Improvements.

The 20D features a new sensor and a greater megapixel count (8.2 megapixels instead of 6.3) and retains the Canon 1.6x crop factor. The 20D supports USB 2.0. The 20D has a larger buffer and can shoot more frames per second. It also uses the E-TTL II flash metering system and uses the DIGIC II image processor.  The EOS 20D (with appropriate firmware updates) can also accept the Canon Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E1/E1A for fast file transfer to a remote file server, either through an ethernet cable or a Wi-Fi network.

Resolution.

The Canon EOS 20D has several resolution settings:

Features.

The 20D is the first Canon prosumer camera to use the EF-S lens mount; the first Canon EOS camera to use the mount was the 300D (the Digital Rebel in North America).

EOS 20Da.

Canon released the EOS 20Da on 14 February 2005 in Japan. It is a variant of the 20D designed for astrophotography. On 1 June 2005 Canon announced that the 20Da would be made available worldwide.  The main differences between the 20Da and 20D are the replacement of the "hot mirror" infra-red (IR) filter which covers the CMOS sensor on the 20D and live view mode.  In conventional photography, the IR filter is used to make the spectral response of the CMOS sensor more like that of the human eye. In this way, the pictures gathered by the sensor more closely resemble the world as we see it. In astro-photography, many objects of interest emit strongly in the red H-α line, which is heavily attenuated by the IR filter on the 20D. The IR filter of the 20Da passes 2.5 times more light at around this 656 nm wavelength as the filter of the 20D, allowing more fine detail to be revealed in long exposures of emission nebulae. As a side effect, the color balance is slightly altered in normal daylight photography.  It is extremely difficult to focus an extremely dim image with a reflex viewfinder; locking the mirror up and opening the shutter (live view) was introduced in the 20Da to address this issue. When used the camera provides a live image of the center of the field of view to allow focusing on a bright star. Live view for this application requires a lens which supports fully mechanical focus in manual mode, and is not suitable for normal daytime use.  Reviews report that image noise in the 20Da is lower than in the 20D, and equivalent to that of the 5D MkII.  The EOS 20Da was discontinued when the 30D was introduced in 2006. Canon produced no similar model for astrophotography for years, resulting in many astrophotographers making similar aftermarket modifications to later Canon models.  In April 2012, Canon announced the EOS 60Da which is the successor to the EOS 20Da.

Firmware.

The latest firmware available for the 20D (and believed to be the final update) is version 2.0.3, made available 23 August 2005, which improves the communication reliability with some CF cards and other minor changes.

The Canon EOS 20D is an 8.2-megapixel semi-professional digital single-lens reflex camera, initially announced on 19 August 2004 at a recommended retail price of US$1,499. It is the successor of the EOS 10D, and was succeeded by the EOS 30D in August 2006. It accepts EF and EF-S lenses and uses an APS-C sized image sensor.

Die Canon EOS 20D ist eine digitale Spiegelreflexkamera des japanischen Herstellers Canon, die im September 2004 in den Markt eingeführt wurde. Sie wird inzwischen nicht mehr produziert.


Text.

The text itself was written by Marx and Engels in Brussels in 1845 and 1846 but it was not published until 1932. The Preface and some of the alterations and additions are in Marx's hand. The bulk of the manuscript is in Engels' hand, except for Chapter V of Volume II and some passages of Chapter III of Volume I which are in Joseph Weydemeyer's hand. Chapter V in Volume II was written by Moses Hess and edited by Marx and Engels. The text in German runs to around 700 pages.

General outline.

Marx and Engels argue that humans distinguish themselves from animals as soon as they begin to produce their means of subsistence; what individuals are coincides with their production in both how and what they produce. The nature of individuals depends on the material conditions determining their production.  How far the productive forces of a nation are developed is shown by the degree to which the division of labor has been carried. Also, there is a direct link between division of labor and forms of ownership.  The ruling class, in ruling the material force of society, is simultaneously the ruling intellectual force of society. They regulate the production and distribution of ideas of their age. As the ruling class changes with time, so too do the ideals and the new ruling class must instill upon its society its own ideas which will become universal. The ruling ideas are thought to be the universal interest. However, it is an illusion that the ideas of the ruling class are the communal interests. This system will forever remain in place so long as society is organized around the need for a ruling class.  To illustrate this theoretical framework, Marx draws on his formulation of base and superstructure. Historical development is the reflection of changes in the economic and material relations of the base. When the base changes, a revolutionary class becomes the new ruling class that forms the superstructure. During revolution, the revolutionary class makes certain that its ideas appeal to humanity in general so that after a successful revolution these ideas appear natural and universal. These ideas, which the super-structural elements of society propagate, then become the governing ideology of the historical period. Furthermore, the governing ideology mystifies the economic relations of society and therefore places the proletariat in a state of false consciousness that serves to reproduce the working class.  "Morality, religion, metaphysics, all the rest of ideology and their corresponding forms of consciousness no longer retain the semblance of independence; they have no history and no development; but men, developing their material production and their material intercourse, alter, along with their real existence, their thinking and the products of their collective thinking."  This approach allows us to cease understanding history as a collection of dead facts or an imagined activity of subjects.

The German Ideology (German: "Die deutsche Ideologie") is a set of manuscripts written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels around April or early May 1846. Marx and Engels did not find a publisher, but the work was later retrieved and published for the first time in 1932 by David Riazanov through the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow.

Die deutsche Ideologie ist ein Manuskriptkonvolut, das in den Jahren 1845–1846 hauptsächlich von Karl Marx und in Teilen von Friedrich Engels und zeitweilig auch von Moses Hess, Joseph Weydemeyer und Roland Daniels verfasst, damals aber nur zu einem geringen Teil veröffentlicht wurde. Zusammen mit den 1845 von Marx verfassten, ebenfalls zu Lebzeiten unveröffentlichten "Thesen über Feuerbach" gilt "Die deutsche Ideologie" als Schlüsselwerk des Historischen Materialismus.


Alonso Pérez de Guzmán y Sotomayor, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia

Family.

His father was Juan Carlos Pérez de Guzmán, died 1556. Juan Carlos died two years before his own father, Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 6th Duke of Medina Sidonia, thus he did not inherit the ducal title and died as the 9th Count of Niebla only.  His paternal grandmother was Ana de Aragón y de Gurrea, died 1528, one of the daughters, "born out of sin", of Alonso de Aragón y Ruiz de Iborra, Archbishop of Zaragoza, himself an illegitimate son of king Ferdinand II of Aragón. In 1518 she had married two Dukes of Medina Sidonia: firstly with Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 5th Duke of Medina Sidonia, died childless, 1548, formally declared "mentecato", (out of his mind, unfit to reason properly), and then again, in the same year with the 5th Duke's brother, Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 6th Duke of Medina Sidonia, (24 March 1502, died Sanlúcar de Barrameda, province of Cádiz, Spain, 26 November 1558).  His mother was a most powerful and wealthy lady, Leonor de Zúñiga y Sotomayor, herself daughter of a powerful duchess, Teresa de Zúñiga, 2nd marchioness of Ayamonte, 3rd duchess of Béjar, 4th countess of Bañares, 2nd marchioness of Gibraleón, so it was her name Zúñiga, the one to be passed to the family, as she was married to a "Sotomayor" of a family less endowed with nobility titles, county of Belalcázar, something by no means unique in the High Spanish Nobility of the time.  As his father, Juan Carlos, had already died in 1556, Don Alonso became Duke, and master of one of the greatest fortunes in Europe, on the death of his grandfather in 1559, aged only around 9.

Betrothal and marriage.

The 7th duke was betrothed in 1565 to Ana de Silva y Mendoza, who was then four years of age, the daughter of the Prince and the Princess of Éboli. In 1572 when the duchess was little more than ten years of age, the pope granted a dispensation for the consummation of the marriage. The Duke of Medina Sidonia had a son, Juan Manuel, who succeeded his father.  The scandal of the time, for which there appears to be no foundation, accused Philip II of a love intrigue with the mother of the young girl, princess of Eboli. The unvarying and unmerited favor he showed the duke has been accounted for on the ground that he took a paternal interest in the duchess, Ana de Mendoza daughter.  Don Alonso made no serious effort to save his mother-in-law Ana de Mendoza, Princess of Éboli from the later persecution she suffered at the hands of Philip II. His correspondence is full of whining complaints of poverty, and appeals to the king for pecuniary favors. In 1581 he was created a knight of the Golden Fleece, and was named Captain General of Lombardy. By pressing supplications to the king he got himself exempted on the ground of poverty and poor health.  Don Alonso was also the patron of don Jerónimo Sánchez de Carranza who wrote the premier text on the Spanish system of swordplay which was called the 'True Art' or the "Verdadera Destreza". He was asked by King Philip II of Spain to lead the Spanish Armada.

Spanish Armada.

Preparations.

