Hugh I (died between 1112 and 1118) was the Lord of Le Puiset (as Hugh II) from 1097 and Count of Jaffa from 1106. He was the son of Hugh I of Le Puiset and Alice of Montlhéry. He is often confused with his son, who was also known as Hugh II of Le Puiset, though the latter was actually only Hugh II of Jaffa.

Through his mother he was a cousin of Baldwin of Le Bourg and Joscelin of Courtenay, who were lords in Outremer. Hugh acted as lord of Le Puiset until 1106 as tutor to his young nephew Hugh III. After his tenure was up, he went to the Holy Land in the company of Bohemond of Taranto and there received the county of Jaffa.

By his wife Mabel, daughter of Ebles II of Roucy and Sybil of Hauteville, he had one son, Hugh, who succeeded to Jaffa following the regency of his mother's second husband, Albert of Namur.

References

Sources

11th-century births
1110s deaths
Christians of the Crusades
Counts of Jaffa and Ascalon

Hugh I of Jaffa


Woh Chokri () is a 1994 Indian movie directed by Subhankar Ghosh, starring Pallavi Joshi, Neena Gupta, Paresh Rawal and Om Puri. The film won 3 awards in National Film Awards – 1993. Pallavi Joshi won National Film Award – Special Jury Award, whereas Paresh Rawal won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and Neena Gupta that of the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for this movie.

Plot
Geeta Devi (Neena Gupta) is one of the daughters-in-law of a prominent and wealthy family, who is unfortunately widowed. Still youthful and attractive, she gives in to the wiles of one of the men in the neighbourhood, Lalit Ramji (Paresh Rawal), and starts living with him. She has a daughter, Apsara (Pallavi Joshi) by him, and the three are portrayed as a happy family.

One day, Lalit disappears without explanation, and from then on, the lives of the abandoned mother and daughter go steadily downward. Apsara is forced to leave school when her parents' past is known to the school authorities; with no income, their landlord is forced to let them go, and they have to move to a hutment colony. Geeta begins work as a maidservant in order to earn a living and support her daughter. One of the poignant themes in the movie is Apsara's relationship with her father, to whose illusory love she hangs on with a childlike and, in the end, horribly unjustified faith.

Learning that Lalit is now a successful politician, Apsara persuades her mother to travel to New Delhi to meet him as she is sure her father will rescue them from their terrible condition. Rejected, the mother returns, and having lost all hope and faith in human goodness, takes to alcohol. Soon after, she dies leaving her daughter aged 16 all alone.

The daughter takes up her mother's job as maidservant in the house of a widower (Om Puri) of 15 years. He seems genuinely concerned for the welfare of the girl and slowly gains her trust and finally asks her to come live with him despite the age gap. After some initial reluctance, the girl finally accepts and starts living with Om Puri, and briefly the young girl is restored to a secure life free of want. Her protector then dies of a heart attack. His relatives accuse the girl of murder and she is taken into custody and questioned by the police. After a few months, she is released for lack of evidence. Left to her own devices, she works for a time as a prostitute.

In Mumbai, she lives in the railway station with three other street children, even acquiring a status of leadership among them. One day, she learns that her father is coming to the city from Delhi and will be giving a conference. She decides to attend and during the conference, she gets up and starts shouting to her father that she is his daughter. Lalit ignores her calls and she is escorted out by the police and left a few miles down the road.

She then realizes that her mother was right and that her father had really abandoned them to their fate. Faced with the cruelty that life can show, she is walking along, loudly lamenting her fate and reviling life, when one of her father's henchmen slips up behind her, and brutally kills her. The movie ends with her dying on the grass.

Cast

Neena Gupta as Geeta Devi
Paresh Rawal as Lalit Ramji
Om Puri
Pallavi Joshi as Apsara

References

External links

1994 films
Films set in Delhi
1990s Hindi-language films
Films about women in India
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor National Film Award-winning performance
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress National Film Award-winning performance
Films scored by Sapan-Jagmohan
Doordarshan television films

Woh Chokri


The Two Foscari: An Historical Tragedy (1821) is a verse play in five acts by Lord Byron. The plot, set in Venice in the mid-15th century, is loosely based on the true story of the downfall of doge Francesco Foscari and his son Jacopo. Byron's play formed the basis of Verdi's opera I due Foscari.

Synopsis
Jacopo Foscari, son of the Doge of Venice, has twice been exiled, once for corruption and once for complicity in the murder of Donato, a member of the Council of Ten. He has been recalled from his second exile to answer the capital charge of treason, and as the play opens he is between sessions of interrogation on the rack. The Council decide to sentence him to a third exile, this time perpetual, rather than to death. His father, doge Francesco Foscari, signs the sentence of exile, though his spirit is broken by this new disgrace. Jacopo's patriotic spirit cannot brook such a sentence, he longs to die, and he duly does die of a broken heart. The Council of Ten orders the doge to abdicate, and, as the bells begin to toll to signify the election of a new doge, the old one falls and dies.

Composition and publication

Byron wrote The Two Foscari in Ravenna in less than a month, between 12 June and 9 July 1821.  It was published by John Murray on 19 December 1821 in the same volume as his Sardanapalus and Cain. Byron originally intended to dedicate The Two Foscari to his friend Sir Walter Scott, but in the event he transferred that dedication to Cain and left Foscari without one. He added an appendix to The Two Foscari in which he launched a stinging attack on what he considered the hypocrisies of the Poet Laureate, Robert Southey. Southey responded in a letter to a London newspaper in which he dared Byron to attack him again. Byron initially wanted to challenge Southey to a duel, but then turned instead to poetry and wrote his stinging satire The Vision of Judgment.

The Two Foscari in other media
Verdi's opera I due Foscari, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, was based on Byron's play.  It also inspired two paintings, Les deux Foscari by Delacroix, and L'ultimo abboccamento di Jacopo Foscari con la propria famiglia prima di partire per l'esilio cui era stato condannato by Francesco Hayez.

Footnotes

External links
 An edition of The Two Foscari by Peter Cochran

Plays by Lord Byron
1821 plays
Venice in fiction
Plays set in Italy
Plays about families
Plays set in the 15th century
Biographical plays about politicians
Tragedy plays
Foscari family

The Two Foscari (Byron)


Domeykodactylus is an extinct genus of dsungaripterid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian-Albian)-age Santa Ana Formation at Quebrada de la Carreta in Antofagasta, Chile.

Discovery and naming
The genus was named in 2000 by David Martill, Eberhard Frey, Guillermo Chong Diaz and Charles Michael Bell. The type species is Domeykodactylus ceciliae. The genus name is derived from the Cordillera Domeyko and Greek daktylos, "finger" in reference to the wing finger typical of pterosaurs. The specific name honors geologist Cecilia Demargasso of the Universidad Católica del Norte, "who was so kind to us".

Description
Domeykodactylus is based on holotype DCGUCN 250973, found in the Sierra da Candeleros. It consists of a partial mandible; a premaxilla, present in the same rock, is referred to it as paratype. The fossil had at first been thought to belong to Pterodaustro. Domeykodactylus had a crest running along the top of the premaxilla. The bone structure of the crest consists of vertical trabeculae, narrow struts; it was this texture that had originally been mistaken for the fine filter teeth of Pterodaustro.

The mandible has a short symphysis. There are sixteen tooth sockets, from which the teeth themselves have been lost, in each dentary. The sockets are narrow, oval and slightly elevated, with a raised margin, above the level of the jaw. The teeth were probably small and towards the back more widely spaced and declining in size.

The skull length has been estimated at  and the wingspan at 1 meter (3.28 ft).

The describers found Domeykodactylus similar to both the Ctenochasmatidae and Dsungaripteridae in the crest; because of the elevated tooth sockets it was assigned to the latter group. It was the first published example of a dsungaripterid in South America, most other members of the family being from Asia.

Classification
Below is a cladogram showing the phylogenetic placement of Domeykodactylus within the clade Neoazhdarchia. The cladogram is based on a topology recovered by Andres and Myers (2013).

See also
 List of pterosaur genera
 Timeline of pterosaur research

References

External links
Domeykodactylus in The Pterosauria

Dsungaripterids
Early Cretaceous pterosaurs of South America

Domeykodactylus


The Japurá–Solimões–Negro moist forests (NT0132) is an ecoregion of tropical moist broad leaf forest in the Amazon biome.

Location
The Japurá–Solimoes–Negro moist forests ecoregion is named for the Japurá, Solimões, and Negro rivers.
Almost all of the ecoregion is in the central northern part of the Brazilian Amazon basin, with a small portion in Colombia.
It has an area of .
Conservation units include the Jaú National Park and the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve.

The ecoregion lies on the lowland plateau in the interfluvial between the Rio Negro and the Solimões River.
In Colombia the region skirts the foothills of the Guiana Shield to the northwest, and contains the lower Vaupés River basin and the land south of the Guainía River, the name of the upper Rio Negro in Colombia.
The region is then bounded by the Rio Negro along the border with Venezuela and into Brazil to its confluence with the Solimões at Manaus.
The southern border is defined by the Japurá River from the border with Colombia to the point where it meets the Solimões at Tefé, then by the Solimões to the Rio Negro.

