History.

Mississippian culture and exploration.

The area that would become St. Louis was a center of the Native American Mississippian culture, which built numerous temple and residential earthwork mounds on both sides of the Mississippi River. Their major regional center was at Cahokia Mounds, active from 900 to 1500. Due to numerous major earthworks within St. Louis boundaries, the city was nicknamed as the "Mound City". These mounds were mostly demolished during the city's development. Historic Native American tribes in the area included the Siouan-speaking Osage people, whose territory extended west, and the Illiniwek.  European exploration of the area was first recorded in 1673, when French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette traveled through the Mississippi River valley. Five years later, La Salle claimed the region for France as part of "La Louisiane." The earliest European settlements in the area were built in Illinois Country (also known as Upper Louisiana) on the east side of the Mississippi

City founding (French and Spanish Louisiana period).

The founding of St. Louis was preceded by a trading business between Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent and Pierre Laclède (Liguest) in the fall of 1763. Maxent invested in a Mississippi River expedition led by Laclède, who searched for a location to base the company's fur trading operations. Though Ste. Genevieve was already established as a trading center, he sought a place less prone to flooding. He found an elevated area overlooking the flood plain of the Mississippi River, not far south from its confluence with the Missouri

19th century.

The city elected its first municipal legislators (called trustees) in 1808. Steamboats first arrived in St. Louis in 1817, improving connections with New Orleans and eastern markets. Missouri was admitted as a state in 1821. St. Louis was incorporated as a city in 1822, and continued to develop largely due to its busy port and trade connections.  Immigrants from Ireland and Germany arrived in St. Louis in significant numbers starting in the 1840s, and the population of St. Louis grew

20th century.

The city hosted the 1904 World's Fair and the 1904 Summer Olympics, becoming the first non-European city to host the Olympics. Permanent facilities and structures remaining from the fair are Forest Park and associated structures within its boundaries: the St. Louis Art Museum, the St. Louis Zoo and the Missouri History Museum, as well as Tower Grove Park and the Botanical Gardens.  After the Civil War, social and racial discrimination in housing and employment were common in St. Louis. In 1916, during the Jim Crow Era, St. Louis passed

21st century.

Urban revitalization continued in the new century. Gentrification has taken place in the Washington Avenue Historic District, Central West End and Forest Park Southeast neighborhoods. This helped St. Louis win the World Leadership Award for urban renewal in 2006. In 2017 the US Census Bureau estimated that St. Louis had a population of 308,826 which is

Geography.

Architecture.

The architecture of St. Louis exhibits a variety of commercial, residential, and monumental architecture. St. Louis is known for the Gateway Arch, the tallest monument constructed in the United States at. The Arch pays homage to Thomas Jefferson and St. Louis's position as the gateway to the West. Architectural influences reflected in the area include French Colonial, German, early American, and modern architectural styles.  Some notable post-modern commercial skyscrapers were built downtown in the 1970s and 1980s, including the One US Bank Plaza (1976), the AT&T Center (1986), and One Metropolitan Square (1989), which is the tallest building in St. Louis. One US Bank Plaza, the local headquarters for US Bancorp, was constructed for

Neighborhoods.

The city is divided into 79 government-designated neighborhoods. The neighborhood divisions have no legal standing, although some neighborhood associations

Topography.

According to the United States Census Bureau, St. Louis has a total area of, of which is land and (6.2%) is water. The city is built on bluffs and terraces that rise 100–200 feet above the western banks of the Mississippi River, in the Midwestern United States just south of the Missouri-Mississippi confluence. Much of the area is a fertile and gently rolling prairie that features low hills and broad, shallow valleys. Both the Mississippi River and the Missouri River have cut large valleys with wide flood plains.  Limestone and dolomite of the Mississippian epoch underlie the area, and parts of the city are karst in nature. This is particularly true of the area south of

Climate.

The urban area of St. Louis has a damp subtropical climate (Köppen: "Cfa"); however, its metropolitan region even to the south may present a hot-summer humid continental climate ("Dfa"), which shows the effect of the urban heat island in the city. The city experiences hot, humid summers and chilly to cold winters. It is subject to both cold Arctic air and hot, humid tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico. The average annual temperature recorded at nearby Lambert–St. Louis International Airport, is. Both temperatures can be seen on an

Flora and fauna.

Before the founding of the city, the area was mostly prairie and open forest. Native Americans maintained this environment, good for hunting, by burning underbrush. Trees are mainly oak, maple, and hickory, similar to the forests of the nearby Ozarks; common understory trees include eastern redbud, serviceberry, and flowering dogwood. Riparian areas are forested with mainly American sycamore.  Most of the residential areas of the city are planted with large native shade trees. The largest native forest area is found in Forest Park. In autumn, the changing color of the trees is notable. Most species here are typical of the eastern woodland, although numerous decorative non-native species are found. The most notable invasive species is Japanese honeysuckle, which officials are trying to manage because of its damage to native trees. It is removed from some parks.  Large mammals found in the city include urbanized coyotes and white-tailed deer.

Demographics.

St. Louis grew slowly until the American Civil War, when industrialization and immigration sparked a boom. Mid-19th century immigrants included many Irish and Germans; later there were immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. In the early 20th century, African American and white migrants came from the South; the former as part of the Great Migration out of rural areas of the Deep South. Many came from Mississippi and Arkansas.  After years of immigration, migration, and expansion, the city reached its peak population in 1950. That year, the Census Bureau reported St. Louis's population as 82% White and 17.9% African American. After World War II, St. Louis began losing population to the suburbs, first because of increased demand for new housing, unhappiness with city services, ease of commuting by highways, and later, white flight. St. Louis's population decline has resulted in a significant increase of abandoned residential housing units and vacant lots throughout the city proper; this blight has attracted much wildlife (such as deer and coyotes) to the many abandoned overgrown lots.  St. Louis has lost 64.0% of its population since the 1950 United States Census, the highest percent of any city that had a population of 100,000 or more at the time of the 1950 Census. Detroit, Michigan, and Youngstown, Ohio, are the only other cities that have had population declines of at least 60% in the same time frame. The population of the city of St. Louis has been in decline since the 1950 census; during this period the population of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area, which includes more than one county, has grown every year and continues to do so. A big factor in the decline has been the rapid increase in suburbanization.  According to the 2010 United States Census, St. Louis had 319,294 people living in 142,057 households, of which 67,488 households were families. The population density was 5,158.2 people per square mile (1,990.6/km2). About 24% of the population was 19 or younger, 9% were 20 to 24, 31% were 25 to 44, 25% were 45 to 64, and 11% were 65 or older. The median age was about 34 years.  The population was about 49.2% African American, 43.9% White (42.2% Non-Hispanic White), 2.9% Asian, 0.3% Native American/Alaska Native, and 2.4% reporting two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.5% of the population.  The African-American population is concentrated in the north side of the city (the area north of Delmar Boulevard is 94.0% black, compared with 35.0% in the central corridor and 26.0% in the south side of St. Louis). Among the Asian-American population in the city, the largest ethnic group is Vietnamese (0.9%), followed by Chinese (0.6%) and Indians (0.5%). The Vietnamese community has concentrated in the Dutchtown neighborhood of south St. Louis; Chinese are concentrated in the Central West End. People of Mexican descent are the largest Latino group, and make up 2.2% of St. Louis's population. They have the highest concentration in the Dutchtown, Benton Park West (Cherokee Street), and Gravois Park neighborhoods. People of Italian descent are concentrated in The Hill.  In 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $29,156, and the median income for a family was $32,585. Males had a median income of $31,106; females, $26,987. Per capita income was $18,108.  Some 19% of the city's housing units were vacant, and slightly less than half of these were vacant structures not for sale or rent.  In 2010, St. Louis's per-capita rates of online charitable donations and volunteerism were among the highest among major U.S. cities. , 91.05% (270,934) of St. Louis city residents age 5 and older spoke English at home as a primary language, while 2.86% (8,516) spoke Spanish, 0.91% (2,713) Serbo-Croat, 0.74% (2,200) Vietnamese, 0.50% (1,495) African languages, 0.50% (1,481) Chinese, and French was spoken as a main language by 0.45% (1,341) of the population over the age of five. In total, 8.95% (26,628) of St. Louis's population age 5 and older spoke a mother language other than English.

Economy.

The gross domestic product of the St. Louis metro area was $160 billion in 2016, up from $155 billion the previous year. The gross metropolitan product of Greater St. Louis was $146 billion in 2014, the 21st-highest in the country, up from $144 billion in 2013, $138.4 billion in 2012, and $133.1 billion in 2011. The St. Louis metropolitan area had a per-capita GDP of $48,738 in 2014, up 1.6% from the previous year. In 2007, manufacturing in the city conducted nearly $11 billion in business, followed by the health care and social service industry with $3.5 billion; professional or technical services with $3.1 billion; and the retail trade with $2.5 billion. The health care sector was the area's biggest employer with 34,000 workers, followed by administrative and support jobs, 24,000; manufacturing, 21,000, and food service, 20,000.

Major companies and institutions.

, the St. Louis Metropolitan Area is home to ten Fortune 500 companies, the 7th-most among U.S. cities. They include Express Scripts, Emerson Electric, Monsanto, Reinsurance Group of America, Centene, Graybar Electric, and Edward Jones Investments. Other notable corporations headquartered in the region include Arch Coal, Wells Fargo Advisors (formerly A.G. Edwards), Energizer Holdings, Patriot Coal, Post Foods, United Van Lines, and Mayflower Transit, Post Holdings, Olin, and Enterprise Holdings (a parent company of several car rental companies). Notable corporations with operations in St. Louis include Cassidy Turley, Kerry Group, Mastercard, TD Ameritrade, and BMO Harris Bank.  Health

Education.

Colleges and universities.

The city is home to three national research universities, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Washington University in St. Louis and St. Louis University, as classified under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has been ranked among the top 10 medical schools in the country by US News & World Report for as long as the list has been

Primary and secondary schools.

