title: Benthic zone

text: Because the benthic system regulates energy in aquatic ecosystems, studies have been made of the mechanisms of the benthic zone in order to better understand the ecosystem. Benthic diatoms have been used by the European Union's Water Framework Directive (WFD) to establish ecological quality ratios that determined the ecological status of lakes in the UK. Beginning research is being made on benthic assemblages to see if they can be used as indicators of healthy aquatic ecosystems. Benthic assemblages in urbanized coastal regions are not functionally equivalent to benthic assemblages in untouched regions.


title: Benthic zone

text: Ecologists are attempting to understand the relationship between heterogeneity and maintaining biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems. Benthic algae has been used as an inherently good subject for studying short term changes and community responses to heterogeneous conditions in streams. Understanding the potential mechanisms involving benthic periphyton and the effects on heterogeneity within a stream may provide a better understanding of the structure and function of stream ecosystems. Unfortunately periphyton populations suffer from high natural spatial variability while difficult accessibility simultaneously limits the practicable number of samples that can be taken. Targeting periphyton locations which are known to provide reliable samples especially hard surfaces is recommended in the European Union benthic monitoring program (by Kelly 1998 for the United Kingdom then in the EU and for the EU as a whole by CEN 2003 and CEN 2004) and in some United States programs (by Moulton et al 2002). Benthic gross primary production (GPP) may be important in maintaining biodiversity hotspots in littoral zones in large lake ecosystems. However, the relative contributions of benthic habitats within specific ecosystems are poorly explored and more research is needed.


title: Macula of retina

text: The macula (/ˈmakjʊlə/) or macula lutea is an oval-shaped pigmented area in the center of the retina of the human eye and in other animals. The macula in humans has a diameter of around and is subdivided into the umbo, foveola, foveal avascular zone, fovea, parafovea, and perifovea areas.


title: Macula of retina

text: The anatomical macula at a size of is much larger than the clinical macula which, at a size of , corresponds to the anatomical fovea.


title: Macula of retina

text: The macula is responsible for the central, high-resolution, color vision that is possible in good light; and this kind of vision is impaired if the macula is damaged, for example in macular degeneration. The clinical macula is seen when viewed from the pupil, as in ophthalmoscopy or retinal photography.


title: Macula of retina

text: The macula is an oval-shaped pigmented area in the center of the retina of the human eye and other animal eyes. Its center is shifted slightly away from the optical axis (laterally, by 5°=1.5 mm).


title: Macula of retina

text: The macula in humans has a diameter of around and is subdivided into the umbo, foveola, foveal avascular zone, fovea, parafovea, and perifovea areas.


title: Macula of retina

text: An even smaller central region of highest receptor density (40–80 μm) is sometimes referred to as the "foveal bouquet".


title: Macula of retina

text: The anatomical macula at is much larger than the clinical macula which, at , corresponds to the anatomical fovea.


title: Macula of retina

text: The clinical macula is seen when viewed from the pupil, as in ophthalmoscopy or retinal photography. The anatomical macula is defined histologically in terms of having two or more layers of ganglion cells. The umbo is the center of the foveola which in turn is located at the center of the fovea.


title: Macula of retina

text: The fovea is located near the center of the macula. It is a small pit that contains the largest concentration of cone cells. The retina contains two types of photosensitive cells, the rod cells and the cone cells.


title: Macula of retina

text: Because the macula is yellow in colour it absorbs excess blue and ultraviolet light that enter the eye and acts as a natural sunblock (analogous to sunglasses) for this area of the retina. The yellow color comes from its content of lutein and zeaxanthin, which are yellow xanthophyll carotenoids, derived from the diet. Zeaxanthin predominates at the macula, while lutein predominates elsewhere in the retina. There is some evidence that these carotenoids protect the pigmented region from some types of macular degeneration. A formulation of 10 mg lutein and 2 mg zeaxanthin has been shown to reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration progressing to advanced stages, although these carotenoids have not been shown to prevent the disease.


title: Macula of retina

text: After death or enucleation (removal of the eye), the macula appears yellow, a color that is not visible in the living eye except when viewed with light from which red has been filtered.


title: Macula of retina

text: Structures in the macula are specialized for high-acuity vision. Within the macula are the fovea and foveola that both contain a high density of cones, which are nerve cells that are photoreceptors with high acuity.


title: Macula of retina

text: In detail, the normal human eye contains three different types of cones, with different ranges of spectral sensitivity. The brain combines the signals from neighboring cones to distinguish different colors. There is only one type of rod, but the rods are more sensitive than the cones, so in dim light, they are the dominant photoreceptors active, and without information provided by the separate spectral sensitivity of the cones it is impossible to discriminate colors. In the fovea "centralis", cones predominate and are present at high density. The macula is thus responsible for the central, high-resolution, color vision that is possible in good light; and this kind of vision is impaired if the macula is damaged, for example in macular degeneration.


title: Macula of retina

text: Whereas loss of peripheral vision may go unnoticed for some time, damage to the macula will result in loss of central vision, which is usually immediately obvious.


title: Macula of retina

text: The progressive destruction of the macula is a disease known as macular degeneration and can sometimes lead to the creation of a macular hole. Macular holes are rarely caused by trauma, but if a severe blow is delivered it can burst the blood vessels going to the macula, destroying it.


title: Macula of retina

text: Visual input from the macula occupies a substantial portion of the brain's visual capacity. As a result, some forms of visual field loss that occur without involving the macula are termed macular sparing. (For example, visual field testing might demonstrate "homonymous hemianopsia with macular sparing".)


title: Macula of retina

text: In the case of occipitoparietal ischemia owing to occlusion of elements of either posterior cerebral artery, patients may display cortical blindness (which, rarely, can involve blindness that the patient denies having, as seen in Anton's Syndrome), yet display sparing of the macula. This selective sparing is due to the collateral circulation offered to macular tracts by the middle cerebral artery. Neurological examination that confirms macular sparing can go far in representing the type of damage mediated by an infarct, in this case, indicating that the caudal visual cortex (which is the principal recipient of macular projections of the optic nerve) has been spared. Further, it indicates that cortical damage rostral to, and including, lateral geniculate nucleus is an unlikely outcome of the infarction, as too much of the lateral geniculate nucleus is, proportionally, devoted to macular-stream processing.


title: WNS Global Services

text: WNS (Holdings) Limited () is a global business process management company headquartered in Mumbai, India. The company has its expansion with 60 delivery centers worldwide.


title: WNS Global Services

text: WNS was founded in 1996 by British Airways as Speedwing World Network Services in Mumbai. In May 2002, a 70% shareholding was sold to Warburg Pincus.


title: Zorin OS

text: Zorin OS is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu. It uses a GNOME 3 or XFCE 4 desktop environment as default, although the desktop is heavily customized in order to help users transition from Windows and macOS easily. Wine and PlayOnLinux are supported, allowing users to run compatible Windows software, like Microsoft Office. Zorin OS's creators maintain 3 free editions of the operating system, and a "Pro" edition for purchase.


title: Zorin OS

text: Zorin OS is fully graphical, with a graphical installer. For stability and security, it follows the long-term releases of the main Ubuntu system. It uses its own software repositories as well as Ubuntu's repositories. These repositories are accessible through the common apt-get or apt install commands via the Linux terminal, or a GUI-based software manager that provides an app store-like experience for users who don't wish to use the terminal.


title: Zorin OS

text: The OS also comes with a number of desktop layouts or themes to modify the desktop environment. The themes let users change the interface to resemble those of Microsoft Windows, macOS, or Ubuntu and allow the interface to be familiar regardless of the previous system a user has come from. As with all GNOME-based desktop environments, the look and feel of the desktop can be modified using GNOME extensions.


title: Zorin OS

text: The Pro edition is available for download with a purchase through the project's website. It offers additional layout themes for different operating systems, including both Windows 11 and "Windows Classic" (Windows 7) themes, a collection of wallpapers to choose from, and comes preinstalled with popular FOSS programs such as Blender, in-house software for managing passwords, and software for casting content to Miracast-compatible screens. The Pro edition provides installation technical support as well.


title: Zorin OS

text: Zorin OS Pro can be installed on multiple computers with one license, except for businesses and schools that must purchase a license for each PC the OS is installed onto.


title: Zorin OS

text: Zorin Grid helps to set-up, manage and secure a pool of computers with Zorin OS in a business, school or organization. It can install, remove and update apps, monitor the status of computers, define security policies, and inventory software and hardware. As of 2022, Zorin grid has not been launched yet.


title: Zorin OS

text: The project was started in 2008 by co-founders Artyom and Kyrill Zorin. The company is based in Dublin, Ireland.


title: Zorin OS

text: Zorin OS was initially released on 1 July 2009. Since version 12.4, the system's update manager can be used to upgrade existing installations; earlier versions required users to do a clean install


title: Zorin OS

text: Zorin OS has been praised for its intuitive and familiar layouts, functionality, and installation process; as well as for making it easy to use a Windows-similar layout, install NVIDIA drivers, and navigate an easy and intuitive software store.


title: Wenwu

text: Xu Wenwu ( ; ) is a fictional character portrayed by Tony Leung in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film franchise, a composite character based on the Marvel Comics characters the Mandarin and Fu Manchu but lacking the historically negative Yellow Peril stereotypes associated with these characters. In the franchise, Wenwu is the enigmatic and feared leader of the Ten Rings criminal organization and the father of Shang-Chi and Xialing. Wenwu utilizes the legendary Ten Rings — a set of ten mystical iron rings that grants him immortality and unimaginable power.


title: Wenwu

text: The Ten Rings organization first appeared in the MCU film "Iron Man" (2008) and have since been a central part of the MCU. After being impersonated by Aldrich Killian and Trevor Slattery in "Iron Man 3" (2013) and being mentioned in the short film "All Hail the King" (2014), Wenwu made his first appearance in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (2021). The character and Leung's performance have received critical acclaim, with some hailing Wenwu as one of the best villains of the MCU.