The Japurá–Solimoes–Negro moist forests adjoin the Caquetá moist forests to the west, and the Negro–Branco moist forests to the north.
To the east it adjoins the Uatuma–Trombetas moist forests.
To the south it adjoins the Monte Alegre várzea, Purus várzea, and Solimões–Japurá moist forests.
The ecoregion contains large areas of the distinct campinarana ecoregion, which has white sand soils that are periodically subject to shallow flooding, and hold broad-leaf meadows, dwarf shrubs and shrublands.

Physical

Terrain
The lowland plateau that holds the Japurá–Solimoes–Negro moist forests ecoregion emerged as soft sediments about 2.5 million years ago.
The terrain is mainly non-flooded terra firme on wide plains cut by steep-sided valleys of tributaries of the larger rivers.
The region has elevations that are mostly well below , dropping to  at Manaus.

Hydrology
The Japurá and Solimões are whitewater rivers, carrying large amounts of suspended solids, while the Rio Negro and most of the smaller rivers in the region are blackwater rivers.
Each year heavy rainfall within the ecoregion and higher up in the Andes causes flooding along the banks of all the larger rivers and many of the smaller rivers.
Near Tefé and Manaus the flood water may rise .
Flooding lasts for one or two months on the upper reaches of the smaller rivers, but may extend for as much as ten months near Manaus.
The wide floodplains of the Japurá and Solimões rivers hold the várzea forests of the Purus várzea ecoregion.
The blackwater Rio Negro and rivers of the interior of the ecoregion flood Igapó forests, with lower diversity of tree species and less fertile soil.

Climate
The Japurá–Solimoes–Negro moist forests ecoregion has a hot and humid climate with average monthly temperature from .
Average annual rainfall is , with a well-defined rainy season.

Ecology

Flora
The Japurá–Solimoes–Negro moist forests ecoregion has medium endemism, but the holds many rare or endangered flora.
The ecoregion is in the Neotropical realm and the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome.
There are many rivers and flooded areas, but the most of the vegetation is terra firme forest, not subject to flooding.
The ecoregion is part of the Río Negro-Juruá Moist Forests, a global ecoregion, the other parts being the Negro–Branco, Solimões–Japurá and Caquetá moist forests.
The reasonably intact global ecoregion has high annual rainfall, diverse soils and varied terrain, resulting in a high level of biodiversity.
It has not been studied in great depth by scientists.

Most of the Japurá–Solimoes–Negro moist forests ecoregion is covered by terra firme forests growing on poor soil.
These forests typically have a  canopy, either open or closed with emergent trees up to .
Common families of trees are Fabaceae, Sapotaceae, Rubiaceae, Chrysobalanaceae, Lauraceae and Annonaceae.
There are many palms in the understory and canopy of the different types of forest.
In the terra firme areas the most common palms are miriti and carana in the genus Mauritia.
Other terra firme trees include Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa), sucupira (Bowdichia virgilioides) and rubber (Hevea spruceana).

Trees in igapó forests along the Jaú River in the west include Elvasia calophylla, Swartzia laevicarpa, Pouteria elegans, Aldina latifolia, Swartzia polyphylla, Ouratea hexasperma, Mollia speciosa, Leopoldiana pulchra, Inga puntata and Heterostemon mimosoides.
Trees along the Tarumã Mirim River to the east include Vismia amazonica, Unonopsis guatterioides, Pentaclethra macroloba, Macrolobium suaveolens, Eschweilera parvifolia, Caraipa grandiflora, Aspidosperma nitidum and Mabea nitida.
Timber trees on the upper margins of the várzea include Ceiba pentandra, Manilkara amazonica, and Virola surinamensis.

Fauna
The Japurá–Solimoes–Negro moist forests contain diverse fauna.

181 species of mammals have been recorded, including South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris), capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), jaguar (Panthera onca), collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), red-faced spider monkey (Ateles paniscus), red-handed tamarin (Saguinus midas), common squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus), and several gracile capuchin monkeys (Cebus species). There are many small rodents, anteaters, opossums, and over 100 bat species.

506 species of birds have been reported. Common birds include macaws (Ara species), cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis), herons of the Egretta and Ardea genera, tinamous (Crypturellus species) and parrots (Amazona and Piona species).

There are many species of reptiles and amphibians, including the omnipresent green iguana (Iguana iguana) and tegus lizards (Tupinambis species).

Snakes include boa constrictor (Boa constrictor) and the venomous fer-de-lance (Bothrops asper), palm pit-vipers (Bothriechis species), coral snakes (Micrurus species) and bushmasters (Lachesis muta).

The rivers are home to fish of all sizes, turtles, Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), and Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis).

Status
The region holds the south half of the Puinawai Natural Reserve in Colombia.
Protected areas in Brazil include the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve in the Purus várzea ecoregion, the Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve and the Jaú National Park.
The forest is largely undisturbed and relatively stable, but there are high levels of mining, logging, agriculture, hunting and fishing along the rivers.
There are no roads in the region except for very close to Manaus, but the rivers carry much boat traffic.
Urban development in the Manaus region causes deforestation and pollution.
In the border region between Colombia and Brazil large stretches of river bank are being destroyed by gold miners.
There is unregulated logging of timber along the river banks.

References

Bibliography

Amazon biome
Amazon rainforest
Upper Amazon
Ecoregions of Brazil
Ecoregions of Colombia
Neotropical tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests

Japurá–Solimões–Negro moist forests


The Vancouver Police Museum & Archives (formerly Vancouver Police Centennial Museum) opened to commemorate the centennial of the Vancouver Police Department and the City of Vancouver, British Columbia in 1986. Located at 240 E. Cordova Street adjacent to Vancouver's Gastown, the museum is housed in a building that was purpose-built in 1932 for use by the City Coroner's Services and includes the Coroner's Court, morgue and autopsy facilities (until 1980) and the City Analyst's Laboratory (until 1996). In 1935, the Coroner's Court was used as a makeshift hospital by police during the Battle of Ballantyne Pier. It was designed by architect Arthur J. Bird, and today it is a municipally designated class "A" heritage building.

The museum is run by the Vancouver Police Historical Society, a non-profit organization established in 1983 with the mandate to foster interest in the history of the Vancouver Police Department and to open a museum for this purpose. The catalyst for the project was the museum's first curator, Joe Swan, a former police sergeant and amateur historian. Swan wrote the department's official history book, which was published by the Vancouver Historical Society in 1986, entitled, A Century of Service: The Vancouver Police, 1886-1986.

The museum is located on the top floor of the city-owned Coroner's Court building and permanent exhibits include the original morgue and autopsy suite. The museum maintains a collection of approximately 30,000 objects. This includes archival documents, photographs, publications, confiscated firearms and other weapons, counterfeit currency, and various other artifacts and memorabilia, of which an estimated 40% is on display. The museum offers educational programs for children and youth that are focused on forensic investigation.  The museum has a small book shop featuring a curated collection of books written by local authors and publishes a quarterly newsletter.

The museum is self-funded through admission and program fees, membership fees, donations, book shop sales, and project grants; the museum receives no direct funding from the Vancouver Police Department or the City of Vancouver but gratefully receives their in-kind support.

See also
List of heritage buildings in Vancouver
List of museums in British Columbia

External links

Museums in Vancouver
Law enforcement museums in Canada
Heritage buildings in Vancouver

Vancouver Police Museum


Johann Peter Melchior (8 March 1747 – 13 June 1825) was a German porcelain modeller.

Melchior was born in Lintorf.  He was interested in art from an early age and was apprenticed to a sculptor in Düsseldorf.  He made a name for himself in the porcelain trade and was named Modellmeister at the acclaimed Höchst porcelain factory in 1767, a post he held until 1779.  He later worked at the factories at Frankenthal (1779–93) and Nymphenburg (1797–1822).  He died in Nymphenburg.

Melchior was a transitional figure between Rococo and Neoclassicism.  His early work was graceful and often sentimental, and his favourite subjects included religious groups, pastoral scenes, characters from mythology, and children.  As his career progressed, his works became less sentimental and more neoclassical.

References
Charlotte Jacob-Hanson, "Johann Peter Melchior, Master Modeller," The Magazine Antiques, Vol. CLIV, No. 3, September 1998, pp. 338–345.

1747 births
1825 deaths
 People from Ratingen
 German artists

Johann Peter Melchior


Neifi Neftali Pérez (; ; born June 2, 1973) is a former Major League baseball player. He was a switch hitter who threw right-handed. During his career, he played with the Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, and Detroit Tigers.

Pérez was originally signed by the Colorado Rockies in 1992. Frequently praised for his defensive skills, Pérez reached the major leagues in 1996 and become the Rockies' shortstop for good in 1997. Over the next three years, he scarcely missed a game and won a Gold Glove in 2000. During 2001, he was traded to the Kansas City Royals, where he also played in 2002. The trade proved to be unpopular with both teams, and Pérez joined the San Francisco Giants for 2003 and 2004. He lost his starting job during the 2004 season and was released during that year. Pérez then signed with the Chicago Cubs, whom he finished the season with and spent most of the next two years with. He was the Cubs' starting shortstop in 2005 but was used as a reserve player in 2006 before getting traded to the Detroit Tigers during the year. He finished his career in 2007 with the Tigers. As a Tiger, he turned a double play which saved Justin Verlander's no-hitter, but he also had a series of positive tests for amphetamines which effectively ended his career.

