title: Pinniped content: whole. Prey that is too large or awkward is taken to the surface to be torn apart. The leopard seal, a prolific predator of penguins, is known to violently swing its prey back and forth until it is decapitated. The elaborately cusped teeth of filter-feeding species, such as crabeater seals, allow them to remove water before they swallow their planktonic food. The walrus is unique in that it consumes its prey by suction feeding, using its tongue to suck the meat of a bivalve out of the shell. While pinnipeds mostly hunt in the water, South American sea lions are


title: Pinniped content: known to chase down penguins on land. Some species may swallow stones or pebbles for reasons not understood. Though they can drink seawater, pinnipeds get most of their fluid intake from the food they eat. Pinnipeds themselves are subject to predation. Most species are preyed on by the killer whale or orca. To subdue and kill seals, orcas continuously ram them with their heads, slap them with their tails and fling them in the air. They are typically hunted by groups of 10 or fewer whales, but they are occasionally hunted by larger groups or by lone individuals. Pups are


title: Pinniped content: more commonly taken by orcas, but adults can be targeted as well. Large sharks are another major predator of pinnipeds—usually the great white shark but also the tiger shark and mako shark. Sharks usually attack by ambushing them from below. The prey usually escapes, and seals are often seen with shark-inflicted wounds. Otariids typically have injuries in the hindquarters, while phocids usually have injuries on the forequarters. Pinnipeds are also targeted by terrestrial and pagophilic predators. The polar bear is well adapted for hunting Arctic seals and walruses, particularly pups. Bears are known to use sit-and-wait tactics as well as


title: Pinniped content: active stalking and pursuit of prey on ice or water. Other terrestrial predators include cougars, brown hyenas and various species of canids, which mostly target the young. Pinnipeds lessen the chance of predation by gathering in groups. Some species are capable of inflicting damaging wounds on their attackers with their sharp canines—an adult walrus is capable of killing polar bears. When out at sea, northern elephant seals dive out of the reach of surface-hunting orcas and white sharks. In the Antarctic, which lacks terrestrial predators, pinniped species spend more time on the ice than their Arctic counterparts. Arctic seals use


title: Pinniped content: more breathing holes per individual, appear more restless when hauled out, and rarely defecate on the ice. Ringed seals build dens underneath fast ice for protection. Interspecific predation among pinnipeds does occur. The leopard seal is known to prey on numerous other species, especially the crabeater seal. Leopard seals typically target crabeater pups, which form an important part of their diet from November to January. Older crabeater seals commonly bear scars from failed leopard seal attacks; a 1977 study found that 75% of a sample of 85 individual crabeaters had these scars. Walruses, despite being specialized for feeding on bottom-dwelling


title: Pinniped content: invertebrates, occasionally prey on Arctic seals. They kill their prey with their long tusks and eat their blubber and skin. Steller sea lions have been recorded eating the pups of harbor seals, northern fur seals and California sea lions. New Zealand sea lions feed on pups of some fur seal species, and the South American sea lion may prey on South American fur seals. The mating system of pinnipeds varies from extreme polygyny to serial monogamy. Of the 33 species, 20 breed on land, and the remaining 13 breed on ice. Species that breed on land are usually polygynous, as


title: Pinniped content: females gather in large aggregations and males are able to mate with them as well as defend them from rivals. Polygynous species include elephant seals, grey seals and most otariids. Land-breeding pinnipeds tend to mate on islands where there are fewer terrestrial predators. Few islands are favorable for breeding, and those that are tend to be crowded. Since the land they breed on is fixed, females return to the same sites for many years. The males arrive earlier in the season and wait for them. The males stay on land and try to mate with as many females as they


title: Pinniped content: can; some of them will even fast. If a male leaves the beach to feed, he will likely lose mating opportunities and his dominance. Polygynous species also tend to be extremely sexual dimorphic in favor of males. This dimorphism manifests itself in larger chests and necks, longer canines and denser fur—all traits that help males in fights for females. Increased body weight in males increases the length of time they can fast due to the ample energy reserves stored in the blubber. Larger males also likely enjoy access to feeding grounds that smaller ones are unable to access due to


title: Pinniped content: their lower thermoregulatory ability and decreased energy stores. In some instances, only the largest males are able to reach the furthest deepest foraging grounds where they enjoy maximum energetic yields that are unavailable to smaller males and females. Other seals, like the walrus and most phocids, breed on ice with copulation usually taking place in the water (a few land-breeding species also mate in water). Females of these species tend to aggregate less. In addition, since ice is less stable than solid land, breeding sites change location each year, and males are unable to predict where females will stay during


title: Pinniped content: the breeding season. Hence polygyny tends to be weaker in ice-breeding species. An exception to this is the walrus, where females form dense aggregations perhaps due to their patchy food sources. Pinnipeds that breed on fast ice tend to cluster together more than those that breed on drift ice. Some of these species are serially monogamous, including the harp seal, crabeater seal and hooded seal. Seals that breed on ice tend to have little or no sexual dimorphism. In lobodontine seals, females are slightly longer than males. Walruses and hooded seals are unique among ice-breeding species in that they have


title: Pinniped content: pronounced sexual dimorphism in favor of males. Adult male pinnipeds have several strategies to ensure reproductive success. Otariids establish territories containing resources that attract females, such as shade, tide pools or access to water. Territorial boundaries are usually marked by natural breaks in the substrate, and some may be fully or partially underwater. Males defend their territorial boundaries with threatening vocalizations and postures, but physical fights are usually avoided. Individuals also return to the same territorial site each breeding season. In certain species, like the Steller sea lion and northern fur seal, a dominant male can maintain a territory for


title: Pinniped content: as long as 2–3 months. Females can usually move freely between territories and males are unable to coerce them, but in some species such as the northern fur seal, South American sea lion and Australian sea lion, males can successfully contain females in their territories and prevent them from leaving. In some phocid species, like the harbor seal, Weddell seal and bearded seal, the males have underwater territories called "maritories" near female haul-out areas. These are also maintained by vocalizations. The maritories of Weddell seal males can overlap with female breathing holes in the ice. Lek systems are known to


title: Pinniped content: exist among some populations of walruses. These males cluster around females and try to attract them with elaborate courtship displays and vocalizations. Lekking may also exist among California sea lions, South American fur seals, New Zealand sea lions and harbor seals. In some species, including elephant seals and grey seals, males will try to lay claim to the desired females and defend them from rivals. Elephant seal males establish dominance hierarchies with the highest ranking males—the alpha males—maintaining harems of as many as 30–100 females. These males commonly disrupt the copulations of their subordinates while they themselves can mount without


title: Pinniped content: inference. They will, however, break off mating to chase off a rival. Grey seal males usually claim a location among a cluster of females whose members may change over time, while males of some walrus populations try to monopolize access to female herds. Male harp seals, crabeater seals and hooded seals follow and defend lactating females in their vicinity—usually one or two at a time, and wait for them to reach estrus. Younger or subdominant male pinnipeds may attempt to achieve reproductive success in other ways. Subadult elephant seals will sneak into female clusters and try to blend in by


title: Pinniped content: pulling in their noses. They also harass and attempt to mate with females that head out to the water. In otariid species like the South American and Australian sea lions, non-territorial subadults form "gangs" and cause chaos within the breeding rookeries to increase their chances of mating with females. Alternative mating strategies also exist in young male grey seals, which do have some success. Female pinnipeds do appear to have some choice in mates, particularly in lek-breeding species like the walrus, but also in elephant seals where the males try to dominate all the females that they want to mate


title: Pinniped content: with. When a female elephant seal or grey seal is mounted by an unwanted male, she tries to squirm and get away, while croaking and slapping him with her tail. This commotion attracts other males to the scene, and the most dominant will end the copulation and attempt to mate with the female himself. Dominant female elephant seals stay in the center of the colony where they are more likely to mate with a dominant male, while peripheral females are more likely to mate with subordinates. Female Steller sea lions are known to solicit mating with their territorial males. With


title: Pinniped content: the exception of the walrus, which has five- to six-year-long inter-birth intervals, female pinnipeds enter estrous shortly after they give birth. All species go through delayed implantation, wherein the embryo remains in suspended development for weeks or months before it is implanted in the uterus. Delayed implantation postpones the birth of young until the female hauls-out on land or until conditions for birthing are favorable. Gestation in seals (including delayed implantation) typically lasts a year. For most species, birthing takes place in the spring and summer months. Typically, single pups are born; twins are uncommon and have high mortality rates.


title: Pinniped content: Pups of most species are born precocial. Unlike terrestrial mammals, pinniped milk has little to no lactose. Mother pinnipeds have different strategies for maternal care and lactation. Phocids such as elephant seals, grey seals and hooded seals remain on land or ice and fast during their relatively short lactation period–four days for the hooded seal and five weeks for elephant seals. The milk of these species consist of up to 60% fat, allowing the young to grow fairly quickly. In particular, northern elephant seal pups gain each day before they are weaned. Some pups may try to steal extra milk


title: Pinniped content: from other nursing mothers and gain weight more quickly than others. Alloparenting occurs in these fasting species; while most northern elephant seal mothers nurse their own pups and reject nursings from alien pups, some do accept alien pups with their own. For otariids and some phocids like the harbor seal, mothers fast and nurse their pups for a few days at a time. In between nursing bouts, the females leave their young onshore to forage at sea. These foraging trips may last anywhere between a day and two weeks, depending on the abundance of food and the distance of foraging


title: Pinniped content: sites. While their mothers are away, the pups will fast. Lactation in otariids may last 6–11 months; in the Galápagos fur seal it can last as long as 3 years. Pups of these species are weaned at lower weights than their phocid counterparts. Walruses are unique in that mothers nurse their young at sea. The female rests at the surface with its head held up, and the young suckle upside down. Young pinnipeds typically learn to swim on their own and some species can even swim at birth. Other species may wait days or weeks before entering the water. Elephant


