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Pound sign

The pound sign (£) is the symbol for the pound unit of sterling – the currency of the United Kingdom and its associated Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories and previously of Great Britain and of the Kingdom of England. The same symbol is used for other currencies called pound, such as the Egyptian and Syrian pounds. The sign may be drawn with one or two bars depending on personal preference, but the Bank of England has used the one-bar style exclusively on banknotes since 1975.

In the United States, "pound sign" refers to the symbol # (number sign). In Canada ”pound sign” can mean £ or #.

Origin
The symbol derives from the upper case Latin letter L, representing libra pondo, the basic unit of weight in the Roman Empire, which in turn is derived from the Latin word libra, meaning scales or a balance. The pound became an English unit of weight and in England became defined as the tower pound (equivalent to 350 grams) of sterling silver. According to the Royal Mint Museum: "It is not known for certain when the horizontal line or lines, which indicate an abbreviation, first came to be drawn through the L. However, there is in the Bank of England Museum a cheque dated 7 January 1661 with a clearly discernible £ sign. By the time the Bank was founded in 1694 the £ sign was in common use."

However, the simple letter L, in lower- or uppercase, was used to represent the pound in printed books and newspapers until well into the 19th century. In the blackletter type used until the seventeenth century, the letter L is rendered as $$\mathfrak{L}$$.

Usage
When used for sterling, the pound sign is placed before the numerals (e.g., £12,000) and separated from the following digits by no space or only a thin space. In the UK, the sign is used without any prefix. In Egypt and Lebanon, a disambiguating letter is added (E£ or £E and £L respectively). In international banking and foreign exchange operations, the symbol is rarely used: the ISO 4217 currency code (e.g., GBP, EGP, etc.) is preferred.

Other English variants
In Canadian English, the symbol £ is called the pound sign. The symbol # has several uses and is sometimes called the pound sign too, though it is most often known as the number sign. (Telephone instructions for equipment manufactured in the United States often call # the pound key.)

In American English, the term "pound sign" usually refers to the symbol # (number sign), and the corresponding telephone key is called the "pound key". (As in Canada, the # symbol has many other uses.)

Double bar style
Banknotes issued by the Bank of England since 1975 have used only the single bar style as a pound sign. The bank used both the two-bar style (₤) and the one-bar style (£) (and sometimes a figure without any symbol whatever) more or less equally from 1725 to 1971 intermittently and sometimes concurrently. In typography, the symbols are allographs – style choices –  when used to represent the pound; consequently fonts use  (Unicode) code point irrespective of which style chosen, (not  despite its similarity). It is a font design choice on how to draw the symbol at U+00A3. Although most computer fonts do so with one bar, the two-bar style is not rare, as may be seen in the illustration above.

Other
In the eighteenth-century Caslon metal fonts, the pound sign was identical to an italic uppercase J, rotated 180 degrees.

Currencies that use the pound sign

 * Egypt: Egyptian pound
 * Falkland Islands: Falkland Islands pound
 * Gibraltar: Gibraltar pound
 * Guernsey: Guernsey pound
 * Isle of Man: Manx pound
 * Jersey: Jersey pound
 * Saint Helena: Saint Helena pound
 * South Sudan: South Sudanese pound
 * Sudan: Sudanese pound
 * Syria: Syrian pound
 * United Kingdom: Pound sterling

Former currencies

 * American Colonies:
 * Connecticut pound
 * Delaware pound
 * Georgia pound
 * Maryland pound
 * New Hampshire pound
 * New Jersey pound
 * New York pound
 * North Carolina pound
 * Pennsylvania pound
 * Rhode Island pound
 * South Carolina pound
 * Virginia pound
 * Australia: Australian pound
 * The Bahamas: Bahamian pound
 * Bermuda: Bermudian pound
 * British Mandatory Palestine: Palestine pound
 * Canada: Canadian pound
 * New Brunswick pound
 * Nova Scotian pound
 * Prince Edward Island pound
 * Cyprus: Cypriot pound
 * Fiji: Fijian pound
 * The Gambia: Gambian pound
 * Ghana: Ghanaian pound
 * Ireland: Irish pound
 * Israel: Israeli pound
 * Malta: Maltese pound
 * Newfoundland: Newfoundland pound
 * New Zealand: New Zealand pound
 * Rhodesia: Rhodesian pound
 * South Africa: South African pound
 * South Yemen: South Yemeni dinar
 * Tonga: Tongan pound
 * Western Samoa: Western Samoan pound

Use with computers
In the Unicode standard, the pound sign is encoded at Whether the glyph is drawn with one or two bars is a type designer's choice as explained above; the key point is that the code is constant irrespective of the presentation chosen.

The encoding of the £ symbol in position xA3 (16310) was first standardised by ISO Latin-1 (an "extended ASCII") in 1985. Position xA3 was used by the Digital Equipment Corporation VT220 terminal, Mac OS Roman, Amstrad CPC, Amiga, and Acorn Archimedes.

Many early computers (limited to a 7-bit, 128-position character set) used a variant of ASCII with one of the less-frequently used characters replaced by the £. The UK national variant of ISO 646 was standardised as BS 4730 in 1985. This code was identical to ASCII except for two characters: x23 encoded £ instead of #, while x7E encoded ‾ (overline) instead of ~ (tilde). MS-DOS on the IBM PC originally used a proprietary 8-bit character set Code page 437 in which the £ symbol was encoded as x9C; adoption of the ISO/IEC 8859-1 ("ISO Latin-1") standard code xA3 only came later with Microsoft Windows. The Atari ST also used position x9C. The HP LaserJet used position xBA (ISO/IEC 8859-1: º) for the £ symbol, while most other printers used x9C. The BBC Ceefax system which dated from 1976 encoded the £ as x23. The Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81 characters sets used x0C (ASCII: form feed). The ZX Spectrum and the BBC Micro used x60 (ASCII: `, grave). The Commodore 64 used x5C (ASCII: \) while the Oric computers used x5F (ASCII: _). IBM's EBCDIC code page 037 uses xB1 for the £ while its code page 285 uses x5B. ICL's 1900-series mainframes used a six-bit (64-position character set) encoding for characters, loosely based on BS 4730, with the £ symbol represented as octal 23 (hex 13, dec 19).

Typewriters
Typewriters produced for the British market included a "£" sign from the earliest days, though its position varied widely. A 1921 advertisement for an Imperial Typewriters model D, for example shows a machine with two modifier shifts (CAPS and FIG), with the "£" sign occupying the FIG shift position on the key for letter "B". But the advertisement notes that "We make special keyboards containing symbols, fractions, signs, etc., for the peculiar needs of Engineers, Builders, Architects, Chemists, Scientists, etc., or any staple trade."

On Latin-alphabet typewriters lacking a "£" symbol type element, a reasonable approximation could be made by overtyping an "f" over an "L". Historically, "L" overtyped with a hyphen or an equals sign was also used.

Compose key
The compose key sequence is:

Windows, Linux, Unix
On Microsoft Windows, Linux and Unix, the UK keyboard layout has the "£" symbol on the 3 number key and is typed using:

On a US-International keyboard in Windows, the "£" can be entered using:
 * (on keyboards without an engraved AltGr key)
 * (on keyboards without an engraved AltGr key)

On a US-International keyboard in Linux and Unix, the "£" can be entered using:
 * followed by

In Windows, it may also be generated through the Alt keycodes, although the results vary depending on factors such as the locale, codepage and OS version:
 * + (keeping Alt pressed until all 4 digits have been typed on the numeric keypad only)
 * +156 (this also works in MS-DOS)

Windows also supports the combination  but this combination may be overridden by applications for other purposes.

The Character Map utility and Microsoft Word's "Insert Symbol" commands may also be used to enter this character.

Mac OS
The symbol "£" is in the MacRoman character set and can be generated on most non-UK Mac OS keyboard layouts which do not have a dedicated key for it, typically through: On UK Apple Mac keyboards, this is reversed, with the "£" symbol on the number 3 key, typed using:
 * (and the number sign "#" generated by )

Android
Pressing and holding the local currency sign will invoke a pop-up box presenting an array of currency signs, from which the pound sign may be chosen.

Other uses
The logo of the UK Independence Party, a British political party, is based on the pound sign, symbolising the party's opposition to adoption of the euro and to the European Union generally.

A symbol that appears to be a double-barred pound sign is used as the logo of the record label Parlophone. In fact this is a stylised version of a Fraktur L ($$\mathfrak{L}$$), standing for Lindström (the firm's founder Carl Lindström).

The pound sign was used as an uppercase letter (the lowercase being $⟨₤⟩$, long s) to signify the sound in the early 1993–1995 version of the Turkmen Latin alphabet.

title: Pound sign


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Sutton

Sutton (south settlement or south town in Old English) may refer to:

United Kingdom
England

In alphabetical order by county:
 * Sutton, Bedfordshire
 * Sutton, Berkshire, a location
 * Sutton-in-the-Isle, Ely, Cambridgeshire
 * Sutton, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
 * Sutton, Cheshire East, a civil parish in Cheshire
 * Sutton Lane Ends, a village in Cheshire
 * Sutton, Middlewich, Cheshire
 * Sutton Weaver, Cheshire West and Chester
 * Great Sutton, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
 * Guilden Sutton, Chester, Cheshire
 * Little Sutton, Cheshire, Ellesmere Port
 * Sutton on the Hill, Derbyshire
 * Sutton Scarsdale, Derbyshire
 * Sutton, Devon, a hamlet near Kingsbridge
 * Sutton, a historic name of Plymouth, Devon
 * Sutton Harbour, Plymouth, Devon
 * Sutton Waldron, Dorset
 * Sutton, Essex
 * Long Sutton, Hampshire
 * Sutton Scotney, Hampshire
 * Sutton, Herefordshire
 * East Sutton, Kent
 * Sutton, Kent
 * Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley, Dartford, Kent
 * Sutton Valence, Maidstone, Kent
 * Sutton Hastings
 * Town Sutton
 * Sutton Cheney, Leicestershire
 * Sutton in the Elms, near Broughton Astley, Leicestershire
 * Sutton, Lincolnshire, a location
 * Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire
 * Sutton-on-Sea, part of Mablethorpe and Sutton, Lincolnshire
 * Long Sutton, Lincolnshire
 * Sutton, London (in Surrey until 1965)
 * London Borough of Sutton
 * Sutton (electoral division), Greater London Council
 * Sutton, St Helens, Merseyside
 * Sutton, a former village in Middlesex (now part of Heston)
 * Sutton, Norfolk
 * Sutton cum Lound, Nottinghamshire
 * Sutton-cum-Granby, Nottinghamshire
 * Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire
 * Sutton-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire
 * Sutton Bonington, Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire
 * Sutton Bonington Campus of the University of Nottingham
 * Sutton, Oxfordshire, a location
 * Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire (formerly in Berkshire)
 * Sutton, Chelmarsh, a location in Shropshire
 * Sutton Farm, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
 * Sutton, West Felton, a location in Shropshire
 * Sutton upon Tern, Shropshire
 * Sutton Bingham, Yeovil, Somerset
 * Sutton, Somerset
 * Long Sutton, Somerset
 * Sutton, Staffordshire, a location
 * Sutton, Suffolk
 * Sutton Hoo near Woodbridge, Suffolk
 * Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, West Midlands
 * Sutton Park, West Midlands
 * Sutton Coldfield transmitting station
 * Sutton Trinity (ward), an electoral ward in Birmingham
 * Sutton, East Sussex, part of Seaford
 * Sutton, West Sussex, Chichester
 * Sutton-under-Brailes, Warwickshire
 * Sutton Benger, Wiltshire
 * Full Sutton, East Riding of Yorkshire
 * Sutton upon Derwent, East Riding of Yorkshire
 * Sutton-on-Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
 * Sutton, Selby, North Yorkshire
 * Sutton, a place in the parish of Ellington High and Low, formerly in Healey with Sutton, North Yorkshire
 * Sutton Bank, North Yorkshire
 * Sutton Grange, North Yorkshire
 * Sutton-in-Craven, North Yorkshire
 * Sutton-on-the-Forest, North Yorkshire
 * Sutton Park, North Yorkshire
 * Sutton Howgrave, North Yorkshire
 * Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe, North Yorkshire
 * Sutton, South Yorkshire

