Design.

German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines. "U-288" had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of, a pressure hull length of, a beam of, a height of, and a draught of. The submarine was powered by two Germaniawerft F46 four-stroke, six-cylinder supercharged diesel engines producing a total of for use while surfaced, two AEG GU 460/8–27 double-acting electric motors producing a total of for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to.  The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of. When submerged, the boat could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at. "U-288" was fitted with five torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and one at the stern), fourteen torpedoes, one SK C/35 naval gun, 220 rounds, and two twin C/30 anti-aircraft guns. The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty.

Service history.

"U-288" served with the 8th U-boat Flotilla for training from June 1943 to January 1944 and operationally with the 13th flotilla from 1 February.

1st patrol.

The boat's initial foray began with her departure from Kiel on 26 February 1944 for the Norwegian Sea and finished at Narvik on 11 March.

2nd patrol and loss.

She departed Narvik on 23 March 1944. On 3 April she attacked Convoy JW 58 but was sunk by rockets and depth charges from a Fairey Swordfish of 819 Naval Air Squadron and a TBM Avenger and a Wildcat (or 'Martlet' in FAA parlance), both of 846 squadron. The Swordfish had come from, the Avenger and the Wildcat had been launched from.  Forty-nine men died; there were no survivors.

Wolfpacks.

"U-288" took part in four wolfpacks, namely.

German submarine "U-288" was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's "Kriegsmarine" during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 7 September 1942 at the "Bremer Vulkan" yard at Bremen-Vegesack as yard number 53. She was launched on 15 May 1943 and commissioned on 26 June under the command of "Oberleutnant zur See" Willy Meyer.


Early life.

Jean Wells was born July 25, 1955 in Jacksonville, Florida to Walton and Ellen Loft Wells. During a college canoe camping trip, she participated in an impromptu session of "Dungeons & Dragons". She was fascinated by the game, and once back on campus, she quickly ordered her own set of the rules, and joined a local group called the "D&D Gang of Statesmen Complex". After several gaming sessions, she realized that she liked the role of dungeon master more than player. In her words, "It gave me an opportunity to use my creativity in an area I already liked, Medieval History and Fantasy."

Career at TSR.

Wells also ordered a subscription of "The Dragon" from TSR Hobbies, and in the July 1978 issue, she noticed an ad for "an alert and talented person [with] design and editorial talent and a good general knowledge of games" in TSR's design department. Although she was still at college studying to be an elementary school art teacher, and her only gaming experience was the "D&D" she had just started playing, she applied for the position. After some back-and-forth correspondence with Gary Gygax during the fall of 1978, she flew to TSR headquarters in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in January 1979 for a three-day visit. Despite her lack of experience, Gygax hired her as the first female in the design department. Wells later recalled that, "he knew I didn't know how to really write rules... He was hiring my imagination and would teach me the rest."  However, Wells had arrived just as TSR was, in her words, "exploding", and Gygax did not have time to introduce her to the world of game design. As a result, and especially because she was the only woman in the design department, Wells felt out of place. She later described herself as "the token female".  She moved into a nearby house nicknamed the "TSR Dorm", since all the renters were TSR staffers—she actually took over the bedroom of Larry Elmore, who had just left TSR—and she started to date Skip Williams.  Her first work was editing the adventure module S2 "White Plume Mountain" by Lawrence Schick. In addition, she also contributed interior art for the adventure module "Lost Tamaochan", as well as artwork to the fourth printing of the original "Monster Manual", including drawings of an eye of the deep, a giant Sumatran rat, and violet fungi.  She was the inaugural author of "Sage Advice", a "D&D" advice column that first appeared in "The Dragon" starting with issue #31 in November 1979. She tried to bring some humor to the column, believing that some of her young readers were taking "D&D" too seriously. One such example appeared in her first column, when she was asked how much damage a bow did in "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons". Her answer was, "None. Bows do not do damage, arrows do. However, if you hit someone with a bow, I’d say it would probably do 1-4 points of damage and thereafter render the bow completely useless for firing arrows." She continued to handle the "Sage Advice" column until issue #39 (July 1980).  In 1980, she did the design and layout of Brian Blume's "The Rogues Gallery" (which included her own "D&D" character Ceatitle). She was also the editor of Gary Gygax's module B2 "Keep on the Borderlands", her bestselling piece of design work, since it was included in later printings of the "Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set", which sold over one million copies.

"Palace of the Silver Princess".

After the success of B2 "Keep on the Borderlands", Wells was assigned to write an adventure for the "B" (Basic) series that would teach new players how to play "D&D". She consulted her editor, Ed Sollers, about every detail, and the result was B3 "Palace of the Silver Princess". In keeping with the design of the first "D&D" module of the "B" series, B1 "In Search of the Unknown" by Mike Carr, Wells left several rooms and areas of the module incomplete so that players could customize those areas themselves. As she related, "I was trying to show the players that there was more to a 'dungeon' than just the building. I didn't complete the palace, trying to show them this map could be a mini base map for their game. The players could discover the part of the dungeon that had been caved in wasn't any longer and the DM could expand it. I was assuming that they were trying to learn to set up their own world and I was trying to help."  During the editorial process, Wells wanted to replace artwork by Erol Otus that had transformed her "ubues"—new three-headed monsters—into hermaphrodites whose heads were caricatures of TSR staffers and management. However, she was told that the artwork couldn't be replaced without causing unreasonable printing delays.  On the day when the cartons of printed modules arrived at TSR headquarters ready for shipping and copies were distributed to staff, someone in TSR's upper management strongly objected to the module. Some sources state that the objectionable content was four pieces of artwork by Erol Otus and Laura Roslof that were too overtly sexual while Frank Mentzer later stated that it was specifically the Otus illustration with the caricatures of TSR executives.  Wells herself related that another member of the design department complained to Kevin Blume, and that subsequently she and her editor, Ed Sollers, were called into Kevin Blume's office and asked to explain why a module designed for a younger audience contained S&M.  The end result was that the entire print run of what became known as the "orange version"—because of its orange cover design—was destroyed, except for a few copies that were saved from the trash pile by TSR employees.  The entire module was subsequently rewritten by Tom Moldvay, who changed the plot, replaced all of Wells' new monsters with standard monsters from the "Monster Manual", and removed the empty areas. In addition, the four contentious pieces of artwork, as well as many others, were replaced. The new version was then released with a green cover.  Following the "Silver Princess" incident, Wells wanted to write another module, but in her words, "nobody would touch my game ideas with a ten-foot pole." When she realized her suggestions for new adventures and games were being ignored and she was only being given secretarial tasks instead of new design work, she left TSR.

Life after TSR.

Wells married another TSR employee, Corey Koebernick, in 1981. When he was laid off by TSR a few months later, they moved to Beloit, Wisconsin, where she would spend the rest of her life. She did not work again, staying at home to raise their two sons.  Wells struggled with several serious illnesses for the last thirty years of her life, including hepatitis C.  On January 24, 2012, Wells was admitted to hospital, and died early the next morning.

Legacy.

The piece of work Wells was best known for, the orange version of "Palace of the Silver Princess", is an extremely rare item, since most copies were destroyed before its release. One copy rated in VF/SW condition was sold at auction in March 2008 for $3050, making it the highest price paid for a single non-unique D&D module.

Oeva Jean Wells Koebernick (July 25, 1955 – January 25, 2012) was an American writer, artist, and editor in the field of role-playing games. She was the first female game designer to be hired by TSR, Inc. Her career at TSR stalled after she wrote a controversial "Dungeons & Dragons" adventure module that was withdrawn on the eve of publication and subsequently rewritten.


General Format.

A SIGAD consists of five to eight case insensitive alphanumeric characters. It takes the general form of an alphanumeric designator normally composed of a two- or three-letter prefix followed by one to three numbers. Often a dash is used to separate the alphabetic and numeric characters in the primary part of the designator, but less frequently a space is used as a separator or the alphabetic and numeric characters are concatenated together. An additional alphabetic character can be added to denote a sub-designator for a subset of the primary unit, such as a detachment. Lastly, a numeric character can be added after the aforementioned alphabetic to provide for a sub-sub-designator.  In the examples below an X represents an alphabetic character and an N represents a numeric character that are part of the primary designator. Likewise, an x represents an alphabetic character and an n represents a numeric character that are part of a sub-designator. Here are valid generalized examples of SIGADs:  The first two characters show which country operates the particular SIGINT facility, which can be US for the United States, UK for the United Kingdom, CA for Canada, AU for Australia and NZ for New Zealand. A third letter shows what sort of staff runs the station. SIGADs beginning with US without a third letter are used for intercept facilities run by the NSA.

PRISM SIGAD.

One prominent SIGAD as of April 2013 is US-984XN, with an unclassified codename of PRISM. It is "the number one source of raw intelligence used for NSA analytic reports" according to National Security Agency sources in a document leaked by Edward Snowden. The President's Daily Brief, an all-source intelligence product, cited SIGAD US-984XN as a source in 1,477 items in 2012. The U.S. government operates the PRISM electronic surveillance collection program through NSA's Special Source Operations, an alliance with trusted telecommunications providers.

SIGADs for spy ships.

The declassifed SIGAD for the was USN-855. The USS "Liberty" incident occurred on 8 June 1967, during the Six-Day War, when Israeli Air Force jet fighter aircraft and Israeli Navy motor torpedo boats attacked the USS "Liberty" in international waters.  The was a technical research ship, which was boarded and captured by North Korean forces on 23 January 1968, in what is known as the "Pueblo" incident. The declassified SIGAD for the NSA Direct Support Unit (DSU) from the Naval Security Group (NSG) on the USS "Pueblo" patrol involved in the incident was USN-467Y. The USS "Pueblo", which officially remains a commissioned vessel of the United States Navy, is the only ship of the U.S. Navy currently being held captive.

