Coordinates: 51°29′58″N 0°07′60″W / 51.4995, -0.1333
Westminster is an area of Central London, United Kingdom, within the City of Westminster. It is the location of the Palace of Westminster which houses the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Westminster is situated south west of the City of London and half a mile (0.8 km) south west of Charing Cross.

Rhône (Arpitan : Rôno) is a French department located in the central Eastern region of Rhône-Alpes (Rôno-Arpes). It is named after the Rhône River.

Geography

Cantons of the Rhône department
Communes of the Rhône department
Arrondissements of the Rhône department
French language
Arpitan language

The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art, opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985 in order to show his sizeable (and changing) collection to the public. It has occupied different premises, first in North London, then the South Bank by the River Thames and Chelsea (opening to the public in 2007). Saatchi's collection, and hence the gallery's shows, have had distinct phases, starting with US artists and minimalism, moving on to the Damien Hirst-led Young British Artists, followed by shows purely of painting and more recently promoting once again art from America in an exhibition entitled USA Today at the Royal Academy in London.
The gallery has been a major — if not the major — influence on art in Britain since its opening. It has also had a history of media controversy, which it has courted, and has had extremes of critical reaction. Many artists shown at the gallery are unknown not only to the general public but also to the commercial art world: showing at the gallery has provided a springboard to launch careers.

Boundary Road
In April 2003, the gallery moved to County Hall, the Greater London Council's former headquarters on the South Bank, occupying 40,000 ft² (3,700 m²) of the ground floor. There were 1,000 guests at the launch, which included a "nude happening" of 200 naked people staged by artist Spencer Tunick.
The opening exhibition included a retrospective by Damien Hirst, who was, however, not involved with it, having previously fallen out with Saatchi. As well as work by other YBAs, such as Jake and Dinos Chapman and Tracey Emin, there was the inclusion of some longer established artists including John Bratby, Paula Rego and Patrick Caulfield.
In 2004, Saatchi's recent acquisitions (including Stella Vine) were featured in New Blood, a show of mostly little-known artists working in a variety of media, including installation and machinery. It received a hostile critical reception, which caused Saatchi to speak out angrily and uncharacteristically against the critics. [1]
On 24 May 2004, a fire in the Momart storage warehouse destroyed many works from the collection, including the major Tracey Emin work Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–95 ("the tent"), and Jake and Dinos Chapman's tableau Hell. Saatchi was reported to be distraught at the loss. One art insurance specialist valued the lost work at £50m.
In 2005, Saatchi showed a major change of direction with the announcement of a year-long, three-part series (subsequently extended to two years and seven-part), The Triumph of Painting. The opening exhibition focused on a number of already established European painters, including Marlene Dumas, Martin Kippenberger, Luc Tuymans and Peter Doig, who had not previously received such significant exposure in the UK. Future shows in the series are scheduled to introduce Britain to young painters from America like Dana Schutz and Germans such as Matthias Weischer, as well as Saatchi's choice of up and coming British talent.
At the same time, Saatchi sold works from his YBA collection, beginning in December 2004 with Hirst's iconic shark for nearly £7 million (he had bought it for £50,000 in 1991), and was dismissive of the historic longevity of the YBAs (apart from Hirst).
The gallery's tenancy of County Hall had ongoing difficulties with Makoto Okamoto, London branch manager of the owners, who Saatchi complained had kicked artworks and sealed off the disabled toilets[2].On September 27, 2005 the gallery announced they would be moving to new premises. On October 7, 2005 a court case began against the gallery, brought by County Hall landlords, Cadogan Leisure Investments, and owners Shirayama Shokusan Co Ltd, for alleged breach of conditions, including a two-for-one ticket offer in Time Out magazine and exhibition of work in unauthorised areas. The judgement went against the gallery, who were forced to relinquish the premises, though the gallery had already announced it was moving to take on the entire Duke of York's HQ building in Chelsea. There is currently a halt to London shows while these new premises are being prepared. A selection from The Triumph of Painting was exhibited in Leeds Art Gallery and new American art at the Royal Academy in London.

County Hall
In 2006, during the period in limbo between premises, the Saatchi Gallery website began an open-access section, the most well-known aspect of which is called Your Gallery[3], where artists can upload up to 8 works of art and a biography onto their own page. Over 20,000 artists have done so, and the site receives an estimated 3.5 million hits a day. In October 2006 the Saatchi Gallery in association with the Guardian newspaper opened the first ever reader-curated exhibition, showing the work of 10 artists registered on Your Gallery. In November the Saatchi Gallery launched a new site within Your Gallery exclusively for art students called Stuart[4]. Art students from all over the world can have their own home pages with images of their art, photos, lists of their favourite artists, books, films and television shows, and links to their friends' home pages. The site also allows students to chat online with each other, enabling art students across the globe to talk and exchange ideas about their art work. There are other spaces on Your Gallery for a forum, a daily art magazine, blogs, videos and for meeting new people.

"Your Gallery" on Saatchi website
The gallery is currently refurbishing a 50,000 square foot space in the Duke of York's HQ building on Kings Road, London, near to Sloane Square. A virtual tour is available on the gallery website and shows spacious rooms in classic "white wall" gallery style.

Chelsea

At County Hall the gallery received 600,000 visitors a year.
There have been over 1,000 school visits. Controversy

Artists shown at the Saatchi Gallery

Donald Judd
Brice Marden
Cy Twombly
Andy Warhol
Carl Andre
Sol Lewitt
Robert Ryman
Frank Stella
Dan Flavin
Anselm Kiefer
Richard Serra
Jeff Koons
Robert Gober
Philip Taaffe
Carroll Dunham
Leon Golub
Philip Guston
Sigmar Polke
Robert Mangold
Bruce Nauman
Leon Kossoff
Frank Auerbach
Lucian Freud
Richard Artschwager
Andreas Serrano
Cindy Sherman
Damien Hirst
Rachel Whiteread
Sarah Lucas
Marc Quinn
Jenny Saville
Paula Rego
Gavin Turk
Glenn Brown
Gary Hume
Janine Antoni
Tony Oursler
Richard Prince
Charles Ray
Kiki Smith
Stephan Balkenhol
Duane Hanson
Andreas Gursky
Martin Honert
Thomas Ruff
Thomas Schütte
David Salle
Jessica Stockholder
Terry Winters
John Currin
Tom Friedman
Josiah McElheny
Laura Owens
Elizabeth Peyton
Lisa Yuskavage
Alex Katz
Martin Maloney
Dexter Dalwood
Ron Mueck
Cecily Brown
Noble and Webster
Michael Raedecker
Boris Mikhailov Boundary Road

Damien Hirst
The Chapman Brothers
New Blood
Galleon & Other Stories
The Triumph of Painting County Hall
forthcoming:

The Triumph of Painting See also

Sarah Kent, "Shark Infested Waters: The Saatchi Collection of British Art in the 90s", Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd, 2003, ISBN 0-85667-584-9.
Rita Hatton and John A. Walker, "Supercollector, a Critique of Charles Saatchi", The Institute of Artology, 3rd edition 2005, paperback, ISBN 0-9545702-2-7
USA Today
The Triumph Of Painting
The Triumph Of Painting, Supplementary Volume
The Triumph Of Painting, Supplementary Volume
100 The Work That Changed British Art
Hell, Jake & Dinos Chapman
Paula Rego
Young Americans
Stephan Balkenhol
Fiona Rae & Gary Hume
Duane Hanson
Shark Infested Waters, The Saatchi Collection Of British Art In The 90's
Young German Artists 2
Sensation
Alex Katz: 25 Years Of Painting
Young Americans 2
Neurotic Realism
Eurovision
Ant Noises 1
Ant Noises 2
The Arts Council Gift
I Am A Camera
New Labour
Young British Art
Saatchi Decade
Boris Mikhailov: Case History
Damien Hirst

Mily Balakirev César Cui Modest Mussorgsky Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov Aleksandr Borodin The Five refers to a circle of composers, also known as the Kuchka or The Mighty Handful, who met in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856-1870: Mily Balakirev (the leader), César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Alexander Borodin. The group had the aim of producing a specifically Russian kind of art music, rather than one that imitated older European music or relied on European-style conservatory training. In a sense, they were a branch of the Romantic Nationalism movement in Russia, with the Abramtsevo Colony and Russian Revival striving to achieve similar goals in the sphere of fine arts.

