in black and white, directed by C.M. Pennington-Richards. It was released in the USA with the title Get on with it! It is the sequel to Dentist in the Chair. The film was co-written by Bob Monkhouse (who also appeared in the film) and Hazel Adair. Notable actors appearing in the film include Kenneth Connor, Shirley Eaton, Richard Wattis, Charles Hawtrey and Arthur Mullard (uncredited).

The film is referenced in the Special Edition DVD of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, since it is the film which is erroneously shown by the projectionist (Terry Jones) at the beginning of the film. This film was presumably chosen for its alternate title, Get on with it!, a phrase used throughout The Holy Grail.


Plot outline

Colonel Proudfoot of Proudfoot Industries tries to entice a couple of newly qualified dentists to advertise “Dreem”, a revolutionary type of toothpaste, but he knows that if the dentists learn that they are part of an advertising campaign, they will be struck off, and the campaign will be a disaster.


External links

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Mar 26

Cholet

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Cholet (probably from Latin cauletum, “cabbage”) is a town in western France, capital of an arrondissement in the Maine-et-Loire département, Pays-de-la-Loire région, 41 miles south-east of Nantes. Population (1999): 54,204. In 1906, the population was 16,554.


Geography

Cholet stands on an eminence on the right bank of the Moine, which used to be crossed by a bridge from the 15th century.


History

The town owes the rise of its prosperity to the settlement of weavers there by Édouard Colbert, count of Maulevrier, a brother of the great Jean-Baptiste Colbert. It then became an estate of Gabriel François, Count de Rougé and Marquess of Cholet, who developped the city and it’s economy. The main commercial mail being built this year is named after him: The “Arcades Rougé”.

It suffered severely in the War of La Vendée of 1793, insomuch that for years afterwards it was almost without inhabitants.


Sights

A public garden occupies the site of the old castle; the public buildings and churches, for example the Church of the Sacred Heart (1939), are modern.

Megalithic monuments are numerous in the neighborhood.

A textile museum (Musée du Textile, rue du Docteur-Roux, Tel 02 41 75 25 40) exists to conserve the traditional machines used to create the famous handkerchiefs made in this town, as well as the techniques used to make them and the oral and local history associated with the industry.


Economy

There are granite quarries in the vicinity of the town. The chief industry is the manufacture of linen and linen handkerchiefs, which is also carried on in the neighboring communes on a large scale. Woollen and cotton fabrics are also produced, and bleaching and the manufacture of preserved foods are carried on. Cholet is the most important centre in France for the sale of fat cattle, sheep and pigs, for which Paris is the chief market.


Miscellaneous

The public institutions include the sub-prefecture, a tribunal of first instance, a chamber of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, and a communal college.


Twin towns

Cholet is twinned with:

  • Oldenburg, Germany since 1985
  • Dorohoi, Romania
  • Solihull, United Kingdom
  • Denia, Spain
  • Sao, Burkina Faso - cooperation
  • Le Bas-Richelieu Regional County Municipality (Quebec, Canada) - twinning of the communauté d’agglomération.


External links

  • Official website


References

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Mar 26

Security management

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Security Management is a broad field of management related to asset management, physical security and human resource safety functions. It entails the identification of an organization’s information assets and the development, documentation and implementation of policies, standards, procedures and guidelines.

In network management it is the set of functions that protects telecommunications networks and systems from unauthorized access by persons, acts, or influences and that includes many subfunctions, such as creating, deleting, and controlling security services and mechanisms; distributing security-relevant information; reporting security-relevant events; controlling the distribution of cryptographic keying material; and authorizing subscriber access, rights, and privileges.

Management tools such as information classification, risk assessment and risk analysis are used to identify threats, classify assets and to rate system vulnerabilities so that effective control can be implemented.


See also

  • Access control
  • Alarm management
  • Physical Security
  • Physical Security Professional
  • Security
  • Security policy

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Mar 26

Resin JavaScript Engine

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Resin JavaScript Engine is Caucho’s ECMA-262 3ed (ECMAScript 3) implementation in Java, which can among other things be used for compiling JavaScript into Java byte code.


See also

  • Caucho Resin


External links

  • Resin JavaScript Reference Guide

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Mar 25

Thomas Bunbury

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Major Thomas Bunbury (b.c1791), soldier and penal administrator, of the 80th Regiment, was commandant of the second convict settlement at Norfolk Island, from April to July 1839. He joined the army in 1807 and fought in the Peninsular War.

As commandant, he was confident in his ability to manage the hardened convicts under his command. He wrote that he could not understand why “a villain who has been guilty of every enormity, should feel shame at having his back scratched with the cat-o-nine-tails when he felt none for his atrocious crimes.” He also claimed that “if a man is too sick to work he is too sick to eat” and claimed that the queue at the hospital was halved. Although his punishments were harsh, he replaced hand hoeing with ploughs, rewarded good behaviour with improved jobs and gave older convicts lighter work.

He earned the ire of the soldiers on the island by ordering the destruction of huts built on the small gardens they kept for their own use and for trafficking with the convicts. The soldiers mutinied, a warship was sent to restore peace and Bunbury was recalled in July 1839.


References

  • Hazzard, Margaret, Punishment Short of Death: a history of the penal settlement at Norfolk Island, Melbourne, Hyland, 1984. ISBN 0-908090-64-1)

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Mar 25

List of asteroids/108001–109000

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! colspan=”5″ style=”background-color:silver;text-align:center;” id=”001″| 108001–108100 [ edit]

! colspan=”5″ style=”background-color:silver;text-align:center;” id=”101″| 108101–108200 [ edit]

! colspan=”5″ style=”background-color:silver;text-align:center;” id=”201″| 108201–108300 [ edit]

! colspan=”5″ style=”background-color:silver;text-align:center;” id=”301″| 108301–108400 [ edit]

! colspan=”5″ style=”background-color:silver;text-align:center;” id=”401″| 108401–108500 [ edit]

! colspan=”5″ style=”background-color:silver;text-align:center;” id=”501″| 108501–108600 [ edit]

! colspan=”5″ style=”background-color:silver;text-align:center;” id=”601″| 108601–108700 [ edit]

! colspan=”5″ style=”background-color:silver;text-align:center;” id=”701″| 108701–108800 [ edit]

! colspan=”5″ style=”background-color:silver;text-align:center;” id=”801″| 108801–108900 [ edit]

! colspan=”5″ style=”background-color:silver;text-align:center;” id=”901″| 108901–109000 [ edit]

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