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The scooter was invented in 1947 as a low cost alternative to the automobile in war-ravaged Europe – it was designed as transport for the masses and it caught on so quickly that it became one of the great transport phenomena to sweep the world in the 20th century. The Vespa (which means "wasp" in Italian) was the result of Enrico Piaggio's determination to create a viable alternative to the automobile for the masses. As the war drew to a close, Enrico studied every possible solution to get production in his plants going again.
The origins
Piaggio was founded in Genoa in 1884 by twenty-year-old Rinaldo Piaggio.
The first activity of Rinaldo's factory was luxury ship fitting. But by the end of the century, Piaggio was also producing rail carriages, goods vans, luxury coaches and engines, trams and special truck bodies.World War I brought a new diversification that was to distinguish Piaggio activities for many decades. The company started producing aeroplanes and seaplanes. At the same time, new plants were springing up. In 1917 Piaggio bought a new plant in Pisa, and four years later it took over a small plant in Pontedera which first became the centre of aeronautical production (propellers, engines and complete aircraft) and then, after World War II, witnessed the birth of the iconic Vespa.
From aeronautics to individual mobility: the transformation of 1946
The war, a radical watershed for the entire Italian economy, was equally important for Piaggio. The Pontedera plant built the state-of-the-art four-engine P 108 equipped with a 1,500-bhp Piaggio engine in passenger and bomber versions. However Piaggio's aeronautical plants in Tuscany (Pontedera and Pisa) were important military targets and on August 31, 1943 they were razed to the ground by Allied bombers, after the retreating Germans had already mined the pillars of the buildings and irrevocably damaged the plants.
To rebuild the Pontedera plants, Enrico Piaggio asked the Allies, who then occupied part of the grounds and of the buildings still standing, to arrange for the machinery transferred to Germany and Biella in northern Italy to be brought back. This was done rapidly and Armando and Enrico Piaggio then began the process of rebuilding. The hardest task went to Enrico, who was responsible for the destroyed plants of Pontedera and Pisa.
Enrico Piaggio's decision to enter the light mobility business was based on economic assessments and sociological considerations. It took shape thanks to the successful co-operation of the aeronautical engineer and inventor Corradino D'Ascanio (1891-1981).
The origins of the scooter
A motor scooter was produced, based on a small motorcycle made for parachutists. The prototype, known as the MP 5, was nicknamed "Paperino" (the Italian name for Donald Duck) because of its strange shape, but Enrico Piaggio did not like it, and he asked Corradino D'Ascanio to redesign it.
But the aeronautical designer did not like motorcycles. He found them uncomfortable and bulky, with wheels that were difficult to change after a puncture. Worse still, the drive chain made them dirty. However, his aeronautical experience found the answer to every problem. To eliminate the chain he imagined a vehicle with a stress-bearing body and direct mesh; to make it easier to ride, he put the gear lever on the handlebar; to make tyre changing easier he designed not a fork, but a supporting arm similar to an aircraft carriage. Finally, he designed a body that would protect the driver so that he would not get dirty or dishevelled. Decades before the spread of ergonomic studies, the riding position of the Vespa was designed to let you sit comfortably and safely, not balanced dangerously as on a high-wheel motorcycle.
Corradino D'Ascanio only needed a few days to refine his idea and prepare the first drawings of the Vespa, first produced in Pontedera in April 1946. It got its name from Enrico Piaggio himself who, looking at the MP 6 prototype with its wide central part where the rider sat and the narrow "waist", exclaimed, "It looks like a wasp!" And so the Vespa was born.
On April 23, 1946 Piaggio & C. S.p.A. filed a patent with the Central Patents Office for inventions, models and brand names at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in Florence, for "a motor cycle with a rational complex of organs and elements with body combined with the mudguards and bonnet covering all the mechanical parts". In a short space of time the Vespa was presented to the public, provoking contrasting reactions. However, Enrico Piaggio did not hesitate to start mass production of two thousand units of the first Vespa 98 cc. The new vehicle made its society debut at Rome's elegant Golf Club, in the presence of U.S. General Stone who represented the Allied military government. Italians saw the Vespa for the first time in the pages of Motor (March 24, 1946) and on the black and white cover of La Moto on April 15, 1946.
From scepticism to "miracle"
Manufacturers and market experts were divided: on one side the people who saw the Vespa as the realisation of a brilliant idea, and on the other the sceptics, who were soon to change their minds. In the last months of 1947 production exploded and the following year the Vespa 125 appeared, a larger model that was soon firmly established as the successor to the first Vespa 98.
The Vespa "miracle" had become reality, and output grew constantly; in 1946, Piaggio put 2,484 scooters on the market. These became 10,535 the following year, and by 1948 production had reached 19,822. When in 1950 the first German licensee also started production, output topped 60,000 vehicles, and just three years later 171,200 vehicles left the plants.
Foreign markets also watched the birth of the scooter with interest, and both the public and the press expressed curiosity and admiration. The Times called it "a completely Italian product, such as we have not seen since the Roman chariot". Enrico Piaggio continued tenaciously to encourage the spread of the Vespa abroad, creating an extensive service network all over Europe and the rest of the world. He maintained constant attention and growing interest around his product, with a number of initiatives that included the foundation and spread of the Vespa Clubs.
The Vespa became the Piaggio product par excellence, while Enrico personally tested prototypes and new models. His business prospects transcended national frontiers and by 1953, thanks to his untiring determination, there were more than ten thousand Piaggio service points throughout the world, including America and Asia. By then the Vespa Clubs counted over 50,000 members, all opposed to the "newborn" Innocenti Lambretta. No less than twenty thousand Vespa enthusiasts turned up at the Italian "Vespa Day" in 1951. Riding a Vespa was synonymous with freedom, with agile exploitation of space and with easier social relationships. The new scooter had become the symbol of a lifestyle that left its mark on its age: in the cinema, in literature and in advertising, the Vespa appeared endlessly among the most significant symbols of a changing society.
In 1950, just four years from its debut, the Vespa was manufactured in Germany by Hoffman-Werke of Lintorf; the following year licensees opened in Great Britain (Douglas of Bristol) and France (ACMA of Paris); production began in Spain in 1953 at Moto Vespa of Madrid, now Piaggio España, followed immediately by Jette, outside Brussels. Plants sprang up in Bombay and Brazil; the Vespa reached the USA, and its enormous popularity drew the attention of the Reader's Digest, which wrote a long article about it. But that magical period was only the beginning. Soon the Vespa was produced in 13 countries and marketed in 114, including Australia, South Africa (where it was known as the "Bromponie", or moor pony), Iran and China. And it was copied: on June 9, 1957, Izvestia reported the start of production in Kirov, in the USSR, of the Viatka 150 cc, an almost perfect clone of the Vespa.
Piaggio had begun very early on to extend its range into the light transport sector. In 1948, soon after the birth of the Vespa, production of the three-wheeler Ape van (the Italian for "bee") derived from the scooter began, and the vehicle was an immediate success for its many possible uses. Numerous imaginative versions of the Vespa appeared, some from Piaggio itself, but mainly from enthusiasts - for example, the Vespa Sidecar, or the Vespa-Alpha of 1967, developed with Alpha-Wallis for Dick Smart, a screen secret agent, which could race on the road, fly, and even be used on or underwater. The French army had a few Vespa models built specially to carry arms and bazookas, and others that could be parachuted together with the troops. Even the Italian army asked Piaggio for a parachutable scooter.
1956: the Vespa crosses the one million mark
While the Lambretta was starting to enjoy some success, the Vespa was being copied and imitated in a thousand ways: but the uniqueness of the vehicle ensured Piaggio a very long period of success, so much so that in November 1953, the 500,000th unit left the line, followed by the one millionth in June 1956. In 1960 the Vespa passed the two million mark; in 1970 it reached four million, and over ten million in 1988, making it a unique phenomenon in the motorised two-wheeler sector it has sold over 16 million units to date.From 1946 to 1965, the year Enrico Piaggio died, 3,350,000 Vespas were manufactured in Italy alone: one for every fifty inhabitants.
The boom of the Vespa, and the different business prospects of the Piaggio brothers, with Enrico concentrating on light individual mobility in Tuscany and Armando on the aeronautical business in Liguria, led the company to split. On February 22, 1964, Enrico Piaggio acquired the share in Piaggio & C. S.p.A. held by his brother Armando, who then founded "Rinaldo Piaggio Industrie Meccaniche Aeronautiche" (I.A.M. Rinaldo Piaggio).
The Vespa 50 had appeared the previous year, 1963, following the introduction of a law in Italy making a numberplate obligatory on two-wheelers over 50 cc. The new scooter was exempt from this law and was an immediate success. In Italy sales of vehicles with numberplates decreased by 28 per cent in 1965 compared to the previous year. On the other hand, the Vespa, with its new "50" series, was a great success. The light Vespa was a successful addition to the Piaggio range and this displacement is still in production. To date almost 3,500,000 Vespa 50s have been built in different models and versions, the latest being the ET4 50 launched in autumn 2000. It is the first four stroke Vespa 50cc, and has a record range of over 500 km with a full tank.
The Vespa PX (125, 150 and 200cc) is the biggest sales success in the entire history of the Vespa. It is the "original vintage" - launched in 1977, it has sold over two million units, and as such is a favourite among those with a sense of nostalgia but also with the younger market.
Records, sports and long distance travel: around the world with the Vespa
The Vespa also has a racing career behind it. In Europe back in the Fifties, it took part, often successfully, in regular motor cycle races (speed and off-road), as well as unusual sporting ventures.
In 1952 the Frenchman Georges Monneret built an "amphibious Vespa" for the Paris-London race and successfully crossed the Channel on it. The previous year Piaggio itself had built a Vespa 125cc prototype for speed racing, and it set the world speed record for a flying kilometre at an average of 171.102 km/h.
The Vespa also scored a great success at the 1951 "International 6 Days" in Varese, winning 9 gold medals, the best of the Italian motorcycles. That same year saw the first of innumerable rallies with the Vespa: an expedition to the Congo, which was to be the first of a series of incredible journeys on a scooter that was intended primarily to solve the problems of urban and intercity traffic.
Giancarlo Tironi, an Italian University student, reached the Arctic Circle on a Vespa. The Argentine Carlos Velez crossed the Andes from Buenos Aires to Santiago del Chile. Year after year, the Vespa gained popularity among adventure holiday enthusiasts: Roberto Patrignani rode one from Milan to Tokyo; Soren Nielsen in Greenland; James P. Owen from the USA to Tierra del Fuego; Santiago Guillen and Antonio Veciana from Madrid to Athens; Wally Bergen on a grand tour of the Antilles; the Italians Valenti and Rivadulla in a tour of Spain; Miss Warral from London to Australia and back; the Australian Geoff Dean took one on a round-the-world tour.
Pierre Delliere, Sergeant in the French Air Force, reached Saigon in 51 days from Paris, going through Afghanistan. The Swiss Giuseppe Morandi travelled 6,000 km, much of it in the desert, on a Vespa he had bought in 1948. Ennio Carrega went from Genoa to Lapland and back in 12 days. Two Danish journalists Elizabeth and Erik Thrane, a brother and sister, reached Bombay on a Vespa. And it is impossible to count the many European scooter riders who have reached the North Cape on their Vespas.
Few know that in 1980 two Vespa PX 200s ridden by M. Simonot and B. Tcherniawsky reached the finishing line of the second Paris-Dakar rally. Four-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Henri Pescarolo helped the French team put together by Jean-François Piot.
The Vespa continues to travel: in 1992 Giorgio Bettinelli, writer and journalist, left Rome on a Vespa and reached Saigon in March 1993. In 1994-95 he rode a Vespa 36,000 km from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. In 1995-96 he travelled from Melbourne to Cape Town - over 52,000 km in 12 months. In 1997 he started out from Chile, reaching Tasmania after three years and 150,000 km on his Vespa across the Americas, Siberia, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. All in all, Bettinelli has travelled 254,000 km on a Vespa.
Vespa, the cinema and the USA
Stylish and unmistakably Vespa, exceptionally comfortable to ride with low-environmental-impact engines and disk brakes, the new-generation ET models are now also sold in numerous "Vespa Boutiques" in the US (over 60 from California to Florida and from Hawaii to New York, with the latest two boutiques in SoHo and Queens).
Having returned to the US in 2000 after exiting the market in 1985 because of new emissions legislation that targeted two stroke engines, the Vespa was an immediate success all over again, and has achieved a market share of 20 per cent of the small (40,000 units a year) but growing scooter sector. 6,000 Vespas were sold in the first year, 2001, and over 7,000 in 2002.
But the Vespa isn't just a market phenomenon. It forms part of social history. In the "Dolce Vita" years the Vespa became a synonym for scooter, foreign reporters described Italy as "the country of the Vespa" and the Vespa's role in social history, not just in Italy but abroad, can be seen from its presence in hundreds of films. And it's a story that continues to be told today.
Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in "Roman Holiday " were only the first of a long series of international actors and actresses to be seen on the world's most famous scooter in a filmography that goes from "Quadrophenia" to "American Graffiti", from "The Talented Mr. Ripley" to "102 Dalmatians", not to mention "Dear Diary ".
In photo shoots, films and on the set, the Vespa has been a "travel companion" for names like Raquel Welch, Ursula Andress, Geraldine Chaplin, Joan Collins, Jayne Mansfield, Virna Lisi, Milla Jovovich, Marcello Mastroianni, Charlton Heston, John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Gary Cooper, Anthony Perkins, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Nanni Moretti, Sting, Antonio Banderas, Matt Damon, Gérard Depardieu, Jude Law, Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson.


