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Protocol for the Data-Linkage Alcohol Cohort Study (DACS): investigating mortality, morbidity and offending among people with an alcohol-related problem using linked administrative data
Amy Peacock1,2,
Vivian Chiu1,3,4,
Janni Leung1,3,4,5,
Timothy Dobbins1,
Sarah Larney1,
Natasa Gisev1,
Sallie-Anne Pearson6,
Louisa Degenhardt1
1 National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2 School of Medicine (Psychology), University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
3 School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
4 Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
5 Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations, Universityof Washington, Washington, United States
6 Centre for Big Data Research in Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Correspondence to Dr Amy Peacock; Amy.Peacock{at}unsw.edu.au
Introduction The aims of this program of research are to use linked health and law enforcement data to describe individuals presenting to emergency and inpatient healthcare services with an acute alcohol harm or problematic alcohol use; measure their health service utilisation and law enforcement engagement; and quantify morbidity, mortality, offending and incarceration.
Methods and analysis We will assemble a retrospective cohort of people presenting to emergency departments and/or admitted to hospitals between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2014 in New South Wales, Australia with a diagnosis denoting an acute alcohol harm or problematic alcohol use. We will link these data with records from other healthcare services (eg, community-based mental healthcare data, cancer registry), mortality, offending and incarceration data sets. The four overarching areas for analysis comprise: (1) describing the characteristics of the cohort at their first point of contact with emergency and inpatient hospital services in the study period with a diagnosis indicating an acute alcohol harm and/or problematic alcohol use; (2) quantifying health service utilisation and law enforcement engagement; (3) quantifying rates of mortality, morbidity, offending and incarceration; and (4) assessing predictors (eg, age, sex) of mortality, morbidity, offending and incarceration among this cohort.
Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval has been provided by the New South Wales Population and Health Services Research Ethics Committee. We will report our findings in accordance with the REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely collected health Data (RECORD) statement and Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting (GATHER) where appropriate. We will publish data in tabular, aggregate forms only. We will not disclose individual results. We will disseminate project findings at scientific conferences and in peer-reviewed journals. We will aim to present findings to relevant stakeholders (eg, addiction medicine and emergency medicine specialists, policy makers) to maximise translational impact of research findings.
offending
This study comprises a population-based cohort of people with a diagnosis indicating an acute alcohol problem and/or problematic alcohol use (as identified through emergency department attendances and hospital separations) over an extended period (2005–2014).
There is a wealth of information on these participants through linkage to various routinely collected administrative data sets (ie, emergency department presentations, hospital separations, cancer notifications, mental health ambulatory care, mortality, offending and incarceration).
Routinely collected administrative data contain limited contextual information and represent an underestimate of total health and offending outcomes for these individuals (eg, where not brought to the attention of, and recorded by, these services).
Intervention and treatment for alcohol-related problems are not wholly captured across these data sources, and may impact experiences of morbidity, mortality, offending and incarceration.
The study period represents a snapshot for each individual; some individuals may have an extensive history of engagement with healthcare and law enforcement prior to entry to the cohort but this cannot necessarily be identified with the data used here.
Reducing the health, social and economic burden of alcohol use is a priority in Australia and globally.1 2 Alcohol consumption is estimated to play a causal role in over 200 disease and injury conditions.2 Approximately 3.9% of deaths and 1.8% of hospitalisations in Australia are alcohol-related.3 Alcohol use negatively impacts on the community through reduced workplace productivity, traffic accidents, family problems, crime and public disorder, with an estimated economic cost of $14 billion annually.4
Recent evidence suggests declining population levels of consumption in Australia over the past two decades without clear evidence of a corresponding decrease in harms.5–9 Alcohol-related harms represent a significant burden on healthcare and law enforcement services. Indeed, recent estimates suggest that approximately one in ten emergency department presentations in Australia are alcohol-related,10 with more than 144,000 alcohol-attributable hospitalisations in Australia in 2012–2013.11
The aforementioned data are based on modelled estimates or on aggregated number of presentations to services. It is important to understand these events at the individual level: a significant proportion of people will have recurrent alcohol-related problems and experience substantial morbidity and higher risk of mortality as a consequence, placing a significant burden on healthcare and law enforcement services. In Australia, there has been no recent attempt at the population level to longitudinally track people with alcohol-related problems to measure overall mortality, morbidity and other problems (eg, offending and incarceration), despite such work for other substances (eg, opioids12).
This project, named the Data-Linkage Alcohol Cohort Study (DACS), will use data linkage to identify individuals presenting to emergency department or inpatient hospital services in NSW, Australia, with a diagnosis indicating an acute alcohol harm or problematic use. Records for this cohort of people will be linked to additional health and law enforcement service data for robust measurement of alcohol-related harms and burden. The overarching objectives of this program of research are to:
Describe the cohort at their first point of contact with emergency department or inpatient hospital services within the study period for an acute alcohol harm and/or problematic alcohol use;
Quantify healthcare service utilisation and law enforcement engagement among the cohort (and associated economic costs) and assess individual and situational characteristics as predictors of frequency of engagement;
Quantify the rate of mortality, morbidity, offending and incarceration among the cohort, looking at overall and cause-specific outcomes where possible; and
Assess individual and situational characteristics as predictors of mortality, morbidity, offending and incarceration.
Methods and analysis
This study will link two routinely collected administrative data sets from NSW, Australia, to assemble a retrospective observational cohort of people presenting to emergency department and hospital inpatient services with an acute alcohol harm and/or problematic alcohol use. Once the cohort has been identified, their linked data from other routinely collected administrative data sets will be extracted, providing information on emergency department presentations, hospital separations, cancer notifications, mental health ambulatory care, mortality, offending and incarceration. Data linkage will be undertaken by the Centre for Health Record Linkage (CHeReL).
Formation of base cohort
The base cohort will consist of individuals with a diagnosis indicating an acute alcohol harm or problematic alcohol use presenting to inpatient services (NSW Admitted Patient Data Collection; NSW APDC) and acute services (NSW Emergency Department Data Collection; NSW EDDC) in NSW between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2014. Diagnostic classification systems used by NSW APDC and NSW EDDC in this period comprise the International Classification of Diseases and Health Related Problems 9th Edition Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) or 10th edition Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM; NSW APDC and NSW EDDC) or the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine—Clinical Terms Australian Modification (SNOMED-CT-AU; NSW EDDC only). Diagnostic codes used for cohort inclusion were identified through a review of various sources on alcohol-related health burden and mortality (eg, Chikritzhs et al 13 and in consultation with specialists in the field (see table 1 for ICD-10-AM codes; see online supplementary appendix 1 for all the diagnosis codes used for cohort identification). A flow chart of how the base cohort will be formed and the administrative data sets to be linked (described in the next section) is presented in figure 1. Inclusion in the cohort may be modified depending on the specific research question being addressed.
Formation of the Data-Linkage Cohort Study (DACS).
Alcohol-related diagnosis codes used from ICD-10-AM
Data sets and linkage
On identifying the base cohort, the CHeReL will extract linked data for these individuals from a range of routinely collected administrative data sets using the probabilistic record linkage software ChoiceMaker.14 15 Identifying information (ie, name, address, date of birth and gender) for each data set is included in the Master Linkage Key (MLK) constructed by the CHeReL. The ChoiceMaker software uses an exact 'blocking' algorithm to search for valid matches in the MLK to identify all matching records. A combination of two techniques is used to determine whether each potential match denotes (or possibly denotes) the same person, comprising: (1) a probabilistic decision, which is computed using a machine learning technique, and (2) absolute rules, which include upper and lower probability cut-offs that initially start at 0.75 and 0.25 for a linkage and are adjusted for each individual linkage to ensure false links are minimised. The parameters for the extract from the MLK are set such that no true matches are missed if full identifiers are available. Extensive quality assurance measures ensure the false positive rate for linkage is less than 0.5% and the false negative rate for linkage is less than 0.1%.15 All data sets except the NSW Reoffending Database (ROD) are routinely contained within the MLK. The internal matching process of the NSW ROD has been validated (specificity of 99.9% and a sensitivity of 93.8%16), and linkage of records within the MLK to those within ROD will follow the same process as mentioned previously. Descriptions of the data sets for linkage are presented in table 2.
Data sets for linkage
Patients and the public were not involved in the design of the study. As described in our dissemination activities (outlined below), we will aim to present findings to relevant stakeholders (eg, addiction medicine and emergency medicine specialists and policy makers) to maximise translational impact of research findings. We will prepare one-page summaries of key findings for distribution to drug treatment services and harm-reduction services.
Planned statistical analyses
We outline below the core analyses to address the overarching research questions. In all analyses, multiple confounding variables will be controlled as appropriate. We will also undertake the below analyses for the total cohort and focus specifically on young people (eg, aged 15–24 years old). This younger age demographic has demonstrated significant recent shifts in alcohol consumption alongside increasing harms,7 8 and also represents a portion of the sample likely to have no or limited engagement with healthcare and law enforcement services prior to the study period.
Aim 1. Describe the cohort at their first point of contact with emergency department or inpatient hospital services within the study period for an acute alcohol harm and/or problematic alcohol use.
We will describe the characteristics of the cohort at their index event (ie, first emergency department presentation or hospital separation with an alcohol-related diagnosis within the cohort period; diagnosis codes identified in online supplementary appendix 1). Our description will include the individual characteristics (eg, age, sex, socioeconomic status) and situational characteristics (eg, public or private hospital, diagnosis) of their presentation. We will analyse the 12-month period prior to each person's index presentation to quantify existing health comorbidities (using an established comorbidity score, eg, Charlson Comorbidity Index17 or Elixhauser Comorbidity Index18), as well as offending and incarceration within that period. For these analyses, we will exclude individuals who had an index event within the first 12 months of the cohort commencement (ie, between 1 January and 31 December 2005) to provide capacity for analyses of the 12-month period prior to index presentation.
Aim 2. Quantify healthcare service utilisation and law enforcement engagement among the cohort (and associated economic costs) and assess individual and situational characteristics as predictors of frequency of engagement.
We will calculate total number of emergency department presentations and hospital separations each year, and number of unique people each year with an emergency department presentation/hospital separation with an alcohol-related diagnosis. We will estimate the number of hospital separations in two ways, as a count of episodes of care and of periods of stay.19 A period of stay will be defined as the complete period of care from admission to hospital until separation. A period of stay may consist of multiple episodes of care, the latter defined as a period of a specific care type (eg, receipt of acute care and rehabiliation may be coded as two episodes of care within one period of stay).
We will identify people who re-present to these services within 30 days of discharge (re-admission), as well as those individuals who attend at high-frequency (≥4 presentations/separations in a year) and high-intensity (average ≥4 presentations/separations in a year across period of follow-up or until death). We will use regression analyses to assess individual and situational characteristics of re-admission, high-frequency attendance and high-intensity attendance. We will quantify engagement with law enforcement (offending and incarceration). We will also estimate costs associated with health service utilisation and law enforcement engagement using standard reference material for costs (eg, Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Group codes for quantification of economic cost of hospital services20).
Aim 3. Quantify the rate of mortality, morbidity, offending and incarceration among the cohort, looking at overall rates and cause-specific outcomes where possible.
Aim 4. Assess individual and situational characteristics as predictors of mortality, morbidity, offending and incarceration.
Mortality analyses
We will calculate all-cause and cause-specific crude mortality rates as the number of deaths in the cohort divided by person-years of observation. We will estimate all-cause and cause-specific standardised mortality ratios by comparing the observed number of deaths and expected number of deaths. We will classify deaths in accordance with guidance for clustering major causes of mortality,21 with a focus on causes of death wholly or partly attributable to alcohol consumption.22 We will stratify crude mortality rates and standardised mortality ratios by other demographic and situational characteristics where possible based on population data (eg, age, geography, sex, comorbidity). We will conduct survival analyses to determine time from the index presentation to the outcome of interest (mortality or, if mortality does not occur, the censoring date) and use Cox proportional hazards regression to calculate hazard ratios for all-cause and cause-specific mortality based on time-independent (eg, gender) and time-dependent (eg, age, calendar year, geographic region, comorbidity score) variables.
Morbidity analyses
The main outcome of interest will be time (measured by the number of days) between presentations. Individuals will be censored at the end of the study period or date of death, whichever occurred first. We will use survival analysis methods that incorporate multiple observations per person23 to examine the relationship between risk factors (individual and situational characteristics at index) and the time interval distributions of recurrent presentations with multiple causes for each individual. We will examine any re-admission and alcohol-related re-admission, as well as time to specific type of alcohol-related re-admission (as defined in table 1). Risk factors will be identified for the entire cohort, adjusting for diagnostic groups. We will assess heterogeneity between diagnostic groups in the effect of risk factors descriptively. We will use the community-based Mental Health Ambulatory Data Collection (MH-AMB) to undertake a sub-group analysis of people with comorbid mental health issues.
Offending and incarceration analyses
To assess frequency of engagement with the criminal justice system among individuals with problematic use of alcohol, we will calculate rates of all offences and alcohol-related offences per 1000 person-years, as well as rates of incarceration episodes and time between offences (or death or end of follow-up, whichever comes first) distinguished by the characteristics of individuals (eg, gender). Offences will be classified in accordance with the Australian and New Zealand Standard Offence Classification system24 (as per the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research standard crime statistics reporting25).
We will use survival analysis methods to examine the relationship between engagement with health services (characterised by number of alcohol-related presentations) and time to a subsequent arrest (days to any offence/days to alcohol-related offence). The hazard ratios for subsequent arrest will be adjusted for time-independent (eg, gender, country of birth) and time-dependent (eg, age, comorbidity score, calendar year, length of hospital stay, geographic region, private/public hospital, types of procedures undergone, remoteness, socioeconomic status) variables.
Methodological considerations
There are several key methodological considerations to be noted with the use of these data sets. First, the number of participating emergency departments has intermittently increased over time, from around 46 emergency departments in 1996 to around 90 in 2010226. There are around 150 emergency departments in NSW. Those servicing larger proportions of the NSW population are included but possible under-ascertainment of total engagement with emergency departments for alcohol-related problems should be noted. Where necessary, we will run analyses with and without the emergency departments that were added later in the series to establish if this has changed the study outcomes, with the aim of accounting for variable data quality from inclusion of new participating emergency departments in the EDDC. Second, variation in computer programs and management practices in emergency departments and hospitals may lead to variation in diagnosis coding practices (ie, ICD-9, ICD-10 and SNOMED codes entered by physicians) and in the screening and capture of alcohol involvement in healthcare presentations. Hence, the specificity of some disease categories may vary, and under-ascertainment of alcohol-related presentations is likely.27 Third, data on alcohol consumption, as well as intervention and treatment for problematic alcohol use, cannot be systematically ascertained from the included data sources. The NSW MH-AMB captures ambulatory mental health service provided to non-admitted individuals. To the authors' knowledge, this data set has not been used to quantify engagement in prevention and intervention for alcohol-related problems in previous linkage studies. Until we have the capacity to study the data, we cannot know the quality of information provided; however, there may be the capacity to explore use of this data set to capture such engagement, and take this into consideration in analyses. Fourth, the false positive rate for linkage is less than 0.5% and the false negative rate for linkage is less than 0.1%.15 We will compare time-independent information (eg, date of birth, date of death) across data sets to identify inconsistencies that may be indicative of false positive linkages. These participants will be excluded from the cohort and identified in all reporting on final cohort composition. Finally, the study period represents a snapshot for each individual. Some individuals may have an extensive history of engagement with healthcare and law enforcement prior to entry into the cohort; this will be considered when drawing inferences from findings.
Ethics and dissemination
Data storage, retention and access
To protect privacy and confidentiality, approval for the linkage of health data in NSW is provided under strict conditions for the storage, retention and use of the data. The current approval permits storage of the data at three sites: the University of New South Wales, University of Queensland and University of Tasmania.
Data custodian approval has been granted and linkage and data cleaning have nearly been completed, with data analyses being performed and reporting occurring while the project retains ethical approval (currently until 2021). We will report our findings in accordance with the Reporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely collected health Data statement (RECORD)28 and Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting (GATHER),29 where appropriate. We will publish data in tabular, aggregate forms only and cells containing data from less than 10 participants will be suppressed. We will not disclose individual results.
We will disseminate project findings at scientific conferences and in peer-reviewed journals. We will aim to present findings to relevant stakeholders (eg, addiction medicine, emergency medicine, policy makers) to maximise translational impact of research findings.
This program of research will provide a comprehensive population-level understanding of the burden of problematic alcohol use on individuals and on healthcare and law enforcement services. It will extend knowledge of individual and situational factors that predict adverse alcohol-related outcomes, with the capacity to inform personalised intervention. The patterns of healthcare utilisation will also improve our knowledge of patient needs to enhance healthcare delivery for targeted populations. The multidimensional measurement of diverse events produced by this project can better reflect the scale and impact of alcohol-related problems which may be under-ascertained in the study of a single data set.
The authors wish to thank Professor Jürgen Rehm for his input on the diagnostic codes chosen and Professor Adrian Dunlop for his input on study design. We wish to thank the Clinical Terminology Team at the National E-Health Transition Authority (now the Australian Digital Health Agency) for assisting with mapping International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM) codes to Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms Australian Modification (SNOMED-CT-AU). We also wish to thank the New South Wales (NSW) Ministry of Health, the Centre for Health Record Linkage, the Cancer Institute NSW and other data custodians for reviewing the project protocol, approving the project and providing requested data. The Cause of Death Unit Record File (COD URF) is provided by the Australian Coordinating Registry for the COD URF on behalf of the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, NSW Coroner and the National Coronial Information System.
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Contributors AP and LD conceived the study idea. AP, LD, TD, NG, SL, and SAP provided input to the study design and research questions. AP, TD, VC and JL developed the statistical analysis plan. AP, VC and JL completed the first draft of the manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript and provided input to the final draft.
Funding This work was funded by research support funds awarded by University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney to AP. AP, SL and LD are supported by National Health and Medical Research Council research fellowships (#1109366, #1140938 and #1041472/#1135991). SL and NG are supported by UNSW Scientia Fellowships. SL and LD are supported by National Institutes of Health grant NIDA R01DA1104470. The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre is supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Health under the Drug and Alcohol Program.
Ethics approval This study was approved by New South Wales Population and Health Services Research Ethics Committee in August 2016 (2016/08/650).


