text:
Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal

Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal (6 August 1820 – 21 January 1914), known as Sir Donald A. Smith between May 1886 and August 1897, was a Scottish-born Canadian businessman who became one of the British Empire's foremost builders and philanthropists. He became commissioner, governor and principal shareholder of the Hudson's Bay Company. He was president of the Bank of Montreal and with his first cousin, George Stephen (later Lord Mount Stephen), co-founded the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and afterwards represented Montreal in the House of Commons of Canada. He was Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1896 to 1914. He was chairman of Burmah Oil and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. He was chancellor of McGill University (1889–1914) and the University of Aberdeen.

King Edward VII called him "Uncle Donald". His estate was valued at $5.5 million. During his lifetime, and including the bequests left after his death, he gave away just over $7.5 million-plus a further £1 million (not including private gifts and allowances) to a huge variety of charitable causes across Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. He personally raised Strathcona's Horse, who saw their first action in the Second Boer War. He funded the building of Leanchoil Hospital. He and his first cousin, Lord Mount Stephen, purchased the land and then each gave $1 million to the City of Montreal to construct and maintain the Royal Victoria Hospital. He endowed the Lord Strathcona Medal and donated generously to McGill University, Aberdeen University, the Victoria University of Manchester, Yale University, the Prince of Wales Hospital Fund and the Imperial Institute. At McGill, he started the Donalda Program for the purpose of providing higher education for Canadian women, building the Royal Victoria College on Sherbrooke Street for that purpose in 1886. He also built the Strathcona Medical Building at McGill and endowed its chairs in pathology and hygiene.

Early life
Born 6 August 1820, on Forres High Street, in Moray, Scotland, he was the second son of Alexander Smith (1786–1841) and his wife Barbara Stuart, daughter of Donald Stuart (b.c.1740) of Leanchoil, Upper Strathspey, descended from Murdoch Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany. His father, whose family had lived at Archiestown Cottage as crofters at Knockando, became a saddler at Forres after trying his hand at farming and soldiering. Donald was also a first cousin of the successful and notably philanthropic Grant brothers of Manchester, who were reputedly immortalised as the "Cheeryble Brothers" in Charles Dickens' book, Nicholas Nickleby. Donald's mother was the sister of the Canadian explorer John Stuart, partner of the North West Company who rose to become Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Smith was educated at Anderson's Free School and on leaving at age sixteen he was apprenticed to become a lawyer in the offices of Robert Watson, Town Clerk of Forres. By the age of eighteen, Smith chose another career path: offered entry into mercantile life at Manchester, and a career in the Indian Civil Service, his choice was to pattern himself on his uncle John Stuart (who had by then returned to live near Forres) who offered him a junior clerkship in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. Smith chose to follow his uncle's career and sailed to Montreal that year.

Hudson's Bay Company
Smith emigrated to Lower Canada in 1838 to work for the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), becoming a clerk for the organization in 1842. He was given administrative control over the seigneury of Mingan (in modern Labrador) in late 1843, where his innovative methods met with the disapproval of HBC governor Sir George Simpson. The Mingan post burned down in 1846, and Smith left for Montreal the following year. He returned in 1848, and remained in Labrador until the 1860s, administering the fur trade and salmon fishing within the region.

In 1862, Smith was promoted as the company's Chief Factor in charge of the Labrador district. He travelled to London in 1865, and made a favourable impression on the HBC's directors. In 1868, he was promoted to Commissioner of the Montreal department, managing the HBC's eastern operations. That same year, Smith joined with George Stephen, Richard Bladworth Angus, and Andrew Paton to establish the textile manufactory, Paton Manufacturing Company, in Sherbrooke.

In 1869, the government of John A. Macdonald held the HBC accountable for the disturbances reported in the Red River Colony, which was part of the proposed purchase of the original part of Rupert's Land from the HBC. The person in charge of HBC's nominal head office in Montreal was Smith, and he was asked by the Governor-General to investigate and write a Royal Commission report. Smith travelled to (present-day) Manitoba, and negotiated at Fort Garry with Louis Riel, who had been voted the leader of the resistance. Smith's offers, including land recognition for the Métis, led to Riel calling a Council of 40 representatives, drawn half-and-half from the Metis and the HBC settlers, for formal negotiations. Smith returned to Ottawa in early 1870, and communicated the Royal Commission on the North-West Territories, which effectively made his name in Canada and London. Smith succeeded in gaining clemency for some prisoners within the region; he was not, however, able to prevent the execution of Thomas Scott by Riel's provisional government. He was appointed that year to the office of President of the HBC's Council of the Northern Department (effectively becoming administrator of the Northwest Territories, including Manitoba).

Smith accompanied Col. Garnet Wolseley's military mission to Red River later in the year; following the end of the resistance, Wolseley appointed Smith as the Acting Governor of Assiniboia pending Lieutenant Governor Adams George Archibald's arrival in the province. Smith stayed in the region after 1870 and was responsible for negotiating the transfer of HBC land to the federal government (as well as coordinating the transfer of several specific land claims in the region). Archibald appointed Smith to his Executive Council on 20 October 1870, although this decision was subsequently overturned by the Canadian government, which ruled that Archibald had overstepped his legal authority.

Political career
In Manitoba's first general election, held on 27 December 1870, Smith was elected to the provincial legislature for the riding of Winnipeg and St. John, defeating long-time HBC nemesis John Christian Schultz by 71 votes to 63. Smith was a supporter of Archibald's consensus government, and opposed Schultz's ultra-loyalist Canadian Party; there was a riot among the Ontario soldiers stationed in Winnipeg following the announcement of Smith's victory.

Politicians were allowed to serve in both the provincial and federal parliaments in this period of Manitoba history, and Smith was elected to the House of Commons of Canada for the newly formed riding of Selkirk in early 1871. He sat as an Independent Conservative, and initially supported the government of Sir John A. Macdonald. Easily re-elected in 1872, Smith was a strong defender of HBC interests in the House of Commons, and also spoke for issues concerning Manitoba and the Northwest. He helped create the Bank of Manitoba and the Manitoba Insurance Company during this period, assisted by banker Sir Hugh Allan.

In 1872 Smith was appointed to the first group of members of the Temporary North-West Council the first governing assembly of the North-West Territories. Smith was one of the few people who served on two provincial/territorial legislatures and the federal parliament at the same time.

Smith broke with Macdonald in 1873, after the Prime Minister had delayed reimbursement for Smith's earlier expenses in Red River. Smith voted to censure the government in a motion over the Pacific Scandal and was thereby partly responsible for the government's defeat. Smith remained an Independent Conservative, but his relations with the official Conservative representatives were often strained in later years.

Manitoba abolished the "dual mandate" in 1873, and Smith resigned from the provincial legislature in early 1874 (the first person to do so). In the Canadian general election of 1874, Smith defeated Liberal candidate Andrew G. B. Bannatyne by 329 votes to 225. The Manitoba Free Press, at the time, suggested that Smith had encouraged Bannatyne's candidacy to prevent more serious opposition from emerging.

In 1873, the HBC separated its fur trade and land sales operations, putting Smith in charge of the latter. Smith had developed an interest in railway expansion through his work with the HBC, and in 1875 was among the incorporators of the Manitoba Western Railway. He was also a partner in the Red River Transportation Company, which gained control over the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in March 1878. His business ventures increasingly dominated his labours, and he formally resigned as land commissioner in early 1879, though he remained a leading figure in the HBC's operations for another 30 years.

Smith faced a serious electoral challenge from former Manitoba Lieutenant Governor Alexander Morris in the general election of 1878. Aided on this occasion by the Manitoba Free Press, Smith defeated Morris by 555 votes to 546; local Conservative organizers protested the result, and it was overturned two years later. On 10 September 1880, Smith was defeated by former Winnipeg Mayor Thomas Scott, 735 votes to 577.

Corporate leader
In May 1879, Smith became a director in the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company, having control over 20% of its shares. He was subsequently a leading figure in the creation of the Canadian Pacific Railway, although he was not appointed as a director of the organization until 1883 because of his lingering animosity with Sir John A. Macdonald (who had again become prime minister in 1878). During his tenure on the board, Smith had the honour of driving the last spike at Craigellachie, British Columbia to complete the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway rail line. Smith remained on the board of directors for several years, although he was by-passed for the company's presidency in 1888, in favour of William Cornelius Van Horne.

Smith became extremely wealthy through his investments, and he was involved in a myriad of Canadian and American corporations in the latter part of the 19th century. He was appointed to the board of the Bank of Montreal in 1872, became its vice-president in 1882, and was promoted to the Presidency in 1887. His leadership in real estate transactions caused Smith to become a financier, and he was thus involved in (or founded) over 80 trust structures, including the Royal Trust and Montreal Trust. He retained a significant interest in the Hudson's Bay Company throughout his life and became in 1889 Governor of the company that had made his name.

Smith was also involved in the newspaper industry in his later years. His attempt to take over the Toronto Globe in 1882 was unsuccessful, though he took effective control of the Manitoba Free Press from William Fisher Luxton in 1893. In 1889, he was the principal shareholder of the Hudson's Bay Company and was elected as its 26th governor, holding this position until his death in 1914.

Later political career
Smith was re-elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1887, in the Quebec riding of Montreal West, and once again sat as an "Independent Conservative". In the same year he received an honorary Doctor of Laws from St John's College, Cambridge. He was re-elected in the election of 1891, defeating his only opponent, James Cochrane, 4586 votes to 880. Smith remained interested in Manitoba politics, and attempted (without success) to broker a compromise between Thomas Greenway and the federal government during the Manitoba school crisis of the 1890s.