title: Wenwu

text: Iron Man originally appeared in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and designed by Don Heck, first appearing in "Tales of Suspense" #39 (cover dated March 1963) In the comics, the Mandarin is depicted as a Chinese megalomaniac with aspirations of world conquest, yet who possesses a strong sense of honor. Though a highly skilled martial artist and genius scientist, the main source of the Mandarin's powers are from the ten rings he acquired from a crashed Makluan spaceship, with each ring possessing a unique power and worn on a specific finger. The Mandarin's never-ending war on civilization has led him into conflict with Iron Man, who would eventually become his archnemesis.


title: Wenwu

text: Screenwriter Alfred Gough said in 2007 that he had developed an "Iron Man" film for New Line Cinema which included the Mandarin as the villain, conceiving the character as a younger Indonesian terrorist who masqueraded as a rich playboy Tony Stark was acquainted with.


title: Wenwu

text: While working on "Iron Man" (2008), director Jon Favreau omitted the Mandarin in favor of Obadiah Stane as the main antagonist of the film, believing that the character and the fantasy elements of his rings felt unrealistic and were more appropriate for a sequel with an altered tone. Instead, the Mandarin is referenced via the Ten Rings terrorist group in the film.


title: Wenwu

text: Early versions of the story of "Iron Man 3" (2013) featured the Mandarin as an antagonist, but writer Drew Pearce suggested the idea that the Mandarin was an impostor during one of the writing sessions, with director Shane Black agreeing by making him an actor. This led to the conception of Trevor Slattery, a washed up English actor hired by Aldrich Killian and Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) to pose as the Mandarin, with Killian adopting the mantle of the Mandarin as his own as well. The twist revealing that the Mandarin was an imposter received both critical praise and fan backlash; in response to the negative reception, the short film "All Hail the King" (2014) reconfirmed the existence of the "real" Mandarin.


title: Wenwu

text: At Marvel Studios' San Diego Comic-Con panel in July 2019, Kevin Feige revealed that the Mandarin would make his official debut in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (2021), with acclaimed Hong Kong actor Tony Leung cast in the role; the character's real name "Wenwu" was revealed by Feige during Disney Investor Day in December 2019. After decades of attempting to break into Hollywood due to rejecting degrading and stereotypical roles, Wenwu is Leung's first Hollywood role.


title: Wenwu

text: Wenwu is an original character for the Marvel Cinematic Universe who replaces Shang-Chi's original comic book father whom Marvel Studios does not hold the film rights to, serving as a composite character of Fu Manchu and the Mandarin. As the result of Marvel Comics later losing the rights to the Fu Manchu name, his later appearances give him the real name of Zheng Zu, who was previously depicted as the Mandarin and the long-reigning emperor of the "wuxia"-inspired K'un-Lun region of Battleworld in the continuity of "Secret Wars" (2015), in which he defeated by his son Shang-Chi after he defeats him in a tournament to decide K'un-Lun's next ruler.


title: Wenwu

text: The design of Wenwu's Ten Rings were changed from rings worn on the fingers in the comics to Hung Gar iron rings to avoid comparisons to the Infinity Stones, while taking inspiration from "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" (1978).


title: Wenwu

text: According to producer Jonathan Schwartz, Wenwu has taken on many different names, including "The Mandarin", which he noted came with audience expectations. Schwartz described Wenwu as a more complex and layered character than the comic book version, with director Destin Daniel Cretton adding that there were problematic aspects of the Mandarin's comic book portrayal that he wanted to change. Cretton felt Leung avoided Asian stereotypes and a one-dimensional portrayal by bringing humanity and love to the role. Leung described Wenwu as "a sociopath, a narcissist, a bigot" but refused to call him a villain, explaining that he was "a man with a history, who craves to be loved".


title: Wenwu

text: According to screenwriter David Callaham, "'The Mandarin' is a title that has been applied to him in the past by people that don’t understand his culture." The term mandarin from the Portuguese "mandarim" designates a type of bureaucrat in China and wen and wu are a concept of Chinese philosophy and Chinese administration that unites civil (wen) and military (wu) elements, with Wenwu himself associating "mandarin" with "a chicken dish" and mandarin oranges.


title: Wenwu

text: Wenwu also says that he was also called "Master Khan", a pseudonym used in the main continuity. This is a possible allusion to the idea that Wenwu is Genghis Khan himself. Before "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings", the Ten Rings logo had Mongolian scripts. In "Iron Man", said:


title: Wenwu

text: The organization Ten Rings was an original creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; the organization resembles Si-Fan from Sax Rohmer's books and the "Master of Kung Fu" series. In the animated series "", Gene Khan, the Mandarin leads the Tong. Tong is a name of a type of criminal organization of Chinese immigrants in the United States.


title: Wenwu

text: Thousands of years ago, Xu Wenwu finds the Ten Rings, mystical weapons that grant their user immortality and great power. Wenwu amasses an army of warriors called the Ten Rings and conquers many kingdoms and topples governments throughout history. In 1996, Wenwu begins searching for Ta Lo, a village said to harbor various mythical beasts, in order to expand his power. He finds the entrance of the village, but is stopped and defeated by the village's guardian, Ying Li. Wenwu and Li fall in love; forbidden from settling in Ta Lo due to his warlord past, Wenwu takes Li with him to his home in China, where they marry and have two children, Shang-Chi and Xialing. Content with his new life, Wenwu gives up the ten rings and renounces his criminal lifestyle to be with his family. When Li is murdered by the Iron Gang, old rivals of the Ten Rings, Wenwu takes up his rings and takes Shang-Chi with him to the Iron Gang's hideout, where he proceeds to brutally massacre the gangsters. Wenwu subsequently reactivates the Ten Rings organization and has Shang-Chi trained in martial arts as an assassin by Wenwu's minion Death Dealer; Xialing is forbidden from training due to her reminding Wenwu too much of Li. When Shang-Chi is 14, Wenwu sends him on a mission to kill the Iron Gang's leader and avenge Li. Despite his success, Shang-Chi is traumatized by the ordeal and abandons the Ten Rings, with Xialing doing the same six years later.


title: Wenwu

text: In an effort to cover up explosions triggered by soldiers subjected to the Extremis program, Aldrich Killian and the think tank Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) hire English actor Trevor Slattery to portray Wenwu in propaganda videos that are broadcast to the world where he and the Ten Rings claim credit for the explosions. Possessing limited knowledge of Wenwu's history and basing it only on legends of the man, Killian creates the persona of "the Mandarin" for Slattery, and even uses the title for himself; Slattery is completely oblivious to the true meaning of his actions, believing he is only starring in a movie. Wenwu is outraged over the appropriation of his image and organization; with Killian dead due to Tony Stark's actions, Wenwu has Slattery broken out of prison to be executed. However, Wenwu becomes amused by Slattery's performances and has him imprisoned in his compound as a "court jester".


title: Wenwu

text: Wenwu begins hearing Li's voice, telling him she is trapped in Ta Lo. Wenwu sends his men to take the pendants Li had gifted his children Shang-Chi and Xialing. Razor Fist leads the mission to obtain Shang-Chi's pendant during a bus ride in San Francisco. When that mission was a success, Wenwu sends his men to take Xialing's pendant at her fight club in Macau which leads to a resulting brawl between Shang-Chi and Xialing against the Ten Rings operatives led by Razor Fist and Death Dealer. Wenwu breaks up the brawl and takes his children and Shang-Chi's friend Katy to the Ten Rings compound, where he explains Li's predicament and uses her two pendants to create a map that reveals the location and time to enter Ta Lo. Wenwu also reveals his plans to destroy the village after freeing Li and imprisons his children and Katy when they refuse to go through with his plan. The three later escape the compound with Slattery and his hundun companion Morris to warn Ta Lo of the Ten Rings. Instead of giving chase, Wenwu decides to wait until the planned date to invade Ta Lo.


title: Wenwu

text: Wenwu and his forces arrive in Ta Lo to destroy the seal holding his wife, prompting a battle between the Ten Rings and the village inhabitants. Shang-Chi attempts to fight Wenwu, but is defeated and cast down into a lake. Guided by Li's voice, Wenwu begins breaking the seal holding her in Ta Lo; unbeknownst to him, Wenwu is being manipulated by the Dweller-in-Darkness, who was using Li's voice to trick Wenwu into destroying its seal with his ten rings. Revived by the Great Protector, the dragon guardian of Ta Lo, Shang-Chi uses his newfound powers to disarm Wenwu; however the seal is weakened enough for the Dweller to escape. Realizing his wife is in fact dead, Wenwu sacrifices himself to save Shang-Chi from the Dweller; reflecting on his strained relationship with Shang-Chi after Li's death, a remorseful Wenwu bequeaths his ten rings to his son, who uses them and the Ta Lo fighting style to destroy the Dweller. When the surviving villagers and Ten Rings members honor the fallen, Shang-Chi lights a paper lantern in memory of his father.


title: Wenwu

text: Following Wenwu's death, Xialing takes up leadership of the Ten Rings which she restructures to also include women fighters.


title: Wenwu

text: Angie Han of "The Hollywood Reporter" praised Tony Leung's sincerity in portraying Wenwu in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" as having him made as a "supervillain with a soul". "RogerEbert.com"s Nick Allen similarly believed Leung was the film's "most brilliant" casting and enjoyed the various fight sequences featuring him since Destin Daniel Cretton changed the height, light, reflections, and staging for each. Writing for "Empire", Laura Sirikul praised Leung's choreography in the film. Jake Cole of "Slant Magazine" praised Leung as "effortlessly convey[ing] the calm malice with which Wenwu asserts his absolute power as well as the anguish that the man feels over the loss of his wife", although describing the flashbacks featuring the character as "superfluous" with "emotional flatness" that brought the film "to a crawl" each time they were used.


