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Polaris (Marvel Comics)

Polaris (Lorna Dane) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Jim Steranko, the character first appeared in The X-Men #49 (October 1968). Lorna Dane belongs to the subspecies of humans called mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities. She can control magnetism in a manner similar to her father Magneto. The character has been known as Polaris, Malice, and Pestilence at various points in her history. Dane has also been a member of the X-Men and the X-Factor.

The character has been featured in various other Marvel-licensed products, including video games, animated television series, and merchandise. Lorna Dane made her live-action debut in The Gifted (2018), portrayed by Emma Dumont.

Concept and creation
The new costume worn by Polaris in the Fall of the House of X (2024) series was designed by comic book artist Lukas Werneck. Marvel Comics requested a suit paying homage to Magneto.

1960s
Lorna Dane debuted in The X-Men #49 (October 1968), created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Jim Steranko. She appeared in the 1975 Giant-Size X-Men series, and the 1986 X-Factor series.

2000s
Lorna Dane appeared in the 2019 Captain Marvel, the 2020 X-Factor series, the 2020 X of Swords: Creation one-shot, the 2021 X-Men series, the 2021 X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic series, the 2022 Marauders series, the 2023 Scarlet Witch series, and the 2024 Fall of the House of X series.

Origin
Lorna Dane met the original team of X-Men while still a student. When the villain Mesmero used his "psyche-generator" to summon mutants in North America with latent powers, Lorna found herself compelled to travel to San Francisco, where Mesmero was. There she encountered the X-Man Iceman, who broke her trance by causing her to slip on a patch of ice and then convinced her to come to his apartment. At the apartment, Lorna met the rest of the X-Men who soon learned that she had latent mutant powers. Mesmero and his android Demi-Men captured her and took her to their desert headquarters, with the X-Men in pursuit. The psyche-generator awakened her mutant powers and Mesmero named her "Queen of the Mutants".

When the X-Men attempted to rescue her, Magneto revealed himself as the leader of the group behind her abduction—and, more importantly, claimed to be Lorna's father. Despite the X-Men's assertions that Magneto is evil, Lorna could not bring herself to fight her own father. Iceman returns from meeting with her foster parents who told him that her birth parents had died in a plane crash years earlier. This information caused Lorna to turn against Magneto but it was later revealed that she had caused the accident and Magneto had her memories of it erased with the help of Mastermind. For a while, Iceman was attracted to her, but Lorna did not truly reciprocate the feelings. She instead fell in love with their teammate Havok.

Unbeknownst to Lorna, the Magneto who claimed to be her father is revealed to be an android. Shortly after, Lorna was captured by Sentinels, but was rescued by the X-Men. Lorna joined the X-Men and began living at Xavier's mansion. Lorna aided Havok and the X-Men in repelling the alien Z'Nox's attempted invasion of Earth.

Lorna Dane's first "code name" was Magnetrix, but she quickly decided that she did not like this name. However, that did not keep Havok from continuing to use that name as a way to annoy and flirt with her. The two leave the X-Men to pursue their mutual interest in geophysics. They moved to the Diablo mountain range in California.

Lorna, with Havok, is later seen battling the Hulk. When the old and new X-Men fought the mutant island Krakoa, Lorna displayed the full potential of her powers for the first time by disrupting the Earth's magnetic field, which sent Krakoa into deep space. They then joined Moira MacTaggert at her facility for genetic research on Muir Island.

Mind controlled
Lorna received a new costume of Shi'ar design, when her mind came under the domination of the Shi'ar Intelligence agent Davan Shakari, also known as Erik the Red. It was Erik the Red who gave Lorna the codename Polaris, which she has continued to use ever since. At the time, Shakari served D'Ken, then emperor of the Shi'ar Galaxy. Shakari kidnapped Alex Summers and Lorna, and subjected them to a powerful form of mind control. He turned them against the X-Men in an attempt to assassinate Professor Charles Xavier. A massive battle ensued at Kennedy International Airport, with the duo battling the X-Men. Polaris was defeated by Storm, but Shakari managed to escape with both her and Havok. Xavier eventually freed both Polaris and Havok from Shakari's control.

Polaris and Havok remained inactive as members of the X-Men, though they did return from time to time to assist the team. With the X-Men, they battled Proteus on Muir Island. For the most part, Lorna and Alex remained in civilian life for a number of years, settling in New Mexico and completing their college degrees. They were forced to reluctantly help the X-Men in Arcade's Murderworld. Their new life was interrupted when the Marauders ambushed them around the time of the Mutant Massacre. Polaris’ mind was overtaken by the psionic being known as Malice.

Under Malice's control, Lorna attacked the X-Men as leader of the Marauders. Shortly thereafter, the Malice entity found that it had become permanently bonded to Lorna's body. She led the Marauders against the X-Men during Inferno. After Mister Sinister was seemingly killed, Malice's hold over Lorna weakened. Temporarily regaining control of her own mind, Lorna was able to place a phone call to the X-Men in Australia for help, but they arrived too late. Lorna had been taken to be with her alleged half-sister Zaladane, a priestess for the Savage Land's Sun People. The X-Men arrived in time to witness Zaladane's getaway, though Havok managed to infiltrate her army in disguise while the X-Men followed. In the Savage Land, the X-Men found that Zaladane had amassed an army of Savage Land natives who were being mentally controlled for her by Worm, one of the Savage Land Mutates. Zaladane revealed that she is in fact Lorna's sister and, using the High Evolutionary's machinery, stripped Lorna of her magnetic powers, taking them as her own. In addition, the process managed to finally separate Lorna from Malice. Zaladane and her forces clashed with Ka-Zar and the X-Men. During the encounter, Lorna's secondary mutation activated: she grew in height, became invulnerable, and gained superhuman strength. Zaladane's army was released from Worm's control, and Lorna finally regained her freedom.

Having nowhere else to go, Lorna went to Moira MacTaggert's mutant research station on Muir Island. On her way there, her secondary mutation activated again, as evidenced by a sudden increase in height. At this time, she discovered that her new mutation also affects those around her, amplifying negative emotions such as anger and hate.

Muir Island
Upon examination, Dr. MacTaggert was at a loss to explain Lorna's new mutation, although she did confirm that the only way Zaladane could have taken her powers away was if she had been a biological sibling. Shortly after her arrival, Lorna joined the Muir Island X-Men team formed by Moira and former X-Man Banshee. This team defended Muir Island from the attacking Reavers, who were hunting for Wolverine.

Prior to this time, it had not been clear that Polaris was actually drawing strength from being a nexus for negative emotional energies. Polaris’ status as a nexus, however, was perceived by the villainous Shadow King. The Shadow King used Polaris as a gateway to allow him access to the physical world from the astral plane, causing a worldwide increase in anger, hatred, and violence in the process. Polaris was freed of his influence with the help of X-Factor and the X-Men during the Muir Island Saga. Upon the defeat of the Shadow King, Polaris’ magnetic powers return due to a combination of Zaladane's death a short time before and the neural-disruptive psionic blade of the X-Man Psylocke, leaving no trace of her increased size, strength, or emotion-control powers.

X-Factor
Polaris was then asked to join the newly formed X-Factor by Valerie Cooper, and, tired of hiding out on Muir Island, she accepted. Havok and Polaris were set as its leaders. Although joining X-Factor offered Polaris the chance to reunite with Havok, their relationship remained largely unresolved. Polaris was able to come to terms with her experiences with mind control thanks to psychiatrist Dr. Leonard Samson, helping her to develop her confidence. Polaris developed a strong belief in Xavier's dream while a member of X-Factor. Polaris became the government's secret weapon against a possible attack from Magneto, with the government hiring the mercenary Random to test her abilities. Malice later returned to bother her once more but Havok and Polaris, out of their love for each other, each tried to absorb her, preventing the other from being possessed. In the end, Malice perished at the hands of Mister Sinister.

Shortly thereafter, Havok was kidnapped by agents of the Dark Beast, who forged a note explaining that Havok needed to get away from Polaris. This devastated Polaris, causing her to feel abandoned and betrayed. X-Factor's atmosphere changed as the criminals Mystique and Sabretooth were forced by the government to join the group. Polaris began to question her place on the team after this, especially as most of her original teammates were no longer active. She discovered Havok's fate as he attacked X-Factor with the Dark Beast's agents, apparently under mind-control. After Havok was defeated, Polaris tried to reach out to him, only to be attacked and severely injured when she felt she could trust him. When Sabretooth betrayed and attacked the team, Polaris was severely injured.

After recovering from her injuries, and learning that Havok's "terrorist" activities had been a front for his true undercover work, Polaris forgave him, although she rejected him romantically. She also agreed to join Havok's new X-Factor team. However, during their first team meeting, she could only watch as Havok was seemingly killed in the explosion of a faulty time machine constructed by the mutant from the future, Greystone. Although Havok had left Polaris in charge of his team while trying to stop Greystone, she apparently did not feel like she could keep the team together, and they disbanded shortly thereafter.

The Twelve
Weeks later, Nightcrawler encountered Lorna in a church and she confided in him that she felt she was being followed and that she was sure Alex was still alive. A group of Skrulls working with Apocalypse were indeed shadowing her and broke into her apartment to retrieve the headgear from Havok's original costume. Lorna then learned that she was one of The Twelve, a team of mutants supposedly destined to usher in a new golden age for mutant-kind. Polaris journeyed with the X-Men to Egypt to battle Apocalypse. During the encounter, Magneto, another member of The Twelve, discovered that he could use Lorna to tap into the Earth's magnetic field with incredible force, effectively hiding the reduced state of his powers at the time.

Acolyte
After Apocalypse was defeated, Polaris returned to Genosha with Magneto to supply him with power and help him keep order. She believed she was doing it for the greater good, but also enjoyed the education in her powers that she received. Magneto launched a full-scale assault on Carrion Cove, the last city opposing his rule, to gain access to technology that would restore his full abilities. Polaris attempted to stop him, but she was defeated and left the country with the Avengers. She later returned with Quicksilver to help oppose Magneto's tyrannical rule.

