title: "Sea otter" content: of 7.2%, and their range on the island's west coast extended north to Cape Scott and across the Queen Charlotte Straight to the Broughton Archipelago and south to Clayoquot Sound and Tofino. In 1989, a separate colony was discovered in the central British Columbia coast. It is not known if this colony, which numbered about 300 animals in 2004, was founded by transplanted otters or was a remnant population that had gone undetected. By 2013, this population exceeded 1,100 individuals, was increasing at an estimated 12.6% annual rate, and its range included Aristazabal Island, and Milbanke Sound south to Calvert


title: "Sea otter" content: Island. In 2008, Canada determined the status of sea otters to be "special concern". In 1969 and 1970, 59 sea otters were translocated from Amchitka Island to Washington, and released near La Push and Point Grenville. The translocated population is estimated to have declined to between 10 and 43 individuals before increasing, reaching 208 individuals in 1989. As of 2017, the population was estimated at over 2,000 individuals, and their range extends from Point Grenville in the south to Cape Flattery in the north and east to Pillar Point along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. In Washington, sea otters


title: "Sea otter" content: are found almost exclusively on the outer coasts. They can swim as close as six feet off shore along the Olympic coast. Reported sightings of sea otters in the San Juan Islands and Puget Sound almost always turn out to be North American river otters, which are commonly seen along the seashore. However, biologists have confirmed isolated sightings of sea otters in these areas since the mid-1990s. The last native sea otter in Oregon was probably shot and killed in 1906. In 1970 and 1971, a total of 95 sea otters were transplanted from Amchitka Island, Alaska to the Southern


title: "Sea otter" content: Oregon coast. However, this translocation effort failed and otters soon again disappeared from the state. In 2004, a male sea otter took up residence at Simpson Reef off of Cape Arago for six months. This male is thought to have originated from a colony in Washington, but disappeared after a coastal storm. On 18 February 2009, a male sea otter was spotted in Depoe Bay off the Oregon Coast. It could have traveled to the state from either California or Washington. The historic population of California sea otters was estimated at 16,000 before the fur trade decimated the population, leading


title: "Sea otter" content: to their assumed extinction. Today's population of California sea otters are the descendants of a single colony of about 50 sea otters located near Bixby Creek Bridge in March 1938 by Howard G. Sharpe, owner of the nearby Rainbow Lodge on Bixby Bridge in Big Sur. Their principal range has gradually expanded and extends from Pigeon Point in San Mateo County to Santa Barbara County. Sea otters were once numerous in San Francisco Bay. Historical records revealed the Russian-American Company sneaked Aleuts into San Francisco Bay multiple times, despite the Spanish capturing or shooting them while hunting sea otters in


title: "Sea otter" content: the estuaries of San Jose, San Mateo, San Bruno and around Angel Island. The founder of Fort Ross, Ivan Kuskov, finding otters scarce on his second voyage to Bodega Bay in 1812, sent a party of Aleuts to San Francisco Bay, where they met another Russian party and an American party, and caught 1,160 sea otters in three months. By 1817, sea otters in the area were practically eliminated and the Russians sought permission from the Spanish and the Mexican governments to hunt further and further south of San Francisco. Remnant sea otter populations may have survived in the bay


title: "Sea otter" content: until 1840, when the Rancho Punta de Quentin was granted to Captain John B. R. Cooper, a sea captain from Boston, by Mexican Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado along with a license to hunt sea otters, reportedly then prevalent at the mouth of Corte Madera Creek. In the late 1980s, the USFWS relocated about 140 southern sea otters to San Nicolas Island in southern California, in the hope of establishing a reserve population should the mainland be struck by an oil spill. To the surprise of biologists, the majority of the San Nicolas sea otters swam back to the mainland. Another


title: "Sea otter" content: group of twenty swam north to San Miguel Island, where they were captured and removed. By 2005, only 30 sea otters remained at San Nicolas, although they were slowly increasing as they thrived on the abundant prey around the island. The plan that authorized the translocation program had predicted the carrying capacity would be reached within five to 10 years. The spring 2016 count at San Nicolas Island was 104 sea otters, continuing a 5-year positive trend of over 12% per year. Sea otters were observed twice in Southern California in 2011, once near Laguna Beach and once at Zuniga


title: "Sea otter" content: Point Jetty, near San Diego. These are the first documented sightings of otters this far south in 30 years. When the USFWS implemented the translocation program, it also attempted to implement "zonal management" of the Californian population. To manage the competition between sea otters and fisheries, it declared an "otter-free zone" stretching from Point Conception to the Mexican border. In this zone, only San Nicolas Island was designated as sea otter habitat, and sea otters found elsewhere in the area were supposed to be captured and relocated. These plans were abandoned after many translocated otters died and also as it


title: "Sea otter" content: proved impractical to capture the hundreds of otters which ignored regulations and swam into the zone. However, after engaging in a period of public commentary in 2005, the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to release a formal decision on the issue. Then, in response to lawsuits filed by the Santa Barbara-based Environmental Defense Center and the Otter Project, on 19 December 2012 the USFWS declared that the "no otter zone" experiment was a failure, and will protect the otters re-colonizing the coast south of Point Conception as threatened species. Although abalone fisherman blamed the incursions of sea otters for the


title: "Sea otter" content: decline of abalone, commercial abalone fishing in southern California came to an end from overfishing in 1997, years before significant otter moved south of Point Conception. In addition, white abalone ("Haliotis sorenseni"), a species never overlapping with sea otter, had declined in numbers 99% by 1996, and became the first marine invertebrate to be federally listed as endangered. Although the southern sea otter's range has continuously expanded from the remnant population of about 50 individuals in Big Sur since protection in 1911, from 2007 to 2010, the otter population and its range contracted and since 2010 has made little progress.


title: "Sea otter" content: As of spring 2010, the northern boundary had moved from about Tunitas Creek to a point 2 km southeast of Pigeon Point, and the southern boundary has moved from approximately Coal Oil Point to Gaviota State Park. Recently, a toxin called microcystin, produced by a type of cyanobacteria ("Microcystis"), seems to be concentrated in the shellfish the otters eat, poisoning them. Cyanobacteria are found in stagnant freshwater enriched with nitrogen and phosphorus from septic tank and agricultural fertilizer runoff, and may be flushed into the ocean when streamflows are high in the rainy season. A record number of sea otter


title: "Sea otter" content: carcasses were found on California's coastline in 2010, with increased shark attacks an increasing component of the mortality. Great white sharks do not consume relatively fat-poor sea otters but shark-bitten carcasses have increased from 8% in the 1980s to 15% in the 1990s and to 30% in 2010 and 2011. For southern sea otters to be considered for removal from threatened species listing, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) determined that the population should exceed 3,090 for three consecutive years. In response to recovery efforts, the population climbed steadily from the mid-20th century through the early 2000s, then remained


title: "Sea otter" content: relatively flat from 2005 to 2014 at just under 3,000. There was some contraction from the northern (now Pigeon Point) and southern limits of the sea otter's range during the end of this period, circumstantially related to an increase in lethal shark bites, raising concerns that the population had reached a plateau. However, the population increased markedly from 2015 to 2016, with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) California sea otter survey 3-year average reaching 3,272 in 2016, the first time it exceeded the threshold for delisting from the Endangered Species Act (ESA). If populations continued to grow and ESA


title: "Sea otter" content: delisting occurred, southern sea otters would still be fully protected by state regulations and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which set higher thresholds for protection, at approximately 8,400 individuals. However, ESA delisting seems unlikely due to a precipitous population decline recorded in the spring 2017 USGS sea otter survey count, from the 2016 high of 3,615 individuals to 2,688, a loss of 25% of the California sea otter population. Sea otters consume over 100 prey species. In most of its range, the sea otter's diet consists almost exclusively of marine benthic invertebrates, including sea urchins, fat innkeeper worms, a variety


title: "Sea otter" content: of bivalves such as clams and mussels, abalone, other mollusks, crustaceans, and snails. Its prey ranges in size from tiny limpets and crabs to giant octopuses. Where prey such as sea urchins, clams, and abalone are present in a range of sizes, sea otters tend to select larger items over smaller ones of similar type. In California, they have been noted to ignore Pismo clams smaller than 3 inches (7 cm) across. In a few northern areas, fish are also eaten. In studies performed at Amchitka Island in the 1960s, where the sea otter population was at carrying capacity, 50%


title: "Sea otter" content: of food found in sea otter stomachs was fish. The fish species were usually bottom-dwelling and sedentary or sluggish forms, such as "Hemilepidotus hemilepidotus" and family Tetraodontidae. However, south of Alaska on the North American coast, fish are a negligible or extremely minor part of the sea otter's diet. Contrary to popular depictions, sea otters rarely eat starfish, and any kelp that is consumed apparently passes through the sea otter's system undigested. The individuals within a particular area often differ in their foraging methods and prey types, and tend to follow the same patterns as their mothers. The diet of


title: "Sea otter" content: local populations also changes over time, as sea otters can significantly deplete populations of highly preferred prey such as large sea urchins, and prey availability is also affected by other factors such as fishing by humans. Sea otters can thoroughly remove abalone from an area except for specimens in deep rock crevices, however, they never completely wipe out a prey species from an area. A 2007 Californian study demonstrated, in areas where food was relatively scarce, a wider variety of prey was consumed. Surprisingly, though, the diets of individuals were more specialized in these areas than in areas where food


title: "Sea otter" content: was plentiful. Sea otters are a classic example of a keystone species; their presence affects the ecosystem more profoundly than their size and numbers would suggest. They keep the population of certain benthic (sea floor) herbivores, particularly sea urchins, in check. Sea urchins graze on the lower stems of kelp, causing the kelp to drift away and die. Loss of the habitat and nutrients provided by kelp forests leads to profound cascade effects on the marine ecosystem. North Pacific areas that do not have sea otters often turn into urchin barrens, with abundant sea urchins and no kelp forest. Kelp


