title: Sustainable living

text: With rising concerns over non-renewable energy source usage and climate change caused by carbon emissions, the phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles is becoming more and more important to the conversation of sustainability. Zero-emission urban transport systems that foster mobility, accessible public transportation and healthier urban environments are needed. Such urban transport systems should consist of rail transport, electric buses, bicycle pathways, provision for human-powered transport and pedestrian walkways. Public transport systems such as underground rail systems and bus transit systems shift huge numbers of people away from reliance on car dependency and dramatically reduce the rate of carbon emissions caused by automobile transport.


title: Sustainable living

text: In comparison to automobiles, bicycles are a paragon of energy efficient personal transportation with the bicycle roughly 50 times more energy efficient than driving. Bicycles increase mobility while alleviating congestion, lowering air and noise pollution, and increasing physical exercise. Most importantly, they do not emit climate-damaging carbon dioxide. Bike-sharing programs are beginning to boom throughout the world and are modeled in leading cities such as Paris, Amsterdam and London. Bike-sharing programs offer kiosks and docking stations that supply hundreds to thousands of bikes for rental throughout a city through small deposits or affordable memberships.


title: Sustainable living

text: A recent boom has occurred in electric bikes especially in China and other Asian countries. Electric bikes are similar to electric cars in that they are battery-powered and can be plugged into the provincial electric grid for recharging as needed. In contrast to electric cars, electric bikes do not directly use any fossil fuels. Adequate sustainable urban transportation is dependent upon proper city transport infrastructure and planning that incorporates efficient public transit along with bicycle and pedestrian-friendly pathways.


title: Sustainable living

text: A major factor of sustainable living involves that which no human can live without, water. Unsustainable water use has far reaching implications for humankind. Currently, humans use one-fourth of the Earth's total fresh water in natural circulation, and over half the accessible runoff. Additionally, population growth and water demand is ever increasing. Thus, it is necessary to use available water more efficiently. In sustainable living, one can use water more sustainably through a series of simple, everyday measures. These measures involve considering indoor home appliance efficiency, outdoor water use, and daily water use awareness.


title: Sustainable living

text: Housing and commercial buildings account for 12 percent of America's freshwater withdrawals. A typical American single family home uses about per person per day indoors. This use can be reduced by simple alterations in behavior and upgrades to appliance quality.


title: Sustainable living

text: Toilets accounted for almost 30% of residential indoor water use in the United States in 1999. One flush of a standard U.S. toilet requires more water than most individuals, and many families, in the world use for all their needs in an entire day.


title: Sustainable living

text: A home's toilet water sustainability can be improved in one of two ways: improving the current toilet or installing a more efficient toilet. To improve the current toilet, one possible method is to put weighted plastic bottles in the toilet tank. Also, there are inexpensive tank banks or float booster available for purchase. A tank bank is a plastic bag to be filled with water and hung in the toilet tank. A float booster attaches underneath the float ball of pre-1986 three and a half gallon capacity toilets. It allows these toilets to operate at the same valve and float setting but significantly reduces their water level, saving between one and one and a third gallons of water per flush. A major waste of water in existing toilets is leaks. A slow toilet leak is undetectable to the eye, but can waste hundreds of gallons each month. One way to check this is to put food dye in the tank, and to see if the water in the toilet bowl turns the same color. In the event of a leaky flapper, one can replace it with an adjustable toilet flapper, which allows self-adjustment of the amount of water per flush.


title: Sustainable living

text: In installing a new toilet there are a number of options to obtain the most water efficient model. A low flush toilet uses one to two gallons per flush. Traditionally, toilets use three to five gallons per flush. If an eighteen-liter per flush toilet is removed and a six-liter per flush toilet is put in its place, 70% of the water flushed will be saved while the overall indoor water use by will be reduced by 30%. It is possible to have a toilet that uses no water. A composting toilet treats human waste through composting and dehydration, producing a valuable soil additive. These toilets feature a two-compartment bowl to separate urine from feces. The urine can be collected or sold as fertilizer. The feces can be dried and bagged or composted. These toilets cost scarcely more than regularly installed toilets and do not require a sewer hookup. In addition to providing valuable fertilizer, these toilets are highly sustainable because they save sewage collection and treatment, as well as lessen agricultural costs and improve topsoil.


title: Sustainable living

text: Additionally, one can reduce toilet water sustainability by limiting total toilet flushing. For instance, instead of flushing small wastes, such as tissues, one can dispose of these items in the trash or compost.


title: Sustainable living

text: On average, showers were 18% of U.S. indoor water use in 1999, at per minute traditionally in America. A simple method to reduce this use is to switch to low-flow, high-performance showerheads. These showerheads use only 1.0–1.5 gpm or less. An alternative to replacing the showerhead is to install a converter. This device arrests a running shower upon reaching the desired temperature. Solar water heaters can be used to obtain optimal water temperature, and are more sustainable because they reduce dependence on fossil fuels. To lessen excess water use, water pipes can be insulated with pre-slit foam pipe insulation. This insulation decreases hot water generation time. A simple, straightforward method to conserve water when showering is to take shorter showers. One method to accomplish this is to turn off the water when it is not necessary (such as while lathering) and resuming the shower when water is necessary. This can be facilitated when the plumbing or showerhead allow turning off the water without disrupting the desired temperature setting (common in the UK but not the United States).


title: Sustainable living

text: On average, sinks were 15% of U.S. indoor water use in 1999. There are, however, easy methods to rectify excessive water loss. Available for purchase is a screw-on aerator. This device works by combining water with air thus generating a frothy substance with greater perceived volume, reducing water use by half. Additionally, there is a flip-valve available that allows flow to be turned off and back on at the previously reached temperature. Finally, a laminar flow device creates a 1.5–2.4 gpm stream of water that reduces water use by half, but can be turned to normal water level when optimal.


title: Sustainable living

text: In addition to buying the above devices, one can live more sustainably by checking sinks for leaks, and fixing these links if they exist. According to the EPA, "A small drip from a worn faucet washer can waste 20 gallons of water per day, while larger leaks can waste hundreds of gallons". When washing dishes by hand, it is not necessary to leave the water running for rinsing, and it is more efficient to rinse dishes simultaneously.


title: Sustainable living

text: On average, dishwashing consumes 1% of indoor water use. When using a dishwasher, water can be conserved by only running the machine when it is full. Some have a "low flow" setting to use less water per wash cycle. Enzymatic detergents clean dishes more efficiently and more successfully with a smaller amount of water at a lower temperature.


title: Sustainable living

text: On average, 23% of U.S. indoor water use in 1999 was due to clothes washing. In contrast to other machines, American washing machines have changed little to become more sustainable. A typical washing machine has a vertical-axis design, in which clothes are agitated in a tubful of water. Horizontal-axis machines, in contrast, put less water into the bottom of the rub and rotate clothes through it. These machines are more efficient in terms of soap use and clothing stability.


title: Sustainable living

text: There are a number of ways one can incorporate a personal yard, roof, and garden in more sustainable living. While conserving water is a major element of sustainability, so is sequestering water.


title: Sustainable living

text: In planning a yard and garden space, it is most sustainable to consider the plants, soil, and available water. Drought resistant shrubs, plants, and grasses require a smaller amount of water in comparison to more traditional species. Additionally, native plants (as opposed to herbaceous perennials) will use a smaller supply of water and have a heightened resistance to plant diseases of the area. Xeriscaping is a technique that selects drought-tolerant plants and accounts for endemic features such as slope, soil type, and native plant range. It can reduce landscape water use by 50 – 70%, while providing habitat space for wildlife. Plants on slopes help reduce runoff by slowing and absorbing accumulated rainfall. Grouping plants by watering needs further reduces water waste.


title: Sustainable living

text: After planting, placing a circumference of mulch surrounding plants functions to lessen evaporation. To do this, firmly press two to four inches of organic matter along the plant's dripline. This prevents water runoff. When watering, consider the range of sprinklers; watering paved areas is unnecessary. Additionally, to conserve the maximum amount of water, watering should be carried out during early mornings on non-windy days to reduce water loss to evaporation. Drip-irrigation systems and soaker hoses are a more sustainable alternative to the traditional sprinkler system. Drip-irrigation systems employ small gaps at standard distances in a hose, leading to the slow trickle of water droplets which percolate the soil over a protracted period. These systems use 30 – 50% less water than conventional methods. Soaker hoses help to reduce water use by up to 90%. They connect to a garden hose and lay along the row of plants under a layer of mulch. A layer of organic material added to the soil helps to increase its absorption and water retention; previously planted areas can be covered with compost.


title: Sustainable living

text: In caring for a lawn, there are a number of measures that can increase the sustainability of lawn maintenance techniques. A primary aspect of lawn care is watering. To conserve water, it is important to only water when necessary, and to deep soak when watering. Additionally, a lawn may be left to go dormant, renewing after a dry spell to its original vitality.


title: Sustainable living

text: A common method of water sequestrations is rainwater harvesting, which incorporates the collection and storage of rain. Primarily, the rain is obtained from a roof, and stored on the ground in catchment tanks. Water sequestration varies based on extent, cost, and complexity. A simple method involves a single barrel at the bottom of a downspout, while a more complex method involves multiple tanks. It is highly sustainable to use stored water in place of purified water for activities such as irrigation and flushing toilets. Additionally, using stored rainwater reduces the amount of runoff pollution, picked up from roofs and pavements that would normally enter streams through storm drains. The following equation can be used to estimate annual water supply:


title: Sustainable living

text: Greywater systems function in sequestering used indoor water, such as laundry, bath and sink water, and filtering it for reuse. Greywater can be reused in irrigation and toilet flushing. There are two types of greywater systems: gravity fed manual systems and package systems. The manual systems do not require electricity but may require a larger yard space. The package systems require electricity but are self-contained and can be installed indoors.