The St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) operate more than 75 schools, attended by more than 25,000 students, including several magnet schools. SLPS operates under provisional accreditation from the state of Missouri and is under the governance of a state-appointed school board called the Special Administrative Board, although a local board continues to exist without legal authority over the district. Since 2000, charter schools have operated in

Culture.

With its French past and waves of Catholic immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries, from Ireland, Germany and Italy, St. Louis is a major center of Roman Catholicism in the United States. St. Louis also boasts the largest Ethical Culture Society in the United States and is one of the most generous cities in the United States, ranking ninth in 2013. Several places of worship in the city are noteworthy, such as the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, home of the world's largest mosaic installation. Other notable churches include the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral west of the Mississippi River and the oldest church in St. Louis; the St. Louis Abbey, whose distinctive architectural style garnered multiple awards at the time of its completion in 1962; and St. Francis de Sales Oratory, a neo-Gothic church completed in 1908 in South St. Louis and the second largest church in the city.  The city is identified with music and the performing arts, especially its association with blues, jazz, and ragtime. St. Louis is home to the St. Louis Symphony, the second oldest symphony orchestra in the United States. Until 2010, it was also home to KFUO-FM, one of the oldest classical music FM radio stations west of the Mississippi River. Opera Theatre

Sports.

St. Louis is home to the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball, the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League, notable and collegiate-level soccer teams. It is one of nine North American cities to have won titles in all four major leagues (MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA), having joined the prestigious group with the 2019 Stanley Cup championship for the Blues, and is one of three American cities to have hosted an Olympic Games.  The following table lists the professional sports teams in the St Louis area:

Professional sports.

St. Louis is home to two major league sports teams.  The St. Louis Cardinals are one of the most successful franchises in Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won 19 National League (NL) titles (the most pennants for the league franchise in one city) and 11 World Series titles (second to the New York Yankees and the most by any NL franchise), recently in 2011. They play at Busch Stadium. Previously, the St. Louis Browns played in the American League (AL) from 1902 to 1953, before moving to Baltimore, Maryland to become the current incarnation of the Orioles. The 1944 World Series was an all-St. Louis World

Amateur sports.

St. Louis has hosted the Final Four of both the women's and men's college basketball NCAA Division I championship tournaments, and the Frozen Four collegiate ice hockey tournament. St. Louis University has won 10 NCAA Men's Soccer Championships, and the city has hosted the College Cup several times. In addition

Chess.

St. Louis is home to the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis (CCSCSL) where the U.S. Chess Championship is held. St. Louisan Rex Sinquefield founded the CCSCSL and moved the World Chess Hall of

Parks.

The city operates more than 100 parks, with amenities that include sports facilities, playgrounds, concert areas, picnic areas, and lakes. Forest Park, located on the western edge of city, is the largest, occupying 1,400 acres of land, making it almost twice as large as Central Park in New York City. The park is home to five major institutions, including the St. Louis Art Museum, the St. Louis Zoo, the St. Louis Science Center, the Missouri History Museum, and the Muny amphitheatre. Another significant park in the city is Gateway Arch National Park, which was known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial until 2018 and is located on the riverfront in downtown St. Louis. The centerpiece of the park is the tall Gateway Arch, a National Memorial designed by noted architect

Government.

The city of St. Louis has a strong mayor–council government with legislative authority and oversight vested in the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis and with executive authority in the Mayor of St. Louis and six other elected officials. The Board of Aldermen is made up of 28 members (one elected from each of the city's wards) plus a board president who is elected citywide. The 2014 fiscal year budget topped $1 billion for the first time, a 1.9% increase over the $985.2 million budget in 2013. 238,253 registered voters lived in the city in 2012, down from 239,247 in 2010, and 257,442 in 2008.

Structure.

The mayor is the chief executive officer of the city and is responsible for appointing city department heads including; the director of public safety, the director of streets & traffic, the director of health, the director of human services, the director of the airport, the director of parks & recreation, the director of workforce development, the director of the Community Development Agency, the director of economic development, the director of public utilities, the director of the Civil Rights Enforcement Agency,

State and federal government.

St. Louis is split between 11 districts in the Missouri House of Representatives: all of the 76th, 77th, 78th, 79th, 80th, 81st, 82nd, and 84th, and parts of the 66th, 83rd, and 93rd, which are shared with St. Louis County. The 5th Missouri Senate district is entirely within the city, while the 4th is shared with St. Louis County.  At the federal level, St. Louis is the heart of, which also includes part of northern St. Louis County. A Republican has not represented a significant portion of St. Louis in the U.S. House since 1953. Correspondingly, despite voting Republican prior to 1928 in

Crime.

The city of St. Louis has,, the highest murder rate, per capita, in the United States, with 188 homicides in 2015 (59.3 homicides per 100,000) and ranks No. 13 of the most dangerous cities in the world by homicide rate. Detroit, Flint, Memphis, Birmingham, and Baltimore have higher overall violent crime rates than St. Louis, when comparing other crimes such as rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Despite these high crime rates relative to other American cities, St. Louis index crime rates have declined almost every year since the peak in 1993 (16,648), to the 2014 level of 7,931 (which is the sum of violent crimes and property crimes) per 100,000. In 2015, the index crime rate reversed the 2005–2014 decline to a level of 8,204. Between 2005 and 2014, violent crime has declined by 20%, although rates of violent crime remains 6

Media.

Greater St. Louis commands the 19th-largest media market in the United States, a position roughly unchanged for over a decade. All of the major U.S. television networks have affiliates in St. Louis, including KTVI 2 (Fox), KMOV 4 (CBS), KSDK 5 (NBC), KETC 9 (PBS), KPLR-TV 11 (CW), KDNL 30 (ABC), WRBU 46 (Ion), and WPXS 51 Daystar Television Network. Among the area's most popular radio stations are KMOX (AM sports and talk, notable as the longtime flagship station for St. Louis Cardinals broadcasts), KLOU (FM oldies), WIL-FM (FM country), WARH (FM adult hits), and KSLZ (FM Top 40 mainstream). St. Louis also supports public radio's KWMU, an NPR affiliate, and community radio's KDHX. KZQZ is a popular Oldies station. All-sports stations, such as KFNS 590 AM "The Fan", WXOS "101.1 ESPN",

Transportation.

Road, rail, ship, and air transportation modes connect the city with surrounding communities in Greater St. Louis, national transportation networks, and international locations. St. Louis also supports a public transportation network that includes bus and light rail service.

Roads and highways.

Four interstate highways connect the city to a larger regional highway system. Interstate 70, an east–west highway, runs from the northwest corner of the city to downtown St. Louis. The north–south Interstate 55 enters the city at the south near the Carondelet neighborhood and runs toward the center of the city, and both Interstate 64 and Interstate 44 enter the city on the west, running parallel to the east. Two of the four interstates (Interstates 55 and 64) merge south of Gateway Arch National Park and leave the city on the Poplar Street Bridge into

Metrolink Light Rail and Subway.

The St. Louis metro area is served by MetroLink (known as Metro) and is the 11th-largest light rail system in the country with of double track light rail. The Red Line and The Blue Line both serve all the stations in the inner city, and branch to different destinations beyond in the suburban areas. Both lines enter the city north of Forest Park on the western edge of the city or on the Eads Bridge in

Airports.

St. Louis is served by two passenger airports. St. Louis Lambert International Airport, owned and operated by the City of St. Louis, is 11 miles northwest of downtown along highway I-70 between I-170 and I-270 in St. Louis County. It is the largest and busiest airport in the state. In 2016, when the airport had more than 255 daily departures to about 90 domestic and international locations, it served more than 15 million passengers. The airport serves as a focus hub city for Southwest Airlines; it was once

Port authority.

River transportation is available through the Port of St. Louis, which is 19.3 miles of riverbank on the Mississippi River that handles more than 32 million tons of freight annually. The Port

Railroad service.

Inter-city rail passenger train service in the city is provided by Amtrak at the Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center downtown. Amtrak trains terminating in the city include the "Lincoln Service" to Chicago and the "Missouri River Runner" to Kansas City, Missouri. St. Louis is an intermediate stop on the "Texas Eagle" route which provides long-distance passenger service between Chicago, San Antonio, and three days a week, to Los Angeles.  St. Louis is the nation's third largest freight rail hub, moving Missouri exports such as fertilizer, gravel, crushed stone, prepared foodstuffs, fats, oils, nonmetallic mineral products, grain, alcohol, tobacco

Bus service.

Local bus service in the city of St. Louis is provided by the Bi-State Development Agency via MetroBus, with more than 75 routes connecting to MetroLink light rail transit and stops in the city and region.

Taxi.

Taxicab service in the city is provided by private companies regulated by the Metropolitan Taxicab Commission. Rates vary by vehicle type, size, passengers and distance, and

Sister cities.

St. Louis has 16 sister cities.

St. Louis () is a city in the US state of Missouri, on the western bank of the Mississippi River, which forms the state line between Illinois and Missouri. The Missouri River merges with the Mississippi River 15 river miles north of Downtown St. Louis, forming the fourth-longest river system in the world. In 2019, the estimated population was 300,576, and of the bi-state metropolitan area, 2,804,724. Greater St. Louis is the largest metropolitan area in Missouri, second-largest in Illinois, seventh-largest in the Great Lakes Megalopolis, and the 20th-largest in the United States.

St. Louis (ausgeschrieben Saint Louis) [] ist eine Stadt im US-Bundesstaat Missouri am westlichen Ufer des Mississippi mit 319.294 Einwohnern (Volkszählung 2010).


Early life, education and career.

Neugebauer was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and reared in Lubbock. His father was an insurance salesman and his mother a real estate agent and interior designer. He has two brothers, Jon and Bradley, and a sister, Virginia Volpe. When Randy was nine years old, his parents divorced, and his father died in 1985 after remarrying. In 1963, his mother married Joe W. Smith, a bank manager. Neugebauer graduated from Coronado High School and later from Texas Tech University in 1972 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from the College of Business Administration (now Rawls College of Business).  Like his mother, Neugebauer has long been involved in the real estate business, having served as president of the development company Lubbock Land before his election to Congress. He is a former president of the Texas Association of Builders from 1996 to 1997.

