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Funeral home

A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the dead and their families. These services may include a prepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral.

Services
Funeral homes arrange services in accordance with the wishes of surviving friends and family, whether immediate next of kin or an executor so named in a legal will. The funeral home often takes care of the necessary paperwork, permits, and other details, such as making arrangements with the cemetery, and providing obituaries to the news media. The funeral business has a history that dates to the age of the Egyptians who mastered the science of preservation. In recent years many funeral homes have started posting obituaries online and use materials submitted by families to create memorial websites.

There are certain common types of services in North America. A traditional funeral service consists of a viewing (sometimes referred to as a visitation), a funeral service in a place of worship or the funeral home chapel and a graveside committal service. Direct cremation consists of the funeral home receiving the body, preparing it for the crematory and filing the necessary legal paperwork. Direct/immediate burial is the forgoing of a funeral ceremony for a prompt, simple burial. Moving a body between mortuaries involves preparing it for shipment in a coffin strapped into an arbitrary or a combination unit (mac pac / airtray). This is common when it is to be buried in a different locality than where the person died.

When a body is brought to a funeral home, it is sometimes embalmed to delay decomposition or to make the viewing of the body more pleasant. The procedure typically involves removing sufficient blood material to accommodate the preservative chemicals and dyes, aspirating the internal organs and setting the facial features. Cosmetics are used with the consent of the family to improve the appearance of face and hands for a more natural look. If the face or hands are disfigured by accident, illness or decomposition, the embalmer may utilize restorative techniques to make them presentable for an "open casket" service. If this is not possible, or the family wishes, the funeral home can perform a "closed casket" service.

The funeral home often sets aside one or more large areas for people to gather at a visitation. This area may contain a space to display the body in a casket to visitors who may pay their respects. Funeral and memorial services may also take place at the funeral home. Many funeral homes offer prearrangement options for those who wish to plan their own funerals.

Several large multi-national corporations in this service field have received exposure from high-profile litigation. The Loewen Group, Inc., received a particularly large jury verdict in Mississippi, which was later found to be in error, as the allegations against Loewen Group proved false. The Canadian-based company then brought suit against the United States alleging violations under NAFTA.

Houston based Service Corporation International has also had its share of legal troubles in its operations of both funeral homes and cemeteries. In 2009, a class-action lawsuit was filed against SCI and Eden Memorial Park, one of the cemeteries the corporation manages, based on allegations that remains were being moved around to create additional space for future interments. A settlement of $80 million was reached in 2014.

Most funeral homes will handle everything from the start till the end including the body preparation and venue preparation but if you wish to do these arrangements on your own individually, you can also do so.

title: Funeral home


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Overhand knot

The overhand knot is one of the most fundamental knots, and it forms the basis of many others, including the simple noose, overhand loop, angler's loop, reef knot, fisherman's knot, half hitch, and water knot. The overhand knot is a stopper, especially when used alone, and hence it is very secure, to the point of jamming badly. It should be used if the knot is intended to be permanent. It is often used to prevent the end of a rope from unraveling. An overhand knot becomes a trefoil knot, a true knot in the mathematical sense, by joining the ends. It can also be adjusted, faired, or mis-tied as a half hitch.

46. The overhand is the simplest of the single-strand stopper knots, and is tied with one end around its own standing part, its purpose being to prevent unreeving. 47. The half knot is a binding knot, being the first movement of the reef or square knot. It is tied with two ends around an object and is used when reefing, furling, and tying up parcels, shoestrings, and the like. 48. The half hitch is tied with one end of a rope which is passed around an object and secured to its own standing part with a single hitch.

— The Ashley Book of Knots

Tying

There are a number of ways to tie the Overhand knot.
 * Thumb method – create a loop and push the working end through the loop with your thumb.
 * Overhand method – create a bight, by twisting the hand over at the wrist and sticking your hand in the hole, pinch the working end with your fingers and pull through the loop.

Heraldry

In heraldry, the overhand knot is known as a "Stafford knot", owing to a representation of it being used first as a heraldic badge by the Earls of Stafford, and later as a general symbol of Staffordshire.

In nature
As a defensive measure, hagfishes, which resemble eels, produce large volumes of thick slime when disturbed. A hagfish can dislodge large quantities of slime on its skin, which it uses to evade predation, by tying its own body into an overhand knot, then sliding the knot from its head down to the tail. This action scrapes the slime off the fish's body. Hagfish also tie their bodies into overhand knots in order to create leverage to rip off chunks of their prey's flesh, but do so "in reverse" (starting at the tail, and sliding the knot towards the head for mechanical advantage).

Knot theory
If the two loose ends of an overhand knot are joined together (without creating additional crossings), this becomes equivalent to the trefoil knot of mathematical knot theory.

In paper-folding

If a flat ribbon or strip is tightly folded into a flattened overhand knot, it assumes a regular pentagonal shape.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Overhand knot


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User:Timo Honkasalo

I'm a Finnish biologist, though you don't see me editing the biology-related articles all that much. That's work, I come to Wikipedia to relax.

My other areas of interests include (in no particular order), comics, natural sciences, feminism and science fiction. What I mostly do here though is wikifying and little tweaking here and there. I usually browse the Recent changes list and click to articles that catch my attention (the most usual reactions being either "What the heck is that?", "I always wanted to know what that is." or "What on earth could they be writing about that?"). Only seldomly do I manage to keep my finger off the edit button (to me, wikifying articles is much like popping bubble wrap).

Exteral links

 * Personal homepage
 * Sama suomeksi

I agree to multi-license all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, as described below:

title: User:Timo Honkasalo


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Granny knot

The granny knot is a binding knot, used to secure a rope or line around an object. It is considered inferior to the reef knot (square knot), which it superficially resembles. Neither of these knots should be used as a bend knot for attaching two ropes together.

"The granny knot is also called the false, lubber's, calf, and booby knot. Patterson's Nautical Encyclopedia calls it "old granny knot" and Sir Edwin Arnold calls it the "common or garden knot." The name granny is given in Vocabulary of Sea Phrases (Anonymous, 1799) and Roding pictures the knot in 1795. The granny consists of two identical half knots, one tied on top of the other. It has but one practical purpose that I know of and that is to serve as a surgeon's knot. Formerly it was employed for tying up parcels in five-and-ten-cent stores, but the practice was given up and paper bags substituted as they were found to be simpler."

- The Ashley Book of Knots

Etymology
Called the "granny's knot" with references going back to at least 1849, the knot was so-called because it is "the natural knot tied by women or landsmen".

Tying
When attempting to tie a reef knot (square knot), it is easy to produce a granny knot accidentally. This is dangerous because the granny knot can slip when heavily loaded. A tightened granny knot can also jam and is often more difficult to untie than the reef knot. It is better to tie a reef knot in nearly all circumstances. One way to distinguish them is that in the reef knot each loop passes completely over, or completely under (not through) the neck of the other.

The reef knot is commonly taught as left over right, tuck under then right over left, tuck under. The granny knot is the first step repeated twice, left over right, tuck under. This is a very common mistake made by people learning to tie a reef knot.

Heraldry
In heraldry, the granny knot is known as the Bourchier knot, due to being a heraldic badge of the Bourchier family.

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Service Corporation International

Service Corporation International is an American provider of funeral goods and services as well as cemetery property and services. It is headquartered in Neartown, Houston, Texas, and operates secondary corporate offices in Jefferson, Louisiana (near New Orleans). SCI operates more than 1500 funeral homes and 400 cemeteries.

Company history
Robert L. Waltrip founded the company in 1962. SCI began as a small network of funeral homes and cemeteries in the Houston area.

