title: None of the above

text: No Candidate Deserves My Vote! was registered as a political party with the UK Electoral Commission on 23 November 2000. The No Candidate Deserves My Vote party's single objective is to introduce a bill to Parliament to have a "none of the above" option added to every local and general election ballot paper of the future. They feel this will allow the UK electorate to exercise their democratic right to vote to say that none of the parties currently represents them, which will encourage their democratic responsibility to turn out to vote. If a candidate wins an election it is the intention to stay as a Member of Parliament until the change in the law is enacted. Only then will the candidate step down and the party be disbanded.


title: None of the above

text: It is the intention of the party that, if a NOTA gains the majority vote, it should cause an automatic by-election, the idea being that the majority will have given a vote of no confidence in the candidates. If the same candidates stand under the same policies, then the electorate simply votes NOTA until the candidates change their policies to something that the electorate can vote for.


title: None of the above

text: In 2010, Stephen Phillips of Stevenage stood in the UK general election on behalf of No Candidate Deserves My Vote. Phillips received 327 votes, or 0.7% of the vote, placing 7th out of 9 candidates.


title: None of the above

text: The NOTA Party, in recent years also known as Notavote, was registered as a political party with the UK Electoral Commission on 2 March 2009. It was the intention of the NOTA party to field candidates in every UK parliamentary constituency. The respective NOTA candidates would not have continued in office had they received the most votes; this was merely a mechanism to simulate the recording of a formal NOTA vote. The party was registered as 'NOTA' and not 'None of the Above' as the latter is a prohibited expression regarding registration as a party name. A subsequent attempt to re-register the NOTA party in 2014 was blocked by the Electoral Commission on the grounds that the acronym 'NOTA' is as good as the phrase 'None of the Above', the logic being that it would confuse voters into thinking it is possible to cast a formal vote for 'None of the Above' when they would in fact just be voting for another party, albeit one standing on a single issue NOTA platform.


title: None of the above

text: None Of The Above Zero was a candidate at the 2010 general election in Filton and Bradley Stoke. Previously known as Eric Mutch, he changed his name by deed poll to stand under that name. As candidates are listed by surname first he appeared on the ballot paper as "Zero, None Of The Above", in effect giving voters a "none of the above" option since had he been elected he would have resigned immediately. He came last with 172 votes.


title: None of the above

text: In the British parliamentary elections of 2010, a former boxer changed his name by deed poll from Terry Marsh to "None Of The Above X", in order to run as a parliamentary candidate under that name in the constituency of South Basildon and East Thurrock. Claiming that he will not take the seat if he wins, he told BBC Essex: "I don't take it for one moment that it would be a vote for me. ... I'm doing what I think the Electoral Commission should be doing and what should be on every ballot paper in any electoral process." BBC News reported that, while the Registration of Political Parties (Prohibited Words and Expressions) (Amendment) Order 2005 stipulates that no political party can be registered in the UK under the name "None of the Above", there is no legislation against a person changing their name by deed poll and appearing on the ballot paper as "None Of the Above". In the event he polled 0.3% of the vote, the lowest of any candidate standing.


title: None of the above

text: No electoral jurisdiction in Canada formally lists "none of the above" as a ballot option. However, in some provincial elections it is effectively possible to vote for "none of the above", by attending the polling station and formally "declining to vote". These declined votes are counted and become part of the electoral record.


title: None of the above

text: A businessman in Prince George, British Columbia ran in the 1997 federal election in the district of Prince George—Bulkley Valley under the name Zznoneoff, Thea Bove (Thea Bove Zznoneoff); since ballots listed candidates alphabetically by surname, he appeared at the bottom. He came sixth of seven candidates with 0.977 percent of votes cast.


title: None of the above

text: A resident of Oshawa, Ontario, formerly known as Sheldon Bergson, had legally changed his name to "Above Znoneofthe", and had registered under that name as a candidate in several provincial and federal by-elections, most recently the Markham—Thornhill by-election of 3 March 2017. His name order was chosen so that his name would always appear at the bottom of the ballot as "Znoneofthe, Above", although this only works federally as provincial election ballots do not list the candidates in surname order.


title: None of the above

text: In Ontario, the None of the Above Party of Ontario is a registered political party, although its stated mandate is for its candidates to serve in the legislature as independent representatives who reflect the views and interests of their constituents, rather than simply as a "reject all of the candidates" placeholder.


title: None of the above

text: The Norwegian election regulation makes it mandatory to present voters with blank ballots in addition to all of the approved parties and election lists. In the parliamentary election of 2013, 12,874 votes, which is 0.45% of the total votes given, were blank.


title: None of the above

text: Most ballots do not have a formal "none of the above" option, but do have procedures that work in a similar way.


title: None of the above

text: In 1989 legislative election in Poland voters were able to vote against the only candidate running, often from the ruling Polish United Workers' Party by crossing out the candidate's name on the ballot. As a result, voters defeated the sitting prime minister and dozens of leading Communists because they failed to get the required majority.


title: None of the above

text: Many students' unions in Britain, Ireland, and others use a similar ballot option called 're-open nominations' (RON) in IRV and single transferable vote (STV) elections. These include the National Union of Students in the UK and UCD Student's Union in Ireland. The difference is that RON is a vote against all candidates in FPTP (first-past-the-post) and all subsequent candidates in an IRV or STV election.


title: None of the above

text: RON is not strictly a none of the above candidate in transferable vote elections, as when RON is eliminated during the count its votes are transferred to other candidates if those preferences exist.


title: None of the above

text: The American "Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised (RONR)" describes various forms of illegal ballots, which are ballots which do not count for any candidate. Blanks are treated as "scrap paper", and are of no effect, but "unintelligible ballots or ballots cast for an unidentifiable candidate or a fictional character are treated as illegal votes. All illegal votes cast by legal voters… are taken into account in determining the number of votes cast for purposes of computing the majority." RONR always requires a majority for election; thus, casting an illegal ballot or one for a hopeless candidate, whether on the ballot or as a write-in, is equivalent to voting No for all other candidates. "The principle is that a choice has no mandate from the voting body unless approval is expressed by more than half of those entitled to vote and registering any evidence of having some opinion."


