Friday, November 30, 2007


Sanford may refer to:

Sanford In Canada

Sanford (writing products), a unit of Newell Rubbermaid that manufactures the Sharpie marker
Sanford (TV series), the title of a 1980-81 American TV series which was a revival of Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son
Sanford-Townsend Band, 1970s American rock band
Sanford Health of Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Thursday, November 29, 2007


An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture is a dissertation by the English Mathematician and Scholar Isaac Newton. First published in 1754, twenty-seven years after Newton's death, it reviewed all the textual evidence available from ancient sources on two disputed Bible passages, at 1 John 5:7-8 and 1 Timothy 3:16.

An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture Summary of both passages
Newton did not publish these findings during his lifetime, likely due to the political climate. Those who wrote against the doctrine of the Trinity were subject to persecution in England. As late as 1698 the Act for the Suppression of Blasphemy and Profaneness made it an offense to deny one of the persons of the Trinity to be God, punishable with loss of office, employment and profit on the first occasion, and imprisonment for a repetition. Newton's friend William Whiston (translator of the works of Josephus) lost his professorship at Cambridge for this reason in 1711. In 1693 a pamphlet attacking the Trinity was burned by order of the House of Lords, and the next year its printer and author were prosecuted. In 1697 Thomas Aikenhead, an eighteen-year-old student charged with denying the Trinity, was hanged at Edinburgh, Scotland.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Emperor Yingzong (Song Dynasty)
Emperor Yingzong (February 16, 1032January 25, 1067) was the fifth emperor of the Song Dynasty of China. His personal name was originally Zhao Zongshi but he later changed it to Zhao Shu. He reigned from 1063 to 1067. His temple name means "Outstandingly Talented Ancestor".
In 1055 the Emperor Renzong fell ill and as he had no surviving sons there was a threat to the succession. Under prompting from his Court officials Renzong agreed to bring two boys, sons of Imperial clansmen, into the palace. Yingzong was the thirteenth son of Zhao Yunrang (趙允讓) (995-1059), known posthumously as Prince Pu Anyi (濮安懿王). Zhao Yunrang was the first director of the Great Office of [Imperial] Clan Affairs and so the most important clan official at the time. Moreover Yunrang had been raised in the Palace as a potential heir to Zhenzong before Renzong was born in 1010. He was a first cousin of Emperor Renzong. Yingzong's grandfather was Zhao Yuanfen ((趙元份) (969-1005), known posthumously as Prince Shang Gongjing (商恭靖王), and younger brother of Emperor Zhenzong. Yingzong's mother, from the Ren (任) family, was the third wife of Prince Pu Anyi, and was titled xianjun¹ of Xianyou (仙遊縣君).
Yingzong's reign is known for controversy over the correct rituals to be performed by the Emperor for his father. Yingzong had been adopted by Renzong and so the ritual sense Renzong was Yingzong's father. In a more strictly biological sense, Zhao Yunrang was Yingzong's father. Some officials wished Zhao Yunrang to be given the title of "Imperial Uncle", however Yingzong sided with Ouyang Xiu and others and granted him the title "Parent". This was not only an early sign of more conflict during Xiaozong's reign but also the Great rites controversy of the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Yingzong (Song Dynasty) See also

List of Song Emperors
Architecture of the Song Dynasty
Culture of the Song Dynasty
Economy of the Song Dynasty
History of the Song Dynasty
Society of the Song Dynasty
Technology of the Song Dynasty

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Khrushchev and Stalin
Stalin was denounced by Khrushchev in his speech On the Personality Cult and its Consequences, delivered at the closed session of the 20th Party Congress, behind closed doors, after midnight on February 25, 1956 and his initiatives to open and liberalise the USSR had surprised the world. Khrushchev's speech had angered many of his powerful enemies, thus igniting another round of ruthless power struggle within the Soviet Communist Party. At that time, Moshe Dayan said that the USSR will disappear in 30 years, and he was only 5 years off predicting the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

1956 Khrushchev's speech denouncing Stalin

Khrushchev's problems during the Thaw
The first big international failure of Khrushchev's politics came in October-November of 1956.
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was brutally suppressed by the massive invasion of the Soviet tanks and the Red Army troops in Budapest. The street fighting against the invading Red Army caused thousands of casualties among Hungarian civilians and militia, as well as hundreds of the Soviet military personnel killed. The disastrous attack of the Soviet Red Army also caused massive emigration from Hungary, as hundreds of thousands of Hungarians had fled as refugees.

Khrushchev Thaw Polish and Hungarian Revolutions of 1956
The conservative hard-line "Stalinist" elite of the Soviet communist party was enraged by Khrushchev's speech in 1956, and rejected Khrushchev's de-Stalinization and liberalisation of Soviet society. One year after Khrushchev's secret speech, the "Stalininsts" attempted to oust Khrushchev from the leadership position in the Soviet Communist Party. Then he expelled Molotov, Kaganovich and Malenkov from the Secretariat and ultimately from the Communist Party itself.

1957 coup against Khrushchev
Khrushchev's attempts in reforming the Soviet industrial infrastructure led to his clashes with professionals in most branches of the Soviet economy. His reform of administrative organization created him more problems. In a politically motivated move to weaken the central state bureaucracy in 1957, Khrushchev replaced the industrial ministries in Moscow with regional Councils of People's Economy, sovnarkhozes, causing himself many new enemies among the ranks in Soviet government.

Economy and political tensions
The shift to liberalisation and openness was needed by people, and it became possible after the death of Stalin.

Openness and liberalisation in the Thaw
In the West, Khrushchev's Thaw is known as a temporary thaw in the icy tension between the United States and the USSR during the Cold War. The tensions were able to thaw because of Khrushchev's de-Stalinization of the USSR and peaceful co-existence theory and also because of US President Eisenhower's cautious attitude and peace attempts. For example, both leaders attempted to achieve peace by attending the 1955 Geneva International Peace Summit and developing the Open Skies Policy and Quest for Arms Agreement. The leaders' attitudes allowed them to, as Khrushchev put it, "break the ice."
Khrushchev's Thaw developed largely as a result of Khrushchev's theory of peaceful co-existence which believed the two superpowers (USA and USSR) and their ideologies could co-exist together, without war (peacefully). Khrushchev had created the theory of peaceful existence in an attempt to reduce hostility between the two superpowers. He tried to prove peaceful coexistence by attending international peace conferences, such as the Geneva Summit, and by traveling internationally, such as his trip to America's Camp David in 1959.
This spirit of cooperation was severely damaged by the U-2 spy plane incident. The Soviet presentation of downed pilot Gary Powers at the May 1960 Paris Peace Summit and Eisenhower's refusal to apologize ended much of the progress of this era. Then Khrushchev approved the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.
Further deterioration of the Thaw and decay of Khrushchev's international political standing happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. At that time the Soviet and international media were making two completely opposite pictures of reality, while the world was at the brink of a Nuclear war. Although, direct communication between Khrushchev and the US president John Kennedy helped to end the crisis, Khrushchev's political image was damaged.

