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Dan Burton

Danny Lee Burton (born June 21, 1938) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for IN's 5th congressional district, and previously the IN's 6th congressional district, serving from 1983 until 2013. He is a member of the Republican Party and was part of the Tea Party Caucus.

Early life, education, and early career
Burton was born in Indianapolis, the son of Bonnie L. (née Hardesty) and Charles W. Burton. His father, a former policeman, was abusive to his mother, and never held a job for very long. The family moved constantly, living in trailer parks, cabins, and motels. In June 1950, some years after the couple divorced, his mother went to the police and got a restraining order against his father. He responded by kidnapping Burton's mother. Burton and his younger brother and sister were briefly sent to the Marion County Children's Guardian Home. After his mother escaped, Burton's father went to jail for two years. Burton's mother remarried, and Burton and his younger brother and sister had happier teenage years.

Burton worked as a caddy at a local country club in order to make ends meet, where he learned the golf skills that led to his winning a statewide golf championship in high school. He graduated from Shortridge High School in 1957, and attended Indiana University (1958–59) and the Cincinnati Bible Seminary (now known as Cincinnati Christian University) (1959–60). He served in the United States Army from 1956 to 1957, before leaving active duty to return to college but remained in the Army Reserves from 1957 to 1962. After school, Burton became a real estate broker and he founded the Dan Burton Insurance Agency in 1968.

Indiana legislature
Burton was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives from 1967 to 1968 and again from 1977 to 1980 and the Indiana State Senate from 1969 to 1970 and again from 1981 to 1982.

Elections
Burton first ran for Congress in 1970, losing to Democratic incumbent Andy Jacobs in Indiana's 11th congressional district. Burton ran again in 1972, losing in the Republican primary to William Hudnut.

After the 1980 census, the Republican-controlled state legislature reconfigured the 6th District into a heavily Republican district focused on the suburbs north of Indianapolis. The district's four-term Democratic incumbent, David W. Evans, opted to challenge Jacobs in the Democratic primary (which he lost) rather than face certain defeat. Burton jumped into the Republican primary halfway into his second stint in the state senate, and won a five-way Republican primary with 37% of the vote. He then defeated Democrat George Grabianowski in the general election 65%–35%. He would be reelected 14 times, never dropping below 62% in a general election. His district was renumbered as the 5th District after the 2000 census.

 * 2008

In 2008, Burton faced a reasonably well-funded challenger in the Republican primary for the first time since his initial run for the seat in former Marion County Coroner John McGoff. Burton defeated McGoff 52% to 45% in the closest Republican primary election of his career.

 * 2010

In 2010, he faced six challengers in the Republican primary. He won the primary with a plurality of 30%. He defeated State Representative Luke Messer (28%), McGoff (19%), State Representative Mike Murphy (9%), Brose McVey (8%), Andy Lyons (4%), and Ann Adcock (3%). Burton only carried a majority in one county (55%): Huntington.

 * 2012

In 2012, Burton was due to face a number of challengers in the Republican primary including McGoff, former U.S. Attorney Susan Brooks, former U.S. Congressman David McIntosh, and attorney Jack Lugar. On the Democratic side, State Representative Scott Reske and labor activist Tony Long entered the race. While the reconfigured 5th is still a Republican stronghold, it is said to be slightly more Democratic than its predecessor. In January 2012, Burton abruptly announced his retirement, saying, "I don't want to get into it, it's about personal problems with family health." Brooks won the election.

Tenure
In 1995, Burton authored legislation targeting foreign companies that did business with Cuba. The bill allowed foreign companies to be sued in American courts if, in dealings with the government of Fidel Castro, they acquired assets formerly owned by Americans. In February 1996, Cuba shot down two small Brothers to the Rescue planes piloted by anti-Castro Cuban-Americans. As part of the White House response to crack down on Cuba, President Clinton signed the Helms–Burton Act into law.
 * Helms–Burton bill

Burton was a consistently conservative vote in the US House. In the 109th Congress, he had a 100% rating from the National Right to Life Committee. He also has an A rating with the Gun Owners of America.
 * Conservative voting record

Burton has received a number of awards from conservative groups, including a Friend of the Farm Bureau Award in 2004 from the American Farm Bureau Federation, a True Blue Award in 2006 the Family Research Council, eight Guardian of Small Business Awards from the National Federation of Independent Business and twenty-two Spirit of Enterprise Awards from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Burton was the primary sponsor for a 1998 effort, opposed by the Clinton administration, to require federal government agencies to do more strategic planning, establish more accountability measurements, and do more reporting on their performance. H.R. 2883, the "Government Performance and Results Act Amendments", was not enacted into law.
 * Government Performance and Results Act

In his role as chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee, Burton helped expose FBI corruption that led to the wrongful conviction of Joseph Salvati, Peter Limone, Henry Tameleo and Louis Greco for the murder of Edward "Teddy" Deegan. The three-year investigation that Burton spearheaded helped exonerate the four, who were eventually awarded $102 million by Judge Nancy Gertner of the District of Massachusetts.
 * Exposing the Winter Hill Gang/FBI Corruption

 * Republican Study Committee

Burton served as chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of conservative House Republicans, during the 101st Congress. After Newt Gingrich yanked funding for the group in 1995, Burton joined fellow congressmen John Doolittle of California, Ernest Istook of Oklahoma and Sam Johnson of Texas in refounding it as the Conservative Action Team. The three men shared the chairmanship from 1994 to 1999. In 2001, the CAT regained its original name, the RSC.

Congressman Burton is a founding member and co-chair of Pakistan Caucus in House of Congress. His consistent support for Pakistan and his voting record has prompted the Indian media to describe him as "anti-India" in the past.
 * Pro-Pakistan and Anti-India

Burton has received at least $10,000 in campaign donations from Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, who runs the Kashmir Center, a pro-Pakistan advocacy group. Burton was the chief supporter in Congress of the Kashmiri American Council, until it was revealed to be a front of Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate engaging in illegal lobbying activities on US soil.

Burton has been noted for his vocal support of Bahrain's monarchy and criticism of protesters during the Bahraini uprising. In April 2012, Burton and his wife took a paid trip to Bahrain to meet with the country's rulers. The $20,966 trip was paid for by the pro-monarchy Bahrain American Council, a non-profit group established by and closely linked to Policy Impact Communications, a lobbying firm founded by William Nixon.
 * Support for Bahrain's monarchy

Committee assignments

 * Committee on Foreign Affairs
 * Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
 * Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia (Chairman)
 * Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
 * Subcommittee on Health Care, District of Columbia, Census and the National Archives
 * Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations

Post-Congressional career
On February 13, 2013, the Azerbaijan America Alliance announced his appointment as Chairman of the group. Burton is listed as chairman on the organization's web site as well.

In October 2015, it was reported that Burton registered as a lobbyist on behalf of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), an organization established by the Church of Scientology. CCHR advocates against psychiatry and psychiatric medicine, and is critical of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It has been described by critics as a Scientology front group. While not a member of the Church, Burton attended the opening of the Church's national office in 2012 and has praised CCHR's work in the past.

Tainted funds from Pakistan
In July 2011, Burton was revealed by an FBI investigation to have received tainted election funds ultimately traced to the military intelligence services of Pakistan, apparently as a quid pro quo for "supporting to Pakistan's position on Kashmir". These funds were routed via the so-called Kashmiri American Council, run by Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, later revealed to be a front for the Pakistani Military. Subsequently, Burton's office donated the funds to charity.

Vince Foster murder claims
Burton led the House inquiry into the 1993 death of Vince Foster, the deputy White House counsel to President Bill Clinton who committed suicide, but who Burton believed was murdered. He urged extensive investigation into the possible involvement of the Clintons and gained attention for re-enacting the alleged crime in his backyard with his own pistol and a cantaloupe standing in for Foster's head. In 1998, Burton said of Clinton, "If I could prove 10 percent of what I believe happened [regarding the death of Foster], he'd be gone. This guy's a scumbag. That's why I'm after him."

After hearings into Democratic fundraising (see section below) began, a Democratic National Committee staffer appeared in a pumpkin suit with a button that read, "Don't shoot". Burton's information during the Whitewater controversy was based on research conducted by Floyd Brown, who founded Citizens United in 1988. Due to problems with the quality of Brown's research and testimony, the investigation was closed.

Golfing
In 1990, The New York Times reported that in 1989, Burton had been a "celebrity player" at the Bob Hope Classic in Palm Springs, California, the Kemper Open in Potomac, Maryland, the Larry Bird Golf Classic in Indianapolis, the Danny Thompson Memorial Tournament in Sun Valley, Idaho, the Sugarloaf Invitational tournament in Maine and the Arte Johnson Tournament in Chicago. Such players received free airline flights, free meals, and free lodging from tournament sponsors and, often, free merchandise.

In November 1995, the House voted to prohibit members and their staffs from receiving gifts, including free meals and free travel to charity sports events. Burton, who led the effort to exempt charity trips, said that he played in two golf tournaments each year, and, "We get more of these lobbyists in our office than we do on the golf course."

In January 1997, Burton played in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, at the invitation of AT&T Corporation, the tournament sponsor. The day before the tournament, he played a practice round with Robert E. Allen, AT&T's chairman and chief executive, at a nearby country club. AT&T also hosted a campaign fund-raising dinner for Burton at a local restaurant. Three weeks earlier, Burton had become the chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, which had jurisdiction over the legislative agency scheduled to soon award at least $5 billion in long-distance and local telephone and telecommunications contracts with the federal government. Burton defended his participation in the tournament, saying it would not affect his objectivity when dealing with telecommunications issues. He said that he had partially paid for the trip, with his re-election campaign funds paying as well because he attended three fund-raising events while in California.