SCI, Alderwoods Group, and Stewart Enterprises emerged from the 1990s as the three largest companies in the industry. On, SCI owned and operated 3,823 funeral service locations, 525 cemeteries, 198 crematoria and two insurance operations located in 20 countries on five continents.

In 1999, SCI also introduced Dignity Memorial. By unifying its network of funeral homes and cemeteries under one brand name, SCI believed it could establish recognizable and communicable brand values.

Between 2002 and 2006, SCI reduced its net debt (total debt minus cash) by more than US$1.0 billion, increased operating cash flow, and simplified its field management organization to enhance efficiency, performance, and accountability. It also changed business and sales processes, tightened internal controls following the protocols, strengthened corporate governance standards, and established a new training and development system. For its shareholders, SCI returned value through more than US$335 million in share repurchases and it resumed payment of a regular quarterly dividend in early 2005, the first since 1999.

Acquisitions
In 2006, SCI merged with Alderwoods Group, its nearest competitor in terms of size. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) blocked the merger, citing concerns over consumer choice. After SCI agreed to divest funeral home and cemetery locations in several markets and end licensing agreements with other funeral homes, the FTC allowed the merger to continue. By 2007, the integration of Alderwoods's locations and operations was complete.

In 2009, SCI put in a bid to purchase Keystone North America for US$208 million (US$ million as of ). The purchase was completed in 2010 and added about 200 locations.

In May 2013, SCI signed a US$1.4 billion deal to purchase Stewart Enterprises, the second-largest death care company. In December 2013, the FTC imposed conditions on the acquisition, requiring the two companies to sell 53 funeral homes and 38 cemeteries in 59 local markets, and requiring the merged company to be subject to a ten-year period during which the FTC will review any attempt by the company to acquire funeral or cemetery assets in those local markets.

Brands
SCI operates the following brands in the United States and Canada:

 * Advantage
 * Caballero Rivero
 * Dignité
 * Dignity Memorial
 * Dignity Memorial Premier Collection
 * Funeraria del Angel
 * LHT Consulting Group, LLC
 * Neptune Memorial Reef
 * Neptune Society/Trident Society/Neptune Society of Northern California
 * National Cremation
 * Rose Hills Memorial Park

Notable properties

 * Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Park North Cemetery and Mausoleum in Miami
 * Crown Hill Funeral Home and Cemetery in Indianapolis
 * Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in Manhattan, New York City
 * Glenwood Memorial Gardens, Broomall, Pennsylvania
 * Greenwood/Memory Lawn Mortuary & Cemetery in Phoenix, Arizona
 * Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home and Cemeteries in New Orleans
 * Pierce Brothers Mortuary in Los Angeles
 * Riverside Memorial Chapel in Manhattan, New York City
 * Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California
 * Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas
 * Westwood Village Memorial Park in Westwood, Los Angeles, California
 * Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Colma, California

Costs
Writing in an, issue of Bloomberg Businessweek, journalist Paul M. Barrett found, despite its lower overhead, SCI has higher prices than independent funeral home operators. Barrett quoted "data compiled" by a "'concierge' funeral planning service" Everest Funeral Package, which found that for "traditional funerals, SCI charges US$6256 on average (excluding casket and cemetery plot), 42 percent more than independents." In reply, SCI points to "overwhelmingly positive responses" on customer surveys and states they provide "top value" at a variety of funeral price points.

Texas
In the late 1990s, SCI was involved in a controversy involving alleged violations of Texas State embalming laws. The proceedings took a political slant due to Robert Waltrip's friendship with the family of then-governor George W. Bush and Waltrip's campaign contributions to various members of the Bush family.

Referred to as "Funeralgate" or "Formaldegate" in the media, the controversy was widely publicized when Eliza May, a director with the Texas Funeral Service Commission (TFSC), was fired while investigating SCI. May alleged in a civil suit that she was fired because she refused to halt her investigation despite pressure to do so from Governor Bush.

May's lawyers subpoenaed President Bush to testify at the trial, but Texas judge John K. Dietz threw out the subpoena on the grounds that the then-governor was not in a position to have enough specialized information to require his involvement.

The lawsuit was settled in 2001 for more than US$200000 (equivalent to US$ in ). SCI and the state of Texas were required to jointly pay the decision. On, the TFSC fined SCI an additional US$21000 for administrative penalties.

Florida
On January 18, 2023, it was reported on local news that the Escambia County Sheriffs Office was called to investigate a crime of corpse abuse by an employee who was caught in the act, by another employee. The alleged criminal was never charged with the crime because he committed suicide the same day. The investigation into the crime and the Oaklawn Funeral Home is still pending.

In 2001, it was reported that employees of the Memorial Gardens cemetery near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, had oversold the cemetery, so bodies were buried in the wrong places, separating husbands from wives; vaults were cracked open by a backhoe, bodies were exhumed, with bones, skulls and shrouds thrown into nearby woods, bodies were stacked on top of each other, and remains were relocated without notifying relatives.

The allegations were particularly appalling to the Jewish cemetery's more religiously observant customers, The Miami Herald reported. Traditional Jewish law requires bodies to be buried intact and prohibits disturbing the dead. SCI reached a US$14 million agreement with the Florida attorney general's office in 2003 that required it to repair plots and reorganize the cemeteries to ensure all graves were properly marked and the grounds could accommodate all plots sold. SCI also settled a separate class-action lawsuit on behalf of 350 families for US$100 million.

Virginia
On, The Washington Post reported that an SCI cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia, had improperly buried the remains of the stillborn daughter of Nsombi Hale in a grave too shallow (in a grave about 8 in deep). Nsombi Hale was filing suit against SCI.

After an internal investigation by SCI, attorneys working for SCI denied the charges against the company in a letter to Virginia funeral regulators, and a few days later, the Post reported that Robert Ranghelli, one of the SCI employees who had corroborated the initial reports of improper handing of corpses, was fired for "exercising his first amendment rights/speaking with the media" after having been on administrative leave for several months following the initial reports in the newspaper.

On, The Washington Post reported that the National Funeral Home, a facility owned by SCI in the Falls Church area of Fairfax County, Virginia, which also acts as a centralized embalming and dressing station for embalming and body preparation for other nearby SCI-owned operations (Arlington Funeral Home, Danzansky-Goldberg Memorial Chapel, and Demaine Funeral Home), was storing naked bodies in various stages of decomposition in conditions described as "disgusting, degrading and humiliating". The story went on to report that as many as 200 bodies were stored on "makeshift gurneys in the garage" and "at least half a dozen veterans destined for the hallowed ground at Arlington National Cemetery were left in their coffins on a garage rack". The Post reported that documentation describing these conditions had been reported to the Virginia Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers.

A few days later, the Post reported that family members of a deceased Army veteran whose remains were stored in an unrefrigerated garage at National Funeral Home asked the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney to investigate the actions of National and its parent company, SCI, as crimes.

The Post further reported that the family of retired U.S. Army Colonel Andrew DeGraff filed a lawsuit in Fairfax County alleging that SCI mishandled DeGraff's remains. According to the article, an SCI spokesman said that the company is conducting an internal investigation.

California
On, a class-action lawsuit was filed against SCI and Eden Memorial Park, a Jewish cemetery managed by SCI in Mission Hills charging that they were destroying graves to make room for new interments.

The Los Angeles Times reported that state officials found no evidence of mass grave disturbances. Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the state Department of Consumer Affairs, said, "We have not seen any evidence of the kind of massive desecration that is being alleged. The kind of activity they're alleging is not easily hidden, especially on a willful, large-scale basis." The plaintiff's attorney rejected the findings of the state's investigation.

