FACT AND REASON OF THe WORLD

Hallucinations

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What you think about flat Earth??

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A small view of 10 with universe...

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Blackholes : The most powerful existence of space..

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Are we living in a computer simulation?

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Fermi paradox best video

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Fermi paradox

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The Fermi paradox is a conflict between arguments of scale and probability that seem to favor intelligent life being common in the universe, and a total lack of evidence of intelligent life having ever arisen anywhere other than on the Earth.

The first aspect of the Fermi paradox is a function of the scale or the large numbers involved: there are an estimated 200–400 billion stars in the Milky Way (2–4 × 10¹¹) and 70 sextillion (7×10²²) in the observable universe. Even if intelligent life occurs on only a minuscule percentage of planets around these stars, there might still be a great number of extant civilizations, and if the percentage were high enough it would produce a significant number of extant civilizations in the Milky Way. This assumes the mediocrity principle, by which the Earth is a typical planet.

The second aspect of the Fermi paradox is the argument of probability: given intelligent life's ability to overcome scarcity, and its tendency to colonize new habitats, it seems possible that at least some civilizations would be technologically advanced, seek out new resources in space, and colonize their own star system and, subsequently, surrounding star systems. Since there is no significant evidence on Earth, or elsewhere in the known universe, of other intelligent life after 13.8 billion years of the universe's history, there is a conflict requiring a resolution. Some examples of possible resolutions are that intelligent life is rarer than we think, that our assumptions about the general development or behavior of intelligent species are flawed, or, more radically, that our current scientific understanding of the nature of the universe itself is quite incomplete.

The Fermi paradox can be asked in two ways. The first is, "Why are no aliens or their artifacts found here on Earth, or in the Solar System?" If interstellar travel is possible, even the "slow" kind nearly within the reach of Earth technology, then it would only take from 5 million to 50 million years to colonize the galaxy. This is relatively brief on a geological scale, let alone a cosmological one. Since there are many stars older than the Sun, and since intelligent life might have evolved earlier elsewhere, the question then becomes why the galaxy has not been colonized already. Even if colonization is impractical or undesirable to all alien civilizations, large-scale exploration of the galaxy could be possible by probes. These might leave detectable artifacts in the Solar System, such as old probes or evidence of mining activity, but none of these have been observed.

The second form of the question is "Why do we see no signs of intelligence elsewhere in the universe?" This version does not assume interstellar travel, but includes other galaxies as well. For distant galaxies, travel times may well explain the lack of alien visits to Earth, but a sufficiently advanced civilization could potentially be observable over a significant fraction of the size of the observable universe. Even if such civilizations are rare, the scale argument indicates they should exist somewhere at some point during the history of the universe, and since they could be detected from far away over a considerable period of time, many more potential sites for their origin are within range of our observation. It is unknown whether the paradox is stronger for our galaxy or for the universe as a whole.

Parallel universe

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A parallel universe is a hypothetical self-contained reality co-existing with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality. While the terms "parallel universe" and "alternative reality" are generally synonymous and can be used interchangeably in most cases, there is sometimes an additional connotation implied with the term "alternative reality" that implies that the reality is a variant of our own. The term "parallel universe" is more general, without any connotations implying a relationship, or lack of relationship, with our own universe. A universe where the very laws of nature are different – for example, one in which there are no Laws of Motion – would in general count as a parallel universe but not an alternative reality and a concept between both fantasy world and earth.

Science fiction

While technically incorrect, and looked down upon by hard science-fiction fans and authors, the idea of another "dimension" has become synonymous with the term "parallel universe". The usage is particularly common in movies, television and comic books and much less so in modern prose science fiction. The idea of a parallel world was first introduced in comic books with the publication of Flash #123 - "Flash of Two Worlds".

In written science fiction, "new dimensions" more commonly – and more accurately – refer to additional coordinate axes, beyond the three spatial axes with which we are familiar. By proposing travel along these extra axes, which are not normally perceptible, the traveler can reach worlds that are otherwise unreachable and invisible.

Edwin A. Abbott's Flatland is set in a world of two dimensions.

In 1884, Edwin A. Abbott wrote the seminal novel exploring this concept called Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. It describes a world of two dimensions inhabited by living squares, triangles, and circles, called Flatland, as well as Pointland (0 dimensions), Lineland (1 dimension), and Spaceland (three dimensions) and finally posits the possibilities of even greater dimensions. Isaac Asimov, in his foreword to the Signet Classics 1984 edition, described Flatland as "The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions."

In 1895, The Time Machine by H. G. Wells used time as an additional "dimension" in this sense, taking the four-dimensional model ofclassical physics and interpreting time as a space-like dimension in which humans could travel with the right equipment. Wells also used the concept of parallel universes as a consequence of time as the fourth dimension in stories like The Wonderful Visit and Men Like Gods, an idea proposed by the astronomer Simon Newcomb, who talked about both time and parallel universes; "Add a fourth dimension to space, and there is room for an indefinite number of universes, all alongside of each other, as there is for an indefinite number of sheets of paper when we pile them upon each other".

Early Earth Was Purple

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The earliest life on Earth might have been just as purple as it is green today, a scientist claims.

Ancient microbes might have used a molecule other than chlorophyll to harness the Sun's rays, one that gave the organisms a violet hue.

Chlorophyll, the main photosynthetic pigment of plants, absorbs mainly blue and red wavelengths from the Sun and reflects green ones, and it is this reflected light that gives plants their leafy color. This fact puzzles some biologists because the sun transmits most of its energy in the green part of the visible spectrum.

"Why would chlorophyll have this dip in the area that has the most energy?" said Shil DasSarma, a microbial geneticist at the University of Maryland.

After all, evolution has tweaked the human eye to be most sensitive to green light (which is why images from night-vision goggles are tinted green). So why is photosynthesis not fine-tuned the same way?

Possible answer

DasSarma thinks it is because chlorophyll appeared after another light-sensitive molecule called retinal was already present on early Earth. Retinal, today found in the plum-colored membrane of a photosynthetic microbe called halobacteria, absorbs green light and reflects back red and violet light, the combination of which appears purple.

Primitive microbes that used retinal to harness the sun's energy might have dominated early Earth, DasSarma said, thus tinting some of the first biological hotspots on the planet a distinctive purple color.

Being latecomers, microbes that used chlorophyll could not compete directly with those utilizing retinal, but they survived by evolving the ability to absorb the very wavelengths retinal did not use, DasSarma said.

"Chlorophyll was forced to make use of the blue and red light, since all the green light was absorbed by the purple membrane-containing organisms," said William Sparks, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Maryland, who helped DasSarma develop his idea.

Chlorophyll more efficient

The researchers speculate that chlorophyll- and retinal-based organisms coexisted for a time. "You can imagine a situation where photosynthesis is going on just beneath a layer of purple membrane-containing organisms," DasSarma told LiveScience.

But after a while, the researchers say, the balance tipped in favor of chlorophyll because it is more efficient than retinal.

"Chlorophyll may not sample the peak of the solar spectrum, but it makes better use of the light that it does absorb," Sparks explained.

DasSarma admits his ideas are currently little more than speculation, but says they fit with other things scientists know about retinal and early Earth.

Bodhidharma

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Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to Chinese legend, he also began the physical training of the monks of Shaolin Monastery that led to the creation of Shaolin Kung Fu. In Japan, he is known as Daruma.

Little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharma is extant, and subsequent accounts became layered with legend. The principal Chinese sources vary on their account of Bodhidharma's origins, giving either an origin from India orCentral Asia. Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as an ill-tempered, profusely-bearded, wide-eyed non-Chinese person. He is referred as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian" (Chinese: 碧眼胡; pinyin: Bìyǎnhú) in Chan texts.

Aside from the Chinese accounts, several popular traditions also exist regarding Bodhidharma's origins.

The accounts also differ on the date of his arrival, with one early account claiming that he arrived during the Liu Song dynasty (420–479) and later accounts dating his arrival to the Liang dynasty (502–557). Bodhidharma was primarily active in the territory of the Northern Wei (386–534). Modern scholarship dates him to about the early 5th century.

Bodhidharma's teachings and practice centered on meditation and the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra. The Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall(952) identifies Bodhidharma as the 28th Patriarch of Buddhism in an uninterrupted line that extends all the way back to the Gautama Buddha himself.

[]Bodhidharma

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Appearance after his death

Three years after Bodhidharma's death, Ambassador Sòngyún of northern Wei is said to have seen him walking while holding a shoe at the Pamir Heights. Sòngyún asked Bodhidharma where he was going, to which Bodhidharma replied "I am going home". When asked why he was holding his shoe, Bodhidharma answered "You will know when you reach Shaolin monastery. Don't mention that you saw me or you will meet with disaster". After arriving at the palace, Sòngyún told the emperor that he met Bodhidharma on the way. The emperor said Bodhidharma was already dead and buried and had Sòngyún arrested for lying. At Shaolin Monastery, the monks informed them that Bodhidharma was dead and had been buried in a hill behind the temple. The grave was exhumed and was found to contain a single shoe. The monks then said "Master has gone back home" and prostrated three times: "For nine years he had remained and nobody knew him; Carrying a shoe in hand he went home quietly, without ceremony.

