title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: The presence of antibodies against GAD is the best indication of the condition that can be detected by blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) testing. Anti-GAD65 is found in about 80 percent of SPS patients. Anti-thyroid, anti-intrinsic factor, anti-nuclear, anti-RNP, and anti-gliadin are also often found in blood tests. Electromyography (EMG) demonstrates involuntary motor unit firing in SPS patients. EMG can confirm the SPS diagnosis by noting spasms in distant muscles as a result of subnoxious stimulation of cutaneous or mixed nerves. Responsiveness to diazepam helps confirm that the patient has SPS, as this drug will decrease stiffness and motor unit firing.


title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: The same general criteria are used to diagnose paraneoplastic SPS as for the normal form of the condition. Once SPS is diagnosed, poor response to conventional therapies and the presence of cancer indicate that it may be paraneoplastic. CT scans are indicated for SPS patients who respond poorly to therapy to determine if cancer is the cause.


title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: A variety of conditions have similar symptoms to SPS, including myelopathies, dystonias, spinocerebellar degenerations, primary lateral sclerosis, neuromyotonia, and some psychogenic disorders. Tetanus, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, malignant hyperpyrexia, chronic spinal interneuronitis, serotonin syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and Isaacs syndrome should also be excluded.


title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: Patients' fears and phobias often incorrectly lead doctors to think their symptoms are psychogenic, and they are sometimes suspected of malingering. It takes an average of six years after the onset of symptoms before the disease is diagnosed.


title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: There is no evidence-based criterion for treating SPS, and there have been no large controlled trials of treatments for the condition. The rarity of the disease complicates efforts to establish guidelines.


title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: Although no treatment exists, intravenous immune globulin has been found to be a "well-tolerated and effective" therapy.


title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: GABA agonists, usually diazepam but sometimes other benzodiazepines, are the primary treatment for SPS. Drugs that increase GABA activity alleviate muscle stiffness caused by a lack of GABAergic tone. They increase pathways that are dependent upon GABA and have muscle relaxant and anticonvulsant effects, often providing symptom relief. Because the condition worsens over time, patients generally require increased dosages, leading to more side effects. For this reason, gradual increase in dosage of benzodiazepines is indicated. Baclofen, a GABA agonist, is generally used when individuals taking high doses of benzodiazepines have high side effects. In some cases it has shown improvements in electrophysiological and muscle stiffness when administered intravenously. Intrathecal baclofen administration may not have long-term benefits though, and there are potential serious side effects.


title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: Therapies that target the autoimmune response are also used. Intravenous immunoglobin is the best second-line treatment for SPS. It often decreases stiffness and improves quality of life and startle reflex. It is generally safe, but there are possible serious side effects and it is expensive. The European Federation of Neurological Societies suggests it be used when disabled patients do not respond well to diazepam and baclofen. Steroids, rituximab, and plasma exchange have been used to suppress the immune system in SPS patients. Plasma exchange, or plasmapheresis, has been shown to benefit patients who do not respond to first-line therapy, specifically beneficial for patients with anti-GAD65 positive SPS. Botulinum toxin has been used to treat SPS, but it does not appear to have long-term benefits and has potential serious side effects. In paraneoplastic cases, tumors must be managed for the condition to be contained. Opiates are sometimes used to treat severe pain, but they may exacerbate symptoms.


title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) with high intensity conditioning protocol has been performed in a few cases with severe anti-GAD positive SPS, resulting in clinical remission. In carefully selected cases of severe, treatment refractory SPS, HSCT may be an effective therapeutic option.


title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: The progression of SPS depends on whether it is a typical or abnormal form of the condition and the presence of comorbidities. Early recognition and neurological treatment can limit its progression. SPS is generally responsive to treatment, but the condition usually progresses and stabilizes periodically. Even with treatment, quality of life generally declines as stiffness precludes many activities. Some patients require mobility aids due to the risk of falls. About 65 percent of SPS patients are unable to function independently. About ten percent of SPS patients require intensive care at some point; sudden death occurs in about the same number of patients. These deaths are usually caused by metabolic acidosis or an autonomic crisis.


title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: SPS is estimated to have a prevalence of about one per million. Underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis hinder epidemiological information about the condition and may have led to its prevalence being underestimated. In the United Kingdom, 119 cases were identified between 2000 and 2005. It does not predominantly occur in any racial or ethnic group. The age of onset varies from about 30 to 60, and it most frequently occurs in people in their 40s. Five to ten percent of patients with SPS have the paraneoplastic variant of the condition. In one group of 127 patients, only 11 of them had paraneoplastic symptoms. About 35 percent of SPS patients have type I diabetes.


title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: SPS was first described by Moersch and Woltman in 1956. Their description of the disease was based on 14 cases that they had observed over 32 years. Using electromyography, they noted that motor-unit firing suggested that voluntary muscle contractions were occurring in their patients. Previously, cases of SPS had been dismissed as psychogenic problems. Moersch and Woltman initially called the condition "stiff-man syndrome", but the first female patient was confirmed in 1958 and a young boy was confirmed to have it in 1960. Clinical diagnostic criteria were developed by Gordon et al. in 1967. They observed "persistent tonic contraction reflected in constant firing, even at rest" after providing patients with muscle relaxants and examining them with electromyography. In 1989, criteria for an SPS diagnosis were adopted that included episodic axial stiffness, progression of stiffness, lordosis, and triggered spasms. The name of the disease was shifted from "stiff-man syndrome" to the gender-neutral "stiff-person syndrome" in 1991.


title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: In 1963, it was determined that diazepam helped alleviate symptoms of SPS. Corticosteroids were first used to treat the condition in 1988, and plasma exchange was first applied the following year. The first use of intravenous immunoglobulin to treat the condition came in 1994.


title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: In 1988, Solimena et al. discovered that autoantibodies against GAD played a key role in SPS. Two years later, Solimena found the antibodies in 20 out of 33 patients examined. In the late 1980s, it was also demonstrated that the serum of SPS patients would bind to GABAergic neurons. In 2006, the role of GABARAP in SPS was discovered. The first case of paraneoplastic SPS was found in 1975. In 1993, antiamphiphysin was shown to play a role in paraneoplastic SPS, and seven years later antigephyrin was also found to be involved in the condition.


title: Stiff-person syndrome

text: In December 2022, singer Céline Dion announced that she is suffering from this syndrome, resulting in cancelled performances.


title: Red drum

text: The red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), also known as redfish, channel bass, puppy drum, spottail bass, or simply red, is a game fish found in the Atlantic Ocean from Massachusetts to Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to northern Mexico. It is the only species in the genus Sciaenops.


title: Red drum

text: The red drum is related to the black drum ("Pogonias cromis"), and the two species are often found near to each other; they can interbreed and form a robust hybrid, and younger fish are often indistinguishable in flavor.


title: Red drum

text: Red drum are a dark red color on the back, which fades into white on the belly. The red drum has a characteristic eyespot near the tail and is somewhat streamlined. Three-year-old red drum typically weigh 6-8 lb. The largest red drum on record weighed just over 94 lb and was caught in 1984 on Hatteras Island. Male red drum make a knocking or drumming sound during spawning by vibrating their swim bladders.


title: Red drum

text: The most distinguishing mark on the red drum is one large black spot on the upper part of the tail base. Having multiple spots is not uncommon for this fish, but having no spots is extremely rare. As the fish with multiple spots grow older, they seem to lose their excess spots. Scientists believe that the black spot near their tail helps fool predators into attacking the red drum's tail instead of its head, allowing the red drum to escape. The red drum uses its senses of sight and touch, and its downturned mouth, to locate forage on the bottom through vacuuming or biting. On the top and middle of the water column, it uses changes in the light that might look like food. In the summer and fall, adult red drum feed on crabs, shrimp, and mullet; in the spring and winter, adults primarily feed on menhaden, mullet, pinfish, sea robin, lizardfish, spot, Atlantic croaker, and mudminnows.


title: Red drum

text: Red drum naturally occur along the eastern and southern Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia. They are a highly prized game fish in the Gulf of Mexico. Aquaculture activities involving them occur around the world. Several individuals have been recently reported from the Mediterranean Sea off Israel and Sicily, all likely escapees from aquaculture farms.


title: Red drum

text: Immature red drum prefer grass marsh areas of bays and estuaries when available. Both younger mature red drum (3-6 years of age) and bull red drum prefer rocky outcroppings including jetties and manmade structures, such as oil rigs and bridge posts. Around this type of structure, they are found throughout the water column.


title: Red drum

text: Mature red drum spawn in near shorelines from mid-August to mid-October. The red drum's eggs incubate for 24 hours. A female lays about 1.5 million (with a range of 200,000 up to more than three million) eggs per batch. Scharf (2000) reported that in the first year, young red drum in Texas estuaries grew about 0.6 mm per day, though the rates varied with location and year and were higher in more southerly estuaries. After the first year, they may be 271 – 383 mm long. About half of red drum are able to reproduce by age 4 years, when they are 660-700 mm long and 3.4 – 4 kg in weight. Red drum can live to be 60 years old.


title: Red drum

text: As red drum grow longer, they increase in weight exponentially. The relationship between length (L) and weight (W) for nearly all species of fish can be expressed by an equation of the form:


title: Red drum

text: Invariably, b is close to 3.0 for all species, and a varies between species. Jenkins (2004) reported slightly different weight-length relationships for red drum caught in the spring and the fall off the western Gulf Coast of Louisiana:


title: Red drum

text: where weight is in grams and length is total length measured in millimeters. For example, these relationships predict that a 600-mm red drum (just under 2 ft long) would weigh about 2300 g (just over 5 lb). These relationships can be used more specifically to determine how healthy a sample of red drum is by comparing their actual weights to weights predicted by these relationships for the same length.


title: Red drum

text: Red drum have a moderate flavor and are not oily. Big drum can be tricky to clean; removing the large scales can be challenging. Many fishers prefer to fillet with an electric knife, first removing the fillet from along the backbone, and then using the electric knife to cut the fillet from the skin and scales. Fish over 15 lb can become tough and have a consistency comparable with chicken, rather than the flaky texture of many species of fish. Younger fish are often indistinguishable in flavor from black drum.


