title: 2005 German federal election

text: Midweek polls showed the SPD clawing their way upwards by a few percentage points although the combined CDU/CSU and FDP votes tended to remain 1 to 2 percentage points ahead of those for the left-wing parties combined. On the eve of the election, the CDU enjoyed a 9% lead over the SPD (42% and 33% respectively), albeit with neither party likely to have enough seats (even with their preferred coalition partners) to form a government. Merkel's personal popularity (consistently below that of her party) had climbed back up to 40%, from a low of 30% while Schröder's had reached a peak of 53% (consistently exceeding that of his party). However, polls also showed that even at this late stage, a quarter of German voters had not yet decided how to vote and that these undecided voters could decide the final result if they turned out to vote. With polls still so close, the parties broke with tradition and continued campaigning on the Saturday before the election and on election day itself. While pundits focused on the likelihood of a grand coalition, the CDU suggested that the SPD might consent to forming a coalition with the new Left Party.


title: 2005 German federal election

text: All major opinion polling published in the week prior to the election indicated a clear victory for the CDU/CSU, with a result over 40%. The discrepancy between forecasts and the actual result led to criticism of the polling firms. The error was attributed to factors including the large number of undecided voters (up to 40% ahead of the election) and the increasing inaccuracy of traditional telephone-based survey methods.


title: 2005 German federal election

text: Germany went to the polls on 18 September 2005. Voters in one constituency in Dresden had to wait until 2 October to vote in order to allow the reprinting of ballot-papers after the death of the National Democratic Party candidate on 8 September.


title: 2005 German federal election

text: Soon after voting ended, it became clear that the CDU/CSU (the "Union") had narrowly edged out the SPD. However, neither of the two likely coalitions (SPD-Greens and CDU/CSU-FDP) could achieve a "Kanzlermehrheit" – the support of the majority of members of the Bundestag required to elect a chancellor. This meant that Germany had a hung parliament as no coalition could hold an overall parliamentary majority. Exit polls for both the ARD and the ZDF television networks showed the CDU/CSU on 35%, the SPD on 34%, the FDP on 10%, the Left Party on 9% and the Greens on 8%; a Forsa poll differed slightly, predicting 36% for the CDU/CSU and 8% for the Left Party. Early seat projections suggested that the CDU/CSU and the SPD had virtually tied in the count for seats in the Bundestag. The exit polls and projections proved broadly accurate in the preliminary results released on 19 September and in the final results published on 7 October.


title: 2005 German federal election

text: The SPD/Green coalition's number of seats fell from 306 seats (in a house of 603), to 273 seats (in a house of 614) while the opposition, the CDU/CSU-FDP coalition's number of seats fell from 295 seats to 286 seats. Both potential coalitions fell far short of the 308 seats required for a majority in this Bundestag. The Left Party and the FDP overtook the Greens, previously Germany's third most-popular party since 1994. The FDP, with almost 10% of the vote, scored its best result since the 1990 federal election, regaining its status as the Federal Republic's third party, which it had enjoyed throughout the history of West Germany and maintained in the first post-German reunification election. Some analysts believe that the rise in the FDP vote came as a result of tactical voting by CDU-CSU voters hoping to prevent a grand coalition by buttressing the Free Democrats. Of the parties that failed to secure the 5% needed to attain seats in the Bundestag, the National Democratic Party performed best, winning 1.6% of the list vote and 1.8% of the constituency vote.


title: 2005 German federal election

text: The 2005 election was the last one until 2021 where the SPD won all single-member constituency seats in Saxony-Anhalt, Saarland as well as Brandenburg and the last time where they won any single-member constituency seats in Saxony-Anhalt. Only in the 2021 election, at the end of the Merkel era, would the SPD sweep all constituencies in Saarland and Brandenburg again and gain seats in Saxony-Anhalt.


title: 2005 German federal election

text: Both Angela Merkel (CDU) and Gerhard Schröder (SPD) claimed victory and the chancellorship as the exit polls came in. It soon became clear that neither could form a majority government within the existing coalitions. Largely because of strong hostility between Schröder and Oskar Lafontaine, a former SPD chairman turned leader of the Left Party, the obvious left-wing coalition of the SPD, Greens and Left Party was not possible. However, both the CDU and SPD said that they would negotiate with all parties that had won seats except the Left Party, while the leaders of the Left Party rejected any possibility of participating in a coalition with either of the two main parties.


title: 2005 German federal election

text: In the Elefantenrunde (elephant round) programme on election night featuring all party leaders, Schröder, in a memorable performance, insisted he had won on the basis of how far behind the SPD was in pre-election polls but managing to close the gap with the CDU/CSU to just one percent. Although the SPD still fell behind the CDU/CSU, he said “nobody but me is capable of building a stable coalition” and accused the moderators of having “an intellectual problem”. The chancellor then declared to Merkel "Under her leadership she will never get a coalition with my party" and insisted that the CDU and CSU should be treated as separate parties. His performance during the programme was criticized by the media, CDU/CSU and the FDP as "shocking", "egocentric", "arrogant" and "bizarre". The Berliner Kurier newspaper headline asked if Schröder was “intoxicated by his victory or did he have one glass of wine too many?”. Schröder himself later called his behavior “suboptimal” but denied he was drunk.


title: 2005 German federal election

text: Despite some prominent members publicly blaming Merkel for its poor showing, the CDU/CSU confirmed her as leader on 20 September. On 22 September, following Schröder's election night comments, SPD members began musing that the political system should consider the CDU and the CSU as separate entities rather than as a single parliamentary faction. In such a scenario, the SPD would be the largest party in the Bundestag and thus, they argued, an SPD member should become chancellor in any grand coalition. One SPD legislator indicated he planned to introduce a motion in the Bundestag explicitly defining the CDU and the CSU as separate parties. The Greens rejected coalition with the CDU/CSU after talks broke down. The CDU/CSU pressed their case for the Chancellery after victory in the delayed vote in Dresden, and ahead of talks with the SPD; the SPD maintained their own claim, but Schröder indicated that he would step aside if his party wished it.


title: 2005 German federal election

text: Finally, on 10 October, officials from the CDU/CSU and the SPD announced that negotiations to form a grand coalition had succeeded. Angela Merkel would become chancellor and the sixteen seats in the new cabinet (including the Chancellery) would go equally to each side, with the CDU/CSU and the SPD each having eight posts. The SPD would control eight ministries including the important roles of finance and foreign affairs, while the CDU/CSU would control six ministries as well as providing the chancellor and the Director of the Federal Chancellery (the Chancellor's Chief of Staff), who would also hold the position of Minister for Special Affairs. Gerhard Schröder would retire from politics.


title: 2005 German federal election

text: Detailed negotiations on the formation of the new government continued into November, with Edmund Stoiber of the CSU withdrawing from the proposed cabinet to continue as Minister-president of Bavaria. All three parties held conferences on 14 November which voted to approve the deal. The majority of CDU/CSU and SPD delegates in the newly assembled Bundestag elected Merkel as chancellor on 22 November. 397 members of the Bundestag voted for Merkel, indicating that 51 members from one or more of the SPD, CDU or CSU do not support the coalition deal.


title: 2005 German federal election

text: Reports have indicated that the grand coalition would pursue a mix of policies, some of which directly contradict aspects of Merkel's political platform as a former leader of the opposition and candidate for chancellor. The coalition intended to cut public spending while increasing VAT, social-insurance contributions and the top rate of income tax. Employment protection would no longer cover employees during their first two years in a job, and the new government intended to freeze pensions and to scrap subsidies for first-time home buyers. In the field of foreign policy, Germany would maintain its strong ties with France and with Poland, and will continue its support for Turkey as a future member of the European Union. Merkel has defined the main aim of her government as reducing unemployment, and expressed the hope that posterity will judge the success of her tenure on the basis of this issue.


title: SWAT 4

text: SWAT 4 is a 2005 tactical shooter video game developed by Irrational Games and published by Sierra Entertainment (Vivendi Universal Games) exclusively for Microsoft Windows. It was built on Irrational Games' Vengeance Engine powered by Unreal Engine 2 technology. In "SWAT 4", the player leads a SWAT element in resolving various situations, such as Hostage Rescues or apprehensions of dangerous subjects, simulating the experiences of real-life Special Weapons and Tactics operators.


title: SWAT 4

text: Unlike previous installments in the "Police Quest" video game series, which followed LAPD SWAT officers through missions set in Los Angeles, California, the single-player campaign of "SWAT 4" takes place in New York City, during the game's then-future of 2008 to 2009. During the single-player campaign, the player is tasked with leading a five-man police SWAT team, also known as an "element", through 13 missions.


title: SWAT 4

text: In SWAT 4, the player first starts off by undergoing training at Riverside Training Facility, under the guidance of police Lieutenant Sonny Bonds. The training will teach players how to clear rooms, fire weapons, command his "element", and learn how to use the snipers. Thereafter, players will start to be deployed to various places for operations, such as hostage situations, barricaded suspects and habitual high-risk warrant services.


title: SWAT 4

text: The practice of only using lethal force when necessary is always highlighted in the game. Operators are supposed to abide by the Rules of Engagement while carrying out operations. As SWAT is a life-saving organization, reckless use of lethal force would not be appropriate. For example, Operators cannot fire lethal rounds at a fleeing suspect, as he/she does not pose an immediate threat to anyone in the nearby vicinity. Doing so will result in a penalty for unauthorized use of force, which may influence the outcome of the mission.


title: SWAT 4

text: Hence, the score that is given to Lead Operators after every operation is based on the RoE. The score will factor in the number of suspects successfully arrested, the number of evidence secured and the injuries Operators sustain while in the operation. Penalties such as the unauthorized use of force, the unauthorized use of deadly force, the incapacitation of a hostage, and the injuring of a fellow officer are also awarded.


