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Livigno Pass or Forcola di Livigno Pass (, ) (el. 2315 m.) is a high mountain pass in the Alps on the border between the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland and the Province of Sondrio in Italy. |
It connects Bernina Pass in Switzerland with Livigno in Italy. |
= = = Miroslav Čangalović = = = |
Miroslav Čangalović (; 3 March 1921 – 1 October 1999) was a Serbian opera and concert singer and is considered to be one of the greatest basses in Yugoslav history. |
Čangalović was born in the small Bosnian town of Glamoč. Due to his friendship with the family of Dušan Trbojević, a distinguished Serbian pianist and composer, he familiarized himself with the art of opera as well as operatic and concerto performing. His operatic debut took place in 1946 in Belgrade National Theater Opera House, with the role of jailer in Giacomo Puccini's opera "Tosca". Between 1946-54 he took singing lessons by Zdenka Zikova, a well-known operatic singer and a pedagogue. |
His operatic repertoire included more than 90 roles which he interpreted with his rich voice and his dramatic strength. His most successful creation is considered to be that of "Boris Godunov", from the Modest Mussorgsky's opera of the same name. Right next to it is the role of Dosifey, from the opera "Khovanschina" of the same composer. By many music historians and critics he is regarded as the greatest ever Boris Godunov, right after Feodor Chaliapin. |
His other roles include those of Don Quichotte (Massenet's "Don Quichotte"), Galitsky and Konchak (Borodin's "Prince Igor"), Mephistopheles (Gounod's "Faust"), Phillip The Second (Verdi's "Don Carlos"), Figaro (Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro"), Kuchobey (Tschaikovsky's "Mazeppa"), Ivan The Terrible (Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Maid of Pskov"), Mitke (Konjović's "Koštana"), and others. |
His concert repertoire consisted of 520 pieces that included solo songs, song-cycles, cantatas and oratorios. A great deal of these were pieces written and composed by numerous Serbian and Yugoslav composers, most of which had its premiere thanks to Čangalović. His concert career lasted more than 40 years during which he gave over 300 concerts held across former Yugoslavia as well as more than 160 world wide. |
His outstanding achievements were awarded on various occasions both at home and abroad. To note just a few; he was awarded twice by International Jury of Critics in France as the best singer of the season at the Festival Theatre of Nations in Paris, in 1959 (for the role of Mephistopheles) and in 1961 (for that of Boris Godunov). He was also awarded by the French government as the Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres, for his contribution to promoting the French culture. He died in Belgrade, Serbia, in 1999. |
= = = 22nd Air Refueling Wing = = = |
The 22d Air Refueling Wing (22 ARW) is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Mobility Command's Eighteenth Air Force. It is stationed at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas and also functions as the host wing for McConnell. |
Its primary mission is to provide global reach by conducting air refueling and airlift where and when needed. It is one of only three "supertanker" wings in the Air Force, with four Regular Air Force air refueling squadrons, and 63 KC-135R Stratotanker aircraft. |
Its origins date to 1940 as the 22d Bombardment Group. The group was one of the first United States Army Air Forces units to be deployed into the Pacific Theater after the Pearl Harbor Attack with the Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber. The 22d Operations Group carries the lineage and history of its highly decorated World War II predecessor unit. Active for over 60 years, the 22 ARW and its earlier designation as the 22d Bombardment Wing, was a component wing of Strategic Air Command's deterrent force during the Cold War. |
The 22d Air Refueling Wing is commanded by Colonel Richard Tanner. Its Vice Commander is Colonel Mark Baran. The wing's Command Chief Master Sergeant is Chief Master Sergeant Melissa Royster. |
In addition to its primary mission to provide global reach by conducting air refueling and airlift where and when needed. |
22d Operations Group (22 OG) |
22d Maintenance Group (22 MXG) |
22d Mission Support Group (22 MSG) |
22d Medical Group (22 MDG) |
Additionally, the 22d Comptroller Squadron (22 CPTS) reports directly to the wing staff. |
Established as 22d Bombardment Wing, Medium, on 28 July 1948. Activated on 1 August 1948. The new wing was assigned to March Air Force Base, California on 10 May 1949. It was not operational, so it shared a commander with the 1st Fighter Wing. The 22d Bomb became operational on 1 July 1949. The 1st Fighter Wing was attached to it and both wings shared the same commanding officer. |
