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SAIPA

SAIPA (, SAIPA) is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. The SAIPAC (an acronym for the French Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën lit. Iranian Limited Company for the Production of Citroën Automobiles) was established in 1965 as with 75% Iranian ownership, to assemble Citroëns under license for the Iranian market. It changed its name into SAIPA (Société anonyme iranienne de production automobile) in 1975 when Citroën withdrew from the company. Its products in recent years have been mostly under-licensed Korean cars and its own engine and range of cars. The chief executive (president or managing director) of SAIPA is Javad Tavasoli Mehr.

The main subsidiaries of SAIPA Group are Saipa Diesel, Pars Khodro and Zamyad Co.

History
SAIPA began by assembling Citroën's two-cylinder mini car, the Dyane, in 1968. It went under the name Jyane (or Jian) in Iran. SAIPA built 120,000 Jyane models. There was also a glazed panel van version of the Jyane, as well as the Baby-Brousse, a rustic little buggy in the style of a Citroën Méhari but with a metal body. Later, a pickup version of the Jyane also appeared. The Baby-Brousse was built from 1970 until 1979. In 1975 Saipa began manufacturing licensed versions of the original Renault 5 and later the Renault 21. Production of Citroëns ended in 1980.

From 1986 to 1998 SAIPA built the Z24 pickup, a license-built version of the 1970-1980 Nissan Junior with a 2.4-litre engine. In 1998 SAIPA took over the Zamyad company, which then undertook the production of the Z24. Since 2003, this truck has been sold under the Zamyad brand.

Renault 5 production ended in 1994 (Pars Khodro took over the production lines) and the 21 was discontinued in 1997. In 1993 a relationship with KIA began, and production of the Kia Pride commenced. SAIPA's Pride is marketed under the names Saba (saloon) and Nasim (hatchback). At the 2001 Tehran Motor Show the liftback Saipa 141 was added to the lineup. This is a five-door version based on the Saba and is somewhat longer than the Nasim. The Pride series cars carry 97% local content. From 2001 to late 2010, SAIPA produced the Citroën Xantia under license. Sedan models of the previous generation Kia Rio were assembled using parts imported from Korea from May 2005 to late 2012, when SAIPA lost its license to produce them.

In 2000, SAIPA launched its own design, the 701 Caravan minivan, face-lifted in 2003.

In 2002, a lift-back version of the Saba was introduced as the 141. Models 132 debuted in 2007 and 111 in 2009. The Iran-made "SAIPA National Engine 231" was introduced in November 2008.

In December 2008, the Tiba/Miniator debuted the Tiba with a 4-cylinder gas engine and ABS, averaging 7 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers and putting out 80 PS with a displacement of 1,500 cc. The price quoted at the time of its launch was less than 100 million rials (US$10,000). The car was designed in country and produced with the services of some 122 local manufacturers. 15,000 Tiba were to be produced in 2009. Production over the succeeding three years was to reach 200,000 per year by a new subsidiary, Kashan SAIPA. The Tiba is expected to replace the Kia Pride. The share of Tiba/Miniator in SAIPA's exports will be about 20 percent by 2011.< The model was originally named Miniator but was later changed to Tiba (gazelle).

In 2012, a pick-up version of the SAIPA Pride was introduced as the 151.

In 2015, the company began the production of cars derived from Chinese manufacturers.

Pars Khodro acquisition
In 2000, SAIPA purchased 51% of Pars Khodro, where it manufactured the Citroën C5.

Since 2018, Pars Khodro has mainly assembled a range of Chinese models, but other products include the SAIPA Renault Pars Tondar, an updated locally built version of the first-generation Dacia Logan, which used to be assembled by SAIPA and its subsidiary Pars Khodro in a joint venture with Renault (Dacia's parent company). Originally known as the Renault Tondar 90, the company received over 100,000 orders for the car within a week of it going on sale in March 2007.

Production was launched in Venezuela in 2006 and in Syria in 2007.

Historic

 * Citroën 2CV
 * Citroën Jyane 602
 * Saipa 141
 * Changan Eado
 * Pars Khodro V5
 * Kia Rio
 * Renault Megane
 * Nissan New Murano
 * Nissan Teana
 * Dongfeng Rich
 * Nissan Roniz
 * Zamyad Shooka
 * Citroën Xantia
 * Kia Pride
 * Pars Khodro Sepand
 * Nissan Patrol
 * Pars Khodro New Sepand
 * Sherkat Sakami Jeep CJ
 * Aria and Shahin
 * Sherkat Sakami Jeep Ahoo and Simorgh
 * Opel Commodore
 * Chevrolet Iran
 * Chevrolet Nova
 * Buick Iran
 * Sherkat Sakami Jeep Gladiator
 * Cadillac Iran
 * Saipa Caravan
 * Jeep Sahra
 * Citroën C3

Other Models

 * Kia Cerato
 * Kia Forte
 * Renault Sandero Stepway
 * Jinbei Haise
 * Dongfeng Rich
 * Zamyad Padra
 * Iveco Azar Minibus

title: SAIPA


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Robert Allen

Bob, Bobby, Robbie or Robert Allen may refer to:

Composers

 * Robert William Otto Allen (1852–1888), Danish pianist, composer and conductor
 * Robert Allen (song composer) (1927–2000), American pianist and arranger

Performers

 * Robert Allen (actor) (1906–1998), American stage, film and TV performer
 * Robbie Allen (musician), American bassist and guitarist
 * Robert Marlow (Robert Allen, 1961–2022), English singer and musician

Politicians

 * Robert Allen (Tennessee politician) (1778–1844), American congressperson
 * Robert Allen (Virginia politician) (1794–1859), American congressperson
 * Robert Allen (Irish politician), MP for Carysfort in County Wicklow
 * Robert E. Lee Allen (1865–1951), American congressperson from West Virginia
 * Robert Allen (Ontario politician) (1888–1969), Canadian member of Legislative Assembly of Ontario
 * Robert G. Allen (1902–1963), American congressperson from Pennsylvania
 * Robert E. Allen (politician) (1924–2014), American legislator in Colorado
 * Bob Allen (Pennsylvania politician) (born 1945), American state legislator
 * Bob Allen (Florida politician) (born 1958), American state legislator

Baseball

 * Bob Allen (shortstop) (1867–1943), American baseball player and manager
 * Al Elliott (Robert Allen, 1894–1975), American football halfback and baseball center fielder
 * Bob Allen (1930s pitcher) (1914–2005), American right-hander in National League, 1937
 * Bob Allen (1960s pitcher) (1937–2023), American League left-hander, 1961–67
 * Robbie Allen (baseball) (born 1959), American baseball player and coach

Basketball

 * Bob Allen (basketball) (born 1946), American power forward
 * Bobby Allen (basketball) (born 1969), Canadian point and shooting guard

Football

 * Bob Allen (Australian footballer) (1908–1992), player with Fitzroy in VFL
 * Bob Allen (footballer, born 1916) (1916–1992), English winger
 * Robert Allen (footballer) (1886–1981), English forward and British Army major-general

Other sports

 * Bobby Allen (racing driver) (born 1943), American racer of winged sprint cars
 * Robert Allen (boxer) (born 1969), American middleweight
 * Bobby Allen (ice hockey) (born 1978), American defenseman in NHL

Writers

 * Bob Allen (surgeon) (1772–1805), English journalist and surgeon
 * Robert S. Allen (1900–1981), American investigative journalist
 * Robert Porter Allen (1905–1963), American ornithologist and environmentalist
 * Robert Thomas Allen (1911–1990), Canadian humorist
 * Robert Livingston Allen (1916–1982), American educator and linguist
 * Robert L. Allen (born 1942), African-American activist and academic
 * Robert Allen (lexicographer) (born 1944), British lexicographer and author
 * Bob Allen (economic historian) (born 1947), American professor of economic history at Oxford University
 * Robert Allen (poet) (died 2000s), English author of 1994's Canny Bit Verse in Northumbrian dialect

Others

 * Robert Allen (criminal) (born 1996), American man convicted for the murder of XXXTentacion
 * Robert Allen (general) (1811–1886), American Civil War Union general
 * Robert Calder Allen (1812–1903), English naval captain
 * Robert Allen (Baptist minister) (1847–1927), Welsh clergyman in Glamorganshire
 * Robert E. Allen (telecommunications executive) (1935–2016), American CEO and chairman of AT&T
 * Bobbie R. Allen (1922–1972), American aviator and government official

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

title: Robert Allen


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User:Carptrash/Copyrights

Note: This page was created by User:Ram-Man

From User talk:Ram-Man:
 * Good AM, Ram-Man: I'm one of those folks who is putting my stuff out there to put it out. As long as i can still be free to use my material were I to say, create my own website or write a book and as long as my images that I take and post remain my own [realizing that I'm releasing whatever version I choose to post here], count me in with the 90%, be it in fact 90, 80, 70, 60 ,50 40,30, 20,or 10%. i was not offended by your message and am not just content to go along with consensus. Go for whatever it is you're up to. Carptrash 17:52, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Based on the previous statement, this is implicit permission and compatibility with the following license:

title: User:Carptrash/Copyrights


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User talk:Vchittil

Image copyrights
Thanks for uploading Image:Padmarajan2.jpg. I notice it currently doesn't have an image copyright tag. Could you add one to let us know its copyright status? (You can use if you release it under the GFDL, or  if you claim fair use, etc.) If you don't know what any of this means, just let me know where you got the images and I'll tag them for you. Thanks so much,   — Edwin Stearns | Talk 19:52, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:Vchittil


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Robert E. Allen (telecommunications executive)

Robert Eugene Allen (January 25, 1935 – September 10, 2016) was an American telecommunications businessman.

He was the president of AT&T between 1986 and 1988. He also served as its CEO and chairman from 1988 to 1997.

