Introduction

Variants of dialectics
See also: Hindu philosophy Indian philosophy does not have a concept resembling dialectics. In fact, here out of two elements, "purush" (the active cause) and the "prakriti" (the passive nature) brings every thing into existence. They follow the "rit"(universal law of nature).
In Hinduism, certain dialectical elements can be found in the embryo, such as the idea of the three phases of creation (Brahma), maintenance of order (Vishnu) and destruction or disorder (Shiva). Hindu dialectic is discussed by Hegel, Engels, and Ian Stewart, who has written on Chaos Theory. Stewart points out that the relationship between the gods Shiva, "the Untamed", and Vishnu is not the antagonism between good and evil, but that of the real principles of harmony and discord which together underlie the whole of existence.
The very earliest religious writings in ancient India, the Vedas, which date from around 1500 BC, in a formal sense, are hymns to the gods, but as Hegel also points out, Eastern religions are very philosophical in character. The gods have less of a personal character and are more akin to general concepts and symbols. We find these elements of dialectics in Hinduism as Engels has explained. The gods and goddesses of the Vedas are not persons but manifestations of ultimate truth and reality, and these writings contain a wealth of philosophical and religious speculation about the nature of the universe.

Hindu dialectic
See also: Socratic method
In Plato's dialogues and other Socratic dialogues, Socrates attempts to examine first principles or premises by which we all reason and argue. Socrates typically argues by cross-examining someone's claims and premises in order to draw out a contradiction or inconsistency among them. For example, in the Euthyphro, Socrates asks Euthyphro to provide a definition of piety. Euthyphro replies that the pious is that which is loved by the gods. But, Socrates also has Euthyphro agreeing that the gods are quarrelsome and their quarrels, like human quarrels, concern objects of love or hatred. Therefore, Socrates reasons, at least one thing exists which certain gods love but other gods hate. Again, Euthyphro agrees. Socrates concludes that if Euthyphro's definition of piety is acceptable, then there must exist at least one thing which is both pious and impious (as it is both loved and hated by the gods) — which, Euthyphro admits, is absurd. Thus, Euthyphro is brought to a realization by this dialectical method that his definition of piety is not sufficiently elaborate, thus wrong.

Socratic dialectic
See also: Buddhist philosophy
Elements of dialectics are found in Buddhism, Engels explains. The Buddhist doctrine was argued in a highly consistent and logical way in the 2nd century by Nagarjuna, whose rationalism became the basis for the development of Buddhist logic. The logic of Buddhism was later developed by other notable thinkers such as Dignaga and Dharmakirti (between 500 and 700). This laid the basis for later idealist schools such as Madhyamaka, Vijnanavada, and Tantric Buddhism.
The dynamic element in Buddhism, its dialectical side, is shown by its view of reality as something eternally changing and impermanent. By contrast, for the Vedanta philosophy, only the changeless and eternal is real. The Essence of Buddhism in its original form possesses a rational core, and most of the elements of dialectics were present in it, but they were present only in Theravāda Buddhism presently practiced in Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka, similar to the early Greek philosophies. This represented the first faltering steps of dialectical philosophy.

Buddhist dialectic
Hegel's dialectic, which he usually presented in a threefold manner, was stated by Heinrich Moritz Chalybäus as comprising three dialectical stages of development: a thesis, giving rise to its reaction, an antithesis which contradicts or negates the thesis, and the tension between the two being resolved by means of a synthesis. Hegel rarely used these terms himself: this model is not Hegelian but Fichtean.
In the Logic, for instance, Hegel describes a dialectic of existence: first, existence must be posited as pure Being (Sein); but pure Being, upon examination, is found to be indistinguishable from Nothing (Nichts). When it is realized that what is coming into being is, at the same time, also returning to nothing (consider life: old organisms die as new organisms are created or born), both Being and Nothing are united as Becoming.
As in the Socratic dialectic, Hegel claimed to proceed by making implicit contradictions explicit: each stage of the process is the product of contradictions inherent or implicit in the preceding stage. For Hegel, the whole of history is one tremendous dialectic, major stages of which chart a progression from self-alienation as slavery to self-unification and realization as the rational, constitutional state of free and equal citizens. The Hegelian dialectic cannot be mechanically applied for any chosen thesis. Critics argue that the selection of any antithesis, other than the logical negation of the thesis, is subjective. Then, if the logical negation is used as the antithesis, there is no rigorous way to derive a synthesis. In practice, when an antithesis is selected to suit the user's subjective purpose, the resulting "contradictions" are rhetorical, not logical, and the resulting synthesis not rigorously defensible against a multitude of other possible syntheses. The problem with the Fichtean "thesis — antithesis — synthesis" model is that it implies that contradictions or negations come from outside of things. Hegel's point is that they are inherent in and internal to things. This conception of dialectics derives ultimately from Heraclitus.

