Early life.

Born in the United States, Lattimore was raised in Tianjin, China, where his parents, David and Margaret Lattimore, were teachers of English at a Chinese university. (His brother was the classics translator Richmond Lattimore. One of his sisters was the children's author Eleanor Frances Lattimore.)  After being schooled at home by his mother, he left China at the age of twelve and attended Collège Classique Cantonal near Lausanne in Switzerland. After war broke out in 1914, he was sent to England, where he was enrolled at St Bees School (1915–1919). He pursued literary interests, especially poetry, and briefly converted to Catholicism. He did well on the entrance exams for Oxford University, but returned to China in 1919 when it turned out that he would not have enough funds for attending university.  He worked first for a newspaper and then for a British import/export related business. This gave him the opportunity to travel extensively in China and time to study Chinese with an old-fashioned Confucian scholar. His commercial travels also gave him a feel for the realities of life and the economy. A turning point was negotiating the passage of a trainload of wool through the lines of two battling warlords early in 1925, an experience which led him the next year to follow the caravans across Inner Mongolia to the end of the line in Xinjiang.  The managers of his firm saw no advantage in subsidizing his travels but did send him to spend a final year of employment with them in Beijing as government liaison. During this year in Beijing before departing on his expedition, he met his wife, Eleanor Holgate. For their honeymoon they planned to travel from Beijing to India, he overland, she by rail across Siberia, a mammoth feat in the first half of the 20th century. In the event, the plans were disrupted and she had to travel alone by horse-drawn sled for in February to find him. She described her journey in "Turkestan Reunion" (1934), he in "The Desert Road to Turkestan" (1928) and "High Tartary" (1930). This trip laid the ground for his lifelong interest in all matters related to the Mongols and other peoples of the Silk Road.  Upon his return to America in 1928, he succeeded in receiving a fellowship from the Social Science Research Council for further travel in Manchuria, then for the academic year 1928/1929 as a student at Harvard University. He did not, however, enroll in a doctoral program, but returned to China 1930–1933 with fellowships from the Harvard–Yenching Institute and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.  He was awarded the Patron's Gold Medal by the British Royal Geographical Society in 1942 for his travels in Central Asia.

"Pacific Affairs" and the Institute of Pacific Relations.

In 1934, on the recommendation of treaty port journalist H.G.E. Woodhead, Lattimore was appointed editor of "Pacific Affairs", published by the Institute of Pacific Relations, which he edited from Beijing. Rather than have bland official statements, he made it his policy to make the journal a "forum of controversy". As he later recalled, he was "continually in hot water, especially with the Japan Council, which thought I was too anti-imperialist, and the Soviet Council, which thought that its own anti-imperialist line was the only permissible one..." As explained below, others later accused him of motives which were less scholarly than political. Lattimore sought articles from a wide range of perspectives and made the journal a forum for new ideas, especially from the social sciences and social philosophy. Scholars and writers of all persuasions were contributors, including Pearl S. Buck, some Chinese literary figures, and dedicated Marxists.  IPR secretary Edward Carter was eager to solicit the participation of Soviet scholars, and insisted that Lattimore meet him in Moscow on his way back to the States. Lattimore had never been to the Soviet Union, having been denied a visa, and felt eager to obtain contributions from Soviet scholars, who had a distinguished tradition in Central Asian studies. But he was also wary because of the attacks Soviet scholars had made on him – Lattimore's "scholasticism is similar to Hamlet's madness" — and for publishing an article by Harold Isaacs, who they considered a Trotskyite. The Lattimores spent two weeks on the Trans-Siberian Railroad with their five-year-old son before arriving in Moscow for a two-week stay toward the end of March 1936. Soviet officials coldly demanded that the IPR and its journal support collective security arrangements against Japan. Lattimore responded that "Pacific Affairs" had the obligation to serve all the national councils, even the Japanese, and could not take political sides. Lattimore's request to visit the Mongolian People's Republic was denied on the grounds that "Mongolia now is constantly ready for war and conditions are very unstable." And in the end, Soviet scholars sent only one article to "Pacific Affairs".  After sojourns in New York and London, the Lattimores returned to Beijing in 1937. Owen visited the Communist headquarters at Yan'an to act as translator for T. A. Bisson and Philip Jaffé, who were gathering material for "Amerasia", an activist journal of political commentary. There he met Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. He was impressed with their candor, but had a less favorable experience on his visit to the party school for national minorities. When he spoke to the Mongols in Mongolian, his Chinese hosts broke off the session.  The Lattimores left China in 1938. Owen spent six months in Berkeley, California, writing a draft of the "Inner Asian Frontiers of China" and continuing as editor of "Pacific Affairs". As editor, he then made what Robert Newman, a sympathetic biographer, called "the most serious error of his career." Lattimore published an article by a pro-Soviet writer, whom Lattimore did not know, praising Stalin's purge trials because they strengthened the Soviet Union for the coming battle against Germany and Japan. Lattimore famously stated that the show trials "sound to me like democracy". Lattimore's misjudgment of the purge trials was undoubtedly influenced by his generally favorable evaluation of Soviet foreign policy, which emphasized international cooperation against Japan and Germany and his judgment that the Soviets had been supportive of Mongol autonomy. He was "nonetheless wrong," Newman concluded.  He also soon wrote prominently against allowing Soviet expansion into China. As editor of "Pacific Affairs" he was expected to maintain a balance, but writing in another journal in the spring of 1940 he urged that "Above all, while we want to get Japan out of China, we do not want to let Russia in. Nor do we want to 'drive Japan into the arms of Russia.'" He continued: "the savagery of the Japanese assault is doing more to spread Communism than the teaching of the Chinese Communists themselves or the influences of Russia. It supplies the pressure under which the detonative ideas can work. At the same time it destroys Chinese wealth of every kind—capital, trade, revenue from agricultural rent—thus weakening that side of Chinese society which is most antagonistic to Communism."  The "Middlesboro Daily News" ran an article by Owen Lattimore which reported on Japan's planned offensive into a Hui Muslim region of China in 1938, which predicted that the Japanese would suffer a massive crushing defeat at the hands of the Muslims. In 1940, the Japanese were crushed and routed by the Muslims at the Battle of West Suiyuan. The Japanese planned to invade Ningxia from Suiyuan in 1939 and create a Hui Muslim puppet state. The following year in 1940, the Japanese were defeated militarily by the Kuomintang Muslim General Ma Hongbin, who caused the plan to collapse. Ma Hongbin's Hui Muslim troops launched further attacks against Japan in the Battle of West Suiyuan. In Suiyuan 300 Mongol collaborators serving the Japanese were fought off by a single Muslim who held the rank of Major at the Battle of Wulan Obo in 1939 April.

World War II.

Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Lattimore to serve as US advisor to Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek for one and a half years. Lattimore advocated on behalf of the ethnic minorities in China, arguing that China should adopt a cultural autonomy policy based on the Soviet Union's minority policy, which he regarded as "one of the most successful Soviet policies." His advice was mostly disregarded by Chiang's officials, as defense secretary Wang Ch'ung-hui suspected Lattimore of understating Soviet interference in Xinjiang and Outer Mongolia. In 1944, Lattimore was placed in charge of the Pacific area for the Office of War Information. By this time, Lattimore's political activities and associations had been under scrutiny for the last two years by the FBI, which recommended for Lattimore to be put under "Custodial Detention in case of National Emergency".  At President Roosevelt's request, he accompanied U.S. Vice-President Henry A. Wallace on a mission to Siberia, China, and Mongolia in 1944 for the U.S. Office of War Information. The trip had been arranged by Lauchlin Currie, who recommended to FDR that Lattimore accompany Wallace. During this visit, which overlapped the D-Day landings, Wallace and his delegates stayed 25 days in Siberia and were given a tour of the Soviet Union's Magadan concentration camp at Kolyma. In a travelogue for "National Geographic", Lattimore described what little he saw as a combination of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Tennessee Valley Authority, remarking on how strong and well-fed the inmates were and ascribing to camp commandant Ivan Nikishov "a trained and sensitive interest in art and music and also a deep sense of civic responsibility". In a letter written to the "New Statesman" in 1968, Lattimore justified himself by arguing his role had not been one to "snoop on his hosts." (In contrast, camp commander Naftaly Frenkel explained: "We have to squeeze everything out of a prisoner in the first three months — after that we don't need him anymore." The system of hard labor and minimal or no food reduced most prisoners to helpless "goners" ("dokhodyaga", in Russian). Conditions varied depending on the state of the country.)  During the 1940s, Lattimore came into increasing conflict with another member of the IPR's board, Alfred Kohlberg, a manufacturer with long experience in the China trade whose visit to China in 1943 convinced him that stories of Chiang Kai-shek's corruption were false. He accused Lattimore of being hostile to Chiang and too sympathetic towards the Communist Party of China. In 1944, relations between Kohlberg and Lattimore became so bad that Kohlberg left the IPR and founded a new journal, "Plain Talk", in which he attempted to rebut the claims made in "Pacific Affairs." By the late 1940s, Lattimore had become a particular target of Kohlberg and other members of the China Lobby. Kohlberg was later to become an advisor to Senator Joseph McCarthy, and it is possible that McCarthy first learned of Lattimore through Kohlberg.

Accused of espionage.

Meanwhile, accusations were made, which later became public. On 14 December 1948, Alexander Barmine, former "chargé d'affaires" at the Soviet Embassy in Athens, Greece, advised Federal Bureau of Investigation agents that Soviet GRU Director Yan Karlovich Berzin had informed him prior to Barmine's 1937 defection that Lattimore was a Soviet agent, an allegation Barmine would repeat under oath before the Senate McCarran Committee in 1951.

Confrontation with Congressional committees.

