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Quantum tunnelling

In physics, quantum tunnelling, barrier penetration, or simply tunnelling is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which an object such as an electron or atom passes through a potential energy barrier that, according to classical mechanics, should not be passable due to the object not having sufficient energy to pass or surmount the barrier.

Tunneling is a consequence of the wave nature of matter, where the quantum wave function describes the state of a particle or other physical system, and wave equations such as the Schrödinger equation describe their behavior. The probability of transmission of a wave packet through a barrier decreases exponentially with the barrier height, the barrier width, and the tunneling particle's mass, so tunneling is seen most prominently in low-mass particles such as electrons or protons tunneling through microscopically narrow barriers. Tunneling is readily detectable with barriers of thickness about 1–3 nm or smaller for electrons, and about 0.1 nm or smaller for heavier particles such as protons or hydrogen atoms. Some sources describe the mere penetration of a wave function into the barrier, without transmission on the other side, as a tunneling effect, such as in tunneling into the walls of a finite potential well.

Tunneling plays an essential role in physical phenomena such as nuclear fusion and alpha radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. Tunneling applications include the tunnel diode, quantum computing, flash memory, and the scanning tunneling microscope. Tunneling limits the minimum size of devices used in microelectronics because electrons tunnel readily through insulating layers and transistors that are thinner than about 1 nm.

The effect was predicted in the early 20th century. Its acceptance as a general physical phenomenon came mid-century.

Introduction to the concept

Quantum tunnelling falls under the domain of quantum mechanics. To understand the phenomenon, particles attempting to travel across a potential barrier can be compared to a ball trying to roll over a hill. Quantum mechanics and classical mechanics differ in their treatment of this scenario.

Classical mechanics predicts that particles that do not have enough energy to classically surmount a barrier cannot reach the other side. Thus, a ball without sufficient energy to surmount the hill would roll back down. In quantum mechanics, a particle can, with a small probability, tunnel to the other side, thus crossing the barrier. The reason for this difference comes from treating matter as having properties of waves and particles.

The tunnelling problem

The wave function of a physical system of particles specifies everything that can be known about the system. Therefore, problems in quantum mechanics analyze the system's wave function. Using mathematical formulations, such as the Schrödinger equation, the time evolution of a known wave function can be deduced. The square of the absolute value of this wave function is directly related to the probability distribution of the particle positions, which describes the probability that the particles would be measured at those positions.

As shown in the animation, a wave packet impinges on the barrier, most of it is reflected and some is transmitted through the barrier. The wave packet becomes more de-localized: it is now on both sides of the barrier and lower in maximum amplitude, but equal in integrated square-magnitude, meaning that the probability the particle is somewhere remains unity. The wider the barrier and the higher the barrier energy, the lower the probability of tunneling.

Some models of a tunneling barrier, such as the rectangular barriers shown, can be analysed and solved algebraically. Most problems do not have an algebraic solution, so numerical solutions are used. "Semiclassical methods" offer approximate solutions that are easier to compute, such as the WKB approximation.

History
The Schrödinger equation was published in 1926. The first person to apply the Schrödinger equation to a problem which involved tunneling between two classically allowed regions through a potential barrier was Friedrich Hund in a series of articles published in 1927. He studied the solutions of a double-well potential and discussed molecular spectra. Leonid Mandelstam and Mikhail Leontovich discovered tunneling independently and published their results in 1928.

In 1927, Lothar Nordheim, assisted by Ralph Fowler, published a paper which discussed thermionic emission and reflection of electrons from metals. He assumed a surface potential barrier which confines the electrons within the metal and showed that the electrons have a finite probability of tunneling through or reflecting from the surface barrier when their energies are close to the barrier energy. Classically, the electron would either transmit or reflect with 100% certainty, depending on its energy. In 1928 J. Robert Oppenheimer published two papers on field emission, i.e. the emission of electrons induced by strong electric fields. Nordheim and Fowler simplified Oppenheimer's derivation and found values for the emitted currents and work functions which agreed with experiments.

A great success of the tunnelling theory was the mathematical explanation for alpha decay, which was developed in 1928 by George Gamow and independently by Ronald Gurney and Edward Condon. The latter researchers simultaneously solved the Schrödinger equation for a model nuclear potential and derived a relationship between the half-life of the particle and the energy of emission that depended directly on the mathematical probability of tunneling. All three researchers were familiar with the works on field emission, and Gamow was aware of Mandelstam and Leontovich's findings.

In the early days of quantum theory, the term tunnel effect was not used, and the effect was instead referred to as penetration of, or leaking through, a barrier. The German term wellenmechanische Tunneleffekt was used in 1931 by Walter Schottky. The English term tunnel effect entered the language in 1932 when it was used by Yakov Frenkel in his textbook.

In 1957 Leo Esaki demonstrated tunneling of electrons over a few nanometer wide barrier in a semiconductor structure and developed a diode based on tunnel effect. In 1960, following Esaki's work, Ivar Giaever showed experimentally that tunnelling also took place in superconductors. The tunnelling spectrum gave direct evidence of the superconducting energy gap. In 1962, Brian Josephson predicted the tunneling of superconducting Cooper pairs. Esaki, Giaever and Josephson shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics for their works on quantum tunneling in solids.

In 1981, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer developed a new type of microscope, called scanning tunneling microscope, which is based on tunnelling and is used for imaging surfaces at the atomic level. Binnig and Rohrer were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986 for their discovery.

Applications
Tunnelling is the cause of some important macroscopic physical phenomena.

Electronics
Tunnelling is a source of current leakage in very-large-scale integration (VLSI) electronics and results in a substantial power drain and heating effects that plague such devices. It is considered the lower limit on how microelectronic device elements can be made. Tunnelling is a fundamental technique used to program the floating gates of flash memory.

Cold emission
Cold emission of electrons is relevant to semiconductors and superconductor physics. It is similar to thermionic emission, where electrons randomly jump from the surface of a metal to follow a voltage bias because they statistically end up with more energy than the barrier, through random collisions with other particles. When the electric field is very large, the barrier becomes thin enough for electrons to tunnel out of the atomic state, leading to a current that varies approximately exponentially with the electric field. These materials are important for flash memory, vacuum tubes, and some electron microscopes.

Tunnel junction
A simple barrier can be created by separating two conductors with a very thin insulator. These are tunnel junctions, the study of which requires understanding quantum tunnelling. Josephson junctions take advantage of quantum tunnelling and superconductivity to create the Josephson effect. This has applications in precision measurements of voltages and magnetic fields, as well as the multijunction solar cell.

Tunnel diode

Diodes are electrical semiconductor devices that allow electric current flow in one direction more than the other. The device depends on a depletion layer between N-type and P-type semiconductors to serve its purpose. When these are heavily doped the depletion layer can be thin enough for tunnelling. When a small forward bias is applied, the current due to tunnelling is significant. This has a maximum at the point where the voltage bias is such that the energy level of the p and n conduction bands are the same. As the voltage bias is increased, the two conduction bands no longer line up and the diode acts typically.

Because the tunnelling current drops off rapidly, tunnel diodes can be created that have a range of voltages for which current decreases as voltage increases. This peculiar property is used in some applications, such as high speed devices where the characteristic tunnelling probability changes as rapidly as the bias voltage.

The resonant tunnelling diode makes use of quantum tunnelling in a very different manner to achieve a similar result. This diode has a resonant voltage for which a current favors a particular voltage, achieved by placing two thin layers with a high energy conductance band near each other. This creates a quantum potential well that has a discrete lowest energy level. When this energy level is higher than that of the electrons, no tunnelling occurs and the diode is in reverse bias. Once the two voltage energies align, the electrons flow like an open wire. As the voltage further increases, tunnelling becomes improbable and the diode acts like a normal diode again before a second energy level becomes noticeable.

Tunnel field-effect transistors
A European research project demonstrated field effect transistors in which the gate (channel) is controlled via quantum tunnelling rather than by thermal injection, reducing gate voltage from ≈1 volt to 0.2 volts and reducing power consumption by up to 100×. If these transistors can be scaled up into VLSI chips, they would improve the performance per power of integrated circuits.

Conductivity of crystalline solids
While the Drude-Lorentz model of electrical conductivity makes excellent predictions about the nature of electrons conducting in metals, it can be furthered by using quantum tunnelling to explain the nature of the electron's collisions. When a free electron wave packet encounters a long array of uniformly spaced barriers, the reflected part of the wave packet interferes uniformly with the transmitted one between all barriers so that 100% transmission becomes possible. The theory predicts that if positively charged nuclei form a perfectly rectangular array, electrons will tunnel through the metal as free electrons, leading to extremely high conductance, and that impurities in the metal will disrupt it.

Scanning tunneling microscope
The scanning tunnelling microscope (STM), invented by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, may allow imaging of individual atoms on the surface of a material. It operates by taking advantage of the relationship between quantum tunnelling with distance. When the tip of the STM's needle is brought close to a conduction surface that has a voltage bias, measuring the current of electrons that are tunnelling between the needle and the surface reveals the distance between the needle and the surface. By using piezoelectric rods that change in size when voltage is applied, the height of the tip can be adjusted to keep the tunnelling current constant. The time-varying voltages that are applied to these rods can be recorded and used to image the surface of the conductor. STMs are accurate to 0.001 nm, or about 1% of atomic diameter.

Nuclear fusion
Quantum tunnelling is an essential phenomenon for nuclear fusion. The temperature in stellar cores is generally insufficient to allow atomic nuclei to overcome the Coulomb barrier and achieve thermonuclear fusion. Quantum tunnelling increases the probability of penetrating this barrier. Though this probability is still low, the extremely large number of nuclei in the core of a star is sufficient to sustain a steady fusion reaction.

Radioactive decay
Radioactive decay is the process of emission of particles and energy from the unstable nucleus of an atom to form a stable product. This is done via the tunnelling of a particle out of the nucleus (an electron tunneling into the nucleus is electron capture). This was the first application of quantum tunnelling. Radioactive decay is a relevant issue for astrobiology as this consequence of quantum tunnelling creates a constant energy source over a large time interval for environments outside the circumstellar habitable zone where insolation would not be possible (subsurface oceans) or effective.

Quantum tunnelling may be one of the mechanisms of hypothetical proton decay.

Kinetic isotope effect
In chemical kinetics, the substitution of a light isotope of an element with a heavier one typically results in a slower reaction rate. This is generally attributed to differences in the zero-point vibrational energies for chemical bonds containing the lighter and heavier isotopes and is generally modeled using transition state theory. However, in certain cases, large isotopic effects are observed that cannot be accounted for by a semi-classical treatment, and quantum tunnelling is required. R. P. Bell developed a modified treatment of Arrhenius kinetics that is commonly used to model this phenomenon.

