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Senate of the Republic (Italy)

The Senate of the Republic (Senato della Repubblica), or simply the Senate (Senato, ), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament, the lower house being the Chamber of Deputies. The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical functions, but do so separately. Pursuant to the Articles 57, 58, and 59 of the Italian Constitution, the Senate has 200 elective members, of which 196 are elected from Italian constituencies, and 4 from Italian citizens living abroad. Furthermore, there is a small number (currently 5) of senators for life (senatori a vita), either appointed or ex officio. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as Senato del Regno (Senate of the Kingdom), itself a continuation of the Senato Subalpino (Subalpine Senate) of Sardinia established on 8 May 1848. Members of the Senate are styled Senator or The Honourable Senator (Italian: Onorevole Senatore) and they meet at Palazzo Madama, Rome.

Composition
Article 57 of the Constitution of Italy originally established that the Senate of the Republic was to be elected on a regional basis by Italian citizens aged 25 or older (unlike the Chamber of the Deputies, which was elected on a national basis and by all Italian citizens aged 18 or older). No region could have less than 7 senators, except for the two smallest regions: Aosta Valley (1 senator) and Molise (2 senators). From 2006 to 2020, 6 out of 315 senators (and 12 out of 630 deputies) were elected by Italians residing abroad.

After two constitutional amendments were passed respectively in 2020 (by constitutional referendum) and 2021, however, there have been changes. The Senate is still elected on a regional basis, but the number of senators was reduced from 315 to 200, who are now elected by all citizens aged 18 or older, just like deputies (themselves being reduced from 630 to 400). Italians residing abroad now elect 4 senators (and 8 deputies).

The remaining 196 senators are assigned to each region proportionally according to their population. The amended Article 57 of the Constitution provides that no region can have fewer than 3 senators representing it, barring Aosta Valley and Molise, which retained 1 and 2 senators respectively.

The senators for life are composed of former presidents of the Italian Republic who hold office ex officio, and up to five citizens who are appointed by Presidents of Italy "for outstanding merits in the social, scientific, artistic or literary field". The current life senators are:

The current term of the Senate is five years, except for senators for life that hold their office for their lifetime. Until a Constitutional change on 9 February 1963, the Senate was elected for six-year terms. The Senate may be dissolved before the expiration of its normal term by the president of the Republic (e.g. when no government can obtain a majority).

Electoral system and election of the Senate
According to article 58 of the Italian constitution, Italian citizens aged 18 onwards (until 2021 25 years) are enabled to vote for the Senate.

The electoral system is a parallel voting system, with 37% of seats allocated using first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) and 63% using proportional representation, allocated with the largest remainder method, with one round of voting.

 * The 200 elected senators are elected in:
 * 74 in single-member constituencies, by plurality;
 * 122 in multi-member constituencies, by regional proportional representation;
 * 4 in multi-member abroad constituencies, by constituency proportional representation.

For Italian residents, each house members are elected by single ballots, including the constituency candidate and his/her supporting party lists. In each single-member constituency the deputy/senator is elected on a plurality basis, while the seats in multi-member constituencies will be allocated nationally. In order to be calculated in single-member constituency results, parties need to obtain at least 1% of the national vote. In order to receive seats in multi-member constituencies, parties need to obtain at least 3% of the national vote. Elects from multi-member constituencies will come from closed lists. The single voting paper, containing both first-past-the-post candidates and the party lists, shows the names of the candidates to single-member constituencies and, in close conjunction with them, the symbols of the linked lists for the proportional part, each one with a list of the relative candidates.

Voters can cast their votes in three different ways:

 * Drawing a sign on the symbol of a list: in this case the vote extends to the candidate in the single-member constituency which is supported by that list.
 * Drawing a sign on the name of the candidate of the single-member constituency and another one on the symbol of one list that supports them: the result is the same as that described above; it is not allowed, under penalty of annulment, the panachage, so the voter can not vote simultaneously for a candidate in the FPTP constituency and for a list which is not linked to them.
 * Drawing a sign only on the name of the candidate for the FPTP constituency, without indicating any list: in this case, the vote is valid for the candidate in the single-member constituency and also automatically extended to the list that supports them; if that candidate is however connected to several lists, the vote is divided proportionally between them, based on the votes that each one has obtained in that constituency.

Reform proposals
In 2016, the Italian Parliament passed a constitutional law that "effectively abolishes the Senate as an elected chamber and sharply restricts its ability to veto legislation". The law was rejected on 4 December 2016 by a referendum, leaving the Senate unchanged.

Membership
The membership of the Senate following the 2022 Italian general election:

Presidents
Under the current Constitution, the Senate must hold its first sitting no later than 20 days after a general election. That session, presided by the oldest senator, proceeds to elect the president of the Senate for the following parliamentary period. On the first two attempts at voting, an absolute majority of all senators is needed; if a third round is needed, a candidate can be elected by an absolute majority of the senators present and voting. If this third round fails to produce a winner, a final ballot is held between the two senators with the highest votes in the previous ballot. In the case of a tie, the elder senator is deemed the winner.

In addition to overseeing the business of the chamber, chairing and regulating debates, deciding whether motions and bills are admissible, representing the Senate, etc., the president of the Senate stands in for the president of the Republic when the latter is unable to perform the duties of the office; in this case the Senate is headed by a vice president.

The current president of the Senate is Ignazio La Russa.

Palazzo Madama
Since 1871, the Senate has met in Palazzo Madama in Rome, an old patrician palace completed in 1505 for the Medici family. The palace takes its name from Madama Margherita of Austria, daughter of Charles V and wife of Alessandro de' Medici. After the extinction of the Medici, the palace was handed over to the House of Lorraine. and, later, it was sold to Papal Government.

Later, in 1755, Pope Benedict XIV (whose coat of arms still dominates the main entrance) ordered major restructuring, entrusting the work to Luigi Hostini. In the following years there were installed the court offices and police headquarters. In 1849, Pius IX moved the Ministries of Finances and of the Public Debt here, as well as the Papal Post Offices. After the conquest of Rome by the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, the palace was chosen to become the seat of the Senato del Regno (Senate of the Kingdom).

Palazzo Madama and the adjacent buildings underwent further restructuring and adaptation in the first decades of the 20th century. A radical transformation which involved, among other things, the modernization of the hemicycle, the full remaking of the prospectus on Via San Salvatore and Via Dogana Vecchia, and the establishment of a connection with the adjacent Palazzo Carpegna. The latter, owned by the Senate, was entirely rebuilt in an advanced position compared to its original position. The small church of San Salvatore in Thermis, dating to the 6th century, which stood in the street to the left of the palace, was first closed, expropriated and later razed for security reasons.

The current façade was built in the mid-1650s by both Cigoli and Paolo Maruccelli. The latter added the ornate cornice and whimsical decorative urns on the roof. Among the rooms one of the most significant (and perhaps the most impressive from the political point of view) is the "Sala Maccari," which takes its name from Cesare Maccari, the artist who decorated it in 1880 and created the frescoes, among which stands out the one that depicts Cicero making his indictment of Catiline, who listens isolated.

The chamber where the Senate met for the first time on 27 November 1871 was designed by Luigi Gabet. A plaque on the wall behind the speaker's chair commemorates the king's address to Parliament when first convened in the new seat of government: "L'ITALIA È RESTITVITA A SE STESSA E A ROMA • QVI E' DOVE NOI RICONOSCIAMO LA PATRIA DEI NOSTRI PENSIERI; OGNI COSA CI PARLA DI GRANDEZZA MA NEL TEMPO STESSO OGNI COSA CI RICORDA I NOSTRI DOVERI • VITTORIO EMANVELE II 27 NOVEMBRE MDCCCLXXI 'Italy is restored to herself and to Rome... Here, where we recognise the homeland of our thoughts, all things speak to us of greatness; but at the same time all things remind us of our duties...' - Victor Emmanuel II, 27 November 1871"

Above this has been placed a plaque bearing the inscription: "IL 2 GIUGNO 1946 PER SUFFRAGIO DI POPOLO A PRESIDIO DI PUBBLICHE LIBERTÀ E A CERTEZZA DI PROGRESSO CIVILE FU PROCLAMATA LA REPUBBLICA ITALIANA On 2 June 1946 by popular suffrage in defence of public liberty and a certainty of civic progress was proclaimed the Italian Republic"

To the viewers' left stand the flags of the Italian Republic (with a ribbon embroidered with the words SENATO DELLA REPUBBLICA) and the European Union.

title: Senate of the Republic (Italy)


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User talk:Grynch1984

Hi, I see you've recreated skuffage. Please don't. We welcome helpful contributions, but nonsense isn't productive and will be removed. Thanks, [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 19:43, 2004 Jul 23 (UTC)

 * Do not recreate this article--it's nonsense. You will be blocked if you continue. We welcome any real edits you wish to make. [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 19:55, 2004 Jul 23 (UTC)

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

title: User talk:Grynch1984


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Albert Prefontaine

Albert Préfontaine (October 11, 1861 – February 21, 1935 ) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as leader of the Manitoba Conservatives in the late 1910s, and was subsequently a member of the United Farmers of Manitoba.

Born in Upton, Canada East (now Quebec), the son of Firmin Prefontaine and Mathilde (Mathilda) Desautels, Préfontaine was educated in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He subsequently moved to Manitoba in 1880, where he worked as a farmer and store manager and served as Reeve of the Municipality of De Salaberry from 1892 to 1896. In 1888, he married Albina L'Heureux. Préfontaine was president of the Carillon Agricultural Society, of the Carey Elevator Company and of the St. Pierre Trading Company.

Préfontaine was first elected to the provincial parliament in 1903, running for Rodmond Roblin's governing Conservatives in the francophone riding of Carillon. He was re-elected in 1907 and 1910.

