John W. Charles was an English professional footballer. He spent his entire professional career at Blackpool in the early 1900s, making over 200 Football League appearances for the club. He played as a midfielder.

Blackpool
Crook-born Charles made his debut for Blackpool in the opening game of the 1912–13 season — a 1–1 draw at Grimsby Town. He went on to be ever-present in the club's 38 league games and two FA Cup ties against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. He scored four goals in the league and both of the club's two goals in the FA Cup (the first in a 1–1 draw that took the tie to a replay; the second in a 6–1 defeat).

The following season, 1913–14, Charles made 31 league appearances and scored seven goals.

In 1914–15, he made 35 league appearances and scored six goals, five of which came in the final seven games of the campaign.

Four seasons of inter–war football ensued, after which, in 1919–20, Blackpool had appointed their first full-time manager in Bill Norman. Charles found himself alternating between the right and left flanks as he made 27 league appearances and scored four goals (including the only goal of the game in a victory over Bury at Bloomfield Road on 2 April. He also scored in their 4–1 FA Cup first-round replay victory at Derby County on 14 January.

In 1920–21, Charles appeared in 33 of the Blackpool's 42 league games, scoring three goals (including two in a 3–2 home victory over South Shields on 19 March.

Charles also made 33 league appearances the following 1921–22 season, and found the net on two occasions. The first was the only goal in a victory at Rotherham United on 5 November; the second in another victory, this time the first in a 4–0 result at home to South Shields on 8 April.

A quarter-century of league appearances followed in 1922–23, Blackpool's final season under the guidance of Norman. Charles scored three goals, all in victories (one a single-goal result against Manchester United at Bloomfield Road on 31 March).

Frank Buckley was installed as manager for the 1923–24 campaign, and he selected Charles on only six occasions in the league. He managed to score one goal, however, in a 1–1 draw at home to Stoke City on 15 September. His 241st and final appearance for the club occurred in their FA Cup second-round tie at Southampton on 2 February. The Seasiders lost 3–1.

Notes

References

English men's footballers
Blackpool F.C. players
English Football League players
Crook Town A.F.C. players
Year of death missing
Year of birth missing
Men's association football midfielders
Footballers from County Durham


The Fuel Economy Reform Act was a bill ( in the 109th United States Congress and  and  in the 110th United States Congress) sponsored by seven Democrats and four Republicans including Barack Obama and Richard Lugar.  It set a goal of raising mandated Corporate Average Fuel Economy fleet standards by 4% per year, approximately one mile per gallon.  The bill also provided tax incentives for retooling production.  Fuel economy increases were subject to the authority of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, part of the executive branch.  Thus Obama and Lugar remarked upon introducing their bill, "Mr. President, we embrace the call upon Congress to improve the executive branch's authority to reform and strengthen fuel economy standards."

These bills were introduced in the Senate, but did not pass.  (see list of bills sponsored by Barack Obama in the United States Senate)  However, according to Obama's advisors, "virtually the exact same set of proposals" were enacted by Congress 18 months later in December 2007, when the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 was passed.

References

Proposed legislation of the 109th United States Congress
Proposed legislation of the 110th United States Congress
Energy law
Energy efficiency


"The Same Love" is a single by The Jets, released on October 3, 1989.

History

The ballad, written by Diane Warren, was released as the second single from their album, Believe on the MCA label. The song peaked at number 87 on the Billboard Hot 100 and failed to chart on the R&B chart. However, "The Same Love" reached number 15 on the adult contemporary chart.

Charts

Cover versions
The freestyle girl group Exposé covered this song for their 1992 self-titled album.

References

External links

1989 singles
The Jets (band) songs
Songs written by Diane Warren
1989 songs
MCA Records singles


By My Side () is a Singaporean Chinese drama which was telecasted on Singapore's free-to-air channel, MediaCorp Channel 8. It made its debut on 28 October 2008 and ended on 24 November 2008. This drama serial consists of 20 episodes, and was screened on every weekday night at 9:00 pm.

The drama bears the same English name as another 30-episode SBC drama which debuted on 1 May 1990 (), and was screened on weekdays at 9.30pm, but both dramas are not related in any way.

Plot
The series is about AIDS patients and the social stigma they suffer, hence the red ribbon shown on the title sequence.

Chen Bufan's family of 5 [wife (Xinya), daughter (Tiantian), and his parents-in-law] live in a 4-room HDB flat.  Happy-go-lucky by nature, Bufan is a family-man who works as a section supervisor in a supermarket.  Xinya is a tutor.  Ever since his parents passed on, Bufan has shouldered the responsibility of caring for his younger brother, Buqun, who is assertive to the point of being annoying.

Bufan fishing
A man with no unsavoury habits, Bufan's biggest pastime is fishing which he does every weekend in the company of friends like Ma Shiyou (nicknamed Black Horse), Gao Liguo (nicknamed Grey Hound), and Bai Maolin (nicknamed White Fur).  They usually go angling in the open seas or by the beach and would give the fish away.  Of the lot, Black Horse is a lecher, Grey Hound had been unsuccessful in many match-making sessions and doesn’t dare to express his feelings for Xiulan (his colleague) even though he is enamoured with her, and the effeminate White Fur is uninterested in women.  They usually tease Bufan for being the most “normal” one psychologically.

Black Horse usually skips to brothels and nightclubs on the pretext of fishing, leaving Bufan and the rest to cover his tracks in front of his wife.  Their advice to him (to not philander) fall on deaf ears as he reckons that he would never contract venereal diseases.  He even jeers at Bufan's monogamous and “boring” lifestyle, which the latter laughs off.

Family life
Bufan and Xinya are high-school sweethearts.  Ever since having Tiantian, Xinya has resigned from her job as a primary school teacher to become a tutor, citing health reasons.  The youngest daughter of her family, she is highly dependent, and is reliant on Bufan.  Xinya is feeble-minded and would consult Bufan even for disagreements between her parents and sister-in-law, adding to his burden.  This is why Bufan sometimes jokingly questions how she can survive, if he should pass on.

Bufan dotes on his only child most, as he loves children by nature.  Though immensely disappointed at Xinya's refusal to bear him another child following childbirth trauma from delivering Tiantian, he hides his emotions well.  He respects Xinya's aversion of sex, and it is Xinya's own mother who constantly reminds her not to neglect her husband's physiological needs.  Her heart is set at ease by her husband's assurance that he is not horny, as Black Horse is.

The couple adore their daughter, Tiantian, a tomboyish girl who dresses like a little boy, acts like one (being constantly engaged in ball games with the other kids in the neighbourhood), and is the unofficial leader of the group.  She has a habit of confiding in her little diary, aspires to go to the Sports School and wants to be a professional sportswoman when she grows up.  She has seen movies like Kungfu Soccer and Kung Fu Dunk umpteen times, and in her attempt to copy the moves, always gets herself injured.  This gives Xinya a headache but to Bufan, it is proof of Tiantian's athletic talent and he decides to groom her in this direction.

Parents
Xinya's parents (Lin Cunxiao and Wang Qiuyue) can’t get along with their daughter-in-law even with Bufan and Xinya's intervention.  As such, Bufan puts his in-laws up at his place.  Cunxiao has been popular with women since youth and helps them whenever they’re in need (earning him the moniker “Peach Blossom Xiao”, loosely translated as Xiao the Flirt).  Many of the women he knows are involved in vices and the flesh trade.  He sticks by the principle of “flirting without straying” though no one he never involved with any of them.  He wife always remarks that she wouldn’t be surprised to see his illegitimate children turning up at his funeral, putting him in a spot.  And on the pretext of helping his vice-involved friends, he brings Bufan to nightclubs and bars, often causing the latter much embarrassment.  In reality, he is testing his son-in-law and through such instances, he gathers that Bufan is not steadfast and would stray if given the opportunity.  Xinya merely smiles at his word of caution.

Weekend fishing
It's another weekend and the 4 friends arrange to go fishing together again, Grey Hound and White Fur miss the appointment at last minute, and Black Horse comes late with the young and ravishing Xiao Hong by his side.  Initially minding his own business, Bufan is irked by the duo's open flirtation that he wants to tell them off.  At this moment, Black Horse's wife arrives with her friends and they proceed to beat Black Horse and Xiao Hong up before dragging the straying husband home.  Bufan is about to leave for home when he sees the injured Xiao Hong staggering.  Feeling sorry, he gives her a ride.

Along the way, Xiao Hong shares her sob story about being forced into prostitution by circumstances, eliciting Bufan's sympathy.  The shrewd Xiao Hong is aware that Bufan, who rarely visits nightclubs and brothers, cannot resist temptation and proceeds to seduce him.  Bufan almost succumbs but for the timely recollection of his first experience with a prostitute many years ago...

It turns out that years back, Bufan had a one-night stand with a local whom he later discovered, was a prostitute.  His disgust at the realisation, coupled with guilt (towards his wife), makes him swear to himself that it won’t happen again.  He has refrained from opening himself to temptation through the years and had kept this secret hidden.  This chance encounter with Xiao Hong rekindles a lust within him and he can’t seem to erase the urge, which overwhelms his mind.  The more guilty he feels towards Xinya, the more deprived he becomes and this lust nearly overcomes his senses and logic.  Bufan's efforts in keeping his carnality in control are thwarted by Xiao Hong, who dishes herself up to him.  Her quick thinking in posing herself off as his Marketing colleague saves the two of them from being exposures when Xinya sees her one day.  Angered, he confronts her only to be blackmailed when she shows him some compromising pictures of both of them, which she wants him to redeem with money.

Cunxiao quietly informs Xinya that his female friend had seen Bufan at Geylang, but she doesn’t believe it.  Bufan becomes increasingly emaciated and he attributes it to stress.  He wills himself to stop his wandering mind and stops going for the fishing trips.  He even plans to take Xinya and Tiantian for a holiday.  Unfortunately before this trip materialises, he suspects that he has contracted aids after listening to a CDC talk, and is tested positive.  The HIV strains have lain dormant in him for years and its source – the sole fling he ever had abroad.

The report shocks him, and he shuts out everything the doctor says afterwards.  Dazed, he wanders aimlessly until Tiantian finds her father in the streets, drenched by the rain.  She leads her Dad home and dries him to keep him warm.  She is appalled to find tears in his eyes.

