title: La donna è mobile

text: "" (; "Woman is fickle") is the Duke of Mantua's canzone from the beginning of act 3 of Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto" (1851). The canzone is famous as a showcase for tenors. Raffaele Mirate's performance of the bravura aria at the opera's 1851 premiere was hailed as the highlight of the evening. Before the opera's first public performance (in Venice), the aria was rehearsed under tight secrecy: a necessary precaution, as "" proved to be incredibly catchy, and soon after the aria's first public performance it became popular to sing among Venetian gondoliers.


title: La donna è mobile

text: As the opera progresses, the reprise of the tune in the following scenes contributes to Rigoletto's confusion as he realizes from the sound of the Duke's lively voice coming from the tavern (offstage) that the body in the sack over which he had grimly triumphed was not that of the Duke after all: Rigoletto had paid Sparafucile, an assassin, to kill the Duke, but Sparafucile had deceived Rigoletto by indiscriminately killing Gilda, Rigoletto's beloved daughter, instead.


title: La donna è mobile

text: The aria is in the key of B major with a time signature of 3/8 and a tempo mark of "allegretto". The vocal range extends from F to A with a tessitura from F to F. Eight bars form the orchestral introduction, followed by a one-bar general rest. Each verse and the refrain covers eight bars; the whole aria is 87 bars long.


title: La donna è mobile

text: The almost comical-sounding theme of "" is introduced immediately. The theme is repeated several times in the approximately two to three minutes it takes to perform the aria, but with the important—and obvious—omission of the last bar. This has the effect of driving the music forward as it creates the impression of being incomplete and unresolved, which it is, ending not on the tonic (B) or dominant (F) but on the submediant (G). Once the Duke has finished singing, however, the theme is once again repeated; but this time it includes the last, and conclusive, bar and finally resolving to the tonic of B major. The song is in strophic form with an orchestral ritornello.


title: La donna è mobile

text: The tune has been used in popular culture for a long time and for many occasions and purposes. Verdi knew that he had written a catchy tune, so he provided the score to the singer at the premiere, Raffaele Mirate, only shortly before the premiere and had him swear not to sing or whistle the song outside rehearsals. And indeed, people sang the tune the next day in the streets. Early, it became a barrel organ staple, and later was used extensively in television advertisements. Football fans chanted new words on the melody, and it was used in video games and films. When all of Italy was under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a video of opera singer Maurizio Marchini performing "La donna è mobile" and other arias and songs from his balcony in Florence went viral.


title: Shanghai Sharks

text: It is best known outside China as the club that developed Yao Ming before he entered the National Basketball Association. With Yao on the team, the Sharks made the finals for three seasons in a row (in 1999–2000, 2000–01, and 2001–02), facing the Bayi Rockets each time. They were runners-up the first two years, but won the CBA championship for the first time on their third try, snapping a string of six Bayi Rockets championships in a row.


title: Shanghai Sharks

text: The team faced serious financial issues in the 2008–09 season, and were in danger of not being able to compete in the 2009–10 season due to their shaky finances. On July 16, 2009, Chinese media reported that Yao had stepped in to purchase the team.


title: Shanghai Sharks

text: For the 2021–22 Chinese Basketball Association season, they have been on the country's top teams after they accomplished a major winning streak. The team has been guided by head coach Li Chunjiang.


title: Shanghai Sharks

text: The team itself has become an internet meme by NBA fans. The team is jokingly referred to as a future landing spot for players, mainly high profile stars, who under-perform in a game or series; particularly in the playoffs.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: Richard Morton Sherman (born June 12, 1928) is an American songwriter who specialized in musical films with his brother Robert B. Sherman. According to the official Walt Disney Company website and independent fact checkers, "the Sherman Brothers were responsible for more motion picture musical song scores than any other songwriting team in film history."


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: Some of the Sherman Brothers' best known songs were incorporated into live action and animation musical films including: "Mary Poppins", "The Happiest Millionaire", "The Jungle Book", "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh", "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", "Snoopy Come Home", "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", "The Slipper and the Rose", and "Charlotte's Web".


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: Their most well known work, however, remains "It's a Small World (After All)", written for the theme park attraction of the same name. According to "Time", it may be the most (publicly) performed song in history.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: Richard Morton Sherman was born in New York City to Russian Jewish immigrants, Rosa (Dancis) and Al Sherman. Together with his older brother Robert, "The Sherman Brothers" eventually followed in their songwriting father's footsteps to form a long-lasting songwriting partnership.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: Following seven years of frequent cross-country moves, the Sherman family finally settled down in Beverly Hills, California in 1937. During Richard's years at Beverly Hills High School, he became fascinated with music and studied several instruments, including the flute, piccolo, and piano. At his 1946 high school graduation, Sherman and classmate André Previn played a musical duet with Previn on piano and Sherman on flute. The Sherman Brothers later won a 1964 Oscar for Music Score – Substantially Original for "Mary Poppins" and a second for Best Original Song for "Chim Chim Cher-ee".


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: In 1953 Sherman was drafted into United States Army, being assigned to the Army Band and glee club. Serving as musical conductor for both groups from 1953 until his honorable discharge in 1955, he was stationed solely in the United States during his time in the service. During this time, his brother Robert worked with other songwriters.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: As a student at Bard College, Sherman majored in music, writing numerous sonatas and "art songs". His ambition to write the "great american symphony" eventually led him to write songs.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: Within two years of graduating, Sherman and his brother Robert began writing songs together on a challenge from their father, Al Sherman, a successful popular songwriter in the "Tin Pan Alley" days ("No! No! A Thousand Times No!!", "You Gotta Be a Football Hero").


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: In 1958, Sherman's brother Robert founded the music publishing company, Music World Corporation, which later worked with Disney's BMI publishing arm, Wonderland Music Company. That same year, the Sherman Brothers had their first Top Ten hit with "Tall Paul", which was sung by Annette Funicello. The success of this song attracted the attention of Walt Disney who eventually hired the Sherman Brothers as Staff Songwriters for Walt Disney Studios. While at Disney, the Sherman Brothers wrote what is perhaps their most recognized song: "It's a Small World (After All)" for the 1964 New York World's Fair.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: In 1965, the Sherman brothers won 2 Academy Awards for "Mary Poppins" – Best Original Score, which included "Feed The Birds", "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"; and Best Original Song, "Chim Chim Cher-ee". Since "Mary Poppins" premiere, Robert B. Sherman subsequently earned 9 Academy Award nominations, 2 Grammy Awards, 4 Grammy Award nominations and 23 gold and platinum albums.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: Robert and Richard Sherman worked directly for Walt Disney until Disney's death in 1966. After leaving the company, the brothers worked freelance as songwriters on scores of motion pictures, television shows, theme park exhibits and stage musicals.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: Their first non-Disney assignment came with Albert R. Broccoli's motion picture production "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" in 1968 which garnered the brothers their third Academy Award Nomination. In 1973, the Sherman Brothers made history by becoming the only Americans ever to win First Prize at the Moscow Film Festival for "Tom Sawyer" for which they also authored the screenplay.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: "The Slipper and the Rose" was picked to be the Royal Command Performance of the year and was attended by Queen Elizabeth. A modern musical adaptation of the classic Cinderella story, Slipper also features both song-score and screenplay by the Sherman Brothers. That same year the Sherman Brothers received their star on the Hollywood "Walk of Fame" directly across from Grauman's Chinese Theater.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: Their numerous other Disney and non-Disney top box office film credits include "The Jungle Book" (1967), "The Aristocats" (1970), "The Parent Trap" (1961), "The Parent Trap" (1998), "Charlotte's Web" (1973), "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" (1977), "Snoopy, Come Home" (1972), "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (1971) and "" (1992).


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: Outside the motion picture realm, their Tony-nominated "Over Here!" (1974) was the biggest-grossing original Broadway Musical of that year. The Sherman Brothers have also written numerous top-selling songs, including "You're Sixteen", which holds the distinction of reaching Billboard's Top Ten twice; first with Johnny Burnette in 1960 and then with Ringo Starr fourteen years later. Other top-ten hits include, "Pineapple Princess", "Let's Get Together" and more.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: In 2000, the Sherman brothers wrote the song score for Disney's blockbuster film: "The Tigger Movie" (2000). This film marked the brothers' first major motion picture for the Disney company in over 28 years.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: In 2002, the stage musical "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" premiered in London. It was the most successful stage show ever produced at the London Palladium, boasting the longest run in that century-old theatre's history. In early 2005 a second Chitty company premiered on Broadway (New York City) at the Foxwoods Theatre (then the Hilton Theatre). The Sherman Brothers wrote an additional six songs specifically for the new stage productions.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: In 2003, four Sherman brothers' musicals ranked in the "Top 10 Favorite Children's Films of All Time" in a (British) nationwide poll reported by the BBC. "The Jungle Book" (1967)_ranked at #7, "Mary Poppins" (1964) ranked at #8, "The Aristocats" (1970) ranked at #9 and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (1968) topped the list at #1.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: A new Disney and Cameron Mackintosh production of "Mary Poppins: The Stage Musical" made its world premiere at the Prince Edward Theatre in December 2004 and features the Sherman Brothers classic songs.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: In June 2005, Richard M. Sherman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame with his brother. "Chitty" opened on Broadway in 2005 and commenced its first full UK tour in December 2005 with subsequent tours and/or tour dates in each year since. "Mary Poppins" opened on Broadway in 2006.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: In 2008 "Mary Poppins" embarked on a UK tour as well as a world tour beginning in Göteborg, Sweden. "Chitty" embarked on a tour of 29 cities in the U.S. which ended in 2009.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: Recently, Sherman once again collaborated with Disney in three of its live-action films, having rewritten the song "I Wan'na Be Like You" for Jon Favreau's 2016 remake of "The Jungle Book". As the film featured the song's performer, King Louie, as a "Gigantopithecus", Sherman rewrote it to fit the character's depiction. He also wrote three new songs for the 2018 film "Christopher Robin", titled "Goodbye Farewell", "Busy Doing Nothing", and "Christopher Robin", the last two performed by Sherman. Sherman also acted as a music consultant for "Mary Poppins Returns", the sequel to "Mary Poppins". Sherman will also write new songs for the upcoming musical stage adaptation of "The Jungle Book".


