Ristar is a platform video game released by Sega in February 1995 for the Game Gear. While sharing themes and gameplay elements from its main counterpart, Ristar, for the Sega Genesis, it is a largely different game. The game was well received by critics, who felt the gameplay mechanics were transferred over well to the older, aging Game Gear system, but were divided on whether or not the game was worth playing if both versions of the game were available to the consumer. The game received even less exposure than its Genesis counterpart, due to the Game Gear being towards the end of its lifecycle, and having less of a userbase to begin with in comparison to the Genesis.

Gameplay

The basic premise for the gameplay of the Game Gear version of Ristar is largely the same as the Sega Genesis counterpart. The game plays as a two-dimensional sidescrolling platformer where the player must navigate Ristar through a level, maneuvering around enemies and obstacles. Also like the Genesis version, Ristar's main abilities include emphasizing grabbing and "headbutting" enemies over jumping.

However, despite the same premise, the actual level design is distinctly different. While half of the levels having the same themes such as the opening level having a fauna-themed environment, the actual layouts are remixed and the enemy type and placement is different. Additionally, the other half of the levels have entirely different themes not present in the Genesis game at all, such as one based around Pirate ships. Another major variation present in all of levels is the placement of little stars scattered throughout. The player directs Ristar to move through them to collect them, similar to the manner in which Sonic the Hedgehog collects rings, or Mario collects coins in their respective games. Similarly, collecting 100 earns Ristar another life. While boss battles are still present at the end of every planet, most battles themselves are different, and almost all planets no longer possess any sort of mini-bosses halfway through the planet.

More moves, items, and interactivity between characters and the environment are also possible in the Game Gear game. Upon defeating an enemy, the player can choose to have Ristar use an enemy's hat as a weapon, or use its leftover spear as a stepping point when plunged into a wall, allowing Ristar to reach previously out-of-reach higher areas. A "red star" item gives Ristar temporary invincibility, speeds up his movement, increases his jump speed, and allows him to damage enemy upon contact. Colored square boxes, similar to the coin boxes in the Super Mario series, are also only present in this version, and like with enemies, they are eliminated by using the "headbutt" attack rather than by jumping into them.

Development
Ristar's origins trace back to a scrapped idea by Yuji Naka of Sonic Team involving a rabbit which grabbed objects. While it was scrapped in favor of pursuing what would be Sonic the Hedgehog, years later the concept re-emerged as a prototype called Feel, which eventually morphed into Ristar.<ref>Sega Magazine, 1994</ref> The Game Gear game was developed by a different team from the Sega Genesis game – being developed by Japan System House (later Biox), a developer Sega commonly used at the time to make Game Gear iterations of their Sega Genesis games, such as Streets of Rage. For the game's North American release, an entire level was cut out of the game. While every planet has two levels in the Japanese release, the game's second planet, "Fanturn", only has one level in the North American release; the second level was cut out of the game.

ReceptionRistar for the Game Gear was largely well received, albeit slightly less so than its Sega Genesis counterpart. While most reviewers agreed the game was worth playing, they were split on whether or not it was worth playing if the Genesis alternative was also available to the consumer. Similar to the Genesis version, reviewers praised the player character's abilities and the colorful graphics of the game. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game a 7.5 out of 10 average. Two of the reviewers criticized the audio, but all four described the game as having impressively colorful graphics and more deep technique than most platform games. GamePro called Ristar "surprisingly excellent", citing precise and easy-to-learn controls, cleverly designed and colorful graphics, and strong replay value.  In contrast, Famitsu only awarded the  game a 25 out of 40 score.

Retrospective reviewers were somewhat less positive about the game, and tended to hold it up as inferior to the Genesis version. Hardcore Gaming summarized their stance on the game as "ultimately, the Game Gear version may not be quite as fun or visually interesting as the original version but is still colorful and quite playable. Furthermore, enough new segments and features have been added that it feels significantly distinct from the original Genesis release. It's definitely worth looking into..." Honest Gamers highly praised the game as the best on the system, stating, "Ristar is the best Game Gear game you could possibly buy, better than any game of its type on the Game Boy Color, and almost as good as its namesake on the Sega Genesis. I was incredibly impressed to see something look and sound so good on the diminutive Game Gear screen, within the quaint limitations of what is mostly Master System hardware. But Sega managed it...even if you already owned the Genesis game and the (Sega) Nomad, you'd still want this". Defunct Games was less enthusiastic, criticizing the graphics, sound, and limited replay value, and concluding, "...this version of Ristar is decent. It's pretty fun, and if you're a big fan of platformers and don't mind graphical or audio limitations, Ristar for the Game Gear would make a pretty good addition to your collection. Otherwise, I'd say, if possible, try to get the Genesis version".

Legacy
Unlike the Genesis version of Ristar, which was re-released on several different Sega or Sonic themed video game compilations, the Game Gear version was only re-released once, as of one of twenty games included in "Sonic's PlayPal Plug and Play''", a controller that hooks up straight to the television rather than a video game system.

Notes

References

1995 video games
Fictional characters who can stretch themselves
Game Gear games
Game Gear-only games
Sega video games
Single-player video games
Side-scrolling platform games
Video games set in outer space
Video games set on fictional planets
Video games developed in Japan

Ristar (Game Gear)


The Moravian Gallery in Brno () is the second largest art museum in the Czech Republic, established in 1961 by merging of two older institutions. It is situated in five buildings: Pražák Palace, Governor's Palace, Museum of Applied Arts, Jurkovič House and Josef Hoffmann Museum. Since 1963 the gallery has organized the International Biennial of Graphic Design Brno ().

Selected collection highlights

Pražák Palace

The Pražák Palace contains the headquarters of the Moravian Gallery in Brno. The building was designed by Theophil von Hansen and built for the Brno politician Alois Pražák in 1873–1874. It houses both permanent and temporary exhibitions, as well as a specialist library and study room, open to the public since 1883.

Governor's Palace
An Augustinian monastery was built on this site in the mid-14th century, but was substantially rebuilt in a Baroque style by Moritz Grimm in the mid-18th century. Following reforms introduced by Emperor Joseph II, the building was converted into central offices for the local government and Governor's Estates authorities, and was used in this way until World War I. The Governor's Palace now houses a permanent exhibition of art from the Gothic period to the 19th century, and a 150-seat baroque hall.

Museum of Applied Arts
This building was purpose-built in 1882 to house the oldest museum of applied arts in Bohemia and Moravia, and extended six years later. After World War II the building was reconstructed according to plans by the functionalist architect Bohuslav Fuchs. A restoration project was completed in 2001.

The museum houses a permanent exhibition of applied arts from the Middle Ages to the present day, including collections of glass, ceramics and porcelain, textiles, furniture and metalware, as well as a 70-seat lecture room.

Jurkovič House
The art nouveau Jurkovič Villa was built in 1906, and is a key surviving example of Dušan Jurkovič's work in the Czech Republic. It is situated at Jana Nečase 2, in woods overlooking the Svratka River in the village of Žabovřesky, now a Brno municipality. Jurkovič's design was inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, combining a traditional housing style with elements of free and applied arts. The villa consists of a reception area near the entrance, a social area on the ground floor containing the architect's exhibition hall, a work space on the first floor, and private quarters on both floors.

Josef Hoffmann Museum

The childhood home of architect Josef Hoffmann is on the eastern side of the town square of Brtnice, Vysočina Region. The building was created by unifying two houses after they had been damaged by a fire in 1760, and was owned by several generations of Hoffman's family, including his father who served as mayor of the town for 36 years. Hoffman refurbished the house sometime between 1907 and 1911 after his parents' death.

The house was confiscated in 1945 by the state, and later fell under the ownership of the local branch of the Communist Party. During this period the house fell into disrepair and the furniture was removed. After 1989 the house became municipal property and work began on its restoration, commissioned from Brno architects Hrůša & Pelčák and completed in 2003. The house is the property of the town of Brtnice, and has been under the administration of the Moravian Gallery since 1 January 2006. The Josef Hoffmann Museum is a joint branch of the Moravian Gallery and the Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna.

References

External links
 Official Website
Moravian Gallery in Brno within Google Arts & Culture

Art museums and galleries in the Czech Republic
Museums in Brno
1961 establishments in Czechoslovakia
Art museums established in 1961
20th-century architecture in the Czech Republic

Moravian Gallery in Brno


Svitavy (German: Zwittau) is a town in the Czech Republic. About 17,000 people live there. A small river, also called Svitava, flows through the city from a nearby spring.

History
The original settlement with a church was founded by monks from Litomyšl and called after the flowing river Svitava. Later German settlers started to come here. They founded a new village with a church of St.Giles. Original Svitava slowly merged with the new village. The area around Svitavy became the subject of conflict between the bishop of Olomouc and a monastic manor from Litomyšl, 1256 conflict was settled in favour of the Bishop of Olomouc. So the year 1256 started the history of our town. In 2006 we celebrated 750 year from the foundation of town Svitavy.

People from Svitavy
 Viktor Felber- born on 11th October. He was professor of ČVUT in Prague in 1930 - 1931. There is also street named after him, where is primary school and playground.
 Oskar Schindler

The town has a permanent museum exposition called Searching the Star of David - Oskar Schindler - Righteous Among the Nations ("Hledání Davidovy hvězdy - Oskar Schindler - Spravedlivý mezi národy").

Cities in the Czech Republic

Svitavy


A third baseman is a person in baseball who covers third base.

Somebody playing third base must have good reflexes and be able to react fast, because he is one the closest infielders to the batter. He must also have a good arm, because third basemen sometimes have to throw to second base as a part of a double play.

Baseball positions

Third baseman


Qom is the second religious city of Iran and one of the bases of Shi'ism. The city dates back to before the rise of Islam. The city was conquered by Muslims in 23/644-645 but the people of Qom converted to Islam with the immigration of Ash'ariyyun in 85/704-705, the beginning of the development of Qom as a Shi'a city was from that time.

Immigration of Lady Fatima al-Ma'suma (a) to Qom and his shrine in the city, and after that, immigration of other Imam's descendants and Sayyids, made the city the base of Shi'ism in Iran. Foundation of Qom seminary added to the Shi'a fame of the city.

Today, the city is the greatest base of Shi'ism from which the Shi'a knowledge is promoted to the world.

References
 The material for writing this article is mainly taken from قم  in Farsi WikiShia.

Cities in Iran

Qom


Pasquale J. "Pat" D'Amuro is an American television analyst  and former intelligence agent. He is an expert on terrorism. D'Amuro is a former Director of FBI in New York. He worked for the FBI for 26 years. After the FBI, he went to work for Giuliani Security & Safety, a New York security consulting company.

