title: Lewis Ranieri

text: In 1968, 21-year-old Ranieri took a part-time job in the mail room of Salomon Brothers. He worked his way to the position of vice chairman of Salomon Brothers, as discussed in Michael Lewis's bestseller "Liar's Poker". In the late 1970s, Ranieri joined the new mortgage-trading desk of Salomon Brothers where he contributed to creating the innovative practice of "securitization", a word he is said to have coined. "BusinessWeek" said that in 1977, with the creation of mortgage-backed securities (MBS), "Ranieri's job was to sell those bonds—at a time when only 15 states recognized MBS as legal investments. With a trader's nerve and a salesman's persuasiveness, he did much more, creating the market to trade MBS and winning Washington lobbying battles to remove legal and tax barriers." Ranieri also declared that "mortgages are math", hiring PhDs who developed the collateralized mortgage obligation, repackaging mortgages into more attractive bonds.


title: Lewis Ranieri

text: By 1981, American Savings and Loan (S&Ls) were battered by high inflation as well as the high interest rates charged by the Federal Reserve under chairman Paul Volcker, but Congress allowed S&Ls to hide some of their losses by moving assets off their books. Ranieri bought mortgages from one S&L and sold them to another, allowing Wall Street to become involved in the home mortgage market (and profit from the spread). He convinced Freddie Mac to assist with a deal which packaged older loans from Perpetual Savings, a troubled S&L in the Washington D.C. area. However, institutional investors only became attracted to the market when he and Larry Fink of First Boston created the CMO in 1983. In 1984, Congress passed the Secondary Mortgage Market Enhancement Act (SMMEA), overturning the previous prohibition against private banks selling mortgage-backed securities without a government guarantee. It also pre-empted state blue sky laws which had previously required investment banks to register with multiple states before selling them. Furthermore, institutional investors could purchase mortgage-backed securities, provided a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO) gave them a high rating; in effect allowing those investors to outsource their due diligence to such agencies. Ranieri attended the ceremony in which President Ronald Reagan signed SMMEA.


title: Lewis Ranieri

text: Ranieri also secured a tax exemption applicable to pools of mortgages held by a REMIC. Legalized by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the mortgage-backed securities market reached $150 billion in 1986. However, Salomon Brothers fired Ranieri in 1987, which some characterized as him becoming a victim of his own success, since his old traders staffed many Wall Street investment banks.


title: Lewis Ranieri

text: Ranieri formed Hyperion Partners, an investment firm, in 1988. In 2001, Ranieri and his partners at Hyperion sold Bank United of Texas, a firm they acquired in the late 1980s. Under Ranieri's leadership as chairman of the board, Bank United went from having been a failed savings and loan to being a successful $18 Billion asset regional bank at the time of sale.


title: Lewis Ranieri

text: As mortgage-backed securities came under scrutiny for their role in the subprime mortgage crisis, the United States housing bubble and the financial crisis of 2007–2010, critics took aim at Ranieri. In March 2007, at a time when it was unknown whether or not the over-extension of leverage inherent in subprime mortgages could lead to a financial crisis, Ranieri commented "I think [the risk] is containable. I don't think this is going to be a cataclysm."


title: Lewis Ranieri

text: Ranieri commented on the situation in a 2009 interview. "It wasn't the concept of securitization that created the problem", argued Ranieri. Rather, he blamed Wall Street for misusing securitization to create mortgage products that homeowners were unable to afford over the long term, such as those with low 'teaser' rates that became unaffordable when they reset. In the same interview, Ranieri also explained his firm's ongoing efforts to rehabilitate the US housing market by purchasing delinquent mortgages, working with the original homeowners to establish consistent payments, and then selling the newly stabilized loans.


title: Lewis Ranieri

text: In 2005, Ranieri was appointed by Roman Catholic Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre to form Tomorrow's Hope Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide assistance to the Catholic elementary and secondary schools of the diocese. The foundation has provided scholarships to thousands of families seeking Catholic education for their children. Ranieri continues to serve as chairman of the foundation.


title: Lewis Ranieri

text: Ranieri received the Distinguished Industry Service Award from the American Securitization Forum in 2005 and has participated in the National Association of Home Builders Mortgage Roundtable since 1989. Ranieri has also been inducted into the National Housing Hall of Fame and received the Lifetime Achievement Award given by the Fixed Income Analysts Society, Inc. In 2012, St. John's University awarded Ranieri the Spirit of Service award for his work with Tomorrow's Hope Foundation and his dedication to serving others.


title: Lewis Ranieri

text: Ranieri is portrayed by actor Rudy Eisenzopf at the beginning of the film "The Big Short" (adapted from Michael Lewis' book of the same name), which dramatized the events leading up to the 2007–08 housing crisis.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: Mirror's Edge Catalyst is a first-person action-adventure platform game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in June 2016. It is a reboot of the 2008 game that focuses on protagonist Faith Connors.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: "Mirror's Edge Catalyst" received mixed reviews from critics upon release, with most reviewers praising the free-running gameplay and visuals, but criticising its storyline and combat system.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: "Mirror's Edge Catalyst" is a first-person action-adventure game in which the player takes control of Faith Connors as she progresses through a futuristic city named Glass. Similar to the original "Mirror's Edge", players traverse the city using aspects of urban exploration and parkour movements to complete missions and evade or fight enemies. Players can also make use of environmental objects such as zip-lines and ledges, and equipment; this includes a MAG (Manifold Attachment Gear) Rope and a Disruptor to travel across buildings, disable certain systems (such as large fans or security cameras) and aid Faith during combat. When players mark an objective on their map, Faith's "runner vision" is activated and some scenery items automatically highlight in red. These act as guides to lead players towards their objective. The use of levels and linear gameplay found in the first "Mirror's Edge" has been replaced with an open world, free-roaming environment. This gives players more freedom in traversal, allowing for the use of multiple paths to reach one's objective. In addition to the campaign's mission, side activities such as time trials, races and environmental puzzles are featured. Additionally, items called GridLeaks can be found across the world that can be collected by players.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: Combat mechanics of the game received an overhaul and a new combat system was developed as traversal is greatly emphasised in the game. Also, though only used sparingly in the previous game, "Mirror's Edge Catalyst" has removed the use of guns by the player altogether, focusing on Faith's running and parkour movements and quick melee-style attacks to take down or evade her enemies. Faith enters focus mode while she is running, and with sufficient focus Faith can evade bullets from enemies. According to Sara Jansson, the senior producer of the game, the combat and fighting featured is an extension to the game's movement instead of a separated set. When Faith is performing a finishing move, the game switches to a third-person perspective.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: "Mirror's Edge Catalyst" contains several multiplayer features, which DICE calls Social Play. While there are no live co-operative multiplayer or side-by-side competitive modes, the game features asynchronous multiplayer in which a player's actions in the game can affect the world for other players' games. Among these are Time Trials which, unlike in the 2008 game, are not pre-defined by DICE. Instead, these checkpoint-to-checkpoint paths are set by any player whereby others can race against them at their leisure for faster times. Players are also able to place Location Emitters for other players to track down, an exploration activity similar to geocaching.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: The game takes place in the dystopian, futuristic city of Glass, the showcase city of the nation of Cascadia, governed by a totalitarian corporatocracy. Cascadian society is highly stratified, and the majority of citizens work for the corporations and are connected to the Grid, a massive social surveillance system digitally connecting everything and everyone in cities like Glass. The corporations are secretly preparing to launch a project, called Reflection, to control the populace through the Grid.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: So-called Runners, freelance messengers skilled at parkour, refuse to be connected to the Grid and live on rooftops, making their living from covert delivery jobs while evading corporate security. The game centers around a Runner named Faith, and her efforts to help other Runners overthrow the corporate government and stop Reflection.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: Faith Connors is released from prison and meets up with fellow runner Icarus, as well as Runner cabal leader Noah, who raised Faith after the death of her parents. During a data grab, Faith diverges from her orders and retrieves a valuable hard drive, but is seen by Gabriel Kruger, CEO of Kruger Security, or K-Sec. She manages to escape, intending to use the drive's contents to pay off her debt to Dogen, a black market boss. Faith takes the drive to Plastic, a talented hacker, who tells her the drive contains blueprints for a top-secret project known as Reflection.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: Meanwhile, K-Sec cracks down hard on the Runners because of Faith's actions. While Icarus and Faith are away, they lead a raid on the Runners' lair and capture or kill everyone present, including Noah. Faith and Icarus, having nowhere to go, turn to Rebecca Thane, leader of Black November, a militant resistance movement. The rebels set up an ambush to capture a high-ranking K-Sec commander, whom they intend to trade for their own captured soldiers. The mission is a success and it turns out that the captured officer is Isabel Kruger, daughter of Gabriel Kruger.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: Faith asks Plastic to infiltrate K-Sec servers and gather information about Isabel, who turns out to be Caitlyn "Cat" Connors, Faith's sister, who was assumed dead. Gabriel Kruger took her in as his adoptive daughter, telling her that Faith was killed along with the rest of her family. Faith races back to the Black November HQ where Thane is preparing to execute Isabel in order to send her father a message. Even though Isabel doesn't seem to remember who Faith is, Faith convinces Thane to save her.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: Isabel lets on to Faith that Noah might still be alive, held in a compound called Kingdom. Upon reaching it, Faith rescues a group of Reflection scientists who were detained by K-Sec for "asking too many questions." The lead scientist, Aline Maera, explains that Reflection involves injecting the population with nanites that can be remote-controlled to regulate thoughts and emotions. Faith finds Noah who is being experimented on with prototype Reflection nanites, but is too late to prevent his death. Meanwhile, back at Black November HQ, the rebels are ambushed by K-Sec while moving Isabel above ground. Icarus and the rebels are injected with Reflection nanites.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: Plastic and Aline work together to engineer a virus to disable Reflection once and for all. In order to do this they need Gabriel Kruger's ID, which Faith secures by breaking into his apartment. From there she witnesses a massive explosion at The Shard, the tallest building in all of Glass. Faith still needs to go on top of The Shard, which contains the broadcast antenna but is now unstable, to activate the virus. At the top she is confronted by Gabriel who defends his decision to launch Reflection, saying the nanites are a cure designed to keep Isabel's chronic lung condition at bay, and that the project is about survival rather than control.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: They are joined by Isabel who attempts to stop the virus but is too late. They fight on the helipad, and Isabel accuses Faith of leaving her behind to die, while Faith attempts to remind Isabel of who she really is. Gabriel Kruger appears on a helicopter and begs a hesitating Isabel to come with him. The Shard starts to crumble and Gabriel flies out of the tumbling helicopter. Faith slides to the edge of the helipad but is caught by Isabel. Gabriel is heard calling out for his daughter to save him, and Isabel explains to Faith that she "has to" and runs off in his direction. However, as the helicopter rises again and flies away, only Isabel is standing in it, with Gabriel nowhere to be seen.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: In the aftermath, it is reported on the news that Isabel will now supersede her missing father as Kruger Security CEO. While there was no uprising in the population, Faith did successfully disable the Reflection launch, thus keeping people safe from Conglomerate control.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: The new "Mirror's Edge" game was officially revealed in June 2013 at the Electronic Arts press event at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in North America on June 7, 2016, and in Europe on June 9. The game was announced soon after as a prequel to "Mirror's Edge" showcasing the origins of Faith, and uses the Frostbite engine, instead of the Unreal Engine used in the first game. However, at a later date Sara Jansson stated that the game was not seen as either a reboot or a prequel. Electronic Arts also confirmed in 2013 that the game would be an "open-world action adventure". According to DICE's general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson, the game focuses on the first-person combat mechanics building upon the first-person movement mechanics that were present in the first game. As the game features a free-roaming environment, the runner vision from the first game had been completely redesigned to adapt this structure. The runner vision in "Catalyst" can recalculate the path for players towards their objectives or waypoints.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: The game was featured at E3 for a second time in June 2014, and prototype gameplay was briefly shown. "Mirror's Edge Catalyst" has more varied gameplay for Faith and Runners, where they serve a greater purpose than in the first game. In January 2014, writer Rhianna Pratchett announced on Twitter that she would not be involved with the new game and neither would most of the original team. "Mirror's Edge" was confirmed to have a planned release date of February 23, 2016 before it was delayed.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: The title "Mirror's Edge Catalyst" was formally announced in June 2015 prior to E3 2015; DICE product manager Sara Jansson affirmed that the game is not a sequel but would delve into more of Faith's past while expanding on the original game's first-person perspective experience. On June 15, at E3, and later on the "Mirror's Edge" YouTube channel, DICE released a new trailer for "Mirror's Edge Catalyst", revealing elements of the game's storyline and environment. It was confirmed that the game would feature an open-world design and Faith would no longer be able to use guns.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: On September 30, 2015, it was announced that the soundtrack composer for the original "Mirror's Edge", Solar Fields would again compose for "Catalyst". He collaborated with Scottish synthpop band Chvrches to create an original song for the game's soundtrack entitled "Warning Call".


