title: Xi'an JH-7

text: Six prototypes were built by December 1988, and the PLANAF received 12 to 18 aircraft in the early 1990s for evaluation. The first aircraft used imported Rolls-Royce Spey Mk.202 engines, later replaced by a license-built copy, the WS-9. They were equipped with the Type 243H multifunction radar, which could detect ships at a maximum of , and MiG-21-sized aerial targets at .


title: Xi'an JH-7

text: The JH-7 was designed as an anti-ship fighter-bomber. As with the later JH-7A, its aerial combat capability was insignificant given the large number of specialist aircraft for that role.


title: Xi'an JH-7

text: When the PLA examined the future role of air forces, it identified a need for precision air-to-surface capability. An improved JH-7, the JH-7A, was designed to meet this requirement. The JH-7A's general and deputy general designers were Tang Changhong (唐长红) and Wu Jieqin (吴介琴) respectively.


title: Xi'an JH-7

text: The JH-7A had a lighter and stronger airframe than the JH-7, allowing the newer aircraft to carry a maximum ordnance load of 9,000 kg. In PLANAF, this allowed four YJ-82 anti-ship missiles to be carried, compared to the two on the JH-7.


title: Xi'an JH-7

text: The JH-7A is equipped with domestic Chinese helmet mounted sight (HMS) for evaluation, and this HMS currently being tested is developed by Xi'an Optronics Group (Xi Guang Ji Tuan 西光集团), a member of Northern Electro-Optic Co. Ltd (北方光电股份有限公司), the wholly owned subsidiary of Norinco, and the HMS on JH-7A was developed from the helicopter HMS manufactured by the same company, thus both share many common components. HMS tested on JH-7A is compatible with air-to-air/surface missiles, and it is also compatible with airborne sensors such as radars and electro-optics so that the sensors are slaved to HMS, enabling the fast tracking and aiming of the weaponry. The cockpit of JH-7A still retains some traditional single function dial indicators, but there are two large color liquid crystal display multi-function displays which can be monochrome if pilots choose. Other avionic upgrades of JH-7 include: replacing Type 960-2 noise jammer with BM/KJ-8605, replacing Type 265A radar altimeter with Type 271 radar altimeter, fully digitized fly-by-wire flight control system, and in addition, Type 232H airborne radar is replaced by JL-10A pulse-Doppler radar, enabling JH-7A to fire laser-guided bombs and Kh-31P anti-radiation missiles. The existing JH-7s were upgraded with JH-7A electronics. Two additional hardpoints increased the total to 6 from the original 4, and one-piece windscreen replaced the original three-piece windscreen.


title: Xi'an JH-7

text: The JH-7A was the first Chinese aircraft to use paperless design, and the software used was CATIA V5.


title: Xi'an JH-7

text: On its maiden flight on 14 December 1988, while en route back to the airport to land, the engines of the JH-7 prototype suddenly began to vibrate violently. The test pilot Huang Bingxin (黄炳新) decided to make an emergency landing, but as he approached the airport, the vibration was so great that two thirds of the instruments had been shaken off the instrument panel, and all of the connectors of the remaining third still attached to the panel had also been shaken loose, so none of the instruments worked; the pilot nonetheless managed to eventually land the prototype safely.


title: Xi'an JH-7

text: On 8 June 1991, a JH-7 prototype suddenly began to leak fuel at a high rate. Lu Jun (卢军), a Russian-trained Chinese test pilot, managed to make a safe emergency landing when the fuel reserve had dropped to slightly more than 30 liters. Three years later, on 4 April 1994, a JH-7 prototype crashed during a test flight, killing Lu.


title: Xi'an JH-7

text: On 19 August 1992, the entire rudder of a JH-7 suddenly fell off at an altitude of 5,000 meters, while carrying four live missiles. Against orders to jettison the missiles and abandon the aircraft, the test pilot decided to attempt an emergency landing. Using mainly differential thrust of the two engines, the test pilot Huang Bingxin (黄炳新) made it back to the airport and attempted to make an emergency landing, but a tire at the starboard side burst on touch down, causing the aircraft to veer off course. Using brakes as control, the test pilot made two attempts before finally releasing the drogue parachute to finally stop safely.


title: Xi'an JH-7

text: In 2007 JH-7s went abroad to participate in "Peace Mission" exercises of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). In April 2012, multiple JH-7 aircraft joined a Russia-China joint naval exercise in eastern China. In 2013, JH-7s participated in a Russia–China joint exercise held on Russian territory.


title: Xi'an JH-7

text: On 14 October 2011, a JH-7 crashed during an exhibition at an air show in Shaanxi province, northwest China.


title: Xi'an JH-7

text: On 22 December 2014, a JH-7 crashed near the city of Weinan in Shaanxi province, under unknown circumstances. At least two persons are said to have died in the crash.


title: Xi'an JH-7

text: On 22 October 2016, a JH-7 crashed in Liuzhou, Guangxi province. According to pictures released on social media, the pilots ejected.


title: Xi'an JH-7

text: On 12 March 2019, a JH-7 crashed during a training exercise in Ledong County, Hainan, killing two pilots on board. The crash of the normally high-altitude-usage, aged aircraft happened during a low-altitude training flight, the pilots gave up an opportunity to eject to avoid densely populated residential area and were killed when trying to avoid a school, they were hailed for their bravery as martyrs by local officials.


title: Xi'an JH-7

text: A new variant of the Xian JH-7 fighter-bomber is in service with the PLAAF as of August 2019. The variant is designated JH-7AII.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: Carina ( ) is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the keel of a ship, and it was the southern foundation of the larger constellation of Argo Navis (the ship "Argo") until it was divided into three pieces, the other two being Puppis (the poop deck), and Vela (the sails of the ship).


title: Carina (constellation)

text: Carina was once a part of Argo Navis, the great ship of Jason and the Argonauts who searched for the Golden Fleece. The constellation of Argo was introduced in ancient Greece. However, due to the massive size of Argo Navis and the sheer number of stars that required separate designation, Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille divided Argo into three sections in 1763, including Carina (the hull or keel). In the 19th century, these three became established as separate constellations, and were formally included in the list of 88 modern IAU constellations in 1930. Lacaille kept a single set of Greek letters for the whole of Argo, and separate sets of Latin letter designations for each of the three sections. Therefore, Carina has the α, β and ε, Vela has γ and δ, Puppis has ζ, and so on.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: Carina contains Canopus, a white-hued supergiant that is the second-brightest star in the night sky at magnitude −0.72. Alpha Carinae, as Canopus is formally designated, is 313 light-years from Earth. Its traditional name comes from the mythological Canopus, who was a navigator for Menelaus, king of Sparta.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: There are several other stars above magnitude 3 in Carina. Beta Carinae, traditionally called Miaplacidus, is a blue-white-hued star of magnitude 1.7, 111 light-years from Earth. Epsilon Carinae is an orange-hued giant star similarly bright to Miaplacidus at magnitude 1.9; it is 630 light-years from Earth. Another fairly bright star is the blue-white-hued Theta Carinae; it is a magnitude 2.7 star 440 light-years from Earth. Theta Carinae is also the most prominent member of the cluster IC 2602. Iota Carinae is a white-hued supergiant star of magnitude 2.2, 690 light-years from Earth.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: Eta Carinae is the most prominent variable star in Carina, with a mass of approximately 100 solar masses and 4 million times as bright as the Sun. It was first discovered to be unusual in 1677, when its magnitude suddenly rose to 4, attracting the attention of Edmond Halley. Eta Carinae is inside NGC 3372, commonly called the Carina Nebula. It had a long outburst in 1827, when it brightened to magnitude 1, only fading to magnitude 1.5 in 1828. Its most prominent outburst made Eta Carinae the equal of Sirius; it brightened to magnitude −1.5 in 1843. In the decades following 1843 it appeared relatively placid, having a magnitude between 6.5 and 7.9. However, in 1998, it brightened again, though only to magnitude 5.0, a far less drastic outburst. Eta Carinae is a binary star, with a companion that has a period of 5.5 years; the two stars are surrounded by the Homunculus Nebula, which is composed of gas that was ejected in 1843.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: There are several less prominent variable stars in Carina. l Carinae is a Cepheid variable noted for its brightness; it is the brightest Cepheid that is variable to the unaided eye. It is a yellow-hued supergiant star with a minimum magnitude of 4.2 and a maximum magnitude of 3.3; it has a period of 35.5 days.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: Two bright Mira variable stars are in Carina: R Carinae and S Carinae; both stars are red giants. R Carinae has a minimum magnitude of 10.0 and a maximum magnitude of 4.0. Its period is 309 days and it is 416 light-years from Earth. S Carinae is similar, with a minimum magnitude of 10.0 and a maximum magnitude of 5.0. However, S Carinae has a shorter period—150 days, though it is much more distant at 1,300 light-years from Earth.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: Carina is home to several double stars and binary stars. Upsilon Carinae is a binary star with two blue-white-hued giant components, 1,600 light-years from Earth. The primary is of magnitude 3.0 and the secondary is of magnitude 6.0; the two components are distinguishable in a small amateur telescope.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: Two asterisms are prominent in Carina. The 'Diamond Cross' is composed of the stars Beta, Theta, Upsilon and Omega Carinae. The Diamond Cross is visible south of 20ºN latitude, and is larger but fainter than the Southern Cross in Crux. Flanking the Diamond Cross is the False cross, composed of four stars - two stars in Carina, Iota Carinae and Epsilon Carinae, and two stars in Vela, Kappa Velorum and Delta Velorum - and is often mistaken for the Southern Cross, causing errors in astronavigation.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: Carina is known for its namesake nebula, NGC 3372, discovered by French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in 1751, which contains several nebulae. The Carina Nebula overall is an extended emission nebula approximately 8,000 light-years away and 300 light-years wide that includes vast star-forming regions. It has an overall magnitude of 8.0 and an apparent diameter of over 2 degrees. Its central region is called the Keyhole, or the Keyhole Nebula. This was described in 1847 by John Herschel, and likened to a keyhole by Emma Converse in 1873. The Keyhole is about seven light-years wide and is composed mostly of ionized hydrogen, with two major star-forming regions. The Homunculus Nebula is a planetary nebula visible to the naked eye that is being ejected by the erratic luminous blue variable star Eta Carinae, the most massive visible star known. Eta Carinae is so massive that it has reached the theoretical upper limit for the mass of a star and is therefore unstable. It is known for its outbursts; in 1840 it briefly became one of the brightest stars in the sky due to a particularly massive outburst, which largely created the Homunculus Nebula. Because of this instability and history of outbursts, Eta Carinae is considered a prime supernova candidate for the next several hundred thousand years because it has reached the end of its estimated million-year life span.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: NGC 2516 is an open cluster that is both quite large (approximately half a degree square) and bright, visible to the unaided eye. It is located 1,100 light-years from Earth and has approximately 80 stars, the brightest of which is a red giant star of magnitude 5.2. NGC 3114 is another open cluster approximately of the same size, though it is more distant at 3,000 light-years from Earth. It is more loose and dim than NGC 2516, as its brightest stars are only 6th magnitude. The most prominent open cluster in Carina is IC 2602, also called the "Southern Pleiades". It contains Theta Carinae, along with several other stars visible to the unaided eye. In total, the cluster possesses approximately 60 stars. The Southern Pleiades is particularly large for an open cluster, with a diameter of approximately one degree. Like IC 2602, NGC 3532 is visible to the unaided eye and is of comparable size. It possesses approximately 150 stars that are arranged in an unusual shape, approximating an ellipse with a dark central area. Several prominent orange giants are among the cluster's bright stars, of the 7th magnitude. Superimposed on the cluster is Chi Carinae, a yellow-white-hued star of magnitude 3.9, far more distant than NGC 3532.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: Carina also contains the naked-eye globular cluster NGC 2808. Epsilon Carinae and Upsilon Carinae are double stars visible in small telescopes.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: One noted galaxy cluster is 1E 0657-56, the Bullet Cluster. At a distance of 4 billion light-years (redshift 0.296), this galaxy cluster is named for the shock wave seen in the intracluster medium, which resembles the shock wave of a supersonic bullet. The bow shock visible is thought to be due to the smaller galaxy cluster moving through the intracluster medium at a relative speed of 3,000–4,000 kilometers per second to the larger cluster. Because this gravitational interaction has been ongoing for hundreds of millions of years, the smaller cluster is being destroyed and will eventually merge with the larger cluster.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: Carina contains the radiant of the Eta Carinids meteor shower, which peaks around January 21 each year.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: From China (especially northern China), the stars of Carina can barely be seen. The star Canopus (the south polar star in Chinese astronomy) was located by Chinese astronomers in the Vermilion Bird of the South (南方朱雀, "Nán Fāng Zhū Què"). The rest of the stars were first classified by Xu Guanggi during the Ming dynasty, based on the knowledge acquired from western star charts, and placed among The Southern Asterisms (近南極星區, "Jìnnánjíxīngōu").


