Nicomedes I, second king of Bithynia, was the eldest son of Zipoetes I, whom he succeeded on the throne in 278 BC. He commenced his reign by putting to death two of his brothers but the third, subsequently called Zipoetes II, raised an insurrection against him and succeeded in maintaining himself, for some time, in the independent sovereignty of a considerable part of Bithynia. Meanwhile, Nicomedes was threatened with an invasion from Antiochus I Soter, king of the Seleucid Empire, who had made war upon his father, Zipoetes I, and, to strengthen himself against this danger, he concluded an alliance with Heraclea Pontica and shortly afterwards with Antigonus II Gonatas; the threatened attack, passed over with little injury. Antiochus invaded Bithynia but withdrew again without risking a battle, it was more against his brother than his foreign enemies that Nicomedes now called in the assistance of more powerful auxiliaries and entered into an alliance with the Celts who, under Leonnorius and Lutarius, had arrived on the opposite side of the Bosphorus and were, at this time, engaged in the siege of Byzantium, 277 BC.

Having furnished them with the means of crossing into Asia, where they founded Galatia, he first turned the arms of his new auxiliaries against Zipoetes II, whom he defeated and put to death, thus reunited the whole of Bithynia under his dominion. Of the events that followed, it is probable that the Celts subsequently assisted Nicomedes against Antiochus but no particulars are recorded, either of the war or the peace that terminated it. It appears, that Nicomedes was left in the undisturbed possession of Bithynia, which he continued to govern from this time till his death and which rose to a high degree of power and prosperity during his long and peaceful reign. In imitation of his father, so many others of the Greek rulers of Asia, he determined to perpetuate his own name by the foundation of a new capital and the site that he chose, in the immediate neighbourhood of the Megarian colony of Astakos, was so judiciously selected that the city of Nicomedia continued for more than six centuries to be one of the richest and most flourishing in Anatolia.

The founding of Nicomedia is placed by Eusebius in 264 BC. The duration of the reign of Nicomedes himself, after this event, is unknown but his death is assigned to around the year 255 BC, he had been twice married. The latter were still infants at the time of his death, on which account he confided their guardianship, by his will, to the two kings, Antigonus II Gonatas and Ptolemy II Philadelphus, together with the free cities of Heraclea Pontica and Cius. But, notwithstanding this precaution, his son Ziaelas established himself on the throne, it is this Nicomedes who sought to purchase from the city of Knidos the celebrated statue of Venus, by Praxiteles, by offering to remit the whole public debt of the city. Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Nicomedes I.". Encyclopædia Britannica. 19. Cambridge University Press. P. 664. Smith, William. "Nicomedes I". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 2. P. 1196

The Metropolitan Special Constabulary is the part-time volunteer police force of the Metropolitan Police Service. It is one of three Special Constabularies operating within London, the others belonging to City of London Police and British Transport Police; the service was created over 180 years' ago under the Special Constables Act of 1831 and consists of 1,731 officers, making it the largest in the UK. Officers have full powers and privileges of a Police Officer throughout England and Wales and are subject to the same standards of professional behavior as any officer would under the ambit of The Police Regulations 2012, they wear the same uniform and engage in the same work as regular police officers, including foot & vehicle patrols, attending incidents, specific operations and the policing of major events. Special Constables are required to undertake a minimum of 200 hours of operational duties every year, spread over a minimum of 16 hours per month. However, many do more than the basic requirement.

Each Basic Command Unit that provides policing for each of the 32 London boroughs has a contingent of Special Constables supervised by a number of Special Sergeants, Special Inspectors and a Special Chief Inspector, who work in partnership with a number of regular officers. Most Command Units have more than 100 MSC officers and Westminster, the biggest, has over 300. Several Special Constables are sponsored by their employers' as part of the Employer Supported Policing programme, in which employers release their employees for a specific amount of time to perform policing duties. Special Constables have the freedom, to some degree, in the choice of Borough they work in, their duties and hours; the teams in which Specials work depends on their BCU - some choosing to task their Specials to Neighbourhood Policing Teams, others to their Emergency Response and Patrol Teams, whilst others work on a variety of other local portfolios such as CID, Safeguarding or with schools. Additionally, there are Special Constables who work for more specialist and non-local policing units such as the Marine Policing Unit, Heathrow Airport OCU, Organised Crime, Roads & Transport Policing Command.

Special constables undergo a structured recruitment process from application to the offer of an appointment. After an initial assessment of a Specials application, suitable candidates are invited to attend the Selection Centre at Empress State Building. In 2014 the assessment process was combined into a single day; the one-day event allows the timely release of candidates. Throughout the day, the following qualities and competencies are assessed: decision making, personal responsibility, respect for diversity, customer focus and teamwork; the assessment day comprises: A 30-minute written assessment based on a given scenario A 20-minute competency based interview with two serving officers or lay interviewers. A Full Medical examination, conducted by a registered Nurse who checks various aspects of a candidate's health, including eyesight and hearing A check of paperwork and copying of required documents Job Related Fitness Test Security and Vetting: If a candidate is successful on assessment day, they have to pass security and vetting which can take anything from a few weeks to up to a year.