Bufan's illness
Bufan falls even more seriously ill, running a fever and coughing incessantly.  He locks himself in the room, becomes queer, and isolates himself.  He even chases his most beloved Tiantian out.  He refuses Xinya's suggestion about seeing a doctor.  Qiuyue thinks he's possessed and suggests seeking help from a temple medium.  No one knows the fear within him.  He's petrified about possibly infecting Xinya and Tiantian and contemplates seeking CDC's help but is incapacitated by his apprehensiveness.  He gets to know Zhang Yuhang, a social-service volunteer who encourages him to come clean with his wife so he can seek her forgiveness and send his family for HIV tests too.  After much emotional struggle, he still fails to pluck up his courage.

Hesitant, apprehensive and unable to face up with the disease, the despondent Bufan can only confide incessantly in Yuhang.  He tries to avoid facing up with reality and when Xinya tries to get intimate with him, he escapes.  Xinya starts to wonder if her mother had been right about his infidelity, which leaves him speechless.  Thinking that he had indeed been unfaithful, the aggrieved Xinya presses him for an absolute answer, which Bufan can’t provide.  This casts a shadow over their marriage.

The youthful and pretty Yuhang is a dynamic girl bursting with life and passion.  She encourages Bufan to face up to reality instead of wallowing in self-pity and becoming angst-ridden.  Bufan retorts that he had strayed but once whereas his friend is a frequent philanderer.  The heavens are unfair to stricken him with this illness.

Conflict
Bufan's accusation that Yuhang doesn’t know how he feels is unfounded as being an aids sufferer herself, Yuhang can empathise with him.  In fact, she is even more impeccant victim, having contracted it from her only boyfriend, who had been cheating on her.  Embittered, she had confided him her closest friends only to be distanced by them because they are afraid of contact with her.  Infuriated further, she tells her relatives and friends of her condition (plus joined organisation) in a futile attempt to challenge society.  Sadly, she receives the same treatment.  Ascertaining society's rejection of aids patients, she converts her anger into motivation and channels her energy into helping the unfortunate sufferers.  Through helping others, she sees resilience of the human spirit and the value of genuine love that survives adversity.

Her boyfriend died of aids, having despaired and become morose because of the disease.  Yuhang, on the contrary, becomes more enthusiastic about living.  She tells Bufan that aids is not a terminal illness and can be kept under control with the right medication, further encouraging him to come clean with his family and seek their understanding and support.  Bufan procrastinates, however.

Bufan becomes sickly and Xinya, egged on by Qiuyue, tries to be intimate with him to no avail. Buqun believes that his brother has succumbed to a moment's folly and looks Yuhang up to urge her not to break his brother's family up.  He realises Yuhang is his ex-classmate.  Yuhang is at a lost for words and can only tactfully turn him away.  This deepens Buqun's misunderstanding.

Little Tiantian overhears her mum mentioning divorce and innocently looks Yuhang up to ask her to back off.  She injures herself and is rushed to the hospital by Yuhang.  Bufan tells the doctor the truth about his condition and upon checking Tiantian, is relieved that she is HIV negative.

During a dispute with a prostitute, Bufan angrily reveals that he has AIDS, having contracted it from such women. When Xinya overhears, Bufan confirms to Xinya about his condition and his worry that she might have contracted the disease as well.  Xinya is stunned and her world crumbles.  She cannot accept the horrifying fact and goes for a HIV check at Bufan's insistence.  Thankfully, she is HIV negative, but the relief does nothing to alleviate the bitterness of her husband's betrayal.

Family atmosphere
Tiantian feels that her Daddy and Mummy have changed; in fact, the atmosphere at home has changed.  Mummy cries everyday and Daddy is perpetually sitting around in a daze.  They don’t talk to each other and they don’t go to work anymore.  What vexes Tiantian more is the fact that she is banned from venturing out and prohibited from playing ball with her friends.  Tiantian protests and sneaks out only to be caught and brought back by her Mum.  Faced with Tiantian's tantrums, Xinya can only cuddle her as tears flowed freely.  That night, Tiantian again hears the term “divorce”.  Bufan announces his intention.  Alarmed, Cunxiao and Qiuyue berate Bufan for his heartlessness and infidelity and Buqun righteously hits Bufan for Xinya.  Unable to face his family, Bufan flees.

Drifting in the streets, Bufan is overwhelmed by thoughts of suicide and walks into the path of a car, only to be saved by Xinya who arrives in the nick of time.  Bufan repents.  Too ashamed to face his family, he implores Xinya to leave him to his devices.  Xinya is struck speechless.  Reminiscing the happier times and Bufan's role as a loving husband, doting father and dutiful son-in-law, Xinya relents and embraces Bufan as the two bawl their hearts out.

Risking her parents’ understanding, Xinya sends them back to her brother's home.  This incurs Cunxiao's suspicion and he checks with Bufan's 3 angling friends to no avail.  Black Horse recalls Bufan's encounter and deduces that the latter has contracted aids.  He tries to sound the latter out and seeing Bufan's secretiveness, starts to avoid him.

Bufan tells his boss, Liang, the truth in the hope that the latter will understand and retain him (based on their relationship and knowledge about how aids is being passed), but worried about the supermarket's business and the employees’ safety, Liang wants Bufan to resign on his own accord.

Isolated
Distanced by his friends, deserted by his boss and in dire straits, Bufan loses the will to live.  The dependent Xinya loses direction and is uncertain about how she can face the future.

Tiantian details this in her diary: “Daddy and Mummy don’t talk to each other at all.  The silence at home is deafening and scary.  I want so much to go to out and have a game of soccer with Xiaobin and the rest.  It’s been such a long time since I last went to the court.  I want to just roll on the ground.  But looking at Mum’s expression of misery, I just can’t bring myself to do it.  I wanted to laugh when watching Kungfu Soccer this evening, but looking at Dad and Mum, I daren’t."

Buqun finds himself irresistibly attracted to Yuhang, and falls head over heels for her.  Yuhang is neither friendly nor aloof to him, but as an aids sufferer, doesn’t wish to be romantically involved.  She refrains from seeing him.

A chance encounter at a Red Ribbon volunteer activity lets Buqun see Yuhang's selflessness in caring for the aids patients and is deeply moved.  He enthusiastically participates in social work to get closer to Yuhang.  Strangely, Yuhang's inexhaustible warmth and passion towards the aids patients aren’t extended to him.  And she keeps an arm's length where he's concerned.  Buqun increasingly feels that Yuhang harbours a secret and the more he wants to unravel it, the further she runs away.

Through ex-classmates, all Buqun gathers is that Yuhang had a boyfriend with whom she shared a deep and intimate relationship, and that he died 2 years back.  Buqun wishfully thinks that Yuhang is not willing to accept a new love as she is emotionally hurt by her boyfriend's death, but this doesn’t explain Yuhang's affinity towards Bufan.  Unable to contain his perplexity, he questions Yuhang only to incur her wrath.  Buqun also questions Bufan about this relationship with Yuhang, which the latter vehemently denies.  But Bufan does give Buqun an ambiguous response, that he is in touch with Yuhang because a friend has aids.  Buqun believes in what Bufan says, and the latter encourages the former to pursue Yuhang as she's a nice girl.

Courtship
The passionate Buqun relentlessly and overwhelmingly courts Yuhang, almost throwing her off balance.  She is moved, but rationally tells herself that she must observe professional ethics.  Besides, she is in no position to fall in love again.  She directly and resolutely rejects Buqun's advances, but he is not disheartened as he believes that he will touch her heart one day.

A 15-year-old boy named Sky, having overheard bits of Xinya and Tiantian's conversation, mistakenly concludes that Tiantian is an aids carrier.  Self-righteous, he begins to spread this “information”, aggravating the family's already stressful condition.  But why would he be so nosey?

As it turns out, Sky is also HIV positive, having contracted the disease from his mother even before he was born (both parents have aids).  His parents kept the truth of his condition from him, passing the mandatory medication off as supplements for his weak health.  He learns about his condition and resents his parents for keeping the truth from him and obstinately believes that Tiantian's parents are as selfish as his own.  This is why he embarks on a mission to expose the couple's condition to the schools.

Ever since he came to know about Bufan's condition, Black Horse no longer tempts fate nor pushes his luck, ceasing his visits to the brothels.  Pestered by an old flame at a coffeeshop, he blurts Bufan's condition out and is overheard by Cunxiao, who presses Black Horse for the truth.  Thus Bufan's aids secret becomes open.

Neighbours
Already on the brink of desperation, Bufan and Xinya are dealt another blow as the entire estate is abuzz with information about his condition.  In an instance, people avoid them like plague, neighbours are afraid to pass their doorstep and the neighbourhood merchants don’t dare to sell things to the family.  Even at food stalls, cutlery they’d used would be disposed of immediately.  This embarrasses the couple, and plunges them further down the abyss of despair.  The most innocent victim in this saga is Tiantian, who gets isolated by the other children.

Saddened, Tiantian once again confides in her diary.  “I saw Xiaobin and his mum at the lift when I went to buy breakfast with Mummy today.  When they saw us, they scampered off as if they’d just been frightened by ghosts.  Strange, but he didn’t seem to run that fast when we were racing against each other in the past.  When I called him, his mummy refused to let me speak to Xiaobin and wants me to stay away from him in future.  Why are they so scared of me?  I wanted to ask Daddy, but I don’t dare to.  Daddy is no longer the father I knew him to be in the past...

The one hardest hit by this reality is Buqun and he pieces up the sequence of events to finally understand what is going on, that everything had been sparked by Bufan's illness.  He reaches out to Bufan's family in times of tribulation, hoping to lift them out of the abyss but inexperienced, he botches things up instead.  He approaches Yuhang for help in dealing with the situation and the two get closer because of it.  Regardless, Yuhang remains cold to Buqun and he attempts to force her to leave the past behind only to be successful in antagonising her further.  Dejected, he goes abroad for a short trip and without him around, Yuhang starts to miss him.  She realises that she has unknowingly fallen for him.  This is against both her professional and personal principles, however, and her dormant heart is once again disturbed.

