Xfce or XFCE is a free and open-source desktop environment for Unix-like operating systems such as Linux and BSD. Xfce aims to be lightweight while still being visually appealing and easy to use. Xfce embodies the traditional Unix philosophy of re-usability, it consists of separately packaged parts that together provide all functions of the desktop environment, but can be selected in subsets to suit user needs and preference. Another priority of Xfce is adherence to standards those defined at freedesktop.org. Like GNOME, Xfce is based on the GTK toolkit, it uses the Xfwm window manager, described below. Its configuration is mouse-driven, with the configuration files hidden from the casual user. Xfce does not feature any desktop animations. Olivier Fourdan started the project in 1996 as a Linux version of the Common Desktop Environment, a Unix desktop environment, proprietary and released as free software. However, over time, Xfce now stands on its own; the name "XFCE" was an acronym for "XForms Common Environment", but since that time it has been rewritten twice and no longer uses the XForms toolkit.

The name survived, but it is no longer capitalized as "XFCE", but rather as "Xfce". The developers' current stance is. After noting this, the FAQ on the Xfce Wiki comments ""; the Slackware Linux distribution has nicknamed Xfce the "Cholesterol Free Desktop Environment", a loose interpretation of the initialism. Per the FAQ, the logo of Xfce is "a mouse for all kinds of reasons like world domination and monsters and such". In the SuperTuxKart game, in which various open source mascots race against each other, the mouse is said to be a female named "Xue". Xfce began as a simple project created with XForms. Olivier Fourdan released the program, just a simple taskbar, on SunSITE. Fourdan continued developing the project and in 1998, Xfce 2 was released with the first version of Xfce's window manager, Xfwm, he was refused due to its XForms basis. Red Hat only accepted software, open source and released under either a GPL or BSD compatible license, whereas, at the time, XForms was closed source and free only for personal use.

For the same reason, Xfce was not in Debian before version 3, Xfce 2 was only distributed in Debian's contrib repository. In March 1999, Fourdan began a complete rewrite of the project based on GTK, a non-proprietary toolkit rising in popularity; the result was Xfce 3.0, licensed under the GPL. Along with being based on free software, the project gained GTK drag-and-drop support, native language support, improved configurability. Xfce was uploaded to SourceForge.net in February 2001, starting with version 3.8.1. In version 4.0.0, released 25 September 2003, Xfce was upgraded to use the GTK 2 libraries. Changes in 4.2.0 included a compositing manager for Xfwm which added built-in support for transparency and drop shadows, as well as a new default SVG icon set. In January 2007, Xfce 4.4.0 was released. This included a replacement for Xffm. Support for desktop icons was added. Various improvements were made to the panel to prevent buggy plugins from crashing the whole panel. In February 2009, Xfce 4.6.0 was released.

This version had a new configuration backend, a new settings manager and a new sound mixer, as well as several significant improvements to the session manager and the rest of Xfce's core components. In January 2011, Xfce 4.8.0 was released. This version included changes such as the replacement of ThunarVFS and HAL with GIO, ConsoleKit and PolicyKit, new utilities for browsing remote network shares using several protocols including SFTP, SMB, FTP. Window clutter was reduced by merging all Thunar file progress dialog boxes into a single dialog; the panel application was rewritten for better positioning and item and launcher management. 4.8 introduced a new menu plugin to view directories. The 4.8 plugin framework remains compatible with 4.6 plugins. The display configuration dialog in 4.8 supports RandR 1.2, detecting screens automatically and allowing users to pick their preferred display resolution, refresh rate, display rotation. Multiple displays can be placed next to each other. Keyboard selection was revamped to be more user-friendly.

