title: Soft palate

text: It is possible for the soft palate to retract and elevate during speech to separate the oral cavity (mouth) from the nasal cavity in order to produce the oral speech sounds. If this separation is incomplete, air escapes through the nose, causing speech to be perceived as nasal.


title: Soft palate

text: Within the microstructure of the soft palate lie a variety of variably-oriented fibers that create a nonuniform surface with a nonuniform density distribution. The tissue has been characterized as viscoelastic, nonlinear, and anisotropic in the direction of the fibers. Young modulus values range from 585 Pa at the posterior free edge of the soft palate to 1409 Pa where the soft palate attaches to the maxilla. These properties are useful when quantifying the effects of corrective orthopedic devices such as the Hotz Plate on cleft lip.


title: Soft palate

text: Quantitative analyses have been done on bilateral and unilateral cleft palate to better understand geometric differences in cleft palate throughout the course of its development and correction. Despite the difficulty in finding common, comparable landmarks between normal soft palates and cleft palates, analytical methods have been devised to assess differences in degree of curvature of the alveolar crest, two-dimensional and three-dimensional surface area, and slope of the alveolar crest.


title: Soft palate

text: Finite element analysis has demonstrated effective modeling of soft-palate extension and movement. It has also been an effective tool for evaluating the craniofacial effects of corrective orthopedic devices and cleft lip.


title: Soft palate

text: Pathology of the soft palate includes mucosal lesions such as pemphigus vulgaris dsg - 3, herpangina and migratory stomatitis, and muscular conditions such as the congenital cleft palate and cleft uvula.


title: Soft palate

text: Petechiae on the soft palate are mainly associated with streptococcal pharyngitis, and as such it is an uncommon but highly specific finding. 10 to 30 percent of palatal petechiae cases are estimated to be caused by suction, which can be habitual or secondary to fellatio.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: John Robert Thompson Jr. (September 2, 1941August 30, 2020) was an American college basketball coach for the Georgetown Hoyas men's team. He became the first African-American head coach to win a major collegiate championship in basketball when he led the Hoyas to the NCAA Division I national championship in 1984. Thompson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: Thompson played college basketball for the Providence Friars and earned honorable mention All-American honors in 1964. He played for two seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Boston Celtics, who won an NBA championship in both seasons. Thompson became a high school coach in Washington, D.C., before coaching Georgetown for 27 seasons. He worked as a radio and television sports commentator after his retirement from coaching. Thompson earned his Master’s Degree in Counseling and Guidance at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC). He also served as an employee at the Center for 4-H and Youth Development at UDC.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: Thompson was born and raised in Washington, D.C., and was a practicing Roman Catholic. As a child, his mother insisted on sending him to Catholic schools for the educational opportunities and academic challenges. At Archbishop Carroll High School, Thompson emerged as a standout center, playing in three consecutive City Championship games (1958–60). In 1959, Carroll All-Mets Thompson, Monk Malloy, George Leftwich and Tom Hoover won over Cardozo 79–52. The next year, Thompson and Leftwich led the Lions over the Ollie Johnson/Dave Bing led Spingarn, 69–54. During his senior year, Thompson led Carroll to a 24–0 record, preserving their 48-game winning streak along the way. Carroll capped off the undefeated 1960 season with a 57–55 win over St Catherine's Angels of Racine, Wisconsin in the Knights of Columbus National Championship Tournament with Thompson scoring a team-high 15 points and adding 12 rebounds. He was voted to the all-tournament team and was later named a second-team "Parade" All-American.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: After graduating from Archbishop Carroll, Thompson went to Providence College, where he played on the 1963 NIT Championship team with Ray Flynn, and was part of the first Providence NCAA tournament team in his senior year in 1964, when he received honorable mention from the Associated Press for its All-American team. Upon graduation, Thompson was the Friars' all-time leader in points, scoring average, and field goal percentage, and second in rebounds to former teammate Jim Hadnot.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: He was selected in the third round of the 1964 NBA draft and played two seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Boston Celtics from 1964 to 1966. At and , he backed up Bill Russell, the Celtics star center, en route to consecutive NBA championships. Nicknamed "The Caddy" for his secondary role to Russell, he averaged 3.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in 74 games played. Thompson was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the 1966 NBA expansion draft, but he decided to retire from playing instead of relocating to Chicago.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: Thompson was a guidance counselor and head coach at St. Anthony High School in Washington, D.C. from 1966 to 1972, compiling a 122–28 record. He left St. Anthony for Georgetown University, who chose him over more experienced candidates Morgan Wootten and George Raveling.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: Inheriting a Hoyas team which had been 3–23 the year before, Thompson led the Hoyas to a .500 record by his second season. By his third season in 1974–75, Georgetown qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1943. Over 27 years, Thompson's Hoyas went 596–239 (), running off a streak of 24 postseason appearances – 20 in the NCAA tournament and 4 in the NIT – including a 14-year streak of NCAA appearances from 1979 to 1992 that saw three Final Four appearances in 1982, 1984 and 1985. The 1984 squad, led by center Patrick Ewing, won the Division I national championship over Houston, and Thompson became the first African-American coach to lead his team to the title. Two years earlier, Thompson had become the first Black coach to advance their team to the Final Four. Georgetown missed repeating as champs in 1985, losing in the finals to underdog Villanova.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: Thompson, an imposing figure on the sidelines who towered over many opposing coaches (and players, for that matter), was often noted for the trademark white towel that he carried on his shoulder during the games, which he did as a tribute to his mother. He won seven Coach of the Year awards: Big East (1980, 1987, 1992), United States Basketball Writers Association (1982), The Sporting News (1984), National Association of Basketball Coaches (1985), and United Press International (1987). Thompson coached many notable players, including Ewing, Sleepy Floyd, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, and Allen Iverson. Under Thompson, 26 players were chosen in the NBA draft; eight were drafted in the first round, including two players selected first overall: Ewing and Iverson. Thompson also insisted on top academic performance from his players and maintained a 97% graduation rate among the team.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: In the late 1980s, Thompson got word that several of his players, including Alonzo Mourning, were associating with noted Washington, D.C. drug lord (and avid Hoya fan) Rayful Edmond III, whose crew was connected to at least forty homicides. At the height of his empire, Edmond became very friendly with several Hoyas players. When Thompson confirmed what was happening, he sent word through his sources to have Edmond meet him at his office at McDonough Gymnasium.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: When Edmond arrived, Thompson was initially cordial, and informed Edmond that he needed to cease all contacts with his players post haste, specifically John Turner and Mourning, both of whom had befriended Edmond. When Edmond tried to assure him that his players were not involved in anything illegal, the 6'10" Thompson stood up and pointed his index finger between Edmond's eyes. Thompson, known for his volatility, quickly boiled over, and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade in which he told Edmond that he did not care about his crew's violent reputation or propensity to commit murder. Edmond had crossed a line with Thompson's players, and Thompson was not going to allow Edmond to destroy the players' lives.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: At the publishing of his autobiography however, it was revealed that the conversation between Edmond and Thompson was not as confrontational as once believed. "A myth has grown about me threatening Rayful and ordering him to stay away from my players. Some people like to say I stood over him and pointed my finger in his face. That's nonsense. That myth is based on the perception of me as intimidating and a bully. Like when I argued with refs, I supposedly scared them.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: By all accounts, Edmond never associated with another Hoyas player on a personal level. It was believed that Thompson was the only person to stand up to Edmond without consequence, initially causing some shock and surprise that there was no reprisal.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: Thompson was an assistant coach for the US national team on its gold medal-winning 1976 Olympic team. He was later the head coach of the 1988 Olympic team, the Americans' last fully collegiate squad. Although favored to win the international tournament, the United States was narrowly defeated by the all-professional and experienced Soviet Union in the semifinals 82–76, marking the first time the Americans did not reach the gold medal game. The United States won its final game against Australia to capture the bronze medal.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: On January 14, 1989, before the start of Georgetown's home game against Boston College, Thompson walked off the Capital Centre floor and turned coaching duties over to assistant Mike Riley. Thompson was protesting the NCAA's Proposition 42, which would have denied athletic scholarships to student athletes who failed to qualify academically under standards of the already in effect Proposition 48. Thompson expressed concerns that the proposal would leave many student athletes without a means of paying for their education, as well as what he felt would be the proposal's disproportionate impact on Black athletes.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: On January 8, 1999, Thompson announced his resignation as Georgetown's head coach, citing marriage problems. He was replaced by longtime assistant Craig Esherick. Thompson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on October 1, 1999.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: Esherick was fired in 2004 and replaced by John Thompson III, Thompson's eldest son. At the time the elder Thompson was serving Georgetown in what Rev. Leo J. O'Donovan, university president, referred to as a "coach "emeritus"" position, assisting on academic, athletic, and community projects. John Thompson III coached Georgetown until 2017.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: John Thompson Jr.'s younger son, Ronny Thompson, formerly an assistant coach at Georgetown, was the head coach at Ball State.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: After retiring from coaching, Thompson became the presidential consultant for urban affairs at Georgetown University, a basketball commentator for TNT and host of a sports talk show, "The John Thompson Show", on WTEM in Washington, D.C. He signed a lifetime contract with Clear Channel Radio and WTEM in 2006. Working with Rick Walker, Thompson remained on the show until 2012.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: Thompson was scheduled to be on American Airlines Flight 77 on September 11, 2001, but his seat was cancelled. Ten years later, on "The Jim Rome Show," Thompson would reunite with the ticket agent who removed him from Flight 77.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: Georgetown University's John R. Thompson Intercollegiate Athletic Center was completed in 2016. The lobby includes a statue of Thompson.


title: John Thompson (basketball)

text: Thompson died at his home in Arlington, Virginia on August 30, 2020, three days before his 79th birthday.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is a top-down shooter video game co-developed by Dennaton Games and Abstraction Games, and published by Devolver Digital. It takes place before and after the events of its predecessor, "Hotline Miami", as it focuses on the backstory and aftermath of the previous protagonist, Jacket, slaying parts of the Russian mafia at the behest of anonymous tips left by his answering machine.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: The game was first released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux on 10 March 2015. It then saw its release for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita on 10 March 2015 in North America, on 11 March 2015 in Europe, and on 25 June 2015 in Japan. An Android port was released on 4 August 2015. A Nintendo Switch version was released in August 2019 alongside the first game as part of the "Hotline Miami Collection". "Hotline Miami Collection" was also ported to Xbox One on 7 April 2020 and to Stadia on 22 September 2020.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: Gameplay of "Wrong Number" plays the same to that of its predecessor "Hotline Miami". "Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number" features a new hard mode, unlocked after completing the Normal story. In Hard mode, enemies are more difficult to take down and some abilities are taken away from the player, such as "enemy-locking".


