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Best Human experiance of All Time
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Juliette Gordon Low (born Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon in Savannah, Georgia, October 31, 1860 – January 17, 1927) was an American youth leader and the founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA in 1912. Juliette Gordon Low's mother's family came from Chicago. Her father William Washington Gordon II was a Confederate Captain in the American Civil War, and a Brigadier General in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War. Among her friends and family, Juliette was always called by her nickname "Daisy". The families of Confederate officers were required to leave Savannah after the December 1864 surrender to General William T. Sherman. Four-year-old Daisy went with her mother, Eleanor "Nellie" Kinzie Gordon, and her sisters, six-year-old Eleanor and one-year-old Alice, to the Chicago home of Eleanor's parents, John H. Kinzie and Juliette Augusta Magill Kinzie. Daisy loved to hear the family stories of her great-grandmother, Eleanor Lytle McKillip Kinzie, who had been captured by Native Americans at the age of nine. Even though she was a captive, she was always joyful, so the Native Americans started calling her "Little-Ship-Under-Full-Sail." She was the adopted daughter of the
Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor. Harrelson's breakout role came in the television sitcom Cheers as bartender Woody Boyd. Some notable film characters include basketball hustler Billy Hoyle in White Men Can't Jump, serial killer Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers, magazine publisher Larry Flynt in The People vs. Larry Flynt, country singer Dusty in A Prairie Home Companion, bounty hunter Carson Wells in No Country for Old Men, zombie killer Tallahassee in Zombieland, blind piano player/meat salesman Ezra Turner in Seven Pounds, conspiracy nut Charlie Frost in 2012, delusional man who believes he is a superhero named Defendor in Defendor, and Cpt. Tony Stone in The Messenger. For The People vs. Larry Flynt and The Messenger, Harrelson earned Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively. He also appeared as Haymitch Abernathy in the The Hunger Games (2012). Harrelson was born in Midland, Texas, the son of Diane Lou (née Oswald) and Charles Voyde Harrelson, who divorced in 1964; he has two brothers, Jordan and Brett. Harrelson's father, who was a contract killer, was arrested for the killing of Federal Judge
Bootie Barker
Robert "Bootie" Barker III (born March 2, 1971) is a crew chief in the NASCAR Sprint Cup stock car racing series. Barker is the crew chief for the No. 13 Germain Racing GEICO Ford Fusion driven by Casey Mears in the Sprint Cup Series. In the past, Barker has worked for Ashton Lewis, Bill Davis Racing, Jasper Motorsports, and Hendrick Motorsports. Barker is also a television co-host on NASCAR Performance a weekly program on the Speed Channel. Barker graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1994. He began his motorsports career working in the Late Model Sportsman Series for Ashton Lewis while still in college. He was paralyzed from the waist down after suffering injuries in a car accident while a senior in high school (South Boston, Virginia). Barker has since overcome his injuries to be a respected crew chief and one of NASCAR's most brilliant minds. For most of 2006, Barker was the crew chief for the No. 66 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet driven by Jeff Green. His visibility to NASCAR fans increased in 2006. Barker wrote a weekly column for NASCAR.com titled "Urban Legends," in which he addressed myths and questions about
Quadriplegia
Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is paralysis caused by illness or injury to a human that results in the partial or total loss of use of all their limbs and torso; paraplegia is similar but does not affect the arms. The loss is usually sensory and motor, which means that both sensation and control are lost. It is caused by damage to the brain or the spinal cord at a high level C1–C7—in particular, spinal cord injuries secondary to an injury to the cervical spine. The injury, which is known as a lesion, causes victims to lose partial or total function of all four limbs, meaning the arms and the legs. Tetraplegia is defined in many ways; C1–C4 usually affects arm movement more so than a C5–C7 injury; however, all tetraplegics have or have had some kind of finger dysfunction. So, it is not uncommon to have a tetraplegic with fully functional arms but no nervous control of their fingers and thumbs. Typical causes of this damage are trauma (such as a traffic collision, diving into shallow-water, a fall or sports injury), disease (such as transverse myelitis or polio) or congenital disorders, such as muscular dystrophy or multiple sclerosis. It is possible to suffer a broken neck
Cannabis, also known as marijuana (from the Mexican Spanish marihuana), and by other names, is a preparation of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug and as medicine. Pharmacologically, the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC); it is one of 400 compounds in the plant, including other cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN), and tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV). Contemporary uses of cannabis are as a recreational drug, as religious or spiritual rites, or as medicine; the earliest recorded uses date from the 3rd millennium BC. In 2004, the United Nations estimated that global consumption of cannabis indicated that approximately 4.0 percent of the adult world population (162 million people) used cannabis annually, and that approximately 0.6 percent (22.5 million) of people used cannabis daily. Since the early 20th century cannabis has been subject to legal restrictions with the possession, use, and sale of cannabis preparations containing psychoactive cannabinoids currently illegal in most countries of the world; the United Nations has said that cannabis is the most-used illicit drug in the world. Cannabis has
American Council of the Blind
The American Council of the Blind (ACB) is a nationwide organization in the United States. It is an organization mainly made up of blind and visually impaired people who want to achieve independence and equality (although there are many sighted members with common aims). The American Council of the Blind was formed out of the dissolution of the Free Press] Association in 1961. Braille Free Press had been set up in 1959 and had probably been the widest-read publication for the blind. It was highly critical of the American Foundation for the Blind, and the ACB was formed as an alternative to it. The ACB was also very critical of the National Federation of the Blind which many of its first members had also originally belonged to. Relations between the two organizations have been strained ever since—to the extent that they tend to schedule their conventions at the same time, to deter people from being active in both organizations. The ACB counts its membership in the tens of thousands—including that of its 71 affiliate organizations. Membership is open to any citizen or resident of the USA as well as interested persons in other countries. The ACB says it "welcomes diversity" in its
Scope is a UK disability charity working with disabled people and their families in England and Wales. It runs support services such as schools, a college, residential care, training, short breaks and runs a helpline providing information and advice on disability. Scope also campaigns for the full inclusion and equal participation of disabled people in society. It was founded as the National Spastics Society on 9 October 1951 by Ian Dawson-Shepherd, Eric Hodgson, Alex Moira and a social worker, Jean Garwood, with the aim of improving and expanding services for people with cerebral palsy. From 1955 to 1989, the society ran the Thomas Delarue School, a specialist secondary boarding school at Tonbridge, Kent . Scope still runs schools for disabled children in Hertfordshire, West Sussex and near Cardiff as well as a Further Education College in Lancaster, which was founded in 1977. Over time, thanks in large part to the influence of Bill Hargreaves, the first trustee with cerebral palsy, the charity's aims extended to improving and expanding services for people with cerebral palsy and disabled people in general. Bill's pioneering work in employment in the 1950s supported over 1,500
William Boyce
William Boyce (baptised 11 September 1711 – 7 February 1779) is widely regarded as one of the most important English-born composers of the 18th century. Born in London, Boyce was a choirboy at St Paul's Cathedral before studying music with Maurice Greene after his voice broke. A house in the present choir school is named after him. His first professional appointment came in 1734 when he was employed as an organist at the Oxford Chapel. He went on to take a number of similar posts before being appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1755 and becoming one of the organists at the Chapel Royal in 1758. One of his students was the prodigy Thomas Linley. When Boyce's deafness became so bad that he was unable to continue in his organist posts, he retired and worked on completing the compilation Cathedral Music that his teacher Greene had left incomplete at his death. This led to Boyce editing works by the likes of William Byrd and Henry Purcell. Many of the pieces in the collection are still used in Anglican services today. Boyce is best known for his set of eight symphonies, his anthems and his odes. He also wrote the masque Peleus and Thetis and songs for John Dryden's Secular Masque,
Blind Blake
"Blind" Blake (born Arthur Blake; 1896, Newport News, Virginia – December 1, 1934, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was an American blues and ragtime singer and guitarist. Blind Blake recorded about 80 tracks for Paramount Records from 1926 to 1932. He was one of the most accomplished guitarists of his genre with a surprisingly diverse range of material. He is best known for his distinct guitar sound that was comparable in sound and style to a ragtime piano. Little is known about his life. His birthplace was listed as Jacksonville, Florida by Paramount Records in The Paramount Book of the Blues, a publicity publication, but a recently acquired 1934 death certificate from the Milwaukee, WI area lists Newport News as his 1896 birthplace. On one recording he slipped into a Geechee or Gullah dialect, prompting speculation that he was from the Georgia Sea Island region. According to one source, his real name was Arthur Phelps, although concrete evidence for this claim is lacking. The "Phelps" name theory was entirely based on a response given by Blind Willie McTell in an interview conducted in 1955 in Atlanta, who likely met Blake when he passed through McTell's hometown of Statesboro, GA. Recent
Fred Gardner
Fred Gardner is an American political organizer and author best known for his opposition to the Vietnam War and his writings about the medical mariijuana movement in the United States. Gardner received his bachelor's degree from Harvard in 1963. He has been an editor at Scientific American, a private detective, a songwriter, an author, a freelance journalist, one of the credited screenwriters for Zabriskie Point directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, the owner of Variety Home Video, the editor of Synapse (the UCSF Medical Center student newspaper), and Public Information Officer for the San Francisco District Attorney's office under Terence Hallinan. In the fall of 1967 Gardner, with Donna Mickleson and Deborah Rossman, started a coffeehouse in Columbia, South Carolina, that became a hang-out for GIs, an alternative USO called the UFO (United Freedom Organization). Gardner covered the court martial of 27 GIs charged with mutiny at the Presidio of San Francisco in October 1968 and wrote a book about the case, The Unlawful Concert, published by Viking in 1970 and reissued by Gryphon Press in 2005. In April 1970, Gardner worked as a stage manager for Free The Army (FTA) with actors Jane
Kary Mullis
Kary Banks Mullis (born December 28, 1944) is a Nobel Prize winning American biochemist, author, and lecturer. In recognition of his improvement of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, he shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Michael Smith and earned the Japan Prize in the same year. The process was first described by Kjell Kleppe and 1968 Nobel laureate H. Gobind Khorana, and allows the amplification of specific DNA sequences. The improvements made by Mullis allowed PCR to become a central technique in biochemistry and molecular biology, described by The New York Times as "highly original and significant, virtually dividing biology into the two epochs of before P.C.R. and after P.C.R." Since winning the Nobel Prize, Mullis has been criticized in The New York Times for promoting ideas in areas in which he has no expertise. He has promoted AIDS denialism, climate change denial and his belief in astrology. Mullis was born in Lenoir, North Carolina, near the Blue Ridge Mountains, on December 28, 1944. His family had a background in farming in this rural area. As a child, Mullis recalls, he was interested in observing organisms in the countryside. He grew up in
Blind Willie McTell (born William Samuel McTier May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959), was an influential Piedmont and ragtime blues singer and guitarist. He played with a fluid, syncopated fingerstyle guitar technique, common among many exponents of Piedmont blues, although, unlike his contemporaries, he came to exclusively use twelve-string guitars. McTell was also an adept slide guitarist, unusual among ragtime bluesmen. His vocal style, a smooth and often laid-back tenor, differed greatly from many of the harsher voice types employed by Delta bluesmen, such as Charlie Patton. McTell embodied a variety of musical styles, including blues, ragtime, religious music, and hokum. Born blind in the town of Thomson, Georgia, McTell learned how to play guitar in his early teens. He soon became a street performer around several Georgia cities, such as Atlanta and Augusta, and first recorded in 1927 for Victor Records. Although he never produced a major hit record, McTell's recording career was prolific, recording for different labels under different names throughout the 1920s and 30s. In 1940, he was recorded by John Lomax for the Library of Congress's folk song archive. He would remain active
Bob C. Riley
Bob Cowley Riley (September 18, 1924 – February 16, 1994) was an American educator and politician who served as Acting Governor of Arkansas for 11 days in 1975. He had previously been a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1946 to 1950, the mayor of Arkadelphia, Arkansas, in 1966 and 1967, and the eighth Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas from 1971 to 1975. Riley wore a black eyepatch because of an injury sustained in World War II. Riley was born in Little Rock, the son of Columbus Allen Riley and the former Winnie Mae Craig. He attended public schools in Little Rock. He dropped out of high school after Pearl Harbor to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. On July 24, 1944, Riley, based in Guam, led a rifle squad assault against a Japanese machine gun emplacement. The attack nearly cost Riley his life. His severe wounds kept him hospitalized for more than a year. Not only was his vision impaired, his limbs were battered, and he was in pain thereafter. His left eye was removed, and although he had some perception of light in his right eye for a time, it quickly faded and he became completely blind. After World War II service, Riley graduated with bachelor's and
Princess Sophia of the United Kingdom
The Princess Sophia (Sophia Matilda; 3 November 1777 – 27 May 1848) was a member of the British Royal Family, the twelfth child and fifth daughter of King George III and Queen Charlotte. Sophia is perhaps best known for the rumours surrounding a supposed illegitimate child to which she gave birth as a young woman. In her youth, Sophia was closest to her father, who preferred his daughters over his sons; however, she and her sisters lived in fear of their mother. The princesses were well-educated but raised in a rigidly strict household. Though he disliked the idea of matrimony for his daughters, King George had intended to find them suitable husbands when they came of age. However, the King's reoccurring bouts of madness, as well as the Queen's desire to have her daughters live their lives as her companions, stopped would-be suitors from offering for the most of the princesses. As a result, Sophia and all but one of her sisters grew up in their mother's cloistered household, which they frequently referred to as a "Nunnery". Though she never wed, rumours spread that Sophia became pregnant by Thomas Garth, an equerry of her father's, and gave birth to an illegitimate son in the
Valerie Corral
Valerie Corral is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana and Raha Kudo, Design for Dying Project. In 1973, while driving though Nevada, a small airplane swooped down and scraped Corral's car, sending her "skidding, rolling and bouncing 365 feet through the dust, brush and rocks." As a result of the accident, Corral's injuries included brain damage, epilepsy and severe migraines. Despite taking prescription drugs, Corral continued experiencing convulsions, shaking and grand mal seizures. Having read in a medical journal that marijuana controlled seizures in mice, Corral's husband recommended that she give the drug a try—she has maintained a steady level of marijuana in her system since then, finding that it helped alleviate her symptoms. In 1992, Valerie and Mike Corral were arrested by the local sheriff for the cultivation of five marijuana plants, which spurred her into the political arena. As a result, Valerie became the first patient in California to challenge existing law and use a defense of necessity for medical marijuana. Prosecutors dismissed the case, claiming they were unlikely to win before a sympathetic jury in liberal Santa
The World Institute on Disability (WID) is an international public policy center that advocates for the civil rights of people with disabilities and pushes for public policies that promote full inclusion of people with disabilities in society. A non-profit research foundation, the WID, located in Oakland, California, was founded in 1983 by Ed Roberts, Judy Heumann and Joan Leon. Its directors and staff are people with disabilities. The World Institute on Disability 510-16th Street, Suite #100 Oakland, CA 94612-1500 Telephone: 510-763-4100 TTY: 510-208-9496 Fax: 510-763-4109 Email: webmail@wid.org
Mo Mowlam
Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam (18 September 1949 – 19 August 2005) was a British Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar from 1987 to 2001 and served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Mowlam's time as Northern Ireland Secretary saw the signing of the historic Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998. Her personal charisma, reputation for plain speaking and her fight against a brain tumour led her to be perceived by many as one of the most popular "New Labour" politicians in the UK. When Tony Blair mentioned her in his speech at the 1998 Labour Party Conference, she received a standing ovation. Mowlam was born at 43 King Street, Watford, Hertfordshire, England, the middle of three children of Tina and Frank, but grew up in Coventry, where her father rose to become Coventry's assistant postmaster. She would later be awarded the Freedom of the City in 1999. She was the only one of the family's three children to pass the 11-plus exam. She started at Chiswick Girls' grammar school in West London, then moved to Coundon Court School in Coventry, which, at the time, was
Abraham Nemeth
Abraham Nemeth (born October 16, 1918) is an American mathematician and inventor. He is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of Detroit Mercy in Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Nemeth was born in New York City on the Lower East Side of Manhattan into a large family of Hungarian Jewish immigrants who spoke Yiddish. He is blind from birth. He attended public schools at first but did most of his primary and secondary education at the Jewish Guild for the Blind school in Yonkers, New York. His undergraduate studies were at Brooklyn College where he studied psychology. He earned a Master of Arts degree in Psychology from Columbia University. Dr. Nemeth studied mathematics and physics at Brooklyn College. He did not major in mathematics because his academic advisors discouraged him. However, tired of what he felt were unfulfilling jobs at agencies of the blind, and with the encouragement of his wife, he decided to continue his education in mathematics. Nemeth taught part-time at various colleges in New York. Though his employers were sometimes reluctant to hire him knowing that he was blind, his reputation grew as it became apparent that he was a capable mathematician and teacher.
Granville Redmond
Granville Redmond (March 9, 1871 – May 24, 1935) was an American landscape painter and exponent of Tonalism and California Impressionism. Granville Richard Seymour Redmond was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 9, 1871 to a hearing family. He contracted Scarlet Fever at around 2½ to the age of 3; when he recovered, he was found to be deaf. This may have prompted his family's decision to move from the East Coast to San Jose, California: the possibility for his education at the Berkeley School for the Deaf. Granville attended the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley from 1879 to 1890 where his artistic talents were recognized and encouraged. There his teacher Theophilus d'Estrella taught him painting, drawing and pantomime. When he graduated from CSD, Redmond enrolled at another CSD: the California School of Design in San Francisco, where he worked for three years with teachers such as Arthur Frank Mathews and Amédée Joullin. He famously won the W. E. Brown Medal of Excellence. He associated with many other artists, including Gottardo Piazzoni and Giuseppe Cadenasso. Piazzoni learned American Sign Language, and he and Redmond became lifelong friends. They lived
Lachi is a singer-songwriter, pianist and author based in New York City. Her music is often described as jazz influenced, piano driven alternative rock. Daughter of Dr. Marcellina Offoha and the sixth of seven children, Lachi began writing songs at a very early age, and performed in musical ensembles throughout her school years. Lachi has a congenital visual impairment, Coloboma of the retina. After being socially outcast due to her legal blindness, Lachi overcame her severe low vision through her music, writing and performing vocal piano pieces. She wrote and published her first novel, Dante's Destiny, as a high school senior in 2001. Lachi remained notably introverted throughout school. After undergoing an exchange program during her college years at Canterbury Christ Church University, she opened up socially and musically, performing for the first time at bars and venues in the UK. Lachi received an undergraduate degree in the majors of Economics and also Management and Society at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she created the all female a cappella group, Cadence, and was a member of the Mu Beta Psi National Honorary Co-ed Musical Fraternity. After
Allen St. Pierre
Allen St. Pierre is the Executive Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), a non-profit organization that wishes to remove the criminal penalties for and legalize cannabis. St. Pierre was hired by NORML's Board of Directors in 1991 when he worked as a Communications Director for the organization. He gradually rose through the ranks, becoming the Deputy National Director in 1993. When the NORML Foundation was created in 1997, St. Pierre was chosen to be its Executive Director. The NORML Foundation is a sister organization of NORML that works "to better educate the public about marijuana and marijuana policy options, and to assist victims of the current laws". St. Pierre has been the Executive Director of NORML since January 2005. He is the seventh person to be NORML's Executive Director. He also serves on the Board of Directors of NORML and the NORML Foundation.
Jon Gettman
Jon B. Gettman is a marijuana reform activist, a leader of the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis, and a former head of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He has a PhD in public policy and regional economic development from George Mason University and is a longtime contributor to High Times magazine. Gettman filed a petition in 1995 to remove cannabis from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act that was eventually denied. A second petition was filed in 2002, with the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis, that remains under review by the Department of Health and Human Services. Gettman frequently publishes on the marijuana industry and teaches public administration at Shepherd University in West Virginia. Gettman received a BA in Anthropology from the Catholic University of America and a MS in Justice, specializing in drug policy, from American University. He holds a PhD in public policy and regional economic development from George Mason University, where he is a senior fellow. In addition to his advocacy work, he is an adjunct instructor at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, teaching public administration. Gettman is a marijuana
Julia Brace
Julia Brace (June 13, 1807 – August 12, 1884) was a deafblind who received no special instruction until she reached adulthood. She was born to a poor family in Hartford County, Connecticut, and became deafblind at age five from typhus fever. She gradually stopped speaking and developed a system of home sign that she used with her parents. She was sent to a boarding school with hearing and sighted children before being offered a place at the Hartford Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb (now called the American School for the Deaf), where she enrolled on 11 June 1825, two days before her 18th birthday. During her childhood she was described as independent, inquisitive and feisty. Although she wasn't given much formal instruction, she did acquire tactile American Sign Language from the resident deaf students and staff at the Hartford school. Despite being the only blind person there, she became a part of the school community, forming friendships (and enemies), fulfilling communal duties, and developing skills in sewing and knitting. She began to be seen as something of a celebrity and received many curious visitors — although these regular interruptions to her daily activities apparently
Rick Hansen
Richard Marvin Hansen, CC, OBC (born 26 August 1957) is a Canadian Paralympian and an activist for people with spinal cord injuries. Following a pick up truck accident at the age of 15, Hansen sustained a spinal cord injury that paralyzed him from the waist down. Hansen is most famous for his Man In Motion World Tour. He was one of the torchbearers and brought the flame into the stadium to light one of the final torch lighters in the 2010 Winter Olympics. At the opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Paralympics his story was shown on a huge wraparound screen, before Hansen took the stage and spoke to the crowd. Born in Port Alberni, British Columbia, Rick Hansen grew up in Williams Lake, British Columbia. As a young athlete, he had won all-star awards in five sports. He was paralyzed at the age of 15 from being in the back of a truck with his friend, when suddenly the pick up swerved and hit a tree. He left the bed of the truck from the impact and received a spinal cord injury. He worked on rehabilitation, completed high school, then became the first student with a physical disability to graduate in physical education from the University of British Columbia. Hansen won national
Thomas Gore
Thomas Gore (December 10, 1870 – March 16, 1949) was a Democratic politician. He was blind and served as a United States Senator from Oklahoma from 1907 until 1921 and from 1931 until 1937. He was the maternal grandfather of author Gore Vidal. He was born Thomas Pryor Gore on December 10, 1870 in Webster County, Mississippi, the son of Caroline Elizabeth (Wingo) and Thomas Madison Gore. He went blind as a child through two separate accidents but did not give up his dream of becoming a senator. He moved to Oklahoma in 1901. In 1907, he was elected to the Senate as one of the first two senators from the new state of Oklahoma. He was re-elected in 1908 and 1914 but defeated in 1920. He was known as a member of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, who worked with Republicans such as Robert La Follette. He was to a large extent no different from any other politician because of his blindness, but there were problems, as La Follette recounts an example in his memoirs when, during a filibuster, Gore did not realize that the senator who was to take over speaking for him had left the room, and the filibuster failed because he did not continue to speak. Also, some of Gore's
Deng Pufang
Deng Pufang (simplified Chinese: 邓朴方; traditional Chinese: 鄧樸方; pinyin: Dèng Pǔfāng) (born 16 April 1944 in Zuoquan, Jinzhong, Shanxi) is the first son of former China's Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. He is mostly known for being crippled by the Red Guards and becoming a paraplegic. He has since dedicated his life to improving the rights of handicapped people. Deng Pufang was born to Deng Xiaoping and Zhuo Lin, his third wife. He is considered a member of the Crown Prince Party. During the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping and his family were targeted by Mao Zedong. Xiaoping was branded as a capitalist roader. In one session, he was forced to kneel to the ground with his arm stretched out behind him and over his head. His family watched as the guards forced him to confess to capitalist ways of thinking. Mao's Red Guards then imprisoned Deng Pufang. He was tortured and thrown out of the window of a three-story building at Beijing University in 1968, but some sources claimed he may have fallen or jumped out of the window himself. He was rushed to the hospital but was denied admission because he was the son of a capitalist. By the time he reached another clinic, he was
Survivor Corps
Survivor Corps is a global network of survivors helping survivors to recover from war, rebuild their communities, and break cycles of violence. The organization currently operates programs in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burundi, Colombia, Croatia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Jordan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Uganda, Rwanda, the United States and Vietnam. Survivor Corps is a leading proponent of the peer support method, in which survivors are linked to one another to share information as well as emotional and practical support, and work together on issues affecting their lives. The Survivor Corps peer support program connects survivors with survivor role models to offer encouragement and motivation. Peer support is used to help new survivors find hope, get jobs, and get on with their lives. Survivor Corps also brings conflict survivors together to promote reconciliation and rebuilding through community service projects and local activism. By training and organizing survivor advocates to campaign for their rights, survivor corps has brought the voices of survivors into international negotiations, to ban weapons that cause unacceptable harm to
Esref Armagan
Eşref Armağan (born 1953) is a blind painter of Turkish origin. Born without sight to an impoverished family, he taught himself to write and print. He has painted using oil paints for roughly thirty-five years. Using a braille stylus to etch the outline of his drawing, Armağan requires total silence to create art. Oil paint is then applied with his fingers and left to dry fully before a new color is applied. This unique method is used so that colors do not smudge. The art pieces themselves are created without help from any individual. He is also able to create art that has visual perspective. In 2008 two researchers from Harvard, Dr. Amir Amedi and Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone, tried to find more about neural plasticity using Mr. Armagan as a study case. Both scientists had evidence that in cases of blindness, the "visual" cortex acts differently than how it acts with the non-blind. Pascual-Leone has found that Braille readers use this very same area for touch. Amedi, together (with Ehud Zohary) at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, found that the area is also activated in verbal memory tasks. When Amedi analyzed the results, however, he found that Armagan's visual cortex lit up
Mary Ingalls
