title: Russ Feingold

text: During his 1998 reelection campaign, Feingold was outspent by his Republican opponent, Representative Mark Neumann, and targeted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Feingold placed a cap on his own fundraising, pledging not to raise or spend more than $3.8 million (one dollar for every citizen of Wisconsin) during the campaign, and turning away Democratic Party soft money. He requested that several lobby groups, including the AFL–CIO and the League of Conservation Voters, refrain from airing pro-Feingold "issue ads". Some Democrats were angry at Feingold for "putting his career at risk" with these self-imposed limits. Neumann also limited himself to $3.8 million in spending, but allowed soft money to be used in his favor by outside groups. A strong showing in the Democratic strongholds of Milwaukee and Madison allowed Feingold to win the election by about two percentage points.


title: Russ Feingold

text: In the 2004 Senate election, Feingold defeated the Republican candidate, businessman Tim Michels, by 11 percentage points (55%-44%), earning a third term. During the campaign, Feingold refrained from imposing spending caps on himself as he had in the past, and raised and spent almost $11 million. In 2004, Feingold spent nearly $3.7 million, or about 67%, more than his opponent. PolitiFact.com rated Feingold's frequent assertion that he had been outspent by opponents in every U.S. Senate election "pants on fire."


title: Russ Feingold

text: In late December 2004, Feingold was appointed to be one of four deputy whips for the Senate Democrats.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Feingold was defeated for reelection on November 2, 2010, by Oshkosh businessman Ron Johnson, 52% to 47%.


title: Russ Feingold

text: On May 14, 2015, Feingold announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate against the incumbent, Republican Ron Johnson.


title: Russ Feingold

text: In his 2016 campaign, Feingold said he would no longer adhere to his longstanding pledge to raise the majority of his campaign funds from Wisconsin residents. Feingold said the pledge had been made on an election-to-election basis and no longer made sense. As of March 2016, Feingold had raised the most money among all U.S. Senate candidates challenging an incumbent. Nearly three-fourths of his individual contributions were from outside Wisconsin.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Groups financially supporting Feingold's election bid included Planned Parenthood, the League of Conservation Voters, American Bridge 21st Century, and the National Abortion Rights Action League. In May 2016, Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Feingold and engaged in fundraising for him.


title: Russ Feingold

text: In the November 8, 2016, general election, Feingold was defeated by Johnson. Feingold received slightly less than 47%, and Johnson received slightly more than 50%, of the vote.


title: Russ Feingold

text: During his time in the U.S. Senate, Feingold gained a reputation as a political maverick with an independent streak. When he broke with his own party, it was often because he was taking a more liberal or populist position than other Democrats. Throughout his congressional tenure, several ranking systems placed Feingold among the nation's most liberal or progressive senators.


title: Russ Feingold

text: During the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton, Feingold was the only Democratic senator to vote against a motion to dismiss Congress's impeachment case against President Bill Clinton. Feingold ultimately voted against conviction on all charges.


title: Russ Feingold

text: In 2001, Feingold was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act (H.R. 3162). Also in 2001, Feingold voted for the confirmation of Attorney General John Ashcroft.


title: Russ Feingold

text: On December 21, 2004, Feingold wrote an article for the website "Salon" about a golfing trip to Greenville, Alabama. After noting how friendly the people were, and that Wisconsin had many similar places, he expressed his sorrow that such a poverty-stricken area was "the reddest spot on the whole map" despite Republican policies that Feingold considered destructive to the well-being of the poor and middle class. Alabama Governor Bob Riley and Greenville Mayor Dexter McLendon, both Republicans, were perturbed at Feingold's description of "check-cashing stores and abject trailer parks, and some of the hardest-used cars for sale on a very rundown lot." McLendon invited Feingold back for a more complete tour of the city, and Feingold agreed. He visited the city on March 28, 2005, making amends and increasing speculation about his presidential plans for 2008.


title: Russ Feingold

text: In May 2006, Feingold voted in favor of bill S.2611, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, an immigration reform bill that was designed to give most illegal immigrants a chance to become legal citizens.


title: Russ Feingold

text: In 2009, Feingold voted against confirmation of Timothy Geithner to be United States Secretary of the Treasury, citing Geithner's personal tax issues. Also in 2009, Feingold announced that he was planning to introduce a constitutional amendment that would prohibit governors from making temporary Senate appointments instead of holding special elections.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Feingold cosponsored the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, which was signed into law in October 2009.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Feingold is perhaps best known for his work with Senator John McCain on the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, better known as the McCain–Feingold Act. The legislation, which took seven years to pass, became defunct in the wake of several U.S. Supreme Court decisions.


title: Russ Feingold

text: On May 20, 2010, Feingold was one of two Democratic senators to vote against the Dodd–Frank Wall Street reform bill, citing his belief that the measures did not go far enough. On July 15, 2010, he became the only Democratic senator to vote against the bill when it was brought up again; it passed by a 60-39 vote.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Feingold was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act when it was first introduced in 2001, saying that its provisions infringed upon citizens' civil liberties.


title: Russ Feingold

text: When the bill was up for renewal in late December 2005, Feingold led a bipartisan coalition of senators – including Lisa Murkowski, Ken Salazar, Larry Craig, Dick Durbin and John Sununu – to remove some of the act's more controversial provisions. Feingold led a filibuster against renewal of the act. In February 2006, the Senate voted 96-3 to break the filibuster and to extend the Patriot Act.


title: Russ Feingold

text: In 2009, when the act was again up for reauthorization, Feingold introduced the JUSTICE Act (S. 1686) "To place reasonable safeguards on the use of surveillance and other authorities under the USA PATRIOT Act." Senator Patrick Leahy then introduced an alternative bill, about which Feingold later said "...while narrower than the JUSTICE Act that Senator Durbin and I have championed, [it] did contain several important and necessary protections for the privacy of innocent Americans." After what Feingold saw as the further watering down of civil liberty protections in the bill, it passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 8 by a vote of 11 to 8 with Feingold voting against it.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Feingold was one of 23 senators to vote against H.J. Resolution 114, which authorized President George W. Bush to use force against Iraq in 2002.


title: Russ Feingold

text: On August 17, 2005, he became the first senator to call for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and urge that a timetable for that withdrawal be set. He called other Democrats "timid" for refusing to take action sooner, and suggested December 31, 2006, as the date for total withdrawal of troops. On the subject of Bush's assertion that a deadline would be helpful to Iraqi insurgents, Feingold said, "I think he's wrong. I think not talking about endgames is playing into our enemies' hand."


title: Russ Feingold

text: On April 27, 2006, Feingold announced that he would move to amend an appropriations bill granting $106.5 billion in emergency spending measure for Iraq and Hurricane Katrina relief to require that troops withdraw completely from Iraq.


title: Russ Feingold

text: On March 14, 2006, Feingold introduced a resolution in the Senate to censure President Bush. This was a result of allegations of illegal wiretapping under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), which mandates use of a surveillance court for approval of wiretaps on Americans. Feingold made a 25-minute speech on the Senate floor, declaring that Congress must "hold the president accountable for his actions". It received support from Senators Tom Harkin of Iowa and Barbara Boxer of California, but most Democratic senators avoided expressing an opinion on it. Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Patrick Leahy of Vermont expressed support for the bill, but Feingold was able to find only three co-sponsors.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Feingold again called for Bush's censure in July 2007 for his management of the Iraq war, accusing him of mounting an "assault" against the United States Constitution.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Feingold supports the creation of a system of universal health care in America. During his first run for the Senate, he endorsed the single-payer model, in which the government pays for all healthcare costs.


title: Russ Feingold

text: On July 24, 2006, at a press conference at the Martin Luther King Heritage Health Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Feingold announced that he had authored the State-Based Health Care Reform Act, a bill to create a pilot program for a system of universal healthcare under which each U.S. state would create a program to provide its citizenry with universal health insurance and the federal government would provide the funding. The bill would create a nonpartisan "Health Care Reform Task Force," which would provide five-year federal grants to two or three states. The program was expected to cost $32 billion over 10 years.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Feingold voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that passed the Senate on December 24, 2009.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Feingold has voted in favor of certain gun-control legislation while also voting to expand certain gun rights. He signed the congressional amicus brief in "District of Columbia v. Heller", the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned a handgun ban in Washington, D.C.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Feingold has voted in favor of bills to require background checks for handgun buyers, to require background checks for firearms purchases at gun shows, and to require that handguns be sold with trigger locks. He supported President Barack Obama's 2016 executive orders to expand background checks and strengthen enforcement of existing gun laws.


title: Russ Feingold

text: In 1996, Feingold was in a minority of legislators who voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, which President Bill Clinton signed into law. In an April 4, 2006 interview, Feingold announced that he favored the legalization of same-sex marriage.


title: Russ Feingold

text: On May 18, 2006, Feingold walked out of a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee shortly before a vote on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Feingold objected to both the amendment and decision of Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA at the time) to move the meeting to an area of the Capitol Building not open to the public. Later that day, the committee voted to send the amendment to the full Senate.


title: Russ Feingold

text: In late January 2005, Feingold told the Tiger Bay Club of Volusia County, Florida that he intended to travel around the country before deciding whether or not to run in 2008. In March 2005, his Senate campaign staff registered the domain <nowiki>www.russfeingold08.com</nowiki>, as well as the .org and .net versions. On June 1, 2005, Feingold launched a political action committee (PAC), the Progressive Patriots Fund. A "draft Feingold" movement was established independently of his campaign.


title: Russ Feingold

text: On August 17, 2005, Feingold became the first U.S. Senator of either party to suggest a firm date for American withdrawal from the Iraq War, saying that he favored a complete withdrawal by no later than December 31, 2006.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Feingold supported John Roberts's Supreme Court nomination in September 2005, and was one of three Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote in favor of sending the nomination to the floor for a final vote. Feingold graduated from Harvard Law School the same year as Roberts, 1979. Four months later, in January 2006, he voted against Samuel Alito's nomination to the Court in committee and against cloture of debate on the nomination.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Considered a long shot for president, Feingold announced in November 2006 that he would not seek his party's nomination in 2008. He said that a presidential campaign would detract from his focus on the Senate, and the resulting scrutiny "would dismantle both my professional life (in the Senate) and my personal life." In his parting comments he warned his supporters against supporting anyone for the presidency who voted for the Iraq War, whether they later regretted it or not, saying his first choice for president in 2008 was someone who voted against the war, and his second choice is someone who was not in Congress but spoke out against the war at the time.