Michael Avenatti, the plaintiff's attorney, said more than 800 families have joined the class action suit. Avenatti claims the state's investigation was shoddy, saying, "Investigators from the state were told by various groundskeepers over a year ago that they had been repeatedly told to throw bones away, and yet for some reason, the state didn't adequately follow up."

SCI denied all charges. After the lawsuit was filed, the Consumer Affairs Department reviewed five to six years of the cemetery's annual inspection records and found no indication that graves had been disturbed. According to the Los Angeles Times article, "The agency also asked the dozens of families that contacted officials to look for signs of disturbancesshifted or cracked gravestones or anything else that appeared different from previous visitsand didn't receive a single call back, he said."

In January 2012, the lawsuit against Eden Memorial Park was ruled to be a valid class action in Los Angeles Superior Court, with the trial scheduled to begin in May 2012. In February 2014, the parties reached a settlement in the amount of US$80.5 million.

In 2015, families filed a second suit alleging that the practice continued after the first settlement. The suit remains pending.

In 2024, the attorney general of California announced a settlement with SCI, which does business in the state under their Neptune Society and Trident Society brands, for state enforcement actions that alleged that SCI had violated the California Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law by engaging in false and deceptive advertising in the marketing and sale of pre-need cremation packages. The proposed settlement which is pending court approval, would provide full restitution to customers, comprehensive injunctive relief, and $23 million in civil penalties.

Massachusetts
In 2010, the State Board of Registration charged the SCI-owned Stanetsky Chapel, a Jewish funeral home in Brookline with serious violations of state law and regulations in connection with an incident where a woman was buried in the wrong grave, then disinterred without a legal permit and reburied in the correct grave with the woman's family not being notified of the mistake and the corrective procedure. As a result, in December 2011, the State Board announced a Consent Agreement and levied the biggest fine in its history, US$18000, against Stanetsky and SCI, and suspended the license of the Stanetsky general manager for a year. Other staff members involved in the incident were subject to punitive actions ranging from additional professional training to license revocation. The incident received widespread local media coverage. The Board's action was also published on its website.

In a case first reported on, The Boston Globe reported J.S. Waterman's & Sons, also owned by SCI, was found by the Board to have accidentally cremated the body of a stillborn infant in 2003. The infant's body was apparently placed on a gurney that held an adult woman's body that was scheduled for cremation. As a result of a civil suit brought by the infant's family, Waterman's was ordered to pay the parents US$325000 (equivalent to US$ in ), with a pending legal claim that the mortuary violated the state's consumer protection law that could triple the damages, The Boston Globe reported. The family's lawyer, Gordon T. Walker, said SCI could be hit with additional costs, as there is a pending claim that the company violated the state's consumer protection law. The civil verdict was made in Suffolk Superior Court on. The jury awarded US$75000 because of emotional distress and US$250000 because it found the funeral home was negligent and intentionally inflicted emotional harm.

title: Service Corporation International


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State of matter

In physics, a state of matter is one of the distinct forms in which matter can exist. Four states of matter are observable in everyday life: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Many intermediate states are known to exist, such as liquid crystal, and some states only exist under extreme conditions, such as Bose–Einstein condensates and Fermionic condensates (in extreme cold), neutron-degenerate matter (in extreme density), and quark–gluon plasma (at extremely high energy).

Historically, the distinction is made based on qualitative differences in properties. Matter in the solid state maintains a fixed volume (assuming no change in temperature or air pressure) and shape, with component particles (atoms, molecules or ions) close together and fixed into place. Matter in the liquid state maintains a fixed volume (assuming no change in temperature or air pressure), but has a variable shape that adapts to fit its container. Its particles are still close together but move freely. Matter in the gaseous state has both variable volume and shape, adapting both to fit its container. Its particles are neither close together nor fixed in place. Matter in the plasma state has variable volume and shape, and contains neutral atoms as well as a significant number of ions and electrons, both of which can move around freely.

The term phase is sometimes used as a synonym for state of matter, but it is possible for a single compound to form different phases that are in the same state of matter. For example, ice is the solid state of water, but there are multiple phases of ice with different crystal structures, which are formed at different pressures and temperatures.

Solid

In a solid, constituent particles (ions, atoms, or molecules) are closely packed together. The forces between particles are so strong that the particles cannot move freely but can only vibrate. As a result, a solid has a stable, definite shape, and a definite volume. Solids can only change their shape by an outside force, as when broken or cut.

In crystalline solids, the particles (atoms, molecules, or ions) are packed in a regularly ordered, repeating pattern. There are various different crystal structures, and the same substance can have more than one structure (or solid phase). For example, iron has a body-centred cubic structure at temperatures below 912 C, and a face-centred cubic structure between 912 and 1394 C. Ice has fifteen known crystal structures, or fifteen solid phases, which exist at various temperatures and pressures.

Glasses and other non-crystalline, amorphous solids without long-range order are not thermal equilibrium ground states; therefore they are described below as nonclassical states of matter.

Solids can be transformed into liquids by melting, and liquids can be transformed into solids by freezing. Solids can also change directly into gases through the process of sublimation, and gases can likewise change directly into solids through deposition.

Liquid

A liquid is a nearly incompressible fluid that conforms to the shape of its container but retains a (nearly) constant volume independent of pressure. The volume is definite if the temperature and pressure are constant. When a solid is heated above its melting point, it becomes liquid, given that the pressure is higher than the triple point of the substance. Intermolecular (or interatomic or interionic) forces are still important, but the molecules have enough energy to move relative to each other and the structure is mobile. This means that the shape of a liquid is not definite but is determined by its container. The volume is usually greater than that of the corresponding solid, the best known exception being water, H$2$O. The highest temperature at which a given liquid can exist is its critical temperature.

Gas

A gas is a compressible fluid. Not only will a gas conform to the shape of its container but it will also expand to fill the container.

In a gas, the molecules have enough kinetic energy so that the effect of intermolecular forces is small (or zero for an ideal gas), and the typical distance between neighboring molecules is much greater than the molecular size. A gas has no definite shape or volume, but occupies the entire container in which it is confined. A liquid may be converted to a gas by heating at constant pressure to the boiling point, or else by reducing the pressure at constant temperature.

At temperatures below its critical temperature, a gas is also called a vapor, and can be liquefied by compression alone without cooling. A vapor can exist in equilibrium with a liquid (or solid), in which case the gas pressure equals the vapor pressure of the liquid (or solid).

A supercritical fluid (SCF) is a gas whose temperature and pressure are above the critical temperature and critical pressure respectively. In this state, the distinction between liquid and gas disappears. A supercritical fluid has the physical properties of a gas, but its high density confers solvent properties in some cases, which leads to useful applications. For example, supercritical carbon dioxide is used to extract caffeine in the manufacture of decaffeinated coffee.

Plasma

A gas is usually converted to a plasma in one of two ways, either from a huge voltage difference between two points, or by exposing it to extremely high temperatures. Heating matter to high temperatures causes electrons to leave the atoms, resulting in the presence of free electrons. This creates a so-called partially ionised plasma. At very high temperatures, such as those present in stars, it is assumed that essentially all electrons are "free", and that a very high-energy plasma is essentially bare nuclei swimming in a sea of electrons. This forms the so-called fully ionised plasma.

The plasma state is often misunderstood, and although not freely existing under normal conditions on Earth, it is quite commonly generated by either lightning, electric sparks, fluorescent lights, neon lights or in plasma televisions. The Sun's corona, some types of flame, and stars are all examples of illuminated matter in the plasma state. Plasma is by far the most abundant of the four fundamental states, as 99% of all ordinary matter in the universe is plasma, as it composes all stars.