title: Carina (constellation)

text: Polynesian peoples had no name for the constellation in particular, though they had many names for Canopus.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: The Māori name "Ariki" ("High-born"), and the Hawaiian "Ke Alii-o-kona-i-ka-lewa", "The Chief of the southern expanse" both attest to the star's prominence in the southern sky, while the Māori "Atutahi", "First-light" or "Single-light", and the Tuamotu "Te Tau-rari" and "Marere-te-tavahi", "He who stands alone". refer to the star's solitary nature.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: It was also called "Kapae-poto" ("Short horizon"), because it rarely sets from the vantage point of New Zealand, and "Kauanga" ("Solitary"), when it was the last star visible before sunrise.


title: Carina (constellation)

text: Carina is in the southern sky quite near the south celestial pole, making it never set (circumpolar) for most of the southern hemisphere. Due to precession of Earth's axis, by the year 4700 the south celestial pole will be in Carina. Three bright stars in Carina will come within 1 degree of the southern celestial pole and take turns as the southern pole star: Omega Carinae (mag 3.29) in 5600, Upsilon Carinae (mag 2.97) in 6700, and Iota Carinae (mag 2.21) in 7900. About 13,860 CE, the bright Canopus (−0.7) will have a greater declination than −82°.


The Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapse occurred on March 15, 2018, when a 175-foot-long (53 m) section of the FIU-Sweetwater UniversityCity Pedestrian Bridge collapsed while under construction. The collapse resulted in six deaths (one worker and five motorists), ten injuries (six serious and four minor), and eight vehicles being crushed underneath. Of the serious injuries, one employee was permanently disabled. At the time of the collapse, six lanes of road beneath the bridge were open to traffic.


title: Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapse

text: The pedestrian bridge was designed to connect the town of Sweetwater to the campus of Florida International University (FIU) in University Park, a suburb west of Miami, Florida, United States. The two were separated by a busy eight-lane highway, which the bridge was designed to span.


text: The engineering design error that directly led to the collapse was identified by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as a miscalculation of resistance to sliding of the connection between the walkway surface, and the truss that held it up. The walkway surface was poured concrete, which was allowed to harden before the truss braces were poured above it. These truss members were connected to the deck by steel reinforcing rods embedded in the deck and in the concrete of the truss. In order to hold up the bridge these connections had to prevent the truss from sliding along the walkway surface. The resistance to sliding was miscalculated, and thus was not enough to prevent the connection from sliding causing cracks in the truss concrete. As the cracking enlarged, it ultimately caused the complete disconnection of one of the truss-to-walkway connections, leading to the collapse.


text: The FIU Sweetwater UniversityCity pedestrian bridge, located just west of the intersection of Tamiami Trail (Southwest 8th Street) and Southwest 109th Avenue, was planned to connect the FIU campus to student housing neighborhoods in Sweetwater. It was intended to improve pedestrian safety, as the crosswalks at this wide, busy intersection had been identified as a safety hazard, and one student had already been struck and killed by a vehicle. The $14.2 million project was funded with a $19.4 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant from the United States Department of Transportation in 2013, along with state agencies. The bridge cost $9 million to construct, exclusive of the installation cost.


text: The main companies behind the construction project were Munilla Construction Management (MCM), a Miami-based construction management firm, and FIGG Bridge Engineers, a Tallahassee-based firm. Unlike most bridges in Florida, the design for this project was overseen by the university, not the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), in a program known as the Local Agency Program (LAP).


text: Florida International University is known for its expertise in accelerated bridge construction (ABC) and has attracted international scholars as PhD students. It is home to the federally funded Accelerated Bridge Construction University Transportation Center, which sponsors industry conferences and seminars. The National Transportation Safety Board, however, found that with respect to the bridge, "F.I.U. had no professional engineers on its staff and relied solely on the expertise of its hired contractors."


text: The full pedestrian bridge was to cross both a major roadway and a parallel water canal with two separate spans connected at a faux cable-stayed tower. The main roadway-crossing span was 175 ft long, and the shorter canal span was to be 99 ft long. An elevator and stairs at the south end added 31 ft, and at the north end, 15 feet, for a total bridge length of 320 feet. At the bridge site, the Tamiami Trail roadway has seven lanes of traffic plus one turn lane.


text: The school was on spring break at the time of collapse. The canal span, access ramps, and faux cable-stayed tower had not yet been built. Pedestrian use was to begin when the entire project was complete. The section of the bridge that collapsed weighed and fell onto several vehicles on the roadway below.


text: The new pedestrian bridge was designed to connect the campus to student housing in a dramatic, sculptural way and also to showcase the school's leadership in the ABC method of rapid bridge construction. The bridge was meant to last more than 100 years, and to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, according to a statement by the university.


text: The full bridge project was styled to look like a cable-stayed bridge, with a pylon tower and high cables for dramatic effect, but functionally and structurally it was actually a mono truss bridge, with the spans being fully self-supporting. The bridge spans used a novel concrete truss design invented for this project, a "re-invented I-beam concept." Concrete truss bridges are "exceedingly rare," and "no other designs similar to the FIU bridge" have been discovered. The vertical web of the beam was a series of triangulated concrete diagonal struts along the centerline, and the diagonal angles of the struts varied across the bridge so they would align with pipes from the center pylon, in the eventual faux cable-stayed appearance. The concrete walkway deck was to act as the horizontal bottom flange of a wide I-beam, and the concrete roof canopy was to function as the horizontal top flange of the I-beam. The walkway was thus nearer to ground level than in a standard design where the walkway is placed on top of the structural support system. This reduced the number of steps to climb.


text: The bridge was a post-tensioned concrete structure. Concrete structures are generally ten times heavier than equivalent steel designs. The bridge was made using a new formulation for concrete, intended to stay cleaner than standard concrete formulations. In the main bridge span, the concrete floor deck, roof, and most diagonal struts contained post-tensioning (PT) members whose compressive effect on the concrete was adjusted after the concrete was cured but prior to loading.


text: The deck and the canopy had PT "cables" that were permanently tensioned after the concrete was cured and while the main span was still located in the staging yard. Most of the diagonal truss members, also known as tendons, had two to four PT "rods" that could be tightened or loosened depending on the engineer's design plan. The high-strength steel rods are sleeved to allow free movement, with only their ends in contact with the concrete to provide a clamping force. This applied tension is necessary to keep concrete members in compression. All of the adjustable tendon rods were oriented with the nut end on top of the canopy, hidden with a "blister" of extra concrete. Adjusting the rods generally required a crane and the specialized crew of a subcontractor.


text: Two tendons of the main span, particularly the ones nearest the support ends, had PT rods designed for "temporarily" prestressing the concrete tendons during the movement of the 950-ton span. These four PT rods were tightened explicitly for the day it took to transport the main span over 8th Street and de-stressed (loosened) immediately thereafter. The purpose of the temporary prestressing of the two end tendons was due to the different loads during movement. The transporter's four-point support of the massive span essentially forces the two terminal ends of the bridge span to be cantilevered past the supports, unlike its final placement. To keep the bridge stable during transport, the four PT rods were torqued to each apply a load of . The other PT rods, inside the other tendons, were tightened just once and considered permanent. The transport of the prefabricated, 950-ton span (see below) to its location over 8th Street was performed five days before the subsequent collapse.


text: A specification change from the FDOT late in the planning phase required relocating central pier 11 feet (3 meters) north to allow for future widening of the highway, causing some changes in construction.


