Transgender

Transgender people have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from their sex assigned at birth. Some transgender people who desire medical assistance to transition from one sex to another identify as transsexual. Transgender, often shortened as trans, is also an umbrella term: in addition to including people whose gender identity is the opposite of their assigned sex (trans men and trans women), it may include people who are not exclusively masculine or feminine (people who are non-binary or genderqueer, including bigender, pangender, genderfluid, or agender). Other definitions of transgender also include people who belong to a third gender, or else conceptualize transgender people as a third gender. The term transgender may be defined very broadly to include cross-dressers.

Being transgender is independent of sexual orientation. Transgender people may identify as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, or may decline to label their sexual orientation. The term transgender is also distinguished from intersex, a term that describes people born with physical sex characteristics "that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies". The opposite of transgender is cisgender, which describes persons whose gender identity or expression matches their assigned sex.

The degree to which individuals feel genuine, authentic, and comfortable within their external appearance and accept their genuine identity has been called transgender congruence. Many transgender people experience gender dysphoria, and some seek medical treatments such as hormone replacement therapy, sex reassignment surgery, or psychotherapy. Not all transgender people desire these treatments, and some cannot undergo them for financial or medical reasons.

Many transgender people face discrimination in the workplace and in accessing public accommodations and healthcare. In many places, they are not legally protected from discrimination.

Evolution of transgender terminology
Psychiatrist John F. Oliven of Columbia University coined the term transgender in his 1965 reference work Sexual Hygiene and Pathology, writing that the term which had previously been used, transsexualism, "is misleading; actually, 'transgenderism' is meant, because sexuality is not a major factor in primary transvestism." The term transgender was then popularized with varying definitions by various transgender, transsexual, and transvestite people, including Virginia Prince, who used it in the December 1969 issue of Transvestia, a national magazine for cross dressers she founded. By the mid-1970s both trans-gender and trans people were in use as umbrella terms, and transgenderist was used to refer to people who wanted to live cross-gender without sex reassignment surgery (SRS). By 1976, transgenderist was abbreviated as TG in educational materials.

By 1984, the concept of a "transgender community" had developed, in which transgender was used as an umbrella term. In 1985, Richard Elkins established the "Trans-Gender Archive" at the University of Ulster. By 1992, the International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy defined transgender as an expansive umbrella term including "transsexuals, transgenderists, cross dressers", and anyone transitioning. Leslie Feinberg's pamphlet, "Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time has Come", circulated in 1992, identified transgender as a term to unify all forms of gender nonconformity; in this way transgender has become synonymous with queer.

Between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, the primary terms used under the transgender umbrella were "female to male" (FtM) for men who transitioned from female to male, and "male to female" (MtF) for women who transitioned from male to female. These terms have now been superseded by "trans man" and "trans woman", respectively, and the terms "trans-masculine" or "trans-feminine" are increasingly in use. This shift in preference from terms highlighting biological sex ("transsexual", "FtM") to terms highlighting gender identity and expression ("transgender", "trans woman") reflects a broader shift in the understanding of transgender people's sense of self and the increasing recognition of those who decline medical reassignment as part of the transgender community.

Health-practitioner manuals, professional journalistic style guides, and LGBT advocacy groups advise the adoption by others of the name and pronouns identified by the person in question, including present references to the transgender person's past. Many also note that transgender should be used as an adjective, not a noun (for example, "Max is transgender" or "Max is a transgender man", not "Max is a transgender"), and that transgender should be used, not transgendered.

In contrast, people whose sense of personal identity corresponds to the sex and gender assigned to them at birth – that is, those who are neither transgender nor non-binary or genderqueer – are called cisgender.

Transsexual and its relationship to transgender

The term transsexual was introduced to English in 1949 by David Oliver Cauldwell and popularized by Harry Benjamin in 1966, around the same time transgender was coined and began to be popularized. Since the 1990s, transsexual has generally been used to refer to the subset of transgender people who desire to transition permanently to the gender with which they identify and who seek medical assistance (for example, sex reassignment surgery) with this.

Distinctions between the terms transgender and transsexual are commonly based on distinctions between gender (psychological, social) and sex (physical). Hence transsexuality may be said to deal more with physical aspects of one's sex, while transgender considerations deal more with one's psychological gender disposition or predisposition, as well as the related social expectations that may accompany a given gender role. Many transgender people reject the term transsexual. Christine Jorgensen publicly rejected transsexual in 1979 and instead identified herself in newsprint as trans-gender, saying, "gender doesn't have to do with bed partners, it has to do with identity." This refers to the concern that transsexual implies something to do with sexuality, when it is actually about gender identity. Some transsexual people object to being included in the transgender umbrella. The definitions of both terms have historically been variable.

In his 2007 book Transgender, an Ethnography of a Category, anthropologist David Valentine asserts that transgender was coined and used by activists to include many people who do not necessarily identify with the term and states that people who do not identify with the term transgender should not be included in the transgender spectrum. Leslie Feinberg likewise asserts that transgender is not a self-identifier (for some people) but a category imposed by observers to understand other people. The Transgender Health Program (THP) at Fenway Health in Boston notes that there are no universally-accepted definitions, and terminology confusion is common because terms that were popular at the turn of the 21st century may now be deemed offensive. The THP recommends that clinicians ask clients what terminology they prefer, and avoid the term transsexual unless they are sure that a client is comfortable with it.

Harry Benjamin invented a classification system for transsexuals and transvestites, called the Sex Orientation Scale (SOS), in which he assigned transsexuals and transvestites to one of six categories based on their reasons for cross-dressing and the relative urgency of their need (if any) for sex reassignment surgery. Benjamin considered a moderate intensity "true transsexual" to need either estrogen or testosterone as a "substitute for or preliminary to operation". There are people who meet Benjamin's definition of a "true transsexual" but do not desire SRS, as well as those who have had SRS but do not meet the definition of "transsexual".

Other categories
These comprise genderqueer/non-binary genders, cross-dressers/transvestites, drag kings and drag queens, and intersex persons.

Non-binary, including androgynous and bigender

Genderqueer or non-binary gender identities are not specifically male or female. They can be agender, androgynous, bigender, pangender, or genderfluid, and exist outside of cisnormativity. Bigender and androgynous are overlapping categories; bigender individuals may identify as moving between male and female roles (genderfluid) or as being both male and female simultaneously (androgynous), and androgynes may similarly identify as beyond gender or genderless (postgender, agender), between genders (intergender), moving across genders (genderfluid), or simultaneously exhibiting multiple genders (pangender). Androgyne is also sometimes used as a medical synonym for an intersex person. Non-binary gender identities are independent of sexual orientation.

Transvestite or cross-dresser

A transvestite is a person who cross-dresses, or dresses in clothes typically associated with the gender opposite the one they were assigned at birth. The term transvestite is used as a synonym for the term cross-dresser, although cross-dresser is generally considered the preferred term. The term cross-dresser is not exactly defined in the relevant literature. Michael A. Gilbert, professor at the Department of Philosophy, York University, Toronto, offers this definition: "[A cross-dresser] is a person who has an apparent gender identification with one sex, and who has and certainly has been birth-designated as belonging to [that] sex, but who wears the clothing of the opposite sex because it is that of the opposite sex." This definition excludes people "who wear opposite sex clothing for other reasons," such as "those female impersonators who look upon dressing as solely connected to their livelihood, actors undertaking roles, individual males and females enjoying a masquerade, and so on. These individuals are cross dressing but are not cross dressers." Cross-dressers may not identify with, want to be, or adopt the behaviors or practices of the opposite gender and generally do not want to change their bodies medically or surgically. The majority of cross-dressers identify as heterosexual.

The term transvestite and the associated outdated term transvestism are conceptually different from the term transvestic fetishism, as transvestic fetishist refers to those who intermittently use clothing of the opposite gender for fetishistic purposes. In medical terms, transvestic fetishism is differentiated from cross-dressing by use of the separate codes 302.3 in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and F65.1 in the ICD.

Drag kings and queens

Drag is clothing and makeup worn on special occasions for performing or entertaining, unlike those who are transgender or who cross-dress for other reasons. Drag performance includes overall presentation and behavior in addition to clothing and makeup. Drag can be theatrical, comedic, or grotesque. Drag queens have been considered caricatures of women by second-wave feminism. Drag artists have a long tradition in LGBT culture. Generally the term drag queen covers men doing female drag, drag king covers women doing male drag, and faux queen covers women doing female drag. Nevertheless, there are drag artists of all genders and sexualities who perform for various reasons. Some drag performers, transvestites, and people in the gay community have embraced the pornographically-derived term tranny for drag queens or people who engage in transvestism or cross-dressing; however, this term is widely considered offensive if applied to transgender people.

LGBT community

The concepts of gender identity and transgender identity differ from that of sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is an individual's enduring physical, romantic, emotional, or spiritual attraction to another person, while gender identity is one's personal sense of being a man or a woman. Transgender people have more or less the same variety of sexual orientations as cisgender people. In the past, the terms homosexual and heterosexual were incorrectly used to label transgender individuals' sexual orientation based on their birth sex. Professional literature often uses terms such as attracted to men (androphilic), attracted to women (gynephilic), attracted to both (bisexual), or attracted to neither (asexual) to describe a person's sexual orientation without reference to their gender identity. Therapists are coming to understand the necessity of using terms with respect to their clients' gender identities and preferences. For example, a person who is assigned male at birth, transitions to female, and is attracted to men would be identified as heterosexual.

Despite the distinction between sexual orientation and gender, throughout history the gay, lesbian, and bisexual subculture was often the only place where gender-variant people were socially accepted in the gender role they felt they belonged to; especially during the time when legal or medical transitioning was almost impossible. This acceptance has had a complex history. Like the wider world, the gay community in Western societies did not generally distinguish between sex and gender identity until the 1970s, and often perceived gender-variant people more as homosexuals who behaved in a gender-variant way than as gender-variant people in their own right. In addition, the role of the transgender community in the history of LGBT rights is often overlooked, as shown in Transforming History.

