why are iowa and new hampshire so important in the election process

The New Hampshire primary is the first in a series of nationwide party primary elections and the second party contest (the first being the Iowa Caucuses) held in the United States every four years as part of the process of choosing the delegates to the Democratic and Republican national conventions which choose the party nominees for the presidential elections to be held the subsequent November. Although only a few delegates are chosen in the New Hampshire primary, its real importance comes from the massive media coverage it receives (along with the first caucus in Iowa). Spurred by the events of the 1968 election, reforms that began with the 1972 election elevated the two states' importance to the overall election,[1][2] and began to receive as much media attention as all other state contests combined.[3] Examples of this extraordinary coverage have been seen on the campuses of Dartmouth College and Saint Anselm College, as the colleges have held multiple national debates and have attracted media outlets like NPR, Fox News, CNN, NBC, and ABC. The publicity and momentum can be enormous from a decisive win by a frontrunner, or better-than-expected result in the New Hampshire primary. The upset or weak showing by a front-runner changes the calculus of national politics in a matter of hours, as happened in 1952 (D), 1968 (D), 1980 (R), and 2008 (D).

New Hampshire primary

Since 1952, the primary has been a major testing ground for candidates for both the Republican and Democratic nominations. Candidates who do poorly frequently drop out, while lesser-known, underfunded candidates who do well in New Hampshire suddenly become serious contenders, garnering large amounts of media attention and campaign funding.

It is not a closed primary, in which votes can be cast in a party primary only by people registered with that party, in that state. Undeclared voters—those not registered with any party—can vote in either party primary. However, it does not meet a common definition of an open primary, because people registered as Republican or Democratic on voting day cannot cast ballots in the primary of the other party.[4]

New Hampshire state law[5] stipulates that the presidential primary shall be on the second Tuesday in March (the date when town meetings and non-partisan municipal elections are traditionally held), but that the Secretary of State can change the date to ensure that the New Hampshire primary will take place at least seven days before any "similar election" in any other state. The Iowa caucuses are not considered to be a similar election. In recent election cycles, the New Hampshire primary has taken place the week after the Iowa caucus.

The community of Dixville Notch traditionally opens its polling place in the ballroom of The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel at midnight, usually in front of a crowd of journalists, where the village's handful of voters cast their ballots before the polls close about less than ten minutes later.[6] This has led many presidential candidates to visit the area before the New Hampshire primary in hopes of securing an early-morning boost.[7]

New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary status was threatened in 2007, when both the Republican and Democratic National Committees moved to give more populous states a bigger influence in the presidential race.[8]

Several states also sought to move up the dates of their 2008 primaries in order to have more influence and dilute the power of the New Hampshire primary.[9] Originally held in March, the date of the New Hampshire primary has been moved up repeatedly to maintain its status as first. The 2008 primary was held on January 8.

There is consensus among scholars and pundits that the New Hampshire primary, because of the timing and the vast media attention, can have a great impact and may even make, break or revive a candidate.[10] Controlling for other factors statistically, a win in New Hampshire increases a candidate's share of the final primary count in all states by 27 percentage points.[11]

Since 1977, New Hampshire has fought hard to keep its timing as the first primary (while Iowa has the first caucus a few days sooner). State law requires that its primary must be the first in the nation (it had been the first by tradition since 1920).[12] As a result, the state has moved its primary earlier in the year to remain the first. The primary was held on the following dates: 1952-1968, second Tuesday in March; 1972, first Tuesday in March; 1976–1984, fourth Tuesday in February; 1988–1996, third Tuesday in February; 2000, first Tuesday in February (February 1); 2004, fourth Tuesday in January (January 27). The shifts have been to compete with changing primary dates in other states. The primary dates for 2008 (January 8) and 2012 (January 10) continued the trend - they were held the second Tuesday in January both years.

Before the Iowa caucus first received national attention in the 1970s (Republicans began caucusing in Iowa in 1976), the New Hampshire primary was the first binding indication of which presidential candidate would receive the party nomination. In defense of their primary, voters of New Hampshire have tended to downplay the importance of the Iowa caucus. "The people of Iowa pick corn, the people of New Hampshire pick presidents," said then-Governor John H. Sununu in 1988.[13]

Since then, the primary has been considered an early measurement of the national attitude toward the candidates for nomination. Unlike a caucus, the primary measures the number of votes each candidate received directly, rather than through precinct delegates. The popular vote gives lesser-known candidates a chance to demonstrate their appeal to the electorate at large.

Unlike most other states, New Hampshire permits voters who have not declared their party affiliation to vote in a party's primary. A voter does have to officially join a specific political party before voting; however, the voter can change his or her affiliation back to "Undeclared" immediately after voting, and hence he or she only has to belong to a party for the few minutes it takes to fill out and cast a ballot. Voters who are already registered members of a political party cannot change their affiliation at the polling place; that can only be done before the checklist is closed several weeks prior to the election. New voters can, however, register at the polling place.[4] All voting is done with paper ballots; however, most of the paper ballots are counted by machine.

New Hampshire's status as the first in the nation is somewhat controversial among Democrats because the ethnic makeup of the state is not diverse and not representative of the country's voters.[14] This is shown in the 2010 Census data, with the percentage of minority residents being nearly five times smaller than the national average (New Hampshire is 92% non-Hispanic white, versus 64% nationally).[15] Politically however, the state does offer a wide sampling of different types of voters. Although it is a New England state, it is not as liberal as some of its neighbors. For example, according to one exit poll, of those who participated in the 2004 Democratic primary, 4-in-10 voters were independents, and just over 50% said they considered themselves "liberal". Additionally, as of 2002, 25.6% of New Hampshire residents are registered Democrats and 36.7% are Republicans, with 37.7% of New Hampshire voters registered as "undeclared" independents. Also, New Hampshire was the only state in the Northeast to vote for George W. Bush in 2000. This plurality of independents is a major reason why New Hampshire is considered a swing state in general U.S. presidential elections.

Recently, media expectations for the New Hampshire primary have come to be almost as important as the results themselves; meeting or beating expectations can provide a candidate with national attention, often leading to an infusion of donations to a campaign that has spent most of its reserves. For example, in 1992, Bill Clinton, although he did not win, did surprisingly well, with his team dubbing him the "Comeback Kid"; the extra media attention helped his campaign's visibility in later primaries.[16]

New Hampshire's political importance as the first-in-the-nation primary state is highlighted in the documentary film Winning New Hampshire. The film focuses on John Kerry's comeback in 2004 and the decisive effect of the New Hampshire primary on the presidential selection process.

The most recent presidential election winner, Donald Trump, won the New Hampshire primary, while the three before that (Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama) finished second in the New Hampshire primary before later being elected to the presidency, and the previous four before that won the New Hampshire primary.