Vietnam War SIGADs.

The following are the Vietnam War-era declassified SIGADs from inside South Vietnam during the period of 1969 to 1975:  Some locations have multiple SIGADs due to different types of collection activities and/or collection at different times during the period. The SIGADs beginning with USA were operated by the United States Air Force's United States Air Force Security Service (USAFSS). The SIGADs beginning with USM were operated by the United States Army's Army Security Agency (ASA). Lastly, the SIGADs beginning with USN were operated by the United States Navy's Naval Security Group (NAVSECGRU). All three of these units have been merged into other units or inactivated.  The above list consists of the higher-echelon SIGADs. It does not include the numerous miscellaneous and temporary detachments, or direction finding stations belonging to major units or sites unless that detachment or site was the only one stationed in South Vietnam. Many of the "dets" were short-lived, often formed to support ongoing MACV operations or forward deployments of combat operational or maneuver units. These detachments usually were designated by a letter suffix attached to the higher-echelon SIGAD such as "USM-633J," which was a detachment of the 372d Radio Research Company, USM-633, supporting the United States Army's 25th Infantry Division.

Supporting Southeast Asia SIGADs.

The following declassified SIGADs were highly relevant to the Vietnam Campaign, but were located in areas outside of South Vietnam in Southeast Asia.  Again, detachments are not listed separately. In the case of the USS "Maddox", naval Direct Support Units (DSUs) used the SIGAD USN-467 as a generic designator for their missions. Each specific patrol received a letter suffix for its duration. The subsequent mission would receive the next letter in an alphabetic sequence. Thus, SIGAD USN-467N specifically designates the USS "Maddox" patrol involved with the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Joint Base SIGADs.

In November 2005, the US Congress performed a fifth round of Base Realignment and Closure. This 2005 law also created twelve joint bases by merging adjacent installations belonging to different services in an effort to reduce costs and improve efficiencies.  Joint bases with a primarily SIGINT mission have SIGADs that begin with USJ. A joint base would have a primary SIGAD in the general form of USJ-NNN, where NNN are numeric characters. An actual example is not given, since these units are currently active.

A SIGINT Activity Designator (or SIGAD) identifies a signals intelligence (SIGINT) line of collection activity associated with a signals collection station, such as a base or a ship. For example, the SIGAD for Menwith Hill in the UK is USD1000. SIGADs are used by the signals intelligence agencies of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.


Gameplay.

"DuckTales: Remastered" features a 2.5D presentation, with 2D hand-drawn character sprites and 3D modeled levels. The gameplay of "Remastered" remains identical to the original "DuckTales" game, with players taking the role of Scrooge McDuck as he travels across the world in search of five treasures to further increase his fortune. Scrooge can swing his cane to strike or break objects, and can bounce on it like a pogo stick to attack enemies from above. This also allows him to reach higher areas, as well as bounce across hazardous areas that would hurt him on foot. Along the way, Scrooge can find various diamonds, found in treasure chests or appearing in certain areas, to increase his fortune and ice cream or cakes that can restore his health. Various characters from the series appear throughout the stages with differing roles, aiding or hindering the player's progress.  Some gameplay tweaks are introduced, such as a map screen on easier difficulties and an easier pogo jump, which can be toggled on and off. "DuckTales: Remastered" also features a new tutorial level set in Scrooge's money bin, which includes a boss fight against Big Time Beagle, as well as a new final level in Mount Vesuvius where both the final boss fight and race to the top take place. Money gathered in levels can now be used to unlock various gallery items such as concept art and pieces of music, and fill up Scrooge's money bin.  The original game's five levels are featured, all of which have been expanded, and can be played in any order. Each one includes new objectives that must be met to complete the stage, and all of the bosses have new patterns. The game also features a full story plot, explaining the motives and reasoning behind each stage, including how Scrooge is able to breathe on the Moon. Characters briefly featured in the original game, such as Magica De Spell, Flintheart Glomgold and the Beagle Boys play a greater role in the game's plot. The original game's hidden treasures are now found only on higher difficulties, and the game consists of only one ending.

Plot.

The Beagle Boys attempt another raid on Scrooge's money bin, with Baggy, Burger and Bouncer Beagle capturing Huey, Dewey and Louie. After Scrooge rescues them, he finds Big Time Beagle in his office with a painting in his hands. With the help of Duckworth, Big Time is defeated and retreats. The painting reveals the locations of five treasures, and Scrooge wastes no time to set out for them. Scrooge and Launchpad visit the Amazon to find the Sceptre of the Incan King. Using eight golden coins, they uncover the hidden temple of Manco Capquack, but the sceptre is lost and the temple is destroyed by its guardian statue. The chief of the natives then approaches Scrooge and Launchpad and thanks them for returning their city to them, and gives Scrooge the recovered sceptre in return, which was just the king's back scratcher. Scrooge, the nephews and Webby visit the castle of Drake Von Vladstone, also known as Dracula Duck, who was the heir to the Coin of the Lost Realm. The boys fall into a trap door and are spread throughout the Transylvanian mansion, but Scrooge saves them from the Beagle Boys, disguised as ghosts. Each of the beagle boys were also carrying a torn sheet of paper which contained part of a riddle. They uncover a mirror where Scrooge solves the riddle, and Magica De Spell reveals herself, who is also after the coin. Scrooge and Magica then face off for it, and the sorceress is defeated and retreats empty-handed. Scrooge and the nephews travel to the African Mines to find the Giant Diamond of the Inner Earth, but they find the workers are being scared off by voices and earthquakes, claiming the mine is haunted. Deep underground, Scrooge discovers that the Terra-Firmians and their games are the cause, and after interfering he is attacked by their king. Defeated, the king makes an agreement with Scrooge to stop the games in exchange for the mining operations to continue, as it will rid them of the diamonds they consider to be "garbage rocks". He gives Scrooge the Giant Diamond of the Inner Earth to start with.  Seeking the Crown of Genghis Khan in the Himalayas, Launchpad crashes into a mountain far from their destination and loses a spare fuel regulator, which is further spread throughout the level by rabbits. While recovering them, Scrooge stumbles upon Bubba the Caveduck who is frozen in ice, and after freeing him and brings him back to the plane, Scrooge discovers that Webby snuck along for the ride. After getting the plane airborne, they are all ambushed by Flintheart Glomgold and the Beagle Boys. After dealing with them, Scrooge confronts an angry Yeti, but Webby interferes and reveals that it was angry because it stepped on a thorn. As Scrooge suspects, the "thorn" is the Crown of Genghis Khan. Scrooge, Gyro Gearloose and Fenton Crackshell travel to the moon to find the Green Cheese of Longevity, able to breathe in space due to a special oxygen taffy Gyro invented, but Fenton is abducted by aliens along with the Gizmoduck suit, and after being saved by Scrooge, he becomes Gizmoduck and blows open a door that leads underground. Glomgold and the Beagle Boys take advantage of the opening, and Gizmoduck goes after Scrooge's rival. Scrooge deals with the Beagle Boys and discovers the cheese before they do, but a rat from the alien ship eats it and mutates. Scrooge defeats the creature, transforming the rat back to normal, and takes the cheese for himself.  After collecting all of the treasures, Scrooge finds the nephews taken hostage by the Beagle Boys and Glomgold, who bargains their safety for the treasures. After Scrooge agrees, Magica De Spell suddenly appears, claiming she was the one who sold Scrooge the painting of Drake Von Vladstone to have him seek the treasures for her, which are part of a spell to revive him. She steals the treasures, turns the Beagle Boys into pigs and kidnaps the nephews, and tells Scrooge to bring her his Number One Dime if he wants to save them. Scrooge and Glomgold form an alliance to respectively save the nephews and retrieve the treasure. After they reach Mount Vesuvius, they eventually find Magica's hidden fortress. Glomgold steals the dime and the two villains reveal they were working together the whole time. Magica successfully revives Dracula Duck and sends him to destroy Scrooge, but he is defeated and perishes. With the nephews saved and the place falling apart, Scrooge goes after Magica and Glomgold, who lose the Number One Dime. Scrooge races against them to retrieve it, succeeds, and narrowly escapes from being caught in the eruption while the two villains escape. Having lost the treasures, Scrooge tells his nephews the adventure was still worth it and they shared it together. Glomgold and the Beagle Boys are arrested, and Scrooge and the nephews leave to celebrate with ice cream cones—and Scrooge declares that he'll splurge just this once and even buy cones with ice cream in them.

Development.

Capcom first announced the game at PAX East 2013 on March 22, 2013. While full development of the game started in late 2011, Disney and Capcom were previously discussing the possibility of a remake from 2010. The game's backgrounds and layouts were created by Disney Television artists Mike Peraza and Rick Evans. The game features full voice acting for the characters, including the then surviving members of the original animated series cast, such as Alan Young reprising his role as Scrooge McDuck and June Foray as Magica De Spell.  "DuckTales: Remastered" features new music composed by Jake Kaufman. In Capcom's "Duckumentary" on the music and sound of the game, Kaufman, on making his arrangements, said, "I've heard this stuff in my head, as arrangements, since I was 10, so I knew exactly what to do, what I would do, if I got the opportunity and I never took it as a fan. And now I'm taking it as a WayForward guy and it sort of developed all together." He did not change the original compositions very much, giving each piece his take on it and made the pieces more orchestral. The game allows players to toggle between the new soundtrack and the original 8-bit soundtrack after clearing the game once, which includes 8-bit renditions of the newly added compositions. Director Austin Ivansmith added about the sound design, "You can't just make it sound like foley from a movie. There are iconic sounds for jumping and landing and hitting an enemy, that they need a certain punch. Our sound designers just know how to make a perfect gameplay sound, and it just adds to the game significantly. Without it, the game just feels empty." He also revealed that there were no initial plans to include voice acting, but Disney stated a few months into development that some of the original voice actors could be enlisted. As such, the team expanded the script to accommodate the addition.