Hegelian dialectic
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels believed Hegel was "standing on his head," and endeavoured to put him back on his feet, ridding Hegel's logic of its orientation towards philosophical idealism, and conceiving what is now known as materialist or Marxist dialectics. This is what Marx had to say about the difference between Hegel's dialectics and his own:
"My dialectic method is not only different from the Hegelian, but is its direct opposite. To Hegel, the life-process of the human brain, i.e., the process of thinking, which, under the name of 'the Idea,' he even transforms into an independent subject, is the demiurgos of the real world, and the real world is only the external, phenomenal form of 'the Idea.' With me, on the contrary, the ideal is nothing else than the material world reflected by the human mind, and translated into forms of thought."
Nevertheless Marx:
"openly avowed [himself] the pupil of that mighty thinker" and even "coquetted with modes of expression peculiar to him."
Marx wrote:
"The mystification which dialectic suffers in Hegel's hands, by no means prevents him from being the first to present its general form of working in a comprehensive and conscious manner. With him it is standing on its head. It must be turned right side up again, if you would discover the rational kernel within the mystical shell."
In the work of Marx and Engels the dialectical approach to the study of history became intertwined with historical materialism, the school of thought exemplified by the works of Marx, Engels, and Lenin. (Marx himself never referred to "historical materialism.") A dialectical methodology came to be seen as the vital foundation for any Marxist politics, through the work of Karl Korsch, Georg Lukács and certain members of the Frankfurt School. Under Stalin, Marxist dialectics developed into what was called "diamat" (short for dialectical materialism). Some Soviet academics, most notably Evald Ilyenkov, continued with unorthodox philosophical studies of the Marxist dialectic, as did a number of thinkers in the West. One of the best known North American dialectical philosophers is Bertell Ollman, Professor of Political Science at New York University.
Engels argued that all of nature is dialectical. In Anti-Dühring he contends that negation of negation is
"A very simple process which is taking place everywhere and every day, which any child can understand as soon as it is stripped of the veil of mystery in which it was enveloped by the old idealist philosophy."
In Dialectics of Nature, Engels states,
"Probably the same gentlemen who up to now have decried the transformation of quantity into quality as mysticism and incomprehensible transcendentalism will now declare that it is indeed something quite self-evident, trivial, and commonplace, which they have long employed, and so they have been taught nothing new. But to have formulated for the first time in its universally valid form a general law of development of nature, society, and thought, will always remain an act of historic importance."
Marxists view dialectics as a framework for development in which contradiction plays the central role as the source of development. This is perhaps best exemplified in Marx's Capital, which outlines two of his central theories: that of the theory of surplus value and the materialist conception of history. In Capital, Marx had the following to say about his dialectical methodology:
"In its rational form it is a scandal and abomination to bourgeoisdom and its doctrinaire professors, because it includes in its comprehension an affirmative recognition of the existing state of things, at the same time also, the recognition of the negation of that state, of its inevitable breaking up; because it regards every historically developed social form as in fluid movement, and therefore takes into account its transient nature not less than its momentary existence; because it lets nothing impose upon it, and is in its essence critical and revolutionary."
At the heart of Marxist dialectics is the idea of contradiction, with class struggle playing the central role in social and political life, although Marx does identify other historically important contradictions, such as those between mental and manual labor and town and country. Contradiction is the key to all other categories and principles of dialectical development: development by passage of quantitative change into qualitative ones, interruption of gradualness, leaps, negation of the initial moment of development and negation of this very negation, and repetition at a higher level of some of the features and aspects of the original state.

Marxist dialectics
Many philosophers have offered critiques of dialectic, and it can even be said that hostility or receptivity to dialectics is one of the things that divides twentieth-century Anglo-American philosophy from the so-called "continental" tradition, a divide that only a few contemporary philosophers (among them, G.H. von Wright, Paul Ricoeur, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Richard Rorty) have ventured to bridge.
It is generally thought that whilst there are a few notable exceptions, in general on the continent of Europe, dialectics has entered intellectual culture (or at least its counter-culture) as what might be called a legitimate part of thought and philosophy. In America and Britain, by contrast, the dialectic plays no discernible part in the intellectual culture, which instead tends toward positivism. A prime example of the European tradition is Sartre's Critique of Dialectical Reason, which is very different from the works of Popper, whose philosophy was for a time highly influential in the UK where he resided (see below). Sartre states:
Existentialism, like Marxism, addresses itself to experience in order to discover there concrete syntheses; it can conceive of these syntheses only within a moving, dialectical totalisation which is nothing else but history or -- from the strictly cultural point of view which we have adopted here --"philosophy-becoming-the world."
Karl Popper, by contrast, has attacked the dialectic repeatedly from what is generally considered to be the positivist school of philosophical thought. Popper, however, did not consider his philosophy to belong to the positivist school associated with the Vienna Circle. The positivists were the target of some of his fiercest criticisms in his "Logik der Forschung", 1933 (First English edition: "The Logic of Scientific Discovery", 1959). In 1937 he wrote and delivered a paper entitled "What Is Dialectic?" in which he attacked the dialectical method for its willingness "to put up with contradictions" (Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge [New York: Basic Books, 1962], p. 316). Popper concluded the essay with these words: "The whole development of dialectic should be a warning against the dangers inherent in philosophical system-building. It should remind us that philosophy should not be made a basis for any sort of scientific system and that philosophers should be much more modest in their claims. One task which they can fulfill quite usefully is the study of the critical methods of science" (Ibid., p. 335).
In chapter 12 of volume 2 of The Open Society and Its Enemies (1944; 5th rev. ed., 1966) Popper unleashed a famous attack on Hegelian dialectics, in which he held Hegel's thought (unjustly, in the view of some philosophers, such as Walter Kaufmann,) was to some degree responsible for facilitating the rise of fascism in Europe by encouraging and justifying irrationalism. In section 17 of his 1961 "addenda" to The Open Society, entitled "Facts, Standards, and Truth: A Further Criticism of Relativism," Popper refused to moderate his criticism of the Hegelian dialectic, arguing that it "played a major role in the downfall of the liberal movement in Germany, . . . by contributing to historicism and to an identification of might and right, encouraged totalitarian modes of thought.  . . . [and] undermined and eventually lowered the traditional standards of intellectual responsibility and honesty" (The Open Society and Its Enemies, 5th rev. ed., vol. 2 [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966], p. 395).
The philosopher Edward de Bono has made noting what he considers to be the flaws of dialectic a major part of his work. He acknowledges that it has a valuable place in thinking, but that design is often a necessary tool to address its shortcomings.

