title: Open-source hardware

text: Open-source hardware (OSH) consists of physical artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by this open-source culture movement and apply a like concept to a variety of components. It is sometimes, thus, referred to as FOSH (free and open-source hardware). The term usually means that information about the hardware is easily discerned so that others can make it – coupling it closely to the maker movement. Hardware design (i.e. mechanical drawings, schematics, bills of material, PCB layout data, HDL source code and integrated circuit layout data), in addition to the software that drives the hardware, are all released under free/libre terms. The original sharer gains feedback and potentially improvements on the design from the FOSH community. There is now significant evidence that such sharing can drive a high return on investment for the scientific community.


title: Open-source hardware

text: It is not enough to merely use an open-source license; an open source product or project will follow open source principles, such as modular design and community collaboration.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Since the rise of reconfigurable programmable logic devices, sharing of logic designs has been a form of open-source hardware. Instead of the schematics, hardware description language (HDL) code is shared. HDL descriptions are commonly used to set up system-on-a-chip systems either in field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or directly in application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designs. HDL modules, when distributed, are called semiconductor intellectual property cores, also known as IP cores.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Open-source hardware also helps alleviate the issue of proprietary device drivers for the free and open-source software community, however, it is not a pre-requisite for it, and should not be confused with the concept of open documentation for proprietary hardware, which is already sufficient for writing FLOSS device drivers and complete operating systems.


title: Open-source hardware

text: The difference between the two concepts is that OSH includes both the instructions on how to replicate the hardware itself as well as the information on communication protocols that the software (usually in the form of device drivers) must use in order to communicate with the hardware (often called register documentation, or open documentation for hardware), whereas open-source-friendly proprietary hardware would only include the latter without including the former.


title: Open-source hardware

text: The first hardware-focused "open source" activities were started around 1997 by Bruce Perens, creator of the Open Source Definition, co-founder of the Open Source Initiative, and a ham radio operator. He launched the Open Hardware Certification Program, which had the goal of allowing hardware manufacturers to self-certify their products as open.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Shortly after the launch of the Open Hardware Certification Program, David Freeman announced the Open Hardware Specification Project (OHSpec), another attempt at licensing hardware components whose interfaces are available publicly and of creating an entirely new computing platform as an alternative to proprietary computing systems. In early 1999, Sepehr Kiani, Ryan Vallance and Samir Nayfeh joined efforts to apply the open-source philosophy to machine design applications. Together they established the Open Design Foundation (ODF) as a non-profit corporation and set out to develop an Open Design Definition. However, most of these activities faded out after a few years.


title: Open-source hardware

text: A "Free Hardware" organization, known as FreeIO, was started in the late 1990s by Diehl Martin, who also launched a FreeIO website in early 2000. In the early to mid 2000s, FreeIO was a focus of free/open hardware designs released under the GNU General Public License. The FreeIO project advocated the concept of Free Hardware and proposed four freedoms that such hardware provided to users, based on the similar freedoms provided by free software licenses. The designs gained some notoriety due to Martin's naming scheme in which each free hardware project was given the name of a breakfast food such as Donut, Flapjack, Toast, etc. Martin's projects attracted a variety of hardware and software developers as well as other volunteers. Development of new open hardware designs at FreeIO ended in 2007 when Martin died of pancreatic cancer but the existing designs remain available from the organization's website.


title: Open-source hardware

text: By the mid 2000s open-source hardware again became a hub of activity due to the emergence of several major open-source hardware projects and companies, such as OpenCores, RepRap (3D printing), Arduino, Adafruit and SparkFun. In 2007, Perens reactivated the openhardware.org website.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Following the Open Graphics Project, an effort to design, implement, and manufacture a free and open 3D graphics chip set and reference graphics card, Timothy Miller suggested the creation of an organization to safeguard the interests of the Open Graphics Project community. Thus, Patrick McNamara founded the Open Hardware Foundation (OHF) in 2007.


title: Open-source hardware

text: The Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Corporation (TAPR), founded in 1982 as a non-profit organization of amateur radio operators with the goals of supporting R&D efforts in the area of amateur digital communications, created in 2007 the first open hardware license, the TAPR Open Hardware License. The OSI president Eric S. Raymond expressed some concerns about certain aspects of the OHL and decided to not review the license.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Around 2010 in context of the Freedom Defined project, the "Open Hardware Definition" was created as collaborative work of many and is accepted as of 2016 by dozens of organizations and companies.


title: Open-source hardware

text: In July 2011, CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) released an open-source hardware license, CERN OHL. Javier Serrano, an engineer at CERN's Beams Department and the founder of the Open Hardware Repository, explained: "By sharing designs openly, CERN expects to improve the quality of designs through peer review and to guarantee their users – including commercial companies – the freedom to study, modify and manufacture them, leading to better hardware and less duplication of efforts". While initially drafted to address CERN-specific concerns, such as tracing the impact of the organization's research, in its current form it can be used by anyone developing open-source hardware.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Following the 2011 Open Hardware Summit, and after heated debates on licenses and what constitutes open-source hardware, Bruce Perens abandoned the OSHW Definition and the concerted efforts of those involved with it. Openhardware.org, led by Bruce Perens, promotes and identifies practices that meet all the combined requirements of the Open Source Hardware Definition, the Open Source Definition, and the Four Freedoms of the Free Software Foundation Since 2014 openhardware.org is not online and seems to have ceased activity.


title: Open-source hardware

text: The Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) at oshwa.org acts as hub of open-source hardware activity of all genres, while cooperating with other entities such as TAPR, CERN, and OSI. The OSHWA was established as an organization in June 2012 in Delaware and filed for tax exemption status in July 2013. After some debates about trademark interferences with the OSI, in 2012 the OSHWA and the OSI signed a co-existence agreement.


title: Open-source hardware

text: FSF's Replicant project suggested in 2016 an alternative "free hardware" definition, derived from the FSF's four freedoms.


title: Open-source hardware

text: The term "hardware" in open-source hardware has been historically used in opposition to the term "software" of open-source software. That is, to refer to the electronic hardware on which the software runs (see previous section). However, as more and more non-electronic hardware products are made open source (for example WikiHouse, OpenBeam or Hovalin), this term tends to be used back in its broader sense of "physical product". The field of open-source hardware has been shown to go beyond electronic hardware and to cover a larger range of product categories such as machine tools, vehicles and medical equipment. In that sense, "hardware" refers to any form of tangible product, be it electronic hardware, mechanical hardware, textile or even construction hardware. The Open Source Hardware (OSHW) Definition 1.0 defines hardware as "tangible artifacts — machines, devices, or other physical things".


title: Open-source hardware

text: Due to a mixture of privacy, security, and environmental concerns, a number of projects have started that aim to deliver a variety of open-source computing devices. Examples include the EOMA68 (SBC in a PCMCIA form-factor, intended to be plugged into a laptop or desktop chassis), Novena (bare motherboard with optional laptop chassis), and GnuBee (series of Network Attached Storage devices).


title: Open-source hardware

text: Several retrocomputing hobby groups have created numerous recreations or adaptations of the early home computers of the 1970s and 80s, some of which include improved functionality and more modern components (such as surface-mount ICs and SD card readers). Some hobbyists have also developed add-on cards (such as drive controllers, memory expansion, and sound cards) to improve the functionality of older computers. Miniaturised recreations of vintage computers have also been created.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Electronics is one of the most popular types of open-source hardware. There are many companies that provide large varieties of open-source electronics such as Sparkfun, Adafruit and Seeed. In addition, there are NPOs and companies that provide a specific open-source electronic component such as the Arduino electronics prototyping platform. There are many examples of specialty open-source electronics such as low-cost voltage and current GMAW open-source 3-D printer monitor and a robotics-assisted mass spectrometry assay platform. Open-source electronics finds various uses, including automation of chemical procedures.


title: Open-source hardware

text: A large range of open-source mechatronic products have been developed, including mechanical components, machine tools, vehicles, musical instruments, and medical equipment.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Examples of open-source machine tools include 3D printers such as RepRap, Prusa, and Ultimaker, 3D printer filament extruders such as polystruder XR3 and as well as the laser cutter Lasersaur.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Open-source vehicles have also been developed including bicycles like XYZ Space Frame Vehicles and cars such as the Tabby OSVehicle.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Examples of open source medical equipment include open-source ventilators, the echostethoscope echOpen, and a wide range of prosthetic hands listed in the review study by Ten Kate "et.al." (e.g. OpenBionics’ Prosthetic Hands).


title: Open-source hardware

text: Examples of open-source hardware products can also be found to a lesser extent in construction (Wikihouse), textile (Kit Zéro Kilomètres), and firearms (3D printed firearm, Defense Distributed).


title: Open-source hardware

text: Rather than creating a new license, some open-source hardware projects use existing, free and open-source software licenses. These licenses may not accord well with patent law.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Later, several new licenses were proposed, designed to address issues specific to hardware design. In these licenses, many of the fundamental principles expressed in open-source software (OSS) licenses have been "ported" to their counterpart hardware projects. New hardware licenses are often explained as the "hardware equivalent" of a well-known OSS license, such as the GPL, LGPL, or BSD license.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Despite superficial similarities to software licenses, most hardware licenses are fundamentally different: by nature, they typically rely more heavily on patent law than on copyright law, as many hardware designs are not copyrightable. Whereas a copyright license may control the distribution of the source code or design documents, a patent license may control the use and manufacturing of the physical device built from the design documents. This distinction is explicitly mentioned in the preamble of the TAPR Open Hardware License:


title: Open-source hardware

text: The "Open Source Hardware Association" recommends seven licenses which follow their "open-source hardware definition". From the general copyleft licenses the GNU General Public License (GPL) and Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, from the hardware-specific copyleft licenses the CERN Open Hardware License (OHL) and TAPR Open Hardware License (OHL) and from the permissive licenses the FreeBSD license, the MIT license, and the Creative Commons Attribution license. Openhardware.org recommended in 2012 the TAPR Open Hardware License, Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 and GPL 3.0 license.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Organizations tend to rally around a shared license. For example, OpenCores prefers the LGPL or a Modified BSD License, FreeCores insists on the GPL, Open Hardware Foundation promotes "copyleft or other permissive licenses", the Open Graphics Project uses a variety of licenses, including the MIT license, GPL, and a proprietary license, and the Balloon Project wrote their own license.