Astrochemistry in interstellar clouds
By including quantum tunnelling, the astrochemical syntheses of various molecules in interstellar clouds can be explained, such as the synthesis of molecular hydrogen, water (ice) and the prebiotic important formaldehyde. Tunnelling of molecular hydrogen has been observed in the lab.

Quantum biology
Quantum tunnelling is among the central non-trivial quantum effects in quantum biology. Here it is important both as electron tunnelling and proton tunnelling. Electron tunnelling is a key factor in many biochemical redox reactions (photosynthesis, cellular respiration) as well as enzymatic catalysis. Proton tunnelling is a key factor in spontaneous DNA mutation.

Spontaneous mutation occurs when normal DNA replication takes place after a particularly significant proton has tunnelled. A hydrogen bond joins DNA base pairs. A double well potential along a hydrogen bond separates a potential energy barrier. It is believed that the double well potential is asymmetric, with one well deeper than the other such that the proton normally rests in the deeper well. For a mutation to occur, the proton must have tunnelled into the shallower well. The proton's movement from its regular position is called a tautomeric transition. If DNA replication takes place in this state, the base pairing rule for DNA may be jeopardised, causing a mutation. Per-Olov Lowdin was the first to develop this theory of spontaneous mutation within the double helix. Other instances of quantum tunnelling-induced mutations in biology are believed to be a cause of ageing and cancer.

The Schrödinger equation
The time-independent Schrödinger equation for one particle in one dimension can be written as $$-\frac{\hbar^2}{2m} \frac{d^2}{dx^2} \Psi(x) + V(x) \Psi(x) = E \Psi(x)$$ or $$\frac{d^2}{dx^2} \Psi(x) = \frac{2m}{\hbar^2} \left( V(x) - E \right) \Psi(x) \equiv \frac{2m}{\hbar^2} M(x) \Psi(x) ,$$

where
 * $$\hbar $$ is the reduced Planck's constant,
 * m is the particle mass,
 * x represents distance measured in the direction of motion of the particle,
 * Ψ is the Schrödinger wave function,
 * V is the potential energy of the particle (measured relative to any convenient reference level),
 * E is the energy of the particle that is associated with motion in the x-axis (measured relative to V),
 * M(x) is a quantity defined by V(x) − E which has no accepted name in physics.

The solutions of the Schrödinger equation take different forms for different values of x, depending on whether M(x) is positive or negative. When M(x) is constant and negative, then the Schrödinger equation can be written in the form $$\frac{d^2}{dx^2} \Psi(x) = \frac{2m}{\hbar^2} M(x) \Psi(x) = -k^2 \Psi(x), \qquad \text{where} \quad k^2=- \frac{2m}{\hbar^2} M. $$

The solutions of this equation represent travelling waves, with phase-constant +k or -k. Alternatively, if M(x) is constant and positive, then the Schrödinger equation can be written in the form $$\frac{d^2}{dx^2} \Psi(x) = \frac{2m}{\hbar^2} M(x) \Psi(x) = {\kappa}^2 \Psi(x), \qquad \text{where} \quad {\kappa}^2= \frac{2m}{\hbar^2} M. $$

The solutions of this equation are rising and falling exponentials in the form of evanescent waves. When M(x) varies with position, the same difference in behaviour occurs, depending on whether M(x) is negative or positive. It follows that the sign of M(x) determines the nature of the medium, with negative M(x) corresponding to medium A and positive M(x) corresponding to medium B. It thus follows that evanescent wave coupling can occur if a region of positive M(x) is sandwiched between two regions of negative M(x), hence creating a potential barrier.

The mathematics of dealing with the situation where M(x) varies with x is difficult, except in special cases that usually do not correspond to physical reality. A full mathematical treatment appears in the 1965 monograph by Fröman and Fröman. Their ideas have not been incorporated into physics textbooks, but their corrections have little quantitative effect.

The WKB approximation
The wave function is expressed as the exponential of a function:

$$\Psi(x) = e^{\Phi(x)},$$ where $$\Phi''(x) + \Phi'(x)^2 = \frac{2m}{\hbar^2} \left( V(x) - E \right).$$

$$\Phi'(x)$$ is then separated into real and imaginary parts:

$$\Phi'(x) = A(x) + i B(x),$$ where A(x) and B(x) are real-valued functions.

Substituting the second equation into the first and using the fact that the real part needs to be 0 results in:

$$A'(x) + A(x)^2 - B(x)^2 = \frac{2m}{\hbar^2} \left( V(x) - E \right).$$

To solve this equation using the semiclassical approximation, each function must be expanded as a power series in $$\hbar$$. From the equations, the power series must start with at least an order of $$\hbar^{-1}$$ to satisfy the real part of the equation; for a good classical limit starting with the highest power of Planck's constant possible is preferable, which leads to $$A(x) = \frac{1}{\hbar} \sum_{k=0}^\infty \hbar^k A_k(x)$$ and $$B(x) = \frac{1}{\hbar} \sum_{k=0}^\infty \hbar^k B_k(x),$$ with the following constraints on the lowest order terms, $$A_0(x)^2 - B_0(x)^2 = 2m \left( V(x) - E \right)$$ and $$A_0(x) B_0(x) = 0.$$

At this point two extreme cases can be considered.

Case 1

If the amplitude varies slowly as compared to the phase $$A_0(x) = 0$$ and $$B_0(x) = \pm \sqrt{ 2m \left( E - V(x) \right) }$$ which corresponds to classical motion. Resolving the next order of expansion yields $$\Psi(x) \approx C \frac{ e^{i \int dx \sqrt{\frac{2m}{\hbar^2} \left( E - V(x) \right)} + \theta} }{\sqrt[4]{\frac{2m}{\hbar^2} \left( E - V(x) \right)}}$$

Case 2

If the phase varies slowly as compared to the amplitude, $$B_0(x) = 0$$ and $$A_0(x) = \pm \sqrt{ 2m \left( V(x) - E \right) }$$ which corresponds to tunneling. Resolving the next order of the expansion yields $$\Psi(x) \approx \frac{ C_{+} e^{+\int dx \sqrt{\frac{2m}{\hbar^2} \left( V(x) - E \right)}} + C_{-} e^{-\int dx \sqrt{\frac{2m}{\hbar^2} \left( V(x) - E \right)}}}{\sqrt[4]{\frac{2m}{\hbar^2} \left( V(x) - E \right)}}$$

In both cases it is apparent from the denominator that both these approximate solutions are bad near the classical turning points $$E = V(x)$$. Away from the potential hill, the particle acts similar to a free and oscillating wave; beneath the potential hill, the particle undergoes exponential changes in amplitude. By considering the behaviour at these limits and classical turning points a global solution can be made.

To start, a classical turning point, $$x_1$$ is chosen and $$\frac{2m}{\hbar^2}\left(V(x)-E\right)$$ is expanded in a power series about $$x_1$$:

$$\frac{2m}{\hbar^2}\left(V(x)-E\right) = v_1 (x - x_1) + v_2 (x - x_1)^2 + \cdots$$

Keeping only the first order term ensures linearity: $$\frac{2m}{\hbar^2}\left(V(x)-E\right) = v_1 (x - x_1).$$

Using this approximation, the equation near $$x_1$$ becomes a differential equation: $$\frac{d^2}{dx^2} \Psi(x) = v_1 (x - x_1) \Psi(x).$$

This can be solved using Airy functions as solutions.

$$\Psi(x) = C_A Ai\left( \sqrt[3]{v_1} (x - x_1) \right) + C_B Bi\left( \sqrt[3]{v_1} (x - x_1) \right)$$

Taking these solutions for all classical turning points, a global solution can be formed that links the limiting solutions. Given the two coefficients on one side of a classical turning point, the two coefficients on the other side of a classical turning point can be determined by using this local solution to connect them.

Hence, the Airy function solutions will asymptote into sine, cosine and exponential functions in the proper limits. The relationships between $$C,\theta$$ and $$C_{+},C_{-}$$ are

$$C_{+} = \frac{1}{2} C \cos{\left(\theta - \frac{\pi}{4}\right)}$$ and
 * Quantum Tunnelling animation.gif$$C_{-} = - C \sin{\left(\theta - \frac{\pi}{4}\right)}$$

With the coefficients found, the global solution can be found. Therefore, the transmission coefficient for a particle tunneling through a single potential barrier is

$$T(E) = e^{-2\int_{x_1}^{x_2} dx \sqrt{\frac{2m}{\hbar^2} \left[ V(x) - E \right]}},$$

where $$x_1,x_2$$ are the two classical turning points for the potential barrier.

For a rectangular barrier, this expression simplifies to: $$T(E) = e^{-2\sqrt{\frac{2m}{\hbar^2}(V_0-E)}(x_2-x_1)}.$$

Faster than light
Some physicists have claimed that it is possible for spin-zero particles to travel faster than the speed of light when tunnelling. This appears to violate the principle of causality, since a frame of reference then exists in which the particle arrives before it has left. In 1998, Francis E. Low reviewed briefly the phenomenon of zero-time tunnelling. More recently, experimental tunnelling time data of phonons, photons, and electrons was published by Günter Nimtz. Another experiment overseen by A. M. Steinberg, seems to indicate that particles could tunnel at apparent speeds faster than light.

Other physicists, such as Herbert Winful, disputed these claims. Winful argued that the wave packet of a tunnelling particle propagates locally, so a particle can't tunnel through the barrier non-locally. Winful also argued that the experiments that are purported to show non-local propagation have been misinterpreted. In particular, the group velocity of a wave packet does not measure its speed, but is related to the amount of time the wave packet is stored in the barrier. Moreover, if quantum tunneling is modeled with the relativistic Dirac equation, well established mathematical theorems imply that the process is completely subluminal.

Dynamical tunneling

The concept of quantum tunneling can be extended to situations where there exists a quantum transport between regions that are classically not connected even if there is no associated potential barrier. This phenomenon is known as dynamical tunnelling.

Tunnelling in phase space
The concept of dynamical tunnelling is particularly suited to address the problem of quantum tunnelling in high dimensions (d>1). In the case of an integrable system, where bounded classical trajectories are confined onto tori in phase space, tunnelling can be understood as the quantum transport between semi-classical states built on two distinct but symmetric tori.

Chaos-assisted tunnelling

In real life, most systems are not integrable and display various degrees of chaos. Classical dynamics is then said to be mixed and the system phase space is typically composed of islands of regular orbits surrounded by a large sea of chaotic orbits. The existence of the chaotic sea, where transport is classically allowed, between the two symmetric tori then assists the quantum tunnelling between them. This phenomenon is referred as chaos-assisted tunnelling. and is characterized by sharp resonances of the tunnelling rate when varying any system parameter.