Mary Amelia Ingalls (January 10, 1865 – October 20, 1928) was born near the town of Pepin, Wisconsin. She was the first child of Caroline and Charles Ingalls. She was the older sister of author Laura Ingalls Wilder, who is best known for her Little House on the Prairie book series. At the age of 14, Ingalls suffered an illness described as "a severe case of measles" which precipitated a stroke, resulting in lifelong blindness, as described in her sister's unpublished memoir, Pioneer Girl. Between 1881 and 1889, she attended the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton, Iowa. There was one year in that interim when she did not attend the school, and the historical record is silent as to why, but she did finish the seven year course of study in 1889 and graduated. Then she returned home to De Smet, South Dakota and lived with her parents until their deaths. There she was able to contribute to the family income by making fly nets for horses. Later, she lived with her sister, Grace, and then Carrie. She died on October 20, 1928 at the age of 63, as a result of pneumonia and complications from a stroke. She is buried at De Smet Cemetery.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (August 7, 1935 – December 5, 1977) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute and many other instruments. He was renowned for his onstage vitality, during which virtuoso improvisation was accompanied by comic banter, political ranting, and the ability to play several instruments simultaneously. Kirk was born Ronald Theodore Kirk in Columbus, Ohio, but felt compelled by a dream to transpose two letters in his first name to make Roland. He became blind at an early age as a result of poor medical treatment. In 1970, Kirk added "Rahsaan" to his name after hearing it in a dream. Preferring to lead his own bands, Kirk rarely performed as a sideman, although he did record with arranger Quincy Jones and drummer Roy Haynes and had notable stints with bassist Charles Mingus. One of his best-known recorded performances is the lead flute and solo on Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova", a 1964 hit song repopularized in the Austin Powers films (Jones 1964; McLeod et al. 1997). His playing was generally rooted in soul jazz or hard bop, but Kirk's knowledge of jazz history allowed him to draw on many elements of the music's past, from ragtime to swing
Tom Forcade
Thomas King Forçade (September 11, 1945 – November 17, 1978), aka John Thomas Moore and Kenneth Goodson Jr., was an American underground journalist and activist in the 1970s. For many years he ran the Underground Press Syndicate (later called the Alternative Press Syndicate), and was the founder in summer 1974, along with several anonymous associates, of High Times magazine. High Times ran articles calling marijuana a "medical wonder drug" and ridiculing the US Drug Enforcement Administration. He was born in Phoenix, Arizona. His father, hot rod enthusiast Kenneth Goodson Sr., died in a car crash when Forçade was a child. Tom graduated from the University of Utah in 1967 with a degree in business administration. He went into the United States Air Force but was discharged after a few months, after which he moved to New York City. In 1970, Forcade became one of the first people to use pieing as a form of protest, hitting Chairman Otto Larsen during the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography. According to the 1990 nonfiction book 12 Days on the Road: The Sex Pistols and America, by Noel E. Monk and Jimmy Guterman, Forcade and his film crew followed the Sex Pistols through
David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician who served as the 55th Governor of New York, from 2008 to 2010. During his tenure he was the first governor of New York of non-European American heritage and also the second legally blind governor of any U.S. state after Bob C. Riley, who was Acting Governor of Arkansas for 11 days in January 1975. Patterson is the third African American to serve as governor of any U.S. state. Since leaving office, Paterson has been a radio talk show host on station WOR in New York City. After graduating from Hofstra Law School, Paterson worked in the District Attorney's office of Queens County, New York, and on the staff of Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins. In 1985, he was elected to the New York State Senate to a seat that was once held by his father, former New York Secretary of State Basil Paterson. In 2003, he rose to the position of Senate Minority Leader. Paterson was selected as running mate by then-New York Attorney General and Democratic Party gubernatorial nominee Eliot Spitzer in the 2006 New York gubernatorial election. Spitzer and Paterson were elected in November 2006 with 69 percent of the vote, and
Dana Beal
Irvin Dana Beal (born January 9, 1947 in Ravenna, Ohio) is an American social and political activist, best known for his efforts to legalize marijuana. He is a long-term activist in the Youth International Party (Yippies). He founded the Yipster Times in 1972. Chapter 4 of the 1997 book "The Ibogaine Story" is a biography of Dana Beal with some additions. It states: Dana was born in the same hospital in Ravenna, Ohio, where the dying students were later taken from Kent State. He counts among his formative experiences shaking hands with Jack Kennedy when he campaigned in East Lansing in 1960, and hitch-hiking in August '63, at 16, to Washington, D.C., in order to be near the foot of the Lincoln Memorial for the "I have a dream" speech. Two months later he organized his first demonstration of 2,000 people, in Lansing, when the Klan blew up four little Black girls in a church on Birmingham Sunday. The next year he did a brief stint in a state mental hospital because of his mercurial temper. Because he told shrinks he thought he was destined for something important, they said he was crazy. But that kept him from being drafted in January '65, a month with the highest proportion of
Erik Weihenmayer
Erik Weihenmayer (born September 23, 1968) is the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on May 25, 2001. He also completed the Seven Summits in September 2002. His story was covered in a Time article in June 2001 titled Blind to Failure. He is the author of Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man's Journey to Climb Farther Than the Eye can See, his autobiography. After he became blind, at first, Weihenmayer did not want to use a cane or learn Braille. He wanted to prove that he could continue living as he had. He tried to play ball, but once he understood that he was incapable of doing so, he learned to wrestle. In high school he went all the way to the National Junior Freestyle Wrestling Championship in Iowa. At that time he started using a guide dog. Then he went to Boston College and graduated as an English major. He became a middle-school teacher and wrestling coach. In 1997, he married Ellie Reeve. The wedding took place at Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. They have a daughter, Emma. Erik is an acrobatic skydiver, long distance biker, marathon runner, skier, mountaineer, ice climber, and rock climber. He is a friend of Sabriye Tenberken, whom he visited in
Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician and artist, best known as the lead singer, guitarist and primary songwriter of the grunge band Nirvana. Cobain formed Nirvana with Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1985 and established it as part of the Seattle music scene, having its debut album Bleach released on the independent record label Sub Pop in 1989. After signing with major label DGC Records, the band found breakthrough success with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from its second album Nevermind (1991). Following the success of Nevermind, Nirvana was labeled "the flagship band" of Generation X, and Cobain hailed as "the spokesman of a generation". Cobain, however, was often uncomfortable and frustrated, believing his message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, with his personal issues often subject to media attention. He challenged Nirvana's audience with its final studio album In Utero (1993). During the last years of his life, Cobain struggled with heroin addiction, illness and depression. He also had difficulty coping with his fame and public image, and the professional and lifelong personal pressures
Web Link(s): http://www.discogs.com/artist/Vic+Chesnutt
James Victor "Vic" Chesnutt (November 12, 1964 – December 25, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, Little, was released in 1990, but his breakthrough to commercial success didn't come until 1996 with the release of Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, a tribute album of mainstream artists covering his songs. Chesnutt released seventeen albums during his career, including two produced by Michael Stipe, and a 1996 release on Capitol Records, About to Choke. His musical style has been described by Bryan Carroll of allmusic.com as a "skewed, refracted version of Americana that is haunting, funny, poignant, and occasionally mystical, usually all at once". Injuries from a 1983 car accident left him partially paralyzed; he used a wheelchair and had limited use of his hands. An adoptee, Chesnutt was raised in Zebulon, Georgia, where he first started writing songs at the age of five. When he was 13, Chesnutt declared that he was an atheist, a position that he maintained for the rest of his life. At 18, a car accident left him partially paralyzed; in a December 1, 2009 interview with Terry Gross on her NPR show Fresh Air, he said he was "a
"Blind" Willie Johnson (January 22, 1897 – September 18, 1945) was an American singer and guitarist, whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals. While the lyrics of his songs were often religious, his music drew from both sacred and blues traditions. His music is distinguished by his powerful bass thumb-picking and gravelly false-bass voice, with occasional use of a tenor voice. Blind Willie Johnson, according to his death certificate, was born in 1897 near Brenham, Texas, United States (before the discovery of his death certificate, Temple, Texas had been suggested as his birthplace). When he was five, he told his father he wanted to be a preacher and then made himself a cigar box guitar. His mother died when he was young and his father remarried soon after her death. Johnson was not born blind, and, although it is not known how he lost his sight, Angeline Johnson told Samuel Charters that when Willie was seven his father beat his stepmother after catching her going out with another man. The stepmother then picked up a handful of lye and threw it, not at Willie's father, but into the face of young Willie. It is believed that Johnson married at least twice. He
Hun Sen
Hun Sen (Khmer: ហ៊ុន សែន; born 5 August 1952) is the current Prime Minister of Cambodia and leader of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), which has governed Cambodia since the Vietnamese-backed overthrow of the Khmer Rouge in 1979. Since the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1993, the CPP has been in a coalition with the royalist Funcinpec party. His current, full, honorary title is Samdech Akeak Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen (Khmer: សម្តេចអគ្គមហាសេនាបតីតេជោ ហ៊ុន សែន). The title "Samdech" was attached to his name in 1993 by King Norodom Sihanouk. It is only an honorary title and does not give him further powers. He has a glass eye, the result of a wound sustained during the Khmer Rouge offensive against Phnom Penh in April 1975. Hun Sen is currently the second longest serving leader in South East Asia and is one of the longest serving prime ministers in the world, having been in power through various coalitions since 1985. Hun Sen was born Hun Nal in the village of Peam Koh Sna, which is located within Stueng Trang District, Kampong Cham Province and was the third child of six children to a peasant family. His father, Hun Neang was a resident monk in a local Wat in Kampong
Nicholas Saunderson
Nicholas Saunderson (1682 – 19 April 1739) was an English scientist and mathematician. According to one leading historian of statistics, he may have been the earliest discoverer of Bayes theorem. Saunderson was born at Thurlstone, Yorkshire, in January 1682. When about a year old he lost his sight through smallpox; but this did not prevent him from acquiring a knowledge of Latin and Greek, and studying mathematics. As a child, he is also thought to have learnt to read by tracing the engravings on tombstones around St John the Baptist Church in Penistone with his fingers. His early education was at Penistone Grammar School. In 1707, he arrived in Cambridge, staying with his friend Joshua Dunn, a fellow-commoner at Christ's College. During this time, he resided in Christ's but was not admitted to the University. With the permission of the Lucasian professor, William Whiston, Saunderson was allowed to teach, lecturing on mathematics, astronomy and optics. Whiston was expelled from his chair on 30 October 1710; at the appeal of the heads of colleges, Queen Anne awarded Saunderson a Master of Arts degree on 19 November 1711 so that he would be eligible to succeed Whiston as Lucasian
Dummy Hoy
William Ellsworth Hoy (May 23, 1862 – December 15, 1961), nicknamed "Dummy," was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for several teams from 1888 to 1902, most notably the Cincinnati Reds and two Washington, D.C., franchises. He is noted for being the most accomplished deaf player in major league history, and is credited by some sources with causing the establishment of signals for safe and out calls. He held the major league record for games in center field (1,726) from 1899 to 1920, set records for career putouts (3,958) and total chances (4,625) as an outfielder, and retired among the leaders in outfield games (2nd; 1,795), assists (7th; 273), and double plays (3rd; 72). He was also an excellent baserunner, scoring over 100 runs nine times, and often finishing among the top base stealers. He is one of only 29 players to have played in four different major leagues. His 1,004 career walks put him second in major league history behind Billy Hamilton when he retired, and he also ended his career ranking eighth in career games (1,796). Born in the small town of Houcktown, Ohio, Hoy became deaf after suffering from meningitis at age three, and went on to
Ronnie Lee Milsap (born January 16, 1943) is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country music's most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s. He became country music's first well-known blind singer, and one of the most successful and versatile country "crossover" singers of his time, appealing to both country and pop music music markets with successful songs that incorporated pop, R&B, and rock and roll elements. Milsap's biggest crossover hits include "It Was Almost Like a Song," "Smoky Mountain Rain," "(There's) No Gettin' Over Me," "I Wouldn't Have Missed It for the World," "Any Day Now," and "Stranger in My House," among others. He is credited with six Grammy Awards and 40 number one country hits, third to George Strait and Conway Twitty. Milsap was born in Robbinsville, North Carolina with a congenital disorder that left him almost completely blind. He was abandoned by his mother as an infant and raised by his grandparents until the age of five, when he was sent to the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, North Carolina. During his childhood he lost his remaining vision. Due to a developing blood clot, both his eyes were
Jeff Healey
Norman Jeffrey "Jeff" Healey (March 25, 1966 – March 2, 2008) was a blind Canadian jazz and blues-rock vocalist and guitarist who attained musical and personal popularity, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Healey was raised in the city's west end. He was adopted as an infant; his adoptive father was a firefighter. When he was one year old, Healey lost his sight to retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes. His eyes had to be surgically removed, and he was given artificial replacements. Healey began playing guitar when he was three, developing his unique style of playing the instrument flat on his lap. When he was 17, he formed the band Blue Direction, a four-piece band which primarily played bar-band cover tunes. Among the other musicians were bassist Jeremy Littler, drummer Graydon Chapman, and a schoolmate, Rob Quail on second guitar. This band played various local clubs in Toronto, including the Colonial Tavern. Healey began hosting a jazz and blues show on radio station CIUT-FM where he became known for playing from his massive collection of vintage 78 rpm gramophone records. Shortly thereafter he was introduced to two musicians, bassist Joe Rockman
Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert, April 6, 1931) is an American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba, and for founding the charitable organizations Seva Foundation and Hanuman Foundation. He continues to teach via his website. Alpert was born to a Jewish family in Newton, Massachusetts. His father, George Alpert, was a lawyer in Boston, president of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, one of the founders of Brandeis University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, as well as a major fundraiser for Jewish causes. While Richard did have a bar mitzvah, he was "disappointed by its essential hollowness". He considered himself an atheist and did not profess any religion during his early life, describing himself as "inured to religion. I didn't have one whiff of God until I took psychedelics." Alpert attended the Williston Northampton School, graduating in 1948 as a part of the Cum Laude Association. He then went on to receive a
Moondog & The London Saxophonic
Moondog, born Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999), was a blind American composer, musician, poet and inventor of several musical instruments. Moving to New York as a young man, Moondog made a deliberate decision to make his home on the streets there, where he spent approximately twenty of the thirty years he lived in the city. Most days he could be found in his chosen part of town wearing clothes he had created based on his own interpretation of the Norse god Odin. Thanks to his unconventional outfits and lifestyle, he was known for much of his life as "The Viking of 6th Avenue". A documentary about his life, "The Viking of 6th Avenue", is currently in production. Born to an Episcopalian family in Marysville, Kansas, Hardin started playing a set of drums that he made from a cardboard box at the age of five. His family relocated to Wyoming and his father opened a trading post at Fort Bridger. Hardin attended school in a couple of small towns. At one point, his father took him to an Arapaho Sun Dance where he sat on the lap of Chief Yellow Calf and played a tom-tom made from buffalo skin. Hardin played drums in Hurley High School before losing his sight in a farm
Steven Fletcher
Steven Kenneth Fletcher (born 26 March 1987) is an English-born Scottish footballer, who currently plays as a striker for Premier League club Sunderland. Fletcher began his club career with Hibernian, playing in 156 Scottish Premier League games and scoring 43 goals. English club Burnley paid a club record transfer fee of £3 million to sign Fletcher in June 2009. He was their top goalscorer in the 2009–10 season with eight league goals, but the club were relegated from the Premier League. Fletcher was transferred soon afterwards to Wolves, who also paid a club record fee, of £6.5 million, for his services. He scored 24 goals in 68 appearances for Wolves, but the club were relegated from the Premier League in 2012. Fletcher was then transferred to Sunderland for £14 million. Fletcher played for the Scotland under-19 team that finished runners up to Spain in the 2006 European Championship. He has since represented Scotland eight times at full international level, scoring one goal. Fletcher has not played for Scotland since 2010, however, due to a dispute with the Scotland manager Craig Levein. Fletcher, who was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, spent much of his early years living on
Bernardino di Betto, called Pintoricchio or Pinturicchio (Italian: [pintuˈrikkjo]; 1454–1513) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. He acquired his nickname, Pintoricchio ("little painter"), because of his small stature, and he used it to sign some of his works. He was born in Perugia, the son of Benedetto or Betto di Blagio. He may have trained under lesser known Perugian painters such as Bonfigli and Fiorenzo di Lorenzo. According to Vasari, Pinturicchio was a paid assistant of Perugino. The works of the Perugian Renaissance school are very similar; and paintings by Perugino, Pinturicchio, Lo Spagna and a young Raphael may often be mistaken one for the other. In the execution of large frescoes, pupils and assistants had a large share in the work, either in enlarging the master's sketch to the full-sized cartoon, in transferring the cartoon to the wall, or in painting backgrounds or accessories. After assisting Perugino in his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, Pinturicchio was employed by various members of the Della Rovere family and others to decorate palaces (the Semi-Gods Ceiling of Palazzo dei Penitenzieri) and a series of chapels in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in
Canadian National Institute for the Blind
CNIB (formerly known as the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, which was officially changed to its current name in 2006) is a volunteer agency and charitable organization dedicated to assisting Canadians who are blind or living with vision loss, and to provide information about vision health for all Canadians. Founded in 1918 to assist soldiers who had been blinded in the First World War, CNIB originally offered sheltered care and specialized employment to people with vision loss. It has since expanded to include other programs and services, including research, public education, rehabilitation counselling and training, advocacy and an alternative-format library for people living with a print disability. It is a member of BANA. CNIB was incorporated in 1918 to provide food, clothing and sheltered residences for blind veterans returning from World War I. It began with 27 employees serving 1,521 people who were blind, primarily in Toronto, with two "home teachers" providing rehabilitation training in other parts of Canada. During the 1920s, CNIB operated a job placement program with limited success, also creating jobs through its own factories, broom shops and concession
Kief
Kief, keef or kif (sometimes kef) refers to the resin glands (or trichomes) of cannabis which may accumulate in containers or be sifted from loose dry cannabis buds with a mesh screen or sieve. Kief contains a much higher concentration of psychoactive cannabinoids, such as THC, than other preparations of cannabis buds from which it is derived. Traditionally kief has been pressed into cakes as hashish for convenience in storage and shipping, but can be vaporized or smoked in its powder form. According to the Oxford dictionary the word "kif" derives from Arabic: كيف kayf, meaning well-being or pleasure.
Pierre Desloges
Born in 1747 in the Touraine region of France, Pierre Desloges moved to Paris as a young man, where he became a bookbinder and upholsterer. He was deafened at age seven from smallpox, but did not learn to sign until he was twenty-seven, when he was taught by a deaf Italian. In 1779, he wrote what may be the first book published by a deaf person, in which he advocated for the use of sign language in deaf education. It was in part a rebuttal of the views of Abbé Claude-François Deschamps de Champloiseau, who had published a book arguing against the use of signs. Desloges explained, "like a Frenchman who sees his language belittled by a German who only knows a few French words, I thought I was obliged to defend my language against the false charges of this author." He describes a community of deaf people using a sign language (now referred to as Old French Sign Language). The Abbe de l'Epee has often been credited with the invention of sign language, but this is incorrect. Desloges' book proves that French Sign Language predates the establishment of the famous school for the Deaf in Paris, and is truly the invention of deaf people. Desloges also wrote a number of well-received
Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson (March 3, 1923 – May 29, 2012) was an American guitarist, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. Watson won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded. He performed with his son Merle for over 15 years until Merle's death in 1985 in an accident on the family farm. Watson was born in Deep Gap, North Carolina. According to Watson on his three-CD biographical recording Legacy, he got the nickname "Doc" during a live radio broadcast when the announcer remarked that his given name Arthel was odd and he needed an easy nickname. A fan in the crowd shouted "Call him Doc!" presumably in reference to the literary character Sherlock Holmes's sidekick Doctor Watson. The name stuck ever since. An eye infection caused Doc Watson to lose his vision before his first birthday. Despite this, he was taught by his parents to work hard and care for himself. He attended North Carolina's school for the visually impaired, The Governor Morehead School, in Raleigh, North Carolina. In a 1989 radio interview with host Terry Gross on
Miha Zupan
Miha Zupan (born September 13, 1982 in Kranj, Slovenia, is a Slovenian professional basketball player currently playing for Turk Telekom Ankara in Turkey. Despite being deaf since birth, he plays among hearing players at the highest level in Europe. He is a 2.05 m (6 ft 8¾ in) power forward who can also play center when needed. Zupan spent most of his childhood in a special school for the deaf, eventually learning to speak. An unspecified type of hearing aid would later give him enough hearing to understand speech. He did not learn to play basketball until age 14, instead playing football and volleyball. After his first basketball coach spotted him in a schoolyard, he took to the game quickly, soon joining Slovenia's national basketball team for the deaf, which twice made the finals of the European championships with Zupan as its star. At age 17, he signed his first contract with a regular professional team, KD Slovan of Ljubljana. During his teenage years, he grew 20 cm (8 inches) in an 18-month period, leading to knee problems that sidelined him for several months early in his pro career. At Slovan, he developed into a promising big man, soon making the (regular) Slovenia junior
Steve Kubby
Steven Wynn "Steve" Kubby (born December 28, 1946) is a Libertarian Party activist who played a key role in the drafting and passage of California Proposition 215. The proposition was a ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana which was approved by voters in 1996. Kubby himself is well known as a cancer patient who relies on medical cannabis. He has authored two books on drug policy reform: The Politics of Consciousness, and Why Marijuana Should Be Legal. He was the Libertarian Party of California candidate for Governor of California in 1998 receiving 0.9% of the vote. In 2008, he declared his candidacy for the Libertarian Party's 2008 presidential nomination and received significant support for the nomination, but was eliminated after the second ballot. Although various media reports have described him as a "felon" and "fugitive", Kubby's legal status was resolved on July 3, 2008, when California Superior Court Judge, David Nelson, dismissed all charges against Kubby, clearing his name and record of any criminal activity. In 1968, at the age of 23, he began experiencing symptoms of hypertension and palpitations. He was diagnosed with malignant pheochromocytoma, a rare,
Barack Hussein Obama II (/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, running unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 2000. Several events brought Obama to national attention during his 2004 campaign to represent the state of Illinois in the United States Senate in 2004, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won the Senate election in November 2004, serving until his resignation following his 2008 presidential election victory. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close
Francesco Landini
Francesco degli Organi, Francesco il Cieco, or Francesco da Firenze, called by later generations Francesco Landini or Landino (ca. 1325 or 1335 – September 2, 1397) was an Italian composer, organist, singer, poet and instrument maker. He was one of the most famous and revered composers of the second half of the 14th century, and by far the most famous composer in Italy. Details of Landini's life are sketchy and few facts can be established with certainty, but the general outline has begun to take shape as more research has been done, especially into Florentine records. Most of the original biographical data on him comes from a 1385 book on famous Florentine citizens by chronicler Filippo Villani, who was also born approximately 1325. Landini was most likely born in Florence, though his great-nephew, humanist Cristoforo Landino, gave his birthplace as Fiesole. His father, Jacopo del Casentino, was a noted painter in the school of Giotto. Blind from childhood (an effect of contracting smallpox), Landini became devoted to music early in life, and mastered many instruments, including the lute, as well as the art of singing, writing poetry, and composition. Villani, in his chronicle,
Vision loss or visual loss is the absence of vision where it existed before, which can happen either acutely (i.e. abruptly) or chronically (i.e. over a long period of time). Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision and vision loss based on visual acuity. Early editions of the World Health Organization's ICD described a simple distinction between "legally sighted" and "legally blind". The ICD-9 released in 1979 introduced the smallest continuous scale which consisted of three tiers: normal vision, low vision, and blindness. Acute visual loss may be dramatic in presentation. It may be caused by media opacities, retinal disease, optic nerve disease, visual pathway disorders, or functional disorders, or it may be in fact an acute discovery of chronic visual loss. Opacities of the clear refractive media of the eye such as the cornea, anterior chamber, lens, and vitreous humor may cause acute visual loss as manifested by blurry vision or reduced visual acuity. While pupillary reflexes may be affected, these conditions generally do not cause a relative afferent pupillary defect. Causes of media opacity include corneal edema, hyphema, cataract and vitreous
Anaïs Nin (Spanish pronunciation: [anaˈiz ˈnin]; born Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell, February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was a French-Cuban author, based at first in France and later in the United States, who published her journals, which span more than 60 years, beginning when she was 11 years old and ending shortly before her death, her erotic literature, and short stories. A great deal of her work, including Delta of Venus and Little Birds, was published posthumously. Anaïs Nin was born in Neuilly, France, to artistic parents. Her father, Joaquín Nin, was a Cuban pianist and composer, when he met her mother Rosa Culmell, who was a classically trained singer in Cuba of French and Danish descent. Her father's grandfather had fled France during the Revolution, going first to Saint-Domingue, then New Orleans, and finally to Cuba where he helped build that country's first railway. Nin was raised a Roman Catholic and spent her childhood and early life in Europe. After her parents separated, her mother moved Anaïs and her two brothers, Thorvald Nin and Joaquin Nin-Culmell, to Barcelona, and then to New York City. According to her diaries, Volume One,
Autism Network International
Autism Network International (ANI) is an advocacy organization run by and for autistic people. ANI's principles involve the anti-cure perspective, the perspective that there should not be a goal to "cure" people of autism. Autreat is a United States retreat and conference hosted by Autism Network International for autistic people. The first Autreat was in 1996. As of 2012, there has been an Autreat every year since then except 2001. Autreat is a conference for autistic people, in contrast to other autism conferences, which ANI believes are typically about autistic people but are intended for parents and professionals. Although parents, professionals, and others are welcome, Autreat is specifically designed for autistics, and offers an "autism friendly" environment, free of sensory bombardment. Guests are under no pressure to interact socially. A simple visual code in the form of a colored badge is used to indicate members who wish to interact with anyone and everyone, those who wish not to be approached by strangers, and those who wish not to be approached at all. Autreat was the inspiration for Autscape, another autism conference held in Europe annually starting in 2005. Autreat
Oreste Carpi
Oreste Carpi (3 November 1921 – 11 March 2008) was an Italian deaf painter, engraver and ceramist. Oreste Carpi was born in Poviglio, near Reggio Emilia, and received early training in painting at "Paolo Toschi" art school in Parma. In 1944 he enrolled at fine arts academy in Bologna where he studied engraving under the supervision of Giorgio Morandi. After the end of World War II he attended the fine arts academy of Brera in Milan, where he studied under Aldo Carpi and Carlo Carrà. He graduated in 1950. In these years he became attracted to the practice of painting landscapes en plein air. He is considered one of the last post-impressionist painters of the 20th century in Italy. During his life he displayed his works in many towns in Italy and abroad: Parma, Verona, Milano, Bologna, Rome, Brescia, Venezia, Moscow, Paris, Madrid and won many national prizes for his artworks and his career. In 1985 the town council of Parma organized an anthologic exhibition of his works where more than 150 paintings have been displayed.