Release.

Capcom released the game in North America on the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Network, and Steam, on August 13, 2013, and an Xbox Live Arcade version on September 11, 2013. On August 20, 2013, a retail PlayStation 3 version was released that includes a code to download the title and a DuckTales collector pin. A disc-based version was released on November 12, 2013 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii U. On April 2, 2015, the game was released for iOS and Android devices and Windows Phone worldwide. Japan got a later release on May 19, 2015. A patch was released for the game that addressed various issues and criticisms, including a "Quick Cinema Mode" that skips the in-game cutscenes, provided the player has cleared the game once. The game was given for free to the PlayStation Plus subscribers in January 2015.  For promotion of the game, Capcom sent 150 limited edition, gold NES cartridges with the original game, featuring the "Remastered" art as the sticker, inside a collectible lunchbox, to different members of the gaming press. Also included were recreated ads for some of Capcom's NES games, such as "Mega Man 3", a coupon for the "Green Cheese of Longevity" featured in the game and a fake ad for an upcoming cassette soundtrack from the game. All included items were padded into the box by a ground made of actual, shredded U.S. dollar bills. It was revealed in late August that Capcom was giving the remaining press kits away until the release of the game on Xbox Live, through various contests.  On August 8-9, 2019, the game was temporarily delisted from digital storefronts due to the expiration of Capcom's licensing deal with Disney. For the week ending August 11, the game skyrocketed to third place in the EMEAA sales charts, jumping over 1000 places from the week prior. The game returned to digital storefronts in March 2020.

Reception.

The PlayStation 3, Wii U and iOS versions received "generally favorable reviews", while the Xbox 360 and PC versions received "average" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. The game's sales were "over-performing" according to Capcom's fiscal year report.  "Game Informer"s Tim Turi called the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions "a carefully penned love letter that appeals to fans of the ‘80s show" that "blends the cartoon and the NES game together beautifully". Turi added that many of the original game's memorable moments are there but this time they "feel more balanced" and offer up some challenging moments. "GamesRadar+"s Chris Hoffman called it "a retro revival done right". "GameZone"s Josh Wirtanen praised the game's controls in its preview, saying that they were "incredibly smooth". Later on, Mike Splechta of the same website gave it nine out of ten, calling it "a highly entertaining platformer that oozes personality and excellently difficult gameplay". IGN's Colin Moriarty lauded its faithful gameplay but criticized its focus on storytelling. GameTrailers' Justin Speer praised the gameplay and presentation of the PS3 version while criticizing the story elements for interrupting the flow of the game.  "The Escapist"s Joshua Vanderwall gave the Xbox 360 version four-and-a-half stars out of five and called it "a retro re-release at its finest. The game feels like its classic counterpart, but it has a number of improvements to make it more palatable to a modern gaming audience." "The Digital Fix"s Luciano Howard gave it seven out of ten, calling it "a renovated and revitalised golden child which when all is said and done shows its age regardless of the effort imparted to hide such truths." However, "Digital Spy"s Scott Nichols gave the PS3 version three stars out of five and stated, "With "DuckTales Remastered", Wayforward attempted to balance authenticity and nostalgia with trying to offer an original experience. The end result feels somewhat confused, getting pulled in both directions at once without ever settling on one or the other." "Official Nintendo Magazine" gave the WiiU version 62%, stating, "While far from being a bad game, "DuckTales Remastered" is a huge missed opportunity and a sad day for fans who were expecting so much more." "Metro"s David Jenkins gave the Xbox 360 version five out of ten and called it "A dream come true for fans of the original but there's nothing here for anyone else, especially given the tiresome new story elements and obnoxious difficulty." "Edge" similarly gave it five out of ten and stated, "It's easy to admire the developer's evident love for the NES game – it's clearly been handled with the kind of care only a genuine fan would provide – but after a few repetitive hours bouncing around "DuckTales" pretty but unremarkable worlds you'll begin to realise that some treasures aren't worth the effort of unearthing."

DuckTales: Remastered is a Metroidvania-style platform video game developed by WayForward Technologies and published by Capcom. The game is a high-definition remake of "DuckTales", a game released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1989. It was released for multiple gaming platforms, including Microsoft Windows, the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360, and the Wii U, over a three-month period between August and November 2013, and later expanded to iOS, Android, and Windows Phone in April 2015. The game was temporarily delisted from digital storefronts in August 2019, but was relisted in March 2020.


Origins.

Settled in prehistoric times, the south-eastern Poland region that is now Podkarpacie was overrun in pre-Roman times by various tribes, including the Celts, Goths and Vandals (the Przeworsk and Puchov cultures). After the fall of the Roman Empire, of which most of south-eastern Poland was part of (all territories below the San), the area was invaded by Hungarians and Slavs.  The region subsequently became part of the Great Moravian state. Upon the invasion of the Hungarian tribes into the heart of the Great Moravia around 899, the Lendians of the area declared their allegiance to Hungary. The region then became a site of contention between Poland, Rus and Hungary.  This area was mentioned for the first time in 981, when Volodymyr the Great of Kievan Rus took it over on his way into Poland. In 1018 it returned to Poland, in 1031 back to Rus, and in 1340 Casimir III of Poland recovered it.  The village "Tyravia" was first mentioned in 1402. The etymology is doubtful. It was founded on the principles of the "Wallachian Rights" whereas its ownership was passed over to the knights and family of Vogt Peter (Petrus) the Czech.

Varied rulers.

From 1340-1772 Tyrawa was part of Poland (Ruthenian Voivodship), while during 1772-1867 it belonged to the Austrian empire, and from 1867-1918 to Austria-Hungary. During the 120 years that this part of Poland was controlled by Austria, the area (including west and east of Subcarpathian Voivodship) was known as Galicia. In 1918 it returned to Poland.  The region was under the Magdeburg rights since 1707. The town was situated beside an often attended trade route to Hungary which guaranteed good opportunities for development, but as time passed the town started to decline, and by 1876 it had lost municipal rights.

After World War II.

In the immediate years after World War II (1945, 1946) some inhabitants left for the Ukraine. On 29 April 1946 the village was attacked by a unit of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and some buildings were burnt. As a result, some people left Tyrawa (under the "Operation Vistula") and moved to the Pomerania area of Poland. Only over a dozen years after the war the village started to rebuild.  The rural families in this community are poor, as agriculture is rarely profitable and low income makes it difficult to reinvest and make improvements.

Tyrawa Wołoska (, "Tyriava Volos’ka";, "Thyrawa Walaska") is a village in East Małopolska in the Lesser Beskid mountains of Poland.


History.

The church was designed by John Nash, favourite architect of King George IV. Its prominent circular spired vestibule was designed to provide an eye-catching monument at the point where Regent Street, newly-laid out as part of Nash's scheme to link Piccadilly with the new Regent's Park, takes an awkward abrupt bend westward to align with the pre-existing Portland Place.  All Souls was a Commissioners' church, a grant of £12,819 (equivalent to £ in ) being given by the Church Building Commission towards the cost of its construction. The commission had been set up under an act of 1818, and Nash, as one of the three architects employed by the Board of Works, had been asked to supply specimen designs as soon as the act was passed. It was, however, one of only two Commissioners' churches to be built to his designs, the other being the Gothic Revival St Mary, Haggerston. All Souls is the last surviving church by John Nash.  The building was completed in December 1823 at a final cost of £18,323 10s 5d. and was consecrated the following year by the Bishop of London.

Architecture.

The church is built of Bath stone. It consists of a prominent spired circular vestibule, attached to a much more reticent main church by the width of a single intercolumniation. The idiosyncratic spire is composed of seventeen concave sides encircled by a "peripteros" of Corinthian columns, making two separate sections.  Nash's design was not met with universal praise. A reviewer for "The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction" 2 August 1828, said:

Crown appointment.

The Rector of All Souls Church is still appointed by the Crown Appointments Commission at 10 Downing Street. The links with the Crown date back to the time of George IV when the Crown acquired the land around the church. The Coat of Arms adorns the West Gallery.

Post-war restoration.

On 8 December 1940, a Luftwaffe parachute mine exploded during the Blitz, causing extensive damage to the church. The church was closed for some ten years while repair works were carried out. During this time, the congregation met for worship at St. Peter's, Vere Street. Although many furnishings survived the bombing, such as the pulpit, these are no longer to be seen in the church.

Mid-1970s building project.

In the early 1970s excavations were carried out at All Souls and when it was discovered that the foundations to the church were some 13 feet deep, the church undertook a massive building project under the supervision of then rector, Michael Baughen (who later became Bishop of Chester, before returning to the London diocese to become an honorary assistant bishop). The decision was taken to embark on this work, to facilitate having a hall area underneath the church for the congregation and visitors to meet together after services and during the week. At the same time, the opportunity was taken to restructure the interior of the church to make it more suitable for present day forms of worship. It was at this time, that most fittings such as pews and choir stalls were removed, and the plain carpeted interior with moveable chairs was introduced.

Organ and music.