Born in Joplin, Missouri, Allen grew up in New Castle, Indiana. He graduated from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana with his bachelor's degree in political science in 1957. While a student at Wabash, he was initiated into the Indiana Beta chapter of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994. From 1990 he served on the board of Pepsico. He also served on the governing board of the Mayo Clinic. He served as chairman of The Business Council in 1993 and 1994.


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User:ArmagedonNET

ArmagedonNET is the screen name for Jon Winder in Kingman, Arizona.

Interests

 * Thrash metal
 * Steve Harris
 * Computers

title: User:ArmagedonNET


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William McPherson Allen

William McPherson Allen (September 1, 1900 – October 28, 1985) was an American businessman in the aviation industry who served as the President of Boeing from 1945 to 1968.

Life and career
Born in Lolo, Montana, he attended the University of Montana, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He graduated in 1925 from Harvard Law School, and joined the Board of Boeing Air Transport in 1930 while remaining an employee of his Seattle law firm, Donworth, Todd & Higgins. A year later he joined the Board of Boeing Airplane Company as corporate counsel.

Following the death of Boeing president Philip G. Johnson in 1944, Chairman Claire Egtvedt was tasked with appointing his replacement. Feeling that none of the company's senior engineers had a sufficiently broad background to run the company, he turned to Bill Allen. Considering himself unqualified to run an engineering company, Allen at first declined the offer before finally accepting. Allen served as the president of the Boeing Company from September 1, 1945, until April 29, 1968. He also served as the chairman of the Boeing Company from 1968 through 1972. While he was president of Boeing, he made the famous decision in 1952 to "bet the company", when he authorized construction of the Boeing 367-80 and again when he authorized the launch of development of the Boeing 707. He also participated in launching other planes of renown, among them the Boeing 727, Boeing 737, and Boeing 747.

In 1966, Allen asked Malcolm T. Stamper to spearhead production of the new 747 airplane on which the company's future was riding. This was a monumental engineering and management challenge, and included construction of the world's biggest factory in which to build the 747 at Everett, Washington, a plant which is the size of 40 football fields.

Recognition and awards
In 1965, Allen received the Vermilye Medal from The Franklin Institute.

In 1971, Allen received the Tony Jannus Award ` for his distinguished contributions to commercial aviation.

In 1971, Allen was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio. For his lifelong contributions to aviation.

In 1975, Allen was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame.

In 1975, Allen was one of the first four living members inducted into the Fortune magazine National Business Hall of Fame. In 2003 an article in Fortune by Jim Collins ranked Allen #2 among "The 10 Greatest CEOs of All Time."

Personal life
In the last years of his life, Allen suffered from Alzheimer's disease. He died in Seattle on October 28, 1985, at the age of 85.

Allen is profiled in Senator John McCain's and Mark Salter's 2007 book, Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them.

title: William McPherson Allen


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Voice coil

A voice coil (consisting of a former, collar, and winding) is the coil of wire attached to the apex of a loudspeaker cone. It provides the motive force to the cone by the reaction of a magnetic field to the current passing through it.

The term is also used for voice coil linear motors such as those used to move the heads inside hard disk drives, which produce a larger force and move a longer distance but work on the same principle. In some applications, such as electronic focus adjustment on digital cameras, these are known as voice coil motors (VCM).

Operation
By driving a current through the voice coil, a magnetic field is produced. This magnetic field causes the voice coil to react to the magnetic field from a permanent magnet fixed to the speaker's frame, thereby moving the cone of the speaker. By applying an audio waveform to the voice coil, the cone will reproduce the sound pressure waves, corresponding to the original input signal.

Design considerations
Because the moving parts of the speaker must be of low mass (to accurately reproduce high-frequency sounds without being damped too much by inertia), voice coils are usually made as light weight as possible, making them delicate. Passing too much current through the coil can cause it to overheat (see ohmic heating). Voice coils wound with flattened wire, called ribbon-wire, provide a higher packing density in the magnetic gap than coils with round wire. Some coils are made with surface-sealed bobbin and collar materials so they may be immersed in a ferrofluid which assists in cooling the coil, by conducting heat away from the coil and into the magnet structure. Excessive input power at low frequencies can cause the coil to move beyond its normal limits, causing distortion and possibly mechanical damage.

Power handling is related to the heat resistance of the wire insulation, adhesive, and bobbin material, and may be influenced by the coil's position within the magnetic gap. The majority of loudspeakers use 'overhung' voice coils, with windings that are taller than the height of the magnetic gap. In this topology, a portion of the coil remains within the gap at all times. The power handling is limited by the amount of heat that can be tolerated, and the amount that can be removed from the voice coil. Some magnet designs include aluminium heat-sink rings above and below the magnet gap, to improve conduction cooling, significantly improving power handling. If all other conditions remain constant, the area of the voice coil windings is proportional to the power handling of the coil. Thus a 100 mm diameter voice coil, with a 12 mm winding height has similar power handling to a 50 mm diameter voice coil with a 24 mm winding height.

In 'underhung' voice coil designs (see below), the coil is shorter than the magnetic gap, a topology that provides consistent electromotive force over a limited range of motion, known as Xmax. If the coil is overdriven it may leave the gap, generating significant distortion and losing the heat-sinking benefit of the steel, heating rapidly.

Many hi-fi, and almost all professional low frequency loudspeakers (woofers) include vents in the magnet system to provide forced-air cooling of the voice coil. The pumping action of the cone and the dustcap draws in cool air and expels hot air. This method of cooling relies upon cone motion, so is ineffective at midrange or treble frequencies, although venting of midranges and tweeters does provide some acoustic advantages.

In the earliest loudspeakers, voice coils were wound onto paper bobbins, which was appropriate for modest power levels. As more powerful amplifiers became available, alloy 1145 aluminium foil was widely substituted for paper bobbins, and the voice coils survived increased power. Typical modern hi-fi loudspeaker voice coils employ materials which can withstand operating temperatures up to 150°C, or even 180°C. For professional loudspeakers, advanced thermoset composite materials are available to improve voice coil survival under severe simultaneous thermal (<300°C) and mechanical stresses.

Aluminium was widely used in the speaker industry due to its low cost, ease of bonding, and structural strength. When higher power amplifiers emerged, especially in professional sound, the limitations of aluminium were exposed. It rather efficiently but inconveniently transfers heat from the voice coil into the adhesive bonds of the loudspeaker, thermally degrading or even burning them. Motion of the aluminium bobbin in the magnetic gap creates eddy currents within the material, which further increase the temperature, hindering long-term survival. In 1955 DuPont developed Kapton, a polyimide plastic film which did not suffer from aluminium's deficiencies, so Kapton, and later Kaneka Apical were widely adopted for voice coils. As successful as these dark brown plastic films were for most hi-fi voice coils, they also had some less attractive properties, principally their cost, and an unfortunate tendency to soften when hot. Hisco P450, developed in 1992 to address the softening issue in professional speakers, is a thermoset composite of thin glassfibre cloth, impregnated with polyimide resin, combining the best characteristics of polyimide with the temperature resistance and stiffness of glassfibre. It withstands brutal physical stresses and operating temperatures up to 300°C, while its stiffness helps maintain the speaker's 'cold' frequency response.

The actual wire employed in voice coil winding is almost always copper, with an electrical insulation coating, and in some cases, an adhesive overcoat. Copper wire provides an easily manufactured, general purpose voice coil, at a reasonable cost. Where maximum sensitivity or extended high frequency response is required from a loudspeaker, aluminium wire may be substituted, to reduce the moving mass of the coil. While rather delicate in a manufacturing environment, aluminium wire has about one third of the mass of the equivalent gauge of copper wire, and has about two-thirds of the electrical conductivity. Copper-clad aluminium wire is occasionally used, allowing easier winding, along with a useful reduction in coil mass compared to copper.

Anodized aluminium flat wire may be used, providing an insulating oxide layer more resistant to dielectric breakdown than enamel coatings on other voice coil wire. This creates lightweight, low-inductance voice coils, ideally suited to use in small, extended range speakers. The principal power limitation on such coils is the thermal softening point of the adhesives which bond the wire to the bobbin, or the bobbin to the spider and coil.

Voice coils can be used for applications other than loudspeakers, where time force linearity and long strokes are needed. Some environments like vacuum or space require specific attention during conception, in order to evacuate coil losses. Several specific methods can be used to facilitate thermal drain.

Overhung and underhung coils

The image above shows two ways in which the voice coil is immersed in the magnetic field. The most common method is the overhung design where the height of the voice coil is greater than the magnetic gap's height. The underhung design which is used mostly in high-end speakers has the coil's height smaller than the gap's. The differences, advantages and disadvantages of both methods are listed below.

Overhung coil
 * Coil height is greater than the gap's height.
 * This method keeps the number of windings within the magnetic field (or flux) constant over the coil's normal excursion range.
 * Higher coil mass, sensitivity low to medium.‡
 * Soft non-linearity as the coil exceeds limits.

Underhung coil
 * Gap's height is greater than the coil's height.
 * This method keeps the magnetic flux that the coil experiences, constant over the coil's normal excursion range.
 * Low coil mass, sensitivity medium to high.‡
 * Hard non-linearity as the coil exceeds limits.

Both topologies attempt the same goal: linear force acting on the coil, for a driver that reproduces the applied signal faithfully.

Other uses for the term
The term "voice coil" has been generalized and refers to any galvanometer-like mechanism that uses a solenoid to move an object back-and-forth within a magnetic field.

In particular, it is commonly used to refer to the coil of wire that moves the read–write heads in a moving-head disk drive. In this application, a very lightweight coil of wires is mounted within a strong magnetic field produced by permanent rare-earth magnets. The voice coil is the motor part of the servo system that positions the heads: an electric control signal drives the voice coil and the resulting force quickly and accurately positions the heads.

title: Voice coil


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1847 in rail transport

February events

 * February 26 – The Somerville and Easton Railroad, a predecessor of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, is chartered.

