History.

Tall al-Sumayriyya contains carved stones, a mosaic floor, tombs, columns, and stone capitals. Khirbat Abu 'Ataba has an Islamic shrine and ceramic fragments.  In the Crusader era, it was mentioned in 1277 under the name of "Somelaria". At the time, the village belonged to the Templars. In the hudna of 1283 between Al Mansur Qalawun and the Crusaders, Al-Sumayriyya was still under Crusader rule while in 1291 it had come under Mamluk control.  A building with a court-yard, measuring 60,5 by 57 meters, dating from the Crusader era, has been noted in the village, and a 13th-century glass-factory has been excavated.

Ottoman era.

It was mentioned in the Ottoman defter for the year 1555-6, named "Summayriyah", located in the "Nahiya" of Akka of the "Liwa" of Safad, and with its land designated as "Sahi" land, that is, land belonging to the Sultan.  In 1738 Richard Pococke passed by the place, which he called "Semmars". He thought the name came from "St. Mary's", and noted the remains of a wall of hewn stone, which he thought had belonged to a convent.  A map by Pierre Jacotin from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 showed the place, named as "El Esmerieh".  In 1875 Victor Guérin found the village had 400 Muslim inhabitants. In 1881, the PEF's "Survey of Western Palestine" described the place as a village of "mud and stone houses, containing about 200 [..] Moslems, situated on the plain, surrounded by a few clumps of olives and figs and arable land; two or three cisterns are in the village, the aqueduct near brings good water."  A population list from about 1887 showed the village to have about 270 inhabitants; all Muslims.

British Mandate era.

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities "Semariyeh" had a population of 307; 300 Muslims and 7 Christians, where all the Christians were Maronite. This had increased in the 1931 census to 392, 390 Muslims, 1 Christian and 1 Jew, in a total of 92 houses.  Al-Sumayriyya had an elementary school for boys, which was founded in 1943. In 1945, it had an enrollment of 60 students. One mosque which remains.  In 1944/1945 the village had a population of 760 Muslims, with a total of 8,542 dunams of land. Of this, 6,854 dunams were allocated to grain crops; 354 dunams were irrigated or planted with orchards, while 28 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

1948, and aftermath.

At the beginning of 1945, al-Sumayriyya's 760 inhabitants were all Arab Muslims. The inhabitants fled as a result of the 14 May 1948 assault on the village by the Carmeli Brigade during Operation Ben-Ami, one day before the official outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The village - along with neighbouring al-Bassa and al-Zib which were also captured in the offensive - was subsequently destroyed, except its mosque.  Lohamei HaGeta'ot and Shomrat are both on village land. Morris writes that Bustan HaGalil was built near its site, however, Khalidi writes that Bustan HaGalil is on the land of Al-Manshiyya. Shavey Tziyon and Regba are close to the northern borders of Al-Sumayriyya, but were established on land that used to belong to Mazra'a.

Al-Sumayriyya (, "Katasir" in Canaanite times, "Someleria" during Crusader rule), was a Palestinian village located six kilometers north of Acre that was depopulated after it was captured by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.


History.

Project Semicolon was founded by Amy Bleuel in 2013, as a tribute to her father, who died by suicide in 2003. She was a Christian.

Amy Bleuel.

Bleuel lived in Wisconsin. After her parents divorced, Bleuel chose to live with her father and his second wife at the age of 6. Since then, Bleuel endured being physically abused by her stepmother. At the age of 8, she was taken into state custody by a child protective service. Bleuel began self-harming and attempting to kill herself after she had been sexually abused at the age of 10, and raped at 13. At the age of 18, Bleuel's father died from suicide, and she was subsequently released from the system. In her early years in college, Bleuel was raped twice and suffered a miscarriage. Bleuel suffered from alcoholism at the age of 30 and had five major suicidal attempts.  Bleuel died on March 23, 2017, aged 31; the cause of death was ruled as suicide. She was romantically involved with her partner David.

Overview.

Project Semicolon defines itself as "dedicated to presenting hope and love for those who are struggling with mental illness, suicide, addiction and self-injury", and "exists to encourage, love and inspire". While they are devoted to achieving lower suicide rates in the U.S. and worldwide, they do not themselves practice psychiatry, and the staff are not trained mental health professionals. Rather, they recommend contacting emergency hotlines (e.g. 9-1-1 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) or seeking mental health professionals. The movement is inclusive for people holding different beliefs or religions.

Advocacy.

Project Semicolon explains that "a semicolon is used when an author could've chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life".  The movement became prominent in early July 2015. People have started uploading photos of their own semicolon tattoos through social media to support the movement, gaining attention from a variety of mainstream news outlets.  Amy Bleuel remarked on the initial outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, crisis hotlines having reported a major uptick, that "There's valid fear, and fear drives suicide. Also, sadness drives suicide. So these people are feeling this, and it's at an overwhelming extent that they're choosing to go that route."  A book titled "Project Semicolon: Your Story Isn't Over" was released on September 5, 2017. Published by HarperCollins, it is a compilation of stories and photos shared within Project Semicolon's online community.

Support.

To commemorate the 2017 premiere of "13 Reasons Why", a suicide-themed Netflix drama series, co-executive producer Selena Gomez and cast members Alisha Boe and Tommy Dorfman received semicolon tattoos on their wrists.

IGY6;.

There is a nonprofit organization inspired by Project Semicolon called The IGY6; Foundation. It was created by combat veterans to support veterans and first responders, and advocate for suicide prevention and awareness. Like Project Semicolon, it uses identifying tattoos: the phrase "IGY6" is used (meaning "I Got Your 6", or "I Got Your Back"), as well as a semicolon (coming from Project Semicolon, sometimes in the color teal to symbolize PTSD awareness), and occasionally the number 22 (representing a statistic that an average of 22 United States military veterans commit suicide every day).

Project Semicolonstylized as Project ;is an American nonprofit organization known for its advocacy of mental health wellness and its focus as an anti-suicide initiative. Founded in 2013, the movement's aim is "presenting hope and love to those who are struggling with depression, suicide, addiction, and self-injury". They are known for encouraging people to tattoo the punctuation mark semicolon (;) as a form of solidarity between people dealing with mental illness or the death of someone from suicide.


Design and description.

"Teleost" is of a large commercial stern fishing trawler design. The vessel is long overall with a beam of and a draught of. The vessel is powered by one Caterpillar 3612 geared diesel engine driving one controllable-pitch propeller, creating. The ship is also equipped with two emergency generators; one Caterpillar 3303 and one Caterpillar 3512. This gives the vessel a maximum speed of. "Teleost" carries of diesel fuel, with a range of at and can stay at sea for up to 42 days. The vessel has a complement of 22 with 9 officers and 13 crew and has 15 spare berths.

Service history.

The fishing vessel was initially constructed by Tangen Verft at Kragerø, Norway with the yard number 93. The ship was launched on 12 March 1988 as "Atlantic Champion". The vessel's construction was taken over by Langsten Slip-Batbyggeri AS at their yard in Tomrefjord, Norway and "Atlantic Champion" was completed on 14 July 1988. In 1993, the ship was purchased by Canada for use as a fisheries research vessel. The ship underwent conversion to a fisheries research vessel in 1994. The new name of the ship was chosen in a contest by schoolchildren. The winning selection was the teleost, a type of bony fish. "Teleost" entered service with the Canadian Coast Guard in 1996. is registered in Ottawa, Ontario, but homeported at St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.  The vessel carries out surveys of the Newfoundland and Labrador region. "Teleost" is equipped with several types of laboratories. The vessel can also perform search and rescue duties. In September 2009 the Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced invitations for contracts to replace several of the Coast Guard's research vessels, including "Teleost". "Teleost" underwent a $1.6 million refit at St. John's Dockyard in St. John's. The refit was extended past its deadline to 30 March 2018 after additional steel work was required on the ship. "Teleost" was scheduled to replace on the Department of Fisheries and Oceans's fisheries survey on the Georges Bank since the latter was also undergoing a refit, but due to the refit's extension, became unavailable.

CCGS "Teleost" is a Canadian Coast Guard fisheries research vessel. The ship was originally constructed in Norway in 1988 as a commercial fishing trawler named "Atlantic Champion". In 1993, the Canadian government purchased the vessel and after a competition among schoolchildren, the vessel was named "Teleost" by the winner. The vessel was converted to an offshore fisheries research vessel in 1994–1995 and entered service in 1996 with the Canadian Coast Guard. The ship is currently in active service.


Playing career.

As a youth, Barber played in the 2006 and 2007 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with the Pittsburgh Hornets, and then the Detroit Red Wings minor ice hockey teams.  Barber played college hockey for the Miami RedHawks of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In his freshman year, Barber's outstanding play was rewarded with a selection to the 2012–13 Central Collegiate Hockey Association All-Conference First Team. In 40 games, he tallied 15 goals and 24 assists for 39 points and was second in team scoring by then-sophomore Austin Czarnik. On December 22, 2013, during his sophomore season at Miami, Barber was named captain of the United States men's national junior ice hockey team for the 2014 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. He had been a member of the 2013 United States squad that won gold.  On April 17, 2015, Barber chose to forego his senior with Miami and signed a three-year entry-level deal with the Capitals. He was assigned to the Capitals' AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears. He made his professional debut on October 10, 2015, registering two goals in a 5–1 win over the Springfield Falcons.  During the 2016–17 season, on February 24, 2017, Barber made his NHL debut with the Capitals against the Edmonton Oilers.  On December 7, 2018, the Capitals recalled Barber from Hershey after placing T. J. Oshie on injured reserve, though he did not play. He led the Bears with 18 points in 20 appearances for the season before being recalled.  On July 1, 2019, Barber joined the Montreal Canadiens as a free agent, agreeing to a one-year, two-way contract. After participating in the Canadiens training camp, Barber was waived on September 24, 2019. He was reassigned to the Canadiens minor league affiliate, Laval Rocket, to begin the 2019–20 season.  After leading the Rocket in points with 18 (6G, 12A) points in 21 games. The Canadiens decided to recall Barber from to the NHL on December 8, 2019. This was his first NHL call-up since playing three NHL games with the Washington Capitals in the 2016–17 season. After playing eight games and registering zero points with the Montreal Canadiens, Barber was sent back to Laval. On February 20, 2020, while with Laval, Barber was traded by the Canadiens along with Phil Varone to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Joseph Blandisi and Jake Lucchini. He was immediately assigned to join affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Riley Barber (born February 7, 1994) is an American professional ice hockey forward who is currently playing for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Barber was selected by the Washington Capitals in the sixth round (167th overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. He is the son of retired NHL player Don Barber.