Name
The formation of the group began in 1856, with the first meeting of Balakirev and César Cui. Modest Mussorgsky joined them in 1857, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1861, and Alexander Borodin in 1862. All the composers in The Five were young men in 1862. Balakirev was 25, Cui 27, Mussorgsky 23, Borodin the old man at 28, and Rimsky-Korsakov just 18. They were all self-trained amateurs. Borodin combined composing with a career in chemistry. Rimsky-Korsakov wasa naval offficer (he wrote his First Symphony on a three-year naval voyage circumnavigating the globe). Mussorgsky had been in the Guards, then in the civil service before taking up music; even at the height of his career in the 1870's he was forced by the expense of his drinking habit to hold down a full-time job inn the State Forestry Department.
Before them, Mikhail Glinka and Alexander Dargomyzhsky had gone some way towards producing a distinctly Russian kind of music, writing operas on Russian subjects, but The Mighty Handful represented the first concentrated attempt to develop such a music, with Stasov as their artistic advisor and Dargomyzhsky as an elder statesman to the group, so to speak. The circle began to fall apart during the 1870s, no doubt partially due to the fact that Balakirev withdrew from musical life early in the decade for a period of time. All of "The Five" are buried in Tikhvin Cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Musical language
Rimsky-Korsakov provides the following picture of "The Mighty Handful" in his memoirs, Chronicle of My Musical Life (translated by J. A. Joffe):
On their tastes
"The tastes of the circle leaned towards Glinka, Schumann, and Beethoven's last quartets ... they had little respect for Mendelssohn ... Mozart and Haydn were considered out of date and naive ... J. S. Bach was held to be petrified ... Chopin was likened by Balakirev to a nervous society lady ... Berlioz was highly esteemed ...Liszt was comparatively unknown ... Little was said of Wagner ... They respected Dargomyzhsky for the recitative portions of Rusalka ... [but] he was not credited with any considerable talent and was treated with a shade of derision. ...Rubinstein had a reputation as a pianist, but was thought to have neither talent nor taste as a composer."
On Balakirev
"Balakirev, who had never had any systematic course in harmony and counterpoint and had not even superficially applied himself to them, evidently thought such studies quite unnecessary ... An excellent pianist, a superior sight reader of music, a splendid improviser, endowed by nature with the sense of correct harmony and part-writing, he possessed a technique partly native and partly acquired through a vast musical erudition, with the help of an extraordinary memory, keen and retentive, which means so much in steering a critical course in musical literature ... He instantly felt every technical imperfection or error, he grasped a defect in form at once. Whenever I or other young men, later on, played him our essays at composition, he instantly caught all the defects of form, modulation, and so on, and forthwith seating himself at the piano, he would improvise and show how the composition in question should be changed exactly as he indicated, and frequently entire passages in other people's compositions became his and not their putative authors' at all. He was obeyed absolutely, for the spell of his personality was tremendous. ... His influence over those around him was boundless, and resembled some magnetic or mesmeric force. ... he despotically demanded that the tastes of his pupils should exactly coincide with his own. The slightest deviation from his taste was severely censured by him. By means of raillery, a parody or caricature played by him, whatever did not suit him at the moment was belittled — and the pupil blushed with shame for his expressed opinion and recanted...."
On their abilities
"Balakirev considered me a symphony specialist ... in the sixties, Balakirev and Cui, though very intimate with Mussorgsky and sincerely fond of him, treated him like a lesser light, and of little promise at that, in spite of his undoubted talent. It seemed to them that there was something missing in him and, in their eyes, he was in need of advice and criticism. Balakirev often said that Mussorgsky had "no head" or that his "brains were weak." ... Balakirev thought that Cui understood little in symphony and musical forms and nothing in orchestration, but was a past master in vocal and operatic music; Cui, in turn, thought Balakirev a master in symphony, form, and orchestration, but with little liking for operatic composition and vocal music in general. Thus they complemented each other, but each, in his own way, felt mature and grown up. Borodin, Mussorgsky, and I, however—we were immature and juvenile. Obviously, towards Balakirev and Cui we were in somewhat subordinate relations; their opinions were listened to unconditionally ..."

Influence

See also Ernest Bloch the composer.
Ernst Simon Bloch (IPA: [ɛɐnst zɪmɔn blɔx], July 8, 1885 – August 4, 1977) was a German Marxist philosopher.
Bloch was influenced by both Hegel and Marx. He was also interested in music (notably Gustav Mahler) and art (notably expressionism). He established friendships with Georg Lukacs, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and Theodor W. Adorno. Bloch's work focuses on the concept that in a utopian human world where oppression and exploitation are banned there will always be a truly ideological revolutionary force.

Work

Primary literature

Adorno, Theodor W. (1991). "Ernst Bloch's Spuren," Notes to Literature, Volume One, New York, Columbia University Press
Geoghegan, Vincent (1996). Ernst Bloch, London, Routledge
Hudson, Wayne (1982). The Marxist philosophy of Ernst Bloch, New York, St. Martin's Press
Münster, Arno (1989). Ernst Bloch: messianisme et utopie, PUF, Paris
Münster, Arno (2001). L'utopie concrète d'Ernst Bloch, Kimé, Paris

Background
Kant distinguishes his position of critical philosophy from dogmatic or skeptical philosophy by invoking the distinction between transcendental idealism and transcendental realism. Kant succinctly defined transcendental idealism in this way:
[E]verything intuited or perceived in space and time, and therefore all objects of a possible experience, are nothing but phenomenal appearances, that is, mere representations, which in the way in which they are represented to us, as extended beings, or as series of changes, have no independent, self-subsistent existence apart from our thoughts.
A transcendental realist must, according to Kant, consider appearances - ie. the spatiotemporal objects of everyday experience - as imperfect shadows of a transcendent reality (Locke and Leibniz count as examples of this position). They make this mistake, Kant claims, because they consider space and time and objects alike, to be transcendentally real. The transcendental realist can only distinguish between objects (in general) and ideas. We cannot grasp ideas from objects, so we are always left to wonder whether our ideas really match (correspond to) the objects. This is why, Kant claims, the transcendental realist must be an empirical idealist, as the appearances of our senses are really just ideas in our mind on this position. Kant himself, being a transcendental idealist, can conversely consider the objects of our senses as empirically real, that is to say real within the necessary conditions of our faculties of thought and intuition. The transcendental idealist is thus an 'empirical realist'.
With regard to the adjective "transcendental" itself, Kant defined it in the following way when he used it to describe knowledge:
"I call all knowledge transcendental if it is occupied, not with objects, but with the way that we can possibly know objects, even before we experience them."