Sexual orientation of transgender people
In 2015, the American National Center for Transgender Equality conducted a National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Of the 27,715 transgender and non-binary people who took the survey, 21% said the term queer best described their sexual orientation, 18% said "pansexual", 16% said gay, lesbian, or same-gender-loving, 15% said straight, 14% said bisexual, and 10% said asexual.

Healthcare

Mental healthcare
Most mental health professionals recommend therapy for internal conflicts about gender identity or discomfort in an assigned gender role, especially if one desires to transition. People who experience discord between their gender and the expectations of others or whose gender identity conflicts with their body may benefit by talking through their feelings in depth; however, research on gender identity with regard to psychology, and scientific understanding of the phenomenon and its related issues, is relatively new. The terms transsexualism, dual-role transvestism, gender identity disorder in adolescents or adults, and gender identity disorder not otherwise specified are listed as such in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD) by the WHO or the American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) under codes F64.0, F64.1, 302.85, and 302.6 respectively.

The validity of the diagnosis and its presence in the forthcoming ICD-11 is debated. France removed gender identity disorder as a diagnosis by decree in 2010, but according to French trans rights organizations, beyond the impact of the announcement itself, nothing changed. In 2017, the Danish parliament abolished the F64 Gender identity disorders. The DSM-5 refers to the topic as gender dysphoria while reinforcing the idea that being transgender is not considered a mental illness.

Transgender people may meet the criteria for a diagnosis of gender identity disorder (GID) "only if [being transgender] causes distress or disability." This distress is referred to as gender dysphoria and may manifest as depression or inability to work and form healthy relationships with others. This diagnosis is often misinterpreted as implying that transgender people suffer from GID; this misinterpretation has greatly confused transgender people and those who seek to either criticize or affirm them. Transgender people who are comfortable with their gender and whose gender is not directly causing inner frustration or impairing their functioning do not suffer from GID. Moreover, GID is not necessarily permanent and is often resolved through therapy or transitioning.  Feeling oppressed by the negative attitudes and behaviors of such others as legal entities does not indicate GID. GID does not imply an opinion of immorality; the psychological establishment holds that people with any kind of mental or emotional problem should not receive stigma. The solution for GID is whatever will alleviate suffering and restore functionality; this solution often, but not always, consists of undergoing a gender transition.

Clinical training lacks relevant information needed in order to adequately help transgender clients, which results in a large number of practitioners who are not prepared to sufficiently work with this population of individuals. Many mental healthcare providers know little about transgender issues. Those who seek help from these professionals often educate the professional without receiving help. This solution usually is good for transsexual people but is not the solution for other transgender people, particularly non-binary people who lack an exclusively male or female identity. Instead, therapists can support their clients in whatever steps they choose to take to transition or can support their decision not to transition while also addressing their clients' sense of congruence between gender identity and appearance.

Acknowledgment of the lack of clinical training has increased; however, research on the specific problems faced by the transgender community in mental health has focused on diagnosis and clinicians' experiences instead of transgender clients' experiences. Therapy was not always sought by transgender people due to mental health needs. Prior to the seventh version of the Standards of Care (SOC), an individual had to be diagnosed with gender identity disorder in order to proceed with hormone treatments or sexual reassignment surgery.  The new version decreased the focus on diagnosis and instead emphasized the importance of flexibility in order to meet the diverse health care needs of transsexual, transgender, and all gender-nonconforming people.

The reasons for seeking mental health services vary according to the individual. A transgender person seeking treatment does not necessarily mean their gender identity is problematic. The emotional strain of dealing with stigma and experiencing transphobia pushes many transgender people to seek treatment to improve their quality of life, as one trans woman reflected: "Transgendered individuals are going to come to a therapist and most of their issues have nothing to do, specifically, with being transgendered. It has to do because they've had to hide, they've had to lie, and they've felt all of this guilt and shame, unfortunately usually for years!" Many transgender people also seek mental health treatment for depression and anxiety caused by the stigma attached to being transgender, and some transgender people have stressed the importance of acknowledging their gender identity with a therapist in order to discuss other quality-of-life issues. Others regret having undergone the procedure and wish to detransition.

Problems still remain surrounding misinformation about transgender issues that hurt transgender people's mental health experiences. One trans man who was enrolled as a student in a psychology graduate program highlighted the main concerns with modern clinical training: "Most people probably are familiar with the term transgender, but maybe that's it. I don’t think I've had any formal training just going through [clinical] programs . . . I don’t think most [therapists] know. Most therapists—Master's degree, PhD level—they've had . . . one diversity class on GLBT issues. One class out of the huge diversity training. One class. And it was probably mostly about gay lifestyle." Many health insurance policies do not cover treatment associated with gender transition, and numerous people are under- or uninsured, which raises concerns about the insufficient training most therapists receive prior to working with transgender clients, potentially increasing financial strain on clients without providing the treatment they need.  Many clinicians who work with transgender clients only receive mediocre training on gender identity, but introductory training on interacting with transgender people has recently been made available to health care professionals to help remove barriers and increase the level of service for the transgender population.

The issues around psychological classifications and associated stigma (whether based in paraphilia or not) of cross-dressers, transsexual men and women (and lesbian and gay children, who may resemble trans children early in life) have become more complex since CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) colleagues Kenneth Zucker and Ray Blanchard were announced to be serving on the DSM-V's Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Work Group. CAMH aims to "cure" transgender people of their "disorder", especially in children. Within the trans community, this intention has mostly produced shock and outrage with attempts to organize other responses. In February 2010, France became the first country in the world to remove transgender identity from the list of mental diseases.

A 2011 study carried out by the Williams Institute (a UCLA think tank) found that 41% of transgender people had attempted suicide, with the rate being higher among people who experienced discrimination in access to housing or healthcare, harassment, physical or sexual assault, or rejection by family.

Autism is more common in people who are gender dysphoric. It is not known whether there is a biological basis. This may be due to the fact that people on the autism spectrum are less concerned with societal disapproval, and feel less fear or inhibition about coming out as trans than others.

Physical healthcare
Medical and surgical procedures exist for transsexual and some transgender people, though most categories of transgender people as described above are not known for seeking the following treatments. Hormone replacement therapy for trans men induces beard growth and masculinizes skin, hair, voice, and fat distribution. Hormone replacement therapy for trans women feminizes fat distribution and breasts. Laser hair removal or electrolysis removes excess hair for trans women. Surgical procedures for trans women feminize the voice, skin, face, adam's apple, breasts, waist, buttocks, and genitals. Surgical procedures for trans men masculinize the chest and genitals and remove the womb, ovaries, and fallopian tubes. The acronyms "GRS" and "SRS" refer to genital surgery. The term "sex reassignment therapy" (SRT) is used as an umbrella term for physical procedures required for transition. Use of the term "sex change" has been criticized for its emphasis on surgery, and the term "transition" is preferred. Availability of these procedures depends on degree of gender dysphoria, presence or absence of gender identity disorder, and standards of care in the relevant jurisdiction.

Trans men who have not had a hysterectomy and who take testosterone are at increased risk for endometrial cancer because androstenedione, which is made from testosterone in the body, can be converted into estrogen, and external estrogen is a risk factor for endometrial cancer.

Law

Legal procedures exist in some jurisdictions which allow individuals to change their legal gender or name to reflect their gender identity. Requirements for these procedures vary from an explicit formal diagnosis of transsexualism, to a diagnosis of gender identity disorder, to a letter from a physician that attests the individual's gender transition or having established a different gender role. In 1994, the DSM IV entry was changed from "Transsexual" to "Gender Identity Disorder". In many places, transgender people are not legally protected from discrimination in the workplace or in public accommodations. A report released in February 2011 found that 90% of transgender people faced discrimination at work and were unemployed at double the rate of the general population, and over half had been harassed or turned away when attempting to access public services. Members of the transgender community also encounter high levels of discrimination in health care.

Europe
36 countries in Europe require a mental health diagnosis for legal gender recognition and 20 countries still require sterilisation. In April 2017, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that requiring sterilisation for legal gender recognition violates human rights.

Denmark
Since 2014 it has been possible for adults without the requirement of a psychiatric evaluation, medical or surgical treatment, divorce or castration, to after a six-month ‘reflection period’ have their social security number changed and legally change gender.

Germany

In November 2017, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the civil status law must allow a third gender option. Thus officially recognising "third sex" meaning that birth certificates will not have blank gender entries for intersex people. The ruling came after an intersex person, who is neither a man nor woman according to chromosomal analysis, brought a legal challenge after attempting to change their registered sex to "inter" or divers.

Canada

Jurisdiction over legal classification of sex in Canada is assigned to the provinces and territories. This includes legal change of gender classification. On June 19, 2017 Bill C-16, after having passed the legislative process in the House of Commons of Canada and the Senate of Canada, became law upon receiving Royal Assent which put it into immediate force. The law updated the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code to include "gender identity and gender expression" as protected grounds from discrimination, hate publications and advocating genocide. The bill also added "gender identity and expression" to the list of aggravating factors in sentencing, where the accused commits a criminal offence against an individual because of those personal characteristics. Similar transgender laws also exist in all the provinces and territories.

United States

In the United States, a federal bill to protect workers from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, has stalled and failed several times over the past two decades. Individual states and cities have begun passing their own non-discrimination ordinances. In New York, for example, Governor David Paterson signed into law New York's first statute to include transgender protections in September 2010.

Nicole Maines, a trans girl, took a case to Maine's Supreme Court in June, 2013. She argued that being denied access to her high school's women's restroom was a violation of Maine's Human Rights Act; one state judge has disagreed with her, but Maines won her lawsuit against the Orono school district in January 2014 before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. On May 14, 2016, the United States Department of Education and Department of Justice issued guidance directing public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identities.

