Background.

Influenced by the Enlightenment, Emperor Joseph II, who became sole ruler of the Habsburg lands after Maria Theresa's death in 1780, decreed a series of large-scale reforms in the Austrian Netherlands designed to radically modernize and centralize the political, judicial and administrative systems.  Characteristically, the well-intentioned but autocratic Emperor abruptly imposed his reforms without even a semblance of consultation with the population, which actually included an influential urban intelligentsia and other segments of the ruling classes who were highly receptive to such innovations. The Emperor's edict of tolerance of 1781 established religious freedom. Another edict in 1784 removed from the Catholic clergy responsibility for the civil registry, and civil marriage was introduced. Under the Edict on Idle Institutions (1780), contemplative religious orders, deemed useless, were dissolved and diocesan seminaries were abolished and replaced by general seminaries in Leuven and Luxembourg. Feudal and trade corporation regulations and jurisdictions were modified or abolished, and the authorities abolished the ancient provinces of Flanders, Brabant, Hainaut, Namur, and Luxembourg, replacing them with 9 circles (), subdivided in 64 districts. Seigneurial jurisdictions and rights, including the corvée, were abolished. As in Hungary, Joseph II attempted to introduce German as the language of administration for the sake of efficiency.

Politics.

The United Belgian States was a confederal republic of eight provinces which had their own governments, were sovereign and independent, and were governed directly by the Sovereign Congress (; ), the confederal government. The Sovereign Congress was seated in Brussels and consisted of representatives of each of the eight provinces. The provinces of the republic were divided into 11 smaller separate territories, each with their own regional identities:

Brabant Revolution.

In 1789, a church-inspired popular revolt broke out in reaction to the emperor's centralizing and anticlerical policies. Two factions appeared: the "Statists" who opposed the reforms, and the "Vonckists" named for Jan Frans Vonck who initially supported the reforms but then joined the opposition, due to the clumsy way in which the reforms were carried out.  The uprising started in Brabant, which in January 1789 declared that it no longer recognized the emperor's rule. The leader of the Statisten faction, Henri Van der Noot, crossed the border into the Dutch Republic and raised a small army in Breda in Staats-Brabant, the northern (Dutch Republic) part of Brabant.  In October, he invaded Brabant and captured Turnhout, defeating the Austrians in the Battle of Turnhout on 27 October. Ghent was taken on 13 November, and on 17 November the governors Albert Casimir and Maria Christina fled Brussels. The remains of the imperial forces withdrew behind the citadel walls of Luxembourg and Antwerp.  Van der Noot now declared Brabant independent, and all the other provinces of the Austrian Netherlands (except Luxembourg) soon followed suit. On 11 January 1790 they signed a pact, establishing a confederation under the name "Verenigde Nederlandse Staten" / "États-Belgiques-Unis" (United Belgian States) and a governing body known as the Sovereign Congress. The Dutch Act of Abjuration in 1581 and the American Declaration of Independence in 1776 served as models for the Declaration of Independence of Flanders and some of the other provinces between November 1789 and early 1790. Shortly afterwards, the Articles of Confederation served as a model for the Treaty of the United Belgian States of 11 January 1790.  Independently, in 1789, a revolution had broken out in Liège. The revolutionaries established a republic which joined the United Belgian States in a semblance of an alliance.  Realizing the fragility of the new state, Van der Noot approached foreign states for support and suggested a unification with the Dutch Republic, with little success. Furthermore, the "Statist" and "Vonckist" factions were in constant conflict, bordering on civil war.

Suppression of the Revolt.

On 27 February 1790 Joseph II died and his brother Leopold II succeeded him as emperor. Leopold II quickly moved to recapture the Austrian Netherlands. On 24 October 1790 imperial troops took the city of Namur, forcing the province of Namur to recognize the authority of the emperor. Two days later, the province of West Flanders followed suit, and by December the entire territory was again in imperial hands.  The Austrian restoration and hegemony was short-lived, however, as the region was overrun by French armies in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars, and was annexed by France on 1 October 1795.

Legacy.

Though short-lived, the United Belgian States had long-lasting repercussions. It had given the Southern Netherlands their first taste of independence, and had sparked a new political idea: the state of "Belgium". In 1830, the inhabitants of the Southern Netherlands successfully revolted against the Netherlands during the Belgian Revolution, creating the modern state of Belgium.

The United Belgian States ( or ',, ), also known as the United States of Belgium, was a confederal republic in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium and Luxembourg) which was established after the Brabant Revolution. It existed from January to December 1790 as part of the unsuccessful revolt against the Habsburg Emperor, Joseph II.

Die Vereinigten Belgischen Staaten (Niederländisch: "Verenigde Nederlandse Staten" oder auch "Verenigde Belgische Staten", Französisch: "États Belgiques Unis", auf Deutsch auch "Vereinigte Staaten von Belgien" und manchmal "Vereinigte Niederländische Staaten" genannt) waren eine Konföderation in den südlichen Niederlanden, dem heutigen Belgien, die von Januar bis Dezember 1790 während einer kurzlebigen Revolte gegen Kaiser Joseph II. existierte.


History.

The Veterans Committee can be traced back to 1939 when Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw Mountain Landis formed the Old-Timers Committee to put players from the 19th century in the Hall of Fame. In 1939, the committee selected five players. In 1944, after Landis' death, they put him in the Hall. After Landis, they put 23 additional players in the Hall. In 1953, the Veterans Committee met for the first time under the name Committee on Baseball Veterans. With 11 members, they elected six players in their first vote in 1953. Starting in 1955, they would meet to elect up to two players in odd-numbered years.  In 1959, Lee Allen succeeded Ernest Lanigan as Hall of Fame historian. According to Bill James, Paul Kerr would generally convince the Veterans Committee to select those Lee Allen had suggested to him, until Allen's death in 1969.  In 1961, the Veterans Committee was expanded from 11 members to 12. In 1962, the Veterans Committee went back to annual elections to the Hall of Fame, with the continued mandate to elect up to two players a year.  In 1971, the Veterans Committee made seven selections, the largest class the Veterans Committee ever chose in its history since 1953. Partly in response to such a large class, the Veterans Committee was then limited to selecting two players and one non-player every year. Frankie Frisch was a major voice on the committee in the 1970s. The old Hall of Famer, backed by former teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Bill Terry and sportswriters J. Roy Stockton and Fred Lieb, who covered Frisch's teams, managed to get five of his teammates elected to the Hall by the committee. Additionally, in the three years after his death, two more teammates were elected. After Frisch died and Terry left the Committee, elections were normalized.  After the 1977 election, the Veterans Committee was limited to two selections overall per year.  In 1978, membership increased to 15 members; five Hall of Famers, five owners and executives, and five sportswriters. The members would meet in Florida during spring training to elect a player or two every year. The Veterans Committee mandate of up to two players was increased briefly from 1995 to 2001. In these years, the committee could elect one extra player from the Negro leagues and one from the 19th century in addition to the two regular players.  Starting in 1995, the Veterans Committee met in closed sessions to elect as many as two executives, managers, umpires, and older major league players—the categories considered in all its meetings since 1953. By a new arrangement it separately considered candidates from the Negro leagues and from the 19th century with authority to select one from each of those, via two special ballots. The older players eligible were those with ten major league seasons beginning 1946 or earlier; those who received at least 100 votes from the BBWAA in some election up to 1992; and those who received at least 60% support in some election beginning 1993. Players on Major League Baseball's ineligible list cannot be elected. The committee can elect up to four people each year. During much of its existence, the Veterans Committee consisted of 15 members selected by the Hall of Fame for defined terms. A six-man subcommittee of this group met as a screening committee to determine who would be on the ballot. The committee met annually to consider candidates in four separate categories: players, managers, umpires, and executives. The Veterans Committee met privately, and its ballots and voting results were generally not revealed prior to 2003. From the mid-1970s until 2001, the top candidate in each category was elected to the Hall of Fame if he earned at least 75% of the committee's votes.  The Board of Directors reformed the system radically with new rules enacted in August 2001. Formerly, 15 members were appointed to limited terms; the new Veterans Committee would comprise all living members of the Hall, plus recipients of the Spink and Frick awards to writers and broadcasters. In particular, the new members were 61 living Hall of Famers, 13 living recipients of the J. G. Taylor Spink Award, 13 living recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award, and three members of the previous committee with terms that had not yet expired. Elections for players retired more than 20 years would be held every other year and elections for (managers, umpires and executives) would be held every fourth year. The first cycle for both categories would be in 2002 and 2003 for induction in 2003.

Revisions to the voting process.

2001 revisions.

In 2001, the Hall of Fame radically changed the composition and election procedures for the Veterans Committee, which was revised to consist of:  All members of the former Veterans Committee remained active until the expiration of their terms. Only two were on the committee for the 2003 election, the first under the new election procedures. Only one of the former Veterans Committee members (John McHale) remained on the committee for the 2005 and 2007 elections, and his term expired immediately after the 2007 election.  The election procedures instituted in 2003 are listed below. The procedures were changed again in 2007. Rules, and portions thereof, that changed in 2007 are indicated in "italics".  Using these procedures, no one was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 2003, 2005, or 2007.

2007 revisions.

Following the 2007 elections, the makeup of the committee was again changed, and several procedures were also modified:  The threshold for induction remained at 75% of all who voted on the appropriate ballot. In the first election held under the new rules, two managers and three executives were elected in December 2007 as part of the 2008 election process.

2010 revisions.

The Hall announced a new Veterans Committee voting process on June 26, 2010, effective with the 2011 election process that began late in 2010. The two biggest changes are:  Candidates will be classified by the time-periods that cover their greatest contributions:  Candidates from each era will be considered every third year, starting with the Expansion Era in the 2011 election (December 2010, 2013), followed by the Golden Era (December 2011, 2014) and then by the Pre-Integration Era (December 2012, 2015).  The existing Historical Overview Committee will formulate each ballot for release in the October or November before the next planned induction ceremony. The Expansion Era ballot will include 12 candidates, while the other two ballots will include ten each. The Hall's Board of Directors will select sixteen-member committees for each era, made up of Hall of Famers, executives, baseball historians, and media members. Each committee will convene at the Winter Meetings in December to consider and vote on candidates from its assigned era. As before, the threshold of induction will remain at 75% of those voting.

2016 revisions.

On July 23, 2016, the Hall of Fame announced changes to the Era Committee system. Highlighting these changes is a restructuring of the timeframes to be considered, with a much greater emphasis on modern eras. Additionally, those major league players, managers, umpires and executives who excelled before 1950, as well Negro Leagues stars, will still have an opportunity to have their careers reviewed, but with less frequency.  Separate 16-member subcommittees will continue to vote on individuals from different eras of baseball, with candidates still being classified by the time-periods that cover their greatest contributions:  All committees' ballots will include ten candidates. Whilst there was previously a one-year waiting period after elimination from annual BBWAA consideration, there will now be no waiting period (for example, if a player was eliminated from BBWAA consideration, and some Hall of Fame members believe such player should be considered by the respective committee, they can be nominated on the next ballot of the era in question). The Today's Game and Modern Baseball committees will convene twice every 5 years, the Golden Days committee once every 5 years, and the Early Baseball committee once every 10 years.  Eras are considered on the following schedule, as part of the elections for the next calendar year (e.g. 2016 balloting is part of 2017 elections and induction):  The criteria for committee eligibility differ for players, managers, and executives.