Criticism of dialectic
In The Dialectical Biologist (Harvard U.P. 1985 ISBN 0-674-20281-3), Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin sketch a dialectical approach to biology. They see "dialectics" more as a set of questions to ask about biological research, a weapon against dogmatism, than as a set of pre-determined answers. They focus on the (dialectical) relationship between the "whole" (or totality) and the "parts." "Part makes whole, and whole makes part" (p. 272). That is, a biological system of some kind consists of a collection of heterogeneous parts. All of these contribute to the character of the whole, as in reductionist thinking. On the other hand, the whole has an existence independent of the parts and feeds back to affect and determine the nature of the parts. This back-and-forth (dialectic) of causation implies a dynamic process. For example, Darwinian evolution points to the competition of a variety of species, each with heterogeneous members, within a given environment. This leads to changing species and even to new species arising. A dialectical biologist would not reject this picture as much as look for ways in which the competing creatures lead to changes in the environment, as when the action of microbes encourages the erosion of rocks. Further, each species is part of the "environment" of all of the others.

Dialectical biology

Aristotle
Chinese philosophy
Critical theory (Frankfurt School)
Dialectical behavioral therapy
Dialectical materialism
Dialectician
Doublethink
False dilemma
Gyorgy Lukacs
Heraclitus
Paradox
Plato
Reflective equilibrium
Relational dialectics
Recursion
Strange loop
Universal dialectic
Portal:philosophy
Portal:thinking
List of cycles
Möbius strip
Talmud: Form and style
TRIZ See also
Göhler, Gerhard (1980): Die Reduktion der Dialektik durch marx. Strukturveraenderungen der dialektischen Entwicklung in der Kritik der Politischen Oekonomie, Stuttgart
Kimmerle, Heinz (Edit.) (1986): Dialektik – Modelle von Marx bis Althusser. Beitraege der Bochumer Dialektik – Arbeitsgemeinschaft, Bochum

General information

MM Postan, "Function and Dialectic in Economic History," The Economic History Review, 1962, no. 3.

The I.O., or I.O. Chicago, (formerly known as "ImprovOlympic") is a theater at 3541 N. Clark Street in the Wrigleyville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois dedicated to improvisational comedy. It was founded in the 1980s by Del Close and Charna Halpern. The I.O. approaches improvisation as an art form in and of itself; this differs from the Second City approach, where improv is used as a tool in creating sketch comedy. I.O. also concentrates on "long-form" improvisational structures, in contrast to the "short-form" or "improv game" format of Theatresports or the television show Whose Line Is It Anyway?. The I.O. signature piece is "Harold".
I.O.'s two theater spaces, the Cabaret and the Del Close Theater, run nightly shows for audiences mostly made up of teams of former students of I.O.'s training center. I.O. is also involved in the annual Chicago Improv Festival. A companion theater, I.O. West, opened in Los Angeles, California in 2000. Additionally, the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB), which is now based in New York and runs the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre there, was once an I.O. house team.
In 2006, I.O. began a joint venture with ComedyWorx of Raleigh, NC to create the third I.O. training center. Dubbed the I.O. South, this training center brings the same instructors that teach in Chicago and LA to spread the art of improv through the entire Southeast.

Industrial Distribution (ISSN 0019-8153) was originally founded 1911 as Mill Supplies, and changed its name in the 1930's to better reflect the changing industrial marketplace.
The magazine is published once a month with a circulation of more than 30,000 subscribers, including owners, managers, and sales personnel. The magazine covers industrial and construction distributors who buy, stock, and sell products manufactured by their suppliers and needed by end-user companies in manufacturing, construction, mining, oil fields, and utilities.
Industrial Distribution offers six regularly distributed eNewsletters: ID Channel Report, Strictly for Sales, Distributor Management & Operations, The Electrical Report, International Report, Idea File and Supplier Web Locator, each tailored to a specific area within the distribution industry.
Industrial Distribution compiles the 50 biggest distributors by sales volume with the acclaimed "Big 50" list. The list includes the companies' products, location, number of employees, and annual sales.
Each year the magazine also publishes the salary compensation study, based on responses from distributors throughout the country. Annual salary, percent of increase, change in job function, years of experience, years with distributorship, years in present job, hours worked, job satisfaction, benefits received, current concerns, and level of education are all covered in the survey.
The managing editor is Victoria Kickham and the editorial offices are located in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Cornell University College of Engineering

The College of Engineering is a division of Cornell University that was founded in 1870 as the Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanic Arts.
The college is also known for a number of firsts. It currently grants bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in a variety of applied fields, and is the third largest undergraduate college at Cornell by student enrollment. Also, the college offers over 450 engineering courses. The annual research budget of the College of Engineering exceeds $112 million. In 2006, Bill Gates donated $25 million for the construction of a new Computer Science building.