In March 1950, in executive session of the Tydings Committee, Joseph McCarthy accused Lattimore of being the top Soviet agent, either in the US, in the State Department, or both. The committee, chaired by Senator Millard Tydings, was investigating McCarthy's claims of widespread Soviet infiltration of the State Department. When the accusation was leaked to the press, McCarthy backed off from the charge that Lattimore was a spy but continued the attack in public session of the committee and in speeches.  Lattimore, he said, "in view of his position of tremendous power at the State Department" was the "'architect' of our Far Eastern policy" and asked whether Lattimore's "aims are American aims or whether they coincide with the aims of Soviet Russia." At the time, Lattimore was in Kabul, Afghanistan, on a cultural mission for the United Nations. Lattimore dismissed the charges against him as "moonshine" and hurried back to the United States to testify before the Tydings Committee.  McCarthy, who had no evidence of specific acts of espionage and only weak evidence that Lattimore was a concealed Communist, in April 1950 persuaded Louis F. Budenz, the now-anticommunist former editor of the Communist Party organ "Daily Worker," to testify. Budenz had no first-hand knowledge of Lattimore's Communist allegiance and had never previously identified him as a Communist in his extensive FBI interviews. In addition, Budenz had in 1947 told a State Department investigator that he "did not recall any instances" that suggested that Lattimore was a Communist and had also told his editor at "Collier's" magazine in 1949 that Lattimore had never "acted as a Communist in any way."  Now, however, Budenz testified that Lattimore was a secret Communist but not a Soviet agent; he was a person of influence who often assisted Soviet foreign policy. Budenz said his party superiors had told him that Lattimore's "great value lay in the fact that he could bring the emphasis in support of Soviet policy in non-Soviet language." The majority report of the Tydings committee cleared Lattimore of all charges against him; the minority report accepted Budenz's charges.  In February 1952, Lattimore was called to testify before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS), headed by McCarthy's ally, Senator Pat McCarran. Before Lattimore was called as witness, investigators for the SISS had seized all of the records of the Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR). The twelve days of testimony were marked by shouting matches, which pitted McCarran and McCarthy on one side against Lattimore on the other. Lattimore took three days to deliver his opening statement: the delays were caused by frequent interruptions as McCarran challenged Lattimore point by point. McCarran then used the records from the IPR to ask questions that often taxed Lattimore's memory. Budenz again testified, but this time claimed that Lattimore was both a Communist and a Soviet agent.  The subcommittee also summoned scholars. Nicholas Poppe, a Russian émigré and a scholar of Mongolia and Tibet, resisted the committee's invitation to label Lattimore a Communist but found some of his writings superficial and uncritical. The most damaging testimony came from Karl August Wittfogel, supported by his colleague from the University of Washington, George Taylor. Wittfogel, a former Communist, said that at the time Lattimore edited the journal "Pacific Affairs", Lattimore knew of his Communist background; even though they had not exchanged words on the matter, Lattimore had given Wittfogel a "knowing smile."  Lattimore acknowledged that Wittfogel's thought had been tremendously influential but said that if there had been a smile, it was a "non-Communist smile". Wittfogel and Taylor charged that Lattimore had done "great harm to the free world" in disregarding the need to defeat world Communism as a first priority. John K. Fairbank, in his memoirs, suggests that Wittfogel may have said this because he had been made to leave Germany for having views unacceptable to the powers that be, and he did not want to make the same mistake twice. They also asserted that the influence of Marxism on Lattimore was shown by his use of the word "feudal." Lattimore replied that he did not think that Marxists had a "patent" on that word.  In 1952, after 17 months of study and hearing, involving 66 witnesses and thousands of documents, the McCarran Committee issued its 226-page, unanimous final report. This report stated that "Owen Lattimore was, from some time beginning in the 1930s, a conscious articulate instrument of the Soviet conspiracy," and that on "at least five separate matters," Lattimore had not told the whole truth. One example: "The evidence... shows conclusively that Lattimore knew Frederick V. Field to be a Communist; that he collaborated with Field after he possessed this knowledge; and that he did not tell the truth before the subcommittee about this association with Field..."  On February 16, 1952, Lattimore was indicted for perjury on seven counts. Six of the counts related to various discrepancies between Lattimore's testimony and the IPR records; the seventh accused Lattimore of seeking to deliberately deceive the SISS. Lattimore's defenders, such as his lawyer Abe Fortas, claimed that the discrepancies were caused by McCarran deliberately asking questions about arcane and obscure matters that took place in the 1930s.  At the initiative of George Boas, a professor of philosophy at Johns Hopkins, a Lattimore Defense Fund was set up in January 1953 with the goal to gather funds to pay for the legal fees of the defense.  Within three years, federal judge Luther Youngdahl dismissed the charges. United States v. Lattimore, 127 F. Supp. 405 (D.D.C. 1955).  Four of the charges were dismissed as insubstantial and not judicable; denying that he was sympathetic to communism was too vague to be fairly answered; and the other counts were matters of little concern, those for which a jury would be unlikely to convict on matters of political judgment. In his book "Ordeal by Slander", Lattimore gives his own account of these events up until 1950.

Legacy.

In 1963, he was recruited from Johns Hopkins University to establish the Department of Chinese Studies (now East Asian Studies) at the University of Leeds. In addition to setting up Chinese Studies, he promoted Mongolian Studies, building good relations between Leeds and Mongolia and establishing a programme in Mongolian Studies in 1968. He remained at Leeds until he retired as Emeritus Professor in 1970.  In 1984 the University of Leeds conferred the degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) on Emeritus Professor Lattimore honoris causa.  Lattimore had a lifelong dedication to establishing research centres to further the study of Mongolian history and culture. In 1979 he became the first Westerner to be awarded the Order of the Polar Star, the highest award that the Mongolian state gives to foreigners. The State Museum in Ulaanbaatar named a newly discovered dinosaur after him in 1986.  The American Centre for Mongolian Studies, together with the International Association of Mongolian Studies and the National University of Mongolia School of Foreign Service, organized a conference entitled "Owen Lattimore: The Past, Present, and Future of Inner Asian Studies" in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on August 20 and 21, 2008.

Theory.

One historian wrote that "Modern historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists have revised many of Lattimore’s arguments, but they still rely on his insights. All of the themes addressed by Lattimore continue to inspire world historians today." In "An Inner Asian Approach to the Historical Geography of China" (1947), Lattimore explored the system through which humanity affects the environment and is changed by it, and concluded that civilization is molded by its own impact on the environment. He lists the following pattern:

Owen Lattimore (July 29, 1900 – May 31, 1989) was an American author, educator, and influential scholar of China and Central Asia, especially Mongolia. Although he never earned a college degree, in the 1930s he was editor of "Pacific Affairs", a journal published by the Institute of Pacific Relations, and then taught at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1938 to 1963. During World War II, he was an advisor to Chiang Kai-shek and the American government and contributed extensively to the public debate on American policy in Asia. From 1963 to 1970, Lattimore was the first Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Leeds in England.

欧文·拉铁摩尔(英语:Owen Lattimore,1900年-7月29日-1989年-5月31日),是美国著名东方学研究者、中国边疆问题研究者、外交家。


Club career.

Early career / Espanyol.

Maxim started his football career with local side Olimpia Piatra Neamț when he was seven years old before joining Ardealul Cluj in 2004, sharing teams at some point with Mihai Răduț and Vlad Chiricheș.  Aged 17, Maxim moved to Spain with Espanyol. About his accommodation in the country, he said that "it was not very easy". After progressing through the club's academy, he then played for the reserves in the Segunda División B. During the 2010–11 campaign, Maxim was loaned to Badalona.

Pandurii Târgu Jiu.

On 9 August 2011, Maxim returned to Romania to sign a one-year contract with the option of another two years for Pandurii Târgu Jiu.  Maxim made his debut in the Liga I on 12 September 2011, coming on as a late substitute in a 5–1 win over Mioveni, and scored his first goal for the club on 18 December in a 1–1 draw with Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț. He netted his second on 31 March 2012, in a 1–1 draw against Steaua București. Maxim later scored two more goals against Oțelul Galați and Concordia Chiajna respectively. Despite being absent on some occasions, Maxim finished his first season at the club with four goals in 28 appearances all competitions comprised.  The following campaign, Maxim aided the "Alb-albaștrii" to a perfect start after scoring one each against Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț and Oțelul Galați, with the team having managed six wins in the first seven matches. By the time the first half of the season came to an end, he played 20 games and scored three more goals. Maxim's good display attracted interest from several foreign clubs, including Standard Liège, and Steaua București was close to reaching and agreement for his transfer. In response to the initial rumours, head coach Petre Grigoraș stated that he expects the player to stay at Pandurii until the summer of the next year.

VfB Stuttgart.

