title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: On 1 August, 27,000 Ethiopian troops entered Somalia through the border town of Dolo, where 6,000 Ethiopian forces are based. They advanced deep into Gedo region in the direction of the towns of Beledehawa and Elwak, accompanied by militia of pro-Ethiopian, Somali fraction leaders. In Hiraan, Ethiopian forces which entered along with TFG-forces exchanged fire with al-Shabaab militants and advanced until the Kalaber junction, near Beledweyne. The Ethiopian troops then withdrew to Ferfer.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: On 29 August, there was a second Ethiopian incursion. A large number of Ethiopian forces in military vehicles, accompanied by highly trained TFG forces, entered several villages in al-Shabaab controlled Hiraan region. This came at a time when al-Shabaab militants regularly ventured near the border. Hussein Abdallah, an ASWJ loyalist claimed that the movements were a preliminary action to signal that Ethiopian authorities are able of weakening the Islamist insurgents, to al-Shabaab's leadership.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: On 1 September, Ethiopian forces moved deeper into Gedo region, via Dolow, entering the TFG-held village of Yeed. TFG officials in the region reported they were planning to capture the entire Bay and Bakool regions from al-Shabaab.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: On 30 December, TFG forces clashed with Ethiopian troops in the Jawil district, near Beledweyne, after Ethiopian forces took a TFG soldier into custody. One TFG soldier and one civilian were injured in the clashes.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: 3 January, Ahlu Sunna Waljamaa official Sheikh Abdi Badel Sheikh Abdullahi, complained about Ethiopian forces in the town of Dolo, in Gedo region. The town is controlled by 300 ASWJ and TFG forces, but it is also home to several Ethiopian military bases. Ethiopian forces had called on ASWJ fighters in the district to lay down their arms. According to a TFG official, three Ethiopian commanders had then come to the town of Dolo and ordered TFG forces to disarm. Ethiopian troops then disarmed a number of TFG and ASWJ forces. Sheikh Abdullahi alleged that Ethiopian forces were doing this because they were outraged by ASWJ's military capability.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: On 19 November, eyewitness reported large number of Ethiopian troops crossing into Somalia. Ethiopian authorities denied this.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: After a multinational conference held on 25 November in Addis Ababa, IGAD announced that the Ethiopian government had agreed to support the allied forces' campaign against Al-Shabaab.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: On 31 December 2011, the Transitional Federal Government soldiers and around 3,000 allied Ethiopian army troops attacked Beledweyne in the early morning, capturing it after hours of fighting. They later took control of Baidoa, among other areas.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: On 22 October 2012, the Spokesman of African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) Col. Ali Aden Humed speaking to journalists in Mogadishu on Saturday said that Ethiopian forces present in parts of the regions of Somalia will soon pull out from the country.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: The spokesman said AMISOM troops will take over the areas where Ethiopian forces are holding at the moment. "The plan by AMISOM is to take over the positions held by Ethiopian forces in parts of the regions of the country, Ethiopian troops will soon retreat back to their position along Somalia border" said Col. Ali Aden Humed.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: In 2013, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom announced that Ethiopian troops were pulling out of Baidoa as the situation on the ground was relatively stable and the Somali military and AMISOM forces were now able to assume security duties. The withdrawal was well planned and coordinated. Adhanom added that a pullout could have occurred twelve months earlier, but the allied forces were at the time unprepared to take over, so the move was postponed. Additionally, he asserted that Eritrea was attempting to destabilize Somalia and environs, and that the international community should take the situation seriously since Eritrea was also still allegedly supporting Al-Shabaab. Following the Westgate shooting in Nairobi by Al Shabaab operatives, the Ethiopian government halted its plans to withdraw completely out of Somalia. In November 2013, the Ethiopian government announced that it would integrate its troops that are deployed in Somalia into the AMISOM multinational force. Somalia's Foreign Minister Fowzia Haji Yussuf welcomed the decision, stating that the move would galvanize AMISOM's campaign against the insurgent group. She also emphasized the importance of collaboration between Somalia and Ethiopia. The Ethiopian authorities' announcement came a month after a failed October bombing attempt by Al-Shabaab in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, and a week after Ethiopia received a renewed terrorism threat from the insurgent group. According to Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ambassador Dina Mufti, the Ethiopian military's decision to join AMISOM is intended to render the peacekeeping operation more secure. Analysts also suggested that the move was primarily motivated by financial considerations, with the Ethiopian forces' operational costs now slated to be under AMISOM's allowance budget. It is believed that the Ethiopian military's long experience in Somali territory, its equipment such as helicopters, and the potential for closer coordination will help the allied forces advance their territorial gains. On the other hand, there is a certain amount of unease following Ethiopia's entry into AMISOM given local animosity originating from Ethiopia's heavy handed intervention in 2006. There are also fears that Al Shabaab could use Somali animosity towards Ethiopia as a rallying cry and to recruit more members. It is also believed that some Ethiopian troops in Somalia operate independently from AMISOM.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: In December 2014, the Ethiopian government offered to replace the last AMISOM contingent from Sierra Leone with fresh Ethiopian military reinforcements.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: In 2015, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), announced a new military operation against Al Shabaab, for removing it in the last strong holds in Somalia. The operation involved Ethiopian National Defence and Kenya Defence Forces too.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: At the end of the month of July 2015, AMISOM and Somalia National Army regained many villages and major towns of Baardhere and Dinsoor.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: On 15 December 2018, there were demonstrations in the city of Baidoa in Somalia by supporters of Mukhtar Robow, a presidency candidate, who was arrested two days before by government forces and transferred to Mogadishu. Rowbow is a former member of al-Shabab. African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) announced in a statement that its forces did not assist in Rowbow's arrest and his transfer to Mogadishu.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: On 4 May 2020, an East African Express Airways Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia airliner on an air charter flight delivering COVID-19 pandemic relief supplies crashed on approach to Berdale, Somalia, killing all 2 crew and 4 non-revenue passengers on board. On 10 May, a leaked AMISOM report alleged that ground troops of the Ethiopian National Defense Force operating outside AMISOM authority had shot the aircraft down, mistakenly believing it was undertaking a suicide attack. This allegation ignited renewed controversy over unauthorized Ethiopian incursions into Somalia to fight Al-Shabaab. Ethiopian, Kenyan and Somali authorities have initiated a joint investigation of the accident.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: In August 2021, two members of the Tigray People's Liberation Front took control of the town of Baardhere in the Meda region.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: According to press reports, Somali and Kenyan government officials have recruited and trained Somali refugees in Kenya and Kenyan nationals who are ethnic Somalis to fight insurgents in Somalia. However, the Somali chief of military staff and spokesmen from the Kenyan government have denied this.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: On 20 July 2010 border clashes between Kenya and Al-Shabaab insurgents occurred when gunmen from the militia attacked a Kenyan border patrol along the border area in Liboi, Lagdera. There was a subsequent fierce exchange of fire between the two sides leading to the deaths of 2 militia and the wounding of one Kenyan officer. Hundreds of security personnel were later deployed to the border following the clash and because of continued fighting between two militia groups in the neighbouring town of Dobley, Somalia. Al-Shabaab had previously claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing in Uganda in July.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: In October 2011, the Kenya Defence Forces began Operation Linda Nchi against Al-Shabaab in southern Somalia. The mission was officially led by the Somali armed forces, with the Kenyan armed forces providing supporting role. In early June 2012, Kenyan forces were formally integrated into AMISOM.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: On 5 January 2020, Al-Shabaab militants launched an attack at on Camp Simba at Manda Air Strip used by Kenyan and U.S. troops in Lamu County, Kenya, the attack was repelled, leaving 3 American nationals killed; 1 serviceman and two contractors. Four militants died in the attack and five were arrested. Moreover, six aircraft and land vehicles were destroyed or damaged at the airstrip. Some of the airframes lost included a De Havilland Canada Dash 8 and two helicopters.


title: Somali Civil War (2009–present)

text: Government officials from the Galmudug administration in the north-central Hobyo district also reportedly attempted to use pirate gangs as a bulwark against Islamist insurgents from southern Somalia's conflict zones. Other pirates are alleged to have reached agreements of their own with the Islamist groups, although a senior commander from the Hizbul Islam militia vowed to eradicate piracy by imposing sharia law when his group briefly took control of Harardhere in May 2010 and drove out the local pirates.


title: Adze

text: An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing or carving wood in hand woodworking, and as a hoe for agriculture and horticulture. Two basic forms of an adze are the hand adze (short hoe)—a short-handled tool swung with one hand—and the foot adze (hoe)—a long-handled tool capable of powerful swings using both hands, the cutting edge usually striking at foot or shin level. A similar tool is called a mattock, which differs by having two blades, one perpendicular to the handle and one parallel.


title: Adze

text: The adze is depicted in ancient Egyptian art from the Old Kingdom onward. Originally the adze blades were made of stone, but already in the Predynastic Period copper adzes had all but replaced those made of flint. stone blades were fastened to the handle by tying and early bronze blades continued this simple construction. It wasn't until the later bronze age that the handle passes through an eye at the top of the blade. Examples of Egyptian adzes can be found in museums and on the Petrie Museum website.


title: Adze

text: A depiction of an adze was also used as a hieroglyph, representing the consonants "stp", "chosen", and used as: "...Pharaoh XX, chosen of God/Goddess YY..."


title: Adze

text: The "ahnetjer" (Manuel de Codage transliteration: "aH-nTr") depicted as an adze-like instrument, was used in the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, intended to convey power over their senses to statues and mummies. It was apparently the foreleg of a freshly sacrificed bull or cow with which the mouth was touched.


title: Adze

text: As Iron Age technology moved south into Africa with migrating ancient Egyptians, they carried their technology with them, including adzes. To this day, iron adzes are used all over rural Africa for various purposes - from digging pit latrines, and chopping firewood, to tilling crop fields - whether they are of maize (corn), coffee, tea, pyrethrum, beans, Millett, yams or a plethora of other cash and subsistence crops.


