title: Flannan Isles Lighthouse

text: No bodies were ever found, but there have been some mysterious sights resulting in "fascinated national speculation" in newspapers and periodicals of the era. Implausible stories ensued, such as that a sea serpent had carried the men away; that they had arranged for a ship to take them away and start new lives; that they had been abducted by foreign spies; or that they had met their fate through the malevolent presence of a boat filled with ghosts (the baleful influence of the "Phantom of the Seven Hunters" was widely suspected locally). More than ten years later, the events were still being commemorated and elaborated on. The 1912 ballad "Flannan Isle" by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson refers erroneously to an overturned chair and uneaten meal laid out on the table, indicating that the keepers had been suddenly disturbed.


title: Flannan Isles Lighthouse

text: However, in a first-hand account made by Moore, the relief keeper, he stated that: "The kitchen utensils were all very clean, which is a sign that it must be after dinner some time they left."


title: Flannan Isles Lighthouse

text: Over time, a story has developed of the existence of unusual log book entries. They supposedly have Marshall saying on 12 December that there were "severe winds the likes of which I have never seen before in twenty years". He also is said to have reported that Ducat had been "very quiet" and Donald McArthur had been crying. McArthur was a veteran mariner with a reputation for brawling, and thus it would be strange for him to be crying in response to a storm. Log entries on 13 December were said to have stated that the storm was still raging, and that all three men had been praying. This was also puzzling, as all three men were experienced lighthouse keepers who knew they were in a secure structure 150 feet above sea level and should have known they were safe inside. Furthermore, there had been no reported storms in the area on the 12, 13 and 14 December. The final log entry is said to have been made on 15 December, stating "Storm ended, sea calm. God is over all." An investigation by Mike Dash for the "Fortean Times" revealed that the logbooks were fictional, later additions to the story.


title: Flannan Isles Lighthouse

text: Subsequent researchers have taken into account the geography of the islands. The coastline of Eilean Mòr is deeply indented with narrow gullies called geos. The west landing, which is situated in such a geo, terminates in a cave. In high seas or storms, water would rush into the cave and then explode out again with considerable force. It was possible McArthur may have seen a series of large waves approaching the island and, knowing the likely danger to his colleagues, ran down to warn them only to be washed away as well in the violent swell. Recent research by James Love discovered that Marshall was previously fined five shillings when his equipment was washed away during a huge gale. It is likely, in seeking to avoid another fine, that he and Ducat tried to secure their equipment during a storm and were swept away as a result. The fate of McArthur, although required to stay behind to man the lighthouse, can be guessed to be the same. Love speculates that McArthur probably tried to warn or help his colleagues and was swept away too. This theory also has the advantages of explaining the set of oilskins remaining indoors and McArthur's coat remaining on its peg, although perhaps not the closed door and gate. Another theory is based on the first-hand experiences of Walter Aldebert, a keeper on the Flannans from 1953 to 1957. He believed one man may have been washed into the sea but then his companions, who were trying to rescue him, were washed away by more rogue waves.


title: Flannan Isles Lighthouse

text: A further proposal is based on the psychology of the keepers. Allegedly, McArthur was a volatile character; this may have led to a fight breaking out near the cliff edge by the West Landing that caused all three men to fall to their deaths. Another theory is that one of the men went insane, murdered the other two, threw their bodies into the sea, and then jumped in to his own death.


title: 2021 Census of India

text: The 2021 Census of India, also the 16th Indian Census, is intended to be carried out in 2023. In April 2019, a data user conference was held and it was announced that 330,000 enumerators would be enlisted and that they would be encouraged to use their own smart phones, although a paper option will also be available, which the enumerators will then need to submit electronically. It was further announced that house listing will be conducted between April and September 2020, with actual enumeration in February 2021 and a revision round in March. The reference date will be 1 March 2021 in most of the states and 1 October 2020 for Jammu and Kashmir and some areas of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.


title: 2021 Census of India

text: In September 2019, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had stated that the 2021 national census would be done fully digitally through a mobile phone application. 2021 census will be carried out in 16 languages. In February 2021, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated for the census in the 2021 Union budget of India. It was delayed to 2022 and then further delayed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.


title: 2021 Census of India

text: National Population Register will be linked to this census with preparations beginning from April 2020. NPR will be conducted along with the first phase of Census between April to September 2020. On 24 December 2019, the Central Government approved for updating the NPR across India.


title: 2021 Census of India

text: The 15th Indian Census taken in 2011, attempted to estimate the population based on Socio-Economic and Caste Status for the first time since 1931. However, as the enumeration was based on recording the respondents' declaration, it led to creation of hundreds of thousands of caste/subcaste categories. For the 16th Indian census, the government is instead considering enumeration based on a list of educationally or socially disadvantaged castes (known as Other Backward Class) reported by each state. However, in February 2020, the Indian government rejected the demand for OBC data as part of the 2021 census.


title: 2021 Census of India

text: In September 2018, the then Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, announced that the 2021 census will have Other Backward Class (OBC) data, for the first time since the 1931 census. Despite this announcement, the questionnaire presented in July 2019 did not have a specific OBC category. Several state legislative assemblies passed resolutions for collecting OBC data including the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Odisha Legislative Assembly and Bihar Legislative Assembly, while the government of Uttar Pradesh, rejected the opposition's demand to pass such a resolution. On 29 February 2020, central government refused to conduct caste census despite demands from states. Despite Centre's rejection, Maharashtra legislators were adamant for caste based census at least in the state. Protest march in support of OBC census was carried out in Jammu and Kashmir. Minister of State Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale also demanded carrying of census counting every single caste in India.


title: Nausea

text: Nausea is a diffuse sensation of unease and discomfort, sometimes perceived as an urge to vomit. While not painful, it can be a debilitating symptom if prolonged and has been described as placing discomfort on the chest, abdomen, or back of the throat.


title: Nausea

text: Nausea is a non-specific symptom, which means that it has many possible causes. Some common causes of nausea are gastroenteritis and other gastrointestinal disorders, food poisoning, motion sickness, dizziness, migraine, fainting, low blood sugar, anxiety, and lack of sleep. Nausea is a side effect of many medications including chemotherapy, or morning sickness in early pregnancy. Nausea may also be caused by disgust and depression.


title: Nausea

text: Medications taken to prevent and treat nausea and vomiting are called antiemetics. The most commonly prescribed antiemetics in the US are promethazine, metoclopramide, and the newer ondansetron. The word nausea is from Latin "nausea", from Greek – "nausia", "ναυτία" – "nautia", motion sickness, "feeling sick or queasy".


title: Nausea

text: Gastrointestinal infections (37%) and food poisoning are the two most common causes of acute nausea and vomiting. Side effects from medications (3%) and pregnancy are also relatively frequent. There are many causes of chronic nausea. Nausea and vomiting remain undiagnosed in 10% of the cases. Aside from morning sickness, there are no sex differences in complaints of nausea. After childhood, doctor consultations decrease steadily with age. Only a fraction of one percent of doctor visits by those over 65 are due to nausea.


title: Nausea

text: Gastrointestinal infection is one of the most common causes of acute nausea and vomiting. Chronic nausea may be the presentation of many gastrointestinal disorders, occasionally as the major symptom, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease, functional dyspepsia, gastritis, biliary reflux, gastroparesis, peptic ulcer, celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, Crohn's disease, hepatitis, upper gastrointestinal malignancy, and pancreatic cancer. Uncomplicated "Helicobacter pylori" infection does not cause chronic nausea.


title: Nausea

text: Food poisoning usually causes an abrupt onset of nausea and vomiting one to six hours after ingestion of contaminated food and lasts for one to two days. It is due to toxins produced by bacteria in food.


title: Nausea

text: Many medications can potentially cause nausea. Some of the most frequently associated include cytotoxic chemotherapy regimens for cancer and other diseases, and general anaesthetic agents. An old cure for migraine, ergotamine, is well known to cause devastating nausea in some patients; a person using it for the first time will be prescribed an antiemetic for relief if needed.


title: Nausea

text: Nausea or "morning sickness" is common during early pregnancy but may occasionally continue into the second and third trimesters. In the first trimester nearly 80% of women have some degree of nausea. Pregnancy should therefore be considered as a possible cause of nausea in any sexually active woman of child-bearing age. While usually it is mild and self-limiting, severe cases known as hyperemesis gravidarum may require treatment.


title: Nausea

text: A number of conditions involving balance such as motion sickness and vertigo can lead to nausea and vomiting.


title: Nausea

text: While most causes of nausea are not serious, some serious conditions are associated with nausea. These include pancreatitis, small bowel obstruction, appendicitis, cholecystitis, hepatitis, Addisonian crisis, diabetic ketoacidosis, increased intracranial pressure, spontaneous intracranial hypotension, brain tumors, meningitis, heart attack, rabies carbon monoxide poisoning and many others.


title: Nausea

text: Research on nausea and vomiting has relied on using animal models to mimic the anatomy and neuropharmacologic features of the human body. The physiologic mechanism of nausea is a complex process that has yet to be fully elucidated. There are four general pathways that are activated by specific triggers in the human body that go on to create the sensation of nausea and vomiting.


title: Nausea

text: Signals from any of these pathways then travel to the brainstem, activating several structures including the nucleus of the solitary tract, the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus, and central pattern generator. These structures go on to signal various downstream effects of nausea and vomiting. The body's motor muscle responses involve halting the muscles of the gastrointestinal tract, and in fact causing reversed propulsion of gastric contents towards the mouth while increasing abdominal muscle contraction. Autonomic effects involve increased salivation and the sensation of feeling faint that often occurs with nausea and vomiting.


title: Nausea

text: It has been described that alterations in heart rate can occur as well as the release of vasopressin from the posterior pituitary.


