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Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a mine train roller coaster located at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Park (Paris). In Tokyo and Paris, the attraction is named Big Thunder Mountain. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is also the name of the fictional rail line the roller coaster depicts.

Theme
Although the details of the backstory vary from park to park, all follow the same general story arc. Sometime in the late 1800s, gold was discovered on Big Thunder Mountain in the American Southwest. Overnight, a small mining town became a thriving one (Rainbow Ridge in Disneyland; Tumbleweed in Florida; Thunder Mesa in Disneyland Paris) under the thumb of the greedy mining company owner (Barnabas T. Bullion in the American versions, Henry Ravenswood in Disneyland Paris). Mining was prosperous, and an extensive line of mine trains was set up to transport the ore. Unknown to the settlers, the mountain was a sacred spot to local Native Americans and was cursed.

Before long, the settlers' desecration of the mountain caused a great tragedy, which, depending on the park, is usually depicted to be an earthquake (Disneyland and Disneyland Paris), a tsunami (Tokyo Disneyland), or a flash flood (Walt Disney World), which befell the mines and town, and the town was abandoned. Some time later, the locomotives were found to be racing around the mountain on their own, without engineers or a crew. The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was founded in the old mining camp to allow wanderers to take rides on the possessed trains.

The detailed backstory, while present in park literature and training materials, is not communicated to park guests directly. The station buildings on all four versions of the ride are themed to the appearance of a mining company office from the mid to late 19th century. In the Disneyland park, there is music and laughing in one of the saloons of Rainbow Ridge, and a typewriter is heard from a newspaper office. The mountains themselves are themed to the red rock formations of the American Southwest. The rock work designs in the Disneyland version are based on the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. In the Florida, Tokyo and Paris versions of the ride, the rockwork designs are based on the rising buttes that are located in Arizona and at Monument Valley in Utah. Walt Disney Imagineering took special care to make it appear that the rocks were there originally, and the track was built around the rocks, unlike a number of earlier mine rides, which were built the other way around (by sculpting the rocks around the tracks). There is also a dinosaur skeleton that the train passes by in all versions of the ride except the Paris version. A cracked eggshell is nearby, and there is a lake with water that is shot up while the train passes on the warmer days. Sound effects of a typical locomotive operation are piped into the surrounding scenery to add realism to guests viewing the ride from observation platforms, including the steam whistle sounding, even though there is no whistle displayed on the locomotives.

History
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was designed by Imagineer Tony Baxter and ride design engineer Bill Watkins. The concept came from Baxter's work on fellow Imagineer Marc Davis's concept for the Western River Expedition, a western-themed pavilion at the Magic Kingdom, designed to look like an enormous plateau and contain many rides, including a runaway mine train roller coaster. However, because the pavilion as a whole was deemed too expensive in light of the construction and 1973 opening of Pirates of the Caribbean, Baxter proposed severing the mine train and building it as a separate attraction.

The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad project was put on hold again in 1974 as resources and personnel were being diverted to work on constructing Space Mountain in Tomorrowland, but this delay may have ultimately produced a smoother ride as the use of computers in attraction design was just beginning when the project was resumed. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was one of the first Disney rides to utilize computer-aided design. Four of Disney's parks feature the attraction. It first opened at Disneyland in 1979, and then a larger version debuted at Magic Kingdom in Florida in 1980. Tokyo Disneyland's version opened in 1987. Disneyland Paris opened with its version in 1992, of which its layout and structure is primarily based on the Florida version of the ride. The Disneyland Paris installation is also the only Big Thunder Mountain to have been an opening-day attraction at its park.

In August 2018, the Paris location would get a single rider line. Guests would take the normal line and a cast member would direct them either towards the single rider entrance or the normal pathway at the level of the panel located a little before the covered line. Less than two years later, a single rider line was also added to the Tokyo location in January 2020.

Tributes to predecessor
At Disneyland, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was built on the land the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland used to occupy. Several tributes to the former attraction are present in the Disneyland version. A scaled-down Western town sits adjacent to the queuing lines and tracks near the station. A Western saloon, hotel, assayer's office and mercantile appear among the buildings. This is the village of Rainbow Ridge, which used to overlook the loading platform of the sedate Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland. Many of the animal animatronics throughout the attraction are animatronic animals from the previous attraction. Other allusions to the Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland include the Rainbow Caverns (glowing pools of water by the first lift hill) and precariously balanced rocks in the third lift hill tunnel. The name of the ride itself, "Big Thunder", was originally the name of a large waterfall the old mine train passed on its tour. "Little Thunder" was located nearby.

Name
At the Magic Kingdom and at Disneyland, the ride is known by its full name of "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad". The Tokyo and Paris versions would drop the word "Railroad" in favor of the name "Big Thunder Mountain", though the full name is still present on the trains. Tokyo Disneyland's Big Thunder, which is almost identical to the Magic Kingdom's, opened in 1987, five years after the park opened. At Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, the name of the ride is sometimes shortened to "Big Thunder Mountain", "Big Thunder", "Thunder Mountain Railroad" or "Thunder Mountain".

Kidney stones
In the October 2016 Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, a paper entitled "Validation of a Functional Pyelocalyceal Renal Model for the Evaluation of Renal Calculi Passage While Riding a Roller Coaster" was published. The paper's author, Dr. Wartinger, found that patients of his had passed kidney stones after riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Walt Disney World on vacation, including one who passed three stones on three separate occasions. The doctor then tested this result, with the permission of Disney, with a 3D model of a kidney by riding the ride over 20 times. The study found nearly 70% of the time, the kidney stone was passed, with results varying depending on which row they were in. The study also found that Space Mountain and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith failed to cause this result.

Disneyland version
While the design of the Walt Disney World version of this roller coaster was done first, Disneyland's version was the first one to open. The track layout was mirrored, placing the attraction to the right of Rivers of America, if viewed from the central hub. (In Walt Disney World, the attraction is located to the left of Rivers of America.) To better fit with the adjacent Fantasyland areas of the theme park, the original Walt Disney World design had to be replaced with something more appropriate for Disneyland. The Florida, Tokyo and Paris versions of the ride use sharp-edged mountains and the vibrant colors of Monument Valley, Arizona, while Disneyland's version was developed with more rounded features and muted colors resembling the Bryce Canyon hoodoos in Utah.

Upon entering the attraction, the queue winds through a narrow rock wall and passing by the tracks. The surrounding walls were originally created from 100 tons of gold ore from Rosamond.

Leaving the outdoor station, trains enter a bat-infested tunnel, make a right hand turn, then a left hand turn before climbing the first lift hill, which takes trains through a cavern full of stalactites. Leaving the lift hill, the train drops away to the right, then levels out and makes a left hand turn. The track then crosses under the second lift hill drop before making a right hand turn. The sounds of coyotes can be heard howling at the train as it dives into a cave. At the end of the tunnel, the train hits a trim brake, exits the tunnel, and climbs the second lift hill. At the top of the lift, an animatronic goat bleats at passing guests as the train drops away to the right, crosses under the lift hill, and rises up into a downward spiraling clockwise helix. Leaving the helix, the train shoots through a small canyon, then drops down into a mining camp, where it hits another trim brake. The train then makes a left hand turn, enters another tunnel, and climbs the third lift hill. As the train climbs the lift, the tunnel is dynamited, and artificial smoke is blasted in guests' faces as the train crests the lift and exits the tunnel. The train then drops to the right, towards the river, then makes a right hand turn and passes through a short tunnel. After crossing over the drop, the trains make a left hand turn as they pass through the ribcage of a T-rex skeleton, hit a trim brake, then make a right hand turn into the final brakes. The train then travels by the buildings of Rainbow Ridge as it returns to the station.

California's version of the ride is the only version of the ride to feature an outdoor station. All of the other versions feature an indoor station.

On January 7, 2013, the ride was closed for an extensive refurbishment that included a new track, trains, scenery, and new effects on the third lift hill. The attraction reopened on March 17, 2014. The new track was fabricated by Dynamic Structures, the company that had previously rehauled the coaster track in Space Mountain.

Magic Kingdom version
The track layout of the Magic Kingdom's version is a nearly identical mirrored layout of the Disneyland attraction.

Riders board the trains in an enclosed loading station on a hillside. Leaving the station, trains make a left hand turn into a bat-infested tunnel, make a slight right turn, and climb the first lift hill. At the top of the lift hill, trains pass under a waterfall and drop to the left. This is followed by a right hand turn, after which the track crosses under the second lift hill and drop. After crossing under the second lift hill drop, the track goes through a 270 degree clockwise spiral and passes through a short tunnel. Trains emerge from the tunnel and pass through the flooded town of Tumbleweed, running parallel to the Walt Disney World Railroad. The train passes over a decaying trestle (where the track is slightly banked from side to side), before entering Davy Jones Mine, where it hits a trim brake. Trains then make a left hand turn and climb the second lift hill.

At the top of the second lift hill, trains drop to the left and cross under the lift hill, before rising into a 540 degree downhill counterclockwise helix, passing over a broken trestle. Leaving the helix, trains shoot up across a small hill, make a slight right turn, then drop through another tunnel and hit a trim brake. The trains then make a right hand turn into a tunnel and climb the third lift hill. As the train climbs the lift, an earthquake hits and makes the train cars sway from side to side (the effect achieved by slightly banking the track). Leaving the lift, trains emerge from the tunnel, crest a small rise, and drop to the left towards the Rivers of America. After traveling along a short section of straight track, the ride then makes a left hand turn through a short tunnel and crosses a short bridge. The train then makes a right hand turn, and passes through the ribcage of a T-Rex skeleton as it hits the final trim brake, makes a left hand turn past some geysers and hot springs, and rises into the final brakes. The train then makes a left turn back into the station.

The Florida version was allocated more space in the park, and so the Monument Valley-inspired ride structure assumes 2.5 acres, 25 percent larger than the Disneyland version. Due to the ride being surrounded by the Rivers of America on the east and Walt Disney World Railroad on the west, the maintenance facility for the trains is on the opposite side of the Railroad's track from the ride, with a swing bridge being used where the transfer track crosses the Railroad, just past the Frontierland station.