title: Red drum

text: From 1980 through 1988, commercial fishermen took an average of 28% of the redfish, while sport fishermen harvested 72%. Catch limits and size restrictions have increased the average weight of redfish caught in Louisiana coastal waters. Restrictions on both sport and commercial fishermen allowed the species to rebuild. States actively vary the recreational catch limits and minimum and maximum lengths to help maintain sustainable red drum populations. of October 20, 2007, issued by U.S. President George W. Bush, designated the red drum as a protected game fish. The order prohibits sale of red drum caught in federal waters and encourages states to consider designating red drum as a protected game fish within state waters.


title: Red drum

text: While they may no longer be commercially harvested in U.S. federal waters or in most state waters, they are readily caught and still enjoyed as table fare by many. In addition, farm-raised redfish are still available as a commercial product Commercial netting disappeared after coastal states such as Florida declared red drum prohibited for sale. Recreational size and bag limits have been highly effective, allowing daily limits to be increased in recent years.


title: Red drum

text: The North Carolina General Assembly of 1971 designated the red drum the official state saltwater fish. (Session Laws, 1961, c. 274; G.S. 145-6). The Texas Legislature designated the red drum as the official "State Saltwater Fish of Texas" in 2011.


title: Khatra Khatra Khatra

text: The Khatra Khatra Show () (formerly known as Khatra, Khatra, Khatra and The Khatra Show) is an Indian comedy game show series starring Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa along with many guest stars that aired on Colors TV. The show is also digitally available on Voot.


title: Khatra Khatra Khatra

text: Bharti, Harsh and others have a short skit. Later, they play games on the show and losers are given (funny) punishments. They contestants also pranks each other. In the meantime, all the celebs crack jokes on each - other. Bharti and Harsh also taunt each- other. In Season 1-2, Amidst the episode, Gaurav Dubey enters portraying different characters such as "Khatri" and cracks jokes on all the celebs.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Kailua-Kona is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. It is also known as Kailua (a name it shares with a community located on the windward side of Oahu), as Kona (a name it shares with the district to which it belongs) and as Kona Town. Kailua-Kona is the second-largest settlement on the island of Hawaii (after Hilo) and the largest settlement on the west side of the island, where it is the center of commerce and the tourist industry. Kailua-Kona is served by Kona International Airport, located just to the north in the adjacent CDP of Kalaoa. The population was 19,713 at the 2020 census, up from 11,975 at the 2010 census.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Kailua-Kona's boundaries were altered significantly for the 2020 census. The eastern portion of Kailua-Kona became part of the neighboring Holualoa CDP, while the western portion of Holualoa became part of Kailua-Kona.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: The community was established by King Kamehameha I to be his seat of government when he was chief of Kona before he consolidated rule of the archipelago in 1795. It was later designated as the capital of the newly unified Kingdom of Hawaii. The capital was later moved to Lāhainā, and then to Honolulu.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Royal fishponds at Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park were the hub of unified Hawaiian culture. The town later functioned as a retreat of the Hawaiian royal family. Up until the late 1900s, Kailua-Kona was primarily a small fishing village. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the region has undergone a real estate and construction boom fueled by tourism and investment.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Kailua-Kona is located at (19.649973, −155.994028), along the shoreline of Kailua Bay and up the southern slope of Hualālai volcano. There are no major rivers or streams in Kailua-Kona or on the Kona side of Hawaii.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the Town has a total area of , of which are land and , or 10.67%, are water.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Kailua-Kona is bordered to the north by Kalaoa, to the south by Holualoa, and to the west by the Pacific Ocean from Kailua Bay in the south to Honokohau Bay in the north. The Kailua-Kona postal code is 96740 (post office boxes – 96745).


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Kailua-Kona has a tropical, semi-arid climate (Köppen "BSh") with warm temperatures year-round, typical of its latitude in the tropics. It is the warmest place in the United States of America in January on average. The coolest month is February, with an average high temperature of , while the warmest is August, with an average high of . In addition to being the warmest place in the United States in January, it is also the city with the highest record low in the United States with an all-time low temperature of . Humidity is generally between 50% and 70%. Kailua-Kona is generally dry, with an average annual precipitation of . Mornings are typically clear, while thermal clouds created in the day raise the temperature during the day.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Vog can cover parts of the Kona coast from time to time depending on the activity of the Kilauea volcano and the island winds. Kailua-Kona is located on the leeward side of the Hualalai Volcano, sheltering the town from wind and rain.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 9,870 people, 3,537 households, and 2,429 families residing in Kailua-Kona. The population density was . There were 4,322 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the City was 38.7% White, 0.5% Black or African American, 0.5% Native American, 18.3% Asian, 13.2% Pacific Islander, 1.9% from other races, and 27.07% from two or more races. 10.2% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: There were 3,537 households, out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.6% were married couples living together, 13.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.3% were non-families. 22.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.26.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: In Kailua-Kona the population was spread out, with 27.3% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.8 males.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: The median income for a household in the city was $40,874, and the median income for a family was $46,657. Males had a median income of $30,353 versus $26,471 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $20,624. 10.8% of the population and 6.5% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 11.9% of those under the age of 18 and 3.9% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Kailua-Kona saw an economic downturn during the 2008 national financial crisis but in the early 2010s has seen significant growth and economic development. Tourism also saw a downturn in the late 2000s but has since seen some resurgence. Visitor air arrivals alone increased about 160% from 2010 to 2017.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: The University of Hawaii held its first classes at the new Hawaii Community College Palamanui Campus in 2015.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Since the early 2000s the Kona side had seen significant amounts of vog from Puʻu ʻŌʻō and Kīlauea, but that changed in May 2018 when Kilauea largely ceased its emissions. The air in Kailua-Kona is clearer than it has been in decades.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Kailua-Kona is the host of the annual Ironman World Championship triathlon, the annual Kona Coffee Festival, and the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Kona coffee is the variety of "Coffea arabica" cultivated on the slopes of Hualālai and Mauna Loa in the North and South Kona Districts. The Kona Historical Society manages two coffee related historical sites: the Kona Coffee Living History Farm and the H.N. Greenwell Store Museum just south of Kailua-Kona.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Ali'i Drive, Kailua's oceanfront downtown street, starts at Kailua-Kona Pier. It has also been given the designation as a Hawaii Scenic Byway called the "Royal Footsteps Along the Kona Coast". This byway features archaeological sites that have survived for hundreds of years.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: North of the pier is the Kamakahonu royal residence and Ahuena Heiau, and nearby now stands the King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel. Another royal residence is Hulihee Palace, used by members of the Hawaiian royal family until 1914. The Historic Kona Inn and other shops are on the street.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Churches on the drive include Mokuaikaua Church, Hawaii's first Christian church built in 1820, Saint Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, and Living Stones Church, a historical structure built after Mokuaikaua and used as a Christian Missionary landing location in the 1800-1900. Parks include La'aloa Bay (also known as Magic Sands or White Sands Beach) and Kahaluu Bay, which is a popular snorkeling location.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Boat tours which allow tourists to swim with dolphins, watch whales, and fish in the ocean usually depart from Honokohau Harbor.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: Kailua-Kona is served by television station KLEI and by the newspaper "West Hawaii Today," which is owned by Canadian publisher Black Press Media (Black Press Group Ltd.)—also known simply as Black Press—whose headquarters are in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.


title: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

text: The Hawaii Department of Education operates public schools. Kealakehe Elementary School, Kahakai Elementary School, Kealakehe Intermediate School, and Kealakehe High School are in the Kailua CDP.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Hammerhead is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an adversary of the superhero Spider-Man. He is a temperamental mobster who often dresses and acts in the 1920s style, and a prominent member of the Maggia, a fictional organized crime syndicate. Following an accident, he had most of his skull replaced with an inflexible steel alloy by Jonas Harrow, giving his head a flattened shape and near-indestructibility, hence his nickname. The Hammerhead crime family, of which he is the second and current head of, is named after the character.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Hammerhead has made appearances in several forms of media outside of comics, including animated series and video games. IGN ranked him as Spider-Man's 20th greatest enemy.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Hammerhead made his first appearance in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #113, and was created by writer Gerry Conway and artist John Romita Sr.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Conway recalled that Hammerhead "was most directly influenced by the Big Man and the Crime-Master, who were among the first villains in "Amazing Spider-Man". One of the more interesting things Stan [Lee], Jack Kirby, and, of course, Steve Ditko did was combining the two different kinds of milieus: superhero and "Dick Tracy", with the unusual criminal characters who had some kind of physical deformity... Plus, Hammerhead—I liked [the] name, and John Romita came up with an interesting look".