title: Sustainable living

text: As populations and resource demands climb, waste production contributes to emissions of carbon dioxide, leaching of hazardous materials into the soil and waterways, and methane emissions. In America alone, over the course of a decade, of American resources will have been transformed into nonproductive wastes and gases. Thus, a crucial component of sustainable living is being waste conscious. One can do this by reducing waste, reusing commodities, and recycling.


title: Sustainable living

text: There are a number of ways to reduce waste in sustainable living. Two methods to reduce paper waste are canceling junk mail like credit card and insurance offers and direct mail marketing and changing monthly paper statements to paperless emails. Junk mail alone accounted for 1.72 million tons of landfill waste in 2009. Another method to reduce waste is to buy in bulk, reducing packaging materials. Preventing food waste can limit the amount of organic waste sent to landfills producing the powerful greenhouse gas methane. Another example of waste reduction involves being cognizant of purchasing excessive amounts when buying materials with limited use like cans of paint. Non-hazardous or less hazardous alternatives can also limit the toxicity of waste.


title: Sustainable living

text: By reusing materials, one lives more sustainably by not contributing to the addition of waste to landfills. Reusing saves natural resources by decreasing the necessity of raw material extraction. For example, reusable bags can reduce the amount of waste created by grocery shopping eliminating the need to create and ship plastic bags and the need to manage their disposal and recycling or polluting effects.


title: Sustainable living

text: Recycling, a process that breaks down used items into raw materials to make new materials, is a particularly useful means of contributing to the renewal of goods. Recycling incorporates three primary processes; collection and processing, manufacturing, and purchasing recycled products. A natural example of recycling involves using food waste as compost to enrich the quality of soil, which can be carried out at home or locally with community composting. An offshoot of recycling, upcycling, strives to convert material into something of similar or greater value in its second life. By integrating measures of reusing, reducing, and recycling one can effectively reduce personal waste and use materials in a more sustainable manner.


title: Sustainable living

text: Though it is not always included in discussions of sustainable living, some consider reproductive choices to be a key part of sustainable living. Reproductive choices refers, in this case, to the number of children that an individual has, whether they are conceived biologically or adopted. Some researchers have claimed that for people living in wealthy, high-consumption countries such as the United States, having fewer children is by far the most effective way to decrease one's carbon footprint, and one's ecological footprint more broadly. However, the scholarship that has led to this claim has been questioned, as has the misleading way that it's often been presented in popular newspaper and web articles. Some ethicists and environmental activists have made similar arguments about the need for a "small family ethic" and research has found that in some countries, these ecological concerns are leading some people to report having fewer children than they would otherwise, or no children at all.


title: Sustainable living

text: However, there have been multiple critiques of the idea that having fewer children is part of a sustainable lifestyle. Some argue that it is an example of the kind of Malthusian thinking that has led to coercion and violence in the past (including forced sterilizations and forced abortions), and that it might lead to similar policies that deny women reproductive freedom in the future. Additionally, research has found that some environmentalists consider having children, and even having more children than they might otherwise, to be a part of sustainable living. They assert that parenting can be an important way that individuals can exert a positive environmental influence, by educating the next generation and as a way to remain engaged in one's commitment to environmental action.


title: Sustainable living

text: A study that reviewed 217 analyses of on-the-market products and services and analyzed existing alternatives to mainstream food, holidays, and furnishings, concluded that total greenhouse gas emissions by Swedes could be lowered by as of 2021 up to 36–38 % if consumers – without a decrease in total estimated expenditure or considerations of self-interest rationale – instead were to obtain those they – using available data – could assess to be more sustainable. Provision, supply/availability, product development/success/price, comparative benefits as well as incentives, purposes/demands and effects of expenditure-choices are part of or embedded in the human neuro-socioeconomic system and therefore overall largely beyond the control of an individual seeking to make rational and ethical choices within it even if all relevant life-cycle assessment/product and manufacturing information was available to this consumer . and it leads the consumer


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Ocean City, officially the Town of Ocean City, is an Atlantic resort town in Worcester County, Maryland along the East Coast of the United States. The population was 6,844 at the 2020 U.S. census, although during summer weekends the city hosts between 320,000 and 345,000 vacationers, and up to 8 million visitors annually. During the summer, Ocean City becomes the second most populated municipality in Maryland, after Baltimore. To the north of Ocean City is Fenwick Island, it is part of the Salisbury, MD-DE Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: The land upon which the city was built, as well as much of the surrounding area, was obtained by Englishman Thomas Fenwick from the Native Americans. In 1869, businessman Isaac Coffin built the first beach-front cottage to receive paying guests. During those days, people arrived by stagecoach and ferry.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Soon after, other simple boarding houses were built on the strip of sand, with the activity attracting prominent businessmen from the Maryland Eastern Shore, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Wilmington. They came not so much to visit as to survey the spit. A decision was made to develop it and 250 lots were cut into it, and a corporation was formed to help with the development of the land. The corporation stock of 4,000 shares sold for $25 each.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: The Atlantic Hotel, the first major hotel in the town, opened July 4, 1875. The Atlantic Hotel was originally owned by the Atlantic Hotel Company, but eventually Charles W. Purnell bought it in 1923. , it is still owned and operated by the Purnell family. Besides the beach and ocean, it offered dancing and billiard rooms to the visitors of its more than 400 rooms, and for years it was the northernmost attraction in Ocean City. By 1878 tourists could come by the Wicomico & Pocomoke Railroad from Berlin to the shores of Sinepuxent Bay across from the town. By 1881, a line was completed across Sinepuxent Bay to the shore, bringing rail passengers on the Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic Railroad directly into the town to a train station on Philadelphia Avenue and returning to larger city markets with locally caught fish from Ocean City.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: In 1930 the Ocean City Beach Patrol was formed in order to better protect the bathers that now frequented the shoreline. It was done in collaboration with Mayor William W. McCabe and Coast Guard Captain William Purnell. The first guard was Edward Lee Carey, who watched over the bathers that were out of sight from the original Coast Guard tower on Caroline Street.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: The Ocean City Inlet was formed during a significant hurricane in 1933, which also destroyed the train tracks across the Sinepuxent Bay. The inlet separated what is now Ocean City from Assateague Island. The Army Corps of Engineers took advantage of nature's intervention and made the inlet at the south end of Ocean City permanent. The inlet eventually helped to establish Ocean City as an important Mid-Atlantic fishing port as it offered easy access to the fishing grounds of the Atlantic Ocean.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: In the late 1930s, the Army Corps of Engineers dredged a new channel on the bayside of Ocean City to allow larger boats to have access to Sinepuxent Bay. The dredge was pumped back onto the western shore of Ocean City allowing the creation of Chicago Avenue and St. Louis Avenue, leading to new development where previously only marshland had been.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Ocean City has become well-known in Maryland due to the rapid expansion that took place during the post-war boom. In 1952, with the completion of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, Ocean City became easily accessible to people in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. In 1964, with the completion of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, a whole new pathway to the south was opened. This tunnel connects Northhampton County on the Delmarva Peninsula to Southeast Virginia. Ocean City has become one of the largest vacation areas on the East Coast.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: By the 1970s, big business flourished and gave birth to the construction of more than 15,000 condominium units, creating high-rise condominiums that gave investors a glimpse of the ocean and pounding surf. However, throughout the 1980s, and into the 1990s, the width of the beach began to shrink, prompting the first of a series of beach replenishment projects.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: A fire during the annual Sunfest destroyed five boardwalk businesses in 1994. There was a small water park and giant walk-through haunted house with live actors near the end of the pier and a New Orleans-style Hollywood in Wax Museum on the boardwalk side. In the late 1980s the wax museum was turned into a arena. The building now houses the Ripley's Believe it or Not! museum.