Tokyo Disneyland version
Big Thunder Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland is similar to the Florida ride, but there are some differences in the ride layout. Instead of Tumbleweed, the track makes a left turn and dives into a cave, mirroring the California version of the ride. More significantly, the final segment of the ride is different. Instead of crossing back over the drop from the third lift hill, the track makes a 180 degree turn to the right before dropping out of a tunnel, through the Boneyard/geyser scene, into a short tunnel. The track then makes a right hand turn into the final brakes. The trains pass in front of the station building, and then turn back into the loading area.

Disneyland Paris version

While primarily based on the Florida version, Paris's version is unique as it is situated on an island in the middle of the Rivers of the Far West, where Tom Sawyer's Island would normally sit. It is also the only version of the ride to be an opening day attraction and the largest installment at any Disney park. Also unlike the other versions, the trains at the Paris version are painted to look weathered and aged.

Guests board the trains at a station on the mainland. Immediately upon leaving the station, trains dive into a tunnel that transports them under the Rivers of the Far West to the island where the ride is located. The train makes a right hand turn, and makes a quick steep rise before starting up the first lift hill. As trains climb out of the darkness of the underwater tunnel, stalactites and stalagmites can be seen growing next to the track, along with several rainbow colored pools of water. The sounds of bats swooping up above can also be heard. During warmer months, a waterfall parts around the track at the top of the hill. Trains pop out of the tunnel, leave the lift hill, and drop around a left hand turn, pass through a small cave, then make a swooping right turn. If the trains are being dispatched timely, when the train goes through this curve, it will appear to make a near miss with a train in the 540 degree helix.

After this turn, the trains pass under the second lift hill and its drop, making a slight hop, before making a left hand turn onto a trestle. The train runs along the Rivers of the Far West, across the water from Phantom Manor (the park's version of the Haunted Mansion), then makes a slight right hand turn, and suddenly falls through a washed out section of the trestle, hitting a magnetic trim brake. The trestle drop also contains an on-ride camera. After dropping down to the water level (with water jets on the sides of the track simulating a splashdown), the trains go around a left turn and hit the base of the second lift hill.

As trains start up the lift hill, two tied down donkeys can be seen to the right side of the track, braying at passing trains, with an empty watering pail in front of them. A goat can be seen pulling on a shirt hanging on a clothesline to the riders' left, as the trains pass a parked steamroller and mine elevator, and travel under a water tower.

At the top of the lift, it is possible for guests to catch a glimpse of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Walt Disney Studios Paris on the horizon before the trains drop around a left turn and cross back under the lift hill. Coming out of the drop, the track goes over another rise, hitting a magnetic trim brake, and passes a sign warning of a broken trestle mounted to the water tower post. Cresting the hill, trains cross over the broken trestle and spiral down through a 540-degree counter-clockwise helix.

Exiting the helix, the trains pass through a short cave and go over a quick airtime hill as they shoot down a canyon. As the trains drop through the tunnel and pass over a trim brake, a loud gust of wind is heard. Trains then make a right hand turn on another trestle, enter a tunnel with signs warning of blasting over the portal, and climb the third lift hill.

As the train starts up the third hill, the tunnel is dynamited, and artificial smoke is blasted in guests' faces as the train crests the lift and exits the tunnel. The train crests a small hill, then drops to the left onto a straightaway alongside the river, speeding up as it enters the return tunnel. The train encounters a swarm of bats in the tunnel as it makes another sharp counter-clockwise turnaround and goes down a steep drop to cross under the water. The trains continue to accelerate through the dark until it pops out of the exit portal on the mainland. An additional chain lift is located here to assist the train in leaving the tunnel. The train then coasts past the station, through the loading dock, and then makes a left turn to reenter the station.

The Paris version underwent a year long refurbishment from November 2015 to December 2016. As part of the renovation, the brakes were overhauled, some of the scenery was repainted, and a few elements from the California version were added (rainbow pools of water on the first lift hill cave, new sound effects for the mine elevator on the second lift hill, new mapping effects for the blasting scene on the third lift hill). Interactive games were also installed in the queue.

In film
The sounds of Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad trains were recorded and used as sound effects for the mine cart chase sequence in Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' 1984 film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Disneyland would later get its own Indiana Jones attraction in 1995, and the Walt Disney Company would go on to acquire the Indiana Jones franchise with its purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012.

In August 2022, it was announced that a film adaptation of the ride was in development. Amber Templemore-Finlayson and Katie Ellwood, collectively known as "Bert & Bertie", will serve as co-directors after the pair impressed studio executives with their pitched approach to the property. The script is being co-written by Michele and Kieran Mulroney. The project will be a joint-venture production between LuckyChap Entertainment, and Scott Free Productions.

In 2022, Disney Television Animation short series Chibi Tiny Tales featured a crossover short with The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder characters visiting the ride.

In television
In January 2013, ABC ordered a pilot based on the ride titled Big Thunder Mountain, but the idea was scrapped sometime after.

In the Modern Family episode "Disneyland", Phil (Ty Burrell) and his son Luke (Nolan Gould) ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad together during a family trip to Disneyland in Anaheim. Phil, who self-proclaims to be king of the roller coasters, begins to feel even more queasy when riding Big Thunder, after he and Luke had exited Indiana Jones Adventure prior.

Print media
In October 2014, Marvel Comics announced a five-issue series based on the attraction, which eventually debuted in early 2015. Part of Marvel's "Disney Kingdoms" line, the series elaborated on the story behind the attraction and featured input from Walt Disney Imagineering, including numerous nods to elements of the ride. The story would focus around Abigail Bullion, the spirited daughter of Big Thunder Mining Company founder Barnabas T. Bullion. She falls in with a group of bandits seeking to undermine the authority of Barnabas and his corrupt foreman Willikers and put stolen wealth from the mountain to good use helping the townspeople of Rainbow Ridge.

Incidents

 * March 10, 1998, Disneyland: A 5-year-old boy was seriously injured when his foot became wedged between the passenger car's running board and the edge of the exterior platform after the train temporarily paused before pulling into the unloading area. All of the toes on his left foot required amputation. This led to improvements to the ride, although the family maintains the park would not acknowledge this injury as the reason.
 * September 5, 2003, Disneyland: A 22-year-old man died after suffering severe blunt trauma and extensive internal bleeding in a derailment that also injured 10 other riders. The cause of the accident was determined to be improper maintenance. Investigation reports and discovery by the victim's attorney confirmed the fatal injuries occurred when the first passenger car collided with the underside of the locomotive. The derailment was the result of a mechanical failure which occurred due to omissions during a maintenance procedure. Fasteners on the left side upstop/guide wheel on the floating axle of the locomotive were not tightened and safetied in accordance with specifications. As the train entered a tunnel the axle came loose and jammed against a brake section, causing the locomotive to become airborne and hit the ceiling of the tunnel. The locomotive then fell on top of the first passenger car, crushing the victim. After the investigation to this incident was complete, the ride was reopened on March 11, 2004.
 * April 25, 2011, Disneyland Paris: Five guests were injured when a piece of scenery fell onto a passing train. One guest, a 38-year-old man, was seriously injured and transported to a Paris hospital, while the other four were treated at the scene.
 * October 27, 2011, Disneyland Paris: Two cars derailed as one of the ride's trains passed slowly over a flat section of track. Two guests were slightly injured, and the ride was subsequently closed for inspections.
 * February 2017, a 54-year-old man died after riding Magic Kingdom's attraction at Walt Disney World. The cause of his death is believed to be from natural causes due to a pre-existing medical condition. A Disney spokesperson said the ride was operating as normal.

Official links

 * Disneyland - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
 * Magic Kingdom - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
 * Tokyo Disneyland - Big Thunder Mountain
 * Disneyland Park (Paris) - Big Thunder Mountain

Additional links

 * Division Of Occupational Safety And Health Report courtesy of DLDHistory.com

title: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad


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Don Beebe

Donald Lee Beebe (born December 18, 1964) is an American former football wide receiver and coach who is the head football coach at Aurora University. He previously played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. In addition to his six seasons with the Bills, who selected him in the third round of the 1989 NFL Draft, he was a member of the Carolina Panthers during their inaugural season and played for the Green Bay Packers in his last two seasons.

A member of the Bills teams that lost four consecutive Super Bowls, Beebe achieved recognition for preventing an opposing touchdown by forcing a fumble in Super Bowl XXVII, despite the Bills facing an insurmountable deficit. He made two further Super Bowl appearances with the Packers and was part of the team winning Super Bowl XXXI. Beebe pursued a coaching career after retirement and was hired as Aurora's head football coach in 2019.

Early life
Beebe is one of five children of Don and Barb Beebe. He attended Kaneland High School in Maple Park, Illinois where he lettered in basketball, track and football, graduating in 1983. After attending Western Illinois University, he transferred to Chadron State College in Nebraska, where he set several school football records his senior year and ran a 6.3 60-yard dash on the indoor track team.

In his sole season with Chadron State, Beebe caught 49 passes for 906 yards and rushed 10 times for 81. He became the first player in school history to score a touchdown in every game, while also setting single-season school records for most all-purpose yards (1,661), points scored (90), and touchdowns (15). In 2000, Beebe was inducted into Chadron State's athletic hall of fame.

As of 2020, he still holds the following Chadron State football records:
 * Most touchdown receptions in a game: 4 vs. Black Hills State, 1988
 * Most touchdowns scored: 5 vs. Black Hills State, 1988
 * Kick Returns and Kick Return Yards in a season: 29 for 722 yards, 1988

NFL career
Beebe was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the third round (82nd pick overall) of the 1989 NFL Draft. He posted impressive statistics in speed and agility drills at the 1989 pre-draft combine.

In his nine NFL seasons, Beebe caught 219 passes for 3,416 yards, rushed for 28 yards, returned 81 kickoffs for 1,735 yards, and scored 25 touchdowns (23 receiving, one kickoff return, and one fumble recovery). He appeared in five Super Bowls as a player: XXVI, XXVII, and XXVIII with the Buffalo Bills (missing XXV due to injury) and XXXI and XXXII with Green Bay. While Buffalo lost its four consecutive title games, Beebe ultimately won a Super Bowl with the Packers in XXXI.

Beebe is well known for making one of the most memorable plays in Super Bowl history during XXVII against the Dallas Cowboys. In the game's fourth quarter, Cowboys defensive tackle Leon Lett recovered a Bills fumble and advanced the ball toward the end zone. However, Lett began to celebrate prematurely by holding the ball out to his right side. Although the Bills were losing 52–17 at the time, a relentless Beebe streaked down the field and knocked the ball out of Lett's hands just before he crossed the goal line. The loose ball went through the end zone and out of bounds for a touchback and prevented a Dallas touchdown, which would have given them a Super Bowl-record 58 points, plus (presumably) an extra point kick. Beebe also caught two passes for 50 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown reception from Frank Reich earlier in the game.