Cunxiao and Qiuyue come to know that Bufan's aids-strain was contracted from a prostitute and berate him for bringing this misfortune upon the family.  Through a period of reflection, Xinya has come to accept her lot in life and is prepared to face the music with Bufan.  Remembering Bufan's virtues, Cunxiao and Qiuyue forgive him as well.  Xinping and wife, on the other hand, feel strongly against Bufan and make Cunxiao and Qiuyue sterilise themselves every time they visit Xinya, else they would be stopped from contacting their grandchildren.  Cunxiao and Qiuyue are bemused and feel more acutely, the pressures and ostracism that Bufan and Xinya are facing.  Incensed by Xinping's demands that he severs all ties with Xinya, Cunxiao leaves in a fit of anger and chooses to live with Bufan, to weather the storm together with them.

Medical bills
Bufan's monthly medical bill causes a huge financial strain on the family, and Xinya starts to shoulder the burden of providing for everyone.  She shuttles more diligently between the students’ homes and takes up more tuition jobs.  At the same time, she has to carefully conceal her husband's condition so as not to lose the jobs and incur the parents’ wrath.

Bufan finally secures a job in a far-away factory, as a night-shift security guard.  This is a relief to him as he can avoid having to face his wife and daughter everyday, which has served only to intensify his guilt.  At the same time, he can avoid coming into contact with other people.  He isolates himself, sleeping in the factory by day and patrols the grounds at night.  Xinya learns of his thinking and tries to dissuade him from doing this, but her advice falls on deaf ears.

Bufan wakes up one midnight to find his wife and daughter snuggled in his arms.  Xinya tells him that as a family, they either die or live on bravely together.  Aids is not a terminal illness and it can be kept in control by drugs.  Xinya has never exuded such courage and resilience.  Touched, Bufan tearfully resolves not to escape anymore.  He returns to Xinya's side.

Daughter
At this point, the couple realise that their vivacious and exuberant little girl has changed too.  Tiantian has become sullen and antagonistic.  Her diaries are filled with unanswered questions, lamentation and indignance.  At her swimming lessons, one of the activities where the little girl used to be happiest, Tiantian consciously distances herself from the other students for fear of harming them.  Her diary entries are increasingly short until at last, some forcefully written question marks (“???”) remain.

At around the same time too, Xinya becomes acquainted with her student's father, Andy, who intentionally comes into Bufan and Xinya's lives.  What is Andy's motive and how will he affect Bufan and Xinya's marriage?  A drained Xinya and an increasingly withdrawn Tiantian...  How can the depressed Bufan face up with these challenges?  Would the bond between members of the family become stronger through adversity or would the ties not stand the test?  Will they overcome all obstacles?  Will Yuhang ever tell Buqun the truth about her condition?  Will Buqun be able to accept this fact?

Cast

Main

 Chen Hanwei as Chen Bufan 陈不凡
 Zoe Tay as Lin Xinya 林欣雅
 Elvin Ng as Chen Buqun 陈不群
 Rui En as Zhang Yuhang 张宇航
 Vina Lim as Chen Tiantian 陈田田

Supporting
Terence Cao as 子新/子健 Zi Xin/Zi Jian
Zhu Houren as 林存孝 Lin Chun Xiao
Zhu Yu Yue 朱玉叶 as 王秋月 Wang Qiu Ye
Ye Shi Pin 叶世品 as 马世友(黑马) Black Horse
Brandon Wong as 高立国(灰狗) Grey Dog
Ong Ai Leng as Cecelia
Chen Tianwen as Andy

Awards and nominations
At the 2009 Star Awards, By My Side managed several nominations despite The Little Nyonya dominating the awards.  The other dramas nominated for Best Drama Series and Best Theme Songs were The Little Nyonya, Love Blossoms, Just in Singapore, The Golden Path and Perfect Cut.

See also
List of programmes broadcast by Mediacorp Channel 8

References

External links
Theme song
Official Website (English Edition)

Singapore Chinese dramas
2008 Singaporean television series debuts
2008 Singaporean television series endings
Channel 8 (Singapore) original programming
HIV/AIDS in television


Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection in PAL regions) is a compilation of video games developed by Backbone Entertainment and published by Sega for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The compilation features 48 Sega games (49 counting two versions of Altered Beast) which were previously released for the Sega Genesis (including most of the Sonic the Hedgehog titles released for the system), arcades and the Master System. It is the sequel to the Sega Genesis Collection released previously for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, but contains 16 (in NTSC regions) more games (including unlockable extras).

List of games

Sega Genesis

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (1989) †
Alien Storm (1991)
Altered Beast (1989) †
Beyond Oasis (1994)
Bonanza Bros. (1991) †
Columns (1990) †
Comix Zone (1995) †
Decap Attack (1991) †
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (1993)
Dynamite Headdy (1994)
Ecco the Dolphin (1992) †
Ecco: The Tides of Time (1994) †
ESWAT: City Under Siege (1990)
Fatal Labyrinth (1990)
Flicky (1991) †
Gain Ground (1991) †
Golden Axe (1989) †
Golden Axe II (1991) †
Golden Axe III (1993) †
Kid Chameleon (1992) †
Phantasy Star II (1989) †
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom (1990) †
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium (1993) †
Ristar (1995) †
Shining Force (1992)
Shining Force II (1993)
Shining in the Darkness (1991)
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (1993) †
Sonic & Knuckles (1994)
Sonic 3D Blast (1996)
Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) †
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) †
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994)
Sonic Spinball (1993)
Streets of Rage (1991)
Streets of Rage 2 (1992)
Streets of Rage 3 (1994)
Super Thunder Blade (1988) †
Vectorman (1995) †
Vectorman 2 (1996) †

† Previously available in Sega Genesis Collection.

Unlockable extra games

Alien Syndrome (arcade) [1987]
Altered Beast (arcade) [1988] †
Congo Bongo (arcade) (under original title Tip Top in some regions) [1983] †
Fantasy Zone (arcade) [1986]
Golden Axe Warrior (Master System) [1991]
Phantasy Star (Master System) [1987]
Shinobi (arcade) [1987]
Space Harrier (arcade) [1985]
Zaxxon (arcade) [1982] †

† Previously available in Sega Genesis Collection.

According to Ethan Einhorn, the producer for the collection, the three "lock-on" games (Knuckles in Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Blue Sphere) were not included citing "tight development times", and that including them would have meant "dropping several titles from the collection altogether", specifically the aforementioned nine unlockable games since "they all required unique emulation solutions".

Reception

Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.

References

2009 video games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
PlayStation 3 games
Sega Genesis
Sonic the Hedgehog video games
Sega video game compilations
Video games developed in the United States
Xbox 360 games
Backbone Entertainment games


Junan may refer to:

Junan County, in Shandong, China
Junan, an older romanization of Runan County (汝南縣), in Henan, China
Jun'an, Guangdong, town in Foshan, Guangdong, China
Guotai Junan Securities, investment bank in China
Nakagawa Jun'an (1739–1786), Japanese doctor and botanist


John Durkin may refer to:
* John A. Durkin (1936–2012), U.S. senator
 John Durkin (footballer) (1930–1983), Scottish association football player


The ASV Herzogenaurach is a German association football club from Herzogenaurach, a suburb of the city of Nuremberg, Bavaria.

The history of the club is strongly intertwined with the local sports equipment manufacturer Adidas, then just a local company and sponsor of the ASV and its rivalry to 1. FC Herzogenaurach, which was sponsored by another local company, Puma.

History

Early years
Formed in 1919 under the name Sportclub Pfeil, it changed its name to Freie Union and later, after the Second World War, to ASV Herzogenaurach. During the Nazi era, the club was outlawed and disbanded due to its unionist and working-class background.

Rise
The club existed as a local amateur side until the mid-1960s, when a championship in the A-Klasse Mittelfranken-Gruppe 3 (VI) in 1966 earned it promotion to the Bezirksliga Mittelfranken-Nord (V). Another promotion followed in 1968, after a championship in the Bezirksliga. Entering the Landesliga Bayern-Mitte for the 1968–69 season, the club was offered a sponsorship by the Puma AG. Seeing an opportunity to gain wider recognition, Adidas however moved in instead, becoming the main sponsor of the club. Puma was already since November 1967 a sponsor of the clubs local rival, the FC Herzogenaurach. The rivalry between Puma and Adidas, which is in truth the rivalry of the two brothers who owned the companies then, Rudolf Dassler and Adolf Dassler, predates the rivalry of the two football clubs, stretching back to 1948.

Through the influence of Adidas, the club managed to gain the current German champion, FC Bayern Munich, for a friendly, which was played on 23 July 1969 in front of 6,000 spectators, a 1–9 defeat for the ASV.

In the Landesliga, the club met its local rival once more, the FCH having earned promotion to the league in 1966. The first season there together, ASV finished fourth while the FC came third, the clubs being separated by one point. The season after, the FC won the league and earned promotion to the Amateurliga Bayern (III) while the ASV came third. The ASV had to wait another two seasons to do the same and win the league and promotion in 1972.

Bayernliga years
While the FC had enjoyed two good seasons in the highest league in the state, it did not so well when the ASV joined it there and with a third place in 1972–73, the Adidas-club finished above the Puma-team for the first time in years.

The 1973–74 season became the most successful for the club to date. It won the Amateurliga Bayern title while its local rival found itself relegated from the league. Due to a restructuring of the German football league system however, the five Regionalligas were replaced by the two 2. Bundesligas, no promotion from the third to the second tier was available that season. The right to play in the German amateur football championship instead was only a small consolidation and the club was knocked-out by the SSV Reutlingen in the quarter-finals.

The club managed to attract the FC Bayern Munich for another friendly however and on 29 July 1974, 7,000 spectators saw the Bavarian champion earn a 2–2 draw against Bavaria's most successful club.

The 1974–75 season saw another respectable performance, finishing fourth in the league. After this, the club went into decline, having to play against relegation, which became a fact in 1977, the year its local rival FC earned its return to the Amateurliga Bayern. While the FCH managed to stay in Bavaria's highest amateur league until 1981, the ASV could not achieve to return to it. Instead, it was left with a large debt from its Bayernliga years and hopes to finally pay off the last of it in 2008.

The late 1970s also saw the rise of two promising young footballers in Herzogenaurach who went to school together. Günter Güttler, who played for the ASV and later joined FC Bayern Munich and Lothar Matthäus, who played for the FC and became Germany's most capped footballer. Matthäus could not play for the ASV even though it had at that time the better under-19's side, because his father worked for Puma.