title: "Sea otter" content: forests are extremely productive ecosystems. Kelp forests sequester (absorb and capture) CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. Sea otters may help mitigate effects of climate change by their cascading trophic influence Reintroduction of sea otters to British Columbia has led to a dramatic improvement in the health of coastal ecosystems, and similar changes have been observed as sea otter populations recovered in the Aleutian and Commander Islands and the Big Sur coast of California However, some kelp forest ecosystems in California have also thrived without sea otters, with sea urchin populations apparently controlled by other factors. The role of sea


title: "Sea otter" content: otters in maintaining kelp forests has been observed to be more important in areas of open coast than in more protected bays and estuaries. Sea otters effect rocky ecosystems that are dominated by mussel beds by removing mussels from rocks. This allows space for competing species and increases species diversity. Leading mammalian predators of this species include orcas and sea lions, and bald eagles may grab pups from the surface of the water. Young predators may kill an otter and not eat it. On land, young sea otters may face attack from bears and coyotes. In California, great white sharks


title: "Sea otter" content: are their primary predator but there is no evidence that the sharks eat them. Urban runoff transporting cat feces into the ocean brings "Toxoplasma gondii", an obligate parasite, which has killed sea otters. Parasitic infections of "Sarcocystis neurona" are also associated with human activity. According to the U.S. Geological Survey and the CDC, northern sea otters off Washington have been infected with the H1N1 flu virus and "may be a newly identified animal host of influenza viruses". Sea otters have the thickest fur of any mammal. Their beautiful fur is a main target for many hunters. Archaeological evidence indicates that


title: "Sea otter" content: for thousands of years, indigenous peoples have hunted sea otters for food and fur. Large-scale hunting, part of the Maritime Fur Trade, which would eventually kill approximately one million sea otters, began in the 18th century when hunters and traders began to arrive from all over the world to meet foreign demand for otter pelts, which were one of the world's most valuable types of fur. In the early 18th century, Russians began to hunt sea otters in the Kuril Islands and sold them to the Chinese at Kyakhta. Russia was also exploring the far northern Pacific at this time,


title: "Sea otter" content: and sent Vitus Bering to map the Arctic coast and find routes from Siberia to North America. In 1741, on his second North Pacific voyage, Bering was shipwrecked off Bering Island in the Commander Islands, where he and many of his crew died. The surviving crew members, which included naturalist Georg Steller, discovered sea otters on the beaches of the island and spent the winter hunting sea otters and gambling with otter pelts. They returned to Siberia, having killed nearly 1,000 sea otters, and were able to command high prices for the pelts. Thus began what is sometimes called the


title: "Sea otter" content: "Great Hunt", which would continue for another hundred years. The Russians found the sea otter far more valuable than the sable skins that had driven and paid for most of their expansion across Siberia. If the sea otter pelts brought back by Bering's survivors had been sold at Kyakhta prices they would have paid for one tenth the cost of Bering's expedition. In 1775 at Okhotsk, sea otter pelts were worth 50–80 rubles as opposed to 2.5 rubles for sable. Russian fur-hunting expeditions soon depleted the sea otter populations in the Commander Islands, and by 1745, they began to move


title: "Sea otter" content: on to the Aleutian Islands. The Russians initially traded with the Aleuts inhabitants of these islands for otter pelts, but later enslaved the Aleuts, taking women and children hostage and torturing and killing Aleut men to force them to hunt. Many Aleuts were either murdered by the Russians or died from diseases the hunters had introduced. The Aleut population was reduced, by the Russians' own estimate, from 20,000 to 2,000. By the 1760s, the Russians had reached Alaska. In 1799, Emperor Paul I consolidated the rival fur-hunting companies into the Russian-American Company, granting it an imperial charter and protection, and


title: "Sea otter" content: a monopoly over trade rights and territorial acquisition. Under Aleksandr I, the administration of the merchant-controlled company was transferred to the Imperial Navy, largely due to the alarming reports by naval officers of native abuse; in 1818, the indigenous peoples of Alaska were granted civil rights equivalent to a townsman status in the Russian Empire. Other nations joined in the hunt in the south. Along the coasts of what is now Mexico and California, Spanish explorers bought sea otter pelts from Native Americans and sold them in Asia. In 1778, British explorer Captain James Cook reached Vancouver Island and bought


title: "Sea otter" content: sea otter furs from the First Nations people. When Cook's ship later stopped at a Chinese port, the pelts rapidly sold at high prices, and were soon known as "soft gold". As word spread, people from all over Europe and North America began to arrive in the Pacific Northwest to trade for sea otter furs. Russian hunting expanded to the south, initiated by American ship captains, who subcontracted Russian supervisors and Aleut hunters in what are now Washington, Oregon, and California. Between 1803 and 1846, 72 American ships were involved in the otter hunt in California, harvesting an estimated 40,000


title: "Sea otter" content: skins and tails, compared to only 13 ships of the Russian-American Company, which reported 5,696 otter skins taken between 1806 and 1846. In 1812, the Russians founded an agricultural settlement at what is now Fort Ross in northern California, as their southern headquarters. Eventually, sea otter populations became so depleted, commercial hunting was no longer viable. It had stopped in the Aleutian Islands, by 1808, as a conservation measure imposed by the Russian-American Company. Further restrictions were ordered by the Company in 1834. When Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867, the Alaska population had recovered to over


title: "Sea otter" content: 100,000, but Americans resumed hunting and quickly extirpated the sea otter again. Prices rose as the species became rare. During the 1880s, a pelt brought $105 to $165 in the London market, but by 1903, a pelt could be worth as much as $1,125. In 1911, Russia, Japan, Great Britain (for Canada) and the United States signed the Treaty for the Preservation and Protection of Fur Seals, imposing a moratorium on the harvesting of sea otters. So few remained, perhaps only 1,000–2,000 individuals in the wild, that many believed the species would become extinct. During the 20th century, sea otter


title: "Sea otter" content: numbers rebounded in about two-thirds of their historic range, a recovery considered one of the greatest successes in marine conservation. However, the IUCN still lists the sea otter as an endangered species, and describes the significant threats to sea otters as oil pollution, predation by orcas, poaching, and conflicts with fisheries – sea otters can drown if entangled in fishing gear. The hunting of sea otters is no longer legal except for limited harvests by indigenous peoples in the United States. Poaching was a serious concern in the Russian Far East immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union in


title: "Sea otter" content: 1991; however, it has declined significantly with stricter law enforcement and better economic conditions. The most significant threat to sea otters is oil spills, to which they are particularly vulnerable, since they rely on their fur to keep warm. When their fur is soaked with oil, it loses its ability to retain air, and the animals can quickly die from hypothermia. The liver, kidneys, and lungs of sea otters also become damaged after they inhale oil or ingest it when grooming. The Exxon Valdez oil spill of 24 March 1989 killed thousands of sea otters in Prince William Sound, and


title: "Sea otter" content: as of 2006, the lingering oil in the area continues to affect the population. Describing the public sympathy for sea otters that developed from media coverage of the event, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesperson wrote: The small geographic ranges of the sea otter populations in California, Washington, and British Columbia mean a single major spill could be catastrophic for that state or province. Prevention of oil spills and preparation to rescue otters if one happens is a major focus for conservation efforts. Increasing the size and range of sea otter populations would also reduce the risk of an


title: "Sea otter" content: oil spill wiping out a population. However, because of the species' reputation for depleting shellfish resources, advocates for commercial, recreational, and subsistence shellfish harvesting have often opposed allowing the sea otter's range to increase, and there have even been instances of fishermen and others illegally killing them. In the Aleutian Islands, a massive and unexpected disappearance of sea otters has occurred in recent decades. In the 1980s, the area was home to an estimated 55,000 to 100,000 sea otters, but the population fell to around 6,000 animals by 2000. The most widely accepted, but still controversial, hypothesis is that killer


title: "Sea otter" content: whales have been eating the otters. The pattern of disappearances is consistent with a rise in predation, but there has been no direct evidence of orcas preying on sea otters to any significant extent. Another area of concern is California, where recovery began to fluctuate or decline in the late 1990s. Unusually high mortality rates amongst adult and subadult otters, particularly females, have been reported. In 2017 the US Geological Survey found a 3% drop in the sea otter population of the California coast. This number still keeps them on track for removal from the endangered species list, although just


title: "Sea otter" content: barely. Necropsies of dead sea otters indicate diseases, particularly "Toxoplasma gondii" and acanthocephalan parasite infections, are major causes of sea otter mortality in California. The "Toxoplasma gondii" parasite, which is often fatal to sea otters, is carried by wild and domestic cats and may be transmitted by domestic cat droppings flushed into the ocean via sewage systems. Although disease has clearly contributed to the deaths of many of California's sea otters, it is not known why the California population is apparently more affected by disease than populations in other areas. Sea otter habitat is preserved through several protected areas in


title: "Sea otter" content: the United States, Russia and Canada. In marine protected areas, polluting activities such as dumping of waste and oil drilling are typically prohibited. An estimated 1,200 sea otters live within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and more than 500 live within the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Some of the sea otter's preferred prey species, particularly abalone, clams, and crabs, are also food sources for humans. In some areas, massive declines in shellfish harvests have been blamed on the sea otter, and intense public debate has taken place over how to manage the competition between sea otters and humans


title: "Sea otter" content: for seafood. The debate is complicated because sea otters have sometimes been held responsible for declines of shellfish stocks that were more likely caused by overfishing, disease, pollution, and seismic activity. Shellfish declines have also occurred in many parts of the North American Pacific coast that do not have sea otters, and conservationists sometimes note the existence of large concentrations of shellfish on the coast is a recent development resulting from the fur trade's near-extirpation of the sea otter. Although many factors affect shellfish stocks, sea otter predation can deplete a fishery to the point where it is no longer


title: "Sea otter" content: commercially viable. Scientists agree that sea otters and abalone fisheries cannot exist in the same area, and the same is likely true for certain other types of shellfish, as well. Many facets of the interaction between sea otters and the human economy are not as immediately felt. Sea otters have been credited with contributing to the kelp harvesting industry via their well-known role in controlling sea urchin populations; kelp is used in the production of diverse food and pharmaceutical products. Although human divers harvest red sea urchins both for food and to protect the kelp, sea otters hunt more sea