Potential future candidates.

Today's Game (1988–present).

Players: Albert Belle (on 2017 & 2019 ballots), Will Clark (on 2017 & 2019 ballots), Orel Hershiser (on 2017 & 2019 ballots), Joe Carter (on 2019 ballot), Mark McGwire (on 2017 ballot), Rick Aguilera, Kevin Appier, Kevin Brown, David Cone, Chuck Finley, John Franco, Dwight Gooden, Pat Hentgen, Jimmy Key, Mark Langston, Al Leiter, Dennis Martinez, Randy Myers, Brad Radke, José Rijo, Bret Saberhagen, Dave Stieb, Fernando Valenzuela, David Wells, John Wetteland, Darren Daulton, Javy Lopez, Cecil Fielder, Andrés Galarraga, Mark Grace, Fred McGriff, John Olerud, Rafael Palmeiro, Mo Vaughn, Chuck Knoblauch, Tony Phillips, Edgardo Alfonzo, Robin Ventura, Matt Williams, Dante Bichette, Ellis Burks, Brett Butler, Jose Canseco, Juan González, Brian Jordan, Ray Lankford, Kenny Lofton, Willie McGee, Tim Salmon, Devon White & Bernie Williams; Managers: Davey Johnson (on 2008, 2017 & 2019 ballots), Charlie Manuel (on 2019 ballot), Lou Piniella (2017 w/ 7 votes & 2019 ballots w/ 11 ballots), Felipe Alou, Bruce Bochy, Roger Craig, Art Howe, Jim Leyland, Mike Hargrove, Johnny Oates, Buck Showalter, Bobby Valentine; General Managers: John Hart, Dan O'Dowd; Owners: George Steinbrenner (on 2011, 2014, 2017 & 2019 ballots), George W. Bush; Other Executives: Bill White (on 2007 w/ 24 votes & 2010 ballots); Umpires: Joe Brinkman, Derryl Cousins, Jerry Crawford, Bob Davidson, Tim McClelland, Ed Montague, Rich Garcia, Mike Reilly, & Tim Welke  Players Moises Alou, Luis Gonzalez, Carlos Delgado, Troy Percival, Jim Edmonds, Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Kendall, Jorge Posada, Magglio Ordóñez, Édgar Rentería, Johan Santana, Johnny Damon, Miguel Tejada, Lance Berkman, Michael Young, Roy Oswalt, Adam Dunn, Paul Konerko, Cliff Lee, Jason Giambi, Alfonso Soriano & Eric Chavez are ineligible for the 2022 Today's Game ballot as they have not been retired for 15 years. Manager Mike Scioscia is ineligible until after the 2022 Today's Game ballot, as he will not have been retired for 5 years nor turned 65 until after that election. Executives Dave Dombrowski and Stan Kasten are ineligible until after the 2022 Today's Game ballot, as they will not have been retired for 5 years nor turned 70 until after that election.

Modern Baseball (1970–1987).

Players: Steve Garvey (on 2011, 2014, 2018 & 2020 w/ 6 votes ballots), Tommy John (on 2011, 2014, 2018 & 2020 ballots), Dave Parker (on 2014, 2018 & 2020 w/ 7 votes ballots), Don Mattingly (on 2018 & 2020 ballots), Dale Murphy (on 2018 & 2020 ballots), Thurman Munson (on 2007 w/ 6 votes & 2020 ballots), Dwight Evans (on 2020 ballot w/ 8 votes), Lou Whitaker (on 2020 ballot w/ 6 votes), Luis Tiant (on 2007 w/ 15 votes, 2009 w/ 13 votes, 2012, 2015 & 2018 ballots), Jim Kaat (on 2007 ballot w/ 52 votes, 2009 w/ 38 votes, 2012 w/ 10 votes & 2015 ballot w/ 10 votes), Dave Concepcion (on 2011 w/ 8 votes & 2014 ballots), Dan Quisenberry (on 2014 ballot), Vida Blue (on 2011 ballot), Ron Guidry (on 2011 ballot), Al Oliver (on 2007 w/ 14 votes, 2009 w/ 9 votes & 2011 ballots), Rusty Staub (on 2011 ballot), Mickey Lolich (on 2007 ballot w/ 8 votes), Sparky Lyle (on 2007 ballot w/ 6 votes), Bobby Bonds (on 2007 ballot w/ 1 vote), John Hiller, Ken Holtzman, Burt Hooton, Jerry Koosman, Mike Marshall, Tug McGraw, Andy Messersmith, Jeff Reardon, Rick Reuschel, Steve Rogers, Paul Splittorff, Dave Stewart, Frank Tanana, Mike Torrez, Frank Viola, Wilbur Wood, Bob Boone, Lance Parrish, Jim Sundberg, Gene Tenace, Cecil Cooper, Keith Hernandez, Lee May, George Scott, Bobby Grich, Mark Belanger, Larry Bowa, Bert Campaneris, Bucky Dent, Don Kessinger, Rico Petrocelli, Willie Randolph, Sal Bando, Buddy Bell, Ron Cey, Darrell Evans, Toby Harrah, Richie Hebner, Graig Nettles, Jeff Burroughs, César Cedeño, Jack Clark, José Cruz, Brian Downing, George Foster, Oscar Gamble, Kirk Gibson, Willie Horton, Chet Lemon, Greg Luzinski, Fred Lynn, Rick Monday, Bobby Murcer, Amos Otis, Lou Piniella, Mickey Rivers, Ken Singleton, Reggie Smith, Bob Watson, & Frank White; Managers: Billy Martin (on 2007 w/ 12 votes, 2008, 2010 & 2014 ballots), Gene Mauch (on 2008 & 2010 ballots), Tom Kelly (on 2010 ballot), Jim Fregosi, Ralph Houk, Dick Howser, Jack McKeon, John McNamara, Chuck Tanner, Don Zimmer; General Managers: Bob Howsam (on 2008 w/ 3 votes, 2010, & 2015 ballots), Harry Dalton (on 2007 ballot w/ 8 votes), Frank Cashen, Al Campanis, Paul Owens, Cedric Tallis; Owners: Charlie O. Finley (on 2007 w/ 10 votes & 2012 ballots), Gene Autry (on 2010 ballot) Ewing Kauffman (on 2008 w/ 5 votes & 2010 ballots w/ 6 votes), John Fetzer (on 2008 ballot w/ 4 votes), Charles Bronfman, Peter O'Malley; Umpires: Larry Barnett, Jim Evans, Bruce Froemming, Larry McCoy, John McSherry, Steve Palermo, Dave Phillips, Harry Wendelstedt, Lee Weyer

Golden Days (1950–1969).

Players: Dick Allen (on 2007 w/ 9 votes, 2009 w/ 7 votes, 2015 ballot w/ 11 votes), Tony Oliva (on 2007 w/ 47 votes, 2009 w/ 33 votes, 2012 w/ 8 votes & 2015 ballot w/ 11 votes), Maury Wills (on 2007 w/ 33 votes, 2009 w/ 15 votes, 2015 ballot w/ 9 votes), Minnie Miñoso (on 2006 (Negro League), 2007 w/ 12 votes, 2012 w/ 9 votes & 2015 ballots w/ 8 votes), Ken Boyer (on 2007 w/ 9 votes, 2012 & 2015 ballots), Gil Hodges (on 2007 w/ 50 votes, 2009 w/ 28 votes, 2012 w/ 9 votes & 2015 ballots), Billy Pierce (on 2015 ballot), Vada Pinson (on 2007 w/ 16 votes & 2009 ballots), Don Newcombe (on 2007 ballot w/ 17 votes), Roger Maris (on 2007 ballot w/ 15 votes), Curt Flood (on 2007 ballot w/ 14 votes), Mickey Vernon (on 2007 ballot w/ 14 votes), Rocky Colavito (on 2007 ballot w/ 5 votes), Steve Barber, Lew Burdette, Mike Cuellar, Murry Dickson, Carl Erskine, Roy Face, Mike Garcia, Ned Garver, Larry Jackson, Vern Law, Eddie Lopat, Sal Maglie, Jim Maloney, Lindy McDaniel, Sam McDowell, Denny McLain, Dave McNally, Stu Miller, Claude Osteen, Milt Pappas, Ron Perranoski, Camilo Pascual, Jim Perry, Johnny Podres, Vic Raschi, Curt Simmons, Mel Stottlemyre, Del Crandall, Bill Freehan, Elston Howard, Sherm Lollar, Tim McCarver, Joe Adcock, Norm Cash, Boog Powell, Ted Kluszewski, Gil McDougald, Roy Sievers, Alvin Dark, Jim Fregosi, Jim Gilliam, Dick Groat, Harvey Kuenn, Roy McMillan, Al Rosen, Felipe Alou, Tommy Davis, Willie Davis, Del Ennis, Carl Furillo, Frank Howard, Jackie Jensen, Andy Pafko, Bobby Thomson, & Jimmy Wynn; Managers: Danny Murtaugh (on 2008 w/ 6 votes & 2010 ballots w/ 8 votes), Paul Richards (on 2007 ballot w/ 10 votes), Fred Hutchinson, Bill Rigney, Birdie Tebbetts; General Managers: Buzzie Bavasi (on 2007 w/ 30 votes, 2008 & 2012 ballots), John McHale (on 2008 & 2010 ballots), Gabe Paul (on 2007 w/ 10 votes, 2008 & 2010 ballots), Bing Devine, Frank Lane; Owners: August Busch, Jr. (on 2007 ballot w/ 13 votes), Phil Wrigley (on 2007 ballot w/ 9 votes), Calvin Griffith

Early Baseball (1871–1949).