text: Construction of the bridge began in March 2016 and was scheduled to be completed in December 2018. The bridge's main span was assembled adjacent to the highway using accelerated bridge construction. It was lifted into place on the morning of March 10, five days before the collapse, during a weekend closure of the roadway.


text: The main span of the bridge was in place by around 11:30 am on March 10. Inspections were performed, and the order was given to release the tension on the steel pretensioned (PT) tendons at the terminal ends of the span. Kevin Hanson, the supervisor of the de-stressing operation of the PT tendons, became aware that cracks formed on the north side of the bridge and was concerned. He sent a text message to his supervisor, Sam Nunez, stating that "it cracked like hell" and included photos of the location near where the detensioned tendons were located. Pedro Cortes and other members of the construction contractor reviewed the cracking and took photos. These cracks were located in the area where the bridge contacts its supporting pier, where the structural diaphragm deck was located. Other cracks were observed in the northernmost diagonal truss member.


text: Two days before the collapse, on March 13, the engineer of record (EOR) from FIGG became aware of the cracks and began calculating remedial action, including the addition of plastic shims under the diaphragm. He then reported the cracking by voicemail to an FDOT employee. He thought this was not an immediate safety issue, merely something that would need to be repaired later. The FDOT recipient was away for several days and did not hear this message until the day after the collapse. FIGG's engineer of record then decided to re-tension the temporary PT rods in the northernmost tendon to their state on March 10. This plan was developed by FIGG over the 13th and 14th from the FIGG office in Tallahassee, and a meeting was scheduled for March 15 at 9:00 am in a trailer at the construction site.


text: Now in Miami, two FIGG engineers including the EOR arrived before the meeting to inspect the bridge span along with some of the managers of the consulting engineering firm and the main construction company. They used a lift to get a close view of the damage.


text: At 9 a.m. on March 15, a university employee heard a loud "whip cracking" sound while under the bridge span, waiting for a red traffic light. At the same time, the design-build team met for about two hours at the construction site to discuss the cracks discovered on March 10. Representatives from both FIU and FDOT were present. The FIGG lead engineer's conclusions were that the structural integrity of the bridge was not compromised and that there were no safety concerns raised by the presence of the crack. FIGG also insisted that no crack repairs should be carried out until the stabilizing of the node and pylon diaphragm with post-tensioning was completed.


text: An additional measure proposed by FIGG at the meeting to remediate the cracking was telling the contractor that it "must expedite the pouring of the intermediate pylon," a structure that was designed to mimic the tower of a cable-stay bridge. This pylon was to be located on the north end of the main span adjacent to the area that failed and affixed to the same substructure that the failing main span diaphragm sat upon.


text: The FIGG engineers on site "did not know the reason for the cracks, but still expressed no safety concerns" at the meeting.


text: Immediately after the meeting between FIGG employees and FIU, FDOT, BPA (Bolton Perez and Associates, Inc., the construction engineering and inspection firm), and MCM (the main construction contractor); the pretensioning crew from Structural Technologies (US licensee of VSL tensioned-concrete technology) began to re-stress the two PT rods in diagonal truss member 11 to 280,000 pounds each. Due to the urgency and short notice demanded by the EOR, the post-tensioning inspection subcontractor, the Corradino Group, was unavailable to monitor this process. FIGG employees, including the EOR, had gone back to Tallahassee. VSL had just completed the procedure, and still had some of their equipment attached and a crane in the air, when the bridge collapsed.


text: At 1:47 p.m. on March 15, the north end of the installed bridge span had a blow-out as the northernmost tendon (11) sheared the remaining rebar in adjacent vertical truss member (12) at the cold joint (node) where truss members 11 and 12 join the deck. The span sagged deeply as the diagonal fractured, folded, and immediately dropped the heavy full span onto the roadway below. A dashcam video shows that the blowout, collapse, and impact sequence took only a few video frames.


text: United States Senator and FIU adjunct professor Marco Rubio tweeted that engineers were tightening loosened cables on March 15: "Workers were adding more tension to the steel rod (tendon) inside a concrete diagonal strut at the north end".


text: Six people were killed and ten were injured. Five of the victims were killed immediately when the bridge fell; one died at the hospital. Navaro Brown, aged 37, who worked for VSL, the company contracted to apply post-tensioning, died in the collapse. Two other employees of VSL were hospitalized. The other people killed were Alberto Arias, 53, Brandon Brownfield, 39, FIU student Alexa Duran, 18, Rolando Fraga, 60, and Oswaldo Gonzalez, 57.


text: At the time of the collapse, the roadway was open, and multiple eastbound cars were stopped at a traffic light under the span. Eight cars were crushed. A driver who survived the collapse reported that small rocks fell onto her car just before the front of her car was crushed. A worker saved himself when he heard cracking and locked his safety harness just before the collapse.


text: Southwest 8th Street between Southwest 107th and 117th Avenues was closed until March 24 while the debris was cleared.


text: On March 15, 2018, the NTSB launched a Go-team of 15 people to investigate the bridge collapse. The accident number assigned was HWY18MH009. On March 16, 2018 the NTSB Investigators held their first press conference to discuss the inquiry into the bridge collapse. Noteworthy points from the meeting included a statement that the inquiry was in the very early stages, that cracks in the bridge superstructure did not necessarily make the bridge unsafe, that on-site investigations would take about a week, that preserving perishable evidence was crucial, and that bridge workers were applying a "post-tensioning force" on the bridge before the failure. Also on March 16, 2018, the FDOT released a letter to the public with information about the bridge collapse:


text: On March 21, 2018, the NTSB sent out a press release detailing the items from the collapse that required further examination at the Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center, in McLean, Virginia. They also confirmed workers were adjusting rod tension when the collapse occurred.


text: On May 23, 2018, the NTSB released a preliminary report titled "Highway: Collapse of Pedestrian Bridge Under Construction Miami, Florida (HWY18MH009)" which summarized the accident. They said they are evaluating the emergence of cracks in the region of diagonal members 2 (south end of the bridge) and 11 (north end of bridge), and the propagation of cracks in the region of diagonal member 11. Pictures of the cracks from February 24 (before the walkway had been moved into place) were also given. Consulting engineers Bolton-Perez and Associates, had taken several pictures of severe cracks in diagonal member 11 and adjacent to vertical member 12 which had appeared when the bridge was moved into place on March 10.<ref name="NTSB-8/9/2018"></ref><ref name="NTSB-8/9/2018-pdf"></ref>


text: The Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, at the request of the NTSB, tested samples of steel and concrete from the collapsed bridge, and found that the materials met the project requirements. The NTSB similarly asked the FHWA to examine the design of the bridge. The FHWA examination discovered that the bridge designers had overestimated the strength of one section of the bridgeat the point where the diagonal member 11 and vertical member 12 met the bridge deckand underestimated the load that that same section would carry.


text: In June 2019, OSHA released its final report on the FIU bridge collapse and concluded FIGG Bridge Engineers failed to recognize collapse was imminent when they inspected the bridge hours earlier. They also concluded the bridge had structural design deficiencies, severe cracks were wrongly ignored by the Engineer of Record and warranted street closure, and contract bridge design experts violated basic FDOT construction requirements. The NTSB quickly disapproved of this release by OSHA, citing "a breach of party participation rules" and "contrary to party agreement obligations, OSHA released a report to the public that contained large portions of nonpublic draft NTSB material and failed to provide investigative photographs to the NTSB as required by its status as a party to the investigation."


text: On October 8, 2019, the NTSB released over 6,000 pages relating to its investigation of the collapse, including letters submitted to the NTSB by the various companies associated with the bridge construction. A final NTSB public hearing on the bridge accident was held October 22, 2019, in Washington, D.C., and concluded "that load and capacity calculation errors made by FIGG Bridge Engineers, Inc., are the probable cause of the fatal, March 15, 2018, Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapse in Miami." The final Highway Accident Report by the NTSB was finalized the same day and released as NTSB/HAR-19/02.


text: On March 19, 2018, the first civil lawsuit was filed against FIGG Bridge Engineers, MCM, Bolton Perez & Associates, the project's consulting engineer, Louis Berger, and Network Engineering Services for reckless negligence.


text: On March 21, 2018, U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao asked the department's inspector general to probe whether the federally funded pedestrian bridge complied with all rules. A subsequent internal memorandum from the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation, dated March 22, 2018, expressed concerns the project complied with Federal specifications, and that the objective of an audit will be to assess whether the Florida International University pedestrian bridge met Federal and DOT requirements for the TIGER application, approval, and grant agreement processes.


text: On March 28, 2018, the "Miami Herald" reported they were denied access to FIU documents related to the bridge construction, citing federal regulations that prevent release of non-public information related to the bridge construction and design project when an NTSB investigation is in progress. A lawyer for Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press indicated more information should be released under the Florida Sunshine Law, citing intense public interest in the collapse. On May 2, 2018, the Miami Herald filed a lawsuit against FDOT in Florida's Leon County Circuit Court to compel the FDOT to release emails, meeting minutes and other records relating to the bridge's design and construction. On May 3, 2018, a lawyer for the NTSB wrote a letter to Judge Cooper of the 2nd Judicial Circuit of Florida in Tallahassee urging the court to deny a ruling that would favor the Miami Herald plaintiff, for the release of any bridge information generated after a February 19, 2018, cutoff date.


text: On May 7, 2018, the Miami Herald reported they had received a copy of a memo with photographs from FIU dated February 28, 2018, that had been sent to the Munilla Construction Management company, the bridge project's builder. The memo, which has since been withdrawn from public view, purportedly urged the bridge engineer to respond to their concerns about significant cracks in the concrete joint at connection between the No. 11 truss and the bridge deck.


text: On August 21, 2018, Leon County Circuit Judge Kevin Carroll ruled the FDOT "shall produce to The Herald the requested records, but that production shall be limited to records from February 20th to March 15th (prior to the collapse)." However, two days later and just as the FDOT was about to release documents, the Florida State ruling was temporarily blocked by U.S. District Court Judge William Stafford on a request from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida (on behalf of the NTSB, who is seeking to move the case to a Federal Court). On October 5, Federal Judge Stafford made a final ruling to block the requested documents.