In December 2004, Burton and two aides flew to the island of Guam. The trip was paid for by the Guam government and tourism industry. In addition to some official events, including touring a military facility, Burton played in a charity golf tournament. After he returned, he tried to help Guam's tourism industry get a sought-after change in visa rules.

In January 2007, the House passed a measure by a vote 430–1 that banned members from accepting gifts and free trips from lobbyists and discounted trips on private planes. Burton cast the sole nay vote.

In February 2007, a review by The Indianapolis Star of votes in the House of Representatives for the past decade showed that Burton had missed all votes during the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic golf tournament for five years between 2001 and 2007. The tournament, the third event each season on the PGA Tour, pairs celebrities with golf professionals for four of the five days of play. Since 2004, Burton has played in a guest spot of the Eisenhower Medical Center, the primary charitable beneficiary of the event. The slot carries with it a commitment to donate $10,000 to the event; Burton has made arrangements with the hospital to do this over a period of time. Burton's campaign committee reported donating $1,500 to the medical center in December 2004 and $6,353 in January 2006.

The Indianapolis Star review also found that in 2006, Burton ranked last in voting among members of Congress from Indiana, missing 11 percent of the 541 recorded votes. In 2007, The Indianapolis Star rated his voting record as "one of the strongest in the House, with an attendance record consistently above 95%."

"... off the coast of Bolivia"
On March 29, 1995, during congressional hearings on the US War on Drugs, Burton proclaimed that the US military "should place an aircraft carrier off the coast of Bolivia and crop dust the coca fields." It was later pointed out to him that (a) Bolivia is landlocked and has no coast (Burton was chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee); (b) the Bolivian coca fields (in the yungas and Amazon lowlands) are beyond the reach of any carrier-borne crop-duster, being separated from the nearest coastline (the Pacific coast of Peru and Chile) by the 20,000+ feet high peaks of the Andes; and (c) F-18s cannot crop-dust. While criticism of this misstatement was muted in Washington, it sparked a major anti-American backlash in Bolivia, derailing the same War on Drugs that Burton purported to be speaking for.

Investigation of Democratic Party fund-raising
In 1997, Burton headed an investigation into possible Democratic Party campaign finance abuse, focusing on the 1996 presidential election. The committee investigation ran for several years and issued over 1,000 subpoenas of Clinton administration officials and cost over $7 million. The committee, and Burton's leadership, were labeled a "farce", a "travesty", a "parody", and "its own cartoon, a joke, and a deserved embarrassment".

In March 1997, as the investigation began, Burton was accused of demanding a $5,000 contribution from a Pakistani lobbyist. The lobbyist said that when he was unable to raise the funds, Burton complained to the Pakistani ambassador and threatened to make sure "none of his friends or colleagues" would meet with the lobbyist or his associates.

In May 1998, Burton apologized for releasing edited transcripts of prison audiotapes of Webster Hubbell, a former associate of President Bill Clinton. The edited transcripts omitted substantial information and differed significantly from the original recordings. Burton was harshly criticized by members of his own party, including Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who called the investigation a "circus" and chided Burton for initially refusing to admit any error.

David Bossie, the staff member who arranged the editing and release of the tapes, resigned on Burton's request. Noting that Burton had personally released the tapes and had supported Bossie's plans over the objections of other committee staffers and attorneys, Democrats urged Burton to step down as well. Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt said, "A committee staff member should not be made the scapegoat for Chairman Burton's mistakes, missteps, and misdeeds." Burton said, "I take responsibility for those mistakes", but never resigned nor faced any consequences for his actions.

In President Clinton's final year in office, Burton was mentioned in a short film for the White House Correspondent's Dinner. President Clinton: Final Days, which depicted Clinton as a lonely man closing down a nearly-deserted White House. Clinton is shown hitting golf balls from the South Lawn, and gets excited when he hits a car parked in a spot near the U.S. Capitol that says "Reserved for Chairman Burton".

Autism
Burton has been an outspoken critic of what he terms the failure of government to determine the cause of an alleged autism epidemic. When his grandson began to show the signs of autism shortly after receiving vaccinations, Burton inferred the relationship to be causal: "My only grandson became autistic right before my eyes – shortly after receiving his federally recommended and state-mandated vaccines."

Burton was instrumental in pressuring the National Institutes of Health to launch a five-year, $30 million study of chelation therapy for cardiovascular disease.

In an October 25, 2000, letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, acting in his role as chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, Burton asked the agency's director to get the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to recall all vaccines containing the preservative Thimerosal. "We all know and accept that mercury is a neurotoxin, and yet the FDA has failed to recall the 50 vaccines that contain Thimerosal", Burton wrote, adding "Every day that mercury-containing vaccines remain on the market is another day HHS is putting 8,000 children at risk."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not agree that vaccines containing mercury caused autism, and the US FDA refused to ban the vaccines. Most manufacturers removed the preservatives from their vaccines anyway, with no resulting decrease in autism rates.

Burton maintained a page on his Congressional website called House.gov "Autism" which includes his speeches, transcripts from hearings, and newspaper articles on the relationship of autism and vaccines.

In a June 2017 episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver a C-SPAN 2 clip from 2002 of Dan Burton was used to highlight Burton's position on vaccines in relation to autism. In the clip Burton says, "I have yet to find any scientist who will say that there is no doubt, no doubt, that the mercury in vaccines does not contribute to autism. Now they'll say there's no scientific evidence, there's no studies or anything that proves that yet. But turn that around. There are no studies that disprove it either." John Oliver correctly highlights this as Burton's demand for "proving a negative" which he calls "an impossible standard".

Constituent mailings
An Arizona newspaper study ranked Burton as the fifth-biggest user of free congressional mail, sending constituents more than $190,000 worth of mail in 2007.

Daughter
In June 2007, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reported that during the 2001–2006 period, Burton's campaign fund had paid $143,900 to his daughter Danielle Sarkine, who manages his campaign office. It is not illegal for federal candidates to pay family members for political work, as long as they are paid fair market value, the Federal Election Commission has ruled.

Sibel Edmonds testimony
On January 6, 2008, FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds included Dan Burton's photograph among others featured in the "State Secrets Privilege Gallery" posted on her website, composing images of figures considered to be relevant to her case. Later, on August 8, 2009, she gave sworn testimony about Burton and others during a witness deposition before the Ohio Elections Commission in the Schmidt v. Krikorian case, in which she stated that he had engaged in "[E]xtremely illegal activities against the United States citizens ... and against the United States' interests" that involved covert operations by foreign governments and entities, but did not further elaborate on these activities, ostensibly due to the limitations applied by the State Secrets Privilege.

ADA
On October 2, 1989, Representative Dan Burton took to the floor of the house to argue against the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). He stated "The ADA is a last ditch attempt of the remorseless sodomy lobby to achieve its national agenda before the impending decimation of AIDS destroys its political clout. Their Bill simply must be stopped. There will be no second chance for normal America if the ADA is passed."

Personal life
Burton's first wife, Barbara (Logan) Burton, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993 at the age of 56. She died in 2002 from breast and colon cancer. They had three children together: Kelly, Danielle and Danny. In August 2006, Burton married Dr. Samia Tawil in Park City, Utah. She was the internist who cared for Burton's wife during her cancer treatment. Tawil and her first husband had divorced in 2005.

In 1995 speaking of the then recent affairs of Republican Robert Packwood and the unfolding story of Paula Jones and Bill Clinton, Burton stated "No one, regardless of what party they serve, no one, regardless of what branch of government they serve, should be allowed to get away with these alleged sexual improprieties". A vocal critic of Clinton, he went on to say, "Above all, Dan Burton believes the people have a right to principled leadership and that character does matter". Three years later in 1998, the magazine Vanity Fair was to print an article detailing an affair which Burton himself had in 1983 which had produced a child. Before publication, Burton was forced to admit to fathering a son with a former state employee out of wedlock in 1983.

Burton's brother, Woody Burton, is a former Republican member of the Indiana House of Representatives, representing District 58.

Burton is a member of the board of advisors of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. Burton is a 33° Scottish Rite Freemason, and a member of Evergreen-Oriental Lodge No. 500 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

title: Dan Burton


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User talk:Pstudier

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. Here are some useful links in case you haven't already found them; *How to edit a page *How to write a great article *Naming conventions *Manual of Style If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my talk page. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Alexandros 01:13, 7 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Hello there Pstudier, welcome to the 'pedia! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. If you need pointers on how we title pages visit Naming conventions or how to format them visit our manual of style. If you have any other questions about the project then check out Help or add a question to the Village pump. Or ask me, I'm a sysop just wait to help out. - user:zanimum
 * Sorry. Waiting to help. I won't help you with grammar. :-) Anyway, good start on the Geo-libertarian article, I'd love for you to expand on it even more. If you need help, just shout my way - user:zanimum

FYI: Temp injunction in Reithy's ArbCom case
"Both Reithy and Chuck F and any sockpuppets are to edit only on their respective arbcom case. Edits to the mainspace may be reverted on sight."

