text: In many cases, the demolished remains, rocks and broken statue pieces of temples destroyed by Delhi sultans were reused to build mosques and other buildings. For example, the Qutb complex in Delhi was built from stones of 27 demolished Hindu and Jain temples by some accounts. Similarly, the Muslim mosque in Khanapur, Maharashtra was built from the looted parts and demolished remains of Hindu temples. Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji destroyed Buddhist and Hindu libraries and their manuscripts at Nalanda and Odantapuri Universities in 1193 AD at the beginning of the Delhi Sultanate.


title: Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent

text: The first historical record in this period of a campaign of destruction of temples and defacement of faces or heads of Hindu idols lasted from 1193 through 1194 in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh under the command of Ghuri. Under the Mamluks and Khaljis, the campaign of temple desecration expanded to Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, and continued through the late 13th century. The campaign extended to Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu under Malik Kafur and Ulugh Khan in the 14th century, and by the Bahmanis in the 15th century. Orissa temples were destroyed in the 14th century under the Tughlaqs.


text: Beyond destruction and desecration, the sultans of the Delhi Sultanate in some cases had forbidden reconstruction of damaged Hindu, Jain and Buddhist temples, and they prohibited repairs of old temples or construction of any new temples. In certain cases, the Sultanate would grant a permit for repairs and construction of temples if the patron or religious community paid jizya (fee, tax). For example, according to Ibn Battuta's account, a proposal by the Yuan dynasty emperor of China to repair Himalayan Buddhist temples destroyed by the Sultanate army was refused, on the grounds that such temple repairs were only allowed if the Chinese agreed to pay jizya tax to the treasury of the Sultanate. In his memoirs, Firoz Shah Tughlaq describes how he destroyed temples and built mosques instead and killed those who dared build new temples. Other historical records from "wazirs", "amirs" and the court historians of various Sultans of the Delhi Sultanate describe the grandeur of idols and temples they witnessed in their campaigns and how these were destroyed and desecrated.


text: In 1193, the Nalanda University complex was destroyed by Afghan Khalji–Ghilzai Muslims under Bakhtiyar Khalji; this event is seen as the final milestone in the decline of Buddhism in India. He also burned Nalanda's major Buddhist library and Vikramshila University, as well as numerous Buddhist monasteries in India. When the Tibetan translator, Chag Lotsawa Dharmasvamin (Chag Lo-tsa-ba, 1197–1264), visited northern India in 1235, Nalanda was damaged, looted, and largely deserted, but still standing and functioning with seventy students.


text: Mahabodhi, Sompura, Vajrasan and other important monasteries were found to be untouched. The Ghuri ravages only afflicted those monasteries that lay in the direct of their advance and were fortified in the manner of defensive forts.


text: By the end of the 12th century, following the Muslim conquest of the Buddhist stronghold in Bihar, Buddhism, having already declined in the South, declined in the North as well because survivors retreated to Nepal, Sikkim and Tibet or escaped to the South of the Indian sub-continent.


text: The Martand Sun Temple was built by the third ruler of the Karkota dynasty, Lalitaditya Muktapida, in the 8th century AD. The temple was completely destroyed on the orders of the Muslim ruler Sikandar Butshikan in the early 15th century, with demolition lasting a year. He ruled from 1389 to 1413 and is remembered for his strenuous efforts to convert the Hindus of Kashmir to Islam. These efforts included the destruction of numerous old temples, such as Martand, prohibition of Hindu rites, rituals and festivals and even the wearing of clothes in the Hindu style. He is known as "Butcher of Kashmir" and among the most hated figures among Kashmiri Hindus.


text: The city flourished between the 14th century and 16th century, during the height of the Vijayanagara Empire. During this time, it was often in conflict with the kingdoms which rose in the Northern Deccan, and which are often collectively termed the Deccan Sultanates. The Vijaynagara Empire successfully resisted Muslim invasions for centuries. But in 1565, the empire's armies suffered a massive and catastrophic defeat at the hands of an alliance of the Sultanates, and the capital was taken. The victorious armies then razed, depopulated and destroyed the city over several months. The empire continued its slow decline, but the original capital was not reoccupied or rebuilt.


text: Around 1024 AD, during the reign of Bhima I, Mahmud of Ghazni raided Gujarat, and plundered the Somnath temple. According to an 1169 inscription, Bhima rebuilt the temple. This inscription does not mention any destruction caused by Mahmud, and states that the temple had "decayed due to time". In 1299, Alauddin Khalji's army under the leadership of Ulugh Khan defeated Karandev II of the Vaghela dynasty, and sacked the Somnath temple. The temple was rebuilt by Mahipala Deva, the Chudasama king of Saurashtra in 1308. It was repeatedly attacked in the later centuries, including by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. In 1665, the temple, was once again ordered to be destroyed by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. In 1702, he ordered that if Hindus had revived worship there, it should be demolished completely.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Ronald Ulysses Swanson is a fictional character portrayed by Nick Offerman from the situation comedy television series "Parks and Recreation" on NBC, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. In the series, Ron is the director of the Parks and Recreation department of fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana, and the immediate superior of series protagonist Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler). In demeanor, political philosophy and work ethic, Knope and Swanson are polar opposites: where Knope is sunny and outgoing, decidedly liberal and constantly working, Swanson is distant, and as a staunch libertarian, is a strong advocate for small government—stating his belief that government should be privatized—and therefore believes that the parks department should not even exist.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Ron, who has an extremely deadpan and stereotypical masculine personality, actively works to make government less effective and despises interacting with the public. He loves meat, woodworking, hunting, Lagavulin whisky, breakfast foods, nautical literature, and sex. He hates and fears his ex-wives, both named Tammy, one of whom is played by Offerman's real-life wife, Megan Mullally. Ron claims not to be interested in the personal lives of those around him but actually cares a great deal about his colleagues and has a particularly strong respect for Leslie.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Conceived by series creators Michael Schur and Greg Daniels, Ron has been a central character since the pilot episode of "Parks and Recreation". Offerman had some input into the character's creation, and some aspects of Ron's personality were inspired by the actor, like his affinity for woodworking and 16-year-old Lagavulin Single Malt scotch. The traits of the character were also partially inspired by a real-life Libertarian elected official in Burbank, California.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Offerman's portrayal of Ron Swanson has received widespread critical acclaim. The character developed a cult following and is widely considered the breakout character of the series. Schur called Ron "our cast MVP." He was described by some critics as one of the best characters in a situation comedy in decades, and has been called the best comedic character on television since Cosmo Kramer of "Seinfeld". Ron's platonic relationship with Leslie has been compared to that of Mary Richards and Lou Grant in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". Offerman received several award nominations for the role, and won the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy, tying with Ty Burrell of "Modern Family".