title: Nausea

text: Taking a thorough patient history may reveal important clues to the cause of nausea and vomiting. If the patient's symptoms have an acute onset, then drugs, toxins, and infections are likely. In contrast, a long-standing history of nausea will point towards a chronic illness as the culprit. The timing of nausea and vomiting after eating food is an important factor to pay attention to. Symptoms that occur within an hour of eating may indicate an obstruction proximal to the small intestine, such as gastroparesis or pyloric stenosis. An obstruction further down in the intestine or colon will cause delayed vomiting. An infectious cause of nausea and vomiting such as gastroenteritis may present several hours to days after the food was ingested. The contents of the emesis is a valuable clue towards determining the cause. Bits of fecal matter in the emesis indicate obstruction in the distal intestine or the colon. Emesis that is of a bilious nature (greenish in color) localizes the obstruction to a point past the stomach. Emesis of undigested food points to an obstruction prior to the gastric outlet, such as achalasia or Zenker's diverticulum. If patient experiences reduced abdominal pain after vomiting, then obstruction is a likely etiology. However, vomiting does not relieve the pain brought on by pancreatitis or cholecystitis.


title: Nausea

text: It is important to watch out for signs of dehydration, such as orthostatic hypotension and loss of skin turgor. Auscultation of the abdomen can produce several clues to the cause of nausea and vomiting. A high-pitched tinkling sound indicates possible bowel obstruction, while a splashing "succussion" sound is more indicative of gastric outlet obstruction. Eliciting pain on the abdominal exam when pressing on the patient may indicate an inflammatory process. Signs such as papilledema, visual field losses, or focal neurological deficits are red flag signs for elevated intracranial pressure.


title: Nausea

text: When a history and physical exam are not enough to determine the cause of nausea and vomiting, certain diagnostic tests may prove useful. A chemistry panel would be useful for electrolyte and metabolic abnormalities. Liver function tests and lipase would identify pancreaticobiliary diseases. Abdominal X-rays showing air-fluid levels indicate bowel obstruction, while an X-ray showing air-filled bowel loops are more indicative of ileus. More advanced imaging and procedures may be necessary, such as a CT scan, upper endoscopy, colonoscopy, barium enema, or MRI. Abnormal GI motility can be assessed using specific tests like gastric scintigraphy, wireless motility capsules, and small-intestinal manometry.


title: Nausea

text: If dehydration is present due to loss of fluids from severe vomiting, rehydration with oral electrolyte solutions is preferred. If this is not effective or possible, intravenous rehydration may be required. Medical care is recommended if: a person cannot keep any liquids down, has symptoms more than 2 days, is weak, has a fever, has stomach pain, vomits more than two times in a day or does not urinate for more than 8 hours.


title: Nausea

text: Many pharmacologic medications are available for the treatment of nausea. There is no medication that is clearly superior to other medications for all cases of nausea. The choice of antiemetic medication may be based on the situation during which the person experiences nausea. For people with motion sickness and vertigo, antihistamines and anticholinergics such as meclizine and scopolamine are particularly effective. Nausea and vomiting associated with migraine headaches respond best to dopamine antagonists such as metoclopramide, prochlorperazine, and chlorpromazine. In cases of gastroenteritis, serotonin antagonists such as ondansetron were found to suppress nausea and vomiting, as well as reduce the need for IV fluid resuscitation. The combination of pyridoxine and doxylamine is the first line treatment for pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting. Dimenhydrinate is an inexpensive and effective over the counter medication for preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting. Other factors to consider when choosing an antiemetic medication include the person's preference, side-effect profile, and cost.


title: Nausea

text: In certain people, cannabinoids may be effective in reducing chemotherapy associated nausea and vomiting. Several studies have demonstrated the therapeutic effects of cannabinoids for nausea and vomiting in the advanced stages of illnesses such as cancer and AIDS.


title: Nausea

text: In hospital settings topical anti-nausea gels are not indicated because of lack of research backing their efficacy. Topical gels containing lorazepam, diphenhydramine, and haloperidol are sometimes used for nausea but are not equivalent to more established therapies.


title: Nausea

text: The outlook depends on the cause. Most people recover within few hours or a day. While short-term nausea and vomiting are generally harmless, they may sometimes indicate a more serious condition. When associated with prolonged vomiting, it may lead to dehydration or dangerous electrolyte imbalances or both. Repeated intentional vomiting, characteristic of bulimia, can cause stomach acid to wear away at the enamel in teeth.