text: On June 27, 2018, the Travelers Indemnity Company and The Phoenix Insurance Company submitted an 18-page complaint for declaratory relief in U.S. District Court for Florida Southern District, Miami Division. The lawsuit filing seeks to avoid financial liability to the claimants and included the following statement: "There is no coverage under Travelers' and Phoenix's policies issued to Figg for any damages caused by the joint venture and/or partnership between Figg and MCM, as such joint venture and/or partnership was never disclosed to Travelers and Phoenix and does not qualify as an insured under either of the Policies issued to Figg."


text: The following is from a September 18, 2018 OSHA News ReleaseRegion 4: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on Friday, September 14, cited multiple contractors for safety violations after one employee suffered fatal injuries and five other employees sustained serious injuries when a pedestrian bridge at the Florida International University campus in Miami collapsed. The five companies collectively received seven violations, totaling $86,658 in proposed penalties. OSHA cited Figg Bridge Engineers Inc., a civil and structural engineering company; Network Engineering Services Inc. (doing business as Bolton Perez & Assoc.), a construction engineering and inspection firm; Structural Technologies LLC (doing business as Structural Technologies/VSL), specializing in post-tensioning in bridges and buildings; Munilla Construction Management LLC, a bridge and building construction company; and The Structural Group of South Florida Inc., a contractor specializing in concrete formwork.


text: A total of 18 civil lawsuits were filed against 25 businesses connected to the failed FIU bridge project. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey is overseeing the on-going case.


text: On March 1, 2019, Munilla Construction Management, the main Miami-based contractor behind the pedestrian bridge construction, announced a restructuring and recapitalization of the company through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition plan of reorganization. The company reached a settlement deal with the victims and their families on May 2, 2019, that would pay up to $42 million.


text: On May 6, 2020, FDOT announced plans to design and rebuild the bridge, with guidance from the NTSB. The design stage is scheduled to begin in 2021 and last for two years, with a further two years estimated to construct the bridge. Demolition of the remnants of the old bridge began in September 2021, after which the land will be surveyed in preparation for the new bridge.


text: FDOT announced on May 5, 2022 the new design, a cable-stayed steel box girder bridge built using a conventional six-step construction process with full closure and detour of the roadway beneath. The design of the 280-foot bridge, contracted to Miami-based BCC Engineering, is more than halfway finished as of the announcement, with construction of the bridge itself scheduled to begin sometime in 2024. FDOT now directly manages the project with a budget of $14.6 million, and has relegated Sweetwater and FIU as local partners.


title: Fear of the dark

text: Fear of the dark is a common fear or phobia among children and, to a varying degree, adults. A fear of the dark does not always concern darkness itself; it can also be a fear of possible or imagined dangers concealed by darkness. Some degree of fear of the dark is natural, especially as a phase of child development. Most observers report that fear of the dark seldom appears before the age of two years. When fear of the dark reaches a degree that is severe enough to be considered pathological, it is sometimes called scotophobia (from – "darkness"), or lygophobia (from – "twilight").


title: Fear of the dark

text: Some researchers, beginning with Sigmund Freud, consider the fear of the dark to be a manifestation of separation anxiety disorder.


title: Fear of the dark

text: An alternate theory was posited in the 1960s, when scientists conducted experiments in a search for molecules responsible for memory. In one experiment, rats, normally nocturnal animals, were conditioned to fear the dark and a substance called "scotophobin" was supposedly extracted from the rats' brains; this substance was claimed to be responsible for remembering this fear. These findings were subsequently debunked.


title: Fear of the dark

text: Nyctophobia (or Noctophobia) is a phobia characterized by a severe fear of the night. It is triggered by the brain's disfigured perception of what would, or could, happen when in a night-time environment. It can also be temporarily triggered if the mind is unsteady or scared about recent events or ideas, or a partaking in content the brain considers a threat (examples could include indulging in horror content, witnessing vulgar actions, or having linked dark environments to prior events or ideas that disturb the mind). Normally, since humans are not nocturnal by nature, they are usually a bit more cautious or alert at night than in the day, since the dark is a vastly different environment. Nyctophobia produces symptoms beyond the normal instinctive parameters, such as breathlessness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, feeling sick, shaking, heart palpitations, inability to speak or think clearly or sensation of detachment from reality and death. Nyctophobia can be severely detrimental physically and mentally if these symptoms are not resolved. There are many types of therapies to help manage Nyctophobia.


title: Fear of the dark

text: Nyctophobia may also be tied to nocturnal creatures, whether fictional or real. For instance someone who experiences Sanguivoriphobia, a fear of vampires, might also experience Nyctophobia due to an association with vampires. Or someone with Chiroptophobia, or fear of bats, might also likewise have Nyctophobia due to their association with the night or dark spaces.


title: Fear of the dark

text: Exposure therapy can be very effective when exposing the person to darkness. With this method a therapist can help with relaxation strategies such as meditation. Another form of therapy is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Therapists can help guide patients with behavior routines that are performed daily and nightly to reduce the symptoms associated with Nyctophobia. In severe cases, anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication drugs can be effective to those dealing with symptoms that may not be manageable if therapy could not reduce the symptoms of Nyctophobia.


title: Fear of the dark

text: Despite its pervasive nature, there has been a lack of etiological research on the subject. Nyctophobia is generally observed in children but, according to J. Adrian Williams' article "Indirect Hypnotic Therapy of Nyctophobia: A Case Report", many clinics with pediatric patients have a great chance of having adults who have nyctophobia. The same article states that "the phobia has been known to be extremely disruptive to adult patients and... incapacitating".


title: Fear of the dark

text: The word "nyctophobia" comes from the Greek , "nyktos", genitive of , "nyx", "night" and , "phobos", "fear".


title: Fear of the dark

text: Although not clinically recognised Scotophobia has gained traction in social circles, it is often described as a more vague version of Nyctophobia, being ascribed only to darkness or dark spaces. Those suffering from Scotophobia might fear dark basements, tunnels, forests, rooms or other spaces without light.


title: Fear of the dark

text: Other names have been put forth for this specific spot such as Achluophobia (from greek ἀχλύς, "akhlús", meaning "mist" or "darkness", and , "phobos", meaning "fear"), as well as Lygophobia (from Greek , "lygos", meaning "twilight", and , "phobos", meaning "fear")


title: Unshō Ishizuka

text: In addition to that, he regularly appeared in both the Japanese and English-language versions of the "Pokémon" anime, voicing Onix, Steelix and numerous other Pokémon.


title: Unshō Ishizuka

text: Ishizuka was known for his deep, strong voice and is often cast in the role of older mature male characters, such as Jet Black from "Cowboy Bebop", Eugene Gallardo from "Tales of Rebirth" and Captain Matthews in the "Xenosaga" trilogy. He was also the Japanese dub voice of Captain Gantu in every version of "Lilo & Stitch" to date. He was also the fourth Japanese voice of Heihachi Mishima in the "Tekken" video game series, and the second Japanese voice for Mr. Satan in the "Dragon Ball" franchise, taking over both roles since the death of longtime actor Daisuke Gōri. He has voiced the roles of Kizaru in the "One Piece" series, Van Hohenheim in the "" series, Zabuza Momochi in the "Naruto" series, Ginzo Nakamori in "Detective Conan" and "Magic Kaito", Joseph Joestar in "" and "", as well as Bunta Fujiwara in "Initial D", Ryotaro Dojima in "Persona 4" and Ujiyasu Hojo in "Samurai Warriors" and "Warriors Orochi". Ishizuka was also the famous voice-over actor for Liam Neeson, Laurence Fishburne and Kevin Spacey.


title: Kitchen stove

text: A kitchen stove, often called simply a stove or a cooker, is a kitchen appliance designed for the purpose of cooking food. Kitchen stoves rely on the application of direct heat for the cooking process and may also contain an oven, used for baking. "Cookstoves" (also called "cooking stoves" or "wood stoves") are heated by burning wood or charcoal; "gas stoves" are heated by gas; and "electric stoves" by electricity. A stove with a built-in cooktop is also called a range.


title: Kitchen stove

text: In the industrialized world, as stoves replaced open fires and braziers as a source of more efficient and reliable heating, models were developed that could also be used for cooking, and these came to be known as "kitchen stoves". When homes began to be heated with central heating systems, there was less need for an appliance that served as both heat source and cooker and stand-alone cookers replaced them. "Cooker" and "stove" are often used interchangeably.


title: Kitchen stove

text: The fuel-burning stove is the most basic design of a kitchen stove. As of 2012, it was found that "Nearly half of the people in the world (mainly in the developing world), burn biomass (wood, charcoal, crop residues, and dung) and coal in rudimentary cookstoves or open fires to cook their food." More fuel-efficient and environmentally sound biomass cookstoves are being developed for use there.


title: Kitchen stove

text: Natural gas and electric stoves are the most common today in western countries. They are equally effective and safe; electricity may reduce environmental impact if generated from non-fossil sources. The choice between the two is mostly a matter of personal preference and availability of utilities. Bottled gas ranges are used where utilities are unavailable.


title: Kitchen stove

text: Modern kitchen stoves often have a "stovetop" or "cooktop" American English; known as the "hob" in British English as well as an oven. A "drop-in range" is a combination stovetop-and-oven unit that installs in a kitchen's lower cabinets flush with the countertop. Most modern stoves come in a unit with built-in extractor hoods. Today's major brands offer both gas and electric stoves, and many also offer dual-fuel ranges combining a gas stovetop and an electric oven.


title: Kitchen stove

text: Early clay stoves that enclosed the fire completely were known from the Chinese Qin Dynasty (221 BC–206/207 BC), and a similar design known as "kamado" (かまど) appeared in the Kofun period (3rd–6th century) in Japan. These stoves were fired by wood or charcoal through a hole in the front. In both designs, pots were placed over or hung into holes at the top of the knee-high construction. In the Middle East, references to similar stoves and cooking ranges where the fire was lit from below are recorded as early as the 2nd-century AD, constructed of clay and either made portable or attached to the ground. Raised "kamados" were developed in Japan during the Edo period (1603–1867).


title: Kitchen stove

text: Prior to the 18th century in Europe, people cooked over open fires fueled by wood. In the Middle Ages, waist-high brick-and-mortar hearths and the first chimneys appeared, so that cooks no longer had to kneel or sit to tend to foods on the fire. The fire was built on top of the construction; the cooking done mainly in cauldrons hung above the fire or placed on trivets. The heat was regulated by placing the cauldron higher or lower above the fire.