title: Ron Swanson

text: Despite Ron being a very private person, including getting his birthdate redacted from all public documents, his background does occasionally come up. He was born in a small town to Tamara "Tammy" Swanson and a father unnamed in the series. He grew up on a farm in a small town and is shown to have enjoyed woodworking from an early age, building his first chair at age 5. Ron is opposed to child labor laws, stating he got his first job at a sheet metal factory at age 9 and, in two weeks, was running the floor. Ron says that at age 11, he was offered a higher paying job at the tannery and attempted to do both jobs while going to middle school before realizing it would be better to only work at the sheet metal factory saying, “don't half-ass two things - whole-ass one thing." Ron claimed that, at age 12, he went to prom and was working at a quarry. When he was 15, Ron moved in with his first wife, Tammy One, who was a candy striper at the hospital when he was born, and subsequently both his math and Sunday school teacher; he has said that although the circumstances of their relationship were considered scandalous, people were too afraid of her to say anything. Ron said that when he was 18, his father wanted him to work at the steel mill, but he chose to go to college instead.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Ron Swanson had been director of Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department for six years at the time "Parks and Recreation" began. A staunch libertarian, with a distinctive mustache, Ron is an extremely strong advocate for small government. Despite working in a city hall job, he believes all government is a waste of taxpayer money. Ron believes the park system should be privatized and run entirely by corporations for profit, as exemplified by the business model of the Chuck E. Cheese's chain of family entertainment centers. He advocates for program cuts wherever possible, and purposely tries to hire people who are bad at their jobs so they will slow down the government. Ron puts almost no effort into his job, and lets his deputy director Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) do the vast majority of the work.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Ron particularly despises talking to members of the public, which is why he deliberately designed his office to be uninviting to visitors, in part by mounting a double-barreled, sawed-off shotgun on a swivel atop his desk aimed at the guest chair, so it will be pointed at anyone who wants to speak to him; a claymore mine (which he eventually learns is a toy in the season 7 episode "Leslie and Ron"), the front of which is pointed toward guests; and a Czech hedgehog. Despite his lack of interest in the job, Ron occasionally demonstrates he is a good manager who recognizes the abilities of his co-workers. He claims not to be interested in the personal lives of those around him - often referring to his colleagues as “workplace proximity acquaintances” - and that his best friend was a co-worker he knew for three years without ever learning his name. However, Ron cares more about his colleagues than he lets on and often helps them in spite of himself. Despite sharing a nearly opposite view on the role of government, Ron gets along well with Knope, and the two share a strong mutual respect. Although Leslie had considered a job offer in the neighboring town of Eagleton, she stays based on advice from Ron that, no matter how many job offers she gets, Pawnee will always be her hometown. Ron also developed a grudging, avuncular affection for his assistant April Ludgate's husband, Andy Dwyer, and decided to give him the "Ron Swanson Scholarship" ($940) so Andy can attend a women's studies college course after Andy and April could not afford to pay for it. In the voiceover during which Ron drops Andy off for his first day of class, he recalls his own first day of college when his father dropped him off at the steel mill. His father thought he should not bother with college, but Ron hitched a ride to the school and went anyway.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Ron speaks in a deadpan tone of voice and seldom expresses any kind of emotion, although he is often shown to be very giddy when it comes to riddles and meat. He adheres to many stereotypically masculine traits. He claims to have only cried twice: once when he was hit by a school bus at age 7; secondly when miniature horse Li'l Sebastian died. Ron is an outdoor enthusiast who loves hunting, fishing, camping, and woodworking. For years, Ron has used a park ranger station in the woods as a lodge for private hunting trips with his male colleagues at city hall. He describes fishing as "like yoga, except I still get to kill something." He is particularly attracted to brunettes and what he describes as "strong, self-possessed women at the top of their fields," with professional athletes Steffi Graf and Sheryl Swoopes among his ideal women. He loves breakfast foods and red meats; among the types of food he enjoys are bacon-wrapped shrimp, fried turkey legs inside a grilled hamburger, and bacon-wrapped turkey legs, which are known in Pawnee as "The Swanson." He also drinks heavily (once specifying his weekly consumption of alcohol to be "one shelf") but seldom feels the effects of alcohol or gets hung over, which is shown to be a trait that runs in his family; his mother is able to do the same, and he once mentioned that his father "used to pour Wild Turkey on his cornflakes". He primarily drinks scotch whisky (with a preference for Lagavulin) claiming that "Clear alcohols are for rich women on diets." He is an extremely private person, going so far as to redact his birthday from government documents to keep others from holding parties for him (though he did reluctantly provide it as "springtime" on a hospital admission form). Despite this, Leslie knows about his birthday and regularly gives Ron personal birthday gifts. Ron knows almost nothing about popular culture; he recognizes the name Julia Roberts only as the "toothy gal from "Mystic Pizza",” he once confused the "Star Wars" film franchise with "Harry Potter", and on Pawnee Today he reveals that the only movies he's seen at that point are "The Bridge on the River Kwai", "Patton" and "" (the first having been provided by Leslie on one of his birthdays in the episode "Eagleton" and the latter watched with Diane's two daughters). He enjoys the music of Willie Nelson, being shown listening to "Hello Walls" and "Buddy" during the series. Ron is extremely concerned with the image people have of him and once refused to seek treatment for a hernia; he instead chose to remain immobile at his desk all day and night until April offered to take him to the hospital.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Before the start of "Parks and Recreation", Ron has two ex-wives, both of whom are named Tammy, which is also the name of Ron's mother. Ron despises and fears both of his ex-wives, and they are among the few individuals in the world who can break Ron's usually unwavering stoicism. Nevertheless, Ron shares an extremely passionate sexual connection with his second ex-wife; he compared having sex with her to "doing peyote and sneezing, slowly, for six hours," and added, "That woman really knows her way around a penis." Ron is so susceptible to Tammy Two's sexual temptations that he made a video-tape warning himself about her to play in case he ever got back together with her. Ron plays the saxophone, and secretly performs at out-of-town jazz clubs under the name Duke Silver, which he keeps secret from his colleagues in Pawnee. He wears a trilby hat and suit jacket while playing, fronts a band called the Duke Silver Trio, and has released such albums as "Memories of Now", "Smooth as Silver", and "Hi Ho, Duke". His music is especially popular with older women (among them being April's mother), who find Duke Silver extremely attractive.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Ron appears in every episode with the exception of "Beauty Pageant", where it is explained that he is recovering from surgery due to a hernia.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Ron Swanson made his first appearance in the pilot episode of "Parks and Recreation", where he repeatedly denies Leslie's requests to pursue turning a construction pit into a park because he does not believe the parks department should build parks at all. He agrees to green-light the project only when city planner Mark Brendanawicz (Paul Schneider) secretly cashes in an unspecified favor in exchange for the approval (Later, in the episode Practice Date, it could be assumed that Mark already knew about Ron's alter ego since he told Tom to visit an Eagleton Club where Tom could see Duke Silver. We can assume that the favor Mark uses, was in return to keep Ron's alter ego a secret.) In a deleted scene from the episode "Canvassing", Ron tries to leave government employment for a previously offered job at an Internet flower company. However, when he finds that business is now doing extremely poorly, Ron sadly realizes he will be in his government job for a long time. In the episode "Boys' Club", Ron attends a disciplinary hearing with Leslie after she gets in trouble when the underage April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) is seen drinking alcohol on a video on the Pawnee website. Ron interrupts half-way through the review, defends Leslie and angrily berates the panel for aggressively questioning her. Although Ron claims he did it only due to his hatred for bureaucratic procedures, it is implied that he really did so out of respect for Leslie.


title: Ron Swanson

text: In "Practice Date," when the parks department employees hold a contest to find who can learn the biggest secrets about each other, Ron discovers Tom's marriage to the attractive surgeon Wendy (Jama Williamson) is actually a green card marriage. Ron promises he will keep Tom's arrangement a secret. Later, Tom discovers Ron playing the saxophone at a bar in his Duke Silver persona. Tom agrees to keep Ron's secret as well. Later in the season, when Tom's divorce with Wendy is finalized in "Tom's Divorce," Ron politely asks whether Tom would mind if he asked Wendy out himself, and explains, "Looking at her, I feel like she might be the perfect spooning size for me." Tom outwardly claims to be fine with it but, unbeknownst to Ron, is secretly upset because he actually harbors real romantic feelings for Wendy.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Ron's second ex-wife, Pawnee library director Tammy (Megan Mullally), appeared in the episode "Ron and Tammy," where Tammy tricks Leslie into arranging a reunion meeting with Ron under the guise of wishing to work out her differences with him. In fact, Tammy schemed to get Ron to give her the rights to land Leslie plans to turn into a park, so Tammy can build a library branch there instead. During their meeting, Ron and Tammy start loudly arguing, but eventually have passionate sex and get back together. Unable to resist Tammy's charms, Ron asks Leslie to break up with Tammy for him. When Leslie stands up to Tammy in Ron's defense, he is moved by what he describes as the first time any woman has put his needs before her own, and it gives him the strength to finally break up with Tammy.


title: Ron Swanson

text: In "Hunting Trip," Leslie insists that Ron take her and the other female parks department employees on one of his private hunting expeditions at the park ranger cabin. Ron begrudgingly agrees, but is frustrated to learn that Leslie is in fact an excellent hunter who overshadows his own abilities. During this trip, Ron is shot in the back of the head by misfired birdshot, and becomes hallucinatory and furious after taking multiple painkillers with alcohol. He initially accuses Leslie of shooting him based on her desire to prove herself, but later learns Tom was at fault and that Leslie took the blame to keep Tom from being arrested for hunting without a license. Ron is strongly impressed that Leslie defended Tom this way, and refers to her as "a stand-up guy," which leaves Leslie overjoyed.


title: Ron Swanson

text: In "The Set Up," a new citywide effort is implemented to make government officials more accessible to Pawnee residents, an idea which Ron condemns as "my hell." As a result, he seeks to hire an assistant who will shield him from the public and allow him to continue doing nothing. After interviewing several candidates, he chooses April Ludgate, convinced her constant apathy and negative attitude will suit him perfectly. Their relationship proves very harmonious until the episode "94 Meetings," when April accidentally schedules nearly 93 meetings not counting one with her, on a single day. April previously kept people who wanted to meet with Ron away by scheduling them for a meeting on March 31, a date she wrongly believed was nonexistent. When March 31 actually comes around, Ron has to enroll help from others in the park department to handle the meetings. He becomes so furious with April that she quits, but Ron later apologizes and hires her back.


title: Ron Swanson

text: In "The Master Plan," state auditors Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) arrive in Pawnee and announce that due to the city's crippling budget problems, they have to slash each department budget by up to 50 percent and briefly shut down the government completely. While Leslie is horrified, the anti-government Ron is delighted by the idea, becoming so giddy that he asks the auditors what cuts they will be making and if he can be allowed to "watch while eating pork cracklins." In the season finale, "Freddy Spaghetti," Ron is assigned to a committee tasked with identifying budget cuts, a job which he enjoys thoroughly. However, when Ben and Chris reveal they are considering firing Leslie, Ron passionately defends her and insists they should fire him instead. During the final scene of the episode and season, Tom spots Ron and Wendy together in city hall and realizes with horror that they are now dating.


title: Ron Swanson

text: The third season opens with Ron seen begrudgingly returning to his city hall job after the Pawnee government has been shut down for three months. Ron starts to become a father figure of sorts to April and Andy (Chris Pratt) during the third season, despite his insistence that "I'm not interested in caring about people." When April is hospitalized with influenza in "Flu Season," she starts to explain her relationship problems with Andy, but Ron insists he does not want to know about her private affairs. However, after Ron hires Andy to be her temporary replacement, the two spend the day bonding and Ron, against his better judgment, tells Andy that April is in the hospital and that he should visit her. Later in the season, in "Media Blitz," Ron gets even further involved by chastising April for leading Andy on, and urges her to either forgive Andy or move on. His advice ultimately helps April decide to forgive Andy.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Ron finds himself very happy in his relationship with Wendy, although it creates tension between him and Tom. This tension culminates in "," when Tom brings Tammy to a party as his date simply to aggravate Ron. This occurs, however, the same day that Wendy and Ron break up, after she decides she must move back to Canada to care for her ailing parents. Ron and Tammy end up having a wild night of drinking and sex, in which Ron gets cornrows, he and Tammy get remarried and the two end up in jail. The parks department employees hold an intervention to try to convince Ron to leave Tammy, but their efforts are unsuccessful. After Tom reveals that Tammy only went to the party with him to make Ron miserable, Tammy brutally beats up Tom. This makes Ron remember how horrible Tammy is and he leaves her, thus ending their marriage for a second time, and Ron and Tom later reconcile.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Shortly after Leslie successfully relaunches the Pawnee harvest festival, she struggles to find any new ideas for future parks project. She becomes so stressed that Ron, in the episode "Camping," locks her in a room and refuses to let her out until she gets some sleep. She awakens the next day refreshed and full of ideas. Ron attends Andy and April's wedding in "Andy and April's Fancy Party," where he has the first dance with April. When Leslie grows concerned they are rushing into their marriage, Ron insists it is not her place to say what works for them, and offers the advice: "Leslie I got married twice, both times I was a lot older than those two and both marriages ended in divorce...and a burning effigy. Who's to say what works? You find somebody you like, and you roll the dice, its all anyone can do." At which point Leslie Knope replies "Wait, weren't you married 3 times?" To which Ron replies "My God you're right. I get to burn another effigy." In "Eagleton," Leslie discovers Ron's birthday, which he previously kept secret, and he fearfully suspects Leslie is planning an extravagant party for him. However, her surprise party for Ron is instead a quiet, private one more appropriate for Ron's personality: an evening alone with a steak, scotch, and copies of his favorite movies.