Beebe played one season for the Carolina Panthers in 1995 before finishing his career with the Packers. With injuries ravaging the Packers' receiving corps in 1996, Beebe ended up being the Packers' second-leading receiver, with 39 receptions, 699 receiving yards, 4 touchdown receptions, as well as the only kickoff return touchdown of his career. His standout game came in an overtime battle against the San Francisco 49ers, where Beebe had 11 receptions for 220 yards and one touchdown in a 23–20 Packer victory.

Coaching career
In 1998, Beebe founded House of Speed, LLC, a company that specializes in training athletes in the essentials of top performance, speed and character. House of Speed began franchise operations in 2006 and has locations in eleven states. Beebe also works with several professional, collegiate and amateur sports organizations in the area of speed, including the Chicago Bears, the Los Angeles Rams, the University of Illinois Fighting Illini and Club Fusion Volleyball.

In 2004, Beebe began coaching football for Aurora Christian Schools in Aurora, Illinois. He—along with his brother, defensive coordinator David Beebe, and brother Dan, the school's athletic director—led the Eagles to the school's first state championship appearance in 2008, where the team finished as 4A state runner-up after losing to Bloomington Central Catholic 37–28. Three years later Beebe and the Eagles returned to the finals, this time winning the 2011 IHSA Class 3A State Championship with a 34–7 win over Mt. Carmel. In 2012, Beebe led the Eagles to a second straight IHSA Class 3A State Championship by defeating Tolono-Unity 42–12 before stepping down as coach after the 2013 season and an overall 97–26 record. His brother succeeded him as head coach.

In November 2018, Beebe was named the head coach at Aurora University, replacing Rick Ponx, who was fired just the day before.

Personal life
In 2000, Chadron State renamed its renovated football stadium after Beebe, calling it Elliott Field at Don Beebe Stadium.

Beebe wrote a book with Denise Crosby titled Six Rings from Nowhere. As of 2014, a deal was in the works to develop the book into a feature film about Beebe's life and Christian faith.

Beebe's son, Chad, was a wide receiver for Northern Illinois University, a wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings NFL team from 2018 to 2022, and was a wide receiver for the Houston Texans in 2022.

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

title: Don Beebe


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Bass Lake

Bass Lake may refer to:

Cities, towns, townships, unincorporated communities
In the United States:
 * Bass Lake, California, a census-designated place in Madera County
 * Bass Lake, Indiana, a census-designated place
 * Bass Lake, Michigan, an unincorporated community in Grand Traverse County
 * Bass Lake, Itasca County, Minnesota, an unincorporated community near Wirt
 * Bass Lake, Ohio, a census-designated place
 * Bass Lake, Sawyer County, Wisconsin, a town
 * Bass Lake, Washburn County, Wisconsin, a town

Canada

 * Bass Lake (Ontario) – several lakes in Ontario with this name

United States

 * Bass Lake (Madera County, California), a reservoir in the Sierra National Forest
 * Bass Lake (Marin County, California), a small lake in Point Reyes National Seashore
 * Bass Lake (Holly Springs, North Carolina)
 * Bass Lake (Watauga County, North Carolina) a lake in the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park
 * Bass Lake, Bass Lake, Indiana
 * Bass Lake (Long Lake Township, Michigan), a small recreational lake west of Traverse City
 * Bass Lake, Ely, Minnesota
 * Bass Lake (Faribault County, Minnesota)
 * Bass Lake (Mahnomen County, Minnesota)
 * Camp Bass Lake, Owasippe Scout Reservation area near Whitehall, Michigan
 * Bass Lake (Thurston County, Washington)

title: Bass Lake


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Jean Kerr

Jean Kerr (born Bridget Jean Collins, July 10, 1922 – January 20, 2003) was an American author and playwright born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, who authored the 1957 bestseller Please Don't Eat the Daisies and the plays King of Hearts in 1954 and Mary, Mary in 1961.

Early life and education
Kerr was born on July 10, 1922, in Scranton, Pennsylvania to Irish immigrant parents Tom and Kitty Collins, and grew up on Electric Street in Scranton. She attended Marywood Seminary, the topic of her humorous short story "When I was Queen of the May." She received a bachelor's degree from Marywood College in Scranton and attended The Catholic University of America, where she received her master's degree in 1945.

A nun at Marywood persuaded her to drop her first name, because "only Irish washerwomen are named Biddie".

Career
The Kerrs worked together on several projects, including a 1946 adaptation of the novel, The Song of Bernadette. They contributed lyrics and sketches to the musical Touch and Go, and co-authored Goldilocks (1958), a Broadway musical comedy about the early days of silent film that ran from October 11, 1958 to February 28, 1959, and won two Tony Awards, for Best Actress in a Featured Role (Pat Stanley) and Best Actor in a Featured Role (Russell Nype).

The Kerrs also collaborated on the Tony Award-winning King of Hearts (1954), which ran for 279 performances; he directed the play that she co-wrote with Eleanor Brooke. King of Hearts was adapted for the screen in 1956 under the title That Certain Feeling. The film starred Bob Hope.

Jean Kerr wrote Jenny Kissed Me, which was produced in December 1948. She wrote the hit comedy Mary, Mary, which ran on Broadway from 1961 through 1964, for more than 1500 performances, and was brought to the screen under the same title in a 1963 film, starring Debbie Reynolds and Barry Nelson, which was a big hit.

She wrote sketches for John Murray Anderson's Almanac. Her book Please Don't Eat the Daisies was a big success, and it was made into a feature film in 1960. NBC also produced a 58-episode situation comedy starring Pat Crowley from 1965 to 1967, based on the book She then wrote The Snake Has All the Lines in 1960.

Kerr's play Finishing Touches ran from February to July 1973. Her other works include the plays Poor Richard (1964) and Lunch Hour (1980). She also wrote the books Penny Candy (1970) and How I Got to Be Perfect (1978). Her last play, Lunch Hour, was staged in 1980, and featured Sam Waterson and Gilda Radner. Kerr was skeptical of casting Radner in the play, but Mike Nichols persuaded her to watch Gilda Live, and Kerr was won over by her performance in the film, and she was offered the part.

Kerr was known to author her manuscripts and articles in longhand, and more than often, they were written in the family car, and her husband then typed them. American author Ernest K. Gann wrote in his book Twilight for the Gods, that "anyone who reads it [Please Don't Eat the Daisies], will consider it the most reasonable thing in the world that she prefers to do her writing seated in an automobile and parked two blocks away from her Larchmont, New York, home".

American cartoonist Dick Hodgins Jr. drew a caricature of Kerr in 1963, which was featured in several newspapers at the time.

Personal life
Kerr was married to New York drama critic Walter Kerr; they were married on August 16, 1943. The marriage lasted until his death in 1996. The couple had six children; Christopher, twins Colin and John, Gilbert, Gregory, and Kitty.

The Kerrs bought a house in New Rochelle, New York, and later settled in Larchmont, New York in 1955. Their house in Larchmont was frequently characterized in her writings, and it featured a two-story fireplace, turrets, a medieval courtyard, and a 32 bell carillon which played the duet from the opera Carmen at noon everyday. The house was previously owned by Charles King, who test drove Henry Ford's first car.

She died of pneumonia in White Plains, New York in 2003.

Books

 * Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1957)
 * The Snake Has All the Lines (1960)
 * Penny Candy (1970)
 * How I Got to Be Perfect (1979)

Plays

 * The Song of Bernadette (1946)
 * Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (1946)
 * Jenny Kissed Me (1948)
 * Touch-and-Go (1949)
 * John Murray Anderson's Almanac (1953)
 * King of Hearts (1954)
 * Goldilocks: A Musical (1958)
 * Mary, Mary (1961)
 * Poor Richard (1964)
 * Finishing Touches (1973)
 * Lunch Hour (1980)

title: Jean Kerr


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John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie

John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie (c. 1577 – 5 August 1600), was a Scottish nobleman who died in mysterious circumstances, referred to as the "Gowrie Conspiracy", in which he and/or his brother Alexander were attempting to kill or kidnap King James VI of Scotland for unknown purposes. The king's retinue killed both brothers during the attack, and the king survived.

Early life
John Ruthven was the second son of William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, and his wife Dorothea Stewart. His brother James, the 2nd Earl, died in 1586, therefore John succeeded his brother as the Earl of Gowrie while still a child.

The Ruthven family had a history of treason. Like his father and grandfather before him, Ruthven attached himself to the party of the reforming preachers, who procured his election in 1592 as Provost of Perth, a post that was almost hereditary in the Ruthven family. He was educated at the grammar school of Perth and the University of Edinburgh, where he was in the summer of 1593, about the time when his mother, and his sister the Countess of Atholl, aided the Earl of Bothwell in forcing himself, sword in hand, into the king's bedchamber in Holyrood Palace.

A few months later Ruthven joined with earls of Atholl and Montrose in offering to serve Queen Elizabeth I of England, then almost openly hostile to the Scottish king; and it is probable that he had also relations with the rebellious Bothwell. He travelled to Italy in 1597 with his tutor, William Rhynd, and they enrolled at the University of Padua in April. On his way home in 1599 he remained for some months at Geneva with the reformer Theodore Beza.

At Paris, he made acquaintance with the English ambassador, Henry Neville, who reported him to Robert Cecil as devoted to Elizabeth's service on 27 February 1599. Neville wrote that Ruthven would like to kiss Queen Elizabeth's hand, and said the Earl was loyal to the Protestant religion and the English queen. Gowrie would be able to give Cecil useful information regarding potential feared "alterations" in the political state of Scotland. In London he was received very favourably by Queen Elizabeth and her ministers.

In February 1600 he encountered William Stewart of Houston in a long gallery or passage in Holyrood Palace. Stewart had arrested the earl's father in 1584. The earl made to move out of Stewart's way then reconsidered at the urging of his servant Thomas Kinrosser. Stewart noted this and complained to the king as an offence to his long service and dignity, warning that Gowrie was a threat to the court. Gowrie was told about this, and said "Aquila non captat muscas", meaning the eagle does not catch flies, that Stewart was beneath his attention.

