title: Karl Hanke

text: In July 1939, Hanke was called up for military service, having previously obtained a reserve officer's commission in 1937. From September to October 1939, he served with the 3rd Panzer Division in Poland. In May 1940, sensing a good opportunity to further his career, Hanke served under General Erwin Rommel in France with the 7th Panzer Division, 25th Panzer Regiment through June of that year. He "got along" well with Rommel who appreciated good "public relations". Hanke was awarded the Iron Cross in Second and First Class. He was discharged from the German Army in 1941 with the rank of 1st lieutenant ("Oberleutnant").


title: Karl Hanke

text: He left active military service and in Breslau, Hitler appointed Hanke to the position of "Gauleiter" of the newly formed Gau Lower Silesia on 27 January 1941. On 1 February, he was appointed "Oberpräsident" of the Prussian Province of Lower Silesia, thus uniting under his control the highest party and governmental offices in the province. Finally, on 9 February Hanke was named Reich Defense Commissioner for "Wehrkreis" (Military District) VIII, which included his Gau as well as Gau Upper Silesia and the eastern sections of Reichsgau Sudetenland. On 20 April 1941, Himmler promoted him to the rank of SS general (SS-"Gruppenführer"). Hanke was a fanatical enforcer of Nazi policy: during his rule in Breslau more than 1000 people were executed on his orders, earning him the nickname "Hangman of Breslau". On 16 November 1942, the jurisdiction of the Reich Defense Commissioners was changed from the "Wehrkreis" to the Gau level, and Hanke remained Commissioner only for his Gau. On 30 January 1944, Hanke was promoted to SS-"Obergruppenführer".


title: Karl Hanke

text: Hanke had a long affair with Baroness Freda von Fircks in Breslau, the daughter of a wealthy landowner and University of Berlin lecturer. They were finally married on 25 November 1944, after she gave birth to their daughter in December 1943.


title: Karl Hanke

text: During the waning months of World War II, as the Soviet Red Army advanced into Silesia and encircled Fortress Breslau ("Festung Breslau"), Hanke was named by Hitler to be the city's "Battle Commander" ("Kampfkommandant"). Hanke oversaw, with fanaticism, the defense of the city during the Siege of Breslau. Goebbels, dictating for his diary, repeatedly expressed his admiration of Hanke during the spring of 1945. During the 82-day siege, Soviet forces inflicted approximately 30,000 civilian and military casualties and took more than 40,000 prisoners, while suffering 60,000 total casualties. However, somewhat quirkily, throughout the siege, the Aviatik tobacco factory produced 500,000 cigarettes a day. Occasionally, concerts were held during lulls in the bombardment. On 6 May, the day before Germany's surrender, General Hermann Niehoff surrendered the besieged Breslau, the Soviet army already having reached Berlin. Hanke had flown out the previous day in a small Fieseler Storch plane kept in reserve for him.


title: Karl Hanke

text: Breslau was the last major city in Germany to surrender. Destruction by Soviet aerial and artillery bombardment, along with acts of destruction committed by the SS and Nazi Party members, brought "80 to 90 percent" of Breslau to a state of ruin.


title: Karl Hanke

text: Hanke's fanaticism and unconditional obedience to Hitler's orders impressed Hitler, who in his political testament appointed him to be the last "Reichsführer-SS" and Chief of the German Police, replacing Heinrich Himmler on 29 April 1945. Eight days beforehand, Hanke had been honored with the Nazi Party's highest decoration, the German Order, a reward for his defence of Breslau against the advancing Soviet Red Army. Hanke's ascendancy to the rank of "Reichsführer-SS" was a result of Hitler proclaiming Himmler a traitor for his secretly attempted surrender negotiations with the Western Allies. Hitler stripped Himmler of all his offices and ranks and ordered his arrest.


title: Karl Hanke

text: Hanke received word of his promotion on 5 May 1945. He flew to Prague and attached himself to the 18th SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Horst Wessel". Hanke chose to wear the uniform of an SS private, to conceal his identity in the event of capture. The group attempted to fight its way back to Germany but, after a fierce battle with Czech partisans, surrendered in Neudorf, southwest of Komotau on 6 May. His true identity was not discovered by his captors, and Hanke was thus placed in a Prisoner of War (POW) camp alongside low-ranking SS members. There were a total of 65 POWs when the Czechs decided to move them all by foot in June 1945. When a train passed the march route, Hanke and several other POWs attempted to escape, clinging to the train. The Czechs opened fire, wounding Hanke and two other POWs. They were then beaten to death with rifle butts by the Czechs.


title: Ambedkar family

text: The Ambedkar family is the family of B. R. Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) who was an Indian polymath and the chairman of the Constituent Drafting Committee. The patriarch Ambedkar is popularly known as Babasaheb (Marathi: endearment for "father", in India).