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: In the late 1940s, while Richard was attending Bard college, he was briefly married to Corrine Newman. They had one child, Lynda. In 1957 Richard married Ursula Elizabeth Gluck; the couple had two children, Gregory Vincent and Victoria Lynn. Sherman has six grandchildren.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: Following Robert Sherman's relocation from Beverly Hills to London, England, the brothers continued to collaborate musically. They credited the ability to do so long-distance to technology via fax, e-mail, and the low-cost international telephone service. Both brothers frequently traveled between Los Angeles, New York, and London working together on various musical plays until Robert's death in 2012.


title: Richard M. Sherman

text: Richard and Elizabeth have been married for over 60 years and remain active. They continue to live in Beverly Hills, California.


title: Budjak

text: Budjak or Budzhak (Bulgarian and Ukrainian: Буджак; ; Gagauz and Turkish: "Bucak"), historically part of Bessarabia until 1812, is a historical region in Ukraine and Moldova. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers, this sparsely populated multi-ethnic 600,000-people region of is located in the southern part of historical Bessarabia. Nowadays, the larger part of the region is included in Ukraine's Odesa Oblast, while the rest is included in the southern districts of Moldova. The region is bordered to the north by the rest of Moldova, to the west and south by Romania, and to the east by the Black Sea and the rest of Ukraine.


title: Budjak

text: Historically, Budjak was the southeastern steppe region of Moldavia. Bordered by the northern Trajan's Wall at its north end, by the Danube river and Black Sea to its south, by Tigheci Hills (just east of the Prut River) to the west, and Dniester River to the east, it was known as "historic Bessarabia" until 1812, when this name was given to the larger region situated between the two rivers, including Budjak. As used in the Middle Ages, the term might (if referring to the geographical area) or might not (if referring to the area predominated by Nogai Tatars) include the environs of Akkerman, Bender, and Kiliia.


title: Budjak

text: The name Budjak itself was given to the area during Ottoman rule (1484–1812) and derives from the Turkish word "bucak", meaning "borderland" or "corner", referring roughly to the land between what was then Akkerman (now Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi), Bender, and Ismail.


title: Budjak

text: After 1812, the term Bessarabia came to apply to all of Moldavia east of the Prut River. Consequently, Budjak is sometimes referred to as "Southern Bessarabia".


title: Budjak

text: After the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia in 1940, its southern part, which was included in the Ukrainian SSR (unlike most of Bessarabia, which was included in the Moldavian SSR), became known as Budjak, thus being slightly smaller than the historical term.


title: Budjak

text: Besides Southern Bessarabia, other descriptive terms that have been applied to the region include "Bulgarian Bessarabia" (, translit. "Bolhars'ka Bessarabiia"), "Akkermanshchyna" (), and "Western Odesa Oblast" (, translit. "Zakhidna Odeshchyna").


title: Budjak

text: The area has been termed variously in the English language, including Budjak, Budzhak, Bujak and Buchak. The name has a number of spellings in languages of the region: "Budziak" in Polish, "Bugeac" in Romanian, "Buxhak" in Albanian, "Bucak" in Turkish, and Буджак in Ukrainian, Bulgarian, and Russian, all pronounced more or less like .


title: Budjak

text: The Budjak culture of the North-West Black Sea region is considered to be important in the context of the Pit-Grave or Yamnaya culture of the Pontic steppe, dating to 3,600–2,300 BC. In particular, Budjak may have given rise to the Balkan-Carpathian variant of Yamnaya culture.


title: Budjak

text: In Classical antiquity, Budjak was inhabited by Tyragetae, Bastarnae, Scythians, and Roxolani. In 6th century BC Ancient Greek colonists established a colony at the mouths of Dnister river, Tyras. Around 2nd century BC, also a Celt tribe settled at Aliobrix (present day Cartal/Orlovka).


title: Budjak

text: Budjak area, the northern Lower Danube, was described as the "wasteland of the Getae" by the ancient Greek geographer Strabo (1st century BC). In fact, based on recent archaeological research, in this period of time, the area was most likely populated by sedentary farmers; among them were the Dacians and the Daco-Romans. The nomad peoples, such as the Sarmatians also passed through the area.


title: Budjak

text: The Romans acquired the area in the 1st century AD, rebuilt and encamped Tyras and Aliobrix. As with the rest of the port cities around the Black Sea, the local population absorbed a mixture of Greek and Roman cultures, with Greek being mainly the language of trade, and Latin the language of politics. After the division of the Roman Empire in 395, the area was included in the East Roman or Byzantine Empire. From the 1st century AD until the invasion of the Avars in 558, the Romans had established cities ("poleis"), military camps and some stations for the veterans and for the colons ("apoikion") sent by the emperors.


title: Budjak

text: The area lay along the predominant route for migratory peoples, as it was the westernmost portion of the Euro-Asian steppe. Going westward, only the banks of the Dniester and Danube rivers were less forested comparatively to the surrounding areas (which nowadays form Moldova and Romania), therefore providing a natural route for herdsmen all the way from Mongolia to the Pannonian Plains (modern Hungary). The region, therefore, passed as a temporary settling ground for the Huns under the leader Uldin (387), the Avars (558–567), the Slavs (end of 6th century), the Bulgars under Asparuh (679), the Magyars (9th century), the Pechenegs (11th century, and again 12th century), the Cumans (12th century) and others.


title: Budjak

text: Although the Byzantines held nominal suzerainty of the region (at least of the sea shore) until the 14th century, they had little or no sway over the hinterland.


title: Budjak

text: In the early Middle Ages a Tigheci "Republic" was formed by several villages occupying the nearby Tigheci hills, in order to offer more security for themselves, while the steppe area between that and the seashore, unsuited for agriculture due to lack of water and frequently invaded by Eastern populations, remained void of permanent settlements. From the 7th to the 12th centuries, the region was under the authority of the First Bulgarian Empire, Pechenegs, and later of Cumans, who irregularly collected tribute from the indigenous villagers.


title: Budjak

text: After the Mongol invasion of 1241, the rebuilt coastal cities of Budjak (Maurocastro and Licostomo) came under the domination of Genoese traders. The interior however remained under the direct Mongol rule of the Golden Horde. According to a widespread view in Romanian historiography, sometime during the 14th century Wallachia's princes of the House of Basarab extended their authority over part of the territory. The same theory asserts that the region remained under Wallachian influence until the early 15th century, during the reign of Mircea the Elder, when the area was integrated into Moldavia by prince Alexander the Kind. The name Bessarabia, derived from the name of the Wallachian ruling house, is the main argument for this theory, though the name, attested only in the late 15th century, may arise from a cartographic confusion. Nogai Tatars, who had settled herds in the region after the 1240s, inhabited the steppe, while Romanians inhabited the surrounding hills and the port cities.


title: Budjak

text: In 1484 Stephen the Great of Moldavia was forced to surrender the two main fortresses of Chilia (Kiliia) and Cetatea Albă (Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi) to the Ottoman Empire, the last Black Sea ports to fall into Ottoman hands. In 1538 the Ottomans forced prince Petru Rareș of Moldavia to give up the fortress-city Tighina as well.


title: Budjak

text: Under the Ottomans, Tighina was renamed Bender, while Chilia lost importance due to the construction of the Ismail fortress at the location of the Moldavian village Smil. Despite returning from Muslim to Orthodox Christian sovereignty, the latter names were retained by the Russian Empire.


title: Budjak

text: Under Ottoman rule, the three major cities each were the center of a sanjak, and were together officially part of Silistra (or Özi) Eyalet although Bender was north of Trajan's Wall and outside of the steppe region. The Nogai Tatar-inhabited steppe, which then acquired the name Budjak, served as a buffer area between these sanjaks and the Principality of Moldavia. Although it was a tributary of the Ottoman Empire, Moldavia was independent in its internal affairs until the start of the Russo-Turkish Wars forced the Ottomans to ensure that the Romanian princes did not switch sides too often.


title: Budjak

text: During the Napoleonic Era, Budjak was overrun by Russia in the course of the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812. The 1812 Treaty of Bucharest transferred the territories of Moldavia and Ottoman Empire east of the Prut River and north of the Danube, including Budjak, to Russian control. With the Russian annexation, the name Bessarabia began to be applied not only to the original southern region, but to the entire eastern half of historical Moldavia acquired by the Russian Empire, while Budjak was applied to southern Bessarabia, mainly to the steppe.


title: Budjak

text: With Russia's 1856 defeat in the Crimean War, a part of southern Bessarabia including a part of Budjak (Reni, Izmail, Bolhrad, Kiliia) was ceded by the Russian Empire back to the Principality of Moldavia, which soon united with Wallachia to form the United Principalities (which was made a personal union in 1859 to then be deepened into a full union in 1862, as the Principality of Romania). Following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, the Treaty of San Stefano and the Treaty of Berlin recognized the full independence of the new Kingdom of Romania (the principalities that formed it had already been "de facto" independent for half a century), but transferred the territories subject to the 1856 re-configuration back to the Russian Empire.


title: Budjak

text: After World War I, Budjak, which was part of the Russian Bessarabia Governorate that voted to join Romania, was administered as parts of Tighina, Ismail, and Cetatea Albă counties (judeţe). As the region was inhabited by non-Romanian majorities, it initially witnessed several revolts against the central authorities, such as the Bender Uprising of 1919 and the Tatarbunary Uprising of 1924.


title: Budjak

text: In 1939, the secret appendix to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact assigned Bessarabia to the Soviet Union's sphere of influence and, in June 1940, the Soviets issued an ultimatum demanding the transfer of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. King Carol II of Romania acquiesced and the area was annexed. Central and northern Bessarabia formed the center of the new Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic but part of the south, now known as Budjak, was apportioned to the Ukrainian SSR. The commission that decided the administrative border between the Ukrainian SSR and Moldavian SSR inside the Soviet Union was chaired by Nikita Khrushchev, the then leader of the Ukrainian SSR and the future USSR leader who would add Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR.