Web Link(s): http://www.discogs.com/artist/Pete+Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend (born 19 May 1945) is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career. His career with The Who spans more than 40 years, during which time the band grew to be considered one of the most influential bands of the 1960s and 1970s, and, according to Eddie Vedder, "possibly the greatest live band ever." Townshend is the primary songwriter for The Who, having written well over 100 songs for the band's 11 studio albums, including concept albums and the rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia, plus popular rock and roll radio staples like Who's Next, and dozens more that appeared as non-album singles, bonus tracks on reissues, and tracks on rarities compilations like Odds & Sods. He has also written over 100 songs that have appeared on his solo albums, as well as radio jingles and television theme songs. Although known primarily as a guitarist, he also plays other instruments such as keyboards, banjo, accordion, synthesiser, bass guitar and drums, on his own solo albums, several Who albums, and as a guest contributor to a wide array
Heather Whitestone
Heather Leigh Whitestone McCallum (born February 24, 1973 in Dothan, Alabama) is a former beauty queen who was the first deaf Miss America title holder, having lost most of her hearing at the age of 18 months. In fourth grade, Heather learned about the story of a young woman from Alabama who would forever change her life — Helen Keller. Keller became Heather's role model. Heather was unable to keep up with her classwork and began to fall behind her peers. At eleven years old, Heather asked her family to send her to a special school that would enable her to catch up with other students in her class. While at the Central Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis, Missouri, Heather learned two grade levels per year. After three years, Heather caught up with her peers and returned to Alabama to graduate from public middle school with a 3.6 GPA. Whitestone moved to Birmingham at age sixteen, following her parents' divorce. She attended the Alabama School of Fine Arts for a year and graduated from Berry High School (now Hoover High School) in 1991. Her passion was ballet and because of her Deafness, she had spent most of her time developing her ballet skills. She then went on to study at
Eliot Laurence Spitzer (born June 10, 1959) is an American lawyer, political commentator, and former Democratic Party politician. Currently, he is the host of Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer, a nightly news and commentary program on Current TV. Prior to that, he was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN from October 2010 to July 2011. He served as the 54th Governor of New York from January 2007 until his resignation on March 17, 2008 from the exposure of his involvement as a regular client of the escort agency, Emperors Club VIP. Prior to being elected governor, Spitzer had served as New York State Attorney General. Spitzer was born in New York, and raised there by his father, real estate tycoon Bernard Spitzer. He attended Princeton University for undergraduate studies and then Harvard Law School for his Juris Doctor. It was there that he met his future wife, Silda Wall. He went on to work for the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and subsequently the Manhattan District Attorney's office to pursue organized crime. He launched the investigation that brought down the Gambino family's control over Manhattan's garment and
George Elmer Pataki (/pəˈtɑːki/; born June 24, 1945) is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006. Pataki's paternal grandfather was János (later John) Pataki (1883–1971) of Aranyos-Apáti, Austria-Hungary, who came to the United States in 1908 and worked in a hat factory. János had married Erzsébet (later Elizabeth; 1887 – 1975) around 1904. Their son, Pataki's father, was Louis P. Pataki (1912–1996), a mailman. Pataki's maternal grandfather was Matteo Laganà (born in Calabria, Italy in 1889), who married Agnes Lynch of County Louth, Ireland around 1914. Their daughter, Margaret Lagana, is Pataki's mother. He has an older brother, Louis. George Pataki can still speak a little Hungarian today. Pataki married Elizabeth Rowland in 1973, and they have four children: Emily, Teddy, Allison, and Owen. After attending Peekskill High School, he entered Yale University in 1964 on an academic scholarship, and graduated in 1967. While there he served as chairman of the Conservative Party of the Yale Political Union. He received his J.D. from
Not Dead Yet (NDY) is a United States disability rights group that opposes assisted suicide and euthanasia. Diane Coleman, JD, is the founder and president of this national group. Stephen Drake, a research analyst with NDY, is one of the group's chief spokespersons and contacts for press releases. The group was founded on April 27, 1996. Its name comes from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in which plague victims are thrown into a cart and hauled off to be buried. A man being given up as a corpse by his family protests that he is "not dead yet!" In 2004 NDY protested the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, and for protesting the movie Million Dollar Baby, in which the injection of an overdose of adrenalin to euthanize a suicidal quadriplegic woman is depicted as a rational and compassionate act. The group has been highly critical of utilitarian philosophers such as Peter Singer of Princeton University. Coleman has called Professor Singer "the most dangerous man on earth" and accused him of advocating genocide. NDY is neither a partisan nor a sectarian group. It includes participants from a wide range of political and religious leanings. The group takes a disability
Jacqui Smith
Jacqueline Jill "Jacqui" Smith (born 3 November 1962) is a member of the British Labour Party. She was the Member of Parliament for Redditch from 1997 until 2010, the first female Home Secretary and the third woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State — after Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister) and Margaret Beckett (Foreign Secretary). Smith was one of the MPs investigated by the parliamentary commissioner for standards over a variety of inappropriate expense claims Smith, whose case was arguably among the most significant of the MPs' expenses cases was never prosecuted and was asked to pay back less than average after investigation by Sir Thomas Legg, was found to have "clearly" broken the rules on expenses and ordered to apologise. On 5 June 2009, she ceased to be Home Secretary in the Cabinet reshuffle, and then lost her seat as Member of Parliament for Redditch in the 2010 General Election. Born in Malvern, Worcestershire, Smith attended Dyson Perrins High School in Malvern. Her parents were teachers, and both Labour councillors; although her mother briefly joined the SDP. Her local MP, Conservative backbencher Sir Michael Spicer, recalled in Parliament in 2003 how he had
Johnnie Ray
Johnnie Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Extremely popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor of what would become rock and roll, for his jazz and blues-influenced music and his animated stage personality. John Alvin Ray was born in Dallas, Oregon, spending part of his childhood on a farm, lived in Dallas, Polk County, Oregon with parents Elmer and Hazel Ray and older sister Elma Ray, and attended grade school there, eventually moving to Portland, Oregon where he attended high school. Ray was not of Native American origin: it was rumored that his great-grandmother was a full-blooded Blackfoot Indian, but in a response to a reporter questioning his heritage in 1952, Ray, puzzled, looked down at his shoes and said "Blackfoot". His great-grandfather was Oregon pioneer George Kirby Gay of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England. He became deaf in his right ear at age 13 after an accident during a Boy Scout "blanket toss," a variation of the trampoline. (Ray later performed wearing a hearing aid. Surgery performed in New York in 1958 left him almost completely deaf in both ears, although hearing
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide (INN) and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synesthesia, an altered sense of time and spiritual experiences, as well as for its key role in 1960s counterculture. It is used mainly as an entheogen, recreational drug, and as an agent in psychedelic therapy. LSD is non-addictive, is not known to cause brain damage, and has extremely low toxicity relative to dose, although in rare cases adverse psychiatric reactions such as anxiety or delusions are possible. LSD was first synthesized by Albert Hofmann in 1938 from ergotamine, a chemical derived by Arthur Stoll from ergot, a grain fungus that typically grows on rye. The short form "LSD" comes from its early code name LSD-25, which is an abbreviation for the German "Lysergsäure-diethylamid" followed by a sequential number. LSD is sensitive to oxygen, ultraviolet light, and chlorine, especially in solution, though its potency may last for years if it is stored away from light and moisture at low
Phyllis Frelich
Phyllis Frelich (born February 29, 1944) is an American actress, and, with Marlee Matlin, one of the two pre-eminent deaf actresses in the United States. Frelich was born in Devils Lake, North Dakota to deaf parents and is the oldest of 9 children (all of whom are also deaf). She attended North Dakota School for the Deaf, graduating in 1962, and then went on to study at Gallaudet College (now known as Gallaudet University), a school for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Frelich originated the leading female role in the Broadway production of Children of a Lesser God, for which she won the 1980 Best Actress Tony Award. Marlee Matlin played Frelich's role in the film version, and won the Best Actress Academy Award. She has been married to Robert Steinberg for many years, and they have two children (both of whom can hear and are fluent in American Sign Language). She performed the ASL interpretation of Jewel's rendition of the national anthem at Super Bowl XXXII.
Sharry Konopski
Sharry Konopski (born December 2, 1967 in Longview, Washington) is an American model and actress. She was chosen as Playboy's Playmate of the Month in August 1987 and has appeared in numerous Playboy videos. She posed nude again for Playboy in the March 1997 issue. On 1 April 1995, as she was driving home from work, three deer ran into the road causing her to roll her Mustang. Her spinal injuries left her paralysed from the waist down. She has two children, Spencer and Sierra, but her husband left her after the accident.
Abd-al-Aziz ibn Abd-Allah ibn Baaz
Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Baz (Arabic: عبد العزيز بن عبد الله بن باز) (November 21, 1910 – May 13, 1999), was a Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar, considered as one of the most renowned Salafi Muslim Islamic scholars of the twentieth century. He was the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia from 1993 until his death in 1999. Ibn Baz was born in the city of Riyadh during the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, 1910 to a family with a reputation for their interest in Islam. His father died when he was only three, placing a big responsibility on his mother to raise him. When asked about his childhood, the sheikh said: "my father died when I was three years old, and I only had my mother who took care of me and educated me encouraging me to learn more about Shari'ah; she also died when I was twenty six." By the time he was thirteen he had begun working, selling clothing with his brother in a market. Despite the fact that he helped a great deal in supporting his family, he still found time to study the Qur'an, Hadith, Fiqh, and Tafsir. In 1927, when he was sixteen, he started losing his eyesight after being afflicted with a serious infection in his eyes. By the time he was forty, he had totally lost his sight
Dana Larsen
Dana Albert Larsen (born April 14, 1971) is a Canadian author, politician and cannabis legalization activist. Larsen was the editor of Cannabis Culture magazine from its creation in 1994 until 2005, producing 54 issues with publisher Marc Emery, who now also serves as editor. Larsen was a founding member of both the Marijuana Party of Canada and the BC Marijuana Party. In the 2000 Canadian federal election, Larsen ran as the Marijuana Party candidate for the riding of West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast, receiving 3% of the vote. In the 2001 British Columbia provincial election, Larsen ran as a BC Marijuana Party candidate in the Powell River-Sunshine Coast riding, receiving 3.5% of the vote. After the 2001 election, Larsen became the Leader of the BC Marijuana Party. In 2003, Larsen resigned from both Marijuana parties and joined the New Democratic Party. In 2005, Larsen founded a group called "End Prohibition, NDP Against the Drug War." Larsen has since claimed that End Prohibition has been instrumental in passing drug-policy resolutions through the provincial NDP in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario. In 2006, Larsen co-founded the Vancouver Seed Bank, a business which sells
Edward Forchion
Robert Edward Forchion (born July 23, 1964), and also known as NJWEEDMAN, is a cannabis activist and a perennial candidate for various New Jersey elected offices. He is a resident of the Browns Mills section of Pemberton Township, New Jersey. Forchion identifies himself as a member of the Legalize Marijuana Party and campaigns primarily on the single issue of cannabis legalization. Forchion has performed various stunts to bring attention to cannabis legalization, including smoking cannabis in front of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, as well as attempting to legally change his name to NJWeedman.com. As a result of such antics, Forchion has appeared before U.S. courts multiple times - both as a defendant facing marijuana possession charges, and a plaintiff in civil rights actions pertaining to marijuana advocacy and consumption. In his online autobiography, Forchion claims smoking his first marijuana cigarette at age 16; he "instantly was impressed with its medicinal healing powers, in regards to his [asthma]". He also states in interview by The Trentonian: "I was 15 when I first got busted for smoking weed by my parents. And to this day my mother is against it, and just wishes I
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (born 19 August 1939, Lewisham, South London) is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences. He has also had other collaborations such as with Gary Moore, Hawkwind and Public Image Ltd. Baker's drumming attracted attention for its flamboyance, showmanship and his use of two bass drums instead of the conventional single bass kick drum (following a similar set-up used by Louie Bellson during his days with Duke Ellington). Although a firmly established rock drummer and praised as "Rock's first superstar drummer", he prefers being called a jazz drummer. Baker's influence has extended to drummers of both genres, including Billy Cobham, Peter Criss, Bill Ward, Ian Paice, Nick Mason, and John Bonham. AllMusic has described him as "the most influential percussionist of the 1960s" and stated that "virtually every drummer of every heavy metal band that has followed since that time has sought to emulate some aspect of Baker's playing." While at times performing in a similar way to Keith Moon from The Who, Baker also employs a more
In the Western classical tradition, Homer ( /ˈhoʊmər/; Greek: Ὅμηρος, Hómēros) is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest of ancient Greek epic poets. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature. When he lived is unknown. Herodotus estimates that Homer lived 400 years before Herodotus' own time, which would place him at around 850 BC; while other ancient sources claim that he lived much nearer to the supposed time of the Trojan War, in the early 12th century BC. Modern researchers appear to place Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. The formative influence played by the Homeric epics in shaping Greek culture was widely recognized, and Homer was described as the teacher of Greece. Homer's works, which are about fifty percent speeches, provided models in persuasive speaking and writing that were emulated throughout the ancient and medieval Greek worlds. Fragments of Homer account for nearly half of all identifiable Greek literary papyrus finds. For modern scholars "the date of Homer" refers not to an individual, but to the period when the epics were created. The
The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) is a coordinating, umbrella organization to lead an international effort in mobilizing resources for blindness prevention activities. It was set up on January 1, 1975, by the late Sir John Wilson, the Founder President. The founding members were the World Blind Union, and the International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies (now the International Council of Ophthalmology). IAPB aspires to link professional bodies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), educational institutions, and interested individuals, with national programmes for the prevention of blindness. According to the WHO, more than 161 million people were visually impaired, of whom 124 million people had low vision and 37 million were blind all over the world in 2002 . It has been estimated that the number of blind people will rise to 76 million by 2020. Close to 75% of this blindness is avoidable. The treatment of cataracts, which accounts for nearly half of all blindness, is one of the most cost-effective health interventions known. In their study on the magnitude and cost of global blindness, Frick and Foster calculate that successful
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead. Though he disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader or "spokesman" of the group. One of its founders, Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for their entire thirty-year career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders-Garcia Band (with longtime friend Merl Saunders), Jerry Garcia Band, Old and in the Way, the Garcia/Grisman acoustic duo, Legion of Mary, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage (which Garcia co-founded with John Dawson and David Nelson). He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. He was well known by many for his distinctive guitar playing and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" cover story. Later in life, Garcia was sometimes ill because of his unstable weight, and in 1986 went into a diabetic coma that nearly cost him his life. Although his overall health improved somewhat after
Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a former Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom for 24 years, and a former British government Cabinet minister. He was convicted of perjury in 1999 and received an 18-month prison sentence, of which he served seven months. He is currently president of Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Aitken's parents were Sir William Aitken, a former Conservative MP, and Penelope Aitken, daughter of John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby. Aitken is a great-nephew of newspaper magnate and war-time minister Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (Lord Beaverbrook). His sister is the actress Maria Aitken and his nephew is the actor Jack Davenport. He is godfather to James Abbott, the son of Labour left-winger Diane Abbott. In 1999, DNA testing confirmed that Petrina Khashoggi, daughter of billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, was Aitken's biological child, the result of an affair with Soraya Khashoggi, née Sandra Daly, then wife of Adnan Khashoggi. His other children include twin daughters, Alexandra and Victoria Aitken, as well as his son William Aitken. Aitken was born in Dublin, Ireland. His grandfather Lord Rugby was in 1939 the first
Rudi Carrell (19 December 1934, Alkmaar, Netherlands — 7 July 2006, Bremen, Germany), born Rudolf Wijbrand Kesselaar, was a Dutch entertainer. Along with famous entertainers such as Johannes Heesters and Linda de Mol, Carrell was one of the most successful Dutch personalities active in Germany. He worked as a television entertainer and hosted his own show. The Rudi Carrell Show ran first in the Netherlands, then in Germany for many years. Carrell was also a singer with a number of hits, and acted in several movies. He represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 singing "Wat een geluk" (What luck). He finished 12th out of 13 scoring just 2 points. Carrell provided the Dutch radio commentary for the 1987 Contest. The "Rudi Carrell Show" was a huge success in Germany from the 1960s to the 1990s. The show included a similar concept to "Star Search" or "Pop Idol" and brought many well-known German pop stars and actors to prominence, such as Alexis or Mark Keller. It also featured comedy sketches. His show was also pretty popular in some other European non-German speaking countries like Slovenia. In between he hosted other popular shows, including "Am laufenden Band",
Aspies For Freedom
Aspies For Freedom (AFF) is a solidarity and campaigning group which aims at raising public awareness of the autism rights movement. The term "Aspies" refers to people who have been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, but the group also welcomes anyone on the autism spectrum. The aim of Aspies For Freedom is to educate the public that the autism spectrum is not always a disability, and that there are advantages as well as disadvantages. For this purpose, the group organizes an annual Autistic Pride Day. The group also campaigns against abusive forms of therapy, and against the idea of a cure for autism. The AFF hopes to have autistic people recognized as a minority status group. Established in 2004 by Amy and Gareth Nelson, AFF has received supportive letters from such autism experts as Simon Baron-Cohen, Tony Attwood and Donna Williams, as well as press from publications such as New Scientist magazine. As of August, 2007, The Guardian estimated the group's membership at 20,000. Rob Crossan, writing for the BBC, confirms this 20,000 member figure and also mentions their "radical" belief that Asperger's ought not to be considered a disability. Crossan mentions that, in part, this is
Chuck Close
Charles Thomas "Chuck" Close (born July 5, 1940) is an American painter and photographer who achieved fame as a photorealist, through his massive-scale portraits. Though a catastrophic spinal artery collapse in 1988 left him severely paralyzed, he has continued to paint and produce work that remains sought after by museums and collectors. Close currently lives and works in New York's West Village and in Bridgehampton, New York. Close was born in Monroe, Washington. His father died when he was eleven years old. Most of his early works are very large portraits based on photographs (Photorealism or Hyperrealism technique) of family and friends, often other artists. In an interview with Phong Bui in The Brooklyn Rail, Close describes an early encounter with a Jackson Pollock painting at the Seattle Art Museum: "I went to the Seattle Art Museum with my mother for the first time when I was 11. I saw this Jackson Pollock drip painting with aluminum paint, tar, gravel and all that stuff. I was absolutely outraged, disturbed. It was so far removed from what I thought art was. However, within 2 or 3 days, I was dripping paint all over my old paintings. In a way I've been chasing that
The European Disability Forum (EDF) is an independent European non-governmental organisation (ENGO) that represents the interests of more than 65 million persons with disability in the European Union. It is an independent democratic platform, without political or religious affiliation. MISSION Guaranteeing the total respect of Fundamental Rights of people with disabilities by way of an active participation in the development and implementation of European policies. VISION A society that integrates people with disabilities is a society that is better for all. Nothing about disabled people without disabled people. KEY VALUES The respect of Human Rights; equal opportunities for all; non- discrimination; a positive and constructive approach. EXPERTISE The EDF is an independent, democratic platform, without political or religious affiliation; It does not represent any specific interests or specific countries; it does not work for any of the European Institutions. The EDF provides a unique expertise in the field of disability. The EDF network brings together more than a hundred organisations of people with disabilities within the European Union, Iceland and Norway. Two main categories of
I. King Jordan
Irving King Jordan (born June 16, 1943 in Glen Riddle, Pennsylvania) became, in 1988, the first Deaf president of Gallaudet University, the world's only university with all programs and services designed specifically for students who are Deaf and hard of hearing. That year Gallaudet students, with support from many alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the University, protested the Board of Trustees' appointment of a hearing person to the presidency. Called Deaf President Now (DPN), the week-long protest was a watershed event in the lives of deaf and hard-of-hearing people all over the world. At its conclusion, the Board reversed its decision and named Jordan, one of three finalists for the position, the eighth president of Gallaudet and the first Deaf president since the institution was established in 1864. His persistent support for then-Provost Jane Fernandes as his successor as Gallaudet's president in 2006 greatly diminished his influence and respect in the Deaf community as a result. Jordan is a native of Glen Riddle, a small town near Philadelphia in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Jordan was born to hearing parents, with no other instances of Deafness in his family. After
James Holman
James Holman FRS (15 October 1786 – 29 July 1857), known as the "Blind Traveler," was a British adventurer, author and social observer, best known for his writings on his extensive travels. Not only completely blind but suffering from debilitating pain and limited mobility, he undertook a series of solo journeys that were unprecedented both in their extent of geography and method of "human echolocation". In 1866, the journalist William Jerdan wrote that "From Marco Polo to Mungo Park, no three of the most famous travellers, grouped together, would exceed the extent and variety of countries traversed by our blind countryman." Holman was born in Exeter, the son of an apothecary. He entered the British Royal Navy in 1798 as first-class volunteer, and was appointed lieutenant in April 1807. In 1810, while on the Guerriere off the coast of the Americas, he was invalided by an illness that first afflicted his joints, then finally his vision. At the age of 25, he was rendered totally and permanently blind. In recognition of the fact that his affliction was duty-related, he was in 1812 appointed to the Naval Knights of Windsor, with a lifetime grant of care in Windsor Castle. This position
Keith Stroup
Keith Stroup is an attorney and founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1965, he enrolled in Georgetown Law School and worked in the office of Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen. He graduated from law school in 1968 and began working for the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission. The job put him in contact with consumer activist Ralph Nader whose work inspired Stroup to create a consumer group for cannabis users. Using $5,000 in seed money from the Playboy Foundation, Stroup founded NORML in 1970. He served as executive director until 1979, during which time 11 states adopted marijuana decriminalization laws. However, his directorship was cut short by a serious blunder. The administration of President Jimmy Carter had favored marijuana reform; however, Peter Bourne, Carter's drug adviser, disagreed with Stroup on ending the spraying of Mexican marijuana fields with the herbicide paraquat. In retaliation, Stroup acknowledged to a reporter that Bourne had snorted cocaine at NORML's 1977 Christmas party. Bourne was subsequently fired. Stroup eventually lost his job too; "The folks at NORML didn't
Paraplegia is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek: παραπληγίη "half-striking". It is usually the result of spinal cord injury or a congenital condition such as spina bifida that affects the neural elements of the spinal canal. The area of the spinal canal that is affected in paraplegia is either the thoracic, lumbar, or sacral regions. If all four limbs are affected by paralysis, quadriplegia is the proper terminology. If only one limb is affected, the correct term is monoplegia. Spastic paraplegia is a form of paraplegia defined by spasticity of the affected muscles, rather than flaccid paralysis. While some people with paraplegia can walk to a degree, many are dependent on wheelchairs or other supportive measures. Depending on the level and extent of spinal damage, people with paraplegia may experience some, or complete loss of sensation in the affected limbs. Impotence and various degrees of urinary and fecal incontinence may also occur. Many use catheters or a bowel management program (often involving suppositories, enemas, or digital stimulation of the bowels) to address these problems. With successful bladder
Paul Armentano
Paul Armentano is the Deputy Director of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) and the NORML Foundation. Mr. Armentano is an expert in the field of marijuana policy, health, and pharmacology, and has served as a consultant for Health Canada and the Canadian Public Health Association. He has spoken at numerous national conferences and legal seminars, testified before state legislatures and federal agencies, and assisted dozens of criminal defense attorneys in cases pertaining to the use of medicinal cannabis, drug testing, and drugged driving. He also serves of the faculty of Oaksterdam University in Oakland, where he lectures on the science surrounding the safety and efficacy of medical cannabis. Mr. Armentano is a frequent guest on national radio and television, having appeared on FoxNews, MSNBC, and CBS News. His writing and research has appeared in over 500 publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Christian Science Monitor, as well as in more than a dozen textbooks and anthologies. Mr. Armentano is a 2008 recipient of the 'Project Censored Real News Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism.' In 2009, he co-authored the
Terrance Stanley "Terry" Fox CC OD, (July 28, 1958 – June 28, 1981) was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Although the spread of his cancer eventually forced him to end his quest after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 mi), and ultimately cost him his life, his efforts resulted in a lasting, worldwide legacy. The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over C$500 million has been raised in his name. Fox was a distance runner and basketball player for his Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, high school and Simon Fraser University. His right leg was amputated in 1977 after he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, though he continued to run using an artificial leg. He also played wheelchair basketball in Vancouver, winning three national championships. In 1980, he began the Marathon of Hope, a cross-country run to raise money for cancer research. Fox hoped to raise one dollar for each of
Deafness is a physical condition characterized by lack of sensitivity to sound. The global deaf population is roughly estimated to be 0.1% of the total population (1 in 1000). The figure is likely to be higher in developing countries than developed countries due to restricted access to health care, and, in some cultures, due to the high rate of intrafamilial marriages. The great majority of people with less than average hearing are elderly or developed hearing loss after leaving school.According to the U.S. National Center for Health statistics, approximately three quarters of deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans experienced the onset of hearing loss after age 18. Most deaf people, at least in developed countries, have some knowledge of the dominant language of their country. This may include the ability to lip read, to speak, or to read and write. Having some knowledge of both the dominant language and sign language is called bimodal bilingualism. Deafness can be classified according to type, severity, and age of onset. Genetic disorder are responsible for at least half of the cases of congenital deafness, with the other half caused by environmental factors. Approximately
Peter Gorman
Peter Gorman an investigative journalist and former editor-in-chief of High Times magazine. He lives in Joshua, Texas, and spends at least 3 months of every year living in Peru, where he works with Ayahuasca and other plant based medicines, as well as doing political work. Much of his writing, both in Peru and the United States, has focused on the on-going War on Drugs; his 2000 story about a missionary plane shot down over Peru led United States Representative Cynthia McKinney to push through reforms on the identification of possible drug-smuggling planes, and a 1992 series of articles on property forfeiture was instrumental in Senator Henry Hyde's reforms of forfeiture laws.
Rosemary Kennedy
Rose Marie "Rosemary" Kennedy (September 13, 1918 – January 7, 2005) was the third child and first daughter of Rose Elizabeth Kennedy née Fitzgerald and Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Sr., born little more than a year after her brother, future U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Considered as either retarded or psychologically instable, she underwent a prefrontal lobotomy at age 23, which left her permanently incapacitated. She was born into an Irish American family at her parents' home in Brookline, Massachusetts, and named Rose Marie Kennedy after her mother but was commonly called Rosemary. To her family, she was known as Rosie. Rose sent Rosemary to the Sacred Heart Convent in Elmhurst, Providence, Rhode Island at age 15, where she was educated separately from the other students. Two nuns and a special teacher, Miss Newton, worked with her all day in a separate classroom. The Kennedys gave the school a new tennis court for their efforts. Rosemary "read, wrote, spelled and counted" like a fourth-grader. She studied and studied but felt she disappointed her parents, whom she wanted to please. Her mother arranged for her brother Jack to accompany her to a tea-dance where, thanks to him, she
United States Association of Blind Athletes
The United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA), is an organization founded in 1976 to increase the number and quality of world-class athletic opportunities for Americans who are blind or visually impaired. USABA has reached over 100,000 blind individuals, and have over 3,000 current members who compete in nine sports, most prominently skiing and goalball.
Alfred Matthew Hubbard
Alfred Matthew Hubbard (July 24, 1901–August 31, 1982) was an early proponent for the drug LSD during the 1950s. He is reputed to have been the "Johnny Appleseed of LSD" and the first person to emphasize LSD's potential as a visionary or transcendental drug. According to Todd Brendan Fahey, Hubbard introduced more than 6,000 people to LSD, including scientists, politicians, intelligence officials, diplomats, and church figures. In 1920, Hubbard was publicized in West coast newspapers as having developed a free energy motor. In 1929 he received a patent for a radioactive spark plug device "Internal Combustion Engine Spark Plug", from the United States Patent Office, number 1,723,422, which was manufactured sparingly by at least one U.S. company. It used an electrode doped with Polonium 210, a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 138 days. The supposed "ionizing effect" of Polonium 210 upon the combustion gases in the spark gap was purported to "improve engine efficiency". According to some accounts, Hubbard worked at various times for the Canadian Special Services, the United States Justice Department, the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the
The American Foundation for the Blind is an American non-profit organization that expands possibilities for people with vision loss. AFB's priorities include broadening access to technology; elevating the quality of information and tools for the professionals who serve people with vision loss; and promoting independent and healthy living for people with vision loss by providing them and their families with relevant and timely resources. For more than 80 years, AFB has been at the forefront of advocating for the rights of people who are blind or visually impaired. AFB, with the support and leadership of M.C. Migel, a philanthropist who was moved to help the large number of veterans blinded in World War I, was formed in 1921 to provide a national clearing house for information about vision loss and a forum for discussion for the dispersed, yet burgeoning, community of blindness service professionals. Made official at the convention of the American Association of Workers for the Blind in Vinton, Iowa, AFB's founding was also intended to generate new directions for research and represent the needs of people with vision loss in America's corridors of power. AFB's early accomplishments
Frank William Wood (April 10, 1942 – May 22, 2005), better known as Eagle Bill Amato, was a Cherokee marijuana medicine man known for popularizing the vaporizer, mostly used for vaporizing cannabis and promoting the use of medical marijuana. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio.