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Asphalt concrete (commonly called asphalt, blacktop, or pavement in North America, and tarmac, bitumen macadam, or rolled asphalt in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is a composite material commonly used to surface roads, parking lots, airports, and the core of embankment dams. Asphalt mixtures have been used in pavement construction since the beginning of the twentieth century. It consists of mineral aggregate bound together with asphalt, laid in layers, and compacted. The process was refined and enhanced by Belgian-American inventor Edward De Smedt.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: The terms "asphalt" (or "asphaltic") "concrete", "bituminous asphalt concrete", and "bituminous mixture" are typically used only in engineering and construction documents, which define concrete as any composite material composed of mineral aggregate adhered with a binder. The abbreviation, "AC", is sometimes used for "asphalt concrete" but can also denote "asphalt content" or "asphalt cement", referring to the liquid asphalt portion of the composite material.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: In addition to the asphalt and aggregate, additives, such as polymers, and antistripping agents may be added to improve the properties of the final product.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Areas paved with asphalt concrete—especially airport aprons—have been called "the tarmac" at times, despite not being constructed using the tarmacadam process.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: A variety of specialty asphalt concrete mixtures have been developed to meet specific needs, such as stone-matrix asphalt, which is designed to ensure a strong wearing surface, or porous asphalt pavements, which are permeable and allow water to drain through the pavement for controlling storm water.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Different types of asphalt concrete have different performance characteristics in terms of surface durability, tire wear, braking efficiency and roadway noise. In principle, the determination of appropriate asphalt performance characteristics must take into account the volume of traffic in each vehicle category, and the performance requirements of the friction course.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Asphalt concrete generates less roadway noise than a Portland cement concrete surface, and is typically less noisy than chip seal surfaces. Because tire noise is generated through the conversion of kinetic energy to sound waves, more noise is produced as the speed of a vehicle increases. The notion that highway design might take into account acoustical engineering considerations, including the selection of the type of surface paving, arose in the early 1970s.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: With regard to structural performance, the asphalt behaviour depends on a variety of factors including the material, loading and environmental condition. Furthermore, the performance of pavement varies over time. Therefore, the long-term behaviour of asphalt pavement is different from its short-term performance. The LTPP is a research program by the FHWA, which is specifically focusing on long-term pavement behaviour.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Asphalt deterioration can include crocodile cracking, potholes, upheaval, raveling, bleeding, rutting, shoving, stripping, and grade depressions. In cold climates, frost heaves can crack asphalt even in one winter. Filling the cracks with bitumen is a temporary fix, but only proper compaction and drainage can slow this process.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Factors that cause asphalt concrete to deteriorate over time mostly fall into one of three categories: construction quality, environmental considerations, and traffic loads. Often, damage results from combinations of factors in all three categories.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Construction quality is critical to pavement performance. This includes the construction of utility trenches and appurtenances that are placed in the pavement after construction. Lack of compaction in the surface of the asphalt, especially on the longitudinal joint can reduce the life of a pavement by 30 to 40%. Service trenches in pavements after construction have been said to reduce the life of the pavement by 50%, mainly due to the lack of compaction in the trench, and also because of water intrusion through improperly sealed joints.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Environmental factors include heat and cold, the presence of water in the subbase or subgrade soil underlying the pavement, and frost heaves.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: High temperatures soften the asphalt binder, allowing heavy tire loads to deform the pavement into ruts. Paradoxically, high heat and strong sunlight also cause the asphalt to oxidize, becoming stiffer and less resilient, leading to crack formation. Cold temperatures can cause cracks as the asphalt contracts. Cold asphalt is also less resilient and more vulnerable to cracking.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Water trapped under the pavement softens the subbase and subgrade, making the road more vulnerable to traffic loads. Water under the road freezes and expands in cold weather, causing and enlarging cracks. In spring thaw, the ground thaws from the top down, so water is trapped between the pavement above and the still-frozen soil underneath. This layer of saturated soil provides little support for the road above, leading to the formation of potholes. This is more of a problem for silty or clay soils than sandy or gravelly soils. Some jurisdictions pass frost laws to reduce the allowable weight of trucks during the spring thaw season and protect their roads.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: The damage a vehicle causes is roughly proportional to the axle load raised to the fourth power, so doubling the weight an axle carries actually causes 16 times as much damage. Wheels cause the road to flex slightly, resulting in fatigue cracking, which often leads to crocodile cracking. Vehicle speed also plays a role. Slowly moving vehicles stress the road over a longer period of time, increasing ruts, cracking, and corrugations in the asphalt pavement.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Other causes of damage include heat damage from vehicle fires, or solvent action from chemical spills.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: The life of a road can be prolonged through good design, construction and maintenance practices. During design, engineers measure the traffic on a road, paying special attention to the number and types of trucks. They also evaluate the subsoil to see how much load it can withstand. The pavement and subbase thicknesses are designed to withstand the wheel loads. Sometimes, geogrids are used to reinforce the subbase and further strengthen the roads. Drainage, including ditches, storm drains and underdrains are used to remove water from the roadbed, preventing it from weakening the subbase and subsoil.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Sealcoating asphalt is a maintenance measure that helps keep water and petroleum products out of the pavement.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Maintaining and cleaning ditches and storm drains will extend the life of the road at low cost. Sealing small cracks with bituminous crack sealer prevents water from enlarging cracks through frost weathering, or percolating down to the subbase and softening it.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: For somewhat more distressed roads, a chip seal or similar surface treatment may be applied. As the number, width and length of cracks increases, more intensive repairs are needed. In order of generally increasing expense, these include thin asphalt overlays, multicourse overlays, grinding off the top course and overlaying, in-place recycling, or full-depth reconstruction of the roadway.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: It is far less expensive to keep a road in good condition than it is to repair it once it has deteriorated. This is why some agencies place the priority on preventive maintenance of roads in good condition, rather than reconstructing roads in poor condition. Poor roads are upgraded as resources and budget allow. In terms of lifetime cost and long term pavement conditions, this will result in better system performance. Agencies that concentrate on restoring their bad roads often find that by the time they have repaired them all, the roads that were in good condition have deteriorated.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Asphalt concrete is a recyclable material that can be reclaimed and reused both on-site and in asphalt plants. The most common recycled component in asphalt concrete is reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP). RAP is recycled at a greater rate than any other material in the United States. Asphalt concrete mixes may also contain reclaimed asphalt shingles (RAS). Research has demonstrated that RAP and RAS can replace the need for up to 100% of the virgin aggregate and asphalt binder in a mix, but this percentage is typically lower due to regulatory requirements and performance concerns. In 2019, new asphalt pavement mixtures produced in the United States contained, on average, 21.1% RAP and 0.2% RAS.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Recycled asphalt components may be reclaimed and transported to an asphalt plant for processing and use in new pavements, or the entire recycling process may be conducted in-place. While in-place recycling typically occurs on roadways and is specific to RAP, recycling in asphalt plants may utilize RAP, RAS, or both. In 2019, an estimated 97.0 million tons of RAP and 1.1 million tons of RAS were accepted by asphalt plants in the United States.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: RAP is typically received by plants after being milled on-site, but pavements may also be ripped out in larger sections and crushed in the plant. RAP millings are typically stockpiled at plants before being incorporated into new asphalt mixes. Prior to mixing, stockpiled millings may be dried and any that have agglomerated in storage may have to be crushed.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: RAS may be received by asphalt plants as post-manufacturer waste directly from shingle factories, or they may be received as post-consumer waste at the end of their service life. Processing of RAS includes grinding the shingles and sieving the grinds to remove oversized particles. The grinds may also be screened with a magnetic sieve to remove nails and other metal debris. The ground RAS is then dried, and the asphalt cement binder can be extracted. For further information on RAS processing, performance, and associated health and safety concerns, see Asphalt Shingles.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: In-place recycling methods allow roadways to be rehabilitated by reclaiming the existing pavement, remixing, and repaving on-site. In-place recycling techniques include rubblizing, hot in-place recycling, cold in-place recycling, and full-depth reclamation. For further information on in-place methods, see Road Surface.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: During its service life, the asphalt cement binder, which makes up about 5 - 6% of a typical asphalt concrete mix, naturally hardens and becomes stiffer. This aging process primarily occurs due to oxidation, evaporation, exudation, and physical hardening. For this reason, asphalt mixes containing RAP and RAS are prone to exhibiting lower workability and increased susceptibility to fatigue cracking. These issues are avoidable if the recycled components are apportioned correctly in the mix. Practicing proper storage and handling, such as by keeping RAP stockpiles out of damp areas or direct sunlight, is also important in avoiding quality issues. The binder aging process may also produce some beneficial attributes, such as by contributing to higher levels of rutting resistance in asphalts containing RAP and RAS.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: One approach to balancing the performance aspects of RAP and RAS is to combine the recycled components with virgin aggregate and virgin asphalt binder. This approach can be effective when the recycled content in the mix is relatively low, and has a tendency to work more effectively with soft virgin binders. A 2020 study found that the addition of 5% RAS to a mix with a soft, low-grade virgin binder significantly increased the mix's rutting resistance while maintaining adequate fatigue cracking resistance.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: In mixes with higher recycled content, the addition of virgin binder becomes less effective, and rejuvenators may be used. Rejuvenators are additives that restore the physical and chemical properties of the aged binder. When conventional mixing methods are used in asphalt plants, the upper limit for RAP content before rejuvenators become necessary has been estimated at 50%. Research has demonstrated that the use of rejuvenators at optimal doses can allow for mixes with 100% recycled components to meet the performance requirements of conventional asphalt concrete.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Beyond RAP and RAS, a range of waste materials can be re-used in place of virgin aggregate, or as rejuvenators. Crumb rubber, generated from recycled tires, has been demonstrated to improve the fatigue resistance and flexural strength of asphalt mixes that contain RAP. In California, legislative mandates require the Department of Transportation to incorporate crumb rubber into asphalt paving materials. Other recycled materials that are actively included in asphalt concrete mixes across the United States include steel slag, blast furnace slag, and cellulose fibers.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Further research has been conducted to discover new forms of waste that may be recycled into asphalt mixes. A 2020 study conducted in Melbourne, Australia presented a range of strategies for incorporating waste materials into asphalt concrete. The strategies presented in the study include the use of plastics, particularly high-density polyethylene, in asphalt binders, and the use of glass, brick, ceramic, and marble quarry waste in place of traditional aggregate.


title: Asphalt concrete

text: Rejuvenators may also be produced from recycled materials, including waste engine oil, waste vegetable oil, and waste vegetable grease.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: "New Super Mario Bros." was commercially successful and received positive reviews; praise went towards its improvements made to the "Mario" franchise and faithfulness to older Mario games, while criticism was targeted at its low difficulty level and many critics noted its similarity to previous games. It sold over 30 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling game for the Nintendo DS and one of the best-selling video games of all time. The game's success led to a line of sequels released for the Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and Nintendo Switch.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: "New Super Mario Bros." is a side-scrolling video game. While it is seen in 2D, most of the characters and objects are 3D polygonal renderings on 2D backgrounds, resulting in a 2.5D effect that visually simulates 3D computer graphics. The player can play as either Mario, or his younger brother, Luigi. Similar to previous "Mario" games, Mario or Luigi can jump, crouch, collect coins, stomp on enemies, and break open blocks. Moves from 3D "Mario" games reappear in "New Super Mario Bros.", including the ground pound, triple jump, and wall jump. Enemies from previous games, such as Boos, are also reintroduced.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: Between eight and twelve levels are available in each of eight worlds, which are shown in the Nintendo DS's bottom touchscreen while viewing the world map. The map of the currently selected world appears in the top screen, which is used to navigate between the world's levels. The goal of each level is to reach a black flag at the end of the level. At the end of each world, a boss must be defeated before proceeding to the next world. There are six power-ups available in "New Super Mario Bros."; the game allows the player to store an extra power-up when he is already using one, a feature carried over from "Super Mario World". Three power-ups from "Super Mario Bros." return: the Super Mushroom makes Mario grow in size, the Fire Flower lets Mario throw fireballs, and the Starman makes Mario temporarily invincible. Three more power-ups are introduced in "New Super Mario Bros.": the Blue Koopa Shell lets Mario withdraw into a shell to protect himself and perform a "shell dash" attack. He also swims faster when in this form. The Mega Mushroom grows Mario to an incredible size, where he can destroy everything in his path, and the Mini-Mushroom causes Mario to shrink, allowing him to enter tiny passageways. Mini Mario is so light that he can run on water and jump extremely high.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: The game's multiplayer mode pits two players against each other as they play as Mario and Luigi in one of five stages, trying to be the first to obtain a preset number of stars. Both players can attack each other in attempts to steal the other player's stars. Jumping on the opponent's character will make them lose one star while performing a ground pound will lose them three. In addition, some minigames previously available in "Super Mario 64 DS" have returned and now offer multiplayer options for added replay value. The minigames are divided into four categories: Action, Puzzle, Table and Variety. "New Super Mario Bros." contains eighteen minigames for single players and ten minigames for multiple players.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: Mario and Princess Peach are walking together when lightning suddenly strikes Peach's castle nearby. As Mario runs to investigate, Bowser Jr. appears, sneaking up on the Princess from behind and kidnapping her. Realizing what has happened, Mario quickly rushes back and gives chase. Mario ventures through eight worlds pursuing Bowser Jr. and trying to rescue the captured princess. Mario catches up to them and confronts Bowser Jr. occasionally, but is unable to save the princess from the young Koopa's clutches. At the end of the first world, Bowser Jr. retreats to a castle, where his father, Bowser, awaits Mario on a bridge over a pit filled with lava. In a scene highly reminiscent of the original "Super Mario Bros.", Mario activates a button behind Bowser to defeat him, and the bridge underneath Bowser collapses, causing him to fall into the lava which burns his flesh, leaving a skeleton.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: Though Bowser was defeated in the first world, this does not stop Bowser Jr. from running through the remaining worlds with Peach in tow, forcing Mario to chase after him before reaching Bowser's castle in World 8. There, Bowser Jr. revives his father's skeleton, creating Dry Bowser, but Mario once again defeats Bowser by dropping him into a deep pit. In the final battle, Bowser Jr. flees once more across a lava chasm to a larger castle, where he throws his father's bones into a cauldron and revives Bowser in his original form. They attack Mario in tandem, but Mario drops the pair into the pit below. In the game's final sequence, Mario rescues Peach, who kisses him on the cheek. Over the end credits, Bowser Jr. is seen dragging his unconscious father across the floor. He looks at the screen, and growls, breaking the fourth wall.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: Nintendo announced on February 21, 2006, that "New Super Mario Bros." would launch for the Nintendo DS on May 7, 2006. The game's new power-ups were also introduced at the same time, including the Blue Koopa Shell and the Mega Mushroom. Nintendo further mentioned that the game would be played in 2D, but use 3D models to create a 2.5D look and feel. The May 7 release was later delayed towards May 21, but the game's release date was eventually only pushed back slightly to May 15; Nintendo also planned to release it around the same time that the Nintendo DS Lite launched, on June 11, 2006.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: "New Super Mario Bros." is the first original 2D platform game to star Mario since "Super Mario Land 2" in 1992. "New Super Mario Bros." was available for play at E3 in 2005. The game's designers were given much more freedom with designs in "New Super Mario Bros." compared to previous 2D "Mario" games. Characters, enemies, and objects could now be created with much more detailed animations, without requiring that they be designed by hand. To provide visual cues, the developers made the game's camera more dynamic; it zooms in and out of action depending on the situation to provide focus where necessary.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: Physics play an important role in "New Super Mario Bros." improved game mechanics. Without the rigid restrictions of tile-based sprites and backgrounds, the designers were free to explore new gameplay mechanics; when Mario lands on top of a tree, it teeters over and eventually falls if he is stationary for too long. Mario can also swing on ropes and walk on wires that bend and stretch under his weight.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: Early in the game's development, the developers planned not to use voice acting to stay true to the spirit of the original "Super Mario Bros." for the Nintendo Entertainment System. However, voice acting was eventually embraced by the developers, who decided that it would serve the game in a positive manner. Although voice acting was used in earlier 2D "Mario" remakes, "New Super Mario Bros." is the first original 2D "Mario" game to use voice acting. Charles Martinet returned to voice Mario and Luigi, along with Nicole Mills as Princess Peach and Dolores Rogers as Bowser Jr. "New Super Mario Bros." features original music composed by Asuka Ohta and Hajime Wakai under the direction of the "Super Mario Bros." series composer, Koji Kondo, who also created the "Aboveground BGM", the main theme for regular levels. The game's music dictates gameplay; enemies jump and dance in time to the music. Predicting enemy movements, players can time their jumps with enemy movements to reach otherwise inaccessible areas.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: "New Super Mario Bros." was released by Nintendo in North America on May 15, 2006, in Japan on May 25, 2006, and in Europe on June 30, 2006. Nintendo did not specify why it chose to delay the game's release in its home market of Japan by ten days, but GameSpot noted that "it stands to reason that the company simply wants a few more days to build inventory." In Japan, over 480,000 units of "New Super Mario Bros." were sold on the day it was released and 900,000 copies in the first four days. At the time, it was the best-selling debut for a Nintendo DS game in Japan, but it has since been surpassed by "Pokémon Diamond" and "Pearl". It is Japan's 26th best-selling game in 2008. In the United States, 500,000 copies of "New Super Mario Bros." were sold in the first 35 days, and one million copies were sold twelve weeks after its release. Worldwide sales have steadily increased throughout the years, with five million copies by April 2008, eighteen million by March 2009, and 30.8 million by March 2016, making it the best-selling game for the Nintendo DS and one of the best-selling video games of all time.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: The game received positive reviews from critics, with several calling "New Super Mario Bros." one of the best games available for the Nintendo DS. GameZone believed that it was the "hot game" to purchase for any DS owner, noting its "huge exploration potential" and reinvention of the platform game genre. Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer stated, "I've done this sort of thing before hundreds of times across thousands of days in what feels like a dozen "Mario" games. I still love it." Believing that experienced players would require very little time to complete the game, GameSpot nevertheless considered "New Super Mario Bros." a "completely awesome" game that was an "absolutely necessary" video game to own. GamesRadar considered the game a bargain, noting that it included "a completely solid solo game, a simple-but-exciting two-player, and then a collection of super-quick stylus games".