Reputation
With about 3,000 undergraduates and 1,300 graduate students, the college is the third-largest undergraduate college at Cornell by student enrollment.

School of Applied and Engineering Physics
Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering
Department of Biomedical Engineering
School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Department of Computer Science
Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
School of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Departments and schools
The Engineering Quad, was designed in the 1940s and 1950s on a site previously occupied by the Old Armory and faculty housing, using a master plan developed by the Perkins and Will firm. It has undergone major changes in recent years, particularly with the completion of Duffield Hall. In 2004, relandscaping with a design inspired by Cascadilla Gorge was completed and its landmark sundial was restored to its rightful place on the quad (after having been stored in Upson Hall during the construction period) the home of the Chemical Engineering department.

Future Developments
The College of Engineering offers 13 undergraduate majors, 15 undergraduate minors, 17 MS/Ph.D fields and 14 Master of Engineering fields. The College of Engineering grants degrees in the following programs of study.

Louisville (usually pronounced ['luːǝvǝl] (help·info); see Pronunciation below) is Kentucky's largest city. It is ranked as either the 17th or 27th largest city in the United States depending on how the population is calculated (see Nomenclature, population and ranking below). The settlement that became the City of Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark and is named after King Louis XVI of France. Louisville is famous as the home of "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports": the Kentucky Derby, the widely watched first race of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.
Louisville is situated in north-central Kentucky on the Kentucky-Indiana border at the only natural obstacle in the Ohio River, the Falls of the Ohio. Louisville is the county seat of Jefferson County, and since 2003, the city's borders are contiguous with those of the county due to merger. Because it includes counties in Southern Indiana, the Louisville metropolitan area is regularly referred to as Kentuckiana. A resident of Louisville is referred to as a Louisvillian. Although situated in a Southern state, Louisville is influenced by both Midwestern and Southern culture, and is commonly referred to as either the northernmost Southern city or the southernmost Northern city in the United States.

Nomenclature, population and ranking
Most native residents pronounce the city's name as ['luːǝvǝl] (info) (IPA) — often this degrades further into ['lǝvǝl] (info). The name is often pronounced far back in the mouth, in the top of the throat. The standard English pronunciation, however, is ['luːivɪl] (info) (referring to King Louis XVI), which is often utilized by political leaders and the media. No matter how Louisville is pronounced, the 's' is always silent. (This contrasts with the name of the cities Louisville, Colorado, Louisville, Georgia, Louisville, Mississippi and Louisville, Tennessee, which, although spelled the same, are pronounced ['luːisvɪl] (info).)
The variability of the local pronunciation of the city's name can perhaps be laid at the feet of the city's location on the border between the Northern and Southern regions of the United States. Louisville's diverse population has traditionally represented elements of both Northern and Southern culture.
Regional migration patterns and the homogenization of dialect due to electronic media also may be responsible for the incidence of native-born Louisvillians adopting or affecting the standard English pronunciation. Nevertheless, the ['luːǝvǝl] pronunciation is most popular among residents and is, with few exceptions, used by news and sports reporters.

Pronunciation

Main article: History of Louisville, Kentucky History

Main article: Geography of Louisville, Kentucky Geography
Louisville is located on the northern limit of the humid subtropical climate. Summers are typically hot and humid with mildly warm evenings. The mean annual temperature is 56 °F (13 °C), with an average annual snowfall of 16.4 inches (41 cm) and an average annual rainfall of 44.53 inches (1131 mm). The wettest seasons are the spring and summer, although rainfall is fairly constant all year round. During the winter, particularly in January and February, several days of snow can be expected, allowing for winter sports. January is the coldest month with average highs of 41 °F and average lows of 25 °F (5 to −4 °C) and July the hottest month with average high and low temperatures from 87 to 69.8 °F (31 and 21 °C). Louisville also often exemplifies the heat island effect. Temperatures in commercial areas and in the industrialized areas along interstates are often higher than in the suburbs, particularly the shaded areas, like Anchorage, where temperatures are often five degrees Fahrenheit (3 °C) cooler.

Climate
See also: Downtown Louisville, Louisville neighborhoods, and List of parks in Louisville, Kentucky
The downtown business district of Louisville is located immediately south of the Ohio River, and southeast of the Falls of the Ohio. Major roads extend outwards from the downtown area to all directions, like the spokes of a wheel. The airport is located approximately 6.75 miles (10 km) south of the downtown area. The industrial sections of town are located to the south and west of the airport, while most of the residential areas of the city are located to the southwest, south and east of downtown. The Louisville skyline is slated to be changed with the proposed 62-story Museum Plaza as well as a 22,000-seat waterfront arena.
Another primary business and industrial district is located in the suburban area east of the city on Hurstbourne Parkway.

