The nomenklatura were a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions in the bureaucracy, running all spheres of those countries' activity: government, agriculture, etc. whose positions were granted only with approval by the communist party of each country or region. All members of the nomenklatura were members of a communist party. Critics of Stalin, such as Milovan Đilas, critically defined them as a "new class"; the arch-critic of Stalin, used the term caste rather than class, because he saw the Soviet Union as a degenerated workers' state, not as a new-class society. Richard Pipes, an anti-communist Harvard historian, claimed that the nomenklatura system reflected a continuation of the old Tsarist regime, as many former Tsarist officials or "careerists" joined the Bolshevik government during and after the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922; the nomenklatura forming a de facto elite of public powers in the former Eastern Bloc.

The Russian term is derived from the Latin nomenclatura. The term was popularized in the West by the Soviet dissident Michael Voslenski, who in 1970 wrote a book titled Nomenklatura: The Soviet Ruling Class; the nomenklatura referred to the Communist Party's governance to make appointments to key positions throughout the governmental system, as well as throughout the party's own hierarchy. The nomenklatura consisted of two separate lists: one was for key positions, appointments to which were made by authorities within the party; the Politburo, as part of its nomenklatura authority, maintained a list of ministerial and ambassadorial positions that it had the power to fill, as well as a separate list of potential candidates to occupy those positions. Coextensive with the nomenklatura were patron-client relations. Officials who had the authority to appoint individuals to certain positions cultivated loyalties among those whom they appointed; the patron promoted the interests of clients in return for their support.

Powerful patrons, such as the members of the Politburo, had many clients. Moreover, an official could be both a patron; because a client was beholden to his patron for his position, the client was eager to please his patron by carrying out his policies. The Soviet power structure consisted of groups of vassals who had an overlord; the higher the patron, the more clients the patron had. Patrons tried to promote their careers. In return for the patron's efforts to promote their careers, the clients remained loyal to their patron. Thus, by promoting his clients' careers, the patron could advance his own power; the nomenklatura system arose early in Soviet history. Vladimir Lenin wrote that appointments were to take the following criteria into account: reliability, political attitude and administrative ability. Joseph Stalin, the first general secretary of the party was known as "Comrade File Cabinet" for his assiduous attention to the details of the party's appointments. Seeking to make appointments in a more systematic fashion, Stalin built the party's patronage system and used it to distribute his clients throughout the party bureaucracy.

Under Stalin's direction in 1922, the party created departments of the Central Committee and other organs at lower levels that were responsible for the registration and appointment of party officials. Known as uchraspred, these organs supervised appointments to important party posts. According to American sovietologist Seweryn Bialer, after Leonid Brezhnev's accession to power in October 1964, the party expanded its appointment authority. However, in the late 1980s some official statements indicated that the party intended to reduce its appointment authority in the area of economic management, in line with Mikhail Gorbachev's reform efforts. At the all-union level, the Party Building and Cadre Work Department supervised party nomenklatura appointments; this department maintained records on party members throughout the country, made appointments to positions on the all-union level, approved nomenklatura appointments on the lower levels of the hierarchy. The head of this department sometimes was a member of the Secretariat and was a protégé of the general secretary.

Every party committee and party organizational department, from the all-union level in Moscow to the district and city levels, prepared two lists according to their needs. The basic list detailed positions in the political, economic, military and educational bureaucracies that the committee and its department had responsibility for filling; the registered list enumerated the persons suitable for these positions. An official in the party or government bureaucracy could not advance in the nomenklatura without the assistance of a patron. In return for this assistance in promoting his career, the client carried out the policies of the patron. Patron–client relations thus help to explain the ability of party leaders to generate widespread support for their policies; the presence of patron–client relations between party officials and officials in other bureau

Unmanned: America's Drone Wars is a feature-length documentary film released by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films in October, 2013, investigating the impact of U. S. drone strikes in Pakistan and elsewhere. The film highlights the stories of 16-year-old Tariq Aziz, killed by a drone in 2011. Unmanned includes more than seventy interviews. Prominent among these are a former American drone operator. With the intent of humanizing those who have been impacted by US drone policy, Unmanned intersperses these interviews with never-before-seen footage from tribal regions in Pakistan; the film claims that covert military drone strikes are imprecise, result in creating more enemies for the American people, who have little knowledge of how drone victims are targeted and killed. Unmanned premiered theatrically in New York City on October 30, 2013. In keeping with Brave New Films' unique distribution model, it was made available online for free. In anticipation of the release, for the first time Brave New Films and Reprieve brought survivors of US drone strikes to Capitol Hill to testify at a Congressional briefing.