title: "Sea otter" content: urchin species and are more consistently effective in controlling these populations. The health of the kelp forest ecosystem is significant in nurturing populations of fish, including commercially important fish species. In some areas, sea otters are popular tourist attractions, bringing visitors to local hotels, restaurants, and sea otter-watching expeditions. For many maritime indigenous cultures throughout the North Pacific, especially the Ainu in the Kuril Islands, the Koryaks and Itelmen of Kamchatka, the Aleut in the Aleutian Islands, the Haida of Haida Gwaii and a host of tribes on the Pacific coast of North America, the sea otter has played an


title: "Sea otter" content: important role as a cultural, as well as material, resource. In these cultures, many of which have strongly animist traditions full of legends and stories in which many aspects of the natural world are associated with spirits, the sea otter was considered particularly kin to humans. The Nuu-chah-nulth, Haida, and other First Nations of coastal British Columbia used the warm and luxurious pelts as chiefs' regalia. Sea otter pelts were given in potlatches to mark coming-of-age ceremonies, weddings, and funerals. The Aleuts carved sea otter bones for use as ornaments and in games, and used powdered sea otter baculum as


title: "Sea otter" content: a medicine for fever. Among the Ainu, the otter is portrayed as an occasional messenger between humans and the creator. The sea otter is a recurring figure in Ainu folklore. A major Ainu epic, the "Kutune Shirka", tells the tale of wars and struggles over a golden sea otter. Versions of a widespread Aleut legend tell of lovers or despairing women who plunge into the sea and become otters. These links have been associated with the many human-like behavioral features of the sea otter, including apparent playfulness, strong mother-pup bonds and tool use, yielding to ready anthropomorphism. The beginning of


title: "Sea otter" content: commercial exploitation had a great impact on the human, as well as animal, populations the Ainu and Aleuts have been displaced or their numbers are dwindling, while the coastal tribes of North America, where the otter is in any case greatly depleted, no longer rely as intimately on sea mammals for survival. Since the mid-1970s, the beauty and charisma of the species have gained wide appreciation, and the sea otter has become an icon of environmental conservation. The round, expressive face and soft, furry body of the sea otter are depicted in a wide variety of souvenirs, postcards, clothing, and


title: "Sea otter" content: stuffed toys. Sea otters can do well in captivity, and are featured in over 40 public aquariums and zoos. The Seattle Aquarium became the first institution to raise sea otters from conception to adulthood with the birth of Tichuk in 1979, followed by three more pups in the early 1980s. In 2007, a YouTube video of two sea otters holding paws drew 1.5 million viewers in two weeks, and had over 20 million views . Filmed five years previously at the Vancouver Aquarium, it was YouTube's most popular animal video at the time, although it has since been surpassed. The


title: "Sea otter" content: lighter-colored otter in the video is Nyac, a survivor of the 1989 "Exxon Valdez" oil spill. Nyac died in September 2008, at the age of 20. Milo, the darker one, died of lymphoma in January 2012 Sea otter The sea otter ("Enhydra lutris") is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smallest marine mammals. Unlike most marine mammals, the sea otter's primary form of insulation is an exceptionally thick coat of fur, the


title: "Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations" content: their backs... They are the students who would have been in AEM except for the fact that they have souls. These students’ passion for the underdog and stunning good looks make ILR, hands down, the number one sexiest major at Cornell." Undergraduates have a number of internship opportunities, including semester-long for-credit internships. The school also sponsors non-credit internships over the January break or during the summer. Students can also participate in the Arts College's Cornell-in-Washington program. Students in the top 20% of their junior class can write a senior thesis and thereby graduate with honors. Graduate-level degrees offered through the


title: "Coccoloba uvifera" content: Coccoloba uvifera Coccoloba uvifera is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae, that is native to coastal beaches throughout tropical America and the Caribbean, including southern Florida, the Bahamas, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and Bermuda. Common names include seagrape and baygrape. In late summer, it bears green fruit, about diameter, in large, grape-like clusters. The fruit gradually ripens to a purplish color. Each contains a large pit that constitutes most of the volume of the fruit. Capable of surviving down to about 2 °C (35.6 °F), the tree is unable to survive frost. The leaves turn


title: "Coccoloba uvifera" content: reddish before withering. Its seeds must be planted immediately, for unlike most plants, they cannot withstand being stored for future planting. "C. uvifera" is wind resistant, moderately tolerant of shade, and highly tolerant of salt, so it is often planted to stabilize beach edges; it is also planted as an ornamental shrub. The fruit is very tasty, and can be used for jam or eaten directly from the tree. Sea grape is a dioecious species, that is, male and female flowers are borne on separate plants, and cross-pollination is necessary for fruit to develop. Honey bees and other insects help


title: "Coccoloba uvifera" content: pollinate these plants; male and female plants can be distinguished by the appearance of their flowers, as males usually show dead flower stalks. "Coccoloba uvifera" is a popular ornamental plant in south Florida yards. It serves as a dune stabilizer and protective habitat for small animals. Tall sea grape plants behind beaches help prevent sea turtles from being distracted by lights from nearby buildings. The sap has been used for dyeing and tanning leather. The wood has occasionally been used in furniture, as firewood, or for making charcoal. The fruits of the sea grape may be eaten raw, cooked into


title: "Coccoloba uvifera" content: jellies and jams, or fermented into sea grape wine. The first botanical names of the plant were assigned in 1696 by Hans Sloane, who called it "Prunus maritima racemosa", "maritime grape-cluster Prunus", and Leonard Plukenet, who named it "Uvifera littorea", "grape-bearer of the shore", both of which names reflect the European concept of "sea-grape", expressed in a number of languages by the explorers of the times. The natives viewed it as a large mulberry. The first edition of Linnaeus's "Species Plantarum" (1753), based on Plukenet, assigned the plant to "Polygonum uvifera" and noted "flores non vidi", "I have not seen


title: "Coccoloba uvifera" content: the flowers." Subsequently, Patrick Browne, "The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica" (1756) devised "Coccoloba", "red-leaf", for it. Relying on Browne, Linnaeus' second edition (1762), changed the classification to "Coccolobus uvifera", citing all the other names. Coccoloba uvifera Coccoloba uvifera is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae, that is native to coastal beaches throughout tropical America and the Caribbean, including southern Florida, the Bahamas, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and Bermuda. Common names include seagrape and baygrape. In late summer, it bears green fruit, about diameter, in large, grape-like clusters. The fruit gradually ripens to a


title: "BBC Scotland" content: UK. BBC Scotland operates the regional variants of BBC One and Two, BBC Radio Scotland, as well as radio and television outlets—Radio nan Gàidheal and BBC Alba—which broadcast in the Scottish Gaelic language. The first radio service in Scotland was launched by the British Broadcasting Company on 6 March 1923. Named 5SC and located in Bath Street in Glasgow, the services gradually expanded to include the new stations 2BD, 2DE and 2EH, based at Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh respectively. Around 1927, the new Corporation, as the BBC now was, decided to combine these local stations into regions under the generic


title: "BBC Three Counties Radio" content: west Hertfordshire in late 2005. The station's satellite studio at Willen in Milton Keynes produced separate breakfast show for the Milton Keynes area from October 2001 until September 2012. With the opening of new transmitters in Buckinghamshire, the Milton Keynes opt-outs were extended across the whole county, with a separate drivetime show from November 2004 until October 2005, before producing the separate lunchtime programme which ended in February 2007 with a revamp of the schedule. The Buckinghamshire opt-out was scaled back to a breakfast show for Milton Keynes only, "Morning MK with Helen Legh". The studio at Willen was also


title: "Northrop X-4 Bantam" content: tests and made its first flight on December 15, 1948, with Northrop test pilot Charles Tucker at the controls. Winter rains flooded Rogers Dry Lake soon after, preventing additional X-4 flights until April 1949. The first X-4 proved mechanically unreliable, and made only ten flights. Walter C. Williams, the head of the NACA Muroc Flight Test Unit (now Dryden Flight Research Center) called the aircraft a "lemon". The second X-4 (serial number 46-677) was delivered during the halt of flights, and soon proved far more reliable. It made a total of 20 contractor flights. Despite this, the contractor flight program


title: "Blindness and education" content: severe vision impairment in the world with nearly 80 lakhs in India itself out of which number of blind students is close to 30 lakhs. Blind students continue to study with huge efforts and surmounting all obstacles with positive attitude. As per the law of nature, when one sensory organ does not function in human body, the other sensory organs become more active to compensate the defect. In case of blind person, hearing and touch are very active and play an important role. Aniruddha’s Bank for The Blind conceptualized and operationalized by Shree Aniruddha Upasana Foundation, Mumbai, India supports the


title: "Spot-billed pelican" content: thought to be on the rise. Estimates suggest that increased protection has since enabled a recovery in their numbers and the status of the species was changed from vulnerable to near threatened in the 2007 IUCN Red List. They are very silent although at their nests they can make hisses, grunts or snap their bills. Some early descriptions of nesting colonies have claimed them to be distinctive in their silence but most have noted colonies as noisy. Like most other pelicans, it catches fish in its huge bill pouch while swimming at the surface. Unlike the great white pelican it


title: Kale content: Kale Kale () or leaf cabbage are certain cultivars of cabbage ("Brassica oleracea") grown for their edible leaves. A kale plant has green or purple leaves and the central leaves do not form a head (as with headed cabbages). Kales are considered to be closer to wild cabbage than most domesticated forms of "Brassica oleracea". "Kale" originates from Northern Middle English "cale" (compare Scots "kail") for various cabbages. The ultimate origin is Latin "caulis" 'cabbage'. Kale originated in the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor, where it was cultivated for food beginning by 2000 B.C. at the latest. Curly-leaved varieties of


title: Kale content: cabbage already existed along with flat-leaved varieties in Greece in the fourth century BC. It was also used as medicinal food source. Disocorides wrote that it could be used to treat bowel ailments. These forms, which were referred to by the Romans as Sabellian kale, are considered to be the ancestors of modern kales. The earliest record of cabbages in western Europe is of hard-heading cabbage in the 13th century. Records in 14th-century England distinguish between hard-heading cabbage and loose-leaf kale. Russian kale was introduced into Canada, and then into the United States, by Russian traders in the 19th century.