title: Kitchen stove

text: Open fire systems had three significant disadvantages that prompted an evolutionary series of improvements from the 16th century onwards: it was dangerous, it produced much smoke, and the heat efficiency was poor. Attempts were made to enclose the fire to make better use of the heat that is generated and thus reduce the wood consumption. An early step was the "fire chamber": the fire was enclosed on three sides by brick-and-mortar walls and covered by an iron plate. This technique also caused a change in the kitchenware used for cooking, for it required flat-bottomed pots instead of cauldrons. The first design that completely enclosed the fire was the 1735 "Castrol stove", built by the Walloon-Bavarian architect François de Cuvilliés. This stove was a masonry construction with several fire holes covered by perforated iron plates and was also known as a "stew stove". Near the end of the 18th century, the design was refined by hanging the pots in holes through the top iron plate, thus improving heat efficiency even more.


title: Kitchen stove

text: The modern kitchen range was invented by Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford in the 1790s. As an active scientist and prolific inventor, he put the study of heat onto a scientific basis and developed improvements for chimneys, fireplaces and industrial furnaces, which led to his invention of the kitchen range.


title: Kitchen stove

text: His Rumford fireplace created a sensation in London when he introduced the idea of restricting the chimney opening to increase the updraught. This was a much more efficient way to heat a room than earlier fireplaces. He and his workers modified fireplaces by inserting bricks into the hearth to make the side walls angled, and added a choke to the chimney to increase the speed of air going up the flue. The effect was to produce a streamlined air flow, so all the smoke would go up into the chimney rather than lingering and entering the room. It also had the effect of increasing the efficiency of the fire, and gave extra control of the rate of combustion of the fuel, whether wood or coal. Many fashionable London houses were modified to his instructions, and became free of smoke.


title: Kitchen stove

text: Following on from this success, Thompson designed a kitchen range made of brick, with a cylindrical oven and holes in the top for the insertion of pots. When not needed, the opening could be covered over leaving the fire to smolder gently. This kitchen range was much more fuel efficient than the prevailing open hearth method and to a great degree safer. His range was widely adopted in large cooking establishments, including at the soup kitchens that Thompson built in Bavaria. However, it was too big and unwieldy to make much of an impact on domestic cooking.


title: Kitchen stove

text: The first half of the nineteenth century witnessed a steady improvement in stove design. Cast iron stoves replaced those made of masonry and their size shrank to allow them to be incorporated into the domestic kitchen. By the 1850s, the modern kitchen, equipped with a cooking range, was a fixture of middle-class homes. In 1850 Mary Evard invented the Reliance Cook Stove, which was divided in two with one half for dry baking and the other half for moist. Patents issued to Mary Evard are and on April 7, 1868. She demonstrated this stove with her husband at the St. Louis World's Fair.


title: Kitchen stove

text: In 1867 Elizabeth Hawks of New York invented and received for a baking attachment for stoves, intended to spread heat thoroughly throughout loaves while keeping the top crust tender, which she called an "Auxiliary Air-chamber for Stoves." This was so successful that she sold two thousand within months of its release.


title: Kitchen stove

text: Stoves of that era commonly burned charcoal as well as wood. These stoves had flat tops and the heat was concentrated on one side of the stove top so that cooks could cook things at different temperatures based on where the pot or pan was located. This was called the "piano" system. After coal was replaced with gas, French chefs continued to prefer the smooth cooking surface and so the majority of French gas stoves had flat metal surfaces over the gas burners, which continues to be known as the "French style" today.


title: Kitchen stove

text: A major improvement in fuel technology came with the advent of gas. The first gas stoves were developed as early as the 1820s, but these remained isolated experiments. James Sharp patented a gas stove in Northampton, England, in 1826 and opened a gas stove factory in 1836. His invention was marketed by the firm Smith & Philips from 1828. An important figure in the early acceptance of this new technology, was Alexis Soyer, the renowned chef at the Reform Club in London. From 1841, he converted his kitchen to consume piped gas, arguing that gas was cheaper overall because the supply could be turned off when the stove was not in use.


title: Kitchen stove

text: A gas stove was shown at The Great Exhibition in London in 1851, but it was only in the 1880s that the technology became a commercial success in England. By that stage a large and reliable network for gas pipeline transport had spread over much of the country, making gas relatively cheap and efficient for domestic use. Gas stoves only became widespread on the European Continent and in the United States in the early 20th century.


title: Kitchen stove

text: Once electric power was widely and economically available, electric stoves became a popular alternative to fuel-burning appliances. One of the earliest such devices was patented by Canadian inventor Thomas Ahearn in 1892. Ahearn and Warren Y. Soper were owners of Ottawa's Chaudiere Electric Light and Power Company. The electric stove was showcased at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, where an electrified model kitchen was shown.


title: Kitchen stove

text: Unlike the gas stove, the electrical stove was slow to catch on, partly due to the unfamiliar technology, and the need for cities and towns to be electrified. Early electric stoves were unsatisfactory due to the cost of electricity (compared with wood, coal, or city gas), limited power available from the electrical supply company, poor temperature regulation, and short life of heating elements. The invention of nichrome alloy for resistance wires improved the cost and durability of heating elements.


title: Kitchen stove

text: The first practical design was patented by the Australian David Curle Smith in 1905. His device adopted (following the design of gas stoves) what later became the configuration for most electric stoves: an oven surmounted by a hotplate with a grill tray between them. Curle Smith's stove did not have a thermostat; heat was controlled by the number of the appliance's nine elements that were switched on.


title: Kitchen stove

text: The first electric stoves used heating elements made of high-resistance metal to produce heat. The stovetop (range) surface had one or more circular heating elements, insulated with compressed magnesia and sheathed in a spiral metal tube. Heating elements for the oven are of similar construction but an elongated loop to distribute heat. Elements were made as plug-in consumer-replaceable parts and could also be easily removed for cleaning. Temperature of cooking elements was regulated by adjusting a bimetal thermostat control switch, which switched power on and off to control the average heating effect of the elements.


title: Kitchen stove

text: A high-end gas stove called the AGA cooker was invented in 1922 by Swedish Nobel prize winner Gustaf Dalén. As a heat storage stove, it worked on the principle that a heavy frame made from cast iron components can absorb heat from a relatively low-intensity but continuously-burning source, and the accumulated heat can then be used when needed for cooking.


title: Kitchen stove

text: Dalén took his design to Britain in 1929, where it was first manufactured under licence in the early 1930s. The cast iron components were first cast at the Coalbrookdale foundry in the 1940s, where they are still made today by the Aga Rangemaster Group. Its popularity in certain parts of English society (owners of medium to large country houses) led to the coining of the term "AGA Saga" in the 1990s, referring to a genre of fiction set amongst stereotypical upper-middle-class society.


title: Kitchen stove

text: Microwave ovens were developed in the 1940s, and use microwave radiation to directly heat the water held inside food.


title: Kitchen stove

text: A cooktop or hob is a cooking appliance that heats the bottoms of pans or pots; it does not have an enclosed oven as used for baking or roasting. Cooktops may be heated by gas or electricity and may also have exhaust systems.


title: Kitchen stove

text: Flattop grills are also being installed into kitchen counters and islands, which do double-duty as a direct cooking surface as well as a platform for heating pots and pans. A hot plate is a similar device, which is mobile and can be used as an appropriate technology.


title: Meccano

text: Meccano is a brand of model construction system created in 1898 by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, England. The system consists of reusable metal strips, plates, angle girders, wheels, axles and gears, and plastic parts that are connected using nuts and bolts. It enables the building of working models and mechanical devices.


title: Meccano

text: In 1913, a very similar construction set was introduced in the United States under the brand name Erector. In 2000, Meccano bought the Erector brand and unified its presence on all continents. In 2013, the Meccano brand was acquired by the Canadian toy company Spin Master. Meccano maintains a manufacturing facility in Calais, France.


title: Meccano

text: In 1901 Frank Hornby, a clerk from Liverpool, England, invented and patented a new toy called "Mechanics Made Easy" that was based on the principles of mechanical engineering. It was a model construction kit consisting of perforated metal strips, plates and girders, with wheels, pulleys, gears, shaft collars and axles for mechanisms and motion, and nuts and bolts and set screws to connect the pieces. The perforations were at a standard ½ inch (12.7 mm) spacing, the axles were 8-gauge, and the nuts and bolts used inch BSW threads. The only tools required to assemble models were a screwdriver and spanners (wrenches). It was more than just a toy: it was educational, teaching basic mechanical principles like levers and gearing.


title: Meccano

text: The parts for Hornby's new construction kit were initially supplied by outside manufacturers, but as demand began to exceed supply, Hornby set up his own factory in Duke Street, Liverpool. As the construction kits gained in popularity they soon became known as Meccano and went on sale across the world. In September 1907, Hornby registered the Meccano trademark, and in May 1908, he formed Meccano Ltd. To keep pace with demand, a new Meccano factory was built in Binns Road, Liverpool in 1914, which became Meccano Ltd's headquarters for the next 60 years. Hornby also established Meccano factories in France, Spain and Argentina. The word "Meccano" was thought to have been derived from the phrase "Make and Know".


title: Meccano

text: The first construction sets had parts that were rather crudely made: the metal strips and plates had a tinplate finish, were not rounded at the ends and were not very sturdy. But manufacturing methods were improving all the time and by 1907 the quality and appearance had improved considerably: the metal strips were now made of thicker steel with rounded ends and were nickel-plated, while the wheels and gears were machined from brass.


title: Meccano

text: The first sets under the new Meccano name were numbered 1 to 6. In 1922 the No. 7 Meccano Outfit was introduced, which was the largest set of its day, and the most sought after because of its model building capabilities and prestige.


title: Meccano

text: In 1926, to mark the 25th anniversary of his patent, Hornby introduced "Meccano in Colours" with the familiar red and green coloured Meccano pieces. Initially plates were a light red and items like the braced girders were a pea-green. However, the following year strips and girders were painted dark green, the plates Burgundy red, while the wheels and gears remained brass. In 1934, the Meccano pieces changed colour again: the strips and girders became gold while the plates were changed to blue with gold criss-cross lines on them, but only on one side, the reverse remaining plain blue. This new colour scheme was only available in the United Kingdom until the end of the Second World War in 1945. The old red and green sets were still produced for the export market and were re-introduced in the UK after the war.