title: Ron Swanson

text: When city manager Chris Traeger tries to remove red meat from the city hall cafeteria as part of a government-wide health initiative in "Soulmates," Ron intervenes by challenging Chris to a cook-off. Chris agrees to abandon his plan if Ron's regular hamburgers are deemed better than his lean meat turkey burgers. Although Ron exerts little effort compared to Chris, his burgers easily win the contest. In "Road Trip," Ron reluctantly agrees to be interviewed by a young girl for her school assignment, during which he explains his libertarian beliefs about small government, and illustrates the concept of taxes by eating 40 percent of her lunch. The two bond, and he ends the day by giving her a claymore landmine as a gift. Ron gets in trouble the next day when the girl's mother explains her daughter's assignment was "Why Government Matters," and that Lauren simply wrote "It doesn't."


title: Ron Swanson

text: Ron learns in the third-season finale, "Li'l Sebastian," that Leslie and Ben are secretly having an affair despite Chris' ban on workplace romances, and he warns them they are risking a political scandal that could cost them their jobs. Later, at the funeral of Pawnee's celebrity miniature horse Li'l Sebastian, Ron is nearly killed as a result of Leslie and Ben's affair. When their efforts to hide their relationship accidentally cause Li'l Sebastian's eternal flame to be filled with lighter fluid instead of propane, Ron creates a massive fireball when he lights it, which burns off his eyebrows and part of his mustache. The season ends as a horrified Ron learns that his first ex-wife, Tammy, has arrived to see him; the news is enough to make his second ex-wife, also named Tammy, run away in horror.


title: Ron Swanson

text: In "I'm Leslie Knope," Ron grabs an emergency survival bag and flees to live in the wilderness after learning that his first ex-wife Tammy 1 (Patricia Clarkson) has arrived in town. When Leslie's campaign managers decide to announce her candidacy for city council sooner than expected, she panics and also flees to the wilderness to hide out with Ron. Together they realize they cannot run from their problems and they both return to the parks department. Tammy 1, who is an IRS agent, later meets up with Ron in his office and serves him audit papers.


title: Ron Swanson

text: In "Ron and Tammys" Tammy 1 assumes control of Ron, turning him into a mustache-less pushover in an effort to remarry him and take all his hidden gold. This is quite the difference compared to the influence Ron's latest ex (Tammy 2) has over him. While Tammy 1 has an ice cold personality and reduces Ron into submissiveness and quietude, Tammy 2 causes Ron to make highly irrational decisions that end up jeopardizing his position at the Parks office. Tammy 2 also tries to assume control of Ron through using manipulation of her body. Ron is saved from the grasp of Tammy 1 after his own mother, who is also ironically a Tammy- her name is Tamara (he refers to her as Tammy 0) to restore her son. He snaps back to his old self after witnessing a drinking contest between Tammy 1 and Tammy 0. They then drink in order to win control over Ron. Leslie also enters this competition in hopes of freeing him of the Tammys, however she ends up failing miserably due to the high alcohol content of Swanson family mash and is the first one out of the contest. In the end, Ron finally comes to his senses and stands up for himself and tells both Tammys to leave.


title: Ron Swanson

text: In "How a Bill becomes a Law," Ron meets Diane Lewis (Lucy Lawless) who had been ignored when asking about filling in a pothole. Ron becomes a friend of hers and, in "Halloween Surprise," he takes her two daughters out trick-or-treating and they begin dating.


title: Ron Swanson

text: In "Women in Garbage," while babysitting Diane's daughters, he admits to Ann he loves Diane. Later in the episode, she admits she also loves him.


title: Ron Swanson

text: In the fifth-season finale "Are You Better Off?," Andy is talking to Ron about a pregnancy test he found when Diane comes in and says she needs to talk to him, leaving the question if she is pregnant in a cliffhanger.


title: Ron Swanson

text: In the sixth-season premiere "London," Diane reveals that she is pregnant. Ron proposes, and she accepts on the condition they not have a huge wedding. They immediately get married on the fourth floor before he joins Leslie on a trip to London, which he despises, and the Lagavulin distillery in Scotland, which he heartily enjoys. Later in the season, Ron and Diane have a son, whom they name Jon. During The Unity Concert in the season finale, Ron reveals himself as Duke Silver to the public when he takes the stage with Mouse Rat.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Three years after Season 6, at the start of Season 7 in 2017, Leslie and Ron's relationship ("work-place proximity associates," as Ron calls his friends) has collapsed into one of complete animosity. Both have left the Parks Department—Ron has started his own construction company, while Leslie works for the National Park Service—and are competing in a bidding war for a piece of land in Pawnee owned by the Newport family: Leslie wishes to turn it into a national park, while Ron's company has partnered with GRYZZL to turn it into a new corporate campus. Despite a brief truce to rescue Councilman Jamm from the clutches of Ron's ex-wife Tammy II, their relationship continues to deteriorate, until it reaches its nadir after a pair of press conferences to publicize their respective proposals. Leslie and Ron bitterly hurl insults at one another, prompting Ben and the rest of their teams to lock them in the Pawnee Parks Department overnight, refusing to let them out until they reconcile. After much prying, Leslie learns the real story from Ron's side: After she took Jerry and April to work with her, and Tom and Donna left to run their businesses, Ron didn't recognize anyone he worked with anymore. This prompted him to make the unthinkable decision to ask Leslie for a job in the federal government, so he could work with people he knew again. However, Leslie unknowingly stood him up for lunch due to her new hectic life, which he felt was the "punctuation mark on a sentence that had already been written." So, Ron left the Parks Department to begin his construction company. He and Leslie are eventually able to settle their differences and rekindle their friendship.


title: Ron Swanson

text: In a series of flash-forwards in the final episode, it is shown that Ron decides to leave his now-successful construction company. He is shown talking to Ben Wyatt about having diversified his funds by selling half his gold. The flash-forward reveals that Ron purchased 51% interest in the Lagavulin distillery. Feeling his life lacks purpose, he asks Leslie for advice and she arranges for him to be the new superintendent of the Pawnee National Park. One of the last shots of Ron in the series features him "at work," happily paddling a canoe around the lake in the park to the tune of "Buddy" by Willie Nelson.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Ron Swanson was created by "Parks and Recreation" creators Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, although Nick Offerman himself had some input into the character's creation. Offerman said in July 2012 that "NBC really resisted giving me this part. It took five months for me from the time Mike Schur and Greg Daniels said they wanted me to play this part. NBC insisted on auditioning every other guy in the country, and then they finally acquiesced." The character's traits were partially inspired by a real-life Libertarian elected official that "Parks and Recreation" co-creator Michael Schur encountered in Burbank while researching for the show, who favored as little government interference as possible and admitted, "I don't really believe in the mission of my job... I'm aware of the irony." Ron is also partially inspired by political appointees of President George W. Bush who were perceived to be opposed to the branch of government they were overseeing. Ron's signature mustache was one of the first ideas conceived for the character. Offerman said the deadpan style of humor he uses for Ron Swanson was cultivated during his youth, when he was an altar boy: "I would read things with the utmost sincerity, and my cousin would be cracking up because he knew I was full of shit."


title: Ron Swanson

text: Many aspects of Ron's character are based on those of Nick Offerman in real life, such as his woodworking abilities; Offerman runs an independent carpentry business called Offerman Woodshop. Offerman also plays saxophone in real life, just as Ron does, although the "Parks and Recreation" writers did not know this when they wrote this element of his character. Offerman's real-life training in stage combat and Kabuki dance were the partial inspiration for self-defense classes Ron offered his parks department colleagues in "Park Safety." Ron's second ex-wife Tammy, who first appeared in the episode "Ron and Tammy," was played by comedian and actress Megan Mullally, Offerman's real-life wife. The idea of Ron hating his ex-wife Tammy was established early in the creation of the character, and it was Schur who conceived the idea of casting Mullally, an idea to which Offerman was extremely responsive.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Ron became more heavily involved in "Parks and Recreation" storylines during the second season, and Offerman largely credited Schur with the development of the character. Schur has described Offerman as a "once-in-a-generation comedic performer," and "our cast MVP, and in many ways our cast leader." He compared Ron to a "19th-century rugged individualist," and said of creating the character, "A lot of the credit has to go to Nick Offerman. In real life, he's an incredibly interesting guy, and at the very least, it's much easier to play an interesting guy when you're an interesting guy." Offerman said his own sense of humor fuels much of the character, along with those of Schur, Greg Daniels, and the writing staff; he added: "I never dreamed that I could prosper with my perverse sense of humor on a network show." Schur said the staff liked writing for Ron because "he's a great mix of a superhero, and also a deeply flawed, and very human and vulnerable person."


title: Ron Swanson

text: The character of Ron Swanson received universal acclaim; he developed a cult following and is widely considered the show's breakout character. Joel Keller of TV Squad called Ron "one of the more inspired sitcom characters of the last decade," Zap2it writer Joel Keller called him one of the best sitcom characters since Cosmo Kramer of "Seinfeld", and Geoff Berkshire of "Variety" said that the character would "go down in TV history as one of the all-time comedy greats." Gabriel Perna of "International Business Times" wrote, "Offerman's Ron Swanson is one of the main reasons to watch "Parks and Recreation". Considering how funny the show is and the scope of its cast, that says a lot." Likewise, Gail Pennington, television critic with the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch", called Nick Offerman "the funniest guy on TV," and TV Fanatic writer Eric Hochberger said, "There's [a] certain character I watch this show for: Ron Swanson." Jonah Weiner of Slate.com said Ron "has regularly stolen his scenes" and that Offerman has "a gift for understated physical comedy," and Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club said Offerman was not only funny, but capable of expressing a surprising range of emotions.