Paul McCartney

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Sir Paul McCartney MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM
McCartney performing in England, 2010
Background information
Birth name	James Paul McCartney
Born	18 June 1942 (age 70) Liverpool, England
Genres	Rock, pop, classical,electronica
Occupations	Musician, composer, music producer, film producer,businessman
Instruments	Vocals, bass guitar, guitar,keyboards, drums
Years active	1957–present
Labels	Apple, Capitol, Columbia,Decca, Hear Music,Parlophone, Polydor, Swan,Vee-Jay
Associated acts	The Quarrymen, The Beatles,Wings, The Fireman, Linda McCartney, Denny Laine
Website	www.paulmccartney.com
Notable instruments
Höfner 500/1 Rickenbacker 4001S Epiphone Texan Gibson Les Paul Epiphone Casino Martin D-28 Wal 5-String Bass

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM (born 18 June 1942), is an English musician, singer, songwriter and composer. With John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, he gained worldwide fame as a member of the Beatles, and his collaboration with Lennon is one of the most celebrated songwriting partnerships of the 20th century. After the group's break-up he pursued a solo career, forming the band Wings with his first wife,Linda, and singer-songwriter Denny Laine.

McCartney has been described by Guinness World Records as the "most successful composer and recording artist of all time", with 60 gold discsand sales of over 100 million albums and 100 million singles, and as the "most successful songwriter" in United Kingdom chart history.^[1] His Beatles song "Yesterday" has been covered by over 2,200 artists, more than any other song in history. Wings' 1977 release "Mull of Kintyre", is one of the all-time best-selling singles in the UK. McCartney has written or co-written 32 songs that have reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and as of 2012 he has sold over 15.5 million RIAA-certified units in the United States.

McCartney has released a large catalogue of songs as a solo artist, and has composed classical and electronic music. He has taken part in projects to promote international charities related to such subjects as animal rights, seal hunting, landmines, vegetarianism, poverty and music education. He has been married three times and is the father of five children.

Thomas J. Hudner, Jr.

2012-07-26T09:19:00.003-07:00

Thomas Jerome Hudner, Jr.

Nickname	"Lou"^[1]
Born	31 August 1924 (age 87) Fall River, Massachusetts
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1946–1973
Rank	Captain
Unit	Fighter Squadron 32 USS Helena (CA-75) Carrier Division 3 Development Squadron 3 60th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Fighter Squadron 53 USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)
Commands held	Training Squadron 24
Battles/wars	Korean War Battle of Chosin Reservoir Vietnam War
Awards	Medal of Honor

Thomas Jerome Hudner, Jr. (born 31 August 1924) is a retired officer of the United States Navy and a former naval aviator. He rose to the rank of captain, and received the Medal of Honor for his actions in trying to save the life of his wingman, Ensign Jesse L. Brown, during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War.

Born in Fall River, Massachusetts, Hudner attended Phillips Academy and the United States Naval Academy. Initially uninterested in aviation, he eventually took up flying and joined Fighter Squadron 32, flying the F4U Corsair at the outbreak of the Korean War. Arriving near Korea in October 1950, he flew support missions from the USS Leyte.

On 4 December 1950, Hudner and Brown were among a group of pilots on patrol near the Chosin Reservoir when Brown's Corsair was struck by ground fire from Chinese troops and crashed. In an attempt to save Brown from his burning aircraft, Hudner intentionally crash-landed his own aircraft on a snowy mountain in freezing temperatures to help Brown. In spite of these efforts, Brown died of his injuries and Hudner was forced to evacuate, having also been injured in the landing.

Following the incident, Hudner held positions aboard several U.S. Navy ships and with a number of aviation units, including a brief stint asExecutive Officer of the USS Kitty Hawk during a brief tour in the Vietnam War, before retiring in 1973. In subsequent years, he has worked for various veterans organizations in the United States. He is currently living in retirement in Concord, Massachusetts. The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner will be named for him.

Military career

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States' entry into World War II, Hudner heard a speech by academy headmaster Claude Fuess which he later said inspired him to join the military. One of 10 from Phillips to be accepted into the academy from his class, he entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1943 and graduated in 1946.^[3]^[4] By the time he was commissioned, however, World War II had ended.^[3] Hudner attended the Naval Academy with a number of other notable classmates, including James B. Stockdale, Jimmy Carter, and Stansfield Turner. He played football at the academy, eventually becoming a starting running back for the junior varsity team.^[5]

Hudner shortly after becoming a naval aviator in 1950.

After graduation, Hudner served as a communications officer aboard several surface ships.^[6] During his initial years in the military, Hudner said he had no interest in aircraft. After a one-year tour of duty aboard the Baltimore-class heavy cruiser USS Helena, which was operating off the coast of Taiwan, he transferred to a post as a communications officer at the Naval Base Pearl Harbor where he served for another year.^[7] By 1948, Hudner became interested in aviation, and applied to flight school, seeing it as "a new challenge". He was accepted into Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida, where he completed basic flight training, and was transferred to Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas, where he completed advanced flight training and was certified a Naval Aviator in August 1949.^[7] After a brief posting in Lebanon, Hudner was assigned to Fighter Squadron 32 aboard theUSS Leyte, piloting the F4U Corsair.^[8] He later said he enjoyed this assignment, as he considered the Corsair to be "safe and comfortable".^[5]

[edit]Korean War

On the night of 25 June 1950, ten divisions of the North Korean People's Army launched a full-scale invasion of the nation's neighbor to the south, theRepublic of Korea. The force of 89,000 men moved in six columns, catching the Republic of Korea Army by surprise, resulting in a rout. The smaller South Korean army suffered from widespread lack of organization and equipment, and was unprepared for war.^[9] The numerically superior North Korean forces destroyed isolated resistance from the 38,000 South Korean soldiers on the front before it began moving steadily south.^[10] Most of South Korea's forces retreated in the face of the invasion.^[11] The North Koreans were well on their way to South Korea's capital of Seoul within hours, forcing the government and its shattered army to retreat further south.^[11]

To prevent South Korea's collapse the United Nations Security Council voted to send military forces. The United States' Seventh Fleet dispatched Task Force 77, led by the fleet carrier USS Valley Forge, and the British Far East Fleet dispatched several ships, including HMS Triumph, to provide air and naval support.^[12] Although the navies blockaded North Korea and launched aircraft to delay the North Korean forces these efforts alone did not stop the North Korean Army juggernaut on its southern advance.^[13] U.S. President Harry S. Truman later ordered ground troops into the country to supplement the air support.^[14] All U.S. Navy units and ships including the Leyte were placed on alert.^[15] The ship was in the Mediterranean Sea, and Hudner did not expect to be deployed to Korea, but on 8 August a relief carrier arrived in the area and the Leyte was ordered to Korea.^[16]Naval commanders felt the pilots on the Leyte were better trained and prepared than those of other available carriers, and so they were among the first dispatched to the theater. The Leyte sailed from the Strait of Gibraltar across the Atlantic Ocean and to Quonset, then through the Panama Canal and San Diego, California, Hawaii, and Japan before arriving in the waters off Korea around 8 October.^[15]^[17]

The ship joined Task Force 77 off the northeast coast of the Korean Peninsula, part of a fleet of 17 ships from the U.S. Seventh Fleet, including the aircraft carrier USS Philippine Sea, battleship USS Missouri and cruiser USS Juneau.^[18] Hudner flew 20 missions in the country.^[15] These missions included attacks on communication lines, troop concentrations and military installations around Wonsan, Chongpu, Songjim and Senanju.^[19]

Following the entrance of the People's Republic of China into the war in late November 1950, Hudner and his squadron were dispatched to the Chosin Reservoir, where an intense campaign was being fought between the People's Volunteer Army and the U.S. X Corps.^[15] Almost 100,000 Chinese troops had surrounded 15,000 U.S. troops, and the pilots on the Leyte were flying dozens ofclose air support missions every day to prevent the Chinese from overrunning the area.^[20]^[21]

[edit]Medal of Honor action

Ensign Jesse L. Brown, whom Hudner received the Medal of Honor for attempting to save in 1950.

Main articles: Battle of Chosin Reservoir and Jesse L. Brown

On 4 December 1950, Hudner was part of a six-aircraft flight supporting U.S. Marine Corps ground troops who were trapped by Chinese forces.^[22] At 13:38, he took off from the Leyte with squadron executive officer Lieutenant Commander Dick Cevoli, Lieutenant George Hudson, Lieutenant Junior Grade Bill Koenig, Ensign Ralph McQueen, and Ensign Jesse L. Brown, who was Hudner's wingman.^[23] The flight traveled 100 miles (160 km) from Task Force 77's location to the Chosin Reservoir, flying 35 to 40 minutes through very harsh wintery weather to the vicinity of the villages Yudam-ni and Hagaru-ri. The flight began searching for targets along the west side of the reservoir, lowering their altitude to 700 feet (210 m) in the process.^[24] The three-hour search and destroy mission was also an attempt to probe Chinese troop strength in the area.^[6]^[25]

Though the flight spotted no Chinese, at 14:40 Koenig radioed to Brown that he appeared to be trailing fuel.^[25] The damage had likely come by small arms fire from Chinese infantry, who were known to hide in the snow and ambush passing aircraft by firing in unison.^[26] At least one bullet had ruptured a fuel line. Brown, losing fuel pressure and increasingly unable to control the aircraft, dropped his external fuel tanks and rockets and attempted to land the craft in a snow-covered clearing on the side of a mountain. Brown crashed into a bowl-shaped valley at approximately 40°36′N 127°06′E,^[25]^[27] near Somong-ni, 15 miles (24 km) behind Chinese lines and in 15-degree weather.^[28] The aircraft broke up violently upon impact and was destroyed.^[29] In the crash, Brown's leg was pinned beneath the fuselage of the Corsair, and he stripped off his helmet and gloves in an attempt to free himself, before waving to the other pilots, who were circling close overhead.^[15] Hudner and the other airborne pilots thought Brown had died in the crash,^[25] and they immediately began a mayday radio to any heavy transport aircraft in the area as they canvassed the mountain for any sign of nearby Chinese ground forces.^[30] They received a signal that a rescue helicopter would come as soon as possible, but Brown's aircraft was smoking and a fire had started near its internal fuel tanks.^[6]^[28]