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: Several reviewers drew comparisons between "New Super Mario Bros." and their favorite "Mario" games. Although some found that other "Mario" games were better, most reviewers were still pleased with the overall experience of the game. Some fans, however, criticized the game for its low difficulty compared to other Mario games. Craig Harris of IGN was enthused with "New Super Mario Bros.", stating that it was his new favorite platform game, beating out his previous favorite, "". Even though "Super Mario World" and "Super Mario Bros. 3" were considered the best 2D "Mario" games by "GamePro"'s Mr. Marbles, he decided to add "New Super Mario Bros." as his third favorite "Mario" game, which he admitted had much more replay value than the other two. Though the game includes new features such as a versus mode, Game Revolution disconcertedly asked the question, "Can Mario ever truly be new again?". It also disappointed Greg Sewart of X-Play, who found that the game did not live up to the standards set by its predecessors, but still considered the game the best side-scrolling video game available for the Nintendo DS.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: The game's graphics and audio received praise in a number of reviews. The "Computer and Video Games" magazine was entertained by the "finely crafted slice of Mario", along with the extra minigames offered. They believed that the audio was very good for a Nintendo DS game, predicting that "it'd still scare the pants off the hard-of-hearing." Though being a 2D game, GameSpy still found that the 2D and 3D elements blended together perfectly in "New Super Mario Bros." The game's overall experience pleased 1UP.com, which applauded Nintendo's ability to once again create an enjoyable, solid, and challenging portable experience. However, they were disappointed in the lack of imagination for this remake.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: "New Super Mario Bros." received numerous awards and accolades. It was given Game of the Month awards from "Game Informer" and "Electronic Gaming Monthly", and it received Editors' Choice Awards from IGN and GameSpot. The game was voted Best Handheld Game at the 2006 Spike Video Game Awards, Best Nintendo DS Game by GameSpot, and it won Best Platformer awards from X-Play and "Nintendo Power". The game was awarded Choice Video Game at the 2006 Teen Choice Awards, and Nintendo Game of the Year at the 2006 Golden Joystick Award. In 2009, "Official Nintendo Magazine" remarked "Sure, it's a little easy at times and a bit short but with genius new power-ups and loads of retro nods, few games put a bigger smile on your face," placing the game 30th on a list of greatest Nintendo games.


title: New Super Mario Bros.

text: "New Super Mario Bros. Wii", a successor to "New Super Mario Bros.", was released internationally for the Wii on November 12, 2009. It features similar gameplay to its predecessor, with several of the same power-ups returning as well as brand-new ones. The game is the first "Super Mario" game to feature cooperative gameplay for up to four people. A direct sequel, "New Super Mario Bros. 2" was released for the Nintendo 3DS on July 28, 2012. "New Super Mario Bros. U" was released as a launch title for the Wii U on November 18, 2012, and a deluxe version for the Nintendo Switch on January 11, 2019.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Polish Championship titles together with Ruch Chorzów. The club was a dominant force in the 1960s and 1980s. Górnik holds the record for winning the most consecutive Polish Championship titles (5) and Polish Cup titles (5). In addition, the club was 1969–70 Cup Winners' Cup runners-up.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: The club plays in a white or dark blue-red kit, and is based at the Arena Zabrze. Their main local rival is Ruch Chorzów.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: The club was founded in 1948 after several smaller sports associations – KS Zjednoczenie, KS Pogoń, KS Skra, and KS Concordia – were merged into a single organization, which took the name "Górnik", the Polish word for "Miner", reflecting the fact that Zabrze was an important coal-mining centre.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: In 1950 Górnik joined the Opole Silesia regional league. In 1952 the club was promoted to the Polish Second Division. Their first game in the second tier was against Skra Częstochowa, and was witnessed by 20,000 fans, with Górnik winning 5–1. The whole season was very successful and Górnik finished second overall, behind Górnik Wałbrzych.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: The club was promoted to the top division in 1955. In their first game in the top flight Górnik beat local rivals Ruch Chorzów 3–1, with 25,000 in attendance; the club finished the season in sixth place.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: In 1957, just a year after promotion, Górnik won its first championship of Poland. The team, with star, Ernest Pohl, was third in 1958, to regain the crown in 1959 and 1961, together with such players as Stanisław Oślizło and Hubert Kostka. In 1961 Górnik for the first time appeared in European Cups, losing in the first round to Tottenham Hotspur.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: The next championship, won in 1963, marked the beginning of an unusual streak of five consecutive titles (1963, 64, 65, 66 and 67), which is a Polish record.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: Górnik's biggest success in European football took place in 1970 (even though in Poland the team was second, after Legia Warsaw). In the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, Gornik beat all their opponents – Olympiacos, Rangers, Levski Sofia and AS Roma, reaching the final, which took place in Vienna. There, Manchester City turned out to be the better team, winning 2–1. The following season Górnik would once again play Manchester City, with the 1970 final being repeated this time in the quarter-final.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: During the mid-1970s Górnik form deteriorated and in late spring of 1978, the team was relegated to the Second Division. However, it returned after one year and in games of 1979–80, Zabrze's side finished sixth. In 1984, after purchasing of a group of talented players (Ryszard Komornicki, Waldemar Matysik, Eugeniusz Cebrat, Andrzej Zgutczyński, Tadeusz Dolny, Andrzej Pałasz), Górnik finished fourth, which was a sign of better times.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: Between 1985 and 1988 Górnik again marked a magnificent streak, with four consecutive championships. Zabrze's side also played versus renowned European powerhouses, such as Bayern Munich, Anderlecht, Hamburger SV, Juventus and Real Madrid.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: In 1994 Górnik competed again for the title and with players as Jerzy Brzęczek, Grzegorz Mielcarski, Tomasz Wałdoch, hopes were high. Before the last round of the league the standings at the top were: Legia 47 points and Górnik 45 points. Since the two teams were to face each other in Warsaw, Górnik still had a chance to win the title. However the game ended in a 1–1 tie which gave Legia the crown. Before Legia scored the goal which gave her the title (the score 0–1 would mean the title for Górnik), the referee of the match – Mr Redzinski – sent off one by one 3 players from Górnik's squad, and Górnik had to finished match with only 8 players against 11 players of Legia. It was the last match in Mr Redzinski's career.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: In the same year, Górnik played its last so far game in European Cups, losing to Admira Wacker Vienna.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: In the spring of 2007 Górnik got a new sponsor – German insurance company Allianz. However, after finishing 16th in the Ekstraklasa in 2008–09, the club was relegated to the Polish First League, the second level of Polish football, during the 2009–10 season. In June 2010, the club earned promotion back to the Ekstraklasa for the 2010–11 season. Since then, Górnik has promoted a number of players to the Poland national team and transferred several players to stronger leagues, including Arkadiusz Milik, Łukasz Skorupski, Szymon Żurkowski and Paweł Bochniewicz.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: Górnik Zabrze is believed to have one of the largest and most loyal fanbases in Poland, especially in the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. In the 2016–17 season, Górnik Zabrze drew the highest average home attendance (10,636) of all second level Polish football clubs. They also drew the highest attendance in their league (20,987). After their comeback to the top flight in 2017, Górnik drew the highest average home attendance in Polish football, surpassing current top teams Lech Poznań and Legia Warsaw, with most league games being sold-out.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: Górnik holds a long-standing rivalry with Upper Silesian side Ruch Chorzów, known as the Great Silesian Derby. Other main rivals are Piast Gliwice, Polonia Bytom, Legia Warsaw and Zagłębie Sosnowiec.