On June 30, 2016, the United States Department of Defense removed the ban that prohibited transgender people from openly serving in the US military. On July 27, 2017, President Donald Trump tweeted that transgender Americans will not be allowed to serve "in any capacity" in the United States Armed Forces. Later that day, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford announced, "there will be no modifications to the current policy until the president’s direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the secretary has issued implementation guidance."

In California, the School Success and Opportunity Act authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, which became state law on January 1, 2014, says "A pupil shall be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil's records."

India

In April 2014, the Supreme Court of India declared transgender to be a 'third gender' in Indian law. The transgender community in India (made up of Hijras and others) has a long history in India and in Hindu mythology. Justice KS Radhakrishnan noted in his decision that, "Seldom, our society realizes or cares to realize the trauma, agony and pain which the members of Transgender community undergo, nor appreciates the innate feelings of the members of the Transgender community, especially of those whose mind and body disown their biological sex", adding:

Hijras face structural discrimination including not being able to obtain driving licenses, and being prohibited from accessing various social benefits. It is also common for them to be banished from communities.

Religion

The Roman Catholic Church has been involved in the outreach to LGBT community for several years and continues doing so through Franciscan urban outreach centers, for example, the Open Hearts outreach in Hartford, Connecticut.

Feminism

Some feminists and feminist groups are supportive of transgender people. Others are not. Though second-wave feminism argued for the sex and gender distinction, some feminists believed there was a conflict between transgender identity and the feminist cause; e.g., they believed that male-to-female transition abandoned or devalued female identity and that transgender people embraced traditional gender roles and stereotypes. Many transgender feminists, however, view themselves as contributing to feminism by questioning and subverting gender norms. Third-wave and contemporary feminism are generally more supportive of transgender people.

Scientific studies of transsexuality

A study of Swedes estimated a ratio of 1.4:1 trans women to trans men for those requesting sex reassignment surgery and a ratio of 1:1 for those who proceeded.

Population figures

European Union
According to Amnesty International, 1.5 million transgender people live in the European Union, making up 0.3% of the population.

UK
A 2011 survey conducted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in the UK found that of 10,026 respondents, 1.4% would be classified into a gender minority group. The survey also showed that 1% had gone through any part of a gender reassignment process (including thoughts or actions).

North America

Canada
The 2017 survey of Canadian LGBT+ people called LGBT+ Realities Survey found that of the 1,897 respondents 11% identified as transgender (7% binary transgender, 4% non-binary transgender) and 1% identified as non-binary outside of the transgender umbrella. The Trans PULSE survey conducted in 2009 and 2010 suggest that as many as 1 in 200 adults may be trans (transgender, transsexual, or transitioned) in the Canadian province of Ontario, and the 2019 survey of the Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ population in the Canadian city of Hamilton, Ontario called Mapping the Void: Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ Experiences in Hamilton showed that 27.6% of the 906 respondents identified as transgender.

United States
The Social Security Administration, since 1936, has tracked the sex of citizens. Using this information, along with the Census data, Benjamin Cerf Harris tracked the prevalence of citizens changing to names associated with the opposite sex or changing sex marker. Harris found that such changes had occurred as early as 1936. He estimated that 89,667 individuals included in the 2010 Census had changed to an opposite-gendered name, 21,833 of whom had also changed sex marker. Prevalence in the States varied, from 1.4 to 10.6 per 100,000. While most people legally changed both name and sex, about a quarter of people changed name, and then five years later changed sex. An earlier estimate in 1968, by Ira B. Pauly, estimated that about 2,500 transsexual people were living in the United States, with four times as many trans women as trans men.

One effort to quantify the population in 2011 gave a "rough estimate" that 0.3% of adults in the US are transgender. More recent studies released in 2016 estimate the proportion of Americans who identify as transgender at 0.5 to 0.6%. This would put the total number of transgender Americans at approximately 1.4 million adults ().

A survey by the Pew Research Center in 2017 found that American society is divided on "whether it's possible for someone to be a gender different from the sex they were assigned at birth." It states, "Overall, roughly half of Americans (54%) say that whether someone is a man or a woman is determined by the sex they were assigned at birth, while 44% say someone can be a man or a woman even if that is different from the sex they were assigned at birth."

Latin America
In Latin American cultures, a travesti is a person who has been assigned male at birth and who has a feminine, transfeminine, or "femme" gender identity. Travestis generally undergo hormonal treatment, use female gender expression including new names and pronouns from the masculine ones they were given when assigned a sex, and might use breast implants, but they are not offered or do not desire sex-reassignment surgery. Travesti might be regarded as a gender in itself (a "third gender"), a mix between man and woman ("intergender/androgynes"), or the presence of both masculine and feminine identities in a single person ("bigender"). They are framed as something entirely separate from transgender women, who possess the same gender identity of people assigned female at birth.

Other transgender identities are becoming more widely known, as a result of contact with other cultures of the Western world. These newer identities, sometimes known under the umbrella use of the term "genderqueer", along with the older travesti term, are known as non-binary and go along with binary transgender identities (those traditionally diagnosed under the now obsolete label of "transsexualism") under the single umbrella of transgender, but are distinguished from cross-dressers and drag queens and kings, that are held as nonconforming gender expressions rather than transgender gender identities when a distinction is made.

Deviating from the societal standards for sexual behavior, sexual orientation/identity, gender identity, and gender expression have a single umbrella term that is known as sexodiverso or sexodiversa in both Spanish and Portuguese, with its most approximate translation to English being "queer".

Non-western cultures

Asia
In Thailand and Laos, the term kathoey is used to refer to male-to-female transgender people and effeminate gay men. Transgender people have also been documented in Iran, Japan, Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore, and the greater Chinese region, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China.

The cultures of the Indian subcontinent include a third gender, referred to as hijra in Hindi.  In India, the Supreme Court on April 15, 2014, recognized a third gender that is neither male nor female, stating "Recognition of transgenders as a third gender is not a social or medical issue but a human rights issue." In 1998, Shabnam Mausi became the first transgender person to be elected in India, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

North America
In what is now the United States and Canada, some Native American and First Nations cultures traditionally recognize the existence of more than two genders, such as the Zuni male-bodied lhamana, the Lakota male-bodied winkte, and the Mohave male-bodied alyhaa and female-bodied hwamee. These traditional people, along with those from other North American Indigenous cultures, are sometimes part of the contemporary, pan-Indian Two-Spirit community. Historically, in most cultures who have alternate gender roles, if the spouse of a third gender person is not otherwise gender variant, they have not generally been regarded as other-gendered themselves, simply for being in a same-sex relationship. In Mexico, the Zapotec culture includes a third gender in the form of the Muxe.

Other
Among the ancient Middle Eastern Akkadian people, a salzikrum was a person who appeared biologically female but had distinct male traits. Salzikrum is a compound word meaning male daughter. According to the Code of Hammurabi, salzikrūm had inheritance rights like that of priestesses; they inherited from their fathers, unlike regular daughters. A salzikrum's father could also stipulate that she inherit a certain amount. In Ancient Rome, the Gallae were castrated followers of the Phrygian goddess Cybele and can be regarded as transgender in today's terms.

In early Medina, gender-variant male-to-female Islamic people were acknowledged in the form of the Mukhannathun.

Mahu is a traditional third gender in Hawai'i and Tahiti. Mahu are valued as teachers, caretakers of culture, and healers, such as Kapaemahu.  Also, in Fa'asamoa traditions, the Samoan culture allows a specific role for male to female transgender individuals as Fa'afafine.

Coming out

Transgender people vary greatly in choosing when, whether, and how to disclose their transgender status to family, close friends, and others. The prevalence of discrimination and violence (transgender people are 28% more likely to be victims of violence) against transgender persons can make coming out a risky decision. Fear of retaliatory behavior, such as being removed from the parental home while underage, is a cause for transgender people to not come out to their families until they have reached adulthood. Parental confusion and lack of acceptance of a transgender child may result in parents treating a newly revealed gender identity as a "phase" or making efforts to change their children back to "normal" by utilizing mental health services to alter the child's gender identity.

The internet can play a significant role in the coming out process for transgender people. Some come out in an online identity first, providing an opportunity to go through experiences virtually and safely before risking social sanctions in the real world.

Media representation

As more transgender people are represented and included within the realm of mass culture, the stigma that is associated with being transgender can influence the decisions, ideas, and thoughts based upon it. Media representation, culture industry, and social marginalization all hint at popular culture standards and the applicability and significance to mass culture as well. These terms play an important role in the formation of notions for those who have little recognition or knowledge of transgender people. Media depictions represent only a minuscule spectrum of the transgender group, which essentially conveys that those that are shown are the only interpretations and ideas society has of them.

However, in 2014, the United States reached a "transgender tipping point", according to Time. At this time, the media visibility of transgender people reached a level higher than seen before. Since then, the number of transgender portrayals across TV platforms has stayed elevated. Research has found that viewing multiple transgender TV characters and stories improves viewers' attitudes toward transgender people and related policies.

Events

International Transgender Day of Visibility

International Transgender Day of Visibility is an annual holiday occurring on March 31 dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide. The holiday was founded by Michigan-based transgender activist Rachel Crandall in 2009.

Transgender Awareness Week

Transgender Awareness Week is a one-week celebration leading up to Transgender Day of Remembrance. The purpose of Transgender Awareness Week is to educate about transgender and gender non-conforming people and the issues associated with their transition or identity.

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is held every year on November 20 in honor of Rita Hester, who was killed on November 28, 1998, in an anti-transgender hate crime. TDOR serves a number of purposes:
 it memorializes all of those who have been victims of hate crimes and prejudice,
 it raises awareness about hate crimes towards the transgender community,
 and it honors the dead and their relatives

Trans March

Annual marches, protests or gatherings take place around the world for transgender issues, often taking place during the time of local Pride parades for LGBT people. These events are frequently organised by trans communities to build community, address human rights struggles, and create visibility.