title: None of the above

text: Voting for the Hugo Awards is by instant runoff voting, in which nominees for a category are ranked. There are normally seven options: six nominees, plus "No Award". A first preference vote for no award implies that the voter believes that either the category should be abolished, or that none of the nominees are worthy of an award. A second or subsequent preference implies that any higher-ranked nominees are worthy of an award, while those ranked lower are not.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: The politics of Nepal functions within the framework of a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister and their cabinet, while legislative power is vested in the Parliament.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: The Governing Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal (UML) have been the main rivals of each other since the early 1990s, with each party defeating the other in successive elections. There are seven major political parties in the federal parliament: Nepali Congress (NC), CPN (UML), CPN (Maoist-centre), CPN (Unified Socialist), People's Socialist Party, Nepal, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal and People's Progressive Party. While all major parties officially espouse democratic socialism, UML, Unified Socialist and Maoist-centre are considered leftist while the Nepali Congress, Democratic Socialist Party and People's Progressive Party are considered centrist, with most considering them center-left and some center-right. The party PSP-N is center-left to left-wing. During most of the brief periods of democratic exercise in the 1950s and 1990s, Nepali Congress held a majority in parliament. After a ten-year civil war, the Nepalese parliament voted to abolish the monarchy in June 2006, and Nepal became a federal republic on 28 May 2008. A new constitution was adopted in 2015, and in 2017 Nepal held its first general election since the end of the civil war, in which the Nepal Communist Party (a short-lived merger of the UML and Maoist-centre) won a majority at the federal level as well as in six of the seven provinces.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: The four noble families to be involved in the active politics of the Kingdom of Nepal before the rise of the Rana dynasty were the Shah dynasty, the Basnyat family, the Pande dynasty and the Thapa dynasty. At the end of 18th century, the Thapas and the Pandes had extreme dominance over Nepalese Darbar politics, alternatively contesting for central power with one another. Early politics in the Kingdom of Nepal was characterised by factionalism, conspiracies and murders, including two major massacres. After almost a century of power-wrangling among the Basnyat, Pande and Thapa families, the military leader Bir Narsingh Kunwar emerged on top in the aftermath of the Kot massacre, and established the Rana dynasty in 1846, which consolidated powers of the king and prime minister and would reign for another century with a policy of oppression and isolationism.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: By the 1930s, Nepali expatriates in India had started smuggling in writings on political philosophies, which gave birth to a vibrant underground political movement in the capital, birthing Nepal Praja Parishad in 1939, which was dissolved only two years later, following the execution of the four great martyrs. Around the same time, Nepalis involved in the Indian Independence Movement started organising into political parties, leading to the birth of Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal. Following Indian independence, Nepali Congress was successful in overthrowing the Rana regime with support from the Indian government and cooperation from the king. While communism was still trying to find its footing, Nepali Congress enjoyed overwhelming support of the electorate. Following a brief ten-year exercise in democracy, the autocratic Panchayat system was initiated, this time by the King, who deposed the democratically elected government of Nepali Congress, imprisoned or exiled prominent leaders and issued a ban on party politics.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: Many political parties and their leaders remained underground or in exile for the next 30 years of "partyless" politics in Nepal. BP Koirala was released from prison in 1968 and went into exile in Benaras, returning in 1976 only to immediately be put in house arrest. Although an armed insurgency launched by the major communist faction called the Jhapa movement had failed comprehensively by 1971, it formed the foundation for the dominant communist power, CPN (ML), that was officially launched in 1978. A general referendum was held in 1980, which saw the CPN ML campaign for the option of multi-party democracy, along with Nepali Congress, but the Panchayat System was declared the winner to significant controversy. The Panchayat rule saw governments led by a group of monarchy loyalists taking turns, with Surya Bahadur Thapa, Tulsi Giri and Kirti Nidhi Bista becoming prime minister three times each, among others. It introduced a number of reforms, built infrastructures and modernised the country, while significantly curtailing political freedom, imposing the Nepali language and Khas culture to the oppression of all others, and spreading Indophobic propaganda, the effects of which are experienced to the present day.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: In 1990, the joint civil resistance launched by the United Left front and Nepali Congress was successful in overthrowing the Panchayat, and the country became a constitutional monarchy. The United Left Front became CPN UML. The Panchayat loyalists formed National Democratic Party, which emerged as the third major party. While Nepali Congress ran the government for most of the next ten years of democracy that followed, democracy was mostly a disappointment owing to the immature democratic culture and political infighting in the capital, as well as the civil war that followed the guerrilla insurgency launched by the Maoist Party. Following a four-year autocratic rule by King Gyanendra that failed to defeat the Maoists, a mass civil protest was launched by a coalition of the Maoists and the political parties in 2006, which forced the king to stepped down, brought the Maoists to the peace process, and established a democratic republic by 2008.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: Following the political consensus to draft the new constitution of the Republic via a constituent assembly, Nepali politics saw a rise of nationalist groups and ideologies. While the political power-wrangling caused continuous instability, maintaining the established average of nine months per government, this period saw two constituent assembly elections and the rise of Madhesi nationalist parties, especially in the Eastern Terai region. By 2015, the new constitution had been promulgated and Nepal became "a federal democratic republic striving towards democratic socialism". In 2017, a series of elections were held according to the new constitution, which established Nepal Communist Party (NCP) (formally united after the election) as the ruling party at the federal level as well as six of the seven provinces, Nepali Congress as the only significant opposition in federal and provincial levels, while the Madhesi coalition formed the provincial government in Province No. 2, but boasts negligible presence in the rest of the country.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: The political parties in Nepal can be mainly divided into the Democratic camp and the Communist camp. Still, these parties at times form alliances with each other and among them as per the situation and demand.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: This camp is led by Nepali Congress, the ruling party of Nepal. Numerous parties in Nepal claim to endorse democratic ideology but few are active which are listed below.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: Majorly, CPN(UML) and CPN(Maoist Centre) Carry the communist legacy in Nepal while there are other few parties which claim to endorse communist ideology. Only a few of them are active and take part in elections. Some of them are given below.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: on 1 June 2001, in which members of the royal family, King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya, Crown Prince Dipendra, Prince Nirajan, as well as many others, were killed. However, after the massacre, the Crown Prince survived for a short while in a coma.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: Although the prince never regained consciousness before dying, Crown Prince Dipendra was the monarch under the law of Nepali royal succession. Two days later after his death, the late King's surviving brother Gyanendra was proclaimed as a king.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: On 1 February 2002 King Gyanendra suspended the Parliament, appointed a government led by himself, and enforced martial law. The King argued that civil politicians were unfit to handle the Maoist insurgency. Telephone lines were cut and several high-profile political leaders were detained. Other opposition leaders fled to India and regrouped there. A broad coalition called the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) was formed in opposition to the royal takeover, encompassing the seven parliamentary parties who held about 90% of the seats in the old, dissolved parliament.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in response to events in Nepal, set up a monitoring program in 2005 to assess and observe the human rights situation there.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: On 22 November 2005, the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) of parliamentary parties and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) agreed on a historic and unprecedented 12-point memorandum of understanding (MOU) for peace and democracy. Nepali people from various walks of life and the international community regarded the MOU as an appropriate political response to the crisis that was developing in Nepal. Against the backdrop of the historical sufferings of the Nepali people and the enormous human cost of the last ten years of violent conflict, the MOU, which proposes a peaceful transition through an elected constituent assembly, created an acceptable formula for a united movement for democracy. As per the 12-point MOU, the SPA called for a protest movement, and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) supported it. This led to a countrywide uprising called the Loktantra Andolan that started in April 2006. All political forces including civil society and professional organisations actively galvanised the people. This resulted in massive and spontaneous demonstrations and rallies held across Nepal against King Gyanendra's autocratic rule.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: On 21 April 2006, King Gyanendra declared that "power would be returned to the people". This had little effect on the people, who continued to occupy the streets of Kathmandu and other towns, openly defying the daytime curfew. Finally, King Gyanendra announced the reinstatement of the House of Representatives, thereby conceding one of the major demands of the SPA, at midnight on 24 April 2006. Following this action, the coalition of political forces decided to call off the protests.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: On 19 May 2006, the parliament assumed total legislative power and gave executive power to the Government of Nepal (previously known as His Majesty's Government). Names of many institutions (including the army) were stripped of the "royal" adjective and the Raj Parishad (a council of the King's advisers) was abolished, with his duties assigned to the Parliament itself. The activities of the King became subject to parliamentary scrutiny and the King's properties were subjected to taxation. Moreover, Nepal was declared a secular state abrogating the previous status of a Hindu Kingdom. However, most of the changes have, as yet, not been implemented. On 19 July 2006, the prime minister, G. P. Koirala, sent a letter to the United Nations announcing the intention of the Nepali government to hold elections to a constituent assembly by April 2007.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: On 23 December 2007, an agreement was made for the monarchy to be abolished and the country to become a federal republic with the Prime Minister becoming head of state. The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) became the largest party amidst a general atmosphere of fear and intimidation from all sides. A federal republic was established in May 2008, with only four members of the 601-seat Constituent Assembly voting against the change, which ended 240 years of royal rule in Nepal. The government announced a public holiday for three days, (28 – 30 May), to celebrate the country becoming a federal republic.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: Major parties such as the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN UML) and the Nepali Congress agreed to write a constitution to replace the interim constitution within 2 years.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: The Maoists, as the largest party of the country, took power right after the elections and named Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) as the Prime Minister of Nepal. CPN UML also joined this government, but the Nepali Congress took the part of the main opposition party. Prachanda soon fell into a dispute with the then army chief Rookmanda Katwal and decided to sack him. But the President Ram Baran Yadav, as the supreme head of


title: Politics of Nepal

text: military power in the country, revoked this decision and gave the army chief additional time in office. An angry Prachanda and his party quit the government, majorly citing this reason and decided to operate as the main opposition to the government headed by CPN UML and its co-partner Nepali Congress afterward. Madhav Kumar Nepal was named the Prime Minister.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: The Maoists forced closures – commonly known as "bandhs" – in the country, and also declared autonomous states for almost all the ethnic groups in Nepal.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: In May 2012 the constitutional assembly was dissolved and another election to select the new constitutional assembly members were declared by Dr. Baburam Bhattarai.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: The Madhes Movement (Nepali: मधेस अान्दोलन) is a political movement launched by various political parties, especially those based in Madhes, for equal rights, dignity and identity of Madhesis and Tharus, Muslims and Janjati groups in Nepal. In nearly a decade, Nepal witnessed three Madhes Movements - the first Madhes Movement erupted in 2007, the second Madhes Movement in 2008 and the third Madhes Movement in 2015. About the origin of the first Madhes Movement, Journalist Amarendra Yadav writes in The Rising Nepal "When the then seven-party alliance of the mainstream political parties and the CPN-Maoist jointly announced the Interim Constitution in 2007, it totally ignored the concept of federalism, the most desired political agenda of Madhesis and other marginalised communities. A day after the promulgation of the interim statute, a group of Madhesi activists under the Upendra Yadav-led Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Nepal (then a socio-intellectual NGO) burnt copies of the interim constitution at Maitighar Mandala, Kathmandu." This triggered the Madhes movement I.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: The second Madhes Movement took place in 2008, jointly launched by Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Nepal, Terai Madhes Loktantrik Party and Sadbhawana Party led by Rajendra Mahato with three key agenda: federalism, proportional representation and population-based election constituency, which were later ensured in the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2008.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: However, The Constitution of Nepal 2015 backtracked from those issues, that were already ensured by the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2008. Supreme Court of Nepal Advocate Dipendra Jha writes in The Kathmandu Post: "many other aspects of the new constitution are more regressive than the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007. Out of all its deficiencies, the most notable one concerns the issue proportional representation or inclusion in all organs of the state." This triggered the third Madhes Movement by Madhesis in Nepal. Although the first amendment to the constitution was done, the resistance over the document by Madhesi and Tharus in Nepal still continues.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: In June 2017, Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba was elected the 40th Prime Minister of Nepal, succeeding Prime Minister and Chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Deuba had been previously Prime Minister from 1995 to 1997, from 2001 to 2002, and from 2004 to 2005.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: In November 2017, Nepal had its first general election since the civil war ended and the monarchy was abolished. The main alternatives were centrist Nepali Congress Party and the alliance of former Maoist rebels and the Communist UML party. The alliance of communists won the election, and UML leader Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli was sworn in February 2018 as the new Prime Minister. He had previously been Prime Minister since 2015 until 2016.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: Since the inception of NCP, the struggle for power between the two leaders: Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal started. The internal crisis led to dissolution of parliament (both house of representative and lower house of parliament) by Khadga Prasad Oli twice within six months. It was approved by the president but Supreme court denied the legality of such decision by Oli. After the supreme court's historic decision, both the parliaments were reinstated.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: After facing the vote for confidence in parliament, Oli lost the vote for confidence. As per the 72(6) of Constitution of Nepal, the opposition was given the opportunity to form a new government by President Bidya Devi Bhandari. The opposition and they could not construct the new government as they lacked support of one faction from Janata Samajbadi Party. As a result, the party got divide and Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal was formed after nearly a month.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: As a result, Khadga Prasad Oli was sworn in again as the Prime minister of Nepal. He dissolved the parliament on 22 May 2021 for second time rather than taking vote of confidence. This time as well, it was approved by president unanimously against the signatures submitted claiming majority to NC. Still, 146 of the total 275 sitting members of HOR filed a case in supreme court against the decision and approval of president. Previously, they had submitted majority signatures to president asking to appoint Sher Bahadur Deuba as the next Prime minister of Nepal.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: On 4 June 2021, a major cabinet re-shuffle took place when so called Madhesbani leader Rajendra Mahato led faction of PSP-N joined the government with eight cabinet ministers and two state ministers while other five from CPN (UML). Bishnu Prasad Paudel, Raghubir Mahasheth and Rajendra Mahato were made Deputy Prime-minister. While the previous expansion was yet to be clarified by the Supreme Court, Oli made yet another re-shuffle and included seven ministers from UML and one from PSP-N. On 22 June, Supreme Court delivered a fresh blow to embattled Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli 20 removing recently appointed ministers. It revealed a care-taker prime-minister cannot make such change as per article 77(3) of Constitution of Nepal.  By the end, only five ministers are present in Council of ministers including sitting PM Oli while deputy prime minister post of Bishnu Prasad Paudel was removed.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: On 12 July 2021, the Supreme Court stated the decision to dissolve parliament was unlawful. Similarly, it ordered the appointment Deuba as the next Prime Minister of Nepal citing article 76(5) of the Constitution of Nepal within 28 hours. It stated that the decision made by the president was against the norms of the constitution. This was celebrated by the then opposition alliance led by the Nepali Congress including allies CPN (Maoist-Centre) and the Janata Samajbadi Party. On 13 July 2021, President Bidya Devi Bhandari appointed Sher Bahadur Deuba as the Prime Minister without including any article of Constitution and stating as per the order of Court. This created cold dispute and people alleged President Bhandari of forgetting her limits and being tilted to ex-PM Oli. After Deuba declined to take the oath as per the appointment letter, the letter was changed and stated that Deuba was made PM in accordance with article 76(5), marking Deuba's fifth term as PM. On 13 July 2021, Sher Bahadur Deuba was sworn in as Nepal’s prime minister for fifth time.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: In 2022, the Parliament ("Sansad") has two chambers. The House of Representatives ("Pratinidhi Sabha") has 275 members elected for five-year term in single-seat constituencies. The National Council ("Rashtriya Sabha") has 59 members, 8 from each state and the remaining 3 from the private concern of the government.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: After the victory of the democratic movement in the spring of 2006, a unicameral interim legislature replaced the previous parliament. The new body consists both of members of the old parliament as well as nominated members. As of December 2007, the legislature had the following composition.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: In May 2008 the elections for the Constituent Assembly saw the Communist Party of Nepal as the largest party in the Constituent Assembly, which will have a term of two years.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: The judiciary is composed of the Supreme Court (सर्बोच्च अदालत), Appellate courts, and various District courts. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council; the other judges were appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the Judicial Council.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: Nepal's judiciary is legally separate from the executive and legislative and has increasingly shown the will to be independent of political influence. The judiciary has the right of judicial review under the constitution.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: The executive is headed by prime minister while president remains head of state. Nepal has provision for executive Prime minister per the present Constitution of Nepal. The role of President is largely ceremonial as the functioning of the government is managed entirely by the Prime Minister who is appointed by the Parliament.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: As per the Constitution of Nepal, there are 7 provinces in Nepal with their own provincial government and assemblies.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: as per the Constitution of Nepal, there are 753 local levels, Rual municipalities and municipalities which are referred to as the village executive and municipal executive respectively. The district assembly is governed by the District Coordination Committee.