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: Thirteen characters are playable as opposed to just Jacket and Biker in the first game; each with their own interpretations as the story unfolds. The masks mechanic is again featured with some masks making a return, while new masks offer new abilities and play styles. Each character has their own special abilities or perks; Corey can do a roll and dive under enemy gunfire, Mark can dual wield two submachine guns and can spread his arms to shoot in opposite directions simultaneously, Tony's fists kill all regular enemies in one blow and knock down heavy enemies for quick ground kills, and Alex and Ash are controlled by the player simultaneously, using a chainsaw and an assortment of guns respectively. A different character or group of characters is available at the start of each level, each chapter telling part of the story from that character's perspective.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: A level editor was added after the game's release, which let users create original stories through dialogue crafting. The editor was originally planned for a spring 2015 release, but was postponed, eventually going live on 22 June 2016.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: "Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number" takes place in an anachronistic order during, before, and after the events of the original, focusing on events in 1985, 1989, and 1991. Following the events of "Hotline Miami", the player character, "Jacket", has been arrested after being manipulated into killing off the leadership of the Russian Mob by 50 Blessings, a neo-nationalist terror cell that masquerades as a peaceful activist group, gaining nationwide infamy.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: The game follows several playable characters in a series of intersecting plotlines exploring both the background and the aftermath of Jacket's rampage: Martin Brown, a sadistic actor who uses his role in the film "Midnight Animal" to live out his violent fantasies; The Fans, a group of copycat killers seeking to emulate Jacket; Evan Wright, a journalist who seeks to write a book about the killings; Manny Pardo, a detective who mainly uses violence to dispatch criminals; The Soldier, the basis of the shopkeeper from Jacket's hallucinations in the first game who is part of a commando squad with Jacket in Hawaii; the Son of the Russian Mafia boss of the first game, who seeks to return the Russians to power against the Colombian Cartel; The Henchman, who seeks to retire from the Mafia; Jake, an obese, violent, and nativist member of 50 Blessings, and Richter, a reluctant operative of 50 Blessings who was threatened into committing the murders, both of whom were active alongside Jacket in 1989.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: Furthermore, "Richard", a mysterious figure in a rooster mask that occasionally appeared to Jacket in the original game, appears at different points to most of the game's playable characters, taunting and criticizing them for their actions throughout the game.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: In 1991, Jacket is undergoing trial for the series of killings he perpetrated. Meanwhile, journalist Evan Wright is working on a book about the killings and trying to learn more about the people behind it. Evan is given leads by his friend Manny Pardo, a police detective who uses his position to go on killing sprees during stakeout operations, justifying them as self-defense. A slasher film adaptation depicting Jacket as "The Pig Butcher" is also being produced to capitalize on his infamy; the film's star, Martin Brown, dies when he is accidentally shot by his fellow actress with live ammunition on set during the shooting of the film's final scene.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: The Fans carry out a string of murders against petty crooks and drug dealers, unaware of the larger context of Jacket's campaign of violence. Eventually they kill a former henchman of the Russian Mafia, and when his boss attempts to reconnect with said henchman the Fans trace his call to his new hideout. The Fans are all killed during this attack; their last survivor, Tony, is personally killed by Pardo after attempting to surrender to the police, to deny him his "fifteen minutes of fame." Following this, Pardo has a nightmare wherein he is outed as the "Miami Mutilator", a serial killer he has seemingly been after to attain fame similar to Jacket, and barricades himself in his home.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: In 1985, The Soldier and his squad are conducting special operations against Soviet forces in Hawaii. However, their psychologically troubled Colonel begins to lose his grip on reality as the war proceeds, volunteering them for increasingly desperate and dangerous missions while ruminating on their impending deaths and the loss of the war. Their last assignment involves besieging a heavily guarded Power Plant controlled by the Russians. As they make their way into the building, the commander in charge, having apparently gone insane, murders the plant's technicians and begins a meltdown on the main reactor before shooting himself in the head. The Soldier saves Jacket's life during their escape attempt, after a booby trap explodes and severely injures two members of their unit including Jacket, but dies a year later during a nuclear strike on San Francisco which decisively terminates the war in the Soviets' favor, revealing his appearances to be Jacket's comatose hallucinations.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: In 1989, Jake and Richter are sent on individual missions parallel to Jacket's; Jake realizes the officially-peaceful 50 Blessings organization has been the one giving him orders all along when he meets with one of their representatives, who denies everything. Afterwards, he is sent on a suicide mission, which ends differently depending on the player's actions: if the player fails, he is captured, tortured, and eventually killed by the Russian Mafia, and if he succeeds, 50 Blessings takes him to a safehouse and kills him anyway to silence him. Richter is revealed to be reluctant to work with 50 Blessings until they threaten his ailing mother. Richter is eventually captured and imprisoned, but manages to escape during a prison riot orchestrated by 50 Blessings to kill him to keep him from corroborating Jacket's testimony.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: Back in 1991, the escaped Richter shares his story with Evan in exchange for plane tickets for his mother to come to Hawaii. Evan's marriage and finances, however, are under pressure as he spends more time working on his book, and he must choose whether he abandons the book or his family.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: Meanwhile, the Son is trying to reclaim his father's empire from Colombian gangsters who filled the power vacuum his father's death left. After the Son eliminates the Colombians, he invites his old henchman to visit their new hideout, inadvertently giving away his location to the Fans and triggering the attack depicted earlier. Under the influence of his own designer drugs he goes on a rampage, killing his own men in addition to the superhuman monsters he sees the Fans as, then walking off the hideout's roof on a rainbow bridge to his death.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: The epilogue shows Richter, reunited with his mother, hearing on the news that the American and Soviet presidents were both assassinated in an attempted coup d'état, with the prime suspect being an American general. The Soviet Union declares this an act of war, and launches several nuclear attacks against the United States which obliterate Miami and Hawaii. Each of the surviving characters are then shown in their last moments - Manny, drunk and pointing his gun at his barricaded door, Evan either working on his book or eating with his family depending on the player's actions, the actress from Midnight Animal, and finally Jacket alone in a prison cell - before being obliterated by the bombs. Subsequently, starting a new game adds an extra introductory scene where Richard berates the playable characters for, once again, starting down a path that can only end in their deaths.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: "Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number" was originally made in Game Maker 7, but was ported by Abstraction Games to their own SilverWare engine, using their Game Maker conversion program GameBaker, to make the game able to run on platforms other than Microsoft Windows. The developers have stated that it is the final game of the series. Swedish painter Niklas Åkerblad created the cover art for "Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number". In Japan, Spike Chunsoft released the localized editions of "Hotline Miami" and "Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number" for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita bundled together and released as "Hotline Miami: Collected Edition" on 25 June 2015.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: Payday 2, a game developed by Overkill Software added Jacket as a playable character as a reward for purchasing the digital special edition of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number on Steam and a mask pack for both the standard and digital special editions.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: As the game didn't support Windows XP on release, despite other pre-release indications, the community created an unofficial patch which added this compatibility.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: The game, along with the original "Hotline Miami", was released as part of the "Hotline Miami Collection" for the Nintendo Switch on 19 August 2019.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: Later, "Hotline Miami Collection" was also ported to Xbox One on 7 April 2020. On 22 September 2020, the "Hotline Miami Collection" was released on Stadia.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: Upon release, the game received generally positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic, it holds an aggregated score of 75/100 based on 18 reviews for the PlayStation 4 Version, one of 74/100 based on 67 reviews for the PC version, and one of 66/100 based on four reviews for the PlayStation Vita version. Danny O'Dwyer from GameSpot gave the game a 9/10, praising its techno and intense soundtrack, entertaining, engaging and challenging gameplay, well-designed controls, striking and vibrant visuals, improved enemy placement, lengthy story, as well as the huge variety of characters, levels and locations. He also praised the game for allowing players to use multiple approaches towards a single objective. However, he criticized the lack of weapon customization. He summarized the game by saying that "This is a confident follow-up which improves upon the original in almost every way. This is a tremendously stylish game which entertains throughout, and delights in forcing you out of your comfort zone."


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: Chris Carter from Destructoid also awarded the game a 9/10, praising the open-ended gameplay, engrossing story, accessible interface and level-creator, as well as the game for allowing players to utilize creativity and strategy in every level. However, he criticized the poor AI. He summarized the game by saying that ""Hotline Miami 2" may not be as "profound" as its predecessor, but it's still a bloody good time." Chloi Rad from IGN gave the game an 8.8/10, praising its high replay value, engaging story, sizable maps, rich characters' backstory, character-specific abilities, the improved lock-on system as well as the level-design, which demands players a new and more cautious approach towards dangers. However, she criticized the occasionally frustrating levels. She summarized the review by saying that ""Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number" is a great game and a worthy sequel. It's more confident in its style, storytelling ability, and level design than the first game." Alex Carlson from Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 4.5/5, praising its seedy and visceral art design and its improvement on its predecessors gameplay, but criticized its adherence to the established formula. He summed up the review saying ""Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number" is purposely discomforting and hypnotically visceral. It's one of the best games released so far this year."