The "Gowrie conspiracy" resulted in the killing of the earl and his brother by attendants of King James at Gowrie House, Perth, a few weeks after Ruthven's return to Scotland in May 1600.

Gowrie House stood just inside Perth's town wall, next to the River Tay on the site now occupied by Perth Sheriff Court at the junction of Canal Street and Tay Street.

Gowrie conspiracy
The Gowrie conspiracy or Gowrie Plot was a series of events unfolding on 5 August 1600. It is shrouded in mystery. Although the facts of the actual attack and deaths of the Ruthvens are known, the circumstances by which that sequence of events came about remain a mystery.

Ruthven had reason to seek vengeance on James VI as he had executed his father in response to the Ruthven Raid, which in turn was inspired by high debts of the King to the Ruthven family. Getting rid of the family got rid of the debts, especially if the family was stripped of all ownership for reason of "treason". Rumours circulated that Anne of Denmark was involved in the Gowrie Conspiracy, and it was said that a letter had been found from her to the Earl of Gowrie, urging him to visit the royal court and enclosing the gift of a valuable bracelet.

Events
On 5 August 1600, King James VI of Scotland rose early to hunt around the neighbourhood of Falkland Palace, where he was residing, about 14 mi from Perth. As he set out, accompanied by Ludovic Stewart (the Duke of Lennox), John Erskine (the Earl of Mar), Thomas Erskine (the Earl of Kellie, first cousin to John) and others, he was approached by twenty-year-old Alexander Ruthven, a younger brother of John Ruthven. Alexander advised the king that he and his brother had detained a foreigner carrying a large quantity of money at Gowrie House in Perth, and urged James to interrogate the man himself. The king initially hesitated but ultimately agreed to ride to Perth after the hunt ended. Alexander Ruthven dispatched a servant, Henderson, to inform his brother that the king would be arriving at Gowrie House later in the day. Alexander then urged the king to lose no time, demanding that he keep the matter secret from his courtiers, and that he bring as small a retinue as possible to Gowrie House.

James, in the company of ten to fifteen retainers, arrived at Gowrie House around one o'clock in the afternoon. Despite having received word earlier that the king would be arriving, Ruthven had made no preparations, thus giving the impression of having been taken by surprise. After a small meal, for which he was kept waiting an hour, King James, forbidding most of his retainers to follow him, went with Alexander up the main staircase and passed through two chambers and two doors, both of which Ruthven locked behind them, into a turret-room at the angle of the house, with windows looking on the courtyard and the street. Here James expected to find the mysterious prisoner with the foreign gold, but was instead threatened with bodily harm. He found an armed man, who was actually Gowrie's servant, Henderson. Alexander immediately put on his hat and, drawing Henderson's dagger, presented it to the king's breast with threats of instant death if James opened a window or called for help. An allusion by Alexander to the execution of his father, the 1st Earl of Gowrie, drew from James a reproof of Alexander's ingratitude for various benefits conferred on his family. Alexander then uncovered his head, declaring that James's life should be safe if he remained quiet; then, committing the king to the custody of Henderson, he left the turret—ostensibly to consult with his brother—and locked the door behind him.

While Alexander was absent the king questioned Henderson, who professed ignorance of any plot and of the purpose for which he had been placed in the turret. At James's request, Henderson opened one of the windows and was about to open the other when Alexander returned. Whether or not Alexander had actually been to see his brother is uncertain. Ruthven had meantime spread news below that the king had taken horse and ridden away, and the royal retinue were seeking their horses to follow him. Alexander, on re-entering the turret, attempted to bind James's hands. A struggle ensued, in the course of which the king was seen at the window by some of his followers below in the street, who also heard him cry "treason" and call for help to the Earl of Mar. Ruthven pretended not to hear these cries, but kept asking what was the matter. Lennox, Mar and most of the other lords and gentlemen ran up the main staircase to help the king, but were stopped by the locked door, which they spent some time trying to batter down.

John Ramsay (afterwards the Earl of Holdernesse), noticing a small, dark stairway leading directly to the inner chamber adjoining the turret, ran up it and the door was then unlocked by Henderson. There he found the king struggling with Alexander. Drawing his dagger, Ramsay wounded Alexander, who was then pushed down the stairway past the king. Thomas Erskine, summoned by Ramsay, now followed up the small stairs with Dr Hugh Herries, and the two killed Alexander with their swords. John Ruthven, entering the courtyard with his stabler Thomas Cranstoun and seeing his brother's body, rushed up the staircase after Erskine and Herries, followed by Cranstoun. In the melée he was also killed. Some commotion was caused in the town by the noise of these proceedings but it quickly subsided, though the king did not deem it safe to return to Falkland Palace for some hours.

Theories
A number of scenarios have been proposed to explain the events:
 * 1) that Ruthven and his brother concocted a plot to murder or, more probably, kidnap King James and that they lured him to Gowrie House for this purpose;
 * 2) that James paid a surprise visit to Gowrie House with the intention of killing the two Ruthvens;
 * 3) that the tragedy was the outcome of an unplanned brawl which followed an argument between the King and one of the Ruthvens;
 * 4) that James, who was attracted to men, made amorous advances on Alexander Ruthvens, was repulsed by the earl, leading to a struggle resulting in the latter's death.

Additionally, it has been suggested that Anne of Denmark was complicit in the plot.

Proponents of the theory that James and Alexander struggled following amorous advances from the king include George Payne Rainsford James, Andrew Bisset, Archibald L. Goodall, and William Roughead. Arbuckle comments, "There is not the slightest hint of this in any of the contemporary evidence". In a footnote, Willson mentions the possibility "that the King retired with the Master for an immoral purpose" before adding, "This is pure guess-work for which there is no proof".

To understand the relative probabilities of these hypotheses, regard must be paid to the condition of Scotland in 1600.
 * Plots to capture the sovereign for the purpose of coercing his actions were frequent, more than one had been successful, and the Ruthven family had taken an active part in several of them.
 * Relations between England and Scotland were more than usually strained, and the Earl of Gowrie was reckoned in London among the adherents of Elizabeth. The Kirk party, being at variance with James, looked upon Gowrie as a hereditary partisan of their cause, and had recently sent an agent to Paris to recall him to Scotland as their leader.
 * Gowrie was believed to be James's rival for the succession to the English crown. As regards the question of motive, the Ruthvens believed their father to have been killed in treachery, and his widow insulted by the king's favourite minister.
 * James owed a large sum of money to the Earl of Gowrie's estate, and popular gossip credited either Ruthven with being the lover of the queen.

Although the evidence on these points, and on every circumstance connected with the event itself, has been examined by historians of the Gowrie conspiracy, the mystery has never been entirely dispelled. The two most recent studies subscribe to the kidnap theory. W. F. Arbuckle's study of 1957 favours the kidnapping that went wrong, while Maurice Lee proposes that James went to Gowrie House believing Ruthven was a conduit for political intelligence from London (that the pot of gold was a flimsy cover story), and when he arrived with an unexpectedly large retinue, Alexander realised that a successful kidnapping was not possible and attempted to take the King's life to avenge his father's death.

Most modern research, in the light of materials inaccessible or overlooked until the 20th century, points to the conclusion that there was a conspiracy by Ruthven and his brother to kidnap the king. If this is true, it follows that the second theory, that James went to Gowrie House to specifically kill the Ruthvens, is invalid and that his own account of the occurrence, in spite of the glaring improbabilities which it involved, was substantially true.

Aftermath
The events at Gowrie House caused intense excitement throughout Scotland. The investigation of the circumstances was also followed with much interest in England where all the details were reported to Elizabeth's ministers. The ministers of the Kirk, whose influence in Scotland was too extensive for the king to neglect, were persuaded, but with great difficulty, to accept James's account of the occurrence. He voluntarily submitted himself to cross-examination by one of their number.

The ministers' belief, and that of their partisans, no doubt influenced by political hostility toward James, was that the king had invented the story of a conspiracy by Gowrie to cover his own design to extirpate the Ruthven family. James gave some colour to this belief, which has not been entirely abandoned, by the relentless severity with which he pursued the two younger, and unquestionably innocent, brothers of the earl. A more tangible motive for mutual discontent is to be found in the fact that the king was Gowrie's debtor to the extent of no less than £80,000 representing a sum of £48,063 due to his father while treasurer, with the interest at 10% per annum for the succeeding years. With this sum the old Earl of Gowrie, when treasurer, was forced to burden himself in order to meet the current expenses of the government. It was probably his inability to meet the obligations incurred by his father that had compelled the young earl to remain abroad; and on his return he presented a petition to the court of session, stating that he was unfit to pay any more to his creditors than he had done already, and asking to be relieved of these royal debts. In answer to his application he on 20 June 1600 obtained a protection from debt for a year.

Great efforts were made by the government to prove the complicity of others in the plot. One noted and dissolute conspirator, Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig, was posthumously convicted of having been privy to the Gowrie conspiracy on the evidence of certain letters produced by a notary, George Sprot, who swore they had been written by Logan to Gowrie and others. These letters, which are still in existence, were in fact forged by Sprot in imitation of Logan's handwriting; but the researches of Andrew Lang have shown cause for suspecting that the most important of them was either copied by Sprot from a genuine original by Logan, or that it embodied the substance of such a letter. If this is correct, it would appear that the conveyance of the king to Fast Castle, Logan's impregnable fortress on the coast of Berwickshire, was part of the plot; and it supplies, in all events, an additional piece of evidence to prove the genuineness of the Gowrie conspiracy. Robert Logan died before May 1608 the last of his line; George Sprot was hanged at the Market Cross of Edinburgh for foreknowledge of the conspiracy on 12 August 1608.

On 7 August 1600, James's Privy Council of Scotland ordered that the corpses of Gowrie and his brother should remain unburied until further decisions were made over the matter, and that no person with the name of Ruthven should approach within ten miles of the court. Orders were also sent for the apprehension of the Earl's brothers William and Patrick, but they fled to England. The bodies of Gowrie and his brother Robert were disembowelled and preserved by one James Melville, who, however, was paid for his services, not by the magistrates of Perth, but by the Privy Council; and on 30 October they were sent to Edinburgh to be produced at the bar of Parliament. On 15 November, the estates of the Ruthvens were discerned by Parliament to be forfeited and their family name and honours extinct.