Although Quicksilver was discovered and forced to leave Genosha, Polaris maintained a low profile to covertly transport refugees from the war to other nations, as well as monitor Magneto's actions. After Magneto's spine was severed by Wolverine, Polaris was able to steal a blood sample from his medical tests, which she used to confirm that Magneto was her biological father. When Cassandra Nova’s Sentinels destroyed Genosha and massacred millions, Polaris was one of the few survivors. She was left emotionally scarred after witnessing the massacre after being unable to save them.

Trauma
Later, some of the X-Men went to Genosha to survey what occurred there. They encountered a nude and deranged Polaris in Genosha after its population was massacred by Cassandra Nova's Sentinels. When Polaris rejoined the X-Men, the extremely traumatic experience had left her with a darker, more ruthless personality, even killing some members of the anti-mutant Church of Humanity. Havok broke up with Polaris after they were about to be married, leaving her at the altar for nurse Annie Ghazikhanian with whom he had an affair while he was in a coma using telepathy. Polaris now driven to instability yet again went berserk and commenced to go on a rampage that nearly resulted in her killing Havok. A case was made that it was due to the trauma from Genosha but nobody bought it. Juggernaut succeeded in knocking her out. She remained this way until some psychic therapy with Professor Xavier. Polaris promised to do no more harm and she was accepted back to the X-Men.

Iceman later admitted to Polaris that he still had feelings for her and after some mild flirtation, the two began a relationship. The relationship was not to last, however, since Lorna's other relationships (namely with Havok) were still unresolved. Havok has confessed to still loving her after Annie had left him, however, Polaris pushed him away.

Decimation
It was revealed that Polaris had lost her powers on M-Day, but had avoided telling her teammates. When confronted by Valerie Cooper, who has knowledge of her power loss, Polaris claimed that her power loss is psychological and she believes she is preventing herself from using them. Polaris eventually was forced by circumstance to accept that her powers were gone and admit the fact to the rest of the team—whereupon all the other members of her squad, except her would-be-paramours Iceman and Havok, revealed to her that they had already guessed it. She then left the mansion with Havok to "search" for her lost powers, irrationally convinced they lay with an alien named Daap, a seeming twin to the deceased X-Statix member Doop, who she had seen on a recent mission in space. Daap soon crashed to Earth and kidnapped Polaris and the Leper Queen, the leader of the anti-mutant group known as the Sapien League.

Horseman of Apocalypse
Apocalypse took them both, restrained the Leper Queen, and forcibly transformed Polaris into the new Pestilence. Seemingly mind-wiped, she ingested viruses from the World Health Organization and was attempting to create a meta-plague. In the climactic battle between the X-Men, the Avengers, and Apocalypse, Wolverine discovered a choking Pestilence was Lorna. She was recovering in the X-Mansion when former Horsemen of Apocalypse Gambit and Sunfire returned to take her away. She arose and refused to go with them, but also decided to quit the X-Men. Polaris decided to leave that night to search for Apocalypse in Egypt. She went alone and was later hunted until Havok and the new Uncanny X-Men team saved her. Emma Frost has also noted that her powers seem to be "strange and mutating".

The Rise and Fall of The Shi'ar Empire
After being rescued from an anti-Apocalypse cult by the new team, Polaris agreed to join Professor X, Darwin, Havok, Marvel Girl, Nightcrawler, and Warpath on their mission to stop Vulcan. Her current relationship with Havok is still developing. Polaris seemed to finally show concrete signs of forgiving Havok, telling him to "just shut up and kiss me" after the team won their first battle against the entire regiment of Shi'ar soldiers in their beginning struggle against D'Ken and in support of Lilandra. Although Havok initially rebuffs her advances, hesitant to "start up again after" everything that happened between them, Lorna says that he needs to "blow off some steam" and the scene ends with them kissing. Polaris helps in the big fight and seriously hurts Vulcan and Gladiator with her powers, but in the end she is one of the X-Men left behind.

Starjammers
Following the death of Corsair at the hands of Vulcan, Polaris joined the newest incarnation of the Starjammers, intending to kill Vulcan and restore Lilandra Neramani to the Shi'ar throne. Their mission proved unsuccessful and Polaris, along with Havok, Ch'od, and Raza, was captured and incarcerated on an underwater planet by Vulcan.

X-Men: Kingbreaker
Lorna was later shown to still be a prisoner of Vulcan and his forces. Vulcan ordered her to be heavily drugged so they can further study this. She was later freed by Havok and the other Starjammers, who vowed to kill Vulcan.

War of Kings
Polaris and the Starjammers played a large role in the War of Kings storyline, which also featured Vulcan, The Inhumans, Nova, and The Guardians of the Galaxy. Pursued by a Shi'ar superdestroyer after escaping, Lorna uses the fact that she is Crystal's sister-in-law to allow the Starjammers through the Kree's defensive shield. After the Shi'ar Imperial Guard's attack on Crystal and Ronan's wedding, Lorna plays a minor but pivotal role in regaining Kree popular support for the Inhumans by making sure that Crystal's humanitarian acts towards the injured Kree civilians are broadcast all over the Kree networks. After this, she once again joins the Starjammers on their mission to rescue Lilandra. They promptly commandeer a Shi'ar Ironclad (which she helps capture by magnetizing the Starjammer to its hull) which they then use to join the main Shi'ar fleet until their cover is blown when they rescue Rocket Raccoon and his team, the Guardians of the Galaxy. Following the surrender of the Shi'ar to the Inhumans, Lorna remains on the Shi'ar homeworld along with Havok and Marvel Girl.

Realm of Kings
Through Ch'od, and apparently due to the incident of Rachel and Korvus both losing the connection to the Phoenix Force, it is known that Polaris, Havok, Rachel and Korvus have departed for Earth.

X-Men Legacy
Magneto, Rogue, Frenzy, and Gambit respond to Rachel's distress call and Rogue uses Legion's powers to teleport to the space station they are on. Lorna, Korvus and Alex are mind controlled by an alien force and are being used to help torture and kill Shi'ar. When she meets up with Magneto their reunion is short lived as the Shi'ar attack the assembled group and Lorna, Alex and Korvus attack Magneto, Frenzy and Gambit. Rachel's actions break them free of the mind control and the X-Men join forces. Polaris says she has many things she wanted to ask Magneto and he responds by saying at another time when they are out of danger. The team works together to build a black hole that takes the space station and all aboard back to Earth ending Lorna's space arc.

Regenesis
Polaris along with Havok are seen joining Wolverine's side after Wolverine suggests that they go out on their own away from their family and join X-Factor.

Return to X-Factor
During the Breaking Points storyline, Longshot used his psychometric powers to read a photograph of Lorna's mother and nominal father from which Longshot learned the truth about their death. Lorna forced Longshot to show her what he had seen, using M's telepathic powers to make a connection. Lorna was devastated to learn that the first outbreak of her powers led to their death in a plane crash. Magneto had Mastermind manipulate her memories to repress her involvement in her parents' death. Later, Polaris and Havok have broken up, due to Havok agreeing to lead the Uncanny Avengers, and Polaris wanting to remain with X-Factor.

All New X-Factor
Polaris is now the leader of X-Factor. The name was bought from Maddox by Serval's CEO Harrison Snow. X-Factor is a corporate team that protects the interest of the company. It is revealed that Harrison secretly had nanos put in her right eye, without her consent. Her half brother Quicksilver is on the team and is secretly spying on her for her ex Havok.

Secret Wars (2015)
During the "Last Days" part of the Secret Wars storyline, Polaris assisted Magneto during the incursion between Earth-616 and Earth-1610. As the energies of the two planets inched closer to impact cascade and send chaos through the streets, Magneto and Polaris are taking the fight to this "other" Earth, battling the parallel Sentinels sent after them. Polaris is shocked to see the energy levels her father is exhibiting, all the while trying to protect the people caught in the crossfire of Magneto and the Sentinels.

Secret Empire
During the Secret Empire storyline, Polaris breaks in on a prison in New Tian when Havok is about to attack the time-displaced Jean Grey and Jimmy Hudson. While Jean and Jimmy look for their teammates, Polaris manages to defeat Havok and helps the young mutants to escape. Upon escaping, Polaris and Danger reveal to the team that Magneto assigned them to look after them, which they've done secretly.

Dawn of X
In the new status quo for mutants post House of X and Powers of X, Professor X and Magneto invite all mutants to live on Krakoa and welcome even former enemies into their fold. Polaris is seen with Magneto as he explains the process of resurrection for mutants involving the combined powers of The Five (Hope Summers, Goldballs, Proteus, Eva Bell and Elixir).

Polaris is seen attacking the last compound of Orchis on Earth with Magneto, Storm, and Cyclops. Later, she joins Rachel Summers, Daken, Northstar and former X-students Eye-Boy and Prodigy in a new initiative in Krakoa: they are to investigate any mutant death and prepare a report for The Five as part of the Resurrection Protocols of Krakoa. Their first case involves the supposed death of Northstar's twin sister, Aurora. Following the conclusion of the X-Factor title, Polaris was elected during the Hellfire Gala to become a new member of the main X-Men team.

Powers and abilities
Lorna Dane possesses the ability to control magnetism. She regained her magnetic powers after M-day by celestial technology that reactivated her X-gene. She can manipulate metals which are susceptible to magnetism. She has the power to manipulate the iron in a body to reverse the blood flow. Polaris is able to generate magnetic energy pulses. She can create magnetic force-fields. She has the power to manipulate magnetic fields. Polaris can use her abilities to allow herself to fly. She is able perceive the world around her solely as patterns of magnetic and electrical energy. She has the ability to perceive the natural magnetic auras surrounding living beings as well. Polaris can also absorb energy.

