title: All India Forward Bloc

text: In 1968 two influential party leaders in Tamil Nadu Velayudham Nayar (then a central committee member of the party) and S. Andi Thevar broke away from AIFB and founded the Revolutionary Forward Bloc. Nayar and Thevar accused the Forward Bloc of having deviated from its socialist principles through its co-operation with the rightwing Swatantra Party.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: In July 1969, violent clashes erupted in West Dinajpur district, West Bengal, between peasants aligned with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and East Pakistani refugee cultivators, who supported the Forward Bloc. CPI(M) leader Hare Krishna Konar characterised the events as a degeneration of the agrarian struggles in rural West Bengal.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: In 1969 a major split in the Indian National Congress. Indira Gandhi had entered into open conflict with the traditional Congress leadership. Effectively two separate Congress parties appeared, the Congress(R) led by Indira and the Congress(O) led by Kamaraj. The split was in many ways a left-right one, with Indira whipping up populism against the established party elites. The Forward Bloc did in some ways welcome the new developments. It appreciated Indira's stands and reformulated its anti-Congress line to focus mainly opposition to the traditional Congress elite (i.e. the Congress(O)). In the 1969 presidential elections, AIFB supported Indira's candidate V.V. Giri. This caused an abrupt break-up of the Swatantra-AIFB alliance in Tamil Nadu, as the Swatantra Party sought to align itself with the Congress(O).


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: On 20 February, just ahead of the 1971 general elections, the All India Forward Bloc chairman Hemantha Kumar Bose was murdered in Calcutta. An emergency central committee meeting was held on 24 February, which appointed P.K. Mookiah Thevar as the new chairman of the party.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: In the 1971 Lok Sabha election, the Forward Bloc launched 24 candidates around the country. Two were elected, P.K. Mookiah Thevar from Ramanthapuram and Jambuwantrao Dhote from Nagpur. The party contested 3 seats in the interior of Maharashtra, where it performed well. Dhote, who was then known as "Vidarbha ka Sher" (the Lion of Vidarbha), had joined the Forward Bloc and campaigned for a separate Vidarbha state with the Forward Bloc as his platform. Dhote was hugely popular in the region at the time, and could draw crowds of hundreds of thousands to his meetings.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: In Tamil Nadu the party contested one seat, Ramanthapuram, with the support of its allies in the Progressive Front (most notably the Congress(R) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam). Meanwhile, the Forward Bloc played an important role in securing Mukkulathor votes for its Progressive Front allies.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: In West Bengal the party contested 10 Lok Sabha seats. The party obtained some significant voting in constituencies like Cooch Behar (22.17%) and Birbhum (19.70%), but in general it was defeated by the CPI(M) candidates.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: Moreover, the party contested three seats in Bihar, one in Haryana, 1 in Madhya Pradesh, 4 in Uttar Pradesh and 1 in Delhi. In total the candidates of the party obtained 962 971 votes (0.66% of the national vote).


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: In the 1971 state legislative assembly election in Odisha, the party contested four seats. It got 8393 votes (0.19% of the statewide vote), but was not close to winning any seat. In Tamil Nadu the party contested 9 seats in the southern part of the state within the framework of the Progressive Front. Out of these nine candidates, seven won. In total its vote stood at 268 721 (1.71% of the statewide vote). One of its candidate came second and in the Mudukulathor constituency (that had been the centre of the violent 1957 Ramnad riots) the AIFB candidate R. Rathina Thevar came third with 17244 votes (31.02%). The most spectacular victory was that of P.K. Mookiah Thevar (who contested Lok Sabha and assembly elections simultaneously) who got 49292 votes (74.46%) in the Usilampatti constituency, defeating S. Andi Thevar of the Revolutionary Forward Bloc. Lastly in West Bengal the party contested 52 constituencies, but could only win three seats. Its vote stood at 374 141 (2.90% of the statewide vote).


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: On 28 March 1972 the party was able to win a seat in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council (the upper house of the regional parliament) for the first time. R. Sakthi Mohan was elected with the votes of the AIFB, DMK, PSP, Muslim League and the Tamil Arasu Kazhagam.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: In the 1972 state legislative assembly election, the Forward Bloc presented one candidate in Assam, 5 in Bihar and 2 in Madhya Pradesh. In Maharashtra the party contested 26 seats. Like in the 1971 Lok Sabha elections the party did well in the interior areas of the state. It won the Nagpur North and Yeotmal seats, and came second in several others. In total the AIFB candidates in Maharashtra got 363 547 votes (2.4% of the statewide vote). In West Bengal, were fresh elections to the state assembly were again held in 1972, the Forward Bloc launched 18 candidates. It got 331 244 votes (2.48% of the statewide vote), but could not win a single seat.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: After having contested the 1972 elections on its own, the Forward Bloc decided to join a 'United Front' led by the communist parties in Tripura. The front demanded clear-cut policies for procurement and distribution of food grains, stop to spiraling prices of essential commodities, a land reform legislation for delimitation of Tribal reserve areas and creation of employments opportunities for the unemployed. A 24-hour Tripura Bandh was organised by the front on 16 December. On 3 May 1974 the four parties organised a 12-hour Tripura Bandh.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: 1977 was a crucial year in Indian political history. For the first time in independent India, the Congress Party was routed in a national election. The Forward Bloc had contested four seats in the Lok Sabha election. In West Bengal it had three candidates which were supported by the Left Front, out of whom all three were elected. Moreover, the party contested one seat in Haryana.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: In Tripura a Left Front was formed consisting of the CPI(M), RSP and the Forward Bloc. The Front launched one Forward Bloc candidate, Brajagopal Roy in the Town Bordowali constituency. Roy won the seat with 7800 votes (62.76%). In the beginning of 1978 the Left Front formed a majority government in the state, with Brajagopal Roy appointed minister in the state government.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: Ahead of the 2000 Bihar legislative election AIFB took part in building a front together with the Bharatiya Jan Congress, the Bihar Vikas Party, the Janata Dal (Secular), the Samajwadi Janata Party and the Nationalist Congress Party. The front vowed to maintain equidistance towards the two major blocs in Bihari politics, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the National Democratic Alliance, condemning them as 'casteist and communal'.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: In 2002 AIFB was one of four leftwing parties that nominated Lakshmi Sahgal as a candidate for the presidency of India. Sehgal, who challenged the main candidate A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, got around 10% of the votes.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: In the Lok Sabha elections 2004 the party received 0.4% of votes and three seats (All from West Bengal).


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: Just before the 2006 Tamil Nadu legislative election, the party was joined by the actor Karthik. Karthik was given the post of president of the Tamil Nadu state unit by the national party leadership and was put in charge of the election campaign of the party in the state. The party decided to contest a large number of seats without joining either of the two major political blocs in Tamil Nadu. The appointment of Karthik as the new leader of the state unit provoked the sole Forward Bloc legislator and secretary of the state unit, L. Santhanam, to leave the party. In the election the party lost its representation in the assembly. A few months later the party leadership expelled Karthik on the grounds of 'anti-party activities'.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: Ahead of the 2006 West Bengal legislative election, a section of the party led by Jayanta Roy, former AIFB Rajya Sabha member, and Chhaya Ghosh, former West Bengal Minister of Agriculture, broke away and formed the Indian People's Forward Bloc. This party aligned itself with the Indian National Congress. The Bharatiya Forward Bloc, a former Forward Bloc splinter group, merged into the All India Forward Bloc prior to the 2006 election.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: AIFB has branches throughout the country, but the main strength of the party is concentrated in West Bengal. It was a part of the former Left Front government in there prior to the year 2011, when All India Trinamool Congress formed the Government with the initial support of Indian National Congress, and Forward Bloc had various ministers in the state government. Notably though AIFB is co-operating with CPI(M) in West Bengal, Tripura and on the national level, AIFB is not part of the Left Democratic Front in Kerala.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: The Forward Bloc established its presence in Tripura in 1944, founded by Kamala Ranjan Talapatra. Bengali immigrants like Sailesh Sen, Gopi Ballav Saha, Dwijen Deu, Anil Dasgupta, Hiren Nandi and Sati Bhardwaz are the other active members of the party. They took part in various political campaigns. However, around 1955–1956 most of the founding core of the party in Tripura joined the RSP. Today, AIFB is a member of opposition Left Front coalition. In the 2003 Tripura legislative election the Tripura State Committee president Brajagopal Roy contested the Town Borowali constituency on behalf of the Left Front. Roy got 9844 votes (43.57%), but was defeated by a Congress candidate. The AIFB state unit publishes Tripura Bani.


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: In the 2007 assembly election, 2007 in Uttar Pradesh AIFB launched three candidates, Ram Lakhan in Bisalpur (732 votes, 0.51% of the votes in the constituency), Samar Singh in Fatehpur Sikri (870 votes, 0.69%) and Jabar Singh in Hastinapur (503 votes, 0.42%).