Life
D'Amuro grew up in upstate New York. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Business at the Niagara University.

He bagan working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in May 1979. While working for the FBI, D'Amuro learn much about bank robberies, fraud, organized crime, drug trafficing and similar crimes.

After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, he focused his research on terrorist attacks. After this,  he was involved with the research of the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, the 2000 USS Cole bombing in Aden, Yemen, and the attacks on September 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon. Over time, he became a leading expert on al-Qaeda.

After the attacks of September 11, D'Amuro became the assistant director of the counterterrorism division of the FBI. He made changes  that led to better exchange of information between the FBI, CIA, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. He is also responsible for the creation of the Terrorism Watch List. It is a combination of the information of many different agencies.

In August 2003, he became director of the FBI office in New York. It is the largest FBI office. At this time, he held the third highest position in the FBI. At this time, he began giving public lectures often on the changes that had been made at the FBI since September 11. In March 2005, he left the FBI after a service of 26 years.

After leaving the FBI, he became director of Nine Thirty Capital Management and chairman of the board of Giuliani Security & Safety. In March 2006 he became a commissary of Mercy College. In April 2008, he became the director of American Defense Systems.

D'Amuro is often on the television network CNN as a senior analyst.

Honors
D'Amuro has been given several awards. These include the Presidential Rank Award of the FBI. In 2004, he was given an honorary doctorate in law from Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York. In 2009, D'Amuro got a Four Freedoms Award in the category Freedom from fear.

References
Bloomberg Businessweek (November 17, 2012) biography
Government Executive (April 15, 2003) biography

Year of birth missing (living people)
20th-century births
Living people
American television personalities
Businesspeople from New York (state)
FBI people
Terrorism

Pasquale J. D'Amuro


Diastereomers (also called diastereoisomers) are stereoisomers which are not enantiomers. They are molecules which have the same atoms and bonds but different stereochemistry in at least one, but not all, of their chiral centres. Diastereomers can have very different properties even though they look similar. This is different from enantiomers, that have exactly the same properties except when in a chiral environment like the human body.

Every chiral centre in a molecule has two possible ways of putting the groups in space. With only one chiral centre, there are two enantiomers. With two chiral centres, you can form 4 different isomers. When all chiral centres are changed at the same time, two pairs of enantiomers are formed. When only one chiral centre is changed at a time, sets of diastereoisomers are formed. With more chiral centres the possibilities are many more.

Diastereoisomers which are different at only one of more chiral centres are called epimers. For example, D-Threose and D-Erythrose (see picture) are diastereomers because they are different at only one of two chiral centres. Because of this they can also be called epimers.

References

Stereochemistry

Diastereomer


A Monte Carlo algorithm is an algorithm for computers which is used to simulate the behaviour of other systems. It is not an exact method, but a heuristical one, typically using randomness and statistics to get a result. The algorithm terminates with an answer that is correct with probability .

It is a computation process that uses random numbers to produce an outcome(s). Instead of having fixed inputs, probability distributions are assigned to some or all of the inputs. This will generate a probability distribution for the output after the simulation is run.

For example, a Monte Carlo algorithm can be used to estimate the value of π. The amount of area within a quarter-circle of radius 1 depends on the value of π. The probability that a randomly-chosen point will lie in that quarter-circle depends on the area of the circle. If points are placed randomly in a square with sides of length 1, the percentage of points that fall within a quarter-circle of radius 1 will depend on the value of π. A Monte Carlo algorithm would randomly place points in the square and use the percentage of points falling inside of the circle to estimate the value of π.This is an effective way for making approximations.

In modern communication systems, the quality of information exchange is determined by the presence of noise in the channel. The major source of noise - Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) being random in nature can be characterized using the Monte Carlo algorithm in simulating a Communications System

The modern version of the Markov chain Monte Carlo method was invented in the late 1940s by Stanislaw Ulam, while he was working on nuclear weapons projects at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Randomised algorithms

Monte Carlo algorithm


Razed in Black is an electronic music act created by Romell Regulacion (vocals, keyboards, guitars) and was supported in live performances by band members Chris Nelson and Raj Kapololu.
The band was formed in Hawaii in 1994 and signed to Cleopatra Records in the following year, before later moving to Jacksonville, Florida. Razed in Black's music combines elements of industrial, synthpop, dark wave, gothic rock, and hardcore techno.

Mostly an underground act, Razed in Black have had songs featured on television shows like Homicide: Life on the Street, in movies, and in videogames.

Regulacion has also released material under the names DJ R<I>B, DJ Skooby, and Transmutator. Transmutator incorporates more techno and hard electro/beat elements in its musical style, while Razed in Black has more lyrically-based songs with a darker tone and a heavier pop/rock influence.

Discography

Albums
 Shrieks, Laments, and Anguished Cries (1996)
 Overflow  (1997)
 Funky Disco EP (1997) (as Transmutator)
 Take Over (1997) (as Transmutator)
 The Colony of Sluts (1999) (as Transmutator)
 Sacrificed (1999) – #24 CMJ RPM Charts
 Oh My Goth! EP (2001)
 Damaged (2003)
 Share This Poison - Retrospective (2012)

Compilations and remixes

 Covered in Black—An Industrial Tribute to the Kings of High Voltage AC/DC (1997) (song: "Hell's Bells")
 The Blackest Album: An Industrial Tribute to Metallica (1998) (song: "The Thing That Should Not Be")
 100 Tears—A Tribute to The Cure (1999) (song: "Disintegration")
 Covered In Nails: A Tribute to Nine Inch Nails (2000) (song: "Starfuckers, Inc.")
 Virgin Voices: A Tribute to Madonna (Volume 2) (2000) (song: "Erotica" by Razed in Black vs. Transmutator)
 Don't Blow Your Cover: A Tribute to KMFDM (2000) (song: "A Drug Against War")
 The Blackest Album 3: An Industrial Tribute to Metallica (2001) (song: "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)")
 A Tribute to New Order (2001) (song: "Everything's Gone Green")
 A Gothic-Industrial Tribute to The Smashing Pumpkins (2001) (song: "Cherub Rock")
 A Tribute to Nine Inch Nails: Re-Covered in Nails (2001) (song: "Sin")
 Dig It—Hymns of the Worlock: A Tribute to Skinny Puppy (2003) (song: "Assimilate")
 Electrocured—An Electro Tribute to The Cure (2004) (song: "Disintegration")
 Dark Trance vs. Neogoth Vol. 1 (2005) (song: "Blush V.2"
 Apocalypse Now 1 (EuroMedia SPV 088-38752) (song: "Metamorphosis")
 Cyberl@b (Nuclear Blast NB 27361-63132) (song: "Overflow")
 Cyberl@b Version 2 (alpha Matrix EFA 23205) (song: "Never Meant")
 Cyberl@b Version 3 (Matrix Cube TRI 042 cd) (song: "Oh My Goth!" (trance mix))
 Cryonica Tanz v.1 (Cryonica CRY CD 001) (song: "Nightmare")
 Cryonica Tanz v.2 (Cryonica CRY CD 003) (song: "Share This Poison")
 Elektro-Industrial Sounds of the Northwest (CLEO 9593-2) (song: "Metamorphosis")
 Elektrauma Vol. 4 (TRITON RECORDS (Europe) 13 CD) (song: "Master" (Painful edit))
 Future Wave (CLP 0199-2) (song: "I've Suffered Long Enough")
 Gothic Vampires/Covered in Goth (CLP 0957-2) (song: "Disintegration")
 Graver's Paradise (Hot Topic compilation) (song: "Blush")
 Hypnotic State  (CLP 0111) (song: "Cyberium" (Mutation mix))
 I Hear Ya! (Caroline 1996) (song: "Cyberium" (On Speed mix))
 I Hear Ya! 1999 (Caroline 1999) (song: "Master")
 Industrial Revolution 3 (Cleopatra CLP 9732-2) (song: "What's Fair?" (Agony mix))
 Industrial Revolution: The Very Best of Industrial Revolution (Cleopatra CLP 0838-2) (song: "What's Fair?" (Agony mix))
 Industrial Madness Massive 4-CD set (CLP 0045) (song: "What's Fair?" (Frustration mix))
 New Dark Noise (Cleopatra/Hot Topic) (song: "Better Off")
 Signal to Noise (Cleo 1147-2) (songs: "Come to Daddy", "More Human")
 Soundline Sampler #3 (Sideline magazine SIDELINE 003) (song: "Cyberium" (On Speed mix))
 Taste of Sin (Cleopatra CLP 1167-2) (song: "Oh My Goth!")
 This Is Goth (Cleopatra CLP 0845-2) (song: "Oh My Goth!")
 This Is Industrial (Cleopatra CLP 0691-2) (song: "Master")
 Trancespotting IV (Hypnotic CLP 1158) (song: "Oh My Goth!" (trance mix))
 Wired Injections (Cleopatra CLEO 9675-2) (song: "Cyberium (On Speed mix))