When the Marquis of Santa Cruz died, on 9 February 1588, Philip insisted on appointing the 7th Duke to the command of the Armada. He had prepared his orders to the Duke of Medina Sidonia already three days before the death of Santa Cruz. The motivation of Philip's decision is unknown, but it may have been grounded in his consideration of the duke's very high social rank, administrative competence, modesty and tactfulness, and last but not least his reputation as a good Roman Catholic Christian. The micro-managing king probably wanted a commander who would obey his instructions to the letter, which was less likely to happen if Santa Cruz was in command, or either of the most experienced officers in the Armada, Juan Martinez de Recalde and Miguel de Oquendo.  The disadvantages of this choice were highlighted by himself in his own letter to the king, in which he stressed his lack of military experience on land and at sea, his lack of information about either the English enemy or the Spanish war plans, his poor health and tendency to sea-sickness, and his inability to contribute financially to the expedition. Philip II may never have seen this letter, for his secretaries Don Juan de Idiaquez and Don Cristobal de Moura replied to the duke that they dared not show it to the king.  Historians have speculated that Medina Sidonia himself did not believe in the success of the Armada, and that this motivated his attempt to reject the command or his later letter to the king in which he advised to seek peace or at least postpone the operation. The opinion of the duke is unrecorded, but skepticism about the fate of the Armada is known to have existed among senior Spanish officers and informed foreign commentators.  The opinion of modern historians on Medina Sidonia's efforts to prepare the Armada is generally favorable. He reorganized the fleet, rationalized the chaotic distribution of loads and guns, and increased the ammunition supplies from 30 to 50 rounds per gun. The permission of the king to add the Castilian galleons of the "Indian Guard" to the Armada nearly doubled its first-line fighting strength. Under the duke's command the material and personnel state of the Armada was much improved. The distribution of cannons and ammunition was rationalized, and he got permission from Philip to lodge some of his men ashore; prior to that, the king had insisted that the sailors be kept aboard their ships at all times, which had a disastrous effect on the health and morale of the fleet. He managed to establish good relationships with his subordinate commanders, and gathered additional supplies right up to the point of sailing.

Fleet command.

Medina Sidonia's behavior as a fleet commander in the ensuing series of fights with the English has come under more criticism. Lacking military experience, he showed little initiative or self-confidence, instead cautiously obeying the instructions of the king, and relying on the opinion of his advisers and subordinate commanders. This tendency was reinforced by the senior adviser appointed to him by the king, Diego Flores de Valdes, an experienced sea officer but also a man renowned for his caution. Medina Sidonia also seriously underestimated the difficulty of coordinating his actions with the commander of the Spanish forces in the Netherlands, Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, who was supposed to launch his invasion fleet to meet the Armada at sea. However, this problem was fundamental to the operational plan imposed on the two commanders by Philip II.  Allowing for the limitations inherent in a total lack of command experience, Medina Sidonia fought the battle courageously and intelligently. His health suffered badly as a result of the campaign, and after his return to Spain the king finally relieved him of his command and granted him permission to return home to convalesce. Later, he served the Spanish crown for another two decades in various functions. The duke's reputation suffered, because several popular accounts, notably the one written by the monk Juan de Victoria, placed all blame for the defeat on him.  Informed commentators and modern historians have put most of the blame on Philip II himself for imposing an impractical plan on his commanders, and on Diego Flores de Valdes for badly advising the duke. Philip II himself did not single out his chosen commander to bear the responsibility for the defeat. He stated "Action without cause is illegitimate of reason" in response to public outcry on re-sending a fleet to Britain. The duke retained his posts of admiral of the ocean and captain-general of Andalusia, and continued to serve Philip II and later Philip III.  The popular image of the duke in later years was strongly influenced by propaganda surrounding the Armada, including an English account which claimed that the Duke of Medina Sidonia was a fool and a coward who hid below decks in a specially reinforced room. This story became a lasting part of popular descriptions of the battle, in which the Duke of Medinia Sidonia was frequently portrayed as an incompetent buffoon.

Later years.

When an English fleet attacked Cádiz in 1596, his allegedly slow response was blamed for giving the English enough time to sack the city.  In 1606 the obstinacy and folly of the duke caused the loss of a squadron which was destroyed near Gibraltar by the Dutch. This event made the duke a satirical target of Miguel de Cervantes.

Alonso Pérez de Guzmán y de Zúñiga-Sotomayor, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia (10 September 155026 July 1615), was a Spanish aristocrat who was most noted for his role as commander of the Spanish Armada that was to attack the south of England in 1588.

Alonso Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno y Zúñiga, Herzog von Medina-Sidonia (* 10. September 1550 in Sanlúcar de Barrameda; † 1615 ebenda) war ein spanischer Grande des 16. Jahrhunderts und im Jahr 1588 der Befehlshaber der Spanischen Armada im Kampf gegen England.


Properties.

A cyclotomic field is the splitting field of the cyclotomic polynomial  and therefore it is a Galois extension of the field of rational numbers. The degree of the extension  is given by where is Euler's phi function. A complete set of Galois conjugates is given by, where runs over the set of invertible residues modulo (so that is relatively prime to ). The Galois group is naturally isomorphic to the multiplicative group  of invertible residues modulo, and it acts on the primitive th roots of unity by the formula  The discriminant of the extension is where formula_3 is Euler's totient function.  The ring of integers of the cyclotomic field is.

Relation with regular polygons.

Gauss made early inroads in the theory of cyclotomic fields, in connection with the geometrical problem of constructing a regular -gon with a compass and straightedge. His surprising result that had escaped his predecessors was that a regular heptadecagon (with 17 sides) could be so constructed. More generally, if is a prime number, then a regular -gon can be constructed if and only if is a Fermat prime; in other words if formula_4 is a power of 2.  For and primitive roots of unity admit a simple expression via square root of three, namely: Hence, both corresponding cyclotomic fields are identical to the quadratic field Q(). In the case of the identity of to a quadratic field is even more obvious. However, this is not the case for, because expressing fifth roots of unity requires square roots of square root expressions, or a quadratic extension of a quadratic extension. The geometric problem for a general can be reduced to the following question in Galois theory: can the th cyclotomic field be built as a sequence of quadratic extensions?

Relation with Fermat's Last Theorem.

A natural approach to proving Fermat's Last Theorem is to factor the binomial, where is an odd prime, appearing in one side of Fermat's equation  as follows:  Here and are ordinary integers, whereas the factors are algebraic integers in the cyclotomic field. If unique factorization of algebraic integers were true, then it could have been used to rule out the existence of nontrivial solutions to Fermat's equation.  Several attempts to tackle Fermat's Last Theorem proceeded along these lines, and both Fermat's proof for and Euler's proof for can be recast in these terms. The complete list of "n" for which the field has unique factorization is:  Kummer found a way around this difficulty. He introduced a replacement for the prime numbers in the cyclotomic field, expressed the failure of unique factorization quantitatively via the class number and proved that if is not divisible by (such numbers are called "regular primes") then Fermat's theorem is true for the exponent. Furthermore, he gave a criterion to determine which primes are regular and using it, established Fermat's theorem for all prime exponents less than 100, with the exception of the "irregular primes" 37, 59, and 67. Kummer's work on the congruences for the class numbers of cyclotomic fields was generalized in the twentieth century by Iwasawa in Iwasawa theory and by Kubota and Leopoldt in their theory of p-adic zeta functions.

List of class numbers of cyclotomic fields.

, or or for the formula_7-part (for prime "n")

In number theory, a cyclotomic field is a number field obtained by adjoining a complex primitive root of unity to, the field of rational numbers. The -th cyclotomic field (where ) is obtained by adjoining a primitive -th root of unity to the rational numbers.

Kreisteilungskörper (auch: Zyklotomische Körper) sind Studienobjekte des mathematischen Teilgebietes der algebraischen Zahlentheorie. Sie sind in gewisser Hinsicht besonders einfache Verallgemeinerungen des Körpers der rationalen Zahlen.


Biography.