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: In 2002, Ocean City undertook the most recent of many, multimillion-dollar, beach restoration programs, in an attempt to slow the westward migration of its beaches. The program pumped tons of sand from offshore and deposited it onto the beach. A dune line was also re-established in front of Ocean City's building line. Another similar project began after the 2006 tourist season closed.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Today, the Ocean City area continues to sprawl westward across the bay and toward Berlin and Ocean Pines. It was part of the Ocean Pines Micropolitan Statistical Area until that was subsumed by the Salisbury Metropolitan Area. The resort area accommodates approximately 8 million visitors per year.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: The town supports a year-round population of about 7,000, with the town itself being a major employer. In the summer, businesses and government agencies are augmented with about 100 seasonal police officers, plus extra firefighters and other workers. Numerous events take place within the town during the shoulder-season, including Sunfest, Springfest, Bike Week, Cruisin' Weekend, Winterfest of Lights and Reach the Beach, which take place on the Boardwalk and/or in the Roland E. Powell Convention Center.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: In 2006, the city erected the Ocean City Firefighter's Memorial to honor local firefighters as well as firefighters who died in the September 11 attacks. In addition to a statue of a firefighter, the monument incorporates a piece of steel beam from one of the towers destroyed at the World Trade Center. Ocean City is home to the annual Maryland State Firefighters Convention. This is a week-long event in June, that honors the state's firefighters with events and contests at the Convention Center, and ends with a parade.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Ocean City now extends just more than from the southern inlet to the Delaware line. The strip now supports hotels, motels, apartment houses, shopping centers, residential communities, and condominiums. The southern tip houses the Ocean City Boardwalk. The boardwalk is the main shopping district and entertainment area of the town. The Boardwalk has two amusement parks, Trimpers Rides and The Pier, which was recently renamed Jolly Roger at The Pier, after its sister uptown local amusement park. The downtown neighborhood, Old Town, is marked by Victorian style houses and other older buildings.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Ocean City has a long history of fishing, both commercial and recreational. The town bills itself as the "White Marlin Capital of the World." During the summer numerous charter and private boats fish for billfish, tuna, wahoo, and other game fish. In early August, one of the largest fishing tournaments in the world, the White Marlin Open, is held. Prize money for the largest White Marlin, Blue Marlin, and Tuna can range over 1 million dollars.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and is water.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Ocean City is on the barrier spit called Fenwick Island, which encompasses Ocean City, as well as South Bethany and Fenwick Island, Delaware. Ocean City's southern point is an inlet formed by the 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane. Rainfall and tides swelled the rivers and bays surrounding Ocean City until the overflowing water cut a 50-foot crevasse from the bay to the ocean. Ocean City businessmen had long sought funding to create an inlet to support a harbor, so residents seized upon the opportunity and built jetties to ensure the city's land remained divided from what is now Assateague Island.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: According to the Köppen climate classification system, Ocean City, Maryland has a humid subtropical climate with long, warm to hot and humid summers, cool winters and year-round precipitation. Ocean City receives 2300 hours of sunshine annually (higher than the USA average). Temperatures are moderated in Ocean City due to its location on the Atlantic coast. During the summer months, a cooling afternoon sea breeze is present on most days with an average of only 10 days annually reaching . However, in 2010 the temperature rose to which was the hottest air temperature on record, and episodes of extreme heat combined with tropical humidity can occur with heat index values ≥ . The prominence of the Outer Banks of North Carolina to the south means direct hits from tropical storms and hurricanes are rare, although they sometimes brush the area. The Atlantic hurricane season extends from June 1 through November 30, sharply peaking from late August through September.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: During the winter months, Ocean City has cool weather with an average high of 45 F (7.5 C), however periods of mild temperatures in the 50 to 60 F range are common. The air temperature fails to rise above freezing 5.8 days on average and the plant hardiness zone is 7b with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of . On rare occasion, episodes of extreme cold and wind can occur with wind chill values under . The coldest temperature on record was . The average seasonal (Dec-Mar) snowfall total is small, with , and the average snowiest month is February which corresponds with the annual peak in nor'easter activity.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: As of the census of 2010, there were 7,102 people, 3,852 households, and 1,784 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 30,119 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 92.2% White, 2.7% African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.3% Asian, 2.2% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.9% of the population.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: There were 3,852 households, of which 11.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.8% were married couples living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 53.7% were non-families. 42.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.84 and the average family size was 2.41.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: The median age in the town was 54.2 years. 9.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 20.8% were from 25 to 44; 33.8% were from 45 to 64; and 29.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 51.4% male and 48.6% female.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 7,173 people, 3,750 households, and 1,829 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 26,317 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 95.34% White, 2.50% African American, 0.11% Native American, 0.74% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.35% from other races, and 0.95% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.24% of the population.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: There were 3,750 households, out of which 11.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.2% were married couples living together, 6.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 51.2% were non-families. 39.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.91 and the average family size was 2.47.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: In the town, the population was spread out, with 11.3% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 28.0% from 45 to 64, and 25.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.6 males.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: The median income for a household in the town was $35,772, and the median income for a family was $44,614. Males had a median income of $28,613 versus $27,457 for females. The per capita income for the town was $26,078. About 6.0% of families and 8.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.0% of those under the age of 18 and 3.9% ages 65 or older.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Ocean City has a council-manager system of government with a Mayor and seven-member City Council. The Mayor is elected at-large to two-year terms while the City Council is elected at-large to staggered four-year terms. The City Council elects a Council President who presides over and sets the agenda for City Council meetings. The Mayor represents the town to state and local agencies. Both the Mayor and City Council hire a City Manager who is in charge of all daily operations of the town and serves as its chief financial officer. As of 2017, the Mayor of Ocean City is Rick Meehan and the members of City Council are Council President Lloyd Martin, Council Secretary Mary Knight, Dennis Dare, Tony DeLuca, John Gehrig Jr., Wayne Hartman, and Matt James.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Police services in Ocean City are provided by the Ocean City Police Department, which consists of 105 full-time officers and between 100 and 110 seasonal officers. Fire protection in Ocean City is provided by the Ocean City Fire Department, which consists of over 200 volunteer members and over 100 career members.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Ocean City has only a single major north−south thoroughfare, Maryland Route 528, known as the Coastal Highway for most of its length, and as Philadelphia Avenue at its southern end. Coastal Highway continues north into Delaware as Delaware Route 1. Between S. 1st Street and 33rd Street, Philadelphia Avenue is paralleled by Baltimore Avenue to the east, which is unsigned Maryland Route 378 south of 15th Street. In downtown Ocean City, Baltimore Avenue is one-way northbound and Philadelphia Avenue is one-way southbound. Most east–west streets are numbered, starting at N. Division Street in the south, and continue until 146th Street at the Delaware/Maryland border. Between S. Division Street and N. Division Street are several streets named after counties on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. South of S. Division Street is S. 1st Street and S. 2nd Street at the Ocean City Inlet. Locations in the city are usually given as Oceanside (east of Coastal Highway) or Bayside (west of Coastal Highway).