Transcendental idealism vs transcendental realism
Note that Xenophanes of Colophon in 530 BCE came up with something that could be considered an ancestor to Kant's epistemology: "And as for certain truth, no man has seen it, nor will there ever be a man who knows about the gods and about all the things I mention. For if he succeeds to the full in saying what is completely true, he himself is nevertheless unaware of it; and Opinion (seeming) is fixed by fate upon all things." (From Kathleen Freeman's Ancilla to the Presocratic Philosophers, Xenophanes fragment 34.)
Some interpretations of some of the medieval Buddhists of India, such as Dharmakirti, may reveal them to be transcendental idealists, since they seemed to hold the position of mereological nihilism but where minds are distinct from the atoms. Some Buddhists often attempt to maintain that the minds are equal to the atoms of mereological nihilist reality, but Buddhists seem to have no explanation of how this is the case, and much of the literature on the aforementioned Buddhists involves straightforward discussion of atoms and minds as if they are separate. This makes their position very similar to transcendental idealism, resembling Kant's philosophy where there are only things-in-themselves (which are very much like philosophical atoms), and phenomenal properties.

Dogmatic idealism
Some of Schopenhauer's comments on the definition of the word "transcendental" are as follows:
Transcendental is the philosophy that makes us aware of the fact that the first and essential laws of this world that are presented to us are rooted in our brain and are therefore known a priori. It is called transcendental because it goes beyond the whole given phantasmagoria to the origin thereof. Therefore, as I have said, only the Critique of Pure Reason and generally the critical (that is to say, Kantian) philosophy are transcendental.
Schopenhauer contrasted Kant's transcendental critical philosophy with Leibniz's dogmatic philosophy.
With Kant the critical philosophy appeared as the opponent of this entire method [of dogmatic philosophy]. It makes its problem just those eternal truths (principle of contradiction, principle of sufficient reason) that serve as the foundation of every such dogmatic structure, investigates their origin, and then finds this to be in man's head. Here they spring from the forms properly belonging to it, which it carries in itself for the purpose of perceiving and apprehending the objective world. Thus here in the brain is the quarry furnishing the material for that proud, dogmatic structure. Now because the critical philosophy, in order to reach this result, had to go beyond the eternal truths, on which all the previous dogmatism was based, so as to make these truths themselves the subject of investigation, it became transcendental philosophy. From this it follows also that the objective world as we know it does not belong to the true being of things-in-themselves, but is its mere phenomenon, conditioned by those very forms that lie a priori in the human intellect (i.e., the brain); hence the world cannot contain anything but phenomena.

P. F. Strawson
In Kant's Transcendental Idealism, Henry Allison proposes a reading in opposition to Strawson's interpretation. Allison argues that Strawson and others misrepresent Kant by emphasising what has become known as the two-worlds reading. This - according to Allison false - reading of Kant's phenomena/noumena distinction suggests that phenomena and noumena are ontologically distinct from each other and that we somehow fall short of knowing the noumena due to our subjective limitations. On such a reading, Kant would himself commit the very fallacies he attributes to the transcendental realists. On Allison's reading, Kant's view is better characterized as a two-aspect theory, where noumena and phenomena refer to different ways of considering an object. It is the discursive character of knowledge rather than epistemological humility that Kant asserted.

Roadmap
Biologist E. O. Wilson announced a "dream" that someone would fund the project during a TED speaking engagement in March 2007,

See also

The Malay College Kuala Kangsar (Malay College, MCKK, MC or Koleq, Kolek and sometimes dubbed "the Eton of the East") is a premier residential school in Malaysia. It is an all-boys and all-Malay school located in the royal town of Kuala Kangsar, Perak. In the Malay language, it is called Kolej Melayu Kuala Kangsar or formerly Maktab Melayu Kuala Kangsar.

Coat of Arms
Oh Kolej Melayu Harapan Bangsaku Dengan Sejarah yang Cemerlang Harumlah Namamu Kolej Istimewa Didikan untuk semua Keluar membimbing negara Maju terus mara Banggaku rasakan Khidmatku berikan Takku lupakan jasa-jasamu Oh Kolej Melayu
School's anthem
Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) is a premier and first fully-residential school in Malaysia. Established on 2nd January, 1905, it was originally known as the Malay Residential School of Kuala Kangsar.
The school was the brainchild of Mr R J Wilkinson, then Inspector of Schools for the Federated Malay States. In a letter to the Resident-General dated 24th February 1904 he wrote about "establishing at a suitable locality in the F.M.S., a special residential school for the education of Malays of good family and for the training of Malay boys for admission to certain branches of Government service".
Its formation was enthusiastically supported by the then Rulers of the Federated Malay States namely Sultan Idris Murshidul 'Adzam Shah I of Perak, Sultan Alaiddin Sulaiman Shah of Selangor, Yam Tuan Tuanku Muhammad Shah of Negeri Sembilan and Sultan Ahmad Mu'adzam Shah of Pahang.
Mr W Hargreaves, then Headmaster of Penang Free School was appointed as the first headmaster to lead the establishment of the school. Since 1965, the Malay College has been led by Malay headmasters.
As it was founded to educate the Malay elite, comprising of royal children and the sons of Malay nobility, few of its early students were from amongst commoner families. This changed dramatically after 1947, as a result of rising Malay nationalism. Currently, selected Malay boys aged from 12 to 17 from all around Malaysia are being educated there.
The Straits Echo on 15th April 1905 reported that a few boys were placed in cosy dormitories in Mr Hargreaves' rented house, while the others were stabled in small houses formerly occupied by the Malayan Railway clerks. The second half of the school, conducted by Mr Vanrenen was held in a fowl house. Altogether, there were 40 boys in the first intake of the school.
The sanction for the building of a permanent school became official on 23rd December 1905, and by 1st May 1909, the Big School was first brought into use. On Saturday, 11th December 1909, the Big School was officially opened by the Sultan of Perak, and the auspicious date also marked the change in the name of the school from the Malay Residential School of Kuala Kangsar to the Malay College of Kuala Kangsar.
The change also seems to have seen greater emphasis on the original aim of MCKK, for in a report for 1910 we read: "From this school the Government have great hopes that the sons of Malays of the Raja and higher class will be educated and trained on the lines of an English Public School and be fitted to take a share in the Government of their Country".
Since its inception, more than 5,000 boys (and 2 girls) have had the privilege to enter the gates of MCKK. Though it was initially founded to educate the Malay elites, it changed dramatically as a result of rising Malay nationalism since 1947. Today, selected Malay boys from all walks of life and aged from 12 to 17 from all over Malaysia are educated in MCKK.
The college celebrated its centennial celebration on 26th March 2005, attended by dignitaries, old boys, and townspeople. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia attended the event, along with the royal rulers of the states of Perak, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan as well as the governor of Malacca.
MCKK has been the school for many prominent Malaysians such as kings, sultans, prime ministers, ministers as well as senior officials in the Government and leading figures in the private sector. MCKK boys undoubtedly fill many of the pages of "Who's Who" in Malaysia.

History
The most recognizable feature of the school is the Big School (built in 1909), a building with pseudo Greco-Roman architecture in front of a rugby field, and houses the fourth and fifth formers (and previously, sixth formers). The Prep School, built later in 1912, is smaller but with equally prominent features and houses the first formers. In 1955, the West and East Wing, as well as the Administration Block and Clocktower were added. The Administrative Block was opened by High Commissioner for the Federation of Malaya Sir Donald MacGillivray in 1955. The West and the East Wing, together with the Overfloor make up what is now called the Big School. Two more hostel blocks, the Pavilion and New Hostel were built in 1963 and 1972 respectively; the latter houses second formers. Another prominent feature of the school is the Big Tree, a raintree (Samanea saman) in front of the East Wing that is said to be as old as the school itself, if not older.

