Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphein, it has been called brachygraphy, from Greek brachys and tachygraphy, from Greek tachys, depending on whether compression or speed of writing is the goal. Many forms of shorthand exist. A typical shorthand system provides symbols or abbreviations for words and common phrases, which can allow someone well-trained in the system to write as as people speak. Abbreviation methods use different abbreviating approaches. Many journalists use shorthand writing to take notes at press conferences or other similar scenarios. In the computerized world, several autocomplete programs, standalone or integrated in text editors, based on word lists include a shorthand function for used phrases. Shorthand was used more in the past, before the invention of recording and dictation machines.

Shorthand was considered an essential part of secretarial training and police work and was useful for journalists. Although the primary use of shorthand has been to record oral dictation or discourse, some systems are used for compact expression. For example, healthcare professionals may use shorthand notes in medical charts and correspondence. Shorthand notes are temporary, intended either for immediate use or for typing, data entry, or transcription to longhand. Longer term uses do exist, such as encipherment: diaries are a common example; the earliest known indication of shorthand systems is from the Parthenon in Ancient Greece, where a mid-4th century BC marble slab was found. This shows a writing system based on vowels, using certain modifications to indicate consonants. Hellenistic tachygraphy is reported from the 2nd century BC onwards, though there are indications that it might be older; the oldest datable reference is a contract from Middle Egypt, stating that Oxyrhynchos gives the "semeiographer" Apollonios for two years to be taught shorthand writing.

Hellenistic tachygraphy consisted of word stem signs and word ending signs. Over time, many syllabic signs were developed. In Ancient Rome, Marcus Tullius Tiro, a slave and a freedman of Cicero, developed the Tironian notes so that he could write down Cicero's speeches. Plutarch in his "Life of Cato the Younger" records that Cicero, during a trial of some insurrectionists in the senate, employed several expert rapid writers, whom he had taught to make figures comprising numerous words in a few short strokes, to preserve Cato's speech on this occasion; the Tironian notes consisted of word ending abbreviations. The original Tironian notes consisted of about 4000 signs, but new signs were introduced, so that their number might increase to as many as 13,000. In order to have a less complex writing system, a syllabic shorthand script was sometimes used. After the decline of the Roman Empire, the Tironian notes were no longer used to transcribe speeches, though they were still known and taught during the Carolingian Renaissance.

After the 11th century, they were forgotten. When many monastery libraries were secularized in the course of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, long-forgotten manuscripts of Tironian notes were rediscovered. In imperial China, clerks used an abbreviated cursive form of Chinese characters to record court proceedings and criminal confessions; these records were used to create more formal transcripts. One cornerstone of imperial court proceedings was that all confessions had to be acknowledged by the accused's signature, personal seal, or thumbprint, requiring fast writing. Versions of this technique survived in clerical professions into the modern day, influenced by Western shorthand methods, some new methods were invented. An interest in shorthand or "short-writing" developed towards the end of the 16th century in England. In 1588 Timothy Bright published his Characterie. Bright's book was followed by a number of others, including Peter Bales' The Writing Schoolemaster in 1590, John Willis's Art of Stenography in 1602, Edmond Willis's An abbreviation of writing by character in 1618, Thomas Shelton's Short Writing in 1626.

Shelton's system became popular and is well known because it was used by Samuel Pepys for his diary and for many of his official papers, such as his letter copy books. It was used by Sir Isaac Newton in some of his notebooks. Shelton borrowed from his predecessors Edmond Willis; each consonant was represented by an arbitrary but simple symbol, while the five vowels were represented by the relative positions of the surrounding consonants. Thus the symbol for B with symbol for T drawn directly above it represented "bat", while B with T below it meant "but". A vowel at the end of a word was represented by a dot in the appropriate position, while there were additional symbols for initial vowels; this basic system was supplemented by further symbols representing common suffixes. One drawback of Shelton's system was that there was no way to distinguish long and short vowels or diphthongs; the reader needed to use the context to work o

Ernst August II Konstantin, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, was a duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. He was the second but eldest and only surviving son of Ernst August I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar by his second marriage to Margravine Sophie Charlotte of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, eldest daughter of Georg Friedrich Karl, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. Ernst August II Konstantin's father, a splendor-loving ruler with a passion for hunting, had moved his court to Eisenach; the duke neglected his son and heir, so that Ernst August II Konstantin spent his early years under the supervision of the Hofmarschall of Schloss Belvedere in Weimar. Ernst August I died in 1748. Since he was still a minor, the dukes Frederick III of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Franz Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld assumed the regency of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach on Ernst August II Konstantin's behalf; the young duke came to live with Duke Frederick in Gotha, who made sure that Ernst August II Konstantin received an appropriate education. In 1755 Ernst August II Konstantin assumed the reins of government.