title: SWAT 4

text: A wide array of weapons are available for selection during the pre-mission briefing, ranging from lethal weapons such as the M4A1 Colt Carbine, to less-lethal weapons like the Less-Lethal Shotgun, and the Pepper-Ball Gun. Operators can also wear varying levels of armor and headgear during operations, such as Kevlar vests and gas masks. Other equipment such as the Optiwand and door wedges are also available for use. Each Operator is fitted with a helmet camera, which can be used to issue commands from.


title: SWAT 4

text: The pre-mission briefing, which the Lead Operator will have access to before every mission, consists of a summary of the operation, the 911 call made by civilians inside the compromised building (if available), selection of weapons and intelligence about the suspects, civilians, a map of the building and a timeline of events. Players can choose from two entry points in most operations.


title: SWAT 4

text: As all aggressors are innocent until proven guilty, hostiles are referred to as "suspects", in SWAT 4. Regardless, all non-incapacitated personnel (including "civilians") are to be treated with caution and must be restrained. Suspects range from being poorly-organized, ill-equipped and nonresistant to arrest, to well-organized, well-equipped and being resistant to arrest as the game progresses. New equipment is available to use after every successful mission. Operators will listen for your commands before acting. For example, a suspect may have surrendered, but Operators will only take these suspects into custody only after the command to restrain them is given. However, Operators will also act on their own accord. For example, Operators may fire on uncooperative suspects in self-defense, without being commanded to.


title: SWAT 4

text: "SWAT 4" also features several multiplayer game modes, all of which are team-based: SWAT versus suspects. The multiplayer modes are:


title: SWAT 4

text: "SWAT 4" received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. On a computer game sales chart compiled by NPD Techworld, it claimed tenth place for the week ending April 17. It finished 11th for the month of April overall, at an average retail price of $48.


title: SWAT 4

text: GameSpot's Bob Colayco stated that "as a realistic police simulator, "SWAT 4" definitely hits the mark. Though the frame rate gets chunky at times, and there are a couple of irritating bugs and quirks, the AI delivers on most counts in a game that is designed with great replayability." The website later criticized a feature of the first patch for "SWAT 4", where updated environments featured advertisement posters for real-world television series, and after the game was closed data regarding how the player treated the product placement was sent to the developers.


title: SWAT 4

text: IGN's Dan Adams said that "Irrational's new addition to the venerable "SWAT" franchise does a brilliant job of picking up on all of the things that make "SWAT" work so exciting from the outside perspective". Adams was also critical of the friendly artificial intelligence, stating that "sometimes the team will bust into a room on command and take down everybody with enough efficiency to be impressive while other times they'll run straight past an enemy looking to cover a certain area of the room only to get shot in the back of the head".


title: SWAT 4

text: SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate is an expansion pack for "SWAT 4" released on February 28, 2006 in North America and on March 10, 2006 in Europe, and is based on the fictional Stetchkov family.


title: SWAT 4

text: Various improvements to the game have been made, such as the addition of VoIP capability to multiplayer games, seven new single-player missions, two new multiplayer modes and seven new weapons. Players may also use their fists to punch suspects and civilians if they are not compliant. Suspects will now also pick up their weapons if they are not swiftly arrested. 10 player co-op with up to two teams of five, stat tracking, ladders and rankings for multiplayer along with the ability to hold commands in single-player missions until the lead operator gives the signal were also added. An option for the appointment of lead operators to issue commands for the red and blue teams in multiplayer was also added.


title: SWAT 4

text: "The Stetchkov Syndicate" received "favorable" reviews, a bit less than the original "SWAT 4", according to Metacritic.


title: Past sea level

text: Global or eustatic sea level has fluctuated significantly over Earth's history. The main factors affecting sea level are the amount and volume of available water and the shape and volume of the ocean basins. The primary influences on water volume are the temperature of the seawater, which affects density, and the amounts of water retained in other reservoirs like rivers, aquifers, lakes, glaciers, polar ice caps and sea ice. Over geological timescales, changes in the shape of the oceanic basins and in land/sea distribution affect sea level. In addition to eustatic changes, local changes in sea level are caused by tectonic uplift and subsidence.


title: Past sea level

text: Over geologic time sea level has fluctuated by more than 300 metres, possibly more than 400 metres. The main reasons for sea level fluctuations in the last 15 million years


title: Past sea level

text: The current sea level is about 130 metres higher than the historical minimum. Historically low levels were reached during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), about 20,000 years ago.


title: Past sea level

text: Over a shorter timescale, the low level reached during the LGM rebounded in the early Holocene, between about 14,000 and 6,000 years ago, and sea levels have been comparatively stable over the past 6,000 years.


title: Past sea level

text: For example, about 10,200 years ago the last land bridge between mainland Europe and Great Britain was submerged, leaving behind salt marsh. By 8000 years ago the marshes were drowned by the sea, leaving no trace of former dry land connection.


title: Past sea level

text: Observational and modeling studies of mass loss from glaciers and ice caps indicate a contribution to a sea-level rise of 2 to 4 cm over the 20th century.


title: Past sea level

text: Each year about of water from the entire surface of the oceans falls onto the Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets as snowfall. Slightly more water returns to the ocean in icebergs, from ice melting at the edges, and from rivers of meltwater flowing from ice sheets to the sea. The change in the total mass of ice on land, called the mass balance, is important because it causes changes in global sea level. High-precision gravimetry from satellites in low-noise flight has determined that in 2006, the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets experienced a combined mass loss of 475 ± 158 Gt/yr, equivalent to 1.3 ± 0.4 mm/yr sea level rise. Notably, the acceleration in ice sheet loss over the period 1988–2006 was 22 ± 1 Gt/yr² for Greenland and 14.5 ± 2 Gt/yr² for Antarctica, for a total of 36 ± 2 Gt/yr². By 2010 the acceleration had increased to over 50 Gt/yr². This acceleration is 3 times larger than for mountain glaciers and ice caps (12 ± 6 Gt/yr²).


title: Past sea level

text: Ice shelves float on the surface of the sea and, if they melt, to first order they do not change sea level. Likewise, the melting of the northern polar ice cap which is composed of floating pack ice would not significantly contribute to rising sea levels. However, because floating ice pack is lower in salinity than seawater, their melting would cause a very small increase in sea levels, so small that it is generally neglected.


title: Past sea level

text: As of the early 2000s, the current rise in sea level observed from tide gauges, of about 3.4 mm/yr, is within the estimate range from the combination of factors above, but active research continues in this field.


title: Past sea level

text: At times during Earth's long history, the configuration of the continents and sea floor has changed due to plate tectonics. This affects global sea level by altering the depths of various ocean basins and also by altering glacier distribution with resulting changes in glacial-interglacial cycles. Changes in glacial-interglacial cycles are at least partially affected by changes in glacier distributions across the a Earth.


title: Past sea level

text: The depth of the ocean basins is a function of the age of oceanic lithosphere (the tectonic plates beneath the floors of the world's oceans). As older plates age, they become denser and sink, allowing newer plates to rise and take their place. Therefore, a configuration with many small oceanic plates that rapidly recycle the oceanic lithosphere would produce shallower ocean basins and (all other things being equal) higher sea levels. A configuration with fewer plates and more cold, dense oceanic lithosphere, on the other hand, would result in deeper ocean basins and lower sea levels.


title: Past sea level

text: When there was much continental crust near the poles, the rock record shows unusually low sea levels during ice ages, because there was much polar land mass on which snow and ice could accumulate. During times when the land masses clustered around the equator, ice ages had much less effect on sea level.


title: Past sea level

text: Over most of geologic time, the long-term mean sea level has been higher than today (see graph above). Only at the Permian-Triassic boundary ~250 million years ago was the long-term mean sea level lower than today. Long term changes in the mean sea level are the result of changes in the oceanic crust, with a downward trend expected to continue in the very long term.


title: Past sea level

text: During the glacial-interglacial cycles over the past few million years, the mean sea level has varied by somewhat more than a hundred metres. This is primarily due to the growth and decay of ice sheets (mostly in the northern hemisphere) with water evaporated from the sea.


title: Past sea level

text: The Mediterranean Basin's gradual growth as the Neotethys basin, begun in the Jurassic, did not suddenly affect ocean levels. While the Mediterranean was forming during the past 100 million years, the average ocean level was generally 200 metres above current levels. However, the largest known example of marine flooding was when the Atlantic breached the Strait of Gibraltar at the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis about 5.2 million years ago. This restored Mediterranean sea levels at the sudden end of the period when that basin had dried up, apparently due to geologic forces in the area of the Strait.


title: Past sea level

text: Sea level has changed over geologic time. As the graph shows, sea level today is very near the lowest level ever attained (the lowest level occurred at the Permian-Triassic boundary about 250 million years ago).


title: Past sea level

text: During the most recent ice age (at its maximum about 20,000 years ago) the world's sea level was about 130 m lower than today, due to the large amount of sea water that had evaporated and been deposited as snow and ice, mostly in the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Most of this had melted by about 10,000 years ago.


title: Past sea level

text: Hundreds of similar glacial cycles have occurred throughout the Earth's history. Geologists who study the positions of coastal sediment deposits through time have noted dozens of similar basinward shifts of shorelines associated with a later recovery. This results in sedimentary cycles which in some cases can be correlated around the world with great confidence. This relatively new branch of geological science linking eustatic sea level to sedimentary deposits is called sequence stratigraphy.


title: Past sea level

text: The most up-to-date chronology of sea level change through the Phanerozoic shows the following long-term trends:


title: Past sea level

text: During deglaciation between about 19–8 ka, sea level rose at extremely high rates as the result of the rapid melting of the British-Irish Sea, Fennoscandian, Laurentide, Barents-Kara, Patagonian, Innuitian ice sheets and parts of the Antarctic ice sheet. At the onset of deglaciation about 19,000 years ago, a brief, at most 500-year long, glacio-eustatic event may have contributed as much as 10 m to sea level with an average rate of about 20 mm/yr. During the rest of the early Holocene, the rate of sea level rise varied from a low of about 6.0–9.9  mm/yr to as high as 30–60  mm/yr during brief periods of accelerated sea level rise.