title: Open-source hardware

text: The adjective "open-source" not only refers to a specific set of freedoms applying to a product, but also generally presupposes that the product is the object or the result of a "process that relies on the contributions of geographically dispersed developers via the Internet." In practice however, in both fields of open-source hardware and open-source software, products may either be the result of a development process performed by a closed team in a private setting or by a community in a public environment, the first case being more frequent than the second which is more challenging. Establishing a community-based product development process faces several challenges such as: to find appropriate product data management tools, document not only the product but also the development process itself, accepting losing ubiquitous control over the project, ensure continuity in a context of fickle participation of voluntary project members, among others.


title: Open-source hardware

text: One of the major differences between developing open-source software and developing open-source hardware is that hardware results in tangible outputs, which cost money to prototype and manufacture. As a result, the phrase "free as in speech, not as in beer", more formally known as Gratis versus Libre, distinguishes between the idea of zero cost and the freedom to use and modify information. While open-source hardware faces challenges in minimizing cost and reducing financial risks for individual project developers, some community members have proposed models to address these needs Given this, there are initiatives to develop sustainable community funding mechanisms, such as the Open Source Hardware Central Bank.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Extensive discussion has taken place on ways to make open-source hardware as accessible as open-source software. Providing clear and detailed product documentation is an essential factor facilitating product replication and collaboration in hardware development projects. Practical guides have been developed to help practitioners to do so. Another option is to design products so they are easy to replicate, as exemplified in the concept of open-source appropriate technology.


title: Open-source hardware

text: The process of developing open-source hardware in a community-based setting is alternatively called open design, open source development or open source product development. All these terms are examples of the open-source model applicable for the development of any product, including software, hardware, cultural and educational. Does open design and open-source hardware design process involves new design practices, or raises requirements for new tools? is the question of openness really key in OSH?. See here for a delineation of these terms.


title: Open-source hardware

text: A major contributor to the production of open-source hardware product designs is the scientific community. There has been considerable work to produce open-source hardware for scientific hardware using a combination of open-source electronics and 3-D printing. Other sources of open-source hardware production are vendors of chips and other electronic components sponsoring contests with the provision that the participants and winners must share their designs. "Circuit Cellar" magazine organizes some of these contests.


title: Open-source hardware

text: A guide has been published (Open-Source Lab (book) by Joshua Pearce) on using open-source electronics and 3D printing to make open-source labs. Today, scientists are creating many such labs. Examples include:


title: Open-source hardware

text: Open hardware companies are experimenting with business models. For example, littleBits implements open-source business models by making available the circuit designs in each electronics module, in accordance with the CERN Open Hardware License Version 1.2. Another example is Arduino, which registered its name as a trademark; others may manufacture products from Arduino designs but cannot call the products Arduino products. There are many applicable business models for implementing some open-source hardware even in traditional firms. For example, to accelerate development and technical innovation, the photovoltaic industry has experimented with partnerships, franchises, secondary supplier and completely open-source models.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Recently, many open-source hardware projects have been funded via crowdfunding on platforms such as Indiegogo, Kickstarter, or Crowd Supply.


title: Open-source hardware

text: Richard Stallman, the founder of the free software movement, was in 1999 skeptical on the idea and relevance of "free hardware" (his terminology for what is now known as open-source hardware). In a 2015 article in Wired Magazine, he modified this attitude; he acknowledged the importance of free hardware, he still saw no ethical parallel with free software. Also, Stallman prefers the term "free hardware design" over "open source hardware", a request which is consistent with his earlier rejection of the term open source software (see also Alternative terms for free software).


title: Open-source hardware

text: Other authors, such as Professor Joshua Pearce have argued there is an ethical imperative for open-source hardware – specifically with respect to open-source appropriate technology for sustainable development. In 2014, he also wrote the book "Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs", which details the development of free and open-source hardware primarily for scientists and university faculty. Pearce in partnership with Elsevier introduced a scientific journal "HardwareX". It has featured many examples of applications of open-source hardware for scientific purposes.


title: Threshold voltage

text: The threshold voltage, commonly abbreviated as V or V, of a field-effect transistor (FET) is the minimum gate-to-source voltage (V) that is needed to create a conducting path between the source and drain terminals. It is an important scaling factor to maintain power efficiency.


title: Threshold voltage

text: When referring to a junction field-effect transistor (JFET), the threshold voltage is often called pinch-off voltage instead. This is somewhat confusing since "pinch off" applied to insulated-gate field-effect transistor (IGFET) refers to the channel pinching that leads to current saturation behaviour under high source–drain bias, even though the current is never off. Unlike "pinch off", the term "threshold voltage" is unambiguous and refers to the same concept in any field-effect transistor.


title: Threshold voltage

text: In n-channel "enhancement-mode" devices, a conductive channel does not exist naturally within the transistor, and a positive gate-to-source voltage is necessary to create one such. The positive voltage attracts free-floating electrons within the body towards the gate, forming a conductive channel. But first, enough electrons must be attracted near the gate to counter the dopant ions added to the body of the FET; this forms a region with no mobile carriers called a depletion region, and the voltage at which this occurs is the "threshold voltage" of the FET. Further gate-to-source voltage increase will attract even more electrons towards the gate which are able to create a conductive channel from source to drain; this process is called "inversion". The reverse is true for the p-channel "enhancement-mode" MOS transistor. When V = 0 the device is “OFF” and the channel is open / non-conducting. The application of a negative gate voltage to the p-type "enhancement-mode" MOSFET enhances the channels conductivity turning it “ON”.


title: Threshold voltage

text: In contrast, n-channel "depletion-mode" devices have a conductive channel naturally existing within the transistor. Accordingly, the term "threshold voltage" does not readily apply to "turning" such devices on, but is used instead to denote the voltage level at which the channel is wide enough to allow electrons to flow easily. This ease-of-flow threshold also applies to p-channel "depletion-mode" devices, in which a negative voltage from gate to body/source creates a depletion layer by forcing the positively charged holes away from the gate-insulator/semiconductor interface, leaving exposed a carrier-free region of immobile, negatively charged acceptor ions.


title: Threshold voltage

text: For the n-channel depletion MOS transistor, a negative gate-source voltage will deplete (hence its name) the conductive channel of its free electrons switching the transistor “OFF”. Likewise for a p-channel "depletion-mode" MOS transistor a positive gate-source voltage will deplete the channel of its free holes, turning it “OFF”.


title: Threshold voltage

text: In wide planar transistors the threshold voltage is essentially independent of the drain–source voltage and is therefore a well defined characteristic, however it is less clear in modern nanometer-sized MOSFETs due to drain-induced barrier lowering.


title: Threshold voltage

text: In the figures, the source (left side) and drain (right side) are labeled "n+" to indicate heavily doped (blue) n-regions. The depletion layer dopant is labeled "N" to indicate that the ions in the (pink) depletion layer are negatively charged and there are very few holes. In the (red) bulk the number of holes "p = N" making the bulk charge neutral.


title: Threshold voltage

text: If the gate voltage is below the threshold voltage (left figure), the "enhancement-mode" transistor is turned off and ideally there is no current from the drain to the source of the transistor. In fact, there is a current even for gate biases below the threshold (subthreshold leakage) current, although it is small and varies exponentially with gate bias. Therefore, datasheets will specify threshold voltage according to a specified measurable amount of current (commonly 250 μA or 1 mA).


title: Threshold voltage

text: If the gate voltage is above the threshold voltage (right figure), the "enhancement-mode" transistor is turned on, due to there being many electrons in the channel at the oxide-silicon interface, creating a low-resistance channel where charge can flow from drain to source. For voltages significantly above the threshold, this situation is called strong inversion. The channel is tapered when because the voltage drop due to the current in the resistive channel reduces the oxide field supporting the channel as the drain is approached.


title: Threshold voltage

text: The "body effect" is the change in the threshold voltage by an amount approximately equal to the change in the source-bulk voltage, formula_1, because the body influences the threshold voltage (when it is not tied to the source). It can be thought of as a second gate, and is sometimes referred to as the "back gate", and accordingly the body effect is sometimes called the "back-gate effect".


title: Threshold voltage

text: For an enhancement-mode nMOS MOSFET, the body effect upon threshold voltage is computed according to the Shichman–Hodges model, which is accurate for older process nodes, using the following equation:


title: Threshold voltage

text: In a given technology node, such as the 90-nm CMOS process, the threshold voltage depends on the choice of oxide and on oxide thickness. Using the body formulas above, formula_3 is directly proportional to formula_14, and formula_15, which is the parameter for oxide thickness.


title: Threshold voltage

text: Thus, the thinner the oxide thickness, the lower the threshold voltage. Although this may seem to be an improvement, it is not without cost; because the thinner the oxide thickness, the higher the subthreshold leakage current through the device will be. Consequently, the design specification for 90-nm gate-oxide thickness was set at 1 nm to control the leakage current. This kind of tunneling, called Fowler-Nordheim Tunneling.


title: Threshold voltage

text: Before scaling the design features down to 90 nm, a dual-oxide approach for creating the oxide thickness was a common solution to this issue. With a 90 nm process technology, a triple-oxide approach has been adopted in some cases. One standard thin oxide is used for most transistors, another for I/O driver cells, and a third for memory-and-pass transistor cells. These differences are based purely on the characteristics of oxide thickness on threshold voltage of CMOS technologies.