He appointed the Imperial Count Heinrich von Bünau, as his new chancellor. Because the young duke had been a sickly child, he was encouraged to marry in order to ensure an heir for the duchy. In Brunswick on 16 March 1756, Ernst August II Konstantin married Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, they had two sons: Karl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Grand Duke from 21 April 1815. Frederick Ferdinand Constantine who died unmarried; when Ernst August II Konstantin died, the hereditary prince Karl August was still an infant. Ernst August Konstantin's widow, the duchess Anna Amalia, presided as regent over an excellent tutelary government which propelled Weimar into the classical period

New York State Route 302 is a state highway in northern Orange County, New York, in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at an intersection with NY 17M north of the city of Middletown in the town of Wallkill, its northern terminus is at a junction with NY 52 in the hamlet of Pine Bush, located within the town of Crawford. NY 302 begins at an intersection with NY 17M in the hamlet of Rockville within the town of Wallkill. NY 302 proceeds northeast on a two-lane residential road, crossing through the town of Wallkill and over an alignment of the New York and Western Railroad just south of a wye for the Erie Railroad's Middletown and Crawford Branch. NY 302 runs northeast into an interchange with the Quickway. NY 302 crosses over the freeway as ramps from exit 119 intersect. After NY 17, NY 302 bends northward through a small residential area southwest of the Town of Wallkill Golf Club. At an intersection with Sam Fast Road, NY 302 enters the hamlet of Circleville, passing east of Lake Henneside.

Continuing north out of Circleville, NY 302 runs through the town of Wallkill as a two-lane residential street, passing Heritage Crossing, where it crosses over the former Middletown and Crawford Branch. Continuing on its way northeast into the town of Crawford, where NY 302 enters the hamlet of Bullville. In Bullville, NY 302 is a two-lane commercial roadway, intersecting with NY 17K in the center of the hamlet. At this junction, NY 302 makes a bend to the north, before leaving Bullville and proceeding northeast through the town of Crawford as a two-lane farm road. Paralleling far to the east of the former railroad, NY 302 continues into the hamlet of Thompson Ridge. In Thompson Ridge, NY 302 is a two-lane residential street, junction with the termini of County Route 48 and CR 17 at the same intersection in the center of Thompson Ridge. After leaving Thompson Ridge, NY 302 continues north through Crawford as a two-lane farm roadway. After passing an intersection with Van Keuren Road, NY 302 bends northward into the hamlet of Pine Bush, where it becomes a two-lane residential street, passing east of Pine Bush High School just after Ulsterville Road.

After entering the center of Pine Bush, NY 302 gains the moniker of Maple Avenue, passing Crawford town hall as it bends to the northeast. A few blocks NY 302 intersects with NY 52; this intersection marks the northern terminus of NY 302, while Maple Avenue continues north several blocks through Pine Bush town-maintained. NY 302 was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York and has not been altered since. In April 2006 the deaths of four teenagers at Pine Bush High School in two separate accidents along the stretch of 302 between Roberson Avenue and Crans Mill Road just north of Bullville led the school district to ask the state Department of Transportation to do something about what residents considered a deadly stretch of highway. Since all seven of the district's schools are either on or close to the highway, its officials fear that a school bus could be involved in the next fatal accident, it has claimed other lives in recent years as well. Residents have joined the district in pleading for safety improvements, such as a lower speed limit on the whole road, the removal of large trees close to the roadway, a double yellow line banning passing in the opposite lane, a widening of the stretch and traffic lights at the intersections with Black Hawk Road and County Route 48.

Within a week of the deaths, state troopers had put up flashing warning signs at both ends of the segment. The district made available form letters on its website to DOT commissioner Thomas Madison and other elected officials in the region to request the more permanent improvements. However, many in the area said the road was not as much to blame for the accident as the teenaged drivers of the cars that crashed. A DOT study endorsed that conclusion, although the state said it would make some safety improvements. Town police began to make their presence felt along the road, stopping traffic at the spot of one of the crashes to check registration and inspection stickers for validity. While that has little to do directly with whatever caused the accidents, they expressed the hope that it would remind drivers the police were on the road and that they should thus be more careful. In 2017, after the road was repaved between Bullville and Pine Bush, DOT took the unusual step of posting a lower speed limit for northbound traffic as well as increased signage.

The Crawford police chief said he expected the improved surface would nonetheless result in more speeding, at least initially. The town board has suggested to DOT that it install a light at the intersection with Ulsterville and Black Hawk roads just south of the high school, reduce the road's grade into that intersection; the entire route is in Orange County. U. S. roads portal New York portal New York State Route 302 at Alps' Roads • New York Routes