In 1914, Préfontaine lost his seat to Liberal Thomas Molloy by seven votes. He was re-elected the following year, despite the disastrous showing of the Conservatives in the rest of the province. His victory may be credited to the fact that the provincial Conservatives were seen as more supportive of francophone rights than were Tobias Norris's Liberals (indeed, Norris' government withdrew state funding for French-language education soon after the election).

Conservative leader James Aikins lost his seat in the 1915 election, and Préfontaine was chosen to lead the small opposition caucus in parliament (he was sworn in as leader of the opposition in January 1916). He declined to be a candidate in the party's leadership convention, held on November 6, 1919.

Although it had been in government from 1900 to 1915, the Conservative Party of Manitoba was marginalized by developments in the later half of the 1910s. Increasingly radicalized farmer and labour groups were forming political organizations of their own, and the old divisions between Grit and Tory no longer seemed as relevant. The Conservatives again fared poorly in the election of 1920, and Préfontaine was personally defeated by Farmer candidate Maurice Duprey.

After this loss, Préfontaine detached himself from the Conservative Party. He ran as an Independent in the federal election of 1921, losing to Progressive candidate Arthur-Lucien Beaubien in the Provencher riding, and subsequently left the Conservatives to join the United Farmers of Manitoba. Running as a UFM candidate, he was re-elected for Carillon in 1922.

On December 3, 1923, Premier John Bracken appointed Préfontaine to the high-level cabinet positions of Provincial Secretary, Provincial Lands Commissioner and Railway Commissioner. Préfontaine also became Minister of Agriculture in 1925. In the 1927 election, he defeated his old nemesis Thomas Molloy by a landslide.

Préfontaine stood down as Provincial Secretary, Provincial Lands Commissioner and Minister of Agriculture in 1928, though he retained the Railway Commissioner's position until 1932. He was re-elected in that year's general election, and continued to serve the Franco-Manitoban community as a Minister without Portfolio until his death in 1935.

Préfontaine's career reveals the continued importance of the francophone community to Manitoba politics, even after immigration from Ontario and Eastern Europe had significantly reduced their relative strength. His decision to join the UFM was indicative of a larger cultural change, as Franco-Manitobans became an important part of the Progressive Party of Manitoba during its long period in government.

His son Edmond also served in the Manitoba assembly.

The resort community of Albert Beach, Manitoba (French: "Plage Albert") was named after him.

title: Albert Prefontaine


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Non-metropolitan county

A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a subdivision of England used for local government.

The non-metropolitan counties were originally created in 1974 as part of a reform of local government in England and Wales, and were the top tier of a two-tier system of counties and districts. 21 non-metropolitan counties still use a two-tier system; 56 are unitary authorities, in which the functions of a county and district council have been combined in a single body. Berkshire has a unique structure.

Non-metropolitan counties cover the majority of England with the exception of Greater London, the Isles of Scilly, and the six metropolitan counties: Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.

The non-metropolitan counties are all part of ceremonial counties. Some ceremonial counties, such as Norfolk, contain a single non-metropolitan county, but many contain more than one and it is also common for ceremonial counties and non-metropolitan counties to share a name. Lancashire, for example, contains the non-metropolitan counties of Lancashire, Blackpool, and Blackburn with Darwen.

Origins
Prior to 1974 local government had been divided between single-tier county boroughs (the largest towns and cities) and two-tier administrative counties which were subdivided into municipal boroughs and urban and rural districts. The Local Government Act 1972, which came into effect on 1 April 1974, divided England outside Greater London and the six largest conurbations into thirty-nine non-metropolitan counties. Each county was divided into anywhere between two and fourteen non-metropolitan districts. There was a uniform two-tier system of local government with county councils dealing with "wide-area" services such as education, fire services and the police, and district councils exercising more local powers over areas such as planning, housing and refuse collection.

As originally constituted, the non-metropolitan counties were largely based on existing counties, although they did include a number of innovations. Some counties were based on areas surrounding large county boroughs or were formed by the mergers of smaller counties. Examples of the first category are Avon (based on Bath and Bristol) and Cleveland (based on Teesside). An example of the second category is Cumbria, formed by the merger between Cumberland and Westmorland. The counties were adopted for all statutory purposes: a lord-lieutenant and high sheriff was appointed to each county, and they were also used for judicial administration, and definition of police force areas. The Royal Mail adopted the counties for postal purposes in most areas.

1995–1998
A Local Government Commission was appointed in 1992 to review the administrative structure of the non-metropolitan counties. It was anticipated that a system of unitary authorities would entirely replace the two-tier system. The Commission faced competing claims from former county boroughs wishing to regain unitary status and advocates for the restoration of such small counties as Herefordshire and Rutland. The review led to the introduction of unitary local government in some areas but not in others. In the majority of unitary authorities an existing district council took over powers from the county council. The 1972 Act required that all areas outside Greater London form part of a non-metropolitan county, and that all such counties should contain at least one district. Accordingly, the statutory instruments that effected the reorganisation separated the unitary districts from the county in which they were situated and constituted them as counties. The orders also provided that the provisions of the 1972 Act that every county should have a county council should not apply in the new counties, with the district council exercising the powers of the county council.

An exception was made in the case of Berkshire, which was retained with its existing boundaries in spite of the abolition of its county council and the creation of six unitary authorities. This was done in order to preserve its status as a royal county.

With the creation of numerous new non-metropolitan counties, the areas used for lieutenancy and shrievalty began to diverge from local government areas. This led to the development of ceremonial counties for these purposes, a fact recognised by the Lieutenancies Act 1997.

2009
A further wave of unitary authorities were created in 2009 under the terms of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. While a number of new counties were created, several of the new authorities (such as Cornwall or Northumberland) continued to have the boundaries set in 1974.

2019–2023
The 2019–2023 structural changes to local government in England have involved changes to the non-metropolitan county of Dorset (2019), and the abolition of the non-metropolitan counties Northamptonshire (2021) and Cumbria (2023). In addition, the non-metropolitan counties of Buckinghamshire (2020), North Yorkshire (2023), and Somerset (2023) are unchanged, but their councils became unitary authorities as the existing non-metropolitan districts in these areas were consolidated and the district councils abolished.

List of non-metropolitan counties
The following list shows the original thirty-nine counties formed in 1974, subsequent changes in the 1990s, and further changes since then.
 * Current
 * Planned abolition
 * Abolished non-metropolitan county
 * Abolished non-metropolitan county and associated ceremonial county

Wales
In Wales there was no distinction between metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties: all upper tier areas were designated "counties". The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 amended the 1972 Act, abolishing the Welsh counties and creating instead new Welsh principal areas, some of which are also designated "counties". For the purposes of lieutenancy the counties constituted in 1974 were preserved.

title: Non-metropolitan county


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Plasy

Plasy (Plass) is a town in Plzeň-North District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,000 inhabitants. It is known for its former monastery of the same name, which is protected as a national cultural monument.

Administrative parts
The villages of Babina, Horní Hradiště, Lomnička, Nebřeziny and Žebnice are administrative parts of Plasy.

Geography
Plasy is located about 19 km north of Plzeň. It lies in the Plasy Uplands. The highest point is the hill Spálená hora at 514 m above sea level. The Střela River flows through the town.

History
The foundation of the town is connected with the foundation of the Cistercian monastery. The Plasy Monastery was founded in 1144 by then Prince Vladislaus II. The monastery experienced the greatest development during the reign of King Wenceslaus I, and its property gradually grew to cover 50 surrounding villages. The development of the monastery ended during the Hussite Wars, when it was burned down in 1421.

The entire 15th and 16th centuries mean a period of deep decline. After the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, the monastery's financial situation improved, most of it former properties were returned to it, and the construction of new buildings on the monastery grounds began.

The monastery was abolished in 1785 by decree of Emperor Joseph II. In 1826, the monastery building with the whole estate was purchased by Klemens von Metternich, who is buried here in the family tomb.

Transport
Plasy is located on the railway line heading from Plzeň to Žihle and Most.

Sights
The monastery complex is the most significant landmark of Plasy, protected as a national cultural monument. It contains the former monastery, Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Baroque granary with the Royal Chapel of Saints Wenceslaus and Mary Magdalene, and abbot's residence. In 1661–1666, the church was rebuilt in the early Baroque style. The new convent building was built in 1711–1740 by Jan Santini Aichel and after his death by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer. Today the complex is open to the public and offers guided tours.

The former cemetery Church of Saint Wenceslaus was built in the Gothic style and baroque rebuilt in 1690. After the abolition of the monastery, it was modified into the family tomb of the Metternich family.

Notable people

 * Mauritius Vogt (1669–1730), German geographer, historian, cartographer and musician; lived here
 * Klemens von Metternich (1773–1859), Austrian diplomat and politician
 * Václav Levý (1820–1870), sculptor
 * Viktor Stretti (1878–1957), painter
 * Rudolf Jung (1882–1945), German Nazi ideologue
 * Jiří Kornatovský (born 1952), painter

title: Plasy


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Zerah Colburn (mental calculator)

Zerah Colburn (September 1, 1804 – March 2, 1839)  was an American child prodigy of the 19th century who gained fame as a mental calculator.

Biography
Colburn was born in Cabot, Vermont, in 1804. He was thought to be intellectually disabled until the age of six. However, after six weeks of schooling, his father overheard him repeating his multiplication tables. His father was not sure whether or not he learned the tables from his older brothers and sisters, but he decided to test him further on his mathematical abilities and discovered that there was something special about his son when Zerah correctly multiplied 13 and 97.

Colburn's abilities developed rapidly and he was soon able to solve such problems as the number of seconds in 2,000 years, the product of 12,225 and 1,223, or the square root of 1,449. When he was seven years old he took six seconds to give the numbers of hours in thirty-eight years, two months, and seven days.

Zerah was reported to have been able to solve fairly complex problems. For example, the sixth Fermat number is 22 5 +1 (or 232+1). The question is whether this number, 4,294,967,297, is prime or not. Zerah calculated in his head that it was not and had a divisor of 641. (Its other proper divisor is 6,700,417).