If security and vetting checks prove satisfactory, a candidate is offered a place on an MSC training course. The candidate pass rate for the assessments is around 1 in 11; the MSC Foundation Training course consists of twenty days of training, incorporating five days of officer safety training and two days of first aid training, with the remainder being classroom-based learning covering the necessary knowledge and skills needed by officers for the execution of their duties as special constables. The training consists of two main assessments to ensure knowledge and additional assessments for Officer Safety Training and Emergency Life Support. Delivery of the course is offered in three forms, which recruits choose according to their convenience, as an intensive course taken over four weeks, a weekend course taking place over 12 weeks with 8 weeks of both Saturday and Sunday and 4 weeks with either Saturday or Sunday. In addition to the Training School at Hendon, MSC Foundation Training is conducted at Marlowe House in Sidcup.

Following completion of the initial training, there are two continuous training weekends to be completed within the first year after attestation. After completing their initial training, further training is provided at their local Borough and units, which continues throughout their career. MSC Officers are trained to police public order events, resources permitting, officers can be trained as response drivers and other skilled roles. During the course of their training special constables are issued with the same uniform and Personal Protective Equipment as their regular colleagues. Once Special Constables have finished their foundation training, they take the Police Oath at an attestation ceremony at Hendon Police College. At this event, they are issued with their Warrant Card and enjoy the full powers and privileges of a Constable throughout England and Wales. MSC officers receive no payment for duties. However, they can receive a subsistence allowance, they are afforded free travel both on/off duty on the London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, London Buses the Croydon

Nina Serrano is an American poet, writer and independent media producer who lives in Oakland, California. She is the author of Heart Songs: The Collected Poems of Nina Serrano and Pass it on!: How to start your own senior storytelling program in the schools. Her poems are anthologized, including the literary anthology, Under the Fifth Sun: Latino Writers from California, three anthologies of peace poems edited by Mary Rudge from Estuary Press, she has translated two chapbooks from Peruvian poet Adrian Arias. She leads storytelling workshops at senior centers and elementary schools through Stagebridge.org. She is the former director of the San Francisco Poetry in the Schools program and the Bay Area's Storytellers in the Schools program. A Latina activist for social justice, women's rights, the arts. Serrano was born in 1934 in New York City, growing up in other immigrant communities, she has undergone theater training, studied anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, traveled with student peace groups to Soviet Russia and revolutionary China in the 1950s.

While raising her family and teaching, Nina has worked in theater and film. She helped make movies about Fidel Castro's Cuba, about Salvador Allende's Chile and Sandinista Nicaragua. In Cuba, in 1968, she met Salvadorean exiled poet Roque Dalton and they co-authored a TV drama about the folkloric Dalton Gang and saw it produced on Cuban television; this made her a writer. Returning to San Francisco, journalism and poetry filled the early of her development as an activist writer, she wrote a series of articles on the Los Siete trial, wrote poetry published in the San Francisco Good Times. In 1969, she joined an activist publishing group of Latino poets. Since she wrote her first book of poetry, Heart Songs, where it was published during this period and published in 1980. During the next three decades, she published her next book, Heart's Journey: Selected Poems, 1980-1999 and Heart Strong: Selected Poems 2000-2012, as well as in many poetry anthologies. Through her friendships with Cuban poets, Nina began translating poetry, including her translations of Peruvian poet Adrian Arias.

In 1982, she helped translate the Nicaraguan economic program of 1980, available as a bilingual edition form Estuary Press. In 1972, she joined Communicacion Aztlan and producing radio programs for KPFA. Over the next 20 years, in addition to her on-going radio work, she wrote and produced several stage plays, including The Story of the Chicken Made of Rags, The Story of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and Weavings, she wrote and produced film scripts. The Heart Suite Series Heart Songs: The Collected Poems of Nina Serrano Heart's Journey: Selected Poems Heart Strong: Selected Poems Stop Monsanto! To Die of Joy in the River A Poem for You: Learning to See in Darkness On New Years Day Unicorns Fly A Poem for You: A Sudden Warm Day in Winter Love Passed Over Us Like a Cloud Traces of Love Poems in the Redwoods Poems in Balmy Alley Welcome Immigrant Children, Bienvenidos Tribute to Ralph Maradiaga A Winter Solstice Poem for You Women I Know I am So Visible Que Hacer: What is to Be Done? Después del terremoto Back from Nicaragua La Cantata de Santa Marie de Iquique Education for Storytelling Assassinations of a Poet: Memories of Roque Dalton The Story of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg The Story of the Chicken Made of Rags Program of Economic Reactivation for the Benefit of the People: 1980 Nicaragua Way Serrano has won several international film awards, including the XXXIII Mostra internazionale D'Arte Cinematografica award for Que Hacer: What is to Be Done?.

Nina Serrano was awarded Oakland Magazine's "Best Local Poet" award in 2010. Serrano served as an Alameda County Arts Commissioner, is a former director of San Francisco's Poetry in the Schools program, she was a co-founder of the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco's Mission District, where she is still involved. In addition, she is a long-time producer of radio programs on Pacifica Radio station KPFA in Berkeley, California hosting La Raza Chronicles on Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m. and Open Book the first Friday of each month at 3 pm PST. Nina Serrano appears in the video "Frida en El Espejo/Frida in the Mirror" by Adrian Arias and music by Greg Landau to be shown at the SF Film Festival in April 2009, she is their new song Oakland's Tight. She is consultant for Round World Media and Fig Leaf Technologies