Detached from the wing, the 22d Bombardment Group deployed its B-29s in early July 1950 to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, where it came under control of Far Ease Air Forces Bomber Command (Provisional). On 13 July, the group flew its first mission, against the marshalling yards and oil refinery at Wonsan, North Korea. By 21 October, it had amassed fifty-seven missions against the enemy, attacking bridges, factories, industrial targets, troop concentrations, airfields, marshalling yards, communications centers, and port facilities. During four months of combat, the group flew 335 sorties with only fourteen aborts and dropped over 6,500 tons of bombs. It redeployed to the United States in late October and November 1950. |
Following the return of the Bombardment Group the wing re-equipped the propeller-driven B-29s with new B-47E Stratojet swept-wing bomber medium bombers in 1953, capable of flying at high subsonic speeds and primarily designed for penetrating the airspace of the Soviet Union. It trained for proficiency in global strategic bombardment, adding air refueling to its mission in 1952. The wing deployed at RAF Mildenhall, England, September–December 1951, and at RAF Upper Heyford, England, December 1953 – March 1954. From April to July 1957, it deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. SAC began phasing the B-47 out of the inventory beginning in 1962, sending the last of the wing's aircraft to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona in 1963. |
The wing was not tactically operational 11 March 1963 – 15 September 1963, while converting to B-52D bombers and KC-135A tankers. The wing supported Fifteenth Air Force's post-attack command and control system with EC-135s from, September 1964 – March 1970. |
The 22d was a "super" wing from 1966–1971, with two bombardment and two tanker squadrons. From 10 March to c. 1 October 1967 the wing was reduced to a small "rear-echelon" non-tactical organization with all tactical resources and most support resources loaned to SAC organizations involved in combat operations in Southeast Asia. In 1971 the Air Force retired all of its B-52C aircraft. The last airplane of this series was flown from March to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona for storage on 29 September 1971. The wing continued to support SAC operations in the Far East and Southeast Asia through 1975, and from 10 April 1972 to 29 October 1973 again the wing had all its bomber resources loaned to other organizations for combat and contingency operations. The wing's KC-135 resources were also on loan from 10 April to September 1972; afterwards, a few tankers returned to wing control. |
The wing maintained a strategic bombardment alert posture from, 1973–1982, but in 1978 it added conventional warfare missions, including mine-laying and sea reconnaissance/surveillance. For many years, the wing provided the operations staff and support of the Tanker Task Force (TTF) operations supporting Red Flag exercise flight operations on the Nellis Ranges, north of Las Vegas, NV, using KC-135 personnel and equipment assets deploying from other bases for the duration of a Red Flag Exercise. The tanker task force staff TTF at March also supported overseas deployments of U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and USAF fighter aircraft going to the Pacific Region using both KC-135 and KC-10 tankers. |
In 1982, the wing retired its B-52D aircraft and converted from a bombardment wing (BMW) to an air refueling wing (ARW). It was the first USAF unit to operate the new KC-10A along with KC-135A and KC-135E aircraft. From 1982, the wing provided strategic air refueling and airlift in support of worldwide U.S. Air Force and other Department of Defense operations and training exercises. In 1983, the wing moved personnel and cargo in support of Chadian resistance to Libyan incursions and conducted airlift and refueling missions during rescue of U.S. nationals in Grenada. The wing also provided specialized refueling support to SR-71 aircraft reconnaissance operations using Boeing KC-135Q and (after the CFM-56 conversion) KC-135T aircraft with specialized fuel systems designed to handle the JP-7 fuel, worldwide from 1985 to 1990. |
In 1989, the 22 ARW transferred its KC-135E and KC-135Q aircraft and became solely a KC-10 unit. |
The 22 ARW supported F-117 deployments to Saudi Arabia and contributed aircraft and personnel to logistics efforts in support of the liberation of Kuwait from, 1990–1991. |
On 1 June 1992, Strategic Air Command was inactivated and the 22d ARW was assigned to the newly established Air Mobility Command (AMC). From the end of 1992 to 1994, the wing flew humanitarian airlift missions to Somalia and it also provided air refueling in support of deployments to Haiti in 1994. |