Pride symbols

A common symbol for the transgender community is the Transgender Pride Flag, which was designed by the American transgender woman Monica Helms in 1999, and was first shown at a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona in 2000. The flag consists of five horizontal stripes: light blue, pink, white, pink, and light blue. Helms describes the meaning of the flag as follows:

Other transgender symbols include the butterfly (symbolizing transformation or metamorphosis), and a pink/light blue yin and yang symbol. Several gender symbols have been used to represent transgender people, including ⚥ and ⚧.


Teacup

A  teacup is a cup for drinking tea. It may be with or without a handle, generally a small one that may be grasped with the thumb and one or two fingers. It is typically made of a ceramic material. It is usually part of a set, composed of a cup and a matching saucer or a trio that includes a small cake  or sandwich plate. These in turn may be part of a tea set in combination with a teapot, cream jug, covered sugar bowl and slop bowl en suite.  Teacups are often wider and shorter than coffee cups. Cups for morning tea are conventionally larger than cups for afternoon tea.

Better teacups typically are of fine white translucent porcelain and decorated with patterns that may be en suite with extensive dinner services. Some collectors acquire numerous one-of-a-kind cups with matching saucers. Such decorative  cabinet cups may be souvenirs of a location, person, or event. Such collectors may also accumulate silver teaspoons with a decorated enamel insert in the handle, with similar themes.

In the culture of China teacups are very small, normally holding no more than 30ml of liquid. They are designed to be used with Yixing teapots or Gaiwan.  Countries in the Horn of Africa like Eritrea also use the handleless cups to drink boon which is traditional coffee there. In Russian-speaking cultures and West Asian cultures influenced by the Ottoman Empire  tea is often served in a glass held in a separate metal container with a handle, called a zarf. or in Russian a podstakannik.

The first small cups specifically made for drinking the beverage tea when it was newly seen in Europe in the 17th century were exported from the Japanese port of Imari or from the Chinese port of Canton. Tea bowls in the Far East did not have handles, and the first European imitations, made at Meissen, were without handles, too.  At the turn of the 19th century canns'' of cylindrical form with handles became a fashionable alternative to bowl-shaped cups.

The handle on a teacup was an explicitly German invention in 1707, by Johann Friedrich Bottger, to solve the freshness issue.

Unicode codepoints  and  portray a teacup.  is often rendered as a teacup.


Calliostoma metivieri

Calliostoma metivieri is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Calliostomatidae.

Some authors place this taxon in the subgenus Calliostoma (Fautor)

Description

Distribution
This marine species occurs off New Caledonia at depths between 390 m and 535 m.


Visiana

Visiana is a genus of moths in the family Geometridae described by Swinhoe in 1900.

Species
Visiana fuscata Schmidt, 2009 northern India (Khasis)
Visiana inimica (Prout, 1937) Bali, Java
Visiana brujata (Guenée, 1857) Australia
Visiana excentrata (Guenée, 1857) Australia


Hervé L. Leroux

Hervé L Leroux (; 30 May 1957 – 6 October 2017) was a French fashion designer and founder of the Hervé Leger fashion house.

Biography

Hervé Leroux was born as Hervé Leger on 30 May 1957  in the small historical town of Bapaume in northern France and died on 6 October 2017. One of three children, he excelled in art in school, leaving his hometown at age 18 to go study sculpture in Paris at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts.

Leroux died on 6 October 2017, aged 60.

Early career

Two years later Leroux turned his attention to the world of hairdressing, becoming a qualified hairstylist working for Jean-Marc Maniatis. His first show was doing hair backstage at Chloé. From there, beginning in 1978, a he began making hats and bags. After creating some hats for a Tan Giudicelli show, he was invited to work on a handful of dresses, an initial taste of dressmaking that led Giudicelli to suggest he drop hairstyling and turn his energies to clothes. In 1980, he met Karl Lagerfeld and, three days later, was hired to work as his assistant, initially at Fendi in Rome for two years, and then at Chanel, in Paris, where he was senior assistant designer for their first two ready-to-wear collections.

After Chanel, he went out on his own in 1985, setting up a small studio and store on Rue du Pélican near the Palais-Royal in central Paris, making dresses and hats. He also began a series of consultancies, working as a freelance haute couture designer at Lanvin under the direction of Maryll Lanvin, at Diane Von Furstenberg, designing accessories at newly launched Daniel Swarovski and shoes at Charles Jourdan.

He founded his own label Hervé Léger in 1985, creating the bandage dresses that the label would be known for in 1990. Writing in the International Herald Tribune, fashion critic Suzy Menkes described one of these early collections as "a recipe for the Nineties". Leroux "molded his fabric to the female form, rather than draping and cutting it." Though various designers have staked a claim as to who did the bandage dresses first, and Leroux often pointed out that in the modern era the late American couturier Charles James set the standard, he also took  a far longer view of any attribution, telling style.com, "Bands belong to history. They come from Cleopatra, Queen of the Egyptians."

In the late 1990s, he lost control of his company Hervé Léger and the commercial use of the name in 1999.

Becoming Hervé L. Leroux
Leroux (the name change was suggested by Karl Lagerfeld – "He told me, 'Call yourself Leroux because your hair is red – not as red as it was, because you are older – but anyway it works, and everyone will know who you are.'") founded his own independently-financed couture house, Hervé L. Leroux, delivering his first dresses for spring 2000. The design studio and store were, and still are, located at 32 rue Jacob in the heart of Paris' Left Bank, in the former boutique and store of the late famed antique dealer and decorator Madeleine Castaing, a location and enterprise he dubbed "the smallest couture shop in the world." There Leroux developed a new concept of made-to-measure jersey dresses created by hand.

Style
As creative director of Paris-based house Guy Laroche from 2004-2006, he dressed Hilary Swank for her 2005 Oscar appearance in a backless midnight-blue jersey dress. In 2007, the firm branched into ready-to-wear.

In November 2012,  Leroux teamed with the NYC based, boutique fragrance brand Joya to create a candle which comes in a matte black glass container cut on a slant to mimic a bias drape.

Theater work

1995 - Designed stage costumes for Zizi Jeanmaire for her show with the Ballet de Marseille, directed by Roland Petit, in Marseille, Paris and Toulon.
1995 - Costumes for the ballet "Camera Obscura" directed by Roland Petit at the Opéra de Paris.
1997 - Costumes for the ballet "Le Lac des Cygnes" (Swan Lake) directed by Roland Petit in Marseille.


2007–08 United States network television schedule (late night)

These are the late night schedules for the four United States broadcast networks that offer programming during this time period, from September, 2007 to August, 2008. All times are Eastern or Pacific. Affiliates will fill non-network schedule with local, syndicated, or paid programming. Affiliates also have the option to preempt or delay network programming at their discretion.

Legend

Schedule


Gambling Man

"Gambling Man" is the first single from five-piece British-Irish doo-wop boy band The Overtones to be released from their debut album, Good Ol' Fashioned Love. The single was released in the United Kingdom as a digital download on 8 October 2010.

Music video
A music video to accompany the release of "Gambling Man" was first released onto YouTube on 27 September 2010; at a total length of three minutes and thirty-three seconds. The Video also featured British actor Mel Mills as "Mr Big" in a rare video appearance along with his private vehicle, a 30 year old Jaguar XJS 5.3 H.E V12 hand built by Paul Banham.

Track listing

Chart performance

Release history


KTCT

KTCT (1050 AM) is a radio station licensed to San Mateo, California. The station airs a sports format as KNBR 1050, a sister radio station to KNBR.

History

KVSM
The station began broadcasting in 1946, and originally held the call sign KVSM, standing for the "Voice of San Mateo". The station ran 250 watts during daytime hours only. The station was an affiliate of the short lived Progressive Broadcasting System in the early 1950s. In 1953, the station's power was increased to 1,000 watts.

KOFY
In 1958, the station's call sign was changed to KOFY. From the 1960s through the 1980s, KOFY aired a Spanish language format. In early 1986, the station was sold to James Gabbert for $2,000,000. In March 1986, the station began airing an oldies format. In late 1986, the station added nighttime operations, running 500 watts. In 1989, the station's daytime power was increased to 50,000 watts, and its nighttime power was increased to 1,000 watts. In 1991, the station returned to airing a Spanish language format. In 1992, the station's nighttime power was increased to 10,000 watts.

KTCT
In 1997, the station adopted a sports format as "The Ticket", and its call sign was changed to KTCT. In 2003, the station was rebranded "KNBR 1050". Since 1999, the station has operated at 35,000 watts at night, but using its daytime antenna system, under a special temporary authority, due to the unauthorized nighttime operations of XED-AM 1050 in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico.

Ownership
KNBR and KTCT are owned by Cumulus Media Partners, LLC, a private partnership of Cumulus Media, Bain Capital, The Blackstone Group, and Thomas H. Lee Partners. It was purchased from Susquehanna-Pfaltzgraff Media in 2005 along with other Susquehanna Radio Corporation stations.

Sports content
Sports content has included San Francisco Giants MLB baseball, San Jose SaberCats arena football, San Jose Earthquakes soccer, Stanford Football, and San Francisco 49ers NFL football. Some AM broadcasts on KNBR may be moved to KTCT due to conflicts with Giants games. Golden State Warriors basketball had also been covered until August 25, 2016, the Warriors announced they have ended their partnership with KNBR and signed with KGMZ-FM; the partnership with KNBR lasted 40 years, including 32 consecutive years. Beginning in 2020, KTCT began broadcasting the Oakland Panthers of the Indoor Football League.

KNBR and KTCT are charter affiliates of CBS Sports Radio, a joint venture between CBS Radio and Cumulus, which started on January 2, 2013. NBC Sports Radio has also been covered on KTCT. Through these affiliates, other games and events from MLB, NBA, NFL, PGA Tour, NASCAR, and NCAA have been broadcast.

