title: Neos (airline)

text: Neos operates flights to destinations in southern Europe, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Brazil, USA, Mexico, and Kazakhstan.


title: Accuracy International

text: Accuracy International is a British firearms manufacturer based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The company produces the Accuracy International Arctic Warfare series of precision sniper rifles. The company was established in 1978 by British Olympic shooting gold medallist Malcolm Cooper, MBE (1947–2001), Sarah Cooper, Martin Kay, and the designers of the weapons, Dave Walls and David Caig. The founders were professional international or national sport shooters. Accuracy International's sniper rifles are used internationally in military units and police departments.


title: Accuracy International

text: Accuracy International went into liquidation in 2005, and was bought by a British consortium including the original design team of Dave Walls and David Caig.


title: Accuracy International

text: As of 2014, the company was equally owned by two directors, Dave Walls and Tom Irwin along with Paul Bagshaw. David Caig remains in the business as a consultant.


title: Accuracy International

text: Accuracy International introduced their new AS50 .50 BMG calibre semi-automatic rifle at the 2005 SHOT Show in Las Vegas and their new AX Series at the 2010 Shot Show in Las Vegas.


title: Accuracy International

text: The UK government announced in March 2008 the award of an £11 million contract to produce rifles for the British Army.


title: Accuracy International

text: Accuracy International's distribution in United States is managed by the American division of AI, Accuracy International USA. There are only two distributors of Accuracy International in the United States, Eurooptic and Mile High Shooting.


title: Accuracy International

text: The "AICS-style" short action box magazine was originally manufactured for the Accuracy International Chassis System, but can now be found on several production rifles, such as the SIG Sauer CROSS, the Ruger Gunsite Scout, Ruger Precision Rifle, some Ruger American Rifle models and some new production models by Remington (Model 700 PCR, 700 Tactical Chassis, 700 Magpul, and 700 Magpul Enhanced). AICS-style magazines can also be found on many custom rifles, and aftermarket conversion kits (known as "bottom metals") are available for several different rifle models and are made by several different manufacturers. Many conversion kits require fitting ("inletting") by a gunsmith.


title: Accuracy International

text: In addition to Accuracy International, there are now aftermarket manufacturers offering AICS-style magazines, such as Magpul, Accu-Mag and Modular Driven Technologies (MDT).


title: Accuracy International

text: Examples of other magazine designs include the STANAG magazine (for 5.56×45mm NATO length cartridges) and SR-25 pattern magazine (for 7.62×51mm NATO length cartridges).


title: Real-time gross settlement

text: Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems are specialist funds transfer systems where the transfer of money or securities takes place from one bank to any other bank on a "real-time" and on a "gross" basis. Settlement in "real time" means a payment transaction is not subjected to any waiting period, with transactions being settled as soon as they are processed. "Gross settlement" means the transaction is settled on a one-to-one basis, without bundling or netting with any other transaction. "Settlement" means that once processed, payments are final and irrevocable.


title: Real-time gross settlement

text: As of 1985, three central banks implemented RTGS systems, while by the end of 2005, RTGS systems had been implemented by 90 central banks.


title: Real-time gross settlement

text: The first system that had the attributes of an RTGS system was the US Fedwire system which was launched in 1970. This was based on a previous method of transferring funds electronically between US federal reserve banks via telegraph. The United Kingdom and France both independently developed RTGS type systems in 1984. The UK system was developed by the Bankers' Clearing House in February 1984 and was called CHAPS. The French system was called SAGITTAIRE. A number of other developed countries launched systems over the next few years. These systems were diverse in operation and technology, being country-specific as they were usually based upon previous processes and procedures used in each country.


title: Real-time gross settlement

text: In the 1990s international finance organizations emphasized the importance of large-value funds transfer systems which banks use to settle interbank transfers for their own account as well as for their customers as a key part of a country's financial infrastructure. By 1997 a number of countries, inside as well as outside the Group of Ten, had introduced real-time gross settlement systems for large-value funds transfers. Nearly all G-10 countries had plans to have RTGS systems in operation in the course of 1997 and many other countries were also considering introducing such systems.


title: Real-time gross settlement

text: RTGS systems are usually operated by a country's central bank as it is seen as critical infrastructure for a country's economy. Economists believe that an efficient national payment system reduces the cost of exchanging goods and services, and is indispensable to the functioning of the interbank, money, and capital markets. A weak payment system may severely drag on the stability and developmental capacity of a national economy; its failures can result in inefficient use of financial resources, inequitable risk-sharing among agents, actual losses for participants, and loss of confidence in the financial system and in the very use of money.


title: Real-time gross settlement

text: RTGS system does not require any physical exchange of money; the central bank makes adjustments in the electronic accounts of Bank A and Bank B, reducing the balance in Bank A’s account by the amount in question and increasing the balance of Bank B’s account by the same amount. The RTGS system is suited for low-volume, high-value transactions. It lowers settlement risk, besides giving an accurate picture of an institution’s account at any point in time. The objective of RTGS systems by central banks throughout the world is to minimize risk in high-value electronic payment settlement systems. In an RTGS system, transactions are settled across accounts held at a central bank on a continuous gross basis. The settlement is immediate, final, and irrevocable. Credit risks due to settlement lags are eliminated. The best RTGS national payment systems cover up to 95% of high-value transactions within the national monetary market.


title: Real-time gross settlement

text: RTGS systems are an alternative to systems of settling transactions at the end of the day, also known as the net settlement system, such as the BACS system in the United Kingdom. In a net settlement system, all the inter-institution transactions during the day are accumulated, and at the end of the day, the central bank adjusts the accounts of the institutions by the net amounts of these transactions.


title: Real-time gross settlement

text: The World Bank has been paying increasing attention to payment system development as a key component of the financial infrastructure of a country and has provided various forms of assistance to over 100 countries. Most of the RTGS systems in place are secure and have been designed around international standards and best practices.


title: Real-time gross settlement

text: There are several reasons for central banks to adopt RTGS. First, a decision to adopt is influenced by competitive pressure from the global financial markets. Second, it is more beneficial to adopt an RTGS system for the central bank when this allows access to a broad system of other countries' RTGS systems. Third, it is very likely that the knowledge acquired through experiences with RTGS systems spills over to other central banks and helps them make their adoption decision. Fourth, central banks do not necessarily have to install and develop RTGS themselves. The possibility of sharing development with providers that have built RTGS systems in more than one country (CGI of UK holding the IP, CMA Small System of Sweden, JV Perago of South Africa, SIA S.p.A. of Italy and Montran of USA) has presumably lowered the cost and hence made it feasible for many countries to adopt.


title: Real-time gross settlement

text: In 2010, the World Bank published a report on payment systems worldwide, which investigated these countries' usage of real-time gross settlement systems for large-value payments.


title: Massif

text: In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a group of mountains formed by such a structure.


title: Massif

text: In mountaineering and climbing literature, a massif is frequently used to denote the main mass of an individual mountain. The massif is a smaller structural unit of the crust than a tectonic plate, and is considered the fourth-largest driving force in geomorphology.


title: Massif

text: The word is taken from French (in which the word also means "massive"), where it is used to refer a large mountain mass or compact group of connected mountains forming an independent portion of a range. One of the most notable European examples of a massif is the Massif Central of the Auvergne region of France.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: Heist (also called Bus 657), is a 2015 American heist action thriller film directed by Scott Mann and written by Stephen Cyrus Sepher and Max Adams, based on the original story by Sepher. The film stars Robert De Niro, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kate Bosworth, Morris Chestnut, Dave Bautista, Sepher, and Gina Carano. The plot of the film revolves around a casino heist by an employee who needs to pay for his sick daughter's treatment.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: Luke Vaughn is working in a Southern casino ("The Swan") run by Francis "The Pope" Silva. Vaughn has a sick daughter, and needs $300,000 for a necessary surgery. He approaches "Pope" who refuses his plea for a loan; when Vaughn is insistent, Pope fires him and has him beaten by his right-hand man, Derrick "Dog" Prince.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: Security guard Cox tells Vaughn the casino is laundering for the mob. Vaughn, who has the codes to the vault, joins Cox and steals the money. After the heist, the thieves are intercepted by Dog's henchmen. A gun battle ensues, wounding one of the thieves. Once their getaway driver escapes, the rest are forced to hijack a city bus. Police officer Kris Bajos hears the gunshots and pursues the bus. When Cox shoots through a window at Bajos, she calls for reinforcements. The police setup a road block.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: Vaughn writes a passenger's phone number on a bus window, to enable Bajos to contact him. He warns her that Cox will kill passengers if the police do not clear the road blocks. Bajos follows through and Vaughn orders Bernie, the bus driver, to ram the road block, allowing the bus to enter the interstate highway. Passengers' mobile phones are thrown from the bus and Vaughn asks one of the passengers, a veterinarian student, to take care of the wounded thief. Cox calls Jono, an old man who aided them in planning the robbery, to update him. The bus is running low on fuel, so Vaughn calls for a fuel tanker.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: Detective Marconi joins forces with Bajos and instructs her to drive the fuel tanker. Marconi briefs SWAT and monitors the bus via a police helicopter. Vaughn allows Pauline and a young boy to leave the bus. During refueling, Vaughn allows Bajos to board the bus to check on the hostages. After Bajos suggests that the wounded thief be let off the bus for medical treatment, Cox objects and she has an altercation with Cox, during which she takes his gun from his waist. Vaughn defuses the situation. As she wraps up refueling, Vaughn asks Bajos to let him know how Pauline is. At the police station the boy is reunited with his mom and Bajos interviews Pauline. Dog learns the location of Jono through a police radio scanner.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: With the wounded thief suffering blood loss Vaughn calls Marconi, who boards the bus from a SWAT truck with a medical emergency kit. He hands the vet student a syringe with 'pain meds' and the wounded thief dies. Marconi gets a call from Pope and tosses the phone to Vaughn, revealing Marconi's affiliation with Pope. Marconi is thrown from the bus and a SWAT team attacks the bus, popping a tire, causing it to crash near a bridge.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: With police surrounding the bus, Cox holds Bernie hostage. Vaughn shoots Cox, saving Bernie. Vaughn receives a call from his daughter saying that she is okay and Bajos tells him she knows about the hospital bills. Vaughn negotiates with Marconi the release of all the hostages except one and, once the tire is repaired, the bus departs. The police authorities follow the bus, but Vaughn escapes with the money in a police car.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: Vaughn arrives at Jono's, but finds him shot dead. Dog knocks him out with a shot of rock salt. Back on the bus, they are joined by Pope and Marconi, though Pope kills Marconi as Dog pours gasoline over Vaughn. Pope gloats that Vaughn did not make it to the hospital by 7pm with the money. However, Pauline is Vaughn's sister, and hid $300,000 under her shirt by pretending to be pregnant. She pays the hospital bill. Bajos deduces what Pauline is doing but does not stop her.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: Pope shoots Dog dead before he can light up Vaughn. Pope loosens Vaughn's ropes and tells him his mother had a saying about people on their deathbed speaking of regrets. He hands a grateful Vaughn the keys to his Rolls Royce car, which is parked outside, so he can go visit his daughter. Pope waits on the bus as the police arrive.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: On November 6, 2013, at the American Film Market sale, it was announced that film production and financing company Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films acquired a heist script, then titled "Bus 757", from writer Stephen Cyrus Sepher. The script, about a card dealer who puts a crew together to rob a bank and hijack a city bus, with an announced budget of $15 million budget, was being produced by Randall Emmett, George Furla, Alexander Tabrizi and Sepher. On May 17, 2014, it was announced that Scott Mann would direct, Lionsgate would distribute, and Robert De Niro would star in the lead role of "The Pope", the casino owner whose money is the target of the heist.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: The title of the film had been changed to "Bus 657" by September 24, 2014, when Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kate Bosworth, Dave Bautista and Gina Carano joined the cast of the film, which also added Max Adams as an additional screenwriter. On October 13, it was confirmed that screenwriter and actor Sepher was spotted on the set, later confirmed to be performing as one of the robbery crew. Morris Chestnut was spotted on the set on October 15, with his casting as Derrick "Dog" Prince confirmed two days later, acting as "The Pope's" right-hand man who has to bring the money back before the cops seize it and realize it's dirty.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: Filming was scheduled to take place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but was moved to Mobile, Alabama and filming began on October 13, 2014. On October 15, De Niro was spotted filming in the Crystal Ballroom of The Battle House Hotel, which had been transformed into a 1940s-style casino called "The Swan Casino". On the same day scenes were filmed on the corner of Royal and St. Francis streets in downtown Mobile. On October 21, filming took place on the Causeway, which was closed by the police from the eastbound entrance of Bankhead Tunnel to east of the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: In October 2014, at the American Film Market sale, the film (under its second title, "Bus 657") was sold to a number of international distributors, including Lionsgate International for the UK. The film was released on November 13, 2015 in a limited release and through video on demand.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: The film was poorly received by film critics. , the film holds a 29% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 28 reviews with an average score of 4.8 out of 10. The website's consensus reads, ""Heist" stacks its deck with an all-star cast but this humorless action potboiler doesn't give them a good hand to play." Metacritic gave the film 37/100, a generally unfavorable rating, based on a weighted average rating of 11 reviews.