Resonance-assisted tunnelling
When $$\hbar$$ is small in front of the size of the regular islands, the fine structure of the classical phase space plays a key role in tunnelling. In particular the two symmetric tori are coupled "via a succession of classically forbidden transitions across nonlinear resonances" surrounding the two islands.

Related phenomena
Several phenomena have the same behavior as quantum tunnelling. Two examples are evanescent wave coupling (the application of Maxwell's wave-equation to light) and the application of the non-dispersive wave-equation from acoustics applied to "waves on strings".

These effects are modeled similarly to the rectangular potential barrier. In these cases, one transmission medium through which the wave propagates that is the same or nearly the same throughout, and a second medium through which the wave travels differently. This can be described as a thin region of medium B between two regions of medium A. The analysis of a rectangular barrier by means of the Schrödinger equation can be adapted to these other effects provided that the wave equation has travelling wave solutions in medium A but real exponential solutions in medium B.

In optics, medium A is a vacuum while medium B is glass. In acoustics, medium A may be a liquid or gas and medium B a solid. For both cases, medium A is a region of space where the particle's total energy is greater than its potential energy and medium B is the potential barrier. These have an incoming wave and resultant waves in both directions. There can be more mediums and barriers, and the barriers need not be discrete. Approximations are useful in this case.

A classical wave-particle association was originally analyzed as analogous to quantum tunneling, but subsequent analysis found a fluid dynamics cause related to the vertical momentum imparted to particles near the barrier.

title: Quantum tunnelling


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Purple starling

The purple starling (Lamprotornis purpureus), estorninho azul(argentina, peru, colombia), melro metálico (brazil) also known as the purple glossy starling, is a member of the starling family of birds.

Distribution and habitat
It is a resident breeder in tropical Africa from Senegal and north Zaire east to Sudan and west Kenya. This common passerine is typically found in open woodland and cultivation.

Description
The adults of these stocky 22–23 cm long birds have a metallic purple head and body, and glossy green wings. They have a short tail and a yellow eye. The sexes are similar, but juveniles are much duller, with grey underparts and a brown iris.

Behaviour
This is a gregarious and noisy bird, with typical starling squeaks and chattering.

Breeding
The purple starling builds a nest in a hole. The normal clutch is two eggs.

Feeding
Like most starlings, the purple starling is omnivorous, eating fruit and insects.

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

title: Purple starling


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Cheapass Games

Cheapass Games is a game company founded and run by game designer James Ernest, based in Seattle, Washington. Cheapass Games operates on the philosophy that most game owners have plenty of dice, counters, play money, and other common board game accessories, so there is no need to bundle all of these components with every game that requires them. Cheapass games thus come packaged in white envelopes, small boxes, or plastic resealable bags containing only those components unique to the game - typically a rules sheet, a playing board printed on card stock, and game cards banded by magazine-cutout "sleeves". This allows the company to produce games for prices well below the market average. Later, Cheapass started offering some higher-quality, full color games under the "James Ernest Games" brand.

History
Ernest originally developed the idea for selling basic games without all the common components while freelancing at Wizards of the Coast during the 1990s. However, Wizards rejected the idea, and in 1995, Ernest quit and started up the company. Creating the games by hand, he initially showed the games at tradeshows and conventions, resulting in sales demand from game stores. The company creates and assembles each game pack by hand, with most games only being made in runs of up to 5,000 copies.

Cheapass Games and James Ernest have won several awards for game design including the 2002 Origins Award for best play-by-mail game (Button Men Web Game), the 2002 Origins Vanguard Award (Diceland), the 1997 Origins Award for best abstract board game (Kill Doctor Lucky), and the 1997 Origins Award for best traditional card game (Give Me the Brain).

Cheapass' game Pennywise was awarded the parodic 2003 "Spud des Jahres" award for most overpriced game by the website Spielboy (see Spiel des Jahres).

In 2004, the indie band Beatnik Turtle released The Cheapass Album, an album inspired by games from Cheapass Games.

In October 2007, Cheapass Games stopped updating their web site; a message on the homepage explained: "Cheapass Games is in the process of hibernating, which means we can be a bit sluggish and hard to reach. Most of us have moved on to better careers, and James Ernest is slumbering peacefully in a warm hole in the ground."

In 2009, Cheapass created a Button Men app for the iPhone. Paizo Publishing is selling some Cheapass games on its website.

In 2011, Cheapass Games resumed updating their website with a new business model: Games were released for free in PDF format for gamers to print and play, and customers were asked to donate a dollar or two if they like the game. James Ernest says, in the game rules, "I've decided to try a different gamble. I'm giving my games away for free. This way, you can read the rules, make a copy, and even play the thing, before you decide what it's worth. If you do like my games, I hope you will send me some money. But I'm also hoping you will share this experiment with your friends. You are my sales force, my marketing department, my demo team." New games are usually accompanied by the Ransomometer, where potential customers are encouraged to donate a certain dollar amount before a game is released to the public.

In 2012, Cheapass Games offered their first Kickstarter project, a deluxe reprint of their previous game Unexploded Cow. This was followed in 2013 by another Kickstarter project for a deluxe version of their earlier Deadwood game, called Deadwood Studios USA.

In 2019, it was announced that Greater Than Games had acquired Cheapass Games. They have since opened a website with many free PDF offerings of older Cheapass Games titles.

List of Cheapass Games
Several of the older games are out of print but are offered for free by Cheapass: the cards, rules, or other game materials may be downloaded for free, and Cheapass requests that if the recipient likes the game they should make a voluntary payment. Cheapass Games provides a chart of suggested donations based on the recipient's profession/income level at their website.

 * Before I Kill You, Mr. Bond - a game of attracting interesting people to your lair, then killing them. Reissued in 2004 as James Ernest's Totally Renamed Spy Game
 * Ben Hurt - an out-of-print game involving betting and chariot races
 * The Big Idea - a game involving venture capitalism and marketing
 * Bitin' Off Hedz - a simple game of dinosaurs and rocks
 * Bleeding Sherwood - an out-of-print game with a Robin Hood theme available for download
 * Brawl - a real-time card game
 * Button Men - a collectible button-and-dice game, sold in sets of two to six buttons
 * Captain Park's Imaginary Polar Expedition - a game of faking travels
 * Captain Treasure Boots
 * The Chief Herman games:
 * Chief Herman's Holiday Fun Pack
 * Chief Herman's Next Big Thing
 * Deadwood - a game of bad actors
 * The Devil Bunny games:
 * Devil Bunny Needs a Ham - a game of buildings and Devil Bunny
 * Devil Bunny Hates the Earth - a game of squirrels, taffy machines, and Devil Bunny
 * Diceland - a collectible cardboard dice game. Multiple sets
 * The Digital Eel video games
 * Plasmaworm
 * Strange Adventures in Infinite Space
 * Dr. Blob's Organism
 * Big Box of Blox
 * Boiler Plate Special
 * The Doctor Lucky games:
 * Kill Doctor Lucky - a game of killing and not being seen
 * Kill Doctor Lucky—Craigdarroch - another place to kill
 * Save Doctor Lucky - a game of saving and being seen
 * Save Doctor Lucky on Moon Base Copernicus - another place to save
 * Enemy Chocolatier
 * Escape from Elba - an out-of-print game of many d6 and spelling weapons
 * Falling - an out-of-print real-time game about falling to your death
 * Fightball - a real-time card game about a futuristic sport, designed with Mike Selinker
 * Fight City - a trading card game of gangs and cards
 * Fish Cook
 * Freeloader - a game about borrowing all that you can
 * The Friedey's games:
 * Give Me the Brain - a game of zombies and their jobs. Origins Award winner for Best Traditional Card Game of 1997
 * Lord of the Fries - a game of zombies and fast food orders
 * Change! - an out-of-print game of zombies and money
 * The Great Brain Robbery - a game of zombies and train robbery. Origins Award winner for Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game 2000
 * Dead Money - a game of zombies, the wild west and losing at poker
 * Get Out - a game of finding work
 * Girl Genius: The Works - a game of Phil Foglio's Girl Genius comic
 * The Grave Robber games:
 * Parts Unknown - an out-of-print game of mad scientists and economics
 * Renfield - an out-of-print game that plays like a combination of Poker and Hearts. Available for download
 * The Hip Pocket games:
 * Agora - a game of market stalls
 * The Big Cheese - a small bidding game featuring mice and dice
 * Cube Farm - a game of cubicle layout
 * Light Speed - a real-time card game about mining spaceships
 * Nexus - a game of nodes
 * Safari Jack Remix - a game of tracking animals
 * Steam Tunnel - a game of tunnel control
 * TimeLine - a game of time travel
 * The Very Clever Pipe Game - a game of connecting pipes
 * Huzzah! - a game of Renaissance Faires. Available for download
 * Jacob Marley, Esq. - a game of loans
 * James Ernest Writes Off Another Trip to VEGAS - an out-of-print game of casinos and cheating
 * Landyland - a promotional game using Magic: The Gathering's basic lands
 * Mana Burn - an out-of-print promotional game using Magic: The Gathering cards
 * The One False Step games:
 * One False Step for Mankind - a game of getting to the Moon
 * One False Step Home - a game of getting back from the Moon
 * Pairs (card game) - a game with a nontraditional triangular deck
 * Punch Cards - a game for conventions
 * Safari Jack
 * Secret Tijuana Deathmatch - a game of buying the contracts of illegitimate wrestlers and pitting them against each other
 * Spree! - a game of firearms and larceny
 * Starbase Jeff - an out-of-print game of gambling in space
 * Tak - an abstract strategy game based on a game introduced in Patrick Rothfuss's book, The Wise Man's Fear
 * U.S. Patent No. 1 - a game of racing through time to get the first patent issued
 * Unexploded Cow - a game of marching mad cows through bomb fields
 * Veritas
 * Witch Trial - a game of pressing the innocent to death with stones

Reviews

 * Backstab #12

title: Cheapass Games


text:
Joe Medwick

Joseph Michael Medwick (November 24, 1911 – March 21, 1975), nicknamed "Ducky" and "Muscles",  was an American Major League Baseball player. A left fielder with the St. Louis Cardinals during the "Gashouse Gang" era of the 1930s, he also played with the Brooklyn Dodgers (1940–1943, 1946), New York Giants (1943–1945), and Boston Braves (1945). Medwick is the last National League player to win the Triple Crown award (1937).

A ten-time All-Star, Medwick was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America in 1968 with 84.81% of the votes. In 2014, he became a member of the inaugural class of the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.

Early life
Medwick was born and raised in Carteret, New Jersey, the son of Hungarian immigrants. He excelled in baseball, basketball, football, and track at Carteret High School. Famed football coach Knute Rockne made arrangements for Medwick to play football at University of Notre Dame, but he chose professional baseball instead.

