A Nerf Blaster is a toy gun made by Hasbro that fires foam darts, arrows, discs, or foam balls. "Nerf blaster" or more commonly "Nerf gun" are often used to describe the toy. Nerf blasters are manufactured in multiple forms; the first Nerf blasters emerged in the late 1980s with the release of the Nerf Blast-a-Ball (1989) and the Sharpshooter (1992). Today, Hasbro has produced over twenty unique lines of Nerf-brand blasters, with each line centered on a particular theme or type of ammunition. Hasbro has also produced Nerf blasters based on specific franchises, including Marvel Comics, Star Wars, G.I. Joe, Fortnite, Transformers, Overwatch, Halo Infinite, and Roblox. Nerf blasters are available in several international marketplaces, although some blasters have their names changed or are not sold in certain countries due to laws surrounding toy safety franchises.

Most Nerf brands are packaged with a set of the ammunition it fires, and ammunition refills are also sold separately in greater quantities or bought online. Some blasters can also be customized with special-made attachments, which are either included with the blaster or sold separately. Many non-Nerf brand blasters are also cross-compatible with Nerf brand darts and magazines in order to take advantage of the name-brand's existing ecosystem.

Nerf blasters have been acclaimed for their popularity, particularly among boys and young adults. Additionally, a community has grown around Nerf blasters, as competitive and casual "Nerf wars" held among enthusiasts in various forms, similar to Airsoft and paintball. A significant modding community has also formed among enthusiasts, who aim to improve the performance and accuracy of existing blasters through upgraded parts and different dart or ammo types. Nerf blasters have also gained a significant following in the cosplay community, where fans create intricate costumes and props inspired by their favorite characters. They have also been adopted by schools and youth organizations as a form of active play and team-building exercises.

Modern product lines

This list consists solely of Nerf brand blasters released since 2003.

N-Strike

First introduced in 2003, N-Strike blasters established many trends seen in modern dart blasters. Many features such as tactical rails, barrel and stock attachment points, and magazines (officially referred by Hasbro as Clips) first appeared in the N-Strike series, and characterized the ability for customization, a common sight among today's blasters.

N-Strike also introduced a new dart type, called Micro Darts, which have a body made of a colored foam and different types of rubberized plastic tips to improve range and accuracy and offering unique features such as the ability to whistle when flying (Whistler Darts) or sticking to walls via suction cups (Suction Darts). Magazine-fed N-Strike blasters required a different type of dart than non-magazine fed ones, known as Streamline Darts; however the ammo type was updated and homogenized between all blaster types with its successor line, N-Strike Elite.

In 2010, the Stampede ECS (a large battery-powered, magazine-fed, AEG-style blaster) was awarded "Boy Toy of the Year" at the 11th Annual Toy of the Year Awards, which is held at the American International Toy Fair in New York City. Popular Mechanics praised it as "the best overall Nerf gun ever", being easy to use and less prone to jamming than earlier battery-powered Nerf models.

Clear Series
The Clear Series was a limited edition line of certain N-Strike blasters that utilized clear, see through plastic. They were a Target exclusive in the United States and came packaged with red streamline darts. Some have complained that the seals in the clear blasters have looser seals, leading to poorer performance. Additionally, the clear plastic has been called "thin" compared to other blasters.

Elite Repaint
This was an unofficial series in which N-Strike blasters were repainted to imitate N-Strike Elite blasters, but were not officially labeled so on the box, and the internals were not updated to match Elite performance.

Gear Up
This limited edition line featured certain N-Strike blasters painted orange and black instead of their usual yellow (or blue) color. They were produced as a promotion for Hasbro's then-upcoming Vortex blaster line, and blasters included a sample of the new XLR Disc ammo, used in the Vortex blasters. Due to their brief production period, Gear Up blasters have become highly collectible.

Light It Up
Blasters in this series came packaged with glow in the dark ammunition. Only two blasters, the N-Strike Rayven CS-18 and the Vortex Lumitron, were released in this line.

Red Strike
These blasters were only available for Black Friday in 2009, and were repainted N-Strike blasters with a red, black and grey color scheme. The limited availability of these blasters (Longshot CS-6, Recon CS-6, and Vulcan EBF-25) has led them to become very rare, expensive, and sought after.

Sonic FIRE
This series featured N-Strike (and N-Strike Elite) blasters with dark translucent red plastic. Only two N-Strike blasters, the Barrel Break IX-2 and the Jolt EX-1, were released in this line.

Sonic Series
This series featured N-Strike blasters with translucent green plastic. They were a Toys R Us exclusive in the United States.

Whiteout Series
This series featured repainted N-Strike blasters with a white base with orange and grey detailing. They were a Walmart exclusive in the United States, and some have claimed a performance increase compared to its original counterparts. A fifth Whiteout blaster, a repaint of the N-Strike Spectre REV-5, was expected to be released but was never released, despite online images being found.

ICON Series
In 2019, the N-Strike ICON series was released to celebrate Nerf's 50th birthday. These were re-releases of original N-Strike blasters with the same paint yellow paint scheme and added an ICON Series logo onto the blasters to differentiate older models from newer models. The plunger tube in the ICON Series Longshot CS-6 was made significantly smaller, leading to limited modification potential. The ICON series Element EX-6 was given updated internals to shoot similar to an N-Strike Elite blaster. The ICON Series Magstrike was advertised with a 10-dart clip, though the original Magstrike was advertised with a 10-dart magazine.

Dart Tag
Released in 2004, Dart Tag features blasters and accessories that are designed for fast-paced, competitive play. All Dart Tag blasters came packaged with Tagger Darts, which feature velcro-tipped heads that allows the dart to stick onto Dart Tag vests. Although most Dart Tag blasters can be used interchangeably with other types of Micro Darts, some Dart Tag blasters, such as the Quick 16 and Speedload 6, will only work reliably with Tagger Darts.

Dart Tag also served as the official sport for Nerf under the Nerf Dart Tag League name.

Vortex
The Vortex series, launched in 2011, features blasters that use XLR (Xtra Long Range) foam discs as opposed to darts. These discs are capable of traveling at greater distances than darts fired from original N-Strike blasters (up to ) and can also ricochet off walls. The Vortex series also features several subseries, including:

Multishot Madness
This subseries, shared with N-Strike Elite, advertised blasters that have the ability to shoot two darts at once. Multishot Madness featured only two blasters; the Vortex Diatron and the Elite Rough Cut 2x4.

Vortex VTX
This subseries is a relaunch of the Vortex series, released in fall 2018. The Vortex VTX subseries features only three blasters: the Praxis, Pyragon, and Vigilon.

N-Strike Elite
On August 1, 2012, the N-Strike series was succeeded by N-Strike Elite, which featured original N-Strike blasters but with new and improved internal mechanisms for better performance. Firing distances for N-Strike Elite blasters are advertised as up to  for U.S. models, while international models (identifiable by their grey triggers) have a maximum firing distance of . The average Elite blaster fires darts at around . N-Strike Elite also featured new, blue-colored Micro Darts, known as Elite Darts, which feature shorter dart head stems that allows for a lighter weight and better stability when flying. The series was succeeded in 2020 by the N-Strike Elite 2.0 series.

In 2014, Hasbro released Elite blasters with a slightly updated color scheme and advertised with improved ranges of  for US models and  for international models; these blasters are referred to as Elite XD blasters. However, Hasbro later adjusted their marketing campaign for these blasters to no longer claim performance improvements after consumers found them to be negligible.

Several subseries has been released under the N-Strike Elite line, including:

AccuStrike Series
The AccuStrike Series is a subseries released in spring 2017. While some AccuStrike blasters are unique to the line and others are re-skins of blasters from other lines, all blasters include the AccuStrike Dart, which features improved accuracy over Elite Darts due to a specially designed dart head. All AccuStrike Darts and blasters are cross-compatible with those of the N-Strike Elite line. Later Rebelle blasters came packaged with specially colored AccuStrike Darts.

BattleCamo Series
This subseries featured re-painted Elite blasters (and one Mega blaster) featuring a white, blue or red camouflage color scheme.

Micro Shots
This subseries features reshelled variants of the Jolt EX-1, but designed after other blasters across different series.

Sonic ICE
These blasters feature translucent blue plastic, similar to the N-Strike Sonic Series. The Sonic ICE subseries also includes Mega blasters.

Mega
Mega (originally known as N-Strike Elite Mega until 2016) is a series of blasters which fire red-colored darts that are larger in both size and diameter when compared to Elite darts. Nerf advertises Mega blasters as firing at "mega" ranges of up to . They are also designed to whistle through the air when fired, similar to the N-Strike Whistler Darts.

In 2018, the AccuStrike Series expanded to Mega blasters with the release of the Thunderhawk, the first Mega blaster to come packaged with the Mega AccuStrike Dart. Similar to the original AccuStrike Dart, these darts feature a specially designed dart tip that allows for improved accuracy.

Rebelle
The Rebelle series was introduced in fall 2013 and features blasters that are similar to existing blasters in terms of operation and internal mechanisms but aimed at the female demographic. As such, Rebelle blasters incorporate feminine designs and pastel colors. The Rebelle series also includes the following subseries:

Charmed
These Rebelle blasters come packaged with charms and feature a medieval aesthetic.

Secrets & Spies
These Rebelle blasters come packaged with unique darts that feature a hidden message. These messages cannot be read easily without a decoder.

Super Stripes
These Rebelle blasters feature a zebra stripe pattern.

Zombie Strike
The Zombie Strike series was introduced in 2013 and contains blasters that are themed around a zombie apocalypse. While early Zombie Strike blasters seemed to have a western aesthetic, such as the Hammershot (hammer-action revolver) and Slingfire (lever-action rifle), newer Zombie Strike blasters follow a distinctive DIY theme. The Zombie Strike series also has several subseries, including:

Biosquad
These blasters are capable of firing three different types of ammo; darts, water, or "Zombie Repellent", which is similar to silly string. Darts are fired by a manual pump, while the Zombie Repellent cans and the water canister can be fired by pulling the trigger.

Power Shock
Stylized as POWER SHOCK, this subseries features blasters with built-in lights and sounds, themed around the human survivors discovering a way to power their blasters.

Survival System
These blasters focus on optional attachments and enhanced customization, similar to the Modulus line.

Z.E.D. Squad
These blasters are re-releases of older blasters with a new color scheme.

Doomlands 2169
Released in 2015, Doomlands blasters follow a post-apocalyptic theme, similar to Zombie Strike. All Doomlands blasters can be distinguished by their orange color scheme with a clear window on one side that allows the priming mechanism to be seen.

Impact Zone
This Doomlands subseries feature futuristic blasters in a white color scheme, while retaining the clear window that allows the internal mechanisms to be seen.