title: Pinniped content: seals do not swim until weeks after they are weaned. Male pinnipeds generally play little role in raising the young. Male walruses may help inexperienced young as they learn to swim, and have even been recorded caring for orphans. Male California sea lions have been observed to help shield swimming pups from predators. Males can also pose threats to the safety of pups. In terrestrially breeding species, pups may get crushed by fighting males. Subadult male South America sea lions sometimes abduct pups from their mothers and treat them like adult males treat females. This helps them gain experience in


title: Pinniped content: controlling females. Pups can get severely injured or killed during abductions. Pinnipeds can produce a number of vocalizations such as barks, grunts, rasps, rattles, growls, creaks, warbles, trills, chirps, chugs, clicks and whistles. Vocals are produced both in air and underwater. Otariids are more vocal on land, while phocids are more vocal in water. Antarctic seals are more vocal on land or ice than Arctic seals due to a lack of terrestrial and pagophliic predators like the polar bear. Male vocals are usually of lower frequencies than those of the females. Vocalizations are particularly important during the breeding seasons. Dominant


title: Pinniped content: male elephant seals advertise their status and threaten rivals with "clap-threats" and loud drum-like calls that may be modified by the proboscis. Male otariids have strong barks, growls, roars and "whickers". Male walruses are known to produce distinctive gong-like calls when attempting to attract females. They can also create somewhat musical sounds with their inflated throats. The Weddell seal has perhaps the most elaborate vocal repertoire with separate sounds for airborne and underwater contexts. Underwater vocals include trills, chugs, chirps, chugs and knocks. The calls appear to contain prefixes and suffixes that serve to emphasize a message. The underwater vocals


title: Pinniped content: of Weddell seals can last 70 seconds, which is long for a marine mammal call. Some calls have around seven rhythm patterns and are comparable to birdsongs and whalesongs. Similar calls have been recorded in other lobodontine seals and in bearded seals. In some pinniped species, there appear to be geographic differences in vocalizations, known as dialects, while certain species may even have individual variations in expression. These differences are likely important for mothers and pups who need to remain in contact on crowded beaches. Otariid females and their young use mother-pup attraction calls to help them reunite when the


title: Pinniped content: mother returns from foraging at sea. The calls are described are "loud" and "bawling". Female elephant seals make an unpulsed attraction call when responding to their young. When threatened by other adults or when pups try to suckle, females make a harsh, pulsed call. Pups may also vocalize when playing, in distress or when prodding their mothers to allow them to suckle. While most vocals are audible to the human ear, a captive leopard seal was recorded making ultrasonic calls underwater. In addition, the vocals of northern elephant seals may produce infrasonic vibrations. Non-vocal communication is not as common in


title: Pinniped content: pinnipeds as in cetaceans. Nevertheless, when disturbed by intruders harbor seals and Baikal seals may slap their fore-flippers against their bodies as warnings. Teeth chattering, hisses and exhalations are also made as aggressive warnings. Visual displays also occur: Weddell seals will make an S-shaped posture when patrolling under the ice, and Ross seals will display the stripes on their chests and teeth when approached. Male hooded seals use their inflatable nasal membranes to display to and attract females. In a match-to-sample task study, a single California sea lion was able to demonstrate an understanding of symmetry, transitivity and equivalence; a


title: Pinniped content: second seal was unable to complete the tasks. They demonstrate the ability to understand simple syntax and commands when taught an artificial sign language, though they only rarely used the signs semantically or logically. In 2011, a captive California sea lion named Ronan was recorded bobbing its head in synchrony to musical rhythms. This "rhythmic entrainment" was previously seen only in humans, parrots and other birds possessing vocal mimicry. In 1971, a captive harbor seal named Hoover was trained to imitate human words, phrases and laughter. For sea lions used in entertainment, trainers toss a ball at the animal so


title: Pinniped content: it may accidentally balance it or hold the ball on its nose, thereby gaining an understanding of the behavior desired. It may require a year to train a sea lion to perform a trick for the public. Its long-term memory allows it to perform a trick after at least three months of non-performance. Various human cultures have for millennia depicted pinnipeds. The anthropologist, A. Asbjørn Jøn, has analysed beliefs of the Celts of Orkney and Hebrides who believed in selkies—seals that could change into humans and walk on land. Seals are also of great importance in the culture of the


title: Pinniped content: Inuit. In Inuit mythology, the goddess Sedna rules over the sea and marine animals. She is depicted as a mermaid, occasionally with a seal's lower body. In one legend, seals, whales and other marine mammals were formed from her severed fingers. One of the earliest Ancient Greek coins depicts the head of a seal, and the animals were mentioned by Homer and Aristotle. The Greeks believed that seals loved both the sea and sun and were considered to be under the protection of the gods Poseidon and Apollo. The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals,


title: Pinniped content: and often depicted sea lions in their art. In modern popular culture, pinnipeds are often depicted as playful and comical figures based on their performances in zoos, circuses and marine mammal parks. Pinnipeds can be found in facilities around the world, as their large size and playfulness make them popular attractions. Seals have been kept in captivity since at least Ancient Rome and their trainability was noticed by Pliny the Elder. Zoologist Georges Cuvier noted during the 19th century that wild seals show considerable fondness for humans and stated that they are second only to some monkeys among wild animals


title: Pinniped content: in their easily tamability. Francis Galton noted in his landmark paper on domestication that seals were a spectacular example of an animal that would most likely never be domesticated despite their friendliness and desire for comfort due to the fact that they serve no practical use for humans. Some modern exhibits have rocky backgrounds with artificial haul-out sites and a pool, while others have pens with small rocky, elevated shelters where the animals can dive into their pools. More elaborate exhibits contain deep pools that can be viewed underwater with rock-mimicking cement as haul-out areas. The most common pinniped species


title: Pinniped content: kept in captivity is the California sea lion as it is both easy to train and adaptable. Other species popularly kept include the grey seal and harbor seal. Larger animals like walruses and Steller sea lions are much less common. Some organizations, such as the Humane Society of the United States and World Animal Protection, object to keeping pinnipeds and other marine mammals in captivity. They state that the exhibits could not be large enough to house animals that have evolved to be migratory, and a pool could never replace the size and biodiversity of the ocean. They also state


title: Pinniped content: that the tricks performed for audiences are "exaggerated variations of their natural behaviors" and distract the people from the animal's unnatural environment. California sea lions are used in military applications by the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program, including detecting naval mines and enemy divers. In the Persian Gulf, the animals have been trained to swim behind divers approaching a U.S. naval ship and attach a clamp with a rope to the diver's leg. Navy officials say that the sea lions can do this in seconds, before the enemy realizes what happened. Organizations like PETA believe that such operations put the


title: Pinniped content: animals in danger. The Navy insists that the sea lions are removed once their mission is complete. Humans have hunted seals since the Stone Age. Originally, seals were hit with clubs during haul-out. Eventually, seal hunters used harpoons to spear the animals from boats out at sea, and hooks for killing pups on ice or land. They were also trapped in nets. The use of firearms in seal hunting during the modern era drastically increased the number of killings. Pinnipeds are typically hunted for their meat and blubber. The skins of fur seals and phocids are made into coats, and


title: Pinniped content: the tusks of walruses continue to be used for carvings or as ornaments. There is a distinction between the subsistence hunting of seals by indigenous peoples of the Arctic and commercial hunting: subsistence hunters typically use seal products for themselves and depend on them for survival. National and international authorities have given special treatment to aboriginal hunters since their methods of killing are seen as less destructive and wasteful. This distinction is being questioned as indigenous people are using more modern weaponry and mechanized transport to hunt with, and are selling seal products in the marketplace. Some anthropologists argue that


title: Pinniped content: the term "subsistence" should also apply to these cash-based exchanges as long as they take place within local production and consumption. More than 100,000 phocids (especially ringed seals) as well as around 10,000 walruses are harvested annually by native hunters. Commercial sealing was historically just as important an industry as whaling. Exploited species included harp seals, hooded seals, Caspian seals, elephant seals, walruses and all species of fur seal. The scale of seal harvesting decreased substantially after the 1960s, after the Canadian government reduced the length of the hunting season and implemented measures to protect adult females. Several species that


title: Pinniped content: were commercially exploited have rebounded in numbers; for example, Antarctic fur seals may be as numerous as they were prior to harvesting. The northern elephant seal was hunted to near extinction in the late 19th century, with only a small population remaining on Guadalupe Island. It has since recolonized much of its historic range, but has a population bottleneck. Conversely, the Mediterranean monk seal was extirpated from much of its former range, which stretched from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea and northwest Africa, and only remains in the northeastern Mediterranean and some parts of northwest Africa. Several species of


title: Pinniped content: pinniped continue to be harvested. The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals allows limited hunting of crabeater seals, leopard seals and Weddell seals. However, Weddell seal hunting is prohibited between September and February if the animal is over one year of age, to ensure breeding stocks are healthy. Other species protected are southern elephant seals, Ross seals and Antarctic fur seals. The Government of Canada permits the hunting of harp seals. This has been met with controversy and debate. Proponents of seal hunts insist that the animals are killed humanely and the white-coated pups are not taken, while opponents


title: Pinniped content: argue that it is irresponsible to kill harp seals as they are already threatened by declining habitat. The Caribbean monk seal has been killed and exploited by Europeans settlers and their descendants since 1494, starting with Christopher Columbus himself. The seals were easy targets for organized sealers, fishermen, turtle hunters and buccaneers because they evolved with little pressure from terrestrial predators and were thus "genetically tame". In the Bahamas, as many as 100 seals were slaughtered in one night. In the mid-nineteenth century, the species was thought to have gone extinct until a small colony was found near the Yucatán


title: Pinniped content: Peninsula in 1886. Seal killings continued, and the last reliable report of the animal alive was in 1952. The IUCN declared it extinct in 1996. The Japanese sea lion was common around the Japanese islands, but overexploitation and competition from fisheries drastically decreased the population in the 1930s. The last recorded individual was a juvenile in 1974. As of 2013, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recognizes 35 pinniped species. With the Japanese sea lion and the Caribbean monk seal recently extinct, ten more are considered at risk, as they are ranked "Critically Endangered" (the Mediterranean and Hawaiian


