title: Walther PPQ

text: The PPQ First Edition is a variant marketed in the United States. These pistols have PPQ First Edition roll marked on the slide and feature a long special barrel with a threaded muzzle for mounting a suppressor and fixed metal 3-dot tritium night sights. Further these pistols are delivered with a standard staggered-column magazine, a second magazine with a +2 baseplate that adds 2 rounds to the magazine capacity and a set of standard polymer sights which use afterglow paint as contrast enhancements instead of tritium inserts.


title: Walther PPQ

text: The PPQ M2 is a variant introduced at the 2013 Shot Show by the newly formed Walther Arms Inc. It has the same features as the standard PPQ with the sole exception that the ambidextrous magazine release levers incorporated into the bottom of the trigger guard have been omitted and replaced by a thumb release push-button located behind the bottom of the trigger guard. For left-handed use the magazine release push-button is reversible.<br>


title: Walther PPQ

text: The PPQ M2 Navy SD was introduced in 2014 and is a 9×19mm Parabellum variant that has a firing mechanism that has been modified for operations in and near water. A non-standard hole in the striker channel ensures sufficient water displacement if the weapon becomes completely flooded with water. Hydraulic resistance is offset by means of a stronger striker spring. In addition, special guides reduce the hydraulic resistance when the striker moves forward. It has a long special barrel with a threaded muzzle for mounting a suppressor. These pistols are delivered with a standard staggered-column magazine and a second magazine with a +2 baseplate that add 2 rounds to the magazine capacity.


title: Walther PPQ

text: The PPQ M2 5" Sport was introduced in 2014 and is a PPQ sport shooting orientated variant offered in 9×19mm Parabellum and .40 S&W chamberings featuring a longer barrel and slide assembly that offers a sight line. The lengthened slide has two rows of three oval shaped lightening cut openings at the muzzle end of the slide. The PPQ M2 5" Sport models have an overall length of .


title: Walther PPQ

text: In August 2015 Walther announced the PPQ M2 in .45 ACP that should be available in October 2015. The pistol has been enlarged to accommodate .45 ACP cartridges, also resulting in a heavier pistol. A thicker and longer slide rides a little higher over the bore out to the end of the lengthened barrel. Unlike the PPQ 9×19mm Parabellum and .40 S&W chambered models the PPQ M2 .45 ACP features polygonal rifling. The ejection port was also redesigned to accommodate .45 ACP cartridge cases.


title: Walther PPQ

text: In February of 2021, Walther officially released the Walther Performance Duty Pistol, or PDP. The PDP represents an upgraded PPQ with an improved trigger, deeper slide serrations, and more aggressive grip texturing. The PDP slide is milled and drilled for an aiming optic and features a matching cover plate when no optics are mounted. Walther also announced that the PPQ would be discontinued in 2021 in favor of the PDP.


title: Walther PPQ

text: The PPQ Simunition FX is available in a version for shooting 9 mm FX Force-on-Force System paintballs made by Simunition.


title: Walther PPQ

text: The PPQ Red Gun is a pistol identical in design and operation to the actual service weapons. All functional elements, dimensions, weights and trigger characteristics are the same. However, PPQ Red Guns do not allow loading or firing of ammunition. The "PPQ Blue Gun" is a plastic pistol intended for holster training.


title: Walther PPQ

text: PPQ form factor inspired .22 Long Rifle pistols are offered by Walther under the P22Q and PPQ M2 .22lr designations. These pistols feature simple blowback actions where pressure generated by a firing cartridge is countered by a combination of the inertial weight of the slide assembly and the force of the recoil spring. Like the Walther P22 action, it differs fundamentally from the PPQ short recoil-operated locked breech action.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: Introduced in the third story arc, Sailor Neptune fights alongside her partner and lover Sailor Uranus. In both versions of the story she is portrayed as elegant, sophisticated, capable of sharp anger, occasionally cold, and fully dedicated to her duty as a Sailor Soldier. She possesses powers associated with the sea, precognitive ones, as well as powers granted by her magic mirror.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: Michiru is formally introduced in the third story arc, although she appears in silhouette alongside Sailor Uranus in episode 89, a "teaser" to "Sailor Moon S". She is portrayed as a very polite, calm character in the series. She dislikes being patronized even if not doing so would hurt her feelings, and subsequently will not indulge people. This is alluded to in her backstory, explaining that she was congenial but generally not social. Michiru is also graceful and delicate, with an aura of sophistication. She is clearly intelligent, and this usually manifests itself through art and music. Usagi (to whom this observation is especially relevant) once commented that Michiru was the ideal example of a princess.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: Michiru attends Mugen Academy with Haruka (and the younger Hotaru Tomoe) when she is first introduced. In the manga, after Mugen is destroyed, she and Haruka later attend the same high school as Usagi and the other girls. It is never mentioned where they go after this in the anime, but the two of them are shown driving away in their last appearance in "Sailor Moon S", and during a made-for-TV special set during the following season, they are shown staying at a hotel elsewhere in Japan. According to the musicals, Michiru had experience studying abroad. Michiru's closest bond is with Haruka, and Takeuchi has explicitly stated that the two are in a lesbian relationship in both the manga and the anime as well as the musicals.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: In the anime adaptation, Michiru briefly flirts with Seiya, at that time a man, asking him to help her unzip her dress. Her stated intention, earlier in the episode, is to learn Seiya's motives out of fear that he is a threat to the planet. This flirtation does not occur in the manga, where Seiya is always a female and plays a much more minor role. However, in the "Infinity" arc, Michiru appears as temptation for Mamoru, paralleling Haruka being used as temptation for Usagi. Though she never makes any of the advances on Mamoru that Haruka makes on Usagi, Usagi is jealous of her because she sees them together.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: Michiru is deeply artistic and is the Sailor Soldier most associated with the arts. Her known skills include the violin, swimming, and painting; of all her skills, her strongest is as a violinist, which is also her greatest dream. She likes all her classes, especially music, and belongs to the music club at school as well as the swimming club. In the manga, she collects cosmetics; in the anime, she loves to swim, often using the water as a way to relax. Her favorite food is sashimi, while her least favorite is kikurage mushrooms. She also dislikes sea cucumbers for unclear reasons, and her favorite color is Marine blue.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: As a character with different incarnations, special powers, transformations and a long lifetime virtually spanned between the Silver Millennium era and the 30th century, Michiru gains multiple aspects and aliases as the series progresses.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: Michiru's Soldier identity. She wears a uniform colored in teal and cerulean, and unlike most of the other Soldiers, her gloves extend only to her mid-forearms and has an 8 stars shaped jewel on her teal-colored choker. She wears planet shaped teal colored earrings (which is the shape of Planet Neptune) but the earrings were absent in the 1992 version of Sailor Moon, and present in the Sailor Moon Crystal. She is given specific titles throughout the various series, including Soldier of the Deep Waters (or "Depths" in the English manga), Soldier of Embrace, Soldier of the Sea, and Soldier of Comprehension. Her personality is no different from when she is a civilian, although certain special abilities and powers are unavailable to her in her regular civilian form. Just like her partner, Haruka, Michiru has some precognitive abilities while in her normal form. She is able to prophetically predict who the next target of the Death Busters is likely to be next.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: Sailor Neptune uses ocean-based attacks (not just water), and carries one of three Talismans carried by the "outer" Sailor Soldiers; Neptune has the Deep Aqua Mirror, which always reveals the truth. She takes a black-and-white approach to her role as a Soldier, one shared by Sailor Uranus, who is virtually always at her side. As she grows stronger, Sailor Neptune gains additional unique special abilities, and at key points her uniform changes to reflect this. The first change takes place in Act 39 of the manga, when she obtains the Neptune Crystal and her outfit becomes similar to that of Super Sailor Moon. She is not given a new title. A similar event takes place in Episode 167 of the anime, and she is given the name Super Sailor Neptune. A third form appears in Act 42 of the manga, unnamed but analogous to Eternal Sailor Moon ("sans" wings). In the official visual book for Sailor Moon Eternal, this form was named "Eternal Sailor Neptune".