title: Past sea level

text: Solid geological evidence, based largely upon analysis of deep cores of coral reefs, exists only for 3 major periods of accelerated sea level rise, called "meltwater pulses", during the last deglaciation. They are Meltwater pulse 1A between circa 14,600 and 14,300 years ago; Meltwater pulse 1B between circa 11,400 and 11,100 years ago; and Meltwater pulse 1C between 8,200 and 7,600 years ago. Meltwater pulse 1A was a 13.5 m rise over about 290 years centered at 14,200 years ago and Meltwater pulse 1B was a 7.5 m rise over about 160 years centered at 11,000 years ago. In sharp contrast, the period between 14,300 and 11,100 years ago, which includes the Younger Dryas interval, was an interval of reduced sea level rise at about 6.0–9.9  mm/yr. Meltwater pulse 1C was centered at 8,000 years ago and produced a rise of 6.5 m in less than 140 years, such that sea levels 5000 years ago were around 3m lower than present day, as evidenced in many locations by fossil beaches. Such rapid rates of sea level rising during meltwater events clearly implicate major ice-loss events related to ice sheet collapse. The primary source may have been meltwater from the Antarctic ice sheet. Other studies suggest a Northern Hemisphere source for the meltwater in the Laurentide Ice Sheet.


title: Past sea level

text: Recently, it has become widely accepted that late Holocene, 3,000 calendar years ago to present, sea level was nearly stable prior to an acceleration of rate of rise that is variously dated between 1850 and 1900 AD. Late Holocene rates of sea level rise have been estimated using evidence from archaeological sites and late Holocene tidal marsh sediments, combined with tide gauge and satellite records and geophysical modeling. For example, this research included studies of Roman wells in Caesarea and of Roman "piscinae" in Italy. These methods in combination suggest a mean eustatic component of 0.07 mm/yr for the last 2000 years.


title: Past sea level

text: Since 1880, the ocean began to rise briskly, climbing a total of through 2009 causing extensive erosion worldwide and costing billions.


title: Past sea level

text: Sea level rose by 6 cm during the 19th century and 19 cm in the 20th century. Evidence for this includes geological observations, the longest instrumental records and the observed rate of 20th century sea level rise. For example, geological observations indicate that during the last 2,000 years, sea level change was small, with an average rate of only 0.0–0.2 mm per year. This compares to an average rate of 1.7 ± 0.5 mm per year for the 20th century. Baart et al. (2012) show that it is important to account for the effect of the 18.6-year lunar nodal cycle before acceleration in sea level rise should be concluded. Based on tide gauge data, the rate of global average sea level rise during the 20th century lies in the range 0.8 to 3.3 mm/yr, with an average rate of 1.8 mm/yr.


title: Alexandra

text: Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and ( , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "protector of man". The name Alexandra was one of the epithets given to the Greek goddess Hera and as such is usually taken to mean "one who comes to save warriors". The earliest attested form of the name is the Mycenaean Greek ( or //), written in the Linear B syllabic script. Alexandra and its masculine equivalent, Alexander, are both common names in Greece as well as countries where Germanic, Romance, and Slavic languages are spoken.


title: Lotus's

text: Lotus's (formerly known as Lotus Supercenter, Tesco Lotus Supercenter and Tesco Lotus) is a retail chain in Thailand founded and operated by Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, with operations in Malaysia following the acquisition of Tesco Malaysia in 2020.


title: Lotus's

text: In 1994, the Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group established the Lotus Supercenter chain, opening its first outlet at Seacon Square. In 1998, British supermarket chain Tesco acquired a stake of the Lotus Supercenter chain to form "Tesco Lotus". CP Group sold most of its remaining shares of Tesco Lotus in 2003.


title: Lotus's

text: Tesco Lotus stores currently operate in five formats: Extra, Hypermarket, Department Store, Talad, and Express. Extra, Hypermarket, and Department store formats sell fresh food, prepared foods, and grocery offerings as well as a non-food offerings including electrical appliances, apparel, toys, stationery, and household goods. "Talad" ('market') is a "supermarket format" selling mainly groceries. Express is a convenience "mini-supermarket" format. Many of the products on the shelf are Tesco house brand products.


title: Lotus's

text: The bigger stores are often set in malls and have food courts and many other shops and stalls available as well as large car parks. Tesco Lotus also offers a range of retail and financial services including bill payment, personal loans (Tesco Premier), a Tesco Visa credit card, and a Tesco insurance broker. Most recently, in April 2013, Tesco Lotus introduced online shopping. As of early-2018, Tesco Lotus's total retail floor space stood at 1.4 million m. In August it opened store number 2,000 in Thailand. Its biggest competitor in the Thai market is Big C.


title: Lotus's

text: , Tesco Lotus had 1,967 stores in Thailand under the Tesco Lotus brand: 1,600 Tesco Lotus Express stores and about 400 other stores in hypermarket, Talad, and department store formats. Two hypermarkets opened in 2019, two more are being constructed, and 50 Tesco Lotus Express stores will open in the second-half of 2019.


title: Lotus's

text: On 9 March 2020, CP Group submitted the winning bid to reacquire Tesco Lotus, in addition to Tesco operations in Malaysia, for about US$10 billion. The purchase needs the approval of Thailand's Trade Competition Commission as the new company could constitute a monopoly, given that CP Group already owns 7-Eleven convenience stores and the Makro cash-and-carry business. The sale became approved in Malaysia in November 2020 and in Thailand in December 2020, with rebranding of the acquired stores beginning in February 2021, replacing the Tesco corporate branding with that of Lotus's. Through the Tesco acquisition in Malaysia, Lotus's operates 64 rebranded Tesco outlets in the country.


title: Lotus's

text: Tesco Lotus has operated the Tesco for Thais Foundation since 2003 which has presented over 27,000 scholarships to needy children around the country, and runs programs for undergraduates which include in-store training. The company is also part of a major reforestation program, "Plant 9 Million Trees", which completed its nine million trees target in 2013. In line with the rest of Tesco group, Tesco Lotus is pledged to reduce carbon emissions from its business operations and opened the first "Zero Carbon Store" in Asia at Bangpra, Chonburi in November 2011.


title: Lotus's

text: In late-2007 and early-2008, Tesco Lotus sued three critics for libel. It lost the case against Jit Siratranont, former MP and now vice-general secretary of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, dropped the case against newspaper columnist Kamol Kamoltrakul on the grounds of his ill-health, and obtained a written apology from a newspaper business editor Nongnart Harnvilai.


title: Lotus's

text: The NGO, World Animal Protection, reported that Tesco Lotus uses sow stalls in their pork production process. The practice confines sows in cages no bigger than a refrigerator in order to use them as "breeding machines". Sow stalls have been banned in the UK since 1999 as well as in other jurisdictions. World Animal Protection succeeded in persuading Charoen Pokphand Foods, a major Thai pork producer, to get mother pigs out of cages in their Thai operations by 2025.


title: Ptolemy Philadelphus (son of Cleopatra)

text: Ptolemy XVI Philadelphus Antonius (, "Ptolemy the brother-loving", August/September 36 BC – 29 BC) was a Ptolemaic prince and was the youngest and fourth child of Greek Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, and her third with Roman Triumvir Mark Antony.


title: Ptolemy Philadelphus (son of Cleopatra)

text: Ptolemy XVI Philadelphos Antonius was of Greek and Roman heritage. His father Mark Antony summoned Cleopatra to a summit near Antioch, Syria (now a part of modern Turkey) in a place Plutarch locates as being situated between Beirut and Sidon, called Light, an unwalled village. If Plutarch is to be believed, Philadelphos was conceived during this meeting between roughly November and December 37 BC. William Woodthorpe Tarn believed his birth (presumably in Alexandria, Egypt) was between August–September 36 BC.


title: Ptolemy Philadelphus (son of Cleopatra)

text: Ptolemy XVI was named after the original Ptolemy II Philadelphus (the second Pharaoh of the Ptolemaic dynasty) and Cleopatra's intention was recreating the former Ptolemaic Kingdom, which she herself received from Antony in the Donations of Antioch in 36 BC at this time with full approval from Octavian. Two years later in late 34 BC, at the Donations of Alexandria, part of her kingdom was granted to Ptolemy making him ruler of Syria, Phoenicia and Cilicia.


title: Ptolemy Philadelphus (son of Cleopatra)

text: Having approved of Antony's planned reorganization of the East in 36 BC, by 34 BC, their political situations had evolved and Octavian then used with potency the Donations of Alexandria in his propaganda war against Antony. Ultimately, the parents of Philadelphos were defeated by Caesar Octavian (future Emperor Augustus) during the naval battle at Actium, Greece in 31 BC. The next year, his parents committed suicide as Octavian's legions invaded Egypt.


title: Ptolemy Philadelphus (son of Cleopatra)

text: Octavian took him and his elder siblings Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene II from Egypt to Roman Italy ("Italia"). Octavian celebrated his military triumph by parading the three orphans in heavy golden chains in the streets of Rome. The chains were so heavy that they could not walk, prompting reactions of sympathy from the Romans. Octavian gave these siblings to Octavia Minor, his second-eldest sister who was their father's former wife.