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Meet the editor of British Vogue at Mary's Living & Giving shop
On Wednesday 27 June, editor of British Vogue and influential voice of the UK's fashion industry, Alexandra Shulman, will be reading extracts from her critically acclaimed debut novel 'Can we still be friends', at Mary's Living & Giving Shop for Save the Children, Primrose Hill.
Copies of 'Can We Still Be Friends' will be available to buy on the night, with all profits going towards our life-saving work.
Plus, the first 50 books sold come with an exclusive goody bag!
Fashion, fiction and fundraising
Wine and canapés will be served throughout the evening and guests will have the opportunity to bag designer items at bargain prices with the shop staying open until 9pm.
Entrance to the event is free but there is a suggested donation of £5 on the door.
In addition to signing copies of her book, Shulman will be answering questions from the lucky few who secure a place at the event.
There are limited spaces available so do book in advance.
Contact Krissy Marton on k.marton@savethechildren.org.uk, call the shop directly on 020 7586 9966, or pop in store at 109 Regents Park Road, London, NW1 8UR.
Follow Mary's Living & Giving Shop on Twitter @MarysLGShop_NW1

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Shadowgate is a large text-based role-playing game derived from the D&D manuals and lines of thought, to create our own unique world and history. Our community of players and immortals strive to create a world that reflects not only the tabletop world of adventure and role-playing but also a whole dimension of interaction, both positive and negative. When you enter our realms you can look forward to prejudice and tolerance, conflict and cooperation, hate ... and love.
ShadowGate has been and will always remain free to enjoy. Players and staff volunteer their time to bring this experience to you. The MUD operates under the understanding of the Dungeons and Dragons Open Gaming License, allowing use of Wizards' DnD content in a non-profit setting.
Many areas have preexisting quests coded into the game, some that even change every time you particpate in them. Automated hunting quests exist which allow you to seek out lost items or combat powerful shapeshifters. Immortals run their own plots and stories in real time, simulating a Dungeon Master for one or more players. Seasonal events and major, world changing events sometimes occur, inviting every player to participate at once.
Role playing is not optional nor limited to certain clans, guilds or flags. Every participant in ShadowGate is a roleplayer. We hope that you find the setting detailed enough to feel a part of a living world. You can expect to make long term friends and enemies. You have the capability to change the world's history.
Shadowgate is the game where you make your own adventurers. Do you wanna be the grand knight on a shining steed looking for your long dead ancestors? Or do you seek to rule the world as a crazy maniac who follows the Faceless God? Or maybe you just wanna be a elven bard who likes to make items and enchant them for a profit?
Everything is possible in Shadowgate, only your own imagination is the limit!
We use discord as our primary way of communication and you are welcome to join us.
We have a a vast forum that have run for years where we share updates an world events. You can always ask questions here, make polls or just be social. There are no question too stupid to ask.


In 2012 a collaboration between James Jetlag, Cuttin'Class, the city of Heerlen and the state autorities of Limburg resulted in the project "Kleur Onderweg" (Color In Transit). The project contains multiple murals on at least five highway bridges. All bridges contain huge walls, most of them longer then 35 meters and all of them have a height in between 3 and 5,5 meters. The full project covers over more then 1000 square meters.
All walls have been coated with a high quality anti-graffiticoating which makes it very easy to wipe off any unwanted graffiti without damaging the paintings.
This is the fourth bridge of the project and it has been the last one of James Jetlag in the first series of Color In Transit murals. Both sides of the bridge have been painted like alle the other bridges have. Two themes have been used on this location: "Coal Mining History" and "Local Nature". Coal mining used to be the reason why people came to this region; the rich nature is one of the main reasons nowadays.
The Coal Mining wall shows a composition based on a picture which was taken from one of the coal waste mountains in the late sixties. It shows a view by night on the huge mining complex of the "Oranje Nassau I" in Heerlen – Netherlands; at that time one of the biggest coal mines in the region. It's this industrial atmosphere which has dominated the skyline of Heerlen for decades. Alle coal mines have been closed and demolished since the late sixties.
The Local Nature wall shows the typical hills and one of the old "vakwerk" houses as they can be found in this region. All colors have been selected in a way to create a soft and green atmosphere – in perfect balance with the contiguous nature. Both walls are very much in contrast with each other…showing the past and the present at the same place. It's a time machine!
Color in Transit 4: "Present -Local Nature"
Color in Transit 4: "Past - Coal Mining Industries"


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Written by Angela Torres on Mon 5 February 2018
In the history of computer and video games, the third generation (sometimes referred to as the 8-bit era) began on July 15, 1983, with the Japanese release of two systems: the Nintendo Family Computer (commonly abbreviated to Famicom) and the Sega SG-1000. When the Famicom was released outside of Japan it was remodelled and marketed as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). This generation marked the end of the North American video game crash, and a shift in the dominance of home video game manufacturers from the United States to Japan. Handheld consoles were not a major part of this generation, although the Game & Watch line from Nintendo had started in 1980 and the Milton Bradley Microvision came out in 1979 though both are considered second generation hardware.
Improvements in technology gave consoles of this generation improved graphical and sound capabilities. The number of simultaneous colors on screen and the palette size both increased which, coupled with larger resolutions and more sprites on screen, meant that developers could create scenes with more detail. Five channel audio became common giving consoles the ability to produce a greater variation and range of sound. A notable innovation of this generation was the inclusion of cartridges with on-board memory and batteries to allow users to save their progress in a game, with Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda introducing the technology to the market. This innovation allowed for much more expansive gaming worlds and in-depth story telling, since users could now save their progress rather than having to start each gaming session at the beginning. By the next generation, the capability to save games became ubiquitous—at first saving on the game cartridge itself and, later, when the industry changed to read-only optical disks, on memory cards, hard disk drives, and eventually cloud storage.
Find router default password and Cisco router login. One of the most common IP address for these brands is 192.168.l.0.1.
The best-selling console of this generation was the NES/Famicom from Nintendo, followed by the Sega Master System (the improved successor to the SG-1000), and the Atari 7800. Although the previous generation of consoles had also used 8-bit processors, it was at the end of the third generation that home consoles were first labeled and marketed by their "bits". This also came into fashion as fourth generation 16-bit game systems like the Sega Genesis were marketed in order to differentiate between the generations. In Japan and North America, this generation was primarily dominated by the Famicom/NES, while the Master System dominated the Brazilian market, with the combined markets of Europe being more balanced in overall sales between the two main systems. The end of the third generation was marked by the emergence of 16-bit game systems of the fourth generation and with the discontinuation of the Famicom on September 25, 2003.
The generation began when Japanese companies, Sega and Nintendo, decided to enter the console gaming market. Sega released two consoles, SG-1000 and Mark III, and its competitor Nintendo released a Famicom home console. The companies were expected to have all of them only for the Japanese market. However, the Famicom became very popular in Japan, and Nintendo decided to enter the worldwide market. With this in mind, the company approached the Atari company, which had the majority of the video game market in the rest of the world, with a proposal for Atari to license the Famicom and distribute it. An agreement was concluded, which was to be signed at the Consumer Electronics Show in July 1983.
At the same CES, however, Coleco exhibited its Coleco Adam home computer, which featured a Nintendo-designed game called Donkey Kong. At that time, Atari had exclusive rights to distribute Nintendo games on home computers, and Coleco had exclusive rights to distribute the game on consoles. However, since Atari understood that Adam was a home computer, they postponed signing the agreement with Nintendo and asked the company to resolve the issue with rights. The problem was resolved, but during this time, the video game crash of 1983 had occurred and Atari began to lose influence in the market. With this, Nintendo had no competitor left and the company decided to enter the market on its own.


I was born in Hull on the east coast of England in November of 1971. My mother was one of eight and my father one of three. I was the first grandchild born into what would eventually be a family that numbered somewhere between sixty and seventy, though it is often hard to recall all the names and connections witha family so vast.
The fishing trade was still the heart of Hull and very much at the heart of my mothers side of the family. My mum's father was a trawlerman as were a number of my older uncles, with my other aunts and uncles only 7 or 8 years older than me. My earliest memories seem to be dominated by that side of the family for some reason and I cannot really recall my fathers side at all or even our own smaller family of just mum, dad and me.
My mother tells me how my grandad and uncle would return from months away at sea and turn out their pockets and invite me to help myself to whatever money they had – which was often a lot. Casting my mind back I can vaguely remember my uncle taking me to the toy store and telling me that I could have whatever I wanted, and I headed home with a blue scooter which had the most fantastic tassles which hung from the handles.
I also remember Queen. No, not the queen but the band. Even now so many of their songs trigger memories or shadows of memories that take me somewhere almost now lost to me.
Memories of coming downstairs at my granparents house and the smell of stale beer and cigarettes are also still quite vivid after more than forty years too. Curiously I can even still see the ash tray on a stand in the middle of the floor with the push top opening mechanism that I was often told to leave alone.
Yeah see I am sure we can remember things that far back I am with you on this!
I enjoyed this, a very interesting read.
So you're from Hull. Do you live there now? My wife is from Grimsby.
I just heard a story on the radio not long ago that said we can remember things that happened to us as early as two years old, so that certainly reinforces your recollection. Amazing though that you remember with such detail – I remember aspects of my childhood as well, but I believe I am helped along by a vast assortment of photos as I inherited the family album by default as I have no siblings, and once my mom sat me down and told me who everyone was – this is good you are recounting these stories for your sons Michael.
Yes, and especially when there are triggers like smells … food smells especially, but could be industrial smells, smells of a nature type, like a forest – musty smell of mushrooms, decaying leaves.
Yes, you did with the cigarettes and the ashtrays – see, people don't smoke as much now and my mom smoked when I was young, and I can remember the smell of the ashes in the tray as well. My grandparents had a fruit cellar in the corner of their basement. It had a latch and you had to open it to go in, dark and smelled like apples when they are in the vegetable bin in the fridge too long, they smell like cider vinegar … plus it had a musty smell to me as well.
Yes. I don't think I know anyone who smokes anymore – of course, I work from home so don't see a ton of people. They banned smoking in our building (most office buildings) and people would be huddled outside in the rain, snow, sleet to have a cigarette. I don't smoke but felt sorry for them.
My earliest memory is when I was about 4… the neighbor girl fell out of her stroller and hit the driveway pavement. I will never forget her screaming and crying. If I remember the rest of the story, she ended up with stitches from the fall. You sure have a good memory!
How fab! How old would u have been ?