All Souls is well known for its musical tradition and part of this includes the Hunter organ installed in the west gallery in a Spanish mahogany case designed by Nash. The case was enlarged and extended in 1913. In 1940, anticipating war damage to the church, the organ was dismantled and put into storage, then in 1951 remodelled and rebuilt, with a new rotatable electric manual and pedal console, and installed in the chancel by the firm of Henry Willis (IV). The organ was again rebuilt, by Harrison & Harrison, during the building project of 1975–1976, when a four-manual console was added, plus a positive division and a pronounced fanfare-trumpet en-chamade. In 1933, John Ivimey was appointed as organist and Director of Music.  Musical worship mixes contemporary and traditional styles, featuring either the church's worship band, orchestra, singing group or choir at all the main regular Sunday services, under the leadership of Michael Andrews. In 1972, the All Souls Orchestra was founded by former director of music and Emeritus Conductor, Noël Tredinnick, and has accompanied Sir Cliff Richard, Stuart Townend and other notable Christian artists. The orchestra and a massed choir perform annually at the Royal Albert Hall for the All Souls "Prom Praise" concert, which also tours across the UK and internationally. "Prom Praise for Schools" is sometimes held alongside Prom Praise, providing children from across the Diocese of London the chance to sing with the All Souls Orchestra. In 2012, the All Souls Orchestra celebrated its 40th anniversary, alongside special guests including Graham Kendrick, Keith & Kristyn Getty, and Jonathan Veira.

Worship.

All Souls celebrates four services each Sunday, with an early morning Holy Communion service at 8:00 am, followed by two other services at 9:30 am and 11:30 am and an evening service at 5:30 pm. There is also a midweek service on Thursdays during term time at 1:05 pm.  Sermons from Sunday services are uploaded for free streaming and download by the following Monday afternoon. The archive now contains over 3,000 sermons.

Clergy.

The current rector is the Revd Hugh Palmer, who,, is also a chaplain to the queen. Other clergy staff include Rico Tice, who has developed the Christianity Explored course (an introduction to Christian beliefs based on the Gospel of Mark and influenced by the conservative evangelical tradition), Jonny Dyer, Luke Ijaz and Steve Nichols. As a reflection of the huge diversity of the church's congregation (over 60 nationalities represented amongst the c 2500 present on Sundays), the staff team has gradually become more international (Kenya, the United States, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, Korea and Ireland amongst others).  One of the church's most notable clerics was John Stott CBE, who was associated with All Souls for his entire ministry and virtually all his life. The author of more than fifty Christian books, Stott was regarded as an important theologian and leader of the evangelical movement during the 20th century. Stott was a curate at All Souls 1945–1950 and rector 1950–1975. He resigned as rector in 1975 to pursue his wider ministry, but maintained his involvement with the church and was given the title of Rector Emeritus, which he held until his death in 2011. Stott's obituary in "Christianity Today" described him as "An architect of 20th-century evangelicalism [who] shaped the faith of a generation."  The Revd Richard Bewes was rector from 1983 until his retirement in 2004. He was awarded an OBE for services to the Church of England.

All Souls Church is a conservative evangelical Anglican church in central London, situated in Langham Place in Marylebone, at the north end of Regent Street. It was designed in regency style by John Nash and consecrated in 1824.


History.

O'Donnell was settled in 1910 and named for Tom J. O'Donnell, a railroad promoter. O'Donnell was a railroad-created town, founded in anticipation that the Pecos and Northern Texas Railway would lay tracks through the area.  A branch of the Pecos and Northern Texas Railway was constructed from Slaton to Lamesa in 1910. The rails were abandoned and removed in 1999. And just recently (2016), a controversy had taken this town by storm when the school was reported for having the ten commandments on their wall, when forced to take it down, the students came together and wrote Bible verses on sticky notes and posted them on the wall

Geography.

O'Donnell is on the high plains of the Llano Estacado at (32.9637085 -101.8326542). U.S. Highway 87 passes just northwest of the city limits, leading southwest to Lamesa and north to Lubbock.  According to the United States Census Bureau, O'Donnell has an area of, all of it land.

Demographics.

As of the 2010 United States Census, O'Donnell had 831 people, a 17.8% reduction from the 2000 US Census. The population resided in 315 households, of which 237 were identified as family households. The racial makeup of the city was 73.4% White, 1.2% African American, 0.6% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 20.3% from other races, and 4.1% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 62.8% of the population.  In the city, the population was distributed as 31.2% under the age of 18, 52.0% from 18 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.5 years.  The median income for a household in the city was $26,103, and for a family was $30,833. Males had a median income of $26,193 versus $15,917 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,924. About 24.4% of families and 24.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.1% of those under age 18 and 15.0% of those age 65 or over.

Education.

O'Donnell is served by the O'Donnell Independent School District and is home to the O'Donnell High School Eagles.

O'Donnell is a West Texas city that lies primarily in Lynn County, with a small portion extending south into Dawson County, Texas. The population was 831 at the 2010 census, down from 1,011 at the 2000 census.


History.

The see of Nafpaktos is attested since the 4th century, and was initially a suffragan of Corinth and later of Athens.  Like the rest of Illyricum, Nafpaktos depended on the pope of Rome until 733, when Leo III the Isaurian annexed it to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Its bishop, Anthony, is attested among the participants of the councils held at Constantinople in 869–70 and 879–80.  When Nafpaktos became the seat of the new Byzantine "thema" of Nicopolis in the second half of the 9th century, the bishopric was elevated to a metropolitan see in the late 9th century, assuming the role which Nicopolis had formerly held.  It is thus that the see appears in the sources from the 9th century on as "Nafpaktos of Nicopolis" (μητρόπολις Ναυπάκτου Νικοπόλεως), counting initially eight suffragans covering all of Epirus: Vonditsa, Aetos, Acheloos, Rogoi, Ioannina, Photike, Hadrianopolis, Buthrotum. In the "Escorial Taktikon" of the early 970s, the bishopric of Chimara has been added, and during the 11th century, two further sees, Kozyli and Arta were established under Nafpaktos. Following the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria ca. 1020, the northern suffragan dioceses came under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Ohrid.  In 1025, the metropolitan was at the head of a rebellion of the local populace, which led to the death of the local "strategos" George. Emperor Constantine VIII (r. 1025–28) brutally suppressed the uprising, and blinded the metropolitan.  After the Fourth Crusade, Nafpaktos became part of the Despotate of Epirus. Under its metropolitan, John Apokaukos, the see of Nafpaktos gained in importance and headed the local synod for the southern half of the Epirote domains, but was soon overshadowed by the Archbishopric of Ohrid under the energetic Demetrios Chomatenos.  The town came under Frankish rule from 1294, and became a Roman Catholic see, of which there were about 20 archbishops in the 14th–15th centuries. The city remained a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church until 1977.

The Metropolis of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios () is a metropolitan see of the Church of Greece. Its seat is the town of Nafpaktos (Naupaktos or Naupactus, in the late Middle Ages known as Lepanto) in southeastern Aetolia-Acarnania. The current metropolitan (since 1995) is Hierotheos (Vlachos).


Professional wrestling career.

Early career (2000–2005).

Whitmer was trained by Les Thatcher and debuted on January 23, 2000 in Thatcher's Ohio-based Heartland Wrestling Association. Whitmer feuded with "Ice Cream Man" Tony B. before forming a tag team with Jamie Knoble in 2002. On May 8, 2002 he won the Cruiserweight Championship by defeating Knoble, Shannon Moore and Matt Stryker in a four-man elimination match. He lost the title to Rory Fox on August 10.  In addition to the HWA, Whitmer also began performing for Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South. After being unsuccessful in winning the inaugural Sweet Science Sixteen tournament and then again in 2001, Whitmer won the now-renamed Ted Petty Invitational in 2002 as well as the Revolution Strong Style Tournament that same year. On April 9, 2004, he defeated Jerry Lynn in a thirty-minute Iron Man match for the Heavyweight Championship, which he held until May 29 when he was defeated by Petey Williams.  In June 2001, Whitmer toured Japan with Pro Wrestling Noah, teaming on several occasions with fellow gaijins Matt Murphy and 2 Cold Scorpio. He was entered in the GHC Junior Tournament, but was eliminated by Tsuyoshi Kikuchi in his final match in Japan on June 21 in Toyama, Toyama. Whitmer toured with Noah once more in August and September 2005, losing most of his matches. His last appearance in Noah featured him in a three-way match for the ROH World Championship against Kenta and the then-reigning champion Nigel McGuinness.

Ring of Honor.

The Prophecy and teaming with Dan Maff (2003–2005).