Early life.

McKenzie grew up in Mesa, Arizona. When he was young he wanted to become a music minister, even though his family did not regularly attend church.  Starting at age fifteen, McKenzie spent six summers assisting at a summer camp for children and adults with mental and physical disabilities called Lions Camp Tatiyee. It is where he first came in contact with people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The camp inspired him to enroll at Columbia College Chicago, where he studied American Sign Language and Childhood Education with the intention of becoming a special needs teacher. He graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor's degree in American Sign Language and Vocal Performance.  During high school, McKenzie had a casual involvement in the arts and was involved with some theatre, but did not see it as a possible career.

Career.

"Spring Awakening" (2014–2016).

Soon after graduating from Columbia College Chicago, McKenzie sent in a tape to director Michael Arden and the creative team at Deaf West Theatre, with hopes of obtaining a job as an interpreter during the company's ASL-inclusive run of "Spring Awakening". However, the Deaf West team saw his potential, and requested he audition for the leading role in the production—the radical atheist Melchior Gabor. He was given the role, and began rehearsing for the show in mid-2014. At first, McKenzie was the only member of the hearing cast that was able to effectively communicate with their deaf and hard-of-hearing cohorts, thanks to his training in ASL. Deaf West's "Spring Awakening" originally performed at a 99-seat theatre off of skid row in Los Angeles, California from September 14, 2014 to November 9, 2014. It was McKenzie's professional theatre debut.  In 2015, the production was rebooted at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills with the additions of cast members Andy Mientus, as Hanschen Rilow, Krysta Rodriguez, as Ilse Neumann, Alex Boniello, as the voice of Moritz Stiefel and Alex Wyse as Georg Zirschnitz. McKenzie reprised his role as Melchior. McKenzie and the rest of the cast were highly acclaimed by critics, receiving many nominations and wins for Ovation Awards; including his Best Leading Actor in a Musical nomination. The show ran from May 21, 2015 to June 14, 2015.  In the mid-summer of 2015, it was announced that the production would be transferring to Broadway with its current cast for a limited engagement at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. McKenzie made his Broadway debut on September 8, 2015, and stayed with the production through its closing on January 24, 2016. The show ran two weeks past its intended run due to its rave reviews, and garnered three Tony Award nominations including Best Revival of a Musical.

Film and television (2015–present).

In addition to theatre, McKenzie has appeared on both the big and small screen. In 2015, he appeared in a one-episode guest starring role in the television series "The 101."  He starred in the feature film "Speech & Debate," adapted from the hit 2007 off-Broadway play of the same name by Tony-winning playwright Stephen Karam and released by Sycamore Pictures and Vertical Entertainment in select theaters and VOD on April 7, 2017. McKenzie stars as one of three leads as the character of Howie, an openly gay teenager alongside Sarah Steele, who also starred in the original off-Broadway premiere of "Speech & Debate" and Liam James. The film features three misfit students in high school who are frustrated with the hypocrisy they see in their parents and school staff. Together, they try to revive an extinct school debate club to face the situation in which they find themselves. A number of theater names including Darren Criss and Lin-Manuel Miranda cameo in the film and Kristin Chenoweth sings an original song for the film.  McKenzie recently starred in the ABC docudrama miniseries "When We Rise", helmed by Dustin Lance Black and Gus Van Sant. He portrays the young LGBT activist Cleve Jones in the period piece, which chronicles the personal and political struggles, setbacks and triumphs of a diverse family of LGBTQ people who helped pioneer an offshoot of the Civil Rights Movement from its turbulent infancy in the 20th century to the once unfathomable successes of today. "When We Rise" tells the history of the modern gay rights movement, starting with the Stonewall riots in 1969. McKenzie also sings "Thinking of You" from the "When We Rise" soundtrack.

Personal life.

McKenzie is dating actor Kevin McHale.

Austin P. McKenzie (born August 24, 1993) is an American actor known for his role as Melchior Gabor in Deaf West Theatre's 2015 Broadway Revival of "Spring Awakening". His performance as Melchior has garnered significant critical acclaim, and multiple theatrical award nominations for both Los Angeles runs and its run on Broadway.


Cricket career.

Sackville was first recorded as a cricketer in the 1734 season when he and his brother Lord Middlesex played for Kent v Sussex at Sevenoaks Vine on Friday 6 September.  On 20 August 1735, Sackville again captained Kent to victory against Sir William Gage's Sussex at Sevenoaks Vine. Shortly afterwards, the "London Evening Post" speculated that "the Conqueror" (i.e., a decider) between the Kent and Sussex teams would be played in a few days, but there is no record of a further match.  Sackville became the main patron of the Kent team and captained the side in many matches until 1745 at least, but he is not mentioned in the sources after that.  In 1739, Sackville played for London Cricket Club which was having selection problems at the time.  In the 1744 English cricket season, Lord John challenged an All-England side to play against his Kent team and Kent won the game with one wicket to spare, largely thanks to Sackville himself taking a memorable catch to dismiss Richard Newland. The match details were recorded and preserved in what is now cricket's second oldest known scorecard.  In 1745, Sackville wrote a letter to the Duke of Richmond after Sussex had lost to Surrey and said: "I wish you had let Ridgeway play instead of your stopper behind it might have turned the match in our favour". Evidently, Sackville had wagered on Sussex to win.

Family and personal life.

Sackville was a notorious rake in his salad days. He was compelled to marry Lady Frances Leveson-Gower, daughter of John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower and sister of the Duchess of Bedford in 1744, after she gave birth to his child at Woburn. They eventually had issue two sons and one daughter. The couple's parents were furious, and the Prince of Wales compensated Sackville for any loss of income, making him a lord of his bedchamber in 1745, and thus securing him as a recruit to his party.  Their son, John Frederick, later 3rd Duke of Dorset, was a member of the Hambledon Club and a leading supporter of cricket in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Sackville's son-in-law, the 8th Earl of Thanet, was an early member of the Marylebone Cricket Club. His grandsons John Tufton and Henry Tufton were noted amateur players at the end of the 18th century.  Sackville was also disappointed when Lord Wilmington the late Prime Minister (d. 1743) declined to leave him his Sussex estates, worth £3-£4,000 a year. It is not clear if Wilmington's decision was made because of Sackville's messy private life, or his political inconstancy. He was also a coward, and refused to join the Guards when sent abroad. Finally, he was committed to a private lunatic asylum circa 1746, then sent abroad to exile on a very small allowance in Lausanne where Lord Shelburne met him in 1760, and commented on his dirty condition but lucid conversation.  According to his descendant Robert Sackville-West, 7th Baron Sackville in his book "Inheritance" he became insane later in life, dying in Geneva, Switzerland, aged 52. However, his brother lived long enough to allow John Philip's son to inherit his title and become the next Duke of Dorset.

Lord John Philip Sackville (22 June 1713 – 3 December 1765) was the second son of Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset. He was a keen cricketer who was closely connected with the sport in Kent.


History.

Early history.

Port Nelson was named by Thomas Button who wintered there in 1612. "August 15, 1612 Captain Thomas Button seeking for a harbour on the west coast of Hudson's Bay in which he might repair damages incurred during a severe storm, discovered the mouth of a large river which he designated Port Nelson, from the name of the master of his ship whom he buried there."  It was during the period from 1660-1870 - when many Assiniboine and Swampy Cree trappers and hunters became middlemen in the Hudson’s Bay Company fur trade economy in Western Canada - that the Cree began to be referred to as "three distinct groups: the Woodland Cree, the Plains Cree, and the Swampy Cree (Ray 1998)." The Swampy Cree and the Assiniboine used the Nelson River, along with the Hayes River, as the main inland routes to the great inland lake, Lake Winnipeg. Although the Nelson is much larger, the Hayes was a better route into the interior. Therefore, most of the Hudson's Bay Company's trade was done from York Factory on the Hayes, which was built in 1684. In 1694-95 Father Marest recorded "The Assiniboine are thirty-five or forty days journey from the fort [Port Nelson]."  "For more than two hundred years, from two to five sailing vessels, on an average, frequently with war ships conveying them, have sailed annually from Europe and America to Port Nelson, or other ports in Hudson's Bay and returned with cargoes the same season via the only available route, Hudson's Straits."

20th century boom and decline.

In the early 1900s, the Government of Canada felt that a major harbour on Hudson Bay was needed for shipping grain from central Canada. In 1912 Port Nelson was selected as the site over Churchill (at the mouth of the Churchill River) to become the terminus of the Hudson Bay Railway, the construction of which had already begun from The Pas in 1910.  In the winter of 1912-13 the site was surveyed and construction of a wharf began in the spring, followed by buildings and other infrastructure built during the summer. The brand new Canadian research ship CSS "Acadia" was sent from Halifax to chart the harbour and approaches in the summer of 1913 and 1914. However the whole harbour project was fraught with problems from the start. Material shortages, labour disputes, storms, fires, and boating accidents led to major delays. Another setback was the necessity to completely redesign the harbour because the fast flowing Nelson River was building up silt on both sides of the wharf. Therefore, the harbour was changed to a small man-made island farther out in the river. The island was connected to the mainland with a seventeen-span truss bridge, built by Dominion Bridge Company of Montreal. A wrecked ship currently lies on the island. When Canada entered the First World War, it resulted in further material and labour shortages, and more significantly, the loss of political and financial support. The project was able to continue a few more years until 1918 when all work stopped and the site was abandoned. The whole project was greatly criticized by several politicians, the media which called it a "gigantic blunder", and even the project's chief engineer.  The Hudson Bay Railway never reached Port Nelson and its tracks lay abandoned until 1927 when Churchill was chosen to become the northern shipping hub. Construction on the railway was restarted in 1927 and completed in 1929.  In 1989 Parks Canada began the York Factory Oral History Project which included compiling stories by Swampy Cree Elders. Flora Beardy, a York Factory Cree woman conducted interviews with fourteen elders, some of whom lived in Port Nelson.