Early political career.

From 1992 to 1998, Neugebauer was a Lubbock city councilman. He was mayor "pro tempore" from 1994 to 1996. While involved in Lubbock government, Neugebauer worked to reduce taxes and to privatize municipal services.

U.S. House of Representatives.

"Baby Killer" remark.

On March 21, 2010, during the debate in the House of Representatives of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Neugebauer yelled out "Baby killer!" The remark was believed to have been directed at Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan, a leader of the anti-abortion Democrats in the House, who was discussing a motion filed by the Republicans. While immediate inquiries began to determine who shouted the words, more than 12 hours later, on March 22, 2010, Neugebauer publicly identified himself as the person, apologized for the incident and argued that his words were "It's a baby killer", referring to the bill, not Stupak himself.  However, reporters and others in the room insisted Neugebauer precisely shouted "Baby killer!", referring to Stupak. Stupak said that he does not "buy" Neugebauer's description of the outburst, said his words were "very clear", and believes Neugebauer should apologize for his remark on the floor of the US House. In contrast to Neugebauer's "baby killer" comment, Stupak and the Politifact watchdog group agree, "there will be no public funding of abortion in this legislation" that Neugebauer detests.  The "New York Times" and "Colorado Springs Gazette" have compared Neugebauer's comment to Joe Wilson shouting "You lie!" during President Barack Obama's September 2009 address to Congress, and to racial and sexual slurs said to have been shouted at Democratic legislators outside the Capitol building by members of the public who opposed the bill during the 48 hours preceding Neugebauer's March 21, 2010, outburst. Neugebauer's comment was covered by media worldwide, including Canada's "Macleans" magazine, the United Kingdom's "The Times", and Australia's "Sydney Morning Herald".

Legislation sponsored.

Neugebauer has sponsored the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act of 2013 (H.R. 1155; 113th Congress) (), a bill meant to reduce the regulatory costs of complying with multiple states' requirements for insurance companies, making it easier for the same corporation to operate in multiple states. The bill would transform the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers (NARAB) into a clearing house that set up its own standards that insurance companies would be required to meet in order to do business in other states. In this new system, however, the insurance company would only have to meet the requirements of their home state and the NARAB (only two entities), not their home state and every other state they wished to operate in (multiple entities).  Proponents of the bill argued that it would help lower costs for insurance companies and make insurance cheaper for people to buy. It passed the House on September 10, 2013.  On April 26, 2013, Neugebauer introduced the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2014 (H.R. 1786; 113th Congress), a bill that would reauthorize the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP), which was created to improve the understanding of windstorms and their impacts and to develop measures to reduce the damage they cause.

National World War II Memorial confrontation.

On October 2, 2013, during the United States federal government shutdown of 2013, Neugebauer publicly scolded a National Park Service ranger who was enforcing the agency's closure of the National World War II Memorial due to the lapse in appropriations. His actions were widely criticized in the media, and he has responded that the phrase "The Park Service should be ashamed of themselves" was taken out of context.

Political campaigns.

Neugebauer was elected to Congress after a hotly contested special election runoff in the spring of 2003. The seat came open after 18-year Republican incumbent Larry Combest announced his retirement not long after having been reelected to a 10th term in 2002. Although Combest had been the only Republican ever to represent this district, the 19th has long been one of the most conservative areas of Texas (indeed, in the entire nation), and it was virtually taken for granted that Combest would be succeeded by another Republican. The 19th has not supported a Democrat for president since 1964, and Combest's first bid for the seat was the only time in the previous two decades that a Democrat won more than 40 percent of the vote.  Neugebauer was one of seven candidates to run in the primary, all Republicans, though the district was so heavily Republican that any Democratic candidate would have faced nearly impossible odds in any event. Neugebauer stressed his conservative credentials; he described himself as a "pro-family, pro-life Christian who has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ" and believed that "our region's most precious resources are our values."  Neugebauer led the primary field, but finished well short of a majority. He was forced into a runoff with Mike Conaway of Midland, the chairman of the Texas Board of Public Accountancy and a friend of President George W. Bush. In a close third-place finish in the first round of balloting was then-State Representative Carl Isett of Lubbock. In the runoff election, Neugebauer defeated Conaway by only 587 votes, becoming only the fourth person to represent the 19th since its creation in 1935. Soon afterward in 2004, Conaway won election to Congress in the newly reconfigured 11th District.  Neugebauer ran for a full term in 2004, facing 26-year incumbent Democrat Charles Stenholm of Abilene. Stenholm had previously represented the Abilene-based 17th District, but that district had been dismantled in the 2003 Texas redistricting. The largest chunk of Stenholm's former territory, including most of Abilene, was thrown into Neugebauer's district. Although Stenholm had more seniority, the new district retained about 60 percent of Neugebauer's former territory, a disadvantage Stenholm was unable to overcome despite his seniority. Neugebauer won by 18 points, and was reelected four more times with little substantive opposition, each time taking well over 60 percent of the vote.

2010.

In the 2010 Texas House of Representatives election, Neugebauer supported the election of the conservative Jim Landtroop to the District 85 seat. Landtroop had worked in past Neugebauer campaigns and is a member of the congressman's campaign finance committee. Landtroop upset the Democratic incumbent Joseph P. Heflin of Crosbyton but was himself unseated after one term in a revised district by Republican Ken King of Canadian in Hemphill County.

2012.

Neugebauer faced opposition in the May 29 Republican primary from Chris Winn, who resigned as the Lubbock County Republican chairman to enter the race. Neugebauer defeated Winn, 45,372 (74.3%) to 15,675 (25.7%).

2014.

In December 2013, Chris Winn announced that he would again challenge Neugebauer in the Republican primary scheduled for March 4, 2014. A third Lubbock Republican also filed for the seat, Donald R. May, a retired retinal surgeon. Neugebauer easily won re-nomination to a seventh term in the House. He polled 39,584 votes (64.4 percent); May and Winn trailed with 14,486 votes (23.6 percent) and 7,422 (12.1 percent), respectively.

2017.

Press reports indicated that Neugebauer was under consideration to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the incoming Trump Administration.. The job was ultimately given to Mick Mulvaney.

Campaign funding.

During the first seven years of his political career, from 2003 to February 2010, he has raised $6.4 million, most of these funds coming from the oil and gas, real estate, commercial banking and crop production/processing industries, and leadership PACs. His largest corporate and association donors have been the National Auto Dealers Association, National Association of Home Builders, Quantum Energy Partners, the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the National Association of Realtors. Outspoken against abortion during Congress' debate on health care reform legislation, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Neugebauer has received a total of $3,000 during his career from people and committees associated with pro-life groups.

Investigation.

In October 2015, the Campaign for Accountability asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Neugebauer for allegations of bribery and illegal gratuity related to $8,000 given to Neugebauer by Pay Day Loan financers for his co-sponsorship of H.R.1121 - Responsible Consumer Financial Protection Regulations Act of 2011 which provided additional protection and lack of regulation to Pay Day Loan lenders.

Personal life.

Neugebauer married his high school sweetheart, the former Dana Collins, and they have two sons, Todd Neugebauer, President of Aspect Holdings, LLC, and Toby Neugebauer, the co-CEO of Quantum Energy Partners. They also have four grandchildren. As of 2010, Neugebauer served as a deacon at a Southern Baptist church.

Robert Randolph "Randy" Neugebauer (born December 24, 1949) is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for, having served from a special election in 2003 to 2017. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes a large swath of West Texas, including Lubbock and Abilene. According to a 2011 survey by the "National Journal", Neugebauer was "the most conservative" member of the House.

Charles Randolph „Randy“ Neugebauer (* 24. Dezember 1949 in St. Louis, Missouri) ist ein amerikanischer Politiker der Republikaner. Von 2003 bis 2017 vertrat er den Bundesstaat Texas im US-Repräsentantenhaus.


Champagne production.

Founded in 1734, the Taittinger Champagne house is based in Reims. The flagship wines of the house are the "Comtes de Champagne" (composed of 100% Chardonnay) and "Comtes de Champagne Rosé" (70% Pinot noir and 30% Chardonnay ). In 2017, Taittinger planted its first vines in England, near a village in Kent, for its venture into English sparkling wine. The first bottle will be ready in 2023.

History.

In 1734, Jacques Fourneaux established a wine-business in Champagne and worked closely with the Benedictine Abbeys which, at that time, owned the finest vineyards in the region. After the First World War, the wine-house was moved to a large mansion on the Rue de Tambour in which Theobald I of Navarre (1201–1253) had lived. A long-standing legend held that it was he who brought the Chardonnay grape from Cyprus on returning from a crusade in the Middle Ages. This has been disproved by genetic analysis done at the University of California at Davis.  The Taittingers were a family of wine merchants who, in 1870, moved to the Paris region from the Lorraine in order to retain their French citizenship after the Franco-Prussian War and the Treaty of Frankfurt (1871).  In 1932, Pierre Taittinger bought the Château de la Marquetterie from the wine house of Forest-Fourneaux. It had been used as a command post during World War I and he had been laid up there after suffering a heart-attack during combat. The vineyards of the château had been planted with Chardonnay and Pinot noir since the 18th Century. This property had been developed by Brother Jean Oudart, a Benedictine monk, one of the founding fathers of champagne wine, and later it had belonged to the writer Jacques Cazotte.  From 1945 to 1960 the business was run by Pierre's third son François. Under his direction, the Taittinger cellars were established in the Abbey of Saint-Nicaise, built in the thirteenth century in Gallo-Roman chalk pits dating from the fourth century. After François' death in an accident, his brother Claude took over and directed the business from 1960 to 2005. It was during this time that Taittinger became a champagne house of world renown.  Champagne Taittinger was sold in July 2005 by the Taittinger family, along with its subsidiary, Société du Louvre, to the U.S. private investment firm Starwood Capital Group. Those in the profession (Champagne houses, wine-producers, cooperatives, distributors and customers) proposed that the objectives of short-term profitability, or even medium term, at any price, advocated by the then current managers of the business, were not compatible with the production of Champagne wine of quality, which takes time, trust and a large delegation of authority to the masters of the cellar. In addition, the arrival of investors completely foreign to the culture of Champagne could result in a major breakdown of the equilibrium of the industry.  Finally, on 31 May 2006, the Northeast Regional Bank of the Crédit Agricole, in collaboration with Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, bought the business for 660 million euros. The area covers 288.84 hectares of vineyards and has 12 to 13 million bottles in stock. The Château de la Marquetterie and its cellars were part of the overall purchase. The Starwood group retained some of the hotels, including luxury hotels Crillon, Lutetia and Martinez, and the hotel chains Campanile and Kyriad.  Claude Taittinger retired in 2006 and his nephew Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger replaced him as head of the business.  In 2017, it was announced, Taittinger became the first champagne house to plant vines in the UK. Champagne Taittinger entered into a joint venture with UK wine agents Hatch Mansfield and in 2015 bought up land in Chilham, Kent, to plant 40 hectares of vines over the next three years.  In October 2019 it was announced that Vitalie Taittinger will become president from December 31, 2019. She has been working for the company for 12 years and is currently director of marketing and communications. She will now undertake her new responsibilities with the support of Damien le Sueur (general manager) and her brother Clovis Taittinger, who will be promoted to general manager.