title: Politics of Nepal

text: AsDB, MINA, CCC, Colombo Plan, ESCAP, FAO, Group of 77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, International Development Association, IFAD, International Finance Corporation, IFRCS, International Labour Organization, International Monetary Fund, International Maritime Organization, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, International Organization for Standardization (correspondent), ITU, MONUC, Non-Aligned Movement, OPCW, SAARC, United Nations, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOP, UNMOT, UNTAET, UPU, World Federation of Trade Unions, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO CPC Nepal (applicant)


title: Walls of Benin

text: The Walls of Benin are a series of earthworks made up of banks and ditches, called "ya" in the Edo language, in the area around present-day Benin City, the capital of present-day Edo, Nigeria. They consist of of city iya and an estimated of rural iya in the area around Benin. The 'walls' of Benin City and surrounding areas were described as "the world's largest earthworks carried out prior to the mechanical era" by the Guinness book of Records. Some estimates suggest that the walls of Benin may have been constructed between the thirteenth and mid-fifteenth century CE and others suggest that the walls of Benin (in the Esan region) may have been constructed during the first millennium CE.


title: Walls of Benin

text: Estimates for the initial construction of the walls range from the first millennium CE to the mid-fifteenth century CE. According to Connah, oral tradition and travelers' accounts suggest a construction date of 1450-1500 CE. It has been estimated that, assuming a 10-hour work day, a labour force of 5,000 men could have completed the walls within 97 days, or by 2,421 men in 200 days. However, these estimates have been criticized for not taking into account the time it would have taken to extract earth from an ever deepening hole and the time it would have taken to heap the earth into a high bank.


title: Walls of Benin

text: The Benin City walls have been known to Westerners since about 1500, when Portuguese explorer Duarte Pacheco Pereira briefly described the walls during his travels:


title: Walls of Benin

text: The archaeologist Graham Connah suggests that Pereira was mistaken with his description by saying that there was no wall. Connah says, "[Pereira] considered that a bank of earth was not a wall in the sense of the Europe of his day."


title: Walls of Benin

text: The walls were built of a ditch and dike structure; the ditch dug to form an inner moat with the excavated earth used to form the exterior rampart.


title: Walls of Benin

text: Scattered pieces of the structure remain in Edo, with the vast majority of them being used by the locals for building purposes. What remains of the wall itself continues to be torn down for real estate developments.


title: Walls of Benin

text: Ethnomathematician Ron Eglash has discussed the planned layout of the city using fractals as the basis, not only in the city itself and the villages but even in the rooms of houses. He commented that "When Europeans first came to Africa, they considered the architecture very disorganised and thus primitive. It never occurred to them that the Africans might have been using a form of mathematics that they hadn’t even discovered yet."


title: Digitalis purpurea

text: Digitalis purpurea, the foxglove or common foxglove, is a poisonous species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae, native to and widespread throughout most of temperate Europe. It has also naturalised in parts of North America and some other temperate regions. The plant is a popular garden subject, with many cultivars available. It is the original source of the heart medicine digoxin (also called digitalis or digitalin). This biennial plant grows as a rosette of leaves in the first year after sowing, before flowering and then dying in the second year (i.e. it is monocarpic). It generally produces enough seeds, however, so that new plants will continue to grow in a garden setting.


title: Digitalis purpurea

text: "Digitalis purpurea" is an herbaceous biennial or short-lived perennial plant. The leaves are spirally arranged, simple, long and broad, and are covered with gray-white pubescent and glandular hairs, imparting a woolly texture. The foliage forms a tight rosette at ground level in the first year.


title: Digitalis purpurea

text: The flowering stem develops in the second year, typically tall, sometimes longer. The flowers are arranged in a showy, terminal, elongated cluster, and each flower is tubular and pendent. The flowers are typically purple, but some plants, especially those under cultivation, may be pink, rose, yellow, or white. The inside surface of the flower tube is heavily spotted. The flowering period is early summer, sometimes with additional flower stems developing later in the season. The plant is frequented by bees, which climb right inside the flower tube to gain the nectar within.


title: Digitalis purpurea

text: "Digitalis purpurea" subsp. "mariana" is a synonym for "D. mariana" subsp. "mariana", and "D. purpurea" subsp. "heywoodii" is a synonym for "D. mariana" subsp. "heywoodii".


title: Digitalis purpurea

text: "Digitalis purpurea" grows in acidic soils, in partial sunlight to deep shade, in a range of habitats, including open woods, woodland clearings, moorland and heath margins, sea-cliffs, rocky mountain slopes and hedge banks. It is commonly found on sites where the ground has been disturbed, such as recently cleared woodland, or where the vegetation has been burnt.


title: Digitalis purpurea

text: Larvae of the foxglove pug ("Eupithecia pulchellata"), a moth, consume the flowers of the common foxglove for food. The caterpillars of this moth crawl into the newly opening flowers, one caterpillar to a flower. It then spins a silken web over the mouth of the flower, sealing it, and then proceeds to feed on the stamens and developing seeds. When the other uninfected flowers fall off, the corolla of the infected flowers remain on the plant, and the caterpillar then pupates in the flower. The species is uncommon, it has been recorded in Britain, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Other species of Lepidoptera have been recorded eating the leaves, including "Mellicta athalia" and "Xestia ashworthii" in Britain, "Eurodryas aurinia" in Romania, and "Mellicta deione" in Portugal.


title: Digitalis purpurea

text: The colours of the petals of the "Digitalis purpurea" are known to be determined by at least three genes that interact with each other.


title: Digitalis purpurea

text: The M gene determines the production of a purple pigment, a type of anthocyanin. The m gene does not produce this pigment. The D gene is an enhancer of the M gene, and leads it to produce a large amount of the pigment. The d gene does not enhance the M gene, and only a small amount of pigment is produced. Lastly, the W gene causes the pigment be deposited only in some spots, while the w gene allows the pigment to be spread all over the flower.


title: Digitalis purpurea

text: The plant is a popular ornamental, providing height and colour in late spring and early summer. Cultivated forms often show flowers completely surrounding the central spike, in contrast to the wild form, where the flowers only appear on one side. Numerous cultivars have been developed with a range of colours. Seeds are frequently sold as a mixture (e.g. Excelsior hybrids, in shades of white, pink and purple). Some strains are easily grown by the novice gardener, while others are more challenging. They may also be purchased as potted plants in the spring. The following selections have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:


title: Digitalis purpurea

text: Due to the presence of the cardiac glycoside digitoxin, the leaves, flowers and seeds of this plant are all poisonous to humans and some animals and can be fatal if ingested.