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I'm self-taught and I don't have a CS degree. The more I've been learning about data structure, the more I wonder, in this day and age, how are we still saddled with the filesystem, with directories and files, as the basic data storage structure on the OS?
I understand the simplicity of it, but it seems nowadays that there could be more options available natively. As far as I'm aware, the only project to improve the basic functionality of the filesystem was ReiserFS, where you could tell what line of a file was changed by whom, and when.
For instance, if I could have native tagging for files, where I could tag images, diagrams, word-processing documents, an entire code repository, all as belonging to a single project, that would really be helpful to me. Since I'm stuck in the filesystem paradigm, I know that I could put all those into a single folder/directory, but what if they already exist in disparate directories, and they need to stay there? I know there are programs out there that can do this, but why aren't they on the filesystem?
Something that would be nice to have is some kind of relational feature in the filesystem, like you get with RDBMSes. I understand that that was supposed to be part of Vista/7, but that fell off the feature list too.
Sure, any program can store a binary file and have any data structure it wants in it, by why couldn't the OS offer more complex ways of storing data, beyond the simple heirarchy of the filesystem?

subset: commoncrawl


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Like a bold kaleidoscopic dream from paradise, our latest #POPsurf collection is here and ready for statement making moments on the beaches this Summer.
Striking sunset hues with washed-out watercolours are complimented by classic navy and touches of gold to catch your eye and catch the sun. This collection will have you making waves and turning heads in your favorite surf-ready pieces, including bikinis in a light neoprene, to cropped wetsuit jackets and daring printed one pieces, all inspired by the style and attitude of our athletes and made with top technology so you will be ready to charge.
Explore the full collection here, but first Join Steph, Monyca, Bruna and Kelia in this clip from their most recent surf adventure through the Seychelles.
Bruna wears the Pop Surf Sleeveless One Piece Swimsuit
Monyca wears the Pop Surf Mini Bikini Bottoms
Monyca wears the Pop Surf Light Neoprene Tri Bikini Top and Pop Surf Mini Bikini Bottoms
Shop the Hazy Beach Towel
Bruna wears the Higher Ground Crew Neck Sweater and carries the Sun Crush Neoprene Tote Bag
SHOP the full collection here


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Horizon Zero Dawn - "Being smart will count for nothing if you don't make the world better."
Player Shot
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Government seeking to end NHS pensions row
The government is set to change pensions rules as it aims to end a row with NHS doctors.
Doctors have recently been refusing overtime shifts after being hit with 'punitive tax bills' following changes to the amount that can be accrued tax-free. In a joint statement from the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Treasury, ministers said that new rules would allow NHS employees to scale down their pension contributions in order to avoid breaching the annual tax-free allowance. The annual allowance was reduced from £255,000 a year in 2010/11 to £40,000 from 2014/15 onwards.
The pensions row has been linked to a rise in waiting times for routine surgery caused by doctors' refusal to work beyond normal hours.
Commenting on the issue, Chancellor Sajid Javid said: 'The government is committed to ensuring that British people see a real difference in public services, getting quicker GP appointments and a reduction in waiting times.
'Critical to that is introducing flexibility into the system so that our hospitals have the staff they need to deliver high-quality patient care, which is why we've listened to concerns and will be reviewing the operation of the tapered annual allowance.'
The government intends to publish a consultation on the matter shortly, with a view to introducing the changes from April. To help resolve the problem in the short-term, the government has also promised to allow doctors to opt out from the pension scheme for this financial year.


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Many companies are dangerously exposed to threats like the recently revealed Mask Advanced Persistent Threat because they don't properly manage the Secure Shell (SSH) cryptographic keys used to authenticate access to critical internal systems and services.
A Ponemon Institute survey of more than 2,100 systems administrators at Global 2000 companies discovered that three out of four enterprises are vulnerable to root-level attacks against their systems because of their failure to secure SSH keys.
Even though more than half of the surveyed enterprises had suffered SSH-key related compromises, 53% said they still had no centralized control over the keys and 60% said they had no way to detect new keys introduced in the organizations. About 46% said they never change or rotate SSH keys -- even though the keys never expire.
Those findings reveal a significant gap in enterprise security controls, said Larry Ponemon, founder and CEO of the Ponemon Institute. "It's hard to believe that companies allow themselves to be so insecure," he said. "This doesn't appear to be a situation where this vulnerability has to even be a vulnerability."
SSH keys allow administrators to remotely login to and operate a system via a secure encrypted tunnel. Administrators use such keys to authenticate access to critical database systems, application servers, cloud systems and security systems. SSH keys are also used to authenticate machines running automated processes and services and to protect data in transit.
SSH keys never expire, meaning that once a key is used to authenticate access to a system, the same key can be used in perpetuity unless it is changed. A hacker who acquires an unsecured SSH key can use it to gain access to the server or service to which it is attached and then use that access to try and find more keys for jumping on to other systems in a network.
Because SSH keys provide administrator-level, fully encrypted access to enterprise systems, any compromise of the keys could allow an attacker to gain complete control of a system while they remain hidden from view.
SSH uses an encryption key pair to enable a secure connection between two systems. One key is for the server and the other for the client device that wants access to the server. An organization might have numerous SSH keys with access to a single server.
Large enterprises can have tens of thousands of SSH keys on their network -- most of which are poorly managed, said Kevin Bocek, vice president of product marketing and threat research at security vendor Venafi, which commissioned the Ponemon survey.
Companies often have little knowledge about the presence of such keys on their networks and therefore do little to manage them.
"SSH is really critical as a root-level access [tool]," Bocek said. "It is an encrypted channel that goes around traditional host protections."
By stealing SSH keys, attackers like those behind The Mask APT can impersonate admins, snoop around and take complete control of a target's network without being detected, he said. There are signs that National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden might have used SSH keys or a similar digital certificate to access and steal documents without being detected, he said.
Systems administrators typically introduce SSH keys into an environment with little awareness of how the keys can be misused, Bocek said. Though IT security teams at some organizations have attempted to gain control over key management, many enterprises still leave the task to the administrators, he said.
In the Ponemon survey, about 74% of the respondents said they allow administrators to independently control and manage SSH keys. As a result, enterprise security teams often have very little visibility into the scale of the problem and even less information about how to manage it.
To get a handle on the problem, enterprises must figure out where SSH is in use and how many keys might be floating about on their networks. They then need to find a way to correlate the keys back to the appropriate servers, evaluate whether they're needed and put in place a process for automatically changing keys.
Jaikumar Vijayan covers data security and privacy issues, financial services security and e-voting for Computerworld. Follow Jaikumar on Twitter at @jaivijayan or subscribe to Jaikumar's RSS feed. His e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.com.
See more by Jaikumar Vijayan on Computerworld.com.
Read more about malware and vulnerabilities in Computerworld's Malware and Vulnerabilities Topic Center.