March events

 * March 9 – The Richmond and Danville Railroad is chartered in Virginia.
 * March 15 – The Amiens-Boulogne line in France opens between Abbeville and Étaples.
 * March 16 – The Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway opens between Shipley and Keighley in West Yorkshire, England.
 * March – First ever 4-6-0 locomotive, the Chesapeake, completed by the Norris Locomotive Works for the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad.

April events

 * April 19 – The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, a predecessor of the New York Central Railroad, officially changes its name to Albany and Schenectady Railroad.

May events

 * May 24 – The Dee bridge disaster: a cast iron girder bridge across the river Dee at Chester, England, designed by Robert Stephenson for the Chester and Holyhead Railway, collapses under a Shrewsbury and Chester Railway train with five fatalities.
 * May 31 – The first railway connection between Rotterdam and The Hague opens in the Netherlands.

June events

 * June – The first Bradshaws Continental Railway Guide timetable is published by George Bradshaw in England.
 * June 26 – Opening of first railway wholly within modern-day Denmark, from Copenhagen to Roskilde.

July events

 * July 9 – The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway is incorporated as an amalgamation of several important railway lines in Northern England.
 * July 28 – Bristol and Exeter Railway's Clevedon branch line opens.

August events

 * August 9 – Opening of first railway wholly within Switzerland, the Swiss Northern Railway from Zürich to Baden.

September events

 * September 22 – The Railway Clearing House in Great Britain recommends that Greenwich Mean Time be adopted as the standard time for all railways in the United Kingdom.

October events

 * October – Portland Company's locomotive erecting shops opened for business.

December events

 * December 1
 * The London and North Western Railway opens its Trent Valley Line to give a more direct route for the West Coast Main Line to North West England, bypassing Birmingham.
 * The first time zone in the world is established by British railways with GMT hand-carried on chronometers.

Unknown date events

 * John Urpeth Rastrick retires from Foster, Rastrick and Company, the English firm that built the first steam locomotives for the Delaware and Hudson Railroad.

October births

 * October 6 – Webb C. Ball, watchmaker who introduced the first truly reliable and accurate timepieces on American railroads.

Deaths

 * November 16 – Thomas Kirtley, locomotive superintendent of North Midland Railway 1843–1844, and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1847, dies (b. 1811).

title: 1847 in rail transport


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Dmitrii Fedotoff-White

Dmitrii Fedotoff-White (1889–1950) was an Imperial Russian Navy officer from Saint Petersburg. He fought for the White forces during the Russian Civil War and wrote a book about his experiences entitled "Survival - Through War and Revolution in Russia" (1939). He also fought for the British and later escaped Russia in 1921.

Books

 * Survival Through War And Revolution In Russia. Philadelphia. University of Pennsylvania press. 1939.
 * The Growth of the Red Army. Princeton University Press. 1944.
 * Portuguese trans.: O exército vermelho. Rio de Janeiro. 1945.

Articles

 * Soviet Philosophy of War. Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 51, No. 3 (Sep., 1936), pp. 321–353.
 * The Russian Navy in Trieste. During the Wars of the Revolution and the Empire. American Slavic and East European Review, Vol. 6, No. 3/4 (Dec., 1947), pp. 25–41
 * An Aristocrat at Stalin's Court. American Slavic and East European Review, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Oct., 1950), pp. 207–217.
 * A Russian Sketches Philadelphia, 1811–1813. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 75, No. 1 (Jan., 1951), pp. 3–24

title: Dmitrii Fedotoff-White


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Illusionistic tradition

Illusionistic tradition is a style of theatre that was created in Italy during the Renaissance. Its focus was primarily centered on grandiose spectacle in theatrical performance. Stages made use of Italianate scenery, including Proscenium arch, perspective, border flats, and a raked stage to create a visual image that had never before been used.

title: Illusionistic tradition


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Cerbera odollam

Cerbera odollam is a tree species in the family Apocynaceae commonly known as the suicide tree or pong-pong. It bears a fruit known as othalanga whose seeds yield a potent poison called cerberin that has been used for trials by ordeal, suicide, and poisonings.

It is native to South and Southeast Asia, Pacific Islands, and Queensland, Australia, growing preferentially along sandy coasts, riverbanks, and by mangrove swamps. It is also grown in tropical areas such as Hawaii as an ornamental.

Description
Cerbera odollam bears a close resemblance to oleander, another highly toxic plant from the same family. It grows to approximately 10-12 meters in height. Its leaves are glossy and it has white flowers with yellow throats. The plant as a whole yields a milky, white latex.

Its fruit, about 5-10cm in length, starts green and becomes red as it matures. It has a green fibrous shell enclosing an ovoid kernel measuring approximately 2 cm × 1.5 cm and containing two extremely poisonous seeds. On exposure to air, the white kernel turns violet, then dark grey, and ultimately brown, or black.

Common names
Cerbera odollam is known by a number of vernacular names, depending on the region. These include othalam (ഒതളം) in the Malayalam language used in Kerala, India; kattu arali (காட்டரளி) in the adjacent state of Tamil Nadu; dabur (ডাবুর) in Bengali; famentana, kisopo, samanta or tangena in Madagascar; and pong-pong, buta-buta, bintaro or nyan in Southeast Asia.

Use in Trials by Ordeal
The poisonous kernel of the Cerbera odollam fruit was used in trials by ordeal like the tangena throughout the regions where it grew. In Madagascar in the 18th and 19th centuries, over 3000 people died per year from consuming Cerbera odollam seeds in a trial by ordeal. These trials were intended to determine whether the subject was guilty of a crime, often witchcraft. In these trials, a dosage of the seed was administered. If the subject lived, they were considered innocent of whatever crime they were accused. If they died, they were considered guilty. These trials relied on the belief that some underlying spirit would distinguish between innocence and guilt.

Trials by ordeal using cerberin were extremely common. In the mid-1800s, leaders attempted to regulate trials by ordeal in Madagascar. For minor crimes, dogs or chickens were used as a substitute for humans. However, it wasn't until the early 1900s that this practice stopped.

Use for Suicide
Cerbera odollam was also frequently used for suicide and continues to be used for this purpose in the modern day. For instance, a 2004 study found that it was responsible for about one suicide death per week between 1989 and 1999 in Kerala, India. To commit suicide, people would remove the kernels from the seed and combine it with jaggery to eat. Death would occur quickly, about 3-6 hours after ingestion.

Toxicity
Cerberin, the poisonous compound in the kernels of Cerbera odollam, is a cardiac glycoside and, as such, blocks the heart's sodium and potassium ATPase. One kernel contains a fatal dose of the toxin.

Symptoms
Electrocardiographic abnormalities are common, the most common being sinus bradycardia. Around half of the patients develop thrombocytopenia. Temporary cardiac pacing has been used in the management, apart from other supportive measures.

Other common symptoms of cerberin poisoning include a burning sensation in the mouth, vomiting, retching, nausea, irregular respiration, headache, coma, and death. Some cases are asymptomatic.

Use as a poison
Cerbera odollam is commonly used for poisonings as well as suicides. Its bitter flavor can easily be masked by spicy food, allowing victims to ingest it without noticing. In Kerala, C. odollam is responsible for about 50% of plant poisoning cases and 10% of all poisonings.

The fatalities from poisonings, particularly from C. odollam, are underestimated due to the lack of testing in most cases. Poisonings outside the tree's natural range are considered rare.

Modern uses
The seeds of C. odollam are used as biopesticides, insect repellants, and rat poisons due to its toxicity to these animals.

Investigations have also been made into the feasibility of using the seeds as a feedstock in the production of biodiesel. Oil can be extracted from the seeds and transesterified into fatty acid methyl esters. This is a good alternative to other plants commonly used for biodiesels because unlike these plants, it grows on typically non-arable land and therefore does not compete with food crops.

title: Cerbera odollam


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Alphonse Alley

Alphonse Amadou Alley (April 9, 1930 – March 28, 1987) was a Beninese army officer and political figure. He was most active when his country was known as Dahomey. He was born in Bassila, central Dahomey, and enrolled in schools in Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, and Senegal before enlisting in the French army in 1950. He saw combat in Indochina from 1950 to 1953, in Morocco from 1955 to 1956, and in Algeria from 1959 to 1961. After the coup in 1965, President Christophe Soglo promoted Alley Chief of Staff of the Army. Young army officer Maurice Kouandété was appointed Alley's chef de cabinet in 1967.

Kouandété launched another coup against Soglo on December 17, but he was forced to hand power to Alley two days later. His administration oversaw the creation of a new constitution and a presidential election, Dahomey's first since 1964. The results were annulled because of a boycott that prevented almost three-quarters of the country from voting. Alley lost popularity with the suggestion that the military should retreat back to the barracks, and was eventually reduced to a mouthpiece for Kouandété. On July 17, 1968, Alley was forced to hand power to Emile Zinsou, a veteran politician.

Alley's retirement was marked by a series of discharges from the military, trials, and prison sentences. At one trial, Zinsou's conduct sparked another coup led by Kouandété. On October 26, 1972, Mathieu Kérékou seized power in a coup. He ended Alley's military career, as well as that of every other senior officer, and named Alley commissioner of the National Oil Wells (SNADAH), a role with very little responsibility. Kérékou accused Alley of plotting against him on February 28, 1973, and sentenced the latter to 20 years in prison. He died on March 28, 1987.

Military background
Alley was born on April 9, 1930, in Bassila, central Dahomey. He was a member of the small Widji ethnic group, based in the north. His father was also a military commander, who served the French in Syria during 1942 and helped train police in Togo. Alphonse enrolled in schools in Togo, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal until he enlisted in the French army in 1950. His first combat operation later that year was at the Indochinese Peninsula for the First Indochina War. Alley withdrew in late 1953, shortly before Operation Castor was launched at Dien Bien Phu. After this wartime experience, he went the Saint Maxient Non-Commissioned Officer School in France (now the National Active Non-Commissioned Officers School (France) or École Nationale des Sous-Officiers d’Actives (ENSOA)). He saw combat in Morocco from 1955 to 1956 and in Algeria from 1959 to 1961, where he became a paratrooper.