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: AIFB has a small state unit in Haryana. The chairman of Haryana state committee is Naveen Kumar. In the 2005 election to the Haryana legislative assembly AIFB ran a single candidate, Mukhtiar Singh Kaushik in the Nilokheri constituency. Kaushik got 442 votes (0.44%).


title: All India Forward Bloc

text: In Andhra Pradesh the party had significant presence during the 1950s, but then declined sharply. In 2005 the party took an initiative to revive its Andhra Pradesh State Committee.


title: Fish Hooks

text: Fish Hooks is an American animated television series created by Noah Z. Jones for Disney Channel and Disney XD. The show ran for three seasons from September 3, 2010 to April 4, 2014, airing a total of 59 episodes.


title: Fish Hooks

text: The series revolves around a fun-personified fish named Milo, his nervous brother Oscar, and their "overly dramatic" best friend Bea Goldfishberg, with whom Oscar is infatuated. They attend a school known as Freshwater High, submerged in an aquarium in a pet store named Bud's Pets. The series chronicles their daily lives as they deal with typical teen problems, such as romance and homework, as well as havoc conjured with other animals in the pet store.


title: Fish Hooks

text: In 2009, Disney Channels Worldwide's President of Entertainment Gary Marsh said of the show, "The "Fish Hooks" team has created one of the most original, inventive animated series on television – bringing an ingenious twist to the classic archetypes of high school life." The series is produced using a mix of 2D digital animation and photo collages. The series is created and co-executive produced by children's book illustrator Noah Z. Jones and developed for television by Alex Hirsch and Bill Reiss. Main and recurring cast were announced in a Disney Channel press release on August 26, 2010.


title: Fish Hooks

text: The series airs worldwide on Disney Channel. An 11-minute preview was shown on September 3, 2010, following the Disney Channel Original Movie, "". The show premiered in the United States on Disney Channel on September 24, 2010, and on Disney XD on January 14, 2011.


title: Fish Hooks

text: The show previewed in Canada on September 3, 2010, and premiered on September 25, 2010. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it premiered on November 6, 2010. It previewed in Australia and New Zealand on October 2, 2010, and premiered on November 23, 2010. In Southeast Asia, the show premiered on April 1, 2011. It previewed on January 15, 2011, and premiered on February 13, 2011, in South Africa.


title: Fish Hooks

text: "Fish Hooks" was met with mixed reviews. In "The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows", David Perlmutter wrote, "While this program started out well, given the veteran talent involved, it quickly faltered, becoming so obsessed with plotting the minutiae of its own self-created fishbowl universe that it abruptly lost its creative touch." He criticized the voice acting as "incredibly shrill; loud; and, above all, hammy," and said that the show "was a shotgun wedding between the typically hyperspace-paced narrative approaches of Cartoon Network [...] and the more measured and balanced style typical of Disney." In a more positive review, a reviewer for Common Sense Media said that it was entertaining and that it "(gives) many life lessons having to do with friendship and following dreams."


title: A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

text: A Pup Named Scooby-Doo is an American animated mystery comedy series produced by Hanna-Barbera. It is the eighth incarnation of the studio's "Scooby-Doo" franchise and depicts younger versions of the title character and his human companions as they solve mysteries, similar to the original television series. The series was developed by Tom Ruegger and premiered on September 10, 1988, airing for four seasons on ABC as well as during the syndicated block "The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera" until August 17, 1991.


title: A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

text: Along with most of Hanna-Barbera's production staff, Ruegger departed from the studio after the first season (to create "Tiny Toon Adventures" for Warner Bros. Animation) and Don Lusk, a longtime animator for the Disney and Bill Melendez animation studios, took over as director. "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" is the final television series in the franchise in which Don Messick portrayed Scooby-Doo before his death in 1997 and one of the few in the franchise in which someone other than Frank Welker voiced the character of Fred Jones (child actor Carl Steven took on the role for this series; Welker voiced other bit roles in the series, including Fred's uncle Ed). Messick and Casey Kasem, the latter of whom voiced Shaggy Rogers, were the only two voice actors from other "Scooby-Doo" series to reprise their roles and both received starring credits for their work.


title: A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

text: The new format followed the trend of the "babyfication" of older cartoon characters, reducing the original "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" cast to elementary-aged kids (in doing so, the series reintroduced Fred Jones and Velma Dinkley to the show, both of whom had not appeared as regular characters since the 1970s, and removed Scrappy-Doo from the cast). This new show also used the same basic formula as the original 1969 show: the "Scooby-Doo Detective Agency" (a forerunner of Mystery Inc.) solved supernatural-based mysteries in the town of Coolsville, where the monsters of the week are always revealed as bad guys in masks and costumes. The difference was the tone of the show: with "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo," producer Tom Ruegger built upon the slightly irreverent humor he had established along with producer Mitch Schauer with Scooby's previous unsuccessful incarnation, "The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo." This resulted in a wackier, more extremely comic version of "Scooby-Doo" that satirized the conventions of the show's previous incarnations. It was not uncommon for the characters to do wild Tex Avery/Bob Clampett-esque takes when they ran into ghosts and monsters. Animation director and overseas supervisor Glen Kennedy animated many of the wild-take sequences personally. Fred was constantly blaming a character appropriately called "Red Herring" (a pun on red herring) for each and every crime on the show (true to his name, Red was always innocent, except for "Night of the Boogey Biker," the one episode in which Fred "didn't" blame him) and shots of the characters (and even the monsters) dancing were inserted into the pop-rock-music-scored chase sequences. The monsters themselves were also more comedic, such as a creature made out of molten cheese, a monster in the form of a giant hamburger and the ghost of a dogcatcher. The series also features Scooby and Shaggy as their favorite superhero duo. Shaggy would be the fearless Commander Cool (a combination of Batman and Superman) and Scooby would be his faithful canine sidekick Mellow Mutt (a combination of Krypto, Robin and Ace the Bat-Hound). In 2013, a direct-to-video puppet film was released exclusively to U.S. Walmart stores and digital download called "," that featured traits similar to that of "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo."


title: A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

text: The "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" episode "A Terrifying Round with a Menacing Metallic Clown" featured a flashback to Velma's fifth birthday, using the character designs from "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo," albeit with some modifications, such as Daphne wearing purple rather than pink. Fred and Velma were the only returning characters to speak in the flashback, voiced by Welker and Mindy Cohn. The live-action film "Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins" establishes the team meeting in their teens. However, it can be seen as a prequel to the theatrical films.


title: A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

text: Rock and roll-styled songs (specifically about the monster of the week) were played during the chase scene in each episode, similar to the second-season episodes of "Scooby-Doo, Where are You!" However, unlike previous versions of the show, the kids were often aware of the music being played (having turned it on themselves in many occasions) and would dance for a bit along with the ghosts and monsters before continuing with the chase (Glen Kennedy would often animate the characters' dance cycles himself). The show's theme song, featuring lyrics by series creator Tom Ruegger and music by composer John Debney, also bore a similarity to the "Intro Song" from "Little Shop of Horrors," which had recently been adapted into a successful feature film. The music is almost always in a 1950s rock and roll style, possibly to indicate their younger age, as the original show took place in 1969.


title: A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

text: Warner Home Video (via Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment) initially released all 27 episodes of "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" on DVD in Region 1 in seven volume sets. They subsequently re-released the entire series in different DVD sets. The first two seasons are available for download from the iTunes Store. "Wrestle Maniacs" can be found on the "Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery" DVD.


title: Gasket

text: A gasket is a mechanical seal which fills the space between two or more mating surfaces, generally to prevent leakage from or into the joined objects while under compression. It is a deformable material that is used to create a static seal and maintain that seal under various operating conditions in a mechanical assembly.


title: Gasket

text: Gaskets allow for "less-than-perfect" mating surfaces on machine parts where they can fill irregularities. Gaskets are commonly produced by cutting from sheet materials. Given the potential cost and safety implications of faulty or leaking gaskets, it is critical that the correct gasket material is selected to fit the needs of the application.


title: Gasket

text: Gaskets for specific applications, such as high pressure steam systems, may contain asbestos. However, due to health hazards associated with asbestos exposure, non-asbestos gasket materials are used when practical.


title: Gasket

text: It is usually desirable that the gasket be made from a material that is to some degree yielding such that it is able to deform and tightly fill the space it is designed for, including any slight irregularities. Some types of gaskets require a sealant be applied directly to the gasket surface to function properly.


title: Gasket

text: Some (piping) gaskets are made entirely of metal and rely on a seating surface to accomplish the seal; the metal's own spring characteristics are utilized (up to but not passing σ, the material's yield strength). This is typical of some "ring joints" (RTJ) or some other metal gasket systems. These joints are known as R-con and E-con compressive type joints.


title: Gasket

text: Gaskets are normally made from a flat material, a sheet such as paper, rubber, silicone, metal, cork, felt, neoprene, nitrile rubber, fiberglass, polytetrafluoroethylene (otherwise known as PTFE or Teflon) or a plastic polymer (such as polychlorotrifluoroethylene).


title: Gasket

text: One of the more desirable properties of an effective gasket in industrial applications for compressed fiber gasket material is the ability to withstand high compressive loads. Most industrial gasket applications involve bolts exerting compression well into the 14 MPa (2000 psi) range or higher. Generally speaking, there are several truisms that allow for better gasket performance. One of the more tried and tested is: "The more compressive load exerted on the gasket, the longer it will last".


title: Gasket

text: There are several ways to measure a gasket material's ability to withstand compressive loading. The "hot compression test" is probably the most accepted of these tests. Most manufacturers of gasket materials will provide or publish the results of these tests.


title: Gasket

text: Gaskets come in many different designs based on industrial usage, budget, chemical contact and physical parameters:


title: Gasket

text: Gaskets can be produced by punching the required shape out of a sheet of flat, thin material, resulting in a "sheet gaskets". Sheet gasket are fast and cheap to produce, and can be produced from a variety of materials, among them fibrous materials and matted graphite (and in the past - compressed asbestos). These gaskets can fill various different chemical requirements based on the inertness of the material used. Non-asbestos gasket sheet is durable, of multiple materials, and thick in nature. Material examples are mineral, carbon or synthetic rubbers such as EPDM, Nitrile, Neoprene, Natural, SBR Insertion - each of which have unique properties suitable for different applications. Applications using sheet gaskets involve acids, corrosive chemicals, steam or mild caustics. Flexibility and good recovery prevent breakage during installation of a sheet gasket.


title: Gasket

text: The idea behind solid material is to use metals which cannot be punched out of sheets but are still cheap to produce. These gaskets generally have a much higher level of quality control than sheet gaskets and generally can withstand much higher temperatures and pressures. The key downside is that a solid metal must be greatly compressed in order to become flush with the flange head and prevent leakage. The material choice is more difficult; because metals are primarily used, process contamination and oxidation are risks. An additional downside is that the metal used must be softer than the flange — in order to ensure that the flange does not warp and thereby prevent sealing with future gaskets. Even so, these gaskets have found a niche in industry.


title: Gasket

text: Spiral-wound gaskets comprise a mix of metallic and filler material. Generally, the gasket has a metal (normally carbon rich or stainless steel) wound outwards in a circular spiral (other shapes are possible) with the filler material (generally a flexible graphite) wound in the same manner but starting from the opposing side. This results in alternating layers of filler and metal. The filler material in these gaskets acts as the sealing element, with the metal providing structural support.