title: Threshold voltage

text: As with the case of oxide thickness affecting threshold voltage, temperature has an effect on the threshold voltage of a CMOS device. Expanding on part of the equation in the body effect section


title: Threshold voltage

text: We see that the surface potential has a direct relationship with the temperature. Looking above, that the threshold voltage does not have a direct relationship but is not independent of the effects. This variation is typically between −4 mV/K and −2 mV/K depending on doping level. For a change of 30 °C this results in significant variation from the 500 mV design parameter commonly used for the 90-nm technology node.


title: Threshold voltage

text: Random dopant fluctuation (RDF) is a form of process variation resulting from variation in the implanted impurity concentration. In MOSFET transistors, RDF in the channel region can alter the transistor's properties, especially threshold voltage. In newer process technologies RDF has a larger effect because the total number of dopants is fewer.


title: Threshold voltage

text: Research works are being carried out in order to suppress the dopant fluctuation which leads to the variation of threshold voltage between devices undergoing same manufacturing process.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: Deccan Chargers Hyderabad (abbreviated as HDC) was a franchise cricket team based in the city of Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. The team was one of the eight founding members of the IPL in 2008 and was owned by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd. After finishing last in the first season of the IPL, they won the second season held in South Africa in 2009 under the captaincy of former Australian wicket-keeper and batsman Adam Gilchrist. Gilchrist was the captain of the team for the first three seasons of the IPL with Rohit Sharma as his deputy. From the fourth season, Kumar Sangakkara led the team and Cameron White played as his deputy. The team was coached by former Australian cricketer Darren Lehmann.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: The owners put the franchise up for sale in 2012 due to constant banning of team players in previous seasons but declined the sole bid. On 14 September 2012, the IPL governing council terminated the franchise for breaching contract terms. The Sun TV Network won the bid for the Hyderabad franchise, the BCCI confirmed on 25 October 2012. The new team was named as Sunrisers Hyderabad.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: In July 2020, a Bombay High Court-appointed arbitration tribunal ruled that the termination of Deccan Chargers by BCCI was illegal. Deccan Chronicle Holding Ltd was awarded a compensation of 4814.67 crore plus 10% interest from 2012 by the BCCI.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: The Hyderabad franchise was bought by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd. The media group acquired the franchise for US$107 million on 24 January 2008. The Chargers logo is a charging bull. From the 2009 season, the team changed the colour of the jersey (from beige and black to sparkling silver and blue) and the logo (from gold and red to white and blue). There was no Icon Player for the team as the former captain V.V.S. Laxman rejected the offer to be an icon player in order to free funds and enable the franchise to buy and encourage younger players.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: The Deccan era Chargers were a franchise cricket team based in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The team was created in 2009 by the Deccan Chronicle group and played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) until 2013.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: The idea of starting a cricket team under the banner of Deccan Chronicle was first discussed on 11 November 2008 at a meeting with BCCI officials by K. K. Tiwari, Editor-in-chief of the newspaper and its owner Ramoji Rao. It was decided that the team would be based in Hyderabad and have an affiliation with CSK for their training facilities. The decision to name it "Deccan Chargers" came from two sources: one being Ramoji's desire to give back to society after his success as an entrepreneur; and second, his love for horses which is reflected in his horse racing business called "Deccan Horse Racing".


title: Deccan Chargers

text: Due to financial problems Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd, the team owner of Deccan Chargers announced a sale of their team by auction. The sale, announced in a newspaper advertisement on Thursday, was to be through a bidding process that was to be completed on 13 September, with the winning bid to be announced on the same day. However the auction for the franchise on 13 September 2012 ended with no results as the team's owners rejecting the sole bid they received from PVP Ventures. It was reported that Deccan Chargers owner rejected the bid by PVP ventures as DCHL's bankers were not happy with PVP's plan to divide the bid amount in two parts over the next ten years. Later on 14 September 2012, the BCCI announced that the Deccan Chargers IPL franchise was terminated due to BCCI codes by DCHL and the tender will be called for new team. DCHL moved to court to sort their issues with BCCI on termination.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: The franchise initially acquired star players Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Shahid Afridi, Scott Styris and Herschelle Gibbs. The main bowlers purchased by the franchise were R.P. Singh, Nuwan Zoysa and Chaminda Vaas. The other Indian players are Rohit Sharma, Venugopal Rao, and Pragyan Ojha.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: Despite the fact that the team was one of the favorites to win the inaugural edition of the IPL, the team finished last. Andrew Symonds, who was Deccan's most expensive player, batted only 3 innings before leaving to play for the Australian national team. In addition, the team captain V.V.S. Laxman had an injury which ended his season after 6 games. Only three bowlers R. P. Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Shahid Afridi took more than 4 wickets in the competition. In this 14 match period, the team went on a losing streak at home and only managed 2 wins overall, one against the Mumbai Indians and one against the Chennai Super Kings and as a result they finished at the bottom of the table.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: After the debacle of 2008, the team management sacked the entire administration associated with the tournament in that year. They removed their CEO J. Kalyan Krishnan, Coach Robin Singh and the Captain V.V.S. Laxman and replaced them with Tim Wright, the former Australian batsman Darren Lehmann and former Australian Wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist respectively. Many new players were taken from domestic circuit and also few new international players were signed. The 2008 sponsor Jaypee Group withdrew its sponsorship due to the 2008 debacle. After this, the Deccan Chargers went through a complete makeover, including changing the colours of the team from pale brown to vibrant blue and a new logo displaying a more vibrant charging bull with Deccan Chronicle as the primary sponsor for the team. Among the other members of the support staff, their physio Sean Slattery and performance analyst Unni Krishnan were retained and were part of the team to win the IPL second edition in 2009 which was held in South Africa.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: In low key trading of players, the Deccan Chargers management had placed Shahid Afridi and Herschelle Gibbs up for sale, a direct result of their below par performance during the 2008 season. However, no franchise owners were interested in purchasing these two players. Later, the Deccan Chargers management severed all ties with Shahid Afridi, due to his disagreement with former team captain V.V.S. Laxman. Also, Former Indian all-rounder Sanjay Bangar was transferred to the Kolkata Knight Riders.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: Before the second player auction took place the management signed Queensland all-rounder Ryan Harris owing to a strong recommendation from coach Darren Lehmann. In the resulting auction the Deccan Chargers franchise acquired two West Indian players, Fidel Edwards for a fee of $150,000, and Dwayne Smith for $100,000. Seven new domestic players were also signed up including batsmen Tirumalasetti Suman and Abhinav Kumar, and bowler Shoaib Maqsusi from the Hyderabad team after their consistent performances on the domestic circuit. Baroda batsman Azhar Bilakhia and two fast bowlers from Punjab, Jaskarandeep Singh and Harmeet Singh were also signed on.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: With the below-par performance in the inaugural season and finishing at the bottom, Deccan staged an inspired comeback in 2009 by winning the second IPL season. After having an undefeated run in the initial league stage, the team suffered minor setbacks by losing some close matches. But the return of Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma regaining form and the continuing exuberance of captain Adam Gilchrist bolstered the side. Some luck came in Charger's way towards the end of the league stage, with Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals losing key matches, enabling the Chargers into the semi-finals. During the semi-finals against the Delhi Daredevils, who were at the top of the table, few gave the Chargers a chance of an outside win. But against the odds, Gilchrist scored a sensational 85 off just 35 balls to put the Daredevils out of the competition and give the Chargers their first IPL final against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: In the final match, Gilchrist got out for a duck in the first over, however the Chargers managed to recover and posted a total of 143 for the loss of 6 wickets. Many felt that a good defending total could have been a further 20–30 runs. The Chargers came out with all guns blazing right from the first ball, and this spirited effort ensured that they successfully defended the total, winning the game by 6 runs and lifting the prized IPL trophy.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: On 11 August 2009, Dinesh Wadhwa, former Regional Manager of ICICI Bank was appointed chief operating officer for 2010.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: After winning 2009, there were high expectations on Chargers. Team opened with a loss in their inaugural match against KKR but subsequently won next three matches. But thereafter Chargers went on to lose the next five matches. With a situation where many doubted whether Chargers will be able to make to next round but they did it by winning next five consecutive matches and qualifying for playoffs. But Chargers lost both games in play-offs i.e. Semifinals and third place. Pragyan Ojha won the Purple Cap by becoming the highest wicket taker for them in the same season.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: Before the start of auction Chargers decided not to retain any players and have put all the players in auction. The much awaited Auction on 8 and 9 January 2011 lived up to the expectation; in fact it exceeded in many ways. Daniel Christian was termed as million dollar baby as he was hardly known to the world cricket at that point of time. Chargers did pick very good players in Cameron White, JP Duminy, Ishant Sharma, Dale Steyn and skipper Kumar Sangakkara. But at the same time Chargers lost many of Indian players such RP Singh and Rohit Sharma as well as Australians Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: Team started the campaign by losing first 2 games but team won next match. There after team started losing badly despite winning some games and was therefore eliminated from the competition. But team bounced back by showing pride by winning final 3 matches which did not allow a chance for other teams for qualifiers. Team disappointing performance was clearly due to inexperience in the squad especially due to lack of Indian international batsmen. Fans of DC have criticized management for not holding back Rohit Sharma during player retention. Chargers got to play IPL matches at Hyderabad after almost 3 years, but dismal performance at their home ground continued with a win against RCB being the only exception. However, in the away matches, Chargers did manage to beat Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians, Knight Riders, Pune Warriors and Kings XI Punjab. They ended on a high with 3 consecutive wins but could not scale above 7th position in the league standings.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: In the trading window which opened in December, Chargers traded off Kevin Pietersen, Harmeet Singh and Pragyan Ojha to Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians respectively. During player auctions, Chargers had tried to bid Ravindra Jadeja for entire $2m but eventually lost to the Super Kings in tie breaker. Later they acquired following players-


title: Deccan Chargers

text: After the auction, they signed up a few uncapped players such as TP Sudhindra, Tanmay Srivastava, Biplab Samantray, Akshath Reddy and Ashish Reddy owing to their strong domestic performances.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: The Chargers failed to deliver on a consistent basis in 2012 with narrow and consecutive defeats. Shikhar Dhawan, Dale Steyn and Cameron White were the only players who helped the team put up a fight. Team weakness was the bowling and fielding department, with fast bowler Ishant Sharma being ruled out due to injury and spinner Pragyan Ojha traded to Mumbai Indians. Deccan finished eighth out of the nine teams in the league stage points table, after languishing at the bottom for most part of the season. Deccan Chargers came into the season being characterized as 'underdogs', and they are yet to lose that name.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: The Twenty20 Champions League was an international Twenty20 cricket competition between clubs from India, Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and West Indies. The competition was launched in 2008 as a response to the success of national Twenty20 domestic cricket leagues, most notably the Indian Premier League.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: On account of emerging as the winners of the 2009 season of the Indian Premier League, the team participated in the inaugural edition of the T20 Champions League, along with two other Indian teams: the runners-up of IPL 2009, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Delhi Daredevils, the toppers of the league-stage points table.