title: Meccano

text: In 1958, the colours were changed slightly to what became known as 'light red and green' but this incarnation had the shortest lifespan as the colours changed dramatically in 1964 to the black and yellow colour scheme. However, this light red and green period did see the introduction of about 90 new parts, more modern packaging, a new cabinet was introduced for the number 10 set, the first plastic parts were introduced, and the "exploded diagram" instructions made their début.


title: Meccano

text: In 1934, the nine basic Meccano outfits (numbered 00 to 7) were replaced by eleven outfits, labelled 0, A to H, K and L, the old No. 7 Outfit becoming the L Outfit. This L Outfit is often regarded as the best of the largest Meccano outfits. In 1937, the alphabetical outfit series was replaced by a numeric series, 0 to 10, the L Outfit being replaced by the smaller No. 10 Outfit. Although having fewer pieces than the L Outfit, the No. 10 Outfit became Meccano's flagship set and remained relatively unchanged until it was discontinued a half-century later in 1992. Accessory sets were retained, numbered 1A to 9A, that converted a set to the next in the series (for example, accessory set 6A would convert a No. 6 set to a No. 7 set). As had been the case from early days, Meccano Ltd would also supply individual Meccano parts to complement existing sets.


title: Meccano

text: World War II interrupted the production of Meccano in England when the Binns Road factory converted to manufacturing for the war effort. The Korean War in 1950 also disrupted production due to a metal shortage and it was not until the mid-1950s that Meccano production returned to normal with new parts being added to all the sets.


title: Meccano

text: In 1961, a Mechanisms Outfit and a Gears Outfit were added to the range, and in 1962 outfit 00 was withdrawn.


title: Meccano

text: In the early 1960s, Meccano Ltd experienced financial problems and was purchased by Lines Bros Ltd (who operated under the brand name "Tri-ang") in 1964. In an attempt to redefine Meccano's image, the colour scheme was changed again, this time to yellow and black plates, with silver strips and girders. The silver was soon replaced by zinc in 1967 when it was found that the silver pieces marked easily. The colours of yellow and black were chosen because they were the colours typically used by most large construction vehicles of the day.


title: Meccano

text: In 1970, electronic parts were introduced, and the current black-coloured plates were changed to blue. The range of sets was reduced by one with the deletion of the old No. 9 set and the renumbering of the old No. 0 to 8 sets to No. 1 to 9. The No. 10 set remained unchanged.


title: Meccano

text: Lines Brothers went into voluntary liquidation in 1971 and Airfix Industries purchased the Meccano business in the UK and General Mills of the US purchased the French business. The French company was known as Miro Meccano. In 1973, outfits 1 to 10 were still available, but new kits were added: Army Multikit, Highway Multikit, Pocket Meccano, and two Clock Kits.


title: Meccano

text: In 1978, the range of Meccano sets was further reduced and changed with the replacement of the No. 2 to 8 sets by six completely new sets, labelled A and 1 to 5. The old No. 9 and 10 sets were left largely unchanged. While some Airfix divisions were profitable, particularly their model kits, they needed to save money. With unions threatening all out industrial action if there were any job losses, Airfix shut down the Binns Road factory, bringing to an end the manufacture of Meccano in England. Meccano still continued to be manufactured in France, as the British and French businesses had different owners.


title: Meccano

text: At the time in the seventies, Meccano France SA launched and produced their brand new famous dark blue MECCANO Construction Kits Set 1 to set 10 Boxes Model Range until the early 1990s, which was considered by many MECCANO collectors today as the nearest updated model range of the original British made Meccano. These were also sold in conjunction with the smaller "Complementary Sets CX Series" so that the builders could make more technical and more realistic working models with his own existing normal sets, making it more demanding and harder per kit for the builder or owner as the sequence MECCANO Set 1 TO Set 10 was available.


title: Meccano

text: Unusually, the last two items of this Range was the rarer MECCANO Set 09 aka as Set NINE, which was sold as hinged large wooden box divided in two halves with up to 500 different parts and pieces available inside without manuals for builders to create numerous larger models. Then, the most expensive yet impressive MECCANO Set 10, aka Set TEN, is a large wooden rectangular crate with 3 sliding drawers and has a reputed 1000 different parts all neatly stored and is considered the top of the range MECCANO Set when available. Today, some of these original MECCANO FRANCE SET 01 TO SET 10 Blue Construction Kits can still be found on EBAY. OLX and other similar sales webpages.


title: Meccano

text: In 1981, General Mills bought up Airfix Products and with it what was left of Meccano Ltd UK, giving it complete control of the Meccano franchise. All the existing Meccano sets were scrapped and a totally new range of sets were designed for production in Calais, France called "Meccano Junior", a new product range consisting of plastic construction kits with tools included, although these new sets would only allow the young builder to make small models.


title: Meccano

text: In 1985, General Mills left the toy business completely, selling off their toy divisions. Meccano was sold out to a French accountant, Marc Rebibo, and, once again, all existing Meccano sets were scrapped. The "Meccano Junior" sets were replaced with three "Premier Meccano" sets and two "Motor" sets (including a six-speed motor) were introduced. Due to high demand, the old Meccano No.1 to No.10 construction sets from 1981 were re-introduced.


title: Meccano

text: In 1989, Marc Rebibo sold what remained of Meccano to Dominique Duvauchelle. Allen head zinc plated steel bolts replaced the original slot-headed brass-plated bolts and the "Plastic Meccano Junior" sets were brought back. With younger model builders in mind, many theme sets were also introduced, including the "Construction and Agricultural" 200-Series & 300-Series, the "Space" 100-Series, and the "Dynamic" 400-Series minisets. The old-style No. 5 to 10 sets remained in production until 1992.


title: Meccano

text: In 1994, additional theme sets were introduced and a pull-back friction motor was added to the Plastic Meccano System. In 1996, "Action Control" sets with infrared controls were added and 1999 saw the introduction of a "Motion System" range of sets that changed the look of Meccano completely. There were six one-model sets, two five-model sets, and five new sets numbered 10 to 50, the 20 to 50 sets being motorised. A complete change from the normal practice (sticking to a single majority colour) was that every set had its own colour scheme, often in bright neon colours.


title: Meccano

text: In 2000, Nikko, a Japanese toy manufacturer, purchased 49 per cent of Meccano and took on its marketing internationally through its established channels for radio-controlled toys. Development and design remained with Meccano SN, based in Calais, France. Nikko launched a successful range of new sets, including "Crazy Inventors" and the "Future Master" range. Significantly, Nikko radio control and programmable electronics started to appear in the System. However, under commercial pressure, Nikko sold its interest in the Meccano name and System back to Meccano SN, the French parent company, in August 2007. Meccano is now manufactured in France and China. During 2013, the Meccano brand was acquired in its entirety by the Canadian toy company Spin Master.


title: Meccano

text: Meccano today is very different from its heyday in the 1930s to 1950s. The target market of youngsters has not changed significantly; however, the mass market, instant-appeal approach does not always satisfy serious Meccano enthusiasts. For example, it is often difficult to obtain original spares.


title: Meccano

text: Many parts were introduced since the Liverpool factory closed under the French-and-Japanese running of the company. These included plastic parts, can motors, and modern battery holders. Metal became an expensive raw material to work with and many of the metal parts were replaced with plastic parts. Allen (hex-headed) zinc electroplated steel bolts replaced the slotted bolts.


title: Meccano

text: Original specialist parts, such as very long (up to 2 foot) angle girders, loom shuttles, printing rollers, etc. often required for large Super Models are becoming more difficult to obtain. There are replica manufacturers who satisfy the needs of enthusiasts who wish to build models requiring these parts.


title: Meccano

text: What has remained the same during all these years is the Imperial ½ inch perforation spacing and the inch whitworth thread for nuts and bolts (and other threaded parts). These unchanged standards and complete interchangeability of parts results in many modern models functioning perfectly with Meccano components that are more than 100 years old and vice versa. Indeed, old and new parts can be intermixed with impunity, the only problem being the odd mixture of colour schemes.


title: Meccano

text: In 2013, Meccano launched "Meccano Evolution", a new "back to basics" iteration of Meccano, which allowed smaller and more detailed models to be built using simpler and more "functional" parts than were supplied in previous "new Meccano" sets. Meccano Evolution has narrower strips, with holes spaced at twice the density of the original system. In late 2013, the company also opened a public "Meccano Lab" play space and R&D centre, in Calais, France.


title: Meccano

text: The current range of Meccano electric motors are small DC types designed to run on domestic batteries. These are low-torque high-speed "can" motors. These are inexpensive and suitable for small models that a child might construct from the standard range of sets. Adult enthusiasts tend to use a wider range of high-performance motors that are better suited to powering large models. During Meccano's heyday, the electric motors available were universal wound (for use on DC or AC supplies) that were called the MECCANO MOTOR M-Series in the 1970s; these electric motors ranged from 3 volt to the E20R 20 volt Electric Reversible Motor depending on the motor model. They became better known as the M1, M3 and M5 Electric Motors. Particularly well known were the E020, E20R and E15R universal motors, issued after the Second World War. These could be run from a mains Meccano Transformer No.T20 1 AMP 20 Volts Set or, in the case of the E15R, a 12 V car battery. Earlier there had been short-lived (and potentially lethal) mains motors designed for DC mains with a domestic lightbulb in series to drop the voltage, followed by motors of the post-War pattern but wound for 4.5 or 6 V DC and suited to lead/acid accumulator power. These, as well as the latter accumulator are now rare if in good condition.


title: Meccano

text: For many years, live steam engines were made and sold under the Meccano brand, although they were not made by Meccano. Earlier examples were just vertical steam engines, typical of the time, sold under the Meccano name. The first to be specially designed for Meccano was introduced in 1929. This was a vertically boilered engine in a chassis designed to facilitate it being integrated into Meccano models. From 1965 to 1976, Mamod made a steam engine for Meccano, the design of which was based on the 1929 version, with a similar chassis but using a standard Mamod horizontal boiler and engine parts. The model had no official model number, being known simply as the Meccano steam engine. However, it has since become generally known as the MEC1. Even after it was no longer being sold under the Meccano name, Mamod continued to manufacture the same model (with minor differences) until 1985, under their own name with the model number SP3.