Polaris had shown the ability to ingest virulent diseases without harm, absorbing their traits, and according to Apocalypse is able to spread a "meta-plague" that will kill anyone who has not been inoculated with the virus' vaccine, the Blood of Apocalypse. She had also been shown to fight off toxins and drugs quicker than normal.

Additionally, Lorna Dane possesses expertise in geophysics, and has earned a doctorate in that field.

Critical response
Alex Schlesinger of Screen Rant described Polaris as one of the "X-Men's most iconic mutants" and as an "iconic hero." Deirdre Kaye of Scary Mommy called Polaris a "role model" and a "truly heroic" female character. Maite Molina of ComicsVerse noted the popularity of Polaris among comic book fans, saying, "She does not believe there is a point in one’s heroic journey where you have to establish yourself. Polaris has fought against the tension of her agency. She has lived a history where much was taken from her. Ultimately, she has endured. So, despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles and countless foes, Lorna has never faltered in her steadfast role as a member of the X-Men. This is why she is so beloved." Lukas Shayo of Comic Book Resources called Polaris one of the best female X-Men characters, writing, "Lorna Dane is a force to be reckoned with in the field, and she is remarkably creative with her powers."

Impact
Polaris was the winner of a popularity contest held by Marvel Comics in 2021, which served to determine who would be the final member of a new X-Men team that would debut during the Hellfire Gala storyline.

Age of Apocalypse
An alternate version of Polaris appears in the Age of Apocalypse reality. She was one of the many prisoners in Sinister's Breeding Pens, and a victim of the Dark Beast's tests. She had been rendered nearly powerless because Rogue had absorbed her abilities and permanently retained half of her powers when the two had a fallout prior to Rogue being taken to the X-Men. Prelate Scott Summers frees her, but she cannot recognize him; she mistakes him for Magneto, whom she believes is her father.

House of M
An alternate version of Polaris appears in the "House of M" storyline. Magneto becomes romantically involved with Susanna Dane an American exchange student in Europe who is helping smuggle him from place to place. When Magneto finds out she is having a child he tells her to go home because what she is doing is likely to get her and her child killed. Lorna Dane grows up in California and watches Magneto declare war on the human governments as a child. Eventually Magneto reveals he is her father when he becomes ruler of Genosha. Polaris is shocked and storms off due to him never having been there for her. She eventually comes around as she is seen later when the new world order began, where mutants were the ruling class and with Magneto being their monarch. Lorna is still residing with him in his palace on Genosha with all his children. Polaris, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were considered royalty in this reality, and Lorna eventually develops a close relationship with her father.

Mutant X
An alternate version of Polaris appears in Mutant X. She works as a long-term member of the X-Men, after Magneto takes over from an ill Professor Xavier. This Polaris knows she is the daughter of Magneto. The X-Men briefly fight and lose against an insane Madelyne Pryor. Later, they seemingly perish in an atomic explosion but survive this as well. Polaris is one of the victims in the reality-threatening battle involving Pryor and the Beyonder. Badly injured, she dies in her father's arms, reassured that everything will be okay.

Ultimate Marvel
An alternate version of Polaris appears in the Ultimate Marvel continuity of Ultimate X-Men. She is an attractive teenage mutant girl who is a member of the Academy of Tomorrow, a mutant peacekeeping squad led by Emma Frost. In this continuity, she is also the girlfriend of Havok but as a twist, she was also the ex-girlfriend of his brother Cyclops, whom Havok resents with a passion.

Polaris is framed for killing dozens of people with her powers during a rescue mission, and imprisoned in the Triskelion of the Ultimates with mutant terrorist Magneto. After beating him at Chess after only 12 or so games, Magneto beats her into unconsciousness with a chair, and then uses her to goad Havok into rescuing her, so that he can escape the maximum-security cell by swapping places with Mystique. In the end, Polaris' name is cleared and she returns to the Academy of Tomorrow. She was killed in Ultimatum along with the rest of the Academy of Tomorrow except for Havok. It is implied in Havok's discussion of the events leading up to the explosion that there may have been more than meets the eye going on.

Exiles
An alternate version of Polaris is drafted onto the interdimensional superhero team the Exiles. Originating from Earth-8149, she is seemingly killed in battle with a group of Sentinels engineered to destroy her, but is plucked out of time moments before her death to join the Exiles. In the end Polaris finds out Magneto her father has turned to the side of good because of her death to avenge her murder at the hand of Sentinels.

Television

 * Lorna Dane / Polaris appears in X-Men: The Animated Series, voiced by Mary Long. This version is a former member of the X-Men who left the group with her then-boyfriend Iceman to pursue a normal life. However, they later separated, with Polaris going on to join X-Factor and enter a relationship with Havok.
 * Polaris has non-voiced cameo appearances in the X-Men '97 multi-part episode "Tolerance is Extinction".
 * Lorna Dane / Polaris appears in Wolverine and the X-Men, voiced by Liza del Mundo. This version is the sheltered daughter of Magneto who is forbidden from leaving Genosha. Additionally, a possible future version was a survivor of the Sentinel-dictated timeline.
 * Lorna Dane / Polaris appears in The Gifted, portrayed by Emma Dumont. This version is a co-founder of the Mutant Underground who later has a daughter named Dawn with her boyfriend Eclipse and defects to the Hellfire Club after losing faith in her original group.

Video games

 * Polaris appears in Magneto's ending in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
 * Polaris appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Tara Strong.
 * Polaris appears as a playable character in Marvel Puzzle Quest.
 * Polaris appears as a playable character in Marvel Future Fight.
 * Polaris appears as a playable character in Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past.
 * Polaris appears as a playable character in Marvel Strike Force.
 * Polaris appears as a playable character in Marvel Super War.
 * Polaris appears as a playable character in Marvel Snap.

Merchandise

 * In 2022, HeroClix released a Polaris figure as part of the Hellfire Gala Premium Set.

title: Polaris (Marvel Comics)


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Muan County

Muan County (Muan-gun) is a county in South Jeolla Province (Jeollanam-do), South Korea. In 2005, Muan County became the capital of Jeollanam-do following the transfer of the provincial office from its previous location, Gwangju to the village of Namak in Muan. Muan International Airport was opened here, and will eventually replace the airports in Gwangju and Mokpo.

Modern history
On January 1 of 1963, several villages (ri in Korean) were incorporated into Mokpo city and huge reorganization was made by Korean government. In 1979, Muan township was promoted to a township (eup of South Korea). In 1980, Illo was also promoted into a township.

Symbols

 * Flower : The Chrysanthemum
 * Tree : The Zelkova tree
 * Bird : The white Heron

Location
Muan County is located on the western tip of the South Western part of the Korean peninsula. It acts as the primary link between Sinan county with the rest of the Korean mainland. Numerous beaches are also found on Muan's coast.

Muan borders Yeongsan river with Naju and Hampyeong to the north, Yeongam to the east, Mokpo to the south. These surroundings have influenced the industrial and cultural structure of Muan County.

Enterprise city
Muan was designated an enterprise city by the South Korean government for the Honam region (Southwest). The South Korean government and China have agreed to develop an industrial complex in a joint venture. It was reported that the Chinese government officially promised to invest in and help establish the complex area, which includes the construction of a college and distribution warehouses among other things such as a Chinatown for expatriates.

Mud
Muan includes a large area of mudlands. The western area of the Korean peninsula has a large amount of mud thanks to the Rias coast. However, many mudlands have been destroyed or reclaimed for expanding city areas or industrial complexes.

The mudlands of Muan were designated one of the wetlands of the Ramsar Convention.

In the Muan mudflats, tourists can not enter the sea without permission to protect the mudflats. But, tourists can see the road that opens like the " Miracle of Moses " to reveal its face when the tide falls twice a day.

Festival
Muan is widely known for its White Lotus Festival located in Illo-eup. The festival occurs in mid August when the white lotus flowers bloom fully onsite at the Hoesan White Lotus Pond. Tourists can walk into the huge lotuslands via the many bridges that crisscross the water. Visitors may also ride the 'duck boats.'

Products
Muan is known for several famous products characteristic of the area. They are largely farming goods from onions to lotus products. Muan puts out 16% of the national onion production making its production volume the largest in Korea.

Muan county officially reported to host farming cluster of sweet potato, onion and lotus plants. The powder of lotus plants is used for making noodles.

Education
Muan County is the site of Mokpo National University, situated in Cheonggye township.

Expressway

 * Seohaean Expressway
 * Namhae Expressway
 * Muan–Gwangju Expressway

National Route

 * National Route 1
 * National Route 2
 * National Route 24
 * National Route 77

Railway

 * Honam Line

Airport

 * Muan International Airport

Sister cities

 * Uiryeong, South Gyeongsang
 * Gunpo, Gyeonggi
 * Dobong-gu, Seoul
 * Taizhou, Zhejiang, China
 * 🇯🇵 Kitanagoya, Aichi, Japan
 * 🇹🇷 Denizli, Turkey

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

title: Muan County


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Chatham Island

Chatham Island (Moriori: Rēkohu, lit. 'Misty Sun'; Wharekauri) is the largest island of the Chatham Islands group, in the south Pacific Ocean off the eastern coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is said to be "halfway between the equator and the pole, and right on the International Date Line", although that point is 173 miles WSW of the island's westernmost point. The island is called Rekohu ("misty skies") in Moriori, and Wharekauri in Māori.

The island was named after the survey ship HMS Chatham which was the first European ship to locate the island in 1791. It covers an area of 920 km2. Chatham Island lies 650 km south-east of Cape Turnagain, the nearest point of mainland New Zealand to the island.

Geography
The geography of the roughly T-shaped island is dominated by three features: two bays and a lagoon. More than half of the west coast of Chatham is taken up by the deep indentation of Petre Bay. The island's main settlement of Waitangi is located in a small indentation in Petre Bay's southern coast. Other significant settlements are Kaingaroa on the northeast promontory, and Owenga on the south side of Hanson Bay.