Career

Colorado Rockies
As a child, Pérez played for Liga Mercedes in the Dominican Republic. The Colorado Rockies signed him as an undrafted free agent in 1992 at the age of 18. Assigned to the single-A Bend Rockies for the 1993 season, Pérez posted a .260 batting average and stole 19 bases. The Rockies, confident in Pérez's potential, promoted him to the single-A Central Valley Rockies. Pérez exhibited strong defensive skills, executing the first unassisted triple play in the history of the California League in a game against the Bakersfield Blaze. Pérez batted just .239 on the year but made the California League All-Star game and was considered to be one of the Rockies' top prospects on the basis of his defense. Rockies player development chief Dick Balderson expressed confidence that Pérez's hitting would improve: "He's got all the skills...He's just in a rush right now, like most young guys."

Pérez moved up to the double-AA New Haven Ravens where he batted .253 and improved his fielding percentage to .967 and was considered the Rockies' top prospect at shortstop. The Rockies promoted Pérez to triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox at the end of the 1995 season with the intention of bringing him up to the major leagues the next year. In fact, although Pérez was invited to 1996 spring training, he spent most of year with the Sky Sox and was not called up until the end of August, making his major league debut on August 31. In his season with the Sky Sox, his batting average had improved to .316. Commented Rockies manager Don Baylor: "He is the guy who had the year that traditionally earns a call up. I want to see what he can do." Pérez hit .156 over 17 games and returned to the Sky Sox for the beginning of the 1997 season.

Although invited to 1997 spring training Pérez did not make the 25-man roster and once again returned to the Sky Sox for the first half of the season, where he batted .363 with a .975 fielding percentage. In mid-June the Rockies summoned him in place of Jason Bates, this time for good. Pérez batted .291 on the year and gradually replaced Walt Weiss as the starting shortstop. Pérez remained Colorado's primary shortstop for the next three seasons (1998–2000), appearing in all but five games. His batting average hovered around .280 (.274, .280, .287) and he averaged thirty doubles a year. He led all National League shortstops in assists in all three seasons. His fielding percentage never dropped below .975 and he won a Gold Glove for the 2000 season. Despite his later reputation for anemic hitting, Pérez managed several offensive feats with the Rockies. On July 25, 1998, he hit for the cycle against the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1999 he tied Bobby Abreu and José Offerman for the most triples in Major League Baseball with 11. Pérez got off to a strong start in 2001 but there was doubt over his future with Colorado. The Rockies had offered him a 4-year, $17 million contract which he had rejected; accepting a 1-year $3.55 million deal via arbitration. In the end the Rockies dealt Pérez to the Kansas City Royals as part of a three-way deal in which the Royals sent Jermaine Dye to the Oakland Athletics who then sent Mario Encarnación, José Ortiz and Todd Belitz to Colorado. Denver Post sportswriter Woody Paige criticized the move, calling Pérez "the best shortstop in the National League" who was "an extraordinary defensive player, a capable offensive player and a classy team player."

Kansas City Royals
Pérez arrived in Kansas City amid widespread anger over the departure of fan-favorite Dye. Facing off against Dye in one of his first games as a Royal, Pérez took the low-key approach: "I'm just going to play my game." Pérez finished out the 2001 season in Kansas City, batting .241 over 49 games. Pérez started at shortstop for the 2002 season but his batting average sank to .236, leading sportswriters to question whether the rarefied air at Coors Field had inflated Pérez's numbers. Pérez also may have sealed his fate by refusing to enter a late-season game at the request of manager Tony Peña.  At the end of the year the Royals were looking to move Pérez and his $4.1 million salary; he was eventually claimed off waivers by the San Francisco Giants and signed a two-year, $4.25 million contract.

San Francisco Giants
At the Giants Pérez hoped for a fresh start; rumors had swirled in Kansas City about problems in the clubhouse, and it was no secret that the trade had been deeply unpopular in both Denver and Kansas City. Commented Pérez: "I feel happy here. I like the National League. I was happy in Colorado and I am happy here." Pérez hit .256 over the course of the 2003 season; an improvement on his previous season but a far cry from the Colorado days. Pérez returned for the 2004 season, but the situation in San Francisco had become uncomfortable. Although signed as a starter at second base, he quickly became backup to Ray Durham, while he lost out at shortstop to Deivi Cruz. His batting average slumped to .232. He had a staunch defender in manager Felipe Alou, but in the end he was the "odd man out" and the Giants released him on August 14, 2004. Almost immediately the Chicago Cubs signed Pérez to a minor-league contract.

Chicago Cubs
The Cubs assigned Pérez to the triple-A Iowa Cubs, but he played only ten games before being called up to the expanded roster on September 1. Pérez became a much needed spark plug in the lineup, going 6 for 6 in his first 6 at-bats as a Cub and providing a needed backup to the ailing Nomar Garciaparra. In 23 games with the Cubs he hit .371. The Cubs re-signed Pérez to a one-year contract worth $1 million, with up to an additional $1.5 million in bonuses.

Manager Dusty Baker made Pérez the everyday shortstop in 2005 to replace Garciaparra, mainly on the strength of his defensive skills. His impatience at the plate led to a walk percentage of 3.1%, the worst in the National League. Pérez finished the season batting .274, and his play at short won rave reviews from Baker: "It's hard to play better shortstop defensively than Neifi has." In the off-season the Cubs signed Pérez to a two-year, $5 million contract.

For the 2006 season Pérez lost the starting job at shortstop to Ronny Cedeño, and found himself playing a mixture of second base and short behind Cedeño and Todd Walker. Meanwhile, Pérez's batting average sagged to .254, while his on-base percentage, never high, had fallen to .266. In late August the Cubs traded him to the Detroit Tigers for minor-league catcher Chris Robinson. The Tigers were seeking a replacement for their injured second baseman, Plácido Polanco, who had separated his shoulder.

Detroit Tigers
Pérez arrived in Detroit during the pennant chase which ended with their loss in the 2006 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals. Pérez faced almost immediate criticism from fans after getting off to a .157 start, and manager Jim Leyland felt obliged to come to his defense: "These guys making a big deal about Neifi Pérez and Omar Infante don't know what they're talking about. They got no clue." Pérez made 21 appearances during the regular season, with a batting average of .200 and an OBP of .235. He appeared in three games during the playoffs but never reached base.

The Tigers retained Pérez for the 2007 season, although Leyland acknowledged that Pérez would have to improve his play: "I recommended that we trade for him. I take responsibility. I don't want people to get the wrong impression. I like Neifi Pérez, but he did not perform well. It's that simple." Pérez, however, continued to struggle, posting a .172 batting average over the 33 games he played in a Tigers' uniform. One bright spot came on June 12, 2007, when he saved Justin Verlander's no-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers by turning a possible base hit into an inning-ending double play.

On July 6, 2007, Pérez was suspended 25 games by MLB for a second positive test for amphetamines; on August 3 he was suspended an additional 80 games for a third positive test. On October 31, 2007, Pérez filed for free agency, ending his association with Detroit.

Possible comeback
In February 2008 there was talk of the Colorado Rockies signing Pérez to a minor league contract worth $750,000, which manager Clint Hurdle characterized as a "lifeline." In the end Colorado backed out, citing younger players competing for the same position.

Foreign
Pérez has also had a significant foreign career. He participated in the Caribbean Series and was named the Series MVP in 1998 and 1999. In 2012, he was inducted into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame. He played in the Dominican Professional Baseball League for Leones del Escogido with personal success, batting over .300. In 2004, he helped Escogido score 18 runs in an inning. In 2006, he played in the Dominican Republic-Puerto Rico All-Star Game.

Legacy
Pérez's poor offense after Colorado traded him to the Royals overshadowed his defensive skills. He was widely criticized because of his low on-base percentage (career .297) and lack of power. Nate Silver, a baseball statistician who analyzed Pérez's statistics (specifically value over replacement player (VORP)), concluded that Pérez had a negative impact on the teams he played for. Chicago sportswriter Bruce Miles called Pérez "one of the worst offensive players in baseball history."

See also

 List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle
 List of Colorado Rockies team records
 List of Major League Baseball annual triples leaders
 List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

References

External links

1973 births
Living people
Bend Rockies players
Central Valley Rockies players
Chicago Cubs players
Colorado Rockies players
Colorado Springs Sky Sox players
Detroit Tigers players
Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States
Dominican Republic sportspeople in doping cases
Gold Glove Award winners
Iowa Cubs players
Kansas City Royals players

Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic
Major League Baseball players suspended for drug offenses
Major League Baseball second basemen
Major League Baseball shortstops
New Haven Ravens players
People from Santo Domingo Norte
San Francisco Giants players

Neifi Pérez


An oceanic climate, also known as a maritime climate or marine climate, has cool or mild winters and does not have dry or hot summers. Most places with this type of climate have weather that changes frequently. Most of it is classified as Cfb in the Köppen climate classification with each season having moderate or high rainfall, and warm summers. Cities in the subtropics and temperate climate zone in the world with this climate include: Bogota, Dublin, London, Bergen, Bilbao, Frankfurt, Paris, Curitiba, Brussels, Mar del Plata, Quito, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Melbourne, Auckland, Xalapa, Intibucá, Chachapoyas, Merida, and Vancouver.