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: Steven Burns from VideoGamer.com gave the game a 7/10, while praising the narrative as well as the brutal violence featured in the game, which he stated "has tread a fine, sophisticated line between titillation, power, and reflection, an integral part of both narrative and mechanics.", he criticized the oversized maps, as well as the game for being overly difficult, frustrating as enemy attack players where they can't be seen from the camera angle, and restrictive as the game forced players to play a certain way very often. Chris Thursten from PC Gamer gave the game a 57/100, criticizing the meaningless characters, alienating rape scene, rigid playstyle restriction, inconsistent AI, frustrating and unavoidable death as well as technical issues. Yet he still praised the soundtrack, where the "experience is enormously enhanced by their work". He summarized the review by saying that "Restrictive design decisions sap the energy from a series that revels in it, and technical issues deal the killing blow."


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: The demo shown at Rezzed and the 2013 Penny Arcade Expo featured gameplay in the tutorial that had players appear to attempt to assault a woman sexually as the Pig Butcher. The player character lowered his pants and straddled the woman before the scene is interrupted by the director of "Midnight Animal", revealing the whole sequence to be a film shoot.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: Video game journalists, including Cara Ellison of "PC Gamer", spoke out against the usage of sexual assault imagery. In response, Dennis Wedin stated that Dennaton cut the scene from the demo, and that they were reconsidering putting the scene into the final game. Wedin also stated that they cut the scene short to show that that type of violence is not what the "Hotline Miami" series is about.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: On 15 January 2015 it was reported that because of the implied rape scene, the game had been refused classification in Australia, which prohibits sale within the country, effectively preventing its wide release there. In an official statement from Devolver Digital and Dennaton Games the creators mentioned that they have added a cut and uncut option for the slasher-flick level. Dennaton also reconfirmed that the context of the scene is important and that they were "concerned and disappointed" by the actions of the Australian Classification Board, stating it stretched the facts in its judgment of the game. The statement concluded with Dennaton confirming that they will not challenge the ruling. Developer Dennaton Games have since suggested that people in Australia interested in the game should pirate it if they are unable to purchase a retail copy.


title: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

text: Upon the release of the Nintendo Switch "Hotline Miami Collection" in August 2019, the game became very briefly available to purchase on the eShop in Australia, with the collection containing both "Hotline Miami 2" and the original "Hotline Miami" rated MA15+. According to Devolver, they had applied for an International Age Rating Coalition process for the collection as part of the requirement for publishing on the Switch. Though originally denied a rating, they successfully obtained the appropriate rating on a second submission. However within hours the title was pulled from the eShop, though Australian players who had already purchased the collection are still able to download and play the game. Its erroneous appearance on the Australian eShop was thought to be a mistake by Nintendo or related to a titling error with Devolver's IARC application for the collection.


title: Tiffany Cross

text: Tiffany D. Cross (born February 6, 1979) is an American television personality, political analyst, and author. From 2020 to 2022, she was the host of "The Cross Connection", a Saturday morning MSNBC show.


title: Tiffany Cross

text: Cross was born in Ohio. While growing up she moved between Cleveland, Ohio, and Atlanta, Georgia. When she was a teenager, she wanted to be the "brown Murphy Brown". During this time, Cross was also a huge fan of Oprah and has claimed to never miss an episode of her show. Growing up, her mother would often take her to the public library, where she found a love for reading and writing.


title: Tiffany Cross

text: Cross attended but did not graduate from Clark Atlanta University, where she majored in mass communications with an emphasis on radio, television, and film.


title: Tiffany Cross

text: Cross has spent over 20 years working with media and politics, covering local, state, and federal campaigns and elections, as well as Washington D.C. politics. Her first journalism job was as a reporter at an Atlanta radio station, and she later worked for CNN as an associate producer in the early 2000s. Cross was also the Washington, D.C., bureau chief for BET Networks and later became a resident fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. She has been a regular guest on MSNBC programs, most notably "AM Joy," and in July 2020 she became one of the show's rotating guess hosts. Cross has also served as the managing editor of The Beat DC.


title: Tiffany Cross

text: As of August, Cross, Jonathan Capehart and Zerlina Maxwell were being considered for the weekend slot by MSNBC. In December, Cross was named host of a new two-hour show on MSNBC, "Cross Connection" (often stylized as "Crosstalk"), replacing Reid's "AM Joy" Saturday slot, with Capehart taking the Sunday slot and Maxwell hosting her own show on NBC Peacock.


title: Tiffany Cross

text: In October 2022, Cross generated controversy over Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa's recent concussions. During her October 8 broadcast, Cross said the Tagovailoa's treatment showed that white NFL coaches fail to protect "Black bodies." In fact, the Dolphins' head coach, Mike McDaniel, is biracial and Tagovailoa is of Samoan descent.


title: Tiffany Cross

text: On November 4, 2022, MSNBC informed her production staff that Cross's contract would not be renewed. "Variety" reported that "executives at the network [were] growing concerned about the anchor’s willingness to address statements made by cable-news hosts on other networks and indulging in commentary executives felt did not meet the standards of MSNBC or NBC News", while "Black Enterprise" linked the decision to Cross saying on a "Comedy Central" show just hours before that "Florida literally looks like the d--k of the country, so let's get rid of Florida" and "Let's castrate Florida".


title: Tiffany Cross

text: In response to the cancellation, Cross stated, "I am disheartened to learn of MSNBC's decision to cancel my show, "The Cross Connection", at such a crucial time — four days before the midterm elections... With a rapidly changing media landscape, I look forward to maintaining a platform that continues to reflect the changing demographics of the country."


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Robert Allen Dickey (born October 29, 1974) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: After limited success in the MLB as a conventional starting pitcher, Dickey learned to throw a knuckleball. In 2012, Dickey was selected to his first All-Star Game, won the "Sporting News" Pitcher of the Year Award, and became the first knuckleball pitcher to win the Cy Young Award after posting a 20–6 record with a league-leading 230 strikeouts. From 2013 to 2017, Dickey and Boston Red Sox pitcher Steven Wright were the only two active knuckleballers in the Majors.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Dickey attended Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. He was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 10th round (277th overall) of the 1993 MLB draft, but did not sign.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Dickey attended the University of Tennessee, where he played college baseball for the Tennessee Volunteers baseball team in the Southeastern Conference. Dickey majored in English literature at Tennessee, where he had a 3.35 GPA and was named Academic All-American. He was also named Academic All-SEC.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Dickey was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the first round (18th overall) of the 1996 MLB draft. After being drafted by the Rangers, Dickey was initially offered a signing bonus of $825,000, before a Rangers team physician saw Dickey's throwing (right) arm hanging oddly in a picture of him with other Team USA players in Baseball America. The Rangers subsequently did further evaluation of Dickey, leading to the discovery of a missing ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow joint, and reduced their offer to $75,000. Dickey has been quoted as saying, "Doctors look at me and say I shouldn't be able to turn a doorknob without feeling pain," making his ability to pitch somewhat remarkable.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Dickey debuted with the Rangers in 2001. "His stuff was dime-a-dozen, though: a high-80's fastball, an occasional fringy breaking ball, and a forkball he dubbed 'The Thing.'" The start of the 2004 season was thought to be a turning point in Dickey's career, as he managed to compile a 4–1 record through his first five starts. This hot streak was short-lived, however, and he ended up finishing the season a disappointing 6–7 with a 5.61 ERA.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Throughout his career, Dickey did not know that his "forkball" pitch was actually a hard knuckleball, but by 2005, Dickey had realized that the best way to extend his career was to perfect the pitch. At the beginning of the 2006 season, the Rangers gave Dickey a chance to try out his knuckleball at the major league level by naming him the fifth starter. However, after giving up six home runs in his first start on April 6, tying the modern era baseball record with another knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield, he was demoted to the Rangers' Triple-A minor league affiliate, the Oklahoma RedHawks.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: On January 13, 2007, he signed a minor league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers and spent the 2007 season with the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. After finishing the season with a 12–6 record and a 3.80 ERA, Dickey was named the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Dickey became a minor league free agent after the season. On November 28, 2007, he signed a minor league contract with the Minnesota Twins that included an invitation to spring training, but was claimed in the Rule 5 draft by the Seattle Mariners on December 6, 2007.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: On March 29, 2008, the Mariners traded minor league catcher Jair Fernandez to the Twins to retain the rights for Dickey and initially optioned him to Triple-A Tacoma, recalling him to the major league club on April 14.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: On August 17, 2008, Dickey tied the record for most wild pitches in an inning, with four. This came against the Minnesota Twins in the fifth inning. He joins four others, including Hall of Famers Walter Johnson and Phil Niekro, who have accomplished this feat.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: He became a free agent after the season after refusing a minor league assignment. On December 23, 2008, Dickey signed a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training with the Minnesota Twins. He would go on to pitch in 35 games for the Twins in 2009.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: On January 5, 2010, Dickey signed a minor league contract with the New York Mets, receiving an invitation to spring training. He was assigned to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons to begin the season. While playing for the Bisons, Dickey threw a one-hitter on April 29. He gave up a single to the first batter, and then retired the next twenty-seven in a row.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: On May 19, 2010, the New York Mets purchased Dickey's contract from the Buffalo Bisons, and he made his first appearance as a Met against the Washington Nationals on the same day. In his debut for the Mets, Dickey pitched well, going six innings, giving up five hits, two earned runs, and striking out two, but received a no-decision. His next start, May 25 against the Philadelphia Phillies, he went six innings again, giving up 9 hits, walking 3 and striking out 7 in an 8–0 shutout for his first victory as a Met. On August 13, 2010, Dickey threw a complete game one-hit shutout of the Philadelphia Phillies — the only hit being a single surrendered to Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels. Dickey finished the 2010 season with a very strong ERA of 2.84, which was 7th best in the National League and 10th in all of baseball, and served as a rare bright spot on an otherwise disappointing season for the Mets. In 2010, Dickey posted career highs in Games Started (26), wins (11), complete games (2), innings pitched (174.1), strikeouts (104), ERA (2.84), WHIP (1.19), and BAA (.252).


title: R. A. Dickey

text: On January 29, 2011, Dickey agreed to a two-year contract with the Mets. Under the agreement, Dickey received a $1 million signing bonus, $2.25 million in 2011, and $4.25 million in 2012. In addition, the Mets had a $5 million option for 2013 with a $300,000 buyout. During the 2011 season, Dickey posted career bests in game starts (32), innings pitched () and strikeouts (134). He finished the year with a record of only 8–13, despite a 3.28 ERA that was 12th best in the National League.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Dickey's performance in the first half of 2012 drew comparisons to some of the most dominant pitching streaks of the last 50 years. Mets Manager Terry Collins remarked, "I've never seen anything like this. Never. I've seen some dominant pitching, but nothing like what he's going through right now." Hall of Fame Pitcher and fellow knuckleballer Phil Niekro commented on Dickey, "I had a few streaks, but nothing like he's going through. I don't know if any other knuckleballer has ever been on a hot streak like he has been. He is just dynamite right now."