title: Wenwu

text: McNeal, Robin. "Conquer and Govern: Early Chinese Military Texts from the Yi Zhou shu". Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2012.


title: Fort McHenry

text: Fort McHenry is a historical American coastal pentagonal bastion fort on Locust Point, now a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. It is best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy from the Chesapeake Bay on September 13–14, 1814. It was first built in 1798 and was used continuously by the U.S. armed forces through World War I and by the Coast Guard in World War II. It was designated a national park in 1925, and in 1939 was redesignated a "National Monument and Historic Shrine".


title: Fort McHenry

text: During the War of 1812 an American storm flag, , was flown over Fort McHenry during the bombardment. It was replaced early on the morning of September 14, 1814, with a larger American garrison flag, . The larger flag signaled American victory over the British in the Battle of Baltimore. The sight of the ensign inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry" that was later set to the tune "To Anacreon in Heaven" and became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States.


title: Fort McHenry

text: Fort McHenry was built on the site of the former Fort Whetstone, which had defended Baltimore from 1776 to 1797. Fort Whetstone stood on Whetstone Point (today's residential and industrial area of Locust Point) peninsula, which juts into the opening of Baltimore Harbor between the Basin (today's Inner Harbor) and Northwest branch on the north side and the Middle and Ferry (now Southern) branches of the Patapsco River on the south side.


title: Fort McHenry

text: The Frenchman Jean Foncin designed the fort in 1798, and it was built between 1798 and 1800. The new fort's purpose was to improve the defenses of the increasingly important Port of Baltimore from future enemy attacks.


title: Fort McHenry

text: The new fort was a bastioned pentagon, surrounded by a dry moat—a deep, broad trench. The moat would serve as a shelter from which infantry might defend the fort from a land attack. In case of such an attack on this first line of defense, each point, or bastion could provide a crossfire of cannon and small arms fire.


title: Fort McHenry

text: Fort McHenry was named after early American statesman James McHenry (1753–1816), a Scots-Irish immigrant and surgeon-soldier. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress from Maryland and a signer of the United States Constitution. Afterwards, he was appointed United States Secretary of War (1796–1800), serving under Presidents George Washington and John Adams.


title: Fort McHenry

text: Beginning at 6:00 a.m. on September 13, 1814, British warships under the command of Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane continuously bombarded Fort McHenry for 25 hours. The American defenders had 18-, 24- and 32-pounder () cannons. The British guns had a range of , and the British rockets had a range, but neither guns nor rockets were accurate. The British ships were unable to pass Fort McHenry and penetrate Baltimore Harbor because of its defenses, including a chain of 22 sunken ships, and the American cannons. The British vessels were only able to fire their rockets and mortars at the fort at the weapons' maximum range. The poor accuracy on both sides resulted in very little damage to either side before the British, having depleted their ammunition, ceased their attack on the morning of September 14. Thus the naval part of the British invasion of Baltimore had been repulsed. Only one British warship, a bomb vessel, received a direct hit from the fort's return fire, which wounded one crewman.


title: Fort McHenry

text: The Americans, under the command of Major George Armistead, lost four killed—including one black soldier, Private William Williams, and a woman who was cut in half by a bomb as she carried supplies to the troops—and 24 wounded. At one point during the bombardment, a bomb crashed through the fort's powder magazine. However, either the rain extinguished the fuse or the bomb was a dud.


title: Fort McHenry

text: Washington lawyer Francis Scott Key went to Baltimore to negotiate the release of Dr. William Beanes, a civilian prisoner of war, and there he witnessed the bombardment from a nearby truce ship. An oversized American flag had been sewn by Mary Pickersgill for $405.90 in anticipation of the British attack on the fort. Key saw the flag emerge intact in the dawn of September 14, and he was so moved that he began to compose "Defence of Fort M'Henry" set to the tune "To Anacreon in Heaven". It was renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and became the United States' national anthem.


title: Fort McHenry

text: During the American Civil War the area where Fort McHenry sits served as a military prison, confining both Confederate soldiers, as well as a large number of Maryland political figures who were suspected of being Confederate sympathizers. The imprisoned included newly elected Baltimore Mayor George William Brown, the city council, and the new police commissioner, George P. Kane, and members of the Maryland General Assembly along with several newspaper editors and owners. Francis Scott Key's grandson, Francis Key Howard, was one of these political detainees. Some of the cells used still exist and can be visited at the fort. Fort McHenry also served to train artillery at this time; this service is the origin of the Rodman guns presently located and displayed at the fort.


title: Fort McHenry

text: On 25 May 1861 John Merryman was arrested in Baltimore County and imprisoned in Fort McHenry. Merryman had had a role in destroying bridges in Maryland to impede the movement of Union troops. Merryman petitioned Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney for a writ of "habeas corpus", and Taney granted the petition, demanding that Merryman appear in his courtroom the next day and sending U.S. Marshals to the fort to enforce the ruling. A famous and dramatic standoff then occurred at the gates of the fort between the Federal Marshals and General George Cadwalader, the commander of Union troops of the Fort. The commander refused to comply with the order on the grounds that he was acting under orders from President Abraham Lincoln, who had suspended habeas corpus. The court case, "Ex parte Merryman", remains unresolved, and the Executive Branch continued to refuse to comply with Taney's ruling.


title: Fort McHenry

text: During World War I, an additional hundred-odd buildings were built on the land surrounding the fort in order to convert the entire facility into an enormous U.S. Army hospital for the treatment of troops returning from the European conflict. None of those buildings remain, while the original fort has been preserved and restored to essentially its condition during the War of 1812.


title: Fort McHenry

text: During World War II, Fort McHenry served as a Coast Guard base. Used for training, the historic sections remained open to the public.


title: Fort McHenry

text: The fort was made a national park in 1925; on August 11, 1939, it was redesignated a "National Monument and Historic Shrine", the only such doubly designated place in the United States. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. It has become national tradition that when a new flag is designed it first flies over Fort McHenry. The first official 49- and 50-star American flags were flown over the fort and are still located on the premises.


title: Fort McHenry

text: The fort has become a center of recreation for the Baltimore locals as well as a prominent tourist destination. Thousands of visitors come each year to see the "Birthplace of the Star-Spangled Banner." It's easily accessible by water taxi from the popular Baltimore Inner Harbor. However, to prevent abuse of the parking lots at the Fort, the National Park Service does not permit passengers to take the water taxi back to the Inner Harbor unless they have previously used it to arrive at the monument.


title: Fort McHenry

text: Several authorized archaeological digs have been conducted, and found artifacts are on display in one of the buildings surrounding the Parade Ground. These structures, as well as the Visitor Center, have numerous other exhibits as well that show the fort's use over time.


title: Fort McHenry

text: Every September, the City of Baltimore commemorates Defenders Day in honor of the Battle of Baltimore. It is the biggest celebration of the year at the Fort, accompanied by a weekend of programs, events, and fireworks.


title: Fort McHenry

text: In 2005 the living history volunteer unit, the Fort McHenry Guard, was awarded the George B. Hartzog award for serving the National Park Service as the best volunteer unit. Among the members of the unit is Martin O'Malley, the former mayor of Baltimore and Governor of Maryland, who was made the unit's honorary colonel in 2003.


title: Fort McHenry

text: The flag that flew over Fort McHenry, the Star-Spangled Banner Flag, has deteriorated to an extremely fragile condition. After undergoing restoration at the National Museum of American History, it is now on display there in a special exhibit that allows it to lie at a slight angle in dim light.


title: Fort McHenry

text: The United States Code currently authorizes Fort McHenry's closure to the public in the event of a national emergency for use by the military for the duration of such an emergency.


title: Fort McHenry

text: In 2013, Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine was honored with its own quarter under the America the Beautiful Quarters Program.


title: Fort McHenry

text: On September 10–16, 2014, Fort McHenry celebrated the bicentennial of the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner called the Star-Spangled Spectacular. The event included a parade of tall ships, a large fireworks show, and the Navy's Blue Angels


title: Fort McHenry

text: , restoration efforts began to preserve the original brick used in construction of the Fort, primarily through mortar replacement.


title: Fort McHenry

text: On August 26, 2020, when due to the COVID-19 pandemic a normal Republican National Convention could not be held, vice president Mike Pence held his acceptance speech after being nominated for a second term as vice president of the United States at Fort McHenry.


title: Toco toucan

text: The toco toucan (Ramphastos toco), also known as the common toucan or giant toucan, is the largest and probably the best known species in the toucan family. It is found in semi-open habitats throughout a large part of central and eastern South America. It is a common attraction in zoos.


title: Toco toucan

text: The toco toucan has conspicuously contrasting plumage with a mainly black body, a white throat, chest and uppertail-coverts, and red undertail-coverts. What appears to be a blue iris is actually thin blue skin around the eye. This blue skin is surrounded by another ring of bare, orange skin. The most noticeable feature, however, is its huge bill, which measures from in length, which is yellow-orange, tending to deeper reddish-orange on its lower sections and culmen, and with a black base and large spot on the tip. It looks heavy, but as in other toucans it is relatively light because the inside largely is hollow. The tongue is nearly as long as the bill and very flat. This species is the largest toucan and the largest representative of the order Piciformes. The total length of the species is . Body weight in these birds can vary from , with males averaging against the smaller female, which averages . Among standard measurements, the wing chord is , the tail is and the tarsus is . Other than the size difference, there are no external differences between the sexes. Juveniles are duller and shorter-billed than adults. Its voice consists of a deep, coarse croaking, often repeated every few seconds. It also has a rattling call and will bill-clack.


title: Toco toucan

text: The bill is serrated and is the largest relative to body size of all birds providing 30 to 50% of its body surface area, although another Neotropical species, the sword-billed hummingbird, has a longer bill relative to its body length. It was called by Buffon a "grossly monstrous" appendage. Diverse functions have been suggested. Charles Darwin suggested it was a sexual ornament: "toucans may owe the enormous size of their beaks to sexual selection, for the sake of displaying the diversified and vivid stripes of colour with which these organs are ornamented". Further suggestions have included aid in peeling fruit, intimidating other birds when robbing their nests, social selection related to defense of territory, and as a visual warning.