Decline
Back in the Landesliga Bayern-Mitte, the ASV tried hard to regain Amateurliga Bayern status, finishing second three times in a row in 1978, 1979 and 1980. The first two times, it missed out on top-spot by only one point, in 1979 to local rival FC. After this, the club declined further and was never in contention for the Landesliga title again. The FC didn't fare much better, fluctuating between Landesliga and Bezirksliga after its final relegation form the now Amateur-Oberliga Bayern in 1981. By 1989, both Herzogenaurach clubs had left the Landesliga for good.

The ASV lost its Landesliga status in 1987, when a player revolt over unpaid travel expenses made it lose its complete team and it had to field its youth side instead. The club declined rapidly and was handed down all the way to the lowest division, the C-Klasse. Sponsor Adidas had by then mostly withdrawn its support, too.

A small revival followed in 1998, when the club briefly rose to the local Kreisliga again but it could not sustain this level and was promptly relegated again.

The club played in the A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund (X) in 2008–09, the lowest level of play in the region, and finished third in this league in 2008–09. Its old rival the 1. FC Herzogenaurach had fallen down not quite as far in the league system, playing one level above in the Kreisliga Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund (IX) in 2008–09.

In 2009–10, ASV won its league and earned promotion to the Kreisklasse, where it met FCH once more. While its rival earned promotion in 2010–11, ASV was a distant last in the league and relegated.

The old rivalry between the two clubs may have lost some of its punch, as has the local rivalry between the two sports brands. The town of Herzogenaurach is certainly not as divided any more as it once was. In March 2007, a merger of the three local clubs was even discussed, the ASV and FC together with the SC Nord should form one club which would then be capable to reach Regionalliga level.

The rivalry of the two companies, and with it to some extent the local football club issue, gained some international attention during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, when a number of international news organisations picked up on it.

By 2014 the club had fallen to new lows, dropping to the B-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund 1, a league where 12 out of 15 teams were reserve sides but also included another former Bayernliga club, the BSC Erlangen.

Honours

League
 Amateurliga Bayern (III)
 Champions: 1974
 Landesliga Bayern-Mitte (IV)
 Champions: 1972
 Runners-up: (3) 1978, 1979, 1980
 Bezirksliga Mittelfranken-Nord (V)
 Champions: 1968
 A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund 2
 Champions: 2010

Recent seasons
The recent season-by-season performance of the club:

With the introduction of the Bezirksoberligas in 1988 as the new fifth tier, below the Landesligas, all leagues below dropped one tier. With the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 and the 3. Liga in 2008 as the new third tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier. With the establishment of the Regionalliga Bayern as the new fourth tier in Bavaria in 2012 the Bayernliga was split into a northern and a southern division, the number of Landesligas expanded from three to five and the Bezirksoberligas abolished. All leagues from the Bezirksligas onwards were elevated one tier.

ASV versus FC
The Herzogenaurach derby in the Bayernliga and Landesliga:

 Source: Manfreds Fussball Archiv  Tables and results of the Bavarian amateur leagues

Former players
The club had a couple of players in its ranks who later played in the Bundesliga, the most well-known of those being:
 Dietmar Beiersdorfer, played for Hamburger SV and Werder Bremen
 Günter Güttler, (until 1980), played for FC Bayern Munich, 1. FC Nürnberg, Waldhof Mannheim, FC Schalke 04

References

External links
Official team site
Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv historical German domestic league tables
1.FC Herzogenaurach – Spielklassen 1916 – 2006  FC Herzogenaurach website – History 1916 to 2006

Football clubs in Germany
Football clubs in Bavaria
Association football clubs established in 1919
ASV
Football in Middle Franconia
1919 establishments in Germany
German workers' football clubs
Sports clubs banned by the Nazis
Works association football clubs in Germany
Adidas


Grace Church (sometimes called Grace Episcopal Church) is an Episcopal church in Cumberland County, Virginia.  Designed by Dabney Cosby, a former assistant to Thomas Jefferson, it is the only substantial building remaining from the former community of Ca Ira.  For its architectural and historical significance, Grace Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 30, 1980.

History
At the turn of the nineteenth century, Ca Ira was a typical small farming community such as could be found in many locations around Virginia.  It was formally established by the Virginia General Assembly in 1796; the origin of the name is unknown, but given the spirit of the times, and the fact that many Virginians admired the French Revolution, it is suspected to have been derived from a popular French song of the era.  By 1836, Ca Ira could be described as a post village, with a population of 210; it had forty dwellings, three stores, a mill, a tobacco warehouse, two taverns, and a Masonic hall.

Construction of Grace Church was begun in 1840; the original deed to its location was described in the Cumberland County Deed Book of 1843 as a certain lot or parcel or ground adjoining the town of Ca Ira on the West, and bounded as follows. Orig. on the South by the Main road from
Ca Ira to Buckingham Ct. House, West by the line separating it from McAshan's Old Stemmery Lot, on which the fence now runs North by the road leading into said stemmery and, East by the Western Crop Street of the town of Ca Ira, it
being the lot, as now enclosed whereon the New Episcopal Church, called Grace Church, has been recently erected, containing about two thirds of an acre, together with all the appurtenances thereunto belonging.  Immediately upon its completion, it began serving not only the populace of the town itself but also those families, many prominent in local affairs, that owned the surrounding plantations.  Among those known to be part of the congregation of the church was Valentine Parrish, who not only donated the land on which it stood, but served as the builder for the project.  The architect was Dabney Cosby, who had worked with Thomas Jefferson on the construction of buildings at the University of Virginia.  This was not the first time that Cosby and Parrish had worked together; the two were listed together as co-architects on the cornerstone of the 1826 Goochland County Courthouse in nearby Goochland.  Parrish was among the most prominent citizens in Cumberland County in the years leading up to the Civil War; he presented numerous petitions on the subject of local tolls to the Virginia General Assembly, and also made numerous suggestions regarding the distribution of economic aid to the county.  Woodwork and framing on the church is said to have been the work of one Albert Mann, a slave attached to the Parrish plantation; construction of the church was overseen by Rev. Henry Kinckle.

With the completion of Grace Church in 1843 the town received its largest and most distinguished building to date.  The church also revived the fortunes of Littleton parish, which surrounded the town but which had been inactive since 1813.  An 1857 report from Bishop William Meade indicated that the structure was "in constant use".  Even so, although Ca Ira had continued to rise in importance through the 1850s, at one point incorporating its first and only bank, by the postbellum years it had begun losing population, and shrank rapidly during the last decades of the nineteenth century.  The church was not spared, and was abandoned along with most other structures during this period; a 1906 entry in the Lippincott World Gazetteer mentioned its presence among a handful of other buildings, mainly shops.  The rehabilitation of the structure began in 1928, when descendants of members of the initial congregation organized the Ca Ira Restoration Society; this organization was dedicated to raising funds to restore the building, which was soon accomplished.  The Society also blocked an attempt by the diocese to sell the property, and in 1954 reinstituted an annual series of "homecoming services" in continuation of a tradition begun in the 1930s.  Today, Grace Church is preserved in working order as a shrine of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia; to keep its status as such, it is required to host at least one religious service yearly.

The church was surveyed as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey sometime after 1933.

Description
Grace Church, Ca Ira, survives as a charming illustration of the stylistic hybridization that occurred with Romantic Revivalism in the antebellum period.  Unlike many of its similarly imaginative contemporaries, Grace Church is devoid of architectural naivete and is at once a skillful blending of Roman, Greek, and Gothic Revival elements, all executed with superb crnftsmanship. Its temple form and fine brickwork are an offspring of Virginia's Jeffersonian tradition, while its Greek and Gothic details are adapted from builders' pattern books.

Exterior

The exterior of Grace Church reflects the influence of Roman, Greek, and Gothic Revival architecture on mid-nineteenth-century American architectural design.  Described as a "temple-form country church", it measures 32' x 48'; there is a small vestry attached to the back of the building.  The church sits on a foundation of brick, and has ventilation holes at its base.  Its walls are built of handmade bricks, even in color and unglazed; the mortar joints are deliberately precise.  Two styles of brickwork were used in construction; the front and east side are of Flemish bond, the north side is of five-course American bond, and the west side is a combination or the two, with four-course American substituted for the five-course.  Original penciling may still be seen in the mortar joints.

All elevations are fitted with windows; these are triple-hung with 12/12 sash, and are hung with louvered shutters and 8-inch rectilinear moldings; the moldings have been topped by ramped lintels with 6-inch-square corner blocks.  Sitting over the entryway is a lancet transom with intersecting tracery, a similar design to which may also be seen in the window in the tympanum.  On the east side of the church, the first bay is a jib window which according to local lore was used for funerals.  The roof is surrounded by a cove cornice which serves to define two pediments, one in either facade.  The roof is covered by Buckingham County, Virginia Buckingham Slate.  Later additions to the exterior include a pair of small chimneys and a small wooden cross, which latter is situated at the apex of the front pediment and was erected in the 1950s.

Interior

The church interior consists of one single room; the vestry, which is situated behind the sanctuary proper, is in a later addition to the building.  There are two main aisles in the nave; these are formed by the placement of the original pews in the building.  Of the pews, those in the center are freestanding, and larger than those on the sides; these have been angled slightly and attached to the side walls.  There is a gallery in the south wall, with one center aisle and two down its sides.  It is supported by a pair of Doric columns on the side walls, as well as by a number of pilasters.  There is a dentiled entablature, set above the columns and topped by a railing with turned balusters.  Entry to the gallery is achieved via an enclosed stairway on the east side; one wall is fitted with beaded diagonal paneling, and there is no stair rail.

The pulpit for the church is attached to its north wall, enclosed in a communion rail with rectangular rungs.  It is paneled and inset with a bold Greek fret in its frieze.  This appears to have been adapted from a design found in the Practical House Carpenter of Asher Benjamin, a popular builders' pattern book first published in 1830; with numerous other details, most especially the building's architraves, it indicates Cosby's familiarity with the popular architectural styles of the day.  Near the pulpit is a baptismal font of marble.  Also remaining in the church are two wood-burning stoves, elaborate constructions in cast iron, bearing the maker's mark of "Leibrandt & McDowell, Philadelphia & Baltimore".  The dado running the perimeter of the main room is paneled and incorporates a chair rail.  The floor is unfinished, while the walls and ceiling are covered in plaster.