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Dickey recorded double-digit strikeouts in back-to-back games in May, becoming the first Mets pitcher to do so since Pedro Martínez in 2006. Over the two games, Dickey allowed one run in innings for an ERA of 0.63, and he was named National League Player of the Week for the week ending May 27, 2012.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: In Dickey's next two starts, he pitched innings, allowing no runs. During his next outing on June 13, Dickey allowed only one hit, struck out a career-high 12 batters, and walked none, facing only 29 total batters to lead the Mets to a 9–1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. The only hit was an infield single by B.J. Upton on a play where third baseman David Wright tried to barehand the ball but failed to field it cleanly. The Mets formally appealed the official scorekeeping of the only hit allowed to be changed to an error on Wright, but MLB denied the appeal. Dickey was the first pitcher in the major leagues to reach 10 wins in 2012.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: In his next start, Dickey pitched a complete game one-hit shutout against the Orioles, becoming the first pitcher since Dave Stieb in 1988 to throw two consecutive one-hitters. He also became only the third pitcher, after Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan, to have two complete game one-hitters with 12 or more strikeouts in one season, and the only pitcher to do it in back-to-back starts.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: During this streak, Dickey set a new Mets franchise record of consecutive scoreless innings, besting Jerry Koosman's in 1973. On July 1, 2012, Dickey was named to the National League All-Star team. He was also honored with being the National League Pitcher of the Month after going 5–0 with a 0.93 ERA for the month of June. On August 31, Dickey pitched his third complete game shutout of the year. The win marked the first time a Met pitcher had reached 17 wins since Al Leiter in 1998. Dickey won his 20th game of the season on September 27, 2012, tying his career high with 13 strikeouts. For the 2012 season, Dickey set new career bests in games started (33), wins (20), complete games (5), shutouts (3), innings pitched (), strikeouts (230), ERA (2.73), WHIP (1.05), and BAA (.226).


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Dickey won the NL Cy Young Award, beating out Gio González of the Nationals and Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers. He became the first knuckleballer in MLB history to win the award. He also became the third Met pitcher to win the award, joining Tom Seaver (, , and ) and Dwight Gooden ().


title: R. A. Dickey

text: On December 16, 2012, the Mets agreed to trade Dickey to the Toronto Blue Jays (along with Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas) in exchange for Travis d'Arnaud, John Buck, Noah Syndergaard and Wuilmer Becerra, contingent upon his agreeing to a contract extension with the Blue Jays. The two sides agreed on December 17 to a two-year, $25-million extension with a club option for a third year in 2016 at $12 million; the deal became official once he passed his physical. On February 5, 2013, manager John Gibbons said Dickey would be the opening day starter for the Blue Jays. Dickey lost his first start for his new team, giving up four runs and five hits in six innings in a loss to the Cleveland Indians. Dickey pitched his first complete game and shutout as a Blue Jay in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays on June 26. Dickey would finish his first season as a Blue Jay with a record of 14–13, an ERA of 4.21, and 177 strikeouts over 224 innings pitched.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: On October 25, Dickey was announced as a finalist for the AL Pitcher's Gold Glove, along with teammate Mark Buehrle and Detroit Tigers pitcher Doug Fister. He was awarded the 2013 Pitcher's Fielding Bible on October 28, 2013, and was announced as the AL Pitcher's Gold Glove Award winner on October 29. Dickey led all American League pitchers with 40 assists and 7 defensive runs saved, and yielded only 8 stolen bases.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Dickey began the 2014 season with a 4–4 record and a 4.20 ERA through his first 10 starts. On May 24, he won his fifth game of the season, 5–2 over the AL West-leading Oakland Athletics. In doing so, he lowered his ERA to 3.95, the first time in his tenure as a Blue Jay in which his ERA has been below 4. On June 27, Dickey recorded his 1,000th career strikeout, coming against Tyler Flowers of the Chicago White Sox. He would start the final game of the Blue Jays season on September 28, against the Baltimore Orioles, and would pitch 6 innings and yield only 1 run, but Toronto would lose 1–0. Dickey finished the season with a 14–13 record, 3.71 ERA, 173 strikeouts, and a 1.23 WHIP in 34 starts totaling 215 innings.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Dickey opened the 2015 season as the number two starter in the Jays rotation. On June 18, he made his first start against the Mets since being traded in 2012, and pitched 7 innings in a 7–1 win. Dickey was placed on the bereavement list the following day after it was revealed that his father, Harry Lee Dickey, had died on June 16. At the All-Star break, Dickey had a 3–10 record and a 4.87 ERA. He would turn his season around after the break, and earned his 100th career win on September 25. Dickey pitched a little over ninety-nine innings after the All-Star break, fourth most in the American League, resulting in eight wins with only one loss, 6th best in the AL. His ERA was a meagre 2.80 over that period, which would have tied him for the best in the American League with Justin Verlander (50 inning minimum), had it not been for two other Jays starters, Marco Estrada, with a 2.78 ERA, and David Price, at 2.55. Overall Dickey finished the season with an 11–11 record, 3.91 ERA, and 126 strikeouts in 214 innings pitched. He made his postseason debut on October 12, starting game 4 of the ALDS against the Texas Rangers. At 40 years of age, Dickey became the oldest player in MLB history to make his postseason debut, pitching 4 innings before he was relieved by David Price, who would go on to earn the win. On November 3, Dickey's $12 million option for 2016 was exercised by the Blue Jays. During the offseason, he underwent surgery to repair a tear in his right meniscus.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Dickey had an up-and-down 2016 campaign, closing the regular season with a 10–15 record, 4.46 ERA, and 126 strikeouts over 169 innings. Due to the acquisition of Francisco Liriano at the trade deadline, Dickey made only three pitching appearances in September. With the Blue Jays only needing four starters for the playoffs, Dickey was left off of the postseason roster in favor of Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, Marco Estrada, and J. A. Happ. Dickey became a free agent at the conclusion of the 2016 season. On October 27, Dickey was named a finalist for the pitchers Gold Glove Award, along with Justin Verlander and Dallas Keuchel.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: On November 10, 2016, Dickey signed a one-year, $7.5 million contract with the Atlanta Braves that included an $8 million club option for the 2018 season, with a $500,000 buyout.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: In 31 starts for the Atlanta Braves in the 2017 season, Dickey had a 10–10 record with an ERA of 4.26. The Braves declined the 2018 option on Dickey, leaving him a free agent. He retired in 2018 after not being signed in free agency.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Dickey relied primarily on the knuckleball, using it around 80% of the time. His repertoire was rounded out by two-seam and four-seam fastballs (82–85 mph) and a rare changeup (76–78 mph). Dickey's knuckleball came in two forms — a "slow" knuckler in the low-to-mid 70s that has been clocked as low as 54 mph, and a "fast" one in the upper 70s, sometimes reaching as fast as 83 mph. Dickey tended to use the slow knuckleball when he was behind in the count, and used the fast one when he was ahead. However, he resorted to a fastball in most 3–0 and 3–1 counts.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Dickey was a member of the Team USA at the 1996 Olympics that won a bronze medal in Atlanta. Dickey started two games, recording wins in both. Seventeen years later, Dickey once again pitched for Team USA in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. He started two games, going 0–1 with a 5.00 ERA.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: Dickey is married and has two daughters and two sons. A born-again Christian, he helps operate the Ocala, Florida-based Honoring the Father Ministries which provides medical supplies, powdered milk, and baseball equipment to the impoverished in Latin America.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: A 2010 New York Times article reported that Dickey is an avid reader and that at the time, the stack of books in his locker included "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel and a collection of works by C. S. Lewis. Dickey has said that if he had not become a professional athlete, he would have become an English professor. Dickey named his bats for literary swords—Orcrist the Goblin Cleaver (from "The Hobbit") and Hrunting (from "Beowulf"). Dickey mixed up Orcrist and Sting when explaining the origin of the name. Dickey's at-bat introduction song was the theme from "Game of Thrones".


title: R. A. Dickey

text: In November 2011, Dickey announced that he would risk his 2012 season salary ($4,250,000) to attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro; he credits this aspiration to his boyhood reading of Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro". While climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, he set out to raise awareness of the issue of human trafficking in India. His climb was in support of an organization called "Bombay Teen Challenge" that ministers to victims of human trafficking and their children in the heart of the red-light districts. Dickey returned from this trip in January 2012 with Mets bullpen catcher Dave Racaniello and the Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Kevin Slowey, and together raised over $100,000.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: His autobiography, "Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball", written along with "New York Daily News" reporter Wayne Coffey, was released in 2012. In the book Dickey wrote that, at the age of 8, a 13-year-old female babysitter sexually abused him, and subsequently a teenage male sexually abused him. He also discussed his struggles with suicidal thoughts as an adult. In September 2012, Dial Press announced a deal with Dickey to publish three books, including a children's version of his memoir.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: On June 20, 2012, it was reported that Dickey was helping coach an 18-year-old knuckleball pitcher from Long Island, helping him become a walk-on pitcher for the University of Maryland Terrapins.