Programming
On KTCT, weekday programming consists of the following blocks when not preempted by sports events. The morning shows have CBS Sports Radio with Barber, Tierney, Jacobsen; The John Feinstein Show, and The Jim Rome Show. The afternoon show is hosted by Ted Ramey and then The Tom Tolbert Show is simulcast with KNBR 680. The evening shows have Scott Ferrall's show Ferrall on the Bench, followed by late-night programming from CBS Sports Radio and then NBC Sports Radio. Weekend programs include Mortgage Makeover and various CBS Sports and NBC Sports Radio programming. Commonwealth Club is presented early Sunday mornings.


Max Argyle

Max Argyle (born 13 November 1992) is an English rugby union player who plays for Jersey Reds in the Greene King IPA Championship. He plays primarily as a blindside flanker, but has positional flexibility within the back row.


Lichères-sur-Yonne

Lichères-sur-Yonne is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France.


Abraham (album)

Abraham () is the ninth official studio album by Iranian singer Mohsen Chavoshi. Chavoshi released To Dar Masafate Barani... and Ma Bozorgo Naadanim... online and without proper permissions from Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance but soon they got removed from Chavoshi's official Telegram channel and Beeptunes. The songs are available on the VIP edition of the album which includes Mohsen Chavoshi's autograph on its back cover and Hossein Safaa's poetry book, titled Catapult (), with his autograph on the first page.

Track listing

Personnel
Musicians

 Mohsen Chavoshi - vocals, piano
 Adel Rouhnavaz - electric guitar
 Tohid Noori - piano
 Meisam Marvasti - violin, setar

Production

 Hadi Hosseini - producer
 Mohsen Chavoshi - arrangement (except those noted)
 Shahaab Akbari - arrangement (In the Distance of the Rain and Corrupt World...)
 Farshaad Hesami - arrangement (Please Tell... and Hey Month of Mehr)
 Mehdi Moezi - administration manager
 Abolfazl Afshari - coordination manager
 Mohsen Asgari - graphic designer


Tracye Lawyer

Tracye Lawyer (born August 28, 1977 in Santa Barbara, California) is an American heptathlete.  In international competition, she won the heptathlon at the 2000 NACAC Under-25 Championships in Athletics.  She also took silver at the inaugural NACAC Combined Events Championships in 2005.

Prep
Lawyer attended Cate School in Carpinteria, California, where she won the CIF California State Meet Championship in the high jump as a sophomore in 1993.  She also finished third in 1994 and second in 1995.

NCAA
Next she went to Stanford University, where she achieved the 1999 NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship in the heptathlon.  Previous to that she had been third in 1997 and second in 1998.  During that period she won the PAC-10 Championships three years in a row and set the still standing Stanford record in the event. She also played soccer at Stanford.

International Success
A noted first day specialist, she finished 7th at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials.  Four years later she finished eighth.

Post competition
She was formerly an assistant coach at Stanford University, and is now an orthopedic surgery resident at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.


The 2019 North Carolina Tar Heels baseball team represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 2019 NCAA Division I baseball season. Head coach Mike Fox is in his 21st year coaching the Tar Heels. They play their home games at Bryson Field at Boshamer Stadium and are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Roster


Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu

The Santiago Bernabéu Trophy () is dedicated to the memory of long-time Real Madrid president Santiago Bernabéu. It is a friendly tournament organised each year by Real Madrid at the beginning of the season, somewhere around the end of August or the beginning of September.

From 1979 to 1984 and in 1986 it was contested by four teams, with semifinals, third place match and final. In 1985 and since 1987 only one match between Real Madrid and an invited team was played.

The 2002 tournament consisted again of four teams, on the special occasion of Real Madrid's centenary as the team were founded on 6 March 1902.

Finals
Note: In case of a draw, the winner was decided on penalties.

Number of wins

Top goalscorers


Peter James Bryant

Peter James Bryant is a Hollywood actor best known for his roles as Bling in the television series Dark Angel and Waldo Weatherbee on the television series Riverdale.

Select filmography

External links


Baumholder Army Airfield

Baumholder Army Airfield is a small military airfield in support of the United States Army facilities in Baumholder, Germany. It has a single runway in the 07/25 direction which is 16 meters (52 feet) wide and 572 meters (1,877 feet) long. It is located just north-east of the town of Reichenbach.

External links
Baumholder.army.mil


Form I-140

Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker is a form submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) by a prospective employer to petition an alien to work in the US on a permanent basis. This is done in the case when the worker is deemed extraordinary in some sense or when qualified workers do not exist in the US. The employer who files is called the petitioner, and the alien employee is called the beneficiary; these two can coincide in the case of a self-petitioner. The form is 6 pages long with a separate 10-page instructions document as of 2016. It is one of the USCIS immigration forms.

Reasons for filing Form I-140

Form I-140 is required for EB categories EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3. For EB-4 and EB-5, Forms I-360 and I-526 are used, respectively. These categories were introduced as part of the Immigration Act of 1990.

The following is a list of all of the reasons (also known as petition types) for filing Form I-140.

Filing details

Initial evidence

The Form I-140 petition must be accompanied by what is termed "initial evidence". This evidence depends on the type of employee being sponsored, but for instance (in some cases) includes an award given to the employee or publication by the employee that certifies they are someone of extraordinary ability. In many cases (see table above), part of the initial evidence is a labor certification, which establishes, among other things, that there are insufficient workers in the US to fill the position the alien employee plans to take. In cases where a labor certification is required, the petition is said to be labor certification-based.

In labor certification-based petitions, a labor certification must be filed and approved by the US Department of Labor before Form I-140 can be submitted. It is possible to establish a successor-in-interest relationship between the successor employer and predecessor employer, in which case a predecessor's labor certification can be used.

General evidence

Additional evidence that must be provided includes the employer's financial data, proof of the employee's education and work experience, as well as evidence that the employer can pay the proffered wage to the employee.

The alien can in addition self-petition in the cases of EB1-A Alien of Extraordinary Ability or EB-2 National Interest Waiver.

The form must be signed to be valid.

Forms submitted alongside

Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, is required if the petitioner is requesting Premium Processing.

Form I-140 may be filed concurrently with Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.

Filing modalities

Form I-140 can be filed by paper or electronically. If the form is filed electronically, it will be sent to an appropriate service center.

Addresses

The filing address for Form I-140 depends on whether Form I-140 is being filed on its own or concurrently with Form I-485. The filing address can also differ by the state the beneficiary will work in for Premium Processing.

Filing fees

The fee for filing Form I-140 is $700, and must be payable in US currency to the US Department of Homeland Security. There is also a $1,440 fee for Premium Processing (next section).

However, this fee does not include:

 In the case the beneficiary is already in the United States, the fee for Form I-485 (filed separately by the beneficiary, so not part of the petition), which can range from $750 to $1140 depending on the category, plus an $85 biometrics fee.
 In the case the beneficiary is not in the United States, the immigrant visa application processing fee that, as of May 2015, is $325.
 In the case the beneficiary is not in the United States, the $220 USCIS immigrant fee, which is needed to process the immigrant visa packet and produce and send to the applicant the Green Card.

Premium Processing: Form I-907

The USCIS offers a Premium Processing Service at an additional fee of $1,440 for Form I-140 petitions. Premium Processing is only available for this form and for Form I-129 (non-immigrant worker). The Premium Processing Service promises an initial review from the USCIS within 15 calendar days of receipt of the form, after which time it may approve, deny, or issue a Request For Evidence or Notice of Intent to Deny. USCIS will refund the Premium Processing Service fee if processing takes longer than 15 days. If the fee is refunded, the relating case will continue to receive expedited processing. The time begins from the receipt of Form I-907 and the associated fee.

The Premium Processing Service was introduced in 2001 for Form I-129 and extended to Form I-140 in 2006.

Premium Processing does not guarantee a final adjudication; it only provides a time limit for initial review of the petition. In other words, the 15 calendar day guarantee is only for the initial review of the petition, which may result in approval, denial, or the issuing of a Request For Evidence or Notice of Intent to Deny.

For immigrant visa allocation, the Form I-140 petition must be approved and the priority date assigned to that petition must be before the cutoff date (which depends on the country of chargeability and the visa category). Since the cutoff date and the processing time for Form I-140 petitions are independent, the wait time for Form I-140 to be processed is the later of the visa number availability time (the cutoff date) and the Form I-140 processing time. Therefore, Premium Processing can expedite the overall process of obtaining lawful permanent resident status when the Form I-140 processing time is longer than the visa number availability time. In other words, if there is no visa number availability wait time, either because the category is uncapped or the caps are nowhere near being met, then Premium Processing is advantageous. On the other hand, for a visa category with a country of chargeability where the current cutoff date is far in the past (i.e. there is a long queue), Premium Processing would not expedite the overall process because the cutoff date overwhelms even the standard processing time.

It is possible to apply for Premium Processing on an already-submitted application. In this case, the clock for Premium Processing begins when the Premium Processing is requested.

Benefits of having a u801 and approved Form I-140 petition

Q 67 and
Section 106 of the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act (AC21) includes special provisions in case of lengthy adjudications. In particular, it allows extensions by one year at a time of the H-1B status for people with long-pending Form I-140 petitions (pending for at least 365 days). Here, "pending" includes an appeal that is pending. It also allows people with Form I-485 petitions that have been pending for more than 180 days to switch jobs without invalidating the underlying Form I-140 and labor certification. However, there is an ambiguity in cases where an extension is obtained but subsequently the Form I-140 petition is denied.

Under one of the provisions of the LIFE Act, the USCIS would overlook unlawful entry and unlawful presence when considering some Adjustment of Status applications for people whose Form I-140 had been filed by April 30, 2001 (with a number of additional caveats).