Taittinger () is a French wine family who are famous producers of Champagne. The estate is headed by Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger (born 1953), a member of the consultative committee of the Banque de France. Its diversified holdings included Champagne Taittinger, Société du Louvre and Concorde Hotels, whose flagship is the famed Hotel de Crillon on the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France as well as the Loire Valley wine-producing firm of Bouvet-Ladubay, and a partnership in Domaine Carneros in California, until it was sold to Starwood Capital in 2005.

Taittinger ist ein in Reims (Champagne im Nordosten Frankreichs) beheimateter Champagnerhersteller. Das Unternehmen entstand 1931 aus der Kellerei "Forest & Fourneaux", die seit 1734 bestanden hatte. Taittinger ist eines der wenigen Champagnerhäuser, die nach wie vor in Familieneigentum stehen. Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger war von 2006 bis 2019 Geschäftsführer, seine Tochter Vitalie Taittinger ist seit Anfang 2020 Präsidentin des Champagnerhauses.


Playing career.

Born in Sundsvall, Sweden, Erixon played junior hockey with local team Timra IK. In 2004–05, he debuted at the under-18 level as a 15-year-old, playing two games in the J18 Allsvenskan. The following season, he dressed for 14 J18 games, recording three goals and two assists. He also competed with a regional all-star team from Medelpad in the annual TV-pucken, an under-15 national tournament, and notched two assists over four games. In 2006–07, Erixon moved on to Timra's J20 SuperElit team at 17 years old; he recorded 13 points (6 goals and 7 assists) over 39 games. His efforts also saw him debut with the men's team in Sweden's premiere Elitserien, dressing for two games.  Erixon then split the 2007–08 season between Timra in the Elitserien (pointless in 27 games) and IF Sundsvall of the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan on a loan (7 points over 23 games). He became a full-time Elitserien player beginning in 2008–09 and recorded back-to-back 7-point campaigns. After a breakout 20-point season in 2010–11 (leading all team defencemen in scoring), Erixon was signed as an undrafted and unrestricted free agent in the National Hockey League (NHL) by the Vancouver Canucks on April 20, 2011. Joining the Canucks for his first NHL training camp in September 2011, he was assigned to the team's minor league affiliate, the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL). During the season Erixon was traded to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Andrew Gordon. Injury prevented Erixon appearing with the Ducks organization before he returned to Timra the following season.

International play.

Erixon made his international debut with Sweden at the 2007 IIHF World U18 Championships in Finland. He recorded one assist over six games, helping Sweden to a bronze medal. Two years later, he moved on to the under-20 level at the 2009 World Junior Championships and notched two assists over six games. He helped Sweden to the gold medal game, where they were defeated 5–1 by Canada, earning silver.

Personal life.

Erixon's comes from a family of hockey players. His father, Staffan, is a retired ice hockey player who also played for Timra IK in the Elitserien and the Allsvenskan. His brother, Christopher, born a year before Erixon, has played with several in the HockeyAllsvenskan; the two played together with Timra IK during their junior years.

Sebastian Erixon (born September 12, 1989) is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently playing for Färjestad BK in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Representing Sweden in international competition, he has won silver at the 2009 World Junior Championships and bronze at the 2007 IIHF World U18 Championships.

Sebastian Erixon (* 12. September 1989 in Sundsvall) ist ein schwedischer Eishockeyspieler, der seit April 2015 beim Färjestad BK in der Svenska Hockeyligan unter Vertrag steht. Sein Vater Staffan war ebenfalls ein professioneller Eishockeyspieler.


History.

In New Zealand, as in most Western countries, dairy co-operatives have long been the main organisational structure in the industry. The first dairy co-operative was established in Otago in 1871. By 1920, there were 600 dairy processing factories of which about 85% were owned by co-operatives. In the 1930s there were around 500 co-operatives but after World War II, improved transportation, processing technologies and energy systems led to a trend of consolidation, where the co-operatives merged and became larger and fewer in number. By the end of the 1990s, there were only four co-operatives nationwide: the Waikato-based New Zealand Dairy Group 404, the Taranaki-based Kiwi Co-operative Dairies 404, Westland Milk Products, and Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company.  Fonterra was formed in 2001 from the merger of the two largest co-operatives, New Zealand Dairy Group and Kiwi Co-operative Dairies, together with the New Zealand Dairy Board, which had been the marketing and export agent for all the co-operatives. Fonterra effectively has monopsony control of the New Zealand domestic and export dairy industry. The merger was initially turned down by the New Zealand Commerce Commission, but later approved by the New Zealand Government, with subsequent legislation deregulating the dairy industry, allowing for the export of dairy products to be undertaken by any company. The two smaller co-operatives, Tatua and Westland, did not join Fonterra, preferring to remain independent.  The company has an annual turnover of around NZ$17 billion. Its core business consists of exporting dairy products under the NZMP brand (95% of its New Zealand production is exported). It also operates a fast-moving consumer goods business for dairy products, Fonterra Brands. Fonterra has a number of subsidiaries and joint-venture companies operating in markets around the world.  In 2005, the company purchased a large factory in Dennington, Victoria, Australia, from Nestlé, after they moved out of the collection of milk from farmers and the manufacture of powdered milk in Australia. Also in 2005 the company made moves towards purchasing Australian companies Dairy Farmers and National Foods. It also converted its 50 per cent stake in Victoria dairy producer Bonlac to full ownership. At this time $1 billion of Fonterra's revenue was from Australian sales, which was 14 per cent of the dairy products it sells around the world.  In June 2008, the company acquired the yoghurt and dairy dessert business of Nestlé Australia, which it on-sold to Parmalat Australia in December 2015.  In 2010, US embassy cables leaked by WikiLeaks suggested New Zealand had only sent troops to Iraq in 2003, following the initial invasion, so Fonterra would keep valuable Oil for Food contracts.  In 2019, the Tip Top ice cream brand was sold for NZ$380 million to Froneri, a global joint venture between Nestlé and PAI Partners.  In September 2019, Fonterra agreed to sell its 50% stake in DFE Pharma for NZ$633 million ($400.37 million).

Governance.

John Roadley was the inaugural chairman of Fonterra's board. He foreshadowed his resignation in August 2002 and was succeeded, after the next annual general meeting, by Henry van der Heyden. Van der Heyden held the chairmanship until December 2012. John Wilson succeeded van der Heyden and announced his resignation in July 2018 due to illness (he died in January 2019 aged 54). John Monaghan succeeded Wilson. He is the current chairperson and in March 2020, he foreshadowed that he would step down in November 2020.

Changes to capital structure.

In November 2007, the board of directors announced a two-year consultation programme regarding their preferred capital re-structuring option: putting the business operations in a separate listed company, with the co-operative maintaining a controlling interest. The aim was to give more access to funds for global growth.  Praised by some as a bold move which would allow better access to outside capital, the proposals encountered significant opposition from both farmer shareholders and the government (who would be required to pass enabling legislation). Despite including a range of safeguards, farmers were clearly concerned at the risk of losing control; in what was sometimes described as a demutualization.  The board responded in 2008 by shelving the November 2007 proposal and continuing consultation and discussion with farmer shareholders. In September 2009, the board announced a three-step process to revamp Fonterra's capital structure. The new approach abandoned thoughts of a public listing of Fonterra shares and retained 100% farmer control and ownership of the co-operative.  A key goal of the capital structure changes was to stop large amounts of money washing in and out of Fonterra's balance sheet each year as milk production fluctuates. Under the previous structure, farmers matched their shareholding with their milk production by owning one co-operative share for each kilogram of milksolids (kgMS) produced annually. If their milk production dropped in any season, they could redeem shares back to the co-operative, which was required to buy the shares back off them. Consequently, Fonterra faced the risk of losing large amounts of share capital through redemptions during times of declining milk production. For instance, after milk production fell during the 2007/08 drought, Fonterra had to pay out $742 million of share capital to farmers via redemptions.  The capital structure changes also sought to provide greater incentives for farmers to increase their investment in Fonterra shares, helping ensure Fonterra has sufficient share capital to fund profitable business opportunities and drive a higher payout to dairy farmers.  The first two steps of capital structure change received good support from farmer shareholders at Fonterra's annual meeting in November 2009. The first step allowed farmers to hold shares above their level of annual milk production; farmers could now own an additional 20% of "dry" shares (i.e. up to a maximum of 1.2 shares per kgMS). There were also enhanced incentives for farmers to hold shares even if their production falls. The rules about the pricing of end of season share transactions were also tidied up.  The second step changed the way Fonterra shares were valued to reflect that share ownership is restricted to farmers only. Previously, Fonterra shares were valued on a theoretical basis as if the shares were freely traded like a public share. An independent valuer subsequently assessed that the restricted market value should be at a 25% discount to the freely traded value.  The third step, titled "Trading Among Farmers", involves more far-reaching change to Fonterra's capital structure. The co-operative would no longer be obliged to issue or redeem shares at a price established via an independent valuation process. Instead, farmers would buy or sell shares among themselves at market prices through a farmer-only share trading market. This would have the effect of making Fonterra shares permanent capital, providing the co-operative with more confidence to invest in long-term projects without fear that some of its share capital might be needed to fund redemptions in future years.  As part of the changes, farmers would have greater flexibility with their Fonterra shareholding. The maximum shareholding would be 2 times production (up from the 1.2 times approved in step one) and farmers would have up to three years to comply with shareholding rules when entering/exiting the co-operative or increasing/decreasing their milk production. Additionally, Fonterra would set up a special fund that would financially help farmers purchase shares (or retain shares they would otherwise have to sell). The fund would pay farmers for the right to receive dividends and the gain/loss from any changes in value of some of their shares, but the farmer would still be the owner of the shares. The fund would raise the money it needed to pay farmer shareholders by selling investment units to investors. Fonterra would require the fund to target "friendly" investors such as sharemilkers, retired farmers and offshore Fonterra suppliers, although the public and institutions would also be able to participate.  The "Trading Among Farmers" proposal went before a special meeting on 30 June 2010 and received 89% support from farmer shareholders voting, easily exceeding the 75% threshold required for a favourable vote.