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: On October 29, 2015, it was announced that the game had been delayed until May 24, 2016 to allow additional development time and for DICE to refine the traversal gameplay. On April 21, 2016, it was announced that the game had been delayed until June 7, 2016, to allow optimisation and perfection of Social Play. The game's Collector Edition was released alongside the main game. It included a figurine of Faith, a steel book, a lithograph, temporary tattoos, and a storage box.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: A prequel comic book called "Mirror's Edge: Exordium", leading towards the storyline of "Mirror's Edge Catalyst", was published on September 9, 2015, by Dark Horse Comics. In May 2016, Endemol Shine North America announced that they are producing a TV show based on the "Mirror's Edge" franchise. However, nothing has been said about it since.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: The game was the second best-selling retail game in the UK in its first week of release, only behind "Overwatch". In its second week of release, the game became the sixth best-selling retail game of the week.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: According to review aggregation website Metacritic, "Mirror's Edge Catalyst" received "mixed or average" reviews from critics. Chris Carter from "Destructoid" gave the game a positive review, commending the focus on open world gameplay, saying that the game "nails" exploration and parkour movement. He felt that because the gameplay was fun overall, players could spend an endless amount of time roaming the game world. Carter also called the overall visuals "beautiful" and felt that the design of the environments help create a world that is full of life. Carter disliked the story, however, for being predictable and featuring unlikeable supporting characters but said it was forgivable because players are able to ignore it and focus on the gameplay aspects.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: While citing the movement system as a positive and the combat mechanics as a negative, Spencer Campbell concluded his review for "Electronic Gaming Monthly" with: ""Mirror's Edge Catalyst" has a strong core built by its movement system, but when it comes time to do anything else than run from point A to point B, you'll probably be more inclined to run away."


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: "Game Informer"s Ben Reeves summarised his review with: "The original "Mirror's Edge" is an overlooked gem from last generation, but even diehard fans will have trouble finding the diamonds in this rough." Reeves disliked the design of the game's environments, calling them "barren" and "lifeless", criticised the melee combat for feeling like a chore, stated that the soundtrack lacked defining characteristics, called the main story "rushed", and felt that the side-content was "boring".


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: Game Revolution's Peter Paras called the game's environments "gorgeous" and "unique", commended the large amount of content, and praised the visuals of the cutscenes. Paras thought that the gameplay was "unintuitive" and "clunky", however, and hated the story and characters. Paras also experienced some technical issues, thought that character animations were "poor", and said that the design of the menus was "strange".


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: Scott Butterworth of GameSpot gave particular praise to the movement mechanics, saying that they consistently wowed him throughout the entire game and made up for the various shortcomings he experienced. Butterworth also liked the varied mix of side-content and called the open world exploration "rewarding". Butterworth's main criticisms were concerning the "mediocre" story and the "clunky" combat.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: GamesRadar's Leon Hurley stated: ""Mirror's Edge Catalyst" is an interesting game with some strong ideas but not enough variety." Hurley praised the visuals but called the combat "terrible". Ryan McCaffrey for IGN summarised his review with: ""Mirror's Edge"s return shines in some regards, but is ultimately a disappointment." McCaffrey complimented the user-generated content and parkour gameplay but criticised the story and characters, as well as the "uneven" combat and inconsistent visuals.


title: Mirror's Edge Catalyst

text: Arthur Gies of "Polygon" wrote: "I imagine most players will happily bounce from side mission to delivery to grid node and back again, content to do what "Mirror's Edge" has always been best at: constantly moving forward and up. And once you can focus on that, "Mirror's Edge Catalyst" is a flawed, but often great breath of something different and exciting in an open-world landscape full of the same old thing."


title: Bridget Bishop

text: Bridget Bishop ( 1632 – 10 June 1692) was the first person executed for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials in 1692. Nineteen were hanged, and one, Giles Corey, was pressed to death. Altogether, about 200 people were tried.


title: Bridget Bishop

text: Bridget's maiden name was Magnus. She, her sister Mercy, her father John, and her mother Rebecca adopted the last name Playfer, Bridget's paternal grandmother's maiden name. She was married three or possibly four times.


title: Bridget Bishop

text: She married her first husband, Captain Samuel Wesselby on 13 April 1660, at St. Mary-in-the-Marsh, Norwich, Norfolk, England. She had two sons and one daughter from her first marriage: John, Benjamin and Mary. Her first husband died in 1666.


title: Bridget Bishop

text: Her second marriage, on 26 July 1666, was to Thomas Oliver, a widower and prominent businessman. She had another daughter from her marriage to Thomas Oliver, Chrestian Oliver (sometimes spelled Christian), born 8 May 1667. She was earlier accused of bewitching Thomas Oliver to death, but was acquitted for lack of evidence.


title: Bridget Bishop

text: Her third marriage c. 1687 was to Edward Bishop, a prosperous sawyer, whose family lived in Beverly. Her third husband, Edward Bishop, is also one of the founders of the First Church of Beverly. He was 44 at the time of the trials.


title: Bridget Bishop

text: Bridget ran two taverns alongside Edward. Bridget Bishop was always seen by friends, family, and guests wearing exotic clothes and bright colors, both far from the standard clothes associated with the devil.


title: Bridget Bishop

text: Bridget Bishop was examined due to her accusation of suspicion of "sundry acts of witchcraft". Bishop was accused of bewitching five young women, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, Jr., Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Elizabeth Hubbard, on the date of her examination by the authorities, 19 April 1692.


title: Bridget Bishop

text: Bishop's trial lasted eight days, officially starting the Salem Witchcraft Trials. A record was given of her trial by Cotton Mather in "Wonders of the Invisible World." In his book, Mather recorded that several people testified against Bishop, stating that the shape of Bishop would pinch, choke or bite them. The shape also threatened to drown one victim if she did not write her name in a certain book. According to Mather, during the trial, any time Bishop would look upon one of her accusers, they would be immediately struck down and only her touch would revive them.


title: Bridget Bishop

text: More allegations were made during the trial including that of a woman saying that the apparition of Bishop tore her coat, and upon further examination her coat was found to be torn in the exact spot. Mather mentions that the truth of these many accusations carried too much suspicion, however.