Port Nelson is on Hudson Bay, in Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Nelson River. Its peak population in the early 20th century was about 1,000 people but today it is a ghost town. Immediately to the southsoutheast is the mouth of the Hayes River and the settlement of York Factory. Note that some books use 'Port Nelson' to mean the region around the mouths of the two rivers.


Types.

Cooling vests range in weight from around 1 to 3.5 kg, depending on the model. While many sub-types do exist, cooling vests fall into one of 5 primary types:

Uses.

The effects of cooling vests on athletes to improve their performance has been evaluated on several occasions; at the 2004 Summer Olympics several Americans and Australians were fitted with cooling vests supplied by Nike and Arctic Heat 2004,2008,2012,2016 Olympics, used prior to their events.  Cooling vests are also used by persons with multiple sclerosis. In multiple sclerosis, nerve fibers become demyelinated which leads to pain and discomfort when temperature is elevated. Nerve fibers may also be remyelinating or in the process of repairing themselves and still be sensitive to elevated temperatures. The cooling vest keeps the patient's temperature down, reducing the pain symptoms. In 2005, a 12-week study at the University of Buffalo was funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, a division of the U.S. Department of Education, to determine if people with multiple sclerosis could exercise longer with the help of a cooling vest.  Cooling vests are also used by large workforces in the industrial markets from construction to oil and gas. In 2018 The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy developed a state of the art cooling suit using evaporative cooling technology to help its 30,000 workforce complete the building of the Qatar 2022 World Cup Stadiums. This is believed to be the largest and most significant deployment of cooling workwear delivered and consulted by TechNiche UK.

A cooling vest is a piece of specially made clothing designed to lower or stabilize body temperature and make exposure to warm climates or environments more bearable. Cooling vests are used by many athletes, construction workers, and welders, as well as individuals suffering from multiple sclerosis, hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia, or various types of sports injuries.


Background.

After World War II, with Tibet closing its borders and Nepal becoming considerably more open, the reconnaissance of Mount Everest from Nepal had become possible for the first time.  In 1950 a highly informal trek involving Charlie Houston and Bill Tilman reached what was to become Everest Base Camp on the Khumbu Glacier. Although their report about whether the summit could be reached from there was not very encouraging, they thought an attempt might nonetheless be viable.

Topographical knowledge in 1951.

By 1951 the location of the South Col was well known – it had been seen from the east in Tibet and photographed from the air – but it had never been possible to view its western side. There remained three main aspects of a route to Everest via the Western Cwm where the difficulties were unknown: the Khumbu Icefall, the climb up to the South Col, and the ascent to the final ridge.  The best evidence about the Icefall was from Tilman and Houston, who were the only people to have seen it close up and who considered it difficult but achievable. The Western Cwm had been glimpsed several times, but it was not clear whether its floor was relatively flat or if it sloped up towards the head of the glacier below the South Col. A pronounced slope might make ascending the valley more awkward but it would reduce the height to be climbed at the head of the valley. Regarding the final ridge, the pair had seen a very steep ridge, quite possibly unclimbable, but they realised that appearances might have been deceptive: the ridge observed might have been blocking the view of a true ridge from the South Col to the summit. The 1921 reconnaissance had ascended the Kama valley east of Everest to approach the Kangshung Face. Observing the South Col from that side, they had seen a seemingly easier ridge linking it to the summit.  In early 1951, Everest enthusiast Michael Ward was carefully studying relevant photographs and maps (the Milne-Hink map) in the Royal Geographical Society archives when he happened to find some photographs taken clandestinely by the RAF in 1945. One of these showed the north face of Lhotse and part of the terrain between the head of the Western Cwm and the South Col. Another showed a broad, snow-covered ridge (the Southeast ridge) stretching from the summit down to the South Col, and a clearly separate steeper ridge falling from near the summit down into the Western Cwm.

Expedition preparations.

On the basis of this photographic evidence, Ward proposed to the Himalayan Committee that a reconnaissance expedition make direct inspections from the ground. Despite support from Bill Murray and Campbell Secord, the committee was reluctant to ask for approval from Nepal and were surprised when permission was granted; Ward believed the committee had hoped it would be refused. Murray was to be leader, with Ward, Secord, Tom Bourdillon, and Alfred Tissierès forming the initial party but when Eric Shipton turned up (after having been expelled from his post as British consul in Kunming, China) he was persuaded to take on the leadership. Shipton's prestige helped gain sponsorship from "The Times". Shipton himself, discouraged by Tilman's discoveries, was not hopeful of finding a route – he rated the chances as 30 to one – but he was very keen to visit Solu Khumbu, the home of his pre-war Sherpa friends. Secord (from Canada) and Tissierès (from Switzerland) had to withdraw. Keen to keep the party small, Shipton rejected various distinguished applicants, which now comprised only Shipton plus Tom Bourdillon, Bill Murray and Michael Ward.  Only after leaving for Delhi he agreed to accept two additional climbers – self-selected from the four New Zealand climbers who were just completing an expedition in Garhwal Himalaya It was Earle Riddiford and Ed Hillary who hurried to meet the rest of the team. With Ang Tharkay as sirdar and twelve Sherpas, the main party departed Jogbani on 27 August 1951; the New Zealanders caught up with them on 8 September at Dingla.  Hillary was nervous about meeting Shipton, the most famous living Himalayan mountaineer, and was worried his own colonial upbringing might not be up to the standards expected by the English. He wrote later "As we came into the room, four figures rose to meet us. My first feeling was one of relief. I had rarely seen a more disreputable bunch, and my visions of changing for dinner faded away for ever".

Expedition.

Khumbu Glacier and Icefall.

The party took the same route as Houston and Tilman except for a minor detour at Dingla to avoid a bridge that had been swept away. After a month-long trek in the late monsoon they reached Namche Bazaar, and on 30 September Shipton and Hillary climbed sufficiently far up Pumori that they had the first good view up the Western Cwm. The Cwm sloped to a height of about, which was higher than expected, so that a climb up the Lhotse glacier to about would lead to a traverse to the South Col. This was all encouraging but the Icefall looked to be a problem. All the same, Hillary was already able to look forward to a summit attempt in 1952.  Meanwhile, Riddiford and Sherpa Pasang had found a way through most of the lower icefall, but on 4 October Shipton, Hillary, Riddiford and Bourdillon with three Sherpas had reached below the crest of the icefall when a relatively minor avalanche decided Shipton to turn back. He was unwilling to risk the lives of the inexperienced Sherpas who could not make an informed decision about the considerable unavoidable risks. From Shipton's point of view they had determined that a possible route had been found, it could not be attempted in the conditions of deep snow then prevailing, and he wanted to see if there were alternative routes to the top from the east or west.

Exploration of Everest's southern foothills.

Ward, Bourdillon, Riddiford and Murray started a three-week trek by heading west from the Khumbu valley, trying to find the Chola Khola. At the head of this valley they had been told (wrongly) that there was a pass into Tibet, presumably to the West Rongbuk Glacier. However, their map was inaccurate, and they had in fact reached the Ngojumba glacier, the main source of the Dudh Khosi river, at the foot of Cho Oyu. They went north along Cho Oyu's east face but could see no route towards its summit. They then headed for Nup La but progress was slowed by two considerable icefalls so they abandoned the attempt and travelled back to Namche Bazaar improving the mapping of the Chola Khola region as they went.  Meanwhile, Shipton and Hillary descended the Khumbu and then travelled east up the Imja glacier which is south of the Lhotse–Nuptse wall. They hoped to find a pass over to the Barun glacier and thence a further pass west of Pethangse. However, they found no crossing to the Barun and so headed south down the Hongu glacier until eventually reaching the Barun. Since they were too far south to reach Pethangtse in the time available, they returned to Khumbu by crossing the south ridge of Ama Dablam.  The entire party met up again and made another attempt to climb the Khumbu Icefall, but found there had been a major collapse of ice and the area was highly unstable. A few days later, on 28 October, conditions had improved and they reached the top of the icefall only to encounter a crevasse splitting the glacier from side to side and separating it from the almost horizontally-flowing glacier in the Western Cwm itself. They retreated after forming the opinion that ice conditions might be more stable for a springtime expedition, after the consolidation of the winter snows. On 30 October they were back at Namche Bazaar.

Kathmandu via the Gaurishankar range.

The party was to return home via Kathmandu to the west so they traversed the completely unexplored region between the Bhote Koshi river of Sola Khumbu and the Rongshar valley in Tibet. They crossed a new pass, naming it the Menlung La, and one side expedition reached the Nangpa La (which had been incorrectly positioned on their map) and spotted two possible routes up the northwest face of Cho Oyu. Another group discovered and named Menlungtse. They discovered and photographed some animal tracks that they could not identify, but which the Sherpas said were of a yeti. Passing north of Gaurishankar they headed southwest and then west to reach Kathmandu on 21 November.

Aftermath.

Preparations for 1953 expedition.