Sir George Henry Martin CBE (born 3 January 1926) is an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, audio engineer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"—a title that he has described as "nonsense"—in reference to his extensive involvement on each of The Beatles' original albums. He is considered one of the greatest record producers of all time, with 30 number one hit singles in the UK and 23 number one hits in the USA. Influenced by a range of musical styles, encompassing Cole Porter and Johnny Dankworth, he attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1947 to 1950, studying piano and oboe. Following his graduation, he worked for the BBC's classical music department, then joined EMI in 1950. Martin produced comedy and novelty records in the early 1950s, working with the likes of Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan. In a career spanning over six decades, Martin has worked in music, film, television and live performance. He has also held a number of senior executive roles at media companies and contributes to a wide range of charitable causes, including his work for the Prince's Trust and the Caribbean island of Montserrat. In recognition
Owsley Stanley
Owsley Stanley (born Augustus Owsley Stanley III, January 19, 1935 – March 12, 2011) also known as Bear, was a figure of the San Francisco Bay counter-culture, playing a pivotal role in the counterculture of the 1960s. As a crafts-person, he became best known simply as 'Owsley' – the LSD "cook" (underground chemist). Under the professional name of "Bear", he worked with the psychedelic rock band the Grateful Dead's international fan "family". Bear was an early soundman for The Grateful Dead, a band he met when Kesey invited them to an Owsley Acid test party. As their sound engineer, Bear frequently recorded live tapes behind his mixing board and helped "The Dead" become the first performers since Les Paul to custom-develop high-fidelity audio components and sound systems. Stanley was the first private individual to manufacture mass quantities of LSD. Between 1965 and 1967, Stanley produced more than 1.25 million doses of LSD. Stanley died in an automobile accident in Australia on March 12, 2011. Stanley was the scion of a political family from Kentucky. His father was a government attorney. His grandfather, A. Owsley Stanley, a member of the United States Senate after serving as
Poppers is a slang term for various alkyl nitrites inhaled for recreational purposes, particularly isopropyl nitrite (2-propyl nitrite) and isobutyl nitrite (2-methylpropyl nitrite), and now more rarely, butyl nitrite and amyl nitrite (isoamyl nitrite, isopentyl nitrite). Amyl nitrite is used medically as an antidote to cyanide poisoning, but the term "poppers" refers specifically to recreational use. Amyl nitrite and several other alkyl nitrites, which are present in products such as air freshener, video head cleaner and finger nail polish remover, are often inhaled with the goal of enhancing sexual pleasure. These products have also been part of the club culture from the 1970s disco scene to the 1980s and 1990s rave scene. Poppers have a long history of use due to the rush of warm sensations and dizziness experienced when the vapours are inhaled. Although, according to at least one analysis, poppers have a lower risk of harm to society and the individual than do certain other recreational drugs, other cases have shown that serious adverse effects can occur. In a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, an ophthalmologist described four cases in which recreational users of
Walter Geikie
Walter Geikie (November 10, 1795 – August 1, 1837), Scottish painter, was born at Edinburgh. In his second year he was attacked by a "nervous fever" by which he permanently lost the faculty of hearing, but through the careful attention of his father he was enabled to obtain a good education. Before he had the advantage of the instruction of a master he had attained considerable proficiency in sketching both figures and landscapes from nature, and in 1812 he was admitted into the drawing academy of the board of Scottish manufactures. He first exhibited in 1815, and was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1831, and a fellow in 1834. He died on 1 August 1837, and was interred in the Greyfriars kirkyard in Edinburgh. Owing to his want of feeling for color, Geikie was not a successful painter in oils, but he sketched in India ink with great truth and humor the scenes and characters of Scottish lower-class life in his native city. A series of etchings which exhibit very high excellence were published by him in 1829-1831 and a collection of eighty-one of these was republished posthumously in 1841, with a biographical introduction by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Bart.
Al Capp
Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip Li'l Abner. He also wrote the comic strips Abbie an' Slats and Long Sam. He won the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award in 1947 for Cartoonist of the Year, and their 1979 Elzie Segar Award (posthumously) for his "unique and outstanding contribution to the profession of cartooning." Born in New Haven, Connecticut of Russian Jewish heritage, Capp was the eldest child of Otto Philip and Matilda (Davidson) Caplin. Capp's parents were both natives of Latvia whose families had migrated to New Haven in the 1880s. "My mother and father had been brought to this country from Russia when they were infants," wrote Capp in 1978. "Their fathers had found that the great promise of America was true—it was no crime to be a Jew." The Caplins were dirt poor, and Capp later recalled stories of his mother going out in the night to sift through ash barrels for reusable bits of coal. In August 1919, at the age of nine, Capp lost his left leg in a trolley accident. This childhood tragedy likely helped shape Capp's cynical worldview,
Darren Drozdov
Darren Drozdov, (born April 7, 1969) is an essayist, former NFL player and retired professional wrestler who competed in the World Wrestling Federation in 1998 and 1999 under the ring names Puke and Droz. Drozdov is quadriplegic due to a neck injury sustained from a failed wrestling maneuver, but has regained most of the use of his upper body and arms. His hiring interview with Vince McMahon was featured in the 1999 documentary Beyond the Mat. Drozdov, as a 6' 3", 245 lb quarterback in high school, threw a 72-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Lou Rothman to win the last game of the 1985 regular season to finish the season with a perfect 10-0 record. Drozdov set an Atlantic County, New Jersey record in Track and Field in the shot put event. He was All-State in Football at Oakcrest High School in South Jersey. After a stint at Fork Union Military Academy, he attended University of Maryland and was a defensive tackle for the Terrapins. He culminated his collegiate career by graduating with a B.S. in Criminal justice. Before his wrestling career, Drozdov was a professional football player for a few seasons with the NFL's New York Jets and Denver Broncos. He gained some notoriety
Grant Krieger
Grant Wayne Krieger born in Winnipeg Manitoba July 29, 1954 he married Marie Lommerse Dec 12, 1975 in Cranbrook BC. He was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (Regina) in September 1978 after the birth of their first child. Although the doctors whose care he was under prescribed pain killers for the pain associated with his MS, none of them were effective. The side effects of the drugs he was taking created a despondency and in December 1994 he attempted suicide by swallowing 30 Demerol and a similar amount of Restoril. It was after this attempt that a good friend suggested he try marijuana to alleviate the pain and symptoms. He did so, and was surprised at the difference it made in his life. The fear that he and his family (now three children) lived in due to his use of marijuana made him realize that others must be living with the same circumstances. This is what caused him and his wife to become advocates of the legalization of marijuana in Canada. In May 1996 he travelled to Holland with his medical records seeking a doctor's prescription to intake his choice of medication. When he attempted to return home to Canada he was incarcerated in Holland for attempting to bring back his
Web Link(s): http://www.discogs.com/artist/Robert+Wyatt
Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945, Bristol) is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career. He is married to English painter and songwriter Alfreda Benge. Wyatt's mother was Honor Wyatt, a journalist with the BBC; his father, George Ellidge, was an industrial psychologist who joined the family only when Wyatt was about six. This extended family also included his half brother, actor Julian Glover, Honor Wyatt's son. Wyatt attended the Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys, Canterbury and as a teenager lived with his parents in Lydden near Dover, where he was taught the drums by visiting American jazz drummer George Neidorf. In 1962, Wyatt and Neidorf moved to Majorca where they stayed near the poet Robert Graves. The following year, Wyatt returned to England and joined the Daevid Allen Trio with Daevid Allen and Hugh Hopper. Allen subsequently left for France and Wyatt and Hopper formed The Wilde Flowers with Kevin Ayers, Richard Sinclair and Brian Hopper. Wyatt was initially the drummer in the Wilde Flowers, but following the departure of Ayers, he also became lead
Surdas
Surdas (Sant Kavi Surdas) was a 15th century blind saint, poet and musician, known for his devotional songs dedicated to Lord Krishna. Surdas is said to have written and composed a hundred thousand songs in his magnum opus the 'Sur Sagar' (Ocean of Melody), out of which only about 8,000 are extant. He is considered a saint and so also known as Sant Surdas, a name which literally means the "slave of melody". Surdas was born on 1478 in Village Sihi,Faridabad Haryana.. He started parsing Lord Krishna since he was young . Surdas' lilting music and fine poetry attracted many laurels. As his fame spread far and wide, the Mughal emperor Akbar (1542-1605) became his patron. Surdas spent the last years of his life in Braj, the place of his birth and lived on the donations, which he received in return of his bhajan singing and lecturing on religious topics, until he died in c. 1586. Surdas also attained fame for his purity of devotion towards Lord Krishna. In one incident, Surdas falls into a well and is rescued by Lord Krishna when he calls him for help. Radha asks Krishna why he helped Surdas for which Krishna says its for his devotion. Krishna also warns Radha not to go near him. She
Dennis Peron
Dennis Peron (born April 8, 1945, Bronx, New York) is an openly gay American medical cannabis and LGBT activist and businessman who was the figurehead for the legality of cannabis throughout the 1990s influencing many in California and thus changing the political debate of marijuana in the United States. He grew up on Long Island, served in the Air Force in Vietnam and moved to The Castro, San Francisco, where he sold cannabis, cofounded the Cannabis Buyers Club, and coauthored California Proposition 215. His marijuana business was busted by authorities in 1978 and 1990. In 1996, Dan Lungren, state attorney general, ordered another bust of Peron's club. Proposition 215 was passed soon thereafter, which allowed the club to reopen. Later in 1996 The Grassroots Party of Minnesota fielded Dennis Peron, as their first Presidential nominee, in the U.S. presidential election. Peron received 5,400 votes. In 1998, Peron ran in the Republican primary for California governor against his rival Lungren (who won the primary and lost the election to Gray Davis). Peron has voiced support for decriminalization of all marijuana use as he believes the herb is medicinal just as food is and thus should
Web Link(s): http://www.discogs.com/artist/George+Harrison
George Harrison, MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes referred to as the "quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian culture and mysticism, and introduced it to the other Beatles, as well as their Western audience. Following the band's break-up he was a successful solo artist, and later a founding member of the Traveling Wilburys. Among his other accomplishments Harrison was also a session musician and a film and record producer. He is listed at number 11 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Although most Beatles' songs were written by Lennon and McCartney, Beatle albums generally included one or two of Harrison's own songs, from With The Beatles onwards. His later compositions with the Beatles include "Here Comes the Sun", "Something" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". By the time of the band's break-up, Harrison had accumulated a backlog of material, which he then released as the triple album All Things Must Pass in 1970, from which two hit singles originated: a double A-side single, "My Sweet
John Brewster, Jr.
John Brewster Jr. (May 30 or May 31, 1766–1854) was a prolific, deaf itinerant painter who produced many charming portraits of well-off New England families, especially their children. He lived much of the latter half of his life in Buxton, Maine, USA, recording the faces of much of Maine's elite society of his time. According to the website of the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York, "Brewster was not an artist who incidentally was Deaf but rather a Deaf artist, one in a long tradition that owes many of its features and achievements to the fact that Deaf people are, as scholars have noted, visual people." Little is known about Brewster's childhood or youth. He was the third child born in Hampton, Connecticut, to Dr. John and Mary (Durkee) Brewster. His mother died when he was 17. His father remarried Ruth Avery of Brooklyn, Connecticut, and they went on to have four more children. John Brewster Sr., a doctor and descendant of William Brewster (pilgrim), the Pilgrim leader, was a member of the Connecticut General Assembly and also active in the local church. One of the younger Brewster's "more touching and polished full-length portraits" is of his father and stepmother,
John Hockenberry
John Charles Hockenberry (born June 4, 1956) is an American journalist and author. A four-time Emmy Award winner and three-time Peabody Award winner, Hockenberry has worked in media since 1980. Hockenberry has reported from all over the world, has anchored programs for network TV, cable, and radio, and has reported for magazines, newspapers, and online media. He is a prominent figure in the disability rights movement; Hockenberry sustained a spinal cord injury in a car crash at the age of 19, which left him with paraplegia from the chest down. In 2007, he was named a Distinguished Fellow at the MIT Media Lab. Since April 2008, Hockenberry has been host of The Takeaway, a live national morning news program created by Public Radio International and WNYC New York. He is author of the nonfiction book Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs and Declarations of Independence and the novel A River Out Of Eden. Hockenberry was born in Dayton, Ohio and grew up in upstate New York and Michigan. He graduated in 1974 from East Grand Rapids High School in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1976, he was paralyzed while hitchhiking on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The driver of the car fell asleep and
Leonard Joseph Tristano (19 March 1919 – 18 November 1978) was a jazz pianist, composer and teacher of jazz improvisation. He performed in the cool jazz, bebop, post bop and avant-garde jazz genres. He remains a somewhat overlooked figure in jazz history, but his enormous originality and dazzling work as an improviser have long been appreciated by knowledgeable jazz fans. In addition, his work as a jazz educator meant that he has exerted a substantial influence on jazz through figures such as Lee Konitz and Bill Evans. Tristano was born in Chicago into an Italian immigrant family from Aversa. He was blind from infancy and studied piano and music theory from pre-teen years, graduating with a bachelor's degree from his home town's American Conservatory of Music in 1943. Tristano's interest in jazz inspired a move to New York City in 1946. His advanced grasp of harmony pushed his music beyond even the complexities of the contemporary bebop movement, though Tristano was always explicit about acknowledging his enormous debt to Charlie Parker and Bud Powell. Other key ingredients in his style were Nat King Cole and Art Tatum, influences most audible in his early drummerless trio
Ludwig van Beethoven (/ˈlʊdvɪɡ væn ˈbeɪt.hoʊvən/; German: [ˈluːtvɪç fan ˈbeːt.hoːfən] ( listen); baptized 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His best known compositions include 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatas, and 16 string quartets. He also composed other chamber music, choral works (including the celebrated Missa Solemnis), and songs. Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire, Beethoven displayed his musical talents at an early age and was taught by his father Johann van Beethoven and Christian Gottlob Neefe. During his first 22 years in Bonn, Beethoven intended to study with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and befriended Joseph Haydn. Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792 and began studying with Haydn, quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. He lived in Vienna until his death. During the late 18th century, his hearing began to deteriorate significantly, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform after
Rob Kampia
Rob Kampia is co-founder and executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, the largest 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization in the U.S. that is solely dedicated to ending cannabis prohibition. Kampia grew up in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, a small suburban town 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Philadelphia. Kampia was valedictorian of his 300-person graduating class at Souderton Area High School in 1986, served three months in prison from November 1989 to February 1990 for growing his own cannabis for personal use at Penn State University, and was elected student body president two years later at that same school. Three days after graduating with honors from Penn State in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in Engineering Science (a multidisciplinary honors program) and minor in English, he moved to Washington, D.C., for the purpose of ending the government's war on marijuana users. Rob Kampia co-founded MPP in 1995. MPP has a lobbying branch, an educational branch, and a political action committee, is based in Washington, D.C., with satellite offices in Arizona and Nevada. MPP employs 36 full-time staffers across these locations, as well as consultants to pass statewide ballot
Royal London Society for the Blind
The Royal London Society for Blind People (RLSB) (formerly the Royal London Society for the Blind) is a UK charity offering education, training, life-skills and employment services for blind and partially sighted adults and children. The RLSB was founded by Thomas Lucas, in 1838, using a system of embossed type invented by Lucas. Funds for the school were raised largely through the efforts of the Ladies' Committee under the secretaryship of Mrs Lydia Johnson. Her husband, Percival Norton Johnson, founder of what is now Johnson Matthey plc, also took a prominent role in the affairs of the Society for many years. The original Day School was in Fitzroy Street, London, but moved shortly after to 6 Gloucester Place, where resident pupils were accepted. Within a couple of years, teaching of practical skills, such as basket-making, knitting and netting, was introduced. In 1842 the organisation moved to larger premises in Bloomsbury, then in 1847 a purpose-built school in Swiss Cottage was completed at a cost of £4,500. In 1938, the RLSB's 100th Anniversary Year, the prefix 'Royal' was added to the Society's title by order of HM King George VI and became the 'Royal London Society for
Royal National Institute of the Blind
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is a UK charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people in the UK with sight loss. The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) was founded by Thomas Rhodes Armitage, a successful doctor who suffered from eyesight problems. In 1868 Dr Armitage founded an organisation known as the British and Foreign Society for Improving Embossed Literature for the Blind. This later became the British and Foreign Blind Association. In 1875 Her Majesty Queen Victoria became the organisation's first patron. The organisation received a Royal Charter in 1948, and changed its name to Royal National Institute for the Blind in 1953. In 2002, RNIB membership was introduced and the organisation's name changed to Royal National Institute of the Blind. In June 2007 the organisation changed its name again, to Royal National Institute of Blind People. RNIB is a national organization with branches and services throughout the United Kingdom including Northern Ireland. The charity's headquarters are in London, England. RNIB's patron is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In October 2008, RNIB and Action for Blind People agreed in
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. (/ˈteɪtəm/, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind since birth. Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time and he was a major influence on later generations of jazz pianists. He was noted for the complexity and speed of his performances, which set a new standard for jazz piano virtuosity. Critic Scott Yanow wrote, "Tatum's quick reflexes and boundless imagination kept his improvisations filled with fresh (and sometimes futuristic) ideas that put him way ahead of his contemporaries ... Art Tatum's recordings still have the ability to scare modern pianists." For a musician of such stature, there is very little published information available about Tatum's life. Only one full-length biography has been published, Too Marvelous for Words, by James Lester. Lester interviewed many of Tatum's contemporaries for the book and drew from many articles published about him. Tatum was born in Toledo, Ohio. His father, Arthur Tatum, Sr., was a guitarist and an elder at Grace Presbyterian Church, where his mother, Mildred Hoskins, played
Bernard Morin
Bernard Morin is a French mathematician, specifically a topologist, born in 1931, who is now retired. He has been blind since age 6 due to glaucoma, but his blindness did not prevent him from having a successful career in mathematics. Morin was a member of the group that first exhibited an eversion of the sphere, i.e. a homotopy (topological metamorphosis) which starts with a sphere and ends with the same sphere but turned inside-out. (See Smale's paradox.) He also discovered the Morin surface, which is a half-way model for the sphere eversion, and used it to prove a lower bound on the number of steps needed to turn a sphere inside out. He discovered the first parametrization of Boy's surface (earlier used as a half-way model) in 1978. His graduate student François Apéry later discovered (in 1986) another parametrization of Boy's surface, which conforms to the general method for parametrizing non-orientable surfaces. Morin worked at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Most of his career, though, he spent at the University of Strasbourg.
Dana Elcar
Dana Elcar (October 10, 1927 – June 6, 2005) was an American television and movie character actor. Although he appeared in about 40 films, his most memorable role was on the 1980s and 1990s television series MacGyver as Peter Thornton, an administrator working for the Phoenix Foundation. Elcar had appeared in the pilot episode of MacGyver as Andy Colson (a completely different character), but was later cast as Peter Thornton, making his first regular appearance in the 11th episode of the first season. Elcar was born as Ibsen Dana Elcar in Ferndale, Michigan, the son of Hedwig (née Anderberg) and James Aage Elcar, a carpenter and butcher. Elcar was an alumnus of the University of Michigan where he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. Elcar was also a student of legendary acting coach Sanford Meisner. He brought this education to bear when in 1986, with fellow character actor William Lucking, he formed the Santa Paula Theater Center. Elcar sat as artistic director for six years. Elcar had supporting roles in Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff, W.C. Fields and Me, The Sting, 2010, All of Me, The Learning Tree, Herbie the Matchmaker, and Baretta, in which he played Baretta's
Fanny Crosby
Frances Jane Crosby (March 24, 1820 – February 12, 1915), usually known as Fanny Crosby in the United States and by her married name, Frances van Alstyne, in the United Kingdom, was an American Methodist rescue mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. During her lifetime, she was well-known throughout the United States. By the end of the 19th century, she was "a household name" and "one of the most prominent figures in American evangelical life". She became blind while an infant. Best known for her Protestant Christian hymns and gospel songs, Crosby was "the premier hymnist of the gospel song period", and one of the most prolific hymnists in history, writing over 8,000, with over 100 million copies of her songs printed. Crosby was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1975. Known as the "Queen of Gospel Song Writers", and as the "Mother of modern congregational singing in America", with "dozens of her hymns continu[ing] to find a place in the hymnals of Protestant evangelicalism around the world", with most American hymnals containing her work, as "with the possible exception of Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley, Crosby has generally been represented by the largest
Linda Bove
Linda Bove (born November 30, 1945 in Garfield, New Jersey) is a deaf American actress who played the part of Linda the Librarian on the children's television program Sesame Street from 1971 to 2003. On Sesame Street, Bove has introduced thousands of children to sign language and issues surrounding the Deaf community. Her role as Linda on Sesame Street is currently the longest recurring role in television history for a Deaf person. The character owns a very playful dog, Barkley. Her role on Sesame Street lasted from 1971 to 2003, making it the longest running role for a Deaf person in television history. Also, in her role in Sesame Street, she increased the knowledge of Deaf culture and made it known that being Deaf was not shameful. Bove appeared in an episode of Happy Days as Allison, a Deaf girlfriend of The Fonz. She also performed on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow and some productions of the play, Children of a Lesser God. With her role on Search for Tomorrow, she became one of the first Deaf actresses to become a regular on a soap opera series. Today, Linda continues her work in the Deaf community. She performed as a member of the National Theater of the Deaf, founded in
Louis Braille (/ˈbreɪl/, French: [lwi bʁɑj]; 4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852) was the inventor of braille, a system of reading and writing used by people who are blind or visually impaired. As a small child, Braille was blinded in an accident; as a boy he developed a mastery over that blindness; and as a young man – still a student at school – he created a revolutionary form of communication that transcended blindness and transformed the lives of millions. After two centuries, the braille system remains an invaluable tool of learning and communication for the blind, and it has been adapted for languages worldwide. Braille was born in Coupvray, France, a small town located east of Paris. He and his three elder siblings – Monique Catherine Josephine Braille (b.1793), Louis-Simon Braille (b.1795), and Marie Celine Braille (b.1797) – lived with their mother, Monique, and father, Simon-René, on three hectares of land and vineyards in the countryside. Simon-René maintained a successful enterprise as a leatherer and maker of horse tack. As soon as he could walk, Louis spent time playing in his father's workshop. At the age of three, the child was toying with some of the tools, trying to
Brooke Ellison
Brooke Ellison (born October 20, 1978, New York ) was the first quadriplegic to graduate from Harvard University. In 2000, she was selected by her fellow students to speak at the University's commencement ceremonies. Ellison was struck by a car in 1990 while crossing the street on her first day of junior high school, resulting in being paralyzed from the neck down. Ellison graduated from Ward Melville High School in 1996 with high honors, and was accepted by Harvard. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with a bachelor of science in cognitive neuroscience in 2000, and a master's degree in public policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in 2004. Ellison is currently a doctoral candidate in political psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. In 2009, Ellison teamed up with director James Siegel to create the winning documentary "Hope Deferred", which aims to educate the general public about embryonic stem cell research. Ellison is portrayed by Lacey Chabert and Vanessa Marano in The Brooke Ellison Story. The 2004 TV movie was directed by fellow quadriplegic Christopher Reeve, star of Superman. It is also notable for being Reeve's final directing
Henrietta Swan Leavitt
Henrietta Swan Leavitt (July 4, 1868 – December 12, 1921) was an American astronomer. A graduate of Radcliffe College, in 1893 Leavitt started working at the Harvard College Observatory as a "computer", tasked with examining photographic plates in order to measure and catalog the brightness of stars. Leavitt discovered the relation between the luminosity and the period of Cepheid variable stars. Though she received little recognition in her lifetime, it was her discovery that first allowed astronomers to measure the distance between the Earth and faraway galaxies. After Leavitt's death, Edwin Hubble used the luminosity-period relation for Cepheids to determine that the Universe is expanding (see Hubble's law). Henrietta Swan Leavitt, the daughter of Congregational church minister George Roswell Leavitt and his wife Henrietta Swan (Kendrick), was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, a descendant of Deacon John Leavitt, an English Puritan tailor, who settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early seventeenth century. (The family name was spelled Levett in early Massachusetts records.) She attended Oberlin College, and graduated from Radcliffe College, then called the Society for
Jack Herer (/ˈhɛrər/; June 18, 1939 – April 15, 2010), sometimes called the "Emperor of Hemp", was an American cannabis activist and the author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes, a book which has been used in efforts to decriminalize cannabis. Herer also founded and served as the director of the organization Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP). A former Goldwater Republican, Herer was a pro-cannabis (marijuana) and hemp activist. He wrote two books, the aforementioned The Emperor Wears No Clothes and Grass. There has also been a documentary made about his life called, The Emperor of Hemp. He believed that the cannabis plant should be decriminalized because it has been shown to be a renewable source of fuel, food, and medicine that can be grown in virtually any part of the world. He further asserts that the U.S. government deliberately hides the proof of this. A specific strain of cannabis has been named after Jack Herer in honor of his work. This strain has won several awards, including the 7th High Times Cannabis Cup. Jack Herer was also inducted into the Counterculture Hall of Fame at the 16th Cannabis Cup in recognition of his first book. Herer ran for United States President
Jorge Cervantes is a pseudonym for George Van Patten, a horticulturist and writer specializing in indoor, outdoor, and greenhouse cannabis cultivation. His books, articles, photographs and instructional DVDs have been sold worldwide as guidebooks to horticultural techniques to high-yield closet, basement, backyard, and guerrilla gardens. Van Patten developed his lifelong interest with cannabis as a university student in Mexico. After graduation, he moved to California and became a guerrilla grower of "sinsemilla" (Spanish for without seeds) marijuana, the "new" high-quality cannabis that Mexicans reserved for domestic consumption. In the early 1980s, Cervantes started growing indoors, but a lack of credible information about indoor cultivation led him to author Indoor Marijuana Horticulture in 1983. The book became a best-seller, and successful indoor growers dubbed it the "Indoor Grower's Bible" which became the book's subtitle. Today, growers simply call it "The Bible". Van Patten (as Jorge Cervantes) first published the book Indoor Marijuana Horticulture in 1983. That first edition was 96 pages, bound by staples, and printed in black and white. Now in its fifth edition, with 512
Joseph Plateau
Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (Brussels, 14 October 1801 – Ghent, 15 September 1883) was a Belgian physicist. He was the first person to demonstrate the illusion of a moving image. To do this he used counter rotating disks with repeating drawn images in small increments of motion on one and regularly spaced slits in the other. He called this device of 1832 the phenakistoscope. His father, born in Tournai, was a talented flower painter. According to Van der Mensbrugghe (1885, p. 390), at the age of six the young Joseph Plateau was already able to read, and this made him a child prodigy in those times. While attending the primary schools, he was particularly impressed by a lesson of physics: enchanted by the seen experiments, he promised himself to penetrate their secrets sooner or later. He used to spend his school holidays in Marche-Les-Dames, with his uncle and his family: his cousin and playfellow was Auguste Payen, who later became an architect and the principal designer of the Belgian railways. At the age of fourteen he lost his father and mother: the trauma caused by this loss made him fall ill. On August 27, 1840 he married Augustine–Thérèse–Aimée–Fanny Clavareau: they had
Laura Bridgman
Laura Dewey Lynn Bridgman (December 21, 1829 – May 24, 1889) is known as the first deaf-blind American child to gain a significant education in the English language, fifty years before the more famous Helen Keller. However, there are accounts of deaf-blind people communicating in tactile sign language before this time, and the deaf-blind Victorine Morriseau (1789–1832) had successfully learned French as a child some years earlier. Laura Bridgman was born at Hanover, New Hampshire, being the third daughter of Daniel Bridgman, a Baptist farmer, and his wife Harmony, daughter of Cushman Downer, and granddaughter of Joseph Downer, one of the five first settlers (1761) of Thetford, Vermont. Laura was a delicate infant, puny and rickety, and was subject to fits up to twenty months old, but otherwise seemed to have normal sense. However, her family was struck with scarlet fever when she was two years old. The illness killed her two older sisters and brother and left her deaf, blind, and without a sense of smell or taste. Though she gradually recovered health, she remained deaf-blind, but was kindly treated and was in particular made a sort of playmate by an eccentric bachelor friend of
Metiria Turei
Metiria Leanne Agnes Stanton Turei (born 1970) is a New Zealand member of Parliament and the female co-leader of the Green Party. As of 2011 she is the Green Party spokesperson on Social Equity, Electoral Reform, Māori and Treaty Issues, Housing and Children. Between 1989–1991, Metiria was the Tumuaki o Te Iwi Maori Rawakore o Aotearoa and involved with Te Roopu Rawakore o Aotearoa. Metiria was a founding member of the Random Trollops performance art troupe. She was a candidate for the McGillicuddy Serious Party in the 1993 election and for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party in the 1996 election. She joined the Green Party in 2002 and was elected as co-leader at the Green Party AGM on 30 May 2009. She has one daughter, and a partner; Warwick Stanton. In the 2002 general election, the Green Party received 7.00% of the vote, which allowed them 9 seats in Parliament. Turei, standing in Tāmaki Makaurau, was ranked 8th on the Green Party's party list, and so entered Parliament as a list MP. When she was elected, Metiria left her job as a corporate lawyer for Simpson Grierson to become a Member of Parliament. She retained her place in Parliament at number 6th on the Greens' list in the
Peter Alexander McWilliams (August 5, 1949 – June 14, 2000) was a writer and self-publisher of best-selling self-help books. He was an advocate for those suffering from depression. And, in his later years, he was a cannabis activist. Terminally ill with AIDS and cancer, he became a vocal campaigner for the legalization of medical cannabis. Though medical marijuana was legal under California state law, he was investigated by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and convicted of violating marijuana laws. McWilliams was born to a Roman Catholic family and raised outside of Detroit in Allen Park, Michigan. After attending Eastern Michigan University, he read widely and was a fan of Paul Krassner's periodical The Realist and Albert Ellis' rational emotive therapy. After experimenting with yoga and LSD he also did group therapy with Melba Colgrove, Ph.D. McWilliams studied with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and attended Maharishi International University. He wrote The TM Book in 1975 with Denise Denniston, which was at the top of the New York Times bestseller list for three weeks. In 1976, he wrote TM: An Alphabetical Guide to the Transcendental Meditation Program with Denise Denniston
Shoshannah Stern
Shoshannah Stern (born July 3, 1980) is an American actress. She was born in Walnut Creek, California into an observant Jewish and fourth-generation deaf family, the daughter of Ron Stern and Hedy Marilyn Stern (née Udkovich). One of her grandmothers is a Holocaust survivor. Her hometown is Fremont, California, where she attended the California School for the Deaf, Fremont. Stern's first language is American Sign Language. She is also able to read lips and speak English without an interpreter. She attended Gallaudet University, the only liberal arts college for the deaf in the world. She married her husband, Ricky Mitchell, on June 3, 2012 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She currently resides with him in Hollywood, California. Stern got her first regular series role as Holly Brodeen, a member of an elite government anti-terrorist task force in ABC's Threat Matrix. The role was created for her by the show's producers after a director who had worked with her on The Division recommended her. She had a recurring role in Showtime's Weeds (as Megan Graves) and was also on ER, Providence and Cold Case. She played Bonnie Richmond in the CBS post-apocalyptic drama Jericho. She had a recurring role
Didymus the Blind