Cityscape

Main article: Government of Louisville, Kentucky Government and politics
See also: Louisville Metro Police Department
Louisville is consistently ranked as one of the safest cities in the country and has been ranked in the Top 10 safest large cities by Morgan Quitno in the past 4 years. In the 2005 Morgan Quitno survey, Louisville was rated as the seventh safest large city in the United States.

Crime and public safety
Note: All demographics are the same as that of Jefferson County, Kentucky, which merged with the former City of Louisville on January 6, 2003.
As of the census² of 2000, there were 693,604 people, 287,012 households, and 183,113 families residing in the city/county. The population density was 695/km² (1,801/mi²). There were 305,835 housing units at an average density of 307/km² (794/mi²). The racial makeup of the city/county is 77.38% White, 18.88% Black or African American, 0.22% Native American, 1.39% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.68% from other races, and 1.42% from two or more races. 1.78% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 287,012 households out of which 29.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.20% were married couples living together, 14.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.20% were non-families. 30.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.97.
The age distribution is 24.30% under the age of 18, 8.90% from 18 to 24, 30.40% from 25 to 44, 22.80% from 45 to 64, and 13.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 91.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.60 males.
The median income for a household is $39,457, and the median income for a family was $49,161. Males had a median income of $36,484 versus $26,255 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,352. About 9.50% of families and 12.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.10% of those under age 18 and 8.80% of those age 65 or over.
17% of the state's population lives in Jefferson County and 25% live in counties in the Louisville CSA, and also Jefferson County has 2.5 times more people than Kentucky's second most populous county, Fayette County. 12 of the 15 buildings in Kentucky over 300 feet are located in downtown Louisville. Over one-third of the population growth in Kentucky is in Louisville's CSA counties.

Demographics
Religion is very prominent in Louisville which hosts several religious institutions of various faiths. There are 135,421 Catholic Louisvillians who attend 163 Catholic churches in the city.

Economy

Culture
See also: List of attractions and events in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is home to a number of annual cultural events. Perhaps most well-known is the Kentucky Derby, held annually during the first Saturday of May. The Derby is preceded by a two-week long Kentucky Derby Festival, which starts with the annual Thunder Over Louisville, the largest annual fireworks display in the nation. The Kentucky Derby Festival also features notable events such as the Pegasus Parade, The Great Steamboat Race, Great Balloon Race, a marathon, and about seventy events in total.
Usually beginning in late February or early March is the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville, an internationally acclaimed new-play festival that lasts approximately six weeks.
The summer season in Louisville also features a series of cultural events such as the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival (commonly called Shakespeare in the Park), held in July of every year and features free Shakespeare plays in Central Park in Old Louisville. The Kentucky State Fair is held every August at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville as well, featuring an array of culture from all areas of Kentucky.
In September is the Adam Matthews Balloon Festival, the fifth largest hot air balloon festival in the nation. The festival features early morning balloon races, as well as balloon glows in the evening. Also in September, in nearby Bardstown, is the annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival, which features some of the finest bourbon in the world. The suburb of Jeffersontown is also the home of the annual Gaslight Festival, a series of events spread over a week. Attendance is approximately 200,000 for the week.
The month of October features the St. James Court Art Show in Old Louisville. Thousands of artists gather on the streets and in the courtyard to exhibit and sell their wares, and the event is attended by many art collectors and enthusiasts. The show is the second most attended event next to the Derby. Another art-related event that occurs every month is the Gallery Hop. A TARC trolley takes art lovers to many downtown area art galleries on the first Friday of every month.

Annual festivals and other events
See also: Museums of Louisville, Kentucky and List of attractions and events in Louisville, Kentucky
The West Main District in downtown Louisville features what is locally known as "Museum Row". In this area, the Frazier International History Museum, which opened in 2004, features a collection of arms, armor and related historical artifacts spanning 1,000 years, concentrating on U.S. and UK arms. The building features three stories of exhibits, two reenactment arenas, a 120-seat auditorium, and a 48-seat movie theater. Also nearby is the Louisville Science Center, which is Kentucky's largest hands-on science center and features interactive exhibits, IMAX films, educational programs and technology networks. The Muhammad Ali Center opened November 2005 in "Museum Row" and features Muhammad Ali's boxing memorabilia, as well as information on the core themes that he has taken to heart: peace, social responsibility, respect and personal growth.
The Speed Art Museum opened in 1927 and is the oldest and largest art museum in the state of Kentucky. Located adjacent to the University of Louisville, the museum features over 12,000 pieces of art in its permanent collection and hosts regular temporary exhibitions. Multiple art galleries are located in the city, but they are especially concentrated in the East Market Street area of downtown. This row of galleries, plus others in the West Main District, are prominently featured in the monthly Gallery Hop.
Several local history museums can be found in the Louisville area. The most prominent among them is The Filson Historical Society, founded in 1884, which has holdings exceeding 1.5 million manuscript items and over 50,000 volumes in the library. The Filson's extensive collections focus on Kentucky, the Upper South, and the Ohio River Valley, and contain a large collection of portraiture and over ten thousand museum artifacts. Other local history museums include the Portland Museum, Historic Locust Grove visitors' center, the Falls of the Ohio State Park interpretive center (Clarksville, Indiana), Howard Steamboat Museum (Jeffersonville, Indiana) and the Carnegie Center for Art and History (New Albany, Indiana). The Falls interpretive center, part of the Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area, also functions as a natural history museum, covering findings in the nearby exposed Devonian fossil bed.
There are also several historical properties and items of interest in the area, including the Belle of Louisville, the oldest Mississippi-style steamboat in operation in the United States. The United States Marine Hospital of Louisville is considered the best remaining antebellum hospital in the United States. It was designed by Robert Mills, who is best known as the designer of the Washington Monument. Fort Knox, spread out among Bullitt, Hardin and Meade Counties (two of which are in the Louisville metropolitan area), is home to the U.S. Bullion Depository and the Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor. The previously mentioned Locust Grove, former home of Louisville Founder George Rogers Clark, portrays life in the early days of the city. Other notable properties include the Farmington Historic Home (home of the famous Speed family), Riverside, The Farnsley-Moremen Landing, and the restored Union Station, which was opened in September 7, 1891. The Louisville area is also home to the Waverly Hills Sanatorium, a turn-of-the-century (20th) hospital that was originally built to accommodate tuberculosis patients, and is now listed as one of the nation's most haunted houses.