On 31 January 2013, Maxim joined German side VfB Stuttgart for a transfer fee of €1.5 million, signing a four-and-a-half-year contract.  Maxim made his debut for Stuttgart on 14 February 2013, in a UEFA Europa League round of 32 game against Genk. On 23 February, he played his first Bundesliga match against Nürnberg. On 30 March, Maxim scored his first goal against defending champions Borussia Dortmund, to equalise in an eventual 2–1 loss due to Robert Lewandowski's late goal. Despite suffering an injury, Maxim made fourteen appearances in all competitions and played 62 minutes before being substituted in the final of the 2012–13 DFB-Pokal, which saw Stuttgart lose 3–2 to Bayern Munich.  On 1 September 2013, Maxim scored his first double for the club while also offering two assists in the 6–2 thrashing of Hoffenheim, to give Stuttgart the first Bundesliga win of the season after four match-days. He continued with his good form by scoring an assist in the next Bundesliga match against Hertha BSC in their 1–0 away victory. Maxim then scored again on 29 September 2013, in a 4–0 win over Eintracht Braunschweig and scored two weeks later on 20 October 2013, in a 3–3 draw against Hamburg. Coincidentally, Maxim scored twice against them for the second time this season on 8 March 2014 and two weeks later on 22 March 2014. He scored 9 goals in 26 matches in the 2013–14 Bundesliga, also contributing 11 assists.  In the 2014–15 season, Maxim started the season well when he scored the club's first goal of the season, in a 1–1 draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach. However, Maxim suffered an injury that kept him out for a week and after making his return, where he came on as a substitute in the second half, in a 3–3 draw against Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Maxim played the role in the next game, where he set up two goals, in a 5–4 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on 25 October 2014 and then in the second time meeting on 21 March 2015, he scored and set up one of the goals, in a 3–1 win. Despite suffering from another injury, Maxim made twenty–six appearance and scored two times, as well as, assisting six times in the 2014–15 season.  Ahead of the 2015–16 season, it was announced on 11 August 2015 that Maxim extended his contract with VfB Stuttgart until June 2019. The following month on 23 September 2015, Maxim scored his first goal of the season, in a 3–1 win over Hannover 96 and then scored his second goal of the season on 28 October 2015, in the second round of DFB-Pokal, in a 2–0 win over Carl Zeiss Jena. After suffering from an illness that kept him out for a week, Maxim set up two goals on 2 May 2016, in a 6–2 loss against Werder Bremen. After unable to help the club survive relegation to 2.Bundesliga, Maxim scored once in twenty–five league appearance and assisting six times in the 2015–16 season.  Following the club's relegation to 2. Bundesliga, Maxim was given a number 10 shirt from the previous 44 shirt and started the 2016–17 season well when he scored in the opening game of the season, with a 2–1 win over St. Pauli. On 30 October 2016, he scored again, in a 3–1 win over Karlsruher SC. After suffering from an injury for one game, Maxim then made his return from injury on 12 December 2016, where he came on as a substitute in the second half, in a 2–2 draw against Hannover 96. He finished strongly appearing as a regular starter and contributing three goals and one assist in the last matches of the season which helped secure Stuttgart's promotion to the Bundesliga.  In his four and a half years at the club, Maxim amassed 131 appearances with 17 goals and 35 assists across all competitions.

Mainz 05.

In June 2017, Maxim joined Mainz 05 on a four-year deal. The transfer fee paid to Stuttgart was in the region of €3 million plus bonuses. He made his competitive debut in a cup match against Lüneburger SK Hansa on 12 August, offering an assist in the 3–1 away win.  On 14 October 2017, Maxim scored his first goal for Mainz in a 3–2 league victory over Hamburger SV.

International career.

Maxim has stated that he wishes to represent his native country internationally, despite the possibility of taking up Spanish citizenship.  Maxim was called up by Romania U21 for the first time on 2 October 2011 and made his debut on 11 October 2011, in a 2–0 loss against France. His second appearance for the under-21 side came on 10 November 2011 also against France, which saw them lost 3–0.  Maxim made his full international debut for the Romania on 30 May 2012, in a friendly game against Switzerland. On 11 September 2012, he became the very first Romanian player born after the Romanian Revolution to score for the national team, after a 4–0 win over Andorra. Two months later on 14 November 2012, Maxim scored again in a 2–1 victory against Belgium, but the match was later deemed unofficial according to the Laws of the Game (excessive number of substitutions).  It was not until 11 October 2015 when he scored his first goal in three years, in a 3–0 win over Faroe Islands. The following year, Maxim was included for the Romania squad for the UEFA Euro 2016. However, he was omitted from the squad after the final cut. In response to this, Maxim expressed his bitterness but nevertheless wished the team success in the tournament.  On 1 September 2017, Maxim netted the winner against Armenia at his first game under manager Christoph Daum.

Personal life.

In addition to his native Romanian, Maxim also speaks English, Spanish and German. He regarded Zinedine Zidane and compatriot Gheorghe Hagi as his role models growing up.

Career statistics.

International goals.

(Romania score listed first, score column indicates score after each Maxim goal)

Alexandru Iulian Maxim (; born 8 July 1990) is a Romanian professional footballer who currently plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Turkish club Gaziantep, on loan from Mainz 05, and the Romania national team.

亚历山德鲁·尤里安·马克西姆(,1990年-7月8日)是一位罗马尼亚足球运动员,在场上司职攻击中场。现效力于德国足球甲级联赛球队美因茨。


普兰诺伊·哈塞纳·苏尼尔·库马尔

Career.

Early career.

Kumar came to prominence after winning the silver medal in Boys' singles at 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. He didn't stop there and followed it up with another silver, this time at the Bahrain International Challenge, 2011. Struggling for form and injuries a bit of a barren spell followed Kumar following these achievements.

2013.

In 2013, he managed to reach the final of the Tata Open International Challenge in Mumbai, eventually losing to Sourabh Verma in the final.

2014.

In 2014, he claimed two All India Senior National Ranking Championships: Manorama Indian Open All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament, Kerala and the V.V.Natu Memorial All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament, Pune. However it was his exploits at the international circuit that caught everyone's attention. He was a semi-finalist at the 2014 India Open Grand Prix Gold, Bitburger Open Grand Prix Gold,2014 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold and the Sri Lanka Open International Badminton Challenge in Colombo  Kumar surprised one and all by reaching the final of the 2014 Vietnam Open Grand Prix where he lost to number one seed and tournament favourite Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia. In the very next tournament, the Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold Kumar went one better, this time beating local favourite Firman Abdul Kholik of Indonesia in straight sets. Kumar managed to end the year as the third highest ranked Indian at 21.

2015.

Kumar started off the year on a good note reaching the semifinals of the 2015 India Open Grand Prix Gold. He put up a spirited performance in the Semi's before bowing out to India's Srikanth Kidambi in 3 sets. Kumar's greatest victory came in the Pre-Quarters of 2015 India Super Series when he beat an in form world number 2 Jan Ø. Jørgensen in 3 sets. This was probably his best performance so far earning him a lot of praise from all quarters. Kumar played his heart out in the Quarter Finals too but ultimately Viktor Axelsen proved to be too good for him.

2016.

Kumar started 2016 on a good note by beating the German ace Marc Zwiebler in the finals of the Swiss Open Grand Prix gold by 21-18,21-15

2017.

Kumar plays for the Mumbai Rockets franchise in the 2017 season of the Premier Badminton League. In Indonesian Open in 2017 he defeated Lee Chong Wei, reigning Olympic Silver medalist and Chen Long reigning Olympic Champion in consecutive matches. At US Open 2017, he defeated Vietnamese Tien Minh Nguyen to reach the finals against Parupalli Kashyap.

Achievements.

Asian Championships.

"Men's singles"

South Asian Games.

"Men's singles"

Youth Olympic Games.

"Boys' singles"

BWF World Junior Championships.

"Boys' singles"

BWF Grand Prix (3 titles, 1 runner-up).

The BWF Grand Prix has two levels: Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007.  "Men's singles"

BWF International Challenge/Series (1 title, 2 runners-up).

"Men's singles"

Record against selected opponents.

Includes results against Olympic quarterfinals, Worlds semifinalists, and Super Series finalists, as well as all Olympic opponents.

Prannoy Haseena Sunil Kumar (born 17 July 1992), also known as Prannoy H. S., is an Indian badminton player and currently trains at the Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad. Kumar originally hails from Thiruvananthapuram and is the Indian number 2 (as of 2 April 2015) in badminton He studied at Kendriya Vidyalaya Akkulam.

普兰诺伊·哈塞纳·苏尼尔·库马尔(英语:Prannoy Haseena Sunil Kumar,1992年-7月17日),常称普兰诺伊·H·S(Prannoy H. S.),印度男子羽毛球运动员。


Origins.

When Erich von Manstein led the 16th Motorized Infantry Division into Kalmykia in early 1942 he already had some Kalmyk advisors from a committee drawn together by Goebbels for propaganda purposes. These were supplemented by other Kalmyks who had settled in Belgrade following their flight with White Russian emigres after the Russian October Revolution.

Organization.

Kalmyk Kavallerie Korps acted within German Wehrmacht as an independent allied force with all leadership positions taken by Kalmyks. Most of the officers were Kalmyks themselves, with previous Soviet military experience. A few Germans that were present within the corps performed only auxiliary and administrative functions.  Unlike most other national "volunteer" divisions, the Kalmykian Cavalry Corps incorporated genuine volunteers willing to fight together with Germans. The other national divisions relied upon recruits from POW camps. More Kalmyks fought in the Kalmykian Cavalry Corps than in comparable units of the Soviet army.

Military actions.

The Kalmykian Cavalry Corps fought with the Wehrmacht behind the lines, especially around the Azov Sea. At the end of 1944, the surviving Kalmyk cavalry troops, together with their families, retreated with the German army. About 2,000 went to Silesia, Poland and 1,500 to Zagreb, Croatia, where they were reorganized to fight against the partisans.

End of the war.

After the war, nearly all of the surviving Kalmyk soldiers along with the Kalmyk families that accompanied them were forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union.  The Kalmykian people were internally deported for 13 years as a punishment for collaborating with Germans.

The Kalmykian Cavalry Corps () was a unit of about 5,000 Kalmyk volunteers who chose to join the German Army in 1942 rather than remain in Kalmykia as German forces retreated before the Red Army. In 1943, Stalin subsequently declared the Kalmyk population as a whole to be German collaborators and had them deported to Siberia suffering great loss of life.