title: Sailor Neptune

text: On Silver Millennium, Sailor Neptune was also the princess of her home planet. She was among those given the duty of protecting the Solar System from outside invasion. As Princess Neptune, she dwelt in Triton Castle and wore a sea-green gown. She appears in this form in the original manga Act 41, as well as in supplementary art. It is unknown whether she had a romantic relationship with Princess Uranus at that time.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: Even in civilian form, Michiru has some precognitive gifts, as she occasionally states that "the sea is stormy" when there is an evil presence at work. She is not shown using any other special powers in her civilian form, and must first transform into a Sailor Soldier by raising her hand or a special device into the air and shouting a special phrase, originally "Neptune Planet Power, Make-up!" In the manga she eventually gains her Neptune Crystal and this phrase changes to evoke "Neptune Crystal Power". In the anime, although she "does" upgrade to Super Sailor Neptune, the Crystal is never mentioned and her transformation is never shown on screen after the upgrade.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: Sailor Neptune's powers are inspired by Roman mythology, where Neptune is the god of the sea. She draws energy from the "deep waters" and blasts it at her foes. She is given three major attacks in the series, and although they all have English names (like those of the other Sailor Soldiers), each is also given kanji in the manga to denote the meaning to Japanese readers. For example, her first attack, "Deep Submerge", is given kanji which translate precisely to and . The intended English pronunciation is given in furigana. This is Sailor Neptune's primary attack for most of the anime series.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: In the manga, Michiru owns a special hand mirror which supplements her precognition. This turns out to be the Deep Aqua Mirror, one of three powerful Talismans, the other two of which are carried by Sailor Uranus and Sailor Pluto. In the anime, she does not gain the mirror until she is revealed as one of the Talisman bearers; in either case, it is used in her second attack, "Submarine Reflection" . In both the anime and manga, she can use to launch an extremely powerful and devastating attack. In the anime, Michiru can also use it through and dispelling illusions, as seen in the SuperS movie. In the manga, she can also use it for astral projection, and lends it to Chibiusa while she and the other Outer Soldiers are away. Chibiusa invokes the Deep Aqua Mirror's strength and power by stating its name and is able to teleport to Sailor Neptune's location.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: Michiru's violin, a Stradivarius worth some five million dollars, is called the Marine Cathédrale and is named after "the temple of the sea". Aside from playing it in concert, she uses it in her third and final attack, which (like the instrument itself) has a French-inspired name: . This third attack is only used in the manga, and was never shown in the anime. This attack is also used by the evil Sailor Neptune in Act 50, where it is renamed "Galactica Violon Tide". The Neptune Crystal is perhaps her most important possession, as it is her Sailor Crystal and the source of all her power, which becomes especially important in the fifth story arc. It is given to her by Sailor Saturn.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: The character of Sailor Neptune was not developed until partway through the "Sailor Moon" series, after the Sailor Soldiers were well-established. She was created in tandem with Sailor Uranus, as a pair of "complementary but opposite characters", and meant from the beginning to work alongside Sailor Pluto. Creator Naoko Takeuchi has said that she was shocked by the changes made to Michiru's personality in the anime series, but that she was glad fans still liked the character.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: Sailor Neptune's visual design is intended to evoke images of her element, from the choice of colors to the wavy quality of her hair, which Takeuchi even joked might be thought of as seaweed hair. In street clothes, Michiru is supposed to be an "artist type" and to dress accordingly; in fact, initial drawings are extremely elegant and "adult", because she was originally intended to be involved in the all-female Takarazuka Revue with Haruka. Although this was not included in the series itself, Takeuchi stated in an interview that she feels Takarazuka is "the maximum level of feminine emancipation," that as such it was her inspiration for the character of Haruka, and that it seemed natural for Haruka to fall in love with another woman—namely Michiru.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: The kanji of Michiru's surname translate as and . Together, they constitute most of the name of the planet Neptune in Japanese, . Her given name is in hiragana and so its meaning is not inherent, but the word itself means "to rise" . The packaging of Irwin dolls released in Canada in 1998 called Michiru by the name Nerissa.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: In the Japanese anime series and movies, Michiru Kaioh is voiced by veteran voice actress Masako Katsuki. In the third season of "Sailor Moon Crystal", she is voiced by Sayaka Ohara. In the original English dub her name is changed to "Michelle Kaioh" and her voice is provided by Barbara Radecki. Michiru is voiced by Lauren Landa in the Viz Media English dub.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: In the stage musicals, Michiru has been played by nine actresses: Kaoru Sakamoto, Chikage Tomita, Miyuki Fuji, Hiroko Tahara, Sara Shimada, Yuhka Asami, Tomoko Inami, Takayo Oyama, and Sayaka Fujioka. Asami, the longest-running of these actresses, knew nothing about "Sailor Moon" when she was given a role in the musical, but came to greatly admire the character of Michiru after reading the manga and watching the anime. Nao Takagi, who played opposite her as Sailor Uranus, has stated that certain scenes were specially created just for the two of them.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: The official "Sailor Moon" popularity polls listed Michiru Kaioh and Sailor Neptune as separate characters. In 1994, with fifty one choices, Sailor Neptune was the seventh most popular character, receiving almost eight thousand votes more than Michiru, who was the ninth. In early 1996, with fifty one choices, Michiru was the sixteenth most popular character, and Neptune was the twenty second.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: Fan fiction featuring Haruka and Michiru is among the most searched-for fan fiction on the Internet, and Erica Friedman of Yuricon has described Haruka and Michiru as being "one of the most romantic, funny, and fun yuri couples, ever." In her response to an academic essay on "Sailor Moon" by Mary Grigsby, author Emily Ravenwood compared Michiru and Haruka's relationship with Zoisite and Kunzite's relationship explaining that "in both cases, the feminine and masculine attributes are highlighted with a heavy hand (deliberate display of stereotypes)." According to her, the contrast between Michiru and Haruka, is not played so burlesque-ly as that of Zoisite and Kunzite, but still is extreme, with Haruka being the "perfect butch" while Michiru "is the classic high femme. She’s beautiful, she’s artistically talented, she’s gracious and has exquisite manners, she even does things with her hair (the only character to do so in the whole show). She’s never the one driving the car."


title: Sailor Neptune

text: In an effort to avoid the controversy that a lesbian character in a cartoon aimed towards a younger audience would cause, given the social mores, Haruka and Michiru's relationship has been censored in certain countries. In North America, the former English dub stated that Haruka and Michiru are cousins, even going so far as to occasionally state this through characters who should not know such information. However, whether in an attempt to be more faithful to the original Japanese or through failure to edit consistently, several episodes of the former English dub retained a noticeable amount of their casual flirting. Due to the censorship and problematic dubbing, some viewers inferred not only a homosexual relationship between the two girls, but also an incestuous one. It has even been implied that the difficulties in dubbing Haruka and Michiru's relationship are part of the reason why there was a gap of several years between the dubbing of the earlier series and the dubbing of "Sailor Moon S". In Japan, there were also some controversies around the character.


title: Sailor Neptune

text: Viz Media and Studiopolis' English-language redub of the series in 2016 would address the censorship issue by restoring any deleted scenes and preserving the integrity of the original Japanese scripts. In 2019, Viz Media released a new dub of "Sailor Moon Sailor Stars", but in what they call a "translation error", they refer to Haruka and Michiru in a booklet as "friends" rather than a lesbian couple. The company later issued an apology on Twitter, in which they acknowledge that the two characters "are not friends, but in fact, partners."


title: Osama bin Laden death conspiracy theories

text: The death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, gave rise to various conspiracy theories, hoaxes and rumors. These include the ideas that he had died earlier, or that he lived beyond the reported date. Doubts about bin Laden's death were fueled by the U.S. military's supposed disposal of his body at sea, the decision to not release any photographic or DNA evidence of bin Laden's death to the public, the contradicting accounts of the incident (with the official story on the raid appearing to change or directly contradict previous assertions), and the 25-minute blackout during the raid on bin Laden's compound during which a live feed from cameras mounted on the helmets of the U.S. special forces was cut off.


text: Within hours, an image purporting to show a dead bin Laden was broadcast on Pakistani television. Although the story was picked up by much of the British press, as well the Associated Press, it was swiftly removed from websites after it was exposed as a fake on Twitter.


text: On May 4, the Obama administration announced it would not release any images of Bin Laden's dead body. The administration said it had considered releasing the photos to dispel rumors of a hoax, at the risks of perhaps prompting another attack by al Qaeda and of releasing very graphic images to people who might find them disturbing. Several photos of the aftermath of the raid were given to Reuters by an anonymous Pakistani security official, but though all appeared to be authentic, they were taken after the U.S. forces had left and none of them included evidence regarding bin Laden's fate.


text: On May 6, it was reported that an al-Qaeda website acknowledged bin Laden's death. On May 11, Republican senator and Senate Armed Services Committee member Jim Inhofe stated he had viewed "gruesome" photographs of bin Laden's corpse, and later confirmed that the body "was him", adding, "He's history".


text: On May 21, 2015, journalist Seymour Hersh published a report claiming that Pakistan had kept bin Laden under house arrest since 2006, that the U.S. had learned of bin Laden's location through a Pakistani intelligence official and not through tracking a courier, and that elements of the Pakistani military aided the U.S. in killing bin Laden. The White House denied Hersh's report.


text: The primary source of skepticism about the U.S. government's story has been its own refusal to provide any physical evidence to substantiate its claim. Although the Abbottabad raid has been described in great detail by U.S. officials, no physical evidence constituting actual proof of his death has been offered to the public, neither to journalists nor to independent third parties who have requested this information through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Numerous organizations filed FOIA requests seeking at least a partial release of photographs, videos, and/or DNA test results, including The Associated Press, Reuters, CBS News, Judicial Watch, Politico, Fox News, Citizens United, and NPR. At the time of filing their FOIA request, The Associated Press said:


text: On April 26, 2012, a US federal judge decided in the case "Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Defense, et al" that the DoD did not need to release any evidence to the public.


text: On 20 May 2015, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a sizeable number of documents recovered from the compound in Abbottabad where Bin Laden was hiding. On 1 March 2016, the ODNI released a second tranche of material gleaned from the Abbottabad raid. On January 19, 2017, the ODNI released the final tranche of documents. ODNI said of the releases "[these releases] which followed a rigorous interagency review, align with the President’s call for increased transparency–consistent with national security prerogatives–and the 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act, which required the ODNI to conduct a review of the documents for release." The documents can be accessed publicly on the ODNI website.


text: On November 1, 2017, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released nearly 470,000 files that included draft versions of items previously reviewed as well as other correspondence and materials outside the scope of previous declassification reviews. These files are available online as part of the CIA library. One of those files was Bin Laden's diary.


text: Doubts about bin Laden's death were fueled by the U.S. military's disposal of his body at sea, though U.S. officials maintained that the burial was necessary because arrangements could not be made with any country to bury bin Laden within 24 hours, as dictated by Muslim practice. The Muslim practice has not always been followed by the U.S. For example, the bodies of Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein, sons of Saddam Hussein, were held for eleven days before release for burial. In that instance, several Iraqi cities refused to receive them.