Didymus the Blind (alternatively spelled Dedimus or Didymous) (c. 313 – 398) was a Coptic Church theologian of Alexandria, whose famous Catechetical School he led for about half a century. Despite his impaired vision, his memory was so powerful that he mastered dialectics and geometry, subjects whose study usually benefits appreciably from sight. Didymus wrote many works: Commentaries on all the Psalms, the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of John as Against the Arians, and On the Holy Spirit, which Jerome translated into Latin. He also wrote on Isaiah, Hosea, Zechariah, Job, and many other topics. Didymus' biblical commentaries, which supposedly addressed nearly all the books of the Bible, survive in fragments only. His Catholic Letters are of dubious authenticity. He is probably the author of a treatise on the Holy Spirit that is extant in Latin translation. He was a loyal follower of Origen, and opposed Arian and Macedonian teachings. Although he became blind at the age of four, before he had learned to read, he succeeded in mastering the whole gamut of the sciences then known. He was a loyal student of Origen, though stoutly opposed to Arian and Macedonian teaching. Such of his
Action for Blind People
Action for Blind People is a national sight loss charity in the United Kingdom, it provides help and support to blind and partially sighted people of all ages. Action for Blind People was founded in 1857 as the Surrey Association for the General Welfare of the Blind and later became the London Association for the Blind. The Association's main activities in the early days were teaching blind people to read and to learn practical trades. Opportunities and attitudes towards blind and partially sighted people have changed over the years, along with the nature and the scale of the Association's work. As a result, their title was changed to Action for Blind People in 1991. Action for Blind People formed a partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) in April 2009 and became part of RNIB Group. This enables both organisations to provide a unique combination of complementary strengths and expertise to help an ever increasing number of people with sight loss. Working together in this way allows both organisations to share skills and deliver services in line with the UK Vision Strategy and RNIB Group Strategy. Action has 17 regional teams across England and four
Cocaine (benzoylmethylecgonine) (INN) is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" and the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic. Biologically, cocaine acts as a serotonin–norepinephrine–dopamine reuptake inhibitor, also known as a triple reuptake inhibitor (TRI). It is addictive because of its effect on the mesolimbic reward pathway. Unlike most molecules, cocaine has pockets with both high hydrophilic and lipophilic efficiency, violating the rule of hydrophilic-lipophilic balance. This causes it to cross the blood–brain barrier far better than other psychoactive chemicals. It is illegal to possess, grow, or distribute cocaine for non-medicinal and non-government-sanctioned purposes in almost every country. Still it is consumed extensively throughout the world. Cocaine is a powerful nervous system stimulant. Its effects can last from 15–30 minutes to an hour, depending on the route of administration. Cocaine increases alertness, feelings of well-being and euphoria, energy and motor activity, feelings of competence and sexuality. Athletic
Darryl Stingley
Darryl Floyd Stingley (September 18, 1951 – April 5, 2007) was an American professional football wide receiver whose career was cut short by an injury. He played his entire career with the New England Patriots of the National Football League. He died from heart disease and pneumonia complicated by quadriplegia. Stingley was born to Hilda M. Stingley and raised on Chicago's West Side. He was a standout running back at John Marshall High School. He was offered and accepted a football scholarship to Purdue University, where he was converted into a wide receiver. He was a first-round draft pick of the New England Patriots in 1973, along with John Hannah of the University of Alabama and Sam Cunningham of the University of Southern California. Stingley had 110 receptions for 1,883 yards and 14 touchdowns in 60 regular-season games for the New England Patriots. He also had 28 carries for 244 yards and two touchdowns, 19 punt returns for 136 yards and eight kickoff returns for 187 yards. He had over 500 combined yards rushing, receiving and returning both punt and kickoffs in 1973 and 1975. He finished his career with 2,450 combined yards rushing, receiving and returning both punts and
David Gallagher
David Lee Gallagher (born February 9, 1985) is an American actor. Beginning a prolific career as a child actor and model at the age of two, Gallagher is a five-time Young Artist Award nominee and Teen Choice Award winner, best known for his role as Simon Camden on the long-running television series 7th Heaven, as well as for his feature film roles; as Mikey Ubriacco in Look Who's Talking Now, as Kevin Harper in Angels in the Endzone and as Richie Rich in Richie Rich's Christmas Wish. Gallagher was born in College Point, New York, to Elena Gallagher (née Lopez) and Darren James Gallagher. His parents separated when he was a baby and his mother remarried Vincent Casey. Gallagher is of Cuban descent on his mother's side and Irish descent on his father's side. He has four younger half-siblings, Michelle (b. 1988), Kelly (b. 1991), Kyle (b. 1995) and Killian (b. 1997). Killian was diagnosed with autism and as a result David is an active supporter and spokesperson for the organization Cure Autism Now. He graduated from Chaminade College Preparatory School (California) in 2003 and enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he majored in film and television studies,
Douglas Tilden
Douglas Tilden (May 1, 1860 to August 5, 1935) was a world-famous sculptor. Tilden was deaf and attended the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley, California (now in Fremont, California). Tilden became deaf at the age of four after a severe bout of scarlet fever. After graduating from the CA School for the Deaf, he went on to attend UC Berkeley, but then left to study art in Paris. Once in Paris, Tilden studied under Paul Chopin, another deaf sculptor. He made many statues that sit in San Francisco, Berkeley, and the San Francisco Bay Area. He has many artworks to his credits: On June 6, 1896 Tilden was married to Elizabeth "Bessie" Cole, a former student of his, also deaf. Although the union produced two children, an son Lee and a daughter Gladys, it was not to prove to be a happy one. Over the years Mrs. Tilden was subject to "melancholia spells" which, among things, placed a large amount of pressure on the relationship. They separated and Mrs. Tilden, who for years had managed their properties, rented out his studio to a theater group, forcing Tilden to do his sculpting in a shed. As they grew farther apart Tilden's lawyer wrote: "Furhtermore, the wife (Bessie) has
Endeavour Foundation is non-Government, not-for-profit organisation based in Queensland, Australia that provides services and support for people with disabilities and their families. It is one of the largest non-government organisations in Australia supporting and providing opportunities for people with a disability. Endeavour supports around 3000 people with a disability through a mix of services and businesses at over 220 locations in Australia. Endeavour Foundation was founded in 1951 by a group of parents of children with intellectual disabilities . Initially called the Queensland Sub-Normal Children's Welfare Association, the group received the patronage of Sir Fred Schonell, the first Professor of Education and later Vice-Chancellor of the University of Queensland. Schonell was Endeavour's first President and extended his research interest in education for people with disabilities by creating the Remedial Education Centre (now known as the Fred and Eleanor Schonell Special Education Research Centre), one of the first of its kind in the world. In its first two years of operation, the organisation registered 300 children with intellectual disabilities. The Association's first
Richard Cowan
Richard Cowan (b. June 26, 1940), former director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), is editor of The Marijuana News. Cowan graduated from high school in Fort Worth, Texas and in 1962 earned a B.A. in Economics from Yale University, where he had served as president of the Yale Young Republicans. He held various management positions in manufacturing and natural resources and wrote several articles for publications such as National Review and Atlantic Monthly. From August 1992 to August 1995, Cowan served as executive director of NORML. On July 23, 1994, several NORML office staffers advised the Board of Directors of irregularities in Cowan's expenditures, including about $30,000 in organizational checks payable to cash . The Board responded by requiring that all checks be countersigned by the treasurer. Cowan tendered his resignation, and then "unresigned". He attempted to get the Board to dissolve itself, so that it could be replaced by a new Board, reconstituted by marijuana research pioneer, author, Harvard Medical School's Lester Grinspoon, MD. On September 11, 1994, a telephone conference call/Board meeting ended with an 8-6 vote to dissolve
Sam Sullivan, CM (born 1959) served as the 38th mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and has been invested as a Member of the Order of Canada. He is currently President of the Global Civic Policy Society and Adjunct Professor with the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Sam Sullivan was born in 1959 to East Vancouver residents Lloyd and Ida Sullivan. His father ran Sully's Autoparts on East Hastings Street. He has three brothers Donald, Patrick, Terry and sister Carol. Sullivan attended Chief Maquinna Elementary and Vancouver Technical Secondary School in East Vancouver. The extremely athletic 191 cm Sullivan became paralyzed after he broke his neck in a skiing accident at the age of 19. Sullivan suffered a fracture dislocation of his fourth and fifth cervical vertebra, leaving him almost completely paralyzed. He has no use of his fingers or triceps, but has some limited use of shoulders, biceps and wrists. Sullivan can write notes, use the telephone pressing buttons with his knuckle, and drive specially outfitted vehicles. After a seven year struggle with depression, he successfully completed a Bachelor of Business Administration degree at Simon Fraser
Sarah Biffen
Sarah Biffen (October 1784 – October 2, 1850), also known as Biffin or Beffin, was a Victorian English painter born with no arms. She was 94 cms (37 inches) tall. Sarah Biffen was born October 1784 to a family of farmers in East Quantoxhead, Somerset, with no arms and only vestigial legs. Despite her handicap, Biffen learned to read, and later was able to write using her mouth. She could also do needlework and use scissors. When Biffen was twelve, her family apprenticed her to a man named Mr. Dukes, who exhibited her in fairs and sideshows throughout England. According to some accounts, it was Dukes who taught her to paint, holding the paint-brush in her mouth, in order to increase her value as an attraction. In any case, during this period, she held exhibitions, sold her paintings and autographs, and took admission fees to let others see her sew, paint and draw. She drew landscapes or painted portrait miniatures on ivory, which she sold for three guineas each. Contemporaries praised her skill, and some of her miniatures survive to this day. Dukes apparently promised to give a 1000 guineas if his protégée did not live up to his billing! However, Biffen may have received as little
Vernon Rodney Coaker (born 17 June 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gedling since 1997; Coaker was appointed Minister of State for Schools and Learners in June 2009, a post he held until Gordon Brown resigned as Prime Minister on 11 May 2010. He was appointed to Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in October 2011. Coaker went to Drayton Manor Grammar School in London. He studied for an Economics and Politics BA (Hons) at the University of Warwick, then obtained a PGCE at Trent Polytechnic (Clifton College of Education). Coaker worked as a teacher, becoming a History teacher at Manvers Pierrepont School (now the Carlton Road Centre of Castle College Nottingham) from 1976–1982, then Head of Department at Arnold Hill School from 1982–1988. From 1989–1995 he was a senior teacher at Bramcote Park School. From 1995–1997 he was Deputy Headmaster at Big Wood School in Bestwood, Nottingham. He is a member of the NUT. Coaker served as a district councillor for the Cotgrave Ward in Rushcliffe from 1983–1997, contesting the Rushcliffe constituency seat in 1983. He contested Gedling in 1987 and
Marc-Boris Saint-Maurice
Marc-Boris St-Maurice is an activist, politician and Canadian musician, who has campaigned for many years for the legalization of cannabis, and to facilitate access to the drug for health reasons. He lives in Montreal. He first became known in the early 1990s as bassist of punk band Grimskunk. It was then that Marc Saint-Maurice received the nickname "Boris". In 1998, he founded the Bloc Pot, a Quebec provincial political party whose main goal is the decriminalization and eventual legalization of marijuana complete. In 2000, he created the equivalent of the federal Bloc Pot, Marijuana Party, which ran candidates in federal elections. In February 2005, Saint-Maurice left the Marijuana Party to join the Liberal Party of Canada, arguing that the chances of reaching the objectives pursued by both parties pro-marijuana were better in the then ruling party. The movement for marijuana had actually made some progress under Liberal rule in the late 2000s (decade), but Paul Martin, who succeeded Jean Chrétien as Prime Minister and Liberal leader, had been more conservative on the issue. At the general election of November 30, 1998, Saint-Maurice finishes fourth out of nine candidates with
Christie Dawes
Christie Dawes née Skelton (born 3 May 1980) is an Australian Paralympic wheelchair racing athlete. When she was young, Dawes was very interested in athletics. At the age of 10, she was in a car accident. She survived, but became a paraplegic. Christie continued in her career in athletics, but also took up the job of a primary school teacher. She is married to her coach Andrew Dawes and their son was born in February 2011. In 1996, Dawes competed in the Atlanta Paralympics, where she was awarded the 1996 Young Paralympian of the Year Award. Three years later, she won a bronze medal for the 10 km Peachtree Road Race. In 2000, she competed in the Sydney Paralympics. Next was the 2004 Paralympics in Athens Paralympics, where she competed in 800 m, 1500 m, and 5000 m races and the Marathon. She also competed in the 800 m wheelchair demonstration event at the 2004 Athens Olympics. She competed in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, coming fifth in the Women's 800 m EAD T54 event. Dawes competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, and was one of several competitors caught up in a crash during the final of the women's 5000 m T54 wheelchair event, eventually finishing sixth
Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch, 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist. Initially labelled as an imitator of Bob Dylan, Donovan quickly developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music (notably calypso). He has variously lived in Scotland, London, California and Ireland, and currently lives with his family in County Cork in Ireland. Emerging from the British folk scene, Donovan shot to fame in the United Kingdom in early 1965 with a series of live performances on the pop TV series, Ready Steady Go!. Initially signing with the British label Pye Records in 1965, he recorded a handful of singles and two albums in the folk music vein, but after signing a new contract with the US label Epic Records his popularity rapidly spread to the US and other countries. After extricating himself from his original management contract, he began a long and successful collaboration with Mickie Most, one of the leading British independent record producers of the era, scoring a string of hits in the UK, the US, Australia and other countries. His successful records in the 1960s included the UK hits "Catch the Wind" and
Ferdinand Berthier
Ferdinand Berthier (September 28, 1803 in Louhans, Saône-et-Loire, France - July 12, 1886 in Paris) was a deaf educator, intellectual and political organiser in nineteenth-century France, and is one of the earliest champions of deaf identity and culture. Berthier first attended the famous school for the Deaf in Paris as a young student in 1811, when the school was under the directorship of Abbé Roch-Ambroise Sicard. He came from the rural south-east of France to learn basic vocational skills and literacy to prepare him for work as a tradesman. He was influenced by his teacher Roch-Ambroise Auguste Bébian, a hearing man who had learned French Sign Language and published the first systematic study and defense of the language. Berthier was also struck by two important deaf students of the school who later became teachers: Jean Massieu and Laurent Clerc. By the age of 27 Berthier had become one of the more senior professors at the school. In late 1837 Berthier petitioned the French government for permission to create the Société Centrale des Sourds-muets, which was officially founded the following year as the first organisation to represent the interests of the deaf community. The
Harold MacGrath
Harold MacGrath (September 4, 1871 - October 30, 1932) was a bestselling American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Also known occasionally as Harold McGrath, he was born in Syracuse, New York. As a young man, he worked as a reporter and columnist on the Syracuse Herald newspaper until the late 1890s when he published his first novel, a romance titled Arms and the Woman. According to the New York Times, his next book, The Puppet Crown, was the No.7 bestselling book in the United States for all of 1901. From that point on, MacGrath never looked back, writing novels for the mass market about love, adventure, mystery, spies, and the like at an average rate of more than one a year. He would have three more of his books that were among the top ten bestselling books of the year. At the same time, he penned a number of short stories for major American magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, and Red Book magazine. Several of MacGrath's novels were serialized in these magazines and contributing to them was something he would continue to do until his death in 1932. In 1912, Harold MacGrath became one of the first nationally-known authors to write
Web Link(s): Discogs page
David Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974) is an American alt-country/rock singer-songwriter, from Jacksonville, North Carolina. Adams left the group Whiskeytown and released his first solo album Heartbreaker in 2000. The album was nominated for the Shortlist Music Prize and Adams released six additional solo albums, including the UK certified-gold Gold. He released five albums with the rock band The Cardinals and in 2009 Adams married singer-songwriter and actress Mandy Moore. Adams left The Cardinals and announced that he was taking a break from music. He resumed performing in October 2010 and released his thirteenth studio album, Ashes & Fire, on October 11, 2011. The album peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. Adams has also produced albums for Jesse Malin and Willie Nelson and collaborated with Counting Crows, Weezer, Norah Jones, America, Minnie Driver, Cowboy Junkies, Leona Naess, Toots & the Maytals, Beth Orton and Krista Polvere. He has written a book of poems, Infinity Blues, and Hello Sunshine, a collection of poems and short stories. Ryan Adams was born on November 5, 1974, in Jacksonville, North Carolina. When he was eight, Adams began writing short stories and limericks
Tim Yeo
Timothy Stephen Kenneth Yeo (born 20 March 1945) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he is currently the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of South Suffolk and the Chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee. Yeo served as the Minister for the Environment and Countryside from 1992 to 1993 in the government of Prime Minister John Major. He also served in the Shadow Cabinet from 2001 to 2005 under Conservative Party leaders Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard. Yeo was educated at Charterhouse School, before going on to Emmanuel College at Cambridge University where he read History and graduated in 1968. From 1970-73, Yeo was Assistant Treasurer of Bankers Trust Company. Then, from 1975–86, he was a Director of Worcester Engineering Company. From 1980-83, he was Chief Executive of the Spastics Society (now known as Scope). Yeo contested Bedwellty in the February 1974 General Election before being elected as MP for South Suffolk in 1983. In 1988, Yeo became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd. In 1992, Yeo was appointed Minister for the Environment and Countryside in John Major's government, but
Anthony Robles
Anthony Robles (born July 20, 1988) is a wrestler who won the 2010-11 NCAA individual wrestling championship in the 125-pound weight class despite being born with only one leg. He is the author of the forthcoming book Unstoppable: From Underdog to Undefeated: How I Became a Champion (Gotham Books), on-sale September 27th 2012. Robles was born with only one leg, but refused to wear a prosthetic leg, removing it at the age of 3. Due to his leg being missing all the way up to the hip, he has no stump to attach a prosthetic limb to. He endeavored to work around his missing leg, strengthening his body with various exercises. When Robles was in the sixth grade, he set a record for the most pushups by a member of his school. He began wrestling in the eighth grade, joining in while watching one of his older cousins practice. As a freshman, Robles had a record of 5-8 and ranked last in the city of Mesa. He eventually won two Arizona State wrestling championships, going 96-0 in his junior and senior years combined at Mesa High School, in Mesa, Arizona. Robles finished his high school wrestling career with a record of 129-15. Robles redshirted as a freshman at Arizona State University, and
ASBAH
ASBAH (the Association for Spina Bifida And Hydrocephalus) is a UK registered charity providing information and advice about spina bifida and hydrocephalus to individuals, families and carers. Their services are targeted towards: They do this by employing a network of advisers throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland who deliver advice, support and advocacy services. Their staff also include specialist advisers in education, health and continence management. ASBAH works in partnership with a network of independent affiliated local associations to share information and promote good practice, and to deliver a range of support and specialist services. Advisory committees for medical matters and education are composed of professionals from the relevant fields who offer guidance for ASBAH's services. ASBAH's work is financed by voluntary donations, trading activities and grants from charitable and corporate trusts. Conductor and spina bifida sufferer Jeffrey Tate, CBE, has been their president since 1989. Footballer Danny Mills is a patron.
Callahan Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind
The Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind opened in 1994 and is located in Louisville, Kentucky. The museum tells the story of the international history of the education of people who are blind, and how the American Printing House for the Blind has contributed to that history. Exhibits focus on tactile systems, writing devices, braille production, orientation and mobility, educational aids and early schools for the blind. It is located on the second floor of the company's original 1883 factory building. Contrary to usual etiquette, nearly all exhibits are meant to be touched. A reader rail follows the entire museum with braille labels, audio devices, and tactile illustrations in front of each exhibit. Visitors will see original Talking Book recording and playback equipment, long canes and dog guide harness, original stereotype printing plates and equipment, a comprehensive collection of historic braillewriters, and many historic books printed in various tactile writing systems. These include An Essay on the Education of the Blind printed 1786 in the first raised letters for blind people; The Gospel According to St. Mark printed 1834 in raised Roman letters; John
Gertrude Ederle
Gertrude Caroline "Trudy" Ederle (October 23, 1905 – November 30, 2003) was an American competitive swimmer. In 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Gertrude Ederle was the daughter of German immigrants. According to a biography of Ederle, America's Girl, her father, Henry, ran a butcher shop on Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. Trudy was the third of six children and was born in New York City. Her father taught her to swim in Highlands, New Jersey, where the family owned a summer cottage. Among other nicknames, the press sometimes called her Queen of the Waves. Ederle trained at the Women's Swimming Association, the WSA, which produced such competitors as Ethelda Bleibtrey, Charlotte Boyle, Helen Wainwright, Aileen Riggin, Eleanor Holm and Esther Williams. Her yearly dues of $3 allowed Trudy to swim at the tiny Manhattan indoor poor. But, according to America's Girl, "the WSA was already the center of competitive swimming, a sport that was becoming increasingly popular with the evolution of a bathing suit that made it easier to get through the water." The director, Charlotte "Eppy" Epstein, had already urged the AAU to endorse women's swimming as a
Guillaume Amontons
Guillaume Amontons (31 August 1663 – 11 October 1705) was a French scientific instrument inventor and physicist. He was one of the pioneers in tribology, along with Leonardo da Vinci, John Theophilus Desaguliers, Leonard Euler and Charles-Augustin de Coulomb. Guillaume was born in Paris, France. His father was a lawyer from Normandy who had moved to the French capital. While still young, Guillaume lost his hearing, which may have motivated him to focus entirely on science. He never attended a university, but was able to study mathematics, the physical sciences, and celestial mechanics. He also spent time studying the skills of drawing, surveying, and architecture. He died in Paris, France. He was supported in his research career by the government, and was employed in various public works projects. Among his contributions to scientific instrumentation were improvements to the barometer (1695), hygrometer (1687), and thermometer (1695), particularly for use of these instruments at sea. He also demonstrated an optical telegraph and proposed the use of his clepsydra (water clock) for keeping time on a ship at sea. Amontons investigated the relationship between pressure and temperature
Jill Kinmont
Jill Kinmont Boothe (February 16, 1936 – February 9, 2012) was an alpine ski racer who competed in the mid-1950s. Born in Los Angeles, Jill Kinmont grew up in Bishop, California, skiing and racing at Mammoth Mountain. In early 1955, she was the reigning national champion in the slalom, and a top prospect for a medal at the 1956 Winter Olympics, a year away. While competing in the downhill at the Snow Cup in Alta, Utah, on 30 January 1955, she suffered a near-fatal accident which resulted in paralysis from the neck down. It ironically occurred the same week that Kinmont, weeks shy of her 19th birthday, was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine dated 31 January 1955. After her rehabilitation, she went on to graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a B.A. in German and earned a teaching credential from the University of Washington. She had a long career as an educator first in Washington and then in Beverly Hills, California. She taught special education at Bishop Union Elementary School from 1975 to 1996 in her hometown of Bishop. She was an accomplished painter who had many exhibitions of her artwork. Kinmont was the subject of two movies:
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior United States Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to President George W. Bush. The son of an Army Air Corps serviceman, Kerry was born in Aurora, Colorado. He attended boarding school in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and went on to graduate from Yale University class of 1966, where he majored in political science. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1966 and, during 1968-1969, served a four-month tour of duty in South Vietnam as officer-in-charge (OIC) of a Swift Boat. For that service he was awarded several combat medals that include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. After returning to the United States, Kerry joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War in which he served as a nationally recognized spokesperson and as an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam war. During that period, he appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs where he deemed United States war policy in Vietnam to be the cause of "war
The Royal Mencap Society is a charity based in the UK that works with people with a learning disability. Mencap is the UK's leading learning disability charity working with people with a learning disability and their families and carers. Mencap works collaboratively, fighting for equal rights, campaigning for greater opportunities and challenging attitudes and prejudice. Mencap also provides help and support through supported living, supported employment, respite services, organised activities, systemic and individual advocacy, and outreach support. Mencap provides advice and support to meet people's needs throughout their lives, as an individual membership organisation with a local network of more than 450 affiliated groups. Mencap's work is membership-driven, and thanks to its work for the welfare of young people, it is a member of The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS). Mencap is currently campaigning on the following issues: Mencap, along with 14 other organisations, is a member of the Learning Disability Coalition. The Coalition was formed in May 2007 to campaign for better funding for social care for people with a learning disability in England. Mencap is
Roger Christie
Roger Christie (born June 15, 1949) is an ordained minister in the Religion of Jesus Church, which regards marijuana as a "sacramental herb." In 2000, he founded the THC Ministry, which offered cannabis as a part of its services. On July 8, 2010, Christie and 13 other individuals associated with the THC Ministry were indicted by a Federal grand jury in Honolulu on Marijuana possession and trafficking charges. He is now being held in the Honolulu Federal Detention Center awaiting trial. Roger Christie was born on June 15, 1949, in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Raised and schooled in the New Jersey countryside in the 1950s and 1960s, he graduated from high school in 1967. After two years of college studies and flight training school in Miami, Florida he received an associate's degree in Science and a Commercial Pilot certificate. In 1970 he enlisted in the US Army and was trained as a G2 Intelligence Analyst at Fort Holabird, Maryland, a US Army "spy school", but became disenchanted by the military and political missions in Vietnam and elsewhere. Christie refused his orders to serve in the Vietnam War and received an honorable discharge as a conscientious objector. His success in
Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs (/ˈdʒɒbz/; February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur. He is best known as the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Through Apple, he was widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution and for his influential career in the computer and consumer electronics fields. Jobs also co-founded and served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, when Disney acquired Pixar. In the late 1970s, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak engineered one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of Xerox PARC's mouse-driven graphical user interface, which led to the creation of the Apple Lisa and, one year later, the Macintosh. By introducing the LaserWriter he enabled a revolution called desktop publishing. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher-education and business markets. In 1986, he
Thomas D. Schall
Thomas David Schall (June 4, 1878 – December 22, 1935) was an American lawyer and politician. He served in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate from Minnesota. He was initially elected as a Progressive but later joined the Republican Party. Schall was born in Reed City, Michigan, and moved with his family to Campbell, Minnesota, in 1884. He initially attended Hamline University, but graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1902, followed by William Mitchell College of Law (then the St. Paul College of Law) in 1904. Three years later, he was blinded by an electrical shock from a cigar lighter. Schall was elected to the House of Representatives in 1914 and served from March 4, 1915, to March 4, 1925, in the 64th, 65th, 66th, 67th, and 68th congresses. As he was legally blind, he was granted, by House vote, a full-time page to assist him with his work. After losing the Republican primary for a special election to the Senate in 1923, Schall was elected to the Senate in 1924, defeating Magnus Johnson with 46% of the vote. He served from March 4, 1925, until his death, in the 69th, 70th, 71st, 72nd, and 73rd congresses. He had a tough
Gregorio Perfecto
Gregorio Perfecto (November 28, 1891 – August 17, 1949) was a Filipino journalist, politician and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 1945 to 1949. A controversial figure who was described as an "apostle of liberal causes", Perfecto was notable for his libertarian views, his colorful writing style, and the frequency of his dissenting opinions while on the Supreme Court. Perfecto was born in Mandurriao, Iloilo. When he was a youth, his family moved to Ligao, Albay, where he received his primary education. He finished his secondary education at San Beda College in Manila. Perfecto entered Colegio de San Juan de Letran, where he received his Bachelor in Arts degree. He then enrolled in the law program of the University of Santo Tomas, where he received his law degree. Perfecto passed the bar examinations and was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1916. Perfecto practiced law for some time, then began a career for journalism as a reporter for the La Vanguardia and the Consolidacion Nacional newspapers. By 1919, Perfecto was the editor of the La Nacion daily newspaper. His tenure at La Nacion proved controversial, as he embarked on
Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S. Presidential campaign was unsuccessful, Dean is regarded as a pioneer in raising the profile of Internet-based fundraising and grassroots organizing. Before entering politics, Dean earned his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1978. Dean was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1982 and was elected lieutenant governor in 1986. Both were part-time positions that enabled him to continue practicing medicine. In 1991, Dean became governor of Vermont when Richard A. Snelling died in office. Dean was subsequently elected to five two-year terms, serving from 1991 to 2003, making him the second longest-serving governor in Vermont history, after Thomas Chittenden (1778–1789 and 1790–1797). Dean served as chairman of the National Governors Association from 1994 to 1995; during his term, Vermont paid off much of its public debt
People with low vision have reduced vision, even when using the best possible corrective lenses. Low vision may be a result of either congenital disease such as retinitis pigmentosa or Leber's congenital amaurosis or of an acquired conditions such as optic atrophy. It is treated within a subspecialty of optometry and ophthalmology called "low vision". Individuals with low vision . Anyone with reduced vision not corrected by spectacles or contact lenses can be considered to be visually impaired. The World Health Organization uses the following classifications of visual impairment. When the vision in the better eye with best possible glasses correction is: Legal blindness There are also levels of visual impairment based on visual field loss (loss of peripheral vision). Go to visual acuity to consult an international visual acuity expression chart. In the United States, any person with vision that cannot be corrected to better than 20/200 in the best eye, or who has 20 degrees (diameter) or less of visual field remaining, is considered to be "legally blind" or eligible for disability classification and possible inclusion in certain government sponsored programs. Since the estimates of
Marlee Matlin
Marlee Beth Matlin (born August 24, 1965) is an American actress. She is the youngest actress, and the only deaf performer, to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which she won for Children of a Lesser God. Her work in film and television has resulted in a Golden Globe award, with two additional nominations, and four Emmy nominations. Deaf since she was 18 months old, she is also a prominent member of the National Association of the Deaf. Matlin was born in Morton Grove, Illinois, to Libby (née Hammer) and Donald Matlin, an automobile dealer. She has two older brothers, Eric and Marc. She lost all hearing in her right ear and 80% of the hearing in her left ear at the age of 18 months. In her autobiography, I'll Scream Later, she suggests that her hearing loss may have been due to a genetically malformed cochlea. She also indicated that she is the only member of her family who is deaf. She is of Russian Jewish descent. and was able to have her Bat Mitzvah by learning how to read Hebrew phonetically; she was later interviewed for the book Mazel Tov: Celebrities' Bar and Bat Mitzvah Memories. Matlin graduated from John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights and
Peter Henry Fonda (born February 23, 1940) is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda (by first wife Susan Brewer, stepdaughter of Noah Dietrich). Fonda is an icon of the counterculture of the 1960s. Fonda was born in New York City, the only son of actor Henry Fonda and his wife Frances Ford Seymour; he is the younger brother of actress Jane Fonda. On his eleventh birthday, he accidentally shot himself in the stomach and nearly died. He then went to Nainital and stayed for few months. Years later, he would reference this incident to John Lennon and George Harrison while taking LSD with The Beatles, and claiming "I know what it's like to be dead", which ended up becoming a direct inspiration for The Beatles song "She Said, She Said". Early on, Fonda studied acting in Omaha, Nebraska, his father's home town. While attending the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Fonda joined the Omaha Community Playhouse, where many actors (including his father and Marlon Brando) had begun their careers. Fonda found work on Broadway where he gained notice in Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, before going to Hollywood to make films. He
Sasha Prosence
From Utah. He has another brother (Misha) older than him, who has one leg too.