The manual settings editor was updated to be more functional. The 4.8 development cycle was the first to use the new release strategy formed after the "Xfce Release and Development Model" developed at the Ubuntu Desktop Summit in May 2009. A new web application was employed to make release management easier, a dedicated Transifex server was set up for Xfce translators; the project's server and mirroring infrastructure was upgraded to cope with anticipated demand following the release announcement for 4.8. Xfce 4.10, released 28 April 2012, introduced a vertical display mode for the panel and moved much of the documentation to an online wiki. The main focus of this release was on improving the user experience. Xfce 4.12 was released on 28 February 2015, two years and ten months contrary to mass Internet speculation about the project being "dead". The target of 4.12 was to improve user experience and take advantage of technologies introduced in the interim. New window manager features include an Alt+Tab dialog, smart multi-monitor handling.

A new power management plugin for the panel's notification area was introduced, as well as a re-written text edit

Lancaster is a city in Kittson County, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 340. Lancaster was incorporated in 1904 along a Soo Line Railroad line running from Glenwood to the Canada–US border; the city was named after a railroad official believed to have come from Lancashire County in England. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.30 square miles, all of it land. Lancaster is located along U. S. Highway 59, at the junction with Kittson County Roads 4, 5, 6; the North Branch Two Rivers flows nearby. The Canadian border is located nine miles north of the city; as of the census of 2010, there were 340 people, 163 households, 98 families living in the city. The population density was 147.8 inhabitants per square mile. There were 189 housing units at an average density of 82.2 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 98.8% White, 0.6% Asian, 0.6% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.5% of the population. There were 163 households of which 20.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.4% were married couples living together, 5.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 1.2% had a male householder with no wife present, 39.9% were non-families.

37.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 22.7% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.09 and the average family size was 2.74. The median age in the city was 47.6 years. 20.3% of residents were under the age of 18. The gender makeup of the city was 52.9 % female. As of the census of 2000, there were 363 people, 154 households, 91 families living in the city; the population density was 161.6 people per square mile. There were 193 housing units at an average density of 85.9 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 98.90% White, 0.28% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 0.55% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.10% of the population. There were 154 households out of which 31.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.7% were married couples living together, 6.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 40.9% were non-families. 39.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 22.7% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older.

The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 3.19. In the city, the population was spread out with 29.5% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 25.1% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, 18.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 107.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.4 males. The median income for a household in the city was $33,750, the median income for a family was $47,083. Males had a median income of $31,346 versus $27,000 for females; the per capita income for the city was $16,191. About 9.2% of families and 9.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.1% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over. Lancaster-Tolstoi Border Crossing City of Lancaster, MN Lancaster Public School Lancaster Football

The United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland or more formally, the Special Envoy of the President and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is the top U. S. diplomat supporting the Northern Ireland peace process. Before the 1980s, U. S. leaders were reluctant to get involved in the Troubles in Northern Ireland. When Bill Clinton was on the campaign trail as the Democratic candidate for President in 1992, he suggested both orally and in a letter to Congressman Bruce Morrison that he would favor the appointment of a Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Clinton was not alone in supporting a more active U. S. involvement in Northern Ireland. On February 23, 1993, shortly after Clinton assumed office as President, Representative Joseph P. Kennedy, together with 16 co-sponsors, sponsored a Congressional Resolution calling for the appointment of a Special Envoy; the Resolution called that it be: Resolved by the House of Representatives, That it is the sense of the Congress that the President should appoint a special envoy who will be and involved in bringing about a solution to the present conflict in Northern Ireland, including encouraging and facilitating negotiations among all parties to the conflict who agree to end the use of violence.

However, the proposed Resolution came to nothing. Clinton discussed the prospect of appointing a Special Envoy with the Irish premier, Albert Reynolds when the two leaders first met on St. Patrick's Day in 1993; however Clinton deferred any appointment. When the Provisional Irish Republican Army declared a ceasefire in 1994, Sinn Féin party leader, Gerry Adams urged Washington to play a "nudging role" as it did in South Africa and the Middle East. Congressman Bruce Morrison was considered a potential candidate, it was not until 1995 that a decision to appoint a Special Envoy was made. The announcement of the appointment of former U. S. Senator George J. Mitchell as Special Envoy "infuriated" the British Government. Mitchell was recognised as being more than a token envoy but someone representing a President with a deep interest in events. However, around the time of Mitchell's appointment, it was agreed with both the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom John Major and Taoiseach John Bruton that Mitchell would chair an international commission on disarmament of paramilitary groups.