Khrushchev's Thaw in the World
The "Khrushchev's Thaw" caused unprecedented social, cultural and economic transformations in the Soviet Union. The 60s generation actually started in the 1950s, with their uncensored poetry, songs and books publications.
The 6th World Festival of Youth and Students had opened many eyes and ears in the Soviet Union. Many new social trends stemmed from that festival. Many Russian women became involved in love affairs with handsome man from all over the world, what resulted in the so-called "inter-baby boom" in Moscow and Leningrad. The festival also brought new styles and fashions that caused the movement among the upper class called "stilyagi" and the 60s generation. The festival also "revolutionized" the underground currency trade and boosted the black market, causing headaches for the Soviet KGB.
Emergence of such popular stars as Bulat Okudzhava, Edita Piekha, Evgeny Evtushenko, Bella Akhmadulina, and the superstar Vladimir Vysotsky had changed the popular culture forever in the USSR. Their poetry and songs liberated the public consciousness of the Soviet people and pushed guitars and tape recorders to masses, so the Soviet people became exposed to independent channels of information and public mentality was eventually updated in many ways.
Khrushchev finally liberated millions of peasants; by his order the Soviet government gave them identifications, passports, and thus allowed them to move out of poor villages to big cities. Massive housing construction, known as khrushchevkas, was undertaken during the 1950s and 1960s. Millions of cheap and basic residential blocks of low-end flats were built all over the Soviet Union to accommodate the largest migration ever in the Soviet history, when masses of landless peasants moved to Soviet cities. The move caused a dramatic change of the demographic picture in the USSR, and eventually finalized the decay of peasantry in Russia.
Economic reforms were contemplated by Alexey Kosygin, a staunch ally of Nikita Khrushchev, who was chairman of the USSR State Committee for Planning in 1959 and then a full member of the Presidium (also known as Politburo after 1966) in 1960.

Social, cultural and economic reforms
Both the cultural and the political thaws were effectively ended with the removal of Krushchev as Soviet leader in October 1964, and the installment of Leonid Brezhnev as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1964. When Khrushchev was dismissed, Kosygin took over Khrushchev's position as Soviet Premier,

Khrushchev's dismissal and the end of reforms

1953: Stalin died. Beria eliminated by Zhukov. Khrushchev became leader of the Soviet Communist Party.
1954: Khrushchev visited Peking, China, met Mao Zedong. Started rehabilitation and release of Soviet political prisoners. Allowed uncensored public performances of poets and songwriters in the Soviet Union.
1955: Khrushchev met with US President Eisenhower. NATO formed, the Warsaw Pact established. Khrushchev reconciled with Tito. Zhukov appointed Minister of Defence. Brezhnev appointed to run Virgin Lands Campaign.
1956: Khrushchev denounced Stalin in his Secret Speech. Hungarian Revolution crashed by the Soviet Army. Polish revolution suppressed.
1957: Coup against Khrushchev. Pro-Stalinists ousted from Kremlin. World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow. Tape recorders spread popular music all over the Soviet Russia. Sputnik orbited the Earth.
1958: Khrushchev named premier of the Soviet Union, ousted Zhukov from Minister of Defence, cut military spending, introduced sovnarkhozes, (Councils of People's Economy). 1st International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
1959: Khrushchev visited the USA. Unsuccessfull introduction of maize during agricultural crisis in the Soviet Union caused serious food crisis. Sino-Soviet split started.
1960: Kennedy elected President of the USA. Vietnam War escalated. American U–2 spy plane shot down over the Soviet Union. Pilot Powers pleaded guilty. Khrushchev cancelled the summit with Eisenhower.
1961: Stalin's body removed from Lenin's mausoleum. Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. Khrushchev approved the Berlin Wall. The Soviet ruble redenominated 10:1, food crisis continued.
1962: Krushchev and Kennedy struggled through the Cuban Missile Crisis. Food crisis caused the Novocherkassk massacre. First publication about the "Gulag" camps by Solzhenitsyn.
1963: Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. Ostankino TV tower construction started. Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests signed. Kennedy assassinated. Khrushchev hosted Fidel Castro in Moscow.
1964: Beatlemania became known in the Soviet Union, music bands formed at many Russian schools. 40 bugs found in the US Embassy in Moscow. Brezhnev ousted Khrushchev, and placed him under house arrest. History repeated

Monday, November 26, 2007

Boundaries

North West England (European Parliament constituency) 2004 - present

Robert Atkins, Conservative
Chris Davies, Liberal Democrat
Den Dover, Conservative
Jacqueline Foster, Conservative
Arlene McCarthy, Labour
Brian Simpson, Labour
David Sumberg, Conservative
Gary Titley, Labour
Richard Inglewood, Conservative
Terry Wynn, Labour

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Millbank
Coordinates: 51°29′58″N 0°07′60″W / 51.4995, -0.1333
Millbank is an area of central London in the City of Westminster. Millbank is located by the Thames, east of Pimlico and south of Westminster.
The area derives its name from a mill house belonging to nearby Westminster Abbey. By the 19th century, the area was dominated by Millbank Prison used in the deportation of prisoners to the British colonies. Much of Millbank's present appearance dates from the 1930s, when the area was extensively rebuilt to repair damage caused by the 1928 Thames flood disaster, in which 14 local residents drowned following the collapse of a 25m section of the Thames Embankment.
Millbank is also the name of the main road (A3212) along the north bank of the River Thames, extending northwards from Vauxhall Bridge Road to Abingdon Street, just south of Parliament Square. Some Parliamentary offices are based in buildings along this road, notably No.7, which was built as the HQ of British American Tobacco. The Tate Britain art gallery stands near the Vauxhall Bridge Road end. The road was created as part of the Thames Embankment in the mid 19th century and lies above a large interceptor sewer.
The headquarters of the British chemicals giant ICI were located at Nobel House on Millbank, before it relocated to Manchester Square, also in London. The MI5 headquarters, Thames House, stands nearby.
Before the 1997 General Election, the Labour Party took over two floors of the Millbank Tower as its headquarters. The £1 million per annum rent forced the party to vacate the tower in 2001 for 16 Old Queen Street.
In British politics, the term 'Millbank Machine' or 'Millbank tendency' (a play on 'Militant tendency') was used to refer to those who were regarded by some as spin doctors.
Millbank Studios, an independent broadcast services company, is based in the area, opposite the Houses of Parliament.
No4. Millbank, It is here many major broadcasters base their coverage of Westminster including the BBC, Sky News and ITV companies. RTE also have their London bureau here.
BBC Parliament, a channel dedicated to Parliamentary and general political coverage is run by Millbank Studios on behalf of the BBC.
Neighbouring College Green is used as the location for outside interviews with politicians.

Education
For education in Millbank see the main City of Westminster article.