title: Toco toucan

text: Research has shown that one function is as a surface area for heat exchange. The bill has the ability to modify blood flow and so regulate heat distribution in the body, allowing for the use of the bill as a thermal radiator. In terms of surface area used for this function, the bill relative to the bird's size is amongst the largest of any animal and has a network of superficial blood vessels supporting the thin horny sheath on the bill made of keratin called the rhamphotheca.


title: Toco toucan

text: In its capacity to remove body heat, the bill is comparable to that of elephant ears. The ability to radiate heat depends upon air speed: if this is low, only 25% of the adult bird's resting heat production is radiated; if high, it radiates as much as four times this heat production. In comparison, the bill of a duck and the ears of an elephant can shed only about 9% of resting heat production. The bill normally is responsible for 30 to 60% of heat loss. The practice of toco toucans of placing their bills under their wings may serve to insulate the bill and reduce heat loss during sleep. It has been observed that "complexities of the vasculature and controlling mechanisms needed to adjust the blood flow to the bill may not be completely developed until adulthood."


title: Toco toucan

text: The toco toucan occurs in northern and eastern Bolivia, extreme south-eastern Peru, northern Argentina, eastern and central Paraguay, and eastern and southern Brazil (excluding southern Rio Grande do Sul, the dry regions dominated by Caatinga vegetation and coastal regions between Ceará and Rio de Janeiro). Other disjunct populations occur along the lower Amazon River (Ilha de Marajó west approximately to the Madeira River), far northern Brazil in Roraima, coastal regions of the Guianas and it has been recently registered in north-west Uruguay. It only penetrates the Amazon in relatively open areas (e.g. along rivers). It is resident, but local movements may occur.


title: Toco toucan

text: It is, unlike the other members of the genus "Ramphastos", essentially a non-forest species. It can be found in a wide range of semi-open habitats such as woodland, savanna and other open habitats with scattered trees, Cerrado, plantations, forest-edge, and even wooded gardens. It is mainly a species of lowlands, but occurs up to near the Andes in Bolivia. It is easily seen in the Pantanal.


title: Toco toucan

text: The toco toucan eats fruit using its bill to pluck them from trees, but also insects, frogs, small reptiles, small birds and their eggs and nestlings. The long bill is useful for reaching things that otherwise would be out-of-reach. It is typically seen in pairs or small groups. In flight it alternates between a burst of rapid flaps with the relatively short, rounded wings, and gliding. Nesting is seasonal, but timing differs between regions. The nest is typically placed high in a tree and consists of a cavity, at least part of which is excavated by the parent birds themselves. It has also been recorded nesting in holes in earth-banks and terrestrial termite-nests. Their reproduction cycle is annual. The female usually lays two to four eggs a few days after mating. The eggs are incubated by both sexes and hatch after 17–18 days. These birds are very protective of themselves and their chicks.


title: Toco toucan

text: Like the keel-billed toucan, the toco toucan is sometimes kept in captivity, but has a high fruit diet and is sensitive to hemochromatosis (an iron storage disease). Also, pet toco toucans must not be permitted to eat mouse (or rat) meat, due to a risk of bacterial infection. There is an ongoing population management plan that should help to revert the decreasing captive population of the toco toucan for Association of Zoos and Aquariums member institutions. This is the second management plan that is occurring since 2001.


title: Toco toucan

text: Because it prefers open habitats, the toco toucan is likely to benefit from the widespread deforestation in tropical South America. It has a large range and except in the outer regions of its range, it typically is fairly common. It is therefore considered to be of Least Concern by BirdLife International.


title: Emperor Kinmei

text: Kinmei's contemporary title would not have been "tennō", as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably , meaning "the great king who rules all under heaven". Alternatively, Kinmei might have been referred to as or the "Great King of Yamato".


title: Emperor Kinmei

text: Because of several chronological discrepancies in the account of Emperor Kinmei in the "Nihon Shoki", some believe that he was actually ruling a rival court to that of Emperors Ankan and Senka. Nevertheless, according to the traditional account, it was not until the death of Emperor Kinmei's older brother Emperor Senka that he gained the throne.


title: Emperor Kinmei

text: According to this account, Emperor Senka died in 539 at the age of 73; and succession passed to the third son of Emperor Keitai. This Imperial Prince was the next youngest brother of Emperor Senka. He would come to be known as Emperor Kinmei. He established his court at in Yamato.


title: Emperor Kinmei

text: Although the imperial court was not moved to the Asuka region of Japan until 592, Emperor Kinmei's rule is considered by some to be the beginning of the Asuka period of Yamato Japan, particularly by those who associate the Asuka period primarily with the introduction of Buddhism to Japan from Baekje.


title: Emperor Kinmei

text: According to the "Nihon Shoki", Emperor Kinmei received a bronze statue of Gautama Buddha as a gift from the king of Baekje King Song Myong (聖明王, "Seimei Ō") along with a significant envoy of artisans, monks, and other artifacts in 552. (However, according to the Jōgū Shōtoku Hōō Teisetsu, Buddhism was introduced in 538.) This episode is widely regarded as the official introduction of Buddhism to the country.


title: Emperor Kinmei

text: With the introduction of a new religion to the court, a deep rift developed between the Mononobe clan, whose members supported the worship of Japan's traditional deities, and the Soga clan, whose members supported the adoption of Buddhism.


title: Emperor Kinmei

text: According to the "Nihon Shoki", Emperor Kinmei ruled until his death in 571 and was buried in the . An alternate stronger theory holds that he was actually buried in the , located in .


title: Emperor Kinmei

text: The Emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine ("misasagi") at Nara. The Imperial Household Agency designates the Nara location as Kinmei's mausoleum. It is formally named "Hinokuma no saki Ai no misasagi". However, the actual sites of the graves of the early Emperors are unclear, according to some historians and archaeologists.


title: Emperor Kinmei

text: Emperor Kinmei's father was Emperor Keitai and his mother was Emperor Ninken's daughter, . In his lifetime, he was known by the name .


title: Emperor Kinmei

text: Kinmei had six Empresses and 25 Imperial children (16 sons and 9 daughters). According to Nihongi, he had six wives, but the "Kojiki" gives only five wives; identifying the third consort to be the same as the sixth one. The first three were his nieces, daughters of his half-brother Emperor Senka; two others were sisters, daughters of the Omi Soga no Iname.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: Long. Live. ASAP (stylized as LONG.LIVE.A$AP) is the debut studio album by American rapper ASAP Rocky. It was released on January 15, 2013, by ASAP Worldwide, Polo Grounds Music, and RCA Records. The album features guest appearances from Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, 2 Chainz, Drake, Big K.R.I.T., Santigold, Overdoz, Yelawolf, Florence Welch, Danny Brown, Action Bronson, Joey Badass, Gunplay, and ASAP Ferg. The album's production was handled by Rocky himself (under the pseudonym Lord Flacko), Hector Delgado, Hit-Boy, Clams Casino, Jim Jonsin, T-Minus, Danger Mouse, 40, Skrillex, and Emile Haynie, among other high-profile producers.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: The album was supported with four singles—"Goldie", "Fuckin' Problems", "Wild for the Night", and "Fashion Killa"—and Rocky's Long. Live. ASAP national tour with rappers Schoolboy Q and Danny Brown. It received generally positive reviews from critics, and charted at number one on the US "Billboard" 200.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: In May 2011, Rocky quit selling drugs and decided to focus on his rap career. When he released a music video for his song "Purple Swag", it garnered Internet buzz and attention from record labels, despite negative feedback from his native hip hop scene in New York. He was courted by several labels, including the RCA-distributed Polo Grounds Music. However, he held off from any deal with a label, instead wanting to explore other pursuits. Rocky and Polo Grounds president Bryan Leach, also a Harlem native, subsequently spent time talking about music and lifestyles.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: In August 2011, Rocky following a music video for the song "Peso", which first appeared on internet blogs and eventually received radio airplay on New York City's Hot 97. The song also earned him respect in the New York scene, of which he later said, "It bring a tear to my eye to see native New York people give me my props because New York is stubborn and arrogant". After a bidding war among labels, Rocky signed a record deal with Polo Grounds and RCA on October 14, a week after RCA's parent label, Sony Music, absorbed Jive, J and Arista into RCA itself. It was worth $3 million, with $1.7 million for his solo work and $1.3 million to fund his company ASAP Worldwide. Rocky said that he sought a "bigger platform" for him and his collective with the deal. His first studio album will be planned to be under the deal, but it allowed him to continue releasing mixtapes through RED Distribution.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: In an interview with MTV, production group The Kickdrums spoke about their collaboration with Rocky and singer Lana Del Rey. They admitted that the collaboration was Fitts' one of their members' idea. Del Rey and his production background, Fitts said: ...she's a fan of hip-hop, and he's a fan of hers, and the beat managed to just kinda bring them together. That's actually the idea of this whole tape, the genre-bending that we as the KickDrums naturally do, 'cause we grew up with a bunch of different influences, like listening to everything from Nirvana and Pink Floyd, Radiohead to Dr. Dre and Jay-Z.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: The track, featuring Del Rey was intended for a mixtape release to display KickDrums production, but instead it was cut for Rocky's album, after Sony Music Group and Interscope Records both enjoyed the track. KickDrums respected the decision and agreed to give the track to Rocky for his debut album. Previously, though, the unfinished song had been intentionally leaked online, and KickDrums were alarmed by the impact and attention it had already received. Rocky described Del Rey as his "dream girl", after the two co-starred in Del Rey's music video for "National Anthem", where he plays ex-president, John F. Kennedy. The track however did not make the final track list.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: The song "1 Train" features an ensemble of young rappers such as Kendrick Lamar, Joey Badass, Yelawolf, Danny Brown, Action Bronson and Big K.R.I.T. Rocky has described the song as "I wanted to make a posse cut that felt like an original '90s underground track, and I didn't have to tell anyone what to do". He also said he "took it upon myself to feature all the people who I respect as artists of my generation". He also said his favorite verse is K.R.I.T.'s.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: The remix to Rocky's song, "Pretty Flacko", which features Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka Flame and Pharrell Williams, was originally going to be included on the album, however it was removed due to his feud with the producer of the song SpaceGhostPurrp. It would be included for free along with the album preorder on Rocky's official website.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: Additional production was handled by ASAP Ty Beats, Soufien3000, Clams Casino, Friendzone, Joey Fatts, Hector Delgado, V Don, Jonathan "MP" Williams and self-production from Rocky as Lord Flacko.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: The album was to be officially released on September 11, 2012, but was pushed back to Halloween 2012, then delayed further, to the first quarter of 2013, to put finishing touches on it; copyright holders have stalled to grant permission for the use of particular samples on the album, and Rocky refuses to omit them. With MTV, Rocky said on the topic: "The issue with my album is I got things on it that's so out of this world that it's taking so long to get mastered. That's the issue, and I refuse to take anything off. It's complete. Everything is being mastered and cleared right now...It's just so hard to get things cleared, because you got to find people to clear samples."


