Agnolo Ambrogini known by his nickname Poliziano, was an Italian classical scholar and poet of the Florentine Renaissance. His scholarship was instrumental in the divergence of Renaissance Latin from medieval norms and for developments in philology, his nickname, Poliziano, by which he is chiefly identified to the present day, was derived from the Latin name of his birthplace, Montepulciano. Poliziano's works include translations of passages from Homer's Iliad, an edition of the poetry of Catullus and commentaries on classical authors and literature, it was his classical scholarship that brought him the attention of the wealthy and powerful Medici family that ruled Florence. He served the Medici as a tutor to their children, as a close friend and political confidante, his poetry, including La Giostra, glorified his patrons. He used his didactic poem Manto, written in the 1480s, as an introduction to his lectures on Virgil. Poliziano was born as Angelo Ambrogini in Montepulciano, in central Tuscany in 1454.

His father Benedetto, a jurist of good family and distinguished ability, was murdered by political antagonists for adopting the cause of Piero de' Medici in Montepulciano. At the age of ten, after the premature death of his father, Poliziano began his studies at Florence, as the guest of a cousin. There he learned the classical languages of Greek. From Marsilio Ficino he learned the rudiments of philosophy. At 13 he began to circulate Latin letters. In 1470 he won the title of homericus adulescens by translating books II-V of the Iliad into Latin hexameters. Lorenzo de' Medici, the autocrat of Florence and the chief patron of learning in Italy at the time, took Poliziano into his household, made him the tutor of his children, among which were Piero the Unfortunate and Giovanni, the future Pope Leo X; the humanistic content of his lessons brought him into constant conflict with Clarice. Lorenzo secured him a distinguished post at the University of Florence. During this time, Poliziano lectured at the Platonic Academy under the leadership of Marsilio Ficino, at the Careggi Villa.

Among Poliziano's pupils could be numbered the chief students of Europe, the men who were destined to carry to their homes the spolia opima of Italian culture. He educated students from Germany and Portugal, it was the method of professors at that period to read the Greek and Latin authors with their class, dictating philological and critical notes, emending corrupt passages in the received texts, offering elucidations of the matter, teaching laws, manners and philosophical opinions of the ancients. Poliziano covered nearly the whole ground of classical literature during his tenure, published the notes of his courses upon Ovid, Statius, Pliny the Younger, Quintilian, he undertook a recension of the text of Justinian II's Pandects and lectured about it. This recension influenced the Roman code. Poliziano wrote a letter to John II of Portugal paying him a profound homage: to render you thanks on behalf of all who belong to this century, which now favours of your quasi-divine merits, now boldly competing with ancient centuries and all Antiquity.and considering his achievements to be of merit above Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar.

He offered himself to write an epic work giving an account of John II's accomplishments in navigation and conquests. The king delayed the commission; the epic work regarding Portuguese discoveries was only written one hundred years by Luís de Camões. Poliziano spent his final years without other worries, studying philosophy. Piero the Unfortunate asked Pope Alexander VI to make him a cardinal, it is that Poliziano was homosexual, or at least had male lovers, he never married. Evidence includes denunciations of sodomy made to the Florentine authorities and letters of contemporaries, allusions within his work and the circumstances of his death; the last suggests he was killed by a fever, exacerbated by standing under the windowsill of a boy he was infatuated with despite being ill. He may have been a lover of Pico della Mirandola, but it is just as that his death was precipitated by the loss of his friend and patron Lorenzo de' Medici in April 1492, Poliziano himself dying on 24 September 1494, just before the foreign invasion gathering in France swept over Italy.

In 2007, the bodies of Poliziano and Pico della Mirandola were exhumed from the Church of San Marco in Florence to establish the causes of their deaths. Forensic tests showed that both Poliziano and Pico died of arsenic poisoning the order of Lorenzo's successor, Piero de' Medici. Poliziano was well known as a scholar, a professor, a critic, a Latin poet in an age when the classics were still studied with assimilative curiosity, not with the scientific industry of a period, he was the representative of that age of scholarship in which students drew their ideal of life from antiquity. He was known as an Italian poet, a contemporary of Ariosto. At the same time he was busy as a translator from the Greek, his versions of Epictetus, Galen, Plutarch's Eroticus and Plato's Charmides distinguished him as a writer. Of these learned labors, the most universally acceptable to the public of that time were a series of discursive essays on philology and criticism, first published

Patricia Van Pelt Watkins is a member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 5th district, located on the West Side of Chicago. Prior to her service as a member of the Illinois Senate she was a community activist and ran for Mayor of Chicago. Van Pelt was raised in the Cabrini Green's public housing. Inspired by her mother's ability to work, raise her children and go to school, she took a job as a steelworker while taking classes at Truman College, she earned a bachelor's in public administration and became a CPA after taking accounting classes at DePaul University. Using her life experience and education, she founded Target Development Corp which worked to improve communities; this including teaching residents how to peacefully evict drug dealers from their neighborhoods. In 2009, she earned a doctorate degree in management of non profit organizations from Capella University. In 2010, Van Pelt announced that she was going to run for mayor in order to bring ideas to the forefront, forgotten about.

