title: Ron Dayne

text: Dayne was selected with the 11th pick of the 2000 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. In Dayne's first season he teamed up with Tiki Barber in the backfield to create the tandem known as "Thunder and Lightning," a combination of Dayne's power and Barber's speed. The Giants went on to play in Super Bowl XXXV. Over the next few years, Dayne's carries slowly diminished, with head coach Jim Fassel, who Dayne already had a contentious relationship with, growing increasingly disappointed with Dayne's lack of commitment to lose weight. Fassel reportedly also did not like Dayne's halfback running style, and tried to make him a goal line back. After Fassel was fired, Dayne shed 40 pounds and received a second chance under new head coach Tom Coughlin. After missing every game during the 2003 regular season due to injury, Dayne saw minimal playing time during the 2004 regular season. The Giants did not attempt to re-sign Dayne, and he later signed a one-year deal with the Denver Broncos for the 2005 season. He was re-signed in the 2006 offseason and named the starter, but fell on the depth chart as the pre-season went along and was cut on September 2, 2006. The Houston Texans claimed Dayne off waivers the following day.


title: Ron Dayne

text: As a member of the Houston Texans, Dayne rushed for 429 yards and five touchdowns in December 2006. In 2007, he filled in for the injured Ahman Green. Dayne did not play in the NFL after the 2007 season.


title: Arctotherium

text: Arctotherium (""bear beast"") is an extinct genus of the Pleistocene short-faced bears endemic to Central and South America. "Arctotherium" migrated from North America to South America during the Great American Interchange, following the formation of the Isthmus of Panama during the late Pliocene. The genus consists of one early giant form, "A. angustidens", and several succeeding smaller species, which were within the size range of modern bears. "Arctotherium" was adapted to open and mixed habitat. They are genetically closer to the spectacled bear ("Tremarctos ornatus"), than to "Arctodus" of North America, implying the two extinct forms evolved large size in a convergent manner, perhaps to facilitate dominating other carnivores in the competition for the biggest carcasses.


title: Arctotherium

text: "Arctotherium" is part of the Tremarctinae subfamily of bears, otherwise known as the short faced bears, which also includes "Arctodus" (North American short faced bears) and "Tremartcos" (the Floridian and modern spectacled bear). Tremarctinae originate with their common ancestor, "Plionarctos," in the Middle Hemphillian (earliest Late Miocene, ~10 Ma) of North America; "Plionarctos" is last recorded in the early Blancan (Early Pliocene, ~3.3 Ma). Around the Miocene-Pliocene boundary (~5 Ma) Tremarctines, along with other ursids, experienced an explosive radiation in diversity, as C4 vegetation (grasses) and open habitats dominated, the world experienced a major temperature drop and increased seasonality, and a faunal turnover which extinguished 60–70% of all Eurasian faunal genera, and 70–80% of North American genera.


title: Arctotherium

text: Correspondingly, recent genetic studies suggest that the mean divergence dates for "Arctotherium", "Arctodus" and "Tremarctos" was 4.8 Ma, and between "Arctotherium" and "Tremarctos" at 4.1 Ma. Interestingly, all three genera are first recorded from the Blancan (Late Pliocene) of North America, with the first possible record of "Arctotherium sp." being a tooth found in the Cuscatlán Formation of El Salvador, along with a partial "Borophagus" skull, dated to the latest Pliocene (2.588 Ma).


title: Arctotherium

text: The oldest dated confirmed remains of "Arctotherium" in South America are those of the gigantic "A. angustidens" from Buenos Aires, Argentina. What the evolutionary history of "Arctotherium" was beforehand, particularly regarding its sudden significant size, is unclear. "A. angustidens" remains have been dated to between 1Ma to 0.7 Ma of the Pleistocene, which corresponds with the Ensenadan period (although the younger dates are uncertain).


title: Arctotherium

text: "A. angustidens" was eventually replaced at the start of the Lujanian (~700,000 years ago) by medium-sized "Arctotherium" species- first by "A. vetustum" (Middle Pleistocene), then shortly thereafter by the more robustly built "A. bonariense" (Middle / Late Pleistocene), along with "A. tarijense" (Middle Pleistocene to the Early Holocene)"." While the smallest but most widespread species, "A. wingei", is only confirmed from the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, the species' more tropical disposition is thought to greatly limit fossilisation. That, along with "A. wingei"'s more ancestral position in "Arctotherium", suggests an origin in the Middle Pleistocene. Within "Arctotherium", two clades are thought to exist- "A. bonariense" and "A. tarijense" have been described as the most derived species of the genus, whilst "A. vetustum" and "A. wingei" are regarded the most archaic, even more so than "A. angustidens". Of these successor species, "A. tarijense" and "A. wingei" are by far the most successful when taking into account temporal & geographic range, and the frequency of fossil finds. A separate Andean form of "Arctotherium" is also suggested to have existed at the end of the Pleistocene, if those finds aren't representative of the currently Holocene-restricted "T.ornatus".


title: Arctotherium

text: Curiously, while "Arctotherium"'s known species dramatically shrank in size after "A. angustidens", "Arctodus" underwent the opposite transformation, transitioning from the medium-sized "A. pristinus" to the gigantic "A. simus". by the end of the Pleistocene.


title: Arctotherium

text: "Arctotherium" was named by Hermann Burmeister in 1879. Tremarctinae (and therefore "Arctotherium") appear to have a disproportionately shorter snouts compared with most modern bears, giving them the name "short-faced." This apparent shortness is an illusion caused by the deep snouts and short nasal bones of tremarctine bears compared with ursine bears; "Arctotherium" had a deeper but not a shorter face than most living bears. Although size can help differentiate the species, only cranial and dental identifiers can be used to differentiate between species. The upper canine is very similar between species of "Arctotherium", differing mainly in size. The canine of "A. wingei" is the smallest among the species. The lower canine of "A. wingei" presents two enamel ridges as in "A. angustidens" and "A. tarijense", while in "A. vetustum" and "A. bonariense" there are three ridges. In "A. vetustum", the distal ridge is very small and the mesial ridge is small, while in "A. angustidens" and "A. tarijense" both ridges are large.


title: Arctotherium

text: With regard to locomotion, although the shape of the elbow joint suggests "Arctodus sp"., "Arctotherium bonariense", and "A. wingei" the possibility of retaining semi-arboreal adaptations, the size of the elbow joint does not. As the medial epicondyle is particularly expanded in these species, it is likely that (as for the giant panda) the fossil "Arctodus" and "Arctotherium" retained this character in relation to their higher degree of forelimb dexterity. As these genera's convergent evolution towards large body size that could have been favoured by scavenging adaptations, then high degree of proximal dexterity could have been advantageous for these species and retained in the Tremarctinae lineage in spite of size evolution.


title: Arctotherium

text: "Arctotherium" species ranged between a variety of sizes, both between species and individuals of the same species. The sole remaining Tremarctine bear, the spectacled bear, exhibits strong sexual dimorphism, with adult males being 30%–50% larger than females. Phylogenetic bracketing, along with "Arctotherium"'s ability to exploit a variety of resource rich/poor environments and niches, can help explain "Arctotherium"'s morphological diversity.


title: Arctotherium

text: Various attempts to calculate each species' body mass have been made; for example, a 2006 study calculated the mean weight of two species, "A. bonariense" at ~110 kg (hypothetical typical weight range = 106 kg-122 kg), and "A. tarijense" at ~139 kg (102 kg-189 kg).


title: Arctotherium

text: According to a 2009 study, the weight ranges for "Arctotherium" were calculated as follows- "A. wingei" at 51 kg-150 kg, "A. vetustum" at 102 kg-300 kg, "A. tarijense" at 135 kg-400 kg, "A. bonariense" between 171 kg-500 kg, and "A. angustidens" at 412 kg-1,200 kg. The study considered each end figure as the maximum hypothetical weight. Further studies calculated an "A. tarijense" specimen's weight (MACN 971) at 231 kg, and "A. wingei" specimens from the Brazilian intertropical region at ~83 kg.


title: Arctotherium

text: An extraordinarily large specimen of "A. angustidens" recovered in 2011 from Buenos Aires shows an individual estimated, using the humerus, to weigh between . However, the authors consider the upper limit as improbable, and say that is more likely. An estimated standing height for this "A. angustidens" individual is between . It would still make the species the largest bear ever found, and contender for the largest carnivorous land mammal known.


title: Arctotherium

text: The first recorded "Arctotherium" specimens in South America occur alongside the earliest known South American records of several other carnivorans: the sabre-toothed cats "Smilodon" and "Homotherium", the puma ("Puma concolor"), the jaguar ("Panthera onca"), some large 25 kg–35 kg canids, and several smaller (<15 kg) mustelids, canids, felids and mephitids.


title: Arctotherium

text: The North American carnivorans that invaded South America, including short-faced bears and "Smilodon", probably quickly adopted the predatory niches formerly occupied by the native typical South American groups such as metatherian sparassodont carnivores that had largely gone extinct shortly prior to their arrival.


title: Arctotherium

text: In the Ensenadan, "A. angustidens" was only rivalled in size by "Smilodon populator", with "Theriodictis platensis", "Canis gezi," "Protocyon scagliorum," "Panthera onca" and pumas rounding out the predator guild in the Early Pleistocene Argentina. The extinction of the scavenger-niche specialist procyonid "Chapalmalania" during this faunal turnover event is hypothesized as being the gateway for "A. angustidens"' gigantism. Using carbon isotopes, "A. angustidens"' diet has been posited to be omnivorous with a preference towards large quantities of meat. Beyond the scavenging of mega-herbivore carcasses, the type of tooth wear present amongst "A. angustidens" specimens, in addition to the frequency of broken teeth from most specimens (especially at older ages), suggests the active predation of large vertebrates by "A. angustidens". Of the dentition known from later "Arctotherium" species, only one specimen of "A. bonariense" exhibits the same cracked teeth which "A. angustidens" had, although extreme wear of the occlusal molar surface is common throughout the genus. Moreover, pathologies found on a huge specimen of "A. angustidens", being multiple deep injuries which had long healed despite infection, demonstrate a lifestyle of conflict.