Hudner attempted in vain to rescue Brown via radio instruction, before intentionally crash-landing his aircraft, running to Brown's side and attempting to wrestle him free from the wreck. With Brown's condition worsening by the minute, Hudner attempted to drown the aircraft fire in snow, and pull Brown from the aircraft, all in vain. Brown began slipping in and out of consciousness, but in spite of being in great pain, did not complain to Hudner.^[21] A rescue helicopter arrived around 15:00, and Hudner and its pilot, Lieutenant Charles Ward, were unable to put out the engine fire with a fire extinguisherand tried in vain to free Brown with an axe for 45 minutes. They briefly considered, at Brown's request, amputating his trapped leg.^[31] Brown lost consciousness for the last time shortly thereafter. His last known words, which he told Hudner, were "tell Daisy I love her."^[15]^[21] The helicopter, which was unable to operate in the darkness, was forced to leave at nightfall with Hudner, leaving Brown behind. Brown is believed to have died shortly thereafter of his injuries and exposure to the extreme cold. No Chinese forces threatened the site, likely because of the heavy air presence of the VF-32 pilots.^[32]

Hudner begged superiors to allow him to return to the wreck to help extract Brown, but he was not allowed, as other officers feared an ambush of the vulnerable helicopters resulting in additional casualties. In order to prevent the body and the aircraft from falling into Chinese or North Korean hands, the U.S. Navy bombed the crash site with napalm two days later, reciting the Lord's Prayerover the radio as they watched Brown's body consumed by flames.^[33] The pilots observed that his body looked to have been disturbed and his clothes stolen, but he was still stuck in the aircraft. The remains of both Brown and the aircraft were never recovered.^[34] Brown was the first U.S. Navy officer killed in the war.^[6]^[33]

Hudner receives the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman in April 1951.

The 4 December incident grounded Hudner for a month, as he injured his back in the landing, an injury he later said persisted for 6 to 8 years. He flew 27 combat missions during the war,^[7] serving there until 20 January 1951, when the Leyte was rotated back to the Atlantic Fleet.^[35] On 13 April 1951, Hudner received the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman, meeting Brown's widow, Daisy Brown, in the process. The two stayed in regular contact for at least 50 years following this meeting.^[34] He was the first servicemember to be awarded the medal during the Korean War, though several others would be awarded the medal for actions which occurred before 4 December 1950.^[6]^[a]

Hudner said he was occasionally criticized for his actions, and "about 90" people have told him he acted recklessly. His commanders noted his actions may have endangered the helicopter pilot and sacrificed an aircraft, criticisms Hudner later said did not make him regret his decision, as he felt it was a spur of the moment action. Still, commanders later issued orders forbidding pilots from crash-landing in a similar way to try to save downed wingmen.^[36]On later reflection, Hudner indicated he did not consider himself a hero for his actions.^[37]

[edit]Later Navy career

After receiving the Medal of Honor, Hudner was transferred to the United States and served as a flight instructor at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas in 1952 and 1953. Following this, he served as a staff officer for Carrier Division 3, which at the time was part of Task Force 77 and operating around Japan, in 1953 and 1954. In 1955 and 1956, he served in Development Squadron 3 at Naval Air Station Atlantic City in New Jersey, where he flew developmental and experimental aircraft. During this time, he was trained on jet engine-powered aircraft.^[7]

Beginning in October 1957, Hudner served in an exchange program with the U.S. Air Force, flying for two years with the 60th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Otis Air Force Base in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. During this assignment, he flew the F-94 Starfire and the F-101 Voodoo. He was then promoted to commander and served as aide to the Chief of the Bureau of Naval Weapons until 1962, when he attended the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Upon graduating in July 1963, he returned to flying duty and was appointed the executive officer of Fighter Squadron 53, flying the F-8E Crusader aboard the USS Ticonderoga. After serving as executive officer, Hudner assumed command of VF-53. Following this assignment, he was transferred to a position as Leadership Training Officer at the office of Commander, Naval Air Forces, at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, California.^[7]

Hudner was promoted to captain in 1965, taking command of Training Squadron 24 at Naval Air Station Chase Field in Bee County, Texas, which he commanded in 1965 and 1966. In 1966 he was assigned to the USS Kitty Hawk, first as a navigator, then as the ship's executive officer. The Kitty Hawk deployed off the shore of South Vietnam in 1966 and 1967, flying missions in support of the Vietnam War, and he served on the ship during this tour but saw no combat and flew none of the missions himself. In 1968, he was assigned as the operations officer for the Southeast Asia Air Operations division of the U.S. Navy.^[7] That year, he married Georgea Smith, a widow with three children, whom he had met in San Diego. The two had one son together, Thomas Jerome Hudner III, born in 1971.^[38] Hudner's final Navy posting was as the head of Aviation Technical Training in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington, D.C., a post which he held until his retirement in February 1973.^[7]

On 17 February 1973, days before Hudner's retirement, the Navy commissioned the Knox-class frigate USS Jesse L. Brown (FF-1089), the first U.S. ship named in honor of an African American. Present at the commissioning ceremony in Boston, Massachusetts, were Daisy Brown Thorne, who had remarried, her daughter Pamela Brown, and Hudner, who gave a dedication.^[15] The ship was decommissioned on 27 July 1994 and sold to Egypt.^[33]^[39]

[edit]Later life

Hudner (right) speaks with Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter after a ceremony honoring veterans in 2008.

After retiring, Hudner initially worked as a management consultant, and later worked with the United Service Organizations. Because of his Medal of Honor, he worked regularly with various veterans groups in his retirement as a leader in the veterans' community, otherwise living a quiet life.^[38] From 1991 to 1999 he served as Commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Veterans' Services, the state's branch of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, until he gave up that position to Thomas G. Kelley, another Medal of Honor recipient.^[38]

He received a number of honors in his later life. In 1989, he was honored by the Gathering of Eagles Program of the Air Force at Maxwell Air Force Base.^[7] In 2001, Hudner presented Daisy Brown Thorne with several of Jesse Brown's posthumous medals at Mississippi State University.^[34] In May 2012, the Secretary of the Navy announced that an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer will be named USS Thomas Hudner.^[40]^[41]

From 1991 to 2012,^[41] Hudner has lived in Concord, Massachusetts, with his wife, Georgea.

bivalves

2012-07-26T09:14:00.002-07:00

Bivalvia, commonly called the bivalves, is a taxonomic class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have a laterally compressed body enclosed by a shell in two hinged parts. This class includes the clams, oysters, mussels, scallops and numerous other families. The majority are filter feeders and have no head or rasping tongue. The gills have evolved into ctenidia, specialised organs for feeding and breathing. Most bivalves bury themselves in sediment on the seabed where they are safe from predation. Others lie on the sea floor or attach themselves to rocks or other hard surfaces. A few bore into wood, clay or stone and live inside these substances. Some bivalves, such as the scallops, can swim.

The shell of a bivalve is composed of calcium carbonate and consists of two, usually similar, parts called valves. These are joined together at one edge by a flexible ligament that, in conjunction with nearby interlocking "teeth" on the two valves, are known collectively as the hinge. This arrangement allows the shell to be opened and closed without the two halves becoming disarticulated. The shell is typically bilaterally symmetrical, with the hinge lying in the sagittal plane. Adult shell sizes vary from fractions of a millimetre to over a metre in length but the majority of species do not exceed ten centimetres (four inches).

Bivalves have long been a part of the diet of coastal communities. Oysters were cultured in ponds by the Romans and mariculture has more recently become an important source of bivalves for food. Modern knowledge of molluscan reproductive cycles has led to the development of hatcheries and new culture techniques. A better understanding of the hazards of eating raw and undercooked shellfish has led to improved storage and processing. Besides their use as food, oysters are the most common source of natural pearls. The shells of bivalves are used in craftwork and in the manufacture of jewellery and buttons. Bivalves have also been used in the biocontrol of pollution.

Bivalves first appeared in the fossil record in the early Cambrian more than 500 million years ago. The total number of living species is approximately 9,200. These species are placed within 1,260 genera and 106 families. Marine bivalves (including brackish water and estuarine species) represent about 8,000 species, combined in four subclasses and 99 families with 1,100 genera. The largest recent marine families are Veneridae with more than 680 species and the Tellinidae and Lucinidae, each with over 500 species. The freshwater bivalves include seven families, the largest of which is theUnionidae with about 700 species.