title: R. A. Dickey

text: In 2013, Dickey appeared in a video for I Am Second describing his suicide attempt, history of abuse, and becoming a born-again Christian.


title: Daisuke Tsuji

text: Daisuke was born to Japanese parents. His father Hirohiko Tsuji worked in Kuwait as an architect when he was born. His brother Hisayasu Tsuji is an editor. At two years old he moved to Chiba in Japan and at eight years old he moved to Sacramento, California. He attended the Rio Americano High School and American River College. He gained a bachelor in Theatre Arts at UCLA.


title: Daisuke Tsuji

text: He worked at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in The Grove at Farmers Market, LA. He started working in Los Angeles at two theatre companies, Tim Robbins' The Actors' Gang and The Three Chairs Theatre Company. He was a party clown before he became a professional clown at Cirque du Soleil. went on several tours in the US and internationally such as Speak Theater Arts' and Cirque du Soleil's Dralion. He created his own clown shows called: Death and Giggles, Limerence, and Clowns are Peoples Too. In 2006, he played a cave soldier in "Letters from Iwo Jima". In 2009, Tsuji wrote and directed Monkey Madness which was produced by the theatre troupe The Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble. The same year, he also wrote and starred in Death and Giggles. In 2010, he became a company member of Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2010, and appeared in more than 10 productions. In 2013, he returned to Los Angeles to focus on television and movies. In 2019, he was Chief Warrant Officer Lee in the "Love, Death & Robots" TV series on Netflix. He also did voice acting for the video games "" (2018) and "Prey: Mooncrash" (2018). In 2017, Tsuji played William Shakespeare in the three-act play "Imogen Says Nothing".


title: Daisuke Tsuji

text: In 2020, he was the voice actor and face of the protagonist Jin Sakai in the samurai themed, action-adventure game "Ghost of Tsushima". He was the Crown Prince in the TV series "The Man in the High Castle" (2015–2019) on Amazon Prime. In 2019, he won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Performance in "Cambodian Rock Band" at South Coast Rep!.


title: Kubota

text: Kubota engines are in both diesel and gasoline or spark ignition forms, ranging from the tiny 0.276-liter engine to 6.1-liter engine, in both air-cooled and-liquid cooled designs, naturally-aspirated and forced induction. Cylinder configurations are from single cylinder to inline six cylinders, with single cylinder to four-cylinder being the most common. Those engines are widely used in agricultural equipment, construction equipment, tractors, and marine propulsion.


title: Kubota

text: The corporation is listed on the first section of Tokyo Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the TOPIX 100 and Nikkei 225.


title: Kubota

text: One of its notable contributions was to the construction of the Solar Ark. Kubota is also known for designing 3D graphics chips in the 1990s.


title: Kubota

text: Kubota Tractor Corporation is the American corporation for marketing and distributing Kubota engineered products in the United States, headquartered in Grapevine, TX. This includes products manufactured in the United states by Kubota's American Manufacturing corporation, called Kubota Manufacturing of America Corporation Headquartered in Gainesville, GA.


title: The Hot Zone

text: The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story is a best-selling 1994 nonfiction thriller by Richard Preston about the origins and incidents involving viral hemorrhagic fevers, particularly ebolaviruses and marburgviruses. The basis of the book was Preston's 1992 "New Yorker" article "Crisis in the Hot Zone".


title: The Hot Zone

text: The filoviruses—including Ebola virus, Sudan virus, Marburg virus, and Ravn virus—are Biosafety Level 4 agents, extremely dangerous to humans because they are very infectious, have a high fatality rate, and most have no known prophylactic measures, treatments, or cures. Along with describing the history of the devastation caused by two of these Central African diseases, Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus disease, Preston described a 1989 incident in which a relative of Ebola virus, Reston virus, was discovered at a primate quarantine facility in Reston, Virginia, less than 15 miles (24 km) away from Washington, D.C.


title: The Hot Zone

text: The book starts with "Charles Monet" visiting Kitum Cave during a camping trip to Mount Elgon in Central Africa. Not long after, he begins to suffer from a number of symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhea and red eye. He is taken to Nairobi Hospital for treatment, but his condition deteriorates further, and he goes into a coma while in the waiting room. This particular filovirus is called Marburg virus.


title: The Hot Zone

text: Dr. Nancy Jaax had been promoted to work in the Level 4 Biosafety containment area at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and is assigned to research Ebola virus. While preparing food for her family at home, she cuts her right hand. Later, while working on a dead monkey infected with Ebola virus, one of the gloves on the hand with the open wound tears, and she is almost exposed to contaminated blood, but does not get infected. Nurse Mayinga is also infected by a nun and goes to Nairobi Hospital for treatment, where she succumbs to the disease.


title: The Hot Zone

text: In Reston, Virginia, less than fifteen miles (24 km) away from Washington, D.C., a company called Hazelton Research once operated a quarantine center for monkeys that were destined for laboratories. In October 1989, when an unusually high number of their monkeys began to die, their veterinarian decided to send some samples to Fort Detrick (USAMRIID) for study. Early during the testing process in biosafety level 3, when one of the flasks appeared to be contaminated with harmless pseudomonas bacterium, two USAMRIID scientists exposed themselves to the virus by wafting the flask. The virus found at the facility was a mutated form of the original Ebola virus and was initially mistaken for simian hemorrhagic fever virus. They later determine that, while the virus is lethal to monkeys, humans can be infected with it without any health effects at all. This virus is now known as Reston virus.


title: The Hot Zone

text: Finally, the author goes to Africa to explore Kitum Cave. On the way, he discusses the role of AIDS in the present, as the Kinshasa Highway that he travels on was sometimes called the "AIDS Highway" after its early appearance in the region. Equipped with a hazmat suit, he enters the cave and finds a large number of animals, one of which might be the virus carrier. At the conclusion of the book, he travels to the quarantine facility in Reston. He finds the building abandoned and deteriorating. He concludes the book by claiming that Ebola will be back.


title: The Hot Zone

text: The discovery of the Reston virus was made in November 1989 by Thomas W. Geisbert, an intern at United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Peter B. Jahrling isolated the filovirus further. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted blood tests of the 178 animal handlers. While six tested positive, they did not exhibit any symptoms. The Reston virus was found to have low pathogenicity in humans. This was further supported later when a handler infected himself during a necropsy of an infected monkey, as the handler did not show symptoms of the virus after the incubation period.


title: The Hot Zone

text: "The Hot Zone" was listed as one of around 100 books that shaped a century of science by "American Scientist". Many reviews of "The Hot Zone" exemplify the impact the book had on the public's view of emerging viruses. A review in the "British Medical Journal" captures the paranoia and public panic described in this book. The reviewer was left "wondering when and where this enigmatic agent will appear next and what other disasters may await human primates". This can also be seen in a review in the "Public Health Reports" which highlights the "seriousness of our current situation" and "our ability to respond to a major health threat".


title: The Hot Zone

text: "The Hot Zone" is described as a "romantic account of environmental transgression". Reactions to this book could be seen not only in the public's view of emerging viruses, but in the changes in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition to the funding of public health infrastructure during the early 1970s, there were many public discussions of biodefense. This book continued to fuel the emerging diseases campaign. By connecting international health to national security, this campaign used "The Hot Zone" as a method of justifying increased intervention in the global phenomena of disease.


title: The Hot Zone

text: "The Hot Zone" elicited a major response by the World Health Organization (WHO) by shedding light on the Ebola Zaire outbreak. Teams of experts were immediately released. Many countries tightened their borders, issued warnings to custom officials, quarantined travelers, and issued travel advisories.


title: The Hot Zone

text: In his blurb, horror writer Stephen King called the first chapter "one of the most horrifying things I've read in my whole life". When asked whether any book "scared the pants off you" writer Suzanne Collins answered ""The Hot Zone", by Richard Preston. I just read it a few weeks ago. Still recovering."


title: The Hot Zone

text: "The Hot Zone" has received criticism for sensationalizing the effects of Ebola virus. In their memoir "Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC" (1996), former CDC scientists Joseph B. McCormick and Susan Fisher-Hoch lambasted Preston for claiming that Ebola dissolves organs, stating that although it causes great blood loss in tissues the organs remain structurally intact. McCormick and Fisher-Hoch also dispute Preston's version of the CDC's actions in the Reston virus incident. In an interview about his book "Ebola: The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus" (2014), David Quammen claimed that "The Hot Zone" had "vivid, gruesome details" that gave an "exaggerated idea of Ebola over the years" causing "people to view this disease as though it was some sort of preternatural phenomenon".


title: The Hot Zone

text: In January 1993, 20th Century Fox producer Lynda Obst won a bidding war for the film rights to Preston's 1992 "New Yorker" article, which was still being transitioned into book form. In response to being outbid, Warner Bros. producer Arnold Kopelson immediately began working on a similarly themed production. This competing film, titled "Outbreak" (and released in March 1995), was only vaguely inspired by Preston's work, but would ultimately be a factor in the collapse of Fox's planned production, "Crisis in The Hot Zone".


title: The Hot Zone

text: Directors considered for "Crisis in The Hot Zone" included Wolfgang Petersen (who would later direct "Outbreak"), Michael Mann, and Ridley Scott. Scott eventually signed on to direct the film in February 1994. Screenwriter James V. Hart was also signed to adapt the book. In late April 1994, Fox announced they had signed Robert Redford and Jodie Foster to star in the film.