High Commissioner
Prime Minister Sir Mackenzie Bowell wanted Smith to succeed him in 1896, but Smith refused. The position of Prime Minister instead went to Sir Charles Tupper, who appointed Smith as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom on 24 April 1896.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier retained Smith as High Commissioner following the Liberal election victory of 1896, although his powers were somewhat undercut. He was created Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, of Glencoe in the County of Argyll and of Mount Royal in the Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, on 23 August 1897, as part of the 1897 Diamond Jubilee Honours. He had already been made KCMG on 29 May 1886, promoted to GCMG on 20 May 1896, and was further made GCVO in 1908. He cooperated with Manitoba Liberal Clifford Sifton in opening the Canadian prairies to eastern-European immigration. He raised Strathcona's Horse, a private unit of Canadian soldiers, during the Second Boer War, and became one of the leading supporters of British imperialism within London. After the end of the war, he was appointed among the members of a Royal Commission set up to investigate the conduct of the Second Boer War (the Elgin Commission 1902–1903). He was involved in the creation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, of which he became the chairman in 1909. Lord Strathcona subsequently used his influence to make the company a major supplier of the Royal Navy.

He was granted a second creation of the Barony, with a Special Remainder in favour of his daughter Margaret Charlotte Howard, as Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, of Mount Royal in the Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada, and of Glencoe in the County of Argyll, on 26 June 1900.

He was Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen (1899–1902), and he received the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen in a ceremony on 9 April 1902.

On 12 February 1902, he was appointed an Honorary Colonel of the 8th (Volunteer) Battalion, the King's (Liverpool Regiment), and the same month he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) from the Victoria University of Manchester, in connection with the 50th jubilee of the establishment of the university. He received the honorary degree Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) from the University of Oxford in October 1902, in connection with the tercentenary of the Bodleian Library.

He was sworn in as a Member of the Imperial Privy Council in 1904. He received the Freedom of the City of Bath on 13 July 1911.

Philanthropy
Strathcona was a leading philanthropist in his later years, donating large sums of money to various organizations in Britain, Canada and elsewhere. His largest donations were made with George Stephen, donating the money to build the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal that opened its doors in 1893. Strathcona also made a major donation to McGill University in Montreal, where he helped establish a school for women in 1884 (Royal Victoria College). He was named Chancellor of McGill in 1888, and he held the post until his death. He also bequeathed funds to the Sheffield Scientific School for a science and engineering building and to support two professorships in engineering. He was awarded an honorary degree from Yale University in 1892. He contributed donations to the new University of Birmingham following representations by Joseph Chamberlain.

In 1910, Strathcona deposited in trust with the Dominion Government the sum of $500,000, bearing an annual interest of 4%, to develop citizenship and patriotism, for example in the Royal Canadian Army Cadets movement, through physical training, rifle shooting, and military drill. A Syllabus of Physical Exercises for Schools was published by the Trust in 1911. He is remembered today by the Cadets with the Lord Strathcona Medal.

Death
Lord Strathcona died in 1914 in London and was buried at Highgate Cemetery. His imposing red granite vault is the first vault after entering the Eastern Cemetery. His seventy-five-year tenure with the Hudson's Bay Company remains a record.

He lived in Montreal's Golden Square Mile. In 1895, he purchased an estate in Scotland, building and living at Glencoe House. In 1905, he purchased the Island of Colonsay including Colonsay House (where his descendants still live) and the Island of Oronsay, both on the Hebridean coast of Scotland. He kept a house in London and after his appointment as Canadian High Commissioner leased Knebworth House from 1899 until his death. He was given a full state funeral at Westminster Abbey, where a memorial stands to his memory, and would have been entombed there but he preferred to rest next to his wife, who pre-deceased him by several months, in Highgate Cemetery.

His obituary in The Times of London read in part, With no advantage of birth or fortune he made himself one of the great outstanding figures of the Empire.

Family
In 1853, he married Isabella Sophia Hardisty (1825–1913), daughter of Richard Hardisty (1790–1865), Chief Trader of the Hudson's Bay Company, and Margaret Sutherland (1802–1876), daughter of the Rev. John Sutherland, a native of Caithness who lived at Lachine, Quebec. Lady Strathcona's father was a native of London, England, and her mother was of Indian and Scottish parentage. Her brother was the Hon. Richard Charles Hardisty. She was presented to King Edward and Queen Alexandra, 13 March 1903, and with her daughter donated $100,000 to McGill University in Montreal to erect a new wing to its Medical Building. The couple lived at 53 Cadogan Square, London; Knebworth House; Debden Hall; Glencoe House, Scotland; Colonsay House, Scotland and 1157 Dorchester Street, in Montreal's Golden Square Mile.

Lord and Lady Strathcona were the parents of one child, the Hon. Margaret Charlotte Smith. In accordance with the special remainder to the 1900 barony, she succeeded her father as Lady Strathcona in 1914. In 1888, she married Robert Jared Bliss Howard OBE FRCS (1859–1921), son of Robert Palmer Howard (1823–1889), Dean of Medicine at McGill University.

Robert Howard and Lady Strathcona had the following children:

 * The Hon. Frances Margaret Palmer Howard (born 13 February 1889, died 5 October 1958)
 * The Rt Hon. Donald Sterling Palmer Howard, 3rd Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal (born 14 June 1891, died 22 February 1959)
 * The Hon. Robert Henry Palmer Howard (born 1893, killed in action 8 May 1915)
 * The Hon. Edith Mary Palmer Howard (born 7 April 1895, died 1979), married John Brooke Molesworth Parnell, 6th Baron Congleton on 6 April 1918
 * The Hon. Sir Arthur Jared Palmer Howard, KBE CVO (born 30 May 1896, died 26 April 1971)

His Montreal home was located in the Golden Square Mile. In 1905, he bought the island of Colonsay in the Inner Hebrides, which remains in the hands of his successors today.

Legacy
Lord Strathcona is commemorated in Montreal by several McGill University buildings; he gave freely of his time to this institution, and a great quantity of his wealth. In Westmount, a street was named in his honour. In the greater Montreal West Island community, the Strathcona Desjardins Credit Union bears his name, with offices downtown Montreal and in Kirkland. The credit union members were historically from the English-speaking hospitals of Montreal, but since recent mergers also include the Montreal area, English-speaking teachers.

The Strathcona family mansion in Montreal on Dorchester Street (now René Lévesque Boulevard) near Fort Street was torn down in 1941 to make way for an apartment building.

Strathcona Avenue, located in Westmount (a suburb on the island of Montreal) is named in his honour.

Strathcona is commemorated in Manitoba by the Rural Municipality of Strathcona and by three streets in Winnipeg: Donald Street and Smith Street in the downtown core, and Strathcona Street in the city's West End. In Alberta he is commemorated by the Calgary neighbourhood of Strathcona Park by the Edmonton neighbourhood of Strathcona, and by the municipality of Strathcona County. In British Columbia, the Vancouver neighbourhood of Strathcona takes its name from Lord Strathcona School built in 1891, and Mount Sir Donald in Glacier National Park is named after him. There are oil portraits of Lord Strathcona by many artists, but the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury seems to have made a number of head and shoulder portraits of him from 1898 (examples may be found at the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad offices and in the Hudson's Bay Company [this has a repainted background]), and the artist also presented his 1899 bust-length charcoal and crayon drawing of Strathcona to McGill University in Montreal in 1916.

The Town of Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories is named after Donald Smith. There is a stained glass window memorializing him in Westminster Abbey. His coat of arms appears over the main entrance of Marischal College in Aberdeen. Strathcona Park, which was erected by the city of Ottawa in 1907, is dedicated to him. The Town of Transcona, Manitoba, incorporated in 1912 as a community to support the new railway shops of the Grand Trunk Pacific and National Transcontinental railways, takes half its name from Lord Strathcona, and the other half from the word transcontinental.

Strathcona was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame in 1973.

Ships named for Lord Strathcona
At least three ships were named for Lord Strathcona during his lifetime. These were:

 * Strathcona, a 598-ton, 142-foot wooden sidewheel paddle steamer, was built in 1898 by J. Macfarlane at New Westminster, British Columbia for the Hudson's Bay Company. The vessel was operated on the Pacific Northwest coast and in 1898-99 carried elements of the Yukon Field Force. In 1902 Strathcona was sold to S.J.V. Spratt, later passing into the hands of the Sidney & Nanaimo Transportation Company. On 17 November 1909, the vessel was wrecked on a snag near Pages Landing on the Fraser River. In 1910 Strathcona was refloated and towed to New Westminster, where the engines and boilers were removed and the hull abandoned.
 * Strathcona, a 1,881-ton, 253-foot steel canal-sized Great Lakes freighter, was built in 1900 by the Caledon Shipbuilding Company in Dundee, Scotland. This steamer was converted from a bulk carrier to a package freighter in 1911 by the Collingwood Shipbuilding Company at Collingwood, Ontario. Strathcona sailed for Inland Lines, Ltd., of Hamilton, Ontario until 1913, whereupon it passed into the hands of Canada Steamship Lines when that fleet was established. In 1915 Strathcona was requisitioned for ocean service during the First World War. While bound from the Tyne to Marseilles, France, Strathcona was sunk by a scuttling charge from SM U-78 on 13 April 1917 when some 145 miles west-northwest of North Ronaldsay, Orkney Islands.
 * Lord Strathcona, a 495-ton, 160-foot steel salvage tug, was built in 1902 by J.P. Renoldson & Sons, Ltd., at South Shields, England. Owned by George T. Davie & Sons of Lauzon, Quebec, this tug arrived on its delivery voyage on 4 May 1902. Lord Strathcona was sold in 1912 to the Quebec Salvage & Wrecking Company, Ltd., a Canadian Pacific subsidiary, and remained in service through the end of the Second World War. Ownership passed to Foundation Maritime in 1944, and Lord Strathcona was scrapped in 1947.

A fourth ship, Lord Strathcona, was a 7,335-ton, 455-foot ocean steamer built in 1915 by W. Doxford & Sons Ltd. at Sunderland, England. Owned by the Dominion Line, Lord Strathcona was bound from Wabana, Newfoundland to Sydney, Nova Scotia with iron ore when the vessel was torpedoed and sunk by U-513 on 5 September 1942. Lord Strathcona's crew of 44, including Captain Charles Stewart, were rescued.


text: User talk:202.147.162.14

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

title: User talk:202.147.162.14


text:
Eva Mendes

Eva de la Caridad Méndez (, ; born March 5, 1974), known professionally as Eva Mendes, is an American actress. Her acting career began in the late 1990s with a series of roles in films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998) and Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000).