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: In 2012, Rocky embarked on his Long. Live. ASAP tour with Schoolboy Q and Danny Brown. The tour was designed to promote the album when it was scheduled for a September release date.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: On December 3, 2012, while premiering his video for "Fuckin Problems", ASAP announced that his album would be released on January 15, 2013. A music video for the album's title track premiered on MTV on December 23, 2012. To celebrate his album release he performed at The Hole in downtown New York City along with his group ASAP Mob. His iPhone was also stolen at the event.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: The album's lead single, "Goldie", was released on April 30, 2012. The song was produced by Hit-Boy. For the song, Hit-Boy wanted to play-off Rocky's laid-back style of rapping, accompanied by intentional vocal distortions, to produce a sound bordering along comatose. Beneath the beat, Hit-Boy added a reverberating chant meant to add a sinister atmosphere to the track. "Goldie" peaked at number 65 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. On May 3, 2012, the music video was released for "Goldie".


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: On October 25, 2012, Rocky and Kendrick Lamar premiered the album's second single, "Fuckin' Problems", live on tour in Oakland, California. The song features guest appearances from rappers 2 Chainz, Kendrick Lamar and Drake. The song charted on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, peaking at number eight. "Billboard" labeled the production on the record's second single, "Fuckin' Problems", as a "new scorcher". To produce the beat, Rocky recruited Noah "40" Shebib, who co-produced it along with Drake under the pseudonym C. Papi. On December 4, 2012, the music video was released for "Fuckin' Problems" featuring 2 Chainz, Kendrick Lamar and Drake.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: "Wild for the Night" was first released as the album's second promotional single on January 11, 2013. The single listed both Skrillex and Birdy Nam Nam as featured guests, although the only guest listed on the album is Skrillex who produced the track along with Birdy Nam Nam and later remixed it with Rocky as Lord Flacko. On March 26, 2013, the song was officially released to rhythmic crossover radio as the album's third single. The music video for "Wild for the Night" was released on March 26, 2013, and was shot in the Dominican Republic with Skrillex and featured cameos from the ASAP Mob. The song has since peaked at number 82 on the "Billboard" Hot 100.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: The album's fourth and final single, "Fashion Killa", was released on June 17, 2013. On September 25, 2013, the music video for "Fashion Killa" premiered on "106 & Park". In November 2013, "Fashion Killa" was serviced to rhythmic contemporary radio in the United States.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: The first promotional single was the album's title track, "Long Live ASAP", which also serves as the opening track on the album. It was produced by both Jim Jonsin, Rico Love and co-produced by Finatik N Zac, Frank Romano and Rocky himself as Lord Flacko, it was released for streaming on December 20, 2012. On December 23, 2012, the music video was released for "Long Live ASAP".


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: On November 1, 2013, the music video was released for "Angels". On November 13, 2013, the music video was released for "Phoenix", dubbed as a short film it was written by Italian actress Asia Argento along with Italian director Francesco Carrozzini, it stars actor Michael K. Williams and model Joan Smalls.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: "Long. Live. ASAP" was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 75, based on 40 reviews. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.0 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: Chris DeVille of "The A.V. Club" called it "an aesthetic marvel, fully realized and unmistakably distinct". Simon Vozick-Levinson of "Rolling Stone" wrote that it "ups the ante" musically "without losing what made the [mixtape] compelling". "Pitchfork"s Jayson Greene praised Rocky's "malleability", writing that he "sounds natural in every setting", and called the album "a triumph of craft and curation, preserving Rocky's immaculate taste while smartly upgrading his sound".


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: Kyle Anderson of "Entertainment Weekly" viewed that Rocky turns "radio-baller clichés ... into contagious comic relief", and Simon Price of "The Independent" wrote that "Rocky's rhymes are believable when reminiscing about growing up poor. And when he slides into sexism, at least he's funny with it". AllMusic's David Jeffries described him as "rap's Jim Morrison, offering an accessible, attractive, and brutish journey into darkness while remaining true to his spirit". Chris Kelly of "Fact" commented that he has "an ear for captivating beats whose lyrical shortcomings can be glossed over with healthy servings of charisma and panache". Lucy Jones from "NME" stated that "Rocky's debut is full of superb moments and offers a rich tasting menu of unique sounds". In a mixed review, "Slant Magazine"s Jesse Cataldo felt that the album still finds Rocky "routinely underplaying material that demands a strong anchoring presence and refusing to push his lyrical focus beyond the usual hackneyed tropes".


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: Alexis Petridis of "The Guardian" called its music "frequently thrilling", but found the lyrics occasionally "boring". David Amidon from "PopMatters" found it relatively "safe" compared to other "cloud rap" offerings and stated, "He's still a great talent vocally, but it remains to be seen if he can match his voice with his pen". Andrew Nosnitsky of "Spin" found Rocky's lyrics superficial and clichéd, writing that "there's no personal narrative or identity here to compensate for the hollowness of his craft". Writing for "MSN Music", Robert Christgau said "the beat hooks" only on "six highly listenable, casually unmatched tracks" and wrote of Rocky, "Skillfully but never dazzlingly, congenially but never charismatically, with entertainment value added by a screwed-and-chopped alter ego, Rocky raps over the music without saying a damn thing older, meaner, and sharper rappers haven't said before".


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: "Long. Live. ASAP" was named the seventh best hip hop album of 2013 by "Exclaim!". "Complex" ranked it at number 19 on their list of the 50 best albums of 2013. "Pigeons & Planes" positioned it at number 25 on their list of the best albums of 2013. "Pitchfork" placed it at number 39 on their list of the 50 best albums of 2013.


title: Long. Live. ASAP

text: "Long. Live. ASAP" debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" 200, with 139,000 album-equivalent units and 139,000 copies in pure album sales in its first week. As of April 17, 2013, the album had sold 312,000 copies in the United States. As of April 30, 2015, the album has sold 518,000 in the United States. On October 16, 2019, the album was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of 2,000,000 units in the United States.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: Dehenna Sheridan Davison (; born 27 July 1993) is a British Conservative Party politician and broadcaster serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up since September 2022. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bishop Auckland since the 2019 general election.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: Born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Davison attended Sheffield High School. She studied British Politics and Legislative Studies at the University of Hull where she was a National Union of Students (NUS) delegate and led a successful campaign to disaffiliate the university's student union from the NUS. She was the Conservative candidate for Kingston upon Hull North and Sedgefield in the 2015 and 2017 general election respectively.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: Davison was elected as MP for Bishop Auckland in the 2019 general election. She is the first Conservative to represent the constituency since its creation in 1885. The seat had previously been held by Labour for 84 years. Since her election, she was considered a "rising star" in the party and a prominent Conservative representing a red wall constituency. She supported Liz Truss in her successful campaign to become Prime Minister in September 2022 and subsequently became Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up. Davison is a classical liberal and supported Brexit.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: Dehenna Sheridan Davison was born on 27 July 1993 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, where she grew up on a council estate. Her father was a stonemason, and her mother was a nursery nurse. Davison was educated at the independent Sheffield High School, on a scholarship. When she was 13 years old, her father was attacked and killed, his assailant being imprisoned for manslaughter. Three years later, she represented the family at a criminal injuries compensation tribunal. She has commented in interviews that the experience fostered her interest in politics.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: Davison studied British Politics and Legislative Studies at the University of Hull. During her time at the university, she spent a year working as a parliamentary aide for Jacob Rees-Mogg, the MP for North East Somerset. Davison was also a NUS delegate and played for the university's lacrosse team. She led a successful campaign to disaffiliate the university's student union from the NUS in 2016. In the same year, Davison was the Conservative candidate for the Kings Park ward in the Hull City Council election, where she finished last. In 2018, she again contested and finished fifth in the Kingswood ward.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: In her late teens and early twenties, while she was a student, Davison had a variety of jobs, including working in a video games retailer, a casino, a betting shop, and a branch of Pizza Hut.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: Prior to becoming an MP, Davison was a research and development analyst for LUMO, a company which advises businesses on tax credits.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: Davison was selected as the Conservative candidate for the Kingston upon Hull North constituency at the 2015 general election. She finished third behind the Labour Party and UK Independence Party candidates. Davison supported Brexit in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum and is a classical liberal. She next contested Sedgefield at the 2017 general election, where she finished second behind the Labour candidate. In the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election, she supported Jeremy Hunt.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: She was elected as MP for Bishop Auckland at the 2019 general election, with a majority of 7,962 (17.8%) on a swing of 9.5% from Labour to the Conservatives. Davison was the first Conservative MP for the constituency since its creation in 1885. The seat had been represented by a Labour MP since 1935. Her campaign focused on promises on Brexit, and reopening Bishop Auckland Hospital's emergency department which had been closed in 2009. Since her election, she was considered a "rising star" in the party and a prominent Conservative representing a red wall constituency. She made her maiden speech on 16 January 2020. In that month, she voiced her support for scrapping the planned high-speed railway project HS2, and re-investing the money into local transport schemes.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: On 14 February 2020, it was reported that Davison had been photographed with two far-right activists at a party to celebrate Brexit on 31 January in her constituency. In response, Davison distanced herself from the views of the two men, stating, "These photos were taken at an event open to the public and I in no way whatsoever condone the views highlighted of the individuals concerned."


