Norwalk is a U. S. city located in southwestern Connecticut, in southern Fairfield County, on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. Norwalk lies within both the New York metropolitan area as well as the Bridgeport metropolitan area. Norwalk was settled in 1649, is the sixth most populous city in Connecticut. According to the 2010 United States Census it has had a population of 85,603. Norwalk was settled in 1649, incorporated September 1651, named after the Algonquin word noyank, meaning "point of land", or more from the native American name "Naramauke"; the Battle of Norwalk took place during the Revolutionary War, lead to the burning of most of the town. In 1836, the borough of Norwalk was created. In 1853, the first train disaster in the United States happened over the Norwalk River. During the 19th and early 20th century, Norwalk was a major railroad stop for the New York, New Haven, Hartford Railroad; the city of South Norwalk and the remaining parts of the town of Norwalk were both combined in 1910 to form the current city.

The Ku Klux Klan had a brief presence in Norwalk during the 1920s, but fell apart due to internal issues. In 1955, multiple hurricanes hit the city. During the 1970s, efforts were taken to preserve South Norwalk, resulting in the creation of the Washington Street Historic District. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 36.3 square miles, of which, 22.8 square miles of it is land and 13.5 square miles of it is water. Norwalk's topography is dominated by its coastline along Long Island Sound, the Norwalk River and its eastern and western banks, the Norwalk Islands; the highest elevation is 282 feet above sea level, at the summit of Middle Clapboard Hill in West Norwalk. As of the census of 2010, there were 85,603 people, 35,415 households, 21,630 families residing in the city; the population density was 2,358.2 inhabitants per square mile. There were 35,415 housing units at an average density of 975.6 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 68.7% White, 14.2% African American, 0.4% Native American, 4.8% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 9.0% from other races, 2.8% from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino of any race were 24.3% of the population. There were 35,415 households out of which 27.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.1% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 38.4% were non-families. 33.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.5% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size in the city was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.16. The population's spread gives 22% under the age of 18, with 7.3% from 18 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 31.2% from 45 to 64, 12.8% aged 65 years or older. The median age is 40 years. For every 100 females, there are 96.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $76,161, the median income for a family was $103,032; the per capita income for the city was $43,303. About 5.7% of families and 8.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.2% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over.

Pepperidge Farm, Frontier Communications, Booking Holdings have headquarters in Norwalk. St. George Greek Orthodox Festival, held in late August, the festival features Greek delicacies, Pontic Greek dance exhibitions and a large carnival. Round Hill Highland Games: a festival of Scottish culture and athletic events, was started in 1923 in Greenwich, CT but interrupted during World War II restarted in 1952, has been held in Norwalk's Cranbury Park on or around July 4 for a number of years. In 2006, the 83rd annual event attracted 4,000 people to hear bagpipes and watch the caber toss, the hammer throw, other events. Games for children are offered. Food and Scottish items are offered for sale. Organizers say. Beth Israel Synagogue AKA Canaan Institutional Baptist Church Saint Jerome Church Saint Joseph Church Saint Ladislaus Church Saint Mary Church Saint Matthew Church St. Philip Church Saint Thomas the Apostle Church The City of Norwalk has six taxing districts; the First, Second and Sixth taxing districts are political entities with their respective voters electing officers, holding annual business meetings, approving budgets and to consider other matters, as specified in each of their charters.

Election of Taxing District Commissioners and Treasurers by voters from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th districts take place in odd numbered years. The Fourth and Fifth districts are not counted as separate governments as they constitute the city proper; each taxing district has its own property tax rate reflecting the mix of services each receives from the city. Secondly, municipal elections of Mayor, Common Council, Board of Education and other positions are held in odd numbered years at thirteen polling places within five voting districts around the city. Voting districts are not the same for state and federal elections which are held on numbered years at twelve polling locations Norwalk's municipal government is a Weak-mayor form of a Mayor-Council government with the mayor of Norwalk elected by its voters; the city's charter gives certain administrative powers to the Council and others jointly to the Council and Mayor. The Common Council is the law-writing body of the City of Norwalk. Norwalk's common council consists of fifteen coun

The Fiji whistler is a species of bird in the family Pachycephalidae, endemic to Fiji. It was variably considered a subspecies of a widespread golden whistler. Three of the subspecies of the former white-throated whistler were lumped with the Fiji whistler in 2014 by the IOC; the Temotu whistler was considered conspecific with the Fiji whistler. Ten subspecies are recognized: P. v. kandavensis - Ramsay, 1876: Originally described as a separate species. Found on Kadavu P. v. lauana - Mayr, 1932: Found in southern Lau Islands P. v. vitiensis - Gray, G. R. 1860: Found on Gau Island P. v. bella - Mayr, 1932: Found on Vatu Vara P. v. koroana - Mayr, 1932: Found on Koro Island Taveuni whistler, or Taveuni Island golden whistler - Layard, EL, 1875: Originally described as a separate species. Found on Taveuni Island P. v. aurantiiventris - Seebohm, 1891: Originally described as a separate species. Found on Yanganga and Vanua Levu P. v. ambigua - Mayr, 1932: Found on southeast Vanua Levu and Kioa P. v. optata - Hartlaub, 1866: Originally described as a separate species.

