Wikipedia:Today's featured list/September 2013
|
Featured list tools: |
September 2
There are 411 municipalities in the Netherlands: 408 regular municipalities and 3 public bodies. Municipalities are the second-level administrative division in the Netherlands and are subdivisions of their respective provinces. Their duties are delegated to them by the central government and they are ruled by a municipal council that is elected every four years. Municipalities are responsible for a wide variety of public services, which include land-use planning, public housing, management and maintenance of local roads, waste management and social security. Municipal mergers have reduced the total number of municipalities by two-thirds since the first official boundaries were created after a cadastre was formed in the mid-19th century. These municipalities come in a wide range of sizes, from as small as 7 km2 (2.7 sq mi) to 814 km2 (314 sq mi) and with populations ranging from 1,000 to 800,000. (Full list...)
September 9
There have been twelve Presidents of Pakistan since the introduction of the post in 1956. The President of Pakistan is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Since the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 2010, Pakistan has been shifted back from semi-presidential to a parliamentary democratic republic. Under that system, the president has limited ruling powers, and performs ceremonial duties while the Prime Minister enjoys more powers to execute decisions. The president is chosen by the Electoral College composed of the Senate, the National Assembly and the Provincial Assemblies. The president may remain in office for a tenure of five years. Iskander Mirza was the first president of the country. Seven presidents have been members of a political party and four of them were active party members of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Four presidents were military officers and three of them gained power through successful military coups. Apart from these twelve, two acting presidents have also been in office for short periods of time. Mamnoon Hussain of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) is the current president, succeeding Asif Ali Zardari (pictured) on 9 September. (Full list...)
September 16
There are sixty-three schools in Cardenal Caro, one of the three provinces of Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region in Chile. The province contains several primary schools and eight secondary schools. All schools in Cardenal Caro are municipal (owned by the government of their respective communes) except the Colegio de la Preciosa Sangre de Pichilemu (pictured) and the Colegio Charly's School, which are semi-private (subsidized by the state). Forty-seven schools are located in rural areas, while the remaining sixteen are located in urban areas. All of them are coeducational. In 2010, there were seventy-eight schools in Cardenal Caro, with 7,400 students in total. As of 2012, the number of students in the province decreased to 6,681. The Colegio de la Preciosa Sangre in Pichilemu has the most students, with 558, and is followed by the Liceo Agustín Ross Edwards, also in Pichilemu, with 504, and the Escuela Cardenal Raúl Silva Henríquez in Litueche, with 489. (Full list...)
September 23
The PDSA Gold Medal is an animal bravery award that acknowledges the bravery and devotion to duty of non-human animals. It was created by the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) in 2001, and is now recognised as the non-human animal equivalent of the George Cross. An animal can be awarded the PDSA Gold Medal if he or she assists in saving human or non-human animal life when his or her own life is in danger or through exceptional devotion to duty. The medal can also be awarded to animals in public service, such as police or rescue dogs, if the animal dies or suffers serious injury while carrying out his or her official duties in the face of armed and violent opposition. The first ceremony, in November 2002, saw the Gold Medal awarded to three dogs, including Endal (pictured), an assistance dog whose actions helped to save the life of his disabled owner. The most recent ceremony was held in June 2013, honouring Ajax, a German Shepherd. The PDSA Gold Medal has been awarded 23 times, and all recipients to date have been dogs. (Full list...)
September 30
1930s jazz standards are musical compositions written in the 1930s that have become widely known, performed and recorded by jazz artists as part of the genre's musical repertoire. These standards include original jazz compositions, as well as songs from Broadway musicals and independent popular songs that have been adopted and recorded by jazz musicians. Some of the most popular standards were composed in the 1930s; these include "Summertime" by George and Ira Gershwin, "My Funny Valentine" by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (pictured), "All the Things You Are" by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, and the most recorded jazz standard of all time, "Body and Soul" by Johnny Green. Other significant contributors to the 1930s jazz standard repertoire were Duke Ellington, Hoagy Carmichael and Cole Porter. (Full list...)