Career
Medwick entered professional baseball in 1930 with the Scottdale Scotties of the Middle Atlantic League. In 75 games he had a .419 batting average and 22 home runs. He spent most of the next two seasons with the Houston Buffaloes of the Texas League. He played 161 games for Houston in 1931, hitting .305 with 19 home runs. He played in 139 games for the team the next year, hitting .354 with 26 home runs before being called up to the major leagues.

He made his MLB debut with the Cardinals in 1932. By 1934, he hit .319 with 18 home runs and 106 runs batted in (RBIs). Though Medwick swung at any pitch near the strike zone, he was difficult to strike out. He became known as one of baseball's rising stars, but was competitive to the point of combativeness, and regarded by some as self-centered.

Medwick's hard-charging style of play got him pulled out of the seventh game of the 1934 World Series by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis after a hard slide into third baseman Marv Owen on a triple which caused Detroit Tigers fans to pelt Medwick with fruits and vegetables. Landis also ordered Owen benched. Medwick remains the only known player to be thrown out of a game for his own personal safety. When asked about the incident after the game, Medwick replied, "I knew why they threw them. What I don't understand is why they brought them to the ballpark in the first place."

Medwick won the National League Triple Crown and the NL Most Valuable Player Award in 1937, leading the league with a .374 batting average, 31 home runs, and 154 RBIs. He remains the last NL player to win a Triple Crown. He would have won its home run component outright, but a home run hit in a June 6 game that was later wiped out by forfeit left him tied with Mel Ott. Medwick also led the National League with 237 hits, 111 runs scored, 56 doubles, 406 total bases, and a .641 slugging percentage. Before his 26th birthday, Medwick had accumulated 1,101 hits, the 12th highest total for a 25-year-old player in MLB history.

Medwick's 64 doubles in 1936 remains the National League record. He also held the National League record with seven consecutive seasons with 40 or more doubles until Stan Musial topped it with nine. In 1940, the Cardinals traded Medwick and Curt Davis to the Dodgers for $125,000 and four lesser-known players. While still a solid hitter, Medwick never excelled defensively, where the Cardinals felt he was losing some of the skills he displayed in his 1937 Triple Crown season. Team president Branch Rickey and owner Sam Breadon also thought the trade would be best because they thought that Medwick was becoming increasingly discontented with being a Cardinal, having spent all season haggling with the pair over his contract.

Six days after the trade, Medwick was nearly killed by what some at the time regarded as a beanball thrown by former Cardinals teammate Bob Bowman. A mob of Dodgers led by their manager, Leo Durocher, charged the mound and had to be restrained from going after Bowman by the other Cardinals and the umpires. Uniformed members of the New York City Police Department sat with Bowman in the dugout to protect him from the crowd, and on request from Dodger president Larry MacPhail, nearly one hundred were present by the end of the game.

William O'Dwyer, Brooklyn's district attorney, started an investigation to determine whether the hit by pitch was deliberate. Bowman blamed the incident on sign stealing by Dodgers coach Chuck Dressen. He said that Dressen would whistle each time he saw the sign for a curveball. Hearing the whistle, Medwick stepped toward what he thought was a curveball, but Bowman had decided to throw a high, inside fastball to confuse them. When Medwick strode forward, the ball hit him in the temple and rendered him unconscious. Medwick did not blame Bowman for the beaning, telling one of O'Dwyer's aides: "No direct threat had been made to me by Bowman. I saw the ball leave from his hand, but that was the last I saw of it."

NL president Ford Frick conducted his own investigation. Durocher and the Dodgers told him they still thought the hit by pitch was deliberate; Bowman countered that "I never meant to hurt Joe." On June 20, O'Dwyer's office dismissed the case for lack of evidence. The next day, Frick reached the same verdict.

Though contemporary baseball writers wondered if the beaning would affect Medwick's playing, baseball historian Frank Russo does not believe that it did, pointing to Medwick's strong statistics in 1940. In 1941, Medwick helped Brooklyn win their first pennant since 1920. He was traded to the New York Giants in 1943. During a USO tour by a number of players in 1944, Medwick was among several individuals given an audience by Pope Pius XII, who had been Cardinal Secretary of State before his elevation to the papacy. Upon being asked by the Pope what his vocation was, Medwick replied, "Your Holiness, I'm Joe Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal."

Late in his career, Medwick said that golf was helping him to stay in good physical condition; 36 holes per day allowed him to walk more than 10 miles "without heavy strain".

In 1946, he was signed as a free agent by the St. Louis Browns, but coming out of spring training was unable to stick with the team and was seemingly out of baseball at just 34. He eventually returned to St. Louis to finish his career with the Cardinals in 1947 and 1948. Medwick retired with a .324 batting average, a ten-time All-Star over 17 Big League seasons.

He stayed in the game, at the minor league level. In 1949 he was player-coach of the Miami Beach Flamingos, a Class 'B' team in the Florida International League. He had 375 at-bats in 106 games, with 121 hits for a .323 batting average. He continued playing through 1952 with Class 'B' Raleigh and Tampa, but his numbers declined substantially.

Career statistics
In 1984 games played over 17 seasons Medwick compiled a .324 batting average (2471-7635) with 1198 runs, 540 doubles, 113 triples, 205 home runs, 1383 RBI, 437 bases on balls, .362 on-base percentage and .505 slugging percentage. He recorded a career .980 fielding percentage. In 12 World Series games (1934,1941), he hit .326 (15-46) with five runs, five RBI, and one home run.

Later life

In 1966, Medwick was hired as a hitting instructor in the Cardinals minor league system, a role he held until 1975. During spring training that year, on March 21, he died of a heart attack in St. Petersburg, Florida. He was buried at St. Lucas Cemetery in Sunset Hills, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.

Legacy
Medwick received no votes for enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame the first seven years after his retirement, which is sometimes attributed to his strained relationship with teammates and the press. He continued to fall short of the required 75% vote threshold on numerous ballots until he was elected by the Baseball Writers' Association of America in his final year of eligibility in 1968.

After his election, he said, "This was the longest slump of my career. I had gone 0 for 20 before, but never 0 for 20 years."

In January 2014, the Cardinals announced Medwick among 22 former players and personnel to be inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum for the inaugural class of 2014.

Joseph Medwick Park along the banks of the Rahway River in Woodbridge Township and Carteret in Middlesex County, New Jersey is named in his honor.

title: Joe Medwick


text:
Shōrei-ryū

Shōrei-ryū (昭霊流) is a style of Okinawan karate and is one of the two oldest karate styles, alongside Shōrin-ryū. It was developed at the end of the 19th century by Higaonna Kanryō in Naha, Okinawa, Japan.

Etymology
Shōrei-ryū means "the style of inspiration" and certain martial arts scholars believe that the term Shōrei is derived from the Shoreiji Temple located in either Fujian or Mount Jiulian of Longnan, Jiangxi.

Origin
Little is known about the origins of Shōrei-ryū, but it was influenced in its early development by Shuri-te. Kanryo Higashionna originally studied Shuri-te with Sokon Matsumura and learnt quanfa from Chinese Wai Xinxian (assistant of Xie Zhongxiang). Higaonna later traveled to China to perfect his skills, which he probably succeeded in because he learned many new kata from Fujian, the home of Baihequan (Chinese 白鶴 拳, Pinyin báihèquán) and adopted it in his style. The teachings of this temple provided the basis for the Naha-te style of Okinawan karate.

Following passing of Higaonna Kanryo, the style began to take a new direction and became a purely "internal" combat style. This was due in large part to the influence of Choki Motobu.

Although Motobu's sensei style is still considered Naha-te, it actually had nothing to do with Higashionna. When Motobu became the leader of Shōrei-ryū, he began to guide his development in another direction, mainly because he trained with Anko Itosu of the Shuri-te style, a disciple of the great Sokon Matsumura.

Features of style
The main features of Shōrei-ryū are the use of open hands, circular block techniques, and kicks to the gedan (lower-level) area.

In addition, the use of short and hard techniques in close combat in combination with throwing techniques is a specialty, especially from the sanchin and shiko-dachi stances. Great importance is also attached to training on the makiwara.

Another peculiarity is that the handling of Kobudō weapons such as bo, tonfa or sai is also very practiced.

Shōrei-ryū Kata
Shōrei-ryū originates various kata that would be used in descendant styles like Gōjū-ryū and others.

Further development
Modern descendants of Shōrei-ryū include styles such as Gōjū-ryū and Ryūei-ryū. Gōjū-ryū is considered the direct evolution of Shōrei-ryū.

The Shitō-ryū style also contains many elements of Shōrei-ryū, since Mabuni Kenwa was a student of Higaonna, and even the Shōtōkan style contains kata from Shōrei-ryū, which, however, did not get there directly, but were passed on to Funakoshi Gichin and his students via Mabuni Kenwa.

The Shōrei-ryū name (alternatively, Goju-Shorei-Ryu and later, Shorei-Goju Ryu) was also used for the style of karate brought to the United States by Robert Trias. Later, Trias used the name Shuri-ryu, although some lineages still use the Shorei Ryu name. This style should not be confused with traditional Shōrei-ryū. Trias's karate incorporated elements from Naha-te, Shuri-te, Tomari-te, and others.

title: Shōrei-ryū


text:
Monolithic system

A monolithic system is a system that is integrated into one whole, analogous to a monolith. The phrase can have slightly different meanings in the contexts of computer software and hardware.

In application software
In application software, software is called "monolithic" if it has a monolithic architecture, in which functionally distinguishable aspects (for example data input and output, data processing, error handling, and the user interface) are all interwoven, rather than containing architecturally separate components. Software systems like this are examples of monolithic applications.

In hardware
An electronic hardware system, such as a multi-core processor, is called "monolithic" if its components are integrated together in a single integrated circuit. Note that such a system may consist of architecturally separate components – in a multi-core system, each core forms a separate component – as long as they are realized on a single die.

In system software
In system software, a monolithic kernel is an operating system (OS) architecture where the entire OS is working in kernel space.

title: Monolithic system


text:
Murder of Ibrahim Ali

The death of Ibrahim Ali (1978 – February 21, 1995) took place in Marseille, France, in 1995. Then aged 17, Ibrahim Ali, a French citizen of Comorian origins, was shot and killed by Robert Lagier on 21st of February 1995.

The shooting
On the night of February 21, 1995, Robert Lagier and his two friends Mario d'Ambrosio and Pierre Giglio, supporters of the far-right Front National headed to the immigrant neighbourhoods of north Marseille to hang posters for their party's presidential candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Under a smiling image of Mr Le Pen, the poster said: "With Le Pen, Three million Immigrants Sent Home". At a traffic intersection, the men saw ten Afro-French youths running past them to get to a bus stop. They had just finished their rap rehearsal and carried instruments and sound equipment, and were running to avoid missing the last bus home. Robert Lagier drew his .22 pistol from an ankle holster. 17-year old Ibrahim Ali took a single bullet in the back, from which it struck his heart. He collapsed to the ground and quickly died of blood loss. Marco d'Ambrosio also drew his pistol and fired a few shots at the retreating Afro-French, though he didn't hit anyone.