title: Russ Feingold

text: On February 22, 2008, he said he had voted for Obama in Wisconsin's Democratic presidential primary election.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Following his 2010 defeat, Feingold was appointed a visiting professor at Marquette University Law School. He wrote a book titled "While America Sleeps: A Wake-Up Call to the Post-9/11 World", and supported Obama's reelection in 2012. In February 2012, it was announced that Feingold would be a co-chair of Obama's reelection campaign. In 2012, he was the Mimi and Peter E. Haas Distinguished Visitor at Stanford Law School. In 2012-13, he was the Stephen Edward Scarff Distinguished Visiting Professor at Lawrence University.


title: Russ Feingold

text: In February 2011, Feingold formed Progressives United, a Political Action Committee, and an affiliated nonprofit entity called Progressives United Inc. Progressives United's stated aim was "directly and indirectly supporting candidates who stand up for our progressive ideals." From 2011 to 2015, the two groups raised and spent $10 million. The PAC has helped raise money for more than 50 progressive candidates, including the largest beneficiary, then-candidate Elizabeth Warren, who successfully defeated incumbent Scott Brown in 2012. Progressives United Inc. shut down in late 2014, and the Progressives United PAC suspended its fundraising activities in May 2015 in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest with Feingold's 2016 Senate campaign.


title: Russ Feingold

text: On June 18, 2013, Feingold was appointed United States Special Representative for the African Great Lakes region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo by United States Secretary of State John Kerry. He announced his departure from the position on February 24, 2015.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Feingold resides in Middleton, Wisconsin. He is a member of Beth Hillel Temple in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where his sister, Dena Feingold, is rabbi.


title: Russ Feingold

text: Feingold was married to Sue Levine from 1977 until 1986. They had two children. He married Mary Speerschneider in 1991; in 2005, the couple announced they would divorce. In 2013, Feingold married Dr. Christine Ferdinand, a fellow at Magdalen College at Oxford University in England.


title: Russ Feingold

text: <nowiki>*</nowiki>Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 1992, Robert L. Kundert received 2,747 votes, Joseph Selliken received 2,733 votes, and other write-ins received 459 votes. In 1998, write-ins received 706 votes. In 2004, write-ins received 834 votes.


title: Asian Cricket Council

text: The Asian Cricket Council also known as ACC is a cricket organisation which was established in 1983, to promote and develop the sport of cricket in Asia. Subordinate to the International Cricket Council, the council is the continent's regional administrative body, and currently consists of 26 member associations. Jay Shah is the current president of Asian Cricket Council.


title: Asian Cricket Council

text: The council was formed as the Asian Cricket Conference in New Delhi, India, on 19 September 1983, with the original members being Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, and Sri Lanka. Changing its name to the present in 1995. Until 2003, the headquarters of the council were rotated biennially amongst the presidents' and secretaries' home countries. The organisation's current president is Jay Shah, who is also the Secretary of the BCCI.


title: Asian Cricket Council

text: The council runs a development program that supports coaching, umpiring and sports medicine programs in member countries, funded from television revenues collected during the officially sanctioned Asian Cricket Council tournaments including the Asia Cup, Asian Test Championship, ACC Trophy, and various other tournaments.


title: Asian Cricket Council

text: ACC member associations are divided into two categories: full and associate members . Full members of the ICC are accorded "Full Member Status", whilst associate members of the ICC and ICC non-members (Cambodia and Taiwan as of 2021) are accorded "Associate Member Status". Fiji, Japan, and Papua New Guinea were formerly members of the ACC, but joined the East Asia–Pacific regional council when it was established in 1996.


title: Asian Cricket Council

text: ACC Asia XI was a team named for the 2005 World Cricket Tsunami Appeal, a one-off match designed to raise funds for charities following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and resulting tsunami. It also competes in a regular Afro-Asia Cup against an Africa XI which was designed as a fund-raiser for the African Cricket Association and the Asian Cricket Council. The Afro-Asian Cup debuted in 2005 and the second tournament was played in 2007.


title: Tariqa

text: A tariqa (or "tariqah"; "") is a school or order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking "haqiqa", which translates as "ultimate truth".


title: Tariqa

text: A tariqa has a "murshid" (guide) who plays the role of leader or spiritual director. The members or followers of a tariqa are known as "muridin" (singular "murid"), meaning "desirous", viz. "desiring the knowledge of God and loving God" (also called a "fakir").


title: Tariqa

text: The metaphor of "way, path" is to be understood in connection of the term "sharia" which also has the meaning of "path", more specifically "well-trodden path; path to the waterhole". The "path" metaphor of "tariqa" is that of a further path, taken by the mystic, which continues from the "well-trodden path" or exoteric of "sharia" towards the esoteric "haqiqa". A fourth "station" following the succession of "shariah", "tariqa" and "haqiqa" is called "marifa". This is the "unseen center" of "haqiqa", and the ultimate aim of the mystic, corresponding to the unio mystica in Western mysticism. "Tasawwuf", an Arabic word that refers to mysticism and Islamic esotericism, is known in the West as Sufism.


title: Tariqa

text: The most popular tariqa in the West is the Mevlevi Order, named after Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi. In the same time the Bektashi Order was also founded, named after the Haji Bektash Veli. Five large tariqas in South Asia are: the Naqshbandi Order, named after Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari; the Qadiri Order, named after Abdul Qadir Jilani; the Chishti Order, named after Khawaja Mawdood Chisti while Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti is the most famous sheikh; the Suhrawardi Order, named after Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi ; the Burhaniyya becoming popular within the people of Pakistan & India. Large tariqats in Africa include Muridiyya, Burhaniyya and Tijaniyya. Others can be offshoots of a tariqa. For example, the Qalandariyya has roots in Malamatiyya (with Buddhism and Hinduism influence) and Wafa'i (a combination of Yasawiyya-Sunni and Batiniyya-Shia) of orders are offshoots of the Suhrawardi order. The Ashrafia after the 13 the century illustrious Sufi saint Ashraf Jahangir Semnani is the sub branch of Chishti spiritual lineage. The Maizbhandari Tariqa or Maizbhandari Sufi order is a liberated Sufism order established in the Bangladesh in the 19th century by the Gausul Azam Shah Sufi Syed Ahmadullah Maizbhandari (1826 AD − 1906 AD), 27th descendant of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. Warsi Tariqa was founded by Waris Ali Shah.


title: Tariqa

text: Membership in a particular Sufi order is not exclusive, unlike the Christian monastic orders which are demarcated by firm lines of authority and sacrament. Sufis often are members of various Sufi orders. The non-exclusiveness of Sufi orders has consequences for the social extension of Sufism. They cannot be regarded as indulging in a zero sum competition which a purely political analysis might have suggested. Rather, their joint effect is to impart to Sufism a cumulant body of tradition, rather than individual and isolated experiences.


title: Tariqa

text: In most cases the sheikh nominates his "khalifa" or "successor" during his lifetime, who will take over the order. In rare cases, if the sheikh dies without naming a "khalifa", the students of the tariqa elect another spiritual leader by vote. In some orders it is recommended to take a "Khalif" from the same order as the "murshid". In some groups it is customary for the khalifa to be the son of the sheikh, although in other groups the khalīfa and the sheikh are not normally relatives. In yet other orders a successor may be identified through the spiritual dreams of its members.


title: Tariqa

text: Tariqas have "silsilas" () "chain, lineage of sheikhs". Almost all orders except the Naqshbandi order claim a "silsila" that leads back to Muhammad through Ali. (The Naqshbandi Silsila goes back to Abu Bakr, the first Caliph of Sunni Islam, and then Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr.


title: Tariqa

text: Every "Murid", on entering the tariqa, gets his "awrad", or daily recitations, authorized by his "murshid" (usually to be recited before or after the pre-dawn prayer, after the afternoon prayer and after the evening prayer). Usually these recitations are extensive and time-consuming (for example the "awrad" may consist of reciting a certain formula 99, 500 or even 1000 times). One must also be in a state of ritual purity (as one is for the obligatory prayers to perform them while facing Mecca). The recitations change as a student (murid) moves from a mere initiate to other Sufi degrees (usually requiring additional initiations). The Initiation ceremony is routine and consists of reading chapter 1 of the Quran followed by a single phrase prayer. Criteria have to be met to be promoted in rank: the common way is to repeat a single phrase prayer 82,000 times or more as in the case of Burhaniyya, a number that grows with each achieved rank. Murids who experience unusual interaction during meditation: hear voices like "would you like to see a prophet?" or see visions who might even communicate with the Murid are held dear in the "Haḍra", the weekly group-chanting of prayers in attempt of reaching spirits as they are likely to experience something unusual and pass it on. This Murid is promoted faster than others. The least common way is to cause a miracle to happen with criteria similar to that of Catholic Sainthood.


title: Tariqa

text: Being mostly followers of the spiritual traditions of Islam loosely referred to as Sufism, these groups were sometimes distinct from the "Ulma" or officially mandated scholars, and often acted as informal missionaries of Islam. They provided accepted avenues for emotional expressions of faith, and the Tariqas spread to all corners of the Muslim world, and often exercised a degree of political influence inordinate to their size (take for example the influence that the sheikhs of the Safavid had over the armies of Tamerlane, or the missionary work of Ali-Shir Nava'i in Turkistan among the Mongol and Tatar people).