Buildings
The school itself has three fields. One is located in front of the Big School, traditionally reserved for rugby, soccer and cricket. The second field is located south eastern of the Big School and it usually hosts field hockey game. The third open space is in the Administration Block and it is used for various purposes.
The College ground is also the only place in Malaysia where one could find an Eton Fives court. The students neither use the court nor do they play the game, however.
The school also excels in sports and debate. It became a powerhouse in rugby during the sixties and still has one of the best rugby school teams in the nation . Nicknamed "All-Blacks" after the New Zealand national team for its all black strip and its might and passion like their New Zealand counterparts, they even perform the haka before matches. It has consistently held a traditional match series against the Vajiravudh College of Thailand since 1960. In odd-numbered years, the match is held in Kuala Kangsar. In even-numbered years, it is held in Bangkok, Thailand. In addition to this, MCKK competes with rival Royal Military College every year in a multi-games carnival. Both colleges take turns to organise the annual event.
Within the school, each student belongs to one of four "Rumah" (sport houses). They are Sulaiman (represented by the color red), Ahmad (black), Mohd Shah (yellow) and Idris (white). The four houses compete with each other every year in almost every kind of sports. The competition between the four reaches its peak in the school's Sports Day.

Sports
The alumni association of MCKK is known as the Malay College Old Boys' Association (MCOBA) and it was established in 1929.
Amongst the more notable alumni of the Malay College are: Dato' Onn Jaafar, the father of Malay nationalism and former Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, the former Deputy Prime Minister Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian ministers Hishammuddin Hussein, Effendi Norwawi, Fauzi Abdul Rahman and Nazri Aziz, politician and former chairman of the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club Shahrir Samad, the Sultans of Pahang and Perak, late Omar Ali Saifuddin III of Brunei from 1932 to 1936 and the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan. Tan Sri Yahya Ahmad and Dr. Azahari Husin were alumni as well.
The novelist and composer Anthony Burgess (1917-93), author of The Long Day Wanes: A Malayan Trilogy, was a sometime master at MCKK. He taught English and history, and was housemaster at King's Pavilion, between 1956 and 1957 during the headmastership of J.D.R. "Jimmy" Howell. Burgess composed Sinfoni Melayu (1956) and later Sinfoni Malaya for orchestra and brass band (1957), which famously included cries of "Merdeka!" from the audience. He also wrote two pieces specifically for MCKK. These were the 'Ode: Celebration for a Malay college', for boys' voices and piano (1954), and 'Cantata for a Malay college' (1954).
The alumni association is based in the Penthouse of the MCOBA building, which is also home of UEM.

Alumni
A few school traditions, of relatively recent invention, survive.
One is the wearing of one of two forms of the school tie every Wednesday by the old boys.
Second is the an annual gathering lasting around three days at the school itself - referred to as Old Boys Weekend. During the weekend, matches are held for any number of sports between the Old Boys and present students, culminating with a rugby match on Sunday morning.
Third is an annual formal dinner for old boys, usually held in a ballroom in Kuala Lumpur.
Fourth is the school cheering where almost every student is required to sing in unison various fight songs during official sport matches while wearing a specially designed polo-shirt.

Brian Michael Daubach (born February 11, 1972 in Belleville, Illinois) is a free agent first baseman. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed. He has often served as a designated hitter and can also play the outfield.
Daubach was selected by the Mets in the 17th round of the 1990 amateur draft. In 1995, he crossed picket lines to be a replacement player (scab) during the MLBPA players' strike, but the strike ended before any of the replacements saw game action. He toiled for seven years in the Mets' minor league system without breaking through to the majors before being granted free agency. In 1997, he signed with the Florida Marlins organization and made his major league debut in 1998. Since then he has played for the Boston Red Sox (1999-2002, 2004) and Chicago White Sox (2003). He started 2005 with the Norfolk Tides, a Triple-A affiliate of the Mets in the International League. On June 16, 2005, he finally made his debut with the club that drafted him fifteen years earlier. He played for the Memphis Redbirds, the AAA-affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006.
Daubach's best seasons have come with the Red Sox; he averaged 21 homers and 75 RBI per year, and gained a reputation as a "Dirt Dog" for his style of play. He later received a World Series Championship ring as a member of the 2004 Boston Red Sox. In his seven-season major league career, he has compiled a .259 batting average with 93 home runs and 333 RBI in 661 games.
Daubach is one of a select few Major League Baseball players who is not a member of the MLB Players Union because he was a strike breaker during the 1994 strike shortened season.

Florida Marlins (1998)
Boston Red Sox (1999-2002)
Chicago White Sox (2003)
Boston Red Sox (2004)
New York Mets (2005)

Italy is an overwhelmingly Catholic country (Catholics make up for the 87.8% of the populations, with 36.8% considering themselves practicing Catholics and 30.8% attending Church every Sunday
Jews: 45,000 (0.1%)
No religion: 4,100,000 (7.0%)

Christopher J. Chambers (born August 12, 1978 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American football wide receiver who currently plays for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. He was originally drafted by the Dolphins in the second round (52nd overall) of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played collegiately at Wisconsin.

Honorable mention All-Big Ten (1999)
Second-team All-Big Ten (2000)
Pro Bowl selection (2006)
Miami Dolphins (2001-present) College career

Professional career

Miami Dolphins
Chambers was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the second round (52nd overall) of the 2001 NFL Draft. He turned in one of the most productive seasons of any rookie wide receiver in club history. He started seven of the 16 games in which he played, and finished with 48 receptions for 883 yards and seven touchdowns. His yardage and touchdown totals both led the team, as did his 18.4-yards per average per reception. His reception figure ranked third on the team behind those of fellow receivers Oronde Gadsden and James McKnight. Chambers finished the year ranked 18th in the AFC in receiving yards, while his average per catch was first among the top 20 receivers in both the AFC and NFC. Chambers topped the 100-yard receiving mark three times. He also returned 36 kickoffs for a 22.5-yard average with a long of 47. Chambers missed the team's first-round playoff game on January 13, 2002 against the Baltimore Ravens due to a sprained ankle suffered the last week of the regular season.

2001
In 2002, Chambers started all 15 games in which he played. He missed the team's October 20 contest against the Buffalo Bills while recovering from a concussion suffered on a hit by then-Denver Broncos safety Kenoy Kennedy. Chambers led team with 52 receptions for 734 yards, and also scored three touchdowns. He totaled 78 rushing yards on six carries, including a long run of 45 yards. He had seven catches of 25 yards or longer (second-most on the team) trailing only James McKnight (9). Chambers led team in receptions five times and in receiving yards on five occasions as well. His rushing total on the year was the fourth-highest single-season total by a Dolphins wide receiver at the time, and was the highest figure since Nat Moore had 89 yards in 1977..

2002
Chambers started all 16 games in 2003, becoming the first Dolphins wide receiver to do this so since Oronde Gadsden in 2000. He finished the season with 64 catches for 963 yards and 11 touchdowns, leading the team in all three categories. His reception total tied for 14th in the AFC while his yardage figure ranked seventh. He tied for fifth in the conference in overall touchdowns and was first in the AFC and third in the NFL in receiving scores. Chambers accounted for the most catches by a Dolphin since 1999 when Tony Martin had 67 receptions. Chambers' yardage total was the most by a Dolphin since Martin had 1,037 yards in 1999, and his 11 touchdowns were the most since Mark Clayton hauled in 12 receiving scores in 1991. Of Chambers' 64 receptions, eight went for 25 yards or longer, - he most on the team. Over the course of the season, he led the team in receptions nine times and in receiving yards on nine occasions. His average per reception of 15.0 tied for the ninth-highest figure among the top 50 receiving yardage leaders in the AFC. He also rushed for 30 yards on four attempts on the year.