Cemetery

There is a small cemetery attached to the church grounds, located at the back in a hilly, wooded area overlooking the Willis River.  Just when burials began is unknown; the earliest legible headstones date to the 1880s.  It is possible that earlier burials exist; however, most of the grave markers on the grounds are nearly completely worn away, and as a result the total number of interments is unknown.  Some of these missing markers have  been replaced with modern stones, and the cemetery continues in use for some local families.  Two veterans of the Confederate Army are also buried in the cemetery.

The church and cemetery are together contained in the National Register listing, as is the land on which both stand; the parcel, approximately two-thirds of an acre in area, follows the lines of the original deed of the property as recorded in Cumberland County records.

Significance
Grace Church is significant for a number of reasons, not least of which is its association with Dabney Cosby, and through him the Jeffersonian school of architectural thought so prevalent across Virginia in the second quarter of the nineteenth century.  The building stands as a well-preserved example of a rural Virginia church, incorporating elements of various architectural styles into its construction; it also serves as one of the last few tangible reminders, and much the best-preserved, of the once-thriving merchant community of Ca Ira.

See also

National Register of Historic Places listings in Cumberland County, Virginia, for other nearby historic sites

References

External links
Grace Episcopal Church, State Route 632, Cumberland, Cumberland County, VA: 6 measured drawings and 6 data pages at Historic American Buildings Survey
 Grace Episcopal Church Est 1840 at Find a Grave

Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia
Churches completed in 1843
19th-century Episcopal church buildings
1840 establishments in Virginia
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
Churches in Cumberland County, Virginia
Episcopal churches in Virginia
Greek Revival church buildings in Virginia
National Register of Historic Places in Cumberland County, Virginia
1843 establishments in Virginia


Alexander Raab (14 March 18822 October 1958) was a Hungarian-American pianist and distinguished piano teacher.

Alexander Raab was born in Győr (also known as Raab), Hungary. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory under Hans Schmitt (1835–1907), Robert Fuchs and Theodor Leschetizky and became acquainted with Johannes Brahms. He presented recitals with the violinist Jan Kubelík in England, Russia, Germany and France.

He immigrated to the US in 1915, and became Head of the Piano Department at Chicago Musical College, before moving to Berkeley, California, where he became esteemed as one of the best piano teachers on the West Coast.

He performed concertos with the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Vienna, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, and London Symphony Orchestra. Leopold Godowsky dedicated his 1931 transcription of Adolf von Henselt’s Etude in F-sharp major (Si oiseau j'etais), Op. 2, No. 6, to Raab.

Alexander Raab’s piano students included Ernst Bacon, Vera Bradford, George J. Buelow, Muriel Kerr, Wanda Krasoff (who had been referred to Raab by Josef Hofmann), Mortimer Markoff, Sumner Marshall, Robert Owens, and Allan Willman. His pupils also studied under teachers such as Alfred Cortot, Nadia Boulanger, Rudolph Ganz, Percy Grainger, Ernest Hutcheson, and Paul Wells.

He made a small number of early Duo-Art and Welte Mignon piano roll recordings, with music of Chopin (Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor Funeral March), Liszt (Hungarian Rhapsody No. 5 in E minor), Mozart, Brahms, and some salon pieces by minor composers. These recordings appear on CD alongside such distinguished names as Alfred Cortot, Guiomar Novaes, Ignaz Friedman, Arthur Friedheim, Vladimir de Pachmann, Ferruccio Busoni, Josef Hofmann and Harold Bauer.

References

Sources
 Music and Dance in California and the West, Richard Drake Sauners

1882 births
1958 deaths
20th-century classical pianists
20th-century American pianists
20th-century American male musicians
Hungarian classical pianists
Hungarian male musicians
Hungarian music educators
American classical pianists
American male pianists
American music educators
Male classical pianists
Piano pedagogues
People from Győr
Hungarian emigrants to the United States
Pupils of Theodor Leschetizky


Ca Ira was a small community located in Cumberland County, Virginia.  Formally established in 1796, it fell into disuse in the years after the American Civil War; today, few traces of the town remain, save for the old Grace Church and a handful of houses.

History
At the turn of the nineteenth century, Ca Ira was a typical small farming community such as could be found in many locations around Virginia.  The community of Ca Ira, located along Virginia State Route 632 and near the Willis River, served as a takeout point for the Willis River and as the main exporting point along the Willis. The community took its name from a popular French marching song, Ça Ira (meaning "it'll be fine"), reflecting the popular enthusiasm for the French Revolution in Virginia at the time. Though originally established by the General Assembly in 1796, it reached its high point between 1827 and 1860. Described by Joseph Martin in 1836 in The Gazetteer of Virginia and the District of Columbia, the village of Ca Ira contained approximately 40 dwellings, three mercantile stores a merchant mill a tobacco warehouse, two taverns, a non-denominational church, and a masonic hall.
The population at the time was 310 and mail was delivered three times a week. Amongst the residents were two blacksmiths, two wheelwrights, two tailors, and  two plough manufacturers.

The rapid expansion of this community took place as a result of the removal of a dam along the large pond adjacent to the area. Ca Ira stagnated until 1825, when the Willis River canal was completed. Prior to this, the surrounding pond has produced conditions for bilious attacks which has twice nearly depopulated the town, completely. This served numerous purposes; it caused the removal of a pond, long the source of poor health for residents and, more importantly, it opened the town up to the tobacco trade, making it easier to transport wares along the James River between Prince Edward and Charlotte Counties and Richmond and Petersburg.

During its heyday, Ca Ira boasted $40,000 worth of sales annually by its three mercantile stores, 28-30,000 bushels of wheat ground at the mill during the season, and 300 to 500 hogsheads of tobacco received.

With the completion, in 1843, of Grace Church, Ca Ira had its most important and distinguished building; this not only served as a place of worship, but acted as a gathering place for members of surrounding plantations.

Good fortune was not to last, however; the town's heyday came in the middle of the 1850s, when it incorporated a bank.  Its postbellum decline was rapid; the church, along with most of the rest of the town, was deserted by the end of the 19th century.  A 1906 visit found little more than a "post hamlet," with only a handful of houses, a post office, two stores, and the church surviving among the ruins of warehouses and other structures.  Of these, only the church exists today, although some newer houses have been erected in the vicinity.

Today, Virginia State Route 632 is known as "Ca Ira Road" where it passes through the site of the former village.  Only a few buildings survive from this once thriving village. The extant structures located
along Route 632 near the Ca Ira Pond include Grace Episcopal Church, now on the National Register, approximately five modest dwellings, and the Ca Ira Fishing Club. Of these, only the church and the fishing lodge date to Ca Ira's period of prosperity.

References

Ghost towns in Virginia
Geography of Cumberland County, Virginia
Populated places established in 1796
1796 establishments in Virginia


The Tom Ridge Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run at Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pennsylvania. First run in 2007, it was originally known as the Tom Ridge Labor Day Stakes when it was run the first two years on Labor Day. The race is a six-furlong event for three-year-old horses and is raced on Tapeta synthetic dirt.

It currently offers a purse of $100,000.

The race is named for Tom Ridge, who was the Governor of the State of Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2001.

Records
Speed  record:
 1:08.16 - Noholdingback Bear (2016) (at current distance of 6 furlongs)

Winners

Flat horse races for three-year-olds
Recurring sporting events established in 2007
Sports in Erie, Pennsylvania
Ungraded stakes races in the United States


"Special Kinda Love" is a single by The Jets, released on August 19, 1990. Written by Vassal Benford. It was released as a single from their greatest hits album, The Best of The Jets on the MCA label, the song was not nearly as successful as some other recordings by the group. It only reached number 83 on the R&B chart.

Chart performance

References

External links

1990 singles
The Jets (band) songs
Dance-pop songs
1990 songs
MCA Records singles
Songs written by Vassal Benford
Songs written by Ronald Spearman


Albino gaur or white bison are a type of gaur, occasionally seen in the Manjampatti Valley, a  protected area at the eastern end of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, South India. They are occasionally called Manjampatti white bison ( kaatteni, or kaattu maadu, meaning "forest cow"). These gaur are notable for their distinctive ash-grey color as opposed to the almost black color of most gaur. Since 1929, there have been at least 19 documented sightings of these rare animals, including the 2004 photographs of N. A. Naseer.

Description

The gray-colored jungle bison is a peculiar subspecies of gaur (Bos gaurus gaurus). Many subspecies of gaur have been described, but only three subspecies are now recognized. Further research is required to precisely determine the taxonomy of this species.

Gaur were previously numerous all over the Palani Hills, but declined greatly during the 20th century. Now they are protected and their numbers are increasing substantially. The endangered gaur are the heaviest and most powerful of all wild bovines. Males have a highly muscular body, with a distinctive dorsal ridge, forming a very powerful appearance. Females are substantially smaller, and their dorsal ridge is less developed. Adult body length is  to  cm / 8.3–12 ft. Shoulder height is  to . Average males stand about  to  at the shoulder. Females are about  less. Tail length is  to .

The male Indian gaurs' average weight is .  Large individuals may exceed . Gaurs in Northern India  are smaller than the southern breed, and more of the larger, better specimens can be seen in South India, due to the high concentration of gaur there. Calf and juvenile gaurs have several predators, including  tigers; Asian black bears

Historic references
There are several herds of gaur (popularly called bison) in Manjampatti Valley. Earlier, the area was well known for many Manjampatti white bison sightings. Only the Manjampatti valley of Udumalpet range is said to harbour white bison, a very rare animal.

Between 1929 and 1937, James L. H. Williams, a British wildlife enthusiast, reported sighting many gaur with light pink or white skin during many trips to Manjampatty Valley. He reported seeing many herds of gaur, with up to 13,120 animals in a herd. Most herds had some individuals with color varying from light red through the duns to pure white. In one herd of 20 animals, every animal was of abnormal color. He reported the white bison had some religious significance to the local Pulayar tribal residents, and they would gently divert outsiders away from any herds with abnormally colored animals.

Before 1939, a Mr. Ranicar shot a white bison in the Talinji area of Manjampatti Valley. J. C. Gouldsbury reported that Ranicar presented the mounted specimen of his cow white bison to the High Range Club in Munnar, where it was subsequently displayed. The pelage was originally almost cream-colored.