title: Arctotherium

text: Three "A. angustidens" individuals were discovered in a paleoburrow together (postulated to have been a mother with adolescent cubs), which opens the possibility that "A. angustidens" lived in family groups. "A. tarijense" and "A. wingei" are also hypothesized to have utilised dens. In contrast with the spectacled bear's tropical and temperate habitat, Pleistocene Argentina's seasonal and often harsh climate suggests quasi-hibernation would have been an effective strategy for survival, as ursine bears do today. "A. angustidens" is thought to have reoccupied caves excavated by Xenarthra, such as the mylodonts "Glossotherium" and "Scelidotherium", and the pampatheriid "Pampatherium". As suitable paleoburrows are rare before the Great American Interchange, it has been suggested that predation and competition for dens by the newly arrived eutherian carnivores increased the rate of xenarthran cave excavations.


title: Arctotherium

text: It has been suggested that as a diverse carnivore guild became established in South America, "Arctotherium" began to revert to a more classically ursid omnivorous diet as the ecosystem matured, with "A. tarijense" being an adaptable, cosmopolitan omnivore, and "A. wingei" being largely herbivorous. However, the diet of "A. wingei" was not necessarily orthodox, as several bite marks on recovered fossils of herbivores, such as "Glossotherium" and "Equus", are suggested to have been inflicted by scavenging short-faced bears across Lujanian South America. Carnivory would have likely peaked in times of resource instability.


title: Arctotherium

text: "A. bonariense" and "A. tarijense" had a typical prey weight of 100 kg, with a maximum of 300 kg. "A. tarijense" competed against "Smilodon populator", giant jaguars ("Panthera onca mesembrina"), pumas, "Lycalopex, Cerdocyon, Conepatus, Didelphis," and "Dusicyon avus" in Late Pleistocene Argentina, occasionally hunting camelids and horses as a supplement to scavenging, smaller prey and herbivory. Although carnivory increased the further south "Arctotherium" lived, carbon isotopes suggest that "A. tarijense"'s prey weight limit peaked at 300 kg, leaving the (subadult and younger) mega-mammals, such as the gomphotheres, macraucheniids, giant ground sloths, glyptodonts, and toxodontids, to "Smilodon populator" and giant jaguars. "Smilodon fatalis", "Arctotherium bonariense", "Canis nehringi," maned wolves, and humans would have also joined this predator guild at various stages of the Lujanian. However, a fragmented "Arctotherium" c.f. "tarijense" tooth from Baño Nuevo-1 cave in southern Chile preserves cavities, which could be interpreted as a consequence of consuming carbohydrate-rich foods such as fruit or honey. A further microwear analysis attempt of the tooth in 2015 was complicated by hard plant and bone consumption causing similar damage to teeth in omnivores.


title: Arctotherium

text: Along with clues from various teeth of "A. wingei", carbon isotope studies suggest that "A. wingei", at least in the Brazilian intertropical region, were highly herbivorous, specialising in C3 vegetative matter such as fruits and leaves. This is not to diminish potential carnivory in "A. wingei", as the same study pointed to isotope spikes indicating the consumption of the ground sloth "Nothrotherium" "maquinense" (hypothesized as a preference for younger individuals and opportunistic scavenging), and "A. wingei" itself, which could represent cannibalism for juveniles or cubs, as observed in American black bears and polar bears. According to a 2021 study, the maximum prey for "A. wingei" would be around its own bodyweight (~83 kg).


title: Arctotherium

text: In the low-density savanna forests of the Brazilian intertropical region, "A. wingei", pumas and jaguars played a supporting role to the (also likely solitary) "Smilodon populator"'s dominance of the regional predator guild, avoiding competition with "Protocyon troglodytes" in more open savanna. Being smaller and more herbivorous, "A. wingei" would have also likely competed with other smaller carnivorans present in the BIR, such as jaguarundi, "Lycalopex", "Chrysocyon", "Cerdocyon", "Theriodictis", "Speothos", "Nasua", "Procyon", "Eira", "Conepatus", "Galictis", and "Leopardus." Additionally, as dire wolves ("Aenocyon dirus") and "Smilodon fatalis" inhabited north-western South America, and were joined by American lions, grey wolves and coyotes in Central America, "A. wingei" would have been a member of various predator guilds across the species' range.


title: Arctotherium

text: Although mostly herbivorous, the modern spectacled bear is on occasion an active predator. The spectacled bear has several hunting techniques- principally, the bear surprises or overpowers its prey, mounts its back, and consumes the immobilised animal while still alive, pinning the prey with its weight, large paws and long claws. Alternatively, the bear pursues the prey into rough terrain, hillsides, or precipices, provoking its fall and/or death. After death, the prey is dragged to a safe place (usually a nest over a tree, or a forested area) and consumed, leaving only skeletal remains. These behaviours have been suggested as "Arctotherium"'s hunting strategies as well. However, although the spectacled bear is capable of climbing trees, "Arctotherium" is thought to be non-arboreal.


title: Arctotherium

text: Other than "A. wingei," the Blancan "Arctotherium" sp. tooth from El Salvador, and a possible record of "A. vetustum" in Brazil, all "Arctotherium" species appear to be largely restricted to the Southern Cone, particularly Argentina, with the richest records being in the Buenos Aires Province.


title: Arctotherium

text: By the Late Pleistocene, "A. tarijense" held domain over the open and semi-arid Pampas and Patagonian habitats east of the Andes, inhabiting Argentina, Patagonian Chile, southern Bolivia, and Uruguay, although "A. bonariense" may have also been contemporary in Late Pleistocene Uruguay. "A. tarijense" has been described as having a very low density of fossil material in Patagonia.


title: Arctotherium

text: On the other hand, "A. wingei" spanned across the northern, more mixed/forested and tropical parts of the continent, throughout the tropical savanna forests of Brazil to Bolivia, Venezuela, and into North America (Belize and the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico). "A. wingei"'s association with "Protocyon" in the terminal Pleistocene of the Yucatán, another animal previously thought to be endemic to South America, suggests a complex relationship of faunal interchange long after the Great American Interchange.


title: Arctotherium

text: The last known records of "Arctotherium" are an ambiguous find of "A. bonariense" from Uruguay (cf./aff, either ~36,900 or ~14,485 BP of the Sopas Formation, "A. tarijense" at 10,345 BP in the Cueva Del Puma, Patagonia, Chile, and "A. wingei" at 12,850 BP in the Sistema Sac Actun (Yucatán), Mexico, with a possible record of 9,000 BP in Muaco, Venezuela. Interestingly, the remains of "A. wingei" in the Hoyo Negro of the Yucatán appear to be in association with human remains.


title: Arctotherium

text: "Tremarctos" does not appear in the South American fossil record until the Holocene, suggesting that the extant spectacled bear descends from an independent, later dispersal event from North America to that of "Arctotherium", possibly after "A. wingei" became extinct in the Americas. The modern spectacled bear may have hybridised with "Arctotherium" as they migrated southwards into South America. Globally, in the Quaternary Extinction Event, extinction favoured 'conservative morphologies' in ursid body plans, such as those found in the "T. ornatus".


title: Beagle Channel

text: Beagle Channel (; Yahgan: "Onašaga") is a strait in the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, on the extreme southern tip of South America between Chile and Argentina. The channel separates the larger main island of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego from various smaller islands including the islands of Picton, Lennox and Nueva; Navarino; Hoste; Londonderry; and Stewart. The channel's eastern area forms part of the border between Chile and Argentina and the western area is entirely within Chile.


title: Beagle Channel

text: The Beagle Channel, the Straits of Magellan to the north, and the open-ocean Drake Passage to the south are the three navigable passages around South America between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Most commercial shipping uses the open-ocean Drake Passage.


title: Beagle Channel

text: The Beagle Channel is about long and wide at its narrowest point. It extends from Nueva Island in the east to Darwin Sound and Cook Bay in the Pacific Ocean in the west. Some from its western end, it divides into two branches, north and south of Gordon Island. The southwest branch between Hoste Island and Gordon Island enters Cook Bay. The northwest branch between Gordon Island and Isla Grande enters Darwin Sound, which connects to the Pacific Ocean by the O'Brien and Ballenero channels. The biggest settlement on the channel is Ushuaia in Argentina followed by Puerto Williams in Chile. These are amongst the southernmost settlements in the world.


title: Beagle Channel

text: According to a Selk'nam myth the channel was created alongside the Strait of Magellan and Fagnano Lake in places where slingshots fell on earth during Taiyín's fight with a witch who was said to have "retained the waters and the foods".


title: Beagle Channel

text: Although it is navigable by large ships, there are safer waters to the south (Drake Passage) and to the north (Strait of Magellan). Under the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina, ships of other nations navigate with a Chilean pilot between the Strait of Magellan and Ushuaia through the Magdalena Channel and the Cockburn Channel to the Pacific Ocean, then by the Ballenero Channel, the O'Brien Channel and the northwest branch of the Beagle Channel.


title: Beagle Channel

text: The Beagle Channel is between islands covering a much larger area; to the north lies Argentine-Chilean Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, to the south Hoste, Navarino, and Picton and Nueva, which were claimed by Argentina until 1984. The latter two lie at the bi-national eastern entrance to the channel while the western entrance is wholly inside Chile. The western entrance of Beagle Channel is divided by Gordon Island into two channels. Some minor islands exist inside the channel among them Snipe Islet and Gable Island. Except for eastern Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and Gable Island all islands mentioned here belong to Chile.


title: Beagle Channel

text: The Yaghan peoples settled the islands along the Murray Channel approximately 10,000 years before present. There are notable archaeological sites indicating such early Yaghan settlement at locations such as Bahia Wulaia on Isla Navarino, site of the "Bahia Wulaia Dome Middens".


title: Beagle Channel

text: The channel was named after the ship HMS "Beagle" during its first hydrographic survey of the coasts of the southern part of South America which lasted from 1826 to 1830. During that expedition, under the overall command of Commander Phillip Parker King, the "Beagle" captain Pringle Stokes committed suicide and was replaced by captain Robert FitzRoy. The ship continued the survey in the second voyage of "Beagle" under the command of captain FitzRoy, who took Charles Darwin along as a self-funding supernumerary, giving him opportunities as an amateur naturalist. Darwin had his first sight of glaciers when they reached the channel on 29 January 1833, and wrote in his field notebook "It is scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful than the beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and especially as contrasted with the dead white of the upper expanse of snow."