title: Ptolemy Philadelphus (son of Cleopatra)

text: The fate of Ptolemy Philadelphos is unknown. Plutarch states that the only child that Octavian killed out of Antony's children was Marcus Antonius Antyllus, but the ancient sources make no mention of him after being taken to Rome with his surviving siblings. His sister Cleopatra Selene survived to adulthood and was married to Juba of Mauretania, a client king of the Roman empire. Through her, the Ptolemaic line intermarried back into the Roman nobility for many generations. If Ptolemy Philadelphus survived to adulthood, proof of his survival has not been found. Roller speculates that he may have died from illness in the winter of 29 BC.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Hurricane Rita was the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico and the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. Part of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which included three of the top ten most intense Atlantic hurricanes in terms of barometric pressure ever recorded (along with Wilma and Katrina), Rita was the seventeenth named storm, tenth hurricane, and fifth major hurricane of the 2005 season. It was also the earliest-forming 17th named storm in the Atlantic until Tropical Storm Rene in 2020. Rita formed near The Bahamas from a tropical wave on September 18, 2005 that originally developed off the coast of West Africa. It moved westward, and after passing through the Florida Straits, Rita entered an environment of abnormally warm waters. Moving west-northwest, it rapidly intensified to reach peak winds of 180 mph (285 km/h), achieving Category 5 status on September 21. However, it weakened to a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall in Johnson's Bayou, Louisiana, between Sabine Pass, Texas and Holly Beach, Louisiana, with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h). Rapidly weakening over land, Rita degenerated into a large low-pressure area over the lower Mississippi Valley by September 26th.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: In Louisiana, Rita's storm surge inundated low-lying communities along the entire coast, worsening effects caused by Hurricane Katrina less than a month prior, such as topping the hurriedly-repaired Katrina-damaged levees at New Orleans. Parishes in Southwest Louisiana and counties in Southeast Texas where Rita made landfall suffered from severe to catastrophic flooding and wind damage. According to an October 25, 2005 Disaster Center report, 4,526 single-family dwellings were destroyed in Orange and Jefferson counties located in Southeast Texas. Major damage was sustained by 14,256 additional single-family dwellings, and another 26,211 single-family dwellings received minor damage. Mobile homes and apartments also sustained significant damage or total destruction. In all, nine Texas counties and five Louisiana Parishes were declared disaster areas after the storm. Electric service was disrupted in some areas of both Texas and Louisiana for several weeks. Texas reported the most deaths from the hurricane, where 113 deaths were reported, 107 of which were associated with the evacuation of the Houston metropolitan area.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Moderate to severe damage was reported across the lower Mississippi Valley. Rainfall from the storm and its associated remnants extended from Louisiana to Michigan. Rainfall peaked at in Central Louisiana. Several tornadoes were also associated with the hurricane and its subsequent remnants. Throughout the path of Rita, damage totaled about $18.5 billion (2005 USD). As many as 120 deaths in four U.S. states were directly related to the hurricane.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Resulting from heavy destruction on the Gulf Coast, the name "Rita" was retired in the spring of 2006, and will never again be used for an Atlantic hurricane. It was replaced by "Rina" for the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season's list.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: On September 7, 2005, a tropical wave emerged off the west coast of Africa and moved westward into the Atlantic Ocean. Failing to produce organized, deep atmospheric convection, the disturbance was not monitored by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) for tropical cyclogenesis. Convection associated with the system increased briefly late on September 13 before dissipating shortly thereafter. At roughly the same time, a remnant surface trough had developed from a dissipating stationary front and began to drift westward north of the Lesser Antilles. Meanwhile, the tropical wave slowly became better organized and was first noted in the NHC's Tropical Weather Outlooks on September 15 while northeast of Puerto Rico. The wave merged with the surface trough two days later, triggering an increase in convective activity and organization. A subsequent decrease in wind shear enabled for additional organization, and at 0000 UTC on September 18, the NHC estimated that the storm system had organized enough to be classified as a tropical depression, the eighteenth disturbance during the hurricane season to do so. At the time, the disturbance, classified as Tropical Depression Eighteen, was roughly east of Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos and had developed banding features.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: In generally favorable conditions for tropical development, the depression quickly organized, and attained tropical storm strength at 1800 UTC that day based on data from reconnaissance flights and nearby ships and weather buoys. As a result, the tropical storm was named Rita. However, an increase in moderate southerly vertical wind shear as the result of a nearby upper-level low subdued continued intensification and displaced convective activity to the north of Rita's center of circulation. Once the upper-level low weakened, Rita's center of circulation reformed to the north, compensating for the disorganization that resulted from the wind shear. Consequently, the tropical storm resumed its previous strengthening trend as it was steered westward across The Bahamas along the south periphery of a ridge. Upon entering the Straits of Florida on September 20, Rita strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane by 1200 UTC, while maintaining a minimum barometric pressure of 985 mbar (hPa; 29.09 inHg). Six hours later, Rita intensified further into Category 2 before subsequently passing approximately south of Key West, Florida. Aided by a favorable outflow pattern and anomalously warm sea surface temperatures (SSTs), the trend of rapid deepening continued, and Rita reached Category 3 status upon entering the Gulf of Mexico by 0600 UTC on September 21, making it a major hurricane.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Once in the Gulf of Mexico, Rita passed over the extremely warm Loop Current during the midday hours of September 21, enabling continued strengthening. As a result, the hurricane's wind field significantly expanded and the storm's barometric pressure quickly fell. By 1800 UTC that day, Rita attained Category 5 hurricane intensity, the highest category on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. Favorable conditions allowed for additional development, and at 0300 UTC on September 22, Rita reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (285 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure of 895 mbar (hPa; 26.43 inHg), making it the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico. At the time, it was located 310 mi (500 km) south of the Mississippi River Delta.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Rita maintained Category 5 hurricane intensity for 18 hours before an eyewall replacement cycle took place, weakening the hurricane to Category 4 intensity by 1800 UTC on September 22. At the same time, the tropical cyclone began to curve northwestward around the southwestern periphery of a ridge of high pressure over the Southeastern United States. As a result of the cycle, a new, larger eyewall consolidated, resulting in Rita's wind field expanding. Due to wind shear and cooler continental shelf waters, the hurricane continued to weaken. Rita weakened to Category 3 strength before making landfall at 0740 UTC on September 24 in extreme southwestern Louisiana between Johnson Bayou and Sabine Pass. At the time of landfall, Rita was a Category 3 hurricane with winds of and a barometric pressure of 937 mbar (hPa; 27.67 inHg).


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Once inland on September 24, Rita began to rapidly weaken. The tropical cyclone had been downgraded to tropical storm intensity nearly 12 hours after landfall. Proceeding northward roughly parallel to the state border between Louisiana and Texas, radar imagery indicated that the storm soon lacked winds of tropical storm-force. Therefore, the NHC classified the system as a tropical depression while it was over Arkansas by 0600 UTC on September 25, shortly before it turned northeastward ahead of an approaching frontal boundary. Early the next day, the depression lost much of its convection over southeastern Illinois, and degenerated into a remnant low by 0600 UTC that day. The frontal boundary subsequently absorbed the remaining system six hours later over the southern Great Lakes region.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: At 0300 UTC on September 18, a tropical storm warning was issued for the Turks and Caicos and the Southeast and Central Bahamas. At the same time, a hurricane watch was also issued for the northwest Bahamas. By 0600 UTC the following day, the hurricane watch was upgraded to a hurricane warning for the northwest Bahamas excluding Grand Bahama and the Abaco Islands which were later put under a tropical storm warning. Several hours later, a hurricane warning was issued for Exuma and Andros Island. At 1800 UTC, the tropical storm warning for the Turks and Caicos was discontinued as the threat from Rita diminished. This discontinuation later included the southeast Bahamas. By 1500 UTC on September 20, all watches and warnings for the islands were discontinued as Rita moved into the Gulf of Mexico. Residents in the Bahamas were urged to board up their homes and stock up on emergency supplies. At least one shelter was opened and schools throughout the country were closed. The Nassau International Airport was also closed due to the storm on September 19 and would remain closed until the evening of September 20.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Officials in Cuba warned residents of possible impacts from Rita and closed public facilities in northern areas. Some evacuations took place in villages near the northern coastline and several shelters were opened. An estimated 150,000 people were evacuated in northern Cuba ahead of the storm. About 600 shelters were opened in Havana which could house a total of 120,000 people. In western Cuba, more than 42,000 were given shelter in Matanzas, 31,000 in Villa Claro and 6,300 in Sancti Spiritus. In Havana, power was turned off at noon on September 19 to protect transformers, this also led to the disruption of natural gas lines. A large-scale preparation was put in place by the Ministry of Health in Cuba. A total of 14,859 medical personnel were mobilized to quickly assist residents impacted by Rita. The personnel consisted of 3,767 doctors, 5,143 nurses, 2,139 specialists, 1,072 health officials, and 2,738 other staff members. A total of 519 vehicles were also mobilized; it included 241 ambulances, 36 trucks, 21 panels, and 221 other vehicles. Throughout northern Cuba, a total of 1,486 shelters were opened, most of which were filled during the evacuation.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: On September 18, when Rita was declared a tropical storm, phased evacuations began in the Florida Keys. All tourists were told to evacuate the Lower Keys immediately and residents in mobile homes were told to prepare to evacuate. By September 20, mandatory evacuations were in place for the 80,000 residents of the Keys. Both lanes on Route 1 were directed northbound to speed up evacuations. City busses picked up those who did not have transportation out of the Keys. An estimated 2.3 million people in Miami-Dade County were warned about the possibility of a direct hit on Miami and told to prepare to evacuate. A State of Emergency was declared ahead of Rita later that day by President George W. Bush. This would allow federal assistance to aid the affected areas in the wake of the storm. Throughout Florida, a total of 340,000 people were placed under mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Five shelters were opened in southern Florida with a total capacity of 4,335 people. Tolls on northbound roads were lifted in Monroe County. A total of four hospitals, three assisted living facilities, and two nursing homes were evacuated. Military support in the form of 7,000 soldiers, eight Black Hawk helicopters, two Chinook helicopters, three Kiowa helicopters, one Huron aircraft, one Short 360 aircraft, one Hercules aircraft, and one Metroliner aircraft was provided. A task force was put on standby in Homestead Air Reserve Base to quickly deploy in affected areas.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: The United States Department of Agriculture prepared food to deliver to affected areas after Rita. The United States Department of Defense deployed personnel to coordinate evacuations. The United States Department of Health and Human Services sent fully equipped medical teams and supplies if needed. The United States Department of Homeland Security pre-positioned over 100 trucks of ice and packed food to deliver following Rita. Two helicopters and one Cheyenne aircraft were also provided to assist with recovery efforts. The United States Department of the Interior shut down all national parks in Florida and evacuated workers in low-lying areas. Military cargo planes evacuated hospital patients from three acute-care hospitals in the Keys.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: On Tuesday, Sept. 20th, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco issued a state of emergency for all parishes in the southwestern region of Louisiana and requested in writing of President George W. Bush that he issue a federal state of emergency for the entire state. Refugees still at the New Orleans Convention Center and Superdome were being evacuated as a precaution, and national guard troops and other emergency personnel in for the Hurricane Katrina aftermath were being mobilized to evacuate. Select military personnel stayed in New Orleans for Hurricane Rita including Task Force California (2-185 Armor and 1-184 Infantry).