Museums, galleries and interpretive centers

Main article: Media of Louisville, Kentucky Media
See also: List of parks in Louisville, Kentucky and List of attractions and events in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville Metro has 122 city parks covering more than 14,000 acres (57 km²). Several of these parks were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York City's Central Park as well as parks, parkways, college campuses and public facilities in many U.S. locations. The Louisville Waterfront Park is prominently located on the banks of the Ohio River near downtown, and features large open areas, which often feature free concerts and other festivals. Cherokee Park, one of the most visited parks in the nation, The forest is designated as a National Audubon Society wildlife refuge, and offers over 30 miles (50 km) of various hiking trails.
Otter Creek Park is another large park nearby. While actually in Brandenburg, Kentucky, Otter Creek Park is owned and operated by Louisville Metro government. The park's namesake, Otter Creek, winds along the eastern side of the park. A scenic bend in the Ohio River, which divides Kentucky from Indiana, can be seen from northern overlooks within the park. The park is a popular mountain biking destination, with trails maintained by a local mountain bike organization.
Other outdoor points of interest in the Louisville area include Cave Hill Cemetery (the burial location of Col. Harland Sanders), Zachary Taylor National Cemetery (the burial location of President Zachary Taylor), the Louisville Zoo, Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom and the Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area.
In development is the City of Parks, a project to create a continuous paved pedestrian and biking trail around Louisville Metro while also adding a large amount of park land. Current plans call for making basically the entire 1600-acre Floyds Fork flood plain in eastern Jefferson County into park space, expanding acreage in the Jefferson Memorial Forest, and adding riverfront land and wharfs along the Riverwalk Trail and Levee Trail.

Parks and outdoor attractions

Main article: Performing arts in Louisville, Kentucky Performing arts

Main article: Sports in Louisville, Kentucky Sports
See also: Historical professional sports teams in Louisville

Current professional teams

Infrastructure
See also: List of schools in Louisville, Kentucky and Louisville Free Public Library
According to the U.S. Census, of Louisville's population over twenty-five, 21.3% (the national average is 24%) hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and 76.1% (80% nationally) have a high school diploma or equivalent.
The public school system, Jefferson County Public Schools, consists of more than 98,000 students in 89 elementary schools, 24 middle schools, 22 high schools and 22 other learning centers. Due to Louisville's large Catholic population, there are 27 Catholic schools in the city. The Kentucky School for the Blind for all of Kentucky's blind and visually impaired students is located in Louisville.
Louisville is home to the University of Louisville, Bellarmine University, and several other post-secondary schools. Indiana University Southeast is located across the Ohio River in New Albany, Indiana.

Education

Main article: Transportation in Louisville, Kentucky Transportation
Electricity is provided to the Louisville Metro area by LG&E, a subsidiary of E.ON U.S. and traces its roots back to 1838 as Louisville Gas. Louisville Gas and Electric was formed in 1913 by the merger of Louisville Gas, Louisville Lighting (founded in 1903) and Kentucky Heating. In 1998, LG&E merged with Kentucky Utilities (KU) to form LG&E Energy. In 2000, LG&E Energy was bought by British utility company Powergen. In 2002, Powergen was bought by the German company E.ON. Finally, on December 1, 2005, LG&E Energy changed its name to E.ON U.S. Today, LG&E serves over 350,000 electric and over 300,000 natural gas customers, covers an area of 700 square miles (1800 km²), and has a total regulated electric generation capacity of 3,514 megawatts.
The Ohio River provides for most of the city's source of drinking water. Water is drawn from the river at two points: the raw water pump station at Zorn and River Road, and the B.E. Payne Pump Station northeast of Harrods Creek. Water is also obtained from a riverbank infiltration well at the Payne Plant. There are also two water treatment plants serving the Louisville Metro area: The Crescent Hill Treatment Plant and the B.E. Payne Treatment Plant.

Utilities
Louisville has seven sister cities:

Jiujiang, China
La Plata, Argentina
Mainz, Germany
Montpellier, France
Perm, Russia
Quito, Ecuador
Tamale, Ghana See also

Thursday, September 20, 2007

The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a militant Jewish organization whose stated goal is to protect Jews from anti-Semitism.