title: Digitalis purpurea

text: The main toxins in "Digitalis" spp. are the two chemically similar cardiac glycosides: digitoxin and digoxin. Like other cardiac glycosides, these toxins exert their effects by inhibiting the ATPase activity of a complex of transmembrane proteins that form the sodium potassium ATPase pump, (Na/K-ATPase). Inhibition of the Na/K-ATPase in turn causes a rise not only in intracellular Na, but also in calcium, which in turn results in increased force of myocardial muscle contractions. In other words, at precisely the right dosage, "Digitalis" toxin can cause the heart to beat more strongly. However, digitoxin, digoxin and several other cardiac glycosides, such as ouabain, are known to have steep dose-response curves, i.e., minute increases in the dosage of these drugs can make the difference between an ineffective dose and a fatal one.


title: Digitalis purpurea

text: Symptoms of "Digitalis" poisoning include a low pulse rate, nausea, vomiting, and uncoordinated contractions of different parts of the heart, leading to cardiac arrest and finally death.


title: Digitalis purpurea

text: Extracted from the leaves, this same cardiac glycoside digitoxin is used as a medication for heart failure. Its clinical use was pioneered by William Withering, who recognized it "reduced dropsy", increased urine flow, and had a powerful effect on the heart. During World War II, County Herb Committees were established to collect medicinal herbs when German blockades created shortages; this included "Digitalis purpurea" which was used to regulate heartbeat.


title: Joey Santiago

text: Joseph Alberto Santiago (born June 10, 1965) is a Filipino-American guitarist and composer. Active since 1986, Santiago is best known as the lead guitarist for the American alternative rock band Pixies. After the band's breakup in 1993, Santiago produced musical scores for film and television documentaries, and he formed The Martinis with his ex-wife, Linda Mallari. He also contributed to albums by Charles Douglas and former Pixies band-mate Frank Black. Santiago resumed his role as the Pixies' lead guitarist when they reunited in 2004.


title: Joey Santiago

text: Santiago has described his guitar technique as "angular and bent", and he cites Les Paul, George Harrison, Chet Atkins, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass and Jimi Hendrix as major influences on his style. His guitar playing, as part of the Pixies' sound, was held in high regard by critics: MTV's Laurel Bowman commented that Santiago's "sonic plow was the key element in the Pixies' monstrous presence".


title: Joey Santiago

text: Santiago was born in Manila, Philippines, on June 10, 1965, the third of six sons of an anesthesiologist. In 1972, when President Marcos declared martial law, the family immigrated to the United States. After two years in Yonkers, New York, the family moved to Longmeadow, Massachusetts, where Santiago attended Longmeadow High School and graduated from Wilbraham & Monson Academy in 1983. His first experience with a musical instrument was playing a Hammond organ at the age of eight, but he never took on the instrument seriously because he had to share it with five brothers. Santiago first played a guitar at the age of nine after he noticed a classical guitar hanging on his oldest brother's wall for decoration. The first song he learned to play was The Velvet Underground's "Rock and Roll".


title: Joey Santiago

text: As a teenager, Santiago became interested in computer programming, naming his first program "Iggy" and his second "Pop" after punk rocker Iggy Pop. He participated in a cycle ride across the United States in aid of charity, but on completing it did not bother to collect the sponsor's money.


title: Joey Santiago

text: After graduating from high school in 1983, Santiago studied at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He remained without a major as long as the university would permit him to, but eventually chose economics. He met Charles Thompson, an anthropology student and the future Pixies frontman, after he heard Thompson and his roommate playing their guitars. Santiago rushed home to collect his guitar, and was soon playing "non-blues-scale, non-cover-song rock" with Thompson.


title: Joey Santiago

text: Santiago and Thompson shared a room at the start of the second semester. Santiago soon introduced his new roommate to and the music of David Bowie. He later recalled their time together in college: "Charles and I had a suite at the college dorm. We'd go to shows, I remember seeing Black Flag and Angst. Initially, I think we just liked each other. I did notice right away that he was playing music ... He'd write 'em [the songs], and I'd throw my ideas on the guitar." In their second year of college, Thompson traveled to Puerto Rico as an exchange student. After six months there living with a "weird, psycho roommate," Thompson sent Santiago a letter with the words "We gotta do it, now is the time, Joe, we gotta chase our dreams"; Santiago replied, saying "Yes, now's the time." Upon receiving this reply, Thompson decided to return to Amherst to start a rock band with Santiago.


title: Joey Santiago

text: Upon Thompson's return to Massachusetts, the pair dropped out of college and moved to Boston. They both took temporary jobs in warehouses, with Santiago working for a butcher block company. In January 1986, Santiago formed the Pixies with Thompson. Santiago made the choice to play lead guitar over Bass. The pair arrived at a name after Santiago selected the word randomly from a dictionary and liked the definition, "mischievous little elves." They recruited Kim Deal a week later after placing a classified ad in a Boston paper for a bassist "into Hüsker Dü and Peter, Paul and Mary." Drummer David Lovering was later hired on recommendation from Deal's husband.


title: Joey Santiago

text: The Pixies rehearsed throughout 1986, and began performing around Boston in late 1986 and during 1987. The band signed to the English independent record label 4AD in 1987. On meeting the head of the label, Ivo Watts-Russell, Santiago remarked: "All I care about is that you make me famous in the Philippines because all the chicks are really pretty". Watts-Russell later said "that's probably all I ever heard Joey really say," and by that time, Santiago's quietness had been noted by those close to the band. The Pixies' first release, "Come On Pilgrim", featured his trademark angular lead guitar on tracks such as "The Holiday Song" and "Vamos".


title: Joey Santiago

text: After the band's next two albums, "Surfer Rosa" (1988) and "Doolittle" (1989), the relationship between the band members became strained; the Pixies were constantly touring and had released three albums in two years. During their homecoming Boston concert, on the post-"Doolittle" "Fuck or Fight" tour, Santiago smashed up his instrument and stormed offstage. The band announced a break soon afterwards. During this time, Santiago visited the Grand Canyon to "find himself." After the band reconvened in 1990, Santiago contributed to the band's later releases, "Bossanova" (1990) and "Trompe le Monde" (1991), adopting a surf guitar style in the former. The Pixies eventually broke up in 1992, mostly due to tensions between Francis and Deal, although the breakup was not publicly announced until 1993.


title: Joey Santiago

text: After the breakup of the Pixies, Santiago went into a depression for the first couple of years but remained on good terms with bandmate Black Francis (who soon adopted the name Frank Black). Black, who was recording his 1993 debut album, "Frank Black", contacted Santiago to ask whether he would contribute lead guitar. Santiago agreed, and moved into Black's old apartment in L.A. on a whim. Santiago played lead guitar on a number of Frank Black's solo albums, including "Teenager of the Year" (1994), and contributed lead guitar to Steve Westfield's 1994 album "Mangled". He also formed The Martinis a year later with Mallari. Their recorded output by the end of the 1990s comprised a single song, the self-recorded "Free" (1995), which appeared on the film soundtrack of "Empire Records". The band played live only occasionally until 2001.


title: Joey Santiago

text: In the mid-1990s, Santiago began to explore audio editing software. After composing for several independent films, including "Crime and Punishment in Suburbia" in 2000 (where he collaborated again with Black), Santiago co-scored the Fox Network TV series "Undeclared" with Michael Andrews. He continued to contribute lead guitar to albums, collaborating with Charles Douglas on his 2004 album "Statecraft". He scored the 2003 film "The Low Budget Time Machine" and wrote two songs, "Birthday Video" and "Fake Purse," for the Showtime television series "Weeds" in 2005.


title: Joey Santiago

text: Mallari and Santiago continued to write new material as part of the Martinis, but no longer played live. Their debut album, "Smitten", took two years to write and was released in 2004; the pair collaborated with a number of musicians, including drummer Josh Freese, during the recording. Santiago described the album as "a lot poppier and quirkier" than the band's previous material. The band simultaneously released "The Smitten Sessions", a limited edition EP.


title: Joey Santiago

text: After the Pixies broke up in 1993, Santiago had stayed in touch with every band member. In the summer of 2003, Black decided to begin reuniting the Pixies and called Santiago first. Santiago later explained: "He called me on my cellphone and I was in Cape Cod visiting family. He said in this coy voice, 'Hey Joey, uh, you been hearin' these rumors that we're getting back together? Gee, I wonder who started it?' I go, 'Charles, did you do that?' and he goes, 'Yeah.'" Santiago then contacted Lovering and Deal to inform them of Black's decision and by the summer of 2004 the band had reunited. DreamWorks asked the Pixies in early 2004 to compose a song for the "Shrek 2" soundtrack. They agreed, and early versions of this new song were recorded in Santiago's basement. With his soundtrack experience, the band, in the words of Deal, "worked it up a bit in Joey's Pro Tools thing", before submitting it to the studio. DreamWorks rejected the song, so the band released it as a single, "Bam Thwok".


title: Joey Santiago

text: Aside from the Pixies and The Martinis, Santiago scored the soundtrack of the documentary "Radiant City" in 2006. He signed with the commercial sound agency Elias Arts in the same year, and focused on composing music for television commercials. In a March 2006 Billboard.com interview, he dismissed the possibility of a new Pixies album for the time being: "I'd only be interested if it happens in an organic manner; if all our schedules are aligned and we're all feeling it. That's the only reason to do it." Santiago also played a benefit concert for drummer Wally Ingram in February 2007 as part of The Martinis; the band's first gig for six years.