卡尔梅克志愿骑兵团(德语:Kalmückisches Kavalleriekorps),是1942年后由大约5000名不愿意继续留在卡尔梅克,而是自愿加入德国国防军的卡尔梅克人组成的骑兵队。卡尔梅克人属于西蒙古的一支,与当今中国的土尔扈特蒙古人同族。1943年斯大林将整个卡尔梅克人指控为通敌者并将其流放至西伯利亚。


Production.

Sodium selenate is produced by oxidation of selenium, first with nitric acid, producing selenous acid. The selenous acid is neutralized to form sodium selenite. The sodium selenite is oxidized in a basic medium hydrogen peroxide to form a selenate, which is then spray-dried.  It was prepared shortly after the discovery of selenium by Jöns Jacob Berzelius in 1817.

Industrial uses.

Glass manufacturing.

One of the earliest applications of sodium selenate was in the glass industry. Selenium produces a red hue in glass The molten glass is treated with sodium selenate and then arsenic trioxide to reduce the compound and provide elemental selenium. Sodium selenate is also used as a decolorizing agent in glass production. The red hue it gives glass is complementary to the green hue given by ferrous oxides in the manufacturing process. When used together, the two compound produce a colorless glass.

Pesticide.

Sodium selenate is a common ingredient in some insecticides used against mites, aphids, and mealybugs. For most insects, a dose of 10 mg/kg is enough to be fatal. It is also used in some fungicides.

Bio-fortification of crops.

Sodium selenate is effectively used for bio-fortification of crops hence fortifying food/feed to mitigate selenium deficiency in humans and livestock. It can be applied as foliar spray or via rooting medium e.g. added in fertilizers.

Dietary supplement.

Chosen for its selenium content and high solubility, sodium selenate is a common ingredient in over-the-counter vitamin supplements. Selenium is a trace essential element. Sodium selenate and selenite are also common in premix animal feed. Neither compound has demonstrated a difference in the amount of selenium absorbed. The U.S. FDA regulates that animal feed contain no more than 5 ppm selenium content. Controversy arose in 2009 when a group of 21 polo horses died from selenium poisoning from an incorrectly mixed dietary supplement.

Toxicology.

The U.S. FDA and European Union currently classify sodium selenate as toxic, primarily if ingested or inhaled. Testing on rats showed a dose of 1.6 mg/kg to be lethal. A low lethal dose as this places the chemical as being 2 to 3 times more toxic than sodium cyanide. As such, it is extremely toxic and must be handled with care. For a 70 kg (154 pound) person, this dosage corresponds to 112 mg, or, in terms of 200 μg pills, 560 pills. Chronic exposure to sodium selenate can cause severe lung, kidney, and liver damage.  Overexposure to selenium in the diet leads to a condition known as selenosis. Selenosis occurs at blood levels greater than 100 μg/dL. Symptoms include gastrointestinal upsets, hair loss, white blotchy nails, garlic breath odor, fatigue, irritability, and mild nerve damage.

Sodium selenate is the inorganic compound with the formula, not to be confused with sodium selenite. It exists as the anhydrous salt, the heptahydrate, and the decahydrate. These are white, water-soluble solids. The decahydrate is a common ingredient in multivitamins and livestock feed as a source of selenium. The anhydrous salt is used in the production of some glass. Although the selenates are much more toxic, many physical properties of sodium selenate and sodium sulfate are similar.

硒酸钠(Sodium selenate)是具有化学式的无机化合物,区分于亚硒酸钠。 它以无水盐、七水合物和十水合物的形式存在。 它们都是白色水溶性固体。十水合物是混合维生素补充剂和牲畜饲料中常见的成分,是硒的来源。 无水盐用于生产玻璃。虽然硒酸盐毒性更大,但硒酸钠和硫酸钠的许多物理性质相似。


Organisation.

Host city.

Myanmar, Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand revealed their intentions to host the Games. However, since the latter three nations hosted the 2003, 2005 and 2007 editions, respectively, these countries were less favored to host this edition.  Myanmar held the longest interval between hosting the games, spanning a time of 44 years. The Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF) Council met in Jakarta on 31 May 2010 unanimously agreed to award the Myanmar Olympic Committee the right to host the 27th edition of the games. The official website of the Olympic Council of Asia also approved the fact that Myanmar would host the 27th Southeast Asian Games in its news launched on 7 June 2010. ASEAN Football Federation (AFF)'s official website also announced that Myanmar would host the games.

Development and preparation.

The Myanmar SEA Games Organising Committee (MYASOC) was formed to oversee the staging of the event.

Venues.

Wunna Theikdi Sports Complex  Zayarthiri Sports Complex  Other venues

Public transport.

As Naypyidaw was yet to be fully developed into a city, only shuttle bus services were provided throughout the games and were used to ferry athletes and officials to and from the airport, games venues and games village. The co-host cities of the games, Yangon, Mandalay and Ngwesaung also provided the same services during the games.

Countdown.

The official countdown to the games' opening ceremony began a year prior on 11 December 2012. The countdown clocks were located in Nay Pyi Taw and other cities in Myanmar that co-hosted the games.

Torch relay.

The torch relay of the games began at Yangon's Thuwunna Indoor Stadium and ended in Nay Pyi Taw during the opening ceremony, covering a distance of 320 kilometres.

Marketing.

Logo.

The logo of the 2013 Southeast Asian Games is an image of the map of Myanmar. The Southeast Asian Games Federation logo at the tip of the logo, has eleven rings which resembling the 11 Southeast Asian countries and the Southeast Asian Games Federation. Yellow, green and red, the national colours on Myanmar's National Flag, represents Myanmar as the games' host nation. The yellow circle represents equality and fraternity, green color represents love of nature and the green economy, while the red color represents courage and hard working nature of Myanmar. The circular shape represents complete perfection and endless prosperity among the Southeast Asian countries.

Mascot.

The official mascot of the 2013 Southeast Asian Games is a couple of owls named "Shwe Yoe" and "Ma Moe". The owls are considered lucky charms in Burmese tradition. The owl is globally taken to be the wisest, calmest and balanced animal. But, in Myanmar, it is also taken to be auspicious and believed to bring forth luck and prosperity to the family, for which the owl dolls are kept at their homes as lucky charms. The owl as the official mascot of Myanmar SEA Games 2013 has a personality: wise, calm, lucky, loyal, and friendly. The personality of an owl was intended to bring forth co-operation, friendship, and better understanding among the participating countries. The mascots are named after a famous Burmese dance, U Shwe Yoe and Daw Moe.

Songs.

Several songs, including the theme of the games "Colourful Garden", were written for the 2013 Southeast Asian Games.

The games.

Opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony was held on 11 December 2013 at the Wunna Theikdi Stadium. It marked the nation's biggest sporting event since 1969. It was led with pre-launch entertainment and a series of screens beamed a dramatic lights show during the Chinese-backed extravaganza.  The ceremony began with fireworks displays at the stadium. The theme song "Colourful Garden" was performed during the flag-raising ceremony after performances made by 12,000 school children and the Myanmar Royal Auspicious Orchestra. Chairman of the 27th SEA Games Organising Committee, Vice-President Nyan Tun opened the Games with another explosion of colourful fireworks. The Games' torch was relayed by six former Burmese athletes before Aye Myint Kyu, the Union Minister for Culture, handed it to a Burmese archer where he lit up the Games cauldron by shooting an arrow into it.  A showcase of arts and culture about Burmese history was made, with dance performances accompanied the ending of the ceremony.

Closing ceremony.

The closing ceremony was held at Wunna Theikdi Stadium on 22 December 2013. It was started with an hour of music following the performance of "Colorful Garden", the theme song for the Games and subsequently, "Loyalty of Blood" was later presented by well-known artists May Sweet and Maykhala. The musical hors d'oeuvres concluded with all artists joining together in "Be Peaceful". President Thein Sein and his wife Khin Khin Win then entered the stadium, following which the Closing Ceremony was officially opened with pyrotechnic displays.  Four performances were presented with the first directly connected the SEA Games to Burmese tradition, celebrating the sport of chinlone, which is believed to have first appeared in Myanmar in the 5th century. It then followed with the "Elephant Dance" which about paying tribute to the elephants in Myanmar.  The Closing Ceremony then paid homage to the 135 officially recognised ethnic races diversity of the country with the performance of "Everlasting Myanmar", depicting the rich diversity of the population, and simultaneously the many obstacles on the path to realising a new, peaceful and prosperous modern state.  Medal winners of every participating countries were then paraded onto the stadium floor to the beat of martial music – chants of "Myanmar" ringing through the stadium.  With the procession complete, President Thein Sein officially announced the 27th SEA Games concluded, as strobe lights searched the sky and a cornucopia of fireworks exploded over the stadium.  After Myanmar handed over the SEA Games responsibilities to Singapore, host of the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, the Games ended with one last round of fireworks and round of musical performances.

Sports.

Myanmar hosted 34 sports, fewer than the number of sport in 2011 Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia. Organisers did not nominate the sports of beach volleyball and dance sports, because they considered those uniforms unsuitable for Burmese women. Tennis and Gymnastics, two Olympic sports, were not played in December. In this edition of the Games, floorball was also contested as a demonstration sport. The following sports below were calendared for the 2013 Southeast Asian Games.  Myanmar gold medalists Saw Marla Nwe (athletics) and Min Zaw Oo (bodybuilding), along with Indonesian gold and silver medalist Indra Gunawan (swimming), tested positive for a banned drug and were stripped of their medals.

Broadcasting.

International Broadcast Center was constructed in Maniyadana Jade Hall in Naypyidaw. Host nation (Myanmar)  Following the shocking defeat of Myanmar football team to Indonesia in the group match that causing them failed to qualify the semi-finals, Myanmar hooligan supporters tore up seats, hurled stones at officers as well burning Southeast Asian Games memorabilia and other billboards.