Whitmer debuted in Ring of Honor in January 2003 at "Revenge on the Prophecy". His first major match was a bout with CM Punk at "Epic Encounter" on April 12, 2003. The match was declared a no-contest after Punk gave Whitmer a German suplex off the ring apron and through a table on the outside, leaving Punk stunned and Whitmer concussed. Whitmer returned on May 31, losing to Dan Maff, and on June 14 he teamed with Punk's other enemy, Raven, to face CM Punk and Colt Cabana at "Night of The Grudges". Whitmer and Raven lost when Cabana pinned Whitmer, apparently settling the issue.  Whitmer regained some momentum with a victory in a four corners survival match on June 28 at "WrestleRave", and on July 19 at "Death Before Dishonor", he won another four corners survival match to become the number one contender for the ROH Championship on the line. Whitmer faced the reigning champion, Samoa Joe, at "Wrath of the Racket" on August 9, but was defeated. Between August and November, Whitmer took part in the "Field of Honor" event, where he won his block but lost in the finals to Matt Stryker on December 22 at "Final Battle".  That same evening, CM Punk confronted Christopher Daniels, Dan Maff and Allison Danger, members of The Prophecy, a heel stable led by Daniels, demanding to know which one of them had attacked and sidelined his girlfriend and valet, Lucy, earlier that year. A brawl broke out with The Prophecy on one side and Punk and Colt Cabana on the other. Whitmer then approached the ring and announced that he had been behind the attack, thus joining The Prophecy. The events on December 22 led to a match on January 10, 2004 at "The Battle Lines Are Drawn" between The Second City Saints (Punk, Cabana and Ace Steel) and The Prophecy (Daniels, Maff and Whitmer). The match descended into a brawl, and the referee declared it a no contest after Lucy returned to ROH for one night, slapping Whitmer to gain a measure of revenge. After the match, Punk injured Daniels (in reality, Daniels had signed a contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling) after performing the "Pepsi Plunge" through a table, marking Daniels' last appearance in ROH until June 2005.  Whitmer and Maff continued to team together as The Prophecy, accompanied by Allison Danger, and feuded with the Saints throughout early 2004. They defeated the Saints for the Tag Team Championship at "Round Robin Challenge III" on May 15, but lost the title to the Briscoe Brothers later that evening. On June 12, 2004, at "World Title Classic", Maff and Whitmer defeated three other teams in a thirty-five-minute-long ultimate endurance match. After the match, Maff convinced Whitmer to discard both The Prophecy's name and the managerial services of Allison Danger, claiming that they no longer needed a leader or a manager and resulting in both men turning face. Furious over this turn of events, Danger subsequently placed a bounty on the heads of Maff and Whitmer. They spent several months feuding with teams sent after them by Danger, including Slash Venom and Chicano and The Carnage Crew. On December 26 at "Final Battle 2004", they defeated the Carnage Crew in a "Fight Without Honor", and shook hands with their opponents after the match. However, Whitmer injured his elbow in the course of the match, and was sidelined for two months. Whitmer and Maff captured the Tag Team Championship for a second time on February 19, 2005, defeating the Havana Pitbulls.

Teaming and feuding with Jimmy Jacobs (2005–2006).

After Maff left ROH following a backstage altercation with Homicide, the title was vacated. Whitmer formed a new team with Jimmy Jacobs, and defeated Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal in a match for the vacant title on April 2. They lost the title to The Carnage Crew on July 9 at "Escape from New York", but regained it two weeks later on July 23 at "The Homecoming". The duo went on to lose the title again, this time to the team of Sal Rinauro and Tony Mamaluke, on October 1, 2005.  On October 2, 2005 at "Unforgettable", Whitmer and Jacobs joined manager Lacey to become the Lacey's Angels. On the ROH DVD release of "Hell Freezes Over", a video segment piloted by Jimmy Jacobs revealed that Jacobs was in fact in love with Lacey. Focusing more on his love of Lacey rather than his effort in matches, Jacobs cost the Lacey's Angels team (also joined by Adam Pearce for the night) the victory at "Tag Wars". Jacobs also cost himself and Whitmer the Tag Team Title the following night at "Dissension" against the champions Roderick Strong and Austin Aries. After this, Whitmer turned on Jacobs. It was also learned later on in the DVD release in a video segment that Whitmer quit Lacey's Angels altogether.  Whitmer suffered an ankle injury due to Jacobs and was kept out of action, but appeared at "Survival of the Fittest 2006" to attack Jacobs during his tag match with Colt Cabana against Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli. Along with Cabana and Daizee Haze, Whitmer began feuding with Lacey, Jacobs, and their hired enforcer Brent Albright in a series of violent matches, including one at "Final Battle", where Albright put Whitmer through a table with a powerbomb. The feud continued into early 2007, and saw Whitmer perform an exploder superplex on Albright through a table in New York on February 16.

The Hangmen Three (2007–2008).

On February 23, 2007, Whitmer lost to Takeshi Morishima in a match for the World Championship in Dayton, Ohio. In September 2007, he allied with Brent Albright and Adam Pearce to form The Hangmen Three (also spelled as The Hangm3n), which later saw them gain Shane Hagadorn as their manager. While a member of The Hangmen Three, Whitmer challenged for the World Tag Team Championship on a number of occasions with either Pearce or Albright, but was unsuccessful in regaining the title. In March 2008, Albright and Pearce joined Sweet 'n' Sour Inc., prompting Whitmer to leave The Hangmen Three. Later that month, ROH announced that Whitmer had resigned from the promotion, praising his "immense contribution".

Retirement and return (2008, 2011–2012).

Whitmer retired from professional wrestling shortly after leaving Ring of Honor in 2008. However, Whitmer would make his return to the ring on March 19, 2011, where he returned to the Heartland Wrestling Association and defeated Gerome Phillips to win his second Heavyweight Championship, which he held until losing it to Jesse Emerson on August 27. The following month, it was announced that Whitmer was going to be taking part in Absolute Intense Wrestling's TPI tournament, not to be confused with the Ted Petty Invitational held by Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South. He would be eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by Tim Donst. On September 9, Whitmer made his debut for Dragon Gate USA, competing in a six-way elimination match, which was won by Brodie Lee. One week later, Whitmer returned to Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South and defeated Bucky Collins to win the vacant Light Heavyweight Championship, which he held until losing it to Collins on October 14. Whitmer's first internet pay-per-view appearance for Dragon Gate USA took place on November 11 at Revolt, where he defeated Vinny Marseglia. Two days later at Freedom Fight 2011, Whitmer was defeated by Brodie Lee in a singles match.

Return to ROH (2012–2018).

On February 17, 2012, Whitmer returned to ROH after a four-year absence, where he lost to World Television Champion Jay Lethal in a non-title Proving Ground match. After this, Whitmer allied himself with Rhett Titus to feud with Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team. Both teams competed against each other at Glory By Honor XI and a street fight at, where Whitmer and Titus lost both matches, the second of which saw Haas throw Whitmer into a table. As a result, Haas and Whitmer faced each other at the 11th Anniversary Show in a No Holds Barred match, which Whitmer won by referee decision. On May 18, 2013, Whitmer unsuccessfully challenged Jay Briscoe for the World Championship. On June 22 at Best in the World 2013, Whitmer defeated Mike Bennett and both subsequently began feuding with each other. On July 12 at Reclamation, Whitmer and the newly renamed Michael Bennett faced off in a rematch, where Bennett defeated Whitmer. August 3 at All Star Extravaganza, Whitmer entered a tournament for the newly vacant World Championship, where he faced Bennett in a first round match. However, the match ended without a winner after Whitmer was legitimately injured after being piledriven on the ring apron. On September 20 at Death Before Dishonor XI, Whitmer announced his retirement due to the neck injury he suffered from Bennett's piledriver.  On December 14 at Final Battle 2013, Whitmer broke his retirement and teamed with Eddie Edwards in a winning effort against Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong. After the match, Whitmer turned heel by attacking Edwards with the assistance of Strong and former tag team partner Jimmy Jacobs. Whitmer then reunited with Jacobs and they both allied with Strong to form The Decade, with the stable's name being a reference to all three men's long tenures with the company. On the January 4, 2014, The Decade secured its first victory as Whitmer and Jacobs defeated Adam Page and Mark Briscoe in a tag team match. Whitmer successfully recruited Colby Corino, the 18-year-old son of Whitmer rival Steve Corino to join the Decade. This caused friction between Jacobs and Whitmer, feeling that taking Corino's son was too much, On March 27, 2015 at Supercard of Honor IX Whitmer defeated Jimmy Jacobs.  Whitmer feuded with Adam Page after Page left The Decade. Whitmer faced Page at ROH 14th Anniversary Show, and defeated him. At Best in the World '16 Whitmer defeated Steve Corino in a Fight Without Honor with the help from Kevin Sullivan. Later Whitmer and Sullivan would align with Punisher Martinez. On January 7, 2017 Whitmer was defeated by Jay Briscoe in the Decade of Excellence. On February 11, Whitmer and Punishment Martinez defeated War Machine, after the match Martinez turned on Whitmer, hitting him with South of Heaven.  After that, Whitmer worked as backstage producer and sometimes, on commentary. On May 19, 2018, he became one of the trainers at the Baltimore Dojo. However, Whitmer left the promotion on December 20, 2018. He mentioned that the departure was down to ROH not letting him work at WWE's Performance Center as a guest trainer.

All Elite Wrestling (2019-present).

After leaving Ring of Honor, Whitmer signed a contract with All Elite Wrestling, a new promotion created by Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks and formed by severl ROH talents. He is working as a producer.

Benjamin Whitmer (born January 25, 1978) is an American professional wrestler, trainer and color commentator currently working for All Elite Wrestling as a producer. He is best known for his work in Ring of Honor (ROH) as wrestler and backstage producer, where he is a four time World Tag Team Champion.


Biography.