Found on south-eastern Viti Levu and Ovalau P. v. graeffii - Hartlaub, 1866: Originally described as a separate species. Found on Waya and Viti Levu Some of the subspecies of the Fiji whistler are yellow-throated, while others are white-throated, it has been speculated that these two groups are the result of separate waves of colonisations, with the yellow-throated being the result of an early colonisation, the white-throated the result of a secondary colonisation. The yellow-throated are found on most northern and central islands, while the white-throated are found on some southern islands (Kadavu and southern Lau Islands

Samuel D. Johnson Jr. was a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Born in Hubbard, Johnson was in the United States Army as a Private during World War II, from 1942 to 1945, he received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University in 1946 and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Texas School of Law in 1949. He was in private practice in Hillsboro, Texas from 1949 to 1953, he was the county attorney of Hill County, Texas from 1953 to 1955. He was the district attorney of Hillsboro from 1955 to 1959, he was a judge of the District Court for the 66th Judicial District from 1959 to 1965. He was the Director of the Houston Legal Foundation in Houston, Texas from 1965 to 1967, he was a judge of the 14th Court of Appeals of the State of Texas from 1967 to 1973. He was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from 1973 to 1979. Johnson was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on August 10, 1979, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, to a new seat created by 92 Stat. 1629.

He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 4, 1979, received his commission on October 5, 1979. He assumed senior status on May 10, 1991. Johnson served in that capacity until his death on July 27, 2002, in Texas. Samuel D. Johnson Jr. at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center

Baccara is a female vocal duo formed in 1977 by Spanish artists Mayte Mateos and María Mendiola. The pair achieved international success with their debut single "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie", which reached number one across much of Europe and became the best-selling single of all-time by a female group selling more than 18 million copies worldwide. A successful follow-up single and European tour led to a number of album releases, numerous television appearances and the duo's selection to represent Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978. Despite a substantial following in Spain and Japan, by 1981 the duo's distinctive blend of disco and Spanish folk music was no longer fashionable, by 1983 Mayte Mateos and María Mendiola were both working on solo projects. Achieving little success as solo artists, the two formed duos of their own: separate incarnations of the original Baccara appeared during the middle of the decade, with Mendiola fronting New Baccara and Mateos keeping the duo's original name.

During the 1990s New Baccara was renamed back to Baccara. Both principals have subsequently had prolonged but separate legacy careers based on nostalgia and their earlier fame. Mendiola's Baccara has seen more international recognition, releasing a string of Hi-NRG club hits such as "Fantasy Boy" and "Touch Me" in the late 1980s and the UK club hit "Wind Beneath My Wings". Mateos' Baccara has released few new recordings, but has remained in demand for television and live appearances in countries such as Spain and Germany where the original Baccara developed a loyal fan base, performing the duo's back-catalogue and modernised versions of traditional Spanish songs. Mayte Mateos graduated as a teacher from the Royal Spanish Academy for Arts and Dance in Madrid and joined Spanish Television's Ballet Company. While there she met fellow performer María Mendiola. In 1976 the two women left the Ballet Company; the duo's act was that of variety show dancers. Their first television appearance was on the Palmarés light entertainment programme and they were engaged at a nightclub in the Aragon city of Zaragoza, but their contract was cancelled when the club manager decided that they were "too elegant" for the style of show.

Mateos and Mendiola relocated to the Canary Islands in search of work. Here they found that there was an audience for the performance of traditional Spanish music and dance in a form, adapted to suit international tastes; the duo were spotted by Leon Deane, manager of the German subsidiary of record company RCA, whilst performing flamenco dance and traditional Spanish songs for tourists in the Tres Islas Hotel on the island of Fuerteventura. He invited them to Hamburg in order for them to meet the 30‑year‑old Dutch producer/composer Rolf Soja. Soja was the prime mover behind, he recruited their instrumental support. Mateos and Mendiola were retitled Baccara, after the name of the black rose, in reference to the women's dark Spanish appearance. Soja is credited with the Baccara formula—consisting of breathy lyrics, lush backing, a disco beat and the striking image of two women dancing. While drawing on Spanish flamenco song and dance tradition, the formula was much rooted in 1970s disco music. Soja's song arrangements used Mateos as the lead singer while Mendiola contributed backing and refrains.