Saturday, November 24, 2007


For the album by Frankee, see The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (Frankee album).
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Italian: Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo) is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach in the title roles. The screenplay was written by Age & Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni and Leone, based on a story by Vincenzoni and Leone. Director of photography Tonino Delli Colli was responsible for the film's sweeping widescreen cinematography and Ennio Morricone composed the famous film score. It is the third film in the Dollars trilogy following A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965). The plot centers around three gunslingers competing to find a fortune in buried Confederate gold amid the violent chaos of gunfights, hangings, Civil War battles, and prison camps.

Plot

Clint Eastwood as Blondie: The Good, the Man With No Name, a phlegmatic, cocksure bounty hunter who competes with Tuco and Angel Eyes to find the buried gold in the middle of the two warring factions of the American Civil War. Blondie and Tuco have a love-hate relationship. Tuco knows the name of the cemetery where the gold is hidden, but Blondie knows the name of the grave where it's buried, forcing them to work together to find the treasure. In spite of this greedy quest, Blondie's pity for the dying soldiers in the chaotic carnage of the War is evident. "I've never seen so many men wasted so badly," he laments. Rawhide had ended its run in 1965 and at that point none of Clint Eastwood's Italian films had been released in the United States. When Leone offered him a role in his next movie it was the only big film offer he had but the actor still needed to be convinced to do it. Leone and his wife traveled to California to persuade Eastwood. Two days later, he agreed to make the movie and would be paid $250,000 plus 10% of the profits from the North American markets – a deal that Leone was not happy with.
Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes: The Bad, a ruthless, unfeeling mercenary named "Angel Eyes" Sentenza who kills anyone in his path. When Blondie and Tuco are captured while posing as Confederate soldiers, Angel Eyes is the Union officer who interrogates them and tortures Tuco, eventually learning the name of the cemetery where the gold is buried, but not the tombstone. Angel Eyes forms a fleeting partnership with Blondie, but Tuco and Blondie turn on Angel Eyes when they get their chance. Originally, Leone wanted Charles Bronson to play Angel Eyes but he had already committed to The Dirty Dozen (1967). Leone thought about working with Lee Van Cleef again: "I said to myself that Van Cleef had first played a romantic character in For a Few Dollars More. The idea of getting him to play a character who was the opposite of that began to appeal to me."
Aldo Giuffrè as Union Captain: A drunken Union captain who befriends Tuco and Blondie. He feels that the bloody siege his men are involved in is a futile waste, and dreams of destroying the bridge - a wish carried out by Blondie and Tuco. Mortally wounded in the Battle of Langstone Bridge, he dies just after hearing the bridge's destruction. Giuffre was an Italian comedian who had become an actor.
Mario Brega as Cpl. Wallace. A thuggish prison guard who works for Angel Eyes and tortures Tuco to get him to reveal the hidden location of the treasure. Angel Eyes turns Tuco over to Wallace so that he can turn Tuco in for the reward money; Tuco, however, kills Wallace by pushing him out of a moving train. A butcher-turned-actor, the imposing, heavyset Brega was a mainstay in Leone's films and Spaghetti Westerns in general.
Antonio Casale as Jackson: The dying Bill Carson, also known as Jackson. He shares the secret of the gold's location with Tuco, telling him the name of the cemetery where it can be found, but tells only Blondie the name of the gravestone where it is hidden, and then dies. Casale would later appear in Leone's A Fistful of Dynamite.
Luigi Pistilli as Father Pablo Ramirez: Tuco's brother, a Catholic friar. He holds Tuco in contempt for his choice of life as a bandit, but ultimately loves him. Pistilli was a veteran of many Spaghetti Westerns, usually playing a villain (as in Leone's For a Few Dollars More).
Antonio Casas as Stevens: The farmer involved in the deal with Baker and Bill Carson. He and his son are quickly killed by Angel Eyes after he divulges information about Jackson's new identity and the money scam. Casas was a well-known Spanish soccer player-turned-actor who appeared in over 170 TV shows and films through his career.
Rada Rassimov as Maria: A prostitute beaten by Angel Eyes, she is involved with Carson.
Al Mulock as One-armed Bounty Hunter: Wounded by Tuco in the films opening sequence, he loses his right arm. He seeks revenge, only to be killed by Tuco, leading to the line: "If you have to shoot, shoot! Don't talk." Mulock was a Canadian actor who later appeared in Once Upon a Time in the West as one of the three gunmen in the film's opening. He committed suicide on the set of the latter film.
Claudio Scarchilli as Bounty Hunter in Ghost Town
Frank Brana as Bounty Hunter in Ghost Town (uncredited)
Sergio Mendizábal as Blonde Bounty Hunter. One of the three bounty hunters killed by Blondie during an attempted arrest of Tuco.
John Bartha as Sheriff: Captures Tuco.
Sandro Scarchilli as Deputy:
Molino Rocho as Captain Harper: The good captain at the Union concentration camp whose leg is slowly deteriorating by gangrene. Harper warns Angel Eyes not to be dishonest on his watch, but Angel Eyes holds him in contempt and deliberately ignores his orders. Rojo usually played henchmen in Leone's films and other Spaghettis, but here played a more sympathetic character.
Benito Stefanelli as Angel Eyes Gang Member: Henchman. Killed by Blondie. Leone's stunt coordinator who frequently had bit parts in Spaghettis.
Aldo Sambrell as Angel Eyes Gang Member: Henchman. Killed by Tuco. Sambrell was a Spanish actor whose initially small parts in Spaghetti Westerns made him somewhat famous in his home country.
Lorenzo Robledo as Angel Eyes Gang Member. Henchman. Sent to follow Blondie when he leaves Angel Eyes' hideout, after Tuco kills the bounty hunter. Blondie discovers him and shoots in the stomach.
Enzo Petito as General store owner: The guileless store keeper robbed by Tuco.
Livio Lorenzon as Baker: The Confederate soldier involved in the money scheme with Stevens and Carson, he sends Angel Eyes to kill Stevens and extract information from him. However, Baker himself is killed by Angel Eyes, who was paid by Stevens before his death to kill Baker.
Angelo Novi as Monk: Head of the San Antonio Mission. Novi was one of the film's still photographers.
Chelo Alonso as Stevens' Wife. An Italian star of the peplum films in the '50s and early '60s, she had worked with Leone on several of his films as an assistant director. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Cast
After the success of For a Few Dollars More, executives at United Artists approached the film's screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni to sign a contract for the rights to the film and for the next one. He, producer Alberto Grimaldi and Sergio Leone had no plans but with their blessing Vincenzoni pitched an idea about "a film about three rogues who are looking for some treasure at the time of the American Civil War."
The film's working title was The Two Magnificent Tramps and was changed just before shooting began when Vincenzoni thought up The Good, The Bad & The Ugly which Leone loved.