title: Heist (2015 film)

text: Chris Nashawaty of "Entertainment Weekly" gave "Heist" a C, describing it as a generic and forgettable thriller that is particularly derivative of "Speed", which he considered a superior film. Writing in the "New York Post", Kyle Smith also made the "Speed" comparison and said the film is "Unabashedly preposterous in the manner of 1980s action movies", but added that the solid character motivations, occasionally witty dialogue, and clever final plot twist serve to make it a serviceable if unimpressive film. He gave it two stars.


title: Muhammad XII of Granada

text: Abu Abdallah Muhammad XII () (c. 1460–1533), known in Europe as Boabdil (a Spanish rendering of the name "Abu Abdallah"), was the 22nd and last Nasrid ruler of the Emirate of Granada in Iberia.


title: Muhammad XII of Granada

text: Muhammad XII was the son of Abu l-Hasan Ali, Sultan of the Emirate of Granada whom he succeeded in 1482, as a result of both court intrigue and unrest amongst the population at large.


title: Muhammad XII of Granada

text: Muhammad XII soon sought to gain prestige by invading Castile, but was taken prisoner at Lucena in 1483. Muhammad's father was then restored as ruler of Granada, to be replaced in 1485 by his uncle Muhammad XIII, also known as Abdullah ez Zagal.


title: Muhammad XII of Granada

text: Muhammad obtained his freedom and Christian support to recover his throne in 1487, by consenting to hold Granada as a tributary kingdom under the Catholic monarchs. He further undertook not to intervene in the Siege of Málaga, in which Málaga was taken by the Christians.


title: Muhammad XII of Granada

text: Following the fall of Málaga and Baza in 1487, Almuñécar, Salobreña and Almería were taken by the Christians the following year. By the beginning of 1491, Granada was the only Muslim-governed city in Iberia.


title: Muhammad XII of Granada

text: In 1491, Muhammad XII was summoned by Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon to surrender the city of Granada, which was besieged by the Castilians. Eventually, on 2 January 1492, Granada was surrendered. The royal procession moved from Santa Fe to a place a little more than a mile from Granada, where Ferdinand took up his position by the banks of the Genil. A private letter written by an eyewitness to the Bishop of León only six days after the event recorded the scene:


title: Muhammad XII of Granada

text: The Moorish sultan, with about eighty or a hundred on horseback and very well dressed, went forth to kiss the hand of their Highnesses. According to the final capitulation the key to Granada will pass into Spanish hands without Muhammad XII having to kiss the hands of Los Reyes, as the Spanish royal couple Isabella and Fernando became known. The indomitable mother of Muhammad XII insisted on sparing her son this final humiliation of kissing the hand of Isabella.


title: Muhammad XII of Granada

text: After your Highnesses ended the war of the Moors who reigned in Europe, and finished the war of the great city of Granada, where this present year 1492 on the 2nd January I saw the royal banners of Your Highnesses planted by force of arms on the towers of the Alhambra.


title: Muhammad XII of Granada

text: Legend has it that as Muhammad XII went into exile, he reached a rocky prominence which gave a last view of the city. Here he reined in his horse and viewed for the last time the Alhambra and the green valley that spread below. The place where this allegedly took place is today known as the Suspiro del Moro, "the Moor's sigh". Muhammad mourned his loss, and continued his journey to exile accompanied by his mother.


title: Muhammad XII of Granada

text: Muhammad XII was given an estate in Laujar de Andarax, Las Alpujarras, a mountainous area between the Sierra Nevada and the Mediterranean Sea. He crossed the Mediterranean in exile, departing in October 1493 from Adra and landing in Cazaza. He settled in Fes, accompanied by an entourage of 1,130 courtiers and servants. Large numbers of the Muslim population of Granada had already fled to North Africa, taking advantage of a clause in the articles of surrender that permitted free passage.


title: Muhammad XII of Granada

text: Shortly after his surrender, Muhammad Boabdil sent a long letter to the Marinid rulers of Morocco asking for refuge. The letter begins with a long poem praising the Marinids, followed by a prose passage where he laments his defeat and asks forgiveness for past wrongdoings of his forefathers against the Marinids. The entire text was reported by al-Maqqari:


title: Muhammad XII of Granada

text: The 17th-century historian Al-Maqqari wrote that Muhammad XII crossed the Mediterranean to Melilla then went to Fes where he built a palace. He stayed there until his death in 1533/1534 (in 940 A.H.). He was buried near the "Musala" (place of the special prayer during the Islamic festivals) located outside of "Bab Sheria" in Fes. Muhammad XII was survived by two sons; Yusef and Ahmed. Al-Maqqari met with his descendants in 1618 in Fes; they lived in a state of poverty and relied on the Zakat.


title: Muhammad XII of Granada

text: An alternative final resting place for Muhammad XII is suggested by the late nineteenth century Arabist M.C. Brosselard, who translated a lengthy prescription in Andalusian script on a three-foot long onyx slab held in the town museum of Tlemcen. This epitaph marked the tomb of the exiled king "our lord Abu-Abdullah" who died in Tlemcen in May 1494, aged thirty-four. The conflict between places and dates of death may arise from confusion between Muhammad XII and his uncle El Zagal, who also died in North African exile.


title: Muhammad XII of Granada

text: Spanish chronicler Luis del Mármol Carvajal wrote "Muhammad XII died near the Oued el Assouad (Black River) at ford told Waqûba during the war between the Marinids and the Saadians." This source is also taken by Louis de Chénier, a diplomat of King Louis XVI of France, in his "Historical research on the Moors and History of the Empire of Morocco" published in Paris in 1787.


title: Charlie Weis

text: Charles Joseph Weis Sr. (born March 30, 1956) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 2005 to 2009 and the Kansas Jayhawks from 2012 to 2014. He also served as an offensive coordinator in the National Football League for the New York Jets, New England Patriots, and Kansas City Chiefs. Weis currently hosts "Airing It Out," along with Bob Papa, on Sirius XM NFL Radio.


title: Charlie Weis

text: After graduating from Notre Dame in 1978, Weis began his coaching career at Boonton High School in New Jersey. He spent the next five seasons at perennial powerhouse Morristown High School in New Jersey as a football assistant developing players such as Michael Landsberg. In 1985, he was hired by head coach Joe Morrison at the University of South Carolina, where he received his master's degree in education while working as a graduate assistant position coach and assistant recruiting coordinator. He served four seasons on the Gamecock staff until Morrison died in 1989. He then returned to New Jersey as the head coach at Franklin High School and directed Franklin Township to the New Jersey state championship while also assisting in the New York Giants' pro personnel department.


title: Charlie Weis

text: Weis launched his professional coaching career in 1990 when he was named offensive assistant and assistant special teams coach under Giants head coach Bill Parcells. The Giants went on to win Super Bowl XXV at the end of that season, beating the Buffalo Bills by a score of 20–19.


title: Charlie Weis

text: After Ray Handley took over as head coach in 1991, Weis stayed on as the running back coach for two seasons. In 1991, he helped guide 2nd year running back Rodney Hampton to 1,059 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. The Giants finished 6th in rushing yards and 7th in rushing touchdowns in the NFL. The next year, Weis utilized both Hampton (1,141 yards and 14 touchdowns) and Jarrod Bunch (501 yards and 3 touchdowns) to form a potent running back combination. The Giants finished 6th in rushing yards and 2nd in rushing touchdowns in the NFL.