New Hampshire has held a presidential primary since 1916, but it did not begin to assume its current importance until 1952. This was after the state simplified its ballot access laws in 1949 seeking to boost voter turnout. Dwight D. Eisenhower demonstrated his broad voter appeal by defeating Robert A. Taft, "Mr. Republican", who had been favored for the nomination, and Estes Kefauver defeated incumbent President Harry S. Truman, leading Truman to abandon his campaign for a second term of his own. The other president to be forced out of the running for re-election by New Hampshire voters was Lyndon Johnson, who, as a write-in candidate, managed only a 49-42 percent victory over Eugene McCarthy in 1968 (and won fewer delegates than McCarthy), and consequently withdrew from the race.[17]

The winner in New Hampshire has not always gone on to win their party's nomination, as demonstrated by Republicans Leonard Wood in 1920, Harold Stassen in 1948[citation needed], Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. as a write-in candidate in 1964, Pat Buchanan in 1996, and John McCain in 2000, and Democrats Estes Kefauver in 1952 and 1956, Paul Tsongas in 1992, Hillary Clinton in 2008, and Bernie Sanders in 2016..[citation needed]

From 1952 to 1988, the person elected president had always carried the primary, but Bill Clinton broke the pattern in 1992, as did George W. Bush in 2000, and Barack Obama in 2008. In 1992, Clinton lost to Paul Tsongas in New Hampshire; in 2000, George W. Bush lost to John McCain in New Hampshire; and in 2008 Barack Obama lost to Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary.[citation needed]

In November 1967, McCarthy declared, "there comes a time when an honorable man simply has to raise the flag" to gauge the country's response and conduct a candidacy for the presidency of the United States by entering the New Hampshire Democratic primary. On March 12, 1968, McCarthy, who was the only candidate on the ballot, came within 7 percentage points of defeating President Lyndon Johnson, a write-in candidate who was technically still exploring his candidacy and had not bothered to file. Just a few days later, on March 16, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy announced he was entering the race for President. Johnson subsequently withdrew from the election with this Shermanesque statement: "I shall not seek, and will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president."[citation needed]

One minor candidate in the Republican primary was William W. Evans, Jr., a former New Jersey State Assemblyman, who received just 151 votes statewide.[18]

The 1968 New Hampshire Democratic primary was one of the crucial events in the politics of that landmark year in United States history. Senator Eugene McCarthy began his campaign with a poem that he wrote in imitation of the poet Robert Lowell, "Are you running with me Jesus":

I'm not matching my stride
With Billy Graham's by the Clyde
I'm not going for distance
With the Senator's persistence
I'm not trying to win a race
even at George Romney's pace.
I'm an existential runner,
Indifferent to space
I'm running here in place...
Are you with me Jesus?[19]

Bill Clinton was able to declare himself the "Comeback Kid" after posting a surprise second-place finish behind Paul Tsongas in the Democratic primary. Clinton's support had been flagging for weeks since being hit by allegations of infidelity with actress Gennifer Flowers. On the Republican side, Pat Buchanan garnered an unexpected 37% showing behind incumbent President George H. W. Bush. Buchanan did not win a single state, but revealed some doubts about the moderate president among conservative voters.[citation needed]

George W. Bush's campaign, which for months had dominated in polling, money and endorsements on the Republican side, suffered a blow when John McCain, who had been surging in late polls, ended up beating the governor in the Granite State by more than 18 points. The result forecast a tough two-man race for the GOP nomination, which would carry on until Super Tuesday in March. Al Gore helped himself with a narrow win in the Democratic primary, which somewhat assuaged his supporters' concerns about Bill Bradley's insurgent campaign.[citation needed]

Hillary Clinton managed an upset win over Barack Obama in New Hampshire, despite polls showing her as much as 13 points behind in the run-up to the vote.[20] The win helped Clinton get back some of the momentum she lost the week before when Obama carried the Iowa caucusesâ€”though Obama did eventually win the Democratic nomination. John McCain won the Republican primary, sparking an unexpected comeback for the senator whose long-shot campaign had been written off as a lost cause months before.[citation needed] He went on to win the GOP nomination.

Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton by 22 points. Sanders claimed 151,584 votes in total, earning him 15 delegates, while Clinton managed 95,252 votes with 9 delegates.[21] Together with Donald Trump's double-digit win in the GOP race, the primary results revealed voter frustrations with mainstream "establishment" politicians.[22]

Notes: Winner is listed first. Candidates in bold went on to win their party's nomination.

* - write-in candidate

* - write-in candidate

A Vice-Presidential preference primary was also formerly held at the New Hampshire primary. New Hampshire State Senator Jack Barnes, who won the 2008 Republican contest, co-sponsored a bill in 2009 which would eliminate the Vice Presidential preference ballot. The bill passed both houses of the state legislature and took effect in 2012.[68]

The only time a non-incumbent won the Vice Presidential primary and then went on to be formally nominated by his or her party was in 2004, when Democratic U.S. Senator John Edwards won as a write-in candidate. Edwards, who was running for President at the time, did not actively solicit Vice Presidential votes.

In 1968, the sitting Vice President Hubert Humphrey won the Democratic Vice Presidential primary, and then later won the Presidential nomination after the sitting President Lyndon B. Johnson dropped out of the race.

The following candidates received the greatest number of votes at each election.

* - write-in candidate

Sources: New Hampshire Department of State, New Hampshire Political Library


who won golden ball in euro cup 2016

The Golden Boot award goes to the top goalscorer of each edition of the UEFA European Championship.

UEFA European Championship awards

At the end of each UEFA European Championship tournament, several awards are attributed to the players and teams which have distinguished from the rest, in different aspects of the game.

There are currently five post-tournament awards, and one given during the tourney:[1]

The Player of the Tournament award is presented to the best player at each edition of the UEFA European Championship since 1996.

If there is more than one player with the same number of goals, since 2008 the tie-breaker goes to the player who has contributed the most assists. If there is still more than one player, the tie-breaker since goes to the player who has played the least amount of time.

The Young Player of the Tournament award is presented to the best player in the tournament who is at most 22 years old. For the UEFA Euro 2016, this meant that the player had to have been born on or after 1 January 1994. The award was first given out in 2016.

The Man of the Match award picks the outstanding player in every game of the tournament since 1996.

Total awardsAs of 10 July 2016

The Team of the Tournament is a team of the best performers at each respective UEFA European Championship edition. From 1960 until 1992, only 11 players were chosen. In 1996, this was increased to 18 players, and in 2000 it was increased to 22 players. From 2004 until 2012, 23 players were chosen. In 2016, the format was changed back to 11 players.[4]

In June 2016, ahead of UEFA Euro 2016 in France, UEFA published an All-time Euro XI; the winning team was chosen based on votes cast on EURO2016.com and Twitter. The application featured the 50 players who have made the greatest impact at EURO final tournaments. Nominees had to meet at least two of the following four criteria:[10]


how far is brownsville tx from mcallen tx

McAllen is 238 miles (383 km) south of San Antonio, 148 miles (238 km) southeast of Laredo, 60 miles (97 km) northwest of Brownsville, and 150 miles (240 km) northeast of Monterrey.

McAllen, Texas

McAllen is the largest city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States, and the twenty-second most populous city in Texas. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley. The city limits extend south to the Rio Grande, across from the Mexican city of Reynosa, and McAllen is approximately 70 miles (110 km) west of the Gulf of Mexico. As of 2017, McAllen’s population was estimated to be 142,696.[3] It is the fifth most populous metropolitan area in the state of Texas, and the bi-national Reynosa–McAllen Metropolitan Area counts a population of nearly 1.5 million.[4]

From its settlement in 1904, the area around McAllen was largely rural and agricultural in character. But the latter half of the 20th century saw steady growth, which the metropolitan area still experiences today. The introduction of the maquiladora economy and the North American Free Trade Association led to an increase in cross-border trading with Mexico.[5]

In 1904 the Hidalgo and San Miguel Extension (now the Sam Fordyce Branch) of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway reached the Santa Anita Ranch. John McAllen and his son James donated land to the railroad to guarantee it would cross the area. On December 5, 1904, the McAllen Townsite Company was formed by Uriah Lott, Leonidas C. Hill Sr., John McAllen, James Ballí McAllen, and John J. Young. The new community, which was named for John McAllen, had the depot nearest the county seat, Hidalgo, 8 miles (13 km) to the south.