On 1 January 1994, the wing was reassigned without personnel or equipment from March upon the transfer of March to the Air Force Reserve Command) to McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, replacing the inactivating 384th Bomb Wing and assuming control of the 384th's KC-135R aircraft. The 22 ARW's former KC-10A aircraft assets were subsequently transferred to the 60th Airlift Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California, that unit being redesignated as the 60th Air Mobility Wing (60 AMW). |
Various air refueling squadrons were reassigned to the reconstituted 22 ARW from other units as follows: |
After the realignment, the 22 ARW deployed crews and aircraft to support no-fly missions over northern and southern Iraq and over Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1999, wing aircraft and crews deployed to the Mediterranean to refuel NATO aircraft over Serbia. After the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, wing-supplied tanker crews and aircraft air-refueled combat aircraft on missions to the Afghanistan area. |
The wing provided deployed KC-135R support during Operation Iraqi Freedom and continues to provide aerial refueling and air mobility support under Operation Noble Eagle in the United States, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation New Dawn overseas, and other AMC, USTRANSCOM, other combatant command, and associated national taskings as required. |
On 25 January 2019, the Wing received the first two ("15-46009" and "17-46031") of a planned 36 KC-46 Pegasus aircraft that will eventually replace the KC-135 as the primary Air Force tanker aircraft. A further two ("17-46030" and "16-46022") were delivered to McConnell on 31 January. |
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= = = Ella Baker Center for Human Rights = = = |
The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights is a non-profit strategy and action center based in Oakland, California. The stated aim of the center is to work for justice, opportunity and peace in urban America. |
It is named for Ella Baker, a twentieth-century activist and civil rights leader originally from Virginia and North Carolina. |
Ella Baker Center works primarily through four initiatives to break cycles of urban violence and reinvest in urban centers. The organization calls for an end to recent decades of disinvestment in cities, excessive and sometimes racist policing, and over-incarceration in order to stop violence and hopelessness in poor urban communities and communities of color. The Ella Baker Center supports better schools, cleaner environment, and more opportunities for young people and working people. |
The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights developed as an offshoot from Bay Area PoliceWatch, a 1995 project by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. PoliceWatch was founded in 1995 as a hotline for victims of police brutality, lawyer referral, and compilation of a database on officers named in complaints. The hotline was based in a closet-sized office donated by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. The need for assistance was great, so Bay Area PoliceWatch quickly outgrew the space. |
Van Jones officially launched the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights on September 1, 1996. Named for one of the lesser-known civil rights leaders, the Ella Baker Center said of itself, "This is not your parents' civil rights organization." The group was known for a passion and willingness to take on tough fights that few other organizations would tackle. It said its mission was "to document, challenge and expose human rights abuses" in the criminal justice system." |
The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights' first large campaign was for Aaron Williams, an unarmed black man killed in 1995 in a street confrontation with several San Francisco police officers. Officer Marc Andaya was accused of taking part in beating and kicking Williams, emptying three cans of pepper spray into his face, and restraining him in an unventilated police van where he died. Andaya had a record for past misconduct, including involvement in the death of another unarmed black man, 37 formal complaints of racism and brutality, and five lawsuits filed against him, much of this when he worked for the Oakland Police Department and prior to his hiring by San Francisco. Bay Area PoliceWatch helped lead a community-based campaign, "Justice for Aaron Williams", that put Andaya on public trial. After an investigation and long disagreement, the Police Commission fired Andaya from the San Francisco Police Department. |