title: Tariqa

text: The tariqas were particularly influential in the spread of Islam in the sub-Sahara during the 9th to 14th centuries, where they spread south along trade routes between North Africa and the sub-Saharan kingdoms of Ghana and Mali. On the West African coast they set up Zawiyas on the shores of the river Niger and even established independent kingdoms such as "al-Murabitun" or Almoravids. The Al Hakika Mizaan Mizaani Sufi order deals with heavy internalization and meditations, their spiritual practice is called Al Qudra Mizaan [(United States)]. The Sanusi order was also highly involved in missionary work in Africa during the 19th century, spreading both Islam and a high level of literacy into Africa as far south as Lake Chad and beyond by setting up a network of "zawiyas" where Islam was taught.


title: Tariqa

text: Much of Central Asia and southern Russia was won over to Islam through the missionary work of the Tarīqahs, and the majority of Indonesia's population, where a Muslim army never set foot, was converted to Islam by the perseverance of both Muslim traders and Sufi missionaries. Sufism in India played a similarly crucial role in the diffusion of Islam at the élite and popular levels; its music, art, and poetry flourished in a highly sophisticated Persianate society.


title: Tariqa

text: Tariqas were brought to China in the 17th century by Ma Laichi and other Chinese Sufis who had studied in Mecca and Yemen, and had also been influenced by spiritual descendants of the Kashgarian Sufi master Afaq Khoja. On the Chinese soil the institutions became known as "menhuan", and are typically headquartered near the tombs ("gongbei") of their founders.


title: Tariqa

text: There are other Sufi orders that have other Sahabis in their chain of transmission of Bayt, i.e. Owaisayah order traces its chain through Caliph Umar Farooq, Uthmaniyah Haqqaniyah traces its chain through Caliph Uthman bin Affan, Seeriniyah traces its chain of bayt through Mohammed bin Sirin through Anas bin Malik to the Prophet.


title: Giulio Berruti

text: Giulio Berruti (born 27 September 1984) is an Italian actor and dentist, known for his roles in "Monte Carlo" (2011), "Walking on Sunshine" (2014), and "Gabriel's Inferno" (2020). Guiñol nerítico murió en 2021


title: Giulio Berruti

text: Berruti was born in Rome, Italy, to ophthalmologist Giuseppe Berruti of Moncalvo and lawyer Francesca Romana Reggiani. He has an older brother, Gian Luca Berruti, lieutenant colonel of the Guardia di Finanza.


title: Giulio Berruti

text: After obtaining a scientific high school diploma and a professional dental technician diploma, Berruti attended the University of Rome Tor Vergata School of Dentistry, and graduated in Dentistry and dental prosthesis in 2010. He subsequently undertook the specialization in Orthodontics and achieved it in 2015.


title: Giulio Berruti

text: Berruti, who is 190 cm tall, had a fashion model career while in school, walking runways and participating in several fashion campaigns, for about three years since 1998. In 2003, he made his debut with a small role in the film "The Lizzie McGuire Movie". He began rising to fame after appearing in "Melissa P.", "La figlia di Elisa – Ritorno a Rivombrosa" and "Bon Appétit". In 2011, he starred in the film "Monte Carlo" and in 2014 he played the lead role in the musical comedy "Walking on Sunshine".


title: Giulio Berruti

text: In 2019, Berruti was cast by producer Tosca Musk of Passionflix, to play the main role of "Gabriel Emerson" in the novel adaptation of "Gabriel's Inferno".


title: GE Genesis

text: General Electric Genesis (officially trademarked GENESIS) is a series of passenger diesel locomotives produced by GE Transportation, then a subsidiary of General Electric. Between 1992 and 2001, a total of 321 units were built for Amtrak, Metro-North, and Via Rail.


title: GE Genesis

text: The Genesis series of locomotives was designed by General Electric in response to a specification published by Amtrak and ultimately selected over a competing design presented by Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD). Until the introduction of the Siemens Charger, the Genesis series had the lowest height of any North American diesel-electric locomotives, being lower than the previous-generation F40PH. This low height allows the locomotive to travel easily through low-profile tunnels in the Northeast Corridor.


title: GE Genesis

text: The GE Genesis series is unique among recently manufactured North American passenger locomotives in that it uses a single, monocoque carbody design styled by industrial designer Cesar Vergara, thus making it lighter, more aerodynamic, and more fuel efficient than its predecessors (F40PH, F59PH, P30CH, P32-BWH). However, this makes it more costly and time-consuming to maintain and repair. In 2004, Amtrak started installing bolt-on nose cones on its units for easy replacement in the event of a grade crossing collision with a vehicle. As an example of the improvements over the predecessor locomotives, the Genesis is 22% more fuel-efficient than the F40PH while producing 25% more horsepower. In addition, all Genesis locomotives have four-stroke engines instead of the two-stroke engines previously used in EMD counterparts.


title: GE Genesis

text: The Genesis unit is a fully computerized locomotive which automatically controls all on-board functions, thus producing high reliability while keeping the maintenance requirements low. For example, its computers can automatically reduce the power plant's output in the event that the locomotive is overheating, or suffering from low oil pressure, low water pressure, or reduced airflow into the intakes, thus making it still operable.


title: GE Genesis

text: All Genesis engines can provide head-end power (HEP) to the train drawn from an alternator or inverter powered by the main engine at a maximum rating of , making each unit capable of providing HEP for up to 16 Superliner railcars. The P40DC and P42DC power plants can supply 60-hertz head-end power either from the HEP alternator with the engine speed-locked to 900 rpm (normal mode) or from the traction alternator with the engine speed-locked to 720 rpm (standby mode). In the latter case, traction power is unavailable. The P32AC-DM powerplant does not have to be locked at a certain rpm because it utilizes an HEP inverter, which allows the prime mover to run at 1047 rpm when providing both traction power and HEP, and to idle at 620 rpm (or notch three) while still providing HEP for lighting and air-conditioning when not providing traction power.


title: GE Genesis

text: The trucks of Genesis locomotives were made by , which has since been absorbed by Siemens Mobility; the trucks on the newest Genesis locomotives carry the Siemens name.


title: GE Genesis

text: The P40DC ("GENESIS Series I") or Dash 8-40BP (originally known as the AMD-103 or Amtrak Monocoque Diesel - 103MPH) is the first model in the Genesis series, built in 1993. The locomotive operates in a diesel-electric configuration that uses DC to power the traction motors, producing output at 1047 rpm. Power output to the traction motors is when running in HEP mode (900 rpm) with a 0 kW HEP load. Traction horsepower in HEP mode decreases to a bare minimum of when providing the maximum HEP load to the train. The P40DC is geared for a maximum speed of . The P40DC was succeeded in 1996 by the P42DC.


title: GE Genesis

text: A feature unique to the P40DC and P32AC-DM is a hostler stand at the rear of the locomotive providing increased visibility and reversing capabilities to the engineer while conducting reverse operations. When a unit is in operation from this stand it is limited to and a dead man's switch protects against movement without an operator being present. Another unique feature to the original P40DC were the two strobes above the cab and an emergency flasher between the strobes. When they were overhauled, those features were removed.


title: GE Genesis

text: Both the P40DC and P42DC allowed Amtrak to operate heavy long-distance trains with fewer locomotives compared to the older EMD F40PH locomotives; two P40DCs could do the same work as three F40PHs. Additional deliveries of the P42DC ended up replacing the P40DCs. Three units were wrecked (819 in the 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck and 807 and 829 in the 1999 Bourbonnais, Illinois, train crash) and scrapped. Eight were leased and later sold to the Connecticut DOT for Shore Line East in 2005, and four were rebuilt and sold to New Jersey Transit in 2007; NJ Transit sold their units to ConnDOT in 2015. The remaining 29 units were placed out-of-service for many years. 15 of these units have been rebuilt using 2009 ARRA stimulus funds and returned to service, now in the Phase V livery, except for 822, which is painted in Phase III Heritage livery for Amtrak's 40th Anniversary. The units that were not rebuilt or sold have since been disposed.


title: GE Genesis

text: In January 2018, ConnDOT awarded a contract to Amtrak to overhaul their twelve P40DC locomotives at the Beech Grove Shops. The first unit was completed in early 2021.


title: GE Genesis

text: By 2007, New Jersey Transit had upgraded their P40DC units with updated prime movers to match the of the successor P42DC. This was done by readjusting the position of the lay shafts within the prime mover.


title: GE Genesis

text: Amtrak has returned 15 of their P40DC units to service as part of a project funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The first of the units were returned to service in March 2010 after being overhauled at the Beech Grove Shops. They were upgraded like NJT's units had been a few years before to have and match the P42DC's maximum speed of . They also received updated cab signaling systems. The upgraded locomotives still have mechanical air brakes, which makes them most suitable for trains that only require a single locomotive. This differs from the electronic air brakes on the P42DC and P32AC-DM. They also feature a builder's plate indicating that they were rebuilt under the auspices of the TIGER stimulus program.


title: GE Genesis

text: The P42DC ("GENESIS Series I") is the successor model to the P40DC. It has an engine output of at 1047 rpm, or when running in HEP mode (900 rpm) with a 0 kW HEP load. Traction horsepower in HEP mode decreases to a bare minimum of when providing the full 800 kW HEP load to the train.


title: GE Genesis

text: The P42DC has a maximum speed of . Tractive effort is rated at of starting effort and of continuous effort at given wheel horsepower of .


title: GE Genesis

text: P42DCs are used primarily on most of Amtrak's long-haul and higher-speed rail service outside the Northeast and lower Empire Corridors. They will be replaced on long-distance service by 125 Siemens ALC-42 Charger locomotives between 2021 and 2024, but will remain in service on corridor trains.


title: GE Genesis

text: Via Rail Canada has utilized P42DC locomotives since 2001, when they replaced the LRC locomotives in 2001. They are currently on services with speeds up to , mainly on the Quebec City-Windsor rail corridor.


title: GE Genesis

text: The P32AC-DM ("GENESIS Series II", short for "Passenger, , Alternating Current, Dual Mode") was developed for both Amtrak and Metro-North. They can operate on power generated either by the on-board diesel prime mover or power collected from a third rail electrification system at 750 volts direct current; the third-rail shoes are used on the over-running third-rail into Penn Station for Amtrak units and the under-running third-rail into Grand Central Terminal for Metro-North. The P32AC-DM is rated at , when supplying HEP, and is geared for a maximum speed of . Tractive effort is rated at of starting effort from to and of continuous effort at given wheel horsepower of .