title: The Hot Zone

text: "Crisis in The Hot Zone", however, was never made. Foster dropped out of the film just before filming was to begin and production was delayed, with Meryl Streep, Sharon Stone, and Robin Wright touted as possible replacements. In August 1994, Redford also dropped out of the film; a few days after Redford left it was announced that pre-production had been shut down.


title: The Hot Zone

text: On October 16, 2014, "The Hollywood Reporter" announced that Ridley Scott again planned to adapt the book, this time as a television miniseries for NatGeo. Kelly Souders, Brian Peterson, and Jeff Vintar wrote the pilot. Julianna Margulies starred as Nancy Jaax. Filming began in September 2018. Lynda Obst again produced the series. The series first aired from May 27 to May 29, 2019, and was later renewed for a second season.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: A parabolic antenna is an antenna that uses a parabolic reflector, a curved surface with the cross-sectional shape of a parabola, to direct the radio waves. The most common form is shaped like a dish and is popularly called a dish antenna or parabolic dish. The main advantage of a parabolic antenna is that it has high directivity. It functions similarly to a searchlight or flashlight reflector to direct radio waves in a narrow beam, or receive radio waves from one particular direction only. Parabolic antennas have some of the highest gains, meaning that they can produce the narrowest beamwidths, of any antenna type. In order to achieve narrow beamwidths, the parabolic reflector must be much larger than the wavelength of the radio waves used, so parabolic antennas are used in the high frequency part of the radio spectrum, at UHF and microwave (SHF) frequencies, at which the wavelengths are small enough that conveniently-sized reflectors can be used.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: Parabolic antennas are used as high-gain antennas for point-to-point communications, in applications such as microwave relay links that carry telephone and television signals between nearby cities, wireless WAN/LAN links for data communications, satellite communications, and spacecraft communication antennas. They are also used in radio telescopes.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: The other large use of parabolic antennas is for radar antennas, which need to transmit a narrow beam of radio waves to locate objects like ships, airplanes, and guided missiles. They are also often used for weather detection. With the advent of home satellite television receivers, parabolic antennas have become a common feature of the landscapes of modern countries.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: The parabolic antenna was invented by German physicist Heinrich Hertz during his discovery of radio waves in 1887. He used cylindrical parabolic reflectors with spark-excited dipole antennas at their foci for both transmitting and receiving during his historic experiments.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: The operating principle of a parabolic antenna is that a point source of radio waves at the focal point in front of a paraboloidal reflector of conductive material will be reflected into a collimated plane wave beam along the axis of the reflector. Conversely, an incoming plane wave parallel to the axis will be focused to a point at the focal point.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: A typical parabolic antenna consists of a metal parabolic reflector with a small feed antenna suspended in front of the reflector at its focus, pointed back toward the reflector. The reflector is a metallic surface formed into a paraboloid of revolution and usually truncated in a circular rim that forms the diameter of the antenna. In a transmitting antenna, radio frequency current from a transmitter is supplied through a transmission line cable to the feed antenna, which converts it into radio waves. The radio waves are emitted back toward the dish by the feed antenna and reflect off the dish into a parallel beam. In a receiving antenna the incoming radio waves bounce off the dish and are focused to a point at the feed antenna, which converts them into electric currents which travel through a transmission line to the radio receiver.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: The reflector can be constructed from sheet metal, a metal screen, or a wire grill, and can be either a circular dish or various other shapes to create different beam shapes. A metal screen reflects radio waves as effectively as a solid metal surface if its holes are smaller than one-tenth of a wavelength, so screen reflectors are often used to reduce weight and wind loads on the dish. To achieve the maximum gain, the shape of the dish needs to be accurate within a small fraction of a wavelength, to ensure the waves from different parts of the antenna arrive at the focus in phase. Large dishes often require a supporting truss structure behind them to provide the required stiffness.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: A reflector made of a grill of parallel wires or bars oriented in one direction acts as a polarizing filter as well as a reflector. It only reflects linearly polarized radio waves, with the electric field parallel to the grill elements. This type is often used in radar antennas. Combined with a linearly polarized feed horn, it helps filter out noise in the receiver and reduces false returns.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: A shiny metal parabolic reflector can also focus the sun's rays. Since most dishes could concentrate enough solar energy on the feed structure to severely overheat it if they happened to be pointed at the sun, solid reflectors are always given a coat of flat paint.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: The feed antenna at the reflector's focus is typically a low-gain type, such as a half-wave dipole or (more often) a small horn antenna called a feed horn. In more complex designs, such as the Cassegrain and Gregorian, a secondary reflector is used to direct the energy into the parabolic reflector from a feed antenna located away from the primary focal point. The feed antenna is connected to the associated radio-frequency (RF) transmitting or receiving equipment by means of a coaxial cable transmission line or waveguide.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: At the microwave frequencies used in many parabolic antennas, waveguide is required to conduct the microwaves between the feed antenna and transmitter or receiver. Because of the high cost of waveguide runs, in many parabolic antennas the RF front end electronics of the receiver is located at the feed antenna, and the received signal is converted to a lower intermediate frequency (IF) so it can be conducted to the receiver through cheaper coaxial cable. This is called a low-noise block downconverter. Similarly, in transmitting dishes, the microwave transmitter may be located at the feed point.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: An advantage of parabolic antennas is that most of the structure of the antenna (all of it except the feed antenna) is nonresonant, so it can function over a wide range of frequencies (i.e. a wide bandwidth). All that is necessary to change the frequency of operation is to replace the feed antenna with one that operates at the desired frequency. Some parabolic antennas transmit or receive at multiple frequencies by having several feed antennas mounted at the focal point, close together.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: Parabolic antennas are also classified by the type of feed, that is, how the radio waves are supplied to the antenna:


title: Parabolic antenna

text: The radiation pattern of the feed antenna has to be tailored to the shape of the dish, because it has a strong influence on the "aperture efficiency", which determines the antenna gain (see Gain section below). Radiation from the feed that falls outside the edge of the dish is called "spillover" and is wasted, reducing the gain and increasing the backlobes, possibly causing interference or (in receiving antennas) increasing susceptibility to ground noise. However, maximum gain is only achieved when the dish is uniformly "illuminated" with a constant field strength to its edges. Therefore, the ideal radiation pattern of a feed antenna would be a constant field strength throughout the solid angle of the dish, dropping abruptly to zero at the edges. However, practical feed antennas have radiation patterns that drop off gradually at the edges, so the feed antenna is a compromise between acceptably low spillover and adequate illumination. For most front feed horns, optimum illumination is achieved when the power radiated by the feed horn is 10 dB less at the dish edge than its maximum value at the center of the dish.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: The pattern of electric and magnetic fields at the mouth of a parabolic antenna is simply a scaled-up image of the fields radiated by the feed antenna, so the polarization is determined by the feed antenna. In order to achieve maximum gain, both feed antennas (transmitting and receiving) must have the same polarization. For example, a vertical dipole feed antenna will radiate a beam of radio waves with their electric field vertical, called vertical polarization. The receiving feed antenna must also have vertical polarization to receive them; if the feed is horizontal (horizontal polarization) the antenna will suffer a severe loss of gain.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: To increase the data rate, some parabolic antennas transmit two separate radio channels on the same frequency with orthogonal polarizations, using separate feed antennas; this is called a "dual polarization antenna". For example, satellite television signals are transmitted from the satellite on two separate channels at the same frequency using right and left circular polarization. In a home satellite dish, these are received by two small monopole antennas in the feed horn, oriented at right angles. Each antenna is connected to a separate receiver.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: If the signal from one polarization channel is received by the oppositely polarized antenna, it will cause crosstalk that degrades the signal-to-noise ratio. The ability of an antenna to keep these orthogonal channels separate is measured by a parameter called "cross polarization discrimination" (XPD). In a transmitting antenna, XPD is the fraction of power from an antenna of one polarization radiated in the other polarization. For example, due to minor imperfections a dish with a vertically polarized feed antenna will radiate a small amount of its power in horizontal polarization; this fraction is the XPD. In a receiving antenna, the XPD is the ratio of signal power received of the opposite polarization to power received in the same antenna of the correct polarization, when the antenna is illuminated by two orthogonally polarized radio waves of equal power. If the antenna system has inadequate XPD, cross polarization interference cancelling (XPIC) digital signal processing algorithms can often be used to decrease crosstalk.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: In the Cassegrain and Gregorian antennas, the presence of two reflecting surfaces in the signal path offers additional possibilities for improving performance. When the highest performance is required, a technique called "dual reflector shaping" may be used. This involves changing the shape of the sub-reflector to direct more signal power to outer areas of the dish, to map the known pattern of the feed into a uniform illumination of the primary, to maximize the gain. However, this results in a secondary that is no longer precisely hyperbolic (though it is still very close), so the constant phase property is lost. This phase error, however, can be compensated for by slightly tweaking the shape of the primary mirror. The result is a higher gain, or gain/spillover ratio, at the cost of surfaces that are trickier to fabricate and test. Other dish illumination patterns can also be synthesized, such as patterns with high taper at the dish edge for ultra-low spillover sidelobes, and patterns with a central "hole" to reduce feed shadowing.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: The directive qualities of an antenna are measured by a dimensionless parameter called its gain, which is the ratio of the power received by the antenna from a source along its beam axis to the power received by a hypothetical isotropic antenna. The gain of a parabolic antenna is:


title: Parabolic antenna

text: It can be seen that, as with any "aperture antenna", the larger the aperture is, compared to the wavelength, the higher the gain. The gain increases with the square of the ratio of aperture width to wavelength, so large parabolic antennas, such as those used for spacecraft communication and radio telescopes, can have extremely high gain. Applying the above formula to the 25-meter-diameter antennas often used in radio telescope arrays and satellite ground antennas at a wavelength of 21 cm (1.42 GHz, a common radio astronomy frequency), yields an approximate maximum gain of 140,000 times or about 52 dBi (decibels above the isotropic level). The largest parabolic dish antenna in the world is the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope in southwest China, which has an effective aperture of about 300 meters. The gain of this dish at 3 GHz is roughly 90 million, or 80 dBi.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: Aperture efficiency "e" is a catchall variable which accounts for various losses that reduce the gain of the antenna from the maximum that could be achieved with the given aperture. The major factors reducing the aperture efficiency in parabolic antennas are:


title: Parabolic antenna

text: For theoretical considerations of mutual interference (at frequencies between 2 and approximately 30 GHz; typically in the Fixed Satellite Service) where specific antenna performance has not been defined, a "reference antenna" based on Recommendation ITU-R S.465 is used to calculate the interference, which will include the likely sidelobes for off-axis effects.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: In parabolic antennas, virtually all the power radiated is concentrated in a narrow main lobe along the antenna's axis. The residual power is radiated in sidelobes, usually much smaller, in other directions. Since the reflector aperture of parabolic antennas is much larger than the wavelength, diffraction usually causes many narrow sidelobes, so the sidelobe pattern is complex. There is also usually a backlobe, in the opposite direction to the main lobe, due to the spillover radiation from the feed antenna that misses the reflector.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: The angular width of the beam radiated by high-gain antennas is measured by the "half-power beam width" (HPBW), which is the angular separation between the points on the antenna radiation pattern at which the power drops to one-half (-3 dB) its maximum value. For parabolic antennas, the HPBW "θ" is given by:


title: Parabolic antenna

text: where "k" is a factor which varies slightly depending on the shape of the reflector and the feed illumination pattern. For an ideal uniformly illuminated parabolic reflector and "θ" in degrees, "k" would be 57.3 (the number of degrees in a radian). For a typical parabolic antenna, "k" is approximately 70.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: For a typical 2 meter satellite dish operating on C band (4 GHz), this formula gives a beamwidth of about 2.6°. For the Arecibo antenna at 2.4 GHz, the beamwidth is 0.028°. Since parabolic antennas can produce very narrow beams, aiming them can be a problem. Some parabolic dishes are equipped with a boresight so they can be aimed accurately at the other antenna.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: There is an inverse relation between gain and beam width. By combining the beamwidth equation with the gain equation, the relation is:


title: Parabolic antenna

text: The radiation from a large paraboloid with uniform illuminated aperture is essentially equivalent to that from a circular aperture of the same diameter formula_9 in an infinite metal plate with a uniform plane wave incident on the plate.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: The radiation-field pattern can be calculated by applying Huygens' principle in a similar way to a rectangular aperture. The electric field pattern can be found by evaluating the Fraunhofer diffraction integral over the circular aperture. It can also be determined through Fresnel zone equations.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: where formula_9 is the diameter of the antenna's aperture in meters, formula_5 is the wavelength in meters, formula_18 is the angle in radians from the antenna's symmetry axis as shown in the figure, and formula_19is the . Determining the first nulls of the radiation pattern gives the beamwidth formula_20. The term formula_21 whenever formula_22. Thus,


title: Parabolic antenna

text: When the aperture is large, the angle formula_20 is very small, so formula_25 is approximately equal to formula_26. This gives the common beamwidth formulas,


title: Parabolic antenna

text: The idea of using parabolic reflectors for radio antennas was taken from optics, where the power of a parabolic mirror to focus light into a beam has been known since classical antiquity. The designs of some specific types of parabolic antenna, such as the Cassegrain and Gregorian, come from similarly named analogous types of reflecting telescope, which were invented by astronomers during the 15th century.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: German physicist Heinrich Hertz constructed the world's first parabolic reflector antenna in 1888. The antenna was a cylindrical parabolic reflector made of zinc sheet metal supported by a wooden frame, and had a spark-gap excited 26 cm dipole as a feed antenna along the focal line. Its aperture was 2 meters high by 1.2 meters wide, with a focal length of 0.12 meters, and was used at an operating frequency of about 450 MHz. With two such antennas, one used for transmitting and the other for receiving, Hertz demonstrated the existence of radio waves which had been predicted by James Clerk Maxwell some 22 years earlier. However, the early development of radio was limited to lower frequencies at which parabolic antennas were unsuitable, and they were not widely used until after World War II, when microwave frequencies began to be employed.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi used a parabolic reflector during the 1930s in investigations of UHF transmission from his boat in the Mediterranean. In 1931, a 1.7 GHz microwave relay telephone link across the English Channel was demonstrated using diameter dishes. The first large parabolic antenna, a 9 m dish, was built in 1937 by pioneering radio astronomer Grote Reber in his backyard, and the sky survey he did with it was one of the events that founded the field of radio astronomy.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: The development of radar during World War II provided a great impetus to parabolic antenna research. This led to the evolution of shaped-beam antennas, in which the curve of the reflector is different in the vertical and horizontal directions, tailored to produce a beam with a particular shape. After the war, very large parabolic dishes were built as radio telescopes. The 100-meter Green Bank Radio Telescope at Green Bank, West Virginia—the first version of which was completed in 1962—is currently the world's largest fully steerable parabolic dish.


title: Parabolic antenna

text: During the 1960s, dish antennas became widely used in terrestrial microwave relay communication networks, which carried telephone calls and television programs across continents. The first parabolic antenna used for satellite communications was constructed in 1962 at Goonhilly in Cornwall, England, to communicate with the Telstar satellite. The Cassegrain antenna was developed in Japan in 1963 by NTT, KDDI, and Mitsubishi Electric. The advent of computer design tools in the 1970s—such as NEC, capable of calculating the radiation pattern of parabolic antennas—has led to the development of sophisticated asymmetric, multi-reflector and multi-feed designs in recent years.


title: FreeCAD

text: FreeCAD is a general-purpose parametric 3D computer-aided design (CAD) modeler and a building information modeling (BIM) software application with finite element method (FEM) support. It is intended for mechanical engineering product design but also expands to a wider range of uses around engineering, such as architecture or electrical engineering. FreeCAD is free and open-source, under the LGPL-2.0-or-later license, and available for Linux, macOS, and Windows operating systems. Users can extend the functionality of the software using the Python programming language.


title: FreeCAD

text: FreeCAD features tools similar to CATIA, Creo, SolidWorks, Solid Edge, NX, Inventor, Revit, and therefore also falls into the category of building information modeling (BIM), mechanical computer-aided design (MCAD), PLM, CAx and CAE. It is intended to be a feature-based parametric modeler with a modular software architecture, which makes it easy to provide additional functionality without modifying the core system.


title: FreeCAD

text: As with many modern 3D CAD modelers, FreeCAD has a 2D component to facilitate 3D-to-2D drawing conversion. Under its current state, direct 2D drawing (like AutoCAD LT) is not the focus for this software, and neither are animation or 3D model manipulation (like Blender, Maya, or Cinema 4D). However, the modular nature of FreeCAD allows the user to adapt its workflow for such environments via the use of plugins.


title: FreeCAD

text: FreeCAD uses open-source libraries from the field of computing science; among them are Open CASCADE Technology (a CAD kernel), Coin3D (an incarnation of Open Inventor), the Qt GUI framework, and Python, a popular scripting language. FreeCAD itself can also be used as a library by other programs.


title: FreeCAD

text: There are moves to expand FreeCAD in the architecture, electrical, and construction (AEC) engineering sectors and to add building information modeling (BIM) functionality with the Arch Module.


title: FreeCAD

text: FreeCAD's own main file format is FreeCAD Standard file format (.FCStd). It is a standard zip file that holds files in a certain structure. Document.xml file has all geometric and parametric objects definitions. GuiDocument.xml then has visual representation details of objects. Other files include brep-files for objects and thumbnail of drawing.


title: FreeCAD

text: Besides FreeCAD's own file format, files can be exported and imported in DXF, SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), STEP, IGES, STL (STereoLithography), OBJ (Wavefront), DAE (Collada), SCAD (OpenSCAD), IV (Inventor) and IFC.


title: FreeCAD

text: FreeCAD's support for the important DWG file format has been problematic due to software license compatibility problems with the GNU LibreDWG library. The GNU LibreDWG library started as a real free alternative to the source-available OpenDWG library (later Teigha Converter and now ODA File Converter) and is licensed under the GPLv3. As FreeCAD (and also LibreCAD) has dependencies on Open Cascade, which prior to version 6.7.0 was only compatible with GPLv2, it couldn't use the GNU LibreDWG library as GPLv2 and GPLv3 are essentially incompatible. Open CASCADE technology was contacted by Debian team in 2009, and 2012 got a reply that Open CASCADE technology was considering dual-licensing OCCT (the library), however they postponed that move. A request also went to the FSF to relicense GNU LibreDWG as GPLv2 or LGPLv3, which was rejected.


title: FreeCAD

text: As of 2014 the 0.14 release of FreeCAD, including the new LGPL release of Open Cascade, the BSD-licensed version of Coin3D, and the removal of PyQT, FreeCAD is now completely GPL-free. However, LibreDWG has not been adopted. FreeCAD is able to import and export a limited subset of the DWG format via the ODA File Converter (the former OpenDWG library).


title: FreeCAD

text: FreeCAD was notably presented at FISL 16 in 2015, in Porto Alegre, as well as at the Libre Graphics Meeting in London in 2016. These two exhibitions can bring together both developers and users. In 2020, it was during FOSDEM in Brussels that two of these developers, Yorik Van Havre and Brad Collette made the presentation.


title: Common swift

text: The common swift (Apus apus) is a medium-sized bird, superficially similar to the barn swallow or house martin but somewhat larger, though not stemming from those passerine species, being in the order Apodiformes. The resemblances between the groups are due to convergent evolution, reflecting similar contextual development. The swifts' nearest relatives are the New World hummingbirds and the Southeast Asian treeswifts.