title: Budjak

text: On 7 August 1940 the Soviets formed Akkerman Oblast, which was administratively subdivided into 13 raions. The city of Akkerman (Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi) was the center of the oblast. Four months later, on 7 December 1940 the oblast was renamed Izmail Oblast, and the oblast center was moved to the city of Izmail.


title: Budjak

text: Upon Nazi Germany's June 1941 declaration of war on the Soviet Union, Romania sided with the Axis Powers and retook the territories previously annexed by the Soviet Union, including Budjak, but then also continued the war into proper Soviet territory. The area was regained by the Soviets in 1944 and, despite a royal coup by Michael I of Romania that led to Romania joining the Allies in August 1944, was annexed by the Soviets in the 1940 political configuration.


title: Budjak

text: During the administrative reform of Ukrainian SSR, on 15 February 1954, Izmail Oblast was liquidated, and all raions of the oblast were included into Odesa Oblast. By territory, Odesa oblast is now the largest oblast in Ukraine.


title: Budjak

text: With the fall of the Soviet Union, each of the fifteen republics that formally had the right to secede became independent, with boundaries preserved as were inside Soviet Union, since the same Soviet Constitution stipulated that they could not be changed without the mutual consent of both republics, and no discussions between the two upon such an issue were ever held.


title: Budjak

text: Budjak is now a part of independent Ukraine. It is linked to the rest of Odesa oblast by two bridges across the Dniester River. The northernmost connection enters Moldovan territory for a 7.63 km (4 miles) stretch of road, which is controlled by Ukraine as per an agreement between the two countries.


title: Budjak

text: In the autumn of 2014 there were reports of plots to proclaim a pro-Russian People's Republic in the Budjak region of Bessarabia, along the lines of the separatist "people's republics" established in the Donbas region. However, the growing intensity of the war in the Donbas cooled the enthusiasm for separatism and any plans that may have existed failed to materialise. By the end of the year there were reports of drones over the Budjak, apparently from Russian-backed militants in Transnistria or the Black Sea.


title: Budjak

text: In the Ukrainian SSR and Ukraine, until July 2020, the historical territory of Budjak was subdivided into two cities and nine administrative districts ("raions") of Ukraine's Odesa Oblast:


title: Budjak

text: The main ethnic groups in Budjak today are Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Russians, Romanians and Moldovans. (There is an ongoing controversy, in part involving linguistic definitions of ethnicity, over whether Moldovans' self-identification constitutes an ethnic group distinct and apart from Romanians, or a subset of a broader Romanian identity.) The region was inhabited by Romanians and Nogai Tatars through the Middle Ages, but became a home to several other ethnicities and religious groups in the 19th century when it was part of the Russian Empire. The examples are Bessarabian Bulgarians, Bessarabian Germans, Gagauzians and Lipovan Russians who settled in compact areas.


title: Budjak

text: Muslim, Turkic-speaking Nogai Tatars inhabited Ottoman-dominated Budjak until the start of the 19th century, but were forced to abandon the region once the Russian Empire got control over the territory. They resettled in the Caucasus, Dobruja (both in the Romanian and Bulgarian parts) or in modern Turkey.


title: Budjak

text: Budjak was also home to a number of ethnic Germans known as Bessarabian Germans, originally from Württemberg and Prussia, who settled the region in the early 19th century, after it became part of the Russian Empire. A large number of them cultivated the Budjak steppes, known also as "Kronsland" (see also map). They were deported in the Nazi-Soviet population transfers following the Soviet takeover of Bessarabia in 1940. These "Germans from outside Germany", or "Volksdeutsche", were mostly resettled in areas of Nazi occupied Poland, and had to move again at the end of World War II (one example was the family of the former president of Germany Horst Köhler).


title: Budjak

text: Like Moldova, Budjak is home to a small minority of Gagauzes: an Orthodox Christian Turkic people who arrived from the eastern Balkans in the early 19th century, and settled part of the area vacated by the Nogais.


title: Budjak

text: The Bulgarians of the region are known as Bessarabian Bulgarians, and, like the Gagauzes, are descendants of settlers from the eastern Balkans (today eastern Bulgaria) who moved to the area vacated by the Nogais, in order to escape Muslim domination.


title: Budjak

text: Until World War II, the region was also home to a significant number of Jews, a portion of whom were killed in the Holocaust along with other Bessarabian Jews. Still, Jews remained a sizeable minority in several towns, first of all in Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi until mass emigration to Israel in the 1980s and 1990s. Budjak was the only region within the former Russian Empire where a significant number of Sephardic Ladino-speaking Jews could be found as late as the second half of the 19th century. These Sephardim later assimilated with the majority of local Ashkenazic Jewry, but many retained surnames of either Turkic origin or otherwise suggestive of Sephardic descent.


title: Budjak

text: According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, Budjak has a population of 617,200 people, distributed among the ethnic groups as follows: Ukrainians 248,000 (40%), Bulgarians 129,000 (21%), Russians 124,500 (20%), Moldovans 78,300 (13%) and Gagauzians 24,700 (4%). (See also the table below.) Note, that the total population of the Odesa Oblast is, by the 2001 Ukrainian Census, 2,469,000.


title: Budjak

text: Although the majority of Russians and Moldovans declared the language of their ethnicity as their mother tongue, only roughly half of Ukrainians did so, while the other half indicated Russian as their native language. The Bulgarians also tend to use Russian more than Bulgarian, especially in public. The above numbers reflect the declared ethnicity, not the native language. The most common spoken language in everyday public use in Budjak is Russian.


title: Budjak

text: Bulgarians are the largest ethnic group in the Artsyz (39%), Bolhrad (61%), and Tarutyne (38%) districts (raions), Moldovans – in the Reni (50%) district (raion), Russians – in the city of Izmayil (44%), and Ukrainians – in the Kiliia (45%), Tatarbunary (71%), Sarata (44%), and Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi (82%) districts (raions), and in the city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi (63%).


title: Budjak

text: In the Izmail raion, 29% of the population is Ukrainian, 28% Moldovan, and 26% Bulgarian. Since the previous census in 1989, its Moldovan population increased by 1% relative to the number of Ukrainian and Bulgarians, although the actual number of Moldovans has decreased in absolute terms, yet at a slower rate than that of Ukrainians, Russians and Bulgarians, probably due to the fact that a portion of the non-Moldovan population of the area were relatively recent arrivals from other regions of the former Soviet Union, and chose to return upon its dissolution.


title: Budjak

text: Local and regional authorities do not collect taxes. They are considered state institutions of the country at the local level, not institutions of local self-administration.


title: Henri Becquerel

text: Antoine Henri Becquerel (; 15 December 1852 – 25 August 1908) was a French engineer, physicist, Nobel laureate, and the first person to discover evidence of radioactivity. For work in this field he, along with Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie, received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics. The SI unit for radioactivity, the becquerel (Bq), is named after him.


title: Henri Becquerel

text: Becquerel was born in Paris, France, into a wealthy family which produced four generations of physicists: Becquerel's grandfather (Antoine César Becquerel), father (Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel), and son (Jean Becquerel). Henri started off his education by attending the Lycée Louis-le-Grand school, a prep school in Paris. He studied engineering at the École Polytechnique and the École des Ponts et Chaussées. In 1874, Henri married Lucie Zoé Marie Jamin, who would die while giving birth to their son, Jean. In 1890 he married Louise Désirée Lorieux.


title: Henri Becquerel

text: In Becquerel's early career, he became the third in his family to occupy the physics chair at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in 1892. Later on in 1894, Becquerel became chief engineer in the Department of Bridges and Highways before he started with his early experiments. Becquerel's earliest works centered on the subject of his doctoral thesis: the plane polarization of light, with the phenomenon of phosphorescence and absorption of light by crystals. Early in his career, Becquerel also studied the Earth's magnetic fields.


title: Henri Becquerel

text: Becquerel's discovery of spontaneous radioactivity is a famous example of serendipity, of how chance favors the prepared mind. Becquerel had long been interested in phosphorescence, the emission of light of one color following a body's exposure to light of another color. In early 1896, there was a wave of excitement following Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen's discovery of X-rays on 5 January. During the experiment, Röntgen "found that the Crookes tubes he had been using to study cathode rays emitted a new kind of invisible ray that was capable of penetrating through black paper". Learning of Röntgen's discovery from earlier that year during a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences caused Becquerel to be interested, and soon "began looking for a connection between the phosphorescence he had already been investigating and the newly discovered x-rays" of Röntgen, and thought that phosphorescent materials, such as some uranium salts, might emit penetrating X-ray-like radiation when illuminated by bright sunlight.


title: Henri Becquerel

text: By May 1896, after other experiments involving non-phosphorescent uranium salts, he arrived at the correct explanation, namely that the penetrating radiation came from the uranium itself, without any need for excitation by an external energy source. There followed a period of intense research into radioactivity, including the determination that the element thorium is also radioactive and the discovery of additional radioactive elements polonium and radium by Marie Skłodowska-Curie and her husband Pierre Curie. The intensive research of radioactivity led to Becquerel publishing seven papers on the subject in 1896. Becquerel's other experiments allowed him to research more into radioactivity and figure out different aspects of the magnetic field when radiation is introduced into the magnetic field. "When different radioactive substances were put in the magnetic field, they deflected in different directions or not at all, showing that there were three classes of radioactivity: negative, positive, and electrically neutral."