Bivalvia Temporal range: early Cambrian–Recent^[1]^[2] PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N

"Acephala", from Ernst Haeckel'sKunstformen der Natur (1904)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Bivalvia Linnaeus, 1758
Subclasses
†Euprotobranchia Heterodonta Palaeoheterodonta Protobranchia Pteriomorphia

Empty shell of the giant clam
(Tridacna gigas)

Empty shells of the sword razor
(Ensis ensis)

[hide]

[edit]Etymology

The taxonomic term Bivalvia was first used by Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae in 1758 to refer to molluscs that had shells composed of two valves.^[3] More recently the class was known as Pelecypoda, meaning "axe-foot" (based on the shape of the soft parts of the animal). Other names that have been used for this class include Lamellibranchia (based on the plate-like gill elements, the ctenidium) and Acephala (based on the fact that, unlike other molluscs, these animals have no head).^[4]

The name bivalve is derived from the Latin bis, meaning "two", and valvae, meaning "leaves of a door".^[4] Not all animals that have shells with two hinged parts are classified under Bivalvia; other animals with paired valves include certain gastropods (small sea snails in the family Juliidae),^[5] members of the phylum Brachiopoda ^[6] and the minute crustaceans known as ostracods^[7] and conchostrachans.^[8]

[edit]Anatomy

Drawing of freshwater pearl mussel(Margaritifera margaritifera) anatomy: 1: posterior adductor, 2: anterior adductor, 3: outer gill demibranch, 4: inner gill demibranch, 5: excurrent siphon, 6: incurrent siphon, 7: foot, 8: teeth, 9: hinge, 10: mantle, 11: umbo

Interior of the left valve of a venerid

Main parts of a bivalve shell: 1: sagittal plane, 2: growth lines, 3: ligament, 4: umbo

Digestive system

[edit]Modes of feeding

Most bivalves are filter feeders, using their gills to capture particulate food such as phytoplankton from the water. The Protobranchs feed in a different way, scraping detritus from the seabed, and this may be the original mode of feeding used by all bivalves before the gills became adapted for filter feeding. These primitive bivalves hold onto the substratum with a pair of tentacles at the edge of the mouth, each of which has a single palp, or flap. The tentacles are covered in mucus, which traps the food, and cilia, which transport the particles back to the palps. These then sort the particles, rejecting those that are unsuitable or too large to digest, and conveying others to the mouth.^[20]

In the Filibranchia and Eulamellibranchia, water is drawn into the shell from the posterior ventral surface of the animal, passes upwards through the gills and doubles back to be expelled just above the intake. In burrowing species, there may be two elongated, retractable siphons reaching up to the seabed, one each for the inhalant and exhalant streams of water. The gills of filter-feeding bivalves are known as ctenidia and have become highly modified to increase their ability to capture food. For example, the cilia on the gills, which originally served to remove unwanted sediment, have become adapted to capture food particles, and transport them in a steady stream of mucus to the mouth. The filaments of the gills are also much longer than those in more primitive bivalves, and are folded over to create a groove through which food can be transported. The structure of the gills varies considerably, and can serve as a useful means for classifying bivalves into groups.^[28]

A few bivalves, such as the granular poromya (Poromya granulata), are carnivorous, eating much larger prey than the tiny microalgae consumed by other bivalves. In these animals, the gills are relatively small, and form a perforated barrier separating the main mantle cavity from a smaller chamber through which the water is exhaled. Muscles draw water in through the inhalant siphon which is modified into a cowl-shaped organ, sucking in small crustaceans and worms at the same time. The siphon can be retracted quickly and inverted, bringing the prey within reach of the mouth. The gut is modified so that large food particles can be digested.^[27]

The unusual genus, Entovalva, is endosymbiontic, being found only in the oesophagus of sea cucumbers. It has mantle folds that completely surround its small valves. When the sea cucumber sucks in sediment, the bivalve allows the water to pass over its gills and extracts fine organic particles. To prevent itself from being swept away, it attaches itself with byssal threads to the host'sthroat. The sea cucumber is unharmed.^[29]

[edit]Digestive tract

The digestive tract of typical bivalves consists of an oesophagus, stomach, and intestine. A number of digestive glands open into the stomach, often via a pair of diverticula; these secrete enzymes to digest food in the stomach, but also include cells that phagocytose food particles, and digest them intracellularly. In filter-feeding bivalves, an elongated rod of solidified mucus referred to as the "crystalline style" projects into the stomach from an associated sac. Cilia in the sac cause the style to rotate, winding in a stream of food-containing mucus from the mouth, and churning the stomach contents. This constant motion propels food particles into a sorting region at the rear of the stomach, which distributes smaller particles into the digestive glands, and heavier particles into the intestine.^[30] Waste material is consolidated in the rectum and voided as pellets into the exhalent water stream through an anal pore. Feeding and digestion are synchronized with diurnal and tidal cycles.^[31]

Carnivorous bivalves have a greatly reduced style, and a chitinous gizzard that helps grind up the food before digestion. In other ways their gut is similar to that of filter-feeding bivalves.^[20]

[edit]Excretory system

Like most other molluscs, the excretory organs of bivalves are a pair of nephridia. Each of these consists of a long, looped, glandular tube, which opens into the body cavity just beneath the heart, and a bladder to store urine. There are also pericardial glands, either lining the auricles of the heart or attached to the pericardium, which serve as extra filtration organs. Metabolic waste is voided from the bladders through a pair of openings near the front of the upper part of the mantle cavity, from where it joins the stream of exhalant water.^[32]

[edit]Reproduction and development

The sexes are usually separate in bivalves but some hermaphroditism is known. The gonads are located close to the intestines, and either open into the nephridia, or through a separate pore into the mantle cavity.^[33] The ripe gonads of male and females release sperm and eggs into the water column. Spawning may take place continually or be triggered by environmental factors such as day length, water temperature or the presence of sperm in the water. Some species are "dribble spawners" but others release their gametes in batches or all at once. Mass spawning events sometimes take place when all the bivalves in an area synchronise their release of spawn.^[34]

Fertilization is usually external. Typically, there is a short stage lasting a few hours or days before the eggs hatch into trochophore larvae. These later develop into veliger larvae which settle on the seabed and undergo metamorphosis into juveniles known as spat.^[35] In some species, such as those in the genus Lasaea, females draw water containing sperm in through their inhalant siphons and fertilisation is inside the female. These species then brood the young inside their mantle cavity, eventually releasing them into the water column as veliger larvae or as crawl-away juveniles.^[36]

Most of the bivalve larvae that hatch from eggs in the water column feed on diatoms or other phytoplankton. In temperate regions, about 25% of species are lecithotrophic, depending on nutrients stored in the yolk of the egg where the main energy source is lipids. The longer the period is before the larva first feeds, the larger the egg and yolk need to be. The reproductive cost of producing these energy-rich eggs is high and they are usually smaller in number. For example, the Baltic tellin (Macoma balthica) produces few, high-energy eggs. The larvae hatching out of these rely on the energy reserves and do not feed. After about four days they become D-stage larvae, the stage at which they first develop hinged, D-shaped valves. These larvae have a relatively small dispersal potential before settling out. The common mussel (Mytilus edulis) produces ten times as many eggs that hatch into larvae and soon need to feed in order to survive and grow. They can disperse more widely as they remain planktonic for a much longer time.^[37]

Freshwater bivalves in the order Unionoida have a different life cycle. Sperm is drawn into a female's gills with the inhalant water and internal fertilization takes place. The eggs hatch into glochidialarvae that develop within the female's shell. Later they are released and attach themselves parasitically to the gills or fins of a fish host. After several weeks they drop off their host, undergo metamorphosis and develop into juveniles on the substrate. An advantage of this to the molluscs is that they may be able to disperse upstream with their temporary hosts rather than being constantly swept downstream by the water flow.^[38]

Some of the species in the freshwater mussel family, Unionidae, commonly known as pocketbook mussels, have evolved an unusual reproductive strategy. The female's mantle protrudes from the shell and develops into an imitation small fish, complete with fish-like markings and false eyes. This decoy moves in the current and attracts the attention of real fish. Some fish see the decoy as prey, while others see a conspecific. Whatever they see, they approach for a closer look and the mussel releases huge numbers of larvae from its gills, dousing the inquisitive fish with its tiny, parasitic young. These glochidia larvae are drawn into the fish's gills where they attach and trigger a tissue response that forms a small cyst around each larva. The larvae then feed by breaking down and digesting the tissue of the fish within the cysts. After a few weeks they release themselves from the cysts and fall to the stream bed as juvenile molluscs. The fish are relatively unharmed.^[39]

[edit]Comparison with brachiopods

Anadara, a bivalve with taxodont dentition from the Pliocene of Cyprus

A fossil Jurassic brachiopod with thelophophore intact

Brachiopods are shelled marine organisms that superficially resembled bivalves in that they were of similar size and had a hinged shell in two parts. However, brachiopods evolved from a very different ancestral line, and the resemblance to bivalves only arose because of a similar lifestyle. The differences between the two groups are due to their separate ancestral origins. Different initial structures have been adapted to solve the same problems, a case of convergent evolution. In modern times, brachiopods are not as common as bivalves.^[40]

Both groups have a shell consisting of two valves, but the organization of the shell is quite different in the two groups. In brachiopods, the two valves are positioned on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the body, while in bivalves, the valves are on the left and right sides of the body, and are normally mirror images of one other. Brachiopods have a lophophore, a coiled, rigid cartilaginous internal apparatus adapted for filter feeding, a feature shared with two other major groups of marine invertebrates, the bryozoans and the phoronids. Brachiopod shells are often made of calcium phosphate as well as calcium carbonate, whereas bivalve shells are composed entirely of calcium carbonate.^[41]

[edit]Evolutionary history

The Cambrian explosion took place 543 to 525 million years ago. In this geologically brief period all the major animal phyla appeared and these included the first creatures with mineralized skeletons. Brachiopods and bivalves made their appearance at this time and left their fossilized remains behind in the rocks.^[42] The fossils of both were formed when the sediment in which they were buried hardened into rock. Often it is the impression made by the valves that remains as a fossil rather than the valves themselves. During the Early Ordovician there was a great increase in the diversity of bivalve species and the dysodont, heterodont and taxodont dentitions evolved. By the early Silurian, the gills were becoming adapted for filter feeding and during theDevonian and Carboniferous periods siphons first appeared which, with the newly developed muscular foot, allowed the animals to bury themselves deep in the sediment.^[43]

