Direction

Direction may refer to:

Alexander technique

The Alexander technique, named after Frederick Matthias Alexander, sets out to teach people how to avoid unnecessary muscular and mental tension during their everyday activities. It is an educational process rather than a relaxation technique or form of exercise. Most other methods take it for granted that 'one's awareness of oneself' is accurate, whereas Alexander said that people who had been using their musculature wrongly for a long time could not trust their feelings (sensory appreciation) in carrying out any activity or in responding to situations emotionally. Practitioners say that such problems are often caused by repeated misuse of one's musculature over a long period of time, for example, by standing or sitting with one's weight unevenly distributed, holding one's head incorrectly, walking or running inefficiently, or responding to stressful stimuli in an exaggerated way. The purpose of the Alexander technique is to help people unlearn maladaptive psychophysical habits and return to a balanced state of rest and poise in which one's musculature is functioning as an integrated whole.

Direction – Social Democracy

Direction – Social Democracy (Slovak: Smer–sociálna demokracia, Smer-SD) is a social-democraticpolitical party in Slovakia. It is led by Robert Fico who serves his second term as a Prime Minister of Slovakia. Smer-SD is the largest party in the National Council, with an absolute majority of 83 seats (out of 150) following the Parliamentary Election held on 10 March 2012.

History

Originally named Direction, the party emerged as a breakaway from the Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ) on 8 November 1999. Under Fico, at the time one of the most popular politicians in the country, it quickly surpassed the SDĽ. In 2003 it changed its formal name to Direction (Third Way) (Slovak: Smer (tretia cesta)). In 2005, it absorbed SDĽ and several other centre-left parties and adopted its current name. Following the party's victory in 2006, Smer entered into a coalition with the nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS). For this, it was suspended from membership of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The PES Chairman, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, explained in The Slovak Spectator that "Most of our members stood solidly behind our values, according to which forming a coalition with the extreme right is unacceptable."Smer was readmitted into the PES in 2008.

General (Sweden)

General, Finnish: kenraali is the highest officer's rank in Sweden and Finland. In Sweden, it is held by the Supreme Commander (Swedish: överbefälhavare) of the Swedish Armed Forces and the monarch. In Finland, it is held by the Chief of Defence. In Sweden, the monarch still holds the nominal rank of General as well as Admiral and General of the Air Force.

Finnish Defence Forces rank of kenraali is comparable to Ranks of NATO armies officers as OF-9.

Holders of the rank in Sweden

Holders of the rank in Finland

In peacetime the rank of Full General is reserved for the Commander of Finnish Defence Forces. Sometimes a General's branch of service is indicated in the rank. So far Finland has had seventeen of jalkaväenkenraali (General of Infantry), a few of jääkärikenraali (Jägergeneral), two of ratsuväenkenraali (General of Cavalry) and one tykistönkenraali (General of Artillery). Marshal Mannerheim himself was the other one of the two Generals of Cavalry before his promotion to Field Marshal.

General (train)

The General (train numbers 48 and 49) was the Pennsylvania Railroad's number two train between New York and Chicago. Only a bit slower than the Broadway Limited, it had no extra fare and for a time before World War Two, carried more passengers than the Broadway Limited or the New York Central's Twentieth Century Limited.

The General was inaugurated in 1937, and carried coaches and Pullmans. It received some new lightweight equipment in 1938 as part of the fleet of modernism, but it was mostly heavyweight until 1940. It was the only "Fleet of Modernism" train to be streamlined without an observation car. It lost its coaches when the Advance General was inaugurated in 1940. It was re-equipped with lightweight sleeping cars from both the pre-war Broadway, and new cars from post-war orders. At this time, it also carried the Broadway's pre-war observation cars. In 1951 the General lost its all-Pullman status when it was combined with the all-coach Trail Blazer for non-peak travel periods only. In 1952 this consolidation became permanent, and by 1960, the Trail Blazer name was dropped. In 1967 the General was renamed the Broadway Limited when that train lost its numbers and all-Pullman status.

General (Switzerland)

The General (German: Der General, French: le général, Italian: il generale, Romansh: il general) is an office and rank in the armed forces of Switzerland. It is held by the commander-in-chief of the Army in time of war only. Under the Swiss Constitution, he must be elected by the Federal Assembly, assembled as the United Federal Assembly, specifically for the purpose of taking on the war-time responsibilities.

Role

Normally the word "general" is not used in the Swiss military, with three-star commandants de corps the highest-ranking officers in the army. Under the Constitution, the Federal Council, which acts as the country's head of state, can command only 4,000 soldiers, with a time limit of three weeks of mobilisation. For it to field more service personnel, the Federal Assembly must elect a General who is given four stars. Thus, the General is elected by the Federal Assembly to give him the same democratic legitimacy as the Federal Council.

The general is elected by a joint session of the Federal Assembly, known as the United Federal Assembly, wherein both the 200-seat National Council and 46-seat Council of States join together on a 'one member, one vote' basis. The Federal Assembly retains the sole power to dismiss the General, but the General remains subordinate to the Federal Council by the Council's ability to demobilise and hence making the position of General redundant.