Turlough O'Carolan
Turlough O'Carolan, also known as Turlough Carolan, (Irish: Toirdhealbhach Ó Cearbhalláin; Irish pronunciation: [ˈt̪ˠɾˠeːl̪ˠəx oː ˈcaruːl̪ˠaːnʲ]) (1670 – 25 March 1738) was a blind early Irish harper, composer and singer whose great fame is due to his gift for melodic composition. He was the last great Irish harper-composer and is considered by many to be Ireland's national composer. Harpers in the old Irish tradition were still living as late as 1792, as ten, including Arthur O'Neill, Patrick Quin and Donnchadh Ó Hámsaigh, showed up at the Belfast Harp Festival, but there is no proof of any of these being composers. Ó Hámsaigh did play some of Carolan's music but disliked it for being too modern. Some of O'Carolan's own compositions show influence from the style of continental classical music, whereas others such as Carolan's Farewell to Music reflect a much older style of "Gaelic Harping". O'Carolan was born in 1670 near Nobber, County Meath, but in 1684 he moved with his family, to Ballyfarnon, County Roscommon, where his father took a job with the MacDermottRoe family of Alderford House. Mrs. MacDermottRoe gave him an education, and he showed talent in poetry. After being
Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly regarded as a pioneer of funk and of politically conscious African-American music. He was also a multi-instrumentalist who played the guitar, bass, piano, saxophone, and drums. Mayfield is a winner of both the Grammy Legend Award (in 1994) and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (in 1995), and was a double inductee into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted as a member of The Impressions into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, and again in 1999 as a solo artist. He is also a two-time Grammy Hall of Fame inductee. Born on June 3, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, Mayfield was the son of Marion Washington and Kenneth Mayfield. Mayfield's father left the family when Mayfield was five and his mother moved Curtis and his siblings into various Chicago projects before settling at the Cabrini–Green projects when Mayfield reached his teenage years. Mayfield
Dimethyltryptamine
N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT or N,N-DMT) is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound of the tryptamine family. Its presence is widespread throughout the plant kingdom. DMT occurs in trace amounts in mammals, including humans, where it putatively functions as a trace amine neurotransmitter. It is originally derived from the essential amino acid tryptophan and ultimately produced by the enzyme INMT during normal metabolism. The significance of its widespread natural presence remains undetermined. Structurally, DMT is analogous to the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT), the hormone melatonin, and other psychedelic tryptamines, such as 5-MeO-DMT, bufotenin, and psilocin (the active metabolite of psilocybin). When ingested, DMT acts as a psychedelic drug. Depending on the dose and method of administration, its subjective effects can range from short-lived milder psychedelic states to powerful immersive experiences; these are often described as a total loss of connection to conventional reality with the encounter of ineffable spiritual/alien realms. Indigenous Amazonian Amerindian cultures consume DMT as the primary psychoactive in ayahuasca, a shamanistic brew used for divinatory and
George V of Hanover
George V (George Frederick Alexander Charles Ernest Augustus; German: Georg Friedrich Alexander Karl Ernst August; 27 May 1819 – 12 June 1878) was King of Hanover, the only child of Ernest Augustus I, and a grandchild of King George III of the United Kingdom. In the peerage of Great Britain, he was 2nd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, 2nd Earl of Armagh. He was the fifth and final King of Hanover. George V, a first cousin of Queen Victoria, inherited the Hanoverian realm (which could not pass to Victoria because of Salic law) through his father, who ascended the throne of Hanover in place of Victoria. George spent his childhood in Berlin and in Britain, losing the sight of one eye following a childhood accident and illness in 1828. He lost the sight in the other eye in 1833. His uncle, William IV, created him a Knight of the Garter on 15 August 1835. His father had hoped that the young prince might marry his cousin Victoria, thus keeping the British and Hanoverian thrones united, but nothing ever came of that desire and on King William's death, Victoria became Queen of the UK and George became 1st in line to the Hanoverian throne and 2nd in line to the British throne (after his
Ricardo "Richard" Alpert is a fictional character played by Nestor Carbonell in the American ABC television series Lost. Alpert is introduced in a flashback of the character Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell), where he claims to be a doctor for a bioscience company called Mittelos Bioscience; he is later revealed to be a member of a native island faction called the Others, where he plays a role in the group's hierarchy that has been compared to that of the Panchen Lama in Buddhism by the series' producers. A major facet of the character is his seeming agelessness; he has been seen with a similar physical appearance both in the show's present events in the mid-2000s as well as flashbacks dating as far back as the late-1860s. Richard becomes mortal at the end of the series. Originally introduced as a guest star in the third season episode "Not in Portland", Alpert reappears throughout the third season, both in flashbacks and present-day island events. In the spring of 2007, shortly before the conclusion of Lost's third season, Carbonell was contracted as a regular on the CBS television series Cane, which jeopardized his future on Lost. Nevertheless, the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of
Steven Hager, a writer, journalist, filmmaker, and counterculture and cannabis activist, was born May 25, 1951, in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, the son of Lowell P. Hager and Francis Erea Hager. While a student in junior high, he established his first publication, the Cap'n Crunch Courier, a humor xerox zine that was given away free. Two years later, while a student at Urbana High School, he created The Tin Whistle, a monthly newspaper that was eventually distributed in four high schools in Central Illinois. One of his friends, Jim Wilson, became the first black elected Senior Class President at Urbana High. Wilson was later banned from the football team, even though he had been the starting end and place kicker because of his association with Hager. Hager briefly visited Haight-Ashbury in 1968, and the following year he attended the first Woodstock festival. He obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater (Playwriting), and a Masters of Science in Journalism, both from the University of Illinois. After graduation, Hager moved to New York City, worked for a number of magazines before becoming a reporter for the New York Daily News. During this time, he began researching the hip hop
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large-scale teamwork to the process of invention, and because of that, he is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. Edison is the fourth most prolific inventor in history, holding 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He is credited with numerous inventions that contributed to mass communication and, in particular, telecommunications. These included a stock ticker, a mechanical vote recorder, a battery for an electric car, electrical power, recorded music and motion pictures. His advanced work in these fields was an outgrowth of his early career as a telegraph operator. Edison developed a system of electric-power generation and distribution to homes, businesses, and factories
Tilly Aston
Matilda Ann Aston (11 December 1873 – 1 November 1947), better known as Tilly Aston, was a blind Australian writer and teacher, who founded the Victorian Association of Braille Writers, and later went on to establish the Association for the Advancement of the Blind, with herself as secretary. She is remembered for her achievements in promoting the rights of vision impaired people. Tilly was born in the town of Carisbrook, Victoria in 1873, the youngest of eight children born to Edward Aston, bootmaker, and his wife, Ann. Vision impaired from birth, she was totally blind by the age of 7. Her father died in 1881. Six months later, through a chance meeting, she met Thomas James, a miner who had lost his sight in an industrial accident and who had become an itinerant bllind missionary. He taught her to read braille and soon after, the Rev. W. Moss, who visited Carisbrook with the choir of the Victorian Asylum and School for the Blind, persuaded her to attend the school in St. Kilda, Melbourne, to further her education. She enrolled as a boarder on 29 June 1882. After successfully matriculating at the age of 16, Tilly became the first blind Australian to go to a university, enrolling
Albert Hofmann
Albert Hofmann (January 11, 1906 – April 29, 2008) was a Swiss scientist known best for being the first person to synthesize, ingest and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Hofmann also was the first to isolate, synthesize and name the principal psychedelic mushroom compounds, psilocybin and psilocin. He authored more than 100 scientific articles and a number of books, including LSD: My Problem Child. In 2007 he was ranked joint first, alongside Tim Berners-Lee, in The Telegraph's list of 100 greatest living geniuses. Hofmann was born in Baden, Switzerland, the first of four children to factory toolmaker Adolf Hofmann and his wife Elisabeth (born Elisabeth Schenk). Owing to his father's low income, Albert's godfather paid for his education. When his father became ill, Hofmann obtained a position as a commercial apprentice in concurrence with his studies. At the age of twenty, Hofmann began his chemistry degree at the University of Zürich, finishing three years later, in 1929. His main interest was the chemistry of plants and animals, and he later conducted important research on the chemical structure of the common animal substance chitin, for which
Andy Caisse
Andy Caisse is a political activist in Manitoba, Canada. He has campaigned provincially as a candidate of the Libertarian Party, and federally as a candidate of the Marijuana Party. Caisse has multiple sclerosis, and is one of a small number of Canadians who may legally own and consume marijuana for medicinal purposes. He suffers from a weakened central nervous system, and usually requires assistance in rolling individual cigarettes. Caisse has used a wheelchair since 1995. In 2001, Caisse met Chris Buors (later the leader of the Manitoba Libertarian Party) at a pro-marijuana rally in front of the Manitoba legislature. Caisse subsequently became involved in Buors's Manitoba Compassion Club, and organization that supplies medicinal marijuana to its members. In 2002 (at age 34), he was the subject of a profile by Cannabis News magazine. Caisse supports the full legalization of marijuana use. In the 2003 provincial election, Caisse ran as a Libertarian in the riding of Lord Roberts in central Winnipeg. He received 66 votes, as opposed to 4352 for the winning candidate, New Democrat Dianne McGifford. In the Canadian federal election of 2004, Caisse was for the Marijuana Party in the
Color blindness or color vision deficiency is the inability or decreased ability to see color, or perceive color differences, under normal lighting conditions. Color blindness affects a significant percentage of the population. There is no actual blindness but there is a deficiency of color vision. The most usual cause is a fault in the development of one or more sets of retinal cones that perceive color in light and transmit that information to the optic nerve. This type of color blindness is usually a sex-linked condition. The genes that produce photopigments are carried on the X chromosome; if some of these genes are missing or damaged, color blindness will be expressed in males with a higher probability than in females because males only have one X chromosome (in females, a functional gene on only one of the two X chromosomes is sufficient to yield the needed photopigments). Color blindness can also be produced by physical or chemical damage to the eye, the optic nerve, or parts of the brain. For example, people with achromatopsia suffer from a completely different disorder, but are nevertheless unable to see colors. The English chemist John Dalton published the first
Disability Rights Commission
The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) was established by the British Labour government in 1999. At that time, the DRC was the UK's third equality commission alongside the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal Opportunities Commission. The DRC was charged with reviewing the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and recommending its amendment. It had rights of investigation and enforcement of disability legislation, and was responsible for advising employers on how to secure equal treatment of disabled employees. The DRC replaced an earlier and weaker body, the National Disability Council, established by the Conservatives in the 1990s. The passing of the Equality Act 2006 means that in October 2007 the DRC was replaced by a new Equality and Human Rights Commission with powers across all equality law (race, sex, disability, religion and belief, sexual orientation and age). The DRC was a non-departmental public body (NDPB) of the Department for Work and Pensions. Its head office was in Manchester city centre with other offices in central London, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
Oliver Heaviside
Oliver Heaviside FRS ( /ˈɒlɪvər ˈhɛvisaɪd/; 18 May 1850 – 3 February 1925) was a self-taught English electrical engineer, mathematician, and physicist who adapted complex numbers to the study of electrical circuits, invented mathematical techniques to the solution of differential equations (later found to be equivalent to Laplace transforms), reformulated Maxwell's field equations in terms of electric and magnetic forces and energy flux, and independently co-formulated vector analysis. Although at odds with the scientific establishment for most of his life, Heaviside changed the face of mathematics and science for years to come. Heaviside was born at 55 Kings Street (now Plender Street) in London's Camden Town. He was short and red-headed, and suffered from scarlet fever when young, which left him with a hearing impairment. He was a good student (e.g. placed fifth out of five hundred students in 1865). Heaviside's uncle Sir Charles Wheatstone (1802–1875) was the original co-inventor of the telegraph in the mid 1830s, and was an internationally celebrated expert in telegraphy and electromagnetism. Wheatstone was married to Heaviside's aunt in London and took a strong interest in his
Web Link(s): http://www.discogs.com/artist/Ray+Charles
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American musician known as Ray Charles (to avoid confusion with champion boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.) He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records. He also helped racially integrate country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, most notably with his Modern Sounds albums. While with ABC, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to be given artistic control by a mainstream record company. Frank Sinatra called Charles "the only true genius in show business." The influences upon his music were mainly jazz, blues, rhythm and blues and country artists of the day such as Art Tatum, Nat King Cole, Louis Jordan, Charles Brown, Louis Armstrong. His playing reflected influences from country blues and barrelhouse, and stride piano styles. Rolling Stone ranked Charles number ten on their list of "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" in 2004, and number two on their November 2008 list of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". In honoring Charles, Billy Joel noted: "This
Richard Phillips Feynman ( /ˈfaɪnmən/; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics (he proposed the parton model). For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman, jointly with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. He developed a widely used pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions governing the behavior of subatomic particles, which later became known as Feynman diagrams. During his lifetime, Feynman became one of the best-known scientists in the world. In a 1999 poll of 130 leading physicists worldwide by the British journal Physics World he was ranked as one of the ten greatest physicists of all time. He assisted in the development of the atomic bomb and was a member of the panel that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. In addition to his work in theoretical physics, Feynman has been credited with pioneering the field of quantum
ADAPT is a grassroots United States disability rights organization with chapters in 30 states. It is known for being part of the militant wing of the disability rights movement due to its history of nonviolent direct action in order to bring attention to the lack of civil rights the disability community has. However, ADAPT also practices legislative policy advocacy, grassroots education and mobilization, and individual members may engage in legal advocacy, as in the case of individual ADAPT members suing the Chicago Transit Authority in the 1980s. ADAPT got its start at the Atlantis Community in Denver, Colorado, in 1983. The Atlantis Community was started by the Reverend Wade Blank, a nondisabled former nursing home recreational director who assisted several residents to move out and start their own community. Blank is also given much credit for helping ADAPT get started. Originally, the name was an acronym that stood for Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transit. The group's initial issue was to get wheelchair accessible lifts on buses. Throughout the 1980s, the campaign for bus lifts expanded out from Denver to cities nationwide. ADAPTers became well known for their
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is a United States-based association working to fight the consequences of diabetes, and to help those affected by diabetes. The Association funds research to manage, cure and prevent diabetes (including type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes, and pre-diabetes); delivers services to hundreds of communities; and provides information for both patients and health care professionals. Formed in 1940, the ADA was founded by 28 physicians. During its first 30 years, the Association limited its membership to physicians, health professionals and corporations. In 1970, the Association underwent a reorganization during which membership was expanded to include general members. Now the ADA is a volunteer-driven organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, with local offices across the United States. The mission of the ADA is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. To fulfill this mission, the Association funds research, publishes scientific findings, provides information and other services to people with diabetes, their families, health professionals and the public. The Association is also
Chucky Mullins
Roy Lee "Chucky" Mullins (July 8, 1969 in Russellville, Alabama – May 6, 1991 in Memphis, Tennessee) was an American football player at Ole Miss (University of Mississippi) best known for the devastating football injury that left him a quadriplegic. Mullins was injured on October 28, 1989, during the Ole Miss Rebels' Homecoming game against the Vanderbilt Commodores in Oxford. As Mullins plunged head-first into a tackle of Vandy fullback Brad Gaines after a short pass reception, the impact shattered four vertebrae in his cervical spine, immediately paralyzing him. After being airlifted to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Mullins underwent a tracheotomy and five-hour bone graft operation to fuse the vertebrae. Mullins never regained sensation below his neck; shortly before his death, however, he was able to move a hand across his body and touch his chest. As soon as the injury occurred, Mullins became the recipient of a huge outpouring of community support. Ole Miss fans, college football fans in the South and people from all over the nation immediately began to donate money towards Mullin's growing medical expenses. President George H.W. Bush visited Mullins in his hospital
Diane Schuur (b. December 10, 1953 in Tacoma, Washington) is an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Deedles", she has won two Grammy Awards, headlined many of the world's most prestigious music venues, including Carnegie Hall and The White House and has toured the world performing with such greats as Quincy Jones, Stan Getz, B. B. King, Dizzy Gillespie, Maynard Ferguson, Ray Charles, Joe Williams and Stevie Wonder. Like Stevie Wonder, Schuur was blinded at birth due to retinopathy of prematurity. Diane Schuur grew up in suburban Seattle, Washington and was encouraged by both her parents to sing. She started singing when she was a two-and-a-half, and by age nine was getting professional gigs. She has said that as a small child she would often retreat to the closet to be alone with herself and sing.Her early childhood music heroines were Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington. Schuur had her first gig at Tacoma's Holiday Inn at age ten in which she sang country music. Attending the Washington State School for the Blind, she began performing original material, and starting at the young age of sixteen, revealed a distinctive voice and began performing. Her big break came when Stan
Inga DeCarlo Fung Marchand (born September 6, 1978), better known by her stage name Foxy Brown, is an American rapper known for her solo work as well as numerous collaborations with other artists and her brief stint as part of hip hop music group The Firm. Raised in Brooklyn, New York, her father Keith Stahler abandoned the family at a young age to pursue his career at ERAC records. Her albums include Ill Na Na in 1996, followed by Chyna Doll in 1999, and Broken Silence in 2001. She also performed on the 1997 self-titled album by the Firm, the only album to be released by that group to date. Throughout her career, Brown has held an extensive arrest record and served some time in jail. After 2002, she continued recording verses for herself and other artists but did not release any albums; she left the Def Jam label in 2003, thus canceling the release of her Ill Na Na 2 album. However, she returned to the label in January 2005 after Jay-Z signed her back to begin work on her new album Black Roses. In December 2005, she began suffering from hearing loss, which put her career on hiatus until the next summer, a few months after surgery. A fourth studio album, which originally was a
Galloway's Society for the Blind
Galloway's Society for the Blind, also known as Galloways, (reg charity number 526088) is one of Lancashire's oldest charities, established in 1867 following a public meeting in the Corn Exchange, Preston, England. It was originally the Preston Industrial Institute for the Blind, then the Institute for Blind Welfare and until 2000 the Preston and North Lancashire Blind Welfare Society. It is now named after William Wilding Galloway, a cotton merchant from Preston who left £40,000 to local charities including £10,000 to the society when he died in 1936. The Society renamed itself in July 2000, to avoid its cumbersome previous name which was commonly abbreviated to the ambiguous "The Blind Society" and to honour its greatest benefactor. The charity now provides many services to over 7000 blind and visually impaired people across the County and has offices in Chorley, Penwortham Southport and Morecambe. The Charity has developed an extensive programme of Adult Education and works in partnership with Lancashire College, The Adult College, Lancaster, and Lancashire County Council. The provision of Talking Newspapers and Magazines is another one of its services producing over 3500 USB
Georges Couthon
Georges Auguste Couthon (22 December 1755 – 28 July 1794) was a French politician and lawyer known for his service as a deputy on the Legislative Assembly during the French Revolution. Couthon was elected to the Committee of Public Safety on 30 May 1793, serving with his friends and close associates Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just during the Reign of Terror until his death in 1794. Couthon played an important role in the development of the Law of 22 Prairial, which was responsible for sharply increasing the rate at which accused counter-revolutionaries were executed. Couthon was born on December 22, 1755 in Orcet in the province of Auvergne. His father was a notary and his mother was the daughter of a shopkeeper. Couthon, just as the generations of his family before him, found himself the member of the lower bourgeoisie. Following in his father's footsteps, Couthon would become a notary, using his skills to serve on Auvergne's Provincial Assembly in 1787, his first experience in politics. He was well-regarded by others as an honest, well-mannered individual. As the Revolution grew nearer, Couthon was quickly becoming a cripple, with both legs rapidly becoming
Ior Bock
Ior Bock (Finnish: [i:or bok]; originally Bror Holger Svedlin; 17 January 1942 – 23 October 2010) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish tour guide, actor, mythologist and eccentric. Ior Bock was a colourful media personality and became a very popular tour guide at the island fortress of Suomenlinna, where he worked from 1973 to 1998. In 1984, Bock raised public interest and discussion when he claimed that his family line (Boxström) had been keepers of an ancient folklore tradition that provides insight into the pagan culture of Finland, including hitherto unknown autofellatio exercises connected to old fertility rites. These stories are often known as the Bock saga. His eccentric philosophical and mythological theories gained a small international cult following. According to Bock's autobiographical The Bock Saga, he was born as the result of an incestuous relationship between sea-captain Knut Victor Boxström (1860–1942), who would have been 81 years old at the time, and his daughter Rhea, 42. Knut's only son had been killed in the Finnish Civil War in 1918, and this was a desperate measure to continue the male line and bring the extensive family-saga about heathen times to the public
James Brady
James Scott "Jim" Brady (born August 29, 1940) is a former Assistant to the President and White House Press Secretary under U.S. President Ronald Reagan. After nearly being killed and becoming permanently disabled as a result of an assassination attempt on Reagan in 1981, Brady became an ardent supporter of gun control. Brady was an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America and attended St. Mary Catholic Grade School in Centralia, Illinois. In 1962, Brady graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science, and was initiated into the Sigma Chi fraternity there. He began his career in public service as a staff member in the office of Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen. During the summer of 1962, he was an Honor Intern at the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division. After being on the faculty at Southern Illinois University (1964–1965), he held many positions in the private sector, including Assistant National Sales Manager and Executive Manager to the President of Lear-Seigler (1965–1966), Director of Legislation and Public Affairs for the Illinois State Medical Society (1966–1968), Whitaker and Baxter's
Jesse Billauer
Jesse Billauer (born February 24, 1979) is a well known surfer from Pacific Palisades, California. Billauer suffered an accident at the age of 17 on March 25, 1996, hitting his head on a shallow sandbar after being knocked off his surfboard by a wave. The force broke his neck, severing his spinal cord at the C6 level and instantly rendered him a quadriplegic. Billauer was told by doctors that he would never surf again. However, Billauer eventually did return to surfing, adapting his surfing technique and equipment to the situation of his current condition. He has become a role model guide to many other surfers, both professional and amateur, on how to live a life to the fullest, despite a life changing injury. Through these efforts Jesse has gained sponsorships from companies including Nike, Hurley, Honda, Channel Islands Surfboards (who developed a "Jesse Billauer" model) and Boost Mobile. After graduating from Malibu High School, Billauer eventually enrolled at San Diego State University, with an emphasis in communications. He graduated in 2002. He is also a motivational speaker, and is involved with a non profit foundation, "Life Rolls On." Through this foundation, Jesse is
John Adam Belushi ( /bəˈluːʃi/; January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician. He is best known as one of the original cast members of the hit NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live and as the co-star and co-creator of the hugely successful motion picture The Blues Brothers. He was the older brother of James "Jim" Belushi. He was known for his brash, energetic style and raunchy humor. During his career he had a close personal and artistic partnership with fellow SNL comedian and author, Dan Aykroyd. Belushi died on March 5, 1982 in Hollywood, California after overdosing on controlled substances at the age of 33. He was posthumously honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on April 1, 2004. John Belushi was born in Chicago. He was the son of Agnes (née Samaras), who was of Albanian descent, and Adam Belushi (1918–1996), an Albanian immigrant and restaurant operator who left his native village, Qytezë, in 1934 at the age of sixteen. John was raised in a Chicago suburb, along with his three siblings: younger brothers Billy and Jim and his sister, Marian. The family's name at the time of immigration was Bellios, or Belliors. Belushi was
John Callahan
John Michael Callahan (February 5, 1951, Portland, Oregon – July 24, 2010), was a cartoonist, artist, and musician noted for dealing with macabre subjects and physical disabilities. Callahan became a quadriplegic in an auto accident at 21. The accident happened in Callahan's car after a day of drinking alcoholic beverages. His car was being driven by a man with whom he was bar hopping. Following his accident, he became a cartoonist, drawing by clutching a pen between both hands. His visual artistic style was simplistic and often rough, although still legible. It has been likened to that of William Steig, James Thurber, Richard Condie, and Ben Wicks. Callahan's cartoons dealt with subjects often considered taboo. His black humor may be exemplified by the title of his "quasi-memoir", Will the Real John Callahan Please Stand Up?. The subject matter and treatment of his cartoons shares something with the work of Charles Addams, Gahan Wilson, and especially Charles Rodrigues, although it is much more aggressive than even the Playboy cartoons by these cartoonists. Callahan scoffed at the reactions of critics who labeled his work politically incorrect, while he delighted in the positive
Marc Emery
Marc Scott Emery (born February 13, 1958) is a Canadian cannabis policy reform advocate, a politician, and media publisher as well as a former cannabis seed seller. He is currently serving a five year sentence in a United States federal prison for selling cannabis seeds. He is formerly a retailer of cannabis seeds for cultivation, having started Marc Emery Direct Marijuana Seeds in 1995, which he ran until it was closed by a raid by Vancouver police acting on the request of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on July 29, 2005. US Government officials have described Emery as a drug dealer for his efforts to sell marijuana seeds in Canada and abroad. He was the publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine, a founding member of the Freedom Party of Ontario, the Marijuana Party of Canada and the BC Marijuana Party, founder of the Iboga Therapy House and founder of Pot TV. He ran for mayor of the city of Vancouver in 1996, 2002 and 2008. Emery was taken into custody on September 28, 2009, and held at the North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Port Coquitlam, BC, to await extradition to the USA. On November 18, 2009, Emery was released on bail, pending the Canadian Minister of
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is an organization of blind people in the United States. It is the oldest and largest organization led by blind people in the United States. Its national headquarters are in Baltimore, Maryland. Anyone, blind or sighted is permitted to join the NFB but a majority of members in its local chapters state affiliates and nationwide divisions must be blind, as must its officers and board members at every level with exception of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children. This structure is intended to insure that the organization is run by blind people and reflects the collective views of its blind members, the NFB refers to itself as "the voice of the nation's blind." The philosophy of the organization is; The organization's former President, Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, was fond of saying, "We who are blind are pretty much like you. We have our share of both geniuses and jerks, but most of us somewhere between, ordinary people living ordinary lives." NFB members, who refer to themselves as "Federationists," hold themselves and each other to high standards of accomplishment, and they encourage and support each other in an informal network
Web Link(s): http://www.discogs.com/artist/Owen+Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor and screenwriter. Born in Dallas, Texas to an Irish American family from Massachusetts, he was the middle child, and has two brothers who are also actors, Andrew and Luke Wilson. He received his distinctive twice-broken nose during childhood. Wilson is known for his long assocation with the film maker Wes Anderson, having shared co-writing and acting credits in a number of his films including Bottle Rocket (1996) which was his acting début, Rushmore (1998) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, as well as acting in Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and The Darjeeling Limited (2007). Wilson is also known for his collaborations with Ben Stiller, appearing in eight films together including Meet the Parents (2000) and the cult classic Zoolander (2001). Wedding Crashers (2005) in which he starred alongside Vince Vaughan earned his highest box office to date. More recently he has starred in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (2011). Known for his laid back demeanour and easy-going nature Wilson hit the headlines in 2007 after a supposed
Andrew Mark Cuomo (/ˈkwoʊmoʊ/; born December 6, 1957) is the 56th and current Governor of New York. He previously served as the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1997 to 2001, and as the Attorney General of New York from 2007 to 2010. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and the son of Mario Cuomo, the 52nd Governor of New York. Cuomo was born in Queens, New York, to a family of Italian-American origin, and is the eldest son of Mario Cuomo, and Matilda Raffa, daughter of Charlie Raffa. He is the older brother of ABC News journalist Chris Cuomo. Cuomo graduated from Saint Gerard's School in 1971 and Archbishop Molloy High School in 1975. He received his B.A. from Fordham University in 1979, and his J.D. from Albany Law School in 1982. During his father's 1982 campaign for Governor, Cuomo was his top aide. He then joined the Governor's staff as one of his father's top policy advisors, earning $1 a year. From 1984 to 1985, Cuomo was a New York assistant district attorney, and briefly worked at the law firm of Blutrich, Falcone & Miller. Cuomo founded Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged (HELP) in 1986 and left his law firm to run HELP full-time in
Anthony Lawrence Clarke, OAM (born 1961 in Adelaide) is an Australian judoka. Blind since 17 he became a Paralympic Judo gold medallist in 1996, for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia, was world blind judo champion (in 1990 and 1998), and was an official torch bearer at the 2000 Summer Olympics. In 2000, he received an Australian Sports Medal. He has represented Australia at five Summer Paralympics, from 1992 to 2008, and wrote an autobiographical motivational book titled Achieving the Impossible. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder from 1996 to 2000 in judo.