It was pouring with rain when Lisa's plane landed at Dublin airport early on Saturday afternoon. When she'd taken off from London, she'd foolishly assumed that she couldn't possibly feel worse, but one look at the rain-soaked view of Dublin made her see the error of her ways.
Dermot, her taxi-driver to the city-centre, only added to her grief. He was chatty and amiable and Lisa didn't want chatty and amiable. She thought with longing of the psychotic, uzi-carrying madman who might have been driving her taxi, if only she was in New York.
'Have you family here?' Dermot asked.
When she wouldn't talk about herself, he talked instead. 'I love driving,' he confided.
On and on he went, as they inched through the wet, greasy streets. When they got to the hotel in Harcourt Street, he helped her with her several bags and wished her a pleasant stay in Ireland.
Malone's Aparthotel was a strange new breed of hostelry – it had no bar, or restaurant, or room service or anything really, except for thirty rooms, each with small kitchen areas attached. Lisa was booked in for a fortnight and hopefully by then she'd have found somewhere to live.
In a daze, she hung up a couple of things, looked out at the grey view of the busy road, then flung herself out on to the damp streets, to inspect the city that now constituted home.
Now that she was actually here, the shock hit her with unprecedented force. How had her life gone so horribly wrong? She should be strolling along Fifth Avenue right now, and not in this drenched village.
The guide-book said that it would only take half a day to walk around Dublin and see all its important sights – as if that was a good thing! Sure enough, less than two hours was enough to check out the high spots – read shopping – both north and south of the river Liffey. It was worse than she'd expected: nobody stocked La Prairie products, Stephane Kélian shoes, Vivienne Westwood or Ozwald Boeteng.
She wanted to go home. She longed for London so badly, then through the mist she saw something that made her heart lift – a Marks & Spencers!
Normally she never went near them: the clothes were too dowdy, the food too tempting, but today she flung herself through the entrance like a pursued dissident seeking asylum in a foreign embassy. She resisted the urge to lie, panting, against the inside of the door. But only because the door was automatic. Then she immersed herself in the food department because it had no windows and didn't interfere with her fantasies.
I'm in the High Street Kensington branch, she pretended to herself. In a moment I'm going to leave and drop into Urban Outfitters.
She idled in front of the fresh fruit. No, I've changed my mind, she decided. I'm in the Marble Arch branch As soon as I've finished here I'm going to South Molton Street.


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Home » Nation
'Elegant lady' classes defended after criticism
By Jane Chen | April 10, 2009, Friday | Print Edition
OFFICIALS at a Hubei Province college have defended running classes to train "elegant ladies" after the scheme attracted criticism.
Some critics said the classes were training for ernai, or mistresses, and others said it revealed China's education system failed to nurture personality and culture.
The criticism came after it was reported that 50 girl students had started studying how to behave like ladies this semester at the High Vocational School of Wuhan University of Science and Technology. They are taking six courses in social etiquette, fashion, flower arranging, driving and traditional skills required for Chinese women.
The class has proved to be popular among students, both female and male, according to school officials.
About 140 female students crowded into the class on the opening day, they said.
"And many male students came to the class, too," said Yuan Weihua, the school's vice Party secretary.
The official said the courses' popularity was because Chinese schools do not teach girls how to behave in a feminine, ladylike way.
The school's Party secretary, Guo Weiqi, said the courses are practical and improve the students' taste in art and music.
"It will help improve the students' personalities and taste in music, art and dancing," Guo said.
Student Ren Wijing said she enjoyed the class. "It's more than dressing-up and make-up as I had thought," Ren said. "It broadens my mind."
Wang Jing, the teacher in charge of the class, said the real aim was to enhance students' self-esteem as many of the girls in the school are from poor areas.


I am trying to enable access to UART1 (Pins 8 and 10 on the header) on Windows IOT Core 64-bit.
I have created the following rhproxy node and injected it into the system ACPI tables. This causes a device interface to be created.
However, when I open the port and write data, I do not see any activity on the pins.
And I verified that the PIO path was taken, but I still don't see any activity on the pins.
I think it may be a pin muxing issue. Can you please confirm whether pins are muxed correctly to UART1?
In BIOS, UART1 is set to "ACPI Mode"
And should be able to enumerate the port using mincomm.exe.
To open the port. Characters typed into the terminal will be sent over the serial port.


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What does a Big Mac do to your body?
Viral infographic explains the process, but nutritionists say it goes too far.
Mary Jo DiLonardo
September 24, 2015, 3:48 p.m.
Courtesy of: Fastfoodmenuprice.com
Craving a Big Mac? It may take a while for your body to get those two all-beef patties, special sauce, et cetera, out of your system. An infographic that has ignited social media purports to break down what happens in your body in the first hour after eating McDonald's signature burger.
PHOTO BREAK: 12 buildings that look like food
The infographic, created by the website Fastfoodmenuprice.com, claims that within the first 10 minutes of digesting the burger, your body releases "feel-good chemicals" such as dopamine, which ignite feelings of pleasure and work similarly to drugs like cocaine. The 540-calorie burger allegedly raises your blood sugar to "abnormal" levels.
It claims that after 30 minutes, the high sodium levels can spur dehydration with "symptoms that closely mimic those of hunger." Those feelings of hunger can make you think you need to eat again, according to the site.
The site claims that it takes longer to digest hamburgers than other foods because they are greasier and the 1.5 grams of trans fat in the Big Mac can take 51 days to digest.
But this is what nutritionists have to say
The infographic provides "false, far-reaching conclusions," says Jessica Crandall, registered dietitian nutritionist and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
She points out that the claims that sodium and high fructose corn syrup are addictive and can lead to obesity are not true. "There are many causes of obesity but based off of science, sodium has not been one of the causes, nor one specific carbohydrate source. Rather it has been documented that lack of activity and calorie excess can cause obesity."
In addition, Crandall says although 970 mg of sodium is more than she'd generally recommend for one meal, that amount of sodium wouldn't lead to clinical dehydration (and later heart disease and stroke). You could, she said, make it fit into your daily 2,400 mg of sodium if you cut back elsewhere.
A healthy person wouldn't have problems with blood sugar and should be able to handle the carbohydrates in this meal, unless he or she were diabetic, says Crandall. "It would be better if the bun was whole grain but still — once again this claim made in the info graphic is so far-reaching."
The infographic is accurate, but exaggerated, says St. Louis-based registered dietitian Marilyn Tanner-Blaiser.
"I think the information is accurate, but taken to a whole different level," says Tanner-Blaiser, study coordinator at the Washington University School of Medicine. "Everyone metabolizes foods differently — depending on their age, gender, activity level and size. Someone that has pre-existing diseases such as both type 1 and type 2 diabetes as well as HTN (hypertension), yes, these are issues."
Tanner-Blaiser points out that the key is balance, variety and moderation.
"Occasionally you can eat it, but do it remembering to eat it slow and enjoy the taste and watch what you are eating the rest of the day."
Mary Jo DiLonardo writes about everything from health to parenting — and anything that helps explain why her dog does what he does.
8 creepy mystery ingredients in fast food
McDonald's chicken will soon be antibiotic-free
9 organic fast-food restaurants
Related topics: Healthy Eating, Infographic


Eldorado Mobile Home Estates (GNIS FID: 1763483) is a populated place LOCATED WITHIN the City of Garden Grove. In turn, the City of Garden Grove is located within Orange County.
Eldorado Mobile Home Estates is located at latitude 33.799 and longitude -117.944. The elevation of Eldorado Mobile Home Estates is 108 feet above mean sea level.
Since Eldorado Mobile Home Estates is located within the City of Garden Grove, all of the census and demographic data for residents of Eldorado Mobile Home Estates are included as part of the information reported for City of Garden Grove in the "Profile" tab above.