Wales
 * Sutton, Pembrokeshire, a location
 * Sutton, Vale of Glamorgan

Australia

 * Sutton, New South Wales
 * Sutton Forest, New South Wales

Canada

 * Sutton, Ontario
 * Sutton, Quebec
 * Sutton Island (Nunavut)
 * Sutton Range, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
 * Rural Municipality of Sutton No. 103, Saskatchewan

Ireland

 * Sutton, Dublin, a suburb

New Zealand

 * Sutton, New Zealand, in Otago
 * Sutton Salt Lake, in Otago

United States

 * Sutton-Alpine, Alaska
 * Sutton, Massachusetts
 * Sutton, Nebraska
 * Sutton, New Hampshire
 * Sutton, New Jersey
 * Sutton, North Dakota
 * Sutton, Vermont, a New England town
 * Sutton (CDP), Vermont, village in the town
 * Sutton, West Virginia
 * Sutton County, Texas
 * Sutton Island, Maine
 * Sutton Township (disambiguation) - two places
 * Suttons Bay Township, Michigan
 * Suttons Bay, Michigan

People and characters

 * Sutton (given name) for a list of people with the given name Sutton
 * Sutton (surname) for a list of people with the surname Sutton
 * Sutton Mercer, a fictional character from the Sara Sherpard series: The Lying Game
 * Sutton Brady, a fictional character from the Freeform series: The Bold Type

Football clubs

 * Bishop Sutton A.F.C.
 * Long Sutton Athletic F.C.
 * Sutton Athletic F.C.
 * Sutton Coldfield Town F.C.
 * Sutton Common Rovers F.C.
 * Sutton Town A.F.C.
 * Sutton United F.C.

Other uses

 * Sutton (constructor), Formula One racing car constructor in 1959
 * Sutton Place (disambiguation), the name of a number of streets, neighbourhoods and estates
 * Sutton Publishing, part of The History Press
 * Sutton station (disambiguation)
 * Sutton Time, a division of E. Gluck Corporation
 * USS Sutton, the name of more than one United States Navy ship
 * Sutton Group, Canadian real estate franchiser
 * Sutton Vale, fictional workplace on Doctors

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

title: Sutton


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Bob Gibson

Robert Gibson (born Pack Robert Gibson; November 9, 1935 –October 2, 2020), nicknamed "Gibby" and "Hoot", was an American baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1959 to 1975. Known for his fiercely competitive nature, Gibson tallied 251 wins, 3,117 strikeouts, and a 2.91 earned run average. A nine-time All-Star and two-time World Series Champion, he won two Cy Young Awards and the 1968 National League Most Valuable Player Award.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Gibson overcame childhood illness to excel in youth sports, particularly basketball and baseball. After briefly playing under contract to both the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team and the St. Louis Cardinals organization, Gibson decided to continue playing only baseball professionally. He became a full-time starting pitcher in July 1961 and earned his first All-Star appearance in 1962. Gibson won 2 of 3 games he pitched in the 1964 World Series, then won 20 games in a season for the first time in 1965. Gibson also pitched three complete game victories in the 1967 World Series.

The pinnacle of Gibson's career was 1968, when he posted a 1.12 ERA for the season and then recorded 17 strikeouts in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series. Gibson threw a no-hitter in 1971 but began experiencing swelling in his knee in subsequent seasons. At the time of his retirement in 1975, Gibson ranked second only to Walter Johnson among major-league pitchers in career strikeouts.

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981, his first year of eligibility, and the Cardinals retired his uniform number 45 in September 1975, the year he retired. Gibson was later selected for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. He died of pancreatic cancer on October 2, 2020.

Early life
Gibson was born in Omaha, Nebraska on November 9, 1935, the youngest of Victoria (née Brown) and Pack Gibson's seven children. Gibson's father died of tuberculosis three months prior to Gibson's birth, and he was named Pack Robert Gibson in honor of his late father. While he revered his father's legacy, Gibson disliked the name 'Pack' and later dropped it in favor of 'Robert'.

Although afflicted by rickets and respiratory disease as a child, Gibson was active in sports, particularly baseball and basketball, in both informal and organized settings. Gibson's brother Josh, who was 15 years his senior, had a profound effect on his early life, serving as his mentor. Gibson played on a number of youth basketball and baseball teams his brother coached, many of which were organized through the local YMCA.

Gibson attended Omaha Technical High School, where he participated on the track, basketball, and baseball teams. Health issues resurfaced for Gibson, though, and he needed a doctor's permission to compete in high school sports because of a heart murmur that occurred in tandem with a rapid growth spurt. Gibson was named to the All-State basketball team during his senior year of high school by a newspaper in Lincoln, Nebraska, and soon after won a full athletic scholarship for basketball from Creighton University. Indiana University had rejected him after stating their "Negro athlete quota" had already been filled.

While at Creighton, Gibson majored in sociology, and continued to experience success playing basketball. At the end of his junior basketball season, he averaged 22 points per game, and made third team Jesuit All-American. As his graduation from Creighton approached, the spring of 1957 proved to be a busy time for Gibson. Aside from getting married, Gibson had garnered the interest of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team and the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.

In 1957, Gibson received a $3,000 ($0 today) signing bonus to sign with the Cardinals. He delayed his start with the organization for a year, playing basketball with the Globetrotters. However, he gave up as a traveling member due to long travels and many double-headers.

Early struggles
Gibson made his pitching debut for the Omaha Cardinals of the American Association, one of the Cardinals' Triple-A affiliates. He struggled against Triple-A hitting however, recording an earned run average of 4.29 in his first ten games, including four starts. He was reassigned to the Columbus Foxes of the South Atlantic League, the team's Single-A affiliate where his performance improved a little; making eight starts, he recorded an earned run average of 3.77 for the team.

The following season, he was first assigned to the Rochester Red Wings of the International League, another Triple-A affiliate of the Cardinals. He improved significantly, recording an earned run average of 2.45 in twenty games, including eleven starts. He threw seven complete games and 103 innings. The Cardinals reassigned him to Omaha where his performance slightly worsened, with an ERA of 3.31 in eleven starts, though he did record his first professional shutout.

Gibson was assigned to the Cardinals' big league roster for the start of the 1959 season, making his Major League debut on April 15 against the Los Angeles Dodgers; he pitched two innings in relief, giving up two runs, including a home run to Jim Baxes, the very first batter he faced. Reassigned to their Omaha affiliate soon after, Gibson returned to the Major Leagues on July 30 to make his first career start; he earned his first Major League win the same day, a shutout against the Cincinnati Reds.

Gibson's experience in 1960 was similar to his first season in the majors, pitching nine innings for the Cardinals before shuffling between the Cardinals and their Rochester affiliate until mid-June. After posting a 3–6 record with a 5.61 ERA for the season, Gibson traveled to Venezuela to participate in winter baseball at the conclusion of the 1960 season. He was also sent to Puerto Rico to play for the Cangrejeros de Santurce before and after the 1961 season.

Cardinals manager Solly Hemus shuffled Gibson between the bullpen and the starting pitching rotation for the first half of the 1961 season. Years later, Gibson indicated that Hemus's racial prejudice played a major role in his misuse of Gibson, as well as of teammate Curt Flood, both of whom were told by Hemus that they would not make it as major leaguers and should try something else. Hemus was replaced as Cardinals manager in July 1961 by Johnny Keane, who had been Gibson's manager on the Omaha minor league affiliate several years prior. Keane and Gibson shared a positive professional relationship, and Keane immediately moved Gibson into the starting pitching rotation full-time. Gibson proceeded to compile an 11–6 record the remainder of the year, and posted a 3.24 ERA for the full season.

Off the field, Gibson, along with teammates Bill White and Curt Flood, started a movement to make all players live in the same clubhouse and hotel rooms. Their campaign led the St. Louis Cardinals to become the first sports team to end segregation, three years before President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Breakthrough
In late May of the 1962 season, Gibson pitched $22 2/3$ consecutive scoreless innings on his way to being named an All-Star for the first time. He was named to both All-Star Games that year, pitching two innings in the second. Despite suffering a fractured ankle late in the season, Gibson still finished 1962 with his first 200-strikeout season.

The rehabilitation of Gibson's ankle was a slow process, and by May 19 of the 1963 season he had recorded only one win. Gibson then turned to rely on his slider and two different fastball pitches to reel off six straight wins prior to late July. Gibson and all other Major League pitchers benefited from a rule change that expanded the strike zone above the belt buckle. Adding to his pitching performances was Gibson's offensive production, with his 20 RBIs outmatching the combined RBI output of entire pitching staffs on other National League teams. Even with Gibson's 18 wins and the extra motivation of teammate Stan Musial's impending retirement, the Cardinals finished six games out of first place.