Ethel Lilian Boole was born on 11 May 1864, at Lichfield Cottage, Blackrock, Ballintemple, Cork, the youngest daughter of mathematician George Boole (father of Boolean logic), and mathematician and educationalist Mary Everest, who was the niece of George Everest and a writer for "Crank", an early-20th-century periodical. Her father died six months after she was born. Her mother returned to her native England with her daughters, and was able to live off a small government pension until she was appointed librarian at Queen's College, London. When she was eight, Ethel contracted erysipelas, a disease associated with poor sanitation. Her mother decided to send her to live in Lancashire with her brother, believing that it would be good for her health. Described as "a religious fanatic and sadist", who regularly beat his children, he apparently forced Ethel to play the piano for hours on end. Ethel returned to London at the age of ten. She became withdrawn, dressing in black and calling herself "Lily".  At the age of eighteen she gained access to a legacy. This allowed her to study piano and musical composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, which she attended between 1882 and 85. During this period she became increasingly attracted to revolutionary politics. Back in London she learned Russian from Sergei Kravchinski, known as Stepniak who encouraged her to go to Russia. From 1887 to 1889 she worked as a governess in St. Petersburg, where she stayed with Kravchinski's sister-in-law, Preskovia Karauloff. Through her, she became associated with the revolutionary Narodniks. After her return to the UK, she settled in London, where she became involved in pro-Revolutionary activity. With Kravchinski she founded the Society of Friends of Russian Freedom, and helped to edit "Free Russia", the Narodniks's English-language journal.  In 1890 she met Michał Habdank-Wojnicz, a Polish revolutionary who had escaped from Siberia. Soon he also became Ethel Boole's life-partner. By 1895, they were living together and she was calling herself Mrs. Voynich. They married in 1902. In 1904 he anglicised his name to Wilfrid Michael Voynich and became an antiquarian book dealer, giving his name eventually to the Voynich manuscript.  In 1897 she published "The Gadfly", which was an immediate international success. She published three more novels "Jack Raymond" (1901), "Olive Latham" (1904) and "An Interrupted Friendship" (1910), but none matched the popularity of her first book.  The Voyniches emigrated to the United States in 1920, after Wilfred had moved the main base of his book business to New York. She concentrated more on music from this point on, working in a music school, but she continued her writing career as a translator, translating from Russian, Polish and French. A final novel, "Put off thy Shoes", was published in 1945.  Voynich was unaware of the vast sales of "The Gadfly" in the Soviet Union until she was visited in New York by a Russian diplomat in 1955, who told her how highly regarded she was in the country. The following year Adlai Stevenson secured an agreement for the payment of $15,000 royalties to her.  Ethel Lilian Voinich died July 27, 1960 at the age of 96. According to her will, her body was cremated, and the ashes scattered over Central Park in New York City.

Alleged affair with Reilly.

According to the British journalist Robin Bruce Lockhart, Sidney Reilly – a Russian-born operative employed by the émigré intelligence network of Scotland Yard's Special Branch – met Ethel Voynich in London in 1895. Lockhart, whose father, R.H. Bruce Lockhart knew Reilly, claims that Reilly and Voynich had a sexual liaison and voyaged to Italy together. During their romance Reilly is said to have bared his soul and revealed to her the story of his espionage activities. After their brief affair, Voynich published "The Gadfly", whose central character Arthur Burton was based on Reilly. In 2004, writer Andrew Cook suggested that Reilly may have been reporting on Voynich and her political activities to William Melville of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch. In 2016, new evidence surfaced from archived communication between Anne Fremantle, who attempted a biography of Ethel Voynich, and a relative of Ethel's on the Hinton side. The evidence demonstrates that a liaison of some sort took place between Reilly and her in Florence, 1895.

Work.

"The Gadfly".

She is most famous for her first novel "The Gadfly", first published in 1897 in the United States (June) and Britain (September), about the struggles of an international revolutionary in Italy who was loosely based on the figure of Giuseppe Mazzini. This novel was very popular in the Soviet Union and was the top bestseller and compulsory reading there, where it was seen as ideologically useful; for similar reasons, the novel has been popular in the People's Republic of China as well. By the time of Voynich's death "The Gadfly" had sold an estimated 2,500,000 copies in the Soviet Union and had been made into two Russian movies, first in 1928 in Soviet Georgia ("Krazana") and then again in 1955.  Historian Mark Mazower describes "The Gadfly" as ‘a radical fin de siècle English novel’ translated into Yiddish by his grandfather, Max Mazower, being published in 1907 in Vilna, then part of the Russian Empire, now Vilnius, Lithuania. Its dramatic story serves as an allegory form the struggle for liberty in Russia. Not only did it circulate widely among socialists in Russia, it appealed enormously to people of progressive ideas elsewhere with soaring popularity in Britain towards the end of the First World War. Sidney Reilly, the famous British “Ace of Spies” is said to have modelled himself on Voynich’s hero who, in turn, was used by Ian Fleming as a model for James Bond, the most famous fictional spy of the Cold War.  The 1955 film of the novel, by the Soviet director Aleksandr Fajntsimmer is noted for the fact that composer Dmitri Shostakovich wrote the score (see "The Gadfly Suite"). Along with some other excerpts, the "Romance" movement has since become very popular. Shostakovich's "Gadfly" theme was also used in the 1980s, in the BBC TV series "Reilly, Ace of Spies". In 1980 the novel was adapted again as a TV miniseries "The Gadfly", featuring Sergei Bondarchuk as Father Montanelli. Various other adaptations exist, including at least three operas and two ballets.

Other Novels.

Voynich's other four novels never achieved the same success as "The Gadfly", but two of them extended its narrative. "An Interrupted Friendship" (1910) elaborates on "The Gadfly"'s protagonist's backstory, and "Put Off Thy Shoes" (1945), Voynich's last novel, further focuses on the life of the protagonist's family and ancestors; a "lengthy, multi-generational chronicle" set in the 18th century.  Her second novel, "Jack Raymond" (1901), was quickly followed by her third, "Olive Latham" (1904)"." Nearly a decade later, Voynich took a hiatus from writing and focused on music.

Music.

Voynich began composing music around 1910. She joined the Society of Women Musicians during World War I. After she and her husband moved to New York, she devoted herself much more to music, creating many adaptations and transcriptions of existing works. In 1931 she published an edited volume of Chopin's letters. From 1933 to 1943 she worked at the Pius X School of Liturgical Music in Manhattan. While there she composed a number of cantatas and other works that were performed at the college, including "Babylon", "Jerusalem", "Epitaph in Ballad Form" and "The Submerged City". She also researched the history of music, compiling detailed commentaries on music of various eras. Most of her music remains unpublished and is held at the Library of Congress. Recent evaluation in 2005 of the cantata "Babylon" by an eminent English composer was not very favourable. 'The general impression is of amateurism and gaucheness'.

Legacy.

A minor planet 2032 Ethel discovered in 1970 by Soviet astronomer Tamara Mikhailovna Smirnova is named after her.

Ethel Lilian Voynich, "née" Boole (11 May 1864 – 27 July 1960) was an Irish novelist and musician, and a supporter of several revolutionary causes. She was born in Cork, but grew up in England. Voynich was a significant figure, not only on the late Victorian literary scene, but also in Russian émigré circles. She is best known for her novel "The Gadfly", which became hugely popular in her lifetime, especially in Russia.

Ethel Lilian Voynich, geborene "Boole" (* 11. Mai 1864 in County Cork, Irland; † 28. Juli 1960 in New York) war eine englische Schriftstellerin, Übersetzerin und Komponistin.


Life.

Provenance and early years.

Gustav Heckmann was born into a traditional "church and emperor" family at Voerde, a town in the industrial Rhineland region, at the extreme western edge of Germany. After successful completion of his schooling he volunteered for military service, serving in the war initially as a paramedic and later as a soldier.  War ended in 1918 and Heckmann moved on to study Mathematics, Physics and Philosophy at Marburg, Berlin and Göttingen. It was at Göttingen that he received his doctorate in 1924. This work was supervised by Max Born. In 1925 he passed the state exam necessary for a teaching position. While still a student one of his teachers was the philosopher Leonard Nelson, and he now applied for a teaching post at the with which Nelson was closely involved. At this stage, however, Nelson rejected his application, recommending that he instead obtain teaching experience in the public schools sector. Two years later, after complying with Nelson's non-negotiable condition that he cut all ties with the church, which had led to protracted wrangling with his parents, Heckmann was accepted as a teacher at the in 1927. Nelson himself died unexpectedly at the end of October, and Heckmann served a rigorous apprenticeship under the supervision of Minna Specht who had worked closely with Nelson, and who headed up the academy between 1927 and its closure.  The was effectively the educational academy of the International Socialist Militant League ("Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund" / ISK), which had grown out of a movement that had broken away, under the leadership of Nelson and Specht, from the mainstream Social Democratic Party in 1917. Shortly after Nelson's death Gustav Heckmann joined the ISK, leadership of which had fallen to Willi Eichler. Between 1927 and 1933 Eichler, Spricht and Heckmann worked together to promote and evolve the ISK's neo-Kantianist vision of socialism, defined through the prism of Socratic method as an ethical concept, but one bereft of the determinism implicit in the works of Karl Marx, and unimpeded by the religious distractions implicit in Christianity. Heckmann's life experiences would lead him to develop Nelson's methodology of political philosophy towards his understanding of its Socratic basis, and a more practical and less absolutist search for truth.

Nazi years and exile.