Bishop Abram was born Boulos (Paul) Gabriel in 1545 A.M. (1829 AD), in the village of Gilda, district of Mallawi, in the Minya Governorate.  At the age of eight, Boulos' mother died after a brief illness. At the age of fifteen the village priests recommended him to Bishop Youssab (Joseph), the Bishop of the Diocese, who ordained him as a deacon. Boulos joined the Monastery of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, known as El-Muharraq Monastery in Assiut, where he was ordained monk in 1848, at the age of nineteen. His monastic name became Father Paul El-Muharraqi.  Father Paul was distinguished by his patience and self-control, and his interest in almsgiving. Metropolitan Yakoubos (Jacob) heard about him and asked him to come to the Metropolitanate to continue his work with the poor. After four years, he asked to return to the monastery. The Metropolitan ordained him a priest and allowed him to return to the monastery in 1863. Father Paul then became abbot of the El-Muharraq Monastery. The number of new monks exceeded forty within a short period of time. The monastery became a refuge for the poor people of the community, whom he aided unreservedly by the use of its income. In the long run, the monks became dissatisfied with his ways, which they considered as sheer dissipation of the fortunes of the monastery. They complained to Anba Marcus, archbishop of Beheira and acting patriarchal deputy after the decease of Demetrius II, who decided to relieve him from the headship of al-Muharraq.  Father Paul was deposed by Metropolitan Marcos in 1870. Shortly after this, Father Paul left Al Muharraq Monastery and went to the Paromeos Monastery. Four monks from Al Muharraq Monastery accompanied him. The abbot of the Paromeos Monastery, at that time, was arch-priest Youhanna (John) the Scribe, who later became Pope Cyril V of Alexandria.  In 1597 A.M. (1881 A.D.), Pope Cyril V appointed Father Paul Bishop to the parish of Fayoum and Giza, carrying the name of Bishop Abram, and replacing its reposed Bishop Isaak.  Bishop Abram departed on 3 Paoni 1630 A.M. (10 June 1914 AD). Some twenty five thousand persons attended his funeral, both Christians and Muslims. He was buried in a grave he had prepared himself. His body is preserved at the Coptic Orthodox Metropolitanate of Fayoum, in Egypt.  In 1964, The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria canonized Bishop Abram as a saint, and decided to add his name to those of the saints mentioned in the "Diptych of the Saints" during the Divine Liturgy.

Saint Abram (1829 – 10 June 1914) was a contemporary Coptic Orthodox saint. He was the Bishop of Faiyum and Giza, and was also known as "the Friend of the Poor".


Family.

His father was of Croatian descent but in service to the Austrian border guard as an officer near Knezic. His mother, Borbála Benkő, was of Hungarian-Serbian descent, related to Mihajlo Latas, a Serb military officer in the Austrian Empire who later escaped and became known as the Turkish general Omar Pasha.

Life.

He graduated from a military academy and had a quiet early career. Sometime around 1842 he was engaged to Katalin Kapitány (†1853), the daughter of the senator of Eger, Mihály Kapitány. They were married in June 1844 in the Cathedral of Eger - this time Knezić was a commanding captain. They had two daughters:

Military career.

After the Revolution of March 1848, he volunteered his service in the Hungarian army. He first commanded a battalion of miners in the campaign against the Slovak national movement. He next participated in the campaign against the Serbs and in February 1849 campaigned in the region of Törökszentmiklós.  At the battle of Tápióbicske Tápió he occupied and held onto a bridge of strategic importance, and again distinguished himself in the trenches at the Battle of Komárom. He also participated in the Battle of Isaszeg and also the Battle of Nagysalló.  Due to his military success and distinction he quickly rose through the ranks and was promoted to major general after János Damjanich suffered a leg fracture and had to relinquish command as the third Corps Commander, and after this appointment took part in an important siege.  After the battle of Pered, when Artúr Görgei was removed from command and Lajos Kossuth was appointed corps commander of the Upper Tisza army, Knezić then served in the Ministry of Defence. Kossuth gave Knezić a post as governor of Transylvania, but the deterioration of the military situation led to a rather rapid collapse of leadership.

Death.

After the army laid down their weapons and surrendered to the Russians, he, along with the other prisoners, was handed over to the Austrian military and entered the Arad prison. His wife initially attended to him diligently, but with the harvest approaching, Knezićné ordered her in September to return home. She said goodbye to her husband and left him there.  The Austrians held a court martial for all the leaders of the Hungarian army. He was sentenced to death by hanging, and was eighth in the line to be executed (fourth among those executed by hanging).  His bones were uncovered in 1932 during the flood of Arad. His body currently rests in the Arad cemetery crypt.

Károly Knezić (6 September 1808, Veliki Grđevac - 6 October 1849, Arad) was a honvéd general in the Hungarian Army. On his father's side he had Croatian roots, while his mother was a Hungarian. He was executed for his part in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, and is considered one of the 13 Martyrs of Arad.


Early life.

Cherry-Evans was born in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia to an English-born mother and an Australian father. His father, Troy Evans, played as a for the Norths Devils and Redcliffe Dolphins in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership during the 1980s and 1990s. His mother, Kellie Cherry, named Cherry-Evans after dual British Olympic Gold Medalist Daley Thompson. His brother Darcy Cherry-Evans is a professional scooter rider and his brother Dylan Cherry-Evans also plays rugby league and has played for Beerwah Bulldogs and Brighton Roosters.  He began playing rugby league for the Redcliffe Dolphins at 5-years-old. At 12 years of age Cherry-Evans moved to Mackay, Queensland with his family and continued to play junior rugby league for the Mackay Brothers. He attended St Patrick's College during his high school years. He also attended Redcliffe State High School and was a part of the reddy boys. At the beginning of 2008 Cherry-Evans was invited by Dennis Moore to trial with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and later signed a contract to play for their under-20s National Youth Competition team.

Playing career.

National Youth Competition (2008-09).

Cherry-Evans played 46 games for the National Youth Competition team of Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles over the 2008 and 2009 season where he scored 246 points in total including 24 tries. He was named on the interchange bench of the 2009 Toyota Cup season's team of the year.

Sunshine Coast (2010).

At the conclusion of the 2009 Toyota Cup season, Cherry-Evans found himself behind Trent Hodkinson as Manly's first grade halfback after the departure of club captain Matt Orford. As a result, Cherry-Evans was sent to play for Manly's Queensland Cup feeder club the Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles. After captaining the team for most of the season, Cherry-Evans was named the Queensland Cup Player of the Year, and Rookie of the Year. His performances in the side saw him selected to the Queensland Residents team where he was also named team captain.

2011.

With Hodkinson moving to play for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Cherry-Evans made his debut for Manly in Round 1 of the 2011 NRL season against the Melbourne Storm at in the Sea Eagles 18-6 loss at AAMI Park. In Round 12 against the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium, Cherry-Evans scored his first NRL career tries in the Sea Eagles 34-10 victory, one of which was set up by a flick pass from Brett Stewart who while diving for the ball had scooped it up one handed and passed to Cherry-Evans in the same movement. In round 13 against the Bulldogs, Cherry-Evans crossed the try line untouched from a scrum, performed a one-on-one strip on Dene Halatau, and had 3 try assists in a dominating display that saw him named as halfback in the BigPond Sport Team of the Week. In October 2011, English coach Steve McNamara offered Cherry-Evans a starting spot on the England team for the 2011 Four Nations as he is eligible for England through his English born mother Kellie. Cherry-Evans declined the offer, declaring himself available only to play representative football for both Queensland and Australia should he be selected.  Cherry-Evans won the 2011 Dally M Rookie of the Year award, and scored a try in Manly's victory over the New Zealand Warriors in the 2011 NRL grand final. He gave a perfect inside pass for Brett Stewart to score the first try of the match in the 30th minute of the game. His own try just before the game's half time was set up by an audacious grubber kick by Clive Churchill Medal winner Glenn Stewart. The Manly grubber kicked for winger Michael Robertson on his own 20 metre line. Robertson regathered and raced 50 metres down field, evading a desperate tackle from Manu Vatuvei (and colliding with Cherry-Evans in the process, causing a possible obstruction that was not called by the referees), before passing to Matt Ballin who continued the run until tackled only 5 metres out from scoring. On the next play Cherry-Evans received the ball from halves partner Kieran Foran, threw two dummy-passes and scored next to the posts to give the Sea Eagles a match winning 12-2 lead after Lyon's conversion. Manly went on to defeat the Warriors 24-10 to win their 8th premiership, with DCE the first rookie halfback to lead his team to premiership success since "Slippery" Steve Morris won with St George in 1979. Cherry-Evans finished his excellent debut year in the NRL in the 2011 NRL season with him playing in all 27 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles matches, scoring 7 tries, kicking 25 goals and 3 field goals. He was named by the Rugby League International Federation in its annual awards as the world's best halfback for 2011.

2012.

Cherry-Evans played in all 27 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles matches and scored 7 tries, kicked 3 goals and kicked 1 field goal during the 2012 NRL season.

2013.

Since he made his debut for Manly in Round 1 of the 2011 NRL season, Cherry-Evans had not missed a single game of the NRL. Due to his selection for Qld in Game III of the 2013 Origin series, DCE missed his first game for the Sea Eagles, missing their Round 18 clash with North Queensland in Townsville. Cherry-Evans won the Clive Churchill man of the match medal in the Sea Eagles 26-18 Grand Final defeat by the Sydney Roosters. Cherry-Evans is the third player since the award's inception in 1986 to win the Medal from a losing Grand Final side and one of four who have achieved the honour, joining Canberra's Bradley Clyde (1991), St George's Brad Mackay (1993) and Canberra's Jack Wighton (2019). Cherry-Evans played in 27 matches, scored 11 tries and kicked 2 field goals for the Sea Eagles in the 2013 NRL season.

2014.

On 14 February 2014, Cherry-Evans was selected in the Sea Eagles inaugural 2014 Auckland Nines squad. In Round 24 against the Parramatta Eels at Parramatta Stadium, Cherry-Evans played his 100th NRL career match in the Sea Eagles 22-12 loss. On 22 September 2014, Cherry-Evans was selected in the Australian Four Nations train-on squad. On 29 September 2014, at the 2014 Dally M Awards, Cherry-Evans was named 2014 Dally M Halfback of the Year.

2015.