N-Strike Modulus
N-Strike Modulus is a subseries of the N-Strike Elite series with an emphasis on user-customization through attachments and accessories. Many Modulus blasters came packaged with a variety of new and unique attachments; for example, the Nerf Modulus Tri-Strike came included with attachments for launching Mega darts and foam missiles in addition to the standard N-Strike Elite darts. These blasters are typically white and grey, with additional accent colors such as green or blue.

Ghost Ops
The only subseries of N-Strike Modulus, all Ghost Ops blasters and accessories are made out of clear plastic, similar to the N-Strike Clear Series.

RIVAL
Released in 2015, RIVAL blasters are targeted towards teenagers and young adults. These blasters fire spherical foam balls (often called "Rival rounds") instead of darts, as well as increased performance in comparison to Elite blasters. Many RIVAL blasters and accessories are colored either blue and red in order to distinguish teams for competitive play. Because of its increased performance, the RIVAL series is not available in Australia due to toy regulations. Subseries of RIVAL include:

Camo Series
Released in 2018, these RIVAL blasters are re-skinned with a camouflage color scheme.

Curve Shot
These RIVAL blasters feature a new color scheme (orange and white) and hop-up muzzles that are adjustable to allow the blaster to shoot in different directions.

Edge Series
Released in 2019, these blasters are green in color places emphasis on target shooting rather than competitive play. All blasters exclusive to this sub-series are colored lime green and black and are modeled after competition weapons.

Phantom Corps
Released in 2017, Phantom Corps blasters are white and black in color and include special flags that attach to the sling mounts to mark which team the blaster belongs to.

Nitro
Nitro is a brand of blasters that fire foam cars instead of darts. Each Nitro set includes accessories such as obstacles to hit and ramps to launch the cars in the air.

Alpha Strike
Introduced in August 2019, the Alpha Strike series features blasters that are priced much lower with and built more cheaply compared to other Nerf lines. Designed as a budget series, it was introduced to compete with blasters from competing brands, which often sell for lower prices than their Nerf brand counterparts. Most of the Alpha Strike blasters are simple, spring-powered blasters that fire one dart at time (single-shot), with the exception of the Flyte, which is a battery-powered blaster similar to the N-Strike Elite Stryfe. Most Alpha Strike blasters do not feature any sort of accessory attachment points, such as tactical rails, stock attachment points, or barrel extension points.

Ultra
Released in September 2019, Nerf Ultra (branded as ULTRA) blasters fire a new proprietary dart design that is marketed as firing upwards of , the farthest advertised distance of any Nerf brand blaster to date. Ultra Darts are constructed from a lightweight foam that is notably different than traditional darts in that they are made with closed-cell foam rather than open-cell. This construction allows for fins to be molded into the rear of the darts. Ultra Darts are sized in between Elite and Mega darts in diameter, but shorter than both in length. Ultra Darts and blasters are not cross-compatible with ammo from other Nerf lines, a decision made in response to the growing number of third-party darts available for N-Strike Elite blasters at a much lower cost than Nerf-brand darts. Many Ultra blasters are black and white in color, with "ULTRA" emblazoned on one side in gold text.

Despite Ultra claiming to be the best for range, it does not do well as claimed in terms of performance. For example, the Ultra One, the first blaster released in the Ultra series, features marginally better performance when compared to N-Strike Elite blasters. However, the release of newer blasters such as the Ultra Two and Ultra Pharaoh and new Ultra AccuStrike Darts have significantly improved on performance and accuracy, respectively.

Elite 2.0
Released in fall 2020, Elite 2.0 is the successor to N-Strike Elite. Hasbro advertises these new teal-colored blasters as improvements over its original counterparts, with a level of customizability comparable to the Modulus series and packaged with double the amount of Elite Darts to fully load the blaster.

Elite 2.0 has received criticism for its cheaper build quality, worse in comparison to N-Strike Elite and instead comparable to the budget line, Alpha Strike. Many of these blasters are clipped and solvent welded together instead of being screwed together, which makes access to the internals much more difficult in the event of broken parts or modification. One of the inaugural Elite 2.0 blasters, the Warden DB-8 (the successor to the Rough Cut 2x4), has become infamous for the fragility of its priming mechanism. Despite these flaws, newer Elite 2.0 blasters have seen an improvement in build quality and have reverted back to using screws instead of clips and solvent welding.

There are two subseries within Elite 2.0:

Flipshots
Introduced in 2021, these blasters feature a flipping barrel system that reveals a hidden set of barrels, allowing for double the capacity then what may initially be seen as.

Wild Edition
These blasters feature a blue and light blue tiger stripe camouflage color scheme.

DinoSquad
Released in spring 2021, DinoSquad blasters feature a unique dinosaur-themed design, similar to blasters released under the Max Force series in the mid-to-late 1990s. Each blaster is named after a particular type of dinosaur, which also serves as the design basis for that particular blaster.

Hyper
Released in 2021, Hyper blasters are high-performance, high-capacity blasters that utilize large hoppers and a new ammo type that is similar to RIVAL rounds but are smaller and made out of a rubber-like material. These two series are not cross-compatible.

Mega XL
An expansion of the Mega series, the Mega XL series feature blasters that use the Mega XL Dart, which are larger than the standard Mega Dart.

Elite Jr.
Introduced in 2023, the Elite Jr. series feature simple, easy-to-use blasters aimed at a younger demographic. These blasters feature bright colors and oversized triggers and internals.

Nerf Pro
Launched on October 15, 2023, the Nerf Pro series was designed in response to the growing amount of enthusiast-oriented dart blasters available. The inaugural product, the Stryfe X, utilizes features that are commonly found on most high-performance battery-powered blasters, such as a lithium polymer battery, 180-sized motors, high-flow microswitches, and exclusively using half-length darts, which are considered aerodynamically superior to a standard-length Micro Dart. The Nerf Pro series features one subseries: Nerf Pro GelFire, the name for all Hasbro gel blasters.

See also
Nerf war
Nerf Arena Blast – First-person shooter game for the PC using Nerf Blasters.
Nerf N-Strike and Nerf N-Strike Elite – First person shoot em up games for the Wii using Nerf Blasters.
Lazer Tag – Laser tag guns currently sold under the Nerf brand.

References

External links
Official Nerf site

Hasbro products
Toy weapons
1980s toys
1990s toys
2000s toys
2010s toys
2020s toys

Nerf Blaster


David Hume divided knowledge into two categories "relations of ideas", and "matters of fact". Relations of ideas are truthful and correct statements (for example "all unmarried men are bachelors"). Matters of fact are statements we are nearly certain are truthful but there is still a chance for it to be false: "the sun will rise in the morning": there is a chance it will not rise.

Philosophy

Hume's fork


Galactic Pot-Healer is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1969. The novel deals with a number of philosophical and political issues such as repressive societies, fatalism, and the search for meaning in life.

Dick also wrote a children's book set in the same universe, Nick and the Glimmung, in 1966. It was published posthumously in 1988.

Plot introduction
The story concerns a man who thanklessly heals pots in a totalitarian future Earth, only to be summoned by a godlike alien known as Glimmung, who has recruited him as part of a multispecies specialist team sent to "Plowman's Planet" (or Sirius Five) for a mystical quest, which is to raise the sunken cathedral of Heldscalla from a surreal alien ocean.

Plot summary
The novel opens in a dismal future America, the "Communal North American Citizen's Republic."  The United States government has become extremely intrusive and repressive, monitoring the actions, speech and even thoughts of its citizens.

The protagonist, Joe Fernwright, is a pot-healer, one who can perfectly restore pottery to brand new condition.  Joe finds himself constantly depressed and idle at the opening of the novel. He is unemployed and on a war veteran's social security benefit, given that ceramic pottery has been replaced by plastics, and his profession is not in great demand.  He longs for purpose and meaning in life.  His one entertainment is to call various friends on the worldwide telephone network and swap puzzles. These puzzles are created by translating a common English proverb or phrase into another language by using a language translation computer, and then translating it back to English the same way. The object of the game is to guess the original from the double translation.

Joe finds meaning when he is summoned to "Plowman's Planet"/Sirius Five by a mysterious highly evolved alien, Glimmung, with seemingly godlike powers.  Along with other similarly talented but depressed and alienated people and creatures from all over the galaxy they are employed by Glimmung, in a grand endeavor to raise an ancient sunken cathedral from the ocean floor.

Glimmung is also in a struggle with the Kalends, a species gifted with precognition who are constantly writing a book that supposedly foretells the future, one which inevitably is proven right.  Glimmung is determined to continue with his struggle, even when the book predicts certain failure.

At the conclusion of the book, Fernwright and his companions are offered the opportunity to join a gestalt or hive mind that also encompasses Glimmung. Fernwright and an unnamed octopoid companion alone refuse the offer. Fernwright is then given various options, such as going back to earth, going with the octopoid to its planet, going to Mali's planet (a young humanoid female he had become romantically involved with and who chose to become a part of the collective conscious) or stay back on Sirius Five. The octopoid also suggests to him that he should start creating pots with the tools Glimmung has given him instead of just healing them. The story ends by saying the first pot he created was 'awful.'

Bibliographic information
Galactic Pot-Healer was originally published in 1969 by Berkley Medallion Books. A hardback edition was issued in 1969 by the Science Fiction Book Club (Nelson Doubleday, Inc.). It is currently published in the United States by Vintage Books, , and in the United Kingdom by Gollancz.

An audiobook version of Galactic Pot-Healer was released in 1998 by Blackstone Audio. The audiobook is read by Tom Parker. Another version released in 2013 by Brilliance Audio, read by Phil Gigante, is unabridged and runs 6 hrs 10 minutes.

1969 American novels
1969 science fiction novels
American science fiction novels
Novels by Philip K. Dick
Berkley Books books
Dystopian novels
Unemployment in fiction
Novels set on fictional planets
Novels about mass surveillance
Fiction set around Sirius
Novels published posthumously

Galactic Pot-Healer


BCPA Flight 304/44 was a scheduled flight operated by British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines from Sydney, Australia, to Vancouver, Canada, with scheduled stops at Fiji, Canton Island, Honolulu and San Francisco.  On 29 October 1953, the flight was conducted by a Douglas DC-6 named Resolution and registered in Australia as VH-BPE. The propliner crashed during its initial approach towards San Francisco International Airport, killing all 19 people on board, including the American pianist William Kapell.

History of the flight
The aircraft was flying the Honolulu – San Francisco leg with a crew of 8, and 11 passengers (10 adults and 1 child). The estimated flying time was 9 hours and 25 minutes. Captain Bruce N. Dickson (aged 34) and his crew took over the plane in Honolulu as scheduled.