title: Bridget Bishop

text: Ezekiel Cheevers and John Putnam made the complaint against Bridget Bishop. Bishop was charged for committing witchcraft upon five women, Ann Putnam, Mercy Lewis, Abigail Williams, Mary Walcot, and Elis Hubert. These women claimed Bridget Bishop to be the witch who hurt them. Ann Putnam stated that Bishop called the devil her God, while other people such as Richard Coman accused Bishop of taking hold of their throats and ripping Coman and his wife out of bed. Other girls accused her of harming them with just a quick glance. Even Bishop's own husband claimed she praised the devil.


title: Bridget Bishop

text: William Stacy, a middle aged man in Salem Town, testified that Bishop had previously made statements to him that other people in the town considered her to be a witch. He confronted her with the allegation that she was using witchcraft to torment him, which she denied. Another local man, Samuel Shattuck, accused Bishop of bewitching his child and also of striking his son with a spade.


title: Bridget Bishop

text: He also testified that Bishop asked him to dye lace, which apparently was too small to be used on anything but a poppet, a doll used in spell-casting. John and William Bly, father and son, testified about finding poppets in Bishop's house and also about their cat that appeared to be bewitched, or poisoned, after a dispute with Bishop. Other victims of Bishop, as recorded by Mather, include Deliverance Hobbs, John Cook, Samuel Gray, and John Louder.


title: Bridget Bishop

text: During her sentencing, a jury of women found a third nipple upon Bishop (then considered a sure sign of witchcraft), yet upon a second examination the nipple was not found. In the end Mather states that the greatest thing that condemned Bishop was the gross amount of lying she committed in court. According to Mather, "there was little occasion to prove the witchcraft, it being evident and notorious to all beholders."


title: Bridget Bishop

text: Bishop was sentenced to death and hanged. She was recorded to be the first woman to die from hanging in the colony.


title: Bridget Bishop

text: One interpretation of the historical record suggests that she was a resident of Salem Town and thus not the tavern owner. Perhaps she did not know her accusers. This would be supported in her deposition in Salem Village before the authorities stating, "I never saw these persons before, nor I never was in this place before." The indictments against her clearly note that she was from "Salem" which meant Salem Town, as other indictments against residents of Salem Village specified their locations as such.


title: Bridget Bishop

text: She was often confused with Sarah Bishop, one of the other accused during the Salem trial. While men were still being accused of witchcraft, it was mostly women being indicted during this time period. They were often quickly accused and sentenced to death within days. Bridget Bishop had already been accused and deemed innocent a whole decade following up to the witchcraft hysteria.


title: Sharma

text: Sharma is a Brahmin Hindu surname in India and Nepal. The Sanskrit stem (nom. ) can mean 'joyfulness', 'comfort', 'happiness'. Sarma is an alternative English spelling of the name. Some Assamese Brahmins use Sarmah.


title: Sharma

text: Although some Brahmins have Sharma as their last name, not all those who carry Sharma as last name are Brahmins. There are many who carry their lineage on basis of their 'Gotra' and commonly use Sharma as their last name. This includes Pathaks and yadavas.


title: Sharma

text: According to Bhavishya Purana, Sensharma or Sharma is the first Brahmin surname. Avatar of Vishnu Parashurama gave this title to King Jaisen.


title: Central Superior Services

text: The Central Superior Services (CSS; or Civil Service) is a permanent elite civil service authority, and the civil service that is responsible for running the bureaucratic operations and government secretariats and directorates of the Cabinet of Pakistan. The Prime Minister is the final authority on all matters regarding the civil service.


title: Central Superior Services

text: The civil service defined itself as "key wheels on which the entire engine of the state has to move." Derived from the colonial legacy of the former British Civil Service, the civil service came into its modern formation immediately after the establishment of Pakistan as a "Civil Service of Pakistan". During its time of formation, the bureaucracy produced Ghulam Ishaq Khan who would go on to become the President of Pakistan. It had influence on many of the state's defence, internal, foreign and financial policies. In 1971, it was re-organized and reestablished under "Chapter I: Part-XII, Article 240" of the Constitution of Pakistan which gave it foundation and constitutional status. The civil bureaucracy closely collaborated with the military establishments of Pakistani Armed Forces in issues concerning the national security. The bureaucracy consists of 12 directorates that provide vital office and secretariat related duties to the Government of Pakistan. The provincial bureaucracies are headed by the respective Chief Secretaries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan. The highest attainable rank for an officer who serves in the country's bureaucracy is BPS-22 grade.


title: Central Superior Services

text: The Civil Service of Pakistan selects only 7.5% of the applicants by merit, education, qualification and experience while the 92.5% are selected by a quota system. The civil service exams are competitive and provides equal opportunities to males and females, depending on their qualifications. The CSS Examinations are held at the start of every year. The exams are conducted and supervised by the Federal Public Service Commission. CSS exams have a reputation of a very low pass percentage. In 2020, the passing percentage was only 1.962. In 2021, only 364 (2.11%) of the 17,240 participants cleared the multi-staged exam.


title: Central Superior Services

text: The Constitution of Pakistan lays down separate services for the central government and the provincial governments. Although both types of governments are required to regulate their civil services through "Article 240 of Chapter I of Part XII", in case of the central reservation of the government and by the provisional assembly decrees for officers subjected in the legislative list of the provinces. The idea of civil service was established by the British Empire during the colonial period of the British Indian Empire. It was derived into "Pakistan Civil Service" in 1947 and reorganized and re-established into its modern form in 1973. The Constitution of Pakistan describes the constitutional status as below:


title: Central Superior Services

text: The Constitution of Pakistan does not set the legal name for the civil service and there is no service named as "Central Superior Services of Pakistan" (or CSS). The constitution allowed the government-appointed officer and chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission of Pakistan to choose the name. The term "CSS" emerged during the first public examination of the civil service for the appointment on posts at officer entry-level in the occupational groups of All-Pakistan Unified Group (APUG). The Federal Public Service Commission holds the combined competitive exam annually under the title advertised as exam for "Central Superior Services"— the term of colonial days which survived reforms. Similarly, the use of the word "Central" instead of that "Federal"; as well as the term "Superior" is also the legacy of the past. These were relevant when there was central government under 1956 constitution and classes existed in the civil service. The 1973 constitution abolished all classes in the civil service as the concept of occupational groups was introduced.


title: Central Superior Services

text: Following the foundations laid in the Constitution, the federal government promulgated The Civil Servants Act, 1973 and each province enacted its own Civil Servants Acts. The law allows civil service of the federation, and of provinces, to be regulated as per rules notified under these enactments. Consequently, both sets of governments have notified Civil Servants (Appointment, Transfer, and Promotion) Rules, 1974. The qualification and method (the way) of filling all posts are regulated by these rules. The posts at the initial officer level i.e. BS-17, are classified to be filled by way of promotion or transfer and by direct recruitment under share fixed for each category. The recommendation for appointment in BS-17, under direct recruitment share, is done by the Federal Public Service Commission, which is established under its own law as a requirement of the Constitution. The rest of the posts reserved for departmental officers under promotion quota and posts under appointment by transfer is confined for officers inducted through a lateral entry or for hardship cases coming from the surplus pool.


title: Central Superior Services

text: In practical terms, those appointed on posts in direct appointment quota in each occupational group through CSS Exam have a natural advantage. They join service at a young age as compared to departmental officers and therefore reach the highest slots. Since the number of direct officers at the entry-level are few but their quotas in posts in BS-18 to BS-22 are fixed on the higher side, therefore their promotions are fast-paced. These arrangements make the civil service attractive for talented individuals and instill a sense of superiority and pride.


title: Central Superior Services

text: Currently, CSS exams conducted by Federal Public Service Commission include the following Occupational Groups.


title: Central Superior Services

text: Civil Bureaucracy is a colonial legacy in this part of the world. The British used to rule the native population through Indian Civil Service (ICS) and most of the officers in ICS were British themselves. It was in the early 20th century that the Indians also started competing against the British and many Indians eventually made it to the ICS. With time the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the term 'Central Superior Services' was used in Pakistan and the concept of All-Pakistan Services continued. The latter consisted of the Civil Service of Pakistan and the Police Service of Pakistan, whereas the Central Services included the Pakistan Foreign Service and a broad category of Finance and other services. The Finance category included the Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service, Pakistan Railway Accounts Service, Pakistan Military Accounts Service, Pakistan Taxation Service, and the Pakistan Customs and Excise Service. The Central Services other than these included the Pakistan Postal Service, Pakistan Military Land and Cantonment Service, Central Secretariat Service, and Central Information Service. Each of these services had its own cadre and composition rules, specifying the total cadre strength in terms of its number of positions.


title: Central Superior Services

text: With the Civil Services Reforms of 1973, a new system of the common training program was introduced and all of these occupational groups (12 at that time) were required to go through a mandatory combined training at Civil Services Academy, Lahore. The batch of officers who attended the Civil Service Academy in 1973 is recognized as "1st Common". Up till 5th Common, the allocation of occupational groups was done after the culmination of the Common Training Program but from 6th Common onwards this task has also been assumed by Federal Public Service Commission. Even to this day, it is an official procedure that once the Probationary Officers successfully complete their common training program then they undergo some further Specialized Training Program (STP) in their own professional academies.


title: Central Superior Services

text: The Pakistan Administrative Service, previously known as the District Management Group before 1 June 2012, is an elite cadre of the Civil Service of Pakistan. The Pakistan Administrative Service over the years has emerged as the most consolidated and developed civil institution, with the senior Pakistan Administrative Service officers of grade 22 often seen as stronger than the government ministers. The service of Pakistan Administrative Service is very versatile in nature and officers are assigned to different departments all across Pakistan during the course of their careers. Almost all of the country's high-profile bureaucratic positions such as the federal secretaries, the provincial chief secretaries and chairmen of top-heavy organizations like the National Highway Authority, Trading Corporation of Pakistan and State Life Insurance Corporation usually belong to the elite Pakistan Administrative Service.