Together with fellow writer Frank Dostal, Soja penned their début single "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" and most of their other 1970s hits. Recorded in the Netherlands and released in 1977, "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" was an enormous pan-European hit and was a prime example of the phenomenon, known as the "summer hit", it is an example of the Euro disco genre, described in The Independent newspaper in 1999 as follows: This mind-bending Common Market melding of foreign accents, bad diction, bizarre arrangements and lightweight production top-heavy with strings "Yes Sir, …" reached the top of the charts in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden and Switzerland, number three in France. Baccara sold more than 16 million copies of "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" and featured in the 1977 edition of the Guinness Book of Records as the highest-selling female musical duo to date, they were the first female duo to reach number one in the UK, had the only number one by a Spanish artist in the UK until Julio Iglesias, four years later.

That year, a self-titled album and produced by Soja and Dostal, was released. The album Baccara was the first platinum selling album - double platinum in 1978 - by a foreign group in Finland. In 2013, the album still remains the 6th biggest selling album of all time in Finland. A follow-up single, "Sorry, I'm a Lady", was an international hit, peaking at the top of the charts in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium and reaching the top ten in the UK, Sweden and Switzerland. Most of Baccara's recordings were sung in English although they recorded in Spanish and French, they recorded different language versions of some songs. Touring in Europe during the late 1970s helped the duo establish a firm fan base in Germany and the Scandinavian countries, their Spanish-flavoured interpretation of the disco sound brought them recognition in Japan and Russia. Baccara represented West Germany at the eighth World Popular Song Festival held in November 1977 – until it ended in 1989 the largest

Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 11th Baronet, FRS was a British educational reformer and a politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1837 and 1886 as a Tory and after an eighteen-year gap, as a Liberal. Acland was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet and the former Lydia Elizabeth Hoare. Among his siblings was prominent physician, Sir Henry Wentworth Acland, politician John Acland, his paternal grandparents were 9th Baronet and his wife Henrietta Anne Hoare. His maternal grandfather was Henry Hoare, a partner in the banking firm of C. Hoare & Co, he was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, where he was friends with William Ewart Gladstone and Lord Elgin among others. He was a major in the Royal 1st Devonshire Yeomanry Cavalry. In 1839 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1837, Acland entered Parliament for Somerset West as a Tory. During the tensions within the Tory party in the 1840s over the Corn Laws, Acland supported Sir Robert Peel's free trade policy, he did not stand for Parliament in the 1847 general election and was to remain out of the House of Commons for nearly twenty years.

Acland commitment to educational reform. He promoted the maintenance and defence of church schools and the establishment of diocesan theological colleges. However, he became a supporter of educational projects of a more Liberal character and played a leading role in the establishment of the Oxford local examinations system in 1858, he was involved in agricultural issues and was a Trustee of the Royal Agricultural Society. Acland was influential in the recruitment of Augustus Voelcker as consultant agricultural chemist to the Royal Bath and West of England Society around 1849. Acland was Honorary Colonel 3rd Volunteer Bn Devonshire Regiment and a J. P. for Devon and Somerset. He was defeated by John Bright. In 1865, Acland returned to the House of Commons as a Liberal when he was elected as one of two representatives for Devonshire North. Between 1869 and 1874, he served as a Church Estates Commissioner, he never held ministerial office but was sworn of the Privy Council in 1883. The Devonshire North constituency was abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 and Acland was instead returned to Parliament for Wellington.

He voted for the First Home Rule Bill in June 1885 and this led to him being defeated at the 1886 general election. Apart from his public career Acland was a patron of art, he was an early admirer of John Everett Millais. Acland married firstly Mary Mordaunt, daughter of Sir Charles Mordaunt, 8th Baronet, in 1841. Before her death in 1851, they had three sons and two daughters, including: Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 12th Baronet, who married Gertrude Walrond, a daughter of Sir John Walrond, 1st Baronet. Mary Lydia Acland, who married the Rev. Richard Hart-Davis in 1872. Sir Arthur Dyke Acland, 13th Baronet, who married Alice Cunningham, a daughter of Rev. Francis Macaulay Cunningham. Agnes Henrietta Acland, who married Frederick Henry Anson, son of Rev. Frederick Anson, he married secondly Mary Erskine, only surviving child of John Erskine, in 1856. This marriage was childless. Lady Acland died in May 1892. Acland survived her by six years and died in May 1898, aged 89, he was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son Thomas, a politician.