 Aiboforcen: "Not Unique (Razed In Black remix)" psychosomeatically unique: Alfa-Matrix am3005-DJ
 Afterchain: "Corporate Reality (Razed In Black remix)"
 Ayria: "Disease (Razed In Black remix)" Square Matrix v.4: Alfa-Matrix am1039
 Berlin: "Pleasure Victim (Razed In Black remix)" The Greatest Hits Remixed: Cleopatra CLP 0760-2
 Birmingham 6: "Policestate (Razed In Black remix)" To Protect and to Serve: Cleopatra CLEO 9659-2
 Birmingham 6: "Accept Reality! (Razed In Black remix)" Mixed Judgements (US): Zoth Ommog CD Zot 229
 Bow Wow Wow: "I Want Candy (Razed In Black remix)" Wild in the U.S.A.: Cleopatra CLP 0424-2
 Celldweller: "Frozen (DJ RiB Remix)" Frozen/Goodbye Remixes
 Crüxshadows: "Cassandra (Razed In Black remix)" Fortress In Flames: Dancing Ferret Records 724
 Cheap Trick: "Dream Police (Razed In Black f/Kelly Hanson of Hurricane A Tribute to ...: Cleopatra CLP 0786-2
 The Damned: "Shadow to Fall (Razed In Black Mix)" Testify: Cleopatra CLP9899-2
 Digi Wni: "No Future" (and 4 other tracks) EP: Dolphin Entertainment JAPAN: BLCK - 85984
 Digi Wni: "No Future" (and 10 other tracks) LP: Dolphin Entertainment JAPAN: BLCK - 86015
 Diverje: "To Hell (Razed In Black remix)" Digital 6 Focus A: DSBP Productions DSBP 1014 Existence-Program Remix: DSBP Productions DSBP 1019
 Electric Hellfire Club: "Prince Of Darkness (Razed In Black remix)" Unholy Roller: Cleopatra CLP 0235-6
 Gene Loves Jezebel: "Always a Flame (Razed IN Black remix) Desire: Cleopatra CLP 0377-2
 Genitorturers: "4 Walls Black (Razed In Black remix)" Machine Love: Cleopatra CLP 0735-2
 Emergence: "BluMuse (Razed In Black remix)" Romell produced their debut EP as well. Scarred EP: Self Released
 Implant: "Engine No. 9 (Razed In Black remix)" Komputer: Triton Records (Europe)
 Implant: "Too Many Puppies (Razed In Black remix)" Self-Inflicted: Alfa-Matrix am 7252
 Inertia: "Angel (Razed In Black remix)" Positive Angel: Cryonica Records (Europe) nightCD035
 Information Society: "Going, Going ... Gone! (Razed In Black remix)" Insoc Recombinant: Cleopatra CLP 0490-2
 Internal: "Information (Razed In Black remix)" Information: Sideline Records (Europe)
 Jim Morrison: "Tresspass (Razed In Black remix)" Electronic Proclamations of a Wild Child: Morpheus Ozit C00070 (Europe)
 Matthew Grim: "Electric Avenue (Razed In Black remix)" Epic 98: Epic Records Epic 9
 Missing Persons: "Walking in LA (Razed In Black remix)" Remixed Hits: Cleopatra CLP 0609-2
 MMTM: "ESP (Razed In Black remix)" Binary Sex: Underground, Inc.:UN1077
 Mnemonic: "Labyrinth (Razed In Black remix)" Alfa-Matrix: Limited Edition Packaging - Indentistorüng
 Neotek: "Suicide (Razed In Black remix)" Brain Over Muscle ~ Deluxe: Zoth Ommog/Cleopatra clp 1375-2
 Neikka RPM: "Bound by Sympathy (Razed In Black remix)" Square Matrix 03: Alfa-Matrix Records
 New Mind: "Lightning Zone (Razed In Black remix)" The Zone: Out of Line Records
 Pygmy Children: "Intensify (Razed In Black remix)" Industrial Mix Machine: Cleopatra CLP 9969
 Razed In A New Division Of Agony: "Shadowplay (Razed In Black Remix)" - Joy Division cover
 Regenerator: "Blink (Razed In Black remix)" Regenerated X: WTII Records
 Shunt: "White Skin (Razed In Black remix)" Romell also appears on this album as a guest guitarist Profane Groove: 21st Circuitry 21C 39
 Soil & Eclipse: "Fields of Stone (Razed In Black remix)" This album also produced by Romell Necromancy: Cop Int'l Records- COPCD 033
 Soil & Eclipse: "Poetry of Angels (Razed In Black remix)" Archetype: Cop Int'l Records- COPCD 055
 Soil & Eclipse: "Sentence Me (Razed In Black remix)" Purity: Cop Int'l Records- COPCD
 Sonic Adventure Remix "Open Your Heart" (Transmutator vs. Razed in Black) (1998)
 Sonic The Hedgehog: Remix Adventure Contains Razed In Black collaboration with Corey Glover of Living Color Toshiba/EMI TOCP-65024
 Switchblade Symphony: "Clown (Razed In Black remix)" Drool: Cleopatra CLP 0042-2
 Warrant: "Down Boys (Razed In Black remix)" Greatest & Latest: Deadline Records CLP 0694-2
 UV: "Dementia (Razed In Black remix)" Album also Mastered by Romell: BLC Productions

Appearances in movies, television, and video games
 The Rage: Carrie 2 features "What's Fair?" by Razed in Black & "My Wonderful Friend" by Transmutator during the movie but was not included on the official soundtrack.
 Ginger Snaps features "Overflow", not included on official soundtrack
 The independent film Strange Life: The Breech features "I've Suffered Long Enough"
 The WB's Mission Hill features music by Razed In Black
 NBC's Homicide: Life on the Streets features music by Razed In Black
 "Pursuit," "Future Unknown," "Power", and "Cyberium (Endurance Mix)", from Shrieks, Laments and Anguished Cries, appear in the 1997 THQ fighting video game Vs.
 The first episode of the television series Hellcats features their cover of Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy".
 A version of "Visions" with the intro omitted was featured in Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam.

References

External links

1994 establishments in Hawaii
American electronic music groups
American industrial music groups
Electronic music groups from Florida
Musical groups from Jacksonville, Florida
Rock music groups from Florida
Rock music groups from Hawaii
Underground, Inc. artists

Razed in Black


The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), founded in Kansas in 1919, is the oldest international investor protection organization.  NASAA is an association of state securities administrators who are charged with the responsibility to protect consumers who purchase securities or investment advice. NASAA's membership consists of 67 administrators from the territories, districts, and states of the United States, from Mexico, and from the provinces of Canada.

In the United States, NASAA is the voice of state securities agencies responsible for efficient capital formation and grassroots investor protection.  NASAA's fundamental mission is protecting consumers who purchase securities or investment advice, and its jurisdiction extends to a wide variety of issuers and intermediaries who offer and sell securities to the public.

Through the association, NASAA members participate in multi-state enforcement actions and information sharing.  NASAA also coordinates and implements training programs and education seminars for state, district, provincial, and territorial securities agency staff.  The Uniform Securities Agent State Law Exam is written by NASAA and administered by FINRA.

Representative of the nature of its activities are its frequent warnings regarding investment fraud, its focus on the tax advantages of college plans, and its involvement in naked short selling litigation aimed at the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation.

NASAA also provides a coordinated review process for companies using Regulation A of the Securities Act of 1933 to raise capital.

Presidents

2022: Senter Lubin, Maryland

2021: Lisa Hopkins, West Virginia

2020: Christopher W. Gerold, New Jersey

2019: Michael Pieciak, Vermont

2018: Joseph Borg, Alabama

2017: Mike Rothman, Minnesota

2016: Judy Shaw, Maine

2015: Bill Beatty, Washington

2014: Andrea Seidt, Ohio

2013: A. Heath Abshure, Arkansas

2012: Jack E. Herstein, Nebraska

2011: David S. Massey, North Carolina

2010:Denise Voigt Crawford, Texas

2009: Fred Joseph, Colorado

2008: Karen Tyler, North Dakota

2007: Joseph Borg, Alabama

2006: Patricia D. Struck, Wisconsin

2005: Franklin L. Widmann, New Jersey

2004: Ralph A. Lambiase, Connecticut

2003:Christine A. Bruenn, Maine

2002: Joseph Borg, Alabama

2001:Deborah R. Bortner, Washington

2000: Bradley W. Skolnik, Indiana

1999: Peter C. Hildreth, New Hampshire

1998: Denise Voigt Crawford, Texas

1997: Mark J. Griffin, Utah

1996: Dee Riddell Harris, Arizona

1995: Philip A. Feigin, Colorado

1994: Craig A. Goettsch, Iowa

1993: Barry Guthary, Massachusetts

1992: Lewis W. Brothers, Jr., Virginia

1991: Doug Mays, Kansas & John R. Perkins, Missouri

1990: Susan E. Bryant, Oklahoma

1989: John C. Baldwin, Utah

1988: James C. Meyer, Tennessee

1987: F. Daniel Bell, III, North Carolina

1986: Royce O. Griffin, Colorado

1985: H. Wayne Howell, Georgia

1984: Michael Unger, Massachusetts

1983: Richard D. Latham, Texas

1982: David Hart Wunder, Illinois

1981: Thomas L. Krebs, Alabama

For presidents prior to 1981, See Official website (below).

See also
Uniform Securities Act
Uniform Securities Agent State Law Exam (Series 63)

References

External links

Mark J. Astarita's introductory article Introduction to the Blue Sky Laws
State Securities Laws and Commissions

Organizations established in 1919
United States securities law
Financial regulation
Finance industry associations


Martín Sarmiento or Martiño Sarmiento, also Father Sarmiento (born Pedro José García Balboa; 9 March 1695 in Villafranca del Bierzo, El Bierzo – 7 December 1772 in Madrid) was a Spanish scholar, writer and Benedictine monk, illustrious representative of the Enlightenment.

He wrote on a wide variety of subjects, including Literature, Medicine, Botany, Ethnography, History, Theology, Linguistics, etc.

His life
When he was four months old, he moved with his family to Pontevedra, where he spent his childhood and youth. On 3 May 1710, when he was 15, he moved to Madrid to join  Benedictine order.
He was named presbyter in 1720, Sarmiento lived in Asturias until 1725 like a professor in Cebrio and Oviedo. Later he left his mother in Pontevedra. He was definitively settled in Madrid, stay that is interrupted between February 1726 and May 1727, when he moved to Toledo to catalog the books of the cathedral, and also to visit three times Galicia.

When he was 35 years old, he became interested in language again. He thought that people ignored the meaning of the words. He was really interested in languages in general, especially Romanesque languages, but above all, Spanish and Galician. Sarmiento thought that Galician should be taught in schools and priests should know it in order to confess people.
In 1745 he returned to Galicia. On this trip he writes the names of the places he is going through in a notebook. He liked to investigate the etymology of the Galician words. He wrote a book in Galician called Colloquium of twenty-four rustic Galicians, thanks to which we know the Galician that was spoken at that time. It contains 1,200 songs sung by a group of Galicians returning from Madrid. They tell us about the death of King Philip V was and he described the celebrations of the accession to the throne of Ferdinand VI.

His thought

Sarmiento was not only interested in linguistics, he was interested in other disciplines such as botany and medicine. He had a large knowledge of the names of the plants and their health properties. He was quite concerned about the improvement of the technical and economic level of his country, specially in the Enlightenment ideas. His erudition in many disciplines made him be commissioned the iconographic program that would decorate the Royal Palace of Madrid. Sarmiento designed an ambitious allegory of the history of the Spanish monarchy for the palace, it was so complex that   only a part of it was done.

He fought, with Feijoo, against superstition and ignorance, proposing to open libraries in the villages. He had one of the most important libraries in Spain at that time. Unlike his teacher Feijoo, Sarmiento understood that it was necessary to know and keep traditions and popular culture. In that he was a great precursor and he contributed to the investigation and recovery of the Galician culture.

Sarmiento died at San Martin convent in Madrid, on 7 December 1772, aged 77.

He posted two books in Feijoo's memory Demostración crítico-apologética del Theatro Crítico Universal in 1732. He wrote other books but they were not published.