title: Central Superior Services

text: Commissioned officers of Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy have their own quota of 10% in all service groups of the Central Superior Services but historically they have only joined the Pakistan Administrative Service (previously known as the District Management Group), Office Management Group, Foreign Service of Pakistan, and Police Service of Pakistan. Usually officers who join the civil services are of the rank of Captain / Lieutenant / Flight Lieutenant (equivalent to BPS-17 grade). Rank are shortlisted by respective Services Headquarters and selected against this quota after interview process. The interviews are conducted by a committee headed by the Chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission, same as in the case for regular candidates. Only the written exam is waived.


title: Central Superior Services

text: Despite the fact that the Civil Services of Pakistan have been still running on the pattern set out by British Raj (no major change has been performed), the Musharraf government started a major reform process of it. The task was to be performed by the National Commission of Government Reforms (NCGR) under the chairmanship of Dr.Ishrat Hussain, the former governor of State Bank of Pakistan. The final report that was published in September 2007 stated that four CSS cadres i.e., Pakistan Railway Service, Pakistan Postal Service, Commerce, and Trade Group, and the Information Service of Pakistan, should be axed. According to the recommendation, Postal and Railway Service should be made autonomous commercial bodies, Commerce and Trade and Information Services be suspended till further notice. The report also highlighted broad changes in the examination system, with the recommendation of a personality test be made part of the selection process.


title: Central Superior Services

text: The civil services reforms have been under consideration and the Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal has announced that the upper age limit would be increased up-to 30 years instead of 28, for taking the Central Superior Services (CSS) examination from 2017 onwards.; where as the increase educational qualification by 14 to 16 years. The CSS Aspirants collected funds from their pocket money and filed a petition in the Lahore High Court and Peshawar High court for the age relaxation.


title: Central Superior Services

text: On August 2, 2016, the Planning Commission announced plans to restructure the examination process by dividing the Civil Superior Services (CSS) under three cluster program comprising three categories including General, Finance, and Information by abolishing the existing generalized system. The plan would come into effect from 2018 and would require participants to possess a four-year bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline, for information cluster, a degree in mass communication, journalism or information science will be required, while for finance cluster a degree in economics, finance or related discipline will be required.


title: Central Superior Services

text: On January 1, 2016, the Planning Commission began phasing out the Annual Confidential Report (ACRs) with the key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine promotions of civil servants.


title: Central Superior Services

text: Recently in 2019 Prime Minister has constituted an Institutional Reforms cell (IRC) under Cabinet Division. This cell is working under the chairmanship of Ishrat Hussain. The cell is forcing Federal Departments to acquire autonomous status but the departments are resisting on multiple grounds.


title: Central Superior Services

text: The CSS examination is extremely competitive; for every one aspirant selected there are 200 who are not; in 2015, more than 36000 candidates competed for 158 posts as compared to 2011 when approximately 19,000 candidates participated in the open public examination of the civil service; only 8.0% of them were qualified for 188 government jobs. In 2019, a total of 14,521 candidates appeared in the exam, out of which only 214 (1.47%) were finally recommended by the Federal Public Service Commission for various posts under the federal government.


title: Central Superior Services

text: CSS exams are held every year in the entire country. These are conducted by the Federal Public Service Commission of Pakistan, which also posts successful candidates to various departments of the civil service.


title: Central Superior Services

text: Only the candidates between the 21 and 30 years old are eligible to apply for CSS Exam. A candidate can appear for a maximum of three attempts. CSS Exam has two major parts: a written test, which takes place in February or March, and a panel interview, which takes place in November.


title: Central Superior Services

text: In the first part FPSC test the students in 12 different subjects. Six subjects are compulsory and 6 are optional. Candidates can choose six subjects of their own choice from many different options. There is a total of 1200 numbers and a candidate must have to get 600 marks to pass the exam.


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: The Magic Roundabout (known as Pollux – Le manège enchanté in France and Doogal in the United States) is a 2005 computer-animated adventure fantasy film based on the television series of the same name. It was released in France with a French dub on 2 February 2005, and an English-language version was released two weeks later in the United Kingdom on 11 February.


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: In the United States, the film was released as Doogal on 24 February 2006 with a new English dub and script. Only Ian McKellen's performance was retained, while Kylie Minogue redubbed her role from the UK release. The U.K. and French dub received mixed reviews but the U.S. dub received universally negative reviews.


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: The wizard Zebedee, a red jack-in-the-box-like creature, is having a nightmare about the ice villain named Zeebad. Dougal the well-meaning cheeky, slacker dog places a tack in the road to pop a sweet cart's tyre, hoping to be rewarded with sweets for watching the cart. After the driver goes for help, Dougal accidentally crashes the cart into the magic roundabout at the centre of the village. Zeebad, the evil blue ice jack in the box-like creature, emerges from the top and flies away, followed by a Foot Guard figurine thrown off the roundabout. The roundabout freezes over, trapping repairman Mr Rusty, Dougal's young owner Florence, and two other children named Coral and Basil within an icy cell.


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: The horrified villagers, who are all animals, call upon Zebedee for help. He explains that the roundabout was a mystical prison for Zeebad. With it broken, Zeebad is free to work his magic on the world again as he once did before by starting the Ice Age. The only way to stop Zeebad freezing the world is by collecting three magic diamonds (one of which is supposed to be hidden on the roundabout, while the other two are hidden at separate locations far beyond the village). Slotting the diamonds onto the roundabout will re-imprison Zeebad and undo his magic, but if Zeebad retrieves them first then their power will allow him to freeze the Sun itself. Zebedee sends Dougal, Brian the cynical snail, Ermintrude the opera-singing cow and Dylan the hippie rabbit, to accomplish this mission along with a magic train. Meanwhile, Zeebad crash lands after escaping the roundabout, and animates the Foot Guard figurine, Sam the Soldier, to help him find the enchanted diamonds. Meanwhile, Zebedee's fellowship makes camp in the icy mountains. Dougal wanders off during the night and is captured by Zeebad. Ermintrude breaks him out of his prison. Zebedee then shows up to battle Zeebad but loses the battle with Zeebad freezing him and collapsing the cliff on which he stands.


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: Mourning for their friend, Dougal and his friends embark to recover the diamonds. This task takes them to a lava-bordered volcano and an ancient temple filled with booby-traps and evil skeleton guards, but Zeebad captures both of these diamonds; leaving the only hope of stopping Zeebad by getting back to the roundabout and to the final diamond before Zeebad does. The gang are forced to leave an injured Train behind, leaving them to return to the village on foot through the snowy barren wasteland the world is now freezing into. Zeebad, after having abandoned Sam the Soldier to die wounded in the snow, beats the gang to the now-frozen village, but is unable to find the third diamond anywhere. Sam then arrives on an elk, having realised that his true duty is to protect the roundabout against Zeebad, he tries to make a stand but is easily defeated. Having learned that Sam was in fact on the roundabout, Zeebad discovers that the third diamond is and always was hidden inside Sam, and removes it from him (ending Sam's life as a result).


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: Zeebad, with all three diamonds now in his possession, uses them to freeze the world by freezing the Sun. However, the gang finally reach the village, get to the diamonds, and put them into their places on the roundabout until only the third diamond is left. Though Zeebad beats the gang to the diamond and seemingly secures his victory, the timely arrival of a healed Train knocks the diamond out of Zeebad's reach and gives Dougal the chance to place it in the roundabout's final slot. Zeebad is now re-imprisoned, and the world is thawed, Zebedee is restored to his friends, villagers are freed, and the Sun shines again.


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: Of those trapped in the roundabout, a comatose Florence is revived by Dougal. As everyone goes for a ride on the roundabout, they discover that it does not work because Sam is lifeless. At this point, Sam is restored and then reverted to his inanimate form, and placed back on the roundabout which functions once again. Dougal now realises the true value of his friends and the good qualities of selflessness, courage, and humility.


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the UK version of the film received an aggregate score of 60% based on five reviews (three positive and two negative) with an average score of 5.14/10. Joe Utichi of "FilmFocus" wrote: "For all its undeniable promise, this take on "The Magic Roundabout" is just plain disastrous in its execution." Stella Papamichael of "BBC Online" stated that "the story isn't inherently funny, relevant, or convincing. Essentially it's too 'dumbed down', tragically bypassing the cheeky 60s subtext of the original TV show and sapping its nostalgia value". "Time Out" wrote: "The story’s clearly aimed at the "Teletubbies" fraternity who would never question a scenario as ridiculous as this ... granted, the level of computer animation isn’t exactly state-of-the-art, but it’s certainly florid enough to captivate undemanding five-year-olds ... Robbie Williams and Bill Nighy’s stoned rabbit help transform what should have been an unendurable fiasco into an, albeit forgettable, treat for toddlers. And toddlers only. William Thomas of "Empire" wrote: "this version is far slicker and attempts a bit of Hollywood-style action-adventure grandstanding, but it works both as a trip down memory lane and as an entertaining movie for (very) young children".


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: According to William H. Macy, Harvey Weinstein saw the film and decided to do an American version. On 24 February 2006, the film was released in the United States as Doogal and was produced by The Weinstein Company. In the US version, where audiences are not as familiar with the series, the majority of the British cast's voice work was dubbed by American celebrities such as Chevy Chase (Train), Jimmy Fallon (Dylan), Whoopi Goldberg (Ermintrude), William H. Macy (Brian), and Jon Stewart (Zeebad). Child actor Daniel Tay plays the titular character in the United States dub.