title: Adze

text: Prehistoric Māori adzes from New Zealand (called "toki" in Māori) were for wood carving, typically made from pounamu sourced from the South Island. During the Māori Archaic period found on the North Island were commonly made from greywacke from Motutapu Island or basalt from Ōpito Bay in the Coromandel, similar to adzes constructed on other Pacific Islands. Early period notched adzes found in Northland were primarily made of argillite quarried from locations around the Marlborough and Nelson regions. At the same time on Henderson Island, a small coral island in eastern Polynesia lacking any rock other than limestone, native populations may have fashioned giant clamshells into adzes.


title: Adze

text: American Northwest coast native peoples traditionally used adzes for both functional construction (from bowls to canoes) and art (from masks to totem poles). Northwest coast adzes take two forms: hafted and D-handle. The hafted form is similar in form to a European adze with the haft constructed from a natural crooked branch which approximately forms a 60% angle. The thin end is used as the handle and the thick end is flattened and notched such that an adze iron can be lashed to it. Modern hafts are sometimes constructed from a sawed blank with a dowel added for strength at the crook. The second form is the D-handle adze which is basically an adze iron with a directly attached handle. The D-handle, therefore, provides no mechanical leverage. Northwest coast adzes are often classified by size and iron shape vs. role. As with European adzes, iron shapes include straight, gutter and lipped. Where larger Northwest adzes are similar in size to their European counterparts, the smaller sizes are typically much lighter such that they can be used for the detailed smoothing, shaping and surface texturing required for figure carving. Final surfacing is sometimes performed with a crooked knife.


title: Adze

text: Ground stone adzes are still in use by a variety of people in Irian Jaya (Indonesia), Papua New Guinea and some of the smaller Islands of Melanesia and Micronesia. The hardstone is ground on a riverine rock with the help of water until it has got the desired shape. It is then fixed to a natural grown angled wood with resin and plant fibers. The shape and manufacture of these adzes is similar to those found from the Neolithic Stone Age in Europe. A variety of minerals are used. Their everyday use is on a steady decline, as it is much more convenient to cut firewood using imported steel axes or machetes. However, certain ceremonial crafts such as making canoes, ceremonial shields, masks, drums, containers or communal houses etc. may require the use of traditional-made stone adzes.


title: Adze

text: Modern adzes are made from steel with wooden handles, and enjoy limited use: occasionally in semi-industrial areas, but particularly by "revivalists" such as those at the Colonial Williamsburg cultural center in Virginia, USA. However, the traditional adze has largely been replaced by the sawmill and the powered-plane, at least in industrialised cultures. It remains in use for some specialist crafts, for example by coopers. Adzes are also in current use by artists such as Northwest Coast American and Canadian Indigenous sculptors doing pole work, masks and bowls.


title: Adze

text: "Adzes are used for removing heavy waste, leveling, shaping, or trimming the surfaces of timber..." and boards. Generally, the user stands astride a board or log and swings the adze downwards between his feet, chipping off pieces of wood, moving backwards as they go and leaving a relatively smooth surface behind.


title: Adze

text: Foot adzes are most commonly known as shipbuilder's or carpenter's adzes. They range in size from 00 to 5 being with the cutting edge wide. On the modern, steel adze the cutting edge may be flat for smoothing work to very rounded for hollowing work such as bowls, gutters and canoes. The shoulders or sides of an adze may be curved called a "lipped adze", used for notching. The end away from the cutting edge is called the pole and be of different shapes, generally flat or a "pin pole".


title: Phil Simms

text: Phillip Martin Simms (born November 3, 1955) is an American former football quarterback who spent his entire 15-year professional career playing for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He is currently a television sportscaster for the CBS network. After playing college football at Morehead State University, Simms was drafted in the first round by the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) with the number seven selection overall in the 1979 NFL Draft. Simms was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of Super Bowl XXI, after he led the Giants to a 39–20 victory over the Denver Broncos and set the record for highest completion percentage in a Super Bowl, completing 22 of 25 passes (88%), a record that still stands. He also was named to the Pro Bowl for his performances in the 1985 and 1993 seasons.


title: Phil Simms

text: He finished his career with 33,462 passing yards and has since gone on to be a career broadcaster of NFL games—first as an analyst for ESPN, then as a in-game color commentator with NBC, and currently with CBS. He is the father of former NFL quarterback, assistant coach, and current NFL football analyst Chris Simms and former quarterback Matt Simms.


title: Phil Simms

text: Simms was born in Springfield, Kentucky, on his grandfather's farm, a place now called Maple Hill Manor in Washington County, where he attended St. Dominic's Elementary. While in elementary school, his family moved to Louisville and he went to St. Rita Catholic grade school. Simms was the quarterback of the Trojans of Southern High School in Louisville and graduated in 1974.


title: Phil Simms

text: Simms chose to attend NCAA Division II Morehead State of the Ohio Valley Conference in nearby Morehead.


title: Phil Simms

text: The Morehead State Eagles ran a ball-control offense, and Simms' numbers were unspectacular—in his senior season he completed 92 of 173 passes for a 53.2% completion percentage and had six touchdown passes, 11 interceptions, and 1,229 yards. The Ohio Valley moved up to the new Division I-AA in 1978, but the Eagles went ; they failed to make the postseason during his college career. Simms finished with 409 completions in 835 attempts for a 48.9% completion percentage. He also totalled 32 touchdowns, 45 interceptions, and a school-record 5,545 yards.


title: Phil Simms

text: Before the 1979 NFL Draft, new San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh flew to Morehead State with assistant coach Sam Wyche to work out Simms. Walsh was so impressed that he planned to draft Simms in the third round, preferring him over the quarterback they ultimately took, Joe Montana of Notre Dame. But the New York Giants decided to make Simms their first round pick (seventh overall) to the surprise of many. As Simms acknowledged, "most people have never heard of me." When Simms's name was announced by Commissioner Pete Rozelle in front of the audience at the draft in New York, his selection was booed loudly by the Giants fans in attendance. (He was the second quarterback taken; Jack Thompson of Washington State went to Cincinnati with the third overall pick.) Simms was not happy being a Giant either, "All I was thinking was which teams I would rather play for—the Green Bay Packers, the Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego, San Francisco..." Nonetheless, he became popular with his teammates who jokingly dubbed him "Prince Valiant" in his rookie training camp.


title: Phil Simms

text: Simms won his first five starts of his rookie year in 1979; he was 6–4 as a starter, threw for 1,743 yards and 13 touchdown passes, and was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team. He was runner-up for Rookie of the Year, behind future teammate Ottis Anderson.


title: Phil Simms

text: Simms' next four years were marred by injuries and inconsistent play. He finished the 1980 season with 15 touchdowns and 19 interceptions, while completing a subpar 48.0% of his passes for 2,321 yards. In 1981, Simms threw for 2,031 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions on 54.4% completion percentage before suffering a separated shoulder in a November 15 loss to the Washington Redskins. With Simms out, the Giants went on a run led by Scott Brunner and advanced to the second round of the playoffs. Simms suffered a torn knee ligament in a preseason game against the New York Jets, preventing him from playing the entire 1982 season. Following the season, Ray Perkins resigned as head coach to take over the same position at the University of Alabama, and was replaced by the team's defensive coordinator Bill Parcells. In the coming years this change would prove crucial to the Giants and Simms.


title: Phil Simms

text: One of Parcells first decisions as coach was to replace Simms as the starting quarterback with Brunner. Simms asked to be traded after the benching, but his request was ignored. During the sixth game of the Giants' 1983 Season, Simms came in to replace the struggling Brunner against the Philadelphia Eagles. On his third drive, Simms suffered a season-ending injury when the thumb on his throwing hand hit a player's helmet on his follow-through. The injury was reported as a dislocation, but according to the book, "Simms to McConkey", written by Phil McConkey, Simms, and Dick Schaap, the injury was much more severe, with the thumb literally hanging off after impact, and the bone sticking out through the skin.


title: Phil Simms

text: During his first few years on the team, Giants fans were merciless in their treatment of Simms, who they felt was a disappointment. He commented that his wife "had to sit up in the stands and listen to them cuss me." However, in 1984, after many seasons plagued by injuries and up-and-down play, Simms finally emerged as a team offensive leader. During his 1983 injury, offensive coordinator Ron Erhardt talked Simms into watching more game film, something he had not regularly done in college or the pros. He gained a better understanding of NFL defenses, his team's formations, and pass protection schemes, and improved his ability to audible at the line of scrimmage. He also changed his strength training regimen in an attempt to make his body more resistant to injury. He passed for 4,044 yards (second most in the National Football Conference (NFC), 22 touchdown passes, and led the Giants to a playoff berth.


title: Phil Simms

text: He was voted to the Pro Bowl and named Pro Bowl MVP as he led the NFC to a comeback win over the American Football Conference (AFC) by throwing three touchdowns. In 1985, he passed for 3,829 yards, 22 touchdowns, and led the Giants to 10 victories, the most for a Giants team since 1963. In a game against the Cincinnati Bengals during the 1985 season, Simms passed for 513 yards—the fifth most passing yards in a single game in NFL history. In 1986, he passed for 3,487 yards and 21 touchdown passes during a season in which the Giants won 14 games. In week 11, he completed a desperate fourth-and-17 pass to Bobby Johnson late in the game to set up Raul Allegre's game-winning field goal, which gave the Giants a 22–20 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Simms later commented:


title: Phil Simms

text: On January 25, 1987, the Giants met the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXI. In the biggest game of his life, Simms had one of the finest performances in Super Bowl history. He completed 22 of 25 passes for 268 yards, setting Super Bowl records for consecutive completions (10), accuracy (88%), and passer rating (150.9). In addition, he threw 3 touchdown passes and his passer rating set an NFL postseason record. "This might be the best game a quarterback has ever played", Giants coach Bill Parcells later said. Two of the most famous plays from the game were the flea flicker to McConkey, and the touchdown pass caught by McConkey off of the fingertips of Giants tight end, Mark Bavaro. The Giants defeated the Broncos 39–20, and Simms was named MVP of Super Bowl XXI. He is credited for being the first to use the phrase "I'm going to Disney World!" following a championship victory.