title: Beagle Channel

text: Several small islands (Picton, Lennox and Nueva) up to the Cape Horn were the subject of the long-running Beagle conflict between Chile and Argentina; by the terms of a Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina they are now part of Chile. From the 1950s to 1970s several incidents involving the Chilean and Argentine navies occurred in the waters of the Beagle Channel, for example the 1958 Snipe incident, the 1967 "Cruz del Sur" incident and the shelling of "Quidora" the same year. See List of incidents during the Beagle conflict.


title: Beagle Channel

text: Beagle Channel is a prominent area to watch rare, endemic dolphins. Wildlife seen in the channel include the South American sea lion, South American fur seal, Peale's dolphin, dusky dolphin, Commerson's dolphin, Risso's dolphin, Burmeister's porpoise, spectacled porpoise, Magellanic penguin, southern rockhopper penguin, upland goose, kelp goose, crested duck, great grebe, flying steamerduck, flightless steamerduck, black-faced ibis, black-crowned night-heron, imperial shag, rock shag, Neotropic cormorant, black-chested buzzard-eagle, turkey vulture, Andean condor, crested caracara, chimango caracara, white-throated caracara, striated caracara, Magellanic oystercatcher, blackish oystercatcher, southern lapwing, rufous-chested plover, Baird's sandpiper, white-rumped sandpiper, brown-hooded gull, dolphin gull, South American tern, kelp gull, Chilean skua, Magellanic diving-petrel, and the common diving-petrel.


title: Seal of Muhammad

text: The Seal of Muhammad (Turkish: Muhammed'in mührü, ) is one of the relics of Muhammad kept in the Topkapı Palace by the Ottoman Sultans as part of the Sacred Relics collection.


title: Seal of Muhammad

text: The most popular design is allegedly the replica of a seal used by Muhammad on several letters sent to foreign dignitaries.


title: Seal of Muhammad

text: Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in 1675 reported that the seal was kept in a small ebony box in a niche cut in the wall by the foot of a divan in the relic room at Topkapı. The seal itself is encased in crystal, approximately 3" × 4", with a border of ivory. It has been used as recently as the 17th century to stamp documents.


title: Seal of Muhammad

text: The seal is a rectangular piece of red agate, about 1 cm (½") in length, inscribed with (i.e., "Allāh" "God" in the first line, and "Muḥammad rasūl" "Muhammad, messenger" in the second). According to Muslim historiographical tradition, Muhammad's original seal was inherited by Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman, but lost by Uthman in a well in Medina. Uthman is said to have made a replica of the seal, and this seal was supposedly found in the capture of Baghdad (1534) and brought to Istanbul.


title: Seal of Muhammad

text: According to George Frederick Kunz, when Muhammad was about to send a letter to the Emperor Heraclius, he was told he needed a seal to be recognized as coming from him. Muhammad had a seal made of silver, with the words "Muḥammad rasūl Allāh" or "Muhammad the Apostle of God." The three words, on three lines, were on the ring, and Muhammad ordered that no duplicate was to be made. After his death, the ring came down to Uthman, who accidentally dropped the ring into the well of Aris. The well was so deep the bottom has never been found, and the ring remained lost. At that time a copy was made, but the loss of the original ring was assumed to be an indication of ill-fortune to come.


title: Seal of Muhammad

text: Sir Richard Francis Burton writes that it is a "Tradition of the Prophet" that carnelian is the best stone for a signet ring, and that tradition was still in use in 1868. The carnelian stone is also "a guard against poverty".


title: Seal of Muhammad

text: A different design of the seal of Muhammad is circular, based on Ottoman era manuscript copies of the letters of Muhammad. This is the variant that has become familiar as the "seal of Muhammad."


title: Seal of Muhammad

text: The authenticity of the letters and of the seal is dubious and has been contested almost as soon as their discovery, although there is little research on the subject. Some scholars such as Nöldeke (1909) consider the currently preserved copy to be a forgery, and Öhrnberg (2007) considers the whole narrative concerning the letter to the Muqawqis to be "devoid of any historical value", and the seal to be fake on paleographical grounds, the writing style being anachronical and hinting at an Ottoman Turkish origin.


title: Seal of Muhammad

text: In addition to using a signet ring to seal documents, Muhammad may have also used other techniques to show the provenance of his correspondence. In an alleged letter to the Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt, he signed the letter, also called the Ashtiname of Muhammad, by inking his hand and pressing the impression on the paper. The letter granted protection and privileges to the monastery. In part it says: "I shall exempt them from that which may disturb them; of the burdens which are paid by others as an oath of allegiance. They must not give anything of their income but that which pleases them—they must not be offended, or disturbed, or coerced or compelled. Their judges should not be changed or prevented from accomplishing their offices, nor the monks disturbed in exercising their religious order, or the people of seclusion be stopped from dwelling in their cells. No one is allowed to plunder these Christians, or destroy or spoil any of their churches, or houses of worship, or take any of the things contained within these houses and bring it to the houses of Islam. And he who takes away anything therefrom, will be one who has corrupted the oath of God, and, in truth, disobeyed His Messenger." It is sealed with an imprint representing Muhammad's hand.


title: Empire of the Sun

text: Empire of the Sun is a 1984 novel by English writer J. G. Ballard; it was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Like Ballard's earlier short story "The Dead Time" (published in the anthology "Myths of the Near Future"), it is essentially fiction but draws extensively on Ballard's experiences in World War II. The name of the novel is derived from the etymology of the name for Japan.


title: Empire of the Sun

text: Ballard later wrote of his experiences in China as a boy and the making of the film of the same name in his autobiography "Miracles of Life".


title: Empire of the Sun

text: The novel recounts the story of a young British boy, Jamie (“Jim”) Graham (named after Ballard's two first names, "James Graham"), who lives with his parents in Shanghai. After the Pearl Harbor attack, Japan occupies the Shanghai International Settlement, and in the following chaos Jim becomes separated from his parents.


title: Empire of the Sun

text: He spends some time in abandoned mansions, living on remnants of packaged food. Having exhausted the food supplies, he decides to try to surrender to the Imperial Japanese Army. After many attempts, he finally succeeds and is interned in the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Centre.


title: Empire of the Sun

text: Although the Japanese are "officially" the enemies, Jim identifies partly with them, both because he adores the pilots with their splendid machines and because he feels that Lunghua is still a comparatively safer place for him.


title: Empire of the Sun

text: Towards the end of the war, with the Japanese army collapsing, the food supply runs short. Jim barely survives, with people around him starving to death. The camp prisoners are forced upon a march to Nantao, with many dying along the route. Jim then leaves the march and is saved from starvation by air drops from American bombers. Jim returns to Lunghua camp, soon returning to his pre-war residence with his parents.


title: Empire of the Sun

text: The book was adapted by Tom Stoppard in 1987. The screenplay was filmed by Steven Spielberg, to critical acclaim, being nominated for six Oscars and winning three BAFTA awards (for cinematography, music and sound). It starred a then 13-year-old Christian Bale, as well as John Malkovich and Miranda Richardson; it also featured an appearance by a 21-year-old Ben Stiller, in a dramatic role.


title: Chironomidae

text: The Chironomidae (informally known as chironomids, nonbiting midges, or lake flies) comprise a family of nematoceran flies with a global distribution. They are closely related to the Ceratopogonidae, Simuliidae, and Thaumaleidae. Many species superficially resemble mosquitoes, but they lack the wing scales and elongated mouthparts of the Culicidae.


title: Chironomidae

text: This is a large taxon of insects; some estimates of the species numbers suggest well over 10,000 world-wide. Males are easily recognized by their plumose antennae. Adults are known by a variety of vague and inconsistent common names, largely by confusion with other insects. For example, chironomids are known as "lake flies" in parts of Canada and Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin, but "bay flies" in the areas near the bay of Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are called "sand flies", "muckleheads", "muffleheads", "Canadian soldiers", or "American soldiers" in various regions of the Great Lakes area. They have been called "blind mosquitoes" or "chizzywinks" in Florida. However, they are not mosquitoes of any sort, and the term "sandflies" generally refers to various species of biting flies unrelated to the Chironomidae.


title: Chironomidae

text: The biodiversity of the Chironomidae often goes unnoticed because they are notoriously difficult to identify and ecologists usually record them by species groups. Each morphologically distinct group comprises a number of morphologically identical (sibling) species that can only be identified by rearing adult males or by cytogenetic analysis of the polytene chromosomes. Polytene chromosomes were originally observed in the larval salivary glands of "Chironomus" midges by Balbiani in 1881. They form through repeated rounds of DNA replication without cell division, resulting in characteristic light and dark banding patterns which can be used to identify inversions and deletions which allow species identification.


title: Chironomidae

text: Larval stages of the Chironomidae can be found in almost any aquatic or semiaquatic habitat, including treeholes, bromeliads, rotting vegetation, soil, and in sewage and artificial containers. They form an important fraction of the macro zoobenthos of most freshwater ecosystems. They are often associated with degraded or low-biodiversity ecosystems because some species have adapted to virtually anoxic conditions and are dominant in polluted waters.


title: Chironomidae

text: Larvae of some species are bright red in color due to a hemoglobin analog; these are often known as "bloodworms".


title: Chironomidae

text: Many reference sources in the past century or so have repeated the assertion that the Chironomidae do not feed as adults, but an increasing body of evidence contradicts this view. Adults of many species do, in fact, feed. The natural foods reported include fresh fly droppings, nectar, pollen, honeydew, and various sugar-rich materials.