Dickson and his first officer, Frank A. Campbell (aged 28), each had several thousand hours of flight time in the DC-6. Both pilots had made more than 100 approaches into San Francisco Airport, many of which were instrument approaches. On 29 October the weather in the San Francisco area did not present adverse flight conditions, but visual reference with the ground was prevented by the overcast foggy conditions so an instrument approach was required.

As the flight neared the California coast, the crew contacted San Francisco Air Route Traffic Control (ARTC). At 8:07 am Pacific Standard Time, it was cleared to descend in accordance with Visual Flight Rules and to maintain at least  on top of clouds, which the crew acknowledged.

At 8:15 am, the flight reported that it was starting its descent, and at that time was given the San Francisco weather report. Just after 8:21 am, ARTC cleared the flight to the San Francisco instrument landing system (ILS) outer marker beacon via the Half Moon Bay fan marker direct to the San Francisco outer marker, with instructions to maintain at least  above all clouds and to contact San Francisco approach control after passing the Half Moon Bay fan marker.

At 8:39 am, the crew called San Francisco approach control and advised that it was over Half Moon Bay,  on top of clouds. Approximately three minutes later, the crew reported "southeast, turning inbound". At 8:45 am, a call to the flight was unanswered as were all subsequent calls.

Local resident George Bordi heard the plane fly overhead in thick fog, then moments later heard the tremendous "crump" sound of the plane impacting on nearby terrain.

William Kapell, a New York pianist who was returning from a concert tour in Australia, was among the eleven passengers and eight crewmembers who lost their lives. Kapell was the only US citizen on the plane. All the crew and 7 passengers were from Australia. Two passengers were from the United Kingdom, and one from Canada.

Search and recovery
Many hours after the crash, members of search parties, who had difficulty getting through a dense wood at the base of King's Mountain, said they could find no survivors.

Red Cross volunteers and emergency personnel, including what would become the first forensic investigation team in the United States, recovered bodies and wreckage, used dental records to identify remains, and put out three forest fires started by the crash. The Redwood City Armory was used by the sheriff's department as a makeshift morgue. Except for the body of William Kapell, which was quickly transported by family members back to his home state of New York, bodies were cremated at Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, California and returned to their families. Two did remain in the cemetery, passenger Williaam (sic) Cox in a standard plot, while purser Knight's ashes were placed in a niche in the columbarium at Cypress Lawn.

Investigation

The Civil Aeronautics Board investigated the accident. The investigation began immediately after the wreckage was located in the mountainous area southwest of San Francisco, about seven and a half miles southeast of the town of Half Moon Bay. The aircraft was almost entirely destroyed by impact and ensuing fire. It had initially struck the top of several large redwood trees, shearing off one of its landing gear and leaving it hung in an oak. It then continued across a narrow ravine and crashed against the side of a steeply rising slope approximately half a mile beyond the first tree strike. The main wreckage area was at about  above sea level.

The landing gear was down and locked at the time of impact. There was no evidence of mechanical or structural failure prior to the impact.

The accident site was between the Half Moon Bay Fan Marker and the San Francisco ILS Outer Marker, and it appeared that the flight had not maintained at least  on top of clouds between those points but had descended in weather conditions which precluded reference to the ground.

In addition, the flight had reported being over the Half Moon Bay Fan Marker at 8:39 am and then "Southeast, turning inbound" at about 8:42 am. In this time interval it would not have been possible for the flight at normal speed to have flown from the Half Moon Bay Outer Marker to the ILS Outer Marker, make the required turn and return to the site of the crash in accordance with Civil Aeronautics Authority approved instrument approach procedure. Thus it was likely that when the pilot reported he was "Southeast, turning inbound", he was in fact southwest of the airport.

The investigation then stated it was probable that the captain, after reporting he was over Half Moon Bay, either saw the terrain momentarily through an unreported break in the overcast foggy conditions or because of a radio navigational error became convinced his position was farther northeast and started to descend over what he believed was the proper area.

It was therefore concluded that the probable cause of the crash was the failure of the crew to follow prescribed procedures for an instrument approach.

Memorials

Today, the crash site is part of the El Corte de Madera Creek Open Space Preserve, which includes the "Resolution Trail", named for the plane.  Park rules restrict visitors to the trail and visitors are also requested to respect this historical site by leaving any artifacts where they find them.

Over fifty people attended a plaque's dedication on June 27, 2009, near the junction of the Fir & Vista Point trails, near Vista Point - the site of where a military H-19 'Chickasaw' recovery helicopter landed on the day of the crash.

The latest remembrance day was the 65th. anniversary of the crash, held on October 29, 2018. Visiting the plaque that day was the brother of co-pilot Campbell, Alan Campbell, who had flown in from Cairns, Australia. He placed an Australian flag before the granite memorial and made a somber visit to the impact point.

References

Further reading

 Fyshwick, Australia. pp. 200.

External links

 Report - Civil Aeronautics Board - PDF
 Check-Six.com – The Crash of BCPA Flight 304 – Includes full crew & passenger list
 flightoftheresolution.org – Flight 304 history, photographs, memorial information

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1953
1953 in California
San Francisco International Airport
Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error
Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-6
Airliner accidents and incidents in California
British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines accidents and incidents
History of San Mateo County, California
1953 disasters in the United States
Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1953

BCPA Flight 304


"100,000 Fireflies" is the first single by the American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields, taken from their first studio album Distant Plastic Trees, released in 1991. It is known for its bleak, tongue-in-cheek lyrics and black humour and for Susan Anway's sparse, soprano vocal performance. The song saw play on alternative and college radio stations on its release and slowly grew into a cult classic, becoming "the ultimate staple" of indie mixtape culture during the 1990s.

Because of its re-release in 1995 as part of the 2 for 1 Distant Plastic Trees/The Wayward Bus album, Glide magazine named it the second best modern rock song of the previous decade in 2004.

Music critic Tom Ewing ranked the song at number 11 in his list of the "Top 100 Singles of the 90s", and said that, "for '100,000 Fireflies' everything is trebly and close, the drum reduced to a stern background thud and the song almost completely driven by the cycling, calliope-tinted keyboards and Amway's cut-glass singing. Like the song and the situation it describes, the result is a perfect mix of intimacy with claustrophobia."

References

1991 songs
1991 debut singles
The Magnetic Fields songs

100,000 Fireflies


APC (formerly known as Australian Personal Computer) is a computer magazine in Australia. It is published monthly and comes with a cover-mounted DVD of software. It is published by Future Australia.

The tagline on the front of the magazine is "high performance personal computing" which APC uses as its point of distinction from other computing publications in Australia, such as PC User which targets beginner-medium users, and Atomic which targets gamers and modders.

APC was first published in May 1980 by Sean Howard and is the longest running computer-magazine in Australia.

The magazine also has a website, which publishes daily technology news, separate to what's in the printed magazine, with very few exceptions.

The magazine was bought from Bauer Media Group in 2013 by Future. Future subsequently incorporated PC & Tech Authority into APC after acquiring it (along with other computing assets) from nextmedia in 2018.

Cover disc

APC has a cover-mounted DVD each month containing a variety of software, which typically includes sample code, programs demonstrated in the magazine's Workshop pages, instructional videos, trial versions of new software and game releases and three to four "full-working versions" of programs that are no longer current editions.

APC first included a cover CD on its September 1996 issue. On its December 2004 issue, APC switched to DVD instead of CD and was the first IT publication in Australia to do so.

It is currently edited and produced by Peter Dockrill, who has worked on it since April 2008.

References

External links

1980 establishments in Australia
ACP magazine titles
Computer magazines published in Australia
Monthly magazines published in Australia
Magazines established in 1980
Magazines published in Sydney

APC (magazine)


Ernst Max Cohn (March 31, 1920 – December 30, 2004), was a multi-lingual philatelic researcher and expert from Alabama, who advocated re-researching original philatelic sources rather than relying on subsequent published philatelic literature.

Collecting interests
Cohn was particularly interested in the siege mail of the Franco-German War of 1870–71 although his collecting interests were previously more widespread.

Philatelic literature
Ernst Cohn authored a number of books during his philatelic career, including: Die "Papillons" von Metz (1976), The Flight of the "Ville d'Orleans (1978), Ordinary Mail by Diplomatic Means (1995), Unusual Mail in Occupied France 1870–1871 (2000), and A Book of Postal History (1988) which contained many of his articles he had previously written for The American Philatelist.

Philatelic activity
Cohn was a member of the most important philatelic societies in the United States, France, Belgium and the United Kingdom. At the American Philatelic Society, he served a number of posts, including representative to the FIP Postal History Commission and on the Postal History Committee. At the Postal History Society he held a number of posts including president and associate editor.

Honors and awards
Ernst Cohn was awarded the Luff Award for distinguished philatelic research in 1995 and the Lichtenstein award for distinguished service to philately in 2004. He received recognition for his work from the American Philatelic Congress, the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Aérophilatéliques (FISA), the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP), and others.

He was named to the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame in 2006.

References
 Ernst Max Cohn

1920 births
2004 deaths
American philatelists
Writers from Alabama
Place of birth missing
American Philatelic Society

Ernst Max Cohn


Brian Launders (born 8 June 1976) is an Irish former footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in Dublin, he began his career as a junior with Cherry Orchard in Ireland before moving to Australia to play for Croydon Kings. In 1993, he moved to England to play for Crystal Palace. He subsequently moved between a number of clubs in England, along with a spell in the Netherlands before eventually returning to Australia, where he finished his career.

Career

Sheffield United
A free agent, Launders joined Sheffield United on trial in the autumn of 1999.  Having been given a contract until the end of the season, he made his debut a few days later, coming on a substitute in a game against Stockport County on 20 November 1999.  His debut only lasted ten minutes as he was himself substituted when he picked up an injury following a collision with an opposition player.  When manager Adrian Heath was sacked shortly after, Launders was still suffering from concussion following his injury and was deemed unfit to undertake the medical required to finalise his contract and he was released.

References

External links

1976 births
Living people
Association footballers from Dublin (city)
Republic of Ireland men's association footballers
Men's association football midfielders
Crystal Palace F.C. players
Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players
Crewe Alexandra F.C. players
Derby County F.C. players
SC Veendam players
Colchester United F.C. players
Sheffield United F.C. players
Croydon FC (Australia) players
English Football League players
Eerste Divisie players
Premier League players
Cherry Orchard F.C. players

Brian Launders


Barbara Hannigan  (born 8 May 1971) is a Canadian soprano and conductor, known for her performances of contemporary opera.

Education
Hannigan's initial musical education came from music teachers in her hometown of Waverley, Nova Scotia, in Halifax.

After growing up in Waverley, Hannigan moved to Toronto at the age of 17. She studied music at the University of Toronto, where her teachers included Mary Morrison. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1993 and a Master of Music degree in 1998. She continued her studies at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival, and the Centre d'arts Orford. She also studied for one year at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.