Mendes's performance in Training Day (2001) marked a turning point in her career and led to parts in the commercially successful films 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and Hitch (2005). She starred in Ghost Rider (2007) and The Spirit (2008), both film adaptations of comics, and ventured into more dramatic territory with We Own the Night (2007), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), Last Night (2010), and The Place Beyond the Pines (2012). Her other films include Out of Time (2003), The Women (2008), The Other Guys (2010), and Girl in Progress (2012).

Mendes has appeared in several music videos for artists such as Will Smith and has also been an ambassador for brands including Calvin Klein, Cartier, Reebok, Pantene shampoo, Morgan and Peek & Cloppenburg. She has designed for New York & Company and is the creative director of CIRCA Beauty, a makeup line sold at Walgreens. She has been in a relationship with Canadian actor Ryan Gosling since 2011, and they have two daughters.

Early life
Mendes was born on March 5, 1974, in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents Eva Pérez Suárez and Juan Carlos Méndez and was raised by her mother in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake  after her parents' divorce. Her mother worked at Mann's Chinese Theatre and later for an aerospace company, and her father ran a meat distribution business. Mendes had one older brother Juan Carlos Méndez Jr. (1963–2016), who died from throat cancer. She attended Hoover High School in Glendale and later studied marketing at California State University, Northridge, but left college to pursue acting under Ivana Chubbuck.

Beginnings and breakthrough (1998–2001)
Mendes started her acting career after a talent manager saw her photograph in a friend's portfolio. Her first film role was as part of a group of young people who become lost in middle America in the direct-to-video horror film Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror. Mendes was disappointed in her performance and soon hired an acting coach. She subsequently took on the roles of a bridesmaid in the comedy A Night at the Roxbury (1998) with Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan, a housekeeper in the fantasy family film My Brother the Pig (1999) with Scarlett Johansson, and an ill-fated film student in the slasher film Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000).

Mendes appeared in the Steven Seagal action thriller Exit Wounds (2001), which made over US$73 million worldwide. According to Mendes, her voice was dubbed in the editing after a producer told her she "didn't sound intelligent enough". Her breakthrough came later in 2001 with her performance as the mistress of a corrupt cop in Antoine Fuqua's crime thriller Training Day alongside Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. She described her role as pivotal in her career, motivating her to keep going as an actress after she had become bored doing "terrible, cheesy horrible films." Training Day was a box office hit, grossing US$104.5 million.

Worldwide exposure (2002–2009)
Her role in Training Day led to larger film parts and Mendes soon established herself as a Hollywood actress. While her sole film release in 2002 was the crime comedy All About the Benjamins, in which she played the girlfriend of a con artist, Mendes had roles in four studio feature films released throughout 2003. 2 Fast 2 Furious teamed her with Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson while portraying a United States Customs Service agent working undercover for a notorious Argentine drug lord. The film gave Mendes much wider exposure, grossing over US$236 million globally. The Western action film Once Upon a Time in Mexico saw her star as the daughter of a Mexican drug lord, alongside Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek. While reviews for the film were mixed, it made US$98.1 million.

Mendes reunited with Denzel Washington for the thriller Out of Time, in which she played the soon-to-be ex-wife of a well-respected chief of police. The film was a moderate commercial success, and Roger Ebert, in his review for the film, described Mendes' role as a "curiously forgiving character, who feels little rancor for the straying [husband] and apparently still likes him; maybe there would have been more suspense if she were furious with him". Her last 2003 film was the comedy Stuck on You, with Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear, in which she played an aspiring actress.

She starred as the love interest of a professional dating consultant (Will Smith), in her next film, Hitch (2005),USA Today described it as "her best screen role to date", and Detroit Free Press remarked: "Smith and Mendes are terrific together. He brings her game up so high you'd think she has had as many good parts as Smith." Hitch made US$368.1 million in its global theatrical run. In 2005, Mendes also starred in the little-seen films The Wendell Baker Story and Guilty Hearts.

In the romantic comedy Trust the Man (2006), Mendes starred with David Duchovny, Billy Crudup, Julianne Moore, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, playing what The A.V. Club described as a "vapid sexpot". The much criticized Ghost Rider (2007), based on the Marvel Comics character, featured Mendes as the love interest of the titular character (Nicolas Cage). The film fared well commercially, opening atop at the North American box office, with earnings of more than US$45 million; it eventually made over US$228 million worldwide. She starred opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg in the thriller We Own the Night (also 2007), as the girlfriend of an NYPD captain's brother. Critic Peter Travers found the film to be "defiantly, refreshingly unhip" and noted that "sizzle comes naturally" from Mendes. In 2007, she also starred in the films Live! and Cleaner, both of which went unnoticed by audiences, and made an uncredited cameo appearance in the comedy Knocked Up.

In 2008, Mendes took on the role of a perfume salesgirl in Saks Fifth Avenue in the all-female comedy The Women, opposite Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Debra Messing, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Though a commercial success, The Women was panned by critics, with Mendes earning a nomination for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her performance. She also played the femme fatale Sand Saref in 2008's The Spirit, based on the newspaper comic strip of the same name by Will Eisner. It received lackluster reviews from critics, who deemed it melodramatic, unoriginal, and sexist. Her only 2009 film release was the crime drama Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, which reunited her with Nicolas Cage, playing a prostitute, and again, his love interest. While the film found a limited audience in theaters, it garnered acclaim, appearing on many top ten lists of the year.

Further roles and retirement (2010–2014)
Mendes reunited with previous collaborators Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg for the action comedy The Other Guys (2010), in which she portrayed the wife of a mild-mannered forensic NYPD accountant (Ferrell). It was a commercial success, grossing US$170.4 million globally. In 2010, she also played the co-worker and the love interest of a committed man in Massy Tadjedin's romantic drama Last Night, alongside Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington. While she was initially reluctant to star, worrying that the character would "lack originality" and was "too seductive", she agreed to play the role after meeting with Tadjedin; she said: "It was great to connect with a female director and talk about this woman and not objectify her as the other woman but give her a real true life and make her honest ... Thank God I did."

In 2011, Mendes appeared in an uncredited cameo in Fast Five, reprising her role from 2 Fast 2 Furious. In 2012, she starred in the dramedy Girl in Progress, as a single mom raising her fourteen-year-old daughter, and in the art fantasy drama Holy Motors, as Kay M, a role originally written for Kate Moss. While Girl in Progress earned Mendes an ALMA Award nomination for Favorite Movie Actress, she described Holy Motors as "the coolest, most creative thing I've ever done".

In The Place Beyond the Pines (also 2012), a drama directed by Derek Cianfrance and alongside Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper, Mendes portrayed the former lover of a motorcycle stuntman. The film was a moderate commercial success, and Entertainment Weekly, in its review, described her performance as "quietly heartbreaking". She also visited Sierra Leone and was featured in the PBS documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, which aired in October 2012.

In 2013, Mendes appeared in the HBO comedy film Clear History as a formerly heavy-set woman, and in 2014, she starred as a cabaret show performer in Ryan Gosling's directorial debut Lost River, which competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival. Thereafter, she retired from the film industry. Speaking of her retirement in 2022, Mendes said:

"'I got tired fighting for the good roles. There just was a point where I thought, ‘I’m going to create my own opportunities and become a producer on things and create my own material,’ but it just didn’t feel worth it to me. There are more opportunities for Latina actresses now (in 2022), but when I bowed out 10 years ago I wasn’t being offered things that weren’t specifically Latina. It is exciting that things are different now, so who knows what I will do in the future. But right now, I’m keeping it in the home with my kids.'"

Modeling
Mendes appeared in the Pet Shop Boys' music video for "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)" in 1996, Aerosmith's music video for "Hole in My Soul" in 1997, and Will Smith's music video for "Miami" in 1998. She also appeared in the music video for The Strokes' "The End Has No End" in 2004.

In 2005, Mendes was employed by Revlon as an international spokesperson, and participated in their campaign to raise funds for breast cancer research. In December 2007, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) used a nude photo of Mendes for their anti-fur campaign. Mendes was a spokesmodel for the 2008 Campari calendar. She also appeared nude in a 2008 print advertisement for Calvin Klein's Secret Obsession perfume, an ad that United States network executives found too risqué for broadcasting.

Mendes has been a spokesperson for Calvin Klein, Magnum, and the chocolate milk brand Cocio. She also promoted Thierry Mugler's Angel fragrance, Reebok shoes, and Pantene shampoo. In 2011, Mendes appeared in a Peek & Cloppenburg clothing catalog.

Fashion designing
Mendes has a line of bed linens and dinnerware that is sold at Macy's. In February 2013, she partnered with New York & Co. to launch her own fashion line, Eva by Eva Mendes. She is also the creative director of the makeup brand CIRCA Beauty, which launched exclusively at Walgreens in 2015.

Singing
In 2010, Mendes sang "Pimps Don't Cry", a song featured in The Other Guys, and also performed a duet with CeeLo Green with the same song. In 2011, she recorded a version of "The Windmills of Your Mind". She also featured in the single "Miami" sung by Will Smith which was released in 1998.

Public image
Many media outlets have cited her as one of the world's most beautiful Latin women, and she has been often considered a sex symbol. She once embraced that status, saying it was "partially self-created ... I think at times I play up my sexiness. And there's times where I don't", though she does not let it interfere with her film work: "I like it when it doesn't limit my career. It's a part of my life, but on a secondary plane". Nevertheless, her professional trajectory throughout the 2000s tended to gravitate towards parts that relied heavily on her looks. She has not appeared in a film since 2014.