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Three bridges connect the spit to the mainland. U.S. Route 50 (Ocean Gateway) crosses the Harry W. Kelley Memorial Bridge and connects to MD 528 at N. Division Street. Ocean City is the eastern terminus of US 50. The western terminus of US 50 in West Sacramento, California is a mileage sign stating the distance to Ocean City, MD as . Maryland Route 90 (Ocean City Expressway), a two-lane freeway, crosses the Assawoman Bay Bridge and connects to MD 528 at 62nd Street. Delaware Route 54 (Lighthouse Road) can also be used to reach Ocean City, as it meets Coastal Highway just north of the border.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: The Hugh T. Cropper Inlet Parking Lot is located just north of the Ocean City Inlet adjacent to the beach and boardwalk and offers 1,200 spaces, with paid parking from April to October. The West Ocean City Park and Ride offers free parking, with bus service into Ocean City. There are several smaller paid parking lots and on-street parking enforced by parking meters in the downtown area along with a few paid parking lots in the northern part of Ocean City. Parking lots and parking meters in Ocean City use a pay-by-plate parking system.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Ocean City also has a public transportation system called Ocean City Transportation. This agency operates the Coastal Highway Beach Bus, the West Ocean City Park-N-Ride Beach Bus, the Express Beach Bus for special events, and a trackless train shuttle called the Boardwalk Tram. Ocean City Transportation also offers paratransit service. The Coastal Highway Beach Bus, which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week year-round, runs the north–south length of the town along Baltimore Avenue and Philadelphia Avenue in the downtown area and Coastal Highway further north between the South Division Street Transit Center near the Ocean City Inlet and 145th Street near the Delaware border, ending at the 144th Street Transit Center. The West Ocean City Park-N-Ride Beach Bus provides seasonal park and ride service in the summer months from the West Ocean City Park and Ride along U.S. Route 50 in West Ocean City to the South Division Street Transit Center, where connections can be made to the Coastal Highway Beach Bus. The Express Beach Bus operates service for special events throughout the summer months, providing service to events from remote parking areas. The Boardwalk Tram operates during the summer months along the entire length of the Ocean City Boardwalk, using a dedicated path south of 5th Street and running along the boardwalk north of 5th Street.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Ocean City's transit service connects with Shore Transit, where patrons can travel to or from destinations on the Eastern Shore such as from Salisbury and to Pocomoke City along Route 432 and from Pocomoke City and to Salisbury along Route 452. This connection point is the West Ocean City Park and Ride in the summer and the South Division Street Transit Center in the offseason. Between May and September, DART First State's Beach Bus Route 208 bus connects the Coastal Highway Beach Bus at the 144th Street Transit Center with the Delaware Beaches, running to the Rehoboth Beach Park and Ride. Here, connections can be made with other Beach Bus routes, regular DART service, or shuttle service from the Cape May–Lewes Ferry to Cape May, New Jersey.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Greyhound Lines provides intercity bus service between the Baltimore Greyhound Terminal in Baltimore and the West Ocean City Park and Ride, with service on the portion between Salisbury and Ocean City operated by Shore Transit. BayRunner Shuttle offers shuttle service from the Baltimore-Washington International Airport and the BWI Rail Station to the West Ocean City Park and Ride; this service is an Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach route. OurBus provides intercity bus service from Washington, D.C. and Annapolis, Maryland to Ocean City during the summer months, stopping at 60th Street and Coastal Highway.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Ocean City Municipal Airport, located west of downtown Ocean City serves general aviation and charter aircraft. Full service FBO available at this airport, as well as FAA and Cessna Pilot Center approved flight school. Nearby Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional Airport provides commercial air service (American Eagle) for Ocean City. The nearest international airports are Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport and Virginia's Norfolk International Airport, both 135 miles from Ocean City.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Into the 1930s, the Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic Railway ran passenger trains from Love Point on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, opposite Baltimore, to Salisbury Union Station (where transfers could be made to trains to Wilmington and Philadelphia) to Ocean City; by 1938 service was terminated. Until the late 1940s, the Pennsylvania Railroad ran passenger trains from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Berlin, Maryland, 10 miles to the west of Ocean City on the former territory of the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Railroad.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Delmarva Power, a subsidiary of Exelon, provides electricity to Ocean City. Sandpiper Energy, a subsidiary of Chesapeake Utilities, provides natural gas to the town. The Town of Ocean City Municipal Water Department provides water to the town, operating 25 wells, 3 treatment plants, 6 above-ground storage tanks, and an underground storage tank. The Public Works department provides wastewater service to Ocean City, operating the Ocean City Wastewater Treatment Plant. Trash and recycling collection in Ocean City is handled by the Public Works department, with the town's trash transported by Covanta Energy to the Energy Resource Recovery Facility in Fairfax, Virginia, a waste-to-energy plant.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: The Ocean City Boardwalk currently runs from South 2nd Street at the Ocean City Inlet in South Ocean City (by the Ocean City Life Saving Museum) up to 27th Street in South Ocean City. The boardwalk is home to food, shops, arcades, and amusements. Originally called the "Atlantic Avenue", the first Ocean City boardwalk was constructed in 1902. After being damaged by a storm in 1962, the boardwalk was rebuilt to stretch a total of 2.25 miles, which is still its length today. Many years later the boardwalk would suffer extensive storm damage during Hurricane Gloria in 1985 which pummeled Ocean City with 89 MPH winds; however, the boardwalk was refurbished and a concrete sea wall was soon constructed following the storm to prevent further damage, and the aftermath of Hurricane Gloria led to the first phase of extensive beach replenishment projects in Ocean City. It wouldn't be until 2012, that the Ocean City Boardwalk was damaged again as a result of Hurricane Sandy. The boardwalk was flooded and half of it was destroyed as a result of the water coming so far onto shore. The boardwalk has since been rebuilt back to its original length and still attracts many tourists and families. As a historical landmark the Ocean City boardwalk has been consistently rated as one of the "best boardwalks for food" in "USA Today", and was rated one of the Top Ten Boardwalks to Visit in the US by "National Geographic". Also located in South Ocean City is Trimper's Rides amusement park. Trimper's Rides is a historic amusement park that was founded in 1893 as "The Windsor Resort", and is over 100 years old. The Trimper's Carousel (first built in the 1920s), was voted one of the "Best Carousels in America" by "Travel & Leisure" in 2012, and is one of the oldest running carousels operating today in the world.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: The Midtown section of Ocean City stretches from 28th Street to 90th Street and is home to dining along the bay and nightlife. Located in Midtown are the Jolly Roger Amusement Park and the Roland E. Powell Convention Center. This area also features the Seacrets entertainment complex on 49th Street, one of the highest-grossing bars in the country, know for bringing in hundreds of coconut palms and other tropical plants in the summer.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: North Ocean City stretches from 91st Street up to the Delaware border at 146th Street. This section of the city has numerous condos along with movie theaters. North Ocean City is also the location of Northside Park, which has sports fields, gyms, a playground, and a jogging path. With a greater number of tourists visiting Ocean City during the summer months from the Western Shore of Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, many high rise condominiums were first built in North Ocean City in the 1970s overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The high-rise condominiums are currently located in North Ocean City, starting with the 21-story "9400" up on 94th St and continuing to the "Carousel" on 118th St.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: In Ocean City, there have been several shark sightings. More and more sharks have been spotted close to shore on beaches in Delaware and Ocean City. Some biologists believe that this may be a result of the fishermen who are attempting to catch sand sharks through bait that they have placed in the ocean. Besides sand sharks, there have been sightings of Tiger Sharks as well. On August 1, 2014, a 12.8-foot-long, 1,000-pound tiger shark was spotted in the middle of the Isle of Wight Bay, located in Ocean City. The female shark was nicknamed Septima by scientists, and has traveled over thousands of miles along the East Coast since being tagged in South Carolina. However, though there has been an increase in shark sightings, there have not been any recorded fatalities from shark attacks in Ocean City, Maryland. North Ocean City in recent years has seen more deer sightings and red foxes as well as development has increased on the barrier island as well. On September 15, 2019, a young sperm whale that was underweight washed up and died on the beach of 114th Street.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: There are many historic landmarks located in Ocean City, Maryland. Some historical sites include the Sandy Point Site and St. Paul's by-the-sea Protestant Episcopal Church, which are both listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the anchor from the Sailboat Wreck, the original Atlantic Hotel and the Ocean City Life Saving Station Museum.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: The anchor from the Sailboat Wreck is located on the Ocean City Boardwalk. The anchor, which is 2 ½ tons, was recovered from the Sailboat Wreck in 1870 by the commercial clam vessel "Star Light". It is now located on the boardwalk for people to admire the history of it. The Atlantic Hotel, located at 401 S Baltimore Ave, is another historical site that is also still open for business. After a fire that destroyed the original and first-ever hotel in Ocean City, Maryland, the Atlantic Hotel was rebuilt in 1926 and is one of the oldest and most historic hotels in Ocean City. The Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum is another historical site originally called the Ocean City Life-Saving Station. The station was part of the coastal system and was important for the saving of vessels and lives in distress. It was built in 1891, and after much debate over having it demolished, the station was saved and eventually dedicated as a museum in 1978. The museum attracts people due to the interesting facts and exhibits of ocean life, nature, and life-saving services.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: Ocean City is known for its "Senior Week" activities. Recently graduated high school seniors from Maryland and surrounding states travel to Ocean City to spend a week with friends and away from parental supervision. Senior Week traditionally begins the first week after graduation. The Town of Ocean City has a "Play it Safe" campaign with scheduled events to keep the graduates safe. There are also a number of other events that take place during Senior Week which include the OC Car Show, Dew Tour, H2O Under 21 Events, and the Senior Week boardwalk events.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: First opened in June 1976, Ocean Bowl Skatepark in South Ocean City was the very first skate park to open on the East Coast in the United States, and is the longest-running municipal skatepark in the United States today. Due to time, wear and the current needs of skaters, the original bowl and steel halfpipe ramp were torn down in the Fall of 1997 and the newly constructed skatepark opened in July 1998 on the same site. The park has attracted the National Dew Tour for several years.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: The Town of Ocean City has an emergency advisory radio system broadcast on two FM frequencies. WPSB-LP is broadcast at 99.5 FM from the Public Safety Radio Tower at 65th Street while WWOP-LP is broadcast at 100.3 FM from a tower near Ocean Pines. The system is meant to inform the public of emergency conditions such as severe weather and broadcasts 24-hour community information during non-emergency situations. The studios are located at the Ocean City Public Safety Building on 65th Street. Signs throughout Ocean City advise motorists of the station, with flashing lights advising them to tune in for emergency information. The emergency advisory radio system was launched on August 25, 2014, through a $55,000 grant through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program from the Maryland Emergency Management Agency and sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.