title: Górnik Zabrze

text: "Torcida Zabrze" is named after the ultras of Torcida Split, with whom they have friendly relations; together they are called "United Torcida". The have also friendly relations with fans of ROW Rybnik, Wisłoka Dębica, and GKS Katowice; the latter in past used to be a rival. Fans of Concordia Knurów, Naprzód Rydłutowy, Slavia Ruda Śląska and Czarni Pyskowice are also Górnik fan-clubs.


title: Hoatzin

text: The hoatzin ( ) or hoactzin ( ), (Opisthocomus hoazin), is the only species in the order Opisthocomiformes. It is a species of tropical bird found in swamps, riparian forests, and mangroves of the Amazon and the Orinoco basins in South America. It is notable for having chicks that have claws on two of their wing digits.


title: Hoatzin

text: It is the only member of the genus Opisthocomus (Ancient Greek: "long hair behind", referring to its large crest). This is the only extant genus in the family Opisthocomidae. The taxonomic position of this family has been greatly debated by specialists, and is still far from clear.


title: Hoatzin

text: The hoatzin is pheasant-sized, with a total length of , and a long neck and small head. It has an unfeathered blue face with maroon eyes, and its head is topped by a spiky, rufous crest. The long, sooty-brown tail is a broadly tipped buff. The upper parts are dark, sooty-brown-edged buff on the wing coverts, and streaked buff on the mantle and nape. The under parts are buff, while the crissum (the undertail coverts surrounding the cloaca), primaries, underwing coverts and flanks are rich rufous-chestnut, but this is mainly visible when it opens its wings.


title: Hoatzin

text: The hoatzin is a herbivore, eating leaves and fruit, and has an unusual digestive system with an enlarged crop used for fermentation of vegetable matter, in a manner broadly analogous to the digestive system of mammalian ruminants. The alternative name of "stinkbird" is derived from the bird's foul odour, which is caused by the fermentation of food in its digestive system.


title: Hoatzin

text: This is a noisy species, with a variety of hoarse calls, including groans, croaks, hisses and grunts. These calls are often associated with body movements, such as wing spreading.


title: Hoatzin

text: The hoatzin was originally described in 1776 by German zoologist Statius Müller. There has been much debate about the hoatzin's relationships with other birds. Because of its distinctness it has been given its own family, the Opisthocomidae, and its own suborder, the Opisthocomi. At various times, it has been allied with such taxa as the tinamous, the Galliformes (gamebirds), the rails, the bustards, seriemas, sandgrouse, doves, turacos and other Cuculiformes, and mousebirds. A whole genome sequencing study published in 2014 places the hoatzin as the sister taxon of a clade composed of Gruiformes (cranes) and Charadriiformes (plovers).


title: Hoatzin

text: In 2015, genetic research indicated that the hoatzin is the last surviving member of a bird line that branched off in its own direction 64 million years ago, shortly after the extinction event that killed the non-avian dinosaurs.


title: Hoatzin

text: With respect to other material evidence, an undisputed fossil record of a close hoatzin relative is specimen UCMP 42823, a single cranium backside. It is of Miocene origin and was recovered in the upper Magdalena River Valley, Colombia in the well known fauna of La Venta. This has been placed into a distinct, less derived genus, "Hoazinoides", but clearly would be placed into the same family as the extant species. It markedly differs in that the cranium of the living hoatzin is characteristic, being much domed, rounded, and shortened, and that these autapomorphies were less pronounced in the Miocene bird. Müller discussed these findings in the light of the supposed affiliation of the hoatzins and the Galliformes, which was the favored hypothesis at that time, but had been controversial almost since its inception. He cautioned, however, "that "Hoazinoides" by no means establishes a phyletic junction point with other galliforms" for obvious reasons, as we know today. Anything other than the primary findings of Müller are not to be expected in any case, as by the time of "Hoazinoides", essentially all modern bird families are either known or believed to have been present and distinct. Going further back in time, the Late Eocene or Early Oligocene (some 34 million years ago) "Filholornis" from France has also been considered "proof" of a link between the hoatzin and the gamebirds. The fragmentary fossil "Onychopteryx" from the Eocene of Argentina and the quite complete but no less enigmatic Early-Middle Eocene (Ypresian-Lutetian, some 48 million years ago) "Foro panarium" are sometimes used to argue for a hoatzin-cuculiform (including turacos) link. But as demonstrated above, this must be considered highly speculative, if not as badly off the mark as the relationship with Cracidae discussed by Miller.


title: Hoatzin

text: The earliest record of the order Opisthocomiformes is "Protoazin parisiensis", from the latest Eocene (approximately 34 mya) of Romainville, France. The holotype and only known specimen is NMB PG.70, consisting of partial coracoid, partial scapula, and partial pedal phalanx. According to the phylogenetic analysis performed by the authors, "Namibiavis", although later, is more basal than "Protoazin". Opisthocomiforms seem to have been much more widespread in the past, with the present South American distribution being only a relic. By the Early to Middle Miocene, they were probably extinct in Europe already, as formations dated to this time and representing fluvial or lacustrine palaeoenvironments, in which the hoatzin thrives today, have yielded dozens of bird specimens, but no opisthocomiform. A possible explanation to account for the extinction of "Protoazin" between the Late Eocene and the Early Miocene in Europe, and of "Namibiavis" after the Middle Miocene of Sub-Saharan Africa is the arrival of arboreal carnivorans, predation by which could have had a devastating effect on the local opisthocomiforms, if they were as poor flyers and had similarly vulnerable nesting strategies as today's hoatzins. Felids and viverrids first arrived in Europe from Asia after the Turgai Sea closed, marking the boundary between the Eocene and the Oligocene. None of these predators, and for the matter, no placental predator at all was present in South America before the Great American Interchange 3 mya, which could explain the survival of the hoatzin there. In addition to being the earliest fossil record of an opisthocomiform, "Protoazin" was also the earliest find of one (1912), but it was forgotten for more than a century, being described only in 2014.


title: Hoatzin

text: "Hoazinavis" is an extinct genus of early opisthocomiform from Late Oligocene and Early Miocene (about 24–22 mya) deposits of Brazil. It was collected in 2008 from the Tremembé Formation of São Paulo, Brazil. It was first named by Gerald Mayr, Herculano Alvarenga and Cécile Mourer-Chauviré in 2011 and the type species is "Hoazinavis lacustris".


title: Hoatzin

text: "Namibiavis" is another extinct genus of early opisthocomoform from early Middle Miocene (approximately 16 mya) deposits of Namibia. It was collected from Arrisdrift, southern Namibia. It was first named by Cécile Mourer-Chauviré in 2003 and the type species is "Namibiavis senutae".


title: Hoatzin

text: The hoatzin is a folivore - it eats the leaves (and to a lesser degree fruits and flowers) of the plants that grow in the marshy and riverine habitats where it lives. It clambers around clumsily along the branches, and being quite tame (though they become stressed by frequent visits), often allows close approach and is reluctant to flush. The hoatzin uses a leathery bump on the bottom of its crop to help balance itself on the branches. Once it was thought that the species could eat the leaves of only arums and mangroves, but the species is now known to consume the leaves of more than fifty species. One study undertaken in Venezuela found that the hoatzin's diet was 82% leaves, 10% flowers, and 8% fruit. Any feeding of insects or other animal matter is purely accidental.


title: Hoatzin

text: One of this species' many peculiarities is that it has a digestive system unique amongst birds. Hoatzins use bacterial fermentation in the front part of the gut to break down the vegetable material they consume, much as cattle and other ruminants do. Unlike ruminants, however, which possess the rumen (a specialized stomach for bacterial fermentation), the hoatzin has an unusually large crop, folded in two chambers, and a large, multi-chambered lower esophagus. Its stomach chamber and gizzard are much smaller than in other birds. The crop of the hoatzin is so large as to displace the flight muscles and keel of the sternum, much to the detriment of their flight capacity. Because of aromatic compounds in the leaves they consume and the bacterial fermentation, the bird has a disagreeable, manure-like odor and is only hunted by humans for food in times of dire need.