The 2013 Southeast Asian Games (), officially known as the 27th Southeast Asian Games, was a Southeast Asian multi-sport event took place in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. Around 4730 athletes from 11 participating nations participated at the games, which featured 460 events in 34 sports. The games were held from 11 to 22 December 2013.

2013年东南亚运动会于缅甸内比都举办,为缅甸自1961年首次举办1961年东南亚运动会后,第二度主办东南亚运动会。


United Kingdom.

Crossbench members of the British House of Lords are not aligned to any particular party. Until 2009, these included the Law Lords appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876. In addition, former Speakers of the House of Commons (such as Lord Martin of Springburn and Baroness Boothroyd) and former Lord Speakers of the House of Lords (such as Baroness Hayman and Baroness D'Souza), who by convention are not aligned with any party, also sit as crossbenchers. There are also some non-affiliated members of the House of Lords who are not part of the crossbencher group; this includes some officers, such as the Lord Speaker, and others who are associated with a party but have had the whip withdrawn. Although non-affiliated members, and members of small parties, sometimes physically sit on the crossbenches, they are not members of the crossbench parliamentary group.  An "increasing number" of crossbenchers have been created peers for non-political reasons. Since its establishment in May 2000, the House of Lords Appointments Commission has nominated a total of 67 non-party-political life peers who joined the House of Lords as crossbenchers.  There are currently crossbenchers, composing approximately % of the sitting members in the House of Lords and making them the third largest parliamentary group after the Conservative and Labour parties. From April 2007 to 2009, the number of crossbenchers was higher than the number of Conservatives in the Lords for the first time.  Although the Lords Spiritual (archbishops and senior bishops of the Church of England) also have no party affiliation, they are not considered crossbenchers and do not sit on the crossbenches, their seats being on the Government side of the Lords Chamber.  Parties supporting a minority government in a confidence and supply agreement in the House of Commons, such as the Democratic Unionist Party in the 2017-2019 Parliament, are not considered crossbenchers. Instead, along with all other non-governing parties, they are considered part of the opposition and sit on the opposition benches.

Convenor.

The crossbenchers do not take a collective position on issues, and so have no whips; however, they do elect from among themselves a convenor for administrative purposes, and to keep them up to date with the business of the House. The current convenor is The Lord Judge, who took the office in October 2019. While convenors are not part of the "usual channels" (i.e. the party whips who decide the business of the House), they have been included in their discussions in recent years.  The following have served as Convenor of the Crossbenchers:

Australia.

The term refers to both independent and minor party members in the Federal Parliament of Australia as well as the Parliaments of the Australian states and territories. Unlike the United Kingdom, in Australia the term is applied to those parties and independents in both the lower and upper houses of parliament, who sit on the crossbench.  The last few federal elections have seen an increase in the size and power of the crossbench in both houses of Parliament. The Australian Parliament as elected at the 2010 election was the first hung parliament in the House of Representatives since the election of 1940, with the Australian Labor Party and the Coalition winning 72 seats each of 150 total. Six crossbenchers held the balance of power: Greens MP Adam Bandt and Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor declared their support for Labor on confidence and supply, Independent MP Bob Katter and National Party of Western Australia MP Tony Crook declared their support for the Coalition on confidence and supply. The resulting 76–74 margin entitled Labor to form a minority government.  The Australian Senate, which uses the Single Transferable Vote form of proportional representation to elect its 76-seat chamber, frequently has a number of Senators on the crossbench that the governing party has to negotiate with to get legislation passed. The 2 July 2016 double dissolution election, for example resulted in a chamber with the Liberal/National Coalition having 30 seats, the Australian Labor Party with 26 seats, the Greens with 9 seats, One Nation with 4 seats and the Nick Xenophon Team with 3 seats. The other 4 seats were each won by Derryn Hinch, the Liberal Democratic Party, Family First, and Jacqui Lambie. The number of crossbenchers increased by two to a record 20 (all but the ones of the LPA/NPA coalition and the ALP: 9+4+3+4). The Liberal/National Coalition government required at least nine additional votes to reach a Senate majority.  Generally speaking, Senators broadly aligned with the government (such as those affiliated with the Australian Conservatives, One Nation, the Liberal Democratic Party, and Derryn Hinch) sit on the same side of the crossbench as the government benches, while those more aligned with the opposition, such as the Greens, sit on the same side of the crossbench as the opposition benches. This tends not to be the case in the House of Representatives, both due to the different electoral system, which means fewer crossbenchers are elected, and the fact that the official government and opposition frontbenches extend across the inner rim of the entire hemicycle.

New Zealand.

In the New Zealand House of Representatives, MPs from parties that are not openly aligned with either the government or the official opposition (such as those belonging to New Zealand First between 2011 until 2017) are sometimes referred to as crossbenchers – however those that support the government in confidence and supply agreements are regarded as part of the government and sit on the government benches, often receiving official roles as ministers outside the cabinet or as parliamentary under-secretaries. From 2008 to 2017, ACT New Zealand, Māori Party and United Future MPs supported the minority National Party government. These MPs were not considered to be crossbenchers or part of the opposition, as they were represented within the government.

Similar concepts in Canada.

The term "crossbencher" is generally not used for the federal Parliament of Canada or any of the provincial or territorial legislatures. Instead, any party that is not the governing party is an "opposition party", with the largest of these designated the "official" opposition (and their leader is designated Leader of the Opposition). Opposition parties other than the official opposition are typically called third parties, a term derived from American politics. Third parties and independents sit on the opposition side of the chamber, even if they are supporting a minority government, unless they are part of a coalition government.  Beginning in 2016, multiple non-partisan caucuses which fulfill a similar purpose as crossbenchers have been formed in the Senate of Canada. The first, the Independent Senators Group (ISG), was created partly as a response to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decision to appoint more non-partisan Senators. Similar to crossbenchers in the UK, the ISG chooses its own leader and does not use a whipping system. In December 2016, the Senate began to officially recognise the ISG and provide it with funding. Two additional groups were established in 2019: the Canadian Senators Group (which primarily focuses on regional issues) and the Progressive Senate Group (formed by members of the defunct Senate Liberal Caucus).

A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and opposition benches, where crossbenchers sit in the chamber.

中立议员(英语:Crossbencher)是部分实行西敏议会制国家内独立或其他政党的议会成员,在英国上议院、加拿大参议院及澳洲参议院均有设立。中立议员的英文名称英语:"Crossbencher"得名于他们在英国上议院内的座位,被安排坐在与执政党及官方反对党之间,并与两者相互垂直的位置。


History.

Foundation.

The party's foundation was announced when former prime minister Beji Caid Essebsi on 20 April 2012 launched his "Call for Tunisia" as a response to post-revolutionary "instances of disturbing extremism and violence that threaten public and individual liberties, as well as the security of the citizens". It was officially founded on 16 June 2012 and describes itself as a "modernist" and "social-democratic" party of the moderate left. However, it also includes notable economically liberal currents.  The party has patched together former members of ousted president Ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally, secular leftists, progressive liberals and Destourians (followers of Tunisia's "founder" Habib Bourguiba). In addition, the party has the support of many members of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) and the national employers' union, UTICA. They believe that Tunisia's secular forces have to unite to counter the dominance of the Islamist Ennahda Movement.  From its foundation until July 2013, 11 members of the Constituent Assembly joined the party by defecting from various other parties.

Union for Tunisia.

On 11 February 2013, the Republican Party joined Nidaa Tounes and four other parties in a political alliance called Union for Tunisia (UPT). Moreover, it participated in the formation of the broad oppositional National Salvation Front in July 2013. However, ahead of the October 2014 legislative election, Nidaa Tounes decided to run its own lists and not to contest the election as part of the UPT.

2014 to present.

The party has seen tensions between supporters of Essebsi's son, Hafedh Essebsi, and others. Former member Mohsen Marzouk went on to create a party named Machrouu Tounes while prime minister Youssef Chahed formed a new party named Tahya Tounes.

Nidaa Tounes ( "", ; usually translated as "Call of Tunisia", "Call for Tunisia", or "Tunisia's Call") is a big tent secularist political party in Tunisia. After being founded in 2012, the party won a plurality of seats in the October 2014 parliamentary election. The party's founding leader Beji Caid Essebsi was elected President of Tunisia in the 2014 presidential election.

突尼斯呼声(,;)是突尼斯的一个世俗主义政党。该党由2011年革命后前过渡政府总理贝吉·卡伊德·埃塞卜西于2012年6月16日创建。该党描述自己是“现代”民主进步政党。


Early life.

Not many sources report the details of William “Cam” Townsend before he began work as a foreign missionary. Born in 1896 in Southern California, Townsend graduated from Compton High School and attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, but dropped out to serve for several years as a Bible salesman for the "Los Angeles Bible House".

Work in Guatemala.

Under the auspices of the Los Angeles Bible House he sailed to Guatemala in 1917 to sell Spanish Bibles near Antigua. After two years he joined the "Central American Mission" (CAM), an evangelical Christian mission founded by some of the 19th century's more prominent Protestant revivalists who had agreed to divide their mission work in Central America into various regions. CAM taught that Jesus Christ's Millennial Kingdom of Peace would come after the Second Coming of Christ and viewed their mission as necessary to fulfill Christ's Great Commission to carry his message "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Unlike his predecessors, Townsend did not deem social reform as a wasted effort. He was also concerned that CAM's Christian message, spread exclusively in Spanish, could not reach the monolingual majority of the indigenous population.  Townsend settled in a Kaqchikel community on the coast called Santa Catarina, and over the next fourteen years learned the language to the point where he could translate the Bible. He also founded the "Robinson Bible Institute" which, with financial backing from U.S. sources, built a center for the indigenous community that included a school, medical clinic (supplied with effective western treatments for prevalent parasites like hookworm), an electrical generator, a coffee processing plant, and an agricultural supply store. During these years, Townsend's concern for the impoverished and excluded condition of the Latin American Indians grew, and he became convinced that the missionary practices he observed did not address the needs of indigenous people groups effectively, and did not take into account their diverse languages and cultures.