title: Charlie Weis

text: After that he began a four-year stint with the New England Patriots. For the first two years (1993–1994), Weis served as the tight end coach. In 1995, he would switch to running back coach and finished 1996 as wide receiver coach. In 1993, he helped Ben Coates break out with 659 yards and 8 touchdowns. Marv Cook proved a reliable blocker as well. In 1994, Coates had one of the best seasons by a tight end ever with 96 catches, 1174 yards, and 7 touchdowns. In 1995, Weis helped turn rookie Curtis Martin's year into a Pro Bowl season with 1,487 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground. Dave Meggett and Sam Gash proved to be reliable receivers out of the backfield as well with a combined 78 catches. Terry Glenn broke out with 90 catches for 1,132 yards and 6 touchdowns. Weis also helped wide receiver Shawn Jefferson put up 771 yards and 4 touchdowns along with developing Troy Brown into a solid role player with 21 catches for 222 yards.


title: Charlie Weis

text: In 1997, Weis became the offensive coordinator of the Jets, in addition to duties as the team's primary receivers coach. In his second year as offensive coordinator, the Jets finished fourth in the National Football League in offense. Weis served as the team's offensive coordinator from 1997 to 1999.


title: Charlie Weis

text: Weis returned to New England Patriots following Parcells' announced retirement after the 1999 season. He served as offensive coordinator under head coach Bill Belichick from 2000 through 2004, installing the Erhardt-Perkins offensive system, and assisting the Patriots in three Super Bowl victories (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX).


title: Charlie Weis

text: On November 30, 2004, after finishing its football season with a 6–5 record, Notre Dame released head coach Tyrone Willingham. After first choice Urban Meyer accepted the head coaching position at the University of Florida, Notre Dame hired Weis on December 12, 2004, as the 28th football coach in the school's history with a six-year contract worth a reported US$2 million per year. He was the first Notre Dame graduate to hold the position since Hugh Devore (a 1934 graduate) served as interim coach in 1945 and 1963, and the first alumnus to serve as the Irish football coach on a full-fledged basis since Joe Kuharich (a 1938 Notre Dame graduate), who coached in South Bend from 1959 to 1962.


title: Charlie Weis

text: In his first season as head coach of the Fighting Irish, Weis was widely quoted as telling his team that they would have a "decided schematic advantage" against their opponents, apparently in the belief that his schemes and strategies developed in the NFL were superior to the schemes being run by other college coaches. Indeed, the team's play, particularly that of junior quarterback Brady Quinn and junior wide receiver Jeff Samardzija, improved greatly. Samardzija, previously a little-used wide receiver, became Quinn's favorite target and a frequent game-breaker, and set school records for most touchdown receptions in a season (15), most receiving yardage in a season (1,249), and most consecutive games with a touchdown reception (8), after having no touchdown receptions in his previous two years at Notre Dame. Notre Dame lost to Michigan State in a dramatic overtime loss. Weis was quoted as saying they would never again lose to Michigan State on his watch. He went 2–3 against the Spartans over his career.


title: Charlie Weis

text: With a record of 9–2, his team finished the regular season ranked sixth in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) standings, granting them a berth in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, on January 2, 2006 which they lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes by a score of 34–20. The Irish finished ninth in the final AP Poll and eleventh in the Coaches Poll. His team's success on the field helped make Weis winner of the 2005 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, selected by the Football Writers Association of America.


title: Charlie Weis

text: On October 29, 2005, barely halfway through the first year of a six-year contract, and with a 5–2 record, Weis signed a contract extension with Notre Dame. The new 10-year deal, which began with the 2006 season, and which was to be worth a reported $30–40 million, would keep Weis at Notre Dame through 2015.


title: Charlie Weis

text: During the 2006 season, Weis led the Fighting Irish to a 10–2 regular season record, and a second straight BCS berth, this time losing 41–14 in the Sugar Bowl to the LSU Tigers. This loss was the second straight bowl loss under Weis and the ninth straight bowl loss for the Irish. The Irish finished No. 17 in the final AP poll, and No. 19 in the final Coaches' Poll. While this season could be considered a disappointment based on Notre Dame's No. 2 pre-season ranking, Weis led the Irish to its second straight season of nine wins or more, something not achieved since the 1992 and 1993 seasons under Lou Holtz. Also for the second straight year Weis put together a top 10 recruiting class, including national player of the year Jimmy Clausen.


title: Charlie Weis

text: In the 2007 season, Notre Dame went 3–9, with their only wins coming against UCLA, Duke and Stanford. Their loss to Navy on November 3 snapped an NCAA-record 43-game winning streak over the Midshipmen, dating back to the Heisman Trophy-winning tenure of Roger Staubach at the Naval Academy. The team ranked near the bottom of Division I FBS in both rushing yards per game and total yards per game. Along with being third from last in scoring per game, the team was shut out twice en route to its first nine-loss season ever. Weis attributed the team's downfall to his own mistakes, including his failure to use full-speed practices and to develop his players properly, his installation of two separate offensive systems, one for each potential starting quarterback, as well as to the graduation of star quarterback Brady Quinn. Despite the poor season, which was Notre Dame's worst ever (by losses), Weis nonetheless managed to recruit one of the top recruiting classes in the country.


title: Charlie Weis

text: In 2008, The Irish started 4–1, but completed the regular season with a 6–6 record, including a 24–23 loss to Syracuse, the first time that Notre Dame had fallen to an eight-loss team. The combined 15 losses from 2007 to 2008 marks the most losses for any two-year span. Despite speculation the university might fire Weis, it was announced shortly after the conclusion of the regular season that he would remain head coach in 2009. Weis's Notre Dame squad ended the season on a positive note, finally breaking the Irish's NCAA record nine-game bowl losing streak by beating Hawaii 49–21. In the process, Notre Dame scored its highest point total of the season, its highest point total ever in a bowl game, and broke 8 other bowl records. The bowl win also helped Notre Dame to a 7–6 final record, its 102nd winning season in 120 years of football and Weis' third in four years. Notre Dame ended the year with a top 15 recruiting class, including signing the top defensive player in the nation.


title: Charlie Weis

text: The Fighting Irish finished the 2009 regular season with a 6–6 record. A poor record for the season in addition to high preseason expectations for the team, including a preseason top 25 ranking, caused widespread speculation that Notre Dame would fire Weis. Weis was fired on November 30, 2009. He was succeeded by Brian Kelly.


title: Charlie Weis

text: Weis was named offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs for 2010. In Weis's first year, the Chiefs improved from a record of 4–12 to 10–6 and returned to the playoffs after winning the AFC West Division. With Weis as offensive coordinator, the Chiefs had the NFL's best rushing attack, averaging an impressive 165 yards per game on the ground. Offensively the Chiefs ranked 9th in total offense, 11th in points per game, and 1st in rushing, but 28th in passing. However, the Chiefs also sent four players on offense (WR Dwayne Bowe, RB Jamaal Charles, QB Matt Cassel and OG Brian Waters) to the Pro Bowl. Cassel, Bowe and Charles made their first ever trip to the Pro Bowl. Weis has also been credited with the improvement of Cassel who had a career year throwing for 27 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions in 14 games.


title: Charlie Weis

text: On December 31, 2010, ESPN reported that Weis was targeted by the Florida Gators to become the next offensive coordinator under new head coach Will Muschamp. On January 2, 2011, Chiefs coach Todd Haley announced Weis would indeed be leaving for the Florida offensive coordinator position effective at the end of the season. Weis' tenure was broadly criticized after the team finished ranked 102nd nationally with just 334.17 yards per game.


title: Charlie Weis

text: On December 8, 2011, Weis was named the head football coach for the University of Kansas replacing Turner Gill. He initially stated that he would not stay longer than the duration of his five-year contract, which would have run out in 2016, but school officials persuaded him to consider a longer stay. His 2012 team struggled to a 1–11 record in what was dubbed as a rebuilding year. Weis' 2013 team showed signs of improvement. Although they only compiled a 3–9 record, Weis' Jayhawks ended a 27-game Big 12 Conference losing streak with a 31–19 home victory over West Virginia in November 2013. Weis was fired on September 28, 2014, four games into the season. School officials did not believe the Jayhawks had made enough strides on the field during Weis' tenure. According to ESPN, they were also concerned about declining attendance. Despite pleas from Weis, only 36,900 people came to what would be his final game in Lawrence, against Texas.


title: Charlie Weis

text: Weis and his wife, Maura, have two children, Charles Joseph "Charlie" and Hannah Margaret. Charlie Jr. is the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). In 2003, Weis and his wife established the Hannah & Friends Foundation, dedicated to children affected by developmental disorders and named after his daughter, who is autistic. In the spring of 2004, the inaugural Hannah & Friends Celebrity Golf Classic was held to benefit the foundation.


title: Charlie Weis

text: Weis told YES Network commentators at the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers MLB game on Friday, July 17, 2009, that his favorite baseball team is the Yankees. He was there to celebrate the announcement of the Notre Dame and Army football game to be played at the new Yankee Stadium in November 2010.


title: Charlie Weis

text: Weis was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and grew up in Middlesex, New Jersey, where he graduated from Middlesex High School. He has one older sister and three younger brothers, one of whom attended West Point. Charlie had another brother named Pete.


title: Charlie Weis

text: In 2002, Weis underwent gastric bypass surgery, after which he lost from his top weight of . When asked why he underwent surgery, Weis stated he was afraid he would "drop dead" from obesity. Because of complications from the surgery, Weis spent two weeks in a coma and nearly died. Weis was so close to death that he reportedly received the Catholic last rites. Weis later sued the doctors who performed the surgery for malpractice and lost. A major reason cited for the jury's decision is that Weis ignored doctors' advice and pushed to have the operation done quickly, rather than going through a recommended six-week preoperative program.


title: Charlie Weis

text: During a game against Michigan on September 13, 2008, Notre Dame defensive end John Ryan accidentally collided with Weis on the sideline. Weis sustained tears to his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament, for which he underwent surgery.


title: Mood stabilizer

text: A mood stabilizer is a psychiatric medication used to treat mood disorders characterized by intense and sustained mood shifts, such as bipolar disorder and the bipolar type of schizoaffective disorder.