title: Nausea

text: Nausea and or vomiting is the main complaint in 1.6% of visits to family physicians in Australia. However, only 25% of people with nausea visit their family physician. In Australia, nausea, as opposed to vomiting, occurs most frequently in persons aged 15–24 years, and is less common in other age groups.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Bianca Vanessa Andreescu (; born June 16, 2000) is a Canadian professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 4 in the world, and is the highest-ranked Canadian in the history of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Andreescu was the champion at the US Open and the Canadian Open in 2019, defeating Serena Williams to win both titles. She is the first Canadian tennis player to win a major singles title, and the first to win the Canadian Open in 50 years. She was also the first player to win a major singles title as a teenager since Maria Sharapova in 2006.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu began playing tennis in her parents' home country of Romania before returning to Canada, the country of her birth. She had success as a junior, winning the Orange Bowl and two major doubles titles with compatriot Carson Branstine en route to reaching a career-best junior ranking of No. 3 in the world. After not playing any matches at the WTA Tour level in 2018, Andreescu had a breakout year in 2019, beginning with a runner-up in her first event of the season, the Auckland Open. She then rose to prominence by winning the Indian Wells Open, a Premier Mandatory tournament. Although she missed several months due to injury, Andreescu qualified for the WTA Finals at the end of the season and finished the year ranked No. 5.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu's style of play combines power with variety and has been widely regarded as "fun to watch" by tennis commentators and journalists. She has strong support from both Canadian and Romanian fanbases.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Bianca Vanessa Andreescu was born in Mississauga, Ontario to Nicu and Maria Andreescu. Her parents emigrated from Romania to Canada in 1994 when her father accepted a job in the country. Andreescu's father works as a mechanical engineer at an automotive company, while her mother had worked at a bank in Romania. Her family moved back to Romania when Bianca was six years old so that her mother could start a business in their home country. After two and a half years, they closed the business and returned to Canada. Her mother has since worked as the chief compliance officer at a financial services company. Andreescu began playing tennis in Pitești at the age of seven. She was initially coached by Gabriel Hristache, a friend of her father. When she returned to Canada, she trained at the Ontario Racquet Club in Mississauga before moving to the U14 National Training Centre in Toronto operated by Tennis Canada. She began training more seriously at the age of 12.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu had a career-high junior ranking of No. 3 in world, which she achieved in early 2016. She had early success as a junior, winning Les Petits As, a prestigious 14-and-under tournament, in 2014. She also won the 16-and-under Orange Bowl at the end of the year, becoming the fourth Canadian in a row to win that event. Andreescu began playing 18-and-under events on the ITF Junior Circuit in late 2013. She won her first titles in 2014, three in singles and one in doubles, at Grade 4 and Grade 5 tournaments, the two lowest levels.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu moved up to higher-level events in early 2015, winning both the singles and doubles titles at the Condor De Plata tournament in Bolivia, her first Grade 2 tournament. She finished runner-up to compatriot Charlotte Robillard-Millette at the Open International Junior de Beaulieu-sur-Mer, her first Grade 1 tournament. Andreescu had less immediate success at the highest-level Grade A tournaments, losing her opening round matches at her first four such events, which included the last three Grand Slam events of the year. Nonetheless, she defeated Robillard-Millette in their home country to win the Canadian Open Junior Championships during the summer, her first Grade 1 title. Late in the year, Andreescu reached both the singles and doubles final at the Yucatán Cup, finishing runner-up to Kayla Day in singles while winning her first doubles title at the Grade 1 level. At her last tournament of the year, Andreescu defeated Day to win the Orange Bowl, her first Grade A title. She was the first player to win the girls' under-16 and under-18 titles in back-to-back years since Mary Joe Fernández in 1984 and 1985. During the season, Andreescu also represented Canada at the Junior Fed Cup with Robillard-Millette and Vanessa Wong. Andreescu and Robillard-Millette lost the decisive doubles rubber in the semifinals against the Czech Republic. However, they recovered to win both of their singles rubbers against Russia to take third place. Andreescu was named Outstanding Junior Female by Tennis Canada at the end of the year.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu had more success at the Grand Slam tournaments in 2016, but did not win any titles in singles or doubles at any level. As the top seed at the Australian Open in both singles and doubles, she withdrew from both events after two matches each because of recurring injuries involving her left adductor and right ankle, as well as a stress fracture in her foot. These injuries kept her out for six months. Andreescu returned to competition at Wimbledon, where she lost in the third round. At the US Open, she had her best run at a Grand Slam event to date, reaching the semifinals in singles where she lost to Day. The last two junior events of Andreescu's career came in 2017 at the Grand Slam tournaments. She matched her best Grand Slam result in singles at the Australian Open, where she was defeated by Rebeka Masarova in the semifinals. She then made it to the quarterfinals of the French Open at her last singles event, losing to Claire Liu. Nonetheless, Andreescu won the Grand Slam doubles titles at both of these tournaments with Carson Branstine. The pair defeated the Polish team of Maja Chwalińska and Iga Świątek in the Australian Open final, and the Russian team of Olesya Pervushina and Anastasia Potapova in the French Open final. With their French Open title, Andreescu and Branstine became the first Canadian team to win a Grand Slam girls' doubles title.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu began playing on the ITF Circuit in July 2015. She finished runner-up to No. 155 Alexa Glatch in her professional tournament, a $25K event in Gatineau. She was given wildcards into qualifying at the Canadian Open in 2015 and 2016, but was unable to qualify. Andreescu missed most of the first half of 2016 due to injury. When she returned, she had success at ITF events in Canada. She won her first ITF titles in singles and doubles at the August 2016 event in Gatineau, winning the doubles with junior rival Robillard-Millette. In October, she finished runner-up in both the singles and doubles events at the higher-level $50K Challenger de Saguenay, again partnering with Robillard-Millette. During the singles event, she defeated No. 113 Jennifer Brady in a third-set tiebreak in the semifinals before losing to No. 111, CiCi Bellis, in the final.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu won two more $25K titles in early 2017, which helped her break into the top 200 of the WTA rankings. After losing in qualifying at the French Open, she was able to qualify for the main draw at Wimbledon. She lost her Grand Slam debut to No. 105 Kristína Kučová. Later in the month, she was awarded a wildcard into the main draw of the Washington Open. She defeated Camila Giorgi in the opening round, her first win on the WTA Tour. In her next match, she upset world No. 13, Kristina Mladenovic, to advance to the quarterfinals, where she lost to Andrea Petkovic. A few weeks later, she made her Canadian Open main draw debut as a wildcard, losing to No. 55 Tímea Babos. Andreescu entered qualifying at the US Open, but lost her opening match. In the last stage of the season, she had more success in doubles. She reached her first WTA final in doubles with compatriot Carson Branstine at the Tournoi de Québec. They finished runner-up to top seeds Tímea Babos and Andrea Hlaváčková. She then partnered with compatriot Carol Zhao to win the doubles title at the $60K Challenger de Saguenay. Andreescu's best ranking during the year was No. 143 and she finished the season at No. 182.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu did not play any WTA Tour-level matches in 2018. She entered qualifying for all four majors, but did not qualify for any of them. She came the closest at the French Open and Wimbledon, falling one match short at both. Andreescu played primarily at the $25K level, reaching four finals. She had two runner-up finishes in April and two titles late in the season. One of her best results at higher-level events was a quarterfinal at the $100K Midland Classic. She also reached the semifinals of the $60K Challenger de Granby, where she withdrew due to a back injury. This injury kept her out of the Canadian Open. After attempting to qualify at the US Open, she did not return to competition until late October. Andreescu's two late-season titles helped her finish the year at No. 152 in the world.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Despite entering the year having not played a WTA match in over 14 months, Andreescu had a breakthrough season that took her from well outside the top 100 into the upper echelon of women's tennis. She began the season by qualifying for the main draw at the Auckland Open, where she made her first WTA singles final. During the tournament, she upset top seed and world No. 3, Caroline Wozniacki, and defeated three top 40 players before finishing runner-up to defending champion and second seed, Julia Görges. She also qualified for the Australian Open and won one match against Whitney Osuigwe, her first win in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. Before the end of the month, Andreescu won a WTA 125 title at the Newport Beach Challenger. With these three tournament results, she rose from No. 152 at the start of the year to No. 107 after the Auckland runner-up to No. 68 after the Australian Open and 125 title, a large enough ascent to become Canada's top-ranked player on the WTA Tour.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu continued her hot streak with a semifinal at the Mexican Open. She then had an even larger breakthrough at the Premier Mandatory Indian Wells Open, where she won her first WTA title. Andreescu defeated four top 20 players in the last four rounds, including No. 6 Elina Svitolina and No. 8 Angelique Kerber in the semifinals and final, respectively, both in three sets. She became the first wildcard women's singles champion in tournament history and was the first 18-year-old to win the event since Serena Williams in 1999. This title also took her to No. 24 in the WTA rankings. Andreescu defeated Kerber again at the Miami Open a week later. However, she then suffered a right shoulder injury in the fourth round of the event that forced her to retire from the match. Andreescu's shoulder injury kept her out of all but one tournament until August. She attempted an early comeback at the French Open, but ultimately withdrew after one match. Andreescu made her next return at her home tournament, the Canadian Open, where she won her second high-level Premier tournament of the year. She won her first four matches in three sets, including the last two over top-ten opponents in No. 5 Kiki Bertens and No. 3 Karolína Plíšková. She defeated No. 10 Serena Williams in the final, who needed to retire due to back spasms down 1–3 in the first set. With these three top ten victories, Andreescu improved her record against top ten opponents to 7–0 to open her career. With the title, she moved up to No. 14 in the world. She also became the first Canadian to win the tournament since Faye Urban in 1969.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu's best result of the year came at the US Open, where she won her first Grand Slam title. She advanced to the final without facing a top-ten opponent, with her biggest wins coming against No. 19, Caroline Wozniacki, in the third round and No. 12 Belinda Bencic in the semifinals. Her opponent in the final was again Serena Williams. Andreescu defeated Williams in straight sets to win the title. She became the first Canadian tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles title, and the first teenage Grand Slam singles champion since Maria Sharapova won the 2006 US Open. She also became the first player to win the US Open in their main-draw debut, and was at the time tied with Monica Seles for being the quickest to win a Grand Slam singles title by doing so in her fourth main-draw appearance, a record since broken by Emma Raducanu. She also rose to No. 5 in the world. Andreescu's 17-match win streak was ended in the quarterfinals of the China Open by No. 4 Naomi Osaka, which was also her first career loss against a top-ten opponent. She closed out the year at the WTA Finals, where she withdrew after two losses to Simona Halep and Plíšková due to a knee injury. At the end of the season, Andreescu was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete of the year. She was the first tennis player to win the award.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu missed the first few months of the 2020 season, including the Australian Open, due to her knee injury. She was unable to defend her title at the Indian Wells Open until the tournament and the next several months of the season were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu returned to competition for the first time in 15 months at the 2021 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament since her run at the 2019 US Open. Seeded eighth, she opened with a three-set victory over Mihaela Buzarnescu in the first round but then was upset by Hsieh Su-wei in straight sets. She also participated in the Phillip Island Trophy, another new event in Australia, where she lost in the semifinals to Marie Bouzková.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: In late March, Andreescu participated in the Miami Open, again seeded eighth. Receiving a first round bye, she defeated Tereza Martincová in straight sets. Andreescu would go on to record three-set wins over Amanda Anisimova, Garbiñe Muguruza, Sara Sorribes Tormo, and Maria Sakkari to set up a clash with world No. 1, Ashleigh Barty, in the final. However, she was ultimately forced to retire, down 3–6, 0–4.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Bianca tested positive for COVID-19 on 25 April 2021 and was forced to withdraw from the Madrid Open. She went into the French Open as the sixth seed, however she was upset in the first round by Tamara Zidanšek.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: She went into the Wimbledon Championships as the fifth seed and was upset in the first round in straight sets, this time by Alizé Cornet. She then went on to withdraw from the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She returned to action at the National Bank Open, where she was defending champion, but lost to Ons Jabeur in the third round.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Seeded sixth at the US Open, she reached the fourth round but lost to Maria Sakkari in a three and a half hour battle that ended after 2AM, making it latest women’s singles match in tournament history. Because she did not defend her 2019 title, she fell to No. 20 in the rankings. At Indian Wells, she was also the defending champion but lost in the third round to Anett Kontaveit. As a result, she finished the year at world No. 46 in the singles rankings.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu missed many big tournaments in first three months of 2022 including Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami Open due to her injury.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: She made her comeback at Stuttgart as a wildcard in April. However, she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the round of 16. In her next event at the Madrid Open, she lost to Jessica Pegula in the round of 16 after defeating Alison Riske and World No. 8 Danielle Collins.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: In Rome, she won her first round match after Emma Raducanu retired. Then she defeated lucky loser Nuria Párrizas Díaz and qualifier Petra Martić to reach her first WTA 1000 quarterfinals since 2021 Miami. Then she lost to World No. 1 and eventual champion Iga Świątek in quarterfinals.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: At the French Open Bianca reached the second round defeating qualifier Ysaline Bonaventure . She lost in straight sets to Belinda Bencic in the second round.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: In Berlin, Andreescu started her grass court season, and participated in both disciplines. In singles, she played two tough matches against Czech players, beating Kateřina Siniaková in three sets, but losing in the second round to top 10 player Plíšková in three sets.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: In doubles Andreescu partnered Sabine Lisicki, who was on comeback trail after severe injury. They beat in two sets Chinese pair Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan, in the next round the battle was in three sets against the third seeds Asia Muhammad and Ena Shibahara. They easily lost in the semifinals against the first seeds Storm Sanders and Siniaková.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: In Bad Homburg, Andreescu defeated Martina Trevisan, Katie Swan and top seed Daria Kasatkina to reach her first grass court semifinals. She reached the final after Simona Halep withdrew from semifinals due to a neck injury. She lost to Caroline Garcia in the final.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: She won her first match at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships defeating qualifier Emina Bektas in 55 minutes. In the second round, Andreescu lost to eventual champion Elena Rybakina in straight sets.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: At the 2022 Silicon Valley Classic, she lost to Shelby Rogers in two sets, although Andreescu was visibly struggling with a back injury throughout the match. At the Canadian Open, Andreescu reached the third round after defeating Alizé Cornet. In the third round, she lost to Qinwen Zheng in three sets. At the US Open, Andreescu lost in the third round to Caroline Garcia in straight sets.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Having led Canada to third and fifth places at the Junior Fed Cup in 2015 and 2016 respectively, Andreescu made her senior Fed Cup debut in 2017 when Canada was in the third-tier Americas Zone Group I. In this group, they needed to finish first in their round robin pool, win a tie against the other round robin pool winner, and then win another tie in the play-off round to get promoted to the second tier the following year. Canada achieved all three of those objectives in 2017. They first swept their round robin pool of Paraguay, Bolivia, and Venezuela, with Andreescu winning all five of her rubbers without dropping a set. Canada then defeated Chile, the winners of the other round robin pool, as Katherine Sebov and Andreescu won the two singles rubbers to clinch the tie. In the World Group II Play-offs, Canada faced Kazakhstan. Andreescu and Françoise Abanda were selected to play singles. After Andreescu lost her opening singles rubber to No. 31 Yulia Putintseva, Abanda won both of her singles rubbers. Andreescu then clinched the tie for Canada with a win against No. 51 Yaroslava Shvedova, the highest-ranked player she defeated to date. As a result, Canada earned promotion to World Group II in 2018.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Canada were drawn against Romania in the 2018 World Group II. They lost the first three singles rubbers and the tie, with Andreescu losing the second rubber to No. 37 Irina-Camelia Begu. Canada faced Ukraine in the World Group II Play-offs. Although Andreescu lost her only singles rubber to No. 40 Lesia Tsurenko, Eugenie Bouchard won both of her singles rubbers to help set up a decisive doubles rubber. Andreescu and Gabriela Dabrowski won the doubles match in three sets over Kateryna Bondarenko and Olga Savchuk to clinch the tie for Canada and keep them in World Group II for the following year. In 2019, Andreescu won both of her singles rubbers as Canada swept the Netherlands 4–0 to advance to the World Group Play-offs. Due to a shoulder injury, she missed the next tie against Czech Republic. Although Canada were swept 0–4 in this tie, the change in the Fed Cup format announced a few months after the tie allowed them to advance to the Qualifying Round for the top-tier Fed Cup Finals in 2020.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu employs a wide variety of shots into her style of play that is set apart by the level of power she incorporates into her game. Martina Navratilova in particular has noted, "Everyone knows how to bang the ball; it's when you bring something extra to the table that it makes all the difference, and Andreescu brings a lot of extra to the table. Think the variety (almost) of [former world No. 1] Martina Hingis, but with more power." One of the keys is to her style of play is having good shot selection, which she excelled at in particular when she won her first career WTA title at the 2019 Indian Wells Open. She rarely hits two shots in a row in the same way, and her opponents can find it difficult to read her shots. The power and variety in her style have received wide praise as both entertaining and effective. Former world No. 1 Tracy Austin, "Sportsnet Canada", and "The Wall Street Journal" all have stated she is "fun to watch". Gerald Marzorati of "The New Yorker" declared, "For me, this kind of play is tennis."