title: Pinniped content: monk seals), "Endangered" (Galápagos fur seal, Australian sea lion, Caspian seal and Galápagos sea lion), and "Vulnerable" (northern fur seal, hooded seal and New Zealand sea lion). Three species—the walrus, the ribbon seal, and the spotted seal—have a "Data Deficient" ranking. Species that live in polar habitats are vulnerable to the effects of recent and ongoing climate change, particularly declines in sea ice. There has been some debate over the cause of the decline of Steller sea lions in Alaska since the 1970s. Some species have become so numerous that they conflict with local people. In the United States, pinnipeds


title: Pinniped content: are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA). Since that year, California sea lion populations have risen to 250,000 . These animals began exploiting more man-made environments, like docks, for haul-out sites. Many docks are not designed to withstand the weight of several resting sea lions. Wildlife managers have used various methods to control the animals, and some city officials have redesigned docks so they can better withstand use by sea lions. Sea lions also conflict with fisherman since both depend on the same fish stocks. In 2007, MMPA was amended to permit the lethal removal of


title: Pinniped content: sea lions from salmon runs at Bonneville Dam. The 2007 law seeks to relieve pressure on the crashing Pacific Northwest salmon populations. Wildlife officials have unsuccessfully attempted to ward off the sea lions using bombs, rubber bullets and bean bags. Efforts to chase sea lions away from the area have also proven ineffective. Critics like the Humane Society object to the killing of the sea lions, claiming that hydroelectric dams pose a greater threat to the salmon. Similar conflicts have existed in South Africa with brown fur seals. In the 1980s and 1990s, South African politicians and fisherman demanded that


title: Pinniped content: the fur seals be culled, believing that the animals competed with commercial fisheries. Scientific studies found that culling fur seals would actually have a negative effect on the fishing industry, and the culling option was dropped in 1993. Pinnipeds are also threatened by humans indirectly. They are unintentionally caught in fishing nets by commercial fisheries and accidentally swallow fishing hooks. Gillnetting and Seine netting is a significant cause of mortality in seals and other marine mammals. Species commonly entangled include California sea lions, Hawaiian monk seals, northern fur seals and brown fur seals. Pinnipeds are also affected by marine pollution.


title: Pinniped content: High levels of organic chemicals accumulate in these animals since they are near the top of food chains and have large reserves of blubber. Lactating mothers can pass the toxins on to their young. These pollutants can cause gastrointestinal cancers, decreased reproductivity and greater vulnerability to infectious diseases. Other man-made threats include habitat destruction by oil and gas exploitation, encroachment by boats, and underwater noise. Pinniped Pinnipeds, commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae (whose only living member is the walrus), Otariidae (the eared


title: "Fountain pen" content: Fountain pen A fountain pen is a nib pen that, unlike its predecessor, the dip pen, contains an internal reservoir of liquid ink. The pen draws ink from the reservoir through a feed to the nib and deposits it on paper via a combination of gravity and capillary action. Filling the reservoir with ink may be achieved manually, via the use of a Pasteur pipette (eyedropper) or syringe, or via an internal filling mechanism which creates suction (for example, through a piston mechanism) or a vacuum to transfer ink directly through the nib into the reservoir. Some pens employ removable


title: "Fountain pen" content: reservoirs in the form of pre-filled ink cartridges. An early historical mention of what appears to be a reservoir pen dates back to the 10th century. According to Ali Abuzar Mari (d. 974) in his "Kitab al-Majalis wa 'l-musayarat", the Fatimid caliph Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah demanded a pen that would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen that held ink in a reservoir, allowing it to be held upside-down without leaking. There is compelling evidence that a working fountain pen was constructed and used during the Renaissance by artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo's


title: "Fountain pen" content: journals contain drawings with cross-sections of what appears to be a reservoir pen that works by both gravity and capillary action. Historians also took note of the fact that the handwriting in the inventor's surviving journals is of a consistent contrast throughout, rather than the characteristic fading pattern typical of a quill pen caused by expending and re-dipping. While no physical item survives, several working models were reconstructed in 2011 by artist Amerigo Bombara that have since been put on display in museums dedicated to Leonardo. The fountain pen was available in Europe in the 17th century, and is shown


title: "Fountain pen" content: by contemporary references. In "Deliciae Physico-Mathematicae" (a 1636 magazine), German inventor Daniel Schwenter described a pen made from two quills. One quill served as a reservoir for ink inside the other quill. The ink was sealed inside the quill with cork. Ink was squeezed through a small hole to the writing point. In 1663 Samuel Pepys referred to a metal pen "to carry ink". Noted Maryland historian Hester Dorsey Richardson (1862–1933) documented a reference to "three silver fountain pens, worth 15 shillings" in England during the reign of Charles II, c. 1649–1685. By the early 18th century such pens were


title: "Fountain pen" content: already commonly known as "fountain pens". Hester Dorsey Richardson also found a 1734 notation made by Robert Morris the elder in the ledger of the expenses of Robert Morris the younger, who was at the time in Philadelphia, for "one fountain pen". Progress in developing a reliable pen was slow until the mid-19th century because of an imperfect understanding of the role that air pressure plays in the operation of pens. Furthermore, most inks were highly corrosive and full of sedimentary inclusions. The Romanian inventor Petrache Poenaru received a French patent on May 25, 1827, for the invention of the


title: "Fountain pen" content: first fountain pen with a barrel made from a large swan quill. In 1828, Josiah Mason improved a cheap and efficient slip-in nib in Birmingham, England, which could be added to a fountain pen and in 1830, with the invention of a new machine, William Joseph Gillott, William Mitchell, and James Stephen Perry devised a way to mass manufacture robust, cheap steel pen nibs (Perry & Co). This boosted the Birmingham pen trade and by the 1850s, more than half the steel-nib pens manufactured in the world were made in Birmingham. Thousands of skilled craftsmen were employed in the industry.


title: "Fountain pen" content: Many new manufacturing techniques were perfected, enabling the city's factories to mass-produce their pens cheaply and efficiently. These were sold worldwide to many who previously could not afford to write, thus encouraging the development of education and literacy. In 1848, American inventor Azel Storrs Lyman patented a pen with "a combined holder and nib". From the 1850s, there was a steadily accelerating stream of fountain pen patents and pens in production. However, it was only after three key inventions were in place that the fountain pen became a widely popular writing instrument. Those were the iridium-tipped gold nib, hard rubber,


title: "Fountain pen" content: and free-flowing ink. The first fountain pens making use of all these key ingredients appeared in the 1850s. In the 1870s Duncan MacKinnon, a Canadian living in New York City, and Alonzo T. Cross of Providence, Rhode Island, created stylographic pens with a hollow, tubular nib and a wire acting as a valve. Stylographic pens are now used mostly for drafting and technical drawing but were very popular in the decade beginning in 1875. In the 1880s the era of the mass-produced fountain pen finally began. The dominant American producers in this pioneer era were Waterman, of New York City,


title: "Fountain pen" content: and Wirt, based in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. Waterman soon outstripped Wirt, along with many companies that sprang up to fill the new and growing fountain pen market. Waterman remained the market leader until the early 1920s. At this time, fountain pens were almost all filled by unscrewing a portion of the hollow barrel or holder and inserting the ink by means of an eyedropper – a slow and messy procedure. Pens also tended to leak inside their caps and at the joint where the barrel opened for filling. Now that the materials' problems had been overcome and the flow of ink


title: "Fountain pen" content: while writing had been regulated, the next problems to be solved were the creation of a simple, convenient self-filler and the problem of leakage. In 1890, W. B. Purvis, an African-American, patented a self-filler. Self-fillers began to arrive around the turn of the century; the most successful of these was probably the Conklin crescent-filler, followed by A. A. Waterman's twist-filler. The tipping point, however, was the runaway success of Walter A. Sheaffer's lever-filler, introduced in 1912, paralleled by Parker's roughly contemporary button-filler. Meanwhile, many inventors turned their attention to the problem of leakage. Some of the earliest solutions to this


title: "Fountain pen" content: problem came in the form of a "safety" pen with a retractable point that allowed the ink reservoir to be corked like a bottle. The most successful of these came from Francis C. Brown of the Caw's Pen and Ink Co. and from Morris W. Moore of Boston. In 1898, George Safford Parker released the Parker Jointless, named so because its barrel was single-piece to prevent leakage. The section assembly fit into the pen's end like a cork stopper; any leaked ink was kept inside the nib. In 1908, Waterman began marketing a popular safety pen of its own. For


title: "Fountain pen" content: pens with non-retractable nibs, the adoption of screw-on caps with inner caps that sealed around the nib by bearing against the front of the section effectively solved the leakage problem (such pens were also marketed as "safety pens", as with the Parker Jack Knife Safety and the Swan Safety Screw-Cap). In Europe, the German supplies company which came to be known as Pelikan was started in 1838, and first introduced their pen in 1929. This was based upon the acquisition of patents for solid-ink fountain pens from the factory of Slavoljub Penkala from Croatia (patented 1907, in mass production since


title: "Fountain pen" content: 1911), and the patent of the Hungarian Theodor Kovacs for the modern piston filler by 1925. The decades that followed saw many technological innovations in the manufacture of fountain pens. Celluloid gradually replaced hard rubber, which enabled production in a much wider range of colors and designs. At the same time, manufacturers experimented with new filling systems. The inter-war period saw the introduction of some of the most notable models, such as the Parker Duofold and Vacumatic, Sheaffer's Lifetime Balance series, and the Pelikan 100. During the 1940s and 1950s, fountain pens retained their dominance: early ballpoint pens were expensive,


title: "Fountain pen" content: were prone to leaks and had irregular inkflow, while the fountain pen continued to benefit from the combination of mass production and craftsmanship.(Bíró's patent, and other early patents on ball-point pens often used the term "ball-point fountain pen," because at the time the ball-point pen was considered a type of fountain pen; that is, a pen that held ink in an enclosed reservoir.) This period saw the launch of innovative models such as the Parker 51, the Aurora 88, the Sheaffer Snorkel, and the Eversharp Skyline and (later) Skyliner, while the Esterbrook J series of lever-fill models with interchangeable steel


title: "Fountain pen" content: nibs offered inexpensive reliability to the masses. By the 1960s, refinements in ballpoint pen production gradually ensured its dominance over the fountain pen for casual use. Although cartridge-filler fountain pens are still in common use in France, Italy, Germany, Austria, India, and the United Kingdom, and are widely used by young students in most private schools in England and at least one private school in Scotland, a few modern manufacturers (especially Montblanc, Graf von Faber-Castell and Visconti) now depict the fountain pen as a collectible item or a status symbol, rather than an everyday writing tool. However, fountain pens continue


title: "Fountain pen" content: to have a growing following among many who view them as superior writing instruments due to their relative smoothness and versatility. Retailers continue to sell fountain pens and inks for casual and calligraphic use. Recently, fountain pens have made a resurgence, with many manufacturers of fountain pens saying sales are climbing. This has led to a new wave of casual use fountain pens and custom ink manufacturers, who utilize online stores to easily sell fountain pens to a wider audience. The feed of a fountain pen is the component that connects the nib of the pen with its ink reservoir.