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: Only two original voices remained, those of Kylie Minogue and Ian McKellen; Minogue, however, re-voiced her own lines with an American accent. The United States version also adds Kevin Smith (Moose) and Judi Dench (narrator).


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: Unlike its U.K. dub version, the film received universally negative reviews from film critics and audiences. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received an aggregate score of 8% based on 49 reviews (4 "fresh" and 45 "rotten"). The consensus reads: "Overloaded with pop culture references, but lacking in compelling characters and plot, "Doogal" is too simple-minded even for the kiddies". It has a score of 23 out of 100 ("generally unfavorable") on Metacritic, and an F rating from "Entertainment Weekly" writing that "very young children should be angry... where is it written that 4-year-olds don't deserve a good story, decent characters, and a modicum of coherence?". It was placed number five on Ebert & Roeper's Worst of 2006. "Screen Rant" ranked it number 1 on its list of the twelve worst animated movies ever made.


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: Randy Miller of DVD Talk says that: ""Doogal" is, after all, one of the worst excuses for a children's film during this or any year ... Filled to the brim with pop culture references and other such gags that'll be even less funny a few years from now, it's like "Shrek" without the occasional bit of charm and surprise".


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: Michael Phillips of the "Chicago Tribune" described the film as "Eighty-five minutes you'll never get back." and also put it on his Worst of 2006 list. Frank Scheck of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote, "The key frame animation, based on three-dimensional models, is rudimentary, with none of the characters proving visually arresting." Ned Martel of "The New York Times" wrote, "In "Doogal" setting the world right again involves a badly paced quest for three diamonds, assorted jokes that don't land, and a daringly incoherent climactic confrontation."


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: "The Magic Roundabout" was released on DVD and VHS in the UK on 18 July 2005 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (under Pathé). This release included the option to play along with the film via a "Magical Mysteries Quiz Game" in which, at certain intervals, the viewer would answer questions relating to what they have seen; Tom Baker would provide narration during the game. The game could be played under two difficulties; "Starter" to get the viewer started, and "Smarter" which was slightly more difficult. The film was later re-released on a 2-disc Special Edition DVD with extra bonus material that includes an inside look at the history of the original 1964 series, two making-of featurettes, classic episodes of the original series in both English and French, design gallery, cast and crew biographies, theatrical trailer and a couple TV spots.


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: In 2006, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released a 3-movie DVD pack that contains "The Magic Roundabout", "Chicken Run" and "Robots".


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: The American version of the film, "Doogal", was released on a double-sided DVD on 16 May 2006 by The Weinstein Company containing both the fullscreen and widescreen versions on each side.


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: In Canada, the country's distributor, Alliance Atlantis, released both the American version of the film nationally along with the original version dubbed in its European French language to DVD at the same time in Quebec (despite the country using a completely different French accent there). Alliance Atlantis' version of the US DVD has the same artwork that was used in the DVD release of the original English version of the film.


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: In 2008, "The Magic Roundabout" was released on Blu-ray exclusively in France featuring both the French and original English versions. Despite being sourced from a 2K English master, selecting the French audio track (or using the angle option) would show the credits in French sourced in its original DVD release, hence the low quality during it.


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: A couple years later, the Blu-ray was re-released as part of Fox Pathé Europa's "Sélection Blu-VIP" service where it contains a DVD copy of the film (in a plastic sleeve) as well as a booklet containing a catalog of Blu-ray releases from 20th Century Fox, Pathé, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and EuropaCorp along with a code on the back of it which can be used on the now-defunct 'Le Club BLU-VIP' website to earn points for merchandise for films released at the time (à la Disney Movie Rewards).


title: The Magic Roundabout (film)

text: Before the film was released, a sequel to "The Magic Roundabout" was announced to be in development, with the voice cast expected to reprise their roles. However, Action Synthese closed their doors in 2013, effectively ending any chances of a sequel being made.


title: Touchpad

text: A touchpad or trackpad is a pointing device featuring a tactile sensor, a specialized surface that can translate the motion and position of a user's fingers to a relative position on the operating system that is made output to the screen. Touchpads are a common feature of laptop computers as opposed to using a mouse on a desktop, and are also used as a substitute for a mouse where desk space is scarce. Because they vary in size, they can also be found on personal digital assistants (PDAs) and some portable media players. Wireless touchpads are also available as detached accessories.


title: Touchpad

text: Touchpads operate in one of several ways, including capacitive sensing or resistive touchscreen. The most common technology used in the 2010s senses the change of capacitance where a finger touches the pad. Capacitance-based touchpads will not sense the tip of a pencil or other similar ungrounded or non-conducting implements. Fingers insulated by a glove may also be problematic, and capacitive touchpads are rarely used as pointing devices for medical hardware.


title: Touchpad

text: While touchpads, like touchscreens, are able to sense absolute position, resolution is limited by their size. For common use as a pointer device, the dragging motion of a finger is translated into a finer, relative motion of the cursor on the output to the display on the operating system, analogous to the handling of a mouse that is lifted and put back on a surface. Hardware buttons equivalent to a standard mouse's left and right buttons are sometimes positioned adjacent to the touchpad.


title: Touchpad

text: Some touchpads and associated device driver software may interpret tapping the pad as a mouse click, and a tap followed by a continuous pointing motion (a "click-and-a-half") can indicate dragging. Tactile touchpads allow for clicking and dragging by incorporating button functionality into the surface of the touchpad itself. To select, one presses down on the touchpad instead of a physical button. To drag, instead of performing the "click-and-a-half" technique, the user presses down while on the object, drags without releasing pressure, and lets go when done. Touchpad drivers can also allow the use of multiple fingers to emulate the other mouse buttons (commonly two-finger tapping for the center button).


title: Touchpad

text: Touchpads are called clickpads if it does not have physical buttons, but instead relies on "software buttons". Physically the whole clickpad formed a button, logically the driver interprets a click as a left or right button click depending on the placement of fingers.


title: Touchpad

text: Some touchpads have "hotspots", locations on the touchpad used for functionality beyond a mouse. For example, on certain touchpads, moving the finger along an edge of the touch pad will act as a scroll wheel, controlling the scrollbar and scrolling the window that has the focus, vertically or horizontally. Many touchpads use two-finger dragging for scrolling. Also, some touchpad drivers support tap zones, regions where a tap will execute a function, for example, pausing a media player or launching an application. All of these functions are implemented in the touchpad device driver software, and can be disabled.


title: Touchpad

text: By 1982, Apollo desktop computers were equipped with a touchpad on the right side of the keyboard. Introduced a year later, in 1983, the first battery powered clamshell laptop, the Gavilan SC included a touchpad, which was mounted above its keyboard, rather than below, which became the norm.


title: Touchpad

text: Psion's MC 200/400/600/WORD Series, introduced in 1989, came with a new mouse-replacing input device similar to a touchpad, although more closely resembling a graphics tablet, as the cursor was positioned by clicking on a specific point on the pad, instead of moving it in the direction of a stroke.


title: Touchpad

text: Laptops with touchpads were then launched by Olivetti and Triumph-Adler in 1992. Cirque introduced the first widely available touchpad, branded as GlidePoint, in 1994. Apple introduced touchpads with modern placing in the PowerBook 500 series in 1994, using Cirque's GlidePoint technology, which Apple refers to as a "trackpad"; it replaced the trackball of previous PowerBook models. Since 2008, Apple's revisions of the MacBook and MacBook Pro incorporated a "Tactile Touchpad" design with a button integrated into the tracking surface (the lower part of the touchpad surface acts as a clickable button).


title: Touchpad

text: Another early adopter of the GlidePoint pointing device was Sharp. Later, Synaptics introduced their touchpad into the marketplace, branded the TouchPad, and Epson was an early adopter of this product with their ActionNote.


title: Touchpad

text: As touchpads began to be introduced in laptops in the 1990s, there was often confusion as to what the product should be called. No consistent term was used, and references varied, such as: glidepoint, touch sensitive input device, touchpad, trackpad, and pointing device.


title: Touchpad

text: Users were often presented with the option to purchase a pointing stick, touchpad, or trackball. Combinations of the devices were common, though touchpads and trackballs were rarely included together. Since the early 2000s, touchpads have become the dominant laptop pointing device as most consumer laptops produced during this period and beyond includes only touchpads, displacing the pointing stick.


title: Touchpad

text: Touchpads are primarily used in self-contained portable laptop computers and do not require a flat surface near the machine. The touchpad is close to the keyboard, and relatively short finger movements are required to move the cursor across the display screen; while advantageous, this also makes it possible for a user's palm or wrist to move the mouse cursor accidentally while typing. Laptops today feature multitouch touchpads that can sense in some cases up to five fingers simultaneously, providing more options for input, such as the ability to bring up the context menu by tapping two fingers, dragging two fingers for scrolling, or gestures for zoom in/out or rotate. The touchpads with physical buttons now are only hi-end business\professional laptops option.


title: Touchpad

text: One-dimensional touchpads are the primary control interface for menu navigation on iPod Classic portable music players and additional input method on some Wacom digitizer tablets, where they are referred to as "click wheels", since they only sense motion along one axis, which is wrapped around like a wheel. Creative Labs also uses a touchpad for their Zen line of MP3 players, beginning with the Zen Touch. The second-generation Microsoft Zune product line (the Zune 80/120 and Zune 4/8) uses touch for the Zune Pad.