title: Hoatzin

text: Hoatzins are seasonal breeders, breeding during the rainy season, the exact timing of which varies across its range. Hoatzins are gregarious and nest in small colonies, laying two or three eggs in a stick nest in a tree hanging over water in seasonally flooded forests. The chicks, which are fed on regurgitated fermented food, have another odd feature; they have two claws on each wing. Immediately on hatching, they can use these claws, and their oversized feet, to scramble around the tree branches without falling into the water. When predators such as the great black hawk attack a hoatzin nesting colony, the adults fly noisily about, trying to divert the predator's attention, while the chicks move away from the nest and hide among the thickets. If discovered, however, they drop into the water and swim under the surface to escape, then later use their clawed wings to climb back to the safety of the nest. This has inevitably led to comparisons to the fossil bird "Archaeopteryx", but the characteristic is rather an autapomorphy, possibly caused by an atavism toward the dinosaurian finger claws, whose developmental genetics ("blueprint") presumably is still in the avian genome. Since "Archaeopteryx" had three functional claws on each wing, some earlier systematists speculated that the hoatzin was descended from it, because nestling hoatzins have two functional claws on each wing. Modern researchers, however, hypothesize that the young hoatzin's claws are of more recent origin, and may be a secondary adaptation from its frequent need to leave the nest and climb about in dense vines and trees well before it can fly.


title: Hoatzin

text: In Brazil, indigenous peoples sometimes collect the eggs for food, and the adults are occasionally hunted, but in general this is rare, as hoatzin meat is reputed to have a bad taste. While its preferred habitats of mangrove and riverine forest are disappearing quickly in some regions, it is less threatened than the Amazon rainforest, which is a primary target for deforestation. The hoatzin therefore remains fairly common in a large part of its range. The hoatzin is the national bird of Guyana.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: The United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus is a demilitarized zone, patrolled by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), that was established in 1964 and extended in 1974 after the ceasefire of 16 August 1974, following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, and the "de facto" partition of the island into the area controlled by the Republic of Cyprus (excluding the British Sovereign Base Areas) and the largely unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the north. The zone, also known as the Green Line (, "Prasini Grammi"; ), stretches for from Paralimni in the east to Kato Pyrgos in the west, where a separate section surrounds Kokkina.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: The dividing line is also referred to as the Attila Line, named after Turkey's 1974 military intervention, codenamed "Operation Attila". The Turkish army has built a barrier on the zone's northern side, consisting mainly of barbed-wire fencing, concrete wall segments, watchtowers, anti-tank ditches, and minefields. The zone cuts through the centre of Nicosia, separating the city into southern and northern sections. In total, it spans an area of , varying in width from less than to more than . After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Nicosia remains the last divided capital in Europe. Some 10,000 people live in several villages and work on farms located within the zone; the village of Pyla is famous for being one of the few remaining villages in Cyprus where Greek and Turkish Cypriots still live side by side. Other villages are Deneia, Athienou, and Troulloi. Some areas are untouched by human interference and have remained a safe haven for flora and fauna.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: A buffer zone in Cyprus was first established in the last days of 1963, when Major-General Peter Young was the commander of the British Joint Force (later known as the Truce Force and a predecessor of the present UN force). This Force was set up in the wake of the inter-communal violence of Christmas 1963. On 30 December 1963, following a ‘high powered’ twelve hour meeting chaired by Duncan Sandys (British Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations), General Young drew the agreed cease-fire line on a map with a green chinagraph pencil, which was to become known as the "Green Line". Brigadier Patrick Thursby also assisted in devising and establishing the Green Line.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: This map was then passed to General Young's intelligence officer, who was waiting in a nearby building and told to "Get on with it." Intelligence Corps NCOs then copied the map for distribution to the Truce Force units. Further copies of the map would then have been produced ‘in house’ for use by Truce Force patrols.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: The Green Line became impassable following the July 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus during which Turkey occupied approximately 37% of Cypriot territory, in response to a short-lived Greek Cypriot coup. A "security zone" was established after the Tripartite Conference of Geneva in July 1974. Pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 353 of 1974,<ref name="S/RES/353"></ref> the foreign ministers of Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom convened in Geneva on 25 July 1974. According to UNFICYP, the text of the joint declaration transmitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations was as follows:


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: The UN Security Council then adopted the above declaration with Resolution 355. When the coup dissolved, the Turkish Armed Forces advanced to capture approximately 37% of the island and met the "Green Line". The meandering Buffer Zone marks the southernmost points that the Turkish troops occupied during the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus in August 1974, running between the ceasefire lines of the Cypriot National Guard and Turkish army that "de facto" divides Cyprus into two, cutting through the capital of Nicosia. With the self-proclamation of the internationally unrecognized "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus", the Buffer Zone became its de facto southern border.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: Traffic across the buffer zone was very limited until 2003, when the number of crossings and the rules governing them were relaxed.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: Starts at Kokkina exclave and covers approximately to Mammari, west of Nicosia. Since 16 October 1993, it has been the responsibility of the Argentinian Contingent with approximately 212 soldiers. Sector One Headquarters and Command Company are located in San Martin Camp, which is near Skouriotissa village. Support Company finds its home at Roca Camp, near Xeros in the north. The two line companies are deployed along four permanently manned patrol bases while also conducting mobile patrols from the San Martin and Roca camps.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: Starts at Mammari, west of Nicosia and covers to Kaimakli, east of Nicosia. Since 1993, it has been the responsibility of the British contingent, which deploys using the name Operation TOSCA.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: Sector 3 was patrolled by Canadian troops until their departure in 1993. It was then absorbed into Sectors 2 and 4.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: Starting at Kaimakli, east of Nicosia and covers to the village of Dherinia, on the east coast of Cyprus and has been the responsibility of the Slovak contingent, with 202 soldiers.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: After a nearly 30-year ban on crossings, the Turkish Cypriot administration significantly eased travel restrictions across the dividing line in April 2003, allowing Greek Cypriots to cross at the Ledra Palace Crossing just outside the walls of old Nicosia. This was only made possible after the decision of the ECHR ("Djavit An vs Turkey", Application No.20652/92).


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: Before Cypriot accession to the European Union, there were restrictions on Green Line crossings by foreigners imposed by the Republic of Cyprus, but these were abolished for EU citizens by EU regulation 866/2004. Generally, citizens of any country are permitted to cross the line, including Greek and Turkish Cypriots. A 2005 EU report stated that "a systematic illegal route through the northern part to the government-controlled areas exists" allowing an influx of asylum seekers.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: On 11 August 1996, Greek Cypriots demonstrated with a march against the Turkish occupation of Cyprus. The demonstrators' demand was the complete withdrawal of Turkish troops and the return of Cypriot refugees to their homes and properties. Among the demonstrators was Cypriot refugee Tassos Isaac, who was beaten to death by the Turkish far-right group Grey Wolves.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: Another man, Solomos Solomou (Tassos Isaac's cousin), was shot to death by a Northern Cyprus minister during the same protests on 14 August 1996.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: Aged 26, Solomou was one of many mourners who entered the Buffer Zone three days after Isaac's funeral, on 14 August to lay a wreath on the spot where he had been beaten to death. As Solomou was climbing to a flagpole to remove the flag of Turkey, he was fired upon by Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Northern Cyprus Kenan Akin. An investigation by authorities of the Republic of Cyprus followed, and the suspects were named as Kenan Akin and Erdal Haciali Emanet (Turkey-born Chief of Special Forces of Northern Cyprus). International legal proceedings were instigated and arrest warrants for both were issued via Interpol. During the demonstrations on 14 August 1996, two British soldiers were also shot at and wounded by the Turkish forces: Neil Emery and Jeffrey Hudson, both from 39th Regiment Royal Artillery. Bombardier Emery was shot in his arm, whilst Gunner Hudson was shot in the leg by a high velocity rifle round and was airlifted to hospital in Nicosia, then on to RAF Akrotiri.


title: United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

text: The buffer zone between the checkpoints that divide Ledra Street was used as a space for activism from 15 October 2011 up until June 2012 by the Occupy Buffer Zone movement.


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: James Nolan Mason (born July 25, 1952) is an American neo-Nazi. Mason is an ideologue for the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi terrorist organization. After growing disillusioned with the mass movement approach of neo-Nazi movements, he begun advocating for white revolution through terrorism. He was referred to as the "Godfather of Fascist Terrorism" in the "Fair Observer". He has been convicted of assault and weapons charges, as well as charged with sexual exploitation and possession of pornographic images of a minor. In 2021, Mason is one of only two individuals sanctioned by the Canadian Government on its list of terror-related entities.


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: Mason grew up in Chillicothe, Ohio. In 1966, when he was 14 years old, he joined the youth movement of George Lincoln Rockwell's American Nazi Party (ANP). In 1968, when he was 16, Mason planned to murder the principal and other staff members at his high school. Instead, following the advice of William Luther Pierce, he quit school and began working at the ANP headquarters in Virginia.


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: After the assassination of Rockwell in 1967, Mason aligned himself with the National Socialist White People's Party (NSWPP) and Joseph Tommasi's National Socialist Liberation Front (NSLF). In 1970, at the age of 18, Mason became a full-fledged member of the NSWPP and returned to Chillicothe.


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: In the early 1980s, Mason began corresponding with Sandra Good and Lynette Fromme, two followers of Charles Manson. In 1982, along with Manson, Mason founded Universal Order, an organization that encouraged terror with notoriety, similar to that achieved by the Manson Family.


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: In 1973, Mason and fellow neo-Nazi Greg Hurles deployed tear gas against several Black teenagers in the parking lot of a Dairy Queen. Mason was convicted of assault and sentenced to six months in a Cincinnati workhouse.


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: In 1988 and 1991, police raided Mason's home in Ohio and seized pornographic photos of a 15-year-old girl. In 1992, he pleaded guilty to two counts of "illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material", for which he was sentenced to a $500 fine and a suspended sentence.


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: In May 1994, Mason was arrested and charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Mason threatened his ex-girlfriend, who was then 16 years old, and a Latino man whom she had been dating, with a firearm. Mason struck a plea bargain and was convicted of weapons charges, for which he was sentenced to three years of incarceration before being released in August 1999.


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: Mason's writings in the "Siege" newsletter, which have been compiled into a book, have been credited with forming a large part of the Atomwaffen Division's ideological foundation.