title: Hurricane Rita

text: By the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 21st, as Rita's strength, course and speed became clearer, officials of Cameron Parish, Calcasieu Parish, and parts of Jefferson Davis Parish, Acadia Parish, Iberia Parish, Beauregard Parish, and Vermillion Parish began to strongly encourage residents to evacuate ahead of the storm, with a 6:00 PM Thursday deadline set. Most residents followed the recommendations of their respective officials, hitting the road by the deadline, though many returned home and waited until early the next morning after encountering severe traffic delays. Southern Cameron Parish residents, used to frequent evacuations, were gone by noon on Thursday; when parish officials returned to the Hwy. 27 "Gibbstown Bridge" that crosses the Intracoastal Canal into Lower Cameron Parish two days later in preparation of damage inspection and rescue of any stranded and/or injured residents, no one was known to have remained.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Texas Governor Rick Perry recalled all emergency personnel, including almost 1,200 Texas National Guard, 1,100 Texas State Guard, and several hundred Texas Game Wardens from Katrina recovery efforts in anticipation of Hurricane Rita's arrival. In addition, the Federal Government deployed 11 Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs), staging them in mobile field hospitals across eastern Texas. The teams treated 7500 patients during the response. On September 22, Governor Perry and the Texas Department of Transportation implemented a contraflow lane reversal on Interstate 45 north towards Dallas, on Interstate 10 west towards San Antonio, U.S. Highway 290 northwest to Austin.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: As part of the evacuation, Johnson Space Center in Houston handed off control of the International Space Station to their Russian counterparts.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Concerns had been raised over the state of the oil industry in response to Rita. The storm threatened a large amount of oil infrastructure that was left undamaged by Katrina. The Texas Gulf Coast is home to 23% of the United States' refining capacity, and numerous offshore production platforms were in Rita's path. A direct strike on Houston could disable more than a quarter of the United States' fuel-making capacity. Valero Energy Corp, the nation's largest refiner, stated on September 21 that Rita could have caused gasoline prices to rise well above $3 per US gallon ($0.79/L), at a time when the U.S. average price was $2.77/gal.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Just three weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated the northern Gulf Coast, the threat of yet another major hurricane prompted mass evacuations in coastal Texas. An estimated 2.5 – 3.7 million people fled prior to Rita's landfall, making it the largest evacuation in United States' history.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Officials in Galveston County (which includes the city of Galveston), which was devastated by the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, ordered mandatory evacuations, effective September 21 at 6 p.m., in a staggered sequence. Officials designated geographical zones in the area to facilitate an orderly evacuation. People were scheduled to leave at different times over a 24-hour period depending on the zone in which the people were located. The scheduled times were set well in advance of the storm's possible landfall later in the week, but not soon enough to ensure that all residents could evacuate safely in advance of the storm. Nonetheless, many residents remained in the county because they were either unaware of the danger of the storm or believed that it was more important to protect their belongings, particularly in the wake of looting following Hurricane Katrina. The evacuation included transfer of all inpatients from the University of Texas Medical Branch hospital to other regional hospitals. 400 patients were prisoners under the ward of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. These patients were systematically transferred to the University of Texas Health Center at Tyler.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Officials of Harris County hoped that the designation of zones A, B, and C would help prevent bottlenecks in traffic leaving the area similar to those seen at New Orleans prior to Katrina and Hurricane Dennis earlier that year. Also, people in certain zones were to be forced to go to certain cities in Texas and were not allowed to exit their designated routes except for food and gas — another feature of the evacuation plan which officials hoped would keep traffic flow orderly.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: The evacuation-destination cities included Austin, College Station, San Antonio, Dallas, Huntsville, and Lufkin, Texas. Evacuees were asked to try hotels in the Midland/Odessa area when hotels began to sell out in other areas.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: On Wednesday, Houston mayor Bill White urged residents to evacuate the city, telling residents, "Don't wait; the time for waiting is over," reminding residents of the disaster in New Orleans. After heavy traffic snarled roads leading out of town and gas shortages left numerous vehicles stranded, Mayor White backed off his earlier statement with, "If you're not in the evacuation zone, follow the news," advising people to use common sense. However, by 3:00 p.m. that afternoon, the freeway system in Houston was at a stand-still.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: To the east of Houston, officials had set up evacuation routes in response to the slow evacuation of residents prior to Hurricane Lili. During the Rita evacuation, these preparations and their execution were overwhelmed by the enormous and unprecedented number of people fleeing from the Houston area prior to the departure of local residents. By the time Jefferson County began their mandatory evacuation, local roads were already full of Houstonians. Traffic on designated evacuation routes was forced to go far slower than the speeds experienced with any previous hurricane.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: By late Thursday (22nd) morning, the contraflow lanes had been ordered opened after officials determined that the state's highway system had become gridlocked. The Texas Department of Transportation was unprepared to execute such a large-scale evacuation. Coordination and implementation of the contraflow plan took 8 to 10 hours as inbound traffic was forced to exit. Police were stationed to assist with traffic flow. Evacuees fought traffic Wednesday afternoon through mid-day Friday, moving only a fraction of the normal distance expected. Average travel times to Dallas were 24–36 hours, travel times to Austin were 12–18 hours and travel times to San Antonio were 10–16 hours, depending on the point of departure in Houston. Many motorists ran out of gas or experienced breakdowns in temperatures that neared . Traffic volumes did not ease for nearly 48 hours as more than three million residents evacuated the area in advance of the storm.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: As an estimated 2.5 – 3.7 million people evacuated the Texas coastline, a significant heat wave affected the region. The combination of severe gridlock and excessive heat led to between 90 and 118 deaths even before the storm arrived. Reports from the "Houston Chronicle" indicated 107 evacuation-related fatalities. Texas Representative Garnet Coleman criticized the downplay of the deaths in the evacuation and questioned whether the storm would be deadlier than the preparations. According to local officials, the traffic reached a point where residents felt safer riding out the storm at home rather than being stuck in traffic when Rita struck. Many evacuees periodically turned off their air conditioning to reduce fuel consumption as well as drank less water to limit the number of restroom stops. According to a post-storm study, which reported 90 evacuation-related deaths, nine people perished solely as a result of hyperthermia. However, it was suspected that most of the 67 deaths attributed to heat stress were a combination of hyperthermia and chronic health conditions. In addition to the heat-related deaths, 23 nursing home evacuees were killed after a bus caught fire on Interstate 45 near Wilmer. The bus erupted into flames after the vehicle's rear axle overheated due to insufficient lubrication. According to a resident near the site of the accident, there were three explosions. Many of the passengers were mobility-impaired making escape difficult or impossible. In June 2009, nearly four years after the fire, families of those who died in the accident won an $80 million settlement against the manufacturer of the bus and the company that provided the nursing home with it.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: In some areas, the effects of Hurricane Rita were not nearly as severe as anticipated. The storm surge feared in Galveston and Houston struck farther east as the storm's center came ashore at the Louisiana border. Winds blowing offshore in Texas actually flattened the surge, which was only in Galveston, well below the height of the seawall. The of rain expected to fall overnight in New Orleans as Rita came ashore also did not happen, and the pressure on the levee system was eased. Still, a storm surge of up to struck southwestern Louisiana, and coastal parishes experienced extensive damage. In Cameron Parish, the communities of Holly Beach, Hackberry, Cameron, Creole and Grand Chenier were essentially destroyed. There were also severe impacts, mainly due to wind, in inland parishes and counties across Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas, respectively. Cities such as Beaumont, Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana, as well as surrounding communities, suffered extensive wind damage.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: An estimated two million people lost electricity. Total damage is estimated at approximately $18.5 billion.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: The reported death toll for Hurricane Rita was 120. Only seven were direct deaths. One was caused by a tornado spawned in the storm's outer bands, one was due to storm surge flooding and three others were caused by trees blown down in the storm. The two Florida deaths both occurred in rip currents caused by Rita's distant waves.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Direct deaths are those caused by the direct effects of the winds, flooding, tornadoes, storm surge or oceanic effects of Rita. Indirect deaths are caused by hurricane-related accidents (including car accidents, crimes, fires or other incidents), cleanup and evacuation incidents and health issues (such as poisoning, illnesses, lack of emergency aid).