title: Kale content: USDA botanist David Fairchild is credited with introducing kale (and many other crops) to Americans, having brought it back from Croatia, although Fairchild himself disliked cabbages, including kale. At the time, kale was widely grown in Croatia mostly because it was easy to grow and inexpensive, and could desalinate soil. For most of the twentieth century, kale was primarily used in the United States for decorative purposes; it became more popular as an edible vegetable in the 1990s due to its nutritional value. During World War II, the cultivation of kale (and other vegetables) in the U.K. was encouraged by


title: Kale content: the Dig for Victory campaign. The vegetable was easy to grow and provided important nutrients missing from a diet because of rationing. Some varieties can reach a height of 17 or 18 feet, while others are compact, symmetrical and of good quality for eating. Many, however, are coarse and indigestible. Most kales are annuals or biennials. Kale seeds resemble those of cabbage in size, form, and color. One may differentiate between kale varieties according to the low, intermediate, or high length of the stem, along with the variety of leaf types. The leaf colours range from light green to green,


title: Kale content: to dark green and violet-green, to violet-brown. Classification by leaf type: Because kale can grow well into winter, one variety of "rape kale" is called ""hungry gap"" after the period in winter in traditional agriculture when little else could be harvested. An extra-tall variety is known as "Jersey kale" or "cow cabbage". "Kai-lan" or "Chinese kale" is a cultivar often used in Chinese cuisine. In Portugal, the bumpy-leaved kale is mostly called "couve galega" (Galician kale or Portuguese Cabbage), although in some regions other names may be used. Many varieties of kale and cabbage are grown mainly for ornamental leaves


title: Kale content: that are brilliant white, red, pink, lavender, blue or violet in the interior of the rosette. The different types of ornamental kale are peacock kale, coral prince, kamone coral queen, color up kale and chidori kale. "Ornamental kale" is as edible as any other variety, but potentially not as palatable. Kale leaves are increasingly used as an ingredient for vegetable bouquets and wedding bouquets. Kale is usually an annual plant grown from seed with a wide range of germination temperatures. It is hardy and thrives in wintertime, and can survive in temperatures as low as -15 degrees Celsius. Kale can


title: Kale content: become sweeter after a heavy frost. Raw kale is composed of 84% water, 9% carbohydrates, 4% protein, and 1% fat (table). In a 100 gram serving, raw kale provides 49 calories and a large amount of vitamin K at 3.7 times the Daily Value (DV) (table). It is a rich source (20% or more of the DV) of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B6, folate, and manganese (see table "Kale, raw"). Kale is a good source (10–19% DV) of thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, vitamin E and several dietary minerals, including iron, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus (see table "Kale, raw"). Boiling


title: Kale content: raw kale diminishes most of these nutrients, while values for vitamins A, C, and K, and manganese remain substantial (see table "Kale, cooked"). Kale is a source of the carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin (tables). As with broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, kale contains glucosinolate compounds, such as glucoraphanin, which contributes to the formation of sulforaphane, a compound under preliminary research for its potential to affect human health. Boiling kale decreases the level of glucosinate compounds, whereas steaming, microwaving or stir frying does not cause significant loss. Kale contains high levels of polyphenols, such as ferulic acid, with levels varying due


title: Kale content: to environmental and genetic factors. Flavored "kale chips" have been produced as a potato chip substitute. In the Southern United States, kale is often served braised, either alone or mixed with greens like collard, mustard, or turnip. It is also used in salads. In Brazil, kale is a side dish for a common stew called "feijoada". Various kale types are eaten throughout south-eastern Africa, where they are typically boiled with coconut milk and ground peanuts, and served with rice, or boiled cornmeal. In the Netherlands, a traditional winter dish called "boerenkoolstamppot" is a mix of curly kale and mashed potatoes,


title: Kale content: sometimes with fried bacon, and served with rookworst ("smoked sausage"). In Italy, cavolo nero kale is an ingredient of the Tuscan soup ribollita. A whole culture around kale has developed in northern Germany, especially around the towns of Bremen, Oldenburg, Osnabrück and Hannover and the region of Dithmarschen. There, most social clubs of any kind will have a "Grünkohlessen" or "Kohlfahrt" ("kale tour") sometime between October and February, visiting a country inn to consume kale stew, pinkel sausage, kassler, and mettwurst. Most communities in the area have a yearly kale festival which includes naming a "kale king" (or queen). Curly


title: Kale content: kale is used in Denmark and southwestern Sweden (Scania, Halland and Blekinge) to make "(grøn-)langkål" (Danish) or "långkål" (Swedish), an obligatory dish on the "julbord" in the region, and is commonly served together with the Christmas ham (Sweden). The leaves of the kale are separated from the stem and then boiled with stock. The result is drained and pressed to remove the remaining liquid. The kale can then be frozen for up to 6–8 months. To make "langkål", the kale is defrosted, finely chopped then fried with cream, pepper, and syrup (or sugar) for sweetening. In Sweden, it is also


title: Kale content: commonly eaten as a soup, with a base of ham broth and the addition of onion and pork sausages. A traditional Portuguese soup, "caldo verde", combines pureed potatoes, diced kale, olive oil and salt. Additional ingredients can include broth and sliced, cooked spicy sausage. In Montenegro and Croatia, collards and kale, locally known as "raštika" or "raštan", is a favourite vegetable. It is particularly popular in the winter, cooked with smoked mutton ("kaštradina") and potatoes. In Scotland, kale provided such a base for a traditional diet that the word in some is synonymous with food. To be "off one's kail"


title: Kale content: is to feel too ill to eat. In Ireland, kale is mixed with mashed potatoes to make the traditional dish "colcannon". It is popular on Halloween, when it may be served with sausages. In Turkey, especially in the eastern Black Sea region, kale soup (karalahana çorbası), kale sarma, kale kavurma (sauté), and kale turşu are common dishes. A variety of kale, called kai-lan or Gai lan, is a common vegetable in China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, where it may be consumed with beef dishes. In Japan and South Korea, kale juice, known in Japan as "aojiru" (AKA "green juice"), is used


title: Kale content: as a dietary supplement. The Kailyard school of Scottish writers, which included J. M. Barrie (creator of Peter Pan), consisted of authors who wrote about traditional rural Scottish life (kailyard = kale field). In Cuthbertson's book "Autumn in Kyle and the charm of Cunninghame", he states that Kilmaurs in East Ayrshire was famous for its kale, which was an important foodstuff. A story is told in which a neighbouring village offered to pay a generous price for some kale seeds, an offer too good to turn down. The locals agreed, but a gentle roasting on a shovel over a coal


title: Kale content: fire ensured that the seeds never germinated. Kale Kale () or leaf cabbage are certain cultivars of cabbage ("Brassica oleracea") grown for their edible leaves. A kale plant has green or purple leaves and the central leaves do not form a head (as with headed cabbages). Kales are considered to be closer to wild cabbage than most domesticated forms of "Brassica oleracea". "Kale" originates from Northern Middle English "cale" (compare Scots "kail") for various cabbages. The ultimate origin is Latin "caulis" 'cabbage'. Kale originated in the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor, where it was cultivated for food beginning by 2000


title: "SGI Octane" content: and external storage options (through SCSI, Fibre-Channel or Firewire). Octanes can use standard PCI cards with optional PCI cardcage (which provides 2-full length and 1 half-length 5V PCI-64 slots), or a PCI to XIO adapter (known as a 'shoehorn' which provides a single 3.3/5V 64-bit PCI slot). Older Octanes can be upgraded with VPro graphics however V10 and V12 graphics board require xbow revision 1.4 and Cherokee power supply. VPro V6 and V8 require xbow revision 1.3 and Cherokee power supply. There's distinct difference between Cherokee (747 watt) and older Lucent (623 watt) power supplies. Mounting handle is silver in


title: Muskrat content: Muskrat The muskrat ("Ondatra zibethicus"), the only species in genus Ondatra and tribe Ondatrini, is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and is an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitats. It has important effects on the ecology of wetlands, and is a resource of food and fur for humans. The muskrat is the largest species in the subfamily Arvicolinae, which includes 142 other species of rodents, mostly voles and lemmings. Muskrats are referred to as "rats" in a general sense


title: Muskrat content: because they are medium-sized rodents with an adaptable lifestyle and an omnivorous diet. They are not, however, members of the genus "Rattus". The muskrat's name probably comes from a word of Algonquian (possibly Powhatan) origin, "muscascus" (literally "it is red", so called for its colorings), or from the Abenaki native word "mòskwas", as seen in the archaic English name for the animal, "musquash". Because of the association with the "musky" odor, which the muskrat uses to mark its territory, and its flattened tail, the name became altered to musk-beaver; later it became "muskrat" due to its resemblance to rats. Similarly,


title: Muskrat content: its specific name "zibethicus" means "musky", being the adjective of "civet musk; civet". The genus name comes from the Huron word for the animal, "ondathra", and entered New Latin as "Ondatra" via French. An adult muskrat is about long, half of that is the tail, and weighs from . That is about four times the weight of the brown rat ("Rattus norvegicus"), though an adult muskrat is only slightly longer, and are almost certainly the largest and heaviest members of the diverse family Cricetidae, which includes all voles, lemmings, and most mice native to the Americas. Muskrats are much smaller


title: Muskrat content: than beavers ("Castor canadensis"), with which they often share their habitat. Muskrats are covered with short, thick fur, which is medium to dark brown or black in color, with the belly a bit lighter (countershaded); as the age increases, it turns a partly gray in color. The fur has two layers, which helps protect them from the cold water. They have long tails covered with scales rather than hair, and to aid them in swimming, are slightly flattened vertically, which is a shape that is unique to them. When they walk on land, their tails drag on the ground, which