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No one wants to deal with the mess and smell that comes from a clogged sewer line. There are faster options that may work in the short term in unclogging your drains but they are still far behind when Hydro Jetting is applied. Hydro Jetting provides a temporary and potent fix to your sewer line issues. Hydro Jetting is an invasive procedure that frees your drains of every sediments, clogging and messy build-up that dates back into years.
How Is Hydro Jetting Done?
Hair, tree roots and grease are usually culprits that blocks your sewer line. Our professionals usually recommend hydro jetting when other methods such as snaking with an auger seems to be ineffective. Hydro Jetting is done by pumping streams of pressurized water into the sewer line. Let's say between 3,000 PSI to 8,000 PSI. of course, there's no debris or obstruction that can withstand this pressure without giving way.
Hydro Jetting is a long-lasting solution that targets more than just the suspected clogs, it also reach out for even those unknown within your sewer line.
When Should You Consider Hydro Jetting?
Only professionals can decide whether hydro jetting is the best option to fix the messy situation. But usually, hydro jetting is inevitable when the following has been considered;
1. When every other option has been tried and exhausted. For instance, snaking with an auger.
2. After the strength of your sewer line is certified strong enough to withstand the extreme pressure. Hydro jetting will never be utilized on old, weak and fragile pipes.
3. A thorough inspection of the sewer lines which is able to trace the problem and recommend that hydro jetting is the best of the available alternatives.
Hydro Jetting isn't for the novice as they are likely to cause more damage. This is why you should reach out to our professionals with years of experience in carrying out hydro jetting.


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Many people I talk to claim that there cannot be a living prophet. They cite Revelation 22:18-19 claiming that the words there speak for the entire Bible. Certainly it wasn't compiled until after the Revelation was written (sometime around the Council of Carthage). Also, a similar verse is found Deut. 4:2.
In the history of the Bible, there are plenty of times where there was no prophet on the earth and then a new one was called. For example:
- Joseph of Egypt (about 1800 BC) and Moses (about 1550 BC)
- Malachi (433 BC) - John the Baptist/Christ (30 AD)
Also, Amos 3:7 says that God will do nothing unless he tells his prophets.
This gives evidence that God calls prophets, but does not necessarily prove anything.
Are there any passages in the Bible that say a prophet couldn't/won't be chosen by God today?
Some sects believe that God calls prophets today (Restorationist):
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
- Iglesia ni Cristo
- Catholicism (the Pope, kinda)


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Spotted taking a stroll down the red carpet were Toni Braxton and Babyface, who many feel were a bit too close for comfort considering Babyface has a wife and kids. But they clearly have an album to promote, so let the chatter begin.
[WATCH: "Hurt Me' – Toni Braxton & Babyface (Official Video)]
So here's my list of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from the Soul Train Awards Red Carpet:
The Good: Vivica Fox, Ashanti, Chaka Khan (who looks dayum good for her age!) and Ruben Studdard (who dropped a ton of weight since his divorce).
The Bad: ?Jennifer Hudson look very uncomfortable in her itty bitty mini and?Lil Mama's entire ensemble! ?And to think, I gave her so much credit for those Derek Blanks images I posted yesterday!
[READ: Derek Blanks Shoots Lil Mama (PHOTOS)]
The Ugly: I'll let y'all decide? 😯
Others spotted on the carpet: The Braxton sisters (Towanda, Trina and Traci), Faith Evans, Keisha Knight Pulliam, Chrisette Michelle, Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick, Eric Benet, Bobby V, ?Keith Sweat, Ruben Studdard, Nicole Ari Parker and Boris Kodjoe & More.
Photos from the 2013 Soul Train Awards red carpet below… Continue Reading…


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Marset is a Spanish lighting company which was established in 1942 as a metal foundry, before concentrating on illumination in 1965. A long experience with molding metal gave the company a strong base for experimenting with different lamp designs, and over the years, Marset has become famous for its interesting and unique lighting effects.
Today, Marset aims to discover new nuances of light and create atmospheric and timeless designs with modern techniques. One of the best known designs of the brand is the FollowMe lamp, which won the Red Dot Award in 2016.
Christophe Mathieu
Hamburg, Germany, 1961
His name is French and he was born in Germany, but his Spanish accent points to the Canary Islands, where he grew up. He reached Barcelona in the mid-1980's to finish his degree in interior design. Soon afterward he headed to Milan, where he discovered industrial design collaborating with the architect Marco Zanuso jr. in the development of products for companies such as De Padova, Menphis and Driade; the architects Roberto Menghi y Giulio Crespi; the industrial designer Sergio Coppola and the architect Antonio Zanuso in the prize-winning project for the Piazza della Republica. His time in Milan had a profound effect on him.


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(visited by graham mason and elma mason)
10-Jul-2001 -- I had visited the area where this confluence is about 2 years ago and knew that there was a good road that went within a couple of kilometres of the spot, but I had a map that said there was a track to the west that went much closer.
On getting to a spot about 12 km due south I found that the track was on private property. Chatting to Nick, the son of the owner, I got permission to travel over 11.5 km (7 miles) due north on their property and then we walked about 400 metres east to the spot.
This area is pure white sand and although it has fairly good rainfall none of the soil is suitable for tilling. It is part of a sheep station and most of the native vegetation was cleared many years ago.