title: Deccan Chargers

text: They were knocked out in the group stages after losing to the Somerset Sabres and Trinidad and Tobago, who they were drawn against in Group A.


title: Gully

text: A gully is a landform created by running water, mass movement, or commonly a combination of both eroding sharply into soil or other relatively erodible material, typically on a hillside or in river floodplains or terraces. Gullies resemble large ditches or small valleys, but are metres to tens of metres in depth and width and are characterised by a distinct 'headscarp' or 'headwall' and progress by headward (i.e. upstream) erosion. Gullies are commonly related to intermittent or ephemeral water flow usually associated with localised intense or protracted rainfall events, or snowmelt. Gullies can be formed and accelerated by cultivation practices on hillslopes (often gentle gradient) in farmland, and they can develop rapidly in rangelands from existing natural erosion forms subject to vegetative cover removal and livestock activity.


title: Gully

text: The earliest known usage of the term is from 1657. It originates from the French word "goulet", a diminutive form of "goule" which means "throat". It is possible that the term is connected to the name of a type of knife used at the time, a "gully-knife."


title: Gully

text: Gully erosion can progress through a variety and combination of processes. The erosion processes include incision and bank erosion by water flow, mass movement of saturated or unsaturated bank or wall material, groundwater seepage - sapping the overlying material, collapse of soil pipes or tunnels in dispersive soils, or a combination of these to a greater or lesser degree. Hillsides are more prone to gully erosion when they are cleared of vegetation cover, through deforestation, over-grazing or other means. Gullies in rangelands can be initiated by concentrated water flow down tracks worn by livestock or vehicle tracks. The eroded soil is easily carried by the flowing water after being dislodged from the ground, normally when rainfall falls during short, intense storms such as during thunderstorms.


title: Gully

text: A gully may grow in length by means of headward (i.e. upstream) erosion at a knick point. This erosion can result from interflow and soil piping (internal erosion) as well as surface runoff. Gully erosion may also advance laterally by similar methods, including mass movement, acting on the gully walls (banks) and by developing 'branches' (a type of tributary).


title: Gully

text: Gullies reduce the productivity of farmlands where they incise into the land, and produce sediment that may choke downstream waterbodies, and reduce water quality within the drainage system and lake or coastal system. Because of this, much effort is invested into the study of gullies within the scope of geomorphology and soil science, in the prevention of gully erosion, and in remediation and rehabilitation of gullied landscapes. The total soil loss from gully formation and subsequent downstream river sedimentation can be substantial, especially from unstable soil materials prone to dispersion.


title: Gully

text: Artificial gullies are formed during hydraulic mining when jets or streams of water are projected onto soft alluvial deposits to extract gold or tin ore. The remains of such mining methods are very visible landform features in old goldfields such as in California and northern Spain. The badlands at Las Medulas for example, were created during the Roman period by hushing or hydraulic mining of the gold-rich alluvium with water supplied by numerous aqueducts tapping nearby rivers. Each aqueduct produced large gullies below by erosion of the soft deposits. The effluvium was carefully washed with smaller streams of water to extract the nuggets and gold dust.


title: Gully

text: Gullies are widespread at mid- to high latitudes on the surface of Mars, and are some of the youngest features observed on that planet, probably forming within the last few 100,000 years. There, they are one of the best lines of evidence for the presence of liquid water on Mars in the recent geological past, probably resulting from the slight melting of snowpacks on the surface or ice in the shallow subsurface on the warmest days of the Martian year. Flow as springs from deeper seated liquid water aquifers in the deeper subsurface is also a possible explanation for the formation of some Martian gullies.


title: Budae-jjigae

text: Budae-jjigae (; ) or spicy sausage stew is a type of Korean "jjigae" (stew), made with ham, sausage, Spam, baked beans, kimchi, instant noodles, and gochujang. The dish was created shortly after the armistice that ended the Korean War, using the scrounged or smuggled surplus foods from U.S. military bases. Although the dish was born in the period of post-war impoverishment, it continued to be popular during the period of rapid growth, and is still popular today. There are many restaurants specializing in "budae-jjigae", with the most famous ones on the "budae-jjigae" street in Uijeongbu, where the dish was allegedly first made. The dish is now a popular "anju" (accompaniment to alcoholic drinks) and a comfort food cooked on the table in a big pot in front of the diners and enjoyed as it is cooked for many Koreans.


title: Budae-jjigae

text: "Budae" () is a military unit, often a "troop". As a troop's camp is also called "budae", the word "gun budae" (; "military camp") is often used to refer to military camps in general, and "migun budae" (; "U.S. military camp") to the U.S. military bases. "Jjigae" (), often translated as "stew", means a soup thicker than "guk" (soup).


title: Budae-jjigae

text: After the Korean War, food was scarce in South Korea. People dwelling around U.S. army bases in the Uijeongbu, Pyeongtaek, and Munsan regions made use of leftover foods from army bases. These foods were usually processed meat products, collectively known as "budae-gogi" (; "army base meat"), often including ham, hot dogs, Spam, and canned baked beans. It is said that "budae-jjigae" begun as a buttery stir-fried meal made of canned pineapples, cabbages, onions, American cheese, and mystery meat called 'ggulgguri-juk’ (꿀꿀이죽; "piggy porridge"). With time, people started using anchovy broth (flavored with gochujang and kimchi) as base, resulting in the modern "budae-jjigae". Ingredients were often scrounged or smuggled through the black market, as Koreans could not legally access American products.


title: Budae-jjigae

text: "Budae-jjigae" is still popular in South Korea. Common ingredients now include baked beans, Vienna sausage, bacon, tofu, pork, ground beef, mandu, instant noodles, macaroni, tteok (rice cake), American cheese, mozzarella, minari, scallions, chili peppers, garlic, mushrooms, and other vegetables in season. The city of Uijeongbu, which is bordered by Seoul to the south and has many army bases, is famous for its "budae-jjigae". In the late 20th century, the city of Uijeongbu stipulated that the dish be referred to as "Uijeongbu-jjigae" to remove the military or war-time connotation in the name, though not many restaurants follow this guideline. Some restaurants have begun calling their product "Uijeongbu-budae-jjigae". There is also what locals refer to as "Uijeongbu "Budae-jjigae" Street"—home to a high concentration of "budae-jjigae" restaurants.