After Dahomey gained independence in 1960, Alley travelled back to his homeland and led a paratrooper unit. At first, he was a lieutenant, but he was promoted to captain in 1962 and major in 1964. Later that year he led several soldiers to the Dahomey-Niger border during a border dispute. Historian Samuel Decalo described Alley as "a jovial, dashing, easygoing and well-liked figure" and was known by diplomats as "the wine, women and song officer".

In Dahomeyan coups in 1963 and 1965, Alley urged General Christophe Soglo to seize power. After the 1965 coup, Soglo promoted Alley Chief of Staff of the Army. Alley made known his disagreements with Soglo on several occasions, though he remained loyal nonetheless. Young army officer Maurice Kouandété was appointed Alley's chef de cabinet in 1967 and his frequent opposition to Alley during staff meetings helped to create factions in the Dahomeyan Army.

1967 coup d'état
Kouandété had aspirations of his own. On December 17, 1967, he and 60 other soldiers led a military coup and toppled Soglo. Kouandété seized the presidency, though he was unsure what to do with it. Members of his faction urged the new president to remain at his post, though the general public's opinion was against him. Meanwhile, France refused to aid Dahomey and would not recognise Kouandété. He was forced to appointed Alley provisional president two days later, although Kouandété had placed Alley under house arrest and accused him of "shirking [his] duties" and maintained a "policy of appeasement." Kouandété served as prime minister thereafter.

President of Dahomey
Alley was one of the few figures who were trusted by northern and southern Dahomeyans alike. His role was only temporary, until power was to be ceded back to civilians in six months time. Among the events on the official timetable, which the military published on January 17, 1968, was the creation of a nonmilitary Constitution Commission on January 31, which would write a new Dahomeyan constitution. The document granted Alley strong executive power, and was adopted by the Comite Militaire Revolutionaire, Alley's interim government comprisising only military officers, in early March. A national referendum on the constitution was held on March 31, which passed with 92 percent in favor.

The Comite decided to ban all former presidents, vice presidents, government ministers, and National Assembly presidents from the upcoming presidential election. This was to prevent Dahomeyan politics from repeating its practices of old. The Supreme Court ruled the proscription was unconstitutional, although Alley overruled the decision. He instead only recognised five candidates as legitimate.

In response to their disqualification, former presidents Hubert Maga and Sourou-Migan Apithy staged protests while Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, another ex-president, supported an obscure candidate named Basile Adjou Moumouni. The election was held on May 15, and was Dahomey's first since 1964. Moumouni won the election with 80 percent of the vote, but Alley declared the result void because the protest prevented nearly three-quarters of the electorate from voting. This result sparked further demonstrations, and Maga, Apithy, Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, and former president Christophe Soglo were forbidden to enter the country, in an attempt to crack down on dissent. Alley felt he had made a mistake in disqualifying Maga, Apithy, and Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, as he believed that only they could bring unity to Dahomey.

In a radio address on May 11, Alley announced that due to the nullification, the military would heve to stay in power beyond June 17. He noted that his administration would require extra time to find a successor who was backed by everyone. Alley suggested that the military should retreat back to the barracks at Camp Ghezo and leave Dahomeyan politics to the career politicians. The view was unpopular, and he was outvoted by his military comrades. Alley eventually became little more than Kouandété's mouthpiece.

Alley attempted to remove Kouandété from the army, though to no avail. In any case, by June his fellow officers had made up their mind as to the next president. After talks with unionists, civil servants, and academics, they "entrust[ed] the reins of power to Émile Derlin Zinsou for at least five years", who was "charged to form a government of national union", as per a June 28 newspaper article by the state press. On July 17, Alley handed power to Zinsou, a veteran politician.

Later life
After Alley was retired from the presidency, he was purged from combat in the army and was assigned the new post of military attaché in Washington, D.C, an appointment he refused to accept. General Etienne Eyadema, the president of neighboring Togo, thought that this "serve[d Alley] right, for being stupid enough to give power back to the politicians. Don't think I'm ever going to be that dumb." Alley was discharged from the armed forces altogether in September, with Kouandété taking his place as Chief of Staff.

On July 11, 1969, Kouandété accused Alley of plotting to kidnap and murder him. Facing the death penalty, Alley was sentenced to ten years of hard labor at an open trial held on October 4. Zinsou had intervened for Alley, and it strained relations between the president and Kouandété. The latter decided to lead another coup on December 10. In the aftermath, Alley was released from incarceration and reinstated in the army. In July 1968, he was named Secretary General of National Defence. Kouandété ended up becoming Alley's adjutant.

In 1971, Alley allowed Togolese refugee Noe Kutuklui protection in Dahomey, despite official government policy to the contrary. On October 26, 1972, Mathieu Kérékou seized power in a coup. He ended Alley's military career, as well as that of every other senior officer, and named him commissioner of the National Oil Wells (SNADAH), a role with very little responsibility. Kérékou accused Alley of plotting against him on February 28, 1973, and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. He was released on amnesty on August 1, 1984, as well as all other political detainees besides those involved in the "ignoble and barbarous imperialist armed aggression of Sunday, January 16, 1967," as the official press release states.

Alley died on March 28, 1987. He was survived by his son, Zacharie. Plans for a mausoleum are in the works, decades after his death.

title: Alphonse Alley


text:
Golden Nugget Las Vegas

The Golden Nugget Las Vegas is a luxury hotel and casino located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada on the Fremont Street Experience. The property is owned and operated by Landry's, Inc. It has 2,419 hotel rooms.

History

The Golden Nugget was originally built in 1946, making it one of the oldest casinos in Las Vegas. Jackie Gaughan at one time owned a stake in the hotel as part of his many downtown properties. Steve Wynn bought a stake in the Nugget, which he increased so that, in 1973, he became the majority shareholder, and the youngest casino owner in Las Vegas and purchased the neighboring California Club in 1973 and combined the two properties under the former’s banner. In 1977, he opened the first hotel tower and the resort earned its first four-diamond rating from Mobil Travel Guide. It was the foundation for Wynn's rise to prominence in the casino industry. Frank Sinatra periodically headlined at the Golden Nugget.

The second hotel tower opened in 1984 along with the showroom, and the third tower was opened in 1989.

In 2000, the Golden Nugget (and all of Mirage Resorts' other properties) was sold to MGM Grand, Inc. (later named MGM Mirage).

Although the Golden Nugget was profitable, it was not part of the master expansion plan of the corporation which was focused on consolidating a long stretch of the Strip by acquiring Mandalay Resort Group, building City Center, and beginning construction in Macau. Gaming revenue on Fremont Street had peaked in fiscal year 1993. The Golden Nugget was sold in 2003, for $215 million to Poster Financial Group, owned by Timothy Poster and Thomas Breitling. When Poster Financial assumed control of the Golden Nugget, they began to upgrade the gambling operation by installing new cashless slot machines and by increasing the maximum bet available at table games to $15,000. Their story became the basis for The Casino, a television series on Fox that premiered on June 14, 2004.

On February 4, 2005, Houston, Texas–based Landry's, Inc announced its intent to purchase the property and the Golden Nugget Laughlin. The sale closed on September 27, 2005. After the purchase, the Golden Nugget embarked on a 14-month, $100 million renovation project, which was completed in November 2006. In December 2007, the Golden Nugget completed its $70 million Phase II project, which expanded the resort west onto First Street and introduced additional entertainment, event and dining venues. Phase III was the opening of the 500-room, $150 million Rush hotel Tower on November 20, 2009, along with the Chart House restaurant.

Onscreen

 * Films

 * In the opening credits of the Elvis Presley film, Viva Las Vegas
 * In the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971), the casino can be continually seen in the police chase scene.
 * Briefly in the Chevy Chase comedy film, Vegas Vacation
 * The casino can be seen in the beginning of the film Smokin' Aces (2006), in which the antagonist cuts the ribbons for the casino's grand opening.
 * In the film Next (2007), Nicolas Cage is briefly seen entering the Golden Nugget through the Fremont Street entrance.
 * The Golden Nugget features prominently in the poker mockumentary The Grand (2008).
 * Was seen in the music video for "Night Fever" by the Bee Gees.

 * Television
 * The 1959 Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Man from the South", the opening shot shows the Casino and Fremont St.
 * The Golden Nugget and Fremont Street are in the opening scene of "The Night Stalker" (1972) with reporter Carl Kolchak investigating a series of vampire murders in Las Vegas.
 * Vega$ (1978-1981) showed exterior shots of the Golden Nugget in the opening and closing slots and in the pilot episode
 * In the episode Honky Tonk Woman of the anime series Cowboy Bebop, the logo of the Golden Nugget can be briefly seen as they escape from the casino, insinuating it will still exist in the distant future.
 * The Casino (2004), a Fox reality television series is based on the story of the Golden Nugget's acquisition by Poster Financial Group.
 * In 2010, the casino's pool and shark aquarium were featured throughout an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
 * The casino was a recurring property in Billion Dollar Buyer on CNBC.

In games

 * In all Street Fighter II games (except HD Remix), Balrog's (M. Bison in Japanese) stage is set in front of the Golden Nugget, with the sign clearly seen in the back. In HD Remix, it has been changed to the "Crazy Buffalo", presumably in reference to the name of Balrog's original Super Combo. The updated version of the scenario that appears in Street Fighter V changes the name of the casino to the "Golden Bullion", most likely to avoid legal issues.
 * The name Golden Nugget also designates several casino games: Golden Nugget (1997), Golden Nugget 64 (1998), Golden Nugget Casino (2004; Game Boy Advance), and Golden Nugget Casino DS (2006).
 * In Fallout: New Vegas, the logo of the "Silver Rush", formerly a gambling hall, shows a similarity to the logo of the Golden Nugget.