title: Ocean City, Maryland

text: According to the A. W. Kuchler U.S. potential natural vegetation types, Ocean City, Maryland would have a dominant vegetation type of Oak/Hickory/Pine ("111") with a dominant vegetation form of Southern Mixed Forest ("26").


title: Howie Hawkins

text: Howard Gresham Hawkins III (born December 8, 1952) is an American trade unionist, environmental activist, and perennial candidate from New York. A co-founder of the Green Party of the United States, Hawkins was the party's presidential nominee in the 2020 presidential election and is a candidate for the 2024 presidential election. His primary campaign issues included enacting an eco-socialist version of the Green New Deal, which he first proposed in 2010, and building a viable, independent working-class political and social movement in opposition to the Democratic and Republican parties and capitalism in general.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: Hawkins has played leading roles in anti-war, anti-nuclear, and pro-worker movements since the 1960s. Hawkins is a retired teamster and construction worker; from 2001 until his retirement in 2017, Hawkins worked the night shift unloading trucks for UPS.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: Hawkins has run for various offices on twenty-five occasions, all unsuccessfully. He was New York's Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2006. In 2010, Hawkins ran as the Green Party's candidate for Governor of New York, which restored ballot status for the party when it received more than the necessary 50,000 votes. In 2014, Hawkins ran again for the same office and received five percent of the vote. Hawkins ran for Mayor of Syracuse in 2017 and received four percent (about 1,000) of votes. He then ran a third time for Governor of New York in 2018 but received less than two percent of the vote.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: Hawkins received 0.2% of the popular vote in the 2020 presidential election, receiving nearly a percentage less of the popular vote compared to 2016 Green Party nominee Jill Stein.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: He was the Green Party nominee for governor of New York in 2022, running as a write-in candidate after changes to ballot access laws prevented him from being the ballot. He failed to win, as his democratic challenger, Kathy Hochul, beat republican Lee Zeldin in the narrow race.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: Hawkins was born in San Francisco, California, in 1952, and raised in nearby San Mateo, California. He grew up in a diverse neighborhood in the city near the Bayshore Freeway, which had seen a large influx of migrants from the southern United States, both black and white: Hawkins has credited his southern-inflected accent as being a result of this. His father was an attorney who was a football and wrestling student-athlete at the University of Chicago and served in the counter-intelligence unit for the U.S. Army's Manhattan Project during World War II. He became politically active at the age of 12, when he saw how the multiracial Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was denied recognition at the 1964 Democratic Convention.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: After high school, Hawkins attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He was never granted a degree because he did not complete the foreign language requirement. While at Dartmouth, he founded the Dartmouth Radical Union which opposed Dartmouth's investment in corporations that supported, among other causes, apartheid in South Africa and the Vietnam War. Despite his anti-war activism, he joined the Marine Corps after being drafted in 1972. He was never ordered back to active duty after completing boot camp.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: That same year Hawkins campaigned for Bernie Sanders, then the Liberty Union Party candidate for senate and governor of Vermont. In 1973, Hawkins joined Socialist Party USA, a membership which has continued to the present day. In 1976, Hawkins was one of the co-founders of the Clamshell Alliance which was an anti-nuclear power organization aimed at stopping its use in New England.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: In the 1980s Hawkins joined the green movement. In 1988, he and Murray Bookchin founded the Left Green Network "as a radical alternative to U.S. Green liberals", based around the principles of social ecology and libertarian municipalism. In the early 1990s a press conference was held in Washington, D.C., that featured Charles Betz, Joni Whitmore, Hilda Mason, and Howie Hawkins to announce the formation of the Greens/Green Party USA. Later in December 1999, Mike Feinstein and Hawkins wrote the Plan for a Single National Green Party which was the plan to organize the ASGP and GPUSA into a single Green Party. A perennial candidate, Hawkins ran in multiple New York Senate and House races. In 2010 he surpassed the 50,000 vote requirement to stay on the ballot in the gubernatorial election and four years later he received enough to move the Green Party line to Row D as he had taken one-third more than the Working Families Party and twice as much as the Independence Party. However, in 2018 he lost 80,000 votes, but retained ballot access and was only lowered one row down to Row E.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: In 2012 Hawkins was approached over the possibility of running for the Green Party nomination, but declined due to his employment commitments at UPS forcing him to campaign for offices in New York at most and would interfere with a national campaign. Following Hawkins' retirement he was approached again to run by a draft movement with a public letter addressed to him that was signed by former Green vice presidential nominees Cheri Honkala and Ajamu Baraka, former Green mayoral candidate and Ralph Nader's 2008 running mate Matt Gonzalez, and other prominent Green Party members.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: Hawkins was accidentally listed on ballots in Minnesota as the Green Party candidate for vice president, along with Jill Stein for president in the 2016 general election. Although Ajamu Baraka was Stein's running mate on the party's national ticket, Hawkins was inadvertently placed on the Minnesota ballot due to the party using him as a stand-in before the vice-presidential candidate was chosen. With Hawkins listed, the Green Party ticket for President of the United States in Minnesota received nearly 37,000 votes statewide, an increase of 0.82% from the party's previous result in 2012.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: In 1993, Hawkins favored anarcho-communism as well as libertarian municipalism, as the "best way of integrating worker's control and community control in a process of social change that ultimately yields in a marketless, moneyless, stateless cooperative commonwealth". Hawkins was also a member of the Industrial Workers of the World.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: Hawkins disagrees with the "party-within-the-party" approach to the Democratic Party advocated by organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America or by individuals such as Bernie Sanders. Instead, he believes that socialists should create an independent left-wing party.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: Hawkins became the first politician to include the Green New Deal in their election platform when he ran for Governor of New York in 2010. Hawkins supports the Green Party's version of the Green New Deal that would serve as a transitional plan to a one hundred percent clean, renewable energy by 2030 utilizing a carbon tax, jobs guarantee, free college, single-payer healthcare and a focus on using public programs. He self-describes as an eco-socialist and libertarian socialist.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: Hawkins was the Green Party of New York's candidate for the United States Senate in the state of New York. Hawkins received 55,469 votes in the November 2006 election (during which Hillary Clinton was re-elected), for 1.2% of the total votes cast.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: In 2008, Hawkins ran for the United States House of Representatives in New York's 25th congressional district on the Green Populist line. Hawkins won 9,483 votes, losing to Democrat Dan Maffei by 147,892 votes.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: In May 2010, Hawkins was nominated to run for Governor of New York as the Green Party candidate. His campaign was also supported by the Socialist Party of New York.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: On November 2, 2010, Hawkins received nearly 60,000 votes (1.3%), allowing the Green Party of New York to be listed on the ballot for the next four years.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: Hawkins announced his candidacy for 4th District Common Councilor in Syracuse in September 2011, running as a Green Party candidate. His opponent was a Democrat, Khalid Bey. Hawkins received endorsements from the Syracuse Post Standard, UNITE HERE Local 150, and the Greater Syracuse Labor Council. Hawkins planned to sponsor resolutions for state tax code reforms to require more from the state's wealthiest, and to share more revenues with cities. He also supported the establishment of a municipal development bank to provide financing for local cooperative businesses and a 0.4% "commuter tax" on the incomes of suburbanites working in the city. Hawkins lost the election to Bey.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: On May 20, 2013, Hawkins announced that he would again run for 4th District Common Councilor in Syracuse. His opponent was incumbent Democrat Khalid Bey. On October 16, 2013, Hawkins published a fiscal position paper with mayoral candidate Kevin Bott focused on a new scaled local income tax, and the role of the state in the fiscal crisis in Syracuse. Bott and Hawkins point out that New York revenue sharing with its biggest cities has decreased from the teens to just about one percent since the 1970s. Hawkins lost the election to Democrat Bey by a vote of 1,471 to 995.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: On April 9, 2014, Hawkins announced his second candidacy for Governor of New York at the LCA Pressroom in Albany, New York. His campaign positions included a "Green New Deal" platform, a "Clean Money" system for public financing of elections, ending New York's role in the national Common Core standards, and a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour from the then-current $8 an hour in New York. Hawkins' running mate for Lt. Governor was New York City educator and union activist Brian Jones. Hawkins and the Green Party received 184,419 votes (4.8% of the vote), which moved the Green Party up to the fourth line on state ballots for the next four years (surpassing the Working Families and Independence parties).


title: Howie Hawkins

text: In 2015, Hawkins ran for Syracuse City Auditor against incumbent Marty Masterpole. Hawkins noted that Masterpole had filed only two financial audits, and criticized him for auditing city skating rinks and golf courses while the city suffered from high poverty, failing infrastructure and struggling schools. Former District 2 city councilor Pat Hogan suggested to Hawkins that he should run for auditor, stating, "I'm not turning Green ... I am more concerned about the city than the party. The auditor is supposed to be a watchdog on the city budgets and Marty isn't doing any watching. There's a dearth of independence in city government." Hawkins lost the election, winning 35 percent of the vote.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: In 2017, Hawkins ran for Mayor of Syracuse as a Green Party candidate to replace outgoing mayor Stephanie Miner. One of his central campaign points was to restore the Erie Canal through Downtown Syracuse to help aide in the revitalization of the neighborhood, with the belief that 'Cities that capitalize on their waterways tend to have more vibrant downtowns'. Hawkins won 4.1% of the vote (excluding write-ins) and lost to independent Ben Walsh (54.4%, excluding write-ins), the first independent in the city's history.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: On April 12, 2018, Hawkins announced his third run for Governor of New York on the Green Party line. Hawkins and running mate Jia Lee received 95,716 votes (1.7%).


title: Howie Hawkins

text: In 2012 Hawkins was approached over the possibility of running for the Green Party nomination, but declined due to his employment commitments at UPS forcing him to campaign for offices in New York at most and would interfere with a national campaign.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: However, following Hawkins' retirement he was approached again to run by a draft movement with a public letter addressed to him that was signed by former Green vice presidential nominees Cheri Honkala and Ajamu Baraka, former Green mayoral candidate and Nader's 2008 running mate Matt Gonzalez, and other prominent Green Party members.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: On April 3, 2019, Hawkins announced that he was forming an exploratory committee to prepare for a potential candidacy for the Green Party 2020 presidential nomination and later Hawkins formally launched his campaign on May 28, 2019, in Brooklyn, New York.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: On August 23, 2019, the Hawkins campaign announced they had met the requisite federal matching funds for California and New York. The campaign must receive $5,000 from residents, with no more than $250 counted for each contribution, in at least 20 states to qualify for the funds. Only his campaign and Steve Bullock's applied for primary season matching funds.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: On October 26, 2019, Hawkins won the nomination of the Socialist Party USA in his effort to unite smaller left-wing parties together. In November, Hawkins won the nomination of Solidarity.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: On July 11, 2020, Hawkins was chosen as the Green Party's nominee for the 2020 U.S. presidential election. His platform includes the Green New Deal (funded in part by cuts to military spending), Medicare for All, a federal jobs guarantee, a $20 minimum wage and a guaranteed minimum income.


title: Howie Hawkins

text: On November 3, 2020, the results of the election were declared. Howie Hawkins had received 407,068 votes (0.26%) of the popular vote, and 0 electoral votes. This was the third best showing a green party member had received, after Jill Stein and Ralph Nader. Howie Hawkins conceded the election to Joe Biden.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Robert "Robbie" Baldwin is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Created by artist Steve Ditko and writer Tom DeFalco, the character first appeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man Annual" #22 (January 1988) originally known as Speedball, as well as in "" #10 (January 2007) as Penance.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: The character's origin and early exploits as Speedball were depicted soon after in a solo series. After that series was cancelled, he appeared as a member of the superhero team the New Warriors, in the monthly title of the same name. In the Marvel Comics crossover "Civil War", the character changes his name and appearance to Penance. Following this change, he is a member of the Thunderbolts. As of the first issue of "Avengers Academy", he has reverted to Speedball and a modified version of his original costume.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Created by artist Steve Ditko and writer Tom DeFalco, the character first appeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man Annual" #22 (January 1988), originally known as Speedball (initially as a candidate for Marvel's separate New Universe imprint).


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Marvel Comics published ten issues of the monthly comic book series "Speedball" from 1988 to 1989. The series was primarily plotted and penciled by Steve Ditko who also supplied the covers. It was scripted by Roger Stern and inked by several different artists.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: After the series' cancellation, the Speedball character primarily appeared in "New Warriors" and its related comics, written primarily by Fabian Nicieza. Speedball continued to be the most consistent character through the second and third volumes of the "New Warriors". During his run on "New Warriors", Fabian Nicieza commented:


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: The character is featured in Paul Jenkins's "", after it was revealed that he was the only member of the New Warriors to survive the Stamford disaster. The character underwent a drastic change in this series, in which his powers alter and takes the name Penance, joining the Thunderbolts. He would also feature in his own limited series "Penance: Relentless", also written by Jenkins, which examines the background to these changes. In the "Thunderbolts" comics series, Mike Deodato based Baldwin's appearance on actor Edward Norton.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: He appears as a supporting character in "Avengers Academy" #1-20 (Aug 2010-Dec 2011), back in his Speedball persona. After recruiting Sam Alexander in "Nova" Vol. 5 #7-9, Speedball became part of the 2014 incarnation of the New Warriors.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Robbie Baldwin was born in Springdale, Connecticut to mother Madeline, who co-starred in a soap opera with Mary Jane Watson and subsequently became a teacher, and father Justin, a successful district attorney. As a high school student, Robbie gains superpowers after an accident at the Hammond Research Laboratory where he works part-time as a laboratory worker. When Hammond scientists try to tap into a mysterious other-dimensional energy source, the energy bombards Baldwin. Baldwin survives the experience but finds himself surrounded by energy bubbles and clad in an odd costume.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Minutes afterwards, during a battle with some thieves who want to raid the lab, Baldwin discovers that his body now generates a kinetic energy field that protects him from impact and makes him a bouncing dynamo of kinetic energy. Calling himself Speedball, Baldwin becomes a crime-fighter in his hometown of Springdale, Connecticut. Baldwin's parents have marital problems while he secretly leads his double life. This situation leads to domestic stress that escalates over time, driven partly by the conflict between Robbie and his father, who as district attorney is expected to uphold Springdale's ordinance against costumed superheroes and has an extreme prejudice against these "vigilantes".