Career
Hannigan is known for her performances of contemporary music. Her advocacy of contemporary music began in her youth, and she sang her first world premiere at the age of 17. , she had premiered approximately 75 contemporary compositions. These include One by Michel van der Aa (2002), the song cycle  by Friedrich Cerha (2007), and  by Gerald Barry (2007), which the composer wrote specifically for her. Hans Abrahamsen wrote the symphonic song cycle let me tell you for Hannigan.

Hannigan is particularly noted for her performances of György Ligeti's Mysteries of the Macabre (a concert version of a scene from his opera Le Grand Macabre); in 2011 she began to conduct the work in addition to singing the vocal part. Her work in contemporary opera has included singing in the premieres of Louis Andriessen's Writing to Vermeer, Gerald Barry's The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant and The Importance of Being Earnest, Jan van de Putte's Wet Snow, Kris Defoort's House of the Sleeping Beauties, and George Benjamin's Written on Skin. She has worked with choreographer Sasha Waltz on productions of Toshio Hosokawa's Matsukaze and Pascal Dusapin's Passion. Hannigan received critical acclaim for her performance in Alban Berg's Lulu, which included dancing en pointe. In 2014, Hannigan sang the role of Marie in Bernd Alois Zimmermann's opera Die Soldaten at the Bavarian State Opera, a production that was streamed live on the internet. For her performance as Marie, she won the 2015 Der Faust (award) in Germany.

Hannigan regularly performs in concert as both soprano and conductor. She has worked with the Berlin Philharmonic, Münchner Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Göteborgs Symfoniker, Prague Philharmonic, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Britten Sinfonia, Gulbenkian Orchestra, and The Cleveland Orchestra. She won the Ovatie 2014 award for her performance as soprano/conductor with her conducting debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Ludwig Orchestra.

In 2016, Hannigan was made a Member of the Order of Canada, one of Canada's highest civilian honours. She was a recipient of the Rolf Schock Prize 2018 in the Musical Arts. The jury commented: "Hannigan is an extraordinary and innovative performer with a dynamic and intensive approach to the music she performs, often pure virtuoso stage interpretations, in which she often simultaneously assumes both the role of soloist and conductor. Her repertoire covers an impressive field, with great interest in new music. For a number of years she has also run a unique mentoring project, Equilibrium Young Artists, which focuses on young and newly professional musicians around the world."

Other awards include Personalité Musicale de l'Année (Musical Personality of the Year) (Syndicat de la Presse Française, 2012), Singer of the Year (Opernwelt, 2013), Ehrenpreise, Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2018  and the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2020.

Selected discography
Hannigan's commercial recordings in contemporary music include the premiere recording of Henri Dutilleux's Correspondances (Deutsche Grammophon) and Louis Andriessen's Writing to Vermeer (Nonesuch), music of Luca Francesconi (Kairos) and of Harry Freedman (Centrediscs). She is also featured on four Naxos recordings of vocal works of George Frideric Handel, L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, Gideon, Rinaldo, and Tobit.

Henri Dutilleux: Correspondances for soprano and orchestra, conducted Esa-Pekka Salonen, Deutsche Grammophon 2012 – world premiere recording with ending rewritten by the composer for Hannigan, Gramophone Award Contemporary, 2013
Hans Abrahamsen: let me tell you for soprano and orchestra, text by Paul Griffiths, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Andris Nelsons conductor, Winter & Winter, 2016 – Awards: 2016 Grawemeyer Award (Music Composition); Gramophone Award Contemporary, 2016; Diapason d'Or 2016, Musique contemporaine; Edison Klassiek 2016, De ontdekking
 Eric Satie: Socrate with pianist Reinbert de Leeuw, Winter & Winter, 2016
Crazy Girl Crazy: debut album as soprano and conductor, Ludwig Orchestra, Alpha Classics 2017, repertoire: Luciano Berio Sequenza III, Alban Berg Lulu Suite, George Gershwin Girl Crazy Suite, arranged by Bill Elliott and Barbara Hannigan; album includes the documentary Music is Music directed by Mathieu Amalric – Awards: Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album; Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral, 2018; Klara Award for Best International Classical CD; The New York Times: The Best Classical CDs of 2017.

In 2014 two DVDs were released: Alban Berg's Lulu (Bel Air Classiques) and George Benjamin's Written on Skin. Written on Skin received the Gramophone Award 2014 in the category "Contemporary".

Hannigan is featured on the London Symphony Orchestra DVD Stravinsky, released in 2017 on the LSO Live label, Simon Rattle conducting, performing Alban Berg's Three Fragments from Wozzeck and Gyorgy Ligeti's Mysteries of the Macabre.

Hannigan's artistic career has been the subject of two documentaries: Accentus Music's documentary I'm a creative animal, produced at Lucerne Festival 2014 where she was Artiste Etoile, Dutch television's Canadees Podiumdier (NTR 2014), as well as Mathieu Amalric's short film, C'est presque au bout du monde.

Personal life
Hannigan was previously married to Dutch theatre director . Since 2017, she has lived in Paris, France. Since 2015, she has been in a long-term relationship with French actor Mathieu Amalric.

References

External links

 Equilibrium Young Artists, mentor programme founded by Barbara Hannigan

1971 births
Living people
People from the Halifax Regional Municipality
Musicians from Nova Scotia
Canadian operatic sopranos
Canadian contemporary classical musicians
Edison Classical Music Awards winners
20th-century Canadian women opera singers
21st-century Canadian women opera singers
21st-century Canadian conductors (music)
Royal Conservatory of The Hague alumni
University of Toronto alumni
Canadian women conductors (music)
20th-century Canadian conductors (music)
Members of the Order of Canada
Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year – Vocal or Choral Performance winners

Barbara Hannigan


Paul van Kempen (16 May 1893 – 8 December 1955) was a Dutch conductor.

Personal life
Van Kempen was born in Zoeterwoude, Netherlands. He studied at the Amsterdam conservatory from 1910 to 1913, including composition and conducting with Julius Roentgen and Bernard Zweers, as well as violin with Louis Zimmerman. From 1913, he was a second violinist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. One year later, he was in the first violin section. After 1916, he began to make his career more in Germany, and served as concertmaster in orchestras in Posen, Bad Nauheim und Dortmund. In 1932, Van Kempen became a German citizen. He died in Amsterdam at age 62.

Career
Van Kempen was music director in Oberhausen for 2 years. From 1934 to 1942, he was principal conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic.  In 1942, he succeeded Herbert von Karajan as Kapellmeister in Aachen, serving through 1944. Several years after World War II, in 1953, Van Kempen became general music director of the city of Bremen.

In 1949, Van Kempen returned to the Netherlands as principal conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, based in Hilversum. Moreover, his conducting activities during World War II made him a controversial figure in the Netherlands, such as conducting concerts for the Wehrmacht. On one occasion, in 1951, Van Kempen was engaged as a substitute conductor at the Concertgebouw Orchestra in place of the ill Eduard van Beinum. During the first night, audience members protested strongly, but the concert took place. On the second night, the audience disruptions were so severe that 62 musicians left the stage and refused to continue.

Van Kempen recordings included the Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 3, 7 and 8 with the Berlin Philharmonic, Nos 2 and 5 with the Dresden Philharmonic, the five Beethoven piano concertos with Wilhelm Kempff and the Berlin P.O., and the Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 with Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw. He conducted the Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux on an EPIC recording, LC 3349, year unknown, of Rossini: William Tell Overture and Barber Of Seville Overture, and Donizetti: Daughter of the Regiment Overture. On the same recording he also conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam on Tchaikovsky: Marche slave, Op.31, Strauss, Sr: Radetsky March, Op. 228, and Schubert: Marche militaire in D Major, Op. 51, No. 1.
He recorded von Weber's Oberon Overture with the Radio-Philharmonische Orchester Hilvesum in 1953 on Philips S06003 R.

Literature
 Kees de Leeuw: Dirigeren is geen beroep maar roeping. Leven en werk van Paul van Kempen (1893-1955). Uitg. Gopher, Amsterdam, 2007. 269 p.  (Dutch)

References

External links
Paul van Kempen Biography

1893 births
1955 deaths
Dutch conductors (music)
Male conductors (music)
Naturalized citizens of Germany
People from Zoeterwoude
Players of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
20th-century conductors (music)
20th-century Dutch male musicians

Paul van Kempen


Anthony Mwinkaara Sumah (born 17 January 1982) is a Ghanaian politician and member of the National Democratic Congress. He is the member of parliament for the Nadowli Kaleo Constituency, Upper West Region

Early life and education
Mwinkaara hails from Charikpong in the Upper West Region of Ghana. He attended St. Anthony's primary school and proceeded to Tuolu Senior High School. He later gained admission to the University of Ghana, Legon, where he graduated with Bachelor of Science Degree in Health service administration.

References

Living people
National Democratic Congress (Ghana) politicians
Ghanaian MPs 2021–2025
People from Upper West Region
University of Ghana alumni
1982 births

Anthony Mwinkaara Sumah


Rezina is a city in Moldova and the capital of Rezina District. Three villages are administered by the city: Boşerniţa, Ciorna and Stohnaia.

Geography
In the northeastern part of Moldova, as far as 98 km from Chișinău, the town of Rezina is situated on three successive terraces formed by the picturesque right bank of the Dniester. The lowest terrace (along the Dniester) houses the older town, the second one (on the hill slope) contains buildings constructed in the 1950-60s, while the upper terrace is the seat of the new town constructed in the 1970-90s. The town is 3 km from the Rîbnița railway station and 6 km from that of Mateuţi. The republican highway Orhei – Rîbnița is going through the town.

History
Archaeological monuments prove the fact that first settlements appeared in the area 40-10 millennia ago. The Indo-European period (5000–3000 BC) witnessed the settlement of the Thracians (Geto-Dacians in particular) here. In 1946–1947, on Rezina's western outskirts (near the road to Echimăuţi) scientists discovered an ancient site founded by the Geto-Dacians in the 4–3rd centuries BC. It was built on a small promontory at the merger of two depressions and was 50 m long and 100 m wide. Regrettably, the site was heavily damaged by construction works on a cattle-breeding farm and a repair station for agricultural machines. The area needs further excavations in order to establish the period and causes of population destruction.

Its seal was approved on 10 September 1936.