Mendes ranked 54th, 12th, 7th, 7th, and 11th in Maxim magazine's Hot 100 issue in 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010 respectively, and appeared several times on the cover. She also ranked 80th, 23rd and 44th in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" supplement in 2004, 2005, 2006. She was voted number four in the 2008 edition, and number one in the 2009 edition, of AskMen.com's Top 99 Most Desirable Women. People also named her one of 2011's Most Beautiful at Every Age.

Personal life
Mendes began dating music producer George Augusto in 2002. They broke up in 2011.

In 2008, she entered the Cirque Lodge Rehabilitation Centre in Utah to address a dependency problem related to drugs and alcohol.

In September 2011, she began dating Ryan Gosling, shortly after they filmed The Place Beyond the Pines together. They have two daughters, born in 2014 and 2016.

Mendes is a pescatarian for perceived ethical and health reasons. She also practices Transcendental Meditation.

title: Eva Mendes


text:
Greg Vanney

Greg Vanney (born June 11, 1974) is an American former professional soccer player and head coach of the LA Galaxy in Major League Soccer.

A defender and one of MLS's original players, Vanney spent 10 seasons in the league and another three-and-a-half in the French First Division playing for Sporting Club de Bastia between 2002 and 2005. He also earned 36 caps, scoring one goal, with the U.S. national team between 1996 and 2006.

In 2017, as coach of Toronto FC, Vanney won the domestic treble by winning the MLS Cup, Supporters' Shield and the Canadian Championship.

High school and college
Vanney played soccer for Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, Arizona, and led the team to three consecutive state championship titles in 1990, 1991, and 1992. Vanney holds the school record for most assists by one player in a season with 13 for the 1990–1991 season, and also holds the school record for most goals by one player in a single season with 33 goals for the 1991–1992 season. He was also named the 5A player of the year for the 1991–1992 season, Gatorade Player of the Year, NSCAA and Parade All-America in 1992. Greg Vanney played college soccer for Florida International University in 1992, and for UCLA from 1993 to 1995. In 1995, Vanney was named All-America honorable mention and finished his senior season with 8 goals and 10 assists.

Professional
Vanney was drafted 17th overall in the 1996 MLS College Draft by the Los Angeles Galaxy. The team sent him on loan to the Sacramento Scorpions of USISL for three games at the beginning of the season where he netted three goals in three games including two game winners. Vanney played for the Galaxy for six years, from 1996 to 2001, and was consistently one of the best defenders in MLS, leading the Galaxy to three MLS Cup Finals and two CONCACAF Champion's Cup Finals. He was named to the MLS Best XI in both 2000 and 2001, and an MLS All-Star in 2001. After the 2001 MLS season, Vanney transferred to the French First Division club SC Bastia. In the first six months with Bastia, Vanney helped lead the French club to its first appearance in the Coupe de France Final in over 20 years. He left the club in 2005, coming back to MLS and signing with FC Dallas. After two seasons with the Hoops, and two All-Star selections, Vanney was traded to Colorado on January 12, 2007. On June 29, 2007, he was traded from the Rapids to D.C. United. On February 15, 2008, the rights for Vanney were transferred to his first club, the Los Angeles Galaxy. Vanney announced his retirement from the professional game on October 26, 2008; his last game against his former club FC Dallas.

International
Vanney also spent 11 years as a member of the United States national team, debuting December 21, 1996 against Guatemala, and played 36 games and scored one goal (September 2005). Vanney participated in three FIFA World Cup qualifying cycles for the United States (1998, 2002 and 2006). He was originally named as an alternate for the 2002 FIFA World Cup but initially replaced the injured Chris Armas on the roster after the midfielder picked up an ACL injury in a warm-up friendly against Uruguay on May 12, 2002. Vanney was himself injured in the next warm-up friendly on May 16, 2002, against Jamaica and was replaced on the roster by Steve Cherundolo. Vanney also was a member of the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup Championship team and was featured in the early part of 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying for the United States.

Early career
Vanney has more than 15 years experience in youth soccer: coaching, directing and consulting. He holds a USSF "A" Coaching License and has been actively involved with the U.S. Soccer Development Academy as a scout and other programming.

Vanney co-founded Arizona Futbol Club, a youth soccer club, in 1997 using a business plan Vanney started as a class assignment while attending UCLA. The club was later merged into Sereno Soccer Club.

Vanney was a member of the U.S. Soccer Education Staff that traveled to Spain in March 2010.

Vanney was an Academy Director for Real Salt Lake from 2008 to 2011. Vanney and his staff, with the support of Grande Sports World and Real Salt Lake, established the first MLS Residential Academy in the United States in fewer than 8 months. The U-18 and U-16 boys teams began play in Fall 2010.

Greg Vanney moved back to Arizona in 2008. For some time, he held two titles: (1.) Director of Soccer Operations at Grande Sports World in Casa Grande, Arizona and (2.) Director of the Real Salt Lake-Arizona Youth Academy. As Director of Soccer Operations, Vanney oversaw program and event development at the Grande Sports World facility featuring 8 professional quality fields; state-of-the-art 58,000 sqft performance center with 4 stadium quality locker rooms; 10,000 sqft weight room, physical therapy and 16 classrooms. In the first year, Vanney has help attract four professional teams (Real Salt Lake, Seattle Sounders FC, Colorado Rapids, and Vancouver Whitecaps FC) to the facility to host their preseason camps.

In January 2011, Vanney joined Chivas USA as an assistant coach.

Toronto FC
Vanney got his first head coaching job in Major League Soccer when he became the ninth head coach for Toronto FC after Ryan Nelsen was dismissed on August 31, 2014, with 10 games remaining in the 2014 regular season. He inherited a 9–9–6 record. In his debut match, Toronto lost 1–0 to the Philadelphia Union. His first win came in a match that finished 3–0 against Chivas USA. He finished off the 2014 season in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with a record of two wins, six losses and two ties.

Toronto were eliminated from the Canadian Championship during the 2015 season, although they qualified for the playoffs for the first time that season, after finishing sixth in the Eastern Conference. The club's rivals Montreal Impact eliminated Toronto in the knockout round.

During the 2016 season, Toronto won the Canadian Championship and qualified for the playoffs after finishing in third place in the Eastern Conference. They got to the MLS Cup final where they lost in shoot-out 5–4 to Seattle Sounders FC following a goalless draw after extra-time.

The arrival of Spanish playmaker Victor Vázquez in midfield at the beginning of the 2017 season saw less responsibility placed on the club's star forward Sebastian Giovinco and captain Michael Bradley to create Toronto's goalscoring opportunities, and this in turn freed up the Italian, enabling him to focus more on his attacking game; furthermore, Greg Vanney's switch in tactics from a 4–4–2 diamond to a 3–5–2 formation benefitted Giovinco's and Jozy Altidore's attacking partnership: by playing closer together, and with Vázquez now supporting them as the team's main creator, the attacking duo began to demonstrate a deeper understanding and an increased awareness of each other's movements, which improved their link-up play, and saw an increase in Altidore's goalscoring output throughout the season. On June 27, Toronto defeated Montreal 2–1 at home in the second leg of the 2017 Canadian Championship final to capture the title for the second consecutive season, edging Montreal 3–2 on aggregate. On September 30, 2017, Toronto FC captured the Supporters' Shield with a 4–2 home win over New York Red Bulls, to clinch top of the league with the most points that season. On November 27, 2017, Vanney won the MLS Coach of the Year award. On December 9, 2017, Vanney led Toronto FC to MLS Cup victory in a 2–0 victory against Seattle. Greg Vanney was also named CONCACAF Coach of the Year.

Following an early round play-off elimination, Vanney resigned as coach of Toronto FC on December 1, 2020.

LA Galaxy
In January 2021, Vanney was named as head coach of the LA Galaxy, his former club, where he played for seven seasons.

After narrowly missing the playoffs in 2021, Vanney's Galaxy finished fourth in the Western Conference (ninth overall) in the 2022 season, the highest positions for the club since 2016. LA beat Nashville 1–0 in the first round, but fell to rivals Los Angeles FC 3–2 in the conference semifinals.

Personal life
Vanney is the uncle of LA Galaxy defender Eriq Zavaleta.

Broadcasting
In 2009, Greg Vanney provided color commentary with play-by-play announcer Kevin Calabro for Seattle Sounders FC games on FSN Northwest and KONG-TV and radio.

Other
Vanney participates on the U.S. Soccer Professional Referee Committee as well as being a representative on the U.S. Soccer Athlete's Council.

International

 * United States
 * CONCACAF Gold Cup: 2005

Club

 * Los Angeles Galaxy
 * Supporters' Shield: 1998
 * CONCACAF Champions' Cup: 2000
 * U.S. Open Cup: 2001
 * Western Conference (playoffs) (3): 1996, 1999, 2001

 * D.C. United
 * Supporters' Shield: 2007

Individual

 * MLS All-Star: 2000
 * MLS Best XI: 2000, 2001

Toronto FC

 * MLS Cup: 2017
 * Eastern Conference (Playoffs): 2016, 2017, 2019
 * Canadian Championship: 2016, 2017, 2018
 * Supporters' Shield: 2017
 * Trillium Cup: 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019

Individual

 * MLS Coach of the Year: 2017
 * CONCACAF Coach of the Year: 2017

title: Greg Vanney


text:
Tony McManus (soccer)

Anthony "Tony" McManus (born September 22, 1980, in Erie, Pennsylvania) is a former American soccer player who is currently an assistant coach for the Memphis Tigers.

College and amateur
McManus played college soccer for the University of Alabama at Birmingham from 2000 to 2003, where he was recognized as one of the best defenders in Conference USA (C-USA). McManus was selected to the C-USA Team of the week three times, Soccer America Magazine Team of The Week twice, and College Soccer News Team of the Week once. He was also a C-USA third team All Conference his junior year. The accolades continued his senior season when McManus was named C-USA first team All Conference, the C-USA Defender of the Year, an NSCAA third team All-America, and a College Soccer Times All America.