History
The JDL was founded in 1968 by Rabbi Meir Kahane. Its goal was to protect Jews, initially in New York City, and to protest local manifestations of anti-Semitism.[2]

Founding
1968-71- Rabbi Meir Kahane.
1971-73- David Fisch, a religious Columbia University student, who later wrote articles for Jewish magazines, and who wrote at least one book, "Jews for Nothing."
1973-74- No Chairman. There was infighting and chaos until Rabbi Kahane returned in August 1974 to straighten things out.
1974-76- Russel Kelner, originally from Philadelphia. Formerly a US Army lieutenant trained in counter-guerrilla warfare, he moved to New York to direct the JDL's paramilitary camp JEDEL, and later to run the national office as chairman.
1976-78- Bonnie Pechter.
September 1978-December 1978- Victor Vancier, imprisoned for bombing Egyptian targets in a failed effort to stop Israel's withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula.
1979-81- Brett Becker, originally from South Florida. He came to New York to become Chairman.
1981-83- Meir Jolowitz, originally from Arizona. He also came to New York.
1983-84- Fern Sidman, National Director.
1984-1987- Victor Vancier. In 1985 Irv Rubin also claimed to be Chairman but none of the JDL chapters outside of Los Angeles supported him.
1987-2002- Irv Rubin.
2002-present- Shelley Rubin. (For more information on the period of disputed leadership, October 2004 through April 2006, see Section 2.3: Schism and its immediate aftermath.)

JDL Chairmen
In 1990 the JDL's founder, Meir Kahane, was assassinated by a gunman during a Zionist conference in New York City. The police shot and apprehended the suspected perpetrator, El Sayyid Nosair, an Egyptian-born Muslim extremist, but Nosair was acquitted by the jury. [3]. The murder investigation remains open.[4]

Assassination of Kahane
On December 12, 2001, Irv Rubin, JDL International Chairman, and Earl Krugel, a member of the organization, were charged with conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism. Authorities claimed that the two planned attacks on Arab-American Congressman Darrell Issa's office, and on the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California.
Rubin maintained that he was innocent, and was reportedly eager to wage a vigorous court battle in his defense. On November 4, 2002, at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, California, Rubin fell 18 feet to the concrete floor below. He was in a coma for 10 days before dying on November 13. The prison's official report was that he slashed his own neck before throwing himself over the railing. [5]. Many have noted that this was an unusual method of committing suicide, and although the incident has been ruled a suicide, some of Rubin's supporters have alleged murder.
On February 4, 2003, Earl Krugel pled guilty to conspiracy and weapons charges stemming from the terrorist plot, and was expected to serve up to 20 years in prison. He was murdered by another inmate while at the Federal Correctional Institution in north Phoenix, Arizona on November 4, 2005.

Imprisonment and deaths of Irv Rubin and Earl Krugel
After Rubin's death in November 2002, Bill Maniaci was appointed interim chairman by Shelley Rubin. Around two years later, the Jewish Defense League became mired in a state of modest upheaval over legal control of the organization.
In October 2004, Maniaci rejected Shelley Rubin's call for him to resign; as a result, Maniaci was stripped of his title and membership. At that point the JDL split into two separate factions, each vying for legal control of the associated "intellectual property." During that period the sides operated as separate organizations with the same name, while a lengthy legal battle ensued.
In April 2005 the original domain name of the organization, jdl.org, was suspended by Network Solutions due to allegation of infringement; the organization went back online soon thereafter at domain name jewishdefenseleague.org.
In April 2006 news of a settlement was announced in which signatories agreed to not object to "Shelley Rubin's titles of permanent chairman and CEO of JDL." The agreement also confirmed that "the name 'Jewish Defense League,' the acronym 'JDL,' and the 'Fist and Star' logo are the exclusive intellectual property of JDL." (Opponents of both groups claim that these symbols are Kahanist symbols and not the exclusive property of JDL. Others point out that the logo is no longer in general use by the Kahanist groups.) The agreement also states: "Domain names registered on behalf of JDL, including but not limited to jdl.org and jewishdefenseleague.org, are owned and operated by JDL." Meanwhile, the opposing group formed B'nai Elim. B'nai Elim is the latest of many JDL splinter groups to have formed over the years, a list which also includes Victor Vancier's Jewish Task Force.
In France there exists an organization, Ligue de Défense Juive (LDJ), that is similar to the original JDL. It is not connected in any way to the current JDL organization.

Schism, and its immediate aftermath
The JDL espouses the official doctrine that outside of Jews there is historically no people corresponding to the Palestinian ethnicity. Writing on its official website, the JDL claims:
and that
On this basis, the JDL argues that "Zionism [should be] under no obligation to accommodate a separate "Palestinian" claim, there being no historical evidence or witness for any such Arab category," which it defines as any marriage between a Jew and a non-Jew.
The JDL insists that it is not a racist organization; as evidence, it offers up the aid it has given Arab immigrants to the United States, commenting that

LOVE OF JEWRY: pride in and knowledge of Jewish tradition, faith, culture, land, history, strength, pain and peoplehood
DIGNITY AND PRIDE: the need to both move to help Jews everywhere and to change the Jewish image through sacrifice and all necessary means -- even strength, force and violence.
IRON: the need to both move to help Jews everywhere and to change the Jewish image through sacrifice and all necessary means -- even strength, force and violence.
DISCIPLINE AND UNITY: the knowledge that he (or she) can and will do whatever must be done, and the unity and strength of willpower to bring this into reality.
FAITH IN THE INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE: Faith in the greatness and indestructibility of the Jewish people, our religion and our Land of Israel. Official JDL Positions