title: Chironomidae

text: The question whether feeding is of practical importance has by now been clearly settled for some "Chironomus" species, at least; specimens that had fed on sucrose flew far longer than starved specimens, and starved females longer than starved males, which suggested they had eclosed with larger reserves of energy than the males. Some authors suggest the females and males apply the resources obtained in feeding differently. Males expend the extra energy on flight, while females use their food resources to achieve longer lifespans. The respective strategies should be compatible with maximal probability of successful mating and reproduction in those species that do not mate immediately after eclosion, and in particular in species that have more than one egg mass maturing, the less developed masses being oviposited after a delay. Such variables also would be relevant to species that exploit wind for dispersal, laying eggs at intervals. Chironomids that feed on nectar or pollen may well be of importance as pollinators, but current evidence on such points is largely anecdotal. However, the content of protein and other nutrients in pollen, in comparison to nectar, might well contribute to the females' reproductive capacities.


title: Chironomidae

text: Adults can be pests when they emerge in large numbers. They may cause difficulty during driving if they collide with the windshield, creating an opaque coating which obscures the driver's vision. They can damage paint, brick, and other surfaces with their droppings. When large numbers of adults die, they can build up into malodorous piles. They can provoke allergic reactions in sensitive individuals.


title: Chironomidae

text: Chironomidae had variable feeding ecology, most species feed on algae and other small soil organisms they can filtrate. Larvae and pupae are important food items for fish, such as trout, banded killifish, and sticklebacks, and for many other aquatic organisms as well such as newts. Many aquatic insects, such as various predatory hemipterans in the families Nepidae, Notonectidae, and Corixidae eat Chironomidae in their aquatic phases. So do predatory water beetles in families such as the Dytiscidae and Hydrophilidae. The flying midges are eaten by fish and insectivorous birds, such as swallows and martins. They are also thought to be an especially important food source for tufted duck chicks during their first few days of life. They also are preyed on by bats and flying predatory insects, such as Odonata and dance flies.


title: Chironomidae

text: The Chironomidae are important as indicator organisms, i.e., the presence, absence, or quantities of various species in a body of water can indicate whether pollutants are present. Also, their fossils are widely used by palaeolimnologists as indicators of past environmental changes, including past climatic variability. Contemporary specimens are used by forensic entomologists as medico-legal markers for the postmortem interval assessment.


title: Chironomidae

text: A number of chironomid species inhabit marine habitats. Midges of the genus "Clunio" are found in the intertidal zone, where they have adjusted their entire life cycle to the rhythm of the tides. This made the species "Clunio marinus" an important model species for research in the field of chronobiology.


title: Chironomidae

text: Many species are terrestrial living in soil being dominant part of soil fauna community in many wet soil habitats but also in agricultural land and early stages of succession. Chironomidae display various strategies to use various temporary habitats.


title: Chironomidae

text: Anhydrobiosis is the ability of an organism to survive in the dry state. Anhydrobiotic larvae of the African chironomid "Polypedilum vanderplanki" can withstand prolonged complete desiccation (reviewed by Cornette and Kikawada). These larvae can also withstand other external stresses including ionizing radiation. The effects of anhydrobiosis, gamma ray and heavy-ion irradiation on the nuclear DNA and gene expression of these larvae were studied by Gusev et al. They found that larval DNA becomes severely fragmented both upon anhydrobiosis and irradiation, and that these breaks are later repaired during rehydration or upon recovery from irradiation. An analysis of gene expression and antioxidant activity suggested the importance of removal of reactive oxygen species as well as the removal of DNA damages by repair enzymes. Expression of genes encoding DNA repair enzymes increased upon entering anhydrobiosis or upon exposure to radiation, and these increases indicated that when DNA damages occurred, they were subsequently repaired. In particular, expression of the "Rad51" gene was substantially up-regulated following irradiation and during rehydration. The Rad51 protein plays a key role in homologous recombination, a process required for the accurate repair of DNA double-strand breaks.


title: Chironomidae

text: The family is divided into 11 subfamilies: Aphroteniinae, Buchonomyiinae, Chilenomyinae, Chironominae, Diamesinae, Orthocladiinae, Podonominae, Prodiamesinae, Tanypodinae, Telmatogetoninae, and Usambaromyiinae.


title: Chironomidae

text: Most species belong to Chironominae, Orthocladiinae, and Tanypodinae. Diamesinae, Podonominae, Prodiamesinae, and Telmatogetoninae are medium-sized subfamilies with tens to hundreds of species. The remaining four subfamilies have fewer than five species each.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: The 1978 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1977–78 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The series featured the Western Conference champion Seattle SuperSonics against the Eastern Conference champion Washington Bullets. The Bullets defeated the SuperSonics in seven games to win the NBA championship. Bullets power forward/center Wes Unseld was named MVP of the series. Before the Cleveland Cavaliers' Game 7 win at Golden State in the 2016 NBA Finals, this was the last time a road team had won Game 7 in the NBA Finals. The 1978 World Championship Series was the first NBA Finals series since the 1958 World Championship Series in which both teams had under 50 wins, and is the only NBA Finals to feature two teams with under 50 wins in an 82-game season.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: The Seattle SuperSonics had a disappointing start to the season, going 5–17 to begin with. Bob Hopkins, who replaced former Boston Celtics center Bill Russell as coach, was fired and Lenny Wilkens returned for a second tour of duty. The Sonics were led by center Jack Sikma, forwards Fred Brown, Paul Silas and John Johnson, and guards Dennis Johnson and Gus Williams. With Wilkens' experience being a key factor, the Sonics turned their season around, finishing with 47 wins and the fourth seed in the West. In the playoffs, they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in a three-game miniseries, then upset the top-seeded and defending champion Portland Trail Blazers (who lost center Bill Walton in the second game of the series) in six games, before a six-game win over the Denver Nuggets in the Conference Finals sent them to their first of back-to-back NBA Finals appearances.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: The Washington Bullets franchise made the Finals twice before in the 1970s, but were swept on both occasions, first by the Milwaukee Bucks in when they were still in Baltimore, and then by the Cinderella Golden State Warriors in . The Bullets kept some of the personnel from that 1975 team, including All-Stars Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes, but Dick Motta was now in his second year of coaching duty. The Bullets struggled with injuries during the season, but managed to finish with 44 wins, good for the third seed in the East. In the playoffs, the Bullets disposed the Atlanta Hawks in a two-game first round series, then ousted the San Antonio Spurs in six games, before making the finals again with a six-game win over the defending Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia 76ers.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: From a KENS-TV Spurs broadcast in the San Antonio series after Washington took a 3-1 lead, Motta adopted the expression "The 'opera' isn't over 'til the fat lady sings" to warn Bullets fans against braggadocio. Motta also used an upbeat ostinato, "Wait for the fat lady!", to encourage the fans.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: The Bullets, behind Kevin Grevey's 27 and Elvin Hayes's 21 points, held a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter at the Seattle Center Coliseum. But, the Sonics staged a comeback in front of the home crowd, led by "instant offense" guard Fred Brown. Brown scored 16 points in the last nine minutes to finish with 32 and give the SuperSonics the win.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: In an unusual 1-2-2-1-1 scheduling format, the next two games were played at the Capital Centre, the Bullets' home floor. Wes Unseld defended inside on Marvin Webster and Jack Sikma, pulled down 15 rebounds, and handed out five assists. This work enabled Bob Dandridge to score 34 points and Elvin Hayes 25 as the Bullets evened the series, winning their first NBA Finals game following nine consecutive losses.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: Dennis Johnson was superb on defense, blocking seven shots and holding Kevin Grevey to 1-for-14 shooting. Paul Silas, the SuperSonics' veteran leader off the bench, helped shut down the Bullets' big men.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: With 10 seconds remaining and the SuperSonics leading 93-90, Johnson's inbounds pass was stolen by Tom Henderson, who scored to make it 93-92 with five seconds left. Silas then stepped on the baseline trying to make the subsequent inbounds pass, turning the ball over to the Bullets. Bob Dandridge missed at the buzzer, however, and the SuperSonics picked up a victory on the road.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: Game 4 was held in the Seattle Kingdome because the Seattle Center Coliseum was tied up with a mobile-home show. As a result, the Bullets had to contend with a then-record playoff crowd of over 39,000 fans.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: The SuperSonics led by 15 with two minutes left in the third quarter. At this point, the Bullet guards, who had been victimized all series by Gus Williams and emerging star Dennis Johnson, started to assert themselves, especially reserves Charles Johnson and Larry Wright.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: At the start of the final period, Dennis Johnson was elbowed hard in the ribs and left the game for a short time. With Charles Johnson, Wright, Mitch Kupchak and Bob Dandridge in the lineup, the Bullets stormed back and took a 103-101 lead with about 3.5 minutes left in the game. Dennis Johnson then returned and went on a barrage, scoring first to tie the game, blocking a Dandridge shot, getting an offensive rebound, and pushing the Sonics to a 104-103 lead with a foul shot. Johnson would finish with 33 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: Dandridge answered with a three-point play that returned the lead to Washington, 106-104. Seattle got the ball back and tied it with "instant offense" Fred Brown's jumper from "downtown". With two seconds left, Dandridge got a good shot in the lane, only to have Johnson block it, forcing overtime. But then, Charles Johnson became an instant hero by hitting three quick shots in overtime to give the Bullets a 120-116 win. The Bullets had tied the series at two wins apiece.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: The SuperSonics returned to the Seattle Center Coliseum and eked out a close win. "Downtown" Freddie Brown had 26 points and Dennis Johnson 24 to carry Seattle to a 98-94 win and the series lead. The Bullets lost it at the line, making only 9 of 20 free throws in the second half. Even so, they cut Seattle's 11-point lead to two with less than two minutes to go before Jack Sikma hit three free throws down the stretch.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: Game 6, in Washington, was all Bullets, 117-82. With the Washington backcourt continuing to struggle, Bullets coach Dick Motta inserted Greg Ballard at forward and moved Bob Dandridge to guard, a risky move considering Dandridge had played very little guard. Ballard and Dandridge produced a run that gave the Bullets a 12-point lead at the half. Washington scored 70 points in the second half, and the SuperSonics weren't up to that pace. Mitch Kupchak added 19 points, and Ballard had 12 points and 12 rebounds. The 35-point margin of victory was an NBA Finals record that stood until the 1998 NBA Finals Game 3 (96-54, 42 points).