Statistics

Rate of approvals

The approval rate for aliens of extraordinary ability has ranged from 47% to 62% during the years 2005–2010. For outstanding professors or researchers, this has ranged from 90% to 95% during the same years.

Processing times

USCIS processes Form I-140 on a first-come, first-served basis, so at any given time, the date received for the forms that have just finished processing provides a good estimate of processing time. USCIS breaks down Form I-140 into eight categories and reports processing times separately for each:

 Extraordinary Ability (EB-1)
 Outstanding Professor or Researcher (EB-1)
 Multinational Manager or Executive (EB-1)
 Advanced Degree Professional (EB-2)
 Skilled or Professional Worker (EB-3)
 Unskilled Worker (EB-3)
 Advanced degree or exceptional ability requesting a National Interest Waiver (EB-2)
 Schedule A Nurses (EB-2 or EB-3)

The processing time is on average about four months.

There are separate processing times reported for the appeals processing. As of February 1, 2016, the processing times for administrative appeals for all categories of Form I-140 is 6 months or less.

Adverse decisions

Initial response

The initial response from the USCIS to a Form I-140 is one of these four:

 Approval
 Denial
 Request For Evidence (RFE): Generally, evidence is requested about the relationship between the petitioner and beneficiary. For instance, for marriage-based petitions (where one spouse is petitioning for another) evidence that the marriage actually occurred, and that there was no marriage fraud, is sought.
 Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID): This is an advance notice that the petition is likely to be denied, along with reasons for the proposed denial. The petitioner is given a limited amount of time to respond.

In the case of a RFE or NOID, the petitioner's response will be taken into account by the USCIS when deciding whether to approve or deny the petition.

Standalone filing: revocation of petition and Notice of Intent to Revoke

Based on new evidence suggesting that the original petition was fraudulent, the USCIS may issue a revocation of petition (i.e., revoke the petition entirely) or send the petitioner a Notice of Intent to Revoke, to which the petitioner may respond with additional evidence or challenge the reasons. The typical impetus for the USCIS to reconsider an approved petition is when a United States consular officer evaluating the beneficiary's visa application based on the petition encounters evidence suggesting that the petition was fraudulent. If the consular office finds such evidence, he or she returns the petition to USCIS along with the reasons the petition appears fraudulent, and issues a Section 221(g) quasi-refusal to the applicant (note that this is relevant to cases 2 and 3, and not to case 1 where the beneficiary is already in the United States). The following are worth noting:

 A consular officer may reject the beneficiary's visa application without returning the petition to the USCIS. This is because the consular officer has many potential grounds for rejecting the application without calling the legitimacy of the petition in question.
 After the consular officer returns the petition to the USCIS, the USCIS may decide that the petition is valid and tell the consular officer that. if the USCIS revalidates the petition, then the consular officer must use this information and proceed with the same visa application (i.e., the beneficiary need not re-apply for a visa).

Re-application and appeals process

It is possible to reapply for a Form I-140 petition if the original petition results in denial or revocation. When reapplying, all previously-submitted evidence must be resubmitted, and filing fee must be paid again. In addition, the receipt number from the previous I-140 petition must be given.

If there is additional evidence available to the petitioner that could lead to the original petition being approvable, it is possible to file a motion to reopen or reconsider the petition. For this, Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion, must be filed within 30 days of the denial (15 days in case of revocation).

Finally, it is possible to appeal the decision, in which case Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion, must be filed within 30 days of the denial (15 days in case of revocation) for processing by the USCIS Administrative Appeals Office (AAO). Note that although the form submitted is the same for appeals or motions, the way the form is filled makes clear whether the form is being used for an appeal or motion. In case of an appeal it is not necessary to submit new evidence, since the claim is that the original denial or revocation was incorrect in light of the evidence available at the time. The AAO has a processing time goal of 6 months or less for appeals, but current processing times are not reported. Appeals have historically taken up to 35 months to be adjudicated; for this reason law resources often recommend reapplying.

Finally, if the AAO returns an adverse decision, it is also possible to file a motion to reconsider with the AAO itself.

The AAO is the final point of appeal within USCIS. Beyond this, the decision can be appealed within the federal judicial system. An example of an appeal was the case of Kazarian v. USCIS (2010).

Effect on nonimmigrant status

Denial of an I-140 petition does not terminate an alien's nonimmigrant status (e.g. H-1B status).

Relation with overall immigrant visa process

The filing of Form I-140 is one step of the overall process to become a lawful permanent resident. The entire process typically takes several years.

Labor certification (also called the PERM process). If the petition is labor certification-based, the employer must legally prove that it has a need to hire an alien for a specific position and that there is no minimally qualified U.S. citizen or LPR available to fill that position, hence the reason for hiring the alien. This is currently done through an electronic system known as PERM. This step is processed by the United States Department of Labor (DOL). The labor certification is valid for 6 months from the time it is approved.
Immigrant petition. The employer applies on the alien's behalf to obtain a visa number. The application is Form I-140, the topic of this page. Currently, this process takes up to 6 months.
Immigrant visa availability. When the immigrant petition is approved by the USCIS, the petition is forwarded to the NVC for visa allocation. Currently this step centers around the priority date concept.
Immigrant visa adjudication. When the National Visa Center (NVC) determines that an immigrant visa is available, the case can be adjudicated. If the alien is already in the US, that alien has a choice to finalize the green card process via adjustment of status in the US, or via consular processing abroad. If the alien beneficiary is outside of the USA they can only apply for an immigrant visa at the U.S. consulate. The USCIS does not allow an alien to pursue consular processing and adjustment of status (AOS) simultaneously. Prior to filing the form I-485 (Adjustment of Status) it is required that the applicant have a medical examination performed by a USCIS-approved civil surgeon. The examination includes a blood test and specific immunizations, unless the applicant provides proof that the required immunizations were already done elsewhere. The civil surgeon hands the applicant a sealed envelope containing a completed form I-693, which must be included unopened with the I-485 application. (The cited reference also states that the February 25, 2010 edition of the Form I-693 reflects that an individual should no longer be tested for HIV infection.)
Adjustment of status (AOS). After the alien has a labor certification and has been provisionally allocated a visa number, the final step is to change his or her status to permanent residency. Adjustment of status is submitted to USCIS via form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. If an immigrant visa number is available, the USCIS will allow "concurrent filing": it will accept forms I-140 and I-485 submitted in the same package or will accept form I-485 even before the approval of the I-140.
Consular processing. This is an alternative to AOS, but still requires the immigrant visa petition to be completed. The Form I-485 is not used. In the past (pre-2005), this process was somewhat faster than applying for AOS, so was sometimes used to circumvent long backlogs (of over two years in some cases). However, due to recent efficiency improvements by the USCIS, it is not clear whether applying via consular processing is faster than the regular AOS process. Consular processing is also thought to be riskier since there is no or very little recourse for appeal if the officer denies the application.

Related forms

Of the USCIS immigration forms, the following are most closely related to Form I-140:

 Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, is used for nonimmigrant workers.
 Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, is the other main form that is the first step to immigrant status. It is used for the immigration of relatives of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents.
 Form I-360 and Form I-526 are the forms used for the EB-4 (religious worker and special immigrant) and EB-5 (investor/entrepreneur) categories.
 Form I-765 is the form used to apply for an Employment Authorization Document. Unlike the forms above, it is not a petition but an application made directly by the person seeking the EAD. Form I-765 cannot be used to immigrate to the United States or change one's non-immigrant status but rather is used by those in the United States on various statuses (such as students on F visas or eligible DACA applicants) to be able to work. The EAD classification is not tied to any particular employer and gives the worker the flexibility to choose any employer, possibly subject to constraints about the nature of work or the number of hours worked. For instance, F visa holding students receive an EAD for post-completion Optional Practical Training. The key difference between Forms I-129 and I-765 is that the former is filed by the employer and is associated with a specific job whereas the latter is filed by the employee and is not tied to a particular job.


Cheshmeh Gach

Cheshmeh Gach (, also Romanized as Cheshmehgach) is a village in Jalalvand Rural District, Firuzabad District, Kermanshah County, Kermanshah Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 596, in 123 families.


DYAB-FM

DYAB (104.7 MHz) Kaboses Radio is an FM station owned and operated by Allied Broadcasting Center. Its studios and transmitter are located at Lukban St., Tacloban.


Demon Dice

Demon Dice, originally published as Chaos Progenitus, is a collectible dice game for two or more players created by Lester Smith (designer of the better-known Dragon Dice) and Tim Brown.

Publication history
The original Chaos Progenitus game released by Destination Games in 1996 was a serious combat game. However when the game was republished as Demon Dice by Fast Forward Games, the idea was given a humorous spin, styling the players as "Demon Creation Specialists, Junior Grade" in the bureaucracy of Hell. In addition, Fast Forward added several promotional "Noble House" demons, one die of which was included in each box of the game's Starter Set or either of its expansions, "A Few Parts More" and "Drippy Are The Damned".

Gameplay
Each player assembles a "demon" from 13 special and collectible six-sided dice, each of the dice representing a different body part of the demon (brain, arms, eyes, legs, lungs) and weapons that the demon is carrying (sword, shield, whip, bellows, trident). All of the dice have icons for plus, minus, hit, move and block. A die's identifying face will have a special ability depending on the body part or item type represented; the other faces will bear damage sources, "blocks" which prevent damage, "plus" icons that make damage harder to block, and "minus" icons which prevent dice from being rolled for a turn.

The players roll for initiative. The first player rolls all his dice against an opposing player's demon. After removing any minuses — these will act against the opponent in the opponent's turn — the active player then matches any remaining dice against his opponent's demon, part for part. Damage inflicted is either "stun" or "wound", with "stuns" healing over time and "wounds" usually being permanent. If a body part is destroyed by wounds, it is removed from the game, and the owning player's total dice that can be rolled on his turn drops by one.