Selected works

Memorias para la historia de la poesía y poetas españoles, (1741-1745), first edition, Madrid, 1775.
Coplas gallegas y Glosario, (1746-...), in the Galician language.
Notas al Privilegio de Ordoño y Reflexiones sobre Archiveros
Disertación sobre el animal zebra, nacido, criado, conocido y cazado antiguamente en España

Bibliography

 Pensado Tomé, José Luis, Fray Martín Sarmiento, testigo de su siglo, Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca, 1972.

1695 births
1772 deaths
People from El Bierzo
Spanish male writers
Writers from Galicia (Spain)
Spanish Benedictines
Enlightenment philosophers
Age of Enlightenment
University of Salamanca alumni

Martín Sarmiento


The Last Day of the Dinosaurs is a 2010 Discovery Channel television documentary about the extinction of the dinosaurs. It portrays the asteroid as the cause of the extinction.

Featured genera
 Alamosaurus
 Ankylosaurus
 Charonosaurus
 Quetzalcoatlus
 Saurornithoides
 Triceratops
 Tyrannosaurus
 Mesodma
 Cockroach
 Scorpion

Plot
In the Pacific Northwest of North America, a Quetzalcoatlus is flying above the landscape, looking for food. It finds a nest of Tyrannosaurus babies that have just hatched. It picks them up in its beak and starts eating them. Suddenly, the father appears and starts fighting the Quetzalcoatlus. He grabs it by the wing, but it manages to escape.

Meanwhile, the asteroid is getting closer to Earth. The narrator says that it was caused by the collision of two asteroids 150 million years ago. One of the fragments is heading towards Earth.

In the Pacific Northwest, two male Triceratops fight for mating rights. One of them wins. The loser walks away. Suddenly, two T. rexes attack and kill the Triceratops. They start feeding on its carcass.

In what is today central Mexico, a herd of Alamosaurus is roaming the plains in search of food. They are giants, even by dinosaur standards. They are 60 feet long and 40 feet tall, and they weigh 30 tons. Their huge size demands that they eat a lot of vegetation to maintain their bulk. Meanwhile, the asteroid enters the Earth's atmosphere. It is burning brighter than a million suns. The scorching light sears the ''Alamosaurus eyeballs, blinding them.

Then the asteroid hits the Earth in the Gulf of Mexico, near the Yucatan Peninsula. In a fraction of a second, it disentegrates into the planet. The air temperature near the crash site now reaches 600 degrees Fahrenheit. The Alamosaurus are burned alive. In the Pacific Northwest, the Quetzalcoatlus can see the impact.

Meanwhile, Mongolia is 8,000 miles away from the point of impact. A herd of Charonosaurus is drinking at a watering hole. They are protecting their eggs. Suddenly, a Troodon appears. Its brain-to-body weight ratio is among the highest of any dinosaur. It steals an egg, but is seen by the mother. It runs into a cave. A second Saurornithoides is in the cave. The two predators start chasing the Charonosaurus. They jump on its neck and slash with their retractable toe claws, killing their prey. Then they start feasting on the carcass.

Millions of tons of dust and rock were thrown up into the air by the asteroid's impact. This is the ejecta cloud. In Mongolia, the ejecta cloud causes the temperature to become hotter. As the air temperature reaches 120 degrees, the Troodons run inside the cave. The temperature ticks upward every second. The Charonosaurus go into the cave. Inside the cave, it is cooler. However, the Charonosaurus and Troodon are forced to share the cave with each other, even though they are enemies.

Back in the Pacific Northwest, fires burn across the forest floor at 9 miles per hour. The Tyrannosaurus and the Triceratops are running to get away from the fire. The panicked animals race up the valley slopes.

In Mongolia, the temperatures are finally starting to decrease. The Troodon run outside and start feeding on a Charonosaurus corpse. Soon, the Charonosaurus follow. However, one stays near the protection of the cave. However, the dinosaurs are not safe yet. The ejecta cloud has caused a huge sandstorm. As it hits, the Troodons are small enough to crouch for cover. But the Charonosaurus are out in the open. The harder they struggle and the deeper they gasp for oxygen, the more sand fills their lungs, until finally, they can't breathe. It's hours before the winds die down. The last Charonosaurus, protected once again by the cave, finds that it's the last of the herd. But it's not the last remaining dinosaur in the neighborhood. The Troodons were sheltered from the worst of the storm. They have survived.

Instinct drives the Troodon back to their prime hunting spot, the watering hole, where the last remaining Charonosaurus is drinking. The Troodon are desperate for food. One of them has the confidence to attack. The Troodon runs to theCharonosaurus and leaps on it. It  starts slashing at its neck. The Charonosaurus is still too exhausted to run. Suddenly, the Charonosaurus crashes to the ground, crushing the Troodon to death under its weight. The remaining Troodon starts eating the dead body of its companion.

A week after impact, food is in very short supply across the entire planet. In the Pacific Northwest, two Triceratops are searching for food. Their hunger drives them to the Pacific coast. They see an island. Protected from the fires by the surrounding ocean, the island is lush and green. It has all the food that the Triceratops need. But when the asteroid hit the Earth, it caused an earthquake under the ocean. This causes a huge tsunami. The ocean is dragged back hundreds of feet. The path to the island is suddenly dry land. The Triceratops walk across the land bridge to the island. However, the tsunami crashes down on them, flooding the land. The Triceratops drown.

In the days and weeks that follow, few dinosaurs remain. In Mongolia, the starving Charonosaurus stays close to the cave that has saved it twice in the past. Suddenly, it collapses, but not from starvation. Bubbling to the surface from hot springs is one of nature's most toxic gases; Hydrogen Sulfide. The Troodon runs up to the dead Charonosaurus. Then it too dies from inhaling the poisonous gas.

In the Pacific Northwest, only a handful of dinosaurs patrol the gray wasteland. An Ankylosaurus, severely weakened by hunger, is searching for food. All it can find is a small bush. But even that won't come without a fight. A Triceratops roars at the Ankylosaurus. Suddenly, a T. rex appears. It roars at the herbivores. Then it kills the Triceratops. The Ankylosaurus tries to defend itself with its heavy tail club, but it's too weak to fight. The Tyrannosaurus flips the Ankylosaurus over and bites its soft underbelly, killing it. Then the Tyrannosaurus collapses from hunger. It falls on the Triceratops''' horn and is impaled by it after tripping over the Ankylosaurus.

In Mexico, the first region to be hit by the asteroid, life still remains. Buried in the cool ground inside its egg, an Alamosaurus baby has survived. And so has an adult Alamosaurus. All around the world, small handfuls of dinosaurs try to start over. But their species are already considered extinct. In order to survive, any species needs to maintain a critical mass of population. If it falls below that threshold, then there's no way to climb back from certain extinction.

But life on Earth is not completely destroyed. Out of the ruins, nature starts over. A group of animals that have long been limited in success by the dinosaurs now become the new rulers of the Earth: mammals. Eventually, they multiply and diversify. 10,000 species explode across the planet. And one species, humans, branches off from its relatives and comes down from the trees. They walk on two legs, evolve bigger brains, and eventually, they rule the planet. They build cities that touch the sky, vehicles that can leave the planet, and weapons that can destroy it.

In the end, the narrator says that humans would never have existed if a chance collision in space 150 million years ago had not occurred, sending an asteroid hurtling towards Earth and dooming the dinosaurs to extinction.

Inaccuracies
There is no evidence for a collision of meteorites. Meteorites tend to break up as they enter the atmosphere
 Troodon mongoliensis didn't live at the end of the age of dinosaurs. It lived in earlier stages of the Late Cretaceous.
 Charonosaurus wasn't discovered in Mongolia. It lived in northeastern China. It was found on the southern bank of the Amur River, on the border with Siberia.

Trivia
 The dinosaur models used here are the same as those used in Clash of the Dinosaurs. The Parasaurolophus was used for the Charonosaurus, the Deinonychus was used for Saurornithoides, and the Sauroposeidon model was used for Alamosaurus. The same Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, and Quetzalcoatlus models were also used.
 It is never shown how the female Quetzalcoatlus dies. However, she is last seen flying away from the tsunami, so it is presumed that she was killed by the tsunami.
 When the narrator explains that the air temperature is hot enough to boil away the water in the Alamosaurus skin, water is seen flying off the dinosaurs' necks.

References
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/last-day-dinosaurs/

Dinosaurs
Television movies
2010s documentary movies
Discovery Channel

The Last Day of the Dinosaurs


A takeover in Internet Relay Chat is when someone who is not meant to be in control of a channel takes control.  Several ways this can happen is by taking advantage of a net split, an event that occurs when one server disconnects from another, or by tricking an IRC bot into promoting the user to operator status.  Once the user has operator status, they kick the other operators out or remove their operator status.

Takeover

Internet Relay Chat takeover


The Wawel Dragon is a well known Polish folktale. The dragon lived in a cave under Wawel Hill, on the banks of the Vistula River. Wawel Hill is in the city of Kraków, in Poland.
The Wawel Cathedral and Kraków's castle are built on Wawel Hill. In the cathedral there is a statue of the dragon. The dragon's cave under the castle is now a popular tourist stop.

History

There are many versions of the folk tale. This is one of them.
A long, long time ago, when Prince Krak was the ruler of Kraków, many young girls kept on being lost, and no one in Kraków knew what had happened to them. It turned out that there was an evil dragon living in a big cave under Wawel Hill. The dragon was stealing farm animals and young girls. Prince Krak said: "The person who kills the dragon will get half of the country and will marry my daughter." Many brave soldiers tried to kill the dragon, but none of them could. Finally, a young shoe-maker came up with an idea! He filled a sheep's skin with salt and left it in front of the dragon's cave. The greedy dragon saw the salt filled sheep and ate it in one bite. Soon he started to feel a burning pain in his stomach. The pain got worse. It burned more and more. Wanting water, he ran to the Vistula River and started to drink fast. He drank and drank but it was still burning. So he continued to drink, until he burst! The city was rid of the mean dragon, and the shoemaker got his prize from the ruler and married his daughter.

Wawel Dragon sculpture by Bronislaw Chromy

In 1970 a statue of the Wawel Dragon was placed in front of the dragon's den. It has six legs, and it breathes fire every few minutes.

Other websites

Folklore
Kraków
Polish culture

Wawel Dragon


An Inconvenient Woman is a 1990 novel by Dominick Dunne. Its plot centers on the affair between married Jules Mendelson, an extremely influential member of Los Angeles high society, and Flo March, a diner waitress and aspiring actress whose life is transformed by the illicit relationship until she finds herself the inconvenient woman of the title.