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: On March 14, 2020, Mason claimed that the Atomwaffen Division has disbanded. However, the group is believed to be on the cusp of being designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the State Department, and the Anti-Defamation League concluded "the move is designed to give members breathing room rather than actually end their militant activities". According to SITE Intelligence Group, Atomwaffen and its offshoots remain clandestinely active.


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: Mason has also been known to receive foreign admirers in his Denver home, including members of the Nordic Resistance Movement, a proscribed Finnish terrorist organization, and affiliated neo-Nazi music collective "Bolt of Ukko".


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: Mason believes that the neo-Nazis cannot take power as long as the existing U.S. government remains in place, and has advocated murder and violence to create chaos and anarchy, thereby destabilizing the government. Mason considers the terrorists Timothy McVeigh and James Fields Jr. to be "heroes" and promulgates anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. He expressed that the election of Donald Trump gave him hope, commenting that "in order to Make America Great Again, you have to make it white again".


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: Mason's writings are considered influential among radical right-wing and neo-Nazi movements. Between 1978 and 1980, he worked with the NSWPP and edited "The Stormer", their newsletter.


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: In 1980, Mason took over writing "Siege", the newsletter of the NSLF. He continued publishing until 1986. In the newsletter, Mason paid tribute to Adolf Hitler, Joseph Tommasi, Charles Manson, and Savitri Devi, and advocated random attacks and murders in order to destabilize society. In 1992, the newsletters were edited and published in book form as "Siege: The Collected Writings of James Mason" by Michael Jenkins Moynihan. The book acquired a neo-Nazi following and is now required reading for initiates of the Atomwaffen Division.


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: In 2000, he published "The Theocrat", a comparison of Bible passages and passages in Hitler's "Mein Kampf".


title: James Mason (neo-Nazi)

text: On June 25, 2021, it was announced that James Mason had been added to the entities designated as terrorist by Canada. Mason is only the second individual to be specifically added to the list.


title: Kyndryl

text: Kyndryl Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational information technology infrastructure services provider that designs, builds, manages and develops large-scale information systems. The company was created from the spin-off of IBM's infrastructure services business.


title: Kyndryl

text: Kyndryl was created from the spin-off of IBM's infrastructure services business, which comprised the bulk of IBM Global Technology Services. At year-end 2020, this business serviced a portfolio of nearly 4,400 customers, including 75% of the Fortune 100. After having a placeholder name of NewCo, it was given the name Kyndryl in April 2021, with "Kyn" referencing "kinship" and "Dryl" referencing "tendril".


title: Kyndryl

text: On November 4, 2021, Kyndryl completed its separation from IBM and began trading as an independent company on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "KD." Kyndryl is led by chairman and chief executive officer Martin Schroeter, who served as IBM's Chief Financial Officer from 2014 through the end of 2017.


title: Kyndryl

text: Kyndryl designs, builds, manages, and modernizes enterprises' IT infrastructure systems. The company is separated into six global managed services practices, including cloud; applications, data, and AI; core enterprise and zCloud; digital workplace; network and edge; and security and resiliency. It also operates a customer advisory practice that combines managed services, advisory services, and implementation. The company operates in 63 countries and has over 400 data centers under management.


title: Kyndryl

text: Kyndryl partnered with Microsoft to provide digital transformation services to customers while using Microsoft Cloud products. Under the agreement, Microsoft became Kyndryl's Premier Global Alliance Partner, with the two companies working together to accelerate hybrid cloud adoption, modernize business applications and processes, support workloads, and enable modern work experiences.


title: Kyndryl

text: On January 31, 2022, Kyndryl announced it was changing its geographic reporting segments and segment metrics. Measures of segment performance will be Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA.


title: Kyndryl

text: Kyndryl formed a strategic partnership with Google Cloud focused on digital transformation projects and helping enterprise customers become more data-driven and sustainable, combining the firms' capabilities in data and analytics, artificial intelligence, and infrastructure modernization.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a chronic disorder of the nervous system which is characterized by recurrent, unprovoked focal seizures that originate in the temporal lobe of the brain and last about one or two minutes. TLE is the most common form of epilepsy with focal seizures. A focal seizure in the temporal lobe may spread to other areas in the brain when it may become a "focal to bilateral seizure".


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: TLE is diagnosed by taking a medical history, blood tests, and brain imaging. It can have a number of causes such as head injury, stroke, brain infections, structural lesions in the brain, brain tumors, or it can be of "unknown onset". The first line of treatment is through anticonvulsants. Surgery may be an option, especially when there is an observable abnormality in the brain. Another treatment option is electrical stimulation of the brain through an implanted device called the vagus nerve stimulator (VNS).


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Over forty types of epilepsy are recognized and these are divided into two main groups: focal seizures and generalized seizures. Focal seizures account for approximately sixty percent of all adult cases. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the single most common form of focal seizure.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) recognizes two main types of temporal lobe epilepsy: mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), arising in the hippocampus, the parahippocampal gyrus and the amygdala which are located in the inner (medial) aspect of the temporal lobe, and lateral temporal lobe epilepsy (LTLE), the rarer type, arising in the neocortex at the outer (lateral) surface of the temporal lobe. The seizures of LTLE are characterized by auditory or visual features. Autosomal dominant lateral temporal lobe epilepsy (ADLTLE) is a rare hereditary condition, often associated with mutations in the LGI1 gene.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: When a seizure begins in the temporal lobe, its effects depend on the precise location of its point of origin, its "locus". In 1981, the ILAE recognized three types of seizures occurring in temporal lobe epilepsy. The classification was based on EEG findings. However, as of 2017 the general classification of seizures has been revised. The newer classification uses three key features: where the seizures begin, the level of awareness during a seizure, and other features.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Focal seizures in the temporal lobe involve small areas of the lobe such as the amygdala and hippocampus.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: The newer classification gives two types of "focal onset seizures", as "focal aware" and "focal impaired awareness".


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: "Focal aware" means that the level of consciousness is not altered during the seizure. In temporal lobe epilepsy, a focal seizure usually causes abnormal sensations only. Often, the patient cannot describe the sensations.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Focal aware seizures are often called "auras" when they serve as a warning sign of a subsequent seizure. Regardless, an "aura" is actually a seizure itself, and such a focal seizure may or may not progress to a focal impaired awareness seizure. People who experience only focal aware seizures may not recognize what they are, nor seek medical care.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Focal impaired awareness seizures are seizures which impair consciousness to some extent: they alter the person's ability to interact normally with their environment. They usually begin with a focal aware seizure, then spread to a larger portion of the temporal lobe, resulting in impaired consciousness. They may include autonomic and psychic features present in focal aware seizures.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: These seizures tend to have a warning or aura before they occur, and when they occur they generally tend to last only 1–2 minutes. It is not uncommon for an individual to be tired or confused for up to 15 minutes after a seizure has occurred, although postictal confusion can last for hours or even days. Though they may not seem harmful, due to the fact that the individual does not normally seize, they can be extremely harmful if the individual is left alone around dangerous objects or in situations requiring acute awareness, such as sterring a vehicle or operating machinery. With this type, some people do not even realize they are having a seizure and most of the time their memory from right before to after the seizure is wiped. First-aid is only required if there has been an injury or if this is the first time a person has had a seizure.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Seizures which begin in the temporal lobe, and then spread to involve both sides of the brain are termed "focal to bilateral". Where both sides of the brain or the whole brain are involved from the onset, these seizures are known as generalized seizures and may be tonic clonic. The arms, trunk, and legs stiffen (the tonic phase), in either a flexed or extended position, and then jerk (the clonic phase). These were previously known as "grand mal" seizures. The word "grand mal" comes from the French term, meaning "major affliction."


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: There is some period of recovery in which neurological function is altered after each of these seizure types. This is the "postictal state". The degree and length of postictal impairment directly correlates with the severity of the seizure type. Focal aware seizures often last less than sixty seconds; focal with impaired awareness seizures may last up to two minutes; and generalized tonic clonic seizures may last up to three minutes. The postictal state in seizures other than "focal aware" may last much longer than the seizure itself.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Because a major function of the temporal lobe is short-term memory, a focal with impaired awareness seizure, and a focal to bilateral seizure can cause amnesia for the period of the seizure, meaning that the seizure may not be remembered.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy have a higher prevalence of depression than the general population. Although the psychosocial impacts of epilepsy may be causative, there are also links in the phenomenology and neurobiology of TLE and depression.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: The temporal lobe and particularly the hippocampus play an important role in memory processing. Declarative memory (memories which can be consciously recalled) is formed in the area of the hippocampus called the "dentate gyrus".


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Temporal lobe epilepsy is associated with memory disorders and loss of memory. Animal models and clinical studies show that memory loss correlates with temporal lobe neuronal loss in temporal lobe epilepsy. Verbal memory deficit correlates with pyramidal cell loss in TLE. This is more so on the left in verbal memory loss. Neuronal loss on the right is more prominent in non-verbal (visuospatial memory loss).