There is a subarctic version of it with cool and shorter summers (Cfc), which includes the Faroe Islands. The subtropical highland climate (Cwb and Cwc) is sometimes considered a subtype of the oceanic climate.

Köppen climate classifications

Oceanic climate


Placodonts were a group of Triassic marine reptiles which had heavy flat teeth. These teeth were used for crushing shellfish. Placodonts are in the Order Sauropterygia, the group that includes Plesiosaurs. Placodonts were mostly between  in length, up to a maximum  long. They are found in marine sediments of the Middle and Upper Triassic, 235–250 million years ago.

The first specimen was discovered in 1830, and the group was very widely distributed. Shellfish were common throughout the Mesozoic period, but this group of shellfish-eaters went extinct at the end of the Triassic. They were clearly a victim of some event which disturbed their lifestyle. The end-Triassic had several extinction events which are not well understood.

Palaeobiology
The earliest forms like Placodus, in the early to middle Triassic, looked rather barrel-shaped. Later placodonts had bony plates on their backs which protected their bodies while they were feeding.

By the Upper Triassic, these plates had grown so that some placodonts of the time looked like the sea turtles of modern day.  Other placodonts developed plates that resembled the shells of horseshoe crabs and trilobites rather than those of sea turtles. These adaptations are examples of convergent evolution.

Because of their dense bone and heavy armour plating, these creatures would have been too heavy to float in the ocean. They would have used a lot of energy to reach the water surface. For this reason, and because of the type of sediment found with the fossils, it is suggested placodonts lived in shallow waters and not in deep oceans.

Feeding
The placodonts ate shellfish. Their front teeth stuck out: they would be used to dig up the shellfish, and pull them from any attachment to the ground. Inside their mouth, the teeth were large and flat: they were used to crush the shells.

"Spade-like incisors at the front, for snipping and scraping oysters from the rocks; and broad circular back teeth that acted as a pounding board to crush the shells, before the flesh was swallowed". Benton.p119

Their diet consisted of marine bivalves, brachiopods, and other invertebrates.

References

Sauropterygia
Marine reptiles

Placodont


Antivirus software (or anti-virus software) helps prevent access to a computer system by an unwanted computer malware. Viruses, worms or trojan horses can be used by criminals or mischievous people (called 'hackers'). They can steal information or damage system files. If no antivirus software is installed on the device, hackers will be able to access the information in the computer.

Types
There are many different types of antivirus software, and many antivirus programs that can be downloaded for free. These free antiviruses usually have some features missing, and the missing features are only available to those who buy the full version. Even still, many free antiviruses today have great virus scanning capabilities and can give people suitable internet security protections without the need to buying additional protections.

Features
Antivirus software protects computers in many different ways. For starters, most antiviruses offer more than just "virus" protection. They protect computers from all different kinds of malware, like spyware, rootkits, phishing, and ransomware. For this reason, antiviruses are frequently interchangeably referred to as "anti-malware" programs. There are a few more ways that antiviruses protect against malware, but the most used way is through a regular scan of all the data and files on a computer's hard disk. In an antivirus scan, the software will look through every file on a computer, and it will compare each computer file's genetic makeup with the genetic makeup of already-known viruses. If a file has the same genetic makeup as a known piece of malware, it will be flagged as a problem. This is known as signature-based detection, and it is only effective when a malware file has been previously identified and shared with the community of malware researchers who maintain the malware database. Another typical kind of malware detection is through behavior analysis. This is when the antivirus software identifies an abnormal behavior in a computer file or program, causing the antivirus to flag that issue and assess whether or not the abnormality has been caused by malware or by something else.

Problems with antivirus software
Most tests and experts claim that while antivirus software is extremely useful in preventing some cyber attacks, but it is unable to all attacks. That is because once a piece of malware has been identified, hackers know that this malware will be added to the list of already-known viruses, and it will no longer be able to pass through most signature-based detection systems. Also, antivirus software is not completely perfect, and there are more new and emerging threats that mostly sneak by a computer's defenses.

Installing more than one antivirus is never a good idea. The two different antivirus software may interfere with each other and causes damage.

Sometimes antivirus software sees viruses in files that do not actually have viruses. This is called a false positive.  The antivirus software will may remove files from the computer that do not have to be removed. This may cause other programs to not work correctly.

References

Software
Computer security

Antivirus software


David Lawrence Hill (November 11, 1919 – December 14, 2008) was an American nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project in World War II and was head of the Federation of American Scientists. He is best known for his 1959 testimony against the nomination of Lewis Strauss as United States Secretary of Commerce.

Early life
Hill was born in Booneville, Mississippi.

World War II
After graduating from the California Institute of Technology in 1942, he joined Enrico Fermi's team at the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago, where he remained for the duration of the war. He was one of the team of scientists who built the Chicago Pile, the world's first artificial nuclear reactor. In 1945 he was one of 70 scientists to sign the Szilárd petition asking President Truman to warn the Japanese before the usage of the atomic bomb.

Post-war career
After the war, he received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Princeton University in 1951. His doctoral advisor was John Archibald Wheeler. He was an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University and then from 1954 to 1958 worked as a theoretical physicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

In 1953, Hill, now a chairman of the Federation of American Scientists, criticized a speech by Lewis Strauss that defended his opposition to the shipping of radioisotopes to Norway in 1949. In 1959, he testified before the Commerce Committee of the United States Senate to oppose President Eisenhower's nomination of Lewis Strauss as Secretary of Commerce, saying that "most of the scientists in this country would prefer to see Mr. Strauss completely out of the Government". Hill accused Strauss of a lack of integrity, an obsessive quest for personal approval, persistent arrogance, and personal vindictiveness. Among issues cited were Strauss's aforementioned opposition to the shipping of radioisotopes in 1949 and his role in the security hearing that removed Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance. The Senate voted against Strauss's nomination.

Later years
Hill spent the later part of his career working in the private sector, founding research and development companies including Nanosecond Systems Inc., a manufacturer of high-precision measuring equipment, and serving as president of Harbor Research Corp., a patent enforcement and investment company.

Personal life
Hill married Mary Shadow on December 31, 1950, with whom he had seven children. He died on December 14, 2008 at the age of 89 in Brighton, New York. He had a private funeral.

In media
Hill was portrayed by Rami Malek in the 2023 Christopher Nolan film Oppenheimer.

References

Works cited

1919 births
2008 deaths
20th-century American physicists
American nuclear physicists
Manhattan Project people
Nuclear weapons scientists and engineers
Scientists from Mississippi
California Institute of Technology alumni
People from Booneville, Mississippi
Princeton University alumni
Vanderbilt University faculty

David L. Hill


Walter Shirley (1725–1786) was an English clergyman, hymn-writer, and controversialist, of Calvinist and Methodist views.

Life
The fourth son of the Hon. Laurence Shirley and Anne, daughter of Sir Walter Clarges, bart., he was born at Staunton Harold, Leicestershire, on 23 September 1725. His father was youngest son of Robert Shirley, 1st Earl Ferrers; Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, was his elder brother, and Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, was his first cousin.

In 1742 Walter matriculated at New College, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1746, and the same year became rector of Loughrea, County Galway. His family connection with the Countess of Huntingdon brought him into intimate touch with the revivalist movements of the time. He became friendly with the Wesleys and George Whitefield, and from about 1758 he was one of the most loyal friends they had within the Church of England, which he belonged to all his life. He was often absent from Loughrea, and he became familiar speaker at English and Irish revivalist meetings. Robert Southey remarks that his intentions in his advocacy of Wesley were better than his judgment, since he belonged to the most dogmatic section of the movement. His work as a revivalist preacher brought him repeatedly into conflict with his bishop and fellow clergy. The bishop of Clonfert censured him in June 1778 and advised him to drop his Methodism, while some clergymen petitioned the archbishop to reprimand him for preaching in Plunkett Street Chapel, Dublin.

In the Methodist controversy on justification by faith provoked by John Wesley's Arminianism and the proceedings at the conference of 1770, Shirley took an active part on the Calvinist side with his cousin, the Countess of Huntingdon, as whose chaplain he acted for a time, and Augustus Toplady. A circular issued by him inviting the clergy and laity to oppose Wesley drew from John William Fletcher of Madeley his 'Checks to Antinomianism,' and Shirley's influence embittered the dispute. William Romaine, Henry Venn, and John Berridge were among his close associates. His portrait hung in the library of Cheshunt College, in the foundation of which he took an interest.

In his later years he suffered from dropsy, and of this he died on 7 April 1786; he was buried in St. Mary's Church, Dublin.