title: Muskrat content: makes their tracks easy to recognize. Muskrats spend most of their time in the water and are well suited for their semiaquatic life. They can swim under water for 12 to 17 minutes. Their bodies, like those of seals and whales, are less sensitive to the buildup of carbon dioxide than those of most other mammals. They can close off their ears to keep the water out. Their hind feet are semi-webbed, although in swimming, their tails are their main means of propulsion. Muskrats are found over most of Canada and the United States and a small part of northern


title: Muskrat content: Mexico. They were introduced to Europe in the beginning of the 20th century and have become an invasive species in northwestern Europe. They mostly inhabit wetlands, areas in or near saline and freshwater wetlands, rivers, lakes, or ponds. They are not found in Florida, where the round-tailed muskrat, or Florida water rat ("Neofiber alleni"), fills their ecological niche. Their populations naturally cycle; in areas where they become abundant, they are capable of removing much of the vegetation in wetlands. They are thought to play a major role in determining the vegetation of prairie wetlands in particular. They also selectively remove


title: Muskrat content: preferred plant species, thereby changing the abundance of plant species in many kinds of wetlands. Species commonly eaten include cattail and yellow water lily. Alligators are thought to be an important natural predator, and the absence of muskrats from Florida may in part be the result of alligator predation. While much wetland habitat has been eliminated due to human activity, new muskrat habitat has been created by the construction of canals or irrigation channels, and the muskrat remains common and widespread. They are able to live alongside streams which contain the sulfurous water that drains away from coal mines. Fish


title: Muskrat content: and frogs perish in such streams, yet muskrats may thrive and occupy the wetlands. Muskrats also benefit from human persecution of some of their predators. The muskrat is classed as a "prohibited new organism" under New Zealand's Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, preventing it from being imported into the country. Trematode "Metorchis conjunctus" can also infect muskrats. Muskrats normally live in groups consisting of a male and female pair and their young. During the spring, they often fight with other muskrats over territory and potential mates. Many are injured or killed in these fights. Muskrat families build nests


title: Muskrat content: to protect themselves and their young from cold and predators. In streams, ponds, or lakes, muskrats burrow into the bank with an underwater entrance. These entrances are wide. In marshes, push-ups are constructed from vegetation and mud. These push-ups are up to in height. In snowy areas, they keep the openings to their push-ups closed by plugging them with vegetation, which they replace every day. Some muskrat push-ups are swept away in spring floods and have to be replaced each year. Muskrats also build feeding platforms in wetlands. They help maintain open areas in marshes, which helps to provide habitat


title: Muskrat content: for aquatic birds. Muskrats are most active at night or near dawn and dusk. They feed on cattail and other aquatic vegetation. They do not store food for the winter, but sometimes eat the insides of their push-ups. While they may appear to steal food beavers have stored, more seemingly cooperative partnerships with beavers exist, as featured in the BBC David Attenborough wildlife documentary "The Life of Mammals". Plant materials compose about 95% of their diets, but they also eat small animals, such as freshwater mussels, frogs, crayfish, fish, and small turtles. Muskrats follow trails they make in swamps and


title: Muskrat content: ponds. When the water freezes, they continue to follow their trails under the ice. Muskrats provide an important food resource for many other animals, including mink, foxes, coyotes, wolves, lynx, bears, eagles, snakes, alligators, and large owls and hawks. Otters, snapping turtles, and large fish such as pike prey on baby muskrats. Caribou and elk sometimes feed on the vegetation which makes up muskrat push-ups during the winter when other food is scarce for them. In their introduced range in the former Soviet Union, the muskrat's greatest predator is the golden jackal. They can be completely eradicated in shallow water


title: Muskrat content: bodies, and during the winter of 1948–49 in the Amu Darya (river in central Asia), muskrats constituted 12.3% of jackal faeces contents, and 71% of muskrat houses were destroyed by jackals, 16% of which froze and became unsuitable for muskrat occupation. Jackals also harm the muskrat industry by eating muskrats caught in traps or taking skins left out to dry. Muskrats, like most rodents, are prolific breeders. Females can have two or three litters a year of six to eight young each. The babies are born small and hairless, and weigh only about . In southern environments, young muskrats mature


title: Muskrat content: in six months, while in colder northern environments, it takes about a year. Muskrat populations appear to go through a regular pattern of rise and dramatic decline spread over a six- to 10-year period. Some other rodents, including famously the muskrat's close relatives the lemmings, go through the same type of population changes. Native Americans have long considered the muskrat to be a very important animal. Some predict winter snowfall levels by observing the size and timing of muskrat lodge construction. In several Native American creation myths, the muskrat dives to the bottom of the primordial sea to bring up


title: Muskrat content: the mud from which the earth is created, after other animals have failed in the task. Muskrats have sometimes been a food resource for North Americans. In the southeastern portion of Michigan, a longstanding dispensation allows Catholics to consume muskrat as their Friday penance, on Ash Wednesday, and on Lenten Fridays (when the eating of meat, except for fish, is prohibited); this tradition dates back to at least the early 19th century. Muskrat fur is warm, becoming prime at the beginning of December in northern North America. In the early 20th century, the trapping of the animal for its fur


title: Muskrat content: became an important industry there. During that era, the fur was specially trimmed and dyed to be sold widely in the US as "Hudson seal" fur. Muskrats were introduced at that time to Europe as a fur resource, and spread throughout northern Europe and Asia. In some European countries, such as Belgium, France, and the Netherlands, the muskrat is considered an invasive pest, as its burrowing damages the dikes and levees on which these low-lying countries depend for protection from flooding. In those countries, it is trapped, poisoned, and hunted to attempt to keep the population down. Muskrats also eat


title: Muskrat content: corn and other farm and garden crops growing near water bodies. Royal Canadian Mounted Police winter hats are made from muskrat fur. Muskrat The muskrat ("Ondatra zibethicus"), the only species in genus Ondatra and tribe Ondatrini, is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and is an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitats. It has important effects on the ecology of wetlands, and is a resource of food and fur for humans. The muskrat is the largest species in the subfamily


title: "Isle of Grain" content: in the Hundred of Hoo, the village was named after the dedication of its parish church; compare Allhallows (= All Saints), St Mary Hoo, Hoo St Werburgh. Wallend is the other settlement, now uninhabited and contained within a fenced-off industrial site. The Medway Power Station now occupies the site. Local historian Alan Bignell gives this description of the new port and accompanying railway: In the late 1870s the South Eastern Railway decided to promote a line through the (Hoo) district, with a view to competing for the traffic from London to Sheerness, formerly an almost unchallenged stronghold of the London,


title: Rokurokubi content: well's pulley (since it elongates). or an umbrella handle (which also elongates). The nukekubi are rokurokubi whose heads come off and float about. These were the first rokurokubi, whereas the other kind came afterwards. Nukekubi sometimes perform bad deeds such as attacking at night and drinking their victims' blood. It's theorized that the nukekubi has a weakness when it is sleeping and the head is floating around: if the body moves, then the head cannot be re-united to the body. Classical literature about rokurokubi describe tales of people witnessing and encountering floating heads at night time. Sometimes, the action of


title: "Photographers of the American Civil War" content: forty years and was residing in the upscale suburb of Germantown. Gutekunst suffered from Bright's Disease, which may have precipitated a fall down some stairs eight weeks before his death. Edward Tompkins Whitney (1820–1893) In 1844, Whitney, born in New York City, quit the jewelry business to learn the daguerreotype process from Matrin M. Lawrence, before moving to Rochester New York in 1846, as an operator in the studio of Thomas Mercer. In 1850, J. W. Black of Boston instructed Whitney in the "new art" of wet-plate collodion photography. Whitney opened his own "Skylight Gallery" in Rochester in 1851, and


title: "Test for Echo" content: on something else. As Peart wrote: "They didn't want to get bogged down in the 'jigsaw puzzle' of assembling whole songs, but rather keep the momentum going with a flow of fresh ideas." After a collection of songs were worked out, the group started to refine their individual parts. In November 1995, the group were faced with heavy snow at Chalet Studios which led into the North American blizzard of 1996 in early January. The snow continued through the recording of the album, which inspired the album's artwork. Almost all of the tracks were written, arranged, and put onto a


title: Quilling content: quilled flowers among many things. During the Renaissance, French and Italian nuns and monks used quilling to decorate book covers and religious items. The paper most commonly used was strips of paper trimmed from the gilded edges of books. These gilded paper strips were then rolled to create the quilled shapes. Quilling often imitated the original ironwork of the day. In the 18th century, quilling became popular in Europe where gentle ladies of quality ("ladies of leisure") practiced the art. It was one of the few things ladies could do that was thought not too taxing for their minds or


title: "Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia" content: Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia Crystal City is an urban neighborhood in the southeastern corner of Arlington County, Virginia, south of downtown Washington, D.C. Due to its extensive integration of office buildings and residential high-rise buildings using underground corridors, travel between stores, offices, and residences is possible without going above ground; thus, a large part of Crystal City is an underground city. Crystal City includes offices of numerous defense contractors, the United States Department of Labor, the United States Marshals Service and many satellite offices for The Pentagon. It is also the location of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Crystal City


title: "Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia" content: is centered along a stretch of Jefferson Davis Highway (U.S. 1), just south of The Pentagon, just east of Pentagon City, and within walking distance to the west of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Characterized as one of many "urban villages" by Arlington County, Crystal City is almost exclusively populated by high-rise apartment buildings, corporate offices, hotels, and numerous shops and restaurants. There is also an extensive network of underground shopping areas and connecting corridors beneath Crystal City. Crystal City has a station on the Washington Metro Blue and Yellow Lines, and another on the Virginia Railway Express commuter train


title: "Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia" content: system. The layout of Crystal City was considered avant-garde at the time of construction, with superblocks bounded by arterial and circulating roads, and with pedestrian traffic and the businesses serving it relocated from the streets to the pedestrian tunnels. However, Crystal City has since been redesigned to give it a more traditional, urban feel, with restaurants at street level, and with traffic patterns changed to make streets like Crystal Drive function as city streets, rather than as circulating roads. As a consequence of Crystal City's extensive integration with both office buildings and residential high-rise buildings, it is possible for most