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Hammerhead's family immigrated from the Soviet Union to Italy when he was a child with help from a man known only as the General. His father ran a garage in Toirrano, where he insisted the young man speak only in Russian, beating him severely with a mallet when he would not. Although not much is known about his life before he became a criminal and supervillain, Hammerhead is known to be married and has a sister named Antonia.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: All the while, Hammerhead dreamed of becoming a gangster. He is eventually recruited into one of the "families" of the criminal organization known as the Maggia when a member oversees Hammerhead "making his bones" by murdering a childhood bully and his girlfriend in a theater showing "The Godfather Part II". Originally a small-time hitman, Hammerhead quickly rises through the ranks of the Maggia, while pretending to be ethnically Italian so he can be "made", or fully initiated member. In his final test, Hammerhead is brought to his father's garage (with the Maggia apparently unaware of their relationship). Hammerhead proceeds to kill his father, while saying Russian that he blames his father's abuse for making him a villain.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: One day, Hammerhead was found beaten, disfigured, and delirious with pain in an alley in New York City's Bowery by Jonas Harrow, a surgeon who had lost his medical license due to his illegal experiments. Seeing the opportunity both to save this man's life and to redeem his reputation, Harrow operated on the gunman for three days, replacing much of his shattered skull with a strong steel alloy. During the surgery, the unconscious thug fixated on the only memory he retained: an image of a poster for a movie called "The Al Capone Mob", which was hanging in the alley where he lay beaten and bloodied before Harrow found him. When he recovered, the memory of the poster and its images of 1930s-era gangsters prompted Hammerhead to start a gang of his own in the style of Capone and other mobsters of the 1920s. He even dressed as if he were living in that decade.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: A gang war broke out between Hammerhead's mob and Doctor Octopus's criminal organization. Hammerhead was forced to flee the country due to Spider-Man's interference. He later had a rematch with Doctor Octopus next to an atomic breeder reactor on a remote Canadian island which caused a chain reaction, blasting Hammerhead "out of phase" with this dimension. Some time later, he appeared as an immaterial ghost-like being to haunt Doctor Octopus. Doctor Octopus then unwittingly used a particle accelerator to restore Hammerhead to his corporeal form. Hammerhead kidnapped Spider-Man's Aunt May, who was then rescued by Spider-Man as Doctor Octopus caused Hammerhead's helicopter to plummet into the Hudson River.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Hammerhead then proposed that all Maggia families unite under his leadership. Wearing a strength-enhancing exoskeleton, he battled the Human Torch, who then fused the exoskeleton's power pack. Hammerhead was nearly assassinated by the Kingpin's minion the Arranger during a gang war. Despite surviving the assassination, Hammerhead was ultimately forced out of a major role in New York City organized crime by the Kingpin.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Hammerhead then allied himself with the Chameleon in the latter's bid to become the new crime lord of New York City. The two served as partners in a splinter group of the Maggia. Hammerhead hired Tombstone as a bodyguard and hitman. He hired the Hobgoblin to kill Joe Robertson, who posed a threat to Tombstone; the assassination attempt failed. Hammerhead was kidnapped and beaten by Tombstone, who had gained superhuman powers and resented Hammerhead for not sending him to kill Joe Robertson.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Hammerhead later attended a Las Vegas crime conference to divide the resources left by the Kingpin's downfall at the time. Around this time, he participates in a multi-sided gang-war focused on the Kingpin's attempt to re-take New York City for his own.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Hammerhead is a major player in underworld activities in the Marvel Universe and is highly sought after for elimination by the Punisher. He becomes one of several gang warlords struggling to control the criminal underworld in the major cities of the Eastern United States. During one of the first meetings of such warlords, Hammerhead was almost killed by the Strucker twins. This meeting was being manipulated by Baron Strucker, the head of HYDRA. When Don Fortunato made a bid for control of the New York underworld, Hammerhead opposed him and was almost killed as a result. When every other crime lord surrendered to Fortunato and his HYDRA allies, Hammerhead went rogue, launching a raid on Fortunato's home and successfully fighting off a HYDRA attack on his own headquarters. He did have assistance from Spider-Man and Morbius the Living Vampire, however. For a time, the hero known as S.H.O.C. also assists Hammerhead. Later, he was hired by Norman Osborn to be a part of the Sinister Twelve.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: During the events of the "Civil War", Hammerhead used the vacuum left by the incarceration of the Kingpin to gain a greater foothold in the ranks of organized crime, attempting to organize an army of costumed villains (consisting of the Ani-Men V, the Answer I, the Aura, Bloodshed, the Clown, the Cyclone III, the Discus, Electro, the Great Gambonnos, the Kangaroo II, Man Mountain Marko, the Mauler, Mindblast, Override, the Ringmaster, Stiletto, the Spot, the Squid, Slyde, the Trapster, and the Will O' the Wisp) to enforce his new criminal empire. When Slyde balked at the idea, Hammerhead had Underworld kill him to serve as a warning to anyone who did not join up with him. The Kingpin manipulated various hero factions, most notably S.H.I.E.L.D. and Iron Man, into breaking up Hammerhead's first convening of his army. During the conflict, Hammerhead was shot numerous times by Underworld, who was revealed to be working for the Kingpin. Underworld later confronted Hammerhead while he lay in prison and shot him at point-blank range with adamantium bullets.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: The bullets, while not penetrating his skull, did cause severe trauma to his brain, resulting him in needing surgery, but the hospital he was brought to was unable to treat him. In mid-surgery however, men working for the Kingpin's rival Mister Negative came in, killed the hospital staff, and took Hammerhead away. Mister Negative then has his surgeon Doctor Trauma revive Hammerhead and offers to transplant his brain into a new robotic adamantium skeleton, which Hammerhead agrees to.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: The operation is a complete success, and Hammerhead is restored to full mobility without any ill effects. He swears loyalty to Mister Negative in exchange for his restored life and proceeds to shape a gang of lowlife thugs into an effective army for his benefactor. He then proceeds to battle Spider-Man, besting him with no effort for the first time in years. Later, he has a rematch with Spider-Man, with Spider-Man dislocating Hammerhead's hip bone.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Mister Negative sends Hammerhead to help Spider-Man (who Mister Negative corrupted) take down the Hood, who launches an attack on Negative's headquarters. He blackmails H.A.M.M.E.R. director Norman Osborn into forcing the Hood to pull out of Chinatown.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Hammerhead later begins to doubt his loyalty to Mister Negative when Silvermane, a deceased former Maggia don and an old enemy of the Kingpin, appears to return. Unknown to Hammerhead, "Silvermane" is actually an android controlled by Mysterio to plant seeds of rebellion. Nevertheless, he flees a shootout with the Maggia when the Silvermane robot calls him a traitor. It is shown that Mister Negative had a computer chip put in Hammerhead's head to deliver an electroshock when necessary, which he promptly uses to punish him and remind him who is in charge.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: During the "Origin of the Species" storyline, Hammerhead and Mister Negative are among the supervillains invited by Doctor Octopus to join his supervillain team, promising them that they will receive a reward in exchange for securing some specific items for him.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Alongside his nephew and minions, Hammerhead formed an alliance with the Black Cat, where he sided with her gang.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Hammerhead is among the crime lords competing with Mister Negative in obtaining the Tablet of Life and Destiny in order to win the favor of Mayor Wilson Fisk.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Hammerhead has no superhuman abilities, yet his skull is now surgically reinforced with vibranium (or secondary adamantium), making his head flat on top; with this, he can charge and break through objects such as brick walls without causing any pain or damage to himself. This metal can absorb physical impacts that would otherwise fracture human bone. Hammerhead is in peak physical condition comparable to that of an Olympic-level athlete. He is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant whose most dangerous tactic is charging head first like a bull toward an opponent. Hammerhead once utilized a strength-enhancing exoskeleton designed by the Tinkerer.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: After an assassin's adamantium bullet penetrated a part of his head not protected by his adamantium skull, Hammerhead is surgically rebuilt by Mister Negative. Breakout surgeries replace the upper half of his skeleton with an adamantium endo-skeleton (the skeleton is shown to have a network of hydraulic servomechanisms). The upper portion of his body is now superhumanly strong as a result of the additional hidden cybernetic musculature, making him able to effortlessly beat a superpowered foe such as Spider-Man. Mister Negative does not use on Hammerhead the same Lord Dark Wind bonding process, used on the similarly empowered Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike for coating their bones in adamantium: instead he replaces Hammerhead's bones with replicas fashioned in the invulnerable metal. It is still unknown how his artificial skeleton can carry on biological functions.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: The intervention of Mr. Negative also radically changed Hammerhead's personality. Hammerhead now recalls his life as a Russian immigrant prior to the accident in which he adopted the 1920s gangster persona. Consequently, Hammerhead no longer speaks like a 1920s movie gangster, but instead behaves as a typical modern Russian mobster and hitman, as this was apparently his original personality prior to his head injury.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: Hammerhead is highly skilled in the organization, concealment and management of criminal enterprises. He is an effective hitman, a skilled marksman (his preferred weapon was the Thompson submachine gun), and an excellent street fighter. In his original incarnation, Hammerhead was able to hold his own against Spider-Man despite being an ordinary human by using his superhumanly durable skull as a blunt instrument. After his recent augmentation, he is now capable of grappling with and physically overpowering Spider-Man to the extent that he could eventually crush his foe.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: In the "House of M" reality, Hammerhead is one of the gang leaders defeated by Luke Cage in his rise to power in Sapien Town.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: In the "Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness" miniseries, Hammerhead briefly appears, along with the Owl and the Kingpin, at a meeting to discuss how to survive the zombie outbreak. This version of Hammerhead is ultimately killed by the Punisher.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: The "Ultimate Marvel" version of Hammerhead first appears in "Ultimate X-Men" #13-14 as a mobster named Joseph who has killed the parents of an unnamed little girl. The girl stumbles upon local street performer/magician Gambit, taking the girl in and decides to protect her from the mob. The girl is kidnapped and Gambit goes on a rampage to find her, blindly running into an ambush Hammerhead set up. Gambit gets out of the ambush and chases Hammerhead down and ends with Gambit charging Hammerhead's inorganic skull full of bio-kinetic energy and causes his head to explode. In "Ultimate Spider-Man", Hammerhead was revealed to have survived Gambit's attack, though how is not explained ("It sucked. I came back."). He kills Silvermane in the beginning of the Warriors story arc and becomes the Enforcers' new leader and he burns down one of the Kingpin's warehouses. After an intense battle with Spider-Man, the Black Cat, the Moon Knight, Iron Fist and Shang-Chi, he was put in a coma when Elektra brutally stabbed him in the chest with her sai and flung him out of a window.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: An alternate version of Hammerhead appears as one of the antagonists in the "Cage" miniseries by Brian Azzarello and Richard Corben. This version of the character is a deformed gangster named Sonny "The Hammer" Caputo, who is embroiled in a gang war with Tombstone.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: During the ""Age of Ultron"" storyline, a reality where Ultron nearly annihilated the human race has Hammerhead and the Owl capturing the Superior Spider-Man and hoping to trade him to Ultron. Hawkeye came to the Superior Spider-Man's rescue as the Ultron Sentinels attack.


title: Hammerhead (comics)

text: During the "Spider-Verse" storyline, the Earth-001 version of Hammerhead appears as a member of Verna's Hounds.