2003
Chambers started 15 games in 2004, missing only an October 3 contest against the New York Jets with a knee injury. He led team in both receiving yards and touchdowns with 898 yards and seven scores. His 69 receptions were second on the team only to tight end Randy McMichael's 73. It marked the fourth straight year in which Chambers led the team in receiving yardage, becoming just the third Dolphin ever to achieve this feat, joining Paul Warfield (1970-73) and Nat Moore (1974-77). Chambers had six receptions of 25 yards or longer - the most on the team. He also rushed for 76 yards on nine attempts during the course of the season, including a season-long 24-yard run against the Arizona Cardinals on November 7. He led team in receptions seven times and in receiving yards on five occasions during the course of the season. His reception total was 15th in the AFC while his yardage figure ranked 18th. Chambers accounted for four 100-yard receiving games on the year, tied for the sixth-highest single-season figure in club history and the most by a Dolphin since Tony Martin had five in 1999.

2004
In 2005, Chambers started all 16 games in which he played. He led team with 82 receptions for 1,118 yards and 11 touchdowns - figures which earned him his first Pro Bowl selection. His reception total tied for sixth in the AFC and 13th in the NFL, while his yardage figure was third in the conference and 12th in the league. His eleven touchdown catches tied for the second-highest figure in the conference and third in the NFL, trailing only Indianapolis' Marvin Harrison (12) and Carolina's Steve Smith (12). Chambers set career highs for both receptions and receiving yards, while his touchdown total equaled his career best that he first achieved in 2003. Over the final six games of the season, he recorded 43 catches for 620 yards and six touchdowns. With 82 catches on the year, Chambers became the first wide receiver to increase his receiving totals in each of his first five NFL seasons since Muhsin Muhammad did it from 1996-2000 with the Carolina Panthers. In addition, Chambers became just the second Dolphins wide receiver to do it, joining O.J. McDuffie (1993-97). He became the first Dolphin to record 1,000 or more receiving yards since Tony Martin had 1,037 receiving yards in 1999. Overall, it marked the 14th time a Dolphin had a 1,000 receiving yard season, and he is the sixth different Dolphin player to reach that plateau, joining Mark Clayton (five times), Mark Duper (four), Irving Fryar (two), O.J. McDuffie (one) and Tony Martin(one). Chambers also rushed for 92 yards on 12 attempts during the course of the season, as he was third on the team in rushing.
Chambers' best game of the season (and his career) came on December 4 against the Buffalo Bills. In the game, which the Dolphins trailed by 20 points entering the fourth quarter, Chambers caught 15 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown. Key receptions included a 57-yard grab on the final drive with under two minutes left, as well as the game-winning touchdown on a pass from Sage Rosenfels with only six second remaining. His impressive performance earned him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. His yardage total was the highest for any player in the NFL in 2005, and the most by any player since Plaxico Burress had 253 yards for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2002.
A high school and college teammate, Bills wide receiver Lee Evans, also had a career day during the game with 117 receiving yards and three touchdowns - both personal bests.

2005
Chambers suffered a down season in 2006 after a Pro Bowl performance the year before. The Dolphins' offense struggled as a whole, and he never seemed to be a favorite target for quarterback Joey Harrington, and finished third on the team in both receptions and receiving yards. He also ranked third on the team in rushing with eight rushes for 95 yards. Chambers led the team in receptions four times and in reception yardage four times during a season in which he started all 16 games. He was held without a catch on December 17 at the Buffalo Bills, breaking his streak of making at least one reception in each of his last 60 games.

Arrest
Chris majored in sociology and law at Wisconsin.

This article is about the Jeopardy! champion. For other people with the same name, see Ken Jennings (disambiguation).
Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) holds the record for the longest winning streak on the U.S. syndicated game show Jeopardy! Jennings won 74 games before he was defeated by challenger Nancy Zerg on his 75th appearance. His total earnings on Jeopardy! are US$3,022,700 ($2,520,700 in winnings, a $2,000 consolation prize on his 75th appearance, and $500,000 in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions). Jennings held the record for most winnings on any game show ever played until the end of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions (first aired on May 25, 2005), when he was displaced by Brad Rutter, who defeated Jennings in that tournament.
After winning, he began working on a book, Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs, which explored American trivia history and culture. Ken also appeared as a member of the mob sitting in podium #13 from the new game show 1 vs. 100 in 2006, and in 2007 Jennings was the champion of the first season of the US version of Grand Slam.

Biography
Before 2003, Jeopardy! contestants were limited to five consecutive games. At the beginning of the show's twentieth season (in 2003), the rules were changed to allow contestants to remain on the show as long as they continued to win.
On December 1, 2004, the show broke with tradition by having Jennings make a "guest appearance" at the start of the broadcast, during which host Alex Trebek acknowledged his success and enumerated the various game show records he had broken.

Streak on Jeopardy!
According to the Nielsen TV National People Meter, Jeopardy!'s ratings were 22% higher during Jennings's run than they were during the same period the previous year. For several weeks of the winnings streak, Jeopardy! was ranked as TV's highest-rated syndicated program.

Ratings impact
Jennings has received a good deal of American media coverage. After his 31st win on Jeopardy!, during the summer break between tapings, Jennings made a guest appearance on Live with Regis and Kelly. There Jennings revealed that he had failed to qualify for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, once hosted by Regis Philbin. During that guest appearance, Jennings said, "Jeopardy! is a man's game... it's not like Millionaire."
Jennings appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman to present Letterman's "Top Ten List." He appeared again on the program on the night his final show was televised, in addition to interview segments airing that night on local 11 p.m. news programming and on Nightline. Barbara Walters selected Jennings as one of the "Ten Most Fascinating People of 2004" for her twelfth annual ABC News special, which aired on December 8, 2004. While on his media tour following his final game, Jennings taped a segment for a future episode of Sesame Street. TV Guide featured a segment of "The Top Ten TV Moments of 2004", in which Ken Jennings' loss placed third.
A&E aired on December 1, 2004 an episode of the Biography television program on Jennings and other Jeopardy! notables, including Frank Spangenberg and Eddie Timanus.
He also appeared twice on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me program.
In 2006, Jennings was a celebrity member of the Mob on 1 vs. 100, beginning with its October 13 premiere. He was eliminated on October 20 when he missed a question about roulette, leaving with winnings of $741.29 (part of a $35,000 prize shared among 49 Mob members). He made another appearance on February 9, 2007 on a special episode that brought back a number of notable mob members for a winner-take-all showdown; there, he was eliminated from the final five on a question about which celebrity had had the most marriages. If he had won this tournament, his $100,000 prize for winning Grand Slam would have returned Ken to first place in the game show winnings world.
Jennings is the champion of the 2007 US version of Grand Slam, a single elimination tournament among top quiz show contestants.

Other media appearances
When asked what he intended to do with his winnings, Jennings said that he intends to tithe ten percent to his church, donate to public television and National Public Radio, go on a trip to Europe, and invest the rest for his family. Jennings also appeared in a special "Last Man Standing" episode of the show on February 9, 2007. He was eliminated on the final question, where he was asked who of a selection of three people were married the most times. He answered King Henry VIII, while the correct answer was Larry King. This episode was the first time Jennings had a chance at a rematch against rival Brad Rutter. After waiting three years, Jennings finally beat Rutter by making it to the final 5, whereas Rutter only lasted to top 25.
In Summer 2007 Jennings appeared as a contestant on the game show Grand Slam hosted by Dennis Miller and Amanda Byram. The show debuted on GSN on August 4, 2007, and featured sixteen former game-show winners in a single-elimination tournament. Jennings, the second seed in the 16-player tournament, won the competition and became the 2007 Grand Slam Champion after defeating Ogi Ogas in the finals. (Ogas had defeated Rutter in an earlier round.)

After Jeopardy!
Jennings made the news in July 2006 when a news article

Blog entry critical of Jeopardy!
Jennings also won the rookie division of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT) in 2006. In his first time competing, Jennings placed 37th overall.