title: Phil Simms

text: Simms performed well in the strike-shortened 1987 NFL season, finishing with the second highest quarterback rating in the NFC. He threw for 2,230 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions. He passed for 3,359 yards, 21 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions while completing 54.9% of his passes in the 1988 season. The Giants rebounded from a 6–9 record in 1987 to finish 10–6 but fell just short of the playoffs due to the NFL tie-breaker system. In 1989, the Giants started 8–1 and finished 12–4, Simms passed for 3,061 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions on 56.3% completion percentage. He performed consistently most of the season except for a two-game stretch against the Eagles and 49ers where he produced seven turnovers, six of which resulted in points for the opposition. He also struggled in the Giants' playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams, and the Giants lost 19–13. In 1990, Simms was having one of his finest seasons, leading the NFC with the highest quarterback rating (92.7) and the Giants to an 11–3 record. But his season was cut short due to a broken foot suffered in the Week 15 game against the Giants' eventual Super Bowl XXV opponent, the Buffalo Bills. The Giants would defeat the Bills 20–19 in the Super Bowl with Jeff Hostetler filling in at quarterback.


title: Phil Simms

text: After the Giants' Super Bowl victory, Parcells resigned and was replaced by the team's running backs coach, Ray Handley. One of Handley's first decisions was to select Jeff Hostetler as the team's starting quarterback following his performance in Super Bowl XXV. Simms saw only spot action in two games prior to Week 13, when Hostetler broke his back in a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Simms finished the game and reclaimed the starting job, but won only once in his remaining four starts as the Giants failed to return to the playoffs at 8–8.


title: Phil Simms

text: Simms was named starter for the 1992 season after beating out Hostetler for the job in preseason. Simms suffered a severe arm injury in a Week 4 loss to the Los Angeles Raiders and missed the remainder of the season. Between the 1991 and 1992 seasons, he amassed a combined 1,905 yards, 13 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions while completing 59.3% of his passes. The Giants finished the 1992 season at 6–10, which led to Handley's firing and the hiring of former Denver Broncos coach Dan Reeves. As part of an overall house cleaning, Reeves released Hostetler and named Simms his starting quarterback. Simms started all 16 games in 1993, being one of only seven quarterbacks to do so, and led the Giants to a resurgent 11–5 season including a victory over the Minnesota Vikings in the playoffs. He underwent shoulder surgery after the 1993 NFL season to repair a torn labrum. The surgery was successful, and team doctor Russell F. Warren's prognosis for recovery was excellent, and Simms was expected to be ready in time for training camp. However, later during that offseason, Simms was released by the Giants, and subsequently decided to retire. Upon his release, co-owner Wellington Mara called it "a day of overwhelming sadness.".


title: Phil Simms

text: Simms considered playing for the Cardinals in 1994 and for the Browns in 1995, but eventually decided to stay retired.


title: Phil Simms

text: In his 14 seasons with the Giants, Simms completed 2,576 out of 4,647 passes for 33,462 yards and 199 touchdowns. His career passing yardage total ranked him at 11th in NFL history at the time of his retirement. He added 349 carries for 1,252 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns on the ground. He set team records for most passes completed and attempted in one game (40 and 62, respectively), season (286, 533) and career (2,576, 4,647), most career touchdown passes (199) and most 300-yard games in a career (21). Simms still owns some of the New York Giants passing records, although Eli Manning has surpassed most of them: season passes (387 completed, 618 attempted), career completed passes (4,895), career touchdowns (366), career 300-yard games (53). "Sports Illustrated" considered Simms to be the "Most Underrated Quarterback" in NFL history in their August 27, 2001 issue entitled, "The Most Overrated and Underrated".


title: Phil Simms

text: On September 4, 1995, Simms' jersey was retired in a halftime ceremony of a game versus the Dallas Cowboys. During an emotional speech, Simms stated that he wanted to don his jersey one final time, and throw "one more pass" to teammate Lawrence Taylor. Simms later commented, "[a]ll of a sudden it kind of hit me, I've put Lawrence in a really tough spot; national TV, he's got dress shoes and a sports jacket on, and he's had a few beers and he's going to run down the field and I'm going to throw him a pass." Simms then motioned for Taylor to run a longer pattern, and after 30–40 yards, threw him the pass. Taylor later stated that the situation made him more nervous than any play of his career, "I'm saying to myself (as the pass is being thrown), 'If I drop this pass, I got to run my black ass all the way to Upper Saddle River because there ain't no way I'm going to be able to stay in that stadium'." Taylor caught the pass however, and the capacity crowd in attendance cheered in approval.


title: Phil Simms

text: After his retirement as a player in 1994, Simms first joined ESPN then went on to join NBC's lead broadcast crew, teaming with Dick Enberg and Paul Maguire on that network's coverage of Super Bowl XXX and Super Bowl XXXII. Simms also announced Weightlifting at the 1996 Summer Olympics and served as a sideline reporter on the "NBA on NBC" for NBC Sports. In 1998, he moved to CBS with the AFC package, teaming first with Greg Gumbel (through the end of the 2003 season) and later with Jim Nantz on the CBS's lead broadcast team. He also worked with Armen Keteyian, Bonnie Bernstein and Lesley Visser. He hosts "Inside the NFL" on Showtime (another CBS holding) with James Brown and Cris Collinsworth. He has appeared on CBS Daytime since joining CBS, with a 2007 appearance as himself on the CBS soap opera "As the World Turns", and in February 2010 an appearance on "The Price Is Right" (with Nantz) to present a Super Bowl XLIV showcase. In the same month, he appeared as himself (again with Nantz) on the "How I Met Your Mother" episode "Rabbit or Duck". Simms is part of the commentary team, along with his broadcast partner Jim Nantz, in the "Madden NFL" "13", "25", "15", and "16" video games.


title: Phil Simms

text: As of the 2015 NFL season, Simms has been a commentator for the CBS and NFL Network broadcasts of "Thursday Night Football". He was replaced by Tony Romo for the 2017 NFL season and joined the CBS pregame show "The NFL Today".


title: Phil Simms

text: On November 13, 2014, Simms appeared uncredited on the episode "Just a Regular Irregular" of the CBS television series "Elementary". Simms's cameo was as a consultant to Sherlock Holmes in the art of knife throwing. Furthermore, Simms was forced to settle a debt with Holmes by loaning him a Super Bowl ring for the purpose of advancing the investigation.


title: Phil Simms

text: Simms and his wife, Diana, live in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. They have three children: Chris, Deirdre and Matthew. His son-in-law is former NFL linebacker Brian Toal, who was schoolmates with Matt. Simms is fond of New Jersey, remarking in 1987: "I wasn't overjoyed about coming to New York. When I thought of New York, I thought of New York "City". But out here, it's just like anywhere else."


title: The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30

text: The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30 (often promoted as The Challenge XXX) is the thirtieth season of the MTV reality competition series, "The Challenge". It was filmed in Colombia during May and June 2017, with alumni from "The Real World", "Road Rules", "The Challenge", and "Are You the One?" competing. Jonathan Murray, Gil Goldschein, Scott Freeman, and Fred Birckhead were the executive producers, with Ryan Smith and Danny Wascou serving as co-executive producers.


title: The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30

text: A launch special aired on July 11, 2017, and the season premiered on July 18, 2017. The season concluded with a two-part reunion special/finale on November 14 and 21, 2017 and behind-the-scenes special of the reunion and the reunion after-party on November 28, 2017. It also marks the first chapter of a "Challenge" trilogy, followed by "" and "".


title: The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30

text: The cast is composed of contestants who have acted dirty on a past season or show. The main elements of the game are as follows.


title: The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30

text: In the end, only six players - 3 male and 3 female - compete in the final challenge. Unbeknownst to each contestant, they will compete for a share of $1,000,000 — the largest monetary prize in "Challenge" history. The winner of each gender winning $450,000, the runners-up winning $35,000 and third place taking home $15,000.


title: The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30

text: For the final challenge, the competition moved to Salta, Argentina, where the players will compete for their share of $1 Million. The players will compete in a series of timed checkpoints full of unpredictable twists and turns. First place players will receive $450,000 each, second will receive $35,000 each, and third will receive $15,000 each. To kick off the final challenge, players were tasked with jumping 20,000 feet out of an airplane. Players would then continue on through the course with the help of video clues from TJ.


title: The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30

text: The two-part reunion special/finale aired on November 14 and 21, 2017, and was hosted by WWE pro wrestler, "" alum, and former "Challenge" champion Mike "The Miz" Mizanin. Host T. J. Lavin and each cast member, for the exceptions of Camila and LaToya, attended at the Capitale in New York. A "The Final Dirt" special showing behind-the-scenes at the reunion and the reunion's after-party aired on November 28, 2017.


title: The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30

text: After winning the daily challenge on episode 8, cast member Camila Nakagawa overheard Leroy Garrett mentioning a woman to other contestants. An intoxicated Nakagawa angrily assumed he was referring to her; she confronted Garrett and started verbally attacking him, using racial slurs. After the episode aired, Nakagawa posted an apology on her social media. The incident was later discussed on an MTV special that followed called "Race in America: An MTV Discussion" hosted by Nessa.


title: The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30

text: In November 2021, after he stopped appearing in the competition series, Garrett spoke about the incident on his social media. Garrett criticised MTV for their handling of the situation, expressing to the network that "[...] someone should have stepped in [...] And the fact that no one did, I felt like MTV, you dropped the ball". The network and the show's production company released a statement in which they apologized to Garrett for not taking action and allowing Nakagawa to remain in the competition after her racist outburst.


title: Pastis

text: Pastis (; , ; or ) is an anise-flavoured spirit and apéritif traditionally from France, typically containing less than 100 g/L sugar and 40–45% ABV (alcohol by volume).


title: Pastis

text: Pastis was first commercialized by Paul Ricard in 1932 and enjoys substantial popularity in France, especially in the southeastern regions of the country, mostly Marseille, (Bouches-du-Rhône) and the Var department. Pastis emerged some 17 years after the ban on absinthe, during a time when the French nation was still apprehensive of high-proof anise drinks in the wake of the absinthe debacle. The popularity of pastis may be attributable to a penchant for anise drinks that was cultivated by absinthe decades earlier, but is also part of an old tradition of Mediterranean anise liquors that includes sambuca, ouzo, arak, rakı, and mastika. The name "pastis" may be derived from Occitan ""pastís"," a mash-up or blend, or French ""pastiche"," a stylistic imitation.