During the campaign, she was accused of "being strung out on crack for twenty years," by candidate and former US Senator Carol Moseley Braun, which Watkins credits to her future political success. She finished fifth on election day. After the election, Van Pelt was appointed by the Illinois State Board of Education to the State Charter School Commission for a term ending November 1, 2013; the State Charter School Commission authorizes charter schools throughout the State schools designed to expand opportunities for at-risk students. In 2011, Van Pelt announced that she would challenge Annazette Collins for the Illinois Senate's 5th district. During the primary election she was endorsed by several aldermen from the fifth district, the Chicago Journal. Aldermanic endorsements included Bob Fioretti. Fioretti stated, she will roll her sleeves up and research the issues and make the right decisions for all the people. She won't be beholden to the special interests that control Springfield right now."

She was endorsed by Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who supported Collins, after Collins's corruption came to the forefront. Van Pelt beat Collins by a 54%-46% margin. Van Pelt was sworn in on January 9, 2013. Biography and committees at the 98th Illinois General Assembly By session: 99th, 98th Illinois State Senator Van Pelt legislative website Senator Patricia Van Pelt Watkins at Illinois Senate Democrats Patricia Van Pelt Watkins for Senate campaign website Profile at Vote Smart

Convoy ON 127 was a trade convoy of merchant ships during the second World War. It was the 127th of the numbered series of ON convoys Outbound from the British Isles to North America and the only North Atlantic trade convoy of 1942 or 1943 where all U-boats deployed against the convoy launched torpedoes; the ships departed Liverpool on 4 September 1942 and were met at noon on 5 September by the Royal Canadian Navy Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group C-4 consisting of the Canadian River-class destroyer Ottawa and the Town-class destroyer St. Croix with the Flower-class corvettes Amherst, Arvida and Celandine. St. Croix's commanding officer, acting Lieutenant Commander A. H. "Dobby" Dobson RCNR, was the senior officer of the escort group. The Canadian ships carried. Celandine carried Type 271 centimeter-wavelength radar. None of the ships carried HF/DF high-frequency direction finding sets; as western Atlantic coastal convoys brought an end to the second happy time, Admiral Karl Dönitz, the Befehlshaber der U-Boote or commander in chief of U-Boats, shifted focus to the mid-Atlantic to avoid aircraft patrols.

Although convoy routing was less predictable in the mid-ocean, Dönitz anticipated that the increased numbers of U-boats being produced would be able to search the area with the advantage of intelligence gained through B-Dienst decryption of British Naval Cypher Number 3. However, only 20 percent of the 180 trans-Atlantic convoys sailing from the end of July 1942 until the end of April 1943 lost ships to U-boat attack. Wolf pack Vorwarts was forming about 500 miles west of Ireland. U-91, U-92, U-96, U-211, U-218, U-380, U-404, U-407, U-411, U-584, U-594, U-608, U-659 formed a search line across the convoy's path just beyond the range of land-based aircraft. U-584 lost contact that evening. U-96 regained contact on 10 September and torpedoed the Norwegian tanker Svene, the tanker F. J. Wolfe and the Belgian freighter Elisabeth van Belgie in a single submerged daylight attack. Sherbrooke fell back to aid the torpedoed ships while St. Croix and Celandine searched unsuccessfully for U-96. F. J. Wolfe was able to regain its station with the convoy.

Ottawa continued to patrol astern of the convoy after St. Croix and Celandine resumed their normal patrol stations. A coordinated night attack on the convoy began with U-659 torpedoing the British tanker Empire Oil on the evening of 10 September. St. Croix made SONAR contact prior to the attack and Celandine, St. Croix searched for U-659 after the attack. St. Croix and Ottawa fell back to rescue 23 of the stricken tanker's crew of 41. U-404 torpedoed the tanker Marit II, U-608 launched torpedoes which missed the convoy, U-218 torpedoed the tanker Fjordaas, U-92 and U-594 launched torpedoes which missed the convoy before Ottawa, St. Croix, Celandine rejoined the convoy. Sherbrooke remained astern of the convoy aiding the ships torpedoed by U-96, rescued all but one of the crew of the sinking Svene and Elisabeth van Belgie; the remaining escorts counter-attacked, depth charge damage forced U-659 and U-218 to return to port. Both Marit II and Fjordaas were able to regain their stations in the convoy.