title: Hurricane Rita

text: As Rita developed near the Turks and Caicos Islands, it dropped up to of rain but caused little damage. Throughout the Bahamas, swells produced by Rita reached and storm surge was estimated at . Strong winds were reported across the islands, but no damage resulted from the storm.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: In Cuba, Rita produced winds up to and more than 5 in (127 mm) of rain in some areas. This resulted in significant structural damage but no loss of life. In the Bay Shore area of Havana, water levels rose and inundated 20 blocks of the city. An estimated 400,000 people in the city lost power a result of the storm. In a two-hour span, more than of rain fell in Bauta. The torrential rains led to 34 homes collapsing in Havana. Storm surge produced by Rita penetrated an estimated inland, flooding several towns.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Rita produced moderate rains across southern Florida, peaking at in Tenraw. A band of rain, estimated to be wide produced heavier rain, with doppler radar estimating some totals over . Most of the Florida Keys received 3 in (76.2 mm) of rain or more. The highest sustained winds were recorded at 20:32 UTC (3:32 p.m. EDT) on September 20 in Key West at . Gusts in Key West were recorded at . A maximum storm surge of was recorded, which flooded at least 200 homes throughout four blocks in Key West. Floodwaters up to deep reached the runways at Key West International Airport. A storm surge of was recorded in Miami, although no flooding was reported. Minor erosion also occurred on south-facing beaches. At the height of the storm, an estimated 126,000 people were without power. One funnel cloud was reported along Interstate 95 in Lake Worth. Winds were estimated at . High seas from Rita on September 22 flooded parts of coastal Walton County. Moderate beach erosion also occurred as a result of the high seas. Damages from the flooding estimated at $200,000. Damages in southern Florida were minimal. On September 24, strong rip currents produced by the remnants of Rita resulted in the death of one person near Miramar Beach.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: With an estimated cost of $8 billion in damages, Hurricane Rita's impact across Louisiana varied. One person is known to have drowned during the event. Due to the hurricane's storm surge, which topped levees and inundated low-lying coastal communities, the greatest amount of damage extended across most of southern Louisiana, from the Mississippi River delta to the Sabine River. Widespread power outages affected roughly 1 million customers, with Entergy Louisiana reporting the largest outage of 601,183 customers losing power.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: In southeast Louisiana's Terrebonne Parish, storm surge reached flooding an estimated 10,000 homes. Virtually every levee was breached. Some people were stranded in flooded communities and had to be rescued by boat. At least 100 people were reported rescued from rooftops. Already devastated by Hurricane Katrina, the Industrial Canal in New Orleans was again flooded by Hurricane Rita as the recently-and-hurriedly-repaired levees were breached once more.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: In south-central Vermilion Parish, storm surge reached all the way up to the communities of Abbeville, Gueydan, and Lake Arthur. The surge completely flooded Pecan Island, Intracoastal City, and Delcambre. Nearly all of the structures on Pecan Island were destroyed. Rescue efforts were undertaken for up to 1,000 people stranded by local flooding. On Saturday, September 24 alone, 250 people were rescued.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: However, the southwestern region of the state near where Rita made landfall was undeniably the worst impacted region in Louisiana.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: In Cameron Parish, the damage was catastrophic, particularly along the coastline and north to the Intracoastal Waterway. Coastal storm surge was estimated around , with lower levels farther inland from the coast, yet much of north-western and north-central Cameron Parish experienced significant flooding. The southern Cameron Parish communities of Cameron, Creole, Grand Chenier, Holly Beach, Johnson Bayou, Little Chenier and Oak Grove were either heavily devastated or entirely wiped out by the storm surge, with nearly 95 percent of homes, businesses, and infrastructure completely destroyed. Closer to the Intracoastal Waterway, communities shared a similar fate; Big Lake, Deatonville, Gibbstown and Hackberry were all devastated or heavily damaged. In Hackberry, an unofficial wind gust of 180 mph was recorded on a boat tied up to a local dock. Above the Intracoastal Waterway in northern Cameron Parish, the damage was devastating, with the communities of Grand Lake, Hebert's Camp, Lowry, Pelican Point, and Sweetlake suffering from extensive flooding and wind damage. Over a decade later, many communities south of the Intracoastal Waterway are still recovering, with their populations significantly lower than pre-Rita levels.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: To the north in Calcasieu Parish, the cities and communities of Iowa, Lake Charles, Moss Bluff, Sulphur, and Westlake suffered severe wind damage, and some areas also received flooding due to both storm surge and heavy rain. In Lake Charles, the storm surge that travelled up the Calcasieu Ship Channel from the coast was estimated to be up to . A casino boat secured at the north end of the lake, and several barges secured at the Port of Lake Charles, broke free from their moorings, floating loose until running into the Interstate 10 bridge over the Calcasieu River, causing minor damage. Other areas of Lake Charles also experienced severe flooding, with reports of water rising 6–8 feet, at one point inundating the lower floors of the Lake Charles Civic Center. At a hotel on a section of the Contraband Bayou near Interstate 210 and Prien Lake Road, water reportedly rose as high as the second floor. There was extensive minor-to-major structural wind damage across the entire area, including the near-devastation of the Lake Charles Regional Airport south of the city. Damage to the entire region's electrical and communications infrastructure was severe, and authorities warned returning residents that restoration of services to some areas would take weeks to months.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: In the western Calcasieu parish communities of Vinton and Starks, wind damage was also severe. The roof was torn off of the Vinton Recreation Center, and many homes were damaged by fallen trees and utility poles. Damaged utility towers made power restoration problematic, with much of the area waiting months for utilities to be restored.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Allen, Beauregard, Jeff Davis, and Vernon parishes suffered lesser, yet still significant, degrees of wind damage and flooding damage due to heavy rain.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: After weakening to a tropical storm, Rita entered DeSoto and Caddo Parishes. The center passed just west of Downtown Shreveport before crossing the Arkansas border. At the height of the storm, over 175,000 people had lost power in the National Weather Service Shreveport's forecast area, mainly across Deep East Texas into northwest Louisiana. Two fatalities occurred in the Ark-La-Tex. A tree fell on one person; the other fatality occurred when a teenager was electrocuted when picking up a "hot" power line. Shreveport recorded its 2nd lowest pressure ever recorded as the center of Rita moved through Shreveport around 6 pm Saturday evening. The pressure recorded was which was only .01 inch higher than the lowest pressure on record of 29.04 inches back on February 27, 1902.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: In Mississippi, Rita produced widespread rainfall upon its landfall in Louisiana; however, most of the rain fell early on September 25 as a band of heavy rain developed over parts of western Mississippi, northeast Louisiana and southern Arkansas, resulting in up to of rain around the Big Black River in the span of a few hours. The heavy rainfall caused significant flooding in Yazoo and Warren Counties. In Yazoo, numerous homes had water inside and countywide damage amounted to $6 million. Damage in Warren County was less than Yazoo, amounting to $2.7 million. Holmes, Hinds and Madison Counties also had flooding, with damage in all three counties amounting to $2 million. Several roads were also flooded in Monroe County after of rain fell. Winds up to downed numerous trees throughout the state. In Adams County, winds caused several trees to fall on homes in Natchez, leaving $270,000 in damage. In Warren County, a mobile home was destroyed after a tree was downed by high winds.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: An unusually large amount of tornadoes touched down in the state due to Rita, with 49 confirmed in Mississippi alone. The size of the tornado outbreak ranked it as the largest recorded by the National Weather Service office in Jackson. Damage from tornadoes alone in the state amounted to $14.5 million.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: An F1 tornado killed one person after tossing a mobile home into the air and destroying it. Two other occupants sustained serious injuries. Another F1 tornado struck a mobile home park, destroying eleven homes, injuring seven people and leaving $2 million in damages. Six F2 tornadoes touched down in Mississippi. One of these tracked for nearly and grew to a width of . The tornado caused $2.5 million in damage and injured three people after destroying one building and severely damaging several homes and farms. Throughout the state, 2,127 residences lost power due to high winds.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: The impact of Rita, limited to Southeast and East Texas, varied, with both wind and storm-surge damage impacting communities in various ways. Hurricane-force winds extended over inland across eastern Texas, causing extensive damage to trees in the Piney Woods. Communities near and along the west side of the Sabine River, from the Gulf coast up to Toledo Bend Reservoir, saw the greatest measure of damage. The worst damage in the state occurred in several counties in Southeast Texas, including Jefferson, Orange, Hardin, Jasper, Newton, and Tyler counties, where damage to electrical and communication services was severe. Power was not restored in some areas across the region for weeks to even months. Cities in the "Golden Triangle" formed by Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange, TX sustained extensive wind damage, whether directly from wind or collaterally from wind-fallen trees, tree branches and/or other detritus. In Beaumont, an estimated 25% of the trees in neighborhoods across the city were uprooted or heavily damaged, and in Groves (home of "The Texas Pecan Festival"), about the same percentage of pecan trees suffered similar fates. The water treatment plant in Port Neches was heavily damaged. Governor Rick Perry declared a nine-county disaster area as a result of the significant damage in those communities.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: In Galveston, Texas, parts of the coast not protected by the sea wall experienced minor storm-surge flooding. At the height of Rita's landfall, a fire broke out in the Strand Historic District; the Galveston fire department reacted quickly and was able to contain and douse the wind-whipped blaze, limiting damage and preventing the fire from spreading throughout the city. Luckily, no serious injuries were reported, though several historic buildings were either gutted or damaged; a fire-weakened wall of the vacated Yaga's Cafe and Bar collapsed several hours later, likely due to lingering wind gusts.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: For the most part, Houston escaped major damage, apart from extensive power interruptions. A few windows blew out of some downtown skyscrapers, and some trees and traffic signals were downed or damaged. Thirty-one deaths in Harris County were attributed to Rita, mostly related to the evacuation and cleanup.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: North of Houston, the Lake Livingston dam sustained substantial damage from powerful waves driven by wind gusts of up to and officials started an emergency release of water to lessen pressure on the dam. A number of news outlets reported on Sunday, September 25, 2005, that the discharge put lives at risk downstream and threatened a major bridge. Repairs to the dam were expected to take months to complete. After water levels were lowered and an inspection was conducted by national and local experts, the dam was declared stable late on Monday, September 26, 2005.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Rita's landfall in extreme Southwest Louisiana spared southeast and east Texas far greater damage from storm surge. In particular, Texas's coastal communities around Galveston Bay, located to the west of where the storm came ashore, were largely protected from Rita's storm surge by her fortuitous path. However, Sabine Pass experienced a significant storm surge, which destroyed much of the community. The town was featured on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which built a new fire station in the community. The new fire station was later destroyed in Hurricane Ike, which struck the Texas coast in 2008.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Prudently, a mandatory evacuation of Southeast Texas had been issued before Rita's landfall by both local and state governments. As a result of Governor Perry's disaster declaration, many residents displaced by, and/or returning home to the aftermath of Rita were able to take advantage of up to 60 days of hotel rooms, generators, chainsaws, and monetary assistance by FEMA.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: As Hurricane Rita passed to the south of Florida on September 20, outer bands to the north produced minor rainfall in parts of southern Georgia, peaking near . In Alabama, the storm produced 22 weak tornadoes, mainly rated F0, causing minor isolated damage amounting to roughly $1.2 million. Heavy rains also fell in association with Rita in the state. Most of the western portions of Alabama received more than , with south-central portions peaking around . The remnants of Rita had little impact in Tennessee, only consisting of moderate rainfall, peaking near . Up to of rain fell in southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois, western Kentucky, most of Indiana, east and northern Ohio and southern Michigan before the storm merged with a frontal system on September 26.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: The weakened remnants of Hurricane Rita produced heavy rainfall and several tornadoes on September 24 in Arkansas. Most of the state received at least of rain with maximum amounts around . Three F2 tornadoes touched down in the state, the first injured five people in Lonoke County, the second was a low-end F2 tornado that completely destroyed a double-wide mobile home. The third was rated as a high-end F2 with winds near ; it destroyed three structures and severely damaged several others. Throughout the state, winds gusted up to , leaving 2,976 residences without power. Damage in Arkansas amounted to roughly $1 million.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Resulting from heavy destruction on the Gulf Coast, the name "Rita" was retired in the spring of 2006, and will never again be used for an Atlantic hurricane. It was replaced by Rina for the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season's list.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: The heavy concentration of oil infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico makes hurricanes of Rita's intensity very problematic. Currently, very little spare crude oil capacity exists in the United States, and the Gulf of Mexico produces some per day total, as well as having some 30% of the total refining capacity of the United States. Rita's path travelled through a dense area of offshore pipelines and oil platforms, and on land to an area with large refineries. With over half of Gulf production still shut down in the wake of Katrina, some economists have stated that a worst-case scenario is for gasoline prices to briefly touch $5/US gallon ($1.30/L), which would be easily the highest real price for gasoline paid in the United States during the internal combustion era. The most serious incident was the capsizing of the tension-leg platform Typhoon. Despite this, post-storm predictions estimated only minor price rises. With some 200,000 jobless claims attributed to Katrina, Rita may have been a further drag on a weakened US economy.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: The most pessimistic projections had GDP growth cut by 1% on an annualized basis in the United States in the second half of 2005, with as many as 500,000 people made unemployed. Some economists argued that the rebuilding effort could buoy the economy in 2006, while others argued that the energy spike could decrease consumer confidence by enough to send the economy into a full-fledged recession when combined with the Federal Reserve's recent increases in interest rates. While the above did happen, it did not occur until 2008, nearly three years after Rita's impact.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: Due to the impending oil shortage and increasing gas prices, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue declared what he termed "snow days," closing all Georgia public primary and secondary schools on September 26 and 27 to conserve fuel for buses.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: The combined effect of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was the destruction of an estimated of coastal wetlands in Louisiana.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: On September 24, 2005, following the havoc caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the National Guard named Brig. Gen. Douglas Pritt of the 41st Brigade Combat Team, Oregon Army National Guard, head of Joint Task Force Rita (formally called JTF Ponchartrain). The 1,400 Oregonian soldiers and airmen, including the 1st Battalion of the 186th Infantry which is designated a quick response unit, are joined by engineers and military police from Louisiana, the 56th Stryker brigade from Pennsylvania, and an engineering battalion from Missouri. It is their mission to provide relief support for all of the areas in Texas and Louisiana affected by the two storms and to remove obstructions that might otherwise hinder help to those affected.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: The American Red Cross continued to provide disaster relief to Hurricane Katrina affected areas, but as a result of Hurricane Rita, had to open additional shelters in other gulf states. The Red Cross also expanded their Hurricane Katrina internet "Safe List" for use by those affected by Hurricane Rita.