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Anti-coal protesters flock to German-Polish border
Published on 27/08/2014, 9:21am
Greenpeace estimates 7,500 people from 28 countries joined hands to fight lignite mining plans
Activists formed a chain 8km long to protest against lignite mining
(Pic: Greenpeace/Christian Mang)
By Megan Darby
An estimated 7,500 activists formed a human chain on Saturday to protest against opencast coal mining near the German-Polish border.
The protesters, from 28 different countries, linked hands over an 8km stretch between the villages of Kerkwitz in Germany and Grabice in Poland.
They were demonstrating against plans to expand mining for lignite, also known as brown coal, in the region.
Meri Pukarinen, the head of the climate and energy unit at Greenpeace Poland, said: "It is inspiring that more than 7,500 people from all over the world have demonstrated today for a liveable future without dirty brown coal.
"This will give people in the region strength and courage for the coming years in the fight against lignite plans.
"We will not give up until politicians understand that the majority of the public is against new brown coal projects."
Demonstrators linked hands across the Polish-German border in the Neisse River
(Pic: Greenpeace/Gordon Welters)
Poland's state energy company PGE and Stockholm-based Vattenfall want to open six new mines in the Lusatia region.
This will involve moving 6,000 people from their homes.
Lignite is a major source of energy for both Germany and Poland. It is a cheap but highly polluting form of coal.
Poland depends on coal for 90% of its electricity generation and the government sees a dominant role for the fuel for decades to come.
Analysis by Greenpeace suggests the country could halve its coal use by 2030 with a shift to renewable energy.
In Germany, despite an enthusiastic drive for renewable power, coal use has risen in recent years to 45% of the generation mix.
Cheap coal has filled the gap created by a phase-out of nuclear power, while gas has been too expensive to compete.
Continuing to burn lignite will threaten carbon targets, Greenpeace warned
The Lusatia region's lignite is estimated as the largest single fossil fuel reserve in Europe.
But the Greenpeace warned exploiting that reserve would make it hard to meet targets to reduce carbon emissions.
Burning lignite on the scale expected would use up half Germany and Poland's carbon budgets between 2020 and 2050, the NGO estimated.
"Lusatia is about to become the scene of one of Europe's biggest environmental crimes. These mines must be stopped, otherwise there is no chance Europe will reach the self-imposed climate goals," said Pukarinen.
A German opencast mine
(Pic: Flickr/Bert Kaufmann)
Read more on: Living | Coal | Germany | Poland Living


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Liverpool transfer news: Reds plan move to sign Jaime Baez dubbed as \'next Luis Suarez\'
By Naveen Ullal
Updated April 10, 2015 12:08 BST
Liverpool are considering a move to sign Uruguayan striker Jaime Baez, according to Tutto Mercato Web.
The 19-year-old is currently plying his trade with Juventud in his homeland. He came up through the ranks of the club's academy, before breaking into the first team in 2012.
Baez has already bagged four goals from 13 Uruguayan Primera Division appearances and his style of play has seen him being dubbed as the next Luis Suarez. The 27-year-old left the Merseyside club and joined Barcelona earlier in the summer.
The Uruguayan international was the standout player for Liverpool last season as he finished as the league's top scorer. Brendan Rodgers' side are already missing the services of Suarez at Anfield.
Liverpool have the opportunity to bring in another talented striker from South America to England. The Reds are closely monitoring Baez and have sent their scouts to watch him in action for Juventud on several occasions.
The youngster is not holding an EU passport, which will not allow him to get the work permit, if he decides to join Liverpool. However, the Anfield club could face competition from European giants as top clubs across the continent are after Baez's signature.
Liverpool fans are aware of Suarez's goal-scoring instincts and should they manage to seal a deal for his compatriot, he could go on to become a star player for the Reds in the future.
Meanwhile, former Liverpool striker Jan Molby claims the Anfield expansion plans will be Reds' owners, Fenway Sports Group's (FSG) legacy. The 18-times English champions were given a go-ahead for their stadium expansion earlier this week.
"A spade will finally be in the ground when the redevelopment of Anfield begins on Monday. Work is set to start on the new Main Stand and we've waited a long time for this to happen," Molby told the Liverpool Echo.
"It is something the club has desperately needed in order to help us compete with our rivals. A lot of fans just haven't been able to get to games because demand has far outstripped supply. An extra 9,000 seats is a step in the right direction."
"The facilities will also be drastically improved and the owners deserve a lot of credit. When they bought the club four years ago they said they would find a solution to the stadium issue and this will be their legacy," he added.
Paul Scholes: Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard might not win Premier League title
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Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli charged by FA after \'anti-Semitic and racist\' Instagram post
This article was first published on December 6, 2014
Related topics : Liverpool FC Brendan Rodgers Luis suarez Barcelona FC


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Tiger Woods auction demands big bucks
To the highest bidder on eBay goes a round of golf with last year's Masters champion. But to get on to the green, you've got to show some pretty big green of your own.
July 5, 2002 1:05 AM PDT
Tiger Woods is auctioning off a round of golf for charity--but the bidding is being limited to an exclusive club.
The golf great is offering to play a round of golf with the winner of the auction and three of the winner's friends sometime later this year at his home course in Windermere, Fla. The proceeds from the auction, which is on eBay, will go to Woods' charitable foundation, which supports community-based youth programs.
The auction could prove pricey for the winner. Bidding on the round of golf started Thursday at $100,000. And to even make an offer, prospective bidders are being required to put down a deposit of $50,000.
"Imagine 18 holes with the youngest golfer ever to achieve the career Grand Slam," the foundation said in its auction advertisement. "Ask questions; get putting and driving tips, iron advice, course insights and much more. Live your dream! It doesn't get any better than this."
Representatives for eBay and the Tiger Woods Foundation did not return calls seeking comment Friday.
The round of golf with Woods is only the latest high-profile online auction. Late last month, three of the new Segway Human Transporters sold on Amazon.com's auction site for more than $100,000 each, far above their expected asking price of $3,000 when they go on sale to the general public later this year. Last fall, "Star Wars" creator George Lucas offered some authentic props and collectible items from the movie series on eBay as part of eBay's Auction for America charity campaign.
Unlike most auctions on eBay and last month's Segway auction, not just anyone can bid on the round of golf with Woods. Instead, the Tiger Woods Foundation is requiring prospective bidders to preregister with Transrow, a company that verifies bidders, before they can make an offer. In addition to the $50,000 deposit, Transrow is requiring bidders to provide their occupation, an authorization for a credit report, and credit or banking references.
"To preserve the integrity of this exclusive auction, bids will not be accepted until each bidder has been verified," the foundation said in its auction listing. "Verification and qualification of bidders protects all parties involved against fraudulent bids and claims posted during this auction."
Transrow office manager James Tenorio declined to say how many people have signed up to bid on the auction. "It has generated a lot of interest," Tenorio said.
The auction ends April 14. The foundation is also auctioning a pin flag from last year's Masters tournament, which Woods won. Bidding on that auction, which also ends April 14, has reached $3,050 with 18 bids placed.
Discuss: Tiger Woods auction demands big bucks


Lobbying on Capitol Hill is one of the most unique activities that happens in Washington D.C. Each year, the House of Representatives and Senate write bills that are passed into law by the President. As the political climate in Washington regularly fluctuates, it is essential that constituents address issues with consistency. Two weekends ago, we saw this in action. Thousands participated in the Tibet National Lobby Day, AIDS Foundation Lobby Day and ADA Dental Lobby Day. All were welcomed and given the ears and time of their elected officials.
For the past two decades, the American Dental Association (ADA) along with the American Dental Political Action Committee (ADPAC) have advocated for the dental profession on Capitol Hill. They have ensured that core concerns that effect our profession, providers and patients are voiced to our legislators. This year, for the first time, the American Student Dental Association (ASDA) joined with the ADA and ADPAC to voice the current issues important to our profession together. We took the following issues to our legislators; The Competitive Insurance Reform Act, the Student Loan Programs under the Higher Education Act and Health Care Reform: Supporting Oral Health.
This year, a week before our Lobby Day, we saw years of the ADA's hard work pay off as the 115th House of Representatives voted a 428 to 6 majority on H.R. 372. This repealed the Mccarran-Fergussan antitrust laws for medical and dental insurance companies. Since 1945, insurance companies have been exempt from the McCarran-Fergussan antitrust laws which prohibits companies and business owners to discuss and set similar prices for their products and services. Greater federal involvement in antitrust enforcement should encourage more competition in the healthcare insurance marketplace. More competition will promote lower prices and greater consumer choices for all Americans purchasing medical and dental insurance. This week, we thanked members of Congress for supporting this bipartisan bill and urged our senators to support or even sponsor a sister bill so that it can be passed in the senate as well.
Rising student debt for undergraduate and graduate students is a prevalent concern for many of us. This concern is being voiced on Capitol Hill. In 2016, the average student debt for recent dental graduates was $262,119. That is a 5% increase of average dental student debt in 2014. The weight of student debt limits many graduates' professional pursuits, especially those who want to serve in public service, teaching and research positions. As Congress reauthorizes the Higher Education Act this year, we continued to voice our concerns regarding student debt as we met with members of Congress. Currently, there is a sponsored bill, H.R. 1614, that would allow students to refinance their graduate student loans at anytime through out the life of their loan. This would make keeping our student loans with the federal government more appealing and could save graduates thousands on accruing interest. Currently, the interest rate is fixed for the life of the loan. This week we tried to gather more representatives support for H.R. 1614 so that it will pass when it reaches the House floor.
Since the instatement of The Affordable Care Act (ACA) the uninsured rate for Coloradans has dropped from 14.7% to 6.7%. Additionally the recent medicaid expansion in Colorado, passed in May of 2013, expanded coverage to more than 200,000 Colorado residents. As a direct result we have seen the number of hospital dental visits go from $11 million dollars to $1 million dollars annually in Colorado. We want to continue this progress as the expanding coverage reaches many of our small towns in eastern Colorado and in the Western slope. This was emphasized to our representatives by our doctors who practice in these areas. As health care is a hot topic on Capitol Hill right now we also discussed the importance and need for dental insurance transparency. Our doctors from the CDA have seen many patients who sign up for dental insurance and find out they aren't covered until they pay for 24 months of premiums. Overall, we advocated for more transparent dental insurance plans so that our patients know what they are purchasing and what to expect from us.
During our Lobby Day we were able to visit all 6 of our district representatives and both senator's offices to discuss the issues above. It was great to see the impact we could make on organized dentistry by voicing our concerns to our legislators! It made me proud that we are included in a profession that stands united in protecting and advocating for our patients and doctors!