Empire Oil was sunk astern of the convoy by U-584. None of the escorts' RADAR sets were functional on 11 September. U-584 torpedoed the Norwegian Hindanger in a submerged daylight attack while St. Croix investigated a visual sighting six miles distant. Amherst rescued all but one of Hindanger's crew. A B-24 Liberator patrol bomber of No. 120 Squadron RAF prevented further daylight attacks on 11 September but U-96 sank a 415-ton Portuguese sailing trawler by gunfire in the vicinity of the convoy. In coordinated night attacks, U-380 missed with a salvo of four torpedoes, U-211 torpedoed the British whale factory ship Hektoria and freighter Empire Moonbeam, U-92 missed Ottawa with four torpedoes and U-404 torpedoed the tanker Daghild before Amherst and Sherbrooke rejoined the convoy. Daghild maintained station in the convoy and Arvida rescued all but four of the 140 crewmen from Hektoria and Empire Moonbeam before those ships were sunk astern of the convoy by U-608. Excellent visibility on 12 September allowed a close forward screen of four escorts to discourage U-boats sighted up to 7 miles away.

U-407 and U-594 launched torpedoes unsuccessfully that night. U-594 sank the straggling Stone Street as the convoy came within range of Canadian Canso patrol bombers from Botland, Newfoundland on 13 September; the escort was reinforced at dusk by the Town-class destroyer HMCS Annapolis and the V and W-class destroyer HMS Witch from the Newfoundland-based Western Local Escort Force. Both U-91 and U-411 launched torpedoes unsuccessfully while U-91 torpedoed the Canadian River-class destroyer HMCS Ottawa in the pre-dawn hours of 14 September. Ottawa sank with 114 of its crew; the remainder of the convoy reached New York City on 20 September 1942. Convoy Battles of World War II Blair, Clay. Hitler's U-Boat War The Hunted 1942–1945. Random House. ISBN 0-679-45742-9. Hague, Arnold; the Allied Convoy System 1939–1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-019-3. Lenton, H. T.. J.. British and Dominion Warships of World War Two. Doubleday and Company. Milner, Marc. North Atlantic Run. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-450-0.

Rohwer, J.. Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-105-X. Tarrant, V. E.. The U-Boat Offensive 1914–1945. Arms and Armour. ISBN 1-85409-520-X

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is a platforming video game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It was released in Japan in December 2004, in Europe in February 2005, in North America and Australia in March 2005. In 2008 and 2009, the game was re-released in the New Play Control! Series of revamped GameCube titles. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is played with the DK Bongos; the Wii version of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is somewhat changed from the original GameCube version, including new levels, modifications of old levels, traditional controls that have the player use the analog stick to move and the A button to jump, unlike the GameCube version which required the player to beat the bongos to do both. Takashi Nagasako, who did the voice of Ganondorf in The Legend of Zelda series, does the voice of Donkey Kong and has continued the role in the years that have followed. Gameplay involves combat and counterattacking. While the traditional GameCube controllers are compatible, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat uses a pair of bongo drums to control Donkey Kong's actions.

Hitting the left drum causes DK to move left, while hitting the right drum causes him to move right. Hitting both drums at the same time causes DK to jump. Clapping one's hands or hitting the sides of the drums causes DK to clap, which has various consequences depending on the situation; this is a unique game in the nature of play. The goal is to get "beats", as possible. Beats are obtained by grabbing bananas during gameplay, lost by getting hurt or touching the ground; the player can obtain additional beats by performing combos while grabbing the bananas. For example, three combo moves will earn four beats for each banana collected. Combos can go as high as 30. Time records can be earned for stages and for racing sections of stages. DK can perform moves such as backflips, the ground-pound, vine swinging, corner hopping, wall jumping, he can use other objects and animals in the game to add to the combo score. When performing "combo-moves", a counter is started, rising with each successive combo move acquired before landing.

The combo counter is lost when DK is hurt or falls, all beats are lost. If DK's beat count reaches zero, he will have to restart the level. In the Wii version of the game, hearts represent DK's health instead of the beats, there are extra lives and checkpoints throughout the level. Clapping or making any other noise that the microphone in the Bongos picks up makes DK clap his hands; the hand clap produces a small red one and a giant green one. Enemies in the small red ring are defeated, those in the larger green ring are stunned. Stunned enemies can be jumped on and defeated by hitting the bongos repeatedly. Any bananas in the small red ring are grabbed in a chain, each incremented in value relative to the last; the level system consists of several "kingdoms". Each kingdom contains three platforming levels; the first two sometimes contain racing and puzzle elements, which the final "boss" stage contains a fight against a large enemy. The beats obtained in the previous two levels are used as health for the fight against the boss, the aim is to beat the boss without taking too many hits, lowering your beat count.