The formation of the Roman province of Dacia had a special impact upon the lives of our ancestors. The lands of the future Rezina were not included in the Roman province and were inhabited by free Dacians. However, the close vicinity of the Romans influenced the local Geto-Dacians who, on a line with Roman provinces' inhabitants, were Romanized by having apprehended many traits of the Roman material culture and traditions, the Latin language and script, and were converted to Christianity. Since the evacuation of the Romans in 271 AD and until the 14th century, the land was swept by all kind of migrating peoples. However, the local population withstood all the adversities of the migration period and retained its Roman character. Small rural settlements numbered about 10–15 or more dwe-Uings usually inhabited by 45–50 persons tied by family relations. The favourable natural conditions of the area created all the prerequisites of normal life. Fertile soils were conducive to the development of agriculture and cattlebreeding. Dniester waters and dense forests were the two other factors favouring the establishment of the future Rezina in the late 14 – early 15th centuries.

Among Sfatul Țării members there were some Rezina locals: Vasile Bârcă and Pavel Cocârlă from Ignăţei, Elefterie Sinicliu from Echimăuţi, Nicolae Checerul Cuş from Stohnaia. In 1920, there were 749 houses and 4,320 inhabitants in Rezina. Economic units and public facilities included: 1 landowners estate, 1 agricultural cooperation, 3 quarries, a beer brewery, a tannery, 3 water- and 1 steam-mills, a primary school, a lyceum, a vocational school, some Jewish synagogues, 10 taverns, a cinema, 2 banks, a drug-store and a hospital with 3 doctors.

Media
Cuvântul
 Vocea Basarabiei 101.9

Notable people
 Nicolae Checerul Cus

References

External links

 An Outline of History
 web site of Rezina

Cities and towns in Moldova
Dacian towns
Orgeyevsky Uyezd
Orhei County (Romania)
Ținutul Nistru
Rezina District

Rezina


Gone Fishing is a 2008 short film written and directed by Chris Jones, starring Bill Paterson and James Wilson, that premiered at BAFTA on 12 January 2008.

Plot
"Gone Fishing" is the story of a boy and old man coming to terms with bereavement through their shared love of fishing, and the legend of Goliath, the biggest pike ever caught.

This thirteen-minute short film was financed by 150 film makers and directed by the author of The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook, Chris Jones.

The story is in part autobiographical - while growing up, director Chris Jones and his friends would often attempt to catch the legendary 'Oscar the pike', a fish that according to local myth terrorized the lake at the end of his road, the aptly named Blue Lagoon. This was the inspiration behind the legend of 'Goliath', the big fish in this even bigger tale.

Awards
Gone Fishing won 35 prizes at the film festival circuit including the Grand Prize at the 2008 Bahamas International Film Festival, and the 2008 Rhode Island International Film Festival, and it won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2009 Edmonton International Film Festival. At the 2009 Beverly Hills Film Festival and the 2009 Method Fest Independent Film Festival it took home the Audience Award, and it received the Golden Honu Award at the 2009 Big Island Film Festival. Gone Fishing further won both the Director's Choice Award and the Audience Award at the 2009 Sedona Film Festival, the Achievement Award for screenwriting at the 2009 Newport Beach Film Festival, and the prizes for Best Short at both the 2009 Indianapolis International Film Festival and the 2009 Palm Beach International Film Festival, as well as receiving the prize for Best Narrative Short by the Producers Guild of America. The film was among the final 10 long-listed shorts for the 2009 Academy Awards.

References

External links

 Official Production Blog
 Gone Fishing at the Living Spirit website.
 Gone Fishing Training Site
 Soundtrack Download

2008 films
Films about fishing
British short films
2008 short films
2000s English-language films

Gone Fishing (2008 film)


Going Somewhere is the sixth solo album by Scottish–Australian singer Colin Hay, released in 2001.

Track listing
All songs written by Colin Hay, except where noted.
"Beautiful World" – 4:04
"Looking for Jack" (Alsop, Hay) – 2:56
"Going Somewhere" – 2:40
"Wayfaring Sons" – 3:42
"Children on Parade" – 3:38
"My Brilliant Feat" (Hay, Talbot) – 3:26
"Waiting for My Real Life to Begin" (Hay, Mooney) – 5:46
"Don't Wait Up" – 4:00
"Lifeline" (Fischer, Hay) – 4:02
"Circles Erratica" – 4:05
"Water Song" – 4:10
"Maggie" – 4:21
"I Don't Know Why" – 2:53
An extended version of the album features two bonus tracks:
 "Waiting for My Real Life to Begin" (Radio Edit) – 3:40
 " Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You" (Radio Edit) – 4:29

A special Australian tour edition added an acoustic reworking of Overkill as the first track, in response to Hay's appearance performing the song on the television show Scrubs.  The track later reappeared on the 2003 album Man @ Work.

Legacy
The song "Waiting for My Real Life to Begin" has been featured in a number of television series: Scrubs (sung by the cast), Dawson's Creek, The Hills, What About Brian, Cane, The Cleaner, Judging Amy (Season 2, Episode 22 'Hold on Tight' end sequence), Miami Medical, and Brothers & Sisters and A Million Little Things (2020).

The song was also featured in the films Penguin Bloom, Morning Glory, and Words & Pictures.

In December 2005, Hay and Heather Mills digitally re-released "My Brilliant Feat" as a charity single as a tribute to the late footballer George Best who died on 25 November 2005. Proceeds went to the Donor Family Network supporting organ donor families and promoting organ and tissue donation.

References

2001 albums
Colin Hay albums

Going Somewhere


The Gumbel distribution is a probability distribution of extreme values.

In probability theory and statistics, the Gumbel distribution is used to model the distribution of the maximum (or the minimum) of a number of samples of various distributions.

Such a distribution might be used to represent the distribution of the maximum level of a river in a particular year if there was a list of maximum values for the past ten years. It is also useful in predicting the chance that an extreme earthquake, flood or other natural disaster will occur.

Properties

The Gumbel distribution is a continuous probability distribution. Gumbel distributions are a family of distributions of the same general form. These distributions differ in their location and scale parameters: the mean ("average") of the distribution defines its location, and the standard deviation ("variability") defines the scale.

One recognizes the Gumbel probability density function (PDF) and the Gumbel cumulative distribution function (CDF).

PDF

In the PDF, the probability P of a value V to occur between limits A and B, briefly written as P(A<V<B), is found by the area under the PDF curve between A and B.

{| class="wikitable"
| bgcolor=#faf0e6 | Example of probability in the PDF
|-
| In the figure of the normal probability density function, the values on the horizontal axis should read: μ-3σ,  μ-2σ, μ-1σ, μ+1σ, μ+2σ, and μ+3σ respectively.
μ = mean, σ = standard deviation.
The areas under the curve in the intervals, each with a width of one standard deviation, give the probability of occurrence in those intervals.
Example: the probability of a value V to occur in the interval between A=μ+1σ and B=μ+2σ is P(μ+1σ<V<μ+2σ)=13.6% or 0.136
|}

Contrary to the normal distribution, the Gumbel PDF is a-symmetrical and skew to the right.

CDF

In the CDF, the probability that a value V is less than A is found directly as the CDF value at A:

.

{| class="wikitable"
| bgcolor=#faf0e6 | Example of probability in the CDF
|-
| In the Gumbel CDF figure, the red curve indicates that the probability of V to be less than 5 is 0.9 (or 90%), whereas for the dark blue line this probability is 0.7 or 70%
|}

Mathematics

The CDF

The mathematical expression of the CDF is:

where μ is the mode (the value where the probability density function reaches its peak), e is a mathematical constant, about 2.718, and β is a value related to the standard deviation (σ) :

where π is the Greek symbol for Pi whose value is close to 22/7 or 3.142, and the symbol  stands for the square root.

Mode and median

The mode μ can be found from the median M, being the value of A where CDF(A)=0.5,  and β:

where ln is the natural logarithm.

Mean

The mean, E(x), given by:

where  = Euler constant  0.5772.

Estimation

In a data series, the parameters mode (μ) and β can be estimated from the average, median and standard deviation. The calculation of the last three quantities is explained in the respective Wiki pages. Then, with the help of formulas given in the previous section, the factors μ and β can be calculated. In this way, the CDF of the Gumbel distribution belonging to the data can be determined and the probability of interesting data values can be found.

Application

In hydrology, the Gumbel distribution is used to analyze such variables as monthly and annual maximum values of daily rainfall and river discharge volumes, and also to describe droughts.

The blue picture illustrates an example of fitting the Gumbel distribution to ranked maximum one-day October rainfalls showing also the 90% confidence belt based on the binomial distribution.

References

Probability distributions

Gumbel distribution


Centurions is an American science fiction animated television series produced by Ruby-Spears and was animated in Japan by Nippon Sunrise's Studio 7. Comic book artists Jack Kirby and Gil Kane contributed to the design and concepts of the show while Norio Shioyama did the character designs. The series began in 1986 as a five-part mini-series and was followed with a 60-episode series. The series was story edited by Ted Pedersen and written by several authors, including prolific science fiction writers Michael Reaves, Marc Scott Zicree, Larry DiTillio and Gerry Conway.

The series theme and soundtrack were composed by Udi Harpaz. There was also a line of tie-in toys by Kenner and a comic book series by DC Comics.

The show revolves around the conflict between Doc Terror's cyborgs and the Centurions (a combination of hard-suit and a mecha).

Premise

In the near future of the 21st century, the cyborg mad scientist Doc Terror seeks to conquer the Earth and turn its inhabitants into robot slaves. He is assisted by his cyborg companion Hacker and an army of robots. There were many types of cyborgs:

 Doom Drones Traumatizers – The most commonly seen drones are walking robots with laser blasters for arms. The toy for the Traumatizer was a Sears store exclusive.
 Doom Drones Strafers – A flying robot armed with missiles and lasers capable of spaceflight. Doc Terror and Hacker are able to fly by swapping their pure robot half for a Strafer.
 Groundborgs – A land-based robot armed with lasers that move on big wheels. Can be converted to Snowborgs with skis and treads. No toy was made of Groundborgs.
 Seaborgs – A ship-based robot armed with lasers for sea battle.
 Cybervore Panther – A robot panther. Introduced later in the series. Could combine with the Cybervore Shark. A toy for the Cybervore Panther was designed but never released.
 Cybervore Shark – A robot shark. Introduced later in the series. Could combine with the Cybervore Panther. A toy for the Cybervore Shark was designed but never released.

There are also submarine drones. They are joined on many occasions, starting with the first episode, by Doc Terror's daughter Amber.