I don't want to rely on some juice shop to satisfy my smoothie and milkshake fixes. I know my taste buds better than anyone. And frankly, I think I can make a better drink for myself than some hipster kid working his summer job. But I live on a budget, and I have pretty limited kitchen space, so I'm not about to shell out $500 for a fancy Vitamix. Instead, I've been looking at single-serve blenders. They let you make your favorite drink exactly how you want it, quickly, and in a manageable size. Some even blend right inside the same cup you drink out of, so you can run out the door with little to no clean-up routine. I've also found that some of these single-serve blenders still offer a level of control and performance that approaches what you get out of a full-size machine. So they really are ideal for anyone who wants to save money, doesn't have the space for a larger appliance, or just wants blended drinks with less hassle.


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Hi I Need Help With Essay On The Civil Service Examinations Paper Must Be At Lea
Hi, I need help with essay on The Civil Service Examinations. Paper must be at least 1250 words. Please, no plagiarized work!
This system was abolished in 1905 to adopt the science and technology-based curricula practiced by the western nations. This set it apart from the Song Dynasty exam system that followed Confucian classical methods.
The Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty were both built around the same time i.e Qin around 221-208 BC and Chinese rulers' controlled Han around 206BC-AD 220.Both Dynasties. Under this dynasties heir was no central political force in China and as such, the great nomad empires emerged such Liao and the great Mongol empires. Both tenures were characterized by ruthlessness and tyrannical demands on the people to pay heavy taxes and compulsory labor. These dynasties were effective in the sense that, during these periods there was relative peace in China. However, they both had weak military forces and were easily overrun by the nomadic tribes of the north.
Both the Sui and the Tang Dynasty rulers' were part nomads. These rulers' were non-Chinese but their reign was considered Chinese. Both regimes were very successful in terms of commerce as the Sui were able to connect Yellow and Yangtze (Grand Canal) eastward waterways starting from Beijing to Hangzhou, thereby enabling nationwide commerce to thrive especially under the more prosperous Tang Dynasty. In addition, both Dynasties occurred after the reign of the Six Dynasties i.e. Sui from 589-617 AD and Tang from 618-907 AD(Ebrey, Walthall & Palais 2009 p89). These Dynasties were effective in the sense that they had stronger military's that helped re-unify China and that there was an improvement in commerce in this periods. However, under these regimes, the citizens suffered tyranny from the government in the form of forced labor and heavy taxes. in addition, the costly and often disastrous military escapades in Korea combined with corruption, disloyalty, and assassinations led to popular revolts resulting in the overthrow of the Sui dynasty.