By 1911, 5,000 acres (2,000Â ha) were under cultivation in East McAllen, with produce consisting of cotton, alfalfa, broom corn, citrus fruits, grapes, and figs. East McAllen had an estimated population of 1,000 that year, and West McAllen had ceased to exist. In 1911 the town applied for and was issued a charter of incorporation under the name McAllen. In 1916, 20,000 New York state troops were stationed at McAllen to help quell border disturbances. The resulting economic boom increased the population from 1,200 in 1916 to 6,000 in 1920.[6]

McAllen adopted a home rule charter in 1927. Canning factories, a winery, tortilla plants, wood-working plants, and some oil exploration increased the population to 9,074 by 1930. In 1936 Hiram Garner opened the Valley Distillery, Incorporated, which produced wines from citrus juices. The town was a petroleum and farm chemurgic center with a population of 11,877 in 1940, by which time it had adopted the nickname "The City of Palms". In 1941, a suspension bridge replaced the old bridge from Hidalgo to Reynosa in Tamaulipas; the new toll bridge was purchased by McAllen and was named the McAllen–Hidalgo–Reynosa International Bridge. Its construction resulted in increased tourist trade, making McAllen a winter resort and port of entry to Mexico. The discovery of oil in the Reynosa area in 1947 resulted in a large migration of people from the Mexican interior, constituting a new tourist market and cheap labor supply for McAllen. The sister cities were linked as a result of the increased traffic between them. The population of McAllen was 20,005 in 1950 and 32,728 in 1960. The McAllen–Hidalgo–Reynosa International Bridge was the number-two port of entry into Mexico in 1954.[7]

McAllen was an agricultural, oil, and tourist center in 1970, when the population reached 37,636. By the start of the 1970s, McAllen had a 200-bed hospital and a new air-conditioned high school, the first school in the nation featuring on-site power generated by natural-gas-powered turbines. The tourism industry continued to expand as people traveled to the area from both Mexico and the northern United States. The population continued to grow steadily through the 1970s, and reached 66,281 by 1980. During the late 1980s the McAllen Foreign Trade Zone was an important general-purpose foreign trade zone.[8] At the time, McAllen's main industries were retail, tourism and farming, and each was in trouble. The devaluation of the Mexican peso in the 1980s put a damper on cross-border shopping; local tourism was down because of the recession. In 1983 a freeze took out much of the valley's citrus crop.

In the mid-1980s, fueled by trade and the growth of the maquiladora (in which components are shipped to Mexico, assembled and shipped back), the economy began to improve in Hidalgo County. McAllen sits across the border from Reynosa, a large manufacturing center. After the peso devalued it became easier to coax companies to put their plants in Mexico with support operations in Texas.

McAllen is located in southern Hidalgo County at 26°12′59″N 98°14′11″W / 26.21639°N 98.23639°W / 26.21639; -98.23639 (26.216263, −98.236385).[9] It is bordered to the southwest by Granjeno; to the west by Mission, Palmhurst, and Alton; to the north by Edinburg, the Hidalgo county seat; to the east by Pharr; and to the south by Hidalgo. The McAllen city limits extend to the southwest as far as the Rio Grande, directly north of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, in Mexico. The Anzalduas International Bridge crosses the Rio Grande at this point, 11 miles (18 km) southwest of downtown McAllen.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 48.6 square miles (126.0 km2), of which 48.3 square miles (125.2 km2) are land and 0.3 square miles (0.8 km2), or 0.62%, are water.[10]

Although McAllen is named the "City of Palms", tropical vegetation is only locally dominant. There are many thorny shrubs and deciduous trees in the area, such as the Rio Grande ash (Fraxinus berlandieriana), cedar elm (Ulmus crassifolia) and honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa).

McAllen, like much of South Texas, has a subtropical climate.[11] Under the Köppen climate classification, the city features a hot semi-arid climate, featuring long, very hot and humid summers, and brief, warm winters. The average high in January is 70 °F (21 °C), and the average low is 50 °F (10 °C). In August the average high is 96 °F (36 °C), and the average low is 76 °F (24 °C). The warm season is extremely long, as average high temperatures from May through September are above 90 °F (32 °C) and average low temperatures are above 70 °F (21 °C), with relatively high dew point values, resulting in higher relative humidity values and heat index values. Heat index values can consistently reach over 100 °F (38 °C) during these months.

Average annual precipitation is only 21.60 inches (549 mm). Most precipitation occurs in the warm season, with the least precipitation distinctly occurring in the cooler winter. As September is the peak of the north Atlantic hurricane season and tropical storms and hurricanes occasionally drop copious amounts of rainfall on the region, this month tends to be by far the wettest, averaging 4.08 inches (104 mm) of rain. The driest month is March, with only 0.72 inches (18 mm) of precipitation. Since 1941, it has snowed once, when the city received 1.7 inches (43 mm) on December 25, 2004.[12]

Temperatures frequently rise above 100 °F (38 °C) from June through August. The highest temperature ever recorded in McAllen was 110 °F (43 °C), once in 1998 and once in 1999. The lowest temperature ever recorded in McAllen was 13 °F (−11 °C), on January 12, 1962.

As of the census[1] of 2010, there were 129,877 people, 41,573 households, and 31,823 families residing in the city. There were 45,862 housing units, of which 4,289, or 9.4%, were vacant.[15]

The racial makeup of the city was 83.9% White, 0.9% African American, 0.4% Native American, 2.6% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 10.4% some other race, and 1.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 84.6% of the population.[15]

There were 41,573 households, out of which 46.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.2% were married couples living together, 19.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.5% were non-families. 19.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 23.9% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.10, and the average family size was 3.58.[15]

In the city, 30.1% of the population were under the age of 18, 9.6% were from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.2 males.[15]

For the period 2012-2016, the estimated median annual income for a household in the city was $45,568, and the median income for a family was $50,184. The per capita income for the city was $21,726. About 22.5% of families and 25.7% of the entire population were below the poverty line, including 36.6% of those under age 18 and 21.4% of those age 65 or over.[16]

The Rio Grande Valley began its rapid development with the introduction of irrigation in 1898 and the construction of the railroad in 1904. These major additions turned a once relatively desolate area into a major agricultural center. Throughout much of the 1900s, McAllen was a rural, agriculture-based economy characterized by sporadic growth. Today, the area is transforming into a major international trade area. As recently as 1990, McAllen's unemployment rate was at 22.6 percent. By the end of 2005, that figure had dropped to 7.7 percent. However, in 2011, census.gov listed the McAllen metro area the poorest in the nation.[17] As of 2012, the average cost of a home in McAllen was the third least expensive in the country, at $178,000, while average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment was $708. In 2012 the cost of living in McAllen was 16.2 percent lower than the national average.[18]

Since the 1980s and especially since the ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, the focal point of economic activity has shifted from agriculture to international trade, health care, retail and tourism.

The McAllen Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ) is located south of McAllen between McAllen and Reynosa. Commissioned in 1973, it was the first inland foreign-trade zone in the United States. There is also a Foreign-Trade Zone designation site at the McAllen Miller International Airport to facilitate air cargo needs. Under U.S. and Mexican laws and NAFTA provisions, the FTZ designation offers specific cost-saving opportunities to manufacturers. Products can be brought into the FTZ duty-free. Services have recently expanded to include full logistic support services, including public warehouse services such as pick and pack, order processing, inventory control, incoming/outgoing quality inspection and kitting.[19]

McAllen was the most obese metropolitan area in the country in 2012, with 38.5% of the adult population considered obese. The high obesity rate has likely contributed to area residents' poor health. More than 21% of the population has been diagnosed with diabetes, more than any other metro area in the United States. Poverty may play a large role in the community's health problems as well. Over 25% of the city population were living below the poverty line during the period 2012-2016.[16] More than 29% of the population also lacked health coverage during that time period.[16] The vast majority of the McAllen metro area is located in a food desert, indicating a severe lack of access to healthy foods for residents.[20]

McAllen is featured in Supersize vs Superskinny,[21] a British television programme on Channel 4 that features information about dieting and extreme eating lifestyles. One of the main show features is a weekly comparison between an overweight person and an underweight person. In the show, the overweight participant visits morbidly obese McAllen residents in order to find motivation for lifestyle and diet changes.