On the east coast is the even larger Hanson Bay, which stretches for the entire length of the island (35 km).

Much of the area between the bays is taken up by the large Te Whanga Lagoon, which drains to the sea to the east, into the southern half of Hanson Bay. This lagoon covers about 160 km2, and drains several small rivers that rise in the hills at the south end of the island. The next largest lakes are Rangitahi and Huro, respectively northeast and southwest of Te Whanga. The central and north part of Chatham Island are mostly flat, with altitudes ranging from a few metres on the northeast and centre to 50 m on the northwest, but with a few scattered hillocks. The south part is higher, generally sloping down towards north and west; about half of it is over 150 m above sea level. The south coast of the island is mostly cliffs 100 m high or more. The highest point of the island (299 m) lies close to its southernmost point.

Flora and fauna
Chatham Island hosts the only known breeding population of the endemic and critically endangered magenta petrel or tāiko (Pterodroma magentae). The seabird was thought to be extinct until 1978, and had a population of under 200 in 2017.

In popular culture
Chatham Island (or "Isle") is featured in the first and in the final chapter of Cloud Atlas, the 2004 novel by David Mitchell. The novel was adapted for screen in 2012.

title: Chatham Island


text:
Wando County

Wando County is a county in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. It takes its name from the island of Wando, which is the largest island within the county and serves as the county seat.

The major military headquarters and trading hub Cheonghaejin, established by General Jang Bogo in 828, was located on Wando Island.

Champion golfer K.J. Choi hails from Wando.

Speciality
The best Gim is produced in the Wando area. Laver farming goes back 200 years, and with 22%, Wando is the biggest production area. In 2006, Wando exported about 2.3 million tons of green laver to the United States, Japan, and Taiwan.

Twin towns – sister cities
Wando is twinned with:

 * 🇰🇷 Gangdong-gu, South Korea
 * 🇰🇷 Nowon-gu, South Korea
 * 🇰🇷 Yeonsu-gu, South Korea
 * 🇰🇷 Cheonan, South Korea
 * Rongcheng, China

title: Wando County


text:
Epistemic minimalism

Epistemic minimalism is the epistemological thesis that mere true belief is sufficient for knowledge. That is, the meaning of "Smith knows that it rained today" is accurately and completely analyzed by these two conditions:

 * 1) Smith believes that it rained today.
 * 2) It is true that it rained today.

The thesis is called minimalist by way of contrast with the competing accounts, which more or less universally require that true belief is necessary but insufficient for knowledge—that is, that a belief needs to be true in order to count as knowledge, but that truth alone is not enough—that something else is needed. Traditionally, that something else was held to be evidential justification; today it is usually held to be either justification and also some other condition, or else some other condition instead of justification, which will avoid the Gettier problem.

Whatever the analysis, though, the standard view (both pre-Gettier and post-Gettier) pushes for narrower analyses of knowledge than mere true belief. Epistemic minimalism turns in exactly the opposite direction, and argues for a much more inclusive analysis--one which includes even Gettier cases, lucky guesses, and completely unjustified beliefs, as long as they happen to be true. The thesis is a minimalism in the sense that it eschews the additional requirements piled on top of true belief and argues that the intuitive reasons given for the justified true belief (JTB) analysis and its descendants are either misleading or misunderstood.

The most famous (or infamous) proponent of epistemic minimalism is Crispin Sartwell (1991). The view has been criticized by many epistemologists, with an influential criticism being delivered by William Lycan (1994).

title: Epistemic minimalism


text:
Battle of Tanagra (457 BC)

The Battle of Tanagra was a land battle that took place in Boeotia in 457 BC between Athens and Sparta during the First Peloponnesian War. Tension between Athens and Sparta had built up due the rebuilding of Athens' walls and Spartan rejection of Athenian military assistance. The Athenians were led by Myronides and held a strength of 14,000. The Spartans were led by Nicomedes and had a total of 11,500 soldiers. While both the Athenians and Spartans suffered great losses, Sparta ultimately claimed victory in this battle.

Background
Prior to the breakout of this battle, in the Persian Wars, the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League won a hegemony. As time progressed the Peloponnesian League grew to fear the power of the Athenian Empire. Relations between the Peloponnesian League worsened due to a breakdown in diplomatic affronts and demands.

In 478 BC, wanting to deny any future Persian invasion a base from which to operate, Sparta had urged Athens, along with other Greek cities, to refrain from rebuilding their walls. However, suspecting a Spartan ploy and having already begun the work of construction, Athens employed subterfuge to delay the wheels of diplomacy until Athens could finish them. Athens did this by waiting to send Athenian politician Themistocles to Lacedaemon until Athens had started constructing the walls resulting in the Long Walls being nearly completed by the time Themistocles told Sparta that there were plans to rebuild the Long Walls. In 464 BC, suffering another Helot rebellion and failing to make progress in the siege against their stronghold Ithome, Sparta had asked for Athens' aid along with its other allies. A "considerable force" was sent out to support the Spartans at the urging of Cimon, who was appointed its commander. Sparta grew suspicious that the Athenians were potentially aiding the helots in Ithome in their uprising. Sparta turned away the Athenian forces that were sent to aid Sparta. These actions resulted in rising political tensions between Athens and Sparta. Athens was insulted and humiliated by Sparta’s actions, and this led to Athens breaking their alliance with Sparta.

In 458 BC, Athens began building the Long Walls, a defensive structure that secured the communication lines between the city and Piraeus. Like other walls that were built, it allowed the Athenians to refuse battle and retreat without fear of being cut from supplies coming from the sea.

Battle
When the Phocians made war on the cities of Doris—the traditional homeland of Doric Greeks—the Doric Sparta sent a relief force under the command of Nicomedes, son of Cleombrotus, acting as regent for his under-age nephew, King Pleistoanax. An army of 1,500 Spartan hoplites with 10,000 of their allies entered Boeotia and compelled the submission of Phocis.

Athens, already contemptuous of Spartan treatment and now suspecting Athens of negotiating with factions within the city to undermine democracy and prevent the construction of the Long Walls, maneuvered to cut off the Spartan army isolated in Boeotia.

The exiled Athenian politician and general Cimon met with the Athenian with his own forces known as the tribe known as the Onesies to assist Athens. Cimon was turned away from assisting the Athenian forces due to the Council of 500 fearing it would disrupt Athens forces.

Facing either transport through waters controlled by the Athenian navy or a difficult march through the Geraneia mountain passes held by Athenian soldiers supported from Megara, the Spartans decided to wait either for the opening of a safe route home or an outright Athenian assault. The battle was fought at Tanagra where the Athenian forces of 14,000 strong with their 1,000 allies from Argos met Sparta with 11,500 strong with 1,500 Spartans and 10,000 allied Hoplites. No details or accounts of the battle have been found.

While no description of the events within the battle was given, both the Spartan and Athenian forces claimed both suffered great losses. Sparta claimed victory of this battle and were now able to return home through the mountain passes of the Isthmus, cutting down the fruit trees once crossing into the Megarid along the journey home.

Aftermath
Sixty two days after the battle, the Athenians regrouped under the command of Myronides. They then defeated Thebes at the Battle of Oenophyta and took control of Boeotia, taking down the wall the Spartans had built and taking one hundred of the richest men of the Opuntian Locris as hostages. With the victory, the Athenians also occupied Phocis, the original source of the conflict and the Opuntian Locris. Years after the Battle of Tanagra, Cimon was recalled from exile due to the special relations they had between Sparta and Athens. With these special relations, Cimon helped create a five year peace treaty between Athens and Sparta.

title: Battle of Tanagra (457 BC)


text:
Yeongam County

Yeongam is a city and county in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. Bordered with Mokpo and Naju to the north, Jangheung County to the east, and Haenam and Gangjin to the south, Yeongam County comprises two eups and nine myeons, populated with about 57,000 people, and its county hall is seated in Yeongam-eup.

The Korean Grand Prix was held along the harbor side, at the Korea International Circuit from 2010 to 2013. The track has been designed by the famous race track designer Hermann Tilke. The circuit is part permanent, part temporary. Construction began in 2007, and was completed in September/October 2010. The circuit had a contract to host the Grand Prix until 2016. After that, a 5-year option would have to be picked up to keep the race until at least 2021. However the race was cancelled after 2013.

History
Many Bronze Age relics, including cut stone tools, were excavated in the current Yeongam area, and it appears that people have lived in groups since the Bronze Age. This area was a village named Wolnagun, which was part of the Baekje. It was renamed Yeongam-gun in 758.

Industry
Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI), world's 5th largest ship builder and the largest company in South Jeolla Province, is located in Samho Eup. Not only the company itself but also numerous cooperative firms of HSHI are headquartered in Daebul Industrial District in Samho Eup.