The 1939 Madras Forest Department – Administration Report mentions "white" bison in the Manjampatti Valley,

Before 1970, Mr. M. A. S. M. Muthuswamy walked the Munnar-Udumalpet road (SH 17) frequently. He reported seeing a herd of four white bison, which he described as greenish-grey in color, on several occasions in previous years. In 1969, he also saw a fine greenish-grey bull in a herd of normal-colored gaur at Kamanuthu, just off the SH 17 road in the Kombu beat on the Tamil Nadu side of the border. His brother, Mr Padmanabhan, said he had seen a herd of five there also.

In 1969, an ash-colored bull was seen by a dhobi from Amaravathinagar, who said he saw it while collecting firewood at Kamanuthu. In 1965, Mr. A. J. Packianathan, senior master of the Sainik School, Amaravathinagar, saw four ash-colored gaur in the same area.

In January 1969, Koolayan, a cattleman of the Malasar tribe, who keeps cattle at Kumulam overlooking the northern slopes of Manjamalai and part of the northern slopes of Mudian Malai, saw one grey-colored gaur, the only one among the many gaur he has ever seen.

In 1970, Rajagopala Tondaiman, the Raja of Pudukottai, saw one white bull gaur beyond Kukal in Koilan Alai, and he has seen about half a dozen of them in the past 30 years among herds of normal colored gaur.

An ancient Sinhala Kavi verse reads in part: "Having come swiftly, On the day the excellent white gaur was killed, A scoop of blood was given to thee ! ..."

In 1970, E. R. C. Davidar, a famous wildlife researcher, spent several months on behalf of the Bombay Natural History Society in Chinnar trying to spot and photograph this animal. His mission, undertaken  to provide scientific evidence to the rumours floating in the air for several decades, did not find success. His report to the BNHS, White Bison of Manjampatti said the white gaur reported by Williams might have become extinct following the outbreak of an epizootic disease that wiped out several herds from the region in those days. But, tribals living in the forests continued to claim white gaurs were still there in Chinnar.

In 1972, Rev. Sam Schmitthenner observed two white gaur in Manjampatti Valley. He said:I took one more hike down into Manjampatti after staying in Kukkal Cave overnight. Early in the morning, we saw a herd of bison, and there on the edge of the herd were two albino calves. Earlier that month I had read an article in Hornbill, a Bombay conservation magazine, about the albino bison of Manjamphatti.

About 1975, two local guides guiding some Europeans hoping to see the white bison said they had not seen a 'white bison' in the last 15 or 20 years. They admitted quite frankly this was partly because there was no occasion for them to go looking for gaur.

Recent sightings
In January or February, 2011, Minoo Avari, Sunder Shaker, who was then the Manager at the Kodaikanal Golf Club and at least two caddies saw a beautiful white bison cow on the golf course at about 2 or 2:30 in the afternoon. They were on the tee box and the bison was on the 14th green. The players were warned by their caddies that she was skittish and liable to charge if they went too close. That is not usually a problem with other bison often seen on the course. The golf caddies said they see this white bison from time to time.

During the 2008 annual wildlife census in the Amaravati range in the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary, bison were seen in Thanlinji village, Manjampatti and Mungilpallam and reportedly there was also a white (albino) bison.

On 29 December 2007, C. R. Jayaprakash made a clear photograph of a white gaur resting near Masingudi on the Sigur Plateau. This is considerably out of the normal range of the animal in the Annamalai Hills.

A 2007 encounter with a white bison at the jungle lodge near the Chinnar checkpost has been described:A white bison reaches the end of the trail and stops at the edge of the clearing. He's huge. Over  tall and  to   long. Sharp horns over  long. I have no where to go because the bison herd has blocked the other two exits, so I'm just standing there, hoping white bison will keep walking and I can go back onto the trail. No such luck. He stands there, barely ten feet away from me, and stares. And stares. I'm thinking, wow, I'm totally going to die right now, because I've got white bison in front of me and brown bison to my left, and neither of them like me here... So for about five full minutes we face off, until white bison decides the water is more important, and finally meanders off.

In 2007, a rare Manjampatti white bison was seen by George Roshan in a herd of about eight or 10 normal-coloured bison grazing and resting on mountain downs above Kukkal at the northeast corner of Manjampatti Valley.

In 2006, this possible subspecies was seen and photographed in Manjampatti Valley by Forest Department staff.

In 2004, the famous and extremely rare white bison was reported at Chinnar. In July 2004, an unusual white gaur, moving with a herd of dark-skinned gaur, was spotted repeatedly over several days in the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary and photographed by the wildlife photographer, N. A. Naseer. This is the only published photographic documentation of Manjampatti white bison.

In 1998, the then Wildlife Warden of Eravikulam, Mohan Alambath, his Range Officer, V. K. Franzis, and a wildlife enthusiast, V. P. Ajithkumar, claimed sighting this animal in Chinnar. Though they reported the matter in the journal of BNHS the photograph they had taken of the animal lacked clarity.

On 21 October 1997, two grayish-white gaur, an adult female and a subadult, were observed along with 9 other gaur on the slopes of Cheevaparamala in the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary. On 3 January 1998, a juvenile with the same color was seen at Koottar along with five others. In addition to the white gaur, the majority of the animals in these herds ranged from brick red to light red. In the first herd of 11, there were only four normal-colored gaur, and in the second herd of six, only two normal-colored individuals. This was the first record of white bison in the Chinnar Sanctuary, which shares a long common border with the Manjampatti Valley.

In 1997 in Satpura, four totally white gaur were reported – presumably albinos or some genetic sport, which, amid their black companions, appear like ghosts in a forest.
In 1980, sightings of a herd of white gaur were reported from Bandhar near Munnar.

Other references
 Video 6:31  Tigers hunt Largest Wild Cattle Gaurs
 Brander, A.A.Dunbar, (1936) White Bison,  Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 38(3): 619-620.
 Whitaker, Romulus.  White Gaur of Manjampatti, Hornbill, Bombay, April–June 1979, 30.
 பேச்சு:கடமா

Notes

Bovines
Fauna of Tamil Nadu
Mammals of Asia
Mammals of India


HM Prison Guys Marsh is a Category C men's prison, located near Shaftesbury, Dorset, England. Guys Marsh is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.

History

Guys Marsh was a former US Military Hospital. In 1960 it opened as a borstal (HM Borstal Guys Marsh). The buildings were standard World War II Nissen huts and the only buildings that had been added were the officers' quarters (around 50 houses) and the boiler house. The borstal continued in the buildings until the 1980s, when gradually the structures of the building were rebuilt or refurbished. In 1984, Guys Marsh became a Young Offender Institution. In 1992, it began also housing adult prisoners when the building of a perimeter fence made it a closed establishment. Guys Marsh soon became an all-adult prison, and within 18 months the gaol managed to increase its operating capacity by 278.

In January 2002 the Board of Visitors criticised Guys Marsh prison failing to meet government standards on re-offending rates amongst released prisoners. The board blamed a shortage of staff and shortage of money for poor facilities at the jail. The Board also expressed concern over medical care, after a local GPs practice withdrew its services from the prison.

In March 2017 a wing of the prison had to be evacuated when a prisoner climbed onto the roof and started a fire there.

The prison today
Accommodation at Guys Marsh comprises seven residential units, which have cellular accommodation and one unit has less secure rooms.

Guys Marsh offers workshops to prisoners including Farms and Estates Management, Laundry, Industrial Cleaning, Bricklaying and a number of contract production workshops. Some of the workshops run recognised external qualifications.

A Visitor Centre is available at the prison, with facilities including toilets and a baby changing room.

When Guys Marsh was inspected in 2014 it was found prison officers had, "all but lost control".  The prison was described as in crisis and gangs operated openly. Spice and alcohol related violence was high and prisoners lived in fear. Prisoners are afraid to leave their cells sometimes for months at a time.  Prisoners are inadequately supervised, prisoners push ahead in dinner and medicine queues, walk around in shorts or dressing gowns and smoke unchallenged by staff.  Bullying has become so widespread one wing is reserved for prisoners who fear for their safety.  Peter Clarke, the chief inspector, said the 2014 inspection found the prison in crisis “where managers and staff had all but lost control”.   The prison got six months’ notice of the inspectors’ decision to return in December 2016, inspectors found not enough had been done too late about their worries, and the prison was worse in some respects.

References

External links
 Ministry of Justice pages on Guys Marsh
 HMP Guys Marsh - HM Inspectorate of Prisons Reports

Category C prisons in England
Prisons in Dorset
1960 establishments in England
Men's prisons
Shaftesbury


Anthony Bebbington (born 1962) is a geographer, International Director for Natural Resources and Climate Change at the Ford Foundation and Higgins Professor of Environment and Society in the Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, USA (on leave). He was previously ARC Laureate Professor at the School of Geography, University of Melbourne, Australia (2016-2019).

Background
Tony Bebbington was born and raised in Staffordshire, England, studied geography and land economy at the University of Cambridge where he graduated with distinction, and completed a PhD at the Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, USA in 1990, supervised by Billie Lee Turner II. He holds British and American citizenship.

He held a postdoctoral appointment in Latin American Studies at Cambridge (1989-1992), before working at two London research organizations: the Overseas Development Institute (1992-4) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (1994-5). He moved to the USA again in 1995, working at the World Bank (1995-6, 1999–2000) and as Associate Professor of Geography, University of Colorado, Boulder (1996-2003) before moving to the University of Manchester, UK as Professor.

Contributions
Bebbington's early work was on farmer knowledge, livelihoods, and agrarian change in mountain communities of Peru and Ecuador. He made distinctive contributions to human geography and to understanding of rural development in the Andes, combining detailed fieldwork with farming households with broader understanding of rural institutions and social movements. He has retained an interest in theory, scholarship, and practical development issues.

This interest in rural organizations and social movements led to research on the performance and practice on non-governmental organizations in Latin America, expressed in several books on NGOs and their contributions to development.  After working in social policy at the World Bank, he became interested in how the World Bank works with NGOs, and particularly the use of 'social capital' in the World Bank's work.
Recent studies have been of mining, development, and the state in Peru and Ecuador, and the nature of protest surrounding mining proposals, funded by an ESRC research professorship, ARC Laureate Fellowship, and other grants.

He has worked most often in the Andes, elsewhere in South and Central America, and briefly in Indonesia and Nepal.