title: Ron Swanson

text: During the second season, HitFix writer Alan Sepinwall called Ron "easily the show's best creation so far," and during the third season he wrote, "Ron being both awesome and hilarious is something Nick Offerman and these writers can do in their sleep by now." Sal Basile of UGO Networks wrote, "How anyone can make Ron Swanson of "Parks and Recreation" likable is beyond us, but Offerman does it effortlessly. Before we knew it we couldn't wait to see Swanson's reactions to the slightest of problems." Matt Fowler of IGN was critical of Ron at the start of the show, and called him "a bit of the dud (who) offers little to the show, and almost just stand to sour the whole thing." However, by the second season, Fowler said the character had improved and became "an absolute stand-out in the series." Several reviewers have praised the platonic relationship between Ron and Leslie, which has been compared to that of Mary Richards and Lou Grant in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show".


title: Ron Swanson

text: The second-season episode "Ron and Tammy," which predominantly featured Ron and his second ex-wife, is widely considered one of the best "Parks and Recreation" episodes. Offerman was particularly praised for his subtle minimalism and facial expressions, particularly the use of his eyebrows. Based on a line from "The Stakeout," when Ron says, "I was born ready. I'm Ron fucking Swanson," he is often referenced by fans and even reviewers as "Ron Fucking Swanson." Fans created websites based on him like "Cats That Look Like Ron Swanson," and after Ron misunderstood a turkey burger to be "a fried turkey leg inside a grilled hamburger," the cooking website Eater.com created and posted a recipe for that exact food. An image of a fake flavor of Ron Swanson-themed Ben & Jerry's ice cream, called "All of the Bacon & Eggs You Have," was designed and circulated on the Internet. The Ben & Jerry's corporation responded positively to the image, and said in a statement, "Ron's beliefs are in accordance with those of Ben & Jerry's – where two scoops of government can help the less fortunate and truly be a servant to the community and its citizens."


title: Ron Swanson

text: "Paste" ranked him No. 2 in its list of the 20 Best Characters of 2011, saying: "In four seasons, Ron has become the standout in a cast of incredible characters, and already seems poised to join the elite list of TV’s greatest comedic characters."


title: Ron Swanson

text: In 2010, Nick Offerman received a Television Critics Association Award nomination for Individual Achievement in Comedy for his performance as Ron Swanson, although the award was ultimately given to Jane Lynch for her performance in the musical comedy-drama "Glee". Also that year, Nick Offerman received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy from "Entertainment Weekly"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Ewwy Awards.


title: Ron Swanson

text: Despite critical success, Offerman never received an Emmy Award nomination for this role. Several reviewers expressed particular surprise that he did not receive a nomination for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards in 2011, which many considered the biggest snub of the season. Amy Poehler in particular was outraged by Offerman's snub, and said it was "a hot load of bullshit that [Offerman] didn't get nominated." Multiple other actors, including Michelle Forbes and Ty Burrell (the latter of whom received a nomination in, and eventually won, the category Offerman was competing in) stated that they believed Offerman should have been nominated, and Burrell added that Offerman deserved the nomination more than he.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: Argentinosaurus is a genus of giant sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Argentina. Although it is only known from fragmentary remains, "Argentinosaurus" is one of the largest known land animals of all time, perhaps the largest, reaching in length and in body mass. It was a member of Titanosauria, the dominant group of sauropods during the Cretaceous.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: The first "Argentinosaurus" bone was discovered in 1987 by a farmer on his farm near the city of Plaza Huincul. A scientific excavation of the site led by the Argentine palaeontologist José Bonaparte was conducted in 1989, yielding several back vertebrae and parts of a sacrum—fused vertebrae between the back and tail vertebrae. Additional specimens include a complete femur (thigh bone) and the shaft of another. "Argentinosaurus" was named by Bonaparte and the Argentine palaeontologist Rodolfo Coria in 1993; the genus contains a single species, A. huinculensis. The generic name "Argentinosaurus" means "Argentine lizard", and the specific name "huinculensis" refers to its place of discovery, Plaza Huincul.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: The fragmentary nature of "Argentinosaurus" remains makes their interpretation difficult. Arguments revolve around the position of the recovered vertebrae within the vertebral column and the presence of accessory articulations between the vertebrae that would have strengthened the spine. A computer model of the skeleton and muscles estimated this dinosaur had a maximum speed of 7 km/h (5 mph) with a pace, a gait where the fore and hind limb of the same side of the body move simultaneously. The fossils of "Argentinosaurus" were recovered from the Huincul Formation, which was deposited in the middle Cenomanian to early Turonian ages (about 96 to 92 million years ago) and contains a diverse dinosaur fauna including the giant theropod "Mapusaurus".


title: Argentinosaurus

text: The first "Argentinosaurus" bone, which is now thought to be a fibula (calf bone), was discovered in 1987 by Guillermo Heredia on his farm "Las Overas" about east of Plaza Huincul, in Neuquén Province, Argentina. Heredia, initially believing he had discovered petrified logs, informed the local museum, the Museo Carmen Funes, whose staff members excavated the bone and stored it in the museum's exhibition room. In early 1989, the Argentine palaeontologist José F. Bonaparte initiated a larger excavation of the site involving palaeontologists of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, yielding a number of additional elements from the same individual. The individual, which later became the holotype of "Argentinosaurus huinculensis", is catalogued under the specimen number MCF-PVPH 1.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: Separating fossils from the very hard rock in which the bones were encased required the use of pneumatic hammers. The additional material recovered included seven dorsal vertebrae (vertebrae of the back), the underside of the sacrum (fused vertebrae between the dorsal and tail vertebrae) including the first to fifth and some sacral ribs, and a part of a dorsal rib (rib from the flank). These finds were also incorporated into the collection of the Museo Carmen Funes.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: Bonaparte presented the new find in 1989 at a scientific conference in San Juan. The formal description was published in 1993 by Bonaparte and the Argentine palaeontologist Rodolfo Coria, with the naming of a new genus and species, "Argentinosaurus huinculensis". The generic name means "Argentine lizard", while the specific name refers to the town Plaza Huincul. Bonaparte and Coria described the limb bone discovered in 1987 as an eroded tibia (shin bone), although the Uruguayan palaeontologist Gerardo Mazzetta and colleagues reidentified this bone as a left fibula in 2004. In 1996, Bonaparte referred (assigned) a complete femur (thigh bone) from the same locality to the genus, which was put on exhibit at the Museo Carmen Funes. This bone was deformed by front-to-back crushing during fossilization. In their 2004 study, Mazzetta and colleagues mentioned an additional femur that is housed in the La Plata Museum under the specimen number MLP-DP 46-VIII-21-3. Though not as strongly deformed as the complete femur, it preserves only the shaft and lacks its upper and lower ends. Both specimens belonged to individuals equivalent in size to the holotype individual. As of 2019, however, it was still uncertain whether any of these femora belonged to "Argentinosaurus".


title: Argentinosaurus

text: "Argentinosaurus" is among the largest known land animals, although its exact size is difficult to estimate because of the incompleteness of its remains. To counter this problem, palaeontologists can compare the known material with that of smaller related sauropods known from more complete remains. The more complete taxon can then be scaled up to match the dimensions of "Argentinosaurus". Mass can be estimated from known relationships between certain bone measurements and body mass, or through determining the volume of models.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: A reconstruction of "Argentinosaurus" created by Gregory Paul in 1994 yielded a length estimate of . Later that year, estimates by Bonaparte and Coria suggesting a hind limb length of , a trunk length (hip to shoulder) of , and an overall body length of were published. In 2006, Kenneth Carpenter reconstructed "Argentinosaurus" using the more complete "Saltasaurus" as a guide and estimated a length of . In 2008, Jorge Calvo and colleagues used the proportions of "Futalognkosaurus" to estimate the length of "Argentinosaurus" at less than . In 2013, William Sellers and colleagues arrived at a length estimate of and a shoulder height of by measuring the skeletal mount in Museo Carmen Funes. During the same year, Scott Hartman suggested that because "Argentinosaurus" was then thought to be a basal titanosaur, it would have a shorter tail and narrower chest than "Puertasaurus", which he estimated to be about long, indicating "Argentinosaurus" was slightly smaller. In 2016, Paul estimated the length of "Argentinosaurus" at , but later estimated a greater length of or longer in 2019, restoring the unknown neck and tail of "Argentinosaurus" after those of other large South American titanosaurs.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: Paul estimated a body mass of for "Argentinosaurus" in 1994. In 2004, Mazzetta and colleagues provided a range of and considered to be the most likely mass, making it the heaviest sauropod known from good material. In 2013, Sellers and colleagues estimated a mass of by calculating the volume of the aforementioned Museo Carmen Funes skeleton. In 2014 and 2018, Roger Benson and colleagues estimated the mass of "Argentinosaurus" at , but these estimates were questioned due to a very large error range and lack of precision. In 2016, using equations that estimate body mass based on the circumference of the humerus and femur of quadrupedal animals, Bernardo Gonzáles Riga and colleagues estimated a mass of based on an isolated femur; the identity of this femur is uncertain whether it actually belongs to "Argentinosaurus". In the same year, Paul moderated his earlier estimate from 1994 and listed the body mass of "Argentinosaurus" at more than . In 2017, José Carballido and colleagues estimated its mass at over . In 2019, Paul moderated his 2016 estimate and gave a mass estimate of based on his skeletal reconstructions (diagrams illustrating the bones and shape of an animal) of "Argentinosaurus" in dorsal and lateral view. In 2020, Campione and Evans also yielded a body mass estimate of approximately .