title: Common swift

text: Its scientific name "Apus" is Latin for a swift, thought by the ancients to be a type of swallow with no feet (from Ancient Greek α, "a", "without", and πούς, "pous", "foot").


title: Common swift

text: Swifts have very short legs which they use primarily for clinging to vertical surfaces (hence the German name "Mauersegler", literally meaning "wall-glider"). They never settle voluntarily on the ground, where they would be vulnerable to accidents and predation, and non-breeding individuals may spend up to ten months in continuous flight.


title: Common swift

text: The common swift was one of the many species described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his "Systema Naturae". He introduced the binomial name "Hirundo apus". The current genus "Apus" was erected by the Italian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1777 based on tautonymy. The word "apus" is the Latin word for a swift. It is derived from the Ancient Greek α, "a", "without", and πούς, "pous", "foot", based on the belief that these birds were a form of swallow that lacked feet.


title: Common swift

text: A Central European subspecies which lived during the last ice age has been described as "Apus apus palapus".


title: Common swift

text: Common swifts are long with a wingspan of and entirely blackish-brown except for a small white or pale grey patch on their chins which is not visible from a distance. They have a short forked tail and very long swept-back wings that resemble a crescent or a boomerang.


title: Common swift

text: Their call is a loud scream in two different tone pitches, the higher of which issues from the female. They often form "screaming parties" during summer evenings, when 10–20 swifts will gather in flight around their nesting area, calling out and being answered by nesting swifts. Larger "screaming parties" are formed at higher altitudes, especially late in the breeding season. The purpose of these parties is uncertain, but may include ascending to sleep on the wing, while still breeding adults tend to spend the night in the nest. Tracking swifts at their breeding colonies using radar has revealed that individuals often occur in flocks during evening ascent and dawn descent but not during the subsequent evening descent or prior dawn ascent, suggesting that this flocking benefits the swifts via cue acquisition and information exchange between individuals or through extending social behaviour.


title: Common swift

text: Swifts may nest in former woodpecker tree burrows found in ancient forests, such as some 600 reported nesting in the Białowieża Forest of North Eastern Poland, or the small colony found in a combination of woodpecker holes and tree nestboxes on the RSPB's reserve at the Caledonian Forest in Abernethy, Scotland. While tree holes and cliffs may have comprised their historical nesting resource, the almost complete removal of ancient forest from their nesting range has resulted in adaptation to man-made sites. Swifts build their nests of air-borne material caught in flight, bonded with their saliva, in suitable buildings hollows, such as under tiles, in gaps beneath window sills, and most typically under eaves and within gables.


title: Common swift

text: Swifts form pairs that may couple for years, and often return to the same nesting site and partner year after year, repairing degradation suffered in their 40-week migratory absence. Insects such as clothes moths, carpet and larder beetles may consume all but the most indigestible nest elements, typically feather shafts.


title: Common swift

text: Young nesting swifts are able to survive for a few days without food by dropping their body temperature and metabolic rate, entering a torpid state.


title: Common swift

text: Except when nesting, swifts spend their lives in the air, living on the insects caught in flight; they drink, feed, and often mate and sleep on the wing. Some individuals go 10 months without landing. No other bird spends as much of its life in flight. Contrary to common belief, swifts can take flight from level ground. Their maximum horizontal flying speed is Over a lifetime they can cover millions of kilometers.


title: Common swift

text: Feeding parties can be very large in insect-rich areas, such as wetlands. Reports of as many as 2,000 swifts feeding over flooded gravel pits, lakes and marshy river deltas are not uncommon, and may represent an ingress of swifts from within as much as a radius; swifts nesting in Western Scotland are thought to venture to Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland to feed on the abundant and nutritious "Lough Neagh Fly".


title: Common swift

text: Common swifts nest in a wider variety of sites than any other species of "Apus". Swifts usually nest in buildings but they can also be found nesting in holes in trees, cliffs and crevices, and even in nestboxes. Swifts usually enter their nesting holes with direct flight, and take-off is characterized by an initial free-fall. Empty cavities are shallower than those with nests, and the entry size is smaller in the former than in the latter.


title: Common swift

text: Common swifts are migratory. Their summer breeding range runs from Portugal and Ireland in the West across to China and Siberia in the East. They breed as far south as Northern Africa (in Morocco and Algeria), with a presence in the Middle East in Israel, Lebanon and Syria, the Near East across Turkey, and the whole of Europe as far north as Norway, Finland, and most of sub-Arctic Russia. Swifts migrate to Africa by a variety of routes, ending up in Equatorial and Sub-Equatorial Africa, excluding the Cape. Common swifts do not breed on the Indian Subcontinent.


title: Common swift

text: Subjects of a geolocator tracking study demonstrated that swifts breeding in Sweden winter in the Congo region of Africa. Swifts spend three to three-and-a-half months in Africa and a similar time breeding – the rest is spent on the wing, flying home or away. Unsuccessful breeders, fledglings, and sexually immature year-old birds are the first to leave their breeding area. Breeding males follow next, and finally the breeding females. The breeding females stay longer in the nest to rebuild their fat reserves. The time of departure is often determined by the light cycle, and begins at the first day of less than 17 hours light. For this reason, birds further north, for instance in Finland, leave later in the second half of August. These latecomers are rushed through the quickly shortening days in Central Europe and are barely seen by bird watchers.


title: Common swift

text: The prevailing direction of travel through Central Europe is south-by-southwest, and so the Alps do not present a barrier. In bad weather, the swifts follow rivers, because they can find a better food supply there. The population of Western and Central Europe traverses the Iberian peninsula and northwestern Africa. Swifts from Russia and southeastern Europe made a long journey over the eastern part of the Mediterranean. It is unclear where the two groups meet. The western group of swifts mostly follow the Atlantic coastline of Africa – otherwise they would have to cross the Sahara. Once they arrive at the humid savanna, they turn southeast to arrive at their winter feeding grounds. During the summer in Africa, there is a great bounty of insects for the swifts, since the region lies in the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The swifts have a nearly unbroken presence in the sky.


title: Common swift

text: A few swifts, usually some of the sexually immature one year olds, remain in Africa. The majority fly northwards through Africa, then turn east towards their destinations. The birds use low pressure fronts during their spring migrations to exploit the southwestern flow of warm air, and on the return trip, ride northeastern winds on the back of the low pressure fronts.


title: Common swift

text: In Central Europe, the swifts return in the second half of April and the first third of May, and like to stay in lowlands and near water rather than in high places. In more northerly regions, the swifts arrive later. The weather along the journey has an enormous influence on the arrival date, so in one region the swifts may come back at varying times year to year.


title: Common swift

text: The barn swallow and house martin hunt for airborne insects in a manner similar to that of the slightly larger swift, and occasionally mixed groups of the species form. The most noticeable differences between the three types are:


title: Common swift

text: Swift nests commonly support populations of the chewing louse "Dennyus hirundinis" and the lousefly "Crataerina pallida".


title: Common swift

text: The heraldic bird known as the "martlet", which is represented without feet, may have been based on the swift, but is generally assumed to refer to the house martin; it was used for the arms of younger sons, perhaps because it symbolized their landless wandering.


title: Hussein Fatal

text: Bruce Edward Washington Jr. (April 3, 1973July 10, 2015), better known by his stage name Hussein Fatal or sometimes as Fatal Hussein, was an American rapper, best known for his collaborative work with Tupac Shakur as a member of the rap group Outlaw Immortalz or just Outlawz.


title: Hussein Fatal

text: Washington first appeared as "Hussein Fatal" in February 1996 on the songs "All Bout U" and "When We Ride" from Shakur's album "All Eyez on Me". As a member of the Outlaw Immortalz, his name was chosen to evoke a villain, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. In June 1996, he was featured on Shakur's song "Hit 'Em Up", insulting Shakur's rivals in the song's second verse.


title: Hussein Fatal

text: After Shakur was fatally shot in September 1996 and Outlawz member Yaki Kadafi was murdered in November, Washington didn't appear on another recording until 1998 when Relativity Records released his first solo album "In the Line of Fire". Unfortunately the label went bankrupt; the album wasn't promoted and sold poorly.


title: Hussein Fatal

text: Washington then signed with Rap-A-Lot Records and began work on a second solo studio album, "Death Before Dishonor", recording over 40 songs before being arrested in December 1999 for an assault committed three years earlier. Rap-A-Lot Records released the album as "Fatal" after he was paroled in 2002.


title: Hussein Fatal

text: In 2003, Washington performed on four songs of Ja Rule's album "Blood in My Eye": "The Life", "It's Murda (Freestyle)", "The Wrap (Freestyle)" and the eponymous title track, "Blood in My Eye". He also appeared on the remix of Ashanti's "Rain On Me", and in Ja Rule's "Clap Back" music video.


title: Hussein Fatal

text: He performed again with Outlawz on their 2010 mixtape "Killuminati 2K10" and their 2011 mixtape "Killuminati 2K11", and on the 2011 album, "Perfect Timing". He also appeared on the tracks "Emancipation" and "Welcome To Real Life", from fellow Outlawz member Young Noble's 2012 album "Son of God". He continued to release mixtapes on his own label, Thugtertainment, until his death.


title: Hussein Fatal

text: Fatal died in a car accident in Banks County, Georgia on July 10, 2015, at the age of 42. His girlfriend Zanetta Yearby was driving and was charged with DUI, first-degree vehicular homicide, and reckless driving.


title: Zef

text: Zef () is a South African counter-culture movement. Kyle Hans Brockmann has compared zef counter-culture to many similar anarchic sub-cultures in the northern hemisphere.


title: Zef

text: Yolandi Visser of Die Antwoord said, "It's associated with people who soup their cars up and rock gold and shit. Zef is, you're poor but you're fancy. You're poor but you're sexy, you've got style."