Bebbington has also collaborated with United Nations Research Institute For Social Development on the flagship report Combating Poverty and Inequality (2010); a project for which he wrote a background thematic paper Poverty Reduction and Social Movements: A Framework with Cases. Additionally, he collaborated on the project Financing Social Policy (2006-2010).

Recognition
Laureate Fellowship, Australian Research Council, 2017-2022 (resigned, 2019)
Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, 2009.
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2014.
Guggenheim Fellowship, 2014.
CLAG (Conference of Latin Americanists Geographers) Carl O. Sauer Distinguished Scholarship Award, 2014.
Robert Netting award for lifetime achievement, Cultural and Political Ecology Group, Association of American Geographers, 2010.
Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University
ESRC (UK) Professorial Fellowship to conduct research in Latin America (2007-2009).

Publications
Books

 A.J. Bebbington, AA-G. Abdulai, D. Humphreys Bebbington, M. Hinfelaar and C. Sanborn. 2018. Governing Extractive Industries: Politics, Histories, Ideas. Oxford University Press.
 J. Berdegué, A.J. Bebbington, and J. Escobal (eds.) 2016.  Growth, Poverty and Inequality in Sub-National Development: Learning from Latin America’s Territories. Special Issue of World Development 73:1-138.
 Bebbington A.J. (ed.) 2013. Industrias extractivas, conflicto social y dinámicas institucionales en la región andina.  Lima. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.
 Bebbington A.J. and J. Bury (eds.). 2013. Subterranean Struggles: New Dynamics of Mining, Oil and Gas in Latin America.  Austin: University of Texas Press.
 Bebbington A.J. (ed.). 2012. Social Conflict, Economic Development and Extractive Industry: Evidence from South America. London: Routledge.
Bebbington, A.J, S. Hickey and D Mitlin (eds). 2008. Can NGOs Make A Difference? The Challenge of Development Alternatives. London. Zed.
Bebbington, A.J, A. Dani, A. de Haan, and M. Walton (eds.). 2008. Institutional Pathways to Equity: addressing inequality traps. London/Washington. Palgrave and World Bank.
Bebbington, A.J, M. Connarty, W. Coxshall, H. O'Shaugnessy, M. Williams. 2007. Mining and development in Peru, with special reference to the Rio Blanco Project, Piura.  London. Peru Support Group. Translated and published in Peru as: Bebbington, A.J, M. Connarty, W. Coxshall, H.O'Shaugnessy, M. Williams. Minería y Desarrollo en Perúcon especial referencia al Proyecto Río Blanco, Piura.  Lima. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos/CIPCA/Oxfam International/Peru Support Group.
Bebbington, A.J. and W. McCourt (eds.). 2007. Development success: statecraft in the South. London. Palgrave Macmillan.
Bebbington, A.J. (ed.). 2007 Una ecología política de la minería moderna: movimientos sociales, empresas y desarrollo territorial. Lima. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.
Bebbington, A.J. (ed.). 2007. Investigación y cambio social: desafíos para las ONG en Centroamérica y México. Guatemala City. Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.
Bebbington A.J., M. Woolcock, S. Guggenheim and E. Olson (eds.) 2006. The search for empowerment. Social Capital as idea and practice at the World Bank. West Hartford. Kumarian
Bebbington A.J, and V.H.Torres. 2001. El capital social en los Andes. Quito. Abya-Yala.
Bebbington A.J, D. Muñoz con A. Espinar, M. Canedo and S. Croxton 2000. Los campesinos y las políticas públicas: encuentros y desencuentros. La Paz. Editorial Plural.
Riddell, R, A.J. Bebbington, L Peck. 1995. Promoting Development by Proxy: The Development Impact of Government Support to Swedish NGOs. Stockholm: SIDA. ,
Farringdon, J., Bebbington, A.J, K. Wellard, D.Lewis. 1993. Reluctant Partners?: Non-governmental Organizations, the State and Sustainable Agricultural Development. London: Routledge.
de Boef, W, K. Amanor, K. Wellard, A.J. Bebbington (eds.). 1993. Cultivating Knowledge: Genetic Diversity, Farmer Experimentation and Crop Research. Intermediate Technology Publications.
Bebbington A.J, G. Thiele, P. Davies. 1993. Non-governmental Organizations and the State in Latin America: Rethinking Roles in Sustainable Agricultural Development. London: Routledge.

References
 Webpage

British geographers
American geographers
Political ecologists
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Academics of the University of Manchester
Clark University faculty
Clark University alumni
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1962 births
Living people
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences fellows


Watchmen: The End Is Nigh is an episodic video game series that serves as a prequel to the film adaptation of the DC Comics limited series Watchmen. The game was originally announced for release in downloadable installments on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live Arcade, with the first one released in March 2009 to coincide with the film's theatrical release. The second episode was released in July and August 2009.

Both episodes were released together on disc on July 21, 2009, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.  A limited edition of the PlayStation 3 version was released billed as "The Complete Experience", which also included the extended Director's Cut version of the film in Blu-ray format.

Gameplay
The game allows players to take on the roles of either Rorschach or Nite Owl in single player or cooperative multiplayer. Rorschach and Nite Owl are the only playable characters in the game's first episode, which comprises six "chapters." Cutscenes that look like animated comic panels, similar to those seen in the Watchmen motion comics released on iTunes, bookend each chapter. Two of the film's actors, Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earle Haley, provide their voices for their characters Nite Owl and Rorschach, respectively. The game features a mix of beat-em-up and puzzle gameplay, with the two characters having different strengths and abilities. Rorschach is faster with unconventional attacks and makes use of improvised weapons like crowbars and baseball bats; Nite Owl is slower but has a solid martial arts method and uses technological devices, such as "screecher bombs", and the grappling gun. Working together is essential to solving puzzles and defeating enemies.

The game is set in 1972 during the Crimebusters (for the film adaptation, The Watchmen) era. The first chapter of the game is a tutorial taking place while Rorschach and Nite Owl infiltrate a prison. Underboss, a villain mentioned in the comic book, appears in the game, as do other adversaries who are only mentioned or briefly shown in flashbacks in the original comic. Nite Owl's flying craft, Archimedes, appears, though the player never has control over it during the game.

An article on Comicmix.com emphasized the game's focus on teamwork between the two characters: in single-player mode, the AI controls the other character aside from the main character, while the game can be played in Local Co-op with two players as both characters. The article also mentioned there would be no online Co-op mode.

Plot
The End Is Nigh takes place during the Crimebusters (renamed "Watchmen" for the film adaptation) era, when Rorschach and Nite Owl II were crime-fighting vigilantes before the Keene Act passed in 1977. Upon hearing a police bulletin, Nite Owl and Rorschach make their way to Sing Sing prison to help quell the rioting that has erupted there.

When they get there, they realize the riots were all a ruse to hide the escape of the Underboss, a crime lord. They make their way to a bar, the Rumrunner, and question one of the patrons to find out who orchestrated the escape. They find out Jimmy the Gimmick was behind it, so they chase him down the docks to an abandoned amusement park. They corner him on the tracks of a roller coaster, where someone activates the carts to try to kill Jimmy. Nite Owl holds them back with his grappling hook but a mysterious sniper shoots the cable, causing the carts to fly right into Jimmy, causing him to be severely injured. Before his fall off the roller coaster, Jimmy manages to tell them the Underboss is in his old hideout in the sewers. After calling an ambulance for Jimmy, Nite Owl and Rorschach go to the sewers.

They don't find him, but they do find a missing FBI associate director, Mark Felt, tied up and bleeding heavily, seemingly tortured. He tells them that someone (whom the heroes presume to be Underboss) means to kill two reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the would-be informers of the Watergate scandal. Upon leaving the sewers, Nite Owl and Rorschach are ambushed by the police, Rorschach chiming in that they have been set up.

They fight their way through them to get to the construction site where Felt told them Underboss is, only to find that the reporters are already dead. Underboss claims he had nothing to do with it, that he was set up. The duo chases him up the construction site and manages to corner him, but the Comedian snipes him from afar. It turned out the Comedian was the mastermind behind all the events, working on behalf of the American government to cover up the Watergate scandal (a reference to a comment made about Woodward and Bernstein by the Comedian in both the graphic novel and film).

In Part 2, Rorschach sets on the trail of a missing girl named Violet Greene. With a reluctant Nite Owl in tow, they infiltrate a seedy strip club, where they discover that the kidnapper is the Twilight Lady, an old flame of Nite Owl's. They break into her mansion (which acts as a high-class brothel) and discover that Violet enjoys being a prostitute, however Rorschach claims that she may have been brainwashed. Nite Owl says that if Violet is there of her "own free will" then there is nothing that they can do. Rorschach disagrees, and the pair chase Twilight Lady through the mansion, before she is thrown into a skylight. The ending of the chapter depends upon the outcome of the final battle, between Nite Owl and Rorschach. If Nite Owl wins, then he throws Rorschach through the skylight and rescues Twilight Lady before ordering her to leave town and never return. If Rorschach wins, however, he throws Nite Owl to one side and shoots Twilight Lady with the harpoon gun, killing her. Regardless of who wins the game, Nite Owl and Rorschach's relationship will be broken, culminating in Nite Owl and the Comedian teaming up to quell a riot (which can be seen in both the graphic novel and the film).

Development
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment was announced to be publishing two downloadable games during the theatrical and DVD releases of the 2009 film, with Deadline Games serving as developer. Warner Bros. took this low-key approach to adapting the film to avoid rushing the game on this tight schedule, as most film games are panned by critics and gamers. Dave Gibbons, the comic's artist, was an advisor for the game.

Electronic Gaming Monthly announced the title of the game to be Watchmen: The End Is Nigh and had the game as its cover story for December 2008.

A teaser trailer premiered on Spike Video Game Awards show on December 14, 2008.

Reception

Part 1

Part 1 received "mixed" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. 1UP.coms review stated that Part 1 was a "decent HD-generation beat-em-up" but cautioned that "as gorgeous as everything is, it's also repetitive." Official Xbox Magazine said that co-op was fun, but that they were disappointed no online co-op was given. Hypers Daniel Wilks commended Part 1 for its "rain effects [and] shadow and character models" as well as its "decent fighting engine". However, he criticized it for "repetitive action and level design [and being] not particularly difficult". Australian Video game talk show Good Games two presenters gave it 4 and 5 out of 10.