At each turn, their evil plans are thwarted by the heroic Centurions. The Centurions are a team of men dressed in specially created exo-frames that allows them (upon shouting "PowerXtreme") to fuse with 'incredible' assault weapon systems, becoming what the show calls man and machine, Power Xtreme! The end result is a weapons platform somewhere between a hard-suit and a mecha. The exo-frames can also be equipped with space gear or diving gear. Originally, there were three Centurions but two other Centurions were added later:

Original Team:

 Max Ray – 'Brilliant' Sea Operations Commander: The calm and collected de facto leader of the team, donning a green exo-frame suit and sporting a fine mustache. His toy file card said that for exercise he regularly swam from California to Hawaii and back. His weapon systems are best suited for underwater missions, some of these are as follows:
 Cruiser – A sea assault weapon system that is used in and out of the water and includes hydro thrusters, a keel-fin radar unit, and a missile launcher. Max wears this with a green helmet that matches his exo-frame.
 Tidal Blast – A powerful surface-sub-surface attack weapon system with two hydro-powered keel-fins used for above and below the water that has battle modes such as cruise, subsonic speed, and rear attack. Its weapons include a re-pulsar lesion cannon and two rotating and firing shark missiles. Like Cruiser, Max wears this with a green helmet.
 Depth Charger – A deep-sea weapon system used for deep underwater missions. It is a mini-sub with two pivoting pontoon thrusters and two mobile directional aqua fins that has modes of attack such as diving, full fire, and deep sea. Its weapons include two rotating aqua cannons, deep-sea torpedoes, and a hydro mine. Jake used it once.
 Sea Bat – Released in the second phase of the toys' release.
 Fathom Fan -  A submersible assault weapon system resembling an airboat with hydrofoil launcher missiles and a small laser in the chest. No toy was made.
 Jake Rockwell – 'Rugged' Land Operations Specialist: Donning a yellow exo-frame suit. A passionate idealist with a strong moral compass, he has a short fuse that often puts him at odds with the cocky and casual personality of Ace. His weapon systems have the most firepower and are best suited for land missions, some of these are as follows:
 Fireforce – A powerful land assault weapon system that includes back-mounted launcher, twin laser cannons and a rotating plasma re-pulsar. It is waterproof for submerge underwater and capable for space use. Can be fitted with rocket skis for snow battle. Jake wears this with a yellow helmet that matches his exo-frame.
 Wild Weasel – A protective armor assault weapon system in the shape of a motorcycle with a head shield and protective back shell for dangerous missions such as heavy forests or rocky terrains. It has battle modes including tracking, anti-aircraft, high-speed travel, and land attack. Its weapons include two land lasers and a front assault pack module for storing accessories.
 Detonator – A heavy artillery weapon system for maximum firepower. It has many battle modes including air attack and ground assault. Its weapons include sonic ray guns and freeze ray blasters. Like Fireforce, Jake wears this with a yellow helmet.
 Hornet – An assault helicopter weapon system used to assist Aerial missions that has battle modes including surveillance, high-speed assault, and sneak attack. Its weapons include four sidewinder missiles and a rotating freeze cannon. Max used it twice.
 Swingshot – A mid-sized assault weapon system with arm shield blasters and missiles, chest-mounted howitzer, backpack targeting sensor and infrascope with tank tracks that swings up to cling to the ceiling. Released in the second phase of the toys' release.
Awesome Auger - A vehicular assault weapon system shaped like an ATV with a drill, a sonar shredder and another weapon for boring underground. Changes mode from fold-up to combat seating position and drilling lie-down position. Like Fireforce, Jake wears this with a yellow helmet.
 Ace McCloud – 'Daring' Air Operations Expert: Donning a blue exo-frame suit, he is a brave but cocky womanizer who is sometimes at odds with Jake. His weapon systems are best suited for aerial missions, some of these are as follows:
 Skyknight – A powerful air assault weapon system that has two turbo thrusters. Its weapons include  missiles, laser cannons, and laser bombs. Ace wears these with a blue helmet that matches his exo-frame. Max used it once with the blue helmet.
 Orbital Interceptor – An advanced air weapon assault system with inner atmospheric thrusters that can even be used in space and seemingly underwater. It has battle modes including cruise, pursuit, and power blast. Its weapons include two particle beam deflectors and a particle beam missile. Ace wears this with a life support helmet.
 Skybolt – An air reinforcement weapon system that has two booster stabilizer pods, radar tracking wings, and modular invertible wings with battle modes including reconnaissance, backfire, and anti-attack. Its weapons include galactic missiles and two backfire missile launchers for front and rear attacks and an invisibility cloaking chest device. Like Skyknight, Ace wears this with a blue helmet.
 Strato Strike – An air assault weapon system that can reverse thrust. The toy for Strato Strike was designed, but never released.

Extended Team (later additions):
 Rex Charger – 'Expert' Energy Programmer. Dons a red and pale green exo-frame suit.
 Electro-Charger - A flight assault weapon system with energy manipulating abilities. Rex wears this with a red and pale green helmet. The toy for Electro-Charger was designed, but never released.
 Gatling Guard - A heavy flight weapon system with revolver for multiple unusual energy functions missiles. The toy for Gatling Guard was designed, but never released.
 John Thunder – 'Specialist' Infiltration Commander. Has a black exo-frame with exposed skin upper body.
 Silent Arrow - A crossbow like net cannon weapon system mounted on the back, armor pieces and a sonic knife. John wears this with a red mask. The toy for Silent Arrow was designed, but never released.
 Thunder Knife - A tracked assault weapon system with lasers shooting arm mounted cutter wheels, a missile backpack and a tank track platform. There are cutter frames body attached that mounts to the feet when John assumes the cutting, spinning belly flop position on the platform. Like Silent Arrow, John wears this with a red mask. The toy for Thunder Knife was designed, but never released.

The Centurions are based on an orbiting space station called Sky Vault where its operator, Crystal Kane, uses a transporter to send the Centurions, and the requested weapon systems, to where they are needed. To monitor the global situation there are relay stations such as Ice Castle, Sand Castle and Fire Castle. Crystal is always in the company of either Jake Rockwell's dog Shadow or Lucy the orangutan mostly. Shadow is usually more involved with the Centurions' battles than Lucy and sports a harness with dual missile launchers. Crystal suggests tactics and sends equipment as required. The Centurions also have a hidden base in New York City called Centrum. Its entrance is hidden in a book store and must be reached via an underground railcar. Centrum serves as the Centurions' land base of operations and also has a beaming pod for rapid transport to Sky Vault. In addition to Sky Vault and Centrum, there is also a Centurion Academy whose location is kept completely secret and only seen in the last 5 episodes. All weapon systems are manufactured by a submersible aquatic Sealab.

Much like the Super Friends additions of Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, Samurai, and, El Dorado to introduce racial diversity into the series, The Centurions saw the addition of Rex Charger, the energy expert, and John Thunder, the Apache infiltration expert.

Themes
As well as the adventure side of the show, the series considered various science fiction themes. In particular, the fusion or relationship between humans and technology was a focus throughout the show's run. To tie in with real-world issues at the time, a number of episodes revolved around ecological themes, such as Doc Terror's attempts to extort money from the governments of the world by threatening to destroy some aspect of the environment. The subject of magic is explored in "That Old Black Magic" when Ace becomes involved with a woman named Cassandra Cross, who is a practitioner of white magic. Her evil twin sister, Lilith, joins forces with Doc Terror in "Return of Cassandra". Both characters are voiced by B. J. Ward.

Ace also has other romantic interests; some of them reappear in later episodes, such as television reporter Jenny Rivers and Sealab technician Mei Lee. Ace's most elusive romantic pursuit is Crystal Kane, who later reveals she had lost a fiancé in action ("You Only Love Twice"). Ace has a romantic dream involving Crystal at the beginning of the episode "Firecracker". Crystal often resists Ace's advances either firmly or jokingly, but sometimes demonstrates she has affection and love for him. The two finally kiss at the conclusion of the two-part story "The Better Half".

Doc Terror is sometimes assisted by his daughter Amber. Like the Batman character Talia al Ghul, she sometimes shows affection for an enemy of her father (Jake Rockwell) and even betrays him when he goes too far ("Let the Lightning Fall").

The series also sometimes leaves an episode's ending up to viewer interpretation. In the two-part story "The Better Half", Doc Terror and Hacker's robotic halves, Syntax and Lesion, join together after a freak accident and become "Uniborg" as Doc Terror and Hacker end up sharing a body during that time. Uniborg turn on the two, forcing Terror and Hacker to ally with the Centurions. Upon breaking into Dominion and defeating their robotic counterparts, Terror is poised to destroy them, when they argue that he cannot kill them because they are his creations and an extension of himself and Hacker. Terror screams in anguish as he fires his disruptor cannon and the episode ends with a scene on Skyvault, not revealing whether or not Terror intentionally misses or destroys Uniborg. In "To Dare Dominion", Terror unleashes a time/space vortex consumer within Dominion that plays havoc with reality. The Centurions are able to destroy it, but not before it wrecks Dominion's power generators, causing a violent explosion that seemingly kills Doc Terror and Hacker. The Centurions are beamed out before they suffer the same fate. Terror and Hacker's fate remains unresolved at the episode's conclusion with Jake believing that they are finished and Max arguing that they may not be.

Episodes were produced and broadcast in an anachronistic order. For example, the episodes which showcase the recruitment drive for the two extra Centurions ("Man or Machine" 5-parter) were produced long after several episodes showcasing the new additions.

Cast

Main voices
 Michael Bell – John Thunder
 Jennifer Darling – Amber
 Vince Edwards – Jake Rockwell
 Ron Feinberg – Doc Terror
 Pat Fraley – Max Ray, Dr. Wu
 Ed Gilbert – Hacker
 Diane Pershing – Crystal Kane
 Bob Ridgely – Rex Charger
 Neil Ross – Ace McCloud
 B. J. Ward – Cassandra Cross/Lilith Cross
 William Woodson – Opening Narration

Additional voices
 Dick Gautier – Sukuma (in "Cyborg Centurion"; uncredited)
 Dan Gilvezan – Colonel Chuck Bates (in "You Only Love Twice"; uncredited)
 Tress MacNeille – Isabelle (in "Tornado of Terror")
 Mona Marshall – Pharaoh (in "The Mummy's Curse")
 Bill Martin – Captain Newman (in "Malfunction"), Demon (in "The Road Devils"), Neutron (in "Sungrazer"), Dr. Damon Zemo (in "Sungrazer")
 Mea Martineau – Mei Lee
 Stacy McLaughlin – Gina (in "Child's Play")
 David Mendenhall – Randy Chang (in "Let the Games Begin")
 Alan Oppenheimer – Professor Storm (in "Tornado of Terror"), Dr. Gates (in "Double Agent")
 Patrick Pinney – Jimmy (in "Child's Play")
 Peter Renaday - Merlin (in "Merlin")
 Stanley Ralph Ross – Claw (in "To Dare Dominion")
 John Stephenson – Dr. Sayer (in "Counterclock Crisis")
 Frank Welker – Dr. Kent (in "An Alien Affair"), Zorg (in "Found: One Lost World"), Lunex (in "Operation Starfall"), Terry (in "Operation Starfall"), Dr. Lucas Yates (in "The Chameleon's Sting"), Chameleon (in "The Chameleon's Sting")
 Keone Young – Blaster McGraw (in "Three Strikes and You're Dead"), Wheel (in "Three Strikes and You're Dead")