title: Gasket

text: These gaskets have proven to be reliable in most applications, and allow lower clamping forces than solid gaskets, albeit with a higher cost.


title: Gasket

text: The constant seating stress gasket consists of two components; a solid carrier ring of a suitable material, such as stainless steel, and two sealing elements of some compressible material installed within two opposing channels, one channel on either side of the carrier ring. The sealing elements are typically made from a material (expanded graphite, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), vermiculite, etc.) suitable to the process fluid and application.


title: Gasket

text: Constant seating stress gaskets derive their name from the fact that the carrier ring profile takes flange rotation (deflection under bolt preload) into consideration. With all other conventional gaskets, as the flange fasteners are tightened, the flange deflects radially under load, resulting in the greatest gasket compression, and highest gasket stress, at the outer gasket edge.


title: Gasket

text: Since the carrier ring used in constant seating stress gaskets take this deflection into account when creating the carrier ring for a given flange size, pressure class, and material, the carrier ring profile can be adjusted to enable the gasket seating stress to be radially uniform across the entire sealing area. Further, because the sealing elements are fully confined by the flange faces in opposing channels on the carrier ring, any in-service compressive forces acting on the gasket are transmitted through the carrier ring and avoid any further compression of the sealing elements, thus maintaining a 'constant' gasket seating stress while in-service. Thus, the gasket is immune to common gasket failure modes that include creep relaxation, high system vibration, or system thermal cycles.


title: Gasket

text: The fundamental concept underlying the improved sealability for constant seating stress gaskets are that (i) if the flange sealing surfaces are capable of attaining a seal, (ii) the sealing elements are compatible with the process fluid and application, and (iii) the sufficient gasket seating stress is achieved on installation necessary to affect a seal, then the possibility of the gasket leaking in-service is greatly reduced or eliminated altogether.


title: Gasket

text: Double-jacketed gaskets are another combination of filler material and metallic materials. In this application, a tube with ends that resemble a "C" is made of the metal with an additional piece made to fit inside of the "C" making the tube thickest at the meeting points. The filler is pumped between the shell and piece. When in use, the compressed gasket has a larger amount of metal at the two tips where contact is made (due to the shell/piece interaction) and these two places bear the burden of sealing the process. Since all that is needed is a shell and piece, these gaskets can be made from almost any material that can be made into a sheet and a filler can then be inserted.


title: Gasket

text: Kammprofile gaskets (sometimes spelled Camprofile) are used in many older seals since they have both a flexible nature and reliable performance. Kammprofiles work by having a solid corrugated core with a flexible covering layer. This arrangement allows for very high compression and an extremely tight seal along the ridges of the gasket. Since generally the graphite will fail instead of the metal core, Kammprofile can be repaired during later inactivity. Kammprofile has a high capital cost for most applications but this is countered by long life and increased reliability.


title: Gasket

text: Fishbone Gaskets are direct replacements for Kammprofile and Spiralwound gaskets. They are fully CNC machine manufactured from similar materials but the design of the gaskets has eliminated inherent short comings. Fishbone gaskets do not unwind in storage or in the plant. The rounded edges do not cause flange damage. The added "Stop Step" prevents the Fishbone gaskets from being over compressed/crushed, often caused by hot torque techniques on plant start up. The bones of the gasket remain ductile and adjust to thermal cycling and system pressure spikes resulting is a durable and reliable flange seal that out performs all other gaskets of this nature significantly.


title: Gasket

text: A flange gasket is a type of gasket made to fit between two sections of pipe that are flared to provide higher surface area.


title: Gasket

text: Flange gaskets come in a variety of sizes and are categorized by their inside diameter and their outside diameter.


title: Gasket

text: There are many standards in gasket for flanges of pipes. The gaskets for flanges can be divided into four major categories:


title: Gasket

text: "Sheet gaskets" are simple, they are cut to size either with bolt holes or without holes for standard sizes with various thickness and material suitable to media and temperature pressure of pipeline.


title: Gasket

text: "Ring gaskets" also known as RTJ. They are mostly used in offshore oil- and gas pipelines and are designed to work under extremely high pressure. They are solid rings of metal in different cross sections like oval, round, octagonal etc. Sometimes they come with hole in center for pressure .


title: Gasket

text: "Spiral wound gaskets" are also used in high pressure pipelines and are made with stainless steel outer and inner rings and a center filled with spirally wound stainless steel tape wound together with graphite and PTFE, formed in V shape. Internal pressure acts upon the faces of the V, forcing the gasket to seal against the flange faces. Most spiral wound gasket applications will use two standard gasket thicknesses: 1/8 inch and 3/16 inch. With 1/8 inch thick gaskets, compression to a 0.100 inch thickness is recommended. For 3/16 inches, compress to a 0.13 inch thickness.


title: Gasket

text: Soft gasket is a term that refers to a gasket that is cut from a soft (flexible) sheet material and can easily conform to surface irregularities even when the bolt load is low. Soft gaskets are used in applications such as heat exchangers, compressors, bonnet valve and pipe flanges.


title: Gasket

text: Annular Seal (RTJ Seal) is a high integrity, high temperature, high pressure seal for applications in the oil industry, oilfield drilling, pressure vessel connections, pipes, valves and more.


title: Gasket

text: The movement of the ring packing (RTJ) can be described as an irregular flow in the groove of the deformed sealing flange due to the axial compressive load. Colored seal (RTJ seal) has a small load area, which leads to a large surface pressure between the sealing surface and the groove, the maintenance properties are poor and not suitable for reuse.


title: Gasket

text: Uneven pressure can be caused by a variety of factors. First is the human factor: asymmetric application of the bolt preload, this can cause uneven pressure. Theoretically when the flanges are pressed, the sealing surfaces are absolutely parallel, in practice however, the centerline of a pipeline cannot be absolutely concentric, and tightening the bolts on the flange moment makes the flange a discontinuity. With asymmetric connections, the seal surfaces will be more or less deformed and the pressure reduced, the running load, prone to leakage. Third, the density of bolt arrangement has an obvious impact on the pressure distribution, the closer the bolts, the more uniform the pressure.


title: Gasket

text: Tighten the bolts on the flange. Due to vibration, temperature changes, and other factors such as spiral wound gasket stress relaxation, the bolt tension will gradually decrease, resulting in loss of torque, causing a leak. In general longer bolts and smaller diameters of bolt are better at preventing the loss of torque. A long thin bolt is an effective way to prevent torque loss. Heating for a certain period of time to stretch the bolt, and then maintaining a given torque, is very effective in preventing the loss of torque. When the gasket is thinner and smaller there will be a greater loss of torque. In addition, prevent strong vibration of the machine and the pipe itself, and isolate them from adjacent equipment vibration. Impacts on the sealing surface are not meaningless. Not impacting the tightened bolts can prevent the loss of torque.


title: Gasket

text: It is important to make the sealing finish properly otherwise it will cause leakage. A surface that is too smooth can allow your gasket material to blow out under pressure. A surface that is not machined flat can provide leak paths. A good rule of thumb is a machined surface to 32RMS. This insures the surface is flat, but with enough surface finish to bite into the gasket under compression.


title: Gasket

text: With metal core coated gaskets, both sides of the core are covered with a flexible, malleable sealant. There are reinforced metal seals in the pressure class up to 300. A strong metal core prevents pressure seals and a soft core ensures exceptional sealing.


title: Steve Largent

text: Stephen Michael Largent (born September 28, 1954) is an American former football wide receiver and politician who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Oklahoma's 1st congressional district from 1994 to 2002. He was also the Republican nominee in the 2002 Oklahoma gubernatorial election.


title: Steve Largent

text: Largent played college football at Tulsa University, where he studied biology, and began his NFL career with the expansion Seahawks in 1976. Regarded as one of the greatest wide receivers of all time, he held all major NFL receiving records at the time of his retirement. Largent was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995.


title: Steve Largent

text: Following his playing career, Largent was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 and served four terms, winning over 60% of the vote in each election. He resigned from his seat in 2002 to run for governor of Oklahoma, which he narrowly lost to Democrat Brad Henry.


title: Steve Largent

text: In 1974 at the University of Tulsa, Largent had 884 yards receiving and 14 touchdown catches. In 1975, he had 51 catches for 1,000 yards and 14 touchdown catches.


title: Steve Largent

text: Despite an All-American career at Tulsa, Largent was not selected until the fourth round of the 1976 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers (117th pick). After four preseason games, he was slated to be cut, but was instead traded to the expansion Seattle Seahawks for a 1977 eighth-round pick. According to Largent, Bum Phillips called him into his office and told Largent he had all the receivers they needed, and that Houston would be releasing him. Largent feared his career was over before it began.


title: Steve Largent

text: Largent spent 14 years with the Seahawks, initially reuniting with his college offensive coordinator, Jerry Rhome. His first practice with the team went horribly, as he suffered from sleep deprivation for 9 days while financially struggling to care for his mother and three younger brothers after their mother left her alcoholic and violent second husband. While not particularly fast, Steve was extremely sure-handed and was able to get wide open due to his route-running discipline. He became the first Seahawk selected to the Pro Bowl in 1978, and was selected six more times during his career. In 1979 he led the league in receiving yards with 1,237, and six years later did it again with 1,287 in 1985. His 1985 receiving yardage was a Seahawks franchise record that stood for 35 years until broken by DK Metcalf in 2020.


title: Steve Largent

text: In 1987, Largent ended his participation in the NFLPA strike after the third and final week of the strike. With the retirement of Charlie Joiner the previous year, Largent became the NFL's active leader in career receiving yards, retaining that lead until his retirement in 1989. He broke Joiner's all-time record for receiving yards (12,146) in Week 3 of 1988. In the same season, he suffered a concussion and lost two teeth when he was hit by Mike Harden of the Denver Broncos. Harden was tackled by Largent and lost a fumble 14 weeks later after Harden's initial interception.


title: Steve Largent

text: In 1989, Largent became the first Seahawks player to win the Steve Largent Award for his spirit, dedication, and integrity.