title: Meccano

text: There were also at least three different clockwork motors sold under the Meccano brand name ("Magic", No.1 and No.2). The No.2 motor was made for Meccano by Marklin in Germany.


title: Meccano

text: Some model construction kits are compatible with Meccano. One example is the Swiss brand , which has been manufactured since 1941. Their elements are mainly made of thick stable metal in order to fit to the general approach of Swiss Quality. Other examples are Exacto and .


title: Meccano

text: Meccano has always had several compatible products on the market (such as X-Series Meccano, Plastic Meccano, Mogul Toys and Speed-Play). In 2007, a plastic robot named "Spykee" arrived. The robot is controlled using a WiFi interface and has a webcam but cannot climb stairs as is sometimes claimed. It can also be controlled over the Internet and configured as a security camera. The robot is primarily packaged in a single plastic base component and comprises additional bolt-on plastic parts that are present for aesthetic purposes only (i.e. the arms do not function). The robot base does include some standard Meccano hole spacing. By September 2008, the Spykee robot family numbers five, with each robot having different capabilities.


title: Meccano

text: Since the 1920s, construction kits compatible with Meccano were manufactured in the Soviet Union. They did not have a uniform colour scheme, parts could be in any color. Usually the strips and girders were not painted, and the plates could be either unpainted or painted in red, yellow, and blue. In the 1970s, plastic parts were introduced. The "Krugozor" (English: "Outlook"; Russian: "Кругозор") plant in Moscow produced some sets which included electrical motors and gears. The largest set of the 1970s–1980s was called "Yunost-3" (Russian: "Юность-3") and contained about 200 parts. The "Yunost" ("Adolescence") series were practically identical to Meccano sets with the same number, but there is no evidence of larger sets (equivalent to No. 4 or larger) being produced. There were instructions for building 44 models. Today, many similar kits, mostly Russian and Chinese-produced, are being sold in Russia.


title: Meccano

text: Unlike the Czech Merkur sets, the Soviet ones used mixed Metric and Imperial measurements despite the latter having been abandoned in Russia since the 1920s. The spacing between holes was 12.7 mm, or 1/2 inch, and the hole diameter was 4.3 mm, or 1/6 inch, but the nuts and bolts included were metric.


title: Meccano

text: From the mid 1910s, in the USA, there was a system called Erector, invented by A.C. Gilbert. Erector was largely compatible with Meccano. A.C. Gilbert died in 1961, and the company went into decline, filing for bankruptcy in 1967. After several changes of ownership, in 2000, Meccano bought the Erector brand and unified its presence on all continents.


title: Meccano

text: With a Meccano set there was a wide range of models that could be built. Here are the models for which instructions were given in the largest set of the late 1950s, the "Outfit 10":


title: Meccano

text: Since this time, enthusiasts such as G. Maurice Morris and MW Models have taken to publishing their own model plans, ranging from small models up to large and complex machines.


title: Meccano

text: In 1934, Meccano began to be used in the construction of differential analysers, a type of analogue computer used to solve differential equations using methods which have since been superseded by the digital computer. Though invented on paper in the 19th century, the first such machine had only been built in 1931, and normally they would be built by specialist manufacturers, at great cost. For example, in 1947, UCLA in the US installed a differential analyser built for them by General Electric at a cost of $125,000. However, a "proof of concept" model of a differential analyser which made extensive use of Meccano parts was built at Manchester University, UK, in 1934, by Douglas Hartree and Arthur Porter: use of Meccano meant that the machine was cheap to build, and it proved "accurate enough for the solution of many scientific problems". This machine is now in the Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London, England. A similar machine built by J.B. Bratt at Cambridge University in 1935 is now in the Museum of Transport & Technology collection in Auckland, New Zealand. A memorandum written for the British military's Armament Research Department in 1944 describes how this same machine was modified during World War II for improved reliability and enhanced capability, and identifies its wartime applications as including research on the flow of heat, explosive detonations, and simulations of transmission lines. After a lengthy period of neglect, a restoration effort began in 2003, and a successful "full run through" of this machine was completed on 16 December 2008.


title: Meccano

text: In 1949, an Erector set was used to build the precursor to the modern artificial heart by William Sewell and William Glenn of the Yale School of Medicine. The external pump successfully bypassed the heart of a dog for more than an hour.


title: Meccano

text: In the 1970s, information theory pioneer Claude Shannon constructed a bounce-juggling machine from an Erector set.


title: Meccano

text: In the late 1980s, with an Erector Set, various old toys, and bits of jewelry, Dr. Kevorkian jury-rigged a machine he called the Thanatron (later renamed to the Mercitron.) Three bottles were suspended from a rickety beam, one filled with a saline solution to open a patient's veins, another with barbiturates for sedation, and a third with potassium chloride to stop the heart. After the Doctor connected the patient to an IV, he or she would pull a chain on the device to start the lethal medications flowing. He called it his "Rube Goldberg suicide device."


title: Meccano

text: In 2005, Tim Robinson displayed his own Meccano differential analyser at the Computer History Museum, at Mountain View, California, US, and Robinson has also built and exhibited two models of Charles Babbage's difference engine, also using Meccano.


title: Meccano

text: In 1990 Meccano S.A. built a giant Ferris wheel in France. It was modelled after the original 1893 Ferris Wheel built by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago and was shipped to the United States to promote "Erector Meccano" after Meccano S.A. had bought out the "Erector" trade name and began selling Meccano sets in the U.S. It went on display in New York City after which it was purchased by Ripley's Believe It or Not! and put on display in their St. Augustine, Florida museum. The model, the largest at the time, was 6.5 metres (21.3 ft) high, weighs 544 kilograms (1,200 pounds), was made from 19,507 pieces, 50,560 nuts and bolts, and took 1,239 hours to construct. At this mass and size, some deviation from Meccano-only parts was a necessity, to prevent it collapsing (mainly in the structural spokes). The largest model by mass would certainly be in contention but some models have topped 600 kg.


title: Meccano

text: In the late 1990s, engineer Mark Sumner utilised Erector to create a working model for "Soarin’", an attraction at Disney’s California Adventure in Anaheim, California and Walt Disney World's Epcot near Orlando, Florida.


title: Meccano

text: A large model, weighing approximately 500 kg and 23 m long, was built in September 2009 by TV presenter James May and a team of volunteers from the engineering department of the University of Liverpool, who created a Meccano bridge spanning the Leeds & Liverpool Canal in Liverpool. As with other models of this size and weight some non-Meccano parts were used. It was built from "[about] 100,000 pieces of real Meccano", taking 1,100 hours, and consisted of a 9-metre (29.5 ft) "swing bridge" section, and a 12-metre (39.4 ft) "drawbridge" section. A contender for the largest model on record was built in 2014 by Graham Shepherd of Grahamstown, South Africa. The fully motorised Krupp 288 Bucket Wheel Excavator (as used on large opencast mining) is complete with auxiliary conveyors. Construction utilised Meccano parts as well as replica and strengthened parts (thickened profile plates and high tensile bolts in areas carrying large loads). Shepherd reports the model as being 1,335 kilograms (2,943 pounds) in mass and 17 ft tall. It required substantial timber support frames to facilitate final assembly.


title: Meccano

text: Meccano and Erector remain very versatile constructional mediums. Almost any mechanical device can be built with these systems, from structures, to complex working cranes, automatic gearboxes or clocks.


title: Meccano

text: Frank Hornby launched the Meccano Guild in 1919, to encourage boys of all ages—as well as early clubs—to become part of a central organisation, which oversaw club formation, and set guidelines for club proceedings. The "Meccano Magazine" was used as a means to keep Guild clubs informed of each other's activities (as well as encourage the sales of Meccano).


title: Meccano

text: The International Society of Meccanomen was founded in 1989 in England, nine years after the Liverpool factory closed. This organisation is considered the modern replacement of the Guild system and now has some 600 members in over 30 countries.


title: Meccano

text: Today, over one hundred years since its inception, there are thousands of Meccano enthusiasts worldwide, many clubs and hundreds of websites covering Meccano history, model building instructions and nostalgia. Individuals and companies worldwide still manufacture parts, some long out of production. There are annual Meccano exhibitions around the world, notably in France (at a different venue around May each year) and at Skegness in England (around July every year). Many notable shows also take place in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand each year, to name a few.


title: Meccano

text: Publications devoted fully or in part to Meccano included "Meccano Magazine" from 1916 to 1981, and numerous Special Model Leaflets aimed at serious enthusiasts, on how to construct very large, complex models and machines. Some models use many more parts than an entire Set 10. The original large models from the 1930s model leaflets are called the Meccano Super Models, often popular at Meccano and other model engineering exhibitions and sometimes used as nostalgic showpieces by retailers. Modern dedicated publications include: "Constructor Quarterly", "The International Meccanoman" and the "ModelPlans" series of instructions. These feature large model instructions and ideas for enthusiasts. There are also a myriad of club-generated periodicals, featuring Meccano content and keeping enthusiasts in touch.


title: Meccano

text: The careers many people chose were influenced by their experience and knowledge gained from using the product.


title: Meccano

text: Meccano is mentioned in the first chapter of Graham Greene's novel "The Power and the Glory". It also mentioned at some length in J. J. Connington's 1928 detective novel, "Nemesis at Raynham Parva" (U.S. title, "Grim Vengeance", 1929).


title: Meccano

text: Pierre Bastien is a French musical artist who has created a large collection of kinetic experimental musical instruments constructed with Meccano.


title: Meccano

text: In Sydney, Australia an overhead gantry with directional signs and traffic lights erected in 1962 is named the Meccano Set.


title: Meccano

text: Arthur C. Clarke mentions his childhood fascination with Meccano and his return to it as an adult in his 1989 memoir, "Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Autobiography".


title: Meccano

text: On 6 April 2013 a new 6.4 m (21 ft) footbridge was opened at Nob End, Little Lever, Bolton, Manchester over the Bolton and Bury Canal. It is made of Meccano parts, including bolts and nuts, accurately scaled up by ten times.