text: The decision to bury bin Laden at sea was questioned by terrorists and by some 9/11 survivors and the relatives of the victims. Professor Peter Romaniuk of John Jay College described the burial at sea as a way to forestall further questions. He stated: "Obviously they're going to be under pressure to show a body or produce further evidence, but this was a way of taking that issue off the table." A stated advantage of a burial at sea is that the site is not readily identified or accessed, thus preventing it from becoming a focus of attention or "terrorist shrine".


text: Senior Pakistani officials disseminated the theory that no firefight ever took place, and that whomever the U.S. forces captured, they executed him outside the compound, and took his body away on a helicopter.


text: Hamid Gul, the former head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), stated in an interview with CNN that he believed bin Laden had died many years ago, and that the official death story given out by the American media was a hoax. Furthermore, he thinks the American government knew about bin Laden's death for years, "They must have known that he had died some years ago so they were waiting. They were keeping this story on the ice and they were looking for an appropriate moment and it couldn't be a better moment because President Obama had to fight off his first salvo in his next year's election as he runs for the presidential and for the White House and I think it is a very appropriate time to come out, bring this out of the closet."


text: Yet another scenario was reported in an article in the Urdu newspaper "Ausaf", which quoted military sources as saying, "Bin Laden has been killed somewhere else. But since the US intends to extend the Afghan war into Pakistan, and accuse Pakistan, and obtain a permit for its military's entry into the country, it has devised the [assassination] scenario."


text: Bashir Qureshi, who lives close to the compound where bin Laden was shot and whose windows were blown out in the raid, was dismissive. "Nobody believes it. We've never seen any Arabs around here, he was not here."


text: A number of Iranians said they believed that bin Laden was working with the U.S. during the entire war on terror. Ismail Kosari, an Iranian MP, said that bin Laden "was just a puppet controlled by the Zionist regime in order to present a violent image of Islam after the September 11 attacks", and that his death "reflects the passing of a temporary US pawn, and symbolizes the end of one era and the beginning of another in American policy in the region". Another MP, Javad Jahangirzadeh, said that it was the U.S. that had carried out the terrorist attacks, and bin Laden was the main source of help. He stated, "The West has been very pleased with bin Laden's operations in recent years. Now the West was forced to kill him in order to prevent a possible leak of information he had, information more precious than gold."


text: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said "I have exact information that bin Laden was held by the American military for sometime... until the day they killed him he was a prisoner held by them," in a live interview on Iranian state television.


text: On May 21, 2015, Pulitzer prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh published a 10,000 word report (later a book -- "The Killing of Osama bin Laden") challenging most aspects of the official account of Osama's death.


text: Among other things, the report claims that the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had kept bin Laden under house arrest at Abbottabad since 2006, and that when the US discovered this, Pakistani Army chief Pervez Kayani and ISI director Ahmad Shuja Pasha helped the U.S. in killing, not capturing bin Laden.


text: Hersh's U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources stated that the U.S. had learned of bin Laden's location through a "walk-in", a former ISI officer who came to the US embassy in Islamabad in 2010 seeking the $25 million reward, and not through tracking a courier. This claim had been previously reported by R.J. Hillhouse and was confirmed afterwards by NBC news. The White House denied Hersh's report.


text: Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid in the "New York Review of Books" finds the cooperation between the CIA and ISI that Hersh describes "inconceivable", in part because 2011 was "the worst year in US-Pakistan relations since the late 1980s" and "hatred and mistrust" between the CIA and ISI was "acute"—something Hersh does not mention in his article/book. Among the incidents that occurred in Pakistan in the months before the killing of bin Laden were the killing of two Pakistanis by Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor, numerous death threats against the Islamabad CIA station chief after his name was leaked (purportedly by the ISI), the cessation of the issuing of visas for US officials, following which the entire US consulate in Lahore was shut down and moved to Islamabad over concerns about security; increased US anger over the refusal of Pakistan to exert pressure on the Taliban and Haqqani group; the death of 40 Pakistanis including many civilians and later 24 Pakistani soldiers from US drone strikes, the cut off of US supplies to Afghanistan by Pakistan. Further adding to the implausibility of Hersh's theory, according to Rashid, is the unlikeliness that either the US would have "calmly accepted" Pakistan's hiding/protecting bin Laden, or that the dozens of Pakistani military, police, fire and bureaucrats—whose silence/complicity would have been required for a successful conspiracy—would have cooperated with the American incursion. While there was little or no disapproval by the Pakistan public over Bin Laden's long residency in Pakistan, the US attack on the compound of bin Laden was so unpopular that just the failure of the military to detect and go after the US helicopters ignited outrage among the media, the public and the civilian government.


text: Andrew Anthony, in his review of the book for "The Guardian", acknowledged the US government's "long and inglorious history of attempting to bury the facts" but found Hersh's theories "forceful but unconvincing". Zach Dorfman, in the "Los Angeles Times", called Hersh's judgment about the veracity of his sources "mixed, at best" while acknowledging "the danger of a regime of excessive secrecy in international affairs [...] of which Hersh is rightly and acutely aware". (Rashid, Anthony, and Dorfman were also skeptical of another theory expounded in Hersh's book—that the Ghouta chemical attack that killed hundreds of Syrian civilians were instigated not by the Syrian government, but by rebels aided by Turkey working as agents provocateurs, blaming the Syrian government in hopes of forcing the Obama administration to enter the war against the government.)


text: Facebook groups formed discussing a rumor, in what has been dubbed the "death hoax". Some blogs theorised that the raid and killing were faked, in a conspiracy to attempt to deflect questions about President Obama's citizenship, or to boost Obama's approval ratings and guarantee his popularity during the 2012 U.S. presidential election.


text: In 2002, the FBI's top counter-terrorism official, Dale Watson, said, "I personally think he (Osama bin Laden) is probably not with us anymore." Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan stated "If you believe the newest death of OBL, you're stupid". Sheehan further stated on her Facebook page, "The only proof of [bin Laden] being dead again that we were offered was Obama telling us that there was a DNA match between the man killed by the Navy SEALs and OBL. Even if it is possible to get DNA done so quickly, and the regime did have bin Laden DNA lying around a lab somewhere – where is the empirical proof?"


text: On Russia Today, radio host Alex Jones claimed that bin Laden had been dead for nearly ten years, and that his body had been kept in liquid nitrogen so that it can be used as a propaganda tool at a future politically expedient time. He claimed that in 2002 an anonymous White House source had told him that bin Laden "is frozen, literally frozen and that he would be rolled out in the future at some date". In a separate interview in 2002, Steve Pieczenik told Jones that bin Laden had been dead for months. Jones also pointed to similar comments made by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 2003, "Yes we have been told by intelligence that they've got him, Bush may roll him out but because they exposed that at the election they didn't do it". Jones further voiced doubts about the official story of bin Laden's death on his radio show telling his listeners, "My friends, this is a complete and total hoax."


text: Andrew Napolitano, the host of the Fox Business program "Freedom Watch", said bin Laden's death could not be verified and insinuated that Obama was using the death of bin Laden to save his "lousy presidency." An article in "Mediaite" criticized Napolitano's remarks, opining that "such conspiracy talk is ultimately beneath Napolitano and his often enlightened discussions."


text: Canadian deputy Leader of the Opposition and MP, Thomas Mulcair, stated in an interview with CBC Television that "I don't think from what I've heard that those pictures [of bin Laden's body] exist". His remarks were picked up by dozens of U.S. media outlets, and criticized by various Canadian politicians.


text: An official statement from the Taliban stated that the lack of photos or video footage is suspicious, as their own sources close to bin Laden had not confirmed or denied his death, and that "when the Americans killed Mullah Dadullah (Taliban's chief military commander) they publicly showed the footage".


text: In October 2020, Former President Donald Trump retweeted an article which claimed that the Osama that was killed in the raid wasn't him but was actually a body double.


text: Several news agencies and intelligence agencies reported his death as being before 9/11 or shortly after from renal failure. Western intelligence official reports bin Laden is seriously ill with kidney and liver disease. Bin Laden, who suffers from renal deficiency, has been periodically undergoing dialysis in a Peshawar military hospital with the knowledge and approval of the Inter-Services Intelligence, (ISI) if not of Gen.Pervez Musharraf himself. Bin Laden is reported to have arrived in Dubai on July 4 from Quetta in Pakistan with his own personal doctor, nurse and four bodyguards, to be treated in the urology department. While there he was visited by several members of his family and Saudi personalities, and the CIA. In December 2001 the New York Times reported that he was likely dead.


text: Late December 2001 to March 2002: bin Laden's "Death Video" was released. that month, after reports of bin Laden's funeral, a new video appeared, depicting a gaunt, sickly Osama bin Laden. The London Telegraph reported,"The recording was dismissed by the Bush administration yesterday as sick propaganda, possibly designed to mask the fact the al-Qa'eda leader was already dead." In March and April 2002, U.S. officials downplayed the threat of bin Laden, with Rumsfeld even saying he had been "neutralized." Even Bush, called out for rarely mentioning bin Laden in 2002, admitted: "We haven't heard from him [bin Laden] in a long time... I don't know where he is. I really just don't spend that much time on him, to be honest with you."


text: In July 2002, CNN reported that bin Laden's close bodyguards were captured in February 2002, but not bin Laden. The article also quoted high-level officials: "Some high-level U.S. officials are already convinced by such evidence that bin Laden, who has not been seen or heard from in months, is dead." In October 2002, intelligence officials confirmed bin Laden is dead, and his will was released. Also in October 2002, the Washington D.C.-based news service The World Tribune, citing Israeli intelligence sources, reported that the United States and Israel have concluded that bin Laden died in Afghanistan in December 2001. They noted that additional bin Laden messages are "probably fabrications," and that bin Laden's heir had been chosen. Intelligence officials have obtained Osama bin Laden's will, which was dated December 14, 2001 (approximately the same date as has been reported bin Laden's funeral in Tora Bora by Fox News and other outlets). CNN also reported that there has been no evidence of bin Laden since December 2001.