--mav 20:39, 15 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Banqiao Dam
Yes, I agree, very scary. Thanks for the comment and the note. Duk 11:04, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Improv's draft RfC
FYI: I think Improv's idea was actually to settle on wording of the poll first before putting it out for responses. He reverted Chuck's answers earlier. Does my proposed presentation look okay to you? RadicalSubversiv E 23:24, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

geothermal isn't depletable
Renewable energy sources have a finite energy flow, but not a finite energy reserve like fossil fuels. A particular geothermal vent might move around on the surface of the earth but the overall geothermal energy released from within the earth remains pretty much constant. zen master   T  05:16, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Read the references. The energy is extracted faster than it flows out from the center of the earth. It is just like burning oil faster than nature forms it. pstudier 06:17, 2005 Mar 2 (UTC)
 * Of course, then water power is also non-renewable, since it will run out if you deplete it too fast. How long will a hot-spot take to recover its heat? Maybe 100s of years? Oil/coal/gas is 10s of millions of years old.--J heisenberg 12:13, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)

depleted uranium
you removed "kidney damage" from the Depleted uranium article (health concerns), saying that uranium causes kidney damage. However, depleted uranium has such a small concentration of radioactive U-235 that it is unlikely to cause any type of damage from radiation. Multiple medical studies have showed this. Bonus Onus 03:33, Apr 15, 2005 (UTC)

From the Uranium Information Centre Ltd, ''However, uranium does have a chemical toxicity about the same as that of lead, so inhaled fume or ingested oxide is considered a health hazard. Most uranium actually absorbed into the body is excreted within days, the balance being laid down in bone and kidneys. Its biological effect is principally kidney damage.'' I presume the kidney damage is because uranium is a heavy metal, and most heavy metals are toxic. The damage is chemical, not from radiation. pstudier 21:03, 2005 Apr 15 (UTC)

Yellowcake
I'm very interested in the manufacture of Yellowcake and the centrifuge-process in Iran and I saw that you made a knowledgeable edit on that page. If possible, could you provide me with any additional information concerning this proccess? freestylefrappe 19:22, Jun 3, 2005 (UTC)

 * The Isotope separation article and the links at the bottom are a good place to start. I don't know much beyond this. pstudier 22:33, 2005 Jun 3 (UTC)

Price-Anderson Act
Katefan0 has editted, and is defending, what I think is an acceptable version of the article. I've asked her how we get it "protected" ("frozen") until after the new Energy Bill in Congress is signed and the debate on PAA is over (yes, it's in the bill). Would you support protecting the article? Do you know how I apply to have this done? Thanks, Simesa 30 June 2005 22:19 (UTC)

While we're at it, we should protect Nuclear Power too. Those are the only two articles I see Ben applying his extreme POV to. Simesa 30 June 2005 22:56 (UTC)

 * I just applied for a cooling-off period for both articles. Simesa 30 June 2005 23:48 (UTC)

 * Thanks for your comment on the cooling-off.
 * Ben is changing the intro again. He wants to battle this time.  Could you pop in? 216.164.138.57 1 July 2005 02:04 (UTC)

I added back in the text on Chernobyl-vs-Western plants, wth 4 citations. I view this as very significant to the article, but I suspect Ben is going to want to battle. Katefan0 and Woohookitty are discussing an ArbCommittee case - Ben says he just dropped one (I wonder if he was told he was going to lose). Ben called for a "poll" in the Discussion - could you respond to it? Thanks Simesa 3 July 2005 13:00 (UTC)

 * Okay, Ben has allegedly filed a request for mediation based on a sentence in PAA. Would you please read the last Discussion topic and possibly comment?  Go to WP:RfM  Thanks, Simesa 3 July 2005 19:02 (UTC)
 * Ben, Katefan0 and I have signed up for RfM. We may have near-agreement on the Chernobyl sentences. Simesa 4 July 2005 20:28 (UTC)

Ben's in a hurry to discuss PAA, so I suggested he post a proposed article and then I asked Uncle_Ed to expedite a Mediator for us. I don't know why Ben is in a hurry. Simesa 6 July 2005 06:46 (UTC)

 * Hi - I see you signed up for the mediation. Please go to, sign in, and if possible make a statement?  Thanks, Simesa 23:23, 9 July 2005 (UTC)
 * P.S. - Better drop user:Ed Poor a line that you signed up on July 6 but are just now using the special page. Simesa 23:29, 9 July 2005 (UTC)
 * BTW - You edited PAA on 20:57, 28 June 2005 - Simesa 23:41, 9 July 2005 (UTC)

Nuclear power phase-out

 * I noticed you came to nuclear power phase-out, started a new section called "Merge with nuclear energy policy?" and already voted. You also seemed to have no comment on the ongoing discussion which is just about that topic. I am surprised to say the least. What a start. You are very fast... I suggest you just hear what other people say and comment on that before you start such a discussion. Ben T/C 01:52, August 20, 2005 (UTC)

I am listening. Today (2005aug19) you suggested talking about the nuclear policies of all nuclear countries under Nuclear power phase-out. This gives the strong presumption that the phase-out is the acceptable thing to do. It is almost like asking the pro-nuke countries "Why haven't you started phasing out nuclear power yet?" pstudier 02:26, 2005 August 20 (UTC)

 * That's an important conceptional point, of course. To add or not to add the opposing countries. I suggested on Talk:Nuclear_power_phase-out (yesterday in my time zone) that the pro-countries should be added in order to have a more balanced discussion. E.g. some countries have stated they want to build more nuclear power stations to export energy to the phased-out nations. In France, nuclear energy seems to be popular. It should state whether the countries had discussions about a phase-out and how they react to other countries phasing out. I just want to have a broad perspective of pro- and anti-countries. That's why I initiated also translating the article to other wikiprojects to see how other nationals comment on nuclear energy. I have concerns about getting out of focus, but my plan is first to find as much as possible, and if it feels out of focus and/or gets too big we can still move some stuff to nuclear energy policy (which I neglected the last days) and summarize on nuclear power phase-out. Both articles will profit from that. Ben T/C 03:32, August 20, 2005 (UTC)

Price Anderson removes Public Protections
Mike or Kate has opened an RfC to discuss these edits. you might be inclined to comment. Benjamin Gatti 23:54, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Ben is referring to an RfC that hasn't even been fully written yet. It's at  Simesa 04:05, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

 * I noticed this. He even voted on behalf of God, which appears to be either extreme arrogance or rather bad humor. pstudier 04:41, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

 * I think hubris is the word you are fishing for. Benjamin Gatti

Depleted uranium RfC
Your input to an RfC at Talk:Depleted uranium would be appreciated. DV8 2XL 07:46, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

DUF6 disposal cost
Good catch! The three+ order-of-magnitude error was my fault. (They both end in "illions" you know.) Thanks! --James S. 04:49, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Clean safe nuclear energy
PStudier, Here's hoping you would reconsider your recommendation to delete Clean safe nuclear energy. These four words can be traced back to the NEI - a nuclear industry lobbying group, and which has already been adjudicated to be false and misleading advertising. I suggest the phrase is notable and important. If you want to improve the balance - you're more than welcome. Benjamin Gatti 04:12, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Ignoring references
Tesla's Means for Increasing the Intensity of Electrical Oscillations ... . The The patent office classifies the patent as superconductivity technolgy, specifically "Dynamoelectric; liquid coolant" (310/54) and "Specific Identifiable Device, Circuit, or System; Superconductive (e.g., cryogenic, etc.) device" (327/527). 172.137.217.68 05:06, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

An Arbitration case involving JamesS has been opened
Come and see at Requests for arbitration/Depleted uranium. Should you wish you can add evidence to the evidence sub-page, Requests for arbitration/Depleted uranium/Evidence. You may also contribute to the case on the workshop sub-page, Requests for arbitration/Depleted uranium/Workshop.

I know you're up to your neck Paul, and I'm not expecting you to jump in if you don't want to - I just thought you might want to follow what's going down. --DV8 2XL 22:16, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Talk:Clean And Environmentally Safe Advanced Reactor
Paul, I think I know who the user calling himself Anuke is. If I am right he as been webstalking Filippone for some time now. Just about every blog or forum that mentions CAESAR or Filippone posts to gets a visit from him eventually, if he is not already there, Filippone shows up sooner or later and the flame war breaks out. I just wanted to stop this before it starts.

I wish I had never seen that Economist article. --DV8 2XL 00:18, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

 * I probably should let sleeping dogs lie. It is just that this CAESAR concept begs to be criticised. pstudier 00:58, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

 * Stalking? Well, maybe.  But I actually found out about "CAESAR" when I was asked to do a technical evaluation on the concept in a previous job.  It became clear--once I was able to find the Economist and UMD Research Frontiers articles--that the concept was bogus, but that the "inventor" was out there promoting it--and gettting press attention--while the real work on developing new, safer nuclear plants was generally ignored.  Filippone offends me, not only because of his bogus "research," but because of the fact that he takes credit for the work of others.  E.g., he represents himself as an "expert" on Generation IV reactors and has presented seminars on the subject, despite the fact that there is no evidence that he has ever done any work in this field.  (He has no publications of any sort in any technical journal.)  And given the quality (or lack thereof) of his work on CAESAR, I cannot help but shudder when I think of what he may be telling people in those seminars.  These are the reasons that I keep checking the Web to see what's being said about "CAESAR" and why I keep telling people that it's a sham.  If that's "stalking," so be it;  I see it as getting the truth out.  Energy is a technological subject that seems to invite scammers, junk science, and other highly questionable work.  Cold fusion, hydrinos, zero-point energy, perpetual motion machines, CAESAR--they are all of a pattern.  For those looking for a free lunch--or free energy--take a look at the laws of thermodynamics:  you can't win, you can't break even, and you can't get out of the game!!Anuke 21:03, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

 * I agree that Filippone is a crackpot. That is why I added the pseudophysics category, and I like the "Disputed science" infobox. pstudier 22:48, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Packistani A-bomb
I have put this article up at Articles for deletion/Packistani A-bomb. Your opinion on this matter would be appreciated. --DV8 2XL 01:54, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

