In the United States, a Social Security number is a nine-digit number issued to U. S. citizens, permanent residents, temporary residents under section 205 of the Social Security Act, codified as 42 U. S. C. § 405. The number is issued to an individual by the Social Security Administration, an independent agency of the United States government. Although the original purpose for the number was for the Social Security Administration to track individuals, the Social Security number has become a de facto national identification number for taxation and other purposes. A Social Security number may be obtained by applying on Form SS-5, Application for a Social Security Number Card. Social Security numbers were first issued by the Social Security Administration in November 1935 as part of the New Deal Social Security program. Within three months, 25 million numbers were issued. On November 24, 1936, 1,074 of the nation's 45,000 post offices were designated "typing centers" to type up Social Security cards that were sent to Washington, D.
C. On December 1, 1936, as part of the publicity campaign for the new program, Joseph L. Fay of the Social Security Administration selected a record from the top of the first stack of 1,000 records and announced that the first Social Security number in history was assigned to John David Sweeney, Jr. of New Rochelle, New York. However, since the Social Security numbers were not assigned in chronological order, Sweeney did not receive the lowest Social Security number, 001-01-0001; that distinction belongs to Grace D. Owen of New Hampshire. Before 1986, people did not obtain a Social Security number until the age of about 14, since the numbers were used for income tracking purposes, those under that age had substantial income; the Tax Reform Act of 1986 required parents to list Social Security numbers for each dependent over the age of 5 for whom the parent wanted to claim a tax deduction. Before this act, parents claiming tax deductions were trusted not to lie about the number of children they supported.
During the first year of the Tax Reform Act, this anti-fraud change resulted in seven million fewer minor dependents being claimed. The disappearance of these dependents is believed to have involved either children who never existed or tax deductions improperly claimed by non-custodial parents. In 1988, the threshold was lowered to two years old, in 1990, the threshold was lowered yet again to one year old. Today, an SSN is required regardless of the child's age to receive an exemption. Since parents have applied for Social Security numbers for their children soon after birth; the original purpose of this number was to track individuals' accounts within the Social Security program. It has since come to be used as an identifier for individuals within the United States, although rare errors occur where duplicates do exist; as numbers are now assigned by the central issuing office of the SSA, it is unlikely that duplication will occur again. A few duplications did occur when prenumbered cards were sent out to regional SSA offices and Post Offices.
Employee, patient and credit records are sometimes indexed by Social Security number. The U. S. Armed Forces has used the Social Security number as an identification number for Army and Air Force personnel since July 1, 1969, the Navy and Marine Corps for their personnel since January 1, 1972, the Coast Guard for their personnel since October 1, 1974; the United States military used a much more complicated system of service numbers that varied by service. Beginning in June 2011, DOD began removing the Social Security number from military identification cards, it is replaced by a unique DOD identification number known as the EDIPI. Social Security was a universal tax, but when Medicare was passed in 1965, objecting religious groups in existence prior to 1951 were allowed to opt out of the system; because of this, not every American is part of the Social Security program, not everyone has a number. However, a Social Security number is required for parents to claim their children as dependents for federal income tax purposes, the Internal Revenue Service requires all corporations to obtain SSNs from their employees, as described below.
The Old Order Amish have fought to prevent universal Social Security by overturning rules such as a requirement to provide a Social Security number for a hunting license. Social Security cards printed from January 1946 until January 1972 expressly stated that people should not use the number and card for identification. Since nearly everyone in the United States now has an SSN, it became convenient to use it anyway and the message was removed. Since Social Security numbers have become de facto national identification numbers. Although some people do not have an SSN assigned to them, it is becoming difficult to engage in legitimate financial activities such as applying for a loan or a bank account without one. While the government cannot require an individual to disclose their SSN without a legal basis, companies may refuse to provide service to an individual who does not provide an SSN; the card on which an SSN is issued is still not suitable for primary identification as it has no photograph, no physical description, no birth date.