title: Joey Santiago

text: Santiago describes his guitar playing as "angular and bent," "all derived from guitar moments that perk my ears up". Notable in his style is how he uses distortion and feedback to leave spaces open. A good example is the intro of "There Goes My Gun". He attributes much of his style to songs he enjoyed when first learning the guitar, such as The Beatles' "Savoy Truffle", where "George Harrison played that bent note that I fell in love with and later milked it for all it was worth." He used such techniques with the Pixies: "Doolittle's" "Dead" begins with Santiago's guitar "squawking" on an E-flat like "a wounded animal". As Santiago was learning the guitar, he saw himself as a self-conscious amateur, and still speaks of a lack of confidence in his playing.


title: Joey Santiago

text: Santiago, rather than listening to popular radio, borrowed rock and roll records from the public library as he was growing up; he first discovered Les Paul and Jimi Hendrix, who led to jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. Santiago later commented on Montgomery's influence: "And that's when I said, 'Ah, that's a hook. That's some hooky stuff in the jazz world'". He discovered jazz and country artists such as Joe Pass and Chet Atkins after studying the liner notes of albums. Santiago was directly influenced by the "Hendrix chord", the sharp 9th dominant chord which, in the words of author Ben Sisario, "tapped a hidden rage that matched the horror of Thompson's scream". As a teenager, Santiago also listened to classic rock and protopunk artists such as The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop.


title: Joey Santiago

text: The stage antics of Santiago often contrasted with his generally quiet demeanor; he often experimented with his guitar and equipment during songs. Deal's husband, John Murphy, said that during performances of "Vamos", which features guitar feedback throughout, Santiago used to "whack the crap out of his amp", often picking up the amplifier and moving it around. During some solos, Santiago would often pull the guitar up to his mouth and break guitar strings with his teeth.


title: Joey Santiago

text: Santiago was married to Linda Mallari, with whom he has two children. They have since divorced. He lives in Los Angeles. In 2016, Santiago checked into a rehabilitation center to treat his alcohol and drug issues. He has since become sober.


title: The Desert Sessions

text: The Desert Sessions are a musical collective series, founded by Josh Homme in 1997. Artists such as Brant Bjork, PJ Harvey, Twiggy Ramirez, Dave Catching, Nick Oliveri, Mark Lanegan, John McBain, Ben Shepherd, Josh Freese, Chris Goss, Alain Johannes, Troy Van Leeuwen, Dean Ween, Les Claypool and many others from the Palm Desert Scene have contributed as songwriters and musicians.


title: The Desert Sessions

text: The Desert Sessions began in August 1997 at the Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree when Josh Homme brought together musicians from the bands Monster Magnet, Goatsnake, earthlings?, Kyuss (his own band, which had split in 1995.) The ranch is an old house filled with rare and unique recording equipment and instruments and was owned by Dave Catching and the late Fred Drake. Songs are written "on the spot", often in a matter of hours. Many stories have grown around the Sessions. For example, the song "Creosote" from "Volumes 9 & 10" was written by Dean Ween and Alain Johannes on the ranch's front porch within four minutes of meeting each other. Similarly, Chris Goss and PJ Harvey wrote the song "There Will Never Be A Better Time" for "" after going out onto the porch of the ranch for four minutes with an acoustic guitar; they re-entered the house and recorded the song in one take, the only time the song was ever played by the collective.


title: The Desert Sessions

text: The first Desert Session was not actually a "session" "per se", but Homme and his band at the time (The Acquitted Felons) playing for three days straight on psychedelic mushrooms. Since then, the Desert Sessions have become legendary, growing in intensity and artistic merit. Homme said:


title: The Desert Sessions

text: The Desert Sessions have only performed live twice. The live incarnation, which included Joey Castillo, Troy Van Leeuwen, Brian O'Connor, and Homme, as well as a variety of musicians performing different songs, have performed on an episode of the British music television show "Later... with Jools Holland" as well as the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2004.


title: The Desert Sessions

text: After 11 years of inactivity, Homme revealed in October 2014 that he would start working on more Desert Sessions material the following year. However, things remained silent until May 2019, when Homme posted an image on Instagram with the hashtags "#Desert, #Sessions, #11, #12". In August 2019, Matt Berry confirmed in an interview that he is involved with new Desert Sessions. In September 2019, "Desert Sessions Volumes 11 & 12" were officially announced, along with a comedic promo video featuring Homme and Liam Lynch. The promo includes Homme running through some of the featured artists such as Billy Gibbons, Les Claypool, and Jake Shears.


title: The Desert Sessions

text: In a 2007 interview with Rockline, Homme stated that he was going to be working on a new Desert Sessions album in December 2007 and the first ten will be re-released as a box set, however more years passed since any activity happened.


title: The Desert Sessions

text: In 2019, the first time new Desert Sessions were released in sixteen years, Homme commented on the delay: "Because Desert Sessions works best at a certain time of the year, when everything slows and everyone takes a deep breath out. At the end of the year, in that December-January timeframe, everyone has exhaled. And post-exhale is the time to do something like that. So if I miss that window… I miss that window."


title: ZZ Top's First Album

text: ZZ Top's First Album is the debut studio album by American rock band ZZ Top. It was produced by Bill Ham, and released on January 16, 1971, on London Records. Establishing ZZ Top's attitude and humor, the album incorporates styles such as blues, boogie, hard rock, and Southern rock influences. Thematically, the album is lively, playful and at times brash, filled with the band's personal experiences and sexual innuendos that became central to the group's image. "(Somebody Else Been) Shakin' Your Tree" was the only single released from the album.


title: ZZ Top's First Album

text: We had been together for about six months and were knocking around the bar scene, playing all the usual funky joints. We took the studio on as an extension of the stage show. The basics were all of us playing together in one room, but we didn't want to turn our backs on contemporary recording techniques. To give our sound as much presence and support as possible, we became a little more than a three piece with the advantages of overdubbing. It was the natural kind of support – some rhythm guitar parts, a little bit of texture. That was about it.


title: ZZ Top's First Album

text: We called the record "ZZ Top's First Album" because we wanted everyone to know that there would be more. We weren't certain if we'd get another chance in the studio, but we had high hopes.


title: ZZ Top's First Album

text: The only single released from the album was "(Somebody Else Been) Shakin' Your Tree" (backed with "Neighbor, Neighbor") on London Records (release number 45-138). It failed to appear on the "Billboard" charts.


title: ZZ Top's First Album

text: In 1987, the album was remixed for CD release. In 2013, the original vinyl mix was released on HD Tracks in high-resolution digital download formats. The original mix of the album was released on CD in June 2013 as part of the box set "The Complete Studio Albums (1970–1990)". In October 2017 a 180 gram vinyl edition of the album was released, using the original mix.


title: ZZ Top's First Album

text: AllMusic retrospectively gave it 3 stars, stating: ""ZZ Top's First Album" may not be perfectly polished, but it does establish their sound, attitude, and quirks."


title: John Rutledge

text: John Rutledge (September 17, 1739 – June 21, 1800) was an American Founding Father, politician, and jurist who served as one of the original associate justices of the Supreme Court and the second chief justice of the United States. Additionally, he served as the first president of South Carolina and later as its first governor after the Declaration of Independence was signed.


title: John Rutledge

text: Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Rutledge established a legal career after studying at Middle Temple in the City of London. He was the elder brother of Edward Rutledge, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Rutledge served as a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress, which protested taxes imposed on the Thirteen Colonies by the Parliament of Great Britain. He also served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Continental Association, before being elected as governor of South Carolina. He served as governor during much of the American Revolutionary War.


title: John Rutledge

text: After briefly returning to Congress, Rutledge was appointed to the South Carolina Court of Chancery. He was a delegate to the 1787 Philadelphia Convention, which wrote the United States Constitution. During the convention, he served as chairman of the Committee of Detail, which produced the first full draft of the Constitution. The following year he also participated in the South Carolina convention to ratify the Constitution.


title: John Rutledge

text: In 1789, President George Washington appointed Rutledge as one of the inaugural associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Rutledge left the Supreme Court in 1791 to become chief justice of the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas and Sessions. He returned to the Supreme Court, this time as chief justice, following the resignation of John Jay in June 1795. As the vacancy came during a long Senate recess, Washington named Rutledge as the new chief justice by a recess appointment. When the Senate reconvened in December 1795, it rejected Rutledge's nomination by a 10–14 vote. Rutledge resigned his commission shortly thereafter and withdrew from public life until his death in 1800. He holds the record for the shortest tenure of any chief justice. His was the first Supreme Court nomination to be rejected by the Senate, and he remains the only "recess appointed" justice not to be subsequently confirmed by the Senate.


title: John Rutledge

text: Rutledge was the eldest child in a large family in Charleston, South Carolina. His father was Irish immigrant John Rutledge (Sr.) (1713–1750), a physician. His mother, South Carolina–born Sarah ("née" Hext; born September 18, 1724), was of English descent. John had six younger siblings: Andrew (1740–1772), Thomas (1741–1783), Sarah (1742–1819), Hugh (1745–1811), Mary (1747–1832), and Edward (1749–1800). John's early education was provided by his father until the latter's death. The rest of Rutledge's primary education was provided by an Anglican priest.


title: John Rutledge

text: John took an early interest in law and often "played lawyer" with his brothers and sisters. When he was 17 years old, Rutledge began to read law under a man named James Parsons. Two years later, Rutledge sailed to England to further his studies at London's Middle Temple. In the course of his studies, he won several cases in English courts.


title: John Rutledge

text: After finishing his studies, Rutledge returned to Charleston to begin a fruitful legal career. At the time, many new lawyers barely scraped together enough business to earn their livings. Most new lawyers could only hope that they would win well-known cases to ensure their success. Rutledge, however, emerged almost immediately as one of the most prominent lawyers in Charleston, and his services were in high demand.