Players: Bill Dahlen (on 2009, 2013 w/ 10 votes & 2016 ballots w/ 8 votes), Wes Ferrell (on 2007 w/ 7 votes, 2009 w/ 6 votes, 2013 & 2016 ballots), Marty Marion (on 2007 w/ 11 votes, 2013 & 2016 ballots), Bucky Walters (on 2009 w/ 4 votes, 2013 & 2016 ballots), Harry Stovey (on 2016 ballot w/ 8 votes), Frank McCormick (on 2016 ballot), Tony Mullane (on 2013 ballot), Allie Reynolds (on 2009 w/ 8 votes & 2012 ballots), Mickey Vernon (on 2009 ballot w/ 5 votes), Sherry Magee (on 2009 ballot w/ 3 votes), Carl Mays (on 2007 w/ 6 votes & 2009 ballots), Vern Stephens (on 2009 ballot), Lefty O'Doul (on 2007 ballot w/ 15 votes), Cecil Travis (on 2007 ballot w/ 12 votes), Newt Allen (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), John Beckwith (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), William Bell (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), Chet Brewer (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), Bill Byrd (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), Rap Dixon (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), John Donaldson (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), Sammy T. Hughes (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), Fats Jenkins (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), Dick Lundy (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), Oliver Marcell (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), Dobie Moore (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), Alejandro Oms (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), Buck O'Neil (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), Red Parnell (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), George Scales (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), Candy Jim Taylor (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), C.I. Taylor (on 2006 Negro League Ballot), Home Run Johnson (on 2006 Pre-Negro League Ballot), Spot Poles (on 2006 Pre-Negro League Ballot), Dick Redding (on 2006 Pre-Negro League Ballot), Babe Adams, Tommy Bond, Harry Brecheen, Ted Breitenstein, Tommy Bridges, Charlie Buffinton, Bob Caruthers, Spud Chandler, Jack Coombs, Mort Cooper, Wilbur Cooper, Paul Derringer, Bill Donovan, Freddie Fitzsimmons, Mel Harder, Silver King, Ray Kremer, Sam Leever, Dutch Leonard, Dolph Luque, Firpo Marberry, Bobby Mathews, Jim McCormick, Johnny Murphy, Art Nehf, Bobo Newsom, Al Orth, Deacon Phillippe, Jack Powell, Jack Quinn, Ed Reulbach, Eddie Rommel, Charlie Root, Schoolboy Rowe, Nap Rucker, Johnny Sain, Slim Sallee, Bob Shawkey, Urban Shocker, Jesse Tannehill, Dizzy Trout, Virgil Trucks, George Uhle, Johnny Vander Meer, Hippo Vaughn, Lon Warneke, Will White, Jim Whitney, Charlie Bennett, Walker Cooper, Johnny Kling, Deacon McGuire, Wally Schang, George H. Burns, Dolph Camilli, Phil Cavarretta, Jake Daubert, Joe Judge, Stuffy McInnis, Cal McVey, Joe Start, Fred Tenney, Hal Trosky, Rudy York, Ross Barnes, Cupid Childs, Larry Doyle, Bobby Lowe, Fred Pfeffer, Hardy Richardson, Dick Bartell, Art Fletcher, Jack Glasscock, Lave Cross, Jimmy Dykes, Bob Elliott, Heinie Groh, Stan Hack, Ken Keltner, Arlie Latham, Pepper Martin, Buddy Myer, Johnny Pesky, Ezra Sutton, Ginger Beaumont, Wally Berger, Pete Browning, George J. Burns, George Case, Ben Chapman, Doc Cramer, Gavvy Cravath, Dom DiMaggio, Patsy Donovan, George Gore, Jeff Heath, Tommy Henrich, Babe Herman, Paul Hines, Dummy Hoy, Sam Jethroe, Bob Johnson, Charley Jones, Charlie Keller, Bob Meusel, Irish Meusel, Clyde Milan, Bing Miller, Terry Moore, Jimmy Ryan, Rip Sewell, Jimmy Sheckard, Riggs Stephenson, Mike Tiernan, George Van Haltren, Bobby Veach, Dixie Walker, Cy Williams, Ken Williams, & Smoky Joe Wood; Managers: Charlie Grimm (on 2010 ballot), Steve O'Neill (on 2010 ballot), Chuck Dressen, Jimmy Dykes; Executives: Sam Breadon (on 2010, 2013 & 2016 ballots), August Herrmann (on 2016 ballot), Chris von der Ahe (on 2016 ballot), Al Reach (on 2013 ballot); Chub Feeney, John Heydler, Bob Quinn, Ben Shibe, Charles Somers; Umpires: Cy Rigler (on 2008 ballot), Bill Dinneen, Bob Emslie, Babe Pinelli, Beans Reardon, Bill Summers; Pioneers: Doc Adams (on 2016 ballot w/ 10 votes)

Committee members.

1953–2001.

The following is a list of members of the Veterans Committee from its establishment in 1953 to its radical reformation in 2001, along with the dates of their membership.

2008.

As of December 2008, for 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, members of the Veterans Committee were:

2010.

As of November 2010, for 2011 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, the only committee members announced were those voting for the post-1972 Expansion Era candidates:

2011.

As of November 2011, for 2012 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, the 16-member Golden Era Committee was announced:

2012.

As of November 2012, for 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, the 16-member Pre-Integration Era Committee was announced:

The Veterans Committee is the popular name of various committees of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum that elect participants other than recently retired players.

Das Veterans Committee (offizieller Name: "National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee on Baseball Veterans") ist ein Komitee der Baseball Hall of Fame, welches jedes Jahr auswählt, welche Spieler, Trainer, Schiedsrichter oder Förderer im Baseball in die Hall of Fame aufgenommen werden.


History.

Pennsylvania Power & Light was founded in 1920 out of a merger of eight smaller Pennsylvania utilities. It gradually extended its service territory to a crescent-shaped region of central and northeastern Pennsylvania stretching from Lancaster, through the Lehigh Valley into Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. In 1995, it reorganized as a holding company, PP&L Resources, which changed its name to the current PPL Corporation in 2000.  The company limited its activities to Pennsylvania until deregulation of electrical utilities in the 1990s encouraged PPL to purchase assets in other states. The largest of these transactions was PPL's 1998 purchase of 13 plants from Montana Power (leaving NorthWestern Energy - the buyer of the former Montana Power transmission and distribution systems - vulnerable to high "spot" prices on the energy market). This added over 2,500 MW of capacity and was the largest expansion in PPL's history. In 2014, those hydroelectric facilities were sold to NorthWestern.  In May 2002, PPL announced that Robert G. Byram, PPL's chief nuclear officer since 1997, was retiring from the company. Bryce L. Shriver, who had served as vice president-Nuclear Site Operations at PPL's Susquehanna plant since 2000, became senior vice president and chief nuclear officer.  PPL's 2008 revenue was $8.2 billion, with a net profit of $930 million, making it number 314 on the 2009 Fortune 500 list. After acquiring Central Networks and LG&E, PPL's 2011 profit rose to $1.495 billion, on $12.7 billion in revenue, ranking it number 212 on Fortune's 2012 list.  In March 2011, PPL acquired from E.ON the British distribution company Central Networks for £3.5 billion.  On June 6, 2014, PPL announced it will be divesting its electrical generation facilities to a newly formed company, Talen Energy. On June 1, 2015, the Talen spinoff was completed, allowing PPL to concentrate on the transmission and distribution aspects of the electric utility business.  On July 1, 2016, PPL Solutions, LLC was sold to Hansen Technologies Limited. PPL Solutions provides billing, business process outsourcing, call center, and information technology services to regulated utilities in the United States.

Controversy in foreign subsidiary.

After the takeover in 2000 of Wales' largest company, Hyder, to form half of Western Power Distribution (a UK-based energy distribution company and subsidiary of PPL), a local beauty spot and part Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Welsh capital city of Cardiff, called Llanishen Reservoir, was acquired as an asset.

Customer satisfaction.

PPL Electric Utilities, which serves 1.4 million customers in 29 counties of Pennsylvania in the United States, has received 15 J.D. Power and Associates awards for customer satisfaction — more than any other utility in the United States.  In June, 2013, J.D. Power announced that PPL EnergyPlus ranked highest in the state for residential customer satisfaction in J.D. Power's first study of competitive electricity suppliers in Pennsylvania.

Headquarters.

PPL Building.

The PPL Building is now the tallest building in not just Allentown, but in the greater Lehigh Valley, after the demolition of the Martin Tower on May 19, 2019. The building has 23 stories and is tall. It is located at the intersection of Hamilton and Ninth Streets in the downtown area of the city.

The Plaza at PPL Center.

In June 2003, PPL Corporation dedicated The Plaza at PPL Center, a new office building for continued growth in the company's non-regulated energy businesses.  The Plaza at PPL Center, PPL's new office building in downtown Allentown, Pennsylvania, boasts a long list of environmental features, including a vegetative roof and innovative energy and water-saving devices.  It has been awarded the Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program for making use of sustainable development principles.

Investments.

In a speech before the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Financial Conference in November 2019, William Spence, PPL’s chairman and chief executive officer, said that the company is focusing on building more advanced cleaner energy technologies and is also increasing its effort on a strategy known as "Energy Forward." The company is investing around $15 billion through 2022 to improve infrastructure and technology in order to "create a smarter, more reliable and resilient energy grid," according to Spence. In the third quarter of 2019, PPL completed a $470 million investment in replacing meters with "advanced" meters in Pennsylvania.

Marketing.

In February 2010, the PPL Corporation purchased the naming rights to the venue originally known as PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania (which is outside of PPL's service territory), the home stadium of Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union. As part of the $25 million, 11-year deal, PPL EnergyPlus provides sustainable energy to PPL Park derived from other sources in Pennsylvania. After PPL spun off its generation business into the separate Talen Energy, the stadium naming rights were assumed by the spinoff company, and the venue is now known as Talen Energy Stadium.  PPL also owns the naming rights to the PPL Center in Allentown, which hosts the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League starting with the 2014 season. PPL paid an undisclosed sum over ten years.

The PPL Corporation is an energy company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States. It currently controls about 8,000 megawatts of regulated electric generating capacity in the United States and delivers electricity to 10.5 million customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Great Britain. PPL is the parent to seven regulated utility companies in the U.S., and it also provides natural gas delivery service to 321,000 customers in Kentucky. PPL Electric Utilities (formerly known as PP&L and Pennsylvania Power and Light) is the PPL Corporation's primary subsidiary.

PPL Corporation (Pennsylvania Power and Light) ist ein Energieunternehmen aus den Vereinigten Staaten mit Firmensitz in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Das Unternehmen ist im Aktienindex S&P 500 gelistet.


Early career.

Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Garvey graduated from St. Aloysius High School and worked for the Illinois Central Railroad. In 1909, he moved to the Arizona Territory to work as a railroad accountant for Randolph Railroad Co., a company later absorbed by the Southern Pacific Railroad. Later, he entered the automobile business, but it failed during the Great Depression.

Political career.

Garvey was hired by the Pima County treasurer's office in 1931. He became Pima County treasurer in 1935 and Tucson city treasurer in 1938. Garvey became known throughout Arizona during the next two decades as a dedicated public servant. He moved to Phoenix in 1940 when he was hired as assistant to Secretary of State Harry M. Moore. Upon Moore's death in 1942, Garvey was appointed to succeed him by Governor Sidney P. Osborn, himself the first Secretary of State during most of the 1910s. Garvey was elected to the office twice, in 1944 and 1946.  Garvey assumed the governorship, in accordance with Arizona law, when Osborn died on May 25, 1948. That fall, Garvey won a full term on the Democratic ticket by a fair margin, despite winning only about 28.04% of the vote in a heavily splintered Democratic primary. He presided over one of the largest growth periods in Arizona history between 1948–1951.  A large majority of Arizona newcomers were Republicans and Arizona became a bona fide two-party state for the first time. Garvey was defeated in the Democratic primary in 1950 by State Auditor Ana Frohmiller in another cluttered primary: Garvey won only 22.55% of the vote compared to her 29.24%.  At the end of his elected term as governor, Garvey was appointed Arizona administrator for the federal Reconstruction Finance Corporation. In 1955, Governor Ernest W. McFarland appointed him state examiner, a position mandated by the state constitution which was responsible for reviewing and certifying the annual financial reports of the state government's agencies and offices. The position was eliminated by a statewide referendum in 1968, and Garvey retired in 1969.