The initial response to Unmanned was positive. Michael Moore's website said, "It should be required viewing in all schools and homes in the United States." The Front Page Online calls it "ardently compelling." Interviewees include: Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of State to Secretary of State Colin Powell David Kilcullen, former advisor to NATO and to General David Petraeus Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder, Code Pink Jemima Khan, Associate Editor, New Statesman Imran Khan, Chair of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Clive Stafford Smith, founder of Reprieve Pratap Chatterjee, Investigative Journalist Andrew Bacevich, Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University Mark Mazzetti, National Security Correspondent The New York Times and Author, The Way of the Knife Scott Shane, National Security Reporter, The New York Times Glenn Greenwald, National Security Columnist, The Guardian Karen DeYoung, Senior National Security Correspondent, The Washington Post USAF Col. Morris Davis, Former Lead Prosecutor For Guantanamo Bay David D. Cole, Georgetown University Law James Cavallaro, Stanford Law Professor Akbar Ahmed, Former Pakistani Ambassador to the UK, Chair of Islamic Studies at American University Pir Zubair Shah, Council on Foreign Relations Philip Alston, United Nations, Former Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions 23 more scholars, lawyers, public figures and activists Dozens of Pakistani survivors of drone strikes, family members of those who did not survive List of films featuring drones Official website Unmanned: America's Drone Wars on IMDb

Shelter is a Hare Krishna hardcore punk band, formed by Youth of Today vocalist Ray Cappo in 1991. Because of the religious Hindu-oriented messages in its lyrics, Shelter's subgenre has been dubbed by some as krishnacore. In 2001, the band released the album The Passion. In 2002, with a new drummer and a new guitarist, the band toured Europe and the eastern United States again in support of The Purpose, The Passion before going on extended hiatus. In 2005, Ray Cappo recorded a new 11-track album entitled Eternal with 10 new songs and a re-make of "In Defense of Reality." Eternal was released in May 2006 by Good Life Recordings. Ray did a European tour with a few members of Dutch hardcore bands functioning as the band. Shelter played two reunion shows in 2011: Göteborg, Sweden on 16 June and Reading, PA on Sunday, 26 June; the line-up for the reunion shows were: Vocals – Ray Cappo Guitar – Porcell Guitar – Daniel Larsson Bass – Tim Brooks Drums – Vinny PanzaThe band reunited again for a US tour and a European festival date with Sammy Siegler on drums in 2018.

Opening acts included Dave Smalley's Don't Sleep on the East Coast and DC based hardcore band GIVE in the West. Ray Cappo Dave Ware Todd Knapp Tom Capone William Knapp Jamie Whitehead Graham Land Chris Interrante Eric Dailey Vic DiCara John Porcelly Alex Garcia-Rivera Dave DiCenso Adam Blake Franklin Rhi Sri Keshava Trey Files Daniel Johansson Ken Olden Drura Parrish Conor Adam Logan Tyler Lawrence Norman Brannon Matt Malouin Bryan K. Christner Bip Bop McGillicuddy Aaron Rossi Sammy Dirksz Perry Poldervaart Cesco Willemse Philip J. Kaplan Edwin Verhiest Marc Hoogenboom Jason Grotrian Mackie Jayson Will Joyce Antonio Valladares Mike White Tim Brooks Sammy Siegler No Compromise 7" Perfection of Desire In Defense of Reality 7" Quest For Certainty Attaining The Supreme Shelter Bhajan Standard Temple Mantra Here We Go" Message of the Bhagavat 7" Whole Wide World Beyond Planet Earth Quest For Certainty Chanting & Meditations When 20 Summers Pass The Purpose, The Passion Eternal 108 – Vic DiCara, Franklin Rhi Bad Brains – Mackie Jayson 76% Uncertain – Dave Ware, Todd Knapp, William Knapp Battery – Ken Olden, Graham Land Better Than a Thousand – Ray Cappo, Ken Olden, Graham Land Beyond – Kevin Egan, Tom Capone, Vic DiCara Bold – Matt Warnke, Tom Capone, Tim Brooks Burn – Chaka Malik, Vic DiCara C.