Court case Fonterra Vs Bega Cheese.

Fonterra market and distribute the Bega Cheese brand, under an agreement established between the two companies in 1999. Fonterra later raised the issue of Bega otherwise using the Bega brand to market Peanut Butter. Bega themselves have since challenged this, accusing Fonterra of not living up to the agreement, by not promoting the brand and therefore devaluing it. The case was ongoing in 2020.

Environmental performance.

Initiatives.

Dairying stock entering waterways due to lack of fencing and poor use of fertilisers are major contributors to water pollution in New Zealand. Fonterra's environmental policy states that "Fonterra shall demonstrate a global commitment to protecting the environment. Sustainability, good environmental practice and environmental improvement are cornerstones of Fonterra’s environmental commitment." Fonterra claims to have a number of initiatives such as the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord, relating to environmental protection to achieve this policy. In December 2011, the Green Party questioned Fonterra's credibility and the effectiveness of the self-auditing approach given the wide discrepancy between Fonterra's claims and an independent audit of Dairying and Clean Streams Accord.  In 2003, Fonterra became a signatory to the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord, which sets a timeframe for the improvement of water quality on farms. Progress on the Accord goals is reported by the signatories in March of each year on the basis of data collected by Fonterra. The integrity of this data was later questioned when a 2012 independent report commissioned by MAF indicated that while Fonterra's survey of farmers suggests that nationally 84% of properties have stock excluded from waterways, an independent audit by MAF revealed a position that only 42% of farms nationally had stock exclusion. The difference in Fonterra's results against those in an independent audit suggest further work is required by Fonterra to protect streams and that evaluating success in this area may be better carried out by an independent third party auditor.  In July 2007, the Green Party called on Fonterra to use financial penalties on its suppliers who were "dirty dairying", and to particularly penalise the'recidivist polluters' the Crafar Farms. In 2010, Fonterra launched its every farm every year initiative. Fonterra plans to check every farm's effluent management infrastructure every year in a move to address non-compliance with regional council dairy effluent rules. The 2012 independent audit spurred further progress in this area with Fonterra announcing that suppliers will be required to complete fencing of Accord waterways by June 2013. Whether this will occur is yet to be seen.  In February 2008, the inaugural Fonterra Environmentalist of the Year was announced at the Beehive. The Award continues a partnership between Keep New Zealand Beautiful and Fonterra. Fonterra is also a Corporate Sponsor of the Society and each year teams of staff from the company's manufacturing sites participate in the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Clean Up Week campaign, clearing rubbish from around roadsides, sports fields, parks and beaches. These activities have been criticised as token however as they have limited impacts on preventing stock from entering waterways and in assisting farmer to implement more effective fertiliser regimes that could cut farmers costs and improve water quality.  In March 2013 Fonterra unveiled a new type of opaque milk container it called a "game-changer", claiming it would keep milk tasting fresh for up to two weeks after opening.

Awards.

In 2007, Fonterra won two awards in the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, Energywise Awards:  In 2008, Fonterra Edendale won the New Zealand Clean Air Society's annual Clean Air award, which recognises exceptional contributions by individuals and businesses to researching and improving the environment.  In 2009, Fonterra won the supreme prize at the Packaging Council of New Zealand's Environmental Packaging Awards for its introduction and promotion of a more environmentally sustainable packaging.  In 2012 Fonterra won the Export Category at the 2012 TVNZ New Zealand Marketing Awards for their Anchor Strong marketing to the Pacific, with designs by Dow Design.

Biofuels.

Fonterra is New Zealand's largest producer of biofuel, processing a waste stream from casein manufacture into bio-ethanol. The company produces around 20 million litres of premium ethanol annually. Since 2004, Fonterra has produced ethanol from whey, a by-product of casein, in the Edgecumbe, Tirau and Reporoa plants. That year Fonterra's Edgecumbe plant showcased the power of its biogas, operating a 1.8 litre Hyundai vehicle on a petrol mixture containing 10 percent ethanol. In 2008, Fonterra began supplying Gull Petroleum with ethanol from its Edgecumbe plant.  The fuel has significant environmental benefits. It is renewable, biodegradable, and, by reducing the amount of fossil fuel in use, could help the campaign to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Every five million litres of ethanol used in biofuels saves more than 7,000 tonnes of carbon from entering the earth's atmosphere.  In July 2016, Fonterra announced that their tanker fleet was switching to ZBioD (Z Energy's biodiesel fuel) as a foundation customer. Chief Operating Officer Global Operations, Robert Spurway said "the move to biodiesel has the potential to reduce emissions for the tankers using it up to four per cent each year, and the partnership is an important milestone for Fonterra."

Manawatu River waste water.

In 2006, Forest and Bird asked Fonterra to 'clean up its act', instead of obtaining consent to continue to discharge 8,500 cubic metres per day of wastewater into the Manawatu River. Fonterra responded to Forest and Bird's request, agreeing to treat wastewater it discharges into the Manawatu River, greatly reducing its impact on the river. Treatment will be phased in so that by 2015 the discharge will be treated to a level where the water will be fit to swim in year-round.  In 2010, Fonterra signed a voluntary agreement with local councils and freezing works to clean up the river. Fonterra has since encouraged its farmers to clean up their waste and plant trees alongside waterways.

Deforestation allegations.

In August 2009, Greenpeace claimed that Fonterra was implicated in the destruction of Indonesian and Malaysian rainforests, causing deaths of orangutans and increased global greenhouse gas emissions. In response, Federated Farmers said the use of palm kernel does not cause the destruction of tropical forests as it is a waste by-product with almost no commercial value. A spokesperson John Hartnell stated that “Not one millimetre of forest is being cleared just to feed dairy cows”.  Fonterra says it shares community concern about tropical deforestation, "which in some cases has been driven by the establishment of palm oil plantations”. Fonterra says it has been proactive in ensuring a sustainable supply of palm kernel "and ensuring we do not support deforestation, directly or indirectly." Fonterra is a member of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil to ensure it was informed or sustainability issues in South-East Asia and "to actively contribute to more robust sustainability certification systems."  Fonterra was also the subject of Greenpeace Aotearoa New Zealand protests off the Port of Tauranga on 16 September 2009 and Port Taranaki on 5 February 2011, where Greenpeace activists invaded ships carrying palm kernel animal feed, destined for dairy farms.  Palm kernel imports went from 0.4 tonnes in 1999 to 455,000 tonnes in 2007 and then to 1.1 million tonnes in 2008, one quarter of the world's palm-based animal feed. Greenpeace says that deforestation for the production of palm products is a significant cause of climate change, and loss of bio-diversity.  Greenpeace campaign director Chris Harris said only 4 per cent of palm oil came from sustainable sites. Greenpeace stated that forests were being cleared for the planting of the trees that produce palm oil.  In August 2016, Fonterra announced a new palm products sourcing standard that was developed in consultation with key supply partners, and following discussions with Greenpeace that began in December 2015. "The new standard requires Fonterra to purchase on segregated supply palm oil by 2018, and to work with suppliers of palm products to ensure that plans are in place for full traceability to plantation by 2018", said Fonterra's director of social responsibility, Carolyn Mortland.

Lignite coal use protest.

On 17 November 2009, Greenpeace members protested at Solid Energy's New Vale opencast lignite mine near Gore, New Zealand, by unfurling a 40 by 40 metre banner reading 'Fonterra Climate Crime'. Greenpeace was protesting about Fonterra's use of brown coal (lignite) at the nearby Edendale Fonterra plant. Greenpeace alleged that the Edendale plant will burn 179,000 tonnes of lignite, which will release over 250,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.  In response to the protest, Fonterra said, "We use 13.9 percent less energy to produce each tonne of export product than we did in 2003. That’s equivalent to the energy required to power 100,000 homes and, relative to 2003, represents a 320,000 tonne reduction in COe greenhouse gas emissions in 2010. We use the best mix of energy sources available to us at every one of our sites. We're continually looking for ways to be more energy efficient."  In late 2018, Fonterra's Brightwater milk-processing plant, in association with Azwood Energy, began burning wood biomass, alongside coal, to reduce carbon emissions. Fonterra's Stirling milk-processing plant will run solely on electricity.  In February 2019, 350 Aotearoa, the New Zealand arm of the international climate movement 350.org, produced a video entitled, "Coalterra, Dairy for Death" critical of Fonterra's coal use – estimated at half a million tonnes per year.  In July 2019, Fonterra announced it would install no new coal boilers. Coal Action Network Aotearoa welcomed the decision, but warned against utilising other fossil fuels, such as gas, in substitution, suggesting wood biomass, as a better alternative.

Pollution prosecution.

In September 2010, Bay of Plenty Regional Council made a statement that it had prosecuted Fonterra for allowing nitric acid and a caustic cleaning agent from its Edgecumbe milk processing plant to spill into a storm water drain and into a water course. Fonterra was fined $24,000. "The Dominion Post" and "The New Zealand Herald" reported the prosecution.  Fonterra is currently educating its sites on the best way to reduce pollution.