Oliver Letwin
Oliver Letwin MP FRSA (born 19 May 1956, in Hampstead) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he is currently the Minister of State at the Cabinet Office, and a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the constituency of West Dorset. He is also the Chairman of the Conservative Research Department and Chairman of the Conservative Party's Policy Review. Letwin is the son of William Letwin, Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics, and conservative academic Shirley Letwin. Letwin was educated at Hall School in Hampstead and Eton College. He went on to study at Trinity College, Cambridge. Whilst a student at Cambridge, he was an active member of the Cambridge University Liberal Club. When asked about his membership of the Liberal club he explained: "I was also a member of the Fabian Society. But I am sorry to have to tell you that this was because I was interested in the thoughts of Liberals and Fabians (and still am) rather than because I was ever a Liberal Democrat or a Fabian." From 1980–81, Letwin was a visiting fellow (a Procter Fellow) of Princeton University, then a research fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge, from 1981–82. His PhD thesis,
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. (born March 31, 1948) served as the 45th Vice President of the United States (1993–2001), under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President and lost the 2000 U.S. presidential election despite winning the popular vote. Gore is currently an author and environmental activist. He has founded a number of non-profit organizations, including the Alliance for Climate Protection, and has received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in climate change activism. Gore was previously an elected official for 24 years, representing Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives (1977–85), and later in the U.S. Senate (1985–93), and finally becoming Vice President in 1993. In the 2000 presidential election, Gore won the popular vote by a margin of more than 500,000 votes. However, he ultimately lost the Electoral College to Republican George W. Bush when the U.S. Supreme Court settled the legal controversy over the Florida vote recount by ruling 5-4 in favor of Bush. It was the only time in history that the Supreme Court has determined the outcome of a presidential election. Gore is the founder and current chair of the Alliance for Climate
Charles Rodway Clarke (born 21 September 1950) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006. The son of Civil Service Permanent Secretary Sir Richard Clarke, Charles Clarke was born in London. He attended the fee-paying Highgate School where he was Head Boy. He then read Mathematics and Economics at King's College, Cambridge, where he also served as the President of the Cambridge Students' Union. A member of the Broad Left faction, he was President of the National Union of Students from 1975 to 1977. Clarke had joined the Labour Party by then and was active in the Clause Four group. Clarke was the British representative on the Permanent Commission for the World Youth Festival (Cuba) from 1977 to 1978 He was elected as a local councillor in the London Borough of Hackney, being Chair of its Housing Committee and Vice-Chair of economic development from 1980 to 1986. He worked as a researcher, and later Chief of Staff, for Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock from February 1981 to 1992. His long association with Kinnock and with the general election defeat
Henry Fawcett
Henry Fawcett PC (26 August 1833 – 6 November 1884) was a blind British academic, statesman and economist. Fawcett was born in Salisbury, and educated at King's College School and the University of Cambridge: entering Peterhouse in 1852, he migrated to Trinity Hall the following year, and became a fellow there in 1856, the year he graduated BA as 7th Wrangler. In 1858, when he was 25, he was blinded in a shooting accident. Despite his blindness, he continued with his studies, especially in economics. He was able to enter Lincoln's Inn but decided against a career as a barrister and took his name off their books in 1860. Two years later, Fawcett reportedly attended the 1860 Oxford evolution debate, during which he was asked whether he thought the bishop had actually read the Origin of Species. Reportedly, Fawcett replied loudly, "Oh no, I would swear he has never read a word of it". Ready to recriminate, Wilberforce swung round to him scowling, but stepped back and bit his tongue on noting that the speaker was the blind economist. At the next meeting (in September 1861) of the British Association in Manchester, Fawcett defended the logic behind Charles Darwin's theories. This
Iris Fund for Prevention of Blindness
Fund for Prevention of Blindness was a British medical research charity dedicated to the prevention of blindness. In 2005 it changed its name to British Eye Research Foundation and merged with Fight for Sight in 2005.
John Bramblitt
John Bramblitt (born 1971) is a blind painter of American origin. He began painting after losing his sight in 2001 after a series of severe seizures. His art has been displayed in more than twenty, and he has been the subject of numerous media stories including a documentary that won several short film awards and a video that was voted Most Inspirational Video of 2008 for YouTube. He was awarded U.S. presidential awards for volunteerism in 2005, 2006, and 2007 for his creation of a series of free art workshops designed to bring art to people and neighborhoods which lack access to art instruction. While he was a student at the University of North Texas, Bramblitt was featured on Bob Phillips' syndicated television anthology series, Texas Country Reporter.
Web Link(s): .
Stevland Hardaway Morris (born May 13, 1950 as Stevland Hardaway Judkins), known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, a child prodigy who developed into one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century. Blind since shortly after birth, Wonder signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of eleven, and continues to perform and record for Motown to this day. Among Wonder's best known works are singles such as "Superstition", "Sir Duke", "I Wish" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You". Well known albums also include Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. He has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and received twenty-two Grammy Awards, the most ever awarded to a male solo artist. Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart's fiftieth anniversary, with Wonder at number five. Stevie Wonder
Ta Mok (Khmer: តាម៉ុក; 1924, Takéo Province, Cambodia – 21 July 2006, Phnom Penh), which means "Grandfather Mok" in Khmer, was the nom de guerre of Chhit Choeun, a senior figure in the leadership of the Khmer Rouge. His name has also been reported as Ek Choeun, Oeung Choeun and Ung Choeun, and he was also known as "Brother Number Five" or "the Butcher. He is believed to have been born into a prosperous country family from Takéo Province, and was of Chinese-Khmer descent. He became a Buddhist monk in the 1930s but left the order at the age of 16. Ta Mok took part of the resistance against French colonial rule and then the anti-Japanese resistance during the 1940s. He was training for the Buddhist priesthood in Pali when he joined the anti-French Khmer Issarak in 1952. He soon left Phnom Penh and joined the Khmer Rouge. By the late 1960s he was a general and the group's chief-of-staff. He was also a member of the Standing Committee of the Khmer Rouge's Central Committee ("Party Center") during its period in power. He became very powerful within the party, especially in the south-west zone. He was named by Pol Pot as leader of the national army of Democratic Kampuchea. He lost the
Camp Bloomfield
Camp Bloomfield is a 40-acre (160,000 m) campground in the Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu, California, United States. Founded in 1958 by Henry Bloomfield and the Junior Blind of America, the non-profit camp runs several sessions every summer for those who are blind and visually impaired. The camp also serves as a recreational facility during the fall season for children without disabilities to learn about nature and wildlife. Schools from all around Southern California make a yearly trip to this facility. Activities at camp include: Junior Blind of America is a non-profit organization founded by Norman Kaplan in 1953. It aims to help the blind and visually impaired by offering unique programs. In 1985, Camp Bloomfield was featured in the film Mask.
Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist. He achieved stardom for his acting achievements, in particular his motion-picture portrayal of the fictional superhero Superman. On May 27, 1995, Reeve became a quadriplegic after being thrown from a horse during an equestrian competition in Virginia. He required a wheelchair and breathing apparatus for the rest of his life. He lobbied on behalf of people with spinal-cord injuries and for human embryonic stem cell research, founding the Christopher Reeve Foundation and co-founding the Reeve-Irvine Research Center. Reeve married Dana Morosini in April 1992. Christopher and Dana's son, William Elliot Reeve, was born on June 7, 1992. Reeve also had two children, Matthew Exton Reeve (born 1979) and Alexandra Exton Reeve (born 1983), from his previous relationship with his longtime girlfriend, Gae Exton. Christopher Reeve was born in New York City on September 25, 1952, the son of Barbara Pitney (née Lamb), a journalist, and Franklin D'Olier Reeve, who was a teacher, novelist, poet and scholar. His paternal grandfather, Colonel Richard
Dick Traum
Dr. Dick Traum is the founder of the Achilles Track Club for disabled athletes. In 1976 he completed the New York City Marathon, becoming the first runner to complete such an event with a prosthetic leg. In the 1980s he became the first amputee to finish a 100 km ultra event, in Poland. Terry Fox credited reading an article about Traum's marathon running with inspiring his cross-Canada run for cancer research. In 2010, Traum was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
Braille Without Borders (BWB) is an international organisation for the blind in developing countries. It was founded in Lhasa, Tibet by Sabriye Tenberken and Paul Kronenberg in 1998. BWB's mission is to give hope and practical skills to the blind and in particular to teach Braille to the blind in developing countries; if no Braille script exists for a particular language in a developing country BWB must first develop it. Formerly known as the Project for the Blind, Tibet in September 2002 the project adopted the name Braille Without Borders. In 2004, Paul and Sabriye and a team of their blind students from Lhasa embarked upon the Climbing Blind expedition in Tibet under the leadership of blind Everest mountaineer Erik Weihenmayer. The prize-winning documentary Blindsight about this expedition was released worldwide to cinemas in 2006.
Web Link(s): Discogs
Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. On stage, Wilson provided many of the lead vocals, and often harmonized with the group in falsetto. Early during his on-stage career, Wilson primarily played bass guitar on stage, but gradually transitioned to primarily playing piano/keyboards. Besides being the primary composer in The Beach Boys, he also functioned as the band's main producer and arranger. After signing with Capitol Records in mid-1962, Wilson wrote or co-wrote more than two dozen Top 40 hits including "Surfin' Safari", "Surfin' USA", "Shut Down", "Little Deuce Coupe", "Be True to Your School", "In My Room", "Fun, Fun, Fun", "I Get Around", "Dance Dance Dance", "Help Me Rhonda", "California Girls" and "Good Vibrations". In the mid-1960s, Wilson used his increasingly creative ambitions to compose and produce Pet Sounds, considered one of the greatest albums of all time. The intended follow up to Pet Sounds, SMiLE, was cancelled for various reasons, including Wilson's deteriorating mental health. Wilson's contributions to The Beach Boys diminished and his erratic behavior led
David Linsay Willetts (born 9 March 1956) is a British Conservative Party politician and the Minister of State for Universities and Science. He is the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the constituency of Havant in Hampshire. Willetts was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Willets graduated with a first class degree. Having served as Nigel Lawson's private researcher, Willetts took charge of the Treasury monetary policy division at 26 before moving over to Margaret Thatcher's Policy Unit at 28. Aged 31, he subsequently took over the Centre for Policy Studies. Aged 36, Willetts entered Parliament in 1992 as the MP for Havant. He quickly established himself in Parliament, becoming a Whip, a Cabinet Office Minister, and then Paymaster General in his first term (when that role was split between the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury as a policy co-ordination role). During this period Willetts' gained "Two Brains" as a nickname, a monicker reportedly coined by The Guardian's former political editor Michael White. However, Willetts was forced to resign from the latter post by the Standards and
Ed Rosenthal
Ed Rosenthal (born Bronx, New York, 1944) is a California horticulturist, author, publisher, and Cannabis grower known for his advocacy for the legalization of marijuana (cannabis as a drug) use. He served as a columnist for High Times Magazine during the '80s and '90s. He was arrested by federal authorities in 2002 for cultivation of cannabis, who do not recognize the authority of states to regulate the use of medical marijuana. He was convicted in federal court, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. Rosenthal was subsequently convicted again, but was not re-sentenced, since his original sentence had been completed. Rosenthal briefly attended Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. Rosenthal has been active in promoting and developing policies of civil regulation for medicinal marijuana. With the passage of California's pioneering Proposition 215 in 1996, which authorizes medicinal use of marijuana, he worked with the state and local governments to implement the delivery of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis to patients with a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana. Rosenthal is also the author of numerous books about the cultivation of marijuana. His most recent
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish pronunciation: [fɾanˈθisko xoˈse ðe ˈɣoʝa i luˈθjentes]; 30 March 1746–16 April 1828) was an Aragonese romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era. The subversive imaginative element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint, provided a model for the work of later generations of artists, notably Manet, Picasso and Francis Bacon. In his honour, Spain's main national film awards are called the Goya Awards. Goya was born in Fuendetodos, Aragón, Spain, in 1746 to José Benito de Goya y Franque and Gracia de Lucientes y Salvador. He spent his childhood in Fuendetodos, where his family lived in a house bearing the family crest of his mother. His father earned his living as a gilder. About 1749, the family bought a house in the city of Zaragoza and some years later moved into it. Goya may have attended school at Escuelas Pias. He formed a close friendship with Martin Zapater at this time, and their correspondence from the 1770s to the 1790s is a valuable
Kenneth Elton "Ken" Kesey ( /ˈkiːziː/; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American author, best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962) and as a counter-cultural figure who considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. "I was too young to be a beatnik, and too old to be a hippie," Kesey said in a 1999 interview with Robert K. Elder. Ken Kesey was born in La Junta, Colorado, to dairy farmers Frederick A. Kesey and Geneva (Smith). In 1946, the family moved to Springfield, Oregon. Kesey was a champion wrestler in both high school and college in the 174 pound weight division, and he almost qualified to be on the Olympic team until a serious shoulder injury stopped his wrestling career. He graduated from Springfield High School in 1953. An avid reader and filmgoer, the young Kesey took John Wayne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Zane Grey as his role models (later naming a son Zane) and toyed with magic, ventriloquism, and hypnotism. In 1956, while attending college at the University of Oregon in neighboring Eugene, Kesey eloped with his high-school sweetheart, Norma "Faye" Haxby, whom he had met in seventh
Larry Flynt
Larry Claxton Flynt, Jr. (born November 1, 1942) is an American publisher and the president of Larry Flynt Publications (LFP). In 2003, Arena magazine listed him as the number one on the "50 Powerful People in Porn" list. LFP mainly produces sexually graphic videos and magazines, most notably Hustler. Flynt has fought several prominent legal battles involving the First Amendment, and has unsuccessfully run for public office. He is paralyzed from the waist down due to injuries sustained in a 1978 assassination attempt. Flynt was born in Lakeville, Magoffin County, Kentucky, the first of three children to 23-year-old Larry Claxton Flynt, Sr. (August 16, 1919 – July 1, 2005), a sharecropper and a World War II veteran, and 17-year-old Edith (née Arnett; August 13, 1925 – March 29, 1982), a homemaker. He had two younger siblings; sister Judy (1947–1951) and brother Jimmy Ray Flynt (born June 20, 1948). His father served in the United States Army in the European Theatre of World War II. Due to his father's absence, Larry was raised solely by his mother and maternal grandmother for the first three years of his life. Flynt was raised in poverty, and claimed Magoffin County was the poorest
Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (ONCE) (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈonθe], National Organization of Spanish blind people) is a Spanish foundation founded on December 13, 1938 to raise funds to provide services for the blind and people with serious visual impairment. Although it is overseen by a board of patrons made up of representatives from various Spanish ministries, it does enjoy a certain amount of freedom of movement in the day-to-day running of its activities, and its general council is democratically elected from among its members. In June 2006, membership of the organization was 66,851 people, of whom 40% were over the age of 65. Between them, the three pillars of the ONCE — the Directorate-General, the Foundation and CEOSA, ONCE's business corporation — employ over 40,000 blind, visually impaired or sighted staff, as well as people with other disabilities. While many of their activities overlap, there are, at least formally, three divisions of the ONCE: The Directorate-General is responsible for the day-to-day running of the organization, its social and cultural work, and so on. Through its general council, it maintains institutional relations with local, regional
Ayumi Hamasaki (浜崎 あゆみ, Hamasaki Ayumi, also 濱崎 歩; born October 2, 1978) is a Japanese recording artist, lyricist, model, and actress. Also called "Ayu" by her fans, Hamasaki has been dubbed the "Empress of Pop" because of her popularity and widespread influence in Japan and throughout Asia. Born and raised in Fukuoka, she moved to Tokyo at fourteen to pursue a career in entertainment. In 1998, under the tutelage of Avex CEO Max Matsuura, she released a string of modestly selling singles that concluded with her 1999 debut album A Song for ××. The album debuted atop the Oricon charts and stayed there for four weeks, establishing her popularity in Japan. Hamasaki's constantly changing image and tight control over her artistry has helped her popularity extend across Asia; music and fashion trends she has started have spread to countries such as China, Singapore, and Southeast Asia. She has appeared in or lent her songs to many advertisements and television commercials. Though she originally supported the exploitation of her popularity for commercial purposes, she later reconsidered and eventually opposed her status as an Avex "product". Since her 1998 debut with the single "Poker
Blind Boy Fuller
Blind Boy Fuller (born Fulton Allen) (July 10, 1907 – February 13, 1941) was an American blues guitarist and vocalist. He was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists with rural Black Americans, a group that also included Blind Blake, Josh White, and Buddy Moss. Fulton Allen was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina, United States, to Calvin Allen and Mary Jane Walker. He was one of a family of 10 children, but after his mother's death he moved with his father to Rockingham. As a boy he learned to play the guitar and also learned from older singers the field hollers, country rags, and traditional songs and blues popular in poor, rural areas. He married Cora Allen young and worked as a labourer, but began to lose his eyesight in his mid-teens. According to researcher Bruce Bastin, "While he was living in Rockingham he began to have trouble with his eyes. He went to see a doctor in Charlotte who allegedly told him that he had ulcers behind his eyes, the original damage having been caused by some form of snow-blindness." However, there is an alternative story that he was blinded by an ex-girlfriend who threw chemicals in his face. By 1928 he was completely blind, and
David Blunkett
David Blunkett (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, having represented Sheffield Brightside from 1987 to 2010. Blind since birth, and coming from a poor family in one of Sheffield's most deprived districts, he rose to become Education and Employment Secretary, Home Secretary and Work and Pensions Secretary in Tony Blair's Cabinet following Labour's victory in the 1997 general election. He was promoted to become Home Secretary following the 2001 general election, a position he held until 2004, when he resigned following highly publicised matters related to his personal life. Following the 2005 general election, he was appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, though he resigned from that role later that year following a large amount of media coverage relating to external business interests in the period when he did not hold a cabinet post. Blunkett was born on 6 June 1947 at Jessop Hospital, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, with improperly developed optic nerves due to a rare genetic disorder. He grew up in an underprivileged family and in 1959, he endured a family tragedy when his
Dyscalculia (or math disability) is a specific learning disability involving innate difficulty in learning or comprehending arithmetic. It is akin to dyslexia and includes difficulty in understanding numbers, learning how to manipulate numbers, learning maths facts, and a number of other related symptoms (although there is no exact form of the disability). Math disabilities can also occur as the result of some types of brain injury, in which case the proper term is acalculia, to distinguish it from dyscalculia which is of innate, genetic or developmental origin. Although math learning difficulties occur in children with low IQ dyscalculia occurs in people across the whole IQ range, and sufferers often, but not always, also have difficulties with time, measurement, and spatial reasoning. Estimates of the prevalence of dyscalculia range between 3 and 6% of the population. Dyscalculia does not necessarily imply higher mathematical reasoning difficulties as well as difficulties with arithmetic operations; in fact, evidence exists (especially from brain damaged patients) that arithmetic (e.g. calculation and number fact memory) and mathematical (abstract reasoning with numbers)
Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become widely known through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker. A prolific author, Keller was well traveled, and was outspoken in her anti-war convictions. A member of the Socialist Party of America and the Industrial Workers of the World, she campaigned for women's suffrage, labor rights, socialism, and other radical left causes. She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1971. Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Her family lived on a homestead, Ivy Green, that Helen's grandfather had built decades earlier. Helen's father, Arthur H. Keller, spent many years as an editor for the Tuscumbia North Alabamian and had served as a captain for the Confederate Army. Helen's paternal grandmother was the second cousin of Robert E. Lee. Helen's mother, Kate
Heroin (diacetylmorphine or morphine diacetate (INN)), also known as diamorphine (BAN), is an opiate analgesic synthesized by C.R. Alder Wright in 1874 by adding two acetyl groups to the molecule morphine found in the opium poppy. It is the 3,6-diacetyl ester of morphine, and functions as a morphine prodrug (meaning that it is metabolically converted to morphine inside the body in order for it to work). When used in medicine it is typically used to treat severe pain, such as that resulting from a heart attack or a severe injury. The name "heroin" is only used when being discussed in its illegal form. When it is used in a medical environment, it is referred to as Diamorphine. The white crystalline form considered "pure heroin" is usually the hydrochloride salt, diacetylmorphine hydrochloride. Illegally supplied heroin however is more often in freebase form, dulling the sheen and consistency to a matte-white powder. Because of its lower boiling point, the freebase form of heroin is also smokable. It is prevalent in heroin coming from Afghanistan, which as of 2004 produced roughly 87% of the world supply in illicit raw opium. However, production in Mexico has risen six-fold from 2007
José Feliciano (born September 10, 1945) is a Puerto Rican singer, virtuoso guitarist and composer known for many international hits including "Light My Fire" and the best-selling Christmas single "Feliz Navidad". Feliciano was born in Lares, Puerto Rico, on September 10, 1945. Left permanently blind at birth as a result of congenital glaucoma, Feliciano was first exposed to music at age three and would play on a tin cracker can while accompanying his uncle playing the Cuatro. When he was five, his family moved to Spanish Harlem, New York City, and at age nine, he played the Teatro Puerto Rico in the Bronx. He started his musical life playing the accordion until his father and family friend, Benjamin Borges, gave him his first guitar in a brown paper bag. He played every chance he had by himself in his room for up to 14 hours a day listening to 1950s rock'n'roll records, classical guitarists such as Andrés Segovia, and jazz players such as Wes Montgomery. He later had classical lessons with Harold Morris, who earlier had been a student of Segovia. At 17, he quit school to play in clubs, having his first professional, contracted performance in Detroit. In 1963, after some live
Mark Zupan
Mark Zupan (born May 20, 1975) is a wheelchair rugby player and the captain of the United States wheelchair rugby team which competed in the Paralympic Games in 2004. He is best known for his appearance in the 2005 film Murderball. Zupan was also a part of the 2008 United States gold winning team at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. Zupan was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Thomas and Linda Zupan. He played varsity football and soccer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, earning him a scholarship to Florida Atlantic University. After a soccer game on October 14, 1993, Zupan got drunk with teammates at a bar and then crawled into the back of friend Chris Igoe's truck to sleep. Some time later Igoe left the bar unaware that Zupan was asleep in the back. Driving drunk, Igoe spun out and Zupan was thrown from the pickup bed, over a fence, and into a canal, where he held onto a branch for 14 hours until being discovered by a passerby. He went into hypothermia and became quadriplegic as a result of the accident. Zupan has an incomplete quadriplegia and is able to walk for short distances, but not well enough to get around without the aid of a wheelchair. After his
Pierre de Ronsard
Pierre de Ronsard (11 September 1524 – 28 December 1585) was a French poet and "prince of poets" (as his own generation in France called him). Pierre de Ronsard was born at the Manoir de la Possonnière, in the village of Couture-sur-Loir, Vendômois (in present-day Loir-et-Cher). Baudouin de Ronsard or Rossart was the founder of the French branch of the house, and made his mark in the early stages of the Hundred Years' War. The poet's father was Louis de Ronsard, and his mother was Jeanne de Chaudrier, of a family both noble and well connected. Pierre was the youngest son. Loys de Ronsard was maître d'hôtel du roi to Francis I, whose captivity after Pavia had just been softened by treaty, and he had to quit his home shortly after Pierre's birth. The future poet was educated at home in his earliest years and sent to the Collège de Navarre in Paris at the age of nine. When Madeleine of France was married to James V of Scotland, Ronsard was attached as a page in the Scottish court, where he was encouraged in the idea of making French vernacular translations of classical authors. A year after the death of the queen, he returned to France, travelling back through England. Further travel
Henry Wanyoike
Henry Wanyoike (born 10 May 1974) is a Kenyan athlete. He is blind and competes in the Paralympics and in marathon racing. Wanyoike is one of the world's fastest runners. While still a child he was already being groomed to join an elite corps of athletes in a country that is known for its production of many world-class middle-distance runners over the last twenty years than any country on earth. He excelled at the 5,000 and 10,000-meter distances. In 1995, Wanyoike became almost completely blind after suffering a stroke. "I went to bed a normal person, the following day I found myself in darkness." That night he lost 95% of his vision, and lost the rest gradually over the next few years. He was in despair. "I thought my life had come to an end." His mother Grace brought him to the Kikuyu Eye Clinic (a nearby hospital supported by Christian Blind Mission International (CBMI), recognised as one of the best centers for the visually impaired in East Africa. Petra Verweyen, the chief of the Low Vision Project of the clinic, helped him to find his way back into life and arranged for him to learn to knit pullovers. With gratitude for the help he received at the project he promised himself
Ostap Veresai
Ostap Mykytovych Veresai (Ukrainian: Остап Микитович Вересай), (1803–1890) was a renowned minstrel and kobzar from the Poltava Governorate (now Chernihiv poblast) of the Russian Empire (in today's Ukraine). He, like no other, helped in the popularity of kobzar art not only in his country, but also outside its borders. Ostap Veresai was born in the village of Kaliuzhentsi, Pryluky county, Poltava Governorate to a serf family of a blind violinist. Mykyta Veresai, the father, was blind from birth, but was musically very talented and learned to play the violin, which he used in order to earn a living for his family. Mykyta had only one child - Ostap. At the age of 4, the future kobzar became sick and lost his sight. From an early age Ostap was interested in music and the bandura. As he himself said "...when a kobzar came to my father's house, I would stand near him, and I do not know who was more excited. The kobzar would suggest: 'You Mykyto give this boy to learn, maybe he becomes a kobzar.'" When Ostap turned 15, his father apprenticed him to a kobzar in a village Berezhivka not far away to his home. Ostap spent only a week with him. After spending four years at home, Ostap again