His father capitalized on his boy's talents by taking Zerah around the country and eventually abroad, demonstrating the boy's exceptional abilities. The two left Vermont in the winter of 1810–11. Passing through Hanover, New Hampshire, John Wheelock, then president of Dartmouth College, offered to take upon himself the whole care and expense of his education, but his father rejected the offer. At Boston, the boy's performances attracted much attention. He was visited by Harvard College professors and eminent people from all professions, and the newspapers ran numerous articles concerning his powers of computation.

After leaving Boston, his father exhibited Zerah for money throughout the middle and part of the southern states and, in January 1812, sailed with him for England. In September 1813 Colburn was being exhibited in Dublin. Colburn was pitted against the eight-year-old William Rowan Hamilton in a mental arithmetic contest, with Colburn emerging the clear victor. In reaction to his defeat, Hamilton dedicated less time to studying languages and more time to studying mathematics. After traveling over England, Scotland, and Ireland, they spent 18 months in Paris. Here Zerah was placed in the Lycée Napoléon but was soon removed by his father, who at length in 1816 returned to England in deep poverty.

The Earl of Bristol soon became interested in the boy, and placed him in Westminster School, where he remained until 1819. In consequence of his father's refusal to comply with certain arrangements proposed by the earl, Zerah was removed from Westminster, and his father then proposed to Zerah that he should study to become an actor. Accordingly, he studied for this profession and for a few months was under the tuition of Charles Kemble. His first appearance, however, dissatisfied both his instructor and himself so much that he was not accepted for the stage, so he accepted a position as an assistant in a school, and soon afterward commenced a school of his own. To this he added the performing of some astronomical calculations for Thomas Young, then secretary of the Board of Longitude.

In 1824 when his father died, he was enabled by the Earl of Bristol and other friends to return to the United States. Though Zerah's schooling was rather irregular, he showed talent in languages. He went to Fairfield, New York, as assistant teacher of an academy; not being pleased with his situation, he moved in March following to Burlington, Vermont, where he taught French, pursuing his studies at the same time at the University of Vermont. Toward the end of 1825 he connected himself with the Methodist Church and, after nine years of service as an itinerant preacher, settled in Norwich, Vermont, in 1835, where he was soon after appointed professor of languages at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

In 1833 Colburn published his autobiography. From this it appears that his faculty of computation left him about the time he reached adulthood. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 34 and was buried in Norwich's Old Meeting House Cemetery.

Family
His nephew, also named Zerah Colburn, was a noted locomotive engineer and technical journalist.

title: Zerah Colburn (mental calculator)


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Black coral

Antipatharians, also known as black corals or thorn corals, are an order of soft deep-water corals. These corals can be recognized by their jet-black or dark brown chitin skeletons, which are surrounded by their colored polyps (part of coral that is alive). Antipatharians are a cosmopolitan order, existing in nearly every oceanic location and depth, with the sole exception of brackish waters. However, they are most frequently found on continental slopes under 50 m deep. A black coral reproduces both sexually and asexually throughout its lifetime. Many black corals provide housing, shelter, food, and protection for other animals.

Black corals were originally classified in the subclass Ceriantipatharia along with ceriantharians (tube-dwelling anemones), but were later reclassified under Hexacorallia. Though they have historically been used by Pacific Islanders for medical treatment and in rituals, its only modern use is making jewelry. Black corals have been declining in numbers and are expected to continue declining due to the effects of poaching, ocean acidification and climate change.

Etymology
Despite its name, a black coral is rarely black, and depending on the species can be white, red, green, yellow, or brown. The corals derive their name from their black skeletons, which are composed of protein and chitin. Black corals are also known as thorn corals due to the microscopic spines lining their skeletons.

The name Antipatharia comes from the Ancient Greek word antipathes ("against disease"). In the Hawaiian language, a black coral is called ēkaha kū moana ("hard bush growing in the sea"); it is the official state gem of Hawaii. In Malay, the corals are called akah bahar ("root of the sea"), likely named for their tendency to grow at low-light depths.

Taxonomy and classification
Black corals have historically been difficult to classify due to poor-quality specimens. They have few distinguishing morphological characteristics, and the few that there are vary across species, similar to other corals. When black corals were first documented by Henri Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime, two French zoologists in 1857, all species of Antipatharia were placed in the family Antipathidae. From 2001 to 2006, marine biologists Dennis Opresko and Tina Molodtsova helped transform the taxonomic system into what it is today. A 2007 phylogenetic study confirmed the new taxonomic system.

Blacks corals are classified in the order Antipatharia with 7 families, 44 genera, and 280 distinct species. The families are Antipathidae, Aphanipathidae, Cladopathidae, Leiopathidae, Myriopathidae, Schizopathidae, and Stylopathidae. Black corals can be distinguished from other corals by their black, flexible skeletons and near-total lack of any kind of protection from sediment. All black corals have small or medium-sized polyps and a chitin skeleton, lined with small spines.

Genera
List of genera according to the World Register of Marine Species:
 * Family Antipathidae Ehrenberg, 1834
 * Allopathes Opresko & Stephen D. Cairns, 1994
 * Antipathes Pallas, 1766
 * Cirrhipathes de Blainville, 1830
 * Hillopathes van Pesch, 1914
 * Pseudocirrhipathes Bo et al., 2009
 * Pteropathes George Brook (zoologist), 1889
 * Stichopathes Brook, 1889
 * Family Aphanipathidae Opresko, 2004
 * subfamily Acanthopathinae Opresko, 2004
 * Acanthopathes Opresko, 2004
 * Distichopathes Opresko, 2004
 * Elatopathes Opresko, 2004
 * Rhipidipathes Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1857
 * subfamily Aphanipathinae Opresko, 2004
 * Aphanipathes Brook, 1889
 * Asteriopathes Opresko, 2004
 * Phanopathes Opresko, 2004
 * Pteridopathes Opresko, 2004
 * Tetrapathes Opresko, 2004
 * Family Cladopathidae Kinoshita, 1910
 * subfamily Cladopathinae Kinoshita, 1910
 * Chrysopathes Opresko, 2003
 * Cladopathes Brook, 1889
 * Trissopathes Opresko, 2003
 * subfamily Hexapathinae Opresko, 2003
 * Heteropathes Opresko, 2011
 * Hexapathes Kinoshita, 1910
 * subfamily Sibopathinae Opresko, 2003
 * Sibopathes Van Pesch, 1914
 * Family Leiopathidae Haeckel, 1896
 * Leiopathes Haime, 1849
 * Family Myriopathidae Opresko, 2001
 * Antipathella Brook, 1889
 * Cupressopathes Opresko, 2001
 * Myriopathes Opresko, 2001
 * Plumapathes Opresko, 2001
 * Tanacetipathes Opresko, 2001
 * Family Schizopathidae Brook, 1889
 * Abyssopathes Opresko, 2002
 * Alternatipathes Molodtsova & Opresko, 2017
 * Bathypathes Brook, 1889
 * Dendrobathypathes Opresko, 2002
 * Dendropathes Opresko, 2005
 * Lillipathes Opresko, 2002
 * Parantipathes Brook, 1889
 * Saropathes Opresko, 2002
 * Schizopathes Brook, 1889
 * Stauropathes Opresko, 2002
 * Taxipathes Brook, 1889
 * Telopathes MacIsaac & Best, 2013
 * Umbellapathes Opresko, 2005
 * Family Stylopathidae Opresko, 2006
 * Stylopathes Opresko, 2006
 * Triadopathes Opresko, 2006
 * Tylopathes Brook, 1889

Physical characteristics
The skeletons of these corals grow in many patterns unique to this order, such as whips, trees, fans, or coils. These range in size from 10 to 300 cm, though polyps can be as small as 1 mm in size. Skeletons are also lined with tiny spikes. These spikes are roughly 0.5 mm in size, and vary widely in terms of size, length, proportion, and sharpness. A layer of "bark" forms around the skeleton as the coral grows. The polyps that live inside this bark are less than 2 mm and are gelatinous and have six tentacles (the same as hard corals and unlike soft corals, which have eight). These polyps can be nearly any color. Some corals also have "sweeper tentacles", which can grow up to 15 mm long. Though individual polyps are either male or female, entire colonies are typically hermaphroditic.

Unlike the vast majority of other corals, black corals have no protection against abrasive materials such as sand and rocks and lack muscular development which can help the corals to hide. These factors can lead to sediment tearing the soft tissue, resulting in death. In response, corals live near crevices, which allows much of their body to be protected.

Habitat
Black corals occur throughout all the oceans from the surface down to the deep-sea, though nearly 75% of species are only found at depths below 50 m. The sole oceanic area in which black corals have not been found are brackish waters, though they can inhabit areas with decreased salinity. Black corals are found on reefs, and may contribute to overall reef building, but are also often found as solitary colonies on isolated outcroppings. Most individuals require a hard surface for attachment. They will frequently grow where undersea currents flow, which allows them to feed on the meiofauna that is swept by. Since undersea currents benefit the corals, they will often grow on or by geographic structures that cause currents, such as continental slopes, cliffs, caves, or undersea plateaus. Species distributions of black corals are poorly understood, and while many deep sea black corals have large distributions, more recent work has indicated that shallow black coral species—such as Antipathes grandis—can be found spanning from the Indian to the Pacific Ocean.

Diet
Black corals are carnivorous, with the coral's polyps allowing it to feed mostly on meiofauna such as zooplankton. The polyps of cnidarians have an oral disk in their center which serves as the mouth for the coral. The disk is surrounded by the tentacles, which stings and digests food. The reason many corals are fan-shaped is to catch meiofauna. Many corals only have polyps on the downstream side of the coral, allowing them to catch nearly the same number of animals without wasting energy keeping unnecessary polyps alive.

Predators
Vertebrate predation is not a major threat to black corals. There are rare reports of parrotfish and butterflyfish gnawing and eating at the polyps of black corals, but even if a polyp is gnawed off, it will not affect the coral as a whole. The skeleton of a black coral is hard and inert, due to its composition of protein and chitin, making it nearly inedible. Though black coral skeletons have been found in the stomachs of green sea turtles and sharks, these incidents are rare; it has thus been suggested that black corals are not a major part of any vertebrate diets.