title: GE Genesis

text: The P32AC-DM is unique as it is equipped with GE's GEB15 AC (alternating current) traction motors, rather than DC (direct current) motors as used in the other subtypes. It is also only one of two modern American electro-diesel locomotives with third-rail capability, along with the EMD DM30AC operated by the Long Island Rail Road. NJ Transit and Exo's Bombardier ALP-45DP electro-diesel locomotive can operate from overhead catenary electrification.


title: GE Genesis

text: The P32AC-DM is only used on services operating north from New York City, where diesel emissions through its two fully enclosed main terminal stations are prohibited. Amtrak rosters 18 P32AC-DM locomotives and uses them for its "Empire Service", "Ethan Allen Express", "Lake Shore Limited" (New York section), "Adirondack", and "Maple Leaf" services, all which travel to New York Penn Station. Metro-North rosters 31 P32AC-DM locomotives on push-pull trains to Grand Central Terminal; four are owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation.


title: GE Genesis

text: In December 2020, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York board approved a Federal Transit Administration-funded $335 million contract for 27 dual-mode locomotives, based on the Siemens Charger design. The new dual mode locomotives will replace the 27 existing P32AC-DM locomotives used on Metro-North's Hudson Line, Harlem Line, and Danbury Branch; they will use third rail electric power to enter Grand Central Terminal. The order includes additional options for up to 144 more locomotives, which includes 32 additional for use by Metro-North, 20 for the New York State Department of Transportation (for Amtrak "Empire Service" trains), and 20 for the Connecticut Department of Transportation.


title: National Book Award

text: The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.


title: National Book Award

text: abandoned during World War II, and re-established by three book industry organizations in 1950. Non-U.S. authors and publishers were eligible for the pre-war awards. Now they are presented to U.S. authors for books published in the United States roughly during the award year.


title: National Book Award

text: The nonprofit National Book Foundation was established in 1988 to administer and enhance the National Book Awards and "move beyond [them] into the fields of education and literacy", primarily by sponsoring public appearances by writers.


title: National Book Award

text: Its mission is "to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture."


title: National Book Award

text: In 2018, there were 1,637 books nominated for the five award categories, led by the Nonfiction category with 546 nominations. The 2018 ceremony was held on November 14 in New York City.


title: National Book Award

text: National Book Awards are currently given to one book (author) annually in each of five categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translation, and young people's literature. There have been awards in many other categories but they have been retired or subsumed in the current five. The National Book Foundation also presents two lifetime achievement awards each year: the "Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters" and the "Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community".


title: National Book Award

text: Only publishers nominate books for the National Book Awards, but panelists may request particular nominations from publishers. Each panel comprises five judges, including writers, librarians, booksellers, and literary critics. In 2013, the judging panels were expanded to include experts in the literary field in addition to established writers.


title: National Book Award

text: Each panel considers hundreds of books each year in each of the five categories. In 2013, the Foundation announced the addition of a National Book Awards longlist—announced in September and consisting of ten titles per category—to precede the finalists list, announced in October and comprising five titles per category. A fifth category, the National Book Award for Translated Literature, was added in 2018, recognizing works in translation for the first time since 1983. At the National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner held in New York City each November, the chair of each judging panel announce the winners of the year's National Book Awards. All finalists receive $1,000, a medal, and a citation written by the judging panel; winners get $10,000 and a bronze sculpture.


title: National Book Award

text: The first National Book Awards were presented in May 1936 at the annual convention of the American Booksellers Association, one month after "The New York Times" reported institution of the "new annual award". The winners were authors of four 1935 books selected by a vote of ABA members. Virginia Kirkus chaired the central committee of seven including the ABA president, three bookshops, "Publishers Weekly", and American News Company. Three were called "the most distinguished of 1935" (novel, biography, and general nonfiction) and one "the most original" (novel).


title: National Book Award

text: Two of the books were advertised by their publishers as "The most distinguished autobiography of 1935" and "The most distinguished general non-fiction book of 1935" in "NYTimes" on May 12, the same day that the newspaper reported yesterday's awards.


title: National Book Award

text: The "Most Distinguished" Nonfiction, Biography, and Novel (for 1935 and 1936) were reduced to two and termed "Favorite" Nonfiction and Fiction beginning 1937. Master of ceremonies Clifton Fadiman declined to consider the Pulitzer Prizes (not yet announced in February 1938) as potential ratifications. "Unlike the Pulitzer Prize committee, the booksellers merely vote for their favorite books. They do not say it is the best book or the one that will elevate the standard of manhood or womanhood. Twenty years from now we can decide which are the masterpieces. This year we can only decide which books we enjoyed reading the most."


title: National Book Award

text: The Bookseller Discovery officially recognized "outstanding merit which failed to receive adequate sales and recognition" (quoted by NYT)


title: National Book Award

text: Finally that award stood alone for 1941 and the "New York Times" frankly called it "a sort of consolation prize that the booksellers hope will draw attention to his work."


title: National Book Award

text: The winning authors and books were selected by a nationwide poll of booksellers (ABA members); during the 1937/38 cycle, ballots were received from 319 stores, triple the number who voted in the first rendition early in 1936.


title: National Book Award

text: In effect, his ballot says, "Of all the books of the year these are the three I enjoyed most – "in two ways"! I enjoyed reading them; and I enjoyed selling them." And that to a bookseller means people who, on his recommendation, read and enjoyed – and sent in other people who also read and enjoyed.


title: National Book Award

text: The National Book Awards give you perhaps a greater guarantee of reading pleasure than any other literary prizes.


title: National Book Award

text: In January 1950 three book industry organizations announced that "works by Americans published here" would be recognized by three awards in March (at the annual convention?). There would be three distinct panels of five judges. The fifteen judges were "Elmer Davis, John Kieran, Henry Steele Commager, Fairfield Osborn and Norman Cousins for non-fiction; Mary Colum, Glenway Wescott, Max Gissin, W. G. Rogers and Malcolm Cowley for fiction; and W. H. Auden, Louise Bogan, Babett Duetsch, Horace Gregory and Louise Untermeyer for poetry."


title: National Book Award

text: "first annual NBA dinner of the book industry in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Thursday" [March 16] with speakers Senator Paul Douglas, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Frederick Lewis Allen.


title: National Book Award

text: A one-half hour program from the Awards Dinner, including Mrs. Roosevelt's address, was broadcast locally at 9:30 and again at 10:00pm.


title: National Book Award

text: The awards were administered by the National Book Committee from 1950 to 1974, when the Committee disbanded after publishers withdrew support.


title: National Book Award

text: In 1950 and 1967, at least, the prize sponsors were three book-industry organizations American Booksellers Association, the American Book Publishers Council and the Book Manufacturers Institute.


title: National Book Award

text: In 1973 NYTimes still called the National Book Committee a nonprofit funded "by publishers and by organizations involved in the book trade" A temporary Committee on Awards Policy handled 1975.


title: National Book Award

text: before the drastic cutback that also required selection of a single winner in all three categories for 1984.


title: National Book Award

text: The currently active Poetry category was added in 1991, followed by Young People's Literature in 1996, and Translated Literature in 2018.


title: National Book Award

text: In 1980 the "National Book Awards" were canceled and replaced by "American Book Awards" on the film industry model (Oscars). "It will be run almost exactly the way the Academy Awards are run," a spokesman told reporters." There would be nearly 30 awards presented in an extravagant TV-friendly ceremony, to winners selected by a standing "academy" of more than 2,000 people in the book industry.


title: National Book Award

text: Most new categories survived only one to four cycles, 1980 to 1983. There were seven awards categories in 1979, twenty-eight in 1980, nineteen in 1983 (plus graphics awards, see below), three in 1984.


title: National Book Award

text: In 1983 there were 30 award winners in 27 categories including 14 categories of literary achievement in writing for adults; in turn, five for hardcover editions, six for paperback editions, and three general.


title: National Book Award

text: Late that year, the AAP Board voted to fund a new version of the Awards, which had been "close to expiring from lack of support". At the time, AAP and Harper & Row president Brooks Thomas anticipated "probably fewer than ten" categories, including some "only for original paperbacks, not reprints". Edwin McDowell reported that "many book-industry officials hope ... [to] rank in importance with the $15,000 Booker McConnell Prize for Fiction" (British).


title: National Book Award

text: For 1983 publications (January to October) there would be no awards. A committee comprising American Book Awards executive director Barbara Prete and four publishers designed the new and improved program, implemented fall 1984 for a publication year beginning November 1983. They cut the roster to merely three (Nonfiction, Fiction, and First Work of Fiction), moved the ceremony from early spring to late fall, and redefined eligibility to require publication during the calendar year of the awards (roughly, see Annual eligibility). There were only fiction and nonfiction awards in 1986.


title: National Book Award

text: In 1987 the "National" award returned in name. Covering the November ceremony, Edwin McDowell of "The New York Times" remarked upon the recurring changes in format and contrasted 1983 in particular, when there were 96 finalists in 27 awards categories (listed above).


title: National Book Award

text: The surviving awards for general Fiction and Nonfiction, now with precisely five finalists each, were administered by National Book Awards, Inc., whose Chairman of the Board was the president of Hearst Trade Book Group. He declaimed that "Book people are really not actors, and there's a realization now that we should not try to reward things like who did the best book blurb." The fixed number five finalists was retained through 2012, while the number of book categories has doubled with the addition of Poetry in 1991 and Young People's Literature in 1996. Beginning with 2013, the Foundation announced there would be a "longlist" of 10 titles in each of the four categories in September (40 titles), followed by a "finalist" list of 5 titles in October (20 titles), and then the winners in November (4 titles). In 2018 a fifth award category was announced, the National Book Award for Translated Literature. It is for living translators and authors and for fiction and non-fiction. The foundation previously gave a translation award from 1967-1983, but did not require the author to be living and was for fiction only.