Search for solutions.

As Townsend sought the root causes of indigenous poverty and marginalization, he found them first in the mixed-race ‘ladino’ middlemen who acted as the sole economic and social portal to the broader regional and national society for mainly monolingual indigenous communities, and who were closely associated with a "folk" Catholic religion that was quite distinct from orthodox Catholicism. These elites had a vested interest in maintaining the economic and social status quo, and therefore had no desire to improve the Indians’ economic situation, educational level or degree of bilingualism.  Secondly, Townsend, while valuing indigenous languages and cultures as divine creations, also believed that not all aspects of human culture were positive, including some of those found within Mesoamerican indigenous societies. Within them he found various types of oppression, some of which were similar to those the dominant Spanish culture imposed. Numerous saints required many days of festivals laden with the obligatory purchases and excessive consumption of food and alcohol, much of which needed to be purchased from the ladino middlemen. Modern healthcare was not available in most communities, which were served only by spiritualist ‘curers’ who required payment but often provided ineffective care. Townsend thus viewed the Maya who surrounded him as trapped from both within and without, and he searched for an exit strategy, a way to liberate them from the forces holding them back.

Problems to address.

Townsend viewed true conversion to Christ as the ultimate way out for indigenous peoples, but he had to first confront the question of why the current Protestant missions did not attract many indigenous converts, and why Catholic missions had failed to produce Christians who were more orthodox in their beliefs. The primary answer he found was that the illiterate monolinguals had no access to scripture. Many Indians could not read, and even those who could, did not have the Bible in a language they could understand. Although heterodox syncretism was the norm in indigenous communities, the Catholic clergy refused Bible translation, fearing negative exegesis. The Protestant missions concentrated on Spanish-speaking ladino overseers as converts instead of on the speakers of minority indigenous languages. According to Colby and Dennet (a less-than-objective and not very reliable source), Townsend's CAM superiors also showed signs of unease that he had adopted indigenous cultural practices, clothing, and language.  In the end, Townsend developed a philosophy of mission that sought to produce indigenous-run, self-sufficient, Bible-based Christian congregations. He believed that if this goal were achieved, it could also contribute to a positive restructuring of cultural institutions that could lead to a more just society. To promote that, he included various parallel programs alongside Bible translation to provide prerequisite knowledge and skills to indigenous communities. One very important step toward this goal was the development of groups of indigenous people who were literate, first in their own language and later in Spanish as well, and to help them produce a translation of at least the New Testament and key parts of the Old Testament in their native tongue. Townsend firmly believed that if the Christian Scriptures were well translated and well understood, they had the power to change individuals and society for the better. He often said that the Bible in the language of the people was the best missionary of all, because it never got sick, never took a furlough, and never sounded like a foreigner.

The importance of linguistics in Bible translation.

Townsend realized that, in order to meet the goal of well-translated Scriptures, Bible translators needed to complete an in-depth study of descriptive linguistics. This emergent academic specialty, freshly invigorated by the first widespread publications of Edward Sapir (1921) and Leonard Bloomfield (1933) could provide Townsend's translator recruits with the deeper understanding of language they needed to do translation well. Having already used some of Sapir's insights in his analysis of Kaqchikel, Townsend understood the importance of linguistic theory in the training of those who would translate Scripture into many indigenous languages. Once given access to the rural communities, they would work with local language speakers to learn their language, produce an alphabet for that language, publish literature that preserved local stories, histories, folk tales and other aspects of the culture, develop literacy materials and set up literacy programs, help provide modern healthcare and supplies, and eventually complete Bible translation work. Translation and conversion thus would happen in the context of a series of developments in the society that would equip minority people groups to cope with the outside world more effectively.

Where to send the first linguist/translators.

As this Bible translation movement developed, Townsend moved from Guatemala to Mexico to Peru, with a special focus on the vast Amazon basin. For centuries the tribes of the Amazon had been evangelized by the Jesuits until their expulsion from the Portuguese empire in the late eighteenth century. It had been targeted by slave catchers, rubber tappers, and even some military operations. Many of the Amazonian indigenous groups remained elusive, always relying on the size and inhospitable nature of the terrain to fade away and maintain isolation. Townsend proposed using airplanes, and a radio network to contact and to stay connected with the isolated tribes, but the complexity and cost of such an operation baffled less technologically minded missionaries. In the opinion of some, individual Bible translations would be incredibly labor-intensive and reach only tiny populations there. Also, as mentioned, the concept of indigenous-run congregations in native tongues ran counter to the traditional practices of more traditional evangelical missionaries in Guatemala.  Sometime between 1931 and 1933 Townsend decided to move to Mexico as the initial operational theater instead of to the Amazon. The first piece fell into place in Panajachel, Guatemala, when he met by chance (or divine arrangement) with Moisés Sáenz, Mexican Under-Secretary of Education, who was vacationing and visiting rural schools. The two became friends. Sáenz left a letter expressing his commendation of Townsend's work in Guatemala and his offer to welcome him to Mexico. Sick with tuberculosis and convinced that there would be little support for his ideas in Guatemala, Townsend returned to the United States in 1932 and sought the help of L.L. Legters, the field secretary of the "Pioneer Mission Agency" and a trusted friend. At a prayer meeting in August 1933 “‘the Lord revealed his will for... Mr. WC Townsend of Guatemala to make a trip to Mexico City for the purpose of meeting with the government to get permission for sending men into the Indian tribes to learn the languages and to translate the Bible into those Indian tongues.’” Just two months later, a letter from Sáenz arrived urging the two men, Townsend and Legters, to visit Mexico.

Mexico and the founding of SIL.

The initial visit.

The winning faction of the Mexican Revolution created the Constitution of 1917, which extended the anticlerical measures of the liberal Constitution of 1857 restricting the Catholic Church in Mexico. Townsend and Legters, however, entered Mexico without missionary credentials. Having cut all formal organizational ties, including those to the Central American Mission, the two men used Sáenz’s letter of invitation to cross the border and make their way to Mexico City. This instance represents the first of what later critical authors would view as ‘deceits,’ whereby the two men concealed their deeper goal behind a veil of government sanctity. In reality, the letter was the only basis they had to enter Mexico, and it had to be on a personal level, since SIL did not yet exist as an institution. There was no deceit, because Sáenz knew why Townsend wanted to come to Mexico. In this case, the goal of the anti-clerical 1917 Mexican constitution was to reduce the power of the Catholic Church in Mexico. By coming as lay people, without sacrificing or hiding their Christian beliefs, Townsend and Legters, in fact, acted in accordance with the law and its intent.  The second key to success in Mexico was Townsend's understanding of the importance of personal connections. His humility, warmth, keen willingness to serve others and also to ask others for help, opened doors to many important figures. During the first trip Townsend and Legters made contact with some friendly Americans and also Mexican officials in venues ranging from dinner parties to embassy lounges and while touring rural schools. Key among these was Rafael Ramírez, director of rural education in the Ministry of Public Education (SEP). Some critics have claimed that, cautious of rejection, Townsend only indirectly and subtly referenced the subjects of religion and Bible translation in his conversations, and thus left the officials enough room for plausible deniability. It is true that in legal documents signed between SIL and governments the translation of the Bible was sometimes officially stated somewhat indirectly as "...the translation of literary works of high moral value", but Townsend and others inside the Bible translation movement state that the officials signing the documents always knew exactly what that meant, so there was no deceit involved. Townsend always claimed that SIL was an academic institution that applied original linguistic research to the solution of human problems and to the creation of an indigenous literature that included both the collection and publication in written form of previously oral histories and stories and the translation of "works of high moral value", especially the Bible, but also often including the sections of national constitutions most relevant to indigenous rights, and later the translation of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He explained that, although SIL was not a religious institution per se, its members were lay Christians motivated by their faith to serve the minority language groups of the world. He was also far from circumspect in relating to secular dignitaries, often inviting them to read a passage from the Bible before sharing a meal.  As just one example, after being invited to Chapultepec Castle by Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas for a dinner to honor him and his newly arrived linguists, Townsend reported saying to the president: "I told him that our young people believed the Bible from cover to cover. They lived according to its teachings, which revealed to them God's love in sending His own Son to serve the needy and to save the lost. Our young people want to follow His example as well as they can by serving the Indians in practical ways, lending whatever assistance to the Mexican government they may and also translating that wonderful revelation of God to humanity into the Indian languages." It is difficult to see indirectness, subtlety or "plausible deniability" in that explanation of intention, given to the highest governmental authority in Mexico.  The fact that the non-sectarian SIL linguists cooperated with Catholics, Protestants and secularists alike, did not found churches themselves, did not occupy leadership positions in indigenous churches or perform any clerical functions, such as baptisms, marriages or funerals made categorizing them difficult. Even within SIL there was some debate as to whether they should define themselves as true "missionaries" or not. They were certainly not traditional sectarian missionaries, yet their vision included, among many other humanitarian goals, that of providing minority language communities with access to the Bible, and then trusting that the Christian Scriptures would bring about positive spiritual as well as material transformations in individuals and societies, a missionary-like goal.  A third and final key to the organization's success in Mexico was the congruence of Townsend's philosophy and proposed plan with a body of intellectual thought that had already begun to circulate in the Mexican intelligentsia, called indigenismo. Many Mexican intellectuals had begun to believe in the gradual incorporation of indigenous cultures into the national society while still preserving those original cultures by applying the principles of cultural anthropology and linguistics. Advances in these fields of study would lead to more effective and respectful systems of cultural and linguistic integration (particularly through the use of bilingual education rather than the imposition of Spanish on minority language speakers at the elementary school level). The goals included the eventual incorporation of indigenous cultures within the national one, while still preserving cultural diversity. The great similarity between indigenismo and Townsend's philosophy of ministry was demonstrated by an extremely significant encounter in the plaza of the small Mexican village of Tetelcingo.  On January 21, 1936, President Lázaro Cárdenas, known for his extensive visitations to the countryside, paid a visit to a small town just south of Mexico City where Townsend had set up a project. We don't know all the reasons for this visit, and for the resulting friendship between the two men. Both men shared a singular concern for the well-being of the indigenous people of Mexico. Townsend's program, which combined “linguistic research, practical help, and spiritual guidance” perhaps meshed well with Cárdenas’ general preoccupation with educating indigenous people. Regardless of the possible reasons for the visit, the result was a deep and lasting friendship (Cárdenas was the best-man at Townsend's wedding) and a ringing written endorsement of Townsend's work from Mexico's revered President. The events of the previous twenty years of Townsend's life came to fruition at that meeting, which solidified the welcome his linguists received in Mexico for many years to come.  Townsend and Legters had opened Camp Wycliffe in Arkansas in the summer of 1934. Named for John Wycliffe, who was responsible for the first complete English translation of the Bible, the camp was designed to train young people in basic linguistics and translation methods. That first year only two students enrolled. The following year, after a training session with five men in attendance (including Kenneth Pike who would become a lifelong friend and prominent academic linguist), Townsend took his students to Mexico to begin field work. Despite the warm welcome afforded the translators in Mexico, Townsend still dreamed of expanding the work into the Amazon and beyond. From this small beginning has grown the worldwide ministry of the Summer Institute of Linguistics (now called simply SIL International), Wycliffe Bible Translators (WBT), and the technical and logistics partner of SIL known as JAARS.