title: Henri Becquerel

text: As often happens in science, radioactivity came close to being discovered nearly four decades earlier in 1857, when Abel Niépce de Saint-Victor, who was investigating photography under Michel Eugène Chevreul, observed that uranium salts emitted radiation that could darken photographic emulsions. By 1861, Niepce de Saint-Victor realized that uranium salts produce "a radiation that is invisible to our eyes". Niepce de Saint-Victor knew Edmond Becquerel, Henri Becquerel's father. In 1868, Edmond Becquerel published a book, "La lumière: ses causes et ses effets" (Light: Its causes and its effects). On page 50 of volume 2, Edmond noted that Niepce de Saint-Victor had observed that some objects that had been exposed to sunlight could expose photographic plates even in the dark. Niepce further noted that on the one hand, the effect was diminished if an obstruction were placed between a photographic plate and the object that had been exposed to the sun, but " … "d'un autre côté, l'augmentation d'effet quand la surface insolée est couverte de substances facilement altérables à la lumière, comme le nitrate d'urane" … " ( ... on the other hand, the increase in the effect when the surface exposed to the sun is covered with substances that are easily altered by light, such as uranium nitrate ... ).


title: Henri Becquerel

text: One wraps a Lumière photographic plate with a bromide emulsion in two sheets of very thick black paper, such that the plate does not become clouded upon being exposed to the sun for a day. One places on the sheet of paper, on the outside, a slab of the phosphorescent substance, and one exposes the whole to the sun for several hours. When one then develops the photographic plate, one recognizes that the silhouette of the phosphorescent substance appears in black on the negative. If one places between the phosphorescent substance and the paper a piece of money or a metal screen pierced with a cut-out design, one sees the image of these objects appear on the negative ... One must conclude from these experiments that the phosphorescent substance in question emits rays which pass through the opaque paper and reduce silver salts.


title: Henri Becquerel

text: But further experiments led him to doubt and then abandon this hypothesis. On 2 March 1896 he reported:


title: Henri Becquerel

text: I will insist particularly upon the following fact, which seems to me quite important and beyond the phenomena which one could expect to observe: The same crystalline crusts [of potassium uranyl sulfate], arranged the same way with respect to the photographic plates, in the same conditions and through the same screens, but sheltered from the excitation of incident rays and kept in darkness, still produce the same photographic images. Here is how I was led to make this observation: among the preceding experiments, some had been prepared on Wednesday the 26th and Thursday the 27th of February, and since the sun was out only intermittently on these days, I kept the apparatuses prepared and returned the cases to the darkness of a bureau drawer, leaving in place the crusts of the uranium salt. Since the sun did not come out in the following days, I developed the photographic plates on the 1st of March, expecting to find the images very weak. Instead the silhouettes appeared with great intensity ... One hypothesis which presents itself to the mind naturally enough would be to suppose that these rays, whose effects have a great similarity to the effects produced by the rays studied by M. Lenard and M. Röntgen, are invisible rays emitted by phosphorescence and persisting infinitely longer than the duration of the luminous rays emitted by these bodies. However, the present experiments, without being contrary to this hypothesis, do not warrant this conclusion. I hope that the experiments which I am pursuing at the moment will be able to bring some clarification to this new class of phenomena.


title: Henri Becquerel

text: Later in his life in 1900, Becquerel measured the properties of Beta Particles, and he realized that they had the same measurements as high speed electrons leaving the nucleus. In 1901 Becquerel made the discovery that radioactivity could be used for medicine. Henri made this discovery when he left a piece of radium in his vest pocket and noticed that he had been burnt by it. This discovery led to the development of radiotherapy which is now used to treat cancer. Becquerel did not survive much longer after his discovery of radioactivity and died on 25 August 1908, at the age of 55, in Le Croisic, France. His death was from unknown causes, but was reported that "he had developed serious burns on his skin, likely from the handling of radioactive materials."


title: Henri Becquerel

text: In 1889, Becquerel became a member of the Académie des Sciences. In 1900, Becquerel won the Rumford Medal for his discovery of the radioactivity of uranium and he was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour. The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities awarded him the Helmholtz Medal in 1901. In 1902, he was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society. In 1903, Henri shared a Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre Curie and Marie Curie for the discovery of spontaneous radioactivity. In 1905, he was awarded the Barnard Medal by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. In 1906, Henri was elected Vice Chairman of the academy, and in 1908, the year of his death, Becquerel was elected Permanent Secretary of the Académie des Sciences. During his lifetime, Becquerel was honored with membership into the Accademia dei Lincei and the Royal Academy of Berlin. Becquerel was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1908. Becquerel has been honored with being the namesake of many different scientific discoveries. The SI unit for radioactivity, the becquerel (Bq), is named after him.


title: Henri Becquerel

text: There is a crater named Becquerel on the Moon and also a crater named Becquerel on Mars. The uranium-based mineral becquerelite was named after Henri.


title: General Electric Company

text: The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250,000 employees in the 1980s, and at its peak in the 1990s, made profits of over £1 billion a year.


title: General Electric Company

text: In June 1998, GEC sold its share of the joint venture GEC-Alsthom on the Paris stock exchange. In December 1999, GEC's defence arm, Marconi Electronic Systems, was sold to British Aerospace, forming BAE Systems.


title: General Electric Company

text: The rest of GEC, mainly telecommunications equipment manufacturing, continued as Marconi Communications. After buying several US telecoms manufacturers at the top of the market, losses following the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2001 led to the restructuring in 2003 of Marconi plc into Marconi Corporation plc. In 2005, Ericsson acquired the bulk of that company. What was left of the business was renamed Telent.


title: General Electric Company

text: GEC had its origins in the G. Binswanger and Company, an electrical goods wholesaler established in London in the 1880s by a German-Jewish immigrant, Gustav Binswanger (later Gustav Byng). Regarded as the year GEC was founded, 1886 saw a fellow immigrant, Hugo Hirst, join Byng, and the company changed its name to The General Electric Apparatus Company (G. Binswanger).


title: General Electric Company

text: Their small business found early success with its unorthodox method of supplying electrical components over the counter. Hugo Hirst was an entrepreneurial salesman who saw the potential of electricity and was able to direct the standardisation of an industry in its infancy. He travelled across Europe with an eye for the latest products, and in 1887 the company published the first electrical catalogue of its kind. The following year, the company acquired its first factory in Salford, where electric bells, telephones, ceiling roses and switches were manufactured.


title: General Electric Company

text: In 1889, the business was incorporated as a private company known as the General Electric Company Ltd. The company was expanding rapidly, opening new branches and factories and trading in 'everything electrical', a phrase that was to become synonymous with GEC.


title: General Electric Company

text: In 1893, it decided to invest in the manufacture of lamps. The resulting company, (to become Osram in 1909), was to lead the way in lamp design, and the burgeoning demand for electric lighting was to make GEC's fortune.


title: General Electric Company

text: In 1900, GEC was incorporated as a public limited company, The General Electric Company (1900) Ltd (the '1900' was dropped three years later).


title: General Electric Company

text: In 1907 GEC set up the "Peel-Connor Telephone Works" to manufacture telephone exchanges and telephones for the GPO; GEC supplied a large CB manual exchange for Glasgow in 1910. The British telephone system had been taken over and was operated by the General Post Office (GPO or BPO, a government department). The telephone manufacturing section moved from Manchester to Coventry in 1919, and GEC was one of the "ring" of four (later five) companies supplying the GPO with Strowger automatic telephone exchanges (called "Step-by-Step" or SXS) in use from the 1920s to the 1960s.


title: General Electric Company

text: With the death of Gustav Byng in 1910, Hugo Hirst became the chairman as well as managing director, a position he had assumed in 1906. Hirst's shrewd investment in lamp manufacture was proving extremely profitable. In 1909, Osram began production of the most successful tungsten filament lamps in the industry. Rapidly growing private and commercial use of electricity created huge demand. The company expanded both at home and overseas, with the establishment of agencies in Europe, Japan, Australia, South Africa, and India. It also did substantial trade with South America.


title: General Electric Company

text: The outbreak of World War I transformed GEC into a major player in the electrical industry. It was heavily involved in the war effort, with products such as radios, signal lamps, and the arc-lamp carbons used in searchlights.


title: General Electric Company

text: Between the wars, GEC expanded to become a global corporation and national institution. The takeover of Fraser and Chalmers in 1918 took GEC into heavy engineering and bolstered their claim to supply 'everything electrical'. In the same year, the maker of electricity meters, Chamberlain and Hookham, was also acquired by GEC.


title: General Electric Company

text: In 1919, GEC merged its radio valve manufacturing interests with those of the Marconi Company to form the Marconi-Osram Valve Company.


title: General Electric Company

text: In the 1920s, the company was heavily involved in the creation of the UK-wide National Grid. The opening of a new purpose-built company headquarters (Magnet House) in Kingsway, London in 1921, and the pioneering industrial research laboratories at Wembley in 1923 (later named the Hirst Research Centre), were symbolic of the continuing expansion of both GEC and the electrical industry.


title: General Electric Company

text: In World War II, GEC was a major supplier to the military of electrical and engineering products. Significant contributions to the war effort included the development in 1940 of the cavity magnetron for radar, by the scientists John Randall and Harry Boot at the University of Birmingham, as well as advances in communications technology and the ongoing mass production of valves, lamps and lighting equipment.


title: General Electric Company

text: The post-war years saw a decline in GEC's expansion. After the death of Hugo Hirst in 1943, his son-in-law Leslie Gamage (elder son of the founder of Gamages), along with Harry Railing, took over as joint managing directors. Despite the huge demand for electrical consumer goods, and large investments in heavy engineering and nuclear power, profits began to fall in the face of competition and internal disorganisation.


title: General Electric Company

text: In 1961, GEC merged with Sir Michael Sobell's Radio & Allied Industries, and with it emerged the new power behind GEC, Sobell's son-in-law Arnold Weinstock, who became the managing director of GEC in 1963, and moved its headquarters from Kingsway to a new building at 1 Stanhope Gate in Mayfair.


title: General Electric Company

text: Weinstock embarked on a programme to rationalise the entire UK electrical industry, beginning with the internal rejuvenation of GEC. In a drive for efficiency, Weinstock made cut-backs and instigated mergers, resulting in new growth for the company. GEC returned to profit and the financial markets' confidence was restored.