Dan Edward Garvey (June 19, 1886 – February 5, 1974) was the ninth secretary of state of Arizona and the eighth governor of Arizona from 1948 to 1951. He was the first of many people to ascend to the office of Governor from the Secretaryship.

Daniel Edward Garvey (* 19. Juni 1886 in Vicksburg, Mississippi; † 5. Februar 1974 in Tucson, Arizona) war ein US-amerikanischer Politiker (Demokratische Partei) und von 1948 bis 1951 Gouverneur des Bundesstaates Arizona. Er war mit Thirza Jannette Vail verheiratet. Das Paar hatte drei gemeinsame Kinder.


Corporate history.

The predecessor company Florida Power & Light Company was founded in 1925. The holding company FPL Group Inc. was formed in 1984, after the company began efforts to diversify its business. FPL Group changed its name to NextEra Energy Inc. in March 2010. At this time, the stock ticker symbol also changed from FPL to NEE.  Nextera Energy is incorporated in Florida.

Mergers and acquisitions.

In March 2000, FPL Group and Spanish company Iberdrola SA were reported to be in "extensive merger discussions". The talks were terminated and the merger transaction was not consummated due to opposition from Iberdrola's board, according to news reports.  In July 2000, FPL Group and Entergy Corporation announced plans to merge. The companies terminated the merger in April 2001.  In June 2005, FPL Energy, a subsidiary of FPL Group, acquired Houston-based Gexa Energy in June 2005 for $80.6 million.  In December 2005, FPL Group announced an $11 billion all-stock acquisition of Maryland-based Constellation Energy Group. The companies mutually agreed to terminate the sale in October 2006 due to uncertainty over regulatory and judicial matters in Maryland.  On December 4, 2014, NextEra Energy announced its plans to purchase Hawaiian Electric Industries for $4.3 billion. However, in July 2016, Hawaii's Public Utilities Commission rejected the offer in a 2-0 vote over doubts of NextEra Energy's commitment to the state's renewable energy goal, which terminated the merger agreement. The proposed merger had support from over 25 local groups, including the Hawaii State AFL–CIO and the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce.  NextEra Energy and Energy Future Holdings, parent company of Texas-based utility Oncor Electric Delivery, reached a $18.7 billion merger agreement on July 29, 2016, but the agreement was terminated in July 2017 after the Texas Public Utility Commission rejected the offer over disagreement on the control of Oncor's board of directors. Two other competing bids were submitted in July 2017 for purchasing Oncor, including a $17.5 billion bid from Berkshire Hathaway Energy and a $18.5 billion bid from Elliott Management Corporation.  In January 2018, NextEra Energy expressed interest with members of the South Carolina Senate over a possible purchase of SCANA and Santee Cooper. Dominion Energy offered $14.6 billion to buy SCANA, but South Carolina lawmakers harshly criticized the proposal over a lack of future taxpayer relief. In February 2018, NextEra Energy floated a $15.9 billion proposal to buy Santee Cooper and briefed South Carolina lawmakers.  In May 2018, NextEra Energy announced that it planned to buy Gulf Power Company, the largest electricity producer in Northwest Florida, from Southern Company in a $6.4 billion deal, pending approval from regulators. The acquisition, which expanded NextEra Energy's combined residential customer base in Florida to approximately 51 percent of the state's population, was completed on January 1, 2019.

Corporate affairs.

Litigation.

In January 2018, NextEra Energy, along with Entergy, withdrew from the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) over disagreements on the trade group's agenda. In February 2018, NextEra Energy filed a lawsuit against NEI, accusing the trade group of "retaliatory action" and "extortion", claiming that NEI revoked its ability to access the Personnel Access Data System (PADS), the nuclear industry personnel database, unless $860,000 was paid. The president and CEO of NEI responded that the organization "vehemently denies all of the allegations in NextEra’s lawsuit and will vigorously defend our position in court" and that "NextEra lost the ability to participate in PADS upon choosing to discontinue its NEI membership".  In June 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rejected NextEra Energy's claim for a $97 million tax deduction for $200 million paid in contract fees to the federal government toward the Nuclear Waste Fund. NextEra Energy sought to deduct payments made between 2003 and 2010 for "the disposal of radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants operated by subsidiaries Florida Power & Light Co. and NextEra Energy Resources", but the court reasoned that the contract fees "do not qualify as specified liability losses”.  In August 2018, NextEra Energy received a cease and desist order by Oklahoma state officials concerning the construction of wind turbines violating state law. The Oklahoma state law, which took effect in May 2018 to protect open air space, states that developers obtain either a "no hazard" determination for each turbine from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or work out a mitigation plan with the United States Department of Defense (DoD), and then submit notification of such with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission before construction may begin. NextEra Energy had filed obstruction evaluation cases for the construction of wind turbines in Oklahoma with the FAA in March 2018, but the FAA had yet to issue determinations at the time that the cease and desist order was issued.

Finances.

For the fiscal year 2017, NextEra Energy reported earnings of US$5.378 billion, with an annual revenue of US$17.195 billion, an increase of 6.4% over the previous fiscal cycle. NextEra Energy's shares traded at over $261 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over US$117 billion at the end of 2019.

Politics.

During the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, NextEra Energy donated $1 million to a Super PAC supporting Jeb Bush's presidential candidacy.

Charitable causes.

In September 2017, the NextEra Energy Foundation, the charitable arm of NextEra Energy, donated $1 million to the Florida Disaster Fund and matched individual contributions of employees in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

NextEra Energy, Inc. is an energy company with about 45,900 megawatts of generating capacity, revenues of over $17 billion in 2017, and about 14,000 employees throughout the United States and Canada. It is the largest electric utility holding company by market capitalization. Its subsidiaries include Florida Power & Light, NextEra Energy Resources, NextEra Energy Partners, Gulf Power Company, and NextEra Energy Services. FPL, the largest of the subsidiaries, delivers rate-regulated electricity to approximately 5 million customer accounts, or an estimated 10 million people, across nearly half of Florida and is the third largest electric utility company in the United States. NEER, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. In addition to wind and solar, NextEra Energy Resources owns and operates generating plants powered by natural gas, nuclear energy, and oil. The company ranked 167th on the 2018 Fortune 500 of the largest United States corporations by revenue.

Die NextEra Energy, Inc. (bis Mai 2010 FPL Group, Inc.) ist ein im S&P 500 gelistetes amerikanisches Energieunternehmen mit Firmensitz in Juno Beach, Florida. Seine Geschichte reicht bis ins Jahr 1925 zurück.


Business Units.

Sumitomo Electric and its global subsidiaries and affiliates undertake product development, manufacturing and marketing, as well as service provision in the five business divisions: “Automotive,” “Infocommunications,” “Electronics,” “Environment and Energy,” and “Industrial Materials & Others.”

Automotive.

The automotive segment accounts for 50% of Sumitomo Electric's annual sales. With the aim of realizing an automotive society characterized by safety, comfort, and environmental responsibility, Sumitomo Electric supplies the global market with a broad range of products, including wiring harnesses for in-vehicle data and energy transmission, and anti-vibration rubber.  The automotive wiring harness business commenced in 1949 with supplies to the Occupation Forces for their jeeps. In 1961, for the first time, the company supplied wiring harnesses for four-wheel-drive vehicles. At present, Sumitomo Electric promotes the automotive wiring harness business in a tripartite system, in which Sumitomo Electric takes charge of sales and business planning, Sumitomo Wiring Systems handles design and manufacturing, and AutoNetworks Technologies conduct research and development. As a result, Sumitomo Electric's electrical wiring harness systems, which are used to send information and energy to automobiles, have garnered the second largest market share in the world.

Infocommunications.

This segment provides key products and devices that support optical communications, such as optical fibers, cables, connectors, fusion splicers, GE-PON (Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network) devices, various network access equipment, as well as electronic devices and antenna products for wireless communications. The division also provides various products for supporting the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) society such as traffic control systems and other intelligent transportation system (ITS) devices.  Sumitomo Electric produced optical fiber well ahead of other manufacturers, taking note of the product's great capacity for voluminous, speedy, and assured data transmission, ideal for the advanced information age that was to come. In 1986, Sumitomo Electric developed Z-fiber, pure silica core fiber with the world's lowest transmission loss. This has supported the construction of optical communication networks, such as its wide use in many submarine cables. Sumitomo Electric's optical fibers ranks among the best in optical transmission networks and optical communication devices.

Electronics.

The Sumitomo Electric Group's electronics division supplies various products to manufacturers of smartphones, flat-screen televisions, and other highly advanced electronic goods. Products include base material, wiring, and components for compact and lightweight devices with high functionality, such as flexible printed circuits (FPCs), electronic wires, heat-shrinkable tubing, fine polymer products, and compound semiconductors. Capitalizing on compound semiconductor development and manufacturing-knowledge accumulated over many years, Sumitomo Electric succeeded in developing and mass-producing the world's first gallium nitride substances. Sumitomo Electric also continues to be the leading manufacturer of composite semiconductors (GaAs, GaN, InP), which are widely used in semiconductor lasers, LEDs, and mobile telecommunications devices.

Environment and Energy.

This division provides electric wire and cable products that underpin stable energy supply. They include copper wire rods from which various types of electric wires and cables are made, power cables that are indispensable for the supply of high-voltage electricity, and trolley wires for railways. This business segment also supplies magnet wires used in household appliances, automotive electric components, and industrial motors- including hybrid products of rubber, plastic, and ceramics resulting from our development of wire coating technologies- to many different branches of industry.

Industrial Materials.

Hard metal products, such as cutting tools, are essential for high-speed, high-performance, and high-precision mechanical processing. This division manufactures products used in many industries, including special metal wires for prestressed concrete used in civil engineering and construction projects; special steel wires such as steel cords used as tire-reinforcement materials in the automobile industry; and oil-tempered wires for valve springs. This division also makes sintered parts that are used as structural components in automobiles and home electric appliances, ranking among the top 3 in the world.  Starting in 2013, Sumitomo Electric will expand into two more divisions, “Life Sciences” and “Resources” by making full use of the Group's wide-ranging technological capabilities.

The company was founded in 1897 to produce copper wire for electrical uses. Sumitomo operates in five business fields: Automotive, Information & Communications, Electronics, Environment & Energy, and Industrial materials and is developing in two others: Life Sciences and Materials & Resources. It has more than 350 subsidiaries and over 270,000 employees in more than 30 countries.