title: "Fountain pen" content: It not only allows the ink to flow to the nib (in what is often described as a "controlled leak") but also regulates the amount of air flowing backwards up to the reservoir to replace this lost ink. It does this through the use of a series of narrow channels or "fissures" that run down its lower edge. As ink flows down these fissures, air is simultaneously allowed to flow upwards into the reservoir in an even exchange of volumes. The feed allows ink to flow when the pen is being put to paper but ensures ink does not flow


title: "Fountain pen" content: when the pen is not in use. The feed makes use of capillary action; this is noticeable when a pen is refilled with a brightly coloured ink. The ink is taken up and into the feed by way of capillary action (and is often visible in clear demonstrator pens), but is not dispensed onto the paper until the nib makes contact. How the feed is shaped may determine the wetness and flow of a particular pen. For this reason, feed material alone and its surface roughness may have a significant effect on the way two pens of the same nib


title: "Fountain pen" content: size write. Pen feeds are crucial to preventing ink from dripping or leaking. Feeds often feature finned structures intended for buffering fountain pen ink. Buffering is the capacity to catch and temporary hold an overflow of ink caused by other conditions than writing towards the nib. When a fountain pen nib receives such an overflow it will result in ink blobbing or dripping also known as burping. A pen with a misconfigured feed might fail to deposit any ink whatsoever. According to Mathur et al., "the modern fountain pen nib may be traced back to the original gold nib which


title: "Fountain pen" content: had a tiny fragment of ruby attached to form the wear-point." Following the discovery of the platinum group of metals which include ruthenium, osmium and iridium, "a small quantity of iridium was isolated and used on the iridium-tipped gold dip pen nibs of the 1830s." Today, nibs are usually made of stainless steel or gold alloys, with the most popular gold content being 14 carat (58⅓%) and 18 carat (75%). Titanium is a less common metal used for making nibs. Gold is considered the optimum metal for its flexibility and its resistance to corrosion, although gold's corrosion resistance is less


title: "Fountain pen" content: of an issue than in the past because of better stainless steel alloys and less corrosive inks. Visconti uses a nib made out of palladium as it is more flexible and corrosion resistant than gold. Further gold plating provides favorable wettability, which is the ability of a solid surface to reduce the surface tension of a liquid in contact with it such that it spreads over the surface. Gold and most steel and titanium nibs are tipped with a hard, wear-resistant alloy that typically includes metals from the platinum group. These metals share qualities of extreme hardness and corrosion resistance.


title: "Fountain pen" content: The tipping material is often called "iridium", but there are few, if any, nib or pen manufacturers that used tipping alloys containing iridium metal since the mid-1950s. The metals osmium, rhenium, ruthenium and tungsten are used instead, generally as an alloy, with a little bit of osmium, rhenium, ruthenium and tungsten in a mix of other materials, produced as tiny pellets which are soldered or welded onto a nib tip prior to cutting the nib slit and grinding the tip into its final shape. Untipped steel and titanium points will wear more rapidly due to abrasion by the paper. The


title: "Fountain pen" content: nib usually has a tapering or parallel slit cut down its centre, to convey the ink down the nib by capillary action, as well as a "breather hole" of varying shape. The breather hole has no actual function regarding controlling the ink or air flow. Its main function is to provide an endpoint to the nib slit and forestall inaccuracies during nib slit cutting. Adding distance between the breather hole and the nib tip adds elasticity or flexibility to the nib. The breather hole also acts as a stress relieving point, preventing the nib from cracking longitudinally from the end


title: "Fountain pen" content: of the slit as a result of repeated flexing during use. The whole nib narrows to a point where the ink is transferred to the paper. Broad calligraphy pens may have several slits in the nib to increase ink flow and help distribute it evenly across the broad point. Nibs divided into three 'tines' are commonly known as music nibs. This is because their line, which can be varied from broad to fine, is suited for writing musical scores. Although the most common nibs end in a round point of various sizes (extra fine, fine, medium, broad), various other nib


title: "Fountain pen" content: shapes are available. Examples of this are oblique, reverse oblique, stub, italic and 360-degree nibs. Broader nibs are used for less precise emphasis, with the benefit of a greater level of ink shading and/or sheen on less absorbent paper. Finer nibs (e.g. EF and F) may be used for intricate corrections and alterations, at the expense of shading and sheen. Oblique, reverse oblique, stub and italic nibs may be used for calligraphic purposes or for general handwritten compositions. The line width of a particular nib may vary based on its country of origin; Japanese nibs are often thinner in general.


title: "Fountain pen" content: Flexibility is given to nibs in several ways. First, the thickness of the nib metal changes flex. When the nib alloy has been pressed thick it will result in a hard nib, while thinly pressed nibs are more flexible. Nibs can be pressed so that they are thinner at the tip and thicker at the feed to mitigate stiffness or to give a more controlled flex. Second, the curve of the nib determines in part how stiff the nib will be. Nibs pressed into more deeply convex curves, or into three or five faceted curves, will be stiffer than flatter


title: "Fountain pen" content: nibs. Third, the "breather hole" size, shape, and position alter the stiffness. Heart shaped holes will improve flex as they widen, while round, small holes stiffen the pen. Fourth, the length of the tines determines how far they can spread under pressure, shorter tines make a stiffer nib. Fifth, the alloy used can affect stiffness: as mentioned before, gold is considered superior for its flex compared to steel. Moreover, purer gold (18k and 21k) is softer than most lower gold concentration (14k) alloys. Fountain pens dating from the first half of the 20th century are more likely to have flexible


title: "Fountain pen" content: nibs, suited to the favored handwriting styles of the period (e.g. Copperplate script and Spencerian script). By the 1940s, writing preferences had shifted towards stiffer nibs that could withstand the greater pressure required for writing through carbon paper to create duplicate documents. Furthermore, competition between the major pen brands such as Parker and Waterman, and the introduction of lifetime guarantees, meant that flexible nibs could no longer be supported profitably. In countries where this rivalry was not present to the same degree, for example the UK and Germany, flexible nibs are more common. Nowadays, stiff nibs are the norm as


title: "Fountain pen" content: people exchange between fountain pens and other writing modes. These more closely emulate the ballpoint pens modern users are experienced with. Despite being rigid and firm, the idea that steel nibs write "horribly" is a misconception. More flexible nibs can be easily damaged by ballpoint users who write with excessive pressure. Ideally, a fountain pen's nib glides across the paper using the ink as a lubricant, and requires no pressure. Good quality nibs that have been used appropriately are long lasting, often lasting longer than the lifetime of the original owner. Many vintage pens with decades-old nibs can still be


title: "Fountain pen" content: used today. Other styles of fountain pen nibs include hooded (e.g. Parker 51, Parker 61, 2007 Parker 100 and Hero 329), inlaid (e.g. Sheaffer Targa or Sheaffer P.F.M) or integral Nib (Parker T-1 and Falcon, Pilot Myu 701), which may also be ground to have different writing characteristics. Users are often cautioned not to lend or borrow fountain pens as the nib "wears in" at an angle unique to each individual person. A different user is likely to find that a worn-in nib does not write satisfactorily in their hand and, furthermore, creates a second wear surface, ruining the nib


title: "Fountain pen" content: for the original user. This, however, is not a point of concern in pens with modern, durable tipping material, as these pens take many years to develop any significant wear. The reservoirs of the earliest fountain pens were mostly filled by eyedropper. This was a cumbersome and potentially messy process, which led to the commercial development of alternative methods that quickly dominated the industry. However, newer, more convenient filling mechanisms have never entirely displaced "eyedropper-filling" pens in the marketplace, and they remain widely manufactured today. For some the simplicity of the mechanism, coupled with the large volume of ink it


title: "Fountain pen" content: can encapsulate, compensates for the inconvenience of ink transfer. After the eyedropper-filler era came the first generation of mass-produced self-fillers, almost all using a rubber sac to hold the ink. The sac was compressed and then released by various mechanisms to fill the pen. The Conklin crescent filler, introduced c. 1901, was one of the first mass-produced self-filling pen designs. The crescent filling system employs an arch-shaped crescent attached to a rigid metal pressure bar, with the crescent portion protruding from the pen through a slot and the pressure bar inside the barrel. A second component, a C-shaped hard rubber


title: "Fountain pen" content: ring, is located between the crescent and the barrel. Ordinarily, the ring blocks the crescent from pushing down. To fill the pen, one simply turns the ring around the barrel until the crescent matches up to the hole in the ring, allowing one to push down the crescent and squeeze the internal sac. Several other filling mechanisms were introduced to compete, such as the coin-filler (where a coin or 'medallion' was supplied along with the pen), match-filler (using a matchstick) and a 'blow-filler' which unsurprisingly required the pen owner to blow into the barrel to depress the internal sac. In