Cherry-Evans captained the Sea Eagles during the 2015 Auckland Nines competition. His team lost each of its matches throughout the pre-season competition.  On 6 March 2015, Cherry-Evans revealed he had agreed to join the Gold Coast Titans team in 2016 on a 4-year contract. He changed his mind to stay with the Sea Eagles on an 8 year deal on 3 June, before the NRL's Round 13 cooling off period expired. During the announcement, Cherry-Evans was quoted as saying: "I definitely left the door open for this speculation to continue because, to be honest, I was always curious to know what offer was going to be on the table from Manly". He was subsequently booed at later games in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The deal is rumored to be over $10m AUD or $1.3m per season.

2016.

In June 2016, Cherry-Evans suffered an ankle injury that kept him out of action for a month. Cherry Evans had a poor 2016 season with the Sea Eagles finishing off the season in thirteenth place. Although he showed small glimpses of what he could do, the 10 million dollar man scored 5 tries during the 2016 season and played 19 games.

2017.

On 13 January 2017 following the retirement of long time Manly premiership winning captain Jamie Lyon, Cherry-Evans was named as Manly's club captain for the 2017 NRL season. After a poor 2016, Daly Cherry Evans hit back at the critics by having a great 2017, by leading the Sea Eagles to the finals since 2014. The Sea Eagles were eliminated from the 2017 NRL Finals Series. At the end of the year he was named Player of the Year by the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles for this great season. At the end of the 2017 season Daly played all 25 games for the sea eagles scoring 6 tries and kicking 9 goals.

2018.

On 21 April 2018 Cherry-Evans was fined $10,000 by Manly after an altercation with fellow Manly players Jackson Hastings. The incident involving Hastings and Cherry-Evans resulted in Hastings being ostracised from the playing group. An altercation on the training field in the lead-up to the side’s 32-20 loss to The Gold Coast carried forward when the players attended a Gladstone strip club after the game and then flared up even further at the team hotel later in the night.  On 28 May, Cherry-Evans was not selected to play in Queensland's 2018 State of Origin squad. On 2 July, Cherry-Evans was named to play in the game 3 of the 2018 State of Origin series due to injuries suffered within the Queensland squad.  At the End of the 2018 season Daly played 24 games, scoring 8 tries and kicking 65 Goals. Even though Manly finished 15th of the end of the 2018 NRL season, He was a stand out and was selected for the both of the test Matches between New Zealand national rugby league team and Mata maa tonga were Daly Scored a try in the 34-16 win at Mt Smart Stadium.

2019.

In Round 3, Cherry-Evans scored 2 tries and kicked 7 goals as Manly defeated the New Zealand Warriors 46-12. On 27 May, Cherry-Evans was picked to play at Halfback for the Queensland Maroons side and was also picked as the 15th Captain of the Queensland Maroons side. Cherry-Evans played in all 3 games of the 2019 State of Origin series as Queensland lost the series 2-1.  In Round 19, Cherry-Evans kicked the winning field goal in golden point extra-time as Manly defeated Melbourne 11-10 at AAMI Park.  Cherry-Evans made a total of 21 appearances for Manly in the 2019 NRL season as the club finished 6th on the table and qualified for the finals. Cherry-Evans played in both finals matches as Manly reached the elimination semi-final against South Sydney but were defeated 34-26 ending their season. On 7 October, Cherry-Evans was named in the Australian side for the Oceania Cup fixtures.

Representative rugby league career.

Allegiance.

Although Cherry-Evans was born in Brisbane, the fact that his mother is English made him eligible to represent either Australia or England at the test level. In 2011, England coach Steve McNamara offered Cherry-Evans a starting spot on the English team for the 2011 Four Nations tournament. Cherry-Evans declined the offer, declaring himself available only to play representative football for both Queensland and Australia should he be selected.

Australia.

In October 2011, coach Tim Sheens named Cherry-Evans in the Australian Four Nations squad. He made his test debut for Australia against Wales and scored a try at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham. He was selected for Australia's 2012 Anzac Test against New Zealand but did not take to the field.  Cherry-Evans was selected in the Kangaroos 24 man squad for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup squad, playing in 5 matches and scoring 2 tries. His form in the tournament saw him selected to play from the bench in Australia's 34-2 win over New Zealand in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup Final played in front of an international record attendance of 74,468 at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester.  Cherry-Evans' form in the early part of the 2014 NRL season saw him secure a position on Australia's interchange bench for the 2014 ANZAC Test in the Kangaroos 30-18 win over New Zealand at Sydney Football Stadium.

Queensland.

Queensland coach Mal Meninga selected Cherry-Evans as the 18th man for Game I of the 2012 and 2013 State of Origin series but he did not play in either game. He made his State of Origin debut for Queensland as an interchange in Game II of the 2013 series in front of a home crowd at Suncorp Stadium. Cherry-Evans played his part in Queensland's record breaking eighth straight State of Origin series win, coming on late in Game III, again as a makeshift back rower, as the Maroons held on against NSW to win a close game 12-10 in front of an ANZ Stadium record crowd of 83,813 fans.  Cherry-Evans also remained on Queensland's bench for Game I of the 2014 State of Origin series, in which incumbent halfback Cooper Cronk suffered a fractured arm, rendering him unavailable for Game II. This saw Cherry-Evans move into the starting halfback role for the loss which meant the end of the Maroons' 8-series winning streak. Cronk's recovery in time for Game III saw Cherry-Evans return to the interchange bench.  Game 3, 2018 saw Cherry Evans return from a three year absence at origin level. Evans played at in the dead rubber winning 18-12. His great form in the game received praise from lots of people.  At the start of the 2019 State of Origin series Cherry Evans was named as the 15th Captain of the Queensland Maroons.

Daly Cherry-Evans (born 20 February 1989) is an Australian rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the NRL and Australia at international level.


Plot summary.

"Kaspar" is loosely based on the story of Kaspar Hauser. "Raised in a dark hole, at 17 he wandered into a 1824 German town knowing only a single sentence and became a scientific curiosity: a nearly-adult human without language and external influences, a tabula rasa upon which society and its scientific teachers could write with impunity."

Major Themes.

"Kaspar" is about language and its ability to torture. In this play Handke "allows us to listen differently and to reflect on how language is forced upon us by a society where conformism is the norm and received speech an almost tyrannical exploitation of the individual."  It is also a play that suggests individuals are bound to negate themselves under the pressure of the societies that they live in. "What Kaspar experiences on stage can happen daily: The need or desire to conform, to observe and imitate someone else’s words and actions, to assert oneself and at the same time, negate oneself."  Individuals can also invent themselves using the language. In "Kaspar", Handke writes: "Already you have a sentence with which you can make yourself noticeable... You can explain to yourself how it goes with you... You have a sentence with which you can bring order into every disorder..."  Handke himself wrote in the prologue to the play: "The play "Kaspar" does not show how IT REALLY IS or REALLY WAS with Kaspar Hauser. It shows what is POSSIBLE with someone. It shows how someone can be made to speak through speaking. The play could also be called speech torture."  One critique summarised the theme of "Kaspar" thus: "the inherent authoritative power of language itself to shape, twist, expand, delimit, and mediate human experience, the ultimate tragicomic story of socialization and civilization.

Kaspar in Iran.

Kaspar is a play by Peter Handke. Mohsen Moeini was the dramaturgist and director of the play, produced by Negin Mirhasani Vahed. This play went on stage in Av Hall. Its run was extended three time and it was widely praised by the audience.

Kaspar is a play written by Austrian playwright Peter Handke. It was published in 1967. It was Handke's first full-length drama and was hailed in Europe as the "play of the Decade". It depicts "the foundling Kaspar Hauser as a near-speechless innocent destroyed by society’s attempts to impose on him its language and its own rational values."


The bubble years.

Background.

From 1991 to 2001, Ireland's real gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaged above 7% and there was a large expansion in the workforce. From 1990 to 2000, the Irish gross national product (GNP) per capita rose 58%, bringing it above the European Union average. The pace of expansion in lending to households from 2003–2007 was among the highest in the Eurozone, with German banks having US$208.3 billion in total exposure to Ireland. These factors led to house prices increasing by 17% between May 2000 to May 2001 alone. In August 2000, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report contended that Irish property prices were almost certainly heading for a collapse in the medium term since "no industrial country in the last 20 years had experienced price increases on the scale of Ireland without suffering a subsequent fall". From 2000, approximately 75,000 housing units were built every year as detailed by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government with sufficient planning permission being granted so that by 2005, there was enough zoned land to accommodate 460,000 new homes as housing density figures continued to rise each year. House prices went on to more than double between 2000 and 2006, with tax incentives being a key driver of this price rise. The Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat government received much criticism for these policies. In 2004, the independently produced Review of the Construction Industry, commissioned by the Department for the Environment, estimates that 12% of the workforce were employed directly in the construction industry. One author described the "Breakfast Roll Men"—named after the popular convenience food construction workers often ate—as "the pumping heart of the economy".  Interest rates set by the European Central Bank (ECB) are only guided by low inflation targets in the Eurozone. Some felt this was, and is, too narrow an objective, leading to decisions on interest rates that are inappropriate, e.g. for states with record levels of employment, rising house prices, and consumer spending.

Contributing factors.

Poor financial sector supervision.