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: After childhood onset, one third will "grow out" of TLE, finding a lasting remission up to an average of 20 years. The finding of a lesion such as hippocampal sclerosis (a scar in the hippocampus), tumour, or dysplasia, on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) predicts the intractability of seizures.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: The effect of temporal lobe epilepsy on personality is a historical observation dating to the 1800s. Personality and behavioural change in temporal lobe epilepsy is seen as a chronic condition when it persists for more than three months.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Geschwind syndrome is a set of behavioural phenomena seen in some people with TLE. Documented by Norman Geschwind, signs include: hypergraphia (compulsion to write (or draw) excessively), hyperreligiosity (intense religious or philosophical experiences or interests), hyposexuality (reduced sexual interest or drive), circumstantiality (result of a non-linear thought pattern, talks at length about irrelevant and trivial details). The personality changes generally vary by hemisphere.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: The existence of a "temporal lobe epileptic personality" and of Geschwind syndrome have been disputed and research is inconclusive.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: The causes of TLE include mesial temporal sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, brain infections, such as encephalitis and meningitis, hypoxic brain injury, stroke, cerebral tumours, and genetic syndromes. Temporal lobe epilepsy is not the result of psychiatric illness or fragility of the personality.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Although the theory is controversial, there is a link between febrile seizures (seizures coinciding with episodes of fever in young children) and subsequent temporal lobe epilepsy, at least epidemiologically.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: In the mid-1980s, human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) was suggested as a possible causal link between febrile convulsions and mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. However, although the virus is found in temporal lobe tissue at surgery for TLE, it has not been recognised as a major factor in febrile seizures or TLE.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Dispersion of the granule cell layer in the hippocampal dentate gyrus is occasionally seen in temporal lobe epilepsy and has been linked to the downregulation of reelin, a protein that normally keeps the layer compact by containing neuronal migration. It is unknown whether changes in reelin expression play a role in epilepsy.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: In TLE, there is loss of neurons in region CA1 and CA3 of the hippocampus. There is also damage to mossy cells and inhibitory interneurons in the hilar region of the hippocampus (region IV) and to the granule cells of the dentate gyrus. In animal models, neuronal loss occurs during seizures but in humans, neuronal loss predates the first seizure and does not necessarily continue with seizure activity. The loss of the GABA-mediated inhibitory interneurons may increase the hyperexcitability of neurons of the hippocampus leading to recurrent seizures. According to the "dormant basket cell" hypothesis, mossy cells normally excite basket cells which in turn, inhibit granule cells. Loss of mossy cells lowers the threshold of action potentials of the granule cells.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: In certain patients with temporal lobe epilepsy it has been found that the subiculum could generate epileptic activity. It has been found that GABA reversal potential is depolarising in the subpopulation of the pyramidal cells due to the lack of KCC2 co-transporter. It has been shown that it is theoretically possible to generate seizures in the neural networks due to down-regulation of KCC2, consistent with the chloride measurements during the transition to seizure and KCC2 blockade experiments.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Granule cell dispersion is a type of developmental migration and a pathological change found in the TLE brain which was first described in 1990. The granule cells of the dentate gyrus are tightly packed forming a uniform, laminated layer with no monosynaptic connections. This structure provides a filter for the excitability of neurons.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: In TLE, granule cells are lost, the structure is no longer closely packed and there are changes in the orientation of dendrites. These changes may or may not be epileptogenic. For instance, if the dendrites of granule cells reconnect, it may be in a way (through the laminar planes) that allows hyperexcitability. However, not all patients have granule cell dispersion.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Mossy fibers are the axons of granule cells. They project into the hilus of the dentate gyrus and stratum lucidum in the CA3 region giving inputs to both excitatory and inhibitory neurons.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: In the TLE brain, where granule cells are damaged or lost, axons, the "mossy" fibres, 'sprout' in order to reconnect to other granule cell dendrites. This is an example of "synaptic reorganization". This was noted in human tissue in 1974 and in animal models in 1985. In TLE, the sprouting mossy fibres are larger than in the normal brain and their connections may be aberrant. Mossy fibre sprouting continues from one week to two months after injury.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Aberrant mossy fibre sprouting may create excitatory feedback circuits that lead to temporal lobe seizures. This is evident in intracellular recordings. Stimulation of aberrant mossy fibre areas increases the excitatory postsynaptic potential response.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: However, aberrant mossy fiber sprouting may inhibit excitatory transmission by synapsing with basket cells which are inhibitory neurons and by releasing GABA and neuropeptide Y which are inhibitory neurotransmitters. Also, in animal models, granule cell hyper-excitability is recorded before aberrant mossy fibre sprouting has occurred.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: The diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy can include the following methods: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), CT scans, positron emission tomography (PET), EEG, and magnetoencephalography.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: CT scan is useful as the emergency situations when the suspected cause of epilepsy is due to conditions such as intracerebral haemorrhage, or brain abscesses, or when MRI imaging is not readily available or there is any contraindications to MRI such as the presence of cardiac pacemakers or cochlear implants in the subject's body. CT scan also detect some abnormal calcifications in the brain that is characteristic of diseases such as tuberous sclerosis and Sturge–Weber syndrome. However, CT scan is not sensitive or specific enough when compared in MRI in detecting the common causes of epilepsy such as small tumours, vascular malformations, abnormalities of cerebral cortex development, or abnormalities in the medial part of the temporal lobe.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: MRI is the imaging choice when assessing those with epilepsy. In newly diagnosed epilepsy, MRI can detect brain lesion in up to 12 to 14% of the cases. However, for those with chronic epilepsy, MRI can detect brain lesion in 80% of the cases. However, in cases where there is definite clinical and EEG diagnosis of idiopathic generalized epilepsy, or Rolandic epilepsy, MRI scan is not needed.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Other medical conditions with similar symptoms include panic attacks, psychosis spectrum disorders, tardive dyskinesia, and occipital lobe epilepsy.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Many anticonvulsant oral medications are available for the management of temporal lobe seizures. Most anticonvulsants function by decreasing the excitation of neurons, for example, by blocking fast or slow sodium channels or by modulating calcium channels; or by enhancing the inhibition of neurons, for example by potentiating the effects of inhibitory neurotransmitters like GABA.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: In TLE, the most commonly used older medications are phenytoin, carbamazepine, primidone, valproate, and phenobarbital. Newer drugs, such as gabapentin, topiramate, levetiracetam, lamotrigine, pregabalin, tiagabine, lacosamide, and zonisamide promise similar effectiveness, with possibly fewer side-effects. Felbamate and vigabatrin are newer, but can have serious adverse effects so they are not considered as first-line treatments.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Up to one third of patients with medial temporal lobe epilepsy will not have adequate seizure control with medication alone. For patients with medial TLE whose seizures remain uncontrolled after trials of several types of anticonvulsants (that is, the epilepsy is "intractable"), surgical excision of the affected temporal lobe may be considered.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Epilepsy surgery has been performed since the 1860s and doctors have observed that it is highly effective in producing freedom from seizures. However, it was not until 2001 that a scientifically sound study was carried out to examine the effectiveness of temporal lobectomy.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Temporal lobe surgery can be complicated by decreased cognitive function. However, after temporal lobectomy, memory function is supported by the opposite temporal lobe; and recruitment of the frontal lobe. Cognitive rehabilitation may also help.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Where surgery is not recommended, further management options include new (including experimental) anticonvulsants, and vagus nerve stimulation. The ketogenic diet is also recommended for children, and some adults. Other options include brain cortex responsive neural stimulators, deep brain stimulation, stereotactic radiosurgery, such as the gamma knife, and laser ablation.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: The first to record and catalog the abnormal symptoms and signs of TLE was Norman Geschwind. He found a constellation of symptoms that included hypergraphia, hyperreligiosity, collapse, and pedantism, now called "Geschwind syndrome".


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: Vilayanur S. Ramachandran explored the neural basis of the hyperreligiosity seen in TLE using the galvanic skin response (GSR), which correlates with emotional arousal, to determine whether the hyperreligiosity seen in TLE was due to an overall heightened emotional state or was specific to religious stimuli. Ramachandran presented two subjects with neutral, sexually arousing and religious words while measuring GSR. Ramachandran was able to show that patients with TLE showed enhanced emotional responses to the religious words, diminished responses to the sexually charged words, and normal responses to the neutral words. This study was presented as an abstract at a neuroscience conference and referenced in Ramachandran's book, "Phantoms in the Brain", but it has never been published in the peer-reviewed scientific press.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: A study in 2015, reported that intrinsic religiosity and religiosity outside of organized religion were higher in patients with epilepsy than in the control group. Lower education level, abnormal background EEG activity, and hippocampal sclerosis have been found to be contributing factors for religiosity in TLE.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: TLE has been suggested as a materialistic explanation for the revelatory experiences of prominent religious figures such as Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Saint Paul, Joan of Arc, Saint Teresa of Ávila, and Joseph Smith. These experiences are described (in possibly unreliable accounts) as complex interactions with their visions; but possibly (and dependent on the reliability of historical accounts, often made by acolytes) lack the stereotypy, amnestic periods, and automatisms or generalized motor events, which are characteristic of TLE. Psychiatric conditions with psychotic spectrum symptoms might be more plausible physical explanation of these experiences.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: It has been suggested that Pope Pius IX's doctrine of the immaculate conception was influenced by his forensically diagnosed partial epilepsy.


title: Temporal lobe epilepsy

text: In 2016, a case history found that a male temporal lobe epileptic patient experienced a vision of God following a temporal lobe seizure, while undergoing EEG monitoring. The patient reported that God had sent him to the world to "bring redemption to the people of Israel". The purported link between TLE and religiosity has inspired work by Michael Persinger and other researchers in the field of neurotheology. Others have questioned the evidence for a link between temporal lobe epilepsy and religiosity.


title: Geography of China

text: China has great physical diversity. The eastern plains and southern coasts of the country consist of fertile lowlands and foothills. They are the location of most of China's agricultural output and human population. The southern areas of the country (South of the Yangtze River) consist of hilly and mountainous terrain. The west and north of the country are dominated by sunken basins (such as the Gobi and the Taklamakan), rolling plateaus, and towering massifs. It contains part of the highest tableland on earth, the Tibetan Plateau, and has much lower agricultural potential and population.


title: Geography of China

text: Traditionally, the Chinese population centered on the Chinese central plain and oriented itself toward its own enormous inland market, developing as an imperial power whose center lay in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River on the northern plains. More recently, the coastline has been used extensively for export-oriented trade, causing the coastal provinces to become the leading economic center.


title: Geography of China

text: The People's Republic of China has an area of about . The exact land area is sometimes challenged by border disputes, most notably about Taiwan, Aksai Chin, the Trans-Karakoram Tract, and South Tibet. The area of the People's Republic of China is according to the CIA's "The World Factbook". The People's Republic of China is either the third or fourth largest country in the world, being either slightly larger or slightly smaller than the United States depending on how the area of the United States is measured. Both countries are smaller than Russia and Canada and larger than Brazil.