text: In 2004, the LA Times quotes Donald Rumsfeld as admitting: "We've not seen him [bin Laden] on a video since 2001." In 2006, the New York Times reported the CIA had officially closed down the unit focused on capturing bin Laden the previous year. In 2006, U.S. and Pakistani officials said they have not received any information about bin Laden in years: "no tips from informants, no snippets from electronic intercepts, no points on any satellite image." The article rehashes the December 2001 video of bin Laden as the most recent evidence (other than a second-hand claim from 2003) of bin Laden's existence.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Women in the Quran are important characters and subjects of discussion in the stories and morals taught in Islam. Most of the women in the Quran are represented as either the mothers or wives of leaders or prophets. They retained a certain amount of autonomy from men in some respects; for example, the Quran describes women who converted to Islam before their husbands or women who took an independent oath of allegiance to Muhammad.


title: Women in the Quran

text: While the Quran does not name any woman except for Mary directly, women play a role in many of its stories. These stories have been subject to manipulation and rigid interpretation in both classical commentary and popular literature from patriarchal societies. The cultural norms existing within a patriarchy have shaped the way that these societies approached the text and created a pervading narrative that dictated the way future generations were set up to interpret these stories and the role of women within the Quran. Throughout history, different Islamic scriptural interpreters and lawmakers constantly reinterpreted the women presented in the Quran as a result of the dominating ideology and historical context of the time. In the wake of modernity and the rise of Islamic feminism, many scholars are looking back to the original text, reexamining the accepted classical interpretations of women, and reimagining women's role within the Quran.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Eve ("Hawa"), Adam's spouse, is mentioned in ; ; ; ; ; ; and in verses , but the name "Eve" (Arabic: , Ḥawā') is never revealed or used in the Quran. Eve is mentioned by name only in hadith.


title: Women in the Quran

text: The Quranic narrative of Adam and Eve's creation and fall differs thematically from the more fleshed out story in the Jewish and Christian traditions. Similar to the Christian and Jewish tale, Allah created Adam and Eve and a place for them to live, Paradise. However, in the Quran, Hawa's role is minimal, as she is the accomplice to human sin rather than the instigator. It is Adam who is forewarned by Allah that Iblis, Satan, is their natural enemy and the threat to their removal from heaven.


title: Women in the Quran

text: The literal Quranic text in many ways removes the blame that is often placed upon Eve. Instead of being portrayed as the cause of Adam's fall, Eve is merely presented as equally compliant in the sin and then later, equally compliant in the punishment and atonement. However early critical interpretation surrounding the creation and fall story was influenced heavily by the pervading Christian and Jewish notions of Eve. Therefore, early medieval interpretations focus on depicting Hawa as morally and mentally compromised. As in the Christian and Jewish tradition, Hawa is seen as the one who tempts the prophet Adam into sin. The early work of Hadith-based scholar al-Tabari in particular showcases many passages that claim women's menstruation and the affliction of bearing children are a direct result of Hawa's foolishness.


title: Women in the Quran

text: However, in modern times the explanation and general understanding of Hawa have shifted and are deeply debated. Her status as the first woman in the world is relevant since she is looked upon as the model for her sex and Allah's archetype of a woman. Today both traditional and modernist thinkers look to Hawa either to support or deny their argument regarding the equality of women in the religion. Specifically, those with a traditionalist view believe in the hadith and the interpretation that Hawa was created from one of Adam's crooked ribs. And therefore when the Prophet explained women were created from the crooked part of the rib, "He was not blaming the woman, but was defining women's natural disposition and the preponderance of emotions over rationality." In response, more liberal interpretations cite no direct and incontestable truth that Hawa was created from a "crooked rib"; they claim such suggestions do not stem from verifiable sources. Rather, they strive to emphasize the purpose of the creation and fall story itself. This was not to decry the human nature of either sex but act as an example of Allah's guidance, punishment and ultimate forgiveness.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Oftentimes the names of these women are confused, however, the general scholarly consensus is that Noah's wife was Amzura while Lot's wife was Wā'ila. This continual reversal of the two names underscores exactly how both women have ultimately served the same purpose in Islamic scriptural interpretation. In the case of Noah's wife many theorists surmise that she died in the flood and was not allowed on the ark because of her continual insinuation that her husband was crazy. In turn, Lot's wife is thought to have died alongside the people of Sodom since she betrayed her duty as a wife and conspired alongside the corrupt people. In both examples the wives of Allah's prophets were the only ones punished for their disbelief and betrayal of their husbands. This is an important distinction, since Islamic theorists highlight that this establishes the spiritual individuality of women. It is they who have the freedom to choose their religiosity, and it is they who in turn pay the price. Ultimately, the purpose of their mention in the Quran is to set an example of the consequence for active disbelief in Allah and his prophets.


title: Women in the Quran

text: The three verses in the Quran mentioning the wives of Noah and Lot, or Nuh and Lut in Arabic, are a conjoined entry depicting the consequences and response by Allah to non-believers.


title: Women in the Quran

text: The role that Lot's daughters play in these interpretations is largely passive and an attempt to demonstrate his devotion to God. However, beyond that simple explanation, they also act as a foil to their mother who conspired with the people of Sodom by alerting them to Lot's guests. While their mother was therefore condemned to the same fate as the sinners in Sodom, Lot's daughters were spared and escaped owing to their personal atonement.


title: Women in the Quran

text: However, the people of Sodom reject Lot's offering and continue their sinful deeds. At next mention in Sura 15 (al-Hijr) Lot again offers his daughters. This time though, his actions were taken to prevent the people of Sodom from committing abominations against the guests in his house.


title: Women in the Quran

text: In contrast to the Old Testament and the Torah, Sarah, wife of the prophet Abraham, plays a decidedly smaller role in the Quran. In both the Christian and Jewish traditions she is the mother of the chosen son, Isaac, and therefore a more important person.


title: Women in the Quran

text: In the hadith Sarah is not mentioned directly but rather alluded to in Hagar's expanded story. Hagar's struggles, dealt with extensively in "Sahih al-Bukhari", are important to the Islamic tradition since many Muslims paint her as the mother of all Arabs and one of the pre-Islamic pioneers. While this may seem to castigate Sarah as the villain in Hagar's story, she is not seen or depicted in Islamic writing as the impetus for Hagar's exile. Unlike the more traditional Jewish and Christian explanations that paint a contentious relationship between Hagar and Sarah, Islamic interpretations are largely devoid of commentary on Sarah, choosing rather to focus on the hardships and successes of Hagar.


title: Women in the Quran

text: The story of Yusuf and Zulaykha, wife of Joseph's master the Aziz, is one of the most extensive depictions of women in the Quran. She appears in Surah 12 (Yusuf) as part of Joseph's chronological narrative shortly after he is sold into slavery in Egypt. In this narrative Zulaykha attempts to seduce Joseph, at first outright and then by using guile and wit.


title: Women in the Quran

text: After Joseph rebuffed her advances, the women of society began to gossip about Zulaykha's affection for him. She, in turn, prepared a banquet in these women's honor. At this banquet when Joseph appeared, the women extolled him and yelled out to God that he must be an angel. The story continues with Zulaykha attempting to trick Joseph into entering into an affair with her. The results of this lands Joseph in jail. When the King the women and Zulaykha of their role they respond:


title: Women in the Quran

text: Renditions of this story outside the Quran have focused historically on and sought to establish the natural duplicitous and cunning nature of women. Especially in the works of early interpreters, Zulaykha and the ladies are not portrayed as the multi-faceted characters the Quran suggests but rather are considered only for "their unbridled sexuality and guile." This depiction is used as yet another conservative example of the inherent threat the female sex poses to men and their piety. al-Baydawi's interpretation specifically highlights the inherent contrast between a prophet's devotion to God and the sly nature of women. Recently, however, the critical explanation surrounding Zulaykha has expanded to present different possible interpretations. In many instances this story is now used as an allegory depicting the ability of pious people, in this case, a prophet, to overcome the temptations of the world and adversity. In these cases, interpreters argue Zulaykha's presence in the Quran is not meant to imply the evil nature of all women, but rather the different possible distractions that society in general can present and the need to rebuff them.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Moses's mother is the only woman in the Quran to receive divine inspiration. God inspired her to suckle the child until she feared for his life and then to cast him into the river without sadness or fear because God would eventually restore him to her and make him one of the messengers.


title: Women in the Quran

text: When the Pharaoh's wife discovered Moses on the shore, God had to strengthen Moses's mother's heart to make her a firm believer.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Then, after Moses's sister sees that he refuses to nurse with his new nurse, she suggests that Moses's mother become his nursemaid. In a sense, they were reunited.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Moses's wife called Safura was the daughter of a Madyanite flockherder whom Moses met before he became a prophet. The Madyanite flockherder allowed Moses and his daughter to wed in exchange for Moses performing eight to ten years of work.


title: Women in the Quran

text: She is not mentioned by name in the Quran, but some "qisas al-anbiya" identify her as Zipporah. Many of the details surrounding Moses's wife have been filled in throughout history. Contemporary Muslims see her as a righteous Muslim female because of her respect for the different gender spheres. When she first met Moses, she was getting water in public, but was afraid because it is typically a male domain.