title: Argentinosaurus

text: While "Argentinosaurus" was definitely a massive animal, there is disagreement over whether it was the largest known titanosaur. "Puertasaurus", "Futalognkosaurus", "Dreadnoughtus", "Paralititan", ""Antarctosaurus" giganteus", and "Alamosaurus" have all been considered to be comparable in size with "Argentinosaurus" by some studies, although others have found them to be notably smaller. In 2017, Carballido and colleagues considered "Argentinosaurus" to be smaller than "Patagotitan", since the latter had a greater area enclosed by the , , and of its anterior dorsal vertebrae. However, Paul found "Patagotitan" to be smaller than "Argentinosaurus" in 2019, due to the latter's dorsal column being considerably longer. Even if "Argentinosaurus" was the largest-known titanosaur, other sauropods including "Maraapunisaurus" and a giant mamenchisaurid, may have been larger, although these are only known from very scant remains. Some diplodocids, such as "Supersaurus" and "Diplodocus" may have exceeded "Argentinosaurus" in length despite being considerably less massive. The mass of the blue whale, however, which can be greater than , still exceeds that of all known sauropods.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: "Argentinosaurus" likely possessed 10 dorsal vertebrae, like other titanosaurs. The vertebrae were enormous even for sauropods; one dorsal vertebra has a reconstructed height of and a width of , and the are up to in width. In 2019, Paul estimated the total length of the dorsal vertebral column at and the width of the pelvis at 0.6 times the combined length of the dorsal and sacral vertebral column. The dorsals were (concave at the rear) as in other macronarian sauropods. The (excavations on the sides of the centra) were proportionally small and positioned in the front half of the centrum. The vertebrae were internally lightened by a complex pattern of numerous air-filled chambers. Such camellate bone is, among sauropods, especially pronounced in the largest and longest-necked species. In both the dorsal and sacral vertebrae, very large cavities measuring were present. The dorsal ribs were tubular and cylindrical in shape, in contrast with other titanosaurs. Bonaparte and Coria, in their 1993 description, noted the ribs were hollow, unlike those of many other sauropods, but later authors argued this hollowing could also have been due to erosion after the death of the individual. "Argentinosaurus", like many titanosaurs, probably had six sacral vertebrae (those in the hip region), although the last one is not preserved. The centra of the second to fifth sacral vertebrae were much reduced in size and considerably smaller than the centrum of the first sacral. The sacral ribs curved downwards. The second sacral rib was larger than the other preserved sacral ribs, though the size of the first is unknown due to its incompleteness.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: Because of their incomplete preservation, the original position of the known dorsal vertebrae within the vertebral column is disputed. Dissenting configurations were suggested by Bonaparte and Coria in 1993; Fernando Novas and Martín Ezcurra in 2006; and Leonardo Salgado and Jaime Powell in 2010. One vertebra was interpreted by these studies as the first, fifth or third; and another vertebra as the second, tenth or eleventh, or ninth, respectively. A reasonably complete vertebra was found to be the third by the 1993 and 2006 studies, but the fourth by the 2010 study. Another vertebra was interpreted by the three studies as being part of the rear section of the dorsal vertebral column, as the fourth, or as the fifth, respectively. In 1993, two articulated (still connected) vertebrae were thought to be of the rear part of the dorsal column but are interpreted as the sixth and seventh vertebrae in the two later studies. The 2010 study mentioned another vertebra that was not mentioned by the 1993 and 2006 studies; it was presumed to belong to the rear part of the dorsal column.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: Another contentious issue is the presence of hyposphene-hypantrum articulations, accessory joints between vertebrae that were located below the main articular processes. Difficulties in interpretation arise from the fragmentary preservation of the vertebral column; these joints are hidden from view in the two connected vertebrae. In 1993, Bonaparte and Coria said the hyposphene-hypantrum articulations were enlarged, as in the related "Epachthosaurus", and had additional articular surfaces that extended downwards. This was confirmed by some later authors; Novas noted the hypantrum (a bony extension below the articular processes of the front face of a vertebra) extended sidewards and downwards, forming a much-broadened surface that connected with the equally enlarged hyposphene at the back face of the following vertebra. In 1996, Bonaparte stated these features would have made the spine more rigid and were possibly an adaptation to the giant size of the animal. Other authors argued most titanosaur genera lacked hyposphene-hypantrum articulations and that the articular structures seen in "Epachthosaurus" and "Argentinosaurus" are thickened vertebral (ridges). Sebastián Apesteguía, in 2005, argued the structures seen in "Argentinosaurus", which he termed hyposphenal bars, are indeed thickened laminae that could have been derived from the original hyposphene and had the same function.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: The complete femur that was assigned to "Argentinosaurus" is long. The femoral shaft has a circumference of about at its narrowest part. Mazzetta and colleagues used regression equations to estimate its original length at , which is similar to the length of the other femur, and later in 2019 Paul gave a similar estimate of . By comparison, the complete femora preserved in the other giant titanosaurs "Antarctosaurus giganteus" and "Patagotitan mayorum" measure and , respectively. While the holotype specimen does not preserve a femur, it preserves a slender fibula (originally interpreted as a tibia) that is in length. When it was identified as a tibia, it was thought to have a comparatively short , a prominent extension at the upper front that anchored muscles for stretching the leg. However, as stated by Mazzetta and colleagues, this bone lacks both the proportions and anatomical details of a tibia, while being similar in shape to other sauropod fibulae.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: Relationships within Titanosauria are amongst the least understood of all groups of dinosaurs. Traditionally, the majority of sauropod fossils from the Cretaceous had been referred to a single family, the Titanosauridae, which has been in use since 1893. In their 1993 first description of "Argentinosaurus", Bonaparte and Coria noted it differed from typical titanosaurids in having hyposphene-hypantrum articulations. As these articulations were also present in the titanosaurids "Andesaurus" and "Epachthosaurus", Bonaparte and Coria proposed a separate family for the three genera, the Andesauridae. Both families were united into a new, higher group called Titanosauria.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: In 1997, Salgado and colleagues found "Argentinosaurus" to belong to Titanosauridae in an unnamed clade with "Opisthocoelicaudia" and an indeterminate titanosaur. In 2002, Davide Pisani and colleagues recovered "Argentinosaurus" as a member of Titanosauria, and again found it to be in a clade with "Opisthocoelicaudia" and an unnamed taxon, in addition to "Lirainosaurus". A 2003 study by Jeffrey Wilson and Paul Upchurch found both Titanosauridae and Andesauridae to be invalid; the Titanosauridae because it was based on the dubious genus "Titanosaurus" and the Andesauridae because it was defined on plesiomorphies (primitive features) rather than on synapomorphies (newly evolved features that distinguish the group from related groups). A 2011 study by Philip Mannion and Calvo found Andesauridae to be paraphyletic (excluding some of the group's descendants) and likewise recommended its disuse.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: In 2004, Upchurch and colleagues introduced a new group called Lithostrotia that included the more derived (evolved) members of Titanosauria. "Argentinosaurus" was classified outside this group and thus as a more basal ("primitive") titanosaurian. The basal position within Titanosauria was confirmed by a number of subsequent studies. In 2007, Calvo and colleagues named "Futalognkosaurus"; they found it to form a clade with "Mendozasaurus" and named it Lognkosauria. A 2017 study by Carballido and colleagues recovered "Argentinosaurus" as a member of Lognkosauria and the sister taxon of "Patagotitan". In 2018, González Riga and colleagues also found it to belong in Lognkosauria, which in turn was found to belong to Lithostrotia.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: Another 2018 study by Hesham Sallam and colleagues found two different phylogenetic positions for "Argentinosaurus" based on two data sets. They did not recover it as a lognkosaurian but as either a basal titanosaur or a sister taxon of the more derived "Epachthosaurus". In 2019, Julian Silva Junior and colleagues found "Argentinosaurus" to belong to Lognkosauria once again; they recovered Lognkosauria and Rinconsauria (another group generally included in Titanosauria) to be outside Titanosauria. Another 2019 study by González Riga and colleagues also found "Argentinosaurus" to belong to Lognkosauria; they found this group to form a larger clade with Rinconsauria within Titanosauria, which they named Colossosauria.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: The giant size of "Argentinosaurus" and other sauropods was likely made possible by a combination of factors; these include fast and energy-efficient feeding allowed for by the long neck and lack of mastication, fast growth and fast population recovery due to their many small offspring. Advantages of giant sizes would likely have included the ability to keep food inside the digestive tract for lengthy periods to extract a maximum of energy, and increased protection against predators. Sauropods were oviparous (egg-laying). In 2016, Mark Hallett and Matthew Wedel stated that the eggs of "Argentinosaurus" were probably only in volume, and that a hatched "Argentinosaurus" was no longer than and not heavier than . The largest sauropods increased their size by five orders of magnitude after hatching, more than in any other amniote animals. Hallett and Wedel argued size increases in the evolution of sauropods were commonly followed by size increases of their predators, theropod dinosaurs. "Argentinosaurus" might have been preyed on by "Mapusaurus", which is among the largest theropods known. "Mapusaurus" is known from at least seven individuals found together, raising the possibility that this theropod hunted in packs to bring down large prey including "Argentinosaurus".


title: Argentinosaurus

text: In 2013, Sellers and colleagues used a computer model of the skeleton and muscles of "Argentinosaurus" to study its speed and gait. Before computer simulations, the only way of estimating speeds of dinosaurs was through studying anatomy and trackways. The computer model was based on a laser scan of a mounted skeletal reconstruction on display at the Museo Carmen Funes. Muscles and their properties were based on comparisons with living animals; the final model had a mass of . Using computer simulation and machine learning techniques, which found a combination of movements that minimised energy requirements, the digital "Argentinosaurus" learned to walk. The optimal gait found by the algorithms was close to a pace (forelimb and hind limb on the same side of the body move simultaneously). The model reached a top speed of just over 2 m/s (7.2 km/h, 5 mph). The authors concluded with its giant size, "Argentinosaurus" reached a functional limit. Much larger terrestrial vertebrates might be possible but would require different body shapes and possibly behavioural change to prevent joint collapse. The authors of the study cautioned the model is not fully realistic and too simplistic, and that it could be improved in many areas. For further studies, more data from living animals is needed to improve the soft tissue reconstruction, and the model needs to be confirmed based on more complete sauropod specimens.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: "Argentinosaurus" was discovered in the Argentine Province of Neuquén. It was originally reported from the Huincul Group of the Río Limay Formation, which have since become known as the Huincul Formation and the Río Limay Subgroup, the latter of which is a subdivision of the Neuquén Group. This unit is located in the Neuquén Basin in Patagonia. The Huincul Formation is composed of yellowish and greenish sandstones of fine-to-medium grain, some of which are tuffaceous. These deposits were laid down during the Upper Cretaceous, either in the middle Cenomanian to early Turonian stages or the early Turonian to late Santonian. The deposits represent the drainage system of a braided river.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: Fossilised pollen indicates a wide variety of plants were present in the Huincul Formation. A study of the El Zampal section of the formation found hornworts, liverworts, ferns, Selaginellales, possible Noeggerathiales, gymnosperms (including gnetophytes and conifers), and angiosperms (flowering plants), in addition to several pollen grains of unknown affinities. The Huincul Formation is among the richest Patagonian vertebrate associations, preserving fish including dipnoans and gar, chelid turtles, squamates, sphenodonts, neosuchian crocodilians, and a wide variety of dinosaurs. Vertebrates are most commonly found in the lower, and therefore older, part of the formation.