The pace of credit expansion to finance the Irish housing bubble accelerated sharply in the years preceding the crisis. The relaxed and weak Irish regulatory supervision of the financial sector made the financing of excessively increasing real estate prices in the Irish market possible. The Financial Regulator and the Central Bank were responsible for the inadequacy of the financial stability system at the time of crisis. The financial institutions at the heart of the crisis have contributed to a general climate of mistrust in the transparency and accountability of the financial sector in Ireland, as well as in the capacity of corporate oversight and enforcement.  The Central Bank admitted in November 2005, that estimates of overvaluation of 20% to 60% in the Irish residential property market existed. The "Irish Times" revealed minutes of a meeting with the OECD which indicated that while the Central Bank agreed that Irish property was overvalued, it was fearful of precipitating a crash by "putting a number on it". Senior Allied Irish Bank officials expressed concerns in 2006 that Central Bank stress tests were "not stressful enough" — two years before the collapse of the Irish banking system. The CBOI continually ignored warnings from the Ireland-based Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) about the dangerous scale of bank loans to property speculators and developers.  Corrective regulatory action was delayed and timid to the unsustainable property price and construction bubble during the mid-2000s. After the bubble burst, Irish banks faced mounting losses on a scale that exposed them to a collapse of confidence following the Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy in September 2008; they then suffered acute liquidity pressures, which had to be met by Central Bank support, including emergency lending. Management abuses, which the CBOI did not restrain, were also revealed at Anglo Irish Bank, which had to be nationalised in January 2009.  In its Annual Report, which was published just three months before the government was forced to unconditionally guarantee the deposits of the Irish-owned banks, the Central Bank said: "The banks have negligible exposure to the sub-prime sector and they remain relatively healthy by the standard measures of capital, profitability and asset quality. This has been confirmed by the stress testing exercises we have carried out with the banks".  The next Annual Report had virtually nothing to say about how and why the Irish banking system was brought to the brink of collapse. Despite having four directors on the board of the Financial Regulator, the Central Bank maintained it had no powers to intervene in the market. Still, the Central Bank had the power to issue directives to the Financial Regulator if it appeared as though business was being conducted in a way that was contrary to overall Central Bank policy aims. None were issued.  In July 2009, a senior Central Bank official told the Oireachtas Enterprise Committee that shareholders (later corrected/clarified to refer to institutional investors) who lost their money in the banking collapse were to blame for their fate and got what was coming to them for not keeping bank chiefs in check. The official did admit that the Central Bank had failed to give sufficient warning about reckless lending to property developers.  A report by the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee said it was "exercising inadequate supervision" and a proper analysis of loan books of the banks was not done.  The European Commission in a November 2010 review of the financial crisis said, "Some national supervisory authorities failed dramatically. We know that in Ireland there was almost no supervision of the large banks." Two months later, the President of the EU Commission in an angry exchange in the European Parliament, with a vehemence that shocked his audience, said that "the problems of Ireland were created by the irresponsible financial behaviour of some Irish institutions, and by the lack of supervision in the Irish market."  The CBOI had the Government put contingency plans in place to provide armed Defence Force security for major Irish banks over fears of public disorder should a cash shortage be triggered at the height of the financial crisis.  The reckless lending practices of banks cost taxpayers €64 billion or €16,000 for every man, woman and child living in the Republic of Ireland.

Increased prosperity.

Since 1994, the Irish economy saw considerable investment from multinational corporations. Irish education standards were perceived as high relative to those existing in other English-speaking countries. Improvements in the technical education area also played a key role in upgrading the skills of the Irish workforce. The combination of high education standards and capitalisation ratios in investment projects resulted in considerable improvements in labour productivity for the economy as a whole. This resulted in increased wage levels for the traded sector of the economy.

Eurozone membership and ECB interest rate policy.

Ireland joined the initial launch of the euro on 1 January 1999, in accordance with the 1992 Maastricht Treaty and gave control of its monetary policy to the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, in accordance with the 1998 Treaty of Amsterdam. The euro contributed to the post-1998 investment rate in countries that previously had a weak currency through the integration of financial markets; however, there is little or no evidence that the introduction of the euro increased the efficiency of capital allocation. The introduction of the single currency, with European Central Bank interest rates being lower than what national interest rates would have been had Ireland not joined the Euro, meant that those buying property were encouraged to borrow larger amounts of money. As prices continued upward, financial institutions offered 100% loans, even more (to finance, for example, the purchase of furnishings and landscaping). Newspapers carried advertising for properties urging people to get onto the "property ladder," as property was seen as a guaranteed bet. Over time, the scale of residential mortgage debt reached a proportion that greatly concerned the Irish government because of its effects on the Republic's economy. The increasing cost of property and the need to borrow money to acquire property in Ireland resulted in substantial increases in the total level of private sector debt. This became of increasing concern to the Irish Central Bank, which had issued many warnings in an effort to affect consumer behaviour, but which signally failed to use any micro-economic tools such as prudential limits on lending or deposit requirements. Inflation was higher in Ireland than elsewhere in the Eurozone.

Impact of rising prices.

A side-effect of high urban housing valuations was a drift into rural hinterlands to live in lower cost housing. This happened on a substantial scale in the Greater Dublin area in counties Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, Louth, and Carlow. This resulted in infrastructural pressure being placed on rural villages and provincial towns as residential developments exceeded the pace of both infrastructural development and provision of services for the growing population.

Role of the media.

Throughout the bubble, newspapers and media played a vital role in hyping property. No national newspaper was without a glossy property supplement and weekend papers were often equally filled with property ads, reviews of new developments, stories of successful purchases, makeovers, and a gamut of columnists relating their property experiences. TV and radio schedules were filled with further property porn - house-hunting programs and house makeover programs were regular features on every channel. Even in July 2007, "Irish Independent" journalist/comedian Brendan O'Connor urged people to buy property, even as the bubble was clearly bursting. In April 2011, journalist Vincent Browne admitted that the Irish media had played an important role in adding to the frenzy of the Irish property bubble.

Downturn.

Eventually, demand for residential property fell in early 2007, resulting in price decreases of 0.6% in March 2007, and of 0.8% in April 2007. This led to an expectation of a drop in house prices on a quarterly basis for the first time since 1994. Houses in the commuter belt in Greater Dublin fell earlier, due to a combination of increased supply in the Dublin urban area, increasing interest rates, and continuing infrastructural deficiencies in rural communities. Prices in large urban areas were static, though demand dropped noticeably. However, a significant proportion of these new builds are unoccupied. Economic commentators give a figure of approximately 230,000 vacant properties. Of these, up to 115,000 or so may be holiday homes. Figures exist for completions because the Electricity Supply Board provides information on the number of properties newly connected to the electricity network and from data supplied by local authorities and from the Department of the Environment and the Central Statistics Office. Newspaper articles provided anecdotal evidence of declining valuations with respect to the guide prices, and the agreed prices for Irish residential property since October 2006. The decline in property prices was tracked by the ESRI House Price Index, which reported prices starting to fall in the second quarter of 2007. Construction employment dropped according to Live Register statistics for May 2007.  There has also been reported cases of mortgage fraud where borrowers overestimated their income to enable them to borrow more. There was a worry that these people "could fall into serious debt if Ireland had a property crisis like that in Britain in the late 1980s". This experience has resulted in the "sub-prime residential mortgage fallout" in the United States. In December 2006, the Irish state-owned broadcasting organisation, RTÉ, broadcast an investigation in a Prime Time documentary which unearthed evidence that financial details of prospective customers were being sold by mortgage brokers to auctioneers. Such information would enable auctioneers to maximise the price attained from prospective buyers. This issue, and further allegations in this area, are currently being investigated by the Office for Data Protection.  In the summer of 2007, the Economic and Social Research Institute issued its Quarterly Economic Commentary predicting that Irish public finances would fall into deficit in 2007, and house prices would fall by 3%. A research paper by UCD Professor Morgan Kelly, published by the ESRI alongside the Quarterly Economic Commentary, suggested that the "same people who told us we would have a soft landing are saying we will crawl out... we have bottomed out. We have not. We are very far from the bottom of the property market." Up to 60 per cent could be wiped off the real value of houses over the following eight years to 2015 if the Republic's housing market followed the same pattern as those in other countries.  These reports were met with hostility by the political establishment; on 4 July 2007, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern stated at a conference in Donegal that he did not understand why people sitting on the sidelines, "cribbing and moaning" about the economy, did not commit suicide. Many bank economists, media commentators, estate agents, property developers and business leaders went on the record to state their belief that the Irish property market was healthy, and that any decrease in house prices was indicative was a soft landing only.  By late 2011, house prices in Dublin were down 51% from peak and apartment prices down over 60%. Residential property prices fell nationally by a further 13.6% from the beginning of 2012 to July 2012.

The crash in 2009.

As predicted in earlier reports dating from 2006 and 2007, a property price crash hit Ireland by the first half of 2009. It coincided with the 2009 recession as both had started to develop in late 2008 following the global economic slowdown and credit control tightening. By June 2009, it was reported that around 40% of the price escalation that had occurred during the property bubble years ("Celtic Tiger Part 2") of 2001–2007 had been lost. As of 2012, house prices are below the 2001 prices and more than the entire gain during the Celtic Tiger years has been erased.  There were several groups and organisations that were blamed and that also accused others of causing the crash. Some of the more notable ones were:  In general, it was assumed to be a combination of factors that were both external and internal that affected the country. Further revelations of the corruption within the banking sector, particularly Anglo Irish Bank, have continued to affect the credibility of Ireland's presence within the international finance and business community.  During the property bubble, a disproportionate number of people were employed in the construction industry. As that has contracted and other manufacturing moved offshore, unemployment by May 2009 was at 11.4%, and had reached 14.3% by September 2011. The Economic and Social Research Institute estimated it will eventually reach around 17%.

The Irish property bubble was the overshooting part of a long-term price increase of real estate in the Republic of Ireland from the late-1990s to 2007, a period known as the Celtic Tiger. In 2006, the prices peaked at the top of the bubble, with a combination of increased speculative construction and rapidly rising prices; in 2007 the prices first stabilised and then started falling until 2010. By the second quarter of 2010, house prices in Ireland had fallen by 35% compared with the second quarter of 2007, and the number of housing loans approved fell by 73%.