Variety gave the PlayStation 3 version an unfavorable review and called it "a distressingly shallow videogame in which there's nothing for players to do but beat the living crap out of everyone they see." Wired gave the same console version four stars out of ten, saying, "The game requires very little in the way of strategy or timing -- just mashing on the attack buttons is more than enough to get you through half the game. At that point, more and more enemies start piling on you, and getting cheap-shotted in the back is an excellent way to die (and be booted out to a long loading screen while you wait for the exact same level you were just in to be reloaded)." Teletext GameCentral gave the Xbox 360 version a score of four out of ten and said, "It certainly looks and sounds the part but this downloadable game is just as shallow as most retail tie-ins."

Part 2

Part 2 received "generally unfavorable reviews" on all platforms according to Metacritic.

Parts 1 and 2 (The Complete Experience)

The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Parts 1 and 2 received "mixed" reviews according to Metacritic.

References

External links

2009 video games
Action-adventure games
Alternate history video games
Episodic video games
PlayStation 3 games
PlayStation Network games
Video games set in 1972
Video games set in 1977
Video games set in New York City
Video games set in New York (state)
Video games based on DC Comics
Video games based on films
Video games based on adaptations
Video games based on works by Alan Moore
Video games based on works by David Hayter
Video games developed in Denmark
Video game prequels
Video games scored by Tyler Bates
Video games using PhysX
Windows games
Xbox 360 Live Arcade games
Xbox 360 games
Watchmen (film)
Xbox 360 Live Arcade compilations
Detective video games
Works by Len Wein
Warner Bros. video games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Split-screen multiplayer games
3D beat 'em ups
Deadline Games games


USS Traverse County (LST-1160), previously USS LST-1160, was a United States Navy landing ship tank (LST) in commission from 1953 to 1970, and which then saw non-commissioned Military Sealift Command service as USNS Traverse County (T-LST-1160) from 1972 to 1973.

Construction and commissioning

USS LST-1160 was designed under project SCB 9A and laid down on 18 December 1952 at Bath, Maine, by the Bath Iron Works. She was launched on 3 October 1953, sponsored by Mrs. Omar R. King, and commissioned on 19 December 1953.

Atlantic, Caribbean, and Mediterranean service

Late in January 1954, LST-1160 moved, from Boston, Massachusetts, where she had completed outfitting, to Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek at Virginia Beach, Virginia. On 26 March 1954, after seven weeks of shakedown training in the Virginia Capes operating area and three weeks of post-shakedown availability, LST-1160 became an active unit of the United States Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Force. Between the spring of 1954 and the summer of 1955, she completed seven training exercises to sharpen her skill as an amphibious warfare ship. Those drills frequently took her south to the West Indies, most often to Vieques Island near Puerto Rico, where embarked United States Marines practiced amphibious landings.

On 1 July 1955, LST-1160 was named USS Traverse County (LST-1160). Not long thereafter, she was awarded the Battle Efficiency "E" as the outstanding ship of Landing Ship Tank Flotilla 4.

Late in 1955, Traverse County entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for a four-month overhaul. She exited the shipyard in April 1956 and, following a month of refresher training, resumed operations out of Little Creek. The remainder of 1956 saw her periodically embarking Marines at Morehead City, North Carolina, and putting them ashore at Little Creek and at nearby Camp Pendleton.

At the beginning of 1957, Traverse County completed preparations for her first deployment with the United States Sixth Fleet. From 1957 through 1968, Traverse County performed eight tours of duty in the Mediterranean. Most often, her operations with the Sixth Fleet included visits to ports in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey, and along the North African coast. She often conducted training exercises with units of friendly foreign navies. However, during her 1958 deployment, a crisis erupted in Lebanon at the far eastern end of the Mediterranean, and in July 1958 Traverse County joined other Sixth Fleet units and Amphibious Squadron 6 landing ships tank in landing Marines at Beirut to help stabilize the situation. The remainder of her Mediterranean assignments proved to be more routine in nature.

When not attached to the Sixth Fleet, Traverse County operated out of Little Creek in Virginia. Her western Atlantic duties frequently took her to the West Indies and the Caribbean where, in addition to the usual amphibious exercises, she performed supply missions to various American bases in the area under the auspices of the Commander, Service Force, Atlantic Fleet. Such was her assignment in the fall of 1962 when American surveillance of Cuba uncovered the siting of offensive ballistic missiles on that island by the Soviet Union. When the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred, President John F. Kennedy invoked a successful blockade, or quarantine, of Cuba to secure the removal of the missiles. During that operation, Traverse County provided support as a combat-ready unit. However, the Soviet Union withdrew the missiles and the tension abated, enabling Traverse County to resume her normal routine early in 1963. She returned to supplying Caribbean bases and conducting amphibious exercises at Little Creek, at Onslow Beach, North Carolina, and at Vieques Island near Puerto Rico.

The Cuban Missile Crisis proved to be Traverse Countys last internationally significant operation. After 1962, she resumed her routine, alternating Mediterranean deployments with United States East Coast operations. She completed her eighth and last Sixth Fleet assignment in December 1968. During 1969, she conducted another series of amphibious exercises at her old haunts, Little Creek, Onslow Beach, and Vieques Island. Similar operations carried her into 1970.

Latin American operations

On 7 March 1970 she headed for the Panama Canal and a tour of special duty. After transporting the 8th Marine Engineering Battalion from Morehead City, North Carolina, to Vieques Island, she arrived at Colon, Panama Canal Zone, on 12 March 1970. She transited the Panama Canal and embarked scientists and equipment of the Smithsonian Institution for research operations in the vicinity of the Secas Islands of Panama. That duty lasted until 3 April 1970 when she returned to Rodman Naval Station in the Canal Zone.

Between the 3 April 1970 and 24 April 1970, Traverse County transported United States Army Reserve troops and their equipment between Rio Hato and Rodman Naval Station and carried Operation Handclasp supplies to Guayaquil, Ecuador. On 27 April 1970, she reembarked the Smithsonian scientists for another week of research operations. Upon her return to Rodman Naval Station early in May 1970, she entered the Panama Canal Company's Mount Hope Shipyard for repairs. She exited the shipyard on 11 June 1970, retransited the canal, and joined the Caribbean Amphibious Ready Group for a day before returning to Rodman Naval Station for further orders. Late in June 1970, she transported more Army reservists between Rio Hato and Rodman Naval Station.

Decommissioning

On 7 July 1970, Traverse County headed back to the United States for inactivation. She reached Little Creek on 15 July 1970. Later that autumn, Traverse County was decommissioned. Sometime thereafter, she was moved to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet berthing area at Orange, Texas.

Military Sealift Command service

Traverse County was reactivated on 7 June 1973 to serve as a cargo ship in a non-commissioned status with a civil service crew with the Military Sealift Command, being designated the United States Naval Ship USNS Traverse County (T-LST-1160). This service continued until she was stricken from the Navy List on 1 November 1973. At that time, she was transferred to the Maritime Administration for layup in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, Benicia, California.

Transfer to Peru

On 7 August 1984, Traverse County and three of her sister ships -- USS Waldo County (LST-1163), USS Walworth County (LST-1164), and USS Washoe County (LST-1165)—were leased to Peru, and Traverse County was commissioned into service in the Peruvian Navy as BAP Eten (DT-144) on 4 March 1985. Peru renewed the lease on all four ships in August 1989 and August 1994, and the United States sold all four outright to Peru under the Security Assistance Program on 26 April 1999; all four were struck from the U.S. Naval Register on the day of the sale.

Notes

References

Saunders, Stephen, Commodore, RN. Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships, 2001-2002. Alexandria, Virginia: Jane's Information Group, 2001. .

External links
NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive: USNS Traverse County (T-LST-1160) ex USS Traverse County (LST-1160) (1955 - 1971) USS LST-1160 (1953 - 1955)

See also
 List of United States Navy LSTs

Terrebonne Parish-class tank landing ships
Cold War amphibious warfare vessels of the United States
Ships built in Bath, Maine
1953 ships
Terrebonne Parish-class tank landing ships of the Peruvian Navy


The Nikon AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm 3.5-5.6G IF-ED is an image stabilised superzoom lens manufactured by Nikon for use on Nikon DX format digital SLR cameras. It provides a single-lens "walk-around" solution for wide-angle through to telephoto shots, as well as close-up photography.

Introduction
Nikon announced the first version of this lens on November 1, 2005. The lens offers a 35 film equivalent focal length range of 27-300mm, with a compact silent wave autofocus motor featuring full-time manual override and internal focusing. Its second generation Vibration Reduction technology claims to provide compensation equivalent to an increase in shutter speed of four stops. The lens has sixteen lens elements in twelve groups, with two ED glass elements to reduce chromatic aberration, and three aspherical elements to reduce image distortion. Although this lens was designed for use on Nikon DX format DSLRs, its Nikon F lens mount allows it to be used on Nikon full-frame DSLRs, albeit with vignetting due to a smaller image circle. This lens also works with teleconverters.

On July 30, 2009, Nikon announced an updated variant, the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm 3.5-5.6G ED VR II. It adds a zoom lock to prevent zoom creep.

Reception
Reviewers have praised the lens for its 11.1x focal length range, effective vibration reduction, excellent autofocus motor and its versatility. However, the lens has been criticised for pronounced and complex distortion across the range, extreme softness at certain focal lengths and zoom creep. Overall, it has garnered generally positive reviews, citing the lens' flexibility and ability to "allow the photographer to travel light and never miss a shot while changing lenses".

Problems

The lens has problems with auto-focus of near subjects and in wide-angle position of infinity subjects on some older Nikon digital camera bodies. The problem occurs in Nikon D 300 S also.

The slow auto-focus problem can be solved in new DSLR cameras disabling the light bulb guide that's built in the body camera. Enabling only one point of focus and enabling "continuous engine focus" or "automatic" instead of single servo, may speed up auto-focus greatly to normal again.

See also
List of Nikon F-mount lenses with integrated autofocus motor

References

External links
 AF-S DX VR Zoom-NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED Product Page at Nikon.com
 AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II  Product Page at Nikon.com
 AF-S DX VR Zoom-NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED review at Digital Photography Review
 AF-S DX VR Zoom-NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED review at Cameralabs
 AF-S DX VR Zoom-NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED review by Thom Hogan

Camera lenses introduced in 2005
Nikon F-mount lenses