title: "Fountain pen" content: 1907, Walter A. Sheaffer patented the Lever filler, using a hinged lever set into the pen barrel which pressed down onto a bar which in turn compressed the rubber sac inside, creating a vacuum to force ink into the pen. Introduced in 1912, this innovation was rapidly imitated by the other major pen makers. Parker introduced the button filler, which had a button hidden beneath a blind cap on the end of the barrel; when pressed, it acted on a pressure bar inside to depress the ink sac. Following the crescent filler came a series of systems of increasing complexity,


title: "Fountain pen" content: reaching their apogee in the Sheaffer Snorkel, introduced in 1952. The Sheaffer "Snorkel" system filled the ink sac through a retractable tube above and behind the pen point. This eliminated the need to dunk the point in ink, and the subsequent need to wipe it. With the advent of the modern plastic ink cartridge in the early 1950s, though, most of these systems were phased out in favour of convenience (but reduced capacity). Screw-mechanism piston-fillers were made as early as the 1820s, but the mechanism's modern popularity begins with the original Pelikan of 1929, based upon a Croatian patent. The


title: "Fountain pen" content: basic idea is simple: turn a knob at the end of the pen, and a screw mechanism draws a piston up the barrel, sucking in ink. Thus they were easier to fill. This is also why this filling mechanism is very popular in today's fountain pens. Some of the earlier models had to dedicate as much as half of the pen length to the mechanism. The advent of telescoping pistons has improved this; the Touchdown Filler was introduced by Sheaffer in 1949. It was advertised as an "Exclusive Pneumatic Down-stroke Filler." To fill it, a knob at the end of


title: "Fountain pen" content: the barrel is unscrewed and the attached plunger is drawn out to its full length. The nib is immersed in ink, the plunger is pushed in, compressing and then releasing the ink sac by means of air pressure. The nib is kept in the ink for approximately 10 seconds to allow the reservoir to fill. This mechanism is very closely modeled after a similar pneumatic filler introduced by Chilton over a decade earlier. A capillary filling system was introduced by Parker in the Parker 61 in 1956. There were no moving parts: the ink reservoir within the barrel was open


title: "Fountain pen" content: at the upper end, but contained a tightly rolled length of slotted, flexible plastic. To fill, the barrel was unscrewed, the exposed open end of the reservoir was placed in ink and the interstices of the plastic sheet and slots initiated capillary action, drawing up and retaining the ink. The outside of the reservoir was coated with Teflon, a repellent compound that released excess ink as it was withdrawn. Ink was transferred through a further capillary tube to the nib. No method of flushing the device was offered, and because of problems from clogging with dried and hardened ink, production


title: "Fountain pen" content: was eventually stopped. Around the year 2000, Pelikan introduced a filling system involving a valve in the blind end of the pen, which mates with a specially designed ink bottle. Thus docked, ink is then squeezed into the pen barrel (which, lacking any mechanism other than the valve itself, has nearly the capacity of an eyedropper-fill pen of the same size). This system had been implemented only in their "Level" line, which was discontinued in 2006. Most pens today use either a piston filler, squeeze-bar filler or cartridge. Many pens are also compatible with a "converter", which has the same


title: "Fountain pen" content: fitting as the pen's cartridge and has a filling mechanism and a reservoir attached to it. This enables a pen to either fill from cartridges, or from a bottle of ink. The most common type of converters are piston-style, but many other varieties may be found today. Piston-style converters generally have a transparent round tubular ink reservoir. Fountain pen inks feature differing surface tensions that can cause an ink to adhere or "stick" against the inside of the reservoir. Common solutions for this problem are adding a small (rust-proof) ink agitating object like a 316 or 904L stainless steel or


title: "Fountain pen" content: zirconium dioxide bearing ball, spring or hollow tube in the tubular reservoir to mechanically promote free movement of the contained ink and ink/air exchange during writing. Adding a very small amount of surfactant like Triton X-100 used in Kodak Photo-Flo 200 wetting agent to the ink will chemically promote free movement of the contained ink and ink/air exchange during writing. However ink might react adversely to adding a surfactant. Vacuum fillers, such as those used by Pilot in the Custom 823, utilize air pressure to fill the ink chamber. In this case, while the nib is submerged in ink, a


title: "Fountain pen" content: plunger is pushed down the empty chamber to create a vacuum in the space behind it. The end of the chamber has a section wider than the rest, and when the plunger passes this point, the difference in air pressure in the area behind the plunger and the area ahead of it is suddenly evened out and ink rushes in behind the plunger to fill the chamber. A patent for an ink cartridge system for fountain pens was filed in 1890. In the early 20th century, cartridges were made from glass and thin copper tubing. However, the concept only became


title: "Fountain pen" content: successful and popular after the introduction of moulded plastic cartridges, firstly by Waterman in 1953. Modern plastic cartridges can contain small ridges on the inside to promote free movement of the contained ink and ink/air exchange during writing. Often cartridges are closed with a small ball that gets pressed into the cartridge during insertion into the pen. This ball also aids free movement of the contained ink. Most European fountain pen brands (for example Caran d'Ache, Faber-Castell, Michel Perchin, DuPont, Montegrappa, Stipula, Pelikan, Montblanc, Europen, Monteverde, Sigma, Delta, Italix and Rotring) and some pen brands of other continents (for example


title: "Fountain pen" content: Acura, Bexley, Retro51, Tombow and Platinum (with adaptor)) use so called "international cartridges" (AKA "European cartridges" or "standard cartridges" or "universal cartridges"), in short (38 mm in length, about 0.75 ml of capacity) or long (72 mm, 1.50 ml) sizes, or both. It is to some extent a standard, so the international cartridges of any manufacturer can be used in most fountain pens that accept international cartridges. Also, converters that are meant to replace international cartridges can be used in most fountain pens that accept international cartridges. Some very compact fountain pens (for example Waterman Ici et La and Monteverde


title: "Fountain pen" content: Diva) accept only short international cartridges. Converters can not be used in them (except for so-called mini-converters by Monteverde). Some pens (such as the modern Waterman models) have intentional fittings which prevent the usage of short cartridges. Such pens can only take a proprietary cartridge from the same manufacturer, in this case the long Waterman cartridges. Many fountain pen manufacturers have developed their own proprietary cartridges, for example Parker, Lamy, Sheaffer, Cross, Sailor, Platinum, Platignum, Waterman and Namiki. Fountain pens from Aurora, Hero, Duke and Uranus accept the same cartridges and converters that Parker uses and vice versa (Lamy cartridges,


title: "Fountain pen" content: though not officially, are known to interchange with Parker cartridges also). Cartridges of Aurora are slightly different from cartridges by Parker. Corresponding converters to be used instead of such proprietary cartridges are usually made by the same company that made the fountain pen itself. Some very compact fountain pens accept only proprietary cartridges made by the same company that made that pen, for example Sheaffer Agio Compact and Sheaffer Prelude Compact. It is not possible to use a converter in them at all. In such pens the only practical way to use another brand of ink is to fill empty


title: "Fountain pen" content: cartridges with bottled ink using a syringe. Standard international cartridges are closed by a small ball, held inside the ink exit hole by glue or by a very thin layer of plastic. When the cartridge is pressed into the pen, a small pin pushes in the ball, which falls inside the cartridge. The Parker and Lamy cartridges do not have such a ball. They are closed by a piece of plastic, which is broken by a sharp pin when inserted in the pen. Pen manufacturers using a proprietary cartridge (which in almost all cases are the more expensive ones like


title: "Fountain pen" content: the ones mentioned above) tend to discourage the use of cheaper internationally standardised short/long cartridges or adaptations thereof due to their variance in ink quality in the cartridges which may not offer as much performance, or be of lesser quality than the manufacturer of the pen; ink that has been designed specifically for the pen. In addition, cheaper ink tends to take longer to dry on paper, may skip or produce uneven colour on the page and less "tolerant" on lower, thinner grades of paper (e.g. 75gs/m). While cartridges are mess-free and more convenient to refill than bottle filling, converter


title: "Fountain pen" content: and bottle filling systems are still sold. Non-cartridge filling systems tend to be slightly more economical in the long run since ink is generally less expensive in bottles than in cartridges. Advocates of bottle-based filling systems also cite less waste of plastic for the environment, a wider selection of inks, easier cleaning of pens (as drawing the ink in through the nib helps dissolve old ink), and the ability to check and refill inks at any time. Inks intended for use with fountain pens are water-based. These inks are commonly available in bottles. Plastic cartridges came into use in the


title: "Fountain pen" content: 1960s, but bottled inks are still the mainstay for most fountain pen enthusiasts. Bottled inks usually cost less than an equivalent amount in cartridges and afford a wider variety of colors and properties. Fountain pens are not as tightly coupled with their inks as ballpoints or gel pens are, yet some care must be taken when selecting their inks. Contemporary fountain pen inks are almost exclusively dye-based because pigment particles usually clog the narrow passages. Traditional iron gall inks intended for dip pens are not suitable for fountain pens as they will corrode the pen (a phenomenon known as flash


title: "Fountain pen" content: corrosion) and destroy the functionality of the fountain pen. Instead, modern surrogate iron gall formulas are offered for fountain pens. These modern iron gall inks contain a small amount of ferro gallic compounds, but are gentler for the inside of a fountain pen, but can still be corrosive if left in the pen for a long period. To avoid corrosion on delicate metal parts and ink clogging a more thorough than usual cleaning regime – which requires the ink to be flushed out regularly with water – is sometimes advised by manufacturers or resellers. Some pigmented inks do exist for


title: "Fountain pen" content: fountain pens, but these are uncommon. Normal India ink cannot be used in fountain pens because it contains shellac as a binder which would very quickly clog such pens. Inks ideally should be fairly free-flowing, free of sediment, and non-corrosive, though this generally excludes permanence and prevents large-scale commercial use of some colored dyes. Proper care and selection of ink will prevent most problems. While no longer the primary writing instrument in modern times, fountain pens are still used for important official works such as signing valuable documents. Today, fountain pens are often treated as luxury goods and sometimes as