title: Barbara Pepper

text: Barbara Pepper (born Marion Pepper; May 31, 1915 – July 18, 1969) was an American stage, television, radio, and film actress. She is best known as the first Doris Ziffel on the sitcom "Green Acres".


title: Barbara Pepper

text: Marion Pepper was born in New York City, the daughter of actor David Mitchell "Dave" Pepper, and his wife, Harrietta S. Pepper. At age 16 she started life in show business with Goldwyn Girls, a musical stock company where she met Lucille Ball, with whom she would remain friends, during production of Eddie Cantor's "Roman Scandals" in 1933.


title: Barbara Pepper

text: From 1937 to 1943, Pepper was a prolific actress, appearing in 43 movies, mostly in supporting roles or in minor films, with exceptions being main characters in "The Rogues' Tavern" and "Mummy's Boys", both feature films released in 1936. Among her later film parts were small roles in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (1963) and "My Fair Lady" (1964). She also performed radio parts.


title: Barbara Pepper

text: In 1943, she married actor Craig Reynolds (né Harold Hugh Enfield), and the couple later had two sons. After Reynolds died in 1949 in a California motorcycle accident, Pepper was left to raise their children alone. She never remarried.


title: Barbara Pepper

text: After gaining weight, her roles were mostly confined to small character parts on television, including several appearances on "I Love Lucy", "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show", "Petticoat Junction", and "The Jack Benny Program". She made four appearances on "Perry Mason", including the role of Martha Dale, mother of the title character, in the 1957 episode "The Case of the Vagabond Vixen". In 1957, she guest-starred in the episode "The Diet" of the CBS situation comedy "Mr. Adams and Eve", credited as "Fat Woman." In 1958, she appeared as "Boxcar Annie" on the television western "Tales of Wells Fargo" in the episode titled "Butch Cassidy".


title: Barbara Pepper

text: A long-time friend of Lucille Ball, Pepper was first considered for the role of Ethel Mertz on "I Love Lucy", but was passed over, purportedly due to the fact that she had a drinking problem. William Frawley ("Fred Mertz") did, likewise, and had already been cast. It was felt that having two drinkers in the cast might eventually cause difficulties so another actress was sought.


title: Barbara Pepper

text: Pepper may be best remembered as the first Doris Ziffel on "Petticoat Junction" in 1964, although her character's name on the "Genghis Keane" episode of "Petticoat Junction" was Ruth Ziffel. Her role as Doris Ziffel continued on "Green Acres" from 1965 to 1968, until health ailments finally forced her to leave that weekly series. Actress Fran Ryan replaced her on "Green Acres", which would continue to run for another three years. Pepper's final performance was in "Hook, Line & Sinker" (1969), in which she played Jerry Lewis's secretary.


title: Barbara Pepper

text: Barbara Pepper died of a coronary thrombosis at age 54 on July 18, 1969, in Panorama City, California. She is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.


title: Jason Bernard

text: Bernard was born in Chicago, Illinois. His first starring role was in the pilot episode of the television series "The White Shadow" as Jim Willis. His other well-known television roles are in the television series "Cagney & Lacey" as Inspector Marquette from 1982 to 1983, "Days of Our Lives" as Preston Wade in 1982, and a recurring role in the first season of "Night Court" as Judge Stone's arrogant rival Judge Willard. His big role came in the 1983 NBC miniseries "V" as Caleb Taylor. Bernard reprised his role in the 1984 sequel "V: The Final Battle". In the 1990s Fox comedy series "Herman's Head", he played Herman's boss, Mr. Paul Bracken. He appeared in the video games "" and "" as Captain William Eisen.


title: Jason Bernard

text: Bernard's first role in a feature film was a cameo in the Charles Bronson film "Death Wish", and his first major role was in the 1974 movie "Thomasine & Bushrod". He later appeared in "Car Wash", "WarGames", "No Way Out", "While You Were Sleeping", and "Blue Thunder".


title: Jason Bernard

text: Bernard made many guest appearances on a variety of television shows, ranging from "Starsky & Hutch", "Flamingo Road" and "The Jeffersons" to "The Flash", "Murder, She Wrote," "Wiseguy" and "Partners". He also appeared, as the chief security guard, in "The Dukes of Hazzard" episode "The Dukes in Hollywood".


title: Jason Bernard

text: He played the blind musician Tyrone Wattell in the film "All of Me". Bernard's final appearance was in the 1997 film "Liar Liar" as Judge Marshall Stevens.


title: Jason Bernard

text: Shortly after the filming of "Liar Liar" was completed, Bernard suffered a heart attack on October 16, 1996. He had been driving his car in Burbank, California when he was stricken, and was involved in a rear-end accident. Bernard was rushed to Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center in Burbank where he died. He was survived by his wife Debra and son Jason Jr. His body was cremated. Both "Suddenly" and "Liar Liar" were dedicated in memory of him.


title: Laputa

text: Laputa [luh·poo·tuh] is a flying island described in the 1726 book "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift. It is about in diameter, with an adamantine base, which its inhabitants can manoeuvre in any direction using magnetic levitation. The island is the home of the king of Balnibarbi and his court, and is used by the king to enforce his rule over the lands below.


title: Laputa

text: Laputa was located above the realm of Balnibarbi, which was ruled by its king from the flying island. Gulliver states the island flew by the “magnetic virtue” of certain minerals in the grounds of Balnibarbi which did not extend to more than above, and beyond the extent of the kingdom, showing the limit of its range. The position of the island, and the realm below, is some five days' journey south-south-east of Gulliver's last known position, 46° N, 183° E (i.e. east of Japan, south of the Aleutian Islands) down a chain of small rocky islands.


title: Laputa

text: The island of Laputa is described as being exactly circular and about in diameter, giving an area of roughly . The island was thick, and comprised a bottom plate of adamant thick, above which lay "the several minerals in their usual order", topped with "a coat of rich mould deep".


title: Laputa

text: In shape the upper surface sloped down from circumference to centre, causing all rain to form rivulets into the centre where four large basins in circuit lie from the absolute centre. In the centre of the island itself was a chasm 50 yards in diameter continuing down into a dome extending into the adamantine surface. This dome served as an astronomical observatory, and also contained the lodestone which enabled the island to fly and move above the realm.


title: Laputa

text: Laputa's population consists mainly of an educated elite, who are fond of mathematics, astronomy, music and technology, but fail to make practical use of their knowledge. Servants make up the rest of the population.


title: Laputa

text: The Laputans have mastered magnetic levitation. They also are very fond of astronomy, and discovered two moons of Mars. (This is 151 years earlier than the recognized discovery of the two moons of Mars by Asaph Hall in 1877.) However, they are unable to construct well-designed clothing or buildings, as they despise practical geometry as "vulgar and mechanick". The houses are ill-built, lacking any right angles, and the clothes of Laputans, which are decorated with astrological symbols and musical figures, do not fit, as they take measurements with instruments such as quadrants and a compass rather than with tape measures. They spend their time listening to the music of the spheres. They believe in astrology and worry constantly that the sun will go out.


title: Laputa

text: Many of them have heads angled to one side, and they often suffer from strabismus: one eye turns inward and the other looks up "to the zenith", conditions that Swift uses to mock the microscope and the telescope. Laputans are described as becoming so lost in thought that they cannot focus their attention on a conversation or avoid running into a tree or falling into a ditch unless periodically struck by a bladder full of pebbles or dry peas carried by one or two "flappers" or, in their native language, "climenoles", hired for the purpose.


title: Laputa

text: Laputa is a male-dominated society. Wives often request to leave the island to visit the land below; however, these requests are almost never granted because the women who leave Laputa never want to return.


title: Laputa

text: The Laputan women are highly sexed (having "an abundance of vivacity") and adulterous, and, whenever possible, take on lovers out of visitors from the lands below. The Laputan husbands, who are so abstracted in mathematical and musical calculations, might assume their wives are adulterous, but so long as they have no flapper around, they won't notice the adultery even should it occur right before their eyes.


title: Laputa

text: The land beneath the floating island, within the region the Laputa can travel, is known as Balnibarbi. Balnibarbi is controlled by the king of Laputa; its ground capital is the city of Lagado.


title: Laputa

text: Laputa's king is able to control the mainland mostly by threatening to cover rebel regions with the island's shadow, thus blocking sunlight and rain, or by throwing rocks at rebellious surface cities. In extreme cases, the island is lowered onto the cities below to crush them, although this is not successful every time, notably in the case of Lindalino.


title: Laputa

text: The Balnibarbian language, spoken on both Laputa and Balnibarbi, is described by Gulliver as sounding similar to Italian.


title: Laputa

text: Lindalino's rebellion against Laputa is an allegory of Ireland's revolt against Great Britain, and Great Britain's (meaning the Whig government's) violent foreign and internal politics (see Jonathan Swift for his political career). The Laputans' absurd inventions mock the Royal Society.


title: Laputa

text: As "la puta" means "the whore" in Spanish, some Spanish editions of "Gulliver's Travels" use "Lapuntu", "Laput", "Lapuda" and "Lupata" as bowdlerisations. It is likely, given Swift's education and satirical style, that he was aware of the Spanish meaning. (Gulliver claimed Spanish among the many languages in which he was fluent.)


title: Laputa

text: On Mars's largest moon, Phobos, there is one named regio, "Laputa Regio", which is named after Swift's Laputa because of his 'prediction' of the two then undiscovered Martian moons, which his Laputan astronomers had discovered.


title: Laputa

text: The 1986 Japanese anime film "Laputa: Castle in the Sky", directed by Hayao Miyazaki, also derives its name from Swift's novel.


title: Laputa

text: In the video game "Deus Ex", agent Gunther Hermann's killswitch phrase is "Laputan Machine", an allusion to the fact that despite being enhanced with numerous bio-mechanical and neurological implants, agent Hermann is still highly flawed and impractical.