title: Mood stabilizer

text: Mood stabilizers are best known for the treatment of bipolar disorder, preventing mood shifts to mania (or hypomania) and depression. Mood stabilizers are also used in schizoaffective disorder when it is the bipolar type.


title: Mood stabilizer

text: The term "mood stabilizer" does not describe a mechanism, but rather an effect. More precise terminology based on pharmacology is used to further classify these agents. Drugs commonly classed as mood stabilizers include:


title: Mood stabilizer

text: Many agents described as "mood stabilizers" are also categorized as anticonvulsants. The term "anticonvulsant mood stabilizers" is sometimes used to describe these as a class. Although this group is also defined by effect rather than mechanism, there is at least a preliminary understanding of the mechanism of most of the anticonvulsants used in the treatment of mood disorders.


title: Mood stabilizer

text: There is insufficient evidence to support the use of various other anticonvulsants, such as gabapentin and topiramate, as mood stabilizers.


title: Mood stabilizer

text: In routine practice, monotherapy is often not sufficiently effective for acute and/or maintenance therapy and thus most patients are given combination therapies. Combination therapy (atypical antipsychotic with lithium or valproate) shows better efficacy over monotherapy in the manic phase in terms of efficacy and prevention of relapse. However, side effects are more frequent and discontinuation rates due to adverse events are higher with combination therapy than with monotherapy.


title: Mood stabilizer

text: Most mood stabilizers are primarily antimanic agents, meaning that they are effective at treating mania and mood cycling and shifting, but are not effective at treating acute depression. The principal exceptions to that rule, because they treat both manic and depressive symptoms, are lamotrigine, lithium carbonate, olanzapine and quetiapine.


title: Mood stabilizer

text: Nevertheless, antidepressants are still often prescribed in addition to mood stabilizers during depressive phases. This brings some risks, however, as antidepressants can induce mania, psychosis, and other disturbing problems in people with bipolar disorder—in particular, when taken alone. The risk of antidepressant-induced mania when given to patients concomitantly on antimanic agents is not known for certain but may still exist. The majority of antidepressants appear ineffective in treating bipolar depression.


title: Mood stabilizer

text: Antidepressants cause several risks when given to bipolar patients. They are ineffective in treating acute bipolar depression, preventing relapse, and can cause rapid cycling. Studies have shown that antidepressants have no benefit versus a placebo or other treatment. Antidepressants can also lead to a higher rate of non-lethal suicidal behavior. Relapse can also be related to treatment with antidepressants. This is less likely to occur if a mood stabilizer is combined with an antidepressant, rather than an antidepressant being used alone. Evidence from previous studies shows that rapid cycling is linked to use of antidepressants. Rapid cycling is defined as the presence of four or more mood episodes within a year's time. Evidence suggests that rapid cycling and mixed symptoms have become more common since antidepressant medication has come into widespread use. There is a need for caution when treating bipolar patients with antidepressant medication due to the risks that they pose.


title: Mood stabilizer

text: Use of mood stabilizers and anticonvulsants such as lamotrigine, carbamazapine, valproate and others may lead to chronic folate deficiency, potentiating depression. Also, "Folate deficiency may increase the risk of depression and reduce the action of antidepressants." L-methylfolate (also formally known as 5-MTHF or levomefolic acid), a centrally acting trimonoamine modulator, boosts the synthesis of three CNS neurotransmitters: dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. Mood stabilizers and anticonvulsants may interfere with folic acid absorption and L-methylfolate formation. Augmentation with the medical food L-methylfolate may improve antidepressant effects of these medicines, including lithium and antidepressants themselves, by boosting the synthesis of antidepressant neurotransmitters. However, the U.S. National Institutes of Health issued a warning caution about the use of L-methylfolate for patients with bipolar disease.


title: Mood stabilizer

text: The precise mechanism of action of lithium is still unknown, and it is suspected that it acts at various points of the neuron between the nucleus and the synapse. Lithium is known to inhibit the enzyme GSK-3B. This improves the functioning of the circadian clock—which is thought to be often malfunctioning in people with bipolar disorder—and positively modulates gene transcription of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). The resulting increase in neural plasticity may be central to lithium's therapeutic effects. How lithium works in the human body is not completely understood, but its benefits are most likely related to its effects on electrolytes such as potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium.


title: Mood stabilizer

text: All of the anticonvulsants routinely used to treat bipolar disorder are blockers of voltage-gated sodium channels, affecting the brain's glutamate system. For valproic acid, carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine, however, their mood-stabilizing effects may be more related to effects on the GABAergic system. Lamotrigine is known to decrease the patient's cortisol response to stress.


title: Mood stabilizer

text: One possible downstream target of several mood stabilizers such as lithium, valproate, and carbamazepine is the arachidonic acid cascade.


title: Nuclear option

text: In the United States Senate, the nuclear option is a parliamentary procedure that allows the Senate to override a standing rule by a simple majority, avoiding the two-thirds supermajority normally required to invoke cloture on a resolution to amend Senate rules.


title: Nuclear option

text: The nuclear option can be invoked by a senator raising a point of order that contravenes a standing rule. The presiding officer would then overrule the point of order based on Senate rules and precedents; this ruling would then be appealed and overturned by a simple majority vote (or a tie vote), establishing a new precedent. The nuclear option is made possible by the principle in Senate procedure that appeals from rulings of the chair on points of order relating to nondebatable questions are themselves nondebatable. Since cloture is a nondebatable question, the appeal is decided without debate. This obviates the usual requirement for a two-thirds majority to invoke cloture on a resolution amending the standing rules.


title: Nuclear option

text: The nuclear option was invoked in November 2013, when a Senate Democratic majority led by Harry Reid used the procedure to eliminate the 60-vote rule for judicial nominations, other than nominations to the Supreme Court. In April 2017, the nuclear option was invoked again, this time by a Senate Republican majority led by Mitch McConnell to also eliminate the 60-vote rule for Supreme Court nominations and thereby end debate on the nomination of Neil Gorsuch. The use of the nuclear option on legislation to abolish the 60-vote threshold and overcome a filibuster has been proposed, but not enacted.


title: Nuclear option

text: On November 21, 2013, following a failed cloture vote on a nomination under Rule XXII, the nuclear option was invoked, as follows:


title: Nuclear option

text: Mr. REID. I raise a point of order that the vote on cloture under Rule XXII for all nominations other than for the Supreme Court of the United States is by majority vote.


title: Nuclear option

text: The PRESIDENT pro tempore. *** Under the precedent set by the Senate today, November 21, 2013, the threshold for cloture on nominations, not including those to the Supreme Court of the United States, is now a majority. That is the ruling of the Chair.


title: Nuclear option

text: Once the presiding officer rules on the point of order, the appeal is decided by a simple majority vote and without any debate. The procedure may, for example, override requirements of Rule XXII, which requires three-fifths of senators to vote to close debate, thereby ending a filibuster for legislation or two-thirds of senators present and voting for amending a Senate rule. As there is no debate, there is no requirement for these supermajority voting requirements to apply. The presiding officer and the standing rule is therefore overruled by a simple majority.


title: Nuclear option

text: This procedure establishes a new precedent by allowing for cloture to be invoked by a simple majority on certain questions. These and other Senate precedents will then be relied upon by future Senate Parliamentarians in advising the chair, in the above example effectively eliminating the 60-vote barrier going forward.


title: Nuclear option

text: In 1806, the Senate changed the rules to remove the restriction on the total time allowed for debate. In 1917, Rule XXII was amended to allow for ending debate (invoking "cloture") with a two-thirds majority, later reduced in 1975 to three-fifths of all senators duly chosen and sworn (usually 60). Thus, although a bill might have majority support, opposition from or absence by at least 41 senators can effectively defeat the bill by preventing a closure of debate and final vote, in a tactic known as a filibuster.


title: Nuclear option

text: Since the 1970s, the Senate has also used a "two-track" procedure whereby Senate business may continue on other topics while one item is being filibustered. Since filibusters no longer required the minority to actually hold the floor and bring all other business to a halt, the mere "threat" of a filibuster has gradually become normalized. In the modern Senate, this means that most measures now typically requires 60 votes to advance, unless a specific exception limiting the time for debate applies.


title: Nuclear option

text: Changing Rule XXII to eliminate the 60-vote rule is made difficult by the rules themselves. Rule XXII, paragraph 2 states that to end debate on any proposal "to amend the Senate rules ... the necessary affirmative vote shall be two-thirds of the Senators present and voting." If all senators are present and voting, 67 senator votes are required to amend the rule.


title: Nuclear option

text: The validity of the nuclear option has been challenged. For example, then-Senate Parliamentarian Alan Frumin expressed opposition to the nuclear option in 2005. Successive Congressional Research Service reports have made it clear that the use of the nuclear option would by itself "involve violations of Senate rules and practices already in existence". However, its validity has not been seriously challenged since being invoked by both parties in 2013 and 2017, at least with regard to invoking cloture on judicial nominations by simple majority vote.


title: Nuclear option

text: Republican Party Senator Ted Stevens suggested using a ruling of the chair to defeat a filibuster of judicial nominees in February 2003. The code word for the plan was "Hulk". Weeks later, Senator Trent Lott coined the term "nuclear option" in March 2003 because the maneuver was seen as a last resort with possibly major consequences for both sides. The metaphor of a nuclear strike refers to the majority party unilaterally imposing a change to the filibuster rule, which might provoke retaliation by the minority party.


title: Nuclear option

text: The alternative term "constitutional option" is often used with particular regard to confirmation of executive and judicial nominations, on the rationale that the United States Constitution requires these nominations to receive the "advice and consent" of the Senate. Proponents of this term argue that the Constitution implies that the Senate can act by a majority vote unless the Constitution itself requires a supermajority, as it does for certain measures such as the ratification of treaties. By effectively requiring a supermajority of the Senate to fulfill this function, proponents believe that the current Senate practice prevents the body from exercising its constitutional mandate, and that the remedy is therefore the "constitutional option".


title: Nuclear option

text: The first set of Senate rules included a procedure to limit debate called "moving the previous question." This rule was dropped in 1806 in the misunderstanding that it was redundant. Starting in 1837, senators began taking advantage of this gap in the rules by giving lengthy speeches so as to prevent specific measures they opposed from being voted on, a procedure called filibustering.