However, invertebrates such as muricids and ovulids feed on black corals and similar corals regularly. These mollusks mimic the polyps that the coral typically feeds on and is taken inside of the coral. They will then consume the polyps from the inside out. Various mollusks, such as Coralliophila kaofitorum and Phenacovolva carneptica live solely where various species of black corals are found, suggesting that they prey exclusively on the species.

Interactions
Black corals around the world provide a unique environment for crustaceans, bivalves, and fish. Some species, such as Dascyllus albisella and Centropyge potteri inhabit specific coral trees. Due to this abundance of species, nighttime predation around the coral beds has been observed.

Life cycle and reproduction
Due to the slow life cycle and deep-water habitats of black coral, little is known about their life cycle and reproduction. As with other cnidarians, the life cycle of these corals involves both asexual and sexual reproduction. Asexual reproduction (also known as budding), is the first method of reproduction used by a black coral during their lifespan. Once a polyp is anchored, it builds a colony by creating a skeleton, growing new branches and making it thicker, similar to the growth of a tree. This method of growing creates "growth rings" which can be used to estimate the age of a colony. Asexual reproduction can also occur if a branch breaks off and a replacement is needed. Though light is not required for growth or development, mature colonies will grow towards light. Why they do so is unknown.

Sexual reproduction in these corals remains largely unstudied. It occurs after the coral colony is established; a colony will produce eggs and sperm, which meet in the water to create larvae that use currents to disperse and settle in new areas. The larval stage of the coral, called a planula, will drift along until it finds a surface on which it can grow. Once it settles, it metamorphoses into its polyp form and creates skeletal material to attach itself to the seafloor. It will then begin to bud, which will create new polyps and eventually form a colony. In areas with ideal conditions, black coral colonies can grow to be extremely dense, creating beds. In some black corals that have been closely examined, colonies will grow roughly 6.4 cm every year. Sexual reproduction occurs after 10 to 12 years of growth; the colony will then reproduce annually for the rest of its life. The male to female polyp ratio is 1:1, with females producing anywhere from 1.2 million to 16.9 million oocytes. A large 1.8 m tall coral tree is somewhere between 30 and 40 years old.

The estimated natural lifespan of a black coral colony in the epipelagic zone is 70 years. However, in March 2009 around 4,265 years old specimens of Leiopathes glaberrima were found at depths of nearly 300 to 3000 m, making them some of the oldest living organisms on earth. The researchers showed that the "individual colony longevities are on the order of thousands of years." Rarely, black corals will grow too large to support their own weight, and collapse.

Human use and harvesting
Black corals have historically been associated with mystical and medicinal properties in Indonesian, Chinese, and Hawaiian culture. More recent harvesting has been for use as jewelry. Many Indo-Pacific peoples believed that black coral has curative and anti-evil powers and made them into necklace and bracelets; however, black corals are not ideal for jewelry-making due to it being soft as opposed to stony, causing jewelry made with it to dry out and break. If a real black coral is boiled in milk, it will smell of myrrh; this test can be used to determine if a sample is genuine.

The best studied and regulated black coral fisheries are in Hawaii, where they have been harvested since the 1960s. In the Caribbean harvesting is typically done to produce jewelry for sale to tourists, and has followed a boom-and-bust cycle, where new coral populations are discovered and overexploited leading to rapid declines. For example, Cozumel, Mexico, was famed for dense black coral beds that have been harvested since the 1960s leading to widespread black coral population declines. Despite improvements in management in Cozumel, including no harvesting permits issued since the mid-1990s, the black coral population had failed to recover when assessed in 2016. Though it is illegal to move black corals across international borders without authorization, as they are listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), it is still possible to buy them.

Though various methods have been proposed for quicker and more efficient rejuvenation of black coral colonies, none have worked to the point where these corals could be commercially farmed.

Threats
Though black corals are not listed on the IUCN Red List, a number of factors threaten them today. The largest single threat is poaching— though the majority of black coral fisheries are heavily regulated, there is still a black market for the corals. Particularly on tropical islands and Madagascar, the market for illegally-harvested black corals is large. Due to overfishing of mature corals, in some areas nearly 90% of corals are juveniles (less than 50 cm tall.)

Global warming is the primary threat to black corals worldwide, as well as all other corals. Though black corals rarely builds reefs (the most threatened areas), threats caused by climate change such as coral bleaching, rising sea temperatures, changing underwater currents, and changing salinity and pH also affect deep-sea corals. Invasive species such as Carijoa riisei, which were introduced to Hawaiian waters by humans, may pose a significant threat to black corals.

title: Black coral


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Intravascular ultrasound

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) or intravascular echocardiography is a medical imaging methodology using a specially designed catheter with a miniaturized ultrasound probe attached to the distal end of the catheter. The proximal end of the catheter is attached to computerized ultrasound equipment. It allows the application of ultrasound technology, such as piezoelectric transducer or CMUT, to see from inside blood vessels out through the surrounding blood column, visualizing the endothelium (inner wall) of blood vessels.

The arteries of the heart (the coronary arteries) are the most frequent imaging target for IVUS. IVUS is used in the coronary arteries to determine the amount of atheromatous plaque built up at any particular point in the epicardial coronary artery. Intravascular ultrasound provides a unique method to study the regression or progression of atherosclerotic lesions in vivo. The progressive accumulation of plaque within the artery wall over decades is the setup for vulnerable plaque which, in turn, leads to heart attack and stenosis (narrowing) of the artery (known as coronary artery lesions). IVUS is of use to determine both plaque volume within the wall of the artery and/or the degree of stenosis of the artery lumen. It can be especially useful in situations in which angiographic imaging is considered unreliable; such as for the lumen of ostial lesions or where angiographic images do not visualize lumen segments adequately, such as regions with multiple overlapping arterial segments. It is also used to assess the effects of treatments of stenosis such as with hydraulic angioplasty expansion of the artery, with or without stents, and the results of medical therapy over time.

Advantages over angiography
Arguably the most valuable use of IVUS is to visualize plaque, which cannot be seen by angiography. Over time this technique has evolved into an extremely useful research tool for modern invasive cardiology, and it has been increasingly used in research to better understand the behavior of the atherosclerosis process in living people.

IVUS enables accurately visualizing not only the lumen of the coronary arteries but also the atheroma (membrane/cholesterol loaded white blood cells) "hidden" within the wall. IVUS has thus enabled advances in clinical research providing a more thorough perspective and better understanding.

In the early 1990s, IVUS research on the re-stenosis problem after angioplasty lead to recognition that most of the re-stenosis problem (as visualized by an angiography examination) was not true re-stenosis. Instead it was simply a remodeling of the atheromatous plaque, which was still protruding into the lumen of the artery after completion of angioplasty; the stenosis only appearing to be reduced because blood and contrast could now flow around and through some of the plaque. The angiographic dye column appeared widened adequately; yet considerable plaque was within the newly widened lumen and the lumen remained partially obstructed. This recognition promoted more frequent use of stents to hold the plaque outward against the inner artery walls, out of the lumen.

Additionally, IVUS examinations, as they were done more frequently, served to reveal and confirm the autopsy research findings of the late 1980s, showing that atheromatous plaque tends to cause expansion of the internal elastic lamina, causing the degree of plaque burden to be greatly underestimated by angiography. Angiography only reveals the edge of the atheroma that protrudes into the lumen.

Perhaps the greatest contribution to understanding, so far, was achieved by clinical research trials completed in the United States in the late 1990s, using combined angiography and IVUS examination, to study which coronary lesions most commonly result in a myocardial infarction. The studies revealed that most myocardial infarctions occur at areas with extensive atheroma within the artery wall, however very little stenosis of the artery opening. The range of lumen stenosis locations at which myocardial infarctions occurred ranged from areas of mild dilation all the way to areas of greater than 95% stenosis. However the average or typical stenosis at which myocardial infarctions occurred were found to be less than 50%, describing plaques long considered insignificant by many. Only 14% of heart attacks occurred at locations with 75% or more stenosis, the severe stenoses previously thought by many to present the greatest danger to the individual. This research has changed the primary focus for heart attack prevention from severe narrowing to vulnerable plaque.

Current clinical uses of IVUS technology include checking how to treat complex lesions before angioplasty and checking how well an intracoronary stent has been deployed within a coronary artery after angioplasty. If a stent is not expanded flush against the wall of the vessel, turbulent flow may occur between the stent and the wall of the vessel; some fear this might create a nidus for acute thrombosis of the artery.

Disadvantages versus angiography
The primary disadvantages of IVUS being used routinely in a cardiac catheterization laboratory are its expense, the increase in the time of the procedure, and the fact that it is considered an interventional procedure, and should only be performed by angiographers that are trained in interventional cardiology techniques. In addition, there may be additional risk imposed by the use of the IVUS catheter.

The computerized IVUS echocardiographic imaging systems list for $120,000, US, 2007 for a cart based system and ~$70,000 for an installed or integrated solution. The disposable catheters used to do each examination typically cost ~$600, US, 2007. In many hospitals, the IVUS system is placed as part of a bundle deal based on minimum disposable sales volumes. In other words, the cost of the console is paid for by rebates from other purchased products including IVUS catheters. Because no standard exists, IVUS catheters cannot be interchanged between different manufacturers.

Additionally, IVUS adds significant additional examination time and some increased risk to the patient beyond performing a standard diagnostic angiographic examination. This increase is significantly less when IVUS is part of a percutaneous coronary intervention, since much of the setup is the same for the intervention as for the IVUS imaging.

IVUS continues to improve and some manufacturers have proposed building IVUS technology into angioplasty and stent balloon catheters, a potential major advance, but limited by complexity, cost and increased bulk of the catheters.