title: Steve Largent

text: During his playing career Largent was given the nickname “Yoda” for his ability to catch anything thrown at him. He attributes this ability from a skeet shooting buddy that focuses only on the edge of the skeet, as he only focuses on the tip of the ball to track and catch balls, in the era where receivers and defensive backs don't wear gloves. This also allowed him to quickly adjust from catching with left-handed Jim Zorn to right-handed Dave Krieg.


title: Steve Largent

text: When Largent retired, he held all major NFL receiving records, including: most receptions in a career (819), most receiving yards in a career (13,089), and most touchdown receptions (100). He was also in possession of a then-record streak of 177 consecutive regular-season games with a reception. He also holds the distinction as the first receiver in NFL history to achieve 100 touchdown receptions in his career.


title: Steve Largent

text: Largent was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995, his first year of eligibility. In 1999, he was ranked number 46 on "The Sporting News" list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, the only Seahawk to make the list.


title: Steve Largent

text: His #80 was retired in 1992; Largent is the first Seahawk player to be so honored. During Jerry Rice's stint with the Seahawks in 2004, Largent's #80 was temporarily "unretired" after a conversation between Rice (who idolized Largent growing up) and Largent that was reportedly initiated by then Seahawks president Bob Whitsitt. Largent remains the most prolific receiver in team history. On October 26, 2008, Largent's University of Tulsa #83 was also retired.


title: Steve Largent

text: In 1994, Oklahoma's 1st District Congressman Jim Inhofe resigned to run in a special election to succeed Senator David Boren. Largent won the election to succeed Inhofe in Congress; pursuant to an Oklahoma statute, Governor David Walters designated the special election in which Largent was elected to serve the remainder of Inhofe's term in the 103rd Congress before beginning his term in the 104th Congress.


title: Steve Largent

text: Largent took office on November 29, 1994, and was reelected to the three succeeding Congresses, never winning less than 60 percent of the vote in the heavily Republican Tulsa-based district.


title: Steve Largent

text: Like many in the Republican freshman class elected in 1994, when the Republicans took control of the House for the first time in 40 years, Largent's voting record was solidly conservative. Largent was one of the "true believers" in that freshman class, devoting most of his time to issues important to conservative Christians.


title: Steve Largent

text: One of his first bills was a "parental rights" bill that died in committee after it attracted opposition even from other Christian conservatives. Another of his bills would have abolished the federal tax code at the end of 2001. He opposed ending the 1995 federal government shutdown and played a role in the failed attempt to oust Newt Gingrich as Speaker. Largent introduced a bill that would ban adoptions by gay and lesbian parents in Washington, D. C.


title: Steve Largent

text: He was accused of being anti-Catholic due to his line of questioning of a House of Representatives chaplain in 2000, though he denied this.


title: Steve Largent

text: After the Republicans lost five seats in the 1998 midterm elections, Largent tried to take advantage of discontent with Majority Leader Dick Armey by challenging Armey for the post. Although Armey was not popular in the Republican caucus, Largent was thought to be far too conservative for the liking of some moderate Republicans, and Armey won on the third ballot. However, when Bob Livingston of Louisiana stood down as Speaker-elect, Armey was still too wounded to make a bid for the job.


title: Steve Largent

text: Largent decided to run for Governor of Oklahoma in 2002. He easily won the Republican nomination and resigned his House seat on February 15 to devote his energy to the race. Initially seen as an overwhelming favorite against Democratic state senator Brad Henry, Largent lost to Henry by just under 7,000 votes.


title: Steve Largent

text: Largent became president and CEO of CTIA-The Wireless Association in November 2003 and served until May 2014. CTIA is an international nonprofit membership organization founded in 1984, representing all sectors of wireless communications: cellular, personal communication services, and enhanced specialized mobile radio.


title: Steve Largent

text: Largent has a son Kramer James (b. November 11, 1985) with spina bifida. He and his wife, Terry, also had three older children, sons Kyle and Kelly and daughter Casie.


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: "Closer" is a song by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released as the second single on their second studio album, "The Downward Spiral" (1994). Released on May 30, 1994, it is considered Nine Inch Nails' signature song and remains one of their most popular hits. Most versions of the single are titled "Closer to God", a rare example in music of a single's title differing from the title of its A-side ("Closer to God" is also the title of an alternate version of "Closer" featured on the single, which was also released as a separate promotional single for club-play). The single is the ninth official Nine Inch Nails release, making it "Halo 9" in the band's official Halo numbering system.


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: A promotional single provided by the label to radio stations included both long and short vocal-censored (i.e. silenced profanity) versions. Although the song addresses themes such as self-hatred and obsession, its sexually aggressive chorus led to widespread misinterpretation of the song as an anthem of lust, which helped it become Nine Inch Nails' most successful single up to that time and cemented Trent Reznor's status as an industrial rock icon. Commercially, "Closer" reached 41 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, No. 25 on the UK Singles Chart, and No. 3 on the Australian Singles Chart. Censored versions of the song and its Mark Romanek-directed music video received substantial airplay on radio and MTV.


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: "Closer" has been described as industrial rock and alternative rock. "Closer" uses elements of funk, and electronic music. The drum track of "Closer" is built around a heavily modified sample of the bass drum from the 1977 Iggy Pop song "Nightclubbing", which was performed by a Roland drum machine. The samples were produced using two Akai S1100 samplers, each with an expander, essentially making up four samplers. The samples were then combined with beats produced by a Roland R-70 drum machine. The production features sound effects such as a bass squelch, synth echo, and feedback growl. Radio edits of "Closer" were created by muting the vocal track for the duration of each deleted obscenity.


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: Lyrically, "Closer" is a song about self-hatred and obsession; to Reznor's dismay, the song was widely misinterpreted as a lust anthem due to its chorus, which famously includes the lines "I wanna fuck you like an animal / I wanna feel you from the inside". In 2003, VH1 ranked the song at No. 93 in its countdown of the "100 Greatest Songs of the Past 25 Years." The song was ranked at No. 2 on AOL's "69 Sexiest Songs of All Time" due to the explicit frankness of the chorus. Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, said of the song, "Come on dude: 'I wanna fuck you like an animal'? That's the all-time fuck song. Those are pure fuck beats—Trent Reznor knew what he was doing. You can fuck to it, you can dance to it and you can break shit to it."


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: Although there were numerous remixes of "Closer", the version titled "Closer to God" was heavily reworked, as the vocals were completely re-recorded and the overall song retained only a few elements from the original version. "Closer to God" was also released as a promotional single separate from "Closer", mainly intended for club-play.


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: "Closer" had some radio airplay before it was released as a single. This factor increased within weeks, leading Interscope to release the song as a single in May 1994. When it premiered, the single charted on several US "Billboard" magazine music listings. Debuting near the bottom spot of the "Billboard" Hot 100, it barely missed the top 40, peaking at No. 41. It climbed to No. 11 on the "Billboard" Modern Rock Tracks chart, and also went on to reach No. 35 on the "Billboard" Album Rock Tracks chart and No. 29 on the "Billboard" Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart. "Closer" was the band's first crossover hit and remains their most popular song to date.


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: The single was successful in several other countries as well. It charted the highest in Australia, where it rose to No. 3 on the week of November 13, 1994, and was the country's 87th most successful single of 1994. Although "Closer" did not initially appear on Canada's official music chart during its original release, it reached a peak of No. 5 on the Canadian Singles Chart in February 2002. It also did not chart in Denmark until 2007, when it reached No. 12 in July. In the United Kingdom, the single reached No. 25.


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: The aforementioned "Closer to God" version of the song charted at No. 29 on the "Billboard" Dance Music/Club Play Singles.


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: The song was voted in at No. 62 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of all time in 2009, and ranked No. 42 on Pitchfork Media's "Top 200 Tracks of the 90s" in 2010. In 2021, it was listed at No. 270 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time". In 2020, "Kerrang" and "Billboard" ranked the song number five and number one, respectively, on their lists of the greatest Nine Inch Nails songs.


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: The music video was directed by Mark Romanek and first aired on May 12, 1994, having been filmed in April of that year. It was cut down from its original length to 4:36. Several sections of the video were shot inside the former Linda Vista Community Hospital in Los Angeles. The video was popular and helped bolster the success of the band. Set in what appears to be a 19th-century mad scientist's laboratory, the video's imagery involves religion, sexuality, animal cruelty, politics, and terror, including:


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: Several times, Reznor, wearing leather pants, floats and rotates through the air, suspended by invisible wires. There are also scenes of Reznor being blown back by a wind machine while wearing aviator goggles. Mark has stated:


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: These images were inspired by the work of Joel-Peter Witkin, as well as by the Brothers Quay's animated short film "Street of Crocodiles". For the television version, certain removed scenes were replaced with a title card that read "Scene Missing," and the instances of the word "fuck" being edited out were accompanied by a stop in the video motion, making it appear as if the stop was a result of defective film (this was supposedly done to make sure the flow of the song was not affected). According to Romanek, the video was filmed using "a slightly out of date film stock but it was still a contemporary film stock."


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: The unedited version of the video was shown on Playboy TV's music video show "Hot Rocks" in 1994. In mid-2002, the unedited version aired on MTV2 as part of a special countdown showcasing the most controversial videos ever to air on MTV. This countdown was only shown late at night due to the sexually explicit imagery of "Closer" and several other videos.


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: In retrospect, Reznor said of the video that "The rarest of things occurred: where the song sounded better to me, seeing it with the video. And it's "my" song."


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: The unedited video is included in "Closure", "The Downward Spiral" (DualDisc), "" and Vevo, and it is available for download from the United States iTunes Store under the band's page. Behind-the-scenes footage with commentary by Romanek is included in "Closure" (DVD) and "Directors Label". It is also available on YouTube, and was previously flagged there before this restriction was lifted.


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: During the Self Destruct and Fragility tours, bassist Danny Lohner and guitarist Robin Finck joined Reznor and full-time keyboardists James Woolley (during the first half of the Self Destruct Tour) and Charlie Clouser (during the remaining tours) on keyboards for the song, with Reznor performing an extended synth solo. Nine Inch Nails performed the "Closer to God" rendition of the song live during their 1995 tour on numerous occasions, omitting the original song from the setlist when done so.