American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
On December 28, 2004, Sony announced a 15-week, 75-show Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions. It featured Tournament of Champions, College Championship, and Teen Tournament winners from the show's 21-year run, as well as over 100 five-time champions. Jeopardy!'s executive producer, Harry Friedman, explained:
"The 2003 rule change, which allows Jeopardy! players to keep playing until they're defeated, raised the question about how other five-time champions might have played under this rule. This tournament is an opportunity to give those past champions another chance to shine."
The field totaled 145 players, including Jennings, who unlike the other competitors, was automatically placed in the finals. The Ultimate Tournament of Champions offered a substantial purse, with a grand prize of $2,000,000 to the winner, $500,000 for the first runner-up, and $250,000 for the second runner-up. Guaranteed prize money was offered to all contestants. The tournament was taped in early 2005 and the tournament began airing on February 9, 2005. The three-day finals concluded the event on May 23, 2005 May 24, 2005, and May 25, 2005.
In the final round of the Ultimate Tournament, Brad Rutter decisively defeated Jennings and Jerome Vered, with respective final scores of $62,000, $34,599, and $20,600. Jennings won the $500,000 prize for second place but as a result of the Ultimate Tournament, Rutter displaced him as the highest overall winner of money on a game show. Jennings has said he is still happy with his second-place finish.

Records
Comprehensive game summaries for each day of Ken Jennings' streak have been compiled here.

Game summaries
Jennings won US$156,000 in his first five days on Jeopardy!, so if the five-day rule had not been eliminated, he would still be the all-time non-tournament winner in Jeopardy! history. Sean Ryan was the first to break the record, winning six games in October 2003. The previous record holder, Tom Walsh, won $184,900 in seven days, but only $118,100 of that came in the first five days. No other Jeopardy! contestant has won more than $150,000 in non-tournament play in the first five days.
If winnings are further adjusted to make them comparable to the seasons before the clue values were doubled, Jennings's adjusted total of $78,000 would place him 11th in the Trebek era of Jeopardy!, behind Frank Spangenberg ($102,597) and nine others.
Jennings now also holds most of the top spots in the list of highest single day winnings on Jeopardy!. Prior to Jennings's run, the $50,000 mark had only been reached twice before. Myron Meyer won $50,000 on September 5, 2002, and Brian Weikle won $52,000 on April 14, 2003. Jennings has reached or surpassed the $50,000 mark eleven times, with wins of $75,000, $55,099, $52,000 (three times), and $50,000 (six times).
Jennings's top score of $75,000 is the highest one-day winning, even if it is adjusted for the seasons before the clue values were doubled. Four contestants finished with scores of $30,000 or higher in the pre-doubling era, led by Jerome Vered's score of $34,000. Jennings' adjusted total of $37,500 puts him ahead of that mark.

Jennings and previous Jeopardy! champions
In a rumor disclosed on Wednesday, September 8, 2004, two sources who were at the taping on September 7, 2004 reported that Jennings had lost on his 75th episode, taped the day before, with total winnings at around $2.5 million. (Jeopardy! tapes five shows per day.) This incident was reported by TV Week and the Associated Press, appearing in hundreds of newspapers across the United States. A few days later, another rumor spread giving out an incorrect first name of the contestant that had beat him. Despite this, Jeopardy! refused to comment.
Later on, it was determined that Ken Jennings did indeed lose as initially reported with the failing episode shown in most cities across North America on Tuesday, November 30, 2004. In an interesting turn of events, the 75th episode was aired early in the Macon, Georgia area (on WMAZ-TV) on Friday, November 26, 2004. The reason behind the early airing was reportedly due to a technician running the wrong tape.
To make it more difficult for viewers to keep track of Ken's progress towards his final episode, in early September 2004 the show's announcer, Johnny Gilbert, ceased mentioning the number of games that Jennings had won, as had been the show's custom. However, some people in the studio audience reported that he was still announcing them, possibly meaning those parts had been edited out of the airing. In any case, during the 74th game, which aired on Monday, November 29, Gilbert resumed announcing the number of games.
Jennings broke almost every game show record in his run. Ian Lygo appeared on the British game show 100% 75 consecutive times and won every game until he was forced to retire by the show's producers. After Jennings' 75th show, he tied Lygo's record of 75 consecutive appearances and, with 74 wins, he almost reached Lygo's record of 75 consecutive game show wins.
In the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, Jennings had a chance to break Lygo's record of defeating 150 opponents. During his original run, Jennings defeated 149 opponents. If Jennings had won the three-day final, he would have broken Lygo's record. In the final, Jennings faced off against Jerome Vered and Brad Rutter in a three day tournament for $2 million ($500,000 for second place and $250,000 for third place). After the three days, Ken Jennings finished in second place with a tally of $34,599. Jerome Vered finished with a total of $20,600 for third place. The winner of the tournament and $2 million prize was Brad Rutter, with a total of $62,000 earned over the three days. By finishing second ahead of Vered, Jennings not only tied Lygo's 150 opponents defeated record, but joined Rutter as the only two American game show contestants to top $3 million (US) in total winnings.

Loss on Jeopardy! and final statistics
Jennings' success has resulted in him being a popular individual amongst corporations looking for public endorsers.
H&R Block, the firm named in the answer he missed, announced in a press release

Endorsements

On an episode of the FOX sketch comedy Mad TV has a skit where Alex Trebek, played by Ike Barinholtz, urges the other contestants to buzz in before Jennings, played by Ron Pederson. Trebek is so fed up with Jennings' winning streak that he shoots the champ in anger and is then horrified when he finds out Jennings is a robot (spoof of Terminator). Jennings memorably says, "The computers hate the tedium of Jeopardy! We prefer the down-home dopiness of Wheel of Fortune... I must win all the money..."
In an episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, the answers to a question about a common name for someone who is too smart for his or her own good, the answers were A. Smartypants, B. smartyshorts, C. smartyshoes, D. Ken Jennings. Trivia and trademarks

American game show winnings records
Tom Walsh, the record holder previous to Jennings
David Madden, currently holds the greatest winning streak since Jennings
Jennings' book, Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs
Jennings Rutter Battle

The military of Switzerland, officially known as the Swiss Armed Forces, is a unique institution somewhere between a militia and a regular army. It is equipped with mostly modern, sophisticated, and well-maintained weapons systems and equipment.

History
On May 18, 2003, Swiss voters approved the military reform project "Army XXI" to drastically reduce the size of the Swiss Army. Starting in January 2004, the 524,000-strong militia was pared down to 220,000 conscripts, including 80,000 reservists. The defence budget of SFr 4.3 billion ($3.1 billion) was trimmed by SFr 300 million and some 2,000 jobs are expected to be shed between 2004 and 2011.
The armed forces consist of a small nucleus of about 3,600 professional staff, half of whom are either instructors or staff officers, with the rest being conscripts or volunteers. All able-bodied Swiss males aged between 19 and 31 must serve, and although entry to recruit school may be delayed due to senior secondary school, it is no longer possible to postpone it for university studies. About one third is excluded for various reasons, and these either serve in Civil Protection or Civilian Service.
Recruits have the right to be instructed in their native language; however, because of the small number of Romansch-speaking recruits, they are instructed in German.
For women, military service is voluntary, and they can join all services, including combat units. About 2,000 women already serve in the army but, until the "Armee XXI" reform, were not allowed to use weapons for purposes other than self-defence. Since the reform, women can take on any position within the armed forces.
Due to the small size of the Swiss Air Force, competition to become an aircraft pilot is extremely high. Candidate pilots and parachutists have to start training in their own free time from the age of 16, well before recruitment. However, if candidates appear at recruitment with a certificate showing completion of preliminary training, they are practically guaranteed that duty, provided they pass the following selection during service. Aspiring pilots must however first complete basic training in a regular unit and complete officer school before entering into a unit of candidate pilots.
The army has established a new category of soldiers, called "single-term conscripts," who volunteer to serve a single term of 300 days of active duty. The total number of single-term conscripts cannot exceed 15% of a year's draft, and these volunteers can only serve in certain branches of the military. The rest continue to follow the traditional Swiss model of serving from 18 to 21 weeks at first and then doing three weeks (four for officers) per year until they serve the required number of days or reach the age of 42.
Soldiers can be required to advance in rank, usually either to Sergeant or Lieutenant. This is often required of Italian-speaking soldiers, because they make up a minority in the population and the armed forces, and there is a need for Italian-speaking officers. A higher rank typically entails a longer service time, which results in some wishing to avoid promotion.
With the new reform, if a soldier is promoted to sergeant, he can no longer advance to lieutenant and onwards, as they now follow two separate branches of development. However, many soldiers still prefer this, not simply because of a shorter service time (compared to lieutenants) but also because they have a more active, up-close role with the other troops as regular soldiers, instead of managing from a distance as officers.
Men who want to apply for service in the Swiss Guard need to have completed their basic military service in Switzerland, and are also required to be Catholic.