McAllen was the focus of a 2009 article in The New Yorker by Atul Gawande entitled "The Cost Conundrum", an inquiry into the factors that contribute to the cost of health care. The McAllen area had the highest taxpayer-sponsored spending per beneficiary in the United States, despite areas with similar demographics and health profiles having half the cost per recipient. The article noted that while the area has a higher prevalence of obesity and diabetes, its rates of infant mortality, HIV, and tobacco use were lower than the national average.[22]

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates an office in McAllen.[25]

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas McAllen Division is located at Bentsen Tower 1701 W. Hwy. 83, Suite 1011 McAllen, Texas.

The United States Postal Service operates two post offices in McAllen, the McAllen Post Office located at 620 Pecan Blvd and the McAllen Downtown Post Office at 406 12th Street.[26][27]

The United States Border Patrol McAllen Station is located at 3000 West Military Highway McAllen, Texas.

The United States Border Patrol Central Processing Center is located at 3700 W Ursula Avenue, McAllen, Texas.[28]

The 2LT Luis G. Garcia United States Army Reserve Center (ARC) is located at 600 S Col Rowe Blvd, McAllen, Texas is home for the U.S. Army Reserve 961st Quartermaster Company, 461st Transportation Detachment and the 519th Transportation Detachment.

McAllen is represented in the United States House of Representatives by two Democrats: Vicente González of the 15th Congressional District, and Henry Cuellar of the 28th Congressional District.

Metro McAllen (formerly McAllen Express Transit (MET)) has provided public transportation for the city of McAllen since June 1997. In the beginning, McAllen's public transportation system, McAllen Express (ME), was administered by the Lower Rio Grande Development Council. Since 2005, Metro McAllen has been operated as a department of the city of McAllen. Metro McAllen now has seven fixed routes serving residents and visitors of McAllen. It operates six days out of the week, 13 hours per day.

Downtown bus terminal
The city of McAllen also operates the bus terminal facility in downtown McAllen, known as McAllen Central Station. Central Station serves as a hub for MET and for 14 private domestic and international bus lines. Approximately 60 buses depart from Central Station on a daily basis.

The McAllen Independent School District serves most of the city. Portions of the city extend into the Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District, which operates two elementary schools within the McAllen city limits. The Hidalgo Independent School District, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District, Sharyland Independent School District, and Valley View Independent School District also serve McAllen.

In addition, residents are allowed to apply to magnet schools operated by the South Texas Independent School District.

The Catholic Diocese of Brownsville operates Our Lady of Sorrows School, an elementary and middle school.

McAllen Public Library operates a main library and two branches, the Lark Branch and the Palm View Branch. The New Main Library opened in the fall of 2011 inside a former Walmart.[30] The library earned high praise and became the recipient of the International Interior Design Association's 2012 Library Interior Design Awards.[31]

Birdwatching â€“ McAllen is positioned on the migratory path between North and South America, presenting bird and butterfly expeditions. The landscape hosts a diverse wildlife population. The Quinta Mazatlan is a historic Spanish colonial mansion and is McAllen's wing of the World Birding Center.[32]

The McAllen Dog Park is a place of recreation for dogs of all sizes. The lighted park is located off Tamarack and 2nd Street. The park is divided into two sections.

The Bicentennial Bike Path runs all the way from Highway 83 on McAllen's south side to Bicentennial and Nolana on McAllen's north side.

The Zinnia Spray Water Park is McAllen's first sprayground park. It is located at 29th and Zinnia Ave.[33]

Palm View Golf Course is located on South Ware Road just south of Highway 83. The golf course has 18 holes plus a driving range. This course hosts numerous tournaments year round.[34]

Until 2014, McAllen was home to the Texas Thunder of the independent United League Baseball, who played at Edinburg Stadium.

Dynamo South Texas Academy is a soccer development academy created in 2007 by the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer. The Dynamo announced the creation of the Dynamo South Texas Academy as the franchise's first satellite academy. The Dynamo and the McAllen Youth Soccer Association partner up to develop young talent in the Rio Grande Valley region of South Texas with the DSTA's U-18 and U-15 teams, which train and compete in several South Texas cities, including McAllen, Harlingen and Brownsville.[35]

McAllen hosted the NAIA National Football Championship in the late 1970s and NCAA Division II national football championship games in the 1980s.


who sings the song the look of love

"The Look of Love" is a song by English band ABC, released as a single in 1982. It was the band's highest charting hit in the UK, peaking at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart. It was included on their debut studio album, The Lexicon of Love.

The Look of Love (ABC song)

Released as a single and as a 12" remix, it went to No. 1 on the Billboard Dance/Disco chart as well as the Canadian Singles Chart. It was their biggest hit in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at No. 4. On the American Cash Box Top 100, it got as high as No. 9, and on the Billboard Hot 100 it peaked at No. 18.[3]

The single consists of four parts, referred to as "Parts One, Two, Three and Four". Part One is the standard album version, Part Two is an instrumental version, Part Three is a vocal version without the orchestral overdubs and Part Four is a short acoustic instrumental part of the song, containing strings and horns, as well as occasional harp plucks and xylophone. A different US remix dub version by producer Trevor Horn appeared as A-side on the 1982 US 12".

The '82 US remix dub version was not widely available after its initial release, but the track remained much in demand by club DJs and fans alike and copies of the original 12" version fetched high prices. When Neutron (the band's UK label) discovered this, they issued a limited edition DJ-pressing of the Horn remix in November 1982 as a DJ promo 12" vinyl under the title "ABC Look of Love Special Remix 12" Neutron NTXDJ103.

Through the 1980s, BBC Radio 1 DJ Gary Davies used the last crescendo on Part 2 of the song as a closing theme to his daily lunchtime programme called The Bit in the Middle, only changing it in 1991 when his show was rebranded as Let's Do Lunch and given fresh music beds and themes.

The US B-side, entitled "Theme from Mantrap", was an alternate version of "Poison Arrow".

In February 2014, all four parts appeared together as one single track (running 12:29) on the ZTT compilation "The Art of the 12" Volume Three".

The lyrics of the song, as well as others on The Lexicon of Love, were inspired by a break-up lead singer Martin Fry had experienced. In the second verse, during the phrase "When your girl has left you out on the pavement", the "Goodbye" background vocal is spoken by the actual woman in the relationship who had jilted him.[4]

The music video for the song, taped on a soundstage, was influenced by old British music hall, the chalk pavement sequence in the Mary Poppins film, carnival sideshows, and Punch and Judy puppet shows; the four band members were featured wearing Edwardian-style light suits with vertical pastel stripes, accompanied by many colourful extras, including a Charlie Chaplin impersonator and cameos from producer Trevor Horn and music promoter and journalist Paul Morley. The video vaguely pays homage to the ballet sequence from An American in Paris.

(*) indicates the list is unordered.

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

In 1990, to promote the compilation album Absolutely, a new remix of the song by Paul Staveley O'Duffy was officially released, though without participation or approval from the band's members. The remix incorporates part of the melody from Kraftwerk's "Computer Love", which had been in the UK Top 40 at the same time as the original release of "The Look of Love" in 1982.