Attractions
The world's largest gold nugget on display, the Hand of Faith, is still shown today in the Golden Nugget lobby. Weighing 875 ozt and 46 cm in length, the Hand of Faith was found near Kingower, Victoria, Australia, and put on display at the casino in 1981 amid a number of other gold nuggets.

The casino's large hotel sign at its entrance off Fremont and Casino Center was removed in 1984 when the casino underwent renovations. The old sign presently sits at the YESCO signage yard.

The expanded resort is built around two aquariums. The larger faces the swimming pool and incorporates a slide through the tank containing full-grown sharks. The smaller aquarium is in the lobby of the Rush Tower.

A total of five specialty restaurants were added: Vic & Anthony's Steakhouse, Grotto Ristorante, Lillie's Asian Cuisine, Red Sushi and  Chart House. The Chart House has a view of one of the aquariums. The pool is a $30 million unique three-level adventure with an enclosed slide through a shark tank, hidden grottos, swim-up bars, jacuzzis and multi-depth areas.

Golden Nugget and Poster Financial group

Tom Breitling and Tim Poster were the highest profile successful entrepreneurs who profited in the downtown market during the last crisis. As recounted in Tom Breitling's book, Double or Nothing, the partners agreed to buy the Golden Nugget and had an agreement to sell the property after operating it for only one year. The partners made $113 million in profit, called the highest rate of return in such a short time in the gaming industry. However, the partners had a negative income for the year and the fortune was made while total revenue for downtown was still basically flat.

title: Golden Nugget Las Vegas


text:
Six-String Samurai

Six-String Samurai is a 1998 American post-apocalyptic action comedy film directed by Lance Mungia and starring Jeffrey Falcon and Justin McGuire. Brian Tyler composed the score for this film along with Red Elvises, the latter providing the majority of the soundtrack.

The film was greeted with a great deal of excitement when shown at Slamdance in 1998, winning the Slamdance awards for best editing and cinematography, and gathering extremely favorable reviews from influential alternative, cult and indie film publications such as Fangoria, Film Threat and Ain't It Cool News. It is billed as a "post-apocalyptic musical satire".

In a limited theatrical release the film ran for several months in a few theaters, gaining a reputation as a minor cult film; having a budget of $2,000,000, it only made a mere $124,494 at the box offices. An intended trilogy has been discussed but not yet realized, just like the predicted launching of the career of the film's star, Jeffrey Falcon, a martial artist who had appeared in several Hong Kong action movies in the 1980s and early 1990s. While Mungia made several music videos, he did not direct another feature until the 2005 film The Crow: Wicked Prayer.

Plot
In 1957, the Soviet Union attacks the United States with nuclear weapons, rendering most of the nation uninhabitable. The American government has collapsed with the exception of the haven known as Lost Vegas, ruled by King Elvis. The Red Army has been besieging Lost Vegas, but the lack of supplies over the years has relegated them to a gang of thugs. Forty years later King Elvis dies and radio disc jockey Keith Mortimer announces a call for all musicians to come to Lost Vegas to try to become the new King of Rock 'n' Roll. The ending of His message, "Vegas needs a new King!"

Buddy, a lone guitarist and swordsman, saves an unnamed boy he simply calls "Kid" from a group of bandits; consequently, as the Kid's mother was killed by the bandits he tags along with Buddy much to the latter's annoyance. As the duo travel through the desert wasteland, the heavy metal-playing Death stages several attempts to prevent Buddy from reaching Lost Vegas alive and claim the throne for himself. After enduring an attack by a bounty-hunting bowling team, Buddy and the Kid steal a car from another musician to continue their journey. They are later attacked on the road by bandits but escape.

When their car breaks down, Buddy and the Kid attempt to borrow a wrench from a suburban family, unaware that they are cannibals. Buddy leaves the Kid with them and takes off on foot. The Kid is about to be eaten but is spared after a group of Windmill People invade the home and the family flees with Buddy and the Kid's abandoned car after revealing they had a socket wrench needed to fix it. Buddy returns to defeat the Windmill People, the two reunite and continue their journey on an abandoned motorcycle. Meanwhile, Death has been killing off all other musicians coming across his path and taking their guitar picks as trophies.

Buddy and the Kid arrive in the town of Fallout, where he leaves the Kid with some locals and enters a bar to drink and spend time with a cheerleader. Death arrives but the Kid warns Buddy in time for them to flee. Before they do Buddy is approached by a young guitarist, whom he then humiliates. Continuing their travel, Buddy is attacked by the guitarist. Buddy unintentionally kills him in self defense, and, feeling guilty, he lays his sword down and walks away, but the Kid brings it back to him, still believing in Buddy and helping regain his confidence. Eventually the two begin to bond closer. Later, after they collapse in the desert, they are ambushed by Death and his bandmates, a trio of archers. Buddy slides the Kid and his guitar to safety while he battles the archers, but when the Kid is captured by a group of underground mutants, Buddy pursues the mutants to their lair. Death decides not to follow him as there are other musicians left to kill saving Buddy for last.

Buddy manages to save the Kid, and after returning to the surface, they find their road to Vegas blocked by the Red Army. After a grueling battle, Buddy is injured with the Kid dragging him to continue. Death finally catches up to them and engages Buddy in a guitar duel clashing their styles of music against one another; Buddy, Rock 'n' Roll and Death, Heavy Metal. When Buddy proves the better guitarist, an angry Death orders his bandmates to shoot him and the Kid with their bows. Buddy shields the Kid, getting shot in the back, but rises up and battles Death in a sword fight. Death mortally wounds Buddy in the end but the Kid discovers water is Death's weakness after spitting at him. The Kid then melts Death away with his water canteen.

With his defeat, Death's bandmates are in shock that the Kid bested him. They give him a card and tell him with admiration that if he ever needs them to call them, and they take their leave. The Kid, saddened by Buddy disappearing after dying, bravely accepts to finish Buddy's journey. He puts on his clothes and glasses, and carries his sword and guitar. With Lost Vegas now in sight, the Kid has completed Buddy's dream, and the film ends with him turning into Buddy, symbolizing he's inherited His spirit as a crowd cheers him from Lost Vegas.

Cast

 * Jeffrey Falcon as Buddy, a parody of Buddy Holly
 * Justin McGuire as the Kid
 * Stephane Gauger as Death, a parody of Slash
 * Lex Lang as the voice of Death

 * George L. Casillas as Mariachi, a parody of Ritchie Valens
 * Jefferson Zuma Jay Wagner as Car Guy, a parody of Clint Eastwood
 * Monti Ellison as the Head Pin Pal
 * Kareem as Bowler #2
 * Paul Szopa as Bowler #3
 * Richard McGuire as the Cantina owner
 * Gabrille Pimenter as Little Man
 * Dan Barton as Ward Cleaver
 * Lora Witty as Harriet Cleaver
 * Rheagan Wallace as Peggy Cleaver
 * Nathaniel Bresler as Rusty Cleaver
 * John Sarkisian as the Russian General
 * Euan MacDonald as Russian Lieutenant #1
 * Henrik Henrickson as Russian Lieutenant #2
 * Kim De Angelo as the Mother

The Red Elvises appear as themselves. Director Lance Mungia plays one of the Archers.

Opening sequence distortion
The opening sequence has an intentionally distorted visual effect. The de-anamorphic visuals are a subtle "tribute" to the Chinese martial arts films (notably the films by Shaw Brothers) that often had their wide-screen opening sequences compressed to the 1.33:1 format of TV screens for VHS release.

Thematic elements
Throughout the film there are homages to many major musical movements in the United States. Buddy, the main character, is a symbol of the birth of rock 'n' roll. He shares the same clothing style of Buddy Holly, especially his horn-rimmed glasses.

Death, a character resembling Slash from Guns N' Roses, kills a character representing Jerry Lee Lewis during the film. Death also dispatches a mariachi band and another musician dressed country western style. His minions also torment a traveler dressed in hip hop fashion. Buddy also has a duel with a musician (wielding a ukulele) resembling Ritchie Valens, who died in the same 1959 plane crash as the original Buddy Holly. Death also kills rock music, through the death of Buddy. However, the last scene shows the child donning Buddy's clothing, suggesting that though rock 'n' roll is dead, there is still hope for the future.

The film also has references to the Wizard of Oz, loosely imitating the 1939 movie. A little person instructs Buddy to "follow the yellow brick road". Lost Vegas, seen from the distance, looks like the Emerald City. Death is obsessed with a specific object, Buddy's guitar pick, much like the Wicked Witch trying to get Dorothy's red slippers. Finally, Death is killed when sprayed with water, as was the Wicked Witch. When Buddy dies, his body disappears, leaving only his clothes for the kid to take, again like the Wicked Witch.

Soundtrack
Six-String Samurai: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the original soundtrack to the film, released by Rykodisc on August 25, 1998. It features the score by Brian Tyler and Red Elvises, along with select dialogue tracks from the film. The Enhanced CD release includes the film's trailer.

Critical reception
Six-String Samurai received mixed reviews, with a 57% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 21 reviews.

Film Threat gave the film a perfect score of five stars. Leonard Klady of Variety called the film "A rock 'n' roll Mad Max served up Cantonese style, this is one wildly original and highly entertaining American indie with genuine commercial appeal." Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle commented on his review that "If the film didn't have an underlying intelligence, it would soon be irritating -- it's too cartoonish and one-dimensional. But Falcon, an ace martial-arts practitioner, is dazzling as the nerdy main attraction, equally adept at sword fighting and guitar picking." Laurie Stone of The Village Voice wrote on her review: "There's one charming sequence, with vaudeville grace and tragicomedy worthy of Beckett, but the rest of the film, even with startling visual effects and some impish humor, is repetitious and derivative, playing like an endless commercial for bullet-hole chic."