The outcome of the 1930 General election came as a huge shock for Heckmann whose activities, along with those of his ISK colleagues, quickly acquired a more political focus, while his teaching work at the "Walkemühle" was suspended. In 1932, backed by Minna Specht and Hellmutt von Rauschenplat who also taught at the academy, Heckmann instigated the publication in a newspaper of the ISK's Urgent Call for Unity (""Dringender Appell für die Einheit""), a public appeal, signed by 32 high profile intellectuals, urging the Social Democratic and Communist parties to unite ahead of the first 1932 General election in order to block Nazi success. Much of the text was drafted by Heckmann himself, including a prescient and resonant warning referencing Schiller against allowing inbuilt inertia and cowardice of the heart to leave the way open for a decline into barbarism. By the time of the second 1932 General election, in November, the Nazi party's share of the popular vote had been cut from 37.3% to 33.1%, which was actually slightly below the combined shares of the SPD and Communist parties, but the two left-wing parties remained mutually mistrustful and the Nazi tide proved unstoppable. Régime change in January 1933 was quickly followed by the creation of Germany's first one-party dictatorship. The had for most purposes been closed in 1931 in order to enable Specht, Eichler and Heckmann to concentrate on more direct opposition to the rise of the Nazi Party, and now, at the start of February 1933, its premises were taken over by members of the Nazi Party's military wing (SA). They were formally confiscated on 17 March 1933 and the Political-Philosophical Academy was proscribed under the wide ranging mandate of the Enabling Act of 24 March.  While Eichler fled to Paris, Minna Specht and Gustav Heckmann escaped together to Denmark, accompanied by the children's section of the academy. In a Danish hamlet they were able to use an old manor house which was large but unmodernised. Water came via a handpump, and much effort had to be expended heating the "school" room before lessons could begin: activities were constantly overshadowed by a concern that necessary permission to operate the school might not be renewed. Although at this stage industrial scale slaughter of German Jews still lay in the future, the Nazis had lost little time in enacting Anti-Jewish legislation, and it became progressively more obvious that Jews would be disadvantaged in any Nazi future. The number of refugee schoolchildren accompanying them to Denmark was initially 15, but this increased little by little over the next couple of years to approximately 25, of whom roughly 50% were Jewish: along with teaching and maintaining the old manor house, Specht and Heckmann devoted themselves to seeking out Danish families who might be able and willing to look after Jewish children and other children of exiled or disappeared German left-wing activists, in the event of a German invasion.  As the political situation in Germany evolved, at the end of 1938 Specht and Heckmann decided to relocate again, this time to Britain. A Quaker philanthropist named Peter Scott provided premises for the ten children of the senior school at Cwmavon, a short distance to the east of Swansea, while the younger children were accommodated at Abergavenny, on the far side of Merthyr Tydfil. However, Peter Scott's Welsh refuge had originally been established to support unemployed coal miners, and after its philanthropic objectives were switched it lost government support without which Scott was unable to fund it. The school moved for a period to the village of Redhill a little to the south of Bristol in England.  Meanwhile, September 1939 saw the anticipated return of war between Britain and Germany. For some time it remained unclear what this would involve on the "home front": one government response had a particular impact on people who had fled from Germany to Britain in order to escape government persecution because of their race or political beliefs. Invoking Regulation 18B of the Defence (General) Regulations 1939, the government identified several thousand German refugees as enemy aliens and placed them in internment camps. Heckmann and Specht were arrested on 3 and 5 June 1940: Heckmann spent some time interned in Canada. Their refugee school children were looked after by Quakers, socialists and German refugees who had avoided arrest.  In the early summer of 1941 the British government decided to release the majority of their German refugee internees on the condition that they would join the Pioneer Corps, believed to be the only British army corps prepared to accept those identified as "enemy aliens". Heckmann was shipped back from Canada to Britain and released. His duties with the Pioneer corps included transporting concrete blocks, and other building work in connections with the construction of nissen huts. Another German exile who had ended up in Britain was Heckmann's old teacher from Göttingen, Max Born, who had held a professorship at Edinburgh since 1939 and who managed to extricate Heckmann from the Pioneer Corps. He was now given war work that involved superintending the demagnetising of allied shipping in order to afford protection from German metallic mines.

Homecoming.

Gustav Heckmann returned to Germany after the war. In 1945 he married Charlotte Sonntag, who had taught the exiled schoolchildren with him in Denmark and Britain. In 1946 he obtained a professorship in Philosophy and Pedagogy at the Pedagogical Academy of Hannover (as it was then known). The ISK having by now become an organisation devoted to opposing Naziism, dissolved itself now that Naziism was seen to have been destroyed.  Like most former ISK members in Germany, Gustav Heckmann joined the no longer banned SPD. Within the party, however, he came into conflict with the party leadership in 1950 when he started collecting signatures of those critical of an article in the regional constitution of North Rhine-Westphalia. Heckmann and those who thought like him believed that by excessively accommodating the interests of the church, the new constitution risked limiting the freedom of conscience of teachers, with the accompanying risk that the region's schools might suffer from an excess of clerical interference.  He continued to work with Leonard Nelson's vision of Socratic Method, and enriched it with new elements, notably so-called "Meta-Gespräch".  A committed opponent of nuclear weaponry, he was involved from the outset in the Easter Marches in Germany, demonstrating against nuclear weapons in the East and in the West. He was a speaker at the 1960 demonstration at the Bergen-Hohne Training Area, remembered as an early for which protesters converged from various different starting points including, in this case, Hamburg, Bremen, Braunschweig and Hannover. Gustav Heckmann died at Hannover on 8 June 1996. He was 98.

Gustav Heckmann (22 April 1898 – 8 June 1996) was a German philosopher and teacher. He is particularly associated with philosophical extrapolations from the format, pioneered by his mentor and friend Leonard Nelson, with which Heckmann continued to work after Nelson died.

Gustav Heckmann (* 22. April 1898 in Voerde bei Wesel; † 8. Juni 1996 in Hannover) war ein deutscher Lehrer, Philosoph und Mitglied der SPD. In der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus gehörte er als deutscher Emigrant dem Internationalen Sozialistischen Kampfbund an.


Establishment.

On 19 October 1989, the Hungarian Parliament passed a resolution on the establishment of the Constitutional Court. Its organization and authority, however, had been determined earlier in the framework of the trilateral political roundtable negotiations preparing the democratic transformation of the political system. The basic provisions on the Constitutional Court were laid down in October 1989 by Parliament by way of amending the Constitution (Article 32/A). The court was set up in order to promote the establishment of a state governed by the rule of law as well as the protection of constitutional order and fundamental rights. Act XXXII of 1989 on the Constitutional Court was passed by Parliament on 19 October 1989, and the Constitutional Court started its work on 1 January 1990.

Changes made by the 2011 Constitution.

The following changes were drafted:

Justices.

The Hungarian Constitution declares that members of the Constitutional Court shall be elected by Parliament. It also determines the rules of such elections. Impartiality is guaranteed by having proposed members of the Constitutional Court to be put forward by a nominating committee consisting of one member each from the factions of parties represented in Parliament and shall be elected by a two-thirds majority of all Members of Parliament. Hungarian law provides that only jurists of outstanding theoretical knowledge or having at least twenty years of legal practice may be elected members of the Constitutional Court. Membership is for a term of nine years and members may be re-elected once. In December 2013,the upper age limit in place for Constitutional Court justices was abolished.  The current composition of the court includes the following justices:

Controversy over new constitution.

On 1 March 2013, the Princeton University international constitutional law scholar and Hungary specialist Kim Lane Scheppele reported that the Hungarian ruling party's supermajority is re-introducing in one "mega-amendment" multiple constitutional amendments which had been introduced before and nullified by the Constitutional Court or changed at the insistence of European bodies. The new constitutional mega-amendment again puts an end to the independence of the judiciary, brings universities under still more governmental control, opens the door to political prosecutions, criminalizes homelessness, makes the recognition of religious groups dependent on their cooperation with the government and weakens human rights guarantees across the board. In addition, the constitution will now buffer the government from further financial sanctions by permitting it to pass on all fines for noncompliance with the constitution or with European law to the Hungarian population as special taxes, not payable by the normal state budget. The mega-amendment annuls all of the decisions made by the Court before 1 January 2012 so that they have no legal effect. Henceforth no longer can anyone in the country – neither the Constitutional Court, nor the ordinary courts, nor human rights groups nor ordinary citizens – rely on the Court’s prior string of rights-protecting decisions.  Mr. György Schöpflin—formerly Jean Monnet Professor of Politics at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London and currently member of the European Parliament for Viktor Orban's party, Fidesz—has stated that the assertions of Kim Lane Scheppele „are teeming with misunderstandings, errors of fact, misreadings and ill-will.” Analyzing the blog entry of the Princeton constitutional law professor, Mr. Ferenc Kumin—Deputy State Secretary for International Communication of the Hungarian Government—also states that on the one hand it has conceptual errors, because it constructs a narrative based on half-information gained only from opposition sources. A typical example of this is the case of homelessness, which is of course not criminalized in Hungary. The amendment declares that “in order to preserve the public order, public safety, public health and cultural values” the government may prohibit living in the streets, but the same amendment also says that the government is to ensure the right to housing, and the government has invested a considerable amount in shelters in the interest of the homeless as well as the general public. These are not mentioned in the blog entry of Miss Scheppele. On the other hand, according to Mr. Kumin, the entry is full of factual mistakes as well, of which the worst is the question of the decisions of the previous Court, which are and will be valid – contrary to Miss Scheppele's text. Therefore Mr. Kumin – quoting her other mistakes as well - concludes that the blog-entry did not meet the criteria of an objective analysis, and can be seen only as a political opinion.  On 5 March 2013, Michael Link, undersecretary in the German Foreign Ministry, in ""Hungary must remain a country of the law,"" called on Hungary ""to demonstrate that the country has an effective separation of power between the legislative and the judicial.""  On 6 March 2013, Europe’s main human rights watchdog, Council of Europe President Thorbjorn Jagland, said that the amendments set to be voted on next week by Hungarian lawmakers may be incompatible with European legal principles and asked Hungary to postpone the approval of a series of constitutional amendments so legal experts can review the changes.  On 7 March 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Navracsics sent a letter to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland, to give some additional written explanations to the Proposal on the Fourth Amendment to Fundamental Law of Hungary.  On 8 March 2013, the government of the USA raised its concerns both about the content of the proposed amendments ""as they could threaten the principles of institutional independence and checks and balances that are the hallmark of democratic governance"" and about the process by which they were to be accepted: ""[The USA] "urges the Government of Hungary and the Parliament to ensure that the process of considering amendments to the constitution demonstrates respect for the rule of law and judicial review, openness to the views of other stakeholders across Hungarian society, and continuing receptiveness to the expertise of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission.""  On 8 March 2013, in a letter to the European commission, Guido Westerwelle, the German foreign minister, and counterparts in Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland called for the European Union to be given new powers allowing it to freeze EU budget funds to a member state in breach of Europe's "fundamental values." On the same day, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso too expressed concerns to Prime Minister Viktor Orban over the amendment vote in Hungary’s parliament next week to change the constitution, arguing it contravenes EU rules in areas such as the judiciary.  On 8 March 2013, Minister of Foreign Affairs, János Martonyi sent letter to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of EU-member states, in which he gave details on the text of the amendment.  On 11 March 2013, ""Hungary's parliament, dominated by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party, adopted changes to the country's constitution on Monday despite warnings from the European Union and the U.S. government that the changes could weaken Hungary's democracy. The legislation was supported by 265 lawmakers in the 386-seat chamber, with 11 votes against and 33 abstentions.""  In the New York Times column of Nobel Laureate economist Paul Krugman, Princeton University international constitutional scholar and Hungary specialist Professor Kim Lane Scheppele writes:  Critiques have also been made in the official working documents of the European Parliament