title: Nuclear option

text: In 1890, Republican Senator Nelson Aldrich threatened to break a Democratic filibuster of a Federal Election Bill (which would ban any prohibitions on the black vote) by invoking a procedure called "appeal from the chair." At this time, there was no cloture rule or other regular method to force an immediate vote. Aldrich's plan was to demand an immediate vote by making a point of order. If, as expected, the presiding officer overrules the point, Aldrich would then appeal the ruling and the appeal would be decided by a majority vote of the Senate. If a majority voted to limit debate, a precedent would have been established to allow debate to be limited by majority vote. Aldrich's plan was procedurally similar to the modern option. In the end, the Democrats were able to muster a majority to table the bill, so neither Aldrich's proposed point of order nor his proposed appeal was ever actually moved.


title: Nuclear option

text: In 1892, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in "United States v. Ballin" that both houses of Congress are parliamentary bodies, implying that they may make procedural rules by majority vote.


title: Nuclear option

text: The history of the constitutional option can be traced to a 1917 opinion by Senator Thomas J. Walsh (Democrat of Montana). Walsh contended that the U.S. Constitution provided the basis by which a newly commenced Senate could disregard procedural rules established by previous Senates, and had the right to choose its own procedural rules based on a simple majority vote despite the two-thirds requirement in the rules. "When the Constitution says, 'Each House may determine its rules of proceedings,' it means that each House may, by a majority vote, a quorum present, determine its rules," Walsh told the Senate. Opponents countered that Walsh's constitutional option would lead to procedural chaos, but his argument was a key factor in the adoption of the first cloture rule later that year.


title: Nuclear option

text: In 1957, Vice President Richard Nixon (and thus President of the Senate) wrote an advisory opinion that no Senate may constitutionally enact a rule that deprives a future Senate of the right to approve its own rules by the vote of a simple majority. (Nixon made clear that he was speaking for himself only, not making a formal ruling.) Nixon's opinion, along with similar opinions by Hubert Humphrey and Nelson Rockefeller, has been cited as precedent to support the view that the Senate may amend its rules at the beginning of the session with a simple majority vote. At the opening of the 85th United States Congress in January 1957, Clinton P. Anderson attempted to use Nixon's opinion to invoke the nuclear option but was interrupted by Lyndon B. Johnson, who as Senate Majority Leader had precedence. Johnson replaced Anderson's motion with his own, more oblique motion to table the question, which defeated the nuclear option.


title: Nuclear option

text: The option was officially moved by Democratic Party Senators Clinton P. Anderson (1953, 1955, 1957, 1963), George McGovern (1967), and Frank Church (1969), but was defeated or tabled by the Senate each time.


title: Nuclear option

text: A series of votes in 1975 have been cited as a precedent for the nuclear option, although some of these were reconsidered shortly thereafter. According to one account, the option was arguably endorsed by the Senate three times in 1975 during a debate concerning the cloture requirement. A compromise was reached to reduce the cloture requirement from two-thirds of those voting (67 votes if 100 Senators were present) to three-fifths of the current Senate (60 votes if there were no current vacancies) and also to approve a point of order revoking the earlier three votes in which the Constitutional option had been invoked. (This was an effort to reverse the precedent that had been set for cloture by majority vote).


title: Nuclear option

text: Senator Robert Byrd was later able to effect changes in Senate procedures by majority vote four times when he was majority leader without the support of two-thirds of senators present and voting (which would have been necessary to invoke cloture on a motion for an amendment to the Rules): to restrict postcloture filibusters (1977), to adopt a rule to limit amendments to an appropriations bill (1979), to allow a senator to make a non-debatable motion to bring a nomination to the floor (1980), and to ban filibustering during a roll call vote (1987). However, none of these procedural changes affected the ultimate ability of a 41-vote minority to block final action on a matter before the Senate via filibuster.


title: Nuclear option

text: The maneuver was brought to prominence in 2005 when Majority Leader Bill Frist (Republican of Tennessee) threatened its use to end Democratic-led filibusters of judicial nominees submitted by President George W. Bush. In response to this threat, Democrats threatened to shut down the Senate and prevent consideration of all routine and legislative Senate business. The ultimate confrontation was prevented by the Gang of 14, a group of seven Democratic and seven Republican Senators, all of whom agreed to oppose the nuclear option and oppose filibusters of judicial nominees, except in extraordinary circumstances. Several of the blocked nominees were brought to the floor, voted upon and approved as specified in the agreement, and others were dropped and did not come up for a vote, as implied by the agreement.


title: Nuclear option

text: In 2011, with a Democratic majority in the Senate (but not a supermajority), Senators Jeff Merkley and Tom Udall proposed "a sweeping filibuster reform package" to be implemented via the constitutional option but Majority Leader Harry Reid dissuaded them from pushing it forward. In October 2011, however, Reid triggered a more modest change in Senate precedents. In a 51–48 vote, the Senate prohibited any motion to waive the rules "after" a filibuster is defeated, although this change did not affect the ultimate ability of a 41-vote minority to block final action via an initial filibuster.


title: Nuclear option

text: The nuclear option was raised again following the congressional elections of 2012, this time with Senate Democrats in the majority (but short of a supermajority). The Democrats had been the majority party in the Senate since 2007 but only briefly did they have the 60 votes necessary to halt a filibuster. "The Hill" reported that Democrats would "likely" use the nuclear option in January 2013 to effect filibuster reform, but the two parties managed to negotiate two packages of amendments to the Rules concerning filibusters that passed on January 24, 2013, by votes of 78 to 16 and 86 to 9, thus avoiding the need for the nuclear option.


title: Nuclear option

text: In the end, negotiation between the two parties resulted in two packages of "modest" amendments to the rules on filibusters that were approved by the Senate on January 24, 2013, without triggering the nuclear option. Changes to the standing orders affecting just the 2013-14 Congress were passed by a vote of 78 to 16, eliminating the minority party's right to filibuster a bill as long as each party has been permitted to present at least two amendments to the bill. Changes to the permanent Senate rules were passed by a vote of 86 to 9.


title: Nuclear option

text: In July 2013, the nuclear option was raised as nominations were being blocked by Senate Republicans as Senate Democrats prepared to push through a change to the chamber's filibuster rule. On July 16, the Senate Democratic majority came within hours of using the nuclear option to win confirmation of seven of President Obama's long-delayed executive branch appointments. The confrontation was avoided when the White House withdrew two of the nominations in exchange for the other five being brought to the floor for a vote, where they were confirmed.


title: Nuclear option

text: On November 21, 2013, the Democratic majority Senate voted 48–52, with all Republicans and three Democrats voting in favor of sustaining the decision of the chair (Carl Levin of Michigan, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Mark Pryor of Arkansas), to set a precedent that "the vote on cloture under Rule XXII for all nominations other than for the Supreme Court of the United


title: Nuclear option

text: States is by majority vote," even though the text of the rule requires "three-fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn" to end debate. This ruling's precedent eliminated the 60-vote requirement to end a filibuster against all executive branch nominees and judicial nominees other than to the Supreme Court. The text of Rule XXII was never changed. A three-fifths supermajority was still required to invoke cloture on other questions such as legislation and Supreme Court nominees.


title: Nuclear option

text: The Democrats' stated motivation for this change was expansion of filibustering by Republicans during the Obama administration, in particular blocking three nominations to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Republicans had asserted that the D.C. Circuit was underworked, and also cited the need for cost reduction by reducing the number of judges in that circuit. At the time of the vote, 59 executive branch nominees and 17 judicial nominees were awaiting confirmation.


title: Nuclear option

text: Prior to November 21, 2013, in the entire history of the nation there had been only 168 cloture motions filed (or reconsidered) with regard to nominations. Nearly half of them (82) had been during the Obama Administration, but those cloture motions were often filed merely to speed things along, rather than in response to any filibuster. In contrast, there were just 38 cloture motions on nominations during the preceding eight years under President George W. Bush. Most of those cloture votes successfully ended debate, and therefore most of those nominees cleared the hurdle. Obama won Senate confirmation for 30 out of 42 federal appeals court nominations, compared with Bush's 35 out of 52.


title: Nuclear option

text: Regarding Obama's federal district court nominations, the Senate approved 143 out of 173 as of November 2013, compared to George W. Bush's first term 170 of 179, Bill Clinton's first term 170 of 198, and George H.W. Bush's 150 of 195. Filibusters were used on 20 Obama nominations to U.S. District Court positions, but Republicans had allowed confirmation of 19 out of the 20 before the nuclear option was invoked.


title: Nuclear option

text: On April 6, 2017, Senate Republicans invoked the nuclear option to remove the Supreme Court exception created in 2013. This was after Senate Democrats filibustered the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States and after the Senate Republicans had previously refused to take up Merrick Garland's nomination by President Obama in 2016.


title: Nuclear option

text: Following elimination of the 60-vote rule for nominations in 2013, senators expressed concerns that the 60-vote rule will eventually be eliminated for legislation via the nuclear option.


title: Nuclear option

text: While president, Donald Trump spoke out against the 60-vote requirement for legislation on several occasions. Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opposed abolishing the filibuster despite Trump's demands, and in April 2017, 61 senators (32 Republicans, 28 Democrats, and one independent) signed a letter stating their opposition to abolishing the filibuster for legislation. On January 21, 2018, Trump said on Twitter that if the shutdown stalemate continued, Republicans should consider the "nuclear option" in the Senate. He repeated the call on December 21, 2018, with a fresh shutdown looming.


title: Nuclear option

text: , the nuclear option has not been used to abolish the filibuster on legislation. As with Senate confirmations, to abolish the filibuster would require a vote of at least 51 senators, or 50 senators if the tie-breaker vote of the vice president (as president of the Senate) also votes in favor.


title: Nuclear option

text: Concerns about abolishing the filibuster through the nuclear option were reiterated in 2021 as the Democratic-majority Senate could move to eliminate the filibuster through the nuclear option. On January 3, 2022, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that the Senate would vote on the nuclear option to change filibuster rules to pass his party's election reform legislation. The bid failed on January 19, 2022, after Schumer said he could only get 48 votes from his party due to holdout Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.