Home media
Six-String Samurai was released on a non-anamorphic DVD by Palm Pictures in March 1999. Extras included the theatrical trailer and two music videos by the Red Elvises.

In March 2021, it was announced that the film would be receiving its first ever HD release in a Blu-ray/Ultra HD Blu-ray combo-pack from Vinegar Syndrome. Newly created extras include commentaries with Mungia and cinematographer Kristian Bernier, as well as a brand new extended length making-of documentary directed by Mungia and Elijah Drenner.

Other media
In September, 1998, a single Six String Samurai comic was released from Rob Liefeld's Awesome Entertainment. Written by Liefeld and Matt Hawkins, it featured art by 'Awesome' artists Dan Fraga and John Stinsman. A continuation rather than an adaptation, the plot summary from the comic is as follows:

"In this alternate universe, in 1957 the Russians took the United States by nuclear force. Only one piece of the American frontier remained free, a patch of land known as Lost Vegas. Through this desert wasteland wanders the 'six string samurai,' a latter-day Buddy Holly who handles a guitar or a sword with equal skill. He's a man on a collision course with destiny: It seems that King Elvis, who ruled over the land of Vegas for forty years, has finally taken his last curtain call and the throne now stands empty. But it's a rough road to the big city and the body count is likely to be high, as demonstrated in this postapocalyptic future with a beat we can dance to."

Cultural references

 * In the RPG Fallout: New Vegas, an achievement called "New Vegas Samurai" is available with an image based on Six String Samurai's movie poster. it is acquired when the player deals more than 10,000 points of damage with melee weapons.
 * The intro to the song “Holy Diver Pt.2” by Pannuci's Pizza is a quote from Head Pin Pal saying “Nice Tuxedo. Nice Tuxedo to die in!”

title: Six-String Samurai


text:
Morris Halle

Morris Halle, Pinkowitz (July 23, 1923 – April 2, 2018), was a Latvian-born American linguist who was an Institute Professor, and later professor emeritus, of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The father of "modern phonology", he was best known for his pioneering work in generative phonology, having written "On Accent and Juncture in English" in 1956 with Noam Chomsky and Fred Lukoff and The Sound Pattern of English in 1968 with Chomsky. He also co-authored (with Samuel Jay Keyser) the earliest theory of generative metrics.

Life and career
Halle was born - as Morris Pinkowitz (Moriss Pinkovics) - on July 23, 1923, in Liepāja, Latvia. In 1929 he moved with his Jewish family to Riga. He arrived in the United States in 1940 and graduated from George Washington High School. From 1941 to 1943, he studied engineering at the City College of New York. He entered the United States Army in 1943 and was discharged in 1946, at which point he went to the University of Chicago, where he got his master's degree in linguistics in 1948. He then studied at Columbia University under Roman Jakobson, became a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1951, and earned his PhD from Harvard University in 1955. He is considered to be, with Noam Chomsky, the founder of the modern linguistics department at MIT. He retired from MIT in 1996, but he remained active in research and publication. He was fluent in German, Yiddish, Latvian, Russian, Hebrew and English.

Halle was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1960. He was President of the Linguistic Society of America in 1974. He was also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Halle was married for fifty-six years to painter, artist and activist Rosamond Thaxter Halle (née Strong), until her death in April 2011. They had three sons: David, John and Timothy.

Halle resided in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He died on April 2, 2018, at the age of 94.

title: Morris Halle


text:
Golden Nugget Laughlin

The Golden Nugget Laughlin (formerly the Nevada Club) is a hotel and casino located on the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Landry's, Inc. It offers a number of restaurants, 300 guest rooms and suites, a casino floor, and meeting spaces. The Golden Nugget offers water taxi service from Bullhead City, Arizona, on the opposite side of the river.

Restaurants at the Golden Nugget include Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Claim Jumper, Saltgrass Steak House and Bean and Bread.

History
The property was previously known as the Nevada Club. In 1986, the resort underwent a major renovation. In 1988, the Del Webb Corporation sold the Nevada Club to Golden Nugget Inc. for $40 million, and it was renamed as the Golden Nugget Laughlin. The 300-room hotel was added to the property in 1992, along with a parking garage, new restaurants, and tropical theming, including an indoor rainforest.

In 2004, it was acquired by Poster Financial Group. On May 31, 2005, it was acquired by Landry’s, which was purchasing the Golden Nugget Las Vegas at the same time. Rooms underwent renovation in 2006.

In the years since Landry’s acquired Golden Nugget Las Vegas and Laughlin, three additional Golden Nugget resorts have been developed in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Biloxi, Mississippi and Lake Charles, Louisiana.

title: Golden Nugget Laughlin


text:
IKCO Samand

The IKCO Samand is an Iranian sedan produced by IKCO. The Samand production project began in 2001 and the first car was sold the same year. The Samand inherits the mantle of Iran's national automobile from the Paykan, which was sold by Iran Khodro from 1967 to 2005.

Engine and components
The Iranian-designed Samand uses the Peugeot 405 platform, equipped with either IKCO-designed EF7 engines or PSA XU7JP/L3 engines, amongst others. IKCO manufactures 80% of Samand's parts domestically, including its Iranian-designed engine.

For export markets (and also the Iranian market), IKCO uses the Peugeot TU5JP4 engine. This is because the TU5 is a low-consumption and powerful engine, and because of the ease of finding its parts all over Europe, since the TU5 has been used for the Peugeot 206, Peugeot 307 and Peugeot 207. The TU5 version of Samand comes with three new options: driver airbag, pre-tensioner seatbelts, headlight height adjuster and active antenna.The car use the same compoments from this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot_405

Since early 2009, IKCO has used newly developed Iranian engines such as a dual-fuel national engine for its new models (EF7). In mid-2010, IKCO started to install petrol-only EF7 engines on Samand. The engine is not a petrol-based version of EF7 but the compressed natural gas (CNG) parts of the engine are removed and also the engine control unit (ECU) programme. However, the petrol-based version of the engine is currently under development.

Performance

 * Fuel Consumption ( City / Combined / Highway (90 km/h) Constant )
 * CNG Fuel Consumption numbers are measured in Kg

Diesel Samad
In 2009, IKCO announced that they will produce Samand with their new engine EFD in 2010; however, due to the required tests for the engine, readying the car for installing the engine on it and also lack of distribution the Euro IV diesel fuel in the country postponed the production time to 2011. On November 30, 2010 IKCO announced the major changes made in Samand compared to dual-fuel or single fuel Samands for making it compatible for installing the EFD engine on. This main changes are: changing the radiator, installing the intercooler, water and hydraulic hoses, engine housings, exhaust system gearbox and the engine compartment insulations.

Exports
Samand cars are exported to the following countries:

Africa
 * Algeria
 * Egypt
 * Ghana
 * Mali
 * Senegal

Asia
 * Afghanistan
 * Bangladesh
 * Syria
 * Tajikistan
 * Vietnam
 * Iraq
 * Lebanon

Europe
 * Belarus
 * Russia
 * Switzerland
 * Turkey
 * Armenia
 * Azerbaijan
 * Georgia

South America
 * Venezuela

Production facilities
Samand has been also manufactured in Minsk, Belarus, by the Unison firm alongside Lublin vans since September 2006. The Export Development Bank of Iran will finance the implementation of the project with a $36 million budget. By 2010, the plant's annual production capacity will reach 120,000 vehicles.

Star company assembles Samand sedan in Azerbaijan under the local name AzSamand Aziz.

Venirauto company started assembling Samand sedan (badged Centauro) in Venezuela from 2006.

Siamco launched in March 2007 the assembly line of Samand (Siamco Sham) in Syria.

Iran Khodro (IKCO) also plans to assemble the Samand in Egypt in joint ventures in the future.

title: IKCO Samand


text:
User:SJMurdoch

Steven J. Murdoch

 * Wikipedia article: Steven Murdoch
 * Homepage: https://murdoch.is/
 * Blogs at: https://www.benthamsgaze.org/

Wanted articles
Length extension attack on Merkle-Damgaard construction of hash functions and MACs

title: User:SJMurdoch


text:
Suicide tree

Suicide tree may refer to at least two different plant species:

 * Cerbera odollam (native to India) so called because it is toxic
 * Tachigali versicolor (native to Central America) so called because it reproduces once before dying

title: Suicide tree


text:
Adolf Schreyer

Adolf Schreyer (9 July 1828, Frankfurt-am-Main – 29 July 1899, Kronberg im Taunus) was a German painter, associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting.

Biography
He studied art first at the Städel Institute in his native town, and then at Stuttgart and Munich. He painted many of his favourite subjects in his travels in the East. He first accompanied Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince of Thurn and Taxis through Hungary, Wallachia, Russia and Turkey; then, in 1854, he followed the Austrian army across the Wallachian frontier. In 1856 he went to Egypt and Syria, and in 1861 to Algiers. In 1862 he settled in Paris, but returned to Germany in 1870; and settled at Cronberg near Frankfurt, where he died.