The hardcover edition ()  was released by Crown Publishers. The paperback () was published by Ballantine Books.

Synopsis
Behind-the-scenes Hollywood intrigue, the underworld of laundered money, illegal drugs, and prostitution, and the foibles of the extremely wealthy and those who serve them, serve as the background for a tale of murder, the abuse of power, and the destruction of several lives when revenge enters the picture.

Characters include the incredibly rich and famous, those who are desperate to share their spotlight, and the underlings who cater to their every need. Chief among them are billionaire Jules Mendelson, a confidant of the President who is on the verge of being offered a prime political position in Brussels, as long as the story about a girl who plunged from the balcony of his Chicago hotel room in 1953 remains the deep secret he has harbored all these years; Flo March (née Fleurette Houlihan), his considerably younger lover, who slowly sheds her coarse exterior as Jules introduces her to the finer things in life; Pauline Mendelson, Jules' devoted wife who presides over Clouds, their mountaintop estate overlooking LA, and one of the most admired hostesses in their social circle, whose errant son Kippie by a former marriage proves to be the bane of her elegant existence; New York City writer Philip Quennell, author of a bestselling book about a leveraged buyout, who's brought to Hollywood by cocaine-snorting producer Casper Stieglitz to write a documentary film about drug abuse in the film industry; young widow Camilla Ebury, Philip's lover and the niece of Hector Paradiso, a closeted homosexual whose alleged suicide raises the suspicions of those who believe he was really murdered; gossip columnist Cyril Rathbone, who thrives on the secrets of the rich and powerful; hustler and sometime porn actor Lonny Edge, who has in his possession the long-missing completed manuscript of the final book by dissolute author Basil Plant (a thinly-disguised version of Truman Capote) but doesn't realize its importance to the literary world; and gangster Arnie Zwillman, who knows enough about Jules Mendelson's past to put an end to his political ambitions.

Critical reception
In The New York Times, Jill Robinson observed, "This is a smart novel because Dominick Dunne understands the distance between Los Angeles society and the spicy bazaars of Hollywood. And what makes Mr. Dunne not only first-rate, but also different from other writers who write about the very rich in late 20th-century America, is his knowledge that there's more to it than getting the labels and the street names right. He shows he knows by the way he tells you how his people feel, the way they listen, the things they cover up and the things they don't. He's lived in L.A. and gets it right, but he has the perspective you only get when you leave. He knows every story there is to tell, precisely how it happened and why it happened. He also knows there's nothing up there in society to envy."

L.S. Klepp of Entertainment Weekly graded the book B and commented, "Dunne does a good job of making his make-believe gossip believable, even riveting, in spite of some wooden dialogue, fiberboard characters, and the constant adjustment of the plot by the long, lazy arm of coincidence . . . Considered as unpretentious entertainment, the novel, with its baroque plot and telltale details, is good unclean fun."

Television adaptation
John Pielmeier adapted the novel for a May 1991 ABC miniseries directed by Larry Elikann. It starred Jason Robards as Jules,  Jill Eikenberry as Pauline, Rebecca De Mornay as Flo, Chelsea Field as Camilla, Peter Gallagher as Philip, Joseph Bologna as Arnie, Grant Cramer as Lonny, Chad Lowe as Kippie, and Roddy McDowall as Cyril. Elaine Stritch received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance as Rose. According to her biographer, Elizabeth Montgomery was interested in the role of Pauline.

References

External links
An Inconvenient Woman at Barnes and Noble Online
An Inconvenient Woman at Amazon.com

1990 American novels
Adultery in novels
Novels set in Los Angeles
American novels adapted into television shows

An Inconvenient Woman


The troposphere is the lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere. It extents up to 20 kilometers above the earth's surface. It contains 75% of the atmosphere's mass and 99% of the total mass of water vapor and aerosols. This layer is rich in oxygen. The temperature drops from an average around 62°F (17°C) to -60°F (-51°C) at the troposphere.

The transitional area between the troposphere and stratosphere is called the tropopause. The troposphere is made up of approximately 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases, which include carbon dioxide, methane, neon, krypton, argon, helium, and hydrogen. The air in the troposphere is warmest closest to the earth and colder at higher elevations. Most of the dust particles in the earth's atmosphere are found in the troposphere.

Other websites
 Troposphere Citizendium

Layers of Earth's atmosphere

Troposphere


Violet & Daisy is an action, comedy and drama movie of 2011. It was released in June 2013. It is about two teenage assassins who take a job they think may be easy. However, their plan is changed by one of the people they plan to kill. James Gandolfini plays Michael. Alexis Bledel plays Violet.

Reviews of the movie were mostly negative. Running time for the movie is 88 minutes.

American thriller movies
American comedy-drama movies
2011 movies

Violet & Daisy


A myocardial infarction, also and commonly called a heart attack, happens when a blood vessel in the heart suddenly becomes blocked. Blood vessels carry blood and oxygen. When a blood vessel in the heart gets blocked, blood cannot get to part of the heart. This part of the heart does not get enough oxygen. This is called ischemia. When the heart muscle becomes ischemic (does not get enough blood and oxygen), the ischemia often causes chest pain. This is called Angina Pectoris. If the ischemia lasts long enough, the heart muscle that is not getting enough oxygen dies. This is called an infarction. "Myocardial infarction" means "infarction (muscle death) in the heart muscle."

A heart attack is a medical emergency. The first few minutes are very important for keeping the person alive. Some of the damage from the heart attack can be repaired if the person gets treatment during the first hour of the attack.

Causes
Most heart attacks are caused by Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). In coronary artery disease, a wax-like material called plaque builds up on the inside walls of arteries in the heart. This is called atherosclerosis. Plaque is made of cholesterol and other cells. The amount of plaque increases slowly. As more plaque builds up, the insides of the heart's blood vessels get narrower. This means that less blood can flow through the blood vessels. This can cause platelets (which make the blood clot) to build up in front of the plaque. This causes a blood clot in the blood vessel. If the clot breaks free and gets stuck in part of the blood vessel made narrower by the plaque, the plaque and the clot together block the blood vessel completely. This makes it impossible for blood to get to part of the heart, and causes a heart attack.

A person can lower their chances of getting coronary artery disease by eating healthy foods, exercising, not smoking cigarettes, and not drinking too much alcohol.

Symptoms

Signs that a person is having a heart attack show over several minutes, and rarely come immediately. Most people having a heart attack have chest pain. Sometimes, people also have pain in the left arm, the lower jaw, the neck, the right arm, the back, or in parts of the abdomen.

Many women have different symptoms than men. The most common symptoms include shortness of breath (trouble breathing), weakness, and feeling very tired. Some women feel tired, do not sleep properly, and have shortness of breath for up to a month before they have a heart attack. Women may also have nausea and stomach upset when having a heart attack.

Sometimes, people have "silent heart attacks." These are heart attacks that do not cause any pain. They are more common in elderly people, women, and people with diabetes. In these people, suddenly feeling very tired, or fainting, may be the only sign of a heart attack.

Treatment

A heart attack is a medical emergency that needs treatment as quickly as possible. The most important thing is to save as much myocardium (heart muscle) as possible and prevent more complications. As time passes, the risk of damage to the heart muscle increases.

Doctors or paramedics usually start certain treatments as soon as a heart attack is suspected. These treatments include:
 Aspirin. Aspirin is an early and important treatment for a heart attack. Aspirin keeps platelets from sticking together, and can help prevent more blood clots from forming inside the blood vessels and the heart.
 Nitroglycerin (nitro). Nitro widens the blood vessels in the heart. This makes it easier for blood to flow through those vessels to the heart.
 Oxygen (if needed). If the patient is having trouble breathing, oxygen can be given.
 Pain medicine for chest pain (if needed).

Once doctors are sure that a person is having a heart attack, there are two main treatments: "clot-busting medicines" (thrombolytics) and percutaneous coronary intervention.

Clot busters

"Clot-busting medicines" (called thrombolytics) can dissolve blood clots that are blocking the blood vessels in the heart. This makes it possible for blood and oxygen to flow again to the part of the heart that was not getting enough blood and oxygen. The most common clot-busting medicine is called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA).

Clot-busters work best if patients get them within 30 minutes after getting to the hospital. However, if a patient gets a clot-busting medicine within 12 hours after the heart attack starts, they have a better chance of surviving.

Clot-busting medicines do have some risks. Sometimes they can thin the blood too much and cause bleeding.

Percutaneous coronary intervention
Percutaneous coronary intervention is a way of opening blocked coronary arteries. Percutaneous means that the procedure is not done by cutting a person open in surgery. Coronary intervention means "way to help the heart".  Percutaneous coronary intervention is also called "coronary angioplasty".

In a percutaneous coronary intervention, a doctor threads a flexible tube into one of the patient's blood vessels, usually one in the upper thigh. The doctor threads the tube up to the blocked blood vessels in the heart. On the end of the tube is a balloon. The doctor blows up the balloon, which pushes the plaque and blood clot against the side of the blocked blood vessel. This allows blood to flow through that blood vessel again. Sometimes, a doctor might also place a small mesh tube called a stent into the blood vessel. The stent will make sure the blood vessel stays open and does not get blocked again in the future.

First Aid

As soon as a person thinks they may be having signs of a heart attack, they should call emergency service right away. (Emergency services can be reached dialling 911 in the US, and 112 in most of continental Europe) However, the average person waits about three hours before asking for help. When a person waits to get help, they are more likely to have more serious damage to their heart. The American Heart Association says "time is muscle": the more time a person waits to get treatment, the more heart muscle dies.

If a person is having trouble breathing, sitting straight up can help. The person should follow any instructions they get from the emergency operator or their doctor.

References

Heart disease
Medical emergencies

Myocardial infarction


Bioterrorism refers to the use of biological agents with the intent to cause panic, illness, or death. There are biological agents in nature, but they can be changed artificially in order to make them more effective. There are many methods of spreading biological agents. Biodefense is defense against bioterrorism, often in the form of a vaccine or medicine.

There are three categories of biological agents. The first is category A, the highest priority agents. Biological agents in category A pose a high risk to national security. These include anthrax and smallpox. The second, category B, includes biological agents such as brucellosis and melioidosis. These are a risk to national security. Category C, the third, includes emerging diseases that could be a risk in the future, such as hantavirus.

Related pages
 Biological weapon
 Terrorism

References
"Emergency Preparedness and Response."  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. .

MedlinePlus: Trusted Health Information for You. MedlinePlus: Trusted Health Information for You, n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2012. .