In 1996, Euro band Eclipse released a dance cover version, which reached No. 30 on the Australian charts.[40]


what does the 35 in the name chlorine-35 represent

Chlorine (17Cl) has 24 isotopes with mass numbers ranging from 28Cl to 51Cl and 2 isomers (34mCl and 38mCl). There are two principal stable isotopes, 35Cl (75.78%) and 37Cl (24.22%), giving chlorine a standard atomic weight of 35.45. The longest-lived radioactive isotope is 36Cl, which has a half-life of 301,000 years. All other isotopes have half-lives under 1 hour, many less than one second. The shortest-lived are 29Cl and 30Cl, with half-lives less than 20 and 30 nanoseconds, respectivelyâ€”the half-life of 28Cl is unknown.

Isotopes of chlorine

Trace amounts of radioactive 36Cl exist in the environment, in a ratio of about 7×10−13 to 1 with stable isotopes. 36Cl is produced in the atmosphere by spallation of 36Ar by interactions with cosmic ray protons. In the subsurface environment, 36Cl is generated primarily as a result of neutron capture by 35Cl or muon capture by 40Ca. 36Cl decays to either 36S (1.9%) or to 36Ar (98.1%), with a combined half-life of 308,000 years. The half-life of this hydrophilic nonreactive isotope makes it suitable for geologic dating in the range of 60,000 to 1 million years. Additionally, large amounts of 36Cl were produced by irradiation of seawater during atmospheric detonations of nuclear weapons between 1952 and 1958. The residence time of 36Cl in the atmosphere is about 1 week. Thus, as an event marker of 1950s water in soil and ground water, 36Cl is also useful for dating waters less than 50 years before the present. 36Cl has seen use in other areas of the geological sciences, forecasts, and elements.


what are the predators of the harpy eagle

Adults are near the top of a food chain and are rarely preyed on.[25] However, individuals are known to have been taken by jaguars and the much smaller ocelot [26] Its main prey are tree-dwelling mammals and a majority of the diet has been shown to focus on sloths[27] and monkeys. Research conducted by Aguiar-Silva between 2003 and 2005 in a nesting site in Parintins, Amazonas, Brazil, collected remains from prey offered to the nestling by its parents and after sorting them, concluded, in terms of individuals preyed upon, the harpy's prey basis was composed in 79% by sloths from two species: Bradypus variegatus amounting to 39% of the individual prey base, and Choloepus didactylus to 40%; various monkeys amounted to 11.6% of the same prey base.[28] In a similar research venture in Panama, where a couple of captive-bred subadults was released, 52% of the male's captures and 54% of the female's were of two sloth species (Bradypus variegatus and Choloepus hoffmanni).[29] At one Venezuelan nest, the remains comprised sloths. Monkeys regularly taken can include capuchin monkeys, saki monkeys, howler monkeys, titi monkeys, squirrel monkeys, and spider monkeys. Smaller monkeys, such as tamarins and marmosets, are seemingly ignored as prey by this species.[9] At several nest in Guyana, monkeys made up about 37% of the prey remains found at the nests.[30] Similarly, cebid monkeys made up 35% of the remains found at 10 nests in Amazonian Ecuador.[31] Other partially arboreal and even land mammals are also preyed on given the opportunity, including porcupines, squirrels, opossums, anteaters, armadillos, and even relatively large carnivores such as kinkajous, coatis, and tayras.[9] In the Pantanal, a pair of nesting eagles preyed largely on the porcupine (Coendou prehensilis) and the agouti (Dasyprocta azarae).[32] The eagle may also attack bird species such as macaws: At the Parintins research site, the red-and-green macaw made up for 0.4% of the prey base, with other birds amounting to 4.6%.[28]" [33] Other parrots have also been preyed on, as well as cracids such as curassows and other birds like seriemas.[9] Additional prey items reported include reptiles such as iguanas, tejus, and snakes.[9][34]

Harpy eagle

The harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) is a neotropical species of eagle. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan eagle, which is sometimes known as the New Guinea harpy eagle or Papuan harpy eagle.[3] It is the largest and most powerful raptor found in the rainforest,[4] and among the largest extant species of eagles in the world. It usually inhabits tropical lowland rainforests in the upper (emergent) canopy layer. Destruction of its natural habitat has caused it to vanish from many parts of its former range, and it is nearly extirpated in Central America. In Brazil, the harpy eagle is also known as royal-hawk (in Portuguese: gaviÃ£o-real).[5]

The harpy eagle was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae in 1758 as Vultur harpyja,[6] after the mythological beast harpy. The only member of the genus Harpia, the harpy eagle is most closely related to the crested eagle (Morphnus guianensis) and the New Guinea harpy eagle (Harpyopsis novaeguineae), the three composing the subfamily Harpiinae within the large family Accipitridae. Previously thought to be related, the Philippine eagle has been shown by DNA analysis to belong elsewhere in the raptor family, as it is related to the Circaetinae.[7]

The species name harpyja and the word harpy in the common name harpy eagle both come from Ancient Greek hárpuia (ἅρπυια). They refer to the Harpies of Ancient Greek mythology. These were wind spirits that took the dead to Hades, and were said to have a body like an eagle and the face of a human.[8]

The upper side of the harpy eagle is covered with slate-black feathers, and the underside is mostly white, except for the feathered tarsi, which are striped black. A broad black band across the upper breast separates the gray head from the white belly. The head is pale grey, and is crowned with a double crest. The upper side of the tail is black with three gray bands, while the underside of it is black with three white bands. The iris is gray or brown or red, the cere and bill are black or blackish and the tarsi and toes are yellow. The plumage of males and females are identical. The tarsus is up to 13 cm (5.1 in) long.[9][10]

Female harpy eagles typically weigh 6 to 9 kg (13 to 20 lb).[9][11] One source states that adult females can weigh up to 10 kg (22 lb).[12] An exceptionally large captive female, "Jezebel", weighed 12.3 kg (27 lb).[13] Being captive, this large female may not be representative of the weight possible in wild harpy eagles due to differences in the food availability.[14][15] The male, in comparison, is much smaller and weighs only about 4 to 4.8 kg (8.8 to 10.6 lb).[9][11] Harpy eagles are 86.5–107 cm (2 ft 10 in–3 ft 6 in) long[10][11] and have a wingspan of 176 to 224 cm (5 ft 9 in to 7 ft 4 in).[9][10] Among the standard measurements, the wing chord measures 54–63 cm (1 ft 9 in–2 ft 1 in), the tail measures 37–42 cm (1 ft 3 in–1 ft 5 in), the tarsus is 11.4–13 cm (4.5–5.1 in) long, and the exposed culmen from the cere is 4.2 to 6.5 cm (1.7 to 2.6 in).[9][16][17]

It is sometimes cited as the largest eagle alongside the Philippine eagle, which is somewhat longer on average, and the Steller's sea eagle, which is slightly heavier on average.[8] The wingspan of the harpy eagle is relatively small, an adaptation that increases maneuverability in forested habitats and is shared by other raptors in similar habitats. The wingspan of the harpy eagle is surpassed by several large eagles who live in more open habitats, such as those in the Haliaeetus and Aquila genera.[9] The extinct Haast's eagle was significantly larger than all extant eagles, including the harpy.[18]

This species is largely silent away from the nest. There, the adults give a penetrating, weak, melancholy scream, with the incubating males' call described as "whispy screaming or wailing".[19] The females' calls while incubating are similar, but are lower-pitched. While approaching the nest with food, the male calls out "rapid chirps, goose-like calls, and occasional sharp screams". Vocalization in both parents decreases as the nestlings age, while the nestlings become more vocal. The nestlings call chi-chi-chi...chi-chi-chi-chi, seemingly in alarm in response to rain or direct sunlight. When humans approach the nest, the nestlings have been described as uttering croaks, quacks, and whistles.[20]

Rare throughout its range, the harpy eagle is found from Mexico (almost extinct), through Central America and into South America to as far south as Argentina. The eagle is most common in Brazil, where it is found across the entire national territory.[21] With the exception of some areas of Panama, the species is almost extinct in Central America, subsequent to the logging of much of the rainforest there.[22] The harpy eagle inhabits tropical lowland rainforests and may occur within such areas from the canopy to the emergent vegetation. They typically occur below an elevation of 900 m (3,000 ft), but have been recorded at elevations up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft).[1] Within the rainforest, they hunt in the canopy or sometimes on the ground, and perch on emergent trees looking for prey. They do not generally occur in disturbed areas, but regularly visit semiopen forest/pasture mosaic, mainly in hunting forays.[23] Harpies, however, can be found flying over forest borders in a variety of habitats, such as cerrados, caatingas, buriti palm stands, cultivated fields, and cities.[24] They have been found in areas where high-grade forestry is practiced.