title: John Rutledge

text: With his successful legal career, he was able to build on his mother's fortune. On May 1, 1763, Rutledge married Elizabeth Grimké (born 1742). Rutledge was very devoted to his wife, and Elizabeth's death on July 6, 1792, was a major cause of the illness that affected Rutledge in his later years.


title: John Rutledge

text: John and Elizabeth had 10 children: Martha (1764–1816), Sarah (born and died 1765), John (1766–1819), Edward (1767–1811), Frederick (1769/71–1821/24), William (?–1822), Charles (1773–1821), Thomas (born 1774 and died young), Elizabeth (1776–1842), and States (1783–1829).


title: John Rutledge

text: From 1761 to 1775, Rutledge served in South Carolina's Commons House of Assembly, becoming one of its leaders.


title: John Rutledge

text: Rutledge was an important figure in the 1765 Stamp Act Congress. This Congress produced a resolution that stated that it was "the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on them but with their own consent, given personally, or by their representatives." Rutledge chaired a committee that drew up a petition to the House of Lords attempting to persuade them to reject the Stamp Act. They were ultimately unsuccessful.


title: John Rutledge

text: When the delegates returned to South Carolina after the Congress adjourned, they found the state in turmoil. The people had destroyed all the revenue stamps they could find; they broke into the houses of suspected Loyalists to search for stamps. When the Stamp Act went into effect on November 1, 1765, there were no stamps in the entire colony. Dougal Campbell, the Charleston court clerk, refused to issue any papers without the stamps. Because of this, all legal processes in the entire state came to a standstill until news that the Stamp Act had been repealed reached South Carolina in May 1766. After the Stamp Act conflict ended, Rutledge went back into private life and to his law practice. Besides serving in the colonial legislature, he did not involve himself in politics. His law practice continued to expand and he became fairly wealthy as a result.


title: John Rutledge

text: In 1774, Rutledge was elected to the First Continental Congress. It is not known for certain what John Rutledge did in the Congress; the records of the Congress refer only to "Rutledge", though both John and his brother Edward Rutledge were present. The most important contribution made by "Rutledge" to the Congress was during the debate on how to apportion votes in the Congress. Some wanted votes to be apportioned by the population of the colonies. Others wanted to give each colony one vote. "Rutledge" observed that as the Congress had no legal authority to "force" the colonies to accept its decisions, it would make the most sense to give each colony one vote. The other delegates ultimately agreed to this proposal.


title: John Rutledge

text: Rutledge served in the First Continental Congress and the Second Continental Congress until 1776. That year, he was elected president of South Carolina under a constitution drawn up on March 26, 1776. Upon taking office, he worked quickly to organize the new government and to prepare defenses against British attack.


title: John Rutledge

text: In early 1776, Rutledge learned that British forces would attempt to take Charleston. In response, he ordered the construction of Fort Sullivan (now Fort Moultrie) on Sullivan's Island in Charleston Harbor. When the British arrived, the fort was only half completed. General Charles Lee of the Continental Army, who had arrived a few days earlier with reinforcements from North Carolina, told Rutledge the fort should be evacuated, as Lee considered it indefensible. Lee said that the fort would fall in under a half an hour, and all the men would be killed. In a note to the fort's commanding officer, Colonel William Moultrie, Rutledge wrote "General Lee ... wishes you to evacuate the fort. You will not, without [an] order from me. I would sooner cut off my hand than write one." Rutledge noticed that Lee was arrogant, uncouth and unfit to control the militia. Rutledge, by virtue of being elected by the state, gained control of the militia. Rutledge let it be known that only he could order the militia to defend Charleston. During this time, Rutledge garnered the nickname "Dictator John" by virtue of getting his way with things.


title: John Rutledge

text: On June 28, 1776, the British attacked the fort, expecting it to fall quickly. However, the fort's walls were made out of palmetto logs packed with sand, so the British cannonballs were absorbed into the soft core of the logs without doing much damage, and the British were repulsed, saving Charleston. The battle anniversary is still celebrated as "Carolina Day", on June 28 each year. South Carolina's current "Palmetto Flag", adopted in 1861, features the crescent symbol on the defending soldiers' caps along with the palmetto tree.


title: John Rutledge

text: Rutledge continued as president of South Carolina until 1778. That year, the South Carolina legislature proposed a new constitution. Rutledge vetoed it, stating that it moved the state dangerously close to a direct democracy, which Rutledge believed was only a step away from total anarchy. When the legislature overrode his veto, Rutledge resigned.


title: John Rutledge

text: A few months after Rutledge's resignation, the British, having suffered several defeats in the North, decided to try to retake the South. Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell landed in Georgia with 3,000 men and quickly took control of the entire state.


title: John Rutledge

text: The new state constitution was revised, and in 1779 Rutledge was elected governor. While the first governor independent from Great Britain, Rutledge is considered by historians and the government of South Carolina to be the 31st governor, counting from the colonial governors. Rutledge sent troops under General Benjamin Lincoln into Georgia to harass the British. The new British commander in the south, General Jacques Prevost, responded by marching on Charleston with 2,500 troops. When Rutledge heard about this threat, he hurried to Charleston and worked furiously to build up defenses. In spite of Rutledge's efforts, when General Prevost arrived outside Charleston, the British force had been greatly increased by the addition of Loyalists, and the Americans were vastly outnumbered.


title: John Rutledge

text: Rutledge privately asked Prevost for surrender terms. Prevost made an offer, but when Rutledge submitted it to the council of war, the council instructed Rutledge to ask if the British would accept a declaration of South Carolina's neutrality in the Revolution. They forbade Rutledge from surrendering mainly because General Moultrie believed that the Americans had at least as many troops as the British force, which consisted largely of untrained civilians. Prevost replied that as he was faced with such a large military force, he would have to take some of them prisoner before he could accept. Moultrie advised the council that he would never stand by and allow the British to take Americans prisoner without fighting, so the council decided to fight it out. The city braced itself for an attack, but the next morning, the British had disappeared. Prevost had intercepted a letter from General Lincoln to Moultrie saying that he was marching to the aid of Charleston, and Prevost decided that he could not hold out if the Americans received reinforcements.


title: John Rutledge

text: In early 1780, Sir Henry Clinton attacked South Carolina, and Charleston was thrown into a panic. The legislature adjourned upon learning of the British. Their last action was to give Rutledge power to do anything short of execution without trial. Rutledge did his best to raise militia forces, but Charleston was in the midst of a smallpox epidemic, and few dared to enter the city. In February, Clinton landed near Charleston with 5,000 troops. By May he had 9,000 troops against less than 2,500 Americans in the area. The siege of Charleston ensued. On May 10, Charleston surrendered. Rutledge had left the city. He remained governor of the unconquered part of South Carolina.


title: John Rutledge

text: Though the Americans defeated the British at the Battle of Cowpens in January 1781, they could not drive the British back to Charleston until June 1781, when General Nathanael Greene arrived with more troops. The British held Charleston until December 14, 1782. Rutledge's term of office had already ended, and he did not run again because of term limits. A few weeks after leaving the governorship, Rutledge was again elected to the Continental Congress, where he served until 1783. In 1784, he was appointed to the South Carolina Court of Chancery, where he served until 1791.


title: John Rutledge

text: In 1787, Rutledge was selected to represent South Carolina in the Philadelphia Convention which was called to revise the Articles of Confederation but instead produced the United States Constitution. He attended all the sessions and served on five committees. At the Convention, Rutledge maintained a moderate nationalist stance and chaired the Committee of Detail. After the Convention had debated the Virginia Plan and settled some major points of controversy, the Committee of Detail assembled during the convention's July 4 recess. Though the committee did not record its minutes, it is known that the committee used the original Virginia Plan, the decisions of the Convention on modifications to that plan, and other sources, to produce the first full draft. Much of what was included in this draft consisted of details, such as powers given to Congress, that had not been debated by the Convention. Most of these were uncontroversial and unchallenged and as such much of what Rutledge's committee included in this first draft made it into the final version of the Constitution without debate.


title: John Rutledge

text: Rutledge recommended that the executive power should consist of a single person, rather than several, because he felt that one person would feel the responsibility of the office more acutely. Because the president would not be able to defer a decision to another "co-president", Rutledge concluded that a single person would be more likely to make a good choice. Rutledge was largely responsible for denying the Supreme Court the right to give advisory opinions. Being a judge himself, he strongly believed that a judge's sole purpose was to resolve legal conflicts; he held that a judge should hand down an opinion only when ruling on an actual case. He also thought that the legal community was the higher tier of society.


title: John Rutledge

text: Rutledge argued that if either house of the legislature was to have the sole authority to introduce appropriation bills, it should be the Senate. He noted that the Senate, by nature of its lengthier terms of office, would tend to be more leisurely in its actions. Because of this, Rutledge felt that the Senate would be better able to think clearly about what the consequences of a bill would be. Also, since the bills could not become law without the consent of the House of Representatives, he concluded that there would be no danger of the Senate ruling the country.


title: John Rutledge

text: When the proposal was made that only landowners should have the right to vote, Rutledge opposed it perhaps more strongly than any other motion in the entire convention. He stated that making such a rule would divide the people into "haves" and "have nots", would create an undying resentment against landowners, and could do nothing but cause discord. He was supported by Benjamin Franklin, and the rule was not adopted.


title: John Rutledge

text: In the debate on slavery in the new country, Rutledge took the side of the slave-owners; he was a Southerner and he owned several slaves. Rutledge said that if the Constitution forbade slavery, the Southern states would never agree to the Constitution.


title: John Rutledge

text: On September 24, 1789, George Washington nominated Rutledge for one of the five associate justice positions on the newly established Supreme Court. His appointment (along with those of: John Blair Jr., William Cushing, Robert H. Harrison, and James Wilson; plus that of John Jay for Chief Justice) was confirmed by the Senate two days later. His service on the Court officially began February 15, 1790, when he took the judicial oath, and continued until March 5, 1791. Rutledge resigned from the Supreme Court, without having ever heard a case, in order to become chief justice of the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas and Sessions.