Building on their late-season pennant run in 1963, the 1964 Cardinals developed a strong camaraderie that was noted for being free of the racial tension that predominated in the United States at that time. Part of this atmosphere stemmed from the integration of the team's spring training hotel in 1960, and Gibson and teammate Bill White worked to confront and stop use of racial slurs within the team. On August 23, the Cardinals were 11 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies and remained six-and-a-half games behind on September 21. The combination of a nine-game Cardinals winning streak and a ten-game Phillies losing streak then brought the season down to the final game. The Cardinals faced the New York Mets, and Gibson entered the game as a relief pitcher in the fifth inning. Aware that the Phillies were ahead of the Cincinnati Reds 4–0 at the time he entered the game, Gibson proceeded to pitch four innings of two-hit relief, while his teammates scored 11 runs of support to earn the victory.

They next faced the New York Yankees in the 1964 World Series. Gibson was matched against Yankees starting pitcher Mel Stottlemyre for three of the Series' seven games, with Gibson losing Game 2, then winning Game 5. In Game 7, Gibson, who only had 2 days rest, pitched into the ninth inning, where he allowed home runs to Phil Linz and Clete Boyer, making the score 7–5 Cardinals. With Ray Sadecki and Barney Schultz warming up in the Cardinal bullpen, Gibson retired Bobby Richardson for the final out, giving the Cardinals their first World Championship since 1946. Along with his two victories, Gibson set a new World Series record by striking out 31 batters.

Gibson made the All-Star team again in the 1965 season, and when the Cardinals were well out of the pennant race by August, attention turned to Gibson to see if he could win 20 games for the first time. Gibson was still looking for win number 20 on the last day of the season, a game where new Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst rested many of the regular players. Gibson still prevailed against the Houston Astros by a score of 5–2.

The 1966 season marked the opening of Busch Memorial Stadium for the Cardinals and Gibson was selected to play in the All-Star Game in front of the hometown crowd, though he did not as he was hurt at the time.

The Cardinals built a $3 1/2$-game lead prior to the 1967 season All-Star break, and Gibson pitched the seventh and eighth innings of the 1967 All-Star game. Gibson then faced the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 15, when Roberto Clemente hit a line drive off Gibson's right leg. Unaware his leg had been fractured, Gibson faced three more batters before his right fibula bone snapped above the ankle. After Gibson returned on September 7, the Cardinals secured the National League pennant on September 18, $10 1/2$ games ahead of the San Francisco Giants.

In the 1967 World Series against the Boston Red Sox, Gibson allowed only three earned runs and 14 hits over three complete-game victories in Games 1, 4 (five-hit shutout), and 7, the latter two marks tying Christy Mathewson's 1905 World Series record. Just as he had in 1964, Gibson pitched a complete-game victory in Game 7, against Cy Young winner Jim Lonborg, who pitched a one-hitter in Game 2. Gibson also contributed offensively in Game 7 by hitting a home run that made the game 3–0. Unlike his last win as World Series MVP, he finally got the men's suit endorsement that eluded him in 1964. He also gained endorsement and sponsorship for his asthma medication, namely Primatene mist inhaler and tablets.

1968: Year of the Pitcher
The 1968 season became known as "The Year of the Pitcher", and Gibson was at the forefront of pitching dominance. His earned run average was 1.12, a live-ball era record, as well as the major league record in 300 or more innings pitched. It was the lowest major league ERA since Dutch Leonard's 0.96 mark 54 years earlier. Gibson threw 13 shutouts. He won all 12 starts in June and July, pitching a complete game every time, (eight of which were shutouts), and allowed only six earned runs in 108 innings pitched (a 0.50 ERA). Gibson pitched 47 consecutive scoreless innings during this stretch, at the time the third-longest scoreless streak in major league history. He also struck out 91 batters, and he won two consecutive NL Player of the Month awards. Gibson finished the season with 28 complete games out of 34 games started. Of the games he didn't complete, he was pinch-hit for, meaning Gibson was not removed from the mound for another pitcher for the entire season.

Gibson won the National League MVP Award. With Denny McLain winning the American League's Most Valuable Player award, 1968 remains, to date, the only year both MVP Awards went to pitchers, with McLain compiling a 31–6 record for the Detroit Tigers. For the 1968 season, opposing batters only had a batting average of .184, an on-base percentage of .233, and a slugging percentage of .236.

Gibson lost nine games against 22 wins, despite his record-setting low 1.12 ERA as the anemic batting throughout baseball included his own team. The 1968 Cardinals had one .300 hitter, while the team-leading home run and RBI totals were just 16 and 79, respectively. Of his nine losses, two were 1–0 games, one of which against San Francisco Giants pitcher Gaylord Perry's no-hitter on September 17. The Giants' run in that game came on a first-inning home run by light-hitting Ron Hunt, one of only 11 that Gibson allowed in $304 2/3$ innings.

In Game 1 of the 1968 World Series against the Detroit Tigers, Gibson struck out 17 batters, setting a World Series record for strikeouts in one game and breaking Sandy Koufax's record of 15 set in Game 1 of the 1963 World Series. He also joined Ed Walsh as the only pitchers to strike out at least one batter in each inning of a World Series game, Walsh having done so in Game 3 of the 1906 World Series. After allowing a leadoff single to Mickey Stanley in the ninth inning, Gibson finished the game by striking out Tiger sluggers Al Kaline, Norm Cash, and Willie Horton in succession.

Gibson next pitched in Game 4, winning the game by a score of 10–1, beating Tigers' ace Denny McLain. The teams continued to battle each other, setting the stage for another winner-take-all Game 7 in St. Louis on October 10, 1968. In this game Gibson was matched against Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich and the two proceeded to hold their opponents scoreless for the first six innings. In the top of the seventh, Gibson retired the first two batters before allowing two consecutive singles. Detroit batter Jim Northrup then hit a two-run triple over the head of center fielder Curt Flood, leading to Detroit's Series win.

The overall pitching statistics in the 1968 season, led by Gibson and McLain's record-setting performances, are often cited as one of the reasons for Major League Baseball's decision to alter pitching-related rules. Sometimes known as the "Gibson rules", Major League Baseball lowered the pitcher's mound in 1969 from 15 in to 10 in – though teams had rarely followed this rule nor was it enforced by the league – and reduced the height of the strike zone from the batter's armpits to the jersey letters.

Final years
Aside from the rule changes set to take effect in 1969, cultural and monetary influences increasingly began impacting baseball, as evidenced by nine players from the Cardinals' 1968 roster who had not reported by the first week of spring training due to the status of their contracts. On February 4, 1969, Gibson appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and said the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) had suggested players consider striking before the upcoming season began. Gibson himself had no immediate contract worries, as the $125,000 salary Gibson requested for 1969 was agreed to by team owner Gussie Busch and the Cardinals, setting a new franchise record for the highest single-season salary.

Despite the significant rule changes, Gibson's status as one of the league's best pitchers was not immediately affected. In 1969, he went 20–13 with a 2.18 ERA, 4 shutouts, and 28 complete games. On May 12, 1969, Gibson struck out three batters on nine pitches in the seventh inning of a 6–2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Gibson became the ninth National League pitcher and the 15th pitcher in Major League history to throw an immaculate inning. After pitching into the tenth inning of the July 4 game against the Cubs, Gibson was removed from a game without finishing an inning for the first time in more than 60 consecutive starts, a streak spanning two years. Gibson set another mark, on August 16, when he became the third pitcher in Major League history to reach the 200-strikeout plateau in seven different seasons.

Gibson experienced an up-and-down 1970 season, marked at the low point by a July slump where he resorted to experimenting with a knuckleball for the first time in his career. Just as quickly, Gibson returned to form, starting a streak of seven wins on July 28, and pitching all 14 innings of a 5–4 win against the San Diego Padres on August 12. He would go on to win his fourth and final NL Player of the Month award for August (6–0, 2.31 ERA, 55 SO). Gibson won 23 games in 1970, and was once again named the NL Cy Young Award winner.

Gibson achieved two highlights in August 1971. On the 4th, he defeated the Giants 7–2 at Busch Memorial Stadium for his 200th career victory. Ten days later, he threw a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates, beating the eventual World Champions by a score of 11–0 at Three Rivers Stadium. Along the way, he registered 10 strikeouts, including the game's final out. Gibson also drove in three runs, one on a fifth-inning sacrifice fly and two on an eighth-inning single, to help his own cause. The no-hitter was the first in Pittsburgh since Nick Maddox at Exposition Park in 1907; none had been pitched in the 62-year history of Three Rivers Stadium's predecessor, Forbes Field.

Gibson started the 1972 season by going 0–5. However, he would end the season with 19 wins and recording his ninth and final 200-strikeout season. He also made his final All-Star appearance. On June 21, against the San Diego Padres, he broke Jesse Haines's club record for most wins.

During the summer of 1974, Gibson felt hopeful he could put together a winning streak, but he continually encountered swelling in his knee. Despite his struggles, on July 17 of that season, he became the second pitcher in Major League Baseball history, after Walter Johnson, to strike out more than 3,000 batters and the first to do so in the National League; the strikeout victim was César Gerónimo of the Cincinnati Reds.

In January 1975, Gibson announced he would retire at the end of the 1975 season, admitting later on that he only continued to play baseball in order to cope with his recent divorce from his ex-wife, Charline. During his final season, Gibson went 3–10 with a 5.04 earned run average.

Statistics and achievements
From 1963 to 1970, Gibson posted a win–loss record of 156–81, for a .658 winning percentage. He won nine Gold Glove Awards, the National League Cy Young Award in 1968 and 1970, and the National League MVP Award in 1968. His 1.12 earned run average and 13 shutouts in 1968 are both records in the live-ball era.

In his career, Gibson had a win-loss record of 251-174 with an ERA of 2.91. Across 482 games started, he pitched 56 shutouts and 255 complete games, striking out 3,117 batters in $3,884 1/3$ innings pitched. He holds the Cardinals franchise pitching records for wins, games started, complete games, shutouts, innings pitched, and strikeouts.

As a hitter, he had a lifetime batting average of .206 with 24 home runs and 144 runs batted in. Gibson was sometimes used by the Cardinals as a pinch-hitter, and in 1970 he hit .303 for the season in 109 at-bats, which was over 100 points higher than teammate Dal Maxvill.

Gibson is considered one of the greatest postseason pitchers in baseball history. Across three World Series and nine games started, he had a record of 7-2 with a 1.89 ERA and 92 strikeouts. He became the second player, after Sandy Koufax, to win two World Series MVP awards, receiving the honor in 1964 and 1967.

In, he set a World Series record for most strikeouts in a seven-game World Series with 31, a record he broke in when he recorded 35, including a record 17 strikeouts in Game 1. Additionally, Gibson is one of two pitchers, the other being Dave McNally, to hit two home runs in World Series play, hitting one each in the and 1968 World Series.