title: Women in the Quran

text: The wife of the Pharaoh, known in some traditions as Asiyah, played a large role in Moses's life because she became his foster mother. She saved his life when she took him in and raised Moses from infancy in a household of non-believers while God watched over him.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Of all the women in Moses's life, Pharaoh's wife is the subject of the greatest amount of interpretive literature. There is a large amount of emphasis on her as an example for the believers. Many think of her as a righteous woman because of her role in keeping Moses alive, as shown in Q 28:9.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Additionally, Asiyah is praised because in Q 66: 11, which is dated into the late Medinan period, she prayed to God to build her a house in paradise and save her from her wicked husband, Pharaoh.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Asiyah represents the ideal of virtue as one of the four most outstanding women of the world and one of the four "ladies of heaven" that include: Mary, the mother of Jesus; Khadija, Muhammad's wife; and Fatima, Muhammad's daughter. She married Pharaoh as a sacrifice for her people, but never consummated it. She died a martyr's death after the tyrannical Pharaoh had killed many of the believers in the palace and she tried to avenge their deaths.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Ibn Kathir, part of the medieval tradition speaks of Pharaoh's wife as one of the prophet's "celestial wives". This is a supreme honor shared with the prophet's earthly wives and Mary. Asiyah is celebrated in the Islamic faith because she remained faithful to God even though her own husband, Pharaoh, thought of himself as God. She demonstrates a woman has the ability to exercise faith and believe in God, even against the wishes of a harsh husband.


title: Women in the Quran

text: The Quran speaks of the Queen of Sheba, also known as Bilqis. She was a sovereign ruler over her people who engaged in political negotiations set in the "jahiliyya" period. Her story takes place in Quran, surah 27 (Al-Naml): 22–44.


title: Women in the Quran

text: The hoopoe reported to Solomon of a Queen from Sheba who led her people in pagan rituals worshipping a Sun God instead of Allah.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Solomon wrote a letter to the Queen. The hoopoe delivered it to her palace leaving it on her chest while she was sleeping. Then Bilqis prepared presents for Solomon to test whether he was a "pious" or "worldly" prophet using a series of riddles. The queen set out to visit Solomon. Some say that Solomon magically moved her throne while others say that he wished for the throne and knew he had to acquire it before the Queen and her followers submitted to Allah.


title: Women in the Quran

text: "But I am going to send him a present, and (wait) to see with what (answer) return (my) ambassadors."


title: Women in the Quran

text: Legend says that Solomon married Bilqis who then bore him a son. Some say she returned to Yemen as a queen and Solomon would visit her there for three days a month; others say that Solomon married her off to the king of Hamadan.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Many historians have attempted to humiliate or downplay the Queen of Sheba. Historian Mas'udi (10th Century) was convinced Bilqis could not have been fully human because she had a throne and led people. He said she had a human father but a jinn mother because he felt the need to attack Bilqis and question her humanity as a way to cope with the fact that she was a woman in political power. Additionally, to traditional Islamic interpreters, the story of the Queen of Sheba is difficult to grasp because of the way that a woman in political power falls outside of the traditional gender role of women in society. Classical Islamic authors shy away from addressing the question concerning the Queen of Sheba and the potential implications that it could have on female rulers.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Bilqis remains one of the more mysterious women in the world of scholarly interpretation. Some of the main issues that arise are how she became ruler, her competence in the role and how this can impact Islamic society. The beautiful Sheba married a tyrannical Himyarite king, got him drunk, cut off his head and convinced his ministers to declare their loyalty to her. She gained her position through proximity to a male ruler and deceived him using her female characteristics. Against Solomon, the Queen of Sheba demonstrates the ability to hold her own and validates her intelligence and good judgment, qualities typically reserved for men. However, her big fault is mistaking the glass for a pool and revealing her (hairy) legs, an act that she cannot redeem.


title: Women in the Quran

text: In contemporary terms, the story of the Queen of Sheba represents the righteousness of incorruptibility, exemplified when Solomon refused to be bribed by her elaborate gifts. The lesson that contemporaries draw is the ultimate submission to no one but God. Only God sees all the true believers equally and the ultimate submission should be to Him and not to anyone else, whether He is a leader or a prophet.


title: Women in the Quran

text: In the Quran, the mother of the Virgin Mary (and thus Isa's grandmother) is not named in the Quran, but referred to in two passages of the narratives section as the wife of Imran, Imran being Joachim in Christianity. In Judeo-Christian tradition she is identified as Hannah. According to the Quran she invoked God for a child:


title: Women in the Quran

text: It is important to note that while the name Imran is attributed to both the father of Mary and the father of Moses and Aaron, interpreters explain that these two people are not to be confused. They are separated by a long time period—1,800 years according to some sources—and are called different names. The father of Mary is called Imran b. Mathhan/Matan while the father of Moses and Aaron is called Imran B. Yashar or Imran b. Qadith.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the most important woman in the Quran, as she is the only one identified by name. She is described as the greatest women of all time in the Quran as well. Her name not only appears far more in the Quran than in the New Testament, but it is also the title of Sura 19, which discusses the annunciation, Jesus's birth and Jesus's first words, spoken before birth and in the cradle—"most other personal names used as titles of Quranic chapters are those of prophets." A hadith claims that Mary was consecrated to God, thus "escaping the pricking of the devil" at birth; this is said "to have played a role in the formation of the later Islamic doctrine of prophetic "isma"" (innate quality of 'impeccability', 'immunity from sin and error' of prophets).


title: Women in the Quran

text: As a young girl and a virgin, Mary stayed in the Mihrab, where she received "glad tidings of a word ("kalima") from God" about her giving birth to a "pure son". In Sura 19, the angel Gabriel, sent by God, says to Mary, "I am only your Lord's messenger, to give you a pure boy."


title: Women in the Quran

text: Islamic scholars have long debated this happening, specifically the meaning of "spirit" ("ruh") and the "word" ("kalima") that Mary received from God. If she were informed of things to come by God's word, even through his angel, and infused with God's spirit, was Mary, then, a Quranic prophet? Scholars who focus on the literal meaning of the text have found proof of her prophethood, for "she differs from other Quranic women in nature and life experiences". Yet, perhaps because of her sex, Mary's prophethood is not widely accepted.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Nevertheless, Mary is still revered by many Muslims, mostly women, throughout the Islamic world. She is praised in the Quran: "Behold! the angels said: 'O Mary! God hath chosen thee and purified thee – chosen thee above the women of all nations.'"


title: Women in the Quran

text: In Sura 21:91 Mary is revealed as a sign ("ayah") from God: "And she who guarded her chastity. Then We breathed into her of Our spirit, and We made her and her son a sign for the worlds."


title: Women in the Quran

text: Sura 66 establishes Mary as the "example for believers" because of her chastity, obedience, and faith; however, "religious authorities have attempted to define the social applicability of Mary's qualities, that is, the facets of her model status suited for emulation." When Gabriel informs her of God's plan, Mary wonders: “How can I have a son when no man has ever touched me, nor am I unchaste?” Later, "the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree. She said:“Alas! I wish I had died before this, and was a thing long forgotten!". But she was comforted by God.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Mary also appears in Quran 3, where she and her story are closely connected to that of her guardian, the prophet Zakariyya. The angel's words about the birth of John to Zakariyya (Sura 3:39) are almost identical to those on Jesus's (Sura 3:45). Similarly, both respond by questioning the message (Sura 3:40;47) and receive the same answer.


title: Women in the Quran

text: The wives of Muhammad are known to Muslims as the "Mother of the believers", or in Arabic, "umm'ul mu'mineen", coming from a Sura 33:6:


title: Women in the Quran

text: Only a few "are consistently presented as key figures in the hadith accounts of contexts of specific revelations ('occasions of revelation', Asbab al-nuzul)". Stowasser states: "The Quranic legislation directed at the Prophet's wives, then, is entirely of Medinan provence and belongs into the last six or seven years of the prophet's life." Sura 33:50 outlines the lawful "categories of females" that are able to marry Muhammad: "wives with whom the Prophet contracted marriage involving a dower; female prisoners of war (slaves) who fell to him as part of his share of spoils; both paternal and also maternal cousins who had migrated with him to Medina; and "a believing woman, if she gives herself to the Prophet and [He] also wishes to marry her(Al-Quran 33:50)."


title: Women in the Quran

text: Except Aisha, Muhammad only married widows and divorced women. Aisha bint Abi Bakr is often thought of as the [rophet's favorite wife. She is linked to the Quran's injunctions against slander in Sura 24:11–26, for her involvement in "the affair of the lie [or, slander]" ("al-ifk"), in which she was falsely accused of "being with" another man, Safwan ibn al-Mu'attal al-Sulami. She is considered to be the first woman to choose "God and His Prophet" over "the world and its adornment". In Sura 33:28–29, God ordered Muhammad's wives to make a decision as to their preference, after Muhammad was annoyed by the wives' growing desire for material possessions. Aisha is also important in mainstream Sunni Islam.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Muhammad's wives were the first women to follow the practice of veiling with a Hijab. Sura 33:53, commonly called the "hijab verse," states that if "believers" want something from Muhammad's wives, they must ask "from behind a hijab"; it also forbids "believers" from marrying Muhammad's wives after him.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Sura 33:32–34 declare that women of Muhammad are not like other women and so specifies special etiquette for them.


title: Women in the Quran

text: Muhammad, had four daughters with his wife, Khadija bint Khuwaylid: Zainab, Umm Kulthum, Ruqayyah, and Fatimah.


title: Women in the Quran

text: The Quran speaks of The woman who complained to God about her husband in Sura 58 (Al-Mujadila), but not by name. Hadith provides her name, Khawlah bint Tha'labah.


title: Women in the Quran

text: The verses that follow are to restore her rights (as well as those of any other woman in her position), when a husband mistreats his wife. Muslims refer to this woman and her story to express the mercy of God.