The Constitutional Court of Hungary () is a special court of Hungary, making judicial review of the acts of the Parliament of Hungary. The official seat of the Constitutional Court is Budapest. Until 2012 the seat was Esztergom.

Das Verfassungsgericht von Ungarn "(Magyarország Alkotmánybírósága)" ist der höchste Gerichtshof Ungarns und wurde 1989 errichtet. Es hat seinen Sitz in Budapest. Das Ziel der neuen Institution war die Förderung der rechtsstaatlichen Entwicklung, der verfassungsmäßigen Ordnung und der Schutz der Grundrechte.


Administrative history.

In the 9th century, the area was ruled by the Bulgarian-Slavic dukes Glad (in the east) and Salan (in the west), while in the 11th century, the eastern part of the area was ruled by duke Ahtum. From 11th to 16th century, during the administration of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, the area was divided between the Csanadiensis County, Temesiensis County and Torontaliensis County in the east, and Csongradiensis County, Bacsensis County and Bodrogiensis County in the west. Part of the area was also located within the Cumania region. In 1526-1527, the area was ruled by the independent Serb ruler, emperor Jovan Nenad, while during Ottoman administration (16th-18th century), it was divided between the Temeşvar Eyalet in the east and the Sanjak of Segedin in the west.  During Habsburg administration (18th century), the area was divided between the Banat of Temeswar in the east and the Military Frontier in the west. Since the abolishment of the Theiß-Marosch section of the Military Frontier (in 1751), and abolishment of the Banat of Temeswar (in 1778), the area was divided between the Torontal County in the east and the Batsch-Bodrog County in the west, with a small part of it that was located within the Tschongrad County. Much of the area was part of the autonomous districts of Velika Kikinda (existed from 1774 to 1876 within the Torontal County) in the east and Potisje (existed from 1751 to 1848 within the Batsch-Bodrog County) in the west. In the 1850s, the area was divided between the Veliki Bečkerek District in the east and Sombor and Novi Sad districts in the west. After 1860, it was again divided between Torontal, Batsch-Bodrog and Tschongrad counties.  During the royal Serb-Croat-Slovene (Yugoslav) administration (1918-1941), the area was initially (from 1918 to 1922) divided between the Veliki Bečkerek County in the east and the Novi Sad County in the west. From 1922 to 1929, it was part of the Belgrade Oblast, and from 1929 to 1941 part of the Danube Banovina.  During the German-Hungarian Axis occupation (1941-1944), the area was divided between the Banat autonomous region (part of German-occupied puppet state of Serbia) in the east and the Bács-Bodrog County (an administrative unit of Horthy's Hungary) in the west. Initially, the Banat region was part of the rump Danube Banovina (whose capital was moved to Smederevo), but since December 1941, it was organized as one of the districts of Serbia and was officially named the District of Veliki Bečkerek.  Since 1944, the area was part of autonomous Yugoslav Vojvodina (which was part of new socialist Yugoslav Serbia since 1945). The present-day districts of Serbia (including North Banat District) were defined by the Government of Serbia's Enactment of 29 January 1992.

Municipalities.

The North Banat District comprises the city of Kikinda, five municipalities and 50 local communities. The municipalities are  Note: for municipalities with Hungarian ethnic majority, the names are also given in Hungarian.  An interesting fact is that the first three municipalities enlisted (Kanjiža, Senta and Ada) are geographically, in fact, in the Bačka region since the natural border between Banat and Bačka is the river Tisa.

Demographics.

According to the last official census done in 2011, the North Banat District has 147,770 inhabitants.

Ethnic groups.

Hungarians are the largest ethnic group in the district at 46.64%, closely followed by Serbs at 42.67%. Municipalities with Serb ethnic majority are Kikinda (75.43%) and Novi Kneževac (57.19%), while municipalities with Hungarian ethnic majority are: Čoka (49.66%), Ada (75.03%), Senta (79.09%) and Kanjiža (85.13%). As for local communities, 29 have Hungarian majority, 19 have Serb majority, and 2 are ethnically mixed, with Hungarian relative majority.  The ethnic composition of the district (as of 2011 census):

Culture.

The first modern Serb printing-house was founded in Kikinda in 1878, to be followed a year later by the opening of the first library.  This city is also reputable for its painters, including Teodor Ilić Češljar, Nikola Aleksić, Đura Pecić, and Đura Jakšić, a painter and author.  Kikinda was the scene of the region's first theatrical performance, given in German, in 1796.

References.

Note: "All official material made by Government of Serbia is public by law. Information was taken from official website".

The North Banat District (, ) is one of seven administrative districts of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It lies in the geographical regions of Banat and Bačka. According to the 2011 census, the district has a population of 146,690 inhabitants. The administrative center of the district is the city of Kikinda.

Severni Banat (serb. "Severno-Banatski okrug" oder "Северно-Банатски округ", ungar. "Észak-bánsági körzet", slowak. "Severobanátsky okres", rum. "Districtul Banatul de Nord", kroat. "Sjeverno-Banatski okrug"; deutsch "Bezirk Nordbanat") ist ein serbischer Verwaltungsbezirk im nördlichen Teil der Vojvodina.


Early life and military career.

Nikolay Ignatyev was born in St Petersburg, to Maria Ivanovna Maltsova and Captain Pavel Nikolayevich Ignatyev. His father had been taken into favour by Tsar Nicholas I, owing to his fidelity on the occasion of the Decembrist revolt in 1825, and Grand Duke Alexander (later Tsar Alexander II) stood sponsor at the boy's baptism. After graduating from the Corps of Pages, at the age of seventeen he became an officer of the Russian Guards, serving with His Majesty's Hussar Guards Regiment. Ignatyev was then appointed to the General Staff and become adjutant to the general commanding in the Estonian military district. He was promoted to major in 1856. During Ignatyev's subsequent career he was at odds with Count Pyotr Shuvalov: another Corps of Pages alumnus.

Diplomatic career and involvement in the "Great Game".

Ignatyev's diplomatic career began at the Congress of Paris in 1856, after the Crimean War, where he participated in the negotiations regarding the demarcation of the Russo-Ottoman frontier on the lower Danube. He was then appointed as military attaché at the Russian Embassy in London. This assignment was a short one. According to the memoirs "Fifty Years of Service" written by his nephew Alexei Alexeyevich Count Ignatiev, Nikolay Ignatyev "inadvertently" pocketed a newly developed cartridge while inspecting the ordnance works of the British Army. In order to avoid diplomatic embarrassment he returned to Russia. Two years later he was sent with a small escort on a dangerous mission to the Central Asian states of Khiva and Bukhara. The khan of Khiva laid a plan for detaining him as a hostage, but he eluded the danger and returned safely, after concluding a treaty of friendship with the emir of Bukhara.  Ignatyev's next diplomatic exploit was in the Far East, as plenipotentiary to the court of Peking (Beijing). When the Qing Chinese government was terrified by the advance of the Anglo-French expedition of 1860 and the burning of the Summer Palace in the Second Opium War, he worked on their fears so dexterously that, in the Convention of Peking, he obtained for Russia Outer Manchuria – not only the left bank of the Amur, the original object of the mission, but also a large extent of territory and seacoast south of that river that would become the Russian Maritime Province. See Amur Annexation.