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: Dennis Johnson, who before the 1977-78 playoffs was a relatively unknown guard from Pepperdine University, had grown into a star in this series in front of a national TV audience. However, DJ would miss every one of his 14 shots in this game. Fellow guard Gus Williams was a bit more accurate, shooting 4-for-12. SuperSonics big men Marvin Webster scored 27 points and Jack Sikma 21 to take up the slack, and that kept it close.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: With 90 seconds left, Seattle whittled the lead from 11 points down to four, but Mitch Kupchak came up with a three-point play. Fred Brown, who finished with 21 points off the bench, hit a short jumper, then Paul Silas got a tip-in to cut it to 101-99. Silas then fouled Wes Unseld, a 55-percent shooter from the line during the playoffs. He hit two free throws, and moments later Washington sealed it with a Bob Dandridge dunk, 105-99.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: Charles Johnson and Dandridge each scored 19 points for the Bullets, while Elvin Hayes fouled out with 12 points, a development that brought a couple of needling questions from the writers about his past failures in the playoffs and Hayes' cheerful comeback "Whatever else they can say about me, they also got to say E's a world champion. E wears the ring." Unseld would be named Finals MVP.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: After the climactic Game 7 victory, Motta celebrated with his team wearing a beer-soaked "The Opera Isn't Over 'Til The Fat Lady Sings" T-shirt. He said, "What made the championship so great was that we weren't supposed to win it. We came a long way. Most people didn't give us a chance, but I felt all along we could. I really did."


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: Nationwide TV coverage of the 1978 NBA finals was broadcast by CBS Sports, with Brent Musburger (All Games) on play-by-play and Rick Barry (All Games), Steve Jones (Game 1), recently retired John Havlicek (Games 2, 4 and 7), Gus Johnson (Game 3) and Keith Erickson (Games 4 and 5) on color commentary. Locally, the 1978 NBA Finals was broadcast by CBS affiliates: WTOP-TV in Washington, D.C. and KIRO-TV in Seattle, Washington.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: Nationwide radio coverage of the 1978 NBA Finals was broadcast by Mutual, with Tony Roberts on play-by-play and Hubie Brown on color commentary.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: The flagship stations of each station of each team carried their local play-by-play calls. In Washington, D.C., WTOP-AM carried the series, with Frank Herzog on play-by-play. In Seattle, KOMO, carried the series with Bob Blackburn on play-by-play.


title: 1978 NBA Finals

text: The NBA received much criticism over the fact that the seven-game series was stretched out over 18 days, presumably for television; it remains the longest playoff series (in total number of days) ever played in any sport. (Even the 1989 World Series, interrupted for ten days by an earthquake, lasted only 15 days. However, that series ended in a sweep and, had it gone the full seven games, would have lasted 19 days).


title: Matt Franco

text: Matthew Neil Franco (born August 19, 1969 in Santa Monica, California) is an American former professional baseball player who played first base in the major leagues from 1995 to 2003, and in Nippon Professional Baseball from 2004 to 2006.


title: Matt Franco

text: Franco grew up in Westlake Village, California, playing youth soccer with future USMNT players Eric Wynalda and Cobi Jones. He was a standout baseball player at Westlake High and was drafted out of high school.


title: Matt Franco

text: Franco started his professional career in 1987 with the Rookie League Wytheville Cubs in the Appalachian League. He started the 1988 season in short season rookie ball, again with the Wytheville Cubs. He hit .392 and was promoted to the Low Level A ball New York/Penn League. He played for the Winston-Salem Spirit of the Carolina League in 1991. Franco moved up to Double-A and for the next two seasons played for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliates in the Southern League, first with the Charlotte Knights in 1992, and then the Orlando Cubs in 1993.


title: Matt Franco

text: Franco moved up to Triple-A in 1993. After starting the season in Orlando, he ended the season in Des Moines with the Iowa Cubs of the American Association. Franco would return to the Iowa Cubs the next season before breaking into the majors with the Chicago Cubs in 1995.


title: Matt Franco

text: On July 10, 1999, with the Mets trailing the Yankees by one run with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth, Franco came up with a pinch-hit single off of Mariano Rivera to score two runs and give the Mets a 9–8 win.


title: Matt Franco

text: On December 13, 2007, he was named in the "Mitchell Report" to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation Into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball.


title: Matt Franco

text: Franco lives in Simi Valley, California. He is the son of film producer Larry Franco and Jill Russell, a sister of actor Kurt Russell, which makes Franco a great-grandson of actor Bing Russell.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: A bonded warehouse, or bond, is a building or other secured area in which dutiable goods may be stored, manipulated, or undergo manufacturing operations without payment of duty. It may be managed by the state or by private enterprise. In the latter case a customs bond must be posted with the government. This system is widely used in developed countries throughout the world.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: Upon entry of goods into the warehouse, the importer and warehouse proprietor incur liability under a bond. This liability is generally cancelled when the goods are:


title: Bonded warehouse

text: While the goods are in the bonded warehouse, they may, under supervision by the customs authority, be manipulated by cleaning, sorting, repacking, or otherwise changing their condition by processes that do not amount to manufacturing. After manipulation, and within the warehousing period, the goods may be exported without the payment of duty, or they may be withdrawn for consumption upon payment of duty at the rate applicable to the goods in their manipulated condition at the time of withdrawal. In the United States, goods may remain in the bonded warehouse up to five years from the date of importation. Bonded warehouses provide specialized storage services such as deep freeze or bulk liquid storage, commodity processing, and coordination with transportation, and are an integral part of the global supply chain.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: Depending on the country or region, there are various options for the storage of goods in a bonded warehouse.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: Temporary storage premises offer the possibility of storing goods that enter the customs territory of the EU awaiting further customs-approved use or treatment.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: The type B customs warehouse is a public customs warehouse. This means that the administrator (warehouse keeper) can make the premises available to anyone that wants to store goods under customs control. It is also known as Public Customs Bonded Warehouses. Certain examples of TypeB customs warehouse in Asian countries are Central Warehousing Corporation, Concor, State Warehousing Corporation, DHL Public Bonded Warehouses, Contegrate Entrepot Public Bonded Warehouses, Allcargo Custom Bonded Warehouses and many more. Type B Warehouses are licensed by the concerned Customs authorities to act as custodian and escrow to store goods 'til Duty is paid by the importers.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: A type C customs warehouse is a private customs warehouse. This means that only the administrator of the customs warehouse (warehouse keeper) can store goods in it, either their own goods or goods stored on behalf of others, the warehouse keeper remaining responsible to Customs for the goods kept in storage. The warehouse keeper is also the person who has to provide security to Customs. Type C warehouses are importer-specific warehouses wherein goods of only the specific licensed importers may be stored in the warehouse. Such warehouses are also called as Private Bonded Warehouses.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: Type D and E customs warehouses are private customs warehouses, which means that only the administrator (warehouse keeper) is allowed to store goods in them.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: A Public Bonded Warehouse is a building or premises guarded and locked by Customs. Within this building or these premises, anyone can store goods.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: Unlike a free warehouse, a special economic zone is not a building or premises, but a location. This location is a geographical area which has been carefully charted and recorded. Sometimes these areas are known as bonded logistics parks.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: Depending on different countries, it is difficult to choose what kind of warehouse should be chosen for different situations, for example, goods may be entered for temporary warehouse and afterwards for consuming locally or they may be transported out-bound to another country and are placed in warehouse for a while, or they are entered for warehouse waiting for retailers to transfer them.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: Under such a complex circumstances, many importers and exporters try to use automation to help manage issues in bonded warehouse which, to some extent, can respond rapidly to customer orders and dispatch products


title: Bonded warehouse

text: Bonded store is place where they place those items which are not declared either serviceable or un-serviceable.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: Previous to the establishment of bonded warehouses in England the payment of duties on imported goods had to be made at the time of importation, or a bond with security for future payment given to the revenue authorities. The inconveniences of this system were many:


title: Bonded warehouse

text: To obviate these difficulties and to put a check upon frauds on the revenue, Robert Walpole proposed in his "excise scheme" of 1733, the system of warehousing for tobacco and wine. The proposal was unpopular, and it was not until 1803 that the system was actually adopted. That year, imported goods were to be placed in warehouses approved by the customs authorities, and importers were to give bonds for payment of duties when the goods were removed.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: The Customs Consolidation Act 1853 dispensed with the giving of bonds, and laid down various provisions for securing the payment of customs duties on goods warehoused. These provisions are contained in the Customs Consolidation Act 1876, and the amending statutes, the Customs and Inland Revenue Act 1880, and the Revenue Act of 1883. The warehouses are known as "king's warehouses", and section 284 of the Customs Consolidation Act defined them as "any place provided by the crown or approved by the commissioners of customs, for the deposit of goods for security thereof, and the duties due thereon".


title: Bonded warehouse

text: By section 12 of the act, the treasury may appoint warehousing ports or places, and the commissioners of customs may from time to time approve and appoint warehouses in such ports or places where goods may be warehoused or kept and fix the amount of rent payable in respect of the goods. The proprietor or occupier of every warehouse so approved (except existing warehouses of special security in respect of which security by bond has hitherto been dispensed with), or some one on his behalf, must, before any goods be warehoused therein, give security by bond, or such other security as the commissioners may approve of, for the payment of the full duties chargeable on any goods warehoused therein, or for the due exportation thereof (s. 13).


title: Bonded warehouse

text: All goods deposited in a warehouse, without payment of duty on the first importation, upon being entered for home consumption, are chargeable with existing duties on like goods under any customs acts in force at the time of passing such entry (section 19). The act also prescribes various rules for the unshipping, landing, examination, warehousing and custody of goods, and the penalties on breach. The system of warehousing has proved of great advantage both to importers and purchasers, as the payment of duty is deferred until the goods are required, while the title deeds, or warrants, are transferable by endorsement.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: While the goods are in the warehouse ("in bond") the owner may subject them to various processes necessary to fit them for the market, such as the repacking and mixing of tea, the racking, vatting, mixing and bottling of wines and spirits, the roasting of coffee, the manufacture of certain kinds of tobacco, etc., and certain specific allowances are made in respect of waste arising from such processes or from leakage, evaporation and the like.