title: General Electric Company

text: In the late 1960s, the electrical industry was revolutionised as GEC acquired Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) in 1967, which encompassed Metropolitan-Vickers, British Thomson-Houston, Edison Swan, Siemens Brothers & Co, Hotpoint, William Thomas Henley and Birlec.


title: General Electric Company

text: In 1968, GEC merged with English Electric, incorporating Elliott Brothers, the Marconi Company, Ruston & Hornsby, Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns, the Vulcan Foundry, Willans & Robinson and Dick, Kerr & Co. The Elliot computer company became GEC Computers, whose products were successful in academic computing and real-time process control in the 1970s and 1980s.


title: General Electric Company

text: The Witton works remained one of the company's biggest sites, producing high-voltage switchgear and transformers, small motors, mercury arc rectifiers and traction components, until the plant was gradually sold off by Weinstock in 1969.


title: General Electric Company

text: In 1969, a new subsidiary company was born, English Electric-AEI Traction Ltd. This new organisation slowly integrated together the traction divisions of both AEI and EE, culminating in 1972 when the company was renamed GEC Traction Ltd. Also added to the company was the industrial locomotive division of the former English Electric which was based at Vulcan Works, Newton-le-Willows (this later became a separate company, GEC Industrial Locomotives Ltd). The company had manufacturing sites at Manchester, Preston and Sheffield.


title: General Electric Company

text: The company continued to expand with the acquisition in 1979 of weighing machine maker W & T Avery, renamed GEC Avery.


title: General Electric Company

text: In April 1981, GEC acquired Cincinnati Electronics (CE), in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the time owned by George J Mealey. CE was a leader in military radios and infrared technology, space electronics, and other high-security products, doing business throughout the world. (Now owned by L-3 Cincinnati Electronics.)


title: General Electric Company

text: In 1981, GEC acquired Picker Corporation, an American manufacturer of medical imaging equipment. GEC merged Picker with Cambridge Instruments, GEC Medical, and American Optical to form Picker International (PI). GEC Medical was itself an amalgamation of Watson & Sons Ltd, formed in the early 20th century in London and long a part of GEC, and A E Dean & Co of Croydon. In 1982, PI introduced the first 1.0T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) unit. In 1998, it acquired the CT division of Elscint In 1999, the company changed its name to Marconi Medical Systems. In 2001, Philips bought Marconi Medical Systems for $1.1 billion.


title: General Electric Company

text: GEC had become the UK's largest and most successful company and private employer, with about 250,000 employees. In 1984 it became one of the first companies in the new FTSE 100 Index, ranking third in value behind British Petroleum and Shell Transport and Trading.


title: General Electric Company

text: In 1985 GEC acquired Yarrow Shipbuilders from British Shipbuilders. In 1988 GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) was created when GEC bought Plessey. The following year, GEC and Siemens formed a joint company, GEC Siemens plc, to take over Plessey. As part of the deal, GEC took control of Plessey's avionics and naval systems businesses.


title: General Electric Company

text: In 1989 GEC and French company Alsthom merged their power generation and transport businesses in a new joint venture, GEC-Alsthom. In May 1989 GEC-Alsthom bought British rail vehicle manufacturer Metro-Cammell.


title: General Electric Company

text: By the mid-1990s GEC was making profits of £1 billion, had cash reserves of £3 billion, and was valued at £10 billion.


title: General Electric Company

text: The move towards electronics and modern technology, particularly in the defence sector, was a departure from the domestic electrical goods market. GEC acquired the Edinburgh based Ferranti Defence Systems Group in 1990 as well as part of Ferranti International's assets in Italy. It also bought Vickers Shipbuilding & Engineering (VSE) in 1995. VSE was willing to participate in a merger with a larger company to reduce its exposure to cycles in warship production, particularly in light of the post-Cold War "Options for Change" defence review. Following GEC's purchase, VSE became Marconi Marine.


title: General Electric Company

text: Lord Weinstock retired as managing director in 1996 and was replaced by George Simpson, who embarked on a number of US mergers and acquisitions. In July 1997, GEC announced the outcomes of a major review: it would move away from its joint ventures and focus on moving toward "global leadership" in defence and aerospace (Marconi Electronic Systems), industrial electronics (GEC Industrial Electronics), and communications (GEC Communications).


title: General Electric Company

text: In March 1998 GEC announced the merger of its radar and avionics business with Alenia Difesa to form Alenia Marconi Systems.


title: General Electric Company

text: In June 1998 it completed the $1.4bn acquisition of major American defence contractor Tracor, which became part of MES.


title: General Electric Company

text: After most of its US acquisitions failed, GEC began to make a loss. The cash reserves Lord Weinstock had built up during the 1980s and early 90s had all but gone, and the company was heavily in debt.


title: General Electric Company

text: Since October 1998, reports had been linking British Aerospace (BAe) with the German aerospace group DASA. GEC was also seen as a potential partner in a three-way merger with BAe and DASA.


title: General Electric Company

text: In December 1998, reports emerged that GEC was seeking a partner for MES, the value of which was greatly increased by the Tracor acquisition. Prospective partners included Thomson-CSF (by 1998 on the path to privatisation) and various American defence contractors (e.g. Lockheed Martin and TRW). GEC had already been active in pursuing consolidation in the defence business. In 1997, it made an ultimately unsuccessful bid to the French government to privatise Thomson-CSF and merge it with MES.


title: General Electric Company

text: A merger of UK companies soon became the most likely development. In mid-January 1999, GEC and British Aerospace confirmed they were holding talks. On 19 January, it was announced British Aerospace was to acquire Marconi Electronic Systems for £7.7bn ($12.75bn).


title: General Electric Company

text: While the deal was yet to be completed, GEC used much of the anticipated proceeds of the MES sale to buy companies in 1999. This was part of a major realignment of the firm to focus on the burgeoning telecoms sector, and it became a radio, telecommunications and internet equipment manufacturer.


title: General Electric Company

text: In 1999, Marconi plc bought two American equipment-makers: RELTEC Corporation in March for £1.3bn, and FORE Systems in April for £2.8bn, to complement the telecommunication business of its subsidiary Marconi Communications. Later that year, GEC acquired Kvaerner's Govan shipyard.


title: General Electric Company

text: These acquisitions were made at the height of the dot-com bubble, and the bursting of the bubble in 2001 took a heavy toll on Marconi. In July 2001, Marconi plc suffered a 54% drop in its share price following the suspension of trading of its shares, a profits warning, and redundancies. Its managing director Lord Simpson was forced to resign. Shares that had been worth £12.50 at GEC's peak had fallen to £0.04. Lord Weinstock's own stake, once worth £480 million, was reduced to £2 million.


title: General Electric Company

text: On 19 May 2003, Marconi plc underwent a restructuring and became Marconi Corporation plc, advised by Lazard and Morgan Stanley. Marconi shareholders received one Marconi Corporation share for every 559 Marconi shares. In a debt-for-equity swap, the firm's creditors received 99.5% of the new company's shares.


title: General Electric Company

text: In 2005, the company failed to secure any part of BT's 21st Century Network (21CN) programme, surprising commentators and sending the company's shares tumbling. Before the announcement, the investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort had said, "[Marconi is] so advanced with its products and so entrenched with BT Group plc that its selection looks certain." Various bids were received for the business, including one from Huawei Technologies, with whom Marconi already had a joint venture.


title: General Electric Company

text: Until the collapse of the Marconi group in 2005 and 2006, the company was a major supplier of Asynchronous Transfer Mode, Gigabit Ethernet, and Internet Protocol products. The majority of Marconi Corporation's businesses (including Marconi Communications and the rights to the Marconi name) were sold to Ericsson in 2005, and the remainder was renamed Telent plc.


title: Askari

text: An askari (from Somali, Swahili and Arabic , , meaning "soldier" or "military", which also means "police" in the Somali language) was a local soldier serving in the armies of the European colonial powers in Africa, particularly in the African Great Lakes, Northeast Africa and Central Africa. The word is used in this sense in English, as well as in German, Italian, Urdu and Portuguese. In French, the word is used only in reference to native troops outside the French colonial empire. The designation is still in occasional use today to informally describe police, gendarmerie and security guards.


title: Askari

text: During the period of the European colonial empires in Africa, locally recruited soldiers designated as askaris were employed by the Italian, British, Portuguese, German and Belgian colonial armies. They played a crucial role in the conquest of the various colonial possessions, and subsequently served as garrison and internal security forces. During both World Wars, askari units also served outside their colonies of origin, in various parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. In South Africa the term refers to former members of the liberation movements who defected to the Apartheid government security forces.


title: Askari

text: "Askari" is a loan word from the Persian (), meaning "soldier". The Persian word is a derivation from the Middle Persian word , meaning "army". The word "lashkar" also is the root of the word Lascar for a South Asian soldier or a person of South Asian origin. Words for "(a regular) soldier" derived from these words are found in Azeri, Arabic, Indonesian, Malay, Somali, Swahili, Turkish and Urdu.


title: Askari

text: In the Belgian Congo, the askaris were organised into the "Force Publique". This combined military and police force was commanded by white Belgian officers and both native and white non commissioned officers.


title: Askari

text: The Imperial British East Africa Company raised units of askaris from among the Swahili people, the Sudanese and Somalis. There was no official uniform, nor standardised weaponry. Many of the askaris campaigned in their native dress. Officers usually wore civilian clothes.


title: Askari

text: From 1895 the British askaris were organised into a regular, disciplined and uniformed force called the East African Rifles, later forming part of the multi-battalion King's African Rifles. The designation of "askari" was retained for locally recruited troops in the King's African Rifles, smaller military units and police forces in the colonies until the end of colonial rule in Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda during the period 1961–63. After independence, the term "Askari" continued to be used to refer to soldiers in former British colonies.


title: Askari

text: The German Colonial Army ("Schutztruppe") of the German Empire employed native troops with European officers and NCOs in its colonies. The main concentration of such locally recruited troops was in German East Africa (now Tanzania), formed in 1881 after the transfer of the "Wissmanntruppe" (raised in 1889 to suppress the Abushiri Revolt) to German imperial control.