title: Demi-Leigh Tebow

text: Demi-Leigh Tebow (née Nel-Peters; born 28 June 1995) is a South African model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 2017. She was crowned Miss South Africa 2017, and is the second Miss Universe winner from South Africa, following Margaret Gardiner who was crowned Miss Universe 1978.


title: Demi-Leigh Tebow

text: Nel-Peters was born on 28 June 1995 in Sedgefield, Western Cape, to Bennie Peters and Anne-Marie Steenkamp. Her half-sister, Franje, had cerebellar agenesis, and Nel-Peters said that she was the most significant motivator in her life; Franje died on 4 May 2019, which Nel-Peters confirmed on her Instagram.


title: Demi-Leigh Tebow

text: Nel-Peters graduated from university in March 2017, a few days before winning the Miss South Africa 2017 competition. She is fluent in both English and Afrikaans.


title: Demi-Leigh Tebow

text: Nel-Peters began her pageantry career representing Western Cape in the Miss South Africa 2017 competition on 26 March 2017 which she won. As Miss South Africa, she had the right to represent South Africa in both Miss World 2017 and Miss Universe 2017, but since the dates of the two pageants coincided, she was sent only to Miss Universe, held in Las Vegas, Nevada.


title: Demi-Leigh Tebow

text: In the final round Steve Harvey asked Nel-Peters, "What quality in yourself are you most proud of and how will you apply that quality to your time as Miss Universe?" She said: When asked about what she thought was the most important issue regarding women in the workplace, she said:


title: Demi-Leigh Tebow

text: She went on to win the competition and was crowned Miss Universe 2017 by outgoing titleholder Iris Mittenaere. Nel-Peters is the second titleholder from South Africa; Margaret Gardiner won Miss Universe 1978.


title: Demi-Leigh Tebow

text: Nel-Peters said during a segment at Miss Universe that she wants to use her self-defence workshops to help as many women as she can. This stems from an incident a month after she was crowned Miss South Africa, when she was carjacked at Hyde Park. She handed over her car keys but was forced into her car by the carjackers. She punched one of them in the throat and managed to run away and get help.


title: Demi-Leigh Tebow

text: In her capacity as Miss Universe, Nel-Peters visited the Philippines (twice), Indonesia (twice), Thailand (twice), France, Mexico (twice), Ecuador, India, Lebanon, Egypt, Malaysia, various cities in the United States, and her home country, South Africa.


title: Demi-Leigh Tebow

text: Nel-Peters ended her reign on 17 December 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand, the host nation of the 67th Miss Universe pageant. She eventually crowned Catriona Gray of the Philippines as her successor.


title: Demi-Leigh Tebow

text: During her reign as Miss Universe 2017, Nel-Peters began dating Tim Tebow, a former professional American football quarterback and former professional baseball outfielder for the New York Mets minor league affiliates. Nel-Peters and Tebow became engaged on 9 January 2019 at Tebow's family farm in Jacksonville, Florida. They married on 20 January 2020 in Franschhoek, Western Cape, about an hour outside of Cape Town. Like Tebow, she is a Christian.


title: Plattenbau

text: Although are often considered to be typical of East Germany, the prefabricated construction method was used extensively in West Germany and elsewhere, particularly in public housing (see tower block). In English the building method is also called large panel system-building, shortened "LPS".


title: Plattenbau

text: Prefabrication was pioneered in the Netherlands following World War I, based on construction methods developed in the United States. The first German use of plattenbau construction is what is now known as the "Splanemann-Siedlung" in Berlin's Lichtenberg district, constructed in 1926–1930. These two- and three-storey apartment houses were assembled of locally cast slabs, inspired by the Dutch "Betondorp" in Watergraafsmeer, a suburb of Amsterdam.


title: Plattenbau

text: In East Germany, Plattenbau areas have been designated as "Neubaugebiet" (""New development area""). Virtually all new residential buildings since the 1960s were built in this style, as it was a quick and relatively inexpensive way to curb the country's severe housing shortage, which had been caused by wartime bombing raids and the large influx of German refugees from further east. At the same time, many buildings from earlier eras had substantial drawbacks, such as coal heat, no hot running water, or bathrooms shared by multiple units. As these buildings fell into disrepair, many of their inhabitants moved into newer "Plattenbau" housing. Today, 'Plattenbau' are often no longer desirable, due in part to their rapid deterioration as a result of their cheap and quick construction methods, while older housing stock has undergone extensive renovation or been replaced with more modern dwelling units.


title: Plattenbau

text: There were several common plattenbau designs. The most common series was the P2, followed by the WBS 70, the WHH GT 18, and Q3A. The designs were flexible and could be built as towers or rows of apartments of various heights.


title: Plattenbau

text: There have been projects with low rise "plattenbauten" such as the town of Bernau just north of Berlin. This town had an almost complete historic center of mainly wooden framed buildings within its preserved city walls. Most of these were torn down after 1975 and during the eighties to be replaced by 2–4 storey buildings constructed of prefabricated concrete slabs. This 'development' and 'modernization' is today regarded as disastrous, and an enormous cultural loss, with the town largely replaced by drab concrete buildings of exceeding mediocrity.


title: Plattenbau

text: To fit in with the medieval church and the almost complete city wall, the houses used rather small design units and decreased in height the farther away they were from the Church and the nearer they came to the city wall. A similar project was the Nikolaiviertel around the historic Nikolai church in Berlin's old centre. In the case of the Nikolaiviertel the buildings were made to look more historic.


title: Plattenbau

text: Plattenbau apartments were once considered highly desirable in East Germany, largely due to the lack of any other viable alternative. The main alternatives of the time were overcrowded, deteriorating prewar housing, often with wartime damage still visible, due to policies that chose not to repair the damaged housing stock. Since reunification a combination of decreasing population, renovation of older buildings, and construction of modern alternative housing has led to high vacancy rates, with some estimates placing the number of unoccupied units at around a million. Many plattenbau apartments were built in giant settlements, often on the edge of cities (such as Marzahn and Hellersdorf in Berlin and Halle-Neustadt), making them inconveniently located.


title: Plattenbau

text: Berlin-based architect David Chipperfield has suggested that the plain appearance of Plattenbau housing does not promote gentrification, and may be a factor that helps preserve social continuity for local residents and neighborhoods.


title: Plattenbau

text: In Finland, particularly in northern towns, such as Rovaniemi, Plattenbauten are commonplace. Rovaniemi was nearly completely destroyed during World War II and subsequently rebuilt from scratch, with new concrete panel buildings replacing old wooden houses and becoming a symbol of modernization. Whereas in the rest of Europe Plattenbau are associated with public housing, in Rovaniemi they are favoured by the middle classes on their way to purchasing a bungalow.


title: Leilani Dowding

text: Leilani Dowding (born 30 January 1980) is an English former "Page 3" girl, glamour model, television celebrity, and the UK representative at Miss Universe 1998.


title: Leilani Dowding

text: Dowding grew up in Bournemouth, and has a younger sister Melanie. They were brought up Roman Catholic by their Filipina mother Zena, and British father Chris.


title: Leilani Dowding

text: Dowding and her sister attended St Peter's School in Bournemouth. She gained eleven GCSEs and three A-levels. She began an economics degree at Royal Holloway, University of London, in Surrey, with the intention of becoming a city trader. The then-18-year-old entered and won the 1998 Miss Great Britain competition. In Hawaii later that year she became the first woman of Asian descent to represent Britain in the Miss Universe pageant.


title: Leilani Dowding

text: After her success in beauty pageants, Dowding dropped out of university to pursue a full-time modelling career. Although she had not originally considered topless modelling, she started appearing as a Page 3 girl in "The Sun" in 1999. Her younger sister Melanie ("Mel") Dowding also had a brief career as a model.


title: Leilani Dowding

text: Dowding has been a guest on various television shows, modelling on the "Big Breakfast" and "This Morning", and appearing on "Faking It", "Celebrity Wrestling" and "Celebrity Fear Factor". She has also enjoyed a season in pantomime as Tiger Lilly in "Peter Pan".


title: Leilani Dowding

text: Dowding appeared on a charity Page 3 episode of "The Weakest Link" where she lost out in the final round to Jakki Degg. Dowding was competing on behalf of the RSPCA and breast cancer charities.


title: Leilani Dowding

text: She also appeared in the American TV Reality Show "Tough Love Miami", in which she dealt with her own superficiality in order to find a suitable mate.


title: Leilani Dowding

text: TV credits include: "The Millionaire Matchmaker" (Series 8 Episode 10) and "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles" (Series 8 Episode 13).


title: Leilani Dowding

text: Dowding has been engaged to former Wimbledon and Northern Ireland defender Mark Williams and was engaged to former Arsenal, West Ham and Middlesbrough attacker Jérémie Aliadière, having previously been in a relationship with former West Ham and Sheffield Wednesday footballer Anwar Uddin.


title: Leilani Dowding

text: She was briefly married to restaurateur Richard Palmer, ex-husband of Raquel Welch, and is now divorced.


title: Leilani Dowding

text: For the past two years she has been dating Billy Duffy, lead guitarist of The Cult. Leilani and Duffy got engaged in March 2020.


title: Point shaving

text: In organized sports, point shaving is a type of match fixing where the perpetrators try to change the final score of a game without changing who wins. This is typically done by players colluding with gamblers to prevent a team from covering a published point spread, where gamblers bet on the margin of victory. The practice of shaving points is illegal in some countries, and stiff penalties are imposed for those caught and convicted, including jail time.


title: Point shaving

text: A point-shaving scheme generally involves a sports gambler and one or more players of the team favored to win the game. In exchange for a bribe, the player or players agree to ensure that their team will not "cover the point spread" (the bribed player's team may still win but not by as big a margin as that predicted by bookmakers). The gambler then wagers against the bribed team. Alternatively, players on the team picked to lose may be bribed to lose by more points than the indicated point spread, and gamblers will wager on their opponents, the favorites, to cover the spread. Also, an official (referee) of the game may be bribed, or even bet on his own behalf, so that one or more "close calls" will be called in favor of the "underdog" rather than the team favored to win.