title: "Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia" content: residents living to the east of Route 1 to traverse from one end to the other (roughly north-south), performing shopping or dining along the way, entirely underground, thus making a large part of Crystal City an underground city. This is of particular convenience during inclement weather. Before development by the Charles E. Smith Co., the area was mostly composed of industrial sites, junkyards, and low-rent motels. A drive-in theater existed at the intersection of Jefferson Davis Highway and 20th Street South between 1947 and 1963 and is visible on aerial photos of the period. The RF&P railroad tracks were moved


title: "Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia" content: closer to National Airport to accommodate more space for development. Though it is not a planned community, it unfolded in much that fashion after construction began on the first few condominiums and office buildings in 1963. The name "Crystal City" came from the first building, which was called "Crystal House" and had an elaborate crystal chandelier in the lobby. Every subsequent building took on the Crystal name (e.g., Crystal Gateway, Crystal Towers) and eventually the whole neighborhood. Crystal City is largely integrated in layout and extensive landscaping, as well as the style and materials of the high rise buildings, most


title: "Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia" content: of which have a speckled granite exterior. Crystal City's "Crystal Underground" shopping mall opened in September 1976. Billed as a "turn-of-the-century shopping village," it featured antique leaded glass shop windows and cobblestone "streets." Emphasis was on locally owned and operated businesses and personalized service. The largest retail outlets were a Jelleff's women's store, Larimers gourmet grocery and delicatessen, and a Drug Fair. The mall also featured an "Antique Alley" with small antique and craft stores. At opening there were 40 stores, with an anticipated expansion of with 70 more shops including the Crystal Palace food court. On June 26, 2004,


title: "Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia" content: the Crystal City area underwent a number of changes. Many buildings' addresses were changed on this date, several major roads were turned into two-way streets, and many of the markings for the traditional building names (e.g., "Crystal Gateway 1") were removed. As a result, local residents may refer to building names that are difficult for visitors to find. Crystal City currently has over 22,000 residents, while around 60,000 come to work there every weekday. It is home to the headquarters of the Mine Safety and Health Administration and the United States Marshals Service. It also has offices of numerous defense


title: "Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia" content: contractors, the Environmental Protection Agency, the General Services Administration, and many satellite offices for The Pentagon, especially during the Pentagon Renovation Program. Pentagon offices in Crystal City include the headquarters of the Warrior Transition Command and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. At one time US Airways had its headquarters in Crystal Park Four in Crystal City. After US Airways merged with America West Airlines in 2005, the combined company closed the Virginia headquarters and moved the management to Tempe, Arizona, in Greater Phoenix. Crystal City is home to several associations and technology companies, including American Diabetes Association, American


title: "Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia" content: Public Power Association, 1776, Eastern Foundry, TechShop, PBS since 2006 and more. On November 5, 2018, it was claimed that Amazon.com was in final talks to construct one of two campuses for its proposed Amazon HQ2 in Crystal City. The other campus would be located in Long Island City in Queens, New York City. Both campuses would have 25,000 workers. The selections of Crystal City and Long Island City for the HQ2 sites were confirmed on November 13, 2018. In Amazon's announcement, a joint press release was presented by the Northern Virginia bidders that Amazon's HQ2 neighborhood location would officially


title: "Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia" content: be renamed "National Landing", which encompasses not only Crystal City but also Pentagon City and Potomac Yard. Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia Crystal City is an urban neighborhood in the southeastern corner of Arlington County, Virginia, south of downtown Washington, D.C. Due to its extensive integration of office buildings and residential high-rise buildings using underground corridors, travel between stores, offices, and residences is possible without going above ground; thus, a large part of Crystal City is an underground city. Crystal City includes offices of numerous defense contractors, the United States Department of Labor, the United States Marshals Service and many satellite


title: "Staples Inc." content: PC at an unnamed office supplies retailer. Another advertisement style is used during its annual back-to-school campaign, in which the Christmas song "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is played while parents joyously shop for school supplies for their children, used for several years beginning in January 1995. Later, Alice Cooper appeared in a back-to-school campaign from August 2004. Within the ad, a hand is seen selecting various supplies while a girl looks on unhappily. She finally says, "I thought you said, 'School's out forever.'" Alice is shown behind the cart, saying, "The song goes 'School's out for


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (in German: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, but mostly just known as Gedächtniskirche ) is a Protestant church affiliated with the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia, a regional body of the Evangelical Church in Germany. It is located in Berlin on the Kurfürstendamm in the centre of the Breitscheidplatz. The original church on the site was built in the 1890s. It was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943. The present building, which consists of a church with an attached foyer and a separate belfry with an attached chapel, was


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: built between 1959 and 1963. The damaged spire of the old church has been retained and its ground floor has been made into a memorial hall. The Memorial Church today is a famous landmark of western Berlin, and is nicknamed by Berliners ""der hohle Zahn"", meaning "the hollow tooth". The construction of the church was part of a Protestant church-building programme initiated by Kaiser Wilhelm II and his consort Augusta Victoria to counter the German labour movement and socialist movement by a return to traditional religious values. Wilhelm II decided to name the church in honor of his grandfather Kaiser


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: Wilhelm I. The competition for the design was won by Franz Schwechten, member of the Bauakademie who had distinguished himself with the design of the Anhalter Bahnhof. Schwechten, a native Rhinelander, planned for a large church to be built in a Neo-Romanesque style modelled on the Bonn Minster with a Tuff stone facade. His design included of wall mosaic, a -high spire (now 71 metres, or 233 ft) and a nave which seated over 2,000 people. The foundation stone was laid on 22 March 1891, which was Wilhelm I's birthday. The church was dedicated on 1 September 1895, the eve


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: of Day of Sedan. At that time, the entrance hall in the lower section had not yet been completed; that part of the church was not opened and consecrated until 22 February 1906. Construction costs mounted to 6.8 million gold mark, raised primarily through donations. The church design, quite unfamiliar in the Brandenburg region, inspired several architectural projects in the surrounding area, like the "Romanisches Café" building, also designed by Schwechten. In World War II, on the night of 23 November 1943, the church was extensively damaged in an air raid. Yet it was by no means beyond repair. A


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: remnant of the spire and much of the entrance hall survived intact, as did the altar and the baptistry. After the war, in 1947, the curatorium of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche foundation (Stiftung) decided in favor of rebuilding the church, but the manner in which this should be done was contentiously debated until the late 1950s. In a two-phased design competition in 1956, the question of whether the secured remnant of the spire should be torn down or preserved was left open. The winner of the competition, architect Egon Eiermann, initially proposed, in both his submissions, for the remnant of the old


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: spire to be torn down, in favor of a completely new construction. But that plan provoked a public outcry in which the ruined tower was characterized as the "heart of Berlin"; as a result Eiermann revised the design to preserve the tower. He had most of the remaining structure pulled down, in order to build the modern church that now occupies most of the site. The new church was designed by Eiermann and consists of four buildings grouped around the remaining ruins of the old church. The initial design included the demolition of the spire of the old church but


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: following pressure from the public, it was decided to incorporate it into the new design. The four buildings comprise, on the west of the ruins, the new church with a foyer to its west, and to the east of the ruins, a tower with a chapel to its northeast. The plan of the church is octagonal while the plan of the tower is hexagonal. These components are sited on a plateau measuring 100 metres long and 40 metres wide. The new buildings are constructed of concrete, steel and glass. The walls of the church are made of a concrete honeycomb


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: containing 21,292 stained glass inlays. The glass, designed by Gabriel Loire, was inspired by the colours of the glass in Chartres Cathedral. The predominant colour is blue, with small areas of ruby red, emerald green and yellow. The church is 35 metres in diameter and 20.5 metres high with a capacity of over 1,000. Because of the distinctive appearance of the new buildings, it is sometimes nicknamed ""Lippenstift und Puderdose"" (the lipstick and the powder box) by Berliners. Inside the church, opposite the entrance, is a figure of the crucifixus which is suspended above the altar. This is made from


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: tombak and was designed by Karl Hemmeter. The cross on the altar, by Peter Tauchnitz, is of gilt silver with 37 rock crystals. To the left of the altar is the baptismal font on a stand filled with Carrara marble which contains a majolica bowl for the holy water. To the right of the altar is an octagonal pulpit. Opposite the altar on a gallery is an organ containing about 5,000 pipes, which was built by Schuke. Plexiglas panels have been installed over the organ gallery to improve the acoustics. By the northeast wall of the church are three works


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: of art. The first is a bronze plaque commemorating the Protestant martyrs who died during the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945. It incorporates a Spanish wooden crucifix dating from the 13th century. The plaque was placed in the church on 20 July 1964, the 20th anniversary of an attempt to assassinate Hitler. Next to this is the "Stalingrad Madonna", a symbol of hope and reconciliation. This is a charcoal drawing made by Kurt Reuber during the time he was trapped inside Stalingrad at Christmas 1942. Copies of this drawing have been sent to Coventry Cathedral and the Russian Orthodox


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: Church in Stalingrad (now Volgograd). The third item of art is an icon of the Virgin Mary from Volgograd. The tower is 12 metres in diameter and 53.5 metres high with a flat roof. Atop the tower is a pole carrying a gilded sphere above which is a gilded cross. It contains a belfry with six bronze bells cast from French cannon, booty from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. The foundation stone of the new church was laid on 9 May 1959, its roofing ceremony was carried out on 16 December 1960, the new bells were consecrated on 19 July


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: 1961, the new church was consecrated on 17 December 1961 and the foyer and chapel were completed in December 1963. Different bells are rung on different occasions: The entrance hall in the base of the damaged spire was reopened to visitors, having been consecrated on 7 January 1987. Its floor contains a mosaic of the Archangel Michael fighting the dragon. The vault shows a procession of Hohenzollern princes, early and more recent. Other mosaics show important monarchs in medieval Germany, Reformation thinkers and Reformation princes. Bas-relief sculptures illustrate scenes from biblical stories, scenes from the life of Kaiser Wilhelm I


