Merit Network, Inc. is a nonprofit member-governed organization providing high-performance computer networking and related services to educational, health care, nonprofit organizations in Michigan. Created in 1966, Merit operates the longest running regional computer network in the United States. Created in 1966 as the Michigan Educational Research Information Triad by Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, Merit was created to investigate resource sharing by connecting the mainframe computers at these three Michigan public research universities. Merit's initial three node packet-switched computer network was operational in October 1972 using custom hardware based on DEC PDP-11 minicomputers and software developed by the Merit staff and the staffs at the three universities. Over the next dozen years the initial network grew as new services such as dial-in terminal support, remote job submission, remote printing, file transfer were added. Merit's involvement in national networking activities started in the mid-1980s with connections to the national supercomputing centers and work on the 56 kbit/s National Science Foundation Network, the forerunner of today's Internet.

From 1987 until April 1995, Merit managed the NSFNET backbone service. MichNet, Merit's regional network in Michigan was attached to NSFNET and in the early 1990s Merit began extending "the Internet" throughout Michigan, offering both direct connect and dial-in services, upgrading the statewide network from 56 kbit/s to 1.5 Mbit/s, on to 45, 155, 622 Mbit/s, 1 and 10 Gbit/s. In 2003 Merit began its transition to a facilities based network, using fiber optic facilities that it shares with its members, that it purchases or leases under long term agreements, or that it builds. In addition to network connectivity services, Merit offers a number of related services within Michigan and beyond, including: Internet2 connectivity, VPN, Network monitoring, Voice over IP, Cloud storage, E-mail, Domain Name, Network Time, VMware and Zimbra software licensing, Michigan Cyber Range cybersecurity courses, professional development seminars, classes and meetings; the Michigan Educational Research Information Triad was formed in the fall of 1966 by Michigan State University, University of Michigan, Wayne State University.

More known as the Merit Computer Network or Merit, it was created to design and implement a computer network connecting the mainframe computers at the universities. In the fall of 1969, after funding for the initial development of the network had been secured, Bertram Herzog was named director for MERIT. Eric Aupperle was hired as senior engineer, was charged with finding hardware to make the network operational; the National Science Foundation and the State of Michigan provided the initial funding for the network. In June 1970, the Applied Dynamics Division of Reliance Electric in Saline, Michigan was contracted to build three Communication Computers or CCs; each would consist of a Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-11 computer, dataphone interfaces, interfaces that would attach them directly to the mainframe computers. The cost was to be less than the $300,000 budgeted. Merit staff wrote the software that ran on the CCs, while staff at each of the universities wrote the mainframe software to interface to the CCs.

The first completed connection linked the IBM S/360-67 mainframe computers running the Michigan Terminal System at WSU and U-M, was publicly demonstrated on December 14, 1971. The MSU node was completed in October 1972; the network was dedicated on May 15, 1973. In 1974, Herzog returned to teaching in the University of Michigan's Industrial Engineering Department, Aupperle was appointed as director. Use of the all uppercase name "MERIT" was abandoned in favor of the mixed case "Merit"; the first network connections were host to host interactive connections which allowed person to remote computer or local computer to remote computer interactions. To this, terminal to host connections, batch connections, interactive file copy were added. And, in addition to connecting to host computers over custom hardware interfaces, the ability to connect to hosts or other networks over groups of asynchronous ports and via X.25 were added. Merit interconnected with Telenet in 1976 to give Merit users dial-in access from locations around the United States.

Dial-in access within the U. S. and internationally was further expanded via Merit's interconnections to Tymnet, ADP's Autonet, still the IBM Global Network as well as Merit's own expanding network of dial-in sites in Michigan, New York City, Washington, D. C. In 1978, Western Michigan University became the fourth member of Merit. To expand the network, the Merit staff developed new hardware interfaces for the Digital PDP-11 based on printed circuit technology; the new system became known as the Primary Communications Processor, with the earliest PCPs connecting a PDP-10 located at WMU and a DEC VAX running UNIX at U-M's Electrical Engineering department. A second hardware technolo