title: Budae-jjigae

text: A form of "budae-jjigae" developed around a U.S. military unit stationed in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, is called "Johnsontang" (; "Johnson soup"). It is named after United States President Lyndon B. Johnson, who is said to have raved about the taste of the dish during his visit to Korea.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: The PSL (, "scoped semi-automatic rifle") is a Romanian military designated marksman rifle. It is also called PSL-54C, Romak III, FPK and SSG-97 ("Scharfschützengewehr" 1997). Though similar in appearance, mission, and specifications to the SVD Dragunov, the PSL rifle is, mechanically speaking, completely different as it is based on the AKM assault rifle - with its internals simply being scaled up to accommodate the more powerful 7.62×54mmR cartridge.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: After Socialist Romania's refusal to join the Invasion of Czechoslovakia, relations with the Soviet Union worsened. To counterbalance its reliance on Soviet military equipment, Romania accelerated the development of its arms industry mostly relying on Soviet blueprints and licences. As the Soviets were not eager to share technical information on the SVD Dragunov, a project commenced to develop the PSL.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: PSL rifles were originally made at the Uzina Mecanică Cugir in Cugir (English pronounced Koogeer), Romania starting with 1974. Great numbers were produced and equipped all branches of the Romanian Army, several internal troops and police units and the Gărzi Patriotice. After a consolidation of military arsenals when Romania joined NATO, a split of the factory occurred, production of the PSL continues in Cugir under the brand SC Fabrica de Arme Cugir SA (ARMS arsenal), Romania.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: The PSL rifle was designed to meet all the requirements of the SVD Dragunov. Its primary purpose is to be used by a squad level sniper, in current acceptance more of a designated marksman, to engage targets at ranges beyond the capabilities of the standard issue AKM assault rifles. It is built around a stamped steel receiver similar to that of the RPK light machine gun; having a wider forward section enabling a strengthened, more substantial front trunnion. The PSL's operation is the same long stroke piston action of the Kalashnikov family of weapons. Its appearance is "similar" to the Dragunov sniper rifle but they only share three components being the ammunition, optics, and bayonets.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: The PSL is chambered for the same venerable 7.62×54mmR (rimmed) cartridge as the Dragunov, and feeds from a ten-round detachable box magazine. The magazine used on the PSL differs from that of Dragunov models in that it is stamped with an X shaped pattern on the side, rather than the waffle style stamp found on the Russian and Chinese magazines. The magazines, though they are similar in shape and size, are not interchangeable between the Dragunov and PSL without modification.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: The PSL has been in service in Romania since the 1970s and is widely sold on the world market. They are frequently encountered in Iraq where they appear to be quite popular. The simplicity of the rifle makes it ideal for soldiers to use and maintain. The action, being a variant of the AKM's, is extremely reliable despite lack of maintenance, and is particularly forgiving of sand and other debris. The scope's reticle pattern is easy to use and makes range estimation quick and reasonably accurate without any mathematical calculations necessary. With some simple instruction an average individual can be issued a PSL and successfully engage targets at ranges that far exceed the accurate capabilities of non-scoped assault rifles like the AKM, AK-47, etc. Accuracy varies greatly, however, between individual rifles to a greater extent to other rifles in its class, probably due to insufficient quality control during the manufacturing process. In the hands of a capable shooter and with quality ammunition such as 7N1 and 7N14 a PSL is capable of 1 Minute of angle (approximately 1" at 100 yards) or less while the rifles on the other end of the spectrum are only capable of about 3 MOA. The PSL has, however, gained notoriety due to bolt carriers cracking when used with heavy ball (147 grain or greater) ammo and silencers, in part thanks to the lack of adjustable gas. Aftermarket gas system upgrades (both PSL dedicated and retrofitted standard AK) have been known to solve the problem. Another, more risky, solution is to drill out the gas transfer port and fit a vented screw (which has a narrower vent diameter than the starting port size) inside.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: PSL rifles have some notable features, the skeleton stock is somewhat similar to the Dragunov's but includes an interesting corrugated and spring-loaded stamped steel buttplate. When the rifle is fired this helps reduce the felt recoil to a degree. The cheek riser on the comb of the stock is angled to benefit the right-handed shooter primarily. Some owners feel the cheek pad is not high enough to adequately attain a rigid cheek weld and have to make do with a chin weld.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: The butt stock is much shorter than most Western shooters are used to. This is because Romanian soldiers active during the Winter often operate in very cold climates and wear thick winter coats while on duty. In theory, a rubber stock extender is to be fitted during the hot Romanian summer, but one is not issued with the rifle.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: The PSL's telescopic sight is made by the Romanian Optical Enterprise (IOR) in Bucharest. IOR is a Romanian company which has been making optics since 1936. They currently use German made Schott glass coated with the Carl Zeiss T-3 system to eliminate glare and maximize light transmission. It is unknown what glass and coatings they used at the time they produced the PSL's scope, however IOR had a long association with western European optics manufacturers and maintained these despite being caught within the Iron Curtain. In 1967 IOR collaborated with various German manufacturers and in 1975 an association was established with Carl Zeiss which led to even more expansion and modernization.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: The PSL was originally issued with the type 1 version of the LPS telescopic sight. This 4×24 scope was more or less identical to the Russian PSO-1 telescopic sight with a battery-powered reticle illumination and an IR detection filter. These scopes stopped being produced around 1974 and are rather rare today with collectors paying a premium for them. Shortly afterward the LPS scope was technically revised to simplify the maintenance and construction of the scope.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: The PSL rifle is typically issued with a 4×24 optical sight called LPS 4×6° TIP2 ("Lunetă Puṣcă Semiautomată Tip 2", or "Scope, Semi-Automatic Rifle, Type #2") which is a simplified version of the Russian PSO-1 telescopic weapon sight. This optical sight features 4× magnification, a 6° field of view, and the objective lens is 24 mm in diameter. It shares the basic design and stadiametric rangefinder found in the reticle of the original Russian PSO-1 scope. The LPS 4×6° TIP2 elevation turret features bullet drop compensation (BDC) in 50 m increments for engaging point and area targets at ranges from 100 m up to 1,000 m. The BDC feature must be tuned at the factory for the particular ballistic trajectory of a particular combination of rifle and cartridge at a predefined air density. Inevitable BDC induced errors will occur if the environmental and meteorological circumstances deviate from the circumstances the BDC was calibrated for. Marksmen can be trained to compensate for these errors. Besides the BDC elevation or vertical adjustment control of the reticle, the windage or horizontal adjustment control of the reticle can also be easily dialed in by the user without having to remove turret caps etc. The reticle illumination of the LPS 4×6° TIP2 is provided by (radioactive) tritium. The tritium light source has to be replaced every 8–12 years, since it gradually loses its brightness due to radioactive decay.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: The LPS 4×6° TIP2 is issued with a lens hood that can be attached to the ocular to reduce/eliminate image quality impairing stray light and a covers to protect the objective external lens surface against foul weather and damage.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: The LPS telescopic sight propriety mount is adjustable for tension on the LPS rifle's side rail. This side rail is a Warsaw Pact rail similar in design to the mounting used for Russian SVD rifles and PSO-1 optical sights and positions the telescopic sight axis to the left side in relation to the receiver and bore center axis. The Warsaw Pact mount has a castle nut that screws into the bottom of the locking lever. The spring-loaded portion of the clamp has to be pressed down to tighten or loosen the castle nut as needed.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: The scope can be easily removed from the receiver of the rifle by swinging the locking lever open, then sliding the scope mount to the rear. This allows easy access to the receiver cover which needs to be removed for cleaning.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: Due to the offset to the left and the relative height of the mounting, the PSL iron sights can be used with a LPS scope mounted, though the positioning of the scope's optical center axis may not be comfortable to all shooters.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: A sporting version of the PSL, intended for export, is offered as the PSL-54C, Romak III, FPK, FPK Dragunov or SSG-97. This weapon is identical in almost every respect to the original military version of the PSL except for modifications to comply with the U.S. import laws regarding sporting rifles. These modifications include removal of the bayonet lug as well as the replacement of the original military receiver, which has three trigger mechanism axis pin holes instead of two. The third hole is for a safety sear that is thought to allow the rifle to be capable of being converted to "full-auto" by the end-user. US import versions are manufactured with a BATFE approved semi-auto Romanian receiver. The so-called "third hole" is not present, thus the trigger mechanism is simplified and omits the "full auto" safety sear. The military spec FPK is not capable of fully automatic fire however it includes this safety sear to ensure the rifle's hammer cannot be released before the bolt is fully forward and locked in place in the forward trunnion. Because of this fact, and the lack of a spring-loaded firing pin, there is some theoretical potential that the US legal PSL could fire out of battery (before the bolt is fully locked). The US commercial-spec rifles also sometimes omit the bolt hold-open mechanism that is on the true military spec rifles.


title: PSL (rifle)

text: All sporting versions of the PSL are constructed using original Romanian parts and assembled either in Romania or in the United States, some using American made receivers. Examples of the commercial sporting version were also available (on a very limited production run) in the 7.62×51mm NATO (.308 Winchester) cartridge as opposed to the 7.62×54mmR mm these rifles are typically chambered for. A PSL with a 16" barrel was also marketed as the FPK Paratrooper, but no such rifle exists within the Romanian military, being purely a US made variant. These rifles were primarily imported by Century Arms International, InterOrdnance, and Tennessee Gun Importers (TG Knox).


title: Laverbread

text: Laverbread (; or ""; ) is a food product made from laver, an edible seaweed (littoral alga) consumed mainly in Wales as part of local traditional cuisine. The seaweed is commonly found around the west coast of Great Britain, and the coasts of Ireland, where it is known as . It is smooth in texture and forms delicate, sheetlike thalli, often clinging to rocks. The principal variety is . "Porphyra" (laver seaweed) is classified as red algae; it tends to be a brownish colour, but boils down to a dark green pulp when prepared. Laver seaweed has a high content of dietary minerals, particularly iodine and iron. The high iodine content gives the seaweed a distinctive flavour in common with olives and oysters.


title: Laverbread

text: Laver seaweed has been cultivated as a food in Wales since at least the 17th century. It is prepared by repeated washings and then boiling until it becomes the soft purée-like product known as laverbread. The gelatinous paste that results can then be sold as it is or rolled in oatmeal. It is sometimes also coated with oatmeal prior to frying. Laverbread is traditionally eaten fried with bacon and cockles as part of a Welsh breakfast or, in the southwest of England, with hog's pudding.


title: Laverbread

text: Cultivation of laver seaweed as food is thought to be very ancient, though the first mention was in William Camden's "Britannia" in the early 17th century. It is plucked from the rocks and given a preliminary rinse in clear water. The collected laver seaweed is repeatedly washed to remove sand, then boiled until it becomes a stiff, green purée with a smooth consistency. Alternatively, steaming is utilised, which speeds up the process. Once prepared, the seaweed can be preserved for about a week. During the 18th century, the product was packed into a crock and sold as "potted laver".


title: Laverbread

text: Laver seaweed cultivation is typically associated with Wales, and it is still gathered off the Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire coasts, although similar farming methods are used at the west coast of Scotland.


title: Laverbread

text: Laverbread can be eaten cold as a salad with lamb or mutton. A simple preparation is to heat the laverbread and to add butter and the juice of a lemon or Seville orange. Laverbread can be heated and served with boiled bacon.


title: Laverbread

text: Laverbread is made from the seaweed "Porphyra umbilicalis" from the genus "Porphyra" and family Bangiaceae. The seaweed is commonly found around the west coast of Great Britain and east coast of Ireland along the Irish Sea, where it is also known as or slake. It is smooth in texture and forms delicate, sheetlike thalli, often clinging to rocks. "Porphyra" is classified as red algae; it tends to be a brownish colour, but boils down to a dark green pulp when prepared. It is unusual amongst seaweeds because the fronds are only one cell thick. Laver has a high content of dietary minerals, particularly iodine and iron. The high iodine content gives the seaweed a distinctive flavour in common with olives and oysters.


title: Laverbread

text: Laverbread ( or ") is a traditional Welsh delicacy made from laver seaweed. To make laverbread, the seaweed is boiled for several hours, then minced or pureed. The gelatinous paste that results can then be sold as it is, or rolled in oatmeal; it is sometimes coated with oatmeal prior to frying.