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Law Dictionaries
Federal Contracts
419 U.S. 90 - Gonzalez v. Automatic Employees Credit Union
the United States Reports
419 U.S.
419 US 90 Gonzalez v. Automatic Employees Credit Union
95 S.Ct. 289.
42 L.Ed.2d 249
Alfredo GONZALEZ, Individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Appellant,
AUTOMATIC EMPLOYEES CREDIT UNION et al.
Argued Oct. 21, 1974.
Decided Dec. 10, 1974.
Appellant brought this class action for injunctive and declaratory relief attacking the constitutionality of Illinois automobile repossession and resale statutory provisions and alleging that he had purchased a car on a retail installment contract later assigned to appellee bank which (assertedly without any default by appellant or notice to him) repossessed the car and resold it to a third party to whom title was transferred. A three-judge District Court held that appellant lacked 'standing' to attack the constitutionality of the statutory scheme since the repossession and sale of the car had already taken place and that since appellant was allegedly not in default the complaint was directed, not at the constitutionality of the statutory provisions, but only at the bank's abuse of those provisions. Appellant sought review under 28 U.S.C. § 1253, which provides for an appeal to this Court from an order granting or denying an injunction in a civil action required by any Act of Congress to be heard and determined by a three-judge district court. Appellant contends, inter alia, that dismissal of his complaint 'denied' him the injunctive relief that he sought, whereas appellee bank maintains that an injunction is not 'denied' for purposes of § 1253 by a dismissal based on grounds short of a statute's constitutional validity. Held: When a three-judge district court denies a plaintiff injunctive relief on grounds that, if sound, would have justified dissolution of the court as to that plaintiff of a refusal to convene a three-judge court to begin with, review of the denial is available in the court of appeals; and since here the three-judge District Court's decision that the complaint was nonjusticiable for lack of 'standing' was a ground upon which that court could have dissolved itself, leaving the complaint's disposition to a single judge, the Court of Appeals should determine the 'standing' issue, which this Court has no jurisdiction under § 1253 to consider. Pp. 93—101.
363 F.Supp. 143, vacated and remanded.
James O. Latturner, Chicago, Ill., for appellant.
Albert E. Jenner, Jr., Chicago, Ill., for appellees.
Mr. Justice STEWART delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is an appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1253 from an order of a three-judge court dismissing the appellant's complaint for lack of 'standing.'1 We deferred consideration of our jurisdiction until the hearing on the merits. 415 U.S. 947, 94 S.Ct. 1467, 39 L.Ed.2d 562. For the reasons that follow, we have concluded that the District Court's order is not directly appealable to this Court.
* The appellant Gonzalez and three other named plaintiffs brought a class action in the District Court attacking as unconstitutional various provisions of the Commercial Code and Motor Vehicle Code of Illinois governing repossession, retitling, and resale of automobiles purchased on an installment basis under security agreements.2 The plaintiffs alleged that the statutory scheme violated a debtor-purchaser's rights—under the Fourteenth, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution—to notice, hearing, and impartial determination of contractual default prior to repossession of the car, transfer of title to the secured party, or resale of the car by the secured party. The plaintiffs sought a declaratory judgment to this effect, a permanent injunction, and compensatory and punitive damages for past violations of their alleged constitutional rights. A three-judge court was convened pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2281.3
The named plaintiffs sought to represent the class of all debtor-purchasers, under security agreements involving motor vehicles, 'who have had or may have their automobiles or other motor vehicles repossessed and sold for an alleged default without prior notice and an opportunity to be heard and whose certificate of title has been or will be terminated and transferred by the Secretary of State.' The named defendants were the Secretary of State of Illinois, responsible for transferring title under the challenged statutes, and five organizations operating as secured creditors in the motor vehicle field. The complaint also designated a defendant class, consisting of all secured creditors who may, 'upon their unilateral determination of default by debtor-obligees,' seek to repossess, and to dispose of, motor vehicles under the challenged statutes.
The pleadings and supplementary documents showed that Gonzalez had purchased a car on a retail installment contract, which had later been assigned to the defendant-appellee, Mercantile National Bank of Chicago (Mercantile). Before Gonzalez joined this lawsuit, Mercantile had repossessed the car, resold it to a third party, and arranged a title transfer to that party through the office of the Secretary of State. The complaint alleged that all of this had been done without notice to Gonzalez, and that he had not in fact been in default under the installment contract. On the basis of these facts, the three-judge court dismissed the complaint.4
The court held that Gonzalez lacked 'standing' to contest the constitutionality of the statutory scheme. First, the court observed that enjoining future enforcement of the scheme would be a 'useless act' so far as Gonzalez was concerned, since the events of which he complained—the repossession and resale of his car—had already taken place.5 Secondly, the court reasoned that the complaint, because it alleged that Gonzalez had not been in default, was directed, not at the constitutional validity of the statutory scheme, but only at Mercantile's abuse of the scheme. Noting that the statutory provision authorized repossession and title transfer only upon default, and provided for injunctive relief and damages where creditors acted in the absence of default, the court held that Gonzalez lacked standing to litigate 'the validity of these statutes when properly applied to debtors actually in default.'6 The complaint was dismissed '(s)ince . . . all plaintiffs in this case fail to present a claim which can be reached on the merits.'7
Appealing here individually and as a purported class representative, Gonzalez seeks reversal of the District Court's 'standing' determination, and an order directing the reinstatement of his complaint. Our appellate jurisdiction is controlled by 28 U.S.C. § 1253:
'Except as otherwise provided by law, any party may appeal to the Supreme Court from an order granting or denying, after notice and hearing, an interlocutory or permanent injunction in any civil action, suit or proceeding required by any Act of Congress to be heard and determined by a district court of three judges.'
Gonzalez' jurisdictional argument is very simple: The dismissal of his complaint did in fact 'deny' him the permanent injunctive relief he requested, and the case was one 'required . . . to be heard and determined' by three judges because the several conditions precedent to convening a three-judge court under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2281 and 2284 were met. That is, the constitutional question raised was substantial;8 the action sought to enjoin a state official from executing statutes of statewide application;9 and the complaint at least formally alleged a basis for equitable relief.10
Mercantile denies that all of these conditions were met, but places greater emphasis on an entirely different reading of § 1253. Mercantile argues that an injunction is not 'denied' for purposes of § 1253 unless the denial is based upon an adverse determination on the merits of the plaintiff's constitutional attack on the state statutes. In the present case, injunctive relief was denied, not because the court found the challenged statutes constitutionally sound, but only because the court found that Gonzalez lacked standing to make the challenge. Mercantile argues that a dismissal premised on grounds short of the constitutional merits should be reviewed in the first instance by the Court of Appeals, rather than by direct appeal to this Court.
It is an understatement to say that this argument is not wholly supported by precedent, for the fact is that the Court has on several occasions entertained direct appeals from three-judge-court orders denying injunctions on grounds short of the merits.11 But it is also a fact that in the area of statutory three-judge-court law the doctrine of stare decisis has historically been accorded considerably less than its usual weight. These procedural statutes are very awkwardly drafted,12 and in struggling to make workable sense of them, the Court has not infrequently been induced to retrace its steps.13 Writing for the Court on one of these occasions, Mr. Justice Harlan noted:
'Unless inexorably commanded by statute, a procedural principle of this importance should not be kept on the books in the name of stare decisis once it is proved to be unworkable in practice; the mischievous consequences to litigants and courts alike from the perpetuation of an unworkable rule are too great.' Swift & Co. v. Wickham, 382 U.S. 111, 116, 86 S.Ct. 258, 261, 15 L.Ed.2d 194.
The reading given to § 1253 by appellant Gonzalez is not 'inexorably commanded by statute.' For the statute 'authorizes direct review by this Court . . . as a means of accelerating a final determination on the merits.' Swift & Co. v. Wickham, supra, at 119, 86 S.Ct. at 263. It is true that dismissal of a complaint on grounds short of the merits does 'deny' the injunction in a literal sense, but a literalistic approach is fully persuasive only if followed without deviation. In fact, this Court's interpretation of the three-judge-court statutes has frequently deviated from the path of literalism.14 If the opaque terms and prolix syntax of these statutes were given their full play, three-judge courts would be convened, and mandatory appeals would lie here, in many circumstances where such extraordinary procedures would serve no discernible purpose.
Congress established the three-judge-court apparatus for one reason: to save state and federal statutes from improvident doom, on constitutional grounds, at the hands of a single federal district judge.15 But some of the literal words of the statutory apparatus bear little or no relation to that underlying policy, and in construing these we have stressed that the three-judge-court procedure is not 'a measure of broad social policy to be construed with great liberality.' Phillips v. United States, 312 U.S. 246, 251, 61 S.Ct. 480, 483, 85 L.Ed. 800. See also Kesler v. Dept. of Public Safety, 369 U.S. 153, 156—157, 82 S.Ct. 807, 810—811, 7 L.Ed.2d 641; Swift & Co. v. Wickham, 382 U.S., at 124, 86 S.Ct., at 265; Allen v. State Board of Elections, 393 U.S. 544, 561—562, 89 S.Ct. 817, 829—230, 22 L.Ed.2d 1.
The words of § 1253 governing this Court's appellate jurisdiction over orders denying injunctions fall within this canon of narrow construction. Whether this jurisdiction be read broadly or narrowly, there will be no impact on the underlying congressional policy of ensuring this Court's swift review of three-judge-court orders that grant injunctions. Furthermore, only a narrow construction is consonant with the overriding policy, historically encouraged by Congress, of minimizing the mandatory docket of this Court in the interests of sound judicial administration.16
Mercantile argues that § 1253 should be read to limit our direct review of three-judge-court orders denying injunctions to those that rest upon resolution of the constitutional merits of the case. There would be evident virtues to this rule. It would lend symmetry to the Court's jurisdiction since, in reviewing orders granting injunctions, the Court is necessarily dealing with a resolution of the merits. While issues short of the merits—such as justiciability, subject-matter jurisdiction, equitable jurisdiction, and abstention—are often of more than trivial consequence, that alone does not argue for our reviewing them on direct appeal. Discretionary review in any case would remain available, informed by the mediating wisdom of a court of appeals. Furthermore, the courts of appeals might in many instances give more detailed consideration to these issues than this Court, which disposes of most mandatory appeals in summary fashion.17
But the facts of this case do not require us to explore the full sweep of Mercantile's argument. Here the threejudge court dismissed the complaint for lack of 'standing.' This ground for decision, that the complaint was nonjusticiable, was not merely short of the ultimate merits; it was also, like an absence of statutory subject-matter jurisdiction, a ground upon which a single judge could have declined to convene a three-judge court, or upon which the three-judge court could have dissolved itself, leaving final disposition of the complaint to a single judge.18