Van Jones, the Executive Director, said, "This case became a question of not letting the authorities get away with this level of wholesale disrespect and disregard for human life and for the rule of law. Community witnesses, several dozen of them, all said that after Aaron was down on the ground and handcuffed, the policeman was kicking him in the head with cowboy boots, and that he was identifiable because he was the only officer in plainclothes." |
The Aaron Williams victory began a period of growth for the Ella Baker Center. New campaigns and organizing projects included youth group Third Eye Movement, New York City PoliceWatch, a transgender activist collective TransAction in connection with Community United Against Violence, and INSWatch, an initiative with La Raza Centro Legal. |
Third Eye Movement spent its first few years working on local issues, including the police murder of Sheila Detoy. |
Then Proposition 21, an initiative that would increase a variety of criminal penalties for crimes committed by youth and prosecute many youth offenders within the adult criminal justice system, reached the California ballot. Third Eye Movement worked together with a coalition of youth organizations in the Bay Area to oppose Proposition 21. Third Eye Movement became a national example of a new generation of hip hop activism. "Hip Hop News" and the "FNV Newsletter" said in December 2000, "Third Eye Movement was one of the leading Hip Hop organizations here in the Bay that helped led [sic] the fight against California's infamous Prop 21 [Juvenile Crime Bill]. They had made a mark for themselves by using Hip Hop as a tool to help bring about social change. Over the past couple of years, it has not been unusual to see these cats show with as many as 500 people and shut down a business or spark up a rally. People are still talking how earlier this year, the group came through with close to 300 people and surrounded the Hilton Hotel in downtown San Francisco and shut it down. The owner of the Hotel chain had apparently contributed a bunch of money in support of Prop 21." Due in part to this movement, Bay Area counties were the only ones in the state to reject Proposition 21 in March 2000, but it passed statewide, part of a national wave of increasing penalties for crimes that has contributed to over-incarceration in the United States. |
When Proposition 21 was passed in the rest of California, the youth movement went through a period of "despair, mistrust, and infighting". Third Eye Movement split and the Oakland chapter developed a new Ella Baker Center campaign, 'Let's Get Free'. 'Let's Get Free' focused on police accountability in Oakland. Other members of the Ella Baker Center launched a new campaign, Books Not Bars. |
Books Not Bars and its ally, Youth Force Coalition, focused on derailing the proposed construction of one of the nation's largest new juvenile halls in Oakland's Alameda County. Alameda County agreed to cut the proposed expansion by 75 percent and to relocate the hall much closer to the families whose children were going to be incarcerated. |
This campaign marked the growth of Ella Baker Center from protest tactics to a combination of protest and policy agenda and gave the group experience in managing the complex coalition fighting the jail expansion. The video produced by the Ella Baker Center after this success was highly acclaimed at festivals such as the Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2006. |
After protesting the juvenile hall expansion, the Ella Baker Center focused on campaigning proactively for its vision of the juvenile justice system. In early 2004, a series of reports by "The Mercury News" substantiated Ella Baker Center's claim that the California Youth Authority, now the California Division of Juvenile Justice, operated in a way that was abusive and ineffective. Books Not Bars campaigned to change the whole system of warehouse-like prisons, arguing to reduce the youth population and quickly get youths back to their communities. |
Between 2004 and 2006, the youth prison population was lowered by more than 50 percent. The Ella Baker Center built a statewide network of over 500 member families with children in the Youth Authority. #Books Not Bars' vision for reform now focuses on a rehabilitation-based model similar to Missouri's system. As the Ella Baker Center built a focus on opportunity-creation through community job, wealth and health creation, the #Green-Collar Jobs Campaign – bringing jobs in the green economy to Oakland – launched. The campaign once known as Let's Get Free became Silence the Violence, a youth-led campaign based on the idea that increased opportunity for young people can bring peace to Oakland streets, not more policing or incarceration. The campaign launched with a "Summer of Non-Violence" and a compilation hip hop CD dealing with issues of neighborhood violence, aiming to create a culture of peace. Silence the Violence has since transitioned into #Heal the Streets, a youth fellowship program focusing on policy advocacy. #Soul of the City – a program to bring Oakland residents together to address their deepest concerns and build their highest hopes through learning, service and leadership – launched on the day of President Obama's inauguration in January 2009. |