Work
Schreyer was, and is still, especially esteemed as a painter of horses, of peasant life in Wallachia and Moldavia, and of battle incidents. His work is remarkable for its excellent equine draughtsmanship, and for the artist's power of observation and forceful statement; and has found particular favour among French and American collectors. Of his battle-pictures there are two at the Schwerin Gallery, and others in the collection of Count Mensdorff-Pouilly and in the Raven Gallery, Berlin. His painting of a Charge of Artillery of Imperial Guard was formerly at the Luxembourg Museum. The Metropolitan Museum, New York owns three of Schreyer's oriental paintings: Abandoned, Arabs on the March and Arabs making a detour; and many of his best pictures are in the Rockefeller family, Vanderbilt family, John Jacob Astor, William Backhouse Astor, Sr., August Belmont, and William Walters collections. At the Kunsthalle Hamburg is his Wallachian Transport Train, and at the Staedel Institute, Frankfort, are two of his Wallachian scenes.

title: Adolf Schreyer


text: User talk:216.159.104.201

title: User talk:216.159.104.201


text:
User talk:Randytsx

Hello!
Hello and welcome to Wikipedia! =) Noticed that you've started an article on Chung Ling High School, Butterworth and cortributed to Chung Ling High School, but the latter is on Votes for Deletion, I need your help to expand the article before it gets deleted. Thanks and regards, --Andylkl 20:00, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Oh, neither am I studying in Chung Ling, Penang. I'm studying in Heng Ee High School, that's what makes contributing it a bit hard. Can't quite find information on the internet, so it need info from its alumni or current students. Never mind about VfD, it seems to be able to go through at the moment. But please do write about the Butterworth branch when you're free. Thanks and regards. =) --Andylkl 06:01, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Yep I know the location of all of the Chung Ling schools, about what's inside it's a different matter. My parents had applied for the Butterworth branch (where you're studying!) when I was studying but my application got rejected. What's your AIM, ICQ, MSN or Y!IM screennames? Looking forward to chat with you. =) --Andylkl 06:43, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

May I ask why you have stuck a note about copyright and Chung Ling High School (with a big headline in capital letters, no less) on my user talk page? -- Jmabel | Talk 06:19, Dec 17, 2004 (UTC)
 * I've reverted it, Randy. We're looking for content that'll make it a better article. And I believe that the copyright problems has been addressed, so there's no need to make that statement. Thanks. =) --Andylkl 06:23, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * No, my talk page is not the place to discuss the matter. Either the article's own talk page or WP:CP is the place to discuss this sort of thing. The fact that I raised the flag doesn't mean my personal talk page becomes the place to discuss it. -- Jmabel | Talk 06:27, Dec 17, 2004 (UTC)

Hey!
To reply ur msg, since i dunno how to, i post it here easiest, i am a senior at clhs, and i love the sch, honestly, thus this is my way of giving back somehow.... so i make it by doing a proper article :) - User:Stkhoo

Welcome
Hey, saw your message on my talk page. Yeah, I'm a geek (somewhat). How can I help you? Johnleemk | Talk 11:03, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Well, first it would help if you told me what flavour/distribution of Linux (i.e. Mandrake, Red Hat, etc.). ;-) Some information about your computer hardware would be useful too. Johnleemk | Talk 11:53, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Hm...I don't know enough to solve your problems. Sorry. :-( You can always try asking at http://linuxquestions.org though. They're pretty good. Johnleemk | Talk 16:56, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Nope, I used Mandrake and now Slackware. I've never run into your problems before, so I don't know how to help. Sorry. :-( Johnleemk | Talk 17:35, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

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Speedy deletion nomination of Chung Ling Butterworth High School

A tag has been placed on Chung Ling Butterworth High School requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G12 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page appears to be a clear copyright infringement. This page appears to be a direct copy from http://chunglinghighschool.tripod.com/history/history.htm. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material, and as a consequence, your addition will most likely be deleted. You may use external websites or other printed material as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences. This part is crucial: say it in your own words. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously and persistent violators will be blocked from editing.

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title: User talk:Randytsx


text:
Category:Documentary television series

Articles about a television series which is made up of documentary episodes should be categorized here.

Articles about documentary films made specifically for television should be categorized under documentary television films.

title: Category:Documentary television series


text:
Alosa

Alosa is a genus of fish, the river herrings, in the  family Alosidae. Along with other genera in the subfamily Alosinae, they are generally known as shads. They are distinct from other herrings by having a deeper body and spawning in rivers. Several species can be found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Also, several taxa occur in the brackish-water Caspian Sea and the Black Sea basin. Many are found in fresh water during spawning and some are only found in landlocked fresh water.

Fossil record
These fishes lived from the Eocene to Quaternary (from 55 million years ago to now). Fossils have been found in Canada, the United States, Greece, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Romania, and Italy.

Appearance
Alosa species are generally dark on the back and top of the head, with blue, violet, or greenish tints. Some can be identified as having a grey or green back. Spots are commonly found behind the head, and the fins may vary from species to species or individually. Most species of Alosa weigh 300 g or less, with A. pontica and A. fallax weighing up to 2 kg, and A. alosa can exceed 3–4 kg.

Biology
Shads are thought to be unique among the fishes in having evolved an ability to detect ultrasound (at frequencies above 20 kHz, which is the limit of human hearing). This was first discovered by fisheries biologists studying a type of shad known as blueback herring, and was later verified in laboratory studies of hearing in American shad. This ability is thought to help them avoid dolphins that find prey using echolocation. Alosa species are generally pelagic. They are mostly anadromous or semianadromous with the exception of strictly freshwater landlocked species. Alosa species are generally migratory and schooling fish. Males usually mature about a year before females; they spawn in the late spring to summer. Most individuals die shortly after spawning. Alosa species seemingly can change readily to adapt to their environments, as species are found in a wide range of temperatures and waters.

Lifecycle and reproduction
As Alosa species are generally anadromous, they face various obstacles to survival. They may have to pass through numerous barriers and waters to get to either their spawning grounds or normal habitats (the sea in most cases). Estuaries are a major factor in numerous Alosa species' migrations. Estuaries can be highly variable and complex environments contributing to fluctuating biological interactions, with shifts in osmolarity, food sources, predators, etc. Since many adult Alosa species die after spawning, only the young generally migrate to the sea from the spawning grounds. Duration of migration varies among fish, but can greatly affect survival.

Reproduction varies by species. Studies done on Alosa in Iranian waters have shown that spawning varies in time, place, and temperature of the waters they inhabit. Fecundity may also vary. Species are known to spawn as early as April or as late as August. Temperatures range from about 11 to 27 °C. Fecundity can range from 20,000 to 312,000 eggs. Eggs are pelagic. Geography and temperature are important environmental factors in egg and young-of-year development.

The lifespan of Alosa species can be up to 10 years, but this is generally uncommon, as many die after spawning.

Systematics
The systematics and distribution of Alosa shads are complex. The genus inhabits a wide range of habitats, and many taxa are migratory. A few forms are landlocked, including one from Killarney in Ireland, two from lakes in northern Italy, and two in Greece. Several species are native to the Black and Caspian Seas. Alosa species of the Caspian are systemically characterized by the number of rakers on the first gill arch. They are classified as being "multirakered", "medium-rakered", or "oligorakered". The multirakered are primarily plankton feeders, the oligorakered have large rakers and are predators, and the medium-rakered generally consume a mixed diet. Most current species of the genus Alosa in North America can be found in Florida, whereas the distribution of most of them is broader.

Morphology is notoriously liable to adapt to changing food availability in these fish. Several taxa seem to have evolved quite recently, making molecular analyses difficult. In addition, hybridization may be a factor in shad phylogeny. Nonetheless, some trends are emerging. The North American species except the American shad A. sapidissima can probably be separated in a subgenus Pomolobus. Conversely, the proposed genus (or subgenus) Caspialosa for the Caspian Sea forms is rejected due to paraphyly.

North America

 * Alosa aestivalis (Mitchill, 1814) (blueback herring) Blueback herring fish (white background).jpg
 * Alosa alabamae D. S. Jordan and Evermann, 1896 (Alabama shad)
 * Alosa chrysochloris (Rafinesque, 1820) (skipjack shad) Skipjack herring fish alosa chrysochloris (white background).jpg
 * Alosa mediocris (Mitchill, 1814) (hickory shad) Hickory shad (Duane Raver).png
 * Alosa pseudoharengus (A. Wilson, 1811) (alewife) Alewife fish (white background).jpg
 * Alosa sapidissima (A. Wilson, 1811) (American shad) American shad fish alosa sapidissima (white background).jpg

Western Europe and the Mediterranean

 * Alosa agone (Scopoli, 1786) (agone)
 * Alosa algeriensis Regan, 1916 (North African shad)
 * Alosa alosa (Linnaeus, 1758) (allis shad) Alosa alosa.jpg
 * Alosa fallax (Lacépède, 1803) (twait shad)
 * Alosa killarnensis Regan, 1916 (Killarney shad)

Caspian Sea, Black Sea, the Balkans

 * Alosa braschnikowi (Borodin, 1904) (Caspian marine shad)
 * Alosa caspia (Eichwald, 1838)
 * A. c. caspia (Eichwald, 1838) (Caspian shad)
 * A. c. knipowitschi (Iljin, 1927) (Enzeli shad)
 * A. c. persica (Iljin, 1927) (Astrabad shad)
 * Alosa curensis (Suvorov, 1907) (Kura shad)
 * Alosa immaculata E. T. Bennett, 1835 (Pontic shad)
 * Alosa kessleri (Grimm, 1887) (Caspian anadromous shad)
 * Alosa macedonica (Vinciguerra, 1921) (Macedonia shad)
 * Alosa maeotica (Grimm, 1901) (Black Sea shad)
 * Alosa saposchnikowii (Grimm, 1887) (Saposhnikovi shad)
 * Alosa sphaerocephala (L. S. Berg, 1913) (Agrakhan shad)
 * Alosa tanaica (Grimm, 1901) (Azov shad)
 * Alosa vistonica Economidis and Sinis, 1986 (Thracian shad)
 * Alosa volgensis (L. S. Berg, 1913) (Volga shad)

Management
Shad populations have been in decline for years due to spawning areas blocked by dams, habitat destruction, pollution, and overfishing. Management of shad has called for more conservative regulations, and policies to help the species have lower fishing mortality.

Political significance
Shad serve a peculiar symbolic role in Virginia state politics. On the year of every gubernatorial election, would-be candidates, lobbyists, campaign workers, and reporters gather in the town of Wakefield, Virginia, for shad planking. American shad served as the focal point of John McPhee's book The Founding Fish.