title: Bonded warehouse

text: Bonded warehousing exists in much of the developed world. They are of note in the United States for their role in the production of bottled in bond spirits.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: Heng Swee Keat (; born 15 April 1961) is a Singaporean politician, former police officer and civil servant who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore since 2019 alongside Lawrence Wong, Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies since 2020 and Chairman of the People's Action Party since 2022. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Bedok division of East Coast GRC since 2020.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: Heng had previously served as Minister for Education between 2011 and 2015 and Minister for Finance between 2015 and 2021.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: Prior to entering politics, Heng worked in the Singapore Police Force (SPF), Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). He was also the principal private secretary to Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew between 1997 and 2001.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: He made his political debut in the 2011 general election as part of a five-member PAP team contesting in Tampines GRC and won with 57.22% of the vote. He then elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Tampines Central ward of Tampines GRC and managed to retain his parliamentary seat in the 2015 general election with 72.06% of the vote before switching to contest in East Coast GRC in the 2020 general election.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: Heng was poised to succeed Lee Hsien Loong as the fourth prime minister of Singapore following his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore in May 2019 and First Assistant Secretary-General of the People's Action Party in November 2018. However, Heng subsequently withdrew himself from the nomination in April 2021.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: Born in a Chinese Singaporean of Teochew descent family, Heng was educated at Raffles Institution before graduating from Christ College at the University of Cambridge in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts with honours (later promoted to Master of Arts by seniority) degree in economics after being conferred an overseas scholarship from the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in 1980.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: He returned to the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and served in various roles, including a five-year stint in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), before leaving in 1997 with the rank of Assistant Commissioner. He also completed a nine-month Command and Staff Course conducted by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF).


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: He subsequently went on to complete a Master of Public Administration degree at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1993.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: In 1997, Heng joined the Singapore Administrative Service and worked at the Ministry of Education before he was appointed as Principal Private Secretary to Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1997. In 2001, Heng became Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: From 1 June 2005 to 2 April 2011, he served as the managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and was named Asia-Pacific Central Bank Governor of the Year by "The Banker" in February 2011.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: Heng made his political debut in the 2011 general election as part of the five-member PAP team contesting in Tampines GRC, with former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong claiming that Heng had the potential to become a Cabinet minister. The PAP team won with 57.22% of the vote against the National Solidarity Party and Heng became a Member of Parliament representing the Tampines Central ward of Tampines GRC.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: On 18 May 2011, Heng was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Education even though he had just been elected for the first time as a Member of Parliament. In August 2012, he was tasked with leading a new ministerial committee to conduct a broad-based review of the government's policies and direction.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: During the 2015 general election, Heng led the five-member PAP team contesting in Tampines GRC and won 72.06% of the vote against the National Solidarity Party. After the general election, on 1 October 2015, Heng relinquished his portfolio as Minister for Education and took up the position of Minister for Finance.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: On 19 February 2018, Heng announced during a budget speech in Parliament that the government planned to raise the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from 7% to 9% sometime between 2021 and 2025. He said that, "the GST increase is necessary because even after exploring various options to manage our future expenditures through prudent spending, saving and borrowing for infrastructure, there is still a gap".


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: On 1 May 2018, Heng took over the responsibility of assisting Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on the National Research Foundation matters from Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean. Later that year, on 23 November, he replaced Teo as the first assistant secretary-general of the People's Action Party (PAP) following an election in the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC).


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: On 1 May 2019, Heng was appointed Deputy Prime Minister, taking over the office which had previously been shared between Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam. He also continued to hold the Cabinet portfolio of Minister for Finance. From 1985 to 2019, there had always been two Deputy Prime Ministers sitting concurrently in the Cabinet. The unique circumstance of Heng becoming the sole holder of the office, together with his earlier appointment as the party's first assistant secretary-general, was seen by political observers as paving him the way to becoming the next prime minister.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: On 30 June 2020, the Nomination Day for the 2020 general election, Heng announced that he would be contesting in East Coast GRC, surprising political observers as he had been expected to run for election in Tampines GRC, which he had been representing for two terms since 2011.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: During a campaign speech, Heng unveiled the PAP's manifesto for East Coast GRC residents called "Together We Care @East Coast". The plan became popularly known as the "East Coast Plan" among Singaporeans and on social media. In the campaigning period, a police report was lodged against Heng after comments he had made during a student forum at Nanyang Technological University in 2019 resurfaced. While responding to a question on the possibility of Singapore having an ethnicity from the non-Chinese community as Prime Minister, Heng had said that the older generation was "not ready for a prime minister from a minority race" or someone who was non-Chinese. The police released a statement on 7 July 2020, stating that they had consulted the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) and deemed that Heng's remarks had no intent to wound anyone's racial feelings or promote enmity between different races.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: On 10 July 2020, the five-member PAP team led by Heng contesting in East Coast GRC won 53.41% of the vote against the Workers' Party, and Heng was elected as the Member of Parliament representing the Bedok ward of East Coast GRC. He continued to hold his Cabinet appointments as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance after the election.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: On 18 February 2020, Heng delivered a budget speech in Parliament when the COVID-19 pandemic had just struck Singapore in January 2020. Referred to as the "Unity Budget", the government budget for 2020 covered measures to cover uncertainties long-term against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 26 March 2020, Heng delivered a second budget speech announcing an additional S$55 billion "Resilience Budget" in response to the worsening situation of the pandemic and to mitigate the economic impact on businesses. It was the second time in Singapore's history since the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 that past reserves had to be used to fund the initiatives provided. Measures include a cash grant of S$9,000 for eligible self-employed persons as well as S$3,000 for lower-income recipients under the Workfare Income Supplement Scheme as emergency relief against the pandemic. Heng also mentioned that this would likely be the worst contraction ever in the economy since 1965. On 27 July 2020, Heng took up an additional Cabinet appointment as Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: After the 2020 general election, Heng had been widely seen as the leading contender to be the next prime minister. However, he withdrew himself from the nomination on 8 April 2021, citing age and health concerns, although political analysts also attributed his withdrawal to the PAP's lower-than-expected result in East Coast GRC at the 2020 general election.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: Following a Cabinet reshuffle on 15 May 2021, Heng relinquished his Cabinet portfolio of Minister for Finance, and was succeeded by Lawrence Wong. On 28 May 2021, the Monetary Authority of Singapore announced that Heng had been reappointed as a member of its board for a further term of three years.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: Heng is married to Chang Hwee Nee, the chief executive officer of the National Heritage Board. They have two children.


title: Heng Swee Keat

text: On 12 May 2016, Heng collapsed from a stroke during a Cabinet meeting. He was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where he underwent neurosurgery to relieve pressure in his brain. He was transferred to the intensive care unit after the surgery and discharged on 25 June 2016. He resumed his duties as a Member of Parliament and Minister for Finance on 22 August 2016.


title: Agra–Lucknow Expressway

text: The Agra–Lucknow Expressway is a 302 km long, 6-lane wide (extendable to 8-lanes) access-controlled expressway constructed by the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) to reduce traffic in already congested roads and to reduce pollution and carbon footprint. The expressway reduced the distance between the cities of Agra and Lucknow in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and is presently one of the India's longest operational expressway.


title: Agra–Lucknow Expressway

text: It was inaugurated on 21 November 2016 by then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav. Light traffic commotion on the expressway began with government approval in the following December, and the full length of expressway was made accessible to public from Agra to Lucknow by the end of February 2017. It is widely seen as his dream project and the flagship model of development in the state, being the first of its kind to be completed in the shortest span of time.


title: Agra–Lucknow Expressway

text: The cost of project was expected to be but was completed in and in record time of 22 months. It would cut travel time between Lucknow and Agra from 6 hours to 3:30 hours. The expressway is 6-lane wide (expandable to 8-lane in future) although the structures (major, minor bridges and underpasses) on the expressway are already being constructed as 8-laned to be in tune with the expanded width of the expressway in future. It is proposed on minimum distance and minimal agricultural land formula and will be financed by the Government of Uttar Pradesh. The Expressway will carry all public amenities via underpasses, service roads, provision for green belt, rest houses, petrol pumps, service centres, restaurants and four agricultural mandis for milk, potatoes, grains, fruits and vegetables.


title: Agra–Lucknow Expressway

text: This expressway is connected to Yamuna Expressway through the Agra Ring Road, and thus providing an express link between Greater Noida, NCR to Lucknow via Agra. It connects Agra and Lucknow via Shikohabad, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur, Kannauj, Unnao and Lucknow. The expressway will start at village Etmadpur Madra near Agra and will end at village Sarosa Bharosa near Mohan Road, Lucknow.


title: Agra–Lucknow Expressway

text: These are given below in direction of travel, as notably different from non-expressway custom, services on one side of the road are only meant for travelers for that side of the direction of travel, so only services created on left of the road are available to you but not the same available while traveling in other direction, usually, a similar set of service is created on other side of road at same spot or within few km. of other side facility.


title: Agra–Lucknow Expressway

text: The toll rates applicable for the Agra Lucknow Expressway (as of January 2018) is given in the table below:


title: Agra–Lucknow Expressway

text: The construction work of 302 km long Agra–Lucknow Expressway was divided into 5 packages. The list of contractors is as follows:


title: Agra–Lucknow Expressway

text: The Agra-Lucknow Expressway is considered to be a Greenfield project as there were no work constraints of existing buildings or infrastructure. Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) purchased almost 3,127 hectares of land without a murmur of dissent and decided to pay four times the circle rates (CR) to the land owners in rural areas and twice the CR in urban parts, as purchase cost. The rest of land was acquired through land acquisition method


title: Agra–Lucknow Expressway

text: It was alleged that some of the 3,500 hectare of land that was purchased for the route were artificially inflated in price by officials who then received kickbacks from the landowners. Lands that were in fact farmland were listed as residential, which gave them a higher value.