Sumitomo Denki Kōgyō K.K. (jap., "Sumitomo Denki Kōgyō Kabushiki kaisha", engl. "Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd."), kurz "Sumitomo Denkō" (), ist ein japanisches Unternehmen mit Firmensitz in Osaka. Das Unternehmen gehört zur Sumitomo Group. "Sumitomo Denki Kōgyō" hat 120 Tochterunternehmen (Stand 2007). Bei "Sumitomo Denki Kōgyō" sind über 130.000 Mitarbeiter (Stand März 2007) beschäftigt. Bei "Sumitomo Densō K.K." (, engl. "Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd.") sind über 120.000 Mitarbeiter beschäftigt. Da beide Unternehmen aber durch Aktientausch ineinander verschachtelt sind (siehe Keiretsu), kann nicht genau bestimmt werden, wie viele Mitarbeiter die Unternehmen tatsächlich haben. So gehört beispielsweise "Sumitomo Electric Bordnetze" zum Teil zur "Sumitomo Denki Kōgyō" und zum Teil zur "Sumitomo Densō".


Crater.

Life may have developed in the crater since it is believed the lake was long-lived; the delta may have required a period of 10–10 years to form. Clay minerals have been detected in and around the crater. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter identified smectite clays. Clays form in the presence of water, so this area probably once held water and maybe life in ancient times. The surface in places is cracked into polygonal patterns. Such shapes often form when clay dries out. These patterns can be seen in the image below. The image shows a channel that carried water and sediments into Jezero crater.  Researchers described in a paper, released in March 2015, how an ancient Martian lake system existed in Jezero Crater. The study advanced the idea that water filled the crater at least two separate times. There are two channels on the northern and western sides of the crater that probably supplied it with water; each of these channels has a delta-like deposit where sediment was carried by water and deposited in the lake. Craters of a given diameter are expected to have a certain depth; a depth less than expected means sediment has entered the crater. Calculations suggest that the crater may hold about one kilometer of sediments. Most of the sediments may have been brought in by channels.

Mars 2020 mission.

Jezero crater, once considered a site for the Mars Science Laboratory, was later proposed as a landing site for the Mars 2020 rover mission. Following several Mars 2020 landing site workshops, in early 2017 it survived the cut and was named to be among the top three sites still in the running for the landing, along with Northeast Syrtis, 30 km to the southwest.  A primary aim of the Mars 2020 mission is to search for signs of ancient life. It is hoped that a later mission could then return samples from sites identified as probably containing remains of life. To safely bring the craft down, a 12-mile (20 km) wide, smooth, flat circular area is needed. Geologists hope to examine places where water once ponded. They would like to examine sediment layers.  In November 2018, Jezero crater was selected as the planned landing site for the Mars 2020 rover mission.

Jezero ( or ) is a crater on Mars located at in the Syrtis Major quadrangle. The diameter of the crater is about. Thought to have once been flooded with water, the crater contains a fan-delta deposit rich in clays. The lake in the crater was present when valley networks were forming on Mars. Besides having a delta, the crater shows point bars and inverted channels. From a study of the delta and channels, it was concluded that the lake did not experience times when the water went down. It probably formed when there was continual surface runoff.

Der Jezero-Krater befindet sich auf der nördlichen Halbkugel des Planeten Mars. Er hat einen Durchmesser von 49 km und entstand seinerzeit durch einen Meteoriteneinschlag. Dieser schleuderte Schichtsilikate bzw. Phyllosilikate auf die Oberfläche des Planeten; sie sind noch heute vorhanden. Im Untergrund bildeten sich bei 100–200 °C zahlreiche Tonminerale, was nur in der Gegenwart von Wasser möglich ist. Am 19. November 2018 wählte die NASA den Krater zum Landeplatz für die Mars 2020 Rover Mission.


Biography.

He was a teacher (since 1893) and principal (since 1902) of elementary school in Strumień (1893–1898) and Skoczów (1898–1918), active member of Country Teachers Union in Austrian Silesia, founder of Polish public reading-room in Strumień and co-founder of German Reader's Association (Ger. Leseverein) in Skoczów, founder (since summer 1908) and leader of Silesian People's Party (1909–1938), co-founder and general secretary of Union of Silesians (1910–1938) in East Silesia, spokesman of autonomy or independence of Silesia and spokesman of Silesian nation, founder of Committee for the Maintenance of Clearness of the Silesian dialect in 1910, the deputy of Silesian Parliament in Opava in the period 1909-1918, member of the town council in Skoczów since 1911, editor of most popular Silesian newspaper in East Silesia "Ślązak" (Silesian) and magazine "Śląski Kalendarz Ludowy" (Silesian People's Calendar), member of the Austrian Committee to Support for Soldiers' Families in the period 1914-1918, since October to December 1918 political prisoner in Polish prison in Kraków. Kożdoń was also a member of the Czechoslovak delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, member of Administration Commission for Country Silesia in Opava in the period 1919-1927, four-time mayor of Český Těšín in the period 1923-1938, author of many political articles, letters, petitions and brochures, for example author of petition "representation of Silesian nationality" to Sir Walter Runciman in the question of plebiscite in the Cieszyn Silesia in 1938. He was also founder (1925) and president (in the period 1940-1944) of Silesian People's Bank.

Controversies.

Kożdoń wrote: "I'm not a German, but I'm not and I don't want to be a Pole, too. I'm Polish speaking Silesian [...] A language commonwealth don't decide about a national union, deciding factor is spirit commonwealth. Silesia has this commonwealth - own separate land's traditions". His politics supported bilingual Polish-German education, for example Kożdoń supported insertion of German language to Polish elementary school in Górki Wielkie and demanded insertion of Polish language to German grammar and gymnasial schools in Cieszyn. His politics supported German-language Silesian culture, Slavic Silesian folk culture and local Slavic Silesian dialects. Kożdoń's stances on the position of German culture in Cieszyn Silesia remain however controversial, as several historians claim he and his supporters accented German character of the whole Cieszyn Silesia and supported Germanization policies.  On September 18, 1938 Walter Harbich as leader of "assembly of Silesian nationality" sent a telegram to Adolf Hitler, requesting independence of Cieszyn Silesia under a protection of Nazi Germany. Petition in the same question was sent to the prime minister of the UK Neville Chamberlain, too. On October 2, 1938 Rudolf Francus and Walter Harbich - leaders of German-language faction of Silesian People's Party sent a next telegram to Hitler, speaking in protest of Silesian people and German people from Bohumín against cession of the Zaolzie to Poland. All the telegrams were sent without knowledge of Kożdoń.

Józef Kożdoń (,, ) (September 8, 1873 in Leszna Górna in Cieszyn County - December 7, 1949 in Opava) was Silesian autonomist politician.

Josef Koždoň (bis 1920 am meisten "Józef Kożdoń"; * 8. September 1873 in Leszna Górna; † 7. Dezember 1949 in Opava) war ein ostschlesischer Politiker und langjähriger Bürgermeister von Tschechisch Teschen (Český Těšín).


Early life.

Gens was born on 1 April 1903 in near Šiauliai in what was then the Russian Empire and is now Lithuania. His father was a merchant and Gens was the oldest of four sons. Gens attended a Russian-language primary school and then a secondary school in Šiauliai. He was fluent in Lithuanian, Russian, German, and Yiddish, and knew some Hebrew, Polish, and English. In 1919, Gens enlisted in the newly formed Lithuanian Army. He was sent to officers' school and completed the training as a junior lieutenant. N. Karni, who was a cadet with Gens, said that he "had great personal charm. I do not remember him ever being in a bad mood." Karni also felt Gens had "leadership qualities, he had personality, he was a man of principles". Gens' participation in the Polish–Lithuanian War and the completion of his secondary schooling earned Gens a promotion to senior lieutenant.  Gens was transferred into the army reserves in 1924 and moved to Ukmergė to teach physical education and the Lithuanian language at a Jewish school. In 1924, Gens married Elvyra Budreikaitė, a non-Jewish Lithuanian. He appears to have wanted to transfer from the infantry into the Lithuanian Air Force, but at the time it was accepting only unmarried men. The couple had a daughter, Ada, in 1926, and moved to Kaunas the following year. Gens studied at Kaunas University and worked as an accountant at the Ministry of Justice. He graduated in 1935 with a degree in law and economics. He was called back to the regular army in the late 1930s and promoted to captain. He worked for the Shell Oil Corporation for two years from 1935, then took a job with, a Lithuanian co-operative.  Gens was a Zionist, and was a follower of the Revisionist Zionism school, which called for most European Jews to immediately emigrate to create the State of Israel in what were then the League of Nations mandates of Palestine and Trans-Jordan. He belonged to Brith ha-Hayal, a Jewish organization for military reservists.

Administrator of Jewish hospital.

After the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic in July 1940, Gens was fired from his job. He was unable to secure a work permit nor was he allowed to continue to live in Kaunas. He went to live with his brother, Solomon, in Vilnius, and although Gens was on a list to be sent to Soviet labor camps, he managed to secure an unregistered job at the Vilnius health department through an old military colleague, Colonel Juozas Ūsas. Gens was not on the official payroll, which meant that the political officer attached to the hospital did not need to be informed of his employment. During June 1941, when thousands of the Lithuanian elites were exiled to Siberia, Gens remained in hiding and was not deported.  The German Army entered Vilnius on 24 June 1941, as part of their invasion of Russia in World War II. After their arrival, Gens was put in charge of the Jewish hospital. The occupying authorities ordered the creation of the Judenrat, or Jewish Council, with community-selected members. In early September 1941, the Germans murdered most of the Judenrat, which left the Jewish community leaderless before and during the relocation of the Jews into two ghettos in Vilnius. During this period, the hospital sheltered several prominent Jews from Vilnius. When the ghettos were formed, the Jewish hospital was included within the confines of the larger ghetto, an unusual arrangement for a Nazi-period ghetto. Most ghettos were organized to exclude any Jewish hospitals, forcing the inhabitants to either do without a hospital or set up a makeshift one.

Chief of the Vilnius Ghetto police.

In September 1941, Gens was named the commander of the Jewish policemen for the Vilnius Ghetto by the head of the new Judenrat, Anatol Friend. Officially, the duties of Gens and his policemen were to carry out German and Judenrat orders and provide law enforcement for the inhabitants of the ghetto. Included in their first duty, and considered by the occupiers as the single most important task, was the uncovering of any anti-German activity in the ghetto.  The police force comprised around 200 men at the start, and Gens appointed Salk Dessler as his deputy commandant. Other chief subordinates included Joseph Muszkat and Meir Levas. Dessler was a Revisionist Zionist, and Muszkat and Levas had been members of the Betar, the youth movement of the Revisionist Zionists. The police force included many other former Betar members, and this may have been because Gens favored people coming from his own political leanings. This led to a conflict with the Bund, another Jewish political group. The Bund appears to have wanted the police force to be more of a militia, with Gens and his supporters wishing it to be a more conventional police force. After some initial political wrangling, Gens' faction won, but the Bundists remained strong in the Judenrat.