Pitching style and reputation
Gibson was a quick worker on the mound with an explosive delivery, falling towards first base each time he released the ball. He relied on pinpoint control and had a vicious slider and both a two-seam fastball and a four-seam fastball, released with a low, three-quarter arm angle.

He was a fierce competitor who was known to throw brushback pitches to establish dominance over the strike-zone and intimidate the batter, similar to his contemporary and fellow Hall of Famer Don Drysdale. However, he rarely hit batters deliberately; compared to Drysdale, who hit 154 batters in his career, Gibson hit only 102 despite facing more batters. Additionally, Drysdale led the league in hit batsmen five times, while Gibson never did; only once did he finish in the top three.

While he gained a reputation for being intimidating, Gibson often pushed back on stories by contemporaries about him as being exaggerated, saying that he made no concerted effort to be intimidating. He once joked that the only reason he glared while pitching was because of his poor eyesight and inability to see the catcher's signals clearly as he did not wear glasses while pitching.

Gibson was also known to avoid fraternizing with opposing players. At the 1965 All-Star Game, Milwaukee Braves catcher Joe Torre caught Gibson in the 9th inning; afterwards, when he complimented Gibson's pitching, the latter ignored him and merely got dressed and left. He could also be surly and brusque even with his teammates. When his catcher Tim McCarver went to the mound for a conference, Gibson brushed him off, saying "The only thing you know about pitching is that it's hard to hit."

Post-playing career
Before Gibson returned to his home in Omaha at the end of the 1975 season, Cardinals general manager Bing Devine offered him an undefined job that was contingent on approval from higher-ranking club officials. Unsure of his future career path, Gibson declined and the subject was never raised with him again by the Cardinals. He would later say of the exchange: "I've often thought how different my life would have been if I had said 'yes' that day."

After his retirement, Gibson used the motor home the Cardinals had given him as a retirement gift to travel across the western United States during the 1975 offseason. Returning to Omaha, he served as chairman of the board of directors for the Community National Bank, a local bank which served the city's African-American community. At one point the principal investor in the radio station KOWH. He also started "Gibson's Spirits and Sustenance" restaurant, sometimes working twelve-hour days as its owner/operator.

Gibson returned to baseball in 1981 after accepting a coaching job with Joe Torre, who was then manager of the New York Mets. Torre termed Gibson's position "attitude coach", the first such title in Major League history. After Torre and his coaching staff were let go at the end of the 1981 season, Torre moved on to manage the Atlanta Braves in 1982, hiring Gibson as a pitching coach. The Braves proceeded to challenge for the National League pennant for the first time since 1969, ultimately losing to the Cardinals in the 1982 National League Championship Series. Gibson remained with Torre on the Braves' coaching staff until the end of the 1984 season.

Gibson then took to hosting a pre- and postgame show for Cardinals baseball games on radio station KMOX from 1985 until 1989. Gibson also served as color commentator for baseball games on ESPN in 1990 but declined an option to continue the position over concerns he would have to spend too much time away from his family. In 1995, Gibson again served as pitching coach on a Torre-led staff, this time returning to the Cardinals.

In 2009, with the help of sportswriter Lonnie Wheeler, he and fellow Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson wrote a book titled Sixty Feet, Six Inches: A Hall of Fame Pitcher & a Hall of Fame Hitter Talk About How the Game Is Played. Gibson wrote another book, also with Wheeler, titled Pitch by Pitch: My View of One Unforgettable Game; it was published in 2015 and described Game 1 of the 1968 World Series from his point of view.

Honors
Gibson's jersey number 45 was retired by the St. Louis Cardinals on September 1, 1975. In 1981, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot.

In 1999, he was ranked number 31 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2020, The Athletic ranked Gibson at number 45 on its "Baseball 100" list, complied by sportswriter Joe Posnanski.

Gibson was named as one of (then) thirteen "Black Aces", a select few African-American pitchers who had a 20-win season in the Major Leagues, by former pitcher Mudcat Grant in a book he had authored called The Black Aces: Baseball's Only African-American Twenty-Game Winners.

In 2022, as part of their SN Rushmore project, The Sporting News named Gibson on their "St. Louis Mount Rushmore of Sports", along with fellow Cardinals Stan Musial and Albert Pujols, and St. Louis Blues hockey player Brett Hull.

He has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. A bronze statue of Gibson by Harry Weber is located in front of Busch Stadium, commemorating Gibson along with other St. Louis Cardinals greats. Another statue of Gibson was unveiled outside of Werner Park in Gibson's home city, Omaha, Nebraska, in 2013. The street on the north side of Rosenblatt Stadium, former home of the College World Series in his hometown of Omaha, is named Bob Gibson Boulevard.

In January 2014, the Cardinals announced Gibson as amongst 22 former players and personnel who made up the inaugural class of St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum.

Personal life
Gibson was married twice and was the father of three children. With his first wife, Charline (née Johnson), he had a son named Ray and a daughter named Annette. With his second wife, Wendy (née Nelson), he had a son named Christopher.

During his teenage years, Gibson's eyesight deteriorated severely and necessitated the use eyeglasses. However, he never wore glasses when in uniform or while pitching; catcher Tim McCarver would painted his finger nails to enable Gibson to be able to see signs. Gibson's former teammate Bill White, while with the San Francisco Giants, recalled taking Gibson to meet Willie Mays; Mays did not immediately recognize Gibson as the latter was wearing his glasses at the time.

During his career and in retirement, Gibson continued to live in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. This was due to a discriminatory housing in St. Louis during his playing career which made it extremely difficult for him to buy a house in the city.

Gibson hosted an annual golf tournament in Omaha for 12 years, called the 'Bob Gibson All-Star Classic', raising millions of dollars for local and national charities. He also sat on the Board of Directors of the Baseball Assistance Team (B.A.T.), an organization that provides aid to retired, financially struggling former ballplayers.

In 2002, Gibson was involved in a road rage incident with a man named Miguel Sanchez. Both Gibson and Sanchez were cited by the police for third-degree assault after they got into a fistfight at a gas station.

Illness and death
In July 2019, Gibson's longtime agent Dick Zitzmann announced that Gibson had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer several weeks earlier and was due to begin chemotherapy. He died on October 2, 2020, at age 84, under hospice care after fighting cancer for more than a year.

Following his death, Cardinal fans paid their respect to Gibson at his statue at Busch Stadium. The following season, the team honored Gibson by wearing a "45" memorial patch on their uniforms and holding "Bob Gibson Day" on August 22, with former teammates and his family attending the pregame memorial ceremony.

Gibson's funeral was held privately in Omaha, Nebraska, with only his immediate surviving family attending. His body was interred at Evergreen Memorial Park in Omaha.

title: Bob Gibson


text:
Josep Trueta

Josep Trueta i Raspall (27 October 1897 – 19 January 1977) was a Catalan surgeon and researcher from Spain.

Biography
As a Catalan nationalist, he fled into exile to England after the Spanish Civil War, during which he had been the chief of trauma services for the main hospital in Barcelona. In 1939 a booklet of his, first published in Catalan, was published in English as Treatment of War Wounds and Fractures, with special reference to the Closed Method as used in the war in Spain, in London. His work was noted and accepted by the British RAMC, thus influencing British Army medical practice. During World War II, he helped to organize medical emergency services. His use of a new plaster cast method for the treatment of open wounds and fractures helped save a great number of lives and still more limbs, during several wars.

Trueta formed part of a group of Catalans exiled in the United Kingdom who denounced the situation of Catalonia in Francoist Spain. He wrote The Spirit of Catalonia, a book aimed at explaining Catalan history to English-speaking society.

He joined the team run by Florey and Chain that developed penicillin in Oxford, and held the first live animal to be injected with the groundbreaking antibiotic.

From 1949 to 1966 he was the third Nuffield Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Oxford and directed the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (previously the Wingfield-Morris Hospital).

On his retirement in 1966, he returned to Catalonia with his wife Amèlia. Both were buried (in 1977 and 1975 respectively) in Santa Cristina d'Aro.

The main hospital of Girona, Josep Trueta University Hospital, was named after him, as are streets in many towns across Catalonia. Every year the government of Catalonia awards Trueta medals and plaques to professionals and institutions that excel in the Catalan medical field.

title: Josep Trueta


text:
User:Dersonlwd

Hello World

 * Talk to me :o)
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My Blog

 * http://hi.baidu.com/dersonlwd

Keywords Collecting

 * Encarta
 * Westpoint
 * Singapore
 * Steve Jobs-Steve Wozniak-IBM-Hannibal-Roma-TIME-fruit-M. C. Escher - List of military commanders - Aspirin - Typhoon - Chinese Chess
 * index - IEEE
 * Damselfly - Dragonfly - butterfly
 * CD - VCD - DVD - mp3 - vr
 * Virgil
 * barbie-mattel
 * Handicraft
 * Arts and crafts
 * Pyrite
 * Cryptography

Food

 * apple - grapes

Person

 * Alan Turing - da Vinci - Romain Rolland - Homer - engels

Math

 * Euler - Fibonacci - Gauss - Fermat
 * star - Golden rectangle - Golden spiral - Golden mean

other

 * Rosetta Stone
 * bullet
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Links

 * User:Anthere - user:maveric149
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da:Bruger:Dersonlwd de:Benutzer:Dersonlwd fr:Utilisateur:Dersonlwd it:Utente:Dersonlwd ja:利用者:のののののの pl:Wikipedysta:Dersonlwd sl:Uporabnik:Dersonlwd zh:User:Dersonlwd

title: User:Dersonlwd


text:
Plus–minus sign

The plus–minus sign or plus-or-minus sign, ±, is a symbol with multiple meanings. Other meanings occur in other fields, including medicine, engineering, chemistry, electronics, linguistics, and philosophy.
 * In mathematics, it generally indicates a choice of exactly two possible values, one of which is obtained through addition and the other through subtraction.
 * In statistics and experimental sciences, the sign commonly indicates the confidence interval or uncertainty bounding a range of possible errors in a measurement, often the standard deviation or standard error. The sign may also represent an inclusive range of values that a reading might have.
 * In chess, the sign indicates a clear advantage for the white player; the complementary minus-plus sign, ∓ indicates the same advantage for the black player.

History
A version of the sign, including also the French word ou ("or"), was used in its mathematical meaning by Albert Girard in 1626, and the sign in its modern form was used as early as 1631, in William Oughtred's Clavis Mathematicae.

In mathematics
In mathematical formulas, the ± symbol may be used to indicate a symbol that may be replaced by either of the plus and minus signs, + or −, allowing the formula to represent two values or two equations.