title: Askari

text: The first askaris formed in German East Africa were raised by DOAG ("Deutsche Ost-Afrika Gesellschaft"—the German East Africa Company) in about 1888. Originally drawn from Sudanese mercenaries, the German askaris were subsequently recruited from the Wahehe and Angoni tribal groups. They were harshly disciplined but well paid and highly trained by German cadres who were themselves subject to a rigorous selection process. Prior to 1914 the basic "Schutztruppe" unit in Southeast Africa was the "Feldkompanie" comprising seven or eight German officers and NCOs with between 150 and 200 askaris (usually 160)—including two machine gun teams.


title: Askari

text: They were successfully used in German East Africa where 11,000 askaris, porters and their European officers, commanded by Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, managed to fight a successful guerilla campaign against numerically superior British, Portuguese and Belgian colonial forces until the end of World War I in 1918.


title: Askari

text: The Weimar Republic and pre-war Nazi Germany provided pension payments to the German askaris. Due to interruptions during the worldwide depression and World War II, the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) voted in 1964 to fund the back pay of the askaris still alive. The West German embassy at Dar es Salaam identified approximately 350 ex-askaris and set up a temporary cashiers office at Mwanza on Lake Victoria.


title: Askari

text: Only a few claimants could produce the certificates given to them in 1918; others provided pieces of their old uniforms as proof of service. The banker who had brought the money came up with an idea: each claimant was handed a broom and ordered in German to perform the manual of arms. Not one of them failed the test.


title: Askari

text: During World War II, the Germans used the term "askaris" for Red Army, predominantly Russian, deserters and POWs who formed units fighting against the Red Army and in other action on the Eastern front.


title: Askari

text: Western Ukrainian volunteer units like the Nightingale Battalion, Schuma battalions, and the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS were also called "Askari". These battalions were used in many operations during World War II. Most of them were either Red Army deserters or anti-communist peasants recruited from Western Ukrainian rural areas under German occupation.


title: Askari

text: The Italian army in Italian East Africa recruited Eritrean and subsequently Somali troops to serve with Italian officers and some NCOs. These forces comprised infantry, cavalry, camel-mounted and light artillery units. Somali personnel were later recruited to serve with Royal Italian Navy ships operating in the Indian Ocean. The Italian askaris ("ascari") fought in the Mahdist War, Battle of Coatit, First Italo–Ethiopian War, Italian-Turkish War, Second Italo-Abyssinian War and in the World War II East African Campaign.


title: Askari

text: Many of the Askaris in Eritrea were drawn from local Nilotic populations, including Hamid Idris Awate, who reputedly had some Nara ancestry. Of these troops, the first Eritrean battalions were raised in 1888 from Muslim and Christian volunteers, replacing an earlier Bashi-bazouk corps of irregulars. The four "Indigeni" battalions in existence by 1891 were incorporated into the Royal Corps of Colonial Troops that year. Expanded to eight battalions, the Eritrean ascaris fought with distinction at Serobeti, Agordat, Kassala, Coatit and Adwa and subsequently served in Libya and Ethiopia.


title: Askari

text: Out of a total of 256,000 Italian troops serving in Italian East Africa in 1940, about 182,000 were recruited from Eritrea, Somalia and the recently occupied (1935–36) Ethiopia. When in January 1941, Allied forces invaded Ethiopia in January 1941, most of the locally recruited ascaris deserted. The majority of the Eritrean Ascaris remained loyal until the Italian surrender four months later.


title: Askari

text: Initially the Eritrean Ascaris comprised only infantry battalions, although Eritrean cavalry squadrons ("Penne di Falco") and mountain artillery batteries were subsequently raised. By 1922 units of camel cavalry called "meharisti" had been added. Those Eritrean camel units were also deployed in Libya after 1932. During the 1930s Benito Mussolini added some armored cars units to the Ascari.


title: Askari

text: Eritrean regiments in Italian service wore high red fezzes with coloured tufts and waist sashes that varied according to each unit. As examples, the 17th Eritrean Battalion had black and white tufts and vertically striped sashes; while the 64th Eritrean Battalion wore both of these items in scarlet and purple.


title: Askari

text: White uniforms were worn for parade (see illustration) with khaki for other duties. The Somali ascari were similarly dressed, though with knee length shorts.


title: Askari

text: The Eritrean and Somali Ascari had the following ranks, from simple soldier to senior non commissioned officer: "Ascari" - "Muntaz (corporal)" - "Bulukbasci (lance-sergeant)" -"Sciumbasci (sergeant)". The Sciumbasci-capos (staff-sergeants) were the senior Eritrean non-commissioned officers, chosen in part according to their performance in battle.


title: Askari

text: As noted above "askari" was normally a designation used in Sub-Saharan Africa. Exceptionally though, the term "askari" was also used by the Spanish colonial government in North-West Africa, in respect not of their regular Moroccan troops (see regulares), but of a locally recruited gendarmerie force raised in Spanish Morocco in 1913. They were known as the "Mehal-la Jalifianas". This was the equivalent of the better known Goumiers employed in French Morocco.


title: Askari

text: Indigenous members of the Tropas Nómadas or desert police serving in the Spanish Sahara were also designated as "askaris", as were the other ranks of the Native Police ("Policia Indígena") raised in Melilla in 1909.


title: Askari

text: In Portuguese West Africa, and most other African colonies of the Portuguese Empire, local askaris were recruited. These were used to keep the peace in the nation-sized colonies. During the 20th century, all the indigenous troops were merged into a Portuguese colonial army. This military was segregated along lines of race, and until 1960 there were three classes of soldiers: commissioned soldiers (European whites), overseas soldiers (black African "civilizados") and native soldiers (Africans who lived in the Portuguese colonies). These categories were renamed to 1st, 2nd and 3rd class in 1960—which effectively corresponded to the same classification.


title: Askari

text: During Apartheid, especially during the 1980s, Askari was the term used to describe former members of the liberation movements who came to work for the Security Branch, providing information, identifying and tracing former comrades. A number were also operationally deployed. Former members of the liberation movements became askaris if they defected from the liberation movements of their own accord or if they were arrested or captured. In some cases, attempts were made to ‘turn’ captured uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) or Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA) operatives using both orthodox and unorthodox methods during interrogation, often involving torture. Other askaris were MK operatives who had been abducted by the Security Branch from neighbouring states. Several abductees remain disappeared and are believed to have been killed. The threats of death used to ‘turn’ askaris were not idle. During the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, amnesty applications revealed that several operatives were killed for steadfastly refusing to co-operate.


title: Askari

text: Askaris were primarily used to infiltrate groups and to identify former comrades with whom they had trained in other countries. At the Pretoria hearing in July 1999, Mr Chris Mosiane testified: "In the initial stages askaris were used as police dogs to sniff out insurgents with white SB [Security Branch members] as their handlers. Black SB were used to monitor the askaris."


title: Askari

text: Askaris were initially treated as informers and were paid from a secret fund. Later, they were integrated into the South African Police at the level of constable and were paid an SAP salary. While deployed in the regions, they were paid an additional amount, which was usually generated by making false claims to a secret fund. After successful operations they usually received bonuses.


title: Askari

text: The askaris used Vlakplaas as an operational base and resided in the townships where they attempted to maintain their cover as underground MK operatives. Although a few askaris escaped, most were far too frightened to attempt it. At his amnesty hearing, Colonel Eugene de Kock testified that he had set up a spy network amongst the askaris and used electronic surveillance. He told the Amnesty Committee that he had also established a disciplinary structure to deal with internal issues and other infractions by askaris and white officers. However, askaris who exceeded their authority in operational situations or criminal matters were seldom punished.


title: Askari

text: Generally askaris were extremely effective. Because of their internal experience of MK structures, they were invaluable in identifying potential suspects, in infiltrating networks, in interrogations and in giving evidence for the state in trials.


title: Askari

text: Widely deployed Ugandan private security guards are also designated as askari. Guards were to receive $1,000 monthly salary and an $80,000 bonus if shot, but many have complained that the money was not paid or unfair fees assessed. The guards work for recruiting agencies such as Askar Security Services, which are hired by Beowulf International, a receiving company in Iraq, which subcontracts their services to EOD Technologies, an American company hired by the U.S. Department of Defense to provide security guards for Camp Victory in Baghdad. A Beowulf representative said that 400 of the workers "had impressed the US Army with their skill and experience", but complained that some of the workers lacked police or security experience and "didn't even know how to hold a gun". At least eleven other Ugandan recruiters include Dresak International and Connect Financial Services.


title: Matthew Reilly

text: Matthew John Reilly (born 2 July 1974) is an internationally bestselling Australian action thriller writer.


title: Matthew Reilly

text: Reilly was born on 2 July 1974 in Sydney, Australia the second son of Ray (an employee at the Department of Corrective Services) and Denise, a mathematics teacher. He grew up with his brother Stephen in Willoughby, an affluent suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.


title: Matthew Reilly

text: Reilly graduated from Sydney's St Aloysius' College in Milsons Point, in 1992. He then studied Law at the University of New South Wales between 1993 and 1997, graduating 31st out of 250 students. While at university, he was also a contributor to the student law society publication "Poetic Justice".


title: Matthew Reilly

text: Reilly wrote his first book, "Contest", at the age of 19, and self-published it in 1996. It was rejected by every major publisher in Australia, leading him to self-publish 1,000 copies using a bank loan. He was discovered when Cate Paterson, a commissioning editor from Pan Macmillan, found a self-published copy of "Contest" in a bookstore. Pan Macmillan signed Reilly to a two-book deal. He wrote his second book, "Ice Station", while studying at the University of New South Wales. It was quickly picked up by publishers in the US, UK and Germany. He has since sold over 7.5 million copies of his books worldwide, in over 20 languages. "Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves" was the biggest-selling fiction title in Australia in 2011. Three more of Reilly's books have been the biggest-selling Australian titles of their years of release: "Seven Ancient Wonders" (2005), "The Five Greatest Warriors" (2009) and "The Tournament" (2013). A "Sydney Morning Herald" reviewer praised Reilly's writing for its bold action, but they criticized it for straining credulity and "frequent lapses in logic."