Even while they were still investigating the Khumbu Icefall, Shipton reported back to the Himalayan Committee that they had found "a practicable route from the West Cwm to the summit of Mount Everest". They intended to mount an expedition for 1952 to make an attempt on the summit. However, already in May 1951 Nepal had accepted a Swiss application to attempt Everest. Shipton went to Zurich to tell the Swiss of his findings and there were discussions about various ideas for a combined Swiss–British team but nothing came of the proposals. Instead, Nepal gave permission for the British Cho Oyu expedition in 1952 followed by Everest in 1953. In the longer term, all this favoured the British aspirations for Everest – the British would not have been ready in 1952 and the Swiss were to reciprocate the help Shipton had given them with practical advice about the mountain.  The 1952 Swiss Mount Everest expedition very nearly reached the summit, so the minds of the British mountaineering community and establishment became strongly focused on their 1953 slot, particularly because France had been granted an opportunity for 1954. Shipton had become well known and popular with the public and he was the obvious leader with a long and distinguished track record in Himalaya. He did, however, have broader perspectives than Everest and after Cho Oyu he did not return home but continued trekking with Hillary. Back in London things were stirring. Some climbers, including some of those on the Cho Oyu expedition, approached the Himalayan Committee about Shipton's perceived lack of drive and single-minded commitment plus poor planning and leadership in 1952 and the Committee did not disagree.  The most likely alternative leader was John Hunt, a colonel in the army who had been a member of the Alpine Club since 1935 and had mountaineering experience in the Karakoram and the Alps. He had climbed to and was only turned down for the 1936 British Mount Everest expedition because of an adverse (and incorrect) medical report about a heart murmur. During the war he had been an instructor for the Commando Mountain and Snow Warfare school in Scotland. He was well known for his organisational abilities and he was friendly with several members of the Himalayan Committee, having been climbing in the Alps with the secretary Basil Goodfellow. Another option was Charles Wylie, a climber who spoke Nepalese fluently; he became the organising secretary. Hunt and Wylie were in the Army, so were experienced in logistics (and might be available immediately and free of charge).  When Shipton returned home and was called to a meeting of the Himalayan Committee on 28 July 1952, he still did not know his leadership had been called into question. His main opponents were not present and no one liked to tell him what had been happening. Shipton, indeed, expressed his own doubts about his leadership – he preferred small, exploratory, trekking-style expeditions and disliked a competitive element. Nonetheless, the committee said he was their choice as leader and supported his proposal for Charles Evans to be co-leader. Behind the scenes Hunt was offered the co-leadership and when the two men met and discovered they had been told different stories they were both dismayed. Hunt thought his chance at Everest had gone. At the next meeting of the committee, it was Shipton's allies who were not there and Shipton was asked to leave the room while the leadership was discussed. When he returned he was told his involvement could only be as co-leader and even that would have to be surrendered once Base Camp had been reached. He was told a man of "dynamic personality, drive and enthusiasm" was required. The Committee went on to send a telegram to Hunt appointing him as leader without waiting for Shipton to reply. Shipton decided he would not take part in the expedition.  There was an outcry amongst active mountaineers. Bourdillon resigned his appointment to the 1953 expedition but was persuaded by Shipton to reconsider. Hillary sent a telegram "Consider change most unwise. New Zealand climbers owe you considerable debt of gratitude", although he privately criticized Shipton's leadership in his diary. Murray, however, whilst deploring the Committee's methods, privately thought Hunt would be the better leader. Hunt returned to London in October and started with the preparations for the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition.

The 1951 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition ran between 27 August 1951 and 21 November 1951 with Eric Shipton as leader.


Early life.

Charles Geoffrey Cox was born in Wroughton, Wiltshire on 30 April 1960 to Michael (a Royal Artillery Officer) and Diane Cox. He was educated at King's College, Taunton, an independent school in Somerset. He studied law and classics at Downing College, Cambridge.

Legal career.

Called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1982, Cox started practice as a barrister; in 1992 he co-founded Thomas More Chambers, serving as its Head of Chambers. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2003.  For part of his career as a barrister, Cox was Standing Counsel to the government of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius. His cases have included "civil fraud and asset recovery, commercial, human rights, defamation, and judicial review actions". He has frequently appeared as leading counsel in the Supreme Court or the Privy Council, and he was increasingly instructed to lead in commercial actions and arbitrations overseas, appearing in the DIFC, Mauritius and the Cayman Islands.  His criminal cases have included the Jubilee line corruption trial; representing Virendra Rastogi the owner of RBG Resources; and successfully defending a member of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment who had been accused of war crimes related to the death of Baha Mousa.  In 2014, Cox successfully defended the former Premier (and current Speaker of the Legislative Assembly) of the Cayman Islands, McKeeva Bush, on charges of corruption and misuse of office. In March 2015, Cox successfully defended the deputy Editor of "The Sun", Geoff Webster, in a trial of four journalists resulting from Operation Elveden. The jury had to decide at what point the behaviour of those on trial could be considered a criminal rather than a serious disciplinary matter; even the lawyers found this difficult to define. Cox subsequently publicly criticised the vagueness of the law, and its disproportionate use that had led to the prosecution.

Parliamentary career.

Cox was first selected to stand for Parliament in 2000 by the Torridge and West Devon Conservatives. In the following 2001 general election, he came second to incumbent Liberal Democrat John Burnett by 1,194 votes.  After the 2001 election, Cox was reselected. Burnett announced in 2003 that he would not contest the seat again, and at the 2005 general election Cox defeated the new Liberal Democrat candidate, David Walter, gaining a majority of 3,236. Cox made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 28 June 2005.  Cox was re-elected as MP for Torridge and West Devon at the 2015 general election with an increased majority of 18,403 votes (32.5%). This majority increased by over 2,000 votes at the 2017 election to 20,686 (34.7%).  In January 2016, it was reported he had a number of office expense claims for items, such as a 49p pint of milk, rejected by the Commons authorities. He was criticised for this as at the time Cox was Britain's highest-paid MP. In response, Cox said that his staff had been unaware of a recent change in the rules for office expenses, which no longer permitted office hospitality items such as tea, coffee or milk to be claimed.  In January 2016, Cox was one of 72 MPs who were themselves landlords who derived an income from a property and who backed the Conservative Government in voting down an amendment in Parliament on rental homes being "fit for human habitation". The Government argued that the law already provided more effective remedies for tenants to report homes in bad repair to local authorities who then had a statutory duty to inspect them and to take action against the landlord, and that the previous Labour Government had for the same reason rejected the proposal.  In February 2016, Cox told the House of Commons that he had concluded, after examining the published renegotiation proposals, that the case for leaving the EU was now overwhelming and that he would vote to do so in the forthcoming referendum.  On 9 July 2018, Cox was appointed to the Cabinet as Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland.  In the House of Commons he has sat on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select committee, the Committee on Standards and the Committee on Privileges. Cox resigned from the latter role in 2016 after registering more than £400,000 of outside earnings within the time limit.  In the 2019 General Election, Geoffrey Cox was re-elected with 60.1% of the vote and a majority of 24,992 (41.8%).

Attorney General.

On 9 July 2018, Theresa May appointed Cox as Attorney General (the government's top law officer) taking over from Jeremy Wright following a Cabinet reshuffle, prompted by the resignations of David Davis and Boris Johnson.  On 1 December 2018, "The Sunday Times" newspaper reported the leaked contents of a recent Geoffrey Cox letter to Cabinet Ministers detailing the Attorney General's legal advice on Theresa May's Brexit deal. The newspaper reported that his legal advice declared the Withdrawal agreement's backstop protocol would mean the UK being indefinitely locked into a customs union with the EU if future negotiations collapse and that the only way the UK could leave the Backstop would be the signing of a future trade deal which could take many years to complete. The former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and three serving Cabinet members confirmed the contents of the letter to the "Sunday Times".  In February 2019, Theresa May placed Cox in charge of negotiating changes to the Northern Ireland backstop in the EU withdrawal agreement.  On 24 September 2019, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled unanimously that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's prorogation of parliament was unlawful overturning the High Court's judgment, given by the Lord Chief Justice, in the government's favour. On the same day, minutes of a conference call between cabinet ministers (which included Cox) were leaked to Sky News. The minutes of the call, which took place after the prorogation had been approved by the Queen, detailed that Cox briefly told the cabinet at that time that in his view the prorogation was lawful and constitutional and that any accusations of unlawfulness "were motivated by political considerations". Cox's full advice to the Government has not been published, as per precedent to protect government legal advise being prone to influence. The next day Cox appeared in the House of Commons to answer an urgent question on the Government's legal advice and on the implications of the Supreme Court's decision. Cox rebutted calls for him to resign and criticisms of the Government's position, pointing out that senior and distinguished judges had agreed with the Government's view that the issue was not justiciable and chiding MPs for refusing to agree to a means of the UK leaving the EU while repeatedly preventing the House of Commons from dissolving for an election.  In February 2020 Cox said the public is concerned about the creeping "judicialisation of politics" and said people were right to worry that unelected officials were taking decisions that ought to be taken by Parliament. He promised there would not be radical reforms. He stated his opposition to the highly politicised US selection process of Supreme Court and suggested he preferred the Canadian system. Cox said that "there's a case for looking at how supreme court judges are appointed... There's a committee of the Canadian parliament that carries out interviews [of candidates]."  On 13 February 2020, the "Financial Times"s Whitehall correspondent reported that Cox had been sacked as Attorney General.

Outside work whilst employed as an MP.

Cox has continued to practise as a Queen's Counsel whilst an MP. According to "The Daily Telegraph", based on the declarations in the Register of Members' Interests, Cox's extra-parliamentary work was worth £820,867 in 2014, or 12 times his annual MP salary, whilst the total time on extra-parliamentary work that was registered in 2014 (although the register shows the hours were worked over 3 years) was 1,954 hours. According to the Register as of 2 July 2018], his extra-parliamentary earnings in the 12 months from July 2017 to June 2018 were £487,043; the time expended totalled 1,070 hours, carried out over several years.  Cox has previously defended his outside work, pointing out that MPs of all parties have practised as QCs over the years, and that the Attorney General and Solicitor General are normally chosen from their ranks. He has argued that he has always been used to long hours, 70 and 80 hour weeks were quite normal at the Bar, and that the Nolan report concluded that Parliament needed people with current experience of a wide range of professional and other backgrounds.  In 2016, the House of Commons Standards Committee—of which he was a member—found that he had committed a serious breach of a House of Commons rule, designed to make transparent an MP's financial interests, after failing to register £400k of outside earnings (11 payments) for legal work within the permitted 28-day period. Cox registered the payments late, variously between two and seven months after the deadline; he said that he had omitted to prioritise the rule in the midst of an intense political and professional schedule. When first registering the payments, in September 2015, Cox drew attention to and apologised to the Registrar for his omission, referring himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner, and stepped down from the Committee.  The Commissioner and the Committee accepted that the payments had not in fact given rise to any conflicts of interest, and that the failure to register the payments within 28 days had thus had no practical effect. Alistair Graham, the former Chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, criticised the lack of punishment and called for a complete reform, while Martin Bell said the Committee on Standards had a long history of inflicting light punishment, which showed that the House was incapable of regulating itself.  On 9 July 2018, Cox gave up all private practice upon his appointment as Attorney General.