Free is the title of Kate Ryan's fourth studio album. It was released on May 2008 by ARS/Universal, it includes the singles, "Voyage Voyage", "L. I. L. Y.", "Ella elle l'a", "I Surrender" and "Your Eyes". The album performed moderately well on the charts and was certified Gold in Poland for shipments of 18,000 copies. All songs produced by Niclas Kings and Niklas Bergwall, collectively known as 2N. Original releaseSecond editionUK edition only"The Rain" "Je T'Adore" "Libertine" "Désenchantée" "I Surrender" "Ella Ella L'a" Spanish edition"Ella elle l'a" - 3:18 "Tonight We Ride / No Digas Que No - 3:05 "Voyage Voyage" - 3:09 I Surrender" - 3:33 "Who Do You Love" - 3:44 "Your Eyes" - 3:46 "L. I. L. Y." - 3:18 "Take Me Down" - 4:32 "Put My Finger on It" - 3:33 "Sweet Mistake" - 3:58 "Toute Première Fois" - 4:08 "We All Belong" - 3:31 "Free" - 3:31Polish Special Edition w/ DVDAll Original edition tracks Plus Music Videos "Voyage Voyage" "L. I. L. Y." "Ella Elle L'a" "I Surrender" "Photo Gallery" Kate Ryan - Vocals, lyricist Niclas Kings - Producer, lyricist Niklas Bergwall - Producer, lyricist Jeanette Olsson - Backing vocals, vocal arrangement, lyricist Anna Nordell - Backing vocals Aggie G. - Backing vocals Lisa Greene - Lyricist Jim Dyke - Lyricist Ashley Cadelle - Lyricist Ian Curnow - Lyricist Georgie Dennis - Lyricist Darren Styles - Lyricist Jo Lemaire - French translations Mattias Bylund - Strings Johan Rude - Mixing Free at AllMusic

The Lycee Francais de Chicago is a private French international school in Lincoln Square, Illinois. It offers a dual English curriculum; the Lycée is founded on the French National Curriculum as defined by the French Ministry of Education and complemented by an English language program in addition to foreign language courses. The private school was founded in 1995 by a group of French and American parents, with backing from French businesses and the support of the Consul General of France in Chicago; the Lycée is accredited by the French Ministry of Education and is listed on the official directory of the French Schools in Foreign Countries as part of the AEFE French worldwide network which includes over 450 schools outside France. The school is registered with the Illinois Board of Education and accredited by the Independent School Association of Central States; the Lycée Français de Chicago opened with 134 students. Today the school has over 700 American and foreign national students representing more than 30 nationalities, including French, Italian, Austrian, Norwegian, Greek, Polish, Hungarian, Turkish, Canadian, Scottish, Croatian, South African, Haitian and many more.

The Lycée is funded in part by the AEFE, l'Agence pour l'Enseignement Française à l'Étranger, but remains an private school with no connection to the French Government. The school is run by the Board of Trustees, composed of parents and alumni, but day-to-day operations are overseen by Éric Veteau, the head of the school, Sévrine Fougerol, the head of Secondary, Pascal Léon, the head of Primary. In 2015, the Lycée moved to a new campus designed by STL Architects on the corner of Damen Avenue and Wilson Avenues in Ravenswood, west of the previous campus in Uptown; the school has a structural curriculum mandated by the French Ministry of Education and an English curriculum developed using guidelines from the National Council of Teachers of English and the State of Illinois. The program conforms to the French system, it is broken down into subdivisions that correspond to those in the American school system: pre-kindergarten, junior kindergarten and kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school.

The program from pre-K through 5th grade is divided into cycles: cycle 1, cycle 2 and cycle 3. Middle school comprises grade 6 through 9. Instruction is structured according to subjects: French, mathematics, geography, biology, art and physical education. Beginning in grade 7 students study physics and Latin. Starting in fourth grade, students learn a third language, either Spanish, or German; as part of the language curriculum, each language class does a cultural exchange for two weeks with another French school in the country they are studying. In high school, they are given the opportunity to do a three-month study abroad trip. Middle school offers the OIB curriculum, the International Baccalaureate Option, which focuses in addition to French history and literature on American and world history and literature. Grades 10, 11 and 12 define high school in the French system and those 3 years are known as lycée. During the lycée years students choose a track with emphasis on different courses: track L, ES or S, which, as the French Department of Education reforms its curriculum, is set to change in 2021.

The lycée years, as well as the curriculum as a whole, prepare the students for the French general Baccalaureate examination and the international option of the French Baccalaureate. With the Baccalaureate degree, students of the Lycée Français de Chicago can enter selective American or European schools, colleges, or universities; the Lycee offers the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme and Diploma Programme for English-speaking high school students. Th Agence pour l'enseignement français à l'étranger Education in France International Baccalaureate European BaccalaureateAmerican schools in France: American School of Paris - An American international school in France American School of Grenoble Lycée Français de Chicago

Waterford was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, represented in the British House of Commons. This constituency once comprised the whole of County Waterford, except for the Parliamentary boroughs of Dungarvan and Waterford City, it returned two Members of Parliament 1801–1885 and one 1918–1922. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801. Between 1885 and 1918 the area had been divided between the constituencies of East Waterford and West Waterford. From 1922 it was no longer represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. In the 1918 election Sinn Féin defeated by 3 to 1 the Nationalist candidate J. J. O'Shee representing the Irish Parliamentary Party; the newly elected Sinn Féin MP for the constituency was Cathal Brugha. Like other Sinn Féin MPs elected that year, he did not take his seat at Westminster but instead, took a seat in the revolutionary First Dáil which assembled in Dublin on 21 January 1919.