Comparison versus intravascular optical coherence tomography
Compared to IVUS, intravascular OCT offers an order of magnitude improved resolution for a better visualization of vessel lumen, tissue microstructure and devices (e.g., intracoronary stents). IVUS offers an improved imaging depth for the assessment of lipid or necrotic plaques, while intravascular OCT offers better penetration and enhanced imaging of calcific tissue. Intravascular OCT requires a short injection of contrast (e.g., 2 to 3 seconds) in a similar way to obtain an angiographic image. IVUS does not require a contrast injection as ultrasounds can penetrate through blood.

Method
To visualize an artery or vein, angiographic techniques are used and the physician positions the tip of a guidewire, usually 0.36 mm (0.014") diameter with a very soft and pliable tip and about 200 cm long. The physician steers the guidewire from outside the body, through angiography catheters and into the blood vessel branch to be imaged.

The ultrasound catheter tip is slid in over the guidewire and positioned, using angiography techniques so that the tip is at the farthest away position to be imaged. The sound waves are emitted from the catheter tip, are usually in the 20-40 MHz range, and the catheter also receives and conducts the return echo information out to the external computerized ultrasound equipment which constructs and displays a real time ultrasound image of a thin section of the blood vessel currently surrounding the catheter tip, usually displayed at 30 frames/second image.

The guide wire is kept stationary and the ultrasound catheter tip is slid backwards, usually under motorized control at a pullback speed of 0.5 mm/s. (The motorized pullback tends to be smoother than hand movement by the physician.)

The (a) blood vessel wall inner lining, (b) atheromatous disease within the wall and (c) connective tissues covering the outer surface of the blood vessel are echogenic, i.e. they return echoes making them visible on the ultrasound display.

By contrast, the blood itself and the healthy muscular tissue portion of the blood vessel wall is relatively echolucent, just black circular spaces, in the images.

Heavy calcium deposits in the blood vessel wall both heavily reflect sound, i.e. are very echogenic, but are also distinguishable by shadowing. Heavy calcification blocks sound transmission beyond and so, in the echo images, are seen as both very bright areas but with black shadows behind (from the vantage point of the catheter tip emitting the ultrasound waves).

Uses
IVUS, as outlined above, has been the best technology, so far, to demonstrate the anatomy of the artery wall in living animals and humans. It has led to an explosion of better understanding and research on both (a) the behavior of the atherosclerosis process and (b) the effects of different treatment strategies for changing the evolution of the atherosclerosis disease process. This has been important given that atherosclerosis is the single most frequent disease process for the greatest percentage of individuals living in first world countries.

Intravascular ultrasound in the coronary anatomy

While the routine use of IVUS during percutaneous coronary intervention does not improve short term outcomes, there are a number of situations in which IVUS is of particular use in the treatment of coronary artery disease of the heart. In particular in cases when the degree of stenosis of a coronary artery is unclear, IVUS can directly quantify the percentage of stenosis and give insight into the anatomy of the plaque.

One particular use of IVUS in the coronary anatomy is in the quantification of left main disease in cases where routine coronary angiography gives equivocal results. Many studies in the past have shown that significant left main disease can increase mortality, and that intervention (either coronary artery bypass graft surgery or percutaneous coronary intervention) to reduce mortality is necessary when the left main stenosis is significant.

When using IVUS to determine whether an individual's left main disease is clinically significant, in terms of the desirability of physical intervention, the two most widely used parameters are the degree of stenosis and the minimal lumen area. A cross sectional area of ≤7 mm² in a symptomatic individual or ≤6 mm² in an asymptomatic individual is considered to be clinically significant and warrants intervention to improve one-year mortality. However, these exact cutoffs are up for debate and different cutoff cross-sectional areas may be used in practice depending on differing interpretations of the trial data.

Validating the efficacy of new treatments
Because IVUS is widely available in coronary catheterization labs worldwide and can accurately quantify arterial plaque, especially within the coronary arteries, it is increasingly being used to evaluate newer and evolving strategies for the treatment of coronary artery disease, including the statins and other approaches.

title: Intravascular ultrasound


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Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums

The Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) was a specialized gang intelligence unit of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) tasked with combating gang-related crime between 1979 and 2000. The unit was established in the South Central district of Los Angeles, California, United States, to combat rising gang violence during the period. Each of the LAPD's 18 divisions had a CRASH unit assigned to it, whose primary goal was to suppress gang-related crimes in the city, which came about primarily from the increase in illegal drug trade.

CRASH was subject of the Rampart scandal from 1997, which exposed widespread police corruption within the unit, including involvement in murders, extortion, police brutality, evidence planting, and participating in gang activity. CRASH was disbanded in 2000 and was replaced by the LAPD Gang and Narcotics Division.

Establishment
By 1973, street gangs were quickly becoming a problem in the 77th Street Division of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), located in the South Central area of Los Angeles, California. Deputy Chief Lou Sporrer, commanding officer of South Bureau, responsible for 77th Street Division operations and ultimately responsible to Chief of Police Edward M. Davis, created a unit of uniformed officers and a plainclothes intelligence section. The two were combined to be identified as 77th Street Division TRASH, an acronym for "Total Resources Against Street Hoodlums" with the idea of demeaning gang activities. Community activists began efforts to abolish the TRASH unit, stating the name itself dehumanizes gang members. Sporrer agreed to a name change, with the "T" for Total becoming a "C" for Community and TRASH became CRASH. In addition to gang-related crime prevention, CRASH officers also had to obtain information about a specific gang that was assigned to them and relay that information between districts. The "freedom of movement and activity" and "gung ho" nature of CRASH officers led some of them to incite controversy among themselves and the whole CRASH unit.

In the 1980s, gang violence began to increase dramatically as a result of the drug trade, specifically the introduction of crack cocaine.

Operation Hammer
Operation Hammer was a CRASH-led initiative that began in 1987 to crack down on gang violence in South Central Los Angeles. As a result of increasing gang violence and a drive-by killing resulting in the deaths of seven people, then-Chief of Police Daryl Gates responded by sending CRASH officers to arrest suspected gang members. At the height of this operation in April 1988, 1,453 people were arrested by one thousand police officers in a single weekend. Despite the large number of initial arrests, they only resulted in 60 felony arrests, and charges were only filed in 32 instances. While considered successful by some, this operation and the LAPD were maligned with accusations of racism; some believed that Operation Hammer heavily employed racial profiling, targeting African American and Hispanic youths that were labelled as "urban terrorists" and "ruthless killers." However, proponents of the operation asserted that it was not discriminatory as all gang members arrested had warrants for their arrests.

Rampart Division CRASH scandal
Every LAPD patrol division had a CRASH unit stationed in it. One of the most prominent CRASH units was stationed in the Rampart Division.

On February 26, 1998, Rampart CRASH officer Brian Hewitt was suspended and later stripped of his job when allegations arose of a cover-up of the beating and asphyxiation of Ismail Jiminez. Hewitt was accused of choking Jiminez in an interview room when the suspect refused to provide evidence of gang activities. When Jiminez reported his beating at a hospital, the evidence implicated Hewitt and led to his termination at a Board of Rights hearing.

In August 1998, the same month that Chief Bernard Parks claimed that the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department reforms were "essentially complete", officer Rafael Pérez, a nine-year LAPD veteran, was arrested on charges of stealing six pounds (2.7 kilograms) of cocaine from the department's Property Division. Pérez was initially tried on one count of possession of cocaine for sale, grand theft and forgery each. After a mistrial on December 7 of that year, more reports of cocaine theft by Pérez arose. In September 1999, in exchange for partial immunity from prosecution, he testified about a pattern of abuse and misconduct involving seventy CRASH officers, threatening to overturn thousands of criminal convictions.

As part of his plea bargain, Pérez implicated scores of officers from the Rampart Division's anti-gang unit, describing routinely beating gang members, planting evidence on suspects, falsifying reports and covering up unprovoked shootings. As of May 2001, the Rampart investigation had brought fifty-eight officers before an internal administrative board. Of these, twelve were suspended, seven resigned, and five were terminated. Perez confessed to framing Javier Ovando, an 18th Street Gang member, who was shot by Nino Durden and Perez on October 12, 1996.

Kevin Starr, the State Librarian of California, wrote in his history of California in the 1990s that "CRASH ... became, in effect, the most badass gang in the city."

In popular culture
A fictionalized version of C.R.A.S.H. appears as the main antagonistic faction in the 2004 open world action-adventure video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The unit is led by Officers Frank Tenpenny (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) and Eddie Pulaski (Chris Penn), who have criminal ties in Los Santos (the in-game version of Los Angeles) and often engage in deals with gangs for personal profit. The unit's unofficial motto ("We intimidate those who intimidate others") is explicitly used by Tenpenny with protagonist Carl Johnson (Young Maylay), whom he blackmails into doing various jobs meant to prevent C.R.A.S.H's illicit activities from going public. However, C.R.A.S.H.'s third member, Jimmy Hernandez (Armando Riesco), eventually decides to do the right thing and report his partners' illegal activities, causing him to be killed by them. Near the end of the game, Pulaski is killed by Carl, and Tenpenny is arrested for his crimes, but is acquitted in his trial due to an alleged lack of evidence. This enrages the residents of Los Santos, resulting in violence across the city, mirroring the real-life 1992 Los Angeles riots. The riots eventually end after Tenpenny's death in a car crash.

The 1988 film Colors stars Robert Duvall and Sean Penn as two members of C.R.A.S.H.

Although corruption in L.A.'s C.R.A.S.H. unit had yet to be exposed when Training Day was written, Antoine Fuqua has stated that the emergence of the Rampart scandal in the late 1990s catalyzed the completion of the film. Denzel Washington also grew a beard in order to emulate the appearance of Rafael Pérez, an LAPD narcotics officer involved in multiple scandals.

The police drama series The Shield (2002-2008), which revolves around a corrupt anti-gang unit called the Strike Team, is based on the Rampart scandal. Rampart was the original name for the show.