title: Pastis

text: By legal definition, pastis is described as an anise-flavoured spirit that contains additional flavor of liquorice root, contains less than 100 grams per litre of sugar, and is bottled at a minimum of 40% ABV ("pastis") or 45% ABV ("pastis de Marseille"). While pastis was originally artisanally produced from whole herbs like most spirits at the time of its creation, modern versions are typically prepared by mixing base alcohol with commercially prepared flavorings (essences and/or extracts) and caramel coloring.


title: Pastis

text: Pastis is often compared with its historical predecessor, absinthe, yet the two are quite different. Pastis was created years following the prohibition of absinthe, and traditionally does not contain grand wormwood ("Artemisia absinthium"), the herb from which absinthe derives its name. Also, pastis far more commonly obtains its anise flavour from star anise, an Asian spice, whereas absinthe traditionally obtains its base flavour from a distillation of green anise and fennel, both Mediterranean herbs. Additionally, pastis typically exhibits some degree of flavour derived from liquorice root, which is not traditionally employed for absinthe. Where bottled strength is concerned, traditional absinthes were bottled at 45–74% ABV, while pastis is typically bottled at 40–50% ABV. Finally, whereas traditional absinthe is invariably a dry spirit, pastis may be bottled with sugar.


title: Pastis

text: Pastis is normally diluted with water before drinking, generally five volumes of water for one volume of pastis, but often neat pastis is served together with a jug of water for the drinker to blend together according to preference. The resulting decrease in alcohol percentage causes some of the constituents to become insoluble, which changes the liqueur's appearance from dark transparent yellow to milky soft yellow, a phenomenon also present with absinthe and known as louche or the ouzo effect. The drink is consumed cold and considered a refreshment for hot days. Ice cubes can be added (after the water, in order to avoid crystallization of the anethole in the pastis). However, many pastis drinkers decline to add ice, preferring to drink the beverage with cool spring water.


title: Pastis

text: Although consumed throughout France, pastis is generally associated with southeastern regions of the country, particularly the city of Marseille, where it is nicknamed "Pastaga", and with such clichés of the Provençal lifestyle as pétanque.


title: Pastis

text: Pastis beverages become cloudy when diluted because they are anise-based. Such beverages contain oils called terpenes, which are soluble in an aqueous solution that contains 30% ethanol or more by volume. When the solution is diluted to below 30% ethanol, the terpenes become insoluble; this causes a cloudy precipitate to form in the solution. The same chemistry causes absinthe to go cloudy when diluted.


title: Diving reflex

text: The diving reflex, also known as the diving response and mammalian diving reflex, is a set of physiological responses to immersion that overrides the basic homeostatic reflexes, and is found in all air-breathing vertebrates studied to date. It optimizes respiration by preferentially distributing oxygen stores to the heart and brain, enabling submersion for an extended time.


title: Diving reflex

text: The diving reflex is exhibited strongly in aquatic mammals, such as seals, otters, dolphins, and muskrats, and exists as a lesser response in other animals, including human babies up to 6 months old (see infant swimming), and diving birds, such as ducks and penguins. Adult humans generally exhibit a mild response, the dive-hunting Sama-Bajau people being a notable outlier.


title: Diving reflex

text: The diving reflex is triggered specifically by chilling and wetting the nostrils and face while breath-holding, and is sustained via neural processing originating in the carotid chemoreceptors. The most noticeable effects are on the cardiovascular system, which displays peripheral vasoconstriction, slowed heart rate, redirection of blood to the vital organs to conserve oxygen, release of red blood cells stored in the spleen, and, in humans, heart rhythm irregularities. Although aquatic animals have evolved profound physiological adaptations to conserve oxygen during submersion, the apnea and its duration, bradycardia, vasoconstriction, and redistribution of cardiac output occur also in terrestrial animals as a neural response, but the effects are more profound in natural divers.


title: Diving reflex

text: When the face is submerged and water fills the nostrils, sensory receptors sensitive to wetness within the nasal cavity and other areas of the face supplied by the fifth (V) cranial nerve (the trigeminal nerve) relay the information to the brain. The tenth (X) cranial nerve, (the vagus nerve) – part of the autonomic nervous system – then produces bradycardia and other neural pathways elicit peripheral vasoconstriction, restricting blood from limbs and all organs to preserve blood and oxygen for the heart and the brain (and lungs), concentrating flow in a heart–brain circuit and allowing the animal to conserve oxygen.


title: Diving reflex

text: In humans, the diving reflex is not induced when limbs are introduced to cold water. Mild bradycardia is caused by subjects holding their breath without submerging the face in water. When breathing with the face submerged, the diving response increases proportionally to decreasing water temperature. However, the greatest bradycardia effect is induced when the subject is holding their breath with their face wetted. Apnea with nostril and facial cooling are triggers of this reflex.


title: Diving reflex

text: The diving response in animals, such as the dolphin, varies considerably depending on level of exertion during foraging. Children tend to survive longer than adults when deprived of oxygen underwater. The exact mechanism for this effect has been debated and may be a result of brain cooling similar to the protective effects seen in people treated with deep hypothermia.


title: Diving reflex

text: During sustained breath-holding while submerged, blood oxygen levels decline while carbon dioxide and acidity levels rise, stimuli that collectively act upon chemoreceptors located in the bilateral carotid bodies. As sensory organs, the carotid bodies convey the chemical status of the circulating blood to brain centers regulating neural outputs to the heart and circulation. Preliminary evidence in ducks and humans indicates that the carotid bodies are essential for these integrated cardiovascular responses of the diving response, establishing a "chemoreflex" characterized by parasympathetic (slowing) effects on the heart and sympathetic (vasoconstrictor) effects on the vascular system.


title: Diving reflex

text: Head-out immersion causes a blood shift from the limbs and into the thorax. The fluid shift is largely from the extravascular tissues and the increased atrial volume results in a compensatory diuresis. Plasma volume, stroke volume, and cardiac output remain higher than normal during immersion. The increased respiratory and cardiac workload causes increased blood flow to the cardiac and respiratory muscles. Stroke volume is not greatly affected by immersion or variation in ambient pressure, but bradycardia reduces the overall cardiac output, particularly due to the diving reflex in breath-hold diving.


title: Diving reflex

text: Bradycardia is the response to facial contact with cold water: the human heart rate slows down ten to twenty-five percent. Seals experience changes that are even more dramatic, going from about 125 beats per minute to as low as 10 on an extended dive. During breath-holding, humans also display reduced left ventricular contractility and diminished cardiac output, effects that may be more severe during submersion due to hydrostatic pressure.


title: Diving reflex

text: Slowing the heart rate reduces the cardiac oxygen consumption, and compensates for the hypertension due to vasoconstriction. However, breath-hold time is reduced when the whole body is exposed to cold water as the metabolic rate increases to compensate for accelerated heat loss even when the heart rate is significantly slowed.


title: Diving reflex

text: The spleen contracts in response to lowered levels of oxygen and increased levels of carbon dioxide, releasing red blood cells and increasing the oxygen capacity of the blood. This may start before the bradycardia.


title: Diving reflex

text: "Blood shift" is a term used when blood flow to the extremities is redistributed to the head and torso during a breath-hold dive. Peripheral vasoconstriction occurs during submersion by resistance vessels limiting blood flow to muscles, skin, and viscera, regions which are "hypoxia-tolerant", thereby preserving oxygenated blood for the heart, lungs, and brain. The increased resistance to peripheral blood flow raises the blood pressure, which is compensated by bradycardia, conditions which are accentuated by cold water. Aquatic mammals have blood volume that is some three times larger per mass than in humans, a difference augmented by considerably more oxygen bound to hemoglobin and myoglobin of diving mammals, enabling prolongation of submersion after capillary blood flow in peripheral organs is minimized.


title: Diving reflex

text: Cardiac arrhythmias are a common characteristic of the human diving response. As part of the diving reflex, increased activity of the cardiac parasympathetic nervous system not only regulates the bradycardia, but also is associated with ectopic beats which are characteristic of human heart function during breath-hold dives. Arrhythmias may be accentuated by neural responses to face immersion in cold water, distension of the heart due to central blood shift, and the increasing resistance to left ventricular ejection (afterload) by rising blood pressure. Other changes commonly measured in the electrocardiogram during human breath-hold dives include ST depression, heightened T wave, and a positive U wave following the QRS complex, measurements associated with reduced left ventricular contractility and overall depressed cardiac function during a dive.


title: Diving reflex

text: In hydrated subjects immersion will cause diuresis and excretion of sodium and potassium. Diuresis is reduced in dehydrated subjects, and in trained athletes in comparison with sedentary subjects.


title: Diving reflex

text: Snorkel breathing is limited to shallow depths just below the surface due to the effort required during inhalation to overcome the hydrostatic pressure on the chest. Hydrostatic pressure on the surface of the body due to head-out immersion in water causes negative pressure breathing which shifts blood into the intrathoracic circulation.


title: Diving reflex

text: Lung volume decreases in the upright position due to cranial displacement of the abdomen due to hydrostatic pressure, and resistance to air flow in the airways increases significantly because of the decrease in lung volume.


title: Diving reflex

text: Hydrostatic pressure differences between the interior of the lung and the breathing gas delivery, increased breathing gas density due to ambient pressure, and increased flow resistance due to higher breathing rates may all cause increased work of breathing and fatigue of the respiratory muscles.


title: Diving reflex

text: There appears to be a connection between pulmonary edema and increased pulmonary blood flow and pressure which results in capillary engorgement. This may occur during higher intensity exercise while immersed or submersed.


title: Diving reflex

text: Facial immersion at the time of initiating breath-hold is a necessary factor for maximising the mammalian diving reflex in humans.