Works
His published works are:

'Gospel Repentance,' 1760, Dublin.
 'Twelve Sermons,' with an 'Ode on the Judgment Day,' 1761, Dublin; reprinted with additional odes to 'Truth' and 'Liberty,' 1764, London. B

His best known works are hymns. In 1774 he assisted the Countess of Huntingdon in revising the hymns used in her chapels, and the collection included some of his own work. He is author of the missionary hymn, 'Go, destined vessel, heavenly freighted, go!' written on the departure of some missionaries for America in 1772; of 'Flow fast, my tears, the cause is great;' 'Source of light and power divine,' and others.

Family
He married, on 27 August 1766, Henrietta Maria, eldest daughter of John Phillips of Dublin, and by her had two sons and three daughters. His elder son, Walter, was father of Walter Augustus Shirley.

References

Attribution

External links

1725 births
1786 deaths
18th-century English Anglican priests
People from Loughrea
Alumni of New College, Oxford
Burials at St. Mary's Churchyard, Dublin

Walter Shirley (priest and controversialist)


Functional incontinence is a form of urinary incontinence in which a person is usually aware of the need to urinate, but for one or more physical or mental reasons they are unable to get to a bathroom. The loss of urine can vary, from small leakages to full emptying of the bladder.

Main causes
There are a number of causes of functional incontinence. These include confusion, dementia, poor eyesight, impaired mobility or dexterity or unwillingness to use the toilet due to depression or anxiety. Functional incontinence is more common in elderly people as many of the causes are associated with conditions that affect people as they age. For example, a person with Alzheimer's disease may not plan well enough to reach a bathroom in time or may not remember how to get to the bathroom.

Non-medical causes
Functional incontinence can also occur at any age in circumstances where there is no underlying medical problem. For example, a person may recognise the need to urinate but are unable to do so because there is no toilet or suitable alternative nearby or access to a toilet is restricted or prohibited.

If a suitable place to urinate does not become available, the person may reach a stage where they are no longer able to refrain from urination and involuntary voiding of the bladder may take place. Instances of this sort will often result in full emptying of the bladder, but are likely to be one-off or rare occurrences. Excessive alcohol consumption can also cause episodes of incontinence in otherwise healthy adults.

References

Urinary incontinence

Functional incontinence


Huntershill House is a classic example of an 18th-century Laird's house, built c.1769-1781, designed by an unknown architect. The lands of Huntershill were formerly part of the lands of Auchinairn owned by James Lyle; "his circumstances having become embarrassed his Lands of Auchinairn were sold by his Creditors by Public Roup in several lots" on the 15th day of October 1748. From the 1780s it was the family home of the political reformer Thomas Muir, Younger of Huntershill (1765–1799).

Auchinairn is now closely entwined with Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Huntershill house is currently owned by East Dunbartonshire Council, and is a category B listed building, unfortunately during their ownership the building has fallen into disrepair and has ended up being listed on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland.

History

Tenants
Huntershill house was built by a Glasgow merchant named James Martin. It was situated beside the old post road from Glasgow to Stirling (Crowhill Road) which, however, ceased to be a main road during the 1790s when the Inchbelly Turnpike trustees built a new road on the present Kirkintilloch Road alignment.

In August 1781 the house was advertised for sale along with other property belonging to Martin, who had recently died. The following year it was purchased by James Muir, father of Thomas, and became the family home for some time afterwards. James Muir advertised the house for sale in December 1798, when it was said to consist of "a Kitchen, nine Fire-rooms, besides Garret-rooms, Closets, and two sunk Cellars". James Muir died in 1801 and the house was sold by his Trustees to the Gallaway family.

The house passed through the hands of many different occupiers but remained in the ownership of the Gallaway family from 1803 until 1953, when it was sold by the Gallaway Trustees to Mrs. Olive McGilvray with the following burdens:

"(Fifth) In order to ensure the preservation of the existing
buildings of Huntershill House and the policy ground thereof as an
ancient monument in the national interest, the structure of Huntershill
House will not be altered nor will the policy ground be altered or built
upon but the policy ground shall remain open and unbuilt upon unless
the consent of the National Trust for Scotland be first obtained in
writing to any proposed alteration of the said Huntershill House or to any
alteration or erection on said policy ground and no building or erection
shall be placed on and no operation of any kind be carried on upon any
part of the ground hereby disponed which lies outwith said policy
which would affect the amenity of Huntershill House and policy ground
as an ancient monument"

Council Ownership
In 1969 the newly formed Bishopbriggs Town Council decided to purchase it to serve as a pavilion for the adjacent recreation ground, then subject to the new development plans. The conversion would involve a total re-modelling of the interior of the house, which had not changed much since Muir's time, and the construction of a two-storey extension.
The council was allowed to carry out these drastic alterations since the house was not listed at the time even although it was sold with the burdens in place:

"ALL and WHOLE that area of ground containing one acre
and ninety six decimal or one thousandth parts of an acre of ground, part
of three acres and six decimal or one-tenth parts of an acre of ground or
thereby Imperial Standard Measure, bounded on west-southwest, west and west-northwest by Crowhill Road, in the Parish of Cadder, more particularly
described in a Disposition by us the said James William McGilvray and the
said Mrs. Olive Millicent Cant or McGilvray in favour of James Gray Provan
dated Eighth April and recorded in the said Division of the General Register
of Sasines on Fourteenth May both in the year Nineteen hundred and sixty
four; together with the subjects Huntershill House erected thereon, the
parts, privileges and pertinents thereof and the whole right, title and
interest of me and my said consenter present and future therein; But always.
with and under in so far as still subsisting and applicable and not implemented,
departed from or discharged the burdens, reservations, servitudes, conditions,
declarations and others specified or contained in the said Disposition by
Norman Macleod and Others as Trustees therein-mentioned and Others in favour
of the said Mrs. Olive Millicent Cant or McGilvray"

The conversion was accomplished during 1969-70 and was formally handed over by the contractor on 13 November of the latter year.
On 15 May 1975 a small museum of Thomas Muir memorabilia was opened in a room on the upper floor of the house. The museum is now housed in Bishopbriggs Library and includes a magnificent bust of Muir by Scottish artist and sculptor Alexander Stoddart.

Present
A large section of the grounds of Huntershill House are now used as an athletics track and there are three football pitches. Local youth football clubs Rossvale BC and Rossvale Thistle use the pitches and facilities as their home venue. The garden and grounds immediately around the house however are currently overgrown and badly neglected.

References

External links
Huntershill House

Houses in East Dunbartonshire
Category B listed buildings in East Dunbartonshire
Listed houses in Scotland
Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland
Bishopbriggs

Huntershill House


Messenger RNA vaccines or mRNA vaccines is a type of vaccine that protects the body from certain viruses. Like all vaccines, mRNA vaccines increase the body's immunity so the patient is less likely to catch an infectious disease.

How mRNA vaccines work

Almost all cells make and use their own mRNA.  They use it to make proteins.  Each mRNA is like a blueprint or recipe for one kind of protein.

Most vaccines work by taking something from a harmful germ and putting it inside the patient's body without any parts of the germ that cause harm.  Then the patient's own cells learn to identify the germ using its other parts.  Then, if a living germ ever attacks the body, the patient's cells fight it off without having to learn what it is first.  Some vaccines do this by putting a dead, weak germ inside the patient's body.  Other vaccines do this by putting lots of proteins that the germ makes inside the body but not any germs themselves.  mRNA vaccines work by putting mRNA inside the body instead of protein.  Then the body uses the mRNA to make protein itself.

mRNA vaccines can be injected into the skin or muscle with a needle.  Some mRNA vaccines can be inhaled into the patient's nose.  Anti-cancer mRNA vaccines can be injected into the tumor -- these vaccines are made to have the body make its own cells attack and kill cancer cells.

Safety

Scientists think mRNA vaccines are safer than other vaccines because it is easy to make  the mRNA that makes only specific proteins of a germ, while other types of vaccines may have harmful parts of the germ that can cause a bad effect on the body.  This way, the mRNA does not make whole germs inside the body.  Some proteins can be harmful to the body, but mRNA itself is not.

Invention

The first mRNA vaccine was used in mice around 1990 but it was a long time before large numbers of scientists started to work making mRNA vaccines.

The first mRNA vaccines used on people were made to work against cancer in the late 1990s.  Doctors found out which proteins only tumor cells make and used mRNA for those proteins as a vaccine so the patient's own immune systems would kill some of the tumor cells.

References

Infectious diseases
Virology
Immunization

RNA vaccine


MediaBrowser (MediaBrowser.com, Inc.) was a Web browser branding company founded in 2000 by Mark C. Brown. They made specially branded versions of Internet Explorer for various company brands and themes, including Nintendo. On December 5, 2001, the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and shut down their website and branded web browsers due to company debts of $2.49 million and various unpaid loans.

Branding

The branding consisted of various brand images on the background, navigation buttons, splash screen and links to specific web pages that related to the brand of the company. MediaBrower also had a space for ads to display at the bottom of the web browser. MediaBrowser's MicroTron was also included in every MediaBrowser branding to display brand-related video content to the user.

Nintendo browsers
 In late 2000, Nintendo partnered with MediaBrowser to make branded browsers of their new and upcoming video games. The first two browsers to be released were for the then-upcoming Pokémon Gold and Silver alongside Mario Tennis. CD-ROM copies of the branded Gold and Silver browser were made available as bonuses for anyone who pre-ordered a copy of Pokémon Gold and Silver as a special promotion. Later in 2001, other browsers were released branded with other Nintendo games such as Paper Mario and Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. A Nintendo Power branded browser was released as well.