title: National Book Award

text: Currently a book must be published "between December 1 of the previous year and November 30 of the current year." Its publisher must complete a nomination in the spring and mail copies to the panelists. The panelists read all the valid nominees during this time, and the panels compile shortlists in September.


title: National Book Award

text: The pre-war awards were announced in the winter, usually February, and described with reference to the year of publication, if any; for example, "National Book Awards for 1939" announced February 1940. The 1950 to 1983 awards, as the National Book Foundation now labels them, were presented in the spring to works published during the preceding calendar year. From 1984 the NBAs are presented in the fall, usually November, to books published roughly during the current calendar year (December of the previous year through November ).


title: National Book Award

text: The Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters is a lifetime achievement award presented by the Foundation at the final ceremony for the Book Awards. The medal comes with a cash prize of $10,000. It recognizes someone who "has enriched [American] literary heritage over a life of service, or a corpus of work."


title: National Book Award

text: Five of the seventeen medalists through 2004 were previous National Book Award winners (Bellow, Welty, McCullough, Updike, and Roth, all but McCullough for fiction). Between 2005 and 2018, all of the medalists except Leonard and Allende have been previous National Book Award winners.


title: National Book Award

text: The Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community is a lifetime achievement award presented by the Foundation annually from 2005. It recognizes "an individual for outstanding service to the American literary community, whose life and work exemplify the goals of the National Book Foundation to expand the audience for literature and to enhance the cultural value of literature in America."


title: David Bellavia

text: David Gregory Bellavia (born November 10, 1975) is a former United States Army soldier who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Second Battle of Fallujah. Bellavia has also received the Bronze Star Medal, two Army Commendation Medals, two Army Achievement Medals, and the New York State Conspicuous Service Cross. In 2005, Bellavia was inducted into the New York Veterans' Hall of Fame. He has subsequently been involved with politics in Western New York State. Upon being awarded the Medal of Honor on June 25, 2019, Bellavia became the first, and currently only living recipient of the Medal of Honor for service during the Iraq War.


title: David Bellavia

text: Bellavia enlisted in the United States Army in July 1999 and deployed to Iraq after serving in Kosovo.


title: David Bellavia

text: The actions for which Bellavia earned a Bronze Star Medal took place on his 29th birthday. As a member of Company A, Task Force 2-2, 1st Infantry Division, his platoon was assigned during Operation Phantom Fury to clear a block of twelve buildings from which insurgents were firing on American forces. The platoon began searching house-to-house. At the tenth house, Bellavia fatally shot an insurgent preparing to load a rocket-propelled grenade. A second insurgent fired at him, and Bellavia wounded him in the shoulder. When Staff Sergeant Bellavia entered a bedroom, the wounded insurgent followed, forcing Bellavia to kill him. When another insurgent began firing from upstairs, Bellavia returned fire and killed him. A fourth insurgent then jumped out of a closet in the bedroom, yelling and firing his weapon as he leaped over a bed trying to reach Bellavia. The insurgent tripped and Bellavia wounded him. Bellavia chased the insurgent when he ran upstairs. He followed the wounded insurgent's bloody footprints to a room on the left and threw in a fragmentation grenade. Upon entering the room, Bellavia discovered it was filled with propane tanks and plastic explosives. He did not fire his weapon for fear of setting off an explosion and instead then engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the insurgent, which led to Bellavia killing the insurgent by stabbing him in the collarbone.


title: David Bellavia

text: Bellavia's actions in Fallujah were first documented in the November 22, 2004 "Time" magazine cover story, "Into the Hot Zone", by journalist Michael Ware, who was attached with Bellavia's unit during the fight. Partial video capturing the event can be seen in Michael Ware's documentary Only The Dead.


title: David Bellavia

text: On June 7, 2019, It was revealed to the media that Bellavia's Silver Star would be upgraded to the Medal of Honor. Bellavia was awarded the Silver Star for actions clearing houses during the Second Battle of Fallujah in November 2004. The Medal of Honor awarding ceremony took place at the White House on June 25, 2019, and was awarded to Bellavia by President Donald Trump. The ceremony was also attended by former members of Bellavia's platoon in Iraq.


title: David Bellavia

text: When Bellavia's Silver Star was upgraded to the Medal of Honor in 2019, he became the first living recipient to have a recorded Medal of Honor action. He is also only the second recipient to have their Medal of Honor action filmed, with the first being John A. Chapman who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Afghanistan in 2002. At the time of the action, Bellavia's Platoon was accompanied by Australian journalist Michael Ware who filmed the action from a downstairs doorway. Ware, who worked for Time and CNN at the time, wrote about the action for the cover story of the November 2004 edition of Time Magazine. It is unclear if the footage aired on CNN at the time, but it is prominently featured in Michael Ware's 2015 documentary "Only The Dead."


title: David Bellavia

text: A re-enactment of Bellavia's action is also depicted in season 2 episode 10 of The History Channel TV show "Shootout!." However this aired in 2006, long before he was awarded the MoH so it is not mentioned in the episode.


title: David Bellavia

text: Bellavia was Vice Chairman and co-founder of Vets for Freedom. He attended the 2006 State of the Union address as an honored guest. He currently is President of EMPact America, an American energy resiliency organization based in Elma, New York.


title: David Bellavia

text: In 2007, Bellavia published a memoir, "House to House: An Epic Memoir of War", co-written with John R. Bruning. In September 2010, the book was chosen as one of the top five best Iraq War memoirs by journalist Thomas Ricks (author of ""). In 2012, Bellavia signed an agreement with 2012 Oscar-winning producer Rich Middlemas to make his memoir into a major motion picture.


title: David Bellavia

text: Since leaving the United States Army, Bellavia has twice run for congress in New York's 26th congressional district. In 2008, he ran in the Republican primary to succeed retiring representative Tom Reynolds. Bellavia dropped out of the race before the Republican Party ballot was finalized and endorsed Republican Chris Lee, who went on to win the seat.


title: David Bellavia

text: When Lee resigned from office in 2011, Bellavia again tried for the seat in the special election. State party officials endorsed State Assemblywoman Jane Corwin, so Bellavia launched an unsuccessful third-party bid, forming the "Federalist Party of New York" with political operatives that had previously been involved in the short-lived Taxpayers Party. The New York State Tea Party announced their displeasure with the Republican party's choice of Corwin, and hinted that they might back Bellavia's run, but the ruling of State Board of Elections that Bellavia's petition to be placed on the ballot was deficient ended his 2011 run. Bellavia, in turn, endorsed perennial candidate Jack Davis, who likewise had been spurned by the Republicans during the endorsement process and was running on a third-party candidacy backed by a competing Tea Party faction.


title: David Bellavia

text: Bellavia was a candidate in the 2012 Republican primary for the since-renumbered 27th congressional district of New York. Bellavia competed against Chris Collins, the former county executive of Erie County, for the Republican nomination. Buoyed by the endorsements of four of the five GOP county committees that endorsed, Bellavia and Collins faced off in a June 26, 2012 primary. Collins won both the primary and the general election even though Bellavia won six of NY 27th Congressional District's eight counties.


title: David Bellavia

text: Bellavia joined the staff of WBEN in late 2012 as a fill-in host and became the station's permanent late-night host in October 2013. Bellavia left the show on November 4, 2013. Bellavia co-hosted afternoons with Tom Bauerle from 2016 to 2019. He returned to WBEN in August 2020 as 9-to-noon host, succeeding Sandy Beach, who retired after 23 years with the station. Currently, Bellavia is working on his second book. He resides in western New York.


title: David Bellavia

text: On August 11, 2018, Bellavia announced his candidacy for New York's 27th congressional district. The incumbent, Christopher Collins, had suspended his reelection campaign just hours earlier amidst federal indictments for insider trading and wire fraud. Bellavia withdrew from the race on August 21 after interviews, stating that he feared the electoral process would be corrupted by a court.


title: David Bellavia

text: He has three children. He is the youngest of four sons born to the late Dr. William Bellavia and Marilyn Brunacini.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: Australopithecus africanus is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived between about 3.3 and 2.1 million years ago in the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of South Africa. The species has been recovered from Taung, Sterkfontein, Makapansgat, and Gladysvale. The first specimen, the Taung child, was described by anatomist Raymond Dart in 1924, and was the first early hominin found. However, its closer relations to humans than to other apes would not become widely accepted until the middle of the century because most had believed humans evolved outside of Africa. It is unclear how "A. africanus" relates to other hominins, being variously placed as ancestral to "Homo" and "Paranthropus", to just "Paranthropus", or to just "P. robustus". The specimen "Little Foot" is the most completely preserved early hominin, with 90% of the skeleton intact, and the oldest South African australopith. However, it is controversially suggested that it and similar specimens be split off into "A. prometheus".


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: "A. africanus" brain volume was about . Like other early hominins, the cheek teeth were enlarged and had thick enamel. Male skulls may have been more robust than female skulls. Males may have been on average in height and in weight, and females and . "A. africanus" was a competent biped, albeit less efficient at walking than humans. "A. africanus" also had several upper body traits in common with arboreal non-human apes. This is variously interpreted as either evidence of a partially or fully arboreal lifestyle, or as a non-functional vestige from a more apelike ancestor. The upper body of "A. africanus" is more apelike than that of the East African "A. afarensis".


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: "A. africanus", unlike most other primates, seems to have exploited C4 foods such as grasses, seeds, rhizomes, underground storage organs, or potentially creatures higher up on the food chain. Nonetheless, the species had a highly variable diet, making it a generalist. It may have eaten lower quality, harder foods, such as nuts, in leaner times. To survive, children may have needed nursing during such periods until reaching perhaps 4 to 5 years of age. The species appears to have been patrifocal, with females more likely to leave the group than males. "A. africanus" lived in a gallery forest surrounded by more open grasslands or bushlands. South African australopithecine remains probably accumulated in caves due to predation by large carnivores (namely big cats), and the Taung child appears to have been killed by a bird of prey. "A. africanus" probably went extinct due to major climatic variability and volatility and possibly competition with "Homo" and "P. robustus".