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Mark Eaton (ice hockey)

Mark Andrew Eaton (born May 6, 1977) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Philadelphia Flyers, Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins, and New York Islanders. He is the only NHL player to ever come from Delaware. He attended John Dickinson High School in the Wilmington suburbs but played his youth hockey across the state line in Pennsylvania. He is currently the director of player development for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Playing career
Eaton started his post-secondary competition with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League (USHL). He was named second team all-USHL, was the league's third-leading scoring defenseman and was honored with the Curt Hammer Award as the USHL's most gentlemanly player. Eaton then moved on to the University of Notre Dame of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). In his only season at UND, Eaton was named the CCHA Rookie of the Year after scoring 12 goals with 17 assists for 29 points.

On August 4, 1998, Eaton signed a contract with the Philadelphia Flyers as an undrafted free agent. He made his NHL debut on October 2, 1999, against the Ottawa Senators, becoming the first player from the greater Delaware Valley region to play for the Flyers. Eaton scored his first NHL goal, which was the game-winning goal, on April 8, 2000, against Rob Tallas of the Boston Bruins. He played his first NHL playoff game on April 13 against the Buffalo Sabres.

Eaton was traded from the Flyers to the Nashville Predators on September 29, 2000, for a third round pick. While playing for the Predators in 2003–04, he set the franchise record for plus/minus at +16. He scored a career-high three assists in a 5–3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on October 25, 2003. On March 3, 2006, Eaton was placed on injured reserve by the Predators with a strained knee injury.

The Pittsburgh Penguins signed Eaton on July 3, 2006, as a free agent. He saw limited time in his first two seasons, suffering with injuries, playing only 71 games between in 2006–07 and 2007–08.

He won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009, scoring 4 goals in the playoffs. On March 30, 2009, Eaton was named a nominee for the Bill Masterton Trophy.

He signed with the New York Islanders as a free agent to a two-year contract on July 2, 2010.

On January 22, 2013, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL announced Eaton had signed with the team on a Professional Try Out. He was released in February, and started skating with his former NHL team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. On February 25, the Penguins signed Eaton to a 1-year deal worth $725,000.

International play
Eaton played for the United States at the 2001 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships and recorded one goal (the game-winner vs. Finland) and one assist in nine games. He also played for the United States at the 2002 World Championships in Sweden and registered three assists in a 5–2 win vs. Italy.

Awards and honors

 * Second Team USHL All-Star in 1997
 * Only the second University of Notre Dame player to be named CCHA Rookie of the Year (as selected by the conference's coaches) in 1997–98
 * Won the Barry Ashbee Award in 1998–99 which is given to the Philadelphia Phantoms' top defenseman
 * The first ice hockey player to be named Delaware's athlete of the year by the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association on January 27, 2000
 * Named the IHL Defenseman of the Week for the week of December 18–24, 2000
 * Stanley Cup championship in 2009 (Pittsburgh)
 * Inducted into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame in 2017

title: Mark Eaton (ice hockey)


text: User talk:198.4.83.52

title: User talk:198.4.83.52


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Queen Charlotte Airlines

Queen Charlotte Airlines was a Canadian airline founded by Jim Spilsbury that operated on the West Coast of Canada from 1946 to 1955, when it was sold to Pacific Western Airlines. Though the airline grew out of a bush flying operation, it became the third largest airline in Canada.

The book The Accidental Airline by Jim Spilsbury and Howard White tells the story of the QCA.

Fleet
The following aircraft were operated by the QCA (this list is possibly incomplete):
 * Avro Anson
 * Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing
 * Bellanca Cruisair
 * Cessna 180 Skywagon
 * Cessna Crane
 * Consolidated PBY Catalina
 * De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver
 * De Havilland Dragon Rapide
 * Douglas DC-3
 * Fairchild F-11 Husky
 * Grumman G-21 Goose
 * Noorduyn Norseman
 * Stinson 108
 * Supermarine Stranraer
 * Waco Standard YKC-S

title: Queen Charlotte Airlines


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Mycobacterium bovis

Mycobacterium bovis is a slow-growing (16- to 20-hour generation time) aerobic bacterium and the causative agent of tuberculosis in cattle (known as bovine TB). It is related to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium which causes tuberculosis in humans. M. bovis can jump the species barrier and cause tuberculosis-like infection in humans and other mammals.

Bacterium morphology and staining
The bacteria are curved or straight rods. They sometimes form filaments, which fragment into bacilli or cocci once disturbed. In tissues they form slender rods, straight or curved, or club-shaped. Short, relatively plump bacilli (rods) in tissue smears, large slender beaded rods in culture. They have no flagella or fimbria, and no capsule.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis group bacteria are 1.0-4.0 μm long by 0.2-0.3 μm wide in tissues. In culture, they may appear as cocci, or as bacilli up to 6-8 μm long.

The bacteria stain Gram-positive, acid-fast. The cell wall contains as high as 60% lipid, giving the mycobacteria their hydrophobic characteristics, slow growth, and resistance to desiccation, disinfectants, acids and antibodies. (Mycobacterium family). They are not easy to stain with aniline dyes; although they are Gram positive, confirming this may be difficult. Ziehl–Neelsen staining results in stain pink with hot carbol fuscin and then resist decolourisation with 3% hydrochloric acid in 95% alcohol (i.e. they are acid-alcohol fast); following washing, the slide is counterstained with e.g. methylene blue.

They are nonspore-forming.

Growth requirements
M. bovis is a facultative intracellular parasite. For in vitro growth, special culture media are required; for example, Dorset's egg medium incorporates egg yolk, phosphate buffer, magnesium salts, and sodium pyruvate; amino acids may be added, but glycerol is not included, as it is inhibitory. It is inhibited by glycerine. Culture generally requires several weeks at 37 °C to reach colonies visible to the unaided human eye. It is strictly aerobic, and grows at 37, but not at 25 °C. Optimal growth occurs at 37-38 °C. The species does not reduce nitrate or niacin, and is resistant to pyrazinamide. It is sensitive to thiophene-2-carboxylic acid hydrazide.

Appearance of colonies
Initially (after 3–4 weeks), its minute, dull flakes, begin to thicken to form dry, irregular masses standing high above the culture medium surface. Eventually, confluent growth is seen over the whole culture surface, forming a rough, waxy blanket, becoming thick and wrinkled and reaching up the sides of the container. Colonies are yellow when first visible, darkening to deep yellow and eventually brick red, if exposed to light. In fluid media, growth is on the surface only, unless a wetting agent (e.g. Tween 80) is added to the medium.

Cell structure and metabolism
M. bovis is similar in structure and metabolism to M. tuberculosis. M. bovis is a Gram-positive, acid-fast, rod-shaped, aerobic bacterium. Unlike M. tuberculosis, M. bovis lacks pyruvate kinase activity, due to pykA containing a point mutation that affects binding of Mg2+ cofactor. Pyruvate kinase catalyses the final step of glycolysis, the dephosphorylation of phosphorenolpyruvate to pyruvate. Therefore, in M. bovis, glycolytic intermediates are unable to enter into oxidative metabolism. Although no specific studies have been performed, M. bovis seemingly must rely on amino acids or fatty acids as an alternative carbon source for energy metabolism.

Pathogenesis

During the first half of the 20th century, M. bovis is estimated to have been responsible for more losses among farm animals than all other infectious diseases combined. Infection occurs if the bacterium is ingested or inhaled.

M. bovis is usually transmitted to humans by consuming raw milk from infected cows, although it can also spread via aerosol droplets. Actual infections in humans are nowadays rare in developed countries, mainly because pasteurisation kills M. bovis bacteria in infected milk. In the UK, cattle are tested for the disease as part of an eradication program and culled if they test positive. Such cattle can still enter the human food chain, but only after a meat inspector or a government veterinary surgeon has inspected the carcass and certified that it is fit for human consumption. However, in areas of the developing world where pasteurisation is not routine, M. bovis is a relatively common cause of human tuberculosis.

Bovine tuberculosis is a chronic infectious disease which affects a broad range of mammalian hosts, including humans, cattle, deer, llamas, pigs, domestic cats, wild carnivores (foxes, coyotes) and omnivores (common brushtail possum, mustelids and rodents); it rarely affects equids or sheep. The disease can be transmitted in several ways; for example, it can be spread in exhaled air, sputum, urine, faeces, and pus, so the disease can be transmitted by direct contact, contact with the excreta of an infected animal, or inhalation of aerosols, depending on the species involved.

Application to biotechnology
M. bovis is the ancestor of the most widely used vaccine against tuberculosis, M. bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) which was isolated after subculturing on glycerine potato medium 239 times during 13 years starting from an initial virulent strain.

Testing
Skin testing is possible in cattle. Casal et al. 2012 tried both recombinant protein and overlapping peptide provocation, finding the peptide test to be less sensitive.

New Zealand
In New Zealand, the introduced common brushtail possum is a vector for the spread of M. bovis. The Biosecurity Act 1993, which established a national pest-management strategy, is the legislation behind control of the disease in New Zealand. The Animal Health Board operates a nationwide programme of cattle testing and possum control, with the goal of eradicating M. bovis from wild vector species across 2.5 million hectares – or one-quarter – of New Zealand's at-risk areas, by 2026, and eventually eradicating the disease entirely.

The TB-free New Zealand programme is regarded as "world-leading". It has successfully reduced cattle- and deer-herd infection rates from more than 1700 in 1994 to fewer than 100 herds in July 2011. Much of this success can be attributed to sustained cattle controls reducing cross-infection and breaking the disease cycle. For example, at Hohotaka, in New Zealand's central North Island, control work from 1988 to 1994 achieved a sustained mean reduction of 87.5% in the density of TB‐infected possums. As expected, annual TB incidence in local cattle herds consequently declined by a similar amount (83.4%).

Possums are controlled through a combination of trapping, ground-baiting, and where other methods are impractical, aerial treatment with 1080 poison.