By the middle of the Paleozoic, around 400 million years ago, the brachiopods were among the most abundant filter feeders in the ocean and over 12,000 fossil species are recognized.^[44] By the Permian-Triassic extinction event 250 million years ago, bivalves were undergoing a huge radiation of diversity. The bivalves were hard hit by this event but re-established themselves and thrived during the Triassic period that followed. In contrast, the brachiopods lost 95% of their species diversity.^[41] Scientists have speculated that the ability of some bivalves to burrow and thus avoid predators was a major factor in their success. Other new adaptations within various families allowed species to occupy previously unused evolutionary niches. These included increasing relative buoyancy in soft sediments by developing spines on the shell, gaining the ability to swim, and in a few cases, adopting predatory habits.^[43]

It was for a long time thought that bivalves were better adapted to aquatic life than brachiopods were, out-competing and relegating them to minor niches in later ages. These two taxa appeared in textbooks as an example of replacement by competition. Evidence given for this included the fact that bivalves needed less food to subsist because of their energetically efficient ligament-muscle system for opening and closing valves. An alternative view is that the prominence of modern bivalves over brachiopods might merely be due to chance disparities in their response to extinction events.^[45]

[edit]Diversity of extant bivalves

The adult maximum size of living species of bivalve ranges from 0.52 mm (0.02 in) in Condylonucula maya,^[46] a nut clam, to a length of 1,532 millimetres (60.3 in) in Kuphus polythalamia, an elongated, burrowing shipworm.^[47] However, the species generally regarded as the largest living bivalve is the giant clam Tridacna gigas, which can grow to a length of 1,200 millimetres (47 in) and a weight of more than 200 kilograms (441 lbs).^[48] The largest known extinct bivalve is a species of Platyceramus whose fossils measure up to 3,000 mm (118 in) in length.^[49]

In his 2010 treatise, Compendium of Bivalves, Markus Huber gives the total number of living bivalve species as about 9,200 combined in 106 families.

Sum Ying Fung

2012-07-26T09:10:00.001-07:00

Sum Ying Fung (27 January 1899? – 6 December 2011), claimed to be a Canadian supercentenarian who may have been oldest person in Canada from 2009 until her death in 2011, if her age was correct. She attained this title at the claimed age of 110 years 266 days, after the death of 113-year old fellow Canadian Margaret Fitzgerald on 20 October 2009. Fung died of natural causes at the claimed age of 112 at Burnaby General Hospital in British Columbia on 6 December 2011.

She was born in China^[1] and emigrated to Canada in 1954 under the sponsorship of her husband with whom she had three children. She visited China in 1989, and was in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square protests. At the time of her death she was survived by two of her three children, 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grand children, and 2 great-great-grand children.^[2]^[3] She submitted no documents to support her claimed age,so she has not been verified by the Gerontology Research Group.

Southend United Football Club

2012-07-26T09:09:00.002-07:00

Southend United

Full name

Southend United Football Club

Nickname(s)

The Shrimpers,
The Seasiders,
The Blues

Founded

1906

Ground

Roots Hall
Victoria Avenue
(Capacity: 12,392)

Chairman

Manager

League

League Two, 4th

Home colours

Away colours

Current season

Southend United Football Club is an English football club based at Roots Hall Stadium, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, who play in Football League Two. Their home ground is Roots Hall, and the club plan to move into a new 22,000-seater stadium located at Fossetts Farm.

Stadium

The club has had three stadia: the Kursaal, the Greyhound Park, and the rented Writtle Street. After many years of good service, the club moved to a renovated amusement park on the Kursaal and played there until 1955 and their current stadium Roots Hall. Roots Hall was the club's first stadium and was built on a council landfill purchased in 1952.

It took ten years to fully complete the building of Roots Hall. The first game was played on 20 August 1955, a 3–1 Division Three (South) victory overNorwich City, but the ground was far from complete.

The main East Stand had barely been fitted and ran along only 50 yards of the touchline, whilst only a few steps of terracing encircled the ground, with the North, West and the huge South Bank still largely unconcreted. The North Stand had a single-barrelled roof which ran only the breadth of the penalty area, whilst the West Bank was covered at its rear only by a similar structure.

Although the ground was far from finished, during the inaugural season this was the least of the club's worries, for the pitch at Roots Hall showed the consequences of having been laid on top of thousands of tonnes of compacted rubbish. Drainage was a problem, and the wet winter turned the ground into a quagmire.

The pitch was completely re-laid in the summer of 1956 and a proper drainage system, which is still in place, was constructed, whilst the West Bank roof was extended to reach the touchline, creating a unique double-barrelled structure.

The terracing was finally completed soon after, but the colossal task of completely terracing the South Bank, all of its 72 steps, was not completed until 1964. The North Bank roof was extended in the early 1960s, and the East Stand was extended to run the full length of the pitch in 1966. Floodlights were also installed during this period.

Roots Hall was designed to hold 35,000 spectators, with over 15,000 on the South Bank alone, but the highest recorded attendance at the ground is 31,090 for an FA Cup third round tie withLiverpool in January 1979.

Until 1988 Roots Hall was still the newest ground in the Football League, but then the ground saw a significant change. United had hit bad times in the mid-1980s and new chairman Vic Jobson sold virtually all of the South Bank for development, leaving just a tiny block of 15 steps.

In 1994, seats were installed onto the original terracing whilst a second tier was added, with the upper level giving some of the best views in the country. The West Bank had already become seated in 1992 upon United's elevation to Division Two whilst the East Stand paddock also received a new seating deck, bolted and elevated from the terracing below. In 1995 the West Stand roof was extended to meet up with the North and South Stands, with seating installed in each corner, thus giving the Roots Hall we see today, with a capacity of just under 12,500.^[1]

The future of Roots Hall has been in doubt since it was sold to property developers in 1998. On 24 January 2007, Southend Borough Council unanimously agreed to give planning permission for a new stadium at the proposed Fossetts Farm site with Rochford District Council following suit 24 hours later. The application was subsequently submitted to Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for government approval. However, the application was unexpectedly "called in" at the beginning of April 2007, a move which at best delays the development by some considerable time and at worst might jeopardise the whole project entirely. The inquiry began in September 2007. In October 2007 a "final" inquiry began where chairman Ron Martincalled for supporters to show in numbers at Southend's local government headquarters. On 6 March 2008, Fossetts Farm was given the green light by the Government. The club hopes to move in at the start of the 2015–16 season.

[edit]Rivalries

[edit]Players

[edit]Current squad

As of 20 July 2012

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Daniel Bentley
		DF	Chris Barker (captain)
		DF	Sean Clohessy
		DF	Graham Coughlan
		DF	Ryan Cresswell
		DF	Ryan Leonard
		DF	Bilel Mohsni
		DF	Mark Phillips
		DF	Luke Prosser
		DF	Anthony Straker

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Kane Ferdinand
		MF	Ryan Hall
		MF	Kevan Hurst
		MF	Dave Martin
		MF	Michael Timlin
		MF	Alex Woodyard
		FW	Elliot Benyon
		FW	Barry Corr
		FW	Freddy Eastwood
		FW	Neil Harris
		FW	Gavin Tomlin

[edit]Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.		Position	Player

[edit]Player of the Year

Year	Winner
2000–01	Kevin Maher
2001–02	Darryl Flahavan
2002–03	Leon Cort
2003–04	Mark Gower
2004–05	Adam Barrett
2005–06	Freddy Eastwood
2006–07	Kevin Maher
2007–08	Nicky Bailey
2008–09	Peter Clarke
2009–10	Simon Francis
2010–11	Chris Barker
2011–12	Mark Phillips

[edit]Management

^[3]

Position	Person
Manager	Paul Sturrock
Player/Coach	Graham Coughlan
Head of Youth	Ricky Duncan
Centre of Excellence Manager	Luke Hobbs
Development Coach	Dale Brooks

Colleen Later

2012-07-26T09:05:00.001-07:00

Colleen Later is an artist, sculptor, and musician who originally specialized in painting flowers but now also paints motorcycles with her clients family members in the Chrome. She also adds scores of angels and temples in the reflective parts.

Colleen Later was born in Cedar City, Utah. Her family was members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At age thirteen she moved with her family to Santa Monica, California. There she met Bud Later from Beverly Hills, California who had been an actor in many movies, mainly as a double or extra, working with many famous actors like Bing Crosby, Spencer Tracy,Gregory Peck, and Shirley Temple.

When Colleen was 17 she and Bud eloped taking her out her bedroom window. He told her he did not want any kids so they had 7 children and now 47 forty-seven Grand children. He told her he would not become a Mormon but did so at age 26. He would later find out that Brigham Young and his brothers converted his family. Brigham Young lived with his family and he built a log home for them.

A high school dropout, Colleen at 42 she went back to school, she got her high school GED and eventually received a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts Degree from Utah State University. She was one of Utah State University’s Flying Professors. There were 6 Laters going to Utah State at the same time. One of her main professors at Utah State was Utah’s foremost landscape artist Harrison Groutage.

Colleen has served in many positions in her church including Relief Society president, Young Woman president and plays the organ and is chorister in her Bend, Oregon Ward.

Peter E. Hart

2012-07-26T09:04:00.003-07:00

Peter E. Hart (born c. 1940s) is an American computer scientist and entrepreneur. He was chairman and president of Ricoh Innovations, which he founded in 1997. He made significant contributions in the field of computer science in a series of widely-cited publications from the years 1967–75 while associated with the Artificial Intelligence Center of SRI International, a laboratory where he also served as director.