The next player then goes, with the player setting aside one die for each "minus" received from any attacks in the previous turn before rolling his remaining dice. If his demon has no body parts left due to combat damage, or the player is unable to roll any dice due to "minus" dice that have been used against his demon, then that demon dies. The player of the last demon remaining wins the game.

Reception
In the December 1996 edition of Dragon (Issue 236), Rick Swan called the original Chaos Progenitus "a goodie". Swan believed that this game lacked the scope of designer Lester Smith's previous game, Dragon Dice, but found that Chaos Progenitus was "just as addictive. And nearly as collectible."

Reviews
Pyramid #24 (March/April, 1997)
Arcane #12 (November 1996)


Dame-Marie, Eure

Dame-Marie is a former commune in the Eure department in northern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Sainte-Marie-d'Attez.

Population


Symbiodinium trenchi

Symbiodinium trenchi is an endosymbiotic dinoflagellate, a unicellular alga which commonly resides in the tissues of tropical corals. It has a greater tolerance to fluctuations in water temperatures than do other species in the genus. It was named for the marine biologist R. K. Trench.

Ecology
Many shallow water corals rely on photosynthetic symbiont protists, commonly known as zooxanthellae, to provide them with a large proportion of their nutrient requirements. If sea water temperatures rise, conditions may becomes stressful for the corals, and they may expel their zooxanthallae. This process is known as coral bleaching as, without their symbionts, the corals are white.

Symbiodinium trenchi is a stress-tolerant species, a generalist able to form mutualistic relationships with many species of coral. It is present in many reefs around the world in small numbers. It is common in the Andaman Sea, where the water is about 4 °C (7 °F) warmer than other parts of the Indian Ocean, and a diversity of corals thrive against the odds. This is due to their symbiosis with S. trenchi. In the Indo-Pacific region, it is found as a symbiont of corals in turbulent waters with wide temperature fluctuations.

In the Caribbean Sea in late 2005, the water was, for three or four months, about 2 °C (4 °F) above the normal temperature for the time of year. This was stressful for corals and researchers found that S. trenchi, a symbiont not normally present in the area, took up residence in many corals in which it had not previously been observed. As a result, the corals did not bleach, but whether this is to the ultimate benefit of the corals remains to be seen. In subsequent years, S. trenchi has become less common in the Caribbean, and the normal symbionts have replaced it in the corals' tissues.


Fairy Footsteps

Fairy Footsteps (15 January 1978 – 1996) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare best known for winning the classic 1000 Guineas in 1981. She showed promise in her first two races as a two-year-old before establishing herself as one of the best fillies of her generation with an emphatic win in the Waterford Candelabra Stakes. In the spring of 1981 she was heavily backed for the 1000 Guineas before and after a win in the Nell Gwyn Stakes. She won the 1000 Guineas by leading all the way and was considered highly likely to follow up with a win in the Epsom Oaks but was retired after a disappointing defeat in the Musidora Stakes. She had some success as a broodmare.

Background
Fairy Footsteps was a "well-made, robust" bay mare with a narrow white blaze and three white socks bred in Ireland by her owner Jim Joel. She was sired by Mill Reef, an American-bred horse who won the Epsom Derby, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1971. Mill Reef's other offspring included Reference Point, Shirley Heights, Lashkari and Doyoun. An outbreak of metritis in Britain in 1977 saw many leading stallions operating at drastically reduced fertility and Fairy Footsteps was one of only nine foals sired by Mill Reef born in 1978. Fairy Footsteps' dam Glass Slipper was a half-sister of the Derby winner Royal Palace and showed good form during a brief racing career, finishing second in the Musidora Stakes. A year before Fairy Footsteps was foaled, Glass Slipper had produced Light Cavalry, a colt who won the St Leger in 1980.

Racing career

1980: two-year-old season
Fairy Footsteps made her racecourse debut in a maiden race over seven furlongs at Sandown Park Racecourse in July 1980. She came from last place on the turn into the straight to finish fourth of the sixteen runners behind Seasurf. She then finished second to Exclusively Raised in the Sweet Solera Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse, beaten one and a half lengths. Later that month, Fairy Footsteps and Exclusively Raised met again in the Group Three Waterford Candelabra Stakes (the race now known as the Prestige Stakes) over seven furlongs at Goodwood Racecourse. Ridden for the first time by Pat Eddery she started third favourite at odds of 4/1. According to Timeform, she "ran rings round the opposition", taking the lead three furlongs from the finish and winning by four and a half lengths from Madam Gay with Exclusively Raised in fourth and Leap Lively in fifth place. The winning time was a new course record for two-year-olds. She did not race again in 1980, but the form of her Goodwood win was boosted when Exclusively Raised won the May Hill Stakes and Leap Lively won the Fillies' Mile.

1981: three-year-old season
Fairy Footsteps began her three-year-old season in the Nell Gwyn Stakes, a trial race for the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket in April. Before the race she had been the subject of heavy support in the betting for the Guineas, with her price being cut from 12/1 to 5/2. Ridden by Lester Piggott she started 4/6 favourite and led from the start to win very easily by two and a half lengths from Shark Song. On 30 April 1981, Fairy Footsteps was one of fourteen fillies to contest the 168th running of the 1000 Guineas over the Rowley Mile course at Newmarket. Ridden again by Piggott, she was made the 6/4 favourite ahead of the previous year's champion filly Marwell. Piggott sent the filly into the lead from the start and set a reasonable pace, without ever breaking clear of her rivals. In the closing stages several challengers emerged but Fairy Footsteps ran on strongly and held on to win by a neck from Tolmi, with Go Leasing, Marwell and Madam Gay close behind. The win gave Piggott a twenty-fourth win in a classic. A week previously Piggott had been dragged under the stalls at Epsom Downs Racecourse, resulting in ear injury which required 32 stitches and damage to ligaments in his back. He was only able to return to riding on the eve of the Guineas and was still feeling the effects of the accident on the day of the race. He later commented that Fairy Footsteps' win "eased the discomfort".

Fairy Footsteps' breeding suggested that she was likely to be better suited by longer distances and she was very strongly fancied for The Oaks. At York Racecourse in May she started odds-on favourite for the Musidora Stakes over ten and a half furlongs. She appeared to be travelling well for most of the race, but began to struggle early in the straight and finished third of the five runners, beaten four lengths and one length by Condessa and Madam Gay. Fairy Footsteps remained in the Oaks field for a few days but then performed disappointingly in training and was withdrawn from the race. According to Henry Cecil: "The fact is that she does not stay. She moved smoothly but had nothing left after a mile. There is no point in running her in the Oaks". It was expected that Fairy Footsteps would return in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot but she never raced again.

Assessment
In the 1980 Free Handicap, a rating of the best two-year-olds of the season, Fairy Footsteps was allotted 122 pounds, eleven pounds below the top-rated Storm Bird and five pounds below the leading filly Marwell. The independent Timeform organisation gave her a rating of 118p, the "p" indicating that she was likely to make significant improvement. In the following year, Fairy Footsteps was given a rating of 123 by Timeform. In the official International Classification, she was rated nineteen pounds below the top-rated horse Shergar and nine pounds below the top-rated three-year-old filly Marwell. In their book, A Century of Champions, based on the Timeform rating system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Fairy Footsteps an "average" winner of the 1000 Guineas.

Stud career
Fairy Footsteps was retired from racing to become a broodmare for her owner's stud. She produced at least nine foals and six minor winners between 1983 and 1995:

Flying Fairy (GB) : chesnut filly, foaled 1 January 1983, sired by Bustino (GB), failed to win in four races, dam of Desert Prince (Irish 2000 Guineas, Prix du Moulin, Queen Elizabeth II Stakes)
Lothario (GB) : chesnut colt (gelded), foaled in 1985, sired by Hello Gorgeous (USA) - unplaced in 2 starts on the flat in England 1988; unplaced 2 starts over hurdles in England 1989-90; unplaced 2 starts in steeple chases in England 1991
Lovely Fairy (GB) : bay filly, foaled in 1986, sired by Beldale Flutter (USA) -  won two races from 7 starts in England 1988-89
Fleet Fairy (USA) : bay filly, foaled in 1987, sired by Teenoso (USA) - maiden, 3rd G3 Prix Penelope Saint-Cloud; 4th LR Prix Rose de Mai, Maisons-Laffitte
Always Far (USA) : brown filly, foaled in 1989, sired by Alydar (USA) - unraced
Haunted Wood (USA) : bay filly, foaled in 1990, sired by Nijinsky (CAN), won one race and placed once from 4 starts in England 1992-3
Fabulous Fairy (USA) : chesnut filly, foaled 14 May 1991, sired by Alydar (USA), won one race from 5 starts in Britain 1993-4
Swan Princess (USA) : bay filly, foaled in 1993, sired by Nureyev (USA) - unraced
Sky Commander (USA) : brown colt, foaled 31 March 1994, sired by Storm Bird (CAN), won two races and placed 2nd twice from 7 starts in England 1996-97
Brigade Charge (USA) : bay colt, foaled 7 April 1995, sired by Affirmed (USA) - won one race and placed 2nd once from 4 starts on the flat in England 1998; won once and placed five times from 12 starts over hurdles in Ireland and England 1999-2000; won twice and placed twice from 9 starts over fences in Ireland and England 2002-4

Pedigree


Lovewell, Kansas

Lovewell (also Lovewell Station) is an unincorporated community in Jewell County, Kansas, United States.


Joan Shelley

Joan Shelley (born in 1985) is an American folk musician from Louisville, Kentucky, United States.

Shelley has a released a number of studio recordings. Her second album, Ginko, and third album Farthest Field (with Daniel Martin Moore) were released in 2012 on Ol Kentuck. In 2014, Shelley released her fourth album, Electric Ursa, on No Quarter Records. In 2015, Shelley released her fifth album, Over and Even, on No Quarter. In 2017, Shelley released her eponymous sixth album. Her seventh album, Like the River Loves the Sea, was released in 2019.