The corpses of the Earl and his brother were hanged and quartered at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh on 19 November 1600. Their heads were put on spikes at Edinburgh's Old Tolbooth and their arms and legs upon spikes at various locations around Perth.

Another act was further passed abolishing the name of Ruthven, ordering that the house wherein the tragedy happened should be levelled to the ground, and decreeing that the barony of Ruthven should henceforth be known as the barony of Huntingtower. In a letter of November 1600, the Patrick Gray, 6th Lord Gray described the aftermath of the Gowrie Conspiracy. The Ruthven family were ordered to change their surname, and the House of Ruthven near Perth was renamed as Huntingtower. Some suspicion had fallen on Anne of Denmark, and some courtiers would be removed from her household after the birth of her child (Prince Charles). Despite her protests, her enemy, Sir Thomas Erskine, would be made captain of the royal guard.

Family
Ruthven's two younger brothers, William and Patrick, fled to England.The brothers went to Berwick-upon-Tweed and lived in hiding for a month, until the marshal of the town Sir John Carey helped them travel to Durham and Cambridge.

William Ruthven died in France prior to 1622

After the 1603 accession of James to the English throne, it was reported that one of the brothers was captured at an inn at Kirkby Malzeard near Ripon, by Francis Wandesford who had seen him three years earlier at Durham. Wandesford delivered him to Sir William Ingleby of Ripley Castle. It was thought that Patrick Ruthven was captured in London in June 1603, but the mayor Robert Lee discovered this was a case of mistaken identity. Later Patrick was captured and imprisoned for nineteen years in the Tower of London. After his release in August 1622, Patrick Ruthven resided first at Cambridge and afterwards in Somersetshire, being granted a small pension by the crown. He married Elizabeth Woodford, widow of Lord Gerrard, by whom he had two sons and a daughter, Mary. The latter entered the service of Queen Henrietta Maria and married the Dutch painter Anthony van Dyck, who painted several portraits of her; after Van Dyck's death, she married Sir Richard Pryse, 1st Baronet of Gogerddan. Patrick died in poverty in a cell in the King's Bench in 1652, being buried as "Lord Ruthven". His son, also named Patrick, presented a petition to Oliver Cromwell in 1656, in which, after reciting that the parliament of Scotland in 1641 had restored his father to the barony of Ruthven, he prayed that his "extreme poverty" might be relieved by the bounty of the Protector.

Sisters Barbara and Beatrix were helped by Anne of Denmark, and Barbara Ruthven went to London. Beatrix (died 1625) married John Home of Cowdenknowes; and they were grandparents of James Home, 3rd Earl of Home.

title: John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie


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James Charles Kopp

James Charles Kopp (born August 2, 1954) is an American who was convicted in 2003 for the 1998 sniper-style murder of Barnett Slepian, an American physician from Amherst, New York who performed abortions. Prior to his capture, Kopp was on the FBI's list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. On June 7, 1999, he had become the 455th fugitive placed on the list by the FBI. He was affiliated with the militant Roman Catholic anti-abortion group known as The Lambs of Christ.

He has been referred to as a terrorist by the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, and was "well-known in militant anti-abortion circles, where he was nicknamed Atomic Dog".

Early life
James Charles Kopp was born in Pasadena, California and raised Lutheran, but later converted to Roman Catholicism. Kopp graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1976, with a bachelor's degree in biology, going on to take a master's degree in embryology from California State University Fullerton. Kopp started providing support to anti-abortion groups after his girlfriend underwent an abortion, and used his technical abilities to create special locks that protesters then used on the doors of abortion clinics.

Murder
On October 23, 1998, at approximately 10 p.m., Barnett Slepian was standing in the kitchen of his home in Amherst, New York. Kopp fired a single shot from a rifle from a nearby wooded area, which entered the Slepian home through a rear window. Slepian was a well-known obstetrician/gynecologist who performed abortions at a women's clinic in Buffalo, New York. He also maintained a private medical practice in an office in Amherst, New York. Within hours of the murder, anti-abortion militants posted Slepian's name crossed out on their internet website, which also served as "a virtual hit list of doctors who carry out abortions".

Fugitive
The FBI believed that Kopp received assistance in fleeing the US, although Irish anti-abortion groups denied they assisted him.

Kopp fled to Mexico under an assumed name and later to Ireland. He then fled Ireland one step ahead of police on a ferry to Brittany, France on March 12, 2001, with two Irish passports besides his original U.S. document.

Arrest and Extradition
On March 29, 2001, Kopp was arrested without incident by French law enforcement in the town of Dinan, Brittany, just after picking up a package containing $300 outside of a post office. The United States requested his extradition. Attorney General John Ashcroft promised that the death penalty would not be sought, handed down or applied, a prerequisite according to the extradition treaty between France and the United States. Ashcroft's promise was made over the objections of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark, both of whom wanted the death penalty, though such a sentence is not available in the New York State criminal justice system. Spitzer and Clark argued that the charge of murder was a state charge, not a federal charge, and Ashcroft had no jurisdiction in the matter. The instruction chamber of the Rennes Court of Appeals ruled in favor of extradition. Kopp and his attorney, Herve Rouzaud-Le Bouef, appealed this ruling, stating that the "unsigned embassy letter was 'insufficient' as a guarantee, prompting Ashcroft's unusual direct intervention.

In May 2002, Kopp waived all possible appeals in France and returned to the U.S. in June 2002.

Trial and conviction
On March 11, 2003, Kopp waived his right to a jury trial. Based upon an agreement between the defense and prosecution — Erie County Assistant District Attorney Joseph Maruszak and defense attorney Bruce Barkett — Erie County Judge Michael D'Amico would be required to find Kopp guilty or not guilty based on a single document of facts. In addition, the judge could not consider lesser charges; he had to find Kopp guilty or not guilty of second-degree murder. Kopp had confessed his role in the shooting to police, claiming he only meant to wound Slepian. D'Amico found him guilty and sentenced him to the maximum penalty, 25 years to life imprisonment, on May 9, 2003. D'Amico told Kopp "It's clear the act is premeditated; there is no doubt about it. You made an attempt to avoid responsibility for the act. What may appear righteous to you is immoral to someone else." The Appellate Division, Fourth Department, upheld the conviction on July 7, 2006 (Shawn P. Hennessy, attorney for respondent and Timothy Murphy, attorney for appellant). He is currently serving his sentence at Federal Correctional Institution, Mendota, his BOP ID being 11761-055.

Appeals
Kopp filed an appeal with the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. Judge Richard Arcara was selected to preside. Arcara limited what Kopp could say on the stand and prohibited the defense from showing pictures of aborted fetuses. There are also limitations to witness' accounts. If found guilty in federal court, Kopp faced a mandatory life sentence. Kopp was charged with violating the Clinic Entrances Act and using a weapon in the murder of Slepian. Kopp chose to act as his own attorney. On the second day of the federal trial, and during cross examination, Kopp moved to have the court reporter from his previous state trial read back statements pertaining to abortion. Judge Arcara forbade this, holding that under the federal rules of evidence, Kopp was barred from stating anti-abortion, religious or moral reasoning for his actions, which effectively prevented Kopp from giving any rationale for his actions.

Kopp was also charged in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York on a count of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. Kopp dismissed his court-assigned attorney, an assistant federal public defender, and chose to represent himself. On June 20, 2007, he was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 10 years for illegal use of a firearm. Additionally, the court ordered his belongings auctioned off in order to pay $2.6 million to Slepian's family. Arcara told Kopp at the end of the trial:

"You served as prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner. You decided that you know better than any law."

In his opening statement to the jury, Kopp said that although Slepian's death was "a full-bore, 100 percent tragedy" it wasn't murder because it was not malicious or premeditated. He did acknowledge that he had planned the shooting for a year, and that he fired a high-powered rifle with telescopic sights, but that he had only meant to wound the doctor (to keep him from performing abortions). Kopp claimed that murder means "Shoot them in the head, blow up a car, riddle their body with bullets like they do in the movies. That's how you kill someone."

On April 6, 2009, The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the life sentence holding that all issues raised were without merit.

Other possible crimes
It has been speculated that Kopp has committed other crimes besides killing Slepian. The FBI notes that "the shooting was similar to shootings in the Rochester, New York area, and three Canadian cities during the fall of 1997, in which abortion doctors were shot in their homes". Kopp has been charged by Canadian authorities in the 1995 shooting of an Ontario, Canada doctor, Hugh Short, one of a string of Remembrance Day Shootings. Garson Romalis and Jack Fainman were also shot and wounded by unknown assailants. An unnamed Perinton doctor was shot on October 28, 1997, the bullet narrowly missing their head. The doctor's name has been withheld by Monroe County police.

Co-conspirators
Kopp received help from a sympathetic anti-abortion activist couple, a Vietnam veteran and former stage and film actor Dennis Malvasi and his wife Loretta Marra of Brooklyn, who pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy in helping Kopp avoid capture. Marra and Malvasi had communicated extensively with Kopp, telling him also via electronic communications that "the coast is clear", referring to his proposed secretive return to US via Canada, and also to his use of their home as a safe house. On August 21, 2003, they were sentenced to time served, and released in October that same year. The two fugitive assisters later relocated to Newark, New Jersey and briefly changed their names to Joyce Maier and Ted Barnes.

Fictional portrayals and media
The murder of Barnett Slepian inspired an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent, "The Third Horseman", in season 1, episode 11.

Singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco wrote and performed the song, "Hello, Birmingham" about Kopp's shooting of Dr. Slepian. It is the sixth track on her tenth studio album, To The Teeth.

title: James Charles Kopp


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DAAR

DAAR may refer to:
 * Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency, Palestine
 * Disney's Art of Animation Resort, Florida, United States
 * Dulles Airport Access Road, Virginia, United States

title: DAAR


text: User talk:24.27.85.81

title: User talk:24.27.85.81


text:
User:Jef-Infojef

Hello, my nickname is Jef-Infojef.

I use and wrote mainly in french wikipedia; but sometimes make some corrections and interwiki in the english version.

You can write to me at my page on french Wikipedia

Articles in english wikipedia

 * Bishop of Condom
 * List of United States ambassadors to France
 * Miss France

de:Benutzer:Jef-Infojef fr:Utilisateur:Jef-Infojef it:Utente:Jef-Infojef nl:Gebruiker:Jef-Infojef

title: User:Jef-Infojef


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Franciszek Maksymilian Ossoliński

Count Franciszek Maksymilian Ossoliński (2 April 1676 – 1 July 1756) was a Polish nobleman, politician, diplomat and a patron of arts.