title: John Rutledge

text: On June 28, 1795, Chief Justice John Jay resigned, having been elected governor of New York. Washington selected Rutledge to succeed Jay as chief justice, and, as the Senate would not be meeting again until December, gave Rutledge a recess appointment so that he could serve as chief justice during the upcoming August session. He was commissioned as chief justice on June 30, 1795, and took the judicial oath on August 12.


title: John Rutledge

text: On July 16, 1795, Rutledge gave a highly controversial speech denouncing the Jay Treaty with Great Britain. He reportedly said in the speech "that he had rather the President should die than sign that puerile instrument"– and that he "preferred war to an adoption of it." Rutledge's speech against the Jay Treaty cost him the support of many in the Washington administration, which supported the treaty, and in the Senate, which would soon be called upon to advise the president on his nomination of Rutledge to the judicial post and to consent to its ratification by a two-thirds vote.


title: John Rutledge

text: Two cases were decided while Rutledge was chief justice. In "United States v. Peters," the Court ruled that federal district courts had no jurisdiction over crimes committed against Americans in international waters. In "Talbot v. Janson", the Court held that a citizen of the United States did not waive all claims to U.S. citizenship by either renouncing citizenship of an individual state or by becoming a citizen of another country. The Rutledge Court thus established an important precedent for multiple citizenship in the United States.


title: John Rutledge

text: By the time of his formal nomination to the Court on December 10, 1795, Rutledge's reputation was in tatters, and support for his nomination had faded. Rumors of mental illness and alcohol abuse swirled around him, concocted largely by the Federalist press. His words and actions in response to the Jay Treaty were used as evidence of his continued mental decline. The Senate rejected his appointment on December 15, 1795, by a vote of 10–14. Altogether, 9 Democratic-Republicans and 1 Federalist voted in favor of confirmation, while 14 Federalists voted against it; additionally, 5 Federalists and 1 Democratic-Republican did not vote. This was the first time that the Senate had voted down a Supreme Court nomination. As of ; it remains the only U.S. Supreme Court recess appointment to be subsequently rejected by the Senate. Though the Senate remained in session through June 1, 1796, which would have been the automatic end of Rutledge's commission following the rejection, Rutledge resigned from the Court two days later, on December 28, 1795. He served the briefest tenure of any Chief Justice of the United States ().


title: John Rutledge

text: On December 26, 1795, Rutledge attempted suicide by jumping off a wharf into Charleston Harbor. He was rescued by two slaves who saw him drowning. Afterward, he withdrew from public life and returned to Charleston. He would remain private, outside of serving a single term in the South Carolina House of Representatives. He died on June 21, 1800, at age 60. He was interred at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Charleston. One of his houses, said to have been built in 1763 and definitely sold in 1790, was renovated in 1989 and opened to the public as the John Rutledge House Inn.


title: John Rutledge

text: Like the majority of wealthy white people who lived in South Carolina at the time, Rutledge owned slaves. During the Revolutionary War, Rutledge ordered Continental Army officer Francis Marion to execute all Black people suspected of carrying provisions or gathering intelligence for the British "agreeable to the laws of this State". Rutledge represented South Carolina in the Constitutional Convention in 1787, during which he strongly defended slavery from those at the convention that would try to abolish it. "If the convention thinks that North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia will ever agree to the plan unless their right to import slaves be untouched, the expectation is in vain. The people of those states will never be such fools as to give up so important an interest."


title: John Rutledge

text: The compromise between the Northern and Southern states was that the international slave trade would not be prohibited before 1808. See Article 1 Section 9 of the Constitution. Additionally, the Fugitive Slave Clause was added by the South Carolina delegates during the Constitutional Convention to further protect slavery by requiring enslaved people returned to their states of labor. See Article 4 Section 2 of the Constitution.


title: John Rutledge

text: Although Rutledge claimed that he disliked slavery, as an attorney he twice defended individuals who abused slaves. Before the American Revolution, Rutledge owned sixty slaves; afterward, he possessed twenty-eight. His wife, Elizabeth Grimke Rutledge, manumitted her own slaves, and the daughters of her first cousin, John Grimke, were the famous abolitionists Sarah and Angelina Grimké. Despite this, Rutledge convinced the Constitutional Convention not to abolish slavery. When Rutledge died in 1800, he only owned one slave due to financial difficulties.


title: Geodetic datum

text: A geodetic datum or geodetic system (also: geodetic reference datum, geodetic reference system, or geodetic reference frame) is a global datum reference or reference frame for precisely representing the position of locations on Earth or other planetary bodies by means of "geodetic coordinates". Datums are crucial to any technology or technique based on spatial location, including geodesy, navigation, surveying, geographic information systems, remote sensing, and cartography. A horizontal datum is used to measure a location across the Earth's surface, in latitude and longitude or another coordinate system; a "vertical datum" is used to measure the elevation or depth relative to a standard origin, such as mean sea level (MSL). Since the rise of the global positioning system (GPS), the ellipsoid and datum WGS 84 it uses has supplanted most others in many applications. The WGS 84 is intended for global use, unlike most earlier datums.


title: Geodetic datum

text: Before GPS, there was no precise way to measure the position of a location that was far from universal reference points, such as from the Prime Meridian at the Greenwich Observatory for longitude, from the Equator for latitude, or from the nearest coast for sea level. Astronomical and chronological methods have limited precision and accuracy, especially over long distances. Even GPS requires a predefined framework on which to base its measurements, so WGS 84 essentially functions as a datum, even though it is different in some particulars from a traditional standard horizontal or vertical datum.


title: Geodetic datum

text: A standard datum specification (whether horizontal or vertical) consists of several parts: a model for Earth's shape and dimensions, such as a "reference ellipsoid" or a "geoid"; an "origin" at which the ellipsoid/geoid is tied to a known (often monumented) location on or inside Earth (not necessarily at 0 latitude 0 longitude); and multiple control points that have been precisely measured from the origin and monumented. Then the coordinates of other places are measured from the nearest control point through surveying. Because the ellipsoid or geoid differs between datums, along with their origins and orientation in space, the relationship between coordinates referred to one datum and coordinates referred to another datum is undefined and can only be approximated. Using local datums, the disparity on the ground between a point having the same horizontal coordinates in two different datums could reach kilometers if the point is far from the origin of one or both datums. This phenomenon is called "datum shift".


title: Geodetic datum

text: Because Earth is an imperfect ellipsoid, local datums can give a more accurate representation of some specific area of coverage than WGS 84 can. OSGB36, for example, is a better approximation to the geoid covering the British Isles than the global WGS 84 ellipsoid. However, as the benefits of a global system outweigh the greater accuracy, the global WGS 84 datum has become widely adopted.


title: Geodetic datum

text: The spherical nature of Earth was known by the ancient Greeks, who also developed the concepts of latitude and longitude, and the first astronomical methods for measuring them. These methods, preserved and further developed by Muslim and Indian astronomers, were sufficient for the global explorations of the 15th and 16th Centuries.


title: Geodetic datum

text: However, the scientific advances of the Age of Enlightenment brought a recognition of errors in these measurements, and a demand for greater precision. This led to technological innovations such as the 1735 Marine chronometer by John Harrison, but also to a reconsideration of the underlying assumptions about the shape of Earth itself. Isaac Newton postulated that the conservation of momentum should make Earth oblate (wider at the equator), while the early surveys of Jacques Cassini (1720) led him to believe Earth was prolate (wider at the poles). The subsequent French geodesic missions (1735-1739) to Lapland and Peru corroborated Newton, but also discovered variations in gravity that would eventually lead to the geoid model.


title: Geodetic datum

text: A contemporary development was the use of the trigonometric survey to accurately measure distance and location over great distances. Starting with the surveys of Jacques Cassini (1718) and the Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790), by the end of the 18th Century, survey control networks covered France and the United Kingdom. More ambitious undertakings such as the Struve Geodetic Arc across Eastern Europe (1816-1855) and the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India (1802-1871) took much longer, but resulted in more accurate estimations of the shape of the Earth ellipsoid. The first triangulation across the United States was not completed until 1899.


title: Geodetic datum

text: The U.S. survey resulted in the North American Datum (horizontal) of 1927 (NAD27) and the Vertical Datum of 1929 (NAVD29), the first standard datums available for public use. This was followed by the release of national and regional datums over the next several decades. Improving measurements, including the use of early satellites, enabled more accurate datums in the later 20th Century, such as NAD83 in North America, ETRS89 in Europe, and GDA94 in Australia. At this time global datums were also first developed for use in satellite navigation systems, especially the World Geodetic System (WGS 84) used in the U.S. global positioning system (GPS), and the International Terrestrial Reference System and Frame (ITRF) used in the European Galileo system.


title: Geodetic datum

text: The horizontal datum is the model used to measure positions on Earth. A specific point can have substantially different coordinates, depending on the datum used to make the measurement. There are hundreds of local horizontal datums around the world, usually referenced to some convenient local reference point. Contemporary datums, based on increasingly accurate measurements of the shape of Earth, are intended to cover larger areas. The WGS 84 datum, which is almost identical to the NAD83 datum used in North America and the ETRS89 datum used in Europe, is a common standard datum.


title: Geodetic datum

text: A vertical datum is a reference surface for vertical positions, such as the elevations of Earth features including terrain, bathymetry, water level, and man-made structures.


title: Geodetic datum

text: An approximate definition of sea level is the datum WGS 84, an ellipsoid, whereas a more accurate definition is Earth Gravitational Model 2008 (EGM2008), using at least 2,159 spherical harmonics. Other datums are defined for other areas or at other times; ED50 was defined in 1950 over Europe and differs from WGS 84 by a few hundred meters depending on where in Europe you look.