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: The energy source also affects Niels, a cat belonging to one of the scientists, giving him the same powers. Speedball makes a number of attempts to catch the cat, hoping that study of Niels would give him better control of his powers. He would later learn that a villainous scientist, Clyde, was also after the cat, hoping to gain Speedball-like powers, and had allegedly created most of the supervillains in Springdale to this end. Speedball would later adopt the cat, who under the name of Hairball, would eventually have its own super adventures with the Pet Avengers.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: While still an inexperienced crime-fighter, Speedball meets Spider-Man and Daredevil during a turf war between the Kingpin's and the High Evolutionary's henchmen.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: While shopping in New York City with his mother, Robbie Baldwin joins a battle between Terrax and a number of superheroes. The heroes become the founding members of the New Warriors, and Baldwin agrees to join the team. The commute from Connecticut to the team's headquarters in New York City is difficult and Baldwin is frequently late for Night Thrasher's formal meetings. With the New Warriors, he battles Psionex. He eventually reveals his double identity to the New Warriors, and when Speedball and the New Warriors battle the Force of Nature shortly afterwards, his mother also learns of his superhero identity. His father learns the truth some time later.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: After Baldwin's mother discovers his secret identity, his parents' marriage ends and Baldwin moves permanently to New York City. Baldwin finds friendship with all of his fellow New Warriors, but his closest friendships are with Nova and Rage. After Baldwin is transported to the dimension his powers derive from, Darrion Grobe joins the New Warriors as Speedball, although the other members think he is Baldwin. Baldwin returns from the kinetic dimension and begins a brief relationship with Timeslip.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: At the beginning of the "Civil War" storyline, the New Warriors attempt to apprehend a group of supervillains in Stamford, Connecticut for their television reality show. Nitro, one of the criminals, creates an explosive blast that kills 612 civilians, including 60 children, as well as the New Warriors with the exception of Robbie Baldwin. This event triggers the push for superhero registration at the heart of "Civil War". Baldwin is presumed dead after the incident, but he is found alive after the blast launches him over ; his kinetic field kept him alive, but it "burned out" as a result.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: After awakening from a coma, Baldwin is arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. and placed in federal prison. Furthermore, his own mother disowns him. After he discovers his powers are still functional, Baldwin is taken to the new penitentiary called Negative Zone Prison Alpha. Reed Richards, the facility's creator, offers Baldwin the chance to testify before Congress. However, on the Capitol steps, Baldwin is shot by an assailant and taken away in an ambulance. Although bullet fragments remain inoperably lodged near his spine, Baldwin recovers from the wound. Richards determines that Baldwin's powers are evolving. Baldwin thwarts an escape from the prison and says that he will comply with the Superhuman Registration Act.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Overcome by guilt and driven insane by his treatment, Baldwin orders a new suit of armor that features 612 internal spikes, in honor of the victims of explosion in Stanford, to trigger his powers. 60 of the spikes are larger than the rest, to represent the children who perished in the blast. Baldwin then rechristens himself "Penance" and is assigned to the Thunderbolts.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: The Penance revamp of the character is satirized in "Deadpool/Great Lakes Avengers Summer Fun Spectacular", in which Squirrel Girl (who has a crush on Speedball and her first kiss) confronts Robbie after learning of his transformation into Penance. Robbie tells Squirrel Girl that he became Penance not out of guilt, but to become "deep" and to escape his comedy-character background. Furthermore, he reveals that he has created a similar costume for his pet cat Niels (who he has renamed "P-Cat, the Penitent Puss") while banging his head against the wall.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: After the events of "Civil War", Robbie Baldwin joins Norman Osborn's new government-sponsored Thunderbolts team, which mostly comprises supervillains who are being forced to reform. On one of the new team's first missions, Osborn sends Bullseye and Penance to deal with a vigilante named Americop. Bullseye forces Baldwin to use his powers to cripple the vigilante. After finding out that Osborn gave the order to Bullseye to do this, Baldwin destroys an expensive, one-of-a-kind eavesdropping device of Osborn's, while reminding his boss that unlike many of the Thunderbolts under Osborn's leadership, he has no failsafe nanites in him that force his compliance.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: During the team's mission to capture the Steel Spider, Penance suffers a mental breakdown and slams his head into a brick wall while remarking that he is "not good enough". Found by teammate Radioactive Man, Penance is eventually brought back to the Thunderbolts Mountain where he brutally assaults one of the prisoners after taunting Baldwin for his role in the Stamford tragedy. Osborn comes close to killing Baldwin, but the team's field leader Moonstone persuades that Baldwin could be manipulated and exploited as a Hulk-level enforcer for Osborn's schemes.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: However, because of Baldwin's increasing signs of instability, Doc Samson arrives at Thunderbolts headquarters to provide additional psychiatric assistance. This foils Moonstone's plan to be Baldwin's therapist and exploit his fragile mental state to her own ends. Samson helps Penance focus his powers back to their original state, which he uses to defeat Moonstone in combat when (under the influence of a group of renegade telepaths) Moonstone tries to kill Samson.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: The Thunderbolts fight Baldwin's former New Warriors teammate and best friend Nova after having recently returned to Earth. After the fight, Baldwin confronts Nova at his home and urges to register with the Initiative. Seeing Baldwin in this state prompts Nova to return to space.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Ultimately, Baldwin deserts the Thunderbolts, although they pursue him. Baldwin eludes them, and with Wolverine's help, he travels to Latveria to retrieve Nitro to stand trial for mass murder. During this adventure, Baldwin steals the ill-gotten fortune of Mendel Stromm, Norman's former employee and rival, after stealing information Osborn obtained on Stromm illegally via Osborn's position with the Thunderbolts. Baldwin confronts Doctor Doom as part of his quest. Doom eventually concedes the fight and relinquishes Nitro after realizing that defeating Baldwin would force him to tap into Latveria's secret nuclear power plants, potentially revealing their existence to the outside world. After secretly donating Stromm's fortune to charity for the rebuilding of Stamford, Baldwin arranges for a new Penance suit (with the same appearance but fewer spikes than the previous one) built after locking Nitro in the previous one. Nitro is imprisoned, but Robbie remains in the suit and returns to the Thunderbolts.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: During the Secret Invasion, the Thunderbolts are sent to protect Washington from the Skrulls. Shortly after, Moonstone drugs Penance and, in the capacity as a psychiatrist, declares Penance needs to be permanently committed to the nearest corrupt maximum security hospital found.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Penance, brainwashed and heavily drugged, is persuaded by Norman Osborn to join his new , at Camp H.A.M.M.E.R., and has psychotherapy sessions with Trauma, the camp therapist, having been ordered by Osborn to keep Penance in his mentally fragile state. Through Trauma's "pet therapy" method, Penance is unknowingly reunited with his cat Niels. When the Avengers Resistance, consisting of many of Penance's New Warriors teammates, come to Camp H.A.M.M.E.R. seeking to release a captured teammate, Taskmaster orders Penance to attack them. Their fight is interrupted by Nightmare having taken over the body of his son Trauma. Nightmare forces Penance to remember the Stamford incident, causing him to pass out in mental anguish. Tigra revives him, using her powers of empathy to help him see Trauma's predicament. With this knowledge, Penance is able to talk Trauma into freeing himself from his father's control. Penance then helps the Avengers Resistance escape Osborn's forces by rupturing a gas main. He refuses Vance's offer to join their team, not wanting his old friends to see how much he had changed.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Penance turns against Camp H.A.M.M.E.R. and helps the Avengers Resistance fight the Hood and those that are with Hood. During the battle, he finally reveals his identity to his other ex-New Warriors teammates.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: During the "Heroic Age," Robbie Baldwin returns to using the Speedball identity as part of the Avengers Academy's teaching staff.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: During the "Fear Itself" storyline, Speedball takes the Avengers Academy students on a field trip to the memorial for the people who died during the Stamford incident. They are attacked by a group called "the Cobalt Men", named after one of the villains involved in the Stamford incident. Not wanting them to ruin the memorial of the dead, Speedball quickly defeats them using his enhanced Penance powers. Speedball later admits he cuts himself to store up the energy he uses as Penance because this power is more useful in a fight. He acknowledges that he should not have kept this a secret, and Hank Pym offers to help him find a better way to activate those powers. He later confronts Kuurth, Nerkodd, and a hate group founded by Sin called Sisters of Sin. After this, he cheers up a little and regains his sense of humor. After returning to the Academy, Speedball announces to the students and teachers that he is quitting the faculty, but still offers to help them anytime.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: While Speedball is conversing with Justice, a chance sighting of the successor to their former New Warriors teammate Nova leads them to conclude that the time is right to reform the New Warriors. They track down the new Nova and ultimately convince him to join the new team.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Having taken to the road again, Speedball and Justice find themselves in the town of New Salem, Colorado, where they meet the Salem's Seven. They fight, but quickly patch things up after it is clear it was a misunderstanding. While Speedball plays video games with Brutacus, Justice has a little chat with Vertigo, Salem's Seven leader, about the town. When the conversation deviates to Justice's and Speedball's intention of reforming the New Warriors and the difficulties that that will probably bring due to the persisting bad reputation for their involvement in the Civil War events, the Evolutionaries arrive, intent on burning down the town. Justice, Speedball, and Salem's Seven drive them off. Their subsequent mission to stop the Evolutionaries leads to their recruiting of two heroes to the cause, Haechi and Sun Girl.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Looking for Nova but seeing he does not answer his phone, Speedball and the others head back to the Salem's Seven and through their help and that of New Salem's magical inhabitants, they locate the boy. As it turns out, Nova along with Hummingbird, Scarlet Spider and Faira Sar Namora of Atlantis had been kidnapped and were being held as prisoners in Mount Wundagore by the Evolutionaries and the High Evolutionary. Rushing, they arrive as the Evolutionaries are about to execute Nova, following his and the other prisoners' attempt to break out. Trying to reason with the High Evolutionary fails as this one gives a cryptic refusal and Nova reveals his plan of eliminating "mostly everyone". A chaotic fight ensues, with the prisoners, Sun Girl, Haechi and the New Warriors forming an impromptu team that manages to defeat the small army of Evolutionaries through their diverse and very different powers and abilities. Shortly after, when the High Evolutionary activates his machine to eliminate the super-powered population of Earth, Speedball and the others are brought down to their knees in excruciating pain and almost die, but they are all saved by Sun Girl who as a non-altered human is immune to the machine and destroys it. With the enemy fleeing but fearing its return, an invitation is made to everyone to join Speedball, Justice and Nova as New Warriors to face the High Evolutionary should he try to repeat his scheme - an invitation that is immediately refused, save for Hummingbird (who eagerly and joyfully accepts) and Sun Girl (who does so implicitly).