Peru.

Kenneth Pike was the first SIL representative to visit Peru in late 1943. SIL signed a contract with the Peruvian Ministry of Education on June 28, 1945. Colby and Dennet, in a book based heavily on imaginative speculation and their own ideological assumptions, claim that in Peru and later expansions, Townsend “found [his] mission tailor-made to the needs of U.S. policymakers...American missionaries had always accompanied American businesses abroad, but the political climate in postwar Latin America gave Townsend’s new crop of missionary translators and educators a special appeal to U.S. ambassadors who were charged with securing markets and resources for the American economy.” However, as far as anyone has been able to discover, Townsend did not think at all in the way described by Colby and Dennet. His consuming focus was on serving God and minority language groups by means of education, applied linguistics and Bible translation. His interest in economics grew out of that and was directed almost exclusively at the local and regional levels. In Peru, he hoped that literacy, general education and technical training combined with the moral and ethical values taught in the Bible would help free minority language speakers from their dependence on outside middlemen, especially the jungle "patrones" who exploited the labor and land resources of the Amazonian peoples. His main excursion into the international economic arena was to write a short book (80 pages) in English explaining the abuses of international oil companies in Mexico and defending the Cardenas government's nationalization of them, the exact opposite political stance from the one Colby and Dennet attribute to Townsend's thought and work. (See W.C. Townsend, "The Truth about Mexico's Oil", 1940, SIL). Also counter to their claims, as far as we can discover, Townsend never coordinated anything with Nelson Rockefeller, and probably did not even know him.

The Jungle Aviation and Radio Service (JAARS).

By 1948 Townsend created the third important corporation tied to SIL: the Jungle Aviation and Radio Service. Until this point operations were held together shakily only by a jeep and several two-way radios provided by the U.S. Embassy. A U.S. Army Air Corp Mission pilot, Larry Montgomery, contacted Townsend in 1946, informing him that a Grumman Duck, a navy amphibious plane, was on sale as Army surplus for a cheap price. The plane proved its worth and even served as the sole rescue transport for a crashed Peruvian military plane in 1947, but also required a hefty additional investment to achieve all the potential that Townsend envisioned. Furthermore, a small fleet of planes would also require a hangar, runway, mechanics, more pilots, fuel, and parts. The missing piece was funding. Townsend sought money successfully by soliciting several wealthy evangelicals including the son and heir of Quaker Oats founder Henry P. Crowell. The project also received many smaller gifts from civic organizations, churches and individuals, and thus JAARS was born.

Adapting management.

Townsend remained active in SIL as the founder and organizational leader for many years. As he aged, his active influence gradually declined, however, under the influence of two general trends:  First, the number of SIL members with graduate degrees in linguistics and anthropology steadily increased, with an accompanying rise in the overall academic levels of SIL linguists. Townsend was too busy leading a growing Bible translation movement to pursue graduate training himself, but he never forgot that SIL's translation goals necessitated in-depth scientific understanding of the languages that SIL linguists studied, and thus he endeavored to create truly competent field linguists with trustworthy academic credentials.  During SIL's early years, linguistic theory and practice were still in the early stages of development, which made effective analysis of unwritten languages, especially tonal languages, more difficult. The rapid expansion of SIL, which required the training of large numbers of recruits, was also a great challenge to the organization. Fortunately, very early in its history, SIL was greatly helped by two gifted linguists, Kenneth Pike and Eugene Nida. They made significant contributions in the fields of linguistics, translation theory and even anthropology. Most importantly for SIL, they trained many generations of young SIL linguists, first at the University of Oklahoma and later at many other universities around the world. Nida was involved with SIL from its official founding in 1942, first attending and then teaching at Oklahoma each summer until 1953. Pike was involved even earlier and continued to train SIL linguists much longer, even during the time he was Chairman of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Michigan. He and many other SIL PhDs and MAs pursued the in-depth study of language and culture for its own sake, as well as for its usefulness in Bible translation. They, like Townsend, viewed language as one of God's greatest gifts to human beings. Hundreds of MAs and dozens of PhDs filled the upper tiers of SIL's academic hierarchy, and gradually influenced more and more the operations of the organization.  Second, a controversy, composed of two separate but related components, engulfed SIL between approximately 1971 and 1981. Firstly, according to Stoll, critics in the U.S., particularly in the halls of academia, left few facets of the Institute's work unscathed. Some even criticized the bringing of literacy to preliterate societies as harmful. However, the biggest negative reaction to SIL was probably triggered by opposition to its translation of the Bible. How could an academic organization justify translating a religious book for often preliterate people groups who had their own traditional religions? SIL's response was that it was just making the Bible accessible to anyone who might want to read it. Secondly, during the same period many foreign governments were criticized by politically motivated factions for cooperating so closely with SIL. Their criticisms of SIL ranged from the unfair and the unsubstantiated (like the claim that SIL was seeking raw materials for U.S. corporations) to the ridiculous (that it had killed indigenous babies to render their fat, so that it could be used as an ingredient in rocket fuel, explaining how the Americans had been able to land on the moon). The campaign was part of the Cold War struggle between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union, with SIL viewed as a symbol of the U.S. However, the charges caused governments to argue internally over whether to continue supporting SIL with state contracts and, in at least one case, whether to allow the SIL presence to continue within its borders. Ecuador, for example, chose to end its official ties with SIL. In Peru, the government, after an in-depth investigation of SIL, not only rescinded an order it had given for SIL to leave the country, but actually renewed and expanded its original contract for 10 additional years. In 1981, Peru's president, Fernando Belaunde Terry, gave William Cameron Townsend the highest award that a foreigner can receive from Peru, the most advanced level of the Order of the Sun (El Orden del Sol), in honor of his and SIL's service on behalf of Peru's minority language groups. It was an affirming conclusion that came near the end of the life of an itinerant Bible salesman who lived to become the friend of presidents, and the main catalyst for the largest Bible translation movement in history. He continued to serve as an advisor to SIL leaders and others until his death one year later, at age 85.

Bibliography.

These sources could be used to substantiate and balance the article:

William Cameron Townsend (July 9, 1896 – April 23, 1982) was a prominent twentieth-century American Christian missionary-linguist who founded Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (now SIL International), both of which have long had as primary emphases the translation of the Bible into minority languages and the development of literacy and bilingual education programs in those languages. They have also been involved in developing medical and other services among minority language groups.

威廉·卡梅隆·汤森德(英语:William Cameron Townsend,1896年-7月9日-1982年-4月23日),一般译为金纶·汤逊,美国福音派传教士,为SIL国际和国际威克理夫圣经翻译会(今威克理夫国际联会)的创始人。


Description.

Two of the tablets are rectangular and the third is round. They are all small, the round one being only across, and two—the round one and one rectangular tablet—have holes drilled through them.  The "V"-shaped sign is missing in Figure 1 (upper left quadrant). (A. Záhonyi, 2019)  All three have symbols inscribed only on one face. The unpierced rectangular tablet depicts a horned animal, an unclear figure, and a vegetal motif, a branch or tree. The others have a variety of mainly abstract symbols.

Discovery.

In 1961 members of a team led by Nicolae Vlassa, an archaeologist at the National Museum of Transylvanian History, Cluj-Napoca in charge of the site excavations, are reported to have unearthed three inscribed but unfired clay tablets, together with 26 clay and stone figurines and a shell bracelet, accompanied by the burnt, broken, and disarticulated bones of an adult female sometimes referred to as "Milady Tărtăria".  There is no consensus on the interpretation of the burial, but it has been suggested that the body was, if not that of a shaman or spirit-medium, that of a local most respected wise person.  There have been disputes as to whether the tablets were actually found at the site and Vlassa was never willing to discuss the circumstances of the find or the stratigraphy.