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On this date in 1591, Agnes Sampson, the "Wise Wife of Keith", went to the stake at Edinburgh during the North Berwick Witch Trials.
Perhaps Scotland's most notorious witch hunt, the 1590-1591 sweep caught up something approaching 70 supposed sorcerers thanks to the king's security panic after dangerous North Sea storms had beset the sea voyages uniting King James VI of Scotland and his new wife Queen Anne of Denmark. An inquisition in Denmark had made witches the culprit, and the young James — amusingly described by one commenter as "a superstitious and distrustful poltroon"* — opened an inquiry of his own as soon as he returned to native heather. His subsequent obsession with witchcraft is one of the signal characteristics of his reign, immortalized in literature via Shakespeare's Macbeth.
James turned 24 in the summer of 1590, his short life already buffeted by fratricidal court politics (his mother, Mary Queen of Scots, lost her head; the regents who subsequently jostled over control of James had a frightening tendency to violent death). However misplaced upon magicians, his fear was well-founded; James's cousin Lord Bothwell, himself escaped from arrest during the North Berwick scare, openly plotted against James throughout the early 1590s — one occasion coming "with fire to the king's door, with hammers to the queen's door" and on another surprising him in a vulnerable position during his morning toilet, causing the king to exclaim, "Came they to seek his life? let them take it — they would not get his soul."
Peril to life and soul everywhere stretched into James's world from the world beyond. "Our enemie is over craftie, and we over weake," James would write in his remarkable 1597 disquisition on black magic, Daemonologie: Satan's earthly minions so mighty that "They can rayse stormes and tempestes in the aire, either upon Sea or land."
In an illustration from Daemonologie, James personally interrogates witches.
A woman named Geillis Duncan, maid to the deputy mayor of a small town near Edinburgh, was the fountainhead of the the North Berwick trials, when her suspicious master tortured her into admitting to witchcraft. King James personally joined the ensuing interrogations which saw her denounce several dozen Edinburghers as fellow necromancers, among them our day's principal — a matronly widow named Agnes Sampson, who was a respected "wise woman" and folk healer much in demand among Edinburgh's elites.
In Duncan's involuntary narration, this woman "was the elder Witch" and when she "stood stiffely in the deniall of all that was laide to her charge" they dragged her to prison and put her to torture, also shaving her hairless in search of the inevitable small disfigurement that would be prejudicially construed her witches' mark — "and forasmuch as by due examination of witchcraft and witches in Scotland, it hath latelye beene found that the Deuill dooth generallye marke them with a priuie marke, by reason the Witches haue confessed themselues, that the Diuell dooth lick them with his tung in some priuy part of their bodie, before hee dooth receiue them to be his seruants, which marke commonly is giuen them vnder the haire in some part of their bodye."
We're quoting here the 1591 pamphlet Newes from Scotland, one of the key primary sources (and justifications) of the witch trials which was issued from a pen very near to the king's own hand. Having endured the cruel torture of having her hair wrenched ("thrawn") by ropes for an hour, Newes from Scotland reports, Sampson broke down when an incriminating wart was discovered upon her bared pudenda.
the said Agnis Tompson confessed that the Divell being then at North Barrick Kerke attending their comming in the habit or likenes of a man, and seeing that they tarried over long, he at their comming enjoyned them all to a pennance, which was, that they should kisse his Buttockes, in signe of duetye to him: which being put over the Pulpit barre, everye one did as he had enjoyned them: and having made his ungodly exhortations, wherein he did greatlye enveighe against the King of Scotland, he received their oathes for their good and true service towards him, and departed: which doone, they returned to Sea, and so home againe.
At which time the witches demaunded of the Divel why he did beare such hatred to the King, who answered, by reason the King is the greatest enemy he hath in the worlde: all which their confessions and depositions are still extant upon record.
Item, the saide Agnis Sampson confessed before the Kings Majestie sundrye thinges which were so miraculous and strange, as that his Maiestie saide they were all extreame lyars, wherat she answered, she would not wishe his Maiestie to suppose her woords to be false, but rather to beleeve them, in that she would discover such matter unto him as his majestie should not any way doubt off.
And therupon taking his Majestie a little aside, she declared unto him the verye woordes which passed betweene the Kings Majestie and his Queene at Upslo in Norway the first night of their mariage, with their answere eache to other: whereat the Kinges Majestie wondered greatlye, and swore by the living God, that he beleeved that all the Divels in hell could not have discovered the same: acknowledging her woords to be most true, and therefore gave the more credit to the rest which is before declared.
One can see the work this tract — circulated as its title implies in England, where James was already being set up to inherit rule from the aging Queen Elizabeth — effects as propaganda: James as "the greatest enemy [the Devil] hath in the worlde"; James as the savvy and thorough interrogator too worldly to be taken by Agnes Sampson's crazy stories until she proved them with a conveniently unfalsifiable private conference. Definitely no superstitious poltroon! Why, it was only by his superlative faith that James earned the divine favor required to overcome his adversaries' weather machinations.
She confessed that she tooke a blacke Toade, and did hang the same up by the heeles, three daies, and collected and gathered the venome as it dropped and fell from it in an Oister shell, and kept the same venome close covered, untill she should obtaine any parte or peece of foule linnen cloth, that had appertained to the Kings Majestie, as shirt, handkercher, napkin or any other thing which she practised to obtaine by meanes of one John Kers, who being attendant in his Majesties Chamber, desired him for olde acquaintance betweene them, to helpe her to one or a peece of such a cloth as is aforesaide, which thing the said John Kers denyed to helpe her too, saying he could not help her too it.
And the said Agnis Tompson** by her depositions since her apprehension saith, that if she had obtained any one peece of linnen cloth which the King had worne and fouled, she had bewitched him to death, and put him to such extraordinary paines, as if he had beene lying upon sharp thornes and endes of Needles.
Moreover she confessed that at the time when his Majestie was in Denmarke, she being accompanied with the parties before specially named, tooke a Cat and christened it, and afterward bound to each parte of that Cat, the cheefest partes of a dead man, and severall joynts of his bodie, and that in the night following the saide Cat was conveied into the midst of the sea by all these witches sayling in their riddles or Cities as is aforesaide, and so left the saide Cat right before the Towne of Lieth in Scotland: this doone, there did arise such a tempest in the Sea, as a greater hath not beene scene: which tempest was the cause of the perrishing of a Boate or vessell comming over from the towne of Brunt Iland to the towne of Lieth, wherein was sundrye Jewelles and riche giftes, which should have been presented to the now Queen of Scotland, at her Majesties comming to Lieth.
Againe it is confessed, that the said christened Cat was the cause that the Kinges Majesties Ship at his comming foorth of Denmarke, had a contrary winde to the rest of his Ships, then being in his companye, which thing was most strange and true, as the Kings Majestie acknowledgeth, for when the rest of the Shippes had a faire and good winde, then was the winde contrarye and altogither against his Majestie: and further the saide witche declared, that his Majestie had never come safelye from the Sea, if his faith had not prevailed above their ententions.
Moreouer the said Witches being demaunded how the Divell would use them when he was in their company, they confessed that when the Divell did receive them for his servants, and that they had vowed themselues unto him, then he would Carnallye use them, albeit to their little pleasure, in respect of his colde nature: and would doo the like at sundry other times.
The History of Witchcraft podcast does a deep dive on the North Berwick trials in episode 9 which indulges detail (from about 25:40) on the logistics of witch-burning executions. This episode is part of a whole series on witchy King James that also compasses episodes 7, 8, and 10.
* Ray Defalque and A.J Wright, "In the Name of God: Why Agnes Sampson and Eufame McCalyean were burned at the stake" in Bulletin of Anesthesia History, July 2004. The interest in the case from this unusual-to-Executed Today source is that the charges against Sampson included those of witcherous midwifery, to wit, "remov[ing] Lady Hirmestone's pain and sickness the night of her labor" and doing the same for Eufame McCalyean. As a result, "several authors have suggested that obstetrical analgesia started in Edinburgh in 1591," an interpretation that Defalque and Wright, both anesthesiologists, reject.
** Newes from Scotland puts this part of the confession into the mouth of a more historically elusive woman called "Agnis Thompson": many scholars believe that Sampson and Thompson are the same person.
On this day..
- 1932: Jose Feliciano Ama, Izalco indigenous peasant - 2020
- 1886: The leadership of the Proletariat Party - 2019
- 1820: The slaves Ephraim and Sam, "awful dispensation of justice" - 2017
- 1573: Lippold ben Chluchim, scapegoat - 2016
- 1989: Teng Xingshan, butcher - 2015
- 1820: Not Stephen Boorn, saved by newsprint - 2014
- 1656: Joris Fonteyn, anatomized and painted - 2013
- 1697: John Fenwick, bitter - 2012
- 1829: William Burke, eponymous body-snatcher - 2011
- Themed Set: The Medical Gaze - 2011
- 2010: Five for the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - 2010
- 1953: Derek Bentley, controversially - 2009
- 1853: Nicholas Saul and William Howlett, teenage New York gangsters - 2008


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text: SystemStart Contents Synopsis Description Changing This Parameter See Also Allow custom routines during instance startup. Synopsis [Startup] SystemStart=n n is either 1 (true) or 0 (false). The default value is 1. Description When SystemStart is enabled (n = 1), InterSystems IRIS® data platform executes the SYSTEM^%ZSTART routine entry at instance startup. When this parameter is not enabled, the routine is not executed. Changing This Parameter On the Startup page of the Management Portal (System Administration > Configuration > Additional Settings > Startup), in the SystemStart row, select Edit. Select SystemStart to enable this setting.Instead of using the Management Portal, you can change SystemStart in the Config.StartupOpens in a new tab class (as described in the class reference) or by editing the CPF in a text editor (as described in Editing the Active CPF). See Also ProcessStart and ProcessHalt correspond to foreground processes. These are processes that are started via a terminal session or are specifically set to run in the foreground. JobStart and JobHalt correspond to background processes. This includes any processes that are started via the JOB command, plus any background server processes including ODBC or any of the object bindings. SystemStart and SystemHalt correspond to InterSystems IRIS instance startup or shutdown.CallinStart and CallinHalt correspond to external programs performing a CALLIN.For more information about all these parameters, see Customizing Start and Stop Behavior with ^%ZSTART and ^%ZSTOP.


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Last week's discussion on Online MDivs ("Online MDivs in Dispute") yielded lots of discussion on the merits of online v. classroom education. Read the comments, you won't be disappointed!
But in an update, it seems that the GBHEM has stepped back its ruling and allowed MDivs to be 2/3 online (it was 1/3 as of their last ruling).
I take personal credit in that we had a 200% jump in hits from Nashville, TN (home to GBHEM) since the publication of that blog post:
OK, probably not.
For more info, Joel @ Unsettled Christianity has the posted statement from GBHEM:
Having carefully considered these matters, the University Senate resolves that:
1. All United Methodist seminaries and Asbury Theological Seminary be allowed to offer two-thirds of the Master of Divinity degree online, with one third of the degree required to be in residence.
2. The only "online courses" allowed to count toward a degree for a candidate seeking ordination in The United Methodist Church be offered by one of the 13 official United Methodist seminaries and Asbury Theological Seminary.
3. The Senate reconfirms its June 2010 decision to require that all official transcripts of University Senate Approved Schools identify the courses that are taken online. For this purpose, the term "online courses" includes those that offer some instruction on campus.
4. Effective January 2011, few if any additional seminaries will be invited to join the list of non-UMC schools approved for the education of those seeking ordination in the UMC.
5. All non-UMC schools currently approved for education of UMC candidates for ordination must continue to meet the "Criteria for Evaluating Non-United Methodist Schools of Theology" contained in Appendix B of The University Senate: Organization, Policies, and Guidelines. A necessary means of fulfilling these criteria includes either (a) having at least one full-time UMC faculty member with a Ph.D. or Th.D. employed on a long-term contract teaching the course(s) in UMC history and doctrine, (b) or partnering with a United Methodist seminary to offer the required courses in history, doctrine, and polity. This policy will take effect in August 2012 and will be applied as schools are regularly reviewed.
A few thoughts:
- 2/3 online seems about right to accommodate rural and non-relocating students. Both United and Iliff's current progams will be fine.
- Hybrid courses (which are mostly online but have some on-site instruction) are considered to be "online classes." A technical detail but will impact the way how Seminaries describe classes. If they are predominantly online, they are online classes…period! Seems like all the face-to-face will have to be week intensives or Winter/Summer classes.
- Unrelated, but it's sad to me that we say "All UM Seminaries and Asbury" in this document all the time. Sad both in that Asbury has such dominance in our seminarian crop that we *have* to pay attention to it, and that our denomination in the past didn't just take them in under their wing and place the same requirements on Asbury that the rest of them were on. Forcing accountability back then coulda gone a long way to fixing our current predicament, and none of the solutions (ie. MEF vouchers to students rather than seminaries) would bring theological accountability to Asbury either. Sigh.
So, there you have it: 2/3 of an MDiv can be done online or in hybrid classes. What do you say?