title: Touchpad

text: Touchpads also exist for desktop computers as an external peripheral, albeit rarely seen. But touchpad layer can be integrated with graphics tablet as additional input option.


title: Touchpad

text: External computer keyboards can be equipped with integrated touchpads (particularly keyboards oriented for HTPC use), and some keyboards can have only touch input surface instead of hardware buttons (a typical solution for clean rooms).


title: Touchpad

text: Optical trackpads primary can be used as part of ultraportable electronics; some handheld laptops and early smartphones can be equipped with optical trackpads.


title: Touchpad

text: There are two principal means by which touchpads work. In the "matrix approach", a series of conductors are arranged in an array of parallel lines in two layers, separated by an insulator and crossing each other at right angles to form a grid. A high frequency signal is applied sequentially between pairs in this two-dimensional grid array. The current that passes between the nodes is proportional to the capacitance. When a virtual ground, such as a finger, is placed over one of the intersections between the conductive layer some of the electrical field is shunted to this ground point, resulting in a change in the apparent capacitance at that location. This method received awarded to George Gerpheide in April 1994.


title: Touchpad

text: The "capacitive shunt method", described in an application note by manufacturer Analog Devices, senses the change in capacitance between a transmitter and receiver that are on opposite sides of the sensor. The transmitter creates an electric field which oscillates at 200–300 kHz. If a ground point, such as the finger, is placed between the transmitter and receiver, some of the field lines are shunted away, decreasing the apparent capacitance.


title: Touchpad

text: Trackpads such as those found in some Blackberry smartphones work optically, like an optical computer mouse.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Spencer Woolley Kimball (March 28, 1895 – November 5, 1985) was an American business, civic, and religious leader who was the twelfth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The grandson of early Latter-day Saint apostle Heber C. Kimball, Kimball was born in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. He spent most of his early life in Thatcher, Arizona, where his father, Andrew Kimball, farmed and served as the area's stake president. He served an LDS mission in Independence, Missouri from 1914 to 1916, then worked for various banks in Arizona's Gila Valley as a clerk and bank teller. Kimball later co-founded a business, selling bonds and insurance that, after weathering the Great Depression, became highly successful. Kimball served as a stake president in his hometown from 1938 until 1943, when he was called to serve as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Like most other LDS Church apostles, Kimball traveled extensively to fulfill a wide variety of administrative and ecclesiastical duties. Early in his time as an apostle, Kimball was directed by church president George Albert Smith to spend extra time in religious and humanitarian work with Native Americans, which Kimball did throughout his life. He initiated the Indian Placement Program, which helped many Native American students gain education in the 1960s and 1970s while they stayed with LDS foster families.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: In late 1973, following the sudden death of church president Harold B. Lee, Kimball became the twelfth president of the LDS Church, a position he held until his death in 1985. Kimball's presidency was noted for the 1978 announcement ending the restriction on church members of black African descent being ordained to the priesthood or receiving temple ordinances. Kimball's presidency saw large growth in the LDS Church, both in terms of membership and the number of temples. Kimball was the first church president to state publicly that the church expects all able-bodied male members to serve missions in young adulthood, resulting in an increase in missionary service.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Kimball's paternal grandfather, Heber C. Kimball, was one of the original LDS apostles who were called when Joseph Smith first organized the Quorum of the Twelve in February 1835. Kimball later served as first counselor to Brigham Young in the church's First Presidency from 1847 until his death in 1868.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Kimball's maternal grandfather, Edwin D. Woolley, was a prominent LDS bishop in Salt Lake City for many years.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Kimball was born on March 28, 1895, in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Andrew Kimball and Olive Woolley. He had ten siblings. In 1898, when Kimball was three years old, his father was called as president of the St. Joseph Arizona Stake, and his family relocated to the town of Thatcher, in Southeastern Arizona's Graham County.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: During his childhood, Kimball had a number of medical problems, including typhoid fever and facial paralysis (likely Bell's palsy), and he once nearly drowned. Four of his sisters died in childhood, and his mother died when he was eleven. Though only tall as an adult, Kimball was an avid basketball player, and he was the star and leading scorer on most of his school and recreational teams. In addition to being an athlete, Kimball was an honor student at the LDS Gila Academy (modern Eastern Arizona College). During summer holidays, he often worked at a dairy in Globe, Arizona, milking cows, cleaning stalls, and washing bottles for $50 to $60 per month as well as room and board.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Kimball graduated from high school in May 1914 and, one week later, was called to serve as a missionary in the Swiss–German Mission. Less than two months later, his European mission call was cut short by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and the subsequent outbreak of World War I. Kimball was reassigned to the Central States Mission and spent most of the rest of his mission in the towns and rural settlements of Missouri until 1916.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Hoping to become a schoolteacher, Kimball spent one semester at the University of Arizona in the spring of 1917, but he received an army draft notice later that year. During that time, he courted Camilla Eyring (1894–1987), a schoolteacher at Gila Academy, where Kimball had attended high school. They began dating in August 1917 and exchanged letters regularly after Kimball left for a semester at Brigham Young University (BYU) the next month. After one month at BYU, Kimball was notified that his call into the army was imminent, and he had to leave the university and return to his hometown. He returned to Arizona, but his army group was never called up for duty before World War I ended with the signing of the Armistice of 11 November 1918.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Kimball and Eyring's relationship deepened quickly, and by late October they had decided to marry. Because of their employment commitments and lack of money, the couple could not afford to travel to Utah to marry in the nearest LDS temple. They were married in a civil ceremony in Camilla's home in Pima, Arizona on November 16, 1917. Seven months later, the couple made the two-day journey by train to Salt Lake City where they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on June 7, 1918. They eventually had four children: Spencer L. "Spence" (1918–2003), Olive Beth "Bobby" (1922–2018), Andrew E. (1927–2020), and Edward L. "Ed" (1930–2016).


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: In 1921, Kimball began work at the Thatcher branch of the Arizona Trust and Savings Bank, where he was eventually promoted to assistant cashier at $225 per month, a high salary at the time. The bank failed in 1923 in the aftermath of the Depression of 1920–21; Kimball lost his $3000 investments in bank stock and was forced to take a lower-paying job at another bank. Kimball also performed a variety of other local jobs to earn extra income to support his wife and children, including playing the piano and singing at local events, stringing with Camilla for local newspapers, distributing for an herbal laxative company, and clerical work for local stores.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Shortly after Kimball married, his father called him to serve as clerk for the St. Joseph Stake. In the 1920s, local stake clerks still performed the extensive record-keeping and reporting duties that are now digitized and done centrally at the LDS Church's headquarters in Salt Lake City. The position of stake clerk was essentially a part-time job, and those called were paid a monthly salary of $50.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: In 1925, Kimball and Joseph W. Greenhalgh, a Latter-day Saint businessman who served as a bishop in one of the local wards, began a small securities business making and purchasing loans from local businesses and individuals. By 1927, the business became independent, and after investing $150 of his own money in the business, Kimball began running it full-time in Safford, Arizona, as the Kimball–Greenhalgh Agency, dealing in local insurance, real estate, debt collection, and bonds. The business suffered greatly during the Great Depression and lost much of its capital between 1930 and 1933. Through continued work and re-investment of profits, it survived the Great Depression and became increasingly successful during the late 1930s and early 1940s. By 1943, Kimball's initial $150 investment in the agency was worth nearly $100,000.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Kimball was active in many civic organizations, including the Parent-Teacher Association, city council, Red Cross, Boy Scouts, and he was elected leader of the Arizona Rotary Club in 1936. Kimball had achieved record success in organizing new Rotary Club chapters, and the Arizona membership voted to pay for him and his wife to travel to the club's 1936 international convention in Nice, France. They went by train to Chicago and then to Montreal, where their oldest son, Spencer L., was serving as an LDS missionary. They traveled on a week-long passage on an ocean liner to Le Havre. From there, they visited Paris, Monte Carlo, Genoa, Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Venice, Vienna, the Swiss Alps, Belgium, the Netherlands, and London.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: In February 1938, LDS apostle Melvin J. Ballard was sent to Thatcher to divide the growing St. Joseph Stake. The newly created Mount Graham Stake covered the eastern half of the old stake, and Kimball was called as its first stake president. Though smaller than the previous stake, the newly formed stake covered a large area that extended east as far as El Paso, Texas. For Kimball and his two counselors to visit each ward in the stake required traveling a total of . During the Mount Graham Stake's semiannual stake conference in September 1941, unusually heavy rains caused the Gila River to overflow its banks, flooding several of the towns in the stake and causing $100,000 in damage to the farms and buildings of Latter-day Saints in the area. As stake president, Kimball co-ordinated the LDS Church's humanitarian response, which quickly mobilized funds, materials, and manpower to care for displaced residents and begin recovery.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the subsequent entry of the United States into World War II, a number of young men from the stake left to join the US military. At one point, 250 men from the stake served in the war, and Kimball ensured that each received a copy of the monthly stake bulletin and often wrote personal notes on each copy to the recipient.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Kimball was widely known and respected in the community, and he was constantly stopped on the streets of Safford by acquaintances and friends asking for his advice. After he was called to serve as stake president, non-Mormon residents and travelers in Safford often asked Kimball to perform marriages for them. Kimball's demanding schedule of managing the Kimball–Greenhalgh Agency, serving in civic organizations, and serving in LDS Church leadership positions as well as making time for his wife and children took mental and physical tolls on his body. His journals from the 1930s and early 1940s often mention his exhaustion from days that were spent working 16 hours or more: "Am on a tension from 7 a.m. till 11 p.m. every single minute every day. I know I'm working too hard but there seems no place to stop."