The eagle has been recorded as taking domestic livestock, including chickens, lambs, goats, and young pigs, but this is extremely rare under normal circumstances.[9] They control the population of mesopredators such as capuchin monkeys which prey extensively on bird's eggs and which (if not naturally controlled) may cause local extinctions of sensitive species.[35]

All of the Harpy eagle prey weight between 0.3 kg to 6.5 kg, with the mean prey size equaling 2.6 kg+/-0.82 kg [36] They possess the largest talons of any living eagle. They have been recorded as lifting prey up to equal their own body weight.[9] That allows the birds to snatch a live sloth from tree branches, as well as other huge prey items. Males usually take relatively smaller prey, with a typical range of 0.5 to 2.5 kg (1.1 to 5.5 lb) or about half their own weight.[9] The larger females take larger prey, with a minimum recorded prey weight of around 2.7 kg (6.0 lb). Adult female harpies regularly grab large male howler or spider monkeys or mature sloths weighing 6 to 9 kg (13 to 20 lb) in flight and fly off without landing, an enormous feat of strength.[9][37][38] Prey items taken to the nest by the parents are normally medium-sized, having been recorded from 1 to 4 kg (2.2 to 8.8 lb).[9] The prey brought to the nest by males averaged 1.5 kg (3.3 lb), while the prey brought to the nest by females averaged 3.2 kg (7.1 lb).[20]

Sometimes, harpy eagles are "sit-and-wait" predators (common in forest-dwelling raptors).[9] In harpies, this consists of perching and watching for long times from a high perch near an opening, a river, or a salt-lick (where many mammals go to feed for nutrients).[9] The more common hunting technique of the species is perch-hunting, which consists of scanning around for prey activity while briefly perched between short flights from tree to tree.[9] When prey is spotted, the eagle quickly dives and grabs the prey.[9] On occasion, they may also hunt by flying within or above the canopy.[9] They have also been observed tail-chasing, a predation style common to hawks that hunt birds, the genus Accipiter.[9] This comprises the eagle pursuing another bird in flight, rapidly dodging among trees and branches.[9]

In ideal habitats, nests would be fairly close together. In some parts of Panama and Guyana, active nests were located 3 km (1.9 mi) away from one another, while they are within 5 km (3.1 mi) of each other in Venezuela. In Peru, the average distance between nests was 7.4 km (4.6 mi) and the average area occupied by each breeding pairs was estimated at 4,300 ha (11,000 acres). In less ideal areas, with fragmented forest, breeding territories were estimated at 25 km (16 mi).[34] The female harpy eagle lays two white eggs in a large stick nest, which commonly measures 1.2 m (3.9 ft) deep and 1.5 m (4.9 ft) across and may be used over several years. Nests are located high up in a tree, usually in the main fork, at 16 to 43 m (52 to 141 ft), depending on the stature of the local trees. The harpy often builds its nest in the crown of the kapok tree, one of the tallest trees in South America. In many South American cultures, it is considered bad luck to cut down the kapok tree, which may help safeguard the habitat of this stately eagle.[39] The bird also uses other huge trees on which to build its nest, such as the Brazil nut tree.[40] A nesting site found in the Brazilian Pantanal was built on a cambará tree (Vochysia divergens).[41]

No display is known between pairs of eagles, and they are believed to mate for life. A pair of harpy eagles usually only raises one chick every 2–3 years. After the first chick hatches, the second egg is ignored and normally fails to hatch unless the first egg perishes. The egg is incubated around 56 days. When the chick is 36 days old, it can stand and walk awkwardly. The chick fledges at the age of 6 months, but the parents continue to feed it for another 6 to 10 months. The male captures much of the food for the incubating female and later the eaglet, but also takes an incubating shift while the female forages and also brings prey back to the nest. Breeding maturity is not reached until birds are 4 to 6 years of age.[9][20][23] Adults can be aggressive toward humans who disturb the nesting site or appear to be a threat to its young.[42]

Although the harpy eagle still occurs over a considerable range, its distribution and populations have dwindled considerably. It is threatened primarily by habitat loss due to the expansion of logging, cattle ranching, agriculture, and prospecting. Secondarily, it is threatened by being hunted as an actual threat to livestock and/or a supposed one to human life, due to its great size.[43] Although not actually known to prey on humans and only rarely on domestic stock, the species' large size and nearly fearless behavior around humans reportedly make it an "irresistible target" for hunters.[34] Such threats apply throughout its range, in large parts of which the bird has become a transient sight only; in Brazil, it was all but wiped out from the Atlantic rainforest and is only found in appreciable numbers in the most remote parts of the Amazon basin; a Brazilian journalistic account of the mid-1990s already complained that at the time it was only found in significant numbers in Brazilian territory on the northern side of the Equator.[44] Scientific 1990s records, however, suggest that the harpy Atlantic Forest population may be migratory.[45] Subsequent research in Brazil has established that, as of 2009, the harpy eagle, outside the Brazilian Amazon, is critically endangered in Espírito Santo,[46] São Paulo and Paraná, endangered in Rio de Janeiro, and probably extirpated in Rio Grande do Sul (where there is a recent (March 2015) record for the Parque Estadual do Turvo)[1] and Minas Gerais[47] – the actual size of their total population in Brazil is unknown.[48]

Globally, the harpy eagle is considered Near Threatened by IUCN[1] and threatened with extinction by CITES (appendix I). The Peregrine Fund until recently considered it a "conservation-dependent species", meaning it depends on a dedicated effort for captive breeding and release to the wild, as well as habitat protection, to prevent it from reaching endangered status, but now has accepted the Near Threatened status. The harpy eagle is considered critically endangered in Mexico and Central America, where it has been extirpated in most of its former range; in Mexico, it used to be found as far north as Veracruz, but today probably occurs only in Chiapas in the Selva Zoque. It is considered as Near Threatened or Vulnerable in most of the South American portion of its range; at the southern extreme of its range, in Argentina, it is found only in the Parana Valley forests at the province of Misiones.[49][50] It has disappeared from El Salvador, and almost so from Costa Rica.[22]

Various initiatives for restoration of the species are in place in various countries. Since 2002, Peregrine Fund initiated a conservation and research program for the harpy eagle in the Darién Provinceboom.[51] A similar—and grander, given the dimensions of the countries involved—research project is occurring in Brazil, at the National Institute of Amazonian Research, through which 45 known nesting locations (updated to 62, only three outside the Amazonian basin and all three inactive) are being monitored by researchers and volunteers from local communities. A harpy eagle chick has been fitted with a radio transmitter that allows it to be tracked for more than three years via a satellite signal sent to the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research.[52] Also, a photographic recording of a nest site in the Carajás National Forest was made for the Brazilian edition of National Geographic Magazine.[53]