title: Dehenna Davison

text: Davison was a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee from March 2020 to November 2021. She is also a member of the European Research Group, on the steering committee of the China Research Group, on the board of the Blue Collar Conservatives, and a member of the parliamentary council of the centre-right think tank The Northern Policy Foundation.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: In September 2020, Davison was criticised by her own party after she mocked then Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard for having an English accent and suggested that this was the reason for Labour's decline in support in Scotland. A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said that: "This criticism is unacceptable. It plays into the kind of divisive politics that the SNP promote."


title: Dehenna Davison

text: She founded the All-Party Parliamentary Group for One-Punch Assaults in February 2021. Her father died from a one-punch assault when she was 13 years old. She launched the Free Market Forum, a group of Conservative MPs advocating classical liberalism which is affiliated with the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank with Greg Smith in April 2021.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: Davison abstained on the vote for the Health and Social Care Levy in September 2021. The levy increased National Insurance Contributions paid by employees and employers by 1.25% between April 2022 and 2023 before becoming a separate tax from then on. She was also one of 99 Conservative MPs to vote against the introduction of Covid passes in England in December 2021. In early 2022, she voiced her support for the reform of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to include self-identification, and a conversion therapy ban to include transgender people.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: Davison was one of 148 MPs to vote against Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the 2022 Conservative Party vote of confidence in his leadership on 6 June. Johnson survived the vote of confidence but subsequently resigned on 7 July 2022 following the Chris Pincher scandal and the subsequent government crisis. She endorsed Liz Truss in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: Truss became Prime Minister on 6 September 2022 and Davison was appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities two days later. Rishi Sunak succeeded Truss as a result of the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election and Davison retained her role.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: On 25 November 2022, Davison announced that she would stand down as an MP at the next general election citing the need to have a "life outside of politics" and support her family.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: Davison has been a co-host of "The Political Correction" on GB News on Sunday mornings since June 2021. She earns £1,879.17 per month for this role.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: In 2018, Davison married John Fareham, a Conservative councillor on Hull City Council, who is 35 years her senior. The couple appeared together on the Channel 4 documentary series "Bride and Prejudice", which showed their wedding at the Guildhall, Kingston upon Hull. They separated before the 2019 general election. She lives in the village of Coundon in County Durham. Davison came out as bisexual in 2021. She was the first openly bisexual female Conservative MP. As of February 2022, she is in a relationship with diplomat Tony Kay, the head of the Arabian Peninsula department at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.


title: Dehenna Davison

text: As part of Mental Health Awareness Week 2019, Davison discussed her personal experience of depression and suicidal ideation while working in London as a parliamentary aide, after her grandmother had been diagnosed with, and subsequently died of, lung cancer. She has also been open about her past use of antidepressants.


title: Grid plan

text: In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid.


title: Grid plan

text: Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogonal geometry, facilitate movement. The geometry helps with orientation and wayfinding and its frequent intersections with the choice and directness of route to desired destinations.


title: Grid plan

text: In ancient Rome, the grid plan method of land measurement was called centuriation. The grid plan dates from antiquity and originated in multiple cultures; some of the earliest planned cities were built using grid plans in Indian subcontinent.


title: Grid plan

text: By 2600 BC, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, major cities of the Indus Valley civilization, were built with blocks divided by a grid of straight streets, running north–south and east–west. Each block was subdivided by small lanes. The cities and monasteries of Sirkap, Taxila and Thimi (in the Indus and Kathmandu Valleys), dating from the 1st millennium BC to the 11th century AD, also had grid-based designs.


title: Grid plan

text: A workers' village (2570–2500 BC) at Giza, Egypt, housed a rotating labor force and was laid out in blocks of long galleries separated by streets in a formal grid. Many pyramid-cult cities used a common orientation: a north–south axis from the royal palace and an east–west axis from the temple, meeting at a central plaza where King and God merged and crossed.


title: Grid plan

text: Hammurabi king of the Babylonian Empire in the 18th century BC, ordered the rebuilding of Babylon: constructing and restoring temples, city walls, public buildings, and irrigation canals. The streets of Babylon were wide and straight, intersected approximately at right angles, and were paved with bricks and bitumen.


title: Grid plan

text: The tradition of grid plans is continuous in China from the 15th century BC onward in the traditional urban planning of various ancient Chinese states. Guidelines put into written form in the Kaogongji during the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC) stated: "a capital city should be square on plan. Three gates on each side of the perimeter lead into the nine main streets that crisscross the city and define its grid-pattern. And for its layout the city should have the Royal Court situated in the south, the Marketplace in the north, the Imperial Ancestral Temple in the east and the Altar to the Gods of Land and Grain in the west."


title: Grid plan

text: Teotihuacan, near modern-day Mexico City, is the largest ancient grid-plan site in the Americas. The city's grid covered 21 square kilometres(8 square miles).


title: Grid plan

text: Perhaps the most well-known grid system is that spread through the colonies of the Roman Empire. The archetypal Roman Grid was introduced to Italy first by the Greeks, with such information transferred by way of trade and conquest.


title: Grid plan

text: Although the idea of the grid was present in Hellenic societal and city planning, it was not pervasive prior to the 5th century BC. However, it slowly gained primacy through the work of Hippodamus of Miletus (498 – 408 BC), who planned and replanned many Greek cities in accordance with this form. The concept of a grid as the ideal method of town planning had become widely accepted by the time of Alexander the Great. His conquests were a step in the propagation of the grid plan throughout colonies, some as far-flung as Taxila in Pakistan, that would later be mirrored by the expansion of the Roman Empire. The Greek grid had its streets aligned roughly in relation to the cardinal points and generally looked to take advantage of visual cues based on the hilly landscape typical of Greece and Asia Minor. The street grid consisted of "plateiai" and "stenophoi" (equivalent to Roman "decumani" and "cardines"). This was probably best exemplified in Priene, in present-day western Turkey, where the orthogonal city grid was based on the cardinal points, on sloping terrain that struck views out towards a river and the city of Miletus.


title: Grid plan

text: The Etruscan people, whose territories in Italy encompassed what would eventually become Rome, founded what is now the city of Marzabotto at the end of the 6th century BC. Its layout was based on Greek Ionic ideas, and it was here that the main east–west and north–south axes of a town (the "decumanus maximus" and "cardo maximus" respectively) could first be seen in Italy. According to Stanislawski (1946), the Romans did use grids until the time of the late Republic or early Empire, when they introduced "centuriation", a system which they spread around the Mediterranean and into northern Europe later on.


title: Grid plan

text: The military expansion of this period facilitated the adoption of the grid form as standard: the Romans established "castra" (forts or camps) first as military centres; some of them developed into administrative hubs. The Roman grid was similar in form to the Greek version of a grid but allowed for practical considerations. For example, Roman "castra" were often sited on flat land, especially close to or on important nodes like river crossings or intersections of trade routes. The dimensions of the "castra" were often standard, with each of its four walls generally having a length of . Familiarity was the aim of such standardisation: soldiers could be stationed anywhere around the Empire, and orientation would be easy within established towns if they had a standard layout. Each would have the aforementioned "decumanus maximus" and "cardo maximus" at its heart, and their intersection would form the forum, around which would be sited important public buildings. Indeed, such was the degree of similarity between towns that Higgins states that soldiers "would be housed at the same address as they moved from "castra" to "castra"". Pompeii has been cited by both Higgins and Laurence as the best preserved example of the Roman grid.


title: Grid plan

text: Outside of the castra, large tracts of land were also divided in accordance with the grid within the walls. These were typically per side (called "centuria"), and contained 100 parcels of land (each called "heredium"). The "decumanus maximus" and "cardo maximus" extended from the town gates out towards neighbouring settlements. These were lined up to be as straight as possible, only deviating from their path due to natural obstacles that prevented a direct route.


title: Grid plan

text: While the imposition of only one town form regardless of region could be seen as an imposition of imperial authority, there is no doubting the practical reasoning behind the formation of the Roman grid. Under Roman guidance, the grid was designed for efficiency and interchangeability, both facilitated by and aiding the expansion of their empire.


title: Grid plan

text: As Japan and the Korean peninsula became politically centralized in the 7th century AD, those societies adopted Chinese grid-planning principles in numerous locations. In Korea, Gyeongju, the capital of Unified Silla, and Sanggyeong, the capital of Balhae, adapted the Tang dynasty Chinese model. The ancient capitals of Japan, such as Fujiwara-Kyô (AD 694–710), Nara (Heijô-Kyô, AD 710–784), and Kyoto (Heian-Kyô, AD 794–1868) also adapted from Tang's capital, Chang'an. However, for reasons of defense, the planners of Tokyo eschewed the grid, opting instead for an irregular network of streets surrounding the Edo Castle grounds. In later periods, some parts of Tokyo were grid-planned, but grid plans are generally rare in Japan, and the Japanese addressing system is accordingly based on increasingly fine subdivisions, rather than a grid.


title: Grid plan

text: The grid-planning tradition in Asia continued through the beginning of the 20th century, with Sapporo, Japan (est. 1868) following a grid plan under American influence.