As better known figures were under arrest, Brugha became the first presiding officer and a day the first head of government, of the Irish Republic. Sinn Féin contested the general election of 1918 on the platform that instead of taking up any seats they won in the United Kingdom Parliament, they would establish a revolutionary assembly in Dublin. In republican theory every MP elected in Ireland was a potential Deputy to this assembly. In practice only the Sinn Féin members accepted the offer; the revolutionary First Dáil assembled on 21 January 1919 and last met on 10 May 1921. The First Dáil, according to a resolution passed on 10 May 1921, was formally dissolved on the assembling of the Second Dáil; this took place on 16 August 1921. In 1921 Sinn Féin decided to use the UK authorised elections for the Northern Ireland House of Commons and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland as a poll for the Irish Republic's Second Dáil; this area, in republican theory, was incorporated in the five member Dáil constituency of Waterford–Tipperary East.

The single-member elections in this constituency took place using the first past the post electoral system. Multi-member elections used the plurality-at-large voting system. Power resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds. Esmonde was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury. Beresford succeeded as 5th Marquess of Waterford, causing a by-election. de la Poer resigned, causing a by-election. Esmonde's death caused a by-election. Blake resigned; the Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith, 2nd edition edited by F. W. S. Craig Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922, edited by B. M. Walker Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume II 1886–1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume III 1919–1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0 https://web.archive.org/web/20060423011521/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/en.toc.dail.html List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies in Ireland and Northern Ireland Redistribution of Seats Act 1918 List of MPs elected in the 1918 United Kingdom general election Historic Dáil constituencies Members of the 1st Dáil

Shahar is the god of dawn in the pantheon of Ugarit. Shahar is described as a child of El along with a twin, the god of dusk; as the markers of dawn and dusk and Shalim represented the temporal structure of the day. The name is a cognate of the Hebrew word Shahar meaning dawn. In Arabic, the word for dawn comes from the same Semitic root; this root is visible in “Suhoor”, the pre-dawn meal Muslims eat during Ramadan. Isaiah 14:12–15 has been the origin of the belief that Satan was a fallen angel, who could be referred to as Lucifer, it refers to the rise and disappearance of the morning star Venus in the phrase "O light-bringer, son of the dawn." This understanding of Isaiah 14:12–15 seems to be the most accepted interpretation in the New Testament, as well as among early Christians such as Origen, Eusebius and Gregory the Great. It may be considered a Christian "remythologization" of Isaiah 14, as the verse used Canaanite mythology to build its imagery of the hubris of a historical ruler, "the king of Babylon" in Isaiah 14:4.

It is that the role of Venus as the morning star was taken by Athtar, in this instance referred to as the son of Shahar. The reference to Shahar remains enigmatic to scholars, who have a wide range of theories on the mythological framework and sources for the passage in Isaiah. Phosphorus Shamash The Ancient Ugaritic Ritual-Poem of Shahar and Shalem and the Gracious Gods

The Fredrik Church is located in Karlskrona, Blekinge Län, southern Sweden. Situated on Stortorget, the main square in the city centre, The Fredrik Church is included within the Karlskrona UNESCO World Heritage Site. Construction on the Fredrik Church began September 9, 1720 as a replacement for the city's temporary wooden church, Hedvig Eleonora Church; the Fredrik Church's first stone was laid by the Governor Salomon von Otter, the foundation wall was completed on August 25, 1721, the church was consecrated in 1744. Though Crown Prince Adolf Frederick was present for the event, the building was named in honor of Frederick I; the spires atop the church towers were completed in 1758. There were several restorations; the one in 1805-06 was led by architect Olof Tempelman. Interior restorations occurred in 1913-15 under Axel Lindegren, there was another in 1967-68. An exterior restoration occurred in 1997-98; the Fredrik Church was built in the baroque style after a design by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger.

Its towers are a notable feature. The carillon is housed in the south tower, there are 35 bells, which were installed in 1967 by the Bergenholtz bell foundry in Sigtuna; the clock chimes three times a day. The 1854 pulpit is in a neoclassical style by the design of architect Johan Adolf Hawerman; the carved wood baptismal font was donated by the ship builder Gilbert Sheldon. The church silver is preserved in a massive safe; the church's first organ came from Hedvig Eleonora Church. When a decision was made to purchase a larger and more suitable organ, Lars Wahlberg received the contract to build an organ with 29 stops, 2 manuals and a pedal; when it was finished in 1764, he had inserted the 34 voices. Wahlberg's organ was replaced in 1905 by one built by Lund Orgelbyggeri in Stockholm. Media related to Fredrikskyrkan at Wikimedia Commons