Twin towns – sister cities
Yeongam is twinned with:

 * 🇰🇷 Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
 * 🇰🇷 Sancheong, South Korea
 * Huzhou, China
 * 🇯🇵 Hirakata, Japan

title: Yeongam County


text:
Talk:Euglenozoa

Number of species
This page should say how many species are in the phylum. --Savant13 20:17, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

Nomenclature

 * Are Euglenozoa and Euglenophyta the same? Euglena is said to belong to Euglenophyta phylum but Excavata doesn't contain it. --Abanima (talk) 13:58, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

 * I believe that Euglenophyta is the same as the euglenids, one of the three (or so) groups in the Euglenozoa. Kingdon (talk) 14:00, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

The rod
What is the function of this rod? There is not much written about this in the wikipedia article. 84.112.136.52 (talk) 19:30, 28 October 2013 (UTC)

Differences in the two descriptions of Kostygov et al.
The classification by Kostygov et al. (2021) is shown twice, once as a horizontal cladogram in the Phylogeny section, and once as bulleted list in the Taxonomy section. One would think that both should show the same structure, but that is not the case. At least the following names only appear in the cladogram: Glycomonada, Olkasia. Also, Eutreptiaceae are assigned differently. I didn't check the classification by Cavalier-Smith (2016); that may show similar discrepancies. ◅ Sebastian 12:13, 10 February 2022 (UTC)
 * I have checked it in the reference document and both the taxonomy and the cladogram are correct (there are no discrepancies). You should take into consideration, that the cladogram for a more compact presentation sometimes does not show the names of monotypic taxons and only the lowest rank is shown, so insted Olkaspira—Olkasia only Olkasia, instead Eutreptiales—Eutreptiaceae/Eutreptiidae only Eutreptiaceae/Eutreptiidae (this approach is quite common in the phylogenetic presentations in cases, the higher and the lower rank names are created from the same original name). You are right in one aspect – it is not applied everywhere in the cladogram (Rapazida—Rapazidae, Diplonemea—Diplonemida, and Trypanosomatida—Trypanosomatidae are not reduced). Glycomonada (Kinetoplastea + Diplonemea) is a name of a diplonemid-kinetoplastid clade (according Lax G., et al. 2021, DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107088), which is mentioned in the reference document by Kostygov et al., but is not included as a separate taxonomic rank in the presented taxonomy. Petr Karel (talk) 17:44, 10 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks for checking. I'm not sure what you mean by “there are no discrepancies”. Are you saying “(A) there is no difference between our cladogram and the one in the source and (B) there is no difference between our bulleted list and those in the appropriate “Taxonomy” section in the source.”? I agree with (B) since both “Glycomonada” and “Olkasia” do not appear in section 2.2 in the source, and the difference for “Eutreptiaceae” can be explained away as just a different choice for a synonym. As for (A), I can't say that, since I don't see any cladogram in the source that would include names for taxa above genera. Did I miss any? ◅ Sebastian 20:56, 10 February 2022 (UTC)
 * By "no discrepancies" I ment no contradictory facts. So here as well as in the reference the same facts are presented in several forms with different level of detail (taxonimical system, comments in text, figures, cladograms). Sorry for my English. Petr Karel (talk) 09:20, 11 February 2022 (UTC)
 * No need to apologize, your English is great. I, too, understand “discrepancies” to mean “contradictory facts”. I only asked about “differences” because it's less presumptuous. (A good example are the synonyms, which show just a difference in naming, no contradiction.)
 * What about my last question? Do you see any cladogram in the source that would include names for taxa above genera? ◅ Sebastian 10:25, 11 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Yes: Figures called Tree A, Tree B, Tree C, Tree E, Tree F (the right side of the figures). Petr Karel (talk) 10:46, 11 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I now see “Glycomonada” in Tree A and “Olkasia” in Tree F. This agrees with our cladogram. However, I see neither “Eutreptiaceae” nor “Euglenales”. Both should be in Tree F, shouldn't they? (BTW, there are more differences between our cladogram and Tree F, but since those agree with the bulleted list, I'm not worried about them.) ◅ Sebastian 11:14, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Euglenozoa


text:
Vostok (rocket family)

Vostok (Russian: Восток, translated as "East") was a family of rockets derived from the Soviet R-7 Semyorka ICBM and was designed for the human spaceflight programme. This family of rockets launched the first artificial satellite (Sputnik 1) and the first crewed spacecraft (Vostok) in human history. It was a subset of the R-7 family of rockets.

On March 18, 1980, a Vostok-2M rocket exploded on its launch pad at Plesetsk during a fueling operation, killing 48 people. An investigation into a similar – but avoided – accident revealed that the substitution of lead-based for tin-based solder in hydrogen peroxide filters allowed the breakdown of the H2O2, thus causing the resultant explosion.

Variants
The major versions of the rocket were:

 * Luna 8K72 – used to launch the early Luna spacecraft
 * Vostok-L 8K72 – Variant of the Luna, used to launch prototype Vostok spacecraft
 * Vostok-K 8K72K – a refined version of the above. This was the version actually used for human spaceflight
 * Vostok-2 8A92 – used for launching Zenit reconnaissance satellites throughout the 1960s
 * Vostok-2M 8A92M – modified version for launching Meteor weather satellites into higher orbits.
 * Soyuz/Vostok 11A110 – hybrid of Soyuz and Vostok rockets used as an interim for two launches

Vostok 8K72K

 * First Stage — Block B, V, G, D (four strap-on boosters)
 * Gross mass: 43,300 kg
 * Empty mass: 3,710 kg
 * Thrust (vac): 4 x 99,000 kgf (971 kN) = 3.88 MN
 * Isp: 313 isp
 * Burn time: 118 s
 * Isp(sl): 256 isp
 * Diameter: 2.68 m
 * Span: 8.35 m
 * Length: 19.00 m
 * Propellants: Lox/Kerosene
 * Engines: 1 x RD-107-8D74-1959 per booster = 4
 * Second Stage — Block A (core stage)
 * Gross mass: 100,400 kg
 * Empty mass: 6,800 kg
 * Thrust (vac): 912 kN
 * Isp: 315 isp
 * Burn time: 301 s
 * Isp(sl): 248 isp
 * Diameter: 2.99 m
 * Length: 28.00 m
 * Propellants: Lox/Kerosene
 * Engine: 1 x RD-108-8D75-1959
 * Third Stage — Block E
 * Gross mass: 7,775 kg
 * Empty mass: 1,440 kg
 * Thrust (vac): 54.5 kN
 * Isp: 326 isp
 * Burn time: 365 s
 * Diameter: 2.56 m
 * Span: 2.56 m
 * Length: 2.84 m
 * Propellants: Lox/Kerosene
 * Engine: 1 x RD-0109

title: Vostok (rocket family)


text:
Yeonggwang County

Yeonggwang County (Yeonggwang-gun) is a county in South Jeolla Province, South Korea.

Speciality
Yeonggwang is a large producer of a fish, the small yellow croaker which are sometimes given by Korean people as a gift to others. It is called Yeonggwang gulbi (meaning "dried croaker") among Koreans, and it is nicknamed "rice thief" because of its wide popularity.

The fish originated from the Goryeo Dynasty. They migrate northward from the East China Sea, where they spend the winter season, to Yeonpyeongdo Island, to spawn at the start of the thawing season. They spawn at sea in front of Chilsan, near Beopseongpo in Yeonggwang, between April 10 and 30, while moving northward.

Nuclear power plant
The Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant was established in 1979 and has reached its full capacity. Now there are six plants. In 2007, plants of Yeonggwang achieved a position of third in the world, ranked by the degree of utilization.

Sister cities

 * 🇰🇷 Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, South Korea

title: Yeonggwang County


text:
Talk:2004 United States House of Representatives elections

Untitled
holy sheet, this page is tres impressive! Lots of work! Very useful! Kingturtle 23:59, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)

redistricting
The 2000 census numbers will mean that some states gain and some states lose representatives. Did those changes already take place in the 2002 election? Kingturtle 21:56, 31 Dec 2003 (UTC)
 * Yes. I know for a fact that my house "migrated" to a neighboring district. my old rep still represents the same district, but I'm not in it anymore. --Jiang 01:38, 1 Jan 2004 (UTC)

All the new district boundaries can be seen here. Adam 02:11, 1 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Interesting idea: Gerrymandering Awards? Which state is the most gerrymandered? My guess is Pennsylvania, Georgia or Florida. Al —Preceding undated comment added at 13:36, 11 March 2004 (UTC)
 * Changes after each decennial census take place starting with the elections in years that end in 2. So the 2010 census will affect the districts that people vote for in 2012. - Jonel 05:02, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm gonna go with Texas. Kevin Baas | talk 22:24, 2004 Sep 15 (UTC)
 * Actually, the current number of republicans and democrats representing Texas is proportional to the number of texans who voted republican or democrat in the congressional election in 2004. In contrast, in the 2002 election the voter breakdown was the same, but the democrats had a majority of u.s. house seats (i.e. the democrat representation for the state was disproportionately high after the 2002 election). I'm a democrat, but maybe the lines that gave the democrats a majority of the texas u.s. house seats were more unfair than Delay's redistricting.--Mojo9000 18:54, 29 September 2005 (UTC)

The map of districts for Texas is the pre-2003 map. Note in the list of winners that Doggett is in pink for being the old District 10 representative but he's the 2004 winner for district 25. District 10 was held by Austinite Jake Pickle for decades. As shown on the map that is currently displayed, District 10 was central Austin in surrounding areas of Travis County. Now District 10 stretches to Houston. Doggett moved to East Austin and campaigned and won reelection in District 25 that stretches all the way to Mexico. Districts 15 and 28 also include parts of Austin and stretch to Mexico. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.145.143.92 (talk) 15:04, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
 * O anonymous one, I have now corrected the map. —Mark Adler (markles)  15:25, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

Updates
There's a possibility that Don Sherwood (R-PA 10) will run unnoposed/as a R-D again... it seems that the Democrat candidate has been removed from the ballot. The Texan primaries have finished BTW Al —Preceding undated comment added at 13:36, 11 March 2004 (UTC)

Can someone change the designation of John Sweeney from the NY 20th district from Democrat to Republican? I'm quite sure that's his true party, and I can't seem to do it, as the article is too long. Thanx. -R. fiend —Preceding undated comment added at 05:27, 3 April 2004 (UTC)

When are American Wikipedians going to get on and finish the list of candidates at this article? Adam 23:50, 11 May 2004 (UTC)

Er... never it seems. Updated South Carolina. Al, 10th July —Preceding undated comment added at 15:22, 10 July 2004 (UTC)

Working on it. Using Politics1 to add opponents. Will attempt to keep updated as candidates enter (most states' filing deadlines have passed by now though), drop out, and as primaries occur (14 September seems to be a big day). - Jonel 05:05, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Small problem
it seems this page is the victim of a huge database error, and this effects the pages which this page links to --RobbieFal 19:57, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