In 2002, McManus played with the Memphis Express in the USL Premier Development League.

McManus also played ODP for Region III, making the Tennessee State Team from 1994 to 1999, and was selected for the Region III team in '96, and the US National Pool in 1998. He was also selected to the USASA Region III Team in 2003 and was a member of the US National B Team.

Professional
McManus was drafted in the sixth round (59th overall) in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft by Chicago Fire. He played in all pre-season matches for Fire, but sent on loan with the Virginia Beach Mariners of the USL First Division. He played 24 games in the 2004 season, scoring 1 goal and 2 assists in 898 minutes. After the USL season ended McManus was recalled to the Fire and played 35 minutes in the inaugural Hall of Fame Game against the New York/New Jersey Metrostars.

In 2005, McManus moved to the Atlanta Silverbacks of the USL First Division, where he stayed until the team's demise following the 2008 season. He played in 24 games and logged 1027 minutes in 12 starts in his first season with the team, and ultimately played 156 league games in his four seasons with the team, scoring 7 goals.

Following the conclusion of the 2005 USL1 season McManus was briefly loaned to FC Dallas of the MLS; he played in two reserve matches logging 90 minutes, but never saw any first team action.

In January 2009, McManus signed with the Portland Timbers of the USL-1. McManus spent two years with the USL franchise helping them to the Commissioners Cup Championship. He joined the Timbers for their inaugural 2011 MLS camp and decided to leave the team at the end of the preseason due to contract breakdowns.

McManus signed with FC Tampa Bay of the second division North American Soccer League on March 4, 2011. On May 26, 2011, it was announced that McManus had been released by Tampa, citing breach of contract. McManus announced his retirement from professional soccer on June 23, 2011.

Following a month long hiatus from the game, McManus returned to the Portland Timbers and appeared in two matches against San Jose in a reserve team match and Ajax in an exhibition.

On August 12, 2011, it was announced that McManus had signed a contract to finish the season with the Carolina RailHawks, also of the North American Soccer League.

The Atlanta Silverbacks, now playing in the North American Soccer League, announced the return of McManus to the squad on January 30, 2012. Following the 2012 season McManus officially retired from professional soccer and finished as the all-time leader in appearances with the Silverbacks organization with 132

Coaching
Following his retirement Tony joined the staff at Oglethorpe University D3 in Atlanta, GA. Following the conclusion of the 2012 College season, McManus joined the Stetson Coaching Staff in Florida.

In the spring McManus left Stetson and moved back to Memphis to join the University of Memphis Coaching staff where he is currently the first assistant.

In addition to coaching at the University of Memphis, McManus coaches with the Lobos Soccer Club in Collierville, TN.

Portland Timbers

 * USL First Division Commissioner's Cup (1): 2009

title: Tony McManus (soccer)


text:
Irori

An irori (囲炉裏, 居炉裏) is a traditional Japanese sunken hearth fired with charcoal. Used for heating the home and for cooking food, it is essentially a square, stone-lined pit in the floor, equipped with an adjustable pothook – called a jizaikagi (自在鉤) and generally consisting of an iron rod within a bamboo tube – used for raising or lowering a suspended pot or kettle by means of an attached lever which is often decoratively designed in the shape of a fish. Historically irori served as the main source of residential heating and lighting, providing a place to cook, dry clothing, and serve as a communal gathering location.

Function
The Irori (囲炉裏) has the following functions.

 * Residential heating
 * The irori was generally located in the center of the room and used for heating the whole room.
 * Cooking
 * The Irori was used for cooking . Jizaikagi (自在鉤) was used for hanging a pot over the fire. Fish and other food items were often skewered and stuck into ashes around the fire. They could also be buried in the ashes to be grilled. Sometimes a sake-filled tokkuri was heated by burying it in the ashes. In the Hokuriku region, cooking was done with irori until the kamado (cooking stoves) became widespread in the 1950s. In warm western Japan, people have disliked using irori during the summer and have used kamado and irori separately depending on the seasons from a long time ago.
 * Lighting
 * The Irori was used for lighting at night. In the pre-modern period, when fire was the primary illumination source, irori could safely light up a room. In the ancient time, oil and candle were used exclusively for lighting.
 * Drying
 * The Irori was used for drying clothes, food, raw wood, etc. by using hidana (wood lattice) hung from the ceiling over the irori or clothing racks placed by the irori.
 * Source for making fire
 * The fire in the irori was kept burning, and used for the source for making a fire of kamado or lighting equipments especially during the time without matches.
 * A place for family communication
 * The Irori functioned as a place where a family gathers. During meals and the night, people naturally gathered around irori and had conversations. Generally, each members of the family had a fixed place to sit, and irori functioned as a place to reaffirm the hierarchical order within the family. The names of each seats around the irori vary, but some examples include yokoza, kakaza, kyakaza, kijiri, or geza. The seat farthest from the doma (the entryway) named yokoza was the seat of family head, the children sat in the seat closest to the doma named kajiri. The guests and the head's wife sat on both sides of these seats.
 * Improvement of the durability of the house
 * The Irori fills the room with warm air, which lowers the moisture content in the wood and makes it less susceptible to decay. In addition, the tar (wood tar) contained in the smoke from burning wood permeates the beams and thatched roof making them insect resistant and waterproof. However, the smoke in the house can also cause eye disease and other health problems.
 * A place for family communication
 * The Irori functioned as a place where a family gathers. During meals and the night, people naturally gathered around irori and had conversations. Generally, each members of the family had a fixed place to sit, and irori functioned as a place to reaffirm the hierarchical order within the family. The names of each seats around the irori vary, but some examples include yokoza, kakaza, kyakaza, kijiri, or geza. The seat farthest from the doma (the entryway) named yokoza was the seat of family head, the children sat in the seat closest to the doma named kajiri. The guests and the head's wife sat on both sides of these seats.
 * Improvement of the durability of the house
 * The Irori fills the room with warm air, which lowers the moisture content in the wood and makes it less susceptible to decay. In addition, the tar (wood tar) contained in the smoke from burning wood permeates the beams and thatched roof making them insect resistant and waterproof. However, the smoke in the house can also cause eye disease and other health problems.
 * Improvement of the durability of the house
 * The Irori fills the room with warm air, which lowers the moisture content in the wood and makes it less susceptible to decay. In addition, the tar (wood tar) contained in the smoke from burning wood permeates the beams and thatched roof making them insect resistant and waterproof. However, the smoke in the house can also cause eye disease and other health problems.

title: Irori


text:
Chris Aloisi

Chris Aloisi (born February 21, 1981) is an American retired soccer player and coach.

College
Aloisi played four years of college soccer at Syracuse University, where he was named to the All-Big East third-team twice.

Professional
Aloisi was drafted 57th overall in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft by Los Angeles Galaxy. He struggled to get much playing time in a deep 2004 Galaxy defense, and was traded to the San Jose Earthquakes in the off-season in a four-player deal. Along with the rest of his Earthquakes teammates, he moved to Houston to play for the new Houston Dynamo for the 2006 season. Following that season, Aloisi and the team decided to part ways, having never made a first team appearance for Houston.

For the 2007 Season, Aloisi returned to his home state to play for the Rochester Raging Rhinos in the USL First Division. Aloisi took the rightback spot vacated by the departing Frank Sanfilippo, and eventually played in 19 games for the team, before leaving to take a player/assistant coach role with the Long Island Rough Riders in the USL Premier Development League.

Houston Dynamo

 * Major League Soccer MLS Cup (1): 2006

title: Chris Aloisi


text:
Sunny Bay station

Sunny Bay is an MTR station in Yam O. It is between Tung Chung and Tsing Yi stations. The station is an interchange station between the and the  to Hong Kong Disneyland. The station was originally to be named Yam O ; however, the name was ultimately replaced, likely because of its ominous connotations.

The station was the first MTR station to have automatic platform gates (APG) installed on the edge of its platforms. These gates range from $1⁄2$ to $3⁄4$ the height of the platform screen doors found in other MTR stations. In line with ground level and above-ground MTR stations, the Sunny Bay and Disneyland Resort stations are not air conditioned, and rely on their open architecture to keep the temperature low.

Services to the station commenced on 1 June 2005. The transfer facilities to the opened on 1 August that year. The livery of the station is slate grey. Platforms 1 (Tung Chung line towards Tung Chung) and 3 (Disneyland Resort line) are located opposite to each other to allow easy interchange of trains for passengers travelling from the urban areas. Architecture firm Aedas was the architect for the Disneyland Resort line and the architect for the Sunny Bay and Disneyland Resort stations.

The station is primarily used by tourists travelling to Hong Kong Disneyland who use the station to interchange from the Tung Chung line onto the Disneyland Resort line, but also provides bus transport links to the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge and Discovery Bay.

The passes through the centre of the station without stopping. This station is equipped with emergency platforms for the Airport Express.

History
The Tung Chung line began operations on 22 June 1998, shortly followed by the Airport Express two weeks later on 6 July. However, Sunny Bay station was not built at the time.

On 1 June 2005, in order to prepare for the opening of the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Sunny Bay station was opened initially for the staff of the resort. Two months later, on 1 August 2005, Disneyland Resort line also opened to the public.

Station layout
Passengers travelling from Hong Kong can disembark and board Disneyland Resort trains departing from the opposite platform. Passengers returning from Disneyland Resort must cross a footbridge to reach platform 2 to board Tung Chung line trains heading towards Hong Kong. The exit gates are located on the same level and on the same side of the rail tracks as Platform 2.