Later in 2001, the custom browsers were delisted from Nintendo's website for unspecified reasons, and the contents of the page were replaced with a message stating that a date for when the browsers would return was unknown alongside asking viewers to check the company's downloads page for updates.

System requirements
MediaBrowser's browsers required at least:
486 MHz processor
Internet Explorer 5.0
Windows Media Player 6.4
Macromedia Flash Player 4.0
RAM: 32MB
Free disk space: 5MB
The browsers additionally required an active Internet connection, and they were only able to be run normally from Windows versions 95 to XP. Compatibility mode is required to run the browsers in later Windows versions starting with Windows Vista.

Registration on MediaBrowser's website was additionally required before users were able to use the browsers. Due to the closure of MediaBrowser's website, usage of new installations of their browsers has been rendered impossible without modifying a value in Windows' Registry to bypass the registration requirement.

See also
Internet Explorer

References

External links

 Braun Communication (successor company to MediaBrowser)

2000 software
Discontinued software
Discontinued web browsers
Internet Explorer
Internet_Explorer_shells
Windows Internet software

MediaBrowser


Comet Hyakutake (formally designated C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake)) is a comet discovered on 31 January 1996. It was dubbed the Great Comet of 1996; its passage to within  of the Earth on 25 March was one of the closest cometary approaches of the previous 200 years. Reaching an apparent visual magnitude of zero and spanning nearly 80°, Hyakutake appeared very bright in the night sky and was widely seen around the world. The comet temporarily upstaged the much anticipated Comet Hale–Bopp, which was approaching the inner Solar System at the time.

Hyakutake is a long-period comet that passed perihelion on 1 May 1996. Before its most recent passage through the Solar System, its orbital period was about 17,000 years, but the gravitational perturbation of the giant planets has increased this period to 70,000 years. This is the first comet to have an X-ray emission detected, which is most likely the result of ionised solar wind particles interacting with neutral atoms in the coma of the comet. The Ulysses spacecraft fortuitously crossed the comet's tail at a distance of more than  from the nucleus, showing that Hyakutake had the longest tail known for a comet.

Discovery
The comet was discovered on 30 January 1996, by Yuji Hyakutake, an amateur astronomer from southern Japan. He had been searching for comets for years and had moved to Kagoshima Prefecture partly for the dark skies in nearby rural areas. He was using a powerful set of binoculars with  objective lenses to scan the skies on the night of the discovery.

This comet was actually the second Comet Hyakutake; Hyakutake had discovered comet C/1995 Y1 several weeks earlier. While re-observing his first comet (which never became visible to the naked eye) and the surrounding patch of sky, Hyakutake was surprised to find another comet in almost the same position as the first had been. Hardly believing a second discovery so soon after the first, Hyakutake reported his observation to the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan the following morning. Later that day, the discovery was confirmed by independent observations.

At the time of its discovery, the comet was shining at magnitude 11.0 and had a coma approximately 2.5 arcminutes across. It was approximately 2 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. Later, a precovery image of the comet was found on a photograph taken on January 1, when the comet was about 2.4 AU from the Sun and had a magnitude of 13.3.

Orbit

When the first calculations of the comet's orbit were made, scientists realized that it was going to pass just 0.1 AU from Earth on 25 March. Only four comets in the previous century had passed closer. Comet Hale–Bopp was already being discussed as a possible "great comet"; the astronomical community eventually realised that Hyakutake might also become spectacular because of its close approach.

Moreover, Comet Hyakutake's orbit meant that it had last been to the inner Solar System approximately 17,000 years earlier. Because it had probably passed close to the Sun several times before, the approach in 1996 would not be a maiden arrival from the Oort cloud, a place where comets with orbital periods of millions of years come from. Comets entering the inner Solar System for the first time may brighten rapidly before fading as they near the Sun, because a layer of highly volatile material evaporates. This was the case with Comet Kohoutek in 1973; it was initially touted as potentially spectacular, but only appeared moderately bright. Older comets show a more consistent brightening pattern. Thus, all indications suggested Comet Hyakutake would be bright.

Besides approaching close to Earth, the comet would also be visible throughout the night to northern hemisphere observers at its closest approach because of its path, passing very close to the pole star. This would be an unusual occurrence, because most comets are close to the Sun in the sky when the comets are at their brightest, leading to the comets appearing in a sky not completely dark.

Earth passage

Hyakutake became visible to the naked eye in early March 1996. By mid-March, the comet was still fairly unremarkable, shining at 4th magnitude with a tail about 5 degrees long. As it neared its closest approach to Earth, it rapidly became brighter, and its tail grew in length. By March 24, the comet was one of the brightest objects in the night sky, and its tail stretched 35 degrees. The comet had a notably bluish-green colour.

The closest approach occurred on 25 March at a distance of . Hyakutake was moving so rapidly across the night sky that its movement could be detected against the stars in just a few minutes; it covered the diameter of a full moon (half a degree) every 30 minutes. Observers estimated its magnitude as around 0, and tail lengths of up to 80 degrees were reported. Its coma, now close to the zenith for observers at mid-northern latitudes, appeared approximately 1.5 to 2 degrees across, roughly four times the diameter of the full moon. The comet's head appeared distinctly blue-green, possibly due to emissions from diatomic carbon (C2) combined with sunlight reflected from dust grains.

Because Hyakutake was at its brightest for only a few days, it did not have time to permeate the public imagination in the way that Comet Hale–Bopp did the following year. Many European observers in particular did not see the comet at its peak because of unfavourable weather conditions.

Perihelion and afterwards
After its close approach to the Earth, the comet faded to about 2nd magnitude. It reached perihelion on 1 May 1996, brightening again and exhibiting a dust tail in addition to the gas tail seen as it passed the Earth. By this time, however, it was close to the Sun and was not seen as easily. It was observed passing perihelion by the SOHO Sun-observing satellite, which also recorded a large coronal mass ejection being formed at the same time. The comet's distance from the Sun at perihelion was 0.23 AU, well inside the orbit of Mercury.

After its perihelion passage, Hyakutake faded rapidly and was lost to naked-eye visibility by the end of May. Its orbital path carried it rapidly into the southern skies, but following perihelion it became much less monitored. The last known observation of the comet took place on November 2.

Hyakutake had passed through the inner Solar System approximately 17,000 years ago; gravitational interactions with the gas giants during its 1996 passage stretched its orbit greatly, and barycentric fits to the comet's orbit predict it will not return to the inner Solar System again for approximately 70,000 years.

Scientific results

Spacecraft passes through the tail

The Ulysses spacecraft made an unexpected pass through the tail of the comet on 1 May 1996. Evidence of the encounter was not noticed until 1998. Astronomers analysing old data found that Ulysses instruments had detected a large drop in the number of protons passing, as well as a change in the direction and strength of the local magnetic field. This implied that the spacecraft had crossed the 'wake' of an object, most likely a comet; the object responsible was not immediately identified.

In 2000, two teams independently analyzed the same event. The magnetometer team realized that the changes in the direction of the magnetic field mentioned above agreed with the "draping" pattern expected in a comet's ion, or plasma tail. The magnetometer team looked for likely suspects. No known comets were located near the satellite, but looking further afield, they found that Hyakutake,  away, had crossed Ulysses orbital plane on 23 April 1996. The solar wind had a velocity at the time of about , at which speed it would have taken eight days for the tail to be carried out to where the spacecraft was situated at 3.73 AU, approximately 45 degrees out of the ecliptic plane. The orientation of the ion tail inferred from the magnetic field measurements agreed with the source lying in Comet Hyakutake's orbital plane.

The other team, working on data from the spacecraft's ion composition spectrometer, discovered a sudden large spike in detected levels of ionised particles at the same time. The relative abundances of chemical elements detected indicated that the object responsible was definitely a comet.

Based on the Ulysses encounter, the comet's tail is known to have been at least 570 million km (360 million miles; 3.8 AU) long. This is almost twice as long as the previous longest-known cometary tail, that of the Great Comet of 1843, which was 2 AU long. This  record was broken in 2002 by comet 153P/Ikeya–Zhang, which had a tail-length of at least .

Composition
Terrestrial observers found ethane and methane in the comet, the first time either of these gases had been detected in a comet. Chemical analysis showed that the abundances of ethane and methane were roughly equal, which may imply that its ices formed in interstellar space, away from the Sun, which would have evaporated these volatile molecules. Hyakutake's ices must have formed at temperatures of 20 K or less, indicating that it probably formed in a denser-than-average interstellar cloud.

The amount of deuterium in the comet's water ices was determined through spectroscopic observations. It was found that the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen (known as the D/H ratio) was about 3, which compares to a value in Earth's oceans of about 1.5. It has been proposed that cometary collisions with Earth might have supplied a large proportion of the water in the oceans, but the high D–H ratio measured in Hyakutake and other comets such as Hale–Bopp and Halley's Comet have caused problems for this theory.