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Insider can't give to charities. He doesn't have enough money. By the time the governments (that's plural) finish taking his money, there's little excess left. If the governments (that's plural) would back off (fat chance), he would happily donate what he could to causes he honestly believes in. The first on his list would be Coastal Hospice. It's the one charity that is truly there when it is needed. Its cause is hopeless for the end is predictable. The death sentence has been pronounced and Coastal Hospice is there to share with you the last few months or weeks. Insider would never give to those charities where the people running it make hundreds of thousands of dollars that should be used to help people. You know about all those. They are the ones on TV asking for money all the time. The Humane Society would be near the top of the list because dogs and cats are people too. Also, the Salvation Army because they are always there when needed. They provide something for young people and families who may not have any other options. There are other worthy causes (many unworthy), but they just don't make the old guy's list.
The key to living a long, healthy, peaceful life to the Insider is avoiding court and hospital appearances at all cost. The stress involved with these shaves years off.
The old guy dropped his health insurance 10 years before he was eligible for the federal government's version and nothing happened. He really didn't end his insurance payments, he simply stopped sending them to the insurance company and put the $900 every three months in the bank-marked medical account. When the government took over his health career, his bank balance totaled $22,000. Before, he had one of those $3,000 deductible policies, which meant that he would pay the first $3,000 of every hospital stay. Insider recalls it being referred to as "catastrophe insurance." His first hospital visit totaled $2,800, which he had to pay out of pocket, after mailing his regular insurance payment. His second stay totaled $3,103, of which the insurance guy dutifully paid $103, and he had to dig deep for the balance. Insider figures he saved himself a lot of money by playing the insurance gamble. He figured he would roll the dice and see if he got lucky. It seems Insider did because he made it on to the federal government's policy without any catastrophes. As luck would have it, two months after being put on the fed's dime, he had an Angina attack and was in the hospital for two weeks. The old guy is sure that came to much more than $3,000.


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Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Yes, Ryan Seacrest has a New Year's resolution for 2013: improve his skill at dancing.
"There's a Significant Other in my life who's very good at it," he notes. That would be professional dancer Julianne Hough, a two-time champ on "Dancing with the Stars" in whose proximity "I feel the pressure to be as good as she is. It sounds like a joke, but this is a serious thing for me to accomplish next year."
So add dancing lessons to the long list of projects that keep Seacrest famously fast on his feet. His numerous broadcast gigs include roles on E! Entertainment and NBC, a syndicated morning radio show for Clear Channel, as well as "American Idol," whose new season starts next month on Fox. Behind the cameras, he has a swiftly expanding production empire that includes the Kardashian portfolio of reality shows.
But as Monday nears, Seacrest is focused on this annual rite: "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest," which, with related programming, will blanket ABC from 8 p.m. until past 2 a.m. EST.
Booking musical acts has been in the works for months, Seacrest says. Performers include Carly Rae Jepsen, Neon Trees, Flo Rida and Pitbull, as well as Taylor Swift, in the headliner position just before midnight.
But Friday afternoon in Manhattan, Seacrest is soon due at a production meeting "to work out the nitty-gritty of the show _ some of which we will stick to, some of which we won't."
Already he has appeared on "Good Morning America," then headed to the rooftop of One Times Square, where the huge crystal ball was poised for its flashy descent, along with half-a-dozen TV teams queued up to tape interviews with him.
An hour later, at ABC's Upper West Side headquarters, Seacrest has shed his top coat and taken a break to reflect on Monday's extravaganza. This will be his eighth New Year's Eve turn for ABC. But it's his first since Clark's death last April at age 82.
Clark, of course, originated "New Year's Rockin' Eve" four decades ago. And it is Clark on "Rockin' Eve" who gave Seacrest as a youngster his earliest memories of ringing in each new year.
"I'd like to say I can imagine how it's going to feel, but I'm not quite sure," says Seacrest. "I looked forward so much to each year that I did the show with him."
Seacrest recalls how typically he would be posted outside overlooking Times Square, while Clark, who had suffered a stroke in 2004, made brief appearances from indoors.
"Then, right after midnight, I would run inside and stand next to him, and he always has some funny, clever thing to make fun of me about," says Seacrest, unwittingly speaking in the present tense. "I think I will really miss that moment this year."
The night will begin with a two-hour tribute, "New Year's Rockin' Eve Celebrates Dick Clark," hosted by Fergie and Jenny McCarthy.
Then Seacrest takes over for the countdown show at 10 p.m. EST.
"I definitely will say something about him, and it will be from the heart," Seacrest promises. "But the night will be, as he would want, a celebration of what's to come: Dick was always one to say, `The show must go on.'"
That clearly resonates for the man who claims Clark as his mentor.
Seacrest, who marked his 38th birthday on Christmas Eve, grew up in Atlanta loving music and dreaming of a career in broadcasting.
From childhood, he was a student of Dick Clark, who in the 1950s had pioneered melding music, youth and TV on a show he called "American Bandstand."
"I loved the perception that people came together to hang out and be introduced to new music," Seacrest says. "Dick was brilliant at making everyone feel at home and comfortable, and never getting in the way. That's the key."
That became the key for Seacrest, who, today, is among the most accomplished at doing what he does. But just what does he do?
"At the doctor's office where it says Occupation,' I always have trouble knowing what to write in that box," he says with a laugh. "I usually put
Host.' I enjoy bringing pop-culture moments and events to an audience, introducing the country to a promising new act or sitting down with an artist who has had a big hit.
"I like being the host of a party. I never feel like I need to be the star of it. Just host."
Seacrest wangled a shift on an Atlanta radio station when he was still in high school. So, from the start, he was live on the air, "and I felt comfortable when things didn't always go as planned. I didn't realize how valuable that would be until later, when I was standing on the `American Idol' stage."
Populated with jittery contestants and volatile judges, "Idol" counts on Seacrest to keep everything on track.
And he does _ even when a problem pops up of his own making.
"I remember a results show when we were down to the final two contestants," he says, "and I realized I didn't have the results card with me. I'd gone offstage during a commercial and set it down. So while I'm standing there with those two contestants, I thought to myself, `How am I gonna leave this shot, get that card and get back, without everybody seeing it?'
"In a split second, I decided the only way was to ask Randy (Jackson) at the judges' panel a question, knowing they would cut to a shot of him _ I figured he would give a longer answer than Simon (Cowell) _ and I'd have time to jump to the side, grab the card and sprint back."
It worked. No viewer was the wiser.
"Idol" returns January 16, and earlier this month Seacrest was busy as the show completed shooting contestants in Los Angeles, with winners of that round set to move on to the live competition.
At the same time, he tends a growing crop of productions and other business ventures, with some 50 people in his employ.
"I put as many hours into that as I do in all the shows that I'm hosting," he says. "Production is hard work, but fulfilling. That entrepreneurial spirit is a great lesson I learned from Dick," whose dick clark productions established him not just as an entertainment personality, but as a media mogul. "If he wasn't on the air, Dick was in his office working hard."
But does Seacrest ever feel like he's taking on too much?
"Only some mornings," he replies, with a look of mock-weariness. "But then I'll be somewhere watching something and thinking, `Gosh, I want to be part of that. I feel like I'm missing that party.' I wouldn't want to be home watching New Year's Eve! I want to be bringing it to YOU!"
EDITOR'S NOTE _ Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore(at)ap.org and at http://www.twitter.com/tvfrazier
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