title: Point shaving

text: Basketball is a particularly easy medium for shaving points because of the scoring tempo of the game and the ease by which one player can influence key events. By deliberately missing shots or committing turnovers or fouls, a corrupt player can covertly ensure that his team fails to cover the point spread without causing it to lose the game. Although the NCAA has adopted a zero-tolerance policy with respect to gambling activity by its players; some critics believe that it unwittingly encouraged point shaving due to its formerly strict rules regarding amateurism, combined with the large amount of money wagered on its games. The NCAA has produced posters warning players not to engage in point shaving.


title: Point shaving

text: Famous examples of point shaving are the CCNY point-shaving scandal in 1950–51; the Dixie Classic scandal of 1961; the Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal of 1978–79, which was perpetrated by gangsters Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke; and the Tulane men's basketball point-shaving scandal of 1984–85, which led the university to disband its program for four seasons.


title: Point shaving

text: On 15 August 2007, NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to two felonies related to wagering on games that he officiated in a scheme somewhat related to point shaving. The difference in this case was that Donaghy sought to affect the outcome of over-under bets by changing calls so that both teams would score more than predicted, thus seeking to give the impression that at worst that he was merely strictly calling fouls as opposed to being outright biased.


title: Point shaving

text: In the television series "The Sopranos", the character Carmine Lupertazzi Sr., was reputed to have invented the concept of point shaving in 1951.


title: Point shaving

text: Points-shaving is an underlying plot thread in the 1974 film "The Longest Yard" and the 2005 remake. In both films, the character Paul "Wrecking" Crewe, a former professional quarterback, was kicked out of the NFL for point-shaving prior to the events of the films.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The 2007 season was the New York Giants' 83rd in the National Football League (NFL), their 32nd playing their home games at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and their fourth under head coach Tom Coughlin.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants finished the regular season 10–6 and in second place in the NFC East, improving upon their 8–8 record in 2006 in which they finished third in their division. They qualified for the playoffs as a wild-card team as the #5 seed, and beat the #4 seed Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Next, they defeated the top-seeded Dallas Cowboys, and the #2 seed Green Bay Packers (both of whom they had lost to in their first two games of the season by ten points or more) to become the National Football Conference (NFC) representative in Super Bowl XLII. There, they defeated the heavily favored and previously undefeated 18–0 New England Patriots and spoiled their perfect season, aided by the famous Manning to Tyree Helmet Catch.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The 2007 New York Giants became the 9th wild card team in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl and the 5th wild card team to win the Super Bowl, and the very first NFC wild card to accomplish the feat. They were the third team in history to win three road playoff games en route to a Super Bowl and set a league record for most consecutive road wins in a single season (11), though the Super Bowl is played on a neutral field rather than an opponent's stadium. It was the 7th league championship season for the New York Giants and their first since they won Super Bowl XXV in 1990. This season would also mark the end of defensive end Michael Strahan's NFL career as he retired following the Giants' Super Bowl victory.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: 2007 marked the third consecutive season that the Giants made the playoffs, which was only the second time that had happened since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. Tom Coughlin joined Bill Parcells, Steve Owen, and Allie Sherman as the only head coaches in the history of the team to lead the Giants to the postseason three consecutive years.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants season is widely regarded as one of the greatest cinderella stories in professional sports history, not only did they beat one of the greatest teams of all time in the undefeated Patriots, they did so as a wild-card team that had to win three playoff games on the road to get to Super Bowl XLII, and after looking very mediocre at times during the regular season. In fact, based on regular-season performance, the 2007 New York Giants were the worst team to ever reach a Super Bowl, a curiosity later surpassed when the 2011 New York Giants won Super Bowl XLVI to become the first team with a negative point differential to win a Super Bowl. NFL Films named the 2007 Giants as the 53rd greatest team of all time in their countdown of the top 100 teams in football history.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: After their poor finish to the 2006 season, where the Giants lost 7 of their last 9 games after a 6–2 start (albeit achieving a playoff berth in the last week of the season), expectations for the Giants were generally low. Many pundits began to consider Eli Manning as a potential draft bust, especially when considering fellow 2004 draft pick Ben Roethlisberger's Super Bowl run in 2005 and Philip Rivers leading his team, the Chargers, to a 14–2 regular season in 2006; making matters worse, older brother Peyton Manning, who Eli was often compared unfavorably to, had led the Colts to the Super Bowl victory that same year and won the MVP of the game. At the same time, head coach Tom Coughlin came under intense criticism due to his fiery coaching style and strict team rules, and many (including fans) believed that he deserved to be fired after the team's collapse in the second half of the season. In particular, they noted the team's lack of discipline and unity down the stretch and considered these actions a reflection of Coughlin's coaching. Finally Tiki Barber, the Giants's all-time leading rusher and the catalyst for much of their success the previous two seasons, retired at just 31 years of age to enter a broadcasting career.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants decided to give Tom Coughlin one more chance heading into the 2007 season, giving him a one-year contract extension. This essentially indicated that he needed to get the Giants into the postseason in order to receive a long-term contract extension. After his family demonstrated concern over his on-field persona and his apparent anger towards his players, Coughlin decided to undergo a personality change heading into the season. While his strict team rules (most notoriously, his five-minute early rule for a team meeting) remained in place, he became less angry and more encouraging towards his players, and the players took note of his change. Coughlin also set up a leadership committee with Eli Manning and other team captains in order to relate to his players better.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants also entered the season with two new coordinators. Coughlin promoted quarterbacks coach Kevin Gilbride to offensive coordinator, a position he would hold until his retirement after the 2013 season. He also fired defensive coordinator Tim Lewis and replaced him with Steve Spagnuolo, who would have a crucial impact on the Giants's 4-3 defense.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Defensive end Michael Strahan held out for the entirety of training camp. Having previously been disillusioned with Tom Coughlin's coaching methods, he spent the offseason debating whether or not he would come back for the season, and decided that since he had already played for 14 seasons, he wouldn't have needed the training camp anyway. He eventually returned to the team mere weeks before the season started. Despite his training camp holdout and a hefty fine for not attending the camp, he was still elected as a team captain.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Expectations, however, were still low as few predicted that the Giants would make the playoffs. Perception grew worse as Tiki Barber, now an analyst for NBC, began attacking his former team, particularly Tom Coughlin and especially Eli Manning. Barber attacked Manning not only as a non-productive quarterback, but declared that his leadership skills were "almost comical." When asked about Barber's comments, Manning noted that he didn't have to take the comments seriously, considering that Barber announced his intentions to leave the team in the middle of the previous season.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Players whose contracts expire become free agents, and are classified (or "tagged") according to the players' collective bargaining agreement as restricted free agents (RFA), unrestricted free agents (UFA), or exclusive-rights free agents (ERFA). Players listed in green were retained by the team, while those in red were signed by another franchise. Restricted free agents are indicated by the round in which the player was originally drafted, as this determines qualifying offers and compensation.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants opened up their 2007 campaign with a 45–35 loss to the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium. For the second straight year, the Giants left Dallas with injuries to key starters including DE Osi Umenyiora, RB Brandon Jacobs, and QB Eli Manning. Before suffering a separated shoulder in the fourth quarter, Manning put on a stellar performance, completing 28 of 41 passes, for 312 yards, 4 touchdowns and just 1 interception. However, a horrid defensive performance overshadowed his play.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants got off to a fast start as Eli hit Plaxico Burress on a 60-yard touchdown pass off play action to open up the scoring. Burress and Manning would connect for 3 touchdowns on the night. After a Dallas took a 17–6 lead late in the half, Eli led the Giants on another drive, capped off to his second strike to Burress. Burress on the night caught 9 passes for 144 receiving yards. The Giants closed to within one at half's end following a Lawrence Tynes field goal after a Dallas fumble.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Romo hit Terrell Owens on a 22-yard pass to give Dallas an 8-point lead. After the Giants cut the lead to five on another Tynes field goal, Dallas increased the margin to 12 as Romo capped off a quick four play drive with a 9-yard rush. The Cowboys appeared to put the game away with yet another Romo touchdown, once again finding Terrell Owens on a wide open catch and run, upping margin to 38–22. Eli and the Giants responded with two straight scoring drives. One finished with a dumpoff touchdown pass from Manning to reserve running back Derrick Ward and the other with Burress' 3rd touchdown, cutting the Dallas lead to three.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: On a crucial 3rd and seven late in the game, Romo hit backup wideout Sam Hurd for a 51-yard touchdown. With Manning injuring his shoulder, backup Jared Lorenzen finished the game for the Giants at quarterback late in the fourth quarter. Amani Toomer in his return from a knee injury, notched 9 catches for 91 yards while Burress gained 144. Justin Tuck and Gibril Wilson recorded the Giants' only sack and interception of the night respectively in the 45–35 loss as the Giants began the season at 0–1.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants played their Week 2 home opener against the Green Bay Packers. After both teams missed a field goal to open the game, Green Bay got on the board first with a 6-yard run by rookie DeShawn Wynn. The Giants responded with a 26-yard scoring strike by Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress. The Giants got a Lawrence Tynes field goal and a 10–7 half time lead.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: In the second half, the Packers drove 51 yards to start the second half. Favre capped off the scoring drive with a 2-yard pass to Bubba Franks for a 14–10 lead the Packers would not relinquish. The Giants responded with another drive but once again, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, this one on Amani Toomer, hurt the Giants. Tynes kicked a second field goal, pulling the Giants to within one.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: With the loss, the Giants would fall to 0–2 for the first time since 1996. Also, within the two games they played, the Giants gave up a total of 80 points.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: In the first quarter, New York got the first score as kicker Lawrence Tynes hit a 34-yard field goal. The Redskins took the lead with RB Clinton Portis getting a 1-yard TD run. In the second quarter, Redskins QB Jason Campbell threw an 8-yard TD pass to TE Chris Cooley, while kicker Shaun Suisham ended the half with a 47-yard field goal that gave Washington a 17–3 lead.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: With the Giants staring at a 14-point deficit, and an 0–2 start to their season, the Giants came out strong to start the second half. In the third quarter, QB Eli Manning finally got the Giants offense turned around and RB Reuben Droughns would score on a 1-yard TD run to cut the lead in half.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: In the fourth quarter, Droughns rushed again for a 1-yard touchdown, while Manning completed a 33-yard TD pass to WR Plaxico Burress, giving the Giants a startling 24–17 lead against the home team.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: In the game's final moments, Washington found first and goal at the Giants 1-yard line. New York's defense then proceeded to make a goal-line stand as they stopped RB Ladell Betts from getting into the end zone on 4th down during the final seconds of the game. This goal line stand was known as the initial catalyst of the Giants' Super Bowl season.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Coming off their divisional road win over the Redskins, the Giants went home for a Sunday night divisional duel with the Philadelphia Eagles. New York's defense held the Eagles to no first half points, while in the second quarter, New York got on the board first with QB Eli Manning completing a 9-yard TD pass to WR Plaxico Burress for the only score of the half. In the third quarter, the Giants increased its lead with kicker Lawrence Tynes getting a 29-yard field goal, along with LB Kawika Mitchell recovering a fumble, getting up, and returning the fumble 17-yards for a touchdown. In the fourth quarter, the Eagles would get their only points of the game with kicker David Akers making a 53-yard field goal.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: On the night, New York's defense sacked QB Donovan McNabb 12 times (tying an NFL record), with half of those sacks coming from DE Osi Umenyiora. Also, DE Michael Strahan had one sack in the game to surpass Lawrence Taylor as the Giants' All-Time Sack Leader (Taylor was present at the game).