Shelley frequently works with guitarist and musicologist Nathan Salsburg.

Discography
Studio albums
By Dawnlight (2010, self-released)
Ginko (2012, Ol Kentuck/ok recordings)
Farthest Field – Daniel Martin Moore & Joan Shelley (2012, Ol Kentuck)
Electric Ursa (2014, No Quarter)
Over and Even (2015, No Quarter)
Joan Shelley (2017, No Quarter)Rivers & Vessels (2018, self-released on Bandcamp)Like the River Loves the Sea (2019, No Quarter)

with Maiden Radio
(Maiden Radio are: Joan Shelley, Julia Purcell and Cheyenne Marie Mize)Maiden Radio (2010, self-released)Lullabies (2011, Ol Kentuck)Wolvering'' (2015, ok recordings)

Singles
"Cost of the Cold" (2016, No Quarter)


Robert V. Richardson

Robert Vinkler Richardson (November 4, 1820 – January 6, 1870) was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

Early life
Richardson was born in Granville County, North Carolina, on November 4, 1820. His family moved to Hardeman County, Tennessee, when Richardson was a child. Richardson was admitted to the bar and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1847 to practice there. He made business connections with Nathan Bedford Forrest and Gideon J. Pillow.

Civil War
During the early part of the War, Richardson served under Pillow and recruited the 12th Tennessee Cavalry (also known as the 1st Tennessee Partisan Rangers) and was elected that unit's colonel. Richardson engaged in the Battle of Shiloh and the Siege of Corinth. He was attached to Forrest's command in the fall of 1863. On December 3, he was appointed brigadier general; however, after being confirmed his nomination was returned by the Confederate Senate at the request of President Jefferson Davis on February 9, 1864. From then to the remainder of the War, his regiment was attached to James R. Chalmers' command.

A communication from Richardson dated October 28, 1863 at Water Valley, MS indicated the difficult living conditions experienced during the War: "For God and the country's sake, make your fair promising but never complying Quartermaster send me skillets, ovens, pots, or anything else that will bake bread or fry meat.  I want clothing, shoes and blankets for my naked and freezing men. . . . I cannot fight any more until I get something to cook in."

Post-War and murder
After the War, Richardson travelled abroad and lived overseas. He returned to Memphis and worked in levee and railroad construction with Forrest. After stopping at a tavern in Clarkton, Missouri, on January 5, 1870, he was shot by an unknown assailant who fired a shotgun at him from behind a wagon in the tavern yard. He died the next day and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis. While motives are unknown, and will undeniably remain so, it is possible that this murder was committed by anti-Confederates, as Richardson was a former Confederate General.


Trout Creek Pass

Trout Creek Pass, elevation , is a mountain pass located in the Rocky Mountains of south-central Colorado in the United States. The pass sits atop the southern end of the Mosquito Range on the Park-Chaffee county line, between South Park (the headwaters of the South Platte River to the east) and the headwaters of the Arkansas River to the west. It is traversed jointly by U.S. Highway 24 (US 24) (between Hartsel and Buena Vista) and US 285 (between Fairplay and Buena Vista). It is passable by most motorized vehicles and is closed only during severe winter storms. The approach from the north is mild, while the south side has a moderate 5% grade.

Curiously, the elevation stated on the highway sign at the summit (see attached picture) appears to be in error by about , as it disagrees with well-established topographic maps as well as published data.

Geologically, the pass is located on a fault that runs along the Mosquito Range. Road cuts along the eastern approach to the pass reveal Pennsylvanian black shale and thin gray limestone layers that were laid down prior to the creation of the Ancestral Rockies.  These Paleozoic layers were not uplifted during the creation of the Ancestral Rockies approximately 300 MYA and thus were not eroded to the same degree as other areas to the east and west.

The pass was traversed by the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad in 1879, providing the first rail link between Denver and Leadville in the early days of the Colorado Silver Boom. The Colorado Midland also built a line west from Colorado Springs to Leadville over Trout Creek Pass in the 1890s. Both lines fell into disuse in the 1920s.

The pass is in the San Isabel National Forest.


Delta Caeli

Delta Caeli (δ Caeli) is a solitary, blue-white hued star in the southern constellation of Caelum. It is a dim star but visible to the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of +5.06. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 4.63 mas as seen from Earth, this star is located roughly 700 light years from the Sun.  At that distance, the visual magnitude is diminished by an extinction factor of 0.13 due to interstellar dust.

This is a B-type star with a stellar classification of B2 IV-V, where the luminosity class IV-V indicates the spectrum shows mixed traits of a subgiant star and a main sequence star. It has 7−8 times the mass of the Sun and about 3.9 times the Sun's radius. The star is around nine million years old and is radiating 2,578 times the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 21,150 K.


1989 Brisbane Broncos season

The 1989 Brisbane Broncos season was the second in the club's history. They competed in the NSWRL's 1989 Winfield Cup premiership and in their second year improved on their first, finishing the season in sixth position after losing their first ever play-off match against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. The Broncos did however claim their first piece of silverware by winning the mid-week knock-out 1989 Panasonic Cup competition.

Broncos trio Allan Langer, Michael Hancock and Kerrod Walters were selected to make their international debuts for Australia in 1989.

Season summary
Coach Wayne Bennett said a mid-season Kangaroo Tour to New Zealand in 1989 contributed to the Broncos failing to reach the finals. Brisbane contributed captain Wally Lewis, Tony Currie, Peter Jackson, Michael Hancock, Kerrod Walters and Sam Backo - more players than any other club - to the successful Australian team, losing all three of their matches while they were away.

Match results

 * Game following a State of Origin match

Ladder

Awards

League
nil

Club
Player of the year: Greg Dowling
Rookie of the year: Michael Hancock
Forward of the year: Greg Dowling
Back of the year: Tony Currie
Clubman of the year: Tony Currie

Scorers


Bitcoin Classic

Bitcoin Classic was one of several forks of the Bitcoin reference implementation Bitcoin Core aiming to increase the transaction processing capacity of Bitcoin by increasing the block size limit.  Blocks, which contain transaction data, form the basic structure of the immutable blockchain. Bitcoin Classic started out as similar to, though less aggressive than, the Bitcoin XT fork, which never managed to get the support it needed. Bitcoin Classic in its first 8 months promoted a single increase of the maximum block size from one megabyte to two megabytes. In November 2016 this changed and the project moved to a solution that moved the limit out of the software rules into the hands of the miners and nodes.

On November 10, 2017, Bitcoin Classic ceased operation.

Blockchain bottleneck

In Bitcoin, transactions are collected into blocks, and each block is produced by the bitcoin network on average every ten minutes. With Bitcoin's current limit of one megabyte, this capacity translates to an estimated average of three transactions per second. With Bitcoin Classic's proposed doubling of the block size limit to two megabytes, the maximum transaction rate would also roughly double.
If deployed, Bitcoin Classic would render current Bitcoin software obsolete, as it changes protocol parameters, namely increasing the maximum block size from one megabyte to two megabytes. Most implementations of Bitcoin software would require small modifications to the block size limit in order to continue to work.

Reception
Bitcoin Classic had received support from some Bitcoin companies, developers, investors and miners, such as Coinbase, Bitstamp, Circle, Jeff Garzik, Roger Ver and Gavin Andresen. The Wall Street Journal said "Bitcoin Classic has emerged from the ashes of the XT versus Core debate. It is a version of Bitcoin that would allow for a two-megabyte limit. It appears to be quickly winning support."
H The software's peak use was observed in early 2016 with a steady decline in usage from March 2016 onwards.

Termination
On November 10, 2017, in the wake of the failure of plans for the hard fork to double the bitcoin block size, Bitcoin Classic ceased operation, declaring that Bitcoin Cash is now the only hope for bitcoin to become scalable.


Bernard Wolfsdorf

Bernard P. Wolfsdorf is an American immigration lawyer, the past President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).  He is the founder and Managing Partner of Wolfsdorf Immigration Law Group, located in Los Angeles and New York.

Born in South Africa,  he immigrated to the United States in the early 1980s, and focuses on immigration law.  He has published many professional articles on U.S. immigration and has lectured at national and international conferences in the field.  He is an avid surfer.

Kazarian Decision
In 2009,  Wolfsdorf successfully petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 9th Circuit in the matter of Kazarian v. USCIS,  a landmark in the  struggle for immigration reform for extraordinary scientists and outstanding researchers.  The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals   decided that USCIS may not “unilaterally impose novel substantive or evidentiary requirements beyond those set forth [in the law].”

Awards
The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers has recognized Wolfsdorf as the "Global Corporate Immigration Lawyer of the Year" in the Who's Who Legal Awards on three separate occasions, in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Who's Who Legal Awards are given to only the leading lawyers in each field, and are based exclusively on the results of an independent research process that encompasses feedback from private practitioners, clients, and other experts in the sector.

Wolfsdorf has been selected as one of California's Top 100 Lawyers by the professional association Super Lawyers each year from 2006-2012. Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process is multi-phased and includes independent research, peer nominations, and peer evaluation.

The peer-reviewed legal guidebook Chambers and Partners has listed Wolfsdorf Immigration Law Group as a "top-tier law firm" in the immigration sector in both 2011 and 2012. Additionally, in 2012, Chambers named Wolfsdorf a "star individual," a designation given to individuals with exceptional recommendations in their field. Established in 1990, Chambers assembles its rankings through extensive interviews with highly regarded professionals and commercial users of legal services in each respective field.

In 2011 the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) presented  Wolfsdorf with its Service Excellence Award.  He has been recognized as one of the nation's Top 10 Immigration Lawyers by Human Resource Executive magazine. Wolfsdorf Rosenthal LLP also earned a "First-Tier Ranking" in the U.S. News - Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms" 2011-2012 edition.