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: In 1924, Australian anatomist Professor Raymond Dart, since 1923 working in South-Africa, was informed by one of his students, Josephine Salmons, that monkey fossils (of "Papio izodi") had been discovered by shotfirer M.G. de Bruyn in a limestone quarry in Taung, South Africa, operated by the Northern Lime Company. Knowing that Scottish geologist Professor Robert Burns Young was at the time carrying out excavations in the area in search of archaic human remains like "Homo rhodesiensis" from Kabwe, Zambia (at the time Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia) discovered in 1921, he asked his colleague to send him some primate remains from the quarry. On 24 November 1924, Dart received two boxes with fossils collected by De Bruyn. In them, he noticed a natural brain endocast and a face of a, now known to be 2.8 million year old, juvenile skull, the Taung child, that he immediately recognised as a transitional fossil between apes and humans. Most notably, it had a small brain size yet was, as shown by the position of the "foramen magnum", bipedal. Dart, after hastily freeing the fossil from its matrix, already in January 1925 named the specimen as a new genus and species: "Australopithecus africanus". At this time, great apes were classified into the family Pongidae encompassing all non-human fossil apes, and Hominidae encompassing humans and ancestors. Dart felt the Taung child fit into neither, and erected the family "Homo-simiadæ" ("man-apes"). This family name was soon abandoned, and Dart proposed "Australopithecidae" in 1929. In 1933, South African palaeoanthropologist Robert Broom suggested moving "A. africanus" into Hominidae, which at the time contained only humans and their ancestors.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: "A. africanus" was the first evidence that humans evolved in Africa, as Charles Darwin had postulated in his 1871 "The Descent of Man". However, Dart's claim of the Taung child as the transitional stage between apes and humans was at odds with the-then popular model of human evolution which held that large brain size and humanlike characteristics had developed rather early on, and that large brain size evolved before bipedalism. Resultantly, "A. africanus" was generally cast aside as a member of the gorilla or chimpanzee lineages, most notably by Sir Arthur Keith. This view was perpetuated by Charles Dawson's 1912 hoax Piltdown Man hailing from Britain. Further, the discovery of the humanlike Peking Man ("Homo erectus pekinensis") in China also seemed to place the origins of humankind outside of Africa. Humanlike characteristics of the Taung child were attributed to the specimen's juvenile status, meaning they would disappear with maturity. Nonetheless, Dart and Broom continued to argue that "Australopithecus" was far removed from chimpanzees, showing several physical and claiming some behavioural similarities with humans. To this extent, Dart made note of the amalgamations of large mammal bone fragments in australopithecine-bearing caves which are now attributed to hyena activity. However, Dart proposed that the bones were instead evidence of what he named the "osteodontokeratic culture" produced by australopithecine hunters, who manufactured weapons using the long bones, teeth, and horns of large hoofed prey:


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: Broom was one of the few scientists defending the close human affinities of "Australopithecus africanus". In 1936, he was informed by two of Dart's students, Trevor R. Jones and G. Schepers, that human-like remains had been discovered in the Sterkfontein Cave quarries. On 9 August 1936, he asked G.W. Barlow to provide him with any finds. On 17 August 1936 he received an adult skull including a natural endocast, specimen Sts 60. However, Broom classified it as a new species, ""A. transvaalensis"", and in 1938 moved it into a new genus as ""Plesianthropus transvaalensis"". He also discovered the robust australopithecine "Paranthropus robustus", showing evidence of a wide diversity of Early Pleistocene "man-apes". Before World War II, several more sites bore "A. africanus" fossils. A detailed monograph by Broom and palaeoanthropologist Gerrit Willem Hendrik Schepers in 1946 regarding these australopithecines from South Africa, as well as several papers by British palaeoanthropologist Sir Wilfrid Le Gros Clark, had turned around scientific opinion, garnering wide support for "A. africanus" classification as a human ancestor. In 1947, the most complete skull was discovered, STS 5 ("Mrs. Ples"). Wider acceptance of "A. africanus" prompted re-evaluation of Piltdown Man in 1953, revealing its falsehood.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: In 1949, Dart recommended splitting a presumed-female facial fragment from Makapansgat, South Africa, (MLD 2) into a new species as ""A. prometheus"". In 1954, he referred another presumed-female specimen from Makapansgat (a jawbone fragment). However, in 1953, South African palaeontologist John Talbot Robinson believed that splitting species and genera on such fine hairs was unjustified, and that australopithecine remains from East Africa recovered over the previous couple of decades were indistinguishable from ""Plesianthropus""/"A. africanus". Based on this, in 1955, Dart agreed with synonymising ""A. prometheus"" with "A. africanus" because they are already quite similar to each other, and if speciation did not occur across a continent, then it quite unlikely occurred over a couple tens of kilometres according to Dart. The East African remains would be split off into "A. afarensis" in 1978. In 2008, palaeoanthropologist Ronald J. Clarke recommended reviving ""A. prometheus"" to house the StW 573 nearly-complete skeleton ("Little Foot"), StS 71 cranium, StW 505 cranium, StW 183 maxilla, StW 498 maxilla and jawbone, StW 384 jawbone, StS 1 palate, and MLD 2. In 2018, palaeoanthropologists Lee Rogers Berger and John D. Hawks considered ""A. prometheus"" a "nomen nudum" ("naked name"), and has not been properly described with diagnostic characteristics which separate it from "A. africanus". At the time, these remains were dated to 3.3 million years ago in the Late Pliocene. In 2019, Clarke and South African palaeoanthropologist Kathleen Kuman redated StW 573 to 3.67 million years ago, making it the oldest "Australopithecus" specimen from South Africa. They considered its antiquity further evidence of species distinction, drawing parallels with "A. anamensis" and "A. afarensis" from Middle Pliocene East Africa. Little foot is the most complete early hominin skeleton ever recovered, with about 90% preserved.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: In addition to Taung, Sterkfontein, and Makapansgat, "A. africanus" was in 1992 discovered in Gladysvale Cave. The latter three are in the Cradle of Humankind. Many hominin specimens traditionally assigned to "A. africanus" have been recovered from Sterkfontein Member 4 (including Mrs. Ples and 2 partial skeletons), previously dated to 2.8 to 2.15 million years ago. But in 2022 a team including Clarke and Kuman used cosmogenic nuclide techniques to date Member 4 at 3.4 million years, which it says discredits the assumption that "A. africanus" descended from "A. afarensis". However, given the wide range of variation exhibited by these specimens, it is debated if all these elements can be confidently assigned to only "A. africanus".


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: At present, the classification of australopithecines is in disarray. "Australopithecus" is considered a grade taxon, whose members are united by their similar physiology rather than close relations with each other over other hominin genera. It is unclear how "A. africanus" relates to other hominins. The discovery of Early Pleistocene "Homo" in Africa during the latter half of the 20th century placed humanity's origins on the continent and "A. africanus" as ancestral to "Homo". The discovery of "A. afarensis" in 1978, at the time the oldest known hominin, prompted a hypothesis that "A. africanus" was ancestral to "P. robustus", and "A. afarensis" was the last common ancestor between "Homo" and "A. africanus"/"P. robustus". It is also suggested that "A. africanus" is closely related to "P. robustus" but not to the other "Paranthropus" species in East Africa, or that "A. africanus" is ancestral to all "Paranthropus". "A. africanus" has also been postulated to have been ancestral to "A. sediba" which also inhabited the Cradle of Humankind, perhaps contemporaneously. "A. sediba" is also postulated to have been ancestral to "Homo", which if correct would indeed put "A. africanus" in an ancestral position to "Homo".


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: Based on 4 specimens, the "A. africanus" brain volume averaged about . Based on this, neonatal brain size was estimated to have been using trends seen in adult and neonate brain size in modern primates. If correct, this would indicate that "A. africanus" was born with about 38% of its total brain size, which is more similar to non-human great apes at 40% than humans at 30%. The inner ear has wide semicircular canals like non-human apes, as well as loose turns at the terminal end of the cochlea like humans. Such a mix may reflect habitual locomotion both in the trees and walking while upright because inner ear anatomy affects the vestibular system (sense of balance).


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: "A. africanus" had a prognathic jaw (it jutted out), a somewhat dished face (the cheek were inflated, causing the nose to be at the bottom of a dip), and a defined brow ridge. The temporal lines running across either side of the braincase are raised as small crests. The canines are reduced in size compared to non-human apes, though still notably bigger than those of modern humans. Like other early hominins, the cheek teeth are large and feature thick enamel. In the upper jaw the third molar is the largest molar, and in the lower jaw it is the second molar. "A. africanus" had a fast, apelike dental development rate. According to Clarke, the older ""A. prometheus"" is distinguished by larger and more bulbous cheek teeth, larger incisors and canines, more projecting cheeks, more widely spaced eye sockets, and a sagittal crest. "A. africanus" has a wide range of variation for skull features, which is typically attributed to moderate to high levels of sexual dimorphism in that males were more robust than females.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: In 1992, American anthropologist Henry McHenry estimated an average weight (when assuming humanlike or apelike body proportions, respectively) of for males based on five partial leg specimens, and for females based on seven specimens. In 2015, American anthropologist William L. Jungers and colleagues similarly reported an average weight (without attempting to distinguish males from females) of with a range of for weight based on 19 specimens. Based on seven specimens, McHenry estimated that males, on average, grew to tall and females . In 2017, based on 24 specimens, anthropologist Manuel Will and colleagues estimated a height of with a range of . The elderly, probably female StW 573 was estimated to have stood about .