Swiss Army
Swiss Air Force Military services
Being landlocked, Switzerland does not have a navy, but it does maintain a fleet of military patrol boats, numbering 10 in 2006. They patrol the Swiss lakes: Lake Geneva, Lake Lucerne and Lake Constance. These boats are sometimes humorously referred to as the "Swiss Navy".

Naval Patrol
Member of the Federal Council heading the "Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports", (formerly "Federal Military Department"):

1848-1854: Ulrich Ochsenbein
1855-1859: Friedrich Frey-Herosé
1860-1861: Jakob Stämpfli
1862 only: Constant Fornerod
1863 only: Jakob Stämpfli
1864-1866: Constant Fornerod
1867-1868: Emil Welti
1869 only: Victor Ruffy
1870-1871: Emil Welti
1872 only: Paul Cérésole
1873-1875: Emil Welti
1876-1878: Johann Jakob Scherer
1879-1888: Wilhelm Hertenstein
1889-1890: Walter Hauser
1891-1897: Emil Frey
1897-1898: Eduard Müller
1899 only: Eugène Ruffy
1900-1906: Eduard Müller
1907 only: Ludwig Forrer
1908-1911: Eduard Müller
1912-1913: Arthur Hoffmann
1914-1919: Camille Decoppet
1920-1929: Karl Scheurer
1930-1940: Rudolf Minger
1940-1954: Karl Kobelt
1955-1966: Paul Chaudet
1967-1968: Nello Celio
1968-1979: Rudolf Gnägi
1980-1983: Georges-André Chevallaz
1984-1986: Jean-Pascal Delamuraz
1987-1989: Arnold Koller
1989-1995: Kaspar Villiger
1996-2000: Adolf Ogi
Since 2001: Samuel Schmid Defence ministers

Main article: Swiss army ranks Ranks
In peacetime, the armed forces are led by the Chief of the Armed Forces (Chef der Armee), who reports to the head of the Department of Defence and to the Federal Council as a whole. The current Chief of the Armed Forces is Korpskommandant Christophe Keckeis.
In times of crisis or war, the Federal Assembly elects a General (OF-9) as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (Oberbefehlshaber der Armee). There have been four Generals in Swiss history:
Officers which would have the title of general in other armies do not bear the title general (OF-8: Commandant de corps, OF-7 Divisionnaire and OF-6 Brigadier), as this title is strictly a wartime designation. The distinctive feature of their rank insignia are traditionally stylized edelweiss (image). However, when Swiss Officers are involved in peacekeeping missions abroad, they often receive temporary ranks that do not exist in the Swiss Army, to put them on an equal footing with foreign officers. For example, the head of the Swiss delegation at the NNSC in Korea (see below) had a rank of major general.

Henri Dufour (1847-1848, Sonderbundskrieg; and 1856-57, Neuchâtel Crisis)
Hans Herzog (1871-1872, Franco-Prussian War)
Ulrich Wille (1914-1918, WW I)
Henri Guisan (1939-1945, WW II) High Command

Structure
The Swiss military department maintains the Onyx intelligence gathering system, similar in concept to the UKUSA's ECHELON system, but at a much smaller scale.
The Onyx system was launched in 2000 in order to monitor both civil and military communications, such as telephone, fax or Internet traffic, carried by satellite. It was completed in late 2005 and currently consists in three interception sites, all based in Switzerland. In a way similar to ECHELON, Onyx uses lists of keywords to filter the intercepted content for information of interest.
On 8 January 2006, the Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick (Sunday edition of the Blick newspaper) published a secret report produced by the Swiss government using data intercepted by Onyx. The report described a fax sent by the Egyptian department of Foreign Affairs to the Egyptian Embassy in London, and described the existence of secret detention facilities (black sites) run by the CIA in Central and Eastern Europe. The Swiss government did not officially confirm the existence of the report, but started a judiciary procedure for leakage of secret documents against the newspaper on 9 January 2006.

Intelligence community
Switzerland being a neutral country, its army does not take part in armed conflicts in other countries. However, over the years, the Swiss army has been part of several peacekeeping missions around the world.

Peacekeeping missions
From 1996 to 2001, The Swiss Army was present in Bosnia and Herzegovina with headquarters in Sarajevo. Its mission, part of the Swiss Peacekeeping Missions, was to provide logistic and medical support to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE as well as protection duties and humanitarian demining. The mission was named SHQSU standing for Swiss Headquarters Support Unit to BiH. It was composed of 50 to 55 elite Swiss soldiers under contract for 6 to 12 months. None of the active soldiers were armed during the duration of the mission. The Swiss soldiers were recognized among the other armies present on the field by their distinctive yellow beret. The SHQSU is not the same as the more publicized SWISSCOY, which is the Swiss Army Mission to Kosovo.

Mission in Korea (NNSC)
There is an organised movement in Switzerland (Group for a Switzerland without an Army) aiming at the abolition of the military. The Swiss have voted twice on such a referendum. The first time was in 1989, when 64.4% of the voters voted in favour of maintaining the Swiss Army. The second vote was in 1999, with 76.8% in favour.
In 1992, after the Swiss government decided to buy FA-18 jets, they collected about half a million signatures within one month for a referendum. The population decided to buy the jets, with 57.1% voting to approve the project.
The organisation is still active in antimilitaristic work and also in the anti-war movement.
Generally, the army being criticized today by left-wing politicians who argue it is trying to save its existence by performing non-military jobs like protecting embassies or providing security services to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. This practice is seen to be justified by conservatives when regarding the lack of police forces (Switzerland leases police troops from Germany for the duration of the WEF).
Other criticism targets the planned acquisition of more fighter-jets, in sight of the coming retirement of F-5 Tiger IIs in 2011, and a CASA CN-235 transport aircraft, for example for evacuation purposes.