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu has multiple options with her forehand, including hitting it flat, with slice, or with heavy topspin to push her opponents further back behind the baseline. She also has multiple options with her two-handed backhand, and is capable of hitting it flat at sharp angles, with power, or one-handed with slice. Andreescu can hit large numbers of winners, most of which are typically from the forehand side. She hit 19 winners in the 2019 US Open final and 44 in the 2019 Indian Wells final, 37 of which were forehand winners. Andreescu frequently incorporates well-disguised drop shots to change pace and keep her opponents out of rhythm. She also can hit moonballs on occasion for the same purpose. Following a loss to Andreescu at the 2019 US Open, Caroline Wozniacki likened her style to that of Kim Clijsters, one of Andreescu's childhood tennis idols, saying "I think because [Andreescu] moves well and she can stretch out and get to some balls and also play the aggressive and using the angles. Obviously she prefers the forehand just like Kim... But she can move around the backhand and put the angle on it."


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu began playing tennis under Gabriel Hristache in Romania. When training with Tennis Canada at the U14 National Training Centre, she worked with Lan Yao-Gallop for two years starting at the age of twelve. Yao-Gallop, who played professionally for five years, remarked that Andreescu always played with power, but initially lacked control. Andreescu also worked with Aref Jallali at this time. Later on at the age of fourteen, she was coached by Nathalie Tauziat and André Labelle, both of whom also worked with Tennis Canada. Tauziat is a former French professional player who was ranked as high as No. 3 in the world and finished runner-up at Wimbledon in 1998. She served as Andreescu's primary coach at the time and focused on having her improve at taking the ball early, which Andreescu viewed as having an immediate impact on her success as a junior player. Labelle travelled from Montreal to Toronto so that Andreescu did not need to leave home to train. In March 2018, Andreescu switched from Tauziat to Sylvain Bruneau, another Tennis Canada coach, so that she could have a full-time traveling coach.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Andreescu is supported by both Canadian and Romanian fans due to her Romanian heritage. She has said, "I've definitely got a lot of love from all the Romanian media, which is nice. It's nice to have two fan bases, Canada and Romania". Andreescu lived in Romania for two and a half years as a child. She speaks fluent Romanian, and she travels with her parents back to Romania annually to visit the rest of her family. She was raised in part by her Romanian grandparents. Andreescu has stated she did not have a favorite tennis player while growing up. However, Simona Halep has been her favorite player at times due to the two having a similar style of play and also because she is Romanian. Andreescu has said she tried to model her game after that of Halep. She first met Halep at the 2016 Canadian Open, where Halep advised her to turn professional. Andreescu also stated she looked up to Kim Clijsters and the Williams sisters.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: She has been regularly practicing a form of meditation called creative visualization since she was 12 years old. She also practices yoga. She has said, "I don't only work on my physical aspect. I also work on the mental, because that's also very, very important. It's definitely showing through my matches where I'm staying in the present moment a lot of the time. I don't like to focus on what just happened or in the future." While she used to practice creative visualization for a few hours a day, she has since limited this type of meditation to 15 minutes per day due to her busy schedule. Andreescu's former coach Aref Jallali credited her mental fortitude to her mother, while another of her former coaches attributed her ability to manage stress to her father.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Bianca is nicknamed Bibi. Her middle name of Vanessa was inspired by American actress and singer Vanessa Williams.


title: Bianca Andreescu

text: Bianca's dog Coco, a Poodle, is a popular addition to her box. During her US Open success, Coco was allowed into the venue.


title: Christina Tosi

text: Christina Tosi (born 1981) is an American chef and cookbook author. She is founder and co-owner with Momofuku of Milk Bar and serves as its chef and CEO. "Food & Wine" magazine included her in their 2014 list of "Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink".


title: Christina Tosi

text: She is the author of several cookbooks"." She has served as a judge on the reality competition "MasterChef" and presented for the Netflix series "Bake Squad." She has won two James Beard Foundation awards.


title: Christina Tosi

text: Tosi was born in 1981 in Berea, Ohio; her father, Gino Tosi, was an agricultural economist and her mother managing partner in an accounting firm; the couple divorced while Tosi was a teenager and she was raised primarily in Springfield, Virginia. She has an older sister, Angela. Tosi recalls not being allowed to say "I can't" or "I'm bored".


title: Christina Tosi

text: Her interest in baking dates to her childhood; both of her grandmothers are "avid bakers", according to Tosi. Her parents both had a sweet tooth. She ran track in high school and still runs regularly. She was interested in math and foreign languages. In college she worked serving tables and then as a prep cook and baker.


title: Christina Tosi

text: Tosi studied electrical engineering for one year at the University of Virginia and graduated from James Madison University with degrees in applied mathematics and Italian, then enrolled in the French Culinary Institute's pastry arts program. While attending culinary school she worked as a host at Aquagrill, eventually being promoted to maître d’hotel.


title: Christina Tosi

text: Tosi externed and then worked at Bouley, interned at "Saveur", and then worked at wd~50. She found the exacting plating required in fine dining wasn't something she enjoyed and decided she didn't want to work as an executive pastry chef in fine dining restaurants. Tosi had In 2005 helped to write wd~50s Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point plan. On the recommendation of Wylie Dufresne, David Chang hired Tosi in 2005 at Momofuku to create a plan for Momofuku, which had just discovered they needed such a plan in order to cook with a vaccuum-sealing system. Chang hired Tosi to create the plan, then eventually to do other administrative work and liaise with the NYC Department of Health. According to the "New York Times" the job was "so loosely defined" that her duties were described as "et cetera". Now not baking professionally, Tosi started baking at home again and brought her homebaked items in for other staff. Chang eventually moved her to a position developing and overseeing the restaurant group's pastry program.There were no desserts on Chang's menu when Tosi came on board, and she created her own pastries inspired by the flavors of childhood favorites, developing recipes such as Cereal Milk-flavored panna cotta.


title: Christina Tosi

text: In 2008, a space next door to Momofuku Ssam Bar's became available, and Chang encouraged Tosi to open her own shop, which she named Milk Bar. Tosi created the original logo herself by simply typing 'milk' in Brush Script Medium.


title: Christina Tosi

text: Milk Bar first opened its doors on November 15, 2008. When they first opened, Milk Bar had a team of only five people and were often open for 16 hours a day. Tosi's approach was to use pastry chef techniques to create comfort-food influenced desserts served in a casual setting. She serves as Milk Bar's chef and CEO.


title: Christina Tosi

text: She developed recipes such as Cereal Milk, Compost Cookies, Crack Pie (now known as Milk Bar Pie) and Candy Bar Pie.


title: Christina Tosi

text: In 2017 Ben & Jerry's introduced a line of flavors that "Eater" called a [blatant ripoff] of Tosi's Cereal Milk.


title: Christina Tosi

text: According to the "New York Times" in 2021, "Nothing bears the trademark of the pastry chef Christina Tosi more than her cereal milk flavor." According to the "Seattle Times" in 2022, Tosi is "often credited with starting the soft-serve craze in restaurants".


title: Christina Tosi

text: Axios in 2022 called Tosi's cereal milk and crack pie creations "cult favorites". Francis Fabricant said Tosi "made Cereal Milk soft-serve and the Compost Cookie household names".


title: Christina Tosi

text: Tosi's "Momofuku Milk Bar" (2011), a cookbook containing recipes from the restaurant, was published by Clarkson Potter. Susan Chang in "The Washington Post" called it "a hard-core baking book, dense with text, full of sub-recipes", recipes which are ingredients for the main recipe and need to be prepared prior to preparing the main recipe. Melanie Haupt in the "Austin Chronicle" agreed that preparation of some of the recipes was "a massive pain" to prepare due to the many sub-recipes required.


title: Christina Tosi

text: Tosi's "Milk Bar Life" (2015) was published by Random House. "Washington Post" reviewer Chang said "There’s something intellectually provocative about “Milk Bar Life,” with its mad juxtapositions of Fruity Pebbles and slow-simmered sauces", but that "after the chemical party in your mouth subsides, you might just find yourself longing for a poached pear". Jenny Rosenstrach of the "New York Times Book Review" wrote of her second book, "It's impossible not to be charmed by the chatty Tosi and her hot pink and bubble-letter-filled never-never land..."


title: Christina Tosi

text: Tosi's "Dessert Can Save the World" (2022) was described by "Publishers Weekly" as a "clumpy mix of memoir and self-help", saying that "Despite the delicious premise, the filling leaves much to be desired."