title: Grid plan

text: New European towns were planned using grids beginning in the 12th century, most prodigiously in the bastides of southern France that were built during the 13th and 14th centuries. Medieval European new towns using grid plans were widespread, ranging from Wales to the Florentine region. Many were built on ancient grids originally established as Roman colonial outposts. In the British Isles, the planned new town system involving a grid street layout was part of the system of burgage. An example of a medieval planned city in The Netherlands is Elburg. Bury St Edmunds is an example of a town planned on a grid system in the late 11th century.


title: Grid plan

text: The Roman model was also used in Spanish settlements during the Reconquista of Ferdinand and Isabella. It was subsequently applied in the new cities established during the Spanish colonization of the Americas, after the founding of San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Canary Islands) in 1496. In 1573, King Phillip II of Spain compiled the Laws of the Indies to guide the construction and administration of colonial communities. The Laws specified a square or rectangular central plaza with eight principal streets running from the plaza's corners. Hundreds of grid-plan communities throughout the Americas were established according to this pattern, echoing the practices of earlier Indian civilizations.


title: Grid plan

text: The baroque capital city of Malta, Valletta, dating back to the 16th century, was built following a rigid grid plan of uniformly designed houses, dotted with palaces, churches and squares.


title: Grid plan

text: The grid plan became popular with the start of the Renaissance in Northern Europe. In 1606, the newly founded city of Mannheim in Germany was the first Renaissance city laid out on the grid plan. Later came the New Town in Edinburgh and almost the entire city centre of Glasgow, and many planned communities and cities in Australia, Canada and the United States.


title: Grid plan

text: Derry, constructed in 1613–1618, was the first planned city in Ireland. The central diamond within a walled city with four gates was considered a good design for defence. The grid pattern was widely copied in the colonies of British North America.


title: Grid plan

text: In Russia the first planned city was St. Petersburg founded in 1703 by Peter I. Being aware of the modern European construction experience which he examined in the years of his Grand Embassy to Europe, the Czar ordered Domenico Trezzini to elaborate the first general plan of the city. The project of this architect for Vasilyevsky Island was a typical rectangular grid of streets (originally intended to be canals, like in Amsterdam), with three lengthwise thoroughfares, rectangularly crossed with about 30 crosswise streets.


title: Grid plan

text: The shape of street blocks on Vasilyevsky Island are the same, as was later implemented in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 for Manhattan: elongated rectangles. The longest side of each block faces the relatively narrow street with a numeric name (in Petersburg they are called "Liniya" (Line)) while the shortest side faces wide avenues. To denote avenues in Petersburg, a special term "prospekt" was introduced. Inside the grid of Vasilyevsky Island there are three prospekts, named "Bolshoi" ("Big"), "Sredniy "("Middle") and "Maly" ("Small") while the far ends of each lines cross with the embankments of Bolshaya Neva and Smolenka rivers in the delta of the Neva River.


title: Grid plan

text: The peculiarity of 'lines' (streets) naming in this grid is that are each side of street has its own number, so one 'line' is a side of a street, not the whole street. The numbering is latently zero-based, however the supposed "zero line" has its proper name "Kadetskaya liniya", while the opposite side of this street is called the '1-st Line'. Next street is named the '2-nd Line' on the eastern side, and the '3-rd Line' on the western side. After the reorganization of house numbering in 1834 and 1858 the even house numbers are used on the odd-numbered lines, and respectively odd house numbers are used for the even-numbered lines. The maximum numbers for 'lines' in Petersburg are 28-29th lines.


title: Grid plan

text: Later in the middle of the 18th century another grid of rectangular blocks with the numbered streets appeared in the continental part of the city: 13 streets named from the '1-st Rota' up to the '13-th Rota', where the companies (, ) of the Izmaylovsky Regiment were located.


title: Grid plan

text: Many of the earliest cities in the United States, such as Boston, did not start with a grid system. However, even in pre-revolutionary days some cities saw the benefits of such a layout. New Haven Colony, one of the earliest colonies in America, was designed with a tiny 9-square grid at its founding in 1638. On a grander scale, Philadelphia was designed on a rectilinear street grid in 1682: one of the first cities in North America to use a grid system. At the urging of city founder William Penn, surveyor Thomas Holme designed a system of wide streets intersecting at right angles between the Schuylkill River to the west and the Delaware River to the east, including five squares of dedicated parkland. Penn advertised this orderly design as a safeguard against overcrowding, fire, and disease, which plagued European cities. Holme drafted an ideal version of the grid, but alleyways sprouted within and between larger blocks as the city took shape. As the United States expanded westward, grid-based city planning modeled on Philadelphia's layout would become popular among frontier cities, making grids ubiquitous across the country.


title: Grid plan

text: Another well-known grid plan is the plan for New York City formulated in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, a proposal by the state legislature of New York for the development of most of Manhattan above Houston Street.


title: Grid plan

text: Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, was planned under French-American architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant. Under the L'Enfant plan, the original District of Columbia was developed using a grid plan that is interrupted by diagonal avenues, most famously Pennsylvania Avenue. These diagonals are often connected by traffic circles, such as Dupont Circle and Washington Circle. As the city grew, the plan was duplicated to cover most of the remainder of the capital. Meanwhile, the core of the city faced disarray and the McMillan Plan, led by Senator James McMillan, was adopted to build a National Mall and a parks system that is still today a jewel of the city.


title: Grid plan

text: Often, some of the streets in a grid are numbered (First, Second, etc.), lettered, or arranged in alphabetical order. Downtown San Diego uses all three schemes: north–south streets are numbered from west to east, and east–west streets are split between a lettered series running southward from A through L and a series of streets named after trees or plants, running northward alphabetically from Ash to Walnut. As in many cities, some of these streets have been given new names violating the system (the former D Street is now Broadway, the former 12th Avenue is now Park Boulevard, etc.); this has meant that 2nd, not 1st, is the most common street name in the United States.


title: Grid plan

text: An exception to the typical, uniform grid is the plan of Savannah, Georgia (1733), known as the Oglethorpe Plan. It is a composite, cellular city block consisting of four large corner blocks, four small blocks in between and a public square in the centre; the entire composition of approximately ten acres (four hectares) is known as a ward. Its cellular structure includes all the primary land uses of a neighborhood and has for that reason been called fractal. Its street configuration presages modern traffic calming techniques applied to uniform grids where certain selected streets become discontinuous or narrow, thus discouraging through traffic. The configuration also represents an example of functional shared space, where pedestrian and vehicular traffic can safely and comfortably coexist.


title: Grid plan

text: In the westward development of the United States, the use of the grid plan was nearly universal in the construction of new settlements, such as in Salt Lake City (1870), Dodge City (1872) and Oklahoma City (1890). In these western cities the streets were numbered even more carefully than in the east to suggest future prosperity and metropolitan status.


title: Grid plan

text: One of the main advantages of the grid plan was that it allowed the rapid subdivision and auction of a large parcel of land. For example, when the legislature of the Republic of Texas decided in 1839 to move the capital to a new site along the Colorado River, the functioning of the government required the rapid population of the town, which was named Austin. Charged with the task, Edwin Waller designed a fourteen-block grid that fronted the river on 640 acres (exactly 1 square mile; about 2.6 km). After surveying the land, Waller organized the almost immediate sale of 306 lots, and by the end of the year the entire Texas government had arrived by oxcart at the new site. Apart from the speed of surveying advantage, the rationale at the time of the grid's adoption in this and other cities remains obscure.


title: Grid plan

text: In 1836 William Light drew up his plans for Adelaide, South Australia, spanning the River Torrens. Two areas south (the city centre) and north (North Adelaide) of the river were laid out in grid pattern, with the city surrounded by the Adelaide Park Lands.


title: Grid plan

text: Hoddle Grid is the name given to the layout of Melbourne, Victoria, named after the surveyor Robert Hoddle, who marked it out in 1837 establishing the first formal town plan. This grid of streets, laid out when there were only a few hundred settlers, became the nucleus for what is now a city of over 5 million people, the city of Melbourne. The unusual dimensions of the allotments and the incorporation of narrow 'little' streets were the result of compromise between Hoddle's desire to employ the regulations established in 1829 by previous New South Wales Governor Ralph Darling, requiring square blocks and wide, spacious streets and Bourke's desire for rear access ways (now the 'little' streets, for example Little Collins Street).


title: Grid plan

text: The term "town acre" (often spelt with initial capital letters) may have originated with Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who was involved in various schemes to promote the colonisation of South Australia in the 1830s, and, as founder of the New Zealand Company, the plans for Wellington, New Plymouth and Nelson. All of these towns were laid out on a grid plan, so it was easy to divide the land into plots of an acre (approximately 0.4 ha.), and these became known as town acres. Adelaide was divided into 1042 Town Acres. Maps showing the divisions of the town acres are available for Adelaide, Nelson, and Wellington.


title: Grid plan

text: Ildefons Cerdà, a Spanish civil engineer, defined a concept of urban planning, based on the grid, that he applied to the Eixample of Barcelona. The Eixample grid introduced innovative design elements which were exceptional at the time and even unique among subsequent grid plans:


title: Grid plan

text: These innovations he based on functional grounds: the block size, to enable the creation of a quiet interior open space (60 m by 60 m) and allow ample sunlight and ventilation to its perimeter buildings; the rectilinear geometry, the wide streets and boulevards to sustain high mobility and the truncated corners to facilitate turning of carts and coaches and particularly vehicles on fixed rails.


title: Grid plan

text: In maps of larger American cities the downtown areas are almost always grids. These areas represent the original land dimensions of the founded city, generally around one square mile. Some cities expanded the grid further out from the centre, but maps also show that, in general, as the distance from the centre increases, a variety of patterns emerge in no particular discernible order. In juxtaposition to the grid they appear random. These new patterns have been systematically classified and their design characteristics measured.