JDL activities
The Jewish Defense League during the early seventies campaigned to allow the emigration of Soviet Jews from the Soviet Union. The organization was linked with a 1970 bomb explosion outside of Aeroflot's New York City office, and a 1971 detonation outside of Soviet cultural offices in Washington, D.C. Also in 1971, a JDL member allegedly fired a rifle into the Soviet Union's mission office at the United Nations. In 1972 two JDL members were arrested and charged with bomb possession and burglary in a conspiracy to blow up the Long Island residence of the Soviet Mission to the UN. The two JDL members pleaded guilty and were sentenced to serve 3 years in prison for one, and a year and a day for the other.
In 1975, JDL leader Meir Kahane was accused of conspiring to kidnap a Soviet diplomat, to bomb the Iraqi Embassy in Washington, and to ship arms abroad from Israel. A hearing was held to revoke Kahane's probation for a 1971 firebomb-making incident. He was found guilty of violating probation and served a one year prison sentence. JDL activities were condemned by Moscow refuseniks who felt that the group's actions were making it less likely that the Soviet Union would relax restrictions on Jewish emigration. On April 6, 1976, six prominent refuseniks, Vladimir Slepak, Alexander Lerner, Anatoly Shcharansky, and Iosif Begun condemned the JDL's activities as "terrorist acts," stating "Such actions constitute a danger for Soviet Jews... as they might be used by the authorities as a pretext for new repressions and for instigating anti-Semitic hostilities." [6]
During the 1980s, the then JDL Chairman and current Jewish Task Force Chairman Chaim Ben Pesach led a campaign of bombing Soviet targets which he credits as the reason for the complete removal of the ban of Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union and as well as the reason for the fall of the Soviet Union. He has said that the bombings brought strains in US-Soviet relations which he says helped the cause.

Anti-Soviet activities
The JDL has branches in Eastern Europe, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Russia, France and the United Kingdom.
Meir Weinstein, also known as Meir Halevi, is the long-time chairman of the JDL in Canada. The Canadian group resumed activities in 2006 after a long absence.

Controversies
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has described the Jewish Defense League in Congressional testimony as a "violent" and "extremist" group. It identified the group in a 1999 terrorism report as the perpetrator of several bombing and arson incidents that took place between 1980 and 1989. Mary Doran, an FBI street agent, described the JDL in 2004 Congressional testimony as "a proscribed terrorist group," though Doran also acknowledged that she is not involved in "policy and administrative decision-making processes." In 2001 JDL leaders Irv Rubin and Earl Krugel were charged with planning a terror attack against the office of Arab-American Congressman Darrell Issa. [9].
The Jewish Defense League denies that it is a terrorist organization or a sponsor of terror. Its website states: "The Jewish Defense League unconditionally condemns terrorism of all forms. Terrorism is never a legitimate means to the furtherance of political goals."[10]
In a 1984 interview with Washington Post correspondent Carla Hall, Meir Kahane admitted that the JDL "bombed the Russian mission in New York, the Russian cultural mission here [Washington] in 1971, the Soviet trade offices." The case against the JDL and Rubin was subsequently dropped when the primary suspects fled to Israel, but was renewed again when

Terrorism
On 25 February 1994, a JDL member opened fire on Palestinian Muslims kneeling in prayer at mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron, killing 29. The incident is referred to as the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre. A statement on the official website of the JDL glorifies Baruch Goldstein and his crime, claiming him as one of their own:
"Dr. Goldstein was a brilliant surgeon, a mild-mannered Yeshiva-educated man who was promoted to the rank of major in the IDF. He was warned by his superiors in the military to prepare an open field hospital in anticipation of another murderous attack by the hostile Arab population of Hevron during the Jewish festival of Purim. Many of these Arabs were standing outside Goldstein's synagogue in the Cave of the Patriarchs and yelling "Slaughter the Jew." Goldstein had lost 30 close friends in the last few years; they were murdered by Arabs in the Hevron-Kiryat Arba area. One of those was the son of his best friend, Mordechai Lapid; as Goldstein rushed to give the young man medical aid, he was held back by the Arabs on the scene and the young man died. Additionally, as there is proof that the Arabs were hoarding food and supplies in response to a Muslim call for a massacre on the Jewish holiday of Purim, we feel that Goldstein took a preventative measure against yet another Arab attack on Jews. We understand his motivation, his grief and his actions. And we are not ashamed to say that Goldstein was a charter member of the Jewish Defense League." [12]
Goldstein is revered as a saint by extreme right-wingers in Israel and his tomb was converted into a shrine by his supporters until its dismantlement by the Israeli authorities in 1999. [13]

Hebron massacre
The JDL has been criticized by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for presenting a "gross distortion" of the real situation of American Jews. The ADL also states that JDL's founder, Meir Kahane, "preached a radical form of Jewish nationalism which reflected racism, violence and political extremism" and that those attitudes "were replicated" by Irv Rubin, the successor to Kahane [14] [15].
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has added the JDL to its list of watched "hate groups".

Death Row Records and Jewish Defense League

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