title: Christina Tosi

text: Tosi joined the judging panel of "MasterChef" on Fox beginning with its sixth season, which premiered May 20, 2015, as well as the fourth season of "MasterChef Junior", which premiered November 6, 2015. In April 2018 she was featured in an episode of "Chef's Table": Pastry. She has presented for the Netflix series "Bake Squad."


title: Christina Tosi

text: At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tosi launched Bake Club, a virtual space where participants could bake alongside her daily.


title: Christina Tosi

text: In 2014 "Food and Wine Magazine" named Tosi to their list of "Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink". "The New York Times". called her Cereal Milk "the brilliant idea of making soft-serve from the milk at the bottom of a cereal bowl."


title: Christina Tosi

text: Tosi received the James Beard Foundation award for Rising Star Chef of the Year for her work at Milk Bar in 2012. In 2015, she received the James Beard Outstanding Pastry Chef award. In 2016, Crain's New York Business included Tosi in their annual list of the top 40 business persons working in New York City who are under the age of 40.


title: Christina Tosi

text: The "New York Times" describes Tosi as "an introvert in overalls who carries math problems in her purse, along with embroidery thread to make friendship bracelets". She makes popsicle stick art and runs daily.


title: Christina Tosi

text: On July 30, 2016, Tosi married New York City-based restaurateur Will Guidara. In March 2021, the couple had a daughter. They lived in a Flatiron penthouse which according to the "New York Times" they purchased in 2016 for $3.7 million. The penthouse was eventually sold in October 2022 for $4.4 million.


title: Ching chong

text: "Ching chong" and "ching chang chong" are ethnic slurs and racial pejorative terms sometimes used in English to mock the Chinese language, people of Chinese ancestry, or other people of East Asian descent perceived to be Chinese. The term is a crude imitation of Mandarin and Cantonese phonology. The phrases have often accompanied assaults or physical intimidation of East Asians, as have other racial slurs or imitation Chinese.


title: Ching chong

text: While usually intended for ethnic Chinese, the slur has also been directed at other East Asians. Mary Paik Lee, a Korean immigrant who arrived with her family in San Francisco in 1906, wrote in her 1990 autobiography "Quiet Odyssey" that on her first day of school, girls circled and hit her, chanting:


title: Ching chong

text: A variation of this rhyme is repeated by a young boy in John Steinbeck's 1945 novel "Cannery Row" in mockery of a Chinese man. In this version, "wall" is replaced with "rail", and the phrase "chopped his head off" is changed to "chopped off his tail":


title: Ching chong

text: In 1917, a ragtime piano song entitled "" was co-written by Lee S. Roberts and J. Will Callahan. Its lyrics contained the following words:


title: Ching chong

text: In December 2002, NBA star Shaquille O'Neal received media flak for saying "Tell [NBA center] Yao Ming, 'Ching chong yang, wah, ah soh'" during an interview on Fox Sports Net. O'Neal later said it was locker-room humor and he meant no offense. Yao believed that O'Neal was joking but said a lot of Asians would not see the humor. Yao joked, "Chinese is hard to learn. I had trouble with it when I was little." O'Neal added, "I mean, if I was the first one to do it, and the only one to do it, I could see what they're talking about. But if I offended anybody, I apologize."


title: Ching chong

text: On January 24, 2006, comedian Dave Dameshek created an audio parody of the Asian Excellence Awards for "The Adam Carolla Show". The premise of the parody was using the words "ching" and "chong" to mimic the awards show. Branding the segment as demeaning and racist, several Asian American organizations threatened to ask advertisers to withdraw their support from the show if the station did not issue an apology. On February 22, 2006, Carolla read a brief apology for the segment. On April 26, 2006, Carolla had the head of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, Guy Aoki on his show. Aoki opined that "ching chong" is the equivalent to the "N-word".


title: Ching chong

text: On December 5, 2006, comedian and co-host Rosie O'Donnell of "The View" used a series of "ching chongs" to imitate newscasters in China. O'Donnell made a comment in reference to people in China talking about Danny DeVito's drunken appearance on the show, "You know, you can imagine in China it's like, 'Ching-gong-hu-gong, ching-chang-kong. Ching-chong. Danny DeVito. Ching-chong-chong-chong-chong. Drunk. The View. Ching-chong.'" The Asian American Journalists Association said her comments were "a mockery of the Chinese language and, in effect, a perpetuation of stereotypes of Asian Americans as foreigners or second-class citizens ... and gives the impression that they are a group that is substandard to English-speaking people". Cindi Berger, O'Donnell's representative, said: "She's a comedian in addition to being a talk show co-host. I certainly hope that one day they will be able to grasp her humor." On December 14 on "The View", O'Donnell said she was unaware that "ching chong" was an offensive way to make fun of Asian accents, and she was informed it was on par with the "N-word". She apologized to "those people who felt hurt". Jeff Yang, who tracks Asian and Asian-American trends for a market research firm, said O'Donnell shouldn't have apologized for people's hurt feelings. "She should have apologized for spreading and encouraging ignorance." O'Donnell warned that "there's a good chance I'll do something like that again, probably in the next week, not on purpose. Only 'cause it's how my brain works." "Time" called it a "pseudo-apology". O'Donnell later wrote in her autobiography "Celebrity Detox: The Fame Game" that "I wish I had been a bit more pure in my public apology."


title: Ching chong

text: On January 19, 2011, conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh mocked Chinese president Hu Jintao during his visit to the White House on his radio show. "Hu Jintao—He was speaking and they weren't translating. They normally translate every couple of words. Hu Jintao was just going ching chong, ching chong cha," said Limbaugh, who imitated Hu's speech for 17 seconds. Representative Judy Chu of California said that Limbaugh's words were the same ones that Chinese Americans have heard in the past 150 years as they faced racial discrimination while "they were called racial slurs, were spat upon in the streets, derided in the halls of Congress and even brutally murdered". New York Assemblywoman Grace Meng said it was Limbaugh's prerogative to attack Hu, "but at the same time he offended 13% of New York City's population". California State Senator Leland Yee also criticized Limbaugh for his remarks: "His classless act is an insult to over 3,000 years of cultural history, and is a slap in the face to the millions of Chinese Americans who have struggled in this country and to a people who constitute one-quarter of the world's population." Yee demanded an apology from Limbaugh for what he and others view as racist and derogatory remarks. He also organized with civil rights groups—including Chinese for Affirmative Action, Japanese American Citizens League and the California National Organization for Women—to boycott companies like ProFlowers, Sleep Train and Domino's Pizza that advertise on Limbaugh's talk show. Yee has received threatening messages and also received a fax from an unknown sender which made racist comments and called him a Marxist. "Rush Limbaugh will kick your Chink ass and expose you for the fool you are," part of the memo said.


title: Ching chong

text: In March 2011, UCLA student Alexandra Wallace uploaded a YouTube video entitled "UCLA Asians in the library", ranting about the "hordes of Asians" in UCLA who don't "use American manners". In a rant about Asians speaking loudly on a cellphone in the campus library, she mimicked one as saying, "Ohhh! Ching chong ling long ting tong? Ohhh!". Her rant inspired heated criticism, not only because of her use of the "ching chong" stereotype but also because of the timing: a major tsunami had just occurred in Japan, leading her to complain, "I swear they're going through their whole families, just checking on everybody from the tsunami thing." Over 40 percent of the school's 36,000 students are Asian American and Pacific Islanders. Musician Jimmy Wong uploaded the video, "Ching Chong!: Asians in the Library Song" to YouTube, in response. The video received national coverage. "The Sacramento Bee" wrote, "The students [she] mocked can inspire resentment, jealousy and fear—the kindling of ethnic slurs—because their success is about achievement and a pathway to status." Additional responses included a line of T-shirts featuring the "Ching-chong" slur, with all proceeds going to Red Cross relief for the tsunami. UCLA deemed the video offensive and called it "repugnant". The student later wrote to "The Daily Bruin", issuing an apology to "the entire UCLA campus". "The New York Times" published an editorial criticizing the video, but supporting her First Amendment right to free speech. Several days later, UCLA announced it would not discipline the student, but she withdrew from the university. "AsianWeek" wrote that "any negatives [the student] experienced are just a fraction of what Asian Americans have experienced since coming to America".


title: Ching chong

text: A "Colbert Report" tweet, in March 2014, brought the slur back into the limelight. The program was lampooning the controversy surrounding the name of the Washington Redskins football team. The team's owner, Daniel Snyder, had announced that he was dedicating a charity for Native Americans called "Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation". In the March 26, 2014 episode of the "Report", Colbert satirized a charity to Native Americans using the offensive word "Redskins" in its name, and stated that he would be starting his own similar charity called "Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever", adding "I owe all this sensitivity to Redskins owner Dan Snyder. So Asians, send your thank-you letters to him, not me." The following day, a Twitter account for the program run by Comedy Central tweeted, "I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever" but did not link to the episode or provide context for the statement. This quickly led to people creating a #CancelColbert hashtag, which lasted until the following Monday's episode (March 31, 2014) when Colbert described the sequence of events, scolded Comedy Central for the poorly contextualized tweet, and criticized the offense-takers' haste in their CancelColbert campaign, also noting that Dan Snyder's charity named after Redskins was ironically not being protested.


title: Ching chong

text: During the 2014 "League of Legends" World Championship group stage in Taiwan, Team SoloMid jungler Svenskeren registered an account by the name TaipeiChingChong on the Garena servers and was subsequently fined and suspended by Riot Games. The incident was also criticized by the Taiwanese version of the newspaper "Apple Daily".


title: Ching chong

text: In August 2018, voters reported that Michigan state representative Bettie Cook Scott urged her supporters, "don't vote for the ching-chong" in the primary election, referring to her opponent, Stephanie Chang. She later issued an apology through a representative. She would lose the election and "de facto" defaulted her seat after the apology until Chang's inauguration to a Michigan House office charged with representing the district's affairs in the interim period in her place.