title: Diving reflex

text: Diving mammals have an elastic aortic bulb thought to help maintain arterial pressure during the extended intervals between heartbeats during dives, and have high blood volume, combined with large storage capacity in veins and retes of the thorax and head in seals and dolphins. Chronic physiological adaptations of blood include elevated hematocrit, hemoglobin, and myoglobin levels which enable greater oxygen storage and delivery to essential organs during a dive. Oxygen use is minimised during the diving reflex by energy-efficient swimming or gliding behaviour, and regulation of metabolism, heart rate, and peripheral vasoconstriction.


title: Diving reflex

text: Aerobic diving capacity is limited by available oxygen and the rate at which it is consumed. Diving mammals and birds have a considerably greater blood volume than terrestrial animals of similar size, and in addition have a far greater concentration of haemoglobin and myoglobin, and this haemoglobin and myoglobin is also capable of carrying a higher oxygen load. During diving, the hematocrit and hemoglobin are temporarily increased by reflex splenic contraction, which discharges a large additional amount of red blood cells. The brain tissue of diving mammals also contains higher levels of neuroglobin and cytoglobin than terrestrial animals.


title: Diving reflex

text: Aquatic mammals seldom dive beyond their aerobic diving limit, which is related to the myoglobin oxygen stored. The muscle mass of aquatic mammals is relatively large, so the high myoglobin content of their skeletal muscles provides a large reserve. Myoglobin-bound oxygen is only released in relatively hypoxic muscle tissue, so the peripheral vasoconstriction due to the diving reflex makes the muscles ischaemic and promotes early use of myoglobin bound oxygen.


title: Charlene McKenna

text: Charlene Lee McKenna (; born 26 March 1984) is an Irish actress. She became a household name in Ireland after starring as Jennifer Jackson in the miniseries "Pure Mule" (2005). She appeared on Irish television in "Single-Handed 2" (2008), "Whistleblower" (2008), and "Raw" (2008–2013). For "Raw", she won Best Actress (Television) at the Irish Film & Television Awards, and for "Whistleblower", she won Outstanding Actress in a Mini-Series at the Monte Carlo Television Festival.


title: Charlene McKenna

text: Since 2009, McKenna has appeared on British television as Rose Erskine in the BBC mystery drama "Ripper Street" (2012–2016), Leah Liebermann in the BBC psychological thriller "Vienna Blood" (2019–present), Laura McKee in series five and six of "Peaky Blinders" (2019–2022), and DS Niamh McGovern in the BBC police procedural "Bloodlands" (2021–).


title: Charlene McKenna

text: McKenna grew up in Glaslough, County Monaghan where her parents owned a mushroom farm and later The Pillar House pub. She has five older brothers. She attended St Louis Secondary School in Monaghan before going on to study Classical Music and Religious Education at Mater Dei Institute of Education in Dublin. However, she deferred her third year to make time for her career before withdrawing from the course altogether.


title: Charlene McKenna

text: McKenna first appeared on stage at the age of eleven, playing a small role in "Oklahoma!" with the Monaghan Youth Theatre. Her first large-scale production was "Pure Mule" which launched her career. She played Jennifer Jackson, a racy character, in the series. She also appeared in "The Old Curiosity Shop", a 2007 ITV adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name starring Derek Jacobi, Toby Jones, Bradley Walsh, Zoë Wanamaker, Martin Freeman, Steve Pemberton, Anna Madeley and Gina McKee.


title: Charlene McKenna

text: In 2007, she appeared in the short "Danger High Voltage" at the Electric Picnic music festival in Stradbally, County Laois. The film, which also starred Barry Ward and was directed by Luke McManus, went on to win awards at both the Galway Film Fleadh and the Cork Film Festival in 2008. McKenna also appeared as Mary McMahon in "Dorothy Mills".


title: Charlene McKenna

text: She appeared in the second episode of "Single-Handed 2", broadcast on 1 January 2008, in which Garda Sergeant Jack Driscoll investigated the case of the missing two-year-old son of her character, Eilish. Eilish also had to endure several resentful in-laws. This performance was described as "outstanding".


title: Charlene McKenna

text: "Whistleblower", a two-part fact-based drama broadcast in August 2008, was based on the late 1970s scandal at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, County Louth, involving gynaecologist Michael Neary. McKenna played Karen, a young mother who has an unnecessary hysterectomy performed on her after giving birth. Emma Stansfield played the nurse who blew the whistle. McKenna won the Outstanding Actress in a Mini-Series award for her role in "Whistleblower" at the Monte Carlo Television Festival in June 2009.


title: Charlene McKenna

text: McKenna starred in the RTÉ series "Raw". Scenes involving restaurant staff tampering with their guests' food failed to attract much complaint.McKenna's character in the series is Jojo, a young chef, working under Tanya, a stressed manager, and a head chef. In the second episode, Jojo organises a party but the alcohol runs out and tensions rise. "Raw", a six-part series set in a fictitious restaurant in Dublin, saw McKenna interact with "Bachelors Walk" actor Keith McErlean and "Mistresses" actress Shelley Conn. McKenna won the Best Actress (Television) award for her role in "Raw" at the Irish Film & Television Awards in February 2009. McKenna departed "Raw" following the Season 5 finale on 10 February 2013.


title: Charlene McKenna

text: In 2009, McKenna played the role of Paula Abbot in the second series of "The Fixer". In 2010, McKenna portrayed the young version of Josie, the love interest of vampire John Mitchell (Aidan Turner) in BBC supernatural comedy-drama "Being Human". In 2011, McKenna appeared in an episode of Channel 4 comedy-drama "Sirens". She played the eponymous antagonist "Lamia" () in the eighth episode of the fourth season of "Merlin". She starred as Seth's dead girlfriend Shannon in "Misfits". In 2013, she appeared on "Skins Pure" as Maddie. Between 2012 and 2016, McKenna appeared as Rose Erskine in BBC mystery drama "Ripper Street". In 2015, McKenna played Eva in "A.D. The Bible Continues".


title: Charlene McKenna

text: In 2019, McKenna appeared in the role of Leah Liebermann in BBC crime drama "Vienna Blood". In February 2021, McKenna played a lead role as Detective Sergeant Niamh McGovern in the BBC police procedural drama series, "Bloodlands".


title: Charlene McKenna

text: McKenna announced her engagement to American actor Adam Rothenberg in 2019. They were married in January 2021 at Castle Leslie adjacent to McKenna's hometown. McKenna splits her time between Monaghan, New York, and London.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: Martin St. Louis (French spelling Martin St-Louis, ; born June 18, 1975) is a Canadian hockey coach and former professional ice hockey player. He is the current head coach of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). An undrafted player, St. Louis played over 1,000 games and scored 1,000 points in an NHL career that began with the Calgary Flames in 1998 and ended with the New York Rangers in 2015. St. Louis is best remembered for having played with the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2000 until being traded to the Rangers in 2014. He also briefly played with HC Lausanne of the Swiss National League A. He was a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning's Stanley Cup championship team in 2004. St. Louis was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018; his first year of eligibility. St. Louis is widely considered to be one of the best undrafted players of all time.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: St. Louis was a standout player in college for the Vermont Catamounts, earning East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) all-American honors for three consecutive seasons between 1995 and 1997. He was the ECAC player of the year in 1995. As a professional, St. Louis has been named to an NHL All-Star team on five occasions and played in six All-Star Games. He was voted the recipient of the Lester B. Pearson Award and Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player as chosen by the players and league respectively in 2003–04, also winning his first Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer with 94 points. St. Louis has on three occasions won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most gentlemanly player. In 2013, at age 37, he won his second Art Ross Trophy, becoming the oldest player to ever lead the NHL in scoring. He has also led the NHL in assists in two different seasons (2003–04 and 2012–13).