If $x^{2} = 9$, one may give the solution as $x = ±3$. This indicates that the equation has two solutions: $x = +3$ and $x = −3$. A common use of this notation is found in the quadratic formula
 * $$x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a},$$

which describes the two solutions to the quadratic equation $ax^{2} + bx + c = 0.$

Similarly, the trigonometric identity
 * $$\sin(A \pm B) = \sin(A) \cos(B) \pm \cos(A) \sin(B)$$

can be interpreted as a shorthand for two equations: one with + on both sides of the equation, and one with − on both sides.

The minus–plus sign, ∓, is generally used in conjunction with the ± sign, in such expressions as $x ± y ∓ z$, which can be interpreted as meaning $x + y − z$ or $x − y + z$ (but $x + y + z$  or $x − y − z$). The ∓ always has the opposite sign to  ±.

The above expression can be rewritten as $x ± (y − z)$ to avoid use of ∓, but cases such as the trigonometric identity are most neatly written using the "∓" sign:
 * $$\cos(A \pm B) = \cos(A) \cos(B) \mp \sin(A) \sin(B) $$

which represents the two equations:
 * $$\begin{align}

\cos(A + B) &= \cos(A)\cos(B) - \sin(A) \sin(B) \\ \cos(A - B) &= \cos(A)\cos(B) + \sin(A) \sin(B) \end{align}$$

Another example is the conjugate of the perfect squares
 * $$x^3 \pm y^3 = (x \pm y)\left((x \mp y)^2 \pm xy\right)$$

which represents the two equations:
 * $$\begin{align}

x^3 + y^3 &= (x + y)\left((x - y)^2 + xy\right) \\ x^3 - y^3 &= (x - y)\left((x + y)^2 - xy\right) \end{align}$$

A related usage is found in this presentation of the formula for the Taylor series of the sine function:
 * $$\sin\left( x \right) = x - \frac{x^3}{3!} + \frac{x^5}{5!} - \frac{x^7}{7!} + \cdots \pm \frac{1}{(2n+1)!} x^{2n+1} + \cdots $$

Here, the plus-or-minus sign indicates that the term may be added or subtracted depending on whether $n$ is odd or even; a rule which can be deduced from the first few terms. A more rigorous presentation would multiply each term by a factor of $(−1)n$, which gives +1 when $n$ is even, and −1 when $n$ is odd. In older texts one occasionally finds $(−)n$, which means the same.

When the standard presumption that the plus-or-minus signs all take on the same value of +1 or all −1 is not true, then the line of text that immediately follows the equation must contain a brief description of the actual connection, if any, most often of the form "where the ‘±’ signs are independent" or similar. If a brief, simple description is not possible, the equation must be re-written to provide clarity; e.g. by introducing variables such as $s1$, $s2$, ... and specifying a value of +1 or −1 separately for each, or some appropriate relation, like $s_{3} = s_{1} · (s_{2})^{n}$ or similar.

In statistics
The use of ± for an approximation is most commonly encountered in presenting the numerical value of a quantity, together with its tolerance or its statistical margin of error. For example, 5.7 ± 0.2 may be anywhere in the range from 5.5 to 5.9 inclusive. In scientific usage, it sometimes refers to a probability of being within the stated interval, usually corresponding to either 1 or 2 standard deviations (a probability of 68.3% or 95.4% in a normal distribution).

Operations involving uncertain values should always try to preserve the uncertainty, in order to avoid propagation of error. If $n = a ± b$, any operation of the form $m = f(n)$ must return a value of the form $m = c ± d$, where $c$ is $f(a)$ and $d$ is the range $b$ updated using interval arithmetic.

In chess
The symbols ± and ∓ are used in chess annotation to denote a moderate but significant advantage for White and Black, respectively. Weaker and stronger advantages are denoted by ⩲ and ⩱ for only a slight advantage, and +– and –+ for a strong, potentially winning advantage, again for White and Black respectively.

Other meanings

 * In medicine, it may mean "with or without" in some cases.
 * In engineering, the sign indicates the tolerance, which is the range of values that are considered to be acceptable or safe, or which comply with some standard or with a contract.
 * In chemistry, the sign is used to indicate a racemic mixture.
 * In electronics, this sign may indicate a dual voltage power supply, such as ±5 volts means +5 volts and −5 volts, when used with audio circuits and operational amplifiers.
 * In linguistics, it may indicate a distinctive feature, such as [±voiced].

Encodings

 * In Unicode:
 * In ISO 8859-1, -7, -8, -9, -13, -15, and -16, the plus–minus symbol is code 0xB1hex. This location was copied to Unicode.
 * The symbol also has a HTML entity representations of,  , and.
 * The rarer minus–plus sign is not generally found in legacy encodings, but is available in Unicode as so can be used in HTML using   or.
 * In TeX 'plus-or-minus' and 'minus-or-plus' symbols are denoted  and , respectively.
 * Although these characters may be approximated by underlining or overlining a + symbol ( + or $\overline{+}$ ), this is discouraged because the formatting may be stripped at a later date, changing the meaning. It also makes the meaning less accessible to blind users with screen readers.

Typing

 * Windows: or  (numbers typed on the numeric keypad).
 * Macintosh: (equal sign on the non-numeric keypad).
 * Unix-like systems: or  (second works on Chromebook)
 * In the Vim text editor (in Insert mode):  or   or    or
 * AutoCAD shortcut string: %%p

Similar characters
The plus–minus sign resembles the Chinese characters 土 (Radical 32) and 士 (Radical 33), whereas the minus–plus sign resembles 干 (Radical 51).

title: Plus–minus sign


text:
Liverpool Street

Liverpool Street can refer to:

 * Liverpool Street station, a major mainline railway station in central London, UK
 * Liverpool Street bus station, located adjacent to the London railway station
 * Liverpool Street station, a station on the underground London Post Office Railway
 * Liverpool Street, Hobart, a major street in Hobart, Australia
 * Liverpool Street, Sydney, an important thoroughfare in the central business district of Sydney, Australia
 * Liverpool Street, one of the streets named for European cities in the Zona Rosa, Mexico City

title: Liverpool Street


text:
Ann Bancroft

Ann Bancroft (born September 29, 1955) is an American author, teacher, adventurer, and public speaker. She was the first woman to finish a number of expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1995.

Biography
Bancroft was born in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, and grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. Bancroft spent two years in Kenya in her fifth and sixth grades. Bancroft began leading wilderness expeditions when she was 8 years old when she convinced her cousins to join her on backyard expeditions. She described her family as one of risk takers. Bancroft struggled with dyslexia from an early age, but she nevertheless graduated from high school and was accepted at the University of Oregon where she graduated with a Physical Education Degree in 1981. Bancroft was a camper and staff member at YMCA Camp Widjiwagan in Ely, MN. Bancroft also taught Physical Education and Special Education in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Bancroft became a wilderness instructor and a gym teacher in Minneapolis (at Clara Barton Open School) and St. Paul.

Bancroft founded the Ann Bancroft Foundation in 1991. The Ann Bancroft foundation supports the Wilderness Inquiry group and Bancroft currently teaches at Wilderness Inquiry. The Wilderness Inquiry group allows individuals and families to go on outdoor adventures, and the adventures are open to people of all ability levels. Bancroft currently co-owns an exploration company, Bancroft Arnesen Explore, with Liv Arnesen. Bancroft has been on expeditions on the Ganges River in India, crossed Greenland, traveled to the North Pole, and crossed the South Pole.

Expeditions
Bancroft gave up her physical education and special education teaching posts in 1986 in order to participate with the "Will Steger International North Pole Expedition". She arrived at the North Pole together with five other team members after 56 days using dogsleds. This made Bancroft the first woman to reach the North Pole on foot and by sled.

She was also the first woman to cross both polar ice caps to reach the North and South Poles. In 1992–1993, Bancroft led a four-woman expedition to the South Pole on skis; this expedition was the first all-female expedition to cross the ice to the South Pole.

In 2001, Bancroft and Norwegian adventurer Liv Arnesen became the first women to ski across Antarctica.

In March 2007, Bancroft and Liv Arnesen took part in a trek across the Arctic Ocean to draw attention to the problem of global warming. The two explorers were followed be millions of school children. However, according to The Washington Post, the expedition was called off "after Liv Arnesen suffered frostbite in three of her toes, and extreme cold temperatures drained the batteries in some of their electronic equipment."

In 2017, Bancroft led an expedition on the Ganges River as part of the "Access Water Initiative Series." The Ganges River expedition's purpose was to raise awareness of the importance of clean water and that waste will travel downstream. This expedition was a 60-day trip on 1,500 miles of waterway.

Bancroft planned to boat down the Mississippi River in 2018 with Arnesen and other female explorers. Future expeditions will be conducted on every continent. This initiative aims to encourage children to protect their waterways, which is a vital resource. In 2018, Bancroft will paddle down the 2,320 mile Mississippi River. Future trips include Africa in 2019, Oceania in 2021, South America in 2023, Europe in 2025, and Antarctica in 2027.

Activist
Bancroft is openly bisexual and in 2006, she publicly campaigned against a proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution to prohibit any legal recognition of marriages or civil unions between members of the same sex.

Bancroft also supports awareness of Access Water, Winter Warm-Up challenges, and global warming.

Select achievements

 * First woman to reach the North Pole in 1986.
 * Named Woman of the Year by Ms. Magazine in 1987.
 * Leader of the first east–west crossing of Greenland in 1992.
 * Became the first woman to reach both poles in 1992.
 * Leader of the first all-female expedition to the South Pole in 1992–1993.
 * Included in Remarkable Women of the Twentieth Century in 1998.
 * Second woman (after Liv Arnesen) to cross Antarctica on foot in 2001.
 * Named Woman of the Year by Glamour Magazine in 2001.
 * Induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame for the United States in 2005.
 * Attempted another expedition to the North Pole with Liv Arnesen, but frostbite stopped their trek in 2007
 * Named one of history's greatest polar explorers in 2011.
 * Finished the first Source to Sea Access Water expedition on the Ganges River with seven other women in 2015, covering 1,500 miles in 60 days.

Books

 * Bancroft, Ann & Nancy Loewen (2001). Four to the Pole! The American Women's Expedition to Antarctica, 1992–1993. Linnet Books.
 * Arnesen, Liv & Ann Bancroft with Cheryl Dahle (2003). No Horizon Is So Far: Two Women and Their Extraordinary Journey Across Antarctica. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-7382-0794-2. No Horizon Is So Far describes Ann Bancroft's and Liv Arnesen's 1,700 mile trek across Antarctica in 2000–2001. The nonfiction book won an Amelia Bloomer award in 2005.
 * Bancroft, Ann & Liv Arnesen (2003). Ann and Liv Cross Antarctica. Da Capo Press.  ISBN 0-7382-0934-1.

title: Ann Bancroft


text:
German Life Saving Association

The German Life Saving Association (Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-Gesellschaft or DLRG) is a relief organization for life saving in Germany. The DLRG is the largest voluntary lifesaving organization in the world.