title: Women in the Quran

text: The Quran mentions the wife of Abu Lahab in Sura 111 Al-Masad, but not by name. Hadith claims that her name is Umm Jamil bint Harb and the sister of Abu Sufyan. It is said that she interrupted Muhammad and Abu Bakr praying in the Ka'ba and, unaware that Muhammad was present, spoke badly of him and his religion. Therefore, the Quran describes how she will be punished, alongside her husband, in Hell for hurting Muhammad.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical school in Worcester), a satellite campus in Springfield and also 25 campuses throughout California and Washington with the University of Massachusetts Global.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The system administration is in Boston and Shrewsbury and is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and across its campuses enrolls 75,065 students.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The University of Massachusetts Amherst is the flagship and largest school in the UMass system. It was also the first one established, dating back to 1863, when it was founded as the Massachusetts Agricultural College. The University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School was founded in 1962, and is located in Worcester. The University of Massachusetts Boston, originally established in 1964, was merged with Boston State College in 1982. In 1991, the University of Lowell and Southeastern Massachusetts University joined the system as the University of Massachusetts Lowell and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, respectively.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: Amherst is the flagship and the largest of the UMass campuses, as well as the first established. Like many colleges and universities, the Massachusetts Agricultural College (as it was originally called) in Amherst was founded as a land-grant college in 1863, receiving initial start-up funding as part of the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act. It became "Massachusetts State College" in 1931, and "University of Massachusetts" in 1947. The library system is the largest state-supported library system in New England with over 6.1 million items. The campus has many architecturally distinctive buildings commissioned by the Commonwealth and designed by world-renowned architects.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: Massachusetts offers a variety of academic and co-curricular options. Ninety-two percent of the more than 1,300 full-time faculty members hold the highest degree in their fields. The average SAT score for the 2018 entering class is 1296, and the average GPA is 3.90 on a 4.0 scale. The campus has 21,969 undergraduates and offers 109 bachelor's degree programs. There is a student-to-faculty ratio of 18:1 and 81% of classes have fewer than 40 students. Massachusetts hosts Commonwealth Honors College (CHC) where admission is more competitive with an average SAT score of 1411. CHC offers personalized advising, smaller class sizes taught by professors, and a six building Honors Residential Community, which opened in fall 2013.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: Students participate in 240 campus organizations, 21 NCAA Division I athletic teams, living-learning residence halls, community service, internships, and faculty research. Massachusetts is also part of the Five Colleges consortium, with Smith, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire, and Amherst colleges, all within a free bus ride of each other using the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority. Students can take classes on any of these campuses and participate in all co-curricular and cultural activities. Kumble R. Subbaswamy serves as Massachusetts's 30th chancellor.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: UMass Boston is a research university located in the City of Boston. Located on the Columbia Point peninsula, the university is surrounded by the Boston Harbor, the John F. Kennedy Library and the Massachusetts State Archives. "The Boston Globe" is also headquartered adjacent to campus, as well as Boston College High School. Subsequently, the university holds many partnerships with its neighboring organizations, providing research and employment opportunities.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: UMass Boston is known for its growing and diverse student body of more than 12,000 undergraduates and nearly 4,000 graduate students, making it the third largest campus in the system. The university has five undergraduate colleges and two graduate colleges, with over 100 undergraduate programs and 50 graduate programs. Ninety-three percent of full-time faculty hold the highest degree in their fields.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The campus is home to more than 100 student organizations — including clubs, literary magazines, newspaper, radio station, art gallery, and 16 NCAA Division III sports teams. Marcelo Suárez-Orozco is the chancellor of the UMass Boston campus.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: Located in southeastern Massachusetts, UMass Dartmouth started in 1895 as the New Bedford Textile School, the Bradford Durfee Textile School, and later Southeastern Massachusetts University (SMU). UMass Dartmouth offers a wide array of programs in accounting, finance, management information systems, operations management and marketing, all of which are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International. UMass Dartmouth has top ranking engineering and nursing programs.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: In addition to the UMass Dartmouth main campus is, satellite campuses are located throughout the SouthCoast.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: With 7,982 undergraduate students and 65 degree programs, the campus has a student-to-faculty ratio of 18:1 in its College of Arts & Sciences; Charlton College of Business; College of Engineering; College of Nursing; College of Visual and Performing Arts; School of Education, Public Policy, and Civic Engagement; and the School for Marine Science and Technology. The university hosts internships, undergraduate research opportunities, and service learning experiences, as well as an Honors Program.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: More than 100 student organizations and 25 NCAA Division III athletic teams provide a strong community beyond the classroom. The buildings of the campus were designed by internationally renowned Modernist architect Paul Rudolph. Dr. Robert E. Johnson is the chancellor of the UMass Dartmouth campus.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The University of Massachusetts School of Law was opened in September 2010 three miles from the Dartmouth campus.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: UMass Lowell is the product of a 1971 merger between Lowell State College (founded in 1894 as Lowell Normal School) and Lowell Technological Institute (founded in 1895 as the Lowell Textile School). The merged institution became the University of Lowell, with the former Lowell Tech serving as the North Campus and the former Lowell State serving as the South Campus.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: UMass Lowell is a comprehensive University with a national reputation in science, engineering, Management and technology, and committed to educating students for lifelong success in a diverse world and conducting research and outreach activities that sustain the economic, environmental and social health of the region.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: UMass Lowell is located in the Merrimack Valley, close to Boston, ocean beaches, and the mountains of New Hampshire. With a national reputation for education and research in science, engineering, and technology, the campus offers a number of undergraduate and graduate programs.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: UMass Lowell has a total of 18,316 students as of fall 2017 and is the fastest growing of the five UMass campuses. The campus offers over 120 fully accredited programs taught by 737 faculty members in five colleges. Most of the 75 bachelor's degree programs offer five-year Bachelor's to Master's programs.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The student-to-faculty ratio is 15:1 and half of the undergraduate classes have fewer than 20 students. Ninety-three percent of the full-time faculty members hold the highest degree in their fields.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: There are 12 University residence halls located on the campus. There are more than 120 active student organizations on campus, a campus recreation center, 16 NCAA Division I sports teams that compete in the America East Conference, and the ice hockey team that competes in the Hockey East Conference.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The University of Massachusetts Worcester, also known as UMass Chan Medical School or UMass Medical School is one of the fastest growing academic health science centers in the country and is home to the School of Medicine (SOM) — the Commonwealth's only public medical school — the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS), the Graduate School of Nursing (GSN), and a research enterprise that attracts more than $200 million in external funding annually.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: Located in the heart of Central Massachusetts on a campus it shares with clinical partner UMass Memorial Health Care, the region's premier health care delivery system and largest employer, UMass Chan Medical consistently ranks among the top ten percent in the U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of best medical schools.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The work of UMass Chan Medical researcher and 2006 Nobel Prize winner Craig Mello, an investigator of the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute, toward the discovery of RNA interference has launched a promising new field of research. The school is also the home of the Albert Sherman Center, an interdisciplinary, research and education facility that fosters collaboration among scientists and innovation across disciplines. Michael F. Collins is the chancellor of the UMass Chan Medical School campus.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The University of Massachusetts School of Law also known as the University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth Law School, UMass Law School or UMass Law is located near the main campus of UMass Dartmouth in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts and is also a part of UMass Dartmouth.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: UMass Law was established in 1981 as the Southeastern Massachusetts-Rhode Island-Avins Law School with a volunteer faculty and a handful of part-time students. It grew from a store-front operation, offering a weekend program of study in Fall River, Massachusetts to a dual-division law school located in its own state-of-the-art facility in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: In 1986 the Southeastern Massachusetts-Rhode Island-Avins Law School became the Southern New England School of Law (SNESL). In 1992 the first full-time program at SNESL was established along with SNESL's first day classes. In 1994 SNESL moved to its new current site at 333 Faunce Corner Road in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts. In 1995 SNESL was Accredited by New England Association of Schools and Colleges. In 2009 University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees approves UMass Dartmouth plan to offer Juris Doctor (JD) degrees at SNESL.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: In 2010 the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education authorized UMass Dartmouth to offer JD degrees along with the establishment of the University of Massachusetts School of Law - Dartmouth (UMass Law). UMass Law was made possible by a $23 million donation of assets, a facility, land, library, technology, and cash from the Southern New England School of Law. In 2010 at the time of the donation from SNESL, SNESL had 1,200 alumni, 200 students, 13 full-time faculty members, and 24 adjunct faculty.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: Also in 2010 the first UMass Law class matriculates. In 2011 UMass Law confers their first JD degrees. In 2012 UMass Law was granted provisional approval by Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American Bar Association. In 2013 UMass Law was ranked among the top five law schools in region for black students in the Lawyers of Color Black Student's Guide to Law Schools 2014. In 2014 UMass Law was named to The National Jurist's first honor roll of law schools that deliver practical training along with the Justice Bridge Legal Access Center at UMass Law was commenced. In 2016 UMass Law was granted full approval by Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American Bar Association.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: On August 8, 2013, The University of Massachusetts started requesting proposals for potential classroom and office space to establish a satellite center in Springfield. UMass was looking for 25,000 square feet of space that it would use for classrooms, faculty offices and other uses, with the option of doubling the amount of space at a later date. On November 23, 2013, Gov. Deval Patrick and University of Massachusetts President Robert L. Caret announced the selection of Tower Square in downtown Springfield as the university's new satellite center. The university would lease 27,321 square feet on the second floor of the 30-floor building, which is owned by the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. and located at 1500 Main St. UMass planned to establish academic programs at the center starting in the fall 2014.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: In 2014, the state of Massachusetts gave $5.2 million to the Springfield satellite center to allow the university to complete construction and buy furnishings. .