title: Ching chong

text: In November 2018, Filipino "Dota 2" player Carlo "Kuku" Palad was banned from attending the Chongqing Major after typing "ching chong" during a live match against Chinese players. He eventually apologized, but did not get his ban lifted. This followed an earlier event when another Filipino player Andrei "Skemberlu" Ong used the same term during a match with a Chinese team a few weeks earlier.


title: Ching chong

text: In December 2018, American rapper Lil Pump was criticized after using the term in a teaser for his then-upcoming single "Butterfly Doors", which also contained the lyric "They call me Yao Ming 'cuz my eyes real low" with him slanting his eyes. He later was chided by several Asian and Asian-American rappers such as China Mac and Awkwafina. Lil Pump subsequently released an apology and edited out the lyrics from the official music video.


title: Phife Dawg

text: Malik Izaak Taylor (November 20, 1970March 22, 2016), known professionally as Phife Dawg (or simply Phife), was an American rapper and a member of the group A Tribe Called Quest with Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (and for a short time Jarobi White). He was also known as the "Five-Foot Assassin" and "the Five-Footer", because he stood at .


title: Phife Dawg

text: Phife Dawg was born Malik Izaak Taylor on November 20, 1970, in Queens, New York City, the son of Trinidadian immigrant parents Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, a poet, and Walt Taylor. Born prematurely, his twin brother Mikal died shortly after birth. His mother settled in the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens, where Phife Dawg was raised, when she was 13 years old. He was a cousin of writer Zinzi Clemmons.


title: Phife Dawg

text: He first met his friend Q-Tip at the age of two, and at nine years old, Phife Dawg suggested that they should rap, after hearing "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang for the first time. He attended Pine Forge Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist boarding school near Philadelphia, for his freshman year of high school, later transferring to Springfield Gardens High School in Queens.


title: Phife Dawg

text: Phife Dawg formed A Tribe Called Quest, then simply named Quest, with Q-Tip and DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad in 1985; the group was later expanded with the addition of Jarobi White. A Tribe Called Quest were closely associated with fellow hip-hop acts De La Soul and Jungle Brothers, with the groups being collectively known as the Native Tongues. A Tribe Called Quest were initially offered a demo deal by Geffen Records in 1989, but signed to Jive Records to release their 1990 début "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm".


title: Phife Dawg

text: Phife Dawg's contributions to the group increased on their second album, 1991's "The Low End Theory", which saw Phife—often referring to himself as "the Five-Foot Assassin"—rapping about social and political issues; the record has since been acclaimed by critics and fellow musicians. The group released three further albums throughout the decade—"Midnight Marauders" in 1993, "Beats, Rhymes and Life" in 1996, and "The Love Movement" in 1998—before disbanding as a result of conflict both with their record label and between members. The band's troubles, especially the sometimes tense relationship between Phife and Q-Tip, were featured in the 2011 documentary "", directed by Michael Rapaport.


title: Phife Dawg

text: In addition to being a member of pioneering hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, Phife performed on songs with other artists. He was featured on the Fu-Schnickens song "La Schmoove", Diamond D's "Painz & Strife" with Pete Rock, and Chi-Ali's "Let the Horns Blow" with Dres, Al' Tariq and Trugoy. In 2000, he released his debut solo album, "". In 2013, it was reported that Phife was working on a solo album titled "MUTTYmorPHosis". A single titled "Sole Men" was released one day after Phife's death (March 23, 2016) along with a posthumously released music video. Another single, "Nutshell", was released online in April 2016 along with a posthumously released music video.


title: Phife Dawg

text: On November 13, 2015, A Tribe Called Quest reunited for a performance on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon", in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm". That night, Phife and Q-Tip decided to put aside their differences and record a new group album, "We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service", in secrecy. Phife spent four months working on the album before his death; it was completed by the surviving group members and released on November 11, 2016. In February 2017, it was announced that Phife's second studio album, posthumously titled "Forever", would be released later in the year. The single "Wanna Dance" was released that month and features Dwele and Mike City.


title: Phife Dawg

text: Phife Dawg's second solo album, "Forever", was released on March 22, 2022, the sixth anniversary of his death.


title: Phife Dawg

text: Taylor was married to Deisha Head-Taylor and had two children, a daughter and a son. He was a fan of the New York Knicks, and was a playable character in the video games "NBA 2K7" and "NBA 2K9".


title: Phife Dawg

text: Taylor was diagnosed with diabetes in 1990. Conflicting reports indicated it as type 1, while other sources reported it as type 2. He described himself as a "funky diabetic" in the single "Oh My God" from A Tribe Called Quest's 1993 album "Midnight Marauders". After the group's disbandment, he continued playing live shows in order to help cover medical costs, and revealed in the 2011 documentary film "" that he was "just addicted to sugar ... it's really a sickness". In 2008, Taylor developed renal failure and received a kidney transplant from his wife, but it was unsuccessful and by 2012 he again required a transplant.


title: Phife Dawg

text: On March 22, 2016, Taylor died at age 45 in his Oakley, California home due to complications of diabetes.


title: Phife Dawg

text: Phife has been described as having had a "self-deprecating swagger", and his work with A Tribe Called Quest helped to challenge the "macho posturing" of rap and hip-hop music during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Phife's work has been cited as an influence on Kanye West, Jill Scott, The Roots and Common, while the 1991 album "The Low End Theory" is considered one of the greatest hip-hop albums ever released.


title: Phife Dawg

text: On November 19, 2016, a portion of Linden Boulevard, at the intersection of 192nd Street in St. Albans, was honorarily renamed as Malik 'Phife Dawg' Taylor Way. The location is significant, as it was the site of the music video for A Tribe Called Quest's song "Check the Rhime".


title: Combine harvester

text: The modern combine harvester, or simply combine, is a versatile machine designed to efficiently harvest a variety of grain crops. The name derives from its combining four separate harvesting operations—reaping, threshing, gathering, and winnowing— to a single process. Among the crops harvested with a combine are wheat, rice, oats, rye, barley, corn (maize), sorghum, soybeans, flax (linseed), sunflowers and rapeseed. The separated straw, left lying on the field, comprises the stems and any remaining leaves of the crop with limited nutrients left in it: the straw is then either chopped, spread on the field and ploughed back in or baled for bedding and limited-feed for livestock.


title: Combine harvester

text: Combine harvesters are one of the most economically important labour-saving inventions, significantly reducing the fraction of the population engaged in agriculture.


title: Combine harvester

text: In 1826 in Scotland, the inventor Reverend Patrick Bell designed (but did not patent) a reaper machine, which used the scissors principle of plant cutting; a principle that is still used today. The Bell machine was pushed by horses. A few Bell machines were available in the United States. In 1835, in the United States, Hiram Moore built and patented the first combine harvester, which was capable of reaping, threshing and winnowing cereal grain. Early versions were pulled by horse, mule or ox teams. In 1835, Moore built a full-scale version with a length of 5.2 m (17 ft) and a cut width of 4.57 m (15 ft); by 1839, over of crops were harvested. This combine harvester was pulled by 20 horses fully handled by farmhands. By 1860, combine harvesters with a cutting, or swathe, width of several metres were used on American farms.


title: Combine harvester

text: A parallel development in Australia saw the development of the stripper based on the Gallic stripper, by John Ridley and others in South Australia by 1843. The stripper only gathered the heads, leaving the stems in the field. The stripper and later headers had the advantage of fewer moving parts and only collecting heads, requiring less power to operate. Refinements by Hugh Victor McKay produced a commercially successful combine harvester in 1885, the Sunshine Header-Harvester.


title: Combine harvester

text: Combines, some of them quite large, were drawn by mule or horse teams and used a bullwheel to provide power. Later, steam power was used, and George Stockton Berry integrated the combine with a steam engine using straw to heat the boiler. At the turn of the twentieth century, horse-drawn combines were starting to be used on the American plains and Idaho (often pulled by teams of twenty or more horses).


title: Combine harvester

text: In 1911, the Holt Manufacturing Company of California, US produced a self-propelled harvester. In Australia in 1923, the patented Sunshine Auto Header was one of the first center-feeding self-propelled harvesters. In 1923 in Kansas, the Baldwin brothers and their Gleaner Manufacturing Company patented a self-propelled harvester that included several other modern improvements in grain handling. Both the Gleaner and the Sunshine used Fordson engines; early Gleaners used the entire Fordson chassis and driveline as a platform. In 1929, Alfredo Rotania of Argentina patented a self-propelled harvester.


title: Combine harvester

text: International Harvester started making horse-pulled combines in 1915. At the time, horse powered binders and stand alone threshing machines were more common. In the 1920s, Case Corporation and John Deere made combines and these were starting to be tractor pulled with a second engine aboard the combine to power its workings. The world economic collapse in the 1930s stopped farm equipment purchases, and for this reason, people largely retained the older method of harvesting. A few farms did invest and used Caterpillar tractors to move the outfits.


title: Combine harvester

text: Tractor-drawn combines (also called pull-type combines) became common after World War II as many farms began to use tractors. An example was the All-Crop Harvester series. These combines used a shaker to separate the grain from the chaff and straw-walkers (grates with small teeth on an eccentric shaft) to eject the straw while retaining the grain. Early tractor-drawn combines were usually powered by a separate gasoline engine, while later models were PTO-powered, via a shaft transferring tractor engine power to operate the combine. These machines either put the harvested crop into bags that were then loaded onto a wagon or truck, or had a small bin that stored the grain until it was transferred via a chute.


title: Combine harvester

text: In the U.S., Allis-Chalmers, Massey-Harris, International Harvester, Gleaner Manufacturing Company, John Deere, and Minneapolis Moline are past or present major combine producers.


title: Combine harvester

text: In 1937, the Australian-born Thomas Carroll, working for Massey-Harris in Canada, perfected a self-propelled model and in 1940, a lighter-weight model began to be marketed widely by the company. Lyle Yost invented an auger that would lift grain out of a combine in 1947, making unloading grain much easier and further from the combine. In 1952 Claeys launched the first self-propelled combine harvester in Europe; in 1953, the European manufacturer Claas developed a self-propelled combine harvester named 'Hercules', it could harvest up to 5 tons of wheat a day. This newer kind of combine is still in use and is powered by diesel or gasoline engines. Until the self-cleaning rotary screen was invented in the mid-1960s combine engines suffered from overheating as the chaff spewed out when harvesting small grains would clog radiators, blocking the airflow needed for cooling.