Episodes

Five-part mini-series
 "The Sky Is on Fire" (1986.04.07): written by Ted Pedersen
 "Battle Beneath the Sea" (1986.04.08): written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry
 "An Alien Affair" (1986.04.09): written by Ted Pedersen
 "Found: One Lost World" (1986.04.10): written by Don Glut
 "Sand Doom" (1986.04.11): written by Ted Pedersen

Season One
 "Whalesong" (1986.09.22): written by Gerry Conway and Carla Conway
 "Tornado of Terror" (1986.09.23): written by Gerry Conway and Carla Conway
 "Denver Is Down" (1986.09.24): written by Matt Uitz
 "Micro Menace" (1986.09.25): written by Jack Bornoff
 "Attack of the Plant-Borg" (1986.09.26): written by Don Goodman
 "Battle Beneath the Ice" (1986.09.29): written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry
 "Operation Starfall" (1986.09.30): written by Michael Reaves
 "Let the Games Begin" (1986.10.01): written by Marc Scott Zicree
 "Firebird" (1986.10.02): written by Matt Uitz
 "Cold Calculations" (1986.10.03): written by Kayte Kuch
 "Return of Captain Steele" (1986.10.06): written by Michael Reaves
 "Three Strikes and You're Dead" (1986.10.07): written by Larry DiTillio
 "Double Agent" (1986.10.08): written by Creighton Barnes
 "Child's Play" (1986.10.09): written by Kayte Kuch
 "Terror on Ice" (1986.10.10): written by Herb Engelhardt
 "That Old Black Magic" (1986.10.13): written by Gerry Conway and Carla Conway
 "Max Ray...Traitor" (1986.10.14): written by Marc Scott Zicree
 "Crack the World" (1986.10.15): written by Gerry Conway and Carla Conway
 "The Incredible Shrinking Centurions" (1986.10.16): written by Michael Cassutt and Mark Cassutt
 "Live at Five" (1986.10.17): written by Michael Charles Hill
 "The Mummy's Curse" (1986.10.20): written by Gerry Conway and Carla Conway
 "Counterclock Crisis" (1986.10.21): written by Gerry Conway and Carla Conway
 "Zombie Master" (1986.10.22): written by Creighton Barnes
 "Malfunction" (1986.10.23): written by Creighton Barnes and Matt Uitz
 "Broken Beams" (1986.10.24): written by Herb Engelhardt
 "The Chameleon's Sting" (1986.10.27): written by Kayte Kuch
 "Film at Eleven" (1986.10.28): written by Michael Charles Hill
 "Hacker Must Be Destroyed" (1986.10.29): written by Don Glut
 "Showdown at Skystalk" (1986.10.30): written by Michael Reaves
 "The Warrior" (1986.10.31): written by Mark Edens
 "Return of Cassandra" (1986.11.03): written by Gerry Conway and Carla Conway
 "Night on Terror Mountain" (1986.11.04): written by Mel Gilden
 "Merlin" (1986.11.05): written by Kip Gordy
 "The Monsters from Below" (1986.11.06): written by Gary Greenfield
 "The Road Devils" (1986.11.07): written by Gary Greenfield
 "Zone Dancer" (1986.11.10): written by Michael Reaves
 "Firecracker" (1986.11.11): written by Larry DiTillio
 "Traitors Three" (1986.11.12): written by Barbara Hambly
 "You Only Love Twice" (1986.11.13): written by Martha Humphreys
 "Sungrazer" (1986.11.14): written by Michael Reaves
 "Novice" (1986.11.17): written by Herb Engelhardt
 "Breakout" (1986.11.18): written by Antoni Zalewski
 "Atlantis Adventure, Part I" (1986.11.19): written by Steve Perry and Ted Pedersen
 "Atlantis Adventure, Part II" (1986.11.20): written by Steve Perry and Ted Pedersen
 "Ghost Warrior" (1986.11.21): written by Gerry Conway and Carla Conway
 "Let the Lightning Fall" (1986.11.24): written by Gerry Conway and Carla Conway
 "Cyborg Centurion" (1986.11.25): written by Michael Charles Hill
 "Day of the Animals" (1986.11.26): written by Steve Perry
 "To Dare Dominion, Part I" (1986.11.27): written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry
 "To Dare Dominion, Part II" (1986.11.28): written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry
 "Hole in the Ocean, Part I" (1986.12.01): written by Herb Engelhardt
 "Hole in the Ocean, Part II" (1986.12.02): written by Herb Engelhardt
 "The Better Half, Part I" (1986.12.03): written by Larry Huber
 "The Better Half, Part II" (1986.12.04): written by Larry Huber
 "Revenge" (1986.12.05): written by Kayte Kuch
 "Man or Machine, Part 1" (1986.12.08): written by Ted Pedersen and Steve Perry
 "Man or Machine, Part 2" (1986.12.09): written by Ted Pedersen and Steve Perry
 "Man or Machine, Part 3" (1986.12.10): written by Ted Pedersen and Steve Perry
 "Man or Machine, Part 4" (1986.12.11): written by Ted Pedersen and Steve Perry
 "Man or Machine, Part 5" (1986.12.12): written by Ted Pedersen and Steve Perry

Board Game
A board game called Centurions: Jake Rockwell's Battle to Stop Dr. Terror Game was released by Parker Brothers in 1986.

Video Games
A video game called Centurions Power X Treme was published by AriolaSoft for Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC in 1987. It was met with mixed reception by critics.

Home media
On December 6, 2011, Warner Home Video released The Centurions: The Original Miniseries on DVD in Region 1 via their Warner Archive Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in the US. On July 21, 2015, Warner Archive released The Centurions: Part One on DVD in Region 1 which contains the first thirty episodes of the regular series. On March 15, 2016, Warner Archive released The Centurions: Part Two on DVD, which contains the remaining thirty episodes of the series.

References

External links

 Virtual Toychest: Centurions – has pictures of most of the toys
 "Nostalgia tops favourite toy list" article at bbc.co.uk

1980s American animated television series
1980s American science fiction television series
1980s toys
1986 American television series debuts
1987 American television series endings
Action figures
American children's animated action television series
American children's animated adventure television series
American children's animated science fantasy television series
American children's animated superhero television series
Comics based on toys
DC Comics titles
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
Ruby-Spears superheroes
DC Comics superheroes
Television shows adapted into comics
Television series by Ruby-Spears
Television series set in the 21st century
Cyberpunk television series
Cyborgs in television

Centurions (TV series)


Ludwig Jungermann (4 July 1572 – 7 June 1653) was a German botanist and physician.

Biography
His father Caspar Jungermann (1531–1606) was a professor of law in Leipzig, his mother Ursula Camerarius (1539–1604) the daughter of the humanist Joachim Camerarius the Elder (1500-1574), a colleague and friend of Philipp Melanchthon. After studying medicine, Jungermann first lived in Nuremberg and then became professor of anatomy and botany in Giessen from 1614 to 1625. In 1616 he refused an appointment to the renowned Chair of Botany in London as successor to Matthias Lobelius, just as he had not followed previous appointments to the Universities of Rostock and Rinteln.

In Gießen he laid out the botanical garden (Hortus medicus). Today it is the oldest botanical garden in Germany, still standing in its original location. In 1625 he accepted a professorship for anatomy and botany at the University of Altdorf in Altdorf. There he also headed the Hortus medicus. Jungermann was the first botanist to publish local floren. A flora from Altdorf was published in 1615. His flora from Giessen, Cornucopiae Florae Giessensis and the Catalogus herbarum circa Giessam (both from 1623) are lost today.

In addition to the two floras, he published the Hortus Eystettensis together with Basilius Besler in Nuremberg as early as 1613. Jungermann was already regarded by his contemporaries as "vir botanicorum nemini secundus". He is said to have noticed that he would only marry when he was brought a plant that he could not identify. He died unmarried.

Heinrich Bernhard Ruppius named the genus Jungermannia from the plant family Jungermanniaceae in his honour. Carl von Linné later adopted this name.

References

17th-century German botanists
16th-century German physicians
17th-century German physicians
Academic staff of the University of Giessen
1572 births
1653 deaths
German anatomists

Ludwig Jungermann


#2019GantiPresiden was a Twitter hashtag and social media campaign in which Indonesian users shared their disapproval towards the Joko Widodo presidency. The main purpose of this campaign was a constitutional effort to replace the current president in the 2019 general election. The hashtag went viral after it was used by Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician Mardani Ali Sera on Twitter. In English, the term "Ganti Presiden" literally translates to "Replace the President."

Background
The #2019GantiPresiden was introduced by Mardani Ali Sera in April 2018, a politician from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) which was at the time the opposition party to the Joko Widodo's government. He began spreading the hashtag throughout his social media, with the aim of providing political education to the public, and to elect a new president in the upcoming 2019 general election. Mardani's statement was reinforced by the statement of the PKS president, Sohibul Iman. Previously, a movement with the same name was also launched by Mardani on his personal Twitter account on March 27, 2018. According to Mardani in a tweet, the hashtag was the antithesis of Joko Widodo's campaign of supporters on social media.

Many social media accounts began to retweet the hashtag. Within a short period of time, T-shirts were produced with the hashtag, with Mardani denying that the movement is a political campaign due to a lack of a supported replacement. The movement garnered significant support from other opposition politicians, including Amien Rais (PAN) and Yusril Ihza Mahendra (PBB). Reasons cited include pressure on Islamic organizations, influx of immigrant workers (mainly from China) due to relaxation of immigration rules and economic issues such as a lack of available jobs and increased prices of necessities.

Impact
#2019ChangePresident inspired several parties to create related attributes such as T-shirts and bracelets. There was a #2019GantiPresiden t-shirt seller at the Great Indonesia Movement Party National Working Meeting for Law and Advocacy at the Sultan Hotel, Jakarta. Some merchants also serve the order of the T-shirt by order, due to the sensitivity of the topic. However, several other merchants held their wares at online stores such as Bukalapak, Tokopedia, Shopee, and Lazada.

Some social media users also posted the pictures with the hashtag while visiting several cities overseas. In a speech, Joko Widodo mocked that the hashtag and T-shirt cannot change a president. PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto accused the movement of being a political move by the opposition and not an organic movement. In the 2018 West Java gubernatorial election, the hashtag was prominently used by the Sudrajat/Ahmad Syaikhu in their campaign to gain potential voters and significantly increased his electoral vote from 5-9 percent in survey polls to 27-30 percent in real count results, although the pair ultimately lost.