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: and symbolic figures representing war and peace. In the north apse are 16 display panels which tell the story of the old church and its destruction. At the opposite end of the hall are three items which symbolise the history of the church. In the middle is a damaged statue of Christ which originally stood on the altar of the old church. To its right is the Cross of Nails which was made from nails in the roof timbers of Coventry Cathedral. This cathedral had been severely damaged in a German air raid on 14 November 1940. To the left


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: of the statue of Christ is an icon cross which was given by the Russian Orthodox Church and handed over in 1988. Outside the hall are four sandstone figures made by Stefan Kaehne. In December 2007, Charles Jeffrey Gray, a former British pilot who carried out World War II bombing raids over Germany, joined a campaign to rescue the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church from decay. After reading about the condition of the Church, Gray contacted Wolfgang Kuhla, the chairman of the church's advisory board, urging that its tower be restored. In response, a fund was launched to help raise the


title: "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" content: costs of its repair. Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (in German: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, but mostly just known as Gedächtniskirche ) is a Protestant church affiliated with the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia, a regional body of the Evangelical Church in Germany. It is located in Berlin on the Kurfürstendamm in the centre of the Breitscheidplatz. The original church on the site was built in the 1890s. It was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943. The present building, which consists of a church with an attached foyer and a separate belfry with


title: "Elaine May" content: a few weeks enrolled at any one time. May says she hated school and would spend her free time at home reading fairy tales and mythology. Her father died when she was 11 years old, and then she and her mother moved to Los Angeles, where May later enrolled in Hollywood High School. She dropped out when she was fourteen years old. Two years later, aged sixteen, she married Marvin May, an engineer and toy inventor. They had one child, Jeannie Berlin (born 1949), who became an actress and screenwriter. The couple divorced in 1960, and she married lyricist Sheldon


title: "White-breasted waterhen" content: White-breasted waterhen The white-breasted waterhen ("Amaurornis phoenicurus") is a waterbird of the rail and crake family, Rallidae, that is widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia. They are dark slaty birds with a clean white face, breast and belly. They are somewhat bolder than most other rails and are often seen stepping slowly with their tail cocked upright in open marshes or even drains near busy roads. They are largely crepuscular in activity and during the breeding season, just after the first rains, make loud and repetitive croaking calls. Adult white-breasted waterhens have mainly dark grey upperparts and flanks, and


title: "White-breasted waterhen" content: a white face, neck and breast. The lower belly and undertail are cinnamon coloured. The body is flattened laterally to allow easier passage through the reeds or undergrowth. They have long toes, a short tail and a yellow bill and legs. Sexes are similar but females measure slightly smaller. Immature birds are much duller versions of the adults. The downy chicks are black, as with all rails. Several subspecies are named for the populations that are widely distributed. The nominate subspecies is described from Sri Lanka but is often widened to include "chinensis" of mainland India and adjoining regions in


title: "White-breasted waterhen" content: Asia, west to Arabia and east nearly to Japan. The remaining subspecies are those from islands and include "insularis" of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, "midnicobaricus" of the central Nicobars, "leucocephala" of Car Nicobar, "maldivus" of the Maldives, "javanicus" of Java and "leucomelanus" of Sulawesi and the Lesser Sundas. Their breeding habitat is marshes across tropical Asia from Pakistan east to Indonesia. They are mainly seen in the plains but have been known from the higher hills such as in Nainital (1300m) and the High Range (1500m) in Kerala. These large 32 cm long rails are permanent residents throughout their


title: "White-breasted waterhen" content: range. They make short distance movements and are known to colonize new areas. They have been noted as some of the early colonizers on the volcanic island of Rakata. Although most often found near freshwater, they are also found near brackish water and even the seashore when there is no freshwater as on the volcanic Barren Island in the Andamans. These birds are usually seen singly or in pairs as they forage slowly along the edge of a waterbody mainly on the ground but sometimes clambering up low vegetation. The tail is held up and jerked as they walk. They


title: "White-breasted waterhen" content: probe with their bill in mud or shallow water, also picking up food by sight. They mainly eat insects (large numbers of beetles have been recorded), small fish (which are often carefully washed in water), aquatic invertebrates and grains or seeds such as those of "Pithecolobium dulce". They may sometimes feed in deeper water in the manner of a moorhen. The nesting season is mainly June to October but varies locally. They nest in a dry location on the ground in marsh vegetation, laying 6-7 eggs. Courtship involves bowing, billing and nibbling. The eggs hatch in about 19 days. Both


title: "White-breasted waterhen" content: sexes incubate the eggs and take care of the chicks. Chicks often dive underwater to escape predation. Adults are said to build a roost or brood nest where young chicks and the adults roost. Many rails are very secretive, but white-breasted waterhens are often seen out in the open. They can be noisy especially at dawn and dusk, with loud croaky calls. The Andamans population "insularis" is said to make duck like "quack" calls. Local names of this bird are often formed by onomatopoeia (based on the sound it makes), for example "ruak-ruak" in Malay and "korawakka" in Sinhala.; although


title: "White-breasted waterhen" content: differently formed local names are also not uncommon, such as "Dahuk" in Bengali (used in Bangladesh and the Bengali-speaking areas of India) and "Dauk" (ডাউক) in Assamese. In Odisha it is called as "Daahuka" in Odia (ଡାହୁକ). The naturalist writer "Eha" humorously describes the call of this species: ""It began with loud harsh roars which might have been elicited from a bear by roasting it slowly over a large fire, then suddenly changed to a clear note repeated like the coo of a dove."" White-breasted waterhen The white-breasted waterhen ("Amaurornis phoenicurus") is a waterbird of the rail and crake family,


title: "Babe: Pig in the City" content: Babe: Pig in the City Babe: Pig in the City is a 1998 Australian-American comedy-drama film and the sequel to the 1995 film "Babe". It is co-written, produced and directed by George Miller, who co-wrote and produced the original film. Most of the actors from the first film reappeared as their respective roles, including James Cromwell, Miriam Margolyes, Hugo Weaving, Danny Mann, Roscoe Lee Browne and Magda Szubanski. However, most of them have only brief appearances, as the story focuses on the journey of Babe and the farmer's wife Esme in the fictional city of Metropolis and Elizabeth Daily replaces


title: "Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier" content: Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier The Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier () is a pure breed terrier originating from Ireland. Wheatens typically have one of two coat types: Irish or American. The Irish coat is generally more silky and wavy than the American coat, which is thicker and fuller. Wheatens are generally friendly and playful, and tend to get along well with children and other dogs. The Wheaten was bred in Ireland for over two hundred years to be an all-purpose farm dog whose duties included herding, watching and guarding livestock, and vermin hunting and killing. They share a common ancestry with the Kerry


title: "Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier" content: Blue Terrier and the Irish Terrier but were not owned by gentry. In Ireland, they were commonly referred to as the "Poor Man's Wolfhound." Their tails used to be docked to avoid taxes and were often kept to a specific size. Despite its long history, the Wheaten was not recognised as a breed in Ireland by the Irish Kennel Club until 1937. In 1943, the British Kennel Club recognised the breed in the UK as well. The first Wheatens were exported to Lydia Vogel in the United States in the 1940s, but serious interest in the breed took another ten


title: "Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier" content: years to develop. In the 1970s, the first Wheatens were imported into Australia by Anubis Kennels. Finally, in 1973, they were recognised by the American Kennel Club. Recent importation of Irish-style dogs have improved and broadened the gene pool. Today, Wheatens compete in obedience, agility, and tracking and are occasionally used in animal-assisted therapy as well. Puppies have dark coats of red, brown, mahogany or white. Their muzzles and ears may be black or dark brown. The reddish-brown puppy coat gradually grows out to nearly white before maturing into a wheaten-coloured coat as they get older. The adult coat may


title: "Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier" content: contain black, white, or darker brown "guard" hairs in addition to the lighter wheaten-coloured hair. If adults ever have skin injuries, the resulting hair growth will be the dark colour of their puppy coat before it eventually grows out to the wheat color. It may also come out to a molten chocolate colour, either white or milky coloured. The breed standards for the English, American and Irish Wheaten state a Wheaten must have a single, soft silky coat. The Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier is a medium-sized dog, which ranges on average from in height and about in weight. The breed has


title: "Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier" content: a square structure and is well built. Their soft, silky hair does not shed like most dogs; like human hair and Poodle hair, it keeps growing; they do need trimming and should be brushed and combed once a day to avoid mats. They are very smart dogs, and are easy to train. They love people, and they rarely have aggression issues. The Irish coat tends to be thinner and silkier than the American variety. The Irish coat has a devoted following in Ireland and Europe. Breeders of the pure Irish type believe this is the original working coat. The coat


title: "Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier" content: is not thin – breeders of the Irish type consider the American heavy coat to be "bouffant", not that of the original working terrier type. There are a few breeders of the Irish type in the US and Canada. In the AKC conformation show ring, the judges do not always accept the Irish type well. The Irish is well received in the UK and Europe. The "Heavy Irish" coat is usually a result of cross breeding between coat types – American/English coat with an Irish type. The Irish coat still requires daily brushing to stay free of matted hair. The


title: "Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier" content: Wheatens seen in Ireland today are of the same size, shape and coat texture as those seen and documented well over 100 years ago. Evidence of this can be seen from the famous artwork "The Aran Fisherman's Drowned Child" by the Irish painter Frederic William Burton. Soft-coated Wheaten Terriers are generally a long-lived breed. They are susceptible to various heritable diseases, although are most known for two protein wasting conditions: protein-losing nephropathy (PLN), where the dogs lose protein via the kidneys; and protein-losing enteropathy (PLE), where the dogs fail to fully absorb protein in their digestive tracts, causing it to