Claims of forgery.

The authenticity of the engravings was disputed from the beginning. A recent claim of forgery is based on the similarity between some of the symbols and reproductions of Sumerian symbols in popular Romanian literature available at the time of the discovery.

Previous discoveries of Vinča symbols.

The Vinča symbols have been known since the late 19th century excavation by Zsófia Torma (1832–1899) at the Neolithic site of Turdaș (Hungarian: "Tordos") in Transylvania, at the time part of Austria-Hungary, the type site of the Tordos culture, part of what is better known as the Vinča culture.

Dating.

Workers at the conservation department of the Cluj museum baked the originally unbaked clay tablets to preserve them. This made direct dating of the tablets themselves through carbon 14 method impossible.  The tablets are generally believed to have belonged to the Vinča-Turdaș culture, which was originally thought to have originated around 2700 BC by Serbian and Romanian archaeologists. The discovery caused great interest in the archeological world as it predated the first Minoan writing, the oldest known writing in Europe.  Subsequent radiocarbon dating of the other Tărtăria finds, extended by association also to the tablets, pushed the date of the site (and therefore of the whole Vinča culture) much further back, to as long ago as 5500 BC, the time of the early Eridu phase of the Sumerian civilization in Mesopotamia. Still, this is disputed in the light of apparently contradictory stratigraphic evidence.  If the symbols are indeed a form of writing, then writing in the Danubian culture would far predate the earliest Sumerian cuneiform script or Egyptian hieroglyphs. They would thus be the world's earliest known form of writing. This claim remains controversial.

Context.

Societal development and the need for a writing system.

A problem is that there are no independent indications of literacy existing in the Balkans at this period. Sarunas Milisauskas comments that "it is extremely difficult to demonstrate archaeologically whether a corpus of symbols constitutes a writing system" and notes that the first known writing systems were all developed by early states to facilitate record-keeping in complex organised societies in the Middle East and Mediterranean. There is no evidence of organised states in the European Neolithic, thus it is unlikely they would have needed the administrative systems facilitated by writing. David Anthony notes that Chinese characters were first used for ritual and commemorative purposes associated with the'sacred power' of kings; it is possible that a similar usage accounts for the Tărtăria symbols.

Hypothesis of Danubian culture.

The term Danubian culture was proposed by V. Gordon Childe to describe the first agrarian society in central and eastern Europe. This hypothesis and the appearance of writing in this space is supported by Marco Merlini, Harald Haarmann, Joan Marler, Gheorghe Lazarovici, and many others.

Possibly related finds in the region.

This group of artefacts, including the tablets, have some relation with the culture developed in the Black Sea – Aegean area. Similar artefacts are found in Bulgaria (e.g. the Gradeshnitsa tablets) and northern Greece (the Dispilio Tablet). The material and the style used for the Tartaria artefacts show some similarities to those used in the Cyclades area, as two of the statuettes are made of alabaster.

Links to Sumerian culture.

Colin Renfrew argues that the apparent similarities with Sumerian symbols are deceptive: "To me, the comparison made between the signs on the Tărtăria tablets and those of proto-literate Sumeria carry very little weight. They are all simple pictographs, and a sign for a goat in one culture is bound to look much like the sign for a goat in another. To call these Balkan signs 'writing' is perhaps to imply that they had an independent significance of their own communicable to another person without oral contact. This I doubt."

Writing system - pro and con.

The meaning (if any) of the symbols is unknown, and their nature has been the subject of much debate.  If they do comprise a script, it is not known what kind of writing system they represent.

Pro arguments.

Scholars who conclude that the inscribed symbols are writing are basing their assessment on a few assumptions which are not universally endorsed.  Some archaeologists who support the idea that they do represent writing, notably Marija Gimbutas, have proposed that they are fragments of a system dubbed the Old European Script.

Counter-arguments.

Others consider the pictograms to be accompanied by random scribbles.

Purpose and meaning.

Vlassa interpreted one of the Tărtăria tablets as a hunting scene and the other two with signs as a kind of primitive writing similar to the early pictograms of the Sumerians.

Ownership marks or religious meaning.

Some have suggested that the symbols may have been used as marks of ownership or as the focus of religious rituals.

Meaningless imitations.

An alternative suggestion is that they may have been merely uncomprehending imitations of more advanced cultures, although this explanation is made rather unlikely by the great antiquity of the tablets — there were no known literate cultures at the time from which the symbols could have been adopted.

The Tărtăria tablets /tərtəria/ are three tablets, reportedly discovered in 1961 at a Neolithic site in the village of Tărtăria (about from Alba Iulia), in Romania.

特尔特里亚图章(英语:Tărtăria tablets)是19世纪晚期在罗马尼亚的特兰西瓦尼亚地区挖掘出的的古代标记,共三块,均为陶片。公元前5300年左右,(但根据碳十四探测的结果表明,温查的文明历史最早可追溯到公元前5500年,与苏美尔的早期埃利都文化同期)。有学者认为它们是古代的文字,并且发现到到图章上的文字与一些,诸如:米诺斯象形文字、或原始楔形文字等的远古文字互有相似处,可能文化互有同源。这些图章在1961年被重新发现,这一次是在距阿尔巴尤利亚30公里的考古发掘现场。


Name and taxonomy.

"Aloe polyphylla" is commonly known as the spiral aloe in English, "kroonaalwyn" in Afrikaans, or "lekhala kharatsa" in Sesotho. The species epithet "polyphylla" means "many-leaved" in Greek. Taxonomically, it forms part of the "Rhodacanthae" series of very closely related "Aloe" species, together with "Aloe glauca", "Aloe lineata" and "Aloe pratensis".

Description.

"Aloe polyphylla" is a stemless aloe and grows its leaves in a very distinctive spiral shape which may be clockwise or anti-clockwise. The plants do not seem to sucker or produce offshoots, but from the germination of their seeds they can form small, dense clumps. The fat, wide, serrated, gray-green leaves have sharp, dark leaf-tips and grow in the five spiral rows. This aloe flowers at the beginning of summer, producing flowers that range in colour from red to salmon pink and occasionally yellow, at the head of robust, branched inflorescences.

Habitat.

The spiral aloe grows in high, mountainous, grassy slopes at altitudes between, and sometimes higher on east-facing slopes. Here it clings to rocky crevices and well-drained scree slopes. The climate is cool in the summer and in the winter the aloes are often covered in deep snow. The region also has a very high summer rainfall and this moisture is augmented by the clouds which engulf the Lesotho mountain peaks.

Conservation.

The species is highly sought after as an ornamental but is difficult to cultivate and usually soon dies if removed from its natural habitat. In South Africa, it is a criminal offence to remove plants or seed of "Aloe polyphylla" from their natural habitat or to buy plants from roadside vendors.  In cultivation in the UK this plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.

Aloe polyphylla (spiral aloe, "kroonaalwyn", "lekhala kharetsa", many-leaved aloe) is a species of flowering plant in the genus "Aloe" that is endemic to the Kingdom of Lesotho in the Drakensberg mountains. An evergreen succulent perennial, it is well known for its strikingly symmetrical, five-pointed spiral growth habit.

多叶芦荟(学名:'),又名螺旋芦荟,俗称所罗门王碧玉冠,是莱索托德拉肯斯堡山脉特有的一种芦荟。它们最特别的是其对称及五尖的螺旋状。


Education and experience.

Torvalds was a member of the Communist Party of Finland from 1969 to 1982. He studied economics in Moscow and was the editor of the taistoist magazine "Arbetartidningen Enhet". Torvalds has later described his communism as "rebellion". Between 1995 and 2004 Torvalds worked as a foreign correspondent for the Finnish Broadcasting Company in Moscow and Washington.  Torvalds is fluent in Swedish, Finnish, English, German, Russian and he also understands Dutch, Danish, Italian and Norwegian.

Finnish politics.

In 2006, Torvalds joined the Swedish People's Party, and the following year he was elected to the post of the third vice chairperson. This upset some party voters due to Torvald's past. In 2008, he was elected to Helsinki City Council for term 2009–2012.  On 11 June 2017 the Swedish People's Party chose Torvalds as the party candidate for the 2018 presidential election. Some of his campaign themes were education, technology and the environment. Torvalds was the only candidate who openly supported Finland's NATO membership during his campaign. In the election, Torvalds placed last with 1.5 percent of the votes, while the incumbent president Sauli Niinistö went on to secure his second term.

European Parliament member.

Torvalds was a candidate for European Parliament election in 2009 on the Swedish People's Party list. He received 14,044 votes which was insufficient for a seat. However, on 5 July 2012, he was installed in the European Parliament, when Carl Haglund left his seat to join the Katainen Cabinet as Minister of Defence. In the 2014 European Parliament election Torvalds received about 29,000 votes and was elected.  As a MEP his positions have included vice-chair of the Fisheries committee (PECH) and member of the committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). He has served as shadow rapporteur on the circular economy and on the biofuels directive (which became directive 2015/1513) and as rapporteur of the annual report 2018 on the European banking union.  Torvalds opposed the Copyright Directive (2019) since it was first proposed, considering it unbalanced especially because of its article 13 (i.e. 17).

Linux kernel statement.

Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel, joked during a LinuxCon keynote in 18 September 2013 that the NSA, creators of SELinux, wanted a backdoor in the kernel. However, later, Linus' father revealed that the NSA had actually asked for the installation of backdoors in Linux.

Nils Ole Hilmer Torvalds (born 7 August 1945) is a Finnish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP). He is a member of the Swedish People's Party of Finland, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.

尼尔斯·托瓦兹(;1945年-8月7日)是芬兰的从政者,隶属芬兰瑞典族人民党,2012年成为欧洲议会议员。