There are many different types of each requiring different tactics to beat. For example, fights with other gorillas are fought in a Punch-Out!!-style bout, while battles against elephants require throwing back bombs that they fire. The gameplay relies on rhythm elements, such as clapping at the right time to get all of the bananas in an area, or incapacitate a boss. Between each level, there is a short minigame where the player must tap the bongos as fast as they can to earn extra bananas; the exception to this are levels in which DK rides a wildebeest, in which case the minigame is to either fly the farthest from a jump, or stay on high ground long enough to collect many bananas without touching the ground. At the end of the kingdom, the total sum of beats is tallied up. Completing a kingdom earns a crest, while additional crests are earned by achieving certain amounts of beats. Crests are required to play new kingdoms, determined by the number shown. Clearing all the kingdoms in a section unlocks the next set of kingdoms.

Players can revisit earlier levels thus earning more crests. Shigeru Miyamoto told Yoshiaki Koizumi that they should make a Donkey Kong game. Development began in July 2003. Soon, Miyamoto directed the two developers to a meeting featuring the Bongo controller, which at the time was only compatible with Donkey Konga, they were shown how the controller took a pair of the bongos with them. Most of Koizumi's earlier work had focused on character and camera controls, so he started to think of ways the bongo peripheral could simplify the platform game's control scheme. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat received "generally favorable" reviews across both its releases. Most reviewers considered it fun to play but rather short given the retail price, it was praised for its wide appeal. IGN praised the GameCube version's graphics, saying, "DK's fur makes StarFox Adventures' models look primitive". Criticisms include the game's short length, despite the replayability offered by the score system in levels. There were complaints of rep

Excel Academy was a coeducational therapeutic boarding school located in Conroe, established circa 1998 and operated by the Aspen Education Group beginning in 2001. Excel Academy was accredited by the Southern Association of Schools; the school enrolled adolescents with behavioral issues and provided a college preparatory high school curriculum and treatment based on the 12-step philosophy. Beginning with the 2007-2008 school year, Excel limited new enrollment to students with no history of conduct disorders and whose history included substance abuse as a primary issue; the school had required some students to wear orange jumpsuits, but the practice was discontinued in the 2007-2008 school year. In January 2008 a Montgomery County sheriff's deputy, moonlighting at Excel Academy was fired by the county and indicted on charges of official oppression and unlawful restraint after an incident in which he was alleged to have thrown a male student to the ground, handcuffed him, taken him to the county jail.

At the jail, inmates undressed the boy and applied Vaseline to his back. In April 2009 the policeman was sentenced to one year of deferred adjudication. In October 2008 Aspen Education Group announced that Excel Academy of Texas would close as of November 21, 2008. TC Fleming - Radio Personality Excel Academy website

John Scott was a warrant officer in the Royal Navy. He served as his secretary in HMS Victory, he was present at the Battle of Trafalgar. Not much is known about Scott but letters kept by Lady Hamilton indicate that they knew each other well. Scott gave Emma news of Nelson and she in turn appears to have taken his wife under her wing, it was through her. Scott spent time with Nelson and Emma at their home, during a brief spell of shore leave in the summer of 1805. Scott served as purser of HMS Royal Sovereign before transferring to Victory in May 1803, a transfer that Nelson requested, they served together throughout the long campaign. Assisted by a small team of clerks, John Scott acted as Nelson's principal secretary, dealing with most of the public correspondence. Foreign and confidential mail was handled by the Rev. Alexander Scott. Just prior to the Battle of Trafalgar, Victory's surgeon William Beatty was one of the many officers concerned by the conspicuous dress of Lord Nelson, it was Scott who advised Beatty to keep his thoughts to himself, remarking, "Take care doctor, what you are about.

I would not be the man to mention such a matter to him". At Trafalgar, Scott was stationed on the quarter deck of Victory, next to Nelson, it would have been his job to record the battle but one of the first cannonballs to reach Victory, cut him in half, killing him immediately. When Captain Adair of the marines and a seaman rushed forward to remove the corpse, Nelson asked, "Is that poor Scott, gone?" Adair nodded. "Poor Scott", Nelson added. The body was thrown overboard, as was the custom, but the not inconsiderable amount of blood remained on the deck; when Nelson was shot an hour and half he fell on the same spot and thus the blood that stained his breeches, now displayed in the National Maritime Museum, was Scott's not Nelson's as so is supposed. Nelson valued Scott, writing in a testimonial, "...as a secretary for ability and regularity I believe your superior is not to be met with"