With around 560,000 members, organised in approximately 2,100 local groups, the DLRG is the largest voluntary water rescue organization in the world. More than one million regular donors support the work of the DLRG.

Tasks
The most urgent goal of the DLRG is the creation and promotion of all activities used to fight drowning. Additional tasks are:

 * Teach swimming and self-rescue to the public
 * Educate people about the dangers of swimming and how to avoid them
 * Teach and train rescue swimming
 * Basic and advanced training in First Aid
 * Help and technical safety support for water related activities
 * Providing lifeguards at public places
 * Perform rescue related exercises and water sports competitions
 * Environmental protection at, on and in waters.
 * Cooperation with German civil defense, especially concerning floods.
 * International Response Units
 * International Operations (Lifeguards in Spain are often trained by DLRG members)

Qualifications
The DLRG trains interested members as qualified technical personnel in the following ranges:

 * Swimming
 * First aid / Advanced First aid
 * Boating
 * Rescue diver
 * Swift water rescue
 * Radio and Communication Systems

History
On 28 July 1912, a pier in Binz on the island Rügen, Germany, collapsed under the load of 1,000 people waiting for the cruise steamer Kronprinz Wilhelm. Sailors of the German navy were able to save most people, but 16 people died because they could not swim, including two children. This catastrophe led to the foundation of the "Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-Gesellschaft (DLRG)" (German lifesaving organization) on 19 October 1913 in Leipzig.

title: German Life Saving Association


text:
Ferruginous hawk

The ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) is a large bird of prey and belongs to the broad-winged buteo hawks. An old colloquial name is ferrugineous rough-leg, due to its similarity to the closely related rough-legged hawk (B. lagopus).

The generic name buteo is Latin for 'buzzard'. The specific epithet regalis is Latin for 'royal' (from rex, regis, 'king'). The common name 'ferruginous' means 'rust-colored' or 'reddish-brown'.

This species is a large, broad-winged hawk of the open, arid grasslands, prairie and shrub steppe country; it is endemic to the interior parts of North America. It is used as a falconry bird in its native ranges.

Description
This is the largest of the North American Buteos and is often mistaken for an eagle due to its size, proportions, and behavior. Among all the nearly thirty species of Buteo in the world, only the upland buzzard (B. hemilasius) of Asia averages larger in length and wingspan. The weight of the upland buzzard and ferruginous broadly overlaps and which of these two species is the heaviest in the genus is debatable. As with all birds of prey, the female ferruginous hawk is larger than the male, but there is some overlap between small females and large males in the range of measurements. Length in this species ranges from 51 to 71 cm with an average of 58 cm, wingspan from 122 to 158 cm, with an average of about 139 cm, and weight from 907 to 2268 g.    Weight varies in the species relatively restricted breeding range. In the southern reaches of the species breeding range, i.e. Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, males average 1050 g, in a sample of fifteen, and females average 1231 g, in a sample of four. In the northern stretches of the breeding range, in southern Canada, Washington, Idaho and North Dakota, the hawks are heavier averaging 1163 g in males (from a sample of 30) and 1776 g in females (from a sample of 37). Upland buzzard average weights were intermediate between those body mass surveys, notably heavier than the first and less heavier than the latter one, particularly the sample of 37 ferruginous hawk females place it as the most massive type of Buteo in northern populations.

Adults have long broad wings and a broad gray, rusty, or white tail. The legs are feathered to the talons, like the rough-legged hawk. There are two color forms:
 * Light morph birds are rusty brown on the upper parts and pale on the head, neck, and underparts with rust on the legs and some rust marking on the underwing. The upper wings are grey. The "ferruginous" name refers to the rusty color of the light-morph birds.
 * Dark-morph birds are dark brown on both upperparts and underparts with light areas on the upper and lower wings.

There are no subspecies.

Voice
The voice is not well-described in literature. Alarm calls consist of kree – a or ke – ah and harsh kaah, kaah calls, the latter resembling some vocalizations of the herring gull. One description referred to the "wavering" alarm call and "breathy" notes, while other authors describe screams similar to those of the red-tailed hawk (B. jamaicensis).

Identification
The male and female have identical markings. The main difference is size, with the female being somewhat larger. Perched birds have a white breast and body with dark legs. The back and wings are a brownish rust color. The head is white with a dark streak extending behind the eye. The wingtips almost reach the tip of the tail.

The underside is primarily light colored with the dark legs forming a "V" shape. The reddish upper-back color extends to the inner wing-coverts or "shoulders." The primary remiges (pinions) are dark gray with conspicuous light "windows" in the inner primaries. Three prominent light areas on the upper surface stand out as two "windows" on the outer wings and a rufous rump mark, perhaps the most significant feature of a flying ferruginous hawk. The underwings are whitish overall with rufous markings, particularly in the patagial area. This gives a smudgy appearance to the wings, but less dark than in a red-tailed hawk. The ferruginous hawk is noticeably longer winged than a red-tailed hawk, although the wings appear slenderer than the latter species the total wing area of the ferruginous is considerably more. However, the Red-tail can be nearly as bulky and heavy. Dark "comma"-shaped markings are prominent at the wrists. The ferruginous hawk is one of the only two hawks that have feathers that cover their legs down to their toes, like the golden eagle. The other is the rough-legged buzzard (Buteo lagopus). The pale morph of the closely related but more slender rough-legged species is best distinguished by its darker coloration, with a broad black tail band and a dark band across the chest. The dark morph Rough-leg is more a slaty coloration than the more brownish dark morph ferruginous. Swainson's hawks and especially rough-legged buzzards can be nearly as long-winged but are less bulky and heavily built than the ferruginous. Among the normal standard measurements, the wing chord measures 415 to 477 mm, the tarsus measures 81 to 92 mm and the tail measures 224 to 252 mm. Additionally, the grasp is 94 to 125 mm and the third toe 29.5 to 45 mm, indicating that the ferruginous hawks has the largest and most robust feet of any of the world's Buteos. Compared to other Buteos, the ferruginous has a larger bill, at 37.6 to 49.5 mm, with a much wider gap when the bill is opened, at 42.7 to 57 mm.

In-flight, these birds soar with their wings in a dihedral.

Habitat
The preferred habitat for ferruginous hawks are the arid and semiarid grassland regions of North America. The countryside is open, level, or rolling prairies; foothills or middle elevation plateaus largely devoid of trees; and cultivated shelterbelts or riparian corridors. Rock outcrops, shallow canyons, and gullies may characterize some habitats. These hawks avoid high elevations, forest interiors, narrow canyons, and cliff areas.

During the breeding season, the preference is for grasslands, sagebrush, and other arid shrub country. Nesting occurs in the open areas or in trees including cottonwoods, willows, and swamp oaks along waterways. Cultivated fields and modified grasslands are avoided during the breeding period. The density of ferruginous hawks in grasslands declines in an inverse relationship to the degree of cultivation of the grasslands. However, high densities have been reported in areas where nearly 80% of the grassland was under cultivation.

The winter habitat is similar to that used during the summer. However, cultivated areas are not necessarily avoided, particularly when the crops are not plowed under after harvest. The standing stubble provides habitat for the small-mammal prey base needed by ferruginous and other hawks. One requisite of the habitat is perches such as poles, lone trees, fence posts, hills, rocky outcrops or large boulders. Ferruginous hawks nest in trees if they are available, including riparian strips, but the presence of water does not appear to be critical to them.

The ferruginous hawk maintains minimum distances from other nesting raptors but will nest closer when necessary, suggesting that the distance is not fixed. The "nearest neighbor" distance has varied from less than 1 mi to as much as 4 mi with an average of 2 mi. Nests facing different hunting territories are tolerated much closer than nests facing the same hunting territory. The minimum distance between nests is probably about one half mile on densely occupied areas. Nesting densities in several studies have varied from one pair per 4 to 2450 sqmi. In Alberta, on one study site, there was a stable density of one pair per 4 sqmi, on average with little deviation from this mean. In Idaho, the average home range for four pairs of ferruginous hawk in the Snake River area was slightly over 2 sqmi.

Behavior
The flight of the ferruginous hawk is active, with slow wing beats much like that of a small eagle. Soaring with the wings held in a strong dihedral has been noted, as well as gliding with the wings held flat, or in a modified dihedral. Hovering and low cruising over the ground are also used as hunting techniques. The wing beat has been described as "fluid" by some observers.

Dietary biology
The ferruginous hawk primarily hunts small to medium-sized mammals but will also take birds, reptiles, and some insects. Mammals generally comprise 80–90% of the prey items or biomass in the diet with birds being the next most common mass component.

Method of predation
These birds search for prey while flying over open country or from a perch. They may also wait in ambush outside the prey's burrow. Hunting may occur at any time of the day depending upon the activity patterns of the major prey species. A bimodal pattern of early morning and late afternoon hunting may be common. The hunting tactics can be grouped into seven basic strategies:
 * Perch and Wait – perching is on any elevated natural or man-made site
 * Ground Perching – the hawk will stand on the ground at a rodent burrow after initially locating it from the air. As the burrowing animal reaches the surface, the hawk rises into the air and pounces upon it even while it is still underneath the loose earth.
 * Low-level Flight – birds will course over the landscape within a few yards of the ground and pursue in direct, low-level chases, or they will hunt from 40 to 60 ft above the ground.
 * High-level Flight – birds will hunt while soaring, but the success rate is generally low.
 * Hovering – using quickened wing beats, often in times of increased winds, the birds will search the ground and drop on the prey.
 * Cooperative Hunting – mates have been known to assist each other.
 * Piracy – the ferruginous hawk has been observed gathering around a hunter shooting prairie dogs, and claiming shot "dogs" by flying to them and mantling over them.

In its "strike, kill, and consume" type of predation, the prey is seized with the feet and a series of blows may be meted out, including driving the rear talon into the body to puncture vital organs. Biting with the beak may also take place. Before bringing prey to the nest, the adults will often eat the head. At the nest, birds are plucked and mammals torn into pieces before being fed to the young. Food caching has been noted, but not generally near the nest.