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: Based on the "A. afarensis" skeleton DIK-1-1, australopiths are thought to have had a humanlike spine, with 7 neck vertebrae, 12 thoracic vertebrae, and (based on other early australopith skeletons) 5 flexible lumbar vertebrae. In StW 573, the atlas bone in the neck, important for swiveling and stabilising the head, is more similar to non-human apes and indicates greater mobility to swivel up and down than in humans. Such motion is important for arboreal species to locate and focus on climbable surfaces. The StW 573 atlas shows similar mechanical advantages for the muscles which move the shoulder girdle as chimps and gorillas, which may indicate less lordosis (normal curvature of the spine) in "A. africanus" neck vertebrae. However, the later StW 679 has some similarities to human atlases, which could potentially indicate gradual evolution away from the ape condition. StW 573 has a narrow thoracic inlet unlike "A. afarensis" and humans. The clavicle is proportionally quite long, with a similar absolute length to that of modern humans.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: Like in modern women, L3–L5 curve outwards in specimen StS 14, whereas these are straighter in StW 431 as in modern men. This probably reflects reinforcement of the female spine to aid in walking upright while pregnant. The StS 14 partial skeleton preserves a rather complete pelvis. Like in the restored pelvis of the Lucy specimen ("A. afarensis"), the sacrum was relatively flat and orientated more towards the back than in humans, and the pelvic cavity had an overall platypelloid shape. This could indicate a broad birth canal compared to neonate head size, and thus a non-rotational birth (unlike humans), though this is debated. When standing, the angle between the sacrum and the lumbar vertebrae was reconstructed to have been about 148.7°, which is much more similar to that of chimps (154.6°) than humans (118.3°). This would indicate "A. africanus" standing posture was not as erect as in humans.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: The "A. africanus" hand and arm exhibit a mosaic anatomy, with some aspects more similar to humans and others to non-human apes. It is unclear if this means australopiths were still arboreal to a degree, or if these traits were simply inherited from the human–chimpanzee last common ancestor. Nonetheless, "A. africanus" exhibits a more ape-like upper limb anatomy than "A. afarensis", and is typically interpreted as having been, to some extent, arboreal. Like in arboreal primates, the fingers are curved, the arms relatively long and the shoulders are in a shrugging position. The "A. africanus" shoulder is most like that of orangutans, and well suited for maintaining stability and bearing weight while raised and placed overhead. However, the right clavicle of StW 573 has a distinctly S-shaped (sigmoid) curve like humans, which indicates a humanlike moment arm for stabilising the shoulder girdle against the humerus. The "A. africanus" arm bones are consistent with powerful muscles useful in climbing. Nonetheless, the brachial index (the forearm to humerus ratio) is 82.8–86.2 (midway between chimpanzees and humans), which indicates a reduction in forearm length from the more ancient hominin "Ardipithecus ramidus". The thumb and wrist indicate humanlike functionality with a precision grip and forceful opposition between the thumb and fingers. The adoption of such a grip is typically interpreted as an adaptation for tool making at the expense of efficient climbing and arboreal habitation.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: The leg bones clearly show that "A. africanus" habitually engaged in bipedal locomotion, though some aspects of the tibiae are apelike, which could indicate that the leg musculature had not been fully reorganised into the human condition. If correct, its functional implications are unclear. The trabecular bone at the hip joint is distinctly humanlike, which would be inconsistent with the great degrees of hip loading required in prolonged arboreal activity. The tibia met the foot at a similar angle as it does in humans, which is necessary for habitual bipedalism. Consequently, the ankle was not as adept for climbing activities as it is in non-human apes. However, the modern Congo Twa hunter–gatherers can achieve a chimp-like angle with the ankle while climbing trees due to the longer fibres in the gastrocnemius (calf) muscle instead of specific skeletal adaptations. Some aspects of the ankle bone were apelike which may have affected walking efficiency. The foot elements of "A. africanus" are largely known from remains from Sterkfontein Member 4. The foot is humanlike with a stiff midfoot and lack of a midtarsal break (which allows non-human apes to lift the heel independently from the rest of the foot). Though "A. africanus" had an adducted big toe (it was not dextrous) like humans, "A. africanus" likely did not push off with the big toe, using the side of the foot instead. StW 573 is the oldest hominin specimen with an adducted big toe. The specimen StW 355 is the most curved proximal foot phalanx bone of any known hominin, more similar to that of orangutans and siamangs.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: The arms of StW 573 were about , and her legs . This means the arm was 86.9% the length of the leg. She is the first and only early hominin specimen to definitively show that the arms were almost all long as the legs. Nonetheless, these proportion are more similar to humans than non-human apes, with humans at 64.5–78%, chimpanzees about 100%, gorillas 100–125%, and orangutans 135–150.9%.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: In 1954, Robinson proposed that "A. africanus" was a generalist omnivore whereas "P. robustus" was a specialised herbivore; and in 1981, American palaeoanthropologist Frederick E. Grine suggested that "P. robustus" specialised on hard foods such as nuts whereas "A. africanus" on softer foods such as fruits and leaves. Based on carbon isotope analyses, "A. africanus" had a highly variable diet which included a notable amount of C4 savanna plants such as grasses, seeds, rhizomes, underground storage organs, or perhaps grass-eating invertebrates (such as locusts or termites), grazing mammals, or insectivores or carnivores. Most primates do not eat C4 plants. "A. africanus" facial anatomy seems to suggest adaptations for producing high stress on the premolars, useful for eating small, hard objects such as seeds and nuts that need to be cracked open by the teeth, or for processing a large quantity of food at one time. However, like for "P. robustus", microwear analysis on the cheek teeth indicate small, hard foods were infrequently eaten, probably as fall back foods during leaner times. Still, "A. africanus", like chimps, may have required hammerstones to crack open nuts (such as marula nuts), though "A. africanus" is not associated with any tools.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: "A. africanus" conspicuously lacks evidence of dental cavities, whereas "P. robustus" seems to have had a modern humanlike cavity rate; this could possibly indicate that "A. africanus" either did not often consume high-sugar cavity-causing foods—such as fruit, honey, and some nuts and seeds—or frequently consumed gritty foods which decrease cavity incidence rate. However, the 2nd right permanent incisor (STW 270) and right canine (STW 213) from the same individual show lesions consistent with acid erosion, which indicates this individual was regularly biting into acidic foods such as citrus. Tubers could have caused the same damage if some chewing was done by the front teeth.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: Barium continually deposits onto "A. africanus" teeth until about 6–9 months of development, and then decreases until about 12 months. Because the barium was most likely sourced from breast milk, this probably reflects the weaning age. This is comparable to the human weaning age. Following this initial period, barium deposits stall and then restart cyclically every year for several years. In the first molar specimen StS 28 (from Sterkfontein), this occurred every 6–9 months, and in the lower canine specimen StS 51 every 4–6 months, and this carried on until 4–5 years of development. Lithium and strontium also deposit cyclically. Cyclical barium, lithium, and strontium bands occur in modern primates—for example, wild orangutans up to 9 years of age—which is caused by seasonal famine when a child has to rely on nursing to sustain themselves and less desirable fallback foods. However, it is unclear if this can be extended to "A. africanus".


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: The group dynamics of australopithecines is difficult to predict with any degree of accuracy. A 2011 strontium isotope study of "A. africanus" teeth from the dolomite Sterkfontein Valley found that, assuming that especially small teeth represented female specimens and especially large teeth males, females were more likely to leave their place of birth (patrilocal). This is similar to the dispersal patterns of modern-day hominins which have a multi-male kinship-based society, as opposed to the harem society of gorillas and other primates. However, the small canines of males compared to those of females would seem to suggest a much lower degree of male–male aggression than non-human hominins. Males did not seem to have ventured very far from the valley, which could either indicate small home ranges, or that they preferred dolomitic landscapes due to perhaps cave abundance or factors related to vegetation growth.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: In a sample of ten "A. africanus" specimens, seven exhibited mild to moderate alveolar bone loss resulting from periodontal disease (the wearing away of the bone which supports the teeth due to gum disease). The juvenile specimen STS 24a was diagnosed with an extreme case of periodontal disease on the right side of the mouth, which caused pathological bone growth around the affected site, and movement of the first two right molars during cyclical periods of bacterial infection and resultant inflammation. Similarly, the individual appears to have preferred to chew using the left side of the jaw. The periodontal disease would have severely hindered chewing, particularly in the last year of life, and the individual potentially may have relied on group members to survive for as long as it did.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: In 1992, anthropologists Geoffrey Raymond Fisk and Gabriele Macho interpreted the left ankle bone Stw 363 as bearing evidence of a healed calcaneal fracture on the heel bone (which was not preserved), which they believed resulted from a fall from a tree. If correct, then the individual was able to survive for a long time despite losing a great deal of function in the left leg. However, they also noted that similar damage could potentially have also been inflicted by calcite deposition and crystallisation during the fossilisation process. Calcaneal fractures have been recorded in humans, and are present quite often in arboreal primates.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: South African australopithecines appear to lived in an area with a wide range of habitats. At Sterkfontein, fossil wood belonging to the liana "Dichapetalum cf. mombuttense" was recovered. The only living member of this tree genus in South Africa is "Dichapetalum cymosum", which grows in dense, humid gallery forests. In modern day, "D. mombuttense" only grows in the Congolian rainforests, so its presence could potentially mean the area was an extension of this rainforest. The wildlife assemblages indicate a mix of habitats such as bush savanna, open woodland, or grassland. The shrub "Anastrabe integerrima" was also found, which today only grows on the wetter South African coastline. This could indicate the Cradle of Humankind received more rainfall in the Plio-Pleistocene. In total, the Cradle of Humankind may have featured gallery forests surrounded by grasslands. Taung also appears to have featured a wet, closed environment.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: Australopithecines and early "Homo" likely preferred cooler conditions than later "Homo", as there are no australopithecine sites that were below in elevation at the time of deposition. This would mean that, like chimps, they often inhabited areas with an average diurnal temperature of , dropping to at night.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: In 1983, studying "P. robustus" remains, South African palaeontologist Charles Kimberlin Brain hypothesised that australopithecine bones accumulated in caves due to large carnivore activity, dragging in carcasses. He was unsure if these predators actively sought them out and brought them back to the cave den to eat, or inhabited deeper recesses of caves and ambushed them when they entered. Baboons in this region modern day often shelter in sinkholes especially on cold winter nights, though Brain proposed that australopithecines seasonally migrated out of the Highveld and into the warmer Bushveld, only taking up cave shelters in spring and autumn. The "A. africanus" fossils from Sterkfontein Member 4 were likely accumulated by big cats, though hunting hyenas and jackals may have also played a role. Scratches, gouges, and puncture marks on the Taung child similar to those inflicted by modern crowned eagles indicate this individual was killed by a bird of prey.