Production
The film was not released in America until December 29, 1967 and some American cinemas until January 1968. The original Italian cut was 2 hours and 57 minutes long, but when released in America, it had been cut to 2 hours and 41 minutes. Since the scenes had been cut before they could be re-dubbed in English, the footage was rarely shown in North America (although MGM did include the scenes, in Italian with English subtitles, on its original US DVD release in 2000). In 2002, the film was restored and two years later re-released on DVD, with the 18 minutes of scenes cut for U.S. release edited back into the film (Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach were brought back in to dub their characters' lines, actor Simon Prescott substituted for the now-deceased Lee Van Cleef, and other voice doubles filled in to redub for other actors who had since passed away).
Because the Italian title translates literally as The Good, the Ugly, the Bad, reversing the last two terms, ads for the original Italian release show Tuco before Angel Eyes, and when they were translated into English Angel Eyes was erroneously labelled "The Ugly" and Tuco "The Bad".

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Release
Critical opinion of the film on initial release was mixed as many reviewers at that time looked down on spaghetti westerns. Roger Ebert, who later included the film in his list of Great Movies,
Empire magazine added The Good, the Bad and the Ugly to their Masterpiece collection in the September 2007 issue.

Reception
In 2004, MGM released a special edition DVD of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", which contained 18 minutes of rarely seen footage edited into the film, including a scene which explains how Angel Eyes came to be waiting for Blondie and Tuco at the Union prison camp. As no audio was recorded during production, and the scenes had never been dubbed (having been cut by the US distributor), Eastwood and Wallach dubbed their dialogue more than 35 years after the rest of the film. Van Cleef, who died in 1989, had his new dialogue provided by a professional voice actor.
Disc 1 contains an audio commentary with writer and critic Richard Schickel. Disc 2 contains two documentaries, "Leone's West" and "The Man Who Lost The Civil War", followed by the featurette, "Restoring 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly'"; an animated gallery of missing sequences entitled, "The Socorro Sequence: A Reconstruction"; an extended Tuco torture scene; a featurette called "Il Maestro"; an audio featurette named, "Il Maestro, Part 2"; a French trailer; and a poster gallery.
This DVD was generally well received, though some purists complained about the re-mixed stereo soundtrack with many completely new sound effects (notably, all the gunshots were replaced), with no option for the original soundtrack. At least one scene which was edited back in had been cut by Leone prior to the film's release in Italy, but had shown once at the Italian premiere. It is generally believed that Leone willingly cut the scene for pacing reasons and, thus, restoring it was contrary to the director's wishes. The original US cut with the original mono soundtrack is still available in stores, although the transfer is vastly inferior to that on the restored DVD. (However, unlike the original DVD releases of the other two "Dollars" films, the transfer is anamorphically enhanced for 16:9 televisions.)
In 2007 MGM re-released the 2004 DVD edition in their "Sergio Leone Anthology" box set.

Music

A Fistful of Dollars
For a Few Dollars More
Man with No Name
Spaghetti Western
Films that have been considered the greatest ever

Friday, November 23, 2007


For the Red Hot Chilli Peppers song see Aeroplane (song).
A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air craft where movement of the wings in relation to the aircraft is not used to generate lift. The term is used to distinguish from rotary-wing aircraft, or ornithopters, where the movement of the wing surfaces relative to the aircraft generates lift. Fixed-wing aircraft are called airplanes in North America (the U.S. and Canada), and aeroplanes in Commonwealth countries (other than Canada) and Ireland. These terms are derived from Greek αέρας (aéras-) ("air") and -plane. Both terms are often shortened to just planes.

Overview
A typical fixed-wing aircraft can be divided into the following major parts:

A long narrow often cylindrical form, called a fuselage, usually with tapered or rounded ends to make its shape aerodynamically smooth. The fuselage carries the human flight crew if the aircraft is piloted, the passengers if the aircraft is a passenger aircraft, other cargo or payload, and engines and/or fuel if the aircraft is so equipped. The pilots, who are members of the flight crew, operate the aircraft from a cockpit located at the front or top of the fuselage and equipped with windows, controls, and instruments. Passengers and cargo occupy the remaining available space in the fuselage. Some aircraft may have two fuselages, or additional pods or booms.
A wing (or wings in a multiplane) with an airfoil cross-section shape, used to generate aerodynamic lifting force to support the aircraft in flight by deflecting air downward as the aircraft moves forward. The wing halves are typically symmetrical about the plane of symmetry (for symmetrical aircraft), and are attached to the fuselage in different configurations depending on the aircraft design. The wing also stabilize the aircraft about its roll axis and the ailerons control rotation about that axis.
At least one control surface (or surfaces) mounted vertically usually above the rear of the fuselage, called a vertical stabilizer. The vertical stabilizer is used to stabilize the aircraft about its yaw axis (the axis in which the aircraft turns from side to side) and to control its rotation along that axis. Some aircraft have multiple vertical stabilizers, which can also be located on the wing in a highly swept wing configuration.
At least one horizontal surface at the front or back of the fuselage used to stabilize the aircraft about its pitch axis (the axis around which the aircraft tilts upward or downward). The horizontal stabilizer is usually mounted near the rear of the fuselage, or at the top of the vertical stabilizer, or sometimes a canard is mounted near the front of the fuselage for the same purpose.
On powered aircraft, one or more aircraft engines, are propulsion units that provide thrust to push the aircraft forward through the air. The engine is optional in the case of gliders that are not motor gliders. The most common propulsion units are propellers, powered by reciprocating or turbine engines, and jet engines, which provide thrust directly from the engine and usually also from a large fan mounted within the engine. When the number of engines is even, they are distributed symmetrically about the roll axis of the aircraft, which lies along the plane of symmetry (for symmetrical aircraft); when the number is odd, the odd engine is usually mounted along the centerline of the fuselage.
Landing gear, a set of wheels, skids, or floats (depending on the intended landing surface for the aircraft) that support the aircraft while it is on the surface. Aircraft parts
A number of fairly standardized controls allow pilots to direct aircraft in the air. The controls found in a typical fixed-wing aircraft are as follows:
Controls that are used in many aircraft, but are not as universal as the above, include:
Many aircraft also include controls that allow full or partial automation of flight, such as an autopilot, a wing leveler, or a flight management system. Pilots adjust these controls to select a specific attitude or mode of flight, and then the associated automation maintains that attitude or mode until the pilot disables the automation or changes the settings. In general, the larger and/or more complex the aircraft, the greater the amount of automation available to pilots.
Control duplication
More often than not, aircraft are designed so that either of two people (a pilot and copilot, for example) can fly the aircraft without changing seats. The most common arrangement is two complete sets of controls, one for each of two pilots sitting side by side, but in some aircraft (military fighter aircraft, some taildraggers and aerobatic aircraft) the dual sets of controls are arranged one in front of the other. A few of the less important controls may not be present in both positions, and one position is usually intended for the pilot in command (e.g., the left "captain's seat" in jet airliners). Some small aircraft use controls that can be moved from one position to another, such as a single yoke that can be swung into position in front of either the left-seat pilot or the right-seat pilot.
Aircraft that require more than one pilot usually have controls intended to suit each pilot position, but still with sufficient duplication so that all pilots can fly the aircraft alone in an emergency. For example, in jet airliners, the controls on the left (captain's) side include both the basic controls and those normally manipulated by the pilot in command, such as the tiller, whereas those of the right (first officer's) side include the basic controls again and those normally manipulated by the copilot, such as flap levers. The unduplicated controls that are required for flight are positioned so that they can be reached by either pilot, but they are often designed to be more convenient to the pilot who manipulates them under normal condition.