I. A. – William Knapp Cro-Mags – Mackie Jayson Crown of Thornz- Franklin Rhi Count Us Out- Jacob Robinson Damnation A. D. – Ken Olden Face the Enemy – Ken Olden, Graham Land Far Cry – Ken Olden Fort Knox – Ken Olden Guardrail – Conor Adam Logan H2O – Adam Blake Handsome – Tom Capone Hazen St.- Mackie Jayson The Icemen- Mackie Jayson Inside Out – Zack de la Rocha, Vic DiCara Instruction – Tom Capone Issue One – Conor Adam Logan Judge – John Porcelly Last of the Famous – John Porcelly, Daniel Johansson Magic Pig – Conor Adam Logan Nausea – Roy Mayorga Never Surrender – John Porcelly Prema – Mike Corcoran Project X – John Porcelly Quicksand – Tom Capone Ray & Porcell – Ray Cappo, John Porcelly Reflex From Pain – Ray Cappo, Dave Ware, Todd Knapp, William Knapp Refuse to Fall - Damon Allen, Danny Perez Shallow – Conor Adam Logan Shiny Toy Guns – Daniel Johansson Shyster Shyster & Flywheel – Todd Knapp, William Knapp Soulfly – Roy Mayorga Stone Sour- Roy Mayorga Strife – Franklin Rhi Superfallingstars – William Knapp Versant – Daniel Johansson Violent Children – Ray Cappo When Tigers Fight – Ken Olden The Logan – Conor Adam Logan Days in Between – Conor Adam Logan Ten Times a Day – Conor Adam Logan Texas Is The Reason – Norm Arenas Victory Within – Conor Adam Logan Worlds Collide – Ken Olden, Graham Land Youth of Today – Ray Cappo, John Porcelly Animal rights and punk subculture Shelter – BandToBand.com The Vinyl Factory Revelation Records Artist Page Equal Vision Records Artist Page Victory Records Artist Page Official Facebook

The Waldenburg railway is a narrow-gauge light rail system in the canton of Basel-Landschaft. The 13.1-kilometre long single-track line runs from Liestal, the capital of the canton, to Waldenburg, with stops in Bubendorf, Hölstein and Oberdorf. It connects to SBB train services in Liestal railway station. Since 2016 the line is operated by Baselland Transport, is, with the exception of a few industrial and funicular lines, the only line in Switzerland with a track gauge of 750 mm, it was opened on 1 November 1880 and was operated by steam-hauled trains until 1953, when electric operation began. BLT is rebuilding the line to use 1,000 mm, with a planned completion in December 2022. A concession was granted by the canton of Basel-Landschaft on 18 June 1871 for the construction of a narrow gauge railway from Liestal to Waldenburg and further to Langenbruck. In 1873 the concession was altered to give the Swiss Central Railway the commission to build the railway. For financial reasons in 1876 the Swiss Central Railway requested a deadline extension.

On 25 November 1879 the Waldenburgerbahn was founded as a separate company and took over the concession for the railway from Liestal to Waldenburg. After only eight months' construction, the railway opened on 30 October 1880. Seats were provided in second- and third-class carriages. In 1881 the railway served eight stations with four journeys in each direction; the fastest journey over the whole 13 km line took 56 minutes. In 1909 a committee made an application for the construction of and operation of an electric narrow-gauge railway from Waldenburg through Langenbruck to Balsthal, with a connection from St. Wolfgang to Mümliswil; the outbreak of World War I stopped plans for the extension of the line, a 1912 proposal to electrify the line and regauge it to 1,000 mm gauge. On 26 October 1953 electric operation of the railway began, using 1500 V DC. New rolling stock was acquired for this; the current rolling stock, consisting of seven railcars and 10 control cars was acquired between 1986 and 1993, replacing the 1953 stock.

In late 2015, the government of Basel-Landschaft canton approved a plan to convert the line from 750 mm gauge to meter gauge in 2023.. This will involve extensive reconstruction at Liestal and Waldenburg; the first step was the remodelling of Talhaus station.. Automatic operation is being contemplated Waldenburgerbahn AG merged into Baselland Transport in 2016. In 2019 BLT ordered ten new light rail vehicles for use on the line after the conversion to metre gauge; the line is built to 750 mm gauge, is electrified at 1500 V DC. For most of its route, the line takes the form of a single-track roadside electric tramway. There are 11 intermediate stops, six passing loops; the journey over the whole line takes around 24 minutes. The line forms part of the Tarifverbund Nordwestschweiz common fare network, is numbered 19 in that network's publicity, but this number is not displayed on the vehicles; the line runs a half-hourly service with additional trains during peak hours. Tourist services were operated from spring to autumn by the only operating steam locomotive on the line, 1902-built Number 5 Gédéon Thommen.

With the forthcoming conversion of the line to metre gauge, the "Thommen" was retired in September 2018 and is now in a new static display at Talhaus station Rail transport in Switzerland History of rail transport in Switzerland Media related to Waldenburgerbahn at Wikimedia Commons Official website

Saint-Alban is a municipality in the Capitale-Nationale region of Quebec, Canada. The place is known for its caves and crevices, the gorge of the Sainte-Anne River; the first settlers, coming from Saint-Ambroise-de-la-Jeune-Lorette, Deschambault and Sainte-Anne-de-la-Perade, began clearing the area around 1830. In 1851, a mill was built. In 1856, the parish was founded, followed by the post office in 1857, the parish municipality in 1860, its official full name was Saint-Alban-d'Alton, named after Saint Alban, the first martyr in Britain in the third century. Alton refers to its location in the geographic township of Alton, formed in 1841, named after a town in Hampshire, England. In January 1918, the village centre itself separated from the parish municipality and was incorporated as the Village Municipality of Saint-Alban. In 1991, the parish and village municipalities merged again to form the new Municipality of Saint-Alban. On 27 April 1894, Canada's largest known landslide occurred in Saint-Alban.