Prey species
The diet varies somewhat geographically, depending upon the distribution of prey species, but where the range of the ferruginous hawk overlaps, rabbits and hares are major food species along with ground squirrels and pocket gophers. In South Dakota, thirteen-lined ground squirrels (Spermophilus tridecemlin) are dominant prey, while northern pocket gophers (Thomomys talpoides) and Great Basin pocket mice (Perognathus parvus) was predominantly taken in Washington. Similarly, Botta's pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae) was important prey in New Mexico along with Gunnison's prairie dogs (Cynomys gunnisoni) and desert cottontails (Sylvilagus audubonii). Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) were the only prey observed captured by ferruginous hawks during winter in Colorado, where remaining prey was either scavenged or kleptoparasitized. Richardson’s ground squirrel (Urocitellus richardsonii) was the dominant prey item in ferruginous hawk diets in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. In the northwest Texas panhandle, the Oklahoma panhandle, and northeastern New Mexico in 2003–2004, ferruginous hawks primarily delivered plains pocket gophers (Geomys bursarius) and yellow-faced pocket gophers (Cratogeomys castanops). Larger black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) is the main prey in Northern Utah and Southern Idaho, comprising 83% of the total biomass. These jackrabbits can weigh around 2.1 kg, though young individuals are largely taken along with adults. Similarly, they can even regularly hunt young white-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus townsendii), one of the largest lagomorphs in North America, and adults weighing around 3.2 kg can be infrequently taken. In one instant, a pair of ferruginous hawks succeeds at killing a large jackrabbit about 3.63 kg in weight. Other lagomorph and rodent prey include various mouse such as eastern deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), voles such as montane voles (Microtus montanus), Townsend's ground squirrels (Urocitellus townsendii), western pocket gophers (Thomomys mazama), muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus), eastern cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus), giant kangaroo rats (Dipodomys ingens), and antelope squirrels (Ammospermophilus). Mammalian prey other than lagomorphs and rodents are uncommon, though they occasionally prey on mustelids, such as stoats (Mustela erminea), long-tailed weasels (Neogale frenata), and black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes).

Ferruginous hawks can also take a wide range of birds as prey. The most frequently taken avian species are western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) and horned larks (Eremophila alpestris) along with other passerines, and dabbing ducks can be important prey at times. They can occasionally prey on relatively large gamebirds such as common pheasants (Phasianus colchicus), lesser prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), sharp-tailed grouses (Tympanuchus phasianellus), and sage grouses (Centrocercus urophasianus). Predation on corvids such as American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos), common raven (Corvus corax), Chihuahuan ravens (C.cryptoleucus) and raptors such as burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia), barn owls (Tyto alba), and other Buteo hawks have been reported.

Reptiles can be taken as additional prey, mainly snakes but can include lizards such as Texas horned lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum). While yellow-bellied racer (Coluber constrictor) and garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) was constituted the second most frequent prey item in Washington, other snakes such as western hognose snakes (Heterodon nasicus) and pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) can be taken in other regions. Other preys include frogs and large insects such as grasshoppers.

Interspecific interaction
Conflicts over territories, food and nest-defense have been reported with several other large species of raptor and corvid, such as the great horned (Bubo virginianus) and short-eared owl (Asio flammeus), hen harrier (Circus cyaneus), red-tailed and Swainson's hawks (Buteo swainsonii), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), accipiters (Accipiter), ravens (Corvus), and magpies (Pica). Among native raptorial birds, only larger eagles and similarly sized great horned owls can regularly outmatch this large and powerful hawk. While bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) normally only harass ferruginous hawks to pirate food from them, the golden eagle can be a serious threat (in potential territorial or defensive conflicts) and predator of the ferruginous. Although they may be attracted to similar nesting habitat, in a local comparison in northwestern Texas, southwestern Oklahoma and northeastern Arizona, the typical prey taken by Swainson's hawks was quite different, being about half the weight of that of the ferruginous hawk and more focused on insects rather than mammals. However, in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, the prey taken by red-tailed hawks and ferruginous hawks was almost exactly the same, both in terms of species and body size. The prey species hunted by golden eagles are often similar, but the ferruginous hawk is locally less of lagomorphs where it co-exists with eagles and takes typically smaller prey, such as pocket gophers, which are generally ignored by the eagles. It seems to be quite tolerant of conspecifics from adjacent territories.

Reproduction and life history
Copulation occurs during and after nest building. The egg-laying period varies with latitude, weather, and possibly food supply. In the Canadian parts of the range, laying occurs from the latter part of April through late June, whereas farther south laying occurs from about March 20 through mid May. The earliest recorded clutch was in January in Utah and laying could occur as late as July 3 in Canada. Egg-laying occurs at two-day intervals with incubation starting when the first egg is laid. Incubation is shared by both sexes with each taking approximately the same number of shifts during the 32-day average incubation period. Replacement clutches following failure appears to be rare.

Courtship flights seem to be limited in the accepted sense. Both sexes engage in high, circling flight but literature details are sketchy. Soaring activities may primarily be variations on territorial defense flights as opposed to courtship per se. The "flutter-glide" flight consists of a series of shallow, rapid wing beats interspersed with brief glides and may serve to advertise the territory. The "sky-dance" is stimulated by an intruder and consists of slow flight with deep, labored wing beats with irregular yawing and pitching that may terminate in steep dives. In the "follow-soar" maneuver, the male ferruginous hawk will fly below an intruder and escort it out of the territory.

High perching occurs from prominent places around the nest, particularly early in the breeding cycle. Aggressive actions such as attacking, talon-grasping, and pursuit have been noted by some observers. Copulation begins before construction of the new nest, and increases in frequency until the start of egg laying. The passing of food may occur before the activity. The duration of copulation is from four to 18 seconds.

The ferruginous hawk is one of the most adaptable nesters of the raptors, and will use trees, ledges, rock or dirt outcrops, the ground, haystacks, nest platforms, power poles, and other man-made structures. Within some broad categories such as cliffs, the variety includes clay, dirt and rock substrates. Tree nests are typically in isolated trees or isolated clumps of trees in exposed locations. Authors differ as to whether ground nests are more successful than tree nests, but they are more susceptible to mammalian predation. Nest locations are reused frequently, but several nests may be built in an area. Typically, one or two alternate nests may exist but up to eight have been found on some territories.

The nests are made of ground debris such as sticks, branches, and cattails. Old nests will be refurbished, or nests of other species may be taken over and refurbished with sticks being added on top of the old nests. Odd items such as paper, rubbish, barbed wire, cornstalks, plastic, and steel cable have been incorporated into nests. Bark from trees and shrubs will be used for lining along with grasses and cow dung. Bits and pieces of greenery are often added to the nest. Prior to the removal of the bison from this bird's range, nesting material often included bison bones, fur and dung. Both sexes are involved with building the nests and bringing materials, but the male seems to be more involved in retrieving materials while the female arranges them in the structure.

Clutch size varies from one to eight and is likely linked to food supply. The average clutch is three to four eggs, each 2.5 in long and 2 in wide. They are smooth, non-glossy and whitish in color, irregularly spotted or speckled and blotched with reddish-brown markings. There may be a concentration of darker pigments at the small end of the egg. Occasionally, the eggs are almost unmarked or have faint scribblings on them.

The nestling period varies from 38 to 50 days with brooding primarily by the female. Males fledge at 38 to 40 days and the females as late as 50 days after hatching, or 10 days later than their male siblings as they take longer to develop. Nestlings lie or sit for the first two weeks, stand at about three weeks and walk soon after. By 16 or 18 days, they are able to feed on their own. Wing flapping starts about day 23 and by day 33 the young are capable of vigorous flapping and "flap jumps." The nestlings are sensitive to high temperatures and seek shade however possible in the nest.

Initial movement out of the nest is felt to be a response to heat stress as the young quickly move towards shade. The initial flight for the males is taken at 38 to 40 days while the slower-developing females fly about 10 days later. Post-fledging dependency upon the parents may last for several weeks. During the first four weeks after fledging, the young patrol increasingly large areas around the nest as they learn to hunt. Young hawks have killed prey as early as four days after fledging.

The ferruginous hawk is single-brooded, and as in so many raptors, the number of young reared is tied closely to food supply. In areas where jackrabbit populations are the principal food source, the initial clutch sizes and the number of reared young vary closely with variations in the number of jackrabbits. Fifty percent loss of young has been reported in low jackrabbit years. Fledging rates of 2.7 to 3.6 young per nest have been reported during years of abundant food supply. The high potential clutch size allows for a quick response to increases in the prey base.

Ferruginous hawks have been known to live for 20 years in the wild, but most birds probably die within the first five years. The oldest banded birds were recovered at age 20. First-year mortality has been estimated at 66% and the adult mortality at 25%. The reasons for mortality include illegal shooting, loss of a satisfactory food supply, harassment, predation, and starvation of nestlings during times of low food supply. Ground nests are susceptible to predation by coyotes, bobcats and mountain lions while nestlings, fledglings and adults may be preyed upon by great horned owls, red-tailed hawks, bald eagles and golden eagles.

Status and conservation
At times the ferruginous hawk has been considered threatened, endangered, or of concern on various threatened species lists but recent population increases in local areas, coupled with conservation initiatives, have created some optimism about the bird's future. It was formerly classified as a Near Threatened species by the IUCN, but new research has confirmed that the Ferruginous hawk is common and widespread again. Consequently, it was downlisted to Least Concern status in 2008.

Declines are mostly due to loss of quality habitat. Although flexible in choosing a nest site and exhibiting a high reproductive potential, this bird's restriction to natural grasslands on the breeding grounds and specialized predation on mammals persecuted on rangelands may make conservation a continuous concern. Historically, the birds entirely disappeared from areas where agriculture displaced the natural flora and fauna; for example it was noted in 1916 that the species was "practically extinct" in San Mateo County, California. Studies have found that prairie dogs can be a main prey item for ferruginous hawks, linking them to the populations of prairie dog towns in the mid-west and southwestern United States, which have been declining in recent years. This bird may also be sensitive to the use of pesticides on farms; they are also frequently shot. Threats to the overall population include:
 * cultivation of native prairie grassland and subsequent habitat loss
 * tree invasion of northern grassland habitats
 * reductions in food supply due to agricultural pest management programs
 * shooting and human interference

The ferruginous hawk was on the National Audubon Society's "Blue List" of species felt to be declining. From 1971 to 1981 it retained its "blue" status, and from 1982 to 1986 it was listed as a species of "Special Concern." The United States Fish and Wildlife Service placed it in a category of "undetermined" in 1973, and various states have placed it in categories of "Threatened" or "Endangered." In Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada considered this species "Threatened" in 1980.