Phase transitions

A state of matter is also characterized by phase transitions. A phase transition indicates a change in structure and can be recognized by an abrupt change in properties. A distinct state of matter can be defined as any set of states distinguished from any other set of states by a phase transition. Water can be said to have several distinct solid states. The appearance of superconductivity is associated with a phase transition, so there are superconductive states. Likewise, ferromagnetic states are demarcated by phase transitions and have distinctive properties. When the change of state occurs in stages the intermediate steps are called mesophases. Such phases have been exploited by the introduction of liquid crystal technology.

The state or phase of a given set of matter can change depending on pressure and temperature conditions, transitioning to other phases as these conditions change to favor their existence; for example, solid transitions to liquid with an increase in temperature. Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point, boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons are so energized that they leave their parent atoms.

Forms of matter that are not composed of molecules and are organized by different forces can also be considered different states of matter. Superfluids (like Fermionic condensate) and the quark–gluon plasma are examples.

In a chemical equation, the state of matter of the chemicals may be shown as (s) for solid, (l) for liquid, and (g) for gas. An aqueous solution is denoted (aq). Matter in the plasma state is seldom used (if at all) in chemical equations, so there is no standard symbol to denote it. In the rare equations that plasma is used it is symbolized as (p).

Glass
Glass is a non-crystalline or amorphous solid material that exhibits a glass transition when heated towards the liquid state. Glasses can be made of quite different classes of materials: inorganic networks (such as window glass, made of silicate plus additives), metallic alloys, ionic melts, aqueous solutions, molecular liquids, and polymers. Thermodynamically, a glass is in a metastable state with respect to its crystalline counterpart. The conversion rate, however, is practically zero.

Crystals with some degree of disorder
A plastic crystal is a molecular solid with long-range positional order but with constituent molecules retaining rotational freedom; in an orientational glass this degree of freedom is frozen in a quenched disordered state.

Similarly, in a spin glass magnetic disorder is frozen.

Liquid crystal states
Liquid crystal states have properties intermediate between mobile liquids and ordered solids. Generally, they are able to flow like a liquid, but exhibiting long-range order. For example, the nematic phase consists of long rod-like molecules such as para-azoxyanisole, which is nematic in the temperature range 118–136 C. In this state the molecules flow as in a liquid, but they all point in the same direction (within each domain) and cannot rotate freely. Like a crystalline solid, but unlike a liquid, liquid crystals react to polarized light.

Other types of liquid crystals are described in the main article on these states. Several types have technological importance, for example, in liquid crystal displays.

Microphase separation
Copolymers can undergo microphase separation to form a diverse array of periodic nanostructures, as shown in the example of the styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymer shown at right. Microphase separation can be understood by analogy to the phase separation between oil and water. Due to chemical incompatibility between the blocks, block copolymers undergo a similar phase separation. However, because the blocks are covalently bonded to each other, they cannot demix macroscopically as water and oil can, and so instead the blocks form nanometre-sized structures. Depending on the relative lengths of each block and the overall block topology of the polymer, many morphologies can be obtained, each its own phase of matter.

Ionic liquids also display microphase separation. The anion and cation are not necessarily compatible and would demix otherwise, but electric charge attraction prevents them from separating. Their anions and cations appear to diffuse within compartmentalized layers or micelles instead of freely as in a uniform liquid.

Magnetically ordered states
Transition metal atoms often have magnetic moments due to the net spin of electrons that remain unpaired and do not form chemical bonds. In some solids the magnetic moments on different atoms are ordered and can form a ferromagnet, an antiferromagnet or a ferrimagnet.

In a ferromagnet—for instance, solid iron—the magnetic moment on each atom is aligned in the same direction (within a magnetic domain). If the domains are also aligned, the solid is a permanent magnet, which is magnetic even in the absence of an external magnetic field. The magnetization disappears when the magnet is heated to the Curie point, which for iron is 768 C.

An antiferromagnet has two networks of equal and opposite magnetic moments, which cancel each other out so that the net magnetization is zero. For example, in nickel(II) oxide (NiO), half the nickel atoms have moments aligned in one direction and half in the opposite direction.

In a ferrimagnet, the two networks of magnetic moments are opposite but unequal, so that cancellation is incomplete and there is a non-zero net magnetization. An example is magnetite (Fe$3$O$4$), which contains Fe$2+$ and Fe$3+$ ions with different magnetic moments.

A quantum spin liquid (QSL) is a disordered state in a system of interacting quantum spins which preserves its disorder to very low temperatures, unlike other disordered states. It is not a liquid in physical sense, but a solid whose magnetic order is inherently disordered. The name "liquid" is due to an analogy with the molecular disorder in a conventional liquid. A QSL is neither a ferromagnet, where magnetic domains are parallel, nor an antiferromagnet, where the magnetic domains are antiparallel; instead, the magnetic domains are randomly oriented. This can be realized e.g. by geometrically frustrated magnetic moments that cannot point uniformly parallel or antiparallel. When cooling down and settling to a state, the domain must "choose" an orientation, but if the possible states are similar in energy, one will be chosen randomly. Consequently, despite strong short-range order, there is no long-range magnetic order.

Superconductor
Superconductors are materials which have zero electrical resistivity, and therefore perfect conductivity. This is a distinct physical state which exists at low temperature, and the resistivity increases discontinuously to a finite value at a sharply-defined transition temperature for each superconductor.

A superconductor also excludes all magnetic fields from its interior, a phenomenon known as the Meissner effect or perfect diamagnetism. Superconducting magnets are used as electromagnets in magnetic resonance imaging machines.

The phenomenon of superconductivity was discovered in 1911, and for 75 years was only known in some metals and metallic alloys at temperatures below 30 K. In 1986 so-called high-temperature superconductivity was discovered in certain ceramic oxides, and has now been observed in temperatures as high as 164 K.

Superfluid

Close to absolute zero, some liquids form a second liquid state described as superfluid because it has zero viscosity (or infinite fluidity; i.e., flowing without friction). This was discovered in 1937 for helium, which forms a superfluid below the lambda temperature of 2.17 K. In this state it will attempt to "climb" out of its container. It also has infinite thermal conductivity so that no temperature gradient can form in a superfluid. Placing a superfluid in a spinning container will result in quantized vortices.

These properties are explained by the theory that the common isotope helium-4 forms a Bose–Einstein condensate (see next section) in the superfluid state. More recently, fermionic condensate superfluids have been formed at even lower temperatures by the rare isotope helium-3 and by lithium-6.

Bose–Einstein condensate

In 1924, Albert Einstein and Satyendra Nath Bose predicted the "Bose–Einstein condensate" (BEC), sometimes referred to as the fifth state of matter. In a BEC, matter stops behaving as independent particles, and collapses into a single quantum state that can be described with a single, uniform wavefunction.

In the gas phase, the Bose–Einstein condensate remained an unverified theoretical prediction for many years. In 1995, the research groups of Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman, of JILA at the University of Colorado at Boulder, produced the first such condensate experimentally. A Bose–Einstein condensate is "colder" than a solid. It may occur when atoms have very similar (or the same) quantum levels, at temperatures very close to absolute zero, −273.15 C.

Fermionic condensate
A fermionic condensate is similar to the Bose–Einstein condensate but composed of fermions. The Pauli exclusion principle prevents fermions from entering the same quantum state, but a pair of fermions can behave as a boson, and multiple such pairs can then enter the same quantum state without restriction.

Degenerate matter
Under extremely high pressure, as in the cores of dead stars, ordinary matter undergoes a transition to a series of exotic states of matter collectively known as degenerate matter, which are supported mainly by quantum mechanical effects. In physics, "degenerate" refers to two states that have the same energy and are thus interchangeable. Degenerate matter is supported by the Pauli exclusion principle, which prevents two fermionic particles from occupying the same quantum state. Unlike regular plasma, degenerate plasma expands little when heated, because there are simply no momentum states left. Consequently, degenerate stars collapse into very high densities. More massive degenerate stars are smaller, because the gravitational force increases, but pressure does not increase proportionally.