title: Laverbread

text: Laverbread is traditionally eaten fried with bacon and cockles as part of a Welsh breakfast. It can also be used to make a sauce to accompany lamb, crab, monkfish, etc., and to make laver soup ("). Richard Burton has been quoted as describing laverbread as "Welshman's caviar".


title: Laverbread

text: Laver seaweed is often associated with Penclawdd and its cockles, being used traditionally in the Welsh diet and is still eaten widely across Wales in the form of laverbread. In addition to Wales, laverbread is eaten across the Bristol Channel in North Devon, especially the Exmoor coast around Lynmouth, Combe Martin and Ilfracombe. In North Devon it is generally not cooked with oatmeal and is simply referred to as 'laver' ( ).


title: Laverbread

text: Laverbread is highly nutritious because of its high proportions of protein, iron, and especially iodine. The dried purple (nori) variation is the main plant that contains significant amounts of vitamin B, which makes it the most suitable source of vitamin B available for vegans; consuming 4g of dried purple laver provides the RDA of vitamin B12.


title: ǃKung people

text: The ǃKung are one of the San peoples who live mostly on the western edge of the Kalahari desert, Ovamboland (northern Namibia and southern Angola), and Botswana. The names "ǃKung" ("ǃXun") and "Ju" are variant words for 'people', preferred by different ǃKung groups. This band level society used traditional methods of hunting and gathering for subsistence up until the 1970s. Today, the great majority of ǃKung people live in the villages of Bantu pastoralists and European ranchers.


title: ǃKung people

text: The ǃKung people of Southern Africa recognize a Supreme Being, ǃXu, who is the Creator and Upholder of life. Like other African High Gods, he also punishes man by means of the weather, and the Otjimpolo-ǃKung know him as Erob, who "knows everything". They also have animistic and animatistic beliefs, which means they believe in both personifications and impersonal forces. For example, they recall a culture hero named Prishiboro who had a wife who was an elephant. Prishiboro's older brother tricked him into killing his wife and eating her flesh. Her herd tried to kill Prishiboro in revenge, but his brother defeated them.


title: ǃKung people

text: Amongst the ǃKung there is a strong belief in the existence of spirits of the dead ("llgauwasi") who live immortally in the sky. The "llgauwasi" can come to the earth and interact with humans. There is no particular connection to personal ancestors but the ǃKung fear the "llgauwasi", pray to them for sympathy and mercy as well as call on them in anger.


title: ǃKung people

text: The ǃKung practice shamanism to communicate with the spirit world, and to cure what they call "Star Sickness". The communication with the spirit world is done by a natural healer entering a trance state and running through a fire, thereby chasing away bad spirits. Star Sickness is cured by laying hands on the diseased. Nisa, a ǃKung woman, reported through anthropologist Marjorie Shostak that a healer in training is given a root to help induce trance. Nisa said, "I drank it a number of times and threw up again and again. Finally, I started to tremble. People rubbed my body as I sat there feeling the effect getting stronger and stronger. ... Trance-medicine really hurts! As you begin to trance, the n/um [power to heal] slowly heats inside you and pulls at you. It rises until it grabs your insides and takes your thoughts away."


title: ǃKung people

text: Healing rites are a primary part of the ǃKung culture. In the ǃKung state of mind, having health is equivalent to having social harmony, meaning that relationships within the group are stable and open between other people. Any ǃKung can become a healer because it "is a status accessible to all," but it is a grand aspiration of many members because of its importance. Even though there is no restriction of the power, "nearly half the men and one-third of the women are acknowledged of having the power to heal," but with the responsibility comes great pain and hardship. To become a healer, aspirants must become an apprentice and learn from older healers. Their training includes the older healer having to "go into a trance to teach the novices, rubbing their own sweat onto the pupils' centers – their bellies, backs, foreheads, and spines." "Most of the apprentices have the intentions of becoming a healer but then become frightened or have a lack of ambition and discontinue."


title: ǃKung people

text: The ǃKung term for this powerful healing force is "n/um." This force resides in the bellies of men and women who have gone through the training and have become a healer. Healing can be transmitted through the "ǃkia" dance that begins at sundown and continues through the night. The "ǃkia" can be translated as "trance" which can give a physical image of a sleeping enchantment. While they dance, "in preparation for entering a trance state to effect a cure, the substance [the "n/um"] heats up and, boiling, travels up the healer's spine to explode with therapeutic power in the brain." While the healers are in the trance they propel themselves in a journey to seek out the sickness and argue with the spirits. Women on the other hand have a special medicine called the "gwah" which starts in the stomachs and kidneys. During the Drum Dance, they enter the "ǃkia" state and the "gwah" travels up the spine and lodges in the neck. In order to obtain the "gwah" power the women, "chop up the root of a short shrub, boil it into a tea and drink it." They do not need to drink the tea every time because the power they obtain lasts a lifetime.


title: ǃKung people

text: The community of the ǃKung fully supports the healers and depends heavily on them. They have trust in the healers and the teachers to guide them psychologically and spiritually through life. The ǃKung have a saying: "Healing makes their hearts happy, and a happy heart is one that reflects a sense of community." Because of their longing to keep the peace between people, their community is tranquil.


title: ǃKung people

text: ǃKung women usually experience their first menstruation at the age of 16½, their first birth at 19½ and their last birth by their late 30s. ǃKung women often give birth unassisted, walking away from the village camp as far as a mile during labour and bearing the child alone, delivering it into a small leaf-lined hole dug into the warm sand. The child's cord is not clamped or cut (a form of Lotus birth or umbilical nonseverance), and the placenta is delivered and put next to the child, as guardian. Shortly thereafter, the baby-placenta is lightly covered with another large leaf, and the new mother walks a short way to verbally alert the older women of the completed birth, at which time they join the mother and child in a ritual welcoming. If a laboring woman is delayed in returning to the village once she has left to give birth, the older women will come looking for her to assist; however, it is said to be a rare occurrence.


title: ǃKung people

text: Time between the births of children is traditionally about 3–5 years. Children are nursed for 3–5 years, ending when the mother is pregnant with another child. This long period of time between children makes traveling long distances on foot – like to a gathering site or new settlement – easier, since fewer children require carrying and population numbers remain controlled.


title: ǃKung people

text: During times of deprivation, infanticide was permitted to preserve resources. The ǃKung people do not use contraceptives and generally do not practice abstinence, yet experience low fertility rates.


title: ǃKung people

text: Traditionally, especially among Juǀʼhoansi ǃKung, women generally collect plant foods and water, providing 60%–80% of the group's sustenance, while men hunt. However, these gender roles are not strict and people do all jobs as needed with little or no stigma.


title: ǃKung people

text: Women generally take care of children and prepare food. However, this does restrict them to their homes, since these activities are generally done with, or close to, others, so women can socialize and help each other. Men are also engaged in these activities.


title: ǃKung people

text: Children are raised in village groups of other children of a wide age range. Sexual activities amongst children are seen as natural play for both sexes.


title: ǃKung people

text: ǃKung women often share an intimate sociability and spend many hours together discussing their lives, enjoying each other's company and children. In the short documentary film "A Group of Women," ǃKung women rest, talk and nurse their babies while lying in the shade of a baobab tree. This illustrates "collective mothering", where several women support each other and share the nurturing role.


title: ǃKung people

text: Marriage is the major focus of alliance formation between groups of ǃKung. When a woman starts to develop, she is considered ready for marriage. Every first marriage is arranged. The culture of the ǃKung is "being directed at marriage itself, rather than at a specific man." Even though it does not matter who the man is, the woman's family is looking for a specific type of man. The man should not be too much older than the woman, should preferably be unmarried rather than divorced, should be able to hunt, and should be willing to take on the responsibilities of the wife's family. The latter is because a woman's family depends heavily on her husband's family, particularly through trade, when there are times of scarcity.


title: ǃKung people

text: On the marriage day, the tradition is the "marriage-by-capture" ceremony in which the bride is forcibly removed from her hut and presented to her groom. During the ceremony, the bride has her head covered and is carried and then laid down in the hut while the groom is led to the hut and sits beside the door. The couple stay respectfully apart from each other and do not join the wedding festivities. After the party is over, they spend the night together and the next morning they are ceremonially rubbed with oil by the husband's mother.


title: ǃKung people

text: Marriage is generally between a man in his twenties and a girl in her teens (14–18 years old). Newlyweds live in the same village as the wife's family so she has family support during her new life. Often, young wives return to their parents' houses to sleep until they become comfortable with their husbands. During this time, the husband will hunt for his wife's family (a form of bridewealth). If the couple never becomes comfortable, separation is acceptable, prompted by either partner. If they do become a stable couple, they can reside with either partner's family, settling with whichever is beneficial at the time. Divorce remains possible throughout marriage. Extramarital sex is not condoned, but is equally acceptable for each spouse. Domestic violence is prevented because villages are small and close and houses are open so that neighbors and relatives can intervene as needed.


title: ǃKung people

text: Girls who are displeased with their parents' selection may violently protest against the marriage by kicking and screaming and running away at the end of the ceremony. After she has run away, this may result in the dissolution of the arrangement.


title: ǃKung people

text: Half of all first-time marriages end in divorce, but because it is common, the divorce process is not long. Anthropologist Marjorie Shostak generalizes that, "Everyone in the village expresses a point of view" on the marriage and if the couple should be divorced or not. After the village weighs in, they are divorced and can live in their separate huts with their family. Relations between divorced individuals are usually quite amicable, with former partners living near one another and maintaining a cordial relationship. After a woman's first divorce, she is free to marry a man of her choosing or stay single and live on her own.