UniModal
I'm not sure if you care about UniModal/Skytran, but since you edit PRT sometimes, I figured I'd let you know that UniModal is now a real page. I'd like your input on it, and perhaps your help. Fresheneesz 23:23, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the heads up. I added it to my watch list.  pstudier 00:20, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

Electrokinetics
Can you comment on the merge? — Omegatron 20:19, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

The Hype about Hydrogen
Hello Mr. Studier. You seem to have an energy background. I would appreciate if you would review The Hype about Hydrogen and make any edits that you believe are helpful to the article. It would certainly be helpful if a number of knowledgeable editors worked on the article. I appreciate any assistance. Thanks! Regards, -- Ssilvers 04:35, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Electricity vampire
Your new article duplicates the subject of the existing article standby power. How about redirecting electricity vampire to standby power then improving that article. It is a bit scary that wasted standby mode power eats up more electricity than all the solar and wind generation in the country can supply. This was not the case before "instant on" tvs were developed in the 1960's. Before that, "off" pretty much meant "off" except maybe for oven clocks and such. Thanks for the contribution. I am not too crazy about the term "standby power," because to me it implies UPS, standby generators, and automatic throwover gear.Edison 20:28, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Already made it a redirect. "Standby power" seems to be the standard name, otherwise I would be tempted to move it to "Electricity vampire". I just like how sinister that sounds.--Paul Studier 20:34, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
I might have been a bit hasty in deleting it. You have to admit, it sounds very fishy. You can either restart the article, or I can resurrect it. It's really the same difference. But be sure to format it so it doesn't look like nonsense. Someone else might delete it. But accept my apology if it is a serious entry and by all means start it again. The page you referred me to actually piqued my interest a bit. --DanielCD 00:17, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

 * OK I see it's redone. Again, forgive my hastiness. It's a lesson to me to be more careful. --DanielCD 00:21, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Fringe?
In your checkin note you stated that if "he wasn't on the fringe, he wouldn't have problems getting funding". Tell that to Frank Whittle. I'm sorry, but funding difficulties can't be construed as evidence for anything one way or the other. Maury 21:17, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

Brown's gas
Did you see that Brown's gas was nominated for deletion? I just rewrote it to be more scientific, too... — Omegatron 23:07, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, and I added my comment to Keep. Don Lancaster has an article debunking it, so it is at least notable to him. Paul Studier 23:27, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Renewable Energy FA candidate
Hello. I think you might be interested in this article's FA candidacy: Featured article candidates/Renewable energy in Iceland. If so, feel free to weigh in or comment. I have not edited that article, but I noticed it there and thought you might have some expertise/interest. Best regards, -- Ssilvers 01:59, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the info. Geothermal is no more renewable than fossil fuels, so I should edit the article appropriately.  Paul Studier 18:48, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Pstudier, I need your help for Lyle Zapato
some well-intentioned but misguided people are still trying to delete my article, which is about the discoverer (among other things) of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. Can you weigh in with the voice of reason to help keep Lyle Zapato from being deleted? Mtsmallwood (talk) 21:52, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
 * thanks paul! Mtsmallwood (talk) 05:07, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Power plant safety
Hi. Do you have a Google (Docs) account? I have a bunch of notes stored there. Send me an email. — Omegatron 01:39, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Also can you look at Wind power and Talk:Wind_power? — Omegatron 23:58, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

See Talk:Nuclear_and_radiation_accidents for some sources on power plant safety. — Omegatron 13:49, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Peak uranium
Pstudier, if you are going to modify the article, then your changes have to come with a valid reference. Otherwise, it's POV pushing. All references must be in the proper form and contain all of the needed information URL, title, publisher, author, date, language, date accessed. If you can't do the work correctly, then don't do it at all. Kgrr (talk) 13:36, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I corrrected the reference to Bernard L. Cohen's paper for you. Again, Cohen agrees with Hubbert in the case of uranium. Both thought that uranium would last forever in the plutonium economy. So in fact, your insistence of adding Cohen does not balance the article. If you understand, I will add a reference that points out that indeed Hubbert peak theory does apply to uranium.

By the way, Uranium is a mineral. It falls under the Mineral. But it did not need to be mentioned there.Kgrr (talk) 01:27, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

Colony Collapse Disorder
I did not delete the link at the top (which you undid) for the reason you stated.

Rather, I was following Smartse rule (please look at discussion page at CCD) that references must link to Scientific Papers - which it does not.

also, the article linked to, when clicked on , has this statement:

""And so researchers around the world are running round trying to find the cause of the disorder - and there's absolutely no proof that there's a disorder there."

this is a circular argument - we have Colony Collapse Disorder, however, there is no disorder.

It's clearly not logical. another reason for removing the sentence and it's related link.

P.S. Like your links at the top - I'm New - how do i send a 'message' (i have received messages but don't know how to send) or is the talk page the way to do this?

Thank You--KeepItEven (talk) 03:03, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

 * The rules for acceptable sources are at Reliable sources. By that standard, the BBC seems to be acceptable.  Until a single theory of CCD becomes the scientific consensus, we should not exclude any theory that is considered plausible. Paul Studier (talk) 02:30, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

A study on how to cover scientific uncertainties/controversies
Hi. I would like to ask whether you would agree to participate in a short survey on how to cover scientific uncertainties/controversies in articles pertaining to global warming and climate change (survey described here). If interested, please get in touch via my talkpage or email me Encyclopaedia21 (talk) 20:18, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station
I think you may want to revisit an edit you made at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. It restored unsourced trivia and a redlink. If you meant to do that, I established a section on the article talk page so we can discuss. Thanks, Alanraywiki (talk) 20:49, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

November 2010
Welcome to Wikipedia. Although everyone is welcome to contribute to Wikipedia, at least one of your recent edits, such as the one you made to User:Pstudier/temp, did not appear to be constructive and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any test edits you would like to make, and read the welcome page to learn more about contributing constructively to this encyclopedia. The reverted edit can be found here. Thank you.  elektrik SHOOS  05:04, 25 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Disregard.  elektrik SHOOS  05:05, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

MOTD
See User talk:Raul654. Simply south...... digging mountains for 5 years 19:53, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

I pencil
Your link on your external site to "i pencil" is bust, perhaps http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/I,_Pencil might be an alternative Back ache (talk) 08:46, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

 * Thank you very much. I fixed it. Paul Studier (talk) 20:55, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for April 13
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Discussion at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/April Jace
You are invited to join the discussion at Articles for deletion/April Jace. Thanks. Hirolovesswords (talk) 18:52, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:52, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

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

title: User talk:Pstudier


text:
Icehouse

Icehouse or ice house may refer to:

 * Ice house (building), a building where ice is stored
 * Ice shanty, a shelter for ice fishing also known as an Icehouse
 * Ice rink, a facility for ice skating.
 * Ice hockey arena, an area where ice hockey is played, often professionally.

 * Places
 * The Ice House, a folk music- turned comedy-club in Pasadena, California
 * Ice House (Moulton, Alabama), listed on the National Register of Historic Places
 * Tugnet Ice House, a category A listed building in Scotland, the largest of its kind remaining in the UK
 * The Icehouse (business growth centre), a business growth centre in New Zealand
 * London Ice House, an arena in London, Ontario, Canada
 * Medibank Icehouse (Winter Olympic Institute of Australia), Australia's only dual ice skating and ice sports venue
 * Vivekanandar Illam, a palace at Chennai, India, also known as Ice House

 * Music
 * Icehouse (band), an Australian rock band from 1981, formerly known as Flowers (1977-1981)
 * Icehouse (album), the 1980 debut Australian rock album by band Flowers, later called Icehouse
 * "Icehouse (song)", the title track, released as a single in 1981 by Icehouse

 * Film

 * Ice House (film), a 1989 film starring Melissa Gilbert and Bo Brinkman

 * Other
 * Icehouse (beer), a brand of American beer
 * Icehouse pieces, nestable and stackable pyramid-shaped pieces with which the abstract strategy game Icehouse and many other games are played
 * Icehouse Earth, a climate state describing glaciated periods of Earth history

title: Icehouse


text:
Talk:Icehouse

2003 discussion
An icehouse is also a building which stores ice. It would be interesting to have something on these; such as how common they were in before electric refrigeration, and how long they could conserve ice for, etc -- Tarquin 11:35 Feb 5, 2003 (UTC)

The idea intrigues me, so I'll see what research I can do in the next week or so, hopefully enough to have a starter article on "ice storage"... Logotu 23:49 Feb 5, 2003 (UTC)

Perhaps just a Wiktionary page, don't know if there's enough to it to support a Wikipedia article. Tualha 01:31, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)

title: Talk:Icehouse


text:
Media controversy

Media controversy may refer to:

 * Censorship
 * Controversy
 * Hypodermic needle model
 * Media influence
 * Media transparency
 * Media violence research
 * Public outcry
 * Wowserism

Media content ratings systems involved in controversies

 * Computer Entertainment Rating Organization
 * Entertainment Software Rating Board
 * MPAA film rating system
 * Office of Film and Literature Classification (Australia)
 * Office of Film and Literature Classification (New Zealand)
 * Pan European Game Information

title: Media controversy


text:
Talk:Graham Norton

Guests
I don't really agree that Graham Norton's guests are specifically chosen to appeal to a gay and lesbian audience. He wouldn't have the durability or the ratings he's had if his appeal was just to gay and lesbian viewers. I want to modify that phrase.