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Source: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
ANNAND, WILLIAM, farmer, politician, publisher, and businessman; b. 10 April 1808 at Halifax, N.S., son of William Annand and Jane Russell; m. first 19 Nov. 1830 Emily Cuff of Halifax, and they had two sons; m. secondly, in January 1834, Martha Tupper of Stewiacke, N.S., and they had four sons and five daughters; d. 12 Oct. 1887 in London, England.
William Annand's father, a Presbyterian from Banffshire, Scotland, immigrated in the mid 1780s to Halifax where he achieved modest success as a merchant. Annand Sr died in 1824 leaving to his two sons, William and James, an estate valued at £7,000. Dispatched to Scotland for further education, the Annand brothers returned to Nova Scotia in the late 1820s intent on becoming gentlemen farmers. They brought a "number of well bred cattle" with them to the several hundred acres of land they had inherited from their father in the upper Musquodoboit River valley. Although not initially profitable, their farm, with its "very handsome and commodious house . . . furnished in very excellent style," gave the Annands the rank of country squires.
Anxious to lay claim to a formal leadership role in community affairs, William in 1836 rallied support among his neighbours and secured nomination to a seat in the assembly. His candidacy had radical overtones, since the Musquodoboit area had traditionally been represented by members of the Halifax business and professional élite. Annand's challenge to convention was underscored when he issued an election card pledging to work for such reforms as assembly control over all public revenue, curtailment of official salaries, improvement of rural roads, and "a more efficient School system . . . [so] that the advantages of education may be extended to all classes of the community." By articulating rural alienation against the prevailing urban-commercial oligarchy, Annand became part of the reform movement then taking shape in Nova Scotia under the leadership of Joseph Howe*. Once elected, Annand rarely spoke in debates, but, by dutifully following Howe's lead, he consolidated his reputation as a Reformer. In 1843, however, he conspicuously called for an end to public financial grants to Nova Scotia's sectarian colleges in favour of establishing a single, non-denominational institution of higher education. The scheme died amidst sectional and sectarian rivalries, but by polarizing public opinion his proposals contributed to the disintegration of the coalition government led by Howe and James William Johnston*, thereby hurrying the coming of responsible government.
Annand was dumped from the Reform ticket in 1843 in favour of Laurence O'Connor Doyle*, a representative of Halifax's Irish Roman Catholic community, but in compensation Howe offered him a loan to buy and be editor of the Novascotian, Halifax's most widely read weekly newspaper. Annand's entry into publishing satisfied his personal ambition and relieved the domestic pressures caused by his second wife's desire to leave Musquodoboit and "play the lady instead of the farmer's wife," in Howe's words. Within a year Annand founded the Morning Chronicle, a penny tri-weekly, while continuing the Novascotian. Reinforced by Howe's occasional services as editor, Annand's papers championed the cause of responsible government. In 1851, three years after the overthrow of oligarchy, he re-entered the assembly as member for Halifax County. Inside the house he acquired the nickname "Boots" for his unswerving loyalty to Howe through the various party realignments precipitated by railway and religious issues. Impeded by a "poor and thin" speaking voice and a "halting" oratorical style, Annand was nevertheless considered "an industrious committee man." His loyalty was rewarded in 1854 with the lucrative post of queen's printer. Although he lost the appointment in 1857 after ethnic and denominational feuding had brought the Conservatives to power, he retained his seat in the assembly. When the Liberals regained power in 1860 Annand's seniority in the party and friendship with Howe secured him the post of financial secretary.
By this time political opponents were describing Annand as a "slick, oily" individual who had been elevated to a position beyond his ability by obsequious loyalty to his party superiors. Circumstantial evidence confirms that Annand had attained only second-rank status in Halifax society. Although elected vice-president of the prestigious North British Society, he never attained the presidency nor did he appear as a director of other philanthropic or business organizations in the capital. Nevertheless, as proprietor of the Morning Chronicle, a daily by 1864, and as a ratepayer occupying premises valued at £1,800 in 1862, Annand was firmly established within Halifax's middle class. His political position proved to be less secure. In 1862 controversy erupted when Charles Tupper*, de facto leader of the Conservative party, disclosed that Annand had been speculating in land, allegedly in an effort to fleece British investors anxious to acquire gold mines in Nova Scotia. Although fraud could not be proven against Annand, the incident contributed to the defeat of the Liberal government in the general election of 1863. Paradoxically, Annand retained his seat and was able to establish himself as a leading figure among the small band of Liberals who survived the election.
In the autumn of 1864 Annand returned from a business trip to England to find Nova Scotia alive with controversy over the attempt by Tupper and several other members of the province's political and business élite to carry Nova Scotia into a British North American political union. The Morning Chronicle had come out in favour of union, but its editor, Jonathan McCully*, had acted on his own initiative. After a brief period of hesitation, Annand declared himself opposed to the federation scheme worked out at Quebec. Speaking at a public rally held at Halifax in December 1864, Annand declared that, while he favoured Maritime union, "the time for the consummation of the larger scheme had not arrived." This announcement was followed by McCully's dismissal from the paper and the publication of Howe's "Botheration" letters which maintained that only traitors and fools could advocate Nova Scotia's union with Canada.
Despite having established himself as a leading anti-confederate in the assembly debates in early 1865, events over the next few months suggested that Annand's opposition to colonial union lacked total conviction. With Howe temporarily absent from Nova Scotia and the imperial government exerting strong pressure to win converts to confederation, Annand began to equivocate. After an interview with the colonial secretary in London in the summer of 1865 he was convinced that the imperial authorities would "use every means in their power, short of [physical] coercion" to implement confederation. Significantly, Annand's return to Halifax was followed by the appearance of editorials in the Morning Chronicle proposing another intercolonial conference to work out revised terms of union. He later rationalized this seeming endorsement of the principle of union by insisting that his editorials had been written "in the hope that the delegates would not agree when they met, and, even if they did, that the question would be referred to the people for their ultimate approval." Many contemporaries concluded, however, that ambition had prompted Annand to edge toward union once its achievement became probable.
Before the 1866 session Annand again urged his anti-confederate allies to support a new conference on colonial union, but he remained evasive as to whether his ultimate objective was pure obstructionism or the negotiation of better terms. In all probability, Annand had not yet made up his mind. Under the circumstances his indecision proved disastrous for the anti-confederate forces. A number of assemblymen, anxious to curry favour with the ascendant unionist forces, bypassed Annand to make independent deals with the Tupper government. By the time the house convened Annand commanded no more than a weak minority and was powerless to defeat Tupper's pro-confederation resolution in April 1866 or to shape the Nova Scotian delegation sent to London to negotiate the final terms of union.
When Howe returned to Halifax in March 1866 he immediately supplanted Annand as anti-confederate leader and set about organizing a mass protest against Tupper's legislative coup. A delegation headed by Howe and including Annand went to London in July 1866 to lobby against Nova Scotia's inclusion in confederation. While in London Annand contributed a pamphlet to the anti-confederate cause, and then after the passage of the British North America Act in March 1867 returned home in May to lead a final but futile struggle against Tupper on the floor of the assembly. Annand declared that he had resolved to "dedicate the remaining years of my life" to the goal of extracting Nova Scotia from the "hateful and obnoxious" union. As an active campaigner in the joint federal and provincial elections held in September 1867, Annand could claim a measure of credit for the massive repudiation of the unionists at the polls. In March 1868 he and Howe were in London to protest Nova Scotia's inclusion in confederation. The imperial government's refusal to countenance more than minor revisions to the BNA Act plunged the anti-confederate movement into divisive debate, and launched Annand into the most controversial phase of his political career.
Although he had been defeated by Tupper in the September 1867 federal election in Cumberland, Annand was given a seat in Nova Scotia's appointed Legislative Council. With Howe removed to the federal scene, Annand became provincial treasurer and took command of the anti-confederate provincial administration. But leadership over a motley collection of ex-Liberals and ex-Conservatives, including such strong-minded individuals as Attorney General Martin Isaac Wilkins, presented Annand with a major challenge. Temperamentally incapable of more than cautious manipulation to maintain unity among his tempestuous followers, the new premier prudently avoided taking bold initiatives on controversial issues. Thus, when the anti-confederates met at Halifax in the summer of 1868 to plot future. strategy, Annand let Howe speak first. Howe recommended negotiations with the Canadians for better terms, but Annand, fearing a revolt among his assembly supporters if he abandoned repeal, declared himself opposed to compromise. Simultaneously, however, the premier sought a "backstairs" interview with Sir John A. Macdonald* to ascertain what terms Nova Scotia might secure from the Ottawa government.
Late in 1868 Annand announced that his administration would petition Britain's new Liberal government to grant Nova Scotia release from confederation. At the same time he told Howe that should the petition fail, he would "go for annexation" with the United States. The prevailing atmosphere of diplomatic and military tension gave this empty boast sinister implications. Howe emotionally repudiated Annand and with Archibald Woodbury McLelan began negotiations for better terms with the federal government. Confronted by Howe's action, the provincial cabinet shifted course and pressed for inclusion of one of its members in the talks. Both Howe and Macdonald refused to allow provincial participation, and in January 1869 Nova Scotia was granted a modest increase in her financial subsidy from the federal treasury and Howe agreed to enter Macdonald's cabinet.
Rocked by Howe's defection and the simultaneous rejection of repeal by the imperial government, the Nova Scotia government sought retaliation. When Howe entered a by-election in Hants County to confirm his acceptance of federal executive office, Annand engineered a savage campaign designed to destroy the career of his lifelong associate. Howe's victory, combined with detailed revelations of what one contemporary described as Annand's "insincerity and wavering imbecility of purpose" might have been expected to demolish the premier's public reputation. He clung to office, however, extending his political career for another five years by identifying himself with the Nova Scotian majority which was reluctant to accept confederation.
Following the débâcle in Hants, the provincial executive placated their more extreme followers with defiant reaffirmations of the repeal cause. Rhetoric aside, however, Annand remained content to work within the existing constitutional framework, seeking greater autonomy for Nova Scotia, an expanded federal subsidy, greater Maritime representation in the House of Commons, and provincial nomination of senators. Ignored by Macdonald, the Nova Scotia government retaliated by disenfranchising federal employees and refusing to surrender possession of a new government building in Halifax. While frivolous, these gestures gave Annand the appearance of being a champion of provincial rights. In 1871, campaigning as the "Nova Scotia Party," his government secured re-election, albeit with a sharply reduced majority. During the federal election of 1872 the Annand government supported Alexander Mackenzie*'s Ontario-based Liberal party. The Morning Chronicle said this tactic would punish unionist "traitors" and help elect a party that would provide "moderately good government for the Dominion while we remain part of it." After the revelations of the "Pacific Scandal" brought Mackenzie to power in 1873, Annand's administration dropped talk of repeal and began stressing how Nova Scotia would profit from a close alliance with the new national government.
Annand's political metamorphosis was dictated more by considerations of expediency than principle. As public enthusiasm for the anti-confederate cause declined, the Nova Scotia government manœuvred to find alternate means of legitimizing its existence. Annand decided that his political survival required a commitment to resource development. Accordingly, his government in 1872 inaugurated a policy of subsidizing the construction of branch railways throughout the province. But a scarcity of private investment capital and regional demands for railway service hampered the programme and threatened to bring down Annand's government. By allying himself with Mackenzie's administration, Annand hoped to receive federal assistance for Nova Scotia's railways. In December 1874 he went to the electorate with a pledge of "immediate construction" of a line from New Glasgow to the Strait of Canso. Seemingly victorious at the polls, the government saw its majority dissolve after the federal government declared it would cooperate only in the construction of a railway reaching into the Cape Breton coal fields. This announcement devastated the province's development strategy since private contractors willing to build the longer line could not be found.
The collapse of his railway programme, persistent though unsubstantiated rumours of personal speculation in mining and railway stocks at the public expense, and his refusal to seek election to the assembly damaged Annand's position. Late in 1874, Philip Carteret Hill*, former leader of the anti-Annand forces in the assembly, joined the administration and in May 1875 replaced Annand as premier. Annand was appointed Canada's agent general in London, a post with little prestige which he was forced to vacate when Mackenzie's government was defeated in 1878. Annand continued to live in London and served as Nova Scotia's agent until his death in 1887.
William Annand possessed neither outstanding ability nor great depth of character. After leading an essentially prosaic business and political career, the confederation crisis gave him a leadership responsibility he could not discharge successfully. In his hands, the anti-confederate movement deteriorated into a parochial defence of the status quo and then expired amidst cynical inertia. Despite a remarkably long tenure as premier, Annand left no lasting imprint on provincial affairs and was remembered only as a mediocrity who lived in exciting times.
William Annand was the author of Confederation: a letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Carnarvon, principal secretary of state for the colonies (London, 1866), and editor of The speeches and public letters of the Hon. Joseph Howe (2v., Boston, 1858).
Halifax County Court of Probate (Halifax), A42 (original estate papers of William Annand Sr) (mfm. at PANS). Halifax County Registry of Deeds (Halifax), Deeds, 59, 65 (mfm. at PANS). PAC, MG 24, B29. PANS, MG 4, 48 (St Matthew's Church, Halifax), baptisms; RG 1, 203, 203a, 203b; RG 2, sect.2, 7, 1869–71; RG 32, 149–50; RG 35 A, 4. "[Four letters to William Garvie]," PANS Report (Halifax), 1948, app.C: 35–56. "Howe-Annand correspondence," PANS Report, 1957, app.C: 21–36. N.S., House of Assembly, Debates and proc., 1855–75; Journal and proc., 1836–75; Legislative Council, Debates and proc., 1875; Statutes, 1867–75. Acadian Recorder, 1824, 1851, 1856, 1859–60. British Colonist (Halifax), 1851, 1854–55, 1859, 1869–73. Christian Messenger (Halifax), 1843. Evening Express (Halifax), 1859, 1865. Halifax Evening Reporter, 1865, 1874. Morning Chronicle (Halifax), 1844–75, 1887, 1909. Morning Herald (Halifax), 1875, 1877, 1887. Novascotian, 1836–43. Times (Halifax), 1843. Unionist and Halifax Journal, 1865. Belcher's farmer's almanack, 1860–65. Directory of N.S. MLAs. R. J. Long, Nova Scotia authors and their work, a bibliography of the province (East Orange, N.J., 1918). North British Soc., Annals, North British Society, Halifax, Nova Scotia, with portraits and biographical notes, 1768–1903, comp. J. S. Macdonald ([3rd ed.], Halifax, 1905). Standard dict. of Canadian biog. (Roberts and Tunnell). Creighton, Road to confederation. G. M. Haliburton, "A history of railways in Nova Scotia" (ma thesis, Dalhousie Univ., Halifax, 1955). K. G. Pryke, "Nova Scotia and confederation, 1864–1870" (phd thesis, Duke Univ., Durham, N.C., 1962). E. M. Saunders, Three premiers of Nova Scotia: the Hon. J. W. Johnstone, the Hon. Joseph Howe, the Hon. Charles Tupper, M.D., C.B. (Toronto, 1909). Waite, Life and times of confederation. Marguerite Woodworth, History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway ([Kentville, N.S.], 1936). L. J. Burpee, "Joseph Howe and the anti-confederation league," RSC Trans., 3rd ser., 10 (1916–17), sect.ii: 409–73. [Benjamin] Russell, "Reminiscences of a legislature," Dalhousie Rev., 3 (1923–24): 5–16.
© 1982–2024 University of Toronto/Université Laval
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Cite This Article
David A. Sutherland, "ANNAND, WILLIAM," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 11, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed February 29, 2024, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/annand_william_11E.html.
The citation above shows the format for footnotes and endnotes according to the Chicago manual of style (16th edition). Information to be used in other citation formats:
Permalink: | http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/annand_william_11E.html |
Author of Article: | David A. Sutherland |
Title of Article: | ANNAND, WILLIAM |
Publication Name: | Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 11 |
Publisher: | University of Toronto/Université Laval |
Year of publication: | 1982 |
Year of revision: | 1982 |
Access Date: | February 29, 2024 |