Biography
Son of Łowczy and Chorąży Maksymilian Ossoliński and Teodora Krassowska. He was married in 1706 to Katarzyna Miączyńska and in 1732, in Lwów, married Katarzyna Jabłonowska, the daughter of Grand Chancellor Stanisław Jan Jabłonowski.

He was Chorąży of Drohiczyn from 1703 to 1710, Court Treasurer in 1713, Grand Treasurer of the Crown from 1729 to 1736, Wielkorządca ('governor') of Kraków, Żupnik (salt-pit manager) of salt-pits in Bochnia and Wieliczka in 1727. He was starost (a crown district administrator) of Sandomierz, Nur, Ostrów, Drohiczyn, Chmielnik and Niepołomice.

His political and military career began at the end of the 17th century under patronage of Stanisław Antoni Szczuka. He was private secretary to Augustus II and one of his closest co-workers. He was a strong supporter of giving more power to the King. His policy as Grand Treasurer, induced an increase in income from customs duties.

He was a frequent deputy to the Sejm from 1718. As Sejm Marshal of the ordinary Sejm in Warsaw, from 5 May to 16 November 1722, he warned that broken sessions of the Sejm could lead to the downfall and the end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In 1733 he signed the election of Stanisław I as King of Poland and commanded armed forces in the defence of the monarch. After the capitulation of Gdańsk in 1734 he was captured by the Russian army.

He refused to submit to King Augustus III and after 1736 he stayed at the court of Stanisław I Leszczyński in the Palace of Lunéville in Lorraine. He died at the Château de la Malgrange.

Awards

 * Knight of the Order of the White Eagle, awarded in 1709
 * Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit, awarded in 1737
 * Knight of the Order of Saint Michael, awarded in 1737

Children

 * Józef became a Chorąży and voivode
 * Anna married Józefat Szaniawski
 * Tomasz became a canon, Łowczy, Cześnik and Miecznik

title: Franciszek Maksymilian Ossoliński


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Fairfield Warde High School

Fairfield Warde High School is a co-educational secondary school located in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States. The Fairfield Warde Mustangs play in the FCIAC division of the CIAC.

Notable people

 * Richard Belzer (1962), actor, author and stand-up comedian

 * Linda Kozlowski (1976), actress
 * Tatiana Foroud (1983), genetic researcher
 * David Pittu (1985), actor, writer and director
 * Eliot A. Jardines (1989), founder of the National Open Source Enterprise
 * J. J. Henry (1993), professional golfer
 * Thomas Blake (1994), professional tennis player
 * John Mayer (1995), musician
 * Matt Morgan (1995), professional wrestler
 * James Blake (1997), professional tennis player
 * Raviv "Ricky" Ullman (2004), actor
 * Kristen Santos (2012), Olympic short track Speedskater
 * Jack Baran (2014), YouTuber
 * Mariam Mamadashvili (2023), child singer

title: Fairfield Warde High School


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National Public Safety Commission

The National Public Safety Commission is the policy making and oversight body of the national police forces in Japan and South Korea.

 * National Public Safety Commission (Japan)
 * National Public Safety Commission (South Korea)

title: National Public Safety Commission


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Origin (mathematics)

In mathematics, the origin of a Euclidean space is a special point, usually denoted by the letter O, used as a fixed point of reference for the geometry of the surrounding space.

In physical problems, the choice of origin is often arbitrary, meaning any choice of origin will ultimately give the same answer. This allows one to pick an origin point that makes the mathematics as simple as possible, often by taking advantage of some kind of geometric symmetry.

Cartesian coordinates
In a Cartesian coordinate system, the origin is the point where the axes of the system intersect. The origin divides each of these axes into two halves, a positive and a negative semiaxis. Points can then be located with reference to the origin by giving their numerical coordinates—that is, the positions of their projections along each axis, either in the positive or negative direction. The coordinates of the origin are always all zero, for example (0,0) in two dimensions and (0,0,0) in three.

Other coordinate systems
In a polar coordinate system, the origin may also be called the pole. It does not itself have well-defined polar coordinates, because the polar coordinates of a point include the angle made by the positive x-axis and the ray from the origin to the point, and this ray is not well-defined for the origin itself.

In Euclidean geometry, the origin may be chosen freely as any convenient point of reference.

The origin of the complex plane can be referred as the point where real axis and imaginary axis intersect each other. In other words, it is the complex number zero.

title: Origin (mathematics)


text: User talk:65.95.145.110

title: User talk:65.95.145.110


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Patrick Fraser Tytler

Patrick Fraser Tytler FRSE FSA (Scot) (30 August 1791 – 24 December 1849) was a Scottish advocate and historian. He was described as the "Episcopalian historian of a Presbyterian country".

Life
The son of Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, he was born in a house on George Street in Edinburgh's New Town. He was named after his paternal uncle, Col Patrick Tytler. He was educated at the Edinburgh High School.

He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh in 1813; in 1816 he became King's counsel in the Exchequer, and practised as an advocate until 1832. At this time he was living at 36 Melville Street, a large terraced townhouse in Edinburgh's west end.

He then moved to London, and it was largely owing to his efforts that a scheme for publishing state papers was carried out. Tytler was one of the founders of the Bannatyne Club and of the English Historical Society.

He died at Great Malvern on 24 December 1849. His body was returned to Edinburgh for burial in the family vault, which lies within the sealed south-west section of Greyfriars Kirkyard known as the Covenanter's Prison.

His biography (1859) was written by his friend John William Burgon.

Family
Tytler first married Rachel Elisabeth Hog (sister of James Maitland Hog FRSE) on 30 March 1826 at Newliston and together they had 3 children, including Mary Stewart Fraser Tytler (1827–1887) who is buried in Grange Cemetery rather than in the family vault. Rachel died on 15 April 1835.

He then married on either 12 or 22 August 1845, in Richmond, his cousin, Anastasia Bonar, daughter of Thomson Bonar (1780–1828) of Campden, Kent, by his spouse Anastasia Jessie Gascoigne, widow of Charles Gascoigne, daughter of Matthew Guthrie of Halkerton.

Works
Tytler is most noted for his literary output. He contributed to Archibald Alison's Travels in France (1815); his first independent essays were papers in Blackwood's Magazine. His major work, the History of Scotland (1828–1843), covered the period between 1249 and 1603. A second edition was published in 1841–1843. The seventh volume deals with the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots after her marriage with Darnley.

His other works include:

 * contributions to George Thomson's Select Melodies of Scotland (1824)
 * Life of James Crichton of Cluny, commonly called the Admirable Crichton (1819; 2nd ed., 1823)
 * a Memoir of Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton (1823)
 * an Essay on the Revival of Greek Literature in Italy, and The Life of John Wycliffe, published anonymously (1826)
 * Lives of Scottish Worthies, for Murray's Family Library (1831–1833)
 * Historical View of the Progress of Discovery in America (1832)
 * Life of Sir Walter Raleigh (1833)
 * Memoirs of the War Carried on in Scotland and Ireland in 1689–1691 (1833)
 * Life of Henry VIII. (1837)
 * England under the Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary, from original letters (1839)
 * Notes on the Darnley Jewel (1843)
 * Portraits of Mary Queen of Scots (1845).

title: Patrick Fraser Tytler


text:
Qutuz

Sayf al-Din Qutuz (سيف الدين قطز; died 24 October 1260), also romanized as Kutuz or Kotuz and fully al-Malik al-Muẓaffar Sayf ad-Dīn Quṭuz (الملك المظفر سيف الدين قطز lit. 'The Victorious King, Sword of the Faith Qutuz'), was the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. He reigned as Sultan for less than a year, from 1259 until his assassination in 1260, but served as the de facto ruler for two decades.

Sold into slavery in Egypt, he rose to become vice-sultan for more than 20 years, becoming the power behind the throne. He was prominent in defeating the Seventh Crusade, which invaded Egypt in 1249–1250. When Egypt was threatened by the Mongols in 1259, he took control of the military and deposed the reigning sultan, 15-year-old Sultan Al-Mansur Ali. The centers of Islamic power in Syria and Baghdad were conquered by the Mongols, and the center of the Islamic Empire moved to Egypt, which became their next target. Qutuz led an Egyptian Mamluk army north to confront the Mongols who had made a pact with Egypt's long-time enemy the Crusaders.

The Battle of Ain Jalut was fought on 3 September 1260 in southeastern Galilee, between the Egyptian Mamluk army and the Mongols. The Mongols were crushingly defeated by Qutuz's forces, in what has been considered a historical turning point. Qutuz was assassinated by a fellow Mamluk leader, Baibars, on the triumphant return journey to Cairo. Although Qutuz's reign was short, he is known as one of the most popular Mamluk sultans in the Islamic world and holds a high position in Islamic history. His name Qutuz means 'Vicious beast'. He received this name because he fought like a vicious beast against other slave children.

Background
Qutuz was a Turkic prince from Persia,  captured by the Mongols during the fall of the Khwarazmian dynasty c. 1231, he was taken to Damascus where he was sold to an Egyptian slave merchant who then sold him to Aybak, the Mamluk sultan in Cairo. According to some sources, Qutuz claimed that he was descended from Ala ad-Din Muhammad II, a ruler of the Khwarazmian Empire.

He became the most prominent Mu'izi Mamluk of Sultan Aybak, and then became his vice-sultan in 1253. Aybak was assassinated in 1257 and Qutuz remained as vice-sultan for Aybak's son al-Mansur Ali. Qutuz led the Mu'izi Mamluks who had arrested Aybak's widow Shajar al-Durr and installed al-Mansur Ali as the new sultan of Egypt. In November 1257 and April 1258, he defeated raids from the forces of al-Malik al-Mughith of Al-Karak which were supported by the Bahriyya Mamluks. The raids caused a dispute among the Bahriyya Mamluks in Al-Karak as some of them wanted to support their followers in Egypt.