title: "Fountain pen" content: status symbols. Fountain pens may serve as an everyday writing instrument, much like the common ballpoint pen. Good quality steel and gold pens are available inexpensively today, particularly in Europe and China, and there are "disposable" fountain pens such as the Pilot Varsity. In France, in particular, the use of fountain pens is widespread. To avoid mistakes, special ink can be used that can be made invisible by applying an ink eraser. Fountain pens can serve various artistic purposes such as expressive penmanship and calligraphy, pen and ink artwork, and professional art and design. Many users also favor the air


title: "Fountain pen" content: of timeless elegance, personalization and sentimentality associated with fountain pens, which computers and ballpoint pens seem to lack, and often state that once they start using fountain pens, ballpoints become awkward to use due to the extra motor effort needed and lack of expressiveness. For ergonomics, fountain pens may relieve physiological stress from writing; alternatives such as the ballpoint pen can induce more pain and damage to those with arthritis. Some also believe they could improve academic performance. In some countries, fountain pens are usual in lower school grades, believed to teach children better control over writing as many common


title: "Fountain pen" content: mistakes of people not used to handwriting (like too much pressure or incorrect hold) feel unnatural or are almost impossible when using traditional pen tips. Some fountain pens are prized as works of art. Ornate pens may be made of precious metals and jewels with cloisonné designs. Some are inlaid with lacquer designs in a process known as maki-e. Avid communities of pen enthusiasts collect and use antique and modern pens and also collect and exchange information about old and modern inks, ink bottles, and inkwells. Collectors may decide to use the antiques in addition to showcasing them in closed


title: "Fountain pen" content: spaces such as glass displays. In 2007, collectors got "seriously hooked" when a set of Montblancs went for $290,000 each in a fundraiser event for the Princess Grace Foundation in Monaco. Each of these Montblanc pens came with 996 diamonds and 92 rubies. It has been speculated that most collectors hail from the United States of America and China, though pen dealers in England say the trend is likely to sweep England imminently. News outlets report that, rather than declining, fountain pen sales have been steadily rising over the last decade. There is a clear resurgence in the appeal and


title: "Fountain pen" content: culture of the fountain pen, whether for purposes of collection, enjoyment or as a "lifestyle item". Many agree that the "personal touch" of a fountain pen has led to such a resurgence with modern consumers looking for an alternative in a world of digital products and services. Amazon reported "sales so far this year [2012] have doubled compared with the same period in 2011. They are four times higher than 2010." The popularity of fountain pens continues to show growth. In 2017 the market-research firm Euromonitor reported that fountain pen retail sales were up 2.1% reaching $1.046 billion. Japanese Fountain


title: "Fountain pen" content: Pen Makers: European Fountain Pen Makers: Chinese Fountain Pen Makers: Taiwanese Fountain Pen Makers: American Fountain Pen Makers: Fountain pen A fountain pen is a nib pen that, unlike its predecessor, the dip pen, contains an internal reservoir of liquid ink. The pen draws ink from the reservoir through a feed to the nib and deposits it on paper via a combination of gravity and capillary action. Filling the reservoir with ink may be achieved manually, via the use of a Pasteur pipette (eyedropper) or syringe, or via an internal filling mechanism which creates suction (for example, through a piston


title: "Kevin Smith" content: and financial success, earning $3.1 million. Initially, the film received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, solely for the sexually graphic language. Miramax hired Alan Dershowitz to bring a lawsuit against the MPAA, and at an appeals screening, a jury consisting of members of the National Association of Theater Owners reversed the MPAA's decision, and the film was given an R rating instead. The film had a profound effect on the independent film community, and according to producer and author John Pierson, is considered one of the two most influential film debuts in the 1990s, along with "The Brothers McMullen".


title: "Steller sea lion" content: Steller sea lion The Steller sea lion ("Eumetopias jubatus"), also known as the northern sea lion and Steller's sea lion, is a near-threatened species of sea lions in the northern Pacific. It is the sole member of the genus "Eumetopias" and the largest of the eared seals (Otariidae) and is also the largest sea lion. Among pinnipeds, it is inferior in size only to the walrus and the two elephant seals. The species is named for the naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller, who first described them in 1741. The Steller sea lion has attracted considerable attention in recent decades owing to


title: "Steller sea lion" content: significant, unexplained declines in their numbers over a large portion of their range in Alaska. Adult animals are lighter in colour than most sea lions, ranging from pale yellow to tawny and occasionally reddish. Steller sea lion pups are born almost black, weighing around , and remain dark for several months. Females and males both grow rapidly until the fifth year, after which female growth slows considerably. Adult females measure in length, with an average of , and weigh , with an average of . Males continue to grow until their secondary sexual traits appear in their fifth to eighth


title: "Steller sea lion" content: year. Males are slightly longer than the females; they grow to about long, with an average of . Males have much wider chests, necks, and general forebody structure and weigh , with an average of . Males are further distinguished from females by broader, higher foreheads, flatter snouts, and a thick mane of coarse hair around their large necks. Indeed, their Latin name translates roughly as "maned one with the broad forehead". The range of the Steller sea lion extends from the Kuril Islands and the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia to the Gulf of Alaska in the north, and


title: "Steller sea lion" content: south to Año Nuevo Island off central California. They formerly bred as far south as the Channel Islands, but have not been observed there since the 1980s. Based on genetic anаlyses and local migration patterns, the global Steller sea lion population has traditionally been divided into an eastern and western stock at 144°W longitude, roughly through the middle of the Gulf of Alaska. Recent evidence suggests the sea lions in Russia in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Kuril Islands comprise a third Asian stock, while the sea lions on the eastern seaboard of Kamchatka and the Commander Islands belong


title: "Steller sea lion" content: to the western stock. In the summer, Steller sea lions tend to shift their range somewhat southward. Thus, though no reproductive rookeries are in Japan, several consistent haulouts are found around Hokkaidō in the winter and spring. Vagrants have been spotted in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Gulf and along the coast of Korea and China. Steller sea lions tend to live in the coastal waters of the subarctic because of the cooler temperate climate of the area. Like all otariids, Steller sea lions are amphibious and spend some time in water and some on land. Typically, Stellar sea lions


title: "Steller sea lion" content: spend their time in the water feeding but haul-out onto land to reproduce, raise their pups, molt, and rest. Steller sea lions usually congregate on isolated islands because they are the ideal terrestrial habitat. These isolated islands are preferred by Stellar sea lions because they can avoid predation from terrestrial predators, easily thermoregulate (cooling winds), and access offshore prey more easily. Some haul-out sites, known as rookeries, are commonly used for reproduction while other haul-out sites, nonbreeding sites, are used for other purposes like molting. However, biotic and abiotic factors can influence the amount of time that Steller sea lions


title: "Steller sea lion" content: spend on land. Haul-out sites and haul-out abundance of the Steller sea lion is determined by prey availability, predator abundance, tide levels, weather, etc. Steller sea lions are skilled and opportunistic marine predators, feeding on a wide range of fish and cephalopod species. Important diet components include walleye pollock, Atka mackerel, halibut, herring, capelin, flatfish Pacific cod, rockfish, sculpins, Salmon, Sand lance, cephalopods like squid and octopus. They seem to prefer schooling fish and remain primarily between intertidal zones and continental shelves. They usually aggregate in groups of 1-12, and aggregate in areas of prey abundance. They are known to


title: "Steller sea lion" content: aggregate near fishing vessels, preying on by catch discards. Most of the data on their foraging comes from data collected off the coast of Alaska, and their foraging behaviors globally are unknown. In addition to their primary marine environment, they are also known to enter estuarine environments and feed on some brackish-water fish such as sturgeon. Very occasionally, they have been known to prey on northern fur seals, harbor seals, and sea otter pups. It has been recorded that their prey variety has broadened overtime. Their diet composition varies seasonally and geographically. They are opportunistic predators, capitalizing on the most


title: "Steller sea lion" content: abundant prey species. Steller Sea Lions are top-level carnivores, but are susceptible to predation primarily by killer whales. Shark species are also a possible predator, sleeper sharks preying on juvenile sea lions, and also great white sharks. Reproductively mature male sea lions aggregate in May on traditional, well-defined reproductive rookeries, usually on beaches on isolated islands. The larger, older males establish and defend distinct territories on the rookery. A week or so later, adult females arrive, accompanied occasionally by sexually immature offspring, and form fluid aggregations throughout the rookery. Like all other otariids, Steller sea lions are polygynous. However, unlike


title: "Steller sea lion" content: some other species, they do not coerce individual females into harems, but control spatial territories among which females freely move about. Steller sea lions have used aquatic, semiaquatic, and terrestrial territories. Males with semiaquatic territories have the most success in defending them. The boundaries are defined by natural features, such as rocks, faults, or ridges in rocks, and territories can remain stable for 60 days. Though Steller sea lion males are generally tolerant of pups, one male filmed on Medny Island in Russia was documented killing and eating several pups in a first-ever recorded incident of cannibalism. Though researchers are


title: "Steller sea lion" content: uncertain as to the motives or reasons behind said attacks, it is suggested that the bull involved may have an abnormal personality akin to being psychotic. Pregnant females give birth soon after arriving on a rookery, and copulation generally occurs one to two weeks after giving birth, but the fertilized egg does not become implanted in the uterus until the fall. A fertilized egg may remain inside a female for up to three months before being implanted and beginning to form into a blastocyst. Twins are rare. After a week or so of nursing without leaving the rookery, females begin


title: "Steller sea lion" content: to take progressively longer and more frequent foraging trips, leaving their pups behind, until at some point in late summer the mother and pup both leave the rookery. This behavior is called the maternal attendance pattern and is common in otariids. As pups get older the amount of time spent by females foraging out at sea increases.This continues until pups obtain the ideal body weight and energy reserves in order to eat on their own. A study conducted by the University of California, Santa Cruz found that on average male pups consume more milk than females this may be due