title: Argentinosaurus

text: In addition to "Argentinosaurus", the sauropods of the Huincul Formation are represented by another titanosaur, "Choconsaurus", and several rebbachisaurids including "Cathartesaura", "Limaysaurus", and some unnamed species. Theropods including carcharodontosaurids such as "Mapusaurus," abelisaurids including "Skorpiovenator", "Ilokelesia", and "Tralkasaurus", noasaurids such as "Huinculsaurus", paravians such as "Overoraptor", and other theropods such as "Aoniraptor" and "Gualicho" have also been discovered there. Several iguanodonts are also present in the Huincul Formation.


title: Henry rifle

text: The Henry repeating rifle is a lever-action tubular magazine rifle famed both for its use at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and being the basis for the iconic Winchester rifle of the American Wild West.


title: Henry rifle

text: Designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry in 1860, the original Henry was a sixteen-shot .44 caliber rimfire breech-loading lever-action rifle. It was introduced in the early 1860s and produced through 1866 in the United States by the New Haven Arms Company. The Henry was adopted in small quantities by the Union in the Civil War, favored for its greater firepower than the standard-issue carbine. Many later found their way West, notably in the hands of a few of the Sioux and Cheyenne in their defeat of Custer's U.S. Cavalry troops in June 1876.


title: Henry rifle

text: Modern replicas are produced by A. Uberti and Henry Repeating Arms in .44-40 Winchester and .45 Colt.


title: Henry rifle

text: The original Henry rifle was a sixteen-shot .44 caliber rimfire breech-loading lever-action rifle, patented by Benjamin Tyler Henry in 1860 after three years of design work. The Henry was an improved version of the earlier Volition, and later Volcanic. The Henry used copper (later brass) rimfire cartridges with a 216 grain (14.0 gram, 0.490 ounce) bullet over 25 grains (1.6 g, 0.056 oz.) of black powder.


title: Henry rifle

text: Only 150 to 200 rifles a month were initially produced. Nine hundred were manufactured between summer and October 1862. Production peaked at 290 per month by 1864, bringing the total to 8,000. By the time the run ended in 1866, approximately 14,000 units had been manufactured.


title: Henry rifle

text: For a Civil War soldier, owning a Henry rifle was a point of pride. Just 1,731 of the standard rifles were purchased by the government during the Civil War. The Commonwealth of Kentucky purchased a further 50. However, 6,000 to 7,000 saw use by the Union on the field through private purchases by soldiers who could afford it. The relative fragility of Henrys compared to Spencers hampered their official acceptance. Another weak point for the Henry was that it could not be equipped with a bayonet. Many infantry soldiers purchased Henrys with their reenlistment bounties of 1864. Most of these units were associated with Sherman's Western troops.


title: Henry rifle

text: When used correctly, the brass-receiver rifles had an exceptionally high rate of fire compared to any other weapon on the battlefield. Soldiers who saved their pay to buy one believed it would help save their lives. Since tactics had not been developed to take advantage of their firepower, Henrys were frequently used by scouts, skirmishers, flank guards, and raiding parties rather than in regular infantry formations. Confederate Colonel John Mosby, who became infamous for his sudden raids against advanced Union positions, when first encountering the Henry in battle called it "that damned Yankee rifle that can be loaded on Sunday and fired all week." Since then that phrase became associated with the Henry rifle. Those few Confederate troops who came into possession of captured Henry rifles had little way to resupply the ammunition it used, making its widespread use by Confederate forces impractical. The rifle was, however, known to have been used at least in part by some Confederate units in Louisiana, Texas, and Virginia, as well as the personal bodyguards of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. According to firearms historian Herbert G. Houze, one man armed with a Henry rifle was the equivalent of 14 or 15 men equipped with single-shot guns.


title: Henry rifle

text: It is theorized that Henry's rifle was used in the January Uprising by Count Jan Kanty Dzialynski in the Battle of Pyzdry and First Battle of Ignacewo. In the memoirs from the epoch, it is reported that Dzialynski had used a 16 shot rifle in combat, but it is more likely that he had used a weapon of his own design. Confirmed user of Henry's rifle in the January Uprising was Paul Garnier d'Aubin, officer of the French 23rd Infantry Regiment.


title: Henry rifle

text: The Henry rifle used a .44 caliber cartridge with of black powder. This gave it significantly lower muzzle velocity and energy than other repeaters of the era, such as the Spencer. The lever action, on the down-stroke, ejected the spent cartridge from the chamber and cocked the hammer. A spring in the magazine forced the next round into the follower; locking the lever back into position pushed the new cartridge into the chamber and closed the breech. As designed, the Henry lacked any form of safety. When not in use its hammer rested on the cartridge rim; any impact on the back of the exposed hammer could cause a chambered round to fire. If left cocked, it was in the firing position without a safety.


title: Henry rifle

text: To load the magazine, the shooter moves the cartridge-follower along the slot into the top portion of the magazine-tube and pivots it to the right to open the front-end of the magazine. He loads up to 15 cartridges one by one, he pivots the top portion back and releases the follower.


title: Henry rifle

text: While never issued on a large scale, the Henry rifle demonstrated its advantages of rapid fire at close range several times in the Civil War and later during the wars between the United States and the Plains Indians. Examples include the successes of two Henry-armed Union regiments at the Battle of Franklin against large Confederate attacks, as well as the Henry-armed Sioux and Cheyenne's destruction of the 7th Cavalry at Little Big Horn.


title: Henry rifle

text: Manufactured by the New Haven Arms Company, the Henry rifle evolved into the famous Winchester Model 1866 lever-action rifle. With the introduction of the new Model 1866, the New Haven Arms Company was renamed the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.


title: Henry rifle

text: The unrelated Henry Repeating Arms produces a modernized replica of the Model 1860 Henry Rifle with brass receiver and American walnut stock, but a modern steel barrel and internal components.


title: Henry rifle

text: Uberti produces an almost exact copy Henry Model 1860 chambered in .44-40 Winchester or .45 Colt, rather than the original .44 Henry rimfire. Distributed by several companies, these replicas are popular among Cowboy Action Shooters and Civil War reenactors, as well as competition shooters in the North-South Skirmish Association(N-SSA).


title: N.E.R.D.

text: N.E.R.D. (stylized as N⋆E⋆R⋆D and N.E.R.D, a backronym of No-one Ever Really Dies) is an American hip hop and rock band, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1999. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo were signed by Teddy Riley to Virgin Records as a duo, The Neptunes. After producing songs for several artists throughout the late 1990s, the duo formed the band with Shay Haley as a side project of The Neptunes in 1999. N.E.R.D.'s debut album, "In Search Of...", sold 603,000 copies in the United States and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was also awarded the second annual Shortlist Music Prize. The band's second album, "Fly or Die", sold 412,000 copies in the United States, but shipped at least 500,000 units, certifying it Gold.


title: N.E.R.D.

text: In 2005, N.E.R.D. ended their contract with Virgin and disbanded. Three years later, the band reunited under Star Trak Entertainment, a subsidiary of Interscope Records established by Williams and Hugo. The band's third album, "Seeing Sounds", released in 2008, sold just under 80,000 copies in its first week. The album was followed by "Nothing", which was released in 2010.


title: N.E.R.D.

text: N.E.R.D. then began promotion in October 2017 after a period of silence following their 2010 album, which made fans speculate that the group had a new album or project in the works. Their new album was titled "No One Ever Really Dies", explaining their initial advertisements and confirming the rumors of fans. The group released the first single for the album, "Lemon", in early November. Released in December 2017, the album has collaborations with multiple artists, including Kendrick Lamar, André 3000, M.I.A., Future, Wale, Gucci Mane, Rihanna, and Ed Sheeran.


title: N.E.R.D.

text: Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo met at the age of 12 at a band class in Virginia Beach. Hugo was the Drum Major for the Kempsville High School Marching Chiefs, under the direction of current University of Virginia Band Director, William Pease, while Pharrell was a drumline member of the (FMC) The Fabulous Marching Cavaliers of Princess Anne High School, both of Virginia Beach, Virginia. They spent their free time making beats and performing in groups with fellow childhood friend Timbaland. Williams and Hugo met Shay Haley in high school and began performing together. The trio often met in Hugo's garage, where he beatboxed through a speaker system while Haley danced. After watching the duo perform at a high school talent show, Teddy Riley, a musician and producer, signed Williams and Hugo in 1992. After producing songs for several artists throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, the production duo formed N.E.R.D in 1999 as a side project known for their appearance on "Ghetto Children" off Kelis' debut Kaleidoscope.


title: N.E.R.D.

text: The band's debut album, "In Search Of...", was released in Europe in September 2001. Williams and Hugo used similar digital production techniques as they did for other artists. However, the band decided that they wanted to sound different from their previous work. This led them to rerecording the album using live instruments with rock band Spymob for a worldwide release in 2002. The album debuted at number 61 on the "Billboard" 200 and peaked at number 56. It failed to replicate the success of The Neptunes' previous productions. The album won the second annual Shortlist Music Prize, an accolade awarded to albums released in the United States that have not achieved mainstream success and have sales of 500,000 copies or less at the time of nomination. The album sold 603,000 copies in the United States and was certified Gold by the RIAA. The album's lead single, "Lapdance", peaked at number 36 of the Hot Rap Tracks chart and number 85 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The second single, "Rock Star", peaked at number 36 on the "Billboard" Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. A 6.1 surround mix of this album was released by DTS Entertainment on a DVD-Audio disc in 2005. The original version of the album is a collectors' item.