Electron-degenerate matter is found inside white dwarf stars. Electrons remain bound to atoms but are able to transfer to adjacent atoms. Neutron-degenerate matter is found in neutron stars. Vast gravitational pressure compresses atoms so strongly that the electrons are forced to combine with protons via inverse beta-decay, resulting in a superdense conglomeration of neutrons. Normally free neutrons outside an atomic nucleus will decay with a half life of approximately 10 minutes, but in a neutron star, the decay is overtaken by inverse decay. Cold degenerate matter is also present in planets such as Jupiter and in the even more massive brown dwarfs, which are expected to have a core with metallic hydrogen. Because of the degeneracy, more massive brown dwarfs are not significantly larger. In metals, the electrons can be modeled as a degenerate gas moving in a lattice of non-degenerate positive ions.

Quark matter
In regular cold matter, quarks, fundamental particles of nuclear matter, are confined by the strong force into hadrons that consist of 2–4 quarks, such as protons and neutrons. Quark matter or quantum chromodynamical (QCD) matter is a group of phases where the strong force is overcome and quarks are deconfined and free to move. Quark matter phases occur at extremely high densities or temperatures, and there are no known ways to produce them in equilibrium in the laboratory; in ordinary conditions, any quark matter formed immediately undergoes radioactive decay.

Strange matter is a type of quark matter that is suspected to exist inside some neutron stars close to the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit (approximately 2–3 solar masses), although there is no direct evidence of its existence. In strange matter, part of the energy available manifests as strange quarks, a heavier analogue of the common down quark. It may be stable at lower energy states once formed, although this is not known.

Quark–gluon plasma is a very high-temperature phase in which quarks become free and able to move independently, rather than being perpetually bound into particles, in a sea of gluons, subatomic particles that transmit the strong force that binds quarks together. This is analogous to the liberation of electrons from atoms in a plasma. This state is briefly attainable in extremely high-energy heavy ion collisions in particle accelerators, and allows scientists to observe the properties of individual quarks. Theories predicting the existence of quark–gluon plasma were developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and it was detected for the first time in the laboratory at CERN in the year 2000. Unlike plasma, which flows like a gas, interactions within QGP are strong and it flows like a liquid.

At high densities but relatively low temperatures, quarks are theorized to form a quark liquid whose nature is presently unknown. It forms a distinct color-flavor locked (CFL) phase at even higher densities. This phase is superconductive for color charge. These phases may occur in neutron stars but they are presently theoretical.

Color-glass condensate
Color-glass condensate is a type of matter theorized to exist in atomic nuclei traveling near the speed of light. According to Einstein's theory of relativity, a high-energy nucleus appears length contracted, or compressed, along its direction of motion. As a result, the gluons inside the nucleus appear to a stationary observer as a "gluonic wall" traveling near the speed of light. At very high energies, the density of the gluons in this wall is seen to increase greatly. Unlike the quark–gluon plasma produced in the collision of such walls, the color-glass condensate describes the walls themselves, and is an intrinsic property of the particles that can only be observed under high-energy conditions such as those at RHIC and possibly at the Large Hadron Collider as well.

Very high energy states
Various theories predict new states of matter at very high energies. An unknown state has created the baryon asymmetry in the universe, but little is known about it. In string theory, a Hagedorn temperature is predicted for superstrings at about 1030 K, where superstrings are copiously produced. At Planck temperature (1032 K), gravity becomes a significant force between individual particles. No current theory can describe these states and they cannot be produced with any foreseeable experiment. However, these states are important in cosmology because the universe may have passed through these states in the Big Bang.

Supersolid
A supersolid is a spatially ordered material (that is, a solid or crystal) with superfluid properties. Similar to a superfluid, a supersolid is able to move without friction but retains a rigid shape. Although a supersolid is a solid, it exhibits so many characteristic properties different from other solids that many argue it is another state of matter.

String-net liquid
In a string-net liquid, atoms have apparently unstable arrangement, like a liquid, but are still consistent in overall pattern, like a solid. When in a normal solid state, the atoms of matter align themselves in a grid pattern, so that the spin of any electron is the opposite of the spin of all electrons touching it. But in a string-net liquid, atoms are arranged in some pattern that requires some electrons to have neighbors with the same spin. This gives rise to curious properties, as well as supporting some unusual proposals about the fundamental conditions of the universe itself.

Superglass
A superglass is a phase of matter characterized, at the same time, by superfluidity and a frozen amorphous structure.

Chain-melted state
Metals, like potassium, in the chain-melted state appear to be in the liquid and solid state at the same time. This is a result of being subjected to high temperature and pressure, leading to the chains in the potassium to dissolve into liquid while the crystals remain solid.

Quantum Hall state
A quantum Hall state gives rise to quantized Hall voltage measured in the direction perpendicular to the current flow. A quantum spin Hall state is a theoretical phase that may pave the way for the development of electronic devices that dissipate less energy and generate less heat. This is a derivation of the Quantum Hall state of matter.

Photonic matter
Photonic matter is a phenomenon where photons interacting with a gas develop apparent mass, and can interact with each other, even forming photonic "molecules". The source of mass is the gas, which is massive. This is in contrast to photons moving in empty space, which have no rest mass, and cannot interact.

title: State of matter


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Paul Molitor

Paul Leo Molitor (born August 22, 1956), nicknamed "Molly" and "the Ignitor", is an American former professional baseball player and manager. During his 21-year playing career in Major League Baseball (MLB), he played for the Milwaukee Brewers (1978–1992), Toronto Blue Jays (1993–1995), and Minnesota Twins (1996–1998). He was known for his exceptional hitting and speed. He made seven All-Star Game appearances, and was the World Series Most Valuable Player in 1993. Molitor currently ranks tenth on the all-time MLB career hits list with 3,319. He is one of only five players in history with 3,000+ hits, a lifetime .300+ batting average, and 500+ career stolen bases.

Molitor grew up in Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota before beginning his MLB career. After his retirement as a player, he served as a coach for the Seattle Mariners and the Twins. In 2004, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, becoming one of the first players enshrined after spending a significant portion of his career as a designated hitter. He was a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. On November 3, 2014, Molitor was announced as the 13th manager of the Twins. He managed the team for four seasons and was fired in October 2018.

Early life
Molitor was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. After graduating from Cretin High School, he was selected in the 28th round of the 1974 MLB draft as a pitcher by the St. Louis Cardinals. He opted instead to attend college at the University of Minnesota, where he was a three-year starter for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Molitor earned All-American honors as a shortstop for his sophomore year. Between his sophomore and junior seasons, Molitor suffered a broken jaw. With his jaw wired shut for eight weeks, Molitor lost 40 lbs.

After his junior year in college, the Milwaukee Brewers selected Molitor in the first round, with the third overall selection, in the 1977 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the Brewers and began his professional career with the Class A Burlington Bees of the Midwest League. In 64 games with Burlington, Molitor hit for a .346 batting average, eight home runs, 50 runs batted in (RBI) and 14 stolen bases.

Milwaukee Brewers (1978–1992)
Molitor began as a shortstop, then moved to second base when Robin Yount returned from a brief injury. He made his MLB debut in 1978, playing in 125 games and hitting .273 with six home runs, 45 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. In 1981, he spent time at center field and right field to avoid the injuries associated with infield play. Molitor was moved to third base before the 1982 season. Molitor was part of a young Milwaukee Brewers team that lost the 1982 World Series in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals. Molitor batted .355 during the series. In Game 1, he had five hits, a World Series record. During the 1982 season, he hit .302 and led the American League (AL) with 136 runs scored. On May 12, he hit three home runs against the Royals in a 9-7 loss.