X-ray emission

One of the great surprises of Hyakutake's passage through the inner Solar System was the discovery that it was emitting X-rays, with observations made using the ROSAT satellite revealing very strong X-ray emission. This was the first time a comet had been seen to do so, but astronomers soon found that almost every comet they looked at was emitting X-rays. The emission from Hyakutake was brightest in a crescent shape surrounding the nucleus with the ends of the crescent pointing away from the Sun.

The cause of the X-ray emission is thought to be a combination of two mechanisms. Interactions between energetic solar wind particles and cometary material evaporating from the nucleus is likely to contribute significantly to this effect. Reflection of solar X-rays is seen in other Solar System objects such as the Moon, but a simple calculation assuming even the highest X-ray reflectivity possible per molecule or dust grain is not able to explain the majority of the observed flux from Hyakutake, as the comet's atmosphere is very tenuous and diffuse. Observations of comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) with the Chandra satellite in 2000 determined that X-rays observed from that comet were produced predominantly by charge exchange collisions between highly charged carbon, oxygen and nitrogen minor ions in the solar wind, and neutral water, oxygen and hydrogen in the comet's coma.

Nucleus size and activity

Radar results from the Arecibo Observatory indicated that the comet nucleus was about  across, and surrounded by a flurry of pebble-sized particles ejected at a few metres per second. This size measurement corresponded well with indirect estimates using infrared emission and radio observations.

The small size of the nucleus (Halley's Comet is about  across, while Comet Hale–Bopp was about  across) implies that Hyakutake must have been very active to become as bright as it did. Most comets undergo outgassing from a small proportion of their surface, but most or all of Hyakutake's surface seemed to have been active. The dust production rate was estimated to be about 2 kg/s at the beginning of March, rising to 3 kg/s as the comet approached perihelion. During the same period, dust ejection velocities increased from 50 m/s to 500 m/s.

Observations of material being ejected from the nucleus allowed astronomers to establish its rotation period. As the comet passed the Earth, a large puff or blob of material was observed being ejected in the sunward direction every 6.23 hours. A second smaller ejection with the same period confirmed this as the rotation period of the nucleus.

See also
 Lists of comets

Notes

 Solution using the Solar System Barycenter. For objects at such high eccentricity, the Sun's barycentric coordinates are more stable than heliocentric coordinates.

References

Further reading

External links

 JPL Comet Hyakutake home page
 JPL DASTCOM Cometary Orbital Elements
 Cometography.com: Comet Hyakutake

Non-periodic comets
Science and technology in Japan
19960131
Great comets
Discoveries by Yuji Hyakutake
Discoveries by amateur astronomers

Comet Hyakutake


Robert Louis Johnson  (born April 8, 1946 is American entrepreneur, media magnate, executive, philanthropist, and investor.He is the co-founder of BET, which was acquired by Viacom in 2001 . He is also the founder of RLJ Companies which is a holding company that invests in various business sectors .Johnson is the former majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats.His company is listed d among the most prominent African-American businesses in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries

Early Life and Education
Johnson was born in 1946 in French Camp, California.  His mother was a schoolteacher and his father was a farmer . Johnson graduated from the University of Illinois in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in social studies . At the University of Illinois, Johnson became a member of the Beta chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity . He received a master's degree in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University in 1972 .

Personal life
He married Shelia Johnson in 1969 and have 2 children .They divorced in 2001 .Johnson dated Lauren Wooden, who is 33 years his junior, in 2010. As . They married in May 2016 Greg Mathis officiated.

References

Company founders
Living people
1946 births
Businesspeople from Mississippi

Robert L. Johnson


Leptograpsus variegatus, known as the purple rock crab, is a marine large-eyed crab of the family Grapsidae, found in southern subtropical Indo-Pacific Oceans. It grows to around  shell width. It is the only species in the genus Leptograpsus.

Taxonomy
Leptograpsus variegatus was first described in 1793 as Cancer. variegatus. In 1803, C. variegatus was moved to the Grapsus genus and became Grapsus variegatus. In 1818, 1842 and 1852,  L. variegatus was described again as Grapsus personatus, Grapsus strigilatus and Grapsus planifrons. In 1853, Henri Milne-Edwards erected the Leptograpsus genus and used G. variegatus as the type taxon. In his publication, Milne-Edwards recognized G. personatus, G. strigilatus and G. planifrons to be synonyms of L. variegatus. Milne-Edwards also described Leptograpsus ansoni, Leptograpsus gayi and Leptograpsus verreauxi, however these would later also be recognized as synonyms of L. variegatus.

Description

Individuals are large and may have a carapace that reaches up to 50mm in width. The crab has an overall purple colouration with a variable amount of white patterning when mature. Juveniles are a bluish grey colour with black patterning. The carapace is shaped somewhat like a square and eyes are relatively short. The body is smooth overall with no hairs.

When immature, the eggs are about 0.36mm in diameter and have a very dark brown colour. When the eggs are about to hatch, they are roughly 0.44x0.42mm and the eggs are light brown.

The first zoea of the crab are about 1.31mm in length.

Distribution/habitat
Leptograpsus variegatus is known to occur in Australia (from western Australia to southern Australia), South America (from Peru to Chile), New Zealand and numerous islands in the Pacific Ocean. The crab lives in upper intertidal rocky zones and is often spotted running along exposed rock, hiding in cracks or under boulders.

Life history
Adult females are known to carry eggs only in December. The females will incubate the eggs for roughly six weeks.

Prey
Leptograpsus variegatus is an omnivore and will eat a broad range of plant and animal life. While the crab may eat algae growing on rocks (such as Corallina and Ulva lactuca), they have also been observed feeding on barnacles and limpets. The crab captures limpets by quickly placing their chelae under the limpets shell when it begins to move and then flips it over. Notably, there is also a single observation of this species preying upon a Raukawa gecko, which is native to New Zealand.

References

Further reading

External links

Marine crustaceans of New Zealand
Grapsidae
Monotypic decapod genera
Taxa named by Henri Milne-Edwards

Leptograpsus


The Caproni Ca.124 was a 1930s single-engine Italian reconnaissance and bomber seaplane.

Design
The Caproni Ca.124 was a cantilever mid-wing monoplane of mixed construction. The fuselage was corrugated-skinned and the empennage cantilever and conventional, with the tailplane set at mid-fuselage.  The pilot's cockpit was forward of the leading edge.  It was a floatplane, mounted on metal floats each attached to the wings by pairs of N-form laterally orientated struts.

The Ca.124 was powered by a 900 hp (670 kW) Isotta Fraschini Asso XI.RC15, a water-cooled upright V-12 engine, supercharged to maintain power to 1,500 m (4,920 ft).  Bombs were contained within the fuselage, below the wing.

Specifications

References

Ca.124
1930s Italian military aircraft

Caproni Ca.124


Stuart Michael Pomeranz (born December 17, 1984) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He is the older brother of San Diego Padres pitcher Drew Pomeranz.

Professional career
Pomeranz was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the second round of the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft out of Houston High School in Germantown, Tennessee.

Pomeranz made his professional debut with Rookie League Johnson City, where in 4 appearances, he was 1-1 with a 6.14 ERA. In his first full season, Pomeranz pitched with Single-A Peoria, where in 17 starts, he was 12-4 with a 3.55 ERA, striking out 88 in 101.1 innings. His 12 victories were the most in the Cardinals minor league system in 2004. Pomeranz began 2005 with High-A Palm Beach, where he pitched well in 8 starts before earning a promotion to Double-A Springfield, where he didn't pitch as well in 18 starts. Combined in 2005, he was 7-11 with a 4.65 ERA, striking out 95 in 147 innings.

Pomeranz made 18 more starts for Springfield in 2006, going 7-4 with a 4.39 ERA, striking out 64 in 98.1 innings. He was charged with a DUI in 2006. After the season, he pitched for the Peoria Saguaros in the Arizona Fall League where in 6 starts over 17 innings, he went 1-2, giving up 30 hits and 8 walks with a 9.00 ERA. In July 2007, Pomeranz underwent arthroscopic surgery on his injured shoulder, and he only made 6 starts that year between Palm Beach and the GCL Cardinals, going 1-2 with a 6.28 ERA. After the season, he played with the Mesa Solar Sox in the AFL, performing much better, going 2-0 in 5 starts with an 0.64 ERA. Pitching at extended spring training at the time, Pomeranz was released by the Cardinals on May 13, 2008.

On May 13, 2009, Pomeranz signed a minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox, but he was released 12 days later. Pomeranz pitched in independent ball in 2009 with the New Jersey Jackals of the Can-Am League. In 16 appearances (14 starts), he was 5-6 with a 6.50 ERA, striking out 48 in 73.1 innings.

On March 29, 2010, Pomeranz signed a minor league deal with the Colorado Rockies, and was assigned to Double-A Tulsa. Used as the closer and pitching out of the bullpen extensively for the first time in his professional career, he recorded 18 saves in 51 appearances, striking out 53 in 49 innings.

On December 6, 2010, Pomeranz signed a minor league deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He made 3 appearances during Spring Training. He only made two appearances in their system, with Double-A Chattanooga before he was released on June 8. Following his release, he underwent surgery on his elbow to remove bone chips.