Attorney for suspect in Cum Ex case.

On 10 December 2019, Danish media claimed that Geoffrey Cox, as a leading barrister and based on his financial interest declaration to Parliament, had earned 380,000 GBP (3.4 million DKK) in legal fees during the years 2015-2017 for representing Sanjay Shah, a Dubai-based British businessman and prime suspect in what is reported to have been the largest tax fraud case Denmark has ever seen. Shah and his legal team asserted that he only exploited legal loopholes which Denmark had failed to close.  Preben Bang Henriksen, chairman of the legal affairs committee of the Danish Parliament, claimed that Geoffrey Cox' engagement for Shah poses a conflict of interest or disqualification issue because the Danish investigation is dependent on British assistance. Henriksen feared that the ties between Shah and Cox "might discourage British authorities from investigating the case as thoroughly as it evidently needed to be". A spokesman for Cox rejected that Cox had influenced the investigation in Britain or Denmark, since a system at the Attorney General office would prevent conflicts of interest because Cox would not take part in any decisions within cases where he had previously been involved as a lawyer.

Personal life.

Cox lives in rural West Devon, near Tavistock, and London. As with the majority of MPs who do not represent a constituency close to Parliament, he maintains accommodation on expenses in London for when he is working there. He married Jeanie MacDonald in 1985 and they have one daughter and two sons.

Tax avoidance allegations.

In September 2014, it was reported that Cox was one of a number of individuals investing in the Phoenix Film Partners LLC scheme run by Ingenious PLC which HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) had alleged to be a tax avoidance scheme. Ingenious has contested the allegation and claimed the scheme had been submitted to HMRC for pre-approval and that HMRC had not raised any objections. Cox has said that if the scheme was a tax avoidance scheme, it would have contradicted his instructions to his financial advisers, to whom he specified that he did not wish to be involved in aggressive tax avoidance. Following a string of court victories against the schemes, HM Revenue & Customs has since sought to settle disputes with those involved in the tax avoidance, with an agreed re-payment package. Ingenious PLC were reported to still be disputing the claims.

Charles Geoffrey Cox (born 30 April 1960) is a British Conservative Party politician and barrister serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Torridge and West Devon since the 2005 general election. Cox worked as a barrister from 1982 onwards and was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 2003, two years before his election to Parliament. On 9 July 2018, he was appointed Attorney General and gave up private practice; prior to this he had been the highest earning MP in the UK.


Overview.

Sociotechnical refers to the interrelatedness of "social" and "technical" aspects of an organization. Sociotechnical theory is founded on two main principles:  Therefore, sociotechnical theory is about "joint optimization", that is, designing the social system and technical system in tandem so that they work smoothly together. Sociotechnical theory, as distinct from sociotechnical systems, proposes a number of different ways of achieving joint optimization. They are usually based on designing different kinds of organization, ones in which the relationships between socio and technical elements lead to the emergence of productivity and wellbeing, rather than the all too often case of new technology failing to meet the expectations of designers and users alike.  The scientific literature shows terms like "sociotechnical" all one word, or "socio-technical" with a hyphen, "sociotechnical theory", "sociotechnical system" and "sociotechnical systems theory". All of these terms appear ubiquitously but their actual meanings often remain unclear. The key term "sociotechnical" is something of a buzzword and its varied usage can be unpicked. What can be said about it, though, is that it is most often used to simply, and quite correctly, describe any kind of organization that is composed of people and technology.

Principles.

Some of the central principles of sociotechnical theory were elaborated in a seminal paper by Eric Trist and Ken Bamforth in 1951. Human Relations; Feb1951, Vol. 4 Issue 1, p3-38, 36p This is an interesting case study which, like most of the work in sociotechnical theory, is focused on a form of 'production system' expressive of the era and the contemporary technological systems it contained. The study was based on the paradoxical observation that despite improved technology, productivity was falling, and that despite better pay and amenities, absenteeism was increasing. This particular rational organisation had become irrational. The cause of the problem was hypothesized to be the adoption of a new form of production technology which had created the need for a bureaucratic form of organization (rather like classic command-and-control). In this specific example, technology brought with it a retrograde step in organizational design terms. The analysis that followed introduced the terms "socio" and "technical" and elaborated on many of the core principles that sociotechnical theory subsequently became.

Responsible autonomy.

Sociotechnical theory was pioneering for its shift in emphasis, a shift towards considering teams or groups as the primary unit of analysis and not the individual. Sociotechnical theory pays particular attention to internal supervision and leadership at the level of the "group" and refers to it as "responsible autonomy". The overriding point seems to be that having the simple ability of individual team members being able to perform their function is not the only predictor of group effectiveness. There are a range of issues in team cohesion research, for example, that are answered by having the regulation and leadership internal to a group or team.  These, and other factors, play an integral and parallel role in ensuring successful teamwork which sociotechnical theory exploits. The idea of semi-autonomous groups conveys a number of further advantages. Not least among these, especially in hazardous environments, is the often felt need on the part of people in the organisation for a role in a small primary group. It is argued that such a need arises in cases where the means for effective communication are often somewhat limited. As Carvalho states, this is because "...operators use verbal exchanges to produce continuous, redundant and recursive interactions to successfully construct and maintain individual and mutual awareness...". The immediacy and proximity of trusted team members makes it possible for this to occur. The coevolution of technology and organizations brings with it an expanding array of new possibilities for novel interaction. Responsible autonomy could become more distributed along with the team(s) themselves.  The key to responsible autonomy seems to be to design an organization possessing the characteristics of small groups whilst preventing the "silo-thinking" and "stovepipe" neologisms of contemporary management theory. In order to preserve "...intact the loyalties on which the small group [depend]...the system as a whole [needs to contain] its bad in a way that [does] not destroy its good". In practice, this requires groups to be responsible for their own internal regulation and supervision, with the primary task of relating the group to the wider system falling explicitly to a group leader. This principle, therefore, describes a strategy for removing more traditional command hierarchies.

Adaptability.

Carvajal states that "the rate at which uncertainty overwhelms an organisation is related more to its internal structure than to the amount of environmental uncertainty". Sitter in 1997 offered two solutions for organisations confronted, like the military, with an environment of increased (and increasing) complexity: "The first option is to restore the fit with the external complexity by an increasing internal complexity....This usually means the creation of more staff functions or the enlargement of staff-functions and/or the investment in vertical information systems". Vertical information systems are often confused for "network enabled capability" systems (NEC) but an important distinction needs to be made, which Sitter et al. propose as their second option: "...the organisation tries to deal with the external complexity by'reducing' the internal control and coordination needs....This option might be called the strategy of'simple organisations and complex jobs'". This all contributes to a number of unique advantages. Firstly is the issue of "human redundancy" in which "groups of this kind were free to set their own targets, so that aspiration levels with respect to production could be adjusted to the age and stamina of the individuals concerned". Human redundancy speaks towards the flexibility, ubiquity and pervasiveness of resources within NEC.  The second issue is that of complexity. Complexity lies at the heart of many organisational contexts (there are numerous organizational paradigms that struggle to cope with it). Trist and Bamforth (1951) could have been writing about these with the following passage: "A very large variety of unfavourable and changing environmental conditions is encountered... many of which are impossible to predict. Others, though predictable, are impossible to alter."  Many type of organisations are clearly motivated by the appealing "industrial age", rational principles of "factory production", a particular approach to dealing with complexity: "In the factory a comparatively high degree of control can be exercised over the complex and moving "figure" of a production sequence, since it is possible to maintain the "ground" in a comparatively passive and constant state". On the other hand, many activities are constantly faced with the possibility of "untoward activity in the 'ground'" of the 'figure-ground' relationship" The central problem, one that appears to be at the nub of many problems that "classic" organisations have with complexity, is that "The instability of the 'ground' limits the applicability... of methods derived from the factory".  In Classic organisations, problems with the moving "figure" and moving "ground" often become magnified through a much larger social space, one in which there is a far greater extent of hierarchical task interdependence. For this reason, the semi-autonomous group, and its ability to make a much more fine grained response to the "ground" situation, can be regarded as "agile". Added to which, local problems that do arise need not propagate throughout the entire system (to affect the workload and quality of work of many others) because a complex organization doing simple tasks has been replaced by a simpler organization doing more complex tasks. The agility and internal regulation of the group allows problems to be solved locally without propagation through a larger social space, thus increasing tempo.

Whole tasks.

Another concept in sociotechnical theory is the "whole task". A whole task "has the advantage of placing responsibility for the... task squarely on the shoulders of a single, small, face-to-face group which experiences the entire cycle of operations within the compass of its membership." The Sociotechnical embodiment of this principle is the notion of minimal critical specification. This principle states that, "While it may be necessary to be quite precise about what has to be done, it is rarely necessary to be precise about how it is done". This is no more illustrated by the antithetical example of "working to rule" and the virtual collapse of any system that is subject to the intentional withdrawal of human adaptation to situations and contexts.  The key factor in minimally critically specifying tasks is the responsible autonomy of the group to decide, based on local conditions, how best to undertake the task in a flexible adaptive manner. This principle is isomorphic with ideas like effects-based operations (EBO). EBO asks the question of what goal is it that we want to achieve, what objective is it that we need to reach rather than what tasks have to be undertaken, when and how. The EBO concept enables the managers to "...manipulate and decompose high level effects. They must then assign lesser effects as objectives for subordinates to achieve. The intention is that subordinates' actions will cumulatively achieve the overall effects desired". In other words, the focus shifts from being a scriptwriter for tasks to instead being a designer of behaviours. In some cases, this can make the task of the manager significantly less arduous.