In February 1258, the Mongol army sacked Baghdad, massacred its inhabitants and killed the Abbasid Caliph Al-Musta'sim. They then advanced towards present-day Syria which was then ruled by the Ayyubid ruler an-Nasir Yusuf, who received a threatening letter from Hulagu. Vice-Sultan Qutuz and the Egyptian Emirs were alarmed by a message from an-Nasir Yusuf in which he appealed for immediate help from Egypt. The emirs assembled at the court of the 15-year-old Sultan Al-Mansur Ali and Qutuz told them that because of the seriousness of the situation, Egypt should have a strong and capable sultan who could fight the Mongols. On 12 November 1259, Al-Mansur Ali was deposed by Qutuz. When Qutuz became the new sultan, he promised the emirs that they could install any other sultan after he defeated the Mongols.

Qutuz kept Emir Faris ad-Din Aktai al-Mostareb as the Atabeg of the Egyptian army and began to prepare for battle.

Mongol threat
Hulagu and his forces were proceeding towards Damascus. Some of the Syrian emirs suggested to an-Nasir Yusuf to surrender and submit to Hulagu as the best solution was to save themselves and Syria. Baibars, who was present at the meeting, was upset by the suggestion, and the Mamluks decided to kill an-Nasir Yusuf that night. However, he managed to escape with his brother to the citadel of Damascus. Baibars and the Mamluks then left Syria, travelling to Egypt where they were warmly welcomed by Sultan Qutuz, who granted Baibars the town of Qalyub. When an-Nasir Yusuf heard that the Mongol army was approaching Aleppo, he sent his wife, his son and his money to Egypt. The population of Damascus and other Syrian towns began to flee. After besieging Aleppo for seven days, the Mongols sacked it and massacred its population. When an-Nasir Yusuf heard about the fall of Aleppo he fled to Egypt, leaving Damascus and its remaining population defenseless, but Qutuz denied him entry. An-Nasir Yusuf thus stayed on the border of Egypt, while his emirs deserted him and proceeded into the country. Sultan Qutuz ordered the seizing of an-Nasir Yusuf's jewelry and money, which were sent to Egypt with his wife and servants. Sixteen days after the fall of Aleppo to the Mongols, Damascus surrendered without a fight. An-Nasir Yusuf was taken prisoner by the Mamluks and sent to Hulagu.

With the centers of Islamic power in Syria and Baghdad conquered, the center of the Islamic power transferred to Egypt, and became Hulagu's next target. Hulagu sent messengers to Cairo with a threatening letter, urging Qutuz to surrender and submit to the Mongols. Qutuz's response was to execute the messengers. They were sliced in half, and their heads were mounted on the Bab Zuweila gate in Cairo. Then, rather than waiting for the Mongols to attack, Qutuz decided to raise an army to engage them outside of Egypt. Moroccans who resided in Egypt fled westward, while Yemenis escaped to Yemen and Hejaz.

Qutuz went to Al-Salihiyya and assembled his commanders to decide on when to march against the Mongols. But the emirs showed timidity. Qutuz shamed them into joining him, with the statement "Emirs of the Muslims, for some time now you have been fed by the country treasury and you hate to be invaded. I will go alone and who likes to join me should do that and who does not like to join me should go back home, but who will not join will carry the sin of not defending our women."

Qutuz ordered Baibars to lead a force to Gaza to observe the small Mongol garrison there, which Baibars easily defeated. After spending a day in Gaza, Qutuz led his army along the coast towards Acre, a city that remains a remnant of the Kingdom of Jerusalem Crusader state. The Crusaders were traditional enemies of the Mamluks, and had been approached by the Mongols about forming a Franco-Mongol alliance. However, that year the Crusaders recognized the Mongols as the greater threat. Qutuz suggested a military alliance with the Crusaders against the Mongols, but the Crusaders opted to stay neutral. They did, however, allow Qutuz and his forces to travel unmolested through Crusader territory, and to camp and resupply near the Crusader stronghold of Acre. Qutuz and his army stayed there for three days until they heard that the Mongols had crossed the Jordan River, at which point Qutuz and Baibars led their forces to meet the Mongols at Ain Jalut.

Battle of Ain Jalut
The Battle of Ain Jalut was fought on 3 September 1260 and was one of the most important battles and a turning point in history. In 1250, only ten years before the battle, the Bahariyya Mamluks (Qutuz, Baibars and Qalawun) led Egypt against the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France. The Mongol army at Ain Jalut was led by Kitbuqa, a Nestorian Christian Naiman Mongol, and accompanied by the Christian king of Cilician Armenia and also by the Christian prince of Antioch. After the fall of Khawarezm, Baghdad and Syria, Egypt was the last citadel of Islam in the Middle East, and the existence of crusade beach-heads along the coast of the Levant presented a serious menace to the Islamic world. Therefore, the future of Islam and of the Christian west as well depended on the outcome of that battle.

Baibars, who was known to be a swift commander, led the vanguard and succeeded in his maneuver and lured the Mongol army to Ain Jalut where the Egyptian army led by Qutuz waited. The Egyptians at first failed to counter the Mongol attack and were scattered after the left flank of their army suffered a severe damage but Qutuz stood firm, he threw his helmet to the air and shouted "O Islam" and advanced towards the damaged side followed by his unit. The Mongols were pushed back and fled to a vicinity of Beisan, they were quickly followed by Qutuz's forces, but they managed to gather and returned to the battlefield making a successful counterattack. Qutuz cried loudly three times "O Islam! O God grant your servant Qutuz a victory against the Mongols". The Mongols with their Christian allies were then defeated by Qutuz's army and fled to Syria where they became prey for the local population. Qutuz kissed the ground and prayed while the soldiers collected the booty. Kitbuqa, the Commander of the Mongol army, was killed and his head was sent to Cairo.

This was the first defeat suffered by the Mongols since they attacked the Islamic world. They fled from Damascus, then from the whole of the northern Levant. Qutuz entered Damascus with his army and sent Baibars to Homs to liquidate the remaining Mongols. While Alam ad-Din Sonjar was nominated by Qutuz as the sultan's deputy in Damascus, Qutuz granted Aleppo to al-Malik al-Said Ala'a ad-Din as the Emir of Mosul; also a new Abbasid Caliph was about to be installed by Qutuz. The Levant region from the border of Egypt to the river Euphrates was freed from the Mongols' control. After this victory the Mamluks stretched their sovereignty to the Levant and were recognized by the Ayyubids and the others as legitimate rulers. When Hulagu heard about the defeat of the Mongol Army he executed an-Nasir Yusuf near Tabriz. Hulagu kept threatening the Mamluk Sultanate, but soon he was struck hard by conflicts with the Mongols of the Golden Horde, in the western half of the Eurasian Steppe during the Berke–Hulagu war. Hulagu died in 1265 and would never avenge the defeat of the Mongols at Ain Jalut.

Some of the earliest explosive hand cannons (midfa in Arabic) were employed by the Mamluk Egyptians during the battle to frighten the Mongol horses and cavalry and cause disorder in their ranks. The Mamluks under Qutuz then went on to take back all of Iraq and Syria. The last City that the Mamluks retook before his assassination was the grand city of Baghdad.

Assassination
On his way back to Cairo, Qutuz was assassinated while on a hunting expedition in Salihiyah. According to both modern and medieval Muslim historians such as al-Maqrizi, Baibars was involved in the assassination. Al-Maqrizi further explains that the emirs who struck down Qutuz were Emir Badr ad-Din Baktut, Emir Ons, and Emir Bahadir al-Mu'izzi. While Western historians mentions that Baibars was in on the conspiracy and assigned him direct responsibility. Muslim chroniclers from the Mamluk era stated that Baibars' motivation was either to avenge the killing of his friend, the leader of the Bahariyya Faris ad-Din Aktai during Sultan Aybak's reign; or due to Qutuz's decision to grant Aleppo to al-Malik al-Said Ala'a ad-Din the Emir of Mosul, instead of to Baibars as had promised to him before the Battle of Ain Jalut.

Qutuz was first buried in the town of Al-Qusair and then reburied in a cemetery in Cairo, Egypt. Baibars returned to a Cairo which were undergoing celebrations on the victory over the Mongols, where he became the new sultan. Baibars was at once admired by the people as he revoked the war taxes which had been imposed by Qutuz.

Coins
The coins during the reign of Qutuz are unique in the history of Mamluk coinages as no other names except his names and titles were inscribed on it: al-Malik al-Muzafar Saif al-Donya wa al-Din ("The victorious king, sword of the temporal world and of the faith") and al-Muzafar Saif al-Din ("The victorious sword of faith").

title: Qutuz


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Gowlings

Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP (Gowlings) was a Canadian and international law firm, with about 700 legal professionals in 10 offices in Canada and as well as London, Moscow, and Beijing. The firm offered legal support in business law, advocacy/litigation and intellectual property law.

On July 8, 2015, Gowlings announced that they would amalgamate with UK firm Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co to create a new international law firm called Gowling WLG. The new firm launched in February 2016.

History
Gowlings' originated with the firm Henderson & McVeity, which was founded in Ottawa in 1887. Its name passed through numerous permutations, but included references to the lawyers Gordon Gowling, George and Gordon Henderson. In the 1980s, the firm expanded beyond its traditional Ottawa base, establishing offices in Toronto, Kitchener, and Moscow.

Starting in the mid-1990s, Gowlings created a national platform through a succession of mergers with other law firms in Vancouver, Hamilton, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto. The firm eventually adopted the simple brand name "Gowlings" (which had long been in informal use).

Notable firm members

 * Leonard Walter Brockington (1888–1966). Founding chairman of the CBC, 1936-1939
 * Gordon F. Henderson (1912–1993). President of the Canadian Bar Association, 1979–1980; Chancellor of the University of Ottawa, 1991–1993
 * Roy McMurtry (1932– ). Attorney-General of Ontario, 1975–1985 and Chief Justice of Ontario, 1996-2007
 * Ray Hnatyshyn (1934–2002).  24th Governor-General of Canada, 1990–1995
 * Ian Scott (1934–2006). Attorney-General of Ontario, 1985–1990
 * Donald Mazankowski (1935–  ). Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, 1986–1993
 * Martin Cauchon (1962–  ). Minister of Justice (Canada) and Attorney General of Canada, 2002–2003; Minister of National Revenue (Canada), 1999-2002
 * Lawrence Cannon (1947– ). Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada), 2006–2008 and Stephen Harper's former Quebec lieutenant
 * Frank Marrocco . Associate Chief Justice (2005–) of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ,

title: Gowlings


text: User talk:67.139.66.236

title: User talk:67.139.66.236


text:
Postdiction

Postdiction involves explanation after the fact. In skepticism, it is considered an effect of hindsight bias that explains claimed predictions of significant events such as plane crashes and natural disasters. In religious contexts, theologians frequently refer to postdiction using the Latin term vaticinium ex eventu (foretelling after the event). Through this term, skeptics postulate that many biblical prophecies (and similar prophecies in other religions) appearing to have come true may have been written after the events supposedly predicted, or that the text or interpretation may have been modified after the event to fit the facts as they occurred.