title: Nuclear option

text: Policy debates surrounding the nuclear option – a tool to implement a rule change – are closely related to arguments regarding the 60-vote requirement imposed by Rule XXII. Issues include:


title: Nuclear option

text: The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly address how many votes are required for passage of a bill or confirmation of a nominee. Regarding nominations, Article II, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution says the president "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint ... Judges..." The Constitution includes several explicit supermajority rules, including requiring a two-thirds majority in the Senate for impeachment, confirming treaties, overturning a veto, expelling one of its members, and concurring in the proposal of Constitutional Amendments.


title: Nuclear option

text: Supporters of a simple majority standard argue that the Constitution's silence implies that a simple majority is sufficient; they contrast this with Article II's language for Senate confirmation of treaties. Regarding nominations, they argue that the Appointments Clause's lack of a supermajority requirement is evidence that the Framers consciously rejected such a requirement. They also argue that the general rule of parliamentary systems "is that majorities govern in a legislative body, unless another rule is expressly provided."


title: Nuclear option

text: From this, supporters argue that a simple-majority rule would bring current practices into line with the Framers' original intent – hence supporters' preferred nomenclature of the "constitutional option". They argue that the filibuster of presidential nominees effectively establishes a 60-vote threshold for approval of judicial nominees instead of the 51-vote standard implied by the Constitution. A number of existing Judges and Justices were confirmed with fewer than sixty votes, including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (confirmed in a 52–48 vote in 1991).


title: Nuclear option

text: Supporters have claimed that the minority party is engaged in obstruction. In 2005, Republicans argued that Democrats obstructed the approval of the president's nominees in violation of the intent of the U.S. Constitution. President Bush had nominated forty-six candidates to federal appeals courts. Thirty-six were confirmed. 10 were blocked and 7 were renominated in Spring 2005. Democrats responded that 63 of President Clinton's 248 nominees were blocked via procedural means at the committee level, denying them a confirmation vote and leaving the positions available for Bush to fill.


title: Nuclear option

text: In 2005, pro-nuclear option Republicans argued that they had won recent elections and in a democracy the winners rule, not the minority. They also argued that while the Constitution requires supermajorities for some purposes (such as 2/3 needed to ratify a treaty), the Founders did not require a supermajority for confirmations, and that the Constitution thus presupposes a majority vote for confirmations.


title: Nuclear option

text: Proponents of the 60-vote rule point out that while the Constitution "requires" two-thirds majorities for actions such as treaty ratification and proposed constitutional amendments, it is silent on other matters. Instead, Article I, Section V of the Constitution permits and mandates that each house of Congress establish its own rules. Regarding nominations, they contend that the word "Advice" in the Constitution refers to consultation between the Senate and the President with regard to the use of the President's power to make nominations.


title: Nuclear option

text: Supporters of the right to filibuster argue that the Senate has a long tradition of requiring broad support to do business, due in part to the threat of the filibuster, and that this protects the minority. Starting with the first Senate in 1789, the rules left no room for a filibuster; a simple majority could move to bring the matter to a vote. However, in 1806, the rule allowing a majority to bring the previous question ceased to exist. The filibuster became possible, and since any Senator could now block a vote, 100% support was required to bring the matter to a vote. A rule change in 1917 introduced cloture, permitting a two-thirds majority of those present to end debate, and a further change in 1975 reduced the cloture requirement to three-fifths of the entire Senate.


title: Nuclear option

text: Proponents of the 60-vote rule have argued that the Senate is a less-than-democratic body that could conceivably allow a simple majority of senators, representing a minority of the national population, to enact legislation or confirm appointees lacking popular support.


title: Nuclear option

text: In 2005, Democrats claimed the nuclear option was an attempt by Senate Republicans to hand confirmation power to themselves. Rather than require the President to nominate someone who will get broad support in the Senate, the nuclear option would allow Judges to not only be "nominated to the Court by a Republican president, but also be confirmed by only Republican Senators in party-line votes."


title: Nuclear option

text: Of the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices seated between August 3, 1994, and May 2005, six were confirmed with the support of ninety or more Senators, two were confirmed with at least the support of sixty senators, and only one (Clarence Thomas) was confirmed with the support of fewer than sixty Senators. However, since John G. Roberts was confirmed, no candidate has received more than 68 votes. Conservative nominees for Appellate Courts that were given a vote through the "Gang of 14" were confirmed almost exclusively along party lines: Priscilla Owen was confirmed 55–43, Janice Rogers Brown was confirmed 56–43, and William Pryor was confirmed 53–45.


title: Nuclear option

text: In 2005, polling indicated public support for an active Senate role in its "advise and consent" capacity. An Associated Press-Ipsos poll released May 20, 2005, found 78 percent of Americans believe the Senate should take an "assertive role" examining judicial nominees rather than just give the president the benefit of the doubt.


title: Nuclear option

text: The agreement to stave off the "nuclear option" reached by fourteen moderate Senators supports a strong interpretation of "Advice and Consent" from the Constitution:


title: Nuclear option

text: Beyond the specific context of U.S. federal judicial appointments, the term "nuclear option" has come to be used generically for a procedural maneuver with potentially serious consequences, to be used as a last resort to overcome political opposition. In a 2005 legal ruling on the validity of the Hunting Act 2004 the UK House of Lords used "nuclear option" to describe the events of 1832, when the then-government threatened to create hundreds of new Whig peers to force the Tory-dominated Lords to accept the Reform Act 1832. (Nuclear weapons were not theorized until the 20th century, so the government's threat was not labeled as "nuclear" at the time.)


title: Nuclear option

text: The nuclear option is not to be confused with reconciliation, which allows issues related to the annual budget to be decided by a majority vote without the possibility of filibuster.


title: Howard Dully

text: Howard Dully (born November 30, 1948) is one of the youngest recipients and survivors of the transorbital lobotomy, a procedure performed on him when he was 12 years old. Dully received international attention in 2005, following the broadcasting of his story on National Public Radio. Subsequently, in 2007, he published a "New York Times" Best Seller memoir, "My Lobotomy", a story of the hardships of his lobotomy, co-authored by Charles Fleming.


title: Howard Dully

text: Dully was born on November 30, 1948, in Oakland, California, the eldest son of Rodney and June Louise Pierce Dully. Following the death of his mother from cancer in 1954, Dully's father married single mother Shirley Lucille Hardin in 1955.


title: Howard Dully

text: Neurologist Walter Freeman had diagnosed Dully as suffering from childhood schizophrenia since age four, although numerous other medical and psychiatric professionals who had seen Dully did not detect a psychiatric disorder. In 1960, at 12 years of age, Dully was submitted by his father and stepmother for a trans-orbital lobotomy, performed by Dr. Freeman for $200. During the procedure, a long, sharp instrument called an orbitoclast was inserted through each of Dully's eye sockets 7 cm (2.75 inches) into his brain.


title: Howard Dully

text: Dully was institutionalized for years as a juvenile (in Agnews State Hospital as a minor); transferred to Rancho Linda School in San Jose, California, a school for children with behavior problems; incarcerated; and was eventually homeless and an alcoholic. After becoming sober and getting a college degree in computer information systems, he became a California state certified behind-the-wheel instructor for a school bus company in San Jose, California.


title: Howard Dully

text: In his 50s, with the assistance of National Public Radio producer David Isay, Dully started to research what had happened to him as a child. By this time, both his stepmother and Freeman were dead, and due to the aftereffects of the surgery, he was unable to rely on his own memories. He travelled the country with Isay and Piya Kochhar, speaking with members of his family, relatives of other lobotomy patients, and relatives of Freeman, and also gaining access to Freeman's archives. Dully first relayed his story on a National Public Radio broadcast in 2005, prior to co-authoring a memoir published in 2007.


title: Howard Dully

text: On November 16, 2005, Isay broadcast Dully's search as a Sound Portraits documentary on NPR. According to "USA Today", the documentary, which "The New York Times" describes as "celebrated", "created a firestorm". The broadcast, aired on "All Things Considered", drew more listener response than any other program that had ever aired, and by May 2006, the Crown Publishing Group had negotiated worldwide rights to publish Dully's story in book form.


title: Howard Dully

text: In 2007, Dully published "My Lobotomy", a memoir co-authored by Charles Fleming. The memoir relates Dully's experiences as a child, the effect of the procedure on his life, his efforts as an adult to discover why the medically unnecessary procedure was performed on him and the effect of the radio broadcast on his life.


title: Howard Dully

text: The book was critically well received. "The New York Times" described it as "harrowing", "one of the saddest stories you'll ever read". "USA Today" called it "at once horrifying and inspiring". The "San Francisco Chronicle" critiqued it as "a gruesome but compulsively readable tale, ultimately redemptive". In the United Kingdom, "The Observer" characterized the book as "a forceful account of his survival" that "sheds light on the man who subjected him to one of the most brutal surgical procedures in medical history". "The Times" described it as "uncomfortable reading", noting that "[i]t is, given the circumstances, astonishingly free of rancour."


title: Howard Dully

text: In the last section of the memoir, entitled "One Last Word", Dully compared his lobotomy to young children today who are diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder without a second opinion, and are subsequently medicated with powerful medications.


title: Sharp (music)

text: In music, sharp, dièse (from French), or diesis (from Greek) means, "higher in pitch". More specifically, in musical notation, sharp means "higher in pitch by one semitone (half step)". Sharp is the opposite of flat, which is a lowering of pitch.


title: Sharp (music)

text: A sharp symbol, , is used in key signatures or as an accidental. For instance, the music below has a key signature with three sharps (indicating either A major or F minor, the relative minor) and the note, A, has a sharp accidental.


title: Sharp (music)

text: Under twelve-tone equal temperament, B, for instance, sounds the same as, or is enharmonically equivalent to, C natural (C), and E is enharmonically equivalent to F. In other tuning systems, such enharmonic equivalences in general do not exist. To allow extended just intonation, composer Ben Johnston uses a sharp to indicate a note is raised 70.6 cents (ratio 25:24), or a flat to indicate a note is lowered 70.6 cents.


title: Sharp (music)

text: In intonation, sharp can also mean "slightly higher in pitch" (by some unspecified amount). If two simultaneous notes are slightly out-of-tune, the higher-pitched one (assuming the lower one is properly pitched) is "sharp" with respect to the other. Furthermore, the verb "sharpen" means to raise the pitch of a note, typically by a small musical interval.