Agreed. Most of his guests seem to be heterosexual anyway.

Defect
He then signed a huge contract to defect to the BBC on his return to the UK.

Why isn't defect linking to the right defect (probably the last), but just to the disambiguation page of defect?

TV appearances
Graham also made a cameo appearance on the U.S. show Queer Eye (For The Straight Guy) in one of the episodes set in England.

He also lent his voice to one of the living plastic models in the 2005 series of doctor who, thus making a brief cameo even though only his voice was heard and his body was not seen, so shall i add that into tv appearances?

Added tag
There are a lot of unreferenced citations, viz "performance as Father Noel proved a massive hit with viewers", "His Channel 4 programmes have won a record number of comedy awards." etc - some of it also reads like an autobiography. Need a separate article on Scott Michaels

title: Talk:Graham Norton


text:
Abu Muhammad

Abu Muhammad may refer to:
 * Abu Muhammad al-Adil, Almohad Caliph of Morocco
 * Abu Muhammad al-Sufyani, Umayyad nobleman, pretender to the Caliphate
 * Abu Muhammad al-Yazuri, Fatimid vizier of the Caliphate
 * Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdul Ghafūr, or Nassakh, Bengali civil servant and author

Nom de guerre

 * Abu Mohammad al-Julani, Syrian militant leader, $10 million bounty
 * Abu Muhammad al-Shimali, Iraqi-Saudi militant leader, $5 million bounty
 * Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, Syrian ISIS leader, killed by U.S. airstrike
 * Abu Muhammad Kadarsky, Russian ISIS leader, killed by FSB

Nom de plume

 * Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, Jordanian-Palestinian Islamist writer

title: Abu Muhammad


text:
Muhammad Ibrahim

Muhammad Ibrahim (মোহাম্মদ ইব্রাহিম; December 31, 1911 – 6 September 1989) was a Bangladeshi physician. He established Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM), the diabetes health-care and research institute complex in 1980. The Government of Bangladesh awarded him National Professor and the Independence Day Award in 1978.

Education
Ibrahim earned MBBS degree from Calcutta Medical College in 1938. He became MRCP in 1949. He was made a Fellow of College of Chest Physicians (FCCP) in 1950.

Career
Ibrahim established Diabetic Association of Pakistan (later Diabetic Association of Bangladesh) on 28 February 1956. He also founded Diabetic Association in Karachi and Lahore, West Pakistan, in 1964.

Ibrahim established the diabetes health-care and research institute complex, BIRDEM at Dhaka in 1980 where the out-patients centre of the Bangladesh Diabetic Association was shifted to. The institute is housed in two buildings, named the Ibrahim Memorial Diabetes Centre after his death in 1989. In recognition of its innovative, extensive and high quality service it was designated in 1982 as a "WHO-Collaborating Centre for Developing Community-oriented Programs for Prevention and Control of Diabetes." It is the first such centre in Asia. He established the Bangladesh Institute of Research and Training for Applied Nutrition (BIRTAN) and Rehabilitation and Vocational Training Centre (RVTC) in Dhaka to develop low-cost nutrition, and to give vocational training to poor and unemployed diabetics.

Ibrahim served as an adviser to the president, with the rank of minister in-charge of the Ministry of Health and Population Control, in the mid-1970s.

Ibrahim took part in drafting the government's first population control policy and setting up National Population Council.

Ibrahim was a founder fellow at the Islamic World Academy of Sciences, Amman, Jordan in 1986.

Awards

 * Independence Day Award (1979)
 * Gold Medal by Begum Zebunnesa and Kazi Mahbubullah Trust (1981)
 * Gold Medal by Mahbub Ali Khan Memorial Trust (1985)
 * Gold Medal by Comilla Foundation, Comilla (1986)
 * Gold Medal by Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah Memorial Trust (1989)
 * Gold Medal by Islamic Foundation Bangladesh (1989)

Personal life and legacy
Ibrahim's death anniversary is observed as the Diabetic Service Day to endorse and honor his contribution to socio-medicare services.

title: Muhammad Ibrahim


text:
Nur

Nur or NUR may refer to:

In Islam

 * An-Nur, one of the names of God in Islam, meaning "The Light".
 * An-Nur (The Light), the 24th chapter of the Qur'an
 * Nūr (Islam), a concept, literally meaning "light"
 * Risale-i Nur Collection, a collection of works by Islamic scholar Said Nursî

People

 * Nur (name)

Places

 * National University of Rwanda
 * Nur, Iran (disambiguation), several places in Iran
 * Nur, Poland
 * Nur Mountains "Mountains of Holy Light", a mountain range in Turkey
 * NUR Reactor, a research reactor in Algiers
 * Nur University (Bolivia)

Other uses

 * National Union of Railwaymen, a trade union in the United Kingdom
 * Nur, a moon in the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
 * Nur (biology), a family of transcription factors
 * Nur railway station a railway station in Pakistan
 * Nur (Rawalpindi) railway station a railway station in Pakistan
 * Nur (TV series), a Malaysian television series

title: Nur


text:
Berzerk (video game)

Berzerk is a multidirectional shooter designed by Alan McNeil and released for arcades in 1980 by Stern Electronics of Chicago. Following Taito's Stratovox, it is one of the first arcade video games with speech synthesis. Berzerk places the player in a series of top-down, maze-like rooms containing armed robots. Home ports were published for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Vectrex.

A sequel, Frenzy, was released in 1982.

Gameplay

When the game begins, the player controls a green stick man on the left of the screen. In two-player games, the second player controls a purple stick man on the right of the screen. Each player plays until they lose a life, allowing the other player to have a turn.

Using a joystick and a firing button that activates a laser-style weapon, the player navigates a simple maze filled with many robots, who fire lasers back at the player character. A player can be killed by being shot, by running into a robot or an exploding robot, getting electrocuted by the electrified walls of the maze itself, or by being touched by the player's nemesis, Evil Otto.

The function of Evil Otto, represented by a bouncing smiley face, is to quicken the pace of the game. Otto is unusual, with regard to games of the period, in that he's indestructible. Otto can go through walls with impunity and hunts the player character. If robots remain in the maze Otto moves slowly, about half as fast as the humanoid, but he speeds up to match the humanoid's speed once all the robots are killed. Evil Otto moves at exactly the same speed as the player going left and right but he can move faster than the player going up and down; thus, no matter how close Otto is, the player can escape as long as they can avoid moving straight up or down.

The player advances by escaping from the maze through an opening in the far wall. Each robot destroyed is worth 50 points. If all the robots in the current maze have been destroyed before the player escapes, the player gains ten points per robot. The game has 65,536 rooms (256×256 grid), but due to limitations of the random number generation there are fewer than 1,024 maze layouts (876 of which are unique). It has only one controller, but two-player games can be accomplished by alternating at the joystick.

As a player's score increases, the colors of the enemy robots change, and the robots can have more bullets on the screen at the same time. Once they reach the limit of simultaneous on-screen bullets, they cannot fire again until one or more of their bullets detonates; the limit applies to the robots as a group, not as individuals.

A free life can be awarded at 5,000 or 10,000 points, set by internal DIP switches, with no extra lives thereafter.

The game's voice synthesizer generates speech for the robots during certain in-game events:

 * "Coin detected in pocket": During attract mode, specifically while showing the high score list.
 * "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!": Spoken when Evil Otto appears.
 * "The humanoid must not escape" or "The intruder must not escape": Heard when the player escapes a room after destroying every robot.
 * "Chicken, fight like a robot": Heard when the player escapes a room without destroying every robot.
 * "Got the humanoid, got the intruder!": Heard when the player loses a life (the "got the intruder" part is a minor third higher than the "got the humanoid" part).

There is random robot chatter playing in the background, with phrases usually consisting of "Charge", "Attack", "Kill", "Destroy", "Shoot", or "Get", followed by "The Humanoid", "The intruder", "it", or "the chicken" (the last only if the player got the "Chicken, fight like a robot" message from the previous room), creating sentences such as "Attack it", "Get the Humanoid", "Destroy the intruder", "Kill the chicken", and so on. The speed and pitch of the phrases vary, from deep and slow, to high and fast; as well as different versions of the game being translated into four different languages such as English, French, German, and Spanish.

Development
Alan McNeil (1951–2017), an employee of Universal Research Laboratories (a division of Stern Electronics), had a dream one night involving a black-and-white video game in which he had to fight robots. It was named for Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series of science fiction novels.

"Evil Otto" was named after Dave Otto at McNeil's former employer Dave Nutting Associates. According to McNeil, Dave Otto would "[smile] while he chewed you out". He would also lock McNeil and his fellow employees out of the building to enforce a noon-hour lunch, as well as piping beautiful music into every room.

The idea for a black-and-white game was abandoned. At that point Stern decided to use a color overlay board for Berzerk. A quick conversion was made, and all but the earliest versions of the game shipped with a color CRT display. The game was test-marketed successfully at a Chicago singles bar before general release.

Technology
The game was originally planned around a Motorola 6809E processor, but problems with the external clock for this CPU led to its abandonment in favor of a Zilog Z80.

The game suffered from failure of the optical 8-way joystick unit; Stern suffered the cancellation of about 4,200 orders for new games because of previous purchasers' bad experiences with these joysticks. The company responded by issuing free replacement joysticks in a leaf-switch design by Wico.

Berzerk is one of the first video games to use speech synthesis, featuring talking robots. In 1980, computer voice compression was extremely expensive, estimated to have cost the manufacturer US$1000 per word; the English version has a thirty-word vocabulary.