title: ǃKung people

text: Unlike other complex food-foraging groups, it is unusual for the ǃKung to have a chieftain or headman in a position of power over the other members. These San are not devoid of leadership, but neither are they dependent on it. San groups of the Southern Kalahari have had chieftains in the past, however, there is a somewhat complicated process to gain that position. Chieftainship within these San groups is not a position with the greatest power, as they have the same social status as those members of "aged years". Becoming chieftain is mostly nominal, though there are some responsibilities the chieftain assumes, such as becoming the group's "logical head". This duty entails such roles as dividing up the meat from hunters' kills; these leaders do not receive a larger portion than any other member of the village.


title: ǃKung people

text: The !Kung people have given name to the Theory of Regal and Kungic Societal Structures due to their peacefulness and egalitarian social structure.


title: ǃKung people

text: Kinship is one of the central organizing principles for societies like the ǃKung. Richard Borshay Lee breaks ǃKung kinship principles down into three different sets (Kinship I, Kinship II, and Kinship III or wi). Kinship I follows conventional kin terms (father, mother, brother, sister) and is based on genealogical position.


title: ǃKung people

text: Kinship II applies to name relationships, meaning that people who share the same name (ǃkunǃa) are treated as though they are kin of the same family and are assigned the same kinship term. This is a common occurrence as there are a limited number of ǃKung names. Kung names are also strictly gendered meaning that men and women cannot share the same name. Names are passed down from ancestors according to a strict set of rules, though parents are never allowed to name their children after themselves.


title: ǃKung people

text: There is a principle of alternating generations in terms of "joking" ("k”ai") and "avoidance" ("kwa") relations. One's own generation and the second generation up and down are considered "joking" relations and are treated with relaxed affection. The first generations above and below one are "avoidance" relations and are treated in a respectful and reserved manner. Every member of ǃKung society fits into one of these categories, there are no neutral people.


title: ǃKung people

text: Kinship III or wi has to do with the principles of relative age status. In situations where there are two people trying to decide what kin terms to use, the older person makes the ultimate decision. This is especially important in cultures like the ǃKung as there are not many status distinctions.


title: ǃKung people

text: Hunting can take days of tracking, attacking, and following a wounded beast. The Juǀʼhoansi have rites to prevent arrogance amongst male hunters. When a man kills a beast, he does not take it directly into the settlement, but leaves the body and returns as if he was unsuccessful. An older man will inquire about his hunt and remark upon his failure, to which the hunter must avoid credit and accept humility. The next day, a group will go "see if some small animal was nicked by an arrow." Upon finding the quarry, the hunter will be reassured of the little value of the kill which is finally returned. Additionally, the kill may belong not to him, but to the person who gave him arrows (man or woman), who then follows rules on how to distribute the meat to everyone in the group. Upon returning from a successful hunt, if the kill is transportable, it will be brought back to the village. The ǃKung promote the belief of community well-being, and so the village elders or "those of mature years" will allot meat to the members of the group. The ǃKung also believe in the betterment of their neighbors, so if the kill is too large to move or there is a surplus of meat, word will be spread to villages that are close by to come collect meat for themselves.


title: ǃKung people

text: The ǃKung language, commonly called "Ju", is one of the larger click languages and belongs to the Kxʼa language family, loosely categorised in the Khoisan language group (no longer seen as one family).


title: ǃKung people

text: The ǃKung people often communicate only by high-pitched clicks when sneaking up on prey in order to stay undetected.


title: ǃKung people

text: Since the 1950s, the Juǀʼhoan population has increased. Cattle ranches have brought cows to their traditional lands. Cows eat the sparse vegetation which the Juǀʼhoansi and their game animals need, as well as dirty the Juǀʼhoansi water holes. This water pollution, along with the disappearance of native vegetation, has made disease more prevalent.


title: ǃKung people

text: In addition to the problems involved in sharing water with cows, the Juǀʼhoansi are less mobile than in the past. The current governments of Namibia and Botswana, where the Juǀʼhoansi live, encourage permanent settlements with European style houses. With urban employment and industrialization, indigenous people are changing their nomadic lifestyle.


title: ǃKung people

text: European-descended settlers have encouraged wage-paid agricultural labour, especially for men. Due to increased dependence on them and their access to wealth, men are valued more. Women, who traditionally prepared food, have taken up the preparation of millet. Millet is more difficult to process than traditional Joǀʼhoan foods, and therefore women must spend more time preparing food for their household, leaving less time for employment outside the home.


title: ǃKung people

text: The changing gender roles, growing inequality between the sexes, and transformation from a wandering hunter-gatherer life-style to life in a village have contributed to more domestic violence, as women are more dependent on men and increasingly restricted from outside intervention through changing housing styles and arrangements. Houses that are less open and the collection of wealth also challenges traditional sharing ideology.


title: ǃKung people

text: The ǃKung also face problems since their traditional lands are sought after by cattle ranchers, wildlife reserves, and state governments.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: Littlest Pet Shop is a toy franchise and owned by Hasbro. The original toy series was produced by Kenner in the early 1990s. An animated television series was made in 1995 by Sunbow Productions and Jean Chalopin Creativite et Developpement, based on the franchise.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: The franchise was relaunched in 2005 and there are currently over 3,000 different pet toys that have been created since. Hasbro, alongside various digital media developers, has produced video games for consoles such as the Nintendo DS, Wii and PlayStation 3. A second animated television series was produced by Hasbro Studios for Discovery Family, a U.S. cable network partially owned by Hasbro. This series premiered in 2012 and concluded in 2016 after 104 episodes.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: Hasbro has created virtual pets to 'adopt' and play with online. These websites were Littlest Pet Shop VIP, and Littlest Pet Shop Online. In 2010, Hasbro released their version of "Blythe" as a part of this toy line. A wide variety of Littlest Pet Shop products have been produced. The first series was created in 2005, the second release in 2008, the third release in 2012, the fourth release in 2014, and the most recent release in 2017. Around the world, they are known to have code toy numbers on either the side of them or the bottom, or otherwise have them on the box which it sometimes comes with the sticker. On November 15, 2022, it was announced Hasbro made a deal with Basic Fun! to relaunch the toys in 2024.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: Introduced in 1992, each set comes with certain actions, such as a movable part. Most included magnets or simple mechanisms, such as flapping wings. This line is also often known by collectors as "Generation 1", as it is the first iteration of the toyline to be released.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: Note: Sets produced in 1992 are depicted. The same set released in 1992 was also remade in 1993 with different colors. Other sets are also released in 1994.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: Each set came with 5 babies and a mother. Two of the babies had magnets inside and would suckle the mother and play with toys. Each set seems to have used multiple variations in colour.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: Based upon the movie series, there was a number of playsets featuring the infamous Saint Bernard dogs with Beethoven and Missy with Tchaikovsky, Chubby, Dolly and Mo.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: Kenner also produced sets in 1995 and 1996 ranging from "Shimmering Mer Pets" to plush "Dazzling Hair Pets", diverging further from their original pet shop sets.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: In 1985, General Mills spun off its Kenner and Parker toy divisions to form Kenner Parker Toys, Inc. Kenner Parker Toys was acquired by Tonka in 1987. Under Tonka management, Kenner Products was reconstituted as a division. Tonka (including Kenner) was purchased by Hasbro in mid-1991. Hasbro closed the Cincinnati offices of Kenner in 2000, and Kenner's product lines were merged into Hasbro's. This incarnation is also known by collectors as "Generation 2", and is considered to be divided into three parts.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: The Littlest Pet Shop toy line had molds that looked more unrealistic compared to the 1990s incarnation of the franchise, and had realistic colors that blended in. They had bobble-heads and they came with a round pink or blue magnet with a pawprint on it, this is located on the bottom of their feet (2004–2005 versions). Some pets were fuzzy. Later ones had a smaller blue magnet with no pawprint which didn't have a specified location on the bottom. This series of sets were released as single packages, in pairs, in packs of twenty, and with playsets.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: The eyes changed to a glossy polish rather than with a matte polish as it was in G1. These pets have symbols in their eyes, such as a snowflake (chilliest), a diamond (fanciest), a cookie with a bite (hungriest), a raindrop (sportiest), a flower (cuddliest), heart (friendliest), mud splotch (messiest), clover (funniest), star (sassiest) and a wind symbol on some Comic Con-exclusive pets, although there were also glossy-eyed pets with no eye symbols. They also came in a more wide variety of colors, rather than just realistic colors. From 2008 onwards, the pets didn't have a magnet, but a circle with a shape of a hexagon inside the hole (except for birds with a rectangular slot for them to perch on playsets). A C-031 marking also showed up (except for birds). The most recent releases did not have the eye symbols, and had a redesign of the LPS logo.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: This era of the toyline also introduced video games developed by Electronic Arts and licensed by Nintendo, one game for the Wii and four versions for the Nintendo DS: Garden, Jungle, Winter, and Spring. Some releases for the DS came with exclusive pets.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: In this era, the eye symbols were no longer used, and more bright colors were used for the color schemes of the figurines. This era also introduced collector stickers found in packs, and an even more variety of gimmicks, such as the Walkables, battery-powered figurines which can move at the push of a button, and the Blythe Loves Littlest Pet Shop line, which introduces Blythe as a smaller-scale doll which comes with a pet as part of a themed pack.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: Even more licensed Nintendo games were released in this era. Littlest Pet Shop: Friends, released in 2009, came with both a Wii release and three versions of the DS release: City, Country, and Beach. In 2010 came the release of Littlest Pet Shop: Biggest Stars, which is exclusive to the DS and also came with three different versions: Blue Team, Pink Team, and Purple Team. Some of these releases also came with exclusive pets.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: The line was revamped to coincide with the release of the 2012 TV series. The style and design of the toy pets was changed significantly, which garnered significant backlash from fans and collectors of the toys. Later on, they added the Sweetest Pets series (pets themed after sweets), Rolleroos (pet friends that are shaped like small balls), pets that came with Blythe, and the Fairies series. The pets now had different molds and a new eye style. Later on, Hasbro reissued the Totally Talented set from G1, and Blythe was also given a makeover. Hasbro received many complaints about the G3 line.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: This iteration also introduced mobile games for the toyline, including one developed by Gameloft in 2012, which included the use of tokens which came in purchased packs of the pets and scanned to win prizes, and another, Littlest Pet Shop: Your World, which included the use of "zap codes", codes similar to QR codes which are found in the pets themselves.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: These pets have molds that more closely resemble the style of the TV series and were given names. Hasbro released the Pets Pawsabilities collection during this time, and in 2016, the Pets in the City collection, which more closely resembles the pets released in G2. Due to popular demand and fan outcry over the G3 line, Hasbro brought the bobble-head pets back, which included pets from the 2012 TV show and used the same molds as the pets from the G1 and G2 lines. But it was also short-lived, as the bobble-head style was retired in mid-2014.