title: Australopithecus africanus

text: Around 2.07 million years ago, just before the arrival of "P. robustus" and "H. erectus", "A. africanus" became extinct in the Cradle of Humankind. It is possible that South Africa was a refuge for "Australopithecus" until the beginning of major climatic variability and volatility, and, perhaps, competition with "Homo" and "Paranthropus".


title: Aletheia

text: Aletheia or Alethia (; ) is truth or disclosure in philosophy. Originating in Ancient Greek philosophy, the term was later used in the works of 20th-century philosopher Martin Heidegger. Although often translated as "truth", Heidegger argued that it is distinct from common conceptions of truth.


title: Aletheia

text: is variously translated as "unconcealedness", "disclosure", "revealing", or "unclosedness". The literal meaning of the word is "the state of not being hidden; the state of being evident." It also means factuality or reality. It is the antonym of , which literally means "oblivion", "forgetfulness", or "concealment" according to Pindar's First Olympian Ode.


title: Aletheia

text: In Greek mythology, was personified as a Greek goddess, Aletheia. In some accounts she was a daughter of Zeus, while Aesop's Fables state she was crafted by Prometheus. In she was equated with Veritas, the Roman goddess of truth.


title: Aletheia

text: In the early to mid 20th-century, Martin Heidegger brought renewed attention to the concept of "aletheia", by relating it to the notion of disclosure, or the way in which things appear as entities in the world. While he initially referred to "aletheia" as "truth", specifically a form that is pre-Socratic in origin, Heidegger eventually corrected this interpretation, writing:


title: Aletheia

text: Heidegger gave an etymological analysis of "aletheia" and drew out an understanding of the term as 'unconcealedness'. Thus, "aletheia" is distinct from conceptions of truth understood as statements which accurately describe a state of affairs (correspondence), or statements which fit properly into a system taken as a whole (coherence). Instead, Heidegger focused on the elucidation of how an ontological "world" is disclosed, or opened up, in which things are made intelligible for human beings in the first place, as part of a holistically structured background of meaning.


title: Aletheia

text: Heidegger also wrote that , disclosure regarded as the opening of presence, is not yet truth. Is then less than truth? Or is it more because it first grants truth as and , because there can be no presence and presenting outside of the realm of the opening?"


title: Aletheia

text: Heidegger began his discourse on the reappropriation of "aletheia" in his magnum opus, "Being and Time" (1927), and expanded on the concept in his "Introduction to Metaphysics". For more on his understanding of "aletheia", see "Poetry, Language, and Thought", in particular the essay entitled "The Origin of the Work of Art", which describes the value of the work of art as a means to open a "clearing" for the appearance of things in the world, or to disclose their meaning for human beings. Heidegger revised his views on "aletheia" as truth, after nearly forty years, in the essay "The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking," in "On Time and Being".


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: The 2014 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2013–14 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs defeating the defending NBA champion and Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat 4 games to 1 in the NBA Finals. Kawhi Leonard was named NBA Finals MVP.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: For the first time since 1984, the NBA Finals were played in a 2–2–1–1–1 format (the higher seed hosts Games 1, 2, 5, and 7, the lower seed hosts Games 3, 4, and 6). They were also the first playoffs overseen by Commissioner Adam Silver.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: The Spurs continued the longest active playoff streak in the NBA at 17 straight appearances. The Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards made their first playoff appearances since 2008, while the Charlotte Bobcats, in their final playoff appearance before renaming themselves the Hornets, returned after a four-year absence. All three teams from Texas made the playoffs for the first time since 2009. For the first time since 2005, the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks did not qualify for the playoffs in the same year. For the first time since 1994, the Lakers and Celtics missed the playoffs in the same season. In addition, this was the first time in NBA history that the Knicks, Celtics, and Lakers missed the playoffs in the same year (the Celtics last missed the playoffs in 2007) The Denver Nuggets also missed the playoffs for the first time since 2003.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: The first round of the 2014 Playoffs is generally considered one of the greatest postseason rounds in NBA history. The first 11 days of the playoffs saw at least one road team win on its opponent's home floor. That ended on April 30 with the Raptors, Spurs, and Houston Rockets all winning at home against the Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks, and Portland Trail Blazers, respectively. The 24 road wins is an NBA playoffs record for the first round. In addition, the 2014 playoffs featured a record eight first-round games that went into overtime, including four straight between the Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder (Games 2–5), another NBA record.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: Five of the eight first-round series were extended to game sevens. Three of the series, Atlanta Hawks at Indiana Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies at Oklahoma City Thunder, and Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Clippers, were played on May 3, which marked the first time in NBA history that three Game 7s were played on the same day. Two other game sevens were played on the following day, featuring Dallas at San Antonio and Brooklyn at Toronto. The five game sevens in the first round already tied the record for the most number of game sevens in any NBA playoffs, set in the 1994 NBA playoffs. However, the NBA only adopted a best-of-seven format for the first round beginning in 2003. The Hawks–Pacers series was the first series to force a Game 7, making this postseason the 15th consecutive postseason to have at least one Game 7. The 1999 NBA playoffs were the last time a Game 7 wasn't played.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: This postseason and the previous year's postseason marked the first time since the 2000 and 2001 playoffs that both number 5 seeds knocked out both number 4 seeds in back-to-back years.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: This was the first postseason (and the seventh time since 1972, when the current playoff system was put in place) in which the top two seeds played in the Conference Finals both in the East and the West.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: When they defeated Indiana on the road in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat set an NBA record by recording their 15th straight playoff series in which they earned at least one road win. The Heat then extended the record to 16 straight road wins in playoff series by winning Game 2 of the NBA Finals in San Antonio.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: This is also the last time that the NBA Playoffs and Finals logos were applied on the qualifiers' courts until 2020, when digital logos were used instead of decals.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: Within each conference, the three division winners and the five non-division winners with the most wins qualified for the playoffs. The seedings are based on each team's record; however, a division winner is guaranteed to be ranked at least fourth, regardless of record.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: Each conference's bracket is fixed; there is no reseeding. All rounds are best-of-seven series; the team that has four wins advances to the next round. As stated above, all rounds, including the NBA Finals, are in a 2–2–1–1–1 format. Home court advantage in any round does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead to the team with the better regular season record. If two teams with the same record meet in a round, standard tiebreaker rules are used. The rule for determining home court advantage in the NBA Finals is winning percentage, then head-to-head record, followed by record vs. opposite conference.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: If there were more than two teams tied, the team that wins the tiebreaker gets the highest seed, while the other teams were "re-broken" from the first step until all ties were resolved. Since the three division winners were guaranteed a spot in the top four, ties to determine the division winners had to be broken before any other ties.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Teams with home court advantage are shown in italics.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: With the season series between the two tied at 2 games apiece and Indiana's post All-Star break malaise, the series was expected to be closer than the seedings might suggest. In Game 1, the Pacers' struggles continued as the Hawks snatched away home-court advantage and took a 1–0 series lead. In Game 2, the Pacers were in danger of falling 0–2 in the series after the Hawks led by as much as 11 in the first half. However, the Pacers used a big 32–6 run spanning the second and third periods to take a 101–85 win and tie the series at 1 apiece. In Game 3, the Hawks blew the game open in the second half to take a 98–85 win and a surprising 2–1 series lead. In Game 4, the Pacers were once again in danger after the Hawks led by as much as 10 before the Pacers started to rally back. Paul George and David West hit crucial threes in the final quarter to give the Pacers a 91–88 win and tie the series at 2 all. The Hawks still had a chance to force overtime but Pero Antić missed his three-pointer as the Pacers took back home-court advantage.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: In Game 5, the Hawks embarrassed the Pacers as they used a big second quarter to take a commanding lead of as much as 30 before holding off the Pacers for a 107–97 win and a 3–2 series lead, putting the 1st-seeded Pacers on the brink of elimination. In Game 6, the Hawks looked like they were in position for the upset when they led by 5 with about 3 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. However, West led the way for the Pacers as they forced a decisive Game 7 with a 95–88 win. The Pacers were able to finish off the Hawks in Game 7 with a 92–80 win to avoid becoming the sixth first-seeded team to lose a series to an eight-seeded team in NBA history.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: This was the sixth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Pacers winning three of the first five meetings.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: The series pitted the two-time defending champions against a franchise only in its second playoff appearance ever (the Bobcats first played in the playoffs in 2010). As a result, the Bobcats were deemed heavy underdogs against the Heat. In Game 1, the Bobcats started strong, leading by as much as 9, but were dealt a big blow when their franchise player, Al Jefferson, suffered a left plantar fascia strain following a misstep in the first quarter. The Heat then rallied after receiving a big boost from seldom-used James Jones, who scored 12 points, allowing them to eventually pull away in the fourth quarter for a 99–88 win in the series opener. In Game 2, the Heat were able to build a 16-point first half lead before the Bobcats started to rally back. The Bobcats had a chance to force overtime, but Dwyane Wade came up with a key steal and a free throw to ice the game and give the Heat a 2–0 lead.


title: 2014 NBA playoffs

text: In Game 3, the Bobcats started strong once again, led by Jefferson who scored 15 points in the first quarter, but the Heat again rallied behind LeBron James, who led the Heat with 30 points. The Heat led by as much as 26 before holding on for a 98–85 win and a commanding 3–0 series lead. In Game 4, the Bobcats played without Jefferson who was plagued by the injury he suffered in Game 1, leaving Kemba Walker to lead the team. Although he scored 29 points on 11/15 shooting, the Heat were able to complete the sweep with a big third quarter, sending them to the second round, and in the process ending the tenure of the Charlotte Bobcats, who became the Charlotte Hornets starting next season.