title: Hurricane Rita

text: AmeriCorps sent several crews to Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana in response to Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. The crews originated from two main organizations, the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) and the Washington Conservation Corps (WCC), as well as from smaller Americorps organizations such as Americorps St. Louis' Emergency Response Team (ERT). The crews performed a number of relief tasks for hurricane survivors, including support on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)/Carnival Cruise Lines shelter ship, tarping damaged roofs, and debris removal. As of the beginning of 2006, AmeriCorps teams have been involved in the rebuilding efforts in Louisiana and Mississippi. Teams have also operated volunteer camps like Camp Premier as well as assisted with the Made with Love cafe. As of May 2006, AmeriCorps reported that it would continue to send relief to affected areas.


title: Quantity

text: Quantity or amount is a property that can exist as a multitude or magnitude, which illustrate discontinuity and continuity. Quantities can be compared in terms of "more", "less", or "equal", or by assigning a numerical value multiple of a unit of measurement. Mass, time, distance, heat, and angle are among the familiar examples of quantitative properties.


title: Quantity

text: Quantity is among the basic classes of things along with quality, substance, change, and relation. Some quantities are such by their inner nature (as number), while others function as states (properties, dimensions, attributes) of things such as heavy and light, long and short, broad and narrow, small and great, or much and little.


title: Quantity

text: Under the name of multitude comes what is discontinuous and discrete and divisible ultimately into indivisibles, such as: "army, fleet, flock, government, company, party, people, mess (military), chorus, crowd", and "number"; all which are cases of collective nouns. Under the name of magnitude comes what is continuous and unified and divisible only into smaller divisibles, such as: "matter, mass, energy, liquid, material"—all cases of non-collective nouns.


title: Quantity

text: Along with analyzing its nature and classification, the issues of quantity involve such closely related topics as dimensionality, equality, proportion, the measurements of quantities, the units of measurements, number and numbering systems, the types of numbers and their relations to each other as numerical ratios.


title: Quantity

text: In mathematics, the concept of quantity is an ancient one extending back to the time of Aristotle and earlier. Aristotle regarded quantity as a fundamental ontological and scientific category. In Aristotle's ontology, quantity or quantum was classified into two different types, which he characterized as follows:


title: Quantity

text: In his "Elements", Euclid developed the theory of ratios of magnitudes without studying the nature of magnitudes, as Archimedes, but giving the following significant definitions:


title: Quantity

text: For Aristotle and Euclid, relations were conceived as whole numbers (Michell, 1993). John Wallis later conceived of ratios of magnitudes as real numbers:


title: Quantity

text: That is, the ratio of magnitudes of any quantity, whether volume, mass, heat and so on, is a number. Following this, Newton then defined number, and the relationship between quantity and number, in the following terms:


title: Quantity

text: Continuous quantities possess a particular structure that was first explicitly characterized by Hölder (1901) as a set of axioms that define such features as "identities" and "relations" between magnitudes. In science, quantitative structure is the subject of empirical investigation and cannot be assumed to exist "a priori" for any given property. The linear continuum represents the prototype of continuous quantitative structure as characterized by Hölder (1901) (translated in Michell & Ernst, 1996). A fundamental feature of any type of quantity is that the relationships of equality or inequality can in principle be stated in comparisons between particular magnitudes, unlike quality, which is marked by likeness, similarity and difference, diversity. Another fundamental feature is additivity. Additivity may involve concatenation, such as adding two lengths A and B to obtain a third A + B. Additivity is not, however, restricted to extensive quantities but may also entail relations between magnitudes that can be established through experiments that permit tests of hypothesized observable manifestations of the additive relations of magnitudes. Another feature is continuity, on which Michell (1999, p. 51) says of length, as a type of quantitative attribute, "what continuity means is that if any arbitrary length, a, is selected as a unit, then for every positive real number, "r", there is a length b such that b = "r"a". A further generalization is given by the theory of conjoint measurement, independently developed by French economist Gérard Debreu (1960) and by the American mathematical psychologist R. Duncan Luce and statistician John Tukey (1964).


title: Quantity

text: Magnitude (how much) and multitude (how many), the two principal types of quantities, are further divided as mathematical and physical. In formal terms, quantities—their ratios, proportions, order and formal relationships of equality and inequality—are studied by mathematics. The essential part of mathematical quantities consists of having a collection of variables, each assuming a set of values. These can be a set of a single quantity, referred to as a scalar when represented by real numbers, or have multiple quantities as do vectors and tensors, two kinds of geometric objects.


title: Quantity

text: The mathematical usage of a quantity can then be varied and so is situationally dependent. Quantities can be used as being infinitesimal, arguments of a function, variables in an expression (independent or dependent), or probabilistic as in random and stochastic quantities. In mathematics, magnitudes and multitudes are also not only two distinct kinds of quantity but furthermore relatable to each other.


title: Quantity

text: Number theory covers the topics of the discrete quantities as numbers: number systems with their kinds and relations. Geometry studies the issues of spatial magnitudes: straight lines, curved lines, surfaces and solids, all with their respective measurements and relationships.


title: Quantity

text: A traditional Aristotelian realist philosophy of mathematics, stemming from Aristotle and remaining popular until the eighteenth century, held that mathematics is the "science of quantity". Quantity was considered to be divided into the discrete (studied by arithmetic) and the continuous (studied by geometry and later calculus). The theory fits reasonably well elementary or school mathematics but less well the abstract topological and algebraic structures of modern mathematics.


title: Quantity

text: Establishing quantitative structure and relationships "between" different quantities is the cornerstone of modern physical sciences. Physics is fundamentally a quantitative science. Its progress is chiefly achieved due to rendering the abstract qualities of material entities into physical quantities, by postulating that all material bodies marked by quantitative properties or physical dimensions are subject to some measurements and observations. Setting the units of measurement, physics covers such fundamental quantities as space (length, breadth, and depth) and time, mass and force, temperature, energy, and quanta.


title: Quantity

text: A distinction has also been made between intensive quantity and extensive quantity as two types of quantitative property, state or relation. The magnitude of an "intensive quantity" does not depend on the size, or extent, of the object or system of which the quantity is a property, whereas magnitudes of an "extensive quantity" are additive for parts of an entity or subsystems. Thus, magnitude does depend on the extent of the entity or system in the case of extensive quantity. Examples of intensive quantities are density and pressure, while examples of extensive quantities are energy, volume, and mass.