The Ella Baker Center works toward its goal of "justice in the system, opportunity in our cities and peace on our streets" through four campaigns which promote alternatives to violence and incarceration: Books Not Bars, Soul of the City, Green-Collar Jobs Campaign, and Heal the Streets. |
Books Not Bars works to close California’s current youth prison system and replace it with effective, rehabilitative alternatives and community-based centers. |
Books Not Bars targets California's youth prisons, which are frequently described as "draconian lockup units" under the authority of the California Division of Juvenile Justice, or DJJ. The campaign focuses on the fact that inside the DJJ, formerly known as the California Youth Authority (CYA), young people are subjected to unusually harsh conditions, as instances of 23-hour-a-day solitary confinement for months at a time, lock-ups in small cages during class time and denial of basic medical care are common. At least five young people have died since 2004 in these prisons. |
Books Not Bars criticizes the DJJ not only as an abusive system, but also an ineffective one. The existing system costs California $160,000 a year for every young person behind bars. Even so, the rate of recidivism is 75%. By these standards, California has the nation's most expensive, least effective juvenile justice system. |
Books Not Bars uses a number of different tactics to achieve its goals. It works to: |
In 2008, Books Not Bars celebrated success as two youth prisons, El Paso de Robles and Dewitt Nelson Youth Correctional Facilities, were officially closed. In the same year, Books Not Bars helped get the Family Communications Act signed into law. This act is a huge step toward better communication between youth behind bars and their families. |
Soul of the City is the most recent Ella Baker Center endeavor. It is a "hands-on, hands-together" campaign to create a community that is safe, healthy, and balanced. The program is working to transform Oakland into a socially just, spiritually connected, ecologically sustainable city with shared prosperity for all. Soul of the City brings residents together to address community concerns and build on hopes through learning, service, and leadership. |
The staff and volunteers of Soul of the City: |
The Green-Collar Jobs Campaign addresses the lack of meaningful work opportunities for at-risk youth and the formerly incarcerated. The campaign catalyzes workforce opportunities in the burgeoning green economy, creating dignified jobs for low-income families. It is working to "build a green economy that is strong enough to lift people out of poverty" through policy advocacy, public outreach, and an employment pipeline called the Oakland Green Jobs Corps. |
Ella Baker Center unveiled this campaign, first known as "Reclaim the Future" at the United Nations World Environmental Day Conference in 2005. Carla Perez, an organizer at fellow Bay Area non-profit Communities for a Better Environment, states, "Ella Baker Center really opened up the door for the whole local environmental justice movement to come together and reach a wider audience through this event." As billions go into eco-friendly construction, clean technology, urban agriculture and renewable energy, Green-Collar Jobs Campaign works to ensure that low-income people will be able to take part in these new opportunities. |
The initiative works to turn investment into “green-collar” job opportunities in Oakland. As the lack of meaningful work opportunities for at-risk youth and formerly incarcerated people in society becomes a bigger problem, Green-Collar Jobs Campaign catalyzes workforce opportunities in the burgeoning “green” economy, creating dignified jobs for low-income families. |
The Green-Collar Jobs Campaign works to: |
In 2008, the Oakland City Council voted to financially support the Oakland Green Jobs Corps in the amount of $250,000. This money will provide "a vital pool of seed funding" to attract matching donations over the long-term. A portion of these funds will create special paid internships for Green Jobs Corps graduates in renewable energy and energy efficiency. |
Heal the Streets is a new ten-month fellowship program that trains Oakland teens (ages 15 – 18) to develop and advocate for policies that bring peace and hope to their city's streets. |