Aftermath
After the incident, Laiger falsely claimed the youths had thrown stones at his car, and he was defending himself. However, police found no dents or cracks on the windshield and no rocks in the intersection around where his car was parked. The National Front backed Laiger completely, forming the "DGL Association" (after their initials) to "help our prisoners". Bruno Megret, considered the successor to Le Pen within the NF, falsely claimed that the men had been "violently attacked by about 15 Comorians". At the trial, Megret refused to apologize to the victim's family on the ground that "there is no collective responsibility in French law", but he praised the FN members as "average Frenchmen" who "deserve respect and dedicate themselves to others, to love of their country and defence of their people."

Jean-Marie Le Pen initially responded to the murder, saying "at least this unfortunate incident has brought to everyone's attention the presence in Marseille of 50,000 Comorians. What are they doing here?" However, following another murder of immigrants by members of the National Front, Le Pen stated, "The people who did this are criminals and should be arrested by the police." Bruno Megret declared, "the blame is on massive and uncontrolled immigration... if our billstickers hadn't been armed, they would have probably been dead."

Robert Lagier was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for murder. His friend d'Ambrosio was convicted of attempted murder and convicted to 10 years in prison. Pierre Giglio, the third FN man, received a two-year sentence for illegally carrying a gun in his car.

Associations and elected officials from the city of Marseille have tried since the events, without success, to create a day in memory of Ibrahim on each 21st of February. Several other actions have been proposed in order to denounce racism but none have been implemented until 2015, when a memorial plate was installed where the incident took place. In February 2021, the city council decided to rename the Avenue des Aygalades to Avenue Ibrahim-Ali.

title: Murder of Ibrahim Ali


text:
RA90

The RA90 disk drive was the first Digital Equipment Corporation drive to be based on "thin film" technology. Prior to the RA90 all Digital disk drives used "oxide" disks, which were an aluminum disk coated with a polyurethane binder resin containing gamma ferric oxide particles as the recording medium. The 1988-released RA90, which held 1.2GB, was used with controllers implementing the Mass Storage Control Protocol.

Overview
The RA90 disk drive, in addition to being DEC's first step into thin film technology, also introduced another first for DEC": Storage Arrays. Their first was the SA600 Storage Array, which had 4 or 8 drives. Other models were the SA550 and SA650 Mixed Storage Arrays, combining RA70s with RA82s (SA550) or RA90s (SA650). The SA482 used just RA82s instead of RA90s.

Replacing the 1.2GB RA90s with 1.5GB RA92s, an SA800 Storage Array held 12GB.

History
The technology was pioneered by Ampex Corporation in Redwood City, California based on a slow motion and still frame video recorder the company had developed in 1967. In 1982 Ampex built a factory in San Jose, California that produced the first thin film disks. When Ampex ran into financial difficulties, the pioneer of thin film disk technology, Marv Garrison (now deceased) left Ampex to join Digital's thin film disk facility in Colorado Springs. A long debate ensued at the time as to whether the magnetic layer on thin film disks ought to be sputtered or plated. Ampex and Digital settled on plating. However, in spite of the higher capital equipment investment required by sputtering, the latter proved in the long term to be the more reliable technology and remains as the industry standard today. It took Digital a long time to achieve adequate MTBF (mean time before failure) performance standards for the RA-90, which delayed its time to market sufficiently to be undersold by competitors, who, by then, had introduced smaller form factors (smaller disks) at higher capacities and greater reliability. RA-90 drives were built at Digital's 1 million square foot (93,000 m²) facility in Colorado Springs and the disks were made in Tempe, Arizona.

Technology
Thin film disks consisted of a metallic coating applied onto an aluminum substrate which had first been coated with a nickel-phosphate alloy (non magnetic) to add hardness to the soft aluminum substrate. The reason thin film disks could provide higher storage capacity has to do with the physics of magnetic recording. A plated or sputtered magnetic layer could be made much thinner than the coated urethane binder layer. Magnets don't like to be square, but rather rectangular. So, in the thin film one could place the magnetized domains much closer together whilst keeping the overall shape of the domain rectangular. This meant that adjacent magnetized areas of the disk surface could exist without cancelling each other out, or erasing the information recorded on the disk surface.

Other RA disk drives
Other DEC disk drives in the RA family were: RA60 (removable), and the RA70/71/72/73/80/81/82/92 (Winchester).

title: RA90


text:
Kusum Kanguru

Kusum Kanguru (alternatively Kusum Kangguru, Kusum Kangru, Kusum Kang, Kusum Khangru, Kusumkhang Karda or Mount Kanguru) is a mountain in the Khumbu Region of the Himalayas in Nepal. Its name, Kusum Kanguru, means "Three Snow-White Gods" in the Sherpa language, which refers to the triple summit of the mountain.

The main north-south ridge of Kusum Kanguru forms the border between the Dudh Khosi to the west and the Hinku Valley to the east. The mountain is the main source of the Kusum Khola (or Thado Koshi Khola) which flows westward to merge with the Dudh Khosi at the village of Thado Koshi. Kusum Kanguru is one of the first high snowy mountains that become visible while trekking from Jiri to the Mount Everest base camp.

Climbing history
With an altitude of 6,367 metres (6,369m or 6,370m according to other map sources), the mountain is classified as a trekking peak, but it is considered one of the most difficult to climb. Out of twenty two attempts between 1978 and 1998, nine successful expeditions have been reported.

After four previously unsuccessful attempts by British, Japanese and two prior New Zealand expeditions, a Japanese expedition led by Ken Kanazawa reached the subsidiary northeast summit on 9 October 1979.

The first successful ascent of the main summit was made by Bill Denz of New Zealand on 7 October 1981, climbing the southwest buttress (west face), and descending the northwest flank. Denz did not only realise the first ascent, but also the first solo ascent and the first traverse of Kusum Kanguru. Five days later, on 12 October 1981, a Japanese team made the second ascent via the southeast face.

In the subsequent years, new routes have been opened, all of them technically very challenging.

1988 British Expedition led by Nick Mason, John Diplock and Julian Holmes conquered the previously unclimbed East Face. Expedition doctor was Rob Howarth who later worked in support of Everest Mountain Marathons. Expedition was filmed by Warwick Partington, former ITV & Channel 4 TV director.

title: Kusum Kanguru


text:
Talk:Kusum Kanguru

A few necessary edits
1) First ascent According to Himalayan Database, the 1979 Japanese expedition reached the NE summit (6350m), but not the main summit. The first ascent to the main summit was on 7 October 1981 by an expedition from NZ. Two weeks later (21/10/1981) a Japanese expedition made the second ascent.

2) Altitude Different maps give different altitudes: 6367m - HMG-MT, Nepa, NGS Trekking 6369m - Schneider, Japan MMW, Kielkowski 6370m - HMG-Finn, Shangri La The Himalayan Database use the 6370m figure.

3) Spelling About 10 different spellings can be found on the web, but I would suggest the one used by the Himalayan Database (Kusum Kanguru) or NMA (Kusum Kangru) Pseudois (talk) 12:26, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Kusum Kanguru


text:
Renfield

R. M. Renfield is a fictional character who appears in Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. He is Count Dracula's deranged, fanatically devoted servant and familiar, helping him in his plan to turn Mina Harker into a vampire in return for a continuous supply of insects to consume and the promise of immortality. Throughout the novel, he resides in an asylum, where he is treated by Dr. John Seward.

In the various film adaptations of the novel, he has been portrayed by actors such as Alexander Granach, Dwight Frye, Klaus Kinski, Tom Waits, Peter MacNicol, and Nicholas Hoult.

During the novel
A description of Renfield from the novel: R. M. Renfield, aetat 59. Sanguine temperament, great physical strength, morbidly excitable, periods of gloom, ending in some fixed idea which I cannot make out. I presume that the sanguine temperament itself and the disturbing influence end in a mentally-accomplished finish, a possibly dangerous man, probably dangerous if unselfish. In selfish men, caution is as secure an armour for their foes as for themselves. What I think of on this point is, when self is the fixed point the centripetal force is balanced with the centrifugal. When duty, a cause, etc., is the fixed point, the latter force is paramount, and only accident or a series of accidents can balance it. — From Dr. John Seward's journal

Renfield is an inmate at the lunatic asylum overseen by Dr. John Seward. He suffers from delusions which compel him to eat living creatures in the hope of obtaining their life-force for himself. Later Renfield's own testimony reveals that Dracula would send him insects, which he begins consuming. He starts with flies, the death's-head moth, then develops a scheme of feeding the flies to spiders, and the spiders to birds, in order to accumulate more and more life. When denied a cat to accommodate the birds, he eats the birds himself. He also changes his ideas to accommodate Mina Harker by quickly eating all flies and stating that it was an old habit. Seward diagnoses him as a "zoophagous maniac", or carnivorous madman. Later Renfield attacks Seward, acquiring a knife and cutting his arm; as Seward's blood drips from his hand, Renfield licks it off the floor.

During the course of the novel, the role of Renfield as a patient allows the reader to understand his behavior from the perspective of a psychologist. Through Renfield's demented mind, the reader learns the nature of a vampirism that is eventually revealed to be under the influence of Count Dracula; Renfield attempts to escape from the hospital multiple times to meet him. The vampire, whose abilities include control over animals such as rats, bats and spiders, comes to Renfield with an offer: if Renfield worships him, he promises to make him immortal by providing an endless supply of insects and rats, as Renfield believes that blood is the source of life much like Dracula himself.

However, when confronted by Mina Harker, Dracula's latest victim, Renfield suffers an attack of conscience and begs her to flee from his master's grasp. Consumed by his desire to keep Mina safe, he begs Seward and the others to allow him to leave lest he feel guilty for her fate. When Seward denies his request, Renfield tells the vampire hunters that "[he] warned them!" When Dracula returns that night, Renfield is again seized by his conscience. He remembers hearing that madmen have unnatural strength, and so attempts to fight Dracula. Renfield's strength leaves him after looking into Dracula's eyes, and Dracula throws him to the floor, severely injuring him.