Culinary use
The roe, or more properly the entire engorged uterus of the American shad—filled with ripening eggs, sautéed in clarified butter and garnished with parsley and a slice of lemon—is considered a great delicacy, and commands high prices when available.

title: Alosa


text:
German concentration camps

German concentration camps may refer to different camps which were operated by German states:
 * Concentration camps during the Herero and Namaqua genocide
 * Shark Island concentration camp
 * Cottbus-Sielow concentration camp in Cottbus interning Jewish immigrants in interwar Germany
 * Stargard concentration camp in Stargard, interning Jewish immigrants in interwar Germany
 * Nazi concentration camps, operated by Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945
 * Other types of Nazi camps, operated by Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945
 * Extermination camps
 * Forced-labor camps
 * Polenlager
 * Transit camps (Nazi Germany), such as Drancy transit camp

title: German concentration camps


text:
Ion Emanuel Florescu

Ion Emanuel Florescu (7 August 1819, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Wallachia – 10 May 1893, Paris, France) was a Romanian army general who served as Prime Minister of Romania for a short time in a provisional government in 1876 (4 April – 26 April) and then in 1891 (2 March – 29 December). He also served as Chief of the General Staff in 1860 (30 May – 30 August) and then from 21 April 1864 to 1 May 1866.

His cousin was Bonifaciu Florescu.

title: Ion Emanuel Florescu


text:
User:Hemanshu/sandbox7

 * A - Amazon, Ask.com, Argos, Adaware, AOL
 * AA - AA, AAA
 * AB - ABC, ABC News, Abortion, Abercrombie,...Abraham Lincoln, Abbey...
 * AC - Acrobat Reader, Act, Acura, Acrobat, Acer, Acid rain...
 * AD - Adaware, Adobe, Adware, Adobe Acrobat, Addicting games, Adidas, Adobe Reader, Adriana Lima, Adobe Acrobat Reader

title: User:Hemanshu/sandbox7


text:
Cerberin

Cerberin is a type of cardiac glycoside, found in the seeds of the dicotyledonous angiosperm genus Cerbera; including the suicide tree (Cerbera odollam) and the sea mango (Cerbera manghas). As a cardiac glycoside, cerberin disrupts the function of the heart by blocking its sodium and potassium ATPase. Cerberin can be used as a treatment for heart failure and arrhythmia.

Overconsumption of cerberin results in poisoning. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, and bradycardia, often leading to death. Cerberin containing plants such as Cerbera odollam have historically been used for suicide and homicide in their growth regions due to their high toxicity.

Structure
Cerberin, like all cardiac glycosides, has as its core a steroid-type set of four carbocycles (all-carbon rings). In cerberin, this steroid core is connected, first, to a separate oxygen-containing lactone ring (shown here, upper right of box), and second, to a sugar substituent (shown in infobox structure, left of image).

There are two types of cardiac glycosides depending on the characteristics of the lactone moiety. Cerberin, with its five-membered ring, belongs to the cardenolide class; cardenolides are 23-carbon steroids with methyl groups at positions 10 and 13 of the steroid ring system, and the appended five-membered butenolide-type of lactone at C-17.

Many types of sugars can be attached to cardiac glycosides; in the case of cerberin, it is an O-acetylated derivative of α- L -thevetose, which is itself a derivative of L -glucose (6-deoxy-3-O-methyl-α- L -glucopyranose). The cardenolide substructure to which the sugar is attached has also been independently characterised, and can be referred to as digitoxigenin (see image), hence, cerberin is, synonymously, ( L -2′-O-acetylthevetosyl)digitoxigenin. As well, the non-acetylated structure was independently discovered and named neriifolin, and so cerberin is, synonymously, 2′-acetylneriifolin.

Physical properties
Cerberin is slightly soluble in chloroform and methanol. It is white to pale yellow in color.

Toxicity
The literature on cerberin toxicity, per se, remains sparse; unless otherwise specifically indicated, the following is general information regarding cardiac glycoside toxicity, with an emphasis on information from cardenolides (i.e., steroid natural products bearing the same digitoxigenin substructure).

A historic, reported lethal dose of cerberin in dog is 1.8 mg/kg, and in cat 3.1 mg/kg; that is, it is very low. However, toxicity in humans is variable. One study showed that with treatment, humans could survive dosages of 1/2 kernel 94% of the time, 1 kernel 92% of the time, 2 kernels 71% of the time, and 4 kernels 67% of the time. Deaths were also variable when cerberin was used for trials by ordeal.

Symptoms
Those who ingest cerberin experience, within an hour, a variety of gastrointestinal and cardiac symptoms, particularly nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and bradycardia. Forensic sources indicate presentations for cardiac toxin poisonings that additionally include burning sensations in the mouth, diarrhea, headache, dilated pupils, irregular beating of the heart, and drowsiness; coma and death most often eventually follow. There is no clear, reported correlation between the dose and mortality (see above); death often occurs after 3–6 hours.

Poisonings
There is significant evidence from Cerbera with regard to lethal poisonings. Individual cases of poisoning from Cerbera are documented including direct and indirect, and intentional and unintentional ingestion. Cases of human fatalities from consumption of crab where the crustacean had earlier consumed plants producing cerberin or related cardenolides are known.

Aside from accidental poisoning, cerberin has also been used for suicide and homicide. For example, a 2004 study found that Cerbera odollam was responsible for an average of one suicide death per week between 1989 and 1999 in Kerala, India. It was also the cause of 50% of plant poisoning cases and 10% of all poisonings in that region.

Cerberin is ideal for use as a poison because it is fast acting, its flavor is easy to mask when added to food, and it is relatively undetectable because there is only one analytical test to determine its presence in tissues after death.

Mechanism of action
There is very little formal, modern published information on the mechanism of action of cerberin.

Cerberin, as a cardiac glycoside, is seen as binding to and inhibiting the cellular Na+/K+ -ATPase, because it binds to the alpha-subunit of the enzyme. This is the catalytic moiety. There are also a beta- and FXYD subunits. These two subunits influence the affinity of cerberin to Na+/K+ -ATPase. The expression of the beta- and FXYD-subunit is tissue-specific. Because of this, cerberin will have different effects in different tissues. When cerberin binds to the Na+/K+-ATPase the conformation of the enzyme changes. This will lead to the activation of signal transduction pathways in the cell. A detailed description of the effects of cerberin in the cell is given below.

Na+/K+-ATPase pump
Na+/K+-ATPase is an ion transport system of sodium and potassium ions and requires energy. It is often used in many types of cellular systems. Sodium ions move out of the cell and potassium ions enter the cell (3:2) with the aid of this pump. During the transport of these ions, the enzyme undergoes several changes in conformation. Including a phosphorylation and dephosphorylation step.

The transport of Na+ and K+ is important for cell survival. Cardiac glycosides, such as cerberin, alter the transport of ions against their gradient. Cerberin is able to bind to the extracellular part of the Na+/K+-ATPase pump and can block the dephosphorylation step. Due to this inhibition it is impossible to transport sodium and potassium across the membrane and results in raising intracellular concentration of Na+.

Na+/Ca2+-exchanger
Accumulation of intracellular sodium ions cause an increase of intracellular calcium. This is because the calcium-sodium exchange pump’s activity decreases. The calcium-sodium exchange pump exchanges Ca2+ and Na+ without the use of energy. This exchanger is essential for maintaining sodium and calcium homeostasis. The exact mechanism by which this exchanger works is unclear. It is known that calcium and sodium can move in either direction across the membrane of muscle cells. It is also known that three sodium ions are exchanged for each calcium and that an increase in intracellular sodium concentration through this exchange mechanism leads to an increase in intracellular calcium concentration. As intracellular sodium increases, the concentration gradient driving sodium into the cell across the exchanger is reduced. As a result, the activity of the exchanger is reduced, which decreases the movement of calcium out of the cell.

Thus by inhibiting the Na+/K+-ATPase, cardiac glycosides cause intracellular sodium concentration to increase. This leads to an accumulation of intracellular calcium via the Na+/Ca2+-exchange system with the following effects:
 * In the heart, increased intracellular calcium causes more calcium to be released, thereby making more calcium available to bind to troponin-C, which increases contractility (inotropy).
 * Inhibition of the Na+/K+-ATPase in vascular smooth muscle causes depolarization, which causes smooth muscle contraction.

The conformational change of Na+/K+-ATPase plays not only a role in the contraction of muscles, but also in cell growth, cell motility and apoptosis. Due to de binding of cerberin, specific second messengers can be activated. After a cascade of cellular interactions nuclear transcription factors binds to the DNA and new enzymes will be made. This enzymes can for example play a role in cell proliferation. [subscription required]

Metabolism
Very little is known about the metabolism of cerberin. For the related digoxin, another cardiac glycoside, it is in largest part excreted unchanged by the kidneys (60-80%), with the remaining mostly metabolised by the liver. The half-life for digoxin is 36–48 hours for people with a normal renal function and up to 6 days for people with a compromised renal function. This makes the renal function an important factor in the toxicity of digoxin and perhaps for cerberin as well.

Efficacy
There is very little formal, modern published information on the pharmacological actions of cerberin. One primary source reports that its ingestion results in electrocardiogram (ECG) changes, such as various types of bradycardia (e.g., sinus bradycardia), AV dissociation, and junctional rhythms; second-degree sinoatrial block and nodal rhythm are also described.

In the case of digitalis administration, ST depression or T wave inversion may occur without indicating toxicity; however, PR interval prolongation indicate toxicity.

Therapeutic uses
There are no clearly established therapeutic uses of the title compound, cerberin. Digitalis compounds, related cardiac glycosides, function through the inhibition of the Na+/K+-ATPase-pump, and have been widely used for in the treatment of chronic heart failure and arrhythmias; although newer and more efficacious treatments for heart failure are available, digitalis compounds are still used. Some cardiac glycosides have been shown to have antiproliferative and apoptotic effects, and are therefore of interest as potential agents in cancer chemotherapy; there is a single report to date of possible antiproliferative activity of cerberin.

title: Cerberin