The Heal the Streets Fellowship program aims to: |
In 2009, the first year of the fellowship, Heal the Streets fellows identified teen joblessness as a major contributor to violence in their community and made policy recommendations on the issue to local city and school board officials. |
= = = Suryakantham (actress) = = = |
Suryakantham (28 October 1924 – 18 December 1994) was an Indian actress in Tollywood. She was regarded as one of the finest actors of Indian Cinema and was popular for playing the role of cruel mother-in-law in most of her movies. |
Suryakantham was born and brought up in a Telugu Brahmin family residing at Venkata Krishnaraya Puram near Kakinada of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. She was the 14th child to her parents, ten of whose children had died. She learnt dance and singing at the age of six. |
She married Peddibhotla Chalapati Rao, a High Court Judge, in 1950. |
Suryakantham started as a dancer in "Chandralekha", produced by the Gemini Studios, for which she had been paid Rs 75 in remuneration. She got her first role as character artiste in "Narada Naradi", but eventually quit her job at Gemini Studios. |
Later, she got a character artist role in the movie "Gruhapravesam". She was offered the heroine's role in "Soudamini", but did not accept it. She later was in a car accident, in which she received injuries to her face. She later played the role of a cruel mother-in-law in "Samsaram". |
Another "heroine" role was offered to her from a Bollywood film producer. Knowing that the producer had dropped a heroine from his movie on personal grounds, and that the same was given to her, Suryakantham rejected the offer, saying "I can't live on the unhappiness of other artists." She subsequently appeared in the Telugu film "Kodarikam", which brought her a new level of success. The directors B. Nagi Reddy and Chakrapani would not do a movie without Suryakantham. They produced the movie "Gundamma Katha", starring N. T. Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageswara Rao and S.V. Ranga Rao, with Suryakantham playing the lead role of Gundamma. The film was commercially successful. |
= = = RM4SCC = = = |
RM4SCC (Royal Mail 4-State Customer Code is the name of the barcode character set based on the Royal Mail 4-State Bar Code symbology created by Royal Mail. The RM4SCC is used for the Royal Mail Cleanmail service. It enables UK postcodes as well as Delivery Point Suffixes (DPSs) to be easily read by a machine at high speed. |
This barcode is known as CBC (Customer Bar Code) within Royal Mail. |
PostNL uses a slightly modified version called KIX which stands for Klant index (Customer index); it differs from CBC in that it doesn't use the start and end symbols or the checksum, separates the house number and suffixes with an X, and is placed below the address. Singapore Post uses RM4SCC without alteration. |
There are strict guidelines governing usage of these barcodes, which allow for maximum readability by machines. |
They can be used with Royal Mail's Cleanmail system, as an alternative to OCR readable fonts, to allow businesses to easily and cheaply send large quantities of letters. |
Each character is made up of 4 bars, 2 of which extend upward, and 2 of which extend downward. The combination of the top and bottom halves gives 36 possible symbols: 10 digits and 26 letters. |
As the example right shows, the barcode consists of a start character, the postcode, the Delivery Point Suffix (DPS), a checksum character, and a stop character. The DPS is a two-character code ranging from 1A to 9T, with codes 9U to 9Z being accepted as default codes when no DPS has been allocated. The DPS can be found in Royal Mail's Postcode Address File. |
For the purpose of calculating the checksum, the top and bottom halves of each character can be assigned the values shown in the table below. Each such value is derived by assigning weights of 4,2,1 and 0 to the extensions according to their position in the character, summing the weights, and taking modulo 6 of the sum. For example the symbol for 'B' has bottom half extensions of its first two bars, represented below as 1100, the sum of their weights being 4+2+0+0 = 6, modulo 6 of which is 0. |
The check symbol is computed by summing the top and bottom half values separately, modulo 6, and combining the final sums to find the symbol. |
In the example above, the top half values are 2,6,1,1,4,5,1,2. This sums to 22 = 6×3 + 4. Thus the check symbol has a top value of 4. The bottom half values are 6,4,2,2,4,0,2,5, which sum to 25 = 6×4 + 1. The check symbol's bottom half value is 1, so it corresponds to the letter I. |
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