Ports
Berzerk was officially ported to the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Vectrex. The Atari 2600 version has an option allowing Evil Otto to be temporarily killed, though he always returns. The Atari 5200 version was the only home version to include digitized speech, until the release of the Atari 2600+ edition in 2023.

A port for the Atari 8-bit computers, identical to the Atari 5200 version, was ready in 1983, but was not published.

A portable version of Berzerk was planned by Coleco, similar in design to its line of VFD tabletop games including Pac-Man and Frogger, but was never released.

Atari released an enhanced version of Berzerk to coincide with the new Atari 2600+ console that went on sale in November 2023. As well as the digitized speech, which can only play when the screen is blanked due to hardware limitations, the enhanced version allows robots to shoot diagonally—something they could not do in the original Atari 2600 game. The enhanced Berzerk game is also compatible with the original Atari 2600 and Atari 7800.

Reception
The game received highly positive reviews and was highly considered to be one of the greatest video games ever made.

Ed Driscoll reviewed Berzerk in The Space Gamer No. 56. Driscoll commented that "if you liked Berzerk, or if you simply enjoy shooting evil robots in electrified mazes, then look for this at your local store. But watch out for Evil Otto!" Michael Blanchet's 1982 book How to Beat the Video Games compared Berzerk favourably to older, Western-themed multi-directional shooters Boot Hill (a sequel to Gun Fight) and Bandido (the North American rebranding of Sheriff). The Atari 2600 version received a Certificate of Merit in the category of "Best Solitaire Video Game" at the 4th annual Arkie Awards.

Retrospective
Brett Weiss of AllGame gave the arcade version a review score of 4.5 out of 5 stars calling the Berzerk: "A great game that is immensely challenging and imminently replayable." He also reviewed the Atari 5200 version and gave a review score of 4 out of 5 stars and praised the Atari port writing: "excellent job of recapturing the play mechanics and the voice feature."

In 2010 Evil Otto was ranked 78th in "Top 100 Videogames Villains" by IGN. In 1995, Flux magazine ranked the game 55th on their "Top 100 Video Games."

Reviews

 * Games

Legacy
Milton-Bradley produced a Berzerk board game designed for two players, one playing Evil Otto and the robots, the other playing the hero. The playing pieces are plastic yellow rectangular panels that are labeled with the corresponding characters. The hero figure is differently shaped and labeled only on one side. It also has a slot in which a second piece is inserted representing the character's arms, both equipped with laser pistols. Pressing down on the back tab raises the guns and if the figure is properly positioned in the space, it knocks down a robot. Firing the weapon counts as one move.

In 1982, Stern released Frenzy as a sequel. A Berzerk arcade machine can be converted to Frenzy simply by replacing one processor (ZPU-1000 to ZPU-1001) and installing a different ROM.

In 2002, the Atari 2600 version was hacked to include speech.

Berzerk was released for iOS in 2013 as part of the Vectrex Regeneration app.

An unofficial port for the NES was released by Parisoft in July 2019.

On March 16, 2023, Atari announced that it had acquired the intellectual property rights to 12 Stern Electronics titles, including Berzerk and Frenzy. On November 9, 2023, Atari released a remake, Berzerk: Recharged, for the Atari VCS (2021), PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Fatality
In 1982, a player died from a heart attack while playing Berzerk, which has been cited as the first recorded case of a death caused by video gaming. However, the incident has been mired in urban legend, with accounts varying as to how many people died (ranging one to three), when the death occurred (while playing Berzerk or after moving on to another cabinet), and whether or not the victim was showing signs of stress before playing the game. The coroner ruled that the heart attack was caused by scarring of heart tissue which the victim would have had before playing the game, and that any form of exertion could have triggered the attack.

Influence
The influence of Berzerk upon popular culture is marked by appearances of the game and samples of its media within television shows, music, and movies. Several third-party clones of the original game exist, and the design of Shamus (1982) is greatly influenced by it.

Eugene Jarvis cited Berzerk as an influence on Robotron: 2084 (1982), the basic concept of which was to combine elements of Berzerk with that of Space Invaders (1978). The 1981 computer game Castle Wolfenstein was also influenced by Berzerk.

title: Berzerk (video game)


text:
Mark Souder

Mark Edward Souder (July 18, 1950 – September 26, 2022) was an American politician and businessman from Indiana. A Republican, he was a U.S. Representative from 1995 to 2010.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, he worked as a congressional aide and committee staff director to Dan Coats. He was elected to his congressional seat in 1994, and remained in office until he resigned in May 2010, after admitting to an affair with a female staff member.

Early life and career
Souder was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the son of Irma (née Fahling) and Edward G. Souder, on July 18, 1950. He grew up in Grabill, Indiana, and was educated at Leo Junior/Senior High School, Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne and the University of Notre Dame. While in college, he was a member of the Young Americans for Freedom. After graduating from college, Souder worked as a marketing manager and small business owner. He was a member of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.

From 1974 to 1976, Souder served as marketing manager for Gabbort's Furniture. From 1976, he was the owner of Souder's General Store, also known as Historic Souder's of Grabill. Souder served as an aide for United States Representative Dan Coats from 1983 to 1984; as minority staff director of the House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families from 1985 to 1988; and again as an aide for Coats from 1988 to 1993, staying with Coats when the latter became a United States Senator in 1989. He was a staff director on the United States House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families.

Congressional career
Souder was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Republican in November 1994, defeating Coats' successor in Congress, Democrat Jill Long, in that year's national Republican landslide. He was re-elected in every election thereafter until his resignation in 2010. It was the only elected office he ever held. He originally ran on a signed pledge with America that he would not serve more than two additional terms. He was regarded as a staunch advocate of abstinence education and family values.

Souder was the Ranking Member on the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism. He was also a senior member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee. Along with U.S. Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA), he was co-founder and co-chairman of the Congressional National Parks Caucus. He was also co-founder and co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Drug Policy. Until the start of the 110th Congress, Souder was chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources.

In November 1997, Souder was one of eighteen Republicans in the House to co-sponsor a resolution by Bob Barr that sought to launch an impeachment inquiry against President Bill Clinton. The resolution did not specify any charges or allegations. This was an early effort to impeach Clinton, predating the eruption of the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. The eruption of that scandal would ultimately lead to a more serious effort to impeach Clinton in 1998. On October 8, 1998, Souder voted in favor of legislation that was passed to open an impeachment inquiry. On December 19, 1998, Souder voted in favor of one (and against three) of the four proposed articles of impeachment against Clinton (only two of which received the majority of votes needed to be adopted). The only article of impeachment that Souder voted in favor of adopting was the third article, which charged Clinton with obstruction of justice.

In March 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act, which represented the most comprehensive anti-methamphetamine legislation ever passed by Congress. Souder authored much of this law, which targets meth trafficking at local and state, national, and international levels.

In December 2006, Bush signed into law the ONDCP Reauthorization Act, which Souder had authored and introduced. The law reauthorizes the office of "the Drug Czar" for five years.

Committee assignments

 * Committee on Homeland Security
 * Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism (Ranking Member)
 * Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment
 * Committee on Education and Labor
 * Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
 * Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness
 * Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
 * Subcommittee on Domestic Policy (Vice Ranking Member)
 * Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Post Office, and the District of Columbia
 * Co-founder and Co-chairman of the National Parks Caucus

Resignation
On May 18, 2010, Souder announced he would resign from Congress effective Friday, May 21, after admitting to an affair with Tracy Meadows Jackson, a married female staffer. He and Jackson had made a television video in which they both extolled the virtues of abstinence. In a written statement released that morning, Souder said:

"It is with great regret I announce that I am resigning from the U.S. House of Representatives as well as resigning as the Republican nominee for Congress in this fall's election. ... I sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part time member of my staff. I am so shamed to have hurt those I love."

Souder deviated from his written statement when reading it aloud to the Fort Wayne press later in the morning to explain why, unlike many legislators admitting adultery, he did not have his wife of 30 years at his side:

"I'm sick of politicians who drag their spouses up in front of the cameras rather than confronting the problem they caused."

Political positions and actions
Souder said that an actual voting record in Congress is more valuable than claimed positions on issues. His 1994 issues profile is available in the project archives. The American Conservative Union gave him a lifetime rating of 90%.

Influence of religion
In 2004, Souder said in an interview that "the closer to the clearness of the Bible, the less ability I should have to compromise. So I view, on abortion, there's really not much room to compromise." He said, regarding Israel, "[T]he bottom line is, they're God's chosen people. He's going to stand with them. The question is: Are we going to stand with them?" Souder applied for non-combatant status during the Vietnam War on religious grounds. His draft number was never called.

Illegal drugs
Souder supported the War on Drugs. He authored and advocated for the 1998 Aid Elimination Penalty (HEAEP), an amendment to the Higher Education Act. The provision suspends eligibility for federal financial aid to college students convicted of drug-related offenses, regardless of when those drug convictions occurred. By 2006, the law had interfered with the financial aid of more than 9,000 Indiana students (one in every 200 applicants from that state). In almost all cases, the suspensions of eligibility for aid were based on applicants checking a box saying that they had a drug conviction, or failing to check the box saying that they do not, rather than an actual check of criminal records. Following an amendment in 2006, only students who are enrolled in college and receiving financial aid at the time of their conviction could have their aid suspended. Students could resume eligibility after a period of time (for example, after one year if convicted of possession of a controlled substance) or if they complete a drug rehabilitation program approved by the U.S. Department of Education. Before the 2006–2007 academic year, the provision could also apply to high school students, but this changed with the passage of the Deficit Reduction Act in 2001. A 2013 research report by the National Bureau of Economic Research found the law had no impact on drug usage among young people, and that it acts as a strong deterrent to college attendance, severely limiting the ability of people to better their lives through education.