All it does is confirm. Instead, a driver's license or state ID card is used as an identification for adults. Internal Revenue Code section 6109 provides: "The social security account number issued to an individual for purposes of section 205 of the Social Security Act shall, excep
Parkia biglobosa known as the African locust bean is a perennial deciduous tree of the family Fabaceae. It is found in a wide range of environments in Africa and is grown for its pods that contain both a sweet pulp and valuable seeds. Where the tree is grown, the crushing and fermenting of these seeds constitutes an important economic activity. Various parts of the locust bean tree are used for food purposes; as a standing tree, locust bean may have a positive effect on the yield of other nearby crops. Parkia biglobosa is a dicotyledonous angiosperm belonging the family Fabaceae, it is categorized under vascular plants. It is a deciduous perennial that grows to between 7 and 20 metres high, in some cases up to 30 metres; the tree is a fire-resistant heliophyte characterized by a thick dark gray-brown bark. The pods of the tree referred to as locust beans, are pink in the beginning and turn dark brown when mature, they are 30-40 centimetres long with some reaching lengths of about 45 centimetres.
Each pod can contain up to 30 seeds. In West Africa the bark, leaves, flowers and seeds are used in traditional medicine to treat a wide diversity of complaints, both internally and externally, sometimes in combination with other medicinal plants; the bark is most important for medicinal uses, followed by the leaves. Medicinal applications include the treatment of parasitic infections, circulatory system disorders, such as arterial hypertension, disorders of the respiratory system, digestive system and skin. In veterinary medicine, a root decoction is used to treat coccidiosis in poultry. Green pods are added to rivers to kill fish; the tree locust bean was first written of by Michael Adamson in 1757’s West Africa. The use of fermented locust beans in Africa, dates as far back as the 14th century. Geographically, Parkia biglobosa can be found in a belt stretching from the Atlantic coast in Senegal to southern Sudan and northern Uganda; the tree exists within a wide range of natural communities but is most abundant in anthropic communities – places where cultivation is semi-permanent.
Annual production of seeds in northern Nigeria is estimated at around 200 000t. While the products of the tree are not common in international trade, they form an important part of local and regional trade in West Africa; the seeds are prized, much trade occurs locally in the Sahel region where they are transferred between borders. There are two types of seed within each pod -- dark; the ratio between these seeds varies with darker seeds outnumbering lighter seeds. Reddish-dark seeds have a thinner coat and they germinate earlier than black seeds that haven’t first been acid treated. “Dark seeds have a harder seed coat and require various pretreatments to ensure good germination rates.”Although the seeds’ usual germination rate has been reported at 75%, germination can be improved by scalding for about 7 minutes soaking seeds in hot water overnight prior to planting. Locust tree seedlings “can be established vegetatively in nursery beds by grafting or budding, or by rooting adult cuttings.” These methods have shown good results in 11 - to 25-year-old trees in Burkina Nigeria.
After the initial sowing into seed beds, seedlings at 3 days old can be transplanted into pots. Seedlings reach 20-25 centimetres tall after 20 weeks in the nursery, at which point they can be planted out into the field. Preliminary ploughing “contributes to proper establishment of seedlings in the field with a success rate of 82% four years” in some cases after planting. Seeds can be treated with concentrated sulphuric acid “in a concentration of 97% for 10 minutes and immersed in water for 24 hours to break their dormancy period.”Seedlings grow comparatively fast – they can reach a height of 1 metre in just 1 year. They will begin to flower at 5–7 years during the dry season in the Sahel, while occurring earlier in less dry regions; the tree is pollinated by bats, but can occur by way of “honeybees, wasps, tenebrionid beetles and tettigometid bugs.” Fruiting can occur at anywhere from 5–10 years, they will start to ripen just before the first rains and continue over most of the season. Foliage of locust bean has been found to contribute to soil fertility improvement.
In one experiment, the isolated relative effect of locust bean in the third year of the experiment was 86%, compared to 138% for neem, a related tree. The relative index of soil productivity during this time appreciated for locust bean, as well as the accumulation of P and organic C compared with neem. Shade tolerance of other crops planted. In a 2-year experiment on shading, Parkia biglobosa was “found to have suppressive effects on vegetative growth and yield of pearl millet in both years.” Eggplant yields were suppressed by trees to between one third and one tenth of the yield in controlled plots, which themselves were damaged by rain. Despite this, chilli pepper yields increased by up to 150% under the canopy of the locust bean tree; the tree of the African locust bean requires “between 0-300 metres of altitude, a mean annual rainfall of between 400-700 millimetres and a mean annual temperature of about 2
Wen-Ying Tsai was an American pioneer cybernetic sculptor and kinetic artist best known for creating sculptures using electric motors, stainless steel rods, stroboscopic light, audio feedback control. As one of the first Chinese-born artists to achieve international recognition in the 1960s, Tsai was an inspiration to generations of Chinese artists around the world. Wen-Ying Tsai was born in 1928 in Xiamen, Fujian and emigrated to the United States in 1950, where he attended the University of Michigan, receiving a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering in 1953. Moving to New York City after graduation, Tsai embarked on a successful career as an architectural engineer working for clients such as Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. While working as an engineer by day, Tsai pursued artistic studies at the Art Students League at night, while taking courses in political science and economics at the New School for Social Research. Tsai attended modern dance classes with Erick Hawkins.