A minor error. One query thread on the database server which hadn't shit down properly. I killed that thread to fix the problem. If able, please ask in #mediawiki from IRC Channels when you see a lock wait timeout error - that's where the developers can most quickly be found. Almost any of us will be able to fix the most common cause of this problem within a couple of minutes. Jamesday 13:21, 7 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Okay, thanks. And since I typed up and saved stubs for the remaining pages, and I just finished posting them. So, I'm pretty sure that we have at least 435 stub pages. The count of all the redirects I created this morning was like 23 in 10 minutes. Since there were different pages for the 108th congress page and this page. So, I finished the pages that were linked to the 108th congress and redirected the House election pages to those pages. 'Taking over the world, one Wikipedia page at a time' --RobbieFal 19:09, 7 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Table
Shouldn't this article have a table showing the seat changes, for consistency with every other U.S. House election page? I tried adding one, but it seems my change was reverted. - Feb 8, 2005 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.19.2.225 (talk) 23:24, 8 February 2005 (UTC)

Between election changes
Should there be some sort of notation showing those Representatives who did not finish their term? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Barkeep49 (talk • contribs) 14:22, 17 June 2005 (UTC)

Vote Totals
I think it would be helpful if the actual votes the candidates received were shown and not just the percentages. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jpcarver (talk • contribs) 19:56, 25 June 2005 (UTC)

- I agree, the totals can be accessed from the new york times site in the meantime: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/elections2004/2004House.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mojo9000 (talk • contribs) 18:40, 29 September 2005 (UTC)

Seating plan
Why no seating plan, a la Canadian federal election, 2006? Fishhead64 22:30, 16 March 2006 (UTC)
 * That's a Canadian thing. Also, I don't know if anyone knows where people sit in the House. 68.39.174.238 (talk) 23:30, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Citation
In the abstract the article says that mid-decade politicized redistricting was common in the 19th century. There is no citation or example given, so this is highly suspect to a cynical reader. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 161.253.23.172 (talk) 16:55, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Illinois 8th Democratic gain
Someone needs to change the picture to show Illinois 8th District was gained by the Democrats. In other words, it needs to be colored in Blue in the picture of the united states congressional district map. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Politics2012 (talk • contribs) 00:07, 19 November 2010 (UTC)


text:
Sullivan Act

The Sullivan Act was a gun control law in New York state that took effect in 1911. The NY state law requires licenses for New Yorkers to possess firearms small enough to be concealed. Private possession of such firearms without a license was a misdemeanor, and carrying them in public is a felony. The law was the subject of controversy regarding both its selective enforcement and the licensing bribery schemes it enabled. The act was named for its primary legislative sponsor, state senator Timothy Sullivan, a Tammany Hall Democrat.

For handguns, the Sullivan Act qualifies as a may issue act, meaning the local police have discretion to issue a concealed carry license, as opposed to a shall issue act, in which state authorities must give a concealed handgun license to any person who satisfies specific criteria, often a background check and a safety class. According to a 2022 study, the law had no impact on overall homicide rates, reduced overall suicide rates, and caused large and sustained decrease in gun-related suicide rates.

The case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen was decided in the U.S. Supreme Court, evaluating the constitutionality of this law on Second Amendment grounds. Arguments were held in November of 2021, with the majority of the court striking down the "proper cause" requirement of the current law on June 23, 2022, for violating both the Second and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

History
Sullivan introduced the state-wide legislation "partly in response to a marked increase in highly publicized violent street crime below Fourteenth Street" (i.e. in the largely Italian immigrant Lower East Side) and was partially an anti-Italian reaction to perceived violent crime committed by Italian immigrants in New York City. Sullivan and other prominent New Yorkers were under public pressure to act, in the form of letters and recommendations from George Petit le Brun, who worked in the city's coroner's office, after a "brazen early afternoon" murder-suicide near Gramercy Park. The law went into effect on August 31, 1911.

The law also made it a felony to own or sell other items defined as so called "dangerous weapons", including "blackjacks, bludgeons, sandbags, sandclubs, billies, slungshots and metal knuckles."

According to Richard F. Welch, who wrote a 2009 biography of Sullivan, "all the available evidence indicates that Tim's fight to bring firearms under control sprang from heartfelt conviction." At the time, "some complained that the law would only succeed in disarming lawful citizens, while others suspected that Sullivan was just trying to rein in the thugs on his own payroll." Lawman Bat Masterson, a friend of Sullivan's, criticized the law as "obnoxious" and said that he questioned Sullivan's mental state of mind over the law.

New York City license holders
In New York State, apart from New York City, the practices for the issuance of concealed carry licenses vary from county to county.

In New York City, the licensing authority is the police department, which rarely issues carry licenses to anyone except retired police officers, or those who can describe why the nature of their employment (for example, a diamond merchant who regularly carries gemstones, or a district attorney who regularly prosecutes dangerous criminals) requires carrying a concealed handgun. Critics of the law have alleged that New Yorkers with political influence, wealth, or celebrity appear to be issued licenses more liberally. The New York Post, the New York Sun, and other newspapers have periodically obtained the list of licensees through Freedom of Information Act requests and have published the names of individuals they consider to be wealthy, famous, or politically connected that have been issued carry licenses by the city police department.

Several NYPD license division officers and others were convicted in federal court for participating in a bribery scheme where they accepted bribes for at least 2012 through 2016 in exchange for hundreds of permits in instances where permits would not be approved. These officers conspired with "expediting" businesses and some created these businesses after retiring from the police force.

Litigation
In the case Kachalsky v. Cacace (2012), a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the Sullivan Act, and rejected challengers' positions that New York state handgun law violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.

On April 26, 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, seeking to examine whether the Sullivan Act and the may-issue policies, in general, violate the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. On June 23, 2022, the "proper cause" requirement of the Sullivan Act was struck down by the Supreme Court of the United States, leaving the general licensing requirement in place.

New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, (Bruen), marked a significant point in second amendment cases. Prior to Bruen, the United States Supreme Court had not made a major development in second amendment cases since its decision in Columbia v. Heller in 2008 (Heller). As such, the Court's decision had major effect on all fifty states. In Bruen, the majority set a new standard for evaluating the constitutionality of regulations that restrict Second Amendment freedoms. Specifically, the Court established that "only if a firearm is consistent with the Nation's 'historic tradition' may a court conclude that the individuals conduct falls outside the Second Amendment's "unqualified command."

In supporting its opinion, the Court drew very strongly on its prior opinion in District of Heller. In Heller, the Court established that individuals have constitutional right provided for by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution to both "keep and bear arms" within the confines of their homes. As such, laws in which restricted or barred an individuals ability to keep said arms in their homes usually violate the Second Amendment. This included any statutory provisions that resulted in arms being rendered inoperable for the purposes of home defense such as requiring that such arms be "disassembled or bound by a trigger lock."

The Court referenced its reluctance in Heller to rely on the balancing approach employed by lower courts, because its focus was on whether or not any restrictive regulations were "analogous" to those existent at the time that both the Second and fourteenth amendments were ratified. Moreover, the Court also had strong support for its reasoning based on their finding in Heller that the right to bear arms afforded by the Second Amendment is not diminished by the fact that the Second Amendment was established to ensure the creation of a future militia. Further drawing support from its decision in Heller, the Court noted that while gun owners can keep arms in their home, its not a place where they need to "bear or carry" guns. As such, it must be the Second Amendment's intention to protect the right to bear or carry arms in the public to provide an avenue for self-defense.

The Court's decision in Bruen continues to have ripple effects on cases based in the Second Amendment, including administratively. In Ms. Donna Y. Frazier the Office of the Attorney General of Louisiana held that a requirement for firearms ammunition be kept separate from the firearms themselves was unconstitutional pursuant to both the Second and the Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The court applied the test established in Bruen requiring the government to "affirmatively prove that its firearms regulation is part of the historical tradition that delimits the outer bounds of the right to keep and bear arms." In so doing, the court found that this law made essentially rendered a citizens ability to rely on self-defense "impossible". Consequently, given that there was no adequate support provided via evidence or otherwise that would "overcome the presumptive right" established in Bruen.

In Range v. Attorney General United States of America, the United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit adopted the Bruen standard to justify allowing Range who would be considered a felon in most states to purchase a firearm. Specifically, Range pled guilty to the misdemeanor of making a false statement to obtain food stamps, which was punishable by up to five years incarceration. As such, Range was denied the ability to purchase a firearm pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(1) which makes it unlawful for any person who has been convicted in any court, of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year to possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition. However, the court noted that post Bruen, the proper standard is no longer means-end scrutiny, but rather the focus on history and tradition. Consequently, the court held that the Government did not show that the historical tradition of firearms regulation supports depriving Range of his Second Amendment right to possess a firearm. As such, the court opened the door for individuals who would otherwise be barred from exercising their second amendment right as a result of the fact that their crimes may technically classified as felonies due to their punishable years, to exercise such rights.

Controversy
The first person convicted under the law was an Italian immigrant named Marino Rossi who was traveling to a job interview and carrying a revolver for fear of the Black Hand. At sentencing the judge, condemning Italian immigrants in general, declared: "It is unfortunate that this is the custom with you and your kind, and that fact, combined with your irascible nature, furnishes much of the criminal business in this country." Prior to Marino's arrest, others had been arrested under the new law but were released without charges. Whether this was part of the law's intent, it was passed on a wave of anti-immigrant and anti-Italian rhetoric as a measure to disarm an alleged Italian and immigrant criminal element. The police department who granted the licenses could easily discriminate against "undesirable" elements. Days before the law took effect The New York Times published an article saying "Low-browed foreigners bargained for weapons of every description and gloated over their good fortune in hearing of the drop in the gun market before it was too late". After Rossi's conviction The New York Times called this "warning to the Italian community" both "timely and exemplary".