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: While Justice takes Scarlet Spider and Faira on the task of cleaning the mountain of the High Evolutionary's hostile contraptions and robots, Speedball takes Sun Girl, Hummingbird and Haechi to a nearby town - with the excuse that it had been attacked - to have dinner and to take an opportunity to know better its new teammates. When the topic of everyone's abilities is discussed and Speedball clarifies his capacity to "bounce", Hummingbird suddenly starts to inquire about his other powers, if he still cuts himself and the reasons why. Somehow, her strange psychic powers show her Speedball's mental image of himself as clad in the Penance suit instead of his normal appearance - indicating he still struggles internally with his guilt while keeping a carefree facade to everyone else. Speedball attempts to explain himself while telepathically warning Hummingbird in an ominous tone against reading his mind and to tell no one else about this. They decide to return to the base in Wundagore mountain where Justice and the others have encountered a pair of New Men that are willing to help their group. Hummingbird develops an "unfathomable" crush on Speedball.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: The New Men - now renamed by themselves as Jack Waffles and Mr. Whiskers - assist the New Warriors to go to New York. However, they do so by using the base's advanced technology to teleport the entire Mount Wundagore, provoking a mass panic in the city but not causing any casualties (as the mountain is "half-phased", so most of it doesn't physically interact with the water or anything passing through it). Still, the Avengers take notice of the event and dispatch Iron Man and Thor. The former takes Speedball and Justice to Avenger's tower, where they and Captain America get into a discussion about the problems of reforming the New Warriors bring and the incident with the mountain. For a moment, as animosity rouses, Robbie starts to discreetly charge his Penance powers to use them against the Avengers. But he is touched by Justice's passionate defense of the New Warriors' team name, its members and their actions. They part with the Avengers in amicable terms.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Next day, when Haechi and Sun Girl are forcefully taken to Singapore by Inhuman supremacists led by Lash, Speedball and the rest of the New Warriors go to save them, battling through all the floors of a skyscraper building filled with innocent mind-controlled people. As they do so, Robbie questions Scarlet Spider if Hummingbird has said anything about him and jokingly suggests to don't believe anything she says because "she is really weird". When Scarlet Spider reprehends his timing and asks if Robbie can take anything seriously, Speedball discharges his Penance powers on the remaining mind-controlled adversaries and somberly proclaims "Yes. I can". They battle and defeat Lash's henchmen, who teleport away.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: During a distraction trip the group takes to a bar in Prague, Hummingbird insists in dancing with Robbie. She reveals him she is enjoying herself as most as possibly as she is certain she will die soon as "Mictlan rises" (an oncoming event that portents in her dreams had been warning her about for months).


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Time later, the New Warriors locate the High Evolutionary to stop him from continuing to pursue his plan. With great coordination, they expertly aboard his ship, defeat his last Evolutionaries and trap him. It is then that the Eternals appear to ensure the High Evolutionary fulfills his agenda and prevent the Celestials from judging and destroying Earth. As the situation turns for the worse, Robbie coldly assess each of his teammates and sees they are fighting a losing battle. Nevertheless, he throws his best against the Eternals and for a moment manages to inspire the others to do the same and gain the upper hand. Hummingbird then uses her telepathy to discover that the leader of the Eternals, Zuras, was lying, and the Celestials weren't coming. This was seemingly in vain as the New Warriors are defeated and used to power up the machine while Zuras manages to silence them or deflect any suspicion of his persona from his peers.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: However, Justice, who had been dealt with separately from the rest of the team, returned to the fight and freed his teammates, damaging the High Evolutionary's machine in the process. Justice then convinced the rest of the Eternals and the High Evolutionary that Zuras had indeed been lying. The leader of the Eternals is forced to admit the Celestials weren't coming, albeit blaming the attempted genocide entirely on the High Evolutionary with the excuse "he had been tricked by him too". The Eternals leave, warned by the New Warriors not to come back.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: During the "Outlawed" storyline, Robbie appears as a member of C.R.A.D.L.E. when a law is passed that forbids superheroes who are below the age of 21.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: As a result of the mutagenic effects of irradiation by an unknown form of energy, Robbie Baldwin possesses the superhuman ability to create a kinetic force field of unknown energy, manifested as iridescent bubbles, around himself which absorbs all kinetic energy directed against him and reflects it with even greater force against whatever object with which he is in contact. Hence, if he struck a wall, he would travel at a greater velocity in the opposite direction.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: When Speedball uses his superhuman powers, his voices alters in an unknown fashion and solid force bubbles of residue kinetic field energy appear on his body and, when he bounces, in his wake. While bouncing, he is immune to any kind of harm caused by physical contact. Speedball's power activates automatically when any physical contact occurs above a low level that has not yet been precisely determined. When Speedball's kinetic field activates, his body increases in height and mass (drawn from an extradimensional source); he reverts to his normal size and mass on deactivating the field. Early in his career, the slightest touch, such as snapping his fingers, would turn on this field, but he eventually gained conscious control over it. The field repelled all energy that struck it, especially kinetic energy. As such, bullets, punches, and all other physical attacks bounced off him. A side effect of this, though, was that he, too, would bounce in the opposite direction. Baldwin often used this to his advantage, such as purposely running into a wall in order to gain momentum and thus hit an opponent with twice the force.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: While with the Warriors, Baldwin gained far greater control over his powers via a combination of experience in battle and Night Thrasher's mentorship off the battlefield. Whereas previously Baldwin could barely bounce in the direction he wanted, he eventually became more proficient at controlling his leaps and using his powers in various ways, such as to deliver impressive blows, and even to project a stream of kinetic energy from his bubble field at a distance. He eventually learned to mentally "throw" the bubbles that surrounded his field to use as concussive force attacks. He was able to somewhat deflect Siena Blaze's electromagnetic attack that "no one short of the Hulk could have withstood", as well as resist the omnipath Gamesmaster's telepathy, one of the few people in the world to do so.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: After the events of Stamford, Baldwin believed his powers to be burned out. However, they still exist, but now only manifest when he experiences extreme stimulation, such as intense pain. While his powers are still kinetically based, they no longer appear to manifest as a "bubble field"; rather, his powers seem far more explosive in nature. In order to stimulate his powers, his Penance suit constantly rakes his flesh. Baldwin tolerates this to a masochistic degree, once stating that he would "wear [the suit] all the time if I could." By wearing the suit he has developed a natural tolerance to pain. His suit consists of 612 spikes facing inward, each to represent a person who lost their life in Stamford. 60 of the spikes are longer than the rest, one for each of the children.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Penance can achieve a variety of effects with his newfound powers. The most commonly used are explosive energy blasts from his hands, but he is capable of firing them from any part of his body via the conduits on his spikes. He can create storm-like fields of energy around him capable of harming those around him and smashing objects. He can focus the energy on parts of his body; often on his hands to form superpowerful punches. He can also engulf himself in an energy forcefield which gives him a degree of invulnerability and allows him to levitate off the ground.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Baldwin's powers are constantly evolving and his original Speedball powers are shown to be returning to him. Robbie no longer needs the Penance suit to activate his powers but chose to wear it for a time to help remedy the guilt he feels, as well as for the benefits to his powers.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: In an "Exiles" reality where the Hulk, after being sent into space, kills Annihilus and leads the Annihilation Wave to Earth; Robbie (as Speedball) is one of the remaining superhumans, alongside Quentin Quire and his Exiles.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: In the Marvel Apes universe, a chimp version of Speedball appears alongside an ape-hero called Ape X. The two seem to act as partners and are both Avengers. He seems loyal to them, but at the end of the second issue he is seen with a group of what would usually be considered "his enemies". He asks Marty Gibbon about the human version of Speedball, but Marty does not have the heart to tell him about the Stamford incident. He's later revealed to be part of a group trying to reveal that the Captain America leading the Ape-vengers is Baron Blood in disguise. After freeing the real Cap from the ice, the group goes out to fight Blood. Lost members of the Marvel 616 universe, the main Marvel universe, take a wounded Baldwin back home with them and get him medical treatment. He elects to stay, explaining that his entire ape-centric earth will reject him for helping humans. In the epilogue he tries applying for the Avengers.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: An older version of Speedball exists in the MC2 universe, and appears sporadically in the "Spider-Girl" series and related miniseries. At some point he became a member of the Avengers, but has since left the team.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Speedball features in an arc of Robert Kirkman's "Marvel Team-Up" (vol. 3), featuring a group of C-list heroes dubbed "The League of Losers". A group of heroes including Gravity, Darkhawk, Dagger, Araña, X-23, Sleepwalker, and Terror (although Araña dies along the way) go to the future to prevent the villain Chronok from stealing Reed Richards' time machine, Chronok having come to the present and already having killed all of Marvel's major heroes.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: It is revealed Chronok is from the same time period as Kirkman's Mutant 2099; the group stays with him and his mentor Reed Richards to wait for Chronok. The team defeats Chronok, but at the end of the story, Richards reveals they cannot go back to their present, due to time-travel and alternate timelines. The group decides to stay in the future, satisfied with the impact they made, however unnoticed. Mutant 2099 suggests reforming the Avengers or the "Fantastic Nine".