Product issues.

Sanlu milk scandal.

In September 2008, one of the biggest dairy companies in China, the Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group, 43% owned by Fonterra, recalled more than 10,000 tonnes of infant formula after a food safety scandal involving the criminal contamination of its raw milk supply with melamine. Court papers showed the company first began receiving complaints of children becoming sick after drinking its milk in December 2007, but only stopped production when Fonterra blew the whistle in September 2008. After the initial focus on Sanlu, China's quality watchdog said that inspectors had also found the chemical melamine in baby formula produced by 22 companies nationwide. An estimated 300,000 Chinese babies were affected, and six died after developing kidney problems as a result of drinking formula containing melamine.  Fonterra first became aware of problems on 2 August 2008, when the Sanlu board, which had three Fonterra directors, was advised there was a problem with the contamination of infant formula. A trade recall began shortly after Fonterra was first notified. Prime Minister Helen Clark later said Fonterra had been lobbying for a public recall since 2 August, but that "local authorities in China would not do it. At a local level... I think the first inclination was to try and put a towel over it and deal with it without an official recall." Ms Clark said she first heard of the contamination on 5 September and three days later ordered that Beijing be told directly, bypassing local and provincial Chinese authorities.  On 21 September 2008, an editorial in "The New Zealand Herald" questioned the "moral courage and leadership" of Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier. Citing Fonterra's number one corporate value, the journal questioned why it took nearly a month after it had become aware of the contamination before it notified the government. It said Fonterra's press release had been "minutely scrutinised by lawyers and spin doctors, and that the company was far less interested in'moral courage and leadership' than it was in preserving its own position." The next day, Helen Clark, agreed that the company had been too slow to speak out. Ferrier was also condemned by Business Day for his "silent hand-wringing", when he should have immediately blown the whistle. Ferrier denied Fonterra knew that Sanlu lied for eight months to hide complaints about its baby formula causing illness. He said if one partner did not tell the truth to the other "you have a critical breakdown in that relationship". He admitted people deeper down in their organisation in China could have been "fooling us". However, Access Asia, a Shanghai-based consumer consultancy, said Fonterra was a classic example of western executives in China "believ[ing] advice in business books that they must avoid making their local partners 'lose face' at all costs." It suggested Fonterra paid a heavy price in write-offs, a wrecked business and public condemnation.  In a video press conference with reporters in September 2008, Ferrier said Sanlu's milk supply may have been sabotaged. He added the company did not come forward with the information earlier because it was waiting for the recall process to move through the Chinese system.  David Oliver, a New Zealander who works as a corporate advisor to companies in the Chinese agricultural industry, feels that while Fonterra had board representation in Sanlu, it is unlikely they had much influence within the company as they had only a minority stake.  Said Ferrier, "I can look myself in the mirror and say Fonterra acted absolutely responsibly in this one. If you don't follow the rules of an individual market place then I think you are getting irresponsible." Ferrier later said the feedback he received from both government and business contacts in China was that Fonterra was seen to have acted with integrity.  In September 2008, Henry van der Heyden, chairman of the board, said the scale of the tragedy has been "truly shocking". "As a direct consequence of the criminal contamination of milk in China, Fonterra has recognised an impairment charge of $139 million against the carrying value of its investment in SanLu." "Following this impairment charge, Fonterra's best estimate at this point of time, of the book value of its investment in Sanlu is approximately $62 million", which was 69 per cent below its previous carrying value. "We’ve learnt an incredibly painful lesson through this and we will be much, much more suspicious worldwide on ensuring the safety and integrity of our supply chain everywhere in the world," said Ferrier. But he also pointed out that the company can never be 100% certain against a criminal contamination of the supply chain, which is what happened in this incident.  On 17 September 2008, Fran O'Sullivan noted that Fonterra had already set "up a 3000-head dairy farm in China itself to provide quality product and demonstrate best practice."  On 10 October 2008, Ferrier announced in Beijing that Fonterra will "donate NZ$8.4 million to the Soong Ching Ling Foundation over five years for a co-operative charity project to provide medical care and advice to pregnant women and the mothers of infants in rural communities." Andrew Ferrier said Fonterra was "shocked by the degree of tragedy" and the donated fund is set up to "help over the long-term in infants and maternal mother health." Andrew Ferrier said Chinese consumers have lost confidence in Sanlu, not Fonterra, and Fonterra is working towards rebuilding a safe supply chain of dairy products.  In April 2009, during a state visit by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key to Beijing, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao asked Prime Minister Key for help in developing food safety standards for China. Mr Key said the Chinese Premier considers 2008's contaminated milk scandal a one-off incident that can be put behind both countries. A report by Fran O’Sullivan in the "New Zealand Herald" said that Fonterra had learnt some heavy lessons from Sanlu and the company would have to have confidence in the safety of its milk supply chain in China before reinvesting significantly in the local production of dairy products.  On 24 November 2009 two Sanlu former workers Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping were executed.

DCD contamination.

In September 2012, traces of 2-Cyanoguanidine, a fertiliser commonly referred to as DCD that is used to slow down nitrate leaching, was found in some milk samples. Fonterra, Federated Farmers and the Government moved quickly to reassure the public and overseas buyers there was no risk to health. Fonterra has received praise for its handling of the DCD issue. The levels were very low and attempts were made to prevent the test results from being reported in the media.  On 16 August 2013 a Sri Lankan court banned the sale and advertising of all Fonterra products in Sri Lanka. The health ministry has said tests by Sri Lanka's Industrial Technology Institute found DCD in some Fonterra powdered milks and it had ordered their recall.

Botulism scare.

On 3 August 2013, authorities in New Zealand announced a global recall of up to 1,000 tonnes of dairy products after tests turned up a type of bacteria that could cause botulism. Products included were infant formula, sports drinks, protein drinks and other beverages. The countries affected were New Zealand, China, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia.  Fonterra's head of its milk products business, Gary Romano, resigned over the scandal on 14 August 2013.  In late August 2013 laboratory test results revealed that the bacteria found in the whey protein concentrate manufactured by Fonterra was not the botulism-causing "Clostridium botulinum".

Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited is a New Zealand multinational dairy co-operative owned by around 10,500 New Zealand farmers. The company is responsible for approximately 30% of the world's dairy exports and with revenue exceeding NZ$17.2 billion, is New Zealand's largest company.

Die ist ein multinationales Unternehmen der Milchindustrie mit Sitz in Neuseeland und gilt als das größte Unternehmen des Landes. Als Genossenschaft gegründet, ist das Unternehmen heute der als Börse organisierte Vertriebsarm von rund 10.500 neuseeländischen Milchfarmern. Fonterra ist damit ein herausragendes Beispiel für die Konversion von stark politisch motivierten Agrarkooperativen hin zu wettbewerbsorientierten Wirtschaftsunternehmen, die sich weltweit als Reaktion auf die Liberalisierung des Weltagrarmarktes vollzog. Die Gruppe exportiert ihre Produkten mittlerweile in über 100 Ländern der Welt präsent.


Early life and career.

Jackson was born in Alsace Township in Berks County, Pennsylvania, to a family of Quakers. His father, Isaac Jackson, despite his religious beliefs, had joined the United States Army during the War of 1812, and died six years later from disease contracted while in the service. After the death of his father, young Jackson moved into the household of an uncle in Chester County and was educated in local Quaker schools. As a young man, he worked in a commission warehouse in Philadelphia, but subsequently resigned to become a conductor on the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. In 1845, he was appointed by President James K. Polk as a lieutenant in the revenue service, and subsequently was sent to Mexico as the bearer of dispatches to General Winfield Scott during the Mexican-American War.  After the war, Jackson returned to Pennsylvania, settling in Pittsburgh. He was actively involved in a local militia company. In the later 1850s into the following decade, Jackson was a manager of a petroleum oil company in the Kanawha Valley region of western Virginia.

Civil War.

With the secession of Virginia in early 1861, Jackson immediately resigned his position, returned to Pennsylvania and organized what became the 9th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment in the Pittsburgh region. Governor Andrew G. Curtin appointed him as its colonel. He served with distinction during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign and was commended for his gallantry and on July 17 promoted to brigadier general in command of the 3rd Brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserves. He subsequently led his brigade during the Northern Virginia Campaign at the Second Battle of Bull Run, and later that summer and autumn in the Maryland Campaign. He fought at the battles of South Mountain and Antietam.  At Fredericksburg in mid-December, he led his brigade forward toward the right wing of the Confederate forces. His division commander, fellow Pennsylvanian George G. Meade, later wrote:  General Jackson had ridden forward to give the contemplated order; but before he could relay it, he was struck in the head by a Confederate volley that also killed his aide. In mentioning his death, Meade wrote, "The public service has also to mourn the loss of Brigadier-General C. Faeger Jackson, an officer of merit and reputation, who owed his position to his gallantry and good conduct in previous actions."  Jackson's body was taken from the field three days after his death and transported back to Pittsburgh for his funeral. He was buried in the Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh.  Fort Jones in Pittsburgh was referred to as Fort Jackson in his honor, although the fort was never formally renamed.

Conrad Feger Jackson (September 11, 1813 – December 13, 1862) was a businessman and soldier from the state of Pennsylvania. He served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and was killed in action during the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Conrad Feger (Faeger) Jackson (* 11. September 1813 in Pennsylvania; † 13. Dezember 1862 in der Schlacht von Fredericksburg, Virginia) war ein Brigadegeneral der US Army im Sezessionskrieg.


History.

Early history.