Entrance/exit

 * A: Transport interchange

Situated in reclaimed land near Yam O, the area is uninhabited and the sole exit leads to an emergency car park and transport interchange. As of 2005, the interchange is solely used by residents of Discovery Bay as the only bus routes run from the interchange to Discovery Bay, and as of late 2018, local passengers use this station in order to change for border route B5 (operated by Citybus) in order to change for buses to Macau and Zhuhai.

title: Sunny Bay station


text:
Talk:Yam O (MTR)

For an October 2004 deletion debate over this page see Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Yan O (MTR)

This is an incorrect record. The official name of this station is Sunny Bay, and its old name should be Yam O.

title: Talk:Yam O (MTR)


text:
Arthur Rock

Arthur Rock (born August 19, 1926) is an American businessman and investor. Based in Silicon Valley, California, he was an early investor in major firms including Intel, Apple, Scientific Data Systems and Teledyne.

Early life
Rock was born and raised in Rochester, New York, in a Jewish family. He was an only child and his father owned a small candy store where Rock worked in his youth. He joined the U.S. Army during World War II but the war ended before he was deployed. He then went to college on the G.I. Bill. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in business administration from Syracuse University in 1948 and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1951.

Career
Rock started his career in 1951 as a securities analyst in New York City, and then joined the corporate finance department of Hayden, Stone & Company in New York, where he focused on raising money for small high-technology companies. In 1957, when the "traitorous eight" left Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, Rock was the one who helped them find a place to go: he convinced Sherman Fairchild to start Fairchild Semiconductor.

In 1961, he moved to California. Along with Thomas J. Davis Jr., he formed the San Francisco venture capital firm Davis & Rock.

In 1968, Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and another Fairchild employee named Andy Grove, were ready to start a new company, Intel. Noyce contacted his good friend Rock, with whom he used to hike and camp. Rock described how Intel started."'Bob (Noyce) just called me on the phone. We'd been friends for a long time.… Documents? There was practically nothing. Noyce's reputation was good enough. We put out a page-and-a-half little circular, but I'd raised the money even before people saw it.'"Intel was incorporated in Mountain View, California, on July 18, 1968, by chemist Gordon E. Moore (known for "Moore's law"), Robert Noyce, a physicist and co-inventor of the integrated circuit. Of the original 500,000 shares Noyce held 245,000, Moore 245,000, and Rock 10,000; all at $1 per share. Rock raised $2.5 million of convertible debentures from a limited group of private investors in one day. Rock became Intel's first chairman.

In 1978, Mike Markulla of Apple Computer hooked up Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak with Rock. Rock bought 640,000 shares of Apple Computer and became a long-time director of the company.

Rock's investments and personal guidance helped launch and govern a distinguished roster of corporate firms including Intel, Apple, Scientific Data Systems, Teledyne, Xerox, Argonaut Insurance, AirTouch, the Nasdaq Stock Market, and Echelon Corporation.

Venture capital
During the 1950s, putting a venture capital deal together may have required the help of two or three other organizations to complete the transaction. It was a business that was growing very rapidly, and as the business grew, the transactions grew exponentially. Arthur Rock, one of the pioneers of Silicon Valley during his venturing the Fairchild Semiconductor is often credited with the introduction of the term "venture capitalist" that has since become widely accepted.

Rock's law
Rock's law or Moore's second law, named for Arthur Rock and Gordon Moore, respectively, says that the cost of a semiconductor chip fabrication plant doubles every four years. As of 2023, the price had already reached about 20 billion US dollars.

Rock's law can be seen as the economic flip side to Moore's (first) law – that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles every two years. The latter is a direct consequence of the ongoing growth of the capital-intensive semiconductor industry— innovative and popular products mean more profits, meaning more capital available to invest in ever higher levels of large-scale integration, which in turn leads to the creation of even more innovative products.

Philanthropy
In 2003, Rock donated $25 million to the Harvard Business School to establish the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship. He and his wife Toni founded the Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University. Mr. Rock was co-founder and past president of The Basic Fund which gives scholarships to inner city children to attend K-8 private schools. He is also on the board of Teach for America and Children's Scholarship Fund and an active funder of KIPP

Rock has donated to many political causes, especially in the area of education. He has donated to more than 30 school board elections across the country. In 2021, he donated over $500,000 to the 2022 San Francisco Board of Education recall elections.

Awards

 * 2007 Achievement in Business, Corporate, and Philanthropic Leadership of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
 * 2002 Business Leader of the Year, Harvard Business School Association of Northern California
 * 2001 Visionary Award, Software Development Forum
 * 1999 Private Equity Hall of Fame
 * 1999 Lifetime Achievement in Entrepreneurship & Innovation Award of the University of California
 * 1997 Arents Award of Syracuse University
 * 1995 California Business Hall of Fame
 * 1989 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
 * 1987 EY Entrepreneur of The Year Award Recipient, Northern California Region
 * Medal of Achievement of the American Electronics Association
 * Junior Achievement Hall of Fame
 * Bay Area Business Council Hall of Fame

Personal life
He is married to lawyer Toni Rembe. Together with his wife, Rock has been a supporter of Teach For America. The organization's annual Social Innovation Award is named in their honor.

Rock was portrayed by actor J. K. Simmons in the 2013 biographical drama Jobs.

title: Arthur Rock


text:
Linuxconf

Linuxconf is a system configuration tool for the Linux operating system. It features different user interfaces: a text interface or a graphical user interface in the form of a Web page or native application. Most Linux distributions consider it deprecated compared to other tools such as Webmin, the system-config-* tools on Red Hat Enterprise Linux/Fedora, drakconf on Mandriva, YaST on openSUSE and so on. Linuxconf was deprecated from Red Hat Linux in version 7.1 in April 2001.

It was created by Jacques Gélinas of Solucorp, a company based in Québec.

title: Linuxconf


text:
Edwin Miranda

Edwin Vladimir Miranda (born January 28, 1981) is a retired Salvadoran footballer.

College
Miranda grew up in Los Angeles, California, and played four years of college soccer at Cal State-Northridge, where he was twice named Big West Conference Defender of the Year.

Professional
Miranda was drafted in the sixth round (54th overall) by Dallas Burn in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft. Miranda was unable work his way into the Dallas first team squad, and transferred to the Portland Timbers of the USL First Division for the 2004 season. After two seasons with the Timbers, Miranda transferred to the Puerto Rico Islanders.

In early 2009 it was announced that the Islanders and Miranda had decided to mutually part ways, as they could not come to an agreement as to the players salary. On April 12, 2009, Miranda signed a one-year contract with USL First Division team Miami FC, and played 25 games before being released at the end of the season.

He signed for the Hollywood United Hitmen of the USL Premier Development League in 2010, and played in 16 games for the team, helping them to the 2010 PDL playoffs. Following the conclusion of the 2010 PDL season Miranda returned to the Puerto Rico Islanders, playing four regular season games for Tropa Naranja towards the end of their successful championship-winning USSF D-2 Pro League campaign.

Miranda signed with USL Pro club Los Angeles Blues on April 7, 2011. He scored one goal in 18 games for the Blues, but was released by the team following the conclusion of the 2011 USL Pro season, and subsequently signed to play for the Los Angeles Misioneros in the USL Premier Development League in 2012. He made his debut for his new club on April 22, a 4-1 opening-day loss to Fresno Fuego.

International
Miranda received his first called up to the El Salvador national football team in December 2008. He received his first cap on January 24, 2009, in a UNCAF Nations Cup match against Belize when he came on as a late sub for Salvador Coreas.

Puerto Rico Islanders

 * USSF Division 2 Pro League Champions (1): 2010
 * USL First Division Commissioner's Cup (1): 2008

title: Edwin Miranda


text:
File:Alice In Chains-Facelift.jpg

Summary
The cover artwork for Alice in Chains's album Facelift (1990).

 * 1) The image is of lower resolution than the original cover.
 * 2) The image does not limit the copyright owners' rights to distribute the album in any way.
 * 3) For an article about an album, the cover artwork is often a crucial source of critical commentary about the article, and as such the artwork adds significantly to the article.
 * 4) This image is used on various websites, so its use on Wikipedia does not make it significantly more accessible than it already is.
 * 5) The cover is being used for informational purposes only.

title: File:Alice In Chains-Facelift.jpg


text: Category:Fisher County, Texas

title: Category:Fisher County, Texas


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Yan O (MTR)

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was - renamed

Yan O (MTR)
http://www.mtr.com.hk/eng/extensions/lar2_e.htm#1 http://www.mtr.com.hk/chi/extensions/lar2.html#2
 * Delete. This is an incorrect record. The official name of this station is Sunny Bay, and its old name should be Yam O.
 * Not sure about this. See Yam O, which seems to contradict the above statement. -- Necrothesp 13:26, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Comment Here is the document found from MTR official Website. Both Chinese and English version are presented here.

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
The Bushido Blade

The Bushido Blade is a 1981 film directed by Tom Kotani. Sonny Chiba, Toshiro Mifune, Mako, Laura Gemser, James Earl Jones and Richard Boone in his last film appearance appear in this film. It was filmed in 1978, but not released until 1981.

Plot
The Bushido Blade is a fictional sideline to the true events surrounding the treaty Commodore Matthew Perry signed with the shogun of feudal Japan. The samurai sword entrusted to Commodore Perry for President Franklin Pierce of the United States by the Emperor of Japan is stolen by factions wishing to maintain Japanese isolationism. The sword is stolen by Baron Zen, who is a servant of Lord Yamato, who opposes the Convention of Kanagawa about to be signed.

Commodore Akira Hayashi is told to recover the sword and, as a matter of honor, not sign the treaty until it is recovered. Prince Ido has received Hayashi's order to regain the sword and goes to the castle of Yamato alone. Similarly, Perry has ordered Captain Lawrence Hawk to retrieve the sword. Hawk brings Midshipman Robin Gurr and Crew Bos'n Cave Johnson. The three get separated and the movie centers on their stories.