Meaningfulness of tasks.

Effects-based operations and the notion of a "whole task", combined with adaptability and responsible autonomy, have additional advantages for those at work in the organization. This is because "for each participant the task has total significance and dynamic closure" as well as the requirement to deploy a multiplicity of skills and to have the responsible autonomy in order to select when and how to do so. This is clearly hinting at a relaxation of the myriad of control mechanisms found in more classically designed organizations.  Greater interdependence (through diffuse processes such as globalisation) also bring with them an issue of size, in which "the scale of a task transcends the limits of simple spatio-temporal structure. By this is meant conditions under which those concerned can complete a job in one place at one time, i.e., the situation of the face-to-face, or singular group". In other words, in classic organisations the "wholeness" of a task is often diminished by multiple group integration and spatiotemporal disintegration. The group based form of organization design proposed by sociotechnical theory combined with new technological possibilities (such as the internet) provide a response to this often forgotten issue, one that contributes significantly to joint optimisation.

Topics.

Sociotechnical system.

A sociotechnical system is the term usually given to any instantiation of socio and technical elements engaged in goal directed behaviour. Sociotechnical systems are a particular expression of sociotechnical theory, although they are not necessarily one and the same thing. Sociotechnical systems theory is a mixture of sociotechnical theory, joint optimisation and so forth and general systems theory. The term sociotechnical system recognises that organizations have boundaries and that transactions occur within the system (and its sub-systems) and between the wider context and dynamics of the environment. It is an extension of Sociotechnical Theory which provides a richer descriptive and conceptual language for describing, analysing and designing organisations. A Sociotechnical System, therefore, often describes a 'thing' (an interlinked, systems based mixture of people, technology and their environment).

Sustainability.

Standalone, incremental improvements are not sufficient to address current, let alone future sustainability challenges. These challenges will require deep changes of sociotechnical systems. Theories on innovation systems; sustainable innovations; system thinking and design; and sustainability transitions, among others, have attempted to describe potential changes capable of shifting development towards more sustainable directions.

Autonomous work teams.

Autonomous work teams also called self-managed teams, are an alternative to traditional assembly line methods. Rather than having a large number of employees each do a small operation to assemble a product, the employees are organized into small teams, each of which is responsible for assembling an entire product. These teams are self-managed, and are independent of one another.

Job enrichment.

Job enrichment in organizational development, human resources management, and organizational behavior, is the process of giving the employee a wider and higher level scope of responsibility with increased decision-making authority. This is the opposite of job enlargement, which simply would not involve greater authority. Instead, it will only have an increased number of duties.

Job enlargement.

Job enlargement means increasing the scope of a job through extending the range of its job duties and responsibilities. This contradicts the principles of specialisation and the division of labour whereby work is divided into small units, each of which is performed repetitively by an individual worker. Some motivational theories suggest that the boredom and alienation caused by the division of labour can actually cause efficiency to fall.

Job rotation.

Job rotation is an approach to management development, where an individual is moved through a schedule of assignments designed to give him or her a breadth of exposure to the entire operation. Job rotation is also practiced to allow qualified employees to gain more insights into the processes of a company and to increase job satisfaction through job variation. The term job rotation can also mean the scheduled exchange of persons in offices, especially in public offices, prior to the end of incumbency or the legislative period. This has been practiced by the German green party for some time but has been discontinued

Motivation.

Motivation in psychology refers to the initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of behavior. Motivation is a temporal and dynamic state that should not be confused with personality or emotion. Motivation is having the desire and willingness to do something. A motivated person can be reaching for a long-term goal such as becoming a professional writer or a more short-term goal like learning how to spell a particular word. Personality invariably refers to more or less permanent characteristics of an individual's state of being (e.g., shy, extrovert, conscientious). As opposed to motivation, emotion refers to temporal states that do not immediately link to behavior (e.g., anger, grief, happiness).

Process improvement.

Process improvement in organizational development is a series of actions taken to identify, analyze and improve existing processes within an organization to meet new goals and objectives. These actions often follow a specific methodology or strategy to create successful results.

Task analysis.

Task analysis is the analysis of how a task is accomplished, including a detailed description of both manual and mental activities, task and element durations, task frequency, task allocation, task complexity, environmental conditions, necessary clothing and equipment, and any other unique factors involved in or required for one or more people to perform a given task. This information can then be used for many purposes, such as personnel selection and training, tool or equipment design, procedure design (e.g., design of checklists or decision support systems) and automation.

Job design.

Job design or work design in organizational development is the application of sociotechnical systems principles and techniques to the humanization of work, for example, through job enrichment. The aims of work design to improved job satisfaction, to improved through-put, to improved quality and to reduced employee problems, e.g., grievances, absenteeism.

Deliberations.

Deliberations are key units of analysis in non-linear, knowledge work. They are 'choice points' that move knowledge work forward. As originated and defined by Cal Pava (1983) in a second-generation development of STS theory, deliberations are patterns of exchange and communication to reduce the equivocality of a problematic issue; for example, for systems engineering work, what features to develop in new software. Deliberations are not discrete decisions--they are a more continuous context for decisions. They have 3 aspects: topics, forums, and participants.

References.

18. Pava, C., 1983. Managing New Office Technology. Free Press, New York, NY.

Sociotechnical systems (STS) in organizational development is an approach to complex organizational work design that recognizes the interaction between people and technology in workplaces. The term also refers to the interaction between society's complex infrastructures and human behaviour. In this sense, society itself, and most of its substructures, are complex sociotechnical systems. The term sociotechnical systems was coined by Eric Trist, Ken Bamforth and Fred Emery, in the World War II era, based on their work with workers in English coal mines at the Tavistock Institute in London.


Biography.

Shiva Naipaul was the younger brother of novelist V. S. Naipaul. He went first to Queen's Royal College and St Mary's College in Trinidad, then emigrated to Britain, having won a scholarship to study Chinese at University College, Oxford. At Oxford, he met and later married Jenny Stuart, with whom he had a son, Tarun.  With Jenny's support, Shiva Naipaul wrote his first novel, "Fireflies" (1970), which won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize from the Royal Society of Literature for best regional novel. It was followed by "The Chip-Chip Gatherers" (1973). He then decided to concentrate on journalism, and wrote two non-fiction works, "North of South" (1978) and "Black & White" (1980), before returning to the novel form in the 1980s with "A Hot Country" (1983), a departure from his two earlier comic novels set in Trinidad, as well as a collection of fiction and non-fiction, "" (1984).  On the morning of 13 August 1985, at the age of 40, Naipaul had a fatal heart attack while working at his desk.

Legacy and posthumous reputation.

"The Spectator" magazine, for which his wife Jenny had worked as a secretary, and which had published many of his articles, established the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize.  In Paul Theroux's "Sir Vidia's Shadow", a memoir of Shiva's elder brother, V. S. Naipaul, Theroux described Shiva as a "sot", shrunken by the towering figure of his successful brother, with a penchant for drunken partying and a need to have his meals made for him. Theroux also took issue with Naipaul's skills as a writer, particularly as a travel writer.  "Sir Vidia's Shadow" has come under attack for what are described as inaccuracies, and the novelist Martin Amis wrote that "Shiva Naipaul was one of those people who caused your heart to lift when he entered the room... in losing him, we have lost thirty years of untranscribed, unvarnished genius".  An "Arena" documentary on his brother V. S. Naipaul reproduced footage of Shiva from an earlier documentary from the early 1980s, in which Shiva returned to Trinidad to see his mother.  Shiva Naipaul's literary archive is held at the British Library. The collection (The Shiva Naipaul Archive) " consists of autograph and typescript drafts of Shiva Naipaul's fiction novels, non-fiction and travel writing. It also includes research and drafts relating to his articles, short stories and prose. There is a run of autograph notebooks, largely with notes and research gathered on his travels in India, Trinidad and Tobago, Surinam, Guyana, America, South Africa, Africa, and Australia. There is correspondence dating form his university days, with his family, his wife and a run of business correspondence."

Works.

Novels Nonfiction Collections

Shiva Naipaul (; 25 February 1945 – 13 August 1985), born Shivadhar Srinivasa Naipaul in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, was a Trinidadian and British novelist and journalist.


Technical.

The locomotives were designed to be able to haul 1,000-tonne trains at. Each traction motor has a power output of, (about 50% more powerful than the Class EF65). The bogies have an air suspension system to limit the impulsive forces on the track.

Operations.

During the JNR era, these locomotives were used for freight trains and also for passenger work - primarily hauling night trains such as the "Hayabusa" sleeping car limited express.  By 1 April 2009, 73 EF66s (including all 33 EF66-100s) were in service, with 63 owned by JR Freight (all based at Suita Depot in Osaka), and 10 owned by JR West (all based at Shimonoseki Depot). , 39 locomotives remained in service (six EF66-0 and 33 EF66-100 locomotives), all operated by JR Freight.

History.

Background.

With the opening of the Meishin Expressway between Nagoya and Kobe in 1965 and the Tomei Expressway between Tokyo and Nagoya in 1968, JNR faced increasing competition for freight transport from road hauliers. JNR therefore developed the "10000 series" freight wagons (KoKi 10000 and KoKiFu 10000 container flat wagons, ReSa 10000 and ReMuFu 10000 refrigerated wagons, and WaKi 10000 bogie vans) capable of operating at. Express freight services formed of these wagons were introduced on the Tokaido Main Line and Sanyo Main Line from October 1966 using Class EF65-500 electric locomotives built in 1965. These locomotives were designed to be used in pairs hauling 1,000-tonne freight trains, but as pairs of locomotives drew excessive current from the overhead wires, 1,000-tonne freight trains had to be split into 600-tonne and 400-tonne sections when operating on the Sanyo Main Line. This led to the need for a new locomotive design that would be capable of hauling 1,000-tonne trains singly.