The vampire hunters enter the room shortly afterward, and through an emergency surgery Van Helsing manages to prolong Renfield's life. Renfield tells how Dracula convinced him to invite Dracula in, detailing how Dracula entered the home and went after Mina. They leave him lying on the floor to rescue her. During the party's confrontation against Dracula in Mina's room, they manage to repel him with their crucifixes and wafers of sacramental bread, forcing him to flee the room. However, Dracula flees into other rooms and destroys their records, then back into Renfield's room to break his neck. "When Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward had come back from seeing poor Renfield, we went gravely into what was to be done. First, Dr. Seward told us that when he and Dr. Van Helsing had gone down to the room below they had found Renfield lying on the floor, all in a heap. His face was all bruised and crushed in, and the bones of the neck were broken."

Influence in psychology
The character Renfield has influenced the study of real-life behavior in psychiatric patients with an obsession with drinking blood. The term Renfield syndrome was coined by psychologist Richard Noll in 1992, originally as a joke term, to describe clinical vampirism. Correspondingly, there is also a "vampire personality disorder" (VPD); a diagnosis for clinical vampirism, used for the behavioral profiling of serial killers compelled by bloodlust and for patients who act out violent vampiric fantasies, albeit, this diagnosis is not recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).

The effects of Renfield syndrome follows the pathology of the character in the novel consisting of several stages. Initially the patient exhibits zoophagia, a compulsion to eat insects, or to eat live animals or drink their blood. As the condition worsens, the behavior grows more and more deviant, culminating in a compulsion to drink another person's blood in an act described as True-Vampirism, including intentionally harming another individual for that purpose—the same behavior Renfield is seen exhibiting in the novel.

On screen

 * F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922 silent film), loosely based on Stoker's novel, renames Renfield (Alexander Granach) as Knock, and combines him with Mr. Hawkins, the employer of the hero Harker (renamed Hutter).
 * In Tod Browning's 1931 film and George Melford's 1931 film, Renfield (played by Dwight Frye in the English version and Pablo Álvarez Rubio in the Spanish version) is the real estate agent who is sent to Transylvania instead of Jonathan Harker, and falls under Dracula's (Bela Lugosi/Carlos Villarías) power. Frye's performance is the best-known and, as noted below, the most imitated, as well as the role he is best remembered for.
 * In the 1970 film Count Dracula, Klaus Kinski played Renfield as mute. His link to the Count is explained in terms of his travel to Transylvania once and his horrible experience near Castle Dracula, when his young daughter died.
 * The BBC version of Count Dracula (1977), starring Louis Jourdan in the title role, includes Jack Shepherd as a sympathetic Renfield in a prominent role which highlights his relationship with Mina.
 * The 1979 film Dracula, starring Frank Langella in the title role, has Tony Haygarth playing Milo Renfield as an unkempt workman who is enthralled by Dracula while he is unloading the boxes at Carfax.
 * Another 1979 film, Nosferatu the Vampyre by Werner Herzog, with Klaus Kinski in the main role, features giggling Renfield, the former boss of Jonathan Harker (similarly to the character's background in the 1922 silent film), now a mental asylum patient and a plague spreader, played by Roland Topor.
 * Arte Johnson plays Renfield in Love at First Bite (1979), where he is seen being a loyal servant to Dracula in the 1970s as he and his master move to New York. Johnson imitates the Dwight Frye laugh.
 * Tom Waits portrays R. M. Renfield in Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 film adaptation Bram Stoker's Dracula. The film suggests that Renfield was Jonathan Harker's predecessor as Count Dracula's agent in London; it is implied that this is the reason for his madness. He tries to persuade Mina to stay out of Dracula's grasp out of jealousy, angry that Dracula plans to give her immortality instead of him.
 * Peter MacNicol plays the comedic, simple-minded Thomas Renfield in Mel Brooks' 1995 film Dracula: Dead and Loving It. The role is a parody of Dwight Frye's Renfield from the 1931 film.
 * Brett Forest plays Renfield in Dracula (2002), where events of the novel were updated to the modern time period.
 * Manoj portrayed Renfield in the 2005 Indian Malayalam-language television series, Dracula, which aired on Asianet.
 * Simon Ludders portrays Percival Renfield in Young Dracula (2006–2014), in which the manservant is depicted as an unwashed dimwit with repulsive taste in food (though this aids him in preparing meals for vampires) and prodigious knowledge of science. Renfield is unquestioningly loyal to Dracula in the hope of one day being turned into a vampire, and seems to partly enjoy the abuse Dracula inflicts upon him when he makes mistakes. Renfield ultimately becomes a vampire in the series' concluding episodes, though he proves inept at using his new powers. Ludders also portrays Renfield's father, a cruel man who is resurrected and promptly enacts a plan to destroy the Draculas, but the younger Renfield ultimately undoes his resurrection.
 * Ian Pfister plays Renfield in Dracula Reborn (2012). The events take place in modern Los Angeles. Renfield is an associate of Dracula, who moved to California.
 * Giovanni Franzoni portrays Renfield in the 2012 film Dracula 3D. Here, he attacks the men attempting to stake Tania (who'd been attacked by Dracula), killing her ex-lover and berating him for leaving her alone the night she was attacked. Later, he comforts Tania (now a vampire) when Dracula is showing interest in Mina. After Van Helsing kills her, Renfield attacks him, referring to Tania as an "angel," before Van Helsing kills him.
 * In NBC and Sky Living's 2013 television series, Renfield is portrayed by Nonso Anozie. In contrast to other Renfields, this version is well-educated and fully sane, having been recruited by Dracula to act as his lawyer after Dracula met him on a train, serving as Dracula's confidant and with Dracula expressing complete faith in his loyalty. He is killed by Professor Van Helsing in the final episode when Renfield finds Van Helsing destroying the serum that allows the vampire to walk in the sunlight.
 * Samuel Barnett portrays Renfield in the third and final season of the Showtime drama Penny Dreadful (2014–2016).
 * Ewan Bailey voices Renfield in the 2017 animated horror comedy Monster Family, where he is Dracula's butler, who ultimately sides with protagonists against his master.
 * In the 2020 miniseries Dracula, the character, now named Frank Renfield, is depicted as Count Dracula's lawyer in 21st-century Britain. He is portrayed by Mark Gatiss, who co-wrote the series with Steven Moffat.
 * Stuart Packer portrays Renfield in 2022 film titled Dracula: The Original Living Vampire. Here, he is detective Amelia Van Helsing's boss and idol, and he helps her investigate a string of abnormal murders. It is later revealed that Renfield was in fact making a hit list for the killer, who later turns out to be Dracula, who is a powerful vampire. Renfield is shot and killed by Van Helsing, but only to be awakened as a vampire by Dracula, only before he is killed for good.
 * Nicholas Hoult portrays Robert Montague Renfield in the 2023 movie Renfield, taking place in present day New Orleans, where he has been Dracula's familiar for 90 years and searches for victims to feed him. Renfield joins a self-help group for people in codependent relationships and finds the confidence to leave Dracula's servitude. He and traffic cop Rebecca Quincy ultimately kill Dracula. The movie was based on a pitch from Robert Kirkman. Chris McKay came on board in April 2021 to direct. The script was written by Ryan Ridley.

On stage

 * Renfield appears in 1924 stage play Dracula by Hamilton Deane. In the play he is killed by Dracula for betraying him. He was played by G. Malcolm Russell and Bernard Jukes in English productions. The play was revised by John. L. Balderston for American audiences in 1927. In the revised version Renfield survives. Bernard Jukes reprised the role on Broadway.
 * Renfield appears in Dracula, The Musical by Frank Wildhorn. He has his own song "The Master's Song". He was played by Don Stephenson in Broadway production of the musical.
 * Renfield was played by Daniel Boucher in Franco-Canadian 2006 musical Dracula – Entre l'amour et la mort.
 * Renfield was portrayed by Kevin Poeung in 2019 Northern Ballet's production of Dracula by David Nixon. The production was recorded and showed in UK cinemas on Halloween and then broadcast on BBC4 in 2020.

In literature

 * In the Jim Butcher novel Blood Rites, "Renfield" is used as a term for people forcibly turned into mindless henchmen by vampires.
 * In the novel A Betrayal in Blood by Mark A. Lathan, it is revealed that Renfield was the solicitor who traveled to Transylvania to meet with Dracula rather than Jonathan. As part of a complex conspiracy against Count Dracula (who is only human in this version of events), Van Helsing manipulated events to drive Renfield mad, and then helped the Harkers kill the head of Harker and Renfield's firm so that they could claim that Renfield's experiences were Jonathan's to further justify the Harkers' 'vendetta' against Dracula.
 * In the novel The Book of Renfield: A Gospel of Dracula by Tim Lucas, Renfield is buried under the name Rhys Malvern Renfield, although this is not his real full name, which remained unknown at the time of his death.
 * According to the novel Renfield: Slave of Dracula by Barbara Hambly, Renfield's first name is Ryland.
 * The novel Renfield's Journal by George DeVein gives Renfield's full name as Raeford Morton Renfield.

Characters based on Renfield

 * In Drakula İstanbul'da (1953) the character of Renfield does not exist. Instead, Dracula has a servant in his castle, who obeys him. When this servant tries to help Azmi (Jonathan Harker), Dracula kills him.
 * In the TV adaptation Dracula (1968) the character of Renfield does not exist. Instead, Jonathan Harker takes up many of his functions: he goes mad after visiting Dracula's castle, ends up in Dr. Seward's asylum and does Dracula's bidding.
 * In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Buffy vs. Dracula" (2000), Xander Harris falls under the spell of Dracula, begins devouring insects and spiders for much of the episode, calls Dracula "Master" and obeys his orders.
 * Although he is not present in Van Helsing (2004), Igor takes up the mantle of Dracula's servant, ready to do his bidding.
 * While not in the 2014 film Dracula Untold, a Roma man portrayed by Zach McGowan does refer to the titular character as "Master", much like Renfield addresses Count Dracula. If a sequel had happened, McGowan would have returned, portraying Renfield.
 * In the 2016 short film The Phantom Hour, the character Bryce, portrayed by Brian Patrick Butler, is a vampire's right-hand man who was compared to Renfield.

title: Renfield


text:
Weston, Toronto

Weston is a neighbourhood and former town in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The neighbourhood is situated in the northwest of the city, south of Highway 401, east of the Humber River, north of Eglinton Avenue, and west of Jane Street. The eponymous Weston Road, just north of Lawrence Avenue is the historic core of Weston, with many small businesses and services. Weston was incorporated as a village in the 19th century and was absorbed into the Borough of York in the late 1960s. York itself was amalgamated into Toronto in 1998. Weston is one of the few former towns and villages in Toronto located in a generally suburban setting, although it is contiguous with the inner city to the southeast along Weston Road. It is also one of the few not developed as a planned satellite town, as is the case with Leaside or New Toronto.