From 1979 to 1984, possum control was stopped due to lack of funding. From that point until 1994, TB rates in herds steadily increased. The area of New Zealand harbouring TB-infected wild animals expanded from about 10% of the country to 40%.

The fact that possums are such effective transmitters of TB appears to be facilitated by their behaviour once they get the disease.

United Kingdom
In the 1930s, 40% of cattle in the UK were infected with M. bovis and 50,000 new cases of human M. bovis infection were reported every year. According to DEFRA and the Health Protection Agency, the risk to people contracting TB from cattle in Great Britain would be low.

Badgers (Meles meles) were first identified as carriers of M. bovis in 1971, but the report of an independent review committee in 1997 (the Krebs Report) concluded: "strong circumstantial evidence [exists] to suggest that badgers represent a significant source of M. bovis infection in cattle... [h]owever, the causal link... has not been proven". In essence, the contribution of badgers 'to the TB problem in British cattle' was at this point a hypothesis that needed to be tested, according to the report. The subsequent Randomised Badger Culling Trial (designed, overseen and analysed by the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB, or ISG ) examined this hypothesis by conducting a large field trial of widescale (proactive) culling and localised reactive culling (in comparison with areas which received no badger culling). In their final report, the ISG concluded: "First, while badgers are clearly a source of cattle TB, careful evaluation of our own and others' data indicates that badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain. Indeed, some policies under consideration are likely to make matters worse rather than better. Second, weaknesses in cattle-testing regimens mean that cattle themselves contribute significantly to the persistence and spread of disease in all areas where TB occurs, and in some parts of Britain are likely to be the main source of infection. Scientific findings indicate that the rising incidence of disease can be reversed, and geographical spread contained, by the rigid application of cattle-based control measures alone." On 26 July 2007, the Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker) said, "My Lords, we welcome the Independent Scientific Group's final report, which further improves the evidence base. We are carefully considering the issues that the report raises, and will continue to work with industry, government advisers, and scientific experts in reaching policy decisions on these issues."

In the UK, many other mammals have been found to be infected with M. bovis, although the frequency of isolation is generally much less than cattle and badgers. In some areas of south-west England, deer, especially fallow deer due to their gregarious behaviour, have been implicated as possible maintenance hosts for transmission of bovine TB

In some localised areas, the risk of transmission to cattle from fallow deer has been argued to be greater than it is from badgers.

One of the reasons that the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs requires infected or suspected cattle to be culled is to meet EU regulations for the export of meat and dairy products to other member states. Meat and dairy products can still be sold in the UK into the human food chain, providing the relevant carcass inspections and milk pasteurisation have been applied.

Spread of the disease to humans by domestic pets became evident in March 2014 when Public Health England announced two people in England developed bTB infections after contact with a domestic cat. The two human cases were linked to 9 cases of bTB infection in cats in Berkshire and Hampshire during 2013. These are the first documented cases of cat-to-human transmission.

In a 2010 opinion piece in Trends in Microbiology, Paul and David Torgerson argued that bovine tuberculosis is a negligible public-health problem in the UK, providing milk is pasteurized. Bovine TB is very rarely spread by aerosol from cattle to humans. Therefore, the bovine tuberculosis control programme in the UK in its present form is a misallocation of resources and provides no benefit to society. Indeed, very little evidence exists of a positive cost benefit to the livestock industry, as few studies have been undertaken on the direct costs of bovine TB to animal production. Milk pasteurisation was the single public health intervention that prevented the transmission of bovine TB to humans, and no justification for the present test and cull policy in the UK is seen.

In July 2010, the second issue of the discussion document Bovine TB, Time for a Rethink was published by Rethink Bovine TB, an independent research group. The paper considers current policy in England and Wales. It proposes an alternative solution that is both practical and cost effective. In the paper, evidence is drawn from DEFRA and the work by Professors Paul and David Torgerson.

In March 2012, think tank the Bow Group published a target paper urging the government to reconsider its plans to cull thousands of badgers to control bovine TB, stating that the findings of Labour's major badger-culling trials several years prior were that culling does not work. The paper was authored by Graham Godwin-Pearson with a foreword by singer Brian May and contributions by leading tuberculosis scientists, including Lord Krebs.

In 2017, Rachel Tanner and Helen McShane, of the Jenner Institute, Oxford, published research on replacing, reducing, and refining the use of animals in tuberculosis vaccine research.

United States
According to Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz, the late 19th-century discovery of the relationship between bovine and human tuberculosis led to state and federal attempts to stamp out bovine tuberculosis. The campaigns for clean milk and meat frightened city people into supporting controls, although at the time, little evidence showed that tuberculosis was spread to humans through infected meat or milk. The campaigns against impure meat and milk led to tension between the developing veterinarian profession and the medical profession, each claiming that area as part of their own expertise.

By 1917, 5% of American cattle were infected with M. bovis (bovine tuberculosis  or bTB), including 10% dairy animals and 1–2% of beef cattle. The rates were going up. Around 1900, 15,000 Americans, mostly children, died each year from bTB, and many more suffered pain and disfigurement.

Threatened by a sales cutoff ordered by urban public health officials, Vermont state government officials launched an innovative eradication campaign against bTB on farms, 1877 to 1936. They made use of the latest German research, and thereby kept the New York City and Boston markets. Vermont was exceptional, for across the country many farmers strenuously resisted bovine tuberculosis eradication as an expensive violation of their libertarian right to farm.

In recent decades, M. bovis infections in cattle herds in the United States are not common. M. bovis is endemic in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the northeastern portion of Michigan and northern Minnesota, and sporadically imported from Mexico. Only the white-tailed deer has been confirmed as a maintenance host in the Michigan outbreak of bTB, although other mammals such as raccoons (Procyon lotor), opossums (Didelphis virginiana), and coyotes (Canis latrans) can serve as spill-over and dead-end hosts. The fact that white-tailed deer are a maintenance host for M. bovis remains a significant barrier to the US nationwide eradication of the disease in livestock. In 2008, 733,998 licensed deer hunters harvested around 489,922 white-tailed deer in attempts to control the disease spread. These hunters purchased more than 1.5 million deer-harvest tags. The economic value of deer hunting to Michigan's economy in the drive to eradicate TB is substantial. For example, in 2006, hunters spent US$507 million hunting white-tailed deer in Michigan.

Global
The disease is found in cattle throughout the globe, but some countries have been able to reduce or limit the incidence of the disease through a process of "test and cull" of the cattle stock. Most of Europe and several Caribbean countries (including Cuba) are virtually free of M. bovis. Australia is officially free of the disease since the successful BTEC program, but residual infections might exist in feral water buffalo in isolated parts of the Northern Territory. In Canada, affected wild elk and white-tailed deer are found in and around Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba. To improve control and eliminate bTB, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has split Manitoba into two management areas: The Riding Mountain TB eradication area, where the disease has been found, and the Manitoba TB Eradication Area, the rest of the province outside RMEA where the disease has not been found. The disease has also been found in African buffalo in South Africa.

M. bovis can be transmitted from human to human; an outbreak occurred in Birmingham, England, in 2004, and from human to cattle, but such occurrences are rare.

In Mexico, the disease is prevalent and rising among humans.

Zoonotic tuberculosis
The infection of humans with M. bovis is referred to as zoonotic tuberculosis. In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO), World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), published the first Roadmap for Zoonotic Tuberculosis, recognizing zoonotic tuberculosis as a prominent global health problem. The main route of transmission is through the consumption of unpasteurized milk or other dairy products, although transmission via inhalation and via consumption of poorly cooked meat has also been reported. In 2018, based on the most recent Global Tuberculosis Report, an estimated 142,000 new cases of zoonotic tuberculosis, and 12,500 deaths due to the disease occurred. Cases of zoonotic tuberculosis have been reported in Africa, the Americas, Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Western Pacific. Human zoonotic tuberculosis cases are linked to the presence of bovine tuberculosis in cattle, and regions without adequate disease control measures and/or disease surveillance are at higher risk. It is difficult to clinically distinguish zoonotic tuberculosis from tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis in people, and the current most commonly used diagnostics cannot effectively distinguish between M. bovis and M. tuberculosis, which contributes to an underestimation of total cases worldwide. Controlling this disease requires animal health, food safety, and human health sectors to work together under a One Health approach (multi-disciplinary collaborations to improve the health of animals, people, and the environment).

The 2017 Roadmap identified ten priority areas for addressing zoonotic tuberculosis, which include collecting more accurate data, improving diagnostics, closing research gaps, improving food safety, reducing M. bovis in animal populations, identifying risk factors for transmission, increasing awareness, developing policies, implementing interventions, and increasing investments. To align with goals outlined in the Stop TB Partnership Global Plan to End TB 2016-2020, The Roadmap outlines specific milestones and goals to be met within this time frame.

Treatment
M. bovis is innately resistant to pyrazinamide, so the standard human treatment is isoniazid and rifampicin for 9 months. Most cattle that test positive are killed.

title: Mycobacterium bovis


text: Talk:Alternate reality game

title: Talk:Alternate reality game


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Black Mesa (Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico)

Black Mesa is a mesa located in an area covering parts of the U.S. states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. It extends from Mesa de Maya, Colorado southeasterly 28 mi crossing into the northeast corner of New Mexico, and ending in the Oklahoma panhandle along the north bank of the Cimarron River at its confluence with the North Carrizo Creek near Kenton. Its highest elevation is 5705 ft in Colorado. The highest point of Black Mesa within New Mexico is 5239 ft. In northwestern Cimarron County, Oklahoma, Black Mesa reaches 4973 ft, the highest point in the state of Oklahoma. The plateau that formed at the top of the mesa has been known as a "geological wonder" of North America. There is abundant wildlife in this shortgrass prairie environment, including mountain lions, butterflies, and the Texas horned lizard. (In Colorado, Black Mesa also refers to a summit in Gunnison County and a mountain pass in Dolores County.)

History
The plateau has been home to Plains Indians.