Prototype.

A prototype locomotive, initially classified EF90 and numbered EF90 1, was built by Kawasaki Sharyo in 1966. It had a total power output of, making it the world's most powerful narrow-gauge locomotive at the time.  EF66 901 was retired from service in 1996, and has been stored at Hiroshima Depot since 2001.

Full-production series.

The production series of locomotives were delivered from 1968, with 55 built in two batches between 1968 and 1975.  The second batch of locomotives, EF66 21 to EF66 55, delivered between 1973 and 1975, incorporated a number of minor changes and improvements. Most noticeable was the extension of the cab roofs over the windscreens to reduce the deposition of abrasion dust from the pantographs on the windscreens. Some of the first-batch locomotives (EF66 1 to 20) were also subsequently modified with the "sun visor" style cab end roofs.

Post-privatization.

Following the privatisation of JNR on 1 April 1987, JR Freight received the prototype (EF66 901) and 39 of the original series (EF66 1 to EF66 39) as well as the Class EF66-100 machines. JR West obtained the remainder of the machines (EF66 40 to EF66 55) - a total of 16.  Shortly after privatization, JR Freight tried out a number of new experimental liveries on its various locomotives, and one Class EF66, locomotive number EF66 20, received an experimental cream and blue livery with large "JR" logos in August 1987. No other members of the class were reliveried, however, and EF66 20 received the new JR Freight two-tone blue livery when it underwent refurbishment in October 1993.  From 1988, JR Freight retrofitted a number of its EF66s (numbers 22 - 24, 26 - 27, 30 - 33, 37) with roof-mounted cab air-conditioning units.  From 1993, JR Freight started refurbishing its fleet of EF66s (numbers 1 - 5, 7 - 10, 11 - 12, 16 - 39, 41, 44, 53, 55). Refurbishment included rewinding of the traction motor coils, removal of the former JNR decorations on the front-end number plates, and repainting into a two-tone blue livery similar to that carried by the EF66-100s. Locomotives refurbished from 2004 onward, however, received a simplified blue livery, similar to the original JNR-style livery.

EF66-100.

Due to increased demand, JR Freight began building more EF66s in 1989. This batch of locomotives was classified EF66-100, with locomotive numbered EF66 101 to EF66 133. The Class EF66-100 locomotives were fundamentally the same design as the EF66-0, but with slightly more modern external styling. The driver's cabs are air-conditioned. The Class EF66 100 locomotives were also built in two batches, EF66 101 to 108 and EF66 109 to EF133. The second batch differed in having rectangular headlamps and tail lamps, while the first batch had round lamps.

Build histories.

The individual locomotive build histories are as follows.

The is a six-axle, three-bogied (Bo′Bo′Bo′) DC electric locomotive designed for fast freight used by Japanese National Railways (JNR) and later operated by its descendants JR West and JR Freight., 39 locomotives remained in service, all operated by JR Freight.


Red code.

The Red Book code was an IJN code book system used in World War I and after. It was called "Red Book" because the American photographs made of it were bound in red covers. It should not be confused with the RED cipher used by the diplomatic corps.  This code consisted of two books. The first contained the code itself; the second contained an additive cipher which was applied to the codes before transmission, with the starting point for the latter being embedded in the transmitted message. A copy of the code book was obtained in a "black bag" operation on the luggage of a Japanese naval attache in 1923; after three years of work Agnes Driscoll was able to break the additive portion of the code.  Knowledge of the Red Book code helped crack the similarly-constructed Blue Book code.

Coral.

A cipher machine developed for Japanese naval attaché ciphers, similar to JADE. It was not used extensively, but Vice Admiral Abe, a Japanese representative to an Axis military council, passed considerable information about German deployments in CORAL, intelligence "essential for Allied military decision making in the European Theater."

Jade.

A cipher machine used by the Imperial Japanese Navy from late 1942 to 1944 and similar to CORAL; see JADE (cypher machine).

Dockyard codes.

A succession of codes used to communicate between Japanese naval installations. These were comparatively easily broken by British codebreakers in Singapore and are believed to have been the source of early indications of imminent naval war preparations.

JN-11.

The Fleet Auxiliary System, derived from the JN-40 merchant-shipping code. Important for information on troop convoys and orders of battle.

JN-20.

An inter-island cipher that provided valuable intelligence, especially when periodic changes to JN-25 temporarily blacked out U.S. decryption. JN-20 exploitation produced the "AF is short of water" message that established the main target of the Japanese Fleet, leading to a decisive U.S. victory at the Battle of Midway in 1942.

JN-25.

JN-25 is the name given by codebreakers to the main, and most secure, command and control communications scheme used by the IJN during World War II. Named as the 25th Japanese Navy system identified, it was initially given the designation AN-1 as a "research project" rather than a "current decryption" job. The project required reconstructing the meaning of thirty thousand code groups and piecing together thirty thousand random additives.  Introduced from 1 June 1939 to replace Blue (and the most recent descendant of the Red code), it was an enciphered code, producing five-numeral groups for transmission. New code books and super-enciphering books were introduced from time to time, each new version requiring a more or less fresh cryptanalytic attack. John Tiltman with some help from Alan Turing (at GCSB) had "solved" JN25 by 1941, i.e. they knew that it was a five-digit code with a codebook to translate words into five digits and there was a second "additive" book that the sender used to add to the original numbers "But knowing all this didn’t help them read a single message".  By April 1942 JN25 was about 20 percent readable, so codebreakers could read "about one in five words" and traffic analysis was far more useful. Tiltman had devised a (slow; neither easy nor quick) method of breaking it and had noted that all the numbers in the codebook were divisable by three. "Breaking" rather than "solving" a code involves learning enough code words and indicators so that any given message can be read.  In particular, JN-25 was significantly changed on 1 December 1940 (JN25a); and again on 4 December 1941 (JN25b), just before the attack on Pearl Harbor.  British, Australian, Dutch and American cryptanalysts co-operated on breaking JN-25 well before the Pearl Harbor attack, but because the Japanese Navy was not engaged in significant battle operations before then, there was little traffic available to use as raw material. Before then, IJN discussions and orders could generally travel by routes more secure than broadcast, such as courier or direct delivery by an IJN vessel. Publicly available accounts differ, but the most credible agree that the JN-25 version in use before December 1941 was not more than perhaps 10% broken at the time of the attack, and that primarily in stripping away its super-encipherment. JN-25 traffic increased immensely with the outbreak of naval warfare at the end of 1941 and provided the cryptographic "depth" needed to succeed in substantially breaking the existing and subsequent versions of JN-25.  The American effort was directed from Washington, D.C. by the U.S. Navy's signals intelligence command, OP-20-G; at Pearl Harbor it was centered at the Navy's Combat Intelligence Unit (Station HYPO, also known as COM 14), led by Commander Joseph Rochefort. However in 1942 not every cryptogram was decoded, as Japanese traffic was too heavy for the undermanned Combat Intelligence Unit. With the assistance of "Station CAST" (also known as COM 16, jointly commanded by Lts Rudolph Fabian and John Lietwiler) in the Philippines, and the British Far East Combined Bureau in Singapore, and using a punched card tabulating machine manufactured by International Business Machines, a successful attack was mounted against the 4 December 1941 edition (JN25b). Together they made considerable progress by early 1942. "Cribs" exploited common formalities in Japanese messages, such as "I have the honor to inform your excellency" (see known plaintext attack).  Later versions of JN-25 were introduced: JN-25c from 28 May 1942, deferred from 1 April then 1 May; providing details of the attacks on Midway and Port Moresby. JN-25d was introduced from 1 April 1943, and while the additive had been changed, large portions had been recovered two weeks later, which provided details of Yamamoto's plans that were used in Operation Vengeance, the shooting-down of his plane.

JN-39.

This was a naval code used by merchant ships (commonly known as the ""maru" code"), broken in May 1940. 28 May 1941, when the whale factory ship "Nisshin Maru No. 2 (1937)" visited San Francisco, U.S. Customs Service Agent George Muller and Commander R. P. McCullough of the U.S. Navy's 12th Naval District (responsible for the area) boarded her and seized her codebooks, without informing Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). Copies were made, clumsily, and the originals returned. The Japanese quickly realized JN-39 was compromised, and replaced it with JN-40.

JN-40.

JN-39 was replaced by JN-40, which was originally believed to be a code super-enciphered with a numerical additive in the same way as JN-25. However, in September 1942, an error by the Japanese gave clues to John MacInnes and Brian Townend, codebreakers at the British FECB, Kilindini. It was a fractionating transposition cipher based on a substitution table of 100 groups of two figures each followed by a columnar transposition. By November 1942, they were able to read all previous traffic and break each message as they received it. Enemy shipping, including troop convoys, was thus trackable, exposing it to Allied attack. Over the next two weeks they broke two more systems, the "previously impenetrable" JN167 and JN152.

JN-147.

The "minor operations code" often contained useful information on minor troop movements.

JN-152.

A simple transposition and substitution cipher used for broadcasting navigation warnings. In 1942 after breaking JN-40 the FECB at Kilindini broke JN-152 and the previously impenetrable JN-167, another merchant shipping cypher.

JN-167.

A merchant-shipping cipher (see JN-152).

"Chicago Tribune" incident.