title: Geodetic datum

text: Mars has no oceans and so no sea level, but at least two martian datums have been used to locate places there.


title: Geodetic datum

text: In "geodetic coordinates", Earth's surface is approximated by an ellipsoid, and locations near the surface are described in terms of "geodetic latitude" (formula_1), "longitude" (formula_2), and "ellipsoidal height" (formula_3).


title: Geodetic datum

text: The ellipsoid is completely parameterised by the semi-major axis formula_4 and the flattening formula_5.


title: Geodetic datum

text: From formula_4 and formula_5 it is possible to derive the semi-minor axis formula_8, first eccentricity formula_9 and second eccentricity formula_10 of the ellipsoid


title: Geodetic datum

text: The Global Positioning System (GPS) uses the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84) to determine the location of a point near the surface of Earth.


title: Geodetic datum

text: The difference in co-ordinates between datums is commonly referred to as "datum shift". The datum shift between two particular datums can vary from one place to another within one country or region, and can be anything from zero to hundreds of meters (or several kilometers for some remote islands). The North Pole, South Pole and Equator will be in different positions on different datums, so True North will be slightly different. Different datums use different interpolations for the precise shape and size of Earth (reference ellipsoids). For example, in Sydney there is a 200 metres (700 feet) difference between GPS coordinates configured in GDA (based on global standard WGS 84) and AGD (used for most local maps), which is an unacceptably large error for some applications, such as surveying or site location for scuba diving.


title: Geodetic datum

text: Datum conversion is the process of converting the coordinates of a point from one datum system to another. Because the survey networks upon which datums were traditionally based are irregular, and the error in early surveys is not evenly distributed, datum conversion cannot be performed using a simple parametric function. For example, converting from NAD27 to NAD83 is performed using NADCON (later improved as HARN), a raster grid covering North America, with the value of each cell being the average adjustment distance for that area in latitude and longitude. Datum conversion may frequently be accompanied by a change of map projection.


title: Geodetic datum

text: A geodetic reference datum is a known and constant surface which is used to describe the location of unknown points on Earth. Since reference datums can have different radii and different center points, a specific point on Earth can have substantially different coordinates depending on the datum used to make the measurement. There are hundreds of locally developed reference datums around the world, usually referenced to some convenient local reference point. Contemporary datums, based on increasingly accurate measurements of the shape of Earth, are intended to cover larger areas. The most common reference Datums in use in North America are NAD27, NAD83, and WGS 84.


title: Geodetic datum

text: The North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27) is "the horizontal control datum for the United States that was defined by a location and azimuth on the Clarke spheroid of 1866, with origin at (the survey station) Meades Ranch (Kansas)." ... The geoidal height at Meades Ranch was assumed to be zero, as sufficient gravity data was not available, and this was needed to relate surface measurements to the datum. "Geodetic positions on the North American Datum of 1927 were derived from the (coordinates of and an azimuth at Meades Ranch) through a readjustment of the triangulation of the entire network in which Laplace azimuths were introduced, and the Bowie method was used." (http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/faq.shtml#WhatDatum ) NAD27 is a local referencing system covering North America.


title: Geodetic datum

text: The North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) is "The horizontal control datum for the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America, based on a geocentric origin and the Geodetic Reference System 1980 (GRS80). "This datum, designated as NAD 83 ...is based on the adjustment of 250,000 points including 600 satellite Doppler stations which constrain the system to a geocentric origin." NAD83 may be considered a local referencing system.


title: Geodetic datum

text: WGS 84 is the World Geodetic System of 1984. It is the reference frame used by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and is defined by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) (formerly the Defense Mapping Agency, then the National Imagery and Mapping Agency). WGS 84 is used by DoD for all its mapping, charting, surveying, and navigation needs, including its GPS "broadcast" and "precise" orbits. WGS 84 was defined in January 1987 using Doppler satellite surveying techniques. It was used as the reference frame for broadcast GPS Ephemerides (orbits) beginning January 23, 1987. At 0000 GMT January 2, 1994, WGS 84 was upgraded in accuracy using GPS measurements. The formal name then became WGS 84 (G730), since the upgrade date coincided with the start of GPS Week 730. It became the reference frame for broadcast orbits on June 28, 1994. At 0000 GMT September 30, 1996 (the start of GPS Week 873), WGS 84 was redefined again and was more closely aligned with International Earth Rotation Service (IERS) frame ITRF 94. It was then formally called WGS 84 (G873). WGS 84 (G873) was adopted as the reference frame for broadcast orbits on January 29, 1997. Another update brought it to WGS 84 (G1674).


title: Geodetic datum

text: The WGS 84 datum, within two meters of the NAD83 datum used in North America, is the only world referencing system in place today. WGS 84 is the default standard datum for coordinates stored in recreational and commercial GPS units.


title: Geodetic datum

text: Users of GPS are cautioned that they must always check the datum of the maps they are using. To correctly enter, display, and to store map related map coordinates, the datum of the map must be entered into the GPS map datum field.


title: Geodetic datum

text: The Earth's tectonic plates move relative to one another in different directions at speeds on the order of per year. Therefore, locations on different plates are in motion relative to one another. For example, the longitudinal difference between a point on the equator in Uganda, on the African Plate, and a point on the equator in Ecuador, on the South American Plate, increases by about 0.0014 arcseconds per year. These tectonic movements likewise affect latitude.


title: Geodetic datum

text: If a global reference frame (such as WGS84) is used, the coordinates of a place on the surface generally will change from year to year. Most mapping, such as within a single country, does not span plates. To minimize coordinate changes for that case, a different reference frame can be used, one whose coordinates are fixed to that particular plate. Examples of these reference frames are "NAD83" for North America and "ETRS89" for Europe.


title: De Broglie–Bohm theory

text: The de Broglie–Bohm theory, also known as the "pilot wave theory", Bohmian mechanics, Bohm's interpretation, and the causal interpretation, is an interpretation of quantum mechanics. In addition to the wavefunction, it also postulates an actual configuration of particles exists even when unobserved. The evolution over time of the configuration of all particles is defined by a guiding equation. The evolution of the wave function over time is given by the Schrödinger equation. The theory is named after Louis de Broglie (1892–1987) and David Bohm (1917–1992).


title: De Broglie–Bohm theory

text: The theory is deterministic and explicitly nonlocal: the velocity of any one particle depends on the value of the guiding equation, which depends on the configuration of all the particles under consideration.


title: De Broglie–Bohm theory

text: Measurements are a particular case of quantum processes described by the theory and yields the standard quantum predictions generally associated with the Copenhagen interpretation. The theory does not have a "measurement problem", due to the fact that the particles have a definite configuration at all times. The Born rule in de Broglie–Bohm theory is not a basic law. Rather, in this theory, the link between the probability density and the wave function has the status of a hypothesis, called the "quantum equilibrium hypothesis", which is additional to the basic principles governing the wave function.


title: De Broglie–Bohm theory

text: The theory was historically developed in the 1920s by de Broglie, who, in 1927, was persuaded to abandon it in favour of the then-mainstream Copenhagen interpretation. David Bohm, dissatisfied with the prevailing orthodoxy, rediscovered de Broglie's pilot-wave theory in 1952. Bohm's suggestions were not then widely received, partly due to reasons unrelated to their content, such as Bohm's youthful communist affiliations. The de Broglie–Bohm theory was widely deemed unacceptable by mainstream theorists, mostly because of its explicit non-locality. On the theory, John Stewart Bell, author of the 1964 Bell's theorem wrote in 1982:


title: De Broglie–Bohm theory

text: Since the 1990s, there has been renewed interest in formulating extensions to de Broglie–Bohm theory, attempting to reconcile it with special relativity and quantum field theory, besides other features such as spin or curved spatial geometries.


title: De Broglie–Bohm theory

text: The "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy" article on quantum decoherence groups "approaches to quantum mechanics" into five groups, of which "pilot-wave theories" are one (the others are the Copenhagen interpretation, objective collapse theories, many-worlds interpretations and modal interpretations).


title: De Broglie–Bohm theory

text: There are several equivalent mathematical formulations of the theory, and it is known by a number of names. The de Broglie wave has a macroscopic analogy termed "Faraday wave".


title: De Broglie–Bohm theory

text: Even though this latter relation is frequently presented as an axiom of the theory, in Bohm's original papers of 1952 it was presented as derivable from statistical-mechanical arguments. This argument was further supported by the work of Bohm in 1953 and was substantiated by Vigier and Bohm's paper of 1954, in which they introduced stochastic "fluid fluctuations" that drive a process of asymptotic relaxation from quantum non-equilibrium to quantum equilibrium (ρ → |ψ|).


title: De Broglie–Bohm theory

text: The double-slit experiment is an illustration of wave–particle duality. In it, a beam of particles (such as electrons) travels through a barrier that has two slits. If one puts a detector screen on the side beyond the barrier, the pattern of detected particles shows interference fringes characteristic of waves arriving at the screen from two sources (the two slits); however, the interference pattern is made up of individual dots corresponding to particles that had arrived on the screen. The system seems to exhibit the behaviour of both waves (interference patterns) and particles (dots on the screen).


title: De Broglie–Bohm theory

text: If we modify this experiment so that one slit is closed, no interference pattern is observed. Thus, the state of both slits affects the final results. We can also arrange to have a minimally invasive detector at one of the slits to detect which slit the particle went through. When we do that, the interference pattern disappears.


title: De Broglie–Bohm theory

text: The Copenhagen interpretation states that the particles are not localised in space until they are detected, so that, if there is no detector on the slits, there is no information about which slit the particle has passed through. If one slit has a detector on it, then the wavefunction collapses due to that detection.