title: Untitled Godzilla vs. Kong sequel

text: The untitled "Godzilla vs. Kong" sequel is an upcoming American monster film directed by Adam Wingard. A sequel to "Godzilla vs. Kong" (2021), it will be the fifth film in Legendary Pictures' MonsterVerse, the 38th film in the "Godzilla" franchise, the 13th film in the "King Kong" franchise, and the fifth Godzilla film to be completely produced by an American film studio. Due to the box office and streaming success of "Godzilla vs. Kong" during the COVID-19 pandemic, Legendary announced a sequel in March 2022 and that filming would commence later in the year. In May 2022, it was announced that Wingard would return to direct and Dan Stevens cast as the lead. Filming began in July 2022 in Gold Coast, Queensland and wrapped in November 2022. The film is scheduled to be released on March 15, 2024.


title: Untitled Godzilla vs. Kong sequel

text: In March 2019, producer Alex Garcia stated that Legendary hoped to produce more MonsterVerse films if they became successful, stating, "It's one brick at a time, each piece has to be as good as it can be, so right now it's all focused on this ["" and "Godzilla vs. Kong"]. But could there be? Yeah, that's the hope if the movies turn out really well." In February 2021, Wingard commented on the future of the MonsterVerse, "I know where we could go potentially with future films." However, he noted that the MonsterVerse was created "to a certain degree" to lead towards "Godzilla vs. Kong". He added that the MonsterVerse is at a "crossroads", stating, "It's really at the point where audiences have to kind of step forward and vote for more of these things. If this movie is a success obviously they will continue forward."


title: Untitled Godzilla vs. Kong sequel

text: "Godzilla vs. Kong" was released on March 24, 2021 and became a box office and streaming hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film grossed $470 million worldwide against a break-even point of $330 million and became the most pirated film of 2021. On April 4, 2021, Legendary's CEO Josh Grode commented on potential sequels, "we have a number of ideas for more movies." That same day, the hashtag #ContinueTheMonsterVerse began trending on Twitter, which was acknowledged by Legendary and garnered support from Jordan Vogt-Roberts (director of ""). On April 27, 2021, "The Hollywood Reporter" stated that Legendary was "quietly taking steps to stretch the series into one or more installments," while negotiating with Wingard to potentially return to direct. Various ideas were considered, with "Son of Kong" being one potential title. In August 2021, MonsterVerse writer Max Borenstein stated that "there will be some new, interesting installments coming" due to the success of "Godzilla vs. Kong".


title: Untitled Godzilla vs. Kong sequel

text: On March 20, 2022, it was announced that a sequel to "Godzilla vs. Kong" was scheduled to commence filming later in the year in Gold Coast, Queensland and other locations in South East Queensland. In May 2022, it was announced that Wingard would return to direct and that Dan Stevens had been cast in the lead. Wingard and Stevens had previously worked together on "The Guest". On May 19, 2022, "Production Weekly" reported that the film's working title is "Origins". On June 30, 2022, it was revealed that Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric McLeod, Brian Rogers, Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni would return to produce. On July 1, 2022, Toho Co., Ltd. confirmed that the film would feature Godzilla.


title: Untitled Godzilla vs. Kong sequel

text: In August 2022, Warner Bros. and Legendary announced a new synopsis and that Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry and Kaylee Hottle would reprise their roles from "Godzilla vs Kong" while Fala Chen, Alex Ferns and Rachel House would join the cast as well. It was also revealed that Wingard would collaborate once more with production designer Tom Hammock, editor Josh Schaeffer, composer Tom Holkenborg, and that Terry Rossio had returned to write the script with Jeremy Slater and Simon Barrett.


title: Untitled Godzilla vs. Kong sequel

text: Principal photography commenced in Gold Coast, Queensland on July 29, 2022. At the start of production, Ben Seresin was confirmed to have returned as director of photography. In November 2022, it was reported that filming had wrapped in Australia and that crew gear revealed the film's potential title as "Godzilla and Kong".


title: Untitled Godzilla vs. Kong sequel

text: On August 25, 2022, Tom Holkenborg was announced to return to compose the film's score, after previously doing so for "Godzilla vs. Kong".


title: Ilavarasu

text: Ilavarasu is an Indian cinematographer and actor, who works in the Tamil film industry. He started his career as a cinematographer and worked for 13 films, winning a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for one of them. He, however, became better known as an actor, after he debuted and appeared in pivotal roles in Bharathiraja's and Cheran's films. He starred in over 160 Tamil films, mostly in supporting and comedian roles.


title: Ilavarasu

text: According to T. Saravanan of "The Hindu", Ilavarasu's debut film was to have been the unproduced Tamil film "Top Tucker", and instead became "Oru Kaidhiyin Diary" (1984). However, Malathi Rangarajan of the same paper says he first appeared in a minuscule role in Bharathiraja's 1987 film "Vedham Pudhithu".


title: East Bay Ray

text: Raymond John Pepperell (born November 17, 1958), better known by his stage name East Bay Ray, is an American musician best known as the guitarist for the San Francisco Bay area-based punk band Dead Kennedys. His guitar work was heavily influenced by surf music, jazz and rockabilly. Alongside Jello Biafra's astute lyrics and unique vibrato-based vocal style, East Bay Ray's playing was one of the defining factors of the music of the Dead Kennedys, and by extension, of the "second wave" of American punk. He is also the only Dead Kennedy to remain a constant member of the band since its formation.


title: East Bay Ray

text: Raymond John Pepperell was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area and was musically influenced by both his parents, who organized local art and music festivals in their suburban neighborhood. His father had a collection of 1930s and 1940s jazz and blues records, and would take him and his brother to performances by Muddy Waters, the Count Basie Orchestra and Lightnin' Hopkins. His mother was a fan of the Weavers and Pete Seeger. His parents, who were also active in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, also influenced him politically. Ray graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and planned to become an architect, but found architecture too artistically limiting. By this time, he had already began writing and playing music as he realized that he could not live without it.


title: East Bay Ray

text: Before the Dead Kennedys, East Bay Ray played guitar with a San Francisco Bay Area based rockabilly/doo-wop bar band Cruis'n, releasing one single, "Vicky's Hickey", sold primarily at their shows.


title: East Bay Ray

text: The Dead Kennedys were a notably idiosyncratic punk rock band. Although they kept their music for the most part loud, fast, and aggressive, they threw in eclectic flourishes that were easy for casual listeners to miss. These experiments were represented most prominently in the guitar playing of East Bay Ray, who took cues from sources such as film music (spy movie scores and Ennio Morricone Spaghetti Western scores), instrumental surf rock (the guitar stylings of Dick Dale and George Tomsco of The Fireballs), as well as the psychedelic music of the 60s (especially early Pink Floyd) with his trademark echo effects. With help from Jello Biafra and Klaus Flouride, East Bay Ray crafted a distinct and driving guitar style and sound.


title: East Bay Ray

text: In interviews East Bay Ray has cited the playing of Syd Barrett on Pink Floyd's first album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", as well as the music of the Ohio Players, and the guitar playing of Elvis Presley side-man Scotty Moore (with his trademark echo), as influences. East Bay Ray claims that he has never been consciously influenced by surf music, and attributes the recognizable elements of surf in the Kennedys music to "having grown up in California," although it could certainly be the influence of Klaus Flouride or Jello Biafra. East Bay Ray's fondness for Spaghetti Western music is evidenced by a 7" single he recorded in 1984 called "Trouble in Town"/"Poison Heart."


title: East Bay Ray

text: After Dead Kennedys stopped touring in February 1986, East Bay Ray formed the band Kage with female vocalist Bana Witt. He played guitar on a range of projects including an Algerian Raï music album for Cheikha Rimitti called "Sidi Mansour", which also featured Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea (coincidentally, D.H. Peligro later became a drummer for RHCP for a short time) and Robert Fripp, to garage-pop with Pearl Harbor, retro-jungle-surf with Johnny Feelings, and exotica lounge music with Frenchy. He composed and recorded a sound track for an early independent film by David Siegel and Scott McGhee, who later made the film noir movie "The Deep End". In the early 1990s, Ray formed the funk/rock band Skrapyard and released "Sex is Sex" on Alternative Tentacles featuring Ron West, Robert Ball, Andy Kaps and Jason Collins. In 2000, Ray appeared on Hed PE's second studio album, "Broke", performing guitar on the song "Waiting to Die".


title: East Bay Ray

text: East Bay Ray was involved in all the Dead Kennedys' early studio recordings and is credited for mixing and producing the band's first single, "California Uber Alles"/"Man with the Dogs", the band's first LP "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables" with Oliver Dicicco, the EP "In God We Trust, Inc." and he mixed "Holiday in Cambodia"/"Police Truck". Ray was one of the founders of the original Alternative Tentacles Records, set up for other artists and Dead Kennedys, and was a partner in it until the mid-1980s. Ray recently mixed and produced two CDs of live Dead Kennedys recordings, "Mutiny on the Bay" and "Live at the Deaf Club".


title: East Bay Ray

text: Starting in 2001, East Bay Ray headed the legal struggle to win ownership of Dead Kennedys' intellectual property and to secure royalties withheld from the band by Jello Biafra. Biafra was found civilly liable for fraud, malice and breach of contract. Ray authorized and had a production credit for a CD of live Dead Kennedys recordings titled "Mutiny on the Bay". East Bay Ray was responsible, along with his ex-bandmates Klaus Flouride and D.H. Peligro, for licensing songs such as "Police Truck" and "Holiday in Cambodia" to major corporations for use in video games and films. Dead Kennedys, including Biafra, had previously approved the use of the band's songs in the major film corporation releases "Neighbors" (1981), and "Class" (1983). In 1999, Biafra himself approved the license to Tony Hawk's video game.


title: East Bay Ray

text: Ray was a featured artist in the April 2006 edition of "Guitar Player" magazine talking about recording production techniques and in the January 2006 issue of "Guitar World".


title: East Bay Ray

text: Ray guests on the track "Guitar Hero" on The Dresden Dolls lead singer/pianist Amanda Palmer's solo debut, "Who Killed Amanda Palmer".


title: East Bay Ray

text: Ray also released the 7" single "Trouble in Town" in 1984 (Alternative Tentacles Records), featuring the songs "Poisoned Heart" and "Trouble in Town", with guest vocalists Vince and Steve One.


title: East Bay Ray

text: The origin of his nickname as East Bay Ray comes from an advertisement sent out for band members which he signed with that name only, leading to the initial lineup of The Dead Kennedys and to his nickname.