title: N.E.R.D.

text: The band recorded its second album, "Fly or Die", in 2003. They learned to play the songs live, as Chad Hugo told MTV News on December 9, 2003: "We're the ones playing the instruments live this time. I just started playing guitar last year so I'm learning as we go. Pharrell's playing drums. [Last time] we didn't have time to learn certain instruments so we got Spymob to help us out."


title: N.E.R.D.

text: "Fly or Die" was released in March 2004. The album debuted at number six on the "Billboard" 200, selling 119,000 copies in its first week. The album sold 412,000 copies in the United States and was certified Gold by the RIAA. The first single, "She Wants to Move", has gone top 5 in the United Kingdom, top 20 in Norway, Ireland, and Denmark, and top 40 in Australia and the Netherlands. The music videos for "She Wants to Move" and its follow-up single, "Maybe", have received strong support from the digital cable network VH1 Soul in America.


title: N.E.R.D.

text: In 2005, N.E.R.D ended their contract with Virgin Records over a label dispute and the band disbanded. While touring, the band became "hooked" on the energy from their fans, which led them to begin recording their third studio album, spending their own money while still unsigned. Williams and Hugo later established Star Trak Entertainment, a subsidiary of Interscope Records. In March 2008, the band performed at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. While there they filmed a PSA for Rock the Vote saying why they thought voting was important and the issues they cared about that election year.


title: N.E.R.D.

text: From April to June 2008, the band toured with Kanye West as an opening act along with Rihanna and Lupe Fiasco as part of the Glow in the Dark Tour. On June 13, they gave an energetic performance at the Isle of Wight festival, however they almost missed their scheduled show because they didn't know where the island was. On June 25, they performed in front of 40,000 people at the Isle of MTV 2008 at the Floriana granaries, Malta with free admission.


title: N.E.R.D.

text: On August 9, 2008, the band played at the Way Out West music festival held in the city park of Gothenburg, Sweden. In September 2008, N.E.R.D performed to a sold-out crowd at the House of Blues in Chicago, and brought special guest Bad Brains onstage. N.E.R.D released their third studio album, "Seeing Sounds" in June 2008. The first single off the album, titled "Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)", was first mentioned on their Billionaire Boys Club blog in January 2008. The second single off the album, titled "Spaz", was used in a TV commercial for the Microsoft Zune. The group toured with American rock band, Linkin Park on the European leg of their Projekt Revolution tour in 2008 with artists like HIM, The Used and Jay-Z. The group also played at the National Bowl, Milton Keynes before the recording of by Linkin Park.


title: N.E.R.D.

text: In 2009, a song entitled "Soldier" featuring Santigold and Lil Wayne was featured on the soundtrack of the teen drama "90210". In 2010, N.E.R.D announced the release of their fourth studio album entitled "Nothing", which had a scheduled release date for September 7, 2010, but was pushed back to November 2, 2010. The first single from the album, "Hot-n-Fun" featuring Canadian recording artist Nelly Furtado, was released on May 18, 2010, on iTunes. It was released in the United Kingdom on August 30, 2010. On August 20, 2010, a track titled "Party People" leaked onto the internet. It was rumored to be the second single from the album. On September 28, 2010, they premiered another track from the album titled "Hypnotize U" on "Late Show with David Letterman", produced by electronic music duo Daft Punk. On September 30, 2010, in an interview with Mark Hoppus on "A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus", Pharrell explained the album cover as "a mix of so many things. The feathers represent the peace, and the helmet represents the war. It's like where we are right now. There's a lot of war, that people can't necessarily explain. The economy sucks, girls are still beautiful. We wanted to make music that reflected that. So people can look back twenty years from now, and say 'this is what was going on'". They then announced in the interview that the next two singles would be "I've Seen the Light" and "Hypnotize U". Pharrell described "Hypnotize U" as being "so different from the rest of the album", stating he was "very pleased because it serves a different purpose" in the album. On October 17, 2010, the standard edition and the deluxe edition of the album became available for pre-order on iTunes. It was later announced that they would support Gorillaz on the North American leg of their 2010 'Escape to Plastic Beach' world tour. In 2013, Pharrell confirmed a N.E.R.D album was in progress, but also mentioned that the album would not be released that year due to the projects he was working on with other artists. He has also said the album will be "nature-based". The group reunited on December 26, 2014, to release the songs "Squeeze Me," "Patrick Star," and "Sandy Squirrel" for the film "".


title: N.E.R.D.

text: N.E.R.D's fifth album, "No One Ever Really Dies", was released on December 15, 2017, through i am OTHER and Columbia Records. It features guest appearances from André 3000, M.I.A., Gucci Mane, Wale, and Ed Sheeran among others. It was preceded by three singles; "Lemon" with Rihanna (on November 1), "1000" with Future (on November 29), and "Don't Don't Do It!" with Kendrick Lamar (on December 13).


title: N.E.R.D.

text: The band's sound generally contains elements of rock, funk and hip hop, while also encompassing R&B and pop. Their sound has also been described as featuring alternative hip hop, funk rock, rap rock, experimental hip hop, avant-funk, and progressive pop. They have been praised for their heavy use of electronic, bass and funk beats, while others have suggested that The Neptunes are unable to blend R&B and rock.


title: N.E.R.D.

text: N.E.R.D's lyrics have been criticized. Ian Cohen of "Pitchfork" called the band's lyrical writing ability "far down the list of what N.E.R.D is actually good at", where Williams is often criticized for being excessively sexual. With the release of "Fly or Die", the album was advertised in "Kerrang!" magazine, which made Alexis Petridis of "The Guardian" feel that N.E.R.D's lyrics tried to "empathize with the alienated teenagers who make up "Kerrang!"s readership".


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, which includes most parts of the local government areas of City of Newcastle, City of Lake Macquarie, City of Cessnock, City of Maitland and Port Stephens Council.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Located at the mouth of the Hunter River, it is the predominant city within the Hunter Region. Famous for its coal, Newcastle is the largest coal exporting harbour in the world, exporting 159.9 million tonnes of coal in 2017. Beyond the city, the Hunter Region possesses large coal deposits. Geologically, the area is located in the central-eastern part of the Sydney Basin.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Newcastle and the lower Hunter Region were traditionally occupied by the Awabakal and Worimi Aboriginal people, who called the area Malubimba.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Based on Aboriginal language references documented in maps, sketches and geological descriptions, eight landmarks have been officially dual-named by the NSW Geographic Names Board with their traditional Aboriginal names. They include Nobbys Head also known as Whibayganba; Flagstaff Hill also known as Tahlbihn; Pirate Point also known as Burrabihngarn; Port Hunter also known as Yohaaba; Hunter River (South Channel) also known as Coquun;


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Shepherds Hill also known as Khanterin; Ironbark Creek also known as Toohrnbing and Hexham Swamp also known as Burraghihnbihng.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: In September 1797, Lieutenant John Shortland became the first European settler to explore the area. His discovery of the area was largely accidental; as he had been sent in search of a number of convicts who had seized a locally-built vessel called Cumberland as she was sailing from Sydney Cove. While returning, Lt. Shortland entered what he later described as "a very fine river", which he named after New South Wales' Governor John Hunter. He returned with reports of the deep-water port and the area's abundant coal. Over the next two years, coal mined from the area was the New South Wales colony's first export.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Newcastle gained a reputation as a "hellhole" as it was a place where the most dangerous convicts were sent to dig in the coal mines as harsh punishment for their crimes. By the start of the 19th century the mouth of the Hunter River was being visited by diverse groups of men, including coal diggers, timber-cutters, and more escaped convicts. Philip Gidley King, the Governor of New South Wales from 1800, decided on a more positive approach to exploit the now obvious natural resources of the Hunter Valley. In 1801, a convict camp called King's Town (named after Governor King) was established to mine coal and cut timber. In the same year, the first shipment of coal was dispatched to Sydney. This settlement closed less than a year later.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: A settlement was again attempted in 1804, as a place of secondary punishment for unruly convicts. The settlement was named Coal River, also Kingstown and then renamed Newcastle, after the English city. The name first appeared by the commission issued by Governor King on 15 March 1804 to Lieutenant Charles Menzies of the marine detachment on , then at Port Jackson, appointing him superintendent of the new settlement. The new settlement, comprising convicts and a military guard, arrived at the Hunter River on 27 March 1804 in three ships: , the "Resource" and the "James". The convicts were rebels from the 1804 Castle Hill convict rebellion. The link with Newcastle upon Tyne, England (its namesake) and also whence many of the 19th century coal miners came, is still obvious in some of the place-names – such as Jesmond, Hexham, Wickham, Wallsend and Gateshead. Morpeth, New South Wales is a similar distance north of Newcastle as Morpeth, Northumberland is north of Newcastle upon Tyne.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Under Captain James Wallis, commandant from 1815 to 1818, the convicts' conditions improved, and a building boom began. Captain Wallis laid out the streets of the town, built the first church of the site of the present Christ Church Anglican Cathedral, erected the old gaol on the seashore, and began work on the breakwater which now joins Nobbys Head to the mainland. The quality of these first buildings was poor, and only the (much reinforced) breakwater survives. During this period, in 1816, the oldest public school in Australia was built in East Newcastle.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Newcastle remained a penal settlement until 1822, when the settlement was opened up to farming. As a penal colony, the military rule was harsh, especially at Limeburners' Bay, on the inner side of Stockton peninsula. There, convicts were sent to burn oyster shells for making lime. Military rule in Newcastle ended in 1823. Prisoner numbers were reduced to 100 (most of these were employed on the building of the breakwater), and the remaining 900 were sent to Port Macquarie.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: After removal of the last convicts in 1823, the town was freed from the infamous influence of the penal law. It began to acquire the aspect of a typical Australian pioneer settlement, and a steady flow of free settlers poured into the hinterland.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: The formation during the nineteenth century of the Newcastle & Hunter River Steamship Company saw the establishment of regular steamship services from Morpeth and Newcastle with Sydney. The company had a fleet of freighters as well as several fast passenger vessels, including the PS "Newcastle" and the PS "Namoi". The "Namoi" had first-class cabins with the latest facilities.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Because of the coal supply, small ships plied between Newcastle and Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide, carrying coal to gas works and bunkers for shipping, and railways. These were commonly known as sixty-milers, referring to the nautical journey between Newcastle and Sydney. These ships continued in service until recent times.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: During World War II, Newcastle was an important industrial centre for the Australian war effort. In 1942, the Japanese planned to attack Sydney Harbour. On the early hours of 8 June, the Japanese submarine briefly shelled Newcastle. Among the areas hit within the city were dockyards, the steel works, Parnell Place in the city's East End, the breakwall and Art Deco ocean baths. There were no casualties in the attack and damage was minimal.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: The Port of Newcastle remains the economic and trade centre for the resource rich Hunter Valley and for much of the north and northwest of New South Wales. Newcastle is the world's largest coal export port and Australia's oldest and second largest tonnage throughput port, with over 3,000 shipping movements handling cargo of 95.8 Mt per annum, of which coal exports represented 90.8 Mt in 2008–09. The volume of coal exported, and attempts to increase coal exports, are opposed by environmental groups.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Newcastle had a shipbuilding industry with the Walsh Island Dockyard & Engineering Works, State Dockyard and Forgacs Shipyard. In recent years the only major ship-construction contract awarded to the area was the construction of the Huon-class minehunters. The era of extensive heavy industry passed when the steel works closed in 1999. Many of the remaining manufacturing industries have located themselves well away from the city itself.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Newcastle has one of the oldest theatre districts in Australia. Victoria Theatre on Perkins Street is the oldest purpose-built theatre in the country. The theatre district that occupied the area around what is now the Hunter Street Mall vanished during the 1940s. The old city centre has seen some new apartments and hotels built in recent years, but the rate of commercial and retail occupation remains low while alternate suburban centres have become more important. The CBD itself is shifting to the west, towards the major urban renewal area known as "Honeysuckle". This renewal, to run for another 10 years, is a major part of arresting the shift of business and residents to the suburbs. Commercial renewal has been accompanied by cultural renaissance. There is a vibrant arts scene in the city including a highly regarded art gallery, and an active Hunter Writers' Centre. Recent fictional representations (for example Antoinette Eklund's 'Steel River') present a new vision of the city, using the city's historic past as a backdrop for contemporary fiction.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: The old central business district, located at Newcastle's eastern end, still has a considerable number of historic buildings, dominated by Christ Church Cathedral, seat of the Anglican Bishop of Newcastle. Other noteworthy buildings include Fort Scratchley, the Ocean Baths, the old Customs House, the 1920s City Hall, the 1890s Longworth Institute (once regarded as the finest building in the colony) and the 1930s art deco University House (formerly NESCA House, seen in the film "Superman Returns").