The Balkans.

Ignatyev's success was supposed to prove his capacity for dealing with "Orientals" and paved his way to the post of ambassador at Constantinople, which he occupied from 1864 to 1877. Here his chief aim was to liberate the Christian nationalities in general and the Bulgarians in particular from Ottoman domination and bring them under the influence of Russia ("See also Bulgarian Exarchate" and "Constantinople Conference"). His restless activity in this field, mostly of a semiofficial and secret character, culminated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, at the close of which he negotiated with the Ottoman plenipotentiaries the Treaty of San Stefano. As the war which he had done so much to bring about did not eventually secure for Russia advantages commensurate with the sacrifices involved, he fell into disfavour with Alexander II in part due to efforts of Count Pyotr Shuvalov, and retired from active service. Soon thereafter the Treaty of San Stefano was revised through the Treaty of Berlin, 1878, signed on Russia behalf by Count Pyotr Shuvalov.  Although Count Ignatyev remained widely popular in Bulgaria and was even considered by some for the Bulgarian throne, the throne was eventually granted to Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, his personal enemy.

Later life.

In the meantime Count Ignatyev served as Governor of Nizhny Novgorod, where he was credited with the expansion of the Makaryev Fair. Shortly after the accession of Alexander III in 1881, he was appointed Minister of the Interior on the understanding that he would carry out a nationalist, reactionary policy. In regards to the constitutional movement, he had personally told Alexander III that "the revolutionary movement could easily be crushed." After a period of intense, violent, destructive antisemitic rioting, known as pogroms, which some accused Ignatyev of fomenting, he issued the infamous "May Laws" in May 1882. Other sources suggest he in fact followed a government policy (not always enforced by local authorities) of strict suppression of rioters and protection of the Jewish population: Nikolai Ignatiev, installed as Minister of the Interior in May 1881, decided on a policy of firm repression, although it was made difficult by the unforeseeable character of the outbreaks and his limited forces. Nevertheless, he ordered his men to fire upon rioters. In the towns of Borisov and Nezhin this resulted in fatalities. In Kiev, 1400 arrests were made. Many in the government felt this was still inadequate. The police chief of Kiev wrote apologetically to the Tsar that the local military tribunals had been too lenient with the rioters; Alexander III wrote in the margin: “This is inexcusable!” He retired from office in June 1882. Explanations include that he was suspected of dishonesty or extortion, or that the Tsar feared he intended to introduce constitutional government by reviving the Zemsky Sobor (parliament). He had been referred to as "Lord Liar", and Simon Sebag Montefiore has suggested he may have suffered from Munchausen Syndrome. After that time he exercised no important influence in public affairs. He died in 1908.  Ignatyev's son, Count Pavel Ignatyev, served as the last Minister of Education under Tsar Nicholas II and later moved to Canada. His grandson, George Ignatieff, was born in Russia and became a Canadian diplomat, and his great-grandson, Michael Ignatieff, was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2008 to 2011.

Count Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev (historical spelling: "Nicolai Ignatieff"; ; 17 January Old Style (N.S. 29 January) 1832 – 20 June Old Style (N.S. 3 July) 1908), a Russian statesman and diplomat, became best known for his aggressive expansionism in support of Russian imperialism. In dealing with China, he secured a large slice of Chinese territory by the multi-lateral Treaty of Peking in 1860. As the Russian ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1864 to 1877, he worked to stir up pan-Slavic feeling and nationalism against the Ottomans, and had some responsibility for the Bulgarian rebellion of April 1876. He encouraged his government to declare war on Turkey in 1877, and after the decisive Russian victory he negotiated the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878. It heralded greatly strengthened Russian influence in the Balkans. However Britain and Austria intervened and forced the retraction of the treaty. As Minister of the Interior (in office: 1881-1882), Count Ignatyev promoted ultraconservative and Slavic-nationalist policies.

Nikolai Pawlowitsch Ignatjew () (* in Sankt Petersburg; † in Krupoderinzy, Berditschewski Ujesd, Gouvernement Kiew) war ein General der russischen Armee und russischer Diplomat.


History.

Formation.

Jean-Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde met in their hometown of Antwerp, Belgium, and their first collaboration under the name of Bizz Nizz resulted in a single called "Don't Miss The Party Line" which entered the top 10 in the UK. The two then decided to continue to work together.  Jean-Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde initially had created an instrumental track they called "Get Ready for This" in May 1991, and they decided that it needed some vocals. De Coster recalls:  They were so pleased with the result that they agreed to work with them as a duo, and thus 2 Unlimited was born.

"Get Ready!" (1991–1992).

They were signed to Byte Records (Belgium) and were licensed to many other record labels worldwide, including PWL Continental in the UK, ZYX in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, Scorpio in France etc. Their first single, "Get Ready For This" was well received in their home market, Belgium, where it managed to peak at No. 8. It also peaked at No. 10 in The Netherlands and managed to climb to No. 2 in Australia and the UK. The single worked its way up to No. 38 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart only three years after its original release.  A follow-up single, "Twilight Zone", followed in January 1992 which topped the chart in the Netherlands. It also charted well in numerous markets including No. 2 in the UK. In the United States, it peaked at No. 49 on the Hot 100 (and No. 5 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart). To capitalize on this success, the album "Get Ready!" was released on 24 February 1992, which featured the first two singles and seven other brand new tracks including two ballads. Two further singles were released from the album, "Workaholic" and "The Magic Friend". In the US, the album received a Gold certification for sales of 500,000 units in 1995.

"No Limits!" (1993–1994).

2 Unlimited's lead single, "No Limit" from the act's second album, was released in January 1993 and the repetitive nature of the song helped it become their most successful single ever, and by far the best remembered by the general public even now. The single topped the charts in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and in the United Kingdom. In Germany the single was certified Platinum for sales of 500,000 units. The track received modest airplay in North American radio stations, reaching the top 25 in the US Dance charts. By 1996, worldwide sales for the single "No Limit" had reached 2.3 million units.  "Tribal Dance" was released as a single shortly before the album "No Limits!" hit the stores in May 1993. The "Tribal Dance" was very successful also entering the top 5 in Austria, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and in the UK. In Germany, "Tribal Dance" was certified Gold for sales of over 250,000 units. Three further singles were issued from the second album, "Faces", which was considerably different in pace to previous releases, "Maximum Overdrive" and a re-recorded version of "Let the Beat Control Your Body". In France, the title was changed to "Let The Bass Control Your Body" to avoid any confusion with the slang word "" (meaning "penis").  The full-length album entitled "No Limits!" was more successful than the predecessor entering the top 5 album charts in Austria, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland. In the UK, the album climbed all the way to the top of the album chart. By 1996, the album's total sales had reached 3 million units including 592,000 units in the GSA region (Germany, Switzerland, Austria).  Despite their phenomenal success in the UK the duo were enjoying, they were criticised heavily by the music industry and the British press dubbed them "2 Untalented".

"Real Things" (1994–1995).

In May 1994, the duo's tenth single "The Real Thing" was released and it proved that their fans were still interested as they sent the single to No. 1 in their home market, the Netherlands as well as into the top 5 in Belgium, Germany and Norway.  While their third album, called "Real Things" shot to No. 1 in the Netherlands and the UK, it also managed to land in the top 5 in Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. The album was certified gold in the UK for sales of over 100,000 units. "Real Things" was their first album that the UK label, PWL, made no changes to.  In 1994, 2 Unlimited had their biggest audience ever, performing in front of 500,000 people.  Their second single, "No One", despite being a straightforward pop record didn't prevent their fans from sending it to No. 2 in the Netherlands on the sales chart.  In March 1995, while their follow-up single, "Here I Go" was another top 5 hit in their homeland, their commercial success seemed to be declining elsewhere as the single made it in the top 20 only in Austria, Belgium and Sweden. The fourth and final single was the ballad "Nothing Like the Rain" which was not quite as successful and did not receive a release in many territories including the UK.

"Hits Unlimited" (1995–1996).

In October 1995, 2 Unlimited released their first compilation album "Hits Unlimited", prompting rumours that they were about to split up. The first single, "Do What's Good for Me" from the album entered the top 5 in Finland, and the top 20 in the Netherlands and the UK. Despite their insistence that they were planning a world tour, in April 1996, shortly after the release of the single "Jump for Joy", both Slijngaard and Doth announced that 2 Unlimited was over.  It later emerged that after having spent so much time together they were no longer getting on as well as they once had, and there was disagreement about the future sound of 2 Unlimited. They had asked for more creative input and they also felt that they were not getting a fair share of the huge amount of money being earned by the project. As no agreement was reached, they each went their separate ways before a final single "Spread Your Love" was released in June 1996.