title: Matthew Reilly

text: In 2007, Reilly wrote a half-hour television script titled "Literary Superstars". The script was picked up by Darren Star ("Sex and the City") and bought by Sony Pictures for the ABC Network. Jenna Elfman signed on to play the lead role. The pilot episode was at the casting stage when the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike began, paralyzing Hollywood. The pilot was placed on indefinite hiatus before ultimately being dropped by the ABC.


title: Matthew Reilly

text: In 2015, Reilly, in association with Benjamin Maio Mackay's "Preachrs Podcast OnLine & OnStage", premiered an audio drama adaptation of Reilly's best-selling novel "Ice Station". This was the first adaptation of his works outside of a literary format. "Matthew Reilly’s Ice Station Live" was performed in the Adelaide Fringe 2016 and piloted the first three episodes of a proposed full audio drama. As of January 2021, no further updates on the project have been announced.


title: Matthew Reilly

text: In 2017, he began to write a story that could be filmed on a moderate budget of around $15 million. This became the screenplay for "Interceptor", whereby a female US Army captain at a US missile interceptor facility has to stop sixteen nuclear missiles aimed at sixteen American cities. The film uses one large set. Reilly collaborated with screenwriter Stuart Beattie ("Pirates of the Caribbean", "Collateral") whose efforts included partially rewriting but also introducing Reilly’s work to several producers and other film people in Los Angeles. This led, eventually, to Netflix funding the series with Reilly as first-time director, with filming being done in Sydney in early 2021 featuring Elsa Pataky in the lead role, with Australian Luke Bracey playing the villain; Pataky’s husband, actor Chris Hemsworth, is one of the movie's executive producers. The film was released in mid-2022 on Netflix.


title: Matthew Reilly

text: In 2004, Reilly married Natalie Freer. Freer attended a nearby high school, Loreto Kirribilli, and also went to the University of New South Wales, where she studied Psychology. Reilly credits Freer with encouraging him to self-publish his first book. In early December 2011, while Reilly was in South Australia on a book tour promoting "Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves", Natalie, who had suffered from anorexia and depression, committed suicide. Reilly subsequently cancelled his remaining book tours and announced on Facebook his intention to take a break from online communications."My life pretty much fell apart; she was my everything. We did everything together; we’d done everything together for the previous 18 years. And suddenly I’d have days where I’d look at the clock and it’d be quarter past one in the afternoon and I’d think ‘I’ve got ten hours ‘til I’m going to go to bed’. I cried every day for six months. I howled in my car. I’d take the dog for the longest of walks that she’s ever had in her life."


title: Matthew Reilly

text: — Reilly on his wife Natalie's suicide.Reilly owns several movie prop reproductions such as a life-size statue of Han Solo frozen in carbonite from "Star Wars", a golden idol from "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and a DeLorean from "Back to the Future". A big fan of Hollywood blockbusters, Reilly hopes to one day direct a movie adapted from one of his own books.


title: Matthew Reilly

text: Reilly has been in a relationship with Kate Freeman, and in 2015 moved with her to Los Angeles, California.


title: British humour

text: British humour carries a strong element of satire aimed at the absurdity of everyday life. Common themes include sarcasm, tongue-in-cheek, banter, insults, self-deprecation, taboo subjects, puns, innuendo, wit, and the British class system. These are often accompanied by a deadpan delivery which is present throughout the British sense of humour. It may be used to bury emotions in a way that seems unkind in the eyes of other cultures. Jokes are told about everything and almost no subject is off-limits, though a lack of subtlety when discussing controversial issues is sometimes considered insensitive. Many British comedy series have become successful internationally, serving as a representation of British culture to overseas audiences.


title: British humour

text: Innuendo in British humour is evident in the literature as far back as "Beowulf" and Chaucer, and it is a prevalent theme in many British folk songs. Shakespeare often used innuendo in his comedies, but it is also often found in his other plays, as in "Hamlet" act 4 scene v:


title: British humour

text: Restoration comedy is notorious both for its innuendo and for its sexual explicitness, a quality encouraged by Charles II (1660–1685) personally and by the rakish aristocratic ethos of his court.


title: British humour

text: In the Victorian era, Burlesque theatre combined sexuality and humour in its acts. In the late 19th century, magazines such as "Punch" began to be widely sold, and innuendo featured in its cartoons and articles.


title: British humour

text: In the early 1930s, cartoon-style saucy postcards (such as those drawn by Donald McGill) became widespread, and at their peak 16 million saucy postcards were sold per year. They were often bawdy, with innuendo and double entendres, and featured stereotypical characters such as vicars, large ladies and put-upon husbands, in the same vein as the "Carry On" films. This style of comedy was common in music halls and in the comedy music of George Formby. Many comedians from music hall and wartime gang shows worked in radio after World War 2, and characters such as Julian and Sandy on "Round the Horne" used innuendo extensively. Innuendo also features heavily in many British films and TV series of the late 20th century. The "Carry On" series was based largely on smut and innuendo, and many of the sketches of "The Two Ronnies" are in a similar vein. Innuendo with little subtlety was epitomised by Benny Hill, and the Nudge Nudge sketch by Monty Python openly mocks the absurdity of such innuendo.


title: British humour

text: By the end of the 20th century more subtlety in sexual humour became fashionable, as in "Not the Nine O'Clock News" and "Blackadder", while "Bottom" and "Viz" continued the smuttier trend. In contemporary British comedy Julian Clary is an example of a prolific user of innuendo.


title: British humour

text: Black humour, in which topics and events that are usually treated seriously are treated in a humorous or satirical manner, typified by:


title: British humour

text: The British class system, especially class tensions between characters; and pompous or dim-witted members of the upper/middle classes or embarrassingly blatant social climbers, typified by:


title: British humour

text: The lovable rogue, often from the impoverished working class, trying to 'beat the system' and better himself, typified by:


title: British humour

text: The An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman joke format is one common to many cultures, and is often used in English, including having the nationalities switched around to take advantage of other stereotypes. These stereotypes are somewhat fond, and these jokes would not be taken as xenophobic. This sort of affectionate stereotype is also exemplified by "'Allo 'Allo!", a programme that, although set in France in the Second World War, and deliberately performed in over-the-top accents, mocked British stereotypes as well as foreigners. This also applies to a lot of the regional stereotypes in the UK. Regional accent and dialect are used in such programmes as "Hancock's Half Hour", "Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" and "Red Dwarf", as these accents provide quick characterisation and social cues.


title: British humour

text: Although racism was a part of British humour, it is now frowned upon, and acts such as Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson are pilloried. Although some observers once argued certain comedy series of the 1970s were targeting racism rather than being in sympathy with it, such series as "Love Thy Neighbour" and "It Ain't Half Hot Mum" are no longer considered acceptable for repeat screenings. Along with the first of these two series, "Till Death Us Do Part", was an attempt to deal humorously with the influx of immigrants to the United Kingdom, but it is now usually considered to have been counter-productive. Still much admired, however, "Fawlty Towers" featured the mistreatment of the Spanish waiter, Manuel, but the target was the bigotry of the lead character, Basil Fawlty. "The Young Ones" featured a police officer (in sunglasses) engaged in racial profiling, only to discover the man was white and wearing dark gloves. Later, "The Fast Show" has mocked people of other races, such as the Chanel 9 sketches, and "Banzai" has mimicked Japanese games shows, which have an exaggerated sense of violence, sex and public absurdity. "Goodness Gracious Me" turned stereotypes on their heads in sketches such as 'Going for an English' and when bargaining over the price of a newspaper. An episode from "The Goodies" depicted all of the black population of South Africa leaving to escape apartheid, leaving the Afrikaners with nobody to oppress – instead, they begin a system of discrimination based on height, targeting short people, labelled "apart-height".


title: British humour

text: Harsh sarcasm and bullying, though with the bully usually coming off worse than the victim – typified by:


title: British humour

text: Tolerance of, and affection for, the eccentric, especially when allied to inventiveness, typified by:


title: British humour

text: Usually, for television, the performance of a practical joke on an unsuspecting person whilst being covertly filmed, epitomised by:


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S territories, the District of Columbia and 97 countries. The college has Scottish roots and emphasizes internationalism and multiculturalism.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester College was founded by Rev. Dr. Edward Duffield Neill in 1874 with help from the Presbyterian Church in Minnesota. Neill had served as a chaplain in the Civil War and traveled to Minnesota Territory in 1849. He became connected politically and socially. He went on to found two local churches, was appointed the first Chancellor of the University of Minnesota, and became the state's first superintendent of public education. In leaving the University of Minnesota Board of Regents he desired to build a religious college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church that would also be open to other Christian church members.


title: Macalester College

text: The college's original name was Baldwin College; it was affiliated with the Baldwin School, a Presbyterian secondary school. After a large donation from Charles Macalester, a prominent businessman and philanthropist from Philadelphia, the institution was renamed Macalester College. Macalester donated a hotel, the Winslow House, as the first permanent classroom building. With additional funding from the Presbyterian Church and its trustees, Macalester College opened for courses in 1885 with five teachers, six freshmen, and 52 preparatory students.


title: Macalester College

text: James Wallace joined the faculty in 1887 and later became president. He helped stabilize the college's finances and advance the institution. During his tenure, Macalester created a focus on a liberal arts curriculum. In 1897, Nellie A. Hope was the first woman appointed to the institution's newly organized music department.


title: Macalester College

text: In 2008 Macalester publicly launched a $150 million campaign. In 2009, construction was completed on Markim Hall, a new home for the Institute for Global Citizenship. Plans called for the building to qualify for Platinum certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system, a building rating system devised by the U.S. Green Building Council that evaluates structures' sustainability and environmental impact. In 2012, Macalester opened its renovated and expanded Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center.


title: Macalester College

text: In 2020, Suzanne M. Rivera became the college's 17th president; she is the first woman and first Hispanic person to serve in the role.