Cast

 * Principal actors

 * Richard Boone as Commodore Matthew C. Perry
 * Sonny Chiba as Prince Ido (as Sony Chiba)
 * Frank Converse as Captain Lawrence Hawk
 * Laura Gemser as Tomoe
 * James Earl Jones as the prisoner (a crew member of the whaling ship)
 * Mako Iwamatsu as Enjirō (as Mako)
 * Timothy Murphy as Midshipman Robin Gurr
 * Michael Starr as L/S Cave Johnson
 * Tetsurō Tamba as Lord Yamato
 * Toshirō Mifune as Commodore Akira Hayashi

 * Supporting roles
 * Bin Amatsu as Baron Zen
 * Mayumi Asano as Yuki
 * Kin Ōmae as Rikishi (sumo wrestler) (as Kin Omai)

Crew

 * Film director - Tom Kotani
 * Executive producer - Jules Bass
 * Associate producer - Benni Korzen, Masaki Îzuka
 * Producer - Arthur Rankin, Jr.
 * Writer - William Overgard
 * Music - Maury Laws
 * Cinematography - Shōji Ueda
 * Editing - Yoshitami Kuroiwa
 * Post-production executive - Robert D. Cardona
 * Editorial consultant - Anne V. Coates
 * Production manager - Kishirô Ōkubo
 * 1st assistant direction - Kouichi Nakajima
 * Lighting - Kazuo Shimomura
 * Art director - Toyokazu Ôhashi
 * Sound recording - Yūji Miyoshi
 * Sound editor - Ian Crafford
 * Sound re-recording - Paul Carr (composer)
 * Dueling master - Ryu Kuze
 * Production secretary - Barbara Hilse
 * U.S.Navy coordination - Commodore William North, U.S.N.

title: The Bushido Blade


text:
.308 Winchester

The .308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge widely used for hunting, target shooting, police, military, and personal protection applications globally. It is similar, but not identical, to the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge.

History
During the 1940s, the .300 Savage became the basis for experiments on behalf of the U.S. military that resulted in the development of the T65 series of experimental cartridges. The original experimental case design by the Frankford Arsenal was designated "T65" and was similar to the .300 Savage case, but with less taper. The experimental cases were made from standard .30-06 Springfield cases which gave a little less capacity than standard .300 Savage cases because the Frankford Arsenal cases had slightly thicker walls. The later T65 iterations were lengthened compared to the original T65 case and provided a ballistic performance roughly equal to the U.S. military .30-06 Springfield service cartridge. Over forty years of technical progress in the field of propellants allowed for similar service cartridge performance from a significantly shorter, smaller case with less case capacity.

Winchester saw a market for a civilian model of the late T65 series designs and introduced it in 1952, two years prior to the NATO adoption of the T65E5 experimental cartridge iteration under the "7.62×51mm NATO" designation, in 1954. Winchester branded the cartridge and introduced it to the commercial hunting market as the ".308 Winchester". Winchester's Model 70, Model 88 and Model 100 rifles were subsequently chambered for the new cartridge. Since then, the .308 Winchester has become the most popular short-action, big-game hunting cartridge worldwide. It is also commonly used for hunting, target shooting, metallic silhouette, bench rest target shooting, Palma shooting, metal matches, military sniping, and police sharpshooting. The relatively short case makes the .308 Winchester especially well-adapted for short-action rifles. When loaded with a bullet that expands, tumbles, or fragments in tissue, this cartridge is capable of high terminal performance.

Cartridge dimensions
The .308 Winchester has 3.64 ml (56 grains) of cartridge case capacity. The exterior shape of the case was designed to promote reliable case feeding and extraction in bolt-action rifles and machine guns alike, under extreme conditions.

.308 Winchester maximum C.I.P. cartridge dimensions. All dimensions in millimeters (mm) and inches.

Americans define the shoulder angle at alpha/2 = 20 degrees. The common rifling twist rate for this cartridge is 305 mm (1 in 12 in), 4 grooves, Ø lands = 7.62 mm, Ø grooves = 7.82 mm, land width = 4.47 mm and the primer type is large rifle. A 254 mm (1 in 10 in) twist rate is also commonly applied.

According to the official C.I.P. (Commission internationale permanente pour l'épreuve des armes à feu portatives) rulings, the .308 Winchester can handle up to 415.00 MPa Pmax piezo pressure. In C.I.P.-regulated countries, every rifle cartridge combo has to be proofed at 125% of this maximum C.I.P. pressure to certify for sale to consumers. This means that .308 Winchester chambered arms in C.I.P.-regulated countries are currently (2008) proof tested at 519.00 MPa PE piezo pressure.

North American SAAMI maximum pressure for the .308 Winchester is 62000 psi.

.308 Winchester vs. 7.62×51mm NATO
Although originating from an identical preceding series of experimental cartridges, the commercial 1952 .308 Winchester and the military 1954 7.62×51mm NATO chamberings have evolved separately and are not identical. The .308 Winchester and military 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges are similar enough that they can be loaded into rifles chambered for the other round, but the .308 Winchester cartridges are typically loaded to higher pressures than 7.62×51mm NATO service cartridges. Even though the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI) does not consider it unsafe to fire the commercial .308 Winchester rounds in weapons chambered for the military 7.62×51mm NATO round, there is significant discussion about compatible chambers and pressures between the two cartridges based on powder loads, chamber dimensions and wall thicknesses in the web area of the military compared to commercial cartridge cases. As the chambers differ, accordingly the head space gauges used for the two chamberings differ.

Usage and performance
The .308 Winchester is considered a standard hunting cartridge in the United States. It has gained popularity in many countries as an exceptional cartridge for game in the medium- to large-sized class. Although in North America it is commonly thought that it is only recommended for whitetail deer, pronghorn and the occasional caribou or black bear, the .308 Winchester is among the calibers recommended for hunting brown and grizzly bears by the Alaska Department of Game and Fish. Moreover, the Canadian Arctic Rangers chose the Colt Canada C19 in .308 Winchester/7.62×51mm NATO for "polar bear defense" in 2014; demonstrating that the .308 Winchester is suitable and even preferred for taking any medium, large or dangerous game located in the Americas.

Clay Harvey, an American gun writer, said the .308 Winchester is usable on moose and elk. Layne Simpson, an American who has hunted in Sweden, said he is surprised at how many hunters there used the cartridge. Craig Boddington was told by a Norma Precision executive that the .308 Winchester was one of Norma's best-selling calibers.

In Africa, the .308 Winchester is one of the most popular calibers among Bushveld hunters and is used on anything from duiker right up to the massive eland (a small and large African antelope respectively). Proponents of the hydrostatic shock theory contend that the .308 Winchester has sufficient energy to impart hydrostatic shock to living targets when rapidly expanding bullets deliver a high rate of energy transfer.

While .308 Winchester has traditionally been the most popular cartridge in the past, the development of lighter recoil chamberings with sufficient downrange energy, like the 7mm-08 Remington, .260 Remington, and 6.5 Creedmoor, is becoming more common for metallic silhouette shooting.

Palma shooting is a variant of full-bore target shooting done with a bolt-action rifle chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO/.308 Winchester firing match grade 155-grain bullets and using micrometer aperture iron sights out to 1,000 yards.

F-class is a variant of full-bore target rifle which permits optical telescopic sights and shooting rests at the front and rear, such as a bipod or bags. Competitions are fired at distances between 300 and 1,200 meters (or yards), and the targets are half the size of those used in traditional Palma shooting. Based on equipment, competitors can choose to compete in one of the two classes, open and standard: F-TR ("target", standard class): A restricted class which permits a scope, bipod, backpack and rear bag (no front rest), the caliber has to be either .223 Remington or .308 Winchester. In addition, the weight limit including optics is 8.25 kg (18.15 lbs.).

The .308 Winchester has slightly more drop at long range than the .30-06 Springfield, owing to its slightly lower (around 100 ft/s) muzzle velocity with most bullet weights. Cartridges with significantly higher muzzle velocities, such as the .300 Winchester Magnum can have significantly less drop at long range, but much higher recoil.

As a parent case

Several cartridges have been developed using the .308 Winchester as a parent case, some becoming very popular for hunting, particularly in North America. These are the .243 Winchester, the .260 Remington (6.5-08 A-Square), the 7 mm-08 Remington, the .338 Federal, and the .358 Winchester (8.8×51mm). In 1980, two rimmed cartridges based on the .308 Winchester were introduced for use in the Winchester Model 94 XTR angle eject rifle: the .307 Winchester and the .356 Winchester. In 2014, the rimless 45 Raptor was introduced to provide a big bore cartridge for the AR-10 by combining the .308 Winchester with the .460 S&W Magnum.

 * .243 Winchester
 * .260 Remington
 * 7mm-08 Remington
 * 7.62×51mm NATO
 * .307 Winchester
 * .338 Federal
 * .358 Winchester

title: .308 Winchester


text:
Bushido Blade (video game)

Bushido Blade (ブシドーブレード) is a 3D fighting video game developed by Lightweight and published by Square and Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. The game features one-on-one armed combat. Its name refers to the Japanese warrior code of honor bushidō.

Upon its release, the realistic fighting engine in Bushido Blade was seen as innovative, particularly the game's unique Body Damage System. A direct sequel, Bushido Blade 2, was released on the PlayStation a year later. Another game with a related title and gameplay, Kengo: Master of Bushido, was also developed by Lightweight for the PlayStation 2.

Gameplay
The bulk of the gameplay in Bushido Blade revolves around one-on-one third-person battles between two opponents. Unlike most fighting games, however, no time limit or health gauge is present during combat. Most hits will cause instant death, while traditional fighting games require many hits to deplete an opponent's health gauge. It is possible to wound an opponent without killing them. With the game's "Body Damage System," opponents are able to physically disable each other in increments with hits from an equipped weapon, slowing their attacking and running speed, or crippling their legs, forcing them to crawl.

The game features eight weapons to choose from in many of its modes: katana, nodachi, long sword, saber, broadsword, naginata, rapier, and sledgehammer. Except the European weapons, which are noticeably shorter than historical counterparts, each weapon has a realistic weight and length, giving each one fixed power, speed, and an ability to block. A variety of attack combinations can be executed by the player using button sequences with the game's "Motion Shift System," where one swing of a weapon is followed through with another. Many of these attacks are only available in one of three stances, switched using the shoulder buttons or axis controls depending on controller layout: high, neutral, and low. The player also has a choice of six playable characters. Similar to the weapons, each one has a different level of strength and speed, and a number of unique special attacks. Some characters have a subweapon that can be thrown as well. All the characters have differing levels of proficiency with the selectable weapons and have a single preferred weapon.