title: "Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier" content: pass in their stool. Both PLN and PLE are potentially fatal, but if caught early enough, can sometimes be managed with strict dietary changes and pharmaceuticals. Laboratory tests can aid in diagnosing PLN and PLE; Wheaten owners should check their country's advised testing protocols. Research suggests that PLE and PLN often are more prevalent in female wheatens and often happen in concurrence, with PLE following diagnosis of PLN. While a genetic predisposition has been suggested, an unknown mode of inheritance remains. Research programs, mainly in the United States and the United Kingdom, are looking for answers. Other Wheaten health issues


title: "Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier" content: are renal dysplasia, inflammatory bowel disease, Addison's disease, and cancer. Some Wheatens can suffer from food and environmental allergies, and can be prone to developing the skin disease atopic dermatitis. Potential owners of Wheaten Terriers should discuss health issues with a breeder before deciding to get a puppy. The Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier is an energetic and playful dog. It requires patience and consistent positive training. Harsh methods will often result in fear and/or aggression. A positive, even-handed approach works best with this intelligent yet headstrong terrier. It is an enthusiastic greeter, and will often jump up to lick a person's


title: "Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier" content: face, commonly referred to as the "Wheaten greetin". Wheatens are considered less scrappy than other terriers, but they can be hyper and more active than many other breeds. For this reason these dogs do best when they are exercised regularly. They are cool weather dogs and can become easily overheated in hot weather. If socialised with cats and puppies, they may get along fine with them; if not, care should be taken in introducing them to cats, as the breed has a very strong "prey drive" because of its vermin-hunting origin. Wheatens are extremely friendly and loving pets, and get


title: "Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier" content: along well with other dogs if properly socialised. Wheatens are very protective of their families and, although they may bark in alert at strangers, they rarely get aggressive. Many Wheaten owners thus say they make great watch dogs, but poor guard dogs. Wheatens are a great dog for children and are generally friendly towards them. Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier The Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier () is a pure breed terrier originating from Ireland. Wheatens typically have one of two coat types: Irish or American. The Irish coat is generally more silky and wavy than the American coat, which is thicker and fuller.


title: "Operation Pedestal" content: Islands, torpedo boats between Cap Bon and Pantellaria and then the remnants of the convoy would be finished off by the 3rd and 7th Cruiser divisions General Rino Corso Fougier, the "Regia Aeronautica" chief of staff, had reported that forty modern fighters and bombers were available and that the day before, 101 aircraft had transferred from Italy to Sardinia and Sicily, bringing the total to 247 but "Superaereo" would not begin attacks until 13 August. Radio-controlled bombers would be used to crash onto the aircraft carriers and bombers from Crete and ten torpedo-bombers from the training school at Grosseto had


title: "Culture of Buddhism" content: CE whereby the Buddha was given realistic human features and proportions. "Buddhist religious architecture" most notably developed in South Asia in the third century BCE. Two types of structures are associated with early Buddhism: stupas and viharas. The initial function of a stupa was the veneration and safe-guarding of the relics of the Buddha. The earliest existing example of a stupa is in Sanchi (Madhya Pradesh). In accordance with changes in religious practice, stupas were gradually incorporated into chaitya-grihas (stupa halls). These reached their highpoint in the first century BCE, exemplified by the cave complexes of Ajanta and Ellora (Maharashtra).


title: "Goðafoss" content: Goðafoss The Goðafoss (Icelandic: "waterfall of the gods" or "waterfall of the goði") is a waterfall in Iceland. It is located in the Bárðardalur district of Northeastern Region at the beginning of the Sprengisandur highland road. The water of the river Skjálfandafljót falls from a height of 12 metres over a width of 30 metres. The river has its origin deep in the Icelandic highland and runs from the highland through the Bárðardalur valley, from Sprengisandur in the Highlands. In the year 999 or 1000 the lawspeaker Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði made Christianity the official religion of Iceland. According to a modern


title: "Goðafoss" content: myth, it is said that upon returning from the Alþingi, Þorgeir threw his statues of the Norse gods into the waterfall. The story of Þorgeir's role in the adoption of Christianity in Iceland is preserved in Ari Þorgilsson's "Íslendingabók". "Íslendingabók", however, makes no mention of Þorgeir throwing his idols into Goðafoss. A window in Akureyrarkirkja, the Cathedral of Akureyri, illustrates this story. MS Goðafoss, an Icelandic ship named after the waterfall, used to transport both freight and passengers. It was sunk by a German U-Boat in World War II, resulting in great loss of life. Goðafoss The Goðafoss (Icelandic: "waterfall


title: "Callinectes sapidus" content: Callinectes sapidus Callinectes sapidus (from the Greek ' = "beautiful", ' = "swimmer", and Latin ' = "savory"), the blue crab, Atlantic blue crab, or regionally as the Chesapeake blue crab, is a species of crab native to the waters of the western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and introduced internationally. "C. sapidus" is of significant culinary and economic importance in the United States, particularly in Louisiana, North Carolina, the Chesapeake Bay, and New Jersey. It is the Maryland state crustacean and is that state's largest commercial fishery. "Callinectes sapidus" is a decapod crab of the swimming crab


title: "Callinectes sapidus" content: family Portunidae. The genus "Callinectes" is distinguished from other portunid crabs by the lack of an internal spine on the carpus (the middle segment of the claw), as well as by the T-shape of the male abdomen. Blue crabs may grow to a carapace width of . "C. sapidus" individuals exhibit sexual dimorphism. Males and females are easily distinguished by the shape of the abdomen (known as the "apron") and by color differences in the chelipeds, or claws. The abdomen is long and slender in males, but wide and rounded in mature females. A popular mnemonic is that the male's


title: "Callinectes sapidus" content: apron is shaped like the Washington Monument, while the mature female's resembles the dome of the United States Capitol. Claw color differences are more subtle than apron shape. The immovable, fixed finger of the claws in males is blue with red tips, while females have orange coloration with purple tips. A female's abdomen changes as it matures: an immature female has a triangular-shaped abdomen, whereas a mature female's is rounded. Other species of "Callinectes" may be easily confused with "C. sapidus" because of overlapping ranges and similar morphology. One species is the lesser blue crab ("C. similis"). It is found


title: "Callinectes sapidus" content: further offshore than the common blue crab, and has a smoother granulated carapace. Males of the lesser blue crab also have mottled white coloration on the swimming legs, and females have areas of violet coloration on the internal surfaces of the claws. "C. sapidus" can be distinguished from another related species found within its range, "C. ornatus", by number of frontal teeth on the carapace. "C. sapidus" has four, while "C. ornatus" has six. The crab's blue hue stems from a number of pigments in the shell, including alpha-crustacyanin, which interacts with a red pigment, astaxanthin, to form a greenish-blue


title: "Callinectes sapidus" content: coloration. When the crab is cooked, the alpha-crustacyanin breaks down, leaving only the astaxanthin, which turns the crab to a bright purple. "Callinectes sapidus" is native to the western edge of the Atlantic Ocean from Cape Cod to Argentina and around the entire coast of the Gulf of Mexico. It has recently been reported north of Cape Cod in the Gulf of Maine, potentially representing a range expansion due to climate change. It has been introduced (via ballast water) to Japanese and European waters, and has been observed in the Baltic, North, Mediterranean and Black Seas. The first record from


title: "Callinectes sapidus" content: European waters was made in 1901 at Rochefort, France. In some parts of its introduced range, "C. sapidus" has become the subject of crab fishery, including in Greece, where the local population may be decreasing as a result of overfishing. The natural predators of "C. sapidus" include eels, drum, striped bass, spot, trout, some sharks, humans, cownose rays, and whiptail stingrays. "C. sapidus" is an omnivore, eating both plants and animals. "C. sapidus" typically consumes thin-shelled bivalves, annelids, small fish, plants and nearly any other item it can find, including carrion, other "C. sapidus" individuals, and animal waste. "C. sapidus"


title: "Callinectes sapidus" content: may be able to control populations of the invasive green crab, "Carcinus maenas"; numbers of the two species are negatively correlated, and "C. maenas" is not found in the Chesapeake Bay, where "C. sapidus" is most frequent. "Callinectes sapidus" is subject to a number of diseases and parasites. They include a number of viruses, bacteria, microsporidians, ciliates, and others. The nemertean worm "Carcinonemertes carcinophila" commonly parasitizes "C. sapidus", especially females and older crabs, although it has little adverse effect on the crab. A trematode that parasitizes "C. sapidus" is itself targeted by the hyperparasite "Urosporidium crescens". The most harmful parasites


title: "Callinectes sapidus" content: may be the microsporidian "Ameson michaelis", the amoeba "Paramoeba perniciosa" and the dinoflagellate "Hematodinium perezi", which causes "bitter crab disease". Eggs of "C. sapidus" hatch in high salinity waters of inlets, coastal waters, and mouths of rivers and are carried to the ocean by ebb tides. During seven planktonic (zoeal) stages blue crab larvae float near the surface and feed on microorganisms they encounter. After the eighth zoeal stage, larvae molt into megalopae. This larval form has small claws called chelipeds for grasping prey items. Megalopae selectively migrate upward in the water column as tides travel landward toward estuaries. Eventually


title: "Callinectes sapidus" content: blue crabs arrive in brackish water, where they spend the majority of their life. Chemical cues in estuarine water prompt metamorphosis to the juvenile phase, after which blue crabs appear similar to the adult form. Blue crabs grow by shedding their exoskeleton, or molting, to expose a new, larger exoskeleton. After it hardens, the new shell fills with body tissue. Shell hardening occurs most quickly in low salinity water where high osmotic pressure allows the shell to become rigid soon after molting. Molting reflects only incremental growth, making age estimation difficult. For blue crabs, the number of molts in a


title: "Callinectes sapidus" content: lifetime is fixed at approximately 25. Females typically exhibit 18 molts after the larval stages, while postlarval males molt about 20 times. Male blue crabs tend to grow broader and have more accentuated lateral spines than females. Growth and molting are profoundly influenced by temperature and food availability. Higher temperatures and greater food resources decrease the period of time between molts as well as the change in size during molts (molt increment). Salinity and disease also have subtle impacts on molting and growth rate. Molting occurs more rapidly in low salinity environments. The high osmotic pressure gradient causes water to