Rallies
Some declarations and rallies supporting the campaign were made in several cities, such as Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and Surakarta. Supporters also tried to organize rallies in Serang, but was denied permission from the municipal government. In addition, the West Java branch of the Indonesian Ulema Council decried the movement, calling them "provocateurs".

Response

Politicians
In response to the hashtag, president Joko Widodo responded by joking, "How can a t-shirt change the President? It's the people who can replace the President; if the people want it, they can change it. Both are blessings from God. If you change the shirt, you can change the President." His response was supported by Sohibul Iman,  while a similar response was made by Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Eva Kusuma Sundari, who called the hashtag phenomenon "sad" since the general election campaign had not even started yet, and who highlighted the increasingly intense efforts of the opposition party to criticize Joko Widodo. Golkar Party politician Ace Hasan Syadzily responded to the proliferation of t-shirts by saying that their circulation was an attempt to discredit the president, and that the performance of the president's government was considered by the people to have been very satisfactory, according to a survey.

The secretary of the NasDem party, Syarif Alkadrie, said the hashtag was used by people who were frustrated with Joko Widodo's government, while Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that #2019ChangePresident was only the wish of a few parties who wanted to replace Joko Widodo, and that it was natural for Joko Widodo to respond to the hashtag. Ruhut Sitompul doubted that the movement would actually replace Joko Widodo, citing the PKS' inability to eject Fahri Hamzah from his position as Deputy Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly despite him having been fired in 2016. Secretary General of the PDI-P Hasto Kristiyanto similarly considered #2019GantiPresident to be a political maneuver, not an aspiration, and said that the opposition couldn't do anything while Joko Widodo's electability was high.

Election officials
In April 2019, Abhan, the chairman of the General Election Supervisory Agency (BAWASLU), and Arief Budiman, the chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU), were asked by PDI-P representative Komarudin Watubun about the hashtag. Both said that the hashtag didn't violate the law, as no special rules had then been made regarding the 2019 general election campaign.

Satire
The Chairman of the United Development Party, Muhammad Romahurmuziy, proposed the hashtag #Lanjutkan212 in response, detailing that Joko Widodo had led Surakarta City for 2 periods, led the Special Capital Region of Jakarta for one period,  and was currently leading Indonesia. Romahurmuzy hoped that Joko Widodo would fulfill the hashtag's proposal of serving just one more term.

Secretary General of the NasDem Party Johnny G. Plate, who considered the movement unethical, insulted supporters of the movement by saying "the president will definitely end in 2019, as we will change the president. But the person will not change. So all we have to do is add to the hashtag #gantipresiden2019—just add in front of it 'ogah ah'" (which translates to "oh no").

Aftermath
In May 2019, after the 2019 election had passed, Mardani stated that the #2019GantiPresiden movement had "closed its books".

See also
 Hashtag activism
 Politics of Indonesia
 Jokowi Effect

References

2018 in Internet culture
2019 in Internet culture
Joko Widodo
Hashtags
Internet-based activism

2019GantiPresiden


Vernon Christopher Carter (born December 18, 1986) is an American professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter for the Pericos de Puebla of the Mexican League. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, and New York Yankees. In 2016, while playing for the Brewers, Carter led the National League in home runs, along with Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado, with 41.

Early life
Carter was born in Redwood City, California. At approximately age 7 or 8, his family moved to Las Vegas. He attended Sierra Vista High School. In 2005, Sierra Vista's baseball team won the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Class 4A state championship.

Professional career

Draft and minor leagues
Carter was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 15th round of the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft. Carter began his professional career with the  Bristol White Sox of the Rookie-level Appalachian League in 2005. He hit 10 home runs and had 37 runs batted in (RBIs). He played for two teams in the 2006 season. The teams included the Great Falls White Sox of the Rookie-level Pioneer League and the Kannapolis Intimidators of the Class A South Atlantic League. He had a combined total of 16 home runs and 63 RBIs. He played for Kannapolis in the 2007 season where he hit 25 home runs and had 93 RBIs.

During the 2007 offseason, the White Sox traded Carter to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Carlos Quentin.

Oakland Athletics (2010–2012)

Two weeks after he was traded to Arizona, the Diamondbacks traded Carter, Carlos González, Brett Anderson, Aaron Cunningham, Greg Smith, and Dana Eveland to the Oakland Athletics for Dan Haren and Connor Robertson. He played for the Stockton Ports of the Class A-Advanced California League in the 2008 season where he hit 39 home runs and had 104 RBIs. Carter was named the California League Rookie of the Year for the 2008 season. In 2009, Carter split time between the Midland RockHounds of the Class AA Texas League and the Sacramento River Cats of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League (PCL), putting a .329 batting average (a 70-point increase from 2008), 28 homers and 115 RBIs combined. In 2008 and 2009, Baseball America ranked Carter as one of the top 10 prospects in the Athletics' organization. Also in 2008 and 2009, Carter was the Oakland Athletics' Minor League Player of Year.

Carter was placed on the A's 40-man roster on November 20, 2009. In 2009, he was named the This Year in Minor League Baseball Awards "Overall Hitter of The Year". On August 9, 2010, Carter was promoted to Oakland and went 0–for–3 in his first game. On August 16, Carter was demoted to Sacramento after starting his career 0–for–19 with 12 strikeouts. After the AAA season ended, Carter was recalled to Oakland. On September 20, he snapped his 0–for–33 streak with a single in the sixth inning. On September 22, 2010 Carter hit his first major league home run against the Chicago White Sox.

Carter finished the 2010 season with a .186 batting average across 78 plate appearances and 24 games. He played in the Venezuelan Winter League upon completion of the 2010 season. He hit .136 in 15 MLB games the next year, spending most of that season in the Athletics' minor league system. He also split the 2012 season between MLB and the minor leagues, hitting .239 with 16 home runs and 39 RBI in 67 games.

Houston Astros (2013–2015)
After the 2012 season, the Athletics traded Carter to the Houston Astros with Brad Peacock and Max Stassi for Jed Lowrie and Fernando Rodriguez.

During the 2013 season, Carter played 148 games batting .223 with 29 home runs, 82 RBI, and struck out an MLB-leading 212 times. He became only the fourth player to strikeout 200 times in a season, with only Mark Reynolds having more strikeouts as a right-handed hitter.

The 2014 season started out even slower for Carter, as he batted only .153 throughout the entire month of April. Carter would turn his fortunes around after the All-Star break though, as finished with a .227 batting average and career highs of 37 home runs and 88 RBI. On January 14, 2015, Carter and the Astros agreed to a one-year contract worth $4.175 million, avoiding arbitration.

Carter had a disappointing 2015 season for the Astros. He was the team's starting first baseman, but hit only .199/.307/.427 in 129 games. For the season, he had the highest strikeout percentage among major leaguers against right-handed pitchers (35.6%). However, he still managed to hit 24 home runs, and then hit .294 with a home run against the Kansas City Royals during the 2015 American League Division Series. At the conclusion of the 2015 season Carter was non-tendered by the Astros, and became a free agent.

Milwaukee Brewers (2016)

On January 6, 2016, Carter signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. He posted a .321 on-base percentage and hit 41 home runs, leading the National League in 2016, while also leading the NL in at bats per home run (13.4) and games played (160). However, he had a .222 batting average and led the league with 206 strikeouts, and had the lowest contact percentage on his swings in the major leagues (64.6%). On defense, he led the NL in errors at first base (11). The Brewers did not tender Carter a contract for the 2017, making him a free agent.

New York Yankees (2017)
On February 16, 2017, the New York Yankees signed Carter to a one-year contract, worth $3.5 million. Carter batted .204 with eight home runs and 70 strikeouts before the Yankees designated him for assignment on June 24. He was called back up by the Yankees on June 29 when his replacement at first base, Tyler Austin, landed on the disabled list. On July 4, he was again designated for assignment, this time to make room for Ji-man Choi on the roster. He was released on July 10. In 2017, he batted .201/.284/.370.

Oakland Athletics (second stint)
On July 21, 2017, Carter signed a minor league contract with the Oakland Athletics organization and was assigned to the Nashville Sounds of the PCL. In 36 games for Triple–A Nashville, he batted .252/.357/.512 with 9 home runs and 22 RBI. Carter elected free agency following the season on November 6.

Los Angeles Angels
On February 18, 2018, Carter signed a minor league deal with the Los Angeles Angels.

Minnesota Twins
On May 22, 2018, the Angels traded Carter to the Minnesota Twins for cash. The Twins then assigned him to the Rochester Red Wings. He was released on July 7, 2018.

Acereros de Monclova
On February 13, 2019, Carter signed with the Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican League. In his first year with the club he led the league in Home runs (49) & RBIs (119), culminating in a victory in the Serie del Rey and the Acereros' first ever league championship. Carter did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the Mexican League season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, Carter played in only 26 games for Monclova, hitting .242/.324/.484 with 6 home runs and 19 RBI. For the 2022 season, Carter saw game action 70 times and slashed .249/.436/.549 with 18 home runs and 46 RBI. In 2023, Carter appeared in only 9 games for Monclova, slashing .129/.308/.323 with 1 home run and 5 RBIs. He was placed on the reserve list on May 16, 2023.

Pericos de Puebla
On May 31, 2023, Carter was loaned to the Pericos de Puebla of the Mexican League for the remainder of the 2023 season. In the month of July 2023 Carter clobbered 15 home runs and drove in 39 runs. Carter was named MVP of the 2023 Mexican World Series which Pericos de Puebla won.

Personal life
Carter's father, Vernon, played basketball for Rancho High School in North Las Vegas. Carter is a car enthusiast. He owns a Shelby Super Snake.

See also

 Houston Astros award winners and league leaders
 List of Houston Astros team records
 List of Milwaukee Brewers team records
 Notable people from Redwood City

References

External links

1986 births
Living people
Sportspeople from the Las Vegas Valley
Sportspeople from Redwood City, California
Baseball players from San Mateo County, California
Baseball players from Nevada
African-American baseball players
Mexican people of African-American descent
Major League Baseball first basemen
Major League Baseball left fielders
Major League Baseball designated hitters
National League home run champions
Oakland Athletics players
Houston Astros players
Milwaukee Brewers players
New York Yankees players
Bristol White Sox players
Great Falls White Sox players
Kannapolis Intimidators players
Stockton Ports players
North Shore Honu players
Midland RockHounds players
Sacramento River Cats players
Algodoneros de Guasave players
Nashville Sounds players
Salt Lake Bees players
Rochester Red Wings players
Acereros de Monclova players
Pericos de Puebla players
American expatriate baseball players in Mexico
21st-century African-American sportspeople
20th-century African-American people

Chris Carter (infielder)