Mitchell went on to chair the talks that resulted in the Good Friday Agreement. The United States has continued to support the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and has demonstrated its readiness to assist the process in any way. On June 10, 2003, President George W. Bush announced his intention to designate Ambassador Richard N. Haass as the Special Envoy. Haass was an active Envoy. In 2001, within a week of the September 11 attacks, Haass warned Irish Republicans that the suspected links between the IRA and Colombian terrorist groups could have "potentially serious consequences for the role of the United States in the peace process". Haass attacked Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble for setting a deadline for pulling out of power-sharing, accusing him of adding to a sense of crisis. Mitchell Reiss was appointed as the Special Envoy. At the invitation of the British and Irish governments, Special Envoy Reiss participated in the peace process negotiations that took place at Leeds Castle in 2004.

On February 15, 2007, Paula Dobriansky, U. S. Undersecretary for Democracy and Global Affairs at the State Department, was designated the U. S. Envoy for Northern Ireland; the transition from the former Special Envoy, Ambassador Mitchell Reiss, took place on February 15, 2007. In February 2008, Special Envoy Dobriansky led a trade mission to Belfast; until the inauguration of Donald Trump, the Envoy was Gary Hart. On March 6, 2020, President Trump appointed his former acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to fill this position; each of the Special Envoys has periodically reported to U. S. Congressional Committees on their activities and the status of the Northern Ireland peace process and other matters concerning Northern Ireland; the United States has at times contemplated whether to terminate the position of U. S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. In 2001 U. S. Secretary of State Colin Powell stated in response to questions that: It is not yet clear whether a special Northern Ireland envoy, such as the role played by former Senator George Mitchell, will be appointed, but the State Department will identify someone in the department to take on "as a primary additional duty" serving in a communication role... if the situation moves in a way that suggests it takes that kind of high-level special envoy involvement.

During the 2008 U. S. presidential campaign in the United States, Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama was reported in The Irish Times as having questioned the necessity to keep a U. S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland; this drew a robust response from the Republican Party candidate, Senator John McCain, who backed retaining a U. S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland; the Senator criticized Senator Obama's position as demonstrating a willingness: to toss aside one of the signature diplomatic accomplishments of the Clinton administration and put the progress in Northern Ireland at risk is only further evidence that he is not ready to lead

Italian is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. Italian descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire and, together with Sardinian, is by most measures the closest language to it of the Romance languages. Italian is an official language in Italy, San Marino and Vatican City, it has an official minority status in western Istria. It had official status in Albania, Monaco and Greece, is understood in Corsica and Savoie, it used to be an official language in the former Italian East Africa and Italian North Africa, where it still plays a significant role in various sectors. Italian is spoken by large expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. Italian is included under the languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Romania, although Italian is neither a co-official nor a protected language in these countries. Many speakers of Italian are native bilinguals of both other regional languages. Italian is a major European language, being one of the official languages of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of the working languages of the Council of Europe.

It is the fourth most spoken first language in the European Union with 67 million native speakers and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens. Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is 85 million. Italian is the main working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical opera, its influence is widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken by the upper class of Florentine society, its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent, by the Germanic languages of the post-Roman invaders. The incorporation into Italian of learned words from its own ancestor language, Latin, is another form of lexical borrowing through the influence of written language, scientific terminology and the liturgical language of the Church.

Throughout the Middle Ages and into the early modern period, most literate Italians were literate in Latin. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian; as in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive and, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latin's contrast between short and long consonants. All native Italian words and syllables finish with pure vowels, a factor that makes Italian words easy to use in rhyming. Italian has a 7 vowel sound system. During the Middle Ages, the established written language in Europe was Latin, though the great majority of people were illiterate, only a handful were well versed in the language. In the Italian peninsula, as in most of Europe, most would instead speak a local vernacular; these dialects, as they are referred to, evolved from Vulgar Latin over the course of centuries, unaffected by formal standards and teachings. They are not in any sense "dialects" of standard Italian, which itself started off as one of these local tongues, but sister languages of Italian.