In Belize, the Belize Harpy Eagle Restoration Project began in 2003 with the collaboration of Sharon Matola, founder and director of the Belize Zoo and the Peregrine Fund. The goal of this project was the re-establishment of the harpy eagle within Belize. The population of the eagle declined as a result of forest fragmentation, shooting, and nest destruction, resulting in near extirpation of the species. Captive-bred harpy eagles were released in the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area in Belize, chosen for its quality forest habitat and linkages with Guatemala and Mexico. Habitat linkage with Guatemala and Mexico were important for conservation of quality habitat and the harpy eagle on a regional level. As of November 2009, 14 harpy eagles have been released and are monitored by the Peregrine Fund, through satellite telemetry.[54]

In January 2009, a chick from the all-but-extirpated population in the Brazilian state of Paraná was hatched in captivity at the preserve kept in the vicinity of the Itaipu Dam by the Brazilian/Paraguayan state-owned company Itaipu Binacional.[55] In September 2009, an adult female, after being kept captive for 12 years in a private reservation, was fitted with a radio transmitter before being restored to the wild in the vicinity of the Pau Brasil National Park (formerly Monte Pascoal NP), in the state of Bahia.[56]

In December 2009, a 15th harpy eagle was released into the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area in Belize. The release was set to tie in with the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009, in Copenhagen. The 15th eagle, nicknamed "Hope" by the Peregrine officials in Panama, was the "poster child" for forest conservation in Belize, a developing country, and the importance of these activities in relation to climate change. The event received coverage from Belize's major media entities, and was supported and attended by the U.S. Ambassador to Belize, Vinai Thummalapally, and British High Commissioner to Belize, Pat Ashworth.[57]

In Colombia, as of 2007, an adult male and a subadult female confiscated from wildlife trafficking were restored to the wild and monitored in Paramillo National Park in Córdoba, and another couple was being kept in captivity at a research center for breeding and eventual release.[58] A monitoring effort with the help of volunteers from local Native American communities is also being made in Ecuador, including the joint sponsorship of various Spanish universities[59]—this effort being similar to another one going on since 1996 in Peru, centered around a native community in the Tambopata Province, Madre de Dios Region.[60] Another monitoring project, begun in 1992, was operating as of 2005 in the state of Bolívar, Venezuela.[61]

The harpy eagle is the national bird of Panama and is depicted on the coat of arms of Panama.[62] The 15th harpy eagle released in Belize, named "Hope", was dubbed "Ambassador for Climate Change", in light of the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009.[63][64]

The harpy eagle was the inspiration behind the design of Fawkes the Phoenix in the Harry Potter film series.[65] A live harpy eagle was used to portray the now-extinct Haast's eagle in BBC's Monsters We Met.[66]


who wrote the song sailing sung by rod stewart

"Sailing" is a song composed by Gavin Sutherland of the Sutherland Brothers in 1972, best known as a 1975 international hit for Rod Stewart.

Sailing (Sutherland Brothers song)

Gavin Sutherland would comment: "Most people take the song to be about a young guy telling his girl that he's crossing the Atlantic to be with her. In fact the song's got nothing to do with romance or ships; it's an account of mankind's spiritual odyssey through life on his way to freedom and fulfillment with the Supreme Being." [1]

Written on the beach by Blythe Bridge,[2] "Sailing" was recorded by the Sutherland Brothers - a duo consisting of Gavin and Iain Sutherland - in a June 1972 session: the brothers provided their own backing with Gavin on bass drum and Iain on harmonium - (Iain Sutherland quote:) "The original idea was it should have a Celtic feel to it" [2] - and overdubbed their vocals.[1] Issued as a single, the Sutherland Brothers' "Sailing" almost reached the official UK singles chart (then formatted as a Top 50), as "Sailing" peaked at #54 in July 1972, and the single's sales were reportedly 40,000 units.[1] The Sutherland Brothers had recorded "Sailing" subsequent to completing the tracks intended for their upcoming album release Lifeboat, and that album was issued in November 1972 without the inclusion of "Sailing": included on the US edition of the Lifeboat album, "Sailing" by the Sutherland Brothers would make its UK album debut on the 1976 Sutherland Brothers' compilation album entitled Sailing.[1][3]

"Sailing" was recorded by Rod Stewart for his first album recorded in North America rather than Great Britain: Atlantic Crossing, which album was recorded April - June 1975 at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with Tom Dowd producing. The first single from the album, "Sailing" afforded Stewart an international hit notably in the UK where "Sailing" was #1 for four weeks in September 1975: augmented by a return to the UK chart in 1976 and - to a lesser extent - 1987, "Sailing" remains the Rod Stewart single to have the greatest success in its UK release. However "Sailing" failed to afford Stewart a major hit in his newly adopted US homeland.

According to Iain Sutherland the connection between the Sutherland Brothers and Rod Stewart which led to Stewart's recording of "Sailing" began when Stewart's live-in girlfriend Dee Harrington saw the Sutherland Brothers on the 20 June 1972 broadcast of the BBC2 music program The Old Grey Whistle Test: Harrington recommended the Sutherland Brothers as a musical act who'd interest Stewart and Stewart did indeed become a Sutherland Brothers fan after seeing them perform at the Marquee Club.[1][2] According to Gavin Sutherland, the Sutherland Brothers co-wrote two original songs with Stewart which Stewart hoped to record for Atlantic Crossing: however the only Sutherland Brothers tune Stewart would record for the album would be "Sailing" whose seemingly nautical theme complemented the album's title.[5]

Stewart would recall the recording of "Sailing" being a challenge: he was awoken in his hotel room by a 10 am phone call from Dowd at Muscles Shoals, in which Dowd said "Get down here in half an hour; we've mixed the track and need the vocal"; Stewart (quote): "I was like: 'You're joking, recording at 10:30 in the morning. I need a drink to calm the old nerves'...There was nothing [alcoholic] to be had anywhere and I was terrified to sing without [a drink]"[6]..."I'd never sung anything in a studio without having a drink - let alone a big old anthem. And I'd never sung anything, anywhere that early in the morning. Got it in six or seven takes though." [7]

Despite his enthusiasm for the Sutherland Brothers, Stewart admits he (quote) "argued vehemently" [7] against the release of "Sailing" as the lead single off Atlantic Crossing, instead advocating his own composition "Three Time Loser".[7] Gavin Sutherland concurs: "I don't think Rod personally wanted ["Sailing"] put out as a single. He just saw it as a big ballady-kind of last track, side two, finish to Atlantic Crossing which had several other great tracks on it." [5] However "Sailing" had an August 1975 UK single release parallel with the album release of Atlantic Crossing: reaching #2 UK in its second week of release, Stewart's "Sailing" would have a four-week tenure at #1 UK.

Stewart's "Sailing" had a UK chart revival in 1976 as a result of the track being utilized as theme song for Sailor a documentary series on the HMS Ark Royal which BBC1 aired for ten weeks from 5 August 1976: "Sailing" ranked at #50 on the UK chart dated 4 September 1976 and the track's renewed popularity continued even after the 7 October 1976 finale of the Sailor TV series, as "Sailing" reached its 1976 chart peak of #3 on the UK charts dated 16 â€“ 23 October 1976, with the track remaining in the UK Top 50 into January 1977.[8] Stewart performed "Sailing" live on the Top of the Pops broadcast of 23 September 1976. "Sailing" remains Stewart's biggest-selling single in the UK: in November 2012 it was reported that "Sailing" by Rod Stewart had sold 1.12 million units in the UK with a resultant ranking at #112 of the 123 UK million-selling singles.[9]

In the US, where Atlantic Crossing had been issued in August 1975 without a single release, "Sailing" was issued as the album's lead single in October 1975 but failed to reach the Top 40 of Billboard, attaining a Hot 100 peak of #58.[10] Overall "Sailing" did afford Stewart a major international success reaching #1 in Ireland, the Netherlands, and Norway; #2 in Australia, Belgium's Flemish Region, South Africa and Switzerland; #3 in New Zealand; #4 in Germany; #7 in Austria; #13 in Sweden.