A three-judge court is not required where the district court itself lacks jurisdiction of the complaint or the complaint is not justiciable in the federal courts. See Ex parte Poresky, 290 U.S. 30, 31, 54 S.Ct. 3, 4. It is now well settled that refusal to request the convention of a three-judge court, dissolution of a three-judge court, and dismissal of a complaint by a single judge are orders reviewable in the court of appeals, not here.19 If the three-judge court in the present case had dissolved itself on grounds that 'standing' was absent, and had left subsequent dismissal of the complaint to a single judge, this Court would thus clearly have lacked appellate jurisdiction over both orders. The same would have been true if the dissolution and dismissal decisions had been made simultaneously, with the single judge merely adopting the action of the three-judge court.20 The locus of appellate review should not turn on such technical distinctions.
Where the three-judge court perceives a ground justifying both dissolution and dismissal, the chronology of decisionmaking is typically a matter of mere convenience or happenstance. Our mandatory docket must rest on a firmer foundation than this. We hold, therefore, that when a three-judge court denies a plaintiff injunctive relief on grounds which, if sound, would have justified dissolution of the court as to that plaintiff, or a refusal to request the convention of a three-judge court ab initio, review of the denial is available only in the court of appeals.
In the present case, accordingly, the correctness of the District Court's view of Gonzalez' standing to sue is for the Court of Appeals to determine. We intimate no views on the issue, for we are without jurisdiction to consider it.21 We simply vacate the order before us and remand the case to the District Court so that a fresh order may be entered and a timely appeal prosecuted to the Court of Appeals.22
Vacated and remanded.
Mojica v. Automatic Employees Credit Union, D.C., 363 F.Supp. 143.
Ill.Rev.Stat., c. 26, §§ 9—503 and 9—504, and Ill.Rev.Stat., c. 95 1/2, §§ 3—114(b), 3—116(b), and 3—612.
Section 2281 provides:
'An interlocutory or permanent injunction restraining the enforcement, operation or execution of any State statute by restraining the action of any officer of such State in the enforcement or execution of such statute or of an order made by an administrative board or commission acting under State statutes, shall not be granted by any district court or judge thereof upon the ground of the unconstitutionality of such statute unless the application therefor is heard and determined by a district court of three judges under section 2284 of this title.'
Since only Gonzalez has sought review of the three-judge court's dismissal of the complaint, we confine our summary of that court's analysis to the specific facts of his case. The District Court's analysis was similar, however, with regard to each of the named plaintiffs.
Mojica v. Automatic Employees Credit Union, supra, at 145 146.
Id., at 145.
See Goosby v. Osser, 409 U.S. 512, 93 S.Ct. 854, 35 L.Ed.2d 36.
See Moody v. Flowers, 387 U.S. 97, 87 S.Ct. 1544, 18 L.Ed.2d 643.
See Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp. v. Epstein, 370 U.S. 713, 82 S.Ct. 1294, 8 L.Ed.2d 794.
Cases in which the Distrct Court had denied injunctive relief for want of4standing, or of justiciability generally: Florida Lime & Avocado Growers v. Jacobsen, 362 U.S. 73, 80 S.Ct. 568, 4 L.Ed.2d 568; Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 82 S.Ct. 691, 7 L.Ed.2d 663; Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 88 S.Ct. 1942, 20 L.Ed.2d 947; Richardson v. Kennedy, 401 U.S. 901, 91 S.Ct. 868, 27 L.Ed.2d 800; Granite Falls State Bank v. Schneider, 402 U.S. 1006, 91 S.Ct. 2187, 29 L.Ed.2d 428. Cases where denial was for want of subject-matter jurisdiction: Lynch v. Household Finance Corp., 405 U.S. 538, 92 S.Ct. 1113, 31 L.Ed.2d 424; Carter v. Stanton, 405 U.S. 669, 92 S.Ct. 1232, 31 L.Ed.2d 569. Cases where denial was on grounds of abstention or for want of equitable jurisdiction: Doud v. Hodge, 350 U.S. 485, 76 S.Ct. 491, 100 L.Ed. 577; Zwickler v. Koota, 389 U.S. 241, 88 S.Ct. 391, 19 L.Ed.2d 444. Mitchum v. Foster, 407 U.S. 225, 92 S.Ct. 2151, 32 L.Ed.2d 705; American Trial Lawyers Assn. v. New Jersey Supreme Court, 409 U.S. 467, 93 S.Ct. 627, 34 L.Ed.2d 651.
Perhaps the oddest feature of § 1253 is that it conditions this Court's appellate jurisdiction on whether the three-judge court was correctly convened. But the Court has abjured this literalistic reading of the statute and has not hesitated to exercise jurisdiction 'to determine the authority of the court below and 'to make such corrective order as may be appropriate to the enforcement of the limitations which that section imposes." Bailey v. Patterson, 369 U.S. 31, 34, 82 S.Ct. 549, 551, 7 L.Ed.2d 512, quoting Gully v. Interstate Natural Gas Co., 292 U.S. 16, 18, 54 S.Ct. 565, 566, 78 L.Ed. 1088.
For example: compare Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp. v. Epstein, supra, with Stratton v. St. Louis S.W.R. Co., 282 U.S. 10, 51 S.Ct. 8, 75 L.Ed. 135 (whether review of a single judge's refusal to convene a three-judge court is available in the court of appeals); compare Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez, 372 U.S. 144, 83 S.Ct. 554, 9 L.Ed.2d 644 with FHA v. Darlington, Inc., 358 U.S. 84, 87, 79 S.Ct. 141, 144, 3 L.Ed.2d 132 (whether three judges are required where only declaratory relief is requested); compare Swift & Co. v. Wickham, 382 U.S. 111, 86 S.Ct. 258, 15 L.Ed.2d 194 with Kesler v. Dept. of Public Safety, 369 U.S. 153, 82 S.Ct. 807, 7 L.Ed.2d 641 (whether a three-judge court is required when a complaint seeks to enjoin a state statute on the ground that it violates the Supremacy Clause).
Read literally, § 1253 would give this Court appellate jurisdiction over even a single judge's order granting or denying an injunction if the 'action, suit, or proceeding' were in fact one 'required . . . to be heard and determined' by three judges. But we have glossed the provision so as to restrict our jurisdiction to orders actually entered by three-judge courts. See Ex parte Metropolitan Water Co., 220 U.S. 539, 545, 31 S.Ct. 600, 603, 55 L.Ed. 575.
A single judge is literally forbidden to 'dismiss the action, or enter a summary or final judgment' in any case required to be heard by three judges. 28 U.S.C. § 2284(5). Read literally, this provision might be held to prohibit a single judge from dismissing a case unless he has determined that it fails to meet the requirements of § 2281 or § 2282. See Berueffy, The Three Judge Federal Court, 15 Rocky Mt. L.Rev. 64, 73—74 (1942), and Note, 28 Minn.L.Rev. 131, 132 (1944). But we have always recognized a single judge's power to dismiss a complaint for want of general subject-matter jurisdiction, without inquiry into the additional requisites specified in §§ 2281 and 2282. Ex parte Poresky, 290 U.S. 30, 31, 54 S.Ct. 3, 4, 78 L.Ed. 152; Bailey v. Patterson, 369 U.S., at 33, 82 S.Ct. at 550; Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp., 370 U.S., at 715, 82 S.Ct. at 1296; Goosby v. Osser, supra.
While the literal terms of the three-judge-court statutes give us appellate jurisdiction over any three-judge-court order granting or denying an 'interlocutory or permanent injunction,' we have in fact disclaimed jurisdiction over intelocutory orders denying permanent injunctions, Goldstein v. Cox, 396 U.S. 471, 90 S.Ct. 671, 24 L.Ed.2d 663, and Rockefeller v. Catholic Medical Center, 397 U.S. 820, 90 S.Ct. 1517, 25 L.Ed.2d 806.
While § 2281 requires a three-judge court where the injunction will operate against any state 'statute,' we have construed the term narrowly, to include only enactments of statewide application, Moody v. Flowers, 387 U.S., at 101, 87 S.Ct. 1544, 1547, 18 L.Ed.2d 64. Cf. King Mfg. Co. v. City Council of Augusta, 277 U.S. 100, 103—104, 48 S.Ct. 489, 490, 72 L.Ed. 801, construing far more broadly the term 'statute' as used in the predecessor to 28 U.S.C. § 1257(2).
While § 2281 calls for three judges to enjoin a statute 'upon the ground' of its 'unconstitutionality,' we have held that three judges are not in fact necessary where the unconstitutionality of the statute is obvious and patent, Bailey v. Patterson, supra, 369 U.S. 31, 82 S.Ct. 549, 7 L.Ed.2d 512, or where the constitutional challenge is grounded on the Supremacy Clause, Swift & Co. v. Wickham, supra. See also n. 12, supra.
Phillips v. United States, 312 U.S. 246, 250—251, 61 S.Ct. 480, 483, 85 L.Ed. 800; Bailey v. Patterson, supra, 369 U.S., at 33, 82 S.Ct. at 550. The Court sketched the legislative history of the three-judge-court statutes in Swift & Co. v. Wickham, 382 U.S., at 116—119, 86 S.Ct. at 261—263. See also Currie, The Three-Judge District Court in Constitutional Litigation, 32 U.Chi.L.Rev. 1, 3—12 (1964); Note, The Three-Judge District Court: Scope and Procedure Under Section 2281, 77 Harv.L.Rev. 299, 299—301 (1963).
'(I)nasmuch as this procedure also brings direct review of a district court to this Court, any loose construction of the requirements . . . would defeat the purposes of Congress, as expressed by the Jurisdictional Act of February 13, 1925, to keep within narrow confines our appellate docket.' Phillips v. United States, 312 U.S., at 250, 61 S.Ct. at 483. See also Goldstein v. Cox, 396 U.S., at 478, 90 S.Ct. at 675; Gunn v. University Committee, 399 U.S. 383, 387—388, 90 S.Ct. 2013, 2015—2016, 26 L.Ed.2d 684; Allen v. State Board of Elections, 393 U.S., at 562, 89 S.Ct. at 830; Board of Regents v. New Left Education Project, 404 U.S. 541, 543, 92 S.Ct. 652, 653, 30 L.Ed.2d 697.
'The history of latter-day judiciary acts is largely the story of restricting the right of appeal to the Supreme Court.' F. Frank-furter & J. Landis, The Business of the Supreme Court 119 (1927). To this trend of reform, the Court's mandatory appellate jurisdiction under the three-judge-court statutes represents a major, and increasingly controversial, exception. The number of cases heard by three-judge courts has dramatically increased in the past decade. See Ammerman, Three-Judge Courts: See How They Run!, 52 F.R.D. 293, 304—306; Annual Report of the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, 1974, p. IX—44. In the 1972 Term, 43 of the Court's opinions—nearly a quarter of the total—were in three-judge-court cases. Symposium, The Freund Report: A Statistical Analysis and Critique, 27 Rutgers L.Rev. 878, 902 (1974). This marks a dilution of that control over our docket which Mr. Chief Justice Taft identified as the prime object of the 1925 Act. Taft, The Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court Under the Act of February 13, 1925, 35 Yale L.J. 1 (1925).
This Court typically disposes summarily of between two-thirds and three-fourths of the three-judge-court appeals filed each term. Douglas, The Supreme Court and Its Case Load, 45 Cornell L.Q. 401, 410 (1960). See Symposium, 27 Rutgers L.Rev., supra, n. 9, at 902—903. It seems more than probable that many of these cases, while unworthy of plenary consideration here, would benefit from the normal appellate review available to single-judge cases in the courts of appeals.
See Rosado v. Wyman, D.C., 304 F.Supp. 1354, appeal dismissed, 395 U.S. 826, 89 S.Ct. 2134, 23 L.Ed.2d 739; Mengelkoch v. Industrial Welfare Comm'n, D.C., 284 F.Supp. 950, vacated to permit appeal to Court of Appeals, 393 U.S. 83, 89 S.Ct. 60, 21 L.Ed.2d 215; Crossen v. Breckenridge, 6 Cir., 446 F.2d 833, 837; American Commuters Assn. v. Levitt, D.C., 279 F.Supp. 40, aff'd, 2 Cir., 405 F.2d 1148; Hart v. Kennedy, 10 Cir., 314 F.Supp. 823, 824.
Where a single judge refuses to request the convention of a three-judge court, but retains jurisdiction, review of his refusal may be had in the court of appeals, see Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp. v. Epstein, supra, and Schackman v. Arnebergh, 387 U.S. 427, 87 S.Ct. 1622, 18 L.Ed.2d 865, either through petition for writ of mandamus or through a certified interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). These also are the routes of review of a three-judge court's decision to dissolve itself, Mengelkoch v. Industrial Welfare Comm'n, 393 U.S. 83, 89 S.Ct. 60, 21 L.Ed.2d 215, and Wilson v. Port Lavaca, 391 U.S. 352, 88 S.Ct. 1502, 20 L.Ed.2d 636. Where a single judge has disposed of the complaint through a final order, appeal lies to the court of appeals under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.
Wilson v. Port Lavaca, supra.
It appears that Gonzalez and Mercantile settled the former's damage claim while this appeal was pending. The Court of Appeals will, of course, be free to consider this new development in appraising the correctness of the dismissal of the complaint. See SEC v. Medical Committee for Human Rights, 404 U.S. 403, 92 S.Ct. 577, 30 L.Ed.2d 560.
28 U.S.C. § 1291. See Mengelkoch v. Industrial Welfare Comm'n, 393 U.S., at 84, 89 S.Ct., at 61.


