Abitur (from Latin abire = go away, go off) is a designation used in Finland for final exams that young adults (aged 18, 19 or 20) take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling. Even though the Abitur is often compared to a high school diploma in the United States, it is closer to the associate degree of a US college, as it in many states requires 13 years of study and enables the recipient to earn a Bachelor's degree in three years. However, the academic level of the Abitur is more comparable to the International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement tests. Test has existed in Finland since the mid-19th century. The test is called Ylioppilastutkinto in Finnish and Studentexamen in Swedish. The official English language translation is Matriculation Examination. Since 1919, the test has been arranged by a national body, the Matriculation Examination Board. Before that, the administration of the test was the responsibility of University of Helsinki. Successful completion formerly legally entitled one to enrol as a university student (hence "matriculation"). Although the legal requirement has been lifted, matriculation without the doing the test is still an exception. The universities are now free to arrange their own entrance examinations in addition to considering scores from the Matriculation Examination. Thus, universities accept students based both on entrance exam points, matriculation exam points, and also by a combined score from the two. Matriculation entitles one to wear the student cap. Each examinee is required to participate in at least four tests in order to matriculate. As of 2005 the only mandatory part of the test is that of Aidinkieli ("mother tongue"; Finnish for most students, Swedish or Sami for some), including a composition test. The student then has to choose three other subjects from * Second domestic language (Swedish for Finnish speakers or Finnish for Swedish speakers) * Foreign language Languages are separated into A and B levels depending on the demanded skill. The language counted as part of the four obligatory subjects must be one of A-level. However, if a student takes advanced level mathematics as an obligatory subject, he may take B-level language exams. English, German and French are the most popular choices among students, but in addition, the students may take Russian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Inari Sami, and Northern Sami exams. The foreign language exams include listening and reading comprehension tests, grammar test and an essay. * Mathematics (ordinary or advanced level), including 15 assignments 10 of which must be completed. * Reaali in which examinees take between one and four exams, and are only allowed to answer questions from a single subject per exam. These subjects have to be chosen by the examinee well in advance prior to the exam. Exams consist of questions which require answers in the form of an essay. The subjects of reaali category are * Religion, Evangelical Lutheran * Religion, Orthodox Christian * Education on ethics and moral history * Philosophy * History * Social science * Physics * Chemistry * Biology * Geography * Health education The insignia of Finnish matriculation exam board The insignia of Finnish matriculation exam board The exam takes place at schools according to minute regulations laid out by the national board. Each exam takes six hours. After the exam, the teachers grade the papers and send the graded papers to the national board which then re-grades every paper. The grading of the exam may be appealed against. In this case, the board re-examines the grading. The result of the re-examination is final and cannot be appealed to any authority. The score of each test varies with the subject. For example, the maximum score for the test in Finnish or Swedish as a first language is 114 points, in mathematics 66 points and in foreign languages 299 points. The tests are graded according to normal distribution into seven verbal grades with Latin names: Improbatur (I), Approbatur (A), Lubenter Approbatur (B) Cum Laude Approbatur (C), Magna Cum Laude Approbatur (M) Eximia Cum Laude Approbatur (E) and Laudatur (L), from bottom to top. In general, at least the grade A is required for the test to be passed. In every exam, * 5% of students receive a laudatur * 15% of students receive an eximia cum laude approbatur * 20% of students receive a magna cum laude approbatur * 24% of students receive a cum laude approbatur * 20% of students receive a lubenter approbatur * 11% of students receive an approbatur * 5% of students receive an improbatur. Traditionally, the test is taken in the spring, but it is also arranged every autumn and may be taken in up to three parts. Thus taking the matriculation exam may take up to one and half years. Usuall

I caught this building in strong shadow early in the morning. I walked by it a few times on this trip because it was across the street from the Metro station nearest the conference. Sometimes I saw some heavily armed people walking and and out of the building. There's an expresso shop embedded in it that serves a great decaf americano -- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (abbreviated ATF) is a specialized federal law enforcement agency and regulatory organization within the United States Department of Justice.[2] Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevention of federal offenses involving the unlawful use, manufacture, and possession of firearms and explosives, acts of arson and bombings, and illegal trafficking of alcohol and tobacco products. The ATF also regulates via licensing the sale, possession, and transportation of firearms, ammunition, and explosives in interstate commerce. Many of ATF's activities are carried out in conjunction with task forces made up of state and local law enforcement officers, such as Project Safe Neighborhoods. ATF operates a unique fire research laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, where full-scale mock-ups of criminal arsons can be reconstructed. The ATF was formerly part of the United States Department of the Treasury, having been formed in 1886 as the "Revenue Laboratory" within the Treasury Department's Bureau of Internal Revenue. The history of ATF can be subsequently traced to the time of the revenuers or "revenoors"[5] and the Bureau of Prohibition, which was formed as a unit of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 1920, was made an independent agency within the Treasury Department in 1927, was transferred to the Justice Department in 1930, and became, briefly, a division of the FBI in 1933. When the Volstead Act was repealed in December 1933, the Unit was transferred from the Department of Justice back to the Department of the Treasury where it became the Alcohol Tax Unit of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Special Agent Eliot Ness and several members of "Untouchables", who had worked for the Prohibition Bureau while the Volstead Act was still in force, were transferred to the ATU. In 1942, responsibility for enforcing federal firearms laws was given to the ATU. In the early 1950s, the Bureau of Internal Revenue was renamed "Internal Revenue Service" (IRS),[6] and the ATU was given the additional responsibility of enforcing federal tobacco tax laws. At this time, the name of the ATU was changed to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division (ATTD). In 1968, with the passage of the Gun Control Act, the agency changed its name again, this time to the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the IRS and first began to be referred to by the initials "ATF." In 1972, President Richard Nixon signed an Executive Order creating a separate Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms within the Treasury Department. Rex D. Davis oversaw the transition, becoming the bureau's first director, having headed the division since 1970. During his tenure, Davis shepherded the organization into an agency targeting political terrorists and organized crime.[7] However, taxation and other alcohol issues were not held to high importance standards during that time. In the wake of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush signed into law the Homeland Security Act of 2002. In addition to creating of the Department of Homeland Security, the law shifted ATF from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Justice. The agency's name was changed to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. However, the agency still was referred to as the "ATF" for all purposes. Additionally, the task of collection of federal tax revenue derived from the production of tobacco and alcohol products and the regulatory function related to protecting the public in issues related to the production of alcohol, previously handled by the Bureau of Internal Revenue as well as by ATF, was transferred to the newly established Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), which remained within the Treasury Department. These changes took effect January 24, 2003. ATF, as a bureau, consists of several different groups that each have their own respective role, commanded by a director. Special Agents are empowered to conduct criminal investigations, defend the United States against international and domestic terrorism, and work with state and local police officers to reduce violent crime on a national level. ATF Special Agents have some of the broadest authority of any federal agency; 18 U.S.C. § 3051 empowers them to enforce any statute in the United States Code. Specifically, ATF special agents have lead investigative authority on any federal crime committed with a firearm or explosive, as well as investigative authority over regulatory referrals and Cigarette smugg