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: In the tours following the release of "With Teeth", Nine Inch Nails performed a shorter version of "Closer" with the keyboard solo played as a guitar solo and a breakdown incorporating a portion of "The Only Time," a track from "Pretty Hate Machine". Two performances of this version of the song appear on "Beside You in Time".


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: The version of "Closer" on the single is 13 seconds longer than the album version; on the album, the piano tune at the end of the song is abruptly cut off in order to segue into the next track, "Ruiner". On the single, the piano and background sounds of "Closer" are allowed to play out longer.


title: Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

text: In addition, the U.S. CD single contains five guest remixes of "Closer", a remix of its fellow "The Downward Spiral" track "Heresy", an instrumental track "March of the Fuckheads" (unrelated to "March of the Pigs"), and a cover version of Soft Cell's song "Memorabilia", from their 1982 EP "Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing". The UK single releases contain the same tracks split between two discs (each sold separately). A cassette single was issued in the U.S. and Australia, pairing "Closer" with the music video version of Nine Inch Nails' previous single, "March of the Pigs" (which was recorded live in the studio by the then-current lineup of the band).


title: HD DVD

text: HD DVD (short for High Definition Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video. Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format.


title: HD DVD

text: HD DVD employed a blue laser with a shorter wavelength (with the exception of the 3× DVD and HD REC variants), and it stored about 3.2 times as much data per layer as its predecessor (maximum capacity: 15 GB per layer compared to 4.7 GB per layer on a DVD). The format was commercially released in 2006 and fought a protracted format war with rival Blu-ray. On February 19, 2008, Toshiba abandoned the format, announcing it would no longer manufacture HD DVD players and drives. The HD DVD Promotion Group was dissolved on March 28, 2008.


title: HD DVD

text: The HD DVD physical disc specifications (but not the codecs) were used as the basis for the China Blue High-definition Disc (CBHD) formerly called CH-DVD.


title: HD DVD

text: In the late 1990s, commercial HDTV sets started to enter a larger market, but there was no inexpensive way to record or play back HD content. JVC's D-VHS and Sony's HDCAM formats could store that amount of data, but were neither popular nor well-known. It was well known that using lasers with shorter wavelengths would yield optical storage with higher density. Shuji Nakamura invented practical blue laser diodes, but a lengthy patent lawsuit delayed commercial introduction.


title: HD DVD

text: Sony started two projects applying the new diodes: UDO (Ultra Density Optical) and DVR Blue together with Philips, a format of rewritable discs which would eventually become Blu-ray Disc (more specifically, BD-RE) and later on with Pioneer a format of read only discs (BD-ROM). The two formats share several technologies (such as the AV codecs and the laser diode). In February 2002, the project was officially announced as Blu-ray Disc, and the Blu-ray Disc Association was founded by the nine initial members.


title: HD DVD

text: The DVD Forum (chaired by Sony) was deeply split over whether to go with the more expensive blue lasers or not. Although today's Blu-ray Discs appear virtually identical to a standard DVD, when the Blu-ray Discs were initially developed they required a protective caddy to avoid mis-handling by the consumer (early CD-Rs also featured a protective caddy for the same purpose.) The Blu-ray Disc prototype's caddy was both expensive and physically different from DVD, posing several problems. In March 2002, the forum voted to approve a proposal endorsed by Warner Bros. and other motion picture studios that involved compressing HD content onto dual-layer DVD-9 discs. In spite of this decision, the DVD Forum's Steering Committee announced in April that it was pursuing its own blue-laser high-definition solution. In August, Toshiba and NEC announced their competing standard Advanced Optical Disc. It was adopted by the DVD forum and renamed to HD DVD the next year.


title: HD DVD

text: The HD DVD Promotion Group was a group of manufacturers and media studios formed to exchange thoughts and ideas to help promote the format worldwide. Its members comprised Toshiba as the Chair Company and Secretary, Memory-Tech Corporation and NEC as Vice-Chair companies, and Sanyo Electric as Auditors; there were 61 general members and 72 associate members in total. The HD DVD promotion group was officially dissolved on March 28, 2008, following Toshiba's announcement on February 19, 2008 that it would no longer develop or manufacture HD DVD players and drives.


title: HD DVD

text: Much like the videotape format war between VHS and Betamax, HD DVD was competing with a rival format, Blu-ray Disc.


title: HD DVD

text: In an attempt to avoid a costly format war, the Blu-ray Disc Association and DVD Forum attempted to negotiate a compromise in early 2005. One of the issues was that Blu-ray Disc companies wanted to use a Java-based platform for interactivity (BD-J based on Sun Microsystems' Java TV standards), while HD DVD companies wanted to use Microsoft's "iHD" (which became HDi). Another problem was the physical formats of the discs themselves. The negotiations proceeded slowly and ultimately stalled.


title: HD DVD

text: On August 22, 2005, the Blu-ray Disc Association and DVD Forum announced that the negotiations to unify their standards had failed. Rumors surfaced that talks had stalled; publicly, the same reasons of physical format incompatibility were cited. By the end of September that year, Microsoft and Intel jointly announced their support for HD DVD.


title: HD DVD

text: Hewlett-Packard (HP) attempted to broker a compromise between the Blu-ray Disc Association and Microsoft by demanding that Blu-ray Disc use Microsoft's HDi instead of BD-J and threatening to support HD DVD instead. The Blu-ray Disc Association did not agree to HP's demands.


title: HD DVD

text: On March 31, 2006, Toshiba released their first consumer-based HD DVD player in Japan at ¥110,000 (US$934). HD DVD was released in the United States on April 18, 2006, with players priced at $499 and $799.


title: HD DVD

text: The first HD DVD titles were released on April 18, 2006. They were "The Last Samurai", "Million Dollar Baby", and "The Phantom of the Opera" by Warner Home Video and "Serenity" by Universal Studios. The first independent HD film released on HD DVD was "One Six Right".


title: HD DVD

text: In December 2006 Toshiba reported that roughly 120,000 Toshiba branded HD DVD players had been sold in the United States, along with 150,000 HD DVD add-on units for the Xbox 360.


title: HD DVD

text: On April 17, 2007, one year after the first HD DVD titles were released, the HD DVD group reported that they had sold 100,000 dedicated HD DVD units in the United States.


title: HD DVD

text: In November 2007, the Toshiba HD-A2 was the first high definition player to be sold at a sale price of less than US$100; this was done through several major retailers to make room for the new HD-A3 models. These closeout sales lasted less than a day each due to both limited quantities and high demand at that price point. In the same month, the HD DVD promotion group announced that 750,000 HD DVD players had been sold, which included stand-alone players and the Xbox 360 add-on.


title: HD DVD

text: As of June 24, 2008, 475 HD DVD titles had been released in the US. As of April 29, 2008, 236 HD DVD titles had been released in Japan. Approximately 232 were released in the UK.


title: HD DVD

text: On January 4, 2008, citing consumer confusion and indifference as a reason for lackluster high-definition software sales, Warner Bros. publicly announced it would stop supporting HD DVD by June 2008, and the company would release HD titles only on Blu-ray Disc. This was followed by news of Netflix phasing out support for the format, and Best Buy's decision to recommend Blu-ray Disc over HD DVD in its retail locations and to remove HD DVD players as part of its ongoing "HDTV advantage" promotion. Finally, retailer Wal-Mart announced that it would be supporting only Blu-ray Disc by June 2008.


title: HD DVD

text: On February 19, 2008, Toshiba announced plans to discontinue development, marketing and manufacturing of HD DVD players while still providing product support and after-sale service to consumers of the format (including firmware updates), effectively making the platform obsolete. The company cited "recent major changes in the market". Shipments of HD DVD machines to retailers were reduced and eventually stopped by the end of March 2008. Toshiba later revealed that they lost about $986 million on the format's failure.


title: HD DVD

text: The final HD DVD major-studio releases in the United States were Paramount's "Into the Wild", Warner's "P.S. I Love You" and "Twister", on May 27, 2008. In June, the final HD DVD, "Freedom: 6", was released by Bandai Visual, which acknowledged the demise of HD DVD, but stated that it wanted to complete the release of the seven-part "Freedom Project", of which six parts had been released. The seventh part, due for August 2008, never saw a release. "Disco Pigs" was announced but postponed, with no new date announced for release. "Pan's Labyrinth" is also notable as New Line Cinema's only film to be released on HD DVD, as the studio quickly shifted to Blu-ray.


title: HD DVD

text: "Death Proof" was released on HD DVD format as a special-release steelbook by Senator Films in Germany on December 15, 2008.


title: HD DVD

text: On April 3, 2010, Engadget reported that Anthem Films would release the film "Deadlands 2: Trapped" on HD DVD in a limited run of 500 copies. This eventually happened in the form of HD DVD-Rs. "Deadlands: The Rising", announced on September 5, 2010, was released on HD DVD in limited numbers. As with the previously released "Deadlands 2: Trapped", the film was pressed on HD DVD-R disc.


title: HD DVD

text: In mid-2009, Warner offered to replace any HD DVD Warner home video release with a Blu-ray Disc equivalent for $4.95, plus $6.95 shipping to the contiguous United States or $8.95 to Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico. The deal required the HD DVD's original sleeve art to be returned to Warner as proof of purchase. The turnaround time for processing was approximately two weeks. Multi-disc sets were exchangeable at a discount, such as $14.95 for the five-disc "Blade Runner" release rather than $24.75. No exchanges were offered to customers outside the United States.


title: HD DVD

text: HD DVD-ROM, HD DVD-R and HD DVD-RW have a single-layer capacity of 15 GB, and a dual-layer capacity of 30 GB. HD DVD-RAM has a single-layer capacity of 20 GB. Like the original DVD format, the data layer of an HD DVD is 0.6 mm below the surface to physically protect the data layer from damage. The numerical aperture of the optical pick-up head is 0.65, compared with 0.6 for DVD. All HD DVD players are backward compatible with DVD and CD.