title: Martin St. Louis

text: Internationally, St. Louis has played for Canada on several occasions. He was a member of the team that won the 2004 World Cup of Hockey and is a two-time silver medalist at the World Championships; he was named a tournament all-star after leading the 2009 event in scoring with 15 points. A two-time Olympian, St. Louis was a member of Canada's gold medal-winning team at the 2014 Winter Games.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: As a youth, St. Louis played in the 1988 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Laval, Quebec. He was passed over for a provincial team at a midget age tournament despite leading his league in scoring. He played one season of junior ice hockey with the Hawkesbury Hawks of the Central Junior Hockey League (CJHL) in 1992–93 where he scored 37 goals and 87 points in just 31 games.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: St. Louis was listed at five feet nine inches tall in college. He often struggled to gain recognition for his ability, while teams showed little interest in him. He was heavily recruited by National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) schools to play for their programs, however. The University of Vermont Catamounts convinced St. Louis to join their hockey program. He had 51 points in 33 games in his freshman season of 1993–94 and was named to the East Coast Athletic Conference's All-Rookie Team.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: In his sophomore season (1994–95), St. Louis was among the top scorers in the NCAA. He had 71 points in 35 games and was named both an ECAC First Team All-Star and NCAA All-American for the first of three consecutive seasons. Additionally, he was named the ECAC Player of the Year. Named team captain for his junior season, St. Louis scored 85 points in 35 games. He tied friend and teammate Éric Perrin for the NCAA scoring lead and the pair, along with goaltender Tim Thomas, led the Catamounts to the first ECAC hockey championship in school history. Named an all-star at the 1996 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, St. Louis scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory over Lake Superior State to reach the Final Four. The Catamounts lost the national semi-final to Colorado College, 4–3 in double overtime.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: A finalist for the Hobey Baker Award for the first of two consecutive seasons, St. Louis earned interest from National Hockey League (NHL) teams in the summer of 1996. Teams offered signing bonuses of up to $150,000 hoping to convince him to leave Vermont and turn professional. Believing he could attract similar offers the following year, he chose to complete his final year of college eligibility. His offensive numbers slipped in 1996–97 as he scored 59 points in 36 games. St. Louis finished as Vermont's all-time leading scorer with 267 points, a record he continues to hold as of 2014, as well as his school mark of 176 assists. He won the J. Edward Donnelly Award as the top male senior athlete at the University of Vermont in 1997 and was named to the ECAC's all-decade team of the 1990s. The University of Vermont inducted him into its athletics Hall of Fame in 2007, and in 2012 he was presented with the school's Alumni Achievement Award. On January 8, 2016 the University of Vermont retired his jersey number 8 at Gutterson Fieldhouse in front of a sold out crowd.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: The NHL offers St. Louis anticipated never materialized as teams lost interest in him. Only the Ottawa Senators offered him a tryout prior to the 1997–98 NHL season. When they released him, St. Louis signed a two-year contract with the Cleveland Lumberjacks that included a clause allowing him to leave the team if offered an NHL contract. He had 50 points in 56 games for Cleveland, catching the attention of the Calgary Flames, who signed him to a contract on February 18, 1998. He was assigned to their then-American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Saint John Flames, where he scored 26 points in 25 regular season games. He then added 20 points in 20 playoff games as Saint John reached the Calder Cup finals, losing in six games to the Philadelphia Phantoms.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: St. Louis earned a spot on the Calgary roster to begin the 1998–99 season and made his NHL debut on October 9, 1998, against the San Jose Sharks. He scored his first goal on October 20 against Dallas Stars' goaltender Roman Turek. He began the season playing with Calgary's top forward, Theoren Fleury, but was quickly demoted to the fourth line, and often sat out of the lineup. He appeared in only 13 games in Calgary, spending the majority of the season in Saint John where he led the AHL squad with 28 goals and 62 points. He began the 1999–2000 season with Saint John, but earned a recall to Calgary after scoring 26 points in 17 games. St. Louis completed his first full NHL season with 3 goals and 18 points in 56 games. Pleased with his progress, general manager Al Coates picked up St. Louis' contract option for the 2000–01 season. However, the organization fired Coates and his staff that summer and the new management team was not interested in retaining St. Louis. The Flames exposed him in the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft, but after he went unselected, the team bought out his contract and made him an unrestricted free agent.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: A few teams expressed interest in St. Louis. He chose to sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning as he believed they were the most likely to give him playing time in the NHL. He made his debut with the team on October 6, 2000. He struggled at first, failing to score a goal in the first six weeks of the season and again found himself out of the lineup at times. Realizing that he was at a career crossroads, St. Louis abandoned the changes to his game that his NHL coaches had impressed on him, trusting his own instincts. He scored his first goal of the season in late November, and finished the season with 18 goals and 40 points – 34 of which came after December 1.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: While leading the team with 16 goals midway through the 2001–02 season, St. Louis suffered a broken leg following an awkward check by Josef Melichar of the Pittsburgh Penguins in a late January game. Consequently, he appeared in only 53 of Tampa Bay's 82 games, finishing with 35 points. He had a breakout season in 2002–03, finishing fourth in team scoring with 70 points and tying Vincent Lecavalier for the team lead with 33 goals. He led the team in plus-minus at +10 and appeared in his first NHL All-Star Game. St. Louis won the puck control relay event and finished second in the fastest skater events of the 2003 All-Star Game's skills competition. He scored his first career hat-trick on January 30, 2003, in a game against the Carolina Hurricanes. In the playoffs, Tampa Bay won its first playoff series in franchise history when they eliminated the Washington Capitals. Three of St. Louis' seven goals were game-winners, including the overtime goal in the sixth game that won the series. He led the team with 12 points in 11 playoff games.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: St. Louis exceeded his previous season in 2003–04, capturing the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer with 94 points. He finished fourth overall with 38 goals and his plus-minus of +38 led the league. He scored his 100th career goal on February 17, 2004, against the Philadelphia Flyers. He led the 2004 playoffs with 15 assists and finished with 24 playoff points in 23 games. He led the Lightning to the Stanley Cup Finals against Calgary, against whom he scored the overtime winning goal in game six to force a deciding seventh game of the series. The Lightning won the game 2–1 to secure the franchise's first Stanley Cup. St. Louis won several post-season awards: He was named a first team All-Star and voted recipient of the Lester B. Pearson Award as the NHL's most valuable player as selected by the players. He also won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player. St. Louis was only the eighth player in NHL history to win the Art Ross and Hart Trophies and the Stanley Cup in the same season, and the first to do so since Wayne Gretzky in 1986–87.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: While the 2004–05 NHL season was ultimately cancelled by a labour dispute, St. Louis spent it playing in Europe. He signed a contract with HC Lausanne of Switzerland's National League A. He scored 25 points in 23 games. When the NHL resumed in 2005–06, St. Louis signed a six-year contract extension with the Lightning worth US$31.5 million. He finished with his third 30-goal season, but scored only 61 points on the campaign.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: The 2006–07 season was St. Louis' greatest offensive year as he topped the 100-point plateau for the first time. He finished with career highs in goals, 43, and points, 102. He played in his 500th career game on February 9, 2007, against the New York Rangers and after becoming the first Lightning player to appear in three All-Star Games, became the first to score a goal in the mid-season event. He was named to the second All-Star team following the season. An injury to Tim Taylor resulted in St. Louis being named an alternate captain in 2007–08. St. Louis made his fourth All-Star Game appearance in 2007–08 amidst an 83-point campaign. He scored his 500th career point with a goal against the Buffalo Sabres on March 19, 2008. Leading the Lightning with 30 goals, 50 assists and 80 points in 2008–09, St. Louis earned his fifth All-Star appearance.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: St. Louis finished fifth in the league with 94 points in 2009–10. He had two 11-game point streaks during the season, the longest in franchise history, and was named to the second All-Star team. Finishing with only 12 penalty minutes on the season, he was voted the recipient of the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most gentlemanly player. It was the fifth time he had been named a finalist for the award. He won the award for a second time in 2010–11, the culmination of a season in which St. Louis made his sixth All-Star Game appearance, was named to the second All-Star team for the third time and finished second in league scoring with 99 points. He was a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy for the second time, losing out to Corey Perry.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: The 2011–12 season was the first under a four-year contract extension signed during the previous campaign. Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman praised St. Louis' importance to the organization when announcing the signing: "Marty means so much to this franchise, both on and off the ice. His hard work and dedication are unsurpassed and we are thrilled that he will finish his career here in Tampa Bay." A durable player, St. Louis held the NHL's third longest "ironman" streak among active players, having played every game since 2005. The streak came to an end at 499 consecutive games played in early December 2011 when he was struck in the face by a shot from teammate Dominic Moore during practice. Despite suffering facial and sinus fractures, he missed only five games due to the injury. The 36-year-old St. Louis finished the season with 74 points in 77 games.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: In the lockout-shortened 2012–13 season, St. Louis led the NHL with 43 assists, and his 60 points were enough to capture his second Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer. After the season, he was named a second team All-Star. With only 14 penalty minutes on the season, St. Louis also won his third Lady Byng Trophy.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: The Lightning named St. Louis the ninth captain in franchise history prior to the 2013–14 season. He replaced Vincent Lecavalier, who departed Tampa in the off-season. St. Louis played his 1,000th NHL game on November 19, 2013, against the Los Angeles Kings. He is the 286th player in NHL history to reach the milestone, but only the 16th undrafted player to do so since the creation of the universal NHL Entry Draft in 1969. St. Louis set a career high and tied a Lightning franchise record by scoring four goals in a January 18, 2014, game against the San Jose Sharks. His 600th career assist came two weeks later in a 5–3 loss to the Ottawa Senators on January 30.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: In January 2014, then-Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman, who also served as the general manager for Canada's team at the 2014 Winter Olympics, elected not to include St. Louis on Canada's roster. St. Louis was ultimately named to the team as an injury replacement after Steven Stamkos was not medically cleared to play. At the same time, St. Louis requested a trade from Tampa Bay. The no movement clause in his contract gave St. Louis control over where he could be moved and he reportedly consented to only being traded to the New York Rangers, a request he first made in 2009. The Lightning honoured his request, and St. Louis was sent to New York along with a conditional 2015 second-round pick on March 5, 2014, in exchange for Ryan Callahan, a 2015 first-round draft pick, a conditional 2014 second-round pick (which became a first-round pick) and a conditional 2015 seventh-round pick. Both of the first-round draft picks acquired by the Lightning in this trade were eventually traded to the New York Islanders. Though reluctant to speak of his reasons for requesting the trade, he eventually admitted the initial Olympic snub was the primary cause. He felt a lack of respect when Yzerman initially left him off the Canadian team. St. Louis also expressed his regret over the damage the events caused to his relationship with the fans in Tampa.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: St. Louis struggled offensively in his first games with the Rangers as he went 14 games without scoring a goal. He scored only one in 19 regular season games – finishing the season with 30 combined between Tampa Bay and New York – and added seven assists to finish with 69 points on the season. The death of his mother, France, of a heart attack on May 8 left St. Louis' participation in Games 5 and 6 of New York's second-round playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins in doubt. He chose to play after speaking with his father. The Rangers players rallied around St. Louis as he became the team's focus. He led the Rangers as they overcame a 3–1 series deficit against Pittsburgh to win the series in seven games "en route" to reaching the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals. St. Louis led the team with 8 goals in the playoffs and finished second with 15 points, but the Rangers lost the final to the Los Angeles Kings in five games.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: St. Louis returned to the Rangers for what would be his last NHL season in 2014–15, and was named an alternate captain underneath newly appointed captain Ryan McDonagh.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: St. Louis made his first return to Tampa Bay on November 26, and was welcomed with a video tribute and standing ovation from the fans prior to the start of the game, which Tampa won 5–4. Two days later, St. Louis recorded a goal and an assist against the Philadelphia Flyers to reach 1,000 points in his career, becoming the sixth undrafted player in NHL history to do so. St. Louis would face the Lightning again in the 2015 Eastern Conference Final, in a series Tampa Bay won in seven games. St. Louis finished the 2015 playoff campaign with 1 goal and 6 assists in 19 playoff games.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: The Rangers did not offer St. Louis a new contract during the off-season, despite his desire to return to the team. St. Louis did not receive any offers from other teams after becoming a free agent, and on July 2, he formally announced his retirement from professional hockey.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: Following his MVP season in the NHL, St. Louis joined Team Canada for the first time, appearing at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. With a goal and an assist, he led Canada to an opening game, 2–1 victory over the United States. Overall, he scored four points in six games as Canada won the World Cup. The majority of that team returned for the 2006 Winter Olympic tournament, and St. Louis played in his first Olympic Games. The team struggled offensively throughout the tournament, finishing in seventh place. St. Louis scored two goals and added an assist in six games.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: St. Louis has twice played in the World Championships. He first played in the 2008 tournament, held in Canada. He appeared in all nine games for Team Canada, scoring ten points. Canada reached the final, but were forced to settle for the silver medal after a 5–4 overtime loss to Russia. Returning for the 2009 World Championship in Switzerland, St. Louis led the tournament in scoring with 15 points. Canada met Russia in a rematch of the 2008 final, however St. Louis and his teammates were again relegated to the silver medal, dropping a 2–1 decision. St. Louis was named to the tournament's all-star team at forward. He was selected as a reserve by Team Canada for the 2010 Winter Olympics. On February 6, 2014, he was selected to replace injured former Lightning teammate Steven Stamkos for representation at the 2014 Winter Olympics and played in five of Canada's six games. St. Louis won an Olympic gold medal with Canada in a 3–0 victory over Sweden in the gold medal game.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: In 2017, St. Louis was offered the position of head coach of the Hartford Wolf Pack, the AHL affiliate of the New York Rangers, by Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton. He declined, citing a desire to focus on his sons' youth hockey teams.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: Interest in St. Louis' services on a professional level persisted. On January 21, 2019, he became the Special Teams Consultant for the Columbus Blue Jackets, working alongside his former Tampa Bay Lightning head coach, John Tortorella.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: On February 9, 2022, St. Louis was named as interim head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, following the firing of Dominique Ducharme. The Canadiens' new general manager, Kent Hughes, had first become acquainted with St. Louis while the latter was playing for the University of Vermont, while Gorton, who had previously offered St. Louis a coaching role in the AHL, was now the Canadiens' executive vice president. They recruited him to assist the team in the midst of a historically poor 8–30–7 start to the 2021–22 season. St. Louis' lack of professional coaching experience attracted media comment, to which he said, "I'm not coming in as a substitute teacher. I'm coming here to show my work and we'll see what happens this summer, but my intention is to stay here for a long time. But I'll need to show and prove it." Arriving when team morale was low, St. Louis was credited with boosting competitiveness through narrow losses in his first three games before recording his first NHL win as a coach on February 17 in a 3–2 victory over the St. Louis Blues. In his first visit to Tampa Bay as a coach, the Canadiens won their first game at Amalie Arena since 2017. He finished his first half-season as a coach with a 14–19–4 record. St. Louis was widely credited with huge improvement in the performance of Cole Caufield, a rookie often compared to St. Louis himself as a shorter than average forward.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: St. Louis was then named permanent head coach of the Canadiens on June 1, 2022, and signed a three-year extension with the team.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: Listed at five-foot-eight inches tall during his playing days, St. Louis found himself to be one of the smallest players in the NHL. Hockey Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman credited St. Louis' desire to succeed as being his primary attribute: "His long suit is his passion. Small players have to have some special attribute that makes them stand out. He's got great acceleration and hockey sense." St. Louis was also a durable player throughout his career, missing only seven games between 2002 and 2012.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: An offensive minded player throughout his amateur and minor professional career, St. Louis was forced into a checking-line role by the Calgary Flames. He credits the experience for rounding out his game: "I played a true third-line role, killing penalties and playing against the other team's top lines. For me, it was like a five-month crash course on developing my defensive game. My whole life, I had been an offensive player, and suddenly I was in the role of trying to be smart without the puck. I think those fifty-six games helped me develop into a complete player."