Description
Weston's building stock consists mostly of Victorian homes east of the railway with apartment and condominium towers on Weston Road overlooking the Humber River valley. Weston's main shopping district is located on Weston Road between Church Street in the north and Wilby Crescent (just south of Lawrence Avenue) in the south. Most buildings in this area reflect early-mid-20th century Ontario town architecture, brick buildings with decorative masonry. The area has a noteworthy library (previously a Mechanics' Institute and Carnegie library). The community is dotted with grand old churches with architectural significance. There has been a recent move in Weston to designate certain areas as a historical district.

Most streets in Weston are lined with tall mature trees, some well over 100 years old. This is more common east of the railway tracks. Recently, there has been some infill development on former industrial and commercial lands bringing some new housing stock to the area. On April 26, 2013, a fire was accidentally started at 2304 Weston Road, due to tar during roof construction.

History
The first European settlement in the Weston area took place in the 1790s, when a saw mill was built in Etobicoke Township on an old native trading path along the west side of the Humber River, named after the well-known Humber estuary in Yorkshire, England. In 1815 James Farr, a prominent local mill owner, named the growing settlement after his birthplace, Weston, Hertfordshire. Weston initially developed along both sides of the river until a disastrous flood in 1850 destroyed the west bank settlement. The former west bank settlement is now the site of the Weston Golf and Country Club. Improvements to Main Street (later renamed as part of Weston Road) and the 1856 arrival of the Grand Trunk Railway brought growth on the east side.

The first post office was opened in 1842. The first library opened in 1858, a Mechanic's Institute. In 1865, the Trinity College School opened, founded by William Arthur Johnson. It was located in Weston near the old Mill and at a home further north until 1867. It relocated to Port Hope, Ontario in 1868.

A second railway company arrived in 1869. On October 5, 1869, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn attended the sod turning ceremony for the construction of the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway. The spade which he used for the event is kept in the public library.

The town of Weston grew, and over the 19th century became an important industrial centre for the Toronto area. The symbol adopted for the town, an outline of an old-fashioned bicycle, was based on this history of manufacturing and especially the old CCM bicycle factory on Lawrence Avenue just east of Weston Road. Models of bicycles now hang from the streetlights along Weston Road.

Weston was incorporated as a village in 1881, and then as a town in 1914. In 1914, the town also saw the opening of Weston Public Library, a Carnegie library. This building is now recognized with heritage status.

In October 1954, Hurricane Hazel flooded the Humber River valley, causing death and destruction of property. In response, low-lying areas in the Humber River valley were converted to parkland and property zoning standards were changed across Ontario to avoid building encroachment on floodplains. There is a memorial in the south end of Lions Park near a pedestrian bridge which incorporates the original footing of a bridge that once crossed the Humber. The other footing of the bridge is the square chunk of concrete that is in the middle of the river nearby.

In 1967, it became part of the Borough (later City) of York. In 1998, York was in turn amalgamated with the five other members of Metropolitan Toronto, (Toronto, Etobicoke, North York, East York, and Scarborough) in the new "megacity" of Toronto. Vocal lobbying at the time allowed Weston to retain many street names which are exact duplicates of downtown streets, including Church Street, King Street and John Street.

Airport link controversy
The Union Pearson Express between Toronto Pearson International Airport and Union Station downtown was a hot political issue in Weston. It had originally been proposed for completion by 2009. Weston is currently a station stop on the Kitchener line operated by GO Transit and additional airport trains would stop there. The link would see the construction of three additional tracks through the neighbourhood and increased rail traffic more than fourfold. Community activists worried about how the link would sever the community (vehicle traffic on John Street will be permanently blocked from crossing the tracks, replaced by a pedestrian bridge) and the possibility of lower future property values due to increased noise and diesel fumes.

It was an issue during the Canadian federal election held on January 23, 2006, when incumbent Liberal Member of Parliament, Alan Tonks, supported the link, while the other candidates opposed it. It was also an issue in the February 2007 provincial by-election, where all local candidates came out against the link, but which was still supported by the governing Liberals. The Weston Community Coalition (WCC) had proposed a subway line as an alternative to run through the Weston rail corridor to the airport that would have stops along the way which would serve many communities throughout Toronto and be operated by the TTC rather than a private company. Various other alternatives were presented by community activists such as an Eglinton subway to the airport, an LRT alternative, or a route down Highway 427.

In the end, the tracks went into a trench with bridges overhead to prevent bisecting the neighbourhood. A "rail deck park" allowed the expansion of a Toronto Catholic school playground over the tracks.

Demographics
In 2016, the Weston neighbourhood was home to 17,992 residents. 60% of the population speak English as their first language, 6.4% speak Spanish, 4.8% speak Portuguese, 4.3% speak Somali and 3.1% speak Italian.

Major racial and ethnic populations (2016):
 * 38.0% White; 8.8% Italian, 8.3% British, 7.4% Scottish
 * 33.6% Black; 13.1% Jamaican, 6.0% Somali, ''4.9% other African Canadian (including Black Nova Scotian)
 * 7.7% Latin American (of any race)
 * 4.3% South Asian
 * 3.3% Filipino

Transportation
Main throughfares serving Weston are Lawrence Avenue West and Weston Road. A number of local roads in Weston resulted in name duplication after Toronto amalgamation in 1998:

 * John Street - a residential street from Jane Street to Weston Road has same name as the more famous John Street. The section just east of S Station Street is now cut off after Union Pearson Express was built; the previous level crossing replaced with pedestrian bridge over trench with tracks below.
 * King Street - a residential street from Jane Street to Weston Road has same name as the more famous King Street downtown.
 * Church Street - a residential street from Jane Street to Weston Road has same name as the more famous Church Street downtown.

Public transportation
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) runs several bus routes through the area, linking to the subway system. The 32 Eglinton West, 35 Jane, 52 Lawrence West, 59 Maple Leaf, 73 Royal York, 79 Scarlett, and 89 Weston all pass through the neighbourhood.

As of January 2012, all TTC bus routes serving Weston are accessible. Routes 52 and 352 were the final TTC bus routes to be made accessible, with the retirement of the last GMC New Look "Fishbowl" buses in December 2011. Although all bus routes are accessible, individual stops along the routes may not meet accessibility standards.

The Metrolinx Weston GO Station is located at Weston Road and Lawrence Avenue. The station is served by the Kitchener line (which connects Kitchener, Ontario to downtown Toronto during rush hours) and the Union Pearson Express (all-day service between Toronto Pearson International Airport and downtown Toronto). The Weston GO Station is wheelchair accessible.

Recreation
The Weston Farmers' Market opens weekly from mid-May to the end of October near the centre of Weston. The Weston BIA also hosts a Harvest Festival around Thanksgiving in October, and the Weston Santa Claus Parade each November.

Weston has many small parks throughout but most notable is Cruickshank Park in the Humber River valley with many mature trees and paved bicycle paths lined with large weeping willow trees. The bicycle path continues south to Lake Ontario. Sometimes salmon can be seen swimming upstream in the river. The park has a population of beaver as can be seen from the tell-tale marks left behind on trees. In order to protect some trees, park staff have wrapped the tree trunks with wire screen in some areas. There are also some frogs closer to the water's edge and garter snakes hidden away in the more secluded areas. Canada geese, loons, mallards and seagulls are a common sight. Herons have also been spotted looking for fish in the river.

In some areas of the park, you can see exposed sedimentary rock in the walls of the valley, made visible by the action of glaciers that carved out the valley during the last glacial period about 20,000 years ago. The same rock was used to build many stone retaining walls throughout the town; an example of this use can be seen on the south end of the Lawrence Avenue bridge in the north end of Lions Park.

Weston Lions Park, located south of Lawrence Avenue, fills 22.13 acre and contains facilities for playing football, rugby union, soccer, tennis, and baseball, as well as an ice rink, swimming pool, basketball court and skatepark.

Weston Arena
Originally as Weston Arena, it is now known as either Weston Lions Arena or Weston Lions Recreation Arena. The arena was proposed on what was the Weston Fairgrounds in 1944, opened in 1949 and gained a pool in 1959.

The arena hosted the Toronto Dixie Beehives of the Ontario Junior Hockey League from 2007 to 2009. The arena currently hosts the Weston Minor Hockey League and Weston Dodgers.

Reeves of the Village of Weston

 * 1881-1886 William Tyrrell
 * 1886-1889 Thomas R. Wadsworth
 * 1892-1894 William Tyrrell
 * 1895-1897 Jacob Bull
 * 1898-1900 Dr. W.J. Charlton
 * 1902 J. Conron
 * 1903-1906 Jacob Bull
 * 1907 Dr. E.F. Irwin
 * 1908-1913 R.J. Bull
 * 1914 Dr. E.F. Irwin

Mayors of the Town of Weston
The mayor and council sat at Weston Town Hall (Dufferin Hall) at corner of Little Avenue and Weston Road (since demolished and now a parking lot).

 * 1914-1918 Dr. W. J. Charlton
 * 1919-1920 John Gardhouse - prominent cattle breeder who was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame, and co-founder of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Served on Etobicoke's town council, including three terms as reeve, prior to moving to Weston, and as Warden of York County. Later served as chair of the Toronto Board of Education in 1917. In 2003, his neighbourhood organized to have his home and stable designated a heritage site and save it from demolition.
 * 1921-1925 Robert John Flynn
 * 1926-1928 George Sainsbury
 * 1929-1930 A. Lorne Coulter
 * 1931 W. J. Pollett
 * 1932-1934 Sam J. Totten
 * 1935-1936 Frank Walton Mertens
 * 1937-1939 George Benjamin Evans
 * 1940-1942 Gordon S. Harris
 * 1942-1945 John P. Allan
 * 1946-1948 Thomas Dougherty
 * 1949 Kenneth L. Thompson - first elected to Weston council in 1939. Served a term as Warden of York County in 1948. Ran unsuccessfully as a Liberal candidate in the 1949, 1953, and 1957 federal elections. Thompson owned his own insurance company and was an underwriter for Canada Life. While warden, he was instrumental in introducing trolley buses into Toronto's transit system. He served as chairman of the York Planning Board in the 1960s.
 * 1950-1954 Richard C. Seagrave- born in London, England, Seagrave came to Canada at the age of 2. At 15, he started working for the Great North-Western Telegraph Company (later CN Telegraph) rising from office boy to administrative assistant to the general manager. He was also on the board of the Canadian National Exhibition.
 * 1955-1958 Harry Clark - Clark suggested renaming the Lakeshore Expressway after Metro Chairman Fred Gardiner
 * 1959-1960 Jack L. Holley - a pilot with Trans-Canada Airlines, Holley retired from office as his job did provide him enough time to spend on his mayoralty duties.
 * 1961-1964 George W. Bull - a local lawyer, Bull was a member of one of Weston's founding families
 * 1965-1966 Charles Wesley Boddington - after amalgamation, he served on York's Board of Control for a term. Boddington lost an arm and a leg during World War II after the bomber he was flying exploded over Düsseldorf, and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp. He set up a motor vehicle licensing bureau in Weston in 1947 which he ran until his death in 1984. He ran as a Progressive Conservative candidate in York West in the 1968 Canadian federal election, placing third. In 1969, he ran for mayor of York, but lost to Phil White. He was named to the Order of Canada in 1977.