Savanur State was founded in 1672 when Abdul Karim Khan, an Afghan of the Miyana tribe from Kabul, in the service of the sultanat of Bijapur, was granted the jagir of Sarkar Bankapur near Bijapur in 1672.  His successors ruled over extensive territories almost independently for over a century under Mughal tutelage.  However, Savanur was conquered and made a tributary by the Marathas, which gradually eroded away Savanur's territory. By the second half of the eighteenth century, more than half of Savanur had been ceded to the Marathas.  The remainder of Savanur became part of Hyder Ali's territory and by the end of the century, Tipu Sultan had annexed the Nawab. Although having their territory annexed by various powers the "Nawab of Savanur" continued to be a political entity. The occupation by the Kingdom of Mysore had begun on 29 October 1786 and lasted until 17 December 1791. Later all the territories were returned by Mysore to the Marathas, following the Battle of Gajendragad.  The name Savanur is said to be the corruption of the Persian word Shahnoor, which means 'king of light'. Few others claim that the city was established in the Hindu month of Shravan, and hence the name Savanur.

British hegemony.

With the death of Tipu Sultan in 1799, independence returned to Savanur with about a third of its original territory. Thereafter, Savanur slowly drifted towards British suzerainty. After the collapse of the Maratha Empire in 1818, following the Third Anglo-Maratha War, Savanur accepted protection from British East India Company and became a British protectorate.  The final ruling Nawab of Savanur, Abdul Majid Khan II, succeeded as a minor at the age of two years, and had been carefully raised and educated by his British overseers. He traveled widely and mixed with people in all walks of life in India and abroad. He returned to assume power determined to modernize his state, engaging in a furious program of building modern schools, dispensaries, government offices, courts, palaces, jails, irrigation tanks, and roads. In the short period of thirty-five years of his active rule, this little state advanced beyond anything achieved in the previous three centuries. The advent of Indian independence in 1947 and the withdrawal of the British caused the Nawab great sadness. Once the transfer formalities were completed, he retired to his private mansion at Dharwad, never setting foot in Savanur again. After his death in 1954, local authorities, out of sincere respect for a distinguished gentleman held in high regard almost universally, buried him in his beloved Savanur.

Nawabs of Savanur.

The Nawabs of Savanur were tolerant of all religions, and donated liberally to several Hindu temples and mutts. Betel leaves, jowar and cotton were the principal exports of the Savanur state. The Nawabs also had cordial relationship with the Dvaita mutt associated with Sri Satyabodhatirtha.  In the latter part of the 19th century the Nawab of Savanur was renowned because he used to drink only water that had been brought from the Ganges. Apparently he did so because of the medicinal properties of the water of that river.

Rulers.

The rulers of Savanur State were Sunni Muslim and used the title 'Nawab'.

Savanur State, Nawab of Savanur was one of the princely states of British India. It was the only state belonging to the Dharwar Agency under the Bombay Presidency, which became later part of the Deccan States Agency. The last ruler of the state acceded to the Dominion of India on 8 March 1948.

Savanur war ein Fürstenstaat Britisch-Indiens auf dem Dekkan-Plateau im heutigen Bundesstaat Karnataka. Seine Hauptstadt war Savanur im heutigen Distrikt Haveri.


Usage.

The subject of an e-mail message may contain such an abbreviation to signify that all content is in the subject line so that the message itself does not need to be opened (e.g., "No classes Monday (EOM)" or "Midterm delayed <EOM>"). This practice can save the time of the receiver and has been recommended to increase productivity.  EOM can also be used in conjunction with "no reply necessary" or NRN to signify that the sender doesn't require (or would prefer not to receive) a response (e.g., "Campaign has launched (EOM/NRN)") or "reply requested" or RR to signify that the sender wishes a response (e.g., "Got a minute? (EOM/RR)"). These are examples of Internet slang.  EOM is often used this way, as a synonym to NRN, in blogs and forums online. It is often a snide way for commenters to imply that their message is so perfect that there can be no logical response to it. Or it can be used as a way of telling another specific poster to stop writing back.  EOM can also be defined as the final 3 beeps of an activation of the Emergency Alert System to know when the alert is finished.

Origin.

In earlier communications methods, an "end of message" ("EOM") sequence of characters indicated to a receiving device or operator that the current message has ended. In teleprinter systems, the sequence "NNNN", on a line by itself, is an end of message indicator. In several Morse code conventions, including amateur radio, the prosign AR (dit dah dit dah dit) means end of message.  In the original ASCII code, "EOM" corresponded to code 03, which has since been renamed to "ETX" ("end of text").

End of message or EOM (as in "(EOM)" or "<EOM>") signifies the end of a message, often an e-mail message.

End of message oder kurz EOM bezeichnet das Ende einer Nachricht. Im Schriftverkehr wird die Kurzform meist zur Verdeutlichung des Abschlusses einer E-Mail verwendet.


Phonology.

Consonants.

The consonant inventory is restricted based on the consonant's placement within the morpheme and the type of morpheme. For example, the consonant inventory for affixes is very different from the consonant inventory of word stems.  <nowiki>*</nowiki>(p) has only been found in Munken, Missong, and Abar, and only in the stem "pi", meaning 'die.' Good et. al. suggest ["p"] originates from the labiovelar stop ["kp"] because "kpê" is cognate with "pi" in Biya and Ngun.  Consonants vary slightly between dialects.

Vowels.

Vowel quality in Mungbam varies across dialects. The vowel inventory is not restricted by the vowel's placement within the morpheme.  Lovegren provides a vowel inventory common across all dialects.  <nowiki>*</nowiki>[ι] is used to transcribe a vowel which is very similar to [e], only more flat and slightly lower. [ʊ] is similar in relationship to [o].  Vowel inventories for each dialect are listed below.

Tone.

Tone forms an integral part of Mungbam phonology and morphology. Tones distinguish nouns which are otherwise homophonous. With some exceptions, nouns are assigned tones and retain those tones regardless of syntax and inflection. There are four levels of tone in Mungbam.

Syllable Structure.

Attested syllable types vary between stem-initial and non-stem-initial syllables. Word stems in Mungbam can either be monosyllabic or disyllabic. Consonants comprising the only syllable in a monosyllablic stem or the first syllable in a disyllabic stem are referred to as'stem-initial,' all other consonants are considered'stem-final.'

Stem-Initial.

Attested syllable shapes for stem-initial syllables include (C)CV(C), with certain restrictions on where some consonants (such as glides and nasals) can appear within those syllables. Very few words begin with vowels in Mungbam; these are primarily restricted to lexical nouns, some pronouns, and some grammatical particles.

Stem-Final.

Non-stem initial syllables are exclusively CV in shape, almost entirely predictable in terms of tone, and have a very restricted set of possible consonants.

Morphology.

Affixation, typically the most common morphological process, is very minimal in Mungbam. Affixation is restricted primarily to prefixes, with semi-rare circumfixes, and few suffixes. Every affix is either derivational or concordant. Derivational affixation typically either nominalizes or adjectivalizes verbs. The most common concordant affixation is that of noun-class prefixes to word stems.

Verbs.

Verbs most often appear as just the stem, with no affixation at all. Each verb belongs to one of the three verb classes, which are distinct with respect to tone. Most non-tonal verb inflection is done by tense markers, which denote the five temporal tenses, as well as a conditional tense. Tense markers are all words separate from the verb except the perfect marker, which is enclitic. Mungbam morphological inflection mainly comprises tone shift, reduplication, nominalization through affixation, and some rare cases of ablaut.

Tone Shift.

Tonal inflection includes tone extension and tone sandhi.  Tone extension denotes a change in verbal mood. The difference between realis and irrealis verbs corresponds, in part, to a difference between extended and unextended tones. Extension is a morphological process wherein the stem vowel of a noun is lengthened, changing the tone. Extension affects the relative height of each tone.  Consecutive verbs in the Missong dialect can experience tone sandhi.

Reduplication.

Reduplication can either be inflectional or stylistic. Inflectional reduplication in Mungbam establishes verum focus.Stylistic reduplication is not very well attested, Lovegren found only two examples. It might create emphasis.

Nominalization.

There are two processes which nominalize verbs: a productive, well-attested process to form infinitives, and a less productive, virtually un-attested process to create the “disability construction.” Infinitives are formed by affixing a noun class prefix or, in rare cases, circumfix. Infinitives in Mungbam function as nouns do, but lack plurals. For more complicated verb phrases, the infinitive can be formed out of the entire phrase by attaching the noun-class prefix to the first verb in the phrase.  There is an optional suffix that can be added for some infinitives in Biya. For example, the Biya circumfix as applied to the verb'"tɕī",' ('look'):  The “disability” construction describes humans or animals who are ‘disabled.’ Uniquely, it is the only construction where a noun may not have a noun-class prefix. It is a highly unproductive and uncommon construction.Here, the verb 'break' has been nominalized as part of the noun phrase 'broken leg' which translates more closely into 'amputee.'

Ablaut.

Verbs undergo ablaut to denote changes in aspect (perfective and imperfective). The productivity of ablaut varies across the dialects of Mungbam.

Nouns.

With some exceptions, each noun must have a noun-class prefix, but otherwise has little to no affixation.

Noun Class System.

The most common form of affixation is that of the noun-class prefix. Mungbam, like many Bantoid languages, indicates agreement with a noun-class system. In such a system, each noun has a noun-class prefix, and other morphemes take on that prefix when they agree with that noun. Unlike Indo-European systems, noun-class can be linked to number, gender, or abstraction (i.e., the plural form of a noun may belong to one class, while the singular form belongs to another class). Tone is related, but not entirely connected to, noun-class. The tone of the noun-class prefix will often, but not always, follow the tone of the stem.  There are some exceptions to the noun-class system, both within a dialect and among the five dialects. For example, the 7/8 noun-class pairing is found only in Missong, all nouns in those two classes are paired with other classes in the other dialects.

Plurality.

Nouns in certain noun classes will have their plural forms in specific other noun classes. For example, nouns in Class 1 often have their plural forms in Class 2. Singular/plural noun-class pairings can be roughly grouped by type of noun (e.g., the class 1/2 singular/plural pairing contains mainly, but not exclusively, words referring to humans).

Concord.

Concord refers to noun-class agreement within the noun-phrase. There are three means by which Mungbam achieves concord: prefixation, tonal stem change, segmental stem change. Tonal concord causes a shift in tone when nouns are a part of an associated noun phrase. Prefixal concord is achieved by attaching the noun-class prefix of the head noun to the constituent morpheme within the noun phrase.

Possessive Lengthening.