Skeptics of premonition use these terms in response to claims made by psychics, astrologers and other paranormalists to have predicted an event, when the original prediction was vague, catch-all, or otherwise non-obvious.

Most predictions from such figures as Nostradamus and James Van Praagh express the future with such seemingly deliberate vagueness and ambiguity as to make interpretation nearly impossible before the event, rendering them useless as predictive tools. After the event has occurred, however, the psychics or their supporters shoehorn details into the prediction by using selective thinking—emphasizing the "hits", ignoring the "misses"—in order to lend credence to the prophecy and to give the impression of an accurate "prediction". Inaccurate predictions are omitted.

Supporters of a prediction sometimes contend that the problem lies not with the wording of the prediction, but with the interpretation—an argument sometimes used by supporters of religious texts. This argument may lead to the question: "What is the point of a prediction that cannot be interpreted correctly before the event?" However, the argument is not that the prediction could not have been interpreted correctly prior to the event, but simply that it was not in the case in question, thus the question is working from a false premise. Of course, any "prediction" that is so vague as to not be correctly interpreted before the event it allegedly "predicted" is functionally equivalent to no prediction at all.

Skepticism
In skepticism, postdiction is also referred to as post-shadowing, retroactive clairvoyance, or prediction after the fact, and is an effect of hindsight bias that explains claimed predictions of significant events, such as plane crashes and natural disasters. Accusations of postdiction might be applicable if the prediction were:

 * Vague: The prediction makes a non-specific claim. For example, it predicts a "disaster" of some kind, but not what it is. Such a prediction can be massaged to fit any number of events. Likewise, a prediction that does not state dates or places, or allows itself a large window of possible dates, can be made to fit many possibilities. A prophecy attributed to Saint Malachy (but widely regarded as a 16th-century forgery) claims to predict the succession of Popes by describing each one briefly. However, each description is sufficiently vague that it can be massaged to fit after the fact.
 * Open ended: The prediction has a very long cut-off date or none at all, and therefore runs indefinitely. Many of Nostradamus' quatrains are open-ended and have been postdicted over the centuries to fit various contemporary events.
 * Recycled: The prediction is reused again and again in order to match the most recent event. Nostradamus' quatrains have been recycled numerous times.
 * Catch-all: The prediction covers more than one possible outcome. For example, the Delphic Oracle's answer as to whether Croesus should attack the Persians: If you attack, you will destroy a mighty empire. Croesus attacked, destroying his own empire.
 * Shotgunning: The prediction is in fact many predictions, designed to cover a range of events and claim credit even if only one of them happens. For example, claiming that a particular date is "unlucky" and then citing a dozen or so things that might happen on it. See selective thinking.
 * Statistically likely: The prediction makes a claim for something that happens with enough frequency that a high hit rate is virtually assured. For example, predicting terrorism on any day of the year, or particularly around national holidays, anniversaries (or similar events), or religious festivals.
 * Unfalsifiable: The prediction makes a claim that is impossible to verify or falsify. For example, a belief arose amongst a few in 2003 that a Planet X would pass the Earth in May of that year. When it singularly failed to appear, some claimed it was shrouded so that only an "educated eye" could see it and various other excuses, while discounting the most obvious reason—that Planet X does not exist at all in the form predicted.
 * Unavailable until after the fact: A prediction cannot be verified if there is no public record of when it was made. A famous example was the psychic Tamara Rand, who predicted that Ronald Reagan was in danger of someone with the initials "J.H.". The video interview in which this prediction was made was shot the day after the assassination attempt.
 * Counting the hits and not the misses: The prediction may be part of a series, but is singled out because it can be favourably interpreted, even if the series itself follows the laws of probability. For example, the prediction might correctly state movement on the stock market when previous or subsequent predictions have been wrong.
 * Allegory: The postdiction resorts to tenuous allegorical explanations to turn literal misses into hits. For example, the postdiction might explain that a famous person has suffered a "spiritual" death to explain why they are still walking around despite a prediction that says otherwise.
 * Moving the goalposts: The event must be "shoehorned" to fit the prediction because it differs in some significant way. For example, the prediction predicts an earthquake on one day, when in fact it happens on a different day. Nostradamus' supporters occasionally use this technique, like the September 11 terrorist attacks on the 45th parallel (actually around 40 degrees latitude).

These types are not exclusive, so a prediction could be vague, statistically likely and open-ended at the same time.

Cognitive science
In cognitive science, postdiction is the justification process that allows a reader to make sense of a concept in a given context. The term was coined by psychologist Walter Kintsch in 1980 and refined by cognitive scientist Afzal Upal in 2005. Heath & Heath used Upal's definition without explicitly citing him in their 2007 book Made to Stick. Concepts that can be justified in a given context are called postdictable.

Neuroscience
In neuroscience, postdiction indicates that the brain collects up information after an event before it retrospectively decides what happened at the time of the event (Eagleman and Sejnowski, 2000 ). Postdiction is a particular interpretation of experimental results showing temporal integration of information, and it has been largely debated.

The duration of the window of temporal integration of sensory information ranges between tens to hundreds of milliseconds. Its duration significantly varies across tasks, so there may be several postdictive windows of integration, and they are consistent across subjects. The duration of the postdictive windows of integration is supposedly hardwired in our brain, but it could be extended by training subjects to systematic delays between causally bounded events. The postdictive window is believed to be triggered by highly salient sensory events acting as resets, such as abrupt stimuli onset and saccadic eye movements.

Postdiction is argued to play a central role in shaping our sense of agency, by compressing the perceived interval between a voluntary action and its external sensory consequence.

Postdictive mechanisms are believed to constantly underlie our perception, and can be revealed by some perceptual illusions: for example, in the flash lag illusion and the cutaneous rabbit illusion the location of moving stimuli are mistakenly perceived due to their falling within the same postdictive window of integration.

title: Postdiction


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Shane Kimbrough

Robert Shane Kimbrough (born June 4, 1967) is a retired United States Army officer and NASA astronaut. He was part of the first group of candidates selected for NASA astronaut training following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Kimbrough is a veteran of three spaceflights, the first being a Space Shuttle flight, and the second being a six-month mission to the ISS on board a Russian Soyuz craft. He was the commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 50, and returned to Earth in April 2017. He is married to the former Robbie Lynn Nickels.

Early life
Born June 4, 1967, in Killeen, Texas, Kimbrough attended The Lovett School in Atlanta, Georgia, graduating in 1985. Kimbrough graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1989 with a B.S. in aerospace engineering. He played for the West Point baseball team for 4 years, and was selected as team captain his senior year.

Military career
Kimbrough served as an Apache helicopter pilot in the first Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Kimbrough later attended and graduated from Georgia Tech with a M.S. in operations research in 1998. In 2000, he joined NASA and was assigned as a Flight Simulation Engineer on the Shuttle Training Aircraft where he helped NASA train astronauts on landing procedures for several years before he himself was selected for training in 2004.

He retired from the U.S. Army with the rank of colonel.

STS-126
Kimbrough was a mission specialist on STS-126, which launched on November 14, 2008. During the mission, Kimbrough performed two EVAs. On the tenth anniversary of the International Space Station, Stefanyshyn-Piper and Kimbrough successfully conducted the mission's second EVA, and Kimbrough's first, which lasted 6 hours, 45 minutes. Kimbrough's second EVA was performed on November 24, 2008, and lasted 6 hours and 7 minutes. At the completion of the mission, Kimbrough's cumulative spacewalk time, was 12 hours, 52 minutes.

Expedition 49/50
Kimbrough launched onboard Soyuz MS-02 to the International Space Station on October 19, 2016, as part of a four-month mission for Expedition 49 /50. Kimbrough became commander of Expedition 50 upon the departure of Soyuz MS-01 on October 28.

On January 6, 2017, Kimbrough performed his third EVA, along with Peggy Whitson. During the EVA, they installed three new adapter plates and hooked up electrical connectors preparing the way to replace the ISS batteries. The EVA lasted 6 hours and 32 minutes.

Kimbrough performed his fourth EVA with astronaut Thomas Pesquet on January 13, 2017. During the EVA, they prepared the infrastructure to replace the ISS batteries. The EVA lasted for 5 hours and 58 minutes.

On March 23, 2017, Kimbrough performed his fifth EVA with Thomas Pesquet. The main objective was to prepare the Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) for installation of the second International Docking Adapter (IDA), which will accommodate commercial crew vehicle dockings. The EVA lasted for 6 hours and 34 minutes.

On March 30, 2017, Kimbrough performed his sixth EVA with Peggy Whitson. During the EVA they connected the PMA-3 as well as installing new shields in Node 3 axial shields after losing one shield. Additionally installed another upgraded computer relay boxes on the station's truss. The EVA lasted 7 hours and 4 minutes. During this EVA Whitson became the record holder for the most EVAs for a woman (8 EVAs).

Kimbrough carried a soccer ball recovered from the wreckage of the Space Shuttle Challenger to the ISS, after which it was returned to the family of Challenger astronaut Ellison Onizuka and put on display at Clear Lake High School in Houston.

Expedition 65/66
In July 2020, NASA announced that Kimbrough would fly to space for the third time as commander of SpaceX Crew-2 along with NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet. Crew-2 launched and docked with the ISS on April 24, 2021, beginning their 6 month mission.

During his stay on the ISS, he performed 3 EVAs to install the iROSA solar arrays on the P6 Truss, with Thomas Pesquet. Some of the experiments he did included earth observations, protein crystal growth and cultivating cotton and peppers.

Crew-2 splashed down off the coast of Florida on November 9, 2021, after a 199 days mission.

Retirement
Kimbrough retired from NASA on July 31, 2022.

title: Shane Kimbrough


text:
National Police Commission (South Korea)

The National Police Commission is the policy making and oversight body of the National Police Agency of South Korea. It is headquartered in Seoul. It was established on July 31, 1991, as part of a general reorganization of the national police force.