In 1963, Tsai won a John Hay Whitney Fellowship for Painting, after which he decided to leave engineering and devote full-time to the arts. After a three-month trip in Europe, he returned to New York and began to make three-dimensional constructions using optical effects, fluorescent paints, ultra-violet light; these wary works were selected for The Responsive Eye, an exhibition curated by William Seitz at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Unsatisfied with his static sculptures, Tsai began to introduce movement using motors, he created Multi-kinetic Wall in 1965, exhibited in Art Turned On at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. Art historian Sam Hunter described the work: Tsai's Multi-kinetics were dynamically integrated multiple constructions, employing thirty-two kinetic units, each of which contains a configuration of multi-colored gyroscopic forms. With these elements he created an active environmental field that could be infinitely extended; each motorized unit was a self-sufficient entity, when it was combined with other similar units produced a large-scale kinetic work that joined visual intensity with mechanical power.
By controlling the time sequence of each unit in skillful compositions, Tsai used engineering principles to achieve aesthetic ends. But it was during a fellowship at the Edward MacDowell Colony in 1965 that Tsai had his "Eureka!" moment. While contemplating the sunlight shimmering in the trees, he had a sudden insight to use his engineering background to create art work that replicates natural phenomena. Finding a starting point in the work of constructivist artist Naum Gabo, Tsai took a quantum leap deciding that "the shimmering was not enough" and that what was needed was a way that the viewer could interact with the work, it was that inspiration that lead him to the idea to use a stroboscope coupled with a feedback control system.: Sam Hunter writes: For the next three years, Tsai worked toward his new goals. His first "feedback" pieces were shown in an important and original show in 1968 at the Howard Wise Gallery in New York, an exhibition called Cybernetic Sculpture. In the same year, Tsai's Cybernetic Sculpture System No.1 won the second prize in an E.
A. T. Competition, was selected by Pontus Hulten, the guest curator, for his mammoth international exhibition entitled Machine as seen at the End of the Mechanical Age held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. During this time, along with international friends including Takis, Tsai was a founding member of the Art Workers' Coalition that sought to implement museum reform and underscore "issues relating to the political and social responsibility of the art community." In 1969, Tsai was invited by György Kepes to the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT. There, amongst the "first Fellows", a lively group of like-minded artists, Tsai met Harold "Doc" Edgerton, the engineer who developed the modern electronic stroboscope. In the early 1970s, Tsai moved with his family to Paris and showed with the Denise René Gallery and had extensive exhibitions in Europe. During these years, he befriended fellow Chinese artists residing in Paris including Peng Wants and Chu Teh-Chun and became passionate about cultural exchange between China and the West.
In 1979, Tsai and his friend the composer Wen-chung Chou were part of the first delegation of artists from the US to the People's Republic of China. This lead Tsai and his wife Pei-De to establish The Committee for Chinese Artists Intercultural Movement, a pioneering non-profit organization that brought mainland Chinese artists to exhibit in the United States in the 1980s. After Paris, Tsai settled permanently in New York City. In 2006, Tsai and Pei-De established the Tsai Art and Science Foundation to support and bring awareness to endeavors that are at the intersection of the arts and sciences. Tsai's cybernetic sculpture works have always been a challenge for writers to describe. Art critic Robert Hughes evokes them vividly: A grove of slender stainless-steel rods rises from a plate; this vase vibrates at 30 cycles per second. Set in a dark room, they are lit by strobes; the pulse of the flashing lights varies--they are connected to sound and proximity sensors. The result is that when one makes a noise in its vicinity, the thing responds.