title: Sharp (music)

text: Double sharps are indicated by the symbol and raise a note by two semitones, or one whole tone. They should not be confused with a ghost note which is notated with "X". Historically, in order to lower a double sharp by one semitone to a sharp, it would be denoted as a . In modern notation the natural sign is often omitted.


title: Sharp (music)

text: Less often (in for instance microtonal music notation) a score indicates other types of sharps. A half sharp, or demisharp raises a note by a quarter tone = 50 cents (), and may be marked with various symbols including . A sharp-and-a-half, three-quarter-tone sharp, or sesquisharp, raises a note by three quarter tones = 150 cents () and may be denoted .


title: Sharp (music)

text: Although very uncommon, a triple sharp () can sometimes be found. It raises a note by three semitones, or a whole tone and a semitone.


title: Sharp (music)

text: The order of sharps in key signature notation is F, C, G, D, A, E, B, each extra sharp being added successively in the following sequence of major keys: C→G→D→A→E→B→F→C. (These are sometimes learned using an acrostic phrase as a mnemonic, for example:


title: Sharp (music)

text: Similarly the order of flats is based on the same natural notes in reverse order: B, E, A, D, G, C, F


title: Sharp (music)

text: Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles's Father or Blanket Exploded And Dad Got Cold Feet, encountered in the following series of major keys: C→F→B→E→A→D→G→C.


title: Sharp (music)

text: In the above progression, the key of C major (with seven sharps) may be more conveniently written as the harmonically equivalent key D major (with five flats), and likewise C major (with seven flats) may be more conveniently written as B major (with five sharps). Nonetheless, it is possible to extend the order of sharp keys yet further, through C→G→D→A→E→B→F→C, adding the double-sharped notes F, C, G, D, A, E and finally B, and similarly for the flat keys from C major to C major, but with progressively decreasing convenience and usage.


title: Sharp (music)

text: The sharp symbol () resembles the number (hash) sign (#). Both signs have two sets of parallel double-lines. However, a correctly drawn sharp sign has two slanted parallel lines that rise from left to right, to avoid obscuring the staff lines. The number sign, in contrast, has two completely horizontal strokes in this place. In addition, while the sharp also always has two perfectly vertical lines, the number sign (#) may or may not contain perfectly vertical lines (according to typeface and writing style).


title: This Is Us (season 2)

text: The second season of the American television series "This Is Us" continues to follow the lives and connections of the Pearson family across several time periods. The season was produced by Rhode Island Ave. Productions, Zaftig Films, and 20th Century Fox Television, with Dan Fogelman, Isaac Aptaker, and Elizabeth Berger serving as showrunners.


title: This Is Us (season 2)

text: A second and third season of "This Is Us" were ordered in January 2017, with production for season two beginning that July. The season stars an ensemble cast featuring Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, Justin Hartley, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Sullivan, Ron Cephas Jones, Jon Huertas, Alexandra Breckenridge, Niles Fitch, Logan Shroyer, Hannah Zeile, Mackenzie Hancsicsak, Parker Bates, Eris Baker, Faithe Herman, and Lonnie Chavis.


title: This Is Us (season 2)

text: The second season, consisting of 18 episodes, aired from September 26, 2017, to March 13, 2018, on NBC. "This Is Us" served as the lead-out program for Super Bowl LII in February 2018 with the second season's fourteenth episode.


title: This Is Us (season 2)

text: On January 18, 2017, NBC renewed the series for a second and third season of 18 episodes each, for a total of 36 additional episodes. Dan Fogelman, Isaac Aptaker, and Elizabeth Berger served as the season's showrunners.


title: This Is Us (season 2)

text: Main cast members Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, Justin Hartley, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Sullivan, and Ron Cephas Jones returned from the first season as Jack Pearson, Rebecca Pearson, Randall Pearson, Kate Pearson, Kevin Pearson, Beth Pearson, Toby Damon, and William H. Hill, respectively. Jon Huertas and Alexandra Breckenridge, who recurred as Miguel and Sophie, respectively, throughout the first season, were subsequently promoted to the principal cast in the second season. Also promoted to series regulars are young actors Hannah Zeile as teenage Kate, Niles Fitch as teenage Randall, Logan Shroyer as teenage Kevin, Mackenzie Hancsicsak as young Kate, Parker Bates as young Kevin, Faithe Herman as Annie Pearson, and Eris Baker as Tess Pearson. Due to his conflicting role on "White Famous", Lonnie Chavis (young Randall) was unable to be promoted to a series regular, but is credited with the main cast in episodes in which he appears.


title: This Is Us (season 2)

text: The show was awarded over $9.9 million in tax incentives by the California Film Commission for its second season. Production on the season began on July 11, 2017, in Los Angeles.


title: This Is Us (season 2)

text: The second season was originally set to move to a Thursday timeslot, to anchor a new Must See TV lineup, alongside "Will & Grace", "Great News" and "Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders", with NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt explaining, "While this is a bit risky, there is a bigger case to be made about redoing Thursday night. If there is one show we could move, it would be this one." However, on May 30, 2017, NBC decided to keep the series on Tuesdays at 9pm EST, allowing it a run of 10 uninterrupted original episodes in the fall.


title: This Is Us (season 2)

text: The season aired from September 26, 2017, to March 13, 2018, on NBC in the United States, and on CTV in Canada. "This Is Us" served as the lead-out program for Super Bowl LII on February 4, 2018.


title: This Is Us (season 2)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 91% approval rating, with an average rating of 7.95/10, and an average episode score of 92%, based on 23 reviews. The website's consensus reads, ""This is Us" continues to tug at heartstrings with an emotional exploration of family that ensures viewers will want to keep the tissues close -- and their loved ones closer."


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: The Fokker Dr.I ("Dreidecker", "triplane" in German), often known simply as the Fokker Triplane, was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The Dr.I saw widespread service in the spring of 1918. It became famous as the aircraft in which Manfred von Richthofen gained his last 17 victories (plus two earlier ones in the Fokker F.I prototype in September 1917), and in which he was killed on 21 April 1918.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: In February 1917, the Sopwith Triplane began to appear over the Western Front. Despite its single Vickers machine gun armament, the Sopwith swiftly proved itself superior to the more heavily armed Albatros fighters then in use by the "Luftstreitkräfte". In April 1917, Anthony Fokker viewed a captured Sopwith Triplane while visiting "Jasta" 11. Upon his return to the Schwerin factory, Fokker instructed Reinhold Platz to build a triplane, but gave him no further information about the Sopwith design. Platz responded with the V.4, a small, rotary-powered triplane with a steel tube fuselage and thick cantilever wings, first developed during Fokker's government-mandated collaboration with Hugo Junkers. Initial tests revealed that the V.4 had unacceptably high control forces resulting from the use of unbalanced ailerons and elevators.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: Instead of submitting the V.4 for a type test, Fokker produced a revised prototype designated V.5. The most notable changes were the introduction of horn-balanced ailerons and elevators, as well as longer-span wings. The V.5 also featured interplane struts, which were not necessary from a structural standpoint, but which minimized wing flexing. On 14 July 1917, "Idflieg" issued an order for 20 pre-production aircraft. The V.5 prototype, serial 101/17, was tested to destruction at Adlershof on 11 August 1917.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: The first two pre-production triplanes were designated F.I, in accord with "Idflieg's" early class prefix for triplanes. These aircraft, serials 102/17 and 103/17, were the only machines to receive the F.I designation and could be distinguished from subsequent aircraft by a slight convex curve of the tailplane's leading edge. The two aircraft were sent to "Jastas" 10 and 11 for combat evaluation, arriving at Markebeeke, Belgium on 28 August 1917.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: Richthofen first flew 102/17 on 1 September 1917 and shot down two enemy aircraft in the next two days. He reported to the "Kogenluft" ("Kommandierender General der Luftstreitkräfte") that the F.I was superior to the Sopwith Triplane. Richthofen recommended that fighter squadrons be reequipped with the new aircraft as soon as possible. The combat evaluation came to an abrupt conclusion when "Oberleutnant" Kurt Wolff, "Staffelführer" of "Jasta" 11, was shot down in 102/17 on 15 September, and "Leutnant" Werner Voss, "Staffelführer" of "Jasta" 10, was killed in 103/17 on 23 September.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: The remaining pre-production aircraft, designated Dr.I, were delivered to "Jasta" 11. "Idflieg" issued a production order for 100 triplanes in September, followed by an order for 200 in November. Apart from the straight leading edge of the tailplane, these aircraft were almost identical to the F.I. The primary distinguishing feature was the addition of wingtip skids, which proved necessary because the aircraft was tricky to land and prone to ground looping. In October, Fokker began delivering the Dr.I to squadrons within Richthofen's "Jagdgeschwader" I.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: Compared with the Albatros and Pfalz fighters, the Dr.I offered exceptional maneuverability. Though the ailerons were not very effective, the rudder and elevator controls were light and powerful. Rapid turns, especially to the right, were facilitated by the triplane's marked directional instability. "Vizefeldwebel" Franz Hemer of "Jasta" 6 said, "The triplane was my favorite fighting machine because it had such wonderful flying qualities. I could let myself stunt – looping and rolling – and could avoid an enemy by diving with perfect safety. The triplane had to be given up because although it was very maneuverable, it was no longer fast enough."