"Aktions" of 1941.

The smaller ghetto was liquidated in mid-October 1941, which left the larger one. From late October to December 1941, the ghetto was subject to "Aktions", selections of people for deportation and execution in Ponary. Gens was afraid that the actions of the Germans would result in a widespread massacre. He persuaded the Gestapo to let the Jewish police round up the deportees. Gens, backed by the Jewish police force, was responsible for deciding who was to be sent for resettlement and execution. In October, this brought him into conflict with the ghetto's rabbis, who argued Gens was acting against Jewish law. Gens disagreed and considered it to be lawful to sacrifice some people to save others.  During the deportations, he tried to secure more work permits from the Germans but they refused to issue them. He attempted to protect those he could. During the "Aktion" on 3–5 November, in which the paperwork of everyone in the ghetto was checked, holders of work passes – which allowed the holder to protect a spouse and only two children under 16 – were checked and anyone not listed on someone's work permit was sent to Ponary. At one point, while Gens was checking permits, a family with three children went through the checkpoint, and Gens pulled aside the third child. Shortly afterwards, a family with only one child passed through the checkpoint. Gens began berating the father for losing track of his second child, and pushed the third child from the first family into the second family. This incident took place under the supervision of German officials, who did not intervene.  All those removed from the ghetto were taken to Ponary where they were killed. The last deportation took place on 21 December 1941, leaving between 12,500 and 17,200 residents in the ghetto. Of those, about 3,000 were "illegal", or residents without a work permit. At least 60,000 Jews had lived in Vilnius when the German occupation began.  Gens and the Judenrat in the larger ghetto were aware of the executions in Ponary by the end of September 1941, when survivors began returning to the ghetto. The survivors, some of them wounded and all of them female, were mostly brought to Gens, and perhaps to the Judenrat, to whom they relayed their stories. Gens urged them to keep quiet, and some of the wounded were kept in the hospital to prevent them from repeating their stories. Knowledge of the massacres at Ponary became common in the ghetto by late December 1941 or early January 1942.

Relations with the Judenrat.

After the "Aktions" in late 1941, no further large-scale deportations or other massacres took place in the Vilnius Ghetto. This period of calm lasted throughout 1942 and early 1943. During this period, Gens' department oversaw the three police precincts the ghetto had been divided into, as well as the ghetto's prison. The police force in early 1942 had about 200 policemen.  During early 1942, Gens became involved in a power struggle with the head of the Judenrat, Anatol Friend. Friend had not been involved in Vilnius' Jewish organizations prior to the German invasion, and did not have much support from the ghetto's inhabitants. Gens was viewed favorably by the ghetto residents, partly because he lived in the ghetto when he could have escaped. Over time, Gens and the police force encroached on the functions of the Judenrat. The Germans backed Gens' efforts to secure more power, and implied that he was not responsible to the Judenrat, and that the Judenrat had no power over Gens or the Jewish policemen.  In February, the Germans allowed the Judenrat to set up a judicial system. Before this, justice was administered solely by Gens and his policemen; after this, Gens' department still retained some judicial functions over injuries to policemen, escapes from the jail, or leaving the ghetto without leave. In June 1942, Gens took the responsibility for carrying out the death sentence imposed on five men from the ghetto who had been convicted of murder. A sixth man, convicted of committing a murder in another ghetto, was hanged at the same time. Some residents accused the Jewish police force of taking bribes at the gates leading into the ghetto. The police also organized parties which were occasionally attended by Gestapo.  Gens had a dispute with a tailor named Weisskopf, who ran a tailoring workshop in the ghetto. Weisskopf tried to increase his own power base by negotiating directly with the German Army and not going through the ghetto's Labor Department. When Gens ordered all work contracts to go through the Labor Department, Weisskopf appealed to his German contacts, but the Gebeitskommissar of Vilnius, Hans Hingst, preferred that control of such contracts go through his own office which worked through the ghetto's administration. Hingst thus ruled in Gens' favor. The ghetto police then searched Weisskopf's house, found contraband, arrested him, and jailed him for four days, after which he lost his position running the workshop.  Gens also came into conflict with the Judenrat and Friend over the Jewish policemen who guarded the gates into the ghetto. The Germans allowed the Jewish policemen to control access to the ghetto and conduct searches for contraband. Gens' policy was that when no Germans were present at the gates, the policemen would do minimal searches and would allow smuggling of food and other necessary items. If Germans were present at the gates, the policemen conducted thorough searches and often beat up attempted smugglers. In Gens' view, if the Germans thought the Jewish policemen were not vigilant enough, the policemen would be replaced by German guards and any opportunity for smuggling would cease. He also claimed that even when the Germans were present, any confiscated items were brought into the ghetto, which would not be the case if there were German guards at the gates.

Head of the Vilnius Ghetto.

On 10 July 1942, the Judenrat of the Vilnius Ghetto was dissolved by Franz Murer, the German deputy for Jewish Affairs, for incompetence and ineffectiveness. Gens was appointed as head of the ghetto; he retained his position as chief of the Jewish police force, and took the title of "chief of the ghetto and police in Vilnius". Dessler was named Gens' deputy for police functions and Friend was Gens' deputy for administration. Gens asked the rest of the Judenrat to remain in the administration as heads of the various ghetto departments, which they did.

Views and policies.

Inhabitants of the ghetto referred to Gens derisively as "King Jacob the First". The historian Lucy Dawidowicz describes him as one of a group of "strong, even dictatorial" leaders who were "the policy and decision makers in their ghettos, the strategical thinkers on the ghetto's possibilities for survival". Gens thought that labor would provide a way for the inhabitants to survive. Along with several other ghetto leaders, he hoped to preserve some of the ghetto inhabitants and outlast the Nazi occupation. Historian Michael Marrus describes Gens' leadership style as "intensely authoritarian" and Marrus argues that Gens came to "believe that [he] alone could save a portion of the ghetto inmates". This belief has made Gens a controversial figure both at the time and to this day. He sought to save at least some of the population by working for the Germans and to do that he relied on the police force. As part of his efforts to secure support, he held a "political club" of sorts in his home, bringing together some of the community leaders for colloquia to discuss Jewish history, recent events, and the fate of the Jews.

Liquidation of smaller ghettos.

In July 1942, the Germans ordered Gens to give up 500 children and old people, but by late July he had persuaded the Germans to abandon the order for children to be surrendered. He reduced the entire command to 100 older residents, and on 26 July handed over 84 elderly, mostly terminally ill or disabled, who were then executed by the Nazis. The Jewish administration employed over 1500 people in September 1942, including some intellectuals who were appointed to jobs to ensure their survival. This suggestion was made by community leaders and approved by Gens.  In late 1942, the Germans consolidated some small ghettos in the Vilnius region with Gens' help. These included the ghettos at Oszmiana, Švenčionys, Soly, and Michaliszki. During one of these consolidations, on 25 October, Gens gave up 400 old people in return for saving the remaining 600 Jewish residents of Oszmiana. He bribed Martin Weiss, commander of the Ponary killing squad, to accept the lower quota. The Jewish police from Vilnius as well as some Lithuanians were forced to kill the 400 Jews. One ghetto diarist claimed that the Vilnius ghetto was outraged by Gens' participation in the killings, but other diarists stated that most ghetto inhabitants approved of Gens' choice to save some. By April 1943, most of these small ghettos were gone, with their inhabitants either moved to labor camps, shot, or moved to the Vilnius Ghetto. On 4–5 April, the last inhabitants were loaded into trains under the supervision of the Vilnius Jewish police, and the police accompanied the trains, which passed through Vilnius on their way to Ponary. Gens joined his policemen when the train went through Vilnius, and was arrested along with them when the train arrived at Ponary. Gens and the policemen were released, but the other Jews on the train were executed. It appears that the Germans misled Gens about the destination of the trains. Gens justified the participation of the Vilnius ghetto police in these roundups by claiming that their participation saved at least some of the ghetto residents, when otherwise the Germans would have shot them all.

Relations with Jewish resistance.

Gens' relations with the various Jewish resistance groups were strained. He allowed some resistance members to escape the ghetto, but opposed the plans for resistance because he felt they would threaten the entire ghetto's existence. Gens promised to provide aid to the resistance groups and may have promised to join them in a revolt if the time was right. He did provide money, taken from the various Judenrat funds, to the Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye (FPO), a resistance group in the ghetto. Because of the need for secrecy, the FPO did not have a way to directly solicit money from the ghetto inhabitants. Gens provided funds to another resistance group, the "Struggle Group" established by Boris 'Borka' Fridman. It later merged with the "Yechiel Group", established by Yechiel Sheinbaum, to form the "Yechiel's Struggle Group". He provided a pistol to the Struggle Group, its first. The FPO tried to prevent the formation of other resistance groups in the ghetto, mainly because they feared that it would increase the chances of German discovery as well as competition for scarce resources. Gens' support for the Struggle Group appears to have led to friction between himself and the FPO.  On 26 June 1943, Gens ordered the arrest of Josef Glazman, who had previously worked for Gens but now was a leader of the FPO. Glazman was arrested but, while being escorted towards a labor camp, was freed by a group of FPO members. Gens then negotiated with the FPO and secured Glazman's rearrest in return for assurances of Glazman's safety.  In July 1943, "Oberscharführer" Bruno Kittel demanded that Gens hand over Yitzhak Wittenberg, a leader of the FPO. Although Wittenberg was arrested, he was freed by FPO members. Gens' reaction to this was to spread word that unless Wittenberg turned himself in, the Germans would destroy the ghetto. The ghetto residents supported Gens in this dispute. On 16 July, Wittenberg turned himself in. What happened next is unclear: some sources report that Wittenberg committed suicide while in custody, possibly with a cyanide pill provided by Gens; others state that Wittenberg was poisoned by Gens then turned over to the Gestapo, or that he was tortured to death by the Gestapo and given a cyanide pill by Gens' second-in-command.

Welfare and cultural efforts.

While Gens was in control of the ghetto, he continued to oversee the sanitary and health efforts in the ghetto, running that part of the ghetto administration like a military operation. Although conditions were very crowded and often unsanitary, the ghetto never suffered a major epidemic and there were fewer deaths due to disease than in other ghettos. A network of children's homes was set up in March 1942 on Gens' orders. These homes were for orphans or those with parents who could not care properly for them. A department of the ghetto administration was in charge of supervising bosses who employed children under the age of 16.  In May 1942, Gens secured German permission for residents of the ghetto to sell belongings or property they left with gentiles outside the ghetto. The proceeds were to be split half and half between the Jewish owners and the Germans. In practice, the Germans often kept more than half the value, but it still allowed ghetto residents to receive some value for property they no longer controlled. Then in October 1942, the Germans allowed the Jewish ghetto police to retrieve Jewish property left with others outside the ghetto and bring it back to the ghetto. In the same month Gens set up a program to collect, repair, and redistribute winter clothing. The clothes were donated by ghetto residents, repaired in workshops in the ghetto, and then given to the poor and needy. The effort was credited with helping many of the poorest residents survive the winter of 1942–1943.  Gens started a theater in the ghetto, where poetry readings as well as the production of new and old plays took place. Gens continued the policy of supporting the ghetto library and in March 1943 he ordered that all ghetto residents should turn their privately owned books over to the library, except for textbooks and prayer books. He also set up a ghetto publishing house. Nothing was ever published, but the authors were paid for their manuscripts. An archive of historical documents relating to the ghetto was set up. The ghetto had a symphony orchestra, the formation of which owed some impetus to Gens and his police force. Gens justified these cultural activities by claiming that the Jewish administration "wanted to give man the chance to be free of the ghetto for a few hours, and we succeeded in this. Our days here are harsh and grim. Our body is here in the ghetto, but they have not broken our spirit."