Molitor struggled with injuries for much of his early career, being placed on the disabled list six times between 1980 and 1986. In 1984, Molitor struggled with elbow problems, played in only 13 games and ultimately underwent Tommy John surgery in an attempt to salvage his career. He played in 140 games in 1985, hitting .297 with 10 home runs and 48 RBIs. He followed that with a .281 average, 9 home runs and 55 RBI in 1986. That year he suffered a hamstring injury, returned for a few days, then reinjured it. He played in 105 games that season.

Molitor attracted national media attention in 1987 during his 39-game hitting streak. Near the end of the streak, columnist Mike Downey wrote that "the amazing thing about Paul Molitor's recent bat-o-rama is not that he has hit in 33 straight games but that he has played in 33 straight games." The streak ended with Molitor in the on-deck circle when Rick Manning got a game-ending hit to beat the Cleveland Indians on August 26, 1987. Fans booed Manning for driving in the winning run and thus depriving Molitor of one last chance to reach 40 games. The streak stands as the fifth-longest in modern-day baseball history, and remains the longest since Pete Rose's 44-game hit streak in 1978.

Toronto Blue Jays (1993–1995)
Although Molitor wanted to remain with Milwaukee when he became a free agent after the 1992 season, the franchise offered him a one-year contract with a $900,000 pay cut (to $2.5 million), while the Toronto Blue Jays offered a three-year, $13 million deal (equivalent to $ million in ), leading to his signing with the Blue Jays. Agent Ron Simon said, "I was also talking with Milwaukee, but it became clear to us that Milwaukee didn't have the same kind of interest in signing Molitor, perhaps because of their financial situation."

Molitor quickly became an offensive juggernaut. In 1993, Molitor led the AL in plate appearances (725) and hits (211) and hit .332 with 22 home runs and 111 RBI. Returning to the playoffs for the first time since 1982, he was a key part of the Blue Jays' second World Championship. Molitor hit 2 doubles, 2 triples, and 2 home runs in the Series, earning the World Series MVP Award and tied a World Series record by batting .500 (12-for-24) in the six-game series. In addition, after playing as a DH all season, Molitor played Game 3 of the World Series at first base and Games 4 and 5 at third base in the games played at Philadelphia.

In 1994, a strike-shortened season, Molitor hit .341 and led the AL in games played (115) and singles (107). He also stole 20 bases that season without ever being caught, one short of Kevin McReynolds' 1988 major league record of 21. Molitor's average dropped to .270 in 1995, his lowest mark in more than ten years.

Minnesota Twins (1996–1998)
He left the Blue Jays after the season, and joined his hometown Minnesota Twins for the final three seasons of his career, where he acquired his 3,000th hit. He was the first player to reach the 3,000 hits plateau with a triple. Molitor was relishing the opportunity to play with Twins superstar Kirby Puckett, but Puckett developed career-ending glaucoma during spring training in 1996 and never played again. In 1996, Molitor became the second 40-year-old, after Hall of Famer Sam Rice, to have a 200-hit season, leading the league with 225, while also leading the league in singles with 167. Molitor also remains the last MLB player to drive in 100 or more runs in a season while hitting fewer than 10 home runs (nine HR, 113 RBIs).

Molitor hit .305 in 1997, his twelfth season to finish with a batting average higher than .300. In 1998, he hit .281 with four home runs, 69 RBI and nine stolen bases. Other than his very brief 1984 season, the 1998 season was the first in Molitor's career in which he did not reach double-digit stolen base totals. He retired in December, saying, "My heart tells me I've done what I can do on the field and in this game," Molitor said. "I'm happy to leave it playing my last season in a Twins uniform... Now I'm going to redirect my efforts to find out what else the future holds."

Early career
After retiring as a player, Molitor remained with the Twins as a bench coach for three seasons. He was considered a leading candidate to manage the team when Tom Kelly retired after 2001, but he declined in part because the Twins were still being targeted for potential contraction. Molitor was a hitting coach with the Mariners in 2004. He then spent the 2005 to 2013 seasons in the Twins organization as a minor league baserunning and fielding instructor. Molitor joined the Twins coaching staff in 2014 to oversee baserunning, bunting, infield instruction, and positioning.

Minnesota Twins
The Twins hired Molitor to fill their manager vacancy for the 2015 season, and introduced him in a press conference on November 4, 2014. At the end of the 2017 season, the Twins announced that Molitor would receive a three-year contract extension through 2020. Molitor was rewarded for his efforts in leading the Twins back to the postseason after losing 103 games the season prior, the first team in history to achieve this feat, by being named American League Manager of the Year in November 2017. He became only the second person to be elected to the Hall of Fame as a player and win the Manager of the Year Award behind Frank Robinson, who was named AL Manager of the Year in 1989 while managing the Baltimore Orioles. On October 2, 2018, the Twins fired Molitor as manager, but expressed that they had interest in having him continue to maintain a role with the team in some capacity. He finished with a record of 305 wins and 343 losses in 648 games. Molitor later rejoined the Twins as a special assistant, with roving instructor duties for the team's minor league affiliates.

Accomplishments
Molitor's lifetime statistics include 2,683 games played, 1,782 runs scored, 3,319 hits, 605 doubles, 114 triples, 234 home runs, 1,307 runs batted in, 1,094 walks, a .306 batting average, and 504 stolen bases. His 3,319 hits rank him ninth all-time. In addition, he batted .368 in five postseason series, and was an all-star seven times. Molitor recorded these statistics while missing nearly 500 games due to various injuries throughout his career. In 1999, Molitor ranked No. 99 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and he was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Molitor was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.

On June 11, 1999, the Brewers retired Molitor's uniform number 4. During the ceremony at Milwaukee County Stadium, Molitor announced that if he went into the Hall of Fame, he would do so as a Brewer. On January 6, 2004, he was elected to the Hall in his first year of eligibility, with 85.2% of the votes. True to his word, he joined Robin Yount as the only Hall of Famers to be depicted on their plaques with Brewers caps. At the time of his induction, Molitor was the hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners.

Molitor is one of five players in major league history with at least 3,000 hits, a .300 lifetime batting average, and 500 stolen bases. The other four are Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins and Ichiro Suzuki. Only Ichiro and Molitor played beyond 1930. Molitor is the only player ever to accomplish those feats and hit at least 200 home runs. Molitor is also the first player in World Series history to have at least two home runs, two doubles, and two triples in one series (1993). He is a member of an exclusive club, hitting .300 or better in full seasons across three decades (1970s, 80s, and 90s). He hit better than .300 a dozen times in his career. Including Game 1 of the 1982 World Series, he recorded eight 5-hit games and four 200+ hit seasons in his 21 year major league career. Molitor also compiled 56 4-hit games in his MLB career.

As of 2021, Molitor is the last Major League player to execute the rare feat of stealing home plate at least ten times over the course of a career.

Personal life
During the early years of his career, Molitor began using cocaine and marijuana. During the trial of a drug dealer in 1984, Molitor admitted that he had used drugs. Many years later, he said, "There are things you're not so proud of — failures, mistakes, dabbling in drugs, a young ballplayer in the party scene. Part of it was peer pressure. I was young and single, and hung around with the wrong people. ... You learn from it. You find a positive in it. It makes you appreciate the things that are good." He claims to have stopped using drugs in 1981, and has since visited schools to lecture about the dangers of drug use.