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: As Hemer noted, the Dr.I was considerably slower than contemporary Allied fighters in level flight and in a dive. While initial rate of climb was excellent, performance fell off dramatically at higher altitudes because of the low compression of the Oberursel Ur.II, a clone of the Le Rhône 9J rotary engine. As the war continued, chronic shortages of castor oil made rotary operation increasingly difficult. The poor quality of German "ersatz" lubricant resulted in many engine failures, particularly during the summer of 1918.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: The Dr.I suffered other deficiencies. The pilot's view was poor during takeoff and landing. The cockpit was cramped and furnished with materials of inferior quality. Furthermore, the proximity of the gun butts to the cockpit, combined with inadequate crash padding, left the pilot vulnerable to serious head injury in the event of a crash landing.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: On 29 October 1917, "Leutnant der Reserve" Heinrich Gontermann, "Staffelführer" of "Jasta" 15, was performing aerobatics when his triplane broke up. Gontermann was killed in the ensuing crash landing. "Leutnant der Reserve" Günther Pastor of "Jasta" 11 was killed two days later when his triplane broke up in level flight. Inspection of the wrecked aircraft showed that the wings had been poorly constructed. Examination of other high-time triplanes confirmed these findings. On 2 November, "Idflieg" grounded all remaining triplanes pending an inquiry. "Idflieg" convened a "Sturzkommission" (crash commission) which concluded that poor construction and lack of waterproofing had allowed moisture to damage the wing structure. This caused the wing ribs to disintegrate and the ailerons to break away in flight.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: In response to the crash investigation, Fokker was forced to improve quality control on the production line, particularly varnishing of the wing spars and ribs, to combat moisture. Fokker also strengthened the rib structures and the attachment of the auxiliary spars to the ribs. Existing triplanes were repaired and modified at Fokker's expense. After testing a modified wing at Adlershof, "Idflieg" authorized the triplane's return to service on 28 November 1917. Production resumed in early December. By January 1918, "Jastas" 6 and 11 were fully equipped with the triplane. Only 14 squadrons used the Dr.I as their primary equipment. Most of these units were part of "Jagdgeschwadern" I, II, or III. Frontline inventory peaked in late April 1918, with 171 aircraft in service on the Western Front.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: Despite corrective measures, the Dr.I continued to suffer from wing failures. On 3 February 1918, "Leutnant" Hans Joachim Wolff of "Jasta" 11 successfully landed after suffering a failure of the upper wing leading edge and ribs. On 18 March 1918, Lothar von Richthofen, "Staffelführer" of "Jasta" 11, suffered a failure of the upper wing leading edge during combat with Sopwith Camels of No. 73 Squadron and Bristol F.2Bs of No. 62 Squadron. Richthofen was seriously injured in the ensuing crash landing.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: Postwar research revealed that poor workmanship was not the only cause of the triplane's structural failures. In 1929, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) investigations found that the upper wing carried a higher lift coefficient than the lower wing – at high speeds it could be 2.55 times as much.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: The triplane's chronic structural problems destroyed any prospect of large-scale orders. Production eventually ended in May 1918, by which time only 320 had been manufactured. The Dr.I was withdrawn from frontline service as the Fokker D.VII entered widespread service in June and July. "Jasta" 19 was the last squadron to be fully equipped with the Dr.I.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: Surviving triplanes were distributed to training and home defense units. Several training aircraft were reengined with the 75 kW (100 hp) Goebel Goe.II. At the time of the Armistice, many remaining triplanes were assigned to fighter training schools at Nivelles, Belgium, and Valenciennes, France. Allied pilots tested several of these triplanes and found their handling qualities to be impressive.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: Several Dr.Is were used as testbeds for experimental engines. One aircraft, designated V.7, was fitted with the Siemens-Halske Sh.III bi-rotary engine. The V.7 exhibited exceptional rate of climb and ceiling, but it proved difficult to handle. Serial 108/17 was used to test the 118 kW (160 hp) Goebel Goe. III, while serial 469/17 was used to test the 108 kW (145 hp) Oberursel Ur. III. None of these engines were used on production aircraft. One triplane was used as a testbed for an experimental Schwade gear-driven supercharger.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: Three triplanes are known to have survived the Armistice. Serial 528/17 was retained as a testbed by the "Deutschen Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt" (German Aviation Research Institute) at Adlershof. After being used in the filming of two movies, 528/17 is believed to have crashed sometime in the late 1930s. Serial 152/17, in which Manfred von Richthofen obtained three victories, was displayed at the "Zeughaus" museum in Berlin. This aircraft was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid during World War II.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: In 1932, Fokker assembled a Dr.I from existing components. It was displayed in the "Deutsche Luftfahrt-Sammlung" in Berlin. In 1943, the aircraft was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid. Today, only a few original Dr.I artifacts survive in museums.


title: Fokker Dr.I

text: Large numbers of replica and reproduction aircraft have been built for both individuals and museums. Bitz Flugzeugbau GmbH built two Dr.I replicas, serial numbers 001 and 002, for use in Twentieth Century Fox’s 1966 film "The Blue Max". Replica 001 EI-APW is the oldest surviving example of the Dr.1. Because of the expense and scarcity of authentic rotary engines, most airworthy replicas are powered by a Warner Scarab or Continental R-670 radial engine. A few, however, feature vintage Le Rhône 9J or reproduction Oberursel Ur.II rotary engines.


title: Merlin Holland

text: Christopher Merlin Vyvyan Holland (born December 1945) is a British biographer and editor. He is the only grandchild of Oscar Wilde, whose life he has researched and written about extensively.


title: Merlin Holland

text: Born in London in December 1945, Christopher Merlin Vyvyan Holland is the son of the author Vyvyan Holland and his second wife, Thelma Besant. He is the only grandchild of Oscar Wilde and Constance Lloyd.


title: Merlin Holland

text: His mother Thelma was an Australian cosmetician who became the personal beauty adviser to Queen Elizabeth II for about 10 years from the mid-1940s. His paternal grandmother, Constance, had changed her and her children's surname to Holland (an old family name) in 1895, after Wilde had been convicted of homosexual acts and imprisoned, in order to gain some privacy for the boys and distance from the scandal.


title: Merlin Holland

text: Holland has studied and researched Wilde's life for more than thirty years. He is the co-editor, with Rupert Hart-Davis, of "The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde". He is the editor of "Irish Peacock and Scarlet Marquess", the first uncensored version of his grandfather's 1895 trials. (The book is titled "The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde" for release in the US).


title: Merlin Holland

text: Holland has criticised Richard Ellmann's 1987 biography, "Oscar Wilde", as inaccurate, particularly his claim that Wilde had syphilis and transmitted it to Constance. According to "The Guardian", Holland has "unearthed medical evidence within private family letters, which has enabled a doctor to determine the likely cause of Constance's death. The letters reveal symptoms nowadays associated with multiple sclerosis but apparently wrongly diagnosed by her two doctors. One, an unnamed German 'nerve doctor', resorted to dubious remedies and the other, Luigi Maria Bossi, conducted a botched operation that days later claimed her life."


title: Merlin Holland

text: Holland has also written "The Wilde Album", a small volume that included hitherto unpublished photographs of Wilde. The book focuses on how the scandal caused by Wilde's trials affected his family, most notably his wife, Constance, and their children, Cyril and Vyvyan.


title: Merlin Holland

text: In 2006, his book "Oscar Wilde: A Life in Letters" was published, and his volume "Coffee with Oscar Wilde", an imagined conversation with Wilde, was released in the autumn of 2007. Holland also wrote "A Portrait of Oscar Wilde" (2008), which reveals Wilde through manuscripts and letters from the Lucia Moreira Salles collection, located at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.


title: Merlin Holland

text: In addition, Holland has also worked as a wine writer and occasionally written features for "Country Life", and "The Oldie".


title: Merlin Holland

text: In July 2013, Holland gave the keynote address for a symposium on Oscar Wilde presented by The Santa Fe Opera. The address surveyed the popular and critical attitudes towards Wilde and his work from the end of his life to the present day. The symposium was given in conjunction with the opera company's world premiere presentations of "Oscar", composed by Theodore Morrison with a libretto written by John Cox and the composer.


title: Merlin Holland

text: Holland's play "The Trials of Oscar Wilde", co-authored with John O'Connor and re-enacting the 1895 trials of Lord Queensberry for libel and Oscar Wilde for gross indecency, toured the United Kingdom in 2014 in a production by the European Arts Company.


title: Merlin Holland

text: Holland lives in Burgundy, France, with his second wife. His son, Lucian Holland (born 1979 to Merlin's first wife Sarah), studied classics at Magdalen College. He occupied rooms that his great-grandfather Wilde had occupied. He is a computer programmer, living in London.


title: Merlin Holland

text: Merlin Holland briefly toyed with the idea of changing his name back to Wilde. He told "The New York Times" in 1998, “But if I did it, it would have to be not just for Oscar, but for his father and mother, too, for the whole family. It was an extraordinary family before he came along, so if I put the family name back on the map for the right reasons, then it's all right.”


title: Fuji (apple)

text: The Fuji apple is an apple cultivar developed by growers at Tohoku Research Station (農林省園芸試験場東北支場) in Fujisaki, Aomori, Japan, in the late 1930s, and brought to market in 1962. It originated as a cross between two American apple varieties—the Red Delicious and old Virginia Ralls Janet (sometimes cited as "Rawls Jennet") apples. According to the US Apple Association website it is one of the nine most popular apple cultivars in the United States. Its name is derived from the first part of the town where it was developed: Fujisaki.


title: Fuji (apple)

text: Fuji apples are typically round and range from large to very large, averaging in diameter. They contain between 9–11% sugars by weight and have a dense flesh that is sweeter and crisper than many other apple cultivars, making them popular with consumers around the world. Fuji apples also have a very long shelf life compared to other apples, even without refrigeration. With refrigeration, Fuji apples can remain fresh for up to a year.


title: Fuji (apple)

text: In Japan, Fuji apples continue to be an unrivaled best-seller. Japanese consumers prefer the crispy texture and sweetness of Fuji apples (which is somewhat reminiscent of the coveted Nashi pear) almost to the exclusion of other varieties and Japan's apple imports remain low. Aomori Prefecture, home to the Fuji apple, is the best known apple growing region of Japan. Of the roughly 900,000 tons of Japanese apples produced annually, 500,000 tons come from Aomori.


title: Fuji (apple)

text: Outside Japan, the popularity of Fuji apples continues to grow. In 2016 and 2017, Fuji apples accounted for nearly 70% of China's 43 million tons grown. Since their introduction into the US market in the 1980s, Fuji apples have gained popularity with American consumers — as of 2016, Fuji apples ranked number 3 on the US Apple Association's list of most popular apples, only trailing Red Delicious and Gala. Fuji apples are grown in traditional apple-growing states such as Washington, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, and California. Washington State, where more than half of America's apple crop is grown, produces about 135,000 tons of Fuji apples each year, third in volume behind Red Delicious and Gala varieties.


title: Fuji (apple)

text: Fuji apples have recently been projected by the US Apple Association to be in 4th place as America's favorite apple.