According to Peter Duffy of the New York Times, the Sullivan Law did not just affect second amendment laws in New York state, but it also became the blueprint for legislation that was later enacted throughout the united states. Moreover, Duffy noted that the bill itself received serious hostility from gun manufacturers, and that one state senator even noted that Sullivan's bill "won't stop murders." An anonymous citizen also wrote to the New York Times and states that "he objected to the automatic establishment of a presumption of felonious intent by the proposed law on the part of a citizen possessed of arms for home defense. Hence the unconstitutionality of the proposed law."

According to New York City historian George Lankevich, the Act was passed so that Sullivan could have friends in the police force plant handguns on his rivals and take them to jail. There were others who also tied the act to Sullivans ties with criminals so much so that they "suggested that Big Tim pushed through his law so Tammany could keep their gangster allies under control."

Constitutionality
In his concurring opinion in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, Justice Samuel Alito wrote "All that we decide in this case is that the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding people to carry a gun outside the home for self-defense and that the Sullivan Law, which makes that virtually impossible for most New Yorkers, is unconstitutional."

title: Sullivan Act


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Voskhod

Voskhod (Восход: sunrise) may refer to:
 * Voskhod programme, the Soviet programme of human spaceflight
 * Voskhod (spacecraft), a spacecraft used in the Voskhod programme
 * Voskhod (rocket), a rocket that was used to launch Voskhod spacecraft
 * Voskhod, Russia, several rural localities in Russia
 * Voskhod, Yalta Municipality, an urban-type settlement in Crimea, disputed between Ukraine and Russia
 * Voskhod motorcycle, a brand of motorcycle
 * Voskhod (hydrofoil), a class of hydrofoil boat built in Ukraine
 * Voskhod (magazine), a periodical published in 1881–1906 in the Russian Empire

title: Voskhod


text:
Kevin Sydney

Kevin Sydney is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Werner Roth, the character first appeared in The X-Men #35 (Aug. 1967).

Sydney first appeared as Changeling, a mutant shapeshifter. He was a short-lived adversary for the X-Men who subsequently joined Professor X and died shortly after, making him the first member of the X-Men to die in action. The character was reintroduced as Morph in the 1990s for X-Men: The Animated Series. An alternate reality version of the character under the codename Morph reappeared in the comics as part of the Exiles in 2001.

Publication history
The first run of appearances occurred in 1967–1968 when he appeared in The X-Men #37–42 as Changeling. Although dying at the end of this run, he was thought to have been seen as a ghost in Excalibur: The Possession (1991) and returned as a zombie in The Sensational She-Hulk #34–35 (1991–1992).

The character was later reintroduced as an easygoing comic-relief character for X-Men: The Animated Series. According to showrunner Eric Lewald's behind-the-scenes book, Previously on X-Men: The Making of an Animated Series, the creators (including writer Mark Edward Edens) had intended for Thunderbird to be the series' early sacrifice, but they became uncomfortable with the idea of killing off a Native American character. Scanning the X-books for a substitute, the character Changeling was found and repurposed for the series. Sydney's codename was changed to Morph because DC Comics owned the trademark to "Changeling" when the series debuted.

Morph's first comic book appearance was 1992's X-Men Adventures #1, which adapted the "Night of the Sentinels" TV pilot. Then in 1995, inspired by the character in the animated series, a new Morph was featured in the "Age of Apocalypse" crossover event, debuting in the one-shot comic X-Men Alpha. The character underwent a drastic change in appearance for this event, appearing white-skinned and hairless. Then in 2001, Marvel introduced an alternate-reality version of this Morph, from Earth-1081. He first appeared in Exiles #1.

Earth-616 character
Kevin Sydney, known as "Changeling", originally worked for the villainous organization Factor Three. He acted as the Mutant Master's second-in-command in an effort to trigger World War III. After successfully capturing the heroic X-Men, the Mutant Master is exposed as an extraterrestrial and goes out of control. The mutants of Factor Three ultimately joined with the X-Men to defeat the Mutant Master.

Following that group's defeat, Changeling sought to reform. He divulged to Professor X that he was suffering from an unspecified terminal illness with only a few months left to live and wished to atone for his misdeeds. Professor X recruited Changeling to act as a stand-in, unbeknownst to the X-Men, while the Professor isolated himself to prepare a defense against the alien Z'Nox's invasion. Changeling, masquerading as Professor X, led the X-Men's efforts to defeat the Subterranean Grotesk. He was mortally wounded in battle with Grotesk by the explosion of an oscillotron machine and, consequently, died preventing the destruction of Earth. The X-Men mourned the loss of Professor X until it was later revealed that it was, in fact, Changeling.

When the mystical Darkhold was recreated, Changeling's spirit used the opportunity to possess Meggan. Angry that he used his remaining time helping the X-Men instead of seeking a cure for himself, Changeling sought revenge against Professor X. However, Merlyn later admits that the encounter was merely fantasy, having orchestrated the event to prepare Excalibur.

Changeling is later raised from the dead as a zombie by Black Talon to form part of the team X-Humed (which also consisted of Harry Leland, Living Diamond, and Scaleface), and used to attack She-Hulk. He is able to break Talon's control of him long enough to allow She-Hulk to win and lay the zombies back to rest.

Earth-1081 character
Morph is a hero from Earth-1081 who was a member of the New Mutants, X-Men, and Avengers. He was a unique son of loving parents. Early on in life, he managed to use his powers, and was able to give everyone what they wanted from him. Morph always used his power to joke around and keep everyone at ease with him, only comfortable to be himself around his parents.

His mother died of lung cancer and Morph tried in every way to cheer up his emotionally distraught father (often acting in a childish way whenever his father wanted him to act serious), who, unable to let his suffering go, chose to enroll his son in a boarding school; luckily, that school happened to be the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.

Promoted to the X-Men, Morph's sense of humor initially grated upon the much more serious team but eventually his humor and humility won them over. He was instrumental in many of the team's victories and was chosen to be part of a pilot program with the Avengers, along with the Beast, as a public representative of mutant-kind.

Morph would return to the X-Men because, in his own words, "he missed his freaky mutant brothers and sisters." On a subsequent mission, Morph and the rest of the X-Men were facing off against a threat known only as Stonehenge when Morph became unhinged from time.

The Exiles
After becoming unhinged from time, the mysterious Timebroker appeared to him, explaining that his unhinging was the result of a chain of events that caused his reality to change. In that new reality a wounded Morph is unable to maintain his form, and is in a coma, being only a white muddy substance in Beast's lab. Hoping to save his own future, he becomes a member, and comic relief, of the Exiles, a group of universe-hopping heroes trying to save realities from ripples and alteration. Morph is a founding member of the Exiles and he is the only original member remaining throughout the series.

He soon befriended the mutant Sunfire, and her death left him emotionally wrecked.

Mojo's World
The Exiles battled on, fixing reality after reality and struggling to keep it together. Following one of these missions the team was kidnapped by Mojo, the insane evil dictator of the Mojoverse. Mojo considered Morph the best entertainer he had ever seen and brought him back to entertain the masses. If he didn't, Mojo would kill his fellow Exile, Nocturne. Eventually, Nocturne was able to escape and set Morph free. Mojo went crazy and threatened to kill Morph's friends. An enraged Morph was on the verge of killing Mojo when the Timebroker stopped them. The Timebroker revealed Mojo had disrupted time but he was a necessary evil and could not be killed.

Weapon X
Morph continued to be the heart of the team until a mission in which Mimic was taken over by a Brood egg. During the battle, he killed Sunfire. Mimic was eventually cured but Morph was enraged. He was devastated by Sunfire's death and told Mimic he should have killed himself rather than let something like this happen. Morph stormed off and threatened to leave the team. Magik, an unlikely ally, followed and tried to calm him. The two connected and despite her past attitude during missions, Morph realized Illyana was just a scared girl trying to get home. He remained angry with Mimic but helped his team fight against the rogue reality-hopping team, Weapon X.

Before the battle began, Magik attempted to switch sides, believing her team was weaker. Hyperion, the self-appointed leader of Weapon X, snapped her neck and Morph was driven into a rage. He attacked Hyperion, who attempted to blast Morph with his eyebeams, but Mimic saved him. During the brawl with Weapon X, Morph fought against an evil Ms. Marvel. Their battle caused a building to fall in on them, killing Ms. Marvel but Morph was able to survive.

The Exiles were triumphant and the Timebroker told Morph he could finally go home. His mission was fulfilled. Morph considered the offer but asked if he could stay with his team. He realized they needed him and he could not leave them behind. The Timebroker agreed; Morph asked him not to tell the rest of the Exiles of his decision. Morph and Mimic reconciled since he realized that Sunfire's death was not Mimic's fault and that the Brood was controlling him. The team moved on.

Proteus
Morph helped the team take down Proteus by impersonating the Maestro and weakening Proteus with a steel strip in his head. Morph went to take down Proteus but Proteus knocked the steel plate out of his head and took over Morph's body in issue #80. When the Exiles tracked him to the "Heroes Reborn" world, cosmic entities "O" and "K" kidnapped him, saying his presence has tipped the balance of power. Using a tiara hooked to a brainwasher device, his teammate Blink managed if not to restore his consciousness, to brainwash Proteus, forcing him to act like Morph, and access to only Morph's memories, functionally "bringing him again to life." With Proteus trapped and believing he is Morph, he remained an Exile to continue fixing damaged realities. Considering Morph's body does not burn out like other hosts, Morph's consciousness is still active beneath Proteus. Also, Proteus is immune to metal while in Morph's body, since wearing a metal tiara during the "Heroes Reborn" world did not kill him. However, concerns about some discrepancies in "Morph's" behavior forced his teammates to plan regular brainwashings with the same device, and, eventually, put him in stasis whenever his behavior would change again. However, that device was destroyed when Psylocke and Sabretooth fought so intensely that they shook the Crystal Palace, causing a bookcase to fall on Morph's head, shattering the device. With the device shattered, it was only a matter of time before Proteus would re-emerge.