After re-establishing himself with the Tiburones de La Guaira in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League over the winter, going 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA in 18 appearances, Pomeranz went to tryouts at Camden Yards in January. On February 3, 2012, Pomeranz signed a minor league deal with the Baltimore Orioles. He made 8 appearances during Spring Training, giving up 1 run in 8.1 innings, and he was assigned to Double-A Bowie to begin the year. Pomeranz earned a promotion to Triple-A Norfolk, pitching 13.1 scoreless innings for the Baysox. He then pitched 5.2 scoreless innings with Norfolk before earning another promotion.

Pomeranz was called up to the majors for the first time on May 7, 2012. He made his major league debut that night, pitching 3 scoreless innings. That night, his brother, Drew, hit a home run with the Colorado Rockies. He made 2 more appearances with the Orioles before he was placed the disabled list on May 28, 2012 with a left oblique strain. The strain was serious enough for the Orioles to move him to the 60-day disabled list on June 6.

On November 30, 2012, Pomeranz was designated for assignment, and the next day, it was announced he needed back surgery and would miss all of 2013. On January 8, 2013, the Orioles re-signed Pomeranz to a minor league deal.

As of 2014, the surgery was not successful and needed to be redone, and Pomeranz hasn't pitched since 2012.

Personal
His brother, Drew Pomeranz, also plays professional baseball. A great grandfather, Garland Buckeye, played both baseball and American football.

References

External links

1984 births
Living people
Baltimore Orioles players
Baseball players from Dallas
Bowie Baysox players
Bravos de Margarita players
Chattanooga Lookouts players
Gulf Coast Cardinals players
Johnson City Cardinals players
Major League Baseball pitchers
Mesa Solar Sox players
New Jersey Jackals players
Norfolk Tides players
Palm Beach Cardinals players
People from Germantown, Tennessee
Sportspeople from the Memphis metropolitan area
Peoria Chiefs players
Springfield Cardinals players
Tiburones de La Guaira players
American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela
Tulsa Drillers players

Stu Pomeranz


Richard (Dick) John Watling (born 13 November 1951) is a Fijian ornithologist, writer and environmental consultant of British origin.

Life
Watling was born in Uganda, spent most of his childhood in East Africa and first went to Fiji in 1967.  He studied zoology at Bristol University and then obtained a doctorate at Cambridge, his doctoral thesis concerning the red-vented bulbul, a bird introduced to Fiji where it is an agricultural pest.  He has worked in the Lake Manyara and Serengeti National Parks in Tanzania and with the World Wildlife Fund's Conservation Indonesia Programme as well as at many places throughout the south-west Pacific and south-east Asian regions.  He has also served as editor of Domodomo, the journal of the Fiji Museum. and was the principal founder of NatureFiji-MareqetiViti, which is Fiji's only domestic NGO working solely for the conservation of Fiji's natural heritage

Publications
Books authored or coauthored by Watling include:
 1982 – Birds of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. (Illustrated by Chloe Talbot-Kelly). Millwood: New Zealand.
 1986 – Mai Veikau: Tales of Fijian Wildlife. Fiji Times: Suva.
 1999 – Pocket Poster Guide to the Birds of Fiji. Author: Fiji.
 2001 – A Guide to the Birds of Fiji and Western Polynesia: Including American Samoa, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Wallis and Futuna. Author: Fiji.
 2005 – Palms of the Fiji Islands. (With George Bennett). Environmental Consultants: Suva.
 2006 – Guide to the Birds of the Kingdom of Tonga. Author: Fiji.

References

1951 births
Fijian ornithologists
Fijian writers
Fijian environmentalists
Living people
Fijian people of British descent
Immigrants to Fiji

Dick Watling


Manuel Ray Rivero (1924 – November 12, 2013) was a Cuban born engineer, politician and revolutionary, who was later involved in civic and professional actitivities in Puerto Rico. He received a scholarship from the Cuban Ministry of Public Works to study civil engineering at the University of Utah. He returned to Cuba in 1949 to work in the field of engineering, and later became project manager for the construction of the Havana Hilton Hotel. In his early career, he was also involved in several other major engineering projects, earning a reputation as one of the leading Cuban structural engineers of his time.

In 1957, he formed the Civic Resistance Movement to defeat the regime of Fulgencio Batista. The Civic Resistance movement undertook multiple sabotage and propaganda actions against the Batista regime, principally in Havana and other major cities of Cuba. Its actions have been considered one of the principal reasons for the eventual collapse of the Batista regime.

After Fidel Castro took power in Cuba Ray accepted the position of Minister of Public Works (January 1959). During his short tenure as Minister of Public Works, Ray recruited a number of highly qualified young professionals to work in a very ambitious program aimed at modernizing infrastructure.

In November 1959, Ray resigned from his position due to his disagreement with the increasing Communist influence in the Cuban  government. By the end of the year, 12 of the 29 ministers originally assigned had resigned or been removed. This led him, in May 1960, to form the Revolutionary Movement of the People (MRP) and join the underground resistance to Castro. Soon the anti-Castro organization had an active membership in each of Cuba's six provinces. The MRP was designed as a progressive organization, and it clearly did not wish to turn back the clock, or re-instate the 1940 Constitution. Instead, it proposed a continuation of laws passed by Castro and the Revolution, including the nationalization of all utilities.

Eventually Ray was forced to leave Cuba or face jail and/or execution. He entered the United States on November 10, 1960, but he wasn't exactly welcomed by several Cuban-American leaders, such as Manuel Artime, because his group had been to the left of other Miami-based anti-Castro groups.

John F. Kennedy wanted Ray to join the Cuban Revolutionary Council (CRC) and Ray finally agreed to do so three weeks before the Bay of Pigs Invasion. About a month after the failed invasion, on May 28, 1961, Ray gave a news conference in Miami announcing his break with the CRC. His reasons were that priority should have been given to underground fighters in Cuba, members of Batista's regime should not have been involved in the invasion, and he should have had a "say" about the military leaders of the invasion. He added that to overthrow Castro, it would be necessary to mobilize the discontented people in Cuba, to which he had more access than any of the CIA-selected leaders.

In Puerto Rico, Ray began working as a special consultant for the Puerto Rico Planning Board and developed a close relationship with then governor Luis Muñoz Marín. However, he also continued his anti-Castro activities, founding the JURE, (Junta Revolucionaria Cubana), a movement named after the one founded in the 1890s by José Martí in New York City. This movement operated independently of the other anti-Castro groups of the time, and, like many of the other groups, was supported by the CIA.

In 1963–65, the JURE organized several actions against the Castro government. In the last of these actions, Ray along with several members of the JURE, was arrested at Anguila Cay in the Cay Sal Bank by the Bahamian Coast Guard. The group was using the small deserted island as a staging area for attacks against Cuba. The Bahamian government confiscated all weapons and supplies and briefly jailed the group, who eventually was deported back to the U.S.

After the arrest, Ray returned to Puerto Rico and to his professional career as an engineer. He ceased his involvement in armed actions against the Castro government, but continued political activities against the Castro regime. However, Mr. Ray became increasingly involved in Puerto Rican civic and political activities, serving as ad-honorem advisor to governors Rafael Hernández Colón and Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, mayor Héctor Luis Acevedo and gubernatorial candidate Victoria Muñoz Mendoza.

In  1967, along with Juan L. Melendez, former head of the Cuban water and sewer agency, he founded an engineering firm in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The firm, Ray Architects and Engineers, has been involved in multiple projects in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. After retirement following a stroke in 1999, Ray served as the company's chairman emeritus.

Due to his contributions to Puerto Rican society, Ray was awarded the Luis Muñoz Marín medal by the government of Puerto Rico in the early 2000s.

References

External links
Ray Architects & Engineers

Sources
Thomas, H. Cuba, The Struggle for Freedom
Barquin, R. Las luchas guerrilleras en Cuba
Franqui, Carlos, Diary of the Cuban Revolution
Franqui, Carlos, Family Portrait with Fidel
 Notes on Manuel Ray Rivero
 Manuel Ray

1924 births
2013 deaths
Cuban civil engineers
Opposition to Fidel Castro
Cuban human rights activists
Cuban anti-communists
Cuban dissidents
University of Utah alumni
Exiles of the Cuban Revolution in the United States
Cuban emigrants to Puerto Rico

Manuel Ray Rivero


Robert J. "Bob" Houbregs (March 12, 1932 – May 28, 2014) was a Canadian professional basketball forward-center. He stood at 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m). Houbregs was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Hawks, Baltimore Bullets, Boston Celtics, and Fort Wayne/Detroit Pistons.

Houbregs played college basketball at the University of Washington with the Huskies. In 1953, he was named NCAA Player of the Year. He was also named as a Consensus All-America selection and helped lead the Huskies to the Final Four.

After retiring in 1958, Houbregs became the general manager of the Seattle SuperSonics. He served as the general manager from 1970 until 1973.

Houbregs was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.

On May 28, 2014, Houbregs died in Olympia, Washington. He was 82.

References

Other websites
Career Statistics

1932 births
2014 deaths
Boston Celtics players
Canadian basketball players
Detroit Pistons players
Sportspeople from Vancouver

Bob Houbregs