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The satellite center, administered by the Amherst campus, opened in March 2014, registering students for September 2014. Programs include nursing, education, business administration, addiction counseling, and GED classes. Enrollment in the more than 20 courses offered at the center has grown from 250 students in the fall of 2014 when it opened to 850 in the spring of 2016, according to Daniel Montagna, director of operations at the center. From courses leading to bachelor and doctoral degrees in nursing to a master's degree in business administration, and from a 180-day teacher certification program to a cybersecurity certificate program fueled by a $5 million investment by MassMutual.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: In September 2021, Brandman University reaffiliated with the University of Massachusetts from Chapman University via a change of control agreement and rebranded as UMass Global.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center is a joint venture of the University of Massachusetts system, MIT, Harvard, Boston University, and Northeastern to build a shared high-performance computing facility. In 2010, UMass Boston partnered with Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center to collaborate on research aimed at addressing issues of cancer health disparities in disenfranchised populations under U54 Cancer Partnership.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: University of Massachusetts Intercampus Graduate School of Marine Sciences and Technology is a graduate degree program offering Master of Science, Doctor of Philosophy and Professional Science Master's Degree. The graduates receive a joint degree from all four of the main UMass campuses.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The FY 2014 Operating Budget for the UMass system is $2.94 billion representing a 2.6% increase over the current year expenses. Several University of Massachusetts employees are among the highest paid state employees in Massachusetts.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The president is the university's chief executive officer and works to advance its mission of education, research and public service.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: Marty Meehan became the 27th president of the five-campus, 73,000-student University of Massachusetts system on July 1, 2015.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: Before the 1962 establishment of the medical school, the president was the administrator of the system's only campus in Amherst. When UMass Boston was organized in 1964, it was headed by a chancellor who reported to the president. In 1970, as part of a reorganization, day-to-day leadership responsibilities for UMass Amherst were transferred to a chancellor, with both chancellors reporting on an equal basis to the president. Today, the president administers five campuses.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The University of Massachusetts is governed by a lay board of trustees. The board of trustees functions as a legislative body dealing mainly with questions of policy. The board is not an administrative or management board. In certain rare instances when required by the Massachusetts General Laws, it may function as an appeal body. The board establishes the general policies governing the university, but has delegated many powers to the president and, through the president, to campus administrators for day-to-day-operations.


title: University of Massachusetts

text: The founding board had fourteen appointed members and four "ex-officio" members. Formerly, trustees were appointed by the legislature or the board itself; currently, members are appointed by the governor. The size of the board has fluctuated between twelve and twenty-four members. The current board is composed of nineteen voting members and three "ex-officio" non-voting members. Seventeen board members are appointed by the governor of the Commonwealth; at least five of those appointed must be alumni of the university, and one must be a representative of organized labor. The other two voting members are students. Overall, the board has five student members, elected for one-year terms, from the Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell and Worcester campuses. Voting membership rotates among the campuses: two students are voting members and three others are ex officio non-voting members.


title: Ricky Rich

text: Ricky Rich collaborated with Aram Mafia (stylized as ARAM Mafia) and made up of producers Peter Mrad and Marcus Turan, resulting in a great number of charting hits and songs in 2018 and 2019. Most notable was the single "Habibi" that became an international hit for the formation Ricky Rich & ARAM Mafia charting in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, as well as Sweden, and playing heavily on many other Scandinavian and European radio stations. On 12 April 2019, Ricky Rich and ARAM Mafia released the album "Shhh" on the label Spinnup containing many joint hits, notably the title song "Shhh" and the single "Richba". The 7-track EP peaked at number 3 on the Swedish Albums Chart and spent 21 weeks on the chart.


title: Ricky Rich

text: Ricky Rich followed up with his own 6-track solo EP "Highs and Lows" released on Warner Music Sweden, which peaked in its first week of release at number 7 on the Swedish Albums Chart. The album stayed for a total of 7 weeks in the chart.


title: Lycoming O-540

text: The Lycoming O-540 is a family of air-cooled six-cylinder, horizontally opposed fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter engines of displacement, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. The engine is a six-cylinder version of the four-cylinder Lycoming O-360.


title: Lycoming O-540

text: Producing between these engines are installed in a large variety of aircraft. The main competitors are the Continental IO-520 and IO-550 series.


title: Lycoming O-540

text: An AEIO version was developed for high-performance competition aerobatics aircraft. Starting at the power was eventually increased to . The AEIO-540 family has achieved considerable success in aircraft such as the Extra 300, CAP 232, and Zivko Edge 540.


title: Lycoming O-540

text: All engines have an additional prefix preceding the 540 to indicate the specific configuration of the engine. The numerous engine suffixes denote different accessories such as different manufacturers' carburetors, or different magnetos.


title: Who Are You (The Who song)

text: "Who Are You" is the title track on The Who's 1978 album, "Who Are You", the last album released by the group before Keith Moon's death in September 1978. It was written by Pete Townshend and released as a double-A-sided single with the John Entwistle composition "Had Enough", also featured on the album. The song was one of the band's biggest hits in North America, peaking at number 7 in Canada and at number 14 in the US, and has become one of the band's signature tunes at their live shows. The piano on the track is played by Rod Argent.


title: Who Are You (The Who song)

text: The lyrics of "Who Are You" were inspired by an incident Townshend experienced. After going out drinking with Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, Townshend was found in a "Soho doorway" by a policeman, who recognized him and said he would let him go if he could safely walk away.


title: Who Are You (The Who song)

text: However, as explained by Townshend in his autobiography "Who I Am", the last verse is about an early incident, that happened on the last North American leg of the 1971 tour: the day before the first concert in Charlotte, North Carolina, Townshend took the opportunity to visit the Meher Spiritual Center—a retreat owned by his guru Meher Baba—in nearby Myrtle Beach.


title: Who Are You (The Who song)

text: "Who Are You" was released as a double-A side with the John Entwistle song, "Had Enough", but "Who Are You" was the more popular song, reaching the Top 20 in both the US and UK. The song has since been featured on multiple compilation albums.


title: Who Are You (The Who song)

text: The album version includes a third verse compared to the much shorter single. Additionally, a "lost verse" mix of the song was released on the 1996 reissue of "Who Are You", with a completely different second verse: "I used to check my reflection / Jumping with my cheap guitar / I must have lost my direction, 'cause I ended up a superstar / One-nighters in the boardroom / Petrify the human brain / You can learn from my mistakes, but you're posing in the glass again."


title: Who Are You (The Who song)

text: The song is unusual in that it contains two instances of the word "fuck"—at 2:16 and 5:40 (at 2:14 and 4:27 in the single edit version)—yet has been played frequently in its entirety on rock radio stations (as compared to an edited form replacing it with "hell"). The expletives, while not clearly enunciated and slightly obscured by Moon's drum fills, are nevertheless quite audible. This led to some controversy when ABC's unedited broadcast of The Who's Live 8 performance retained them. The American single edit changes this to "Who the hell are you?" and can be heard at 1:55. Other versions replaced the phrase with just one of the main choruses, "Tell me, who are you" and "I really want to know".


title: Who Are You (The Who song)

text: "Cash Box" said that it "has a gentle, jumpy chorus riding atop driving guitar chording by Townshend" and that "Daltrey's lead vocals are gritty and inquiring."


title: Who Are You (The Who song)

text: A promotional video was filmed on 9 May 1978 for "The Kids Are Alright" documentary; originally, the intent was to have The Who simply mime to the single version's backing track with Roger Daltrey adding live vocals, but the decision was made to also re-record the guitars, backing vocals, drums, and piano. Only John Entwistle's bass and the synthesizer backing remained intact from the original version.


title: Who Are You (The Who song)

text: This song was first performed live at the Gaumont State Cinema in Kilburn on 15 December 1977, albeit without synthesizers and only a portion of the lyrics. This can be seen in the DVD "At Kilburn 1977 + Live at the Coliseum". Despite that being the first performance, this song had its roots in jams in the band's 1976 concerts, most notably at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on 21 October 1976, drummer Keith Moon's last North American appearance with The Who, where the band played a very early version of the song with Townshend on vocals.


title: Who Are You (The Who song)

text: The first live performance with synthesizers (using a backing tape of the same synthesizer track found on the studio version of the song) was at the Rainbow Theatre in London on 2 May 1979, which was also Kenney Jones's first live show with the band. Since that time it has remained a staple of their live shows. The Who opened their segment of The Concert for New York City on 20 October 2001 with the song and performed a medley featuring the song in Super Bowl XLIV. They also used the song to begin their set at on 12 December 2012. In later performances, Roger Daltrey also plays acoustic rhythm guitar.


title: Physical object

text: In common usage and classical mechanics, a physical object or physical body (or simply an object or body) is a collection of matter within a defined contiguous boundary in three-dimensional space. The boundary must be defined and identified by the properties of the material. The boundary may change over time. The boundary is usually the visible or tangible surface of the object. The matter in the object is constrained (to a greater or lesser degree) to move as one object. The boundary may move in space relative to other objects that it is not attached to (through translation and rotation). An object's boundary may also deform and change over time in other ways.


title: Physical object

text: Also in common usage, an object is not constrained to consist of the same collection of matter. Atoms or parts of an object may change over time. An object usually meant to be defined by the simplest representation of the boundary consistent with the observations. However the laws of physics only apply directly to objects that consist of the same collection of matter.


title: Physical object

text: In physics, an object is an identifiable collection of matter, which may be constrained by an identifiable boundary, and may move as a unit by translation or rotation, in 3-dimensional space.


title: Physical object

text: Each object has a unique identity, independent of any other properties. Two objects may be identical, in all properties except position, but still remain distinguishable. In most cases the boundaries of two objects may not overlap at any point in time. The property of identity allows objects to be counted.


title: Physical object

text: Examples of models of physical bodies include, but are not limited to a particle, several interacting smaller bodies (particulate or otherwise), and continuous media.