In early 2006, Souder added to a bill about the office of the drug czar, a provision calling for the fungus Fusarium oxysporum to be used as a biological control agent against drug crops in foreign countries. Several federal and state agencies have previously rejected such use of the fungus because it is highly prone to mutation.

Online poker
Souder advocated a federal prohibition of online poker. In 2006, he cosponsored, the Goodlatte–Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act and , the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.

Kelty endorsement
In October 2007, in the Fort Wayne, Indiana mayoral race, Souder endorsed fellow Republican Matt Kelty. Souder, however, withdrew his official support for Kelty in October 2007 because of Kelty's campaign finance law problems and a birthday cake frosted with a crude joke which was given to Kelty by several Republicans and garnered controversy. Souder said that the joke cake was "immature".

Election history
In his initial campaign for Congress in 1994, Souder pledged his support for term-limit legislation. He served four terms (1995–2003) representing Indiana's 4th congressional district. In 2002, after redistricting based on the 2000 census, Souder was elected to represent Indiana's 3rd congressional district.

In 2004, the 3rd district re-elected Souder 69%–31% against Maria Parra. In the 2006 general election, Souder's Democratic opponent was Fort Wayne City Councilman and military veteran Tom Hayhurst, an MD. Souder won 54% to 46%, carrying all eight counties in his congressional district.

In 2008, Souder was re-elected to an eighth term in the U.S. House. Souder defeated Democrat Mike Montagano and Libertarian William Larsen.

Souder's resignation prompted the 2010 Indiana's 3rd congressional district special election, which coincided with that year's regular elections. Souder was succeeded by Republican Marlin Stutzman.

Later life
After his resignation, Souder and his wife, Diane, returned to their home in rural Allen County, Indiana. He co-wrote a book about the history of local television in Fort Wayne, which was published in 2021. He also wrote columns for the website Howey Politics Indiana.

Souder was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January 2022. He died of the disease on September 26, 2022, at age 72.

title: Mark Souder


text:
Eighty Eight, Kentucky

Eighty Eight is an unincorporated community in Barren County, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Glasgow Micropolitan Statistical Area and is 10 miles east of Glasgow on State Highway 90. The community's biggest claim to fame was the celebration of August 8, 1988 (08/08/88). People with an affinity for the number 8 descended upon the town from various parts of the nation and world, and the celebration was televised on national television. A similar celebration was held August 8, 2008 (08/08/08). National media coverage this time was usurped by the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Name
As reported in an article in The New York Times, the community was named in 1860 by Dabnie Nunnally, the community's first postmaster. He had little faith in the legibility of his handwriting, and thought that using numbers would solve the problem. He then reached into his pocket and came up with 88 cents. Another explanation is that the hamlet is 8.8 miles from Glasgow.

The only store in this small community was opened and run by the Richardson Brothers. It was the main source for feed, grocery, hardware and farm needs. It was closed in the late 1980s. The building was restored in 2005 and reopened as the Eighty Eight General Store. The historic post office (Zip Code 42130) was kept intact and is now open to the public. It is no longer in service however and was discontinued in 1984.

Culture
Eighty Eight is home to a congregation of the Church of Christ. Although sometimes mistakenly called Eighty Eight Church of Christ, the proper name is Refuge Church of Christ.

title: Eighty Eight, Kentucky


text:
Marine Biological Laboratory

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent for most of its history, but became officially affiliated with the University of Chicago on July 1, 2013. It also collaborates with numerous other institutions.

As of 2023, 60 Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with MBL as students, faculty members or researchers. In addition, since 1960, there have been 137 Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators, early career scientists, international researchers, and professors; 306 members of the National Academy of Sciences; and 236 Members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences who have been affiliated with the lab.

19th century
The Marine Biological Laboratory grew from the vision of several Bostonians and Spencer Fullerton Baird, the United States' first Fish Commissioner (a government official concerned with the use of fisheries). Baird had set up a United States Fish Commission research station in Woods Hole in 1882, and had ambitions to expand it into a major laboratory. He invited Alpheus Hyatt to move his marine biology laboratory and school which he had founded at the Norwood-Hyatt House in Annisquam, Massachusetts, to Woods Hole. Inspired by Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz's short-lived experimental summer school, the Anderson School of Natural History on Penikese Island, off the coast of Woods Hole, Hyatt accepted the offer. With $10,000 raised by the Woman's Education Association of Boston and the Boston Society of Natural History, land was purchased, a building was erected, and the MBL was incorporated with Hyatt as the first president of the board of trustees. The Fish Commission supplied crucial support, including marine organisms and running sea water.

University of Chicago professor, Charles Otis Whitman, an embryologist, was retained to also serve as the first director of the MBL. Whitman believed "other things being equal, the investigator is always the best instructor," and emphasized the need to combine research and education at the new laboratory. The MBL's first summer course provided a six-week introduction to invertebrate zoology; facilities for visiting summer investigators were also offered.

The MBL Library was established in 1889, with scientist and future MBL trustee Cornelia Clapp serving as librarian. In 1899, the MBL began publishing The Biological Bulletin, a scientific journal that is still edited at the MBL.

Gertrude Stein, later well known as a novelist and art collector, took part in MBL's Embryology course in the summer of 1897, while her brother Leo took part in the Invertebrates course.

20th century
Writing in 1972, Lewis Thomas both explained and praised the nature of the MBL as a scientific institution. He wrote about it in his recurring New England Journal of Medicine column called "Notes of a Biology-Watcher", in an installment called "The MBL"; the essay was later collected into the volume titled The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher. He said of the MBL of that day, "Today, it stands as the uniquely national center for biology in this country; it is the National Biological Laboratory without being officially designated (or yet funded) as such. Its influence on the growth and development of biologic science has been equivalent to that of many of the country's universities combined, for it has had its pick of the world's scientific talent for each summer's research and teaching. […] Someone has counted thirty Nobel Laureates who have worked at the MBL at one time or another. It is amazing that such an institution, exerting so much influence on academic science, has been able to remain so absolutely autonomous. It has, to be sure, linkages of various kinds, arrangements with outside universities for certain graduate programs, and it adheres delicately, somewhat ambiguously, to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution just up the street. But it has never come under the domination of any outside institution or governmental agency, nor has it ever been told what to do by any outside group. […] There is no way of predicting what the future will be like for an institution such as the MBL. One way or another, it will evolve. It may shift soon into a new phase, with a year-round program for teaching and research and a year-round staff, but it will have to accomplish this without jeopardizing the immense power of its summer programs, or all institutional hell will break loose. It will have to find new ways for relating to the universities, if its graduate programs are to expand as they should. It will have to develop new symbiotic relations with the Oceanographic Institute, since both places have so much at stake. And it will have to find more money, much more — the kind of money that only federal governments possess — without losing any of its own initiative. It will be an interesting place to watch, in the years ahead."

21st century
The MBL became formally affiliated with the University of Chicago on July 1, 2013. In order to further scientific research and education, the affiliation builds on historical ties with the university, as MBL was led by University of Chicago faculty members in its first four decades. The president of the university chairs the MBL trustee's board and with their advice appoints its members. The Laboratory is a non-profit Massachusetts corporation, whose sole member is the university.

In September 2018, Nipam Patel became director of the Marine Biological Laboratory, succeeding Huntington F. Willard.

Staff
The MBL has approximately 250 year-round employees, about half of which are scientists and scientific support staff. They are joined each year by more than 500 visiting scientists, summer staff, and research associates from hundreds of institutions around the world, as well as a large number of faculty and students participating in MBL courses (in 2016, 550 students from 333 institutions and 58 countries).

As of 2022, 60 Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with MBL as students, faculty members or researchers. In addition, since 1960, there have been, 137 Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators, early career scientists, international researchers, and professors; 306 members of the National Academy of Sciences; and 236 Members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences who have been affiliated with the lab.

Facilities
The MBL's resident research centers are the Eugene Bell Center for Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering, the Ecosystems Center, and the Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution. Visiting scientists are affiliated with the MBL's Whitman Center. Whitman Center Scientists comprise more than 100 principal investigators from academic institutions around the world. Other resources include The Marine Resources Center, an advanced facility for maintaining, culturing, and providing aquatic and marine organisms essential to biological, biomedical, and ecological research; and The National Xenopus Resource, which breeds and maintains Xenopus (frog) genetic stocks; and provides training in Xenopus husbandry, cell biology, imaging, genetics, transgenesis, and genomics.

The MBL shares a library, the MBLWHOI Library, with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The MBLWHOI Library holds print and electronic collections in the biological, biomedical, ecological, and oceanographic sciences, and houses a growing archival collection, including photograph and videos from the MBL's history. The library also conducts digitization and informatics projects.

Research
Research at the MBL focuses on four themes:

 * fundamental biological research, often using marine organisms as novel model systems, encompassing research in regenerative biology, neuroscience, sensory physiology, and comparative evolution and genomics;
 * the study of microbiomes and microbial diversity and ecology in a variety of ocean and terrestrial habitats;
 * imaging and computation;
 * ecosystems science and climate change, and organismal adaptation to changing environments.