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The Culture, Traditions, and Heritage of Switzerland
You are here: Countries / Switzerland
Traditionally, Switzerland has not been considered one of the cultural centers of Europe. It is known more for cleanliness, punctuality, discipline and and high degree of consciousness about the environment than for its artistic achievements. But in recent times, its commitment to peace is what has drawn artists looking for a safe haven in which to do their creative work. During the rise of fascism in the 1930s and 1940s a number of German, Austrian and Italian migrated to Switzerland including Thomas Mann, Stefan George, Herman Hesse, and Ignazio Silone.
A multi-cultural nation, Switzerland's national identity is shaped by a variety of influences including those of German, French and Italian neighbours.
Folk music and dance are popular in Switzerland. While yodeling is usually down in the mountains, there are many other varieties of folk music revolving around patriotic or pastoral themes. The Schuplattler is a lively, dance with rapid sequences of jumping and hopping. Woodcarving and emboridery are also common.
In literature, Switzerland has produced writers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, critic and historian Jacob Burckhardt, Gottfried Keller, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, Jeremias Gotthelf and Charles Ferdinand Ramuz. Hermann Hesse and Carl Spitteler both won a Nobel Prize for their works.
Winter sports are obviously very popular in this mountainous country. Apart from skiing and mountaineering, Swiss-style wrestling (Schwingen) is also popular in rural areas. Sunday-morning shooting sessions and Hornussen (a kind of Alpine baseball) are other traditional Swiss sports. Sports are developed and you can take your pick from tennis, golf, ice hockey, football (soccer), basketball, handball, gliding, paragliding, sailing, swimming, volleyball, floorball, mountain biking and hiking.