In the late-nineteenth and early twentieth century the area was a hideout for outlaws such as William Coe and Black Jack Ketchum. The outlaws built a fort known as the Robbers' Roost. The stone fort housed a blacksmith shop, gun ports, and a piano. The present-day Oklahoma Panhandle area, which was then considered a no man's land, lacked law enforcement agencies and hence the outlaws found it safe to hide in the region. However, as new settlers arrived in the area for copper and coal mining and also for cattle ranching activities by grazing cattle in the mesa region, law enforcement became more effective, and the outlaws were brought under control. In more recent times, at least one person has claimed to have been abducted by extraterrestrial aliens at Black Mesa.

Geography
The Mesa is situated in Cimarron County in the Oklahoma Panhandle. The Black Mesa plateau is part of the Rocky Mountains and the shortgrass prairie. Some features include the Old Maid Rock, and Devil's Tombstone. The mesa's base includes a 200 ft escarpment which is parallel with the Dry Cimarron River's north bank. Its highest elevation is 5705 ft in Colorado. The highest point of Black Mesa within New Mexico is 5239 ft. In northwestern Cimarron County, Oklahoma, Black Mesa reaches 4973 ft, the highest point in the state of Oklahoma.

A hiking trail of 4.2 miles leads from the preserve to the summit which rises about 800 ft above the level of the surrounding plains, the Nature Conservancy recommends four hours minimum for a round trip; overnight camping is not permitted.

The mesa's highest point within Oklahoma is marked by a granite obelisk, and a visitors' log.

Climate
Black Mesa is not only the highest point in Oklahoma but it is also the driest, harshest and coldest place in the state. A nearby weather station is located in Kenton.

Geology
The visual and map view appearance of Black Mesa is as an "inverted valley" because erosion has removed the relatively soft sedimentary strata from either side of the resistant Raton basalt of the lava which originally had occupied and filled a river valley. The mesa is capped by erosion-resistant basaltic lava formed by a volcanic eruption 3 to 5 million years ago. The lava erupted from a vent in the Raton-Clayton volcanic field in northeastern New Mexico and southeastern Colorado. The volcanic cap to the mesa is 600 ft thick, 55 miles long and from 0.5 miles to 8 miles wide, which is 65 miles to the north-northwest of Oklahoma. The erupting lava filled a stream channel in the Pliocene age Ogallala Formation. During the years since the eruption, the adjacent rock of the Ogallala and older formations have been removed leaving the valley-filling basalt perched atop a long ridge. Strata exposed along the mesa below the basalt and Ogallala include the Cretaceous Dakota Sandstone and the Jurassic Morrison Formation.

Beginning in 1935, geologists and paleontologists have searched the mesa's outcroppings, finding dinosaur fossils in the Jurassic and Triassic strata. A large quantity of dinosaur bones has been recovered from the Black Mesa locale; totaling over eighteen tonnes. These remains were split between several species, including stegosaurus, camptosaurus, diplodocus, and edmontosaurus. Clear fossil physical evidence, a distinct line of footprints believed to have been made by an allosaurus, has been found juxtaposed with the Carrizo Creek, which runs around the modern-day northern edge of the mesa.

Protected area
The mesa lies in the protected area known as the Black Mesa Nature Preserve which was established in 1991, covering 1600 acres. The preserve protects 60% of the area of the mesa peak. The peak is accessible along an 8 mi trail.

Apart from the nature reserve, there is also the Black Mesa State Park encompassing 549 acre, with a 200 acre lake known as Lake Carl Etling. The park is a recreational area with many facilities for camping, hiking and many other outdoor activities. The park is about 15 miles away from the peak.

Wildlife
The flora and fauna and terrain of Black Mesa are unique in Oklahoma, more typical of the semi-arid grasslands and rocky buttes of eastern Colorado and New Mexico. Many species reach their easternmost or westernmost limits of their ranges here.

Black Mesa Nature Preserve in particular covers around 60% of the flat portion of the mesa in Oklahoma. Wildlife reported in the park and the reserve are golden eagles, piñon jays, red-tailed hawks, and mule deer, part from a bird area for bird watchers.

Flora
The vegetation of the preserve is mostly shortgrass prairie with scattered juniper trees and Cholla cactus. The summit plateau is vegetatively classified as a "Bluestem-grama shortgrass community". The preserve contains 23 plant species listed by the state as "rare".

Fauna
The indigenous top predator is the mountain lion; its cousin, the smaller bobcat, is also present. The more omnivorous American black bear is present, along with a variety of prey species including bighorn sheep, mule deer, and pronghorn. Eight native species of animal are state-level designated as "rare". Two lagomorphs are present, the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), and the black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus). Other mammals include the dog-like coyote, as well as the much smaller prairie dog and a species of badger.

Nine snake species are found in this arid environment, the plains hog-nosed snake, western coachwhip, bullsnake, longnose snake, plains blackhead snake, blackneck garter snake, plains garter snake, lined snake, and prairie rattlesnake. The broad-headed skink, prairie racerunner, red-lipped plateau lizard, northern earless lizard, eastern collared lizard, and Texas horned lizard are also indigenous to the area. Two types of turtle, the ornate box turtle and the yellow mud turtle have been found in the Black Mesa preserve. Only one frog is found in this desert habitat, the American bullfrog, but there are six other species of amphibians; the Great Plains narrowmouth toad, New Mexico spadefoot, plains spadefoot, Woodhouse's toad, red-spotted toad, and the western green toad, all toads.

Birds are common, and there are 59 species present during at least some years. Seven different raptors are found, the turkey vulture, American kestrel, golden eagle, ferruginous hawk, red-tailed hawk, Mississippi kite, and the prairie falcon, all of which are classed as being of least concern according to the IUCN. There is one other bird of prey, the western screech-owl. There are no waterfowl found on Black Mesa. The mourning dove, greater roadrunner, common nighthawk, common poorwill, ladder-backed woodpecker, red-shafted flicker, olive-sided flycatcher, Say's phoebe, ash-throated flycatcher, Cassin's kingbird, and western kingbird are also found. There are five corvids; the black-billed magpie, pinyon jay, American crow, and common raven, as well as the more local Chihuahuan raven. 61 species of butterfly are found in the preserve, including seventeen skippers, three swallowtails, four hairstreaks, a copper, four whites, nine true brushfoots, two satyrs, and a leafwing.

There are 91 species of moths on Black Mesa. No species of fish are found on Black Mesa.

Culture
A permanent exhibit in the Sam Noble Museum is a diorama of the Black Mesa. It covers 2000 ft2 and is housed in the Hall of Natural Wonders. Funds for its creation were provided by the Whitten-Newman Foundation. The diorama is touchscreen computerized and interactive and is set within the boundaries of the mesa. It is a replication of the real shape and form of the mesa and is modeled to a suitable scale which brings out the short-grass prairie habitat next to a rivulet. Stuffed and mounted animals on display are the ones found in the mesa, including eagle, vulture, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, mountain lion, prairie dog, jackrabbit and badger. An ephemeral lake is also on display in a cross section format. Star gazers gather each October near Black Mesa for the annual Okie-Tex Star Party.


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X-15 Flight 90

Flight 90 of the North American X-15 was a research flight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force on July 19, 1963. It was the first of two X-15 missions that passed the 100-km high Kármán line, the FAI definition of space, along with Flight 91 the next month. The X-15 was flown by Joseph A. Walker, who flew both X-15 spaceflights over the Kármán line.

Mission parameters

 * Mass: 15,195 kg fueled; 6,577 kg burnout; 6,260 kg landed
 * Maximum Altitude: 106.01 km., 347,800 feet
 * Range: 534 km
 * Burn Time: 84.6 seconds
 * Mach: 5.50
 * Launch Vehicle: NB-52B Bomber #008

Mission highlights
Maximum Speed - 5,971 km/h. Maximum Altitude - 106,010 m. 80 cm diameter balloon towed on 30 m line to measure air density. First X-15 flight over 100 km (a height known as the Kármán line). This made Walker the first US civilian in space. This was also the first spaceflight of a spaceplane in aviation history. First flight launched over Smith Dry Lake, NV. Experiments: Towed balloon, horizon scanner, photometer, infrared and ultraviolet. Balloon instrumentation failed.

The mission was flown by X-15 #3, serial 56–6672 on its 21st flight.

Launched by: NB-52B #008, Pilots Fulton & Bement. Takeoff: 17:19. UTC Landing: 19:04 UTC.

Chase pilots: Crews, Dana, Rogers, Daniel and Wood.

The X-15 engine burned about 85 seconds. Near the end of the burn, acceleration built up to about 4g (39 m/s²). Weightlessness lasted for 3 to 5 minutes. Re-entry heating warmed the exterior of the X-15 to 650 °C in places. During pull up after re-entry, the acceleration built up to 5g (49 m/s²) for 20 seconds. The entire flight lasted about 12 minutes from launch to landing.

title: X-15 Flight 90


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Billy Elliot (disambiguation)

Billy Elliot is a 2000 film produced by the BBC.

Billy Elliot or Elliott may also refer to:

Entertainment

 * Bill Elliott (musician) 2015 Tony Award-winning orchestrator (born 1951), bandleader, film composer
 * Bill Elliot (rock musician), member of Splinter and the Elastic Oz Band
 * Wild Bill Elliott (1904–1965), cowboy actor
 * Billy Elliot the Musical, 2005 musical based on the film

Sports

 * Bill Elliott (born 1955), 1988 NASCAR champion
 * Billy Elliot (jockey) (died 1941), Australian jockey who rode Phar Lap
 * Billy Elliott (footballer) (1925–2008), English footballer and manager
 * William Elliot (rugby union) (1867–1958), New Zealand footballer

Other uses

 * Billy Elliot (RHC) (1964–1995), Northern Ireland loyalist, leading member of the Red Hand Commando
 * Billy Elliot (UDA), senior member of the Ulster Defence Association; East Belfast brigadier

title: Billy Elliot (disambiguation)