Across the Canadian prairies, the range was diminishing up until 1980, and at that time, birds were felt to be occupying 48% of its original range. Numbers were generally felt to be diminishing and a total Canadian population was estimated at 500 to 1000 pairs. By 1987, population increases were being noted, and the Alberta population alone was estimated at 1,800 pairs. The upswing was likely due to a greater availability of food on the wintering grounds, making the birds more likely to breed when they returned to Canada. In the United States, there has been a history of concern for this species in many states with declines noted, but in 1988, one study suggested that the population in California and locally elsewhere may have increased significantly. The wintering population north of Mexico was estimated at 5,500 birds in 1986. In 1984, the population estimate for North America was between 3,000 and 4,000 pairs, and in 1987, it was 14,000 individuals.

Toxic chemicals have not been suggested as a significant threat to the ferruginous hawk. Management strategies must include the retention or reclamation of native grasslands for breeding as well as on the wintering grounds. Maintenance of high populations of prey species in wintering areas seems critical to the hawks' abilities to move onto the summer range in breeding condition. The integration of agricultural practices and policies into the management strategies is a crucial component of any overall scheme for conservation. The provision of nesting platforms has had positive effects and should be a part of local strategies. Public education and the elimination of persecution and human disturbance must be an important part of the overall conservation program.

Use in falconry
The ferruginous hawk is a well-regarded falconry bird, though not recommended for beginners due to its large size, power, and aggressive personality. For the experienced falconer it offers an opportunity to experience the nearest equivalent to hunting with the golden eagle with much lower risk of injury to the falconer by the hawk. Faster and stronger than the red-tailed hawk, the ferruginous hawk is effective in pursuit of larger hares and jackrabbits that are difficult prey for the red-tailed hawk and Harris's hawk, and with its agility is also more effective on large bird species than is the golden eagle.

title: Ferruginous hawk


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Ilium (band)

Ilium is an Australian melodic power metal band formed in Newcastle in 1998 as Iliad. Founding mainstay is guitarist-songwriter, Jason Hodges. Upon Adam Smith (ex-Oracle) joining on guitar they changed their name and have released eight studio albums; Sirens of the Styx (18 December 2003), Permian Dusk (25 November 2005), Vespertilion (17 April 2007), Ageless Decay (22 June 2009), Genetic Memory (26 August 2011), My Misanthropia (14 March 2015), Sirens of the Styx: Re-Styxed (25 October 2017) and Carcinogeist (28 February 2020).

Founding and early years: 1998–2002
Ilium were founded in Newcastle by former members of local power metal band, Oracle, with guitarist-songwriter Jason Hodges and vocalist Mark Snedden initially as Iliad in 1998. Hodges and Snedden were school friends and had formed Oracle in 1990. Iliad also included later Oracle members: Kris Arendse on guitar and Michael Noonan on bass guitar; as well as session musician, David Pearson on drums. They recorded a six-track demo which the band's website described as "ill-fated from the start, with an inappropriate producer and the band's lack of studio experience, coupled with plaguing health problems, the results were truly horrible". Hodges listed the group's inspirations as "Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Helloween, Rage, Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, Rush, Megadeth, Coroner, Scorpions, Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, [and] Dio".

Late in 1998 with the introduction of Adam Smith, also ex-Oracle, on guitar the group changed its name to Ilium. In 2002 they recorded a four-track eponymous extended play with Dungeon's vocalist and guitarist Lord Tim (aka Tim Grose) producing and adding backing vocals. Noonan left during recording sessions and Smith completed the bass guitar work. The EP included a cover version of Fleetwood Mac's "The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)" in the vogue of Judas Priest's 1979 version. The other tracks were "Half-Life", "Semblance" and "Antigone" – the first two were solely written by Hodges, while the latter was co-written with Smith and Sneddon. Yet another ex-Oracle, Matthew Woodland, joined Ilium shortly before its release. The EP gained the attention of several labels, including Sentinel Steel boss Denis Gulbey, with Italian record company Adrenaline's metal label Steelheart signing the band.

Sirens of the Styx: 2003–2004
On 18 December 2003 Ilium issued their debut album, Sirens of the Styx, with Lord Tim producing again and Steve Moore providing drums. It included three tracks from Ilium, as well as "Incipience: Beowulf Defeats Grendel", which is part one of a trilogy centred on the Beowulf and Grendel legends. Parts two and three appeared on their third release. "Incipience" was written by Hodges, Smith, Snedden and Noonan. Another track, "The Celestial Sphere", written by Hodges, Smith and Snedden, became Ilium's first music video. Daniel Böhm from German metal magazine, Rock Hard, found the album "sounds wonderfully wrong-headed". After recording the album, Peter Gilchrist joined on bass guitar, while drummer David Walmsley joined shortly thereafter.

Snedden left in July due to family and financial restraints, Lord Tim was recruited in his place, originally to complete the recording sessions but soon became a full-time member. Gilchrist and Walmsley both left Ilium at the end of 2003, Gilchrist was recorded on the demo tracks but bass guitar on the album was provided by Smith, with Walmsley completing his drum duties on the album before exiting. Tim's vocal style which was in tune with Smith and Hodges' vision, which helped Ilium garner international praise, whilst the production duties were taken over largely by Hodges and Smith. Late in 2004, Gilchrist and Walmsley rejoined Ilium, and Gilchrist's 15-year-old son Corey joined on keyboards, with his vocals providing extra body to their live performances. Corey Gilchrist auditioned to appear on the TV talent show, Australian Idol, and twice reached the top 100 but did not progress.

Permian Dusk: 2005–2006
Ilium's second album, Permian Dusk, was released on 25 November 2005. Walmsley left again as the album was being mastered and was replaced on drums by Dungeon's Tim Yatras. In October Corey was hit by a train and his foot was amputated, which forced both he and his father out of the band. Corey recovered and later appeared on Australian Idol getting into the semi-finals.

Permian Dusk received a positive review from Rock Hard, which gave it a score of 9.5/10 and led their reviewer, Wolfram Küper, to declare it as the best power metal album of the year. AllMusic's Stewart Mason felt it avoided the "more annoying aspects of modern metal", where Tim's vocals showed "oddly perfect diction and haughty delivery of an old-school metal singer" and the rest of the band "plays it fast and melodic, with clean-sounding chorused guitars riffing". The group provided a music video for "Chloroform Divinity", which was co-written by Hodges and Smith. In November 2006, it was announced that Swedish keyboardist Kaspar Dahlqvist, a former member of various bands including Dionysus, Stormwind, Treasureland and Circle II Circle, had joined the Ilium line-up, though personal issues have meant that he was unable to continue with the band.

Vespertilion: 2007–2008
Ilium issued their third album, Vespertilion, on 17 April 2007, which received positive reviews. It included the next two instalments of their Beowulf trilogy with part two, "Desinence: Beowulf and the Serpent", and part three, "Beowulf: The Peroration", both co-written by Hodges, Smith and Snedden.

Rock Hard's Küper rated it at 8.0/10, he found it provided "a partly majestic, partly mystic atmosphere" with the sound of "melody, hardness and independence". Paul Batteiger of The Metal Crypt website noted they "tend to write really long songs that are just a little bit proggy without straying out of pure metal territory – they don't overuse keys, they don't go nuts with the solos, they just write long songs filled with heavy riffs".

Despite many reviews crediting Dahlqvist as keyboardist, it was Smith who played keyboards along with guitar and bass guitar. In November that year Lord Tim announced his departure from Ilium.

Ageless Decay: 2009–2010
The release of Ageless Decay in June 2009 brought outstanding reviews from the metal music scene in Europe. The album features vocals by New Yorks Mike DiMeo which takes this band's music to places they have never been before. Surprisingly the band is largely unknown in its home country of Australia.

Significant changes for the album Ageless Decay are the artwork by Dimitar Nikolov and the mixing and mastering by Tommy Hansen. The team of Hodges and Smith continue to gain attention to their songwriting abilities. Ageless Decay is distributed by Escape Music.

Genetic Memory: 2011–2014
In July 2010 the band announced that they were working on their fifth album Genetic Memory, The album was released in August 2011 by Escape Music. Many claiming this album a step forward for Ilium in most areas.

2012 a new song named Greenpeace Music Video dedicated to Greenpeace produced by FanVision & Vida Production in cooperation with Ilium, and in acting, written and directed by Diego Vida. Composed by Ilium with Lyrics by Jason Hodges and music by Adam Smith and voice by Mike DiMeo, promoting the new Rainbow Warrior ship.

My Misanthropia: 2015-2016
The sixth full-length release from Australian-based melodic heavy metal band Ilium draws from a wide range of US, British and Euro traditional heavy and power metal styles, with dark lyrical themes from various mythologies, legends and the depths of depression. Successfully marrying many different subgenres into their own version of traditional metal.

"My Misanthropia" features a new man at the front in vocalist Lance King, who takes over for the departing Mike DiMeo (ex-Riot). Mike's departure opened the doors for renowned vocalist Lance King (Balance of Power, Pyramaze, Avian) to take over. Lance's style was very much what the band were looking for on the final product, "My Misanthropia" will prove to be their most accomplished works yet.

The album was released digitally on 24 March 2015. The first 1000 CD copies released were a "Limited Edition Double Digipak" including bonus CD "Wendigo" (5 Tracks) including three originals and two very special remakes; "Tragedy" – (The Bee Gee's) and "Love is All" – (Roger Glover/Ronnie James Dio).

On 9 November 2015 Ilium released a lyric video for the song "The Cryptozoologist" through Nightmare's Megaloud YouTube channel.

Sirens of the Styx: Re-Styxed: 2017–present
Released 25 October 2017. Adam Smith (guitar, bass, keyboard), Lord Tim (vocals), Tim Yatras (drums) and Jason Hodges (lyrics). It is a complete re-working of the 2003 debut, with the original also included in the physical CD package. All songs have been re-written, and re-recorded along with a brand new track – 'Ode of the Trans-Dimensional Puppeteer'. Lord Tim from LORD and Dungeon, who recorded and sang backing vocals on the original, handles lead vocals.

Current
Adam Smith and Jason Hodges worked on a new EP, Quantum Evolution Event, which was released in 2022.

title: Ilium (band)


text:
Ilion

Ilion may refer to:

 * Ilion (Ἴλιον) or (Latinized) Ilium, an Archaic name for the pre-classical city of Troy, hence the title of Homer's Iliad, also a Byzantine city and bishopric, which remains a Latin Catholic titular see as Ilium
 * Ilion, Greece, a suburb of Athens, Greece, also known as Nea Liosia
 * Ilium (Epirus), ancient city of Epirus, Greece
 * Ilion, ancient name of Cestria (Epirus), a town of ancient Epirus, Greece
 * Ilion (Thessaly), a town of ancient Thessaly, Greece
 * Ilion Animation Studios, a CGI animation studio based in Madrid, Spain
 * Ilion, New York, a village in Herkimer County, New York
 * Ilion (album), a 2024 album by French band Slift

title: Ilion