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Article of the Week [ about ]

In Wisconsin v. Yoder et al. (406 U.S. 205) the United States Supreme Court, by a ruling of 6-1 on May 15, 1972, upheld the judgment of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in voiding the convictions of the Amish plaintiffs (Yoder et al) under the state's compulsory school attendance law. The convictions of the plaintiffs were voided under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The case had come to the U.S. Court as a result of a Wisconsin compulsory school attendance law which required parents to enroll their children in public or private schools until at least the age of 16. The defendants, who were members of an Old Order Amish community, refused to send their 14 and 15 year old children to the consolidated public schools, or to otherwise provide education for them, in satisfaction of the statutes, after they had completed the eighth grade.

At lower court levels, the Amishmen were convicted of violating the statute and fined. They claimed that their rights under the free exercise of religion clause (First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution) were violated by the statute and appealed the conviction. Their appeal was heard by the state Supreme Court, where they were upheld. The State of Wisconsin then took the matter to the United States Supreme Court.[more...]

New Draft of the Week [ about ]

(PD) Photo: NOAA
A deck of punch cards.

Punch card (alternately holleritch card) is a term for cards used for storing information. Herman Hollerith is credited with the invention of the media for storing information from the United States Census of 1890.

Hollerith reasoned that standard sized cards, that recorded information through the presence or absence of holes in standard locations on their surface, could be rapidly sorted and collated by machines.

After leaving the United States Census Bureau Hollerith founded a company that manufactured the use of tabulating machines designed to sort and collate punch cards. International Business Machines, later to be a leading manufacturer of computers, started with the sale and manufacture of office machinery, including machines for sorting and collating punch cards. [more...]

@@ Line 105: / Line 105: @@
 === Article of the Week <font size=1>[ [[CZ:Article of the Week|about]] ]</font> ===
-{{Image|Voerde Coal-fired Power Plant.jpg|right|200px|Coal-fired power plant in Voerde, Germany}}
+In '''[[Wisconsin v. Yoder]] et al.''' (406 U.S. 205) the [[United States Supreme Court]],  by a ruling of 6-1 on May 15, 1972, upheld the judgment of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in voiding the convictions of the [[Amish]] plaintiffs (Yoder et al) under the state's compulsory school attendance law. The convictions of the plaintiffs were voided under the [[Free Exercise Clause]] of the [[First Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution]].
-A '''[[conventional coal-fired power plant]]''' produces [[electricity]] by [[Combustion|burning]] [[coal]] in a [[Boiler|steam generator]] that heats water to produce high pressure  and high temperature [[steam]]. The steam flows through a series of [[steam turbine]]s which spin an [[electrical generator]] to produce electricity. The exhaust steam from the turbines is cooled, [[Condensation|condensed]] back into water, and returned to the steam generator to start the process over.
-Conventional coal-fired power plants are highly complex and custom designed on a large scale for continuous operation 24 hours per day and 365 days per year. Such plants provide most of the electrical energy used in many countries.
+The case had come to the U.S. Court as a result of a [[Wisconsin]] compulsory school attendance law which required parents to enroll their children in public or private schools until at least the age of 16. The defendants, who were members of an Old Order Amish community, refused to send their 14 and 15 year old children to the consolidated public schools, or to otherwise provide education for them, in satisfaction of the statutes, after they had completed the eighth grade.
-Most plants built in the 1980s and early 1990s have a power of around 500 MW (500•10<sup>6</sup> [[watt (unit)|watt]]), while many of the modern plants have a power of around 1000 MW. Also the efficiencies (ratio of electrical energy produced to energy released by the coal burned) of conventional coal-fired plants increased from  under 35% to close to 45%.  Because of the [[second law of thermodynamics]] there is a fixed physical limit on the efficiency. By [[Carnot's law]] the limit is proportional to the temperature difference of the steam and the cooling water, with the consequence that the efficiency of a plant cannot surpass 50% by much.<font size=1>[[Conventional coal-fired power plant|['''more...''']]]</font>
+At lower court levels, the Amishmen were convicted of violating the statute and fined. They claimed that their rights under the free exercise of religion clause (First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution) were violated by the statute and appealed the conviction. Their appeal was heard by the state Supreme Court, where they were upheld. The State of Wisconsin then took the matter to the United States Supreme Court.<font size=1>[[Wisconsin v. Yoder|['''more...''']]]</font>
 === New Draft of the Week <font size=1>[ [[CZ:New Draft of the Week|about]] ]</font> ===
-The '''[[Jass–Belote card games]]''' are a family of [[trick-taking game|trick-taking]] [[card game]]s in which the Jack ("jass") and Nine of the trump suit are the highest-ranking [[trump]]s, and the Tens and Aces of all suits are the next most valuable cards. Games in this family are typically played by 2 or 4 players with the 32 French-suited cards of a [[piquet pack]].
+{{Image|NOAA punch cards.jpg|right|200px|A deck of punch cards.}}
+'''[[Punch card]]''' (alternately '''holleritch card''') is a term for cards used for storing information.
+[[Herman Hollerith]] is credited with the invention of the media for storing information from the [[United States Census]] of 1890.
-Variants of the basic 2-handed game – known under various names including '''Klaberjas''', '''Clob''' and '''Bela''' – are played worldwide, especially in Jewish communities. 4-handed '''Belote''' with its numerous variants is the French national card game but has spread as far away as Cyprus and Saudi-Arabia. Other notable members of the family include the Swiss and Dutch national card games (Swiss '''Jass''' and Dutch '''Klaverjas'''). [[Twenty-Nine (card game)|Twenty-Nine]], a popular game in South Asia, is a descendent of these games sharing many of their characteristics. <font size=1>[[Jass–Belote card games|['''more...''']]]</font>
+Hollerith reasoned that standard sized cards, that recorded information through the presence or absence of holes in standard locations on their surface, could be rapidly sorted and collated by machines.
+After leaving the [[United States Census Bureau]] Hollerith founded a company that manufactured the use of [[tabulating machines]] designed to sort and collate punch cards.
+[[International Business Machines]], later to be a leading manufacturer of computers, started with the sale and manufacture of office machinery, including machines for sorting and collating punch cards. <font size=1>[[Punch card|['''more...''']]]</font>
 |}