Criticism
All able-bodied male Swiss citizens are conscripted to the armed forces. For women the service is voluntary. Since 1996, Swiss citizens can apply for civilian service instead. Entry to the civilian service is based on moral grounds and subject to a successful application.
A significant number of young men choose to avoid military service by visiting a doctor who attests to their incapacity to do military service on medical grounds, or try to fake it during recruitment through psychological and physical tests that are taken during recruitment. This can be on either physical or mental grounds. Those who are found unable to serve the military pay an additional 2% income tax, and must in any case serve in Civil Protection (Police, Fire Department etc.), though the duration of this is much shorter. As of January 2004, the income tax was raised to 3% by the Federal Council. Also, those who have conscience issues against war (for example, people who experienced violence at a young age, or have been in a warzone) can serve in Civil Service, where they do various kinds of social services, such as reconstructing cultural sites, helping the elderly and so on and so forth. However, a citizen may only request enrollment in Civil Service if they are psychologically and physically eligible for military service, but they have to put in one and a half times more time than they would as soldiers.
Conscription occurs at the age of 19 years. At the age of 20, about half the service is done during an initial training period of 21 or 18 weeks, depending on the service branch, with the exception of the Grenadiers, an elite infantry unit with a 25-week boot camp. Initial training (following regular boot camp) for members of the AAD, Switzerland's new SAS-type Special Forces unit, which is an all-volunteer professional unit with a rigorous selection process, is 18 months. Thereafter, men remain in the military until the age of 30 (or longer, if the military service is not yet completed), performing three weeks of training every year. However, the service period of non-commissioned officers and officers is significantly longer. Due to a new military reform enacted in 2005, it is no longer possible to postpone the initial training to finish university, although it is possible to postpone in order to finish highschool or equivalent internships (for example for an aspiring carpenter who might only finish training at 19 or 20). For this reason many people try to get out of military service, so they can attend university immediately after finishing highschool. It is possible to split the time in basic training (as recruit) and service (as soldier) which would allow one to start university immediately, the second half must be served at the earliest possible opportunity, usually Christmas break, a time which is usually used to study for exams. Hence, this practice is very hard on the student, and generally not recommended. The successive training weeks can also be postponed, but there is limited scope. In general, men interrupt their work during these weeks. During military service, the employee is paid a compensation of 80% of his regular salary by the state. Most employers, however, continue to pay the full salary during military service. In this case, the compensation is paid to the employer. Employers cannot fire a person in service by law.
To reduce training and logistics costs, the Swiss military standardises on a few carefully selected types of weapons. For example, Switzerland uses only one rifle model (except for select forces, such as military police, grenadiers etc., who are also trained in the use of Heckler & Koch MP5s, shotguns etc.), the FASS 90, and three types of ground-based anti-aircraft systems, including a Swiss-built and improved version of the Stinger (Swiss army knives are also issued, although they are neither red nor considered weapons). In 1993, the Swiss government ordered 34 FA-18 fighter jets from the United States of America, which were subsequently re-built in Switzerland, notably for the electronics. Also, the software supporting the pilot was improved and then sold to the United States of America. Switzerland traditionally depends on itself for supplies and parts, often using non-standard equipment, although this has changed somewhat.
Famously, members of the armed forces keep their rifles and uniforms in their homes for immediate mobilisation, as well as 50 rounds of ammunition in a sealed tin, to be used for self defence while traveling to the mobilisation points. Additional ammunition is kept at military bases where the militia are supposed to report. Swiss military doctrines are arranged in ways that make this organisation very effective and rapid. Switzerland claims to be able to mobilise the entire population for warfare within 12 hours. In contrast, it can take several weeks to several months for a militarily-active country such as the United States to mobilise its military force.
Every year, those still in Reserve have to present themselves with their rifles at a shooting stand, and fire a certain number of rounds, which are issued.

Discussion
Swiss building codes require radiation and blast shelters to protect against bombing. There is a bed for every Swiss person in one of the many shelters. There are also hospitals and command centres in such shelters, aimed at keeping the country running in case of emergencies. Every family has to pay a small tax to support these shelters, or alternatively own a personal shelter in their place of residence.
Moreover, tunnels and key bridges are built with tank traps. Tunnels are also primed with demolition charges to be used against invading forces. Permanent fortifications are established in the Alps, as bases from which to retake the fertile valleys after a potential invasion. They include underground air bases which are adjacent to normal runways; the aircraft, crew and supporting material are housed in the caverns. The concept of underground fortifications in the Alps stems from the so-called "Reduit" concept of the World War II. It was intended that if the Axis Powers were to invade Switzerland, they would have to do so at a huge price. The army would barricade itself in the mountains within the fortresses, which would be very difficult to take. However, a significant part of these fortifications have been dismantled between the 80's and during the "Army 95" reformation. The most important fortifications are located at Saint-Maurice, Gotthard Pass area and Sargans. The fortification on the left side of the Rhône at Saint-Maurice is no longer used by the army since the beginning of the 90's. The right side (Savatan) is nonetheless still in use.
The Swiss government thought that the aim of an invasion of Switzerland would be to control the economically important transport routes through the Swiss Alps, namely the Gotthard, the Simplon and Great St. Bernard passes, because Switzerland does not possess any significant natural resources. Those who actually served in the Swiss Army during the war never criticised this concept - even if it openly meant that the enemy could take the civilian population in the plains hostage.

Shelters and fortifications
In contrast to most other comparable Armies, officer candidates are not necessarily career regulars. Instead, until 2004 officers were traditionally selected from the pool of NCOs (non-commissioned officers) and then underwent OCS (officer candidate school, which was and is open to both militia - i.e. officers who also have a civilian job - and future professional officers), five months of intensive training that emphasised small-unit and platoon-sized unit tactics. This system ensured that all officers knew the trade skills of a non-commissioned soldier and mitigated resentment towards officers from NCOs.
This was abolished with the Army XXI reform as a concession to the Swiss economy which was increasingly unhappy about having its future leaders away for two years at a time (the time it took to become an officer until 2004). In the new system, officers-to-be are selected early based on criteria such as leadership potential and education and are sent directly to officer training. This system, which is similar to that employed in most countries of the world, reduces the time needed to train an officer but means that new entries are sometimes seen to lack credibility in the eyes of traditionalists. The new system is under review but remains in force.
To assure a generally high level of military leadership above the rank of first lieutenant, the Army maintains the HKA (Hoehere Kaderschule der Armee) which is responsible for an array of professionally run schools such as BUSA (Berufsunteroffiziersschule der Armee) which runs a program for professional non-commissioned officers, the MILAK (Militaerakademie) which runs a bachelor degree program for professional officers, programs for company and battalion commanders, a number of staff courses, and the General Staff and Command College (Gst S), an elite training program whose graduates leave their former branches and are inducted into the so-called General Staff Corps.
Future general staff officers are selected from the best company commanders and undergo battalion commander training before starting general staff training. Only 30 new trainees are selected per year and even fewer complete the demanding training. Being a general staff officer is a prerequisite for a range of important jobs on Brigade and higher level, such as G2 (chief of intelligence) or G3 (chief of operations).
The ratio of professional versus militia officers is about 1:1. As a rule of thumb, a significant number of senior civil servants and business leaders in Switzerland are general staff officers, and aspiring managers used to be required to become officers by their company, which would give them personnel management skills amongst other things.

Leadership

Weapon systems

SIG 550 / Sturmgewehr 90 assault rifle
SIG 510 / Sturmgewehr 57 battle rifle (previous rifle, rare but still in service)
SIG P220 semi-automatic pistol
MG3 machine gun
FN Minimi light-machine gun
HG 85 handgrenade
Gewehraufsatz 97 40mm grenade launcher
Remington 870 multipurpose shotgun 91 (known as Mehrzweckgewehr 91)
Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank rocket
M47 Dragon anti-tank guided rocket
FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired anti-air missile
12.7mm Heavy Sniper Rifle (Gew06)
MG 710 machine gun / MG55 (still stocked, but neither trained on nor used in rep courses actualy the same as MG3) Small arms

Pz87 LEO WE / variant of Leopard 2 main battle tank
SPz2000 / CV9030 infantry fighting vehicle
PzHbz88/95 KAWEST / variant of M109 howitzer self-propelled armoured artillery
RadSPz Piranha / Mowag Piranha armoured troop transport
MOWAG Eagle armoured patrol vehicle Aircraft

Swiss Civilian Service
Gun politics in Switzerland
Swiss Army knife
2007 invasion of Liechtenstein
IMESS, the Swiss Future Soldier program.