title: Meccano

text: Meccano is the centerpiece of the "Mentoring Using Meccano" program of School Volunteer Program ACT. Volunteers use Meccano to mentor bright primary school students who need help in improving their communication or social skills, which in return builds students' self-esteem.


title: Fontainebleau Miami Beach

text: The Fontainebleau Miami Beach (also known as Fontainebleau Hotel) is a hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. Designed by Morris Lapidus, the luxury hotel opened in 1954. In 2007, the Fontainebleau Hotel was ranked ninety-third in the American Institute of Architects list of "America's Favorite Architecture". On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter ranked the Fontainebleau first on its list of "Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places".


title: Fontainebleau Miami Beach

text: The Fontainebleau Miami Beach is located on Collins Avenue and is owned by the Soffer family controlled Fontainebleau Resorts.


title: Fontainebleau Miami Beach

text: The hotel was built by hotelier Ben Novack on the grounds of the former Harvey Firestone estate. Novack owned and operated the hotel until its bankruptcy in 1977.


title: Fontainebleau Miami Beach

text: The Fontainebleau is noted for its victory in the landmark 1959 Florida District Courts of Appeal decision, "Fontainebleau Hotel Corp. v. Forty-Five Twenty-Five, Inc." 114 So. 2d 357, in which the Fontainebleau Hotel successfully appealed an injunction by the neighboring Eden Roc Hotel to prevent construction of an expansion that blocked sunlight to the Eden Roc's swimming pool. The Court rejected the Eden Roc's claim to an easement allowing sunlight, in favor of affirming the Fontainebleau's vertical property rights to build on its land. It stated that the "ancient lights" doctrine had been unanimously repudiated in the United States.


title: Fontainebleau Miami Beach

text: In the 1970s, a suite in the hotel was used by members of the Black Tuna Gang to run their operations. This is recounted in the 2011 documentary , which follows the burgeoning marijuana-smuggling trade of the mid-to-late 1970s. It was at this time that large amounts of the drug were being shipped to southeastern Florida; the film alleges that more than ninety percent of the United States' illicit demand was being met through such channels.


title: Fontainebleau Miami Beach

text: In 1978, Stephen Muss bought the Fontainebleau Hotel for $27 million, thus rescuing it from bankruptcy. He injected an additional $100 million into the hotel for improvements and hired the Hilton company to manage it. In 2005, the Muss Organization sold the Fontainebleau to Turnberry Associates for $165 million.


title: Fontainebleau Miami Beach

text: The hotel closed a large part of its property in 2006, though one building remained open to hotel guests, and the furnishings were available for sale. The expanded hotel and its new condominium buildings re-opened in November 2008.


title: Fontainebleau Miami Beach

text: The Fontainbleau is a prominent feature in contemporary culture, appearing in numerous movies and television shows, musical lyrics, and nationally televised sporting and other events, including:


title: Fontainebleau Miami Beach

text: Fontainebleau's grand re-opening on November 18, 2008 marked the end of a two-year, $1 billion transformation. Special care was taken to preserve many of the original design elements, including the "Staircase to Nowhere" (formally called the "floating staircase"). The hotel's elaborate re-opening celebrations included hosting the annual Victoria's Secret fashion show.


title: Fontainebleau Miami Beach

text: The local pronunciation of the hotel's name is the Anglicized "fountain blue" rather than the normal French pronunciation of the word.


title: Honey Select

text: Its gameplay is similar to Illusion's eroge game "Play Club". Players can create or modify virtual models of men and women in great detail, and then direct them to perform a variety of pornographic and fetishistic scenes.


title: Honey Select

text: In the view of "Destructoid"s reviewer, the game achieved its goal of becoming "the most polished VR room-scale sex simulator on the market". But he noted that playing the game was not a particularly erotic experience, given its exceptionally complicated controls. Gita Jackson of "Kotaku" commented on the disparate attention given to certain body parts – twelve parameters for breasts, two for butts, and none at all for penises. In fact, she noted, the game relegated male models to mere "floating dicks", and suggested many more creative options that were in fact available: all it was good for, she wrote, was to create a "vaguely attractive woman with nice breasts, with which you will have glossy, structured, porn-like sex with".


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: The genealogies of Genesis provide the framework around which the Book of Genesis is structured. Beginning with Adam, genealogical material in Genesis 4, 5, 10, 11, 22, 25, 29–30, 35–36, and 46 moves the narrative forward from the creation to the beginnings of the Israelites' existence as a people.


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: Adam's lineage in Genesis contains two branches: Chapter 4 giving the descendants of for Cain, and Chapter 5 that for Seth that is then continued in later chapters. Chapter 10 gives the Generations of Noah (also called the Table of Nations) that records the populating of the Earth by Noah's descendants, and is not strictly a genealogy but an ethnography.


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: Genesis 5 and Genesis 11 include the age at which each patriarch had the progeny named as well as the number of years he lived thereafter. Many of the ages given in the text are long, but could have been considered modest in comparison to the ages given in other works (for instance, the Sumerian King List).


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: The ages include patterns surrounding the numbers five and seven, for instance the 365 year life of Enoch (the same as the number of full calendar days in a solar year) and the 777 year life of Lamech (repetitional emphasis of the number seven). Overall, the ages display clear mathematical patterns, leading some people to conclude that number symbolism was used to construct them. Nevertheless, since Genesis 5 and 11 provide the age of each patriarch at the birth of his named descendant, it also appears to present a gapless chronology from Adam to Abraham, even if the named descendant is not always a first-generation son.


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: Nearly all modern translations of Genesis are derived from the Masoretic Text, but there are also two other versions of Genesis: the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint (a Greek translation of a Hebrew text). Translations from the Masoretic Text are preferred by Western Christians, including Roman Catholics and Protestants and by followers of Orthodox Judaism, whereas the Greek version is preferred by Eastern Christians, including Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Ethiopic, Jacobite and Armenian. The Samaritan Pentateuch is used mainly by the Samaritans.


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: Genesis names three children of Adam and Eve, Cain, Abel and Seth. A genealogy tracing the descendants of Cain is given in , while the line from Seth down to Noah appears in . Scholars have noted similarities between these descents: most of the names in each are variants of those in the other, though their order differs, with the names of Enoch and Mahalalel/Mehujael switching places in the two pedigrees. It is "as if they were different versions of the same underlying tradition." This has led to speculation that a single original genealogical descent had diverged during independent transmission, only to be brought back together and put to different uses when the Book of Genesis was compiled from its Jahwist and Priestly sources.


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: Following the Genesis flood narrative, a large multi-branched genealogy presents the descendants of the sons of Noah. () The 70 names given represent biblical geography, consisting of local ethnonyms and toponyms presented in the form of eponymous ancestors (names in origin-myth genealogies that are to be understood as ancestors and embodiments of the peoples whose names they bear). This is a symbolic presentation of the peopling of the world and indicates a view of the unity of the human race. The peoples and places are not organised by geography, language family or ethnic groups, and probably do not represent the geography of a particular point in history, instead deriving from an old nucleus of geographical knowledge to which additional names/peoples were subsequently added.


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: The following is a family tree for the descendants of the line of Noah's son Shem, through Abraham to Jacob and his sons. Dashed lines are marriage connections.


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: The numbers given in the text are usually similar but do vary between versions. The numbers in the Masoretic, Samaritan, and Lucianic Septuagint versions of Genesis are shown in this table:


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: The following table lists the patriarchs that appear in the Vulgate and the Septuagint, but their names are spelled as they appear in the King James Version of the Bible. Their year of birth differs according to the Vulgate or the Septuagint. Also given is each patriarch's age at the birth of his named son and the age of the patriarch's death. Cainan, born after the flood, is mentioned in the Septuagint but not the Vulgate. Methuselah survived the flood according to the Septuagint (but not the Vulgate), even though he was not on Noah's Ark.


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: The genealogies of Genesis contain a difficulty with regards to the birth of Arphaxad. One method of calculating places the birth of Arphaxad 600 years after the birth of Noah, while another places Arphaxad's birth 602 years after Noah. The table below uses the 602-year method; the 600 year method would decrease the date for Arphaxad and all the following figures by two years.


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: This chart counts year totals only. "Anno Mundi" (AM, or 'in the year of the world') can be calculated by adding 2 to any given value in either the "Birth" or "Death" columns. The result will give a corresponding date in AM. The epoch for this calendar system is 3761 BCE.""


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: "(Note: the numbers in green are consistent across all versions, while the numbers in yellow are contradicted in one other version and the numbers in red are contradicted by more than one of the other versions.)"


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: According to most interpretations, including the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews, Enoch did not die, but was taken away by God (at an age of 365).


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: On this chart Noah is listed as having lived 502 years when he begat Shem and this calculation is based on the birth year of Arphaxad. The extra-biblical Book of Jasher also mentions that Noah was 502 years old when his wife Naamah bore Shem.


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: The following table lists all the ages of the patriarchs from Adam to Moses in the Masoretic Text, which add up to 12,600.


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: The value of 12,600 is a variant of the symbolic value of 1,260 later used in the Book of Revelation (e.g. Rev. 11:2-11; 12:4-6, 11; 13:5), although may derive from earlier traditions. Another example of the numerical schema of 12,600 can be found in the War Scroll discovered at Qumran, where "the Sons of Light shall fight against the Sons of Darkness in the final days for a period of 35 years. Employing the Jewish luni-solar calendar of the 360-day year, 35 years equals 12,600 days." The patriarchal ages were individually selected to achieve this total.


title: Genealogies of Genesis

text: The current formal usage of the Anno Mundi calendar era is implemented based on the calculations of Maimonides in "Mishneh Torah" (completed in AD 1178). It is the official method of calculating years for the Hebrew calendar currently in use. Based on a calculation using the Masoretic Text recorded in the "Seder Olam Rabbah" (c 160 AD) of Rabbi Jose ben Halafta, the first five days of creation in Genesis were in Anno Mundi 1, and the creation of Adam was on 1 Tishrei (Rosh Hashanah) in Anno Mundi 2 which corresponds to 3760 BCE. The official Anno Mundi epoch is Anno Mundi 1. This first year begins almost a full year before creation and is commonly referred to as "The Year Of Emptiness" or "The Ascension Year" in Jewish tradition and coincides with the years 3761/3760 BCE.