The first music video for "Sailing" was filmed in the Port of Dublin and also featured footage shot on the major Dublin thoroughfare Moore Street: featuring Stewart and his partner Britt Ekland, the video aired on the Top of the Pops broadcast of 28 August 1975. Another music video for "Sailing" was shot in New York Harbor in 1978, and would become one of the first to be aired on MTV when it launched on 1 August 1981.[11]

As the British task-force sailed out of Portsmouth Harbour on 5 April 1982 - the third day of the Falklands War - the recording of Rod Stewart's "Sailing" was broadcast from the quay's public address system.[12][13]

In 1987 Rod Stewart's "Sailing" was reissued as a charity single after the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster off the Flemish port of Zeebrugge,[14] becoming a moderate hit in Belgium's Flemish Region (#24) and also the British Isles (#41 UK/ #30 Ireland) ("Sailing" would be the only charting Rod Stewart single in the British Isles in 1987).

Although Stewart had been touring the US with the Faces at the time of the autumn 1975 single release of "Sailing" that tour's setlist was focused on Stewart's collaborations with the Faces, with "Three Time Loser" being the only Atlantic Crossing number to be included. "Sailing" would debut as a Rod Stewart concert number during his European tour of November 1976 - January 1977 with the song usually serving as each show's purported finale to be followed with "Stay With Me" as encore: Stewart's 1 November 1976 performance at the Trondheim Spektrum (no) in Norway launched the tour which after dates in Scandinavia, Finland, Belgium and the Netherlands played nine cities in Great Britain including six nights (21 -24 December 1976/ 14â€“15 January 1977) at the Olympia London.[15]

"Sailing" has retained the distinction of serving as the standard finale for the "main set" of Rod Stewart concerts in the British Isles - in an interview promoting his upcoming Rod Stewart Live UK stadium tour of June 2013 Stewart commented: "I always do 'Sailing'. They wouldnâ€™t let me not do it, would they?" - [16] and also - since January/ February 1977 - in Australia and New Zealand; however the song was absent from the setlist for the autumn 1977 Foot Loose & Fancy Free Tour - Stewart's first North American tour subsequent to the Faces "farewell tour" two years previous - [15] with "Sailing" making its apparent North American concert debut on 14 December 2013 at Stewart's engagement at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Stewart being moved to make an eleventh hour modification to his setlist after reading a 10 December 2013 column by Montreal Gazette music journalist Richard Burnett which was an open letter to Stewart requesting that "Sailing" be sung at Stewart's Bell Center concert which Burnett would be attending (Burnett had attended 30 previous Rod Stewart concerts none of which had included "Sailing").[17]

Stewart's 1982 Absolutely Live concert album features a performance of "Sailing". Stewart has also performed "Sailing" at the 20 June 1986 Prince's Trust All-Star Rock Concert - which performances featured Elton John on piano and Eric Clapton on guitar - and also at the 1 July 2007 Concert for Diana memorial gala for Diana, Princess of Wales: both events were held at Wembley Stadium.[18]

I remember...sitting there with Brian May and we were overdubbing the song on Christmas Eve. I had gotten people to work in England on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day...I was becoming a professional beggar as you do when you undertake charity work. I was worried that I pushed a lot of my friends, family and management to the limit with this. But even as we sat there Christmas Eve doing the overdubs, they showed [the participating artists] working on TV from when they filmed us earlier. It had everyone singing along and it was a nice buzz for Brian and me. I was worried I pushed him on it, but he said 'No, you got me out of myself by doing that. I'm glad you did that.' So, it was a good effort.[36]

It was announced that both the Sutherland Brothers: Gavin and Iain, would be featured on the recording, although only Iain Sutherland would in fact be featured.[37] Recorded at Surrey Sound Studios - with additional recording at the Cambridge Park and Maison Rouge studios (both in southwest London) and also Real World Studios -,[38][unreliable source] the version of "Sailing" by Hackett et al. was issued 19 February 1990 with the artist credit Rock Against Repatriation to spend a single week on the UK chart ranking at #89 for the week ending 3 March 1990, and - despite Hackett's allegation that "I must have done over twenty TV shows here in North America" in support of the single and its cause - a US release went unnoticed. Hackett would admit: "The single didn't accomplish what I wanted it to." [36]

A video was prepped for the Rock Against Repatriation version of "Sailing" which intercut footage of the featured artists performing with media images of the Vietnamese refugees forcibly repatriated from Hong Kong.

"Sailing" has also been recorded by Joan Baez (album Blowin' Away/ 1977), Brotherhood of Man (album 20 Number One Hits/ 1980), the Nolan Sisters (album 20 Giant Hits/ 1978), Smokie, (album Uncovered Too/ 2002),[39] Robin Trower (with bassist James Dewar on vocals) (album Long Misty Days/ 1976).[40] and Roger Whittaker (album Roger Whittaker Sings the Hits/ 1978).[39] Instrumental versions of "Sailing" have been recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra (album Classic Rock/ 1977) and Richard Clayderman (album A Little Night Music - 12 Classic Love Songs/ 1988).[39]

A French version ("Ma musique") has been recorded by Joe Dassin in 1975.

The song's melody is used for the football chant "No one likes us, we don't care", sung by Millwall supporters.[41] The melody is also used by German football club Hertha BSC Berlin for their chant 'The Hertha Hymn' titled 'Nur Nach Hause' which is sung at matches as the team enters the field.


when did the mental capacity act came into force

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (c 9) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom applying to England and Wales. Its primary purpose is to provide a legal framework for acting and making decisions on behalf of adults who lack the capacity to make particular decisions for themselves.[3]

Mental Capacity Act 2005

The five principles are outlined in the Section 1 of the Act. These are designed to protect people who lack capacity to make particular decisions, but also to maximise their ability to make decisions, or to participate in decision-making, as far as they are able to do so.

1. A person must be assumed to have capacity unless it is established that he/she lacks capacity.

2. A person is not to be treated as unable to make a decision unless all practicable steps to help him/her to do so have been taken without success.

3. A person is not to be treated as unable to make a decision merely because he/she makes an unwise decision.

4. An act done, or decision made, under this Act for or on behalf of a person who lacks capacity must be done, or made, in his/ her best interests.

5. Before the act is done, or the decision is made, regard must be had to whether the purpose for which it is needed can be as effectively achieved in a way that is less restrictive of the personâ€™s rights and freedom of action.[4]

The following orders have been made under this section:

The new measures that the Act introduced were:

In response to the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in HL v UK (2004) (the 'Bournewood' judgment) the Act was amended by the Mental Health Act 2007 in July that year. These additions are known as the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), and were implemented in April 2009.[5] These amendments created administrative procedures to ensure the Act's processes are observed in cases of adults who are, or may be, deprived of their liberty in care homes or hospitals, thus protecting health and social care providers from prosecution under human rights legislation.[6]

Key elements of the DoLS are that the person must be provided with a representative and given the right to challenge the deprivation of liberty through the Court of Protection, and that there must be a mechanism for the deprivation of liberty to be reviewed and monitored regularly.[7]

The DoLS were introduced in response to the Bournewood case, on which the European Court of Human Rights ruled in October 2004 (HL v United Kingdom) that a detention of an incapacitated patient which did not comply with Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights had taken place; in particular, a person who is detained must be told the reasons for the detention and must also, under Article 5(4), have the right of speedy access to a court to appeal against the detention.