A yoke or joystick, which controls rotation of the aircraft about the pitch and roll axes. A yoke resembles a kind of steering wheel, and a control stick is just a simple rod with a handgrip. The pilot can pitch the aircraft downward by pushing on the yoke or stick, and pitch the aircraft upward by pulling on it. Rolling the aircraft is accomplished by turning the yoke in the direction of the desired roll, or by tilting the control stick in that direction. Pitch changes are used to adjust the altitude and speed of the aircraft; roll changes are used to make the aircraft turn. Control sticks and yokes are usually positioned between the pilot's legs; however, a sidestick is a type of control stick that is positioned on either side of the pilot (usually the left side for the pilot in the left seat, and vice versa, if there are two pilot seats).
Rudder pedals, which control rotation of the aircraft about the yaw axis. There are two pedals that pivot in such a way that pressing one forward moves the other backward, and vice versa. The pilot presses on the right rudder pedal to make the aircraft yaw to the right, and on the left pedal to make it yaw to the left. The rudder is used mainly to balance the aircraft in turns, or to compensate for winds or other effects that tend to turn the aircraft about the yaw axis.
A throttle, which adjusts the thrust produced by the aircraft's engines. The pilot uses the throttle to increase or decrease the speed of the aircraft, and to adjust the aircraft's altitude (higher speeds cause the aircraft to climb, lower speeds cause it to descend). In some aircraft the throttle is literally a single lever that controls thrust; in others, adjusting the throttle effectively means adjusting a number of different engine controls simultaneously in a coordinated way. Aircraft with multiple engines usually have individual throttle controls for each engine.
Brakes, used to slow and stop the aircraft on the ground, and sometimes for turns on the ground as well. In most aircraft the brakes are controlled by movable portions of the rudder pedals.
Flap levers, which are used to control the position of flaps on the wings.
Spoiler levers, which are used to control the position of spoilers on the wings, and to arm their automatic deployment in aircraft designed to deploy them upon landing.
Trim controls, which usually take the form of knobs or wheels and are used to adjust pitch, roll, or yaw trim.
A tiller, a small wheel or lever used to steer the aircraft on the ground (in conjunction with or instead of the rudder pedals).
A parking brake, used to prevent the aircraft from rolling when it is parked on the ground. Aircraft controls
Most aircraft have a large number of instruments that provide important information to the pilot. When these instruments are electronic, they are often called avionics. An aircraft that uses electronic displays almost exclusively is said to have a glass cockpit; mechanical instruments are sometimes referred to as steam gauges in comparison, even though they don't actually run on steam.
Basic instruments that are present in almost all aircraft include:
Most aircraft have many other instruments as well, including (but not limited to):

An airspeed indicator, which indicates the speed at which the aircraft is moving through the surrounding air.
An altimeter, which indicates the altitude of the aircraft above the ground or above mean sea level (MSL).
An attitude indicator, sometimes called an artificial horizon, which indicates the exact orientation of the aircraft about its pitch and roll axes.
A Turn coordinator, which helps the pilot maintain the aircraft in a coordinated attitude while turning.
A rate-of-climb indicator, which shows the rate at which the aircraft is climbing or descending
A horizontal situation indicator, existing in many different forms, all of which show the position and movement of the aircraft as seen from above with respect to the ground, including course/heading and other information.
Various instruments showing the status of each engine in the aircraft (operating speed, thrust, temperature, and other variables).
Combined display systems such as primary flight displays or navigation displays.
Information displays such as on-board weather radar displays. Aircraft instruments

Types of fixed-wing aircraft

Main article: Glider Gliders
Smaller and older propeller aircraft make use of reciprocating internal combustion engines that turns a propeller to create thrust. They are quieter than jet aircraft, but they fly at lower speeds, and have lower load capacity compared to similar sized jet powered aircraft. However, they are significantly cheaper and much more economical than jets, and are generally the best option for people who need to transport a few passengers and/or small amounts of cargo. They are also the aircraft of choice for pilots who wish to own an aircraft.
Turboprop aircraft are a halfway point between propeller and jet: they use a turbine engine similar to a jet to turn propellers. These aircraft are popular with commuter and regional airlines, as they tend to be more economical on shorter journeys.

Airplane Propeller aircraft

Main article: Jet aircraft Jet aircraft

Main article: Rocket-powered aircraft Rocket-powered aircraft
Ramjet aircraft are mostly in the experimental stage. The D-21 Tagboard was an unmanned Mach 3+ reconnaissance drone that was put into production in 1969 for spying, but due to the development of better spy satellites, it was cancelled in 1971. The SR-71's Pratt & Whitney J58 engines ran 80% as ramjets at high-speeds (Mach 3.2). The SR-71 was dropped in the early 70's and then brought back during the cold war. They were used also in the Gulf War. The last SR-71 flight was in October 2001.

Ramjet aircraft
Scramjet aircraft are in the experimental stage. The Boeing X-43 is an experimental scramjet with a world speed record for a jet-powered aircraft - Mach 9.6, nearly 12,000 km/h (≈ 7,000 mph) at an altitude of about 36,000 meters (≈ 110,000 ft). The X-43A set the flight speed record on 16 November 2004.

Scramjet aircraft

Main articles: Aviation history and First flying machine Designing and constructing an aircraft
There are few companies that produce aircraft on a large scale. However, the production of an aircraft for one company is a process that actually involves dozens, or even hundreds, of other companies and plants, that produce the parts that go into the aircraft. For example, one company can be responsible for the production of the landing gear, while another one is responsible for the radar. The production of such parts is not limited to the same city or country; in the case of large aircraft manufacturing companies, such parts can come from all over of the world.
The parts are sent to the main plant of the aircraft company, where the production line is located. In the case of large aircraft, production lines dedicated to the assembly of certain parts of the aircraft can exist, especially the wings and the fuselage.
When complete, an aircraft goes through a set of rigorous inspection, to search for imperfections and defects, and after being approved by the inspectors, the aircraft is tested by a pilot, in a flight test, in order to assure that the controls of the aircraft are working properly. With this final test, the aircraft is ready to receive the "final touchups" (internal configuration, painting, etc), and is then ready for the customer.