Possessive lengthening is a morphological process that occurs for nouns possessed, and found in most Mungbam dialects. It involves lengthening of the tone and, sometimes, the vowel, when the noun is next to a possessive pronoun or particle.

Syntax.

The basic word order of Mungbam is SVO.Mungbam must have a subject directly preceding the verb. When the lexical subject follows the verb, a particle known as a 'dummy subject' is placed before the verb.Here, 'à' is glossed as the 'dummy subject,' and functions as a placeholder with no other meaning.  The ordering of constituents within the Mungbam noun phrase is as follows: Noun, associated noun phrase(s), possession and other modifiers, adjective(s), number(s), demonstrative(s), relative clauses, determiner. While there are recorded exceptions for much of this ordering, associated noun phrases must come strictly after the head noun.

Negation.

Sentences are typically negated by the addition of a particle towards the end of the sentence. While this addition may change the word order in transitive sentences, intransitive sentences always keep the SV word order.

Mungbam is a Southern Bantoid language of the Lower Fungom region of Cameroon. It is traditionally classified as a Western Beboid language, but the language family is disputed. Good et. al. uses a more accurate name, the 'Yemne-Kimbi group,' but proposes the term 'Beboid.'

Abar ist eine bantoide Sprache des Kamerun. Sie zählt zur Sprachgruppe der westbeboiden Sprachen und somit zur Sprachfamilie der Niger-Kongo-Sprachen.


Location.

In the earliest references, such as the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, the river is given no particular attributes, but later literature claims that it rages with rapids and throws up stones six days a week, or even consists entirely of stone, sand and flame. For those six days the Sambation is impossible to cross, but it stops flowing every Shabbat, the day Jews are not allowed to travel; some writers say this is the origin of the name.  Pliny the Elder, writing in the mid-1st century, mentions that there is a river in Judaea that dries up every Shabbat ("NH" xxxi.18). His younger contemporary Josephus writes of the Sabbatical River (Σαββατικον) that he claims was called after "the sacred seventh day of the Jews" and that he locates between Arka (in the northern Lebanon range) and Raphanaea (in Upper Syria) ("War" 7.96-99), although according to his account it is dry for six days and flows only on Shabbat. The river is believed by some to be an intermittent spring now called "Fuwar ed-Deir". The Sambation was also a popular subject in medieval literature, for instance, some versions of the "Alexander Romance" have Alexander the Great encounter the river on his travels. Others have said it is an active volcano (which explains the rapids, stones, fire and smoke) which rests on the Sabbath.  In 1280, Abraham Abulafia (1240 – c. 1291), a mystic and Kabbalist, set out to find the Sambation. Nahmanides identifies the Sambation with the Guzana River mentioned in II Kings, located in Syria.  An Ashkenazi Jewish tradition speaks of the Lost Tribes as "Die Roite Yiddelech", "The little red Jews", cut off from the rest of Jewry by the legendary river Sambation "whose foaming waters raise high up into the sky a wall of fire and smoke that is impossible to pass through".  Obadiah ben Abraham writes that he was informed by Adeni Jews in Jerusalem that they had heard from Muslim merchants that the river was located about fifty-days' walking distance from their place as one journeys through the desert. The river, which flows with rocks for six days a week, completely surrounded a land inhabited by Jews who could not ever leave, for by doing so, Shabbat would be desecrated. These Jews were all the offspring of Moses and were as holy as angels and sinless.  In modern literature, the Sambation appears prominently in Umberto Eco's novel "Baudolino", whose protagonists manage to cross the raging river of stones and find on the other side, not the Lost Ten Tribes, but the Kingdom of Prester John of Christian myth.  http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=19887&st=&pgnum=192&hilite=

According to rabbinic literature, the Sambation () is the river beyond which the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were exiled by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V (Sanchairev).

Sambation oder Sambatyon, auch "Sanbatyon" und "Sabbatyon" bezeichnet nach rabbinischer Tradition den legendären Fluss, hinter den die zehn verlorenen Stämme Israels durch den assyrischen König Salmanassar V. vertrieben worden sind.


History.

In 2006, following a viral internet debate started by Rick Cavallaro as a brain teaser, a propeller-driven land yacht was built and filmed, demonstrating that it is possible to sail 'dead' downwind faster than the wind by the power of the available wind only.  In 2009, professor Drela of MIT worked out the equations for such a device and concluded that one could be built "without too much difficulty". Other researchers arrived at similar conclusions.  In the same year, after being challenged that the video was a hoax, team members Rick Cavallaro and John Borton of Sportvision, sponsored by Google and in association with the San Jose State University aeronautics department, built a test vehicle nicknamed "Blackbird". A year later, in 2010, Cavallaro successfully tested the vehicle, achieving more than 2 times the speed of wind, definitively demonstrating that it is possible to build a vehicle which can achieve the claim. A second test with an improved vehicle in 2011 reached close to 3 times the speed of wind.  After proposing the vehicle's design, and presenting the analysis to demonstrate its viability, the Blackbird team learned that others had previously conceived and built similar designs—most notably aerodynamics engineer Andrew B. Bauer, later with the Douglas Aircraft Company, built and demonstrated such a vehicle in 1969, based on an analysis presented in a student's paper from some 20 years earlier.  Bauer reported "a rearward deflection of a foot-long tuft located about 12 feet forward of the propeller plane" indicating that his vehicle went faster than the true wind. (The strand would have streamed forward if the apparent wind was from behind.) Several sources of engineering and scientific articles explain the theory and physics of such a device. Besides still photography, a film has been found showing it in operation.

Explanation.

Rotor-powered vehicles, like "Blackbird", have a drive linkage between the rotor and the wheels. Gaunaa, "et al." describe the physics of rotor-powered vehicles. They describe two cases, one from the vantage point of the earth and the other from the vantage point of the air stream and come to the same conclusions from both frames of reference. They conclude that (apart from forces that resist forward motion): These conclusions hold both for land and water craft.  Required for wind-powered vehicle (or water craft) motion are: Depending on one's frame of reference, the description of how the available kinetic energy powers the vehicle differs: As seen from the earth's surface, the propellor decelerates the air to accelerate the earth imperceptibly with the wheels "or" as seen from the air stream, the wheels imperceptibly decelerate the earth to accelerate the air with the propellor.

Achievements.

On 7 and 8 March 2010, the team reported testing their vehicle on a motor-driven moving belt (treadmill), showing that it would advance against the belt, which means that it can progress dead downwind faster than the wind.  On 24 March 2010, the team ran the vehicle on the Ivanpah dry lake bed south of Las Vegas, Nevada, showing that it could accelerate dead downwind from a standstill and reach velocities well in excess of wind speed. That is, the vehicle was progressing dead downwind faster than the wind. Officials of the North American Land Sailing Association (NALSA) were in attendance and one NALSA Board of Directors member (Bob Dill) was there for every run and collected his own rough wind and GPS data. This was not a NALSA-sanctioned event but was presented as a demonstration to the NALSA Board of Directors that the vehicle was capable of progressing dead downwind faster than the wind. Subsequently, the team worked out the details with NALSA for rules and instrumentation related to an upcoming official NALSA ratified test and record.  On July 2, 2010, Blackbird set the world's first certified record for going directly downwind, faster than the wind, using only power from the available wind during its run on El Mirage Dry Lake. The yacht achieved a dead downwind speed of about 2.8 times the speed of the wind.  On June 16, 2012, Blackbird set the world's first certified record for going directly upwind, without tacking, using only power from the wind. The yacht achieved a dead upwind speed of about 2.1 times the speed of the wind.

Blackbird is an experimental land yacht, built by Rick Cavallaro and John Borton of Sportvision, sponsored by Google and Joby Energy in association with the San Jose State University aeronautics department to demonstrate that it is possible to sail directly downwind faster than the wind. In a test supervised and recognized by the North American Land Sailing Association in July 2010, Cavallaro achieved a speed of in winds: almost three times the speed of the wind.

Der Blackbird ist ein experimenteller Segelwagen (oder Landsegler) mit großem Rotor, der als Propeller oder Turbine wirken kann. Er wurde konstruiert, um zu demonstrieren, dass es möglich ist, "direkt vor dem Wind schneller als der Wind" zu segeln.


Life.

Flagello was born in New York City, into a very musical family. His brother Ezio Flagello was a bass who sang at the Metropolitan Opera. One of his first music teachers was the composer Vittorio Giannini, and he then studied at the Manhattan School of Music. Upon graduating (M.M., 1950) he joined the faculty, where he remained for more than 25 years. In 1955, he won a Fulbright Fellowship to study at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome where he worked under Ildebrando Pizzetti.  As a composer, Flagello held firmly to a belief in music as a personal medium for emotional and spiritual expression. This unfashionable view, together with his vehement rejection of the serialism that dominated musical composition for several decades after World War II, hindered his music from attracting significant attention during much of his lifetime. Among his most auspicious successes were the oratorio "The Passion of Martin Luther King" (1968), premiered in Washington, DC, in 1974, and the opera "The Judgment of St. Francis" (1959), presented at the Cathedral of St. Francis in Assisi in 1982. He produced a large body of work, including six operas, two symphonies, eight concertos, and numerous orchestral, choral, chamber, and vocal compositions. As a conductor, he made many recordings with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma and the Orchestra da Camera di Roma, focusing on repertoire from the Baroque to the 20th century. In the mid-1980s, his career was cut short by a degenerative disease, at which time a number of his works were left without orchestration. Many of these works were later orchestrated by composer and editor Anthony Sbordoni. Flagello died in New Rochelle, New York, on March 16, 1994. Since his death Flagello's music has generated a greater following, and many of his major works have been recorded. He was married to Dianne Flagello.  Numerous songs for voice and piano

Nicolas Oreste Flagello (March 15, 1928 – March 16, 1994), was an American composer and conductor of classical music. He was one of the last American composers to develop a distinctive mode of expression based wholly on the principles and techniques of European late romanticism.

Nicolas Oreste Flagello (* 15. März 1928 in New York City; † 16. März 1994 in New Rochelle) war ein US-amerikanischer Komponist.