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Coal mining began in earnest on 3 May 1833 when the Australian Agricultural Company received land grants at Newcastle plus a 31-year monopoly on that town's coal traffic. Other collieries were within a radius of the town. Principal coal mines were located at Stockton, Tighes Hill, Carrington and the Newcastle Coal and Copper Company's collieries at Merewether (includes the Glebe), Wallsend and the Waratah collieries. All operations had closed by the early 1960s.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: On 10 December 1831 the Australian Agricultural Company officially opened Australia's first railway, at the intersection of Brown & Church Streets, Newcastle. Privately owned and operated to service the "A Pit" coal mine, it was a cast-iron fishbelly rail on an inclined plane as a gravitational railway.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: In the 1850s, a major copper smelting works was established at Burwood, near Merewether. An engraving of this appeared in the "Illustrated London News" on 11 February 1854. The English and Australian Copper Company built another substantial works at Broadmeadow circa 1890, and in that decade the Cockle Creek Smelter was built.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: The largest factory of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere was constructed in 1885, on an site between the suburbs of Tighes Hill and Port Waratah, by Charles Upfold, from London, for his Sydney Soap and Candle Company, to replace a smaller factory in Wickham. Their soap products won 17 medals at International Exhibitions. At the Sydney International Exhibition they won a bronze medal "against all-comers from every part of the world", the only first prize awarded for soap and candles. Following World War I the company was sold to Messrs Lever & Kitchen (today Unilever), and the factory closed in the mid-1930s.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: In 1911, BHP chose the city as the site for its steelworks due to the abundance of coal. The land put aside was prime real estate, on the southern edge of the harbour. In 1915, the BHP steelworks opened, beginning a period of some 80 years dominating the steel works and heavy industry. As Mayfield and the suburbs surrounding the steelworks declined in popularity because of pollution, the steelworks thrived, becoming the region's largest employer.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Newcastle as a traditional area of heavy industry was not immune from the effects of economic downturns that plagued New South Wales and wider Australia since the 1970s. These downturns were particularly hard hitting for heavy industry which was particularly prevalent in Newcastle. The early 1990s recession caused significant job losses across Australia and the Newcastle region experienced a peak unemployment rate of 17% in February 1993, compared to 12.1% in New South Wales and 11.9% across Australia. As Australia recovered from the early 1990s recession, the economy of Newcastle did too and the jobless rate rapidly fell. However, it consistently remained above that of New South Wales.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: In 1999, the steelworks closed after 84 years' operation and had employed about 50,000 during its existence, many for decades. The closure of the BHP steelworks occurred at a time of strong economic expansion in Australia. At the time of the closure and since the closure Newcastle experienced a significant amount of economic diversification which has strengthened the local economy. Despite this, the closure caused a deterioration of the employment situation in Newcastle where the unemployment rate rose rapidly to almost 12% from under 9% at the previous trough just prior to the closure.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Since 2003, Australia experienced the effects of the 2000s commodities boom as commodities prices for major export good such as coal and iron ore rose significantly. This provided a large incentive for investment in the Newcastle and Hunter region due to its status as a major coal mining and export hub to Asian markets. Large projects related to the coal industry helped to propel the Newcastle unemployment rate to 20 year lows and allow the Newcastle region to weather the effects of the late 2000s recession better than NSW as a whole. As of 2009 the two largest single employers are the Hunter New England Area Health Service and the University of Newcastle. The National Stock Exchange of Australia (formerly Newcastle Stock Exchange) was formerly based in the city.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: On 28 December 1989, Newcastle experienced an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale, which killed 13 people, injured 162 and destroyed or severely damaged a number of prominent buildings. Some had to be demolished, including the large George Hotel in Scott Street (city), the Century Theatre at Broadmeadow, the Hunter Theatre (formerly 'The Star') and the majority of The Junction school at Merewether. Part of the Newcastle Workers' Club, a popular venue, was destroyed and later replaced by a new structure. The following economic recession of the early 1990s meant that the city took several years to recover.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: However, Beaumont Street, Hamilton, where many buildings sustained major damage, became a thriving cosmopolitan restaurant strip after the earthquake and is still going strong today. The earthquake helped to rekindle business in this suburban strip.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: On 8 June 2007 the Hunter and Central Coast regions were battered by the worst series of storms to hit New South Wales in 30 years. This resulted in extensive flooding and nine deaths. Thousands of homes were flooded and many were destroyed. The Hunter and Central Coast regions were declared natural disaster areas by the State Premier, Morris Iemma, on 8 June 2007. Further flooding was predicted by the Bureau of Meteorology but was less severe than predicted.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: During the early stages of the storms, the bulk carrier ship ran aground at Nobbys Beach after failing to heed warnings to move offshore. After the first few attempts failed, the "Pasha Bulker" was refloated on the third salvage attempt on 2 July 2007 despite earlier fears that the ship would break up. After initially entering the port for minor repairs, it departed under tow on 26 July 2007 for major repairs in Asia.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: On 12 July 1866 a paddle steamer the , on its way to Brisbane from Newcastle carrying 60 passengers, was caught in a storm as it made its way out of the harbour. 60 people died with only one survivor, Frederick Hedges, who was plucked from the water by the sole survivor of the Dunbar that had sunk in Sydney Harbour.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: The most tragic maritime accident of the 20th century in Newcastle occurred on 9 August 1934 when the Stockton-bound ferry "Bluebell" collided with the coastal freighter, "Waraneen", and sank in the middle of the Hunter River. The Bluebell Collision claimed three lives and fifteen passengers were admitted to the Newcastle Hospital, with two suffering severely from the effects of immersion. It was later found that the ferry captain was at fault.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: These are only two events in Newcastle's very long history of shipwrecks including the 1974 beaching of the , and the 2007 beaching of the .


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: On 16 August 1966, an RAAF CAC Sabre crashed into the inner city suburb of The Junction. The pilot, Flying Officer Warren William Goddard, experienced engine troubles and unsuccessfully tried to get the plane over the Pacific Ocean. The Junction is a highly populated suburb of Newcastle and most of the plane wreckage landed in the shopping area of the suburb. In 2007 a memorial plaque was unveiled for the killed pilot.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Newcastle is on the southern bank of the Hunter River mouth. The northern side is dominated by sand dunes, swamps and multiple river channels. A "green belt" protecting plant and wildlife flanks the city from the west (Watagan mountains) around to the north where it meets the coast just north of Stockton. Urban development is mainly restricted to the hilly southern bank. The small town of Stockton sits opposite central Newcastle at the river mouth and is linked by ferry. Road access between Stockton and central Newcastle is via the Stockton Bridge, a distance of . Much of the city is undercut by the coal measures of the Sydney sedimentary basin, and what were once numerous coal-mining villages located in the hills and valleys around the port have merged into a single urban area extending southwards to Lake Macquarie.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Newcastle has several public parks including King Edward Park, which was designated in 1863. Features of the park include coastal views, a sunken garden and a Victorian rotunda.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Another noteworthy park of Newcastle is Starrett Park in New Lambton, known for its playground and lush grass.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

text: Newcastle has a humid subtropical climate ("Cfa") that is typical of the Australian east coast. Precipitation is heaviest in late autumn and early winter, while the second half of the year is slightly drier on average. The climate is generally moderated by the Pacific Ocean to the east. Summers are mostly warm and humid with periods of very dry and hot weather occasionally due to hot west to north-westerly winds, which can bring temperatures in excess of . The highest recorded temperature was in January 2013 at the Nobbys Head weather station.