title: Martin St. Louis

text: St. Louis met his wife Heather Anne Caragol at the University of Vermont, where he graduated in 1997 with a degree in small business management. They have three sons. The family maintains an off-season home in Heather's native Greenwich, Connecticut.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: St. Louis runs an annual summer hockey camp in the nearby community of Stamford for young players in the region.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: On January 8, 2016, the Vermont Catamounts held Martin St. Louis Night, which resulted in a 1–0 victory over visiting Dartmouth. During the night, St. Louis' number 8 was retired by the program during a pre-game ceremony. This was the first time in program history that the team retired the jersey of a former player. Additionally, Senior Jonathan Turk handed St. Louis his number 8 jersey prior to the game. Turk wore the number 88 for the rest of the season.


title: Martin St. Louis

text: On October 6, 2016, the Lightning announced that they would retire St. Louis' number 26. St. Louis became the first player in the history of the Lightning organization to have his jersey retired. The ceremony occurred on January 13, 2017, when the Lightning hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets at Amalie Arena.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: Hirakud Dam is built across the Mahanadi River, about from Sambalpur in the state of Odisha in India. It is the longest earthen dam in the world. Behind the dam extends a lake, Hirakud Reservoir, long. It is one of the first major multipurpose river valley projects started after India's independence. Hirakud Reservoir was declared a Ramsar site on 12 October 2021.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: On 15 March 1946, Sir Hawthorne Lewis, the Governor of Odisha, laid the foundation stone of the Hirakud Dam. A project report was submitted to the government in June 1947. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru laid the first batch of concrete on 12 April 1948.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: In 1952, Mazumdar Committee was appointed by the government to oversee the soundness and technical feasibility of the project. The committee has envisaged costs of 92.80 crore for the project and that the construction of the main dam would be complete by June 1955. It also said that by 1954–55 a total of


title: Hirakud Dam

text: The Hirakud Dam is a composite structure of earth, concrete and masonry. north of Sambalpur, it is the longest major earthen dam in the world, measuring including dykes, and stands across the river Mahanadi.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: The main dam has an overall length of spanning between two hills; the Laxmidungri on the left and the Chandili Dunguri on the right. The dam is flanked by of earthen dykes on both the left and right sides, closing the low saddles beyond the adjoining hills. The dam and dykes together measure . It also forms the biggest artificial lake in India, with a reservoir holding at full capacity, with a shoreline of over . There are two observation towers on the dam one at each side. One is "Gandhi Minar" and the other one is"Jawahar Minar". Both the observation towers present extensive views of the lake.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: The dam supports two different hydroelectric power houses. Power House I is located at the base (toe) of the main dam section and contains 3 x 37.5 MW Kaplan turbine and 2 x 24 MW Francis turbine generators for an installed capacity of 259.5 MW. Power Station II is located southeast of the dam at Chipilima. It contains 3 x 24 MW generators. The entire installed capacity of the dam's power houses is 347.5 MW. Power House I and II were built in three stages. During stage I, four generators were installed at PH I and in stage II, the power channel two and Power House II was constructed. All three generators were installed at PH II along with two more at PH I by 1963. Between 1982 and 1990, the seventh and final generator was installed at PH I.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: In the upper drainage basin of the Mahanadi River, centered on the Chhattisgarh Plain, periodic droughts contrast with the situation in the lower delta region where floods may damage crops. The dam was constructed to help alleviate these problems by creating a reservoir and controlling river flow through the drainage system. The dam regulates the flow of the Mahanadi River and produces hydroelectricity through several hydroelectric plants.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: The dam helps control floods in the Mahanadi delta and irrigates of land. Hydroelectricity is also generated. The Hirakud Dam regulates of Mahanadi's drainage. The reservoir has a storage capacity of with gross of .


title: Hirakud Dam

text: The project provides of kharif and of rabi irrigation in districts of Sambalpur, Bargarh, Bolangir, and Subarnpur. The water released by the power plant irrigates another of CCA in Mahanadi delta. The dam can generate up to 307.5 MW of electrical power through its two power plants at Burla, on the dam's right bank and Chiplima, downstream from the dam. In addition, the project provides flood protection to of delta area in district of Cuttack and Puri.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: Chiplima has gained prominence as the second hydroelectric project of the Hirakud Dam. A natural fall of in the river Mahanadi is used to generate electricity. The place is mostly inhabited by fishermen, whose deity "Ghanteswari" is revered in the neighboring area. The state livestock breeding farm and agricultural farm are located here.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: Hirakud Dam has three canals, namely Bargarh Main Canal, Sason Canal and Sambalpur Canal. Bargarh Main canal has a water discharge rate of .


title: Hirakud Dam

text: Water from Hirakud Dam at a later stage was allocated to various industries, primarily for mineral processing and coal fired thermal power plants in Jharsuguda and Sambalpur districts.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: Statistics published by the dam authority show the water holding capacity of the dam has been reduced by 24% due to siltation.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: A major conflict for water was reported when over 30,000 farmers gathered around the dam making a human chain, protesting against the allocation of water to the industries and there being no water for the canal system due to a low water level.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: There have been plans for inter-basin water transfer, as per plans of the water resource dept of Odisha as part of India's ambitious Indian Rivers Inter-link.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: These are remnants of temples submerged after the dam was completed in 1957. In the summer season, the receding water of the dam makes the structures become visible. The hidden treasures have finally caught the attention of historians, and steps are being taken to understand the historical significance of these temples, which periodically go under water, only to resurface again. Many temples have been destroyed after 58 years of underwater existence. However, some remain intact.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: Interest in these lost temples has been rekindled after two stones, etched with writing ('Shila Lekha'), were recovered from what is believed to be the Padmaseni temple of submerged Padmapur village. The temples located inside the reservoir area were part of the then Padmapur, one of the oldest and most populous in the region prior to the dam construction. More than 200 temples were submerged by the dam, nearly 150 temples have either perished or are underwater and about 50 are visible during summer. The lost temples present excellent opportunities for scuba diving enthusiasts to explore the underbelly of Hirakud Dam. The temple are visible to visitors on boat only during the summer months of May and June.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: Cattle Island is located in one of the extreme points of Hirakud Reservoir, a natural wonder. Completely inhabited by wild animals, it is without any trace of humans. It is near Kumarbandh village of Belpahar-Banharpali range which is about from Sambalpur. It can be reached by launch from Hirakud Dam, it is closer by via the river. The island is a submerged hill, and before the construction of Hirakud Dam it was a developed village. During the resettlement period, villagers left some of their cattle behind; when the dam construction was over, the cattle settled on the hilltop. With the passage of time the nearby area filled up with the reservoir water, turning the hilltop into an island. Being away from mankind, the cattle are now wild, very swift and not easily caught. Living on a hilltop with dense forest, they are larger than tame cattle, and almost all are white in color. Nearby residents attempt to capture these animals from time to time, but these hunts are rarely successful. Though descended from tame cattle, these animals provide a contrasting picture of this breed of animal returning to life in the wild.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: The dam with the channel provides an ideal environment for the wildlife. The Debrigarh wildlife sanctuary is located here. Several species of migratory birds visit the reservoir during winter. Nearly 20-25 species of birds are seen in the reservoir and common among them are common pochard, red-crested pochard, great crested grebe and several others.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: The main purpose of the Hirakud Dam was to check the massive floods that were affecting a large part of coastal Odisha. But, the construction of the dam greatly affected the natives of the western part of Odisha. Nearly 150,000 people were affected by the Hirakud project and nearly 22,000 families were displaced.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: In the original estimate, an amount of was provided for payment of compensation to the affected people. After revision, the amount was reduced to and the total compensation paid to the people was, in reality, only . A large number of families were evacuated from their hearth and homes without compensation from 1956 onwards.