title: HD DVD

text: As with previous optical disc formats, HD DVD supports several file systems, such as ISO 9660 and Universal Disk Format (UDF). All HD DVD titles use UDF version 2.5 as the file system. In this file system, multiplexed audio and video streams are stored in EVO container format.


title: HD DVD

text: The HD DVD format supports encoding in up to 24-bit/192 kHz for two channels, or up to eight channels of up to 24-bit/96 kHz encoding.


title: HD DVD

text: All HD DVD players are required to decode uncompressed linear PCM, Dolby Digital AC-3, Dolby Digital EX, DTS, Dolby Digital Plus E-AC-3 and Dolby TrueHD. A secondary soundtrack, if present, can be stored in any of the aforementioned formats, or in one of the HD DVD optional codecs: DTS-HD High Resolution Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio. For the highest-fidelity audio experience, HD DVD offers content-producers the choice of LPCM, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.


title: HD DVD

text: HD DVD video can be encoded using VC-1, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, or H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2. A wide variety of resolutions are supported, from low-resolution CIF, all SDTV resolutions supported by DVD-Video, and HDTV formats: 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. All studio-released movie titles have featured video in a 1080-line format, with companion supplements in 480i or 480p. The vast majority of releases were encoded with VC-1, and most of the remaining titles encoded with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.


title: HD DVD

text: If a publisher wishes to restrict use of its HD DVD content, it may use the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) although this is not required for normal disc playback. AACS is a standard for content distribution and digital rights management. It is developed by AACS Licensing Administrator, LLC (AACS LA), a consortium that includes Disney, Intel, Microsoft, Panasonic, Warner Bros., IBM, Toshiba and Sony. One of the advantages over CSS, the content restriction system for DVDs, is that AACS allows content providers to revoke an individual player device model if its cryptographic keys have been compromised (meaning that it will not be able to decrypt subsequently released content). There is no Region Coding in the existing HD DVD specification, which means that titles from any country can be played in players in any other country.


title: HD DVD

text: Since appearing in devices in 2006, several successful attacks have been made on the format. The first known attack relied on the trusted client problem. In addition, decryption keys have been extracted from a weakly protected player (WinDVD). Notably, a "Processing Key" was found that could be used to decrypt all HD content that had been released at the time. The processing key was widely published on the Internet after it was found and the AACS LA sent multiple DMCA takedown notices with the aim of censoring it. This caused trouble on some sites that rely on user-submitted content, like Digg and Wikipedia, when administrators tried to remove any mentions of the key.


title: HD DVD

text: AACS has also been circumvented by SlySoft with their program AnyDVD HD, which allows users to watch HD DVD movies on non-HDCP-compliant PC hardware. SlySoft has stated that AnyDVD HD uses several different mechanisms to disable the encryption, and is not dependent on the use of a single compromised encryption key.


title: HD DVD

text: HD DVDs use Advanced Content to allow interactive content to be authored for discs. Microsoft's implementation of Advanced Content is the HDi Interactive Format, and "HDi" is frequently used to refer to the Advanced Content system. Advanced Content is based on web technologies such as HTML, XML, CSS, SMIL, and ECMAScript (JavaScript), so authoring in Advanced Content should be a fairly easy transition for web developers. No existing DVD authoring experience is required. In comparison, Blu-ray Disc content is authored using either a scripting environment (BDMV) or a Java-based platform (BD-J). DVD video discs use pre-rendered MPEG segments, selectable subtitle pictures, and simple programmatic navigation which is considerably more limited.


title: HD DVD

text: Backward compatibility is available with all HD DVD players, allowing users to have a single player to play all types of HD DVD, DVD and CD. There is also a hybrid HD DVD format which contains both DVD and HD DVD versions of the same movie on a single disc, providing a smooth transition for the studios in terms of publishing movies, and allowing consumers with only DVD players to still use the discs. DVD replication companies can continue using their current production equipment with only minor alterations when changing over to the format of HD DVD replication. Due to the structure of the single-lens optical head, both red and blue laser diodes can be used in smaller, more compact HD DVD players. However, HD DVD discs can't be played on standard DVD players.


title: HD DVD

text: HD DVD drives can also be used with a desktop/laptop personal computer (PC) running Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard", and many varieties of Linux. Third-party player software for Windows and Linux have successfully played HD DVD titles using the add-on drive.


title: HD DVD

text: Released at the end of November 2006, the Microsoft HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 game-console gives the Xbox 360 the ability to play HD DVD movies. The drive was announced with an MSRP of US$199 and includes a USB 2.0 cable for connection to the console. The first drives also included Peter Jackson's "King Kong" or Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" on HD DVD. The final "regular" for the drive was US$129.99 as of February 25, 2008. On February 23, 2008 Microsoft discontinued the Xbox 360 HD DVD player. On February 26, 2008, Microsoft "officially" announced that the Xbox 360 HD DVD add on drive would reflect a heavily discounted price down to $49.99.


title: HD DVD

text: In 2007, LG and Samsung released standalone consumer players that could read both HD DVD and Blu-ray Discs. The machines were sold at premium prices, but failed to sell in large quantities. In May 2008, both companies announced they would stop manufacturing dual-compatibility drives.


title: HD DVD

text: A few computer manufacturers (such as HP and Acer) sold computers with combination HD DVD/Blu-ray Disc drives. LG marketed a Blu-ray writer that also read HD DVD discs (but could not write to them).


title: HD DVD

text: HD DVD competed primarily with Blu-ray Disc. Both formats were designed as successors to DVD, capable of higher quality video and audio playback, and of greater capacity when used to store video, audio, and computer data. Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD share most of the same methods of encoding media onto discs with each other, resulting in equivalent levels of audio and visual quality, but differ in other aspects such as interactive capabilities, internet integration, usage control and enforcement, and in which features were mandatory for players. The storage size also varies: A dual-layer HD DVD holds a maximum of 30 GB of data, while a dual-layer Blu-ray Disc carries 50 GB.


title: HD DVD

text: Even after finalizing the HD DVD standard, engineers continued developing the technology. A 51 GB triple-layer spec was approved at the DVD Forums 40th Steering Committee Meeting (held on November 15, 2007). No movies had been scheduled for this disc type, and Toshiba had declined to say whether the 51 GB disc was compatible with existing drives and players. Specification 2.0 Part 1 (Physical Specification) for triple layer HD DVD had been approved in November 2007.


title: HD DVD

text: At the CES 2007, Ritek revealed their high definition optical disc process that extended both competing high definition formats to ten layers, increasing capacity to 150 GB for HD DVD and 250 GB for Blu-ray Disc. A major obstacle to implementing this technology in either format (150 GB HD DVD will not be developed due to HD DVD's discontinuation) is that reader-writer technology available may not be able to support the additional data layers.


title: HD DVD

text: NEC, Broadcom, Horizon Semiconductors, and STMicroelectronics have separately developed a single chip/laser that can read both the HD DVD and the Blu-ray Disc standard. Broadcom and STMicroelectronics will be selling their dual-format single chip/laser solution to any OEM willing to develop a product based on the chip.


title: HD DVD

text: HD DVD-R is the writable disc variant of HD DVD, available with a single-layer capacity of 15 GB or a dual-layer capacity of 30 GB. Write speeds depend on drive speed, with a data rate of 36.55 Mbit/s (4.36 MB/s) and a recording time of 56 minutes for 1× media, and 73 Mbit/s (8.71 MB/s) and a recording time of 28 minutes for 2×.


title: HD DVD

text: The Toshiba SD-L902A for notebooks was one of the first available HD DVD writers, although it was not meant for retail. Burning HD DVD (including Dual Layer) with a 1× write speed, it could also burn DVDs and CDs. In a test of the SD-L902A by C't computer magazine with Verbatim discs, the written HD DVD-Rs suffered from high noise levels, as a result, the written discs could not be recognized by the external HD DVD drive of the Xbox 360, though they could be read back by the SD-L902A.


title: HD DVD

text: HD DVD-RW is the rewritable disc variant of HD DVD with equal storage capacity to an HD DVD-R. The primary advantage of HD DVD-RW over HD DVD-R is the ability to erase and rewrite to an HD DVD-RW disc, up to about 1,000 times before needing replacement, making them comparable with the CD-RW and DVD-RW standards. This is also of benefit if there are writing errors when recording data, as the disc is not ruined and can still store data by erasing the faulty data. The dual-layer variant was never released and the single-layer variant was, but it is among the rarest of optical media.


title: HD DVD

text: HD DVD-RAM was the proposed successor to DVD-RAM for random access on optical media using phase-change principals. It would hold 20 gigabytes per layer instead of 15 gigabytes for HD DVD-R, due to differences in recording methods used, yielding a higher density disc. This variant of HD DVD was never released.


title: HD DVD

text: There are two types of hybrid formats which contain standard DVD-Video format video for playback in regular DVD players, and HD DVD video for playback in high definition on HD DVD players. The Combo disc is a dual sided disc with one side DVD and the other HD DVD, each of which can have up to two layers. The Twin disc is a single sided disc that can have up to three layers, with up to two layers dedicated to either DVD or HD DVD. These hybrid discs make retail marketing and shelf space management easier. Another advantage is hardware cross-compatibility. The average consumer does not have to worry about whether or not they can play a hybrid DVD: any standard home DVD player can access the DVD-encoded content and any HD DVD player can access both the DVD- and HD DVD-encoded content.


title: HD DVD

text: Warner Bros. officially announced Total Hi Def (THD or "Total HD") at CES 2007. THD hybrid discs were to support both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, with HD DVD on one side (up to two layers) and Blu-ray Disc on the other side (up to two layers). In November 2007, Warner Bros. cancelled THD's development.


title: HD DVD

text: The HD DVD format also applies to current red laser DVDs; this type of disc is called "3× DVD", as it is capable of three times the bandwidth of regular DVD-Video.