Molitor married Linda Kaplan in 1981, and before their 2003 divorce it was revealed he had fathered a son in an extramarital affair with Joanna Andreou and was paying child support. During his legal separation from Linda, he fathered another child with the woman who would become his second wife, Destini; they had a third child together and later divorced.

During his Hall of Fame induction speech, Molitor mentioned his difficult family relationships; the divorce from Linda caused such hard feelings that his ex-wife and daughter almost did not attend his induction ceremony.

Molitor's nephew is professional disc golfer Cale Leiviska.

title: Paul Molitor


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Miller's knot

A miller's knot (also sack knot or bag knot) is a binding knot used to secure the opening of a sack or bag. Historically, large sacks often contained grains; thus the association of these knots with the miller's trade. Several knots are known interchangeably by these three names.

Constrictor makes a fiercer binding knot, but Miller's/Bag is suitable for most applications, and is easier to tie/untie. Miller's/Bag makes a great hitch, like the similar Ground-Line. Binding usage has force emanating from inside rope ring evenly, hitch usage has force input from one side, then reducing around.

Variations
As noted above, several other distinct knots have historically been known as miller's, sack, or bag knots; namely ABOK-1241, ABOK-1242, ABOK-1243 (Ground line hitch), ABOK-1674, ABOK-11 and their slipped versions. These fit the short description "two crossing turns – ends tucked under".

The following 3 knots do not fit the simple "two crossing turns – ends tucked under" definition but are very secure:
 * A slipped constrictor knot where the ends are passed through the opposing slips for security is quite secure as a bag knot. Unslipped, it is even more secure, but it may have to be cut at the bridge to open the bag.
 * A slipped strangle knot where the ends are passed through the opposing slips for security is also quite secure as a bag knot.
 * A bottle sling around a swirled and folded neck of the bag (elbow of the neck) is also a very solid and reliable bag knot. The fold provides the slight bulge a bottle sling needs for a secure hold. The bag may be hanged fully loaded by the ends of the Bottle sling tied together.

Tying
The common aspects of the most common bag knots are two crossing turns, and both ends tucked under some turns near the crossing point. Two ends, and two turns one can tuck under, gives a limited number of alternatives. All of these knots can also be made in a slipped form by starting with a bight and/or by completing the final tuck with a bight instead of the end.

To avoid ambiguity, versions of these knots that are not slipped are pictured below with the reference numbers found in The Ashley Book of Knots.

title: Miller's knot


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Butterfly loop

The butterfly loop, also known as lineman's loop, butterfly knot, alpine butterfly knot, Swiss loop and lineman's rider, is a knot used to form a fixed loop in the middle of a rope. Tied in the bight, it can be made in a rope without access to either of the ends; this is a distinct advantage when working with long climbing ropes. The butterfly loop is an excellent mid-line rigging knot; it handles multi-directional loading well and has a symmetrical shape that makes it easy to inspect. In a climbing context it is also useful for traverse lines, some anchors, shortening rope slings, and for isolating damaged sections of rope.

History
The earliest known presentation of the knot was in A.A. Burger's 1914 work Rope and Its Uses, included in an agricultural extension bulletin from what is now Iowa State University. Burger called the knot a lineman's rider stating it was often used by "linemen and especially telephone men". The knot's security and ability to withstand tension in any direction are both discussed.

The knot's association with mountaineering—and with butterflies—originates from a 1928 article in Alpine Journal by C.E.I. Wright and J.E. Magowan. The authors claim to have developed the butterfly noose themselves while attempting to improve the selection of knots available to climbers. The name is "so styled on the basis of a more or less fanciful resemblance imagined in the form of the knot." In the second part of the article they express dissatisfaction regarding their earlier use of the word "noose," since the knot is non-collapsing, and refer to the knot as butterfly loop or simply butterfly. Wright and Magowan call the butterfly loop "new," along with several other of their knots, in the sense they were unable to identify any earlier record of them. However, they prudently added that it "might be rash to claim they have never been used before."

Clifford Ashley presented the knot in 1944 (text & image #1053), calling it the lineman's loop; he attributed its first publication to J.M. Drew, but made no specific reference as to the source of this claim. A 1912 article called "Some Knots and Splices" by Drew appears in the bibliography of The Ashley Book of Knots. A 1913 reprint of this Drew article does not mention the butterfly loop. Nor does Drew's 1942 book Ropework : Knots, Hitches, Splices, Halters --and presumably earlier edition 1936 (but which has 66pp vs. 58 for 1942?!)-- own book on knots present this knot. But in his contributed "Chapter 12 Rope Work", pp.202 .. 252 to Lester Griswold's Handicraft does present the knot. (Curiously, Ashley gives no hint that this book which he twice praises contains a full knots chapter written by Drew!)

Use
The loop is typically attached to a climbing harness by 2 carabiners together with gates to opposite sides from each other.

It can also be used to isolate a worn section of rope, where the knot is tied such that the worn section is isolated in the loop (which of course does not receive a carabiner nor bear any loads in this case). The loop portion is isolated when the other two legs are loaded, and in fact the butterfly can be tied as a bend with the ends emerging where the loop would be.

Errors in tying the butterfly loop can produce a similar looking but inferior knot, the so-called "false butterfly", which is prone to slipping. However, some sources suggest this behavior can be exploited purposely for shock absorption. Wright and Magowan called this less secure loop knot the "half-hitch noose".

Advantages

 * Forms stable, secure loop after initial setting.
 * Allows for the knot to be loaded three ways; by each end of the main line and the loop.
 * Relatively easy to untie after loading (more difficult if wet).
 * Size of loop can be adjusted more easily than with bulkier or more complex loop knots.
 * Easy to inspect.
 * Can easily be tied with gloves on.
 * Can easily be tied one-handed.

Disadvantages

 * Difficult to tie around a solid ring or similar object, as when a rethreaded figure eight is needed.
 * Improper tying can result in similar looking but inferior "false butterfly" knot.
 * Works best with softer ropes.

Variations
The double butterfly loop has two non-collapsing loops, allowing for two clip in points, both of which have the same advantages and disadvantages of a single-loop butterfly.

title: Butterfly loop


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Constrictor knot

The constrictor knot is one of the most effective binding knots. Simple and secure, it is a harsh knot that can be difficult or impossible to untie once tightened. It is made similarly to a clove hitch but with one end passed under the other, forming an overhand knot under a riding turn. The double constrictor knot is an even more robust variation that features two riding turns.

History
First called "constrictor knot" in Clifford Ashley's 1944 work The Ashley Book of Knots, this knot likely dates back much further. Although Ashley seemed to imply that he had invented the constrictor knot over 25 years before publishing The Ashley Book of Knots, research indicates that he was not its only originator, but his Book of Knots does seem to be the source of subsequent knowledge and awareness of the knot.

Although the description is not entirely without ambiguity, the constrictor knot is thought to have appeared under the name "gunner's knot" in the 1866 work The Book of Knots, written under the pseudonym Tom Bowling. The knot is described in relation to the clove hitch, which he illustrated and called the "builder's knot". He wrote, "The Gunner's knot (of which we do not give a diagram) only differs from the builder's knot, by the ends of the cords being simply knotted before being brought from under the loop which crosses them." But Bowling is simply an extraction and translation of the knotting work contained in the huge French Traite de L'Art de la Charpenterie, first published in 1841, which says "Le nœud de bombardier, que nous n'avons point figuré, ne differe du nœud d'artificier qu'en ce que les bouts du cordage sont croisés en nœud simple, avant de sortir de dessous la ganse qui les croise, fig.46." When J. T. Burgess copied from Bowling, he changed this text to merely state "when the ends are knotted, the builder's knot becomes the gunner's Knot." Although a clove hitch with knotted ends is a workable binding knot, Burgess was not actually describing the constrictor knot. In 1917, A. Hyatt Verrill illustrated Burgess's clove hitch variation in Knots, Splices and Rope Work.