title: Hirakud Dam

text: A commemorative stamp on Hirakud Dam was released on 29 Oct 1979 by the Department of Posts, with denomination , 3,000,000 stamps issued. A hundred rupee note was issued on 26 December 1960 by RBI Governor H.V.R. Iyengar. The size of this note is . On the back side of this note there are thirteen regional languages along with an image of the Hirakud Dam and Hydro-Electric station.


title: Children of the Corn (film series)

text: The Children of the Corn film series began with "Children of the Corn", released in 1984 by New World Pictures. After the release of "" (1992) and the series' acquisition by Dimension Films, the subsequent installments were released directly to video, and bore little to no narrative continuity, beginning with "" (1995). In 2009, a second adaptation of the short story aired on the Syfy network, via Fox 21 Television. A third adaptation of the short story titled "Children of the Corn" (2020), was released on October 23, 2020.


title: Children of the Corn (film series)

text: Based on the short story by Stephen King, the first "Children of the Corn" film follows a couple who are besieged by mysterious children in a small town called Gatlin, Nebraska. begins immediately after the events of the original, and focuses on a reporter and his son who are investigating the events of the first film.


title: Children of the Corn (film series)

text: Beginning with the third installment, Dimension elected to produce standalone films that were not necessarily narratively connected. The third film follows two brothers from Gatlin who are forced into foster care in Chicago; the younger brother, under the influence of He Who Walks Behind the Rows, begins to grow corn in an abandoned lot behind his new family home, wreaking havoc. The fourth film returns to a rural Nebraska town where a young medical student attempts to uncover a mysterious illness striking the children of her hometown; the fifth film follows a group of young people who encounter the children, led by a man, Ezekiel, of He Who Walks Behind the Rows, when staying overnight in an abandoned farmhouse.


title: Children of the Corn (film series)

text: Part six follows a woman, born of the cult from the first film, who returns to Gatlin to uncover the identity of her birth mother, while the seventh installment focuses on a woman who travels to a small town outside Omaha to investigate the disappearance of her grandmother; there, she encounters bizarre children in the fields surrounding her grandmother's apartment building.


title: Children of the Corn (film series)

text: The 2009 remake follows the general plot of the first film, focusing on a couple who encounter the children in Gatlin. The ninth film, "Genesis", follows a couple who lodge with a mysterious preacher in the California desert, who appears to be leading a bizarre cult.


title: Children of the Corn (film series)

text: The first "Children of the Corn" (1984) was distributed by New World Pictures, receiving a theatrical release in the spring 1984. Its sequel, "The Final Sacrifice" (1992), was acquired for distribution by Miramax, and was released theatrically in January 1992 under Miramax's Dimension Films division.


title: Children of the Corn (film series)

text: After Dimension's release of "Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice", the company would acquire rights to the series and would release numerous follow-up sequels directly to video, beginning with "Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest", released in 1995. After the release of "Revelation" in 2001, a television remake of the original film was commissioned by Dimension, but ultimately distributed via Fox 21 Television Studios, airing on the Syfy channel in 2009.


title: Children of the Corn (film series)

text: In 2011, the ninth installment, "Genesis", was released direct-to-video under Dimension's "Extreme" label.


title: Children of the Corn (film series)

text: The entire series has been released on various home media formats. While all ten of the films have been released on DVD, only the first seven films were released on VHS before the format was phased out. Additionally, "Children of the Corn" (1984), "Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest", "Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror", "Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return" and "Children of the Corn: Genesis" have been made available on Blu-ray disc.


title: The Searchers (band)

text: The Searchers were an English Merseybeat group who emerged during the British Invasion of the 1960s. The band's hits include a remake of the Drifters' 1961 hit, "Sweets for My Sweet"; "Sugar and Spice" (written by their producer Tony Hatch); remakes of Jackie DeShannon's "Needles and Pins" and "When You Walk in the Room"; a cover of the Orlons' "Don't Throw Your Love Away"; and a cover of the Clovers' "Love Potion No. 9". With the Swinging Blue Jeans, the Searchers tied for being the second group from Liverpool, after the Beatles, to have a hit in the US when their "Needles and Pins" and the Swinging Blue Jeans' "Hippy Hippy Shake" both reached the Hot 100 on 7 March 1964.


title: The Searchers (band)

text: Founded as a skiffle group in Liverpool in 1959 by John McNally and Mike Pender, the band took their name from the 1956 John Ford western film "The Searchers".


title: The Searchers (band)

text: The band grew out of an earlier skiffle group formed by McNally in 1957, with his friends Brian Dolan (guitar) and Tony West (bass – born Anthony West, in 1938, Waterloo, Liverpool, Lancashire – died 11 November 2010, West Way, Hightown, Merseyside). When the other two members lost interest, McNally was joined by his guitarist neighbour Mike Prendergast. They soon recruited Tony Jackson (born Anthony Paul Jackson, 16 July 1938, The Dingle, Liverpool, Lancashire – died 18 August 2003, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire) with his homemade bass guitar and amplifier, who was recruited as a lead singer, but took a back seat at first in order to learn the bass. The band styled themselves as "Tony and the Searchers" with Joe Kennedy on drums. Kennedy soon left to be replaced by Norman McGarry (born 1 March 1942, Liverpool, Lancashire), and it is this line-up – McNally, Pender (as Prendergast soon became known), Jackson and McGarry – that is usually cited as the original foursome.


title: The Searchers (band)

text: McGarry was forced to quit the band when he was put on the nightshift at the bakery where he worked and in 1960 his place was taken by Chris Crummey (26 August 1941 – 28 February 2005), who later changed his name to Chris Curtis. Billy Beck, who changed his name to Johnny Sandon (born William Beck, 27 May 1941, Liverpool – died 23 December 1996) became the lead singer. The band had regular bookings at Liverpool's Iron Door Club as "Johnny Sandon and The Searchers".


title: The Searchers (band)

text: Sandon left the band in late 1961 to join The Remo Four in February 1962. The group settled into a quartet named "The Searchers", with Jackson becoming the main vocalist. They continued to play at the Iron Door, The Cavern, and other Liverpool clubs. Like many similar acts they would do as many as three shows at different venues in one night. They negotiated a contract with the Star-Club in the St. Pauli district Hamburg for 128 days, with three one-hour performances a night, starting in July 1962.


title: The Searchers (band)

text: The band returned to a residency at the Iron Door Club and it was there that they tape-recorded the sessions that led to a Pye Records recording contract with Tony Hatch as producer. The first single, "Sweets for My Sweet", featuring Tony Jackson as main vocalist supported by Pender and Curtis, shot to number one in the UK in 1963, firmly establishing the band as a major spearhead of the "Merseybeat" boom, just behind The Beatles and alongside Gerry and the Pacemakers. Their first album, "Meet The Searchers", sung mostly by Jackson and Pender, was released in August 1963 and reached number 2 on the British album charts the next month. With a slightly changed track listing, including the song "Needles and Pins", it hit #22 in the US album charts in June 1964.


title: The Searchers (band)

text: In the US their first single was issued on Mercury and the second on Liberty, both without success; then a deal was arranged with US-based Kapp Records to distribute their records in America.


title: The Searchers (band)

text: Philips Records then released an earlier recording they held of a cover of Brenda Lee's hit 'Sweet Nuthins', which dismayed the group. It made the lower end of the UK chart, but did not disturb their momentum.


title: The Searchers (band)

text: Hatch played piano on some recordings and wrote "Sugar and Spice", the band's UK #2 hit record, under the pseudonym Fred Nightingale, a secret he kept from the band at the time. Apparently Curtis disliked this song (largely a revamp of the key aspects of first hits) and refused to sing on it. Jackson again took lead vocal, though Curtis later agreed to sing the distinctive high-harmony vocal links between verses. "Love Potion No.9", sung by Jackson, was a non-UK single lifted from the first LP that was a hit in the US on Kapp Records in 1965.


title: The Searchers (band)

text: Mike Pender took the main lead vocal on the next two singles, both of which topped the UK charts: "Needles And Pins" and "Don't Throw Your Love Away", each featuring Chris Curtis on co-lead/high-harmony vocal. However, live footage of these songs, as performed on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and NME Poll Winners concert respectively, show Pender and Jackson singing the lead vocal together in close harmony, with vocal support from Curtis. That suggests some differences existed between the live band and the studio version at that time.


title: The Searchers (band)

text: After scoring with their hit "Needles And Pins", bassist Tony Jackson, who was only allowed one co-lead vocal on their third album (on "Sho Know A Lot About Love"), left the band and was replaced by a Searchers' Hamburg pal, Frank Allen (born Francis Renaud McNeice, 14 December 1943, Hayes, London) from Cliff Bennett and The Rebel Rousers. Jackson was then signed to Pye as a solo act and, backed by The Vibrations, issued a few singles of which the first, "Bye Bye Baby", charted in the UK in 1964. He also re-cut "Love Potion No. 9" but it failed to chart. The next Searchers single to chart in the UK during this period was "Some Day We're Gonna Love Again" (1964).