title: White House Counsel

text: The White House counsel is a senior staff appointee of the president of the United States whose role is to advise the president on all legal issues concerning the president and their administration. The White House counsel also oversees the Office of White House Counsel, a team of lawyers and support staff who provide legal guidance for the president and the White House Office. At least when White House counsel is advising the president on legal matters pertaining to the duties or prerogatives of the president, this office is also called Counsel to the President.


title: White House Counsel

text: Stuart Delery has been the White House counsel since July 2022, replacing Dana Remus, who served since January 2021.


title: White House Counsel

text: The Office of Counsel to the President and Vice President was created in 1943, and is responsible for advising on all legal aspects of policy questions; legal issues arising in connection with the president's decision to sign or veto legislation, ethical questions, financial disclosures; and conflicts of interest during employment and post employment. The counsel's office also helps define the line between official and political activities, oversees executive appointments and judicial selection, handles presidential pardons, reviews legislation and presidential statements, and handles lawsuits against the president in his role as president, as well as serving as the White House contact for the Department of Justice.


title: White House Counsel

text: Although the White House counsel offers legal advice to the president and vice president, the counsel does so in the president's and vice president's official capacity, and does not serve as the president's personal attorney. Therefore, controversy has emerged over the scope of the attorney–client privilege between the counsel and the president and vice president, namely with John Dean of Watergate notoriety. It is clear, however, that the privilege does not apply in strictly personal matters. It also does not apply to legislative proceedings by the U.S. Congress against the president due to allegations of misconduct while in office, such as formal censures or impeachment proceedings. In those situations the president relies on a personal attorney if he desires confidential legal advice. The office is also distinct from the judiciary, and from others who are not appointed to positions but nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. These would be foremost the attorney general of the United States, and the principal deputy and other assistants, who are nominated by the president to oversee the United States Department of Justice, or the solicitor general of the United States and staff (the solicitor general is the fourth-ranking official in the Justice Department), who argue cases before the U.S. Supreme Court (and in lower federal courts) for the Justice Department when it is a party to the case.


title: Point-contact transistor

text: The point-contact transistor was the first type of transistor to be successfully demonstrated. It was developed by research scientists John Bardeen and Walter Brattain at Bell Laboratories in December 1947. They worked in a group led by physicist William Shockley. The group had been working together on experiments and theories of electric field effects in solid state materials, with the aim of replacing vacuum tubes with a smaller device that consumed less power.


title: Point-contact transistor

text: The critical experiment, carried out on December 16, 1947, consisted of a block of germanium, a semiconductor, with two very closely spaced gold contacts held against it by a spring. Brattain attached a small strip of gold foil over the point of a plastic triangle — a configuration which is essentially a point-contact diode. He then carefully sliced through the gold at the tip of the triangle. This produced two electrically isolated gold contacts very close to each other.


title: Point-contact transistor

text: The piece of germanium used had a surface layer with an excess of electrons. When an electric signal traveled in through the gold foil, it injected holes (points which lack electrons). This created a thin layer which had a scarcity of electrons.


title: Point-contact transistor

text: A small positive current applied to one of the two contacts had an influence on the current which flowed between the other contact and the base upon which the block of germanium was mounted. In fact, a small change in the first contact current caused a greater change in the second contact current; thus it was an amplifier. The low-current input terminal into the point-contact transistor is the emitter, while the output high current terminals are the base and collector. This differs from the later type of bipolar junction transistor invented in 1951 that operates as transistors still do, with the low current input terminal as the base and the two high current output terminals as the emitter and collector.


title: Point-contact transistor

text: The point-contact transistor was commercialized and sold by Western Electric and others but was eventually superseded by the bipolar junction transistor, which was easier to manufacture and more rugged. The point-contact transistor did still remain in production until circa 1966, by which time the silicon planar transistor was dominating the market.


title: Point-contact transistor

text: While point-contact transistors usually worked fine when the metal contacts were simply placed close together on the germanium base crystal, it was desirable to obtain as high an α current gain as possible.


title: Point-contact transistor

text: To obtain a higher α current gain in a point-contact transistor, a brief high-current pulse was used to modify the properties of the collector point of contact, a technique called 'electrical forming'. Usually this was done by charging a capacitor of a specified value to a specified voltage then discharging it between the collector and the base electrodes. Forming had a significant failure rate, so many commercial encapsulated transistors had to be discarded. While the effects of forming were understood empirically, the exact physics of the process could never be adequately studied and thus no clear theory was ever developed to explain it or provide guidance on improving it.


title: Point-contact transistor

text: Unlike later semiconductor devices, it was possible for an amateur to make a point-contact transistor, starting with a germanium point-contact diode as a source of material (even a burnt-out diode could be used; and the transistor could be re-formed if damaged, several times if necessary).


title: Point-contact transistor

text: Some characteristics of point-contact transistors differ from the slightly later junction transistors:


title: Christian name

text: A Christian name, sometimes referred to as a baptismal name, is a religious personal name given on the occasion of a Christian baptism, though now most often assigned by parents at birth. In English-speaking cultures, a person's Christian name is commonly their first name and is typically the name by which the person is primarily known.


title: Christian name

text: Traditionally, a Christian name was given on the occasion of Christian baptism, with the ubiquity of infant baptism in modern and medieval Christendom. In Elizabethan England, as suggested by William Camden, the term "Christian name" was not necessarily related to baptism, used merely in the sense of "given name": Christian names were imposed for the distinction of persons, surnames for the difference of families.


title: Christian name

text: In more modern times, the terms have been used interchangeably with "given name", "first name" and "forename" in traditionally Christian countries, and are still common in day-to-day use.


title: Christian name

text: Strictly speaking, the Christian name is not merely the forename distinctive of the individual member of a family, but the name given to the person (generally a child) at their christening or baptism. In pre-Reformation England, the laity was taught to administer baptism in case of necessity with the words: "I christen thee in the name of the Father" etc. To "christen" in this context is therefore to "baptise", and "Christian name" means "baptismal name".


title: Christian name

text: In view of the Hebrew practice of giving a name to the male child at the time of his circumcision on the eighth day after birth (Luke 1:59), it has been maintained that the custom of conferring a name upon the newly baptised was of Apostolic origin. For instance, the apostle of the Gentiles was called Saul before his conversion and Paul afterwards. But modern scholars have rejected this contention, since the baptism of St. Paul is recorded in Acts 9:18, but the name Paul does not occur before Acts 13:9 while Saul is found several times in the interval. There is no more reason to connect the name Paul with the Apostle's baptism than there is to account in the same way for the giving of the name Cephas or Peter, which is due to another cause. In the inscriptions of the Catacombs of Rome and in early Christian literature, the names of Christians in the first three centuries did not distinctively differ from the names of the pagans around them. A reference to the Epistles of St. Paul indicates that the names of pre-Christian gods and goddesses were used by his converts after their conversion as before. Hermes occurs in Romans 16:14, with a number of other purely pagan names, Epaphroditus in Phil. 4:18, Phoebe, the deaconess, in Romans 16:1.


title: Christian name

text: Similar names are found in the Christian inscriptions of the earlier period and in the signatories appended to such councils as Nicaea or Ancyra, or again in the lists of martyrs. At a later date the names are of a most miscellaneous character. The following classification is one that has been worked out by J. Bass Mullinger founded on Martigny.


title: Christian name

text: Though the recurrence of such names as Agnes, Balbina, Cornelius, Felicitas, Irenaeus, Justinus, etc. may be due to veneration for the martyrs who first used these names, the names of the New Testament are rarely found while those of the Old Testament are more common. Susanna, Daniel, Moyses, Tobias, occur frequently, but towards the end of the 4th century the name of the Blessed Lady becomes as familiar as those of the Apostles. Paulus may be an intentional reference to St. Paul, and Johannes, Andreas, and Petrus with derivatives such as Petronia, Petrius, Petronilla, etc. may also refer to the Apostles. The name of Mary occurs occasionally in the catacomb inscriptions towards the end of the 4th century, for example, in the form "LIVIA MARIA IN PACE", and there is a martyr Maria assigned to the date AD 256.


title: Christian name

text: In the Acts of St. Balsamus, who died AD 331, there is an early example of the connection between baptism and the giving of a name. "By my paternal name", this martyr is said to have declared, "I am called Balsamus, but by the spiritual name which I received in baptism, I am known as Peter." The assumption of a new name was fairly common amongst Christians. Eusebius the historian took the name Pamphili from Pamphilus, the martyr whom he especially venerated. Earlier still St. Cyprian chose to be called Cyprianus Caecilius out of gratitude to the Caecilius to whom he owed his conversion. St. Dionysius of Alexandria (c. 260) declared, "I am of opinion that there were many of the same name as the Apostle John, who on account of their love for him, and because they admired and emulated him, and desired to be loved by the Lord as he was, took to themselves the same name, just as many of the children of the faithful are called Paul or Peter."


title: Christian name

text: The assumption of any such new name would take place formally at baptism, in which the catechumen, then probably as now, had to be addressed by some distinctive appellation, and the imposition of a new name at baptism had become general. Every child had necessarily to receive some name or other, and when baptism followed soon after birth this allowed public recognition of the choice made.


title: Christian name

text: In the thirtieth of the supposed "Arabian Canons of Nicaea": "Of giving only names of Christians in baptism"; but the sermons of St. John Chrysostom assume in many different places that the conferring of a name, presumably at baptism, ought to be regulated by some idea of Christian edification, and he implies that such had been the practice of earlier generations. For example, he says: "When it comes to giving the infant a name, caring not to call it after the saints, as the ancients at first did, people light lamps and give them names and so name the child after the one which continues burning the longest, from thence conjecturing that he will live a long time" (Hom. in Cor., xii, 13).


title: Christian name

text: Similarly he commends the practice of the parents of Antioch in calling their children after the martyr Meletius (P.G. 50, 515) and urges his hearers not to give their children the first name that occurs, nor to seek to gratify fathers or grandfathers or other family connections by giving their names, but rather to choose the names of holy men conspicuous for virtue and for their courage before God (P.G. 53, 179). There are other historic examples of such a change of name in adult converts.