United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal law enforcement agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination complaints based on an individual's race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, genetic information and retaliation for reporting, participating in and/or opposing a discriminatory practice. The Commission also mediates and settles thousands of discrimination complaints each year prior to their investigation. The EEOC is also empowered to file discrimination suits against employers on behalf of alleged victims and to adjudicate claims of discrimination brought against federal agencies. President John F. Kennedy on March 6, 1961 signed Executive Order 10925, which required government contractors to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." It established the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity of which then Vice President Lyndon Johnson was appointed to head. This was the forerunner of the EEOC. The EEOC was established on July 2,
William McMahon
Sir William McMahon, GCMG, CH (23 February 1908 – 31 March 1988), was an Australian Liberal politician and the 20th Prime Minister of Australia. He was the longest continuously serving government minister in Australian history (21 years and 6 months) and the longest serving Prime Minister never to have won an election. William McMahon was born in Sydney, the son of Mary Ann (née Walder) and William McMahon, a lawyer. His uncle (his mother's brother) was Samuel Robert Walder, Lord Mayor of Sydney. McMahon's mother died when he was 9 and his father when he was 18. He was educated at Sydney Grammar School and at the University of Sydney, where he graduated in law. He practised in Sydney with Allen, Allen & Hemsley (now Allens Arthur Robinson), the oldest law firm in Australia. In 1940 he joined the Army, but because of a hearing loss, he was confined to staff work. After World War II, he travelled in Europe and completed an economics degree at the University of Sydney. Billy McMahon was elected to the House of Representatives for the Sydney seat of Lowe in 1949, one of the flood of new Liberal MPs known as the "forty-niners". He was capable and ambitious, and in 1951 Prime Minister
Cliff Bastin
Clifford Sydney Bastin (14 March 1912 – 4 December 1991) was an English football player. Born in Heavitree near Exeter, Bastin started his career at Exeter City, making his début for the club in 1928, at the age of 16. Despite only playing 17 games and scoring 6 goals in his time at Exeter, he was spotted by Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman in a match against Watford; Chapman was attending to keep tabs on a Watford player, but the 17-year-old Bastin's ability was so evident that Chapman decided to sign him at the end of the 1928-29 season. Bastin played the rest of his career at Arsenal, and formed an integral part of the side that dominated English football in the 1930s. He scored 178 goals in 395 games, which made him Arsenal's all-time top goalscorer from 1939 until 1997, when his total was surpassed by Ian Wright. In 2005 Thierry Henry passed both Bastin and Wright's totals, thus meaning Bastin is currently (as of May 2012) Arsenal's third-top goalscorer of all time. His record of 150 league goals for Arsenal stood for slightly longer, until it was equalled by Thierry Henry on 14 January 2006 and surpassed on 1 February. Bastin made his début against Everton on 5 October 1929
Dun Mihaka
Te Ringa Mangu Nathan Mihaka or Dun Mihaka is a Māori activist, author, and political candidate in New Zealand. Mihaka has been involved in a number of campaigns regarding Māori rights, and was involved in the Bastion Point land dispute. His 1979 attempts to use Māori language in court were appealed to the Court of Appeal and were the trigger for the 1986 Waitangi Tribunal ruling that the government should introduce legislation making it an official language of New Zealand. He has written two books on Māori issues. He is most known, however, for performing an act of whakapohane (baring his buttocks, a traditional Māori insult) to Diana, Princess of Wales and Charles, Prince of Wales in 1983. Some sources claim this was actually directed at the Queen herself, however, this is likely confused with a later incident in 1986 in which Mihaka was arrested for driving a van with an image of whakapohane in the vicinity of a royal motorcade; on that occasion, he was charged with dangerous driving. In 2010 he was sentenced to 28 days in jail for contempt of court for calling a District Court judge an arsehole in open court. He stood as an independent candidate for the Te Tai Tokerau
Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author. Born in Louisville, Kentucky to a middle class family, Thompson went off the rails at the age of 15 after the death of his father left the family in poverty. Sentenced to 60 days in prison at the age of 18 for abetting a robbery, he never formally graduated school due to his incarceration. He subsequently joined the United States Air Force before moving into journalism. He travelled frequently, including stints in Puerto Rico and Brazil, before settling in Aspen, Colorado in the early 1960s. Thompson became internationally famous with the publication of Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (1967), for which he had spent a year living and riding with the Angels, experiencing their lives and hearing their stories first hand. Previously a relatively conventional journalist, with the publication in 1970 of The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved, he became a counter cultural figure, with his own brand of New Journalism he termed "Gonzo", an experimental style of journalism where reporters involve themselves in the action to such a degree that
Francis Anthony Aylmer Maude (born 4 July 1953) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he currently serves as the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, and as a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the constituency of Horsham. He is the son of the former Conservative Cabinet minister Angus Maude. Maude was educated at the private fee-paying Abingdon School, at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and at the College of Law. He was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1977, and practised criminal law. Maude served a councillor for the City of Westminster from 1978 to 1984. Maude was first elected to the House of Commons to represent the constituency of North Warwickshire in the Conservative Party's landslide victory at the 1983 general election. In 1984, he became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Employment Peter Morrison. Maude then became an assistant government whip (1985–87) and Minister for Corporate and Consumer Affairs (1987–89). In 1989, he became the Minister for Europe in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In Alan Clark's "Diaries" Maude was quoted as saying that then Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel
International Blind Sport Federation
The International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA), is a nonprofit organization founded 1981 in Paris, France. Its mission is to promote the full integration of blind and partially sighted people in society through sport and to encourage people with a visual impairment to take up and practise sports. IBSA is a full member of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). It is an independent international federation in charge of fifteen sports for the blind and partially sighted, including: Athletics, Alpine skiing, Goalball, Futsal (five-a-side football), Judo, Biathlon, Swimming, Powerlifting, Shooting, Archery, Showdown, Ten-pin bowling, Nine-pin bowling, Nordic skiing, and Cycling. The IBSA organizes the IBSA World Championships and Games, held every four years. The first edition took place 1998 in Madrid, Spain followed by the event in 2003 at Quebec, Canada to be held from then on one year before the Paralympics.
Royal National Institute for Deaf People
Action on Hearing Loss, formally known as The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) is a charitable organization working on behalf of the UK's 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people. The head office is in Islington, London. Its President is Lord Ashley of Stoke. The Chief Executive is Jackie Ballard. Its Patron is the Duke of Edinburgh. The Royal National Institute for Deaf People was founded as the National Bureau for Promoting the General Welfare of the Deaf in 1911 by Leo Bonn, a deaf merchant banker, at his home 22 Upper Brook Street, Mayfair, on 9 June 1911. The house is marked by a memorial plaque unveiled by The Duke of Edinburgh, Patron to the RNID, on 9 June 1998. The Bureau was reorganised as the National Institute for the Deaf in 1924. Alongside its role in influencing public policy in favour of people who are hard of hearing in the UK, it also developed a role as a provider of care to deaf and hard of hearing people with additional needs during the late 1920s and early 1930s. During the 1940s, with the introduction of the National Health Service (NHS) to the UK, it successfully campaigned for the provision of free hearing aids through the new welfare state
Abdurrahman Wahid
Abdurrahman Wahid, born Abdurrahman Addakhil (7 September 1940 – 30 December 2009), colloquially known as Gus Dur (help·info), was an Indonesian Muslim religious and political leader who served as the President of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001. The long-time president of the Nahdlatul Ulama and the founder of the National Awakening Party (PKB), Wahid was the first elected president of Indonesia after the resignation of Suharto in 1998. Like many Indonesian names, "Abdurrahman Wahid" does not contain a family name. The name "Wahid" is patronymic. His popular nickname Gus Dur, is derived from Gus, a common honorific for a son of kyai, from short-form of bagus ('handsome lad' in Javanese language); and Dur, short-form of his name, Abdurrahman. Abdurrahman ad-Dakhil Wahid was born on the fourth day of the eighth month of the Islamic calendar in 1940 in Jombang, East Java to Abdul Wahid Hasyim and Siti Solichah. This led to a belief that he was born on 4 August; instead, using the Islamic calendar to mark his birth date meant that he was actually born on 4 Sha'aban, equivalent to 7 September 1940. He was named after Abd ar-Rahman I of the Umayyad Caliphate who brought Islam to Spain and
Chicago Lighthouse
The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired is a non-profit organization located in Chicago, Illinois. The Lighthouse is one of the oldest social service agencies in Chicago. Among the many programs it offers are a school for children with multi-disabilities; job training and placement; a low vision clinic; and a manufacturing facility that boasts the nation's sole contract to supply clocks to the U.S. government. The Lighthouse is regarded as the most comprehensive agency of its kind in the Midwest and a model agency nationally. During its existence, the Chicago Lighthouse has improved the quality of life for people who are blind or visually impaired and has provided opportunities toward increased independent living. The Chicago Lighthouse was founded by a group of blind and sighted women volunteers in 1906 and was called the "Improvement Association for the Blind." Its founding purpose was to integrate people who are blind into society and to provide basic care. By 1918, The Chicago Lighthouse trained and placed 46 people, both men and women, who were blind or visually impaired in competitive work. Job opportunities included crafting coffin handles and
Dysgraphia is a deficiency in the ability to write primarily in terms of handwriting, but also in terms of coherence. It occurs regardless of the ability to read and is not due to intellectual impairment. Dysgraphia is a transcription disability, meaning that it is a writing disorder associated with impaired handwriting, orthographic coding (orthography, the storing process of written words and processing the letters in those words), and finger sequencing (the movement of muscles required to write). It often overlaps with other learning disabilities such as speech impairment, attention deficit disorder, or developmental coordination disorder. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), dysgraphia is characterized as a learning disability in the category of written expression when one's writing skills are below those expected given a person's age measured through intelligence and age appropriate education. The DSM is not clear in whether or not writing refers only to the motor skills involved in writing, or if it also includes orthographic skills and spelling. The word dysgraphia comes from the Greek words dys meaning "impaired" and graphia meaning "making
Evelyn Glennie
Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, DBE (born 19 July 1965) is a Scottish virtuosa percussionist. She was the first full-time solo percussionist in 20th-century western society. Glennie was born and raised in Aberdeenshire. Her father was Herbert Arthur Glennie, an accordionist in a Scottish country dance band, and the strong, indigenous musical traditions of north-east Scotland were important in the development of the young musician, whose first instruments were the mouth organ and the clarinet. Other major influences were Glenn Gould, Jacqueline du Pré and Trilok Gurtu. She studied at Ellon Academy and the Royal Academy of Music, and was also a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. Glennie tours extensively in the northern hemisphere, spending up to four months each year in the United States, and performs with a wide variety of orchestras and contemporary musicians, giving over 100 concerts a year as well as master classes and "music in schools" performances; she frequently commissions percussion works from composers and performs them in her concert repertoire. She also plays the Great Highland Bagpipes and has her own registered tartan known as "The Rhythms of
Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930), born Leonidas Frank Chaney, was an American actor during the age of silent films. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted characters, and his groundbreaking artistry with makeup. Chaney is known for his starring roles in such silent horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. His ability to transform himself using makeup techniques he developed earned him the nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces." Leonidas Frank Chaney was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Frank H. Chaney and Emma Alice Kennedy; his father had mostly English and some French ancestry, and his mother was of Scottish, English, and Irish descent. Her father, Jonathan Ralston Kennedy, founded the "Colorado School for the Education of Mutes" (now, Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind) in 1874, and Chaney's parents met there. Both of Chaney's parents were deaf, and as a child of deaf adults Chaney became skilled in pantomime. He entered a stage career in 1902, and began traveling with popular Vaudeville and theater acts.
Web Link(s): http://www.discogs.com/artist/Richard+Starkey
Richard Starkey, MBE (born 7 July 1940), known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He joined the Beatles in August 1962, taking the place of Pete Best. In addition to his drumming, Starr is featured on lead vocals on a number of successful Beatles songs (in particular, "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Yellow Submarine", and the Beatles' version of "Act Naturally"). He is credited as a co-writer of the songs "What Goes On", "Flying", and "Dig It" and as the sole writer of "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden". As drummer for the Beatles, Starr was musically creative, and his contribution to the band's music has received high praise from notable drummers in more recent times. Starr described himself as "your basic offbeat drummer with funny fills". Drummer Steve Smith said that Starr's popularity "brought forth a new paradigm" where "we started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect" and that Starr "composed unique, stylistic drum parts for the Beatles'
Robert John Downey, Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor who made his screen debut at the age of five, appearing in his father's film Pound. He has appeared in roles associated with the Brat Pack, such as Less Than Zero and Weird Science. Other films he has starred in include Air America, Soapdish, and Natural Born Killers. He starred as the title character in the 1992 film Chaplin, earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. After being released from the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in 2000 for drug charges, Downey joined the cast of the TV series Ally McBeal playing Calista Flockhart's love interest. His performance was praised and he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film. His character was written out when Downey was fired after two drug arrests in late 2000 and early 2001. After one last stay in a court-ordered drug treatment program, Downey finally achieved sobriety. His more recent films include The Singing Detective, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, A Scanner Darkly, Gothika, Zodiac and Tropic Thunder. In 2008, Downey played the role of Marvel
Ahmed Yassin
Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin (1937 – 22 March 2004) (Arabic: الشيخ أحمد إسماعيل حسن ياسين ash-shaykh Aḥmad Ismāʻīl Ḥasan Yāsīn) was a founder of Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian paramilitary organization and political party. Yassin also served as the spiritual leader of the organization. Hamas gained popularity in Palestinian society by establishing hospitals, education systems, libraries and other services, but it has also claimed responsibility for a number of suicide attacks targeting Israeli civilians, leading to its being characterized by the European Union, Israel, Japan, Canada, and the United States as a terrorist organization. Yassin, a quadriplegic who was nearly blind, had used a wheelchair since a sporting accident at the age of 12. He was assassinated when an Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile at him as he was being wheeled from early morning prayers. His killing, in an attack that claimed the lives of both his bodyguards and nine bystanders, precipitated both criticism and praise of Israel, and many observers suggested that the act would negatively impact the peace process. 200,000 Palestinians attended his funeral procession. Ahmed Yassin was born in
Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel writing, film stories and scripts. Huxley spent the later part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death. Aldous Huxley was a humanist, pacifist, and satirist, and he was latterly interested in spiritual subjects such as parapsychology and philosophical mysticism. He is also well known for advocating and taking psychedelics. By the end of his life Huxley was widely acknowledged as one of the pre-eminent intellectuals of his time and respected as an important researcher into visual communication and sight-related theories as well. Aldous Huxley was born in Godalming, Surrey, England, in 1894. He was the third son of the writer and schoolmaster Leonard Huxley and his first wife, Julia Arnold, who founded Prior's Field School. Julia was the niece of poet and critic Matthew Arnold and the sister of Mrs. Humphrey Ward. Aldous
Alun Buffry
Alun Buffry (born 1950) in Barry, South Wales, is a cannabis and human rights campaigner. He is associated with the Legalise Cannabis Alliance once a political party of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2006, when it deregistered and became a pressure group. He received a BSC Chemistry from the University of East Anglia, and Dip Com (open) from the Open University. He is a firm believer in the legalisation of cannabis for medical uses as stated above...
Web Link(s): http://www.discogs.com/artist/Andrea+Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli, OMRI, OMDSM (Italian pronunciation: [anˈdrɛːa boˈtʃɛlli]; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident. Since winning the Newcomers section of the Sanremo Music Festival in 1994, Bocelli has recorded thirteen solo studio albums, of both pop and classical music, two greatest hits albums, and nine complete operas, selling over 75 million records worldwide. Thus, he is the biggest-selling solo artist in the history of classical music and has caused core classical repertoire to "cross over" to the top of international pop charts and into previously uncharted territory in popular culture. In 1998, he was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. In 1999, his nomination for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards marked the first, and so far only time a classical artist had been nominated in the category, since Leontyne Price, in 1961. The Prayer, his duet with Celine Dion for the animated film The Quest for Camelot, won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same
Brownie Mary
Mary Jane Rathbun (December 22, 1922 – April 10, 1999), popularly known as Brownie Mary, was an American medical cannabis activist. As a hospital volunteer at San Francisco General Hospital, she became known for illegally baking and distributing chocolate cannabis brownies to AIDS patients. Along with activist Dennis Peron, Rathbun lobbied for the legalization of cannabis for medical use, and she helped pass San Francisco Proposition P (1991) and California Proposition 215 (1996) to achieve those goals. She also contributed to the establishment of the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club, the first medical cannabis dispensary in the United States. Rathbun was arrested on three occasions, with each arrest bringing increased local, national, and international media attention to the medical cannabis movement. Her grandmotherly appearance generated public sympathy for her cause and undermined attempts by the district attorney's office to prosecute her for possession. The City of San Francisco eventually gave Rathbun permission to distribute cannabis brownies to people with AIDS. Her arrests generated interest in the medical community and motivated researchers to propose one of the first
Christopher Augustine Buckley
Christopher Augustine Buckley, Sr. (December 25, 1845 – 1922), commonly referred to as Blind Boss Buckley, was a saloonkeeper and Democratic Party political boss in San Francisco, California. Though he never held public office, Buckley ruled the San Francisco Democratic Party apparatus in the late 19th century as a so-called "saloon boss". Buckley arrived with his family in San Francisco in 1862. His father was an Irish immigrant stonemason who had traveled to California before he brought his family west. As a young man, Buckley worked as a conductor on the Omnibus Railway Company's North Beach and South Park line. He quickly started bar-tending through association with impresario Thomas McGuire, builder of the Jenny Lind theaters, at McGuire's Snug Saloon. Buckley was a major force for the Democratic Party in San Francisco, influencing state affairs and counseling the president on federal patronage distribution. He was vilified as "what men call a crook." He was routinely accused in the newspaper for corruption, bribery, and even felonious crime. After his death, however, the same newspapers lavished praise on him: The Chronicle described his charity acts, saying he had "a kindly,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt ( /ˈroʊzəvɛlt/ ROH-zuh-velt or /ˈroʊzəvəlt/ ROH-zuh-vlt; January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States (1933–1945) and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic depression and total war. The only American president elected to more than two terms, he facilitated a durable coalition that realigned American politics for decades. With the bouncy popular song "Happy Days Are Here Again" as his campaign theme, FDR defeated incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover in November 1932, at the depth of the Great Depression. Energized by his personal victory over paralytic illness, FDR's unfailing optimism and activism contributed to a renewal of the national spirit. He worked closely with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin in leading the Allies against Germany and Japan in World War II, but died just as victory was in sight. In his first hundred days in office, which began March 4, 1933, Roosevelt spearheaded major legislation and issued a profusion of executive orders that instituted the New Deal—a variety of programs
Jacques Lusseyran
Jacques Lusseyran (1924-1971) was a blind French author and political activist. Lusseyran was born on September 19th, 1924, in Paris, France. He became totally blind in a school accident at the age of 8. He soon learned to adapt to being blind and maintained many close friendships, particularly with one boy named Jean. At a young age he became alarmed at the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany and decided to learn the German language so that he could listen to German radio broadcasts. By 1938, when Nazi Germany annexed Austria, he had accomplished this task. Germany invaded France in 1940. In the spring of 1941, at the age of 17, Lusseyran formed a Resistance group called the Volunteers of Liberty with 52 other boys. He was put in charge of recruitment. The group later merged with another Resistance group called Défense de la France. In July 1943 he organized and participated in a campaign to drop pro-resistance leaflets on trains, and claimed to carry tear gas canisters to stop people from interfering, though he never used them. On July 20, 1943, Lusseyran was arrested by the Gestapo, betrayed by a member of his resistance group. His knowledge of German helped him understand more of
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges (24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986), known as Jorge Luis Borges (Spanish: [ˈxorxe ˈlwis ˈborxes]), was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. His work embraces the "character of unreality in all literature". His most famous books, Ficciones (1944) and The Aleph (1949), are compilations of short stories interconnected by common themes such as dreams, labyrinths, libraries, mirrors, animals, fictional writers, philosophy, religion and God. His works have contributed to philosophical literature and also to both the fantasy and magical realism genres. The magical realism genre reacted against the realism/naturalism of the nineteenth century. In fact, critic Angel Flores, the first to use the term, set the beginning of this movement with Borges's Historia universal de la infamia (A Universal History of Infamy) (1935). Scholars have also suggested that Borges's progressive blindness helped him to create innovative literary symbols through imagination. His late poems dialogue with such cultural figures as Spinoza, Camões, and Virgil. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his
Kathleen Ollerenshaw
Dame Kathleen Mary Ollerenshaw, née Timpson, DBE (born 1 October 1912) is a British mathematician and politician. She was born in Withington, Manchester. Deaf since the age of eight, she loved doing arithmetic problems as a child. As a young woman, she attended St Leonards School and Sixth Form College in St Andrews, Scotland where today the house of young male boarders is named after her. At the age of 19 she gained admittance to Somerville College, Oxford to study mathematics. She completed her doctorate at Somerville in 1945 on "Critical Lattices" under the supervision of Theo Chaundy. She wrote five original research papers which were sufficient for her to earn her DPhil degree without the need of a formal written thesis. While an undergraduate, she became engaged to Colonel Robert Ollerenshaw, who became a distinguished military surgeon, a pioneer of medical illustration, and was High Sheriff of Greater Manchester from 1978 to 1979. They married in September 1939. After the Second World War, the Ollerenhaws moved to Manchester, where Kathleen worked as a part-time lecturer in the mathematics department at Manchester University and continued her work on lattices. In 1949, at
Laurent Clerc
Louis Laurent Marie Clerc (26 December 1785 – 18 July 1869) was called "The Apostle of the Deaf in America" by generations of American deaf people. He was taught by Abbe Sicard, at the famous school for the Deaf in Paris, Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets. With Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, he co-founded the first school for the deaf in North America, the Hartford Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb on April 15, 1817 in the old Bennet's City Hotel, Hartford, Connecticut. The school was subsequently renamed the American School for the Deaf and in 1821 moved to its present site. The school remains the oldest existing school for the deaf in North America. Born December 26, 1785 in La Balme-les-Grottes, Isère, a village on the northeastern edge of Lyon to Joseph-François Clerc and Marie-Élisabeth Candy in the small village of La Balme where his father was the mayor, Laurent Clerc's home was a typical bourgeois household. When he was a year old, Clerc, while momentarily unattended, fell from a chair into the hearth, suffering a blow to the head and sustaining a permanent scar on the right side of his face below his ear. Clerc's family believed his deafness and
National Library for the Blind
The National Library for the Blind (NLB) was a public library in the United Kingdom, founded 1882, which aimed to ensure that people with sight problems have the same access to library services as sighted people. NLB was taken over by RNIB on 1 January 2007. The Lending Library for the Blind began its service to readers on Monday, 9 October 1882. The Library was a private charitable venture by Martha Arnold who was blind since childhood. It was accommodated in a small room of her house at 73 Fairfax Road, South Hampstead, London. Carlota Dow was Arnold's first assistant; the two ladies ran the library on a voluntary basis with the assistance of a few friends. Arnold intended that the Library should 'bring solace and light' and that it should help to 'raise the literary standard of the blind'. There were no more than fifty volumes on the shelves when the Library opened its doors to its first ten registered readers. The Library initially opened on Monday afternoons to the blind readers who were in a position to call in person. Parcels of books were sent off to 'country members' on the first and third Mondays of each month. Volumes were issued for four weeks each. The annual
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