title: HD DVD

text: 3× DVDs are physically identical to normal DVDs. Although 3× DVDs provide the same high definition content, their playback time is less. For example, an 8.5 GB DVD DL can hold about 90 minutes of 1080p video encoded with VC-1 or AVC at an average bitrate of 12 Mbit/s, which corresponds with the average length of Hollywood feature-films. If quality is compromised slightly, and good compression techniques are used, most feature films could be encoded with 3× DVD. Due to its much greater resolution, HD-Video also has significantly more redundant information than DVD which newer compression standards can encode more efficiently.


title: HD DVD

text: It is technically possible for consumers to create HD DVD compatible discs using low cost DVD-R or DVD+R media. At least one such guide exists. The 3× DVD is comparable to Blu-ray Disc BD5 and BD9 formats.


title: HD DVD

text: HD Rec is an extension of the HD DVD format for recording HD content on regular red laser DVD-Rs/DVD-RWs using H.264/MPEG-4 AVC compression. It was approved by the DVD Forum on September 12, 2007 It is comparable to Blu-ray Disc's AVCREC.


title: HD DVD

text: The China Blue High-definition Disc (CBHD), a high-definition optical disc format, was based upon the HD DVD format. Like the HD DVD, CBHD discs have a capacity of 15 GB single-layer and 30 GB dual-layer and can use existing DVD production lines.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Orel Leonard Hershiser IV (born September 16, 1958) is an American former baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1983 to 2000. He later became a pitching coach for the Texas Rangers from 2002 to 2005 and a broadcast color analyst for the Dodgers. He is also a professional poker player.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: After playing baseball in high school at Cherry Hill High School East and at Bowling Green State University, Hershiser was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1979. After several years in the minor leagues, he made his major league debut with the Dodgers in 1983. During his tenure with the team, Hershiser was a three-time All-Star, finishing in the top five in Cy Young voting four times in his first six full seasons. Hershiser's most successful season came in 1988, when he set a major league record by pitching 59 consecutive innings without allowing a run. He helped lead the Dodgers to a championship in the 1988 World Series, and was named the National League (NL) Championship Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) and the World Series MVP. That season, he won the NL Cy Young Award and an NL Gold Glove Award. He later pitched in two more World Series and earned the American League Championship Series MVP Award. After 12 seasons with the Dodgers, Hershiser spent time with the Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, and New York Mets before returning to Los Angeles for his final season. After retirement as a player, he briefly worked as a coach and team executive for the Texas Rangers before serving as a color analyst for ESPN and then the Dodgers.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Known for his slight frame and fierce competitive spirit, Hershiser was nicknamed "Bulldog" by former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who managed Hershiser during his time with the Dodgers.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser was born in Buffalo, New York, to Orel Leonard III and Mildred Hershiser. The family moved to Detroit, Michigan, when he was six and to Toronto, Ontario, when he was 12. At age eight, Hershiser was the third-place finisher in a national hit, run, and throw competition. Hershiser played in Little League Baseball until he was 12. His father was a coach and league administrator and his mother ran the snackbar. During his family's time in Canada, he participated in ice hockey with the Don Mills Flyers in the Greater Toronto Hockey League.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: His family moved again and he attended Cherry Hill High School East in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He did not make the varsity team until his junior year as he spent his first year on the freshman team and his second year on the junior varsity. He set the single-game strikeout record for his high school in 1976 when he retired 15 batters in a game against Deptford, a record that stood for 21 years. He also remains on the school's leaderboards in career winning percentage, strikeouts and earned run average (ERA). He was an all-conference selection his senior year.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser received only a partial scholarship from Bowling Green State University. As a freshman he played little baseball and was academically ineligible as a sophomore. He left school and hitchhiked home, where his parents convinced him to return to school. He enrolled in summer school to bring his grades up and worked at his father's paper company during the summer. He grew and gained that summer, which added to his fastball and got him more playing time. He made the all-Mid-American Conference All-Star team his junior year, during which he pitched a no-hitter against Kent State on May 4, 1979. He won that game 2-0 despite only striking out two batters. In his only full-time season with the baseball team, in 1979, he was 6–2 with a 2.26 ERA.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser was also a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. One of his fraternity brothers played a joke on him on draft day, pretending to be a scout from the San Diego Padres calling to tell him he was drafted in the first round. After getting excited and starting to call his friends, he realized it was a hoax.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 17th round of the 1979 Major League Baseball draft. The original scouting report on him for the draft said that he had poor control, had a weak fastball, and threw the curveball incorrectly. It went on to state that he rattled easily and had questionable makeup.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: The Dodgers assigned him to their Class A farm team in the Midwest League, the Clinton Dodgers. He started four games for Clinton in 1979, and appeared in 11 more out of the bullpen to finish with a 4–0 record with a 2.09 ERA.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser spent the next two seasons in AA with the San Antonio Dodgers of the Texas League. He worked primarily as a reliever at San Antonio. He was leading the league in saves at one point but then gave up 20 runs in seven innings on a road trip. He called this point the lowest of his career. He wanted to quit but the manager and pitching coach talked him out of it.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser was promoted to the Triple-A Albuquerque Dukes of the Pacific Coast League in 1982. He was 9–6 with a 3.71 ERA in 47 games, with seven starts. He was almost included in a trade with the Texas Rangers that season, but catcher Jim Sundberg wanted his contract re-written before agreeing to the deal and the Dodgers backed out of the transaction.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser won the Mulvey Award as the Dodgers top rookie in spring training in 1983 and expected to make the club but was sent back to Albuquerque where he was briefly reunited with pitching coach Rocky Giordani. He was 10–8 with a 4.09 ERA for the Dukes in 1983 in 49 games, with 10 starts and 16 saves.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser was called up to the Dodgers for the first time on September 1, 1983, and made his debut the same day, against the Montreal Expos. He came into the game in the seventh inning and retired all three batters he faced on two ground outs and a strikeout (of Tim Wallach). However, in his second inning of work he allowed a double and a single for a run and was promptly taken out of the game. In eight appearances that month, he had an ERA of 3.38.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser played winter ball in the Dominican Republic after the season and worked with pitching coach Dave Wallace on his delivery. He was almost arrested when some fireworks his friends were setting off for a New Year's party hit a Dominican General's house, but Dodger coach Manny Mota intervened on his behalf.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser made the Dodgers Opening Day roster for the 1984 season as the last man in the bullpen and was mostly used as a long reliever early on. His first win was in a 12-inning game against the St. Louis Cardinals on April 5. After getting pounded in one game, Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda gave him such a verbal lashing that was so loud teammates took to calling it "sermon on the mound". Lasorda told Hershiser that he was too timid on the mound, giving hitters too much respect. He gave him the nickname "Bulldog" so that he would have a tougher attitude in games.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser made his first start on May 26 against the New York Mets because of an injury to Jerry Reuss. He pitched six innings and allowed only one run. He became a full-fledged starter in the Dodger rotation in July and responded by pitching four complete game shutouts that month, which was good enough to tie for the most in the Majors that season (with Joaquín Andújar and teammate Alejandro Peña). He finished the season with a record of 11–8 and a 2.66 ERA in 45 games (20 starts).


title: Orel Hershiser

text: In the 1985 season he led the National League (NL) in winning percentage, compiling a 19–3 record with a 2.03 ERA. The Dodgers won the NL West, and Hershiser finished third in Cy Young Award voting. He also saw his first post-season action, pitching in two games in the 1985 National League Championship Series. In the 1986 season, Hershiser went 14–14 with a 3.85 ERA. The next season he was selected to his first All-Star Game while compiling a 16–16 record with a 3.06 ERA.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser started to feel sick playing golf a week before pitchers and catchers reported, and it was discovered he needed an emergency appendectomy. The Dodgers planned to hold him back in spring training, but instead let him go through it normally after he was fine during workouts on day one.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser in 1988 led the league in wins (23), innings (267), shutouts (8) and complete games (15). He was third in ERA at 2.26. He finished the season with a record 59 consecutive scoreless innings pitched, breaking the mark of innings, held by former Dodger Don Drysdale. The streak began on August 30, when he pitched four scoreless innings to conclude a game and the record was broken when he pitched 10 shutout innings, on 116 pitches, in the final game of the season. He was selected to his second all-star game and was a unanimous selection for the National League Cy Young Award. He also won the Gold Glove Award for the best fielding pitcher in the National League.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: In the 1988 National League Championship Series between Hershiser's Dodgers and the New York Mets, Hershiser not only started Games 1 and 3, but recorded the final out in Game 4 in relief for a save. He then pitched a complete-game shutout in Game 7 and was selected as the NLCS MVP. He then pitched a shutout in Game 2 of the World Series and allowed only two runs in a complete game in the clinching victory in Game 5, winning the World Series MVP Award.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser is the only player to receive the Cy Young Award, the Championship Series MVP Award, and the World Series MVP Award in the same season. He later received both "The Sporting News" Pitcher of the Year and "Sports Illustrated" magazine's Sportsman of the Year award for his accomplishments in 1988.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser signed a new $7.9 million three-year contract with the Dodgers prior to the 1989 season that was the richest three-year contract ever signed to that point.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: That season, he made his third straight All-Star team and he had another good year with an ERA of 2.31 in 35 games. However, the Dodgers weren't as good and he suffered from a lack of offensive support. He went 0–7 over one nine-game stretch because the team only scored nine runs total in that period. He had a 15–15 record that season but only evened it out because he pitched 11 innings in the last game of the season and threw 169 pitches. He was determined to stay in until his team took the lead, no matter what the manager wanted.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: After just four starts in 1990, it was discovered that Hershiser had a torn labrum in the shoulder of his pitching arm. Dr. Frank Jobe performed shoulder reconstruction surgery on Hershiser on April 27, 1990, the first time the procedure had been performed on a major league player. He did not rejoin the Dodgers until May 29, 1991, a return that he called "a miracle." Two games later, he picked up his 100th career win against the Chicago Cubs on June 9, 1991. In 21 starts, he was 7–2 with a 3.46 ERA. He won his last six decisions and was selected as the UPI Comeback Player of the Year.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: There were still questions about his recovery heading into 1992, but he managed to pitch 33 games in both 1992 and 1993. His numbers were not what they were before the surgery, but he was still effective. He was 10–15 with a 3.67 ERA in 1992 and 12–14 with a 3.59 ERA in 1993. Notably in 1993, Hershiser hit .356 in 83 plate appearances, earning a Silver Slugger Award.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: In his final start of 1994, on August 7, Hershiser took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning before it was broken up. The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike ended the season on August 11. Hershiser was involved in the negotiations as part of the Major League Baseball Players Association but the strike signaled the end of his time with the Dodgers and he became a free agent.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser signed a three-year contract with the Cleveland Indians on April 8, 1995. Indians General Manager John Hart said that the team was looking for a veteran with "character and competitiveness" to show the young players how to play the right way. He went 16–6 with a 3.87 ERA in 26 starts for the Indians in 1995 to lead the young team to their first post-season appearance in 41 years.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser won the two games he pitched in the 1995 American League Championship Series (ALCS) against the Seattle Mariners and was selected as the ALCS MVP, the first player to have won the LCS MVP Award in both leagues. He also pitched effectively in the 1995 World Series against the Atlanta Braves, though the Indians would lose the series in six games.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: He pitched two more seasons for the Indians, and was 14–6 for the 1997 team, including pitching seven shutout innings in Game 3 of the 1997 ALCS. In his final World Series appearance in 1997 he gave up 13 runs in 10 innings and lost 2 games to the Florida Marlins.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Though he pitched for the Indians for only three seasons, Hershiser became something of a folk hero in Cleveland. One memorable image from his tenure is of Hershiser screaming "Take that!" at the Braves dugout after starting a 1–3 double play late in game five of the 1995 World Series.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser signed a one-year $3.45 million contract with the San Francisco Giants on December 7, 1997, but his age was beginning to catch up to him. He made 34 starts and was 11–10 with a 4.41 ERA in 1998. The contract contained an option for 1999 but the Giants declined the option after the season. At the time they said they might come to terms on a new deal. Instead he signed a minor league contract with the Indians on February 20, 1999.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: The Indians released him during spring training and he signed with the New York Mets on March 25, 1999. Hershiser made 32 starts with the Mets and was 13–12 with a 4.58 ERA. He served as a mentor to the young pitchers on the Mets staff and helped them make the playoffs by allowing just one run in innings in a 2–1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the last game of the season. He pitched out of the bullpen in the playoffs as the Mets lost to the Braves in the 1999 National League Championship Series.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser signed a one-year contract to return to the Dodgers on December 17, 1999. He started the home opener on April 14, 2000, against the Reds and allowed only one run in six strong innings. He struggled after that, allowed 36 runs on 42 hits, 14 walks and 11 hit batters. His 13.14 ERA in 2000 is the worst ERA by any pitcher with 20 or more innings. One day after allowing eight runs in innings on June 26, he was released by the Dodgers.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser was not an overpowering pitcher, but he developed a variety of pitches and outthought hitters. Hershiser explained his pitch repertoire in 1989 as follows:


title: Orel Hershiser

text: By 1999, he noted that his pitches were not as sharp, so he added a slider to the mix. He also emphasized locating his pitches in good spots: "You'll hear pitchers say, 'I had great stuff and got shelled,' but you never hear them say, 'I had great location and got shelled.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser remained with the Dodgers briefly as a player-personnel consultant. He went to AAA Albuquerque and filed one report but there wasn't much for him to do so he left the position.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: He was subsequently hired to work on broadcasts of the Little League World Series for ABC and ESPN in 2000–2001. He also worked on "Wednesday Night Baseball" for ESPN during the 2001 season.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser left that position to join the Texas Rangers as a special assistant to General Manager John Hart in fall of 2001 and was named as the Rangers pitching coach on June 22, 2002. In October 2005 Hershiser was mentioned as a candidate to replace Jim Tracy as manager of the Dodgers, but the position went to Grady Little. He was also mentioned as a possible replacement for Ken Macha of the Oakland Athletics; however, he was ultimately passed over for Bob Geren. He left his position of Rangers pitching coach after the 2005 season to become an executive director of the Rangers, reporting to Club President Jeff Cogen. He did not last long in that position as he quit on February 3, 2006.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: On February 13, 2006, Hershiser rejoined ESPN as an analyst for "Baseball Tonight", "Sunday Night Baseball", and the Little League World Series.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Through a group that included fellow former Dodger Steve Garvey, Hershiser became involved in the bidding process for the Dodgers when the team was up for sale in 2011–12. His group did not make it past the first round of the bidding.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: In 2014, Hershiser left ESPN and rejoined the Dodgers as a television analyst for their new regional sports network SportsNet LA. At the time, he teamed with Charley Steiner and Nomar Garciaparra to call Dodger road games not played in California when Vin Scully reduced his travel. Since 2017, he has worked with Joe Davis as the primary broadcast team for Dodger baseball following Scully's retirement at the end of the 2016 season.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser started playing poker competitively in 2006. After retirement from baseball he moved to Summerlin, Nevada and befriended a poker instructor. He became a regular at Red Rock's poker room in Summerlin, playing $2–$5 No Limit Hold'em.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser signed with Poker Royalty to represent his poker career. He was invited to participate in the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Playing under the PokerStars banner, Hershiser stunned the poker world by making the quarterfinals, defeating 2006 event champion Ted Forrest, Allen Cunningham, and Freddy Deeb—players who had won a total of 12 World Series of Poker bracelets heading into the event. Andy Bloch defeated him in the quarterfinals.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser has played in a number of events, including the 2008 World Series of Poker and the 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Hershiser won $54,570 on September 7, 2008, by taking ninth place in the $10,000 Pokerstars World Championship of Online Poker Event 5. Hershiser also has made a tradition of giving an autographed baseball to the poker player who eliminates him.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser and his first wife, Jamie Byars, divorced in 2005. They have two sons, Orel Leonard V (known as Quinton) and Jordan. In 2010 Hershiser married his second wife, Dana Deaver. Jordan graduated from St. Mark's School of Texas in 2007, where he earned all-conference honors in baseball and basketball, and played college baseball at the University of Southern California as a pitcher and first baseman. Despite his college career being hampered by injuries, Jordan was drafted by the Dodgers in the 34th round of the 2012 MLB draft. Hershiser and Deaver live in Las Vegas with Deaver's two children.


title: Orel Hershiser

text: Hershiser is an active Christian. He was a guest star on the 1992 episode of the Christian children's video series "McGee and Me!" "Take Me Out of the Ball Game". On an appearance on "The Tonight Show" after the 1988 World Series, Johnny Carson talked him into singing hymns for the audience.


title: Aloha

text: Aloha ( , ) is the Hawaiian word for love, affection, peace, compassion and mercy, that is commonly used as a simple greeting but has a deeper cultural and spiritual significance to native Hawaiians, for whom the term is used to define a force that holds together existence.


title: Aloha

text: The word is found in all Polynesian languages and always with the same basic meaning of "love, compassion, sympathy, kindness", although the use in Hawaii has a seriousness lacking in the Tahitian and Samoan meanings. Mary Kawena Pukui wrote that the "first expression" of "aloha" was between a parent and child.


title: Aloha

text: Lorrin Andrews wrote the first Hawaiian dictionary, called "A Dictionary of the Hawaiian Language". In it, he describes "aloha" as "A word expressing different feelings: love, affection, gratitude, kindness, pity, compassion, grief, the modern common salutation at meeting; parting". Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel Hoyt Elbert's "Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian" also contains a similar definition. Anthropologist Francis Newton states that "Aloha is a complex and profound sentiment. Such emotions defy definition". Anna Wierzbicka concludes that the term has "no equivalent in English".


title: Aloha

text: The state of Hawaii introduced the Aloha Spirit law in 1986, which mandates that state officials and judges treat the public with Aloha.


title: Aloha

text: "Aloha" was borrowed from the Hawaiian "aloha" to English language. The Hawaiian word has evolved from the Proto-Polynesian greeting "*qarofa," which also meant "love, pity, or compassion". It is further thought to be evolved from Proto-Oceanic root "*qarop(-i)" meaning "feel pity, empathy, be sorry for", which in turn descends from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian "*harep."


title: Aloha

text: "Aloha" has numerous cognates in other Polynesian languages, such as "talofa" in Samoan, "ta'alofa" in Tuvaluan, and "aro'a" in Cook Islands Māori. Māori given name Aroha is also descended from the Proto-Polynesian root.


title: Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme

text: The Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Program is an initiative to develop and deploy a multi-layered ballistic missile defence system to protect India from ballistic missile attacks. It was launched in 2000 after Kargil War by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Testing was carried out and continuing , and the system was expected to be operational four years from then according to the head of the country's missiles development programme, Vijay Kumar Saraswat.


text: Introduced in light of the ballistic missile threat from Pakistan and China, it is a double-tiered system consisting of two land and sea-based interceptor missiles, namely the Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) missile for high altitude interception, and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) Missile for lower altitude interception. The two-tiered shield should be able to intercept any incoming missile launched from 5,000 kilometres away. The system also includes an overlapping network of early warning and tracking radars, as well as command and control posts.


text: The PAD was tested in November 2006, followed by the AAD in December 2007. With the test of the PAD missile, India became the fourth country to have successfully developed an anti-ballistic missile system, after United States, Russia, and Israel. The system has undergone several tests but system is yet to be officially commissioned.


text: As per reports emerged in January 2020, the first phase of BMD program is now complete. The Indian Air Force (IAF) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are awaiting for Government of India approval to install the missile shield around national capital which will take three to four years time for installation post approval.


text: Since the early 90s, India has faced the threat of ballistic missile attacks from Pakistan against which it has fought multiple wars in the past and also from China. With the heightening of tensions in the region, and in response to Pakistan's deployment of M-11 missiles bought from China, the Indian Government in August 1995 procured six batteries of S-300 Surface-to-air missiles to protect New Delhi and other cities. In May 1998, India for the second time (since its first test in 1974) tested nuclear weapons ("see Pokhran-II"), followed by Pakistan ("see Chagai-I") with its first-ever nuclear test. With Pakistan's testing of nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems, this threat intensified. India has also developed and tested missile delivery systems during Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).