title: Quantity

text: In human languages, including English, number is a syntactic category, along with person and gender. The quantity is expressed by identifiers, definite and indefinite, and quantifiers, definite and indefinite, as well as by three types of nouns: 1. count unit nouns or countables; 2. mass nouns, uncountables, referring to the indefinite, unidentified amounts; 3. nouns of multitude (collective nouns). The word ‘number’ belongs to a noun of multitude standing either for a single entity or for the individuals making the whole. An amount in general is expressed by a special class of words called identifiers, indefinite and definite and quantifiers, definite and indefinite. The amount may be expressed by: singular form and plural from, ordinal numbers before a count noun singular (first, second, third...), the demonstratives; definite and indefinite numbers and measurements (hundred/hundreds, million/millions), or cardinal numbers before count nouns. The set of language quantifiers covers "a few, a great number, many, several (for count names); a bit of, a little, less, a great deal (amount) of, much (for mass names); all, plenty of, a lot of, enough, more, most, some, any, both, each, either, neither, every, no". For the complex case of unidentified amounts, the parts and examples of a mass are indicated with respect to the following: a measure of a mass (two kilos of rice and twenty bottles of milk or ten pieces of paper); a piece or part of a mass (part, element, atom, item, article, drop); or a shape of a container (a basket, box, case, cup, bottle, vessel, jar).


title: Lake trout

text: The lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can also be variously known as siscowet, paperbelly and lean. The lake trout is prized both as a game fish and as a food fish. Those caught with dark coloration may be called "mud hens".


title: Lake trout

text: It is the only member of the subgenus Cristovomer, which is more derived than the subgenus "Baione" (the most basal clade of "Salvelinus", containing the brook trout ("S. fontinalis") and silver trout ("S. agasizii")) but still basal to the other members of "Salvelinus".


title: Lake trout

text: From a zoogeographical perspective, lake trout have a relatively narrow distribution. They are native only to the northern parts of North America, principally Canada, but also Alaska and, to some extent, the northeastern United States. Lake trout have been widely introduced into non-native waters in North America and into many other parts of the world, mainly Europe, but also into South America and certain parts of Asia. Although lake trout were introduced into Yellowstone National Park's Shoshone, Lewis and Heart lakes legally in the 1890s, they were illegally or accidentally introduced into Yellowstone Lake in the 1980s where they are now considered invasive.


title: Lake trout

text: Lake trout are the largest of the chars; the record weighed almost (netted) with a length of , and fish are not uncommon. The average length is . The largest caught on a rod and reel according to the IGFA was , caught in Great Bear Lake in 1995 with a length of .


title: Lake trout

text: Lake trout inhabit cold, oxygen-rich waters. They are pelagic during the period of summer stratification in dimictic lakes, often living at depths of .


title: Lake trout

text: The lake trout is a slow-growing fish, typical of oligotrophic waters. It is also very late to mature. Populations are extremely susceptible to overfishing. Many native lake trout populations have been severely damaged through the combined effects of hatchery stocking (planting) and over harvest. Another threat to lake trout is acidification, which can have longterm effects on their populations through both direct harm and reduced prey populations (e.g. "Mysis relicta").


title: Lake trout

text: There are three subspecies of lake trout. There is the common lake trout ("Salvelinus namaycush namaycush"), the siscowet lake trout ("Salvelinus namaycush siscowet"), and the less common rush lake trout ("Salvelinus namaycush huronicus"). Some lakes do not have pelagic forage fish during the period of summer stratification. In these lakes, lake trout act as planktivores. Lake trout in planktivorous populations are highly abundant, grow very slowly and mature at relatively small sizes. In those lakes that do contain deep-water forage, lake trout become piscivorous. Piscivorous lake trout grow much more quickly, mature at a larger size and are less abundant. Notwithstanding differences in abundance, the density of biomass of lake trout is fairly consistent in similar lakes, regardless of whether the lake trout populations they contain are planktivorous or piscivorous.


title: Lake trout

text: In Lake Superior, common lake trout ("S. n. namaycush") and siscowet lake trout ("S. n. siscowet") live together. Common lake trout tend to stay in shallower waters, while siscowet lake trout stay in deeper water. Common lake trout (also called "lean" lake trout) are slimmer than the relatively fat siscowet. Siscowet numbers have become greatly depressed over the years due to a combination of the extirpation of some of the fish's deep water coregonine prey and to overexploitation. Siscowet tend to grow extremely large and fat and attracted great commercial interest in the last century. Their populations have rebounded since 1970, with one estimate putting the number in Lake Superior at 100 million. Professor of zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, James Kitchell, credits effective constraint of commercial fisheries and persistent sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) control for the successful recovery of Lake Superior's lake trout. "Looking at what has happened in the lake and the results of computer simulations, it is clear that lamprey control needs to continue if Lake Superior is to keep its lake trout."


title: Lake trout

text: Lake trout are known to hybridize in nature with the brook trout; such hybrids, known as "splake", are normally sterile but self-sustaining populations exist in some lakes. Splake are also artificially propagated in hatcheries, and then stocked into lakes in an effort to provide sport-fishing opportunities.


title: Lake trout

text: Lake trout were fished commercially in the Great Lakes until lampreys, overharvest and pollution extirpated or severely reduced the stocks. Commercial fisheries still exist in some areas of the Great Lakes and smaller lakes in northern Canada. Commercial fishing by Ojibwe for Lake Trout in Lake Superior is permitted under various treaties and regulated by the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC).


title: Lake trout

text: The specific epithet "namaycush" derives from "namekush", a form of the word used in some inland Southern East Cree communities in referring to this species of fish. Other variations found in East Cree are "kûkamâs[h]", "kûkamâw" and "kûkamesh". Similar cognate words are found in Ojibwe: "namegos" = "lake trout"; "namegoshens" = "rainbow trout", literally meaning "little lake trout".


title: Lake trout

text: Geneva, New York claims the title "Lake Trout Capital of the World," and holds an annual lake trout fishing derby.


title: History of the Kurds

text: The Kurds, also the Kurdish people, are an Iranian ethnic group in the Middle East. They have historically inhabited the mountainous areas to the south of Lake Van and Lake Urmia, a geographical area collectively referred to as Kurdistan. Most Kurds speak Northern Kurdish Kurmanji Kurdish (Kurmanji) and Central Kurdish (Sorani).


title: History of the Kurds

text: There are various hypotheses as to predecessor populations of the Kurds, such as the Carduchoi of Classical Antiquity. The earliest known Kurdish dynasties under Islamic rule (10th to 12th centuries) are the Hasanwayhids, the Marwanids, the Rawadids, the Shaddadids, followed by the Ayyubid dynasty founded by Saladin. The Battle of Chaldiran of 1514 is an important turning point in Kurdish history, marking the alliance of Kurds with the Ottomans. The "Sharafnameh" of 1597 is the first account of Kurdish history. Kurdish history in the 20th century is marked by a rising sense of Kurdish nationhood focused on the goal of an independent Kurdistan as scheduled by the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920. Partial autonomy was reached by Kurdistan Uyezd (1923–1926) and by Iraqi Kurdistan (since 1991), while notably in Turkish Kurdistan, an armed conflict between the Kurdish insurgent groups and Turkish Armed Forces was ongoing from 1984 to 1999, and the region continues to be unstable with renewed violence flaring up in the 2000s.


title: History of the Kurds

text: There are different theories about the origin of the name "Kurd". According to one theory, it originates in Middle Persian as كورت "kwrt-", a term for "nomad; tent-dweller". After the Muslim conquest of Persia, this term was adopted into Arabic as "kurd-", and was used specifically for nomadic tribes.


title: History of the Kurds

text: The ethnonym "Kurd" may ultimately derive from an ancient toponym in the upper Tigris basin. According to the English Orientalist Godfrey Rolles Driver, the term "Kurd" is related to the Sumerian "Karda" which was found in Sumerian clay tablets of the third millennium B.C. He wrote in a paper published in 1923 that the term "Kurd" was not used differently by different nations and by examining the philological variations of Karda in different languages, such as "Cordueni", "Gordyeni", "Kordyoui", "Karduchi", "Kardueni", "Qardu", "Kardaye", "Qardawaye", he finds that the similarities undoubtedly refer to a common descent.


title: History of the Kurds

text: As for the Middle Persian noun "kwrt-" originating in an ancient toponym, it has been argued that it may ultimately reflect a Bronze Age toponym "Qardu", "Kar-da", which may also be reflected in the Arabic (Quranic) toponym


title: History of the Kurds

text: The name would be continued in classical antiquity as the first element in the toponym "Corduene", and its inhabitants, mentioned by Xenophon as the tribe of the "Carduchoi" who opposed the retreat of the Ten Thousand through the mountains north of Mesopotamia in the 4th century BC. This view is supported by some recent academic sources which have considered Corduene as proto-Kurdish region. However, some modern scholars reject these connections. Alternatively, "kwrt-" may be a derivation from the name of the "Cyrtii" tribe instead.


title: History of the Kurds

text: According to some sources, by the 16th century, there seems to develop an ethnic identity designated by the term "Kurd" among various Northwestern Iranian groups, without reference to any specific Iranian language.


title: History of the Kurds

text: Sherefxan Bidlisi in the 16th century states that there are four divisions of "Kurds": "Kurmanj", "Lur", "Kalhor" and "Guran", each of which speak a different dialect or language variation. Paul (2008) notes that the 16th-century usage of the term "Kurd" as recorded by Bidlisi, regardless of linguistic grouping, might still reflect an incipient Northwestern Iranian "Kurdish" ethnic identity uniting the Kurmanj, Kalhor, and Guran.


title: History of the Kurds

text: Kurdish is a language of the Northwestern Iranian group which has likely separated from the other dialects of Central Iran during the early centuries AD (the Middle Iranian period). Kurdish has in turn emerged as a group within Northwest Iranian during the Medieval Period (roughly 10th to 16th centuries).


title: History of the Kurds

text: The Kurdish people are believed to be of heterogeneous origins, both from Iranian-speaking and non-Iranian peoples.|group=Note}} combining a number of earlier tribal or ethnic groups including Lullubi, Guti, Cyrtians, Carduchi.