title: Geography of China

text: The topography of China has been divided by the Chinese government into five homogeneous physical macro-regions, namely Eastern China (subdivided into the northeast plain, north plain, and southern hills), Xinjiang-Mongolia, and the Tibetan highlands. It is diverse with snow-capped mountains, deep river valleys, broad basins, high plateaus, rolling plains, terraced hills, sandy dunes with many other geographic features and other landforms present in myriad variations. In general, the land is high in the west and descends to the east coast. Mountains (33 percent), plateaus (26 percent) and hills (10 percent) account for nearly 70 percent of the country's land surface. Most of the country's arable land and population are based in lowland plains (12 percent) and basins (19 percent), though some of the greatest basins are filled with deserts. The country's rugged terrain presents problems for the construction of overland transportation infrastructure and requires extensive terracing to sustain agriculture, but is conducive to the development of forestry, mineral and hydropower resources, and tourism.


title: Geography of China

text: Northeast of Shanhaiguan a narrow sliver of flat coastal land opens up into the vast Northeast China Plain. The plains extend north to the crown of the "Chinese rooster," near where the Greater and Lesser Hinggan ranges converge. The Changbai Mountains to the east divide China from the Korean peninsula. Compared with the rest of the area of China, here live the most Chinese people due to its adequate climate and topography.


title: Geography of China

text: The Taihang Mountains form the western side of the triangular North China Plain. The other two sides are the Pacific coast to the east and the Yangtze River to the southwest. The vertices of this triangle are Beijing to the north, Shanghai to the southeast, and Yichang to the southwest. This alluvial plain, fed by the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, is one of the most heavily populated regions of China. The only mountains in the plain are the Taishan in Shandong and Dabie Mountains of Anhui.


title: Geography of China

text: East of the Tibetan Plateau, deeply folded mountains fan out toward the Sichuan Basin, which is ringed by mountains with 1,000–3,000 m elevation. The floor of the basin has an average elevation of 500 m and is home to one of the most densely farmed and populated regions of China. The Sichuan Basin is capped in the north by the eastward continuation of the Kunlun range, the Qinling, and the Dabashan. The Qinling and Dabashan ranges form a major north-south divide across China Proper, the traditional core area of China. Southeast of the Tibetan Plateau and south of the Sichuan Basin is the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, which occupies much of southwest China. This plateau, with an average elevation of 2,000 m, is known for its limestone karst landscape.


title: Geography of China

text: South of the Yangtze, the landscape is more rugged. Like Shanxi Province to the north, Hunan and Jiangxi each have a provincial core in a river basin that is surrounded by mountains. The Wuling range separates Guizhou from Hunan. The Luoxiao and Jinggang divide Hunan from Jiangxi, which is separated from Fujian by the Wuyi Mountains. The southeast coastal provinces, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, have rugged coasts, with pockets of lowland and mountainous interior. The Nanling, an east-west mountain range across northern Guangdong, seals off Hunan and Jiangxi from Guangdong.


title: Geography of China

text: Northwest of the Tibetan Plateau, between the northern slope of Kunlun and southern slope of Tian Shan, is the vast Tarim Basin of Xinjiang, which contains the Taklamakan Desert. The Tarim Basin, the largest in China, measures from east to west and from north to south at its widest parts. Average elevation in the basin is 1,000 m. To the east, the basin descends into the Hami-Turpan Depression of eastern Xinjiang, where the dried lake bed of Lake Ayding, at −154m below sea level, is the lowest surface point in China and the third-lowest in the world. With temperatures that have reached 49.6 C., the lake bed ranks as one of the hottest places in China. North of Tian Shan is Xinjiang's second great basin, the Junggar, which contains the Gurbantünggüt Desert. The Junggar Basin is enclosed to the north by the Altay Mountains, which separate Xinjiang from Russia and Mongolia.


title: Geography of China

text: Northeast of the Tibetan Plateau, the Altun Shan-Qilian Mountains range branches off the Kunlun and creates a parallel mountain range running east-west. In between in northern Qinghai is the Qaidam Basin, with elevations of 2,600–3,000 m and numerous brackish and salt lakes. North of the Qilian is Hexi Corridor of Gansu, a natural passage between Xinjiang and China Proper that was part of the ancient Silk Road and traversed by modern highway and rail lines to Xinjiang. Further north, the Inner Mongolian Plateau, between 900–1,500 m in elevation, arcs north up the spine of China and becomes the Greater Hinggan Range of Northeast China.


title: Geography of China

text: Between the Qinling and the Inner Mongolian Plateau is Loess Plateau, the largest of its kind in the world, covering in Shaanxi, parts of Gansu and Shanxi provinces, and some of Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Region. The plateau is 1,000–1,500m in elevation and is filled with loess, a yellowish, loose soil that travels easily in the wind. Eroded loess silt gives the Yellow River its color and name. The Loess Plateau is bound to the east by the Luliang Mountain of Shanxi, which has a narrow basin running north to south along the Fen River. Further east are the Taihang Mountains of Hebei, the dominant topographical feature of North China.


title: Geography of China

text: The world's tallest mountains, the Karakorum, Pamirs and Tian Shan divide China from South and Central Asia. Eleven of the seventeen tallest mountain peaks on Earth are located on China's western borders. They include the world's tallest peak Mount Everest (8848 m) in the Himalayas on the border with Nepal and the world's second tallest peak, K2 (8611 m) on the border with Pakistan. From these towering heights in the west, the land descends in steps like a terrace.


title: Geography of China

text: North of the Himalayas and east of the Karakorum/Pamirs is the vast Tibetan Plateau. It is the largest and highest plateau in the world, and for this reason is also informally known as the "Roof of the World." Its average elevation is 4000 meters above sea level. Its area is 2.5 million square kilometers which is just over a quarter of China's total area. In the north, the plateau is hemmed in by the Kunlun Mountains, which extends eastward from the intersection of the Pamirs, Karakorum and Tian Shan.


title: Geography of China

text: Besides Mt. Everest and K2, the other 9 of the world's 17 tallest peaks on China's western borders are: Lhotse (8516 m, 4th highest), Makalu (8485 m, 5th), Cho Oyu (8188 m, 6th), Gyachung Kang (7952 m, 15th) of the Himalayas on the border with Nepal and Gasherbrum I (8080 m, 11th), Broad Peak (8051 m, 12th), Gasherbrum II (8035 m, 13th), Gasherbrum III (7946 m, 16th) and Gasherbrum IV (7932 m, 17th) of the Karakorum on the border with Pakistan. The tallest peak entirely within China is Shishapangma (8013 m, 14th) of the Tibetan Himalayas in Nyalam County of Tibet Autonomous Region. In all, 9 of the 14 mountain peaks in the world over 8,000 m are in or on the border of China. Another notable Himalayan peak in China is Namchabarwa (7782 m, 28th), near the great bend of the Yarlungtsanpo (upper Brahmaputra) River in eastern Tibet, and considered to be the eastern anchor of the Himalayas.


title: Geography of China

text: Outside the Himalayas and Karakorum, China's tallest peaks are Kongur Tagh (7649 m, 37th) and Muztagh Ata (7546 m, 43rd) in the Pamirs of western Xinjiang, Gongga Shan (7556 m, 41st) in the Great Snowy Mountains of western Sichuan; and Tömür Shan (7439 m, 60th), the highest peak of Tian Shan, on the border with Kyrgyzstan.


title: Geography of China

text: China originally had an estimated number of 50,000 rivers. However, due to statistical discrepancies, water and soil loss, and climate change, there are currently only an estimated 22,000 rivers remaining. The rivers in China have a total length of 420,000 kilometers. 1,500 have a catchment area exceeding 1,000 square kilometers. The majority of rivers flow west to east into the Pacific Ocean. The Yangtze (Chang Jiang) rises in Tibet, flows through Central China and enters the East China Sea near Shanghai. The Yangtze is 6,300 kilometers long and has a catchment area of 1.8 million square kilometers. It is the third longest river in the world, after the Amazon and the Nile. The second longest river in China is the Huang He (Yellow River). It rises in Tibet and travels circuitously for 5,464 kilometers through North China, it empties into the Bo Hai Gulf on the north coast of the Shandong Province. It has a catchment area of 752,000 square kilometers. The Heilongjiang (Heilong or Black Dragon River) flows for 3,101 kilometers in Northeast China and an additional 1,249 kilometers in Russia, where it is known as the Amur. The longest river in South China is the Zhujiang (Pearl River), which is 2,214 kilometers long. Along with its three tributaries, the Xi (West), Dong (East), and Bei (North) rivers, it forms the Pearl River Delta near Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Macau, and Hong Kong. Other major rivers are the Liaohe in the northeast, Haihe in the north, Qiantang in the east, and Lancang in the southwest.


title: Geography of China

text: Inland drainage involving upland basins in the north and northeast accounts for 40 percent of the country's total drainage area. Many rivers and streams flow into lakes or diminish in the desert. Some are used for irrigation.


title: Geography of China

text: China's territorial waters are principally marginal seas of the western Pacific Ocean. These waters lie on the indented coastline of the mainland and approximately 5,000 islands. The Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea are marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean. More than half the coastline, predominantly in the south, is rocky; most of the remainder is sandy. The Bay of Hangzhou roughly divides the two kinds of shoreline.


title: Geography of China

text: There is a steep drop in the river level in the North China Plain, where the river continues across the delta, it transports a heavy load of sand and mud which is deposited on the flat plain. The flow is aided by manmade embankments. As a result, the river flows on a raised ridge fifty meters above the plain. Waterlogging, floods, and course changes have recurred over the centuries. Traditionally, rulers were judged by their concern for or indifference to preservation of the embankments. In the modern era, China has undertaken extensive flood control and conservation measures.