Notable residents

 * Jason Allison, professional ice hockey player
 * Mikey Bustos, YouTuber
 * Chuck Crate, leader of the Canadian Union of Fascists
 * Dalbello, recording artist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and voice actress
 * Drake, rapper, singer, songwriter and actor
 * Thomas J. Lawson, RCAF pilot and Chief of the Defence Staff 2012–15
 * Mike Liut, professional ice hockey player
 * Raine Maida, lead vocalist and founding member of Our Lady Peace
 * Paul Martini, pairs figure skater and Olympian
 * Adam Oates, Hall of Fame professional ice hockey player and former coach
 * Bob Pulford, professional ice hockey player and executive
 * Craig Ramsay, professional ice hockey coach and former player
 * Donovan "Razor" Ruddock, professional boxer
 * Joseph Tyrrell, geologist, cartographer and mining consultant
 * Elwy Yost, TV Ontario host of Magic Shadows, Saturday Night at the Movies

In popular culture

 * The 1980s children's TV series The Edison Twins was filmed and set in Weston.
 * Parts of "The Rocker" were filmed in Weston on Queens Drive
 * Parts of Stephen Kings remake "IT" were filmed around Weston
 * Canadian rapper Drake mentions Weston in his 2018 hit single "God's Plan" and has a feature song "Weston Road Flows" on his 2016 album "Views"

title: Weston, Toronto


text:
Inside-the-park home run

In baseball, an inside-the-park home run is a rare play in which a batter rounds all four bases for a home run without the baseball leaving the field of play. It is also known as an "inside-the-parker", "in-the-park home run", or "in-the-park homer".

Discussion
The vast majority of home runs occur when a batter hits the ball beyond the outfield fence on the fly, which requires striking the ball with enough power at the correct flight angle to clear the outfield, allowing the batter to trot around the bases at leisure albeit at a decent pace to avoid infuriating the opposition. Though an inside-the-park home run is scored in the same manner, achieving the feat requires the batter to touch all four bases (in the order of first, second, and third, ending at home plate) before being tagged out by an opposing player, all while the ball remains in play.

Inside-the-park home runs typically occur when a fast baserunner either hits the ball to the portion of the field farthest from where the opposing team's fielders are positioned or when a sharply hit ball takes an unexpected bounce away from defenders. They can also be the result of weather conditions like wind gusts or fog that reduces defenders' ability to track a moving ball. Sometimes (such as Alcides Escobar's inside-the-park homer in the 2015 World Series), an outfielder could lose sight of the ball in the stadium floodlights or against a light-colored roof of a domed stadium. Since a play is usually not ruled an error unless a fielder touches the ball, these scenarios can result in a home run if the batter is able to circle the bases before the defenders can track down the ball and get it to home plate.

If the defensive team is charged with an error on the play, the batter is not credited with a home run, but rather as having advanced on an error. At advanced levels of play, the batter scoring due to one or more errors by the defense is colloquially referred to as a Little League home run.

Though never an everyday occurrence, inside-the-park homers were more common in the early days of Major League Baseball (MLB). MLB has never set the standard shape or size of the outfield, and many early ballparks featured outfields that were large, irregular, or contained odd angles in the outfield wall to accommodate the size of the property on which they were situated. This could result in a batted ball getting past outfielders to the far reaches of the playing field or bouncing off a wall in an unexpected direction, forcing defensive players to chase after it while the batter sprints around the bases. The smaller and more circumferential outfields of the modern baseball era reduce opportunities for the ball to take odd bounces, helping to reduce the number of inside-the-park homers while increasing the number of "regular" homers. Today, inside-the-park homers are rare, generally totaling ten to twenty per season.

Major League Baseball statistics
Of the 154,483 home runs hit between 1951 and 2000, only 975 (0.63%; about one per 158) were inside-the-park. The percentage has dwindled since the increase in emphasis on power hitting, which began in the 1920s. Jesse Burkett, who played in the major leagues from 1890 to 1905, had 55 career inside-the-park home runs (of 75 career home runs). The leader in the live-ball era is Willie Wilson, who played in the major leagues from 1976 to 1994, and hit 13 inside-the-park home runs (of 41 career home runs).

Records
Source:

Rare occurrences

 * On July 13, 1896, Ed Delahanty of the Philadelphia Phillies hit four home runs in one game (itself an extraordinarily rare feat), two of which were inside-the-park home runs. This event was the only time any homers in a four-homer game were inside-the-park.
 * On April 27, 1949, Pete Milne hit an inside-the-park grand slam for his only career home run. It gave the New York Giants an 11–8 lead over the Brooklyn Dodgers, which was also the final score.
 * On July 25, 1956, Roberto Clemente became the only MLB player to hit a walk-off inside-the-park grand slam in a 9–8 Pittsburgh Pirates win over the Chicago Cubs, at Forbes Field.
 * On August 27, 1977, Texas Rangers teammates Toby Harrah and Bump Wills hit back-to-back inside the park home runs.
 * Due to its proximity to Lake Ontario, Exhibition Stadium facilitated a weather-assisted three-run inside-the-park homer for Kelly Gruber of the Toronto Blue Jays when Detroit Tigers outfielders lost sight of a routine fly ball in thick fog in 1986. By the time the ball was located, it had landed behind the defenders, and Gruber was able to complete his circumnavigation of the bases before the ball was thrown back to the infield.
 * On October 4, 1986, during a Twins' home game at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Greg Gagne tied a modern-era major league record by hitting two inside-the-park home runs against the Chicago White Sox. Only 18 players in major league history have performed this feat, with Gagne being just the second since 1930. Both home runs were hit off Chicago starting pitcher Floyd Bannister, who also tied a modern-era major league record by allowing two inside-the-park home runs in one game. The Twins went on to win the game, 7–3.
 * On June 17, 2007, Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers hit a popup to center field that became an inside-the-park home run when Minnesota Twins outfielder Lew Ford lost the ball after it struck a speaker on the ceiling of the Metrodome. Fielder weighed 262 lb at the time, becoming the third-heaviest player to hit an inside-the-park homer. On June 19, 2008, he hit another inside-the-park-homer at Miller Park in Milwaukee, versus the Toronto Blue Jays.
 * In the 2007 All-Star Game, Ichiro Suzuki became the only player to hit an inside-the-park home run in an All-Star Game, hitting it at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Suzuki, playing for the victorious American League All-Stars, earned Most Valuable Player honors.
 * On April 6, 2009, Emilio Bonifacio of the Florida Marlins became the first player in 41 years to hit an inside-the-park home run on Opening Day, which was also the first home run of Bonifacio's major league career.
 * On August 18, 2009, Kyle Blanks of the San Diego Padres hit an inside-the-park home run against the Chicago Cubs. Weighing 285 lb, he became the heaviest player to hit an inside-the-park home run.
 * On July 18, 2010, Jhonny Peralta of the Cleveland Indians hit a three-run inside-the-park home run when Detroit Tigers outfielder Ryan Raburn crashed through the bullpen fence while trying to catch the ball. Peralta was one of the slowest runners then on the Indians' roster, and would be traded to the Tigers ten days later. He took 16.74 seconds to round the bases, which was, at that point in the 2010 season, the slowest of any inside-the-park home run and slower than five regular home run trots.
 * On May 25, 2013, Ángel Pagán of the San Francisco Giants hit an inside-the-park home run at AT&T Park in San Francisco, a tenth inning, two-run walk-off home run, with teammate Brandon Crawford on base. It was the first walk-off inside-the-park home run since 2004, when Rey Sanchez of the Devil Rays hit one, also in the bottom of the tenth inning, also against the Rockies, albeit in a tie game.
 * On July 8, 2015, Logan Forsythe of the Tampa Bay Rays hit an inside-the-park home run in the 4th inning against the Kansas City Royals when, in attempting to field the ball, Royals left fielder Alex Gordon injured his groin. Gordon was replaced by Jarrod Dyson, who hit an inside-the-park home run of his own in the 6th inning of the game. Dyson's hit went past Rays left fielder David DeJesus, who, like Gordon, had been injured five years earlier, on July 22, 2010, while playing for the Royals on a play that led to an inside-the-park home run for Derek Jeter.
 * On September 2, 2015, Rubén Tejada of the New York Mets hit the ball down the right-field foul line, under the glove of Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Domonic Brown who, running full speed, crashed into and flipped over a short wall on the side of the playing field. While Brown was shaken up in the first row, the ball rolled out to the right field fence in Citi Field, where Phillies second baseman Cesar Hernández finally retrieved it, though it was too late to prevent Tejada from rounding the bases. Brown later left the game with concussion-like symptoms. At 74.5 mph off the bat, it was the softest-hit home run of the season to that point.
 * On October 27, 2015, Alcides Escobar of the Kansas City Royals hit an inside-the-park home run in Game 1 of the 2015 World Series. It was the first in a World Series game since Mule Haas in the 1929 World Series and the first hit by a leadoff batter since Patsy Dougherty did it for the Boston Americans (now Red Sox) in.
 * During the regionals for the 2022 College World Series, Louisiana Tech Bulldog catcher Jorge Corona hit a high fly ball to centerfield in a bases loaded situation, with the Dallas Baptist Patriot centerfielder losing the ball in the lights of UFCU Disch–Falk Field, it bouncing well behind him to the wall and Corona easily clearing the bases standing up for an inside-the-park grand slam.
 * On July 22, 2022, Raimel Tapia of the Toronto Blue Jays hit a high fly ball to center field with 2 outs and the bases loaded against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Jarren Duran, the center fielder, lost sight of the ball in Fenway's lights and it landed far behind him on the warning track, allowing Tapia to easily clear the bases giving him an inside-the-park grand slam. Toronto went on to score a franchise-record 28 runs in the game.
 * On October 15, 2022, J. T. Realmuto of the Philadelphia Phillies hit an inside-the-park home run at Citizens Bank Park during a playoff game against the Atlanta Braves, becoming the first catcher to do so in postseason history.
 * On August 8, 2023 Stuart Fairchild of the Cincinnati Reds hit a fly ball to right field with no outs in the 5th inning against the Miami Marlins at Great American Ball Park. Jesús Sánchez, the right fielder could not make the catch in foul territory and the ball landed against the wall and ran into the corner, Fairchild made the turn at 3rd base while a throw came in that bounced out of the catcher's glove, allowing Fairchild to dive over the catcher and make the play at home.

title: Inside-the-park home run