title: Grid plan

text: In the United States, the grid system was widely used in most major cities and their suburbs until the 1960s. However, during the 1920s, the rapid adoption of the automobile caused a panic among urban planners, who, based on observation, claimed that speeding cars would eventually kill tens of thousands of small children per year. Apparently, at this early stage of the car's entry into the grid, the streets of major cities worldwide were the scene of virtual "slaughter" as the fatality rate in proportion to population was more than double the current rate. In 2009, after several decades of road safety improvements and a continuous decline in fatalities, an estimated 33,963 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes and, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, "Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children from 3 to 14 years old." Planners, therefore, called for an inwardly focused "superblock" arrangement that minimized through automobile traffic and discouraged cars from traveling on anything but arterial roads; traffic generators, such as apartment complexes and shops, would be restricted to the edges of the superblock, along the arterial. This paradigm prevailed between about 1930 and 1960, especially in Los Angeles, where notable examples include Leimert Park (an early example) and Panorama City (a late-period one).


title: Grid plan

text: A prominent 20th century urbanist, Lewis Mumford, severely criticized some of the grid's characteristics: "With a T-square and a triangle, finally, the municipal engineer could, without the slightest training as either an architect or a sociologist, 'plan' a metropolis, with its standard lots, its standard blocks, its standard street widths, in short, with its standardized comparable, and replaceable parts. The new gridiron plans were spectacular in their inefficiency and waste. By usually failing to discriminate sufficiently between main arteries and residential streets, the first were not made wide enough while the second were usually too wide for purely neighborhood functions... as for its contribution to the permanent social functions of the city, the anonymous gridiron plan proved empty."


title: Grid plan

text: In the 1960s, traffic engineers and urban planners abandoned the grid virtually wholesale in favor of a "street hierarchy". This is a thoroughly "asymmetric" street arrangement in which a residential subdivision—often surrounded by a noise wall or a security gate—is completely separated from the road network except for one or two connections to arterial roads. In a way, this is a return to medieval styles: as noted in Spiro Kostof's seminal history of urban design, "The City Shaped", there is a strong resemblance between the street arrangements of modern American suburbs and those of medieval Arab and Moorish cities. In each case, the community unit at hand—the clan or extended family in the Muslim world, the economically homogeneous subdivision in modern suburbia—isolates itself from the larger urban scene by using dead ends and "culs-de-sac".


title: Grid plan

text: One famous grid system is in the British new town of Milton Keynes. In this planned city, which began construction in 1967, a system of ten "horizontal" (roughly east–west) and eleven "vertical" (roughly north–south) roads was used, with roundabouts at each intersection. The horizontal roads were all given names ending in 'way' and H numbers (for 'horizontal', e.g. H3 Monks Way). The vertical roads were given names ending in 'street' and V numbers (for 'vertical', e.g. V6 Grafton Street). Each grid road was spaced roughly one kilometre along from the next, forming squares of approximately one square kilometre. Each square and each roundabout was given its own name. The system provided very easy transport within the city, although it confused visitors who were unfamiliar with the system. The grid squares thus formed are far larger than the city blocks described earlier, and the road layouts within the grid squares are generally 'organic' in form – matching the street hierarchy model described above.


title: Grid plan

text: "Street width", or right of way (ROW), influences the amount of land that is devoted to streets, which becomes unavailable for development and therefore represents an opportunity cost. The wider the street, the higher the opportunity cost. Street width is determined by circulation and aesthetic considerations and is not dependent on the pattern configuration. Any configuration can have wide or narrow streets.


title: Grid plan

text: "Street length" influences proportionately the number of street components that have to be constructed such as pavement, curbs and sidewalks, storm sewers and drains, light poles, and trees. The street length of a given area of development depends on the frequency at which streets occur which in turn depends on the length and width of a block. The higher the frequency of streets the longer is their total length. The smaller the block dimensions the higher the frequency of the streets. As the frequency of street increases so does the number of intersections. Intersections normally cost more than straight street length because they are labour-intensive and require street and traffic signage.


title: Grid plan

text: "Pavement width" influences the cost by affecting the amount of materials and labour required to provide a finished road surface. Pavement width is generally based on traffic engineering considerations and is not dependent on pattern configuration. As with the street width, any pattern can have wide or narrow pavements.


title: Grid plan

text: Of all three factors that affect cost, street width, street length and pavement width, only street length is pattern dependent. An objective cost comparison would, therefore, rely on this variable with the full understanding that the other variables, though optional, can play a role.


title: Grid plan

text: Traditional orthogonal grid patterns generally have greater street frequencies than discontinuous patterns. For example, Portland's block is 200 feet × 200 feet while Miletus' is half that size and Timgad's half again (see diagram). Houston, Sacramento and Barcelona are progressively bigger reaching up to four times the area of Portland's block. New York's 1811 plan (see above) has blocks of . in width and variable lengths ranging from about to feet. The corresponding frequency of streets for each of these block sizes affects the street length.


title: Grid plan

text: A simple example of a grid street pattern (see diagram) illustrates the progressive reduction in "total" street length (the sum of all individual street lengths) and the corresponding increase in block length. For a corresponding reduction of one, two, three and four streets within this parcel, the street length is reduced from an original total of to linear feet, a 39% reduction. Simultaneously, block lengths increase from 200 × 200 feet to 1240 × 200 feet. When all five blocks have reached the ultimate size of four street lengths out of total eight have been eliminated. Block lengths of or larger rarely appear in grid plans and are not recommended as they hinder pedestrian movement (Pedestrianism, below). From the pedestrian perspective, the smaller the block is, the easier the navigation and the more direct the route. Consequently, the finer grids are preferred.


title: Grid plan

text: Patterns that incorporate discontinuous street types such as crescents and culs-de-sac have not, in general, regarded pedestrian movement as a priority and, consequently, have produced blocks that are usually in the range and often exceed it. As a result, street frequency drops and so does the "total" street length and, therefore, the cost. In general, it is not the street pattern per se that affects costs but the frequency of streets that it either necessitates or purposely incorporates.


title: Grid plan

text: An inherent advantage of the orthogonal geometry of a proper grid is its tendency to yield regular lots in well-packed sequences. This maximizes the use of the land of the block; it does not, however, affect street frequency. Any frequency of orthogonal streets produces the same packing effect. Orthogonal geometry also minimizes disputes over lot boundaries and maximizes the number of lots that could front a given street. John Randal said Manhattan's grid plan facilitated "buying, selling and improving real estate".


title: Grid plan

text: Another important aspect of street grids and the use of rectilinear blocks is that traffic flows of either pedestrians, cars, or both, only cross at right angles. This is an important traffic safety feature, since no one entering the intersection needs to look over their shoulder to see oncoming traffic. Any time traffic flows meet at an acute angle, someone cannot see traffic approaching them. The grid is thus a geometric response to our human physiology. It is very likely the original purpose of grid layouts comes from the Athenian Agora. Before the grid organization, markets were laid out randomly in a field with traffic approaches at odd angles. This caused carts and wagons to turn over due to frequent collisions. Laying out the market stalls into regularized rows at right angles solved this problem and was later built into the Athenian Agora and copied ever since.


title: Grid plan

text: Typical uniform grids are unresponsive to topography. Priene's plan, for example, is set on a hill side and most of its north–south streets are stepped, a feature that would have made them inaccessible to carts, chariots and loaded animals. Many modern cities, such as San Francisco, Vancouver, and Saint John, New Brunswick, follow Priene's example, "e.g.". In a modern context, steep grades limit accessibility by car, and more so by bicycle, on foot, or wheelchair, particularly in cold climates.


title: Grid plan

text: The same inflexibility of the grid leads to disregarding environmentally sensitive areas such as small streams and creeks or mature woodlots in preference for the application of the immutable geometry. It is said of the NY grid plan that it flattened all obstacles in its way. By contrast, recent discontinuous street patterns follow the configuration of natural features without disrupting them. The grid represents a rationalist, reductionist solution to a multifaceted issue.


title: Grid plan

text: The grid's inherent high street and intersection frequencies produce large areas of impermeable surfaces in the street pavement and the sidewalks. In comparison with recent networks with discontinuous street types, grids can be up to 30% higher in impermeable surfaces attributable to roads. The emerging environmental priority of retaining as much as 90% of rain water on site becomes problematic with high percentages of impermeable surfaces. And since roads constitute the largest share of the total impermeable surfaces of a development, the difficulty is compounded by the grid type of layout. For these reasons modern planners have attempted to modify the rigid, uniform, classic grid.


title: Grid plan

text: Some cities, notably Seattle, have devised means to improve a street's retention capacity. However, frequent intersections as they occur in a regular grid would pose an obstacle to their effective application.


title: Grid plan

text: A street network pattern can affect the production of pollutants by the amount of car travel that it necessitates and the speed at which cars can travel. The grid plan with its frequent intersections may displace a portion of the local car trips with walking or biking due to the directness of route that it offers to pedestrians. But, as long as cars are also allowed on those streets, it makes the same routes more direct for cars, which could be an enticement for driving. The potential car trip displacement would result in a reduction of pollutant emissions. The advantage of the intersection density for pedestrians, however, can have a contrary effect for cars due to its potential for reducing speeds. Low speeds below have a significantly higher coefficient of pollutant production than above , though the coefficient after leveling off tends to increase gradually after . This effect is accentuated with high traffic density in areas with commercial uses where speeds come to a crawl. Since the grid plan is non-hierarchical and intersections are frequent, all streets can be subject to this potential reduction of average speeds, leading to a high production of pollutants. Greenhouse and noxious gases can be detrimental to the environment and to resident health.


title: Grid plan

text: In his seminal 1982 study on livable streets that was conducted in neighbourhoods with a grid, Donald Appleyard showed that social networking and street playing degraded as traffic increased on a street. His research provided the groundwork for traffic calming and for several initiatives such as living streets and Home Zones, all of which are aimed at improving a street's social milieu. The amount of traffic on a street depends on variables such as the population density of the neighbourhood, car ownership and its proximity to commercial, institutional or recreational edifices. Most importantly, however, it depends on whether a street is or could become a through road to a destination. As a through road, it could sustain unpredictable levels of traffic that may fluctuate during the day and increase over time.