Terrorism

Bioterrorism


The Japonic languages are a language family made up of languages native to the Japanese islands. Known members of the language family are Japanese and the Ryukyuan languages (Okinawan, Kunigami, Amami, Miyako, Yaeyama and Yonaguni).

All Japonic languages are agglutinative languages with a simple syllable structure and SOV word order. They have many similar features, but they are not mutually intelligible, which means native speakers of one language will not understand the other language without already knowing it.

While Japanese is the ninth most spoken language in the world, the Ryukyuan languages are critically endangered, which means there are very few speakers left. This was largely because of the Japanese government's assimilation of Ryukyu into the mainland Japanese culture. During the Meiji Era, the Japanese government called the Ryukyuan languages "dialects of Japanese". This was used to forbid Ryukyuans from speaking the Ryukyuan languages and to force them to speak Japanese. In fact, Okinawan soldiers and civilians were put to death for speaking Okinawan during World War II. The Japanese military would accuse them of being spies so they could have an excuse to put them to death.

All of the languages write using a combination of Chinese characters, called kanji in Japanese, and kana, a Japanese-made syllabic writing system made for writing phonetically. This was true even before the Japanese takeover of the Ryukyu Kingdom.

References

Japonic languages


The Indiana, Bloomington and Western Railway was a railroad that once operated in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

Its immediate predecessor, the Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western Railway, was formed on July 20, 1869, from the merger of the Indianapolis, Crawfordsville and Danville Railroad with the Danville, Urbana, Bloomington and Pekin Railroad.  Both of these predecessor companies had been chartered in 1866, but construction of the railroads had not yet been completed at the time of the merger.  After this combination, the railroad was completed and opened on October 1, 1869, connecting Pekin, Illinois, with Indianapolis, Indiana.

In 1879, there was a foreclosure and reorganization of the company, after which it was known as the Indiana, Bloomington and Western Railway.  In 1881, it merged with the Ohio, Indiana and Pacific Railway (OI&P), which operated on partially completed tracks between Springfield, Ohio, and Indianapolis. The resulting company retained the Indiana, Bloomington and Western name.  The OI&P rail line from Indianapolis east to Springfield (Ohio) was completed by the IB&W and opened in 1883.

The financial difficulties of the company continued, however, and in 1887 there was another foreclosure and sale of the company's assets. This resulted in a reorganization, after which the company was known as the Ohio, Indiana and Western Railway.  The reorganization was unsuccessful, however, and another foreclosure ensued in 1889.  After that reorganization, the line from Indianapolis westward was sold to the Peoria and Eastern Railway, while the newer track east of Indianapolis was purchased by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (Big Four).

Defunct Illinois railroads
Defunct Indiana railroads
Defunct Ohio railroads
Predecessors of the New York Central Railroad
Railway companies established in 1879
Railway companies disestablished in 1887
American companies established in 1879


Galaxy Science Fiction was an American science fiction magazine. It was published from 1950 to 1980.

Editors and authors
H. L. Gold was the first editor. He made Galaxy the leading science fiction magazine of its time. He published stories about social issues, not just technology. Gold published many well-known and important stories, including: Robert A. Heinlein's The Puppet Masters and Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man. He also published Ray Bradbury's "The Fireman", which later became the novel Fahrenheit 451.

By the late 1950s, Frederik Pohl was helping Gold with the magazine. When Gold became ill, Pohl became editor. He started officially at the end of 1961, but had been doing most of the editing for a while. Galaxy continued to be successful. Pohl often published fiction by important writers such as Cordwainer Smith, Jack Vance, Harlan Ellison, and Robert Silverberg. However, Pohl never won the annual Hugo Award for his work at Galaxy. He did win three Hugos for another magazine, If.  In 1969, Galaxy was sold to Universal Publishing and Distribution Corporation (UPD) and Pohl quit. Later editors included  Ejler Jakobsson and James Baen.

American magazines
Science fiction

Galaxy Science Fiction


The history of the Christian religion and the Christian church began with Jesus and his apostles, twelve disciples (students) of Jesus Christ for a mission. Christianity is the religion that is based on the birth, life, death, resurrection and teaching of Jesus Christ.

Christianity began in the 1st century CE after Jesus died and was resurrected. Starting as a small group of Jewish people in Judea, it spread quickly throughout the Roman Empire. Despite early persecution of Christians, it later became  the state religion.  In the Middle Ages it spread into Northern Europe and Russia.  During the Age of Exploration, Christianity expanded throughout the world; it is currently the largest religion of the world.

The religion had schisms and theological disputes that had as result four main branches: the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox churches, Oriental Orthodoxy and Protestant churches.

Most of the first Christians were ethnically Jewish or Jewish proselytes.  An early difficulty came from non-Jewish converts. There was the question if they had to "become Jewish" before becoming Christian.  The decision of St. Peter, was that they did not, and the matter was further addressed with the Council of Jerusalem.

The doctrines of the apostles brought the Early Church into conflict with some Jewish religious authorities, and this eventually led to the martyrdom of SS. Stephen and James the Great and expulsion from the synagogues.  Thus, Christianity got an identity distinct from Judaism.  The name "Christian" (Greek ) was first used for the disciples in Antioch, as recorded in (Acts 11:26).

Worship of Jesus Christ

Sources for the beliefs of the apostolic community include the Gospels and New Testament Epistles. The very earliest reports are in these texts: early Christian creeds and hymns and reports about the Passion, the empty tomb, and appearances of Jesus after his Resurrection. There are reasons to suppose that they were written within a few years of the crucifixion of Jesus and came from the Jerusalem Church.

Jewish continuity

Christianity kept many practices from Jewish tradition. Christianity thought the Jewish scriptures to be sacred and used mostly the Septuagint translation of the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament), the Hebrew Prophets and Writings (the rest of the Old Testament books), and added other texts as the New Testament.  Christians professed Jesus to be the God of Israel, having taken human form, and considered Jesus to be the Messiah  (Christ) who had been prophesied about in the Old Testament and so was expected by the people of Israel.

Christianity continued many Judaic practices: liturgical worship, including the use of incense, an altar, a set of scriptural readings adapted from synagogue practice, use of sacred music in hymns and prayer, and a religious calendar, as well as other typical features: an exclusively male priesthood, and ascetic practices (fasting etc.).

Post-Apostolic Church

The time when most of the apostles had died and their jobs as leaders of the Christian communities in the cities had been taken over by bishops, is called post-apostolic period. It includes the time of persecutions until Christian worship was legalized under Constantine the Great.  The earliest recorded use of the term Christianity (Greek ) is from this period. The term was used by Ignatius of Antioch c. 107.

Persecutions

Early Christians were subject to various persecutions.  This meant even death.  Early martyrs included Stephen () and James, son of Zebedee ().  Persecutions in larger scale by the authorities of the Roman Empire began with the year 64, when the Emperor Nero blamed them for the great Fire of Rome as the Roman historian Tacitus reported.

According to Church tradition, it was under Nero's persecution that the saints Peter and Paul became martyrs in Rome.  Several of the New Testament writings mention persecutions and very difficult times.  For 250 years there were times when Christians suffered from persecutions, because they refused to worship the Roman emperor.  That was seen as treason and punished by execution.  But the Christian religion continued to spread throughout the Mediterranean region.  In the late fourth century they became the dominant religious force of the Roman Empire.

Christianity legalized
The first to legalize Christianity was the Armenian king Trdat the Third, who announced it the official religion in Armenia in the year 301. Galerius issued an edict permitting the practice of the Christian religion in April of 311. In 313 Constantine I and Licinius announced toleration of Christianity in the Edict of Milan.  Constantine became the first Christian emperor; he had learnt about Christianity from his mother, Helena.

By 391, under the reign of Theodosius I, Christianity had become the state religion of Rome.
When Christianity was legalized the Church used the same provinces for administration as the imperial government and called them dioceses.  The Bishop of Rome claimed to be the highest amongst all others and chose the title pope.

During this era, there were several Ecumenical Councils.  These were mostly concerned with Christological disputes.  The First Council of Nicaea condemned Arianism and produced the Nicene Creed to define the faith. The Council of Ephesus condemned Nestorianism and affirmed the Blessed Virgin Mary to be Theotokos ("God-bearer" or "Mother of God").  Perhaps the most important was the Council of Chalcedon that affirmed that Christ had two natures, fully God and fully man, at the same time.  That meant that Monophysitism was condemned.

Church of the Early Middle Ages (476 – 800)
The Church in the Early Middle Ages saw a "transformation of the Roman world" rather than a "fall of the Roman Empire". With the Muslim invasions of the seventh century, the Western (Latin) and Eastern (Greek) areas of Christianity began to take on distinctive shapes, and the Bishops of Rome were more interested in barbarian kings than in the Byzantine Emperors. This led to the coronation of Charlemagne as "Emperor of the Romans" by Pope Leo III in Rome on Christmas Day, 800.

Early Medieval Papacy
The city of Rome was affected very much by warfare in Italy during the Early Middle Ages. Emperor Justinian I conquered the Italian kingdom of the Ostrogoths. He made Ravenna, Italy a territory with its own governor, but imperial influence was often limited. After the invasion of the Lombards, Rome had to take care of itself. Thus the popes, out of necessity, found themselves feeding the city with grain from papal estates, negotiating treaties, paying protection money to Lombard warlords, and, failing that, hiring soldiers to defend the city. Eventually, the failure of the Empire to send aid resulted in the popes turning for support from other sources, most especially the Franks.

Church of the High Middle Ages (800 – 1499)
The High Middle Ages is the period from the coronation of Charlemagne in 800 to the close of the fifteenth century, which saw the fall of Constantinople (1453), the end of the Hundred Years' War (1453), the discovery of the New World (1492), and thereafter the Protestant Reformation (1515).

Investiture Controversy

The Investiture Controversy, also known as the lay investiture controversy, was the most important conflict between secular and religious powers in medieval Europe. It began as a dispute in the 11th century between the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. The question was who would control appointments of bishops (investiture). The end of lay investiture meant an important loss of royal power, and a loss for ambitious noblemen, for the benefit of Church reform as the pope intended.

Bishops collected revenues from estates attached to their bishopric.  Noblemen who held lands (fiefdoms) hereditarily passed those lands on within their family.  However, a king had more control of lands under the domain of his bishops.  Kings would give bishoprics to powerful friends.  If a king left a bishopric vacant, he got the money until a bishop was appointed, when he was supposed to repay the earnings.  This seldom happened.  The Church wanted to end this lay investiture because of the vacant sees simony and other problems.  Thus, the Investiture Contest was part of the Church's attempt to reform the episcopate and get better bishops.