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: The Littlest Pet Shop toys were revamped in 2017, with new molds and rounded eyes similar to the second generation pets. Some of the toys released under this line include the Black and White Pop collection and the Rainbow collection. The pets in this line come in three sizes: teensie, mini, and classic (the largest of the three). It was also during this time that a new show premiered on Discovery Family called "".


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: The 2018 animated series, produced by Hasbro Studios and Boulder Media Limited for Discovery Family. Its main cast includes a turtle named Bev (voiced by Rhona Rees), a cat named Jade (voiced by Ingrid Nilson), a dog named Roxie (voiced by Diana Kaarina), a hamster named Trip (voiced by Travis Turner), a goat named Quincy (voiced by Kyle Rideout), and a parakeet named Edie (voiced by Lili Beaudoin).


title: Littlest Pet Shop

text: The series premiered on April 14, 2018 and ran for 52 eleven-minute episodes. The show was canceled after only one season.


title: Type 90 tank

text: The is a main battle tank (MBT) of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF). It was designed and built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as a replacement for the Type 61 and to supplement the then current fleet of Type 74 tanks, and entered service in 1990. It is to be succeeded by the Type 10 tank.


title: Type 90 tank

text: After the adoption of the Type 74, the Japanese High Command was already looking for a superior, completely indigenous tank design to defeat the Soviet T-72. As a result, development of a prototype, the TK-X MBT began between 1976 and 1977. Joint development was performed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and TRDI (Japan Defense Agency's Technology Research and Development Institute). Major subcontractors included Japan Steel Works, Daikin Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, Fujitsu and NEC.


title: Type 90 tank

text: A first series of two prototypes of the Type 90 were developed, both armed with a Japanese 120 mm smoothbore gun (produced by Japan Steel Works Limited) firing Japanese ammunition (produced by Daikin Industries Limited). The first prototype (TK-X-0001) was completed by 1982, and underwent testing shortly after. Following the first tank's completion, development began on the second prototype (TK-X-0002), until it was completed by June 1985, after experiencing delays. Testing and design modifications such as improvements to the turret and half modular type ceramic composite armour were conducted starting in October 1983, and continued until October 1986.


title: Type 90 tank

text: A second series of four prototypes was built between 1986 and 1988, incorporating changes resulting from trials with the first two prototypes. These were armed with the Rheinmetall 120 mm smoothbore gun also fitted to the German Leopard 2 and, in a modified version, the US M1A1/M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks. These second prototypes were used for development and then user trials, all of which were completed by December 1989, before Japan formally introduced the Type 90 in August 1990. Mass production began in 1990, and 30 vehicles were produced by the end of the year.


title: Type 90 tank

text: With the exception of the 120 mm smoothbore gun, which is made under license from Rheinmetall of Germany, the Type 90 and its subsystems are all designed and built in Japan, leading to higher per unit costs than comparable models from NATO countries such as the M1 Abrams and the Challenger 2. Development of upgrades to the Type 90 suffered both as a result of limited budget, which caused procurement delays, and funding prioritization in favor of the Type 10 Main Battle Tank. Due to a perception that Type 90s are unsuited to operations in the tight confines of Japan's urban areas, they are preferentially assigned to the JGSDF Fuji School Brigade and the 7th Armored Division based in Hokkaido, where there is sufficient room for maneuver. With the exception of training exercises such as the annual Combined Live Fire Exercise hosted by the United States Army at Yakima Training Center in Washington state, the Type 90 has never been deployed overseas, and has never been tested in combat.


title: Type 90 tank

text: The Type 90 mounts a Rheinmetall L44 120 mm smoothbore cannon licensed produced by Japan Steel Works Limited. This is the same gun that is mounted on the German Leopard 2, the American Abrams, and the South Korean K1A1 tank. Before Rheinmetall's gun was selected, Japan had successfully produced a domestic version of the 120 mm smoothbore for testing, but the lower cost of the Rheinmetall gave it an advantage over the domestic version..


title: Type 90 tank

text: Since its introduction there have been several upgrades to the fire-control system, including the addition of a Yttrium-Aluminium-Garnet laser rangefinder with a range of 300 to 5,000 meters, a 32-bit ballistics analysis computer, improved thermal imaging and Automated-tracking systems, and improved gun stabilization. The FCS also has an automated tracking system, and is capable of engaging moving or stationary targets while moving in day or night. The automatic target tracking system uses a thermal image display which can be controlled by either the tank gunner or commander. It is capable of tracking soldiers, vehicles and helicopters. The targeting computer can also calculate lead on moving targets.


title: Type 90 tank

text: The commander's sight consists of a 3× / 10× (day-only sight). The sight can track vertically from −29 to +29 degrees, as well as track horizontally through 180 degrees. The gunners sight has a 10 x zoom.


title: Type 90 tank

text: The gun is armed and loaded by a mechanical bustle autoloader (conveyor-belt type) developed by Mitsubishi of Japan. As with autoloader-equipped Russian main battle tanks, the French Leclerc, and the Swedish Strv 103, the Type 90 achieves manpower savings by reducing the crew to three. Its ability to operate without a loader also allows the use of a smaller turret. The autoloader can reload in around two seconds, and the practical auto-loading and firing cycle for one target is around 4–6 seconds.


title: Type 90 tank

text: Mounted in front of the gunner's hatch on the turret is the ubiquitous Browning M2 machine gun, manufactured under license by Sumitomo Heavy Industries, part of the Sumitomo Group. In addition to the .50-caliber machine gun, a Japanese-built 7.62 mm machine gun is mounted coaxially to the left of the main gun.


title: Type 90 tank

text: The profile of the Type 90 is similar to the German Leopard 2A4 and it uses modular ceramic and steel composite armor, common in contemporary tank designs. The adoption of modular composite armor design facilitates the upgrading and exchange of the armor.


title: Type 90 tank

text: The Type 90 is smaller than most main battle tanks with a height of , a width of , and a weight of . It was designed with a distinctive low-slung turret with boxy, vertical sides and a long overhanging bustle. In comparison, the Leopard 2A4's dimensions are high and wide with a weight of .


title: Type 90 tank

text: The powerpack of the Type 90 tank has the Mitsubishi 10ZG32WT 10-cylinder two-stroke cycle diesel engine providing 1500 hp, coupled with Mitsubishi MT1500 automatic transmission with four forward and two reverse gears, manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (designated 10ZG32WT, MT1500). The development of the 10ZG32WT prototype was started in 1972 and was finished in 1982. It can attain a top output of 1,120 kW (1,500 horsepower @15min).


title: Type 90 tank

text: The hydropneumatic suspension units are mounted on the front and rear pair of road wheels, which can be adjusted on-the-fly to deal with uneven terrain, a requirement on Japan's rough, mountainous terrain.


title: Type 90 tank

text: According to the Japanese Ministry of Defense official data report, the acceleration of the type is 0–200 m in 20 seconds.


title: Type 90 tank

text: The Type 90 has an approximate unit cost of 790 million Japanese yen or approximately 7.4 million US dollars at 2008 exchange rates.


title: Type 90 tank

text: 341 Type 90 tanks were produced between 1990 and 2009 with an average annual production number of 19 vehicles. The original procurement plan was established in the 1980s while Japan was experiencing asset price bubble. After the asset price bubble burst in 1991 and the collapse of Soviet Union in 1992, Japan started to cut its defense budget. In order to save budget for Kongo Class missile destroyers and other new weapons, Japan made a plan to reduce the size of its tank force. The production of Type 90 therefore slowed down and part of its budget was shifted to the research and development of the new Type 10 main battle tank.


title: Type 90 tank

text: Being 12 tonnes heavier than its predecessor, the Type 74, the Type 90 was found to be more challenging to operate around Japan, with the exception of Hokkaido. Some politicians therefore criticized the effectiveness of Type 90 due to difficulty in transportation. In fact, more than 65% of major bridges in Japan were still considered passable for the Type 90, while overseas main battle tanks, such as Challenger 2 and Leopard 2, could only use 40% of bridges in Japan.


title: Earl Morrall

text: Earl Edwin Morrall (May 17, 1934 – April 25, 2014) was an American football player who was a quarterback (and occasional punter) in the National Football League (NFL) for 21 seasons, both a starter and reserve. In the latter capacity, he became known as one of the greatest backup quarterbacks in NFL history, having served in the capacity for two Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Johnny Unitas and Bob Griese. He is most known for helping the Baltimore Colts win Super Bowl V and the Miami Dolphins complete their perfect season, having come off the bench when Griese became injured early in the year.


title: Earl Morrall

text: Morrall led Muskegon High School in Muskegon, Michigan to a state football championship in 1951 and state baseball championship in 1952 (where he stole home). He attended Michigan State University, where he played under head coaches Biggie Munn and Duffy Daugherty. He played three seasons for the Michigan State Spartans football team, leading them to a 9–1 record in the 1955 season. He capped his senior year with a victory over the UCLA Bruins in the 1956 Rose Bowl. Morrall also played baseball at Michigan State and played in the College World Series as a shortstop and third baseman. He was offered the opportunity to play professional baseball but chose instead to play football.