Peter E. Hart
Peter Hart in 2005
Residence	United States
Fields	Artificial intelligence
Institutions	SRI International AI Center Ricoh Innovations
Alma mater	Stanford University Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Doctoral advisor	Thomas M. Cover^[1]

Education

Hart studied at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, leading to a BEE degree. He did his graduate studies at Stanford University where he got his MS and PhD.

[edit]Career

While at the SRI International Artificial Intelligence Center, Hart co-authored 20 papers, among them the initial exposition of the A* search algorithmand the variant of the Hough transform now widely used in computer vision for finding straight line segments in images. He also contributed to the development of Shakey the Robot.^[2]

Hart and Richard O. Duda are the authors of "Pattern Classification and Scene Analysis", originally published in 1973. This classic text is a widely cited reference, and the first edition was in print for over 25 years until being superseded by the second edition in 2000.^[2]

A strong advocate of artificial intelligence in industry, Hart was the founding director of the Fairchild/Schlumberger Artificial Intelligence Center and co-founder of Syntelligence, a company specializing in expert systems for financial risk analysis.^{[citation needed]}

Hart is currently Group Senior Vice President at the Ricoh Company, Ltd.^{[citation needed]}

Hann Trier

2012-07-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hann Trier (born 1 August 1915 in Düsseldorf; died 14 June 1999 in Castiglione della Pescaia in Tuscany in Italy) was a German artist, best known for his giant ceiling painting in theCharlottenburg Palace.^[1] He was married to the sociologist Renata Mayntz and was the elder brother of the art historian Eduard Trier.

Life and Work

The Trier brothers spent their youth in Cologne. From 1934 until 1938, he studied at the Düsseldorf Arts School Werk. During the Second World War he served in the Wehrmacht, from 1941 until 1944 as a technical artist in Berlin.

At the end of the war he returned to painting, setting up his studio in Burg, not far from Bonn. In 1947 he, with other artists including Joseph Beuys, was a founder member of the group 'Donnerstag-Gesellschaft' ('Thursday Group').^[2] The Group organised discussions, exhibitions, events and concerts between 1947 and 1950 in Alfter Castle.^[2] In 1950 he won the prestigious Blevins-Davis Prize^[3] in Munich.

From 1952 to 1955 he worked in Medellín in Colombia, subsequently studying in Mexico and New York. In 1955 he was appointed a guest lecturer at the Hamburg Academy of Fine Art. From 1955 he exhibited in in the first, second and third Documenta exhibitions in Kassell.

From 1957 until 1980 he was professor and later Director of Berlin University's Fine Art Academy. In 1967 he began the monumental task of replacing the war-damaged ceiling paintings at the Charlottenburg Palace, completing the first section in 1972, and finishing a further ceiling between 1972 and 1974. He was awarded the 1966 Berliner Kunstpreis (Berlin Art Prize) and the Grand Cross of Merit of the German Republic in 1975.^[4]

His auction record is $US51,000 for his 1958 oil on canvas 'Alegria', sold at the Villa Grisebach auction house ^[5] in Berlin on 23 November 1990.

Yo (Cyrillic)

2012-07-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

Yo (Ё ё; italics: Ё ё; Russian pronunciation: [jo]) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. In Unicode, the letter ⟨Ё⟩ is named CYRILLIC CAPITAL/SMALL LETTER IO.

In English, Yo is romanized using the Latin letters ⟨yo⟩.

Pronunciation

This section describes the pronunciation in Russian. Other languages may have subtle differences.

The letter ⟨ё⟩ always represents the phoneme /o/ in a stressed syllable.

It is a so-called iotated vowel. In initial or post-vocalic position, it represents the sounds /jo/, like in 'York'. The same applies if any of ⟨ъ⟩, ⟨ь⟩ precede ⟨ё⟩.

The letter ⟨ё⟩ also indicates the phoneme /o/ together with palatalization of the preceding consonant (if it is possible). No /j/ sound occur between a consonant and a vowel in this case.

Exact pronunciation of the vowel sound of ⟨ё⟩ can vary due to allophony in Slavic languages. Except in /jo/, it more likely sounds [ɵ] – like 'bird' in Australian English – rather than [o] (the usual phone for stressed /o/). See palatalization #Synchronic palatalization for some background.

[edit]Usage

Yo was first used in Russian, where its status is now ambiguous.

Yo occurs as a discrete letter in the Cyrillic alphabets of Belarusian, Rusyn, Mongolian and many Caucasian and Turkic languages.

[edit]Russian

The letter Yo is the seventh letter of the alphabet, but although it indicates a distinct sound from Ye, it is often, but not always, treated as the same letter for purposes of alphabetisation and sorting. Thus in the dictionary, ёж comes after едок and before ездить. ⟨Ё⟩ represents the phoneme /o/ after /j/ or a soft consonant (or, occasionally, after ⟨ж⟩, ⟨ш⟩), and should always be stressed. It alternates with ⟨е⟩ written in non-stressed positions.

In modern Russian, the reflex of Common Slavonic /e/ under stress and following a palatalized consonant but not preceding a palatalized consonant is /o/. Compare, for example, Russian моё moyo ("my" neuter nominative and accusative singular) and Polish/Czech/Slovak/Serbo-Croatian/Slovenian moje. However, since this sound change took place after the introduction of writing, the letter ⟨е⟩ continued to be written in this position. It was not until the 18th century that efforts were made to represent the sound in writing.

From the mid-1730s it appears sporadically as ⟨іо⟩ or ⟨і͡о⟩, a letter-combination which was officially adopted on 18 November 1783 at a session of the Russian Academy under the presidency of Princess Dashkova, and it was used in the Academy Dictionary (1789–94), but it never gained great popularity. The letter ⟨ё⟩ was first used in print in 1795 by the poet Ivan Dmitriev and was soon taken up by such influential writers as Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin and Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin, which assured its acceptance in the literary norm.^[1]

The diacritic ◌̈ does not appear above any other letter in Russian and serves no purpose except to differentiate between ⟨е⟩ and ⟨ё⟩.

Except for a brief period after World War II, the use of ⟨ё⟩ was never obligatory in standard Russian orthography. By and large, it is used only in dictionaries and in pedagogical literature intended for children and students of Russian as a second language, Otherwise ⟨е⟩ is used, and ⟨ё⟩ occurs only when it is necessary to avoid ambiguity (for example, to distinguish between все("everybody") and всё ("everything") when it is not obvious from the context which is meant) or in words (principally proper nouns) whose pronunciation may not be familiar to the reader. Recent recommendations (2006) from the Russian Language Institute are to use ⟨ё⟩ in proper nouns in order to avoid the wrong pronunciation.^[2] It is perfectly permissible, however, to mark ⟨ё⟩ whenever it occurs, which is the preference of some Russian authors and periodicals.

The fact that ⟨ё⟩ is frequently replaced with ⟨е⟩ in print often causes some confusion to both Russians and non-Russians, as it makes Russian words and names harder to transcribe accurately. One recurring problem is with Russian surnames, as both -ев (-ev) and -ёв (-yov) are common endings. Thus the English-speaking world knows two leaders of the former Soviet Unionas Khrushchev and Gorbachev though their surnames end in Russian with -ёв, better transcribed -yov (which is why many English-speakers pronounce these names as if they end in -ov, even though they spell them with -ev). It is important to note that since ⟨ё⟩ usually makes syllable stressed, "Khrusch(e)v" and "Khrusch(o)v" may sound very differently since English-speakers traditionally shift stress to the first syllable. Some words and names have also changed in Russian because of the confusion: some have had their ⟨ё⟩ replaced with ⟨е⟩, and some ⟨е⟩ replaced with ⟨ё⟩.

The advent of the computer era has had a great influence on the process of substitution ⟨ё⟩ with ⟨е⟩ for a non-obvious reason: currently the Russian alphabet contains 33 letters including ⟨ё⟩, and codepage designers usually prefer to omit ⟨ё⟩ so that all Russian letters can be placed into sections of 16 letters (16, like others powers of 2, is often preferred in computing over other numbers). Some examples are pre-Unicode character pages 866 for Microsoft DOS and 1251 for Microsoft Windows. Since in both cases ⟨ё⟩ was placed outside its alphabetically correct position, it made text sorting more complex. Software developers would then choose to substitute all ⟨ё⟩ letters with ⟨е⟩ on early stage of text processing to simplify later stages.

[edit]Transcription of foreign words

⟨Ё⟩ can be used in Russian transcription of foreign words originating from languages that use the sound /ø/, spelled eu/ö/ő/ø (Dutch, French, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Finnish, Hungarian), such as "Gerhard Schröder", whose last name is transliterated as Шpёдep (while the ⟨ё⟩-less Bulgarian uses ⟨ьo⟩ for the same vowel). This letter is also often used for transcribing the English vowel /ɜr/, in names. E.g. Роберт Бёрнс for "Robert Burns" or Хёрст for "Hearst"/"Hurst"/"Hirst".

However, the sound [jo] in words from European languages is normally transcribed into Russian as ⟨йо⟩ in initial and post-vocalic position, and ⟨ьo⟩ after consonants. E.g. Нью-Йорк for "New York" and батальон for "battalion".

The letter ⟨ё⟩ is normally used to transcribe the Japanese ⟨よ⟩ into Russian Cyrillic, appearing in the Russian transcription of Japanese that would appear as yo (よ), kyo (きょ), sho (しょ) etc. inHepburn Romanization. Though, there are few traditional spellings which break this rule: for example, "Yokohama" is spelled in Russian with ⟨Йо⟩, not ⟨Ё⟩. Similarly, ⟨ё⟩ is used to transcribe into Russian Cyrillic the Korean sounds romanized as ⟨yo⟩. However, the ⟨ё⟩ is not used in the Russian transcription of the Chinese language, as the syllable that is spelled you in pinyin is represented by ⟨ю⟩ in the standard Russian transcription, and yao is ⟨яо⟩.