Characters in Bushido Blade also have the ability to run, jump, and climb within the 3D environments. Because battles are not limited to small arenas, the player is encouraged to freely explore during battle. The castle compound which most of the game takes place in acts as a large hub area of interconnected smaller areas including a cherry blossom grove, a moat, and a bridge labyrinth. Some areas, such as the bamboo thicket, allow some interaction.

The story mode of Bushido Blade adds another gameplay mechanic: the Bushido code. Certain moves and tactics are considered dishonorable, such as striking a foe in the back, throwing dust in their eyes, or attacking while they bow at the start of fights. Acting dishonorably will abruptly end the player's playthrough after a certain point in the story, displaying a message berating them on their behavior.

In addition to the game's single player story mode, Bushido Blade contains a two-player versus mode and a link mode that supports the PlayStation Link Cable. Other single player options include a practice mode and a first person mode. Slash mode pits the player's katana-wielding character against a long string of 100 enemies, one after the other.

Plot
Despite characters, themes and weapons similar to samurai cinema set in Feudal Japan, Bushido Blade takes place during the modern era (this is shown, for example, when the player reaches a helicopter landing pad phase set in a large city).

A fictional 500-year-old dojo known as Meikyokan lies within this region, and teaches the disciplines of the master Narukagami Shinto. A society of assassins known as Kage ("Shadow") also resides within the dojo. Once led by the honorable swordsman Utsusemi, he lost his position to Hanzaki, another skilled member of the dojo, in a fierce battle. Hanzaki gained respect as the Kage leader, until he discovered a cursed sword known as Yugiri. He began to change, disregarding the group's honor and the traditions held by its students.

One day, a Kage member escapes the confines of the dojo with its secrets. Several other members of the society, under penalty of death, are sent to dispatch the defector, only catching up to him (or her) within the ruins of the surrounding Yin and Yang Labyrinth Castle. In single player mode the players take on the role of the escaped assassin (independent of whatever character they choose), fighting their way out by killing their comrades one by one. Elements of the game story differ with each character selected.

Development
Bushido Blade was the first title developed by Lightweight, a partially-owned subsidiary of the game's publisher Square at the time of its release. The project was directed by Shuhiko Nakata, who wished to add tension to the traditional fighting game formula by having the possibility of a one-hit kill. However, Nakata stated that hit detection was implemented for the torso, head, and limbs to make the game more of a "swordsmanship simulator" rather than a fighting game. The director explained that the bushidō code of honor present in the game was not strictly the warrior's "way of dying" like that found in the Edo period's famous Hagakure guide but emphasized the concept of one's own survival as found in teachings of earlier Japanese time periods.

The musical score for Bushido Blade was created by Namco and Arika composer Shinji Hosoe with contributions by Ayako Saso and Takayuki Aihara. Much of the audio utilizes the flute and violin, as well as a traditional Japanese instrument, the shamisen. The music was released with the soundtrack for Square's Driving Emotion Type-S, also composed by the trio, on a two-disc set in 2001. The Bushido Blade disc contains 23 tracks. Unlike many other Square soundtracks of the era which were released by DigiCube, the music, copyrighted by Hosoe, was published by his own Super Sweep Records company. Bushido Blade also uses voice acting from voice actors such as Chikao Ōtsuka, Makio Inoue, and Hidekatsu Shibata.

Release
Originally slated for a February 1997 release in Japan, Bushido Blade was pushed back to March to make room for the debut of Square's Aques line of sports games in February. Bushido Blade was presold in convenience stores in Japan prior to its release, similar to Square's decision to presell its hit Final Fantasy VII in Lawson stores.

The North American release of Bushido Blade had one minor graphical change: blood was added, replacing the yellow flash that appears during a fatal blow. Despite the North American-exclusive inclusion of graphic violence, the ESRB rated the game Teen, while the ELSPA gave the European release a more restrictive 18+ rating.

Reception
In Japan, Bushido Blade was the 25th best selling game of 1997 in Japan, selling nearly 387,937 copies. The game was later reprinted, along with a handful of other Square Enix titles, under the developer's "Legendary Hits" label. The game was also added to the PSone Classics roster on the Japanese PlayStation Store in 2008. In the United States, the game sold 324,083 units, adding up to 0 units sold in Japan and the United States.

Bushido Blade was critically well received, primarily for the innovation of its combat system. The one-hit kills drew the most commentary, with GameSpot calling them "Bushido Blade's most exciting and preposterous feature, destined to earn it just as many fans as detractors". In an example of this, three of Electronic Gaming Monthly's four reviewers gave the game a 7 out of 10 or lower, contending that the appeal of its innovation quickly wears off and that the one-hit kills can make victory or defeat arbitrary when unskilled players are involved, while the fourth reviewer, Crispin Boyer, gave it a 9 out of 10, applauding how the one-hit kills create a dynamic where "survival depends on your level of concentration rather than how well you've memorized long strings of button taps. You must watch your opponents, read their posture and predict how they'll strike."

GamePro found the realism of the fighting system in general to be a love-or-hate point, arguing, "[that] you must learn restraint and discipline in order to win ... is a concept that will not go over well with the Tekken and Street Fighter generation who just want a butt-kickin' good time." However, most reviewers soundly approved of the fighting system. IGN said it was "extremely innovative, yet still not so ambitious as to have lost the point." GameSpot similarly opined, "Bushido Blade is a bold undertaking, but a remarkably successful one." Next Generation stated that "Given that Square has chosen to take a much more realistic approach to blade combat than most fighters, it could be argued that Bushido Blade is the kind of game you either love or hate. However, while it may not offer the same arcade-style button mashing or twenty hit combos of other 3D brawlers, it does offer the closest you can get to the real thing without actually getting cut."

Other subjects of praise for the game were the detailed graphics, continuous arenas,  ability to disable opponents' limbs,     and the way the amount of honor the player shows in combat affects the ending. However, some reviewers complained that trees and other objects sometimes obscure the player's view of the action.

In 1999, Bushido Blade received a nomination for "Console Fighting Game of the Year" during the AIAS' inaugural Interactive Achievement Awards. In November 2000, Bushido Blade was voted by the readers of Weekly Famitsu magazine as number 85 in its top 100 PlayStation games of all time. In 2006, the game was ranked number 190 on 1UP.com's list of The Greatest 200 Videogames of Their Time. In 2010, GamesRadar included Bushido Blade on the list of the seven "'90s games that need HD remakes".

title: Bushido Blade (video game)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Busted logic

Busted logic
Curiously titled presentation of material that appears in Division by zero. Incomplete reference to a book(?) and unlikely claim at the end. Delete Gazpacho 07:49, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Comment: Recreation of a previously deleted article. The article's talk page dates back to March of this year. Apparently the deleted version of the article was lost in a database crash, but a Google search for "busted logic" finds an out-of-date mirror containing the original version, which looks more or less the same as the current reincarnation. • Benc • 08:53, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete, of course. • Benc • 07:54, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete: no useful content. Term "busted logic" is sometimes found, but it means nothing more than "logic which is busted (broken)". Can be speed deleted if someone finds evidence it was deleted before (as opposed to simply disappearing). Wile E. Heresiarch 14:36, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Nonsense. The old "multiplying both sides of an equation by a variable equal to zero then dividing by the variable" "paradox", already covered in division by zero and invalid proof. Should not be a redirect because the title does not refer to either (or anything specific).   — Gwalla | Talk 17:45, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete: This vanity article was deleted some time ago. It should be swiftly deleted again. -- Dominus 21:25, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Illogical premises rarely result in logical conclusions. And, as ancient programmers used to say, "GIGO". Denni ☯ 20:14, 2004 Oct 3 (UTC)
 * Delete. --Improv 16:38, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Patent nonsense, not even worthy of BJAODN. Delete. -- Mike Rosoft 13:39, 5 Oct 2004 (UTC)


text:
National Engineering College

National Engineering College (NEC) is an educational institution in Kovilpatti, Tamil Nadu. It is an autonomous institution affiliated with Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and was established in 1984 by Kalvithanthai Thiru. K. Ramasamy. The institute was approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi, India. It offers seven undergraduate degree programmes and five post-graduate degree programmes in Engineering and Technology. The institution runs under the National Educational Charitable Trust, founded by the chairman.

Location
The college is located in Kovilpatti, one of the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. It's situated close to National Highway 44 (India), the longest-running, major north-south National Highway that runs from Srinagar to Kanyakumari. Madurai is the closest metropolitan city, around 100 km away, while Tirunelveli (60 km), Thoothukudi (60 km) and Kanyakumari (110 km) are the other major cities that are close by. The nearest railway station is in Kovilpatti. Thoothukudi Airport is possibly the closest commercial, and domestic airport, while Madurai Airport is the closest international airport. V. O. Chidambaranar Port Authority is the closest major port.

Ranking and accreditations
NEC is ranked 169 in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), 2022.

Academics
The curriculum and syllabus are designed based on the current developments in engineering and technology. NEC has its own learning management system (LMS), which effectively facilitates the teaching-learning process. To instill innovative culture among students, project-based learning is being practiced.

Research
National Engineering College (NEC) has a well-defined policy to promote research, consultancy, and IPR. NEC has research centers recognized by Anna University to carry out Ph.D. Institution Research Fellowship Scheme is implemented for full-time PhD Scholars. To date, 34 Funded projects worth Rs.5 crores granted by various research boards have been completed successfully. 4 projects worth Rs.1.5 crores are going on. 1500+ Publications are successfully published, and 50+ Patents are successfully filed to date.

title: National Engineering College


text: Template:Half-elven family tree

title: Template:Half-elven family tree