In June 1942 the "Chicago Tribune", run by isolationist Col. Robert R. McCormick, published an article implying that the United States had broken the Japanese codes, saying the U.S. Navy knew in advance about the Japanese attack on Midway Island, and published dispositions of the Japanese invasion fleet. The executive officer of "Lexington", Commander Morton T. Seligman (who was transferred to shore duties), had shown Nimitz's executive order to reporter Stanley Johnston.  The government at first wanted to prosecute the "Tribune" under the Espionage Act of 1917. For various reasons, including the desire not to bring more attention to the article and because the Esponiage Act did not cover "enemy" secrets, the charges were dropped. A grand jury investigation did not result in prosecution but generated further publicity and, according to Walter Winchell, "tossed security out of the window". Britain's worst fears about American security were realized.  In early August, a RAN intercept unit in Melbourne heard Japanese messages, using a superseded lower-grade code. Changes were made to codebooks and the call-sign system, starting with the new JN-25 codebook (issued two months before). However the changes indicated the Japanese believed the Allies had worked out the fleet details from traffic analysis or had obtained a codebook and additive tables, being reluctant to believe that anyone could have broken their codes (least of all a Westerner).

The vulnerability of Japanese naval codes and ciphers was crucial to the conduct of World War II, and had an important influence on foreign relations between Japan and the west in the years leading up to the war as well. Every Japanese code was eventually broken, and the intelligence gathered made possible such operations as the victorious American ambush of the Japanese Navy at Midway (JN-25b) and the shooting down of Isoroku Yamamoto in Operation Vengeance.


Biography.

Pavel (Pavlo) Fuks was born in 1971 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. In 1994, he graduated from Kharkiv National University of Construction and Architecture from the faculty of Finance and Credit with Bachelor major degree in Economic and Social Planning.  From 1997 until 2003, Fuks continued his studies at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics on the faculty of World Economy.  From 1995 to 1999, he was an adviser to the chairman of the board of JSCB "Prominvestbank". In 1999–2000 Fuks served as the Vice-President of CJSC "Foreign Economic Corporation". In 2002, Fuks became more involved in the construction business. Among his first projects was the construction of the shopping center "Kaluzhskii" which has operated since 2001.  In June 2008, he negotiated with the current US President Donald Trump about the construction of Trump Tower in Moscow, but the businessmen were unable to reach an agreement.  In 2010, Pavel Fuks was the largest shareholder of Sovkombank where he owned a 21.83% stake. In March 2015, he sold his shares, which were valued at US$80 million.  Fuks sold all his business assets in Russia in 2011 and 2012 and he has not been in Russia since 2015 due to political reasons in not supporting the Russian aggression in Ukraine. Pavel Fuks started to invest in Ukrainian assets in 2014, as he sees it as a country of great business potential.  On November 1, 2018, Russian sanctions were imposed against 322 citizens of Ukraine, including Fuks.

Philanthropy.

Fuks regularly helps his native city. He took part in the restoration of Kharkiv regional philharmonic, built the Church of the Holy Queen Tamara, and built a monument to the mythical founder of the Kharkiv City, cossack Kharko.  In 2014, Pavel Fuks was awarded with the title "Honorary Citizen of Kharkiv".

Babi Yar.

Fuks is the co-organizer of the construction of the memorial complex Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center (the project worth of the complex is estimated at US$50–100 million, and it is planned to be completed it in 2021, on the 80th anniversary of the tragedy of Babi Yar). On March 19, 2017, the Supervisory Board of the Memorial Center for the Holocaust "Babi Yar" was established, and included Pavel Fuks, the Mayor of Kiev Vitali Klitschko and his brother, the professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko, the shareholders of the consortium "Alfa Group" Mikhail Fridman and German Khan and others. The project's development fund was created with the help of consultants from the American big-four accounting firm "Ernst & Young". According to Fuks, the structure of the memorial will include educational programs, a research center and a museum.  He supports talented athletes. He gave Oleksandr Abramenko and his mentor and senior coach of the Ukrainian national team, Enver Ablaev, certificates for 50 thousand dollars each for achievements in Pyeongchang at the XXIII Olympic Winter Games.  Pavel Fuks is a member of the charitable foundation "A City Without Barriers," which is committed to creating a comfortable environment for people with physical and intellectual disabilities.

Hobbies.

Fuks enjoys sports (namely boxing and tennis).

Pavel Yakovlevich Fuks (b. October 27, 1971, Kharkiv, USSR) is a Ukrainian businessman, investor, philanthropist and founder of the development company Mos City Group. Fuks has made most of his wealth through business ventures in Russia.


Early life.

Teddy Robin was born in Guangxi Province Guilin City with five brothers and sisters; came to Hong Kong with his father in 1949 and lived in Wanchai| Wan Chai.  As a rebellious child, Teddy was average at school. He always hung out at street court with his gangs. He called himself "Teddy Robin" because he admired the heroic image of Robin Hood.  At the early age of 11, Teddy started his career as a child broadcaster at Rediffusion (ATV).  Teddy developed his enthusiasm for rock and roll music when he first heard the sound of an electric guitar. Then he started to explore and learn to play electric guitar. He then formed a rock band called "Teddy Robin and the Playboys" with his friends and his two younger brothers.  Apart from music, Teddy Robin is also a skilled painter and sketcher. He designed the cover for his singles, including " I can’t be hurt any more", "Not All Lies", "Breakthrough", "365 Days", "Memories".

Music career.

After graduating from high school, Teddy Robin worked as a Trainee Producer at Rediffusion English TV Station. He formed rock band "Teddy Robin and the Playboys" with Norman Chang, Fedrick Chan and his two younger brothers in 1966.  In the 1960s, the band was signed by Diamond Records and released its first album. In 1966, "Teddy Robin and the Playboys" was the home band of Rediffusion TV's most popular music program "Soundbite 66".  In 1968, Mr Chung King-fai invited Teddy to move from Rediffusion TV to TVB under the terms set by Teddy - to not only perform on the stage but also work behind the scene. He acted in his first movie "The Cost of Love" for Shaw Brothers Studio in 1969. Teddy Robin returned to Rediffusion TV in 1973 to host a youth show called "Melody Chain".  While in 1974, Teddy Robin realized rock and roll music started to diminish in Hong Kong, so he wandered to the United States and Canada until 1978.

Personal life.

Teddy Robin is married and has one son and one daughter. His son works at Morgan Stanley in London as an Executive Director and his daughter is a sugar artist in Canada.

Wai Pang Kwan (; born 20 March 1945 in Guilin, Guangxi), known professionally as Teddy Robin (), is a Hong Kong English pop singer-songwriter, actor, and director and producer. He began his music career in mid 1960s when Hong Kong English pop was at its peak. He formed a rock and roll band with his friends called Teddy Robin and the Playboys while Teddy was the vocal and guitarist. The band was the first Chinese-led rock band in Hong Kong. The band became a massive hit in Hong Kong.


Robinson Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

Geography.

Robinson Township is located at (40.458008, -80.128259).  According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of, of which is land and, or 1.21%, is water.  Robinson is composed of at least four distinct regions that represent former communities that once existed within the township; Groveton (industrial area near the Ohio River), Forest Grove (the area around Forest Grove Elementary and Montour High School), Gayly (The area around Settlers Ridge Shopping Center and The Mall at Robinson), and Moon Run (also a part of Kennedy Township, and includes the areas near Burkett Park and Chartiers Country Club). Each of these areas can be roughly defined by the borders of the Township's voting precincts; each region comprising two to three separate precincts.

Education.

Robinson Township is served by the Montour School District. Montour High School and the new Montour Elementary school share a campus located in Robinson ("The Hilltop"). Two former elementary school campuses - Burkett and Forest Grove - are located in Robinson. Private and charter schools located in Robinson Township include The Robinson Christian School, Propel Montour Middle/High School (formerly Burkett Elementary School), and Holy Trinity Catholic School.

Taxes.

School tax millage rate- The Montour SD (shared with four other municipalities) in 2017 was 17.96. This ranked 38th highest/most expensive out of Allegheny County's 45 school districts, between North Hills SD (37th highest) and Duquesne SD (39th highest).

Surrounding and adjacent neighborhoods.

Robinson Township has nine land borders, including Kennedy Township and the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Fairywood to the east, Thornburg, Rosslyn Farms, and Carnegie to the southeast, Collier Township to the south, and North Fayette Township, Moon Township, and Coraopolis to the west. Across the back channel of the Ohio River, Robinson Township runs adjacent with Neville Township. Robinson Township also completely surrounds Pennsbury Village in the southeast.

Economy.

Robinson Township is known in the area as a retail hub. The Mall at Robinson is located in the township, as well as the open-air Settlers Ridge and several smaller plazas. Bayer USA is based in Robinson Township as well.

Twin Hi-Way Drive-In.

The Twin Hi-Way Drive-In was a drive-in theater located in Robinson Township on Pennsylvania Route 60. It was owned by the Salnoris family, during its second life. It originally opened in 1950 and closed in 1996. In 2007, it was reborn by the aforementioned Salnoris family. It was rewarded Best of the Burgh twice and won several battles for the land. In Early 2016, however, it was shut down to Sheetz making a large offer to the landlord and being accepted. It closed with a 3.5 star rating on Google.

Demographics.

As of the census of 2000, there were 12,289 people, 4,828 households, and 3,312 families residing in the township. The population density was 833.2 people per square mile (321.7/km2). There were 5,158 housing units at an average density of 349.7/sq mi (135.0/km2). The racial makeup of the township was 95.25% White, 1.90% African American, 0.06% Native American, 2.04% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.14% from other races, and 0.59% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.73% of the population.  There were 4,828 households, out of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.2% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.4% were non-families. 27.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.01.  In the township the population was spread out, with 22.8% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 31.4% from 25 to 44, 26.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.2 males.  The median income for a household in the township was $55,263, and the median income for a family was $66,807. Males had a median income of $46,750 versus $30,605 for females. The per capita income for the township was $26,802. About 4.8% of families and 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.2% of those under age 18 and 6.0% of those age 65 or over.

Government and politics.

In recent elections, Robinson has leaned Republican in Presidential elections and has leaned Democratic in local races. Robinson was carried by Republicans Mitt Romney in the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election and by Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, albeit by a diminished margin. Democrat Conor Lamb carried Robinson Township in 2018 Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district special election.

Robinson Township is a township in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States approximately west of Pittsburgh. The population was 13,354 at the 2010 census.