[edit]Legal issues

It is thought that the letter ⟨ё⟩ is found in at least 2,500 surnames used in Russia and other states of the former USSR. It is not uncommon that a person who has one of these surnames to possess both some legal documents (passports, ids, marriage and birth certificates, property ownership papers, etc) in which his or her name is written with an ⟨ё⟩, and some that use the simple ⟨е⟩ instead. In other situations a child's birth certificate may have a ⟨ё⟩ while the parents' identity papers all have ⟨е⟩. On occasions such mismatches caused citizens problems when receiving inheritance or completing property transactions.^[3]

[edit]Belarusian and Rusyn

Yo is the seventh letter of the Belarusian alphabet and the ninth letter of the Rusyn alphabet.

In Belarusian and Rusyn, the letters ⟨е⟩ and ⟨ё⟩ are separate and not interchangeable.

[edit]Dungan language

Unlike the Russian spelling system, ⟨ё⟩ is mandatory in the Cyrillic alphabet used by the Dungan language. In that Sinitic language, the ⟨е⟩/⟨ё⟩ distinction is crucial, as the former is used such as to write the syllable that would have the pinyin spelling of yao in Standard Chinese, while the latter is used for the syllable that appears as ye in pinyin. ⟨Ё⟩ is very prominent in Dungan spelling, since the very common syllable appearing as yang in Pinyin is spelled ⟨ён⟩ in Dungan.

Vitaly Chekhover

2012-07-26T08:56:00.002-07:00

Vitaly Chekhover (also spelled Tschechower or Czechower, pronounced "chekh a VYAIR") (Russian: Виталий Чеховер) (1908–1965) was aSoviet chess player and chess composer. He was also a pianist.

Vitaly Chekhover
Full name	Vitaly Alexandrovitch Chekhover
Country	Russia Soviet Union
Born	December 22, 1908 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died	February 11, 1965 (aged 56) Leningrad, Soviet Union
Title	International Master

Composing career

Vitaly Chekhover
Schachmaty w SSSR 1947

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

White to move and draw

[show]

This example uses algebraic notation.

In the beginning of his career as an endgame study composer, Chekhover often revised traditional studies of other authors. He strove to bring them into a more sparse and economical form, often with fewer pieces – hence focusing on the actual problem itself, rather than the position on the board. Later he found his own style and composed a number of original, independent chess studies and problems. Starting 1936, Chekhover published more than 160 endgame studies.^[1] He is considered a prominent specialist on knight endgames, and has written several books on the subject; either alone, or with coauthors such as Russian grandmaster Yuri Averbakh.^[2]

Between 1947 and 1965 he participated in the Soviet Union championship for chess composition. Chekhover twice received the title Master of Sports of the USSR. In 1956 he was awarded the title International Judge of Chess Compositions^[3] by FIDE, and received the FIDE titleInternational Master of Chess Compositions^[4] in 1961.

[edit]Playing career

Chekover was also a very successful chess player, being awarded the title of International Master in 1950 when the title was first introduced. Tournament victories include victory in the Leningrad City Chess Championship in 1937 (shared) and 1949. He won the Uzbekistani Chess Championship in 1944.

A variation of the Sicilian Defence is named after him: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 (see Sicilian Defence, Chekhover Variation)

Freud Museum

2012-07-26T05:32:00.001-07:00

The Freud Museum, at 20 Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead, was the home of Sigmund Freud and his family when they escaped Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938. It remained the family home until Anna Freud, the youngest daughter, died in 1982. The centrepiece of the museum is Freud's study, preserved just as it was during his lifetime. The Freud Museum commemorates and elucidates the work of Sigmund and Anna Freud and maintains their working environment.

The museum is open to the public Wednesday to Sunday, 12:00 - 17:00. It also organizes research and publication programmes and it has an education service which organizes seminars, conferences and special visits to the museum. The museum is a member of the London Museums of Health & Medicine.

There are two other Freud Museums, one in Vienna (see here), and another which has recently opened in Příbor, the Czech Republic, in the house where Sigmund Freud was born. The latter was opened by president Václav Klaus and four of Freuďs great-grandsons

Freud Museum London
The exterior of the Freud Museum, London.
Established	28 July 1986
Location	20 Maresfield Gardens, London NW3, England, United Kingdom
Public transit access	Finchley Road
Website	www.freud.org.uk

History

In 1938, the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, left Vienna after the Nazi annexation of Austria (the Anschluss) and moved to London, taking up residence at 20 Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead, one of London's suburbs. The house had only finished being built in 1920 in theQueen Anne Style. A small sun room in a modern style was added at the rear by Ernst Ludwig Freud that same year. Freud was over eighty at this time, and he died the following year, but the house remained in his family until his youngest daughter Anna Freud, who was a pioneer of child therapy, died in 1982.

The Freuds were able to move all of their furniture and household effects to London. The star exhibit in the museum is Freud's psychoanalytic couch. There are also Biedermeier chests, tables and cupboards, and a collection of 18th century and 19th century Austrian painted country furniture. The museum owns Freud's collection of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Oriental antiquities, and his reference library. The collection includes a portrait of Freud by Salvador Dalí.^[1]

[edit]The Study

Sigmund Freud's couch used during psychoanalyticsessions can be found at the Freud Museum

The study and library were preserved by Anna Freud after her father's death. The bookshelf behind Freud's desk contains some of his favourite authors: not only Goethe and Shakespeare but also Heine, Multatuli and Anatole France. Freud acknowledged that poets and philosophers had gained insights into the unconscious which psychoanalysis sought to explain systematically. In addition to the books, the library contains various pictures hung as Freud arranged them; these include 'Oedipus and the Riddle of the Sphinx' and 'The Lesson of Dr Charcot' plus photographs of Martha Freud, Lou Andreas-Salomé, Yvette Guilbert, Marie Bonaparte, and Ernst von Fleischl.

The room contains the original analytic couch brought from Berggasse 19 on which patients would recline comfortably while Freud, out of sight in the green tub chair, listened to their 'free association.' They were asked to say everything that came to mind without consciously sifting or selecting information. This method became a foundation upon which psychoanalysis was built.

[edit]Antiquities

The Study is filled with antiquities from ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt and the Orient. Freud visited many archaeological sites (though not Egypt) but most of the collection was acquired from dealers in Vienna. He confessed that his passion for collecting was second in intensity only to his addiction to cigars. Yet the importance of the collection is also evident in Freud's use of archaeology as a metaphor for psychoanalysis. One example of this is Freud's explanation to a patient that conscious material 'wears away' while what is unconscious is relatively unchanging: "I illustrated my remarks by pointing to the antique objects about my room. They were, in fact, I said, only objects found in a tomb, and their burial had been their preservation."

[edit]Exhibition Room

There is a temporary exhibitions room which hosts alternate contemporary art and Freud themed exhibitions. Art installations often use several rooms within the museum, such as Uli Eigne’s notable exhibition A Visit to Freud’s. A full list of past and forthcoming exhibitions can be found here.

[edit]Garden

The Freud Museum Shop, photo taken from the garden.

When Freud wrote “We have it incomparably better than at Berggasse and even than Grinzing”, he wasn’t just comparing favourably the spacious rooms with large windows to the dark small apartments in Vienna. Both Sigmund and Anna Freud loved the garden, which is still meticulously maintained, and contains many of the same plants of which Freud was so fond. The garden’s alterations with the changing seasons, reflected his own interests and stages in life, as did the classical artefacts Dr Freud had on his desk.

The garden today is largely as Freud would have known it, from the terracotta flower pot, containing a red geranium (with Anna Freud’s trowel still beside it) to the circular flower bed to the right of the garden and the curved bench and tables on the shaded left-hand side of the garden. The large pine tree at the rear of the garden, was knee-height when Anna Freud first had it planted and the roses, clematis,hortense, plum and almond trees are all original plants from the time of the Freuds first coming to live at Maresfield Gardens.

[edit]Location

Statue of Sigmund Freud by Oscar Nemon, 2 minute walk from the Freud Museum. At the corner of Fitzjohns Avenue and Belsize Lane.

The Freud Museum is situated at 20 Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead, London.

By Underground Take the Jubilee Line or Metropolitan Line to Finchley Road station (please note that this station is in Zone 2). On leaving the station cross Finchley Road and turn right. At Natwest Bank turn left up Trinity Walk. At the top of this path is Maresfield Gardens.

By car From Central London follow the Finchley Road (A41) north as far as Swiss Cottage. At the Swiss Cottage intersection, follow the sign to Hampstead. This takes you up Fitzjohns Avenue. After the traffic lights at Swiss Cottage, take the 3rd turning on your left into Nutley Terrace. Maresfield Gardens is the first left off this road.

Raymond, Alberta

2012-07-26T05:16:00.002-07:00

Raymond is a town in Warner County, Alberta, Canada. It is located in southern Alberta south of Lethbridge on Highway 52. Raymond is known for its annual rodeo and its large Mormon population.^[2] The sole high school in the town, Raymond High School, is known for its sports achievements in basketball, Canadian football, and women's rugby union.^{[citation needed]}

Raymond
— Town —
Town of Raymond
Former sugar beet processing factory, converted into a grain storage when acquired by Parrish & Heimbecker
Nickname(s): Sugar City
Motto: Home of the First Stampede
Location of Raymond in Alberta
Coordinates: 49°27′57″N 112°39′03″WCoordinates: 49°27′57″N 112°39′03″W
Country	Canada
Province	Alberta
Region	Southern Alberta
Census division	2
Municipal district	County of Warner No. 5
Government
• Mayor	George Bohne
• Governing body	Raymond Town Council[show]
Area (2011)^[1]
• Total	6.85 km² (2.64 sq mi)
Elevation	960 m (3,150 ft)
Population (2011)^[1]
• Total	3,743
• Density	546.1/km² (1,414/sq mi)
Time zone	MST (UTC-7)
Postal code span	T0K 2S0
Area code(s)	+1-403
Highways	Highway 52 Highway 845
Waterways	Milk River Ridge Reservoir
Website	Town of Raymond

History

Raymond was founded in 1901 by mining magnate and industrialist Jesse Knight. Knight named the town after his son Raymond.

