Garry Kasparov (born 13 April 1963 in Baku, Azerbaijan) is a Russian chess grandmaster and political activist. He was born with the name "Garry Weinstein", and is partly of Jewish descent. He was the World Chess Champion from 1985 to 2000. In 1993 he broke away from FIDE to make a rival organisation (the PCA), because he felt FIDE had failed to raise enough money for world title matches. There is controversy about that period. By any measure, he is one of the greatest chess players of all time, and the highest-rated player before Magnus Carlsen.
Kasparov became the youngest non-disputed World Chess Champion in 1985 at the age of 22. He held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when an argument with FIDE led him to set up a rival company, the Professional Chess Association. He continued to hold the "Classical" World Chess Championship until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. Kasparov lost a match (a series of chess games) against "Deep Blue", a computer made by IBM, in 1997. Lately, retired from competition, he has been coaching Magnus Carlsen, the young player from Norway who is the current world #1.
After retiring from chess, Kasparov became involved in Russian politics. In 2005, he traveled around Russia, speaking against Vladimir Putin, who was President of Russia at that time. The same year he created the United Civil Front, a political movement whose main goal is to dismantle Putin's regime and restore democracy in Russia.
Kasparov was also one of the founders of The Other Russia, an opposition coalition which unites many left and nationalist politicians. He helped organize marches of dissenters involving several thousand people rallying against Putin and governors of Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
In October 2007, Kasparov announced his intention of standing for the Russian presidency. In November 2007, he was detained by police at a rally in Moscow and given a jail sentence of five days. On 12 December 2007, Kasparov announced that he had to withdraw his presidential candidacy due to inability to rent a hall where at least 500 of his supporters could meet to endorse his candidacy, as is legally required. Kasparov's spokeswoman accused the government of using pressure to discourage anyone from renting a hall for the gathering. In 2008 Kasparov and his United Civil Front joined the Solidarity movement.
Kasparov is among the 34 first signatories and a key organiser of the online anti-Putin campaign Putin must go started in March 2010.
Stanley Vann
Stanley Vann (born Leicester, 15 February 1910 - 27 March 2010) was an English composer, organist, choral conductor, and choir trainer. He contributed a great deal to music in the Anglican church tradition. He was Director of Music at Peterborough Cathedral from 1953 to 1977. On 15 February 2010 he celebrated his 100th birthday. He died the following month.
Vann was born in Leicester. He started to learn the piano when he was about six years old. At the age of 17 he learned the organ, and by the time he was 20 he had passed his ARCM, ARCO and FRCO organ diplomas.
In 1931 he became Assistant Organist at Leicester Cathedral. In 1933 he became Organist at Gainsborough Parish Church, then went to Leamington Spa as Organist of Holy Trinity church in 1939. He started a choir and an orchestra there: the Leamington Spa Bach Choir and the Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra.
Between 1942 and 1946 he had to fight in the Second World War.
In 1949 he got the jobs of Organist at Chelmsford Cathedral and Professor of Harmony and Counterpoint at Trinity College, London. In Chelmsford he started the Essex Symphony Orchestra.
He also trained the Leicester Philharmonic choir for the famous conductors Henry Wood and Malcolm Sargent.
In 1909 Vann became Master of the Music in Peterborough Cathedral. He stayed in this job until he retired in 1977. The choir was not particularly good when he started there, but he soon made them into an excellent choir. They made many recordings. In 1971 he was given a Lambeth doctorate by the Archbishop of Canterbury for his services to music.
When he retired he first moved to Wansford in Cambridgeshire so that he was half way between his son (in Yorkshire) and his daughter (in Berkshire). He continued to work there, training the church choir, giving singing lessons, and composing. Later he moved to Yorkshire to be nearer to family. He died aged 100 after falling down and breaking his hip.
Stanley Vann composed a great deal of music, mostly for the Anglican church service. His compositions include hymn tunes, anthems, motets, chants, organ music and many other pieces. One of his largest pieces is the Billingshurst Mass, for large chorus and orchestra. It was first performed in Chichester Cathedral in 2000.
In 2000 a concert was given in All Saints Church, Peterborough to celebrate his 90th birthday. On Sunday 14 February 2010 many cathedrals and churches in England arranged special concerts and services to celebrate his 100th birthday
. The BBC broadcast a special choral evensong on Radio 3 on Wednesday 24 February from Peterborough Cathedral (Wednesday 17 February is Ash Wednesday, so that a lot of his music would not have been suitable.).
There is a scholarship in his name for young choir trainers and directors in the Anglican tradition.
Royal College of Organists
The Royal College of Organists or RCO, is an organisation based in the United Kingdom, but with members around the world. Its job is to support organ playing and choral music. People who learn the organ can go there to take professional organ examinations.
There is a large library with more than 60,000 books about organ playing and organ music.
When the RCO started in 1864 by Richard Limpus it was called the "College of Organists". It was given a Royal Charter in 1893. In 1903 it was offered an extremely cheap 99-year lease on a beautiful building in Kensington, West London. The college was there until 1991 when it moved to a church in the City of London. In 2003 it moved again to Birmingham.
The RCO offers five qualifications or diplomas.
ARCO
ARCO (short for Atlantic Richfield Company, the original name) is a United States oil company. It has operations in the United States, Indonesia, the North Sea, and the South China Sea. As of July 2011, it had more than 1,300 gas stations in the western part of the United States.
ARCO's original parent companies included:
The two companies merged in 1966, and bought Sinclair Oil Corporation in 1969. In 1978, ARCO opened its first ampm convenience store.
Between 1970 and 2000, ARCO had a complicated corporate history. By 1985, it sold its Eastern US business to a new Atlantic Petroleum. In 2000, the remaining Western US business was bought by British Petroleum (BP). Finally, in 2013, BP sold ARCO and the Carson Refinery to Tesoro for $2.5 billion.
In 1957, Richfield was the first to drill for oil in Alaska. On July 15 of that year they struck oil with their first well. It was the first major oil discovery in Alaska and tested at 900 barrels a day. In 1968 they partnered with Exxon for Alaska North Slope oil production. In 1980, they were the seventh largest oil company in the United States.
Skating
Skating refers and involves any sport or recreational activity that involves traveling on dry surface or ice using skates.
There are many varieties of skating, such as:
Economic bubble
An economic bubble happens when a market goes through a very fast inflation of value. This increase is followed by a quick decrease in value, called a "crash" or a "bubble burst". Economic bubbles can be caused by many things, but many economists believe that economic bubbles are related to inflation. An economic bubble can cause an economic crisis due to a loss of investment both by companies and individuals, such as the Great Depression or the Economic crisis of 2007-2010.