IN: Rex Ryan and his fraternal twin, Rob, were born in Ardmore, Oklahoma, on December 13, 1962, to Doris and Buddy Ryan. When the boys were aged two, their parents amicably divorced. Following the divorce, their mother attended the University of Chicago to earn her doctorate. Rex, Rob, and their older brother Jim moved with her to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where she secured an administrative position at the University of Toronto.

Ryan is an avid hockey fan and has developed a notoriety of being a bandwagon jumper in recent years. Ryan has admitted he was a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, as a result of growing up in the city, but upon taking the Jets head coaching job, he was often seen cheering for all three of the New York metropolitan area franchises. During the New Jersey Devils run to the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals, Ryan was seen sporting the team's attire, and he was seen donning the attire of the New York Rangers two years later, during their run to the Stanley Cup Final. Outside of the playoff runs, Ryan performed a ceremonial puck drop at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on October 9, 2010, wearing a vintage New York Islanders Billy Smith jersey. Ryan was known for a notorious incident at a Carolina Hurricanes game, as he attended the matchup with the Florida Panthers sporting a throwback Philadelphia Flyers jersey on. Upon being recognized by the fans at the arena, the team's cheerleaders approached him with a Hurricanes alternate jersey sported by the team. The incident was noted as he was seen taking off the jersey and baring his chest for the crowd to see. Upon taking the Buffalo Bills head coaching job, Ryan changed his allegiance to the Buffalo Sabres, and he was often seen at the team's home games and sporting the team's attire. Months after being fired by the Bills, Ryan would later be seen during the Nashville Predators run to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, wearing the team's jersey.

does he have critics?

OUT:

IN: Thor Heyerdahl (Norwegian pronunciation: [tu:r 'haei@da:l]; October 6, 1914 - April 18, 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany, and geography. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000 km (5,000 mi) across the Pacific Ocean in a hand-built raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands. The expedition was designed to demonstrate that ancient people could have made long sea voyages, creating contacts between separate cultures. This was linked to a diffusionist model of cultural development.

In 1955-1956, Heyerdahl organized the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The expedition's scientific staff included Arne Skjolsvold, Carlyle Smith, Edwin Ferdon, Gonzalo Figueroa and William Mulloy. Heyerdahl and the professional archaeologists who travelled with him spent several months on Rapa Nui investigating several important archaeological sites. Highlights of the project include experiments in the carving, transport and erection of the notable moai, as well as excavations at such prominent sites as Orongo and Poike. The expedition published two large volumes of scientific reports (Reports of the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island and the East Pacific) and Heyerdahl later added a third (The Art of Easter Island). Heyerdahl's popular book on the subject, Aku-Aku was another international best-seller. In Easter Island: The Mystery Solved (Random House, 1989), Heyerdahl offered a more detailed theory of the island's history. Based on native testimony and archaeological research, he claimed the island was originally colonized by Hanau eepe ("Long Ears"), from South America, and that Polynesian Hanau momoko ("Short Ears") arrived only in the mid-16th century; they may have come independently or perhaps were imported as workers. According to Heyerdahl, something happened between Admiral Roggeveen's discovery of the island in 1722 and James Cook's visit in 1774; while Roggeveen encountered white, Indian, and Polynesian people living in relative harmony and prosperity, Cook encountered a much smaller population consisting mainly of Polynesians and living in privation. Heyerdahl notes the oral tradition of an uprising of "Short Ears" against the ruling "Long Ears". The "Long Ears" dug a defensive moat on the eastern end of the island and filled it with kindling. During the uprising, Heyerdahl claimed, the "Long Ears" ignited their moat and retreated behind it, but the "Short Ears" found a way around it, came up from behind, and pushed all but two of the "Long Ears" into the fire. This moat was found by the Norwegian expedition and it was partly cut down into the rock. Layers of fire were revealed but no fragments of bodies. As for the origin of the people of Easter Island, DNA tests have shown a connection to South America, critics conjecture that this was a result of recent events, but whether this is inherited from a person coming in later times is hard to know. If the story that (almost) all Long Ears were killed in a civil war is true, as the islanders story goes, it would be expected that the statue-building South American bloodline would have been nearly utterly destroyed, leaving for the most part the invading Polynesian bloodline.

What else did this dig produce

OUT: two large volumes of scientific reports (Reports of the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island and the East Pacific) and Heyerdahl later added a third (The Art of Easter Island).

IN: John Charles Fremont or Fremont (January 21, 1813 - July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, politician, and soldier who, in 1856, became the first candidate of the Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, when he led five expeditions into the American West, that era's penny press and admiring historians accorded Fremont the sobriquet The Pathfinder. During the Mexican-American War, Fremont, a major in the U.S. Army, took control of California from the California Republic in 1846.

In the fall of 1853, Fremont embarked on another expedition to identify a viable route for a transcontinental railroad along the 38th parallel. The party journeyed between Missouri and San Francisco, California, over a combination of known trails and unexplored terrain. A primary objective was to pass through the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada Mountains during winter to document the amount of snow and the feasibility of winter rail passage along the route. His photographer (daguerreotypist) was Solomon Nunes Carvalho. Fremont followed the Santa Fe Trail, passing Bent's Fort before heading west and entering the San Luis Valley of Colorado in December. The party then followed the North Branch of the Old Spanish Trail, crossing the Continental Divide at Cochetopa Pass and continuing west into central Utah. But following the trail was made difficult by snow cover. On occasion, they were able to detect evidence of Captain John Gunnison's expedition, which had followed the North Branch just months before. Weeks of snow and bitter cold took its toll and slowed progress. Nonessential equipment was abandoned and one man died before the struggling party reached the Mormon settlement of Parowan in southwestern Utah on February 8, 1854. After spending two weeks in Parowan to regain strength, the party continued across the Great Basin and entered the Owens Valley near present-day Big Pine, California. Fremont then journeyed south and crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains and entered the Kern River drainage, which was followed west to the San Joaquin Valley. Fremont arrived in San Francisco on April 16, 1854. Having completed a winter passage across the mountainous west, Fremont was optimistic that a railroad along the 38th Parallel was viable and that winter travel along the line would be possible through the Rocky Mountains.

Where did his expedition in 1853 go?

OUT:
through the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada Mountains during winter