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: The deaths of Sylvester Q. Cannon and Rudger Clawson created two vacancies in the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in mid-1943. On July 8, 1943, Kimball received a telephone call from J. Reuben Clark, the first counselor to church president Heber J. Grant, notifying him that he had been called to fill one of the vacancies. Kimball was initially so shocked by the call that he asked Clark's permission to ponder it for several days before he went to Salt Lake City to meet with him in person, as part of a previously-scheduled family trip. After the phone call, Kimball's desire to accept the calling was overwhelmed by feelings of self-doubt and incompetence. His wife, Camilla, recounted that although her husband was not prone to tears, he afterward lay on the floor of their home and wept uncontrollably as she tried to comfort him. After an intense emotional and spiritual struggle, Kimball had an unusual dream, which gave him peace on his ability to accept the calling. He was ordained an apostle by Grant and added to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Salt Lake Temple on October 7, 1943. Grant had chosen Ezra Taft Benson to fill the other vacancy in the Quorum, and he and Kimball were ordained on the same day. As he was four years older than Benson, Kimball was ordained first, which put him ahead of Benson in the Quorum's seniority.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: In accordance with church requirements and tradition, the Kimballs immediately began the transition from Arizona to Salt Lake City upon Kimball's call to be an apostle. Kimball sold his share in the Kimball–Greenhalgh Agency for $65,000 and sold their home and all their other property in Arizona. Kimball was particularly saddened to leave his local Rotary Club chapter and his other professional associations; Camilla worried about leaving her elderly parents in Arizona and relocating their second son, Andrew, who had just been elected senior class president at Safford High School.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Kimball's first years as an apostle were dominated by World War II. Kimball often encouraged American church members to purchase war bonds to support the war effort, which they would then be able to cash out after the war and use the accumulated interest to send the returned soldiers on their LDS missions. Kimball lamented the global destruction of World War II and once wrote in his journal, "How outraged the Lord must feel to see His children fighting down here like wild beasts." As the keynote speaker at BYU's 1944 baccalaureate service, Kimball publicly criticized members of Allied nations for concentrating on "the tyranny and shackles of [other] nations and at the same time [remaining] in bondage individually to sin."


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: As World War II neared its conclusion, Kimball and other LDS Church leaders constantly responded to the needs of the friends and families of LDS war casualties. Kimball's eldest son, Spence, was nearly killed in 1945 while serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS "Franklin", when bombs dropped from Japanese airplanes damaged the ship and ignited its tanks of aviation fuel. In an attempt to give comfort to families of those killed in combat, Kimball drafted a well-known letter in which he wrote that sin, not premature death, was the only true tragedy in life. Kimball compared the death of young servicemen to the early death of Jesus Christ and stated that although such death is heartbreaking, from an eternal perspective, God's all-knowing purposes would be seen in their circumstances.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: In May 1945, shortly after becoming church president, George Albert Smith instructed Kimball, "I want you to look after the Indians—they are neglected. Take charge and watch after the Indians in all the world." Kimball saw the assignment as fulfillment of a prophecy given in the patriarchal blessing he received as an eight-year-old in 1903, which had stated that Kimball would "preach the Gospel to many people, but more especially to the Lamanites." That term refers to a people in the Book of Mormon believed by Latter-day Saints to be among the ancestors of modern Native Americans; another term was Nephites. In September 1946 George Albert Smith again gave Kimball the charge to watch over the interests of the indigenous people of the Americas. At this time Smith explicitly included the indigenous peoples of the Pacific islands.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: In October 1946, Kimball and several other general authorities toured the Navajo Nation in an effort to improve relations between the LDS Church and the Navajo people. Kimball was dismayed at the abject poverty among the Navajo and empathized with their distrust of the US government. At that time, the average Navajo person ate no more than a day, and a single dentist served the entire population of 55,000. Though the reservation of the Navajo Nation covered , only 0.01% of that area was arable. In 1947, Golden Buchanan, an LDS leader in Sevier County, Utah, heard of a 17-year-old Navajo girl working on a sugar beet farm who wanted to stay in Utah and attend public school. Buchanan wrote Kimball with an idea for the children of Navajo families to live with local LDS families so that they could receive proper nutrition and educations. Kimball supported the idea and asked Buchanan if his family would be willing to take Helen John, the Navajo girl, as a foster daughter to begin the program. Buchanan's family agreed. While it took time to develop the program, that is referred to as the start of the LDS Church's Indian Placement Program, also known as the "Lamanites Placement Program." By 1954, the program had 68 students, and the Church had standardized some of its approach. By 1969, nearly 5,000 students were placed with LDS families throughout the Western United States and Canada.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Kimball was particularly distressed by the racism against Native Americans that was still widespread among white church members in the 1940s and 1950s. At the LDS Church's April 1954 general conference, Kimball openly denounced the prevalent prejudices against non-whites and compared such church members to the Pharisees who mistreated Jesus Christ and the priest and Levite from the parable of the Good Samaritan. Kimball subsequently repeated his warning at a BYU campus devotional, stating that there were "too many Pharisees among the white [students and faculty]... too many Levites who pull their robes about them and pass by with disdain."


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: When not touring missions or presiding over weekend stake conferences, Kimball spent weekdays answering correspondence at his home or working in his office at LDS Church headquarters in Salt Lake City. Kimball was noted among the apostles for his willingness to meet with church members struggling with serious personal problems, particularly married couples considering divorce or individuals wishing to confess serious violations of the LDS Church's law of chastity, which prohibits sexual relations outside of marriage. During his time as an apostle, Kimball met with thousands of church members and full-time missionaries who, for various reasons, felt their own local church leaders could not help them. Kimball "had no patience for sin [but] almost infinite patience for sinners" and often spent long hours with individuals in greatest distress. In 1959, Kimball and fellow apostle Mark E. Petersen were assigned to counsel church members dealing with homosexuality, which Kimball believed could, "like all other problems," be overcome through "consistent prayerful exercise of self-restraint." Kimball's experiences impelled his writing of "The Miracle of Forgiveness", first published in 1969, which dealt frankly with the serious nature of LDS standards on sexual morality and counseled church members on avoidance of such problems and repentance.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Beginning in 1932, Kimball began suffering from boils and infectious sores, which plagued him until the advent of antibacterial medicines such as sulfonamides and penicillin during World War II.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: In May 1948, while he was holding church meetings throughout Navajo and Apache communities in Arizona, Kimball suffered severe chest pain from a heart attack, after he had spent an afternoon struggling to lift an automobile out of deep sand. Kimball was physically sluggish throughout the rest of the trip, and after he had returned to Salt Lake City and undergone an electrocardiogram, his physician prescribed one month of rest from his church duties. Kimball was only 53 and had considered himself to be generally healthy and fit; he persuaded his physician not to tell the other apostles or the First Presidency. However, on his next assignment, in Rigby, Idaho, Kimball again experienced chest pains, which escalated into another heart attack several days after his return. During the early episodes, Kimball passed the time by discussing his wishes regarding the family's finances and investments with his wife in case he did not survive the infarctions. After receiving a priesthood blessing from church president George Albert Smith, Kimball spent two months on bed rest followed by two weeks resting on the Navajo Nation. At his physician's urging, he spent several additional weeks recuperating with his wife near the seashore in Long Beach, California. A cardiologist that Kimball consulted in California believed that his heart had been weakened by an undiagnosed case of rheumatic fever during childhood and instructed Kimball to avoid overwork and gaining unnecessary weight. Kimball's chest pains recurred occasionally throughout the next several years, particularly in times of greatest stress or fatigue.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: In early 1950, when he was 55, Kimball, who had never smoked or used tobacco, began experiencing persistent hoarseness and after a physical examination, he underwent a biopsy of a white spot in his throat. The biopsy caused some brief voice impairment and indicated that Kimball had a throat infection but not cancer. In late 1956, Kimball's hoarseness returned, coupled with occasional bleeding in the back of his throat. Kimball's physician sent him to New York City to meet with Dr. Hayes Martin (1892–1977), an expert on cancers of the head and neck. Martin performed another biopsy, which indicated "borderline malignancy," and in early 1957, Martin recommended immediate surgery. Kimball had neglected to seek approval from church president David O. McKay regarding his 1957 biopsy. At the time, the biopsy itself could cause permanent vocal damage. He felt that as an apostle, he should have sought McKay's approval before he underwent surgical procedures that could render him incapable of fulfilling apostolic duties.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: McKay stated that he believed Kimball could still serve as an apostle even if he underwent a complete laryngectomy and advised him to go forward with the procedure. Martin subsequently surgically removed one of Kimball's vocal cords and half of the other, leaving him barely able to speak above a hoarse whisper. After several weeks of enforced silence, Kimball slowly recovered, and by November 1957, he was allowed by his physician to resume speaking in public. Kimball's voice remained raspy throughout the rest of his life, and he usually wore an ear-mounted microphone to help magnify his voice, even when he was speaking at normal microphone-equipped pulpits.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: In early 1972, when he was 77, Kimball began experiencing difficulty breathing, excessive fatigue, and sleeplessness. Medical examinations discovered serious aortic calcification and some coronary artery disease. Meanwhile, Kimball had experienced a recurrence of his earlier throat cancer. He arranged a meeting between his physicians, cardiologist Ernest L. Wilkinson and cardiothoracic surgeon Russell M. Nelson (a future LDS Church president), and the church's First Presidency. Nelson later described the meeting:


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Kimball's heart surgery was postponed for him to undergo radiation therapy on his throat, which was successful. Immediately following the conclusion of the LDS Church's April 1972 general conference, Kimball successfully underwent a 4.5 hour open-heart surgery that was performed by Nelson. Kimball spent the next several months recovering.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Given Kimball's history of health problems, many peopleincluding Kimball himselfdid not anticipate him living long enough to become president of the LDS Church. However, on December 26, 1973, Harold B. Lee, who was four years younger than Kimball and had previously been in much better health, unexpectedly died, leaving Kimball as the most senior apostle and thus the presumptive new church president. Kimball was ordained church president on December 30, 1973, the day after Lee's funeral, choosing N. Eldon Tanner and Marion G. Romney as his first and second counselors. LDS apostle Boyd K. Packer recalled shortly afterward discovering Kimball sitting alone in the church president's office quietly weeping, and Kimball saying to him: "I am such a little man for such a big responsibility!"