title: Macalester College

text: In 2022 "U.S. News & World Report" ranked Macalester the 27th best liberal arts college in the United States, and tied at 16th for "Most Innovative", tied at 15th for "Best Undergraduate Teaching", tied at 13th for "Study Abroad", and 17th for "Best Value" national liberal arts college.


title: Macalester College

text: In 2019, "Forbes" rated it 86th out of 650 colleges, universities and service academies in the U.S., and 38th among liberal arts colleges.


title: Macalester College

text: In 2021, "Washington Monthly" ranked Macalester 12th among 215 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester was named one of the "Hidden Ivies "for providing an education comparable to that of the Ivy League, based on academics, admissions process, financial aid, and student experience.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester has 188 full-time faculty, 94% of whom have a doctorate or the highest degree in their field. Twenty-nine percent of faculty are international or U.S. citizens of color. The student-faculty ratio is 10:1 and the average class size 17.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester offers over 800 courses and 39 majors. Students may also design their own interdisciplinary majors. Courses are available in the physical sciences, humanities, mathematics and computer sciences, arts, social sciences, foreign languages, classics, several interdisciplinary fields, and pre-professional programs. Pre-professional programs includes pre-law, pre-medical, a cooperative architecture program, and a cooperative engineering program. The most popular majors (in order) are economics, mathematics, biology, psychology, and political science.


title: Macalester College

text: The academic calendar at Macalester is divided into a 14-week fall semester (September to December) and a 14-week spring semester (January to May). All courses are offered for semester credit. Most courses are offered for four semester credits, but the amount of credit may vary.


title: Macalester College

text: During January, Macalester students may earn up to two semester credits in independent projects, internships, or Macalester-sponsored off-campus courses. They may also earn up to eight semester credits in independent study during the summer through independent projects or internships.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester College has a long tradition of providing opportunities for students to build an international and intercultural perspective into their college education through international or domestic off-campus study. Students may propose participation from among an array of overseas and domestic programs relevant to Macalester's liberal arts curriculum.


title: Macalester College

text: About 60% of Macalester students study abroad before graduation. Eleven departments require off-campus study for completion of a major.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester has programs in the Netherlands, South Africa, Germany, Austria (e.g., at the University of Vienna), Singapore, and France.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities (ACTC), a consortium of five liberal arts colleges in Saint Paul and Minneapolis formed to develop cooperative programs and offer cross-registration to their students. The other members are the University of St. Thomas, Augsburg University, Hamline University, and St. Catherine University. In addition to over 800 courses available on campus, Macalester students have access to all courses offered through the consortium without paying additional tuition. ACTC provides free busing among the campuses.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester also has an agreement with the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) whereby students may take one course per term there, provided that Macalester approves the course.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester is committed to providing financial aid packages equal to the full demonstrated financial need of all admitted students. Two out of three Macalester students qualify for need-based financial aid. Macalester also provides merit-based scholarships to around half of all students (most also receive need-based aid). Its comprehensive tuition, room, and board fee for the 2021–22 academic year was $74,060.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester is known for its high international enrollment for its institutional type as a percentage of its student body. As of fall 2018, international students constituted approximately 24% of the student body. Its 2,174 students come from 50 U.S. states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, the Mariana Islands and 97 countries; 31% of the U.S. student body are students of color. Macalester's student body is 40% male and 60% female.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester has over 100 student clubs and organizations, including the college radio station WMCN, the Macalester Peace and Justice Committee, Chanter Literary and Arts Magazine, the Experimental College, Student Labor Action Coalition, African Music Ensemble, Macalester Gaming Society, Mac Anime, Macalester Mock Trial, Mac Dems, Mac GOP, Mac Greens, Fresh Concepts, Bad Comedy, The Macalester Review: A Political Magazine, The Hegemonocle Humor Magazine, a cappella groups including Scotch Tape, Sirens, Chromactics, Off Kilter, and The Trads; Cheeba, MacBrews, MacSlackers, MacBike, the Macalester Outing Club, the Macalester Climbing Club, Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG), Macalester Conservation and Renewable Energy Society (MacCARES), Fossil Free Mac, Macalester International Organization (MIO), MacPlayers, NARAL Macalester Activists for Choice, Queer Union, Macalester Young Artists for Revolutionary Needlework (MacYARN), Macalester Quiz Bowl, Mac Rugby, Medicinal Melodies, the Physics and Astronomy Club, and Club Water Polo (Sons of Neptune).


title: Macalester College

text: The main campus newspaper is the student-run "Mac Weekly", which has a circulation of up to 1,600 and was established in 1914. Almost all the newspaper staff works on a volunteer basis. Each semester the paper publishes 12 or 13 volumes, ranging from 12 to 24 pages. A satirical section, "The Mock Weekly", appears in the last issue of each semester. The paper has published a magazine three times, in April 2006 and March and November 2007.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester is one of only 360 institutions that have been awarded the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification for excellence in civic engagement. Civic engagement is a core component of a Macalester education and is included in its mission statement. The college actively encourages student dialogue by bringing in speakers, hosting an International Roundtable to bring distinguished international scholars to discuss emerging global issues, and hosting collective meetings such as Women of Color.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester links academic learning to community involvement. In 2011–12, 16 departments offered 59 courses with civic engagement components. Each year approximately 200 students complete internships, 65% of which are in the nonprofit sector, schools, government, or the arts. Macalester also allows students to earn their work-study financial aid award while working at a local nonprofit or elementary school.


title: Macalester College

text: Almost all students (96%) volunteer in the Twin Cities while at Macalester. Many student organizations encourage active civic engagement, including MPIRG, Maction, Queer Union (QU), Macalester Habitat for Humanity.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester is the primary financial contributor and sponsor of the Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth, which was founded in 1967 and has its main facilities in the Lampert Building. MITY provides two different gifted education programs during the summer and one on weekends during the academic year. Macalester also participates in Project Pericles, a commitment to further encourage civic engagement at the college. In 2000, Macalester signed the Talloires Declaration, making a commitment to environmental sustainability, as well as a sweatshop pledge, making a commitment to fair-labor practices in the purchase of college apparel.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester is widely recognized as one of the most LGBTQ-friendly colleges in the nation. The Campus Pride Index awarded Macalester a full five out of five stars for LGBTQ-friendly campuses. In 2007, "The Princeton Review "named Macalester the most gay-friendly college in the nation.


title: Macalester College

text: In order to be inclusive of all genders, Macalester has started an initiative to ensure access to single-stall and all-gender bathrooms across campus. It also offers all-gender housing on campus.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester has a student-powered Gender and Sexuality Resource Center that aims to build a culture of resistance against all forms of oppression. It also has many active LGBTQ student organizations and groups, including Queer Union, the Trans Identity Collective, Allies Project Training, and the Macalester Out and Proud Community.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester's athletic teams are nicknamed the Scots. Macalester is a member of the NCAA Division III Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) in all sports. The Scots' football team set an NCAA Division III record by losing 50 straight games from 1974 to 1980. Earlham College broke that record in 2018, losing 51 straight games. In 1977, Macalester set a Division III record by allowing 59.1 points per game. The losing streak ended in dramatic fashion: Kicker Bob Kaye put a 23-yarder through the uprights with 11 seconds remaining in a September 1980 game as the Scots beat Mount Senario College. The Scots left the MIAC after the 2001 season and competed as independents until 2014, when they joined the Midwest Conference. Under head coach Tony Jennison, Macalester won the Midwest Conference title, the Scots' first conference football title since 1947. Macalester also won nine games in 2014, the most ever in a Scots season in their 121 years of intercollegiate football. The college actually dissolved the football program in 1906, pronouncing, according to "The Mac Weekly": "Thoroughly aroused to the evils, real or imaginary, of this game, the public is clamoring for the entire abolition or reform on this 'relic of barbarism.'"


title: Macalester College

text: Soccer has always been a popular sport at Macalester. Both men's and women's teams remain competitive, appearing in multiple NCAA playoffs since 1995. The women's team won the NCAA championship in 1998. The 2010 men's team won the MIAC regular-season championship and both the men and women's teams received at-large bids for the 2010 NCAA Division III tournament. Both teams are well-supported by students, parents and alumni. Mental Floss cited one of Macalester sports fans' most (in)famous cheers–"Drink blood, smoke crack, worship Satan, go Mac!"–as one of "7 Memorable Sports Chants".


title: Macalester College

text: The cross-country skiing team became a club team in 2004, when skiing was eliminated as an MIAC-sanctioned sport. A women's hockey team formed in 2000 and continues to play at the club level.


title: Macalester College

text: Macalester Athletics compete in the Leonard Center, which opened in August 2008. The $45 million facility encompasses 175,000 square feet and includes a 200-meter track, a natatorium, a fitness center, several multipurpose rooms, and a health and wellness center. Materials from the former facility were disposed of in environmentally friendly ways, with some incorporated into the new structure.


title: Macalester College

text: Every year in early May, Macalester hosts the Al Storm Games, a competition between various athletes at Macalester consisting of various events such as a Hunger Games simulation.


title: Macalester College

text: As at many small liberal arts colleges, students at Macalester are required to live on campus for their first two years. The college began implementing limited all-gender housing options in 2007.


title: Macalester College

text: Food services on campus are provided by Bon Appétit, a national company. The cafeteria, in the Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center, is called Café Mac. Three different meal plans are available for students who live on campus. All freshmen are required to have the highest meal plan offered.


title: Macalester College

text: In the Sustainable Endowments Institute's 2011 College Sustainability Report Card, Macalester received an overall grade of A−, earning it recognition as an "Overall Campus Sustainability Leader". In 2011, The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) awarded Macalester a Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) Silver Rating in recognition of its sustainability achievements.


title: Macalester College

text: Many student organizations focus on sustainability, including Macalester Conservation and Renewable Energy Society (MacCARES), Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG), Mac Bike, Macalester Urban Land and Community Health (MULCH), and Outing Club.