Industrialized production

Main article: Air safety Safety

Main article: Aviation and climate change See also

Blatner, David. The Flying Book : Everything You've Ever Wondered About Flying On Airplanes. ISBN 0-8027-7691-4

Thursday, November 22, 2007


Concepts Movement  Theory Film theory  Economics Feminist sexology Women's rights Pro-feminism Anti-feminism History Women's history Feminist history History of feminism Suffrage Women's suffrage Timeline  Suffragette New Zealand   U.K.  U.S. Waves of Feminism First  Second  ThirdWomen's suffrage Subtypes
Amazon Anarchist Black Chicana Christian Cultural Difference Eco Equity Equality Fat Gender Individualist Islamic Jewish Lesbian Liberal Marxist New Postcolonial Postmodern Pro-life Radical Religious Separatist Sex-positive Socialist Third world Trans Womanism By country or region
France Indonesia Iran Latin America Nicaragua Norway U.K. U.S.A. Lists Feminists  Literature Topics The term women's suffrage refers to an economic and political reform movement aimed at extending suffrage — the right to vote — to women. The movement's origins are usually traced to the United States in the 1820s. In the following century it spread throughout the European and European-colonised world, generally being adopted in places which had undergone latter colonisation than that in Europe and the eastern United States. Today women's suffrage is considered an uncontroversial right, although a few countries, mainly in the Middle East, continue to deny many women the vote.

History
The suffrage movement was a very broad one which encompassed women and men with a very broad range of views. One major division, especially in Britain, was between suffragists, who sought to create change constitutionally, and suffragettes, who were more militant. There was also a diversity of views on a 'woman's place'. Some who campaigned for women's suffrage felt that women were naturally kinder, gentler, and more concerned about weaker members of society, especially children. It was often assumed that women voters would have a civilising effect on politics and would tend to support controls on alcohol, for example. They believed that although a woman's place was in the home, she should be able to influence laws which impacted upon that home. Other campaigners felt that men and women should be equal in every way and that there was no such thing as a woman's 'natural role'. There were also differences in opinion about other voters. Some campaigners felt that all adults were entitled to a vote, whether rich or poor, male or female, and regardless of race. Others saw women's suffrage as a way of cancelling out the votes of lower class or non-white men.

Suffrage movements

Women's suffrage by country
The first election for the Parliament of the newly-formed Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 was based on the electoral provisions of the six states, so that women who had the vote and the right to stand for Parliament at state level (in South Australia and Western Australia) had the same rights for the 1901 Federal election. In 1902, the Commonwealth Parliament passed its own electoral act that extended these rights to women in all states on the same basis as men. However, the Commonwealth legislation excluded all Aboriginal men and women from the Commonwealth franchise, which in theory some of them had enjoyed in 1901 (state Parliaments generally had property qualifications for the franchise, which in practice few Aboriginals would have met). This was not corrected until 1962, through an amendment to the Commonwealth Electoral Act (it was not an outcome of the 1967 referendum that gave the Commonwealth Parliament the power to legislate specifically on Aboriginal matters).

New Zealand

Main article: Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom United Kingdom

Main article: History of women's suffrage in the United States United States
Further information: Timeline of women's suffrage

Bhutan — One vote per house. Although this applies to both men and women, in practice it currently prevents many more women from voting than men. If the new proposed constitution is voted and ratified, then no restrictions will apply by 2008.
Vatican City — No suffrage for women. The only elections ever held there are Papal conclaves, which involve only (male) Cardinals. Women's suffrage denied or conditioned

Main article: Anti-suffragism See also

Baker, Jean H. Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists. Hill and Wang, New York, 2005. ISBN 0-8090-9528-9.
"Woman suffrage" in Collier's New Encyclopedia, X (New York: P.F. Collier & Son Company, 1921), pp. 403-405.
Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (New York: Merriam Webster, 1983) ISBN 0-87779-511-8

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Freddie Prinze Jr.
Freddie James Prinze (born March 8, 1976) is an American actor, perhaps best known for his leading roles in teen-oriented films.

Biography
Prinze was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Katherine Elaine Cochran (a real-estate agent) and Freddie Prinze a half German-American and half Puerto Rican-American actor and comedian who died in 1977, after Elaine left him and filed a restraining order against him. (Prinze was just 10 months old at the time). His father's death was originally termed a suicide but later ruled an accident, as he was under the influence of quaaludes. Prinze's paternal grandfather Karl Pruetzel was a German immigrant and his paternal grandmother was Puerto Rican; he was raised a Roman Catholic .
Prinze grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico. He learned about Spanish and Puerto Rican culture from his paternal grandmother's Puerto Rican family. He showed an interest in acting from an early age and attended La Cueva High School in Albuquerque, which he described in interviews as a painful experience. Having an interest in drama, he joined the Albuquerque Children's Theatre and the Duo Drama Company. His interest in acting led to his first job as a puppeteer at a local nursing home, where Prinze spent hours critiquing the art of entertainment. As one elderly man later said to reporters, "[Freddy] was a natural. He breathed life into those puppets." After graduating from high school in 1994, Prinze moved to Los Angeles to audition for television roles.

Career
In the mid-1990s Prinze dated actress Kimberly McCullough for more than three years. Prinze married actress Sarah Michelle Gellar on September 1, 2002, in Jalisco, Mexico, south of Puerto Vallarta. The couple met several years beforehand, while filming I Know What You Did Last Summer but started dating in 2000 and were engaged in April 2001.
Prinze is trained in several forms of martial arts, and enjoys tap dancing and collecting comic books. He is an avid soccer fan and supports the team Arsenal F.C., and is a fan of East Asian cinema. Prinze received a katana from Gellar in 2004 that she bought in Japan while filming The Grudge.

Selected filmography

List of famous Puerto Ricans

Monday, November 19, 2007


For the Irish businessman and philanthropist see Bill Cullen (Irish).
William "Bill" Lawrence Frances Cullen (February 18, 1920July 7, 1990), was an Emmy Award-winning American radio and television personality. He was best known for his roles in game shows, both as host and panelist, that spanned a period of five decades in radio and television, as the original host of The Price Is Right in the 1950s and 1960s and the host of the nighttime $25,000 Pyramid in the 1970s.

Game show career
Cullen was a pilot during World War II and was interested in mechanics. He did color commentary on college football games early in his career, and also broadcast track and field on NBC. On I've Got A Secret, the producers learned that if they wanted to keep the game going for a while, they would never start with Bill if it was anything sports-related or mechanical, because chances were good that he would guess it immediately.

Bill Cullen Achievements
Cullen was married three times. His first marriage was a brief one while still living in Pittsburgh. His second marriage was to singer Carol Ames from 1949 to 1955. On December 24, 1955, Cullen married former dancer and model Ann Roemheld Macomber; this marriage would endure until his death. Ann's father, Heinz Roemheld, was an Oscar-winning Hollywood composer and musician. Her sister, Mary Lou, was married for a number of years to Jack Narz, another game show host, who is the brother of another game show guru, and fellow Password Plus sub-host Tom Kennedy. Ann Cullen often appeared with Bill on the Goodson-Todman show Tattletales in the 70s and 80s.
Cullen died on July 7, 1990 of lung cancer at the age of 70. Even nine years after his death, Cullen was considered as a potential host for the American version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, according to the show's eventual host, Regis Philbin. Of course, this talk ended after the show's producers found out that Cullen was deceased.