Personal privileges and family.

Gens' wife and daughter at first went to Kaunas but, after the formation of the ghetto, they returned to Vilnius and lived near the ghetto's perimeter. His wife used her maiden name rather than Gens'. According to Leonard Tushnet, there were unfounded rumors that the couple had divorced. Gens did not refute the rumors, as he thought they would help protect his family. Other sources state that the two were divorced to protect Elvyra and Ada. Elvyra Gens was opposed to her husband taking a leading role in the government of the ghetto and urged him to "pass" as a Lithuanian. It is not clear exactly why Gens went into the ghetto, but in a letter to his wife, Gens said "This is the first time in my life that I have to engage in such duties. My heart is broken. But I shall always do what is necessary for the sake of the Jews in the ghetto."  Gens' mother and a brother, Solomon, were both imprisoned in the Vilnius Ghetto. Another brother, Ephraim, was head of the ghetto police in the Šiauliai Ghetto, and was the only Gens brother to survive the Holocaust.  The Germans allowed Gens some privileges not accorded to other Vilnius Jews. He was not required to wear the yellow badge of the Star of David on the front and back of his clothes; instead he wore a white and blue armband with the Star of David. He was allowed to enter and leave the ghetto at any time, and his daughter was not required to live in the ghetto, even though other half-Jews were confined within the ghetto. Gens and the Jewish policemen were allowed to carry pistols.

Death.

On 13 September, the Germans ordered him to report to the Gestapo headquarters on the following day. He was urged to flee but chose to go, telling others that if he fled "thousands of Jews will pay for it with their lives". Gens was shot by Obersturmfuhrer Rolf Neugebauer, head of the Vilnius Gestapo, on 14 September 1943. The Gestapo said that he was killed for funneling money to the FPO. Dessler was named as Gens' successor as ghetto chief, but was soon replaced with a council which included Friend and Gens' brother, Solomon.  The ghetto was liquidated between 22 and 24 September 1943. Three thousand six hundred residents went to labor camps (including 2,000 sent to labor camps in Vilnius); 5,000 women and children went to Majdanek, where they were gassed to death; and a few hundred elderly and sick were sent to Ponary and shot. The few Jews who remained in Vilnius were shot just before the Soviet Army arrived. A few FPO members escaped to the nearby forests.  Gens' wife and daughter were living near the ghetto on the day he was shot. A Jewish policeman informed them that Gens had been shot and that the Gestapo was looking for them. They fled and managed to stay in hiding until Soviet troops arrived. In 1945, they obtained papers for repatriation to Poland. From there they moved to West Germany as Jewish aliyah. They emigrated to Australia in 1948 and to the United States in 1953.

Legacy.

The role of the Judenrats has been controversial. Both Raul Hilberg and Hannah Arendt, early historians of the Holocaust, argued that without the help of the Judenrats, the Germans would have been hampered in their extermination efforts. Arendt went further and condemned those Jews who served as leaders in the ghettos for helping destroy their own people. More recent historians have recognized that the situation facing the Jewish leaders was more complex – they faced conflicting sets of goals and had essentially no power to change the demands the Germans made of them.  Gens himself has been called "one of the most controversial Jewish ghetto leaders". Chaim Lazar, a member of the FPO, wrote of Gens that "It may be charged that his course was harmful, but everyone knows that he was never a traitor. All that he did during his tenure as Chief of the Ghetto was for his people". Yitzhak Arad, in his history of the Vilnius Ghetto, says that Gens "erred in his fundamental conception – that the German administration regarded the existence of the ghetto and its inhabitants vital for economic reasons" and that "the policy laid down by Jacob Gens was the only one that afforded hope and some prospect of survival". Vadim Altskan, of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, states that "... Holocaust historiography treated people such as... Jacob Gens... as instruments of destruction in the hands of the Nazi killing machine.... Applied retrospectively, these charges for the most part are judgmental and add very little to our understanding of the events. Neither Jewish functionaries nor 'ordinary' Jews had any practical or psychological experience in dealing with the grim reality of the Nazi occupation, because never before in their long history of persecution had the Jews experienced an assault of such magnitude and careful design." Regarding the charge of collaborating with the Germans, Dawidowicz opined, "to say that [Gens and others like him] 'cooperated' or 'collaborated' with the Germans is semantic confusion and historical misrepresentation". The Israeli Zionist poet Nathan Alterman investigated the history of the Vilnius Ghetto, including interviewing survivors such as Abba Kovner, and stated "Had I been in the ghetto, I would have been on the side of the Judenrat."  Gens is one of the main characters in Joshua Sobol's plays "Ghetto" and "Adam". They depict him as a complex, morally ambiguous character forced to choose between two evils.

Jacob Gens (1 April 1903 – 14 September 1943) was the head of the Vilnius Ghetto government. Originally from a merchant family, he joined the Lithuanian Army shortly after the independence of Lithuania, rising to the rank of captain while also securing a college degree in law and economics. He married a non-Jew and worked at several jobs, including as a teacher, accountant, and an administrator.

Jacob Gens (* 1905 in Illoviečiai, Oblast Šiauliai; † 14. September 1943 in Wilna) war Vorsitzender des Judenrats im Ghetto Wilna.


History.

General Atomics (GA) was founded on July 18, 1955, in San Diego, California by Fredrick De Hoffman with assistance from notable physicists Edward Teller and Freeman Dyson. Originally the company was part of the General Atomic division of General Dynamics "for harnessing the power of nuclear technologies for the benefit of mankind".  GA's first offices were in the General Dynamics facility on Hancock Street in San Diego. GA also used a schoolhouse on San Diego's Barnard Street as its temporary headquarters, which it would later "adopt" as part of its Education Outreach program. In 1956, San Diego voters approved the transfer of land to GA for permanent facilities in Torrey Pines and the John Jay Hopkins Laboratory for Pure and Applied Science was formally dedicated there on June 25, 1959. The Torrey Pines facility continues to serve as the company's headquarters today.  General Atomics's initial projects were the TRIGA nuclear research reactor which was designed so that it was guaranteed to be safe by the laws of nature, and Project Orion.  GA helped developed and run the San Diego Supercomputer Center  A brief history of the company:  On March 15, 2010, Rear Adm. Thomas J. Cassidy stepped down as President of GA-ASI's Aircraft Systems Group, staying on as non-executive chairman of the company's management committee. Frank Pace, the executive vice president of Aircraft Systems Group, succeeded Cassidy as President of GA-ASI.  General Atomics is also developing a Generation IV reactor design, the Gas Turbine Modular Helium Reactor (GT-MHR). In 2010, General Atomics presented a new version of the GT-MHR, the Energy Multiplier Module (EM2), which uses fast neutrons and is a Gas-cooled fast reactor.  General Atomics, including its affiliate, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, is San Diego County's largest defense contractor, according to a September 2013 report, by the San Diego Military Affairs Council. The top five contractors, ranked by defense-generated revenue in fiscal year 2013, were General Atomics, followed by Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics-NASSCO, BAE Systems, and SAIC. A separate October 2013 report, by the San Diego Business Journal ranked contractors by the number of local employees. The top three contractors were General Atomics, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics NASSCO.

Leadership.

General Atomics Global Corporation Sunday appointed Indian-American defence industry veteran Vivek Lall as its new Chief Executive, he will based at GA's headquarters in San Diego, California. This is Dr Vivek Lal's second stint with the company as he has worked with the General Atomics from August 2014 to December 2017 before joining Lockheed Martin. Dr Lall left Lockheed Martin in April this year, and joined back General Atomics after few weeks.

Educational outreach.

Since 1992, the General Atomics Science Education Outreach Program, a volunteer effort of GA employees and San Diego science teachers, has worked with Science Coordinators for the San Diego Schools to bring the business and research side of science into the classroom. The goal is both to improve the quality of science education and to encourage more students to pursue science careers. In addition, the teachers' interactions with the scientists and exposure to everyday uses of their disciplines help them to be better educators.  In 1995, the program was expanded, and the General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation [501(c) (3)] was established. The General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation's goal is to play a major role in enhancing pre-college education in science, engineering and new technologies. To attain this goal, four areas of core competency at General Atomics were initially selected to form the basis for the development of inquiry-based education modules and associated workshops. Scientist/teacher teams wrote these modules, which fuse the content and methodology of industrial research and development with the teaching skills of experienced science teachers.

Government influence.

Since 2005, the Center for Responsible Politics reported General Atomics had spent over $1.5 million per year in lobbying efforts from 2005 to 2011.  In April 2002, the company paid for Letitia White, who was then a top aide to Representative Jerry Lewis, and her husband to travel to Italy. White left Lewis' office nine months later, to become a lobbyist at Copeland Lowery. The next day, she began representing General Atomics. Lewis, her former boss, was at the time chairman of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee.

General Atomics is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, specializing in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. The company also provides research and manufacturing services for remotely operated surveillance aircraft, including the Predator drones; airborne sensors; and advanced electric, electronic, wireless, and laser technologies.

General Atomics (GA) ist ein US-amerikanisches Hochtechnologie-Unternehmen mit Aktivitäten vor allem in den Bereichen Kernenergie und Rüstung. Der Unternehmenssitz befindet sich in San Diego. Zurzeit (2016) hat das Unternehmen etwa 8.000 Beschäftigte.


Life.