title: Combine harvester

text: A significant advance in the design of combines was the rotary design. The grain is initially stripped from the stalk by passing along a helical rotor, instead of passing between rasp bars on the outside of a cylinder and a concave. Rotary combines were first introduced by Sperry-New Holland in 1975.


title: Combine harvester

text: About the 1980s on-board electronics were introduced to measure threshing efficiency. This new instrumentation allowed operators to get better grain yields by optimizing ground speed and other operating parameters.


title: Combine harvester

text: The largest "class 11" combines today have nearly 800 engine horsepower (600 kW) and are fitted with headers up to wide.


title: Combine harvester

text: Combines are equipped with removable header that are designed for particular crops. The standard header, sometimes called a grain platform, is equipped with a "reciprocating knife cutter bar", and features a revolving reel with metal teeth to cause the cut crop to fall into the auger once it is cut. A variation of the platform, a "flex" platform, is similar but has a cutter bar that can flex over contours and ridges to cut soybeans that have pods close to the ground. A flex head can cut soybeans as well as cereal crops, while a rigid platform is generally used only in cereal grains.


title: Combine harvester

text: Some wheat headers, called "draper" headers, use a fabric or rubber apron instead of a cross auger. Draper headers allow faster feeding than cross augers, leading to higher throughputs due to lower power requirements. On many farms, platform headers are used to cut wheat, instead of separate wheat headers, so as to reduce overall costs.


title: Combine harvester

text: Dummy heads or pick-up headers feature spring-tined pickups, usually attached to a heavy rubber belt. They are used for crops that have already been cut and placed in windrows or swaths. This is particularly useful in northern climates such as western Canada, where swathing kills weeds resulting in a faster dry down.


title: Combine harvester

text: While a grain platform can be used for corn, a specialized corn head is ordinarily used instead. The corn head is equipped with snap rolls that strip the stalk and leaf away from the ear, so that only the ear (and husk) enter the throat. This improves efficiency dramatically, since so much less material must go through the cylinder. The corn head can be recognized by the presence of points between each row.


title: Combine harvester

text: Occasionally rowcrop heads are seen that function like a grain platform, but have points between rows like a corn head. These are used to reduce the amount of weed seed picked up when harvesting small grains.


title: Combine harvester

text: Self-propelled Gleaner combines could be fitted with special tracks instead of tires to assist in harvesting rice. These tracks can be made to fit other combines by adding adapter plates. Some combines, particularly the pull type, have tires with a deep diamond tread which prevents sinking in mud.


title: Combine harvester

text: The cut crop is carried up the feeder throat (commonly called the "feederhouse"), by a "chain and flight elevator", then fed into the threshing mechanism of the combine, consisting of a rotating "threshing drum" (commonly called the "cylinder"), to which grooved steel bars (rasp bars) are bolted. The rasp bars thresh or separate the grains and chaff from the straw through the action of the cylinder against the "concave", a shaped "half drum", also fitted with steel bars and a meshed grill, through which grain, chaff and smaller debris may fall, whereas the straw, being too long, is carried through onto the "straw walkers". This action is also allowed because grain is heavier than straw, which causes it to fall rather than "float" across from the cylinder/concave to the walkers. The drum speed is variably adjustable on most machines, whilst the distance between the drum and concave is finely adjustable fore, aft and together, to achieve optimum separation and output. Manually engaged "disawning plates" are usually fitted to the concave. These provide extra friction to remove the awns from barley crops. After the primary separation at the cylinder, the clean grain falls through the concave and to the shoe, which contains the chaffer and sieves. The shoe is common to both conventional combines and rotary combines.


title: Combine harvester

text: In the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest of the United States the combine is retrofitted with a hydraulic hillside leveling system. This allows the combine to harvest the steep but fertile soil in the region. Hillsides can be as steep as a 50% slope. Gleaner, IH and Case IH, John Deere, and others all have made combines with this hillside leveling system, and local machine shops have fabricated them as an aftermarket add-on.


title: Combine harvester

text: The first leveling technology was developed by Holt Co., a US company in California, in 1891. Modern leveling came into being with the invention and patent of a level sensitive mercury switch system invented by Raymond Alvah Hanson in 1946. Raymond's son, Raymond Jr., produced leveling systems exclusively for John Deere combines until 1995 as R. A. Hanson Company, Inc. In 1995, his son, Richard, purchased the company from his father and renamed it RAHCO International, Inc. In March 2011, the company was renamed Hanson Worldwide, LLC. Production continues to this day.


title: Combine harvester

text: Hillside leveling has several advantages. Primary among them is an increased threshing efficiency on hillsides. Without leveling, grain and chaff slide to one side of separator and come through the machine in a large ball rather than being separated, dumping large amounts of grain on the ground. By keeping the machinery level, the straw-walker is able to operate more efficiently, making for more efficient threshing. IH produced the 453 combine which leveled both side-to-side and front-to-back, enabling efficient threshing whether on a hillside or climbing a hill head on.


title: Combine harvester

text: Secondarily, leveling changes a combine's center of gravity relative to the hill and allows the combine to harvest along the contour of a hill without tipping, a danger on the steeper slopes of the region; it is not uncommon for combines to roll over on extremely steep hills.


title: Combine harvester

text: Newer leveling systems do not have as much tilt as the older ones. A John Deere 9600 combine equipped with a Rahco hillside conversion kit will level to 44%, while the newer STS combines will only go to 35%. These modern combines use the rotary grain separator which makes leveling less critical. Most combines on the Palouse have dual drive wheels on each side to stabilize them.


title: Combine harvester

text: A leveling system was developed in Europe by the Italian combine manufacturer Laverda, which still produces it today.


title: Combine harvester

text: Sidehill combines are very similar to hillside combines in that they level the combine to the ground so that the threshing can be efficiently conducted; however, they have some very distinct differences. Modern hillside combines level around 35% on average, while older machines were closer to 50%. Sidehill combines only level to 18%. They are sparsely used in the Palouse region. Rather, they are used on the gentle rolling slopes of the midwest. Sidehill combines are much more mass-produced than their hillside counterparts. The height of a sidehill machine is the same height as a level-land combine. Hillside combines have added steel that sets them up approximately 2–5 feet higher than a level-land combine and provide a smooth ride.


title: Combine harvester

text: Another technology that is sometimes used on combines is a continuously variable transmission. This allows the ground speed of the machine to be varied while maintaining a constant engine and threshing speed. It is desirable to keep the threshing speed constant since the machine will typically have been adjusted to operate best at a certain speed.


title: Combine harvester

text: Self-propelled combines started with standard manual transmissions that provided one speed based on input rpm. Deficiencies were noted and in the early 1950s combines were equipped with what John Deere called the "Variable Speed Drive". This was simply a variable width sheave controlled by spring and hydraulic pressures. This sheave was attached to the input shaft of the transmission. A standard 4 speed manual transmission was still used in this drive system. The operator would select a gear, typically 3rd. An extra control was provided to the operator to allow him to speed up and slow down the machine within the limits provided by the variable speed drive system. By decreasing the width of the sheave on the input shaft of the transmission, the belt would ride higher in the groove. This slowed the rotating speed on the input shaft of the transmission, thus slowing the ground speed for that gear. A clutch was still provided to allow the operator to stop the machine and change transmission gears.


title: Combine harvester

text: Later, as hydraulic technology improved, hydrostatic transmissions were introduced by Versatile Mfg for use on swathers but later this technology was applied to combines as well. This drive retained the 4 speed manual transmission as before, but this time used a system of hydraulic pumps and motors to drive the input shaft of the transmission. This system is called a Hydrostatic drive system. The engine turns the hydraulic pump capable of pressures up to . This pressure is then directed to the hydraulic motor that is connected to the input shaft of the transmission. The operator is provided with a lever in the cab that allows for the control of the hydraulic motor's ability to use the energy provided by the pump. By adjusting the swash plate in the motor, the stroke of its pistons are changed. If the swash plate is set to neutral, the pistons do not move in their bores and no rotation is allowed, thus the machine does not move. By moving the lever, the swash plate moves its attached pistons forward, thus allowing them to move within the bore and causing the motor to turn. This provides an infinitely variable speed control from 0 ground speed to what ever the maximum speed is allowed by the gear selection of the transmission. The standard clutch was removed from this drive system as it was no longer needed.


title: Combine harvester

text: Most if not all modern combines are equipped with hydrostatic drives. These are larger versions of the same system used in consumer and commercial lawn mowers that most are familiar with today. In fact, it was the downsizing of the combine drive system that placed these drive systems into mowers and other machines.


title: Combine harvester

text: Despite great advances in mechanics and computer control, the basic operation of the combine harvester has remained unchanged almost since it was invented.


title: Combine harvester

text: Power requirements over the years have increased due to larger capacities and some processes such as rotary threshing and straw chopping take considerable power. This is sometimes supplied by a large tractor in a pull-type combine, or a large gasoline or diesel engine in a self-propelled type. A frequent problem is the presence of airborne chaff and straw, which can accumulate causing a fire hazard and to radiators which can become plugged. Most machines have addressed these problems with enclosed engine compartments and rotary centrifugal inlet screens which prevent chaff buildup.


title: Combine harvester

text: First, the header, described above, cuts the crop and feeds it into the threshing cylinder. This consists of a series of horizontal "rasp bars" fixed across the path of the crop and in the shape of a quarter cylinder. Moving rasp bars or rub bars pull the crop through concaved grates that separate the grain and chaff from the straw. The grain heads fall through the fixed concaves. What happens next is dependent on the type of combine in question. In most modern combines, the grain is transported to the shoe by a set of 2, 3, or 4 (possibly more on the largest machines) augers, set parallel or semi-parallel to the rotor on axial mounted rotors and perpendicular on "Axial Flow" combines.