Mutual intelligibility with Italian varies as it does with Romance languages in general. The Romance dialects of Italy can differ from Italian at all levels and are classified typologically as distinct languages; the standard Italian language has a poetic and literary origin in the writings of Tuscan writers of the 12th century, though the grammar and core lexicon are unchanged from those used in Florence in the 13th century, the modern standard of the language was shaped by recent events. However, Romance vernacular as language spoken in the Apennine peninsula has a longer history. In fact, the earliest surviving texts that can be called vernacular are legal formulae known as the Placiti Cassinesi from the Province of Benevento that date from 960–963, although the Veronese Riddle from the 8th or early 9th century, contains a late form of Vulgar Latin that can be seen as a early sample of a vernacular dialect of Italy; the language that came to be thought of as Italian developed in central Tuscany and was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine.

Dante's epic poems, known collectively as the Commedia, to which another Tuscan poet Giovanni Boccaccio affixed the title Divina, were read throughout the peninsula and his written dialect became the "canonical standard" that all educated Italians could understand. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language. In addition to the widespread exposure gained through literatu

George Joseph Hall was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. Hall was born in Theddlethorpe, the son of George Hall Snr and was educated at the Theddlethorpe National School. In 1870 he became apprenticed to his father as a carpenter before working as a millwright in Hull, he arrived in Bundaberg on the Renfrewshire in 1882, spent a short time in Melbourne before returning to Bundaberg. In 1887, after suffering a serious accident, Hall became a building draughtsman, he returned to England in 1897. On the 30th May 1882 Hall married Anna Gertrude Mason in Grimsby and together had four sons and a daughter, he died in London in November 1924. Hall was an early member of the Labor movement and was a secretary of the Bundaberg Workers Political Organization, he was treasurer of the General Labor Union. When Walter Adams, the member for Bundaberg in the Queensland Legislative Assembly died in 1892, Hall won the resultant by-election, he held the seat for less than a year, losing it at the 1893 Queensland colonial election to the Ministerial candidate, Michael Duffy

The Thing of It Is... is a 1967 novel written by William Goldman about Amos McCracken, a 31-year-old man who has written a popular show tune and, having marriage troubles. It was followed by Father's Day. Goldman was inspired to write the novel by a trip he and his family took to Europe following some script doctoring work he did on the film Masquerade, he was influenced by visiting St Pauls Cathedral, which he thought would be a good location for a fight because it echoed, seeing the original Jewish ghetto in Venice, which made him examine his Jewishness."Within three weeks of me seeing the ghetto, the book was completed," said Goldman. "That's the only time I've written close behind a situation. Every other time it took years and years." Goldman described an unsuccessful attempt to turn the novel into a film in Adventures in the Screen Trade. Robert Redford expressed interest in playing Amos, so Goldman wrote a screenplay on spec. Redford said he liked it and Ulu Gosbard agreed to direct; however Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid came out and Redford turned into a major star, pulled out of the project.

Elliott Gould agreed to play the lead instead, but Gosbard dropped out to make a film. Faye Dunaway agreed to co-star, Mark Rydell expressed interest in directing; however Rydell wanted another writer to work on the project, which Goldman objected to and the film did not proceed. A year Stanley Donen expressed enthusiasm for the script and succeeded in getting interest from Robert Evans at Paramount. Mia Farrow was signed to play the female lead, but Evans was not happy with the male lead, despite James Caan and Alan Alda both wanting to do it. Farrow had to drop out but Evans agreed to make the movie if it could be turned into a vehicle for Ali MacGraw. Goldman and Donen tried the movie was never made. For the film, Stephen Sondheim wrote the song "No, Mary Ann,", recorded several times