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(This post will remain at the top of this page until August 25, 2009. Scroll down for new content)
Well, it's that time of year again. The 2009 Edmonton Fringe Festival starts today. Just like I did in 2007, I will make up an aggregator of all the fringe play reviews I write this year. Last year, readers may recall I didn't go at all [readers will also remember that several 2007 Fringe reviews are now two years late being filed. -ed].
So here is the main page for the 2009 Edmonton Fringe Theatre Festival. And remember, I don't mention the plays I go to until a day or two [or 730+! -ed] after I attend, but when deciding fringe plays, I have one hard and fast rule:
The Reviews:
Day #1: Noncomittal, Kreskinned.
Day #2: Seven Lives of Louis Riel, Space, George Orwell is Not My Real Name, Incorruptible
Day #3: Doom 2012: When Will You Flee?, Lysistrata
Day #4: For the Love of a Zombie
Day #5: Never Trust a Naked Marriage Counsellor
Day #6:Bashir Lazhar
Day #7:G-Men
Day #10:Full of Sound and Fury, Captain Hook vs. The Zombies
Day #11:Inviting Desire, Manners For Men
Extra Fringe Material:


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Wine on the Web – A RePrint from Spokane CDA Magazine
I remember the first time I heard a song I wrote on the radio…it really is like that scene in "That Thing You Do." While the song never went anywhere, it sure was magical to hear the invisible airwaves crackle with life as it carried the notes off in the breeze. Equally cool is seeing your name in print. Lately, I've had the joy of being mentioned in two newspaper articles and two TV spots. The newspaper articles focused on events I was sponsoring and the TV spots were about social media privacy and HR5034.
When Spokane Coeur d'Alene Living magazine writer, Kristen Harrington called to say she wanted to feature my blog in the Liquid Libations section of an upcoming issue I didn't dance around screaming but I was pretty damn happy! I've been a long time reader of the magazine and love the local focus on food, wine, real estate, homes and history. To be included is an awesome honor. Not all of their articles are available online, so I got permission from the editor to re-post the story. Show them some love by going to their web site and reading a few other posts. If you like it, by all means subscribe!
The following is an excerpt from the June 2010 issue of Spokane Coeur d'Alene Living Magazine by Kristen Harrington
"I'm a champion and an advocate of the Spokane wine scene," says Josh Wade, the mastermind behind DrinkNectar.com, which he describes as an online interactive outpouring of his passions for wine and coffee. The website contains wine and coffee reviews, video interviews with local winemakers and a calendar of local wine events.
Wade, who blogs under the moniker "drinknectar," combines a sophisticated, engaging writing style with witty prose that will likely inspire you to uncork a bottle of local chardonnay or head out to the latest coffee bar he's reviewing. "
I never intended this to be where it is. I thought my mom and sister would read it," says Wade, who started blogging about wine and coffee last November. Now wineries send him wines to review, he gets invited to winery-sponsored functions and he has over 2,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter. "It shows the power of social media," he says.
Wade is almost as passionate about social media as he is about the 2006 Nodland Cellars Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. He encourages Washington winemakers to use the social media sites Facebook and Twitter to promote their wines, and DrinkNectar.com includes tutorials on how to use these sites.
See the full PDF article
Fun scene from "That Thing You Do"
6 comments on "Wine on the Web – A RePrint from Spokane CDA Magazine"
Brian Josh, this just goes to show you how cool you are! You're like my personal wine blog rock star!
Cheers Brother!
norcalwingman -
Tamara Belgard Yeah, you're a definitely a champion. So cool!! Hope you remember us little folk!
Dee Looney Pretty cool reading your name in print ;0) You'll have to branch on out here to VA and try/review some of our wine! Love ya! Dee