title: "Steller sea lion" content: to the differences in sexual dimorphism common to otariids. Reproductive males fast throughout the reproductive season, often without entering the water once from mid May until August, when the structure of the reproductive rookeries begins to fall apart and most animals leave for the open seas and disperse throughout their range. The age at weaning is highly variable; pups may remain with their mothers for as long as four years. Incidents of mothers feeding daughters that are simultaneously feeding their own newborn pups have been documented, an extremely rare occurrence among mammals. A study done at Ano Nuevo in 1983


title: "Steller sea lion" content: found that female attendance and time spent with their pup was shaped by increasing nutritional demands of the pup and the pups suckling efficiency. Females average having 21 hours ashore and 36 hours at sea. As the pups aged, females began to spend more time at sea again. As the pups mature, specifically at the sixth week past parturition, the mother's sea time declines by 30 percent. There is no relationship between the pups activity, or physical excursion to their suckling time, age, or sex. Their suckling time, and age and gender are unrelated to their use of energy. Labeled


title: "Steller sea lion" content: water studies showed that milk intake of the pup's had a direct relationship to their size. Pups that consumed more milk were heavier than those that didn't. These findings show that the amount of time females spend onshore with their pups is based on their pup's suckling efficiency and nutritional demands, their metabolic needs. In the past, the low pup production has been tied to an increase in nutritional stress found in females. This was believed to have contributed to the decline in Steller sea lions common to Alaska. In order to be able to dive for a long period


title: "Steller sea lion" content: of time, Steller sea lions exhibit apnea, bradycardia, and peripheral vasoconstriction. This allows them to maximize their oxygen stores and efficiently forage during their dives. In addition to those adaptations, their thick blubber layer and outer fur layer keep their body insulated during dives. Trained Steller sea lions from Vancouver Aquarium were placed in the open ocean research station at the University of British Columbia's Open Water Research Station to study their diving metabolism and behavior. Steller sea lions' dives are more energetically costly if they perform dive bouts. The aerobic diving limit (ADL) of Steller sea lion was observed


title: "Steller sea lion" content: to be affected by their nutritional state and feeding. Like most otariids, Steller sea lions are vocal in air. Mature male sea lions have a range of vocalizations as part of their territorial behaviors, including belches, growls, snorts, and hisses that serve as warnings to others. Both males and females also produce underwater noises similar to their above water sounds, described as clicks, barks, and belches. The primary function of their vocalizations is for social behavior. Sonogram readings reported that Steller Sea Lions make discrete, low frequency pulses underwater that resemble the male "belching" territorial noise made in air. These


title: "Steller sea lion" content: underwater vocalizations have an average of 20-30 pulses per second. Vocalizations are critical to mother-pup pairs, as the mothers must find their pups in a crowded breeding area when they return from foraging. The mother and pup both use distinctive calls, like names, to help differentiate themselves among the crowd of other sea lions. Their aerial vocalizations have been described as similar to the bleats of sheep, and bellows. Because Steller sea lions are sexually dimorphic in size, their hearing differs in sensitivity, possibly due to differences in size of the hearing structures. Females have a higher sensitivity than males,


title: "Steller sea lion" content: perhaps to hear the higher frequency calls of their pups. The Steller sea lion's hearing range also suggests that they are capable of hearing the underwater calls of one of their main predators, the killer whale. Steller sea lion were hunted for meat and other commodities by prehistoric communities everywhere their range intersected with human communities. Aside from food and clothing, their skin was used to cover baidarkas and kayaks. A subsistence harvest on the order of 300 animals or less continues to this day in some native communities in Alaska. Historically, the sea lion has had only very slight


title: "Steller sea lion" content: commercial value. For example, in the 19th century their whiskers sold for a penny apiece for use as tobacco-pipe cleaners. Steller sea lions are sometimes killed intentionally by fishermen, as they are seen as competitors and a threat to fish stocks. Killing sea lions is strictly prohibited in the U.S.A. and Russia, but in Japan a fixed number are still removed annually, ostensibly to protect their fisheries. In Canada, commercial hunting is prohibited, but limited hunting permits are occasionally granted if local culling is required—for example, nuisance animals destroying fish farms. In recent years, Steller sea lions have been known


title: "Steller sea lion" content: to enter the Columbia River estuary and feed on white sturgeon, several salmon species, and rainbow trout, some of which are also listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. They enter the Columbia River primarily in the late winter and spring, occasionally going as far upstream as Bonneville Dam. Though not as abundant as the California sea lion, they are still a concern for those agencies charged with managing the fish populations. Since the Steller sea lions are themselves protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, managers are compelled to use nonlethal deterrence methods, such as rubber bullets and noisemakers.


title: "Steller sea lion" content: Deterrence by the public is strictly forbidden. While the populations of the eastern and Asian stocks appear stable, the population of the western stock, particularly along the Aleutian Islands, was estimated to have fallen by 70–80% since the 1970s. As a consequence, in 1997 the western stock of Steller sea lions was listed as endangered and the eastern stock was listed as threatened under the United States Endangered Species Act. They have since been the object of intense study and the focus of much political and scientific debate in Alaska. One suspected cause of their precipitous decline was overfishing of


title: "Steller sea lion" content: Alaska pollock, herring, and other fish stocks in the Gulf of Alaska. This stems largely from the “junk-food hypothesis” representing a shift in their diet from fatty herring and capelin to leaner fare such as pollock and flounder, thereby limiting their ability to consume and store fat. Other hypotheses include increased predation by orcas and sharks, indirect effects of prey species composition shifts due to changes in climate, effects of disease or contaminants, shooting by fishermen, and others. The decline is certainly due to a complex of interrelated factors which have yet to be defined by the research effort. Another


title: "Steller sea lion" content: possible reason for decline in this species has been tied to the Nutritional Stress Hypothesis. The lack of prey corresponds to the decrease in population. In females specifically, obtaining an insufficient amount of nutrients has resulted in the failure to complete their pregnancies to full term. In October 2013, the eastern Steller sea lion was taken off the U.S. Endangered Species List after a major population comeback over the past several years. Steller sea lion The Steller sea lion ("Eumetopias jubatus"), also known as the northern sea lion and Steller's sea lion, is a near-threatened species of sea lions in


title: "Phantom cat" content: to the Loch Ness monster. There have been reported sightings of what is believed to be a mountain lion in the northern Delaware forests since the late 1990s. The Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife believes there may be more than one mountain lion in Delaware, and that they originate from animals released from captivity. While there have been confirmed recent sightings of mountain lions, there have been numerous unconfirmed reports of black panthers. If the reports are accurate, these could potentially be black mountain lions, but since there's never been any confirmed cases of melanism in mountain lions, the


title: Watch content: 59A. By the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Seiko had a working prototype of a portable quartz watch which was used as the time measurements throughout the event. The first prototypes of an electronic quartz wristwatch (not just "portable" quartz watches as the Seiko timekeeping devices at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964) were made by the CEH research laboratory in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. From 1965 through 1967 pioneering development work was done on a miniaturized 8192 Hz quartz oscillator, a thermo-compensation module, and an in-house-made, dedicated integrated circuit (unlike the hybrid circuits used in the later Seiko Astron wristwatch). As a result,


title: "Ortolan bunting" content: Ortolan bunting The ortolan ("Emberiza hortulana") or ortolan bunting, is a bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a passerine family now separated by most modern scholars from the finches, Fringillidae. The genus name "Emberiza" is from Old High German , a bunting. The specific "hortulana" is from the Italian name for this bird, . The English "ortolan" is derived from Middle French , "gardener". The ortolan is served in French cuisine, typically cooked and eaten whole. Traditionally diners cover their heads with their napkin, or a towel while eating the delicacy. The bird is so widely used that its French


title: "Ortolan bunting" content: populations dropped dangerously low, leading to laws restricting its use in 1999. In September 2007, the French government announced its intent to enforce long ignored laws protecting the bird. It was famously eaten as the last New Year's Eve meal of former French President François Mitterrand before he died in early 1996. The ortolan is in length and weighs . In appearance and habits it much resembles its relative the yellowhammer, but lacks the bright colouring of that species; the ortolan's head, for instance, is greenish-grey, instead of a bright yellow. The song of the male ortolan resembles that of


title: "Ortolan bunting" content: the yellowhammer. Ortolan nests are placed on or near the ground. Seeds are the natural diet, but beetles and other insects are taken when feeding their young. A native of most European countries and western Asia. It reaches as far north as Scandinavia and beyond the Arctic Circle, frequenting cornfields and their neighbourhoods. It is an uncommon vagrant in spring, and particularly autumn, to the British Isles. The Ortolan Bunting's population as of 2018 is listed by the IUCN as Least Concern (LC). It was recently spotted at Kenjar Coastal Karnataka, India in November 2018 and photographed by Birdwatchers. Some


title: "Ortolan bunting" content: birders commented that it is the first photographic record of an Ortolan bunting in India. The birds are caught with nets set during their autumn migratory flight to Africa. They are then kept in covered cages or boxes. The birds react to the dark cage by gorging themselves on grain, usually millet seed, until they double their bulk. Roman Emperors stabbed out ortolans’ eyes in order to make the birds think it was night, making them eat even more. The birds are then thrown into a container of Armagnac, which both drowns and marinates the birds. The bird is roasted


title: "Ortolan bunting" content: for eight minutes and then plucked. The consumer then places the bird feet first into their mouth while holding onto the bird's head. The ortolan is then eaten whole, with or without the head and the consumer spits out the larger bones. The traditional way French gourmands eat ortolans is to cover their heads and face with a large napkin or towel while consuming the bird. The purpose of the towel is debated. Some claim it is to retain the maximum aroma with the flavour as they consume the entire bird at once, others have stated "Tradition dictates that this