The rods appear to move. The philosopher Vilem Flusser wrote of Tsai'
The coastal batteries of Romania had a significant role to play in the country's naval warfare. During the Romanian War of Independence, coastal artillery on the Danube played a decisive role in the crossing of Romanian and Russian troops into Ottoman territory. At Calafat, a large concentration of fire power was gathered, comprising the batteries: Carol Elisabeta Mircea Mihai Bravul Renașterea Independența Basarab On 7 November 1877, Romanian coastal artillery sank the Ottoman river monitor Podgorice. During World War I, the Romanian coastal artillery diversified, it comprised the batteries: Regele Ferdinand Regina Maria Principele Nicolae Grivița and Rahova Regina Elisabeta Principele Mircea The Romanian coastal batteries took part, along with the Romanian river monitors, in the Battle of Turtucaia. After the northwards retreat, some were re-assembled at Galați and were used against German positions, again along with the river monitors, causing significant damage. On 22 June 1941, the Romanian coastal batteries were as follows: Mircea battery at Cape Midia Tudor battery at Tataia Constanța oraș battery Constanța port battery Elisabeta battery at Agigea Constanța VII battery Ștefan battery at Sulina Țepeș battery at Sulina Sulina section Sfântu Gheorghe section In order to boost Romanian coastal defenses, the Germans built up their own batteries: Tirpitz battery Lange Bruno battery Breslau battery Comorova battery Petru Rareș section The only time in World War II when the coastal batteries were used in combat was on 26 June 1941, when the Soviet Black Sea Fleet attacked Constanța.
The attack was repelled by the Romanian destroyers Regina Maria and Mărășești supported by coastal artillery, the Tirpitz battery damaging the Soviet destroyer leader Kharkov
Barbara West is a television journalist and former news anchor for WFTV in Orlando, Florida. She and her husband have now organized a not-for-profit foundation that raises significant amounts of money for leading hospitals, animal shelters, educational institutions and other charitable organizations across the country. West obtained a Master's degree. While there, she won the 1969 Miss Vermont contest and was selected to represent her state in the national Miss America competition. Before starting her career in television news, she was an assistant professor at the university. West's husband Wade West is a former political strategist for both Democrats and Republicans, including presidential cabinet members and the Bush and Clinton administrations. West was principal assistant to Peter Jennings while he was anchor for ABC's World News Tonight in London, she helped cover such stories as the Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana and the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Since 1992 she has served as health reporter and anchor for Orlando's WFTV news at noon and 5:30.
As a health reporter she traveled to Canada to report on its health care system and to the Ukraine to report on the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster and its health effects. She received the 2002 Summit Award for Community service from Central Florida Women's Resource Center and an Emmy for her reporting on women fighting breast cancer. On her official biography page on WFTV.com, she lists her first two specific accomplishments as covering the inauguration of President George W. Bush and covering the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. On October 23, 2008, West interviewed Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden with questions she wrote. West asked Biden if he was "embarrassed about Barack Obama's affiliation with ACORN" given allegations of voter registration fraud by ACORN in elections past, likened Obama's response to a question from Ohio voter "Joe the Plumber" to a quote from Karl Marx, asked how Obama is not being a Marxist given his views on "spreading the wealth", questioned if Obama might lead the U.
S. "into a socialist country much like Sweden." At one point, Biden asked West if she was joking, suggested she was offering "talking points" against Obama. The Obama campaign responded saying "This station's interview with Joe Biden wasn't tough — it was just absurd." The Obama campaign cancelled a subsequent interview with Jill Biden. Obama's Florida spokeswoman called West "both combative and woefully uninformed about simple facts." WFTV's news director defended her, saying she had not been inappropriately tough: "I'd rather be known as aggressive than pulling punches. We ask questions on behalf of viewers."While praised by "birther conspirators", reactions from mainstream commentators were negative. Her performance was criticized as a "desperate audition for a primetime job at Fox News", considered a partisan stunt after she gave a soft interview to Republican candidate John McCain and West was characterized as exhibiting conservative bias. Others said that Biden had overreacted. A few noted her husband's connections with the Republican Party, questioning if, an influencing factor.