During a confrontation where Proteus reawakened, he found himself lacking in power to defeat the adversary. About to be crushed, Proteus shouted aloud his desire to stay alive. In a vision, he saw a figure, almost identical to his own true, energy form, telling him to take its hand, and he would survive. Upon doing so, Proteus found himself full of even greater power, using it to defeat his god-like enemy. Afterward, it was revealed that this being was the personality and soul of the true Morph, having been in limbo, gaining strength within Proteus and his own body, who had before only been able to speak a few sentences through Proteus' control. Revealing to Proteus that he had the ability to eject him from his body, Morph gave Proteus the chance to work together and share his body and their powers, in order to do more good, something which Morph had discovered Proteus desired deep within him. Proteus accepted, and the two now work together harmoniously, better than either could be alone.

However, soon after, when the New Exiles became immersed within the Crystal Palace, Proteus was absorbed in Morph's place, freeing Morph once and for all.

Powers and abilities
Kevin Sydney is a mutant metamorph with the ability to alter his physical appearance and voice at will to resemble that of any person he chooses. His power could also transform the appearance of his costume as well, which was made of unstable molecules. Morph's mutation to shape-shift has also made it so that his body is a Play-Doh-like substance and he can reattach limbs after they have been severed. He has limited telepathic abilities, which (in the original timeline) were enhanced by Professor X. As a side effect, he also gained limited telekinetic abilities. Upon choosing to work together and share his body with the energy mutant Proteus, Morph's powers appear to be amplified, at least enough to defeat a self-proclaimed god. Whether the two have access to Proteus' reality changing abilities has yet to be determined.

He has also stated that his mutation gives him a high metabolism and makes him very hormonal. In Exiles #33 Sasquatch said she was never able to detect a scent on Morph and Sabretooth stated that while hunting Proteus in Morph's body, Morph stands out like a sore thumb in a crowd of "normal" people to Sabretooth's senses regardless of his form. It also appears he has the ability to fly as demonstrated in Exiles #27. Due to his shapeshifting ability he does not wear any actual clothing, and he takes joy in pointing this out.

Kevin Sydney is a skilled actor, and a highly trained and efficient organizer of subversive activities. He carried various advanced weaponry of alien Siri design belonging to Factor Three, including a ray gun carried in a holster at his side. Though Morph is a prankster who downplays his intelligence, he is deceptively smart. He has a Master's degree in computer engineering, which he earned at Xavier's Institute.

Other versions
Changeling is the character's codename in the contiguous Marvel Universe, Earth-616. However, the character's reinvention as Morph in the X-Men animated series raised his profile such that alternate versions of the character, now also named Morph, began to appear in stories set in other universes.

Age of Apocalypse
In the "Age of Apocalypse", Morph was, like his "regular Marvel Universe" counterpart Changeling, an early recruit of the X-Men. Unlike Changeling, Kevin Sydney of AoA never died while impersonating Professor X, because in the Age of Apocalypse Xavier died before the X-Men were ever founded.

In the AoA timeline, Morph often agitated his teammates with his off-the-wall sense of humor and inappropriate timing; he describes himself as wanting to die with a smile on his face when his time comes. Despite his happy-go-lucky attitude, Morph has displayed signs of a softer, more empathetic side several times. For example, he morphed into Sabretooth in an effort to comfort Blink while she doubted her abilities, and he later gave Rogue the strength to endure against the horseman Holocaust by acting as her son. Shortly after the defeat of Apocalypse, he accompanied fellow X-Men Iceman, Wildchild and Exodus on an unspecified mission, during which they disappeared. Their fate has yet to be revealed, except for Wildchild, who has since joined a new team of Exiles.

The Lost Generation
A Morph is also seen as a member of First Line, set in Earth-616 but in the period after World War II.

House of M
In the House of M reality, this reality's Morph/Kevin Sydney is Kevin MacTaggert, as the son of Moira as a result of a mind-transfer between her son Proteus and Morph.

In other media

 * Kevin Sydney / Morph appears in X-Men: The Animated Series, voiced by Ron Rubin. This version is a member of the X-Men and close friend of Wolverine. During production of the series, Sydney was originally going to appear under their original codename Changeling but was changed to their codename Morph due to trademark issues with DC Comics' character Beast Boy, who also went by Changeling.
 * Morph appears in X-Men '97, voiced by J. P. Karliak. As of this series, they have taken on a featureless default form, identify as non-binary, and have rejoined the X-Men once more.
 * The Exiles incarnation of Morph appears in Marvel Heroes, voiced by Tom Kenny.

title: Kevin Sydney


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Betty Castor

Elizabeth Castor (born May 11, 1941) is an American educator and former politician. Castor was elected to the Florida Senate and as Florida Education Commissioner, and she subsequently served as the President of the University of South Florida, and President of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Her public service included three terms in the Florida State Senate and one term as a Hillsborough County Commissioner. In 2004, she was the Democratic nominee for the open U.S. Senate seat of retiring Senator Bob Graham and was narrowly defeated by Mel Martinez.

After leaving elected politics, Castor was the director of the Patel Center for Global Solutions at the University of South Florida and later became chair of the J. William Fulbright Scholarship Board. She also works with Ruth's List Florida, a group dedicated to recruiting and aiding qualified Democratic women candidates, receiving the Architect of Change Award from them in May 2018.

Early life and education
Castor was born and grew up in Glassboro, New Jersey, the daughter of Gladys F. (née Wright) and Joseph L. Bowe. Her father was the mayor of Glassboro.

She attended Glassboro State College, now Rowan University, where earning her bachelor's degree. While at Glassboro, she was active in organizing a drive to support education in Uganda. President John F. Kennedy appointed her to a diplomatic mission to attend the independence celebrations in Kampala, Uganda, in 1962.

Following her graduation from Glassboro State in 1963, she attended Teachers College, Columbia University for a summer and then returned to Uganda, where she taught secondary school as part of the Teachers for East Africa program. While in East Africa, Castor participated in a project to help lead two dozen African school girls to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the first all-female expedition to accomplish this.

She returned to the U.S. in 1965, and settled in Miami-Dade County, Florida, where she was a teacher while studying for her Master of Education degree at the University of Miami, which she received in 1968.

Career
After receiving her Master's degree from the University of Miami, Castor moved to Tampa, Florida, where she joined the League of Women Voters's Tampa chapter, and became its president in 1970. Castor's second daughter, Karen, was born in 1968 and her son, Frank, who currently serves as judge in Palm Beach County, Florida, in 1970.

In 1972, she ran for the Hillsborough County Commission. Castor faced ten opponents in the Democratic Primary and a general election opponent. She won all the contests, becoming the first woman ever elected to the County Commission. During her term, she chaired the Environmental Protection Commission and became chair of the Board of County Commissioners in 1976.

In 1976, she was elected to the State Senate and served until 1978, when she ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor. She was elected again to the Florida Senate in 1982 and became the president pro tempore of the Senate in 1985, the first woman to hold the post. Castor served on numerous education committees and became chair of the appropriations sub-committee on education. She was the co-sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment (1977) and championed bills to end discrimination and fund spouse abuse centers statewide. She successfully sponsored legislation providing for the early childhood education program.

In 1986, Castor was elected statewide to the Florida Cabinet as Florida Education Commissioner, the first woman ever elected to the state cabinet. As Commissioner of Education, Castor served on the Board of Regents and as a member of the Community College Coordination Board. She worked with the legislature to fund the first statewide program to provide funding for the early childhood education program. She worked also with the Insurance Commissioner to develop the Healthy Kids program, providing health insurance for low-income children enrolled in public schools.

President of the University of South Florida
In 1994, Castor became the first female president of the University of South Florida (USF), one of the largest universities in the southeast with an enrollment of over 40,000 students, four campuses, and a medical school. During her tenure, USF gained the Research I designation and the endowment tripled from US$65 million to just over US$200 million. The Honors Program was expanded dramatically and a major expansion of residential on-campus housing was approved. USF joined its sister institution, the University of Central Florida, in creating an academic and economic partnership, the I-4 High Technology Corridor. She pursued international exchanges with institutions in China, led a delegation of faculty and staff to the African Economic Summit in Harare, Zimbabwe, and encouraged new opportunities for USF faculty to study abroad.

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
From 1999 to 2002, Castor served as president for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The mission of the board is to build a system of high standards for education and encourage teachers throughout America to pursue its rigorous certification process. The number of board certified teachers grew under Castor's leadership from about 2070 to 25,000 by 2003. Financial incentives were developed in 48 states and hundreds of school districts.

2004 Senate campaign
In the 2004 Senate campaign, Castor faced two Democratic candidates, Miami-Dade County, Florida mayor Alex Penelas, U.S. Congressman Peter Deutsch, and businessman Bernard Klein in the Democratic primary election.

Castor won the Democratic nomination on August 31, but lost the general election to Republican Mel Martinez on November 2, 2004, 49.5% to 48.4%. The overwhelming support for Martinez among Latinos effectively counterbalanced Castor's relatively high popularity among swing voters throughout the state.

Patel Center for Global Solutions
In January 2007, Castor was appointed executive director of the Patel Center for Global Solutions at the University of South Florida. In June 2009, she resigned as executive director of the Patel Center, returning her focus back to education and politics.

Personal life
Castor married Donald Castor with whom she had three children: Kathy Castor, Karen Castor Dentel, and Frank Castor. Kathy Castor has been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 2007. Karen Castor Dentel is a former member of the Florida House of Representatives and current school board member of the Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Florida since August of 2018. Frank Castor has served as a judge in Palm Beach County, Florida, since 2007.

Betty and Donald Castor divorced in 1978.

In 1989, Castor married Samuel P. Bell III, an attorney and lobbyist who had also served as a state legislator. He died in 2023, at the age of 83.

title: Betty Castor