Cell, developmental, and reproductive biology
Cell, developmental, and reproductive biology have been a central part of the MBL's programs since the 1890s. Important discoveries in these fields at the MBL reach back to 1899, when Jacques Loeb demonstrated artificial parthenogenesis in sea urchin eggs; to 1905, when Edwin Grant Conklin first identified egg cytoplasmic regions that are programmed to form certain tissues or organs; to 1916, when Frank Rattray Lillie identified circulating hormones that influence sexual differentiation (Lillie, 1944). In the MBL's first two decades, cytologists Edmund Beecher Wilson, Nettie Stevens and others made connections between the chromosomes and Mendelian heredity, while Wilson's colleague at both the MBL and Columbia University, Thomas Hunt Morgan, launched the field of experimental genetics (Pauly, 2000:158). Keith R. Porter, considered by many to be a founder of modern cell biology due to his pioneering work on the fine structure of cells, including the discovery of microtubules, carried out research at the MBL starting in 1937 and directed the laboratory from 1975-77 (Barlow et al., 1993: 95-115).

The MBL is also a proving ground for new technologies in microscopy and imaging. The availability of cutting-edge imaging instrumentation in the MBL's Advanced Research Courses puts faculty and students at the forefront of experimentation. MBL Distinguished Scientist Osamu Shimomura, who joined the MBL in 1983, was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of green fluorescent protein (GFP) in the early 1960s, which led to the development of revolutionary techniques for imaging live cells and their components. Resident Distinguished Scientist Shinya Inoué's innovations in polarized light microscopy and video imaging since the 1950s have been instrumental in clarifying the cellular events of mitosis, including his discovery of the spindle fibers.

The MBL has long been a center for the world's experts in cell division. In the early 1980s, Tim Hunt, Joan Ruderman and others at the MBL identified the first of a class of proteins that regulate the cycle of cell division (cyclin). Hunt was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2001 for this work (Hunt, 2004). In 1984, Ron Vale, Michael Sheetz, Joe DeGiorgis, and others discovered kinesin, a motor protein involved in mitosis and other cellular processes, during summer MBL research. Vale, Sheetz, and James Spudich received the 2012 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research for their discoveries related to molecular motors. In 1991 Israeli scientist Avram Hershko began coming to the MBL to study the role that the protein ubiquitin plays in cell division. In 2004, Hershko won a Nobel Prize for his work to establish the basic mechanism of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.

A large portion of the leading developmental biologists in the United States, both historically and today, have participated in the MBL's Embryology Course as directors, lecturers or students. One draw is the Woods Hole location and the availability of marine organisms, particularly the sea urchin, that are ideal for embryological analysis because they shed nearly transparent eggs which are fertilized and develop externally. In the first decades after the course was founded in 1893, its faculty pioneered research directions that remain central today, including the study of cytoplasmic localization in eggs; embryonic cell lineage (important in modern stem cell research); and evolutionary developmental biology (today called 'evo devo'). Some distinguished embryologists who have directed or co-directed the course are:
 * Charles Otis Whitman (1893–1895)
 * Frank Rattray Lillie (1896–1903)
 * Viktor Hamburger (1942–1945)
 * James D. Ebert (1962–1966)
 * Eric H. Davidson (1972–1974; 1988–1996)
 * Rudolf Raff (1980–1982) (see Davidson, 1993)
 * Michael Levine (1992–1996)
 * Marianne Bronner (1997–2001)
 * Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado and Richard Behringer (2012–2016)
 * Carole LaBonne (2020–present)

Regenerative biology and medicine
In 2010, the MBL established the Eugene Bell Center for Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering, where researchers study the ability of marine and other animals to spontaneously regenerate damaged or aging body parts. An understanding of tissue and organ regeneration in lower animals holds promise for translation to treatments for human conditions, including spinal cord injury, diabetes, organ failure, and degenerative neural diseases such as Alzheimer's. A cornerstone of the Bell Center is a national resource for research on the frog, Xenopus, which is a major animal model used in U.S. biomedical research. The National Xenopus Resource at the MBL is funded by the National Institutes of Health (MBL Facts).

Neuroscience, neurobiology, and sensory physiology
The MBL's contributions to neuroscience and sensory physiology are significant, fostered today by more than 65 visiting investigators and resident researchers in these fields, as well as five graduate- and post-graduate level Advanced Research Training courses. The MBL has been a magnet for the discipline since L.W. Williams in 1910 discovered, and John Zachary Young in 1936 rediscovered, the squid giant axon, a nerve fiber that is 20 times larger in diameter than the largest human axon. Young brought this locally abundant, ideal experimental system to the attention of his MBL colleague KS Cole, who in 1938 used it to record the resistance changes underlying the action potential, which provided evidence that ions flowing across the axonal membrane generate this electrical impulse. In 1938, Alan Lloyd Hodgkin came to the MBL to learn about the squid giant axon from Cole. After World War II, Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley, working in Plymouth, England and using the voltage clamp technique developed by Cole, laid the basis for the modern understanding of electrical activity in the nervous system by measuring quantitatively the flow of ions across the axonal membrane. Hodgkin and Huxley received the Nobel Prize in 1963 for their description of the ionic basis of nerve conduction (Barlow et al., 1993: 151-172). Following on Hodgkin and Huxley's work, in the 1960s and 1970s Clay Armstrong and other MBL researchers described a number of the properties of the ion channels that allow sodium and potassium ions to carry electric current across the cell membrane and Rodolfo Llinas described the transmission properties at the squid giant synapse (Llinas 1999). The "scientific career" of the "Woods Hole squid", Doryteuthis (formerly Loligo) pealeii, continues today, with studies on axonal transport, the squid giant synapse, squid genomics, and the molecular mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease.

Other marine organisms draw neuroscientists and neurobiologists to the MBL each summer, where a history of research into sensory physiology and behavior has been established. Haldan Keffer Hartline, an MBL summer investigator in the 1920s and early 1930s, uncovered several basic mechanisms of photoreceptor function through his studies on the horseshoe crab. Hartline shared the 1967 Nobel Prize with summer MBL colleague George Wald, who described the molecular basis of photoreception by showing that the light-sensitive rhodopsin consists of retinal, a slightly modified form of vitamin A, coupled to a photoreceptor protein. Another long-term summer investigator, Stephen W. Kuffler, is credited with "founding" the science of neurobiology in the mid-1960s at Harvard Medical School and he also initiated instruction in neurobiology at the MBL (Barlow et al., 1993:175-234; 203-234). Albert Szent-Györgyi (Nobel Laureate in 1937) conducted research at the MBL from 1947 to 1986, most significantly on the biochemical nature of muscular contraction. In the 1950s and 1960s, Frederik Bang and Jack Levin at the MBL discovered that the blood of the horseshoe crab clotted when exposed to bacterial endotoxins even in vanishingly small amounts. From this basic research, a reagent, Limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL), was developed that can detect minute amounts of bacterial toxins. The LAL test has resulted in dramatic improvement in the quality of drugs and biological products for intravenous injection.

Ecosystems science
Ecosystems research became a year-round commitment at the MBL in 1962 with the founding of the Systematics-Ecology program, under the direction of Melbourne R. Carriker. In 1975, the MBL's Ecosystems Center was established, with George Woodwell as director. The original research focus was on the global carbon cycle, an emphasis maintained today. The Ecosystems Center has a year-round staff of more than 40 scientists who study a variety of ecosystems and their responses to human activities and environmental changes. The center is located in Woods Hole yet has a global reach, with active research sites in the Arctic tundra; in forest, coastal and marine sites in New England, Sweden and Brazil. The Ecosystems Center is home to two of the 26 U.S. Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites: Toolik Lake, Alaska; and Plum Island, Massachusetts. Scientists in the Ecosystems Center study the effects of forest clearance and land-use change on atmospheric chemistry, watershed processes and coastal ecology, the global-scale anthropogenic enrichment of the nitrogen cycle, and ecosystem responses to global warming. The interim director of the Ecosystems Center is Anne Giblin. Former directors of the Center who are still active on the scientific staff are Jerry Melillo, who studies the biogeochemistry of terrestrial ecosystems, and John Hobbie, a microbial ecologist. The Ecosystems Center is founded on a vision of collaborative, interdisciplinary science; shared lab facilities and instrumentation; and a long-term, large-scale, systems-wide view of ecosystem processes.

Comparative genomics, molecular evolution, and microbial ecology
The Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution was founded at the MBL in 1997 and is currently directed by David Mark Welch. By comparing diverse genomes, scientists at the center are elucidating the evolutionary relationships of biological systems, and describing genes and genomes of biomedical and environmental significance. Microorganisms found in a wide range of ecosystems, including the human microbiome, are studied. Mitchell Sogin, the Bay Paul Center's founder, also founded two courses at the MBL: the Workshop in Molecular Evolution; and Strategies and Techniques for Analyzing Microbial Population Structures. In 2003-2004, Sogin launched the International Census of Marine Microbes, a global effort to describe the biodiversity of marine micro-organisms. Early results from this census in 2006 revealed some 10 to 100 times more types of marine microbes than expected, and the vast majority are previously unknown, low-abundance microorganisms now called the "rare biosphere". Other Bay Paul Center projects are focused on microbes that live in extreme environments, from hydrothermal vents to highly acidic ecosystems, which may lead to a better understanding of life that could exist on other planets. Activities at the Bay Paul Center are supported by advanced DNA sequencing and other genomics equipment at the center's Keck Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics Facility.

Education program
The MBL offers a range of courses, workshops, conferences, and internships throughout the year. Central to its programs are more than 20 Advanced Research Training Courses, graduate-level courses in topics ranging from physiology, embryology, neurobiology, and microbiology to imaging and computation integrated with biological research.

In addition, the MBL hosts courses for undergraduate and graduate students from the University of Chicago and other colleges and universities, as well as workshops and conferences—accommodating more than 2,600 participants in 2016.

title: Marine Biological Laboratory