title: Physical object

text: The common conception of physical objects includes that they have extension in the physical world, although there do exist theories of quantum physics and cosmology which arguably challenge this. In modern physics, "extension" is understood in terms of the spacetime: roughly speaking, it means that for a given moment of time the body has some location in the space (although not necessarily amounting to the abstraction of a point in space and time. A physical body as a whole is assumed to have such quantitative properties as mass, momentum, electric charge, other conserved quantities, and possibly other quantities.


title: Physical object

text: An object with known composition and described in an adequate physical theory is an example of physical system.


title: Physical object

text: An object is known by the application of senses. The properties of an object are inferred by learning and reasoning based on the information perceived. Abstractly, an object is a construction of our mind consistent with the information provided by our senses, using Occam's razor.


title: Physical object

text: In common usage an object is the material inside the boundary of an object, in 3-dimensional space. The boundary of an object is a contiguous surface which may be used to determine what is inside, and what is outside an object. An object is a single piece of material, whose extent is determined by a description based on the properties of the material. An imaginary sphere of granite within a larger block of granite would not be considered an identifiable object, in common usage. A fossilized skull encased in a rock may be considered an object because it is possible to determine the extent of the skull based on the properties of the material.


title: Physical object

text: For a rigid body, the boundary of an object may change over time by continuous translation and rotation. For a deformable body the boundary may also be continuously deformed over time in other ways.


title: Physical object

text: An object has an identity. In general two objects with identical properties, other than position at an instance in time, may be distinguished as two objects and may not occupy the same space at the same time (excluding component objects). An object's identity may be tracked using the continuity of the change in its boundary over time. The identity of objects allows objects to be arranged in sets and counted.


title: Physical object

text: The material in an object may change over time. For example, a rock may wear away or have pieces broken off it. The object will be regarded as the same object after the addition or removal of material, if the system may be more simply described with the continued existence of the object, than in any other way. The addition or removal of material may discontinuously change the boundary of the object. The continuation of the object's identity is then based on the description of the system by continued identity being simpler than without continued identity.


title: Physical object

text: For example, a particular car might have all its wheels changed, and still be regarded as the same car.


title: Physical object

text: The identity of an object may not split. If an object is broken into two pieces at most one of the pieces has the same identity. An object's identity may also be destroyed if the simplest description of the system at a point in time changes from identifying the object to not identifying it. Also an object's identity is created at the first point in time that the simplest model of the system consistent with perception identifies it.


title: Physical object

text: An object may be composed of components. A component is an object completely within the boundary of a containing object.


title: Physical object

text: In classical mechanics a physical body is collection of matter having properties including mass, velocity, momentum and energy. The matter exists in a volume of three-dimensional space. This space is its extension.


title: Physical object

text: Under Newtonian gravity the gravitational field further away than the furthest extent of an object is determined only by the mass and the position of the center of mass.


title: Physical object

text: In continuum mechanics an object may be described as a collection of sub objects, down to an infinitesimal division, which interact with each other by forces that may be described internally by pressure and mechanical stress.


title: Physical object

text: In quantum mechanics an object is a particle or collection of particles. Until measured, a particle does not have a physical position. A particle is defined by a probability distribution of finding the particle at a particular position. There is a limit to the accuracy with which the position and velocity may be measured. A particle or collection of particles is described by a quantum state.


title: Physical object

text: In particle physics, there is a debate as to whether some elementary particles are not bodies, but are points without extension in physical space within spacetime, or are always extended in at least one dimension of space as in string theory or M theory.


title: Physical object

text: In some branches of psychology, depending on school of thought, a physical object has physical properties, as compared to mental objects. In (reductionistic) behaviorism, objects and their properties are the (only) meaningful objects of study. While in the modern day behavioral psychotherapy it is still only the means for goal oriented behavior modifications, in Body Psychotherapy it is not a means only anymore, but its felt sense is a goal of its own. In cognitive psychology, physical bodies as they occur in biology are studied in order to understand the mind, which may not be a physical body, as in functionalist schools of thought.


title: Physical object

text: A physical body is an enduring object that exists throughout a particular trajectory of space and orientation over a particular duration of time, and which is located in the world of physical space (i.e., as studied by physics). This contrasts with abstract objects such as mathematical objects which do not exist at any particular time or place.


title: Physical object

text: Examples are a cloud, a human body, a banana, a billiard ball, a table, or a proton. This is contrasted with abstract objects such as mental objects, which exist in the mental world, and mathematical objects. Other examples that are "not" physical bodies are emotions, the concept of "justice", a feeling of hatred, or the number "3". In some philosophies, like the idealism of George Berkeley, a physical body "is" a mental object, but still has extension in the space of a visual field.


title: Chuck Palumbo

text: Charles Palumbo (born June 15, 1971) is an Italian-American television personality, motorcycle and automotive designer/fabricator, home designer/builder, and retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with professional wrestling promotions World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation in the late-1990s and 2000s, where he held the WCW World Tag Team Championship and WWF/E World Tag Team Championship. He hosted the Discovery Channel series "Lords of the Car Hoards" and "Rusted Development".


title: Chuck Palumbo

text: Chuck Palumbo grew up in West Warwick, Rhode Island. He attended West Warwick High School, where he earned all-state honors in basketball. He joined the US Navy soon after and spent time in the Persian Gulf, working the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson. He was initially assigned to an F-18 Hornet squadron VAQ-34 at Lemoore, California before transferring to NAS Miramar in San Diego where he worked on the E-2C Hawkeye. Chuck finished up his stint in the Navy and enrolled at the Community College of Rhode Island earning All-American honors in basketball and a full scholarship to University of Central Missouri. While attending Central Missouri, watching a WCW TV show, he saw a commercial for the WCW PowerPlant. He called the number, and after graduating with a Criminal Justice degree, decided to accept their invite to travel to Atlanta and train at the WCW Power Plant.


title: Chuck Palumbo

text: Palumbo began his career in 1998 on the independent circuit, using a surfer gimmick and the ring name "The Dude". He made his debut appearance on World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s "Nitro" on October 19, 1998, as a fan who accepted the challenge of Ernest "The Cat" Miller. Six months later, he was offered a training contract by WCW in April 1999. Just prior to the hiring of Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera as bookers for WCW, many of the WCW Power Plant wrestlers debuted on "Saturday Night" and "WorldWide".


title: Chuck Palumbo

text: In 2000, Palumbo made his debut on the March 22, 2000 edition of "Thunder" under his real name, losing to Scott Steiner. After this match, Palumbo was chosen by Bischoff and Russo to be the New Blood's version of Lex Luger in May 2000. He was given the nickname "The Main Event".


title: Chuck Palumbo

text: Palumbo feuded with Luger until late May 2000 when Palumbo formed a team called "The Perfect Event" with Shawn Stasiak and the pair won the WCW World Tag Team Championship. Their main feud was against KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark). In August, Stasiak and Palumbo helped form The Natural Born Thrillers with Mike Sanders, Sean O'Haire, Mark Jindrak, and Reno. They were briefly "coached" by Kevin Nash.


title: Chuck Palumbo

text: Palumbo and Stasiak won the WCW World Tag Team Championship two more times before splitting in early January 2001 when he and Stasiak won a tag team battle royal with O'Haire and Jindrak for a future tag team title shot. After the conclusion of the match Mike Sanders declared both teams victorious and that any combination of the four would face The Insiders (Diamond Dallas Page and Kevin Nash). Palumbo and O'Haire were the two members of the Natural Born Thrillers who would face and defeat Page and Nash for the tag titles at Sin on January 14, 2001. Following the title victory, the Natural Born Thrillers broke up when the team of Jindrak and Stasiak became jealous of Palumbo and O'Haire. The teams faced each other at SuperBrawl Revenge on February 18, 2001, for the tag team title, which Palumbo and O'Haire retained. The duo also retained the title against Totally Buffed (Buff Bagwell and Lex Luger) at Greed in March, WCW's last pay-per-view. On March 23, the World Wrestling Federation acquired the assets of WCW and Palumbo's contract was acquired. The following Monday on the final episode of "Nitro", Palumbo and O'Haire defeated Team Canada's Mike Awesome and Lance Storm in the final WCW World Tag Team Championship title defense on the program.


title: Chuck Palumbo

text: Palumbo and O'Haire made their WWF debuts on the June 28, 2001, episode of "SmackDown!" as part of The Alliance, attacking the Hardy Boyz. O'Haire and Palumbo started feuding with the Acolytes Protection Agency (A.P.A.) in the following weeks, which ended at WWF Invasion on July 22, 2001, when the Acolytes Protection Agency defeated them. Subsequently, O'Haire and Palumbo defeated the Hardy Boyz on the August 2, 2001 edition of "SmackDown!". O'Haire and Palumbo lost the WCW Tag Team Championship to The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane) on the August 9, 2001 edition of "SmackDown!" and lost their rematch for the tag-team gold in a steel cage match the following week on "Raw". O'Haire and Palumbo's last televised match together was on the August 26 edition of "Heat" defeating The Holly Cousins (Hardcore and Crash).


title: Chuck Palumbo

text: O'Haire was sent to developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling in early September 2001, and Palumbo was thrown out of The Alliance on the October 25 edition of "SmackDown!" by storyline co-owner of The Alliance, Stephanie McMahon. He joined the WWF in November.


title: Chuck Palumbo

text: When he returned, Palumbo found a tag team partner in Billy Gunn. The pair started as a tag team working dark matches, but were later given a gimmick that saw the pair grow increasingly affectionate towards each other, showing evidence of a homosexual relationship. Palumbo became known simply as Chuck, and he bleached his hair blond to match Gunn's.