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Golf Gazette: Peconic's own '$6 million man' has a smooth swing
Some of you out there, probably mostly baby-boomers, may remember the television show from the mid 1970s starring Lee Majors, "The Six Million Dollar Man." Majors played a former astronaut, Steve Austin, who was injured in an accident and had to have many parts of his body replaced or repaired. Austin, with his newly reconstructed bionic body, went from adventure to adventure in the weekly series.
Well folks, I have discovered the North Fork's very own bionic man. Our guy is 66 years old, lives in Peconic and has worked at many trades during his life. He has jumped horses at Madison Square Garden, been a race-car driver, farmer, welder, school bus driver and sports coach.
Our Six Million Dollar Man (probably around 30 million of today's devalued dollars) had hip problems as a child and was on crutches. He was involved in an accident in 1976 where he lost his leg (it was reattached), lost part of his thumb, broke his ribs and fractured his shoulder. He had a blood disorder and had to have his spleen removed. He has had six "minor" surgeries, as he calls them, having his knees, hips and shoulder replaced.
And just who is our bionic man? If you've ever taken a golf lesson through the Southold Town Recreation Department, he is the smiling guy with the infectious laugh.
Tom McGunnigle has been giving golf lessons to young and old for over two decades. "I've had everything replaced and I'm not quite as nimble as I used to be," McGunnigle said.
He could have fooled me. I recently went up to the McGunnigle farm in Peconic to take in one of his weekly golf sessions and witnessed a sweet, smooth swing from instructor McGunnigle.
Tom McGunnigle began coaching in 1987 when he took over Southold High School's bowling team. "I was farming potatoes at the time, which were selling for two cents a pound and I needed some additional income," he said. "I was a good bowler, so I applied for the job of Southold High School's bowling coach."
In 1989 McGunnigle also became Southold's golf and softball coach.
McGunnigle took up golf after his 1976 accident. "I wanted to get some exercise so I took up golf and joined Island's End," he said.
McGunnigle became club champion at Island's End and has the distinction of driving the greens on the first and second holes, back to back. He is modestly proud of his feat of taking four shots to get from the clubhouse to Long Island Sound.
Like most things he has done, McGunnigle's golfing skills are self-taught. "My kids will tell you I analyze everything to death," he said. "My wife says I don't have fun doing anything because I over-analyze things, but that's my way of having fun."
In the late '90s, the Southold Town Recreation Department approached McGunnigle about offering golf classes in the adult education program. With space being limited on the Southold school grounds, McGunnigle offered a chunk of his farm to serve as the practice facility. "After working out the insurance details, we began the lessons at my farm," he said.
Getting to Tom's practice facility is an adventure in itself. Located off the North Road in Peconic, you navigate your way down the dirt driveway with it's twists and turns, drive past a few barns and voilà, McGunnigle magically appears before you. Acres of land complete with yardage flag sticks, sand traps and a ball-retrieving tractor. More on the tractor later.
McGunnigle offers a series of six lessons beginning with his belly-button drill. He moves onto the triangle and wrist break theories. Then it's time for his hip high to hip high swing approach. Bubba Watson and John Daly did not attend that session. He finishes up with putting, chipping and bunker play.
One student, Sandy Rave of Peconic, said: "He makes it simple and doesn't complicate things. And it doesn't matter how old you are. He's very knowledgeable."
Back to the ball-retrieving tractor. McGunnigle's state of the art, high-tech ball picker-upper is a 1952 Farmall tractor. This little baby runs and performs as well as its owner operates his golf clinics.
Asked what he likes best about teaching golf, McGunnigle answered: "I get the most satisfaction when a student takes it in and asks the right questions. That I love."


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Even the LES bar managers are sick of it. Says one, "When I'm walking down the street I don't like to be blocked by 20 girls in kitten heels who have never been in the neighborhood and who are screaming." [TLD]
Miss Heather confronts a WPIX blog poacher on camera--hilarity ensues. [NYS]
What is the oldest building in the Village? [GVSHP]
Learn about the next major demolition at Astor Place. [EVG]
Where to get your $40 underpants on the LES. [BB]
This weekend, don't forget the Howl Fest. [EVC]
Friday, June 3, 2011
2 comments:
- Queens Crapper said...
Too bad Miss Heather didn't get poached; she was given credit for first reporting the story. Mocker always gives props to bloggers. He also didn't use the footage of the guy she called a possible drug addict on her blog and didn't make the people of Greenpoint look like morons.
Wrong fight to pick. - June 3, 2011 at 7:19 AM
- esquared™ said...
dudes in brown flip-flops, dudes in brown flip-flops, holy crap all those dudes in brown flip-flops...
- June 5, 2011 at 7:56 PM
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FIDE approves new rules for the chess olympiads
FIDE Executive Board approved, in its recent meeting in Antalya, Turkey, new rules for the Chess Olympiads, which will come into effect at the 2008 Dresden Olympiad. As there are many significant changes, FIDE draws the attention of national federations to ensure that they and their players are acquainted with the new rules before they attend the Olympiad.
After 50 years (until 1974) of playing the Chess Olympiads under the round-robin system (mostly with preliminaries and finals), FIDE adopted (from 1976) the Swiss System. Mr. Almog Burstein, Chairman of the Technical Administration Panel, introduces the main important changes.
The changes at the Chess Olympiads
1. The number of boards in each match in the Women's Olympiad was increased from 3 to 4; the number of reserve players in the Open Olympiad was reduced from 2 to 1. That means that all teams in both olympiads will be composed of four players and one reserve.
2. The number of rounds was reduced to 11 (instead of 13-14 rounds in previous Olympiads).
3. In the first round, two `imaginary` match points shall be added, for pairing purposes only, to each of the teams in the top half of the initial list. That means that in an Olympiad with 120 teams, the pairings for the first round will be 1-31, 2-32, 3-33 … 29-59, 30-60 and then 61-91, 62-92, 63-93 etc. (instead of 1-61, 2-62, 3-63 etc. in previous Olympiads).
4. In the second round, the winning teams in the top half will play with one another (i.e. 1-16, 2-17 etc.), the losing teams in the bottom half will play with one another (i.e. 91-106, 92-107), while the losing teams in the top half will play against the winning teams in the bottom half! (i.e. 31-61, 32-62, 33-63 etc.). This way we `save` one round which is very important towards the end of the Olympiad. The `imaginary` points shall be deducted before making the pairings for the third round.
5. The final standing shall be determined by match points (instead of game points). That means that the winning team in each match (by game result of 2.5:1.5, 3:1, 3.5:0.5 or 4:0) gets 2 match points while its opponent gets no match points. In case of a draw (game result of 2:2) each team gets one match point.
6. The position of teams that finish with the same number of match points shall be determined by the Sonnenborn-Berger system which is the sum of the match points of all opponents, excluding the opponent who scored the lowest number of match points, while each opponent's match score is multiplied by the team's game result against this opponent. The idea behind this new rule is to combine, in the first procedure of the tie breaking, both the strength of the opponents and the number of game points scored against each one of them. The more game points scored against stronger opponents, the better for the team. This way we also give the teams a substantial incentive to win as many game points as possible in each match and not to be satisfied with the minimal win of 2.5:1.5. The exclusion of the weakest opponent is made in order to neutralize the effect of non played matches on the final results.
7. If Sonnenborn-Berger does not break the tie, the next tie-breaking procedures are: (b = Buchholz) by the sum of the match scores of all the team's opponents, excluding the opponent who scored the lowest number of match points; and (c) by the sum of the game points scored.
8. The standing after each round, according to the procedure explained in points 5-7 above, is also the basis for the pairings of each next round.
Sources: fide.com


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Campagnolo Record Rear Derailleur
Campagnolo's Record Rear Derailleur is the ultimate in shifting accuracy and precision. Its arresting beauty is entwined with the highest technical precision available. Campagnolo uses an advanced-parallelogram design for precise, fast shifting every time. The construction pairs carbon and cold-forged aluminum to create an ultra strong and extremely light derailleur. Plus, the pulleys roll on super-efficient ceramic bearings and are made from a special material that renders the drivetrain silent.
- Drivetrain speeds: 11
- Chain wrap capacity: 34 teeth
- Min/Max: 11/29 teeth
- Cage length: Short
- Compatibility: Only compatible with 2015 Campagnolo Chorus, Record, and Super Record
- Weight: 170g
Part Numbers
Option | UPC | MPN | Store SKU |
Carbon | 8056734286588 | RD15-RE1 | CAM25648540N |


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Coinciding with the scheduled Zune.net maintenance today, a new Zune software update was also released (version 22.214.171.124 for those playing along at home). What might appear as just a regular software update is actually hiding a very big secret. The elusive "Zune Phone" is pretty much confirmed.
As some of you might know, an .INF file is essential component of a driver package responsible for identifying the driver and associating it with compatible USB hardware IDs, and in this case, the Zune.inf file is responsible for associating devices with the Zune driver.
New to this version of the driver which was actually generated on October 20, 2009 are several lines which pretty much speak for themselves.
%Zune.DeviceDesc% = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB\MS_COMP_MTPZ
%Zune.DeviceDesc% = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB\VID_045E&PID_0710
%Zune.DeviceDesc% = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB\VID_045E&PID_063E
%Phone.DeviceDesc% = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB\VID_045E&PID_0640
%Phone.DeviceDesc% = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB\VID_045E&PID_0641
%Phone.DeviceDesc% = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB\VID_045E&PID_0642
%ZuneIp.DeviceDesc% = ZuneMTPZIP, umb\urn:microsoft-com:device:mtpz:1; Localizable strings
Msft = "Microsoft"
Zune.DeviceDesc = "Zune"
Phone.DeviceDesc = "Phone"
Moreover, just as how the current three generation Zunes are represented by three different IDs, there are three unique class IDs and specifically Product IDs (PID) that identify three potential "Zune Phone" models (not storage capacities) off the bat. My bet is that they're not just capacity variants (since various Zune capacities are all grouped under the same PID), but three actual hardware SKUs.
A timely coincidence before Mobile World Congress? I think not.
Update: Whilst it is possible there might be system-wide Zune integration into Windows Mobile 7, this particular driver references specific hardware IDs that are locked to a vendor (Microsoft) and product which under USB body regulations cannot be masked, thus this has to be Microsoft devices. "Pink" anyone?