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Kimball traveled more than any previous church president, visiting a total of 85 countries worldwide. His other contributions included announcing 27 temples, dedicating four, establishing satellite communication in church buildings, and decreasing the duration of church services to three hours.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Kimball was the earliest church president to state clearly that all able-bodied LDS young men should serve a full-time mission. When Kimball became president in 1974, the church had 17,000 full-time missionaries, and within several years, it had 25,000. Additionally, under Kimball's leadership, the number of missionaries in North America increased from 2,000 to 7,000. Between 1976 and 1978, the church built and dedicated its Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, north of BYU, where new missionaries go to receive training in scripture, teaching methods, and, if necessary, a new language.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Beginning in the late 1840s, men of black African descent were prohibited from ordination to the LDS Church's priesthood, which is normally held by all male members who meet church standards of spiritual "worthiness", and from receiving temple ordinances such as the endowment and celestial marriage (sealing). The origins of the policy are still unclear. During the 20th century, most LDS church leaders and members believed the policy had originated during founding prophet Joseph Smith's time, but church research in the 1960s and 1970s found no evidence of the prohibition before the presidency of Brigham Young. LDS Church presidents Heber J. Grant and David O. McKay are known to have stated privately that the restriction was a temporary one that would be lifted later by a divine revelation to a church president.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: In the years prior to his presidency, Kimball kept a binder of notes and clippings related to the issue. In the first years of his presidency, he was recorded as frequently making the issue one of investigation and prayer. In June 1977, Kimball asked at least three general authoritiesapostles Bruce R. McConkie, Thomas S. Monson, and Boyd K. Packerto write him memoranda "on the doctrinal basis of the prohibition and how a change might affect the Church." McConkie wrote a long treatise concluding there were no scriptural impediments to a change. In 1977, Kimball obtained a personal key to the Salt Lake Temple for entering in the evenings after the temple closed and often spent hours alone in its upper rooms praying for divine guidance on a possible change. On May 30, 1978, Kimball presented his two counselors with a statement that he had written in longhand that removed all racial restrictions on ordination to the priesthood, stating that he "had a good, warm feeling about it."


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: On June 1, 1978, following the monthly meeting of general authorities in the Salt Lake Temple, Kimball asked his counselors and the ten members of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles then present to remain behind for a special meeting. Kimball began by describing his studies, thoughts, and prayers on removing the restriction and on his growing assurance that the time had come for the change. Kimball asked each of the men present to share their views, and all spoke in favor of changing the policy. After all present had shared their views, Kimball led the gathered apostles in a prayer circle to seek final divine approval for the change. As Kimball prayed, many in the group recorded feeling a powerful spiritual confirmation. Bruce R. McConkie later said: "There are no words to describe the sensation, but simultaneously the Twelve and the three members of the First Presidency had the Holy Ghost descend upon them and they knew that God had manifested his will... I had had some remarkable spiritual experiences before... but nothing of this magnitude." L. Tom Perry described: "I felt something like the rushing of wind. There was a feeling that came over the whole group. When President Kimball got up he was visibly relieved and overjoyed." Gordon B. Hinckley later said: "For me, it felt as if a conduit opened between the heavenly throne and the kneeling, pleading prophet of God who was joined by his Brethren."


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: The church formally announced the change on June 9, 1978. The story led many national news broadcasts and was on the front page of most American newspapers, and in most largely Latter-day Saint communities in Utah and Idaho, telephone networks were completely jammed with excited callers. The announcement was formally approved by the church at the October 1978 general conference and is included in the LDS Church's edition of the Doctrine and Covenants as Official Declaration 2.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: In 1972, the US Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which introduced an amendment to the US Constitution guaranteeing that equal rights could not be denied by the federal government or any U.S. state on the basis of gender. Upon becoming church president in late 1973, Kimball initially indicated to media outlets that the LDS Church had no official stand on the amendment and made no comment on it. In July 1974, Belle S. Spafford, the general president of the Relief Society, the LDS Church's women's organization and one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the world, gave a public talk in New York City in which she expressed her view that the amendment's objectives would be better achieved through legislation, not the constitutional amendment, which she feared was too broad and vague. Her successor, Barbara B. Smith, echoed those sentiments later that year in a talk at the church's Institute of Religion at the University of Utah, which was followed by a supporting editorial in the LDS "Church News".


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: The two women's comments, combined with the "Church News" editorial, greatly increased opposition to the ERA among the Utah populace, and when the Utah State Legislature voted on its ratification in February 1975, it was defeated by a wide margin. Kimball and his counselors in the First Presidency did not release a formal statement on the ERA until October 1976, when the amendment was only four states away from passing. The statement indicated that the First Presidency recognized and "deplore[d]" the legal injustices women had suffered throughout history, but warned that the amendment would not help women and "could indeed bring them far more restraints and repression." In August 1978, the First Presidency issued a second statement elaborating on the first, in which Kimball and his counselors stated that the ERA's "deceptively simple language ... [constitutes] encouragement of those who seek a unisex society, [and] an increase in the practice of homosexual and lesbian activities."


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Contemporary media coverage of the church's opposition to the ERA was frequently negative. At the October 1980 General Conference, about 30 picketers marched outside the Salt Lake Tabernacle, and when Kimball was presented to the congregation during the customary sustaining of church officers, three women stood and shouted "No! ERA policy, no!" At the dedication of the church's new temple in Seattle, in November 1980, several dozen protesters again demonstrated. Minor protests and pickets continued across the United States at major church events until June 1982, when the ratification period expired without the amendment reaching the three-fourths of the states needed for ratification.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: On March 28, 1975, his 80th birthday, Kimball said: "I can't believe that I am eighty years old... I don't feel eighty, and I don't think in those terms." However, Kimball suffered from a myriad of mostly minor health issues ranging from blurred vision to osteoarthritis in his spine. In July 1979, Kimball suffered a series of three minor strokes, theorized to have been caused by small nylon fibers shed by his artificial heart valve, which briefly incapacitated him but had little lasting effect. In September 1979, Kimball suddenly experienced loss of strength throughout his entire body without affecting his mental clarity. A CT scan indicated Kimball had a subdural hematoma, but its cause was never pinpointed. A neurosurgeon quickly drilled a small hole in Kimball's skull, just above his right ear, from which nearly one cup (235 mL) of blood and fluid drained out. Kimball left the hospital 12 days after his operation and insisted on participating in the October 1979 general conference. In November 1979, Kimball underwent a similar operation on another less severe hematoma.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: In the summer of 1981, Kimball's health began to decline rapidly. He began suffering from bouts of confusion and difficulty speaking. Realizing his deteriorating capacity and the poor health of his two counselors in the church's First Presidency, Kimball called Gordon B. Hinckley as an additional counselor to assist in the church's daily administration. Shortly following Hinckley's selection, Kimball developed a third subdural hematoma of greater seriousness than the previous two. The subsequent surgery left Kimball with intermittent difficulty in speaking and activity and further damaged his vision and hearing. By 1982, Kimball was rarely well enough to appear in public, and his leadership as church president was largely limited to giving final approval or denial to more important church matters that were brought to him by Hinckley. However, Kimball still attended at least one session of each semiannual general conference of the church until his death. At the Sunday afternoon session of the church's April 1982 general conference, Kimball unexpectedly took the pulpit to deliver a short closing message, which proved to be his final public address:


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Over subsequent years, Kimball would occasionally attend meetings in the Salt Lake Temple and was able to give assent or direction on matters of significance, such as the calling of Russell M. Nelson and Dallin H. Oaks to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1984, but he was otherwise mostly incapacitated.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Kimball was mentally alert for his 90th birthday on March 28, 1985, and he attended that week's meeting of the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles in the Salt Lake Temple. In November 1985, he suffered a recurrence of a previous bleeding peptic ulcer, and his family decided not to take surgical action. Kimball died shortly after 10:00pm on November 5, 1985, at the age of 90. One of Kimball's final utterances, which he had repeated several times in the days before his death, was "My life is at an end now. She's so happy, oh so very happy." When asked was meant by "she," Kimball indicated his mother, Olive Woolley Kimball, who had died in 1906, when he was 11.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: Kimball's teachings as an apostle were the 2007 course of study in the LDS Church's Sunday Relief Society and Melchizedek priesthood classes.


title: Spencer W. Kimball

text: In 1996, a bronze statue of his likeness, commissioned by Arizona land developers Gary Walker and Buddy Johnson, was unveiled in Arizona.


title: Penguin (album)

text: Penguin is the seventh studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in March 1973. It was the first Fleetwood Mac album after the departure of Danny Kirwan, the first to feature Bob Weston and the only one to feature Dave Walker.


title: Penguin (album)

text: The penguin is the band mascot favoured by John McVie. His fascination with the birds originated when he lived near London Zoo during the early days of his marriage to Christine McVie. He was a member of the Zoological Society and would spend hours at the zoo studying and watching the penguins.