Raymond was incorporated as a village in the Northwest Territories (NWT) on May 30, 1902.^[3]^[4] It incorporated as a town in the NWT 13 months later on July 1, 1903.^[5]^[4]

[edit]Demographics

The Town of Raymond's 2012 municipal census counted a population of 3,892,^[6] a 0.7% increase over its 2011 municipal census population of 3,864.^[7]

In the 2011 Census, the Town of Raymond had a population of 3,743 living in 1,165 of its 1,235 total dwellings, a 16.1% change from its 2006 adjusted population of 3,225. With a land area of 6.85 km² (2.64 sq mi), it had a population density of 546.4/km² (1,415.2/sq mi) in 2011.^[1]

In 2006, the town had a population of 3,205 living in 1,085 dwellings, a 0.2% increase over its population of 3,200 in 2001. The town had a land area of 4.75 km² (1.83 sq mi) and a population density of 674.1 /km² (1,746 /sq mi).^[8]

[edit]Visible minorities

As of 2006, approximately 3.0% of the town's population were visible minorities. Of those minorities, 50 people identified themselves as Japanese, 40 as Black, and 10 as South Asian.^[8]

[edit]Aboriginals

In 2006, there were 110 Aboriginal Canadians resident in the town.^[8]

[edit]Religion

A majority of Raymondites are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).^[9] In the town, there are three LDS Church chapels and nine separate congregations, composing one stake.^[2] (The closest LDS Church temple, the Cardston Alberta Temple, is located 60 kilometres (37 mi) southwest in Cardston.) Raymond also has Baptist, Mennonite, and United Church of Canada congregations. Until its temple was relocated to Lethbridge in 2006, the Raymond Buddhist Church was the oldest continually used Buddhist sanctuary in Canada.^[10]

[edit]Charitable giving

Statistics Canada has reported that Raymond ranks among the top five communities in Canada for the highest level of charitable donations per capita, which is partially due to the town population's high rate of tithes given to the LDS Church.^[9]

[edit]Attractions

In 1902, one year after it was founded, Raymond held an outdoor rodeo and called it a stampede; this was Canada's first organized rodeo event.^{[citation needed]} Since the inaugural event, the Raymond Stampede has been held on June 30 or July 1 every summer.^{[citation needed]}

Raymond Heritage Days is held annually during the first week of July to celebrate the founding of Raymond. Events and activities include family softball, fireworks, midnight golfing, downtown games with bounce houses, a pancake breakfast, and a Canada Day parade, in addition to the Raymond Stampede.^{[citation needed]}

Raymond is home to the Raymond Judo Club, the first Judo club in Alberta. The club was formed by Yoshio Katsuta in 1943.^{[citation needed]}

The Raymond Aquatic Centre opened in 2010. It features two small waterslides, a junior Olympic-sized pool for lane swimming, diving boards, a climbing wall, a baby pool, and an eating area. The aquatic centre holds 1,000,000 litres of water during the summer and attracts up to 500 visitors a day.^{[citation needed]}

The Raymond Buddhist Church is the oldest building in Raymond and the only remaining structure from the town's pioneer days.^[10]

Proton rocket launches Prognoz satellite

2012-07-26T05:03:00.002-07:00

Friday, June 27, 2008

A Proton-K/DM rocket

At 23:59 GMT yesterday, a Russian Proton rocket, with a Block DM-3 upper stage, launched from Site 81/24 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, placing a Prognoz satellite for the Russian Ministry of Defence into a geosynchronous orbit. Prognoz satellites are used for missile detection, as a defence against nuclear attacks.

The Proton-K configuration was used for this launch. The Proton-K, also known as the Proton 8K72K, is an old configuration, which is out of production. It is believed that three more Proton-K rockets are in storage. The modernised Proton-M, which will replace it, has been in use for commercial launches for several years, and made its first military launch last December.

This is the first launch of a Proton since a failure in March, which left the AMC-14 satellite stranded in a useless orbit. The Briz-M upper stage, whose malfunction resulted in the launch failure, was not used in today's launch, with an older Block DM stage being flown instead. The Briz-M has been cleared for return to flight, and was not used on this mission due to payload requirements, rather than reliability concerns. AMC-14 has now been sold to a new company, and is now in the process of raising itself into a geosynchronous orbit, where it will operate in a limited capacity for a fraction of its planned lifetime.

The launch is the 33^rd of 2008, and the 335^th flight of a Proton rocket. The next Proton launch is currently planned for July, when a Proton-M with a Block DM-2 upper stage will launch three GLONASS navigation satellites.

UK border staff Olympic strike abandoned

2012-07-26T05:02:00.003-07:00

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), the largest civil services trade union in the United Kingdom, yesterday reversed its decision to hold a strike for its UK Home Office worker members scheduled for today, the day before the Olympic Games are due to start in London. The strike, which was called last week as a result of job reductions being made, would have affected the UK Border Agency (UKBA), the Identity and Passport Service, and the Criminal Records Bureau, at London Heathrow Airport amongst other UK airports.

PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka cited the "significant development" of the creation of 1100 new job positions, 800 in the UKBA and 300 in the Passport Service, as the reason for the union's decision change. "We believe that significant progress means that there is no case for the union to proceed with industrial action tomorrow," Serwotka said yesterday morning. The PCS also reported position recruitment advertisements appearing on the Internet for London Heathrow, London Luton and Gatwick Airport.

However, the UK government's Home Office denied that they had created such positions. "We have made no concessions to the PCS and are not creating any new jobs in response to their threat of strike action", a spokesperson for the Home Office stated. Saying the recruitment effort, initiated two months ago, was amongst scheduled modifications to the UK Border Force, the spokesperson clarified: "Unfortunately, due to an administrative error, a figure of 400 posts was repeated in both adverts by mistake. This will now be corrected".

Serwotka's announcement was made one hour before lawyers representing the UK government had been due at the High Court to attempt to gain an injunction preventing the strike. According to the PCS, the government's plan was based on accusations that twelve staff members in Brussels and Paris became involved in the dispute despite the fact they would be unaffected.

Dozens die in Nigeria flooding

2012-07-26T05:01:00.001-07:00

Dozens of people have been killed as a result of flooding in Plateau State, located in the central part of Nigeria. The flooding occurred as the result of a large amount of rainfall close to Jos, a city in the north of the state, causing overflow of a dam.

The Red Cross has reported the recovery of 35 corpses, while BBC News Online has placed the death toll at a minimum of 39. A spokesperson for the Red Cross said approximately two hundred houses had been sunk or wrecked. A significant number of the affected houses had been built of mud.

Manasie Phampe, leader of the Red Cross of the state, explained: "Rainwater and water from the Lamingo dam which overflowed swept across several neighbourhoods in the city". The death toll is anticipated to increase by authorities, with 35 reported missing. "We are still searching for more bodies as many people have been declared missing," Phampe added.

The National Emergency Management Agency of Nigeria (NEMA) has initiated a relief effort. Edward Maigida, Director of Relief and Rehabilitation at NEMA, said "[t]wo camps have been opened to provide temporary shelter for the affected persons in Gangare Primary School and Islamiyya Secondary school".

FACT AND REASON OF THe WORLD

Hallucinations

What you think about flat Earth??

A small view of 10 with universe...

Blackholes : The most powerful existence of space..

Are we living in a computer simulation?

Fermi paradox best video

Fermi paradox

Parallel universe

Science fiction

Early Earth Was Purple

Bodhidharma

Appearance after his death

Paul McCartney

Thomas J. Hudner, Jr.

Military career

[edit]Korean War

[edit]Medal of Honor action

[edit]Later Navy career

[edit]Later life

bivalves

Contents

[edit]Etymology

[edit]Anatomy

Digestive system

[edit]Modes of feeding

[edit]Digestive tract

[edit]Excretory system

[edit]Reproduction and development

[edit]Comparison with brachiopods

[edit]Evolutionary history

[edit]Diversity of extant bivalves

Sum Ying Fung

Southend United Football Club

Stadium

[edit]Rivalries

[edit]Players

[edit]Current squad

[edit]Out on loan

[edit]Player of the Year

[edit]Management

Colleen Later

Peter E. Hart

Education

[edit]Career

Hann Trier

Life and Work

Yo (Cyrillic)

Pronunciation

[edit]Usage

[edit]Russian

[edit]Transcription of foreign words

[edit]Legal issues

[edit]Belarusian and Rusyn

[edit]Dungan language

Vitaly Chekhover

Composing career

[edit]Playing career

Freud Museum

History

[edit]The Study

[edit]Antiquities

[edit]Exhibition Room

[edit]Garden

[edit]Location

Raymond, Alberta

History

[edit]Demographics

[edit]Visible minorities

[edit]Aboriginals

[edit]Religion

[edit]Charitable giving

[edit]Attractions

Proton rocket launches Prognoz satellite

UK border staff Olympic strike abandoned

Dozens die in Nigeria flooding