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants clinched their third straight victory with a 35–24 triumph over the New York Jets. The Giants scored 28 points in the decisive second half to overcome a 10-point deficit. Rookie CB Aaron Ross made his presence felt with a crucial interception off of QB Chad Pennington with the Jets driving and up three in the third then sealed the win with an interception return for a touchdown late in the fourth.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Jets got off to a fast start as returning running back Brandon Jacobs fumbled and the Jets' Kerry Rhodes returned it for a TD. The Giants responded with a 9-play, 67-yard drive ending in a touchdown run by Derrick Ward. However, the Giants defense, susceptible to third down conversions the first week of the season struggled again today and allowed the Jets to drive 93 yards late in the half for a 14–7 lead. The Jets were 3 for 3 on third down on the drive including some big catches by Laveranues Coles. Pennington hit Brad Smith for a 16-yard touchdown. After a bad interception from Eli Manning, the Jets added a field goal by Mike Nugent for a 17–7 halftime lead.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants fought back, going back to the ground game to start the second half. Plaxico Burress added a 25-yard completion from Manning and Jacobs pounded it in for a 19-yard touchdown. The Jets responded as Leon Washington ran 98 yards for a touchdown. Big Blue again fought back, driving 68 yards featuring a mix of runs and passes. Jeremy Shockey notched his first touchdown of the season with a 13-yard catch and run bringing the Giants within three after three quarters. The Jets responded with a drive of their own including several third down conversions but rookie Aaron Ross made the first of several big plays including a deep interception. The Giants drove 99 yards, which ended with a spectacular 53-yard touchdown catch and run by Plaxico Burress, who stiff-armed a Jet defender down the sideline.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: With the Jets driving for a score, Ross struck again, intercepting Pennington and returned it 43 yards to clinch the win. Brandon Jacobs notched his first ever 100-yard rushing performance, Manning managed 186 yards and 2 touchdowns despite a poor first half, Osi Umenyiora added a sack and Sam Madison added his first interception of the season.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants had now won four straight regular season meetings against the Jets and improved to 3–2 on the season.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants cruised to their fourth straight win with an easy 31–10 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football. After the Falcons moved the ball and scored three points on a 47-yard field goal by Morten Andersen, the Giants took the lead on a five-yard play-action touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Amani Toomer. The Falcons responded as Jerious Norwood ran 67 yards untouched, putting the Falcons on top 10–7. New York responded with a quick six-play, 82-yard drive capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run by Reuben Droughns for a 14–10.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: After the defense stopped Atlanta again, the Giants took command as Manning hit Plaxico Burress for his eighth and league-lead-tying touchdown from 42 yards out and a 21–10 lead. The Giants squandered several chances to add on more points as the team struggled moving at the end of the first half and Eli Manning threw a late interception.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: In the second half, the defense continued to dominate. Fred Robbins, Antonio Pierce and Justin Tuck notched sacks for Big Blue and rookie Aaron Ross added his third interception in two weeks. The Giants added a Lawrence Tynes field goal from 32 yards out for a 14-point lead, then capped off the win with a nine-yard touchdown run by Derrick Ward. On the night, the Giants rushed for 188 yards, Eli Manning passed for 303 yards along with a pair of touchdowns and interceptions and the defense shut down Atlanta following the slow start.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Burress led the Giants with 97 receiving yards and Amani Toomer became the Giants all-time reception leader, catching 7 passes for 89 yards including his early touchdown. The Giants improved to 4–2 and took a four-game winning streak into the next week's game against the 49ers.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants recorded their fifth straight victory with a convincing 33–15 win over the San Francisco 49ers at Giants Stadium. Things started off well as the Giants drove right down the field on their opening possession. The balanced, well-executed seven-minute drive was capped off by a 4-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Amani Toomer. The extra point was missed by Lawrence Tynes. On their next possession, the Giants were driving for more, but a tipped ball resulted in an interception inside the red zone. The 49ers responded with a nice drive of their own, aided by a personal foul on linebacker Antonio Pierce and several third down conversions. San Francisco cashed in with a touchdown from Trent Dilfer to Arnaz Battle.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Following a Frank Gore fumble, the Giants took control. The running game, which accounted for 140 total yards helped the Giants move back in front. Brandon Jacobs scored on a five-yard run for a 13–7 lead. After an interception by Sam Madison, the Giants added a 30-yard field goal by Tynes. Tynes made it 19–7 at the half with another field goal, this time from 39 yards, inside the final minute.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants defense dominated in the second half, notching six sacks and four total turnovers. Osi Umenyiora put the game away with a sack, forced fumble, and 75-yard touchdown return up the field for a 26–7 lead. The Niners got two points back on a blocked punt out of the end zone but Antonio Pierce redeemed himself for two earlier personal fouls by intercepting Trent Dilfer and returning the ball inside the 10. After a flag on the 49ers, Manning threw his second touchdown, this time to Jeremy Shockey for a 33–9 lead. The 49ers scored late to provide the final points in the 33–15 win.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: On the day, Brandon Jacobs rushed for 107 yards, Manning completed 18 of 31 passes for nearly 150 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, and the defense notched six sacks: 2.5 for Michael Strahan, 1.5 for Justin Tuck, 1 for Aaron Ross and 1 for Umenyiora. Pierce and Madison provided the two Giants interceptions.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants got their sixth straight win with a rain-soaked 13–10 victory over the winless Miami Dolphins in the first International Series game, held at England's Wembley Stadium. Persistent rain throughout the day had soaked the field and hurt both teams on offense as the field was torn up for most of the afternoon, but the Giants survived to get to 6–2 on the season as they headed for their bye week.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: After a missed Miami field goal on the opening drive of the game, the Giants traveled down the field, mixing up a combination of run and pass. Brandon Jacobs had a big day, running in the rain for 131 yards on 23 carries. Eli Manning, who threw for only 59 yards in the game, missed a wide open Amani Toomer in the end zone from inside the five, and the Giants had to settle for a 20-yard field goal from Lawrence Tynes. The Giants extended their lead to 10 with a 14-play, 69-yard drive in the second quarter. Jacobs and Reuben Droughns ran heavily on the drive and Eli Manning evaded the Dolphins defense, scrambling 10 yards for the game's first touchdown. After a Cleo Lemon fumble, which was recovered by Michael Strahan, the Giants stretched the lead to 13 at the half with a 41-yard kick from Tynes.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: In the third quarter, after recovering a Manning fumble, the Dolphins drove the ball down inside the Giants 5. However, a Lemon muffed snap forced the Dolphins to kick a field goal. The Giants continued to run well with Jacobs, and had a chance to tack on 3 more points but Tynes missed badly on a 29-yard field goal. In the final two minutes, the Dolphins scored their first touchdown with Ted Ginn Jr.'s first ever NFL touchdown reception. An attempted onside kick from Jay Feely skidded off the wet surface straight out of bounds, enabling the Giants to run out the clock for the win.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: For the day, Jacobs ran for his career-high 131 yards, and Fred Robbins and Kawika Mitchell recorded sacks. The Giants have won six in a row for the first time since 1994. Eli Manning scored the NFL's first regular season touchdown outside of North America.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Coming off their bye week, the Giants went home, donned their alternate red uniforms, and played the Dallas Cowboys. In the first quarter, New York trailed early as Cowboys QB Tony Romo completed a 15-yard TD pass to TE Tony Curtis. The Giants responded as QB Eli Manning completed an 8-yard TD pass to TE Jeremy Shockey. In the second quarter, Dallas regained the lead as kicker Nick Folk made a 44-yard field goal. The G-Men took the lead with RB Reuben Droughns getting a 1-yard TD run. Afterwards, the Cowboys retook the lead with Romo completing a 20-yard TD pass to WR Patrick Crayton. Originally, the Giants were willing to be down by 3 at halftime. However, because of a taunting penalty on Dallas LB Kevin Burnett placed them near midfield, New York went for some points. The Giants would tie the game with kicker Lawrence Tynes getting a 40-yard field goal.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: In the third quarter, Romo completed a 25-yard TD pass to WR Terrell Owens and the Cowboys regained the lead. In the fourth quarter, the Giants made a 26-yard field goal from Tynes. Afterwards, Dallas' Romo and Owens hooked up with each other again on a 50-yard TD pass.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: During the season series against the Cowboys, the Giants pass defense allowed 8 passing touchdowns, despite only allowing 8 passing touchdowns from their previous opponents this year.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants flew to Ford Field for a Week 11 intraconference duel with the Detroit Lions. In the first quarter, New York took the early lead as kicker Lawrence Tynes made a 28-yard field goal for the only score of the period. In the second quarter, the Giants increased their lead as QB Eli Manning completed a 10-yard TD pass to RB Brandon Jacobs for the only score of the period.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: In the third quarter, the Lions got on the board as kicker Jason Hanson made a 42-yard field goal. New York would reply with Tynes kicking a 46-yard field goal. In the fourth quarter, the Giants improved their lead as Tynes made a 20-yard field goal. Detroit's QB Jon Kitna completed a 35-yard TD pass to WR Calvin Johnson.