The constrictor knot was clearly described but not pictured as the "timmerknut" ("timber knot") in the 1916 (2nd) edition of the Swedish book Om Knutar ("On Knots") by Hjalmar Öhrvall. Finnish scout leader Martta Ropponen presented the knot in her 1931 scouting handbook Solmukirja ("Knot Book"), one of the first published works known to contain an illustration of the constrictor knot. Cyrus L. Day relates that, "she had never seen it in Finland, she wrote to me in 1954, but had learned about it from a Spaniard named Raphael Gaston, who called it a whip knot, and told her it was used in the mountains of Spain by muleteers and herdsmen." The Finnish name "ruoskasolmu" ("whip knot") was a translation from Esperanto, the language Ropponen used to correspond with Gaston. But even this explicit occurrence of the constrictor remains in doubt, as the name "whip knot" is not applied to the constrictor in other works, and otherwise is used for the strangle knot, tied in the ends of whip tails. Also in 1931 – and so of essentially same date as for Ropponen – James Drew presented the constrictor (as a strangle knot that can be tied in the bight) in Lester Griswold's Handicrafts book; but Drew did not show it in his on book of knots later published. (As Drew knew Clifford Ashley, it is suspected that he might have learned the knot from him; Ashley does praise Handicrafts in his Book of Knots.)

Tying method
The method shown below is the most basic way to tie the knot around a post (that is, using a working end).

 * 1) Make a turn around the object and bring the working end back over the standing part.
 * 2) Continue around behind the object.
 * 3) Pass the working end over the standing part and then under the riding turn and standing part, forming an overhand knot under a riding turn.
 * 4) Be sure the ends emerge between the two turns as shown. Pull firmly on the ends to tighten.

There are also at least three methods to tie the constrictor knot in the bight and slip it over the end of an object to be bound.

Twisting method
Using both hands when the end of the object to tie to is available:

If one or both of the ends are folded in between the two loops and lead in the opposite direction, the knot becomes slipped.

Folding method
Using one hand when the end of the object to tie to is available:

If the rope is to be stretched in tension, the grabbing at stage 2 may first tighten the top side rope, the bottom side rope may be pulled to tighten the knot itself, and the bottom rope side may be tightened by the knot at the next pole. If one or both of the ends are folded and led in the opposite direction before the last loop is folded over the objects end, the knot becomes slipped and therefore easier to untie: It also makes it possible to stretch either side rope tight by pulling at the slip loops.

Double constrictor knot
If a stronger and even more secure knot is required an extra riding turn can be added to the basic knot to form a double constrictor knot. It is particularly useful when tying the knot with very slippery twine, especially when waxed. Adding more than one extra riding turn does not add to its security and makes the knot more difficult to tighten evenly.

 * 1) Make a turn around the object and bring the working end back over the standing part.
 * 2) Make a second turn following the same path as the first
 * 3) Pass the working end over the standing part, then thread it back under the standing part and both riding turns, forming an overhand knot under two riding turns.
 * 4) Be sure the ends emerge between the turns as shown. The double constrictor may require more careful dressing to distribute the tension throughout the knot. After working up fairly tight, pull firmly on the ends to finish.

Slipped constrictor knot
This variation is useful if it is known beforehand that the constrictor will need to be released. Depending on the knotting material and how tightly it is cinched, the slipped form can still be very difficult to release.

 * 1) Make a turn around the object and bring the working end back over the standing part.
 * 2) Continue around behind the object, and then again over the standing part back to the side of the first turn.
 * 3) Pass a bight of the working end under the point where the first riding pass and the standing part cross to form a slip loop.
 * 4) Be sure the slip loop bight and both ends emerge from in between the two turns as shown.
 * 5) To release, tug on the working end so that the bight passes back through the knot.

The slipped constrictor can also be tied in the bight and slipped over the object to constrict. Despite its advertised advantage (quick release), the slipped constrictor knot can also be hard to release when worked extremely tight in certain rope materials.

Cross constrictor knot
This variation is similar to the double constrictor knot but has the two riding turns crossing each other rather than riding along. It is unclear whether it is more secure than the double constrictor, and has the unhelpful aspect of being thicker at the bridge of the knot, with three rope diameters.

There are two types depending on which direction the two riding turns cross. When the bottom riding turn is along the grove of the ends wrapping around each other on their way out, it gives a slightly lower knot height and may be seen as a strangle knot with an extra riding turn across.

Usage
The constrictor knot is appropriate for situations where secure temporary or semi-permanent binding is needed. Made with small-stuff it is especially effective, as the binding force is concentrated over a smaller area. When tying over soft material such as the neck of a bag, take care to keep the wraps of the knot together. The constrictor knot can damage or disfigure items it is tied around. To exert extreme tension on the knot without injuring the hands, one can fashion handles using marlinespike hitches made around two rods.

Constrictor knots can be used for temporarily binding the fibres of a rope (or strand ends) together while splicing, or when cutting to length and before properly whipping the ends. Constrictor knots can also be quite effective as improvised hose clamps or cable ties. The knot has also been recommended as a surgical knot for ligatures in human and veterinary surgery, where it has been shown to be far superior to any of the knots commonly used for ligation. Noted master-rigger Brion Toss says of the constrictor: "To know the knot is to constantly find uses for it..."

For spearguns, the constrictor knot is the usual knot used to secure modern, toggled, Dyneema, cord wishbones into the hollow, bulk-rubber loops, which are used to power the spear. Usually tied with braid, Kevlar or Dyneema cord of approximately 1.4-2mm diameter.

Releasing
A heavily tightened constrictor knot will likely jam. If the ends are long enough, one can sometimes untie it by pulling one end generally parallel to the bound object and a bit up away from it, and prying it into the opposite end's part to open the knot. Tools that can be forced between parts of the knot (such as picks and marlinespikes) may help.

If the ends have been trimmed short, or the knot is otherwise hopelessly jammed, it can be easily released by cutting the riding turn with a sharp knife. The knot will spring apart as soon as the riding turn is cut. If care is taken not to cut too deeply, the underlying wraps will protect the bound object from being damaged by the knife.

Security
The constrictor and double constrictor are both extremely secure when tied tightly around convex objects with cord scaled for the task at hand. If binding around a not fully convex, or square-edged object, arrange the knot so the overhand knot portion is stretched across a convex portion, or a corner, with the riding turn directly atop it. In situations where the object leaves gaps under the knot and there are no corners, it is possible to finish the constrictor knot off with an additional overhand knot, in the fashion of a reef knot, to help stabilize it. Those recommendations aside, constrictor knots do function best on fully convex objects.

If the constricted object (such as a temporarily whipped rope) ends very close to where a constrictor binds it, a boa knot may prove a more stable solution.

title: Constrictor knot


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Talk:Restaurant chain/Archive 1

Sorry -- I have to disagree with a HUGE part of what was originally in the article, based on many years working in restaurants. Yes, many chain restaurants are fast-food restaurants -- but they have their own article. Most people do not think of fast-food places as restaurants per se -- unlike actual restaurant (dine-in) chains -- of which there are many in the US and abroad. If there needs to be a list of famous chains, then it shouldn't be fast-food (again, its own article) -- not when people could list Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Black angus, Ruths'Chris, Outback (in the US); Wienerwald and John Benton (in Germany), and a few in England (pub chains, mostly, I think) -- and even Waffle House and Denny's -- as famous chain restaurants. JHK

title: Talk:Restaurant chain/Archive 1