"II" (1998–1999).

As they still owned the rights to the name "2 Unlimited", De Coster and Wilde recruited two new (again Dutch) singers, Romy van Ooijen (b. 18 November 1971) and Marjon van Iwaarden (b. 18 June 1974), in order to capitalise on previous success. "Wanna Get Up" did well in the Netherlands, reaching No. 10 and the single, which was remixed by Sash! for UK release, reached No. 38.  The album "II", was released in April 1998. It was not as successful as previous studio albums, nor were the subsequent singles "Edge of Heaven" and "Never Surrender". In 1999, both van Ooijen and van Iwaarden left 2 Unlimited.

Remixes (2000–2006).

In 2000, Byte Records released the remix singles "No Limit" and "Twilight Zone". A remix album was to be released that year but some master tapes were stolen from Byte, and taken to Russia where they were released as a bootleg compilation. Also in this year, 2 Unlimited made their first appearance on the Eurodance compilation "Dancemania" series, specifically its "Speed" sub-series, with their song "Twilight Zone"'s "B4 Za Beat Mix".  In 2001, Byte finally released "Greatest Hits Remixes" featuring many new remixes. Some of the remixes from the stolen master tapes released in Russia were not included. The album was released solely in Japan. In 2002, "Trance Remixes: Special Edition" was released in Japan featuring many more new remixes not included in the previous compilation.  In recent years, many "best of" compilations have been released in various territories, often with new remixes. Most notably, ZYX Records released "No Limit 2.3" in 2003 and it was a moderate hit, reaching no. 41 in the German singles chart. It was promoted by a new duo, Débora Remagen and James Giscombe. They were being lined up as a 2 Unlimited "version 3". They still perform, mainly in Eastern Europe, although are not allowed to use their own voices. This due to copyright issues.  A new CD and DVD set containing all the duo's video-clips called "The Complete History" was released in 2004 along with a single, "Tribal Dance 2.4" (originally released on 12" vinyl in November 2003 as Tribal Dance 2.3). 2005 saw the release of "The Refreshed Album" in Mexico featuring stunning artwork, but the same remixes found on previous remix albums. In 2006, the DVD was re-packaged with a different CD "Greatest Remix Hits", which was released in Australia. The following years would see this package re-released in Argentina, Denmark, Sweden, Asia and South Africa.

Reunions (2009–2012).

Having both continued to perform their old hits separately in nightclubs and university student unions around the world, the original performers Slijngaard and Doth reunited on 11 April 2009, to perform together for the first time in 13 years at the "I Love The 90s" concert in Hasselt, Belgium. According to a radio interview with Slijngaard, Jean-Paul De Coster did not give permission for the duo to perform under the name 2 Unlimited; however Phil Wilde attended the gig and provided help with preparing backing tracks.  On 30 April 2009, Slijngaard and Doth performed five songs at the Radio 538 Queen's Day concert at Museumplein in Amsterdam. On 8 June, they were awarded "Most Popular Act of the 1990s", based on number of weeks in the Dutch Top 40, and on 25 September, they performed as a support act for Milk Inc. at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp.  On 29 December 2009, it was announced that the duo would release a new single in 2010 called "In Da Name of Love", as Ray & Anita. It was released as a CD single in the Netherlands through Spinnin' Records on 22 January 2010. It reached No. 6 on the Dutch Top 40 sales chart. On 30 April 2010, a new single was presented during the Dutch Queen's Day called "Still Unlimited" (still under Ray & Anita).  In July 2011, Ray & Anita invited fans to be part of the video for "Nothing 2 Lose" in Amsterdam. Fans applied via email and were selected randomly. The video with the fans was shot on 28 July. The single was released at the end of August 2011. The single is also the lead track for the film soundtrack of "Amsterdam Heavy". In the same month, Ray & Anita headlined the "I Love the 90's" stage at Tomorrowland in Belgium.

Comeback (2012–2016).

On 11 July 2012, it was announced that Ray & Anita would be working again with the Belgian producer, De Coster under the name 2 Unlimited.  On 30 March 2013, Slijngaard and Doth performed their first full concert as 2 Unlimited with their band in Belgium at Antwerps Sportpaleis.  The duo released a remixed version of their very first single, "Get Ready for This" on 28 October 2013. The song has been remixed by DJ Steve Aoki and was included on their "Greatest Hits" album.  In 2014, 2 Unlimited gave concerts at ten festivals that together made up Acceleration 2014, which combined top class car and bike racing with music and entertainment.  However, on 20 April 2016, 2 Unlimited announced that Anita Doth would be leaving the band at the end of 2016 to embark on a solo career. Doth will be replaced with another singer. Who the replacement would be, was yet to be announced, but Doth has said that she thinks the new singer is a worthy replacement.

Introduction of Kim (2016–present).

On 13 August 2016, Kim Vergouwen, being Anita's replacement, was revealed to the public via Ray Slijngaard's Facebook page.

2 Unlimited are a Dutch dance act founded by Belgian producers Jean-Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde in 1991 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Dutch rapper Ray Slijngaard and Dutch vocalist Anita Doth fronted the act from 1991 to 1996. During the five years of 2 Unlimited's worldwide mainstream success, the act scored a total of 16 chart hits, including "Get Ready for This", "Twilight Zone", "No Limit", and "Tribal Dance". They have sold 18 million records worldwide. Although they enjoyed less mainstream recognition in the United States, many of their songs have become popular themes at American sporting events, particularly in the NHL and the NBA.

2 Unlimited ist ein Eurodance-Duo, das von Herbst 1991 bis Mitte 1996 in den europäischen Charts erfolgreich war. Es besteht aus dem Rapper Ray Slijngaard und der Sängerin Anita Doth (Anita Daniëlle Dels), beide aus den Niederlanden. Im Hintergrund arbeiteten die belgischen Produzenten Jean-Paul De Coster und Phil Wilde.


Construction and commissioning.

The ship was laid down as "Hancock" on 1 February 1943 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.,

Service history.

"Ticonderoga" remained at Norfolk for almost two months outfitting and embarking Air Group 80. On 26 June 1944, the carrier shaped a course for the British West Indies. She conducted air operations and drills en route and reached Port of Spain, Trinidad, on 30 June. For the next 15 days, "Ticonderoga" trained intensively to weld her air group and crew into an efficient wartime team. She departed the West Indies on 16 July and headed back to Norfolk where she arrived on 22 July for post-shakedown repairs and alterations. On 30 August, the carrier headed for Panama. She transited the Panama Canal on 4 September and steamed up the coast to Naval Base San Diego the following day. On 13 September, the carrier moored at San Diego where she loaded provisions, fuel, aviation gas, and an additional 77 aircraft, as well as the Marine Corps aviation and defense units that went with them. On 19 September, she steamed for Hawaii where she arrived five days later.  "Ticonderoga" remained at Pearl Harbor for almost a month. She and conducted experiments in the underway transfer of aviation bombs from cargo ship to aircraft carrier. Following those tests, she conducted air operations – day and night landing and antiaircraft defense drills – until 18 October, when she exited Pearl Harbor and headed for the western Pacific. After a brief stop at Eniwetok, "Ticonderoga" arrived at Ulithi in the Western Caroline Islands on 29 October. There she embarked Rear Admiral Arthur W. Radford, Commander, Carrier Division 6, and joined Task Force 38 (TF 38) as a unit of Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman's Task Group 38.3 (TG 38.3).

World War II.

Philippine campaign.

The carrier sortied from Ulithi with TF 38 on 2 November 1944. She joined the other carriers as they resumed their extended air cover for the ground forces supporting the Battle of Leyte. She launched her first air strike on the morning of 5 November. The aircraft of her air group spent the next two days pummeling enemy shipping near Luzon and air installations on that island. Her aircraft bombed and strafed the airfields at Zablan, Mandaluyong, and Pasig. They also joined those of other carriers in sinking the heavy cruiser. In addition, "Ticonderoga" pilots claimed six Japanese aircraft shot down and one destroyed on the ground, as well as 23 others damaged.  Around 16:00 on 5 November, the enemy attacked with a group of "kamikaze" aircraft. Two of the suicide aircraft penetrated the American combat air patrol and antiaircraft fire to

South China Sea combat.

During the night of 9–10 January, TF 38 steamed through the Luzon Strait and then headed generally southwest, diagonally across the South China Sea. "Ticonderoga" provided combat air patrol coverage on 11 January and helped to bring down four enemy aircraft which attempted to snoop the formation. Otherwise, the carriers and their consorts proceeded uneventfully to a point some off the coast of Indochina. There, on 12 January, they launched their approximately 850 aircraft and made a series of anti-shipping sweeps during which

Attacks on South Japanese islands.