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Coming off their road win over the Lions, the Giants went home for a Week 12 intraconference duel with the Minnesota Vikings. In the first quarter, New York trailed early as Vikings QB Tarvaris Jackson completed a 60-yard TD pass to WR Sidney Rice. The Giants responded with RB Reuben Droughns getting a 1-yard TD run. Minnesota retook the lead with safety Darren Sharper returning an interception 20 yards for a touchdown. In the second quarter, Vikings' RB Chester Taylor got an 8-yard TD run, along with kicker Ryan Longwell making a 46-yard field goal.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: In the third quarter, Giants' kicker Lawrence Tynes made a 48-yard field goal, and Minnesota's Longwell made a 26-yard field goal. In the fourth quarter, the Vikings' safety Dwight Smith returned an interception 93 yards for a touchdown, along with LB Chad Greenway returning an interception 37 yards for a touchdown. New York's QB Eli Manning completed a 6-yard TD pass to WR Plaxico Burress to complete the scoring.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Eli Manning was intercepted four times (with three of his interceptions being returned for touchdowns). He became the third NFL QB since 1970 to have three interceptions get returned for touchdowns. His performance was all the more embarrassing as the Vikings had the league's worst pass defense in 2007 (albeit with the league's strongest run defense), and were playing in this game without starting corner Antoine Winfield.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Hoping to rebound after a loss to the Vikings, the Giants flew to Soldier Field for a Week 13 intraconference duel with the defending NFC champion Chicago Bears. In the first quarter, New York trailed early as Bears QB Rex Grossman completed a 1-yard TD pass to TE Desmond Clark for the only score of the period. In the second quarter, the Giants got on the board as RB Derrick Ward got a 2-yard TD run. Chicago responded with kicker Robbie Gould getting a 35-yard and a 46-yard field goal.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: In the third quarter, the Bears increased their lead to 16-7 with Gould making a 41-yard field goal for the only score of the period. In the fourth quarter, New York scored touchdowns on their last two drives in the final 7 minutes; Eli Manning completed a 6-yard TD pass to WR Amani Toomer (initially ruled an incomplete pass that was challenged and overturned), then RB Reuben Droughns got a 2-yard TD run. The Giants held on defensively and improved to 8–4 with the victory.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Derrick Ward (24 carries for 154 yards and 1 touchdown) left the game in the 4th quarter with a fractured fibula, effectively ending his season.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Excluding Super Bowl XLII two months later, Michael Strahan had his final career sack in the 2nd quarter.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Coming off their road win over the Bears, the Giants flew to Lincoln Financial Field for a Week 14 NFC East rematch with the Philadelphia Eagles. In the first quarter, New York trailed early as Eagles QB Donovan McNabb completed an 18-yard TD pass to RB Brian Westbrook for the only score of the period. In the second quarter, the Giants started to draw close as kicker Lawrence Tynes managed to get a 19-yard and a 23-yard field goal.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: In the third quarter, Philadelphia responded with kicker David Akers getting a 29-yard field goal. Afterwards, New York took the lead with QB Eli Manning completing a 20-yard TD pass to WR Plaxico Burress, along with Tynes kicking a 23-yard field goal. In the fourth quarter, the Eagles tried to come back as Akers nailed a 39-yard field goal. In the final seconds, Philadelphia had a chance to tie the game and force overtime. Fortunately for the Giants, Akers missed a 57-yard field goal off the right upright with 1 second left to preserve the victory and the season-sweep.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: This also marked the first time since their Super Bowl XXXV appearance of 2000 that New York had won 6-straight road games.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Coming off their season-sweeping road win over the Eagles, the Giants went home for a Week 15 Sunday night NFC East rematch with the Washington Redskins. In the first quarter, New York trailed early as Redskins kicker Shaun Suisham managed to get a 49-yard field goal for the only score of the period. In the second quarter, the Giants continued to trail as Suisham kicked a 31-yard field goal, along with RB Ladell Betts getting a 14-yard TD run. New York would get on the board with kicker Lawrence Tynes getting a 35-yard field goal. Washington would end the half with Suisham nailing a 28-yard field goal.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: In the third quarter, the Giants' deficit climbed as Redskins RB Clinton Portis getting a 5-yard TD run (with a failed 2-point conversion). New York tried to make a comeback as QB Eli Manning completed a 19-yard TD pass to TE Kevin Boss. However, the wind and Washington's defense prevented any hopes.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: Eli Manning set a record of futility in the game with 35 incomplete passes, setting a record for most incomplete passes in an NFL game since the AFL/NFL merger. In fairness to Manning, his receivers also did not play well, dropping at least eight of his passes. Washington quarterback Todd Collins, making his first NFL start since 1997 in place of the injured Jason Campbell, didn't play much better, going 8–25, but got the win.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: With the loss, not only did the Giants fall to 9–5, but they also lost TE Jeremy Shockey for the year in the third quarter with a broken left fibula. It would be his final appearance as a New York Giant. Due to the Giants's increasing problems with Shockey's attitude and the emergence of Kevin Boss during the remainder of the season, he became expendable and was eventually traded to the New Orleans Saints.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants took their 6–1 road record to Buffalo in search of clinching a playoff spot. They were able to rebound nicely from the week 15 home loss to Washington with a 38–21 win over the Bills. The Giants utilized their running game to wear down the Bills, as Brandon Jacobs rushed for 143 yards and 2 touchdowns and rookie Ahmad Bradshaw rushed for 151 yards and a touchdown, including an 88-yard hustle that gave the Giants a 31–21 lead in the fourth quarter. Eli Manning had a rough day throwing the ball, as the harsh conditions forced him into completing just 7 of 16 passes and throwing for only 111 yards with two interceptions. Kawika Mitchell and Corey Webster also returned interceptions for touchdowns.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: The Giants rallied early from a 14–0, first-quarter deficit to win a game played through rain, wind, and snow. Early on, it appeared that the Bills would dominate the game, with Trent Edwards finding Michael Gaines for a three-yard touchdown to make it 7–0. After the Giants punted, Edwards hit Lee Evans for a 4-yard touchdown to make it 14–0. As the weather changed from windy with no precipitation to windy and snowy, so did the Giants's fortunes. In the second quarter, Brandon Jacobs ran for a six-yard touchdown, then on the next drive had his longest run of the season, a 43-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 14. A Lawrence Tynes field goal made it 17–14 at the half.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: In the third quarter, a Marshawn Lynch touchdown run and a goal line stand by the Bills made the score 21–17 Bills heading into the final quarter. However, the Giants ran away with the contest in the fourth. With 14:05 to go in the 4th, Trent Edwards's pass was deflected and intercepted by linebacker (and future Bill) Kawika Mitchell, who returned it 20 yards for a touchdown for the go-ahead score. With 6:27 to go, the Giants got the ball back on their own 12-yard line. During the second half, rookie 7th-round pick Ahmad Bradshaw, who seldom played outside of special teams before this game but who now had an opportunity due to Derrick Ward's injury and Reuben Droughns's declining play, checked into the game. Bradshaw (who, unusual for a Giant, played with a single "y" on one side of his helmet instead of the standard "ny" in this game) received a handoff towards the left side of the line, cut towards the left sideline, received a key block from receiver Plaxico Burress, and sprinted down the sideline 88 yards for a touchdown to make it 31–21. Bradshaw's run is the third-longest in Giants history, with Tiki Barber's 95-yard touchdown against the Raiders on New Year's Eve 2005 being the longest. Just three plays later, Trent Edwards was intercepted by cornerback Corey Webster, who returned Edwards's errant pass 34 yards for the game-clinching touchdown.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: While Eli Manning played poorly again, going 7–15 for just 111 yards with two interceptions and four fumbles (two lost), Trent Edwards also had a poor performance, going just 9-26 for 161 yards. Although he threw for 2 touchdowns, he also threw 3 interceptions (2 returned for touchdowns) and fumbled twice (though both were recovered by other Bills), and was just 3–19 after his first two drives. Ahmad Bradshaw ran for 151 yards on just 17 carries, while Brandon Jacobs ran for a career-high 143 yards on 25 carries with 2 touchdowns. Another important stat to note is that all 59 points in the game were scored going towards the east end zone.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: With the win, the Giants improved to 10–5 to clinch their third consecutive playoff berth. They also secured the 5th seed when the Washington Redskins defeated the Minnesota Vikings later that night.


title: 2007 New York Giants season

text: This marked the first time since Super Bowl I that an NFL game was simulcast by more than one television network. It was the first time an NFL game was carried on three national networks (CBS, NBC, and NFL Network) with an additional 1.2 million viewers seeing the game on local NY and MA networks. The game was originally scheduled to be broadcast on NFL Network only, but Roger Goodell allowed other stations to broadcast it due to the Patriots being 15–0 and needing just one more win to become the first team to go 16–0 in the regular season. There was disagreement surrounding coach Tom Coughlin's decision to play all his starters. Some of them played injured, notably Plaxico Burress who had an ankle injury and missed most of practice during the end of the season and the Giants postseason run. A Giant win would have no effect in the playoffs the following Sunday, as the Giants had earned the #5 seed as a wildcard and Dallas had won the division with the best record in the NFC. By playing his starters, he risked losing additional players on an already banged up roster playing against a heavily favored Patriots team, which was playing for the history books to go undefeated in the regular season. Still, the Giants were the final team to have a chance to end the Patriots' shot at a perfect season, and a victory would be an impressive display for pride and momentum.