title: Combine harvester

text: In older Gleaner machines, these augers were not present. Those combines are unique in that the cylinder and concave is set inside feederhouse instead of in the machine directly behind the feederhouse. Consequently, the material was moved by a "raddle chain" from underneath the concave to the walkers. The clean grain fell between the raddle and the walkers onto the shoe, while the straw, being longer and lighter, floated across onto the walkers to be expelled. On most other older machines, the cylinder was placed higher and farther back in the machine, and the grain moved to the shoe by falling down a "clean grain pan", and the straw "floated" across the concaves to the back of the walkers.


title: Combine harvester

text: Since the Sperry-New Holland TR70 Twin-Rotor Combine came out in 1975, most manufacturers have combines with rotors in place of conventional cylinders. However, makers have now returned to the market with conventional models alongside their rotary line-up. A rotor is a long, longitudinally mounted rotating cylinder with plates similar to rub bars (except for in the above-mentioned Gleaner rotaries).


title: Combine harvester

text: There are usually two sieves, one above the other. The sieves are basically metal frames that have many rows of "fingers" set reasonably close together. The angle of the fingers is adjustable, to change the clearance and thereby control the size of material passing through. The top is set with more clearance than the bottom to allow a gradual cleaning action. Setting the concave clearance, fan speed, and sieve size is critical to ensure that the crop is threshed properly, the grain is clean of debris, and all of the grain entering the machine reaches the grain tank or 'hopper'. (Observe, for example, that when travelling uphill the fan speed must be reduced to account for the shallower gradient of the sieves.)


title: Combine harvester

text: Heavy material, e.g., unthreshed heads, fall off the front of the sieves and are returned to the concave for re-threshing.


title: Combine harvester

text: The straw walkers are located above the sieves, and also have holes in them. Any grain remaining attached to the straw is shaken off and falls onto the top sieve.


title: Combine harvester

text: When the straw reaches the end of the walkers it falls out the rear of the combine. It can then be baled for cattle bedding or spread by two rotating straw spreaders with rubber arms. Most modern combines are equipped with a straw spreader.


title: Combine harvester

text: Rather than immediately falling out the rear of the combine at the end of the walkers, there are models of combine harvesters from Eastern Europe and Russia (e.g. Agromash Yenisei 1200 1 HM, etc.) that have "straw catchers" at the end of the walkers, which temporarily hold the straw and then, once full, deposit it in a stack for easy gathering.


title: Combine harvester

text: For some time, combine harvesters used the conventional design, which used a rotating cylinder at the front-end which knocked the seeds out of the heads, and then used the rest of the machine to separate the straw from the chaff, and the chaff from the grain. The TR70 from Sperry-New Holland was brought out in 1975 as the first rotary combine. Other manufacturers soon followed, International Harvester with their 'Axial Flow' in 1977 and Gleaner with their N6 in 1979.


title: Combine harvester

text: In the decades before the widespread adoption of the rotary combine in the late seventies, several inventors had pioneered designs which relied more on centrifugal force for grain separation and less on gravity alone. By the early eighties, most major manufacturers had settled on a "walkerless" design with much larger threshing cylinders to do most of the work. Advantages were faster grain harvesting and gentler treatment of fragile seeds, which were often cracked by the faster rotational speeds of conventional combine threshing cylinders.


title: Combine harvester

text: It was the disadvantages of the rotary combine (increased power requirements and over-pulverization of the straw by-product) which prompted a resurgence of conventional combines in the late nineties. Perhaps overlooked but nonetheless true, when the large engines that powered the rotary machines were employed in conventional machines, the two types of machines delivered similar production capacities. Also, research was beginning to show that incorporating above-ground crop residue (straw) into the soil is less useful for rebuilding soil fertility than previously believed. This meant that working pulverized straw into the soil became more of a hindrance than a benefit. An increase in feedlot beef production also created a higher demand for straw as fodder. Conventional combines, which use straw walkers, preserve the quality of straw and allow it to be baled and removed from the field.


title: Combine harvester

text: While the principles of basic threshing have changed little over the years, modern advancements in electronics and monitoring technology has continued to develop. Whereas older machines required the operator to rely on machine knowledge, frequent inspection and monitoring, and a keen ear to listen for subtle sound changes, newer machines have replaced many of those duties with instrumentation.


title: Combine harvester

text: Early on, simple magnetic pickups were used to monitor shaft rotation, and issue a warning when they deviated beyond preset limits. Temperature sensors can also give warning when bearings overheat due to lack of lubrication, sometimes leading to combine fires.


title: Combine harvester

text: The job of monitoring how much grain is wasted by the thresher by being discharged with the chaff and straw used to require going behind the machine to check. Yield monitors work like a microphone, registering an electrical impulse caused by grains impacting a plate. A meter in the operator's cab displays the relative amount of grain loss proportional to speed.


title: Combine harvester

text: Measuring the amount of yield (bushels per acre or tonnes per hectare) has become increasingly important, particularly when real-time measurement can help determine which areas of a field are more or less productive. These variations can often be remediated with variable crop inputs. Yield is determined by measuring the amount of grain harvested in relation to the area covered.


title: Combine harvester

text: Cameras placed at strategic points on the machine can eliminate some of the guesswork for the operator.


title: Combine harvester

text: The advent of GPS and GIS technologies has made it possible to create field maps, which can assist in navigation, and in the preparation of yield maps, which show which parts of the field are more productive.


title: Combine harvester

text: While all combines aim to achieve the same result, each machine can be classified based on its general throughput which is based upon the rated horsepower rating of the combine. Currently combine classifications, as defined by Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) are as follows:


title: Combine harvester

text: While this classification is current, the classes themselves have and will evolve over time. For instance, a class 7 (VII) combine in the year 1980 would only have boasted 270 horsepower and been one of the largest machines available in the world at that time but in the 21st century the same machine would be considered small.


title: Combine harvester

text: Grain combine fires are responsible for millions of dollars of loss each year. Fires usually start near the engine where dust and dry crop debris accumulate. Fires can also start when heat is introduced by bearings or gearboxes that have failed. From 1984 to 2000, 695 major grain combine fires were reported to U.S. local fire departments. Dragging chains to reduce static electricity was one method employed for preventing harvester fires, but it is not yet clear what if any role static electricity plays in causing harvester fires. The application of the appropriate synthetic greases will reduce the friction experienced at crucial points, i.e. chains, sprockets and gear boxes, compared to petroleum based lubricants. Engines with synthetic lubricants will also remain significantly cooler during operation.


title: Bruce Edwards Ivins

text: Bruce Edwards Ivins (; April 22, 1946July 29, 2008) was an American microbiologist, vaccinologist, senior biodefense researcher at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Fort Detrick, Maryland, and the suspected perpetrator of the 2001 anthrax attacks. Ivins died on July 29, 2008, of an overdose of acetaminophen (Tylenol) in a suicide after learning that criminal charges were likely to be filed against him by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for an alleged criminal connection to the attacks.


title: Bruce Edwards Ivins

text: At a news conference at the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) on August 6, 2008, FBI and DOJ officials formally announced that the Government had concluded that Ivins was likely solely responsible for "the deaths of five persons, and the injury of dozens of others, resulting from the mailings of several anonymous letters to members of Congress and members of the media in September and October 2001, which letters contained "Bacillus anthracis", commonly referred to as anthrax." On February 19, 2010, the FBI released a 92-page summary of evidence against Ivins and announced that it had concluded its investigation. The FBI conclusions have been contested by many, including senior microbiologists, the widow of one of the victims, and several prominent American politicians. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who was among the targets in the attack, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ), and Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) all argued that Ivins was not solely responsible for the attacks. No formal charges were ever filed against Ivins for the crime, and no direct evidence of his involvement has been uncovered.


title: Bruce Edwards Ivins

text: The FBI subsequently requested a panel from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to review its scientific work on the case. On May 15, 2011, the panel released its findings, which "conclude[d] that the bureau overstated the strength of genetic analysis linking the mailed anthrax to a supply kept by Bruce E. Ivins." The NAS committee stated that its primary finding was that "it is not possible to reach a definitive conclusion about the origins of the "B. anthracis" in the mailings based on the available scientific evidence alone."


title: Bruce Edwards Ivins

text: Bruce Ivins was born, and spent his youth, in Lebanon, Ohio, about northeast of Cincinnati. His parents were Thomas Randall Ivins and Mary Johnson ("née" Knight) Ivins, and he was the youngest of three brothers. Ivins's father, a pharmacist, owned a drugstore and was active in the local Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce. The family went regularly to Lebanon Presbyterian Church, although Ivins was later a Catholic parishioner. According to C.W. Ivins, one of Ivins' older brothers, their mother Mary was violent and physically abusive to all three children. When she discovered she was pregnant with Bruce, a pregnancy that was unplanned and unwanted, she repeatedly tried to abort the child by throwing herself down a set of stairs. Ivins would eventually hear the story of his mother's attempt to abort him.


title: Bruce Edwards Ivins

text: Avidly interested in science, Ivins was an active participant in extracurricular activities in high school, including the National Honor Society, science fairs, the current events club, and the scholarship team all four years. He ran on the track and cross-country teams, worked on the yearbook and school newspaper, and was in the school choir and junior and senior class plays.


title: Bruce Edwards Ivins

text: In December 1975, Ivins married nursing student Mary Diane Betsch (known as Diane), to whom he remained married until his death. The couple had two children. Diane Ivins was a homemaker and full time parent who also ran a daycare center out of the family's home. His wife, children, and brothers were all still alive at the time of his death; his parents were deceased.


title: Bruce Edwards Ivins

text: Ivins graduated with honors from the University of Cincinnati (UC) with a B.S. degree in 1968, an M.S. degree in 1971, and a Ph.D. degree in 1976, all in microbiology. Ivins conducted his Ph.D. research under the supervision of Dr. Peter F. Bonventre. His dissertation focused on different aspects of toxicity in disease-causing bacteria.