Honors

Sunday, November 18, 2007

William Heytesbury
William Heytesbury (a. 13131372/1373), philosopher and logician, is best known as one of the Oxford Calculators of Merton College, where he was a fellow by 1330. In his work he applied logical techniques to the problems of divisibility, the continuum, and kinematics. His magnum opus was the Regulae solvendi sophismata ("Rules for Solving Sophisms"), written c. 1335.
He was Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1371 until 1372.

William Heytesbury Further reading

Sylla, Edith (1982) "The Oxford Calculators", in Kretzmann, Kenny & Pinborg (edd.), The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy
Murdoch, John (1982) "Infinity and Continuity", in Kretzmann, Kenny & Pinborg (edd.), The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Kingdom of Württemberg Origins
The Hohenstaufen family controlled the duchy of Swabia until the death of Conradin in 1268, when a considerable part of its lands fell to the count of Württemberg, the representative of a family first mentioned about 1080, a certain Conrad von Beutelsbach, having called himself after his ancestral castle of Württemberg.
The earliest historical details on a Count of Württemberg relate to one Konrad II of Württemberg, who ruled from 1241 to 1265. He served as marshal of Swabia and advocate of the town of Ulm, and had large possessions in the valleys of the Neckar and the Rems. Under his sons, Ulrich II and Eberhard I, and their successors, the power of the family grew steadily. Eberhard I (died 1325) opposed, and not always unsuccessfully, three German kings; he doubled the area of his county and transferred his residence from Württemberg Castle to today's city center of Stuttgart. His successors seem not perhaps equally important, but all added something to the area of Württemberg. The family shared out their lands amongst collateral branches several times, but in 1482 the Treaty of Münsingen reunited the territory and declared it indivisible and united it under Count Eberhard V, called im Bart. This arrangement received the sanction of the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I, and of the imperial diet, in 1495.

Counts of Württemberg to 1495
Eberhard V proved one of the most energetic rulers that Württemberg ever had, and in 1495 his county became a duchy. He now was Duke Eberhard I. At his death in 1496 his cousin, Duke Eberhard II succeeded for a short reign of two years, terminated by a deposition.
The long reign (1498-1550) of Duke Ulrich, who succeeded to the duchy while still a child, proved a most eventful period for the country, and many traditions cluster round the name of this gifted, unscrupulous and ambitious man. The extortions by which he sought to raise money for his extravagant pleasures excited a rising known as that of the arme Konrad (poor Conrad), not unlike the rebellion in England led by Wat Tyler. The authorities soon restored order, and in 1514 by the Treaty of Tübingen the people undertook to pay the duke's debts in return for various political privileges, which in effect laid the foundation of the constitutional liberties of the country. A few years later Ulrich quarrelled with the Swabian League, and its forces (helped by William IV, duke of Bavaria, angered by the treatment meted out by Ulrich to his wife Sabina, a Bavarian princess), invaded Württemberg, expelled the duke and sold his duchy to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor for 220,000 gulden. Charles handed over Württemberg to his brother, the German king, Ferdinand I, who served as nominal ruler for a few years. Soon, however, the discontent caused by the oppressive Austrian rule, the disturbances in Germany leading to the Peasants' War and the commotions aroused by the Reformation gave Ulrich an opportunity to recover his duchy. Aided by Philip, landgrave of Hesse, and other Protestant princes, he fought a victorious battle against Ferdinand's troops at Lauffen in May 1534, and then by the treaty of Cadan he again became duke, but perforce duke of the duchy as an Austrian fief. He subsequently introduced the reformed religious doctrines and proceeded to endow Protestant churches and schools throughout his land. Ulrich's connection with the League of Schmalkalden led to another expulsion, but in 1547 Charles V re-instated him, although on somewhat onerous terms.
Ulrich's son and succeesor, Christopher (1515-1568), completed the work of converting his subjects to the reformed faith. He introduced a system of church government, the Grosse Kirchenordnung, which endured in part into the 20th century. In this reign a standing commission started to superintend the finances, and the members of this body, all of whom belonged to the upper classes, gained considerable power in the state, mainly at the expense of the towns.
Christopher's son Louis, the founder of the Collegium illustre in Tübingen, died childless in 1593 and a kinsman, Frederick I (1557-1608) succeeded to the duchy. This energetic prince disregarded the limits placed to his authority by the rudimentary constitution. By paying a large sum of money he induced the emperor Rudolph II in 1599 to free the duchy from the suzerainty of Austria. Thus once again Württemberg became a direct fief of the Empire.
Unlike his predecessor, the next duke, Johann Frederick (1582-1628), failed to become an absolute ruler, and perforce recognised the checks on his power. During this reign, which ended in July 1628, Württemberg suffered severely from the Thirty Years' War, although the duke himself took no part in it. His son and successor Eberhard III (1628-1674), however, plunged into it as an ally of France and Sweden as soon as he came of age in 1633, but after the battle of Nordlingen in 1634 Imperial troops occupied the duchy and the duke himself went into exile for some years. The Peace of Westphalia restored him, but to a depopulated and impoverished country, and he spent his remaining years in efforts to repair the disasters of the lengthy war.
During the reign of Eberhard Ludwig (1676-1733), who succeeded as a one-year-old when his father Duke William Louis died in 1677, Württemberg made the acquaintance of another destructive enemy. In 1688, 1703 and 1707 the French entered the duchy and inflicted brutalities and sufferings upon the inhabitants. The sparsely populated country afforded a welcome to fugitive Waldenses, who did something to restore it to prosperity, but the extravagance of the duke, anxious to provide for the expensive tastes of his mistress, Christiana Wilhelmina von Grävenitz partly neutralised this benefit.
Charles Alexander, who became duke in 1733, had become a Roman Catholic while an officer in the Austrian service. His favourite adviser was the Jew Josef Süss Oppenheimer, and suspicions arose that master and servant were aiming at the suppression of the diet and the introduction of Roman Catholicism. However, the sudden death of Charles Alexander in March 1737 put an abrupt end to any such plans, and the regent, Charles Rudolph of Württtemberg-Neuenstadt, had Oppenheimer hanged.
Charles Eugene (1728-1793), who came of age in 1744, appeared gifted, but vicious and extravagant, and he soon fell into the hands of unworthy favourites. He spent a great deal of money in building palaces at Stuttgart and elsewhere, and took the course, unpopular with his Protestant subjects, of fighting against Prussia during the Seven Years' War of 1756 - 1763. His whole reign featured dissension between ruler and ruled, the duke's irregular and arbitrary methods of raising money arousing great discontent. The intervention of the emperor and even of foreign powers ensued, and in 1770 a formal arrangement removed some of the grievances of the people. But Charles Eugene did not keep his promises, although in his old age he made a few further concessions. He died childless, and was succeeded by one brother, Louis Eugene (d. 1795), and then by another, Frederick Eugene (d. 1797). This latter prince, who had served in the army of Frederick the Great, to whom he was related by marriage, educated his children in the Protestant faith. Thus, when his son Frederick II became duke in 1797, Protestantism returned to the ducal household, and the royal house adhered to this faith thereafter. During Frederick Eugene's short reign the French invaded Württemberg, compelled the duke to withdraw his troops from the imperial army and to pay reparations.
Frederick II (1754-1816), a prince who modelled himself on Frederick the Great, took part in the war against France in defiance of the wishes of his people, and when the French again invaded and devastated the country he retired to Erlangen, where he remained until after the conclusion of the peace of Lunéville on 9 February 1801. By a private treaty with France, signed in March 1802, he ceded his possessions on the left bank of the Rhine, receiving in return nine imperial towns, among them Reutlingen and Heilbronn, and some other territories, amounting altogether to about 850 square miles (2,200 km²) and containing about 124,000 inhabitants. He also accepted from Napoleon in 1803 the title of elector. The new districts were not incorporated with the duchy, but remained separate; they were known as "New Württemberg" and were ruled without a diet.
In 1805 Württemberg took up arms on the side of France, and by the Treaty of Pressburg in December 1805 the elector received as reward various Austrian possessions in Swabia and other lands in the neighbourhood.