Pope Gregory VII issued the Dictatus Papae, which said only the pope may make, break, or move bishops to other sees.  The Emperor rejected this.  With excommunication and a revolt by his dukes, Henry apologized and was forgiven, though the conflict continued.  A similar controversy happened in England between King Henry I and St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury.  The English dispute was resolved by a deal in 1107, where the king gave up making bishops but did require an oath of fealty.  The later Concordat of Worms (Pactum Calixtinum) resolved the Imperial investiture controversy with a similar compromise.

Crusades

The Crusades were a military conflicts conducted by Christian knights for the defense of Christians and for the expansion of Christian domains.  Generally, the crusades refer to the campaigns in the Holy Land against Muslim forces sponsored by the Papacy.  There were other crusades against Islamic forces in southern Spain, southern Italy, and Sicily, as well as the campaigns of Teutonic knights against pagan strongholds in Eastern Europe, and (to a much lesser extent) crusades against Catharism or other Christian heresies.

The Holy Land had been part of the Roman Empire, and thus Byzantine Empire, until the Islamic conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries.  Thereafter, Christians had generally been permitted to visit the sacred places in the Holy Land until 1071, when the Seljuk Turks closed Christian pilgrimages and assailed the Byzantines, defeating them at the Battle of Manzikert.  Emperor Alexius I asked for aid from Pope Urban II (1088-1099) for help against Islamic aggression.  Instead of sending money, Urban II called upon the knights of Christendom in a speech made at the Council of Clermont on 27 November 1095, combining the idea of pilgrimage to the Holy Land with that of waging a holy war against infidels.

East-West Schism
The East-West Schism, or Great Schism, separated the Church into Western (Latin) and Eastern (Greek) branches, i.e. Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.  It was the first major division since certain groups in the East rejected the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon (see Oriental Orthodoxy), and was far more significant.  Though normally dated to 1054, the East-West Schism was the result of an long time of disagreement between Latin and Greek Christendom over papal primacy and certain doctrinal matters like the filioque.  Bad feelings were intensified by cultural and linguistic differences.

The schism became "official" in 1054 when the Pope's legates notified Patriarch Michael Cerularius of Constantinople that he had been excommunicated.  A few days later, he excommunicated the legates. Attempts at reconciliation were made in 1274 in Lyon and in 1439 in Basel, but in each case the eastern hierarchs who agreed to the unions were repudiated by the Orthodox as a whole.  However, reconciliation was achieved between the West and what are now called the "Eastern Rite Catholic Churches".  More recently, in 1965 the mutual excommunications were rescinded by the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople, though schism remains.

Both groups are descended from the Early Church, both acknowledge the apostolic succession of each other's bishops, and the validity of each other's sacraments.  Though both acknowledge the primacy of the Bishop of Rome, Eastern Orthodoxy understands this as a primacy of honor with limited or no ecclesiastical authority in other dioceses.

Western Schism
The Western Schism, or Papal Schism, was a prolonged period of crisis in Latin Christendom from 1378 to 1416, when there were two or more claimants to the See of Rome and thus it was difficult to discern who the true Pope was.  The conflict was political, rather than doctrinal, in nature.

Church and the Italian Renaissance (1399 – 1599)

The Renaissance was a period of great cultural change and achievement, marked in Italy by a classical orientation and an increase of wealth through mercantile trade.  The City of Rome, the Papacy, and the Papal States were all affected by the Renaissance.  On the one hand, it was a time of great artistic patronage and architectural magnificence, where the Church patroned such artists as Michelangelo, Brunelleschi, Bramante, Raphael, Fra Angelico, Donatello, and da Vinci.  On the other hand, wealthy Italian families often secured episcopal offices, including the papacy, for their own members, some of whom were known for immorality, such as Alexander VI and Sixtus IV.

Protestant Reformation (1521 – 1579)
In the early 16th century, movements were begun by two theologians, Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli, that aimed to reform the Church.  Unlike earlier reformers  they considered the root of corruptions to be doctrinal (rather than simply a matter of moral weakness or lack of ecclesiastical discipline) and thus they aimed to change contemporary doctrines to fit their idea of the "true gospel".  The Protestant Reformation is so called because the movement's leaders "protested" against the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the pope, essentially electing to institute their reforms separately from it.  The term "Protestant", however, was not originally used by these leaders; instead, they called themselves "evangelical", emphasizing the "return to the true gospel (Greek: euangelion)".

The beginning of the Protestant Reformation is generally identified with Martin Luther and the posting of the 95 Theses in 1517 in Wittenburg, Germany.  Early protest was against corruptions such as simony, episcopal vacancies, and the sale of indulgences.  The Protestant position, however, would come to incorporate doctrinal changes such as sola scriptura and sola fide.  The three most important traditions to emerge directly from the Protestant Reformation were the Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist, Presbyterian, etc.), and Anglican traditions, though the latter group identifies as both "Reformed" and "Catholic", and some subgroups reject the classification as "Protestant".

The Protestant Reformation may be divided into two distinct but basically simultaneous movements, the Magisterial Reformation and the Radical Reformation.  The Magisterial Reformation involved the alliance of certain theological teachers (Latin: magistri) such as Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, Cranmer, etc. with secular magistrates who cooperated in the reformation of Christendom.  Radical Reformers, besides forming communities outside state sanction, often employed more extreme doctrinal change, such as the rejection of tenants of the Councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon.  Often the division between magisterial and radical reformers was as or more violent than the general Catholic and Protestant hostilities.

The Protestant Reformation spread almost entirely within the confines of Northern Europe, but did not take hold in certain northern areas such as Ireland and parts of Germany.  By far the magisterial reformers were more successful and their changes more widespread than the radical reformers. The Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation is known as the Counter Reformation, or Catholic Reformation, which resulted in a reassertion of traditional doctrines and the emergence of new religious orders aimed at both moral reform and new missionary activity.  The Counter Reformation reconverted approximately 33% of Northern Europe to Catholicism and initiated missions in South and Central America, Africa, Asia, and even China and Japan.  Protestant expansion outside of Europe occurred on a smaller scale through colonization of North America and areas of Africa.

Martin Luther

Martin Luther was an Augustinian friar and professor at the University of Wittenberg.  In 1517, he published a list of 95 Theses, or points to be debated, concerning the illicitness of selling indulgences.  Luther had a particular disdain for Aristotelian philosophy, and as he began developing his own theology, he increasingly came into conflict with other scholars.  Soon, Luther began to develop his theology of justification, or how one is "made right" (righteous) in the eyes of God.

In Catholic theology, one is made righteous by a progressive infusion of grace accepted through faith and cooperated with through good works.  Luther's doctrine of justification was different.  He said justification meant "the declaring of one to be righteous", where God imputes the merits of Christ upon one who remains without inherent merit.  In this process, good works are more of an unessential byproduct that contribute nothing to one's own state of righteousness.  Conflict between Luther and leading theologians lead to his gradual rejection of authority of the Church hierarchy.  In 1520, he was condemned for heresy by the papal bull Exsurge Domine, which he burned at Wittenburg along with books of canon law.

John Calvin

John Calvin was a French cleric and doctor of law turned Protestant reformer in the second generation of the Reformation.   He was well known for publishing the Institutes of the Christian Religion, in 1536 (later revised), and became a leader of the Reformed church in Geneva, which became an "unofficial capital" of Reformed Christianity in the second half of the sixteenth century.  He had great authority in the city and over the city council, such that he has (rather ignominiously) been called a "Protestant pope".

Calvin established an eldership together with a "consistory", where pastors and the elders established matters of religious discipline for the Genevan population.  Calvin's theology is best known for his doctrine of (double) predestination, which held that God had, from all eternity, providentially foreordained who would be saved (the elect) and likewise who would be damned (the reprobate).  Predestination was not the dominant idea in Calvin's works, but it would seemingly become so for many of his Reformed successors.

English Reformation

Unlike other reform movements, the English Reformation began by royal influence. Henry VIII considered himself a thoroughly Catholic King, and in 1521 he defended the papacy against Luther in a book he commissioned entitled, The Defense of the Seven Sacraments, for which Pope Leo X awarded him the title Fidei Defensor (Defender of the Faith).  However, the king came into conflict with the papacy when he wished to annul his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, for which he needed papal sanction.  Catherine, among many other noble relations, was the aunt of Emperor Charles V, the papacy's most significant secular supporter.  The ensuing dispute eventually lead to a break from Rome and the declaration of the King of England as head of the English (Anglican) Church.  England then experienced a period of frenetic and eclectic reforms, some more radical and others more traditional, under monarchs such as Edward VI and Elizabeth I, and Archbishops of Canterbury such as Thomas Cranmer and William Laud.  What emerged was a state church that considered itself both "Reformed" and "Catholic" but not "Roman" (and hesitated from the title "Protestant"), and other "unofficial" more radical movements such as the Puritans.

Counter-Reformation

The Counter-Reformation, or Catholic Reformation, was the response of the Catholic Church to the Protestant Reformation.  The essence of the Counter-Reformation was a renewed conviction in traditional practices and the upholding of Catholic doctrine as the source of ecclesiastic and moral reform, and the answer to halting the spread of Protestantism. Thus it experienced the founding of new religious orders, such as the Jesuits, the establishment of seminaries for the proper training of priests, renewed worldwide missionary activity, and the development of new yet orthodox forms of spirituality, such as that of the Spanish mystics and the French school of spirituality. The entire process was spearheaded by the Council of Trent, which clarified and reasserted doctrine, issued dogmatic definitions, and produced the Roman Catechism.

Though Ireland, Spain, France, and elsewhere featured significantly in the Counter-Reformation, its heart was Italy and the various popes of the time, who established the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (the list of prohibited books) and the Roman Inquisition, a system of juridical tribunals that prosecuted heresy and related offences.  The Papacy of St. Pius V (1566-1572) was known not only for its focus on halting heresy and worldly abuses within the Church, but also for its focus on improving popular piety in a determined effort to stem the appeal of Protestantism.  Pius began his pontificate by giving large alms to the poor, charity, and hospitals, and the pontiff was known for consoling the poor and sick, and supporting missionaries.  The activities of these pontiffs coincided with a rediscovery of the ancient Christian catacombs in Rome.  As Diarmaid MacCulloch stated, "Just as these ancient martyrs were revealed once more, Catholics were beginning to be martyred afresh, both in mission fields overseas and in the struggle to win back Protestant northern Europe: the catacombs proved to be an inspiration for many to action and to heroism."