West attempted and failed to deflect criticisms by promoting her husband's relationships with the Clinton Administration State Department and the Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights Enforcement. WFTV biography Barack Obama Interview John McCain Interview Joe Biden Interview John McCain Interview O'Reilly features Barbara West after Biden interview
Alfonso López Michelsen was a Colombian politician and lawyer who served the 24th President of Colombia from 1974 to 1978. He was nicknamed "El Pollo", a popular Colombian idiom for people with precocious careers. López was the son of former two-time president of Alfonso López Pumarejo, he was born and raised in Bogotá. He studied at the Gimnasio Moderno School and in other cities: Paris, Brussels and Santiago de Chile, he graduated with a degree in law from the Universidad del Rosario. During his father's presidency, López maintained a low profile in politics and instead focused on becoming a university professor at the Universidad del Rosario. In 1938, López married Cecilia Caballero Blanco in Bogotá, they moved to the outskirts of Bogotá in a hacienda in the municipality of Engativá, Cundinamarca Department. Settled in this town, López had his first experience with politics becoming a town councilman. During this time, his fellow councilmen included two other politicians who went to become key political players in the country, Álvaro Gómez Hurtado and future president Julio César Turbay Ayala.
In 1959, a group of his former college students founded the Liberal Revolutionary Movement as a reaction against the pact between the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party to create the National Front, in which the two parties took turns to govern. López Michelsen was offered the leadership of the newly created MRL and he accepted, becoming a presidential candidate for the 1962 presidential elections. López lost the election by a large margin to Conservative candidate Guillermo León Valencia. In 1966, López was elected as a senator and negotiated the return of the MRL to the Liberal Party in 1967; this same year López traveled to the city of Valledupar after being appointed by President Carlos Lleras Restrepo as the first governor of Cesar Department, a newly created province in the northern Caribbean Region of Colombia. López was able to trace his grandmothers' family ancestors "the Pumarejos," back to this town. During those years, he was instrumental for the creation of the Vallenato Legend Festival along with vallenato composer Rafael Escalona and journalist Consuelo Araújo.
He served as governor of Cesar from December 21, 1967, until August 14, 1968. Secretary of Government: Luis Roberto García Secretary of Development: Alvaro Pupo Pupo Administrative Office Chief: Alvaro Araujo Noguera Chief of Planning: Jorge Chaild Velez Chief of Education: Cesar Fernandez Dager Chief of Agricultural Sector: Hernan Osorio Chief of Public Works: Emiro Alfonso Zuleta Chief of Budget and Accountability: Teobaldo Manjarrez Chief of General Services: Damazo Lora Chief of Personnel: Jorge Gomez Chief of Judicial Bureau: Uribe Habid Molina Administrator of Rents: Diomedes Daza Daza Private Secretary: Cesar Escobar Ortega Chief of Public Relations: Rafael Escalona A year he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs until the end of the presidential term of President Carlos Lleras Restrepo in 1970. In 1974, López was chosen by the Liberal Party as their candidate for president, after defeating former president Carlos Lleras Restrepo in the party presidential primaries, with the support of former candidate Julio César Turbay.
He won the general election by a large margin against the Conservative Party candidate Álvaro Gómez Hurtado, the ANAPO candidate, María Eugenia Rojas. His 2,929,719 votes were the highest for any president until that time, his inaugural presidential speech, delivered on August 7, 1974, is remembered for calling the disputed border area in the Gulf of Venezuela by its native indigenous name, "Gulf of Coquibacoa" given by the wayuus. In his speech he promised to reduce the growing gap between farmer and urban populations and to fight poverty, messages that attracted the support of many left-wing political movements; as a president, López declared economic emergency in order to correct the fiscal deficit, which allowed him to implement a number of regulatory measures to control spending, to reduce subsidies and programs like the tax credit certificate which reimbursed partial or total taxes for exporting companies. He introduced a tax and fiscal reform which increased national saving, allowed an increase in public investment and exports.
Crop production increased 16%, he created public offices devoted to the improvement of farming. Under his government power grids were expanded, infrastructure investment increased. In contrast, inflation reached under his government its highest historical values, at around 32%. Early support for his policies soon turned to fierce opposition, as many of his campaign promises, in particular those to make deals with unions and in the improvement of potable water access, went unfulfilled, as subsidies were eliminated and inflation rose. Unions and other leftist activists had been accumulating frustration and resentment for decades after the killing of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, the subsequent violence, the hope for a more open society that came with Lopez election turned into feelings of betrayal; as a result, after three years as president the major Colombian Unions got together and managed to propose and organize a massive, general strike. The López administration took a hard approach towards the planned strike, calling it subversive and at some point threatening arrest and forbidding public meetings.
This only enraged the participants, the major unionists were joined by teachers, independent workers, guerrilla leaders, members of the opposition conservative party. The organizing committee demanded among other things salary increases, froze