After the death of his father in 1431, Władysław ruled over all the Duchy together with his brothers as co-rulers, but under the tutelage of their mother. After the division of the Duchy on 29 November 1442, he received the half of both Głogów and Ścinawa as sole ruler, signed since them with the title of "Duke of Cieszyn-Głogów".  He had little interference in the Cieszyn politics (actually the only activity in this area was the agreement to sell the Duchy of Siewierz by his brother Wenceslaus I in 1443) and decided to concentrated in the Głogów politics.  In December 1444 Władysław married with Margareta (1411 – 22 July 1480), daughter of Herman III, Count of Celje and widow of Herman I, Count of Montfort-Pfannberg-Bregenz. They had no children.  Władysław's major participation in the political life of his time was in 1447, when he went to Kraków and took part in the coronation of Casimir IV as King of Poland.  The Duke of Głogów supported Bohemian King George of Podebrady. On 24 August 1459, Władysław, with other Piast rulers, paid homage to King George in Swidnica and fought in his ranks near Wrocław. He was seriously wounded during the siege of this town on 1 October 1459 and died as a result of the wounds on 14 February 1460.  In his will, Władysław left his domains to both his wife Margareta (as her ) and his brother Przemysław II, who actually took the whole government over half of both Głogów and Ścinawa. Przemysław II was deposed in 1476 and half of both Głogów and Ścinawa were annexed to the Bohemian crown; however, Margareta remained in Głogów and defended the city from the ambitions of Jan II the Mad, Duke of Żagań, who, after a siege of seven weeks, on 1 May 1480 conquered the city and reunited the whole Duchy of Głogów after almost 150 years of separation.

Władysław of Głogów (,, ) ( – 14 February 1460) was a Silesian nobleman. He was the ruling Duke of Cieszyn during 1431–1442 (with his brothers as co-rulers) and from 1442 sole ruler over half of both Głogów and Ścinawa.

Wladislaus (auch "Wlodko"; "Ladislaus"; * um 1420; † 14. Februar 1460) war von 1431 bis zu seinem Tod 1460 Herzog von Teschen sowie Herzog des königlichen Anteils von Glogau mit Guhrau, Köben und "halb" Beuthen. Er entstammte der Teschener Zweig der Schlesischen Piasten.


Biography.

The grandson of Maximilian von Montgelas, he joined the army in 1879, served in the Boxer Expedition and was military attaché in Peking from 1901 to 1902. In 1914, during the early phase of World War I, he commanded the 4th Bavarian Infantry Division but retired the following year to devote himself to careful study of the matters relating to the outbreak of the war and responsibility for it. In that capacity, he was official adviser to the Reichstag Committee of Enquiry.  He was married to Countess Pauline von Wimpffen.  He was a German count and the official spokesman for the German Weimar Republic at the Paris Peace Conference following World War I to investigate the question of responsibility for the war. He helped to draft the German answer to the charges of war guilt and was one of the four signatories to the Memorandum, presented in May 1919, in reply to the Western Allies. Later, in the absence of the other members of the German Commission, he was jointly responsible, with Delbruck, for a further Memorandum replying to the Allied Note of 16 June.  He subsequently wrote his controversial book "The Case for the Central Powers: An Impeachment of the Versailles Verdict", published in London by George, Allen & Unwin Ltd., in 1925. The previous year he and Professor Walther Schücking had edited "The Outbreak of the World War - German Documents collected by Karl Kautsky", commonly known as the "Kautsky Documents", which were published by the Oxford University Press.

Count Maximilian Maria Karl Desiderius de Garnerin de la Thuile von Montgelas (1860 Saint Petersburg – 1938 Munich) was a Bavarian general and diplomat.

Maximilian Maria Karl Desiderius Graf (von) Montgelas (ausgesprochen ) (* 23. Mai 1860 in Sankt Petersburg; † 4. Februar 1938 in München) war ein bayerischer General der Infanterie sowie deutscher Politiker, Militärattaché und Historiker aus der Familie Montgelas.


Design and production.

Earlier remotes could turn sets on/off and change channels, but were connected to the TV with a cable. The Flash-matic came in response to consumer complaints about the inconvenience of these cables running from the transmitter to the TV monitor. Earlier remotes served as the central control system for transmitting complex signals to the receiving monitor. The Flash-matic instead placed the complexity in the receiver as opposed to the transmitter. It used a directional beam of light to control a television outfitted with four photo cells in the corners of the screen. The light signal would activate one of the four control functions, which turned the picture and sound on or off, and turned the channel tuner dial clockwise and counter-clockwise. The bottom receptors received the signal to mute and power on/off, and the upper cells received signals to channel up/down. In order for the various signals to be received by the monitor, the remote control had to be directed towards one of the four photocells. The system responded to full-spectrum light so could be activated or interfered with by other light sources including indoor light bulbs and the sun. Despite these defects, the Flash-matic remained in high demand. In September 1955, Zenith released an apology for its inability to meet the high demand of consumers. The Flash-matic was quickly replaced by new control systems. The "Zenith Space Command" remote control went into production in 1956 with aims to improve upon the Flash-matic's design.

Advertisement Campaign.

The Flash-matic was marketed as an interactive technology for tuning device for the television. Muting was the first control feature to be included on a remote control while unavailable on the monitor. The advertisement campaign for the Flash-matic remote control noted its ability to "shut off annoying commercials while the picture remains on the screen.” The mute button was explicitly designed for the purpose of tuning out of commercials. As a result of this new feature as well as the Flash-matic's pistol shape, the Flash-matic's ad campaigns invited viewers to "shoot" the annoying commercials or announcers that they were tired of listening to, while leaving the image present so that the viewer would know when to turn the sound back on.

The Zenith Flash-Matic was the first wireless remote control invented by Eugene Polley in 1955. It had only one button that was used to power on and off, channel up, channel down, and mute. The Flash-matic's phototechnology was a significant innovation in television and allowed for wireless signal transfer previously exclusive to radio.

Flash-Matic war die erste kabellose Fernbedienung für Fernseher. Sie wurde 1955 von der Firma Zenith Electronics Corporation entwickelt. Die Form der Flash-Matic war eine Mischung aus Taschenlampe und Duschkopf. In jeder Ecke des Fernsehgeräts waren Fotozellen angebracht, die mit der Flash-Matic anvisiert werden mussten. Jede der vier Fotozellen war für eine andere Funktion bestimmt. So konnte mit der Fernbedienung der Fernseher aus- und eingeschaltet, der Sender gewählt und der Ton aus- und eingeschaltet werden. Der Sender wurde wie bei der Fernbedienung Lazy Bones durch einen Elektromotor eingestellt.


Flaw in DNS.

In July 2008, the CERT Coordination Center announced that Kaminsky had discovered a fundamental flaw in the Domain Name System (DNS) protocol. The flaw could allow attackers to easily perform cache poisoning attacks on most nameservers (djbdns, PowerDNS, MaraDNS, Secure64 and Unbound were not vulnerable). With most Internet-based applications depending on DNS to locate their peers, a wide range of attacks became feasible, including web site impersonation, email interception, and authentication bypass via the "Forgot My Password" feature on many popular websites.  Kaminsky worked with DNS vendors in secret to develop a patch to make exploiting the vulnerability more difficult, releasing it on July 8, 2008. The vulnerability itself has not been fully fixed, as it is a design flaw in DNS itself.  Kaminsky had intended not to publicize details of the attack until 30 days after the release of the patch, but details were leaked on July 21, 2008. The information was quickly pulled down, but not before it had been mirrored by others.  Kaminsky received a substantial amount of mainstream press after disclosing his vulnerability, but experienced some backlash from the computer security community for not immediately disclosing his attack.  The actual vulnerability was related to DNS only having 65,536 possible transaction IDs, a number small enough to simply guess given enough opportunities. Dan Bernstein, author of djbdns, had reported this as early as 1999. djbdns dealt with the issue using Source Port Randomization, in which the UDP port was used as a second transaction identifier, thus raising the possible ID count into the billions. Other more popular name server implementations left the issue unresolved due to concerns about performance and stability, as many operating system kernels simply weren't designed to cycle through thousands of network sockets a second. Instead, other implementers assumed that DNS's time to live (TTL) field would limit a guesser to only a few attempts a day.  Kaminsky's attack bypassed this TTL defense by targeting "sibling" names like "83.example.com" instead of "www.example.com" directly. Because the name was unique, it had no entry in the cache, and thus no TTL. But because the name was a sibling, the transaction-ID guessing spoofed response could not only include information for itself, but for the target as well. By using many "sibling" names in a row, he could induce a DNS server to make many requests at once. This provided enough opportunities to guess the transaction ID to successfully spoof a reply in a reasonable amount of time.  To fix this, all major DNS servers implemented Source Port Randomization, as both djbdns and PowerDNS had before. This fix is widely seen as a stopgap measure, as it only makes the attack up to 65,536 times harder. An attacker willing to send billions of packets can still corrupt names. DNSSEC has been proposed as the way to bring cryptographic assurance to results provided by DNS, and Kaminsky has spoken in favor of it.

Sony rootkit.

During the Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal, Kaminsky used DNS cache snooping to find out whether or not servers had recently contacted any of the domains accessed by the Sony rootkit. He used this technique to estimate that there were at least 568,200 networks that had computers with the rootkit.

Earthlink and DNS lookup.

In April 2008, Kaminsky realized a growing practice among ISPs potentially represented a security vulnerability. Various ISPs have experimented with intercepting return messages of non-existent domain names and replacing them with advertising content. This could allow hackers to set up phishing schemes by attacking the server responsible for the advertisements and linking to non-existent subdomains of the targeted websites. Kaminsky demonstrated this process by setting up Rickrolls on Facebook and PayPal. While the vulnerability used initially depended in part that Earthlink was using Barefruit to provide its advertising, Kaminsky was able to generalize the vulnerability to attack Verizon by attacking its ad provider, Paxfire.  Kaminsky went public after working with the ad networks in question to eliminate the immediate cross-site scripting vulnerability.

Automated detection of Conficker.

On March 27, 2009, Kaminsky discovered that Conficker-infected hosts have a detectable signature when scanned remotely. Signature updates for a number of network scanning applications are now available including NMap and Nessus.

Flaws in Internet X.509 Infrastructure.

In 2009, in cooperation with Meredith L. Patterson and Len Sassaman, Kaminsky discovered numerous flaws in the SSL protocol. These include the use of the weak MD2 hash function by Verisign in one of their root certificates and errors in the certificate parsers in a number of Web browsers that allow attackers to successfully request certificates for sites they don't control.

Attack by "Zero for 0wned".

On July 28, 2009, Kaminsky, along with several other high-profile security consultants, experienced the publication of their personal email and server data by hackers associated with the "Zero for 0wned" online magazine. The attack appeared to be designed to coincide with Kaminsky's appearance at the Black Hat Briefings and DEF CON conferences.

Dan Kaminsky is an American security researcher. He is the Chief Scientist of White Ops, a firm specializing in detecting malware activity via JavaScript. He has worked for Cisco, Avaya, and IOActive, where he was the Director of Penetration Testing. He is known among computer security experts for his work on DNS cache poisoning, and for showing that the Sony Rootkit had infected at least 568,200 computers and for his talks at the Black Hat Briefings.

Dan Kaminsky (geb. um 1979) ist ein Informatiker, Spezialist für Computersicherheit und Mitbegründer sowie Chef der wissenschaftlichen Forschung der Firma WhiteOps. Er hat bisher für Cisco, Avaya und das Penetration-Testing-Unternehmen "IOActive" gearbeitet. Bei letzterem war er Chef der Pentestingsparte. Kaminsky hielt regelmäßig Vorträge auf dem Chaos Communication Congress sowie den Black Hat Briefings.