title: "Ortolan bunting" content: is to shield – from God’s eyes – the shame of such a decadent and disgraceful act", and others have suggested the towel hides the consumers spitting out bones. This use of the towel was begun by a priest, a friend of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. At one time, the island of Cyprus formed a chief depot for the export of ortolans, which were pickled in spices and vinegar and packed in casks containing from 300 to 400 each. In the early 20th century, between 400 and 500 casks were annually exported from Cyprus. Ortolan hunting was banned in France in


title: "Ortolan bunting" content: 1999, but the law was poorly enforced and it is thought that up to 50,000 ortolans were killed each year during the autumn migration: mostly birds from breeding grounds in Finland and the Baltic area. According to France's League for the Protection of Birds, France's ortolan population fell 30% between 1997 and 2007. In 2007, the French government vowed to strictly enforce some existing rules about banning the practice, with the maximum fine set at €6,000 (£4,800, $6,728). Killing and cooking ortolans is banned across the EU. In 2007, the pressure from France's League for Protection of Birds and from


title: "Ortolan bunting" content: the European Union resulted in the French government promising to enforce the EU directive protecting the ortolan. After several years of active citizen watch revealing little if any change in the field situation, the local representative of the government repeated this statement in 2016. European Union member states prohibit: Ortolan bunting The ortolan ("Emberiza hortulana") or ortolan bunting, is a bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a passerine family now separated by most modern scholars from the finches, Fringillidae. The genus name "Emberiza" is from Old High German , a bunting. The specific "hortulana" is from the Italian name for


title: "Rod Steiger" content: (Humphrey Bogart in his last role). Steiger referred to Bogart as "a professional" who had "tremendous authority" during filming. Steiger appeared in three films released in 1957. The first was John Farrow's film noir "The Unholy Wife", in which he played a wealthy Napa Valley vintner who marries a "femme fatale" named Phyllis (Diana Dors). In its original review of the film, "The New York Times" described Steiger's performance as "curious" further stating that the actor's voice modulation "ranges from Marlon Brando to Ronald Colman and back." During the production of Samuel Fuller's "Run of the Arrow", in which he


title: "Filling station" content: 1993. Afterwards the same system was used in Florida, USA. Above-ground modular filling stations were built in the 1980s in eastern Europe and especially in Soviet Union, but they were not built in other parts of Europe due to the stations' lack of safety in case of fire. The construction model for underground modular filling station makes the installation time shorter, designing easier and manufacturing less expensive. As a proof of the model's installation speed an unofficial world record of filling station installation was made by U-Cont Oy Ltd when a modular filling station was built in Helsinki, Finland in


title: Unisys content: was the largest in the computer industry at the time and made Unisys the second largest computer company with annual revenue of $10.5 billion. At the time of the merger, Unisys had approximately 120,000 employees. Michael Blumenthal became CEO and Chairman after the merger and resigned in 1990 after several years of losses. James Unruh, (formerly Memorex and Honeywell) became the new CEO and Chairman after Blumenthal's departure and continued in that role until 1997, when Larry Weinbach of Arthur Andersen became the new CEO. By 1997, layoffs had reduced world-wide employee count to approximately 30,000. In addition to hardware,


title: Zine content: proposes a limited view of the vast range of topics, styles and environments zines occupied. Dissidents and members of socially marginalized groups have published their own opinions in leaflet and pamphlet form for as long as such technology has been available. The concept of zines had an ancestor in the amateur press movement of the late 19th and early 20th century, which would in its turn cross-pollinate with the subculture of science fiction fandom in the 1930s. The popular graphic-style associated with zines is influenced artistically and politically by the subcultures of Dada, Fluxus, Surrealism and Situationism. Many trace zine's'


title: Zine content: original title. "Artcore Fanzine" (established in 1986) continues to this day, recently publishing a number of 30 year anniversary issues. The Usenet newsgroup "alt.zines" was created in 1992 by Jerod Pore and Edward Vielmetti for the discussion of zines and zine-related topics. Since that time, alt.zines has seen more than 26,000 postings. Throughout the 1990s alt.zines was the only online forum for zinesters to promote, talk, and discuss small publishing issues and tips. It was a place where a zine reader or first time publisher could rub elbows with infamous zinesters. An open-source wiki site solely for zines, small press


title: Ithaca content: archaeologists discovered the remains of an 8th-century BC palace in the area of Agios Athanasios, leading to reports that this might have been the site of Odysseus's palace. Modern scholars generally accept the identification of modern Ithaca with Homeric Ithaca, and explain discrepancies between the "Odyssey"'s description and the actual topography as the product of lack of first-hand knowledge of the island, or as poetic license or reliance on corrupted source documents and erroneous translations. Ithaca lies east of the northwest coast of Cephalonia, from which it is separated by the Strait of Ithaca. The regional unit covers an area


title: Mosaic content: with raised hands, four evangelists with seraphim, scenes from Christ's life and an interesting Anastasis where King Salomon bears resemblance to Constantine Monomachos). In comparison with Osios Loukas Nea Moni mosaics contain more figures, detail, landscape and setting. Another great undertaking by Constantine Monomachos was the restoration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem between 1042 and 1048. Nothing survived of the mosaics which covered the walls and the dome of the edifice but the Russian abbot Daniel, who visited Jerusalem in 1106–1107 left a description: "Lively mosaics of the holy prophets are under the ceiling, over the


title: "German submarine U-27 (1936)" content: Here, the boat sank two British trawlers, totaling 624 tons. The first attack took place at 2:55 on 13 September, northwest of Tory Island, when the trawler "Davara" was shelled by "U-27"s deck gun. Following the sinking of "Davara", her captain and 11 other crew members were picked up by the steam merchant ship "Willowpool". The second vessel to be sunk was the trawler "Rudyard Kipling". The attack took place at 3:53 on 16 September, west of the west coast of neutral Ireland, with the ship being sunk by scuttling charges from "U-27". Following the sinking of "Rudyard Kipling", the


title: "The King and I" content: threat has receded, but the King is distracted by his displeasure at Tuptim's rebellious message. After Sir Edward leaves, Anna and the King express their delight at how well the evening went, and he presents her with a ring. Secret police report that Tuptim is missing. The King realizes that Anna knows something; she parries his inquiry by asking why he should care: Tuptim is just another woman to him. He is delighted; she is at last understanding the Siamese perspective. Anna tries to explain to him the Western customs of courtship and tells him what it is like for


title: "Transamerica Pyramid" content: Transamerica Pyramid The Transamerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery Street between Clay and Washington Streets in the Financial District of San Francisco, California, United States, is a 48-story futurist building and the second-tallest skyscraper in the San Francisco skyline. Its height is surpassed by Salesforce Tower. The building no longer houses the headquarters of the Transamerica Corporation, which moved its U.S. headquarters to Baltimore, Maryland, but it is still associated with the company and is depicted in the company's logo. Designed by architect William Pereira and built by Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Company, at , on completion in 1972 it was the


title: "Transamerica Pyramid" content: eighth-tallest building in the world. The Transamerica building was commissioned by Transamerica CEO John (Jack) R. Beckett, with the claim that he wished to allow light in the street below. Built on the site of the historic Montgomery Block, it has a structural height of and has 48 floors of retail and office space. Construction began in 1969 and finished in 1972, and was overseen by San Francisco-based contractor Dinwiddie Construction, now Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Company. Transamerica moved its headquarters to the new building from across the street, where it had been based in a flatiron-shaped building now occupied by


title: "Transamerica Pyramid" content: the Church of Scientology of San Francisco. Although the tower is no longer Transamerica Corporation headquarters, it is still associated with the company and is depicted in the company's logo. The building is evocative of San Francisco and has become one of the many symbols of the city. Designed by architect William Pereira, it faced opposition during planning and construction and was sometimes referred to by detractors as "Pereira's Prick". John King of the "San Francisco Chronicle" summed up the improved opinion of the building in 2009 as "an architectural icon of the best sort – one that fits its


title: "Transamerica Pyramid" content: location and gets better with age." King also wrote in 2011 that it is "a uniquely memorable building, a triumph of the unexpected, unreal and engaging all at once. ... It is a presence and a persona, snapping into different focus with every fresh angle, every shift in light." The Transamerica Pyramid was the tallest skyscraper west of Chicago when constructed, surpassing the then Bank of America Center, also in San Francisco. It was surpassed by the Aon Center, Los Angeles, in 1974. The building is thought to have been the intended target of a terrorist attack, involving the hijacking


title: "Transamerica Pyramid" content: of airplanes as part of the Bojinka plot, which was foiled in 1995. In 1999, Transamerica was acquired by Dutch insurance company Aegon. When the non-insurance operations of Transamerica were later sold to GE Capital, Aegon retained ownership of the building as an investment. The Transamerica Pyramid was the tallest skyscraper in San Francisco from 1972 to 2017, when it was surpassed by the under-construction Salesforce Tower. The land use and zoning restrictions for the parcel limited the number of square feet of office that could be built upon the lot, which sits at the north boundary of the financial


title: "Transamerica Pyramid" content: district. The building is a tall, four-sided pyramid with two "wings" to accommodate an elevator shaft on the east and a stairwell and a smoke tower on the west. The top of the building is the spire. There are four cameras pointed in the four cardinal directions at the top of this spire forming the "Transamerica Virtual Observation Deck." Four monitors in the lobby, whose direction and zoom can be controlled by visitors, display the cameras' views 24 hours a day. An observation deck on the 27th floor was closed: the Pyramid's official website says that it was closed to


title: "Transamerica Pyramid" content: the public in 2001, while the New York Times reported that it has been closed "[s]ince the late 1990s". It was replaced by the virtual observation deck a few years later. The video signal from the "Transamericam" was used for years by a local TV news station for live views of traffic and weather in downtown San Francisco. The top of the Transamerica Pyramid is covered with aluminum panels. During the Christmas holiday season, on Independence Day, and during the anniversary of 9/11, a brightly twinkling beacon called the "Crown Jewel" is lit at the top of the pyramid. At