The Duchy of Württemberg (1495–1805)
On January 1, 1806 Duke Frederick II assumed the title of king as King Frederick I, abrogated the constitution and united old and new Württemberg. Subsequently he placed the property of the church under the control of the state. In 1806 he joined the Confederation of the Rhine and received further additions of territory containing 160,000 inhabitants; a little later, by the peace of Vienna in October 1809, about 110,000 more persons came under his rule. In return for these favours Frederick joined Napoleon Bonaparte in his campaigns against Prussia, Austria and Russia, and of 16,000 of his subjects who marched to Moscow only a few hundred returned. Then, after the Battle of Leipzig (October 1813), King Frederick deserted the waning fortunes of the French emperor, and by a treaty made with Metternich at Fulda in November 1813 he secured the confirmation of his royal title and of his recent acquisitions of territory, while his troops marched with those of the allies into France. In 1815 the king joined the German Confederation, but the Congress of Vienna made no change in the extent of his lands. In the same year he laid before the representatives of his people the outline of a new constitution, but they rejected this, and in the midst of the commotion Frederick died (October 30, 1816).
At once the new king, William I (reigned 1816 - 1864) took up the constitutional question and after much discussion granted a new constitution in September 1819. This constitution, with subsequent modifications, remained in force until 1918 (see Württemberg). A period of quietness now set in, and the condition of the kingdom, its education, its agriculture and its trade and manufactures, began to receive earnest attention, while by frugality, both in public and in private matters, King William I helped to repair the shattered finances of the country. But the desire for greater political freedom did not entirely fade away under the constitution of 1819, and after 1830 a certain amount of unrest occurred. This, however, soon passed away, while the inclusion of Württemberg in the German Zollverein and the construction of railways fostered trade.
The revolutionary movement of 1848 did not leave Württemberg untouched, although no actual violence took place within the kingdom. King William had to dismiss Johannes Schlayer (1792-1860) and his other ministers, and to call to power men with more liberal ideas, the exponents of the idea of a united Germany. King William did proclaim a democratic constitution, but as soon as the movement had spent its force he dismissed the liberal ministers, and in October 1849 Schlayer and his associates returned to power. By interfering with popular electoral rights the king and his ministers succeeded in assembling a servile diet in 1851, and this surrendered all the privileges gained since 1848. In this way the authorities restored the constitution of 1819, and power passed into the hands of a bureaucracy. A concordat with the Papacy proved almost the last act of William's long reign, but the diet repudiated the agreement, preferring to regulate relations between church and state in its own way.
In July 1864 Charles (1823-1891, reigned 1864 - 1891) succeeded his father William I as king and had almost at once to face considerable difficulties. In the duel between Austria and Prussia for supremacy in Germany, William I had consistently taken the Austrian side, and this policy was equally acceptable to the new king and his advisers. In 1866 Württemberg took up arms on behalf of Austria in the Austro-Prussian War, but three weeks after the Battle of Königgratz (3 July 1866) her troops suffered a comprehensive defeat at Tauberbischofsheim, and the country lay at the mercy of Prussia. The Prussians occupied the northern part of Württemberg and negotiated a peace in August 1866; by this Württemberg paid an indemnity of 8,000,000 gulden, but she at once concluded a secret offensive and defensive treaty with her conqueror. Württemberg was a party to the St Petersburg Declaration of 1868.
The end of the struggle against Prussia allowed a renewal of democratic agitation in Württemberg, but this had achieved no tangible results when the great war between France and Prussia broke out in 1870. Although the policy of Württemberg had continued antagonistic to Prussia, the kingdom shared in the national enthusiasm which swept over Germany, and its troops took a creditable part in the Battle of Worth and in other operations of the war. In 1871 Württemberg became a member of the new German Empire, but retained control of her own post office, telegraphs and railways. She had also certain special privileges with regard to taxation and the army, and for the next ten years Württemberg's policy enthusiastically supported the new order. Many important reforms, especially in the area of finance, ensued, but a proposal for a union of the railway system with that of the rest of Germany failed. After reductions in taxation in 1889, the reform of the constitution became the question of the hour. King Charles and his ministers wished to strengthen the conservative element in the chambers, but the laws of 1874, 1876 and 1879 only effected slight reforms pending a more thorough settlement. On October 6, 1891 King Charles died suddenly; his cousin William II (1848-1921, reigned 1891-1918) succeeded and continued the policy of his predecessor.
Discussions on the reform of the constitution continued, and the election of 1895 memorably returned a powerful party of democrats. King William had no sons, nor had his only Protestant kinsman, Duke Nicholas (1833-1903); consequently the succession would ultimately pass to a Roman Catholic branch of the family, and this prospect raised up certain difficulties about the relations between church and state. The heir to the throne in 1910 was the Roman Catholic Duke Albert (b. 1865).
Between 1900 and 1910 the political history of Württemberg centred round the settlement of the constitutional and the educational questions. The constitution underwent revision in 1906, and a settlement of the education difficulty occurred in 1909. In 1904 the railway system integrated with that of the rest of Germany.

The Kingdom of Württemberg (1806–1918)
In the course of the revolutionary activities at the close of World War I in November 1918, King William II abdicated and republican government ensued.
Württemberg became a state (Land) in the new Weimar Republic. After World War II in 1945, Württemberg was split between the newly founded states of Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern. Both of these finally became part of Baden-Württemberg in 1952.

Post-Royal Württemberg

Württemberg Landtag elections in the Weimar Republic
Württemberg
Rulers of Württemberg
Presidents of Württemberg Literature

http://www.schlossgarten.de/personen/herrscher/herzoege.html