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: Due to the Marvel Universe's method for resolving time travel paradoxes, the League of Losers' actions created an alternate universe. This is the alternate future visited by Squirrel Girl, a superhero with a crush on him, in "Deadpool/GLI Summer Fun" (2007). She tries to convince him to return, suggesting that no-one would mix him up with the Penance from her time, but, before he can decide, the 2099 version of Mr Immortal, Squirrel Girl's GLI leader, tells her she needs to return to the present.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: A zombified Speedball participates in a multi-zombie attack on the castle of Doctor Doom; where a few human survivors were hiding. Later, he is seen in the ruins of New York. He is one of the many casualties in the conflict waged against the Silver Surfer, ending up torn apart by the Power Cosmic.


title: Robbie Baldwin

text: An Ultimate Marvel version of Speedball is mentioned. An overweight man in a Speedball costume is depicted in police custody.


title: Sam Kelly

text: Roger Michael Kelly (19 December 1943 – 14 June 2014), known by the stage name Sam Kelly, was an English actor who appeared in film, television, radio and theatre. He is best known for his roles as Captain Hans Geering in "'Allo 'Allo!", Warren in "Porridge", Sam in "On the Up", and Ted Liversidge in "Barbara".


title: Sam Kelly

text: Kelly was born in Salford, Lancashire on 19 December 1943 and abandoned; he was adopted by a couple who moved to Liverpool. There he attended the Liverpool Collegiate School and was a chorister at Liverpool Cathedral, where he showed early acting talent by reciting monologues. He worked for three years in the Civil Service in Liverpool before training as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. After graduating in 1967, he appeared in repertory theatres around the UK.


title: Sam Kelly

text: His early roles included playing a film director in "Tiffany Jones" (1973) and appearances in two of the later "Carry On" films, "Carry On Dick" (1974) and "Carry On Behind" (1975). He then had a significant role in the British sitcom "Porridge" as the affable and high spirited Slade Prison inmate Bunny Warren who relies on fellow prisoners to read his letters from home and blames his incarceration on his inability to read. In the sitcom "'Allo 'Allo!" he played German officer Captain Hans Geering, leaving after the third series (something he later said that he regretted doing). He played the law-stationer Mr. Snagsby in the 1985 BBC adaptation of "Bleak House". In "On the Up" he played Dennis Waterman's chauffeur and he appeared in "We'll Think of Something" as Les Brooks. From 1990 to 1992, he co-starred in the comedy television series "Haggard". In 1994, he appeared as Mr. Mould, the undertaker, in the BBC mini-series "Martin Chuzzlewit". From 1999 to 2003, he played Barbara's husband Ted in the British sitcom "Barbara".


title: Sam Kelly

text: In 1996, Kelly appeared at the National Theatre in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace". He played Bernard in "Holding On" (1997) and Carl Langbehn in the five-part television drama "Christabel" (1988). He appeared in "Midsomer Murders" episode "Down Among the Dead Men" as Jack Fothergill in 2006 and as the eccentric impoverished ghostwriter, Majors, in the "Inspector Morse" episode "Second Time Around".


title: Sam Kelly

text: Kelly went on to play Sir Joseph Porter in "H.M.S. Pinafore" with the new D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 2002, having taken the role of Monsieur Jourdain "as a kind of Baroque Blackadder" in the 1912 version of Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos" with Scottish Opera at the 1997 Edinburgh Festival.


title: Sam Kelly

text: In 1998, Kelly appeared as George Spelvin in a concert version of "Strike Up the Band" at the Barbican in London and also was seen in an episode of the first series of "Cold Feet", playing Algernon Gifford.


title: Sam Kelly

text: On radio, he played the part of Carter Brandon in the BBC Radio 4 series of the continuing adventures of Uncle Mort and Carter Brandon in "Uncle Mort's South Country" and "Uncle Mort's Celtic Fringe". These were written by Peter Tinniswood.


title: Sam Kelly

text: In 2004, he appeared in the "EastEnders" one-off episode "Pat and Mo" playing Stan Porter, and he also appeared in the comedy series "Black Books" as the father of Manny. In 2006 he appeared as the villain Guy Carse in "New Tricks".


title: Sam Kelly

text: Kelly starred in Jean-Paul Sartre's play "Kean" alongside Antony Sher at the Theatre Royal, Bath and in the West End in May 2007. In December 2007, a car struck and injured Kelly in the West End. He was due to have performed in the "Doctor Who" episode ("Midnight") filmed that month, but the role was taken by David Troughton instead. Kelly though did act in the "Doctor Who" audio dramas "The Holy Terror" and "Return to the Web Planet" by Big Finish Productions.


title: Sam Kelly

text: In 2008, he guest starred in the "Sapphire and Steel" audio drama "Remember Me". In November 2008, he starred in the title role of Christopher Reason's radio dramatisation of Jaroslav Hašek's "The Good Soldier Švejk", broadcast on BBC Radio 4.


title: Sam Kelly

text: From May 2009, Kelly starred as the Wizard in the West End production of the musical "Wicked", replacing Desmond Barrit. From 27 March 2010 he was succeeded by Clive Carter.


title: Sam Kelly

text: He worked with director Mike Leigh on several occasions, including "Knock for Knock" (1976), "Grown-Ups" (1980), "Topsy-Turvy" (1999), "All or Nothing" (2002), "A Running Jump" (2012) and on stage at the National Theatre in "Grief" (September 2011). His final film role was a cameo appearance in Leigh's "Mr. Turner" (2014).


title: Sam Kelly

text: Kelly's later roles were as the ARP warden in "Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang" (2010), and as the old boatman, John Merdell, in the ITV production of "Dead Man's Folly" in the final (2013) series of "Agatha Christie’s Poirot", the last episode of the series to be filmed.


title: Sam Kelly

text: On 23 July 2010, Kelly guest starred as Martin in the sitcom "My Family" in the episode "Desperately Stalking Susan". From October 2010 to February 2011 he starred in "When We Are Married" at London's Garrick Theatre.


title: Sam Kelly

text: Kelly was in a long-term relationship with journalist and psychotherapist Grace Pieniazek until her death in 2009.


title: Sam Kelly

text: Kelly returned to "Wicked" as the Wizard on 18 November 2013. It was reported in January 2014 that Kelly had temporarily departed the production due to ill health, and that his replacement from 17 February 2014 would be Martyn Ellis.


title: Sam Kelly

text: He was admitted to a hospice on 13 June 2014 and died early the next morning aged 70 after a long battle with cancer.


title: Annwn

text: Annwn, Annwfn, or Annwfyn (in Middle Welsh, "Annwvn", "Annwyn", "Annwyfn", "Annwvyn", or "Annwfyn") is the Otherworld in Welsh mythology. Ruled by Arawn (or, in Arthurian literature, by Gwyn ap Nudd), it was essentially a world of delights and eternal youth where disease was absent and food was ever-abundant.


title: Annwn

text: Middle Welsh sources suggest that the term was recognised as meaning "very deep" in medieval times. The appearance of a form "antumnos" on an ancient Gaulish curse tablet, which means "an" ('other') + "tumnos" ('world'), however, suggests that the original term may have been *"ande-dubnos", a common Gallo-Brittonic word that literally meant "underworld". The pronunciation of Modern Welsh "Annwn" is .


title: Annwn

text: In both Welsh and Irish mythologies, the Otherworld was believed to be located either on an island or underneath the earth. In the First Branch of the "Mabinogi", it is implied that Annwn is a land within Dyfed, while the context of the Arthurian poem "Preiddeu Annwfn" suggests an island location. Two other otherworldly feasts that occur in the Second Branch of the "Mabinogi" are located in Harlech in northwest Wales and on Ynys Gwales in southwest Pembrokeshire.


title: Annwn

text: Annwn plays a reasonably prominent role in the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, a set of four interlinked mythological tales dating from the early medieval period. In the First Branch of the "Mabinogi", entitled "Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed", the eponymous prince offends Arawn, ruler of Annwn, by baiting his hunting hounds on a stag that Arawn's dogs had brought down. In recompense he exchanges places with Arawn for a year and defeats Arawn's enemy Hafgan, while Arawn rules in his stead in Dyfed. During this year, Pwyll abstains from sleeping with Arawn's wife, earning himself gratitude and eternal friendship from Arawn. On his return, Pwyll becomes known by the title "Penn Annwn", "Head (or Ruler) of Annwn." In the Fourth Branch, Arawn is mentioned but does not appear; it is revealed that he sent a gift of otherworldly pigs to Pwyll's son and successor, Pryderi, which ultimately leads to war between Dyfed and Gwynedd.