Great Awakenings
The First Great Awakening was a wave of religious enthusiasm among Protestants in the American colonies c. 1730-1740, emphasizing the traditional Reformed virtues of Godly preaching, rudimentary liturgy, and a deep sense of personal guilt and redemption by Christ Jesus.  Historian Sydney E. Ahlstrom saw it as part of a "great international Protestant upheaval" that also created Pietism in Germany, the Evangelical Revival, and Methodism in England. It centered on reviving the spirituality of established congregations, and mostly affected Congregational, Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, German Reformed, Baptist, and Methodist churches, while also spreading within the slave population. The Second Great Awakening (1800–1830s), unlike the first, focused on the unchurched and sought to instill in them a deep sense of personal salvation as experienced in revival meetings.  It also sparked the beginnings of Restorationist groups such as the Mormons and the Holiness movement. The Third Great Awakening began from 1857 and was most notable for taking the movement throughout the world, especially in English speaking countries. The final group to emerge from the "great awakenings" in North America was Pentecostalism, which had its roots in the Methodist, Wesleyan, and Holiness movements, and began in 1906 on Azusa Street, in Los Angeles.  Pentecostalism would later lead to the Charismatic movement.

Restorationism
Restorationism refers to various unaffiliated movements that considered contemporary Christianity, in all its forms, to be a deviation from the true, original Christianity, which these groups then attempted to "Reconstruct", often using the Book of Acts as a "guidebook" or sorts.  Restorationism developed out of the Second Great Awakening and is historically connected to the Protestant Reformation, but differs in that Restorationists do not usually describe themselves as "reforming" a Christian church continuously existing from the time of Jesus, but as restoring the Church that they believe was lost at some point. The name Restoration is also used to describe the Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and the Jehovah's Witness Movement.

Fascism
Fascism describes certain related political regimes in 20th century Europe, especially Nazi Germany. When the Italian government closed Catholic youth organizations, Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Non Abbiamo Bisogno,  saying that Fascist governments had hidden "pagan intentions" and expressed the irreconcilability of the Catholic position and Fascism, which placed the nation above God and fundamental human rights and dignity. He later signed agreements with the new rulers of Italy and Germany.

Many Catholic priests and monastics were persecuted under the Nazi regime, such as the concentration camp victims Maximilian Kolbe and Edith Stein (Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross). Furthermore, many Catholic laypeople and clergy helped in sheltering Jews during the Holocaust, including Pope Pius XII. Various incidents, such as giving aid to downed Allied airmen, nearly caused Nazi Germany to invade the Vatican before the liberation of Rome in 1944.

The relationship between Nazism and Protestantism, especially the German Lutheran Church, is complex. Though the majority of Protestant church leaders in Germany made little comment on the Nazis' growing anti-Jewish activities, some, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer (a Lutheran pastor) were strongly opposed to the Nazis. Bonhoeffer was later found guilty in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler and executed.

Fundamentalism

Fundamentalist Christianity, is a movement that arose mainly within British and American Protestantism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in reaction to modernism and certain liberal Protestant groups that denied doctrines considered fundamental to Christianity yet still called themselves "Christian".  Thus, fundamentalism sought to reestablish tenants that could not be denied without relinquishing a Christian identity, the "fundamentals": the Bible as God`s word, viewed as the sole source of authority, the virgin birth of Christ, the doctrine of atonement through Jesus, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and the imminent return of Christ.

Ecumenism

Ecumenism broadly refers to movements between Christian groups to establish a degree of unity through dialogue.  "Ecumenism" is derived from Greek  (oikoumene), which means "the inhabited world", but more figuratively something like "universal oneness".  The movement can be distinguished into Catholic and Protestant movements, with the latter characterized by a redefined ecclesiology of "denominationalism" (which the Catholic Church, among others, rejects).

Concerning the Greek Orthodox Church, steady movement was made to reconcile the East-West Schism.  On 30 November 1894, Pope Leo XIII publishes the Apostolic Letter Orientalium Dignitas (On the Churches of the East) safeguarding the importance and continuance of the Eastern traditions for the whole Church.  On 7 December 1965, a Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration of His Holiness Pope Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I was issued lifting the mutual excommunications of 1054.

Concerning Catholic relations with Protestant communities, certain commissions were established to foster dialogue and documents have been produced aimed at identifying points of doctrinal unity, such as the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification produced with the Lutheran World Federation in 1999.

Ecumenical movements within Protestantism have focused on determining a list of doctrines and practices essential to being Christian and thus extending to all groups which fulfill these basic criteria a (more or less) equal status, with perhaps one's own group still retaining a "first among equal" standing.  This process involved a redefinition of the idea of "the Church" from traditional theology.  This ecclesiology, known as denominationalism, contends that each group (which fulfills the essential criteria of "being Christian") is a sub-group of a greater "Christian Church", itself a purely abstract concept with no direct representation, i.e. no group, or "denomination", claims to be "the Church".  Obviously, this ecclesiology it at variance with other groups that indeed consider themselves to be "the Church".  But moreover, because the "essential criteria" generally consist of belief in the holy Trinity, it has resulted in strife between these Protestant ecumenical movements and non-Trinitarian groups such as Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and Jehovah's Witnesses, which are not often not regarded as Christian by these ecumenical groups.

Notes

Print resources

Other websites
The following links give an overview of the history of Christianity:
 Dictionary of the History of Ideas:  Christianity in History
 Dictionary of the History of Ideas:  Church as an Institution
 Church history at WikiChristian
 Church History in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica

The following link provides quantitative data related to Christianity and other major religions, including rates of adherence at different points in time:
 American Religion Data Archive
 Early Stages of the Establishment of Christianity
 Theandros, a journal of Orthodox theology and philosophy, containing articles on early Christianity and patristic studies.
 Historical Christianity, A time line with references to the descendants of the early church.

History of Christianity


Suncheon is  a city in South Korea. It belongs to Jeollanam-do. 70% of Suncheon  is composed of mountains and the city has the greatest number of mountains in the province. The average temperature for the year is 12.5℃. The average temperature in January is -0.5℃ and the average temperature in August is 25.2℃. Since Suncheon fronts the southern sea, the city is relatively warm during the winter by the effect of oceanic climate.

Suncheon is famous among Korean travelers due to its beautiful tourist attractions and local food of great taste. Among many spots, Suncheon bay is the most well-known. It was selected as one of the top 5 coastal wetlands in the world. The large mud flat stretches out and several kinds of birds and other living creatures live there. Also, the wide field of reeds along the waterside forms magnificent view. The Suncheon bay reeds festival is held every October and it gets great reputation.

Since the city is located near to the sea, dishes made of diverse fresh fish highly attract those who visit Suncheon. Especially, thanks to the well-protected ecological environment, mudskippers which exist usually in the very clean mud flat are seen in the Suncheon bay. They are used  for cooking in Suncheon and the dish is  very famous for its greater taste than any other region in the country.

Cities in South Korea

Suncheon


Bart's Dog Gets an "F" is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons second season. It was first shown on the Fox Broadcasting network in the United States on March 7, 1991.

Plot
In this episode, the Simpson family's dog, "Santa's Little Helper", chews on Homer's new shoes. The dog also destroys a prized family treasure and eats Homer's cookie. The family gets angry at the dog. As a result, Bart is forced to train "Santa's Little Helper" at an obedience school so that the family will not give him away. At first, the dog acts very badly. At the last minute, he passes the test.

References

Other websites

1991 television episodes
The Simpsons (season 2) episodes

Bart's Dog Gets an "F"


Drowning World (2003) is a science fiction novel by American writer  Alan Dean Foster.

Plot summary
On the distant planet Fluva, torrential rains that leave it barely habitable also make it a treasure trove of rare botanical specimens. When the human bio-prospector Shadrach Hasselemoga crashes in the remote and deadliest place on Fluva; the Viisiiviisii. The only crew available to search for him is the warrior Jemunu-jah, one of the native Sakuntala, and the immigrant Deyzara trader and experienced pilot, Masurathoo. This culturally different and physically repulsive to each other couple promptly crash also. While the rescuers and the rescued are all slogging it out of the ultimate rain forest, the reptilian AAnn empire is fomenting bloody trouble between the Sakuntula and the Deyzara. This leaves Commonwealth administrator Lauren Matthias in the hot seat, with refugees swarming in to her limited facilities and the bodies of the innocent piling up, with few resources to help. But it's the survivors of the rain forest who bring new knowledge that helps save Fluva, along with quick work by Matthias.

Literary significance and reception
Regina Schroeder in her review for Booklist said "Driven by political intrigue and wilderness adventure, this is SF of noble vintage."  Kirkus Reviews summarized this novel as "a Cold War-style superpower confrontation-by-proxy, tricked out in weird-alien garb: no prizes for style, but satisfyingly substantial."  Peter Cannon gave this book a mixed review in Publishers Weekly saying "the human characters are notably less developed than the aliens, and the AAn Empire is something of a straw foe these days, but the author's mastery of his exotic setting cannot be denied."

References

External links

Alan Dean Foster homepage

2003 American novels
2003 science fiction novels
American science fiction novels
Humanx Commonwealth
Novels by Alan Dean Foster
Del Rey books

Drowning World


The Araneomorphae are the kinds of spiders that humans most often see around their homes and gardens. They are different from the Mygalomorphae, the group of spiders that includes the tarantulas (also called "bird-eating spider"). There is a third group of spiders that is extremely ancient and now has few species remaining. It is called the Mesothelae.

References

Araneomorphae

Araneomorphae


The Mpemba effect is that hot water can, under certain circumstances, not only freeze but do so quicker than colder water. This phenomenon has been reported as working as far back as Ancient Greece, even though it would seem contradictory to the laws of thermodynamics. In 1969 a scientist named Erasto B. Mpemba did experiments that proved that the effect is real, however, scientists are left with more questions than answers. Many solutions have been suggested as reasons for this phenomenon, but none have been agreed upon by scientists and most contradictory explanations were obtained by very different experiments with different controls. Perhaps someday after more study scientists will understand this, but currently the results are inconclusive at best.

Water
Thermodynamics

Mpemba effect


Theodore William King (born October 1, 1965) is an American actor. He was born in Hollywood, California. Ted King is also credited as T.W. King.

King is first known to soap opera fans as Danny Roberts on Loving in 1999 and The City until the series was went off the air in March 1997. He had the starring role in the series "Timecop" on ABC in the fall of 1997. He was on the series Charmed as Inspector Andy Trudeau from 1998 to 1999. In 2002, King returned to soaps operas as Luis Alcazar on General Hospital for a few months until his character was killed on the series. In 2003, he returned to General Hospital as Luis' twin brother, Lorenzo Alcazar.

Other websites

American television actors
Actors from Hollywood
1965 births
Living people

Ted King