The three task groups of TF 38 completed their transit during the night of 20–21 January. The next morning, aided by favorable flight conditions, their aircraft hit airfields on Formosa, in the Pescadores, and at Sakishima Gunto. While it allowed American flight operations to continue through the day, it also allowed for Japanese "kamikaze" operations.  Just after noon, a single-engine Japanese aircraft scored a hit on "Langley" with a glide-bombing attack. Seconds later, a "kamikaze" swooped out of the clouds and plunged toward "Ticonderoga". The aircraft crashed through the ship's flight deck abreast of the No. 2 mount, and its bomb exploded just above her hangar deck. Several aircraft stowed nearby erupted into flames and

Repair and relaunch.

The stricken carrier arrived at Ulithi on 24 January but remained there only long enough to move her wounded to hospital ship, to transfer her air group to, and to embark passengers bound for home. "Ticonderoga" cleared the lagoon on 28 January and headed for the U.S. The warship stopped briefly at Pearl Harbor "en route" to the Puget Sound Navy Yard where she arrived on 15 February. Captain William Sinton assumed command in February 1945.  Her repairs were

Preparing for the Japan campaign.

Two days after her arrival, "Ticonderoga" sortied from Ulithi with TF 58 and headed north to spend the last weeks of the war in Japanese home waters. Three days out, Admiral Halsey relieved Admiral Raymond Spruance, the 5th Fleet reverted to 3rd Fleet, and TF 58 became TF 38 again for the duration. On 2–3 June, "Ticonderoga" fighters struck at airfields on Kyūshū in an effort to neutralize the remnants of Japanese air power – particularly the "kamikaze" – and to relieve the

Post-war.

Her arrival at Tokyo ended one phase of her career and began another. From Tokyo, she embarked homeward-bound to Bremerton Navy Yard in Puget Sound and was again put to sea on 20 October, 1945. After a stop in Pearl Harbor in November to alter the carrier to accommodate additional passengers for the Operation Magic Carpet voyage, she steamed to Okinawa, Japan to pick up servicemen and returned home with a Typhoon on her back reaching Alameda Navy Yard in Oakland, CA in December 1945. She disembarked her passengers and unloaded cargo before heading out to the Philippines at Samar to pick up another group of veterans. Leaving Philippines in early January 1946, she headed home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard outside of Seattle, WA delivering an estimated two to four thousand returning servicemen and unloading armaments and ammunition before entering the Bremerton Navy Yard to prepare for inactivation.  Almost a year later on 9 January 1947, "Ticonderoga" was placed out of commission and berthed with the Bremerton Group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

Redeployment in the Pacific.

On 31 January 1952, "Ticonderoga" came out of reserve and went into reduced commission for the transit from Bremerton to New York. She departed Puget Sound on 27 February and reached New York on 1 April. Three days later, she was decommissioned at the New York Naval Shipyard to begin the extensive SCB-27C conversion. During the ensuing 29 months, the carrier received numerous modifications – steam catapults to launch jets, a new nylon barricade, a new deck-edge elevator and the latest electronic and fire control equipment – necessary for her to become an integral unit of the fleet. On 11 September 1954, "Ticonderoga" was recommissioned at New York, Captain William A. "Bill" Schoech in command.  In January 1955, the carrier shifted to her new home port – Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, Virginia – where she arrived on the 6th. Over the next month, she conducted carrier qualifications with Air Group 6 in the Virginia Capes operating area. On 3 February, she stood out of Hampton Roads for shakedown near Cuba, after which she returned via Norfolk to New

Vietnam.

Pre-conflict operations.

From 1958–1963, "Ticonderoga" made four more peacetime deployments to the western Pacific. During each, she conducted training operations with other units of the 7th Fleet and made goodwill and liberty port calls throughout the Far East. Early in

Initial actions.

On 2 August, while operating in international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin, the destroyer reported being attacked by units of the (North) Vietnam People's Navy. Within minutes of her receipt of the message, "Ticonderoga" dispatched four, rocket-armed F8E Crusaders to the destroyer's assistance. Upon arrival, the Crusaders launched Zuni rockets and strafed the North Vietnamese craft with their cannon. After the efforts of "Ticonderoga" and "Maddox", one boat was left dead in the water and the other two damaged.  Two days later, late in the evening of 4 August, "Ticonderoga" received urgent requests from the destroyer — by

Stand-down.

After a return visit to Japan in September, the aircraft carrier resumed normal operations in the South China Sea until winding up the deployment late in the year. She returned to the Naval Air Station North Island, California, on 15 December 1964. Following post-deployment and holiday stand-down, "Ticonderoga" moved to the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard on 27 January 1965 to begin a five-month overhaul. She completed repairs in June and spent the summer operating along the coast of southern California. On 28 September, the aircraft carrier put to sea for another deployment to the Orient. She spent some time in the Hawaiian Islands for an operational readiness exercise then continued on to the Far East. She reached "Dixie Station" on 5 November and immediately began combat air operations.

1965–66 deployment.

"Ticonderoga"s winter deployment of 1965 and 1966 was her first total combat tour of duty during American involvement in the Vietnam War. During her six months in the Far East, the carrier spent a total of 116 days in air operations off the coast of Vietnam dividing her time almost evenly between "Dixie" and "Yankee Stations", the carrier operating areas off South and North Vietnam, respectively. Her air group delivered over of ordnance in more than 10,000 combat sorties, with a loss of 16 aircraft, but only five pilots. For the most part, her aircraft hit enemy installations in North Vietnam and interdicted supply routes into South Vietnam, including river-borne and coastwise junk and sampan traffic as well as roads, bridges, and trucks on

1966–67, 1967–68 deployments.

Following repairs she steamed out of San Diego on 9 July to begin a normal round of West Coast training operations. Those and similar evolutions continued until 15 October, when "Ticonderoga" departed San Diego, bound via Hawaii for the western Pacific. The carrier reached Yokosuka, Japan, on 30 October and remained there until 5 November when she headed south for an overnight stop at U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay, Subic Bay in the Philippines on 10–11 November. On 13 November, "Ticonderoga" arrived in the Gulf of Tonkin and began the first of three combat tours during her 1966–1967 deployment. She launched 11,650 combat sorties, all against enemy targets located in North Vietnam. Again, her primary targets were logistics and communications lines and transportation facilities. For her contribution and that of Air Wing Nineteen to Operation Rolling Thunder, "Ticonderoga" was awarded her second Navy Unit Commendation. She completed her final line period on 27 April 1967 and returned to Yokosuka, from which she departed again on 19 May to return to the United States. Ten days later, the carrier entered San Diego and began a month-long, post-deployment stand-down. At the beginning of July, she shifted to Bremerton, Washington, where she entered the Puget Sound for two months of repairs. Upon the completion of yard work, she departed Bremerton on 6 September and

Final deployments.

During the first month of 1969, "Ticonderoga" made preparations for her fifth consecutive combat deployment to the Southeast Asia area. On 1 February, she cleared San Diego and headed west. After a brief stop at Pearl Harbor a week later, she continued her voyage to Yokosuka where she arrived on the 20th. The carrier departed Yokosuka on 28 February for the coast of Vietnam where she arrived on 4 March. Over the next four months, "Ticonderoga" served four periods on the line off Vietnam, interdicting Communist supply lines and making strikes against their positions.  During her second line period, however, her tour of duty off Vietnam came to an abrupt

Post-Vietnam service.

"Ticonderoga" arrived in San Diego on 18 September. After almost a month of post-deployment stand-down, she moved to the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in mid-October to begin conversion to an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) aircraft carrier. Overhaul and conversion work began on 20 October, and "Ticonderoga" was redesignated "CVS-14" the next day. She completed overhaul and conversion on 28 May 1970 and conducted exercises out of Long Beach for most of June. On 26 June, the new ASW support carrier entered her new home port, San Diego. In July–August, she conducted refresher training, refresher air operations, and carrier landing qualifications. She operated off the California coast for the remainder of the year and participated in two naval exercises-HUKASWEX 4–70 late in October and COMPUTEX 23–70 between 30 November and 3 December.  During the remainder of her active career, "Ticonderoga" made two more deployments to the Far East. Because of her change in mission, neither tour of duty included combat operations off Vietnam. Both, however, included training exercises in the Sea of

Awards.

"Ticonderoga" received five battle stars during World War II and three Navy Unit Commendations, one Meritorious Unit Commendation, and 12 battle stars during the Vietnam War.

USS "Ticonderoga" (CV/CVA/CVS-14) was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named after the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in the American Revolutionary War. "Ticonderoga" was commissioned in May 1944, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning five battle stars. Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). She was recommissioned too late to participate in the Korean War, but was very active in the Vietnam War, earning three Navy Unit Commendations, one Meritorious Unit Commendation, and 12 battle stars.

Die USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) war ein US-amerikanischer Flugzeugträger der "Essex-Klasse". Sie wurde am 8. Mai 1944 in Dienst gestellt und am 9. Januar 1947 zur Reserveflotte verlegt. Am 11. September 1954 wurde sie wieder in Dienst gestellt und operierte bis zur Außerdienststellung am 1. September 1973 meist im Pazifik. Benannt wurde das Schiff nach der Schlacht von Ticonderoga.