Displacing 185 million cubic metres of rock and dirt, leaving a 40 metres scar, that covered 4.6 million square metres. Population trend: Population in 2011: 1225 Population in 2006: 1138 Population in 2001: 1170 Population in 1996: 1159 Population in 1991: 1176Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 552 Mother tongue: English as first language: 0% French as first language: 100% English and French as first language: 0% Other as first language: 0% Portneuf Regional Natural Park Mariages de St-Alban 1856-1900, compiled by Benoit Pontbriand, agronomist, 1965, 63 pages. Official website Media related to Saint-Alban, Quebec at Wikimedia Commons Geographic data related to Saint-Alban at OpenStreetMap

Victor Wolfgang von Hagen was an American explorer author, archaeological historian and anthropologist who traveled in South America with his wife. Between 1940 and 1965, he published a large number of acclaimed books about the ancient people of the Inca and Aztecs. Victor Wolfgang von Hagen was born on February 29, 1908 in St. Louis, the son of Henry von Hagen and Eleanor Josephine Von Hagen, he attended a college preparatory school in Chicago. He went to New York University, the San Francisco University of Quito, the University of Göttingen. During World War II he served in 13th Infantry, his first book, Off With Their Heads, was based on an eight-month stay with a tribe of head-hunters in Ecuador. He witnessed the process of shrinking heads, he traveled through Honduras and Guatemala in search of the elusive quetzal, a bird once revered by the ancient Aztecs and Mayas. He recorded his experiences in his next book, Quetzal Quest: The Story of the Capture of the Quetzal, the Sacred Bird of the Aztecs and the Mayas.

As a naturalist he was knowledgeable of the Galapagos Islands and wrote the first comprehensive study of the giant tortoise. He was an expert on the islands' plant life. Von Hagen was awarded the Orden de Merito by the Republic of Ecuador for his conservation work in the Galapagos. In the early 1950s, he went for a two-year exploration of Peru's ancient Inca roads and found the only surviving suspension bridge of this trail, his daughter, Adriana von Hagen, is co-director of a museum in Leimebamba. Alexander von Humboldt Off With Their Heads Ecuador the Unknown The Tsátchela Indians of Western Ecuador The Galapagos Islands and Charles Darwin: Notes on an Exhibition at the Bancroft Library Quetzal Quest - The Story of the Capture of the Quetzal, the Sacred Bird of the Aztec and the Mayas Jungle in the Clouds Riches of South America Riches of Central America Paper and Civilization Mexican Papermaking Plants The Jicaque Indians of Honduras The Aztec and Maya Papermakers South America Called Them: Explorations of the Great Naturalists: La Condamine, Darwin, Spruce South American Zoo F. Catherwood 1799-1854 - Architect-Explorer of Two Worlds Maya Explorer: John Lloyd Stephens and the Lost Cities of Central America and Yucatán The Green World of the Naturalists - A Treasury of Five Centuries of Natural History in South America A Guide to Lima, the Capital of Peru A Guide to Cusco A Guide to Sacsahuaman: The Fortress of Cusco Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands: A History Frederick Catherwood, Architect Huancayo and Ayacucho A Guide to Guayaquil A Guide to St Vincent A Guide to Machu Picchu The Four Seasons Of Manuela.

A Biography. The Love Story of Manuela Sàenz and Simòn Bolivar Highway of the Sun - about an expedition of discovery of the ancient roads of the Inca A Guide to Cusco and Machu Picchu Realm of the Incas The Aztec: Man and Tribe A Guide to Sacsahuaman: Ollontay-Tambo and Pisac The World of the Maya Maya, Land of the Turkey and the Deer The Ancient Sun Kingdoms of the Americas: Aztec, Inca The Incas: People of the Sun A Chronological Chart of Pre-Columbian Indian Cultures of the Americas and World Events The Desert Kingdoms of Peru Roman Roads Roads that Led to Rome The Gold of El Dorado: The Quest for the Golden Man The Incas of Pedro De Cieza De Leon Search for the Maya: The Story of Stephens and Catherwood The Germanic People in America The Royal Road of the Inca Jicaque The Sun Kingdom of the Aztecs Cuzco and Machu Picchu ABC Pocket Guide de culo Capac ñan, Schicksalsstrasse der Inkas "Victor Wolfgang Von Hagen." Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2001