Acland's second son Arthur, who succeeded to the baronetcy in 1919 had a successful political career. "Acland, Thomas Dyke". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1901. Kidd, Williamson, David. Debrett's Baronetage. New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, Leigh Rayment's list of baronets Lundy, Darryl. "FAQ". The Peerage. Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Thomas Acland "Archival material relating to Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 11th Baronet". UK National Archives. "Historic People". Plymouth Athenaeum. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014

USS Holmes County was an LST-542-class tank landing ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named after counties in Florida and Ohio, she was the only U. S. Naval vessel to bear the name. Laid down as LST-836 by the American Bridge Company of Ambridge, Pennsylvania on 11 September 1944. After shakedown off Florida, LST-836 loaded ammunition and cement departed New Orleans on 2 January 1945, she unloaded the cargo at Balboa, Panama in the Canal Zone, proceeded to San Diego, arriving on the 23rd. In early February she sailed for Hawaii, where she trained, embarked troops steamed to the Marshall Islands. Following three weeks of preparation in the Marshalls and Carolines, the landing ship departed Ulithi on 12 April for Okinawa. With the battle for this strategic base well underway, LST-836 arrived six days later. For the rest of the war, she shuttled cargo and troops throughout the Pacific. Returning to the United States LST-836 arrived San Francisco on 19 January 1946. Following four years in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, LST-836 recommissioned at Bremerton, Washington on 3 November 1950 with Lieutenant Thomas J. McLaughlin in command.

After refresher training she sailed for the Far East. Arriving Yokosuka on 28 March 1951, the veteran landing ship was once again assigned to a battle zone and for the next eight months shuttled cargo and troops between Japan and various Korean ports. After a brief stateside overhaul in early 1952, LST-836 departed San Diego on 24 July for operations in conjunction with the first hydrogen bomb tests in the Marshall Islands. From August to November she aided scientists, she returned to San Diego. Arriving at Yokosuka on 22 April, LST-836 commenced cargo runs from the staging areas to Inchon; when the fighting ended, LST-836 remained in the Far East to transport cargo to the United Nations peacekeeping force stationed in Korea. From 1954 to 1959 she made three WestPac cruises and participated in training operations along the West Coast. On 1 July 1955 LST-836 was renamed USS Holmes County. Following a FRAM overhaul in late 1959, the landing ship was assigned to the Pacific Amphibious Force, for the next five years Holmes County engaged in amphibious exercises along the West Coast and in the Hawaiian Islands.

On 11 October 1965 Holmes County left San Diego for operations in Southeast Asia. She arrived at Da Nang, South Vietnam on 22 November and operated there for the rest of the year and into 1966. On 29 March 1966, after 89 days in the combat zone, Holmes County steamed for Yokosuka, for upkeep before starting the 5,500-mile journey home. Holmes County received the following message from Commander 7th Fleet: "As you depart 7th Fleet Intra-Coastal Task Unit, be assured you leave behind an admiration for the extraordinary work you have done this cruise." On 26 May Holmes County arrived home. After serving in the San Diego area for four months, she participated in the Fleet Exercise "Operation Base Line" in October; this was one of the largest peacetime operations conducted by the Pacific Fleet. Holmes County returned to Vietnam, operating in that theatre until at least 1970. USS Holmes County was transferred on loan to the Republic of Singapore Navy on 1 July in 1971, being renamed as RSS Endurance.

The ship was sold outright to Singapore on 5 December in 1975. RSS Endurance, along with four other ex-US Navy LSTs sold to Singapore by the USA at around the same period of time, served as part of the RSN's 191 Squadron of the 3rd Flotilla, with its main roles being transporting Singapore Army troops and personnel to training facilities abroad, rescue-and-aid operations, supply missions as well as for officer-cadet training programmes conducted overseas; the Endurance was re-engined with MTU diesel-powered ship-engines during her service with the Singapore Navy. Following the commissioning of the new RSS Endurance into the Singapore Navy in 1999, she was decommissioned from active service for the last time in that same year, along with her sister ships, RSS Excellence, RSS Intrepid, RSS Resolution and RSS Persistence. With the exception of the RSS Resolution, now moored at Tuas Naval Base for use as a training ship, all four ex-US Navy LSTs are employed as floating sea-defense barricades for Changi Naval Base.

LST-836 received one battle star for World War II service, three stars for the Korean War, 11 campaign stars for her service in Vietnam. Notes "LST-836 Holmes County". Amphibious Photo Archive. Retrieved 24 July 2007; this article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here. R